Rector's letters

"Leave a parish without priests, and in thirty years time men will adore the beasts." The degrading spectacle that our world offers us daily confirms the truth of these words of the Saint Curé of Ars. It would be dangerous, though, to assume that the disastrous absence of priests affects only others, and not us. Memory brings to mind the lyrics of a French song that, already twenty years ago, remarked on this tragic loss and its frightening consequences: "Where is the cassock by which the man of God was respectfully recognized as he passed by?" The priest has disappeared, and with him a living testimony of the existence of God. Nothing is left to remind men of sacred realities. The lives of many pass away in increasing coarseness, and the adoration of God has yielded its place to the adoration of Man and his unassailable "Rights." Modern man is not content with adoring beasts, as the pagans did, but has reduced himself to their level.

When we are lost, we do not hesitate to ask directions from a complete stranger and then follow them exactly. This trust, which we automatically give to someone who may well be an inveterate liar or a downright scoundrel, we usually deny God. This distrust of God is an effect of our pride which drives us to want to know, to rule, to foresee – in a word, to control. Although we are obliged to submit to the innumerable vagaries of our existence, it is still hard for us to adore God in humility and blindness, in ignorance and submission, dependent on multiple events over which we have no power.

The death of John Paul II has been the occasion for the media's presentation of an accurate picture of the long years of his Pontificate. They have done this with great rejoicing. We share their analysis, but we are saddened by it. Prompted by his false liberal vision of man as an absolute, John Paul II considered himself the servant of man, with Christ as the most beautiful exemplar of humanity. In the service of mankind, and trying to reconcile it with itself, he also became the champion of ecumenism. It is true that this premise of man as an absolute has permitted the Pope to keep firmly attached to the moral principles. On this point, our sentiments are radically different from those of the press because it has, in general, complained about this firmness. But this shadow has been very slight and it has not been an impediment to the world-wide media triumph that was his funeral. Although we have rejoiced to see the reaction of Christian people justly saddened by the loss of the Holy Father, we cannot but regret that this filial reaction has been transformed into a sentimental manifestation of devotion towards a charismatic man.

Firstly, let me invite you to persevere in prayer for the intentions of Holy Mother Church. This is a time for prayer and sacrifice, for daily fidelity to grace. By praying for the repose of the soul of Pope John Paul II, we discharge our duties towards him, far from the polemics that, in this moment, could only be sterile. This is the appropriate time for following the repeated and pressing exhortations of Our Lady regarding our double duty of being souls of prayer and penance. Let us also pray for the Cardinals entering into the Conclave, so that they may be docile to the inspirations of the Holy Ghost.

Holy Mother Church never ceases to invite us to turn our eyes towards Our Lord Jesus Christ, in order to know Him, to love Him, to follow Him and to be like Him by participating in His grace. Nonetheless, dazzled by our own excellence, we like to let our gaze linger upon ourselves and contemplate our own importance. As long as we do not radically change our object of contemplation, we will not be able to answer this maternal invitation favorably.

"Enjoy yourself," the world is forever telling us. "Enjoy yourself and do not be ashamed. Pleasure will make you happy." How difficult it is to resist such an invitation! We naturally desire happiness, but we are usually under the insidious influence of the modern confusion between pleasure and happiness, and thus, we are only too ready to listen to those voices that invite us in such an insistent manner to savor all the fruits of pleasure. In reality, this constant solicitation is a dreadful trap.

Jaded child of an artificial world, modern man has lost the capacity to be surprised. He cannot understand the importance of taking the time to pause, discover and admire the beauty of those realities not made by the hand of man. The wonders of nature and the stunning workings of grace leave him unmoved. He is unable to appreciate their munificence and harmony, which proclaim the perfections of God.

Interview with Father Le Roux by the French SSPX newsportal La Porte Latine.

The world seems a desert where all traces of the Divine Presence have been ruthlessly swept away by the parching winds of Materialism – a desert in which men do not know where to find the salutary waters of grace. Spiritually dehydrated and trying to extinguish the internal fires that torment them, men rush off in vain spiritual quests that are no more than mirages.

On November 21, 1974, in Rome, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre wrote a memorable manifesto, a vigorous declaration of Catholic Faith against the errors infecting the Church today. In it, he presented, very clearly and firmly, the profound motives that had led him to oppose the grave doctrinal deviations of the Roman authorities. That text made quite clear that his opposition to the Roman reforms, far from being the result of a schismatic or rebellious spirit, was no more than the expression of his deep and indefectible devotion to the Throne of Peter.