[Major Catholic Schism Partially Ended!!!]: Lefebvre Catholics opt for full communion with Rome

Rio de Janeiro (Fides) – Today Friday January 18, the only schism in the Church on the most Catholic of continents, Latin America, is over. Brazilian Catholics who had followed the line of the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, are being welcomed back to the bosom of the Church after 20 years of separation. The "traditionalists", as the group is called, led by Bishop Licinio Rangel and 26 priests, are mostly in the state of Rio de Janeiro, in Campos dos Goytacazes region. They have decided to return to full communion with the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Rome. The decision was strongly opposed by Mgr. Bernard Fellay, head of the Saint Pius X Fraternity, who even traveled to Brazil to try to persuade the group not to make the step of reconciliation with Rome.

The official ceremony, with the reading of the statement of welcome written by Pope John Paul II, will take place in Campos, at Sao Salvador Cathedral at 6pm. After reciting the Creed and singing the Te Deum the congregation will move to the church Imaculado Coracao de Nossa Senhora do Rosario de Fatima – built by the traditionalists – for a prayer to Our Lady. The Holy Father will be represented by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy. Others present will include the Nuncio in Brazil, Archbishop Alfio Rapisarda; emeritus Archbishop of Rio, Cardinal Eugenio Sales; the Bishop of Campos Roberto Guimaraes; the Metropolitan Archbishop of Niteroi Carlos Alberto Navarro.

Also present an official of the Congregation for the Clergy Rev. Fernando Guimaraes who spoke to Fides on the eve of the ceremony. "The great victory today is for Christ and his Church", Fr Fernando says, explaining that reconciliation began in 2000, during the Great Jubilee, when the group made a pilgrimage to Rome and was welcomed by Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos with a lunch and dialogue. Not long afterwards the group sent a letter with a request for reintegration which was granted by Pope John Paul II in a document, which will be read during the ceremony, containing indications to be followed. From now on they recognise: the authority of the Pope as Vicar of Christ and Shepherd of the Church; the legitimacy of the Second Vatican Council; the validity of the Mass approved by Pope Paul VI. The Traditionalists have permission to celebrate Mass in Latin (St Pius V rite ), using the Pope John XXIII Missal.

During these twenty years the Traditionalists have built churches and chapels, opened a seminary, a school, social centres and monasteries. Today in Brazil there are about 28,000 of them. The priests will form the Apostolic Administration of St Jean Marie Vianney, a form of ecclesiastical circumscription which will depend directly on the Pope. Their Bishop Licinio Rangel, now officially recognised Apostolic Administrator, says he and his priests will travel to Rome to thank the Pope personally. Bishop Rangel says that thanks to John Paul II the diocese of Campos is now in peace and "in full communion with the Vatican". He also said that the diocesan Bishop will continue to be Mgr. Roberto Guimaraes whom he praised highly attributing to him the merit for the end of the schism.

Fr Fernando Guimaraes told Fides that in Campos there is "an air of great rejoicing and participation". This event is "reunion in the spirit of Jesus Christ – <that they may be one>". Fr Guimares sees the event as "a moment of great historical value because the schism had its apex in this Pontificate of Pope Paul II, and now during the same Pontificate it is healed" and he added that "this is the first group to request reintegration. Dialogue with other groups remains open but, time is in God’s hands".

The Traditionalist Catholics of Campos diocese were followers of the French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and the Brazilian Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer, contrary to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. In a joint celebration in Switzerland, both men ordained four bishops, in open contrast with directions issued by Pope John Paul II.

The situation in Campos is isolated while in other places dialogue is hampered by a certain rigidity on the part of the interlocutors. It is estimated that Lefebvre followers are about 300 priests and circa a million faithful. Some lay groups are forming communities which have no contact either with the Catholic Church or with the Traditionalist. (Fides 18/1/2002)

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I do not attend Mass at a Society of St. Pius X chapel, but at a parish in undisputed communion with the diocesan bishop. However, I do share many concerns with SSPX members about the state of the Church.

The Mass of Pius V, mandated at the Council of Trent, and celebrated until Vatican II, when Paul VI promulgated the Novus Ordo (The New Order) Mass.

The Tridentine Rite was not mandated at the Council of Trent, which closed in 1563, but in Quo Primum, St. Pius V's papal bull of 1570. The Tridentine Rite was a codification of the existing Roman Rite as it had been celebrated, with few changes, from the 6th century.

There are many SSPXer's here who will tell you that the Novus Ordo is bastardized and illegal, since Pius V said the Tridentine Mass was to be celebrated for "time immemorial." ` They also don't like the Novus Ordo because it's in the vernacular language, the priest faces the people, and a host of other changes from the Tridentine Mass.

Archbishop Lefebvre never denied the sacramental validity of the Novus Ordo Missae. Celebrated with the proper intention, it is a valid Mass. But it is so structurally flawed that it is extremely difficult for a priest to celebrate it with the proper intention.

The priest facing the people was never mandated by Rome, even for the Novus Ordo. However, it marks a significant change in understanding the Mass. When the priest and people face the same direction, it is clear that they are all facing God, sharing in the same sacrifice at an altar. When the priest faces the people, he is turning his back away from Christ in the tabernacle to face the people in sharing a meal around a table.

Latin is still the normative language even of the Novus Ordo. As a dead language, the meanings of words no longer change and thus it is no longer subject to misinterpretation. Moreover, the use of a single language at Mass means that all Catholics, whatever their mother tongue, could go to any church in the world and understand the Mass.

Moreover, since very few people can ad lib in Latin, it prevents the flagrant liturgical abuse that priests can make by ad libbing changes to the words of consecration, thus invalidating it.

However, many of these practices which arose after Vatican II--mass in vernacular languages, Communion in the hand and under both species to the laity, priest facing the people--were in fact those carried out by the Protestant Reformers to deny the Real Presence and the sacrifical element of the Mass in favour of a symbolic celebration of a meal. For that reason alone, these changes are contrary to Catholic faith.

No Pope can bind another Pope on matters of liturgy, so the Novus Ordo is the manner of celebrating the Mass used today.

Quo Primum specifically established the Tridentine Rite as the Rite of the Mass for all time.

The Pope, speaking ex cathedra, is considered infallible when he pronounces on matters of faith. The Mass is the sublime expression of the central truth of the Catholic faith. Therefore matters of liturgy are matters of faith, to which Popes can bind their successors.

The SSPX left in a huff in 1987, ostensibly over the Tridentine Mass, but really over the fact that its members didn't accept Vatican II.

Partially true. Archbishop Lefebvre was excommunicated along with the four bishops whom he consecrated in 1988, to assure the continuation of the apostolic succession of bishops faithful to Catholic tradition who could in turn ordain priests to offer the unchanged and unchanging sacraments of the Church.

Vatican II was not a doctrinal, but a pastoral council. Therefore, its teachings are not infallible, nor do they otherwise bind Catholics in conscience. A Catholic may therefore question the wisdom of Vatican II, but this does not make him heretical or schismatic.

We can tell a tree by its fruits, and the fruits of Vatican II can be seen in the great loss of faith, vocations and fidelity to the Church's teachings among the laity, and the misdirection and apostasy of much of the priesthood, religious, and bishops.

All other councils were noted for the growth in faith and piety of the laity, priests, and religious which followed them. Vatican II stands out as a glaring exception so far, but we may need another generation before its fruits, if any, emerge.

The Tridentine Mass is permitted today, but only with special permission from the bishop.

As Quo Primum could not be abrogated, a priest doesn't need the permission of the bishop to celebrate it. If a diocesan priest in charge of a parish were to decide, for the good of his parishoners, to stop celebrating the New Mass and sacraments in his church, the bishop could not stop him.

However, it may be more prudent in some circumstances to seek permission.

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