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October
2000
Dear Faithful,
It is a great joy for
me to address this first letter to you as your new District
Superior. After 6 very good and happy years in Australia our
Superior General Bishop Fellay has seen it fit to return me
to Canada. I guess worse things could happen!
Firstly I want to take
the occasion to thank Father Emily for his devotedness for
the development of the work of the Society in Canada over
the last 16 years. We do have a debt of gratitude for the
work he has done in our country: 16 churches or chapels, 3
schools, and the Precious Blood Retirement Home. Certainly
we must not judge success from the purely material assets,
but these assets reflect a growth in the number of souls who
have returned to Tradition through the ministry of the Society.
With God's grace we hope to continue this work of preserving
the faith in our country and bringing it to as many souls
as possible.
Secondly I want to
thank the priests who have devoted themselves to the care
of your souls. They do so at the cost of many sacrifices,
which I think is not always understood and appreciated by
the some of the faithful.
Thirdly I want to thank
you, the faithful for your continued support. Certainly the
expansion of the work has necessitated from you many sacrifices.
May Our Lord and His blessed Mother reward you a hundredfold
for your generosity.
Now for a bit of news.
The pilgrimage in Rome was excellent and a great manifestation
of our faith and attachment to eternal Rome. Over 5000 faithful
attended in perfect order. There were no troubles in the Basilicas;
the Church authorities themselves i.e. the Jubilee Organising
Committee were more than helpful in allowing us to pray in
the Basilicas. Bishop Fellay preached in St Peter's! Bishop
Fellay noted it and publicly thanked them for their help in
his sermon during the Pontifical Mass. It was more than imposing
to see these 5000 people process in the Basilicas led by the
clergy of different orders (SSPX, Dominicans, Franciscans,
Redemptorists, priests, brothers, sisters etc.). St Peters
was full, so was St John Lateran, and St Paul outside the
Walls, St Mary Majors had to be visited in groups (it is smaller).
The Roman media covered the event and one of them commented
that it was the first time in the history of the Church that
5000 excommunicated people made a pilgrimage to Rome to pray
for the Pope. As far as I know there was absolute silence
in the other world media. No one must know about these 5000
"excommunicated" people praying for the Pope in
Rome. So much for the right to information! The Jubilee Committee
said our pilgrimage was the best organised! Only one thing
was missing, we were not allowed to have public Mass in a
Basilica or church. So the Pontifical Mass was celebrated
outdoors, in what used to be Nero's gardens where Christians
were burnt at night to illuminate the emperor's gardens. The
Traditional Mass still has no official rights in Rome.
From Rome however
more disappointments. Firstly the declaration "DOMINUS
JESUS" from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith on the unicity and salvific universality of Jesus Christ
and the Church. For those who think it is a clear stand on
the dogma: "outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation"
think again. This little letter is not the place for a complete
treatise on the matter, but suffice it to say that this declaration
simply "reiterated the Second
Vatican Council's teaching that the Catholic Church is necessary
for salvation" 1,
i.e. more modernist jargon. The tactic is still the same;
state some truths in one paragraph then contradicted in the
next, so that the religious pluralism and indifference it
pretends to eradicate is left alive and well.
For example:
2
"It must be firmly believed that, in the mystery of Jesus
Christ... the full revelation of divine truth is given...
Faith is
"a gift of God" and
"a supernatural virtue infused by him"... For this
reason, the distinction between theological faith and belief
in the other religions, must be firmly held. If faith is the
acceptance in grace of revealed truth... then belief, in the
other religions, is that sum of experience and thought that
constitutes the human treasury of wisdom and religious aspiration,
which man in his search for truth has conceived
and acted upon in his relationship to God and the Absolute."
However, after
rightly stating the difference between the supernatural Catholic
Faith and other man made faiths it continues: "Nevertheless,
God... `does not fail to make himself present in many ways,
not only to individuals, but also to entire peoples through
their spiritual riches (?), of which their religions (?) are
the main and essential expression even when they contain "gaps,
insufficiencies and errors" . As if God would
use error to make Himself known! The bits of truth found in
these false religions are left by the devil in order to better
deceive. "Therefore, the sacred
books (written by men) of
other religions, which in actual fact direct and nourish the
existence of their followers, receive from the mystery of
Christ the elements of goodness and grace which they contain."
Incredible! This is all perfectly in line with the Second
Vatican Council's Declaration on the relation of the Church
to non-Christian religions which states: "The
Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in
these religions. She has a high regard for the manner of life
and conduct, the precepts and teachings, which, although differing
in many ways from her own teaching, nonetheless often reflect
a ray of that truth which enlightens all men".
Words fail... not really!
Concerning the Church
3 after stating
that: " in connection with the
unicity and universality of the salvific mediation of Jesus
Christ, the unicity of the Church founded by him must be firmly
believed as a truth of Catholic faith. The Catholic faithful
are required to profess that there is an historical continuity
-rooted in the apostolic succession - between the Church founded
by Christ and the Catholic Church."
It continues however:
"This Church, constituted and
organised as a society in the present world, subsists in [subsistit
in] the Catholic Church..." This expression
"subsists" was thought up by a friend of the then
Father Ratzinger during the council: Protestant Pastor Wilhelm
Schmidt, The declaration explains: "With
the expression "subsistit" in, the Second Vatican
Council sought to harmonise two doctrinal statements: on the
one hand, that the Church of Christ, despite the divisions
which exist among Christians, continues to exist fully only
in the Catholic Church, and on the other hand, that "outside
of her structure, many elements can be found of sanctification
and truth".
In a recent interview
with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine, Cardinal
Ratzinger "explained that Vatican
II did not use Pius XII's expression, according to which 'the
Roman Catholic Church is the only Church of Jesus Christ.'
Instead, it preferred the expression `The Church of Christ
subsists (which comes from a Protestant
pastor) in the Catholic Church ruled by the successor
of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him' because,
he said, it wished to affirm "that the being of the Church
as such is a larger identity than the Roman Catholic Church."
The declaration continues,
"The Churches which, while not
existing in perfect communion with the Catholic Church, remain
united to her ... by apostolic succession and a valid Eucharist,
are true particular Churches. Therefore, the Church of Christ
is present and operative also in these Churches, even though
they lack full communion with the Catholic Church, since they
do not accept the Catholic doctrine of the Primacy...
"On
the other hand, the ecclesial communities which have not preserved
the valid Episcopate and the genuine and integral substance
of the Eucharistic mystery, are not Churches in the proper
sense; however, those who are baptised in these communities
are, by Baptism, incorporated in Christ and thus are in a
certain communion, albeit imperfect, with the Church. Baptism
in fact tends per se toward the full development of life in
Christ, through the integral profession of faith, the Eucharist,
and full communion in the Church.
"Therefore,
these separated Churches and communities as such, though we
believe they suffer from defects, have by no means been deprived
of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation.
For the spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them
as means of salvation which derive their efficacy from the
very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Catholic
Church". Nothing has changed!
Secondly, October 8
the Pope surrounded by 1500 bishops "entrusted"
the new millennium to the Virgin Mary. What a wonderful occasion
was missed for doing the long awaited consecration of Russia.
Why won't they do it? It's not politically correct? There
is no need since the "fall" of communism? Is Fatima
no longer relevant? I don't know.
"And
once again, O Virgin Most Holy, salvation lies fully and uniquely
in Jesus, your Son." What happened to: "To
save them (sinners)
God wishes to establish
in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart... In the end
my Immaculate Heart will triumph". Maybe
that is why the consecration is not done.
Dear faithful continue
to pray the Rosary daily and sacrifice. Be assured of our
sincere gratitude for your continued support. A Mass for all
our friends & benefactors is offered on the last Sunday
of every month as well as our daily community Rosary.
With my
blessing
Father
Jean Violette
1
Cardinal Ratzinger's interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine.
2
Declaration # 1. The Fullness and Definitiveness of the Revelation
of Jesus Christ
3
Declaration. Unicity and Unity of the Church |
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