The opinions of Marcel Lefebvre, founder of the Society of Saint Pius X can hardly be called anomalous or uncharacteristic of "traditionalist Catholicism". His opinions defined that belief system; they are the rule, not the exception. Toward the end of his life, he wrote of his "Spiritual Journey", which he defined as opposing a conspiracy of Jews, Freemasons, Communists and liberals to undermine the Catholic Church. He also referred (without apparent irony) to the Second Vatican Council as a third world war, one worse than the previous two. (Read his piece here.)
He then goes on, at some length, to describe the Second Vatican Council as literally a resurgence of the French Revolution's reign of terror. The original should be read for it's sheer absurdity, but it's too lengthy, and too rich with obscure personal references, to quote here.At the close of a long life (for I was born in 1905 and I now see the year 1990), I can say that it has been marked by exceptional world events: three world wars, that which took place from 1914 to 1918, that which took place from 1939 to 1945, and that of the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965.
The disasters caused by these three wars, and especially by the last of them, are incalculable in the domain of material ruins, but even more so in the spiritual realm. The first two paved the way for the war inside the Church, by facilitating the ruin of Christian institutions and the domination of Freemasonry, which has become so powerful that it has deeply infiltrated the governing body of the Church with its Liberal, Modernist doctrine.
By the grace of God, instructed as early as my seminary days in Rome of the mortal danger of these influences by the Rector of the French Seminary, the venerated Father Le Floch, and by the professors, Reverend Fathers Voetgli, Frey and Le Rohellec, I was able to verify, during my entire priestly life, how their calls to vigilance, based on the teachings of the Popes and, above all, of St. Pius X, were justified. I was able to verify at my own expense how this vigilance was justified, not only doctrinally, but also by the hatred which it provoked in the Liberal laity and clerics - a diabolical hatred.
The innumerable contacts, brought upon me by the duties conferred upon me, with the highest civil and ec- clesiastical authorities in numerous countries, particularly in France and in Rome, have preciously confirmed for me that opinion was generally favorable to all those who were disposed to compromising with the Liberal, Masonic ideas, and unfavorable towards those determined to remain firm in traditional doctrine.
I believe I can say that few persons in the Church have been able to become as well informed as I have been able myself, not by my own will, but by the will of Providence.
In the following passage, Lefebvre argues in favor of the Nazi-collaborating Vichy regime and against the forces led by Charles DeGaulle, calling Vichy "the Catholic order" and the Allies part of an atheist, Masonic conspiracy!
He goes on to say...As a missionary in Gabon, contact with civil authorities was obviously more frequent than as Vicar at Le Marais-de-Lomme in the Diocese of Lille. This time of mission was marked by the Gaullist invasion; we were able to witness the victory of Freemasomy (sic) against the Catholic order of Petain. It was the invasion of the barbarians without faith or law!
Perhaps one day, my memoirs will give some details on these years from 1945 to 1960, and will illustrate this war inside the Church. Read the books of M. Marteaux on this period; they are revealing. The rupture between Liberalism and the doctrine of the Church was growing both in Rome, and outside Rome.
The Liberals were able to choose Popes like John XXIII and Paul VI, causing their doctrine to triumph in the Council, a marvelous means to obligate all of the Church to adopt their errors.
John XXIII and Paul VI, have made themselves active collaborators of international Jewish Freemasonry and of world socialism. John Paul II is above all a communist-loving politician at the service of a world communism retaining a hint of religion. He openly attacks all of the anti-communist governments and does not bring, by his travels, any Catholic revival.Yes, you read that correctly. The founder of SSPX believed to his dying day that Pope John XXII, Pope Paul XI and Pope John Paul II were part of a Jewish/Masonic conspiracy and that they promoted Communism.
Such conspiracy theories are the basis for the entire belief system of the "traditionalist". Lefebvre goes on to write, based on the above, that:
(t)he current Pope and bishops no longer hand down Our Lord Jesus Christ, but rather a sentimental, superficial, charismatic religiosity, through which, as a general rule, the true grace of the Holy Ghost no longer passes. This new religion is not the Catholic religion; it is sterile, incapable of sanctifying society and the family.
These beliefs, far from being uncharacteristic of the "traditionalist Catholicism" movement, are its fundament.
4 comments:
Thank you for your excellent article. I am a Traditional Catholic, and it is quite irritating when these truths are suppressed in order to please political correctness. Your article, for all its rhetoric, tells the truth as it is.
Long live the glorious memory of Marshal Petain and Vichy France! He restored sanity and Catholicity to French society, for a time, (and is assuredly innocent of the absurd charge of "treason" commonly leveled at him.)
Eric Jones:
How do you decide whether to "sieg heil" or "Hail Mary"?
Oh, it's easy enough ;) Trads aren't Nazis, contrary to popular opinion. I agree with Bp. Williamson that the idea of "gas chambers," etc. is dubious at best, but I assure you, having spoken to him and knowing his views, he and I are in agreement that the Germans weren't angels. Neither were the Allied powers, for that matter. I don't believe any "side" in WWII was particularly honorable or upright. If Hitler and Gemany promoted what essentially amounted to a gnostic neo-paganism, and were certainly no friends of the Church, Churchill, Roosevelt, & Co. were promoting American-style "democracy," egalitarian ideals, and all the ideology, essentially, of the diabolical French Revolution. And, they were allied with the Communist mass-murderer, Stalin.
The only side which attempted to be Catholic during WWII was Vichy France. The French had been defeated decisively by Hitler's wermacht, and the country was in a state of chaos. Marshal Petain, the hero of WWI, was granted the presidency in all this, and did the only thing he could do ---ask for terms from the Nazis. His surrender was an honorable one, and a just one, because fighting when you're soundly defeated and have no hope of victory is simply a waste of men's lives. In these circumstances, he did the best that he could, and he tried to do away with the revolutionary liberalism of the French 3rd Republic while he was at it, and restore, as much as was possible, the "ancien regime," the Catholic social order. For example, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," the motto of the Revolution, became, under him, "Work, Family, Country." Much more wholesome.
As Catholics, we obviously believe that our religion is the true one, and that all men have an obligation to be Catholics if they wish to be saved. Since charity (love for our fellow man) is a good thing and is, moreover, expected of us, we don't want to see souls going to Hell, obviously, so we want to make them Catholics. The most efficient way to do this is to have a Catholic social order -Christ is king of the world, and governments should recognize this. Their actions can then discourage heresies, heretics, and false religions, and provide material aid for missionaries and the Church. Saving our souls is our most important goal on this earth, and logically, therefore, the state ought to cooperate with the Church in this. ---I don't mean to get preachy, that's the Catholic outlook, and I thought I'd spell it out so you can see how consistent it is with the basic ideas of Christianity: there's only one true Church founded by Our Lord, and that is the Church which today we call the "Catholic (universal) Church." As many souls as possible need to be saved, so they can be with God in eternity instead of in Hell in eternity, so Catholicism, the way souls are saved, gets pride-of-place in our lives, being much more important, objectively, than any other concern, consideration, goal, interest, etc.
Here's how the Jews (and Freemasons, etc.) come into the picture.
There have always been people who, for whatever reason, don't like the Church, and oppose it. The Jews have historically been foremost in this category, because, since they rejected their promised Messias in favor of their "traditions of men" and their own worldly ambitions (e.g.: to conquer the world, become a great power again, etc.) their religion has been robbed of its vital force. It has become more focused on being "anti-Christian" than "pro-Jewish," as it were. (The Talmud has quite a few references to Our Lord, most of them rather scandalous ---it's said he was the son of a whore, is burning in excrement, etc. How vile.) Anyway, they ended up living among Christians, as often as not, after the diaspora, and they would naturally try to work against them. (One example: they invited and financed the Mohammedan invasion of Spain in the 8th and 9th centuries.) Furthermore, historically, Jews have practiced usury, especially towards non-Jews, while this is properly forbidden to Christians*, and so quite often the people in the Middle Ages would find themselves sorely oppressed by the Jewish moneylenders (read Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice," it deals with this theme.) The Jews have always supported and financed heresy and heretics, because usually the heretics are Judaizers in some way, and plus, to their way of thinking, divisions in Christian society that might make it easier for them to get power are good. Hence, not only did they support the protestants (whence came, from Martin Luther, the foul doctrine of "private judgment" and implicit subjectivism,) but also the "enlightenment" philosophers, like Kant, Rousseau, Diderot, Voltaire, etc. Having their hands in finance and the money supply, they've been able to wield great power over the centuries, influencing the course of history. Of course, average joe Jew has no grandiose ideas about "overthrowing any Catholic aspects remaining in Western culture," but nevertheless, his Jewish heritage is an error, if he treats it as anything more significant than a mere ethnicity, and he's no doubt imbibed a good deal of anti-Christian belief from his Jewish cultural milieu.
The Freemasons have historically been very "pro-enlightenment," "the religion of natural reason," etc. In Europe, they have engineered many revolutions, including the French, the Jacobin club was a Freemasonic association, the Italian wars (the Carbonari and Alta Vendita were Freemasonic groups,) and the 1848 revolutions, directly. Many Freemasons have historically been Jews, too. In America, their anti-Catholic character is obscured because America was founded upon Freemasonic principles (that liberty, equality, fraternity stuff ---instead of the old Catholic social order, which was God>Church>King>Nobles>People.) Therefore, there's no need for them to wage war, when they're now enjoying the spoils of victory, so to speak. Ever notice how, since all the social orders are now based on Freemasonic lines, there aren't many revolutions anymore, even though Americans are taxed hundreds of times more now than they ever were under the (very anti-Freemasonic) King George III?
Anyway, this has gotten a bit longer than I intended, but I thought you'd like to see precisely how we Traditional Catholics see things. In isolation, we sound, of course, like crackpots, which the media exploits to full advantage, but as a coherent system it's not so wild, and it's certainly not "anti-semitic" and Jew-hating, in the sense of "hating the Jews because they're racially Jewish." We have an obligation to oppose the Jewish religion with all our strength, but the Jews themselves should convert.
*Regarding usury, I need to say a bit, lest hypocrisy be suspected. Truth cannot change, and so if usury was sinful in the Middle Ages, it's just as sinful now. It became commonplace among Protestants, who rejected inconvenient and uncomfortable parts of Catholic morality, and has since become ubiquitous throughout the West, as they have spread. I have no doubt that nowadays, some Catholics, too, manage banks and other lending institutions, though before Vatican II's liberalizing changes, such "Catholics" were rare indeed.
I don't know Mr Jones but I agree with him. I would just add the following - hoping it wont scandalise you but expecting it will. Catholicism does not espouse any anti-semitism - it would be considered sinful - hatred of a race or people etc. However Talmudic Judaism attacks Christ and Christians and obviously we would not appreciate this. If you are not aware of this perhaps it might be instructive to acquire a copy of same and read. Fundamentally our problems with the Jewish people are based on their Talmudic mentality.
Just to broaden the scope of this discussion let me say this. Christ came for His people and for the gentiles. He wants all men to be saved. In order to really understand what Mr Jones has said you need first of all to see his comments within this broader optic.
God bless you.
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