The Feast of Saint Joseph, 1978 Dear Friends and Benefactors: Providence has allowed this painful crisis in the
Church for our sanctification and in order to give more brightness to
the pure gold of its doctrine and its means of redemption. This
passion of the Church is a great mystery, for it reaches chiefly its
hierarchy, its scholars, who seem to no longer know who they are and
the reasons of their being appointed. Satan, the father of lies, as Our Lord Jesus calls
him, has the extraordinary talent of finding out some words, to which
he assigns a new meaning so that from their ambiguity, he achieves
acceptance of the destructive falsehood which overthrows the best
established societies. He found it in this “ecumenism” of the
Council which has created an ecumenical liturgy, an ecumenical Bible,
and ecumenical catechism, uniting truth and falsehood – marrying
the true and the false. The most disastrous result of this marriage is the
Catholic-Protestant Mass, the poisoned source afterwards yielding
countless ravages: relinquishment of the Church, of the true Faith,
sacrileges, tearing of the unity of the Church, proliferation of
diverse sorts of creeds unworthy of the Church. But, there exists a consequence of which one does
not often enough ponder on. It is the destruction of the Catholic
nations which no longer find in the Holy Mass, the source of
political unity based on the unity of the Catholic Faith. Therefore,
the Catholic nation hereafter must, in like manner, convert itself to
an ecumenical state – pluralistic, very soon finding itself
securalized and neutral, if not atheistic. The ecumencial Mass leads logically to apostasy. One
cannot serve two masters, one cannot nourish oneself indifferently
from truth or falsehood. It is falsehood that flatters our evil
inclinations which will prevail over truth which is more austere and
more demanding. One must, at all costs, remain bound to truth
without mingling. Pope Pius IX vigorously denounced these liberal
Catholics who believe they can unite falsehood and truth, good and
evil, in order to please their contemporary fellowmen. Whether this poisoned ecumenism reaches us through
the hierarchy or not, the channel is not important – it is the
poison that one must refuse to swallow. It is a matter of strict
obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ, to the Church of all times, to
all the successors of Peter. We will, therefore, keep the Catholic
liturgy, the Catholic Bible and catechism. And it is for this reason that we must have Catholic
priests and Catholic seminarians, Catholic monks nuns, active and
contemplative. The Catholic Church will not perish! Each one, at his time in the Church, must endeavour
to remain Catholic and to maintain the Catholic Church. It is upon
this resolution and its realisation that we will be judged by Our
Divine Lord. Dear friends and benefactors, we owe to your prayers
and to your generosity, that we have been able to achieve the
Priestly Society of Saint Pius X with its 40 priests (soon to be 56),
its three seminaries including 150 seminarians, its brothers, its
nuns and its oblates. We are about to acquire the buildings required for
our American and German seminaries. We hope to establish a
college-seminary in Germany and one in France, a home for spiritual
exercises in Northern Italy, the beginning of a great seminary in
Argentina as well as a priory in Madrid. Besides, the numerous vocations for the Carmel
oblige us to provide help to the Carmel Foundation and soon to the
Cistercian Monastery. Contemplative homes are necessary for the
holiness of the Church. They will remain so inasmuch as they preserve
their holy traditions. You can address your correspondence to these
foundations: for the Carmelites, to the Maison St. Pie X de Suresnes,
and for the Cistercians, to Notre Dame du Pointet. The complete
addresses are indicated below. Through this listing, you can realise
our needs. We pray, during this month of March, our great patron St.
Joseph that he create new benefactors, and we thank him for his
paternal concern toward us. We have no debts and we do not
capitalise. What is given to us serves without delay to the
edification of the Church and to its real renovation. We wish for our homes to be centres of fervour, of
piety, of fraternal welcome, chiefly for the priests who wish to
share the spiritual life and the apostolate of our priests. We also
gladly welcome vocations of brothers who are auxilaries of our
priests and lay associates who unite their prayers and works to the
members of the Society. Like future priests, they may contact
superiors of districts and priories who will introduce them to the
houses of formation. In this world, which ignores its Saviour and Master
Jesus Christ, it is more than ever necessary that generous souls make
themselves His heralds through speech, example and practice. Each
destroyed altar, each closing parish or chapel, means a victory for
the devil and results in lost souls. Let your prayers and sacrifices
intervene with Our Lord Jesus through the intercession of the
Immaculate Virgin. Let them not cease but increase the preaching of
Jesus Christ Crucified. May God bless you.
Letter
to Friends and Benefactors
†Marcel
Lefebvre
