Dear Friends and Benefactors,
About forty-five
journalists, all experts in Vatican and Church issues, gathered for
a press conference called by Bishop Bernard Fellay, on February 2nd,
in the prestigious Hotel Columbus, just a few steps from St. Peter's
Basilica and the Papal Palaces.
Under the splendid frescoes of Pinturicchio which
embellish the ceilings of the noble halls of the hotel, the
journalists were joined by a few guests (and at least three prelates
working at the Vatican), everybody speculating with great interest
on the announced subject of the meeting: the Letter to the
Cardinals and the long and meticulous document "From
Ecumenism to Silent Apostasy – 25 Years of Pontificate" prepared
by the Society in order to denounce before the Holy Father the most
recent ecumenical scandals.
Essentially, Bishop Fellay proved in a calm,
systematic, and erudite presentation that the new notion of
ecumenism, as understood and fostered by the hierarchy after the
Second Vatican Council, constitutes a dramatic departure from the
Catholic dogma "No salvation outside the Church." The severe term
"silent apostasy" was not coined by us, but by Pope John Paul II
himself, describing in a powerful manner the state of the world and
the souls today; we maintain that this "silent apostasy" denounced
by the pope is very much the work of his new conception of
ecumenism, which results from a strange doctrine on the nature of
the Church, of salvation, and of the Incarnation.
We have already printed an English translation of both
the Letter to the Cardinals of January 6, 2004, and the
booklet on ecumenism, as the Winter issue of St. John's Bulletin,
hoping that our faithful and friends in Ireland will read it and
pass it on to others, despite its being somewhat lengthy and despite
the poor grammar of the translator, who had only a few hours to
produce his work!
The reaction of the press was surprisingly objective.
The French newspaper Le Figaro, February 3, 2004, reported
that "Bishop Fellay, before building the bridge [between the
Society and Rome] wishes to establish the pillars of the bridge.
He wants that the entire Second Vatican Council may be revised under
the light of Tradition, and that the Vatican stops giving more
attention to the unity of Christians than to the salvation of
souls."
The press agency APIC, February 2, 2004, informs its
readers as well that "Bishop Fellay reminded that Cardinal Dario
Castrillon Hoyos, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, has
said that the Society is neither schismatic nor excommunicated," and
that "many cardinals are favourable to the Traditional Mass being
celebrated without restrictions by any priest who wishes it, but
that a good number of diocesan bishops are staunchly opposed to this
liberation of the Mass advocated by the Society of St. Pius X."
Finally, a dispatch from ZENIT , February 2,
2004, goes straight to the point saying that "the
document interprets the position of John Paul II and other Church
figures on ecumenism as a sign of the loss of the Catholic Church's
own identity, by putting it on the same level with Christian
denominations of other confessions."
Only a few days later, another big coup against ecumenism, this time
in the Roman newsletter Vidimus Dominum (www.vidimusdominum.org),
February 12, 2004, reproducing parts of an interview published by
the ultra-liberal American newspaper National Catholic Reporter,
in which Father Robert Taft, S.J., a pioneer in the dialogue with
the Orthodox Church, tells the truth of the situation.
"Dialoguing is good but if the others are in error they should be
told so in public, not in private nor in a whisper as has been done
up to now," suggests Father Taft. His judgment of Cardinal Kasper
and his politics of prudence toward the Orthodox is also very hard:
"Kasper has been given the job of building bridges with the
Orthodox, not to dynamite them." Fr. Taft calls the Orthodox
reasoning why the Catholic Church should not evangelize "absurd".
"The problem is, nobody talks to them like that because nobody knows
what I know. There are Orthodox clergy who proselytize among
Catholics; we know that for a fact." "The Russian Orthodox opened up
a parish in Palermo! All the Russians in Palermo you could fit into
a telephone booth. Who’s the priest? He’s a converted
Catholic!"
These recurrent scandals, and the increasing confusion of the poor
faithful who are now convinced that anyone can be saved in
any religion (unless one attends the Catholic Mass celebrated by
the priests of St. Pius X!), are the result of the new doctrine
preached since Vatican II.
Pope Pius XI in Mortalium Animos writes about ecumenical
gatherings like the ones we suffer in virtually every diocese since
the inter-religious meeting of Assisi in 1986: "...it is clear that
the Apostolic See cannot on any terms take part in these assemblies,
nor is it anyway lawful for Catholics either to support or to work
for such enterprises; for if they do so they will be giving
countenance to a false Christianity, quite alien to the one
Church of Christ." And in Ecclesiam Dei, the same pope
explains that "When individual men and whole peoples are thus
perfectly reconciled, the conjunction of the Church will at once be
perfected through the return of all who for whatever reasons
have been separated from Her."
True ecumenism leads the souls to the One True Church of Christ, far
from encouraging them to remain in heresy or schism! Which is
precisely what the new ecumenism is doing... All this is well
explained in the bulletin, which should be given wide publicity,
especially among conservative Catholics and clergy.
We
all want a solution to the present crisis, and we all pray for the
day in which the work of Archbishop Lefebvre will be given its
deserved place in the Church. Should we deceive ourselves with a
cosmetic arrangement? Or should we continue to denounce without
human respect the modern errors, and wait for God's hour, when we
will be called by the pope not to "integrate" within a Modernist
coalition, but to help him in the restoration of Christendom?
In
this vein, Archbishop Lefebvre wrote to the pope just before the
episcopal consecrations of 1988: "We
simply cannot [accept this spirit and proposals] despite all the
desires which we have to be in full union with You. Given this new
spirit which now rules in Rome and which You wish to communicate to
us, we prefer to continue in Tradition; to keep Tradition while
waiting for Tradition to regain its place at Rome, while waiting for
Tradition to re-assume its place in the Roman authorities, in their
minds." This will last for as long as the Good Lord has
foreseen.
Let us
therefore pray and make sacrifices for the Holy Father, for the
Bishops and for all the pastors of souls, that they may soon return
to their senses and reject this harmful ecumenism.
Please
keep helping us and praying for your priests in Ireland. I need
both, money and prayers, to open a new priory in Athlone whenever
this is feasible. I recommend this intention to your goodness and
generosity. May Our Lady reward you!
Gratefully yours in Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
Father Ramón
Anglés
