february 2008 $4.45 “Instaurare omnia in Christo” A Journal of Roman Catholic Tradition The Ordeal of Chaplain Fr. Kapaun BOTHs book nd a w Ne ve d jesus, make me worthy In Black... cHILDRENS’ mISSAL Originally published in 1960, Angelus Press was fortunate enough to acquire and sell thousands of originals in years past until those supplies dried up. We have now reprinted this classic in stunning full color. A prayer book for the young boy and girl in a language so simple that every child can understand, combining much useful instruction for Communion and Confirmation with a large selection of devotions and prayers. It is truly a beautiful little book. Ideal for First Holy Communions and Confirmations, but suitable for any occasion (or no occasion). Everything a Catholic child must know about the practice of the Catholic Faith & spirituality–all packed into 287 pages. Includes tons of prayers and over 90 illustrations (over half are in full color). ...or White • 287pp, 4" x 5½", sewn, gold-embossed lexotone cover, BLACK STK# 8246 $14.95 287pp, 4" x 5½", sewn, gold-embossed lexotone cover, WHITE, STK# 8248 $14.95 h Fr e s s int R e pr Mar ian CHILDR EN’S MISSAL o I m pr • • • • Crucifix page with indulgenced prayer First Holy Communion remembrance page Some things you must know about God The meaning of life “My Child, Give Me thy Heart” Morning prayers Evening prayers The Holy Mass Meaning of Mass A method of following the Mass (profusely illustrated) Prayers after Mass Things every Mass server should know Manner of Serving at Mass The Seven Sacraments On Sin Confession Examination of Conscience After the Examination Holy Communion Prayers before Communion Prayers after Communion Preparation for First Communion The Sacrament of Confirmation Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament The Stations of the Cross (each Station illustrated in full color) Litany of the Sacred Heart Litany of the Most Holy Name of Jesus Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary Litany of St. Joseph The Catholic Child and Parents The Catholic Child and the Priest The Catholic Child and the Religious Sister The Catholic Child in Church The Catholic Child and Confession The Catholic Child and Holy Communion The Catholic Child and the Rosary The Catholic Child and Indulgences The Catholic Child and the Sacred Heart The Catholic Child and the Blessed Virgin The Catholic Child and St. Joseph The Catholic Child and the Saints The Catholic Child and the Souls in Purgatory The Catholic Child and Vocation The Ten Commandments The Six Precepts of the Church The Beatitudes A short and simple Way of Life for a Child. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • If you have a child aged 4-8 and are looking for a Missal suited to its capabilities, look no further. Angelus Press is proud to make available what we consider the best missal for children in this age bracket. Originally published in 1958, we, at one point, acquired and sold thousands of originals. After those supplies were exhausted, we decided to reprint this classic in full color. It includes the Ordinary of the Mass in large print English (with 35 color photos), the readings for all Sundays and major Holydays (with 13 color illustrations), instructions on when to sit, stand, and kneel, prayers for before and after Holy Communion, the indulgenced prayer before a crucifix, a child’s preparation for Confession and the prayers of the priest and responses of the laity for the Missa Recitata (in Latin and English). The large print, sturdy construction, and color illustrations make it a great missal for children. 156pp, 4" x 5½", sewn, gold-embossed burgundy lexotone cover, STK# 8239 $12.95 2008 Benedictine Desktop Calendar N EWI NG ER O FF “Dear Father Novak, ...If only you knew what the monks suffered to produce these desktop calendars!”–Brother Bernard The traditional Benedictine monks of Silver City, New Mexico, have created a stunning desktop calendar. One page for each day of the year. Each page contains a passage from the Rule of St. Benedict, a picture from the monastery appropriate to the passage, day, date and feast day. Twentyseven pictures are full color; the rest being “sepia-tone” or duo-tone for an antique look suitable to the most ancient of all religious orders in the Roman Church. The photos offer a glimpse into every aspect of monastic life while the passages from the Rule help you to understand the basis and principles of monasticism. You will quickly see that monks are quite different on one level, and very similar to the rest of us on another–and that is that we must all strive for holiness. The passages from the Rule are very inspiring, and you will quickly see their application to your own spiritual life. A monk is a man set apart from the world, in order to better accomplish what we are all expected to accomplish–a likeness to Christ. Order now as supplies are limited. A substantial portion of the sale of each calendar goes to support the monks of Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery in Silver City. Help them by buying a calendar. Feed your soul all year long by buying a calendar! You will NOT regret it. STK# 8250 $19.50 “Instaurare omnia in Christo—To restore all things in Christ.” Motto of Pope St. Pius X The ngelus A Journal of Roman Catholic Tradition 2915 Forest Avenue “To publish Catholic journals and place them in the hands of honest men is not enough. It is necessary to spread them as far as possible that they may be read by all, and especially by those whom Christian charity demands we should tear away from the poisonous sources of evil literature.” —Pope St. Pius X February 2008 Volume XXXI, Number 2 • Kansas City, Missouri 64109 English-language Editor and Publisher for the International Society of Saint Pius X letter from the editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Fr. Kenneth Novak PublisheR Fr. John Fullerton Editor Fr. Kenneth Novak Assistant Editor Mr. James Vogel operations manager Mr. Michael Sestak Editorial assistant and proofreading Miss Anne Stinnett Design and Layout Mr. Simon Townshend MARKETING Mr. Christopher McCann comptroller Mr. Robert Wiemann, CPA customer service Mrs. MaryAnne Hall Mr. John Rydholm Miss Rebecca Heatwole information technology consultant Mr. Cory Bosley Shipping and Handling Mr. Jon Rydholm the ordeal of chaplain fr. kapaun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 First Lieutenant Ray M. (Mike) Dowe, Jr. catholic and cultured . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Dr. Andrew Childs sisters of the society of saint pius x . . . . . . . . . . 19 Browerville, Minnesota, USA fruits of our rosary Christendom crusade for the mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 NEWS Angelus Press Edition Bishop Bernard Fellay do we worship the same god? Christendom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 NEWS Angelus Press Edition Fr. François Knittel book reviews for fathers and sons: . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 The Last Crusade by Dr. Warren Carroll A Shepherd in Combat Boots by William L. Maher Mr. Dennis Hammond catechism of the Part 9 crisis in the church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Fr. Matthias Gaudron Questions and answers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Fr. Peter Scott december 2007 writing contest winning entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 The Angelus Monthly photo writing contest . . . . 44 The Angelus (ISSN 10735003) is published monthly under the patronage of St. Pius X and Mary, Queen of Angels. Publication office is located at 2915 Forest Ave., Kansas City, MO 64109. PH (816) 753-3150; FAX (816) 753-3557. Periodicals Postage Rates paid at Kansas City, MO. ©2008 by Angelus Press. Manuscripts are welcome and will be used at the discretion of the editors. ON OUR COVER: Fr. Kapaun celebrated Mass in the field somewhere in North Korea (1950). Picture taken by Col. Raymond A. Skeehan, M.D., who wrote in 2005: “Being an amateur photographer, I took pictures, and sent home letters several times a week to my wife. She would develop the film in our little darkroom at home and send copies of the pictures to friends and families of the soldiers. I took the picture of Fr. Kapaun that appears [on the magazine cover], with my little camera, as well as the picture of Father repairing his bicycle.” The Angelus Subscription Rates 1 year 2 years 3 years US $35.00 Foreign Countries (inc. Canada & Mexico) $55.00 $65.00 $105.00 $100.00 $160.00 All payments must be in US funds only. Online subscriptions: $15.00/year (the online edition is available around the 10th of the preceding month). To subscribe visit: www.angelusonline.org. Register for free to access back issues 14 months and older plus many other site features.  Letter from the Editor The three missals that our Angelus Press partners helped us to publish are now in stock–the 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal, and the two children’s missals, Jesus, Make Me Worthy and the Marian Children’s Missal. The adult missal is a proven bestseller and we know the children’s missals will sell well, too, especially in the aftermath of Summorum Pontificum. Of Summorum Pontificum, however, we should remember that “A swallow does not make a summer,” even though momentum by whatever motivation counts for a lot. In fact, the “internal dynamism” accredited to the Novus Ordo Mass by Fr. George Cottier, formerly the house theologian of Pope John Paul II, may soon be applied to the 1962 Rite. The Society of St. Pius X does not claim the Latin Mass as its exclusive property. On the contrary, it is obvious that it is using whatever leverage it has to guarantee that it be returned to all the members of the Church as their birthright. It is encouraged by and practically encouraging to those who show interest and inquire of the Society to be educated and, in the case of several priests, even be trained to celebrate the Mass and minister exclusively by it. This includes of course whichever squads of acolytes need to be trained to serve this Mass. All the trash talk of the past years is now working as reverse advertising for the Society of St. Pius X and Angelus Press. Priests who want the items for the Latin Mass are coming to the Society. People who want the low-down on the Latin Mass are coming to us. Despite a probable proliferation of Latin Masses in some quarters, it is obvious the Society of St. Pius X must still exist because it has ongoing reasons to do so. In every case, while the Latin Mass is the centerpiece in importance, it is not the only important thing, especially if the Latin Mass is only the newest sensation, smells and bells and all. What about the fullness of doctrine? What about the Catholic life meant to match the Mass? “What about its radiation into the established institutions–education, medicine, politics, economics, and law?” asks Fr. Franz Schmidberger. These are issues which remain unsettled and unsettling amidst the Summorum Pontificum euphoria. As long as Rome insists that the Old Mass is really the New Mass and vice-versa, they will remain so. In the meantime, the Society and Angelus Press still have all the Catholic candy. There’s no way anyone is going to give away the candy store. After Campos, why would anybody want to give Cardinal Castrillon another storefront? The newest book from Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre will remind us that the fight is far from over. Due by the end of January from Angelus Press is The Mass of All Time, the compilation of his lifetime’s thoughts on every part of the Latin Mass with a special section on his warnings about the Novus Ordo Mass. May the testimony of Archbishop Lefebvre convince all his readers that to maintain that the Old and New Masses are the same Mass is like saying Gregorian and rap are the same music. God help the family that chooses the new convenience of a start-up Latin Mass and sacrifices thereby what should be its conviction, life, principles, and all, to the roots. Where is the Summorum Pontificum seminary for your son, Dad? Where is the Summorum Pontificum convent for your daughter, Dad? A Latin Mass, strictly speaking, never made a tradCat, and a Latin Mass by itself–here, there, anywhere, and by anybody–breeds a schizophrenic comfort zone which leans heavily toward The-World-IsWhere-It’s-At and away from any Catholic heroism for the common good. Speaking of heroism, I want you to be introduced by this Angelus to Chaplain Capt. Fr. Emil Kapaun (say: Kay’-puhn), the resourceful farmboy from Pilsen, Kansas, who served in India during WWII and then in the Korean Conflict where he died in the hands of the Red Chinese. Read the book on him, A Shepherd in Combat Boots (p.13). Already a “Servant of God,” his case is proceeding toward canonization as a martyr for the Faith. The postulator for the case will be visiting Pilsen from Rome in February (2008) to conduct interviews and gather more evidence. Father was no fan of war. In any case, he was engaged in the war of saving souls. Says a fellow prisoner about Fr. Kapaun: In his religious viewpoints, he was a very dogmatic individual, with no leeway whatsoever in the doctrines of the Church. He felt anybody who believed in a religious philosophy should accept this positively without qualms, unquestionably without consideration for leniency, and anyone who partially participated in religion should not belong. He said that if you belong to this religion, you must accept all of its doctrines. You must fulfill the rituals of the religion plus its holy days without asking for relief regardless of whether they seem markedly out of context in the modern world. We always lost in the attempt to liberalize his thinking of religion by throwing out quotations from the Bible and [we] ended up saying this is my creed and my belief and here it is in black and white (ibid., p.142). “Roger that, Captain.” I nominate you to head the Ecclesia Dei Commission. “Semper Fi.” If anyone (a war vet?) can testify to Fr. Kapaun’s heroic virtue, he’s invited to write Mrs. Rose Mary Neuwirth, 2035 290th, Marion, KS 66861. She has available a number of rosary-sized metal crucifixes which evoke the barbed wire of Father’s prison camp and also Fr. Kapaun commemorative medals. Each are available for a $12 donation. Two hundred copies of A Saint Among Us, the definitive memory book with the best photographs, are available for a $35 donation each. A dvd of Father’s life is offered for a $20 donation. Orders should be sent to the address above and checks made out to “Father Kapaun Guild.” Ask Mrs. Neuwirth to add your address to the mailing list to receive updates and announcements concerning Fr. Emil Kapaun. Instaurare Omnia in Christo, Fr. Kenneth Novak P.S. In a recent conversation with the Editor, Mrs. Neuwirth asked that we pray for the health of Fr. Kapaun’s younger brother, Eugene, who with his wife, Helen, is a resident of an assisted living center in Wichita, Kansas. She also asked that we intercede for the repose of the soul of their devout unmarried and slightly handicapped daughter, Rosann, who was attacked and murdered in May (2007) while in a Wichita parking lot. Her two alleged assailants are awaiting trial. THE ORDEAL OF CHAPLAIN FR. KAPAUN 3 KANSAS SHEPHERD IN COMBAT BOOTS “Servant of God” Chaplain Capt. Fr. Emil Kapaun of the 1st Cavalry Division, US Army He wore the cross of the Chaplain branch instead of the crossed rifles of the infantry, but he was, I think, the best foot soldier I ever knew, and the bravest man, and the kindest. His name was Emil Joseph Kapaun, and he was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. But the men he served in the prison camps of Korea didn’t care whether he was Catholic or Baptist, Lutheran or Presbyterian. To all of them, Catholic, Protestant and Jew alike, and to men who professed no formal faith at all, he was simply “Father,” and each of them, when trouble came, drew courage and hope and strength from him.  US Army photo on title page: Chaplain Fr. Emil Kapaun (right front) and Capt. Jerome Dolan assist a soldier from the battlefield, Korea, 1950. RED CHINA lu Ya Ri ve r CAMP 5 Pyoktong Chosin Reservoir Unsan NORTH KOREA Anju Pyongyang Soldiers set up an altar for Mass in the Burmese jungle. Fr. Kapaun’s first turn in the military was in India and Burma during WWII. In the background (circled), Fr. Kapaun is hearing a soldier’s confession. Sariwon Kumchon 38th Parallel Kaesong Seoul Inchon SOUTH KOREA Naktong River Ansong Pohangdong Taegu Pusan Perimeter Pusan This article is virtually a reprint of “The Ordeal of Chaplain Kapaun” which appeared in the January 16, 1954 issue of The Saturday Evening Post as told by First Lieutenant Ray M. (Mike) Dowe, Jr., to Harold H. Martin, an associate editor of The Saturday Evening Post. The Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, Indiana, received permission to reprint this article in pamphlet form in May, 1954, for distribution to men in the military, and which is now in the THE ANGELUS • February 2008 public domain.–Ed. www.angeluspress.org With his jeep as the altar, Fr. Kapaun celebrates Mass on a battlefield three miles south of Munsan, South Korea (Oct. 7, 1950).  He’s dead now, murdered by the Red Chinese, and his body lies in an unmarked grave somewhere along the Yalu. But the hundreds of men who knew and loved him have not forgotten him. And I write this so that the folks at home can know what kind of man he was, and what he did for us, and how he died. The first thing I want to make clear is this: He was a priest of the Church, and a man of great piety, but there was nothing ethereal about him, nothing soft or unctuous or holier-than-thou. He wore his piety in his heart. Outwardly he was all GI, tough of body, rough of speech sometimes, full of the wry humor of the combat soldier. In a camp where men had to steal or starve, he was the most accomplished food thief of them all. [This and other references to “stealing” are used loosely. As the Catholic Encyclopedia says, “one in danger of death from want of food, or suffering any form of extreme necessity may lawfully take from another as much as is required to meet his present distress even though the possessor’s opposition be entirely clear.” (Theft.)–Ed.] In a prison whose inmates hated their communist captors with a bone-deep hate, he was the most unbending enemy of Communism, and when they tried to brain­wash him, he had the guts to tell them to their faces that they lied. He pitied the Reds for their delusions, but he preached no doc­trine of turn-the-other-cheek. I came upon him once sitting in the sunshine by the road. There was a smile on his face and a look of happiness in his eyes. I hated to break in on his meditations, but I needed cheering, so I asked him, “What are you thinking of, Father?” “Of that happy day,” he said, “when the first American tank rolls down that road. Then I’m going to catch that little so-and-so, Comrade Sun, and kick his butt right over the compound fence.” He Spoke In Parallels Fr. Kapaun (right) stands in front of a damaged Russian tank, ten miles north of Kumchon, Korea. If Father carried a gun, it was unloaded.The bluff saved his life several times. Such plain, blunt speech was typical of him. He always spoke in phrases that the most unlettered soldier could understand, for he was the son of a Kansas farmer, and he had a farmer’s flair for down-to-earth, home­ly talk. In his religious services, which he doggedly held even though the Chinese threatened him, his brief sermons were deep, but every point he made struck home. Even the great mysteries of the Catholic Faith, which no man can fully compre­hend, became clearer to us as he talked of them. He always spoke in paral­lels, relating the sufferings that Christ endured to those that we were forced to bear. As he spoke, the agony in the garden, the road to Calvary, the Crucifixion, became very real to us, who our­selves lived daily under the threat of death, and who bore our own crosses of blows, and cold, and illness, and starvation. But Christ endured, he told us, and we, too, must endure, for the day of our resurrection from the tomb of the prison camp would surely come, as surely as the stone was rolled away from the sepulchre. Because of those sermons, which gave us hope and courage, and because of the food he stole for us and the care he gave us when we were sick, many of us came back who never would have survived our long ordeal without him. He had become a legend among the troops long before the Chinese captured him. When his outfit, the 8th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division, was fighting along the Naktong River, his jeep was blown up by enemy fire and his driver was wounded. So, he commandeered a ramshackle bicycle. Helmet jammed down www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • February 2008  over his ears, pockets stuffed with apples and peaches he had scrounged from Korean orchards, he’d ride this bone-shaker over the rocky roads and the paths through the paddy fields until he came to the forward outposts. There he’d drop in a shallow hole beside a nervous rifleman, crack a joke or two, hand him a peach, say a little prayer with him and move on to the next hole. He always stayed close to the fighting. Even before the blood had dried on the dusty slopes after the Cav had taken a hill, he’d set up his altar on a lit­ter stretched across two ammunition boxes. There on the battle­field, with mortar fire coming in and the enemy massing for a counterattack, he’d hear Confessions, and celebrate the Mass, and administer Holy Communion to men who in another hour would be in battle again. His parish was the front and the battalion aid station close behind the lines. There he’d cheer and comfort the wounded all he could. He’d joke and kid with the lightly wounded, and over the dying men–whatever their faith–he’d say the last prayers of the Church. He seemed to have no fear that he himself might be killed. At Kumchon early in the war, when word came back that there was a wounded man on the left flank of the first battalion, in a position so exposed that the litter men could not reach him, Father and another officer went after him and brought him back, crawling and ducking from rock to rock through fire so thick his pipe was shot out of his mouth. Capture at Unsan It was his devotion to the wounded which finally cost him his freedom, and his life. It was at Unsan, on the second of November in 1950. For 36 hours the 8th Cavalry, fighting a perimeter defense, beat off a fanatical attack. Early in the morning the break­through came, and all day hand-to-hand fighting swirled around the command post and the aid station where the wounded lay. Finally, at dusk, the order came for every man who could still walk to try a breakout through the surrounding enemy. Father, who was unwounded, might have escaped with them. He refused to go. Of his own freewill he stayed on, helping Captain Clarence L. Anderson, the regimental surgeon, take care of the wounded. And there, just at dark, the Chinese took him as he said the last prayers over a dying man. I’ll never forget the night I finally met him. It was at Pyoktong, on a backwater of the Yalu River, a village where prisoners from many American units were being assembled. With the sur­vivors of my outfit, C Company of the 19th Infantry of the 24th Division, I had been brought there from near Anju where we had been overrun. The men of the 89th Cavalry who had broken out of the perimeter and had later been captured by twos and threes as they scattered to the south, were already there. As we came in, they crowded around us, asking for word of Fr. Kapaun. We had none. THE ANGELUS • February 2008 www.angeluspress.org That afternoon, Pyoktong was bombed. A B-26 swept over, dropping fire bombs, and more than half the city went up in flames. The Chinese panicked. They broke all the prisoners out of their houses and, shooting at the feet of the walking wounded to hurry them along, they herded us up onto a hill above the town. All that afternoon and into the night we sat there on the icy slope, cold and miserable, smoking cigarettes made of dried oak leaves and watching the burning town. That night, they brought us down to where the wounded from another group lay along a road on litters made out of straw sacks stretched on rough pine poles. We shouldered their stretchers and set off over a frozen road to the southwest. The Man Behind I was on the right-hand pole, at the front. We carried them on our shoulders, and as the shoulder began to ache with the pres­sure of the pole against the muscle, we’d stop and change round. It was during one of these breaks that I noticed the man who was carrying behind me. He was a short man, thick-shouldered, with wide-set gray eyes and a strong jaw with a deep cleft in it. He wore a thin red-brown beard, with a little tuft of goat whiskers at the chin. “I’m Mike Dowe,” I said. “Kapaun,” he said, and put out his hand. “Father!” I said, feeling as if I’d met an old friend. “I’ve heard about you.” He smiled. “Don’t pass it along,” he said. “It might get back to the Chief of Chaplains.” It was a feeble joke, but it cheered us all. Hour after hour we stumbled on. It was hard enough to walk by yourself in the dark, on that slippery footing, but car­rying a litter was agony. Father never ordered a man to carry. After a rest he’d just call, “Let’s pick ’em up,” and all down the line the guys would bend and lift, and fol­low him. Far in the night we came to a village of huts scattered along a narrow valley. The Chinese went ahead of us, driving the people out of the houses. We dropped all the wounded off at one house, and the rest of us were moved on to other houses farther up the valley. Father and Doctor Anderson refused to leave the wounded, but the Chinese threatened them and made them move on with the rest of us. The next morning they came around and pulled all the officers out and put us together in a compound at the north end of the valley. Father squawked about being separated from the enlisted men. But the Chinese poked him with gun butts and made him move along. St. Dismas, The Good Thief In the first week of our stay in the valley the Chinese allowed us a food ration of about 500 grams (1 lb. 2oz.) of millet or cracked corn per man per day. It was a TIMELINE TOWARDs A HEROIC DEATH  Pilsen, Kansas, in the 1940’s Born–Holy Thursday, April 20,1916, in Pilsen, Kansas, son of Mr. and Mrs. Enos Kapaun. Conception College Grade School–Pilsen School, District #115, Pilsen, Kansas (1922-28). High School–Pilsen High School, District #115, Pilsen, Kansas (1928-30); Conception High School, Conception, Missouri (1930-32). College–Conception College, Conception, Missouri (1932-36). Theology–Kenrick Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri (1936-40). Ordained–June 9, 1940, in the chapel of Sacred Heart College, Wichita, Kansas, by Bishop Christian Winkelmann. First Mass–June 20,1940, St. John Nepomucene Church, Pilsen, Kansas. Assistant–At St. John Nepomucene Church, Pilsen, Kansas (June 30,1940). Chaplain–Auxiliary chaplain, Herington Airbase, Herington, Kansas (Jan. 3, 1943). Pastor–Of the Pilsen Parish (Nov. 2, 1943). Recommended–To Military Ordinariate for Army Chaplaincy (June 15, 1944). Relieved–Of the pastorate at Pilsen and Auxiliary chaplaincy at Herington (July 12, 1944). Leaves Home–To enter Chaplains’ Training School, Ft. Devens, Massachusetts (Aug. 24, 1944). Overseas–Leaves Miami, Florida, for India (Mar. 4, 1945). Burma–Writes first letter from overseas (Mar. 29, 1945). Home–Sails from Calcutta, India (May 3, 1946). Discharged–From military service (July 25, 1946). Graduate Work–Enrolls at Catholic University, Washington, D.C. (Oct. First Mass, St. John Nepomucene, Pilsen, Kansas 1, 1946). Pastor–Holy Trinity Parish, Timkin, Kansas (Apr. 9,1948). Re-enlists–Assigned to Ft. Bliss, Texas (Nov. 15,1948). Visits Home–Pilsen, Kansas for what proved to be his last visit (Dec. 1949). At Sea–Aboard US troopship USS Patrick, en route to Japan (Jan. 24, 1950). Japan–Lands February 7, 1950, and writes his first letter to Bishop Mark Four Catholic chaplains in India, circa 1940 K. Carroll, dated February 10, 1950. Training–For battle in a camp at Kyoto, Japan (Mar. 1950). Invasion–Aboard a Landing Ship, Tank (LST), he writes, “We are in the middle of the ocean in a large convoy–the Air Corps will bomb the beach so we can make a landing in Korea” (July 10, 1950). Combat–He is right in the front lines of fighting (July 12,1950). War–At the front, the troops were put on the run. Chaplain Kapaun writes, “War is terrible... We are close to heaven, but really we are more like in hell.” Captured–By the Chinese Communist Forces near Unsan, when he volunteers to stay with the wounded soldiers (All Souls Day, Nov. 2, 1950). Dies–In a Chinese Communist “hospital” on a hill near the Manchurian border, overlooking the Yalu River (May 23,1951). THE LOST BATTALION  The 3rd Battalion took positions in a cornfield south of Unsan. The temperature was falling toward 20 degrees and wind-driven snow flurries settled into the shallow foxholes....The next day, November 1, was All Saints Day. Fr. Kapaun was extraordinarily busy, offering four Masses for his soldiers. But something else unusual happened that day. The cavalrymen counted ten forest fires in the hills immediately north and west of their position....Suddenly, Fr. Kapaun and everyone else in the 8th Cavalry were in danger of being surrounded [by the Chinese Communists]...The first glimmer of daybreak on November 2 revealed how badly the 3rd Battalion had suffered. Dead bodies were scattered around the floor of the valley. Fr. Kapaun and Bill Mayer stacked up more than 100 corpses and there were others they could not reach. Father had not been hurt, but more than 170 wounded Americans lay among the wrecked vehicles and debris....The setting was reminiscent of the fate of many years earlier of Col. George Custer and the 7th Cavalry Regiment....The rescue effort was unable to dislodge the Chinese troops who had blocked the escape route. The division reluctantly terminated plans to relieve the stricken unit and urged any of the surrounded troopers who were still fit to evacuate in any way that they could. As a consequence, the 3rd Battalion became known in military history as “The Lost Battalion.”...Of the 800 men of the 3rd Battalion who marched into Unsan, approximately 600, including Fr. Kapaun, either were killed or captured by the Chinese Communists (summarized from A Shepherd in Combat Boots, pp.1319). Fr. Kapaun and the other prisoners were marched 300 miles in the cold and snow to their prison camp, Pyoktong No. 5 (pictured at immediate right). Nine more died on the way. CAMP NO.5 THE ANGELUS • February 2008 www.angeluspress.org The four scenes in the upper part of this collage are from the Battle of Chosin (Changjin) Reservoir (Nov. 27-Dec. 6, 1950) in North Korea, the successful fighting retreat of 30,000 UN troops who had been surrounded by 60,000 Red Chinese.Twenty-five days earlier (Nov. 2) and 125 miles straight west of the Reservoir, the same Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) had captured Fr. Kapaun... CAMP NO.5, Pyoktong, n in the yalu river valley  tle d ...The brutal breakout battles were fought in subzero weather.There were 7,500 frostbite casualties. g, north korea lley starvation ration to begin with, and then they cut it down to 450 grams (slightly less than a pound). It was obvious, Father said, that we must either steal food or slowly starve. And in that dangerous enter­prise we must have the help of some power beyond ourselves. So, standing before us all, he said a prayer to St. Dismas, the Good Thief, who was crucified at the right hand of Jesus, ask­ing for his aid. I’ll never doubt the power of prayer again. Father, it seemed, could not fail. At the risk of being shot by the guards he’d sneak at night into the little fields around the compound and prowl through the shocked corn, and find where the Koreans had hidden potatoes and grain beneath the corn shocks. He moved out of the crowded room where 19 of us slept spoon-fashion on the dirt floor, to sleep in an open shed in the com­pound–and found that the shed backed up to a crib full of Korean corn, which he stole, surrepti­tiously, ear by ear. His riskiest thefts were carried out by daylight under the noses of the Chinese. The POWs cooked their own food, which was drawn from an open supply shed some two miles down the valley. When men were called out to make the ration run, Father would slip in at the end of the line. Before the ration detail reached the supply shed, he’d slide off into the bushes. Creeping and crawling, he’d come up behind the shed, and while the rest of us started a row with the guards and the Chinese doling out the rations, he’d sneak in, snatch up a sack of cracked corn and scurry off into the bushes with it. There were other men stealing, too, and some of them squir­reled their stolen food away to eat them­selves. Father tossed his into the common pot. He never said a word to the men who hid and hoarded food. But at night, after a successful foray, he’d say a prayer of thanks to God for providing food “which all can equally share.” That seemed to shame them, and soon the private hoarding stopped. His one great fail­ure had overtones of humor which served to relieve what, at the moment, was black tragedy. Once after we’d been moved back to Pyoktong, a little black pig wandered into the compound. Men who had tasted no meat in months felt themselves drooling as Father, a big rock in his hand, cautiously stalked the pig. While a dozen silent prayers went up, he raised the stone high and brought it down. It struck the pig, but only a glancing blow. The pig set up a horrible squealing, the Chinese guard came running, slamming a cartridge into his rifle and shouting, “ Huh? Huh? Huh?” Father fled for the latrine, and the guard, confused, ran down the road in hot pursuit of the pig. The Sick House Soon after we reached the valley, the wounded in the sick house–the Chinese called it the hospital–began to die by dozens, poisoned by their untended wounds. Finally the Chinese allowed Doctor Anderson to go to their aid, though he had noth­ing but the skill of his hands to help them. www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • February 2008 10 These items were miraculously returned by the Red Chinese at Operation Big Switch (Aug. 5-Dec. 23, 1953), during which the final exchange of prisoners of war of both sides was conducted. personal effects ...You know, Emil and Vicky, I feel like the dickens. Maybe you do not realize fully what it means to be a priest, but I tell you–after I have studied all these years I am more convinced that a man must be a living saint in order to dare to take that step. And that is where my worries come in. Gee Whiz, I have a feeling that I am far, far from being a saint worthy to receive the Priesthood. Think what it means!! To offer up the Living Body and Blood of our Savior every day in Holy Mass–to absolve souls from sins in Holy Confession...these are only part of the duties that make a person realize that the Vocation to the Priesthood is so sublime that the angels in heaven were not given...no, not even the Blessed Mother...was called to be a priest of God–and here I am called!! Donated from Fr. Kapaun’s home parish, St. John Nepomucene (Pilsen, KS), are this chalice, stole, burse, and rosary, which he used.The altar stone (in foreground) was present wherever he said Mass. Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School (Wichita, KS), where these personal effects of Fr. Kapaun are displayed. Also, this is the alma mater of Fr. Patrick Crane, SSPX. The cross that identified him as a war chaplain (circled below) was removed from Fr. Kapaun’s helmet. Fr. Kapaun’s pyx and Fr. Stedman missal which he carried with him on the war front. THE ANGELUS • February 2008 www.angeluspress.org This wood crucifix was carved by Lt. Col. Gerald Fink, a Jew and fellow prisoner in Camp No.5 with the crude handmade tools pictured at left. He gave it the title of “Christ in Barbed Wire” because of its barbed wire crown of thorns.This is the original on display at Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School. 11 Encouraged by this concession, Father asked permission to go with the doctor. It was refused. “What these men need is medicine, not prayer,” the Chinese told him. “Since they aren’t getting any medicine,” Father answered, “a little prayer won’t hurt.” “No,” the Chinese said, “you will not be permitted to spread your poisonous Christian propaganda here.” Then began Father’s most hazardous exploits. On days when there was a ration run, he’d stop and steal food at the warehouse. Then with his pockets full of cracked corn, or millet, dodging the Chinese roving patrols that watched the trail, he’d move on to the house where the wounded were. On days when there was no ration run or wood-carrying detail, he’d sneak down to the creek that ran through the valley, ducking under the bushes to keep out of sight of the guards along the road. He scrounged cotton undershirts to make bandages. He took their old bandages, foul with corruption, and sneaked them out and washed them and sneaked them back again. He picked the lice from their bodies, an inestimable service, for a man so weak he cannot pick his own lice soon will die. He let them smoke his pipe, loaded with dry cotton leaves, and he joked with them, and said prayers for them, and held them in his arms like children as delirium came upon them. But the main thing he did for them was to put into their hearts the will to live. For when you are wounded and sick and starving, it’s easy to give up and quietly die. Somehow, as it says in the New Testament, “Power went forth from him and healed them.” In Fr. Kapaun’s valley the conditions were the same as in the camp known as Death Valley. But in Death Valley the death rate was ten times higher. Even when they died, he did not abandon them. The POWs buried their own dead, carrying the bodies up the adjacent mountainsides and later, in Pyoktong, across the frozen Yalu backwater to a little island where they dug the graves in the stony frozen ground. Men dodged this detail whenever they could. But Father always volunteered. And at the grave as the earth covered the naked body–for the clothing of the dead was saved to warm the living–he would utter for them the last great plea: “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.” When he had done all he could at the house of the wounded he would slip out to the houses where the enlisted men were kept. He would step in quickly and quietly, saying, “The Lord be with you,” and the starving, torpid men lying on the straw mats would sit up and respond, as he had taught them, “And with thy spirit.” Then he would say a quick general service, beginning with a prayer for the men who had died in Korea, both in battle and in prison, and for the sick and wounded, and for the folks back home. Then he would say a prayer of thanks to God for the favors He had granted us, whether we knew about them or not, “for the food and wood and water we have received at the hands of our enemies.” Then he’d speak, very briefly, a short, simple sermon, urging them to hold on and not lose hope of freedom. And above all, he urged them not to fall for the lying doctrines the Reds were try­ing to pound into our heads. “Be not afraid of them who kill the body,” he’d say, quoting from the Scriptures. “Fear ye him, who after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell.” To Father’s stubborn faith, the man who bought the commu­nist teachings–and a very small group did out of ignorance or opportunism–was selling his immortal soul. In his soiled and ragged fatigues, with his scraggly beard and his odd-looking woolen cap made of the sleeve of an old GI sweater, pulled down over his ears, he looked like any other halfstarved prisoner. But there was something in his voice and bearing that was different–a dignity, a composure, a serenity that radiated from him like a light. Wherever he stood was holy ground, and the spirit within him a spirit of reverence and abiding faith went out to the silent, listening men and gave them hope and courage and a sense of peace. By his very presence, somehow, he could turn a stinking, louseridden mud hut, for a little while, into a cathedral. He did a thousand things to keep us going. He gathered and washed the foul undergarments of the dead and distributed them to men so weak from dysentery they could not move, and he washed and tended these men as if they were little babies. He traded his watch for a blanket, and cut it up to make warm socks for helpless men whose feet were freezing. All one day, in a freezing wind, with a sharp stick and his bare hands, he cut steps in the steep, ice-covered path that led down to the stream, so that the men carrying water would not fall. The most dreaded housekeeping chore of all was cleaning the latrines, and men argued bitterly over whose time it was to carry out this loathsome task. And while they argued, he’d slip out qui­etly and do the job. Back To Pyoktong In mid-January, in subzero cold, they marched us eight miles back to Pyoktong, into houses still shattered by the bombing and the fire. Nine of the sick and wounded died that day, and many of the rest of us, sick, half-starved and despairing, were on the point of giving up. But www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • February 2008 12 Father led scrounging parties out, to prowl through the ruins to find nails and tin and broken boards to patch the houses and make them livable. In the yard of the officers’ compound he built a little fireplace with bricks he had stolen. On it, with wood he had stolen–once they caught him stealing pickets from the fence and made him stand for hours, stripped of his outer garments, in the bitter cold–he would heat water in pans made from tin he had stolen and pounded into shape with a rock. Every morning he’d bring in this pan full of hot water, calling cheerfully, “Coffee, everybody,” and pour a little into every man’s bowl. And though there was no coffee in it, somehow this sip of hot water in the morning gave each man heart to rise and pick off his lice and choke down his bowl of soupy millet, and face, if not with cheerfulness, at least without despair, another day of captiv­ity and abuse. He was always telling us we’d soon be free, and he was always dreaming up fancy menus–ten-course meals we’d eat when we got home. At night we’d hear the roar and see the flash of great explo­sions to the south. It was our bombers, working over the roads and bridges on the Reds’ supply routes to the front. But we thought it was our artillery. “The guns sound closer tonight,” Father would say. “They’re coming. They’ll be here soon. The moon is full tonight. By the time it’s full again, we’ll be free.” As weeks and months passed, robbed of all strength by pella­gra and beriberi, men grew weaker. The unbroken diet of millet and corn became nauseating. We could hardly choke it down. By mid-March we were in desperate condition, boiling green weeds in our hunt for vitamins. The hideous swelling of the body that is the first mark of approaching death by starvation, was showing up on more and more of us. The night before St. Patrick’s Day, Father called us togeth­er and prayed to St. Patrick, asking him to help us in our mis­ery. The next day, the Chinese brought us a case of liver–the first meat we had had–and issued us golian instead of millet. The liver was spoiled and golian is sorghum seed used as cat­tle feed in the States, but to us they were like manna. Later he prayed for tobacco, and that night a guard walked by and tossed a little bag of dry, straw-like Korean tobacco into our room. As our bodies weakened, the Reds stepped up the pace of their propaganda assault upon our minds. Hour after hour we sat in lectures while Comrade Sun, a fanatic little Chinese who hated Americans with an insane hatred, assailed our rotten, capitalistic Wall Street civilization. Then we’d have to comment upon the great truths revealed by Comrade Sun. A few bold men, in reckless despair, commented in unprint­able words of contempt and were thrown into a freezing hole or subjected to other severe tortures sometimes resulting in death. Some veiled their ridicule. “According to the great doctrines taught us by the noble THE ANGELUS • February 2008 www.angeluspress.org Stalin, Lenin, Marx, Engels, Amos and Andy–” they would read aloud in the “classes.” Father was not openly arrogant, nor did he use subterfuge. Without losing his temper or raising his voice, he’d answer the lecturer point by point, with a calm logic that set Comrade Sun screaming and leaping on the platform like an angry ape. Strangely, they never punished him, except by threats and ominous warnings. Two officers who knew him well were taken away and tortured. With their hands tied behind them, they were lifted by ropes until their wrist joints pulled apart. They then were brought back to accuse him publicly. They charged him with slandering the Chinese, which was true­ if you call the real truth slander, as they did. They said he advocated resistance to the Reds’ study program, and that he dis­ played a hostile attitude toward his cap­tors, all of which was also true. They said he threatened men with court martial on their return if they went along with the Chinese, which was not true. Father never threatened anybody. When the two men came back after their ordeal, unsure of their welcome, Father was the first to greet them. Looking at their twisted hands, he told them, “You never should have suffered a moment try­ing to protect me.” We expected that the public accusa­tion would bring on a farcical trial in which Father would be convicted and taken out and never returned. Instead, they merely called him in and bullied him and threatened him. We realized then what we had half known all along. They were afraid of him. They recognized in him a strength they could not break, a spirit they could not quell. Above all things, they feared a mass rebellion, and they knew that if Father was mal­treated, the whole camp of 4,000 men would mutiny. His Boldest Challenge On Easter Sunday, 1951, he hurled at them his boldest chal­lenge, openly flouting their law against religious services. In the yard of a burned-out church in the officers’ compound, just at sunrise, he read the Easter service. He could not celebrate the Easter Mass, for all his Mass equipment had been lost at the time of his capture. All he had was the things he used when administer­ing the last rites to the dying–the purple ribbon, called a stole, which he wore around his neck as a badge of his priest­hood, the gold pyx, now empty, in which the Host had been carried when he had administered Holy Communion, and the little bottles of holy oil used to admin­ister the last sacraments. But he fashioned a cross out of two rough pieces of wood, and from a bor­rowed missal he read the Stations of the Cross to the scarecrow men, sitting on the rubbled steps of the burned church. He told the story of Christ’s suffering and death, and then, holding in his hands a 13 Rosary made of bent barbed wire cut from the prison fence, he recited the Glorious Mysteries of Christ risen from the tomb and ascended into heaven. As we watched him it was clear to us that Father himself at last had begun to fail in strength. On the starvation diet we were allowed, a man could not miss a single day’s meals without growing too weak to walk, and for months Father had been shar­ing his meager rations with sick and dying men. The week after Easter he began to limp, hobbling along on a crooked stick. The next Sunday, as he read the service for the First Sunday after Easter, as he reached the line in the Epistle: “And this is the victory that overcomes the world, our Faith,” his voice faltered, and we caught him as he fell. Beneath his tattered uniform his right leg was dreadfully swollen and discolored. For weeks, we knew, he had been suffer­ing terrible bone aches, a byproduct of hunger, that came upon men at night with such fearful pain that they would scream and beat the ground in agony. Father, when awake, had never whimpered, though tears of pain filled his eyes. When he slept, though, his iron will broke, and he would moan pitifully. Finally, the bad pain went away, but the leg continued to swell until it was one great mass of purple, blue and yellow flesh. The communist “doctor,” a brain-washer posing as a medical man, pronounced the usual diagnosis by which they sought to convince us–or themselves–that we were an evil, immoral and decaying race. Father, he said blandly, had syphilis. Doctor Anderson and his medical companion, Captain Sidney Esensten, knew it for what it was–a blood clot blocking circulation to the leg. They applied hot packs, and slowly the swelling began to subside. Soon Father could walk again, though he was so weak and shaky he would often fall. Then a fearful dysentery seized him, and as he so often had done for us, we cared for him as best we could. And he beat that, and got on his feet again. Then one raw, cold day he arose, a walking ghost, to give the last sacrament to a dying man. The next day his eyes were bright with fever and his breath came in a hoarse rattle. He had taken pneumonia, and soon was in delirium. Thinking back upon it, I believe that period of semi-con­sciousness was the only happy time he knew during his captivi­ty. Around him there seemed to gather all the people he had known in his boyhood on the farm in Kansas and in his school days. Babbling happily, sometimes laughing, he spoke to his moth­er and his father, and to the priests he’d known in the seminary. Even in his delirium, his unbreakable spirit manifested itself in sallies of humor. Finally, he sank into a deep and quiet sleep, and when he awoke, he was completely rational. The crisis had passed. He was getting well. But the Chinese did not intend that he should live. He was sit­ting up, eating and cracking jokes, when the guards came with a litter to take him to the hospital. We knew then that he was doomed, for the hospital was no hospital at all, but a death house so dreadful that I will make no attempt to describe it here. In the room in which he was placed, men in extremis were left to lie untended in filth and freezing cold, until merciful death took them. The doctors protested violently against his being taken there, but the Chinese cursed them and forbade them to go along and care for him. The rest of us protested. All they answered was, “He goes! He goes!” They Take Him Away Father himself made no protest. He looked around the room at all of us standing there, and smiled. He held in his hands the pyx in which, long ago, he had carried the Blessed Sacrament. “Tell them back home that I died a happy death,” he said, and smiled again. As they loaded him on the litter he turned to Lieutenant Nardella, from whose missal he had read the services. He put the little book in Nardella’s hand. “You know the prayers, Ralph,” he said. “Keep holding the services. Don’t let them make you stop.” He turned to another officer, who, before his capture, had been having trouble at home. “When you get back to Jersey, you get that marriage straightened out,” he told him, “or I’ll come down from heaven and kick you in the tail.” Then he turned to me. “Don’t take it hard, Mike,” he said. “I’m going where I’ve always wanted to go. And when I get up there, I’ll say a prayer for all of you.” I stood there crying, unashamed, as they took him down the road with the pyx still shining in his hand... A few days later he was dead. Not long afterward, the little daughter of the Chinese camp commander walked past the compound gate. She was toss­ing up and catching something that glittered in the sun. It was Father’s lit­tle gold pyx. On the demands of the POWs, it was returned at Operation Big Switch [see “Personal Effects” sidebar on p.10–Ed.]. We brought it back to commemorate his deeds and the deeds of all who died at the hands of the communists. It is to be placed on a memorial in his home town [i.e., a display case at Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School, see picture at bottom left corner on p.10–Ed.] A year later, on the anniversary of his death, Ralph Nardella asked the communists for permission to hold a service in his memory. They refused. I was glad they did. For it told me that even though he was dead, his body lost forever in a mass grave, they still were afraid of him. They feared him because he was the symbol of something they knew they could not kill–the uncon­querable spirit of a free man, owning final allegiance only to his God. And in that sense, I know, he and the things he believed in can never die. Either of these sites can be visited for their historical interest and displays of memorabilia from the life of Fr. Emil Kapaun: St. John Nepomucene Church, 2744 Remington Rd., Pilsen (Marion), KS 66861 [call Mrs. Rose Mary Neuwirth for scheduling information, 620-924-5282], and Kapaun Mt. Carmel Catholic High School (during normal school hours), 8506 East Central, Wichita, KS 67206. Phone: 316-634-0315. www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • February 2008 1 Catholics, now more than ever, must prepare for ideological conflict with the world, embracing true culture by necessity and by right as much as by preference. For the preservation of our souls and the protection of our families, our faith demands a rounded intellectual, emotional, and physical education, to include a firm foundation of thought formed through theology, philosophy, and logic; an appreciation of our physical capacities honed through honest work and true recreation; and habitual and informed access to artistic and literary masterworks, the most profound human attempts to bridge the gap between the natural and supernatural realms. God has distinguished man from all other created beings by granting him freedom. The burden of free will proves the immensity of God’s love for us and His unalterable respect for our dignity. We understand from our earliest days that our religion rests on truths we must choose to learn and understand, rather than on imposed sentiment or human respect. Though we remain susceptible to passions and emotions, reason guides our will and our acts, and we remain at all times free to avoid evil, free to do good. St. Thomas assures us, however, that enemies of freedom exist, internal and external things that would convince us to forfeit our freedom; among the most dangerous of these are fear, concupiscence, and ignorance.1 We must not fear the hard work required to become thoughtful and intellectually rounded, nor can we fear the opinion of the world that portrays the culturally literate as effete elitists filled with prideful erudition, those who use culture and learning to intimidate, humiliate, or manipulate. The properly cultured person possesses the facility to distinguish and contextualize all forms of art and ideas relative to the absolute truths of God, and does so for the explicit purpose of edifying and educating his neighbor in charity, for the greater glory of God. Ignorance and denial provide no absolute protection from scandal; in fact, they leave one more susceptible to it, just as an attempt to avoid all exposure to contagions actually impedes the development of necessary physiological immunities. To the extent possible, each Catholic citizen must put on the armor of learning and culture to defend the Faith, morals, and our heritage, all currently under systematic attack. But we cannot guard against that which we fail to recognize as a legitimate threat, nor will we succeed in our attempt to protect and regain the elements which, if lost, we have no capacity to appreciate. For the willfully uncultured Catholic, the restoration of all things in Christ remains an intellectual impossibility: for all his good intentions, he fails to realize the vital relevance of his heritage in the context of today’s struggle. He will lack the ability to distinguish substantive from non-substantive expression of thoughts and emotions. The resulting intellectual indifferentism will result either in apathy and false security, or confusion and despair: the best case is a highly suggestible ignorance, the worst, spiritual desolation. The enemy has over-seeded the field of Catholic beauty and expression with carnal chaff.2 We recognize the untended state of society’s garden and discern the devil’s work, yet how many of us remain content to grow little if anything in our own family plots capable of providing substantial supernatural nourishment for the souls entrusted to us? The enemy indeed has done this—one more intelligent than we, with greater knowledge of our nature than we possess ourselves, and he will strive with tireless contempt to mold societal norms and expressions so that nothing of God CATHO CULTU The ANgelus • February 2008 www.angeluspress.org D r . 1 A n d r e w remains, and that we become more and more complacent in our diminished ability to realize the deceit. From the second instant of creation, he has worked to perfect the program best suited to our total ruin: Our passive reaction either through ignorance, apathy, or presumption makes us highly susceptible targets of this programming, if not unwitting accomplices. We must choose those things that nourish us, reject those things harmful to us, and avoid the dangerous influences that surround us. God has deemed that good and bad should grow together yet for every threat, He provides a beneficial alternative; by choosing well, we will in turn prove ourselves worthy of His choosing. C h i l d s Our Nature; Ideological Foundations of Artistic Expression & HOLIC TURED Our faith assures us of our being and our purpose: as hybrid creatures composed of material body and immortal soul, we exist to know, love, and serve God, and in doing so, potentially merit eternity with Him by the conscious action of our free will in cooperation with His grace and adherence to His law. We further understand, contrary to the prevailing empiricist perspective, that reality includes a metaphysical realm beyond the physical, a supernatural realm beyond the natural, and that all eternity exists beyond our finite and temporary conception of time.3 By extension, human activity orders itself to God’s plan, providing either a means for man to attain his ultimate end, or an occasion for his failing to achieve it. God is the source of all legitimate artistic inspiration, a yearning of the intellect to express higher truths and unimaginable beauty, and to penetrate the emotional mode of existence. Through human agents He grants access to extraordinary insights via artistic expression—the communication of these essences and insights in visual, aural, literary and various other forms—the best of which inspire the recipient to contemplate the sublimity of the artwork, thereby deducing God’s inspiration in its production. Each artist creates according to his particular skills, and in accordance with the degree of talent granted him by God; each recipient responds in turn to the particular form best suited to his temperament and sensibilities. He appreciates, however, not based specifically on his own talent (for highly variable individual intellectual ability does qualify as talent) but rather his willingness to acquire the capacity to comprehend. In both cases—that of the creative artist who serves as a conduit for divine inspiration, and the recipient who develops the ability to understand truth as transmitted through art—God manifests justice and demands a free act of the will. He manifests justice in that He distributes his gifts as He sees fit, in a manner bewilderingly inequitable by our estimation and to those at times seemingly least deserving. Those who would create, though never free to abuse their talents, have the capacity to do so, and as such can cause potentially irrevocable scandal: they must choose to create works of art that inspire, challenge, console, and edify. In doing so, artists of all media participate in weaving a tapestry of culture that allows substantive comprehension of the past, orientation in the present, and provides a permanent reflection www.angeluspress.org The ANgelus • February 2008 16 of their age to future observers. The recipient plays a crucial role in this process, and in effect bears responsibility for the cultural record of his time. Only an educated society can effectively demand substantive art, and convincingly disallow non-substantive or scandalous art. A society unable to take an active part in shaping its cultural legacy will be powerless to stop the advance of commercial trendsetters who cater to our basest passions and crudest pride. Culture provides a running metaphysical commentary on history; factual events which occur in time inspire artists of all media to reflect and create. Artistic depictions of events and eras often supply insights specifically useful for contextualization, whether political or ideological, and the cultural atmosphere which pervades society provides a backdrop against which people project ideas, as well as intellectual and moral standards. Since the so-called Renaissance in the 16th and 17th centuries—an intellectual movement to remake truth as an evolutionary humanist construct— these ideas have become increasingly hostile to traditional and specifically Catholic standards. On its face, the Renaissance argument for the remaking of truth lacks credibility unless one accepts the thesis that Revelation somehow fails to provide an adequate foundation for truth. In order to correct this theoretical—and conveniently unprovable—deficiency, humanist thinkers “purified” thought by way of a nominal return to the ancient Greek philosophers. Their systematic refusal to acknowledge the historical context of Greek thought in relation to Divine Revelation in the person of Christ—not to mention the obvious intimacy of pre-Christian and Christian thought, an intimacy irrefutably codified by St. Thomas Aquinas—represents one of the boldest cases of intellectual fraud in the history of organized thought. Time and time again the ancients prove their good intentions not only in their penetrating inquiry into the ultimate source of truth—the first cause, the unmoved mover—but in their systematic insistence on the absolute nature of truth and man’s moral responsibility to live in strict accordance with it. The often impenetrable modernist attempts to remake truth bear little resemblance to the classical process of discovery.4 In the name of progress and intellectual liberty, humanist artists and thinkers have strived to create an atmosphere of total license where creators and consumers of culture and ideas remain free to indulge any personal excess; in turn, like-minded recipients— similarly inspired by contempt of traditional moral strictures—congratulate the artist, the thinker, and themselves for their dazzling sophistication. Any attempt to question this license and overindulgence meets with condemnation as backward, unsophisticated, and prudish. To the contrary, however, the ability to distinguish good from dangerous culture—and if necessary the proper restriction of licentious or scandalous art—is often a moral imperative. The Catholic has no less right to choose the manner of his THE ANGELUS • February 2008 www.angeluspress.org cultural depiction than his anti-Catholic counterpart, and yet elements hostile to the Faith would seem to have had free reign in debasing society. In wondering how this came to pass, two truths immediately emerge: first, that clearly a supernatural element exists—the acceptance and successful dissemination of popular culture defies natural explanation by any reasonable mode of assessment—and perhaps more chilling, just as Vatican II did not spring fully formed from the forehead of John XXIII (rather, the success of its implementation required a faithful populace sufficiently lethargic and convinced of the impossibility of attack), the enemy has accomplished his overthrow of Western culture because those who would defend it have submitted to a gradual and now near-total diminishment of their capacity to resist: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”5 The Need for Culture in Man, “A Being Darkly Wise and Rudely Great”6 As fallen creatures, capable only of imperfect comprehension of God’s truth, He would nonetheless have us as “joint heirs with Christ.”7 Our attempts to know, love, and serve God, and to re-establish all things in Christ are both individual and social, a collective striving to transcend the darkness of our human wisdom and conquer the rudeness of our nature for the sake of attaining true greatness through Christ. Created as social beings, that which we do to help each other grow in knowledge and love of God serves as the foundation of our society. Culture at its best exists as an act of metaphysical altruism in which the artist provides increased self-knowledge, understanding of the world, and appreciation of heritage to the recipient. This gift transcends time and place, its power and efficacy in no way diminished by temporal and physical distance: God often provides timely information—most specifically useful to a soul in need—in the form of artistic consolation crafted by a fellow sufferer centuries before the fact. This immediate supernatural intersection of lives outside of linear chronology serves as a poignant reminder of His insatiable desire to help us help each other. Art and literature provide expanded knowledge of the human condition through accurate though often highly dramatized depictions of human nature. We recognize our weakness and assess our strengths more objectively in the plights of literary characters; we observe whole lives lived, mistakes made and avoided, fortunes gained and squandered, conquests of warring nations—or of a single human heart. We hear in music the public exposition of our innermost emotional yearnings, truths all the more devastating and exuberant in that their depiction defies naming. Beyond theology and philosophy, beyond intellectual strivings to contemplate absolutes, there exists in art the triumphant fragility of single lives laid bare in words, 17 colors, and sounds; a community without containment, the reciprocal transmission of empathy and charity between artist and recipient irrespective of time and place. We have at our disposal more than 20 centuries of masterful insights concerning temperament, character, interaction, conflict, morality, and ethical dilemmas, and access to this compendium of the human experience requires little more than honest intention and literacy, a literacy which breaks the bondage of ignorance, quiets our passionate concupiscence, and restores our freedom from fearful passivity. This literacy demands diligent application, yet all can attain it: God does not, however, simply bestow it. The illiterate man can communicate on the natural level to satisfy physical needs; he cannot without choosing, however, communicate with all of cultural history to satisfy his supernatural and metaphysical needs. We submit to God’s truth; we submit to His plan to employ fellow human agents for our edification; we humbly accept the fact that He has granted exceptional insights to men throughout history and that we have all eternity to gain in knowing God’s truth in their works: we must not hesitate diligently to submit to the arduous and rewarding business of literacy. Few pursuits yield higher gain—for us and those whom we would direct and inspire. Beyond knowledge of self, interaction with great art provides protection against the allurements of the world by allowing us to understand their true nature. Cultural literacy will instill in the participant confidence to expose and resist inferior or dangerous art by understanding proper historical context, and developing the ability to recognize substantive techniques. Throughout history, art has developed in a manner reflective of man’s dual nature, and as a result of his often conflicting desires. To frame the argument in oversimplified terms, cultivated art—the highest expression of artistic technique combined with highest purpose, whether a fresco by Titian, a canzone by Gabrieli, or the stupefying architectural grandeur of St. Peter’s Basilica—inspires, edifies, and educates; vernacular art, consisting of temporary or popular forms, exists primarily as entertainment created not for edification but for recreational diversion.8 Obviously, no clear demarcation exists, and some of the most satisfying of both of these general types include elements of both. Most people of moderate literacy and good will, however, will admit that, stylistic and personal idiosyncrasies aside, one can readily distinguish one type from the other. In terms of overall purpose, cultivated art created at a specific point in history becomes part of an overarching continuum of philosophical thought, literary word, and artistic deed representing man’s collective expression of eternal truth. Ideally, talent, technique, and intention combine in this creation, and each age contributes to the continuum such that ever-present truth provides a substantive supernatural bridge between past and future. The vernacular artist, while ultimately choosing not to participate in this comprehensive fashion, does his part by adding sights, sounds, and local flavor which remind the recipient of the very human nature of artistic expression. Countless examples of this cross-pollination exist, from the influence of secular musicians in the development of liturgical polyphony to Shakespeare’s ennobling common speech, simultaneously redefining drama and inventing modern English. Cultivated art provides the substance of our metaphysical nourishment—the balanced meal itself, healthful, substantial, and satisfying—while vernacular art adds spice, flavor, and sweets and trifles without which the meal would seem incomplete, but which could never constitute a meal in themselves. The coexistence of these forms adds depth, and allows for extravagant variety, but artists and consumers must maintain proper balance and perspective. Quite literally, the devil is in the details. Talent, purpose, intention, and circumstance combine in every conceivable manner. In every case, we must have the means to assess the work that emerges based on purpose and quality. A desire to produce cultivated art does not guarantee the talent sufficient to produce it; some of history’s most talented artists have created exclusively vernacular or even scandalous works; many artists have strived to usurp cultivated techniques for vernacular purpose, while others have attempted to elevate vernacular means for cultivated ends. Since the turn of the 17th century, composers and audiences have lived by the motto ars gratis artis, “art for art’s sake”—objectively scandalous because nothing besides God can exist under its own power or for its own sake—meaning that art could exist for ends specifically detached from the Church. So do we as Catholics reject all such art? We cannot, because the art itself–in adherence to physical laws of nature (both in its construction and our capacity to receive it) and principals of aesthetics–will testify to God’s truth regardless of either the philosophical conditions coinciding with its creation, or the stated intentions of the artist: God determines the essence to which the artist must wittingly or unwittingly submit—the inherent goodness of the stuff of his art. The goodness of the man and the quality of his work are separate issues. By way of analogy: a chef who happens to be an evil man must prepare edible food if he will have any influence, no matter how impious his motivations. He may want diners to join him in his wickedness; they presumably need to eat, but despite their hunger would not choose to eat in his restaurant if he served poisonous or rotten food. Though filled with personal malice, he nonetheless prepares them a good and proper meal. They do not sin in eating it; they would only sin in cooperating with his evil. If, however, he makes this cooperation a condition of his feeding them, they are free to—and must—refuse to eat. Beyond this point the analogy begins to break down, because taste (the physiological capacity) degrades only as the result of physical defect; taste (the act of the will in choosing and preferring) degrades only by a further act of the will, www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • February 2008 18 whether passive or active. But to extend the analogy to include the developmental aspect by way of metaphor, as children we must learn to condition our palates through exposure to things we may not like, but which our parents know we need. Adults allowed to refuse such things as children (their parents’ responsibility) will maintain adolescent tastes to their distinct physical, psychological, and social disadvantage (their own responsibility): these adults may fuel their bodies with childish foods, but will rarely eat well, and will almost never dine. When they do, they will have no appreciation for what they consume, no sense of how to enjoy it, and, in the worse case, find themselves unwittingly swindled by culinary fads, with a palate incapable of recognizing pretense. Conversely, children directed and encouraged to develop sophisticated palates quickly realize that food provides not only physical but metaphysical nourishment: they become fully incorporated into the community at table. Trends and swindle represent no threat to this child because he knows goodness. A final point relating to the distinction between exercising and passing judgment: God will distribute his talents at His own good pleasure, and we can never know His mind—we can only act in accordance to His will. The contrast of a hundred mediocre composers of polyphonic Masses rightly forgotten by history with the blinding wit and verbal skill of the satirist Voltaire serves to illustrate. God granted to the composer who dedicated himself to the service of the Church talent insufficient to last even his own lifetime; to the profligate heretic Voltaire—dedicated to a Sauline persecution of the Church—He bestowed majestic, heretofore immortal powers. And yet, God will not be mocked: both nameless servant and apostate genius will have his reward, but what of the work they leave behind? We dare not presume to judge the final state of an artist (or for that matter any man), but let our proper sophistication and learning allow us to judge the technical merit of his contribution irrespective of his life. In the case of the indexed Voltaire, the Church has spoken; but what of the heretic Johann Sebastian Bach, occultist Richard Wagner, syphilitic Franz Schubert, or Freemason Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? The Church condemns their actions as she simultaneously embraces their efforts as masterworks in their own right. God allows the objective evil of a man’s life so that the greater good of his work and its influence might come of it. May God have mercy on them and every one of us, and may the profound influences their objectively and substantially good works have on developing Catholics act as prayers on their behalf. Finally, substantive culture encourages an increased understanding and appreciation of Catholic heritage. Christendom has produced the definitive examples of all genres of substantive art and literature, and in numbers that overwhelm the contributions of all other dispensations. Built on the foundation THE ANGELUS • February 2008 www.angeluspress.org of God’s truth, Catholic thought, literature, and art provide a cultural edifice of such strength and breadth to define the substantive merits of any subsequent efforts: the good reflects, the bad rejects. We must work zealously to encourage and explain this reflection in non-Catholic masterworks to those who would not otherwise have exposure to Catholic truth, and whenever possible to introduce Catholic truth to culturally literate non-Catholics in the form of great Catholic art. Catholic men and women striving to restore all things in Christ must not shrink from the challenge to understand, assess, embrace, and defend substantive culture in the realistic historical and ideological context of past eras, and to accept the charge to lead the world toward a Christianized and properly cultured future. The embrace of substantive culture is less a choice than a Catholic responsibility: to avail ourselves of every opportunity to understand our human nature, to recognize God’s gift in the beauty He wills as well as the dangers He allows, to love and serve Him free from ignorant apprehension, and to provide an example of equilibrium in an increasingly uncivilized world. Dr. Andrew Childs serves currently as Professor of Music at St. Mary’s Academy and College, and Assistant to the Director of Education for the United States District of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX). Previously, he taught at Yale University, the University of California at Irvine, Missouri State University, and Connecticut College. He earned his Bachelor of Music Degree from UCI, and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Washington. His scholarship has focused on the music of American composer Charles Ives, and music as a reflection of ideology throughout history. An active professional performer, he has presented concert performances throughout the country, and has sung over 100 performances of nearly 30 operatic roles. He made his Lincoln Center debut with Glimmerglass Opera in 1999. Dr. Childs has premiered works by numerous composers, including Pulitzer Prize winner Yehudi Wyner, and has recorded for the Centaur and Albany labels. 1 Summa Theologica, I-IIae, 5-8. Mt. 13:28. 3 Empiricism: science-based humanism that denies the possibility of reality beyond sense-experience. The intellectual stalemate between the humanist and the Catholic perspectives results from the replacement of one Faith with another, the response of man to his undeniable need to worship; the object of worship defines these opposing systems. Ironically, the man who would deny God and replace Him with science or nature (or himself) forces himself into a world view requiring far greater “leaps of faith” than belief in God’s design. By insisting that men were the architects of this design (who merely called it God’s for their own gain and that of a political organization called the Church, thereby rendering the design fraudulent), empiricists create a remarkable paradox: the empirically “unprovable” existence of God negates the consistency of His system, while simultaneously validating the inconsistencies of the Humanist system. 4 Given the completeness of the answer that Revelation provides their questioning, and at the risk of hypothetical presumption (something modern philosophers readily engage in concerning the Ancients), one could imagine their finding the current mode of theoretical philosophy bafflingly redundant. 5 W.B. Yeats (1865-1939), “The Second Coming.” 6 Alexander Pope (1688-1744), “Know Thyself.” 7 Rom. 8:17. 8 Musicologist H. Wiley Hitchcock developed the “cultivated/vernacular” nomenclature in his book Music in the United States; this has always seemed the least unsatisfying way to present a discussion defined by ambiguity. Any continuation along these lines, however, assumes the recognition that entertainment and recreation have only very recently become intellectually passive concepts–more on the dangers of this in the next installment. 2 Traditional Religious Orders 19 Sisters of the Society of St. Pius X Browerville, Minnestoa, USA Daughters of Archbishop Lefebvre: Sisters of the Society St. Pius X “Tradidi quod et accepi: I have handed down what I have received” Echoing these words of St. Paul, Archbishop Lefebvre wished to proclaim his fidelity to the Roman Catholic Church. On numerous occasions, he made it clear that his fight for the Mass and Tradition was not a personal crusade, nor the doctrine he preached his alone. Rather, God’s rights, souls, the truth—the Faith—were his concern. Having received what the Archbishop has handed down, we can indeed marvel at the richness of the treasury of doctrine and holiness of which the Church is the guardian. A man fully attuned to the Houses of the Sisters 20 Mother Mary Gabriel with Archbishop Lefebvre and Fr. Le Boulch ways of God, he also included in this precious legacy the religious life: the Sisters of the Society St. Pius X. While not the only religious society founded by the Archbishop, it is, as the Congregation’s name implies, the “sister society” of the Priestly Society, its counterpart in both spirit and purpose. The Beginnings In 1970, Bishop Charriere officially approved the statutes for the Priestly Society St. Pius X. There we read the Archbishop’s mention of a future Sister Society. However, this desire remained on paper for nearly three years. What was missing? The Sisters! But everything in its own time! During these three years, the call for priests and the sacraments was world-wide. Consequently, the Archbishop travelled a great deal. In February 1973, he landed in Melbourne, Australia, where, he met a young lady, 19 years old, desirous to give herself to God in the religious life. The aspirant, Janine Ward, unable to find a convent to enter in her own country, had heard—only a rumor, it is true!—that the visiting French bishop had founded a congregation. And so she very simply asked to be admitted as a postulant. As for the Archbishop, he thought that she was begging him to begin such a foundation. With these two different ideas, the trip of the future postulant was organized. In which language did the future founder and the first daughter communicate? English? French? The Archbishop had trouble understanding her accent and she did not speak a word of French! September 1973 arrived and Janine left her homeland for Ecône. What a surprise to learn that she was the only postulant. There were no other Sisters, and there was no Congregation! Yet, Divine Providence, Director of all these events, did not abandon the new postulant. Before formation in the THE ANGELUS • February 2008 www.angeluspress.org Browerville, USA religious life could be given, however, the language barrier had to be broken. The Archbishop found a Dominican community in Brittany which welcomed the postulant and the others who soon followed. Then, feeling himself incapable of assuring the religious formation of the Congregation’s future Sisters, he begged his missionary sister, Mother Mary Gabriel, for help. For more than 40 years, Mother Mary Gabriel had devoted herself to missionary work in the Congregation of the Holy Ghost Sisters. Filled with a joyful zeal for souls, she had spent much time on the African continent. In 1974, Mother Mary Gabriel was in Europe, recovering from an illness. While waiting to return to her beloved Africa, she saw God’s Will begin to point her in another direction. The signs became clearer: the crisis in the Church, the continual loss of faith and religious spirit in her own Congregation, her weakened health, her brother’s insistent appeal for aid in transmitting the religious life. Despite her great love for her Congregation, Mother Mary Gabriel decided to make the big step, and the nascent Congregation of the Sisters of the Society was taken to her maternal heart. The first novitiate was installed in Albano, near Rome. There Janine’s postulancy continued under Mother Mary Gabriel’s guidance until her taking of the habit—September 22, 1974—the real birthday of the new religious family. Two years later, September 29, 1976, the first profession was held. What a joy to count 12 novices and eight postulants in the chapel during the ceremony. Mother Mary Gabriel was happy to write to her sister, “I admit that more and more I am becoming attached to this new Congregation, so much do we see how Providence watches over it.” Indeed, God continues to bless this religious family. Completing now its 33rd year of existence ers of the Society of St. Pius X A 21 St. Michel-en-Brenne, France (founded in 1973 in Albano, Italy; moved to St. Michel in 1977): the Motherhouse (and French-speaking novitiate, until its transfer to Ruffec) Geneva, Switzerland (1977): school, parish work Le Pointet, France (1979): retreat house Unieux, France (1980): school, parish work St. Mary’s, Kansas, USA (1981): school, Ruffec, France Marseille, France parish work (founded in 1982 in Dijon, France; moved to Marseille in 1989): school, parish work Brussels, Belgium (1982): school, parish work La Reja, Argentina (1986): school, seminary care (Spanish-speaking novitiate until its transfer to Pilar) Browerville, Minnesota, USA (founded in 1986 in Armada, Michigan; moved to Browerville in 1990): English-speaking novitiate Sydney, Australia (1988): school, parish work Pilar, Argentina (1989): transfer of the Spanishspeaking novitiate St. Michel-en-Brenne, France Ruffec, France (1989): transfer of the Frenchspeaking novitiate Le Bremien, France (1991): retirement and nursing home Goffingen, Germany (1992): German-speaking novitiate Chateauroux, France (1992): domestic and parish work Libreville, Gabon (1993): mission apostolate Bruges, France (1996): school, parish work Albano, Italy (1997): domestic work for the receiving of pilgrims Suresnes, France (1998): domestic and sacristy care of District House Libreville, Gabon Gastines, France Wil, Switzerland (2003): school, parish work www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • February 2008 (2006): retreat house [Oct. 2007], it numbers 138 professed (20 of whom are Americans) and 16 novices of 17 different nationalities. Among the 21 houses in nine countries are four novitiates (France, Argentina, the United States, and Germany). The Motherhouse is located in St. Michel-en-Brenne, France. Sisters of Our Lady of Compassion Placed under the patronage of St. Pius X, whose protection would be solicited for the preservation of the integrity of the Faith, the Archbishop also gave another beautiful title to the Sisters: Sisters of Our Lady of Compassion. It is she whose soul he proposed as the model and ideal of the Sisters’ interior life. The Archbishop explained in the Constitutions, The spirit of the Sisters of the Society St. Pius X is entirely centered on devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The roots of this religious Congregation are to be found on Calvary then. Here the Church was born from the pierced Heart of our Redeemer; here, every grace for souls finds its source. Here, too, united to this Heart, we find the sorrowful and transpierced heart of Our Lady, standing at the foot of the Cross, offering herself as a victim with her Divine Son. It is the same intention which was behind the foundation of the Society of St. Pius X and the “Sisters of Our Lady of Compassion.” As on Calvary, there must be a priest standing at the altar who offers the Holy Sacrifice, and near this priest, there also must be consecrated virgins THE ANGELUS • February 2008 www.angeluspress.org completely devoted to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, completely devoted to the role of co-redemption and who, there at the foot of the altar, at the foot of the Cross, also offer themselves “in the image and following of Our Lady of Compassion.” Indeed, the profound and distinguishing end of the Society Sisters marked out by Archbishop Lefebvre is this life of compassion and loving reparation. Intimately united to this end was the Archbishop’s desire that the Sisters be the spiritual support of the Society’s priests, offering themselves for their sanctification and the fruitfulness of their apostolate. Even on Calvary, Our Lord did not wish to offer His sacrifice alone but desired that Our Lady be, through her union and oblation, the Co-Redemptrix of the world. Similarly, the Sisters support the unflagging action and intense apostolate of the Society’s priests by their contemplation and sacrifice. 23 Soul of the Apostolate The Congregation of the Sisters of the Society St. Pius X is a “semi-contemplative” order, that is, an order which observes the “mixed life,” a blend of both the active and the contemplative. Our Lord Himself lived the mixed life, preaching and working miracles, then retiring to places of solitude where He spent many hours in prayer. While the Congregation does undertake active works of apostolate, its principle end is the Sisters’ life of compassion, the source of the apostolate and religious spirit. Thus, in addition to the usual meditation, Mass, rosary, and Divine Office of most religious orders, the Sisters spend an hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament: an hour consecrated to prayer for the Pope, the bishops, priests, and consecrated souls, and, in particular, to make reparation, in union with Our Lady of Compassion, for the outrages committed against Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. The Call The formation of a Sister of the Society St. Pius X differs little in its fundamental requirements from most other religious orders. Any woman, aged 18 to 30, guided by a right intention and having sufficient health to be able to do the different works of the community, may be accepted into the Congregation. Firstly, a postulancy of at least six months is required. During this time, the aspirant turns her back on the maxims of the world, examines her vocation, is formed in the religious life, and seeks to be imbued with the spirit of the Society Sisters: “the spirit of charity, of prayer, of expiation, of zeal for the salvation of souls through the Sacrifice of Our Lord and the offering of oneself (Constitutions).” www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • February 2008 24 At the end of this period of time, she may ask to receive the habit of the Congregation. After the reception of the habit begins the novitiate, the training proper to the religious life. Holy Mother Church requires at least one year of novitiate, and encourages a second year that is devoted to deepening the spirit of the Congregation in the novice; this is the practice in the Society Sisters. The Novice O Holy Ghost, create in me a new heart that I may advance without ceasing in the spirit and virtues of my holy vocation. (From the Oblation at the ceremony of taking of the habit) The life of a novice, and later her life as a professed sister, is a very busy one, both interiorly and exteriorly. The novice works to deepen the supernatural life and to live it more profoundly each day. She must become a “new creature” as St. Paul says, that is, a soul detached from the things of the earth and oriented towards God so as to accomplish His Will and work for His glory. This transformation can only be effected by the Divine Guest in the chapel who is there silently teaching hearts, by “a knowledge and love of our Lord which are not so much speculative as experimental” (Archbishop Lefebvre). Nevertheless, there is also a most necessary (life-long) personal striving for virtue. The novice diligently pursues this work under the motherly direction of the Novice Mistress. The novice is also given daily chores and taught “new trades” to help fulfill the needs of the community and which later will be used in the different houses to which she is appointed. She learns to sew, to cook, to garden, and even different maintenance skills. Above all, she must become familiar with her Faith. To this end, she has classes and spiritual conferences taught by the chaplain and certain professed Sisters in doctrine, liturgy, apologetics, Church history, religious life, etc. These are the solid basis not only of her future apostolate with souls but especially of her own spiritual and religious life, providing the substantial nourishment needed both for her mind and for prayer. The novitiate is the time to become accustomed to the joys and trials of the common life as well. “We form in the THE ANGELUS • February 2008 www.angeluspress.org Church of God a small family” (Constitutions). This “family life” is the rule in all the houses of the Sisters: governed by a superior general (the Mother) and a general council, each house’s community must comprise at least three Sisters, one of whom is the local superior. It is in the perfect, cordial, and invariable union of their religious family that the Sisters find solace and consolation in the difficulties of their apostolate and inestimable help for the sustaining of their religious life, as well as the means of an efficacious apostolate. Consecrated Totally to God After two years of apprenticeship, the novice, knowing the obligations and the grandeur of the religious life, at last says “yes” to all by pronouncing the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Through the vows, the soul offers to God all that she has and all that she is–her whole person, all her goods. The bishop or delegated priest places a ring on her finger, saying, I espouse you to Jesus Christ, Son of the Most High Father. Receive, therefore, the ring of conjugal fidelity, a seal of the Holy Ghost, that you may live as a spouse of God. 25 daily Schedule 6:00 am Rise 6:30 am Divine Office, Mental Prayer 7:15 am Mass 8:10 am Breakfast and housecleaning 9:00 am Work 10:00 am Classes (or work) 11:45 am Adoration 12:15 pm Sext 12:30 pm Lunch 1:00 pm Dishes, recreation 1:45 pm Free time in silence 2:30 pm Work 4:30 pm Chant class 5:00 pm Study (or work) 5:45 pm Spiritual reading or conference 6:15 pm Adoration 6:45 pm Rosary 7:30 pm Supper 8:00 pm Dishes, recreation 8:45 pm Compline 9:45 pm Lights out This ceremony takes place at the Offertory of the Mass, at the foot of the altar, before the open tabernacle. The Heart of Jesus opens itself to receive His new spouse, and the mutual gift of one to the other takes place in the shadow of the cross, the altar of the sacrifice. These vows, which are received in the name of the Church, consecrate her totally to God, detaching her from the goods of the world and from herself, so that she may be entirely given to prayer and the apostolate. She will renew her vows annually, making final vows after at least ten years of profession. Once professed, she receives her nomination to one of the houses of the Congregation. She may be called to devote herself in a priory in Europe, the Americas, Australia, or any mission country. There, no matter what the particular apostolate of the house might be, she will keep all the spiritual exercises of the novitiate in order to draw therefrom all the necessary graces to cooperate, according to her abilities, in the extension of the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ. www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • February 2008 26 The Harvest Is Great, But the Laborers Are Few In a general manner, the Sisters’ apostolic activity has for its aim to facilitate and to complete the priestly apostolate. How, one may ask, do the Sisters facilitate the priestly apostolate? In imitation of Our Lady and the holy women who followed Our Lord and the Apostles, the Sisters relieve the priests of material cares such as washing, ironing, cooking, and housework, thus leaving them more free to accomplish their priestly ministry. The Sisters devote themselves to all that centers around the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, from the sewing of vestments to the care of altars and linens to the singing and teaching of Gregorian chant. And complete the priestly apostolate? In addition to the household tasks found in each house and priory, the Sisters undertake works appropriate to religious in parishes or missions: preparing children for the sacraments by catechism classes, teaching in elementary schools, visiting the sick and elderly, etc. A closer look at the Sisters’ various works confirms the vastness of their field of labor. The Motherhouse in France oversees a work entrusted to the Sisters by the Archbishop in 1983– Our Lady of Fatima Correspondence Catechism. Souls thirsting after a knowledge and love of the truths of the Faith are not lacking, yet Catholic schools are. Thus, the Catechism was especially destined to bring the seeds of doctrine to families seeking a profound religious education for their children. Existing in three languages, it has been able, over the years, to reach thousands of souls throughout the world–even within the borders of Russia. In 2007, the Catechism lessons were sent monthly to more than 700 French-speaking students. The novitiate in Browerville, Minnesota, counted nearly 400 enrollments, while the recent German translation was received by 200 souls. The Sisters also complete the priestly apostolate in elementary schools, whether as principal, or as teachers of catechism, home economics, and other secular subjects. Such is the case in several schools in Europe: in Belgium (Brussels), Switzerland (Geneva and Wil), France (Unieux, Marseille, Bordeaux), as well as in the Society schools in La Reja, Argentina, and Sydney, Australia. In St. Mary’s, Kansas, the Sisters give a daily catechism class to around 500 children (grades 1-12). The older girls also profit from a weekly home-economics class. Besides teaching, the Sisters educate souls in Christian virtue through sodalities (such as the Children of Mary), summer camps (a growing apostolate for the Sisters in seven countries), summer classes (with instructions in sewing, cooking, and other practical skills), striving to give the children and young women a solid foundation in doctrine and piety. In all their houses, the Sisters regularly visit the sick and elderly–the suffering members of Christ. This is accomplished on a daily basis at a nursing home in Le Bremien, France. There, the Sisters visit the residents and help them prepare for the sacraments and for a holy death. What about the distant mission countries? There, too, the Society Sister can aid the missionary priest in bringing Christ to souls. For example, the Sisters in Gabon assist the priests and brothers in catechizing the children and adults enrolled at the St. Pius X Mission. The Sisters have nearly 400 natives in their care this year. In short, in the service of Christ through His priests, the Sisters are dedicated to the spiritual and corporal needs of the faithful. May the Lord of the harvest send many generous laborers. “Whatever I can give I will give” (Archbishop Lefebvre) Daughters of two missionaries, the Sisters have the flame of the missionary spirit: living in God, intimately united to Him, the Sisters have at heart to give Him to souls, to make Him known and loved by all; called to the apostolate, they zealously give themselves, the diverse capabilities and talents of each one uniting in order to fulfill the needs of the vast field of labor and the numerous and varied requirements of the faithful. The Sisters accomplish all these tasks–whether they be humble and unseen, or more directly apostolic–with the same love, the same spirit of sacrifice: Nothing in their lives will be small or insignificant, everything will be grace and will sanctify them. (Constitutions) It is slowly, very slowly, that one understands the religious life: its beauty, its fruitfulness—because of its profundity, its truthfulness, its goal....We understand that it is not what we do that is important, but what we are. Very slowly, new horizons appear...and then only do we understand that the Lord has spoiled us in giving us the best part. (Mother Mary Gabriel) These reflections of a truly religious soul overflowing with gratitude in her vocation may be fittingly repeated by the Society Sister in the sublimity, humility, and simplicity of her vocation. Blessed are those who will have lived all their life in this spirit of oblation and of compassion! They will reach the end of their pilgrimage here below in the best dispositions for obtaining the eternal beatitude of heaven. (Constitutions) For information: Rev. Sister Superior Sacred Heart Novitiate 540 West 8th Street Browerville, MN 56438 USA or Rev. Mother General Abbaye Saint-Michel 7 allée du Chateau 36290 Saint Michel-en-Brenne, France  THE FRUITS Christendom NEWS Angelus Press Edition B i S h o p B e r n a r d OF OUR ROSARY CRUSADE FOR THE MASS F e l l a y At the “Days of Tradition” in Villepreux (near Paris), on October 6 and 7, 2007 His Excellency Bernard Fellay preached on the Holy Rosary. We give here below the second part of his sermon which dealt more specifically with the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. Last year, we launched a Rosary Crusade to obtain from God that He give sufficient strength to the Pope to free, at long last, the Traditional Mass. The result was overwhelming. We would never have expected, in the circumstances we were in, that the Pope give as much as he did. The essential is found in a very short sentence: the Mass has never been abrogated. Consequently, the traditional Mass has continued in existence. It has remained Church law in spite of the liturgical upheaval which took place after the Council and changed everything from top to bottom to impose a new rite. And God knows how strongly we opposed that www.angeluspress.org The ANgelus • February 2008 28 rite! The reform, despite its extent and Paul VI’s statements to the effect that the Mass of all time was forbidden, was never able to take the traditional Mass away from the Church. This is what the Pope tells us today. This Mass has never been abrogated, this means that it has remained, and remains a universal law of the Church. Obviously, this raises all sorts of problems, because normally there is only one rite. Now in fact, the official Church finds itself with two rites, and two universal laws concerning the manner of worshiping God. So, the Roman authorities came up with a strange explanation. Obviously, we do not agree with this explanation, for we can see clearly that it does not hold water. They had to find a way out, and so they speak of an ordinary and an extraordinary mode of the same rite. But this does not hold up. Whosoever observes the two modes carefully, can see that it is not the same rite. It is obvious. We can guess that after having affirmed and maintained the principle that the traditional Mass had not been abrogated, Rome is now trying to explain away the fact that there are now two Masses. Contrary to what is being said, the motu proprio does not contain any condition for the celebration of the Tridentine Mass. After stating that the rite is universal, the document can only conclude that every priest may celebrate it. There are, it is true, some practical conditions because of the present concrete situation which causes the Pope to make arrangements in view of the circumstances. Thus there is a restriction for Sundays, which says that only one traditional Mass may be celebrated in a parish. The restrictions, properly speaking, are to be found in the Letter which accompanied the motu proprio. We have two documents: the motu proprio and a Letter accompanying it; obviously both do not have the same value. It would be playing the bishops’ game to consider both documents of equal value. As a matter of fact, bishops do all they can to stop, and to prevent the implementation of the motu proprio. So if the situation has been re-established from a juridical viewpoint by the affirmation that the traditional Mass is a universal law, the concrete situation–in practice, because of the bishops’ behavior and even because of the accompanying letter–is hardly different from that of the Mass with the 1988 Indult. The Indult Mass was allowed, but the permission was limited by conditions. The current situation of the Tridentine Mass has not changed much in reality compared to what it was before, even if its right has been re-affirmed. But this right is of capital importance. If the supreme authority maintains and guarantees the right now acknowledged, we can be certain that at some point–but it will take much time, at least a generation or two–the traditional Mass will be re-established in fact. The mere fact of placing the two Masses on par from a juridical point of view THE ANGELUS • February 2008 www.angeluspress.org will lead one to supplant the other, because one of them cannot stand against the other. It will take time because bishops and, for the most part, priests are not inclined towards a return to the old Mass. And there we have a delicate part to play. The situation brought about by the motu proprio is delicate. It calls for much prudence and no inconsiderate actions on our part. Thus, do not go and ask your parish priest to say the Mass so that there may be more traditional Masses. Do not think that since the bishops say that there are no requests for the old Mass, let us ask for it. Do not do this or you will find yourself in an impossible situation. On the other hand, if you personally know a priest who has a real desire to say the Mass of all time, then do support him, invite him, and if you know other faithful who could be interested, urge them and support them. Do this without placing yourself in impossible situations. Let us make no mistake; it will take much time. We must not think that it is all over now, and that this time we have won the day. No, we want a forest of oaks; what we have so far is the seed, an acorn. The acorn must grow. Next we will have an oak tree. The forest will come afterwards; but, certainly, if the acorn had not been planted there would be neither tree nor forest later on. It is a first step, and a decisive step, in the right direction. However, we must not allow ourselves to be deceived. Concretely, we must carry on and continue to pray. It is indubitable that there is a power in this Mass. We have testimonies from priests who come close to the old Mass, who celebrate it. Their testimonies are magnificent. A priest who has celebrated the new Mass all his life suddenly comes into contact with the traditional Mass and he thinks to himself: it is two different worlds; it is altogether different to celebrate facing God! It is a sacrifice! It no longer is a sharing but a sacrifice! I am speaking to God about the welfare of my parishioners’ souls! In this holy Sacrifice I am obtaining grace for them! When I celebrate this Mass, I understand what the priest is! This does not mean that before he had no idea of what a priest is about, but he has discovered a dimension of the priesthood which had never been taught or revealed to him. He thought himself the president of an assembly and suddenly discovers that he is another Christ, alter Christus, a mediator together with Our Lord. This is something different. Gradually, he discovers the consequences it implies in faith and morals. The whole Catholic world is coming back, and this cannot happen in one day. We could imagine that God could suddenly shake the world and convert it in one second. He is almighty. He can do it just as He appeased the storm with one word. But when we study the history of the Church, we observe that this is not His usual way of acting. The Church came slowly out of her various crises. There are long periods of time when we find 29 the wheat and the cockle together in the same field. And Our Lord told the over-zealous workers who wanted to eradicate the weed to allow it to grow. We must abide by this teaching of Our Lord and follow it in this our new and difficult situation. We can say, my dear brethren, that the motu proprio places us in a more delicate situation than before. It is a fact! And I strongly invite you to persevere in praying the rosary (which has already obtained the stupendous affirmation that the Mass had never been abrogated) to obtain what we are asking for: not only the withdrawal of the decree of excommunication, but of course the victory, the return of the full Catholic way of life in the Church, of the whole doctrine, and of this consistency with all the demands of the Faith. We ask that the spirit of faith inspires once more the authorities, the bishops, and the faithful. Evidently, this is beyond our reach, but it is not beyond God’s reach! And confident prayer obtains all things from Him. Let us pray and sacrifice for our sake and for the sake of the Church! I really invite you to continue assiduously this rosary crusade. Last year, we asked for three months of prayer; now we set no time limit. May this rosary be a perpetual prayer that God shorten these terrible times. We do not always realize that the crisis the Church is going through is of an unheard of depth and seriousness. I wish to share with you another thought connected with the Blessed Virgin and the Rosary. It concerns Russia. We know that in Fatima, Our Lady has asked quite specifically that the pope, in union with all the bishops, consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart. We also know perfectly well that up to now this act has not been made according to all the conditions set by the Blessed Virgin. We also learned from Sister Lucia that, once this act is accomplished, its effect will be radical, immediate, as it were, overnight. There we will have something akin to the tempest appeased. We must also ask for it. But, closer to us, we are witnessing this battle for the Blessed Virgin in the East, with the very concrete fight for Tradition in the Ukraine. For some years now, we have been in contact with a group of priests of the Eastern Rite who fight for the same cause as we. They do not fight for the same Mass, because they do not know the new Mass of the Latin Rite. But they are aware of the bitter fruits of the Council. They can also notice some change in their own liturgy. These priests came to us and requested our support. We founded for them a priestly society in many ways similar to ours. For them we stand for, as it were, the ecclesiastical authority. This enraged the local Church authorities and they excommunicated the superior and his priests. For several years they have subjected them to a very severe persecution. Now these Ukrainian priests have a seminary and several parishes, numbering in all tens of thousands of faithful. In a few days, I will ordain seven new priests for them. I entrust to your prayers the battle waged in a country dear to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, so that it may work towards the consecration to and triumph of the Immaculate Heart. It will happen. These priests wage the same war as we. It is touching and deeply moving to see that throughout the world, even in different Rites, we find souls who share with us the same hardships. These souls desire to remain faithful to God, to His saints, and to the Church. And, in the present crisis–a crisis brought about by the very authorities of the Church, something unbelievable!– they persevere, come what may, and despite all oppositions. In spite of harsh authorities who try to ruin the good they have done, their works are making progress. These priests and faithful are now going through what we endured some twenty years ago. They are even going through fire, since their churches are destroyed by arson. Indeed, their opponents did not hesitate to set fire to a wooden 17th-century church because they were occupying it. Eastern Rite Christians do not know the rosary, but we find the devotion to the rosary in the Eastern Rite in the Ukraine. Immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the reconquest of Russia started from the Ukraine. The bishops who had been forced to live underground because of Communist persecution came out in the open and launched an operation to send missionaries into Russia to convert it. Who stopped them? Who broke their impetus? The Vatican! Two Russian bishops went to Rome to make their abjuration, and the Roman authorities refused them and sent them back to the Orthodox Church in Russia. Such is the plight of the Church! It is not merely a matter of the Mass or of a motu proprio; there are a whole lot of problems. And the battle goes on. So, my dear faithful, keep praying the rosary; love this prayer. If we do not love it enough, we must beg God to make us love it still more! This prayer is so pleasing to Our Lady. The popes have invited families to say the rosary and assured them of a very special protection. Every day, the Church grants a plenary indulgence to family members who pray the rosary together, and she also grants a plenary indulgence to those who pray it in a church. We can discern in this a very clear intention. This is the spirit of the Church. On this feast of the Holy Rosary, let us ask for love and zeal for this prayer which will lead us to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and will procure for us an intimate relationship with her and Our Lord. The rosary is for our souls a protection and at the same time a praise pleasing to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Reprinted from Christendom, No. 14, Nov.-Dec. 2007. Christendom is a publication of DICI, the press bureau of the Society of Saint Pius X (www. dici.org). www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • February 2008 30 Christendom NEWS Angelus Press Edition F r . F r a n ç o i s K n i t t e l CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS, AND JEWS do we All have the same god? Christians and Muslims, we have many things in common, as believers and as human beings....We believe in the same God, the one God, the living God, the God who created the world and brings His creatures to their perfection.1 These were the words of Pope John Paul II to young Moroccans in August 1985. He was but repeating the substance of his address to the Hebrew community in Mainz concerning Judeo-Catholic dialogue: First of all, it is a question of a dialogue between two religions which–together with Islam–were able to give to the world the faith in one ineffable God who speaks to us and whom we want to serve in the name of the whole world.2 According to the Pontiff, it would seem that Christianity, Judaism, and Islam adore the same God. Can we infer from this that all religions adore the same God? The practice of interreligious peace meetings (the first such meeting was organized in Assisi in October 1986) would seem to give credit to this idea. Doubtless such a doctrine, supported by so conclusive a practice, would, at first sight, seem attractive for our contemporaries. Yet can it withstand the examination of common sense and of the Catholic Faith? This is what we will examine first, before answering some objections. following manner: all religions tell us about God, but from different and complementary viewpoints. The Negation of the Principle of Non-Contradiction Now, to admit this opinion is tantamount to abolishing both the use of intelligence and of speech. For either these truths are partial and non-contradictory truths and complement one another to give us a more profound knowledge of reality; or they are contradictory, and then one is false. Two affirmations about the same object considered from two different viewpoints can be simultaneously true. On the contrary, two diametrically opposed affirmations about the same object and from the same viewpoint cannot both be true: one is certainly false. Let us take a concrete example. If I state that my car is blue and the person I am talking to tells me it is a Cadillac, we may both be right. On the contrary, if I affirm that my car is blue and the other person denies it, one of us is certainly wrong. Religions in General Common Sense Because of their desire for unity and in order to bring to an end the endless fight between truth and errors, many of our contemporaries have made for themselves a notion of truth which suits them. No one could ever possess the whole truth. In fact, each would have only one aspect of the truth. In the religious realm, this is expressed in the The ANgelus • February 2008 www.angeluspress.org Now, what do we observe between the various religions? They are mutually contradictory on essential points of their respective doctrines. Fr. GarrigouLagrange made this very simple observation: There are between the various religions numerous contrarieties and contradictions: 31 a) As to the truths to believe: between polytheism, pantheism, and monotheism; likewise also inasmuch as Christianity admits the divinity of Jesus Christ, which is denied by Judaism and Islam; likewise according as the infallibility of the Church is acknowledged or rejected by Protestants. b) As to the precepts: polygamy and divorce are allowed by many religions and forbidden by others and cannot be under the same circumstances both licit and illicit. c) As to the worship: some are pure and honest, others are in themselves inhuman and shameful. It is injurious to say that God would consider with equanimity all religions when one teaches the truth while the other teaches falsehood, when one promises the good and the other evil. To say this would be to affirm that God would be indifferent to good and evil, to what is honest or shameful.3 theologians have always considered them as enemies, and yet they believe in one God: Voltaire was a monotheist. Yet, will you tell me, he attacked Christian teaching: so does the Koran, which denies the three essential mysteries of Christianity: the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Redemption.10 Speaking more specifically of Islam, the same author continues his reflections: It is obvious that if God is one and not triune, it is wrong to affirm the Trinity: but conversely, if God is one and triune, it is wrong to say that He is one and not triune. It is logically inadmissible that the one and triune God be identical with the one and non-triune God. Now, the Koran, the Word of God, attacks the Trinity. The one God which attacks the Trinity cannot merge with the God Who is one and triune.11 Simple reflection and common sense show that religions have fundamental dogmas that are contradictory and irreconcilable. We must now consider this more specifically for Islam and Judaism. Hence we must conclude that what Islam believes is not identical with the Catholic Faith. Objectively speaking, Catholics do not have the same God as Muslims. Islam Judaism What does Islam think regarding some of the fundamental points of the Catholic faith?4 l The Trinity: “Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely Allah is the third (person) of the three.”5 “Say not, Three. Allah is only one God; far be It from His glory that He should have a son.”6 l The Incarnation: “Surely the likeness of Jesus is with Allah as the likeness of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him, Be, and he was.”7 “The heavens may almost be rent thereat, and the earth cleave asunder, and the mountains fall down in pieces, that they ascribe a son to the Beneficent God.”8 l The Crucifixion and Redemption: “And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the apostle of Allah; and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him. But they substituted another man who looked like him.”9 Such doctrines are altogether opposed to the Catholic Faith. How could they lead us to adore one and the same God? Professor Roger Arnaldez underlines this when, speaking of monotheism, he writes: Under the name of monotheism, we mix everything. That there is only one God, they are many to believe it. The fundamental question, which as a rule is forgotten because we persuade ourselves that unicity covers everything, is to know who is this one God. Then monotheism breaks up, and means nothing more than a label under which we classify anything. Let us suppose that a man is convinced that such a standing stone is the one God and addresses it in his prayers. What right would we have to refuse to acknowledge him as a monotheist? And what about the theists? Christian What are we now to think of Judaism? It is true that the Judaism of the Old Testament prepared the world for the coming of Christ. This is the reason why God safeguarded the Jewish people from polytheism and kept it in monotheism. But the Gospel will reveal to us that there are unsuspected riches in this one God: the Trinity of the persons. The mystery of the Trinity is the development and the achievement willed by God of the mystery of His unicity. Consequently, we must say that the One God of the Old Testament and the God-Trinity of the New Testament are identical. Doubtless it will be objected that the God who revealed Himself to the Sons of Israel did not make Himself known as triune. This is exact, yet it does not prevent Him from being the God of the Christians, first because the Bible, unlike the Koran, and for a very good reason, does not teach that God is not triune; next, because the Bible revelation, through a biblical pedagogy easily discernible, leads directly to its fulfillment in the Christian revelation.12 The God to which the Jews pray today is a God who is one, but He is most of all anti-trinitarian. Indeed, if Catholic dogma defines the mystery of the Trinity as “the mystery of one God in three equal and distinct persons,” the Jews could define their doctrine on God: “the mystery of one God in one person.” So, is it one or three persons? In reality, the two doctrines are irreconcilable. The opposition between Catholicism and Judaism crystallizes especially around the person of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Is He the Son of God and God Himself? Yes, answer the Catholics. No, retort the Jews. So, is He God or not? We must choose: these two affirmations cannot be simultaneously true.13 This opposition about Our Lord Jesus Christ is felt as such by the Jews themselves. Albert Memmi, a Jew from Tunisia, wrote the following in 1962: www.angeluspress.org The ANgelus • February 2008 32 Do the Christians always realize what the name of Jesus, their God, can mean for a Jew? For a Jew who has never ceased to believe and to practice his own religion, Christianity is the greatest theological and metaphysical usurpation of his history; it is a blasphemy, a spiritual scandal, and a subversion. For every Jew, even atheists, the name of Jesus is the symbol of a threat, of this great threat that has been hanging over their heads for centuries and which could burst into catastrophes, without their knowing why nor how to prevent them. This name is part and parcel of the absurd and crazy accusation of a frightful cruelty, which makes their social life hardly bearable. This name has eventually become for them one of the signs, one of the names of the great machinery that surrounds, condemns, and excludes them. May our Christian friends forgive me; but that they may better catch my meaning and to use their own language, I would say that for the Jews their [Christian] God is, as it were, the devil, if, as they say, the devil is the symbol and the summary of all that is evil, iniquitous, and almighty, incomprehensible on earth, and obstinately trying to crush bewildered human beings.…14 The reaction of Edith Stein’s mother after her daughter’s conversion to Catholicism is also symptomatic of the attitude of today’s Jews towards Jesus Christ: “I have nothing against him.…He may have been a good man.…But why did he make himself like unto God?”15 This negation of the divinity of Christ is the cement that bonds today’s Jews among themselves and with all of those who had the Messiah condemned to death: It is clear to anyone who reads the Gospels that Jesus was condemned by the Sanhedrin for a religious reason: the accusation of blasphemy. A man who introduces himself as the Messiah and the Son of God without really being so is a blasphemer worthy of death. Now, subsequent generations of Jews deny that Jesus be the Messiah and the Son of God. With this negation, they logically subscribe in principle to the judgment which motivated Jesus’ condemnation by the Sanhedrin, even if, in fact, they do not pronounce a death sentence, and, most of the time, do not think of it.16 From what has been said above, we must conclude that the God adored by the Catholics and that to whom contemporary Jews pay homage is not the same. Knowledge of God: Complete or Inexistent? By way of conclusion, let us return to the current conviction according to which all religions speak to us of God, but from different and complementary viewpoints. The question is, can we have a partial knowledge of God? St. Thomas answers in the negative, because partial error in the knowledge of a reality as simple as God is no knowledge at all: If they [pagans] had some speculative knowledge of God, it was mixed with many errors: some deprived Him of His providence over all things, others make of Him the soul of the world, others still adored several gods at the same time. For this reason, we say that they did not know God. THE ANGELUS • February 2008 www.angeluspress.org If composite realities can be partially known and partially unknown: on the contrary, simple things are not known as soon as they are not completely known. Hence, if some err even a little in their knowledge of God, they are said to have no knowledge of Him at all.17 Not knowing who God is, those who do not know Him cannot adore Him. The opinion according to which all religions adore the same God is unacceptable merely from the viewpoint of common sense in which all men share. What is more, for Catholics this opinion is a blasphemy because it is equivalent to considering Christ as an impostor and His teachings as so many lies. The Catholic Faith When we address Catholics, we must change our method of arguing. Indeed, for our argument to bear fruit, it must rest on common principles: reason alone when we discuss with pagans, the Old Testament in our disputations with the Jews, the whole Bible if we address heretics, schismatics, or Catholics.18 Now, what do Catholics read in the New Testament? All of Christ’s teaching insists on the necessity of going through Him to reach the Father. The knowledge of Jesus Christ and obedience to His precepts are not optional: they are essential. The following quotes call for no comment: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” ( Jn. 14:6). “I am the door” ( Jn. 10:7). “I am the good Shepherd.” ( Jn. 10:14). “I am the light of the world” ( Jn. 8:12). “That whosoever believeth in the Son, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” ( Jn. 3:16). “If you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sin” ( Jn. 8:24). “He who honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father, who hath sent him” ( Jn. 5:23). “He that is not with me, is against me” (Mt. 12:30). “For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. He that confesseth the Son, hath the Father also” (I Jn. 2:23). When they read these texts, how can Catholics still believe that all religions adore the same God, since, apart from Catholicism, all religions refuse to go through the only mediator acceptable to God, Jesus Christ? How much they have lost the Faith those “Catholics” who no longer even believe the words of Christ! Objections Yet, some will say, could we not consider false religions as stepping stones, useful to pass progressively from partial truths on to the complete truth? Certainly, any error always contains a part of truth. Yet let us beware of this illusion, which Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, 33 O.P., exposed: “In a globally false doctrine, truth is not the soul of the doctrine, but the slave of error.”19 And Louis Jugnet, a philosophy professor, expanded on this as follows: Catholic theologians do not at all mean to deny that some truths can be found in Protestantism, Judaism, or Brahmanism. But such is not the question; it is to know whether those truths are, as it were, at ease, free, and “at home” in opposing doctrines. Now, what we think, is that these truths play only a partial, fragmentary, and incomplete role. They are wrapped up in blatant errors which warp them and distort their true meaning, and thus, what predominates in a false doctrine, and what causes it to run the risk of being really disastrous, is the spirit of error and of negation. For instance: Judaism and Islam always insist on God’s unity (which is a truth), yet they do it intentionally and unilaterally so as to exclude the dogma of the Trinity. Luther lays stress on the fact that grace alone justifies, and taken at its face value, this formula is true: but for him, it excludes the Catholic economy of the sacraments, and so on. Likewise Kant does see that knowledge is an act, but he conceives this activity as blind and creative, and not capable of attaining Being. Marx does see the role, too often ignored, of the economic factor, but he gives it an exclusive and unacceptable extent, and so on. In these doctrines, all is not false in details, but the spirit of error contaminates everything. If partial truths are acceptable and assimilable it is only on condition of being taken away from the false doctrines (hence, there must first be a criticism of the error) and, as it were, “baptized” and re-thought in another perspective.20 But would it not be better to leave non-Catholics in invincible ignorance? It would be sufficient to lead them to heaven, since such ignorance is supposed to be non-culpable. On the contrary, if they knew the true religion and refused it, their refusal would be culpable and would lead them to damnation. This way of reckoning is hardly supernatural, and not at all respectful of the human mind created to know and love God. It also forgets that the boundary between invincible and culpable ignorance is God’s secret for every man in particular. How could we thus play poker with the eternal salvation of our neighbor? Lastly, it passes over in silence the pressing advice of Pope Pius XII to those who are not yet visible members of the Church. He urged them to seek to withdraw from that state in which they cannot be sure of their salvation. For even though by an unconscious desire and longing they have a certain relationship with the Mystical Body of the Redeemer, they still remain deprived of those many heavenly gifts and helps which can only be enjoyed in the Catholic Church.21 Conclusion Hence, it is an error contrary to reason and to the Catholic Faith to let Catholics and non-Catholics believe that we all adore the same God. It is a lack of charity for those who have gone astray because it keeps them in error. It is a lack of charity towards Catholics, because it places them in danger of losing the Catholic Faith. So what are we to do? Catholic doctrine tells us that the primary duty of charity does not lie in the toleration of false ideas, however sincere they may be, nor in the theoretical or practical indifference towards the errors and vices in which we see our brethren plunged....Further, whilst Jesus was kind to sinners and to those who went astray, He did not respect their false ideas, however sincere they might have appeared. He loved them all, but He instructed them in order to convert them and save them.22 Fr. François Knittel was ordained for the Society of Saint Pius X in 1989. He served as District Superior of Mexico for several years, and is now head of a priory in France. This is reprinted with permission from Christendom, No.14, the bimonthly magazine of the SSPX’s international news bureau DICI (www.dici.org). Pope John Paul II, Meeting With Young Muslims in the Stadium of Casablanca, August 19, 1985. Unless otherwise specified, papal documents are taken from www.vatican.va. 2 Translation ours. 3 “Adest inter diversas religiones contrarietes et contradictio multipliciter: a) quoad veritates credendas, inter polytheismum, pantheismum, monotheismum; item prout admittitur in christianismo divinitas Jesu Christi quæ rejicitur a judaismo et islamismo; item prout agnoscitur infallibilitas Ecclesiæ catholicæ aut e contra rejicitur a protestantibus; b) quoad præcepta, polygamia et divortium, quæ in multis religionibus permittuntur, et in aliis prohibentur, non possunt esse simul licita et illicita in iisdem circumstantiis; c) quoad cultum, alii cultus sunt puri et honesti, alii vero secundum se inhumani et libidinosi. Injuriosum est Deo dicere, Deum æquo animo respicere omnes religiones, quarum una verum, alterafalsum edocet, quarum una bonum, altera malum promovet. Hoc est dicere, Deum indifferenter se habere ad verum et falsum, ad honestum et inhonestum” (Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., De Revelatione [Paris: Gabalda, 1921], II, 437). 4 Cf. SiSiNoNo, No.326, June, 1992, pp.1-7 (French edition). 5 The Koran, 5, 73. 6 The Koran 4, 171. 7 The Koran 3, 59. 8 The Koran 19, 90-91. 9 The Koran 4, 157. 10 Roger Arnaldez, “Réflexion sur le Dieu du Coran du point de vue de la logique formelle,” in Annie Laurent et al., Vivre avec l’Islam? (Versailles: Editions St. Paul, 1997), pp.130-31. 11 Ibid., p.132. 12 Ibid. 13 Cf. SiSiNoNo, No.319, November 1991, pp.1-5 (French edition). 14 Albert Memmi, Portrait d’un Juif (1962), quoted in Archbishop Lefebvre’s The Mystery of Jesus. 15 Joachim Bouflet, Edith Stein, philosophe crucifiée (Paris: Presses de la Renaissance, 1998), p.208. 16 Ansgar Santogrossi, L’Evangile prêché à Israël (Clovis, 2002), p.48. 17 Sed si quid speculativa cognitione de Deo cognoscebant, hoc erat cum admixtione multorum errorum, dum quidam subtraherent omnium rerum providentiam; quidam diceret eum esse animam mundi; quidam simul cum eo multos alios deos colerent. Unde dicuntur Deum ignorare. Licet enim in compositis possit partim sciri et partim ignorari; in simplicibus tamen dum non attinguntur totaliter, ignorantur. Unde etsi in minimo errent circa Dei cognitionem, dicuntur eum totaliter ignorare. (Super Joannem, c.17, lect.6, No.2265). 18 “Some of them, as Mohammedans and Pagans, do not agree with us in recognizing the authority of any scripture, available for their conviction, as we can argue against the Jews from the Old Testament, and against heretics from the New. But these receive neither” (Summa Contra Gentiles, Book I, Ch.2). 19 “In doctrina simpliciter falsa, veritas non est una anima doctrinæ, sed serva erroris” (Garrigou- Lagrange, O.P., De Revelatione, II, 436). 20 Quoted in SiSiNoNo, No.283, June 1988, p.8 (French edition). 21 Encyclical Mystici Corporis, §103 (June 29, 1943). 22 Pope St. Pius X, Encyclical Notre Charge Apostolique (Our Apostolic Mandate), August 25, 1910. 1 www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • February 2008 BooK ReVieWs TITLE: A Shepherd in Combat Boots AUTHOR: William L. Maher PUBLISHER: Burd Street Press DISTRIBUTOR: Angelus Press. Price: $17.95 REVIEWER: Mr. Dennis Hammond SUMMARY: A man’s true character is revealed by his conduct in difficult circumstances, and tales of courage have always been worth reading for their power to inspire. But when the hero is a Catholic priest and chaplain whom the Church has named “Servant of God,” then the story takes on an added dimension. This history of Fr. Emil Kapaun’s life as a chaplain and POW in Korea is just such story. May the name of this son of Kansas farmers become well known in America. 3 books for fathers and sons TITLE: The Last Crusade AUTHOR: Dr. Warren Carroll PUBLISHER: Christendom Press DISTRIBUTOR: Angelus Press. Price: $14.95 REVIEWER: Mr. Dennis Hammond SUMMARY: In Spain, 1936, what is known as the Spanish Civil War broke out. Dr. Warren Carroll, founder of Christendom College and author of an acclaimed series of histories on the Christian West, tells the tale of how the faithful Catholics of Spain proclaimed a Crusade against the Communists and triumphed against all odds. The story of the defense of the Alcazar, an epic of heroic courage and fidelity, must never fade from our memories. In our current age of debate over the just war doctrine and our government’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan (and maybe Iran), we can easily lose sight of what Catholic duty and sacrifice should and do mean. Authorities better informed and better able to articulate than I the proper arguments for how Catholics should view warfare could likely learn much from the players in the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930’s and from Fr. Emil Kapaun (pronounced KAY-pon, like the chicken, ironically), a chaplain in the Korean War. The common protagonist and clear enemy in both books is Communism. A true enemy of Catholicism and Christ the King, Communism is intelligently and thoroughly depicted in the accounts of both of these efforts. Also depicted are the various non-Communist factions who get sucked into its ungodly momentum. After reading both books, I was reminded again that Communism, although in a different form today than fifty years ago, is still alive, formative, and a very real The ANgelus • February 2008 www.angeluspress.org enemy. The Communism that the Spaniards faced in circa 1936 had also changed its face and form by 1950’s Korea. And as I look at my sons, it is an enemy that, as a father, I am duty-bound to make sure that they know about and understand isn’t going away anytime soon. And it’s ever changing. Yes, the Wall fell in 1989, but come on, do you really trust Vladimir Putin? Defending to the death their families, home soil, and religious liberties may (will?) be something that our sons and grandsons have to do in the generation(s) ahead. If you take only one thing away from either of these books, let it be that Communism should not be taken lightly. Nor should a strong faith. It is a widely held belief that Russia was not properly consecrated as requested by Our Lady of Fatima. No doubt this has allowed Communism to survive and spread! I was given William Maher’s book about Fr. Emil Kapaun by a trusted priest and picked it up to read with some reluctance. My sensibilities and pull at the ns 35 time were smack dab between the NBA Playoffs and Fr. Tanqueray’s The Spiritual Life–both immense and alluring, but clearly polar opposite offerings! Fr. Emil Kapaun was born and raised in the eastcentral Kansas town of Pilsen, about 50 miles north of Wichita. His upbringing on a hardscrabble plains farm no doubt contributed to his quiet toughness and the fortitude he demonstrated in later life. Pilsen was predominantly a Catholic town, with a Bohemian immigrant population as majority–Bohemian as in former natives of the German region of Bohemia, not our present day hijacking of the term “bohemian” which connotes “earthy, hip, or environmental-tree hugging, non-bathing” types. Maher paints a vivid picture of what it took to survive on a plains farm during the Depression era and how strength of faith and trust in God, as well as strong family, were at the core of a small community’s fabric. In our modern era, this connection to family, the Faith, and home-life has given way to the money grab of “business success” and “power lunches” and striving to get ahead. Careers have displaced family in importance as men (not to mention women) left the home to work for The Wage. This pursuit of wealth, power, and recognition has robbed many men and their families of what really matters. Priorities have been turned upside down, if not lost altogether. As a result, many men and families have lost their faith. Reading this account of how Fr. Kapaun grew up immersed in work ethic and daily sacrifice, I found myself projecting my life as a corporate work-a-day member into his world and wondering how I would do! His studies didn’t come easy, and Maher details how the young Kapaun persevered in all he did, both on the farm and in the classroom. Eventually, despite economic and social hardships, Kapaun was able to go away to school and achieve his goal of ordination and the priesthood. I found this book to be a page-turner and read it in a couple of sittings, which left me wondering if Fr. Kapaun would have allowed himself to sit and read a book for three to four hours when other duties called! An Army chaplain through World War II in Burma (and elsewhere), Fr. Kapaun returned to be a diocesan priest prior to the Korean War. However, his heart and perception of his duty and where he was truly needed never strayed far from the GI’s. Fr. Kapaun was born in 1916, ironically about a year before the Bolsheviks took over Russia and forever changed the geo-political scene. In the United States, Communism remained somewhat underground, limited to liberal elites, Hollywood, and other factions (see McCarthyism–another article, eh?). But in Russia when Fr. Kapaun was a teenager, Communism was a runaway force threatening to pull into its vacuum all that came close. Spain was close enough to be sucked in. This was a Spain that had resisted and finally defeated the Islamic occupation, various heresies against the Faith (Albigensianism; Henry VIII), the current of the nearby French Revolution’s waves, and anti- monarchist movements. The aftermath of World War I saw the League of Nation’s pro-democracy and antimonarchy influence grow. This early global push toward democracy provided cover for condemnations and the undermining of monarchies and Catholic Kingship and its social governance. Sounds familiar, eh? Democracy and the republic were now king. Not the monarch. Not Christ the King. It’s not difficult to understand how well-meaning people could take positions that allowed such forces to grow and gain power and influence in Spain in the early 1900’s and other places afterwards. As we as a nation grew to value our republic and brand of democracy and push it elsewhere, we got lazy with our enemies who didn’t like the things that we didn’t like, i.e. Catholic-ruled monarchies. It would be easy to imagine Fr. Kapaun in the complex mix of 1930’s Spain and the milieu of politics that existed. His stoic and steadfast sense of duty would have matched well with steel-willed Loyalist fighters like Moscardo and Franco. I have read many accounts and still felt somewhat wanting for a clear and true understanding of the various Spanish factions of this time. Carlists, Federalists, Socialists, Anarchists, Communists—it’s difficult to clearly understand their various positions. But historian Dr. Carroll does justice to the positions. Loyalty to the crown, to Catholic truth, and to the Spanish homeland all factor in to the political climate. The heroism that held fast and fought against the Muslim occupation of Spain and succeeded in the Reconquista in the late 1400’s was still alive and well—or well enough!—in Spain during the 1930’s. This was ultimately the spirit that prevailed in the Spanish Civil War. Dr. Carroll is a formidable and entertaining historian as well as an adept storyteller. He logically inserts his fact-based views and conclusions where possible, while not prejudicing the story. He makes it clear that he is engaging in conjecture or opinion when doing so. His research is thorough, and I enjoy his writing style. I highly recommend his accounts of Queen Isabella, the French Revolution, and his six-volume work on the history of Christendom. His understanding and ability to place the reader into the time and action of the Spanish Civil War make this my favorite of his works. His Catholicism, while always present, doesn’t cloud his articulation of the facts. And in the Spanish Civil War, Catholic justice was clearly an ever-present and potent player. It is refreshing to get a Catholic perspective of this little known time period. Communism was the enemy at hand in both accounts. As an Army Chaplain in Korea, Fr. Kapaun came face to face with the Communist menace as did the Spanish freedom fighters under General Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Maher shares direct testimony and examples of Fr. Kapaun’s heroism and selfless, saintly acts, while Dr. Carroll recounts saintly and heroic actions of many of the players in 1930’s Spain. In Toledo, the ancient Spanish capital, the Republican (i.e. Socialist and Communist) forces www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • February 2008 36 have laid siege to the citadel known as the Alcazar. Commanding the outnumbered defenders is Colonel Moscardo. His faith, leadership, military skill, and iron will lead an improbable, heroic, even miraculous stand that is truly inspiring. During the siege, Colonel Moscardo’s son is captured by the enemy and held at gun point to be shot if Moscardo didn’t surrender the critical stronghold. The General knows he cannot relinquish this position or it means the end of the war and Catholic freedom and victory for the Communist fighters. It is the quintessential choice: Individual versus nation; son versus nation; son versus just cause. Where have we seen that choice? God gave us His Son in just this manner. In today’s world, how many fathers could make this choice? Imagine the courage and fortitude! Again, as with Fr. Kapaun’s story, it’s difficult, if not impossible, NOT to insert ourselves into the situation and ask: “What would I do?” Moscardo’s son stoically tells his father, “They will shoot me if you don’t surrender the Alcazar. But don’t worry about me.” Moscardo implores his son, “If they do, then commend your soul to God, shout “Viva Espana” and die as a hero. Good bye, my son.” Moscardo’s son is eventually killed. But they will not, and cannot, surrender. The Siege continues and they hold the Alcazar in sometimes miraculous fashion. Eventually the tide turns and they are rescued with the arrival of Franco’s armies. Heroism comes in all shapes and sizes. Usually those who are heroes didn’t mean to be and don’t want to be called heroes. They just do the right thing. They do what needs to be done. Fr. Kapaun found himself in combat in Korea, about to be surrounded by the Chinese Red Army. He saw a platoon of American soldiers isolated, wounded and cut off from the rest of the forces. He could have fallen back to safety with the others but he chose to join the cut-off platoon to minister, comfort, counsel, and be a priest to them. They were captured. The majority of Maher’s book and Fr. Kapaun’s story of heroism ensues from there. It is a compelling account of survival and selflessness. The Korean War isn’t a well known topic, and I suspect that is why Fr. Kapaun’s story is not better known. Fr. Kapuan and the men with him did what they were supposed to do and what had to be done. They did their duty. Those who survive will tell you that. But survivors also told of how Fr. Kapaun did things well beyond what should or could have been expected. Giving and finding food for the hungry. Doctoring and cleaning up the sick and weak. Always consoling and encouraging them. In many cases he kept the “dead men walking” alive. Fr. Kapaun was always urging the men onward and upward. Fr. Kapaun went beyond what most mortal men could or would do. Maher recounts more than one story of Fr. Kapuan rescuing the wounded from the battlefield while bullets were flying. GI’s testified that, “he should have been shot.” But Fr. Kapaun defied logic and physics more than once. He was never hit, although his corn cob pipe was shot out of his mouth. Undaunted, he repaired it and used it anyway. THE ANGELUS • February 2008 www.angeluspress.org Fr. kapaun memorial, pilsen, kansas the valley of the fallen, madrid, spain After their capture at Unsan, the POW’s were forced to march 300 miles further into North Korea. This march rivals the infamous Bataan Death March in the Philippines in WWII. There are multiple stories of heroic and saintly actions by Fr. Kapaun told by men who had no religious affiliation as well as those of faith. The non-believers’ accounts were especially noteworthy to me in their appreciation and respect for Fr. Kapaun. The Chaplain from Kansas clearly did amazing things both at the front and behind the lines for the men in his charge. 37 There are portions of the books that aren’t for the faint of heart, but both of our sons (ages 11 and 15) have read these books. Given what passes for adolescent heroes these days, I am pleased to have these two books at our disposal. There are plenty of real examples of true heroism here that any Catholic gentleman can look up to and learn from. Simply surviving and maintaining human dignity was a daily challenge, and cruel, inhuman actions from the Communists are another common thread in both these accounts. Fr. Kapaun was taken prisoner by the North Koreans and Chinese, but the saintly priest from Kansas quietly resisted the propaganda. His apologetics and cool articulation of the Faith and his pointing out the shortcomings of Communism were inspiring. It helped the men persevere and withstand the psychological warfare imposed on them by their captors. In Spain, 1936 saw staggering numbers of martyrs meet their God. Priests, nuns, and people well known as “good Catholics” were subjected to persecutions more terrible than that of the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution. In fact, more bishops were killed in Spain than there were in the entire French Revolution. Truly, the Communist desire to “kill God” was alive and well. How do we learn from these examples? How do we apply these situations and gain from our Catholic history? Can our sons rise up with the knowledge, fortitude, cohesiveness, and faith to quell a Communist or Islamist assault on our country??? What if it’s not just our country, but our religion, with a true Trajan-like persecution? What about when we are old and no longer able to lead and help? Could we (baby boomer and Gen X Catholics) do it now? Are you comfortable with the answers to these questions? I have two friends, one raised in Spain, a traditional Catholic and essentially a Carlist (though it’s not that simple), the other a highly educated intellectual who has studied in the US, and also spent time in Spain and studied the socio-political workings and underpinnings of the Civil War. I have discussed the various sides and factions and the respective viewpoints with both of them and can say that Dr. Carroll’s book lays out a terrific foundation to understand what is an important but little known piece of history. It’s a complex story with many factions, but this book is effective and inspiring. I highly recommend his book as a starting OR ending point for the Spanish Civil War! The overarching theme is about the heroism of many Spanish defenders. Many gave their lives. Some didn’t fully understand why, but yet they did. The Communist-led army wished to take away their faith and their homeland. It was as simple as that. You will not take my Faith and you will not take my home! This visceral and dual foundation was as strong as granite. They would not be moved and it willed them to persevere through many pitched battles, the loss of sons, daughters, spouses, friends and townsfolk. There was a desperate, never-say-die quality and courage that permeated the entire Catholic Spanish resistance. In our transient and rootless culture, where would we find this resolve and courage? This true courage? Chesterton wrote at about this same time period on an unrelated (but VERY related) topic. He said, “Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live that takes the form of readiness to die.” And also “The paradox of courage is that a man must be a little careless of his life in order to save it.” The heroes of the Spanish Civil War and Fr. Kapaun knew this. They may not have been able or cared to articulate it, but they knew it. Many a Spaniard was quoted to the effect of, “If I am forced to live without my Faith and under Communist rule, I will not. I will die fighting it.” Fr. Kapaun also hated Communism. He hated it for what it did to the enemy soldiers. He always made that distinction for the men. Upon reflection, I view these two books as leaving indelible marks on my mind and soul. The heroes from the Catholic resistance and triumph against Communism in Spain, Fr. Kapaun’s daily, consistent, and undaunted example of duty and fortitude, and those who were with them in their anonymous yet steadfast solidarity, give us the example we need each and every day. Just pick up these two books and read on! There are many saints that I read of and admire. Many of them, though, seem far removed and of different eras, and they are. I find it challenging to project myself into their time and situations. But the heroes and saints of the Spanish Civil War, like Colonel Moscardo at Toledo, Colonel Pinilla at Gijon, countless priests and religious, and Fr. Emil Kapaun through his saintly life and the examples they give, are close to us in time and circumstance. Fr. Kapaun grew up in a simple, hard working existence, not so long ago and as many of us did. He was of my father’s generation. And many of the leaders of the Spanish Catholic resistance had similar roots. For this, they seem more contemporary and that much more real and able to be copied and followed in their example. And we need to follow their example. The enemy is insidious, hidden and clever, but always present and ready. He is always adapting and looking for new angles. Are we ready to meet his challenge? Reading these two books has given me a crystal clear example of what is needed in dire times and what is needed to be ready. Said Mark Twain, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” Mr. Maher and Dr. Carroll have brought us two accounts of mastery over fear and true unflinching heroism. I believe we—and our sons—are in their debt. Mr. Dennis Hammond is the father of four children. He is a freelance writer, part-time public speaker, and works in Executive Marketing for IBM. The family lives on ten acres outside Fort Worth, Texas, and assists at the Latin Mass. www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • February 2008 PART 9 38 F r . M a t t h i a s G a u d r o n Our serialization continues with the chapter of the Cathechism devoted to questions of civil society. The relationship between Church and State and the idea of religious liberty are discussed, with a special emphasis on the contemporary debate about the latter. Catechism Of the Crisis In the Church 38) What does Vatican II teach about religious liberty? (Continued from the January issue.) l Was there a fourth “liberal Catholic” wave? Jacques Maritain (1882-1973) was the principal leader of the fourth “liberal Catholic” wave in France beginning in the 1930’s. l But wasn’t Jacques Maritain a great Thomist philosopher? Just as at the beginning of the Church’s history certain men betrayed the true faith after having been its champions (Tertullian, for example), likewise Maritain, a champion of Thomism, progressively evolved towards liberalism.1 He went so far that, towards the end of his life, he had come to doubt the eternity of the pains of hell. l Was this fourth “liberal Catholic” wave condemned? In 1953, Cardinal Ottaviani, the Pro-Secretary of the Holy Office, refuted some of Maritain’s liberal theses in a solemn speech at the Lateran; in 1958, the Holy Office prepared a document condemning certain propositions THE ANGELUS • February 2008 www.angeluspress.org of Maritain or of the American Jesuit John Courtney Murray, but Pius XII’s death prevented its publication. Ultimately, Maritain and Courtney Murray triumphed at Vatican II. l Does the religious liberty proclaimed by Vatican II incur these condemnations of “liberal Catholicism”? The religious liberty taught by Vatican II incurs several of these condemnations. In Quanta Cura, for example, Blessed Pius IX condemned “that erroneous opinion, most fatal in its effects on the Catholic Church and the salvation of souls, called by Our Predecessor, Gregory XVI, an insanity (deliramentum); namely, that ‘liberty of conscience and worship is each man’s personal right, which ought to be legally proclaimed and asserted in every rightly constituted society....’”2 He equally condemned the following error as contrary to Holy Scripture, the Church, and the holy Fathers: “That is the best condition of civil society, in which no duty is recognized, as attached to the civil power, of restraining by enacted penalties, offenders against the Catholic religion, except so far as public peace may require.”3 l Can you cite another pope? Leo XIII, in Libertas Praestantissimum, sounded a warning not only against the irreligious State, but also against a State that would “treat the various religions 39 (as they call them) alike, and bestow upon them promiscuously equal rights and privileges,” “a line of action which would end in godlessness.” Such a State would sin against justice and reason.4 l Do the popes of the 20th century teach the same doctrine? Pope Pius XII taught on October 6, 1946: The Catholic Church, as we have already said, is a perfect society and has as its foundation the truth of Faith infallibly revealed by God. For this reason, that which is opposed to the truth is, necessarily, an error, and the same rights, which are objectively recognized for truth, cannot be afforded to error. In this manner, liberty of thought and liberty of conscience have their essential limits in the truthfulness of God in revelation.5 l But doesn’t Dignitatis Humanae refer to papal pronouncements? Dignitatis Humanae cites Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical Libertas in support of religious freedom. Here is the relevant paragraph (§30): Another liberty is widely advocated, namely, liberty of conscience. If by this is meant that everyone may, as he chooses, worship God or not, it is sufficiently refuted by the arguments already adduced. But it may also be taken to mean that every man in the State may follow the will of God and, from a consciousness of duty and free from every obstacle, obey His commands. This, indeed, is true liberty, a liberty worthy of the sons of God, which nobly maintains the dignity of man and is stronger than all violence or wrong—a liberty which the Church has always desired and held most dear. l What is the import of this passage of Leo XIII? After condemning “liberty of conscience” as it is commonly understood in the modern world, Leo XIII says that this expression can, however, be rightly understood. Speaking of “a liberty worthy of sons of God,” he unequivocally means the freedom to be able to practice the true religion (the right of which he speaks has as its object the will of God and the accomplishment of His precepts). It is dishonest to pretend to apply this passage to false religions. l Do the authors of Dignitatis Humanae admit that their document contradicts the teachings of previous popes? Several of the authors of Dignitatis Humanae were obliged to admit that the text posed some difficulties. The chief inspirer of the text, Fr. John Courtney Murray, acknowledged this in his commentary: “Almost exactly a century later, the Declaration on Religious Freedom seems to affirm as Catholic teaching that which Gregory XVI and Pius IX held as ‘insanity,’ a mad idea.”6 Fr. Yves Congar admitted: “It cannot be denied that the Declaration on Religious Liberty does say materially something else than the Syllabus of 1864; it even says just about the opposite of Propositions 15 and 77 to 79 of this document.”7 Elsewhere he said: “I collaborated on the final paragraphs—which left me less satisfied. It involved demonstrating that the theme of religious liberty was already contained in Scripture. Now, it isn’t there.”8 l How could Vatican II have reached the point of promulgating a declaration so radically in contradiction with the Church’s practice and teaching? The Preparatory Theological Commission constituted by Pope John XXIII to prepare the Council had drafted an entirely traditional document, summarizing the Church’s doctrine in this matter.9 But the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, presided by Cardinal Bea, had prepared an alternative schema drafted with a view to pleasing the Protestants and Freemasons. During the preparatory sessions held on June 19-20, 1962, “the texts of the Commission and the Secretariat were presented together before the Central Commission, provoking the most dramatic confrontation that body ever experienced.”10 Cardinals Ottaviani and Bea vehemently clashed. On the eve of the Council, two contrary doctrines were proposed. One referred to the unbroken tradition of the Church, the other invoked the expectations of the modern world. l Was the Secretariat for Christian Unity able to impose this innovative text easily? The Secretariat for Unity was able to impose its text only after four years of lobbying the Council Fathers. The innovators hoped to bring it to a vote in 1964 as a sort of repentance for Pius IX’s Syllabus, whose centenary was being observed that year, but they did not succeed. Finally, the Declaration on Religious Freedom was voted and promulgated at the end of the Council’s last session in 1965. To reduce the opposition, they had moderated the tone and added numerous apparently traditional passages. But the fundamental orientation of the document remained liberal, and the definition given to “religious freedom” contradicted the constant teaching and practice of the Church. 39) How does Vatican II try to justify religious freedom? The Declaration on Religious Liberty bases it on the dignity of the human person: The council further declares that the right to religious freedom has its foundation in the very dignity of the human person as this dignity is known through the revealed word of God and by reason itself (§2). l Why do the authors of this document want to found the right to religious liberty on the dignity of the human person? In order to bypass the Church’s previous condemnations (notably against the idea that error has rights), a new foundation for religious liberty had to be found, so they tried to consider things from the viewpoint of persons: to be able to adhere freely to www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • February 2008 40 religious truth, they must be exempt from constraint in matters religious. l What should we think of this argumentation? It is an attempt at diversion by means of a threefold sophism. l Where’s the diversion? A theoretical distinction about the foundation of religious liberty cannot change the fact that religious liberty itself is directly contrary to the constant teaching and practice of the Church. It is a fact that the Church has always striven to reduce (and if possible to ban) the practice and propagation of false religions. Regardless of the cleverness deployed to provide religious freedom with new foundations not yet explicitly condemned, a false right will always remain a false right (and the new foundations, sophisms). l What is the first sophism? Under the pretext that man must adhere to religious truth freely, Vatican II would exempt him from any constraint in this matter. Dignitatis Humanae thus asserts: ...The truth cannot impose itself except by virtue of its own truth, as it makes its entrance into the mind at once quietly and with power.... It is in accordance with their dignity as persons–that is, beings endowed with reason and free will and therefore privileged to bear personal responsibility–that all men should be at once impelled by nature and also bound by a moral obligation to seek the truth, especially religious truth. They are also bound to adhere to the truth, once it is known, and to order their whole lives in accord with the demands of truth. However, men cannot discharge these obligations in a manner in keeping with their own nature unless they enjoy immunity from external coercion.... Truth, however, is to be sought after in a manner proper to the dignity of the human person and his social nature. The inquiry is to be free, carried on with the aid of teaching or instruction, communication and dialogue, in the course of which men explain to one another the truth they have discovered, or think they have discovered, in order thus to assist one another in the quest for truth. (§§1-3) l It is true after all that coercion is opposed to freedom; where then is the sophism? An expert at the Council, Fr. Berto,11 neatly exposed the sophism: Not everyone is an adult, and many adults by age are not so by intellect. The schema ignores the timid; it ignores the slaves of sin; it ignores the pressure of the passions; it ignores the spreading of errors by perverse men, and imagines an angelic man.... Where in the world, or on what planet, does this schema put us? From a child’s tenderest age and attainment of the use of reason there are “moral problems” to resolve, and far from having a right to be left to itself to resolve them, the child has a right not to be left to itself, but rather to be helped by the counsels, commands, injunctions, and paddle of its parents and educators to resolve its “moral problems” with rectitude. The child has a right to have its freedom limited; it has the right to have those in charge order it to do what is inherently right. THE ANGELUS • February 2008 www.angeluspress.org And the parents and educators who abdicate from ordering, prescribing, ordaining, and spanking, fail in a very serious duty and heavily burden their consciences before God. The same ought to be said analogously of most men, who are not able to overcome even vincible errors unless the errors are kept far from them by those who have received the duty, and they can as it were breathe the truth. Just as sick people are sent to a sanitarium so that they can breathe the fresh air of the mountains or sea shore to rebuild their strength and they can escape the noxious air of the city, likewise the human race, sick from original sin and manifold actual sins, has a right, not to an unlimited “religious freedom,” but on the contrary to such restraint on “religious freedom” that by using their liberty men embrace the truth. This does not mean that people are forced to embrace the faith against their will, but rather that the stupid and the weak are placed in a situation in which they can more easily discern and choose the truth. Unlimited “religious freedom,” besides being inherently bad, opens the door to error to the great detriment of the rights of the weak and the ignorant.12 [Moreover] Since in this world error has such power, all those endowed with authority of whatever degree—parents over their children, the State over its citizens, the Church over the baptized—have a very serious duty, whether natural or supernatural, to protect those in their charge from error. Some say that truth can defeat error all by itself without the help of any authority. This will be true the day when men are no longer men, but supermen or superangels! I have sufficiently shown above that error finds its accomplices within us and among us.13 l What is the second sophism? Under the pretext of not hindering the free search for truth (DH 2), Vatican II promotes the free propagation of error (DH 4). l What’s the answer? This error is self-refuting. Recall that Pius IX, quoting St. Augustine, affirmed that the unrestricted freedom to publicly manifest opinions of all stripes is a “liberty of perdition” (libertas perditionis).14 He also quotes St. Leo the Great: “If human arguments are always allowed free room for discussion, there will never be wanting men who will dare to resist truth, and to trust in the flowing speech of human wisdom; whereas we know, from the very teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, how carefully Christian faith and wisdom should avoid this most injurious babbling.”15 l What is the third sophism? The third sophism hinges on the “dignity of the human person”: The council further declares that the right to religious freedom has its foundation in the very dignity of the human person.... ...Therefore the right to religious freedom has its foundation not in the subjective disposition of the person, but in his very nature. In consequence, the right to this immunity continues to exist even in those who do not live up to their obligation of seeking the truth and adhering to it and the exercise of this right is not to be impeded, provided that just public order be observed. (DH 2) 41 and insufficient. An adequate consideration of human dignity requires that a man’s acts be taken into account....A dunce and a scholar do not have the same dignity. The dignity of someone who follows error is certainly not equal to that of someone who adheres to truth; nor is it equal between one who desires the good and one who desires evil. The drafters, who have erected their schema on an inadequate notion of the dignity of the human person, have for this reason alone presented a deformed work of an extraordinary unreality; in effect, whether one will or no, between human persons adequately considered there are vast differences in dignity. And this is even truer in the context of the schema on religious freedom; for, obviously, religious freedom is proper to a person, not in virtue of his radical or ontological dignity, but in accordance with his operative dignity. Thus freedom cannot be the same for a child and for an adult, for an idiot and for a wise man, for a dunce and for a scholar, for someone possessed by the devil and for someone inspired by the Holy Ghost, etc. Now this dignity, which we call operative, does not belong to the physical order, but, obviously, to the order of intellect and will. The failure in the schema to take into account the deliberative aspect, namely knowledge and virtue, constitutes a very grave error....18 l Where is the sophism? There is a confusion between radical [or ontological] dignity and operative or terminal dignity. What is man’s radical dignity? The radical dignity of man is tied to his human nature. It derives from man’s having a spiritual soul and consequently being endowed with reason and free will. It also derives from the fact that he is called by God to a supernatural end: the beatific vision. l Why is it called radical dignity? This dignity is called radical from the Latin root of the word, radix–root, because it is the root of the voluntary acts by which man can increase, diminish, or lose his dignity. l What is operative dignity? Insofar as a man adheres to the good and the true, he achieves his perfection; he acquires a dignity that is called operative or terminal. l All men, then, do not possess the same dignity? It is obvious that a murderer does not have the same dignity as a saint, and that a man loses his dignity by adhering to error or evil. In this life, he cannot lose his radical dignity completely (even the worst criminal can convert and amend his life); but in hell, the damned (who are no longer even capable of moral good) have totally lost their dignity. l Where can this teaching on man’s dignity be found? The Roman liturgy reminds us that our human dignity is wounded by sin and can only be restored by the practice of temperance.16 l Have the Doctors of the Church addressed this question? St. Thomas Aquinas, in the Summa Theologica, explains: 1) that by sinning, man departs from the order of right reason and thereby falls away from his human dignity; and that 2) he thus loses his right to a certain liberty.17 l Have the popes confirmed this teaching? Pope Leo XIII teaches in the Encyclical Immortale Dei: If the mind assents to false opinions, and the will chooses and follows after what is wrong, neither can attain its native fullness, but both must fall from their native dignity into an abyss of corruption. Whatever, therefore, is opposed to virtue and truth may not rightly be brought temptingly before the eye of man, much less sanctioned by the favor and protection of the law. (§32) l In light of this, what should we make of the text of Vatican II? During that Council, Fr. Berto explained: If the dignity of the human person is considered only in its root [the simple fact of man’s being endowed with reason and free will] then these considerations will be entirely inadequate In this regard, Archbishop Lefebvre wrote: [T]o the extent that a man adheres to error or attaches himself to evil, he loses his final dignity or does not attain it; and nothing more can be founded on it!19 Translated exclusively for Angelus Press from Katholischer Katechismus zur kirchlichen Kriese by Fr. Matthias Gaudron, professor at the Herz Jesu Seminary of the Society of St. Pius X in Zaitzkofen, Germany. The original was published in 1997 by Rex Regum Press, with a preface by the District Superior of Germany, Fr. Franz Schmidberger. This translation is based on the second edition published in 1999 by Rex Regum Verlag, Schloß Jaidhof, Austria. Subdivisions and slight revisions made by the Dominican Fathers of Avrillé have been incorporated into the translation. 1 Jacques and Raïssa Maritain, Oeuvres complètes (Paris: Ed. Saint-Paul, 1992), pp.440-78. Pius IX, Encyclical Quanta Cura (December 8, 1864), §3 (online at www.papalencyclicals. net). 3 Ibid. 4 Leo XIII, Libertas (June 20, 1888), §21. 5 Pius XII, Ecco che gia un anno, October 6, 1946 [English version online at www.geocities. com/Athens/ Rhodes/3543/liberty.htm.] 6 Fr. John Courtney Murray, S.J., “Towards an Understanding of the Development of the Church’s Doctrine on Religious Freedom,” Vatican II: Religious Liberty [French], Unam Sanctam 60 (Paris: Cerf, 1967), p.111. 7 Fr. Yves Congar, O.P., The Crisis in the Church and Msgr. Lefebvre [French] (Paris: Cerf, 1977), p. 51. In 1984, Fr. Congar reaffirmed: “The declaration on religious freedom says the contrary of several propositions of the Syllabus of 1864” (Ecumenical Essays: The Men, the Movement, the Problems [French] [Paris: Centurion, 1984], p.85). 8 Fr. Yves Congar, O.P., interviewed by Eric Vatre in The Father’s Right Hand: A Look at Catholic Tradition Today [French] (Paris: Trédaniel, 1994), p.118. 9 The document was entitled De Relationibus inter Ecclesiam et Statum, necnon de Tolerantia Religiosa [On the Relations between the Church and the State, and Religious Tolerance]. 10 Giuseppe Alberigo, Histoire du Concile Vatican II, 1959-1965 (Paris: Cerf, 1997), I, 334. 11 Fr. Victor-Alain Berto (1900-68) was a Dominican tertiary and Archbishop Lefebvre’s theologian during the Council. 12 Fr. Victor-Alain Berto, essay on religious liberty written in 1964 for the Coetus Internationalis Patrum and published in the anthology La Sainte Eglise Romaine (Paris: Cedre, 1976), pp.405-6 (emphasis added). 13 Ibid., p.396. 14 Pope Pius IX, Encyclical Quanta Cura (December 8, 1864), §3. 15 Ibid. 16 Collect for the Thursday in Passion Week: “Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that the dignity of human nature, impaired by intemperance, may be restored by the practice of salutary self-denial.” 17 “By sinning man departs from the order of reason, and consequently falls away from the dignity of his manhood, in so far as he is naturally free, and exists for himself, and he falls into the slavish state of the beasts...” (II-II, Q.64, Art.2, ad 3). This is how St. Thomas justifies the death penalty for certain criminals. 18 Berto, essay on religious liberty (1964), pp.387-88. Archbishop Lefebvre developed the same idea in the dubia he presented to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in October, 1985 (Religious Liberty Questioned [Angelus Press, 2002], pp.19-22, 31-36, 99-100). 19 Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, They Have Uncrowned Him (Angelus Press, 1988), pp.192-93. This work is undoubtedly the best and most thorough study of religious liberty. 2 www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • February 2008 42 F R . p e t e r Does apostasy of one’s spouse from the Catholic Faith give one the right to refuse the marriage debt and to separate? It is truly a very sorrowful time when a husband or wife either abandons all Christian Faith (=apostasy) or abandons the Catholic Church and joins a heretical sect (=heresy). This poses immense problems for the Catholic spouse, for when a person abandons the Faith that he has once held, he generally becomes very bitter and antagonistic towards it. Perseverance in cohabitation with such a spouse can be a great danger to the Faith of the Catholic spouse, constantly exposed to opposition and perversion. It can also be a grave danger to the Faith of the children, whom the apostate will frequently turn away from the Catholic Church. It is for these reasons that the Church has considered, since the time of Pope Urban III in the 12th century, that spiritual adultery can constitute a sufficient reason for separation. It is by analogy with physical adultery, that Our Lord Himself considered sufficient reason for separation (Mt. 19:9). Adultery is called spiritual when a person abandons the one true spouse of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Roman Catholic Church, and adheres to a false religion, sect, or atheistic belief. It is called adultery because it is a betrayal of the whole mystical symbolism of marriage: the union between Christ and the Catholic Church consummated on the Cross. However, marriage vows are not thereby dissolved, and if the apostate later returns to the practice of the Catholic Faith, then the Catholic party is obliged to resume the common life with him (or her) and render the marriage debt. This is summarized in Canon 1131 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law. In fact, it is the first of several reasons given that could justify a Catholic for separating from his spouse, the others being the insistence on giving a non-Catholic education to the children, or living a criminal and shameful life, or threat of grave danger to body or soul, or abuse that makes the common life unbearable. The Canon, however, reminds Catholics that such a separation can only be undertaken with the authorization of the Ordinary of the place, and not on one’s own authority, unless perhaps the facts are certain and there is a danger in delay. It is interesting to note that eight centuries of ecclesiastical Tradition and common sense have been done away with in the 1983 Code (Canon 1153), which carefully excludes abandonment of the Faith or adhesion to a sect from the reasons that justify separation. It is difficult not to see here a clear sign of the indifferentism to the true Faith that characterizes the modern Church. R . s c o t t This being said, it does not follow from the above that in the case of one’s spouse abandoning the Faith one must separate. Far from it. In general, this will neither be necessary nor prudent. Frequently, the rebellion against the Faith and the Church will be a temporary temptation or spiritual difficulty, and patience on the part of the Catholic party is the best way to handle the passing problem. Not infrequently, the rejection of God and Faith will also be a personal thing and will not affect directly the religious life of the Catholic party or the children. In such cases, it is imperative that separation not take place, on account of the grievous psychological harm that such a separation is wont to engender in the children, and the bitterness in the spouses. In short, every effort must be made to keep the cohabitation for as long as there is no danger of perversion of the Faith or moral life of either the Catholic spouse or the children. Likewise, no effort must be spared to obtain the counseling necessary to bring about an understanding, even on a purely natural level, so as to keep the married life together. By courageously bearing these crosses the Catholic spouse will most effectively sanctify the person whom on earth he is most bound to love, as St. Paul teaches: And if any woman hath a husband that believeth not, and he consent to dwell with her, let her not put away her husband. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife; and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the believing husband. (I Cor. 7:13,14) Q Why do we call angels “saints”? The term “saint” has three meanings. It is used in Sacred Scripture for the elect, chosen ones, sanctified here on this earth by sanctifying grace, and “called to be saints” (Rm. 1:7; 8:28), of whom St. Paul considers himself the least (Eph. 3:8). It is used secondly to indicate all the citizens of heaven, all the members of the Church triumphant, who regardless of their previous life are not only now sanctified, but confirmed in sanctity so that they can never lose it. It is used thirdly to indicate those saints whom the Church has canonized, declaring infallibly that they are in heaven on account of their heroic virtue and extraordinary deeds of Faith and Charity. All the good angels fall into the second category, and are, by their fidelity to the grace they received at the moment of their creation, members of the Church triumphant, offering in heaven the incense of their unceasing praise and adoration. Although no angel has been canonized by decree of the Church, nevertheless, the Church has always A THE ANGELUS • February 2008 www.angeluspress.org 43 in her Tradition practised special veneration for those angels who have played a special role in the Redemption of mankind, and she consequently calls them saints in the third sense also. St. Michael, Prince of the Heavenly Host, heroic leader of the good angels against Lucifer, with his cry of perfect submission “Who is like God?” is the greatest of them all, and is consequently honored as the Protector of the Universal Church. St. Gabriel is honored next because of his mission to announce the mystery of the Incarnation, the great and holy mystery upon which the Redemption of mankind depended. St. Raphael is likewise honored, on account of the role of protection described so well in the book of Tobias. Fr. Peter Scott was ordained by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988. After assignments as seminary professor and the US District Superior, he is currently the rector of Holy Cross Seminary in Goulburn, Australia. Those wishing answers may please send their questions to Q & A, in care of Angelus Press, 2915 Forest Ave., Kansas City, MO 64109. writing Contest winner Matthew Lehman december 2007 Warren, Ohiov The deer knows something is wrong–it’s that sixth sense born from being the prey, the hunted beast, the bottom of the food chain. The deer dashes away from the danger which threatens it, but the hunter has the upper hand; he has a gun. The gun thunders and the deer falls in stride. A few hours later the deer hangs on the side of a truck, and a happy hunter poses in front of it for a picture. There is thrill in a hunt, and the venison is worth the hours of hunting; but there is another hunt which supersedes this sport of man. Men are being pursued by God. God is not hunting us for antlers. No, He pursues us for our souls. God does not hunt us for hours as a hunter stalks the deer, but for years and decades even unto our deathbeds. God “stalks” men to the very gates of hell, trying to snare men by His infinite love and mercy. He pursues us through the forest and fields of our hearts and souls; and we, poor simple men, flees from His love and mercy. It is just as the poet, Francis Thompson, articulated: I fled Him down the nights and down the days, I fled Him down the arches of the years, I fled Him down the labyrinthine ways....For though I knew His love who followed, yet was I sore adread, lest having Him, I should have nought beside. (“The Hound of Heaven”). We often turn our backs on God for the pleasures of the world, yet God never tires of the hunt or terminates the graces which flow from His Sacred Heart. The deer cannot outrun the bullet and men cannot outrun God’s infinite love. However, the deer cannot turn aside the bullet, but men can and often times do ignore and refuse the love of God. www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • February 2008 The Angelus monthly photo writing contest Any member of a household aged 10-18 whose family address has a current subscription to The Angelus (either in print or online) is eligible. There may be more than one entry per address if more than one child is eligible. (Please include your family’s address and phone number, especially if you are a contestant writing from a boarding school.) Pricing for The Angelus is found at the bottom of the “Table of Contents” page. The Angelus is offering $150 for a 250-word creative writing composition on the above picture. (This may include, but is not limited to, any poem, dialogue, short story, song lyrics, script, explanation, etc.) If none is deserving of the prize, none will be awarded. The winning essay may be published if there is a winner. An extra $50 is available if one is a member of the SSPX Eucharistic Crusade (verified by your chaplain with your entry). Entrants must submit a creative-writing composition in their own words about the featured monthly picture. Submissions must be handwritten and will be judged on content, legibility, and creativity. The essays will be judged by parties outside of Angelus Press. Essays must be postmarked or faxed by february 29 and be addressed to: Attention: The Angelus Monthly Photo Writing Contest 2915 Forest Avenue, Kansas City, MO 64109 FAX: 816-753-3557 (24-hour dedicated line) The Angelus Thirty-three best-selling back issues for only $2.00 each july 1988 Full coverage of the episcopal consecrations of 1988 with four pages of color photos. WHILE SUPPLIES LAST! november 1994 february 2000 Catholic Womanhood, Femininity Recovered, The Woman’s Fiat, Making Women of Girls & more. june 2003 september 2003 Judaism & the Vatican, JewishCatholic Dialog & the Faith, Syllabus of Errors re: Jewish Dialog june 2005 may 2000 Nine Pitfalls of the Internet, The Death of Bp. Lazo commemoraInernet and Reality, Letter from Ed. tive issue: his life & journey to on safe internet use for Catholics. tradition; letter of Bp. Fellay. Saint Pius X: Restorer of the Liturgy, Our Lady & Modesty, Christendom & Revolution O.L. Perpetual Help, Ecumenism, The Church and the Confederacy, Canonization and the Magisterium september 2005 Charles de Foucauld, Capuchin Friars of Morgon France, On Advertising, Church Architecture november 2003 The Art of Beuron, St. Pius X: Sodalitium Pianum, Fr. Gerard Manley Hopkins: Priest & Poet february 2006 The Vaccination Question: What’s right? What’s wrong? What to do. Dominicans of Avrille, France november 2000 SPECIAL EDITION–SSPX pilgrimage to Rome, profusely illustrated with historic photos. january 2004 The Heart of Don Bosco, St. Pius X: Biblical Studies, Morality of the Hunger Strike, Q&A august 2006 Antonio Salazar: Catholic Hero, Franciscan Sisters of Christ the King, Tribute to Fr. Pulvermacher ✁ May-june 1991 Death of Abp. Lefebvre commemorative issue–17 pages of color photos. october 2001 Islam: Real Islam vs. Imaginary, Understanding Islam, The Pope & Islam, Dialog & Islam and more! april 2004 Great Men Speak: St. Joseph, Popes Pius X & XII, Abp. 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Name:_ ________________________________________________________________________ Address:_______________________________________________________________________ City:____________________________________ State:_ __________ ZIP:____________________ Country:_________________________________ Your Phone #:____________________________ Please send payment to: Angelus Press, 2915 Forest Ave, Kansas City, MO 64109 june 2007 The SSPX in Singapore and Malaysia, The Intellect in Danger of Death, Liberation from e-Slavery july 2007 Forty Years of Ecumenism with the Orthodox, Asia: Land of Explorers, Missionaries & Martyrs, Q&A august 2007 Principles of Immigration, Rights & Duties of Immigration, 40 Years of Orthodox Ecumenism (conclusion) september 2007 The document, letter, commentary, letter of Bp. Fellay, SSPX press release, Bp. Fellay interview, more! y b ok o b p o h re s w i Ne hb bv c e r f A Le The of All Time “During the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Revelation, the mysteries of Faith, the mysteries of the Incarnation and the Redemption, are made real. From the Mass, the liturgical and unbloody re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, the efficacy of all good works proceeds.” The Mass of All Time is a collection of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre’s sermons, classes, and notes on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass...a compendium of what he taught on the Mass–its rites, spirit, prayers, theology, spirituality, and grace. Fr. Patrick Troadec, rector of the Society of St. Pius X’s seminary in Flavigny, France, collected and organized the Archbishop’s manifold writings and speeches on the Mass and presents them here, in two parts. Part One is a running commentary, gleaned from all the works of the Archbishop, on the prayers, parts, and actions of the liturgy. Part Two covers the New Order of Mass promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969 and includes commentary on liturgical history, the liturgical revolution and the history of the SSPX’s defense of the old and rejection of the new. Again, the words are those of Archbishop Lefebvre, woven together by Fr. Troadec. The Archbishop is known for his courageous defense of the Tridentine Mass but never before have his insights been collected in such an accessible and complete format. Especially now, with a renewed interest in the “extraordinary form” due to the Holy Father’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, this book is ideally timed because it is primarily a “positive” book coming from him who is too often known as the “Rebel” or “Renegade” Archbishop. Here we see the love and depth of understanding that Marcel Lefebvre had for the Mass of All Times. Polemics are not excluded, but they take a back seat in this volume. With the release of the Motu Proprio, it seems there has never been a more ideal time for traditionalists AND those new to the “Old” Mass to reflect on this side of Archbishop Lefebvre...indeed, the more important side as it was his love of truth and the Mass as handed on to him that fueled his battle to defend it. 325pp, softcover, index, STK# 8249✱ $25.00 Consecration Back itn to Mary Prin Fr. Helmuts Libietis, SSPX True Devotion to Mary, by St. Louis de Montfort, is THE book on consecration to the Blessed Virgin. THIS book is the perfect way to make that Consecration. All the readings necessary for consecration preparation are here: the Bible, The Imitation of Christ, True Devotion to Mary, The Love of Eternal Wisdom, The Secret of the Rosary, The Secret of Mary and Friends of the Cross. Over 18,000 in print! 330pp, color softcover, STK# 6713✱ $18.00 #1021 Mass E-mail Updates from Angelus Press! 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