Swiss Bishop Allows the SSPX to Use Churches After All

The Church of St. Maurice, Fribourg

In 2013 we reported that the Bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg, Mons. Charles Morerod, OP, had issued a decree allowing Catholic churches in his diocese to be lent to Orthodox churches and Protestant ecclesial communities for ‘pastoral’ reasons, but not to clergy of the SSPX (see here and here). Now an official website of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference reports that Bishop Morerod has allowed the SSPX to use the Chapel of Bourguillon and the Church of St. Maurice (both in Fribourg) for the celebration of their 50th anniversary. 

Raising the Cross on the Summit of Grand Garde

The following is the translation of the original article by the FSSPX by a dear reader. Click here to read the full article in French and to see more pictures. 

Just over 10 years ago, on February 11, 2009, God called three seminarians of Ecône back to Him. In memory of these three young men, a cross was raised on the summit of Grand Garde in the Swiss Alps, which is directly across the valley from the seminary. The cross was blessed on June 18, 2019, in presence of the whole seminary, the families of the deceased and friends from the canton of Valais.

Preparation

The idea was first proposed in 2013, but remained in the planning stage until spring of 2018. It took a whole year to bring the project to fruition. The cross was made by a carpenter in Valais, another craftsman applied copper plating, a solid foundation had to be designed and prepared… this took a month.

The 70 kg metal base was flown up to the summit by helicopter, together with an air compressor and a drill. The base was sunk 1.6 metres deep into the rock. Another 105 kg had to be carried up by the seminarians.

Papally Approved? Unexpectedly, a New Bishop for the Society of Saint Pius X

Just a couple of weeks ago, Rorate posted an analysis of Pope Francis' moves regarding the Society of Saint Pius X (FSSPX / SSPX): The Vatican and the SSPX - Prospects for 2019.

In it, our guest contributor revealed that the Pope and the SSPX are fast reaching a full regularization, but "by installments".

Along with the abolition of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, signed on January 17, and that also signals a path of "regularization by installments" of the SSPX, another piece of news dated from that same day also made clear what is going on.

From French magazine Monde & Vie:

Pope Decides to let Tradition-Friendly Bishop in Switzerland Stay in Office for Another Two Years

His Excellency Bishop Vitus Huonder

When the tradition-friendly bishop of Chur in Switzerland, His Excellency Vitus Huonder, turned 75, the liberal, Swiss Church establishment expected the Holy Father to accept his resignation at once. But, to their surprise, Pope Francis only accepted his resignation nunc pro tunc— that is, he is to stay on for another two years. 

Bishop Huonder has supported the traditional Mass in his diocese, and has been criticized by more liberal elements in the Swiss Church — including a fellow bishop — for his uncompromising defense of Catholic morality. He has been opposed by the same rebellious elements of the diocese of Chur that were successful in ousting one of his predecessors (His Excellency Wolgang Haas, now Archbishop of Liechtenstein). A source within the diocese of Chur has told Rorate Caeli that it was Bishop Huonder who asked Pope Francis to grant the priests of the SSPX faculties for confession. In an interview with the Luzerner Zeitung, Bishop Huonder says that he has a good rapport with Pope Francis.

We present some further passages from the Luzerner Zeitung interview in a Rorate translation:

Synod: Swiss Bishops' Conference's Website Floats Idea That Confessor Should Ignore Church Teaching on Morals

[Translator's Note: Kath.ch, the official website of the Swiss Bishops' Conference, recently published on 21 August 2015 (http://www.kath.ch/newsd/zitat-sich-der-kirche-zuliebe-ueber-die-kirche-hinwegsetzen/) a short comment and summary of an objectively scandalous interview with Dr. Markus Arnold, a Swiss Catholic lay theologian and a professor of Theological Ethics at the University of Lucerne (https://www.unilu.ch/fakultaeten/tf/institute/religionspaedagogisches-institut-rpi/mitarbeitende/markus-arnold/) After this comment, the Swiss Bishops' Conference's website permissively gives the link to the entire original interview.]

Excerpts below:

Question: The Catechism [of the Catholic Church] says one should treat homosexuals with compassion.

The Thoughts of a "Progressive" Swiss Abbot on Marriage and Homosexuality

The Thoughts of Abbot Urban Federer, Abbot of Einsiedeln Abbey, Thoughts Inspired by the Rapper Gimma

[Note: Urban Federer, as Father Abbot of Ensiedeln, Canton Schwyz, Switzerland, one of the greatest abbeys in Europe, and one of the last territorial abbeys in the world, is also a permanent member of the Swiss Bishops' Conference./ August 11, 2015]

While browsing through the e-mails and letters which have been accumulating during my recent vacation, certain concerned letters immediately caught my attention. For example: “Why does the Catholic Church condemn homosexuals?” asks one female author. Thanks be to God, concerning those homosexuals one can read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church this simple sentence: “One must be careful not to discriminate against them unjustly in any way.” I therefore can – and therefore do – give an initial answer to this concerned woman: It must not at all come to a condemnation of homosexuals within the Church.

So, what did the "Progressive" Bishops discuss in their secret Pre-Synod meeting?

The meeting was first made public by Le Figaro (see here), and took place on Monday in the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, run by the Jesuits -- it was later characterized as a routine meeting.

What was exactly discussed there? The German Bishops' Conference made public the anodyne communiqué at the end of this post, but today's Italian daily Il Foglio has more revealing snippets of the confidential conference, obsessed with same-sex caresses and marital infidelity:

BREAKING - European "Progressive" Bishops Planning Synod Coup: Secret Meeting in Rome on Monday

Jean-Marie Guénois, Religious Affairs correspondent for French daily Le Figaro, has the report (main excerpt below) of a Vatican-II-style Rhineland coup for the October 2015 Synod on the Family:

Family Synod: a Very Discreet Meeting of the Reformers in Rome

Jean-Marie Guénois

Le Figaro

May 22, 2015 - 6:24 PM (Paris time), updated at 6:50 PM

On Monday [May 25], European episcopates will debate the welcoming of remarried divorcees and homosexuals in the Church.

Synod Battles: "The Swiss Church was manipulated by the Liberal Lay Employees of the Bishops' Conference"

Communiqué of the Francis of Sales Association of Journalists, Switzerland

Swiss Church Is Being Manipulated By [Liberal] Lay Employees [of the Conference of Bishops]–

Defective Preparation for the Upcoming Assembly of the Synod of Bishops

According to well-informed circles close to the Swiss Bishops, those Pastoral Assistants, Catechists, Lay Theologians and some others who have evaluated a [recent Swiss] poll on behalf of the upcoming Synod of Bishops (Part II in October of 2015 in Rome) have done so according to their own tendentious inclinations.

Priest Removed from Swiss Parish for Blessing Lesbian Couple

According to a statement of the diocese of Chur in Switzerland Fr. Wendelin Bucheli, a priest of another diocese, who had been working as a parish priest in Chur, is to return to his home diocese. This priest had blessed a Lesbian couple in his parish Church last year. In response, the Bishop of Chur, H.E. Msgr. Vitus Huonder, has now arranged with the bishop of Lausanne-Geneva-Fribourg, H.E. Msgr. Charles Morerod, to have Fr. Bucheli called back to Fribourg. It appears that Fr. Bucheli  will face no further disciplinary measures after from being removed from his parish, and moved back to his home diocese.

Another kind of "Reform of the Reform"?A homily by ersatz-priest Madam Marie-Josèphe Lachat

The novus ordo mass below is not at all unusual - quite the contrary, it is an average (or even above average) "well celebrated" mass of Paul VI, in its prevalent format around the world. What is slightly more unusual (though far from surprising) is that the homily, immediately following the reading of the Gospel,* is preached by what is, in all but name, a vested female ersatz-priest, Madame Marie-Josèphe Lachat, "Pastoral Assistant," with "use of an episcopal mandate for preaching" ["au bénéfice d'un mandat épiscopal pour la prédication"]

The "homily" ["homélie"] (that is what it is called) begins soon after 23:40 -- the entire ceremony is in French, naturally.

The official information is provided by the French-language public broadcaster Swiss Radio Television (RTS):

Mass at the Church of Saint Peter at Porrentruy (Jura Canton)

Presidency: canon Jacques Oeuvray. [*note: in the Proclamation of the Gospel, just to show how "très cool" he is, the deacon does not say, "the Gospel (Évangile) according to...", but "the Good News (la bonne nouvelle) according to..."] Preaching: Marie-Josèphe Lachat, pastoral assistant. [Sunday, May 18, 2014]

Not that the bishop, who gave her the "mandate for preaching," is unaware of it. Just a couple of weeks later, in a confirmation ceremony, there was Madame Lachat one more time, vested with her alb next to all local priests and deacons.

_______________________________

Is this a rupture with the entire Tradition of the Church? Yes. Is it disobedience to all norms regarding preaching in a liturgical setting? Yes. Will anything be done about this? Of course not : in the name of "progress", all norms, of divine or human institution, Tradition, and traditions can be violated. Whoever does not see the beauty in all of it is simply a "reactionary" who "does not accept Vatican II" -- even if the conciliar documents say absolutely nothing that would ever allow for this anti-Catholic practice. And that, "reaction", is what should be punished and restricted, even if it only means wanting to worship as the Church always worshiped. 

[Tip: Riposte catholique]