Note: Catholic Family News Editor John Vennari conducted this interview with Father Arnaud Rostand, District Superior of the Society of St. Pius X in the United States.  The Interview covers the Documentary itself, important points in the life of Archbishop Lefebvre, and how the laity can help in the Documentary’s production.

 

CFN: Please tell us about the documentary now in production: Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre: A Bishop for the Church

Father Rostand: A few months ago the French District of the Society of Saint Pius X initiated the production of a documentary on the life of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. I immediately offered the collaboration of the U.S. District, the second largest District of the Society, as I see this project as instrumental in making the role and mission of Archbishop Lefebvre more known. Before this, I was already in contact with some faithful here in the United States who had the same idea and were already offering help.

CFN: I understand that Bishop Fellay, Superior General of the SSPX, has endorsed this project. What can the American District bring to this documentary?

FR: I believe the American District can bring much to this project. First, as I mentioned earlier, the United States has become the second largest District of the Society regarding the number of priests, faithful, and institutions (chapels, schools, etc.) It is a beautiful outcome of the worldwide work of the Archbishop. Secondly, the American faithful have a great love and attachment to the Archbishop. I am sure that they are very pleased to see such an endeavor undertaken. I also trust their wonderful generosity in helping this production, by which they can express their deep gratitude to him.

It is also an occasion for us to gather the American archives of our beloved founder. I see this as very important, a work of history, a duty to keep his memory alive for future generations.

His Excellency Bishop Bernard Fellay has definitely blessed the project. He sees it as a great and noble venture. He has further accepted to open all the archives of the Society, which is a tremendous treasure and, besides, a great sign of confidence.

CFN: What does the Society hope to accomplish with this documentary?

It is necessary today to use more visual media. For many who never heard of the Archbishop it might be their first encounter with Tradition. For many young people, it should be a new way to learn about him and admire him. We hope it will raise interest and lead people to learn more.

On the other hand, we also see this work as an act of justice towards the Archbishop. We are his spiritual sons, Catholic priests because and thanks to his courage and determination. It will thus be a way for us to honor him and express our gratitude. Because we all owe him so much, everyone is invited to collaborate in this work.

CFN:  Do you have a projected date for its completion?

FR: The French District intends to produce this movie before the end of 2010. There is much to do in order to be able to reach this goal, but let us do it!

CFN:  Is this something that will be broadcast on television or cable networks, or will it be released directly to DVD?

FR: The first goal is to make it available on DVD to as many people as possible, at a very reasonable price so that it can be easily diffused. We haven't yet studied the possibility of broadcasting it; it would also be a great accomplishment if we manage to have it televised.

CFN: What are some of the most important points of Archbishop Lefebvre’s life?

FR: Perhaps the most important point is to show how one man, a single Catholic bishop, resisted the entire world, even the highest authorities in the Church. One man stood up against everyone, defying the spirit of the world, challenging the modernist spirit of Vatican II. This, by itself, is an incredible story and it is not a work of fiction, a tale, or a fiction of imagination; it is the reality. This is not a story from two hundred years ago or an old story; it is about what happened merely a few decades ago with grave consequences in the world we live in, a story of interest for everyone today.

But there is so much more to show, for instance, going back to his early days. There is the story of his holy parents, the education he received benefiting from St. Pius X's motu proprio regarding the age of First Communion for children, the foundation of a strong doctrinal background at the French Seminary in Rome, the influence of Father LeFloch in his philosophical and theological formation, “a man of great kindness and of great doctrinal firmness to whom I own much for my formation as a seminarian and as a priest”, as the Archbishop testified, a man that “wanted to form his seminarians in complete conformity to Tradition and to truth.” We can point to how the encyclical Quas Primas influenced and even converted him to a fervent apostle of Christ the King, but also his religious vocation to the Holy Ghost Fathers, his missionary life in Africa, and more. All of these express how he followed Providence, a lesson for us.

Part of the story is how he followed Providence and was prepared by Providence for his future mission during the revolution in the Church. His life, dedicated to the Catholic Church, a servant of the papacy, especially as Apostolic Delegate and Assistant to the Pontifical Throne, disposed him to defend the Church and the Pope in a very different but wholeheartedly true way. Let me quote an address given by the Archbishop on November 29, 1975 at Ecône: “I have worked only in His service and I desire to work to the end of my days in His service.” That’s a summary of his life in his own words, once again, an example for us to follow.

CFN:  Was Archbishop Lefebvre’s struggle for the Tridentine Mass alone, or for the entirety of the Faith?

FR: Archbishop Lefebvre often repeated the maxim “lex orandi, lex credendi,” that is, the liturgy is intimately bound up with the Faith. In other words, the way of praying (lex orandi) expresses what is believed (lex credendi). “We must say with the Church that the liturgy is truly a school and an expression of the Faith, because the source of the liturgy is precisely the Faith,” he said on February 7, 1980. This principal explains and is fundamental to understand why the Archbishop rejected the New Mass and upheld the Tridentine Mass.

For the sake of ecumenism, the New Mass proposed new prayers that refused to express certain Catholic dogmas simply because they were opposed to Protestant ideas. The new liturgy no longer conveyed the Catholic Faith regarding the real presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, transubstantiation, or the propitiatory character of the sacrifice with its consequent notions of sin, hell and grace. All these notions, incompatible with Protestant belief, were simply removed or diminished. The New Mass, by not expressing these Catholic dogmas, even simply by omission, would lead to loss of the Faith and would even lead to a new faith. That is why the Archbishop denounced the danger of the New Mass: “The new Mass is a symbol, an expression, an image of a new faith, a modernist faith...”

The other logical consequence of the principle “lex orandi, lex credendi” was not only to denounce the New Mass, but also to protect the Old. Therefore, the protection of the Faith was the reason for his attachment to the Tridentine Mass and that is how he became the great defender of the Tridentine Mass. By his seminaries, by the priestly ordinations and Episcopal consecrations, he not only saved the Mass of St. Pius V, but also the Faith. “We want to keep the Catholic Faith by the Catholic Mass, not by an ecumenical Mass,” he wrote in a letter to Cardinal Seper, on February 26, 1978.

 “Because in the Mass is our Faith, the whole Catholic Faith: Faith in the Holy Trinity, belief in the divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Faith in redemption through Jesus Christ our Lord, Faith in the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which pored for the redemption of our sins, Faith in the supernatural grace, which comes from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which comes from the Cross, which comes through all the sacraments. That is what we believe in celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass always. This Mass is a lesson of Faith, which is essential for us in this time when our faith is under attack from all sides. (...) June 29, 1976

Thus we can repeat after him today: “Certainly the question of the liturgy and the sacraments is very important, but this is not the most important. The most important is the Faith. For us, it is resolved. We always have believed in the Council of Trent, the Catechism of Saint Pius X, all councils and all the popes before Vatican II.” (February 1991)

So the more one reads about the Archbishop, the more one understands that his entire life was dedicated to the Catholic Church and therefore to the Catholic Faith. Obviously Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre is more known as a defender of the true Mass but in reality he is even more the true protector of the Catholic Faith.

CFN: How was the Catholic Faith itself threatened by the Second Vatican Council?

FR: Archbishop Lefebvre says it brilliantly in chapters 13 and 14 of his book Open Letter to Confused Catholics (Angelus Press), a book everyone should read. It is easy to read, very understandable, and enlightening. There are quite a few reasons the Council jeopardized the Faith.

First, we must observe that the enemies of the Church, despite the infallible condemnations of the Popes in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, managed to diffuse their ideas which were prepared in the Masonic lodges. Despite the disapproval and measures of St. Pius X and of Pius XII to eradicate these errors, they penetrated the Church under the name of modernism. A second historical explanation is the great liberal illusion of John XXIII who thought the Council was an opportunity for an aggiornamento with the modern world.

In addition, we must certainly note a decline of interest in proper Thomistic philosophy and a certain loss of fervor in the Catholic world in the years after the Second World War. Then came the Third World War, a much more dangerous and deadly one than the previous, which was the Second Vatican Council. The expression “Third World War” in regard to Vatican II comes from the Archbishop himself.

In other words, what really threatened the Faith in Vatican II is the introduction, within the Church, of Masonic and anti-Catholic principles. These were Religious Liberty, Collegial Equality and Ecumenical Fraternity to use the specific words of the Archbishop. These novelties have endangered the Catholic Faith.

Let me try to explain how the introduction of a new ecumenism at Vatican II threatened the Faith. The Second Council Vatican declared that: “(…) the separated Churches and Communities as such, though we believe them to be deficient in some respects, have been by no means deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. For the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation, which derive their efficacy from, the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Church.” (Unitatis Redintegratio N. 3) Against the teaching of previous Popes, the Council affirmed that there are elements of salvation in false religions, that they can help people to be saved, as they are “means of salvation used by the Spirit of Christ.” This new doctrine leads to relativism in religion. It especially leads to the notion that it is not necessary to convert to the Catholic Church in order to assure one's salvation. Little by little it eclipsed the dogma of the Faith: “Outside of the Church there is no salvation”. This dogma needs explanation and a Catholic understanding, but it is a real dogma that reminds us of the unique role of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Redeemer, and the mission of the One True Church which He founded.

It is amazing, for instance, to see how Catholics today, who have regularly attended the New Mass for the past few decades, are the most fervent promoters of ecumenism. At the same time, they have no understanding of the necessity of our Lord and His Divine Church for salvation. It is an effect of Vatican II, a terrible loss of the true Catholic Faith.

All these considerations are also a lesson for us. A complete return to sound Thomistic philosophy, a thoughtful study of the traditional teaching of the Church and of the Popes, a revival of an authentic piety grounded in doctrine, a deep understanding of the radical opposition that exists between the Church of God and the world: these are the answers to the crisis in the Church and the necessary foundations for a revival of the Faith.

CFN:  What lessons does Archbishop Lefebvre's fidelity teach those of us who still struggle for the true Mass and for complete adhesion to doctrine, as Vatican I teaches, “in the same meaning in the same understanding” as the Church taught throughout the centuries?

FR: One of the great lessons he teaches us, I believe, is the lesson of peace of soul even in the midst of the most awful circumstances. It is important to read again and again how confident the Archbishop was even during the most difficult times, even when he had to make the most difficult decisions. In some cases the Archbishop was asked if he ever felt alone and isolated. Here is the answer he gave to a journalist in 1978: “How can I feel alone when I am in communion with 262 popes and the whole of the Catholic Faith?” What strength! All those who knew him can testify how peaceful he was. I was a young seminarian during his last years and I remember his serenity very clearly. I have always been deeply impressed.

I think this peace came especially from his determination to always “follow Providence and not anticipate it!” He often repeated and recommended this phrase to teach us to follow the right path. He compared life to a piece of music where God himself writes the notes and directs. We simply need to follow. Unfortunately, we are the ones who create notes out of tune. If we only followed the tune determined by God, the music would be beautiful: “Let God work; let us not intervene ourselves to destroy the harmony that God wants to put in our lives. This is the whole problem of our existence.”

To be as practical as possible, one of the great concrete demands the Archbishop made was to call for a Crusade. Remember the sermon he gave at his jubilee in 1979: “What is left there to do? My dear brethren, (…) I think I can say that we need to make a crusade based on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, leaning on the invincible rock and that inexhaustible source of grace which is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.”

He took us on a crusade, a crusade for the Mass to save the Sacrifice of the Mass, a crusade for vocations, a crusade for young people not agitated by their passions, but motivated by a true ideal, a crusade for Christian families, a crusade for Catholic countries: “You have no right to leave your country invaded by socialism and communism. You do not have the right or you're not Catholic.”

We are still on this crusade. We want and need to continue to restore the Catholic world based on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

CFN: Could you comment on the 1974 Declaration of Archbishop Lefebvre (see below), and how this Declaration still guide the Society of St. Pius X today?

What amazes me in this famous declaration of 1974 is the clarity of vision. We are less than ten years removed from the Council, the Society of St. Pius X is a legitimate priestly Society, there are already some persecutions but not yet any condemnation and the Archbishop sees the need for a public Declaration. This declaration is so clear, so prescient, that still today it expresses the Society's position without needing to change an iota. We could say it is some kind of prophecy, a prophecy of what would become clearer and clearer over the years, a prophecy of the true line of action needed to remain faithful to the Church and to the Faith.

The main points of the Declaration are, first, an adherence to Eternal Rome and a refusal of the neo-modernist tendencies of Vatican II. Secondly it is a refusal to participate in the auto-demolition of the Church, especially by refusing to compromise on the doctrine of the Church. Next, it is a refusal of the New Mass because “This reform, since it has issued from Liberalism and from Modernism, is entirely corrupt. It comes from heresy and results in heresy, even if all its acts are not formally heretical.” Finally, we will continue our work avoiding any spirit of rebellion, bitterness, or resentment. Is the Society faithful to these points today? I certainly believe so. It is our banner.

CFN:  March 25, 2011 is the 20^th Anniversary of Archbishop Lefebvre’s death. This means there is a generation of traditional Catholics who are indebted to Archbishop Lefebvre for his fight for the Faith but who have never met him or seen him in person. This includes many younger priests in the SSPX itself. Will this film help the younger generation get to know the Archbishop and what he truly stood for?

FR: We certainly hope so. It is difficult for the youth today to understand the situation in the Church, the crisis within the Church, and even the positions of the Society of Saint Pius X. They obviously didn’t go through the battles of the first years after Vatican II, the choices that had to be made in 1976 with the suspension, or in 1988 with the consecrations of the four bishops. These events forced everyone to make a choice. Therefore we need to think about it, study it, and understand the reasons for such choices. Today, the youth from traditionalist families inherit from the previous generation. Many of them are born into traditionalist families, are baptized at a Society chapel, and attend one of our schools - thanks be to God! They have never seen the New Mass, and they are protected, which is good thing, but it doesn’t push them to think and realize the terrible state of the Church or the drama that is going on. Therefore we need to form them to understand the fight we are in.

First they have to understand that we are at war! It is easy to enter a kind of routine, where it appears that the situation is normal when it is not. They may not realize that we are in the middle of a war, “the Third World War” mentioned above. It is a spiritual war but is nevertheless a true war, a battle between the Catholic Church and the world. It is not really a new war, because it has always existed, but it is a war with new weapons, the “nuclear” weapons of ecumenism and religious liberty, weapons of mass destruction in the world and within the Church.

Secondly, they have to willingly participate in this war. They have to continue the fight to preserve the Church and the Society. Hopefully this documentary will help them to comprehend the situation and will lead them to form themselves, to read more in order to understand better their own responsibilities.

Finally, they will find in it a strong example that will arouse admiration and a desire to imitate him. May the Archbishop become their hero!

CFN: How can the laity help this production?

FR: We are looking for three types of help; first, as I said earlier, we are looking for any archival material concerning the Archbishop in the United States. We are interested in gathering all recordings, videos, audio files, and pictures from his visits to America. We would also be grateful for any interviews or articles in newspapers. It is a good occasion for the District Office to establish a real archive. These documents are historic and will be very useful in the future, not to mention for this documentary. Any archival material should be sent to:

Society of Saint Pius X
Regina Coeli House
11485 N. Farley Road
Platte City, MO – 64079

We have also launched a fundraising campaign to help with the cost of making this documentary a reality and to keep the price of distribution reasonable. A group of our faithful has generously offered to work on this campaign. All funds raised by them will be used to produce this important documentary on the life of our founder. Donations can be sent to:

The Benefactor Committee
Archbishop Lefebvre The Movie
6145 W. Byron St.
Chicago, IL 60634

Finally prayers, this project, because of its content and of its goal, is not only a human one. How many souls could find there a grace of conversion, a change for all eternity? As any apostolate, its fruits depend above all on the grace of God. Its preparation, realization and diffusion have to be preceded and accompanied by prayers. Please keep this intention in your prayers! Thank you and God bless you.