A Book Review by Emanuel Valenza

Mitre and Crook,
by Father Bryan Houghton,
1979, 215 pp. Reprinted by Roman Catholic Books, Harrison,
New York, and available from The Angelus Press, Box 1387,
Dickinson, TX 77539, $13.95.

"BY THEIR FRUITS thou shalt know them," said Our Lord. If the fruits of Vatican II could be summarized in one sentence, perhaps the most apt line is Tacitus', whom Michael Davies quotes in Pope John's Council, Volume II of his Liturgical Revolution series. That line is: "When they create a wilderness they call it a renewal." That we are living in a spiritual wilderness, and that the wilderness is being called a renewal is obvious. The New Ordo Mass, which Father Bryan Houghton, speaking through the mouth of his main character Bishop Edmund Forester, calls a "Eucharistic picnic" (p. 21), has "produced nothing but empty churches" (p. 27). Yet the myth persists that we are in the midst of a "liturgical renewal." Propaganda concerning "renewal of the priestly life" flourishes even as laicization and the closing of seminaries have reached record numbers. Laicization would not be possible if bishops took the attitude of the ficticious Edmund Forester, who is "dead against [it]" (p. 55). Convents, too, are closing en masse. "One of the most astonishing social phenomena in the first half of this century," Forester observes, "was the spread of convents" (p. 166). Not so today; thousands of nuns have left their convents. Nonetheless the revolutionaries insist we are witnessing "the renewal of religious life." Let us not forget the tragic state of affairs of the laity. Forester points out that we are "in the absurd position where practicing Catholics [have] lost the Faith whereas the faithful [refuse] to practice" (p. 189). So much for "the renewal of the apostolate of the laity." And of course all this havoc is the work of the Holy Spirit, say the rebels. "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God," is Forester's answer to such nonsense (p. 143).

Deciding that "the revolutionary process shall go no further" in his diocese (p. 11), Bishop Forester issues an Ad clerum which explains the method and content of the revolution.

He states that the revolution is not concerned with dogmas but with "orientations" and "outlook." A striking example of this face involves Archbishop Lefebvre. In a letter dated July 10, 1975, Pope Paul VI demanded of Lefebvre "a public act of submission to the Council, to the post-conciliar reforms and to the 'orientations' to which the Pope himself is pledged." Although Father Houghton quotes from Pope Paul's letter, he does not quote Archbishop Lefebvre's response. In a letter dated December 3, 1976, His Grace wrote to the Holy Father and addressed the topic of the Council, its reforms, and its orientations. The letter seems to be a reply to Pope Paul's letter of July 10, 1975, but I'm not sure—the time lapse suggests that it might not be. In any case the subject matter is the same. Here are some key passages:

Bishop Forester asks and answers a pertinent question: "Is Lefebvre supposed to submit to the administrative follies which are still to come, apart from those which already exist? But to submit to the 'orientations' to which the Pope feels pledged, is perfectly preposterous" (pp. 196-7).

Apropos of its method, the revolution, according to Bishop Forester, "has never revealed its aim. None of us can picture the sort of Church it has in mind" (p. 11). A moot point. The infamous "Call to Action" Conference was held in Detroit in 1976—some three years before Mitre and Crook was published. It consisted of about 1,340 delegates from 152 dioceses and 1,100 observers from around the United States. A clear picture of the kind of Church the revolutionaries have in mind was presented: people receiving communion while living in adulterous unions; women priests and bishops; the sanctioning of artificial birth control and abortion; approval of Marxism, socialism and pacifism as doctrinally true; the creation of a democratic, classless Church; ordination of married men; priests allowed to marry; revocation of the vow of celibacy of priests and religious—and much more. (See Father Vincent Miceli's Women Priests and Other Fantasies, pp. 208-215.)

As far as the content of the revolution is concerned, the first and most important victim was the Mass. Having celebrated the New Ordo Mass for seven years, Bishop Forester restores the Immemorial Mass in his diocese. Years later, close to death because of cancer, he reflects: "For seven years I compromised with the world and my side of the sacrifice was somehow impure, equivocal….But by God's grace I again stand erect and clean before His altar" (p. 145).

The Ad clerum, needless to say, proved to be unpopular among the revolutionaries, and they hurled the cliches that are reserved for traditionalists.

Forester is accused of being divisive. As usual, in reply Forester gets to the heart of the matter: "So the fact that I have called a halt in my own diocese to the process of auto-demolition is 'state having the nature to divide.' Of course it has: from auto-demolition, from suicide" (p. 79).

A words about divisiveness. Jesus Christ was the most divisive person who ever lived. "Do not think that I have come to send peace upon the earth; I have come to bring a sword, not peace. For this I have come to set a man at variance with his father, and a daughter with her mother, and a daughter-in-law with her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be those of his own household" (Matt. 10:34-36). Despite always doing what pleased His Father, Christ was persecuted and crucified. Moreover, He foretold that persecution would always be the lot of His disciples (Mk. 18:9; Lk. 21:12). Because of dangers, trials, and hardships. Christ told the Apostles to carry swords (Lk. 22:36). The point is that doing God's will is divisive because goodness is divisive of evil, and vice versa. "If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you" (John 15:20). Because the will of God is constantly at odds with the wisdom of the world, Christians should expect suffering in following Christ. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me" (Matt. 16:24). "For unto this are you called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow His steps" (I Peter 2:21). Christ reserves His most divisive words for the General Judgment: "Come, blessed of My Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;….Depart from me, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:34,41).

Another charge against traditionalists is disloyalty to the Pope. In defense, Bishop Forester makes a valid distinction between loyalty to the divine institution of the Papacy and loyalty to its temporary incumbent. History provides many examples of Catholics—not a few of them saints—who opposed a Pope out of loyalty to the institution of the Papacy.

Today, however, as Forester explains, the situation is reversed. Heresy with regard to the Papacy is permitted so long as one does not say something negative about the Pope. Heretics go free; defenders of orthodoxy are punished. Again, Forester cites the case of Archbishop Lefebvre who "gets into endless trouble for maintaining that the personal administration of the present Pontiff is an unmitigated disaster" (p. 35).

During a revolution, Forester remarks, authority often becomes "uncertain," "arbitrary," "ambiguous," and thus an appeal to authority is "ridiculous." The individual is given a choice: "With your eyes wide open, quite deliberately, you will have to decide whether you believe in the Revelation handed down to you by the tradition, testimony and authority of the Church, as expressed in its formularies, or whether you believe in an evolving religion which emerges from your own self-expression" (p. 74).

This is the key—obedience to the Deposit of Faith. It is true that all authority is from God; that the superior is God's representative and speaks and commands in His Name (Romans 13:1ff). But it is also true that those in authority can abuse their power by commanding what is opposed to God's will. And authority that is tyrannical and blasphemously abuses its power is attributed to Satan, not God; those in power become instruments of Satan—the Dragon (Apoc. 13:2). In such cases we ought to obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29). Blind obedience to civil or sacred authority, therefore, is not a virtue but a vice. Because the superior is a representative of God, his words and decisions must be in harmony with God's. Where is God's will disclosed? In Revelation, in the Deposit of Faith. We know we are obeying God when we obey the Deposit of Faith: "If that abides in you which you have heard from the beginning, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father" (I John 2:24).

Bishop Forester is at his best in demolishing the revolutionaries' delation that the Tridentine Mass is illegal (pp. 88-102). After examining the myriad documents in which the Mass has been lost, he concludes: "It is to be observed…that the so-called Tridentine Rite' does not exist by the positive law of one Pope which the next is at liberty to undo. It exists by immemorial custom to which the laity who attend it have as much right as the clergy who celebrate it…The New Ordo is…only a permission after all. It is merely a licit exception, a derogation, to the previous laws which are still in force. They have not been abrogated" (pp. 89, 94).

Perhaps the most striking characteristic of the post-conciliar Church is hatred of the truth. Heresies, scandals, lies, deceptions, and cliches are the norm. Those who defend the truth and denounce error are ostracized. Case in point: Father Bryan Houghton. Mitre and Crook, published in March of 1979, was "virtually suppressed," says Father Houghton, "in June of the same year when under a thousand copies had been sold." A publisher was hard to come by. No wonder! The book provides heavy artillery against the revolutionaries. Since then several publishers have made the book available. A debt of gratitude is owed Roman Catholic Books for reprinting this outstanding volume.