His analysis is attached. Text follows.
SSPX has defected – fo years – November 2020
The SSPX is celebrating 50 years of existence. However the SSPX no longer exists. In Thomistic philosophy a thing is defined by the four causes.
Young men in the late 60s wanted to be good Catholic priests. Some came to Archbishop Lefebvre and said what should we do? He looked for a place for them to study and came up with some places that appeared not to be infected with modernism. However they were infected with modernism and therefore unsuitable. Finally Archbishop Lefebvre realised that there was no where men could go to train to be priests. He must start a seminary. He had experience with seminaries having been both seminary professor and rector and as a bishop been responsible for ordaining priests. The first purpose and the final cause of the SSPX was to train priests who were not infected with modernism but rather “thought with the Church”. Thus the priesthood and everything pertaining to the priesthood is the final cause of the SSPX. Priests who are doctrinally solid and men of prayer. Priests who fight for the Kingship of Christ both in the world and in the Church. That have as enemies those who “have uncrowned Him.” The only reason that the SSPX existed was because Vatican II and the evil “Spirit of Vatican II”, had corrupted the training of priests.
The material cause are the men who make up the SSPX. Here the Archbishop was often obliged to work with shoddy material. Pre-Vatican II young men were better educated and more disciplined than after the social revolutions in the 60s. Men going to seminary would have already learned Latin and the catechism and the essential truths of the Faith. Generally they would have been raised in a Catholic environment. The men coming to the seminaries of Archbishop Lefebvre often did not know Latin, knew only a bit of catechism, and worst of all had been raised in a revolutionary liberal environment, that had infected them with liberalism. Some had never had a prayer life. Instead of walnut or mahogany the Archbishop was obliged to build with plywood and particle board.
The formal cause is the education and discipline these men receive at the seminary vivified by the three theological virtues and the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. Faith illuminating the mind to know the supernatural truths; hope to give purpose and zeal; and charity to make the truths lead to a greater love of God. In addition to philosophy and theology the seminarians had to study the modern errors and the acts of the Church’s magisterium condemning this errors. In this matter Archbishop Lefebvre expressed regrets that he had not demanded more study of those authors who had recognised these errors early and taught against them, e.g., Cardinal Pie and Fr. Fahey, both of whom especially defended the social reign of Christ the King.
The efficient cause was Archbishop Lefebvre himself and the men he found to assist him as professors. Sometimes these professors were infected with modernism and had to be dismissed. Later they were taken from the ranks of the priests of the SSPX. These were not trained teachers and did not have advanced degrees or education, but were generally solid in their thinking. Some were better some less good at passing on truths. Here again the Archbishop did not have much to work with. Quality professors were mostly modernists.
The Society had enemies. These were the heresy of modernism, modernists, especially those within the Vatican and the Church hierarchy, the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, novelties in doctrine, liturgy and morals, introduced in the “Spirit of Vatican II”, e.g., the new Code of Canon Law, ecuмenism ( = fraternizing with enemies of Christ the King), etc.
This society no longer exists.
The SSPX surrendered to its enemies. Bishop Fellay and Fr. Schmidberger decided that they were outside the Church and got lonely. They determined to have the SSPX join the Conciliarists, the sons of the Council. Contrariwise Archbishop Lefebvre taught “any priest wishing to remain Catholic must separate himself from the Conciliarists.”.
Fr. Davide Pagliarani, present Superior General of the organisation that retains the name Society of St. Pius X despite no longer having the substance of that Society has written a letter celebrating the 50th anniversary of its founding (November 1st, 1970).
He is doubtful that the SSPX still exists as founded and questions: “Is the flame (‘that of a fearless charity’) received from our founder still alive? Exposed to all the winds of a crisis that is prolonged indefinitely, in the Church and in society as a whole, is this precious torch not in danger of faltering and weakening?” Fr. Pagliarani never answers these questions. The correct answer is “Yes, this flame has been extinguished.”
Fr. Pagliarani acknowledges: “What is our fight? From the beginning, it was, and certainly still is today, the fight for the preservation of the priesthood; and in addition to it, the fight for the Mass and for the preservation of the liturgy. It is also unquestionably the battle to preserve the faith and to defend Catholic doctrine, which is tragically threatened, even in Rome itself, by the galloping apostasy of this century. Finally, and almost as a resume, it is our struggle in favour of Christ the King, for His reign in souls and over nations.”
Fr. Pagliarani is more or less correct in this analysis of the fight but he clearly lacks understanding of it. The preservation of the priesthood demanded training priests with the true doctrine of the Church, a correct understanding of the Mass and a determination to fight against the errors of our time, essentially the heresy of Modernism, which includes all heresies because it denies that Truth is exclusive and one, admitting of multiple conflicting truths. We kept the Mass and the Liturgy. There wasn’t much fight involved we just did what was traditional. What had always been done. To say that the faith and Catholic Doctrine are threatened even in Rome is not entirely accurate. In this entire letter Fr. Pagliarini barely mentions the Second Vatican Council. Yet, if there had been no Vatican II, there would have been no need for the SSPX. The errors are not tragically even in Rome. Rome is the source of all the errors of faith, doctrine and morals that the SSPX fought against. The Post Conciliar Popes implementing the teachings of the Council. The apostasy is centred and headquartered in the Vatican. His conclusion though is correct, but incomplete, our struggle is for the Reign of Christ the King in souls, over nations, but also in the Church, where Christ has also been uncrowned.
But, Fr. Pagliarani reduces this fight to “the spiritual life”. He quotes Archbishop Lefebvre. “Our entire Society is at the service of this King: it knows no other. All its thoughts, love and activities are for Him, for His reign, for His glory and for the completion of His redemptive work on earth. We have no other goal, no other reason for being priests, other then to facilitate the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ; and in doing so we bring the spiritual life to souls.” And latches onto the last sentence “bring the spiritual life to souls.”
He turns this quote on its head. What Archbishop Lefebvre puts as secondary, or a necessary by-product of the work, i.e., bringing the spiritual life to souls. Fr. Pagliarani makes primary. Archbishop Lefebvre makes the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ primary. Fr. Pagliarani makes the spiritual life primary, saying: “So this is our combat: to allow Our Lord Jesus Christ to be the axis of our spiritual life, the source of all our thoughts, all our words and all our actions.” “This crusade is indeed ours: to fight spiritually, supported by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, so that the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ may be communicated to souls and to society as a whole.”
Fr. Pagliarani mentions nothing about Truth vs the Lie. Nothing about dogma vs false opinions, nothing about the errors of Vatican II. Why not? For him that fight is over. We are now with Vatican II and the Conciliar Church. “There is nothing new left to say. Even if if it obvious that we must not remain silent but continue to speak, in preaching the truth and in denouncing the errors of the Second Vatican Council. But... there is still something to be given, in reality. This is the fundamental battle. This situation, with all its difficulties, requires each of us to make an effort to
offer Our Blessed Lord something more profound, something more radical, than what we have given to Him up to now: it is the unconditional gift of ourselves.”
Fr. Pagliarani emphasises the words “say” and “given”. According to him everything has been said. There is no doctrinal battle left to wage. We will just continue to speak, presumably repeating old arguments, against the errors of Vatican II. In fact the SSPX is not speaking against the errors of Vatican II. In fact there is much new to say as the Pope continues to draw new errors out of the docuмents of Vatican II. Is the response to Amoris Laetitiae complete? Nothing to say about Pachamama in the Vatican? Where is the defence of the family in response to Pope Francis’ claim that people sinning against nature have a right to family life? Fr. Pagliarani is correct that the SSPX has nothing new to say because it has ceased to combat Vatican errors.
Archbishop Vigano is finding plenty of new things to say about the errors of the Conciliar Church. The SSPX cannot say these things because it has capitulated and been silenced. It can no longer defend the rights of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is no longer on the side of Christ the King. Just last week, Fr. Daniel Themann, SSPX district superior of Australia, forbade members to make a public protest against a very public satanic worship here in Queensland. They made reparation quietly in their chapel.
In fact Fr. Pagliarani lies. There is plenty new to say. But the SSPX is not saying it and is not going to say it. They no longer defend the honour of Christ the King.
However the SSPX has something new to give. Something it has not given up to now, the unconditional gift of ourselves. Fr. Pagliarani is insulting the members of the SSPX and also its rule. In fifty years has no one following the rule of the SSPX given himself unconditionally to God? Has the rule of the SSPX been incapable of leading anyone to sanctity? For example, Fr. La Praz, did he not give himself unconditionally to God?
The opposite is true. Without standing for the Truth one cannot give himself unconditionally to God. The spiritual live is founded on the Truth. If we don’t defend the Truth we cannot have a solid spiritual life. A spiritual life not based on Truth is only based on emotions and feelings and cannot lead to the unconditional surrender of oneself. This is why Protestantism is sterile and incapable of producing saints. It is not founded on Truth and a love for Truth. The SSPX has sterilised itself by capitulating to the Conciliar Church. It is now incapable of doing good.
Weariness is a recurring theme in Fr. Pagliarani’s letter.
Page 1: “battles which persist and whose end is nowhere in sight are likely to fatigue us.
Page 2: “if by habit of weariness we weaken in this combat”
Page 6: “quite simply we have grown weary” ... “and finally they have become discouraged” ... “The doctrinal justifications soon come to reinforce this sluggishness and fatigue: “No more war”
Page 7: “It is also a danger, after fifty years of fighting, to allow oneself to be overcome by this weariness and discouragement”
It is true that sometimes when a man gets old “the fight goes out of him”. He is no longer interested in the combat for the Faith. However, this is not the case with the saints. They never weary, never grow tired of the battle. Archbishop Lefebvre never wearied of the fight, He was already retired when he realised that he had to take up arms in a new battle against the Conciliar Church. He had served the Vatican his whole priestly life. Now in his retirement it betrayed the Faith and he was obliged to lead the battle against the enemy within the Church. The enemy who had taken over the Vatican. After 1988 when he ordained the four bishops he finally had time to look at the modern errors and see how bad the Vatican had become. Then he realised that “any priest wanting to remain Catholic must separate himself from the Conciliar Church.”
Bishop Lazo likewise did not weary in the battle. He only took up arms in his old age against the modernists in the Vatican. Now Archbishop Vigano is doing the same.
However, the SSPX has grown weary and fatigued and laid done its arms. It has “nothing new to say.” It is very strange that a Society becomes wearied. There are young new members entering the SSPX every year. Normally the young new members would be zealous, “full of beans” and willing and able to take the baton from fatigued members. Very few of the current members of the SSPX have been fighting this fight for fifty years. Fr. Themann was ordained less than twenty years ago yet he is too weary and fatigued to permit a public defence of Christ the King against a satanic attack.
One problem is that for the last fifteen or more years the seminaries of the SSPX have not been giving the seminarians the doctrinal formation to combat the modern errors. Nor have they been given the Catholic spirit that makes them want to fight for Christ the King. Modernism and liberalism have been promoted in the seminaries. The ordinands are willing to compromise on the truth and eagerly work with and submit to the modernist diocesan bishops. Fr. Wegner once boasted that he had made deals with forty bishops, all of whom were modernist conciliar liberals. Also they have taken from them the spirit of sacrifice. For example, Fr. Le Roux, rector at Winona, introduced meat on Fridays on ordination day. We are celebrating so we have meat.
The SSPX has defected doctrinally, spiritually and lacks the spirit of mortification. It is now doctrinally and spiritually sterile. The members will find it impossible to make the unconditional gift of self that Fr. Pagliarani demands. Most will not even be interested in such talk. The modernist spirit which has been welcomed into the SSPX by Bishop Fellay and the other superiors opposes the love of Truth; opposes the spirit of sacrifice; opposes everything Catholic. It has sterilized the SSPX. Every priest that has remained in the SSPX after its capitulation has decided explicitly or at least tacitly to accept this new orientation of the SSPX. They are no longer militant Catholics. The Church is indefectible. The SSPX was not. It has defected.
This ongoing capitulation has long been in the works and intention of Bishop Fellay. The acceptance that the bishops excommunications were valid was already a surrender. Since then there has been liberalisation and the influx of modernism. It is a tragedy for the Faith.
Pure Speculation
The following is merely speculation. After the Church was taken over by Conciliarism and a counterfeit Church occupied the hierarchy; the SSPX arose to be a bastion of the Faith and a source of grace and blessings for the world. Now it is gone. Since it has joined with the modernists in the Conciliar Church it is incapable of appeasing the wrath of God. Incapable of being the salt of the earth. There is no organisation to stand against the onslaught of the forces of evil in the form of the atheistic communist conquest of society. If the SSPX were still defending the rights of Christ the King would society be as it is today? I think not. The sterilisation of the SSPX stopped the last great source of grace and blessings for the world. The few pockets of resistance remaining are incapable of stopping or even impeding the communist enslavement of the world.
Lord, have mercy on us, Fr. Edward F. MacDonald
9 November 2020
Dedication of the Basilica of the Holy Saviour.
Topic: Fr MacDonald Article on SSPX Anniversary (Read 1089 times)