Book Review of Bp. Fellay's "For Love of the Church"
Nov 22, 2019 14:44:18 GMT
Post by Admin on Nov 22, 2019 14:44:18 GMT
From the Dominicans of Avrille [adapted from here and translated from the French via Google Chrome]
The last issue of the Salt of the Earth published the review [by] Fr. Dominique Rousseau O.P. of Bishop Fellay's book, " For the Love of the Church: Interviews with Robert Landers." We reproduce it with the kind permission of its editor.
Source Salt of the Earth n ° 110
On May 20, 2019, the day when the bishop emeritus of Chur, Mgr Huonder, was officially welcomed in a school of the Fraternité Saint-Pie X, in Wangs in Switzerland, a book was released by the former Superior General of the Fraternity, Bishop Bernard Fellay. "For the love of the Church," a noble program if any. We are indeed children of the Church, "in the midst of this storm which shakes the Church from top to bottom", in the words of Marcel Lefebvre (8 December 1984).
Some reviews have already been made about this book. Having acquired this book at the FNAC in Paris the day before my departure from the Fraternity (June 6), here are some notes. They will be significantly different from those available on the Catholic Forum or on the official website of the Fraternity .
The reviews made on the sites I just listed are partial. The Catholic Forum praises the former Superior General for his benevolence towards the [former] societies Ecclesia Dei societies. The site of the FSSPX hides this penchant by concealing it.
First, the new Code of Canon Law (1983), which Archbishop Lefebvre said was unacceptable, is highlighted at the beginning of the book. The Statutes of the SSPX speak of "common life without vows." Bishop Fellay takes the new meaning to describe the Society of Saint Pius X: "A Society of Apostolic Life."
Here we listen to the harsh judgment of Archbishop Lefebvre on the 1983 Code of Canon Law:
"Ecclesiastical authority, losing sight of its true end, necessarily takes the road of abuse of power and arbitrariness. The promulgations of the laws are doubtful, falsified. [...] This canon law is unacceptable. There is no new ecclesiology in the Church. [...] Then we will have to keep the old canon law by taking the fundamental principles and comparing with the new canon law to judge the new canon law, just as we keep the Tradition to judge also the new liturgical books. (Conference at Ecône, March 14, 1983)
"Why, in my opinion, it is impossible for us to accept as a whole canon law as it was published? Because it is precisely in the line of Vatican II. (Conference in Ecône)
"The position of the Society of St. Pius X is not to" follow the 1983 Code with the spirit of the 1917 "but to reject the dubious Code of 1983 as a code. To accept its legitimacy would be to recognize the legitimacy of the intention of the legislator, to submit to conciliar reform. Moreover, claiming to follow the 1983 code with a spirit other than that of the Council would be utopian. As much to cut the leaves in the direction of the thickness! The spirit of a law is borne by its letter, and if it can be distinguished from it, it can not be separated from it. The law only orders acts and it is the repetition of these acts that produces a spirit. (Abbot Etienne de Blois, May 2017, The Little Eudist - Priory Saint John Eudes, Gavrus)
Bishop Fellay showed great kindness towards the Roman authorities (pp. 24, 27); his gaze is turned towards the communities reunited with modernist Rome since the episcopal consecrations of 1988 (pp. 11, 31, 85, 147). It is necessary to unite the active forces and not to "stay in one's corner" (page 31).
This expression recalls that used by Paul Aulagnier in 2001, "ghettos". This is the reason why he was ousted from the Brotherhood, wanting at all costs the agreements and the canonical recognition. In fact, it was only a matter of time ... Bishop Fellay said it well, page 31, almost repeating, that the progress of the Brotherhood towards Rome takes place in stages. This was agreed in 2014:
"The parties, who have examined certain doctrinal and canonical questions, have agreed to proceed in stages but within a reasonable time to overcome difficulties. And this in the desired prospect of full reconciliation." (Vatican City, September 23, 2014 (VIS) following the meeting of the General Council of the SSPX with Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, Mgr Joseph Augustine Di Noia, and Monsignor Guido Pozzo)With regard to Vatican II, the book does not give a firm position (pp. 38, 39). Broad views are given on the Council but one could have expected a new 'J'accuse the Council', in imitation of Lefebvre's book in 1976. If [Bishop Fellay] rejects Vatican Council II, it is only a question of a prudential refusal (page 26) and not radical.
The former Superior General is very severe on the "rigid priests" (p.55) and on Bishop Williamson. Contempt and mockery is the answer the bishop gives to priests who have suffered too much from silence in the place of precise answers to their legitimate questions since at least the year 2012, a stormy year in the fraternity.
The coronations performed by Bishop Williamson are deemed "unreasonable, losing touch with reality. The position he takes is indefensible. " (P.144). Dato non concesso ( I record this affirmation without conceding it). He puts forward this judgment without proof. A confrere wrote to me following my departure from the Fraternity: "You go to illegitimate bishops. " Why how ? I told him that Bishop Williamson's bishops were neither more nor less illegitimate than the ones [consecrated] in 1988 by Archbishop Lefebvre. Simply Catholic, as much as in 1988. We are still in a state of grave need - if not worse - and the Society of St. Pius X in [its] hierarchy wandering seriously on doctrinal issues (jurisdiction for confession, delegation for marriages), the apostolic succession must be pursued in the same state of mind, since the causes have not changed since 1988.
Bishop Fellay praises (p.43) "Veritatis splendor" (John Paul II, 06/08/1993): "The encyclical 'Veritatis splendor' shows very well that morality is objective. " Bishop Tissier de Mallerais instead wrote (Supplement to Cor Unum 47 March 1994, 60 pages) a close study of this encyclical, with serious reservations, [unlike] Bishop Fellay. Let us rather remember the judgment of Bishop Tissier (p.53): "We had to point out certain contradictions, confusions, gaps, deviations and ambiguities." The two bishops, consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988, diverge in their appreciation of the encyclical, on one serious point: morality.
Bishop Fellay recalls the truth about marriage but misses a great opportunity to condemn "Amoris lætitia" (119). On confessions and marriages, everything is "in a good way," he says (pp. 144-145). Nothing is said about the already numerous analyzes that the priests of the fraternity or of friendly communities have made.
The canonical recognition is more than a matter of 'buffer' said the prelate in an interview with TV Libertés with Mr JP Maugendre a few years ago. At present, Bishop Fellay tells us that Benedict XVI would have readily recognized the Fraternity of St. Pius X and elevated it to Prelature, but the Masonic power is very strong and present in the Vatican, hence the absence of a 'buffer'. But is it necessary, since the 'landings' are posed as milestones ...!
On the formation of priests (pp. 9, 52), the remarks lack force. If the spiritual life is contemplated, the firmness of the doctrine and the struggle against modern errors do not appear, or at least insufficiently. Father Floch at the French Seminary in Rome had for motto: 'Pietas cum doctrina, doctrina cum pietate'.
Of course, there are profound pages on Marian spirituality, on the saints to know and imitate, the angels to invoke, the virtues to be practiced (pp. 69, 91-118).
What will remain anchored in the memory of the reader will be the admission of Bishop Fellay in relation to Pope Francis (p.30, 149):
"The pope is extremely human. (...) This pope knows us enough to say that we are Catholics."
"(...) The Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Common Coexistence, signed by Pope Francis and the great imam of Al-Azhar, is only a house built on sand. It is also an impiety that despises the first commandment of God, and which makes one say to the Wisdom of God, incarnated in Jesus Christ, who died for us on the Cross, that "pluralism and diversity of religions" is "a wise divine will.".
Such remarks are opposed to the dogma which affirms that the Catholic religion is the only true religion (Syllabus, proposition 21). If it is a dogma, what opposes it is called heresy. God can not contradict himself. (...) "(Abbot Pagliarani, February 24, 2019)
We must conclude. This book is the culmination of twenty years of contacts with the conciliar and modernist Rome, of which Archbishop Lefebvre has repeatedly warned us to be wary and keep his distance. This has not been done. Indeed, Bishop Fellay has not been careful since the jubilee of the year 2000. He declares it on page 24: "From the year 2000 and our great pilgrimage to Rome, relations have calmed down. " At what price ... that of a wounded, damaged Tradition, many clueless faithful, priests living in the Society to do, they hope, some good from within and not daring to leave.
On the eve of his death, the Founder of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X had left what can be considered his Novissima verba. These words are recorded in the Fideliter journal:
Fideliter - Some of the faithful are tempted to keep good relations with those who have rallied, or even attend the Mass or ceremonies that they celebrate, do you think that there is a danger in that?
Archbishop Lefebvre - I have always warned the faithful vis-à -vis the sedevacantists, for example. There also people say: “The Mass is fine, so we go to it.”
Yes, there is the Mass. That’s fine, but there is also the sermon; there is the atmosphere, the conversations, contacts before and after, which make you little by little change your ideas. It is therefore a danger and that’s why in general, I think it constitutes part of a whole. One does not merely go to Mass, one frequents a milieu.
There are obviously some people who are attracted by the beautiful ceremonies, who also go to Fontgombault, where they have taken up the old mass again. They are in a climate of ambiguity which to my mind is dangerous. Once one finds oneself in this atmosphere, submitted to the Vatican, subject ultimately to the Council, one ends up by becoming ecumenical.
Archbishop Lefebvre - I have always warned the faithful vis-à -vis the sedevacantists, for example. There also people say: “The Mass is fine, so we go to it.”
Yes, there is the Mass. That’s fine, but there is also the sermon; there is the atmosphere, the conversations, contacts before and after, which make you little by little change your ideas. It is therefore a danger and that’s why in general, I think it constitutes part of a whole. One does not merely go to Mass, one frequents a milieu.
There are obviously some people who are attracted by the beautiful ceremonies, who also go to Fontgombault, where they have taken up the old mass again. They are in a climate of ambiguity which to my mind is dangerous. Once one finds oneself in this atmosphere, submitted to the Vatican, subject ultimately to the Council, one ends up by becoming ecumenical.
(Exclusive interview with Mgr Marcel Lefebvre - Fideliter n ° 79 from January-February 1991 - Translation provided by The Recusant)
Do not forget also what [Archbishop Lefebvre] wrote in his Spiritual Journey (1990):
"The will of Vatican II [is] to want to integrate into the Church non-Catholics as they are, is an adulterous and scandalous will. The Secretariat for Christian Unity through mutual concessions - the dialogue - leads to the destruction of the Catholic faith, the destruction of the Catholic priesthood, the elimination of the power of Peter and the bishops, the missionary spirit of the apostles, martyrs, saints, is eliminated; as long as this Secretariat keeps the false ecumenism as its orientation and which the Roman and ecclesiastical authorities will approve, it can be said that they will remain in open and official rupture with all the past of the Church and with its official Magisterium. It is therefore a strict duty for any priest wishing to remain a Catholic to separate from this Conciliar Church, as long as it does not find the tradition of the Magisterium of the Church and the Catholic faith. (P.29)
What did not we follow the precious teachings of the Archbishop, who would have avoided such a mess in the Tradition for years ...!
For a person who converts and comes to Tradition, who wants to lead the good fight of the Faith, I do not recommend reading this book. [He] would learn relativism within 'traditional' communities, would be dazzled - a mirror larks - by the varied colors found there: "For me, all those who work in the Church with humility in favor of his Tradition work in the right direction. " (P. 85) As we are far from the words written by Archbishop Lefebvre, describing for example the Masses celebrated by communities of priests rallied in Rome to "booby-traps!" (see below the letter of [Archbishop Lefebvre] to Father Daniel Couture).
Fortunately good books exist, all those of Archbishop Lefebvre among others. They are so much more nourishing than that of Bishop Fellay!
Review for Salt of the Earth,
Rev. Dominique Rousseau, August 8, 2019
On the feast of Saint Curé d'Ars
[Addendum]
Saint-Michel en Brenne, 18 March 1989
I am responding immediately to your kind letter which I received yesterday at Saint-Michel1, to tell you what I think about those priests who have received a “celebret” from the Roman Commission2 charged with dividing and destroying us.
It is evident that by putting themselves in the hands of the current conciliar authorities, they are implicitly accepting the Council and the ensuing reforms, even if they have received some privileges which remain exceptional and provisory.
Their speech is paralyzed because of this acceptance. The bishops are watching them! It is very regrettable that these priests are not aware of this reality. But we cannot fool the faithful.
The same may be said regarding these “traditional Masses” organized by the dioceses. They are celebrated between two conciliar masses. The celebrating priest says the new as well as the old. How, and by whom is Holy Communion distributed? What will the sermon be? etc.
These Masses are scams which lead the faithful to compromise their principles! Many have already abandoned them.
What must change is their liberal and modernist doctrine. We must arm ourselves with patience and pray. God’s hour will come.
God’s blessings to you on this holy feast of Easter.
Best regards to you in Christ and Mary.
Abp. Lefebvre
1 Saint-Michel en-Brenne is the Mother House of the sisters of the Society.
2 Ecclesia Dei Commission
[This English translation of Archbishop Lefebvre's letter provided by the Dominicans of Avrille's English site: A Letter from Archbishop Lefebvre, regarding Indult Masses. All emphasis here in the original.
[Emphasis - mine]