No Fault Apostasy

by Thomas A. Droleskey

No-fault automobile insurance was implemented in the State of New York in 1974. The goal of no-fault automobile insurance was to make it possible for an insured driver to receive a payment from his own insurance company immediately after an accident to pay for repairs to his vehicle and to pay for medical treatment, if any was required, without having to pay out of his own pocket prior to a settlement of the claims with the other parties. Such costs paid by an insurance company to one of its insured drivers can be recovered if there is a finding of fault on the part of the other driver. It is the insurance company, though, that pays out the money initially after the insured pays his deductible amount to the body shop and/or to medical personnel/facilities.

Well, we have reached a stage now of "no-fault" apostasy within the Church. Nothing happens to those who engage in acts of apostasy. Priests get consecrated as bishops. Bishops get transferred to metropolitan archdioceses. Archbishops become cardinals. Cardinals become popes. Popes get to become candidates for canonization after they die. No earthly sanction is imposed upon those who deny articles contained in the Deposit of Faith or who mock the Faith by praising some false religion or who engage in some gross profanation during the celebration of what purport to be "liturgies" of the Novus Ordo Missae.

Consider the effort of the Archbishop of Seoul, South Korea, Nicholas Cardinal Cheong Jin-suk, to equate the spirit of Buddha with Catholicism:

That is why we need Buddha's teaching more and more. We believe that we can solve the problems by following Buddha's compassion and practicing love, which is the fundamental teaching of all religions.

No, sadly--and I do mean sadly, this is not being made up. The false religion of Buddha has been praised by a Prince of the Catholic Church. Yes, this is not the first time this has happened. I know. Nevertheless, ladies and gentlemen, we should still be dismayed as Catholics when a member of the College of Cardinals can equate the concept of "love" offered by a false religion with Love Incarnate, Love Crucified and Resurrected, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The "emptying of self" that is of the essence of Buddhism permits the devil to enter souls as one engages in false meditative practices. We are never to be "emptied of self" so as to be placed in a spirit of "Nirvana." We are to be filled with very inner life of the Blessed Trinity by means of sanctifying grace. Buddhism thus is the worship of self above all in the belief that a person will be rewarded in a reincarnated life for the good acts done in his current incarnation.

Apart from being a false religion based on principles of pantheism, Buddhism, far from being a "religion of peace" (which is what President George W. Bush calls Mohammedanism) and "love," is a religion of violent intolerance for Catholics. Seven martyrs for the Faith were killed in Thailand in 1942 by the peace-loving Buddhists in charge of the city of Songkhon. Sister Agnes, one of the seven who were beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1989, wrote the following to the police chief of Songkhom on the evening of Christmas, 1942:

"To the Chief Police in Songkhon

Yesterday evening you received your order…to wipe out, definitely, the Name of God, the Only Lord of our lives and minds. We adore Him only, Sir. A few days earlier, you had mentioned to us that you would not wipe out the Name of God and we were rather pleased with that in such a way that we put away our religious habits which showed that we were His handmaids. But it is not so today. We do profess that the religion of Christ is the only true religion. Therefore, we would like to give our answer to your question, asked yesterday evening…which we did not have a chance to respond because we were unprepared for it. How we would like to give you our answer….We are asking you to carry out your order with us…. Please do not delay any longer….Please carry out your order. We are ready to give back our lives to God who has given them to us. We do not wish to be the preys of the devils. Please carry out your order. Please open the door of heaven to us so that we can confirm that outside the Religion of Christ no one can go to heaven. Please do it. We are well prepared. When we will be gone we will remember you. Please take pity on our souls. We will be thankful to you and will be grateful to you for it. And on the last day we will see each other face to face. ("The Seven Martyrs of Thailand," Catholic Home Page website)

The bravery of these martyrs for the Faith in the wake of the wretched hatred of the Buddhists is demonstrated by this moving account, which Archbishop Khai of Thailand has told any number of times during his visits to the United States of America:

The police reacted quickly. On the following afternoon of the 26th of December 1940 on the feast of St. Stephen the first martyr, they arrived at the convent and shouted: "Are you ready, Sisters? If you are, go straight to the bank of the Maekhong." But Sister Agnes objected, "No, that is not the place for us to die for Christ. We must go to the cemetery, the holy place."

In the line they walked to the cemetery singing hymns and calling to the people.

"Good-bye, we are going to Heaven, we are going to become martyrs for Christ." How these brave and noble women remind us once again of the martyrs of ancient Rome, joyfully entering the arena for the love of Jesus Christ.

Seeing the police marching the children and Sisters to the cemetery, the people of the village realized that the police were going to kill them there. They too followed the Sisters and their Companions wishing to die with them. However the police brushed the people aside with their rifles, saying angrily: "We only intend to kill those in line."

A young girl named Suwan was one of those in the line. She was willing to become one of Christ’s martyrs but her father upon hearing what was happening rushed to the scene to rescue his little daughter. Suwan on her part clung to Sister Agnes begging her "Mother Agnes, help me please, I want to die with you and go to Heaven." "But you are too young to die" said her father and he snatched her away and carried her back home where he locked her in a room.

Having arrived at the cemetery the brave women knelt down beside a fallen tree trunk. They continued praying and their hymn-singing.

Sister Agnes turned and addressed the police: "You may kill us but you cannot kill the Church and you cannot kill God. One day the Church will return to Thailand and will flourish more than ever. You will see with your own eyes that what I am now saying, will come true. So we thank you from our hearts for killing us and sending us to Heaven. From there we will pray for you." Once again this noble woman demonstrated the true Christian spirit, full of faith and forgiveness. Once again her words echo those of many great martyrs before her.'

Then turning to her companions. Sister Agnes said: "My dear friends we will soon be in Heaven."

On the cross, Jesus said to the thief, "This day you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43) When all were ready, Sister once more addressed the police saying: "Mr. Policeman, we are ready, please do your duty."

Immediately the police opened fire and left the cemetery shouting to the people. "Bury them like dogs, for they are bad people." The poor villagers who were watching the scene from behind nearby bushes, rushed forward and began to shake the bodies to see who was alive or dead. They found that both Sister Agnes and Phorn were still alive but badly wounded.

Looking around, Phorn asked: "Where is heaven?" She understood from the Sisters’ teaching that if one died a martyr one went straight to Heaven, but looking around Phorn saw not Heaven but a crowd of locals. Sister Agnes on her part inquired: "Where are the police?" "They’ve left already." Someone volunteered. "Then you better call them back, I’m not dead yet." Said the brave Agnes. So one of the villagers returned to the village to inform the police that Sister Agnes and Phorn although badly wounded were still alive.

In the meantime another girl called Sown who had knelt at the end of the line stood up and looking around exclaimed: "Where is Heaven?" Seeing that her clothes were spattered with blood and the people inquired if she was hurt. "I’m afraid not. I don’t feel any pain." Son replied. She then examined herself more closely but found no bullet wounds. "You’d better run home." She was advised: "As the police will soon be back here." So the little girl ran home. She is still alive, healthy and living in Songkhon. She is also an excellent catechist. In a short time the police returned to the cemetery and killed the wounded Agnes and Phorn.

Ah, yes, another religion of "peace and love" being extolled by a Catholic cardinal. As we know, however, nothing will happen to Cardinal Cheong Jin-suk. He is engaging in a spirit of inter-religious "dialogue" with a "religion" that can help to foster "peace" in the world. And even though the official Vatican announcement commemorating the birth of Buddha did mention Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as the incarnation of love, it contained the following assertion of "common ground" between Buddhists and Catholics:

The message concludes with the hope that "the feast of Vesakh may be a time when the friendship between Buddhists and Christians is consolidated and collaboration in the spirit of agape and metta is strengthened." (Zenit, May 4, 2006)

Agape? Go tell that to the Thai Martyrs, who were the victims of the great "love feast" of Buddhism.

No Consequences for Putting the Resurrection in Doubt

Similarly, there are usually only rewards, not sanctions, when a priest puts into question articles contained in the Deposit of Faith. While it is very nice that Pope Benedict XVI called the Resurrection the "central fact of Christianity" recently, he did personally reward a priest, Father Bruno Forte, who placed the Resurrection into doubt. Consider this report from Christopher A. Ferrara that was run in The Remnant in early 2005, written at a time Pope John Paul II was, as the Vatican now admits, near death:

Whatever happens, it is undeniable that the Pope no longer has effective control over the governance of the Church. Various essentially autarchic eminences are now conducting Vatican business according to the Pope’s “indications,” which they will interpret for us until the Pope is finally dead. Another example of this alarming situation, which threatens to make the Pope’s disciplinary laxity seem strictly conservative by comparison, is the little-noticed story of how Bruno Forte, a priest of the Archdiocese of Naples, was suddenly made a bishop five months ago. Forte, who last year was brought to the Vatican to preach a Lenten retreat to an already incapacitated Pope, is rumored to be Cardinal Ratzinger’s replacement as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. How this happened is anybody’s guess. The rumor has caused a great deal of consternation for one simple reason: Forte is a flaming neo-modernist. As noted in the Winter 2005 issue of The Latin Mass in a report by its Italian correspondent, Alessandro Zangrando, Forte was a pupil of none other than the infamous Cardinal Walter Kasper. (In yet another sign of things falling apart at the top, immediately after Kasper’s own elevation to the rank of cardinal he publicly declared to the press that the Old Covenant remains in force and is salvific for the Jews, and that Protestants are under no obligation to convert and become Catholics.)

Worse still, Zangrando, a respected journalist not given to reckless claims, relates that Forte’s 1994 essay Gesu di Nazaret, storia di Dio, Dio della storia (Jesus of Nazareth, history of God, God of history) reveals Forte as nothing less than “the standard-bearer of theories so radical as to the point of putting in doubt even the historicity of the resurrection of Christ. The empty tomb, he argues, is a legend tied into the Jewish-Christian ritual performed at the place of Jesus’ burial. It is a myth inherited by the Christians from Jesus’ early disciples. Therefore, the empty tomb, along with other details surrounding the resurrection, is nothing but a ‘proof’ made up by the community. In other words, Forte is trying to change the resurrection of Christ into a myth, into a kind of fairy tale that cannot be proven.”

Forte’s elevation to bishop was rather mysterious. Zangrando notes that Forte’s name did not appear in any list of possible candidates submitted to the Italian Nunciature, and even his ordinary, Cardinal Michele Giordano, Archbishop of Naples, “was reportedly against that appointment.” But, “in an apparent attempt at putting to rest a growing controversy” over Forte’s candidacy, he was personally consecrated a bishop by none other than Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger¾the very man Forte will succeed as head of the CDF, according to the rumors. Yes, “our only friend in the Vatican” has struck again. More and more it becomes apparent that this man is perhaps the most industrious ecclesial termite of the post-conciliar epoch, tearing down even as he makes busy with the appearance of building up. The longer Ratzinger “guards” Catholic doctrine, the more porous the barriers that protect it become.

Indeed, as I have pointed out more than once on these pages, it was Ratzinger who wrote in 1987 (in the second edition of his Principles of Catholic Theology) that the “demolition of bastions” in the Church is “a long-overdue task.” The Church, he declared, “must relinquish many of the things that have hitherto spelled security for her and that she has taken for granted. She must demolish longstanding bastions and trust solely the shield of faith.” Now it seems that with the bastions all but demolished, even the shield of faith is about to clatter to the ground.

There is no doubt the Holy Ghost will save the Church from extinction and bring about her restoration. In the end, no other result is possible. Before this happens, however, the difference between extinction and non-extinction may come to be far smaller than even traditionalists might have supposed. On the other hand, the very next Pope could be another Saint Pius X, who will finally take arms against our enemies and impose immediate restorative measures we could scarcely have imagined. Who knows which way it will go? All we can do is continue our loyal opposition, pray for the advent of a kingly, militant pope, and hope that the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary will soon be upon us.

As we know, the man who consecrated Bruno Forte to the episcopate, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger succeeded Pope John Paul II, is hardly an echo of Pope Saint Pius X. Pope Benedict XVI's views of the General Resurrection of the Dead on the Last Day, contained in the now infamous An Introduction to Christianity, will be addressed at some point when they can be explored in the full context of his treatment of the issue (there are quotes, found at page 277 of An Introduction to Christianity, that indicate then Cardinal Ratzinger wrote that Saint Paul taught not the "resurrection of bodies but of persons," something that must be examined in its full context before any further observations are made). There are few aspects of the Faith that Pope Benedict does not believe can be re-defined by the use of what he calls "living Tradition," the subject of his new series of General Audience addresses on Wednesdays. There were no consequences at all for his own career-long effort to ignore the precise definitions of dogma handed down over the centuries in his quest to "return to the ancients" for a way to make the Faith more "relevant" to modern man. There are many adverse consequences for the eternal good of souls by believing that it is possible to re-define the truths of the Faith as has concilarism and its apologists have done with the full weight of ecclesiastical power in the past forty-eight years. There are grave consequences for souls when a high-ranking prelate spends his entire career trying to undo dogmatic formulations with which he was personally "dissatisfied."

No Consequences for Those Who Live Their Lives Outside of the Faith

Those who live their entire lives outside of the Catholic Church are more or less guaranteed of their salvation according to the view of Pope Benedict XVI's late mentor, Father Hans Urs von Balthasar, the apostle of the error of "Universal Salvation." There are no consequences at all for Protestants and Jews and Mohammedans and Buddhists and Hindus and animists and atheists if they persist until their dying breaths outside of the Catholic Church. Indeed, Pope Benedict XVI said that the Protestant syncretist, "Brother" Roger Schutz, had attained "eternal joy" following his murder last year by one of his devoted followers. Sure, one can live one's entire life outside of the Catholic Church and get to Heaven immediately upon death. After all, the "Church" is larger than Catholicism in the world view of the former Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. There are other "communities" with their own "traditions," which traditions Pope John Paul II urged the followers of Schutz' Taize Movement in 1986 to adhere to their respective "denominational" ties:

For those in the Catholic hierarchy evidently intent on abandoning the concept of ecumenism as renunciation of error and return to the Catholic fold, Taize, Schultz, and Thurian became living examples of the kind of Christian reconciliation allegedly possible. During one of several audiences with Schultz, Pope John XXIII responded to a reference to Taize by saying, "Ah, Taize, that little springtime!" In spite of the fact that Thurian personally asked Pope Pius XII not to define the Assumption, both he and Schultz were invited to the Second Vatican Council, where, according to Schultz, they had numerous private meetings with the Council fathers, to "study the evolution of the texts, write up notes, and give our point of view when asked." it is well known that Thurian participated in the Consilium which revised the Roman rite; speaking of the Consilium's ecumenical fruit, he later declared, "It is now theologically possible for Protestants to use the same Mass as Catholics."

Roman fascination with the Taize experiment was not, however, reciprocated by a corresponding interest in the Roman religion by the Taize founders. In 1975 Roger Schultz asked of Rome, that a reconciliation come about without requiring non-Catholics to repudiate their origins. Even with truly...catholic communion in view, repudiation goes against love." And Max Thurian expressed similar sentiments in 1976, asserting that "if a Protestant has the conviction that the Catholic Church, following the Second Vatican Council, rediscovered conformity with the apostolic church, he can then consider himself to be a member of that Church without, however,  renouncing his adherence to another ecclesial community.

In spite of such indifferentism, the Holy Father [the late Pope John Paul II] deigned to grace Taize with his presence on October 5, 1986, effectively inscribing his name on a long list of admiring visitors, including three Archbishops of Canterbury, Orthodox metropolitans, the fourteen Lutheran bishops of Sweden, and countless pastors from all over the world. Thurian received Holy Orders in a semi-secret ceremony conducted by the former Archbishop of Naples, Cardinal Ursi, and was later invited by John Paul II to join the International Theological Commission, and yet, according to the Taize community "no abjuration of [his] Protestant religion took place [!]"

It is even admitted by some Catholics that the change in Rome's attitude toward ecumenism was directly inspired by the work of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, through which Thurian accomplish so much of his ecumenical work in the 1980's: "...the Roman Catholic church changed her understanding of what we now call the ecumenical enterprise. . . Let me say that this huge change of Roman Catholic mentality is certainly in great part due to the high quality of the world done by the World Council of Churches, and especially Faith and Order."

Such a change of mentality was no doubt welcomed by the Taize founders, and in some fashion accepted by Pope John Paul II. [Taize co-founder Max] Thurian once suggested that "unity today in the churches exists as we renounce all our divisive ways, only holding to the fundamental faith which saves and joins us." In 1986 the Pope congratulated the members of the Taize community for "desiring to be [them]selves a "parable of community," [that] will help all whom [they] meet to be faithful to their denominational ties, the fruit of their education and their choice in conscience." (Father Didier Bonneterre, The Liturgical Movement: Roots, Radicals, Results)

No, according to Pope Benedict XVI, Brother Roger Schutz suffered no consequences upon his soul for remaining outside of the Catholic Church. He attained eternal joy. So do Jews, evidently, who wait expectantly for the coming of the Messiah, clinging to a Covenant that has never been superceded. It is thus easy for Pope Benedict XVI to ignore with utter impunity (to whom does he answer now save for God Himself?) the following dogmatic pronouncement of the Council of Florence, 1442, as though it never existed:

"The holy Roman Church believes, professes, and preaches that 'no one remaining outside the Catholic Church, not just pagans, but also Jews or heretics or schismatics, can become partakers of eternal life; but they will go to the everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels,' unless before the end of life they are joined to the Church. For the union with the body of the Church is of such importance that the sacraments of the Church are helpful to salvation only for those who remaining in it; and fasts, almsgiving, other works of piety, and the exercise of Christian warfare bear eternal rewards from them alone. And no one can be saved, no matter how much alms, he has given, even if he sheds his blood for the name of Christ, unless he remains in the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church."

There are no consequences if one ignores and entirely contradicts these plain words of Pope Pius XI in Mortalium Animos, January 6, 1928:

Let, therefore, the separated children draw nigh to the Apostolic See, set up in the City which Peter and Paul, the Princes of the Apostles, consecrated by their blood; to that See, We repeat, which is "the root and womb whence the Church of God springs,"[27] not with the intention and the hope that "the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" will cast aside the integrity of the faith and tolerate their errors, but, on the contrary, that they themselves submit to its teaching and government. Would that it were Our happy lot to do that which so many of Our predecessors could not, to embrace with fatherly affection those children, whose unhappy separation from Us We now bewail. Would that God our Savior, "Who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,"would hear us when We humbly beg that He would deign to recall all who stray to the unity of the Church! In this most important undertaking We ask and wish that others should ask the prayers of Blessed Mary the Virgin, Mother of divine grace, victorious over all heresies and Help of Christians, that She may implore for Us the speedy coming of the much hoped-for day, when all men shall hear the voice of Her divine Son, and shall be "careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

No, it is easy for Pope Benedict XVI to ignore the perennial teaching of the Church by pretending nothing much happened that binds the Church from the early Fifth Century until 1958. There are absolutely no consequences for treating the intervening period of time as a void that is irrelevant to the needs of "modern" man. Whatever this is, ladies and gentlemen, it is not Catholicism.

Delayed Consequences--Maybe, Perhaps, Possibly--for the Illicit Consecration of Bishops by the Rump Church in Red China

Some will say that there are consequences for some actions, citing Pope Benedict XVI's  threat to excommunicate the four bishops consecrated recently by the Chinese Patriotic Association, the heretical and schismatic "church" created by the Red Chinese government in the 1950s that adheres completely to the government's anti-life population policies. Oh, yes, he has threatened excommunication. His spokesman, though, Dr. Joaquin Navarro-Valls, has said that the Pope is looking for a way out of the crisis without having to impose such an excommunication. (I am going to leave aside the complexities and absurdities of how a "church" that was created by a Commmunist tyranny to serve its evil purposes has ever been in communion with the Holy See so as to be excommunicated!) Quite a difference between how the bishops of a truly heretical and schismatic church are treated and the way that the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre was treated summarily in 1988 without even a canonical hearing to adjudicate his claim that a state of emergency necessitated the consecration of bishops to preserve Tradition from Modernist Rome.

Rewarding Moral Relativism

No matter what conclusions we may draw about our current ecclesiastical situation, I think we can all agree that the Great Apostasy is upon us. The Vatican is about to give its approval to a morally-flawed scheme to "permit" the use of a certain device by married couples if one of them is infected with HIV/AIDS (which I realize are two entirely different things; how long has Ervin "Magic" Johnson lived with HIV?). The very ethos embraced by the heretical and schismatic Anglican Church's Lambeth Committee in 1930, therefore, is about to be embraced by the Catholic Church. How is this possible? (See my 2005 article on this subject, Fighting Evil With Evil.)

The Washington Post published an editorial on March 22, 1931, to condemn the Lambeth Committee's conclusion that a contraceptive device could be used by married couples in cases of grave necessity. Its words apply with equal force to the Holy See today:

"It is impossible to reconcile the doctrine of the divine institution of marriage with any modernistic plan for the mechanical regulation of human birth. The church must either reject the plain teachings of the Bible or reject schemes for the 'scientific production' of human souls. Carried to its logical conclusions, the [Lambeth] committee's report if carried into effect would sound the death knell of marriage as a holy institution, by establishing degrading practices which would encourage indiscriminate immorality. The suggestion that the use of legalized contraceptives would be 'careful and restrained' is preposterous.

"It is the misfortune of the churches that they are too often misused by visionaries for the promotion of 'reforms' in fields that are alien to religion. The departures from Christian teaching are astounding in many cases, leaving the beholder aghast at the willingness of some churches to discard the ancient injunction to teach 'Christ and Him crucified.' If the churches are to become organizations for political and 'scientific' propaganda they should be honest and reject the Bible, scoff at Christ as an obsolete and unscientific teacher, and strike out boldly as champions of politics and science as substitutes for the old-time religion."

Remaining Steadfast in Prayer to Our Lady and to Saint Joseph, the Protector of the Faithful

Yes, no matter what conclusions we come to, ladies and gentlemen, I think that we can all agree that only a genuine miracle is going to restore the Church in her human elements in the face of this Great Apostasy. We need to concentrate on our own holiness, flying unto the patronage of Our Lady and of her chaste spouse, Good Saint Joseph, the Protector of the Faithful, as we spend time with their Divine Son in His Real Presence. I just want to find a place to hide with my family so that we can get home to Heaven. For apart from the more egregious things that might come from Rome now and again (such as the forthcoming document on the use of a contraceptive device by married couples, as noted above), what more is there say? Only sadness can fill the heart of a Catholic when he looks at the extent of the apostasy and to recognize the tremendous loss of the Faith that is almost without parallel in the Church's history.

Yes, we know that Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart will triumph in the end. Though saddened by our state of affairs, for which our own sins are very much responsible, we do not give into despair. Oh, no. We remain steadfast in prayer as we build up the life of grace in our own souls on a daily basis, receive Holy Communion worthily, frequent the Sacrament of Penance regularly, and maintain our total consecration to Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, praying her Most Holy Rosary every day with love and devotion. What matters for us is that we die in a state of sanctifying grace, which is why we must cleave to the fullness of Tradition without compromise and flee as far as is possible from the rot of Modernity in the world and its wretched ally, Modernism in the Church.

May Our Lady send us the graces so that we can plant a few seeds for the restoration of the Church and thus of Christendom in the world as the fruit of the fulfillment of her Fatima Message.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint Helena, pray for us.

Saint Monica, pray for us.

Pope Saint Pius V, pray for us on this day, your feast day!

Pope Saint Pius X, pray for us.

Saint Catherine Laboure, pray for us.

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, pray for us.

Saint Basil the Great, pray for us.

Saint Gertrude the Great, pray for us.

Pope Saint Gregory the Great, pray for us.

Saint Bridget of Sweden, pray for us.

Saint Nicholas of Myra, pray for us.

Saint Nicholas of Flue, pray for us.

Saint Augustine, pray for us.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.

Saint Peter Canisius, pray for us.

Saint Isaac Jogues and Companions, pray for us.

Saint Edmund Campion, pray for us.

Saint Athanasius, pray for us.

Saint Philomena, pray for us.

Blessed Pauline Jaricot, pray for us.

Blessed Francisco, pray for us.

Blessed Jacinta, pray for us.

Sister Lucia, pray for us.

Ignatius Cardinal Kung, pray for the beleaguered Church in Red China.

An Afterword: Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre Reflecting on his "Suspension," 1976:

 

“What could be clearer.  We are suspended a divinis by the conciliar church, for the conciliar church to which we have no wish to belong.  

The conciliar church is a schismatic church because it breaks with the Catholic Church that has always been.  It has its new dogmas, its new priesthood, its new institutions, its new worship; all already condemned by the church in many a document – official and definitive.

This is why the founders of the conciliar church insist so much on obedience to today’s church, prescinding from yesterday’s church as though it no longer existed.

This conciliar church is schismatic because it has taken as a basis for its updating, principals opposed to those of the Catholic Church.  This conciliar church is therefore not Catholic!

To whatever extent pope, bishops, priests, or faithful adhere to this new church, they separate themselves from the Catholic Church. 

Today’s Church is the true Church only to whatever extent it is a continuation of and one body with the Church of yesterday and of always.  The norm of Catholic faith is tradition.  The demand of His Eminence Msgr Benelli is then illuminating:  submission to the conciliar church, to the Vatican II church,  to the schismatic church!

For our part we persevere in the Catholic church by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary."

Whatever our conclusions currently, can we all agree that Archbishop Lefebvre was exactly correct thirty years ago?

A Few Reflections to Keep in Mind as We Keep in Prayer

The Church will be punished because the majority of her members, high and low, will become so perverted. The Church will sink deeper and deeper until she will at last seem to be extinguished, and the succession of Peter and the other Apostles to have expired. But, after this, she will be victoriously exalted in the sight of all doubters. (Saint Nicholas of Flue)

Blessed Anne Katherine Emmerich had a pretty good grasp on what would happen in the future, which appears to describe perfectly our own present days:

Then, I saw that everything that pertained to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence. Most priests were lured by the glittering but false knowledge of young school-teachers, and they all contributed to the work of destruction.

In those days, Faith will fall very low, and it will be preserved in some places only, in a few cottages and in a few families which God has protected from disasters and wars.

I see many excommunicated ecclesiastics who do not seem to be concerned about it, or even aware of it. Yet, they are (ipso facto) excommunicated whenever they cooperate to [sic] enterprises, enter into associations, and embrace opinions on which an anathema has been cast. It can be seen thereby that God ratifies the decrees, orders and interdictions issued by the Head of the Church, and that He keeps them in force even though men show no concern for them, reject them, or laugh them to scorn. . . .

I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description. Such was to be the new Church. . . But God had other designs.

The Longer Version of the Saint Michael the Archangel Prayer, composed by Pope Leo XIII, 1888

O glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil.  Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil.  Fight this day the battle of our Lord, together with  the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven.  That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels.  Behold this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage.  Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay, and cast into eternal perdition, souls destined for the crown of eternal glory.  That wicked dragon pours out. as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity.  These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck the sheep may be scattered.  Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory.  They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious powers of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude.  Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church.  Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations.  Amen.

Verse: Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers.

Response: The Lion of the Tribe of Juda has conquered the root of David.

Verse: Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord.

Response: As we have hoped in Thee.

Verse: O Lord hear my prayer.

Response: And let my cry come unto Thee.

Verse: Let us pray.  O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and as suppliants, we implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin, immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of our souls. 

Response:  Amen.