We have all heard of Vladimir Illitch Lenin, leader of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. One thing some may not know, is that one of the first things he and his followers did after gaining control over the Russian people, was to steal Church properties all over the country. In this, they were not pioneers. Protestant Princes in Germany, Anglican Kings and Queens in England, Revolutionaries in France and Italy had paved the way. Their argument was that these lands and buildings had been acquired and built with the people’s money, and they had to return to the people, it is to say to the State, who represents the people. Of course, this was demagogy and lie. Indeed, the first result of these confiscations was that the people, who used the churches to worship, and who benefited from the Church’s wealth produced by its lands, were deprived of both. The wealth and the buildings were given to friends of the spoliators or were used by the States themselves. Monasteries and churches were often transformed into palaces, government offices, museums, theatres, storage rooms, and even barns and stables, when they were not simply destroyed. Parishes and dioceses ceased to exist, as the clergy and faithful were decimated or went underground. Lenin and his successors were very systematic in the spoliation of Church property. Lenin has now been dead for many years. But when we look at what’s going on in the Canadian Catholic Church today, we might be tempted to believe he has come back on earth, to haunt us with his old communist plague!

Yes! I am talking about all these churches, monasteries, and convents that are for sale in Canada. Either some dioceses or religious congregations need the proceeds to pay off victims of sexual abuses, or because there aren’t enough faithful anymore to pay for the maintenance of the buildings. A sad example of the first case is that of St. George diocese, in Newfoundland. Indeed, it announced last May its intention of selling ALL buildings it owns, in order to give a financial indemnity to 39 victims of Father Kevin Bennett, a priest of the diocese, convicted in the 1990’s. St. George was the first Catholic diocese in Canada to place itself under the protection of Bankruptcy Law. “Everything is for sale… declared H.E. Bishop Douglas Crosby, …all the churches, all the rectories, all the missions”. 150 properties are concerned. (What will happen to the clergy and faithful of that diocese?) We also remember the case of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, who are in bankruptcy for the same kind of reason. (We don’t even talk about the US dioceses, several of which are bankrupt, following court settlements, property mismanagement, and so on). But if these kind of cases received a lot of publicity, a more quiet destruction is taking place, especially in Quebec.

	Vladimir Illitch Lenin - 1870-1924

As we know, Quebec was – and still is – the only Canadian Province where Catholics formed a majority of the population. Of course today, we are talking about “nominal Catholics”. But until the late 1950’s, more than 90 percent of Quebecois were regular churchgoers. This means a lot of vocations and faithful needed a lot of churches, convents, and schools. And they had a lot. But since the Vatican II Revolution, Quebecois have, for the greatest part, lost the Faith, and have ceased to go to church, and therefore have stopped giving their support to their parishes and dioceses. A striking example: In 1998, Limoilou (Quebec) had eleven parishes. In 1999, they have been regrouped in three, because, since a few years ago, the number of faithful didn’t justify eleven parishes anymore (Cf. Atlas Historique du Québec, Les Paroisses)! As we can see, only 30 years after the Council (which ended in 1965), results were already catastrophic; but in 2005, they are simply disastrous. So much so that the Cultural Commission of the Quebec Parliament has started last September a series of public consultations about the future of Church property. What should we do with all these churches and convents that need money to get maintained? The Catholic Church does not anymore have the resources to take care of hundreds of buildings. So what should we do? Maintain them? Destroy them? Sell them? Change their vocation? These are the main questions the Commission will ask the public throughout Quebec Province for the coming months. The argument is that the people built these buildings, and the people must decide their future. Doesn’t that ring a bell? Isn’t it what the revolutionaries were saying to justify their spoliation of Church property? Should not the right question instead be: Catholics built these, and Catholics only should decide what to do with them?

Of course it should. But the problem is precisely that there aren’t enough Catholics anymore. So the clergy and many faithful are asking the Quebec government to protect these buildings as being part of the Province’s cultural heritage. That’s why the Cultural Parliamentary Commission is trying to find a consensus among the whole population about some solutions to the problem. And the clergy is participating actively. For instance, His Eminence Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, Archbishop of Montreal, has made a startling proposal: That the Quebec Government should decree a hold on any of its construction project related to cultural, social, administrative, etc. purposes, and should instead use Church buildings. He also said the buildings could be used as libraries, concert halls, or even by the famous “Cirque du Soleil” (a circus featuring acrobats)! Discussing the topic with reporter Pierre Maisonneuve, on September 21st last, on the French CBC radio, he agreed with the fact that the transformation, in 2002, of St. John of the Cross church into condominiums, has not been well perceived by the people. But as examples of “conversions” that he found satisfying, he mentioned the cases of two convents: the one belonging to the Sisters of the Holy Name of Jesus and Mary (300 rooms!), that was sold to the University of Montreal, and that of the Grey Nuns sold to Concordia University. He also declared he prefers to sell churches to religious communities (Ah! that sounds better!), such as the Protestants (Oops! it was a false hope!), and to those helping the poor. Let us recall, for instance, that St. Augustine church was indeed sold to a Protestant group in 2003 (while its magnificent rectory was transformed into a kindergarten), and that a kitchen for the poor, named “Chic Resto Pop”, is installed in an unused Montreal church. CBC radio also states that 123 of the 246 Montreal parishes don’t have enough money to maintain their churches. That’s exactly half! So the Archbishop wants the Quebec government to take away his empty churches and convents, so as to preserve the cultural heritage of the Province… He is just asking the State to do like Lenin did in the USSR! And Quebec will not even have to disperse the priests and the faithful, since Vatican II churchmen emptied the buildings already! What is of the utmost importance to the Archbishop is the material preservation of church buildings, even if it means the Church would have to let them go. Wouldn’t it be so sad to lose these beautiful landmarks our ancestors built?

The Convent sold by the Grey Nuns to Concordia University in Montreal

I agree it would be sad to see the fruits of so much sacrifices of our forefathers turn into rubbles and vanish, but I think the Cardinal should ask himself not so much “how to maintain our unused church buildings?” but rather “why are our churches and monasteries empty?” As the Catholic Archbishop of the most important diocese of Quebec, should he not shudder at the thought of so many souls that have left Our Lord’s fold? Should he not sit down with his advisers, to honestly find the causes that have brought most of Quebecois to abandon the Religion of their fathers? Any responsible CEO of a major corporation would not have wait more than a few months before to try to correct its problems. But not the modernist churchmen… If they would act as real Pastors, they would accept the true, even if painful, answer: The Vatican II “reform” has caused the loss of the Faith of the Catholic people, and this is why today the Bishops have no money to maintain Church property. After the infamous Council, an infernal spirit blinded the clergy. They put aside the Tradition of the Church, and replaced it by an insipid doctrine where nothing supernatural, nothing mysterious, nothing rigorous is left. Sunday after Sunday, the faithful has been subjected to the proclamation of the old communist Utopia of a Paradise on earth, brought about by social work and human solidarity. This down-to-earth doctrine had also its reflection in the liturgy: The Sacred Sacrifice was replaced by a community meal, including the famous “Kiss of Peace”, while some youth playing guitars and drums provided “entertainment”. Well, what was then bound to happen, happened: On Sundays mornings, people preferred to sleep in, and to go to a good brunch at a nice restaurant, where they would not have to shake hands with strangers in the middle of the meal. They also prefer to enjoy entertainment of good quality, and go to a concert or put a nice cd on, instead of being plagued by amateurs in a church. Then, they reflected, if they only had to help relief famine in Africa in order to be saved, they just had to send their money directly to Oxfam, World Vision, or other such charities. Most people have a basic logic, and are not dumb, as Vatican II churchmen thought they were. They’ll go where it suits them the best. They expect quality, beauty, something great. But, dear Bishops, this is what you have done: You have stripped the Church of its glorious doctrine and liturgy, and have made her boring. Bored people will never go back to a bad show. And the theatres will be empty and go bankrupt. Is this so difficult to understand? Be assured of our prayers to the Holy Ghost for you, so that you may “recognize the tree by its fruits”, and abandon this disastrous Vatican II ideology. Return to Tradition! Offer again to the people what he is in so great a need of: The true Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His true Sacrifice!