Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
St. Linus - Pope, Martyr
J.M.J.


"The Rector's Letter"

MODERNISTIC RATS

Dear friends and benefactors,

     Truth cannot grow old. The years follow one another, men die, and all
things pass, but only truth remains, unspoiled, intact. Fruit of the
intrinsic relation existing between intelligence and reality, Truth escapes
indeed the frailty of events and of men. Even Better, Truth transcends it by
attaining the very being of things. What is true one day cannot become false
the following day. Truth also keeps intact its power of attraction. As our
intelligence naturally aspires to understand the world that surrounds us, it
cannot be satisfied for long with the fables it is fed. Only Truth satisfies
the intelligence.

     Immutable in itself, Truth is however always new. We could easily
imagine that with the passing of time Truth would lose its newness, obliged
to repeat tirelessly the same thing to every generation, one after the
other, forever stuck in the same ruts! But it is not so: Truth, although
being always essentially the same, remains always to be discovered. We can
never tire of Truth, since it puts our souls in relation with reality.

     It is different with error. Error ages badly! And it grows old taking
jealous care of putting on all the artifices of its make-up. Aren't they its
single weapon of seduction? We must not be impressed by the aggressive
campaigns of its publicity agents, who well know that behind their masks
there is only a void, but still try to put us off track! This emptiness of
error explains why it fears the light so much and prefers going to ground,
as the common rodents with which it shares more than one trait . . .  be it
only its disgusting aspect!

     The Modernist can boast of being a past master in this art of
dissimulation. Leo XIII and St. Pius X multiplied in vain their increasingly
precise and solemn warnings against the innovations which were being
introduced into the Church. Such warnings were ineffective. They were not
enough. The troublemakers - let us call them by their true name: the
heretics - cried out and claimed to be the unhappy and innocent victims of
malicious interpretations! Saint Pius X then decided to reveal their hidden
intentions in the luminous encyclical PASCENDI, which we celebrate the
centenary this September. Advancing disguised, the heretics refused, indeed,
to leave the Church, undermining it from the interior. They could not have
followed better the instructions and the methods of Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ, the true
parent of this pernicious error.

     Born in those strange and hidden, noxious chambers where, during long
years, was prepared the ruin of Holy Mother Church, Modernism refused to be
presented as a coherent doctrine. Thus enabling the modernists, spread
throughout the Church, to deny shamelessly the existence of any such
organization! This absence of official doctrine and this dishonest refusal
to show themselves openly gave them the advantage of settling with impunity
at the very heart of the Church, corrupting many promising young souls,
surreptitiously gaining them to their cause. One of the glories of St. Pius
X, and not the least, is to have managed to present in PASCENDI the
synthesis of this scattered, diffuse, elusive system which Modernism was at
that time and brand it, qualifying it very precisely as the "main sewer of
all heresies"!

     We should read this encyclical to know the modernistic heresy and to
learn how to recognize it behind its multiple and hideous masks. An error is
always defined by its comparison to the truth! Saint Pius X denounces this
heresy vigorously and with a high degree of accuracy. We may affirm that
PASCENDI remains the best and surest synthesis, unequalled to date, of the
modernistic heresy! Moreover, firmly established upon the immutable
principles of a sound philosophy and a sounder theology, the encyclical
transcends fashions and remains today, more than ever, relevant - since
Modernism, raising again its ugly head, enjoys what it thinks to be its
final triumph.

     Within the limits of this simple letter, we cannot have the pretension
of exposing in detail the dense contents of the encyclical, but we will
limit ourselves to indicate its plan, hoping that this rapid overview will
be an invitation to read directly its text.

     Saint Pius X does not hide that his task is particularly delicate
because the heresy ahs already established itself within the sanctuary of
doctrine, in the very bosom of Holy Mother Church. This infiltration is so
profound that the saint Pope wonders whether the "Man of Perdition" (of whom
the Apocalypse speaks) is not already at work! After a few lines of
introduction, which underline the urgency and importance of the encyclical,
the Pope exposes in a masterly way in what the modernistic doctrine
consists, and then he explains, by showing some of its causes, why this
heresy is from now on installed at the very center of the Church. Lastly,
faithful to his role of Shepherd, he presents the remedies necessary to
fight this effectively pernicious error and which are of a practical nature
solemnly asking the bishops of the whole world to assist him in his fight.

     Unmasked, the modernists themselves were forced to acknowledge that the
Pope denounced perfectly their error! In fact, he took away all its means of
seduction by revealing its true nature, and he clearly showed the way to
victory by pointing out with which weapons it was necessary to fight this
monstrous heresy. How come, then, that this powerful encyclical did not stop
Modernism dead on its tracks?

     In fact, the modernists reacted in accordance with their own nature, as
rats! The latter indeed, when they are flushed out, build quickly new hoes
where they can, at leisure, continue their gnawing away. And so they did.
Immense holes were dug, such as the "Liturgical Movement", while theology
was undermined by the disastrous "New Theology".

     Pius XII tried in vain to oppose the progression of the error. His
condemnations were useless. Hidden away, in the shadows of its dark holes,
the modernist heresy waited patiently until the arrival of the hour for
emerging in the daylight to its final triumph. And thus, we had the Second
Vatican Council . . .

     PASCENDI is today more relevant than ever. If we were to doubt it, the
miserable state of Holy Mother Church, corroded by the modernistic error,
would remind us of it! Let us not be easily deceived: the evolution of
Modernism is only one effect of its make-up. The error does not change, it
only evolves. The principles stated in the encyclical are always valid to
judge Modernism . . .  and to condemn it as an unbearable insult made
against intelligence and the virtue of faith.

     In the hope that you will not hesitate to open this encyclical to
celebrate with dignity the centenary of such noble docuмent!

In Christo sacerdote et Maria.

Fr. Yves le Roux