A Letter

Eleison Comments LXXXIII

Following in the steps of Our Lord (Jn. XVIII, 23) and St. Paul (Acts, XXIII, 5), Archbishop Lefebvre gave his Society the example of never so cleaving to God's Truth as to abandon respect for the men holding God's Authority. In the midst of last week's media uproar, surely aimed rather at the Holy Father than at a relatively insignificant bishop, here is a letter written to Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos on January 28 by that bishop:

To His Eminence Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos

Your Eminence

Amidst this tremendous media storm stirred up by imprudent remarks of mine on Swedish television, I beg of you to accept, only as is properly respectful, my sincere regrets for having caused to yourself and to the Holy Father so much unnecessary distress and problems.

For me, all that matters is the Truth Incarnate, and the interests of His one true Church, through which alone we can save our souls and give eternal glory, in our little way, to Almighty God. So I have only one comment, from the prophet Jonas, I, 12:

"Take me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you."

Please also accept, and convey to the Holy Father, my sincere personal thanks for the document signed last Wednesday and made public on Saturday. Most humbly I will offer a Mass for both of you.

Sincerely yours in Christ 

+Richard Williamson

The "Re-Incommunication"

Eleison Comments LXXXII

As of course a large number of readers already know, a Decree dated Jan. 21 from the Congregation of Bishops in Rome (not Ecclesia Dei) "remitted" the "excommunicating" Decree of July 1, 1988, so that the four Society of St. Pius X bishops then declared to be "excommunicated" are now "re-incommunicated". In my opinion this latter Decree is a great step forward for the Church without being a betrayal on the part of the SSPX.

It is a great step forward for the Church because if the Church's problem ever since Vatican II has been a separation of Catholic Authority from Catholic Truth, with this Decree Catholic Authority has taken a decisive step back towards their re-union. Just as after the Motu Proprio of July, 2007, nobody could any longer say that the true rite of Mass was banned by Rome, even if they can still behave as though it is, so too now nobody can any longer say that Catholics holding to Tradition are "outside the Church". Certainly a number of Conciliarists will go on behaving as though they are, but they clearly no longer have the Pope on their side only. The difference is enormous!

Of course there is still a long way to go before the neo-modernists in Rome, conscious or unconscious, realize - if ever! - how they mistake the Faith, but as the old proverb says, "Rome was not built in a day", and it will not be repaired in a day. Nevertheless "Half a loaf is better than no bread" - ask a hungry man! - so meanwhile let us know how to thank God for this major shift of the rudder of the Conciliar Church. Let us then thank the Blessed Virgin Mary whose intervention will have been decisive, thanks to the nigh on one and three quarter million rosaries offered to her for this intention, by a number of yourselves amongst others. And let us thank and pray for Benedict XVI and all his collaborators who helped to push through this Decree, despite, for instance, a media uproar orchestrated and timed to prevent it.

However, by asking for and accepting such reconciliation with the Conciliar Church, is not the SSPX threatening to lead the way back into Conciliarism? In no way! No doubt some Conciliarists in Rome are hoping that the Decree will serve to draw the SSPX back into the fold of Vatican II, but the Decree itself, as it stands, commits the Society to nothing more than to entering into those discussions to which the Society committed itself in 2000 when it proposed the liberation of the Mass and the ending of the "excommunications" as preconditions in the first place.

Then are such discussions without danger? Certainly not! But St. Peter says we should always be "ready to satisfy every one that asks you for a reason of that hope which is in you" (I Pet. III, 15). How can the SSPX not rejoice in the opportunity to lay out in Rome, before the Roman authorities themselves, the profound doctrinal reasons which we believe to be at the root of the Church's present distress? Woe unto us Catholics of Tradition if we were not ready to give reason for that hope which is in us for the rescue of the Church! So continue to pray the Rosary, dear Catholics, for the possible realization and outcome of such discussions, so that they may serve first, last and foremost, the interests of God, of God, of God. Kyrie eleison.

La Reja, Argentina

His Excellency ordains in Argentina, December 2008

photos

Third Position

Eleison Comments LXXXI

When I am out driving somewhere in unknown territory and I come to a fork in the road, and I take the road to the left and it turns out to be a dead end, and I take the road to the right and it turns out to be a dead end, then unless I give up going anywhere, will I not turn back to the last previous fork or junction and look for any other road than the one I just came down?

To save "capitalism" in the USA, the outgoing Republican Administration has resorted to such a massive degree of Government intervention and control as to resemble more and more closely a "communist" government. And, just before the incoming Democrat Administration comes in, it gives all the appearances of resorting to the same "communist" solution for the "capitalist" problem. But ever since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, has not Communism been evidently a loser? In which case do not both Administrations resemble the motorist who turns from one dead end to another?

Of course just as diehard Communists will claim that "true" Communism was never given a fair trial, so many believers in "Capitalism" will today claim that only abuses of the system are forcing it to morph into Government control. But just as the worst horrors of Communism do not contradict, but follow from, its basic principles, so, given poor old human nature, was not free enterprise Capitalism bound to morph into that finance Capitalism now obliging the Governments to take over? After all, cannot Capitalism, named from capital - money - be defined as a maximizing of freedom for all citizens to make as much money as they will and can? And how could that not end in the stronger devouring the weaker until they become TBTF: too big to fail?

Then in what direction might one look for a third road, leading to neither implicit nor explicit atheistic materialism? How about the Sermon on the Mount? - "You cannot serve God and Mammon"... "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things (economic goods) shall be added unto you"...(Mt. VI, 24, 33). But who wants the solutions of God? Kyrie eleison.

La Reja, Argentina