September
2005
Dear
Faithful,
No
doubt you now all know about the SSPX’s pilgrimage of reparation
to Fatima. Bishop Fellay invited traditional Catholics
from around the world to Fatima to make reparation for the
scandalous and sacrilegious inter-faith prayer meeting with
the Buddhist which took place earlier this year. About
3000 were present from all over the world: Europe, Asia,
Australia, North
and South America.
I
accompanied a group of 27 Canadian and 65 Americans. The
Canadian contingent left Toronto on August 18th
and returned on the 30th. We arrived in Portugal
on the 19th and our first stop was in Santarem,
the site of a Eucharistic miracle in the 13th
century. After Mass celebrated by Father Somerville, we
left for Fatima. I will not go into all the details of
our stay, as you can read them in John Vennari’s article
in Catholic Family News. Suffice it to say we received
a novus ordo welcome. Again Bishop Fellay had to offer
the pontifical high Mass in a field on Sunday. On Monday
22nd, after Mass the clergy and faithful processed
to the Shrine. After the Shrine authorities had given permission
for our coming they tried to stop or at least disrupt our
prayers. We were not agitating against Rome, against the
Pope or the Shrine’s rector. There were no speeches. We
were a group of 3000 ecclesiastics and faithful praying
the Rosary! What else do you do in Fatima? But I guess
our purpose of offering reparation did not sit well with
them. This was good for all to experience. First, Our
Lord tells us to rejoice when we are persecuted for His
name. Secondly, if any one has any thought about the fight
between tradition and modernism being over this would have
opened their eyes. Interesting to note that while we were
praying the Rosary at Fatima and making the act of reparation
an earthquake shook Rome.
On
Tuesday 23rd, we left for Burgos Spain
where we visited the beautiful cathedral and stayed overnight.
We left for Lourdes where we arrived on the 24th
and stayed for 2 days. On the 26th, we left for
Avignon to visit the palace of the Popes when they were
in exile in the 1300’s, a sad period in the history of the
Church. Saturday we visited a place called Notre Dame de
l’Osier or Our Lady of the Willow with a beautiful basilica
in the middle of nowhere! That’s France.
It was the site of an apparition of our Lady to a Protestant
man who converted. That evening we were in Ars to visit
the Curé, St John Mary Vianney. His incorrupt body is on
display in the basilica. On Sunday morning we left for
Paray-le-Monial where the Sacred Heart appeared to St Margaret
Mary asking for reparation for sacrileges against the Bl.
Sacrament. In the afternoon we stopped in Nevers to venerate
the incorrupt body of St Bernadette, who saw Our Lady at
Lourdes. That evening we were in Paris. On Monday, we
went to Notre Dame and the Sainte Chapelle, Mass at St Nicolas
du Chardonnet which is the SSPX church in Paris. In the
afternoon we visited la Rue du Bac where our Lady appeared
to St Catherine Labouré and gave her the Miraculous Medal.
St Catherine’s body is also incorrupt and can be venerated
by the faithful. After we went to see St Vincent de Paul
whose body is also incorrupt. Then the bus drivers took
us for a spin around the main sites of Paris. We only had
one day in Paris which is a shame as there is much to see
both religious and historical. But we ended up at the foot
of the Eiffel Tower where many pictures were taken of course.
We returned to Canada
on Tuesday the 30th, exhausted but happy. I’m
sure everyone’s faith in the Catholic Church and the means
of sanctification was confirmed at the site of the apparitions,
miracles and incorrupt bodies.
As
you also know Bishop Fellay accompanied by Father Schmidberger
were received in audience by Pope Benedict XVI who was accompanied
by Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, head of the Ecclesia
Dei Commission. I’m sure many of you have read on the Internet
all the armchair experts and theologians who were predicting
the collapse of the SSPX. Bishop Fellay simply presented
the Pope with another statement of our positions notably
the two pre-conditions for the lifting of the ban on the
traditional Mass and acknowledging the right of all priests
to offer it without special permission or indult and the
retraction of the excommunication of the SSPX bishops.
We do not want a universal indult. An indult or special
permission is not necessary. An indult means that the Mass
was abrogated and that they had the right to take it away
from us. The Mass was never abrogated and they have no
right to take it away from us. The retraction of the so-called
excommunication against the bishops because even according
to the 1983 code of canon law, when something is done out
of necessity there is no penalty. Either the law applies
or it does not. If it applies to them it applies to us
also. So our Archbishop Lefebvre, Bishop de Castro Mayer
and our 4 bishops were never excommunicated. They agreed
to continue the meetings.
But
as Father Schmidberger said in an interview the solution
to the problem does not appear to be months away but years
away. The theological points which oppose us are not minor
details; they are matters of faith not merely disciplinary.
The constant effort to make us accept Vatican II and the
new mass, the ongoing ecumenical scandals do not bode well.
Nor can we accept to be looked upon as returning to the
Church we never left. To accept what they call, the “restoration
to full communion” would mean to accept we left the Church,
that we created a schism, which of course we do not accept.
You cannot create a schism by keeping the Faith! We are
in full communion with the Church. It would also mean that
we were wrong in resisting the novelties of Vatican II many
times condemned by the previous Popes. If we were wrong
they were wrong. This is not possible. Our positions are
what they taught nothing else. This is why we can be sure
of our positions. If it were only our opinions then fine.
But the faith is not matter of opinion as Benedict XVI himself
said while he was still Cardinal Ratzinger. This is why
the discussions we want to have are not negotiations. One
cannot negotiate the faith.
So
we need to continue being patient. We know the solution
will come from Rome, when the Roman authorities return to
the fullness of the Catholic faith.
Continue
to pray and sacrifice for this intention. When enough Rosaries
have been said and enough sacrifices made our Lady will
see fit to have the Pope consecrate Russia
to her Immaculate Heart and the crisis will end. Be assured
of my grateful daily prayers for you and yours.
With
my blessing,
Fr. Jean Violette
