The following is a series of articles by this renowned theologian and priest in which he addresses the problem of Lefebvrism and its philo-Lefebvrism. A genuine classic that we wholeheartedly recommend.
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Part I
-Lefebvrists regard Archbishop Lefebvre as the Saint Athanasius of our time, and the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (SSPX) as the indispensable guarantor of the Church’s doctrinal and liturgical orthodoxy. -The anti-Lefebvrists stand extremely far, in doctrine and in spirit, from Archbishop Lefebvre and the SSPX, and feel a deep aversion toward them. -We, for our part, obviously feel far closer to the Lefebvrists than to those many “Catholic” pastors and theologians who have lost the faith. -The philo-Lefebvrists share, to a greater or lesser degree, the positions of the Lefebvrists, while in no way admitting that they do. -They maintain that Archbishop Lefebvre always acted with a good and upright conscience, including when he consecrated bishops. -Yet setting the Church’s law against a well-formed conscience is nowadays one of the most frequent causes of doctrinal and pastoral degradation. -To consecrate bishops without the permission of the Holy See is a gravely evil act, one the Church sanctions with excommunication. -It is a gravely schismatic act. -The first error-and-sin of Lefebvre and of the Lefebvrists consisted, and still consists, in their condemnatory verdict upon the present Church. -The second consisted, and still consists, in supposing that they are necessary to prevent the Church from crumbling into heresy and sacrilege. -The major premises that drove the SSPX into schism are false. The Lord needs no one in order to save the Church. It is the Church that saves us.
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Part II
-The Lefebvrists’ principal arguments in their own defense. -1. The principle of the lesser evil justifies Archbishop Lefebvre. -2. Thanks to him and to the SSPX, the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei came into being, the groups sheltered under it exist, and the ancient Mass was rescued. -3. John Paul II’s decision to excommunicate the Lefebvrist bishops was a pastoral choice, and therefore not infallible. -4. It was an unjust excommunication, and therefore invalid. And revocable. -5. Lefebvre recognized the Roman Primacy, and for that very reason granted no canonical mission to his auxiliary bishops. -6. Blind obedience can be morally evil in certain extreme circumstances. -7. Archbishop Lefebvre was mistaken in consecrating bishops, but he did so out of love for the Church. His intention was good and his conscience upright. -8. Saint Athanasius, for defending the Catholic faith against Arianism, was likewise excommunicated by the Pope. -On the contrary, all the saints who have sought the Church’s reform have always pursued it by the path of obedience. -Many traditional Catholic communities today stand in full communion with the Pope, accept Vatican II, and celebrate the ancient Liturgy while respecting the new one. -They are communities established precisely “apart” from Archbishop Lefebvre and the SSPX, such as the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, the Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrer, the Benedictine Monastery of Le Barroux and that of Fontgombault. -Let us ask the Lord for the full reintegration of the SSPX into the unity of the Church.
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Part III
-The philo-Lefebvrists feel deeply aggrieved. -There have been many comments favorable to Philo-Lefebvrists I and II. -But many others, in their comments, have fought fiercely against these articles. -I invite you to explore those internet sites that have opposed my articles on philo-Lefebvrism: Don Ángel David Martín Rubio, In diebus illis, infoCaótica, Martin Ellingham, Ex-Orbe, some forum on Catholic.net, Asando la Manteca, Coronel Kurtz.
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Part IV
-The sacred Second Vatican Council. -It was finally promulgated with broad agreement among the Fathers. -The falsification of its doctrines began during the Council itself and multiplied greatly in the post-conciliar period. -It is true that the errors and horrors that arose within the Church after the Council, above all in the de-Christianized West, were and are innumerable. -But to blame Vatican II for those enormous evils is a great falsehood, a calumny, and an offense against the Holy Spirit. -The modern errors of the last fifty years have never been derived from the conciliar texts. -Credo in Ecclesia. The Catholic Church, gathered by her Bishops united to the Pope, always safeguards the truth and the means of sanctification, without needing any schismatic acts to do so. -After Vatican II the errors and abuses have been denounced from within the Catholic Church herself. -And it has always been the post-conciliar Popes who were the firmest witnesses of Catholic truth, and who most forcefully combated the errors and evils of the present Church. -The gravest and most authoritative diagnoses of the ills of today’s Church we have always found in the Popes. -“Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram ædificabo Ecclesiam meam et portæ inferi non prævalebunt adversus eam”. -The Catholic Church, also after Vatican II, has flourished in wonders of grace and holiness. -An “eternal Rome” and a “temporal Rome,” that of today, must never be set against each other. -Archbishop Lefebvre, by contrast, in the time of the post-conciliar errors and horrors, grew ever more scandalized by the Council, by the Popes, by the renewed Liturgy.
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Part V
-The exact diagnosis of an illness is the key to attaining its cure. -1970. Archbishop Lefebvre founds the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X. -1974. He finally makes at Écône a solemn declaration of his rejection of the “conciliar Church.” -1975. The absolute rejection of the new Mass is the chief cause of the suppression of the SSPX. -1976. Archbishop Lefebvre is suspended a divinis. -1987. The years pass and the SSPX’s confrontation with the Church reaches a peak. -The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X and Rome, an important lecture by Archbishop Lefebvre. -1988. The schismatic consecrations of four SSPX bishops. -It must be acknowledged that, seeing the Church as Archbishop Lefebvre saw it, it was logical for him to consecrate bishops. -Archbishop Lefebvre’s sermon at the episcopal consecrations of 1988. What the present situation of the SSPX is. -The motu proprio Summorum Pontificum (2007). -The lifting of the excommunications of the SSPX bishops (2009). -Let us collaborate wholeheartedly with the Pope in his effort to bring the SSPX back to the full unity of the Church.
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Part VI
-1. There is no Church other than the present, visible Church, presided over by the Pope and by the other successors of the Apostles. Whoever does not believe in “this Church” believes in none, for no other exists. -2. Credo in Ecclesiam. It is “faith in the Church,” Mater et Magistra, that opens our mind to all “the truths of faith” that she teaches. -3. The personal teaching of the Pope, and that of the universal episcopate that remains united to him, whether dispersed throughout the world or gathered in council, is infallible when, in matters of faith and morals, it proposes truths to the faithful to be held as of faith. -4. It is contrary to Catholic Tradition to reject publicly the teachings and norms established by the Councils, especially the ecumenical Councils, even when these have dealt predominantly with pastoral and disciplinary matters. -5. Lefebvrism leads to sedevacantism. -6. Lefebvrism also draws near, on some questions, to “private judgment.” -The post-conciliar Mass of the Novus Ordo (1970), promulgated by Paul VI and received by all the Catholic Bishops, is true, holy, and sanctifying. -The old Mass and the new Mass have, regrettably, been set in harsh opposition. -The new rite of the Mass, celebrated with fidelity, a sense of the sacred, and the full development of every modality it offers, is grand and full of majesty and beauty. -Nor is it true –though there is something to it– that the old Missal left less room for poor celebration than the new one. -Let us collaborate with Benedict XVI to attain the Pax liturgica. -The two forms of the Roman Mass must be accepted by the one side and the other.
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Part VII
-Present situation of the SSPX. -1988. John Paul II, apostolic letter Ecclesia Dei. -1999. Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei (PCED). -2008. Clarification by the PCED on the schismatic condition of the SSPX. -2009. Lifting of the excommunication of the SSPX bishops. -2009. Attachment of the PCED to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. -2011. Interview granted by the Superior General of the SSPX. -The Lefebvrist Fraternity keeps growing and feels strong in its present position. -The schismatic situation of the great Lefebvrist Community becomes manifest. -To the extent that errors and abuses persist within the Catholic Church, the Fraternity justifies and develops itself. -Reservations about the authority of the Pope. -Reservations about the authority of the Ecumenical Second Vatican Council. -The Lefebvrist misinterpretation of Vatican II on not a few very grave questions is manifest. -1. The theocentrism of the Decalogue is replaced, in the conciliar Church, by the anthropocentrism of the Rights of Man. -2. A false ecumenical equality among all religions seeks to reach “a kind of syncretism that would bring all religions together.” -3. The denial of Christ’s Lordship over the nations is the cause of the secularization of States. -Certain “gestures” of John Paul II caused deep displeasure to not a few of us Catholics. -The Assisi gathering was the pontifical gesture most abhorred by Archbishop Lefebvre. -The reintegration of the SSPX into the Catholic Church does not appear possible for now.
Author: Fr. José María Iraburu
