Remember the Fatima message!

The message of Our Lady of Fatima can be summed up in the following:

1. Our Lady came to warn the world that if people do not stop offending God another, worse war than the First World War (fighting was still going on in 1917, the year of the apparitions) will start. It did, the Second World War took place between 1939 and 1945. And it seems likely that we're on the eve of a more devastating World War (see further in points 6 and 8).

2. She asked for repentance and praying of the Rosary. 

3. Our Lady showed Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta hell when she outstretched the palms of her hands downwards. She said that most people go to hell because of the sins of the flesh which should be totally understandable given what godless age we live in where flesh dominates the actions of men. 

4. She indicated that God wishes to save sinners by consecration to Her Immaculate Heart.

(In later years Sister Lucia emphasized to Father Fuentes that Satan is engaged in a great battle with the Holy Virgin where one side will be victorious and other defeated. Everyone must choose sides, either with God or with Satan. Remember Revelation 12 which speaks of the great red dragon i.e. Satan waging war with the woman i.e. Our Lady).

5. She came to warn that Satan will succeed to reach up to the top of the Catholic Church's hierarchy.

6. She asked for consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart to prevent Russia spreading atheistic communism throughout the world, fomenting wars and causing persecutions including within the Church and annihilating nations. The consecration was not done as required so Russia did spread her errors throughout the world. She also said that God will use Russia as an instrument of punishment for the sins of mankind. She said that Russia will be a scourge of the world.

7. She asked for reparation to Her Immaculate Heart to be done on the first 5 Saturdays for the ingratitude of men. What ingratitude is she speaking of? Towards her as Our Heavenly Mother who intercedes on our behalf to mitigate punishments and to appease God’s wrath. Reparation also for the blasphemies against her. 

(In later years, Lucia specifically asked the Lord Jesus why was His Mother with 7 thorns around Her Immaculate Heart. He replied that these represent the 7 blasphemies against Her as a person including Her Immaculate Conception, Her perpetual virginity and all the dogmas concerning Her person).

8. She said that in the end Her Immaculate Heart will triumph. After all the cataclysm, Her Immaculate Heart will triumph, the Era of Peace will begin and as many Catholic Saints have prophesied Russia will be converted, i.e. the Russian Orthodox Church will submit itself to the Roman Catholic Church. 

9. She also asked that we should always be willing to perform acts of sacrifice in reparation for sins. That constitutes crosses and sufferings that God would send our way. When we accept them, we mitigate the effects of sins upon the world. It should be done in the spirit of humility and self-denial.

May all be given the grace to see Fatima in its true light which it deserves to be seen in and understood.

Quotes to reflect upon (20)

We hold fast, with all our heart and with all our soul, to Catholic Rome, Guardian of the Catholic Faith and of the traditions necessary to preserve this faith, to Eternal Rome, Mistress of wisdom and truth.

We refuse, on the other hand, and have always refused to follow the Rome of neo-Modernist and neo-Protestant tendencies which were clearly evident in the Second Vatican Council and, after the Council, in all the reforms which issued from it.

All these reforms, indeed, have contributed and are still contributing to the destruction of the Church, to the ruin of the priesthood, to the abolition of the Sacrifice of the Mass and of the sacraments, to the disappearance of religious life, to a naturalist and Teilhardian teaching in universities, seminaries and catechists; a teaching derived from Liberalism and Protestantism, many times condemned by the solemn Magisterium of the Church.

No authority, not even the highest in the hierarchy, can force us to abandon or diminish our Catholic Faith, so clearly expressed and professed by the Church’s Magisterium for nineteen centuries.

“But though we,” says St. Paul, “or an angel from heaven preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema” (Gal. 1:8).

Is it not this that the Holy Father is repeating to us today? And if we can discern a certain contradiction in his words and deeds, as well as in those of the dicasteries, well we choose what was always taught and we turn a deaf ear to the novelties destroying the Church.

It is impossible to modify profoundly the lex orandi without modifying the lex credendi. To the Novus Ordo Missae correspond a new catechism, a new priesthood, new seminaries, a charismatic Pentecostal Church—all things opposed to orthodoxy and the perennial teaching of the Church.

This Reformation, born of Liberalism and Modernism, is poisoned through and through; it derives from heresy and ends in heresy, even if all its acts are not formally heretical. It is therefore impossible for any conscientious and faithful Catholic to espouse this Reformation or to submit to it in any way whatsoever.

The only attitude of faithfulness to the Church and Catholic doctrine, in view of our salvation, is a categorical refusal to accept this Reformation.

That is why, without any spirit of rebellion, bitterness or resentment, we pursue our work of forming priests, with the timeless Magisterium as our guide. We are persuaded that we can render no greater service to the Holy Catholic Church, to the Sovereign Pontiff and to posterity.

That is why we hold fast to all that has been believed and practiced in the faith, morals, liturgy, teaching of the catechism, formation of the priest and institution of the Church, by the Church of all time; to all these things as codified in those books which saw day before the Modernist influence of the Council. This we shall do until such time that the true light of Tradition dissipates the darkness obscuring the sky of Eternal Rome.

By doing this, with the grace of God and the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and that of St. Joseph and St. Pius X, we are assured of remaining faithful to the Roman Catholic Church and to all the successors of Peter, and of being the fideles dispensatores mysteriorum Domini Nostri Jesu Christi in Spiritu Sancto. Amen.

Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre

21 November, 1974

Ecône, Switzerland

Addition to Open letter to the diocesan Bishops and Auxiliary Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church

The author of this letter, Mr. Oostveen (first from left) in a FIUV activity some years ago. 

The stakes are too high to simply ignore this fact; a proposed solution

Addition to Open letter to the diocesan Bishops and Auxiliary Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church

This letter has been sent by e-mail to about 3100 Bishops (Diocesan and Auxiliary)

2 February, 2019 -- Presentation of the Lord - Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Your Excellency,

For the good of the Holy Catholic Church, I respectfully ask once more a little of your valuable time to consider the following, and with an earnest request to present this to the Holy Father and to the President of your Bishop’s Conference.
 

I refer to my mail of last month [http://www.ecclesiadei.nl/docs/open_letter.html] which identified for you the source of the “confusion, bitterness in human relations and fratricidal wars” that is evident in the Church since the Second Vatican Council. As befits a good engineer, after presenting you with the results of the problem analysis and its root cause, I now present to you a solution for the problem. Because the problem started due to the lack of “a gracious collaboration concerning the inspiration of the Holy Spirit” and continued with the introduction of the vague “spirit of the Council” in place of the clear hermeneutic rule set by Pope John XXIII, this problem is in essence of a supernatural origin. It therefore needs a supernatural solution, which expresses the unity between begging for mercy, a true confession of Faith and doing penance. The stakes are too high to simply ignore this fact.
 

My proposed solution is threefold:

First: The Church must in a gracious and humble manner, publicly request Mercy from the Holy Spirit This needs to be done by taking into account that the lack of “a gracious collaboration concerning the inspiration of the Holy Spirit” and its consequent “confusion, bitterness in human relations and fratricidal wars”, has penetrated so deeply into the Church that it has left virtually no one unaffected. 

Second: A public confession of Faith shall be made by all the Clergy and Hierarchy. This can follow the model of an extended Creed, like that of Pope Paul VI (Motu Proprio Solemnia Hac Liturgia, June 1968). In accordance with the Council opening address of Pope John XXIII, this creed should explain the full Doctrine “pure and integral”, “without attenuations or distortion” and in an understandable way without any ambiguity. This is essential, because the Church should "never depart the sacred patrimony of truth received from the Father", and above all, it should always act “in unity and in accordance with the Doctrine taught by the Fathers” [Ref. 1], [Ref. 2].

Third: The Church must publicly do penance. This is fundamentally necessary due to the lack of “a gracious collaboration concerning the inspiration of the Holy Spirit” by the majority of Council Fathers, and because so many Bishops, priests and religious had and have rejected the hermeneutic as set by Pope John XXIII. Such penance could be done by obliging all priests to celebrate individually – not as concelebrants - a number of Holy Masses that shall include the reading (in whole or in parts) of the extended Creed as a homily. The intentions of those masses shall be for all victims of that lack of gracious collaboration, over the last five decades both inside and outside the Church, for the healing of the wounds caused, for the conversion of all those who are still attached to that revolutionary spirit, and for the repose of the souls of those who have already died. [Ref. 3 ].

With my heartfelt gratitude for your kind and generous consideration, I offer you the assurance of my filial support and prayers, I hope for a speedy reply, and I humbly ask for the grace of your blessing.

Faithfully in Christo

Reference 1

 

The lack of gracious collaboration and the rejection of the hermeneutic as defined by Pope John XXIII has been initiated by those who were attached to the New Theology that in its turn was strongly influenced by modern ideologies. Here, among other points, this Creed should include a clear explanation why, in the light of the Truth, all ideologies of the modern times are principally false. This is especially so regarding the subject of unrestricted evolutionism that implicitly denies the Truth of original sin.

Reference 2

Given the subject of the upcoming meeting of the presidents of the Bishops' Conferences in the Vatican, sexual abuse by clergy is necessarily very topical. To this end, and especially because of the influence of silencing and implicit denial of original sin, this Creed should unequivocally include the Doctrine of the Church on sexuality: 

• Procreation must be stated (reiterated) as the first goal of sexuality.
• Homosexual activity must be acknowledged as and considered to be the main source of sexual abuse by clergy, but indeed not the only one. This can be clearly deduced from the statistics of the situation, where about 80% (USA) and 85% (the Netherlands) of the victims of sexual abuse by the clergy are male. Like all other disordered forms of sexuality, homosexuality exists due to original sin and our consequent fallen nature. Homosexual activity is therefore objectively a sin against the natural order, and as such one of the sources of sexual abuse. Though the abuse of priestly power in general is a grave sin, and creating victims of sexual abuse by that power is even a very grave sin, yet it has to be distinguished from the sexual abuse itself. The abuse of power over their victims, as well as the covering-up of sexual abuse by clergy, would not exist here without the evident lack of self-control due to a weakness of will, and the loss of discipline over their sexual feelings by the abusers. Therefore, the sexual abuse by members of the clergy must be considered as a matter of very grave sinfulness generally, precisely because it is also a violence against the vows they solemnly made to God at ordination.
• However, because, sexual abuse outside the Church is considerably more prevalent than that by the clergy, the very large numbers of those victims cannot count on any mea culpa’ by the worldly abusers. On the contrary, what can these victims expect from ideologist physicians, psychologists, politicians, jurists, public media and so on. They are the same people whom have strived for so many decades towards political acceptance and legalisation in favour of all kinds of disordered forms of sexuality, as if these would be normal forms of sexual behaviour. This makes the responsibility of the Church, not only towards the victims of the sexual abuse by clergy, but to all victims inside and outside the Church, all the more important and necessary.
• A responsibility not only for explaining the full Doctrine on sexuality “pure and integral”, “without attenuations or distortion”, in an understandable way without any ambiguity, but also for restoring and maintaining the unity between Doctrine and discipline.

Reference 3

The rationale for proposing that “all priests shall celebrate individually – not as concelebrants - a number of Holy Masses”, is because only in this way one can be sure that all priests will be confronted individually with the text of the Creed as a penitential act.

One of the Holy Masses offered should focus on the part of the Creed that explains the full Doctrine on sexuality. The intention shall be for healing the wounds of all victims of sexual abuse, both inside and outside the Church, as well as for true repentance and conversion of the abusers, and all who covered up or made the abuses possible.

Vatican II and the hermeneutic law of Pope John XXIII

Jack Oostveen, author of this letter, with Pope Benedict XVI

Open letter to the diocesan Bishops and Auxiliary Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church

This letter has been sent by e-mail to about 3100 Bishops (Diocesan and Auxiliary ).

 

January 13th, 2019 – Sunday after Epiphany, the baptism of the lord.

Your Excellency,For the good of the Church I respectfully request some of your valuable time in bringing the following matter to your attention and with a request to present this to the Holy Father.
 

It is a fact that the most of you were ordained after the Second Vatican Council. At the opening of the Council, only the eldest among you were about 19 years old and maybe young seminarians, while others were still in their childhood or even among the growing population of “not-yet-born”. Therefore, the Council is becoming more and more a historical event of which one has only second hand knowledge, which confronts us with contradictory ways of understanding the underlying hermeneutics: ‘continuity’ and ‘discontinuity’ being the main problems.
 

Herewith, it appears that lethal fruits are more and more manifestly apparent in the Church, namely “confusion, bitterness in human relations and fratricidal wars”. I maintain that these are direct consequences of the fact that a majority of Council Fathers and their theologians had acted in free will, contrary to a “gracious collaboration concerning the inspiration of the Holy Spirit” even on the first working day of the Council [Ref. 1]. And I also provide evidence that false portrayals of Pope John XXIII and the Council’s objectives have been deliberately created [Ref. 2]. This has led in subsequent years to a deliberate and deceitful referencing of the so-called ‘Spirit of the Council’ for interpreting the Council’s documents, in a manner contradictory to the hermeneutic law as set by Pope John XXIII in his Opening Address.
 

Pope John XXIII stated this as being: a renewal, not in a vague kind of continuity or a discontinuity, but explicitly in unity and in accordance with the Doctrine taught by the Fathers, never depart from the sacred patrimony of truth received from the Fathers” [Ref. 3].
 

Consequently, referring to the ‘Spirit of the Council’ has led to a departure “from the sacred patrimony of truth received from the Fathers”, by which more and more faithful have lost their Faith. Others wandering as sheep found themselves focussing on Sacred Tradition (i.e. “the sacred patrimony of truth received from the Fathers”) as their anchorage of Faith. While some others who consider that the false portrayals were true, have reached the ultimate conclusion and accused Pope John XXIII for what was laid down in these false portrayals. Therefore, those who have created and cherished these false portrayals or who have continually proclaimed them, bear a great responsibility for the consequences.
 

Evidently, with the words of Pope John XXIII in his Opening Address we find here a clear and prophetical explanation why these lethal fruits exist since the years of Vatican II:

‘Men are either with Him and His Church, and then they enjoy light, goodness, order, and peace. Or else they are without Him, or against Him, and deliberately opposed to His Church, and then they give rise to confusion, to bitterness in human relations, and to the constant danger of fratricidal wars’

 

Nevertheless, one must acknowledge that by allowing these irregular acts and their lethal fruits, the Holy Spirit always respect the free will of man, even that of each individual Council Father and their theological advisors individually. Just like Jesus respected the free will of Peter, when he three times denied knowing Jesus. Whereas, at the same time and above all in a wonderful way, the Holy Spirit also protected the Pastoral Council against creating full heresies. This by leaving open the possibility of interpreting the Council’s documents by free will in accordance with the rule set by the lawmaker of the Council, Pope John XXIII when he stated: “a renewal in unity and in accordance with the Doctrine taught by the Fathers”. Thereby, given that the Council was set up as “Pastoral”, the full Doctrine of the Church is the leading guide and has to be maintained “pure and integral” and undoubtedly “without attenuations or distortion” [Ref. 4].

Please, I humbly beg you for your heartfelt and sincere prayers for the Holy Father. While Pope Francis has been drowned in, and as such betrayed for more than 55 years, by the dissident liberal spirit of the Jesuits, he certainly needs and deserves our spiritual support. So that, as St. Peter initially denied to know Jesus thrice, similarly, he may have a change of heart, following which he can also confirm his brethren.

With my heartfelt gratitude for your kind and generous consideration, I offer you the assurance of my filial support and prayers, I hope for a speedy reply, and I humbly ask for the grace of your blessing.

Faithfully in Christo

-o-o-o-o-

 

Additionally to this letter:

To whom, who has some difficulties regarding the conservative understanding of Pope John XXIII, please, consider the Opening Address of the Council by Pope John XXIII as well as the following contributions of Peter Kwasnewski published at the New Liturgical Movenent:

1. The Opening Address by Pope John XXIII on the on the Vatican website only in Latin, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese. The English translation can be found outside the Vatican website here.
2. Remembering the Real John XXIII
3. A New Series: Pope John XXIII in His Own Words
4. John XXIII in His Own Words (2): The Mass and the Priesthood
5. John XXIII in His Own Words (3): Devotion to Saint Pius X and Blessed Pius IX
6. John XXIII in His Own Words (4): The Defense of Catholic Truth
7. St John XXIII Asks the Faithful Not to Applaud in Church

-o-o-o-o-

Reference 1

This concerns a chain of irregular acts on October 13th, 1962, the first working day of the Council, that were deliberately initiated by Father Yves Congar O.P. and had been discussed by the French Bishops on the previous evening, October 12th. These irregular acts are enumerated as follows:

1. Cardinal Liénart, a member of the Presidium, reading a paper prepared by Mgr. Garonne. This was doubly irregular, firstly the intervention itself, and secondly by addressing the request for changing the Council’s rule for that specific day to the Council Fathers instead of towards the Holy Father.
2. An intervention by Cardinal Frings, also a member of the Presidium, confirming the intervention by Cardinal Liénart. He also did this in the name of Cardinal König, who did not belong to the Presidium. Evidently, this meant that these German Cardinals were informed by the French, prior to this first session.
3. The applause that was started by a few Council Fathers, but which grew to include the majority. This occurred despite the fact that it was officially forbidden to applaud.
4. The change of the Council’s rule by the Presidium.
5. The lie by Cardinal Liénart to convince the Pope that his intervention, which was deliberate, premediated and prepared at the evening before was a spontaneous, charismatically inspired act.

All these successive irregularities broke the council’s legal framework, putting Pope John XXIII in a situation of ‘a fait accompli’ and demonstrating a lack of ‘a humble and gracious collaboration with the intention of the Holy Spirit’. Surely, it is obvious that these acts have had direct consequences regarding the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for each individual Council Father involved.

(Return to letter)

 

-o-o-o-o-

Reference 2

 

Among others, these false portrayals become clear by referring to the quote from the Opening Address of Pope John XXIII about the “prophets of doom”. Even during the Council, by using the pseudonym ‘Xavier Rynne’, a Redemptorist priest and theology professor had anonymously made such a false portrayals in his book “Letters from Vatican City”, which was internationally published in several languages. He wrote that regarding this quotation, Pope John XXIII especially mentioned here the conservative Curial Cardinals, and that he would agree with the objectives of the dissident liberal Council Fathers. With this he made a statement that still is hugely cherished by the liberal wing, as it was recently referred to in that way by Pope Francis in his Opening Address to the Synod of Youth.

 

For a good understanding to whom Pope John XXIII had referred as the “prophets of doom”, please first consider the full context of this quotation. He stated:

“In the daily exercise of our pastoral office, we sometimes have to listen, much to our regret, to voices of persons who, though burning with zeal, are not endowed with too much sense of discretion or measure. In these modern times they can see nothing but prevarication and ruin. They say that our era, in comparison with past eras, is getting worse, and they behave as though they had learned nothing from history, which is, none the less, the teacher of life. They behave as though at the time of former Councils everything was a full triumph for the Christian idea and life and for proper religious liberty. We feel we must disagree with those prophets of doom, who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world were at hand”

 

So, to which of the following groups among the Council Fathers did Pope John XXIII refer to?

 

1. Was it the conservative wing, who accepted to discuss the preparatory documents, which were called by Pope John XXIII in his Opening Address as the “initial gift of celestial grace”? At the time of the Opening Address, they had nothing to fear from this Council, and in what way would they have been motivated to predict “doom” scenarios for the Church and the world, by seeking to prevent the Council? Moreover, they had encouraged Pope John XXIII to call this Council.

 

2. Or was it the liberal wing, who disagreed with this “initial gift of celestial grace” and worked on its replacement? They had at the time of the opening address, to fear for a full condemnation of their liberal thoughts by the Council, as this was clearly present in the preparatory documents and even mentioned in the Opening Address itself. Herein Pope John XXIII condemned the ‘uncertain opinions of men’ and the ‘new-born errors’, as well as he acknowledged that there certainly were ‘fallacious teachings, opinions, and concepts to be guarded against’.

 

Isn’t it obvious that it must be the liberal wing? Because of their knowledge of the progress of the preparatory work, they had to fear most the outcome of the Council and therefore had every motive to come up with “doom” scenarios for the Church and the world to prevent the Council proceeding as originally planned. At the start of the Council, it was the liberal wing that confronted Pope John XXIII with “a fait accompli” by deliberately breaking the Council’s rule on the first working day of the Council, creating a conditional situation to reject and replace the preparatory documents. Wasn’t it the liberal wing which after the Council made efforts to replace the hermeneutic rule as set by Pope John XXIII’s objectives for the Council? Even despite Pope Paul VI repeated the original hermeneutic rule in his closure address to the Council: “never depart from the sacred patrimony of truth received from the Fathers”, they changed this rule for a vague and ambiguous terminology “spirit of the council”. In this way they were able to eliminate all undesired conservative influences, including the interventions by Pope Paul VI and the original hermeneutic rule of Pope John XXIII. (Return to letter)

-o-o-o-o-

Reference 3

To further explain and clearly illustrate these false portrayals, I beg you to consider the following quotes taken from the Opening Address of Pope John XXIII on October 11th, 1962. These were the stated goals and objectives of the Second Vatican Council, were they not?

1. The sacred deposit of Christian doctrine should be guarded and taught more efficaciously;
2. The Church should never depart from the sacred patrimony of truth received from the Fathers;
3. Men, without the assistance of the whole of revealed doctrine, cannot reach a complete and firm unity of minds with which are associated true peace and eternal salvation.
4. The truth of the Lord will remain forever;
5. Not, certainly, that there is a lack of fallacious teaching, opinions, and dangerous concepts to be guarded against and dissipated. But these are so obviously in contrast with the right norm of honesty, and have produced such lethal fruits that by now it would seem that men of themselves are inclined to condemn them, particularly those ways of life which despise God and His law or place excessive confidence in technical progress and a wellbeing based exclusively on the comforts of life;
6. Our duty is not only to guard this precious treasure, as if we were concerned only with antiquity, but to dedicate ourselves with an earnest will and without fear to that work which our era demands of us, pursuing thus the path which the Church has followed for twenty centuries;
7. The salient point of this Council is not, therefore, a discussion of one article or another of the fundamental doctrine of the Church which has repeatedly been taught by the Fathers and by ancient and modern theologians, and which is presumed to be well known and familiar to all;
8. The substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the way in which it is presented is another. And it is the latter that must be taken into great consideration with patience if necessary, everything being measured in the forms and proportions of a Magisterium which is predominantly pastoral in character;
9. To transmit the doctrine, pure and integral, without any attenuation or distortion, which throughout twenty centuries, notwithstanding difficulties and contrasts, has become the common patrimony of men. It is a patrimony not well received by all, but always a rich treasure available to men of good will.

Clearly, these quotations from Pope John XXIII are fully in accordance with his Encyclical Ad Petri Cathedram, 1959, in which he condemned in harsh terms anyone who denies the revealed Truth or interferes by the spread of lies or indifferences. It is very obvious from these citations that Pope John XXIII showed absolutely no desire to change one iota of Doctrine. From this Opening Address one can only conclude that he sought the traditional teaching of the Fathers, his ‘recent and not-so-recent predecessors’, so that the primary rule of the Council should be understood as: a renewal in unity and in accordance with the Doctrine taught by the Fathers: “never depart from the sacred patrimony of truth received from the Fathers”?. And evidently a “renewal” clearly meant how ‘to transmit the doctrine, pure and integral, without any attenuation or distortion’. Thereby it appears that, as a ‘conditio sine qua none’, the use of the term ‘medicine of mercy’ may never be decoupled from the need to explain 'the validity of its doctrine more fully’ as he said: ‘pure and integral, without any attenuation or distortion'. He did not abrogate any condemnations made by his predecessors, rather he spoke about ‘uncertain opinions of men’, ‘newborn errors’, and ‘fallacious teaching, opinions, and concepts to be guarded against’ in a way he confirmed the condemnation by Pius XII in his Encyclical Humani Generis, of the main principles of the New Theology.

Isn’t it obvious that the Council’s documents with their deliberate ambiguities, contradictory texts and one-sided use of the doctrine cannot be interpreted well, without the correct application of the hermeneutic that considered the full use of the Church’s doctrine: “never depart from the sacred patrimony of truth received from the Fathers”? This should be the hermeneutic rule for interpreting and referring to the Second Vatican Council.

(Retour to letter)

-o-o-o-o-

Reference 4

To provide you with more factual information on this statement, please, find here the additional document: Vatican II, a Council in threefold?. This document is the extended summary of two other reports. Report 1 is an observational analysis of the evaluation of male religious memberships since 1950 that can be found here , while Report 2 concerns a substantial analysis concerning the general process behind the observations in Report 1 (here ).
(Return to letter)

Quotes to reflect upon (18)

"They (the Modernists) exercise all their ingenuity in an effort to weaken the force and falsify the character of Tradition, so as to rob it of all its weight and authority.  But for Catholics nothing will remove the authority of the second Council of Nicea, where it condemns those “who dare, after the impious fashion of heretics, to deride the ecclesiastical traditions, to invent novelties of some kind.... or endeavor by malice or craft to overthrow any one of the legitimate traditions of the Catholic Church”; nor that of the declaration of the fourth Council of Constantinople: “We therefore profess to preserve and guard the rules bequeathed to the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, by the Holy and most illustrious Apostles, by the orthodox Councils, both general and local, and by every one of those divine interpreters, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church.” Wherefore the Roman Pontiffs, Pius IV and Pius IX, ordered the insertion in the profession of faith of the following declaration: “I most firmly admit and embrace the apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions and other observances and constitutions of the Church” - St. Pius X, Encyclical Pascendi Dominci Gregis, 8 September 1907

 

Some food for thought

 

 

That the Church in Malta has - and continues to - hamper diffusion of Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite is demonstrated by statistics:

 

• In Malta and Gozo, which are two separate dioceses, there are a total of  78 parishes (63 in Malta and 15 in Gozo) and 6 national parishes. There is only one Tridentine Mass, once a week on Sunday evening, in the whole of this country, i.e. a mere 0.013% (Tridentine Mass / parish)!
• On the other hand, in France, where the Catholic Church in France is organised into 98 dioceses and 4300 parishes, there are 488 parishes that have regular Tridentine Masses, i.e. more than 10% of the total!
   
   

Quotes to reflect upon (17)

"I don’t like, indeed, those views that would like to reduce the traditionalist ‘phenomenon’ to only the celebration of the ancient rite, as if it were a stubborn and nostalgic attachment to the past. ... In reality, what we frequently find is a Christian view of the life of faith and of devotion—shared by so many Catholic families that frequently are enriched by many children—that has special characteristics, and we can mention as examples: a strong sense of belonging to the Mystical Body of Christ, a desire to maintain strong links with the past—that wishes to be seen, not in contrast with the present, but in a line of continuity with the Church—to present the principal teachings of the Faith, a profound desire for spirituality and the sacred, etc.." Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, interview in ‘The Latin Mass magazine’, May 2004.

A 'fraternal' organisation to Pro Tridentina (Malta)

 

A new organisation with complementary aims to Pro Tridentina (Malta) was founded some months ago. Pro Malta Christiana, or Maltese Foundation for a Christian Civilisation, is a Voluntary, Non-Profit Making Organisation with Registered Charitable Status.

 

The present official address Flat 4, Victoria Mansions, Victoria Junction, Sliema, SLM 1833, Malta, according to Article 2 of the provisional statutes.

According to Article 3, the aim of the Society shall be the promotion and defense of the ideals and values of Christian Civilisation in Malta. These principles are expounded in the work Revolution and Counter-Revolution authored by Professor Plinio Correa de Oliveira in 1959. 

 

The Society is committed to promoting and defending:

-          the traditions in Malta and Gozo that give the Maltese Islands their distinct cultural identity, and which have a foundation in the islands’ heritage of two thousand years of Christian civilization;

-          the natural and traditional family based on the indissoluble bond of marriage of one man and one woman in line with the traditional Magisterium of the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church;

-          the principle and right of individuals to own property, in consonance with the teaching of the Catholic Church that private ownership is one of the pillars of the natural law, with said right having a social function which it must fulfill in all of its extension.

 

The Objectives of said organisation are:

 

To defend and promote, on a national level, the Christian traditions of the Maltese nation.

 

To defend and promote, on a national level, the right of private ownership of property in line with the traditional Magisterium of the Catholic Church.

 

To defend and promote, on a national level, the natural and traditional family, based on the indissoluble bond of marriage between a man and a woman.

To defend and promote the right to life – understood as the inalienable right to be born - in the Maltese islands and actively oppose all forms of abortion and infanticide.

 

To provide support and information for all legal groups, entities and other organizations seeking to enhance and promote the ideals of tradition, family and property.

 

To educate the Maltese populace, thereby raising public awareness on a national level of the importance of promoting, fostering and defending the ideals of Christian Civilization and especially those ideals relating to tradition, family and property.

 

To perform works of charity and philanthropy in line with the Society/Foundation’s commitment to the perennial ideals of Christian Civilization by disseminating publications, religious objects and miscellaneous articles, and through other standard works of charity analogous to those practiced by the Catholic Church over the centuries.

 

To raise funds for the Society / Foundation by means of donations of members, supporters, and volunteers or otherwise for all the purposes of the Society / Foundation  through requests for donations for objects, publications, research and materials distributed, through public campaigns and specific requests for donations, as well as through other means of fund-raising that are both authorized by the National Council and consonant with the Society’s / Foundation’s status as a voluntary, non-profit making organization with registered charity status in Malta.

 

To promote and present the interests of the Society / Foundation and of its members to the notice of local administration and authorities, international Organisations and other authorities.

To enhance the level of cultural attainment in Malta among its members, supporters, donors and volunteers and among the general populace through the holding of cultural public manifestations that are inspired by the traditional Magisterium of the Catholic Church.

 

To form part of any national/international Organisation/s whose aims are similar to that of the Organisation.

 

To promote, encourage and promote research in the subject areas of sociology, anthropology, pure and applied science, religious doctrine, philosophy, theology, ethics and economics, and which relate to the defense and promotion of the ideals of Christian Civilisation and to publish and disseminate the results of said research.   

To do all that which is ancillary, incidental or conducive to the attainment of the above objectives.

 

Pro Tridentina (Malta) wishes all the best to this organisation, led by Pro Tridentina (Malta) founder, Philip Beattie. The co-operation between Pro Malta Christiana and ASPM's Chaplain Canon Nicholas Doublet (former member of Pro Tridentina (Malta) is also a step in the right direction.

 

The Dangers of Traditional Catholic Isolation in Malta

After the promulgation of Pope Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum, many in Malta began to re-discover, not only the traditional Latin Mass, but also pre-Vatican II morals and teachings.  And they wanted more of it.  Pro Tridentina (Malta) was a catalyst in all this, and its efforts were emulated by other individuals. Some seminarians also approached the group but wanted to remain 'in hiding' so to speak, for fear of harassment by the Church. 

People began to go to the Tridentine Mass when it was available, or to the Novus Ordo Mass that retained a vestige of traditional Catholicism. Women began to wear a veil at Church and began to dress a little more modest when they went to Holy Mass. Men went well dressed, not in their t-shirts and shorts.

Afterwards, some began to just go to the Tridentine Mass because they had experienced the liturgical abuse and were tired of it.  They wanted something deeper and more reverent.  They studied how the Catholic Church was before and after Vatican II and were saddened by the ‘disorientation’ of most Catholics.  Then they discovered that the Novus Ordo Mass was made up, unlike all the other Rites in the history or the Catholic Church.

So far so good. But then, isolation came in.  Contrary to what Pro Tridentina (Malta) had worked for, some former members began to see themselves as the fortunate Catholics who now know the truth about the Mass and Vatican II.  They now perceive all the Novus Ordo Catholics as ignorant and wrong.

Another group now encourages these people to stop talking with Novus Ordo Catholics, or going to their events, because of all the evil activities that go along with these gatherings, (bad music, drinking, dressing scantly and dancing).  They do not want to support their perceived immoral lifestyles by hanging around these people.  They also see Novus Ordo people as extremist and fanatics. 

This can be a dangerous isolation.  This has already happened in Malta, as is the case with the St. Athanasius ICC or when one becomes a sedevacantist. The Catholic Church in Malta has to monitor such groups - even those that pretend to obey the Archbishop of Malta -  and alert the faithful accordingly. Why are we urging such a course of action, when Pro Tridentina (Malta) and many of its members suffered directly by the actions of the Maltese Curia?

Because almost every sedevacantist, and member of these groups, feel that all people in the institutional Catholic Church are bad, and even some say that they going to hell. Heading towards the sedevacantist position is a very perilous path that could end in complete isolation without a Mass to attend or a priest to administer sacraments.

Pro Tridentina (Malta) believes in staying in the canonical Catholic Church, no matter how bad the Pope, bishops, priests, religious may be.  Since its founding in 2007, it believes in reforming the Church from within, as extremely difficult as that may be. And it will continue to criticise where it sees wrongdoing by people in the Church.

Pro Tridentina (Malta) does not feel superior to Novus Ordo Catholics. Its former first President used to say in fact that we should rather think that God led us to tradition because we are so wicked that we otherwise might not be able to save our souls. Still,  as well as there being traditional Catholics who tend towards isolationism, there are also modernist Catholics who tend towards rejection, demonisation and mockery of traditional Catholics.

The Church in Malta's tacit approval of post Amoris Laetitia society

 

According to the Times of Malta of last Friday, former Maltese priest Vanni Xuereb stated that:

 

"I had mixed feelings when Archbishop Charles Scicluna asked me to form part of a national delegation that would be taking part in the (Re)Thinking Europe dialogue organised at the Vatican by the Commission of Bishops’ Conferences of the EU (COMECE) and the Holy See to mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome which established the European Economic Community."

 

Further on, he said:

 

"Undoubtedly, the highlight of the dialogue was the address by Pope Francis who, after his speech, greeted all participants individually. It was my first-ever close personal encounter with him. I have also had the privilege to meet both his immediate predecessors, however, on a personal note, this was the most meaningful since it is thanks to Pope Francis that I can still somehow identify with the Catholic Church.

At a moment in time when I felt I was drifting away because of what I was perceiving as an increasing irrelevance of the Church, this Pope has shown that there is a different way of being Church – one that is inclusive rather than exclusive."

According to slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, the former Fr Vanni Xuereb now lives with another person who has a son. This would explain his comment concerning Pope Francis but also his perceived distaste of Benedict XVI and Saint John Paul II.

 

One hopes that the Catholic Church in Malta is not going to step any further in the post-Amoris Laetitia world. Already enough damage is being done by the easy granting of Catholic 'divorces' nowadays. So why would a former priest be considered as the best person that the Catholic Church in Malta could choose to represent it? No doubt that Xuereb is very knowledgeable about the EU but such a choice still seems inappropriate in our point of view.

The Consumeristic Catholic Church in Malta

The Maltese Catholic Church in the twenty-first century has in many ways absorbed the consumeristic mentality that is so prevalent in our culture. A case in point is what will happen this evening in Floriana. The Saint Publius Parish Church will be illuminated for a lewd event, known as the Isle of MTV. Photos above and below show this event, with the illuminated church in the background, from past events.

Allegedly, the Floriana Parish is being paid every year an undisclosed sum of money from the event organisers so that the Church façade is lit up. This money is said to be used for much needed restoration works to the building. According to The Malta Independent, tonight's event is expected to host 50,000 people, be followed in 20 countries, and attract the attention of millions (alas not for good reasons). By tomorrow morning, the side of the church will be littered and would have served its other purposes, namely as a public toilet and, even worse, as a good opportunity for intimacy of the Amoris Laetitia type.

 

Whatever the reasons for accepting money, it is clear that nowadays this parish, with the tacit approval of the Church authorities, approaches worship as if it were selling a product and the attendee were the consumer. Since the product is up for sale, the church must show that its product is more entertaining than anything else the world has to offer. Therefore, churchy gimmicks are the name of the game. Whatever keeps people coming back for more takes first priority and becomes the controlling principle for all things church-related. If the church doesn’t sell itself, then it will be out of business.

 

Such an approach makes man the centre and treats the church like a business. In contrast, the aim of well meaning traditional Catholic groups is to draw church-goers and church leaders back to Scripture. In doing so, we must recover the ordinary means of grace that God uses to equip the saints and transform us into the image of Christ.

The Pope is dead

Despised by the world and by the Modernists, and many a supposed “Catholic”, St. Pius X Sarto was eminently pleasing to His Creator. He cared not for the opinion of this world, but only to do the will of God. For this, he received a merciful judgment and heard from the Just Judge these words: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Mt 25:34).

 

Fast forward 100 years and we get the following:

 

In an interview with Fr Antonio Spadaro, the progressive editor of Jesuit journal, La Civiltà, Pope Francis criticised young Catholics for their love of the Tridentine Mass:

Asked about the liturgy, Pope Francis insisted the Mass reformed after the Second Vatican Council is here to stay and “to speak of a ‘reform of the reform’ is an error.”

 

In authorizing regular use of the older Mass, now referred to as the “extraordinary form,” now-retired Pope Benedict XVI was “magnanimous” toward those attached to the old liturgy, he said. “But it is an exception.”

 

Pope Francis told Father Spadaro he wonders why some young people, who were not raised with the old Latin Mass, nevertheless prefer it.

 

“And I ask myself: Why so much rigidity? Dig, dig, this rigidity always hides something, insecurity or even something else. Rigidity is defensive. True love is not rigid.”

 

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Matthew 11:15

Dr. Helmut Rückriegel R.I.P.

 Dr. Helmut Rückriegel (right) during a meeting with Benedict XVI.

His Excellency Dr. Helmut Rückriegel, one of the elder statesmen of the International Federation Una Voce (FIUV), a personal friend of former Pro Tridentina (Malta) President Godwin Xuereb, and a great champion of tradition over many decades, died early on 25th of January, 2016.

Dr. Rückriegel has been actively involved in the Una Voce movement since 1967. He was head of Una Voce Deutschland in 1992–2005, member of the FIUV Council, and later one of the Federation’s Presidents d’honneur.

--------------------------

Obituary

Dr. Helmut Rückriegel, an important and highly meritorious upholder for the traditional Latin liturgy has left us.

Born on the 20th of November 1925 in Niedergründau, close to Hanau, he spent the days of his philological studies in Marburg, with whose university he remained in close contact for all his life. Having achieved a doctorate (Dr. Phil) he was a lecturer for ancient European languages in Manchester prior to being employed as from 1956 by Germany’s Foreign Service. His first assignment there was the post of an attaché at the German embassy in London. Following further postings as chargé d’affaires in Israel and with the German Information Center in New York between 1979 and 1984 he ran the personal office and worked as head of protocol of the German Federal President Dr. Karl Carstens. Following that he officiated as German ambassador to Thailand until 1988 and until his retirement in 1990 as German ambassador to Ireland.

In November 1980 he was a member of the diplomatic team which greeted Pope John Paul II on his first visit to Germany. As they waited for the Pope’s aeroplane to land he found himself standing next to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and they began conversing. This led to a friendship that endured until his death.

Already fascinated by the Catholic Church from an early age as a youth he converted to Catholicism. This association post the liturgical reforms brought about by the Second Vatican Council resulted in his exemplary and incessant engagement towards the preservation and restoration of the traditional Latin liturgy and Gregorian chant. Thus, from 1992 to 2006, he occupied the position of President of Una Voce Germany. During that period he led the association and its publication, the Una-Voce-Korrespondenz, to a renewed flourishing.

A further passion of his, besides his love of literature and poetry (he knew innumerable German poems by heart) was that for old English and Irish roses which he planted and cultivated at his 3,000 sqm property in Niedergründau. This rose garden was renowned amongst the friends of roses and every year was the destination of a great number of tourists. Following a long illness, during the night leading to the 25th of January 2016, Helmut Rückriegel passed away. His perseverance and his extraordinary merits for the traditional Catholic liturgy shall remain unforgotten.

Dr. Johann von Behr, deputy president Una Voce Deutschland e.V.

---------------------

In paradisum deducant te Angeli;
in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres,
et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem.
Chorus angelorum te suscipiat,
et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.

Recommendation to One's Guardian Angel for a Happy Hour of Death

Death mask of St. Charles Borromeo

By Saint Charles Borromeo

My good Angel: I know not when or how I shall die. It is possible I may be carried off suddenly, and that before my last sigh I may be deprived of all intelligence. Yet how many things I would wish to say to God on the threshold of eternity. In the full freedom of my will today, I come to charge you to speak for me at that fearful moment. You will say to Him, then, O my good Angel:

That I wish to die in the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church in which all the saints since Jesus Christ have died, and out of which there is no salvation.

That I ask the grace of sharing in the infinite merits of my Redeemer and that I desire to die in pressing to my lips to the cross that was bathed in His Blood!

That I detest my sins because they displease Him, and that I pardon through love of Him all my enemies as I wish to be pardoned.

That I die willingly because He orders it and that I throw myself with confidence into His adorable Heart awaiting all His Mercy.

That in my inexpressible desire to go to Heaven I am disposed to suffer everything in may please His sovereign Justice to inflict on me.

That I love Him before all things, above all things and for His own sake; that I wish and hope to love Him with the Elect, His Angels and the Blessed Mother during all eternity.

Do not refuse, O my Angel, to be my interpreter with God, and to protest to Him that these are my sentiments and my will. Amen.

Hall of Honour (4): Zak Portelli

Seminarian Zak Portelli

Our fourth recipient of this virtual honour is a seminarian - Zak Portelli. A known apologist in Catholic circles in Malta, he was the main promoter of Tridentine Masses held in the parish of Ta' l-Ibraġ. Albeit not a member of Pro Tridentina (Malta) there was close co-operation because the aim was mutual, namely to ensure that the Tridentine Mass in Malta takes place on a regular basis, according to the provisions of Summorum Pontificum and Universae Ecclesiae. It was an experiment that was reasonably successful, although unfortunately it was hampered in recent years, due to various reasons, outside the control of Bro. Portelli.  

Portelli is also the author of a book  From Hell with Love. Below is a review of this book:

This book is an in depth study of the origins of the New World order. It focuses on the events which led to the French and Russian revolutions as well as the events which ousted and destroyed the Monarchies of Europe. The main focus of the book is on the Catholic Church with regards to its strict stand against the Freemasonry, and the war that has been going on silently between the Church and the Freemasonry. The book reveals stunning facts which are not found in modern day bias history books sponsored by the main stream medias which indoctrinate society into believing that we are at peace and that we have freedom. The book also goes on to describe how peace is not achieved by those men who sit around a table and discuss world peace but that true peace is found in defending morality and the cross of Christ which has been trampled on and put to shame by the liberal forces of this world.

One augurs that the Maltese Church in Malta will continue to benefit for the sterling service of this seminarian, once he is ordained to the sacred priesthood.

New Series: Hall of Honour of Maltese Traditional Catholics

This Blog will soon start a new series: a virtual Hall of Honour of those Maltese (clerics and laity) who strove to ensure that the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite is celebrated in Malta in accordance with Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum and Universae Ecclesiae.

If you feel someone is deserving of such a recognition, send us the person's credentials and biographical highlights and we will consider it for our next presentation. Don't just send a name, but send us verifiable proof at pro.tridentina.malta@gmail.com .

This is our small contribution and recognition of those esteemed and committed Traditional Catholics who strove - or are striving - to forever uphold, preserve and perpetuate the Truths and Traditions of Holy Mother Church, contained in the Sacred Deposit of Faith.

Updated schedule of Masses in Latin

On this page, one can find an updated schedule of Holy Masses in Latin (both forms of the Roman Rite) that are regularly held in the Archdiocese of Malta.

The Holy Mass is the central act of Catholic worship. As such, the liturgical actions, gestures, and prayers must reflect the true Catholic Faith. In all its details, Holy Mass reflects what Catholics believe, and vice versa: What Catholics believe is reflected in the Holy Mass. 

A common Catholic adage is that the law of prayer is the law of belief: Lex orandi, lex credendi.