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“PUT AWAY YOUR TOYS!”
- Bp. Williamson, November 2014
August-October 2021
Dear Faithful Followers of Christ the King!
If Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre were still on earth, what would he say? What would he do? What advice would he now give to the four bishops he consecrated in order to preserve Catholic Tradition?
The answer is not just in the clouds, mere speculation. He clearly laid down the direction he would take in the future, both in words and action. We have the treasure of his many quotes opposing any further (fruitless) dialogue with Modernist Rome. And not just words, he also founded five seminaries to form the future priests to be holy, sanctifiers of souls through the Mass and sacraments, and battlers against Modernism, the Second Vatican Council and the New Mass.
Never would this great prelate of the Church, Abp. Lefebvre, shoot down the zeal of the faithful, preserving in the Catholic Tradition! On the contrary, he was the one encouraging them to fight harder, to think bigger, to give more generously, to spread the Social Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ everywhere; in politics, economics, arts, laws, nations, cities, towns, everywhere, without exception! His spirit was exactly the opposite of the one who said to those faithful, desirous to see Catholic Tradition revive and continue, “Put away your toys!”
Quite the opposite! Abp. Lefebvre never looked with scorn or called “toys” the zeal and Catholicity of the faithful, or their desire to see a new generation of priests and making new Traditional apostolates, to replace the compromised ones of the Conciliar-SSPX. Furthermore, rather than tell them to “put away” such thoughts and desires, he encouraged his priests and faithful to fight wholeheartedly for the restoration of Christendom!
Step back nine years ago, after the Revolution of 2012 within the Society of St. Pius X, Catholics clinging to Tradition sought desperately for at least one of the bishops to simply continue the work of Abp. Lefebvre and maintain his sound position. Seeing Bp. Fellay was set on the course of compromise, many hoped that Bp. Williamson would fill-in the gap. But, on the contrary, they were told by him “Put away your toys!”
However, if the tables were turned, how would the Archbishop apply these words to his own sons?
First to Bishop Fellay. He would tell him to “Put away your toys!” - put away these dreams of recognition and acceptance from Modernist Rome. Abp. Lefebvre would tell him to absolutely burn the following: the Doctrinal Declaration of April 15, 2012, the Six Conditions For An Agreement With Rome, the General Chapter Statement of 2012, the delusional praise for the slippery document “Summorum Pontificum” in 2007 (which equates the Tridentine Mass with the Novus Ordo!), the begging that the badge of honor of excommunication of ‘88, be lifted in 2009, the acceptance of jurisdiction for Confessions (in 2015), Holy Orders and Marriages, thus partially inserting the Society under the Modernist bishops which the Archbishop warned is the greatest danger to the faithful, as well as the priests! He would order him to rehabilitate the many good standing priests he expelled, silenced and unjustly punished. God only knows what punishment he would give to the very one responsible for the highest treachery, by compromising Catholic Tradition with the Conciliar Church, contrary to all his warnings!
Second, Bp. Williamson. “Don’t be under any illusion: it’s not going to be me who puts together a new SSPX. No way! The time for that is over. Put away your toys everybody and get with it. Grow up!” Abp. Lefebvre rather would strongly reprimand him, rather than the faithful, to whom this scandalous phrase was directed! What exactly are these “toys”? They are the following: misleading souls by teaching that the New Mass is a source of grace, that it can nourish your faith, that it’s dubious “miracles” should be believed and promoted, seminary vocations should be discouraged as well as seminaries themselves! Choosing the “least contaminated” Masses to attend, even the least dogmatic sedevacantist Masses. Further errors are: the problem with Vatican II is that it’s ambiguous, you can attend Mass at the Indult / Motu Proprio, the Conciliar-SSPX and Feeneyite chapels, no problem. Abp. Lefebvre opposed him on all these points, and saved souls by the clarity of the Truth, not muddling them with confusion and cushioning the New Mass, called by Our Lord the “abomination of desolation standing in the Holy Place!” (St. Matthew 24:15). (See list of his errors here on The Recusant).
Bishops Bernard Tissier de Mallerais & Alphonso de Galerreta, lastly. These two were strongly opposed to the Liberal direction of Bp. Fellay, at first. Many do not know of the excellent rebuttal Bp. de Galarreta made against the proposed Doctrinal Declaration in 2011 (then called the “Doctrinal Preamble”). He warned Bp. Fellay: “We must refuse this path because we cannot do evil that good may come from it (a good that is, moreover, uncertain!) and because this would necessarily also bring about certain evils against the common good that we possess, namely that of the Society and the Family of Tradition...If we make an agreement we will lose freedom of speech, we will have to silence our criticisms of the facts, of the authorities and even some texts of the Council and post-Conciliar magisterium!...For the good of the Society and Tradition, this ’Pandora’s Box’ must be closed as quickly as possible, to avoid the stigma and the demolition of authority, disputes, dissensions and divisions, perhaps with no return!” (cf. Is This Operation Suicide? By Stephen Fox. See entire document here p. 193-197).
There was a time when Bp. Tissier de Mallerais consistently held Archbishop Lefebvre’s position in his words, interviews and books. In the Interview he had on June 1, 2012, with “Rivarol”, the following exchange occurred.
Rivarol: Some believe that the proposed statute of the personal prelature to the Society will provide a sufficient guarantee against the danger of abandoning the fight for the Faith.
Bp. Tissier: That is incorrect. According to the project of the personal prelature, we would not be free to open new priories without the permission of the local bishops and, additionally, all our recent foundations would have to be approved by these same bishops. It would consequently mean subjugating ourselves unnecessarily to an overall Modernist episcopate.
Unfortunately, Bp. Tissier has not taken concrete steps to oppose the undermining of Abp. Lefebvre’s work, perhaps due to ill health or weakness. Bp. Galarreta unfortunately changed positions and was heard to say publicly that if the Superior General decides to seek normalization with Modernist Rome, “Too bad, we will just have to go with it.” This is, moreover, substantiated by his own inaction.
So how would Abp. Lefebvre apply to these two, the notorious phrase “Put away your toys?” He would ask them to abandon their inaction and silent compromise and come back to their former position, and to act upon it! He would remind them that we can never put the organization or institution of the Society or any congregation, above the Faith! “But I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first charity!” (Apocalypse 2:4). They should be leading the Catholic Resistance by simply continuing the position and work of Abp. Lefebvre, which is what the true Catholic Resistance is all about!
So many faces dropped and hearts were soured by the retort made by one bishop to the faithful when he said “Put away your toys!” The scattered sheep, scandalized by the Modernist direction of the New-SSPX, were hoping that at least one of Abp. Lefebvre’s sons would continue the Fight for Tradition, simply, as he had done! Just continue! No new doctrines, no new methods, no new smiling approaches with Modernist Rome, just continue what Abp. Lefebvre passed down to us faithfully, until Rome comes back to Tradition! The graces, growth and good fruits were all there!
So, it is not too far-fetched to conjecture that Abp. Lefebvre, rather than hurl such sarcasm at the struggling souls who expect leadership, and rightly so, from their bishops of Tradition, would on the contrary, direct this phrase to his own bishops and priests in the most severe time of crisis, and say: “Follow what I laid down, continue the work of Tradition without compromise, don’t make excuses for the sterile, fruitless New Mass, sanctify souls and, rather than please men and seek approval from the anti-Christs in Rome, ‘Put away your toys!’ and continue the Combat for the Faith!!” Here are his own words:
“My Dear Friends, The See of Peter and the posts of authority in Rome being occupied by anti-Christs, the destruction of the Kingdom of our Lord is being rapidly carried out even within His Mystical Body here below, especially through the corruption of the Holy Mass…The corruption of the Holy Mass has brought the corruption of the priesthood and the universal decadence of Faith in the Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
“...This is what has brought down upon our heads persecution by the Rome of the anti-Christs. Since this Rome, Modernist and Liberal, is carrying on its work of destruction of the Kingdom of Our Lord, as Assisi and the confirmation of the liberal theses of Vatican II on Religious Liberty prove, I find myself constrained by Divine Providence to pass on the grace of the Catholic episcopacy which I received, in order that the Church and the Catholic priesthood continue to subsist for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
“That is why...I will bestow this grace upon you, confident that without too long a delay the See of Peter will be occupied by a successor of Peter who is perfectly Catholic, and into whose hands you will be able to put back the grace of your episcopacy so that he may confirm it.” (cf. Letter to the Future Bishops, by Abp. Marcel Lefebvre, August 29, 1987).
Take note, this was 34 years ago! Things are far worse and we seem to be miles away from a perfectly Catholic Pope!
Let us pray for our prelates of Tradition, they can easily reignite the fire of the Faith and prepare Our Lady’s victory if they just do what our Founder did!
O’ Queen of the Holy Rosary, help us!
In Christ the King,
Fr. David Hewko
