A Look Back - Declaration of 1994

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JMJ

I was going through some papers and came across this declaration of 1994.

I reproduce it here for the record.

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The General Chapter

of

The Society of St. Pius X

Declaration Made by the General Chapter

July 14th, 1994 at Econe, Switzerland

At the close of its General Chapter, the Society of St. Pius X is duty bound to bring to the attention of the faithful, the fact that the crisis of the Church worsens every day, as shown by recent events:

• the announcement of the celebration of the year 2000 on Mount Sinai, a celebration in the spirit of the inter-religious meeting of Assisi, which is opposed to the dogma "Outside the Church there is no salvation" on account of the active participation of Jews and Moslems who deny the divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ; 
• the project of publishing an ecumenical Martyrology which will present notorious heretics and schismatics as models of holiness to faithful Catholics, a work which will ruin the mystical and moral doctrines of the Church, which have been manifested up until now by the example of the faith and other virtues, practiced by all the Saints;
• the introduction of women serving at the altar, in sprite of the recent declaration of the Pope on the impossibility of women Priests.

The faces, so shocking in themselves to the faith of Catholics, only confirm the doctrinal deviation of the Roman hierarchy. The following are examples:

• the New Catechism which makes its own the errors of Vatican II;
• the Encyclical Veritatis Splendor which its personalism;
• the instructions on the Liturgy which promote false ecumenism and inculturation;
• the agreement of Balaman in 1993 which forbids "proselytism" among the Orthodox.

That is why the Society of St. Pius X wants, more than ever, to remind the faithful of the importance and relevance of Archbishop Lefebvre's Declaration of November 21st, 1974 which it adopts as its own in its entirety. Twenty years of "self-destruction" allows us to better appreciate the justice and necessity of this document.

The 1974 Declaration of Archbishop LefebvreNovember 21, 1974 On November 11, 1974, two apostolic visitors from Rome arrived at the International Seminary of St. Pius X in Econe. During their brief stay, they spoke to the seminarians and professors, maintaining scandalous opinions such as, the ordination of married men will soon be a normal thing, truth changes with the times, and the traditional conception of the Resurrection of our Lord is open to discussion. These remarks prompted Archbishop Lefebvre to write this famous Declaration as a rebuttal to Modernism.

We hold fast, with all our heart and with all our soul, to Catholic Rome, Guardian of the Catholic faith and of the traditions necessary to preserve this faith, to Eternal Rome, Mistress of wisdom and truth. We refuse, on the other hand, and have always refused to follow the Rome of neo-Modernist and neo-Protestant tendencies which were clearly evident in the Second Vatican Council and, after the Council, in all the reforms which issued from it. All these reforms, indeed, have contributed and are still contributing to the destruction of the Church, to the ruin of the priesthood, to the abolition of the Sacrifice of the Mass and of the sacraments, to the disappearance of religious life, to a naturalist and Teilhardian teaching in universities, seminaries and catechectics; a teaching derived from Liberalism and Protestantism, many times condemned by the solemn Magisterium of the Church. No authority, not even the highest in the hierarchy, can force us to abandon or diminish our Catholic faith, so clearly expressed and professed by the Church’s Magisterium for nineteen centuries. “But though we,” says St. Paul, “or an angel from heaven preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema” (Gal. 1:8). Is it not this that the Holy Father is repeating to us today?  And if we can discern a certain contradiction in his words and deeds, as well as in those of the dicasteries, well we choose what was always taught and we turn a deaf ear to the novelties destroying the Church. It is impossible to modify profoundly the lex orandi without modifying the lex credendi. To the Novus Ordo Missae correspond a new catechism, a new priesthood, new seminaries, a charismatic Pentecostal Church - all things opposed to orthodoxy and the perennial teaching of the Church. This Reformation, born of Liberalism and Modernism, is poisoned through and through; it derives from heresy and ends in heresy, even if all its acts are not formally heretical. It is therefore impossible for any conscientious and faithful Catholic to espouse this Reformation or to submit to it in any way whatsoever. The only attitude of faithfulness to the Church and Catholic doctrine, in view of our salvation, is a categorical refusal to accept this Reformation. That is why, without any spirit of rebellion, bitterness or resentment, we pursue our work of forming priests, with the timeless Magisterium as our guide. We are persuaded that we can render no greater service to the Holy Catholic Church, to the Sovereign Pontiff and to posterity.  That is why we hold fast to all that has been believed and practiced in the faith, morals, liturgy, teaching of the catechism, formation of the priest and institution of the Church, by the Church of all time; to all these things as codified in those books which saw day before the Modernist influence of the Council. This we shall do until such time that the true light of Tradition dissipates the darkness obscuring the sky of Eternal Rome. By doing this, with the grace of God and the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and that of St. Joseph and St. Pius X, we are assured of remaining faithful to the Roman Catholic Church and to all the successors of Peter, and of being the fideles dispensatores mysteriorum Domini Nostri Jesu Christi in Spiritu Sancto.  Amen.

Courtesy of SSPX.org: The 1974 Declaration