Archbishop Lefebvre
On the Legitimacy of Discussions with Rome

“I said to him [Cardinal Ratzinger who became Pope Benedict XVI], ‘Even if you grant us a bishop, even if you grant us some autonomy from the bishops, even if you grant us the 1962 Liturgy, even if you allow us to continue running our seminaries in the manner we are doing it right now—we cannot work together! It is impossible! Impossible! Because we are working in diametrically opposing directions; you are working to de-Christianize society, the human person, and the Church, and we are working to Christianize them. We cannot get along together!’ Rome has lost the Faith, my dear friends, Rome is in apostasy! I am not speaking empty words! That is the truth! Rome is in apostasy! One can no longer have any confidence in those people! They have left the Church! They have left the Church! They are leaving the Church! It is certain! Certain! Certain! (Rome est dans l’apostasie! On ne peut plus avoir confiance dans ce monde-là, il a quitté l’Église, ils ont quitté l’Église, ils quittent l’Église! C’est sûr, sûr, sûr!)  October 4, 1987

“What could be clearer? We must [according to Rome] henceforth obey and be faithful to the Conciliar Church, no longer to the Catholic Church. Right there is our whole problem: we are suspended a divinis by the Conciliar Church, the Conciliar Church, to which we have no wish to belong! That Conciliar Church is a schismatic church because it breaks with the Catholic Church that has always been. It has its new dogmas, its new priesthood, its new institutions, its new worship… The Church that affirms such errors is at once schismatic and heretical. This Conciliar Church is, therefore, not Catholic. To whatever extent Pope, Bishops, priests, or the faithful adhere to this new church, they separate themselves from the Catholic Church.” (Archbishop Lefebvre, Reflections on his suspension a divinis, July 29, 1976.)

Is it not normal to be a little worried about coming under religious authorities who have “left the Church”?

How can Catholics justify submitting to religious authorities who have “lost the Faith”?

If the “Conciliar Church” was “schismatic and heretical” in 1976, then is it not still “schismatic and heretical” in 2013?

SSPX bishops, priests, and faithful worldwide have been asking these questions ever since their leaders began to speak differently from Archbishop Lefebvre. How soon will we have an answer?

When asked by Fideliter magazine, “What do you think of a possible re-opening of a dialogue with Rome?” Archbishop Lefebvre made the following clear reply:

 “We do not have the same outlook on a reconciliation. Cardinal Ratzinger sees it as reducing us, bring us back to Vatican II. We see it as a return of Rome to Tradition. We don’t agree; it is a dialogue of death. I can’t speak much of the future, mine is behind me; but if I live a little while, supposing that Rome calls for a new dialogue, then, I will put conditions. I shall not accept being put in the position where I was during the dialogue. No more.

“I will put the discussion at the doctrinal level. ‘Do you agree with the great encyclicals of all the popes who preceded you? Do you agree with Quanta Cura of Pius IX, Immortale Dei and Libertas of Leo XIII, Pascendi Gregis of Pius X, Quas Primas of Pius XI, Humani Generis of Pius XII? Are you in full communion with these popes and their teachings? Do you still accept the entire Anti-Modernist Oath? Are you in favor of the social reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ? If you do not accept the doctrine of your predecessors, it is useless to talk! As long as you do not accept the correction of the Council, in consideration of the doctrine of these Popes, your predecessors, no dialogue is possible. It is useless.” (Fideliter, November-December 1988, quoted by Fr. Laisney in Archbishop Lefebvre and the Vatican, p. 223-224. Emphasis added.)

Was Benedict XVI able to answer “yes” to these questions of the saintly Archbishop during his pontificate? Were the cardinals able to? Are any of them able to answer “yes” today? Do any of the Roman authorities “accept the doctrine of [their] predecessors”?

Didn’t the Roman authorities clearly answer “no” to all of these questions during the Society’s doctrinal discussions?

Are the leaders of the SSPX still asking these questions to the Roman authorities?

Is unity in the Catholic Faith one of the General Chapter’s six conditions for making an agreement with Rome?

Then we must conclude, along with Archbishop Lefebvre, that any discussions with Roman authorities in their current state of “apostasy” are “useless”—including those of last year.

Why has SSPX policy changed so radically?

If the Archbishop couldn’t convert Rome, then nobody can—except the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Why not simply stay Catholic in our chapels, as we have been doing for many years, while praying and waiting for the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the return of Rome to the Catholic Faith?

Open Letter to Cardinal Gantin
Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops

Ecône, July 6, 1988
Eminence,
Gathered around our Superior General, the Superiors of the Districts, Seminaries and autonomous houses of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X think it good to respectfully express to you the following reflections.
You thought it good, by your letter of July 1st, to inform Their Excellencies Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer, and the four Bishops whom they consecrated on June 30, at Ecône, of the excommunication latæ sententiæ. We let you judge for yourself the value of such a declaration, coming from an authority who, in its exercise, breaks with all its predecessors down to Pope Pius XII, in worship, teaching and government of the Church.
As for us, we are in full communion with all the Popes and Bishops before the Second Vatican Council, celebrating precisely the Mass which they codified and celebrated, teaching the Catechism which they drew up, standing up against the errors which they have many times condemned in their encyclicals and pastoral letters. We let you judge on which side the rupture is to be found. We are extremely saddened by the blindness of spirit and the hardening of heart of the Roman authorities.
On the other hand, we have never wished to belong to this system which calls itself the Conciliar Church, and defines itself with the Novus Ordo Missæ, an ecuмenism which leads to indifferentism and the laicization of all society. Yes, we have no part, nullam partem habemus, with the pantheon of the religions of Assisi; our own excommunication by a decree of Your Eminence or of another Roman Congregation would only be the irrefutable proof of this. We ask for nothing better than to be declared out of communion with this adulterous spirit which has been blowing in the Church for the last 25 years; we ask for nothing better than to be declared outside of this impious communion of the ungodly. We believe in the One God, Our Lord Jesus Christ, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, and we will always remain faithful to His unique Spouse, the One Holy Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church.
To be publicly associated with this sanction which is inflicted upon the six Catholic Bishops, Defenders of the Faith in its integrity and wholeness, would be for us a mark of honor and a sign of orthodoxy before the faithful. They have indeed a strict right to know that the priests who serve them are not in communion with a counterfeit church, promoting evolution, Pentecostalism and syncretism. In union with these faithful, we make ours the words of the Prophet: “Præparate corda vestra Domino et servite Illi soli: et liberabit vos de manibus inimicorum vestrorum. Convertimini ad Eum in toto corde vestro, et auferte deos alienos de medio vestri—Open your hearts to the Lord and serve Him only: and He will free you from the hands of your enemies. With all your heart return to Him, and take away from your midst any strange gods” (I Kings 7:3).
Confident in the protection of Her who has crushed all the heresies in the world, we assure Your Eminence of our dedication to Him Who is the only Way of salvation.

Fr. Franz Schmidberger, Superior General
Fr. Paul Aulagnier, District Superior, France
Fr. Franz-Josef Maessen, District Superior, Germany
Fr. Edward Black, District Superior, Great Britain
Fr. Anthony Esposito, District Superior of Italy
Fr. François Laisney, District Superior, United States
Fr. Jacques Emily, District Superior of Canada
Fr. Jean Michel Faure, District Superior of Mexico
Fr. Gerard Hogan, District Superior of Australasia
Fr. Alain Lorans, Superior, Seminary of Ecône
Fr. Jean Paul André, Superior, Seminary of France
Fr. Paul Natterer, Superior, Seminary of Germany
Fr. Andrès Morello, Superior, Seminary of Argentina
Fr. William Welsh, Superior, Seminary of Australia
Fr. Michel Simoulin, Rector, St. Pius X University
Fr. Patrice Laroche, Vice-Rector, Seminary of Ecône
Fr. Philippe François, Superior, Belgium
Fr. Roland de Mérode, Superior, Netherlands
Fr. Georg Pflüger, Superior, Austria
Fr. Guillaume Devillers, Superior, Spain
Fr. Philippe Pazat, Superior, Portugal
Fr. Daniel Couture, Superior, Ireland
Fr. Patrick Groche, Superior, Gabon
Fr. Frank Peek, Superior, South Africa
[Emphasis added]
Is it no longer a “mark of honor” for Catholics to be considered outside the Conciliar Church?
Do SSPX leaders still “want nothing better than to be declared outside this impious communion of the ungodly”?
Do we faithful no longer have a “strict right” to know that SSPX priests are not “in communion with a counterfeit church”?
Can SSPX leaders still say that they “have never wished to belong to this system which calls itself the Conciliar Church”?
The superior general and the district superiors of 1988 put their personal signatures on this letter. Today, any priest who publicly warns the faithful against entering “full communion” with this “system” is punished by the current superior general and district superiors. We faithful, all around the world, are asking, “Why?” and no one is answering us! Is it no longer a “sign of orthodoxy” to be out of communion with the Conciliar Church?

Here is another tract I've drawn up, this one based on the SSPX big guns' letter to Cardinal Gantin in the wake of the phony excommunications of '88. Notice how the language has changed, 24 1/2 years later!

Quote

Open Letter to Cardinal Gantin
Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops

Ecône, July 6, 1988
Eminence,
Gathered around our Superior General, the Superiors of the Districts, Seminaries and autonomous houses of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X think it good to respectfully express to you the following reflections.
You thought it good, by your letter of July 1st, to inform Their Excellencies Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer, and the four Bishops whom they consecrated on June 30, at Ecône, of the excommunication latæ sententiæ. We let you judge for yourself the value of such a declaration, coming from an authority who, in its exercise, breaks with all its predecessors down to Pope Pius XII, in worship, teaching and government of the Church.
As for us, we are in full communion with all the Popes and Bishops before the Second Vatican Council, celebrating precisely the Mass which they codified and celebrated, teaching the Catechism which they drew up, standing up against the errors which they have many times condemned in their encyclicals and pastoral letters. We let you judge on which side the rupture is to be found. We are extremely saddened by the blindness of spirit and the hardening of heart of the Roman authorities.
On the other hand, we have never wished to belong to this system which calls itself the Conciliar Church, and defines itself with the Novus Ordo Missæ, an ecuмenism which leads to indifferentism and the laicization of all society. Yes, we have no part, nullam partem habemus, with the pantheon of the religions of Assisi; our own excommunication by a decree of Your Eminence or of another Roman Congregation would only be the irrefutable proof of this. We ask for nothing better than to be declared out of communion with this adulterous spirit which has been blowing in the Church for the last 25 years; we ask for nothing better than to be declared outside of this impious communion of the ungodly. We believe in the One God, Our Lord Jesus Christ, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, and we will always remain faithful to His unique Spouse, the One Holy Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church.
To be publicly associated with this sanction which is inflicted upon the six Catholic Bishops, Defenders of the Faith in its integrity and wholeness, would be for us a mark of honor and a sign of orthodoxy before the faithful. They have indeed a strict right to know that the priests who serve them are not in communion with a counterfeit church, promoting evolution, Pentecostalism and syncretism. In union with these faithful, we make ours the words of the Prophet: “Præparate corda vestra Domino et servite Illi soli: et liberabit vos de manibus inimicorum vestrorum. Convertimini ad Eum in toto corde vestro, et auferte deos alienos de medio vestri—Open your hearts to the Lord and serve Him only: and He will free you from the hands of your enemies. With all your heart return to Him, and take away from your midst any strange gods” (I Kings 7:3).
Confident in the protection of Her who has crushed all the heresies in the world, we assure Your Eminence of our dedication to Him Who is the only Way of salvation.

Fr. Franz Schmidberger, Superior General
Fr. Paul Aulagnier, District Superior, France
Fr. Franz-Josef Maessen, District Superior, Germany
Fr. Edward Black, District Superior, Great Britain
Fr. Anthony Esposito, District Superior of Italy
Fr. François Laisney, District Superior, United States
Fr. Jacques Emily, District Superior of Canada
Fr. Jean Michel Faure, District Superior of Mexico
Fr. Gerard Hogan, District Superior of Australasia
Fr. Alain Lorans, Superior, Seminary of Ecône
Fr. Jean Paul André, Superior, Seminary of France
Fr. Paul Natterer, Superior, Seminary of Germany
Fr. Andrès Morello, Superior, Seminary of Argentina
Fr. William Welsh, Superior, Seminary of Australia
Fr. Michel Simoulin, Rector, St. Pius X University
Fr. Patrice Laroche, Vice-Rector, Seminary of Ecône
Fr. Philippe François, Superior, Belgium
Fr. Roland de Mérode, Superior, Netherlands
Fr. Georg Pflüger, Superior, Austria
Fr. Guillaume Devillers, Superior, Spain
Fr. Philippe Pazat, Superior, Portugal
Fr. Daniel Couture, Superior, Ireland
Fr. Patrick Groche, Superior, Gabon
Fr. Frank Peek, Superior, South Africa
[Emphasis added]
Is it no longer a “mark of honor” for Catholics to be considered outside the Conciliar Church?
Do SSPX leaders still “want nothing better than to be declared outside this impious communion of the ungodly”?
Do we faithful no longer have a “strict right” to know that SSPX priests are not “in communion with a counterfeit church”?
Can SSPX leaders still say that they “have never wished to belong to this system which calls itself the Conciliar Church”?
The superior general and the district superiors of 1988 put their personal signatures on this letter. Today, any priest who publicly warns the faithful against entering “full communion” with this “system” is punished by the current superior general and district superiors. We faithful, all around the world, are asking, “Why?” and no one is answering us! Is it no longer a “sign of orthodoxy” to be out of communion with the Conciliar Church?  :scratchchin:

http://ourladysresistance.org/what-to-expect-at-april-16-conference.html

.

That's really astounding, VCR.  Like night and day.  

What a difference a quarter century makes,
apparently.  


I noticed this name in the list:
Fr. Jean Michel Faure, District Superior of Mexico

Is he the same one who is now a Resistance priest?  

It's interesting how pew-sitters who pretend to be in favor of
defending the Faith don't want to be bothered sitting still for a long
sermon.  I met one recently who believes that 10 minutes should be
the limit for any sermon.  What reasonable content can a priest
condense into 10 minutes?