God wishes Us to speak to Him with Confidence and Familiarity.

HOLY Job was struck with wonder to consider our God so devoted in benefiting man, and showing the chief care of his heart to be, to love man and to make himself beloved by him. Speaking to the Lord, he exclaims, What is man, that Thou shouldst magnify him, or why dost Thou set Thy Heart upon him?

Hence it is clearly a mistake to think that great confidence and familiarity in treating with God is a want of reverence to his Infinite Majesty.

You ought indeed, O devout soul! to revere him in all humility, and abase yourself before him; especially when you call to mind the unthankfulness and the outrages whereof, in past times, you have been guilty.

Yet this should not hinder your treating with him with the most tender love and confidence in your power.

He is Infinite Majesty;

but at the same time he is Infinite Goodness, Infinite Love.

In God you possess the Lord most exalted and supreme ; but you have also him who loves you with the greatest possible love. He disdains not, but delights that you should use towards him that confidence, that freedom and tenderness, which children use towards their mothers.

Hear how he invites us to come to his feet, and the caresses he promises to bestow on us: You shall be carried at the breasts, and upon the knees they shall caress you : as one whom the mother caresseth, so will I comfort you? As a mother delights to place her little child upon her knees, and so to feed or to caress him; with like tenderness does our gracious God delight to treat the souls whom he loves, who have given themselves wholly to him, and placed all their hopes in his goodness.

Consider, you have no friend nor brother, nor father nor mother, nor spouse nor lover, who loves you more than your God. The divine grace is that great treasure whereby we vilest of creatures, we servants, become the dear friends of our Creator himself: For she is an infinite treasure to me; which they that use become the friends of God. For this purpose he increases our confidence; he emptied himself and brought himself to nought, so to speak ; abasing himself even to becoming man and conversing familiarly with us: He conversed with men. He went so far as to become an infant, to become poor, even so far as openly to die the death of a malefactor upon the cross.

He went yet farther, even to hide himself under the appearance of bread, in order to become our constant companion and unite himself intimately to us:

He that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood abideth in Me, and I in him. In a word, he loves you as much as though he had no love but towards yourself alone. For which reason you ought to have no love for any but for Himself. Of Him, therefore, you may say, and you ought to say, My Beloved to me, and I to Him. My God has given himself all to me, and I give myself all to him ; He has chosen me for his beloved, and I choose him, of all others, for my only Love: My Beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands?

Say, then, to him often, O my Lord! wherefore dost Thou love me thus ? what good thing dost Thou see in me ? Hast Thou forgotten the injuries I have done Thee? But since Thou hast treated me so lovingly, and instead of casting me into hell, hast granted me so many favors, whom can I desire to love from this day forward but Thee, my God, my all ? Ah, most gracious God, if in time past I have offended Thee, it is not so much the punishment I have deserved that now grieves me, as the displeasure I have given Thee, who art worthy of infinite love. But Thou knowest not how to despise a heart that repents and humbles itself: A contrite and humble heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise?

Ah, now, indeed, neither in this life nor in the other do I desire any but Thee alone: What have I in heaven ? and besides Thee what do I desire upon earth! Thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion forever? Thou alone art and shalt be forever the only Lord of my heart, of my will; Thou my only good, my heaven, my hope, my love, my all: "The God of my heart, and the God that is my portion forever." St. Alphonsus, How to Converse Familiarly with God, Part I.

Papa Stronsay receives the Visit of the Bishop of Aberdeen

On Monday, 23 February, 2009,
Feast of St. Peter Damian,
we celebrated the
Visit to Papa Stronsay and Stronsay
of His Lordship
The Right Reverend Peter Moran
Bishop of Aberdeen

On our way to meet Bishop Moran from the airstrip,
the island of Stronsay lies as a thin strip between sea and sky.
His Lordship met with
the Catholics of Stronsay who come to our chapel,
as well as Fr. Nicholas,
and then crossed over to Papa Stronsay.

The Bishop arrived and after greeting him and receiving his blessing
we escorted him to the Common Room where we were delighted to hear him.

Bishop Moran addressed the community
He told us of his participation in the recent Synod of Bishops in Rome
and of his visit to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.
After visiting the monastery complex
His Lordship assisted at the community Particular Examen and led us in the Angelus.
After dinner he met each of us individually
before setting off again for his return flight.

The calm sea

Alas! Today the weather was so calm that the airstrip was fogged-in and landing was impossible. His Lordship was happily marooned for the night and remained with us in the informal atmosphere that unforseen events sometimes provoke. He returned to Kirkwall the following morning on the 7 a.m. 'Steamer.'
Thank you for your paternal and encouraging visit!

We shall go with thee!

sub + Petro

Quinquagesima Sunday

Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter

Ecce ascendimus Ierosolyman, et consumabuntur omnia...

Behold we go up to Jerusalem; and all things shall be accomplished...

Last May,

Brother Maximilian,

born near the Redemptorist monastery of Tuchow, Poland,

who had been a member of the Society of St. Pius X since 1999,

had his religious vows formally dispensed by his Parish Priest

in order to live in full communion with the Chair of Peter.

Following his dispensation,

in a certain hermenutic of continuity,

Brother Maximilian has been living on Papa Stronsay

as a postulant.

Today, seven months later,

on the feast of the Chair of St. Peter,

he was clothed in the habit

of

the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer.

Priest: Receive, my Son, the image of the crucifix,
image of Thy Master and Redeemer,
who suffered for thee and offered Himself for thee.
Place it as a standard upon thy heart,
as a seal upon thy arm.
Novice: I will die O Lord for the love of Thy love
who has deigned to die for the love of my love.

He took the religious name:
Brother Bernard
In honour of
The Servant of God,
Father Bernard Lubienski, C.SS.R.(1846 – 1933)

Dum esset Summus Pontifex,
Terrena non metuit,
Sed ad caelestia regna
Gloriosus migravit.
While he was Supreme Pontiff
He feared no earthly powers,
But went his way in glory
To the heavenly kingdom.
Oremus pro beatissimo Papa nostro Benedicto
Dominus conservet eum,
Et vivificet eum,
Et beatum faciat eum in terra,
Et non tradat eum in animam inimicorum eius.
Let us pray for our Holy Father Pope Benedict.
May the Lord preserve him
and give him life
and make him blessed upon earth.
And deliver him not up
to the will of his enemies.

Where the French are so French!

A friend sent us this link:

In light of the recent events in Rome, vis-à-vis the lifting of excommunications… and the ensuing media frenzy… French TV presented the following program on Sunday evening.

Some of the people on the programme are:

Bishop Podvin,

representing the French Bishops' Conference

Father Ribeton,

representing the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter

Father Lorans,

representing the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X

Father de Tanouin,

representing the Good Shepherd Institute

If you speak French, you will enjoy this program

-- with the CANONICAL, THEOLOGICAL, and PASTORAL issues discussed by professionals.

You need a broadband connection and 90 minutes.....

but well worth it.

And the French are so French!

click below here on the link:

http://www.ktotv.com/cms/videos/fiche_video.html?idV=00043235&vl=video_a_la_une

Lament of the exiled Adam and his sons

THE HOLY SEASON

OF

SEPTUAGESIMA

Excidit e paradiso voluptatis Adamus,
Domini praeceptum,
amaro cibo intemperanter degustato,
Transgressus,
damnatusque fuit terrae
Unde desumptus fuerat colendae,
Suoque panni per sudorem multum comendendo;
Nos igitur temperantiam appertamus,
Ne velut ille extra paradisum ploremus,
Sed intus admittamur. ...

Because he broke the commandment of his Lord,
and was led by intemperance to taste a food
which was to be one of bitterness to him,
Adam was banished from the paradise of delight,
and condemned to till the earth

whence he himself was taken,
and to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow.
Let us, therefore, covet temperance,
lest we, like him, we may have to weep out of paradise;
let us be temperate and enter heaven.



God, my Creator, took dust from the earth,
quickened me with a living soul,
graciously made me the king
of all visible things on earth,
and gave me fellowship with the angels;
but crafty Satan,
making the serpent his instrument,
allured me with food,
banished me far from the glory of God,
and made me a slave to death in the bowels of the earth:
but Thou, O God, art my Lord, and full of mercy:
Recall me from exile.



Being deceived by the craft of the enemy,
I, miserable man,
violated Thy commandment, O Lord;
and being stripped of the garment
which Thy divine hand had woven for me,
I am now clad in the leaves of the fig-tree,
and with a skin garment;
I am condemned to eat a bread
for which I must toil with the sweat of my brow
and the earth is cursed,
so that it may yield me thorns and thistles:
But do Thou,
that in after-times tookest flesh from the Virgin,
recall and restore me to paradise.




O paradise! Most worthy of all our reverence,
beautiful beyond measure, tabernacle built by God,
joy and delight without end,
glory of the prophets, and dwelling of the saints;
may thy prayers, the sound of thy leaves,
obtain for me from the Creator of all things,
that thy gates, which my sin hath shut against me,
may be thrown open to me,
and that I may be made worthy
to partake of the tree of life,
and of that joy
which I once so sweetly tasted in thy bosom.

Clarification

In the February issue of the SSPX newsletter Fr Morgan wrote an article on page 26 entitled ‘News from Orkney’ where, speaking of what I wrote in the Catholic (Jan. Feb. March 2009), he says:
“The same editorial denies ‘that the SSPX and its supporters are outside the Church,’ and instead maintains that faithful may attend our Masses in good conscience but ‘without adhering to any schismatic mentality.’ However, in a signed Christmas letter (22/12/08) to the faithful on Stronsay, who, with Fr Nicholas remain committed to the cause of Catholic Tradition and the position of the Society of Saint Pius X, Fr Michael Mary declared that:
-these latter were ‘refusing union with the Roman Pontiff,’ in a state of ‘practical schism,’ and consequently deserving of excommunication’
-that Fr Nicholas’ suspension was valid and binding; and that his regular Confessions were invalid.
-that SSPX sacraments of Confession and Matrimony are invalid.”

To which I reply,
Firstly we want to have good relations if at all possible. It does not help for us to be accused of things that we do not hold; quite simply. Now to take my clarification (which was a reply to an earlier accusation from Fr Morgan) and turn it on me again is simply unhelpful. If traditional priests cannot reach clarity of thought how can it work in the wider Church?
This is what I said in the Editorial and which I maintain as a true expression of my thoughts:

2. Fr Morgan also reports that I openly claim “that the SSPX and its supporters are outside the Catholic Church and in danger of losing their souls.” This is false.
a. I believe that the SSPX as a group of priests are outside the structures of the Church. This is clear. SSPX priests are not submitted to the Holy See, nor to Local Ordinaries or Ordinaries. Objectively this is dangerous to salvation. Subjectively it is another matter.
b. I do not hold any opinion about SSPX supporters (as a group or as individuals) being inside or outside the Church. I have no set opinion about their salvation.
c. I hold that a person may attend Mass in a SSPX chapel in good conscience if he does it without adhering to any schismatic mentality.

In private letters of 22 December, 2008, given to certain Catholics living on Stronsay, I wrote:

“Dear .......
It would be of no use to have the Mass without the teachings of the traditional Catholic faith. Remember that one of those teachings is that all Catholics are bound to have true submission to the Roman Pontiff.
Now this is clearly not your case. Our community maintains the traditional Mass and also the full Magisterium of the Church. I and Father Anthony have been given faculties for the administration of the Sacrament of Penance and the public celebration of the Mass both in Papa Stronsay and in our chapel on Stronsay. Therefore, the only reason for the split between you and us is union with the Roman Pontiff.
You have not split because of the traditional Mass. We offer only the traditional Mass.
You have not split because of the traditional teaching of the Church since we preach those truths here, in the Catholic Chapel, on Stronsay.
Be very clear of this, you have split only because you refuse union with the Pope. There can be no other reason.
... Your split is not a formal schism; but it is practical schism; it has torn apart the Catholics in Stronsay. Your group refuses Communion with us; the priests authorised by the Church as well as from the Catholic faithful who receive the sacraments from us. Only the word ‘schism’ accurately describes the external reality and sinfulness of the division that you support...
There is no excuse that could make your division less than schism, because the traditional Mass is offered here every day, so is valid confession and there is no danger to the faith...
There could still be a case for the argument of ‘necessity’ that justifies members of the faithful attending the Mass of a suspended priest. Such a case of necessity is not here on Stronsay ...
In April and May 1996 Bishop Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska, excommunicated Catholics who attended the SSPX chapel in his diocese because there was no ‘case of necessity’ since the traditional Mass was freely available to the faithful through his priests and the FSSP. Rome upheld the excommunication. Therefore the SSPX left the diocese because they knew that since there was no ‘necessity’ the excommunication was justified and their ministry was sinful. Be clear that the same lack of necessity applies in Stronsay and the continuation of this division under the same circumstances is gravely sinful and similarly worthy of excommunication because of the unjustifiable damage you are doing to the unity of the Church here.
Dear ......... please return to Mass and the sacraments at Our Lady’s chapel. Surely you will not wound Our Lord by supporting a practical schism that so needlessly deeply divides our Catholic community.

These two statements are compatible since the first is an expression of a general opinion and the second is an assessment of a particular situation which I think is precisely as I state in (c.) above ‘adhering to a schismatic mentality.’

There is a vast difference between our situation in Stronsay and the situation of most SSPX chapels. Stronsay is a small island with less than 20 adults attending Mass on Sunday.

In the Catholic chapel daily Mass is available according to the 1962 Missal exclusively, and Confessions are readily available there by priests who have received faculties from the Local Ordinary. This being the case, there is no legitimate reason for setting up an opposing altar 200 meters away at the island Post Office. This is unjustifiable and makes a mockery of any application of the State of Necessity principle invoked by the SSPX.

This situation is not similar, for example, to the Taunton Mass centre or the Herne chapel where scattered people from near and far attend the SSPX Mass on Sunday because they have no traditional Mass available anywhere else.

The people who have left the Catholic chapel on Stronsay have not done so because they have had ‘liturgical abuses’ imposed upon them, nor because of sermons of any type at all, since they made their departure last November without waiting for the Holy Mass to be offered even once.

As to the statement about the invalidity of SSPX marriages and confessions: it is a judgment of the Holy See; our reference is the Mershon article which can be easily found on the internet.

We hope for a reconciliation between the Society and the Holy See as soon as possible for the good of us all. I take this opportunity to say that I do not want to be involved in an ongoing debate with members of the Society. We have been good friends. We want what has been good in that friendship to continue; - Father, let’s really work at something more constructive.

Fr. Michael Mary, F.SS.R.

The Pope has already spoken clearly

Note from the Secretariat of State

"... The positions of Mons. Williamson on the Shoah are absolutely unacceptable and firmly rejected by the Holy Father, as he himself remarked on the past January 28, when, referring to that brutal genocide, reaffirmed his full and unquestionable solidarity with our Brethren receivers of the First Covenant, and affirmed that the memory of that terrible genocide must lead "mankind to reflect on the unpredictable power of evil when it conquers the heart of man", adding that the Shoah remains "for all a warning against forgetfulness, against denial or reductionism, because the violence against a single human being is violence against all". Bishop Williamson, for an admission to episcopal functions in the Church, will also have to declare, in an absolutely unequivocal and public manner, distance from his positions regarding the Shoah, unknown to the Holy Father in the moment of the remission of the excommunication. ..."

+ + + + +




These following words of Pope Benedict XVI spoken on several occasion, clearly demonstrate that he has no need to give any explainations of what he thinks about:

the Holocaust

the Gas Chambers and Ovens

the more than six million victims

Pope Benedict XVI speak for us all.

+ + + + +
Pope Benedict XVI
Cologne, Germany
Friday 19 August, 2005

Pope Benedict XVI in Auschwitz

“...And in the 20th century,
in the darkest period of German and European history,
an insane racist ideology,
born of neo-paganism,
gave rise to the attempt,
planned and systematically carried out by the regime,
to exterminate European Jewry.
The result has passed into history as
the Shoah.
The victims of this unspeakable and previously unimaginable crime amounted to 11,000 named individuals in Cologne alone; the real figure was surely much higher. The holiness of God was no longer recognized, and consequently, contempt was shown for the sacredness of human life.
This year, 2005, marks the 60th anniversary of
the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps,
in which millions of Jews
- men, women and children -
were put to death
in the gas chambers and ovens. ..."

Pope Benedict XVI
Concentration Camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau
28 May 2006

Pope Benedict XVI
Rome
31 May 2006

Pope Benedict XVI is unequivocal

"... All Christians must feel committed to bearing this witness in order to prevent humanity of the third millennium from once again experiencing horrors similar to those tragically called to mind by the extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was precisely in that place, sadly famous throughout the world, that I chose to stop before returning to Rome.
Hitler had more than 6 million Jews exterminated in the camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau and in other similar camps. About 150,000 Poles and tens of thousands of men and women of other nationalities died at Auschwitz-Birkenau. In the face of the horror of Auschwitz there is no other response than the Cross of Christ: Love descended to the very depths of the abyss of evil to save man in his core, where human freedom can rebel against God.
May contemporary humanity never forget Auschwitz or the other "death factories" where the Nazi regime attempted to eliminate God in order to replace him! May it not succumb to the temptation of racial hatred which is at the root of the worst forms of anti-Semitism! May people recognize once again that God is the Father of all and calls us all, in Christ, to build a world of justice, truth and peace together! ..."

The Jews are 'our elder brothers'...

Bishop Fellay

"We evidently condemn every act of murder of the innocent. It is a crime that cries to heaven! Even more so when it is related to a people. We reject every accusation of Antisemitism. Completely and absolutely. We reject every form of approval of what happened under Hitler. This is something abominable. Christianity places Charity at a supreme level. Saint Paul, speaking of the Jews, proclaims, 'I wished myself to be an anathema [from Christ], for my brethren!" (Rom. 9, 3). The Jews are "our elder brothers" in the sense that we have something in common, that is, the old Covenant. It is true that the acknowledgment of the coming of the Messiah separates us.

"It is very interesting to notice that the Church did not await for the Council to prescribe courses of action regarding the Jews. Since the 30s, even during the war, several texts of Rome provide a very just position: the abominations of the Hitlerist regime must be condemned! 'Spiritually, we all Semites', Pope Pius XI had said. It is a truth which comes from Sacred Scripture itself, 'we are sons of Abraham,' Saint Paul also affirms." - Bishop Fellay, La Croix Rorate Caeli

Welcome words! Thank you Bishop Fellay!

The Holocaust

Blessed Charles de Foucauld

With the Pope we express our affection and unquestionable solidarity with the Jewish people. With Blessed Charles de Foucauld, who wished to cry the Gospel with his life, we repeat that we wish the Jewish people to 'look upon us as their brothers', for we deeply love them.
How grateful we are that Pope Benedict lifted the excommunications! Yet we are also, in these same days, humiliated that he has been made into a scandal for his charity; and that the Holy See’s important bonds of friendship with the Jewish people have been damaged. We offer our prayers.

The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer condemn anti-Semitism and denial of the Holocaust; we refuse and repudiate the strange views of those who support ‘Judeo-Masonic conspiracy plots.’
Last year, the Pope changed the Prayer for the Jews used in the solemn Liturgy of Good Friday. If that Prayer was accepted there would be a change for the better in traditional circles: There would be an end to the modern, anti-Semitic interpretation placed on the old prayer by those who persist in refusing to make the genuflection for the Jews; or who use the word ‘perfidious,’ in spite of it being absent from the 1962 Missal.

Surely now, after this deeply appalling and most shameful episode, that has caused harm to the Mission of the Church, to our Jewish brethren and to individuals; surely, the new Good Friday prayer will be embraced by all who use the old Missal; and the legitimate authority of the Pope will be obeyed. This much at least.

Fr. Michael Mary, F.SS.R.

News of Great Joy !

"...Based in the faculty expressly granted to me

by the Holy Father Benedict XVI,

in virtue of the present Decree,

I remit

to

Bishops Bernard Fellay,

Bernard Tissier de Mallerais,

Richard Williamson,

and

Alfonso de Galarreta

the censure of

latae sententiae excommunication ...

Rome,

from the Congregation for Bishops,

January 21, 2009.
Card. Giovanni Battista Re

Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops

The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer

send their heart felt congratulations

to Bishop Fellay

and

all the members

of

the Society of St Pius X

on the

"benevolent and courageous act"

of our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI.

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI

The Benevolent! The Courageous!
Long may he reign!

The South wind doth blow

Over the last 2 days Orkney has been going through one of its numerous winter storms. The following videos were taken on Saturday from the Papa Stronsay Pier:

All is calm, all is bright - 'it don't matter what they say!'

All was calm, all was bright for Christmas in Orkney this year.

The sea was still, and mirrored the sky above.

The storms of the previous weeks,

one of which had reached 80 mph,

had run their course.

Nature was holding its breath in holy expectation.

Angels and Archangels

may have gathered there

Cheribum and Seraphim

Thronged the air.

The Holy Gospel of Midnight Mass is sung.

Christ is Born in Bethlehem.

The Stronsay Christmas crib
High Mass of the Day
Et Verbum caro factum est.
Venite, adoremus,
Venite, adoremus,
Venite, adoremus Dominum.
God of God,
Light of Light,
Lo! He abhors not the Virgin's womb.
Very God,
Begotten, not created.
Flos de radice Jesse
Hath blossomed forth today;
Rejoice ye Christian people
In song and tuneful lay;
Sweet Mary is the stem,
And Jesus is the Rose-bud,
The Babe of Bethlehem.

The Holy Mass was especially offered for

our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI

our Parents, Brothers and Sisters and relations

Our faithful friends and

those who during the year have stopped walking with us;

for our critics and enemies too....

May the sweet Babe of Bethlehem

give to each and to all

His grace and friendship in this world

and eternal happiness in the next.

New Year's Eve
all still calm, all still bright:
Happy New Year!

F.SS.R. Students at Rorate Mass

Early on Saturday morning, 13 December 2008, the seminarians of the Priestly Society of St. Peter, along with our five Student confreres and two Carmelite Monks, all of whom are studying at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, Denton, Nebraska, sang a Rorate Mass.

The Rorate Mass is sung in candlelight only.
The church looks splendid for the offering of the holy Sacrifice.

The name, Rorate Mass is taken from the first word of

the Introit:

Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant Justum -

Drop down Dew, ye heavens from above,

and let the clouds rain down the Just One...

aperiatur terra, et germinet Salvatorem -

let the earth be opened and bud forth a Saviour.

+

"The whole of the Mass for this day

is one deep sigh of the most heartfelt desire

for the Messiah who is to come.

Isaias is the great prophet of Advent,

hence the Church reads at this season

the finest passages from his writings,

so that the faithful, too,

may hasten by their prayers

the coming of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

"The Introit

is from Isaias XLV:8,

in which the meek and peaceful character

of this first coming of the Word of God

(our Lord and God, and Saviour, Jesus Christ)

upon earth

is wonderfully expressed

in two brilliant figures of speech

- namely,

the heavens distilling refreshing dew upon Gideon's fleece,

and

the earth producing the little flower of the fields

upon the mystic stem of Jesse."

(The Liber Sacramentorum, Blessed Ildefonso Schuster, I, 331)

For the first time our blog offers you an audio link to hear one of the beautiful hymns sung during this Mass in which we also recognise the voices of our Students.

+

Click HERE to receive the audio link.

+

The words of the Latin hymn the Brothers are singing:

Flos de Radíce Jesse

Est natus hódie;

Quem nobis jam adésse,

Laetámur únice.

Flos ille Jesus est,

María virgo radix,

De qua flos ortus est.

Hunc Isaías florem

Praeságus cécinit;

Ad ejus nos amórem,

Nascéntes állicit.

Flos virgam súperat,

Caéli terraéque cives,

Flos Ille récreat.

Hic suo flos odóre

Fidélis áttrahit;

Divíno mox amóre,

Attráctos ímbuit.

O flos, O grátia!

Ad te, ad te suspíro:

De te me sátia.
+

An adapted English version:

Lo, how a Rose e'er blooming

From tender stem hath sprung!

Of Jese's lineage coming,

As men of old have sung.

It came a flow'ret bright,

Amid the cold of winter,

When half spent was the night.

Isaiah 'twas foretold it,

The Rose I have in mind,

With Mary we behold it,

The Virgin mother kind.

To show God's love aright,

She bore to men a Savior,

When half spent was the night.

This Flow'r, whose fragrance tender

With sweetness fills the air,

Dispels with glorious splendor

The darkness ev'rywhere.

True man yet very God;

From sin and death He saves us,

And lightens ev'ry load.

The Holy Mass was celebrated by Fr. Van Vliet.

Reply to Fr. Morgan

In the December Letter from the District Superior of the SSPX in Great Britain, Fr Paul Morgan, (opposite) criticises the community of Papa Stronsay. I make a reply.

1. Father speaks against our 'practical agreement' with the Holy See.

He insists on “a solution to the doctrinal issues before there can be any practical agreement with the Roman authorities.” He says: “The Superior General alludes to the unacceptable situation of those communities who have sought a practical agreement prior to the major issues being addressed. In this regard we cannot but think of the community of Papa Stronsay here in Britain.”

Rather than make his own submission to the Holy See, what Fr. Morgan advocates is to play a waiting game with the Pope, the Church and ultimately with God. This is a dangerous idea full of dangerous possibilities for his own soul and for the souls of those he is leading.

The ambiguities of the Second Vatican Council remain to be clarified, this is certain. But far from denying the bi-millennial tradition of the Church, Pope Benedict XVI is acutely aware of the need to reconcile the Second Vatican Council with tradition. How exactly to do so remains the poignant question of our day. It is a question that will not be solved easily nor soon – this we can gather from the manner in which the Church has dealt with problematic declarations of councils in the past.

We are thinking specifically of the Council of Constance (1414 - 1417) and some of the texts of this council that Pope Martin V could not confirm. Nor did he feel the authority to condemn them. Specifically, these were declarations that a General Council is superior to the Pope, that periodically a General Council should assemble and check on the Pope, etc. The three Popes who followed the Council of Constance had quite a lot just to try to undo this mischief, and the full effect was only felt at the next General Council of Basel / Ferrara / Florence... Only part of the theological problem was addressed at the Council of Florence (25 years later), but the issue was really completely solved only at the First Vatican Council in 1870 - more than 400 years later!

Imagine for a moment that you were a traditional Catholic living in 1418; you disagreed with the teachings of the Council of Constance; and Pope Martin and his successors were not resolving matters...

Taking the SSPX approach you would have to wait 400 years before joining the structures of the Church.

Is that God's will? Does that sound like the Catholic approach?

This idea is a soft introduction to schism.

2. Fr Morgan also reports that I openly claim “that the SSPX and its supporters are outside the Catholic Church and in danger of losing their souls.” This is false.

a. I believe that the SSPX as a group of priests are outside the structures of the Church. This is clear. SSPX priests are not submitted to the Holy See, nor to Local Ordinaries or Ordinaries. Objectively this is dangerous to salvation. Subjectively it is another matter.

b. I do not hold any opinion about SSPX supporters (as a group or as individuals) being inside or outside the Church. I have no set opinion about their salvation.

c. I hold that a person may attend Mass in a SSPX chapel in good conscience if he does it without adhering to any schismatic mentality.

Fr. Michael Mary, F.SS.R.

Submission to Peter is the right way to go.

Since our reconciliation with the Holy See on 18 June 2008 statements have been made on the internet indicating that we had a ‘slow thorny’ road ahead of us and that we had been wrong to trust the Church. It was quickly pointed out that we had no faculties.
We had to bear these remarks patiently; it is good for the soul. In truth though, the only thorn to be borne in these statements was that they came from those we love, some fellow traditional Catholics, seemingly intent on making the worst out of our decisions.
In fact the road has not been ‘thorny’ nor has it been slow. Consider the facts. We were received by the Church as a community wanting to remain as such; but according to Canon Law we were not incardinated anywhere in the Church structures either individually as priests or collectively as a community. Normally speaking since we were not incardinated anywhere we would be without faculties until everything was perfectly regularised; this would take time.
But the Church being a true mother, aware of the needs of the community and the faithful in Stronsay who have recourse to us, has granted us interim faculties to see us over.
Surely since the Motu proprio of 7 July 2007 there should be forgiveness and a return to trust in the Church. This is what we have done. We trust the Church. We trust the Holy Father. We are not being abused by the Church or the Holy See; as some have said. We are not being forced to say the New Mass; as many say. We are not being trapped to be destroyed. Dear friends we are being supported and accommodated without anybody asking us to compromise anything. The bishops of Aberdeen and Christchurch have gone the extra mile beyond the limits of the canonical requirements. This is well worth noting. My experience of the Holy See and regularisation has been excellent. It has not been a bad experience.
We invite any priest who wants to consider being reconciled to the Holy See, to stay on Papa Stronsay for as long as he wants, anonymously and with no strings attached. Submission to Peter is the right way to go.