Letter to Archbishop Lefebvre

M.L. Guerard des Lauriers, O.P.

Archbishop,
You were clear in your letter about the outlines of a protocol of agreement between
Ecne and Rome: Ecne, which up until now we support; Rome, which we resist, just as
you do.
The loyalty demanded by the service of the Truth obliges us to declare: We do not want
this peace. It appears to be wise. It is, indeed, no more wise than Pilate pretended to be.
Jesus was delivered to Pilate because He was accused of saying: I am the King of the
Jews (John 19:21), whereas the Jews claimed to have no other king than Cesar (John
19: 15).
In reality, Jesus was not brought before Pilate for a royalty whose origin is not of this
world (John 18: 36). And Jesus did not mean to die to conserve anything. He did not
mean to die for anything except to give testimony to the Truth (John 14:6); regardless of
appearances, it was Pilate who depended on Jesus rather than Jesus on Pilate. Your
Excellency, you submit the Mass to the Pope because it disturbs the celebration of the
new mass (as Paul VI called it), just as Jesus disturbed the Pharisaic order by teaching
throughout all Judea (Luke 23:5).
IN REALITY, THE MASS SHOULD NOT BE SUBMITTED TO THE POPE, since the Pope must respect
it. We want, with Gods grace, to testify to the Truth; we do not want a peace that
diminishes the Truth (Psalm 11:2).
Pilate resorts to expedients to save Jesus. He fails. Thrice he fails, in order to accentuate in
a providential way that it is not possible to give testimony to the Truth unless one is in
absolute accord with the Truth. Pilate thinks he can save Christ by having recourse to
Herod. He is doubly fooled: by expecting Jesus to be saved by those who want His death
and by becoming the friend of Herod (Luke 23: 12). It is a false unity, since it is a unity
against the One who is the Truth.
Your Excellency, you have recourse to the Pope to conserve the Mass. And you admit that
there can be in the Church - inevitably in the same Church - the Mass that is THE MASS
and the new mass. And you believe that unity would be restored immediately at the
level of the local Bishops.
Thus, the unity of the Church would no longer be the radiation of the unique Sacrifice
that Christ commanded from His beloved Spouse! The unity would no longer be that of
the heavenly Jerusalem that is free and is our mother (Gal 4: 26). Unity would find itself
degraded into a juxtaposition made under the iron fist of an unconditional authority. This is
a parody of unity! It is a sacrilege against unity! Archbishop, we do not want this peace or
this unity, which would be against the Truth, against the sanctity of the Church, against the
Liberty that comes only from the Spirit of Truth. To save Jesus, Pilate put Him on par with
Barabbas (Marl 15: 9). How could Pilate, mocking the Justice that he should represent,
imagine that a changeable mob would impose justice on their [Pharisee] leaders? Pilate
could only wash his hands (Mat 27: 24).
Your Excellency, in order to save the Mass that is the Mass, you put it on par with the new
mass, in the name of the Religion that you profess. How can you imagine that, instructed
by your example, those unstable and weak people who follow you rather than the Truth
could restore the sense of the true Religion in a Church occupied by the high priests of
the god of the Universe? One cannot sit at the same table with Satan. It is Hell that is
paved with these good intentions that justify the means by their end, perpetrating a
manifest evil under the illusion of doing a good.
Your Excellency, we do not want this peace that sacrifices the demands of the Religion of
Spirit and Truth (John 4: 23) for the passing satisfaction of a selfish tranquility. Pilate
found nothing in Jesus that merited death (Luke 23: 15). It was, however, by chastising
Jesus (Luke 23: 16), that Pilate thought to buy from the Jews the release of their Prisoner.
The public order is worth it - isnt it? Some lashes of the whip, even if they are unjust. But
Pilate fails. The only result is that the Flesh of the Incarnate Word is scourged, His Blood
flows, He Himself is humiliated.
Your Excellency, if there were to be in the Church - God forbid - as you desire the Mass
that is THE MASS and the new mass, the shrewd polls made about [the preferences of]
the people of God, duly manipulated, would transform the Mass of the minority into a
mockery. The only result would be that the broad sacrilegious practice [of the
Consecrations in the new mass], but actually deprived of object [because these
Consecrations actually do not take place], would have all their blasphemous character
now effective against the [true] Real Presence. Have you considered this? Should the
price of this false security, founded on the illusion of an unconditional submission to those
who did all they could to destroy the Church, be to inflict on the Crucified Christ the blows
of the most insolent flagellation ever?
Your Excellency, we do not want this peace that would be laden with so many sins. It falls
to us, to us and not to the Crucified Christ, to complete [by this accord] what would be
lacking in this flagellation without us. Archbishop, your protocol of peace gives the final
blow to a trust that we no longer can have in you, regarding both the question of the
Mass and that of authority.
You have celebrated the new mass since the beginning of April 1969 until December 24,
1970.
On May 5, 1969, some friends who venerated you, including the one who signs these lines,
had come to assist at the Mass that you would celebrate at the altar where the bones of
St. Pius V repose at the Roman Basilica of Saint Mary Major. Astonishment, scandal, sorrow!
Over the tomb of St. Pius V, it was the new mass that you celebrated! Upon leaving,
pressured in the square by respectful and sad questions, you declared: If someone were
to see Archbishop Lefebvre celebrating the traditional Mass, it would risk raising scandal.
To those same friends, who, encouraged by you, were working to write the text that
became the Letter of Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci, you gave comforting assurances:
We will have 600 Bishops [to sign this letter]. This would be enough to move the Pope!
Instead, there was not one single Bishop, not even yourself.
As a matter of fact, you were more concerned about not giving scandal than about
defending the Truth. We fear that your letter n. 16 [to friends and benefactors] reveals that
you did not change.
You continued to celebrate the new mass both at Fribourg and Ecne. The first hopes,
nonetheless, started to appear: Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Paul Aulagnier, Bernard Waltz,
and three others. On December 24, 1969, at the end of the noon meal, the Dominican
priest who signs these lines, then staying at Ecne, with respectful irony said this to you:
Monsignor, it is a pity that, while supporting Tradition, you celebrate the new mass,
which is not the Mass of the Tradition. This simple observation literally set fire to the
gunpowder. The six, all your living hope, exploded. Each one in his way and all together
posed the same question to you: How is it possible to base fidelity to Tradition upon a
mass that was innovated against Tradition? That incident was very vehement and, by
the way, quickly closed. Still, be it by some coincidence due to the action of the Holy
Ghost along with an interior movement on your part, the fact is that on December 24,
1970 at the midnight Mass, you returned to saying the Mass according to rite promulgated
by St. Pius V, to the great joy of all present.
Probably you followed the Holy Ghost. But, alas, everything has happened as if you were
following your grassroots. Thenceforth you have followed the same tactic. If you would not
have supported the Traditional Mass, the seminary of Ecne would have been deprived of
its end, and those who supported you would have felt the obligation to abandon you.
Nonetheless, you have never made a serious doctrinal study of the new mass. You affirm
it is valid without justifying it. And you have issued norms [on how to behave regarding it]
from which many of the faithful, or even Ecne seminarians, can deduce whatever they
want. And now - all this is unhappily too coherent - you admit that the Mass and the mass
can exist together in the Church. This is ecumenism inside the Church, the paroxysm of a
false ecumenism that replaces with a deceitful union the true unity, which is the
unconditional submission to the Liberty inspired by the Truth.
In the same way, Your Excellency, you admit that there could be a traditional
interpretation of Vatican II, even after you had written thanks be to God and to you
the work I accuse the Council.
Why do you refuse to enunciate clearly, on the authority the principles that unavoidably
explain your judicious accusations? Instead, as a supposed counter-attack, you imitate
the [blind] false prophets who lead each other into the pit (Matt 15:14), by announcing
a false peace followed by a false prosperity! We must either speak or be silent. But we
cannot not proclaim the error and silence the truth. It is with profound sorrow, believe me
Your Excellency, that we are obliged in conscience to remind you of this.
We can no longer trust you. We are not against you, we are still for you, but we can no
longer be with you. You count on saving everything through the SSPX; the whole
Church, certainly, will be thankful to you for what you have done. But, Your Excellency,
you promise too much to be true. Do you remember the promise of the 600 Bishops that
never materialized? Remember that when on that May 5, 1975 you acted firmly no
matter what [against Rome], it was because you opposed those whom today you think
you can trust, those whose victim you have become since you are following them.
Your Excellency, we can no longer be with you. We are only unconditional with
regard to the Truth!
Holy Thursday April 12, 1979
M.L. Gurard des Lauriers, O.P.