The Society of St. Pius X purchased an unused elementary school a few years ago and a solid community has grown around it. An old woodshop was converted to a lovely little chapel. They have just announced the purchase of a Martin Luther worship centre, ironically called St. Peter's Lutheran Church, with the intent to turn it into a Catholic Church. Congratulations to the Society on this growth and work towards the restoration of the Catholic faith.
The Diocese of Hamilton and its Bishop will be held accountable some day for the hardship of the Catholics in Waterloo, Kitchener and Hamilton.They have had the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite bounced around from parish to parish and from time to time and in Hamilton, to a ridiculous twice per month and wherever, to ridiculous times of day!
Please friends, support the work of Una Voce Hamilton. They are committed and hard-working. They are friends of this writer -- priests and laity; but they have been waging an uphill fight from the get-go with little to no support. At the same time, let us appreciate and pray for the wonderful work being done by the priests of the Society in New Hamburg and Toronto where a third Sunday Mass has also been added even though they are only two kilometers from two Sunday Masses at the Oratory.
The day will come friends, when the Church will apologise for what it did to Marcel Lefebvre. The unjust suspension of the 1970's under Paul VI and excommunication under John Paul II and on that day he will be known as Venerable Marcel Lefebvre and his cause will begin.
History will look back and agree that the Holy Ghost was working through that great man with the serene countenance. When we look at the realities today, it can no longer be denied.
19 comments:
Vox
Great post, courageous as well. This is wonderful news.
Vox, I don't understand as to how Archbishop Lefebvre was excommunicated unjustly. He understood the consequence of his action in regard to his ordination of bishops. He reneged upon the agreement that he had signed with the Apostolic See.
The Archbishop was very human in that he had his flaws and made mistakes. That becomes evident when, for example, one views Father Cekada's writings related to Archbishop Lefebvre.
But Archbishop Lefebvre also did much good. I don't believe that we need to canonize him. He made grave errors. He also did much that was good.
That said, as His Holiness Pope Francis has made clear, the overall state of the SSPX is very sound. Catholics flock to the SSPX as they encounter holiness at SSPX chapels.
Now, if one believes Bishop Williamson and his group, as well as various sedevacantists, Bishop Fellay and the SSPX are liberals and modernists who have betrayed the Faith. Within the SSPX, there are some who believe that and would bolt from the SSPX should they enter into an agreement with Rome. There are Traditionalists who bash the SSPX. They believe that the SSPX is heretical. I don't accept the notion that Bishop Fellay and the SSPX have betrayed the Faith. But that belief exists among certain Traditionalists.
Vox, your headline reads..."Society of St. Pius X in New Hamburg growing - what is it saying about the Diocese of Hamilton?" Vox, what the SSPX's holy success in Hamilton says is (and the following applies everywhere the SSPX exists) that Catholics who hunger for the TLM and the Catholic way of life that flows from the TLM find that via the SSPX. Catholics who wish to worship God via the TLM and form their lives around Holy Tradition associated with the ancient Roman Mass turn more and more to the SSPX.
Thanks to Pope Francis, nobody can possibly deny that the SSPX is anything but 100 percent Catholic. He has shattered the claims of the last of the anti-SSPX holdouts. Pope Francis has destroyed the "SSPX is schismatic" folks.
We need to support the SSPX. We need pray that Pope Francis will place the SSPX into a structure that will shield them from anti-TLM/SSPX bishops. With God's help, from there, the SSPX will enjoy unprecedented holy success. That is what the Church needs desperately.
Support the SSPX. I don't march in lockstep with everything that they do. As Bishop Schneider has declared, there are certain problems that the SSPX must work to overcome. However, overall, the SSPX is sound and deserves support from the People of God.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Paul Morphy : Congratulations to the SSPX and thanks for posting this very hopeful news VC!
I think in time the Church will view Marcel Lefebvre for the great man of God that he was.
I was educated by the Holy Ghost Fathers of whom Lefebvre the Congregation which Marcel Lefebvre led for several years. The priests who educated me were all formed pre - Vatican II, and to a man they were great priests and men.
"How unworthy do we feel to have this immense grace of the priesthood. Blessed be God! Blessed be Our Lord Jesus Christ! Blessed be also the Virgin Mary; for without Mary, we would not have had the High Priest, whose priesthood we share. Mary, Mother of the priests, Mother of the priesthood, yes, she is indeed our Mother, especially for us priests. May God be thanked and blessed for the priesthood which He deigned to bestow upon me, for these sixty priestly years, these forty two years of episcopate, during which, by His holy grace, unworthy as I am, I have been able to confer these episcopal consecrations and many priestly ordinations, - around five hundred - I was able to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass daily, I was able to give Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself to the souls, through the Sacraments, and especially the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. How many graces! How many gifts!"
Archbishop Lefebvre
Is the FSSP in Thorold part of the Hamilton diocese?
Let me get this straight: You'd believe the writings of a sedevacantist priest on Archbishop Lefebvre versus his own writings and the testimony of those who knew him???
I am REALLY disappointed.
Also, the Archbishop "reneged" on the May 1988 protocol because he wanted a definite date for the episcopal consecrations (note the "s" at the end). He needed bishops - not just one, which is what the Vatican maybe, possibly, might allow him. They would postpone it until he was in the grave. He did what he had to do for the good of souls.
If he hadn't done it, the SSPX would be in shambles today because there would have been no bishops willing to ordain SSPX priests according to the traditional ritual. There would be no FSSP, no ICK, no traditional religious orders, no TLM available worldwide.
So if you attend the TLM, you should thank God that the Archbishop acted the way he did.
I'm sorry, but I am really upset right now. I don't want to hurt your feelings, but had to get this out of my system. Thanks for letting me vent.
How many seminarians does the diocese have? How many were ordained this year for the diocese? None?
No, that is the Diocese of St. Catharines.
One Karl. Educated at The Oratory in Toronto and St. Augustine's Seminary. One in London (solid man), two in Toronto and that number total, four, in the Diocese of St. Catharines. Where is the FSSP in southern Ontario? Nah, just a coincidence.
Karl if you mean the Hamilton diocese, one priest was ordained this year, while six retired. They have about 30 seminarians total, which is better than St. Catharines or London but is coming from a Catholic population of over 600,000. Compare that to the SSPX with something like 180 seminarians drawn from about 25,000 people and you can see that something is wrong with this picture.
Toronto ... 2 priest vocations out of a population of over 1 million. This is not new, but a pattern that has gone on for decades. Anyone with common sense will see that the lack of priestly vocations is directly connected to the de-sacralization of our churches and specifically the Mass.
Great post...
It is only a matter of time until Archbishop Lefebvre takes his place as the greatest "restorer" of the Church Militant since St. Athanasius.
Vox I have lived in Hamilton diocese since my family immigrated here from Northern Italy in 1967, in the past 5 years I have reached out to Bishop Crosby on various issues, NOT once has he replied to me. Instead of the silence I would have preferred a fatherly correction if what I was stating or my method of stating it was incorrect.
But I only have been met with silence, so I now I feel abandoned and orphaned by someone who is supposed to be spiritual father. Is it not a supreme lack of courtesy not to respond to someone or correct someone who truly cares about the church. Given this silence I have done the only thing I can do, reduce my parish offering by 50% which will result in lower offerings to the diocese.
Your post about the New Hamburg SSPX church has caused to plan a visit...I am so tired of the go along to get along VII polemics coming out of both my parish and diocese. The downside to all of this is that I am vehemently opposed by wife and most of my children in all of this (most of whom don't practice the faith)...so I ask for your prayers please
Eugene,
If you would like, please write me privately and in confidence to voxcantoris@rogers.com
God bless you.
"So if you attend the TLM, you should thank God that the Archbishop acted the way he did."
No. If we wish to play the game of assigning credit to this or that person for the preservation of the TLM, then Father Gommar DePauw deserves far greater credit in that regard than Archbishop Lefebvre..
A couple of weeks ago on Father McDonald's Southern Orders blog, commenter DJR responded nicely to a person who claimed that anybody who assists at the TLM does so as the result of Archbishop Lefebvre and the SSPX.
As DJR demonstrated, Archbishop Lefebvre and the SSPX are not responsible remotely for having alone preserved the TLM. Yes, the SSPX played its role in preserving the TLM. However, long before Archbishop Lefebvre and the SSPX, and long after, the TLM was preserved and promoted effectively apart from the SSPX.
This does not in any way detract from the SSPX's holy importance. I have great respect for the SSPX. But the notion that Archbishop Lefebvre and the SSPX are THE reason for the preservation of the TLM is pure fiction. There isn't any reason to exaggerate Archbishop Lefebvre's role in the history of the TLM Movement.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Vox-permitting, here is DJR's (on Father McDonald's blog) excellent response to people who exaggerate Archbishop Lefebvre's (and the SSPX) role in the history of the TLM Movement.
"Regarding Campos...Bishop de Castro Mayer...for several decades after the council, he was ordaining priests, and those priests were offering the old Mass, with absolutely no need for the SSPX."
"The people of Campos were attending the old Mass for decades without the SSPX..."
"France has several monasteries where the old Mass is offered, with absolutely no input from the SSPX, nor did they ever need it. And laymen can assist at Masses in those places."
"There are also other places in Europe where the old Mass had been maintained by priests who resisted the changes but who were not affiliated with the SSPX, and I am not talking about sedevacantists."
"Another exception is China. There are Catholics in China who have not switched to the Novus Ordo Missae. They kept the old Mass, yet they have never had the SSPX."
"People who, for decades, have attended Masses offered by Father Yves Normandin of Canada could do so without the SSPX. He's still alive."
"Father Gommar DePauw publicly offered the old Mass until his death without any need for the SSPX."
"Father Carley and Father Roach in Ohio offered the old Mass publicly in their chapels without any need for the SSPX. Other names would be Fathers Snyder, Sullivan, Marchosky, Miceli, Houghton, Crane, Pulvermacher, Monsignor Hodges, LeBlanc, Father Stemper, SJ."
"Father Gruner offered the old Mass until he passed away; he had no need of the SSPX in order to do so."
"These were diocesan priests, Jesuits, et cetera, who resisted the changes, and older Traditionalists would recognize their names. Father Wathen offered the old Mass until he died in 2006. He didn't need the SSPX. Bishop Mendez of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, maintained the old Mass and obviously did not need the SSPX to do so."
"Benedictine Father Leonard Giardina publicly offered the old Mass at Christ the King Abbey in Alabama for many, many years, and the faithful continue to have access to the old Mass there, with approval of the local ordinary and without any need for the SSPX (although he did at one time think of affiliating with them but never did). And he was not a sedevacantist. There are other examples."
"...the idea that everyone, anywhere in the world, owes attendance at the Latin Mass to the SSPX is just not true, and never has been."
DRJ
I don't agree with that statement. So, what good did it do me in Toronto for priests in Campos to Offer the Mass?
Three priests in all of Canada. Father Gruner when here, Fr. Normandin in Montreal and travelling around and one priest in Ottawa. Except for Ottawa relegated to an old JW Kingdom Hall in Orleans, the other two were persecuted. Trust me, I've been around this for 30 years here.
They were wonderful, all of them.
We would not be where we are today without ++Lefebvre and the SSPX.
Nowhere and you will not convince me otherwise.
When I attend TLM here in Hamilton, I still hear the church support non traditional popular ideas like those of Fr. Barron or Fr. Schmidt revolving in the Church. This is not what I want from the Church. What I want is traditional Catholicism but they do not seem to get it.
Perhaps Diocesan clergy are a big part of the problem idk... TLM is intentionall obscured in Hamilton by the Bishop. What I and I assume other traditionalists want is NOT just a presevation of TLM but presevation of authentic Catholicism pre Vatican II. This includes... all sacramental rites and the catechism of Trent. Only the SSPX seems to provide that. The traditionslist clergy within the Church seem to look at the mass as a tool to keep people from leaving and now they seem desparate to bring the SSPX back in even to award prelature. As soon as they reconcile they will be split them and to me this seems to be Romes tactic for divide and conquer.
I have been considering taking my wife and boy and joining the SSPX exclusively as I am so weary and tired of the Novus Ordo Churchs (sect really) games. I almost hope the never reconcile unless at least a 3rd are nade bishops and a sufficient nymber cardinals in the college to effect change.
We already exclusively attend TLM. There is also a SSPX in St Catherines. We will have to chech New Hamburg out now too.
Ty for posting.
God Bless.
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