Fr. Chazal, "NO CROSS NO VICTORY'
Included: Seminary Updates
Soldiers of Christ,
We have not been short of divine consolations, apostolic progress, and four more have applied to the seminary this month (two of whom I am redirecting to Avrille, because the set up here is not yet perfect), But we will never win unless our lives are crucified.
And we are asking God to send us crosses, otherwise we are fooling ourselves... and will become worse than the people we stood against in 2012, hence came...
We have not been short of divine consolations, apostolic progress, and four more have applied to the seminary this month (two of whom I am redirecting to Avrille, because the set up here is not yet perfect), But we will never win unless our lives are crucified.
And we are asking God to send us crosses, otherwise we are fooling ourselves... and will become worse than the people we stood against in 2012, hence came...
While we thought his main issue was his poor heart condition, we failed to notice a much more problem on his liver, who got seriously intoxicated by the excessive use of alternative medicines. I was not aware that these could be as deadly as antibiotics. So when Fr Suelo went to try to bury a friend of his in Paloilo island (who was brutally murdered with a machete), he ate the delicious crabs of that island and indulged into his favorite hobby. searching for gold.
All of a sudden his liver decided to quit, and after a few hours he fell into a coma in the little hospital of the tiny island, and of course a typhoon was raging. So it took a painful journey on a catamaran and an ambulance trip to Manila to reach him to his brother, Attorney Suelo, who decided to present him to the expensive, yet competent Manila Doctors' Hospital. They quickly detected the main problem, a liver poisoning the rest of the body, especially the brain, heart, kidneys. All of us thought we were losing him and Fr Fortin sspx, kindly gave him the last Rites, while four of his confreres came to pray over him. The dis-intoxication medicines were hugely expensive, while the the overall cost of Fr Suelo's hospital fees is about the same as the building of the Seminary.
After two weeks, Fr
Suelo emerged from his coma, and his responsiveness is increasing
(strong hand clasp, arms and legs moving, perfect eye contact, facial
expressions and capability to signal yes and no answers). Fed directly
to the stomach, and with a respirating tube on his trachea, Father is
going through all the other torments and humiliations as well, in a
state of consciousness, and there is a great distress on his face at
times. As we interrupted the extraordinary life supporting systems, his
body and his soul did not quit. So he lies now, nailed on his cross.
Pray for him, that his courage never fail.
Pray for him, that his courage never fail.
The death of Romeo in Dagohoy, Bohol island.
Romeo was the father of eight children, a remarkable feat in a country where birth control is prevalent and encouraged by the Church (NFP). All along he followed the Resistance and came to help oversee the construction of the Seminary, but alas he could not take the whole job, because of a Stage V critical kidney disease. Had he been around, perhaps, the pillars of the upper construction would not be compromised, but the worse is that he leaves a widow and eight orphans. Yet all is grace. Our apostolate has never taken off in Bohol, and i am convinced this heavy cross will change everything.
The seminary is doing well, five seminarians and three teachers (which could be supplemented by some priests like Fr Kramer), but the events with Fr Suelo have complicated things, for Brother John especially, and he had to pack his books and watch over Fr Suelo for more than two months. Fr Suelo is now in Cebu, so all classes have resumed, and all of us can attend to fr Suelo in turn.
Three applicants were turned down in September, for several reason, and fourth, from Kentucky was rejected in October. One came to test the grounds from Australia in January, but the poverty of the place was a bit too much for him, and he left us a donation, like the Korean faithful who would like us to buy a washing machine.
But when I watch on youtube the fiftiest seminary presentation of the FSSP & SSPX, I clearly recoil. This 2012 crisis has shown a lot of priests agreeing with the Resistance doctrinally. I have to so many of them. Yet they are unwilling to make the jump, sacrifice their position and reputation for the benefit of the truth. I also clearly remember that Archbishop Lefebvre recommended the Society not to have vows ONLY because it would complicate the apostolate, but would definitely have them otherwise. So perhaps it is time to try something better than trad castles in Spain. bamboo looks nice anyways.
The apathy of the Capuchins tells nevertheless that Holy Poverty is not the only solution. Yet in Asia the worldly fear of lacking money is perhaps the biggest problem we face with our faithful, hence, no washing machine.
Fr Picot is now teaching History, Liturgy, Latin, and gives at times the daily spiritual conference at 6.30pm before the Rosary. That gives me more space to teach the main topics in Philosophy, Theology and Canon Law. Brother John teaches Latin everyday when Fr Picot is gone. (his absence of two months left a gap there). When he shall be ordained, he will pick up some minor subjects, while ensuring daily Mass like fr Suelo did. The choice of confessors will widen for Seminarians, and for one year I will not have to teach Theology, because the three others will still be philosophers, and our carmelite postulant will be doing his Novitiate under, Deo volente, Fr John. The Seminary buildings are now fully occupied and could take an additional four seminarians, plus one priest. Perhaps one is about to join us permanently, with your good prayers. I decided to risk cutting bamboos to put another 6m by 6m bamboo tower because of your spectacular donations, dearest benefactors.
The tribulation of the Resistance
2016 will be a tough year for our Operation Survival. I don't see many priests joining, of late. And some who did are withdrawing their trust in Bishop Williamson and Bishop Faure. All of us here in Austrasia (myself, fr Picot, (Fr Suelo), Fr Valan, Fr Pancras, Fr Suneel, Fr Nariai), never considered Bishop Williamson to be perfect. It is likely, and quite so, that we are even more imperfect and fallible than him, and while imperfect he remains he took the lead on many issues in the past (Against religious liberty, the religion of Holocaust, the peanuts of Cardinal Hojos, etc. x10).
The big question: is Bishop Williamson leading us back under the Novus ordo? Is he punishing his priests for not following a liberal line, as Bishop Fellay does?
And the other question: do we, the ragtag redux remnant, deserve a perfect leader in the same vein as Archbishop Lefebvre and Bishop Castro de Mayer? Or do we deserve the next pair of Russian dolls, (to use the great metaFAURE)?
As for trying to explain away what happeneth and what doth happeneth not in novus ordo masses, i think it is a total minefield. Anything good we can say about attending the New Mass would come with so many caveats, conditions and distinctions. Basically, only ignorance is an excuse for taking part in it. I rememeber in the 1990s, Bishop Williamson made the link, for us seminarians, between the homophiliac and the pedophiliac behavior of the novus ordo priests and the inverted nature of the novus ordo mass. He then published a great Seminary newsletter whose title I don't recall ("Newchurch against nature" or "New worship against nature", I don't know). Anyways, that letter ought to be reread and it still represent the position of His Lordship on the new mass. Hence i am more inclined to say that this minefield walk was intended to show kindness to the poor unaware Catholics still marooned in the novus ordo. But a minefield walk comes at a price, and we have shed a few faithful in places. Usually it is hard to understand that the fact the new mass can remain valid does not mean that it is good. Eucharistic miracles in the new mass point to the fact that God is repeatedly insulted by them, especially on the occasion of the Eucharistic miracle of Barbeau, Michigan in the late 1990s. Buenos Aires and Sokolka occurred on the occasion of profanations, all too frequent in the new mass. Barbeau shows pure evil at work against our beloved and infinite Eucharistic Love, the Blessed Sacrament.
The next big embarrassment...
...is the advent of Archbishop Ambrose Moran, a self styled successor of Cardinal Slipji, but in fact, I repeat, a liar, a forgerer, a schismatic intruder.
(to be continued)