Saint Francis Xavier A true Apostolate must, in order to be fruitful, share two characteristics: supernaturalism, and being adapted to the environment that is to be converted. "Spectacle-Masses" have attracted crowds but have not produced the expected results. This Naturalism does not show forth the Apostolate techniques of the Savior...
Our priories, if they try to be truly supernatural, do not attract as many as they should. Why? We are undeniably often inaccessible to the men of this age. Our nearest goal is not to attract everyone, clearly, but those souls that display a certain openness to the Faith and to God's Love. Even these souls are sometimes discouraged when coming to our chapels. The reasons? A heightened mistrust, divisions and criticisms that show only pride, disparaging comments on clothing, bitter and useless political arguments. Thanks to the subliminal instruments of the devil... Thanks to those people who know better than God the speed with which souls should move forward... Let us try to lower the obstacles for conversions rather than heightening them. But that is not enough: we must attract. Missionaries have always achieved this for 2000 years: adapting as much as possible to the target population, guided by a sense of finality and by Christian moral principles.
Fr. Guillaume Gaud
THE "TRAD ENVIRONMENT"
There should not be a "Trad environment". Catholic Tradition is not supposed to be a social milieu, because Christianity is not that. Tradition must ressemble all social environments, and welcome them with their own identities. We are not for the elimination of classes. The dressing trends that have, little by little, become dominant among us reflect modesty - which is necessary -, but modesty is not limited to Trad dressing fashions. By willing to impose clothing rules, we put people off more than we form them. The consequence is a sort of freeing oneself excessively from those rules, which then moves onto immodesty. A further consequence is a sort of sclerotic portrayal of Tradition, which seems to live in the 1950s - not very attractive!
Yet the force of bringing people together within Catholic Tradition is in the logical relationship between our Faith and our daily life. This coherence must reflect our conviction and our sincerity, and not only rules. Catholic Truth is truly brought into light by it. And this is what attracts. But let us remain always as close as possible to our contemporaries of good will. We must then be firm with regard to ourselves, but shine with mercy and understanding for our neighbor. Then he will love our firmness!
Father Guillaume Gaud, SSPX
(Apostol, newsletter for the priories of Fabrègues and Perpignan, France
- La Porte Latine - "The dilemmas of our bastions of faith", excerpts)
- La Porte Latine - "The dilemmas of our bastions of faith", excerpts)
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There will be those who will read Father's words and immediately say: but the 1950s were attractive to me! That is not his point: his point is, does this help attract more people who could be souls favorable to Tradition? What is more important, to keep the aesthetics of any moment in time (one moment in time for one part of mankind), or to try to find the best way to attract those sensitive souls who might otherwise reject Tradition for circumstantial external aspects?
