With the 25th anniversary of the existence of the SSPX, we look back at how Archbishop Lefebvre defended the true spirit of the priesthood which was being lost. Through this priesthood flows the Holy Mass and all the Church’s sanctity. We are blessed to live at a time when two bishops courageously defended the fullness of the priesthood.

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

The 25th anniversary of the existence of the SSPX

On the eve of the anniversary of 25 years’ existence of the Society of St, Pius X, how can we help remembering that day of grace when Archbishop Lefebvre came back from the Bishop of Fribourg’s chancery holding the document officially setting up our Society!

The true spirit of the priesthood is lost

Already many years back, with extraordinary clear-sightedness the Archbishop had grasped what was in the process of happening to the Church : a crisis rumbling underground beneath Pope Pius XII, was about to break out into the open, as happened with the Second Vatican Council, in that crisis, what struck the Archbishop was above all the loss of the true spirit of the priesthood and at the same time his understanding that Mother Church would not overcome this trial other than by and through the sanctification of the priesthood : “How could one bring about what seemed to me then the only solution for the renewal of the Church and Christendom? It was still only a dream, but in it appeared to me already the need of transmitting not only the genuine priesthood, not only the sane teaching approved by the Church, but also the deep and unchanging spirit of the Catholic priesthood and the Christian spirit tied essentially to the great prayer of Our Lord expressed for all time in His sacrifice of the Cross” (Archbishop Lefebvre, Spiritual Journey, preface).

The only way to raise the Church up again is the priesthood

In the upheaval that was shaking the house of God from the cellar to the attic, and which by opening wide the windows has let in a gale of the spirit of the world, the spirit of novelty, the spirit of liberalism, the spirit of compromise, the Archbishop had clearly grasped that by way of defense, the faith alone, or morality, or even, perhaps above all, a sane philosophy would not be enough. A tidal wave was sweeping everything away, from the principle of non-contradiction to belief in the mystery of the Holy Trinity: a gale-force wind of madness, blasphemy and rebellion now bursting into the light of day in unrealistic dreams like the fantasy of the year 2000, or in insanities like the “base churches” in Austria and Germany.

The only way to raise the Church up again is the priesthood, and the only way of raising up the priesthood is the Holy Mass, the Sacrifice, And so the Archbishop set up as goal for the little congregation he was founding “the priesthood, whatever concerns the priesthood and only what concerns that priesthood, such as Our Lord had in mind when He said : “Do this in memory of me . The Society is to guide and direct the life of the priest towards what is essentially his reason for being, namely the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, with everything that the Mass means, everything that flows from it, everything that surrounds it (Society Statutes, Ch. 0). God comes to the help of His Church in times of difficulty and distress by raising up saints. Every age has seen its heroes who gave to the Church a fresh impetus of sanctity, generosity and missionary spirit, to save souls and reform morals.

All the Church's sanctity flows from the Holy Mass

Now by the will of the Church’s divine Spouse, all her sanctity flows from the Holy Mass: “A profound theological knowledge of the Sacrifice of the Mass will convince society members ever more firmly that in this sublime event is brought into being all of Revelation, the Mystery of Faith, the completion of the Mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption, the full power of the apostolate” (Statutes, Ch. II). Holy Mass is the heart of the Church, the “mysterium fidei”, the mystery of faith, the daily manifestation of the greatest charity of all, the charity of the incarnate God sacrificing himself for the salvation of his creatures. As being the purpose of the Incarnation and center of Christ’s life, the sacrifice of the Cross, renewed upon the altar, is also the center of the Church’s life. From that sacrifice offered in every place from sunrise to sunset as a pure oblation in the name of God (cf. Mat, 1,11), flow all graces of salvation and redemption, all glory of the saints in heaven, all praise rising from the Church to the Holy Trinity, all Christian life with its virtues, patience in tribulation, and charity. From the altar flows even more abundantly than from the rock of Moses a flood of victory over the devil and his minions, a flood of light for men’s minds bringing them into obedience to the Faith, a flood of divine love seeking to set aflame all men of good will. From the death of Our Lord renewed and made sacramentally present again upon the altar springs up for all eternity life for the whole Church, life even for society.

“Regnavit a ligno Deus”: God has reigned from the cross. Ah, if men knew — stuck fast in the mire of their own making, claiming to set up a world without God — if at last they would understand that the nations’ prosperity like world peace can only come from the daunting sacrifice of the Son of God made man, handed over to the world, crucified, dead and buried, for us men and for our salvation!

It was well worth fighting to defend the Ark of the New Alliance, the Holy Mass; indeed that is where all priests and all the Church must expect any efficacy in the apostolate to come from, any happiness in heaven, any goods of this world insofar as they are necessary or useful for salvation.

We are blessed to live in this age where the fullness of the priesthood is defended

Never will be able to thank God enough for having given us to live in this age, to have witnessed the two bishops who had the courage to defend at whatever cost the reason for being of the fullness of their priesthood. Let what takes place on the altar be renewed in our hearts too, as we accompany the King of Kings in his mysterious conquest of souls and societies. Let us redouble our prayers and sacrifices, in union with our glorious Head, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dear faithful, thank you for making possible by your generosity the remarkable extension of the Society’s work.

May Our Lord, on the occasion of this anniversary, graciously obtain for us the grace of an unwavering fidelity to the Faith of all times, an unfailing love of God. May Our Lady graciously give us her motherly blessing and grant increase to our work wholly devoted to serving the Church, until at last David’s ardent wish lacks nothing for its fulfillment ; “Arise. O Lord, into thy resting-place: thou and the ark, which thou last sanctified. Let they priests be clothed with justice: and let they saints rejoice” (Ps. 131, 8, 9).

† Bernard Fellay

Eve of All Saints, 31 October 1995

In an age dominated by media we must be vigilant and realize that almost all of this media is used to constantly attack the Church. John Paul II is in the process of creating a religion of man made God by confusing the natural and supernatural orders. This confusion leads to indifferentism at all levels be it in the daily life of the faithful or as regards ecumenism. John Paul II apologizes for Church's past. SSPX projects continue worldwide.

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

Call to continued vigilance

Before giving you a little news of the progress of the Society of St. Pius X, we would like to issue a summons to all of you Catholics to be vigilant.

The false peace in which the Church is living today is establishing a climate of generalized anesthesia whereby the scandal against the Faith is becoming so usual that it no longer shocks anyone, while at the same time our enemies — let us call them by their true name — are inflicting terrible blows on Holy Mother Church; outrages and insults are raining down upon her, whom Jesus loved and for whom he shed his blood.

Media systematically attacks the true religion

The violence has turned spiritual above all, but it is not the less real or deadly for souls whose faith and morals it corrupts and fouls; with great skill newspapers, radio, television are concentrating their venom on the Catholic Church, the papacy, priestly celibacy, etc, the media’s aggressiveness brooking no further restraint. These media applaud, congratulate and set up on a pedestal whichever sons of the Church betray her: Drewermann, Duquesne, Galliot, Küng, Boff… “Our Lord in his Church is in his death-throes… in his death-throes because his Church is being buffeted, hindered, obstructed and resisted from within in her prime task of bringing the Redemption to souls. Not that she is about to disappear, because the gates of hell will not prevail against her, but that her own sons, and amongst them leaders of the hierarchy, are mistreating her in so vile and wicked a fashion that she can no longer move without crashing to the ground at each step, fainting with exhaustion” (Fr. Calmel.’Brief Apology for the Church of all time’, Difralivre, 1987, p. 84).

Yet are even these words severe enough to describe the harsh reality? What Fr. Calmel already felt coming 25 years ago, is it not taking place literally under our eyes? “If some Pope were to take on the appearance of a false messiah… he would inextricably mingle together two messages essentially opposed to one another: on the one hand the message of Promethean (i.e. God-defying) domination of the world, in accordance with the three temptations, taking no practical account of the sovereignty of God nor of the sin of man, and on the other hand the message of the Christian faith announcing Redemption through the Cross of Jesus Christ alone. Were this unnatural confusion to happen, the scandalizing of Catholics in their Faith would no doubt reach as far as it could go; its power of seduction would then be extraordinarily dangerous. Notwithstanding, it would not be powerful enough to seduce the elect, nor to destroy the Church”.

John Paul II: Religion of man made god

Is that not what we find in the letter ‘Tertio Millennio Adveniente’, describing the next five years of preparation for the Jubilee Year 2000? Sketched out there, perfectly in line with John-Paul’s first encyclical, ‘Redemptor Hominis’, and with his whole pontificate, is the attempt to replace the Religion of God made man with the religion of man becoming God through the intermediary of Our Lord, the Man-God: a religion primarily concerned with bringing all peoples together, but without any conversion to Christ Crucified or submission to the Church founded by him. Is that the coming of Christ meant by John-Paul when he refers to the New Advent running until the year 2000?

Confusion of the natural and supernatural orders

The confusion between the life, rights, and demands of the natural order and those of the supernatural order is obvious in the latest papal encyclical “Evangelium Vitæ”, in which — thanks be to God — abortion and euthanasia are condemned.

Result of this confusion: indifferentism

The result? Boundless confusion amongst the Christian people, the loss of faith as it evaporates into indifferentism, meaning not that people do not care about religion at all, but that they do not care what religion they belong to, because all religions alike, to a greater or lesser degree, can and do save souls. Such an idea is directly opposed to the Catholic Faith. For example, Pius XI’s Encyclical “Mortalium Animos” echoes the 2,000 year-old Faith and discipline of the Church when it says: “The union of Christians cannot be otherwise attained than by promoting the return of dissidents to the One true Church of Christ from which they once, unhappily, withdrew. The return to the one true Church of Christ, We say, that stands forth before all and that, by the will of its Founder, will remain forever the same as when He himself established it for the salvation of all mankind.” Pius XI is saying nothing different here from the beginning of the Athanasian Creed: “Whosoever wishes to be saved must above all hold the Catholic Faith: whoever does not keep it entire and pure will beyond doubt go to eternal damnation.”

Indifferentism towards the conversion of the Orthodox

Today, however, everybody thinks differently: the ecumaniac Balamand Document of June, 1993, gave rise to almost no fundamental objections. It regulates relations between the Catholic Church and Orthodox churches by “excluding from now on every attempt or desire on the part of Catholics to proselytise or to expand at the expense of the Orthodox churches” (#35), and this it does in the name of “rejecting the premise whereby any one of our churches would be the one and only owner of the means of grace, in such a way that conversion to that one Church from any other would be necessary for salvation” (Declaration of the Orthodox-Roman Catholic Consultation of the U.S.A., Doc. #212, p. 285).

This indifferentism destroys the true religion

This idea, extremely grave, concerns not only the Orthodox, but also all Protestant denominations at least, maybe all monotheistic religions, and others as well! Such an Idea is the ruination of the Catholic Church from top to bottom, and it destroys the Faith, that Faith “without which it is Impossible to please God (Heb. XI, 6) or to be saved” (Vat. I, “Dei Filius”).

Of course “False messianism will prevail neither against the Church nor against the papacy. To the very end, the Church founded on Peter will keep safe within her heart, and will spread amongst men, the only true messianism, that of Jesus Christ: Messianism of grace, of conversion and of the beatitudes; messianism to be found in its fullness in the kingdom which is not of this world, and which thereby exerts its sway over all kingdoms of this world, at any rate if they accept its law of the Gospel and strive to fulfil through the King of Heaven their worldly function” (Pr. Calmel, p. 72).

John Paul II betrays the Church of all time

Since we are being told by John-Paul II to do penance for sins of churchmen that the Church must recognize, let us strive by means of public manifestations, conferences, Masses, to show forth the full beauty of the Church and her history, to defend her honour and the honour of her Saints: “Is my Mother, the Church, being called a tyrant? Then I shall come to her defence! So I reply: unlike the Church, founded on Apostles and Martyrs, all false religions have been ushered in by the violence Of an enemy power, and by the oppression of the peoples’ Catholic thinking,… Where was the Church born? In blood, but in her martyrs’ blood. On the contrary, where was heresy born? In blood, but not in the blood of its confessors, rather in the blood of those who resisted it” (Robert Mader, “I am staying Catholic”, Goldach, 1975, p. 36).

Certain features keep recurring in history, such as the chastisement of peoples who have offended God “too much”. Let us be prepared, strong in the faith. The times are evil. “Whilst we have time, let us work good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. VI, 10).

SSPX Projects around the globe

Thank you for your generous help, which we are relying on to carry out new projects:

1. After 20 years of applying to the authorities and waiting, we have at last received authorization to construct the church for the seminary at Écône. With this building Our Lord will obtain the place of honour due to him, seminarians a more worthy place in which to serve him, and the seminary will be completed, the chapel being the centre of the seminary and of priestly life. However, this grand project will not come to fruition without much generosity on your part. Given the part that the Seminary has played as cradle of the Society of St Pius X, and given that the church wilt house the tomb of Archbishop Lefebvre, our venerable founder, we are daring to ask our faithful all over the world to help with this building. May we venture to see in this undertaking a kind of foreshadowing of the “reconstruction of Christendom”?
   At about the same time our seminary in La Reja in the Argentine, with its present capacity for about 50 seminarians, is going to begin building its chapel.
2. Over the next few years we are hoping for an average of about 25 priestly ordinations a year from our various seminaries; in addition, over the last few years we have seen some young priests approaching us soon after leaving their diocesan seminaries. This is a new turn of events, showing that God’s grace is still at work! Let us hope the movement grows until it includes a few bishops.
3. Our apostolate in the East is advancing. We are contacting more people, and our priests, learning in between to speak Russian and Polish, are heavily occupied with regular visits to the groups in the process of forming, especially in Poland and the Ukraine.
4. We must expand our operation in Jaidhof, Austria, in order to offer pre-seminary accommodation to young men from these countries interested in the priesthood.
   In Asia and Latin America, our apostolate is growing stronger, our groups are consolidating, From Mexico our priests are regularly visiting Guatemala, San Salvador and Costa Rica; from the Argentine they visit Peru, Paraguay and Uruguay, from Columbia they visit Santo Domingo. So many countries, so many souls, against so few priests, so few resources! And yet little by little, in all directions, from ground up are rising walls of a future chapel or even a future priory.
5. However, our main effort remains in all places the founding and maintaining of our schools.

All these projects, all these concerns, we entrust to your prayers and your generosity. May the merits of your charity obtain from the Sacred Heart both the extension of Catholic Tradition and the conversion of those presently moving away from the Church.

In this Passiontide may Our Lady help us to enter more deeply into the great mystery of her Son’s sufferings, which continue in the Mystical Body being so grievously wounded before our eyes.

Stabat Mater. May God bless you.

† Bernard Fellay

Passion Sunday, March 13, 1995

Society is suffering from an apostasy from God. The world has gone mad - building on the absence of God. Although the Church is alarmed, it comprimises senslessly. Amid this collapse, the Society of St. Pius X continues to grow. As soon as the true Mass is offered in an area, churches are built; Christian families and principles appear. Penance and prayer is needed to avert the terrible events due to come for the great sins of the world.
Dear Friends and Benefactors,

Society is suffering from apostasy from God

Saint Pius X, at the beginning of his glorious pontificate in the early years of this century, made this analysis of what he saw around him:

“We experience a sort of terror at the disastrous state of human society today. For who can fail to see that society is at the present time, more than in any past age, suffering from a terrible and deep-rooted malady which, developing every day and eating into its inmost being, is dragging it to destruction? You understand, Venerable Brethren, what this disease is – apostasy from God…

When all this is considered, there is good reason to fear lest this great perversity may be as it were a foretaste, and perhaps the beginning of those evils which are reserved for the last days: and that there may be already in the world the Son of Perdition of whom the Apostle speaks.” (E Supremi Apostolatus, Oct. 4, 1903).

A world gone mad - building on the absence of God

The great athlete of the Faith launched these grave warnings when he contemplated problems of mankind that would yet have to be called mild in comparison with the situation today ; because the evils that he denounced and fought against have made appalling progress since his time. For the warnings that have rung out from heaven since then and the punishments that have been inflicted have been virtually useless in a world gone mad, a world intent on rebuilding the Tower of Babel: a world building on the absence of God.

As early as 1903, St Pius X was saying: “There are no bounds to the audacity and fury with which men are flinging themselves at religion, beating down the dogmas of Faith, striving with might and main to wipe out all relations between man and the Godhead”.

In this defiance of God how can we not see the prelude to appalling chastisements, the cause of those evils that have smashed down on the contemporary world, which yet refuses to recognize them and which in its death-wish spreads a veil over them, while it makes itself drunk on high-flown talk of peace, justice and security, which, the more they are absent in reality, the more loudly they are proclaimed in talk. Here are a few of the flagrant contradictions flaunted by naturalism and tyrannical liberalism:

Contradictions flaunted by naturalism and tyrannical liberalism

A pretence is made of fighting the very drugs one is in the process of distributing ; on the excuse of fighting a disease in which properly is to be seen the hand of God, a punishment for sin, sin is spread far and wide amongst the masses under the polite name of “safe sex” and there is whole-sale corruption of society by the propagation of sins best left unnamed ; on the pretext of fighting the “discrimination” arising from unleashed passions, laws dangerously conductive to tyranny are passed while any attempt to channel those passions by education is refused on principle, in the name of liberty, the very idea of virtue being an object of horror ; supposedly to improve the means of information, marvels of technology are today developed and super-developed which promptly become formidable means of disinformation ; by great campaigns in the media and in politics, people proposing to establish world peace and organising conferences on security are the same people who approve and decree the greatest genocide ever seen in history: every year, according to official figures, some 50 to 60 million babies are deprived of the very right to life in their mother’s womb by those whose profession it is to save lives – multiply the figure by 10 or 20 to arrive at a total for the last decade or two! Given these facts, the list of which could be prolonged indefinitely, we wholeheartedly agree with Cardinal Pie’s judgment in his third Synodal Instruction: “Naturalism is for individuals the certain way to hell”.

Though alarmed, the Chruch comprimises

Faced with this tragedy of the contemporary world, what does the Catholic Church do? It lets out a faint cry of alarm while engaging in the most senseless compromise: the adoption of the principles of liberation which are the cause of the world’s present misfortunes… thus whole sections of the Church fall to the ground in rhythm with the collapse of society…

Amid this collapse, the SSPX grows

Amids all these misfortunes, let us take a look at an institute whose few years of life are already making people say: “The finger of God is here”.

For how else are the remarkable birth and growth of the Society of St Pius X to be explained? Just when other seminaries are emptying, ours are filling ; when priests are giving up their priesthood or at least their priestly clothing, the cassock is making its appearance again ; when the idea and identity of the priesthood are tragically fading out, a new generation of priests is arising and spreading over “the whole earth”. The statistics are of minor importance but nonetheless eloquent: founded in 1970 by Archbishop Lefebvre, by 1982 the Society of St Pius X had 100 priests, 21 brothers, 21 oblate sisters, 180 seminarians divided amongst 4 seminaries ; the priests were exercising their ministry in 12 countries, with 12 priories, 5 schools, 2 retreat-houses ; twelve years later in 1994, there are 310 priests, 48 brothers, 50 oblates, and 215 seminarians divided amongst 6 seminaries. The priests’ ministry now covers 24 countries (not including countries regularly visited), with 83 priories of which 44 have a school attached, 8 retreat-houses and 15 secondary schools.

Considering the multiple kinds of opposition put in the way of the Society, including a most surprising zeal to persecute on the part of a hierarchy generally showing, alas, little such zeal wherever the salvation of their flock is involved, such an expansion in 24 years is little short of prodigious.

Grace is flowing in abundance from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

However, our consolation and our thanksgiving we find in a quite different miracle, the miracle of grace flowing in abundance from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the heart of the Church and the heart of our institute, that miracle of which we are the daily witnesses.

For it is not only a priestly institute which is advancing despite difficult circumstances, it is a whole little Christendom taking shape, sustained and nourished at the source of all graces, the holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

What Archbishop Lefebvre described in the sermon of his priestly jubilee is taking place before our eyes whenever the Holy Mass is celebrated, churches are built, Christian families appear, followed by schools conducted on Catholic principles ; here and there works of charity for the relief of suffering and for looking after old people are already arising and expanding ; in this we have the best of all proofs that the Church has answers entirely suited to the problems of our age! The Church is in no way out of date, in matters concerning either family, our youth, or society as a whole.

Her faith, her charity, her demanding morals constitute unchanging principles which rise above all times or circumstances in which human life unfolds. These principles are always valid, and they remain the sole guarantee of that true happiness which is found only when one finds God, which is possessed only when one possesses God in Christ Jesus.

However, dear friends, while the marvelous flourishing of this institute within Catholic Tradition shows by the facts and by its fruits that it truly belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, nevertheless we must not forget the more and more dramatic situation in which we are living.

To sleep is to die!

Our Lady of Fatima’s warnings are as urgent as ever: “Pray, pray a great deal and make sacrifices for sinners, because many souls are going to hell, because there is nobody praying and making sacrifices for them” (August 15, 1917).

We are facing terrible events, proportionate to the offences committed through the world

Let us not be disheartened by the very alarming situation in the world and in the Church. Indeed, if men’s behavior in the first half of this century earned them the chastisement of two World Wars, we can be in no doubt that we are facing far more terrible events, proportionate to the offences committed since World War II against God and against Our Lord Jesus Christ. But who knows if the merciful Heart of Jesus, if the sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary cannot be touched by a veritable crusade of masses, rosaries, penances, like they were at other moments amongst the darkest in Church history?

Penance and the sacrifice of daily duty is needed

In those dark hours we know how Our Lady spoke to us: “I can no longer hold back the arm of my beloved Son poised to strike the world… You must do penance… If men do not change their ways, the chastisement will come… “Jacinta echoed: “If only men knew what Eternity is, they would do anything to change their ways… The sins which take the most souls to hell are sins of the flesh… Fashions will come which will greatly offend Jesus… People serving God must not follow fashion, the Church has no fashions… Jesus is always the same”.

With great generosity we must live a way that conforms with our Faith, cost what it may: in prayer and penance, above all in a great spirit of faith, and faithfully fulfilling the duties of our state. As Sister Lucy of Fatima said, on May 4, 1943, “The Sacred Heart of Jesus wishes souls to be brought to understand that the true penance wanted and now demanded by him consists above all in the sacrifice that each of us must make in order to fulfill the spiritual and material duties of our state of life”.

Let us go straight to Jesus, through Mary, to the Sacred Heart of our King and Lord Jesus Christ through the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Victory here is guaranteed to whosoever will have been found faithful, faithful in everything, faithful to the end.

Here is the victory that conquers the world, our faith (I Jn V, 4).

“In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph”.

† Bernard Fellay

Anniversary of the last apparition at Fatima, 13 October 1994

While there have been some defections since the episcopal consecrations last June, the numbers of faithful and seminarians have increased. There is a triple "foreign occupation" of the Church today - that of the pope himself, by the "Fathers" of today and by the advance of the New Age movement and liberation theology. We must be ready for a long drawn-out struggle.

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

Happenings since the episcopal consecrations last June

Let us look back together on these months which have elapsed since the historic event of 30th June; the episcopal consecrations of Ecône, in order then to turn our eyes to the future.

As you assuredly know, we have had to bear in the measure which could be foreseen, several defections among the priests and seminarians. On the other hand, the brothers and the nuns have remained faithful without exception.

The break, by the Benedictine monks of Barroux, with the common front which united us in combat, has stricken us very sadly. Thanks be to God, the new monastery in Brazil has not taken this fatal step, but remains in the family of tradition.

Numbers of faithful and seminarians have increased

Since the Roman fulmination, the number of faithful frequenting our chapels has increased significantly by about 10% in the entire world. In the same way, the interest of young people in the Society of St. Pius X has increased noticeably; we are expecting a good number of admissions into our seminaries in Argentina and Australia in March. Furthermore, by a recent disposition of Divine Providence, we have acquired a large building in Australia, a property which is extremely advantageous for the Seminary of the Holy Cross. It is a former College of Agriculture, situated about two hours drive west of Sydney. Thus a permanent domicile has been found for our seminarians.

Now let us glance at what is being built up each day; at Calgary (Western Canada) we have been able to buy a church, and at Ottawa, the capital, we have taken responsibility for the Portuguese community. In the United States we have at last, after a long wait, recovered two churches returned to us by our former colleagues. In Mexico, the construction of the chapel is finished and the building is full on Sunday. In Gabon, 450 children are receiving Catechism lessons, and about 1,600 faithful assisted at Mass at Christmas. In India, our Fathers will move into a newly-built priory. In France, several schools have been able to increase their capacity.

Triple "foreign occupation" of the Church

However, the triple "foreign occupation" of the Church goes on.

a) The "occupation" of the pope himself; he is a prisoner of modern philosophy and modernistic theology, characterised by phenomenology, existentialism and subjectivism, which replace the objective Order of Being and its Last Ends with the human person; also characterised by a more than ambiguous notion of the motive power of a world in ever more human and liberal progress, and finally by a naturalistic conception of the Redemption.

"My faith... had nothing to do with any kind of conformism... it was born in the depths of my own self... it was also the fruit of the efforts of my own spirit seeking an answer to the mysteries of man and of the world." (Dialogue with John-Paul II, by André Frossard) "The way of the Church is Man" (Redemptor Hominis) "All men from the beginning to the end of the world have been redeemed and justified by Christ and His Cross" (Segno di contradizione, meditazioni, Milan, 1977).

b) These same principles, expressedly condemned by the popes are shared, in greater or lesser degree, by the closest coadjutors of the pope. Let us find out the conception that Cardinal Ratzinger makes of the Faith in his book "Foi Chretianne hier et aujourd'hui" (Mame, 1969, p. 12)

The believer, like the unbeliever, each in his own way knows doubt and faith, if he does not seek to make himself an illusion and dissimulate the truth of his being. Nobody can entirely escape the Faith; in one man the Faith will be present versus doubt, in another thanks to doubt, and under the form of doubt.

Let us also cast a glance at the theologian Hans Urs Von Balthasar, honoured with the name of theologian, and nominated cardinal. In one of his treatises which is extraordinarily abstruse, and which recently appeared in German, we see how far his idea of God is false, his conception of the God-Man is contestable, and how his doctrine on the Church, the Redemption, and eternal salvation contradicts all tradition.

Should this surprise us? The "Fathers" of today, those who are at present the personalities carrying some weight in the Church, are not St. Augustine, St. Thomas, or St. Bonaventure; but Hegel, Heidegger, Scheler, Karl Rahner, and Teilhard de Chardin. See then what philosophical and theological views—all entirely personal—these authorities present as the voice of the Church and as a homogeneous development of tradition.

c) This second "occupation" is capped by a third, the conscious and determined conspiracy of the forces of Gnosticism, Theosophy, and Esoterism, headed by the Illuminati and the Freemasons, and allied with Marxist infiltration. The Satanic movement "New Age" and the theology of liberation are their most recent products. "God is Green" is the meaningful title of the brochure which accompanies the New Age calendar of Ecological Lent published by the Swiss bishops! Further on one reads, "All of us, sons and daughters of Hirwa (the supreme god of the Warali tribe), of the Green God, and of Bhomi, our common mother, the earth, make up together the great family of the faith."

Nomination of pious bishops does not prove a step in the right direction

But, you will say, don't the latest nominations of bishops in Austria, at Chur (Switzerland), and at Cologne show a move in the other direction? Aren't they the signs of a progressive improvement? Error! It is rather a question of the regularisation of the conciliar and post-conciliar revolution; one pretends to compensate for the doctrinal deficit by the disciplinary measures and the mutations of persons. Faith in the Kyrios, King of Ages, God Immortal and Invisible (1 Tim. 1, 17) has been put aside, just as the tabernacle was taken away from the focal point of churches; and now the conservative bishops are no more conservative than the empty buildings... These new nominations are all put into effect according to the same principle: pious men are sought who still wear clerical dress, who above all are personally devoted to the pope, not contesting the Council at any price, and without forgetting the indispensable condition, we might say, of antagonism vis-à-vis Archbishop Lefebvre and the Society. Tomorrow they will seal an unhappy alliance with Dom Gerard and the Society of St. Peter. One of these men, Cardinal Groer, Archbishop of Vienna, has recently revealed his tactic, "Rome" he says "would like to pursue the liberal and humanistic orientation of the Church, and would be interested in a liberal Austria!"

We must be ready for a long drawn-out struggle

How, therefore, are things going to develop? We must get ourselves used to the ideal of a long drawn-out struggle to a fierce confrontation with modernistic impiety and the destructive forces of society. On the other hand the internal apostasy will accelerate even if the restorative half-measures hold back the visible exterior from crumbling: in Amsterdam 14 churches have just been sold, in Detroit 35 have been closed!

We must wage this battle on all fronts: Faith, Philosophy, and Theology, Social Doctrine, the interior renewal of institutions founded for salvation in the Blood of Jesus Christ, marriage and the family, seminaries and monasteries, as well as restoration of the Catholic structures of society in so far as this is in our power. This is the time of tillage and sowing. By our sweat, tears, and, if God wills, our blood, we sow the seed in order that a future generation may reap a rich harvest for the divine granary. One final word: he who disposes himself to struggle for a long time, perhaps for all of his life, and who perseveres with Mary beneath the Cross of Christ, he alone will not succumb to the innumerable seductions of the false attempts at restoration.

"O Lord, my God, I believe in Thee, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Thou art my only hope. Hear me, in order that although weary, I may not cease to seek Thee, but that arduously and tirelessly I may seek Thy face." (St. Augustine)

On the First Sunday of Lent, 12th February 1989

Father Franz Schmidberger, Superior General

Gospel prophecies concerning the last times are being realized. Religious Liberty secularizes the whole of society and a harmful optimism about the future is encouraged. Christ is God, and God cannot change. True Christian charity means leading those in error to Christ. More seminaries opening and planned. Consecration of the world, Russia and the SSPX to Our Lady.

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

Gospel prophecies concerning last times being realized

The Gospel prophecies concerning the last times, given by the mouth of the Incarnate Truth and by His Apostles, are being realized more fully with every passing day. We are seeing:

• the false prophets they warned us of, "who work great signs and miracles so as to deceive, if it were possible, even the elect";
• "charity turning cold," falsehood and impiety obtaining worldwide sway, anarchy spreading, minds being blinded and hearts hardened;
• a general apostasy from the revealed faith in one God in Three Persons and in Him whom He has sent, Jesus Christ;
• the propagation of a new religion of pure humanism—of love, tolerance, peace and progress—while those who hold to traditional doctrine are persecuted;
• the appearing of the precursors of Antichrist, until the time when he will come himself "to take his seat in God's sanctuary, and to show himself as if he were God."

With this in mind, read the following passages, placing them in the context of the whole Gospel: Matt. 24; Jn 16, 1-4; II Thess 2, 3-12; I Thess 5, 3; II Tim 3, 1-5; 4, 3-5; I Jn 2, 18-25; 4,1-6; Apoc.12.

Religious Liberty secularizes the whole of society

Were not the principal lines of this development sanctioned by the Second Vatican Council? The Decree on Religious Liberty secularizes the whole of society. If, in fact, the State and society have a duty to tolerate every error, why then should individuals still direct themselves by the Cross of Christ, and bear its weight? This Decree is like the banishing of a God hitherto present on this earth in the lives of individuals and of nations. With the decree on Ecumenism, the dogma "no salvation outside the Church" has been abandoned in its essential content. The question of truth, and of faith, is henceforth subordinated to values such as mutual understanding, dialogue, balance and peace. It is only a short step further to religious relativism, for if the Holy Ghost "has deigned to accept other religious confessions as means of salvation," then Christ has not founded one sole Church and our Creed is null.

A world super-church succeeds the collapse of the supernatural order

The Decree on Non-Christian Religions gives them a positive place in the mystery of salvation, at least implicitly in view of the context and general orientation. The whole supernatural order must then necessarily collapse, and the plan of founding a world super-church, one religion for all humanity, succeeds naturally. The Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich saw this diabolical activity in her visions more than 150 one years ago: "They have built a church, large, strange and extraordinary, in which all the Protestants, the Catholics and all the sects are to find themselves together with the same rights, and they are to form a real communion of the unholy, and become one flock and one shepherd." So a new Tower of Babel is on the way to being built, worse than the first.

A harmful optimism about the future is encouraged

Lastly, the Decree on the Church in the Modern World encourages an optimism about the future and about salvation that is thoroughly harmful. An earthly paradise seems attainable, and the words of Our Savior "straight is the way and narrow is the gate," the idea of the world as the enemy of God, with the need for Christians to be protected against corruption, all seem to belong definitely to the past.

For good reason Cardinal Ratzinger has described this document as an anti-syllabus; and this means that it is a document diametrically opposed to the traditional teaching of the Popes and to the witness of the martyrs, confessors and doctors of the Church.

Christ is God, and God cannot change

Dear friends and benefactors, the battle in which we are now engaged is the culmination of at least two centuries of antagonism, within the Church herself, between those faithful to her, and the liberals. And meanwhile the prophecies of Our Lady of Fatima are being realized to the letter before our eyes. So if in these confused times they tell us, "Here is the Christ," don't go off to look at this new humanist religion. And let us not give our loyalty either to dubious seers and messages, but rather unite together around our altars. And when they cry, "He is there," don't believe them, but seek Him in the Church's unchangeable doctrine, in the sacraments as they were received by our parents, in the Catechism of the Council of Trent, and also in the Rosary. "Christ yesterday, today and forever"—these are words to keep repeating to ourselves. Christ is God, and God cannot change; He is neither liberal, nor modernist, nor ecumenical, nor pentecostalist, but Catholic.

True Christian charity means leading those in error to Christ

And because the Bible was written and the Church founded in order that we may believe in the divinity of Christ and so have eternal life, and because it is impossible to please God without faith, we are not daunted by any labor for the sake of putting into effect, to the degree of our feeble strength, Our Lord's missionary command: "Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned" (Mk. 16, 15-16). True Christian charity, in fact, means inducing those who are in error and in false religions to leave the bad way they are in, so as to lead them to Him Who is alone the Way, the Truth and the Life and apart from whom "no man cometh to the Father" (Jn. 14, 6).

More seminaries opening and planned

It is only for the sake of the Faith and the supernatural life that we opened, on October 5, 1986, the International Seminary of The Holy Cure of Ars, at Flavigny. And it is for the Faith and the divine life in souls that we mean to open, in the autumn, St. Joseph's Seminary at Libreville (Gabon), and Holy Cross Seminary in Australia, as well as preparing St. Thomas the Apostle's Seminary in southern India.

Testimony of a return to the true Faith

Here is a testimony recently received in a letter from a young officer addressed to Archbishop Lefebvre:

• "What happens to many of the faithful happened to me. Doubts set in regarding the basic truths; luke warmness and indifference came over me little by little. Satan was successfully employing his usual art to gain my poor soul.
• "For me and my wife to be able to come back, it needed my meeting with ......, his friendship and his advice about reading, and also two visits to Ecône to the ordinations for the diaconate and for the priesthood.
• "It also needed a poor old parish priest, tired and weakened physically, and lost in a tiny village, but still faithful to the Mass of his ordination, for this wonderful life of grace to come and live in us again.
• "Again following my friend's advice, I went this summer on a retreat at the priory. I experienced there a real conversion. That day, the devil suffered his worst defeat in me; thanks, of course, to the infinite mercy of Our Lord, but also thanks to the fidelity of your priests—fidelity to His love for men, and above all to His teaching, His Gospel; in a word, fidelity to their priesthood. In fact, I discovered there all your work, Monseigneur. It was very clear to me that the holy will of Our Lord was seen unfailingly in you and in your wonderful work.
• "So it is as a true son that I come to kneel at your feet and express my own and my wife's deep gratitude, and our unbounded devotion."

God alone knows how much effort, prayer and sacrifice all this expansion has cost, and how much of our vitality is expended in this warfare against the powers of darkness, and how much share you, dear friends, have in this work of redemption. The promised reward is great: it is God Himself.

"Brethren, be sober and watch: because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour: whom resist ye, strong in faith." These are the words that the Church addresses to her children daily, in the evening Office.

Consecration of the world, Russia and the SSPX to Our Lady

In order to obtain all these great graces through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we intend to assemble at the feet of Our Lady of Fatima on the Feast of the Immaculate Heart, and there renew with filial devotion the consecration of the world, and especially of Russia, as well as the consecration of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X.

Father Franz Schmidberger, Superior General

Rickenbach, On the Feast of St. Mathias, Apostle 24 February 1987

Catholic Tradition can no longer be extinguished. Traditional religious houses are growing with vocations and Major Seminaries are opening in France and Gabon. Next year will see less expansion, but more strengthening. Continue firm in the Faith with a strong inner life. Support Tradition in word and deed by prayer, alms and carrying your crosses.
Dear Friends & Benefactors:

Catholic Tradition can no longer be extinguished

The Church's Tradition and the true Holy Sacrifice of the Mass are saved. The unceasing prayers and zealous sacrifices of countless souls from north, south, east and west, the unbroken fidelity of traditional priests and the courageous commitment of religious throughout the world, the ordination since 1971 of 280 new priests for the Society of St. Pius X, and for like-minded communities, have worked the miracle. Let further sanctions on the part of the bishops or of the enemies occupying Rome strike us, let all-destroying neo-Modernism and Marxist liberation theology continue their demolition work within the Church; yet the Church lives on! Catholic Tradition can no longer be extinguished.

Moreover, from the little spark of scattered priests and religious, from the gathering of young people around a bishop, there has grown a conflagration spreading wider and wider from day to day.

• The Benedictines of LeBarroux and the Benedictine nuns of Uzes are richly blessed with vocations.
• The Capuchins of Morgon, founded by Father Eugene, now number five friar-priests, and they are in the process of solidly building up their community.
• The Dominicans of Avrille include twelve members; in accordance with the tradition of their Order they preach in public in the streets and market-places of towns.
• The Bishop of Bourges tried once more this year to drive the Fathers of Fr. Lecareux' Fraternity of the Transfiguration out of the parish churches of his diocese. He did not succeed, thanks to the resolute resistance of the Catholic people.
• The Little Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi have sold their former motherhouse in Flavigny to the Society of St. Pius X and have moved to Brittany.
• The Carmelites of Quievrain began their rebuilding in 1978 with two nuns; today their community numbers seventy nuns in four Carmels; a fifth opened its doors on October 6 in Bas-en-Basset in France.
• The Sisters of the Precious Blood in Schellenberg (Principality of Liechtenstein) returned to the traditional Mass in 1977, since when their convent has again flourished.
• The Sisters of Atonement of the Holy Ghost in Mainz, who had become true martyrs of the Faith in the USSR, were able to emigrate to West Germany in 1966. The good they do so generously to the sick, the old and the poor is known throughout the city.
• The Sisters' branch of the Society of St. Pius X was brought into existence in 1973 by Sister Mary Gabriel, a natural sister of Archbishop Lefebvre. Today it numbers three novitiates and seven little communities amongst our priories.

Numbers of priests, seminarians, nuns and priories continue to grow

For its own part the Society of St. Pius X includes at the beginning of this academic year 177 priests, 260 seminarians, 15 brothers and 25 oblates. At the end of 1986 there should be 190 priests. With its seminaries, schools, retreat-houses and priories, it is operating in 22 countries in all five continents; foundations of new houses took place in July in Santiago, Chile; in August in New Zealand and the French Caribbean; in September in India. The opening of a new priory in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) is now being prepared. In addition, missionary journeys are being undertaken to New Guinea, to the Philippines, to Japan, Sri Lanka and to Lebanon, to countries of Africa and South America and also Scandinavia.

More retreats, days of recollection and youth camps than ever before were held by our priests in the course of this past summer.

Major Seminaries opening in France and Gabon

However, most important for us is and will always be the formation of priests. Hence we are opening on October 5th the International Major Seminary of St. Jean-Marie Vianney in France, where at the moment of writing thirty-five candidates from all over the world have registered to enter. Hence there is opening at the same time in Libreville (Gabon, Central Africa) the Major Seminary of St. Joseph, for which four candidates from black Africa are inscribed. We are thinking of founding a major seminary next year in Australia.

To our great joy Bishop de Castro Mayer will be taking part again this year in the priestly ordinations in the Argentine on November 30th, and to our own ten ordinands he will be adding two of his own, formed at his seminary in Campos.

Christ undistorted by errors, as continuing to live and to work down through the centuries in His Church—that is to say in Tradition—is the one and only Author of spiritual fruitfulness and true holiness.

1987 will see less expansion, but more strengthening

And if, in the year 1987, we are going to be somewhat thrifty in the founding of new priories, the reason for that is simply in order to build up our existing institutions, to form them according to our statutes as houses with a community life, and as far as possible not to leave any of our colleagues working on his own; otherwise the outer expansion could, in the long run, mean an inner slackening or even exhaustion which would serve nobody—neither the Church nor the people. We must at all costs preserve the fresh vitality and apostolic joy of our priests. Above all we must make long-term plans for the formation of a new generation of self-sacrificing priests, well-taught and zealous for souls.

Dear friends and benefactors! Let me lay out in five points for your earnest consideration what seems to me especially important for you today:

1. Be firm in the Faith, unyielding in professing the mystery and the law of Jesus Christ. Each time we give way on principles, we weaken our resistance and harm our vital work of re-building. Above all attend with your family only the Traditional Mass; it alone ensures one's keeping the Catholic Faith; it alone truly professes the Crucified and Risen Lord.
2. In today's age of confusion, practice with care the discernment of spirits. St. Ignatius of Loyola has set up precise rules for that in his book of the Exercises. Above all, give glory each day to the Holy Ghost and ask for His light, so that you may not be deceived through false prophets who are working when all is said and done for world revolution, or simply for their own glory instead of for the glory of God. The devil is cunning and deceives souls.
3. Support the Church's living Tradition in word and deed. All the institutions enumerated above live on the strength of faith of the Catholic people, and on that alone. "If you have plenty, give plentifully; if you have little, strive to give gladly even of the little you have," is the instruction of Tobias to his son in the Bible. Building up the Faith in Third World countries more than anywhere else requires our active Christian involvement. Let me, however, at this point, address to all of you most heartfelt thanks for your so generous support up till now. God alone knows all your hidden merits: they are inscribed in the Book of Life.
4. Only if you lead an inner life, making at least a little meditation every day, praying the Rosary regularly in your family, receiving the Sacraments frequently, and wholeheartedly fulfilling the law of Christ, especially His way of love—only thus can you survive these dark times without harm. "Whoever prays, is saved; whoever does not pray, is damned," says St. Alphonsus de Liguori.
   Living as a Christian demands also that you see to your children's being taught the catechism and that you send them to truly Catholic schools, that you practice the apostolate of charity amongst the old, the sick and the poor around you, that you promote the observance of the Ten Commandments in your place of work, and that you impregnate the temporal order with a supernatural spirit.
5. The true Christian is recognized by the cross which is marked on his forehead in Baptism and Confirmation. The more apostasy, terrorism and anarchy spread, the more willingly must we climb the way to Calvary with the Suffering Lord in resignation and love. To a brave family which most generously set to work in the preparing of a new priory, I had especially recommended prayer and sacrifice as the spiritual basis for the new foundation. Shortly before the arrival of our priests, the father of the family, who was in the prime of life, was called to eternity by God, through a heart attack. The letter of condolences addressed by me to the widow received from her the following reply: "Yes, the ways of God's Providence are often very mysterious. But there are occasions in life also when one recognizes His design with clarity. And while we stand awesome struck at His almighty ways and go burdened beneath the Cross, we know at the same time a certain joy at submitting to His holy will, and a feeling of safety in the knowledge that He has everything fully in hand. Remember, Father, that you had asked us to prepare the way by prayer and sacrifice. We have prayed and are praying much. It was God Himself who decided upon the sacrifice. Our son and myself, who were at the death-bed, recognized this the moment he died. We know the depth of the sacrifice and we are fully confident that the Priory and the Society in our country will be richly blessed."

It is not external successes nor world-wide expansion which prove that we are genuine followers of Christ, but the carrying day by day of the redeeming Cross of Christ, in faith, hope and love, as children of that Mother, who can transform the bitterest of suffering into joy and consolation.

Father Franz Schmidberger, Superior General,

The Society of St. Pius X Rickenbach

Feast of the Holy Rosary, 7 October 1986

The Extraordinary Synod in November confirmed the errors of Vatican II. Recent events show that we are close to a worldwide religion presided over by the Pope. The pope's actions sadden us, but it is not our position to judge him. The situation is desperate, but we can still make a difference by forming holy priests and all of us leading holy lives.

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

Synod confirms errors of Vatican II

The past few weeks and months have been dramatic for the Church. The Extraordinary Synod which took place in Rome from the 25th of November to the 8th of December, confirmed Vatican II with all its errors and ambiguities, despite the disaster which these have brought about over the last twenty years. Here is what can be read in the final overall report: "Unanimously and also joyfully we have verified that the Second Vatican Council is a legitimate and valid expression and an interpretation of the deposit of faith such as it is contained in Holy Scripture and in the living Tradition of the Church." A further quote: "Unanimously we have celebrated the Second Vatican Council as a grace of God and a gift of the Holy Spirit: Numerous spiritual fruits spread from it throughout the Universal Church and through the particular Churches, as too for the men of our time."

And on the 25th of January, the Pope, in a sermon given in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside The Walls, invited all religions to Assisi to pray together for peace.

Recent events show that we are close to worldwide religion

It suffices to cast a glance over the events of the last three years to see just how close we are now approaching to the establishing of a great worldwide religion presided over by the Pope, having for its one and only dogma the liberty, equality and fraternity of the French Revolution and the Masonic lodges.

1. The new Canon law promulgated by the Pope himself on the 25th of January, 1983 abolishes the clerical state. Henceforth the Church is "The People of God" in a Protestant and egalitarian sense, without subordinates and without superiors. The hierarchy is no more than "a service" according to the explanation of Pope John Paul II in his Constitution, the Church is to be defined as "a communion" and by its "concern for ecumenism." Canon 844 explicitly allows intercommunion, Canon 204 confuses the priesthood of the priest with the spiritual priesthood of the laity, etc. . .
2. On Sunday, December 11, 1983, the Pope preached in a Protestant church of Rome after having more or less invited himself to do so.
3. The Bishop of Sherbrooke, Quebec (Canada), has repeatedly invited Protestants into his Cathedral for their false ordinations. He himself took part in one of these ceremonies and received "communion" from the hand of a newly ordained female minister.
4. On February 19, 1984, a new concordat was agreed upon between the Holy See and Italy: henceforth, applying the Council's Declaration on Religious Liberty, Italy is no longer a Catholic State but a lay State; that is to say, an atheistic State; according to the same document, Rome is no longer the Holy City!
5. On May 10, 1984, the Pope visited a Buddhist temple in Thailand; he took off his shoes and sat down at the feet of a Buddhist bonze, who himself was sitting in front of the altar on which there was a large statue of the Buddha.
6. In their pastoral letter of September 16, 1984, the Swiss bishops came to the important conclusion that "the desire to receive together the same bread at the same table, that is to say, the desire that the Mass and the Supper be no longer separately celebrated, comes from God. However," add the bishops, "careful thought must be given to the timing of the realization of this desire." Moreover, they supported a project of law undertaking to change the marriage law and destroying, no more nor less, marriage and the family. Well, thanks to their support, this new marriage law was accepted in Switzerland on September 22,1985. Once more, the bishops are proving to be the grave diggers not only of the supernatural order but even of the natural order established by God.
7. The French episcopate continues to impose the heretical catechism Pierres Vivantes (Living Stones) for religious instruction, to the great detriment of the children. "But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone be hanged about his neck and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea" (Mt 18, 6).
8. A joint statement by Cardinal Hoffner and Mr. Lohse, president of the German Evangelical Church Council, signed on January 1, 1985, grants to the partners in a mixed marriage the freedom to marry, to have their children baptised and to raise them in either church. Now the Canon Law of 1917, canon 2319, punishes each of these three crimes with a special excommunication.
9. In his book The Ratzinger Report (1985), Cardinal Ratzinger claims that in extreme cases the other religions are "extraordinary" means of salvation. No, your Eminence: Jesus Christ and He alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; nobody comes to the Father but by Him!
10. In a note on how to present Judaism in the catechism, published on June 24, 1985, Cardinal Willebrands claims that, like the Jews, we are waiting for the Messiah! And he refers to the Pope's own words, who stated in front of the Jews on November 17, 1980 in Mainz, that the Old Testament is not yet abrogated.
11. During the summer of 1985, the Vatican sent an official delegate to the laying of the foundation stone of a huge new mosque in Rome.
12. In August of 1985, the Holy Father proclaimed to young Muslims in Casablanca that we Christians adore the same God as they do — as though there is a Most Holy Trinity and an Incarnation of God in Islam! A few days later, he went with some animist priests and their escorts to the outskirts of Lohomay, to a cult in the "holy forest" where "the force of water" and the divinized souls of the ancestors are invoked. And at least two times at Kara and Togoville — at Kara just before celebrating Holy Mass! — he poured water and cast corn flour into a dried-out cucumber skin, a gesture professing a false religious belief.
13. A Catholic-Evangelical Commission, set up to close the visit of the Pope to Germany in 1980, declared in its final report published on January 24, 1986, that there are no more divergencies between the two confessions as far as justification, the Eucharist, the priesthood and the papacy are concerned. The attentive observer does not fail to notice that here is being openly proclaimed the unified ecumenical religion.
14. And now on January 25, 1986, he called upon all religions to gather together in Assisi to pray for peace. According to the newspapers, the date of October 24, the anniversary of the founding of the UN, might be chosen. "What God are people going to pray to, who explicitly deny the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ? Truly the devil came up with that idea," commented Archbishop Lefebvre.
15. Lastly, in the course of his journey to India, the Pope spoke only of dialogue and mutual comprehension between religions in order that they promote together human brotherhood and social well-being.

The pope's actions sadden us, though others will judge him

Do you think, my dear friends, that to lay out these things gives us joy? It fills us with grief to write them down, our sole concern being the welfare of Mother Church. Similarly, we are far from wishing to judge the Pope — we gladly leave this delicate task to a later judgment of the Church. We do not belong to those who hastily declare that the Papal See is vacant, but we let ourselves be led by the history of the Church. Pope Honorius was anathematized by the Sixth Ecumenical Council because of his false teachings, but no one has ever claimed that Honorius was not Pope. However, it is impossible for us to close our eyes in front of the facts.

Carbonari plotted to use a pope to undermine the Church

And the secret instructions of the Carbonari like their correspondence around the year 1820 are also facts! This is what we read: "The work which we are going to undertake . . . may last several years, perhaps a century . . . what we must strive and wait for, like the Jews wait for the Messiah, is a Pope according to our needs. . . . With that, in order to smash the rock on which God built His Church . . . we have the little finger of Peter's successor involved in the plot. . . . To be sure of a Pope of the kind we wish, we must first of all make him a generation worthy of the reign that we are dreaming of for him. . . . Get yourself the reputation of being a good Catholic. . . . This reputation will gain easy access for our doctrines amongst the young clergy. . . . In a few years the young clergy will in the normal course of things have taken over all functions . . . it will be called upon to choose the Pontiff . . . and this Pontiff, like most of his contemporaries, will necessarily be imbued with the humanitarian principles . . . that we are going to put into circulation."

"We must little by little, very gradually, arrive at the triumph of the revolutionary idea through a Pope. . . . This project has always seemed to me a superhuman calculation."

Moreover, we read in the Little Exorcism of Leo XIII, in its original version: "Now most cunning enemies have filled with bitterness the Church, Bride of the Immaculate Lamb, have made her drink absinth, have laid their wicked hands upon everything beautiful within her. Where the seat of blessed Peter and the throne of Truth was established like a light for the nations, there they have set up the abominable throne of their wickedness, so that having once struck the pastor they might scatter the flock."

We can make a difference by forming holy priests

What are we to do, faced by this situation which from a human point of view is desperate? Pray, work and suffer with the Church. We are doing what lies within our power, which means first and foremost, in accordance with our statutes, forming holy priests for the Church. The ordinations of la Reja (Argentina), on the first Sunday of Advent, December 1, attended also by Mgr. de Castro Mayer and four of his priests, raised the total new priests ordained for the Society in 1985 to a figure of thirty. That is many and at the same time it is few if one thinks of the urgent appeals for help coming from the whole world.

Just a few weeks ago we were able to open a new house in Gabon. Soon the first two priests of ours will be installed in the priory which we have just acquired with a church in Santiago, Chile. We are envisaging further new foundations in the course of this year: in India, New Zealand, and probably in Brazil. Our outward and physical buildings are no other than signs of the inward and spiritual building up of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, His Church. That is why we shall be opening a seminary in France in the autumn, because Ecône is no longer large enough to receive the numerous vocations coming there.

However, our Sisters, too — our faithful collaborators in our apostolate in retreat houses and priories — are envisaging new foundations. They will take over the Novitiate already existing next to our Argentinean Seminary at la Reja, and in the month of July, they will found an English Novitiate at Armada, Michigan (United States). A German-speaking Novitiate should open in 1987.

The world has need of holiness in religious and lay people

Dear friends and benefactors! Be firm in the Faith, maintain your Christian hope, nourish your divine charity! Of holiness, and holiness alone, the world has need today: the holiness of priests and religious and nuns, holiness in the family and in marriage, holiness of youth and old age. "I shall give my children crosses," said the Blessed Virgin at Fatima, and she added, "I will give them numerous and heavy crosses." Undoubtedly, our task is to sow today in tribulations what others tomorrow will harvest in joys. Our present trials will come to an end. Sooner or later, progressive modernism will collapse like a house of cards. Let us start today preparing the future which belongs to Christ and His Most Holy Mother.

Do not let yourselves be taken in by false prophets, false apparitions and revelations, which are often a grave danger to the Faith, like the Pentecostal movement and the fabrications of the Charismatics. The old rosary, the true Mass, and the genuine Sacraments, these are the means given to us by God Himself to make our way to Heaven.

Of course, we are all the time counting upon the help of your charity, so as to be able to face the enormous expenses of each day. Strive to calm the sufferings of the Church bleeding through a thousand wounds, by a generous Lenten donation to the benefit of our various institutions. Almsgiving joined with fasting wipes out sins like water extinguishes fire.

We carry you all within our priestly heart. The charity of Christ makes us dwell day and night with you and your families gathered together to pray in our chapels and missions scattered throughout the world.

May Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, bless you and protect you.

Father Franz Schmidberger

Rickenbach, February 7,1986

Archbishop Lefebvre has had a richly blessed 80 years, but his most important work has been the recent rescue of Holy Mother Church. Ecône has become the model for training priests in our time. God's sanctuary is reconstructed and the enemy kept at bay, though the adversaries press on with their liberal theology.

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

Archbishop Lefebvre has had a richly blessed 80 years

When His Excellency Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre celebrates in a few weeks his 80th birthday (November 29th), he can look back on a richly-filled life blessed by God: a life as missionary in Africa, as Archbishop of Dakar and Apostolic Delegate of the Holy See for sixty-four dioceses, as Bishop of Tulle, as Superior General of the five-thousand-strong Congregation of the Holy Ghost Fathers.

His most important work has been the rescue of Holy Mother Church

However, Divine Providence reserved his finest, greatest and most important work for his later years: total involvement in the battle for the rescue of Holy Mother Church, her dogmas, and the Kingship of her Lord and Master, the preservation of the Catholic priesthood and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, through the founding of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X.

For fifteen years young men from all over the world have been leaving family, profession, work and home, drawn by the light of his glowing faith and by the warmth of his burning love of God, in order to be formed in one of his seminaries and to ascend the steps to the altar. "Gaudium meum et corona mea" he called some of these young men a little while ago in the words of St. Paul: "You are my joy and my crown." This year there are seventy of them who have come from twenty countries, not counting the vocations of Brothers and Sisters.

Ecône has become the model for training priests in our time

"The Priestly Society could be training clergy strong in the Faith throughout the world; Ecône would thereby become the model for training priests in our time," as a Cardinal said to me not long ago. His words sounded to me almost prophetic. For indeed we are on the point of founding two new seminaries: one in central Africa in the region where "Father Marcel" (before he became Archbishop) used to work, the other in India to serve the whole of Asia. Yet these are not the only signs of the visible blessing of God. Rather we are looking forward with anticipation and joy to the imminent priestly ordinations on December 1st, the first to take place at the Seminary of Mary, Co-Redemptrix, in LaReja, Argentina—ordinations which will bring the number of our priests to one hundred and sixty! We are overwhelmed with God's mercies when we see ten new churches and more than twenty new chapels throughout the world which we were able to open this year alone: when we see new schools arising in France, the Spiritual Exercises being given in Lebanon in late July, the active charity of the faithful of the priory in Saarbrucken taking upon themselves the patronage of our apostolate in Asia . . .

God's sanctuary reconstructed and the enemy kept at bay

The summons to the crusade for Holy Church seems day to day to be translating into action, thanks to your powerful cooperation, dear friends and benefactors. The last remains of Christendom, with the devastation of the innovators all around them, are taking up arms in self defense. With their right hand they reconstruct God's sanctuary, with their left they holy the enemy at bay. Peacefully but resolutely they advance as missionaries to the conquest of lost territory. They counsel those in doubt, they teach the ignorant, they correct sinners, they console the sorrowful, they forgive wrong inflicted on them, they bear patiently with the troublesome, they pray to God for the living and the dead.

Adversaries advance with liberal theology

Nor are their adversaries standing idle. Liberal theology so-called, in fact Marxism in religious dress, has in the meantime created 120,000 basic communities in South America alone. The inculturation in Africa and Asia, which is nothing other than the taking of African and Asian Christians back to their old heathenism, is steadily spreading, whipped on by its ideological promoters.

However, to go no farther abroad than Europe, last but not least there was recently approved in Switzerland—through the betrayal of the bishops—new marriage legislation, opposed to natural law and to divine revelation alike, which totally destroys all authority in the family. In Germany, the President of the Bishops' Conference, Cardinal Hoeffner, signed a common statement, according to which mixed marriages may be celebrated in the Catholic or the Protestant Church, the children born from the marriage may be baptized in either church and brought up in either religion. With regard to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Protestant Supper, the document speaks of agreement despite a "few differences"!

The tree is known by its fruits

Do such bishops still have the Catholic Faith? And in such conditions, what is to be expected of the special Synod of Bishops, due to take place this year in Rome between November 25th and December 8th? In any case we renounce in advance any attempt with Cardinal Ratzinger to "discover the true face" of the supposedly misunderstood and misinterpreted Second Vatican Council, we cleave much rather to the words of Our Savior, that the tree is known by its fruits, which, in the case of Vatican II, have led to a worldwide syndrome of heavy poisoning. Seventy thousand priests who have abandoned the priesthood are merely one symptom among many others.

"Pray without ceasing," we are admonished by St. Paul, following Our Lord, Who calls upon us to watch and to pray. Keeping the Faith, perseverance in prayer, apostolic deeds and courageous striving for holiness, are the order of the day. May the Mediatrix of all graces help us to this end. May she richly reward with many graces from heaven your generous support of our work. May she lead the straying Church back to the poor, humble, Crucified Savior, Jesus Christ!

Father Franz Schmidberger, Superior General,

The Society of Saint Pius X, Rickenbach, Switzerland, 27 September 1985

The Society consecrated to the Mother of God. We are attached to truth, to the Mass and to saving souls. The work of the Mystical Body itself will remove the scandal in the Church. For fifteen years now there has been a miraculous building up of the Church. Support of the seminaries is key.

Dear Friends and Benefactors:

Consecration of the Society to the Mother of God

The most outstanding event of the last few months in the Priestly Society of St. Pius X was the consecration of the Society to the Mother of God, which, for us, should now become a reality lived day by day; to sing her praise unceasingly, to give battle beneath her banner against the enemies of God and to trample underfoot the satanic head of laicism and liberalism, to carry out her work in restoring the Church to her image and to build up again a Christian civilization. That is our mission, that is the object of our desires; in that consists our honor.

We are attached to truth, to the Mass and to saving souls

What have we been struggling for during the fifteen years of the Society's existence? A spiritual motive has moved us, relying on the help of God's grace, to stand against a whole world of enemies: against liberalism — with protestantism, its father and socialism, its son — we have had to stand up to powerful men of this world and even prelates in the Church. This we have had to do not out of whimsy or proud self-exaltation, but as a sacred duty before God. It is not mere differences in outer forms, or human misunderstandings, or a lack of skill in diplomacy which have led to our apparent condemnation; no, it is our unyielding attachment to the royal prerogatives of the truth, our defending the Catholic Faith with its costliest treasures, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Priesthood of Jesus Christ, our giving all we have to save the divine life in souls — this, and this alone, has called forth the wrath of our adversaries.

The work of the Mystical Body itself will remove the scandal in the Church

Consequently the removal of this scandal in the Church is not a matter of political skill or of working out an equivocal formula to make everyone happy. The cessation of the enemy occupation alone, the condemnation of the destructive liberal principles and the unconditional return to Tradition are the only way willed by God and befitting the dignity of the Church. In the last resort it is a matter not of our own relatively modest work, but of the Mystical Body of Christ Itself. And so as men of the Church we wish to fight the good fight, to keep the Faith, and by this means to win for ourselves and for as many others as possible the crown of everlasting life.

We are still far from a practical solution

A practical solution consisting in the recognitions of the Society of St. Pius X as being of pontifical right with personal prelate status presupposes then an accompanying solution of the principal questions within the Church. From this we still seem to be a good distance away, for we see as yet amongst the prelates in Rome little trace of any energetic intervention in the style of a Pope St. Pius X:

Cardinal Ratzinger in his analysis of so-called liberation theology of August 6, 1984, lays out the perversity and revolutionary tendency of the whole system, yet today there is already talk of the positive aspects of liberation theology, and so the theologians Boff and Gutierrez will continue to scatter the seeds of class warfare throughout Latin America.

On October 3 of last year, the Roman Congregation for Divine Worship made it possible to once more celebrate the traditional rite of Mass, but, at the same time, attached such conditions to this permission as to make it unacceptable to any believing Catholic.

Cardinal Ratzinger in his interview of August 6, 1984, with the Italian periodical "Jesus," lays unmistakably bare the wounds of the Church: the denial of Christ's divinity in the West, the immorality in North America, the Marxist liberation theology in South America, the paganizing synchronization with local culture in Africa and Asia. Yet, at the same time, he speaks warmly of the fruits of two hundred years of liberalism which, he says, the Church assimilated in purified form in the 1960's.

The judgment of Pope Pius IX is quite different

What a difference from the judgment of Pope Pius IX in his Encyclical Quanta Cura: "For you know well, venerable brethren, that at this time there are found not a few who, applying to civil intercourse the impious and absurd principles of what the call "naturalism," dare teach 'that the best form of society, and the exigencies of civil progress, absolutely require human society to be constituted and governed without any regard whatsoever to religion, as if this [religion] did not exist, or at least without making any distinction between true and false religions.' . . . . From this totally false notion of social government, they fear not to uphold the erroneous opinions most pernicious to the Catholic Church, and to the salvation of souls, which was called by Our Predecessor, Gregory XVI, insanity (Encyclical, 13 August 1832): namely: 'that the liberty of conscience and of worship is the peculiar (or inalienable) right of every man, which should be proclaimed by law, and that citizens have the right to all kinds of liberty, to be restrained by no law, whether ecclesiastical or civil, by which they may be enabled to manifest openly and publicly their ideas, by word of mouth, through the press, or by any other means.' . . . . Amid so great a perversity of depraved opinions, We, remembering Our apostolic duty, and solicitous before all things for Our most holy religion, for sound doctrine, for the salvation of the souls confided to Us and for the welfare of human society itself, have considered the moment opportune to raise anew Our apostolic voice. Therefore do We by Our apostolic authority, reprobate, denounce and condemn generally and particularly all the evil opinions and doctrines specially mentioned in this Letter, and We wish that they may be held as reprobated, denounced, and condemned by all the children of the Catholic Church."

The emphasis of the old and new rite is shown in the opening words

Just how far this evil spirit, scourged by Pope Pius IX, stood godfather to the reform of the liturgy is patently clear from a declaration of the Press Relations Office of the German Bishops' Conference, dated October 19, 1984. It runs: "The main difference between the pre-conciliar rite and the renewed rite of Mass can perhaps best be made clear from the first words of each rite. The Tridentine rite of Mass begins with the words 'Sacerdos paratus,’ that is, "When the priest is vested." The renewed rite of Mass begins with the words 'Populo congregate' that is, "When the people have gathered together.' Then it is clear: the emphasis in the old rite of Mass was exclusively on the celebrant's action; the renewed rite of Mass brings the community action of the people of God into the foreground, within which the celebrant exercises an essential and untouchable function. From this inward difference derive also most of the outward differences between the two rites."

For just the same reason the new Canon Law with its eucharistic hospitality, its protestantizing concept of the people of God and its assertion that God's church subsists in the Catholic Church, is unacceptable, except in purely disciplinary matters.

Conspiratorial network reaches into the governments of Western nations

Just how far the undermining by anti-catholic forces have already progressed was made clear a few weeks ago by a high-up Vatican prelate in a conversation with Archbishop Lefebvre. He informed him 'with far-reaching details of the whole conspiratorial network in which not only various individuals in the Roman Curia have been caught up, but which also reaches into the nunciatures and even the governments of Western nations.

It is now fifteen years of miraculous building up of the Church

It may well be for our numerous sins that we have not until now deserved any improvement of the situation. .. so it is a pure act of mercy of Jesus Crucified if we can see before our eyes the miracle — lasting now almost fifteen years — of the founding of monasteries and convents, above all in France; the growth of prayer groups and youth organizations, the spread of our Priestly Society which, over that time, has implanted itself in eighteen countries on four continents. Two examples manifest the faithful people's hunger and thirst for the truths and gifts of salvation: in Santiago, Chile three months ago Archbishop Lefebvre, in a single ceremony, gave 1,200 children the Sacrament of Confirmation. In the United States, according to a Gallup Poll in November, 1984, 53% of Catholics would attend the traditional Mass in suitable conditions of time and place!

Old rite now being offered every hour of every day all over the world

Thanks to your generous support alone were our new foundations in Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, Portugal and Holland possible last autumn. Since then they have been bearing abundant fruit. For example, six young Colombians are entering the Society's seminary in the Argentine in March. And how urgently the Church today needs self-sacrificing prayerful priests who are strong in the Faith! Already the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is being offered somewhere on earth almost every hour of the day and night in its venerable rite bestowing grace and blessing, by Society priests, to say nothing of all the faithful diocesan and religious priests. Certainly this helps you better to carry your cross, in union with the God-Man sacrificed upon our altars. Moreover, this year for the first time, thirty young men from our four seminaries will be mounting the altar-steps to offer their first Mass. Yet, how many more cries for help reach us daily — not only from Europe but also from Africa, South America, India, Japan, New Zealand. It is not exaggerated optimism to count on the members and houses of the Priestly Society doubling over the next five years. This requires however the blessing of heaven, which we discern not least in the kindness of your gifts, spiritual and material. Let me then apply the appeal of St. Pius X as Bishop of Mantua to our own seminaries, schools, retreat houses and priories:

Love the Seminary!

"The Church cannot stand without priests, and the priesthood cannot last unless provision is made for the education of clerics. We must do all in our power to make our seminary flourish once again. I do not ask the impossible: I know that your earnings are small, but I also know that there are many of you . . . many grains make a heap and many drops a shower! Have you yourselves not witnessed the unused church and the abandoned altar, the empty confessional? Have you not seen young men growing up ignorant of the things essential for their salvation, the sick and dying without the consolations of religion? Sion is left desolate, because no one is there to call the people to the feast of the Lord. Do not think I wish to give you commands or lay on you harsh sacrifices. If I am asking for alms, I do so with the humility of a beggar. I have only one request: Love the Seminary! That alone will be enough to enable your bishop to work wonders.

"Love the Seminary! This is the desire of your bishop. Let no one allege the scantiness of his income or the poverty of his parish, for there is no one who cannot give a cent, a fruit, a vegetable. Nothing is impossible to him who loves.

"Love the Seminary! This is most necessary for the Diocese of Mantua at the moment. Your small offerings will renew for you the prodigy of the widow of Sarephta, who, for the morsel she gave to the Prophet Elias, received the promise that the pot of meal should not waste nor the cruse of oil be diminished."

May the holy season of Lent purify and strengthen you to behold the glorious wounds of the risen Savior on Easter morning; may Jesus, Mary and Joseph bless you and your home, and reward your love a thousandfold!

Father Franz Schmidberger, Superior General

Rickenbach, Ash Wednesday 1985

Events over the last few months show the decline in the Church. As the cult of man advances we need to hold on to Tradition. The rebuilding and renewal of the whole Church is being achieved a little at a time: new churches are opened and many seminarians to be ordained. Society to be consecrated to the Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary.

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

Events over the last few months show the decline in the Church

The decline in the Church and in society continues in its broad lines. This is seen clearly by a glance over the events of the last few months:

• The new Canon Law, the putting into juridical form of the revolutionary spirit of the Council, was brought into force on the First Sunday of Advent by the progressive party, despite all the reservations and objections of prudent theologians. To give just one example, there is no doubt that by the new canon 204's unfortunate adoption of the conciliar expression, whereby the Church of God subsists in the Catholic Church (and that, therefore, the Church of God is not identical with the Catholic Church), there is at least an implicit denial of the necessity of the Catholic Church for salvation; thus, other religions are declared to be means of salvation. This is how one passes from a missionary Church to a worldwide ecumenical church, the next step being the synarchy; this is how the identity of the Mystical Body of Christ is undermined in its very foundation.
• The Concordat between Italy and the Holy See has been abrogated. Italy thus becomes a secularized state; the teaching of religion to school children is no longer obligatory.
• In a significant move, the Vatican breaks off diplomatic relations with Nationalist China in order to be able to enter into dialogue with Red China, and thus sells out one of the last strongholds of freedom.
• The Pope, on the Third Sunday of Advent, preaches in a Protestant church in Rome, and on March 2nd, he again refers to the possibility of union between Catholics and Lutherans.
• In Holland — where as long ago as 1970 the Synod desired that the Pope be no more than the secretary of the united churches, that celibacy as well as the priesthood be abolished, and that women be ordained — an important group of theology professors and priests now call for the blessing of the Church on the remarriage of divorcees, on homosexuality and on euthanasia.
• In Germany, the new chant book no. 2, the tendency of which is wholly socialist and marxist, some of its songs being blasphemous, is being placed in the hands of 130,000 young Catholics.
• The persecution of those who hold firm to the two-thousand-year-old Tradition of the Church continues: in South Africa a priest friendly to us was suspended in January; as was another in Germany just recently.

Advance of the cult of man

It is not surprising if everywhere theology is being transformed into a social theology with a leftist orientation; if liturgy and prayer are being transformed according to the cult of man; and if the apostolate is sinking into exhaustion!

Hold on to Tradition

"What will the Christian Catholic then do, if a new epidemic tries to contaminate not only a small part, but the whole Church at the same time? He will strive to attach himself to antiquity, which can no longer in any way be corrupted by any deceitful novelty. He will seek first and foremost to hold firmly to that which has been believed everywhere, always, and by everyone" (St. Vincent de Lerins).

Rebuilding and renewal of the whole Church achieved a little at a time

Thus, even while the overall collapse continues, nevertheless here and there, in humble initiatives, in the battle to gain a number of isolated souls, in the support being given to a number of families, in the gathering of scattered priests and nuns, in the founding of new seminaries and convents, there is being achieved the rebuilding and renewal of the whole Church, a task in which the Society of St. Pius X sees itself wholly given over to the guarding of the sacred fire in which Our Lord Himself cast upon the earth for it to burn. In accordance with its statutes, its members as Apostles of Jesus and Mary, strive only to make of their lives a Mass lived daily, with the soul of a priest, in a permanent act of self-offering, in a redemptive spirit of prayer, suffering and charity.

New churches opened and many seminarians to be ordained

Thanks to your prayers, dear Friends and Benefactors, to your affectionate support and to your generous gifts, we have in the course of the last half-year been able to consolidate and build up our work considerably: on December 8, 1983, the new church in Sydney (Australia) was solemnly inaugurated; on January 8, 1984, Msgr. Lefebvre consecrated the new church in Marseilles, and on the same day I blessed the first church in Holland, at Helmond, dedicated to the Holy Family. By the grace of God, Msgr. Lefebvre will this year be able to ordain twenty-nine priests for the Society alone: four in Ridgefield, USA, on May 13; nineteen in Ecône, Switzerland, on June 29; and six in Zaitzkofen, Germany, on July 1st. This will enable us considerably to extend our apostolate in France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, the United States and Canada, and to envisage new starting points in Holland, Portugal, Colombia, Mexico and South Africa.

French Catholics fight for freedom in education

The protests of French Catholics against the suppression of freedom of teaching and education are a new stimulus for us to consecrate an ever growing attention to the apostolate of youth, according to the words of Our Lord: "Let the little children come unto Me; for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

And that is why I appeal to you, not with a haughty or demanding spirit but with the attitude of a humble beggar: continue to aid us by your fervent prayers and your generous sacrifices, as you have done up to now. The efficacious support of your apostolate, by your fidelity to the Faith and your fighting spirit, by your kind sympathy and unselfish charity is a vital necessity for our work. "God loveth the cheerful giver," says the Apostle.

Society to be consecrated to the Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary

In order that our activity may be situated ever more within God's plan of salvation, and that our Society may always grow in fruitfulness, merit and importance, we have decided to consecrate it to the Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary this year on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Could I ask you to prepare yourselves with us from today for that important day? Just as St. Maximilian Kolbe placed himself without reserve in the service of the Immaculate Conception, we desire to be consumed in the sanctuary of her Divine Son, in the service of her apostolate.

May Our Lady of Sorrows, full of compassion for the one and only Savior of the world, along with St. Joseph, deign to lead us in her mercy through this Lent, through the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ, to His resurrection on the morning of Easter Sunday.

"Rejoice, O Virgin Mary, thou alone hast destroyed all heresies throughout the world."

Reverend Father Franz Schmidberger,
Superior General

Rickenbach, 10 March 1984