Traditional PRIEST dies

Independent Traditional Priest Fr. Francis LeBlanc

Fr. Francis LeBlanc, an independent traditional Catholic priest, who was previously reported here to have suffered a heart a few weeks ago, passed away in his sleep while at hospice.

Over 25 years ago Fr. LeBlanc moved from Canada to Phoenix as a place to retire. In spite of numerous ailments that kept him in a wheelchair most of those 25 years, he continued to pastor Our Lady of the Sun International Shrine in el Mirage, Arizona, which he founded. In 1989 Fr. LeBlanc took over the responsibility of continuing the Catholic Traditionalist Directory, when its long-time compiler, Radko Jansky, fell ill. Fr. LeBlanc renamed the publication to the Directory of Tridentine Latin Masses, whose authorized successor since 1994/1995, when Fr. LeBlanc wished to be relieved of the labor, has been the Official Traditional Catholic Directory, now in its eleventh annual edition.

Recently, Fr. LeBlanc had been the object of a vicious attack by the agents of the Modernist Newchurch diocese of Phoenix, which is one of the most corrupt in the United States. Its last bishop (1882-2003), Thomas O'Brien, is a convicted felon. One can only hope that this attack was not the immediate cause of Fr. LeBlanc's heart attack and death. If it was, it would be just another example of how the Newchurch of Hate operates and the very real suffering that it causes traditional Catholics.

A Requiem Mass is being celebrated on September 28 at 6:00 p.m. at Our Lady of the Sun International Shrine, 12546 West Peoria Avenue, El Mirage, Arizona. Fr. Paul Andrade will be offering the Requiem Mass. Information regarding the funeral is to be announced.

God bless his soul.

I don't know anything about him, but over the years I have met a number of older priests like him. They were good and faithful but many were so scandalized by the "new" Church in the 70's or 80's that they were unable to continue with parish work - which none of the "light in the loafers" brigade that now dominates the Church would have hired them for anyway. Prayers for him.

Prayers for Fr. LeBlanc.

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace.

Thus dies a schismatic.

-Theo

Theo,

You wrote: "Thus dies a schismatic."

Got that right. Here's some info:

"The TRC [Tridentine Rite Conference] is the brainchild of Father Francis LeBlanc of Phoenix and Father John Quinn of Chicago though LeBlanc is said to be the dominant character of this pair. At the TRC's last convention in September 1991 in New Jersey, Fr. Paul Wickens was elected president and Fr. Robert Stemper vice-president. Fr. LeBlanc is not an officer at this time having for his own reasons withdrawn (at least publicly) from the organization. Regardless of the TRC's current leadership the LeBlanc\Quinn connection that gave birth to the TRC a few years deserves some scrutiny. The bizarre nature of the circumstances surrounding its birth make it noteworthy for that reason alone. Beyond that there is value in warning people away from something that can do them serious spiritual harm no matter how pious it seems at first glance.

"...Supposedly Fr. Quinn has been regularized also. When the sudden consecration took place Fr. LeBlanc from Arizona telephoned and told Fr. Quinn that Fr. Quinn had incurred excommunication for his irregular act -- but LeBlanc would fix things. LeBlanc went off to Rome and came back with a piece of official looking paper supposedly exonerating Fr. Quinn. The piece of paper meant nothing. Regularization is something that has to be done by the schismatic priest himself after a full abjuration of his errors. But Fr. LeBlanc is famous for going to Rome and seeking special favors some of which he claims have been granted. In 1985 he tried to talk Cardinal Ratzinger into granting him special dispensation to form an independent papal order with permission to say the pure Tridentine Mass. (The 1984 Indult was not good enough since it permitted the John XXIII Mass which includes minor alterations that LeBlanc could not accept.) LeBlanc's plea was refused. Then in 1988 or 1989 he claimed to have received an Apostolic blessing on the newly formed Tridentine Rite Conference from the Pope himself. In reality the papal blessing was given indiscriminately to a general audience (an audience that happened to include Fr. LeBlanc) and the TRC, no matter what they say have no Papal brief for existing. (This is confirmed in a letter from Msgr. Camille Perl for the Ecclesia Dei Commission in the Vatican.)

"A Priests for Tradition meeting a precursor of the TRC -- took place in Chicago at a Howard Johnson s motor lodge in late 1985. Hosted by Fathers Quinn and LeBlanc the convention drew about twenty-five priests. It would be enlightening to run down the whole list to show the length and breath of the motley crew in attendance. We will identify only a few to give a taste of things to come. Fr. Fred Nelson of the Powers Lake, N.D. traditional Marian shrine was there. Fr. Leonard Giardina. O.S.B. came from Alabama and Fr. Daniel Jones from Colorado. And then there was Archbishop Zaboroski of the Mariavite Church. An offshoot of the Old Catholics, the Mariavites were originally a Polish sect whose priests and nuns joined together in mystic marriages to produce immaculately conceived offspring for the Final Age.

"Father Wathen of the counterfeit Order of St. John attended and Fr. Fouhy an independent priest who now resides at Mount St. Michael in Spokane, Washington, and Fr. Joseph Vida Elmer who in 1987 became Bishop Elmer (by way of Robert McKenna through Guerard des Lauriers out of Ngo-dinh-Thuc.) The cult at Mount St. Michael and the schismatic Thuc lineage will be described later.

"The show moved to Phoenix the following year when the Tridentine Rite Conference was formally instituted under the direction of Fr. Francis LeBlanc.

"Who is Fr. Francis LeBlanc? He apparently received his priestly orders in Canada. He spent years in the paratroopers as a military chaplain. At what time he conceived a dislike for the Conciliar Church is not known. He tried to become incardinated in a diocese in Los Angeles but was refused. He spent the next 20 or 15 years going from place to place in California saying the Tridentine Mass for small groups of disaffected Catholics. Sometime in the late 1970s he came to Phoenix and according to Lefebvrite Fr. Finnegan tried to horn in on Finnegan's scene there. Eventually LeBlanc gathered a flock for himself and established a church with the aid of a munificent lay benefactor.

"LeBlanc was never actually made president of the TRC. The first was Msgr. Rucsitto (a California priest whose faculties had been suspended for saying the old Mass without permission) then Fr. Stemper and now Fr. Paul Wickens. LeBlanc remains a power behind the scenes though for public relations reasons he claims to be out of the TRC entirely.

"Fr. Robert Stemper. formerly president and now vice-president of the TRC was originally a Jesuit. He is a confederate of Fr. LeBlanc and now has his own parish of irregular Catholics in Mesa, Arizona. Early on he taught at the Jesuit University in Tokyo. Later he was an assistant pastor in Madison, Wisconsin. In the early 1980s he resided at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Prairies at Powers Lake, N.D. a conservative Catholic compound (the Tridentine Mass was said there) which was under the direction of the now deceased Fr. Nelson. On at least one occasion a couple of years ago Stemper visited the place of the phony apparitions in Necedah. He was then in the company of Father "X" a reputed prophet who advertises himself as the true seer for Necedah and Bayside -- thrilling mystic credentials indeed. Father "X" is actually Gary McLaughlin, a gentleman who was convicted of mail fraud and impersonating a priest in New Mexico in 1987.

"A couple hundred miles east of Powers Lake in North Dakota is a religious center called Our Lady of Victory International Shrine. McLaughlin after unsuccessfully trying to take over the Shrine at Powers Lake established the Orrin, ND shrine two or three years ago. Here he rules and receives rather wordy messages from the Blessed Virgin and Jesus on such subjects as the New World Order, the International Bankers Conspiracy and the Masonic bishops and cardinals leading the Church today. In the middle of one of these long-winded locutions Our Lord proclaims:

""The Great Pontiff of the future shall be an American and come from the Shrine in North Dakota. I see the Pontiff and I am amazed. He rules the Church with the tenderness of a Shepherd and the iron rod and smites the enemies of Church with his breath.... Oh! It is horrible. I now see the destruction of those seers and laity who refuse to unite with this Shrine. I see the Bishops and Cardinals and Priests being executed in the Chastisement. I see Veronica Leuken [the seer of Bayside] in a turmoil, Satan buffeting her for a small space. I now see Veronica saying: "Yes Father McLaughlin is the future Pontiff. . . obey only Seers that are united with Orrin, ND and Bayside. I am in union... total union with you Father and you shall lead all Seers worldwide."

"Fr. Stemper's association with this Great Pontiff-to-be and his involvement with the cult at Necedah might make one wonder a bit about his judgment if not his religious sanity.

"Fr. Paul Wickens seems to be the most energetic promoter of the TRC. He visits Richard Williamson (the Lefebvrite bishop of North America) in Winona, Minnesota; Williamson has performed confirmations on children at Wickens traditionalist chapel in New Jersey. Wickens also gives sermons to the Sectarians at Mount St. Michael, visits Fr. Dan Jones independent Catholic chapel in Westcliffe, Colorado and is often in the company of Leonard Messineo, Grand Master of one of the factions that make up the scurrilous (Shickshinny) Order of St. John.

"Dan Jones, a friend of Fr. LeBlanc, is on the fringier edge of the traditionalist movement. He has been an independent priest since the early 1970s and a sede vacantist for five or more years. He prints a newsletter called Sangre de Christo Newsnotes: in recent editions he has printed articles by Gary Giuffré (click here to read Mr. Giuffré's objections to this article) promoting the theory that Cardinal Giuseppe Siri was the truly elected pope at both the 1958 and 1963 Conclaves. (Or the 1963 and 1978 Conclaves according to which article you read.)

http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=4082

The first was Msgr. Rucsitto (a California priest whose faculties had been suspended for saying the old Mass without permission)

Wrong. Msgr. Ruscitto was told to take an early retirement when he protested the excessive changes occurring in the 70s. While in retirement, Mahony worked behind the scenes to get Msgr.'s pension and faculties revoked. Msgr. Ruscitto DID NOTHING WRONG. He has never received a canonical trial to redeem his good name.

I realize facts don't matter to modernist trad haters, but maybe somebody out there cares about the truth.

Fr. Ruscitto, whom I personally corresponded with in 1995 or 1996, admitted to me that he had his faculties suspended because he refused to stop saying the old Mass and adopt the new one as all the priests of his diocese were required to do. He was not a sedevacantist in that he admitted that Mahoney was his superior, but he was clearly disobedient.

I am a traditionalist by the way. I attend the old Mass and have done so since 1995. That's exactly why I wrote to Fr. Ruscitto.

I do not think he was treated fairly. He should have been allowed to say the old Mass in a quiet retirement. The problem was that he continued a public ministry built around the old Mass without proper permission. He was openly defiant. The cardinal completely bungled it, but Fr. Ruscitto was still disobedient, and still consorted with schismatics and heretics.

Fr. Ruscitto's real problem was made abundantly clear in Cardinal Mayer's response to a letter from Fr. Ruscitto on Nov. 30, 1989: "The only solution to your problem remains the submission of your intellect and will to the faith of the Church as it continues to be taught by the Successor of Peter and the Bishops in union with him (cf. Lumen Gentium, n 19-25). If you cannot perceive the continuity in the Church's teaching tradition, then, dear Father, make an act of faith that it is so because the Holy Ghost will never abandon the Church."

Fr. Ruscitto's problem was his lack of obedience.

I think you should probably know the facts before you make false statements and accuse another traditionalist of being a "modernist trad hater". You clearly have no idea of what you're talking about.

Sir, my hat goes off to you. Thank you for the information and for your ongoing fidelity to the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, shepperded by the Successor of St. Peter. I have no official position in the Church but, for what is worth, thank you.

-Theo

Nice try, but I know Father a little better than you do. No, make that a lot better.

Go back to your USCCB day job.

You wrote:

"Nice try, but I know Father a little better than you do."

I didn't try. I just plain did it. Also, no matter how well you think you know Fr. Ruscitto nothing changes the fact that he was suspended for refusing to stop saying the old Mass. That is simply the truth.

"No, make that a lot better."

Apparently not so well enough to know that Fr. Ruscitto's own letter to the the Vatican acknowledges why he was suspended!

"Go back to your USCCB day job."

I don't work for the USCCB. And whether or not I work for them would be immaterial.

Thanks for proving you have NOTHING to prove your assertions with.

Keep digging. It's entertaining when a fraud gets outed.

I don't know the truth of this situation. My thought is how sad we've become, as a church. This thread is about the death of a man who lost his ties with Rome, who seems to have wanted to be the best priest he could be.

I find the truth to be that Vatican II's legacy, at least in the short term, is one of chaos, turbulence, and the loss of grace. Perhaps these are necessary for change to occur. No matter how slight the intended change.

I am constantly amazed at how easy it is for evil to find a way to overcome good.

We Catholics, especially we traditional Catholics, must support one another and our church.

You're the only fraud posting here.

I posted evidence. You did not. I'm right. You're not. Get used to it.

I agree with. The problem is that some so-called traditionalists are no longer really in the Church. They've gone off on their own.

Dittos

No slick, you made up a false claim about a holy priest and got caught. People who don't have personal knowledge of the situation will believe you. Those of us who do know you are a liar.

This is between you and me. You know you lied, and you know anyone who knows Msgr. R will know you lied also.

You have to account for this someday at your judgment. Why don't you just drop it now and quit making the situation worse.

Very nice post, thanks.

It's challenging to be charitable when people you care about are calumnated.

You wrote:

"No slick, you made up a false claim about a holy priest and got caught."

I made no claim. I stated a fact (with evidence) which you have never once been able to challenge with evidence. You have repeatedly ignored that evidence because you know it defeats your silly claims.

"People who don't have personal knowledge of the situation will believe you."

A personal letter from Fr. Ruscitto is personal knowledge. You once again ignore what you know defeats your argument.

"Those of us who do know you are a liar."

Then you know I am NOT a liar. I have not lied. I had PERSONAL knowledge of the situation from the very pen of Fr. Ruscitto himself. The Vatican also says that Fr. Ruscitto was disobedient about the old Mass. I posted evidence. You post nothing but assertions.

"This is between you and me. You know you lied, and you know anyone who knows Msgr. R will know you lied also."

Nope. This is not between you and me, since this is already effectively over. This is between you and God because you keep lying, spreading now lies about me, and doing all of it without evidence of any kind.

"You have to account for this someday at your judgment."

Gladly so. I have done exactly NOTHING wrong. NOTHING. I have told the truth about everything from the very beginning. I even posted evidence. You, however, made baseless accusations and assertions. I, however, have done nothing of the kind.

"Why don't you just drop it now and quit making the situation worse."

The situation can't get worse since there is nothing wrong with it to begin with other than your denial of reality. What's going to go wrong because I told the truth? Nothing. Is anyone here injured by my telling of the truth? No. Is Fr. Ruscitto injured by it? I don't see how since he is already SUSPENDED and WITHOUT FACULTIES. It's not like telling the truth will injure his reputation. Let's face it: rad trads will always assume he was suspended for whatever reason they want to while those of us in touch with reality and in communion with the Church will believe Fr. Ruscitto's own words and those of the Church that suspended him.

What are the rad trads going to do to me? Threaten me with hellfire and damnation for telling the truth? I already went through that once with a traditionalist priest. He was wrong, I was right. He admitted it a year later through a mutual friend because he was too ashamed to admit it to my face. You people just don't scare me personally.

I have the Truth, the Faith and the Church. There's nothing you can do to me.

first, your reply is unbelievably lacking in charity. fr. leblanc was a holy man who suffered greatly from a variety of physical ailments yet nevertheless, up until 2 weeks ago, was hearing confessions before mass every sunday.

i have seen many, MANY priests over the years, and i have never met one with as much courage or fortitude as fr. leblanc. he was mercilessly attacked by the bishop of phoenix, o'brien... but that was only until o'brien was convicted of hit and run felony manslaughter. the same o'brien who persecuted leblanc was the one who promoted pastor fushek of "life teen" who's idea of compassionate ministry was to take naked hot tubs w. 17 yr olds from the parish. thanks be to God o'brien, the felon, was replaced by a new bishop, olmstead.

olmstead re-instated the traditional mass in the diocese of phoenix, at 3 parishes, and phoenix has a thriving latin mass community now. he met personally w. leblanc at the our lady of the sun international shrine. leblanc was never excommunicated, and indeed, how could he be, when all he did was stay faithful to the vows he took as a priest some 51 yrs ago?

leblanc told olmstead about the mess the church was in, and all olmstead could do was agree. leblanc said, "i didn't make it this way" and again, what else could olmstead say? it wasn't leblanc's commitment to tradition that is responsible for catholic priests dying of aids at a much higher percentage than the general public.

you say leblanc was a schismatic, yet it was o'brien, the bishop, who killed a man with his car and left him to die on the side of the road like a dog; even worse. leblanc was saying the mass while o'brien was preparing with his legal defense team, yet you dismiss leblanc as schismatic? ironic, that.

what will your one sentence be when a cardinal like law, or mahoney passes, churchmen who, as it turns out, have helped pedophiles and homosexuals raid the flock of Christ like the degenerate wolves they are AND instead of punishing them, helped them by reshuffling them to other diocese OR out of the country to avoid prosecution by the authorities?

these are the kind of "non-schismatic" churchmen you admire? these are the kind that should be buried w. full honors? the ones who have turned our seminaries into "lavender mafias" and turned our churches into pseudo-protestant spectacles, with liturgical abuses that would have made blessed padre pio disgusted? yet fr. leblanc, who you probably never met and know nothing about, gets a one line dismissal from you?

it is my belief that the Judge of all the earth will make right judgements, based on each person's personal holiness and commitment to vocation. if this is true, i would much rather have the track record of a holy man like leblanc in my favor than the "politically correct" career of an o'brien, a mahoney, or any number of leftist and/or deviant priests who nevertheless died in "good standing" w. the church, all the while working to diffuse the doctrine of the true faith.

the TRUTH about fr. leblanc is he looked like a priest, he acted like a priest, he prayed like a priest, he spoke like a priest, he administered the sacraments like a priest, he visited the sick like a priest, he said the mass like a priest, he died like a priest, and his memory will live on in the hearts of the faithful he ministered to, just like a good priest deserves.

how many priests today can you say that about?

you should be ashamed of your flippancy.