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Newsletter of the District of Asia December 1998 Editorial At the beginning of December, we were very fortunate to follow a priestly retreat given by Fr. Patrice Laroche, the first Society priest who came to the Philippines (in 1988). It was a wonderful grace to leave for a few days the worries of the apostolate and of the crisis in the Church in order to meditate on the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven, the ultimate goal of life. With a knowledgeable and expert hand, Father led us through the various wonders of Heaven, through its Immaculate Queen: the Angels, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors and Virgins. Queen of all Saints, pray for us! It is noteworthy that in the Ordo of the Conciliar Church in the Philippines, there are no more confessors among the Saints. Even a St. Francis Xavier is simply categorized as “priest”. Of course Saintly Kings, such as St. Henry (July 15) are rather embarrassing Saints nowadays as they proclaimed out loud the Social Kingship of Christ. So, the authorities simply omitted his royal condition. As you can read in Bishop Tissier’s analysis of Cardinal Ratzinger’s book, the Conciliar Church has changed the very notion of “Saint”. The faith, its possession, its heroic practice, its confession, no longer seems to matter in a Saint. The new Martyrology who is being prepared should contain a great number of these faithless Saints from all religions. Of course, ecumenism obliges ... What then remains of St. Paul’s “with the heart, we believe unto justice, but with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation” (Rom. X, 10)? And, of Our Lord’s own word, “he that believeth not shall be condemned” (Mk. XVI, 16)? And this one, “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. XI, 6)? It is stranger to see, in contrast with these faithless saints who may well be in hell, (Martin Luther?) the teaching of some recent theologians. They assert erroneously that, since, according to them, baptism of desire does not exist, it is conceivable that, someone who dies before the actual baptism of water, but after having been justified, i.e. received sanctifying grace, such a one will nevertheless go to hell! In the state of grace! (In “Who Shall Ascend, by Fr. J. Wathen, O.S.J., 1992, p. 109). On one hand, we find “Saints” in heaven without faith, on the other, souls in hell in the state of grace! Let us thank God, as 1998 comes to a close, to have put on our path a man such as Archbishop Lefebvre, so imbued with the mind and doctrines of the Catholic Church! He guided us on the “strait and narrow” path leading to Heaven, and helped us, through that sound teaching, to avoid the errors on the right or on the left. Let us beg the Divine Child, whose birth we will soon recall, and whose blessings we implore for all our readers, friends and benefactors (mentioned in general only, as in particular will be difficult due to retreats and travels), to keep us close to His Heart throughout the New Year, during which we finally hope to see the triumph of His Immaculate Mother.
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