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Holy
Cross Seminary
Most
Asked Questions About the Society of Saint Pius X
APPENDIX I
DECLARATION
OF ARCHBISHOP LEFEBVRE
(Ecône,
November 21, 1974)
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 catechectics; 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?1
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 ^as
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 I 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 j 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 j 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 j 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.2
Amen.
1.
A reference to Paul VI's "Credo of the People of God"
(June 30, 1968).
2.
"Faithful dispensers of the mysteries of Our Lord Jesus
Christ in the Holy Ghost. "(Cf., I Cor. 4:1 ft.)
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