12-15-2023, 01:53 PM
Advent 2023
Dear Friends of Those Who Seek Our Lord’s Face, as the Shepherds and Magi did so eagerly,
Greetings and blessings in this holy Advent!
Once again, let us turn to Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre to clarify more ongoing drizzles of
confusion.
1. Error: “It’s time to give a green (or yellow) light to the Thuc line.”
Truth: Here’s Abp. Lefebvre’s answer about priests seeking consecration from the Thuc line: “Archbishop Lefebvre totally condemned their actions and warned all Catholics to have nothing to do with them. ‘They will bring ruination and scandal on the Church,’ the Archbishop replied, when asked his opinion of the scandal-ridden ‘consecrations’. Archbishop Lefebvre also stated the the actions of Ngo-Dinh-Thuc, the former Vietnamese Bishop who participated in the so-called ‘consecrations’ are quite questionable in view of the fact that he is the same individual responsible for the Palmar de Troya fiasco… Soon after the questionable ordinations, Bishop Ngo-Dinh-Thuc renounced his actions and published a letter saying that the ‘orders’ he had conferred were null and void because he had withheld his intention of conveying orders to the Palmar de Troya sect. Given his past performances, there is no reason to believe that his present fiasco is any more credible… Referring to Ngo-Dinh-Thuc, Archbishop Lefebvre said, ‘He seems to have lost all reason’.” (The Angelus, June, 1982. See also: thecatacombs.org).
2. Error: “It’s not 1988, so it’s time for seeking a canonical solution, a personal prelature, or unilateral recognition from Modernist Rome and we approved this by signing six conditions for the agreement, in 2012.”
Truth: To this illusion, Abp. Lefebvre said: “We must not be under any illusions. We are in the thick of a great fight, a great fight! We are fighting a fight guaranteed by a whole line of Popes. Hence, we should have no hesitation or fear, hesitation such as, ‘Why should we be going on our own? After all, why not join Rome, why not join the Pope?’ Yes, if Rome and the Pope were in line with Tradition, if they were carrying on the work of all the Popes of the 19th and first half of the 20th century, of course! But they themselves admit that they have set out on a new path. They themselves admit that a new era began with Vatican II. They admit that it is a new stage in the Church’s life, wholly new, based on new principles. We need not argue the point, they say it themselves. It is clear, we must drive this point home with our people, in such a way that they realize their oneness with the Church’s whole history, going back well beyond the Revolution. Of course. It is the Fight of the City-of-Satan against the City-of-God! Clearly! So we do not have to worry. We must after all trust in the grace of God.” (Abp. Lefebvre, September 6, 1990 Conference in Econe, Switzerland).
3. Error: “The New Mass gives grace. The New Mass can nourish your faith.”
Truth: Abp. Lefebvre answers in no uncertain terms: “These New Masses are not only incapable of fulfilling our Sunday obligation, but are such that we may apply to them the canonical rules which the Church customarily applies to [i]‘communicatio in sacris’ with Orthodox and Protestant sects.”[/i] (Conference, November 8, 1979). “It is all wasted because the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, desecrated as it is, no longer confers grace and no longer transmits it.” (Abp. Lefebvre, Open Letter to Confused Catholics, ch. 3).
4. Error: “We cannot reject the scientific evidence for the New Mass Eucharistic miracles.”
Truth: But Our Divine Lord Himself warns: “For there will rise up false Christs and false prophets, and they shall show signs and wonders, to seduce (if it were possible) even the elect.” (St. Mark 14:22). “It must be understood immediately that we do not hold to the absurd idea that if the New Mass is valid, we are free to assist at it. The Church has always forbidden the faithful to assist at the Masses of heretics and schismatics even when they are valid. It is clear that no one can assist at sacrilegious Masses or at Masses which endanger our Faith. All these innovations are authorized. One can fairly say without exaggeration that most of these [New] Masses are sacrilegious acts which pervert the Faith by diminishing it.” (Abp. Lefebvre, November 8, 1979).
5. Error: “This is not the time for seminaries. This is not the time for structure and organization.”
Truth: Abp. Lefebvre thought diametrically the opposite: “Our Lord wants Catholic priests, such as He Himself made! The pope cannot not want Catholic priests! The Church cannot not want Catholic priests!…Hence, it is wholly untrue to say that we are in danger of becoming a sect or schismatics. It is far otherwise. It is we who are most nearly in union with our Holy Father the Pope and with the Catholic Church!” (Sermon of Abp. Lefebvre, September 8, 1975 in Mariazell, Austria). “It is our bounden duty, though all unworthy, to fight for the honor of God, the Catholic Faith, and priestly renewal as integral and as vital for Holy Church.” (Abp. Lefebvre, Letter to Libre Belgique, August 21, 1975).
6. Error: “Batten down the hatches!”
Truth: “As for me, I will not resign; I will not content myself with being present, my arms dangling, at the death-throes of my Mother the Church ... .We have to fight more than ever for the Social Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ! In this battle we are not alone: we have with us all the Popes up to Pius XII, inclusively. All of them combatted Liberalism in order to deliver the Church from it. God did not grant that they succeed, but this is no reason to lay down our weapons! We have to hold on. We have to build, while the others are demolishing. The crumbled citadels have to be rebuilt, the bastions of the Faith to be reconstructed: firstly, the holy Sacrifice of the Mass of all times, which forms saints; then, our chapels, which are our true parishes; our monasteries; our large families; our enterprises faithful to the social doctrine of the Church; our politicians determined to make the politics of Jesus Christ!" ( Abp. Lefebvre, They Have Uncrowned Him, ch. 34, p.250-251).
Abp. Lefebvre believed in the Catholic Resistance as a true movement of Catholics, faithful to Tradition and determined to rebuild from the ground up, relying totally on the grace of God and Our Lady of the Rosary! Despite the chaos of our times, we resist and fight in the line of all the great Popes, Bishops, priests and laymen who would not mix Liberalism with Catholicism!
“The Revolution is the legal negation of the Kingship of Christ on earth, it is the social destruction of the Church,” said Msgr. De Segura. The conniving of the enemies of Christ prevailed at the Second Vatican Council. It is the Revolution! The Catholic Resistance is chiefly to proclaim the Kingship of Christ, working for the re-construction of the Church at every level and tirelessly resist the Modernist errors destroying her! Fight on, little flock! Great will be your crown in Heaven!
“Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake: be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven!” (St. Matthew 5:11).
In Christ the King,
Fr. David Hewko
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre