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.
If the priest was not schismastic--although there's another viewpoint in this thread stating exactly that--my bad, but then for shame with the irresponsible, disrespectful schismatic brats who used his name to aggravate, not fix the problems of said diocese.
But if he really died a schismatic, no matter how outwardly pious his life may have been, a schismatic he was, and for that he is already responding to a Higher Authority.
I stand on my remarks until the confusion is solved one way or the other.
-Theo