Letter of Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos to Mgr. Fellay

Letter of Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos to Mgr. Fellay (English translation by Mr. Ken Jones, Una Voce St. Louis)

Since the beginning of our fraternal contacts to find a way toward full communion, I believe that we have experienced the solicitude of our merciful Lord: truly he has not spared us His aide and His support, to gather together all the good things that unite us and overcome what still divides us.

I read at the time attentively, in prayer and not without suffering, your letter of last June 22. I have also studied certain documents concerning our conversations, written by members of the Fraternity of St. Pius X, published on the Internet and disseminated by other means of communication. I have also reread the letters of the bishops of the Society of St. Pius X, the interviews granted by Your Excellency and the letters that you have sent me.

Until today, for my part, I have never agreed to grant interviews on the subject, in order to maintain the privacy of the details of our dialogue: for me they have always had a provisional and discreet character, because of the great responsibility that I feel in conscience for this matter. It now seems to me opportune, for the love of truth, to clarify here several aspects of the development of this reconciliation, with the intention of imparting a new impetus, to be frank, to move beyond possible suspicions and misunderstandings that compromise the outcome that, I have no doubt, Your Excellency also desires.

The subject that we are considering will have, in fact, particularly important historical consequences, because it touches the unity, the truth and the holiness of the Church, and it is necessary therefore to treat it with charity but also with objectivity and truth. Our sole judge is Christ the Lord.

First of all, I must reiterate a historical truth, at the root of everything. My first initiative was not the result of a Pontifical mandate and was not the fruit of an agreement or project of some other person from the Apostolic See, contrary to what has been written and rumored, as if it was a matter of a definite strategy. As I have already had the occasion to say several times, the dialogue was completely my own personal initiative.

In the second week of August 2000, on returning from Colombia, I learned through the media that was available on the airplane, and only through it, that the Society of St. Pius X was participating in the Jubilee. On my own initiative, and without speaking to anyone about it, I decided to invite the four bishops of the Fraternity to a private dinner with me. The meeting with brother bishops would be a gesture of fraternal love, the occasion of a reciprocal exchange. I therefore had the joy of meeting Your Excellency, as well as Their Excellencies Tissier and Williamson. As you will recall, we did not discuss any subject thoroughly, even if, naturally, we did speak about the liturgical rites, and I was able to become familiar with several aspects of the current life of your Fraternity. I manifested publicly the good impression that the aforementioned Prelates made on me.

I subsequently gave an account of this meeting to the Holy Father, and I received from him words of encouragement. I expressed a desire to maintain contacts to explore the possibilities of this much hoped for unity. The Sovereign Pontiff asked me to continue, and he manifested his clear will to accommodate the Society of St. Pius X, by promoting the conditions necessary for this accommodation. Some time later I read, with a private satisfaction, the interview granted by Your Excellency to the magazine 30 Days. The journalist put these words on your lips: "If the Holy Father calls me I come, or rather I run." I had occasion to speak with the Holy Father about this interview, in which Your Excellency expressed freely and spontaneously his thought: the Holy Father indicated to me, one more time, his generous will to accommodate your Fraternity.

As a result, I contacted Cardinals Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State for His Holiness, Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Jorge Medina Estevez, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, as well as with His Excellency Mgr. Julian Herranz, President of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts. All manifested their satisfaction with a view to an eventual solution of the difficulties. I also consulted Cardinals Paul Augustin Mayer and Alfons Marie Stickler, who were of the same opinion. It is thus that we studied the fundamental theological problems, already present in 1988 when an accord with His Excellency Mgr. Lefebvre was prepared. It did not seem to us that there have been any new problems. Then we began studying several juridical forms that would make a reintegration possible; this appeared very much desirable. Throughout history, the desire for unity has always been a constant for the See of Peter.

To all it seemed appropriate, if Your Excellency agreed, that the undersigned could proceed to a new dialogue of a provisional character. It was not a matter of discussing theological problems in depth, but preparing the way for reconciliation.

I therefore invited Your Excellency by letter; you amiably accepted the invitation and the meeting took place on Dec. 29, 2000.

As Your Excellency knows well, we then studied the possibility of reconciliation and of the return to full communion, as a very concrete and special fruit of the Jubilee. We concluded with a dinner at my residence, attended also by the Rev. Michel Simoulin, in a very cordial and fraternal climate.

Informed of this new reunion, and despite the amount of work he had in the last days of the great Jubilee, the Holy Father received you with the Abbe Simoulin on Dec. 30, 2000 in his private chapel. After a few minutes of silent prayer, the Holy Father said the Our Father, followed by those present, then he wished them a Holy Christmas. He blessed them by offering several rosaries and encouraged them to continue the dialogue undertaken.

In the same Apostolic Palace and in the presence of the personal secretaries of the Holy Father, I read to Your Excellency a Protocol regarding the dialogue of the preceding day, which would be sent to the Sovereign Pontiff. You have expressed your agreement by specifying two points: 1) the prayer for the Pope in the Canon of the Mass was not your decision but was a prior provision of Mgr. Lefebvre; 2) reservation about Vatican II especially regarding religious liberty, since the rights of God over the public order could not be limited. The secretary took notes in order to make a report to the Holy Father.

FYI, the uncharitable tone in your posts will not win you many converts ... you almost seem not to want a reconcilliation between the Vatican and SSPX. Tell me, if they were to reconcile on exactly the terms the SSPX has demanded, what would your reaction be? Just curious.

Also, isn't it mildly ironic that someone who has such hostility toward the "traditional" languages of the Mass, would choose a Greek FR screen name?

Dear Antoninus,

LOL. I like how you (re-)interpreted that.

Nonetheless, the older I get, the more I appreciate the desire of our Holy Father to avoid formal schism.

sitetest

Hate to tell you, but the Latin mass generates a lot of interest among young people -- particularly those of us who grew up in the era of gross liturgical "innovation.

I'm sure it does in your world. But the numbers simply don't bear out the "lot of interest" that many of the (to paraphrase your words) "overly optimistic" here on FR keep insisting is out there.

In addition, there's a lot of difference between the Novus Ordo in Latin and the Tridentine Mass. The Novus Ordo is normative; even the Pope is not in favor of allowing the Tridentine Mass to supplant the Novus Ordo. That's why I can't, for the life of me, figure out where all these SSSP priests are going to find work. Bishops are simply not going to establish more than one or two "Latin only" parishes in a diocese.

Tell me, if they were to reconcile on exactly the terms the SSPX has demanded, what would your reaction be? Just curious.

They won't. Go up and read Williamson's second later, dated June 1 of this year.

Williamson will simply take those who will never reconcile, call his gaggle the SSPX, and continue on.

Fellay may reintegrate, but, judging from the bullheadedness of the SSPXer's on this site, he might be the only one who does.

That's why I can't, for the life of me, figure out where all these SSSP priests are going to find work. Bishops are simply not going to establish more than one or two "Latin only" parishes in a diocese.

LOL. Just how many SSPX priests do you think there are? Take the existing one Latin only parish in the diocese (some of them, anyway), add a second for an SSPX priest, and you are going to have to find a whole lot more SSPX priests to fill all the spots. Anyway, whatever happens, finding work for priests will probably be the smallest problem.

patent +AMDG

Patent, I was referring to the Fraternity of St. Peter priests (I used the wrong abbreviation), who are being trained in the Tridentine liturgy with the blessing of Rome.

Even Bruskewitz's Lincoln diocese has only one Latin Mass parish. I don't know of any Latin Mass parishes in all of Texas, except for those of the Anglican-use.

I've always felt that the best thing for the SSPX is to give it it's own rite, but people like Fellay don't want that. They want to be mainstream, and that will never happen.

Then you've got the Williamson's, who won't reconcile under any circumstances.

You haven't been here long enough to realize that I have for months been saying to others in the Catholic Caucus to stay focused on the Eucharist. You presume too much.(And by the way I probably am old enough to be your Aunt.)

Patent, I was referring to the Fraternity of St. Peter priests (I used the wrong abbreviation), who are being trained in the Tridentine liturgy with the blessing of Rome.

Heck, they’re even smaller.

Then you've got the Williamson's, who won't reconcile under any circumstances.

Yep. There is always a Remnant that will resist Rome.

patent +AMDG

Honestly, you do come across spiteful at times.

Careful! He may call you a rascal too.

The last refuge of a traditionalist rascal is to pretend to psychoanalyse the holder of a position.

I'd say he's wound up pretty tight for a Kumbaya Katholic. ;-)

You poor myopic fellows miss the forest for the trees, so obsessed with externals and forms that you can no longer rejoice in the real Presence of Jesus Christ!

Lex orandi, lex credendi

How do you explain a lack of belief in the Real Presence by a majority of Catholics today?(I'm sure you won't think the lack of reverence in the Mass, the hiding of the tabernacle, etc. has anything to do with it.)

...so obsessed with externals and forms...

Yes, by all means, let's have "liturgical flexibility" Bring on the guitars and the dancing girls.

Liturgical Flexibility

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