The Bishop's Weekly Column from the Parish Bulletin

OUR LADY OF FATIMA

CATHOLIC CHURCH

The Society of St Pius X...
...one year on...

August 27th, 2006

Fellay's in a Somber Mood This Time...

In a couple of days we will have reached the one year mark - one year since Bishop Bernard Fellay made his trip to Castel Gandolfo to visit Pope Benedict XVI. The euphoria surrounding the visit, the frantic torpedoing efforts of first Bishop Williamson, and then Bishop Tissier de Mallerias, Fellay's re-election in July and then the Chapter "fudge" - the "Rosary Crusade" (effectively indefinitely ham-stringing the Fellay efforts at a rapprochement with Rome)... have all given way to the bleak reality - there's no deal in sight. In a telephone interview Thursday, Fellay was in an uncharacteristically gloomy mood (and this is not at all a surprise !) A few brief excerpts:

"There's been no development" on the issue. (...) I think probably the pope would like things to go quicker, and he's probably facing a lot of opposition from the cardinals, from within. (...) Right now, there's not much happening in either direction," he said.

(Not to mention the opposition he's receiving from some within the SSPX ranks). Speaking about the general liberalization of the Tridentine Rite, Fellay said:

"This would bring lots of graces, so it would be a help. We certainly say it would be a step, but it is not the whole thing."

Beating up on the council as usual:

"We have pointed out to the authorities that a big part of the problem may come from the novelties introduced with the council," he said.

As to the time-frame for an eventual deal with Rome:

The bishop said he was certain there would be new contacts with the Vatican and more discussion in the future, but he predicted that reconciliation would take a long time, perhaps years.

If Rome has gone off the boil as far as traditionalists are concerned, a lot of this has to do with the SSPX intransigence and the "Million Rosary Crusade" for the conversion of Rome. I'm sure that's playing well with the Pope right now !

+TF