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It has been a very busy two weeks for your humble blogger so the postings have been a bit sparse. A big Mea Maxima Culpa from yours truly. Furthermore, we all know that it is under 100 days to the start of the Stealth Sex Synod of 2015. Right? So today we will continue one of yesterday’s minor themes, i.e. the inevitability of TRUTH prevailing. Remember, we hear this in the Credo at every mass. (see here)
The idea for today’s post actually came from reading the comment section of Fr. Z’s blog, where many of his reader desperately need some good cheer right about now. (see here) And they have found this good cheer in of all places, an interview that Bishop Fellay, the Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X gave recently. So therefore, this Bud’s post’s for you.
“O’ yea of little faith” comes to mind! But I digress…
With respect to the good news of the inevitability of TRUTH prevailing, we can observe this with our senses. One quick example is that 2+2 will always equal 4. Another example of this inevitability we can observe in the process that is underway presently in the Catholic Church, that I refer to as the “restoring all things in Christ”.
As we are probably familiar with by now, the need for this “restoration of all things in Christ” was brought about by the destruction caused by that which we call the “new springtime of the spirit of Vatican II” and the neo-modernist “pastoral” novelties that it introduced into the Catholic Church. These novelties were likewise introduced into the Sacred Liturgy. (see here) The culmination of the liturgical crisis can be dated to the promulgation of the revised rite of Mass with the Apostolic Constitution Missale Romanum of 3 April 1969 by Pope Paul VI. However, the revised Missal itself was not published until the following year of 1970 and the full vernacular translations appeared much later. Therefore, the culmination of the liturgical crisis and the promulgation of the Novus Ordo Missae (banning of the Immemorial Mass of All Ages) can effectively be dated to 1970.
This “restoration” process to combat the liturgical crisis likewise commenced in 1970 when Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the SSPX in the diocese of Fribourg, Switzerland. The SSPX was and is an “international priestly society of common life without vows, whose purpose is to train, support, and encourage holy priests so that they may effectively spread the Catholic faith throughout the world”. (see here) Since those fateful days of 1970, the SSPX has grown to over 600 priests and offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass according to the 1962 Missale Romanum exclusively.
Given the above, I think the case can not only be made, but can also be won, that through the SSPX, the continuity of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has been preserved since the original Mass on Holy Thursday offered by Our Lord. And if this is the case, then any priest, bishop, cardinal or pope presently offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass according to the 1962 Missale Romanum or earlier is defacto a “Lefebvrist”. Hence the title of this post.
Pure logic, yes?
So now for the good news.
Since we are coming to the end of ordination season, I thought it fitting to do a short summary of the SSPX ordinations and some of the other “Lefebvrist” orders and dioceses ordinations this year.
First we start with the SSPX where we learn that 4 new priests were ordained at their seminary in Winona Minnesota (see here), 2 new priests in the seminary in Zaitzkofen Germany (see here) and 7 new priests at the seminary in Econe Switzerland (see here).
And now for the SSPX breakaway orders/societies.
The Fraternal Society of St. Peter ordinations that took place in Lincoln Nebraska. Bishop Conley ordained 6 new priests on the 16th of June 2015. (see here). A further 2 new priests were ordained in Quebec Canada and 6 new priests were ordained outside the Wigratzbad seminary in Germany. (see here)
Another SSPX breakaway order is the Transalpine Redemptorists, where one deacon was elevated to the Sacred Priesthood in New Zealand on the 11th of April 2015 at the St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Christchurch. This was the first ordination according to the proper (non-Bugniniite) rite in decades. (see here)
Next we go to the SSPX breakaway order of the Institute of the Good Shepard where 2 deacons were elevated to the Holy Priesthood in Bordeaux France on the 27th of June 2015. (see here)
Moving on to the SSPX inspired orders.
At the seminary of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest outside of Florence, ordination week is scheduled for 27 June to 6 July 2015. Cardinal Burke will be conferring the sacrament of Holy Orders like last year. Today, 11 deacons will be elevated to the priesthood as per the FB page of the ICK. Furthermore, on the ICK FB page, information about 7 more priests being ordained by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone on the 1st of July.
Next we move on to the SSPX inspired diocese.
One example of this phenomenon is the diocese of Madison Wisconsin. I consider this diocese in the Catholic (SSPX) camp since all of its priests are proficient in offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass according to the 1962 Missale Romanum. 6 new priests will be ordained on the 26th of July 2015. Fr. Z has the scoop. (see here)
And closing, a post on Fr. Z’s blog reports of a first Immemorial Mass of All Ages in Knoxville Tennessee. (see here) Here is the relevant passage that should create as warm and as fuzzy of a feeling as any neo-modernist could possibly experience:
Following his June 27 ordination in Knoxville (TN) by Bishop Richard F. Stika (Knoxville, TN), Fr. Michael Hendershott celebrated on June 28 at Knoxville’s Holy Ghost Church his first solemn high Mass in the extraordinary form, accompanied by the Knoxville Latin Mass Schola singing Mozart’s Missa Brevis in G. His first EF Mass was an especially significant event in the life of the Knoxville Latin Mass Community–as a high school student back in 2005, he was an altar server for our first Knoxville TLM under the indult granted by (then) Bishop Joseph E. Kurtz, now Archbishop of Louisville and President of the USCCB.
So all in all, another bountiful year. I count no less than 55 new “Lefebvrist” priests were added to the sacred priesthood in anno domini 2015.
On an aside, I wonder how many more “crypto-Lefebvrists” were ordained this year?
And these ordinations are only for the Northern Hemisphere, so we have the Southern Hemisphere coming up in December.
Closing, I would just like to remind you dear reader of something that Archbishop Victor Fernandez, Francis’ ghost writer mentioned in a recent interview that we posted in the The Loose Canon post, something that we should all take to heart (see here):
“The pope goes slow because he wants to be sure that the changes have a deep impact. The slow pace is necessary to ensure the effectiveness of the changes. He knows there are those hoping that the next pope will be turn everything back around. If you go slowly it’s more difficult to turn things back. He makes this clear when he says ‘time is greater than space.’”
So remember, it is important to “initiate processes” and not so much “occupy spaces”. But the Lefebvrists are occupying more and more spaces too. 🙂
And on this pleasant note, I will leave off for today.
The Deus Ex Machina Blog 
“Given the above, I think the case can not only be made, but can also be won, that through the SSPX, the continuity of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has been preserved since the original Mass on Holy Thursday offered by Our Lord.
Two comments.
Bishop de Castro Mayer preserved the Mass independently of the SSPX. While it is true that the SSPX is responsible for bringing the older form of the Roman missal to more people, even if the SSPX did not exist, that Mass would still be offered in Campos, Brazil, at least until the last priest ordained by de Castro Mayer dies.
Secondly, the idea that “the continuity of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass” has been preserved “through the SSPX” is a bit overreaching. I have roots in both East and West. I don’t attend “Mass” on Sundays but do attend “the Holy and Divine Liturgy,” and the continuity of the Holy Sacrifice of “the Mass” has been preserved there independently of the SSPX.
In fact, Byzantine Catholics have preserved it in more places and in more numbers. There are millions of Byzantine Catholics worldwide whose liturgy has changed very little when compared to what happened to the Roman Rite. The SSPX was never needed in order to preserve the Holy Sacrifice. Perhaps they can be credited with preserving a particular missal, but they certainly cannot take credit for preserving Christ’s Holy Sacrifice.
It doesn’t even take Catholics to preserve the continuity of the Holy Sacrifice of “the Mass.” The Orthodox and other eastern churches such as the Armenians and Coptics have it, i.e., the equivalent of “the Mass.” So, theoretically speaking only, even if the Catholic Church were able to disappear, the Holy Sacrifice would still go on.
Needless to say, Byzantine Catholics don’t qualify as being “Lefebvrists,” but personally I appreciate tremendously what the archbishop did. In fact, I have attended an SSPX Mass offered in a Ukrainian Catholic Church back when that particular eparchy permitted such things to happen.
Thank you for posting this information. Very heartening in these times of dense darkness.
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Dear DJR:
Thank you for your comment.
With respect to the Campos community, if you recall, they were with the SSPX until the Ecclesias Dei came along. If not for Archbishop Lefebvre, Bishop Castro Mayer would not have been able to hold out. Similar situation with the Transalpine Redemptorists.
On an aside, Campos made out better than the FSSP since they at least have a bishop.
As for the continuity and the Eastern Rites, I will leave this an open question. My intention is not debate about who is right, although I definitely have a dog in the fight.
Pax Christi,
S.A.
PS I think you can identify those in the below picture.
http://www.google.pl/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Farchives.sspx.org%2FSSPX_FAQs%2Fq11_archbishop_lefebvre_excommunicated.htm&ei=XWmVVbqKB8ynsgHpm6gw&bvm=bv.96952980,d.bGg&psig=AFQjCNG6RuRcaEBAcYLsY8v7LeolNm6Dyw&ust=1435941592280955
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Bishop de Castro Mayer was the ordinary of the Diocese of Campos until 1981. He did not implement the “reforms” of the Second Vatican Council. He agreed with the SSPX and collaborated at times with them, but he was not “with” them. He was a diocesan bishop.
The priests he ordained were diocesan priests, and they offered the Mass in the old rite. They did not need the SSPX. Thus, the old Mass would have been preserved even without the SSPX.
In later years the SSPX bishops came along and helped, of course, and that certainly allows the priesthood and the Mass to continue, but if the SSPX had never come, the Mass would still be offered in Campos until the last priest ordained by de Castro Mayer died.
The reforms in the Mass began long before the SSPX was even begun, and even longer before its first priests were ordained, and by that time de Castro Mayer had been holding out for over a decade. He did not need Archbishop Lefebvre, although they were friends.
Indeed, during the years immediately after the council, de Castro Mayer was governing the Diocese of Campos without implementing changes in the Mass, but the SSPX did not exist, and Archbishop Lefebvre was offering the revised liturgy in those years. de Castro Mayer preserved the old missal as you know it; Archbishop Lefebvre did not, as he went along with the initial changes.
In addition, there were independent priests who preserved the Mass apart from the SSPX. People like Father Gommar A. DePauw, who died 10 years ago; Father Yves Normandin, who cooperates with the SSPX but who stuck to the old Mass without them, and Bishop Mendez, one time ordinary of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. There were others in Europe as well.
There can really be no debate as to whether the Eastern Rites have preserved Christ’s sacrifice. They certainly have. I experience it every Sunday, and have done so since I was young. They didn’t preserve the old Roman missal, as that is not the tradition, but the Holy Sacrifice has been preserved.
Thus, the Church would still have had “the Mass” even if the SSPX never existed.
Thank you for the link, and keep up the good work.
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thks for the tip.
Any other information about “Lefebvrist” ordinations are very welcome.
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For the record: In two day’s time, there will be another FSSP ordination – that of Deacon Philip Faschinger in Linz, Austria. This one is quite special, because the diocesan bishop Ludwig Schwarz explicitly requested that it be done in his cathedral. It’s also special to me because soon-to-be Fr. Faschinger will be assigned to my parish after ordination.
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