Our Strength Is to Be Right

This expression is not ours, nor does it even suit us; but it suits perfectly Him through whom the gates of Hell have not prevailed. Indeed, Archbishop Lefebvre was right on every point in this crisis which continues and whose end is known to God alone.

He was right to fight the liberals before, during, and after the Council. From his time at the French Seminary in Rome, he had already recognized their activity within the Church. It was the liberals who succeeded in driving Father Le Floch from the French Seminary. This served as a lesson to Archbishop Lefebvre.

He recognized them throughout his whole life and sought to resist them. But above all, he sought to oppose doctrine with doctrine. He did everything he could to enlighten souls about liberalism and about religious liberty, which is nothing other than a freedom leading to perdition.

He was right to proceed with the ordinations of 1976. The tension surrounding that ceremony was immense, for Paul VI wanted to prevent it at all costs. The suspense a divinis was Rome's response. Archbishop Lefebvre was right to pay no attention to it. Why? Because he did not wish to receive from Our Lord the reproach of having contributed to the destruction of the Church. This could appear to be an act of disobedience. An appearance only. When one refuses to obey a command because that command is contrary to the commandments of God, one does not commit an act of disobedience. More than that: whoever obeys in such cases commits an act of rebellion, says St. Bernard.

Archbishop Lefebvre was not a rebel. He obeyed God rather than men, as St. Peter and St. John did and declared before the Pharisees who sought to forbid them to preach the Name of Our Lord.

In 1988, a situation similar to that of 1976 arose, and Archbishop Lefebvre based himself on the same reasons as in 1976. The Church had to be defended. The faith, the Church's legislation, and the sacraments had to be defended. God's honour had to be defended, and the salvation of souls had to be pursued. That is what he did. He was right. His strength was to be right.

The Society has just consecrated new bishops. May they become imbued, to the very marrow, with the reasons of Archbishop Lefebvre, their founder. There lies the true strength in the present crisis. If the Resistance came into being in 2012, it was in order to preserve not only the doctrinal principles, but also the example of Archbishop Lefebvre in applying those principles. We would like to be able to say: our strength is to understand Archbishop Lefebvre's reasons and to put them fully into practice, just as he did. Alas, we remain far behind him, but we strive to follow him. Our strength is to strive to follow him. May it also be that of the Society.

+ Thomas Aquinas O.S.B.