The following are a series of articles I wrote between 2001 and 2005 for VERBUM, the then-quarterly publication of St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Winona, Minnesota. Circulation for each issue was circa 5 000 nationwide.
The articles have been reposted here for easy access, and PDFs of the articles as originally published may be found here: http://www.stas.org/publications/verbum .
Thursday, March 5, 2009
A Letter of Attestation
May 1st, 2006
St. Joseph, Workman
I, Paul A. Robinson, Editor-in-Chief emeritus of the VERBUM, do hereby attest that Andrew Rivera wrote the following articles during his time as a Staff Writer with us:
"Rev. Fr. Dennis McDonald" (Issue 82, Summer 2001)
"Survivals and New Arrivals" [with Thaddeus Rogalla] (Issue 84, Winter 2002)
"Priests' Meeting Draws Cosmopolitan Crowd" (Issue 85, Spring 2002)
"Rev. Fr. Steven Webber" (Issue 86, Summer 2002)
"Final Profession of Br. Marcel" (Issue 87, Fall 2002)
"Leap of Faith: Fr. Gary Dilley Makes a Long-Proposed Move to Tradition" (Issue 88, Winter 2003)
"A Shot in the Sanctuary" (Issue 89, Spring 2003)
"Rev. Fr. Thomas Hufford" (Issue 90, Summer 2003)
"Mummers: Philly's Best Kept Secret" (Issue 91, Fall 2003)
"Canadian Pilgrimage Honors Martyrs" (Issue 95, Fall 2004)
"Ridgefield: 1979-1988" [with Daniel Themann] (Issue 96, March 2005)
If there are any concerns, contact me at robinson at sspxseminary.org
Ad Jesum per Mariam,
Paul A. Robinson, FSSPX
Editor-in-Chief emeritus, VERBUM
*****
A facsimile of the original with signature may be found here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/13037914/VERBUM-Attestation-2006
St. Joseph, Workman
I, Paul A. Robinson, Editor-in-Chief emeritus of the VERBUM, do hereby attest that Andrew Rivera wrote the following articles during his time as a Staff Writer with us:
"Rev. Fr. Dennis McDonald" (Issue 82, Summer 2001)
"Survivals and New Arrivals" [with Thaddeus Rogalla] (Issue 84, Winter 2002)
"Priests' Meeting Draws Cosmopolitan Crowd" (Issue 85, Spring 2002)
"Rev. Fr. Steven Webber" (Issue 86, Summer 2002)
"Final Profession of Br. Marcel" (Issue 87, Fall 2002)
"Leap of Faith: Fr. Gary Dilley Makes a Long-Proposed Move to Tradition" (Issue 88, Winter 2003)
"A Shot in the Sanctuary" (Issue 89, Spring 2003)
"Rev. Fr. Thomas Hufford" (Issue 90, Summer 2003)
"Mummers: Philly's Best Kept Secret" (Issue 91, Fall 2003)
"Canadian Pilgrimage Honors Martyrs" (Issue 95, Fall 2004)
"Ridgefield: 1979-1988" [with Daniel Themann] (Issue 96, March 2005)
If there are any concerns, contact me at robinson at sspxseminary.org
Ad Jesum per Mariam,
Paul A. Robinson, FSSPX
Editor-in-Chief emeritus, VERBUM
*****
A facsimile of the original with signature may be found here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/13037914/VERBUM-Attestation-2006
“Ridgefield (1979-1988)” (with Daniel Themann) (March 2005)
From Issue No. 96: VERBUM Turns 25! (March 2005)
“Ridgefield (1979-1988)” (with Daniel Themann)
During the first academic year, seminarians and faithful worked together on Saturdays to renovate the long-neglected building. While improvements were under way, Seminary superiors were already planning an ambitious addition that would include 50 new rooms, five classrooms and a chapel in order to accommodate the anticipated growth in the number of vocations. Three priests ordained in 1982 were the first to have been formed entirely in the United States. But even as the American Seminary was beginning to firmly establish itself, God’s Providence determined to send another and more painful trial.
The Great Split of ’83
In April, 1983, nine of the eleven Society priests in what was then the Northeast American District, among them the District Superior, the District Bursar and the Seminary Rector, brought their increasing differences with the line fixed by Archbishop Lefebvre for the SSPX to the point of open conflict, forcing the Archbishop to dismiss them from the Society. The precipitating act was the refusal of one of the newly ordained priests of 1982 to report to St. Mary’s, Kansas, because only the “John XXIII Mass” – that is, the rite of Mass found in the 1962 Missal – was said there. His disobedience was endorsed by the Rector and seven other American SSPX priests.
The priests dismissed had formed a tight-knit clique that finally exploded into open revolution against the Archbishop and the SSPX. Their brilliant minds, administrative abilities and profound sense of liturgical decorum were ruined by (in the Archbishop’s words) “an extremist way of thinking and a tendency to schism in the domain of the liturgy, the papacy and the sacraments of the modern Reform” that conflicted with the broad, Catholic vision of Archbishop Lefebvre. They extended their opposition to almost everything done since the pontificate of St. Pius X, and rejected all confirmations, ordinations, annulments, and liturgical reforms done in accordance with Vatican II. After attempts at reconciliation, the Archbishop had no choice but to expel these priests from the Society before they poisoned its work in the United States. Lawsuits followed, as the rebellious priests tried to obtain control of the properties and assets of the SSPX in the United States.
The Split could have proved fatal for the Seminary. Most of the faculty had left and the Society was forced to take immediate action to save this house of formation that was so vital to the growth of the American districts. Englishman Fr. Richard Williamson, a convert from Anglicanism, had arrived at the Seminary the previous year and was named Rector in 1983. His first-rate intellect, keen insight into the modern world, absolute fearlessness in standing for Catholic principles and unflinching obedience to Eternal Rome and the Archbishop would be the hallmarks of his stewardship of the Seminary for the next twenty years. Frs. Goettler, Bourmaud and Delaplace arrived from Europe to fill the other vacated professorships. Representing three different nationalities – English, German and French – the new professors gave the Seminary the international character that it retains to this day. They were to form Catholic priests for the Catholic Church and not American priests for an “American SSPX.” One important aspect of the true Catholic spirit of the Seminary’s new professors was well expressed in a May 6, 1983 letter of then Superior General Fr. Schmidberger: “We are firmly convinced that the Church still continues and lives on today, even if the corn can hardly be seen for the weeds. Let us not forget that the Church is not going to be saved through our erecting ourselves into self-glorifying judges; rather we must imitate the love and patience of the crucified Savior by begging for Her resurrection as a gift of grace, and offer ourselves up in this sense.”
Looking back with a supernatural perspective on this troubled time, which almost ended the Society’s presence in the U.S., one sees the guiding hand of Providence at work. Archbishop Lefebvre was a model of fidelity and obedience to his superiors throughout his long career of service to the Church. In the end, however, he was snubbed and betrayed: first by his Congregation, the Holy Ghost Fathers, who made him step down as Superior General because he refused to follow the doctrinal deviations of Vatican II, and then by the Pope and bishops, who had set in motion the destruction of the Church and proceeded to persecute the Archbishop for trying to save Her. It only remained for the Archbishop to suffer a cross rarely granted even to the saints: betrayal by members of the very congregation he had founded. Yet he suffered all with admirable fortitude. “The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. Every one that beareth fruit, the Father will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (Jn. XV).
Growth and Progress
As the Seminary’s new Rector, Fr. Williamson was faced with a great challenge. Not only was the Church undergoing possibly the greatest crisis of her existence, but society as well was breaking down at an alarming rate. Although he had the true Catholic pattern of priestly formation, Fr. Williamson was applying it in a world consumed as never before by errors that directly refused this pattern of Catholic priesthood. He had to confront these errors and eliminate them from the minds and hearts of his seminarians, so that the grace of God would make them good and faithful priests in a world gone mad.
A great aid in this battle against modern errors would be the Spiritual Exercises that Fr. Ludovic-Marie Barrielle, spiritual director at Ecône, had passed on to the Society. The Seminary professors, who for years had given the five day Ignatian spiritual exercises to the faithful, finally had the joy of preaching the first 30-day retreat to seminarians during the summer of 1985.
In 1986, Fr. Williamson inaugurated the “East Coast Trip” to fill gaps in seminarians’ knowledge of American history by visiting the locations where it was made. There was also the deeper purpose of uncovering America’s non-Catholic – and even anti-Catholic – roots. He had to make the seminarians realize how they, themselves – simply by virtue of growing up in America – had been shaped by an American spirit contrary to Catholicism, and to help ensure that those who proceeded on to the priesthood did not confuse this “Americanism” with the true Catholic apostolate entrusted to them by the Church.
By 1986, it had become clear that Ridgefield was simply too small. Fr. Williamson, in his August Rector’s Letter of that year, mentioned the need for more room: “We shall soon have to build again at Ridgefield, unless someone can swiftly find us a bargain 100-room seminary ready-built, within easy reach of a major airport and which the Seminary could buy. Keep looking for Providence’s bargain!”
The Biggest Month in Seminary History
In March, 1987, a brief, unexplained visit by Fr. Schmidberger sparked rumors that the purchase of a new seminary was imminent. Indeed, by fall the transaction was complete. A new building had been purchased in Winona, Minnesota, with the sale finalized on September 14, feast of the Holy Cross – a symbolic date both for the years in Ridgefield and those to come in Winona. But as the seminarians and priests settled into their last school year in Ridgefield, they little suspected that June, 1988, the month selected for the big move, was destined to prove vitally significant for quite another reason.
During the last months of 1987, Archbishop Lefebvre met with Cardinal Gagnon to discuss the Archbishop’s request to consecrate bishops. The seminarians knew that a crucial moment in the Society’s history had come. By May, with the final meetings in sight, the Seminary fasted, a Triduum of Masses was offered and Holy Hours were arranged. After discussions with Rome broke down, the Archbishop declared his decision to proceed with the episcopal consecrations. The excitement of the period only increased when it was announced on June 13 that Fr. Williamson would be one of the four bishops consecrated.
On June 21, the seminarians spent a long afternoon loading the 48-foot trailer which would transport the Seminary’s material possessions to Winona. The first Mass on the new Seminary’s high altar was celebrated five days later on the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost. Later that week, during the early morning hours of June 30, the seminarians again gathered in the chapel. With the bell breaking forth in joyful song, they chanted the Te Deum as the episcopal consecrations were taking place in Switzerland: “We praise Thee, O God.” At that moment, with God’s grace, a decisive step had been taken in the work of ensuring the future of both the true Catholic priesthood and the Society of St. Pius X.
“Ridgefield (1979-1988)” (with Daniel Themann)
During the first academic year, seminarians and faithful worked together on Saturdays to renovate the long-neglected building. While improvements were under way, Seminary superiors were already planning an ambitious addition that would include 50 new rooms, five classrooms and a chapel in order to accommodate the anticipated growth in the number of vocations. Three priests ordained in 1982 were the first to have been formed entirely in the United States. But even as the American Seminary was beginning to firmly establish itself, God’s Providence determined to send another and more painful trial.
The Great Split of ’83
In April, 1983, nine of the eleven Society priests in what was then the Northeast American District, among them the District Superior, the District Bursar and the Seminary Rector, brought their increasing differences with the line fixed by Archbishop Lefebvre for the SSPX to the point of open conflict, forcing the Archbishop to dismiss them from the Society. The precipitating act was the refusal of one of the newly ordained priests of 1982 to report to St. Mary’s, Kansas, because only the “John XXIII Mass” – that is, the rite of Mass found in the 1962 Missal – was said there. His disobedience was endorsed by the Rector and seven other American SSPX priests.
The priests dismissed had formed a tight-knit clique that finally exploded into open revolution against the Archbishop and the SSPX. Their brilliant minds, administrative abilities and profound sense of liturgical decorum were ruined by (in the Archbishop’s words) “an extremist way of thinking and a tendency to schism in the domain of the liturgy, the papacy and the sacraments of the modern Reform” that conflicted with the broad, Catholic vision of Archbishop Lefebvre. They extended their opposition to almost everything done since the pontificate of St. Pius X, and rejected all confirmations, ordinations, annulments, and liturgical reforms done in accordance with Vatican II. After attempts at reconciliation, the Archbishop had no choice but to expel these priests from the Society before they poisoned its work in the United States. Lawsuits followed, as the rebellious priests tried to obtain control of the properties and assets of the SSPX in the United States.
The Split could have proved fatal for the Seminary. Most of the faculty had left and the Society was forced to take immediate action to save this house of formation that was so vital to the growth of the American districts. Englishman Fr. Richard Williamson, a convert from Anglicanism, had arrived at the Seminary the previous year and was named Rector in 1983. His first-rate intellect, keen insight into the modern world, absolute fearlessness in standing for Catholic principles and unflinching obedience to Eternal Rome and the Archbishop would be the hallmarks of his stewardship of the Seminary for the next twenty years. Frs. Goettler, Bourmaud and Delaplace arrived from Europe to fill the other vacated professorships. Representing three different nationalities – English, German and French – the new professors gave the Seminary the international character that it retains to this day. They were to form Catholic priests for the Catholic Church and not American priests for an “American SSPX.” One important aspect of the true Catholic spirit of the Seminary’s new professors was well expressed in a May 6, 1983 letter of then Superior General Fr. Schmidberger: “We are firmly convinced that the Church still continues and lives on today, even if the corn can hardly be seen for the weeds. Let us not forget that the Church is not going to be saved through our erecting ourselves into self-glorifying judges; rather we must imitate the love and patience of the crucified Savior by begging for Her resurrection as a gift of grace, and offer ourselves up in this sense.”
Looking back with a supernatural perspective on this troubled time, which almost ended the Society’s presence in the U.S., one sees the guiding hand of Providence at work. Archbishop Lefebvre was a model of fidelity and obedience to his superiors throughout his long career of service to the Church. In the end, however, he was snubbed and betrayed: first by his Congregation, the Holy Ghost Fathers, who made him step down as Superior General because he refused to follow the doctrinal deviations of Vatican II, and then by the Pope and bishops, who had set in motion the destruction of the Church and proceeded to persecute the Archbishop for trying to save Her. It only remained for the Archbishop to suffer a cross rarely granted even to the saints: betrayal by members of the very congregation he had founded. Yet he suffered all with admirable fortitude. “The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. Every one that beareth fruit, the Father will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (Jn. XV).
Growth and Progress
As the Seminary’s new Rector, Fr. Williamson was faced with a great challenge. Not only was the Church undergoing possibly the greatest crisis of her existence, but society as well was breaking down at an alarming rate. Although he had the true Catholic pattern of priestly formation, Fr. Williamson was applying it in a world consumed as never before by errors that directly refused this pattern of Catholic priesthood. He had to confront these errors and eliminate them from the minds and hearts of his seminarians, so that the grace of God would make them good and faithful priests in a world gone mad.
A great aid in this battle against modern errors would be the Spiritual Exercises that Fr. Ludovic-Marie Barrielle, spiritual director at Ecône, had passed on to the Society. The Seminary professors, who for years had given the five day Ignatian spiritual exercises to the faithful, finally had the joy of preaching the first 30-day retreat to seminarians during the summer of 1985.
In 1986, Fr. Williamson inaugurated the “East Coast Trip” to fill gaps in seminarians’ knowledge of American history by visiting the locations where it was made. There was also the deeper purpose of uncovering America’s non-Catholic – and even anti-Catholic – roots. He had to make the seminarians realize how they, themselves – simply by virtue of growing up in America – had been shaped by an American spirit contrary to Catholicism, and to help ensure that those who proceeded on to the priesthood did not confuse this “Americanism” with the true Catholic apostolate entrusted to them by the Church.
By 1986, it had become clear that Ridgefield was simply too small. Fr. Williamson, in his August Rector’s Letter of that year, mentioned the need for more room: “We shall soon have to build again at Ridgefield, unless someone can swiftly find us a bargain 100-room seminary ready-built, within easy reach of a major airport and which the Seminary could buy. Keep looking for Providence’s bargain!”
The Biggest Month in Seminary History
In March, 1987, a brief, unexplained visit by Fr. Schmidberger sparked rumors that the purchase of a new seminary was imminent. Indeed, by fall the transaction was complete. A new building had been purchased in Winona, Minnesota, with the sale finalized on September 14, feast of the Holy Cross – a symbolic date both for the years in Ridgefield and those to come in Winona. But as the seminarians and priests settled into their last school year in Ridgefield, they little suspected that June, 1988, the month selected for the big move, was destined to prove vitally significant for quite another reason.
During the last months of 1987, Archbishop Lefebvre met with Cardinal Gagnon to discuss the Archbishop’s request to consecrate bishops. The seminarians knew that a crucial moment in the Society’s history had come. By May, with the final meetings in sight, the Seminary fasted, a Triduum of Masses was offered and Holy Hours were arranged. After discussions with Rome broke down, the Archbishop declared his decision to proceed with the episcopal consecrations. The excitement of the period only increased when it was announced on June 13 that Fr. Williamson would be one of the four bishops consecrated.
On June 21, the seminarians spent a long afternoon loading the 48-foot trailer which would transport the Seminary’s material possessions to Winona. The first Mass on the new Seminary’s high altar was celebrated five days later on the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost. Later that week, during the early morning hours of June 30, the seminarians again gathered in the chapel. With the bell breaking forth in joyful song, they chanted the Te Deum as the episcopal consecrations were taking place in Switzerland: “We praise Thee, O God.” At that moment, with God’s grace, a decisive step had been taken in the work of ensuring the future of both the true Catholic priesthood and the Society of St. Pius X.
“Canadian Pilgrimage Honors Martyrs” (Fall 2004)
From Issue No. 95: Catholic Counter-Revolution (Fall 2004)
“Canadian Pilgrimage Honors Martyrs”
This past September, shortly after arriving back at the Seminary to commence the new academic year, nearly 40 priests, brothers and seminarians embarked on a journey to assist at the Society’s Annual Canadian Martyrs’ Shrine Pilgrimage in Midland, Ontario. Overnight bags, hymnals and surplices in tow, the pilgrims loaded up on Thursday night the 23rd, and after 20 hours on the road, arrived at the Society’s Church of the Transfiguration in Toronto for evening Mass and supper. From there, the road-weary travellers went to their respective lodgings, some to a local hotel and others to the homes of generous parishioners.
On Saturday morning, the seminarians, priests and brothers, along with the faithful from the surrounding missions, headed out to Midland for the day’s events. Upon arriving at the pilgrimage site, the seminarians immediately began preparing for a Solemn High Mass in honor of the eight martyrs.
The Mass was celebrated by Fr. Stephen Somerville (see VERBUM #89), the movie set chaplain of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and a friend of the Societ. He was recently suspended by His Eminence Aloysius Cardinal Ambroziac, the Archbishop of Toronto, for “saying Latin Masses for a traditional Catholic splinter group [the SSPX],” a charge which Father is currently appealing. As a result of the national attention in the Canadian media which the suspension drew, the local rector of the Shrine felt compelled to react. He did not allow the Society to use the customary altar over the place where St. Jean de Brebeuf was martyred, so this year, the pilgrims were forced to erect a makeshift altar on the Shrine’s campground.
A picnic lunch followed Mass, during which clerics and faithful mingled and shared stories. The pilgrimage itself was cut short due to time constraints, though the seminarians had enough time to visit the church where relics of the Martyrs are reposed and to take a brief tour of Our Lady Among the Hurons, a re-creation of the colony founded by the Jesuits for the natives.
That Sunday, the Seminary’s pilgrims went to the Society’s Church of the Holy Face in St. Catharine’s, Ontario, where another Solemn High Mass was celebrated, after which the local faithful hosted a buffet lunch in the church basement. The pilgrims then visited nearby Niagara Falls, and afterwards drove back to Toronto for a barbeque hosted by the Toronto faithful before retiring for the night.
On Monday, the travellers heard Mass, took breakfast and made their way back to Winona to recover from the whirlwind weekend and resume the busy schedule of the Seminary.
The Pilgrimage illustrated for the seminarians how effectively a public profession of the Faith can instruct and foster Catholic piety. The faithful, shown the example of so many young men consecrating their lives to the service of the Church, were encouraged to pray more earnestly for vocations in the home, to foster them in their lives and, for some, to emulate the seminarians’ example by testing a vocation themselves.
For the Society, the Pilgrimage manifested the continuing life and vibrancy of Tradition in the face of unmerited persecutions, unjust suspensions and spurious excommunications which the Newchurch hurls at those whose only desire is fidelity to Eternal Rome. Ultimately, the Pilgrimage was an act of Faith, the adoration of Our Lord through His Martyrs, whose blood baptized the land and prepared North America for the subsequent growth of the Catholic Faith in the New World.
“Canadian Pilgrimage Honors Martyrs”
This past September, shortly after arriving back at the Seminary to commence the new academic year, nearly 40 priests, brothers and seminarians embarked on a journey to assist at the Society’s Annual Canadian Martyrs’ Shrine Pilgrimage in Midland, Ontario. Overnight bags, hymnals and surplices in tow, the pilgrims loaded up on Thursday night the 23rd, and after 20 hours on the road, arrived at the Society’s Church of the Transfiguration in Toronto for evening Mass and supper. From there, the road-weary travellers went to their respective lodgings, some to a local hotel and others to the homes of generous parishioners.
On Saturday morning, the seminarians, priests and brothers, along with the faithful from the surrounding missions, headed out to Midland for the day’s events. Upon arriving at the pilgrimage site, the seminarians immediately began preparing for a Solemn High Mass in honor of the eight martyrs.
The Mass was celebrated by Fr. Stephen Somerville (see VERBUM #89), the movie set chaplain of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and a friend of the Societ. He was recently suspended by His Eminence Aloysius Cardinal Ambroziac, the Archbishop of Toronto, for “saying Latin Masses for a traditional Catholic splinter group [the SSPX],” a charge which Father is currently appealing. As a result of the national attention in the Canadian media which the suspension drew, the local rector of the Shrine felt compelled to react. He did not allow the Society to use the customary altar over the place where St. Jean de Brebeuf was martyred, so this year, the pilgrims were forced to erect a makeshift altar on the Shrine’s campground.
A picnic lunch followed Mass, during which clerics and faithful mingled and shared stories. The pilgrimage itself was cut short due to time constraints, though the seminarians had enough time to visit the church where relics of the Martyrs are reposed and to take a brief tour of Our Lady Among the Hurons, a re-creation of the colony founded by the Jesuits for the natives.
That Sunday, the Seminary’s pilgrims went to the Society’s Church of the Holy Face in St. Catharine’s, Ontario, where another Solemn High Mass was celebrated, after which the local faithful hosted a buffet lunch in the church basement. The pilgrims then visited nearby Niagara Falls, and afterwards drove back to Toronto for a barbeque hosted by the Toronto faithful before retiring for the night.
On Monday, the travellers heard Mass, took breakfast and made their way back to Winona to recover from the whirlwind weekend and resume the busy schedule of the Seminary.
The Pilgrimage illustrated for the seminarians how effectively a public profession of the Faith can instruct and foster Catholic piety. The faithful, shown the example of so many young men consecrating their lives to the service of the Church, were encouraged to pray more earnestly for vocations in the home, to foster them in their lives and, for some, to emulate the seminarians’ example by testing a vocation themselves.
For the Society, the Pilgrimage manifested the continuing life and vibrancy of Tradition in the face of unmerited persecutions, unjust suspensions and spurious excommunications which the Newchurch hurls at those whose only desire is fidelity to Eternal Rome. Ultimately, the Pilgrimage was an act of Faith, the adoration of Our Lord through His Martyrs, whose blood baptized the land and prepared North America for the subsequent growth of the Catholic Faith in the New World.
A Letter of Endorsement for "Mummers: Philly's Best-Kept Secret" (Summer 2003)
November 28, 2003
Paul A. Robinson
Verbum Editor
St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary
R.R. 1, Box 97 A-I Winona MN 55987
Dear Paul:
Thank you, for making the Mummers Museum part of your wonderful newsletter. The article was one of the best we have read in more than the twenty years of the museum's existence. In one short tour you have captured the true spirit of the Philadelphia Mummers, if only the members of the Philadelphia press had half of your insight.
Issue No. 91 of the Verbum will become part of the newsprint collection of the museum's library and a copy of the article will be kept close to my heart.
Wishing you, your seminarian brothers and the good men that teach you a Blessed & Healthy Holiday Season, I remain
Sincerely,
MUMMERS MUSEUM
Palma Lucas
Executive Director
*****
A facsimile of the original document with signature may be found here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/13037542/Mummers-Endorsement-FAL03
Paul A. Robinson
Verbum Editor
St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary
R.R. 1, Box 97 A-I Winona MN 55987
Dear Paul:
Thank you, for making the Mummers Museum part of your wonderful newsletter. The article was one of the best we have read in more than the twenty years of the museum's existence. In one short tour you have captured the true spirit of the Philadelphia Mummers, if only the members of the Philadelphia press had half of your insight.
Issue No. 91 of the Verbum will become part of the newsprint collection of the museum's library and a copy of the article will be kept close to my heart.
Wishing you, your seminarian brothers and the good men that teach you a Blessed & Healthy Holiday Season, I remain
Sincerely,
MUMMERS MUSEUM
Palma Lucas
Executive Director
*****
A facsimile of the original document with signature may be found here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/13037542/Mummers-Endorsement-FAL03
“Mummers: Philly’s Best-Kept Secret” (Fall 2003)
From Issue No. 91: Stars & Stripes Summer (Fall 2003)
“Mummers: Philly’s Best-Kept Secret”
After a Sung Mass on the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, seminarians set out on their second day of exploring Philadelphia. To their surprise, the bus, wandering through the city’s streets, suddenly halted at the doorstep of an unexpected destination, the Mummers’ Museum. Once they got past the funny name and the strange costumes decorating the walls, seminarians began to realize what their unique detour was offering them: a remnant of American folk tradition preserved from money-driven media campaigns or appeals to the lowest common denominator. The Museum commemorates the Mummers’ Parade, a ten-hour New Year’s Day extravaganza, spanning more than two miles, with 10,000 marchers. These marchers are divided into four divisions, each with their own elaborate and intricate costumes and motifs. Many Philadelphians work year-round preparing for the event and, on January 1st, Philly is the Mummers’ Parade. The Parade has managed to remain practically untainted by the indecency common to such affairs, but the seminarians’ tour guide wisely expressed her fears for the future. As of now, it retains its reputation as a wholesome day for the family.
Mummery’s roots in Philly date back to the late 1700’s, when the Swedes brought in their tradition of visiting friends on “Second Day Christmas,” December 26th. As time passed, this custom grew to usher in the New Year with festive revelers holding local parades that incorporated British, Greek and Italian traditions of costuming. These local groups would parade from door to door, entertaining homes with dances and carols, receiving food and drink in return. The upper crust of Philadelphia saw these increasingly popular festivities as a problem, and in 1808, a law was passed to make proto-Mummery illegal. However, by the 1850’s, the law was abolished, and, in 1901, the City of Philadelphia sponsored the first annual Mummers’ Parade, an innocent and proud tradition which continues to the present day.
Some may dismiss such a Parade as pointless or even silly. But the Mummers’ Parade is human and real, unlike the Internet and television. What is more pointless than staring at a screen of pixels for hours on end, or more silly than writing email after email to all your friends in cyber-jargon? Much of modern entertainment is designed merely to gratify the senses, leaving the mind only with manufactured memories of unwholesome celebrity worship, rock ‘n’ roll, professional sports and so many other forms of dehumanized and unreal sources of dissipation.
The Mummers’ Parade is special because it is an inexpensive, organized social gathering intended to bring a community together. Contrast this with Disney’s Magic Kingdom, where every night ends with a plastic mock parade. In exchange for a small fortune, Mickey will give tourists all the emotional hype they could ever desire. At the end of a day at the theme park, the average family will have stood in lines nearly all day, without interacting with anyone they know, or will ever know. Perhaps the Mummers’ Parade lacks that bang-for-your-buck, over-the-top, sensory overload oomph, but it is a human drama, comedy and celebration that reminds us that life does not need to be pre-packaged for mass consumption.
The Museum showed seminarians that a few Americans still value real culture spun from real ancestors and not just anti-culture spun from the wizards of Madison Avenue. It is not perfect, and only time will tell if it can resist corruption, but it is a sign of life. In a way, every American has a bit of Mummer within him – and that’s good, because it shines as a glimmer of hope for the apostolate. Modern man has not been and cannot be entirely reduced to a stimulus-response machine. If he can still be taught to appreciate the value in a Mummers’ Parade, then he is also accessible to the more profound, yet every bit as human, culture that the Church has to offer.
“Mummers: Philly’s Best-Kept Secret”
After a Sung Mass on the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, seminarians set out on their second day of exploring Philadelphia. To their surprise, the bus, wandering through the city’s streets, suddenly halted at the doorstep of an unexpected destination, the Mummers’ Museum. Once they got past the funny name and the strange costumes decorating the walls, seminarians began to realize what their unique detour was offering them: a remnant of American folk tradition preserved from money-driven media campaigns or appeals to the lowest common denominator. The Museum commemorates the Mummers’ Parade, a ten-hour New Year’s Day extravaganza, spanning more than two miles, with 10,000 marchers. These marchers are divided into four divisions, each with their own elaborate and intricate costumes and motifs. Many Philadelphians work year-round preparing for the event and, on January 1st, Philly is the Mummers’ Parade. The Parade has managed to remain practically untainted by the indecency common to such affairs, but the seminarians’ tour guide wisely expressed her fears for the future. As of now, it retains its reputation as a wholesome day for the family.
Mummery’s roots in Philly date back to the late 1700’s, when the Swedes brought in their tradition of visiting friends on “Second Day Christmas,” December 26th. As time passed, this custom grew to usher in the New Year with festive revelers holding local parades that incorporated British, Greek and Italian traditions of costuming. These local groups would parade from door to door, entertaining homes with dances and carols, receiving food and drink in return. The upper crust of Philadelphia saw these increasingly popular festivities as a problem, and in 1808, a law was passed to make proto-Mummery illegal. However, by the 1850’s, the law was abolished, and, in 1901, the City of Philadelphia sponsored the first annual Mummers’ Parade, an innocent and proud tradition which continues to the present day.
Some may dismiss such a Parade as pointless or even silly. But the Mummers’ Parade is human and real, unlike the Internet and television. What is more pointless than staring at a screen of pixels for hours on end, or more silly than writing email after email to all your friends in cyber-jargon? Much of modern entertainment is designed merely to gratify the senses, leaving the mind only with manufactured memories of unwholesome celebrity worship, rock ‘n’ roll, professional sports and so many other forms of dehumanized and unreal sources of dissipation.
The Mummers’ Parade is special because it is an inexpensive, organized social gathering intended to bring a community together. Contrast this with Disney’s Magic Kingdom, where every night ends with a plastic mock parade. In exchange for a small fortune, Mickey will give tourists all the emotional hype they could ever desire. At the end of a day at the theme park, the average family will have stood in lines nearly all day, without interacting with anyone they know, or will ever know. Perhaps the Mummers’ Parade lacks that bang-for-your-buck, over-the-top, sensory overload oomph, but it is a human drama, comedy and celebration that reminds us that life does not need to be pre-packaged for mass consumption.
The Museum showed seminarians that a few Americans still value real culture spun from real ancestors and not just anti-culture spun from the wizards of Madison Avenue. It is not perfect, and only time will tell if it can resist corruption, but it is a sign of life. In a way, every American has a bit of Mummer within him – and that’s good, because it shines as a glimmer of hope for the apostolate. Modern man has not been and cannot be entirely reduced to a stimulus-response machine. If he can still be taught to appreciate the value in a Mummers’ Parade, then he is also accessible to the more profound, yet every bit as human, culture that the Church has to offer.
“Rev. Fr. Thomas Hufford” (Summer 2003)
From Issue No. 90: God’s Light in the Darkness (Summer 2003)
“Rev. Fr. Thomas Hufford”
From his childhood days in Freehold, NJ, to his high schooling in Monroe, LA, Fr. Thomas Hufford saw the Catholic Faith shining dimly through the storm of post-conciliar changes. Although he learned the Baltimore Catechism and saw his parents resisting the changes within the Church, he had no inkling that he was missing something far brighter. By the grace of God, however, his family’s search for a conservative parish led him to his first Traditional Mass in Vienna, VA, at Christmas time in 1987. The next summer, he went on an Ignatian Retreat, which “laid the groundwork” for his coming to Tradition, and ultimately paved the way for the joyous day of his ordination 15 years later.
“I didn’t much consider a vocation until after I came into Tradition,” says Fr. Hufford. He explains that this is the logical consequence of the Conciliar Church’s obscuring or omitting the most important articles of the Faith. “When I was exposed to the Traditional Latin Mass in the late 80s, it was clear enough that the New Mass did not express as well the teachings of my Catechism regarding the Sacrifice and the priesthood.” He did not understand until later that it does express a New Theology, contrary to Traditional doctrines.
Father’s first impressions of the True Faith account for his eventual path to the priesthood. “What impressed me first was the piety of good priests, and the zeal they showed in working for the salvation of souls.” They especially communicated this piety and zeal in preaching the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Father attended a number of retreats throughout his college years, and he stresses that the Ignatian Exercises are an invaluable reality check, as well as an introduction to a thoroughly God-centered piety.
Acting on the recognition of a crisis in the priesthood, Father’s first serious consideration of a vocation began after finishing his undergraduate work in Violin Performance in Rochester, NY. In 1993, he went to the Regina Coeli House at the Society’s U.S. District headquarters in Kansas City, MO, “to discern the will of God.” The following autumn, he embarked upon his Seminary career.
As a “survivor” of the Conciliar Church’s onslaught against Catholics, Fr. Hufford has a clear picture of the battlefield he is now entering. “Today, a Catholic’s efforts to direct his actions to God appear to be thwarted and redirected to other ends.” This tension, Father says, can be resolved by the doctrine of Christ the King. As the world turns more and more away from Christ, it falls more and more under the sovereignty of “the rulers of the world of this darkness” (Eph. VI, 12). In order to persevere, Catholics must restore all things in Christ, who reconciles men with God, and not with the world. Today this doctrine is more important than ever. Every Catholic’s part in this spiritual warfare begins by firmly rooting himself in the solid doctrine and piety found abundantly in our sacred traditions, and sadly diminished in the Church of today’s Rome.
Father says that daily Mass, prayer in common and especially the Divine Office have been invaluable helps to his Seminary formation. These “paradigms of prayer” are divine tools that provide an indispensable source of revelation and spiritual nourishment. It is from this fountain of Truth and Goodness that he will draw the strength to wage war with the modern world. Fr. Hufford has entered the true priesthood to “restore and strengthen Christ’s Kingdom on Earth.” We pray that God will grant him many victories on the way to the ultimate triumph that Our Lord promised his first Apostles.
“Rev. Fr. Thomas Hufford”
From his childhood days in Freehold, NJ, to his high schooling in Monroe, LA, Fr. Thomas Hufford saw the Catholic Faith shining dimly through the storm of post-conciliar changes. Although he learned the Baltimore Catechism and saw his parents resisting the changes within the Church, he had no inkling that he was missing something far brighter. By the grace of God, however, his family’s search for a conservative parish led him to his first Traditional Mass in Vienna, VA, at Christmas time in 1987. The next summer, he went on an Ignatian Retreat, which “laid the groundwork” for his coming to Tradition, and ultimately paved the way for the joyous day of his ordination 15 years later.
“I didn’t much consider a vocation until after I came into Tradition,” says Fr. Hufford. He explains that this is the logical consequence of the Conciliar Church’s obscuring or omitting the most important articles of the Faith. “When I was exposed to the Traditional Latin Mass in the late 80s, it was clear enough that the New Mass did not express as well the teachings of my Catechism regarding the Sacrifice and the priesthood.” He did not understand until later that it does express a New Theology, contrary to Traditional doctrines.
Father’s first impressions of the True Faith account for his eventual path to the priesthood. “What impressed me first was the piety of good priests, and the zeal they showed in working for the salvation of souls.” They especially communicated this piety and zeal in preaching the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. Father attended a number of retreats throughout his college years, and he stresses that the Ignatian Exercises are an invaluable reality check, as well as an introduction to a thoroughly God-centered piety.
Acting on the recognition of a crisis in the priesthood, Father’s first serious consideration of a vocation began after finishing his undergraduate work in Violin Performance in Rochester, NY. In 1993, he went to the Regina Coeli House at the Society’s U.S. District headquarters in Kansas City, MO, “to discern the will of God.” The following autumn, he embarked upon his Seminary career.
As a “survivor” of the Conciliar Church’s onslaught against Catholics, Fr. Hufford has a clear picture of the battlefield he is now entering. “Today, a Catholic’s efforts to direct his actions to God appear to be thwarted and redirected to other ends.” This tension, Father says, can be resolved by the doctrine of Christ the King. As the world turns more and more away from Christ, it falls more and more under the sovereignty of “the rulers of the world of this darkness” (Eph. VI, 12). In order to persevere, Catholics must restore all things in Christ, who reconciles men with God, and not with the world. Today this doctrine is more important than ever. Every Catholic’s part in this spiritual warfare begins by firmly rooting himself in the solid doctrine and piety found abundantly in our sacred traditions, and sadly diminished in the Church of today’s Rome.
Father says that daily Mass, prayer in common and especially the Divine Office have been invaluable helps to his Seminary formation. These “paradigms of prayer” are divine tools that provide an indispensable source of revelation and spiritual nourishment. It is from this fountain of Truth and Goodness that he will draw the strength to wage war with the modern world. Fr. Hufford has entered the true priesthood to “restore and strengthen Christ’s Kingdom on Earth.” We pray that God will grant him many victories on the way to the ultimate triumph that Our Lord promised his first Apostles.
“A Shot in the Sanctuary” (Spring 2003)
From Issue No. 89: Veteran Priests Fortify Tomorrow’s Soldiers (Spring 2003)
“A Shot in the Sanctuary”
On January 19th, Father Greig Gonzales was shot at during Mass in St. Jude’s Church, PA, by one of his parishioners. While the bullet only grazed his shoe, the media version of the tale needs completing. VERBUM interviewed him to get his own reflections on this latest development in the dangers of the modern apostolate.
VERBUM: Tell us a bit about yourself.
Fr. Gonzales: I grew up in Louisiana, and then I had 16 years of seminary formation. Ten of those years were “pre-seminary” formation in and out of the Novus Ordo, and I had six years of solid, Traditional formation. I was ordained, by the grace of God, in 1995.
My first assignment was in Great Britain, at St. Mary’s house in Lancashire, the Northwest. Basically, we covered Scotland, Northern England and most of Wales. I taught music part-time at St. Michael’s School, and later I was teaching full-time, religion and other subjects. I was in the District of England until eight months ago.
VERBUM: Did England prepare you in any way for what happened in January?
Fr. Gonzales: No. I mean, you can have run-ins with some faithful who start yelling at you. Or the priest can step on their toes out of ignorance, or sometimes he needs to correct the faithful, and so they start to fight back. But not with guns!
VERBUM: Tell us about the events of January 19th.
Fr. Gonzales: Well, I can’t give an exact chronological order. It felt like an eternity – well it was almost my eternity, if he had pulled the trigger the second time! I reckon it’s by the intercession of Our Lady and the Holy Angels that he didn’t.
It was when I was finishing up Low Mass on Sunday morning. I was returning back to the altar with the ciborium up the steps, I picked up the cover, genuflected and I was about to cover it when I heard, “Father don’t cover that.” I just turned and I thought maybe that he wanted Holy Communion. I recognized the voice somewhat as one of the faithful. So I just gave him a sign to quiet down and to kneel down, and again he said, “Father leave that alone. Don’t cover it. Father, do you feel that this is déjà vu for you?” It perplexed me – I’d never been in such a situation before. His family and other men were trying to come up through the altar gates to talk to him, and other groups of men were approaching, who had training on how to get a gun and keep it from going off. So things were working according to God’s providential care.
But a shot was fired. When it was fired, it hit me on the foot, the instep. And I was thinking, “I could look down. I could be bleeding. Jesus mercy, Mary help.” I made an act of contrition. Of course the faithful were thinking, “He’s so admirable and calm.” I was perfectly in fright, fearful fright. I was thinking, “I’m going to be killed; eternity is about to begin! Jesus mercy, Mary help.”
But we were lucky. Some faithful could easily have ended up dead themselves from trying to subdue the aggressor. Our Lady surely obtained our safety on that day. The policeman on the case, who is not of the Faith, said, “It was a miracle that no one was hurt today in this place.”
VERBUM: Was this another case of revolting against the priest? It didn’t seem to be personal.
Fr. Gonzales: Some did say that my sermons were too long. I admit I am no great orator! But the most you might get is that people would walk out. Maybe I was the final straw with the aggressor. He seemed to have a certain imbalance and the family was trying to help. Depression medications can cause psychotic behaviour. Maybe there were a lot of things floating around in his mind.
Normally he was in the back of the chapel, listening to rock ‘n’ roll through a little tape player. He popped it out of his Missal cover. One of the faithful said it was Heavy Metal, and that it was played so loud she could hear it. And Heavy Metal is, well, heavy. Heavy with Satan’s messages.
VERBUM: Other priests have been asking about what happened. What about their experiences?
Fr. Gonzales: Well, Fr. James Haynos was held at gunpoint after an Easter Vigil Mass. Fr. Zendejas was in Columbia and he was shot at by police in a high-speed car chase. It was not until they reached the police station that the officers realized they had the wrong guy. He almost ended up dead. So I guess all of us priests can find ourselves in some difficult situations!
As priests, we’re going to say things in the confessional or in preaching that will upset some people. What they should do is discuss any problems with the priest, either face to face or in the confessional. Since Vatican II, though, moral theology is ever-changing according to “situation ethics.” In Tradition, of course, truth doesn’t change.
VERBUM: How is this instructive for seminarians? How does it bode for our future as priests?
Fr. Gonzales: The essential things for a priest are to do his duty and have devotion to Our Lord, Our Lady and the Holy Angels and Saints. The apostolate is preaching the truth, whether it is from the pulpit, the confessional, in spiritual direction, or in sacramental preparation. I mean, you always try to do it in a kind way, but sometimes you have to be a bit on the firm side with people. Just be prepared, because you never know when someone’s going to get angry because of what you have said. And also keep your ears open, so that mumbling and grumbling about the priest doesn’t go unnoticed.
Priests must preach the Gospel, the Truth, and not let it be watered down to keep people happy, to be “nice” and complacent in this world. We know the teaching of Christ, of the Church. Either people accept it or they deal with the wrath of God.
VERBUM: Any final comments?
Fr. Gonzales: I really don’t think it was personal. With the Novus Ordo, this can be brought about by a bad priest, but as far as I know, that doesn’t have anything to do with this. It’s just a case of a lot of things going wrong, going bad. He was mentally unbalanced. Why wait until after Holy Communion before I got the Blessed Sacrament into the Tabernacle? It’s the mental imbalance creating a break with reality, the devil using that as an opportunity to attack the Blessed Sacrament and the priest. With all the devils in the world today, they will use any opportunity they can to desecrate.
The family’s going through a lot. We’re trying to help him as he sits in prison, to lift the censure of attacking a priest. He is still a soul to be saved – we want to save his soul. Hopefully he can become stable, where he won’t try to hurt me or anybody else. We’ve got to pray that Our Lady and the Holy Angels can help him over his mental imbalances.
VERBUM: Thanks for your time, Father. We will pray for the safety and success of your apostolate.
“A Shot in the Sanctuary”
On January 19th, Father Greig Gonzales was shot at during Mass in St. Jude’s Church, PA, by one of his parishioners. While the bullet only grazed his shoe, the media version of the tale needs completing. VERBUM interviewed him to get his own reflections on this latest development in the dangers of the modern apostolate.
VERBUM: Tell us a bit about yourself.
Fr. Gonzales: I grew up in Louisiana, and then I had 16 years of seminary formation. Ten of those years were “pre-seminary” formation in and out of the Novus Ordo, and I had six years of solid, Traditional formation. I was ordained, by the grace of God, in 1995.
My first assignment was in Great Britain, at St. Mary’s house in Lancashire, the Northwest. Basically, we covered Scotland, Northern England and most of Wales. I taught music part-time at St. Michael’s School, and later I was teaching full-time, religion and other subjects. I was in the District of England until eight months ago.
VERBUM: Did England prepare you in any way for what happened in January?
Fr. Gonzales: No. I mean, you can have run-ins with some faithful who start yelling at you. Or the priest can step on their toes out of ignorance, or sometimes he needs to correct the faithful, and so they start to fight back. But not with guns!
VERBUM: Tell us about the events of January 19th.
Fr. Gonzales: Well, I can’t give an exact chronological order. It felt like an eternity – well it was almost my eternity, if he had pulled the trigger the second time! I reckon it’s by the intercession of Our Lady and the Holy Angels that he didn’t.
It was when I was finishing up Low Mass on Sunday morning. I was returning back to the altar with the ciborium up the steps, I picked up the cover, genuflected and I was about to cover it when I heard, “Father don’t cover that.” I just turned and I thought maybe that he wanted Holy Communion. I recognized the voice somewhat as one of the faithful. So I just gave him a sign to quiet down and to kneel down, and again he said, “Father leave that alone. Don’t cover it. Father, do you feel that this is déjà vu for you?” It perplexed me – I’d never been in such a situation before. His family and other men were trying to come up through the altar gates to talk to him, and other groups of men were approaching, who had training on how to get a gun and keep it from going off. So things were working according to God’s providential care.
But a shot was fired. When it was fired, it hit me on the foot, the instep. And I was thinking, “I could look down. I could be bleeding. Jesus mercy, Mary help.” I made an act of contrition. Of course the faithful were thinking, “He’s so admirable and calm.” I was perfectly in fright, fearful fright. I was thinking, “I’m going to be killed; eternity is about to begin! Jesus mercy, Mary help.”
But we were lucky. Some faithful could easily have ended up dead themselves from trying to subdue the aggressor. Our Lady surely obtained our safety on that day. The policeman on the case, who is not of the Faith, said, “It was a miracle that no one was hurt today in this place.”
VERBUM: Was this another case of revolting against the priest? It didn’t seem to be personal.
Fr. Gonzales: Some did say that my sermons were too long. I admit I am no great orator! But the most you might get is that people would walk out. Maybe I was the final straw with the aggressor. He seemed to have a certain imbalance and the family was trying to help. Depression medications can cause psychotic behaviour. Maybe there were a lot of things floating around in his mind.
Normally he was in the back of the chapel, listening to rock ‘n’ roll through a little tape player. He popped it out of his Missal cover. One of the faithful said it was Heavy Metal, and that it was played so loud she could hear it. And Heavy Metal is, well, heavy. Heavy with Satan’s messages.
VERBUM: Other priests have been asking about what happened. What about their experiences?
Fr. Gonzales: Well, Fr. James Haynos was held at gunpoint after an Easter Vigil Mass. Fr. Zendejas was in Columbia and he was shot at by police in a high-speed car chase. It was not until they reached the police station that the officers realized they had the wrong guy. He almost ended up dead. So I guess all of us priests can find ourselves in some difficult situations!
As priests, we’re going to say things in the confessional or in preaching that will upset some people. What they should do is discuss any problems with the priest, either face to face or in the confessional. Since Vatican II, though, moral theology is ever-changing according to “situation ethics.” In Tradition, of course, truth doesn’t change.
VERBUM: How is this instructive for seminarians? How does it bode for our future as priests?
Fr. Gonzales: The essential things for a priest are to do his duty and have devotion to Our Lord, Our Lady and the Holy Angels and Saints. The apostolate is preaching the truth, whether it is from the pulpit, the confessional, in spiritual direction, or in sacramental preparation. I mean, you always try to do it in a kind way, but sometimes you have to be a bit on the firm side with people. Just be prepared, because you never know when someone’s going to get angry because of what you have said. And also keep your ears open, so that mumbling and grumbling about the priest doesn’t go unnoticed.
Priests must preach the Gospel, the Truth, and not let it be watered down to keep people happy, to be “nice” and complacent in this world. We know the teaching of Christ, of the Church. Either people accept it or they deal with the wrath of God.
VERBUM: Any final comments?
Fr. Gonzales: I really don’t think it was personal. With the Novus Ordo, this can be brought about by a bad priest, but as far as I know, that doesn’t have anything to do with this. It’s just a case of a lot of things going wrong, going bad. He was mentally unbalanced. Why wait until after Holy Communion before I got the Blessed Sacrament into the Tabernacle? It’s the mental imbalance creating a break with reality, the devil using that as an opportunity to attack the Blessed Sacrament and the priest. With all the devils in the world today, they will use any opportunity they can to desecrate.
The family’s going through a lot. We’re trying to help him as he sits in prison, to lift the censure of attacking a priest. He is still a soul to be saved – we want to save his soul. Hopefully he can become stable, where he won’t try to hurt me or anybody else. We’ve got to pray that Our Lady and the Holy Angels can help him over his mental imbalances.
VERBUM: Thanks for your time, Father. We will pray for the safety and success of your apostolate.
“Leap of Faith: Fr. Gary Dilley Makes a Long-Prepared Move to Tradition” (Winter 2003)
From Issue No. 88: Ignatian Vacation (Winter 2003)
“Leap of Faith: Fr. Gary Dilley Makes a Long-Prepared Move to Tradition”
Born in Springfield, Illinois, in 1940, Father Gary Dilley went to Catholic schools. Upon completing secondary school, he entered the Society of the Divine Savior, a teaching order, as a Brother. He lived as a lay religious for 12 years, until he was sent to Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. to study for the Priesthood. There he got his Master’s degree in theology, as well as degrees in history and accounting.
Father notes that theological studies really started to change in the late 1960's, after most of his formation had been completed, though he concedes that that the last few years of his University training were quite affected by the "New Theology."
Ordained in 1972 at the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., he first went to Richmond, VA, for a year of Clerical Pastoral Education training. From there Father was assigned to a parish in Sacramento, CA, for almost five years; then he became an Air Force chaplain for five years, after which his Order was corrupting so rapidly that he ultimately decided to become a diocesan priest, and he served a parish in South Carolina as Pastor for 13 years.
Father knew nothing about Tradition through all this time. In fact, his first glimpse of Tradition was in June of 1988 from the NBC Nightly News, when they covered the Society's Episcopal Consecrations. Many of his colleagues were affected by the news, and the subsequent exposure given to Tradition led some of them to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP). After a stay in one of their houses, Fr. Dilley joined the Fraternity as well. He studied Latin again, and eventually became pastor of a Fraternity house for six years.
Father feels that the Fraternity of St. Peter is "very much connected to the Novus Ordo" and tied to the new Sacraments and the Second Vatican Council, all of which must be accepted by the Fraternity's priests. He notes that Fraternity priests must perform the New Mass and the other New Sacraments whenever they are operating outside their own houses, and that their semi-Traditional apostolate cannot be advertised locally by so much as an outdoor Mass schedule sign on the property. Furthermore, the Fraternity is mute concerning the abuses, scandals and sacrileges of their more liberal peers, but they only have plenty of "negative things" to say about the Society of St. Pius X.
Fr. Dilley ultimately decided to leave the FSSP because, as he bluntly states, they are "not Traditionalists," but merely pawns in Rome's game of "playing cat 'n' mouse with Traditionalists," meaning the Society of St. Pius X. The price for recognizing the true distinction between semi-Tradition and the Catholic Faith as handed down for 2,000 years is steep, but he has been willing to pay it.
Father's second "conversion to Tradition" came about following a coincidence of Providence. A few years ago, Father was driving to Minnesota to attend a series of conferences, and he happened to see the entrance sign to St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Winona. Fr. Dilley decided to drive in, and he was received by the Rector. He has kept in touch ever since.
Father's contract with the Fraternity of St. Peter expires in January, and after fulfilling a tour of duty for a diocesan Bishop, he plans to stay at the Seminary through Lent. "My spirituality is fed by the old Mass and the old Breviary." His decision comes after five years of reflection, prayer and study.
Fr. Dilley held off from rushing into the Society because it takes "time to read and reflect, and you have to know who the enemy is." Mere emotion is not enough to make a sufficient conversion. "I'm doing this as a matter of conscience." Father has lost many friends in his coming over to the Society, but the Society's members have all been "very gracious" in receiving him.
Father says that to restore the Church would take "divine intervention," and that such a restoration "would have to be done right; it can't just be some sort of quick-fix." The Pope won't act without the consensus of his Curia and the College of Bishops. The corruption of the laity is widespread; he says that many of those married in the Newchurch use contraception, and that this exhibits the key difference between Catholicism and the Newchurch: sacrifice. "To be a true Catholic - I don't like the term 'Traditionalist' - it demands sacrifice." He observes that this notion is entirely lost in the Newchurch. "Of course, Jesus didn't have it easy, so why should we?"
Cast off by one family and embraced by another, Fr. Dilley feels like a "battered person," though he does not regret his decision. "I'm leaving, and I feel like I'm not leaving anything behind."
“Leap of Faith: Fr. Gary Dilley Makes a Long-Prepared Move to Tradition”
Born in Springfield, Illinois, in 1940, Father Gary Dilley went to Catholic schools. Upon completing secondary school, he entered the Society of the Divine Savior, a teaching order, as a Brother. He lived as a lay religious for 12 years, until he was sent to Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. to study for the Priesthood. There he got his Master’s degree in theology, as well as degrees in history and accounting.
Father notes that theological studies really started to change in the late 1960's, after most of his formation had been completed, though he concedes that that the last few years of his University training were quite affected by the "New Theology."
Ordained in 1972 at the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., he first went to Richmond, VA, for a year of Clerical Pastoral Education training. From there Father was assigned to a parish in Sacramento, CA, for almost five years; then he became an Air Force chaplain for five years, after which his Order was corrupting so rapidly that he ultimately decided to become a diocesan priest, and he served a parish in South Carolina as Pastor for 13 years.
Father knew nothing about Tradition through all this time. In fact, his first glimpse of Tradition was in June of 1988 from the NBC Nightly News, when they covered the Society's Episcopal Consecrations. Many of his colleagues were affected by the news, and the subsequent exposure given to Tradition led some of them to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP). After a stay in one of their houses, Fr. Dilley joined the Fraternity as well. He studied Latin again, and eventually became pastor of a Fraternity house for six years.
Father feels that the Fraternity of St. Peter is "very much connected to the Novus Ordo" and tied to the new Sacraments and the Second Vatican Council, all of which must be accepted by the Fraternity's priests. He notes that Fraternity priests must perform the New Mass and the other New Sacraments whenever they are operating outside their own houses, and that their semi-Traditional apostolate cannot be advertised locally by so much as an outdoor Mass schedule sign on the property. Furthermore, the Fraternity is mute concerning the abuses, scandals and sacrileges of their more liberal peers, but they only have plenty of "negative things" to say about the Society of St. Pius X.
Fr. Dilley ultimately decided to leave the FSSP because, as he bluntly states, they are "not Traditionalists," but merely pawns in Rome's game of "playing cat 'n' mouse with Traditionalists," meaning the Society of St. Pius X. The price for recognizing the true distinction between semi-Tradition and the Catholic Faith as handed down for 2,000 years is steep, but he has been willing to pay it.
Father's second "conversion to Tradition" came about following a coincidence of Providence. A few years ago, Father was driving to Minnesota to attend a series of conferences, and he happened to see the entrance sign to St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Winona. Fr. Dilley decided to drive in, and he was received by the Rector. He has kept in touch ever since.
Father's contract with the Fraternity of St. Peter expires in January, and after fulfilling a tour of duty for a diocesan Bishop, he plans to stay at the Seminary through Lent. "My spirituality is fed by the old Mass and the old Breviary." His decision comes after five years of reflection, prayer and study.
Fr. Dilley held off from rushing into the Society because it takes "time to read and reflect, and you have to know who the enemy is." Mere emotion is not enough to make a sufficient conversion. "I'm doing this as a matter of conscience." Father has lost many friends in his coming over to the Society, but the Society's members have all been "very gracious" in receiving him.
Father says that to restore the Church would take "divine intervention," and that such a restoration "would have to be done right; it can't just be some sort of quick-fix." The Pope won't act without the consensus of his Curia and the College of Bishops. The corruption of the laity is widespread; he says that many of those married in the Newchurch use contraception, and that this exhibits the key difference between Catholicism and the Newchurch: sacrifice. "To be a true Catholic - I don't like the term 'Traditionalist' - it demands sacrifice." He observes that this notion is entirely lost in the Newchurch. "Of course, Jesus didn't have it easy, so why should we?"
Cast off by one family and embraced by another, Fr. Dilley feels like a "battered person," though he does not regret his decision. "I'm leaving, and I feel like I'm not leaving anything behind."
“Final Profession of Brother Marcel” (Fall 2002)
From Issue No. 87: Bursting at the Seams (Fall 2002)
“Final Profession of Brother Marcel”
On Sunday, September 29th – the feast of St. Michael – Brother Marcel made his perpetual religious vows in the Society of Saint Pius X.
Known to the world as Peter Francis Poverello from Johannesburg, South Africa, Brother spent his childhood years in the Novus Ordo, but his parents converted to Tradition when he was 13. He was initially “hesitant” to accept Tradition but soon saw the light of Eternal Rome. His family’s conversion came about through the efforts of Fr. Brady, an Irish Holy Ghost Father who would come down once a month to celebrate the Tridentine Mass. The priest knew Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the former Superior General of that missionary order.
From an early age, Brother aspired to devote his life to the service of God. “I actually wanted to be a priest as a child,” he says. This desire would eventually lead him to enter the Seminary in Winona as a grown man.
Brother’s talent for matters artistic is well known, within and without the Seminary. Within the Seminary, Brother has, among other works, been redecorating and
remodeling Our Lady’s Chapel. He was also a key figure in decorating the Crypt (see VERBUM #58), and his photographs have filled many an issue of VERBUM. Elsewhere, numerous Society chapels in America have Brother to thank for a variety of the magnificent statues, restored and decorated altars, and architectural detailings – along with a king’s ransom in gold leaf – that adorn their sanctuaries.
Brother has been working in art – sculpting, painting, photography – since the age of five, inspired by an older brother of his. While his brother won big competitions, Brother’s success was not immediate, and he finally gave up art in the two years preceding his entering the Winona Seminary.
Brother completed his year of Spirituality, but it was decided that he should try a religious vocation as a Society lay-brother. He entered the novitiate the following autumn, and his artistic endeavors were mostly limited to occasional drawings and some of his famous cartooning – mostly “small things” during this time.
After a year’s novitiate, he was told to take up brush and chisel, and resume artistry full-time – by then, he was in his third year at Winona, his second as a novice.
Brother says that the religious life is “a life of servitude...there’s usually no glamour at all.” Brother cites the lack of generosity in the people of today’s world, their selfishness, for the want of religious vocations in our times. “We’re in a selfish age. The world is a very hard thing to give up... the Religious life doesn’t look very appealing at all.”
Brother also notes that today “People can’t commit...they can’t even commit to a job.” He sees this lack of commitment as a source of many of the world’s problems.
Brother took his name in religion from Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, on account of the Archbishop’s perseverance in Tradition’s opposition to the Newchurch. After all, the day-to-day perseverance required of the religious is nothing less than staggering in light of the selfish influence of the world with all its pomps and splendors.
Of course, there are natural consolations: there is no material worry, as the community takes care of the brothers’ material needs. But this also limits one’s material boundaries. The brothers are given only a small monthly allowance for personal items, and as Brother notes, in regards to the community life, “My limits are set by what the Bishop will allow.”
Nevertheless, if the will of God is done, the knowledge that one is doing the will of God is “its own joy, a supernatural joy, not one of feeling.” The three vows of the religious – poverty, chastity and obedience – serve as the foundation for the brothers’ daily discipline. Br. Marcel especially cites obedience as the one counsel that defines the brothers. “Obedience sets the religious apart” from even the priests of the Society, who have to manage priory finances and so forth. “It’s a vow to God,” and as such, it would be “unjust” to violate the vows made before the altar. The three counsels work together, but obedience suppresses one’s will. In that way, the religious life is unique in that it needs a superior to thrive.
Brother Marcel is certainly thankful that the Seminary is “a complete community,” with a clear hierarchy of superiors, seminarians, fellow brothers and the laity. The Seminary enjoys the full splendor of the liturgy, not found to the same extent in any other Society house in North America. A large, quiet property which allows for a great deal of contemplation – essential to the religious state – the Seminary’s Rule and “real order” combine to make what Brother calls “a fantastic help. I really appreciate being here with all these helps around.”
Though he has spent most of his life working in clay and paints, Brother Marcel considers art “secondary” to his life in religion. “I have no intention of abandoning my vocation because of a job change.” He has “no distinct preference” in his duties around the house, which is “not the easiest thing to do.” Brother tries to perform all of his spiritual duties – 15 decades of the Rosary daily, the Divine Office as prayed in common at the Seminary – and all of his house jobs, i.e. art projects, catechism, mailing, photography, etc. “without preference.” Brother only wants “to do the will of God and to save my soul,” and he is not anxious except for these two things.
“Final Profession of Brother Marcel”
On Sunday, September 29th – the feast of St. Michael – Brother Marcel made his perpetual religious vows in the Society of Saint Pius X.
Known to the world as Peter Francis Poverello from Johannesburg, South Africa, Brother spent his childhood years in the Novus Ordo, but his parents converted to Tradition when he was 13. He was initially “hesitant” to accept Tradition but soon saw the light of Eternal Rome. His family’s conversion came about through the efforts of Fr. Brady, an Irish Holy Ghost Father who would come down once a month to celebrate the Tridentine Mass. The priest knew Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the former Superior General of that missionary order.
From an early age, Brother aspired to devote his life to the service of God. “I actually wanted to be a priest as a child,” he says. This desire would eventually lead him to enter the Seminary in Winona as a grown man.
Brother’s talent for matters artistic is well known, within and without the Seminary. Within the Seminary, Brother has, among other works, been redecorating and
remodeling Our Lady’s Chapel. He was also a key figure in decorating the Crypt (see VERBUM #58), and his photographs have filled many an issue of VERBUM. Elsewhere, numerous Society chapels in America have Brother to thank for a variety of the magnificent statues, restored and decorated altars, and architectural detailings – along with a king’s ransom in gold leaf – that adorn their sanctuaries.
Brother has been working in art – sculpting, painting, photography – since the age of five, inspired by an older brother of his. While his brother won big competitions, Brother’s success was not immediate, and he finally gave up art in the two years preceding his entering the Winona Seminary.
Brother completed his year of Spirituality, but it was decided that he should try a religious vocation as a Society lay-brother. He entered the novitiate the following autumn, and his artistic endeavors were mostly limited to occasional drawings and some of his famous cartooning – mostly “small things” during this time.
After a year’s novitiate, he was told to take up brush and chisel, and resume artistry full-time – by then, he was in his third year at Winona, his second as a novice.
Brother says that the religious life is “a life of servitude...there’s usually no glamour at all.” Brother cites the lack of generosity in the people of today’s world, their selfishness, for the want of religious vocations in our times. “We’re in a selfish age. The world is a very hard thing to give up... the Religious life doesn’t look very appealing at all.”
Brother also notes that today “People can’t commit...they can’t even commit to a job.” He sees this lack of commitment as a source of many of the world’s problems.
Brother took his name in religion from Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, on account of the Archbishop’s perseverance in Tradition’s opposition to the Newchurch. After all, the day-to-day perseverance required of the religious is nothing less than staggering in light of the selfish influence of the world with all its pomps and splendors.
Of course, there are natural consolations: there is no material worry, as the community takes care of the brothers’ material needs. But this also limits one’s material boundaries. The brothers are given only a small monthly allowance for personal items, and as Brother notes, in regards to the community life, “My limits are set by what the Bishop will allow.”
Nevertheless, if the will of God is done, the knowledge that one is doing the will of God is “its own joy, a supernatural joy, not one of feeling.” The three vows of the religious – poverty, chastity and obedience – serve as the foundation for the brothers’ daily discipline. Br. Marcel especially cites obedience as the one counsel that defines the brothers. “Obedience sets the religious apart” from even the priests of the Society, who have to manage priory finances and so forth. “It’s a vow to God,” and as such, it would be “unjust” to violate the vows made before the altar. The three counsels work together, but obedience suppresses one’s will. In that way, the religious life is unique in that it needs a superior to thrive.
Brother Marcel is certainly thankful that the Seminary is “a complete community,” with a clear hierarchy of superiors, seminarians, fellow brothers and the laity. The Seminary enjoys the full splendor of the liturgy, not found to the same extent in any other Society house in North America. A large, quiet property which allows for a great deal of contemplation – essential to the religious state – the Seminary’s Rule and “real order” combine to make what Brother calls “a fantastic help. I really appreciate being here with all these helps around.”
Though he has spent most of his life working in clay and paints, Brother Marcel considers art “secondary” to his life in religion. “I have no intention of abandoning my vocation because of a job change.” He has “no distinct preference” in his duties around the house, which is “not the easiest thing to do.” Brother tries to perform all of his spiritual duties – 15 decades of the Rosary daily, the Divine Office as prayed in common at the Seminary – and all of his house jobs, i.e. art projects, catechism, mailing, photography, etc. “without preference.” Brother only wants “to do the will of God and to save my soul,” and he is not anxious except for these two things.
“Rev Fr. Steven Webber” (Summer 2002)
From Issue No. 86: A Devil of a Storm (Summer 2002)
“Rev Fr. Steven Webber”
Attending a conservative Novus Ordo parish in Camarillo, California, for several years, Fr. Steven Webber’s parents at first did not realize the depth of the problem in the Church’s current crisis. Then they took their son to be confirmed in a “more progressive” parish church across town. Fluttering doves and flitting “liturgical dancers” left them aghast and questioning. After the local pastor gave distinctly uncatholic answers to a number of key moral queries, his family began searching earnestly for the truth. They saw then that the catechesis of old, with which they were trained, was no more to be found – no more Baltimore Catechism, but rather a watered-down, ineffectual pseudo-religion.
The road of Providence led to a religious-goods store, where Father’s family went to buy Scapular medals. There, they met the proprietress who introduced them to Tradition. Then they met Fr. Fred Schell, S.J., an independent Traditional priest trained in St. Mary’s, Kansas, when the Jesuits were still in residence. He did much to steer the Webber family in the right direction by means of sound catechesis and doctrine. The family also started going to an evening study group, which Fr. Webber considered one of the most important elements in his coming to Tradition, and ultimately to the priesthood. [Father Schell is still active in the ministry, operating out of a large independent priory in Southern California.]
In Father’s junior year of high school, his parents decided to move away from the dangerous Newchurch to live in what Father calls “the Christ life” – praying, learning and living the Faith as it has been passed down for 2,000 years. Fr. attended St. Mary’s Academy in Kansas in his senior year, following in the footsteps of Father Schell before him. Here, surrounded by the true Mass and the true Sacraments, the seeds of Father’s priestly vocation were cultivated. He stresses the importance of the Catholic education and community life at St. Mary’s, as well as the truth and doctrine upon which they are based. Father’s time in St. Mary’s, though of a short duration, was a tremendous help in his journey to the priesthood.
Father was attracted to the priesthood by “the orderly life” which always appealed to him and “the power the priest has to bring peace to a soul, the power of God to save souls through the priest.” Immediately after graduating in 1996, he entered the Seminary.
Father notes that the Novus Ordo “seriously endangers the salvation of numerous souls.” There is “an objective truth” which is lost upon the Conciliarists, who have no idea that the Faith centers around “the true Sacrifice of the Mass and doctrine,” sorely wanting in the Newchurch. What Father sees lacking in the Novus Ordo is the true nature of the priesthood lost amidst the spirit of the world. Sacrifice must be the center of every priest’s life, “to follow Our Lord crucified. We don’t live for this life.”
As Father goes out to expend his youthful energies for the life to come, we pray for his spiritual success. Much good can be accomplished by a priest knowing and living the true realities of life when the majority around him have forgotten them.
“Rev Fr. Steven Webber”
Attending a conservative Novus Ordo parish in Camarillo, California, for several years, Fr. Steven Webber’s parents at first did not realize the depth of the problem in the Church’s current crisis. Then they took their son to be confirmed in a “more progressive” parish church across town. Fluttering doves and flitting “liturgical dancers” left them aghast and questioning. After the local pastor gave distinctly uncatholic answers to a number of key moral queries, his family began searching earnestly for the truth. They saw then that the catechesis of old, with which they were trained, was no more to be found – no more Baltimore Catechism, but rather a watered-down, ineffectual pseudo-religion.
The road of Providence led to a religious-goods store, where Father’s family went to buy Scapular medals. There, they met the proprietress who introduced them to Tradition. Then they met Fr. Fred Schell, S.J., an independent Traditional priest trained in St. Mary’s, Kansas, when the Jesuits were still in residence. He did much to steer the Webber family in the right direction by means of sound catechesis and doctrine. The family also started going to an evening study group, which Fr. Webber considered one of the most important elements in his coming to Tradition, and ultimately to the priesthood. [Father Schell is still active in the ministry, operating out of a large independent priory in Southern California.]
In Father’s junior year of high school, his parents decided to move away from the dangerous Newchurch to live in what Father calls “the Christ life” – praying, learning and living the Faith as it has been passed down for 2,000 years. Fr. attended St. Mary’s Academy in Kansas in his senior year, following in the footsteps of Father Schell before him. Here, surrounded by the true Mass and the true Sacraments, the seeds of Father’s priestly vocation were cultivated. He stresses the importance of the Catholic education and community life at St. Mary’s, as well as the truth and doctrine upon which they are based. Father’s time in St. Mary’s, though of a short duration, was a tremendous help in his journey to the priesthood.
Father was attracted to the priesthood by “the orderly life” which always appealed to him and “the power the priest has to bring peace to a soul, the power of God to save souls through the priest.” Immediately after graduating in 1996, he entered the Seminary.
Father notes that the Novus Ordo “seriously endangers the salvation of numerous souls.” There is “an objective truth” which is lost upon the Conciliarists, who have no idea that the Faith centers around “the true Sacrifice of the Mass and doctrine,” sorely wanting in the Newchurch. What Father sees lacking in the Novus Ordo is the true nature of the priesthood lost amidst the spirit of the world. Sacrifice must be the center of every priest’s life, “to follow Our Lord crucified. We don’t live for this life.”
As Father goes out to expend his youthful energies for the life to come, we pray for his spiritual success. Much good can be accomplished by a priest knowing and living the true realities of life when the majority around him have forgotten them.
“Priests’ Meeting Draws Cosmopolitan Crowd” (Spring 2002)
From Issue No. 85: Movie Monsters Prove Moral Law (Spring 2002)
“Priests’ Meeting Draws Cosmopolitan Crowd”
Running from February 18th to February 22nd, the annual Priests’ Meeting centered around a well-chosen series of conferences given by the visiting priests and Seminary professors. When this year’s featured speaker, Fr. Calderon, was unable to come to the U.S. at the last moment, his conferences on “The Paschal Mystery” had to be cancelled, and Seminary professors (including the Rector) stepped into the breach with an assortment of conferences ranging from modern art to the history of Afghanistan’s Taliban militia. Added to the already excellent program of conferences, these last-minute substitutions contributed positively to the overall variety of the lineup.
For the priests, the meeting is an ideal time to catch up with colleagues and take a brief respite from the apostolate. For the seminarians, it is a lot of hard, rewarding work, and a good time to develop contacts within the Society should they persevere to the priesthood. Eight months removed from last June’s Ordinations (VERBUM #82), only two of the seven newly ordained, Fr. Emanuel Herkel and Fr. Dennis McDonald, were able to attend the meeting.
Speaking of the differences between attending the meeting for a priest and for a seminarian, Fr. Herkel said, “I’m able to attend all the conferences now,” and he said that it was a change of pace and scenery from the apostolate. Fr. McDonald noted that the meeting was a chance to reacquaint himself with his former fellow seminarians. Overall, the meeting was a success, and the conferences were well received. The priests left refreshed and alert, ready to continue the defense of Mother Church, and to set the stage for the seminarians who will follow in their footsteps.
“Priests’ Meeting Draws Cosmopolitan Crowd”
Running from February 18th to February 22nd, the annual Priests’ Meeting centered around a well-chosen series of conferences given by the visiting priests and Seminary professors. When this year’s featured speaker, Fr. Calderon, was unable to come to the U.S. at the last moment, his conferences on “The Paschal Mystery” had to be cancelled, and Seminary professors (including the Rector) stepped into the breach with an assortment of conferences ranging from modern art to the history of Afghanistan’s Taliban militia. Added to the already excellent program of conferences, these last-minute substitutions contributed positively to the overall variety of the lineup.
For the priests, the meeting is an ideal time to catch up with colleagues and take a brief respite from the apostolate. For the seminarians, it is a lot of hard, rewarding work, and a good time to develop contacts within the Society should they persevere to the priesthood. Eight months removed from last June’s Ordinations (VERBUM #82), only two of the seven newly ordained, Fr. Emanuel Herkel and Fr. Dennis McDonald, were able to attend the meeting.
Speaking of the differences between attending the meeting for a priest and for a seminarian, Fr. Herkel said, “I’m able to attend all the conferences now,” and he said that it was a change of pace and scenery from the apostolate. Fr. McDonald noted that the meeting was a chance to reacquaint himself with his former fellow seminarians. Overall, the meeting was a success, and the conferences were well received. The priests left refreshed and alert, ready to continue the defense of Mother Church, and to set the stage for the seminarians who will follow in their footsteps.
"Survivals and New Arrivals" (Winter 2002)
From Issue No. 84: Easing Young Men into the Seminary (Winter 2002)
“Survivals & New Arrivals” (with Thaddeus Rogalla)
As the world’s moral avalanche crashes and crushes more day by day, so Traditional Catholics do their best simply to cling to their Faith and, at the same time, keep up hope when there is seemingly no relief in sight. While anticipating the “crash,” we rejoice to see small signs of God’s grace working in a world programmed to deny it. For seminarians, just being at the Seminary is one such sign!
We have recently had the joy, however, of thanking God for another evident work of His grace in the coming of Fathers Peter Otto and Vidko Podržaj (Poh-drah-ZHAI) to the Seminary. Both priests have fled the errors of the Novus Ordo to fight for Tradition and the Catholic Church. VERBUM wishes to present their stories in order to encourage readers and to strengthen their resolve to continue the fight.
Fr. Peter Otto
Fr. Peter Otto entered Sacred Heart minor seminary in Detroit, MI, in 1964, where he was quickly put on “personality probation” for reading the works of Adolphe Tanquerey, a long-respected author of many books on ascetical, moral and dogmatic theology. Following his graduation, he began studies at St. Lawrence in Mount Calvary, WI, under the Capuchins in 1968. He spent a second year with them at St. Mary’s Seminary in Crown Point, IN. He tried the novitiate the following year, but was thrown out for being too “conservative.” He relocated to another St. Mary’s in Orchard Lake, MI, from which he graduated summa cum laude four years later. After getting a Master’s degree at the University of Detroit in 1975, he set out for an apostolate in the diocese of Amarillo, TX, where he was ordained in 1977.
Father quickly encountered the moral and political turmoil, and personal ambition in the hierarchy, which have been part and parcel of the problems in the Conciliar Church. After eight years in Amarillo, he became a U.S. Air Force chaplain in 1983. This gave him the opportunity to travel around the world ministering to souls. Much of his time was spent in the Middle East. Fr. Otto opted for early retirement in 1999, being disgusted with the Conciliar hierarchy’s love of money and power at the expense of doctrine and the salvation of souls.
He then went back to Texas that year, experiencing more “harassment from the Bishop and the liberal clergy.” He wrote a letter to the Ordinary, in which he cited the problems in the diocese and asked to leave. The permission being granted, Father soon thereafter contacted the Society’s U.S. District Superior. At Fr. Scott’s suggestion, Fr. Otto came to St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in September of this year. He now says the Traditional Latin Mass exclusively and has fully adjusted to the Seminary’s community life. As Father says, “It’s the whole Catholic Faith that’s involved here...”
Father sees the lack of Faith itself as the central problem in the post-Vatican II Church. Many Novus Ordo prelates suffer from “careerism, love of power, even humanism,” and for them Tradition is the enemy. Father says that the hierarchy “will steal you blind,” referring to the betrayal and fall of the Society of St. Peter. They are “as smooth as silk.” With Traditionalists, “It’s ‘Search and destroy’, not ‘Live and let live’,” a striking departure from the current attitude towards false religions.
Fr. Vidko Podržaj
Fr. Vidko Podržaj, a native of Slovenia, a small country east of the northeast border of Italy, decided to pursue his vocation by entering the Seminary in Ljubljana (Looblee-AH-nah), Slovenia’s capital, in 1980. He left in 1981, but returned nine years later. While at the Seminary in 1991, he read a conservative bulletin named “The Call of God’s Love,” where he found Traditional connections. After his ordination in 1994, he spent two years as a chaplain and then assumed the duties of a parish priest in Draga, Croatia. In 1999, a traditional priest invited him to Phoenix, AZ, for a 14-day series of conferences, which he attended in September of that year. He there began to learn how to celebrate the Latin Mass.
While there, Father also found a leaflet concerning the Society in a bookstore and contacted Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the Society. He met with Father Franz Schmidberger, the Society’s First Assistant, in Jaidhof, Austria, where he continued to learn the Traditional Roman Rite. Fr. Schmidberger then went to Fr. Podržaj’s parish and, while there, gave a conference and said two Masses. Fr. Schmidberger encouraged Fr. Podržaj to “heighten awareness” of Tradition amongst his flock in Slovenia. After two years, Fr. Podržaj decided to join the Society. He left his parish and went to the Seminary in America for one academic year, at the advice of Bishop Fellay. He plans to return to Slovenia soon to preach to his fellow countrymen the Gospel as handed down in the Church for 2,000 years.
Slovenia gained its independence in 1991 with the dissolution of Yugoslavia. Father says that Slovenia was a Catholic nation before World War II, and it was even consecrated to Our Lady. But in the troubled years following the War and then the Second Vatican Council, the evil of Communism changed Slovenia’s people, and they slowly drifted away from the Faith. Now under the guise of a liberal government, the Communists have, as Fr. Podržaj says, “changed their names and their colors,” but the same sort of minds still run the government.
Today, Slovenia is a pale, liberal shadow of its former Catholic self, as the bureaucrats continually suppress the Church at every opportunity. Nevertheless, Father believes that Slovenia has “very rich potential” for a Traditional harvest and thinks that Ljubljana will be a good place to start.
He will remain at the Seminary until June and will then attend Ecône’s 2002 Ordinations, visit the Seminary in Zaitzkofen, Germany, and finally spend some time in Jaidhof. From there, Father will return to Slovenia to establish roots of Tradition in his homeland.
“Survivals & New Arrivals” (with Thaddeus Rogalla)
As the world’s moral avalanche crashes and crushes more day by day, so Traditional Catholics do their best simply to cling to their Faith and, at the same time, keep up hope when there is seemingly no relief in sight. While anticipating the “crash,” we rejoice to see small signs of God’s grace working in a world programmed to deny it. For seminarians, just being at the Seminary is one such sign!
We have recently had the joy, however, of thanking God for another evident work of His grace in the coming of Fathers Peter Otto and Vidko Podržaj (Poh-drah-ZHAI) to the Seminary. Both priests have fled the errors of the Novus Ordo to fight for Tradition and the Catholic Church. VERBUM wishes to present their stories in order to encourage readers and to strengthen their resolve to continue the fight.
Fr. Peter Otto
Fr. Peter Otto entered Sacred Heart minor seminary in Detroit, MI, in 1964, where he was quickly put on “personality probation” for reading the works of Adolphe Tanquerey, a long-respected author of many books on ascetical, moral and dogmatic theology. Following his graduation, he began studies at St. Lawrence in Mount Calvary, WI, under the Capuchins in 1968. He spent a second year with them at St. Mary’s Seminary in Crown Point, IN. He tried the novitiate the following year, but was thrown out for being too “conservative.” He relocated to another St. Mary’s in Orchard Lake, MI, from which he graduated summa cum laude four years later. After getting a Master’s degree at the University of Detroit in 1975, he set out for an apostolate in the diocese of Amarillo, TX, where he was ordained in 1977.
Father quickly encountered the moral and political turmoil, and personal ambition in the hierarchy, which have been part and parcel of the problems in the Conciliar Church. After eight years in Amarillo, he became a U.S. Air Force chaplain in 1983. This gave him the opportunity to travel around the world ministering to souls. Much of his time was spent in the Middle East. Fr. Otto opted for early retirement in 1999, being disgusted with the Conciliar hierarchy’s love of money and power at the expense of doctrine and the salvation of souls.
He then went back to Texas that year, experiencing more “harassment from the Bishop and the liberal clergy.” He wrote a letter to the Ordinary, in which he cited the problems in the diocese and asked to leave. The permission being granted, Father soon thereafter contacted the Society’s U.S. District Superior. At Fr. Scott’s suggestion, Fr. Otto came to St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in September of this year. He now says the Traditional Latin Mass exclusively and has fully adjusted to the Seminary’s community life. As Father says, “It’s the whole Catholic Faith that’s involved here...”
Father sees the lack of Faith itself as the central problem in the post-Vatican II Church. Many Novus Ordo prelates suffer from “careerism, love of power, even humanism,” and for them Tradition is the enemy. Father says that the hierarchy “will steal you blind,” referring to the betrayal and fall of the Society of St. Peter. They are “as smooth as silk.” With Traditionalists, “It’s ‘Search and destroy’, not ‘Live and let live’,” a striking departure from the current attitude towards false religions.
Fr. Vidko Podržaj
Fr. Vidko Podržaj, a native of Slovenia, a small country east of the northeast border of Italy, decided to pursue his vocation by entering the Seminary in Ljubljana (Looblee-AH-nah), Slovenia’s capital, in 1980. He left in 1981, but returned nine years later. While at the Seminary in 1991, he read a conservative bulletin named “The Call of God’s Love,” where he found Traditional connections. After his ordination in 1994, he spent two years as a chaplain and then assumed the duties of a parish priest in Draga, Croatia. In 1999, a traditional priest invited him to Phoenix, AZ, for a 14-day series of conferences, which he attended in September of that year. He there began to learn how to celebrate the Latin Mass.
While there, Father also found a leaflet concerning the Society in a bookstore and contacted Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the Society. He met with Father Franz Schmidberger, the Society’s First Assistant, in Jaidhof, Austria, where he continued to learn the Traditional Roman Rite. Fr. Schmidberger then went to Fr. Podržaj’s parish and, while there, gave a conference and said two Masses. Fr. Schmidberger encouraged Fr. Podržaj to “heighten awareness” of Tradition amongst his flock in Slovenia. After two years, Fr. Podržaj decided to join the Society. He left his parish and went to the Seminary in America for one academic year, at the advice of Bishop Fellay. He plans to return to Slovenia soon to preach to his fellow countrymen the Gospel as handed down in the Church for 2,000 years.
Slovenia gained its independence in 1991 with the dissolution of Yugoslavia. Father says that Slovenia was a Catholic nation before World War II, and it was even consecrated to Our Lady. But in the troubled years following the War and then the Second Vatican Council, the evil of Communism changed Slovenia’s people, and they slowly drifted away from the Faith. Now under the guise of a liberal government, the Communists have, as Fr. Podržaj says, “changed their names and their colors,” but the same sort of minds still run the government.
Today, Slovenia is a pale, liberal shadow of its former Catholic self, as the bureaucrats continually suppress the Church at every opportunity. Nevertheless, Father believes that Slovenia has “very rich potential” for a Traditional harvest and thinks that Ljubljana will be a good place to start.
He will remain at the Seminary until June and will then attend Ecône’s 2002 Ordinations, visit the Seminary in Zaitzkofen, Germany, and finally spend some time in Jaidhof. From there, Father will return to Slovenia to establish roots of Tradition in his homeland.
"Father Dennis McDonald" (Summer 2001)
From Issue No. 82: Record Crowd for Ordinations (Summer 2001)
“Father Dennis McDonald”
Father Dennis McDonald says that the call to the priesthood is not normally the product of an inner voice, vision or some other extraordinary manifestation of God’s will. Self-abandonment to the service of God and perseverance in grace are the seeds from which most vocations, his own included, are cultivated.
A “cradle-Catholic” in the Novus Ordo, Fr. McDonald remained faithful to what was left of Catholicism in his hometown of North Little Rock, Arkansas. However, during his junior year at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, he and his family found the Society and the Traditional Faith. Graduating with a degree in general business in 1994, he made an Ignatian retreat with his father and two of his brothers. While on retreat, Father and his brother Steven were told that they might be called to the priesthood. To prepare better for the Seminary, Father opted to spend some time in Society houses, working for five months at the Retreat House in Ridgefield, CT, and then another two months in St. Louis, before enrolling with his brother Steven in the fall of 1995.
Father advises young seminarians not to be overwhelmed with the prospect of being ordained a priest for eternity but rather to “go day by day, study well and study Latin early so that you are free to concentrate on the tougher courses like theology and canon law.” Fr. McDonald’s four years as the Seminary’s Head Sacristan have been a great aid in his priestly formation, as it required him to shoulder many responsibilities, to deal with a wide range of personalities and ever to keep one eye on coming events. These duties impressed upon him the importance of hard work and respect for the House of God that is needed to save souls and continue the Society’s work in the apostolate.
“Father Dennis McDonald”
Father Dennis McDonald says that the call to the priesthood is not normally the product of an inner voice, vision or some other extraordinary manifestation of God’s will. Self-abandonment to the service of God and perseverance in grace are the seeds from which most vocations, his own included, are cultivated.
A “cradle-Catholic” in the Novus Ordo, Fr. McDonald remained faithful to what was left of Catholicism in his hometown of North Little Rock, Arkansas. However, during his junior year at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, he and his family found the Society and the Traditional Faith. Graduating with a degree in general business in 1994, he made an Ignatian retreat with his father and two of his brothers. While on retreat, Father and his brother Steven were told that they might be called to the priesthood. To prepare better for the Seminary, Father opted to spend some time in Society houses, working for five months at the Retreat House in Ridgefield, CT, and then another two months in St. Louis, before enrolling with his brother Steven in the fall of 1995.
Father advises young seminarians not to be overwhelmed with the prospect of being ordained a priest for eternity but rather to “go day by day, study well and study Latin early so that you are free to concentrate on the tougher courses like theology and canon law.” Fr. McDonald’s four years as the Seminary’s Head Sacristan have been a great aid in his priestly formation, as it required him to shoulder many responsibilities, to deal with a wide range of personalities and ever to keep one eye on coming events. These duties impressed upon him the importance of hard work and respect for the House of God that is needed to save souls and continue the Society’s work in the apostolate.
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