Letter from the Rector
Official Notification
Dear Coordinators and Friends of Archbishop Lefebvre,
Many of you will have received Archbishop Lefebvre's letter of April 28, addressed and sent out to all Friends and Benefactors on this Seminary's mailing list as then available, and certainly all of you by now will have learned of the painful and scandalous division amongst the priests of the Northeast District and the Seminary of the Society of St. Pius X in the U. S. A. However, perhaps not all of you, as coordinators of the Society's churches, chapels, and missions in the Northeast District, have yet received official notification of the results of that division.
As Provisional District Superior, I wish then to inform you that on April 27 the Society's Superior General, Archbishop Lefebvre, in accordance with the Society's Statutes, officially dismissed Fr. Clarence Kelly as District Superior, Fr. Anthony Cekada as District Bursar, and Father Donald Sanborn as Seminary Rector. Furthermore, on the same day, in accordance with Canons 681 & 653 of Church Law, the Superior General dismissed from the Society altogether, for the grave scandal of rebellion against his authority, four priests: Fr. Clarence Kelly, Fr. Anthony Cekada, Fr. Daniel Dolan, and Fr. Eugene Berry. By joining with these four in their rebellion, five more priests dismissed themselves: Fr. Donald Sanborn, Fr. William Jenkins, Fr. Joseph Collins, Fr. Martin Skierka, and Fr. Thomas Zapp.
Hence, not one of these nine priests is any longer a member of the Society of St. Pius X. They are henceforth independent priests without a Bishop, no longer under Archbishop Lefebvre's responsibility or authority. They can hold no office nor title within the Society; they cannot represent it, nor solicit funds in its name. Nor have they any further connection with the Northeast District Incorporation, and anything that they were to attempt to do in its name, or in the name of the Society they have rebelled against, would be misrepresentation and deceit. Thus, even if they have inserted their personal names as Directors of Corporations owning certain chapels or churches of the Society, then inasmuch as these properties were acquired by their acting in the general estimation as agents of the Archbishop on behalf of the Society, they have only a fraudulent title to these properties.
Coordinators, please take note. For legal problems arising, consult and please inform Mr. Alfred Skidmore J.D., the Society's attorney on Long Island at P. 0. Box 521, Hicksville, NY 11802, tel. (516)-938-1500.
For pastoral problems, let all those wishing to stay with the Society under Archbishop Lefebvre contact at the Society's Seminary in Ridgefield [tel. (203)-431-0201] any of the three priests still in the Society in the Northeast District; either Fr. Roger Petit, the District's new Bursar, or Fr. Dominique Bourmaud, or myself. We will do what we can to come to your aid, because Archbishop Lefebvre wishes to abandon no person desirous of committing himself to his care.
May the Holy Ghost inspire us in this Octave of Pentecost with His gifts of Wisdom and Fortitude to find out and to pursue God's will for each one of us, and may Our Divine Lord keep all our hearts and minds in that peace which He alone can give.
Most sincerely yours in His Service,
Fr. Richard Williamson
Official Notification
Dear Coordinators and Friends of Archbishop Lefebvre,
Many of you will have received Archbishop Lefebvre's letter of April 28, addressed and sent out to all Friends and Benefactors on this Seminary's mailing list as then available, and certainly all of you by now will have learned of the painful and scandalous division amongst the priests of the Northeast District and the Seminary of the Society of St. Pius X in the U. S. A. However, perhaps not all of you, as coordinators of the Society's churches, chapels, and missions in the Northeast District, have yet received official notification of the results of that division.
As Provisional District Superior, I wish then to inform you that on April 27 the Society's Superior General, Archbishop Lefebvre, in accordance with the Society's Statutes, officially dismissed Fr. Clarence Kelly as District Superior, Fr. Anthony Cekada as District Bursar, and Father Donald Sanborn as Seminary Rector. Furthermore, on the same day, in accordance with Canons 681 & 653 of Church Law, the Superior General dismissed from the Society altogether, for the grave scandal of rebellion against his authority, four priests: Fr. Clarence Kelly, Fr. Anthony Cekada, Fr. Daniel Dolan, and Fr. Eugene Berry. By joining with these four in their rebellion, five more priests dismissed themselves: Fr. Donald Sanborn, Fr. William Jenkins, Fr. Joseph Collins, Fr. Martin Skierka, and Fr. Thomas Zapp.
Hence, not one of these nine priests is any longer a member of the Society of St. Pius X. They are henceforth independent priests without a Bishop, no longer under Archbishop Lefebvre's responsibility or authority. They can hold no office nor title within the Society; they cannot represent it, nor solicit funds in its name. Nor have they any further connection with the Northeast District Incorporation, and anything that they were to attempt to do in its name, or in the name of the Society they have rebelled against, would be misrepresentation and deceit. Thus, even if they have inserted their personal names as Directors of Corporations owning certain chapels or churches of the Society, then inasmuch as these properties were acquired by their acting in the general estimation as agents of the Archbishop on behalf of the Society, they have only a fraudulent title to these properties.
Coordinators, please take note. For legal problems arising, consult and please inform Mr. Alfred Skidmore J.D., the Society's attorney on Long Island at P. 0. Box 521, Hicksville, NY 11802, tel. (516)-938-1500.
For pastoral problems, let all those wishing to stay with the Society under Archbishop Lefebvre contact at the Society's Seminary in Ridgefield [tel. (203)-431-0201] any of the three priests still in the Society in the Northeast District; either Fr. Roger Petit, the District's new Bursar, or Fr. Dominique Bourmaud, or myself. We will do what we can to come to your aid, because Archbishop Lefebvre wishes to abandon no person desirous of committing himself to his care.
May the Holy Ghost inspire us in this Octave of Pentecost with His gifts of Wisdom and Fortitude to find out and to pursue God's will for each one of us, and may Our Divine Lord keep all our hearts and minds in that peace which He alone can give.
Most sincerely yours in His Service,
Fr. Richard Williamson
