“Instaurare omnia in Christo” The Priesthood What Is a Vocation? Interview with a Seminary Rector Memories of a Veteran May - June 2015 “I shall not call you servants but friends, for the servant does not know what his lord is doing. I have called you friends because I have told you whatsoever I have heard from My Father. You have not chosen Me; but I have chosen you so that you may go and bear fruit, and that your fruit may remain.” (Jn. 15:15-17) Priestly Ordinations, Ecône 2014 Letter from the Publisher Bishop Cupich, then recently appointed Archbishop-elect of Chicago, was asked what quality was most needed for the priests in the United States facing new challenges. He gave this revealing answer: “We need priests who are focused on living out their baptism and not their ordinations.” The priest interviewing him commented thus: “What a great way of thinking about and approaching the problem of clericalism that plagues every part of the Church.” On the opposite side of the spectrum we can recall the issues which confronted priests with the new face-lift given by Vatican II to the Church. The Council’s aggiornamento both enhanced the “priesthood of the faithful” and the Episcopal power to the point of forgetting the role of the Catholic priest in the Church, caught between these unprecedented pressure groups. It is not uncommon to hear from journalists that the priest for the last fifty years has been suffering from an identity crisis. Is today’s Church paralyzed by clerical interference or by a lack of vocations? Is the Church afflicted from priests who abuse their sacerdotal ministry of teaching, ruling and saving souls or of the lack thereof? These are crucial issues to which the average Catholic cannot be indifferent and whose answers will greatly impact the next ecclesiastical landscape. Fr. Jürgen Wegner Publisher May - June 2015 Volume XXXVIII, Number 3 Publisher Fr. Jürgen Wegner Editor-in-Chief Mr. James Vogel Managing Editor Fr. Dominique Bourmaud Copy Editor Miss Anne Stinnett Design and Layout credo.creatie (Eindhoven, The Netherlands) Mr. Simon Townshend Director of Operations Mr. Brent Klaske Director of Marketing Mr. Jason Fabaz U.S. Foreign Countries Subscription Rates 1 year 2 years 3 years $45.00 $85.00 $120.00 $65.00 $125.00 $180.00 (inc. Canada and Mexico) Contents Letter from the Publisher 4 Theme: The Priesthood ––The Order of Melchisedech ––Out of the Fog ––What Is a Vocation? ––Call Me Father! ––Memories of a Veteran ––Seven Steps Towards the Priesthood 6 10 15 21 26 30 Faith and Morals ––Liturgy: The Sacred Rite of Ordination ––Souls on Fire 33 37 Spirituality ––Spirituality: Ecce Sacerdos Magnus ––Acts of the Magisterium: From the Heart 39 44 All payments must be in U.S. funds only. Online subscriptions: $20.00/year. To subscribe visit: www.angelusonline.org. Register for free to access back issues 14 months and older. All subscribers to the print version of the magazine have full access to the online version. Christian Culture ––The Integral Priest ––History: Lay Investiture 47 49 “Instaurare omnia in Christo” The Angelus (ISSN 10735003) is published bi-monthly under the patronage of St. Pius X and Mary, Queen of Angels. Publication office is located at PO Box 217, St. Marys, KS 66536. PH (816) 753-3150; FAX (816) 753-3557. Periodicals Postage Rates paid at Kansas City, MO. Manuscripts and letters to the editor are welcome and will be used at the discretion of the editors. The authors of the articles presented here are solely responsible for their judgments and opinions. Postmaster sends address changes to the address above. ©2015 by Angelus Press. Official Publication of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X for the United States and Canada ––Family Life: Fostering Your Son’s Vocation ––Education: Long Live Summer Vacation! ––Missionfields: Asia and the Philippines ––Questions and Answers 54 58 60 65 News from Tradition ––Church and World ––Theological Studies: Vatican II, Revolution or Reform? ––Letters to the Editor ––The Last Word 70 76 82 87 Theme The Priesthood The Order of Melchisedech by Fr. Jonathan Loop, SSPX “The Lord has sworn an oath and He shall not repent: ‘Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech.’ ” This passage, from Psalm 109, is applied by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews to Our Lord Jesus Christ. Why, we may ask, was the priesthood of Our Lord Jesus Christ said to pertain to the order of priesthood of a mere man? It was in order to show His Jewish audience that Christ’s priesthood is superior to that of Aaron, which was enshrined in the Law of Moses, that St. Paul seeks to prove that God had foreshadowed it in the priesthood of Melchisedech. A Mysterious Priest This man is introduced in the 14th chapter of Genesis as greeting the patriarch Abraham upon 6 The Angelus May - June 2015 the latter’s return from a triumphant victory over several local kings. Melchisedech offers a sacrifice of bread and wine in thanksgiving for this victory, blesses Abraham, and then receives from him a tithe of the spoils of the war. It is this man’s priesthood, even more than Aaron’s, that serves most as a model of Our Lord’s own priesthood. The Levitical Priesthood Before being able to understand how the order of Melchisedech is superior to that of Aaron, we need to grasp a little better the nature of the priesthood under the Old Law. As is clear, this sacred order is named after Aaron who, like his brother Moses, was a member of the tribe of Levi. When Moses was chosen by Almighty God to be www.shutterstock.com His representative before the Jews, he was told to consecrate Aaron and his sons as priests. In his capacity as high priest, Aaron was to oversee the worship of God and to officiate at the most solemn of the Jewish religious celebrations. In particular, he alone was to enter into the Holy of Holies once a year to offer a sacrifice of propitiation for the sins of the whole people. In this rite, he carried the blood of an animal in order to pay for the sins of the Jewish nation. This priesthood, unlike our Catholic priesthood, was hereditary. In other words, only the descendants of Aaron were eligible to be priests. The high priesthood in particular was normally reserved to the eldest son of each previous high priest. The lineage of high priests—and the Aaronic priesthood in general— was zealously guarded for much of the history of Israel so as to prevent anyone who was not a descendant of Aaron from serving the altar. The priesthood of Aaron lasted until the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, at which point it was impossible for them to offer the sacrifices of the Old Law. St. Paul’s Teaching For a time, therefore, the priesthood of the New Law existed simultaneously with the priesthood of the Old Law. St. Paul takes this for granted in his letter to the Hebrews, where he notes that priests still offer gifts according to the Mosaic law. It was for this reason that he had to explain that the priesthood of the Old Law was incomplete and incapable of leading men to perfection. Furthermore, he had to show 7 Theme The Priesthood that the priesthood of the New Law, exercised by Jesus Christ, was not only superior to the order of Aaron, but also that it was not a spurious innovation. Thus, he appeals to the authority of the Psalmist, who presents the Lord promising His Chosen One to be a priest of the order of Melchisedech. St. Paul points out to us that this only makes sense if the priesthood of Aaron were somehow imperfect and fit to be replaced. As a result, he shows us several ways in which the priesthood of Aaron was deficient while indicating how the priesthood of Melchisedech manifested the perfection of the priesthood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, he explains that the priesthood of the Old Law was dedicated to a “law of a carnal commandment” (Heb. 7:16). St. Thomas, in explaining this passage, tells us that St. Paul has in mind the fact that the Old Testament consisted in nothing more than outward ceremonies which were not intended to purify the souls of men. In effect, it was possible to observe the various ceremonial requirements of the Law without at all acquiring the spirit which was meant to animate it. This spirit is best exemplified by the behavior of the Pharisees and chief priests at the time of Our Lord, who “strained a gnat and swallowed a camel.” That is to say, they were zealous in the fulfillment of the ceremonial details of the Law while wholly neglecting the pursuit of justice in a spirit of equanimity. Thus, for example, they regularly blamed Our Lord for healing men on the Sabbath. They were so fixed on the carnal fulfillment of the law as to lose all sense of proportion. This is further illustrated by the fact that men who fulfilled their religious obligations demanded by the Law were rewarded with temporal prosperity. The spirit of the Old Testament in this regard is best summarized by the Patriarch Jacob, who, while fleeing from his brother Esau, prayed thus to God: “If God will be with me and will guard me in the way, if He will give me bread to eat and clothes to wear, if I shall return prosperously to my father’s house, then He will be a God to me” (Gen. 28:20-1). While we should readily believe that Jacob would not have apostatized if God had not showered him with 8 The Angelus May - June 2015 wealth, his statement captures the underlying attitude of the Jews, who sought to serve God in order to enjoy prosperity in this life. God catered to this spirit in framing the Old Law and its priesthood in such a manner as to confer peace and material welfare to those who observed it faithfully. However, we should note that the priesthood of Aaron could not obtain anything more for man, since it was capable only of offering the lives of animals to God. The destruction of such creatures was not sufficient to remove the principal obstacle to the attainment of eternal beatitude: namely, the infinite offenses which man had committed against God. St. Paul tells us that “it is impossible for sins to be taken away by the blood of oxen and goats” (Heb. 10:4). The Apostle of the Gentiles then informs us that it was for this very reason that Christ, when He entered this world, addressed His Father with these words: “Holocausts for sin did not please you. Then said I: behold, I come. In the head of the book it is written of me that I should do your will, O God” (Heb. 10:6-7). Since the victims offered under the Old Law were ineffectual at healing the souls of men, the priesthood dedicated to offering them was likewise useless. This weakness of the priesthood of the Old Law is further revealed by the fact that it was exercised by mortal men. St. Paul states that the “priests [of the Old Law] were numerous, since they were prevented by death from continuing always in their ministry” (Heb. 7:23). Those who approached God were finite and limited and thus could only obtain finite and limited blessings from God. (As an aside, it can be noted that this criticism does not apply to the Catholic priesthood for the simple, though profound, reason that they merely participate in the eternal priesthood of Our Lord Jesus Christ and act in His person.) It was for this reason that the priesthood which Aaron received had to be passed on to his children. A Priest Forever After having shown the deficiencies of the Aaronic priesthood, St. Paul manifests to his audience the ways in which the order of Melchisedech foreshadowed the way the priesthood of Our Lord would remedy them. In the first place, St. Paul tells us that Melchisedech has neither father nor mother, nor any genealogy, nor beginning of days nor end of life (Heb. 7:3). In other words, Melchisedech is—in a manner of speaking—eternal and so, consequently, is his priesthood. In this, St. Paul argues that he is made conformable to the Son of God, which means that timeless quality of Melchisedech’s person as presented in the Book of Genesis is in fact a symbol of the eternal person of the Word of God. Since Christ can never die, the offering which He makes to His Father on our behalf can never cease. As a result, St. Paul concludes that “Christ, since He remains forever, exercises an eternal priesthood. Thus, He always lives to make intercession for us.” A Perfect Sacrifice Not only is Christ’s priesthood eternal, but the oblation which He offers is more perfect. Indeed, there is no real comparison between the two testaments in this regard. St. Paul reminds us that “Christ enters into the Holy of Holies not with blood of goats or cows, but with His own blood” (Heb. 9:12). While St. Paul does not touch on the direct correlation between Christ’s oblation and Melchisedech’s, any Catholic familiar with the history cannot but see in sacrifice of bread and wine offered by Melchisedech a foreshadowing of the Blessed Sacrament, in which Christ’s Precious Body and Blood are offered continually under the appearances of bread and wine. The Blood which Christ presents eternally to His Almighty Father suffices to wash away all sin of men and bring them to their perfection. But what is this perfection? What is the goal of the sacrifice of the New Law, of the priesthood of the order of Melchisedech? Here we find that St. Paul, in a very subtle manner, teaches us that—unlike the priesthood of Aaron, which was ordered to the acquisition of temporal goods— the priesthood of Melchisedech to which Christ was raised was meant to obtain for men eternal life. For Christ was appointed “not according to the law of a carnal mandate, but according to the power of unending life” (Heb. 7:16). This is indicated earlier when St. Paul observes that Melchisedech was the king of justice (as St. Paul interprets his name) as well as of peace (Salem, the town he ruled). What exactly does St. Paul mean here? Since the priesthood is necessarily tied to a particular way of life, it is clear that the priesthood of Melchisedech is designed to make men citizens of his kingdom, to lead them to become partakers of true justice and peace. Here we do not merely mean a human justice or peace, but that to which the Psalmist aspires in Psalm 71: “Let the mountains receive peace for the people and the hills justice.” And again, “In [the king’s] days shall arise justice and an abundance of peace until the moon shall be taken away.” It is a perfect peace and justice which will know no end; that is to say, a peace and justice which will be known to the citizens of the New Jerusalem, where no evildoers can be present and where God will be the light and solace to all those who drew near to Christ, as we see in the last chapters of the Apocalypse. Indeed, the fruits of Christ’s priesthood are all joy and blessedness. St. Paul happily drew forth these precious jewels in his efforts to instruct the Jewish Christians that the priesthood of Aaron, though venerable, was clearly imperfect and destined to be abandoned. This had forced him to draw their attention to the fact that the Christ Jesus had from of old been prophesied to be a priest according to the order of Melchisedech and, subsequently, to highlight the priestly qualities foreshadowed in that ancient and mysterious figure. The eternity of His priesthood, the purity of His oblation, and the spiritual blessings which He procured are all illustrated in this King of Salem, who, as St. Paul tells the Jewish Christians, “was assimilated to the Son of God.” Fr. Jonathan Loop was ordained in Winona, Minnesota, in 2011 by Bishop Bernard Fellay. Since then, he has been stationed at St. Thomas à Becket’s Priory, Veneta, Oregon, and is pastor of Our Lady of Fatima’s in Portland. 9 Theme The Priesthood Out of the Fog by Pater Perditus Given the fact that the priesthood and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass are profoundly united, it is important to examine the long-term effects which the Novus Ordo Missae has had on the priesthood itself. This could be done, of course, on a theoretical level by speaking to any priest of the SSPX. It seemed to us, however, important to get not just the theoretical point of view but also a real life, practical understanding of this topic from a priest who has celebrated the Novus Ordo Missae and who has left it behind for the Mass of the Ages. To this end, what follows is an interview with Fr. X, who has kindly consented to help us understand how the Novus Ordo Missae has affected the Catholic priesthood over the years. The Angelus: Father, thank you for taking the 10 The Angelus May - June 2015 time to answer our questions. Could you give us some background on your experiences as a priest who has celebrated the Novus Ordo and has since come to offer only the traditional Mass? Fr. X: I have been a priest for almost 28 years, and for 21 of those years offered only the Novus Ordo Missae. Through those years, not having had any experience of the traditional Mass except as an object of study in the seminary, I intellectually accepted the notion that by offering the Novus Ordo I was fulfilling my proper role as a priest in the Church. I say “intellectually” because my experience of the Novus Ordo was profoundly different. This tension between what I thought and what I experienced was, over time, causing a certain intellectual dissonance—what I had been taught about the priesthood and the Holy Mass in the seminary was not what I was experiencing at the altar while offering the Novus Ordo. It was not until I began to learn and then to offer the traditional Mass that this dissonance was overcome. The traditional Mass, because it fully expresses the perennial understanding of the Sacrifice of the Mass, allows the priest offering it the intellectual ability to understand his role and his sacred duties. Since the Novus Ordo Missae, “a fabricated, on the spot production,” to use the then Cardinal Ratzinger’s assessment, departed drastically from the Catholic understanding of the Mass as defined by the Council of Trent (see The Ottaviani Intervention, available at Angelus Press), it effectively forces the priest to live with this constant dissonance if he continues to maintain the traditional Catholic understanding of the priesthood. The only other solution to removing this dis­son­a nce (as opposed to offering only the traditional Mass) is to change one’s understanding of the priesthood, which, unfortunately, many priests have done. The Angelus: What do you mean by changing one’s understanding of the priesthood? Fr. X: When we speak of the priesthood in the traditional Catholic sense we are speaking of a man who, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, acts in persona Christi (in the person of Christ) or, expressed another way, as an alter Christus (another Christ). In other words, he offers the sacrifice of the Cross in an unbloody manner to God the Father for the atonement of sin, and then brings these graces back to the people. In the understanding of the Novus Ordo Missae, the priest is the one who “presides” at the “celebration of the Eucharist,” a sort of sacred Master of Ceremonies if you will, who gathers the People of God together to offer their sacrifice to God. The clear distinction between the ordained priesthood (through the Sacrament of Holy Orders) and the priesthood of the people (through Baptism and incorporation into the Mystical Body of Christ) is thereby blurred. This is the understanding of the priesthood that must be accepted intellectually if the priest is going to be able to celebrate the Novus Ordo Missae without experiencing the cognitive dissonance I mentioned. Once this understanding is accepted, it often leads, unfortunately, to the priest losing his bearings as to his role and purpose—once he no longer understands who he is, the next step is often the abandonment of the priesthood. The grace given to a priest at his ordination is spiritually drawing him to the traditional understanding of his role while at the same time his role of “presider” is telling him that his understanding, brought about by grace in his intellect, is mistaken. No one can live with this constant state of contradiction; so either one leaves the priesthood or one is forced to adopt a new understanding of the priesthood. The Angelus: Is there no alternative? Fr. X: Of course there is! The alternative is to maintain the traditional understanding of the priesthood and return to offering the traditional Mass—the Mass which clearly explicates to all the role of the priest as an alter Christus. Everyone nowadays is forever talking about the abysmal morale of the priests, and endless words have been written on how to solve the “problem.” Bishops throughout the United States have come up with an endless string of ideas on how to improve the morale of the priests in their dioceses: pay them more, give them more time off, hire laypeople to handle the finances of a parish, get motivational speakers, have more fraternal “get togethers.” The list goes on and on. The real problem, however, is not addressed, and that problem is that of the spiritual and intellectual dissonance experienced by so many priests. Morale is low because so many priests no longer understand who they are (through the Sacrament of Holy Orders) and their proper role in the Church. All the gimmicks in the world, no matter how well intentioned, will not solve a problem which is, at its core, a spiritual one. The Angelus: Can you give us an example from your experience with the Novus Ordo Missae which exemplifies your point about the confused role of the priest? Fr. X: Certainly. After six months of only offering the traditional Mass, a pastor asked me to fill in for two weekday morning N.O. Masses 11 Theme The Priesthood since he was faced with multiple funerals. I reluctantly agreed, but believed I owed him this favor since he had been very generous in having the traditional Mass in his parish. When I arrived for the Mass, I was told there would be two permanent deacons “on for the Mass” as well as the usual lay reader and that they would “take care of everything.” Effectively, at least in my mind, I was reduced to being “needed” just for the Consecration since they did all else. Was I offering the Mass to the Father in persona Christi and bringing Christ Himself back to the people to feed them as a father would his children, or was I just a sacramental functionary? As I sat listening to the first reading (from Genesis, speaking about Sarah giving Hagar to Abraham to father a child and being rather graphic in description being read by a laywoman) and began to experience the intellectual and spiritual dissonance anew, I vowed I would never offer the Novus Ordo Missae again. The Angelus: You spoke about the priest in the role of a father feeding his children. Has the understanding of the priest as the spiritual father of his people been affected also? Fr. X: Most definitely. It is important to understand that the experience 90 percent of Catholics in any given Novus Ordo parish have of their parish priest is at Mass. The Novus Ordo Missae has a very feminine orientation, a point made very recently by Raymond Cardinal Burke in an interview. This being the case, the very proper masculine role of the priest as father to his people is blurred almost to the point of completely disappearing. Once again, this causes an intellectual dissonance in the priest who maintains the traditional Catholic understanding of the priesthood. The Angelus: How, precisely? Fr. X: Men are, by God’s design, naturally ordered toward fatherhood, not only physically but intellectually and emotionally. This naturally ordered design does not cease in men who have been ordained and vowed themselves to remaining celibate, that is, who have given up wife and natural children for the “sake of the 12 The Angelus May - June 2015 Kingdom of God.” These natural inclinations toward fatherhood in a priest have traditionally found their outlet in his spiritual fatherhood lived out among his people. The dissonance arises when a priest is forced into “presiding” over a highly feminized liturgy which almost completely obliterates his spiritual fatherhood and to live in our society so imbued with feminist rhetoric that practically ridicules natural masculine traits and behavior. The Angelus: Aside from the over feminization of the Novus Ordo Missae, is there any other particular aspect of the New Mass which can cause this dissonance within a priest who intellectually maintains the traditional understanding of the Catholic priesthood? Fr. X: I suppose the one thing that I would point to would be the celebration of Mass versus populum (facing the people). This, more than anything, continually forces the priest out of his role as the one offering sacrifice to God and into the role of “presider at a gathering of the People of God.” There is no way to adequately express what a distraction this is to the priest who is trying to remain focused on offering the Sacrifice of the Mass. No matter how hard one tries there is always the tendency to effectively be addressing the people while offering prayers to God; you sense the need to make sure your voice is loud enough and clear enough, and you wonder if your facial expression is correct, to name just a few of the concerns running through your mind. Your intellect knows you are saying the prayers of the Mass to God, but every other part of your being is almost prevented from grasping this when you see all these folks with their eyes staring at you. Additionally, you are continually drawn into acting as the “stage manager” making sure all is orchestrated well. This is often the case at weddings and funerals when many in attendance do not frequent Mass. Please stand, please sit, please kneel are uttered regularly. Funerals become a real difficulty in this regard since the celebrant will often have to say things like “Now Mary Smith, Mrs. Smith’s granddaughter, will come forward to do the first reading” and hoping against hope that she will not begin to weep in the middle of the reading. Not only do you feel the need to stage manage, but you begin to feel that you need to be the Master of Ceremonies (in the entertainment sense), continually keeping people entertained and informed as to the proceedings. Priests who try their best to avoid these traps are often not able to do so, while so many others genuinely throw themselves into these roles by developing a liturgical voice that continually drips with emotion so that the people will “grasp more fully the liturgical action taking place.” The Angelus: We’ve spoken about many of the negative effects which the Novus Ordo Missae can have on the priest. We would very much like to hear about the positive effect the traditional Mass has had on your priesthood. Fr. X: Before speaking of the positive effects of the traditional Mass, I would like to mention the traditional breviary as well, since after the Holy Mass, it comprises the largest part of a priest’s daily “official” duties. I started saying the traditional breviary not too long after I began offering the traditional Mass and was immediately drawn to how intrinsically united the Divine Office and the Missal were. In the Novus Ordo, one was very hard pressed to find any coherence between the missal and Liturgy of the Hours, as the Divine Office is called—the priest had no real sense that the Divine Office is, in a sense, a prolongation of his action at the altar. I think it is for this reason that many priests in the Novus Ordo have given up praying the Divine Office altogether. They do not see the Office as continuing their role as intercessor before God for the people; after offering the Perfect Sacrifice on the altar they continue by offering a sacrifice of praise throughout the day by praying the Office. This unity of the Missal www.shutterstock.com 13 Theme The Priesthood and the breviary is a significant way that helps a priest better understand his priestly role as intercessor for and father to his people, which offering the traditional Mass does by its very nature. Another great gift of the traditional Mass is the deep sense of continuity with the Church through the ages which it provides. This was one of the first things that ran through my mind as I first offered the traditional Mass. It is so easy for us to get caught up in the trials and tribulations of our own times that being able to step into the timelessness of the Mass helps us to realize that we are but a rather small part of the Mystical Body of Christ, and that in the Mass we find our union with Christ the Head and all those who are members of His Body. We are able to experience the genuine oneness of the Church Triumphant, Militant, and Suffering and from this draw strength—Christ is with us always as He promised, but also the great company of Saints in heaven with whom we are united at every Mass. The traditional Mass also provided me with a much greater sense of stepping out of time and into the eternal. At Mass we enter into the heavenly Holy of Holies where Christ offers Himself to the Father and at the same time are drawn to Calvary by offering, in an unbloody manner, the same Victim who offered Himself on the altar of the Cross. Two things strike me as being particularly important in aiding the stepping out of time: offering the Mass ad orientem (facing the altar and not the people) and in Latin. Both of these keep the priest focused on what is happening and what he is about to do as acting in persona Christi. I have to say that the very few times I have had to speak to an altar server to give a direction or ask for something, I felt like it was an intrusion into the sacred action. The traditional Mass itself inspires this sense of awe and the importance of the priest not directing his attention away from the sacred duties he is performing. The last great gift of the traditional Mass for me is one that I’ve only begun to comprehend or sense recently, and I suppose it reflects the more emotive spirituality of the Spanish Carmelite mystics St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross; specifically, it is a sense of real intimacy 14 The Angelus May - June 2015 with Our Lord as High Priest while at the altar. This comes about, I believe, through praying the Canon silently—the priest is addressing the Father while standing in persona Christi, while knowing he shares, by virtue of his ordination, in the one, eternal priesthood of Jesus Christ. The priest is, therefore, called to a life of selfimmolation for the people he serves and should expect no less, since Our Lord Himself said that “to whom much is given, much is expected.” Because he shares in the external priesthood of Our Lord, the priest must strive to become one with Christ the Victim as well. The dignity of the priest is great, but so also his responsibilities— the traditional Mass brings this home to a priest each time he goes to the altar of God in a way that the Novus Ordo does not and, indeed, cannot. The Angelus: Any closing thoughts? Fr. X: Two come to mind. The first is probably the most obvious: In constructing the Novus Ordo Missae, its fabricators not only wanted to dismantle the Catholic understanding of the Mass, but of the priesthood as well. When the traditional Mass is in place, there can be no misunderstanding by the priest of who he is and what he is; intellectual dissonance is removed, and the priest can enter into the joys of the priesthood without the continual questioning of his very self. The second is not so obvious, especially given the current state of ecclesiastical affairs. Not all priests who continue to offer the Novus Ordo Missae have given up the traditional Catholic understanding of Holy Mass and the priesthood. Many struggle each day with the dissonance I have spoken of throughout this interview and, as of yet, have not been able to recover a peace of soul so necessary to be effective priests in today’s world. They need our prayers asking God to allow his grace to be received by them, not the opprobrium they often receive from those of us who have, by God’s grace alone, come to Tradition. Pray for these men, and realize that they are often lost and confused as they try to find their way amongst the Modernist crisis affecting the Church. What Is a Vocation? Excerpts from Vocations by Rev. William Doyle What Is a Vocation? “How do I know whether I have a vocation or not?” How often this question has risen to the lips of many a young boy or girl, who has come to realize that life has a purpose, only to be brushed aside with an uneasy “I am sure I have not,” or a secret prayer that they might be saved from such a fate! How little they know the happiness they are throwing away in turning from God’s invitation, for such a question, and such a feeling, is often the sign of a genuine vocation. In the first place, a vocation, or “a call to the Priesthood or the Religious Life,” in contra­ distinction to the general invitation, held out to all men, to a life of perfection even in the world, is a free gift of God bestowed on those whom He selects: “You have not chosen Me,” he said to His Disciples, “but I have chosen you,” and the Evangelist tells us that “Christ called unto Him whom He willed.” Often that invitation is extended to those whom we would least expect. Magdalen, steeped to the lips in iniquity, became the spouse of the Immaculate; Matthew, surrounded by his ill-gotten gains; Saul, “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the Christians,” each heard that summons, for a sinful life in the past, St. Thomas teaches, is no impediment to a vocation. But though this gift is of surpassing value and a mark of very special affection on His part, God will not force its acceptance on the soul, leaving it free to correspond with the grace or reject it. Some day the Divine Hunter draws near the prey which He has marked out for the shafts of His love; timidly, as if fearing to force the free will, He whispers a word. If the soul turns 15 Theme The Priesthood away, Jesus often withdraws forever, for He only wants willing volunteers in His service. But if the startled soul listens, even though dreading lest that Voice speak again, and shrinking from what it seems to lead her to, grace is free to do its work and bring her captive to the Hunter’s feet. Unconsciously, in that first encounter, she has been deeply wounded with a longing for some unknown, as yet untasted, happiness. Almost imperceptibly a craving for a nobler life has taken possession of the heart; prayer and self-denial, the thought of sacrifice, bring a new sweetness; the blazing light of earthly pleasures, once so dazzling, seems to die away; the joys, the amusements, of the world no longer attract or satisfy; their emptiness serves only to weary and disgust the more, while through it all the thirst for that undefinable “something” tortures the soul. “Sweet and tender Lord!” exclaims the Blessed Henry Suso, “from the days of my childhood my mind has sought for something with burning thirst, but what it is I have not as yet fully understood. Lord, I have pursued it many a year, but I never could grasp it, for I know not what it is, and yet it is something that attracts my heart and soul, without which I can never attain true rest. Lord, I sought it in the first days of my childhood in creatures, but the more I sought it in them the less I found it, for every image that presented itself to my sight, before I wholly tried it, or gave myself quietly to it, warned me away thus: ‘I am not what thou seekest.’ Now my heart rages after it, for my heart would so gladly possess it. Alas! I have so constantly to experience what it is not! But what it is, Lord, I am not as yet clear. Tell me, Beloved Lord, what it is indeed, and what is its nature, that so secretly agitates me.” Even in the midst of worldly pleasure and excitement there is an aching void in the heart. “How useless it all is! —how hollow! —how unsatisfying! Is this what my life is to be always? Was I made only for this?” Slowly one comes to understand the excel­ lence and advantage of evangelical perfection, the indescribable charm of virginity, and the nobleness of a life devoted wholly to the service of God and the salvation of souls. Louder and 16 The Angelus May - June 2015 stronger has grown the faint whisper, “Come, follow Me,” till at last, with an intense feeling of joy and gratitude, or even at times, a natural repugnance and fear of its responsibilities, the weary soul realises that “The Master is here and calls for thee”—that she has got a Vocation. A True Vocation A vocation, therefore, speaking generally, is not the mysterious thing some people imagine it to be, but simply the choice God makes of one for a certain kind of life. “A person is known to have a true vocation to enter a particular career in life,” writes Father C. Coppens, S.J., “if he feels sincerely convinced, as far as he can judge with God’s grace, that such a career is the best for him to attain the end for which God places him on earth, and is found fit by his talents, habits, and circumstances, to enter on that career with a fair prospect of succeeding in the same.” Père Poulain, S.J., the great French ascetical writer, adds: “In order to judge whether we have a vocation that is inspired by God, it is not usually sufficient to satisfy ourselves that we have a persistent attraction for it. This mark is not certain unless a natural condition is fulfilled, namely, that we have certain physical, moral, and intellectual qualities also.” A vocation to the religious state supposes, then, not only a supernatural inclination or desire to embrace it, but an aptitude or fitness for its duties. God cannot act inconsistently. If He really wishes one to follow Him, He must give him the means of doing so, and hence if real obstacles stand in the way, e.g., serious infirmities, an old parent to support, etc., such a one is not called to enter religion. God at times inspires a person to do something which He does not really wish or intend to be carried out. Thus David longed to build the Temple of the Lord; Abraham was told to sacrifice his son, merely to test their obedience and willingness; for, says St. Teresa, “God is sometimes more pleased with the desire to do a thing than with its actual accomplishment.” St. Francis de Sales regards “a firm and decided will to serve God” as the best and most certain sign of a true vocation, for the Divine Teacher had once said, “If you wish…, come, follow Me.” He writes: “A genuine vocation is simply a firm and constant will desirous of serving God, in the manner and in the place to which He calls me.…I do not say this wish should be exempt from all repugnance, difficulty or distaste. Hence a vocation must not be con­ sidered false because he who feels himself called to the religious state no longer experiences the same sensible feeling which he had at first and that he even feels a repugnance and such a coldness that he thinks all is lost. It is enough that his will persevere in the resolution of not abandoning its first design. “In order to know whether God wills one to be a religious, there is no need to wait till He Himself speaks to us, or until He sends an angel from heaven to signify His will; nor is there any need to have revelations on the subject, but the first movement of the inspiration must be responded to, and then one need not be troubled if disgust or coldness supervene.” Signs of a Vocation The following is a list of some of the ordinary indications of a vocation, taken principally from the works of Father Gautrelet, S.J., and the Retreat Manual. No one need expect to have all these marks, but if some of them at least are not perceived, the person may safely say he has no vocation: 1. A desire to have a religious vocation, together with the conviction that God is calling you. This desire is generally most strongly felt when the soul is calm, after Holy Communion, and in time of retreat. 2. A growing attraction for prayer and holy things in general, together with a longing for a hidden life and a desire to be more closely united to God. 3. To have a hatred of the world, a conviction of its hollowness and insufficiency to satisfy the soul. This feeling is generally strongest in the midst of worldly amusement. 4. A fear of sin, into which it is easy to fall, and a longing to escape from the dangers and temptations of the world. 5. It is sometimes the sign of a vocation when a person fears that God may call them; when he prays not to have it and cannot banish the thought from his mind. If the vocation is sound, it will soon give place to an attraction, though Father Lehmkuhl says: “One need not have a natural inclination for the religious life; on the contrary, a divine vocation is compatible with a natural repugnance for the state.” 6. To have zeal for souls. To realize something of the value of an immortal soul, and to desire to co-operate in their salvation. 7. To desire to devote our whole life to obtain the conversion of one dear to us. 8. To desire to atone for our own sins or those of others, and to fly from the temptations which we feel too weak to resist. 9. An attraction for the state of virginity. 10. The happiness which the thought of religious life brings, its spiritual helps, its peace, merit and reward. 11. A longing to sacrifice oneself and abandon all for the love of Jesus Christ, and to suffer for His sake. 12. A willingness in one not having any dowry, or much education, to be received in any capacity, is a proof of a real vocation. 17 Whether one or other have, or have not, a true priestly vocation...is not established so much by some inner feeling or devout attraction, which may sometimes be absent or hardly perceptible, but rather by a right intention in the aspirant together with a combination of physical, intellectual, and moral qualities which make him fitted for such a state of life. He must look to the priesthood solely from the noble motive of consecrating himself to the service of God and the salvation of souls. He must likewise have, or at least strive earnestly to acquire, solid piety, perfect purity of life, and sufficient knowl­edge....Thus he shows that he is called by God to the priestly state. Pope Pius XI, Ad Catholici Sacerdotii 73 pp. – Softcover – STK# 4079 – $11.95 Spiritual Journey Describes a sanctity simple yet profound Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre This is the great Archbishop Lefebvre’s last book. In it, he describes a sanctity based on the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. Originally written for priests and seminarians, it is now a popular favorite. In this simple, yet profound book he encourages us to make “a total and unreserved offering of ourselves to God by our Lord Jesus Christ Crucified.” Visit www.angeluspress.org — 1-800-966-7337 Please visit our website to see our entire selection of books and music. Call Me Father! Interview with Fr. le Roux, SSPX The Angelus: Father le Roux, you spent years in Protestant regions while at Geneva and then in charge of education before becoming rector of St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in 2003. Did your prior experience open your eyes to the needs of the young seminarians who knock on the door in Winona? Fr. le Roux: I was struck by the fact that the present generation are, for the most part, what I would call orphans with parents—children born into families the parents of which come from families that were adversely affected by the revolution in morals that happened in the fifties and sixties. These parents are of very good will and transmit a great deal to the children, more than they themselves received, but they didn’t receive anything and so cannot give what they did not receive. So the children grow up in an unwholesome environment detrimental to good morals, without anything to counteract it, captivated by technologies that let them escape parental control. Growing up in a very legalistic society, these children are bereft of affection, of the kind of real, virile love that only comes from self-forgetfulness. And so they grow up in the world disarmed and unprovided for against the appeal of the world for love. It may be a squalid, debased love, but it is still love. They lack sufficient arms and answers against it because they haven’t been the object of parental affection. The Angelus: You speak of the loss of paternity. What do you mean by virile fatherhood? Fr. le Roux: It’s in contrast with feminine affection. An effeminate man is someone who 21 Theme The Priesthood is looking for self-gratification in the joy of being with another who likes him. So it is a self-seeking through the more or less sticky expression of feelings. Contrariwise, a real father says: The road lies ahead and you can rely on me. The going may get tough, but we’ll make it all the way. The Angelus: Faced with the loss of the sense of fatherhood, should a priest try to fill in for the father? Fr. le Roux: A child might think that what’s going on is a natural paternity, when in fact it really involves God’s paternity being communicated to the priest’s heart so that he in turn can bring the child with his own father to God the Father. The problem is in thinking that it is a substitute fatherhood, in which case there is a danger of giving the child something artificial with which to fight against the world’s artifice. So the danger is twofold: first, the child may refuse it because he doesn’t know what fatherhood is; second, he may hold onto it like a drowning man clutching his rescuer, and they both drown. At first, the child will react like someone drowning. The priest needs to be prudent in giving this fatherly attention and must show at the same time that this fatherliness is not the one the boy is looking for. So the priest has to act towards the child with a reserved warmth. By this I mean that the priest needs to maintain a certain distance so that the child does not mistake the priest for a buddy or get bogged down in feelings. But, after all, the Father has to be there, as St. John Bosco says, so that the child can brace his weakness against the tutelary strength of the priest. The Angelus: How would you define this priestly paternity? Fr. le Roux: It’s being translucent. When the weather’s fine and the sun is shining, sunlight passes through the windows and brightens the whole house. The priest’s paternity is a continuation and communication of Jesus Christ in the Church. The priest is a window that, through his ministry and deeds, lets in the love of God to touch souls. The Angelus: How well do you think Archbishop Lefebvre embodied priestly fatherhood? Fr. le Roux: Archbishop Lefebvre incarnated the saying of the Count de Chambord in the 19th century: “My person is nothing, my cause is everything.” Whenever I was in his company, Archbishop Lefebvre, often styled the Iron Bishop, was someone who was always attentive to what was going on around him. He was selfforgetful so the grace of his priesthood could shine in all his actions and bring souls to this reflection: “If a man, a bishop, is this forgetful of himself and thinks only of God’s interests, this is really testimony of a higher paternity.” As Christ is the witness of His Father—that’s the whole message of the Gospel—priests are also witnesses of this divine paternity, for they are not there for their own interest but for the interest of God in relation to souls. The Angelus: What is this interest for a priest like you? Fr. le Roux: For the rector of a seminary, the interest is to hand on to those who will be tomorrow’s priests the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ: to reveal the Father to souls. This is what our Lord says: “Who sees me sees the Father.” There are surprising statements: “My Father loves me because I always do what is pleasing to him.” That’s what the priest is: someone who places the interests of the Father uppermost. It is more than the interest of souls, it is the interest of the glory of the Father who wants to shine in this soul. This is what makes us love the soul and avoid getting stuck in love of the person; we have the Father’s interest in that soul. The thing is to make him understand that he is loved, divinely, eternally, personally, by God the Father. We are witnesses of this love, for in nature there is a need for witnesses, models, mediators. The Angelus: Have you perceived any changes in the generations of seminarians since you arrival? Fr. le Roux: I have seen two generations of seminarians pass through, and I’ve definitely noticed that for the last twelve years, thanks to our schools, there is a change in the products of the District’s schools. The year of humanities is going to have to be revised. They are now coming from schools that are practically minor seminaries, and are better formed intellectually. The work that’s been done in the schools has been from the ground up, and in spite of everything, has already given very satisfying results. Now that the basics have been implemented, it raises the level of what comes after, and when we reach the upper levels, it will be very interesting. But I shall not be there to see it. The Angelus: I was surprised by this statement of Father Rostand: “When I arrived in the United States, I found people with the same energy, dedication, and fervor as there used to be in France twenty years ago.” Fr. le Roux: In the States there is a native generosity that is impressive. Now all the work of the priest is to take this raw generosity and refine it and turn it into a virtue. For one risks being disappointed because nature only bears natural fruit. In the seminary, our concern is for this natural germ to blossom. They are ready for sacrifices, but not necessarily for the long haul. There’s individualism and especially the fact that their virtue is not anchored in God. So it is a somewhat variable generosity. We have to tell them: Look, in following the seminary rules, in your duties and daily crosses, take into consideration the interests of your heavenly Father. They have come to understand that they are capable of being free, that is to say, of submitting themselves to the will of God. If they understand that freedom is submission to His will and His love, then it’s won. The Angelus: What are the ingredients necessary for a priestly vocation? Fr. le Roux: Ideally, a really Christian home with parents who educate the children in virtue and who give the child a sense of God in a life of genuine prayer—not just reciting prayers, but mental prayer; a home where the child has learned to speak to God and to listen to Him through his parents, his duties, and the 23 Theme The Priesthood particular graces that come from prayer; a home where the child is trained up in humility and purity. Concretely, we are far from this ideal, because what matters is what shows. We are back to this natural generosity that is not rooted in virtue, and so one holds on to what one can, namely formalism. What we are hoping is that the work being done in the District will result in more virtuous homes, and we know that in a few years they will bring forth generous souls grounded in virtue. The Angelus: What do you expect of the young vocations entrusted to you? Fr. le Roux: What we currently expect from the young men is what you would call docibilitas, the capacity to let oneself be taught, to receive. It is what I tell them all the time: “What matters is not that you learn, but that you receive. If you are not receptive, reservoirs, you will never learn.” What makes the man is what his parents have passed on to him, what he has assimilated by transmission or tradition, and through this his soul has been sculpted like a vase. Now what he is going to learn will fill the vase, the container. But without a container, the teacher can give whatever he will, but it will pass like water through a perforated tube. It takes a soul formed by what it has received, by parents and school— these are the two components—and then it will receive more from the Church. What we expect from them when they arrive here, then, is a disposition that says, I come to receive from the Church. Then yes, they are going to learn, and they will be trained as priests. We see it very well in the opposite cases. There are boys that are intellectually brilliant but are not disposed to receive. At best, one can put some varnish on the exterior, but we—it’s not really we, but the Church—do not succeed in penetrating or forming the soul within. The Angelus: Is this docility a kind of intellectual humility? Fr. le Roux: That’s it. Our work is for them to leave here saying, We still don’t know everything, we still have a lot to discover. It takes a lot of humility before God, before life, as an old canon at Ecône would say: “Life is smart.” In other 24 The Angelus May - June 2015 words, their ministry will teach them a lot. But if, on the contrary, they show up armored with their proud certitudes then they will harm souls. In fact, they ought to enter and leave saying, “I’m here to learn—to learn everything from the Church, from the spirit of Archbishop Lefebvre’s Society, in order to become a priest of the Church.” The Angelus: In short, how would you define a vocation? Fr. le Roux: A certitude, which grows little by little in the soul, that the soul will not be completely happy or fulfilled unless it gives all that it has and is. It is not a sentimental impression, it is a very clear certitude that without this complete gift of self, one will not be happy: “I want to sacrifice myself for God and for the good of souls.” Love and sacrifice are intimately linked. That’s what affection is: to desire another’s good. Supernatural affection is charity, which is the love of God for us. And if He loves someone particularly, He calls particularly, and so He effectively desires a particular good for this soul, and this soul understands that God, through this call, wants him to sacrifice everything because He wants his greater good. The Angelus: It’s interesting that you say that the call of God comes little by little. Fr. le Roux: Vocations come in every color. There’s St. Paul, who was literally unhorsed. One meets people who had mapped out their whole career, and on the occasion of a disappointment in love or a retreat or a sermon or the death of a friend, say to themselves, What am I doing here? I’m in the process of losing myself in nothingness, in a flurry of activity. The Angelus: Don’t priests have a duty to discern vocations? Fr. le Roux: First of all, priests in their pastoral ministry should take an interest in souls that are being called. In the confessional, he will need understanding to spot souls that may be called by God. And then he will eventually talk about it, not haphazard, but during sermons, asking where does true happiness lie. Later, when the priest sees a soul drawing closer to him, he has to test his ability to live virtuously, whether at home or at the chapel or in the workplace, priory, or school. He has to see the person commit himself, that is to say, have a prayer life, lead a life of fidelity to duty, virtue, the frequenting of the sacraments. Also, if possible, he should take on responsibilities in the chapel, teach catechism. This is important, especially if the young man has just converted. It’s a matter of acquiring a solid Christian life and of letting the vocation peacefully ripen, like good wine. The Angelus: What is the spiritual director’s role? Should he push or suggest? Fr. le Roux: If he sees the germs of a vocation, the priest has to carry out a personal effort between himself and God by sacrifices and prayers. At the start, especially do not pull too fast; it’s not by tugging on a plant that you help it grow—instead you uproot it. It is enough to make suggestions, offer occasions of practising virtue. If need be, if the child does not understand, then the priest can ask him, “Joseph, have you ever thought about a vocation?” But avoid going too fast and of being too natural. That’s why I emphasized the need for the priest to begin by prayer and sacrifice for this soul. We have seen cases in which the boy told us, “I didn’t want to come, but the priest told me I have to go.” At the end of the long process of studying a vocation, the priest can say, “It truly seems to me that God is calling you, but you need to reach a decision yourself.” We aren’t there to direct grace; we are instruments and not machines for cranking out vocations. I think this misconception comes from an overly natural mentality that can translate into clerical domineering. The Angelus: We have spoken of the role of discernment by the director of conscience. But, ultimately, the last word belongs to the seminary rector in the external forum. Fr. le Roux: The Church has decided that the call, which is something public, should be subject to the judgment of the seminary rector, who does not have access to the internal forum. The wisdom of the Church makes the vocation an objective call and not subjective, and therefore it will be judged objectively by the Church who calls this candidate to serve totally and without reserve. In reality, everything becomes visible, even if in the internal forum there are purifications to undergo. A true vocation manifests itself in a life of virtue, studiosity, fidelity to the rule. And also by the candidate’s overall development, for the boy who has a vocation is going to bloom at the seminary like a flower. The Angelus: You regularly send down candidates who came without a vocation. Isn’t the time spent in the seminary harmful to the personality? Fr. le Roux: What destroys people is the lack of generosity either in giving it one’s all at the start or by making the decision that they have to leave. They come here to try their vocation and the readier they are to sacrifice everything, the quicker they will discover God’s will for them. Sometimes, they don’t want to return into the world, confront reality, live by themselves. Sometimes they are happy here, especially if they never had a happy home. One boy told me: “I thought the biggest sacrifice I would make was coming here. I was wrong; it’s knowing that I have to leave,” since he had found a family. But the rule of the seminary is such that it will sift out those who do not have a vocation. Seminary life quickly turns into a nightmare without this call that says “Sacrifice yourself; love Me!” And since the purpose of the seminary is not for them, it becomes a shackle. That is not what the good God is expecting of them! The Angelus: Would you like to offer the readers a last word? Fr. le Roux: I think it is import to do an issue on vocations and the sacrament of Holy Orders, and to remind people that God calls souls today as much as before, but by an absence of fatherhood, of virtue, and a Catholic framework, they can no longer hear it. We hope that with this issue they may be led to ask themselves, Why not me? Then perhaps the answer will come: Life for me will be meaningless unless I also respond to God’s love for me totally, completely. 25 Theme The Priesthood Memories of a Veteran by Pater Senior The sun was rapidly reaching its peak up high in the azure sky. Southern France was greeting us with an unusually pleasant summer day—the calm before the tempest. Henriques was just a hamlet. It consisted mainly of a large mansion, a rural estate which hosted the two blood families of our priestly friend. This vale gave the semblance of an oasis in the midst of the sparse Languedoc vegetation burnt by the summer heat and the eastern wind. Birds of all colors and sounds were chirping leisurely from the shaded branches of the twisted European oaks. The elongated house was welcoming us, encamped before a generously green landscape dotted with huge dark cedar trees which offered a perfect contrast with the dwellings. But Father had already spotted our presence and welcomed us with his big smile and 26 The Angelus May - June 2015 handshake before we could get off our touring van. His face was beaming with great joy, know­ ing that he would celebrate his anniversary in the presence of his friends from his overseas mission work. If we were exhausted by a 3,000mile pilgrimage to various French shrines, at least someone had profited from a restful home vacation. Time was running short. Hardly had we greeted our hosts and their numerous progeny when we were conducted to a stone shed beautifully transformed into a summer chapel, to be used by a beloved priest brother and uncle while paying them a visit. The purpose of our visit was indeed to celebrate, however simply, Father’s priestly anniversary. Since he had already had a formal family reunion earlier on, today was going to be a simpler ceremony. But today was his true anniversary day, and we together with his immediate family were going to share in it. We American pilgrims represented a large portion of Father’s long apostolate, his labor in the U.S. field. “Introibo ad altare Dei…” Father began his Mass devoutly, yet naturally—mirroring this soul I had long known—breathing forth the simplicity of the dove, yet the grandeur of the priest. “Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam.” Thirty years of daily contact with the eternally young God, with the fountain of youth, can only rejuvenate His chosen ones. Veterans though we be in body, weighed down by heat of day and sweat of our brows; yet, in soul, we stand in childlike wonder before an ever magical landscape, filled with the fervor of one who would commit himself forever to this vision perceived in his teen years. And, so, to the formidable question: “Do you wish to offer your whole soul, your whole mind, your whole heart as a laborer in my vineyard for my glory and for souls?” we had replied with a prompt and generous “Amen, Adsum!” My thoughts turned the wheel of time back thirty-five years. It was 1976, the ‘hot summer.’ We had just stepped into Ecône, which epitomized the last bastion of the faith, the liturgy, the riches of all the things which the Church had upheld till now. And although the circumstances of our coming were loaded with sounds of war and turmoil, within the fortress, our hearts dilated, our spiritual lungs breathed deeply the fresh air of the Swiss Alps giving us oxygen, and our souls were given wings to reach the peaks of holiness. We indulged in the riches of the Catholic doctrine and piety generously laid before us in these short years of preparation with the avidity of the bee foraging about the rich lavender fields of Languedoc. In those seminary days, Father’s tall stature contrasted with the average Mediterranean Frenchman. He stood out also by his noble character, his goodness, and his natural in­ genuity, which gained for him the honorable duty of host to the endless procession of guests visiting worldwide famous Ecône. When one talked with him, he seemed totally absorbed in his subject. Nothing petty or of dubious taste entered his conversation. Everything in him, his demeanor, his conversation, all his faculties, exuded this unity of purpose, so absorbed was he with the lofty ideal of following Christ. “Confiteor Deo Omnipotenti.” I awoke from my mental flashback. I had been entrusted with the cantoring of the common parts of the Mass and it was time to intone the Kyrie. To sing the Kyrie simultaneously with Father beating his “Mea culpa” could only associate the devout assistants with the priest immersed in the thoughts of his frailty and nothingness before the awesome God. If even the just sin seven times a day; if even among angels, God can discern faults, then what of us, His priests all too human? Sacred ministers of the Great God we are, yet the treasures of holiness are carried in vessels of clay. None is perfect before God, and the Lord alone knows how often, how long, and how much we had thwarted His designs and run after illusory goods and false gods. “Miseratur nostri Omnipotens et Misericors Dominus.” Yet, by and large, besides sporadic dark spots, we have quickly amended and made our peace again with the merciful God, the same God of love who had gladly received the first fruits of our generous heart. Whatever our fragility, it is a cherished grace to be in the front lines, and to be still found faithful and standing after so many years of steady service in God’s vineyard. Yes, this soldier of Christ has well deserved of the Church and of the faithful entrusted to him. No doubt God, Who is never outdone in generosity, will whisper in his ear some day: “Now, my turn to repay and reward!” At this point, Father is turning to the little congregation and addresses a few words of welcome to the U.S. delegation. It reminds me of the great communion of the saints, far-flung in body, but so close in spirit. We represent so many of those faithful who have passed through the expert hands of this priest to be cleansed, pruned, fashioned and reshaped so as to espouse finally the features of the saving Christ. I recall his words of compassion, relief, encouragement, devoid of anything natural or human, filled with the tender devotion to his star, that divine ideal which had illumined him all along. Thus was he able to guide many a strayed sheep back to 27 Theme The Priesthood the fold. I, for one, know of no complaint of the treatment received under the deft hand of this spiritual surgeon and doctor of souls. Father’s words are in perfect harmony with the whole setting of this anniversary, rustic and modest, but coming straight from the heart. Now they really hit home. They seem to be addressed to me personally: “Do you not remember, dear Father and friend, who also shared three decades of priestly life? Do you not remember that, thirty-five years ago, we were rubbing elbows as we entered the divine militia.” Speaking before his military siblings, he could not refrain from showing the similarity between the priestly life and that of the soldier. He mentioned the struggle, the boot camp, the fight against the enemy. We had just visited the fortified town of Carcassonne 28 The Angelus May - June 2015 nearby, our imaginations were now running wild with sounds of shouts and swords in the rugged paved streets of the old city. Father spoke of long years of service for God and for souls, of its joys and woes, of victories but also of defeats. We knew when we entered God’s militia, we would not have it our way all the time. “Crucifixus etiam pro nobis…passus sub Pontio Pilato…” There came to mind rapidly the moments of struggle we had experience, shoulder to shoulder out in the field of spiritual wars. Trials, mortifications of all sorts, not unlike what St. Paul could describe in his public epistles, are the lot of the priest worthy of his name, because he had dared say: “Da mihi animas, caetera tolle!—Give me souls, take away anything else!” The memory of these past trials in which brothers had borne one another’s burden, evoked so simply in the plain sermon, could not but resonate deeply. We were now silently uttering the Gethsemani prayer: “Thank you, O Lord, for your frightful trials, for testing the string to the breaking point, for proving to us that we still are alive and standing and still love you in the hour of utter darkness.” This prayer was tailor-made for the lonely stretches of desolation which the Lord in His mercy often imparts to His chosen ministers. There is nothing like dryness and abandonment to test the sturdiest plants. “Suscipe Sancte Pater…” Mass was following its perennial course. It was now the Offertory. It was as if Father were flashing back to his first Mass, anticipating the future years of service: “At your orders, my General! Not my will, but Thine, whatever the cost.” This was his ‘standing’ offering, whereby he wished to give his soul, his failing strength, his love and all his heart to Our Lord, to be transfigured and converted into his Divinity and soul. “Suscipe Sancta Trinitas…” Might it not seem redundant to make a second offering to conclude the Offertory prayers? No! God’s wisdom has always a reason in these repetitive acts. The second “suscipe” represents the length of days and years spent in God’s service and the long-suffering which it entails. Within myself, I could not refrain from thinking that, whatever its negative points, old age has its bonuses, as old virtues being deeply rooted, the devil has less leave from God to test us. There is a certain peace and quiet about our veteran age. The footing is more assured. By now, most tempests have been crossed, and we are forewarned for the future trials. This veteran’s age makes us envious of the zest and fervor of young novices. Does this make our offering less valuable to Our Lord, to Whom we gave an undivided heart from youth? Besides, it is now only a matter of a few short years before our good Jesus rewards us. “Pridie quam pateretur…” Father’s heart was jubilant and his face radiant as it gazed lovingly at the host raised up high above his large elbows which served as a temporary monstrance. Christ is now on His throne to bless and guide us. There follows the Communion given to the devout Christians united with the Lord of Hope, Risen from the dead never to die again. “Magnificat anima mea Dominum…” By specific request from the celebrant, Mary’s thanksgiving aptly closed this hour of paradise. Despite our faults, we have much to be grateful for. Thirty-five years in God’s service, together celebrating the One who had captured our hearts earlier in life, and Who now joined us once again around the rustic altar, offering ourselves together to do what all generations of priests before us have always done: to bless, to guide and pray ceaselessly. This was not unlike St. Dominic and his monks who crisscrossed these lands of Languedoc to evangelize heretics. Are we not likewise bringing God to a humanity forgetful of the way back to God? We too are offering the rosary as the rope of salvation from the slippery road to the abyss. God too is sending us again to work at the reconquest of an apostate humanity which has vomited its Christ and His Church. “Ite Missa est…” The hour of contemplation spent around God’s altar was over. By now the east wind was gathering strength and winding its way into our little hermitage. It was the maddening wind which turns heads and minds all over. But we felt we were secure with our present fortresses spread out throughout inhospitable lands. Our bastions were our priories and schools; our mission was the world; our strength, our faith and fraternal love which, earlier on, had vowed to conquer the most impregnable peaks. 29 The Seven Steps Towards the Priesthood Tonsure “Let us pray…to Our Lord Jesus Christ for these His servants who for love of Him hasten to offer the hair of their heads…” Acolyte “Know that you are bound to the lighting of the lights of the church, in the name of the Lord.” Porter “Apply yourself in order that…you might close to the devil the invisible house of God, the hearts of the faithful, and, by your word and example, open it to God.” Lector “Study therefore the word of God…that what you read with your mouth you may believe with your hearts and fulfill by acts…” Exorcist “Have the power of imposing hands on the possessed, be they baptized or catechumens.” Deacon “Receive the power of reading the Gospel in the Church of God.” Priest “Receive the power to offer sacrifice to God, to celebrate the Mass, for the living as well as for the dead.” Subdeacon “Receive the book of Epistles, and have the power of reading them in the Holy Church of God.” 510 pp. – Hardcover with dust jacket – STK# 8545 – $31.95 Priestly Holiness Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre Here collected and edited is a posthumous anthology of writings on the priesthood by Archbishop Lefebvre. This beautiful volume will make an excellent gift for anyone interested in understanding the true and sublime dignity of the Catholic priesthood. “The holy priest lives his Mass and brings all those around him to live it, as well. He leads them to understand that all of our lives ought to be a Mass, a total oblation, a continual sacrifice of ourselves, out of love of God and out of love of neighbor” (Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre). www.angeluspress.org — 1-800-966-7337 Please visit our website to see our entire selection of books and music. The Sacred Rite of Ordination by Fr. Christopher Danel Jesus Christ chose the Cenacle as the site of the first ordination, which took place on the evening of Maundy Thursday in that richly decorated upper room. He instituted the Sacraments of Holy Orders and the Holy Eucharist there, ordaining and consecrating the Apostles Himself and telling them, “It was not you who chose me, it was I who chose you,” and, “I do not speak of you any more as my servants…and so I have called you my friends” (Jam non dicam vos servos..., St. Jn. 15:15-16). Historical Development The Rite of Ordination underwent three principal periods of development after its institution. The earliest period is that of the very early Roman Rite, from the Apostolic Age through the first three centuries, in which the imposition of hands and consecratory prayer are specifically indicated, and these remain the key components of the rite: the matter and form. The second period, which lasted through the ninth century, adds slight developments of Gallican origin (from the territories of northern Italy, Gaul, and beyond). The third period, from the ninth to thirteenth centuries, incorporated still a few more Gallican elements and resulted in the present rite; hence the result is called the Romano-Gallican ritual. This was principally due to the untiring work by Bishop Durandus of Mende (†1296) on the Pontificale Romanum, the liturgical tome used by Bishops. These three phases of development led to one of the most splendid liturgical rites that Divine Providence and the ingenuity of the Church have ever produced. We present here the history and ceremonies of each component of this rite. 33 Faith and Morals I. Call and Postulation. This portion of the rite is seen in the Gelasian Sacramentary, which contains material from as early as the pontificate of Pope Gelasius (†496). At the beginning of the Ordination rite the ordinands are called by name by the Archdeacon, a role exercised in practice by the Assistant Priest of the Pontifical Mass, who requests their ordination on behalf of Holy Mother Church and has a short exchange with the Bishop regarding their preparation and worthiness. The Bishop then instructs the faithful and pauses briefly for their tacit assent before continuing with the rite. by Christ—and reminds the ordinands of the duties of the Order they are to receive: to offer sacrifice, to bless, to govern, to preach, and to baptize. He instructs them on the holiness of life the priesthood requires: “Let your preaching be a spiritual medicine for the people of God and the fragrance of your lives a delight for the Church of Christ.” The present instruction, called Consecrandi, pre-dates the twelfth century. II. Litany of the Saints. The ordinands lie prostrate before the altar as the Litany is sung. During the Litany, the Bishop rises to thrice bless the ordinands with variants of: Ut hos electos benedicere, sanctificare, et consecrare digneris (That Thou wouldst deign to bless, sanctify, and consecrate these elect). This blessing during the litany dates to no later than the twelfth century. of the New Covenant, where several examples are to be found in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Pauline Epistles. St. Jerome (†420) attests to the use of this gesture in ordinations at his time when he wrote that ordination is not effected by the consecratory prayer alone, but by the imposition of hands as well, an outward gesture which makes the ordination visible to all. Other references from the Patristic age abound (e.g., Sts. Ephrem, Basil, Augustine, Chrysostom, et al.) The Bishop’s imposition of hands upon the ordinand was observed through all centuries of the Church and is III. Instruction of the Ordinands. The Bishop traces the historic types of the priesthood—the seventy elders of Moses and the seventy-two sent 34 The Angelus May - June 2015 IV. Imposition of Hands. This ancient gesture comes from the time of the patriarchs of the Old Testament and was continued in the Priesthood in fact the essential matter of the sacrament. After the Bishop’s imposition of hands, all priests present impose their hands as well upon the ordinands, and along with the Bishop they continue the imposition by extending their right hands over all of the ordinands collectively during the ensuing prayer which dates to the early Roman rite. V. Consecratory Prayer. This is a prayer in preface form, at the nucleus of which is found the essential form of the sacrament, the few words so crucial that the ordaining Bishop reads them clearly, whereas he chants all the rest of the prayer. In the historic texts, this prayer is called the oratio consecrationis (prayer of consecration) in the ordination of priests. The form is almost identical to that given in the Gregorian Sacramentary of the seventh century and reads as follows: “Bestow, we beseech Thee, Almighty Father, on these Thy servants the dignity of the Priesthood. Renew in their hearts the spirit of holiness, so that they may be steadfast in this second degree of the priestly office received from Thee, O God, and by the example of their lives may they show forth moral discretion.” Upon the conclusion of these words, the indelible priestly character is imprinted for eternity. VI. Investiture with the Priestly Vestments and Veni Creator Spiritus. This ceremony begins the Gallican portion of the rite, which is referred to in some formularies as the consummatio presbyterii (completion of the priesthood). In the earlier Roman use, the ordinands presented themselves for ordination already vested with the insignia of the priestly order, but by the tenth century, the vestments were expressly conferred on them with the customary formula: “Receive the priestly vestment which signifies charity; God is indeed powerful to advance you in charity and in perfection.” By the thirteenth century, the chasuble was worn folded up (plicata) until the end of the ordination ritual, at which point it was unfolded, as done at present, to signify the full reception of all priestly powers. After the investiture, the Bishop chants the extensive prayer Deus sanctificationum and intones the hymn Veni Creator Spiritus, which is continued through the following rites. 35 Faith and Morals VII. Anointing of the Hands. The anointing pre-dates the tenth century. Theodulf d’Orleans (†821) writes to his diocesan priests, “You must always be mindful of the holy unction which you received upon your hands.” Bishop Amalarius of Metz (†850) explains that a priest’s hands are anointed with oil “so that they may be pure in offering the host to God.” The priest’s two hands are anointed together in the form of a cross with the Oil of Catechumens, accompanied by the prayer: “Deign, O Lord, to consecrate and sanctify these hands by this anointing and our blessing: that whatever they bless may be blessed, and whatever they consecrate may be consecrated and sanctified in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” Afterwards, the consecrated hands are bound together with a linen cloth until after the conferral of instruments, at which time the new priests purify their hands with bread and lemons. VIII. Conferral of Instruments, or “Traditio Instrumentorum.” This ceremony is found in all ordinations, even those to the minor orders, each with its own instrument. The “instruments” of the priest are a chalice with water and wine, and a paten with a host, which the newly-ordained touches with his bound hands as the Bishop reads: “Receive the power to offer sacrifice to God and to celebrate Masses both for the living and for the dead, in the name of the Lord.” It is understood that this ceremony illustrates a capacity already received with the sacerdotal character itself, but many theologians previously held that the conferral of instruments was in fact the essential matter of the sacrament. Pius XII definitively settled the question with Sacramentum Ordinis, in which he declared that the essential matter of ordinations is the imposition of hands only. IX. Celebration of Mass with the Bishop. At the Offertory, the newly-ordained present their candles to the Bishop and from the Offertory prayers onward the new priests celebrate the Mass along with him. St. Thomas Aquinas explains: “According to the custom of some Churches, as the apostles co-supped when Christ supped, so the newly ordained co-celebrate with the ordaining Bishop” (S. Th., III, 82, 2). The new priests kneel behind the Bishop and missals are customarily 36 The Angelus May - June 2015 resting on stools before them for their use. After receiving Communion from the Bishop, they drink some unconsecrated wine from an extra chalice near the Epistle side of the altar. X. Complementary Rites: Credo, Power to Absolve Sins, Obedience, Pax, Solemn Blessing. These remaining elements pre-dating the thirteenth century admirably express certain aspects of the priestly character. The Bishop intones the antiphon Jam non dicam vos servos (I no longer call you servants), after which the new priests make their profession of faith with the Apostle’s Creed. They each go up to the Bishop, who puts in evidence their power to absolve sins by laying his hands on them, saying: “Receive the Holy Ghost; whose sins thou shalt forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins thou shalt retain are retained,” after which he unfolds the new priest’s chasuble, saying: “May the Lord clothe thee with the robe of innocence.” The priests then pledge their priestly obedience and place both of their hands in the Bishop’s, after which he gives them the Pax gesture; then, after his final instruction to the new priests, he gives them his solemn blessing. At the very conclusion of the Ordination Mass, he requires of the new priests three votive Masses to be said: one in honor of the Holy Ghost, one in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and one in suffrage for the faithful departed. He then concludes with the humble petition etiam pro me orate (pray also for me), which brings the rite to its conclusion. A convenient summary of this complex rite is provided by the liturgical scholar Bishop Sicard of Cremona (†1215), who explains that the ceremonies of Ordination can be summed up in four principal acts: the candidates are called, instructed, ordained, and blessed. This fourfold action is seen in each ordination rite, even more clearly in those for the minor orders. The rich history of the Rite of Ordination is an eloquent expression of how each new priest ordained is sustained by centuries of Catholic Tradition like all of the priests before him, but at the same time he is not just “one more priest” in this long and venerable line: he shares in the one Priesthood of the Eternal High Priest. He is an alter Christus. Souls on Fire by a Silver City Benedictine Monk A log burning on a fire is the mirror image of the religious praying his breviary. Fire penetrates the wood and, with an upward-moving flame, transforms it into light, heat and ashes. While the religious chants the office, he uses the inspired word of God to speak to his Creator and at the same time he listens to God speak to his soul. The presence of God penetrates the soul like fire, lifting it up through hope in order to contemplate the beauty of God by the light of faith and moving it, in the warm flame of charity, to the love of God and neighbor. The logical consequence is letting self-love fall away like ashes. The soul faithfully praying the breviary is transformed into a child of God by a continual act of faith, hope and charity. But why is the log on the fire in the first place? Because the house needs heat and light. The entire Church profits by the sanctification of the soul chanting God’s praises. The breviary is the official prayer of the Church interceding for the remission of sins. The prayer of the Mystical Body of Christ lifts the entire world towards God. It is the inspired prayer of Jesus Christ Himself offered as praise to the Father, but through the human soul. In other words, Jesus loves His Father with our hearts, and we offer to the Father the love of His Son through the breviary. The breviary is inseparable from the Mass. Just as the sacrifice of Calvary is substantially applied to man by the celebration of the daily Mass, the breviary spiritually applies the same sacrifice to our souls seven times a day and once at night. God places Himself in contact with the soul by the sacrifice of the Mass and He prolongs His presence in the soul by the breviary. The Divine Office is like the consoling companion 37 Faith and Morals of the religious soul traveling through this valley of tears. The Divine Office is structured around the liturgical year, which is essentially the life of Our Lord explained to His children. Our Holy Mother the Church, through the liturgy of the breviary, makes us live yearly the mysteries of the life of Christ. In a certain way it is cyclic, not as a simple circle, but rather as an upward moving and ever expanding spiral. The cycle always starts at the same liturgical mystery but, like all children, we have grown with the passing of a year. This road leads us always upward and opens our soul to grasp a broader understanding of the life of Christ. The antiphons, hymns and lessons at Matins become like friends we meet daily and open to our minds untold depths of Christ’s mysteries. Upon this same road we meet and we feast with the dear friends of Christ, known to us as the saints. On their feast days they accompany us with the words and melodies of their antiphons and hymns. For example, St. Agatha, unjustly covered with wounds because she loved God, was thrown in a prison cell to die. In the midst of her agony, she stands up, lifts her hands to God and prays: “O Lord Jesus Christ, good Master, I give Thee thanks…” She died at the age of fifteen in the year 251, yet through the breviary we still chant the beautiful melody of her victory today. 38 The Angelus May - June 2015 Another one of those friends is St. Benedict. He had a vision shortly before his death in 547, which St. Gregory the Great in his Dialogues recorded for us: “Long before the night office began, the man of God was standing at his window, where he watched and prayed while the rest were still asleep. In the dead of the night, he suddenly beheld a flood of light shining down from above, more brilliant than the sun, and with it every trace of darkness cleared away. Another remarkable sight followed. According to his own description, the whole world was gathered up before his eyes in what appeared to be a single ray of light. “Keep this well in mind. All creation is bound to appear small to a soul that sees the Creator. Once it beholds a little of His light, it finds all creatures small indeed. The light of holy contemplation enlarges and expands the mind in God until it stands above the world. In fact, the soul that sees Him rises even above itself, and as it is drawn upward in His light, all its inner powers unfold. Then, when it looks down from above, it sees how small everything is that was beyond its grasp before.” As St. Benedict’s Rule explains, this is how God transforms the soul so as to chant the Divine Office with the voice and mind in perfect harmony. Ecce Sacerdos Magnus An Interview with Society Priests Angelus Press interviewed several priests, Fathers du Chalard, Emily, Groche, as well as H.E. Bishop Bernard Fellay, who were close associates of Archbishop Lefebvre from the first pioneering years of Ecône. The Angelus: Fr. Groche, you were among the first seminarians to join the fraternity, then established at Fribourg, before Ecône. What impressed you most about Archbishop Lefebvre? Fr. Groche: I met Monsignor Lefebvre for the first time in 1969, and I entered the seminary at Fribourg the same year. At Fribourg, the Archbishop conducted himself with great simplicity. I served his Mass and we dined together. Everything was uncalculating, and I was immediately put at easy in the family atmosphere of the place. There was a climate of perfect trust; it was easy to open one’s heart. He had this simplicity, this humility, in everything he did, and with everyone. He was always himself, whether he was with important people or ordinary people. There was no pretense or superficiality. Fr. Emily: I knocked on the door at the Fribourg house in September 1973. The community was at lunch, and it was the Archbishop himself, knowing that a seminarian was coming, who came and opened the door: an episcopal reception! The courtesy, fatherliness, kindness with which he received the young seminarian that I was—that was the attitude of Monseigneur towards everyone, our priests and friends. He was all things to all men, a father to all. 39 Spirituality The Angelus: What was your impression of the seminary when you finally moved to Ecône? Fr. Groche: I personally witnessed the opening of Ecône. It was all new to me, and I was so happy to have found a Catholic seminary. The seminary itself was still not known. When I arrived, all the work still had to be done. There was just the old house of the Canons of the Great St. Bernard and the barns where the Valaisians raised calves and chickens. I remember the Archbishop’s talk the first year at Ecône in which he made the decision never to take the new Mass and to keep the old. We had all come for that reason, for training as priests and for the Latin Mass. When he finished speaking, we applauded! There were there, among others, the future Msgr. Tissier, and Fathers Cottard and Aulagnier, who lodged at Fribourg and had come for the occasion to Ecône. The Angelus: What struck you most when you went to Ecône? Fr. Emily: Leaving a world in the grip of chaos, the atmosphere at the seminary made a deep impression. It was just after the Council and the Revolution of 1968 in which everything had been called in question, challenged. And there you found, on the contrary, peace, order, references to immutable doctrine and a past brimming with the lessons of history, and a stability that imparted an atmosphere of peace to the seminary. 40 The Angelus May - June 2015 I think this atmosphere was striking because Ecône was not a normal seminary. I entered an institution in open conflict with the world and the hierarchy. And so I was expecting the sort of tension that exists in times of crisis and warfare, and it was not anything like that. And I realized that it came from the personality of Archbishop Lefebvre, who radiated filial piety toward the Church of all time and paternal strength in his relations with the seminarians and the faithful. Through his daily talks and his sermons we could not be unaware of the battle that was raging around us, in which we were actors behind him. But at the same time, he spread serenity and peace by his attachment to the immutable doctrine of the Church and his elevated spirituality, turned toward Jesus High Priest and the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was paradoxical. The Angelus: You mention the acute crisis in the strained relations between Ecône and Rome. Did you see any change in the Archbishop’s attitude at these moments? Fr. Emily: The Archbishop was there; we had a father. It was enough for him to return after a round of visits or after certain events like the Mass at Lille during the “Hot Summer.” He would give his conference; he would calmly, serenely explain things, and everyone understood. There was always a touch of humor, and with his little teasing laugh he reassured everybody. Here’s what he’d say basically: “The crisis continues and the Society is in the hands of the good God. Have confidence, hold fast to Tradition. You can’t be mistaken; all that the popes have taught for centuries cannot change, and so we have the Church with us. Be at peace, keep up the good work, all is well.” Once I saw him praying in Our Lady of the Fields Chapel, and you could feel that he was intently making his thanksgiving after celebrating Mass. I came upon him unexpectedly while he was in the midst of his prayers, but that was the Archbishop, a man of God, praying always... It is difficult to convey such things. The Angelus: What was the spirituality of the Archbishop and the seminaries? Fr. du Chalard: To speak of Archbishop Lefebvre or the priesthood is one and the same thing. Not only was the Archbishop the perfect example of the plenitude of the priesthood as bishop, but he was also, as has been said, a doctor or master in matters pertaining to it. How many sermons, lectures, and retreats did he give! He had a genuine love of the priesthood, esteeming it as a great gift of our Lord. He would often say: “There is no Mass without a priest, and there is no priest without the Mass.” The holy sacrifice of the Mass and the beautiful liturgy are essentially missionary. The holy Mass is the greatest treasure of the Church. Everything began to fall apart in the Church when a sense of what the Mass is was lost, and this is what happened over the course of the liturgical reform. Fr. Emily: Archbishop Lefebvre made us understand what the priesthood is by his devotion to the mystery of the Incarnation. The High Priest was formed in the womb of the Virgin Mary. I understood the priesthood thanks to Archbishop Lefebvre and his continual effort to develop the mystery of our Lord’s ordination by the anointing of the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb. And if he died on the anniversary of the Incarnation, I think it’s because God wanted to confirm the message the Archbishop gave the Church and handed on to the upcoming generation, the understanding of what the priesthood is. The Angelus: How did the Archbishop live his Mass? Fr. Emily: We had before our eyes the exemplary piety with which he officiated and presided over the ceremonies; it captivated the eyes and soul of the young seminarian. For me it was a revelation to learn the liturgy and the life of prayer simply by watching Monseigneur at the altar and during the offices, as well as at ordinations. Everything was reflected in the gravity and recollection of his face. The serenity and peace that emanated from him was something beautiful to see and which one 41 Spirituality rarely sees to such a degree in priestly functions. He was a living application of the spirituality of the Church that he taught us in his lectures. The Angelus: A bishop is an exceptional individual. Was the Archbishop distant, or did he have friends he confided in? Fr. Emily: If the Archbishop was perhaps distant, even so he often asked the superiors for advice; I’m thinking in particular of Fathers Aulagnier and Schmidberger. You might speak of a close friend in the person of the venerable Father Barrielle, for there was definitely a bond between them, but we can only conjecture. He had ties with the group of men who liked to call themselves the Archbishop’s “chauffeurs”: Judge Lovey, Messrs. Pedroni, Borgeat... While reading the life of Fr. Henry La Praz, Todo Nada, I thought I detected a deep friendship between Archbishop Lefebvre and him. It is out of the question that he could speak the way he does of the Archbishop when he comes out of a coma without there being a spiritual intimacy with Monseigneur. I believe that the Archbishop understood the soul of Father La Praz, who offered himself as a victim in holocaust for the Society. The Archbishop had understood this, and before Father La Praz died, he expressed his gratitude to him. But that is the mystery of friendships of this caliber, which pertains to the secret of God, surely! The Angelus: How would the Archbishop react when a seminarian or a priest left? Fr. Emily: Here the distinction has to be made between seminarians and priests. The archbishop, especially at the beginning, was very respectful of seminarians who decided to leave us, who had not understood the crisis, and he invited them to leave in all peace and serenity. But recently I was listening to a conference about priests who had betrayed the promises of their ordination, their promise to serve the Society. Since the only reason to leave was a concern for independence and rebellion against authority, well then, the Archbishop was very severe in condemning this attitude of the vagabond priest. The Angelus: Msgr. Fellay, how would you 42 The Angelus May - June 2015 describe your relations with the Archbishop at Rickenbach? Bishop Fellay: Ordained in 1982, I went straightaway to take up my first post as bursar general at Rickenbach, where Msgr. Lefebvre lived. Once I asked him if he had a way to stay united with the good Lord during his activities. The answer he gave me left me hungry for more. For him, it was the simplest thing in the world, as if it were absolutely normal. I thought I had received the key to heaven and then... nothing. It was in daily contact that the profound goodness of his character became apparent. I heard him say several times, “The cross is my daily bread.” There were dear confreres who abandoned him. He was sad at heart. These were challenging times. Indeed, the Fraternity was really growing: priories opening everywhere, a lot of seminarians entering at Ecône. So Monseigneur had to travel everywhere and give talks. And nonetheless he had a great solicitude for the sanctification of the priests. He was radical about obedience. Father Schmidberger told him that he had a problem with priests that smoked and would not listen to him. Monseigneur told him: “Out with them!” It was not the question of smoking, but of obedience. For him, the priest must have the mark of sanctification, and obedience is at the center of that. One may say that it is the distinctive sign of the priest, what binds the priest to the institution, the vital application through which the efficacy of the priesthood passes. Whence, moreover, the importance he attached to incardination. The Angelus: You speak of obedience. The Archbishop, being the superior general and having difficulties with Rome over matters of faith, whom did he obey? Bishop Fellay: Divine Providence. You see it in the foundation of the Society. He goes to see the bishop, Msgr. Charrière, and his agreement will be the sign of Providence. How many times did he respect the dispositions of Providence. You also see it in his famous dream in the Dakar cathedral before the sixties. The Fraternity was founded ten years later. He sees what has to be done just before the Council; he sees the decline of the priesthood. As a bishop, he could have founded a society at Dakar to save the priesthood, since he has a premonition of the remedy, but all the elements are not yet in place. He does not say: “I have to do this.” And when the seminarians of Rome ask him for help, he says, “No, I’m too old!” He finally follows Providence as if by force, impelled, reluctantly. This phenomenon is absolutely remarkable in the Archbishop’s actions. The Angelus: Let’s go back to the vision of Dakar anticipating the foundation of the Society. Have the fruits corresponded to this vision? Bishop Fellay: Basically, yes; let’s say primus in intentione. The application remains: ultimus in executione. One cannot say that it has already been achieved, for it can always be perfected. He was satisfied, but always with the idea of doing better. During the eighties, Monseigneur attempted to bridge the wall of separation between the study of philosophy and theology. He saw the danger of going off into the cerebral, the abstract, angelism. Monseigneur feared that pure philosophy disconnects the future priest from the reality of souls. The application of doctrine demands patience and suppleness to bear the fruits of charity. Too dry a knowledge could lead to conduct too harsh and demanding toward souls. It is interesting to see the reformer in the Archbishop. He is not afraid to invent. That is the effect of charity. He sees an obstacle and asks himself what is to be done. In Africa, he saw that there were not enough priests, so he had the idea to entrust certain tasks to the Brothers. He was not afraid to train a native clergy; he wasn’t fearful. As regards the Society, he had the idea that the Brothers ought to receive minor orders. (The grace of our Brothers is a grace of union with the priesthood.) The idea did not receive a warm reception among the priests; and that is where the matter stood. At stake was the spirituality of our Brothers, their participation in the grace of the Society through the sacrament of order, but only so far. Obviously, this suggestion goes against the relevant teaching of the Council of Trent, and finally the Archbishop had to yield. But I attribute that to charity and not to a revolutionary spirit. He was ready to think beyond the conventional, and that is a trait of genius guided by charity. The Angelus: Did you feel that the Archbishop was a father to his priests? Bishop Fellay: He had a very high regard for the priesthood; he was especially concerned lest it lose its contemplative aspect, lest the priests be pulled in too many directions by the activities of their ministry, lest they not be sufficiently anchored by prayer. For him this was paramount. For him, this was the essential thing, the grace he wished to bequeath to the Fraternity. In this regard, here’s an anecdote in which I was the victim. I was in Belgium at Quiévrain, and I had to get to Brussels. I tell him that I’m planning to arrive at 2100 hours. He scolds me: “That is not a Christian hour to arrive at a priory!” Why should it be sooner? Because arriving then would disturb the great silence of the community after Compline, and so, if possible, travel arrangements should be made for an earlier arrival. In that example comes across the concern he had for the regular functioning of the communities he visited. The Angelus: Could you offer us a last word to capture the Archbishop’s life? Fr. Groche: I interviewed Bishop Ndong, a Gabonese bishop, and asked him why he had insisted that Archbishop Lefebvre be his consecrating bishop. He answered: “I always saw in Archbishop Lefebvre a model priest.” At Donguila, a little old man who had known Father Marcel fifty years before told us: “When Father Marcel left us after two years here, it was as if the good God had left us.” Holiness was an integral part of the Archbishop’s personality. We who lived with him for years have a hard time talking about it because he lived it seemingly without thinking about it, it was so natural to him. 43 Spirituality From the Heart by St. Pius X, extracts of his Exhortation to the Clergy 1 The Pope had painted the portrait of the lukewarm priest: “This carelessness and indifference to one’s own welfare sometimes go so far as to lead to neglect even of the sacrament of Penance…” Haerent Animo, written after fifty years of an immensely fruitful ministry, is in many ways just a description of St. Pius X’s own priesthood and of the virtues which he strove to develop all during his priestly life. Indeed, one has the clear impression that he is recounting the history of his own spiritual life. “It was,” Cardinal Merry del Val tells us, “exclusively his own personal effort, and it was truly a labour of love.” Examination of Conscience For our own part, beloved sons, when we reflect upon these matters,1 as is our bounden duty, we are overcome with grief and our voice breaks into lamentation. Woe to the priest who fails to respect his high dignity, and defiles by his infidelities the name of the holy God for whom he is bound to be holy. Corruptio optimi pessima. “Sublime is the dignity of the priest, but great is his fall, if he is guilty of sin; let us rejoice for the high honor, but let us fear for them lest they fall; great is the joy that they have scaled the heights, but it 44 The Angelus May - June 2015 2 St. Jerome, in Ezech., L. xiii, 44, v. 30. 3 Is. 6:10. 4 Thess. 2:19. 5 Jn. 5:3. is insignificant compared with the sorrow of their fall from on high.”2 Woe then to the priest who so far forgets himself that he abandons the practice of prayer, rejects the nourishment of spiritual reading and never turns his attention inwards upon himself to hear the accusing voice of conscience. Neither the festering wounds on his conscience, nor even the tearful pleas of his mother the Church, will move such an unfortunate priest until those fearsome threats come upon him: “Blind the heart of this people, make dull their ears, and close their eyes, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them.”3 May God in his bounteous mercy grant that these ominous words may never be true of any of you, beloved sons; he knows what is in our heart, he sees that it is free from rancor towards anyone, and that it is inflamed with pastoral zeal and paternal love for all: “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glory? Is it not you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ?”4 Priestly Virtues You all know very well, wherever you may be, the difficult period through which, in the mysterious design of God, the Church is now passing. Consider likewise and ponder on the sacred duty which is yours to stand by and to assist in her struggles the Church which has bestowed upon you an office of such exalted dignity. Now more than ever the clergy need to be men of more than ordinary virtue, virtue that is a shining example, eager, active, ever ready to do great things for Christ and to suffer much. There is nothing that we more ardently ask from God and desire for each and everyone of you. May chastity, the choicest ornament of our priesthood, flourish undimmed amongst you; through the splendor of this virtue, by which the priest is made like the angels, the priest wins greater veneration among the Christian flock, and his ministry yields an even greater harvest of holiness. May the reverence and obedience which you solemnly pledged to those whom the Holy Spirit has appointed to rule the Church, increase and gain strength; and especially, may your minds and hearts be linked by ever closer ties of loyalty to this Apostolic See which justly claims your respectful homage. May all of you excel in charity—a charity that never seeks what is its own; when you have mastered the human incentives of jealous rivalry and selfseeking ambition, let all together in fraternal emulation strive for the glory of God. A great multitude of sick, blind, lame and paralytics,5 in abject misery, awaits the benefits of your charity; the youth above all, those countless young people who are the dearest hope of society and religion, it is they, menaced as they are by error and corrupting influences, who especially stand in need of your charitable activity. Strive eagerly not only by means of catechetical instruction—which once more with even greater earnestness we commend to you—but by unsparing use of all the resources of wisdom and skill at your command, to deserve 45 Spirituality 46 6 II Thess. 3:13 7 Cf. I Cor. 4:12. 8 I Macc. 9:10. 9 Jn. 17:11 and 17. The Angelus May - June 2015 well of all. Whether your immediate task be to assist, to protect, to heal, to make peace, let your one aim and most ardent desire be to win or to secure souls for Christ. How unwearied, how industrious, how fearless are Christ’s enemies in their activities, to the immeasurable loss of souls! The Catholic Church rejoices in and is proud of the charity beyond praise which inspires the clergy to proclaim the Gospel of Christian peace and to bring the blessings of salvation and civilization even to barbarous races; through their unsparing labor, sometimes consecrated by their blood, the kingdom of Christ is expanding constantly and the Christian faith gains added splendor from these new triumphs. If, beloved sons, the unsparing charity of your efforts is met by jealousy, reproaches and calumnies, as frequently happens, do not allow yourselves to be overcome with sadness: Do not tire in doing good.6 Let your mind dwell on those countless great figures who, following the example of the Apostles, even in the midst of cruel insults borne for the name of Christ, went rejoicing, blessing those who cursed them.7 For we are the children and the brethren of the saints, whose names shine in the book of life, and whose praises the Church proclaims: Let us not stain our glory.8 Your sanctification has, indeed, first place in our thoughts and in our cares; therefore, with our eyes raised to heaven, we frequently pray for the whole clergy, repeating the words of Christ, our Lord: Holy Father...sanctify them.9 The Integral Priest By Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais This is Bishop Tissier’s first article for The Angelus about Archbishop Lefebvre, his life, his person, his work, and his doctrine. Marcel Lefebvre’s love and devotion to the holy sacrifice of the Mass as a boy was owing to the example of a good priest, the Abbé Louis de Marchelier, his professor at Sacred Heart College. During the first World War, when he was twelve, Marcel served Mass for this priest every day despite the curfew and the risk of encountering German soldiers on the street. of Father Deconinck warning the class, “During these holidays, you will have to make a decision about your future!” But the priesthood, which Marcel was considering, is something so great, so high! Following the advice of his younger sister Christiane—a future Carmelite—he made a retreat with Benedictines and then consulted a Trappist, Father Alphonse, in Belgium. As soon as he met the boy, he told him “You will be a priest!” Roman Seminarian Choice of Vocation During his last year at school when he was seventeen, Marcel took to heart the exhortation A seminarian at Rome, Via Santa Chiara (1923-1930), Marcel was mobilized by the rector, Fr. Henri Le Floch, in a crusade: “Fr. Le Floch made us enter into and live the history of 47 Christian Culture the Church, showing us the influence of the priesthood and the popes in the social reign of Christ.” His spiritual director, Father Marc Voegtli, enthused the seminarians by “the integrity of the priesthood,” that is to say, “the priest’s sacrifice for the reign of Jesus Christ,” His reign in souls and also in the City (civil society, or the State). “You will preach the name of Jesus Christ with your whole heart.” The young priest Marcel Lefebvre (1929) stood resolved to “lead all things back to Christ, to synthesize all things in Christ.” “All my life,” he was to say, “I worked to build up Catholic societies.” Educator of African Priests Having become a missionary to Gabon, he was named professor and then rector of the seminary, despite his disinclination. There “he showed from the outset a particular competence and taste for the formation of priests.” He was “firm, moderate, considerate in his judgments and decisions, well loved by his students and appreciated by the Fathers.” He was “remarkable at organizing and arranging practical matters.” The missionary life of a priest is composed of a special blending of the spiritual and the material, of union with God and practical matters. Marcel Lefebvre excelled at this union, endowed as he was with solid judgment and a practical love of order in all things. A Providential Formation God was preparing Marcel Lefebvre for his future task. He was a complete, balanced priest whose motto could be phrased: “The grace of the Holy Spirit is almighty, but it needs a bit of organization” (by the one who puts it to use). Gradually, without his having any premonition, Marcel Lefebvre was being disposed by God for his future work of safeguarding the priesthood, not only its doctrine and validity, but also its spirit and its “integrity,” as Father Voegtli would say. 48 The Angelus May - June 2015 In the Bush, a Burgeoning Christendom After six years of teaching, Marcel was sent into “the bush” by Msgr. Tardy, to his delight. There, in contact with the natives, in his visits by pirogue to remote villages and schools in the bush, he deployed his sacerdotal zeal to the fullest. For him it was not a question of dialoguing, but of evangelizing, of converting, baptizing, and sanctifying these simple souls and making their rough but docile hearts better. His objective was to create true Christian families, and this isn’t easy to do in a place where polygamy is common practice. And then true Christian villages come next, a burgeoning Christendom which, tomorrow, will form the elite of the country. A Catholic Elite Gabon, still in large part pagan but undergoing a thorough Christianization, obtained indepen­ dence in 1960. The first president of the republic will be the practising Catholic Leo Mba, a graduate of the Holy Ghost Fathers’ schools. One of its ministers, Valentin Obama, was a former pupil of Fr. Marcel Lefebvre at the school in Donguila; in 1986, he effectively supported the foundation of St. Pius X’s Mission by the Society of St. Pius X. Behold the excellent social and political fruits of “the integrity of the priesthood.” Lay Investiture by Dr. John Dredger Lay investiture, the appointment of Church officials by lay rulers, has existed in various forms throughout the history of Catholicism. During the Middle Ages, kings and emperors invested bishops and abbots with temporal power as vassals holding lands within imperial boundaries. Even popes did not always escape the control of secular rulers, who wished to appoint their own candidates to the highest position in the Church. Although the famous struggles concerning lay investiture between papacy and empire took place in the medieval era, state control over ecclesiastical appointments continued through subsequent centuries. A major incentive for the princes of Europe to embrace some form of Protestantism consisted in the power to dictate religion within their realms. In France, Gallicanism, the idea that civil authority holds a position at least equal to, if not greater than, papal jurisdiction, dominated Church and State relations during most of the 17th and 18th centuries and lasted even until the First Vatican Council. In more modern times Communist countries have continually aimed at supreme control over religion. The Chinese government, which has appointed bishops for the Patriotic (Communist) Church in China for decades, provides an obvious example. Only one bishop not officially recognized by the state remains, and he has suffered imprisonment since 1997. Far from remaining an issue only for the Middle Ages, lay investiture, as part of the whole question of the proper relationship between Church and State, still exists today. In order to understand this controversy fully, however, one must return to the origins of 49 Christian Culture Church and State relations in the late Roman empire. When the emperors Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in A.D. 313, they granted toleration of all religions, including Catholicism, throughout the Roman Empire. Thereafter, Constantine and many of his successors involved themselves in religious questions, even the calling of councils. In response to the Arian heresy, Constantine convoked, most likely in accord with Pope St. Sylvester I, the Council of Nicaea. The pope did not attend the council himself but rather sent papal delegates to represent the papacy and to preside over the council. Because of the role of Constantine in convoking the council, the absence of St. Sylvester, and the attendance of Constantine during the conciliar sessions, confusion arose as to the religious role of the emperor. Certainly Constantine intended the good of the Church in attending the Council of Nicaea, as he enforced the decrees of the council against Arius and his supporters. Likewise, the emperor supported the Council of Arles and implemented its decrees against the Donatists in North Africa. However, people within the Roman Empire saw Constantine and subsequent emperors as religious as well as secular leaders. Rulers and Religion This view coincided with previous concepts about rulers and religion not only during the history of the Roman Empire but also in other civilizations. The Egyptians considered their pharaohs divine, as did the Incas their rulers and the Japanese their emperors. The Roman emperors held the title Pontifex Maximus, or high priest. Other ancient peoples, such as the Babylonians and Persians, attributed divine favor to their kings. In almost all ancient civilizations the rulers controlled religion, which became either a part of the government or at least remained under the jurisdiction of the political leaders. Thus, a religious role for Constantine and his successors did not seem inappropriate to the people of the Roman Empire. Imperial power over religion, however, proved problematic. Constantine did not fully comprehend the religious controversies 50 The Angelus May - June 2015 of his time and, duped by the Arians, later tried to restore Arius and his followers to prominent positions within the Church. The situation became far worse under Constantine’s successors. Constantius II, a zealous Arian, convened councils to promote the heresy and forcibly spread Arianism throughout the empire, even imprisoning Pope Liberius and many Catholic bishops. Julian the Apostate, who reverted to paganism, actively attempted to revive the old Roman religion. Even Catholic emperors at times intervened in religious matters too much. Theodosius I, often called the Great, who together with Gratian issued the Edict of Uniformity in A.D. 380, which declared Catholicism the official religion of the Roman Empire and outlawed paganism and Arianism, periodically intervened in spiritual matters. Theodosius convoked the first Council of Constantinople on his own authority. Even though the emperor intended the good of the Church, Theodosius acted without the approval of Pope St. Damasus I. Thus, as in the case of Constantine, confusion arose regarding the religious power of the emperor. A Split in the Empire Theodosius the Great left his rule to both of his sons, thus splitting the Roman Empire into two halves. Although previous emperors had also split the empire, this division marked the permanent partition. The eastern half became the Byzantine Empire, where the emperors continued to dominate religious matters to the extent of appointing the bishops of Constantinople and regarding the Church as a department of the government. Many historians use the term caesaropapist, supreme over both Church and State, to describe these emperors. From 537 to 752 the Byzantine rulers even held the right of approval over papal elections. This power meant that the new pope required imperial permission for the episcopal consecration to take place. In the western half of the Roman Empire, the successors of Theodosius did not fully rule and instead became puppets for barbarian generals. These military men, however, could not command the obedience of other generals nor could they always protect Italy and Rome itself from invasions and sacks. As the western empire disintegrated during the fifth century, the people began to look to the popes and bishops to the popes and bishops throughout the western half of the former Roman Empire had received land grants from the various secular rulers in return for support. This situation resulted in Investiture of a king by the pope, Medieval woodcut fill the void of political leadership. Pope St. Leo I, rather than the emperor or a general, turned away Attila the Hun from plundering Rome. Later, St. Leo also saved the Roman churches and works of art from the pillaging of Genseric and the Vandals. Similarly, St. Gregory the Great defended Rome from the Lombards by raising an army and signing a treaty with the Lombard king, in which the king recognized the pope’s role as temporal ruler of Rome. Also over the years the higher clergy assuming both temporal and spiritual rule at the same time, and in many cases the bishops and abbots became vassals to the barbarian kings and their successors. Although ecclesiastical officials, as the most educated men of the time, provided the best candidates for both religious and secular positions, their dual role resulted in kings and emperors desiring to place men loyal to themselves and at the same time good politicians in power. Obviously, conflict 51 Christian Culture would ensue between Church and State over selecting these candidates and investing them with their authority. Therein resided the origins of the lay investiture struggle. As for the papacy, the popes needed an independent state to rule in order to remain free from the control of secular rulers. In addition to the property given by wealthy Italian families, the land and cities granted to Pope Stephen II by Pepin, the first Carolingian king of the Franks, in 754 and 756, gave temporal sovereignty to the papacy and thus ensured political freedom from both the Byzantine emperors and any Western kings. Pepin’s son Charlemagne added more Italian possessions to the Papal States in 787. The alliance and document agreed upon by Charlemagne and Pope Adrian I became the basis of relations between the papacy and the Carolingian as well as the German emperors for the ensuing centuries. The establishment of the papacy as an independent political power, however, brought up the question of how the temporal rulers should treat the popes. This question of the relations of Church and State had arisen long before the eighth century. Over three hundred years earlier St. Augustine had written in The City of God that two societies existed: the City of God and the City of the World, both competing for mankind’s allegiance. St. Augustine argued that, although the City of the World could not demand loyalty from a Christian, who belonged ultimately to the kingdom of heaven, sin necessitated the existence of the State in order to maintain civil order. Therefore, men needed both Church and State, which must co-operate with each other. Church and State Together At the end of the fifth century Pope St. Gelasius I defined the relationship between the clergy and secular rulers more clearly in a letter to Emperor Anastasius in 494: “There are two powers by which chiefly this world is ruled: the sacred authority of the priesthood and the authority of kings. And of these the authority of the priests is so much the weightier, as they must render before the tribunal of God an account even for the kings of men.” Two years 52 The Angelus May - June 2015 later in his treatise On the Bond of Anathema St. Gelasius expressed the difference between the religious and temporal orders as regulated by God: “Thus He [Christ] distinguished between the offices of both powers according to their own proper activities and separate dignities, wanting his people to be saved by healthful humility and not carried away again by human pride, so that Christian emperors would need priests for attaining eternal life and priests would avail themselves of imperial regulations in the conduct of temporal affairs. In this fashion spiritual activity would be set apart from worldly encroachments and the ‘soldier of God’ (II Timothy 2:4) would not be involved in secular affairs, while on the other hand he who was involved in secular affairs would not seem to preside over divine matters. Thus the humility of each order would be preserved, neither being exalted by the subservience of the other, and each profession would be especially fitted for its appropriate functions.” Instead of one ruler exerting control over both the political and the religious realms, as had happened in most ancient civilizations, now with the establishment of the Catholic Church, two orders, one spiritual, the other temporal, must not only co-exist but also co-operate in separate yet overlapping spheres to bring about eternal salvation and civil tranquility. As history unfolded, however, the possession of property by clergy and the subsequent dual role of bishops and abbots as religious and secular rulers caused a struggle to arise between Church and State over the power of investiture. Kings and emperors desired to bypass canonical elections and instead to appoint their own candidates to religious offices, even the papacy. This conflict engendered numerous crises for the Church throughout the Middle Ages and beyond. Dr. John A. Dredger currently holds the position of viceprincipal at Assumption Academy in Walton, KY, with over 20 years of experience in education from primary school to university. He obtained a B.A. in Education from St. Mary’s College, an M.A. in Classical Languages from the University of Kansas, and a Ph.D. in History from Kansas State University. DVD – Standard (4:3) and widescreen (16:9) – 48 Min. – Color – STK# 8537 – $19.95 Forty Years of Fidelity A History of the Society of St. Pius X (1970-2010) As we enter a new papacy, it is more important than ever to discover the role of Tradition in the past 40 years. From its humble beginnings to the worldwide presence today, the Society of St. Pius X has been the driving force of Tradition in the Church. This inspiring documentary will take you through the events of those years and show clearly that the Society stands firmly for the purity of Faith and the glory of Catholic Tradition, and is sure to be a treasure for years to come. www.angeluspress.org — 1-800-966-7337 Please visit our website to see our entire selection of books and music. Christian Culture A Father’s Perspective Fostering Your Son’s Vocation Brian M. McCall In “Law and Marriage Go Together” (The Angelus, July-August 2014) I explained how the natural law defines immutably the very essence of marriage by its end or final cause. The primary end of marriage is the procreation and education of children. Within this primary end the ultimate final end is the education of children since although their conception and birth come first in the order of time, their education is that reason for which children are born. The word education is derived from the Latin “to lead out from.” Thus, the ultimate reason parents have children is to lead them out from the family that welcomed them into the world. Our modern world has distorted the obligations of parents into the “choice” of having children. According to the spirit of the world dominated by sentimentality, parents have children solely for 54 The Angelus May - June 2015 themselves. According to this exaggerated view children enter families merely to fulfill emotional desires and bring satisfaction to their parents. Properly raised children who take their place in the world and fulfill their supernatural purpose in life will bring both natural satisfaction and eternal joy to their parents, but exalting this effect upon parents’ happiness has produced several generations of selfish parenting habits. Children are seen as objects of gratifying their parents’ emotional happiness, and education and discipline are distorted to serve that end. Truly Catholic parents understand that the real purpose of having children is not covetously to hold onto them but to lead them out from the family. The end of education is to equip children with the physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual resources to go forth from their parents and take their place in the world and ultimately in eternity. As my wife and I have learned poignantly from our older children’s being sent to boarding school, fulfilling this duty to form children to emerge from the family will actually bring children closer to their parents by deepening the relationship between child and parent. Having formed them to go forth into the world, children will return to their parents with respect and gratitude. All of the work in the trenches of early education must culminate in the children’s discerning God’s will for their life. How should parents approach this critical moment in their child’s education when the child makes a first choice of what path to test? More precisely, how should a parent respond to a child considering a vocation? Having recently confronted this issue for the first time1 as a father, I wish to share some reflections on my experience and some indispensable advice2 I have gathered along the way. Although I write from the perspective of a father guiding a son, the principles apply to daughters. Beginning with the End One should always begin with the end in mind. A father must be clear in his own mind and must make clear to his son the nature of the decision to try a vocation. One cannot clearly discern if he does not clearly understand that which he is attempting to discern. Father McMahon emphasized to me that the focal point must always be God’s Will. “What do you believe God wants? If that remains the constant theme of all vocational discussions, we will never be far from where we must be.” A father must strive to persevere in this purity of intention and must communicate this intention to his son. The decision must not revolve around what his son feels he would like, enjoy, or desire. Even more importantly the path chosen must not be oriented to what will please his parents. As parents it will be impossible not to have inner hopes and desires for our children. Yet, we must lock these tightly within our hearts so as to grant our sons the liberty to discern God’s will, not their 55 Christian Culture father’s hopes. Children who have come to love their parents will naturally want to please them. Thus, the father must be clear in his own mind and must clearly communicate to his son that the only choice which will please him is a choice that is in complete accordance with God’s Will. Fathers must set their will on this more than anything else. They must make an act of the will to want nothing but God’s Will for their children, even if that turns out on the natural level to conflict with natural sentiments. Focusing on creating this liberty to pursue God’s will emphasizes another important aspect to this phase of education. Until this point, fathers must lead by making decisions for their children. Decisions concerning matters such as in what school a son should be instructed, whether to homeschool and if so what curriculum to use, what books to read, what leisure activities are permitted, etc., must be made by the parents for the children. It would be ridiculous to ask a seven-year-old child to decide if he should be homeschooled or sent to a school. The parent may take note of a child’s thoughts on a matter, but until he is properly formed to make such decisions, the election must be made by the parents. The decision to try a vocation must be treated differently. The father must change the mode of leadership. Rather than making the decision for his son he must lead primarily by example, exemplifying the purity of intention to do God’s Will, and by mentoring and guiding the decision process. This change of mode should occur gradually with the locus of authority shifting from the parents to the maturing child. The vocation decision should serve as the watershed moment of this change in mode, in a sense acting as the culmination of a process throughout the last years of childhood. A Major Decision The first point of action must be to communi­ cate this change in mode to the son. He must understand that he is being asked to make the first major adult decision of his life. He must know both that you will support and guide him in that process and that ultimately the decision must be the first major one that is truly his own. 56 The Angelus May - June 2015 If he is to operate in this new territory of liberty of election, his father must clearly communicate the importance of this transition of primary authority in making the decision. All children thrive in environments that provide clarity of expectations. As noted above, it is natural for children to desire to please their parents. The greatest source of anxiety for a child is often created by uncertainty as to the expectations of his parents. Thus, making certain your son knows your expectations are that he make this decision and that the rule and measure of that decision must be God’s will is essential to the success of this process. Launching out into this territory is naturally intimidating to a boy on the verge of becoming a young man. As much as he may have complained about your making all the rules for him, there is a security in that life. He who lacks authority is relieved of obligations and responsibility. Therefore, a father must couple this explanation of the shift in authority with an assurance of his continued involvement as guide and mentor. In the words of Father McMahon: “[S]uch an important decision needs and really demands (more so at this particular age than any other) mentoring in the discernment process....A wise man should never make an important decision without seeking proper and prudent advice from those with the grace of state, expertise and experience. In normal circumstances, one’s father should be part and parcel of each and every important decision throughout one’s life. At the very least in those cases where the father is not an expert in a particular area, he is the boy’s permanent and providential ‘expert’ and should prove to be a sounding board and confidant at all times.” The Need of a Guide A guide performs two functions. He keeps the one he guides focused on the end. Secondly, he advises with respect to the means to that end. He must make sure the Will of God is always before his son. He must also focus his son on the precise means to that goal. A child may overstate the finality of those means. The initial decision is not simply should I be ordained a priest or even make the vows of a subdeacon. More modestly at this stage the question is should I try a vocation so as to know if this is God’s will for me. Framing the question precisely is critical to orderly thinking. The ultimate question of whether to ask for ordination will be answered over a period of time. The question at hand is should this process be undertaken. This question can be taken up from several points of view. First, the father can ask his son if there is some other life or profession that seems to present itself for serious consideration, be it college or training in a skill or profession. If yes, then that path should be explored with all seriousness and vigor in conjunction with considering the seminary. Even if a vocation is tried and ultimately found to be of God, this effort will not be in vain. A true vocation will be tested and will also be challenged by the devil. The future priest will necessarily pass through periods of doubt. If he has given real consideration to other possibilities this effort will be a strong defense against a temptation that he did not know what he was doing and should have explored another path. The young man will be able to dismiss such temptations with the firm knowledge that he gave due consideration to obvious alternatives and made this decision to try a vocation with sufficient knowledge of the options. The Role of the Parents Further, as noted earlier, children want to please their parents. You need therefore to reassure your son that if he tries a vocation and truly finds that he is not called you will not be disappointed in him. Finding that one is not called to the altar is not a failure. Your son may see it as the equivalent of failing out of college for lack of effort and thus meriting your disappointment. The goal, and your desire, is to discern God’s Will. Learning for certain that one is not called to a vocation accomplishes that goal. Your son needs to know you will be proud of him for trying the higher way. You should remind him that even if he learns after a year or two of testing a vocation that one is not present, God will still abundantly reward his docility to Divine Providence and shower him with graces for his diligent effort. He must know you will not be disappointed in him but rather proud of his serious effort. In implementing these principles Father McMahon provided two very helpful practical suggestions. First, you must ensure that your son selects and discusses the more particular aspects of this decision with a trusted spiritual director. The wise man takes prudent counsel before making an election. A father’s guidance is indispensable, but the father’s guidance must know its own limits, and there are aspects of the decision which must be pursued with a spiritual director. Secondly, in order to balance the seriousness of the decision with the proper perspective of it being merely a temporary election to try a path which at this stage is not final, you should require your son to establish reasonable procedures for the process. Doing so will build good habits of decision making throughout life. The young man need not think about it, and he should be discouraged from thinking about it semper et ubique; rather he should designate two, maybe three very concentrated and longer periods of time for thought and prayer, approximately 30-45 minutes each. The virtues of counsel and prudence can be violated by defect and excess. Making a snap, illconsidered decision as well as disproportionate agonizing over a decision are both vices. Virtue avoids both extremes. These defined periods could be during or following an Ignatian Retreat (again another way to start good habits of adulthood early). During these periods he should consider the matter as well as beg grace from God to see clearly His path. Finally, he must choose a “decision date” and stick to it. He must do all necessary to be properly prepared for that date. The process of contemplation must be directed to a definite end. Unless a very striking manifestation by God’s Providence can be clearly seen otherwise, he should not deviate from the decision taken that day. 1 My oldest son has recently applied for admission to St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary. 2 This advice was provided principally from the headmaster of my son’s school, Father Michael McMahon, SSPX, without whom I could not have navigated this territory effectively. 57 Christian Culture Long Live Summer Vacation! by SSPX Sisters Long live summer vacation! After the toil of the school year, the children are delighted: no more school, no more homework, no more discipline, no more... Whoa! “Vacation” means healthy relaxation, but that is no excuse for giving free rein to every whim and caprice. Now comes the moment of truth in which the depth of their education is revealed: released from the strict schedule of the school year, what becomes of the good habits that were the object of so many efforts? Have they been sufficiently assimilated to hold up in a different setting? Let’s start by saying that the good God does not take vacations. In August as in December, He is always our Creator, our Lord, our loving Father who takes care of us. Daily prayer during vacation, therefore, does not stop being a duty. On the contrary, one can take advantage of the time 58 The Angelus May - June 2015 to pray a little more, recite the Rosary together as a family, go to Mass during the week, visit a church to pray, read a Life of a saint together, complete the unfinished lessons of Catechism by Correspondence. The children’s commitments like the treasure sheet for the Eucharistic Crusade or working on badges for the Scouts also continue during vacation. By definition, there’s no need to rise early to get to school on time during vacation. It is legitimate to take advantage of the fact to get a little more rest. But it is no reason to laze away the morning in bed until ten o’clock! Laziness is still one of the capital sins, even during vacation. In the Smith family, the breakfast table is cleared by 8:30 or 9 at the latest, and the children who would dare to come later will have to do without. Schedules can be a little more flexible during vacation, for example because of a late return home from an outing or a late family gathering or a late-afternoon snack that takes the place of supper. However, it is up to the parents to see to it that the regularity of daily life (meal times and bed time) are not upset or chaotic, this order being a key factor of psychological balance. Vacation means long days of freedom. How should they be spent? It is to be feared that, left to themselves, the children, marked as they all are by the effects of original sin, will spend their time, if not in getting into trouble, then in fruitless endeavors. The educator’s task continues during vacation, in which children ought to be provided with activities that develop their minds and their will. The first thing to teach them is the joy of being helpful. Freed from their homework, the children have time to get involved in jobs around the house, and this can be done in a relaxing way since it is vacation. With the older boys, Mr. Smith tackled the job of stripping and repainting the garden fence, offering a treat to be earned upon completion of each picket. Meanwhile, with mother the girls prepared a surprise meal: a Mexican dinner with typical dishes, table decorations, music—nothing is lacking that serves to develop various talents. At the Joneses, vacation is the perfect time to remodel the bedrooms. The children camp outside in a tent at the back of the garden, each one has a wall to paint, they sing as they work, and the work week concludes with a barbecue. It would be a pity to leave the minds of the children in idleness for a couple of months. For summertime homework, if any has been assigned, to be fully beneficial, its completion ought to be spread out over the summer and not crammed into the last couple of weeks. To motivate the children, an appealing reward can be proposed: a special outing, a stay at Grandmother’s... It is highly recommended to set aside a time for reading every day, for example, during the little ones’ nap time or during the warmest part of the afternoon. Summer is also a good time for cultural tours, visiting monuments or historical sites, preparing the trip with guides and books. After the visit, a notebook with drawings and photos can be prepared to share with cousins who live far away. And let us not forget the physical activities: walks, bike rides, skating... What can be done on the inevitable rainy days? Activities at home as a family: big jigsaw puzzles that everyone can work on, board games, baking cookies for an afternoon treat, building a kite to try out as soon as the weather is nice... For vacation to be fruitful, parents must not hesitate to give of their time and devotion in order to plan and organize. Their efforts are surely worth it, for vacation is the blessed time in which family unity is forged by shared moments that will leave indelible memories. So, a splendid vacation to you! Translated from Fideliter, July-August 2014. 59 Christian Culture Missionfields Asia and the Philippines by Fr. Daniel Couture, SSPX (former district superior of Asia) The Angelus: Father Couture, you have been the superior of the Asian district for 18 years. Could you tell us about the origin of the SSPX presence in Asia? Fr. Couture: The whole apostolate in the Philippines is a grace of the episcopal consecrations in 1988. As a result of the world­ wide negative publicity around this historical event, Attorney Teodoro Dominguez wrote to Archbishop Lefebvre from Manila. He is a lawyer in this country who is famous for having never lost a case. In July 1988, he read what the newspapers had to say about the so-called schismatic act of the Archbishop. He read them with the attention of a lawyer and said: “Something is wrong here. Lefebvre is right.” And so he wrote to the Archbishop, and in August 1988 Father Laroche came for a first visit. 60 The Angelus May - June 2015 The Angelus: After this interesting start, what happened next? Fr. Couture: From 1988 to 1992, the priests from Australia-New Zealand came monthly to Asia, alternating one month between Hong Kong, Manila, and Korea; and the next month, it was Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka. Hong Kong always had the lion’s share because St. Joseph was living in Hong Kong! You may say that the Asian-Australian district was the greatest district ever in the SSPX, stretching from from Perth to Tokyo. The Angelus: But these intermittent visits could not last? Fr. Couture: No! In fact, in 1992, the autonomous house of the Philippines was opened by Fr. Paul Morgan and Fr. Stephen Abraham. In the following years, priests, among whom were Father Rostand and Father Onoda, joined the founding fathers. The priory of Sri Lanka was opened in 1995, and I came on the scene in 1996 as the first superior of the newly-erected District of Asia, comprising the autonomous houses of India and of the Philippines. It consisted of ten priests servicing three priories: Palayamkottai in India, Manila in the Philippines and that of Sri Lanka. The Angelus: And after 18 years, how does it compare to the beginning? Fr. Couture: Eighteen years later, we have now five priories. We closed Sri Lanka and opened Singapore, which was too close, and we opened the pre-seminary and Brothers’ novitiate in Iloilo (central Philippines). The latest priory opened in Davao in the Southern Philippines. These five priories are manned by 15 priests. But they spread themselves very thin as we have more missions to serve in India and Jakarta, but especially in the Philippines: there, from an initial four Mass centers, we have grown up to about twenty. The Angelus: What was the first goal of the SSPX in establishing houses in Asia? Was it to respond to the interest of people in tradition, vocations, the number of souls to save? Fr. Couture: In Manila, it was clearly vocations. The Society purchased right from the start a piece of land and built a big house which was meant to be a pre-seminary. Indeed, by 1998, it hosted seven priests and seven preseminarians. That was also the year when we bought a second property in Iloilo and moved the pre-seminary there, in that rice farm. After Iloilo, the vocations were sent to Goulburn, Australia, to pursue seminary training, and we are glad that seven Filipino priests have persevered in their vocations and apostolic duties. The Angelus: Didn’t you also start a house for feminine vocations? Fr. Couture: The House of Bethany started in 1997. Two sisters had left their Novus Ordo convent, and we decided to open a house for them which grew into what became the House of Bethany. Seventeen years later, close to 50 ladies have tried their vocations, half of whom have reached their goal. Presently, the Oblates of the SSPX have taken over the house, which has moved to Iloilo, and a few months ago two of the five Oblates were sent to Manila to help at the priory. The Angelus: What about the polemics on the public level? Fr. Couture: Here is an interesting one: Back in 1998, one day on the 6 p.m. TV News, Cardinal Sin, who had condemned us publicly, issued a written statement against divorce, which was then being pushed by the government. However, the picture shown over his voice was that of our church of Our Lady of Victories, which has a very beautiful wood-carved, gilt colonial altar. God really has a sense of humor! About the same time, we were hoping the President would come and do the consecration of the Philippines to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The first lady, Mrs. Estrada, indeed came to consecrate the office of the First Lady. We had an ongoing crusade of these consecrations, and we got about 4 governors, a few mayors of large cities, and dozens of Barangay Captains to make the consecration to the Immaculate Heart. It certainly brought many blessings: Attorney Dominguez told me that the number of crimes in Quezon City (pop. 2.6 million) really dropped in the months after its mayor came to do the consecration. With Father Onoda as prior, our name got some public attention during the pro-life battle. He met with leaders, bishops and priests, invited leaders to give conferences at our church. One lady, formerly in a high position in the ministry of health, had a complete conversion to the faith while reading about side effects of the pill. Father Onoda established some contacts with the former mayor of Manila and other VIPs in the political and legal milieu in the course of this battle. The Angelus: How does the apostolate differ from first world countries? Fr. Couture: Many in the Philippines are simple, with little education, and as a result, superficial in the knowledge of their faith. 61 Christian Culture Poverty is a real issue. Some faithful cannot even afford a Jeepney ride to go to church. Regularly, for instance, for the annual pilgrimage to Bohol (800 pilgrims in 2014), we had to finance half the trip for these people, which included ferry trips besides the regular bus rides. The joy of being there also comes from the ease we have to go and do almost anything! For instance, the cassock is worth a diplomatic passport. Thus, I said Mass once on a feast of Christ the King in the chapel of the parliament building in Malacañan. The Angelus: What about your medical work? It is known internationally. Fr. Couture: Since 2007, we have yearly hosted a medical mission, the ninth one having just taken place this past February. We call on volunteers, and about a dozen doctors come to give a hand. They cannot believe how free we are. They work with Filipino doctors who oversee the operations, and our criteria for helpers are quite demanding. The town authorities always welcome us with open arms because we offer so much to the people. The last couple of years, our team has grown to about 100 volunteers and saw over 3,000-4,000 patients in a week. For our own faithful, such a medical mission is truly a practical spiritual retreat with Mass and a theme, and our people are so receptive. Once the mission is over, we have a medical staff on hand all year long because we often have to follow up on cases to provide them with medications, tests, and surgery. France, the United States and Canada offer a big help in all this. Last year, in Tacloban after the super-typhoon destroyed the town, we added a construction team of about 30, with Australians and Americans giving a hand to our Filipinos, to rebuild our chapel and five houses within the record time of ten days. Obviously, they were not palaces but it was a feat! The Angelus: For what I can see, your activities in the Philippines have been a steady success, with pilgrimages, retreats, medical mission. Fr. Couture: We also have one priest in the South, Fr. Timothy Pfeiffer, who has launched a campaign of training catechists. The way he presents it is very American. It is 60/40: 60 hours’ training, and 40 hours’ practice before you become a certified catechist to work at evangelizing your mission village. This zealous priest with his heavy Kentucky accent now speaks Visaya and, within one year, he has gathered about 70 catechists. Here is how it works in his own words: “Get on the MAC Program (adult catechism)! What makes it work is the hands-on contact with the catechists. My getting to them and going over together with them the Baltimore Catechism No. 2, adding Sacred Scripture and a little apologetics with a word or two about method, goes a long way to inspiring them with a little confidence and to giving them the necessary push to get to work. The practical element of the highest importance is that they keep a notebook, partly a summary of what they have taught and partly a record of attendance. It is my review of this that glues it all together. “What I try to do in the mission environment is one of two things: Either (A) to spend 4 weeks there and have catechist training every evening for 1½ to 2 hours, to reach 60 hours (with Mass, they are there for 3 hours, so 3 x 5 x 4 = 60 hours). Or (B) to spend a long series of weekends, Friday night to Saturday afternoon, teaching the catechists for approx. 4-6 hours, until we get to about 60 hours.” The Angelus: Getting back to the District house and work, did you experience particular difficulties proper to Asia? Fr. Couture: The weather can affect the health of the priests; not everyone can take the constant damp heat which can provoke ongoing allergies, cramps, and so on. There are also visa issues in entering many Asian countries. And then there are the long travels across all these Asian countries from the United Arab Emirates to Japan, via China, Korea, and the countries in between! Recently Father Stehlin has even reopened the mission in Vietnam. The Angelus: What were your greatest sorrow and your greatest joy? Fr. Couture: It is always delicate to speak of a superior’s sorrows, but since you ask, the loss of even a single priest is always the most painful, for whatever reason it happens. It is obviously worse when you see your former fellow priests going on destroying what they themselves had so generously built up earlier on. As for the joys, on the other side, I had a really great team of missionaries, that is for sure! I do miss the people, too, who were always very enthusiastic, the three communities of Sisters, the Indian orphanage, the Legion of Mary, the pilgrimages—all these activities helping souls run on the way of Heaven! The Angelus: We may perhaps finish this interview with that bishop who turned traditional? Fr. Couture: Yes, we had contact for a few years with Bishop Manat of Thailand. He even restarted saying the Traditional Mass on occasion, but he got entangled in some issues and did not carry on. He passed away about three years ago. On the other hand, the great success story is that of Bishop Lazo, who had retired in 1993. A few faithful brought him a few books such as those of Michael Davies, but also AA 1025 and Open Letter to Confused Catholics. He came back two years later, saying: “Archbishop Lefebvre is right, and I was wrong for 26 years. Teach me how to say Mass!” What was stunning for us was that wonderful humility of a septuagenarian bishop. Hearing of this, the Cardinal’s secretary came to see him and explained that if he stayed connected with the SSPX, he could not be buried in his cathedral. He replied with his straight language: “They can always bury me in my backyard. As long as I make it to Heaven, that is all I care for!” Bishop Fellay came to perform the funeral and to bury him in our church of Our Lady of Victories. 1,002 pp. – Hardcover with dust jacket – STK# 8547 – $49.95 Commentary on St. Matthew’s Gospel St. Thomas Aquinas In the mid-thirteenth century, St. Thomas Aquinas gave a series of lectures commenting on St. Matthew’s Gospel. However, when this commentary became published, it was considered “incomplete” and “defective.” This centuries-old mystery was finally resolved in 1955 with the discovery that fraudulent, sixteenth-century substitutions had tainted two chapters. A manuscript containing the actual words of Aquinas was discovered a year later in Basel, Switzerland. Now, for the first time ever in English, this edition of the Commentary presents the restored, never before seen, complete and authentic text of the Angelic Doctor’s lectures. Particularly useful as an aid for preaching sermons, this masterly commentary contains many detailed explanations and numerous cross-references to Scripture, Church Fathers, as well as other works of St. Thomas, which are continuously interwoven throughout this simple but profoundly enlightening text. Order yours today at www.angeluspress.org or call 1-800-966-7337 by SSPX priests Is there a hierarchy in the Church? Our Lord Jesus Christ founded, not only a religion (a collection of beliefs and practices), but a Church in the strict sense, i.e. a visible society (Mt. 16:18, 18:17; Acts 9:31, 20:28; Col. 1:24; I Tim. 3:5, 3:15, etc.). According to the classic definition, a society is “a permanent assembly of individuals under a common authority working towards a common goal.” Societies come in all shapes and sizes with widely varying goals and widely varying structures, but all of them fit this basic definition. The notions of “society” and “authority” are, therefore, inseparable, and one easily perceives why. Without some power to co-ordinate the members of a society—and even to coerce if necessary—any sustained common action toward a common goal would not be possible, and the society as a society would die. But Our Lord built His Church upon a “rock” so that it would endure (Mt. 7:25) and remain as He had founded it. The flock of God will always need shepherds until Our Lord, the 65 Christian Culture “Prince of shepherds” comes again (I Peter 5:2-4). The hierarchy of the Church consists of these shepherds, delegated by the Prince and vested with a share of His power. As the 1917 Code of Canon Law teaches (c. 108 §3): “By divine institution, the sacred hierarchy with respect of orders consists of bishops, priests, and ministers; by reason of jurisdiction, [it consists of] the supreme pontificate and the subordinate episcopate.” Why is the Church’s hierarchy connected with the Sacrament of Holy Orders? The word “hierarchy” is derived from two Greek words which could be translated as “sacred ruling power” (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 108, Art. 1). This “sacred ruling power” is found only in the Catholic Church—the religious society possessing the power to lead men to sacred realities, i.e. union with God. As St. Thomas says (On the Sentences, Bk. 2, Dist. 9, Art. 1): “Just as the purpose of a temporal government is to dispose the community in order that they might be able to reach, in peace, the good sought by their leader, the purpose of a sacred government is to assimilate its subjects to God.” But the actual union of souls with God, for which the Church’s hierarchy was instituted, is only achieved by sanctifying grace. Therefore, even if it is necessary for the flock to be taught, guided, and even corrected by the shepherds in order to safely reach the heavenly pasture, the sheep could never actually achieve union with God unless the shepherds also possessed the power to sanctify them. This is why, even if the power to govern and the power to sanctify are two distinct powers, nevertheless, they are meant to be exercised by the same hierarchy. Without this power to sanctify, which is granted 66 The Angelus May - June 2015 by the sacrament of Holy Orders, the shepherds would not truly possess a “sacred ruling power” at all—a power which is sacred because it is sanctifying. Orders are not an impediment to matrimony in the Eastern Church. Hence, should not Latin priests also be allowed to marry? This objection is literally that given by St. Thomas Aquinas (Supplement, Q. 53, Art. 3), and here is how he answers it. “This objection is based on a false statement since order is everywhere an impediment to the contracting of marriage, although it has not everywhere a vow annexed to it.” In fact, St. Thomas deals with the celibacy or marriage of the priests with two articles: Whether order is an impediment to matrimony, which receives a positive answer, saying that no priest on earth can become married, in the Eastern as well as the Latin Church. And the second article asks whether sacred order can be received after matrimony, with the affirmative answer for the Eastern Church particularly. At this juncture, these answers may raise more questions. How come the Eastern Church has another discipline than the Western or Latin Church? This is because in the West, right from the third century, the Church forbade clerics in major orders from marrying or using marriage, adding the vow of celibacy to sacred orders. This explains why Latin clerics who had been married could not make use of their marital rights any­ more. In the Eastern Church, however, such rigorous discipline was not enforced nor was there a sacred vow of celibacy attached to the sacrament of order. Yet, again, one may ask for clarification as to why a priest cannot marry whereas a married man can become a priest in certain areas. Is there no equal possibility or impossibility on both sides? The answer is obviously negative. Basically, we may say that matrimony is a human contract; order is a consecration by God through the Church. The difference is that marriage is caused by human consent, whereas order has a sacramental cause appointed by God. Hence matrimony may be impeded by a previous order but, on the other hand, order cannot be impeded by marriage because the power of the sacraments is unchangeable, whereas human acts can be impeded. Finally, to dispel remaining doubts about the superiority of celibacy, the Eastern Church itself has it in great esteem. No married priest can be promoted to the episcopacy and, moreover, the religious are held in much honor, and this may very well be because they are also unmarried. Why did the Roman Catholic Church experience a sexual abuse crisis? There are no simple answers, according to a five-year study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which studied thousands of cases, including a 1970s-era study on the psychology of priests.1 A major reason for the rise in abuse was the 1960s. “There’s a sexual revolution, there’s an increased amount of drug use, there’s an increase in crime, there’s an increase in things like premarital sex, in divorce…, there’s change. And the men who are in the priesthood are affected by these social factors.” Worthy of notice in the report is that Catholic seminaries had done a poor job of preparing priests “to live a life of chaste celibacy.” This can be explained for two reasons which to us are self-evident: - “The sexual problems among priests are the result of the disintegration of the spiritual culture of the Church that was buttressed by ascetical discipline. Without a vigorous spiritual culture, the psychology of the priest wanders from the path of holiness and is held hostage by social forces…overwhelmingly sexual.”2 - Celibacy demands a great sacrifice that lacks meaning when it is no longer understood that the Catholic Church is the only Church of Jesus Christ. Since other churches seem to be on about the same level as the Catholic Church, why is only the Catholic clergy celibate? This sacrifice truly requires an absolute cause. Ecumenism does away with the Catholic supremacy, but the Church does not do away with the sacrifice of its ministers. Under such conditions it is very difficult for celibacy to be respected and maintained. Destruction of the objective faith regarding the doctrine takes away subjective faith in commitment. Hence, this report, which is quite fair on the whole, makes one slight mistake: it ‘forgets’ to mention the impact of Vatican II on the equation of the crisis in the priesthood. If there is a crisis of priestly celibacy, this is due to the insecurity in the faith. This is because celibacy demands a great sacrifice which makes no sense when one does not understand that the Catholic Church is the only Church of Christ. The more she is put on a same footing as other ‘churches,’ the more one may wonder: why is the Catholic priesthood celibate? In truth, this sacrifice demands an absolute ideal. Hence, in the present conditions of outrageous ecumenism, it is no wonder that priestly celibacy is under continuous attack. 67 Christian Culture Archbishop Cupich of Chicago, not long ago, spoke of the need for priests to focus on their baptismal vows rather than on their ordinations. Is this what we mean by clericalism? Perhaps abuse of power is something we need to be aware of today, although it is being used today to destroy the Church herself. Father Calmel, O.P., (†1975) wrote an enlightening article in Itinéraires,3 of which we give some extracts worth our meditation. “I am trying to look at what are the specific temptations reserved to the clerics. They are not literary or military glory. It is clericalism. Just as sins against paternal duties can be committed only by a father, so also the sin of clericalism can be perpetrated only by those in the clerical state. And if it was scandalous or revolutionary to denounce the sins of clerics, we should burn the first chapters of the Apocalypse of St. John which condemn vigorously the sins of the Asian bishops at the close of the first century. No cleric of the 20th century enjoys the privilege of impeccability. He enjoys specific powers but may use them against God’s wishes.” “Clericalism is the struggle for power with the means proper to the cleric, as minister of grace having authority over consciences. It is human pride using clerical tools and masks which are inherent to the clerical state. Just before He invested His Apostles with the clerical powers, Our Lord warned them to divest themselves of pride and ambition. Nowhere is it said that their authority received from Christ was abolished if it was not exercised in the spirit of the Gospel. What is true—and history confirms this—is that such an abusive authority creates a false situation and may seem unbearable, leading to schism and heresy. Yet, those faithful who suffer from the yoke of clericalism should take occasion to get closer to Christ’s Church, which does not cease to sanctify them through His ministers, and this despite their misery.” “We remark two forms of clericalism. The 68 The Angelus May - June 2015 cleric suffering from clericalism in its classic form abuses his authority in order to defend an order of things which favors religion and offers him peace and success. Years ago, certain parish priests, with little scruples about the choice of means, put abusive pressures to insure the success of the anti-revolutionary candidate during the electoral campaign. This clericalism is quite understandable, although it is unjustified.” “But we are seeing the day of another form of clericalism. Clericalism has not disappeared; it has been inverted. Often enough, the abuse of clerical authority is working hard at establishing an order of things utterly opposed to the religion of which they are ministers. Not only do they use their power and prestige to combat a Christian institution like a Catholic school, but even the very principle of Christian institutions, in the name of ‘spiritual witness,’ of ‘liberty and openness.’ To achieve this absurd goal, they use all the means at their clerical disposal: religious intimidation, anathemas with or without motives, excommunication at all levels. How did we get there? Pride, might you say? Yes, but pride does not explain everything; it alone cannot explain the negation of the natural laws of society.” And here, Fr. Calmel blames the invasive Teilhardism with its weird evolutionist philosophico-theology. He is writing in the tragic 1960s. No doubt he repeated the same anathemas against those who persecuted his beloved Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the only bishop whom he saw rise against the modernist tsunami. 1 http://www.npr.org/2011/05/18/136436728/ catholic-bishops-release-sex-abuse-report. 2 After Asceticism (Bloomington, IN: The Linacre Institute, 2006), p. 170. 3 No. 63, pp. 3-25. 502 pp. – Hardcover with dust jacket – STK# BD469 – $35.95 Archbishop Lefebvre The Spiritual Life The words of the great bishop are an inexhaustible wellspring of meditation proper to nourish in the faithful their union with God, to encourage them on the field of spiritual combat and to draw them higher in the practice of Christian virtues. Not an exhaustive treatise on spirituality, but a presentation of its fundamental aspects. Although this collection was organized using words addressed for the most part to seminarians, priests and religious, it is entirely adapted to any of the faithful who are seeking a profound spiritual life. Order yours today at www.angeluspress.org or call 1-800-966-7337 News from Tradition Open Conflict within the Conciliar Church The noted Italian journalist Alessandro Gnocchi published an extremely interesting column regarding both the Extraordinary Synod on the Family which took place last October and the Ordinary Synod on the same topic to take place this coming October. Gnocchi has been very severe in his critique of Pope Francis’s pontificate and his magisterium, and his comments concerning the synods are no exception. He explains very succinctly that over the past 50 years, the Church has gone out of her way to “make friends with the world” and that this has been a detriment to the preaching of the Faith. Also during this time, according to Gnocchi, anyone who dared to reproach any member of the hierarchy for speaking or acting contrary to the Faith has been categorized as being divisive and therefore harming the Church. Ultimately, Gnocchi believes that the two parts of the Synod on the Family will effectively become a time for taking sides. He writes: “What happened, and what will happen again, was not only a confrontation between two different schools of thought, but the confrontation between those who intend to preserve the Catholic faith as a whole and those who want to change it. In a few words, even if we are talking about bishops, cardinals, and the Pope and therefore my words may appear to you to be harsh, even there we are dealing with the battle between Christ and Antichrist. It remains only for us to choose which side to stand on.”1 Certainly Alessandro Gnocchi’s words echo the statements of the likes of Raymond Cardinal Burke and Bishop Athanasius Schneider, though neither prelate has put the issue in such stark terms, preferring to be more diplomatic in their statements. In any case, it has become clear that the only weapons which will be of any use during the upcoming Synod will be spiritual ones; the time for any machinations on the natural level are certainly past. A German Cardinal’s Worrisome Words As has been reported by various sources, Reinhard Cardinal Marx, the president of the German Episcopal Conference, made some rather troubling comments to the press following a meeting of the Conference last February. Regarding the giving of Holy Communion to the divorced and civilly remarried His Eminence stated: “We are not subsidiaries of Rome. Each conference of bishops is responsible for pastoral care in its culture and must, as its most proper task, preach the Gospel on our own. We cannot wait for a synod to tell us how we have to shape pastoral care for marriage and family here.” It would appear that His Eminence is stating that the authority of the Pope does not extend past the Rhine River, which one could easily interpret as being schismatic, since a schism is nothing more that the refusal to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff. 70 The Angelus May - June 2015 Obviously, only the Pope himself can state how these words of Cardinal Marx should be interpreted. Up to this time, there have been no comments issued from either the Holy Father himself or the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by another German, Cardinal Mueller. Possibly the reason for the continued silence is that Cardinal Marx’s words represent the natural conclusion to the novelty of “collegiality” proclaimed by Vatican II, and by condemning these words Rome would effectively be brought into the position of having to distance itself from the Council. Given these developments, it would appear that Archbishop Lefebvre has once again been proven to be prophetic in his warnings of the dangers of collegiality as expressed in the documents of Vatican II. The October Synod It is becoming more and more obvious that the second part of the Synod on the Family which will convene in October will not be a peaceful gathering of bishops from all parts of the world. As noted above, the German bishops have solidly placed themselves behind the “serene theology” (to use Pope Francis’s description) of Cardinal Kasper which calls for the admittance to Holy Communion of the divorced and civilly remarried. Previous “Church in the World” columns have noted the clear rejection of Kasper’s ideas by both Raymond Cardinal Burke and Bishop Athanasius Schneider. It is now possible to note that other prelates have joined in this rejection. Most notably, Robert Cardinal Sarah, the recently appointed Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, has stated that the bishops of Africa will not go along with the Kasperian agenda which seeks to effectively separate pastoral practice from dogma. Cardinal Sarah stated unequivocally: “The idea that would consist in placing the Magisterium in a nice box by detaching it from pastoral practice—which could evolve according to the circumstances, fads, and passions—is a form of heresy, a dangerous schizophrenic pathology.”2 His Eminence clearly does not share Pope Francis’s belief that Cardinal Kasper’s is a “serene theology.” In addition to Cardinal Sarah, the Polish bishops have also rejected any attempt to change Church discipline regarding the divorced and civilly remarried. With four months to go before the opening of the Synod on the Family, it will be very interesting to observe which other bishops (as individuals or as national conferences) come forward to uphold the perennial doctrine and pastoral practice of the Church. Cardinal Sarah Interview His Eminence, Robert Cardinal Sarah, the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (appointed by Pope Francis on 24 November 2014), gave an interview3 while visiting France earlier this year. The beginning part of the interview concerned itself with the Traditional Mass and the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI and caused a good amount of excitement among many Catholics who are disenchanted with the Novus Ordo Missae of Pope Paul VI, though they have not moved to Tradition. The interest was sparked by these comments from His Eminence: “Vatican II never asked us to reject the past and abandon the Mass of St. Pius V, which spawned many saints, nor discard Latin. But at the same time we must promote the liturgical reform sought by the Council itself. The liturgy is the special place where we meet God face-to-face, bring Him our whole life, our work, and make an offering of all this to His glory. We cannot celebrate the liturgy while taking up arms: carrying on our shoulders weapons of hate, combat, resentment. Jesus Himself said, ‘Before pre­sent­ing your offering, first be reconciled to your 71 News from Tradition brother.’ In this ‘face-to-face’ with God, our heart must be pure, free of all hatred, all rancor. Each person must remove from his heart anything that might cast a shadow on this meeting. This involves respecting everyone’s sensitivity… “[T]his is the meaning of the motu pro­ prio Summorum Pontificum. Benedict XVI put a lot of energy and hope into this work. Alas, he was not totally successful because people ‘clung’ to their specific rite and mutually excluded each other. In the Church, everyone should be able to celebrate according to his or her own sensitivity. It is one of the conditions of reconciliation. Attention should also be paid to the beauty of the liturgy, its sacredness. The Eucharist is not a ‘dinner with friends,’ it is a sacred mystery. If it is celebrated with fervor and beauty, an understanding will certainly be reached. However, we must not forget that it is God who reconciles, and this will take time.” While Cardinal Sarah’s comments seem to make it clear that Summorum Pontificum will not be done away with, there are two significant problems with His Eminence’s statement. The first is that he implies that the Novus Ordo Missae (and the subsequent practical disappearance of the Traditional Mass along with the notion that it had been abrogated—a notion which Benedict XVI clearly stated was incorrect) was not willed by Vatican II. This is clearly untrue since the author of Vatican II’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, was Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, the same person who led the creation of the New Mass. Even if Vatican II did not directly order the production of a new rite of Mass, there is no doubt that Sacrosanctum Concilium opened wide the door that made it possible. The second difficulty with the statement from Cardinal Sarah is that he reduces the “division” concerning the Traditional Mass and the New Mass to a matter of “taste” or “sensitivity,” completely ignoring the fact of the obvious theological deficiencies of the Novus Ordo Missae. To imply that those who are attached to the Traditional Mass do so out of a simple preference is a way of sidestepping the real issue of the very real problems with the New Mass. Additionally, no matter how well the Novus Ordo Missae is celebrated, there is no way that it can be accepted as being on the same plane with the Mass of the Ages. The one point that His Eminence makes, which will sadly be lost on most, is that Holy Mass is not a “dinner with friends,” but rather a sacred mystery. It is precisely the emphasis on the Mass being a meal, which is found throughout the entire New Mass, that makes it so clearly unacceptable as the Church’s central act of worship. Canonization of Louis and Marie Martin Expected On 18 March 2015, Pope Francis approved a decree from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Louis and Marie Martin, the parents of the Little Flower, St. Therese of Lisieux, opening the way for their canonization, the date of which has not yet been announced. Louis Martin and Marie (née Guerin) Martin were beatified on Sunday, 19 October 2008. Louis was born into a military family and spent his early years at various French military posts. At the age of twenty-two he sought to enter religious life at an Augustinian monastery, but because he had difficulty learning the required Latin he eventually left the monastery, settled 72 The Angelus May - June 2015 in Alençon, France, and became a successful watchmaker. Marie Guerin, as a young lady, also sought to enter religious life, but soon abandoned this desire and learned lace-making techniques, starting her own successful lacemaking business. Louis and Marie met in Alençon and were married on 13 July 1858. During the next fifteen years, they had nine children—seven girls and two boys. Within a three-year period, the two boys and two daughters died. Their last child was born on 2 January 1873, and she was named Marie-Françoise-Therese Martin, who would become St. Therese of the Child Jesus. Extraordinary Jubilee Holy Year Proclaimed From the Vatican Information Service: “Yesterday, 13 March 2015, in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis declared the celebration of an extraordinary Holy Year. The Jubilee announcement was made during the homily of the penitential celebration with which he opened the ‘24 Hours for the Lord’ initiative. This ‘Jubilee of Mercy’ will commence with the opening of the Holy Door in the Vatican Basilica on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, 8 December 2015, and will conclude on November 20, that this initiative by the Holy Father may have the effect of further blurring the true meaning of God’s mercy. Of late, most, if not all, of the documents and public addresses emanating from Rome have omitted one important aspect of receiving God’s infinite mercy: genuine repentance. The implication is that God will extend His mercy to us even if we continue to make no attempt to remove sin from our lives. It is this false application of divine mercy that is underlying the push for the divorced and 2016, with the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. The papal bull will be made public on Divine Mercy Sunday, 12 April, the feast day instituted by St. John Paul II and celebrated on the Sunday after Easter.” Normally, Holy Years bring with them significant opportunities for acquiring plenary indulgences as well as special graces from Almighty God. Following the promulgation of the papal bull announcing the Holy Year, the Sacred Penitentiary will then issue the particular graces and favors attached to the Holy Year as well as the specific requirements for obtaining such. While the proclamation of an extraordinary Holy Year is not new, there is a certain amount of concern civilly remarried to be admitted to Holy Communion as well as for the acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle. Let us pray that this Holy Year will be an opportunity for all in the Church to experience God’s mercy by turning back to Him in sincere repentance. 1 http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-next-synod-is-battlebetween-christ.html. 2 https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/detaching-pastoral-practice-fromcatholic-doctrine-is-a-dangerous-schizophr. 3 http://www.aleteia.org/en/religion/article/interview-cardinal-sarahon-liturgical-wars-criticism-of-the-pope-and-islam-5803781526650880? 73 The practice of dedicating the month of May to our Lady was popularized especially by the Rosary Encyclicals of Leo XIII: Beginning in 1883 and concluding in 1889, the Pontiff wrote twelve encyclicals and five apostolic letters on the Rosary. News from Tradition Father Calmel on Vatican II True Reform vs. Church Revolution by Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais Reflections of Fr. Roger-Thomas Calmel, O.P. († 1975), who was perhaps the first theologian to condemn the modern trends in France, with Bishop Tissier’s commentaries. During the Council John XXIII opens the Council in October 1962. Soon afterward Father Calmel denounces the “soft language,” the “imprecise, talkative, and even slippery” composition, which “tends to naturalize the supernatural, and to reduce to the level of natural evolution the mysteries of the Incarnation, Redemption by the Cross, and the Kingdom of God.”1 In April 1965 in an article in Itinéraires entitled “Ambiguous Evangelism,” Father Calmel raises the question: Is it real reform going on in the Church, or vandalism? “The more I thought about the revolution, it became apparent to me that it has three specific characteristics: It does not remedy abuses, but attacks the very nature of things; it does not bring noble and generous 76 The Angelus May - June 2015 tendencies and wise desires for renewal to a successful issue, but misappropriates them for their ultimate destruction and thereby ruins them; it does not rule by means of a visible authority, however tyrannical, but reduces men into slavery by means of an occult authority against which it is nearly impossible to have recourse because it is like a poison spread throughout the tissues of the social body.” Father Calmel gives examples of the second revolutionary tactic at work in the Church at a certain point in its history: the aspiration for biblical or liturgical or missionary renewal: “See how the revolution will act to circumvent them, to mislead them, to falsify them. They begin by sidelining the practicing traditional Catholics who were going to bring about the renewal in fidelity to the Tradition of the Church; they replace them with revolutionaries who pit ‘a return to the sources’ against Tradition, and the Gospel against the Church; they gradually teach the Christian people, frightfully mislead, to understand Scripture contrary to traditional theology, to celebrate the liturgy while stifling adoration and recollection, to magnify marriage over consecrated virginity, to exalt evangelical poverty above private property, to become apostles to unbelievers by abstracting from faith and baptism.” Father Calmel more specifically denounces an unheard of way of exercising authority, which is consubstantial with the revolution: It is “an occult system of power that hides behind the curtains, making use of a parallel hierarchy, channels of communication, infiltration, and manipulation of public opinion in order to mold minds and consciences.” Maneuvers of the Antichrist (1967) In March 1967, Father Calmel returned to the subject dealt with in his Theology of History (a series of articles in Itinéraires, 1966). The time of the coming of Antichrist is not an idle question, for this instrument of the devil will not be content with merely opposing the gospel. His strategy will consist in rendering it irrelevant. He will spread a spirit of superficiality such that “the thoughts and sentiments of men will have not the slightest inclination toward anything supernatural or even religious.” To do so, he will enlist political power and social life “such that irreligion necessarily impregnates life so that it becomes an integral part of life.” And this will apply to the Church as well: “When it will have reached the stage of globalization, the system of a ruling power and parallel authorities will become prodigiously effective at stifling souls and subverting the Church. It is undoubtedly by means of this system of domination, once it has become global, that the immediate preparations for the coming of the Antichrist will be made” (p. 411). The Church’s Magisterium (1969) In April 1969, in Itinéraires No. 132 devoted to the memory of Abbé Victor Alain Berto, recalled to God the previous 17th December, Father Calmel wrote a short article entitled “Croire en l’Eglise,” in which, following the teaching of the deceased, he affirmed: “Eternal salvation hinges on faith in the Church and in the pope, nothing less. Acknowledging or rejecting in the abstract or in practice the authority of the pope as pope, that is, in so far as he teaches or decides by the mandate he holds from Jesus Christ, is a matter of eternal life or death. Everything is at stake. Father Berto knew, as too few do in practice, that for the faithful, but especially for the ministers of Jesus Christ, eternal salvation, heaven or hell, inevitably depends on the reception they will have given to the ordinary or solemn teaching of the Vicar of Jesus Christ.” Later on, Father Calmel said that this affirmation was exaggerated, without saying why. An attentive reading of Gaudium et Spes 11 §2, or of Paul VI’s speech at the close of the Council, or the interview of Cardinal Ratzinger with Vittorio Messori in September 1984, allows us to articulate the missing reason why: As pope, the pope must teach or judge what belongs to the revealed deposit.2 The subject, the one who teaches, is dependent on the object, what is taught, and not the inverse. So if the pope or any other teacher should manifest an intention contrary to the object of the magisterium, for example, the intention to introduce into the doctrine of the faith novelties contrary to this doctrine, this counter-intention blocks the assistance of the Holy Spirit. No divinely aided act of the magisterium occurs; in fact, there is no act of the magisterium at all. With this clarification, Father Calmel’s affirmation is true, and he continues: “This is rigorously true, even when the powers, the heights or the depth, become identified with the cause of our pains and our struggles in a sorely tried Church. This is true even when we have to work out our sanctification in a Church divided, undermined from within, suffering, as it were, under an occupation government, because its enemies are working within—in sinu gremioque Ecclesiae, as St. Pius X said regarding modernist pastors; there is no situation that can render null and void the promise of victory the Apostle gives us” (p. 267). There is no situation that can render null and void the help of Christ by His Spirit to the Church, provided that His ministers do not withdraw themselves from this assistance. But for the moment, it seems to Father Calmel that such a withdrawal is not the case. What is happening, he sees, is that “Peter is on vacation” while false prophets of a pseudo-Church are doing the talking. The Novus Ordo Missae (1969) Father Calmel was the first one to react against the promulgation of the New Mass, the first time on September 19 by writing to the pope privately, and then publicly on November 27, 1969, well before Bishop de Castro Mayer and Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. He expresses not a plea to be able to keep the usage of the former rite as did two cardinals (Ottaviani and Bacci in the study commonly known as The Ottaviani Intervention), nor a canonical argumentation proving the non-obligatory character of the new rite as did Fr. 77 News from Tradition Raymond Dulac; but rather, he enounces a complete, tightly reasoned Non possumus, poured out under the patent influence of the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, and of the Spirit of counsel and fortitude: “I’m keeping the traditional Mass, the one that was codified, but not concocted, by St. Pius V in the sixteenth century in conformity with a tradition several centuries old. I refuse the Ordo Missae of Paul VI. Why? Because, in reality, this Ordo Missae does not exist. What exists is a universal, permanent liturgical revolution the current pope either wanted or for which he accepts responsibility, which for a while wears the mask of the Ordo Missae of April 3, 1969. Every priest has the right to refuse to wear the mask of the liturgical revolution. “Simple honesty, but infinitely more, the honor of the priesthood, demands that I not have the impudence to traffic the Catholic Mass I received on the day of my ordination....The first proof of loyalty and love the priest has to give to God and men is to keep intact the infinitely precious deposit entrusted to him when the bishop laid his hands on him. It is first of all on this proof of loyalty and love that I will be judged by the supreme Judge. I most confidently expect that the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Sovereign High Priest, will obtain for me the grace to remain faithful unto death to the true and unequivocal Catholic Mass. Tuus sum ego, salvum me fac.” This declaration is a counterrevolutionary act in the good sense of the word: it is not a challenge to the supreme authority nor a call to revolt against it. It is a profession of faith with all the practical consequences. Such an act is of a nature to thwart the effort of the revolution; it is even the only act that can thwart the subversive tactics used in establishment the New Order and against the true Mass and the Church. It is to such a verbum fidei, a word of faith, that the salvation of those who hear it and the one who pronounces it is attached (cf. I Tim. 4:16). It is just such a frank declaration of war that frustrates the adversary’s maneuver: it takes from him the principal weapon he was counting on: in his victims, human respect, weakness, compromise. Such a verbum veritatis, such a word of truth springs from a proud heart, but also a pure heart; it proceeds from an unbending will, but also from a mind enlightened from above and from a living fire of love. Just this sort of declaration was that of November 21, 1974, by Abp Marcel Lefebvre on the two Romes: 78 The Angelus May - June 2015 “We hold firmly with all our heart and with all our mind to Catholic Rome, Guardian of the Catholic Faith..., to the eternal Rome, mistress of wisdom and truth. We refuse on the other hand, and have always refused, to follow the Rome of neo-Modernist and neo-Protestant tendencies, which became clearly manifest during the Second Vatican Council, and after the Council, in all the reforms which issued from it....” Later on the Archbishop will attribute this declaration to “a movement of indignation”; he could well have said “righteous anger.” A man arose, filled with the Spirit of God, and the course of events changed because of it; the history of the Church is forever affected by it. The same was true of Father Calmel, in all his spiritual simplicity and spontaneity: an effective, humble, and magnanimous counterrevolutionary. Apologia for the Everlasting Church (1971) Father Calmel’s reflections about the Church of his times and the end of time developed as the revolution in the Church worsened. These were aired in his essay, “Apologie pour l’Eglise de toujours,” published in Itinéraires No. 151 in March 1971. In it we find a look at the real goal of conciliar ecumenism and a veritable prophecy of what will result from this ecumenism during the pontificates of the popes to come: “Misled by the grand chimera of their own desire to find easy, infallible means to achieving once and for all the religious unity of mankind, prelates occupying the most important posts are working to invent a church without borders in which all men, unconditionally dispensed from renouncing the world and Satan, will soon be united in the bonds of brotherly love. Dogmas, rites, hierarchy, discipline, if one insists, would all be carried over from the first Church, but everything would be bereft of the safeguards willed by the Lord and specified by Tradition; by that very fact, everything would be drained of Catholic vitality, namely grace and holiness. The adepts of the strangest confessions, and even those who refuse any confession, would enter as equals, but they would enter equally into a dummy church. Such is the present endeavor of the prestigious Master of lies and illusions. Behold the masterwork, of Masonic inspiration, to which he commits his minions, faithless priests promoted eminent theologians; oblivious or disloyal bishops, if not disguised apostates, rapidly elevated to the choicest honors and invested with the highest prelatures. They spend their lives and lose their souls building a postconciliar Church under the star of Satan” (Prologue, p. 104). “One wonders what would prevent the non-Christian religions themselves from belonging to the new universal church, which is continually being updated by ecumenical interpretations. One wonders about it if one at least accepts the point of view so many former Council Fathers, circumvented by Vatican II, allowed to be imposed on them: The Church has to forge a heretofore unknown system and a new apparatus in order to win over the world without being exposed to failure, nor suffering, nor persecution, beginning with relativizing the supernatural” (p. 105). One finds described in advance the action of a typical, monstrous network of agents of influence which became all-powerful within the bosom of the clergy and the hierarchy under Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, which Father Calmel will only know from heaven. How to Resist (1973-1974) Father Calmel’s rules of conduct, especially for priests and religious and nuns, became more and more absolute. “The greatest danger today,” he wrote, “is self-delusion, avoiding the battle for the sake of peace” under the pretext of maintaining one’s spiritual life. It is just the opposite, he says. It is precisely the exigencies of religious life that forbid any and all compromise, human fear, or cowardice. “The martyrs of the first centuries, the bishops (Athanasius, Chrysostom, and Hilary) did not avoid going to prison. They accepted it in a contemplative manner.” That is why this witness “cannot be given without a mystical life”; it “cannot be lived without union with God” (p. 466). To a nun he wrote: “Understand that modern­ ism keeps everything in theology, but it reinter­prets everything.” That is why “nothing can be conceded. This is what it means to be a religious now—concede nothing even if it means martyrdom. Be steadfast: struggle, martyrdom, no discussions” (p. 467). Father Calmel did limit himself to the consideration of principles, but also gave prudential rules corresponding to these principles. “Let the faithful priest who is apt to preach, absolve, and say Mass carry on in the exercise of his power and his grace of preaching and instructing, of forgiving sins and offering the holy sacrifice in the traditional rite. Let the teaching nun carry on in her grace and her ability to train up girls in the faith, good morals, purity, and the humanities. Let every priest, layman, small group of laity and priests having authority and power over a citadel of the Church and of Christendom carry on to the extent of their ways and means. Let each one of these little fortresses, protected, defended, led, and guided in its prayer and songs by a real authority, become as far as possible a bastion of holiness: this is what will assure the continuation of the true Church and will serve as preparations for renewal whenever it shall please the Lord.” So then, no global associations, nor planetary congresses, nor the idle talk of bulletins and broadsheets, since the divinely instituted head will be lacking; but rather a seeking after the holiness of numerous bastions of Christendom: convents, schools, chapels, pious confraternities, networks of families, pilgrimages—therein lies the Church’s salvation. Father Calmel does not exclude sacerdotal societies that train their priests, but he does not mention it; he believes that the Lord will provide for His Church “the indispensable amount of hierarchical power and ordinary priestly power” (p. 19). He absolutely does not speak about “supplemental” bishops, as they will be called, even for the ordination of priests: Either that seems to him to exceed the bounds of the divinely instituted hierarchy, or he does not yet dare advance the hypothesis. Without being more specific, he believes that the Lord will grant “bishops who wisely and personally exercise their powers” and that He will “raise up a great and holy pope when He sees in His Church souls and groups sufficiently fervent to welcome them.” “So doing,” he writes, “we have no doubts about being sons of the Church. We are nowise forming a marginal sect; we belong to the one, holy Catholic Church, Apostolic and Roman. We are preparing the blessed day when the authority having again found itself, the Church will at last be delivered from the stifling fog of the present trial. Even though this day is long in coming, we try not to let up in the essential duty of our sanctification. We do so by keeping Tradition with the same spirit with which we received it, a spirit of holiness” (p. 598). 1 Itinéraires, 1964, pp. 305-306. 2 Cf. First Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution Pastor Aeternus: “For the Holy Spirit was not promised to the successors of Peter that by His revelation they might disclose new doctrine, but that by His help they might guard sacredly the revelation transmitted through the apostles and the deposit of faith, and might faithfully set it forth” (Dz. 1836). 79 St. Jean Eudes (1602–1680) made public the devotion to the Sacred Heart, gave it an Office, and established a feast for it. Père Eudes was the apostle of the Heart of Mary, but in his devotion to the Immaculate Heart there was a share for the Heart of Jesus. Little by little, the devotion to the two Hearts became distinct, and on August 31, 1670, the first feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was celebrated in the Grand Seminary of Rennes. Statue of the Sacred Heart, St. Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium Have you read Archbishop Lefebvre’s classic works? They remain as relevant today as they were when he wrote them. Vatican Encounter STK #8620 – $15.95 I Accuse the Council STK #3072 – $10.95 Spiritual Journey STK #4079 – $11.95 Against the Heresies STK #6710 – $17.95 Open Letter to Confused Catholics. STK #5045 – $14.95 The Mass of All Time STK #8249 – $26.95 Abp. Lefebvre & the Vatican A Bishop Speaks STK #6719 – $15.95 STK #5067 – $21.95 They Have Uncrowned Him STK #5240 – $15.95 Angelus Press offers one of the widest selections of traditional Catholic books Missals Books for History and the Social Doctrine and Bibles Children of All Modern Crisis and Apologetics Ages DVDs, Our Lord, Our Lady and the Saints Family Life Prayer Audio Books and E-Books Visit www.angeluspress.org — 1-800-966-7337 Please visit our website to see our entire selection of books and music. Letters to the Editor Dear Angelus Press, I am a little confused. In past years, The Angelus was offering a great variety of articles and there was always something of interest to pick from. Lately, and especially with the recent facelift, you have returned to the theme issue. This is not bad in itself, but I confess that I feel sometimes stifled especially as you try to focus virtually all the articles and pictures on the theme itself. Would you consider opening the horizon of each issue so that we traditionalists, who come from different backgrounds and have diverse interests, can again get more out of each issue? Dear Reader, I thank you for your interesting observation. You are indeed a very keen reader to realize that we have shifted back to the themes and not only that, but you are analyzing rightly the content when you say that many—not quite all as this is really impossible—of the contributions to any issue tend to focus on the theme itself. This being said, we have considered that there is much to gain in returning to the theme presentation which was in vogue back in the days of Fr. Novak under Fr. Scott. In an interview I gave to Fr. Novak on this precise question— which we will soon get into print—he gave his opinion on the matter, which was rather pragmatic, and that is that “If it helps people get the magazine and read it, so be it!” Again, perhaps we are using the theme approach as we are offering a focus to our readers and deepen important world and Church issues. This is why it is critical to choose a broad enough subject and offer as varied view points as diverse authors with professional expertise can offer. As you may have seen, last year, we started with the first sacraments and so, we decided we would finish the sevenfold series this year with the present issue on sacred Orders and leaving the Extreme Unction, quite fittingly I think, for November. We also try to offer fewer theological questions and rather more social topics related to family and education. What we have seen, indeed, is that our children growing up in modern society are getting further away from the basics of culture, education, and Catholic response to social pressure. Hence, the constant urge on our part to remind our traditionalist reader, whether parent or tutor or teacher, to study and live by the principles of the social teaching of the Church. 82 The Angelus May - June 2015 Dear Angelus Editor, In our Society chapels, I have come across several English magazines published by other Society districts. I am thinking particularly of England. Canada might even be reverting to the idea of its own publication, more like the Regina Coeli Report. But I am thinking also of the Asian district’s Apostle, which seems quite popular. And the African district also has its own publication. Has anyone thought of joining all these editorial productions to unify and simplify the work? Is that possible or even worthwhile? Dear Reader, The question has come lately to our attention. But between the initial thought and the final product, there could be a long and arduous road. And you will have observed yourself how different the “charism” of each of these publications is, and how tough a battle it would be to please people living in such far-flung regions when it come to pamphlets or magazines. For what comes across at first glance is that these other publications read more like our present Regina Coeli Report than The Angelus. The Angelus Press and its monthly voice, The Angelus magazine, were authorized by the Archbishop in 1979 to promote the principles of the Society of St. Pius X in the U.S. district, which are those of the Church of all times, against the modern trends following the Vatican II tsunami. Other publications had existed elsewhere across the world to uphold the Christian heritage. So, this may explain why our review has always offered substantial arguments and thought-provoking articles fitting to college-educated readers, although it tries to balance it with more down-to-earth analysis. There is no doubt that unifying the printed word is an interesting idea, that of joining forces and of bringing to the table more brains and more thoughts. You may realize that it would also create delicate problems of who is ultimately in charge, who is going to give up, and what is going to be lost in the process—not to mention the economical aspect, most crucial in third world countries where a US $9.95 magazine would total a week’s salary for a family! 83 228 pp. – Hardcover – STK# 8506 – $23.45 The Theology of Religious Vocation Here’s the still-unsurpassed guide to discernment, grounded in the theology of Aquinas. On the question of religious vocation, all are agreed: A candidate must be called by God. But how God calls, and how one knows He has called, are questions that receive widely differing answers. Errors are costly: A false vocation can harm both the Church and the man or woman who was not truly called. A vocation missed means a life’s full potential unrealized and perhaps an incalculable loss to souls. 167 pp. – Softcover – STK# 8401 – $13.95 Religious Vocation: An Unnecessary Mystery The question of discerning a vocation is agonized over by many generous young Catholics today. A solid Thomist, who wrote this book in 1961, Father Butler shows that this type of question shows a totally wrong approach to a religious vocation—an approach that began with misguided theology in the 20th century, which then trickled down to the popular level, confusing both aspirants and spiritual directors. Though Fr. Butler deals primarily with vocations to the religious life, he also gives the classic guidelines on priestly vocations. The author states, based on the tradition of the Church, that religious vocation is not uncommon, rare, or extraordinary and that it does not require an introspective search for some special voice or attraction. This book provides welcome, intelligent guidance both for spiritual directors and for those considering the religious life or that of the priesthood. 1,980 pp. – Sewn binding, gold-embossed cover – STK# 8043 – $65.95 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal Angelus Press is pleased to announce the fourth printing of the first totally re-typeset, 1962 Latin-English daily missal for the laity since the Second Vatican Council. Certainly the most complete missal ever produced in the English language, this beautiful edition includes everything in a missal that is important to you. The Roman Catholic Daily Missal will become your life-long liturgical companion. In addition to an elegant, easy-to-read text of both the Ordinary of the Mass and the entire liturgical year’s propers, this Missal contains: – Morning and evening prayers – Table of movable feasts updated to AD 2050 – Complete Rite of Baptism and Confirmation – The Churching of Women – Special devotions for Confession and Communion – Much more! This durable and affordable Missal is an excellent addition for any Catholic serious about the liturgy, and will make an excellent Christmas gift for any Catholic on your list! Visit www.angeluspress.org — 1-800-966-7337 Visit www.angeluspress.org — 1-800-966-7337 Please visit our website to see our entire selection of books and music. Please visit our website to see our entire selection of books and music. Simply the Best Journal of Catholic Tradition Available! “Instaurare omnia in Christo” For over three decades, The Angelus has stood for Catholic truth, goodness, and beauty against a world gone mad. Our goal has always been the same: to show the glories of the Catholic Faith and to bear witness to the constant teaching of the Church in the midst of the modern crisis in which we find ourselves. 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Date_____________________________ Phone # _____________________________________E-mail_________________________________________________ Mail to: Angelus Press, PO Box 217, St. Marys, KS 66536, USA Please check one United States $45.00  1 year  2 years $85.00  3 years $120.00 Foreign Countries (inc. Canada & Mexico)  1 year  2 years  3 years $65.00 $125.00 $180.00 All payments must be in US funds only. Online only subscriptions To subscribe visit: www.angelusonline.org. Register for free to access back issues 14 months and older plus many other site features. Plus, all magazine subscribers now have full access to the online version of the magazine (a $20 Value)! The Last Word Dear Readers, What was Jesus thinking when He said: “Do this in remembrance of Me”? By way of answer, St. Thomas Aquinas offers us a real gem which can launch an interior soul into deep contemplation. The exact question he was tackling was whether there should be Holy Orders in the Church. Here comes the response: “I answer that, God wished to produce His works in likeness to Himself, as far as possible, in order that they might be perfect, and that He might be known through them. Hence, that He [wills to] be portrayed in His works, not only according to what He is in Himself, but also according as He acts on others.…Wherefore that this beauty might not be lacking to the Church, He established Order in her so that some should deliver the sacraments to others, being thus made like to God in their own way, as co-operating with God; even as in the natural body, some members act on others” (Supp., Q. 34, a. 1). The priest reveals the perfection of God as acting on others, God not only as He is in Himself but as He is cause of the goodness in others. Isn’t that a common feature of saintly priests? As someone said after meeting such a saint: “I saw God [i.e., acting] in that man!” Archbishop Lefebvre understood that perfectly. He knew that the priesthood, with its three offices—of teaching, of sanctifying, of governing—“is given as a remedy for the whole Church” (St. Thomas). In this time of priestly crisis in the Church, the work of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X is surely the most providential. O Lord, grant us priests! Grant us holy priests! Grant us many holy priests! Fr. Daniel Couture The Society of St. Pius X is an international priestly society of common life without vows, whose purpose is the priesthood and that which pertains to it. The main goal of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X is to preserve the Catholic faith in its fullness and purity, to teach its truths, and to diffuse its virtues. Authentic spiritual life, the sacraments, and the traditional liturgy are its primary means of bringing this life of grace to souls. The Angelus aims at forming the whole man: we aspire to help deepen your spiritual life, nourish your studies, understand the history of Christendom, and restore Christian culture in every aspect. $ 9.00 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: The Angelus, 480 McKenzie Street, Winnipeg, MB, R2W 5B9