“To this movement of ‘Resistance’ not many souls have yet rallied, the majority preferring some way of lesser resistance. Among the brave few, the League of Christ the King, long-time lay auxiliary of the SSPX, and its quarterly magazine, Oportet Christum Regnare, have come forward in defense and support of that tiny though much needed ‘Resistance,’ refusing to let the winds of discouragement or betrayal blow out the torch of Catholic Truth and Catholic Combat.
“This League is to be commended for staying the course… I urge our friends to continue the mission of Archbishop Lefebvre and of his SSPX by first of all getting behind the SSPX ‘Resistance’ Fathers, and by supporting as well the League and its magazine, every issue of which is filled to capacity with information that is vital to keeping the Faith and keeping alive the fight for the Faith” (Bishop Richard Williamson, from the Foreword to the 2nd English edition of Fr. Olivier Rioult’s The Impossible Reconciliation – Documents of Operation Suicide of Bishop Fellay).
Founding president Hugh Akins explains why the League of Christ the King was reactivated in 2012 under the Bishops and Priests of the SSPX Resistance in order to remain true to its founding principles, and why the League has undertaken to publicly expose and resist the increasingly Conciliar SSPX of Bp. Fellay.
Sept. 18, 2012
Dear Fathers and Brothers in Christ:
A matter of the utmost pressing importance necessitates providing at least some background and a few details in a letter that turned out to be longer than you and I both no doubt would prefer. Let me thank you at the outset for your kind patience as I forge ahead.
To begin with, and in order to first establish the great urgency of the matter at hand, primarily for the benefit of our newer friends and contacts, let it be stated, for the record, that I am writing to you at a time when the world is engulfed in darkness and in flames; when the apostasy of men and nations has escalated to unimaginable new heights; when public sin and social godlessness have reached pandemic proportions; when Catholic Christendom is not only lost to posterity but is seemingly consigned to oblivion; when the Christian presence in the Holy Land is rapidly vanishing under the exceedingly brutal Zionist/Islamic onslaught; when a nuclear Third World War is about to unleash upon countless more innocents unprecedented death, loss and pain; when America is accelerating towards its planned collapse and consummate bloodbath; when Rome is more and more visibly becoming the Seat of Antichrist; when the madness of liberalism is now even poisoning the thinking and clouding the judgments of the leaders of the Society of St. Pius X – once the hope of the Church in her holy restoration but which is today deceptively moving step by step into the camp of the Conciliar enemy and in flagrant violation of its own sacred Oath Against Modernism; and when the last holdout of the mainstream traditional Catholic Press, Catholic Family News, has now joined with The Angelus magazine and The Remnant in promoting Jewish lies and propagandizing on behalf of the Synagogue of Satan by bolstering the deadliest of all antichristian idolatries, the Holocaust, which spearheads like no other false idol the ever intensifying demonic/ Talmudic War on Christ the King. [1]
In such insane and impious times as these it behooves us as Catholic men not to despair over the spiritual desolation that is rapidly closing in on us from all sides, nor merely to cling to the faith and to the sacraments and to the Mother of God in an un-militant/un-masculine do-nothing-but-pray defensive posture as if we had never been confirmed in the faith, but rather to band together in launching a mighty counter-offensive by rededicating ourselves as Christian soldiers called to Christian combat unto the demolishing of enemy strongholds and the retaking of the world for Jesus Christ the King.
On Catholic Action and the Divine Chastisement
This offensive action of which I speak is the combat of men strong in faith, courage and zeal, not for the weak, timid, lukewarm or cowardly that habitually turn a deaf ear to the Voice of the Vicars of Christ summoning good men to fight the battles of the Lord. Nor is it the combat of men who are given to that impotent false piety that surrenders to the defeatist notion that there is nothing for us to do but wait for God’s chastisement to obliterate the modern madness, as if the Mystical, Magisterial Church of Our Lord was no longer the Church Militant – that is, always at war and always fighting. If you happen to be of that way of thinking (do nothing but pray/do nothing but wait), don’t bother reading any further. This letter is not for you. You can go back to sleep now. We apologize for having disturbed your slumber.
For the rest of you that are still with us, even if we knew with absolute certainty that Heaven’s final chastisement was to commence tomorrow, we are still duty bound to continue the work of Catholic Action today in order to defend the Faith, proclaim Christ’s Kingship and save as many souls as possible that would no doubt otherwise have been lost forever. Such is the enormous importance of Catholic Action and the tremendous responsibility on our shoulders, the clergy and men of Catholic Action. Such is why the Church has made Catholic Action binding on every bishop, priest and man in the pew who calls himself Roman Catholic. Such is why we cannot go along with so many fellow traditionalists, priests and people, that conveniently avoid today’s struggle by using the inadmissible excuse that only Heaven’s direct intervention can deliver us from the present delirium. Such wrongful thinking is completely unCatholic!
How could it be otherwise? Consider, for example, the repeated call to arms of the pre-Vatican II popes; consider our ordinary day-to-day duties of state; our common duties to altar, home and flag; the works of mercy and the heart-wrenching cries of Holy Mother Church – ruthlessly attacked from without and within – to her valiant sons to come to her aid – all of which necessitate continuous self-sacrifice, good works and long labor as well as prayer, devotion, penance, reparation… faith, hope and charity converted into action – virtuous and disciplined action; courageous and concerted action; militant Catholic Action! “The call of the moment is not for lamentation but action…” (Pius XII, Christmas message, 1942). “It is the hour for action, for the most urgent action” (Pius XII, Allocution Diun Santo Fremito, 18 Feb. 1958). “Every Christian must contribute to the great work of…clearing away the darkness of evil…The task of Catholic Action is more urgent and more important than ever” (Pius XII, Allocution to the Children of Mary of the Sacred Heart, 11 April, 1957).
Of course we know that only Our Lord and Our Lady can save us from the insanity of these irreligious days, and that many will only be saved amidst the coming Chastisement. But it is another certainty of our holy and divine faith that Jesus and Mary will grant the victory only to those who actually fight the battles, not to men who, lacking manly virtue, refuse to fight. I know that many of you are old soldiers that have grown weary of the war. I too am a weary old soldier, and yet we must fight on, putting aside all self-interest and giving God our all. For the more one distinguishes himself on the Christian battlefield, the more perfect the gift he presents at the Offertory of every Traditional Mass, and the greater his glory in the life hereafter. “Christians are born for combat” (Leo XIII, Sapientiae Chrisianae). “The life of man upon earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1). “…[I]t is not permitted the soldier of Christ that he quit the battlefield…” (Pius XII, Sertum Laetitae). Therefore fight on “as a good soldier of Christ” (2 Tim. 2:3). For “The world will either be saved by Catholic Action, well directed and intensely applied, or it will be lost to an atheistic, tyrannical and false [Judaic-Zionist] bolshevism” (Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris).
There are enough traditional Catholics that are on the wrong side in this eternal war between Good and Evil. There are enough of them squirming in fear and whining about the disastrous state of affairs in the Church and in our countries without lifting a finger to help turn things around. There are enough of them wasting a lot of time, energy and resources chasing after illusory phantoms of diversion, that is, traversing the path of least resistance by concentrating on lesser enemies while ignoring the far deadlier enemies against which the Church Militant has long mandated a well coordinated Counterrevolution. Yes, certainly, we must combat Liberalism and Modernism, Naturalism and Materialism, Protestantism and Pantheism, Marxism and Mohammedanism, socialism and Freemasonry; but behind all these other “isms” and above them all, and deadlier than them all, is Talmudic Judaism, the Synagogue of Satan – the Serpent Cult of anti-Christian fanaticism and hatred.
The Jewish Peril
Why do some of us insist on stressing the Jewish Peril? Because in the grand scheme of the works of Satan and the Mystery of Iniquity, Talmudic Jews are nothing less than the world’s foremost facilitators of the Reign of Antichrist. Because the modern errors and the errors of Russia stemming from the Rights of Man and Reign of Terror and leading to the modern apostasy and its systematic undoing of Christendom, were primarily their work of destruction, as the Popes and Saints and staunchest counterrevolutionaries long forewarned. Because the emergence from the fiery abyss of the anti-Magisterial/anti-Tradition Conciliar Church is, more than any other instrument of hell, their crowning victory. Because our individual imitation of Christ is grossly inadequate without every one of us, each man in his own small way, mounting an energetic opposition to the Antichristian Conspiracy of the Masterplanners of Zion. Because they remain the single biggest obstacle to restoring all things in Christ. And lastly because Holy Mother Church has greatly concerned herself with this peril, pope after pope, century after century, and calls her bishops, clergy and faithful to do likewise by launching a vast and powerful counterattack using the weapons of Christ.
The great Fr. Denis Fahey cites two reasons for giving the modern-day Jewish Scourge our utmost attention: first, because the threat is immediate, enormous and unparalleled; and second, because most Catholics today – from popes to bishops to pastors to lay intellectuals to common laymen to our own traditional Catholic shepherds – are all but oblivious to the threat. They see plenty of symptoms, but remain in the dark about their common cause and remedy. Or they see lesser evils but not the greater ones. St. Ignatius Loyola tells us that, in all things we should conform our mind to the mind of the Church, but very few actually do this to any appreciable degree. How many fellow traditionalists, for example, cannot see beyond Modernists and Muslims as the greatest dangers to the Faith – but remain utterly blind to the one threat the Church has warned about for 2,000 years, and in the very Gospels themselves? They do not see what Abp. Lefebvre clearly saw. Himself being one mind with the Church and her Popes, His Grace did not refrain from stating that “Jews, Communists and Freemasons” were the greatest enemies of the Catholic Church. [2] Nor did he hold back in mustering Catholic men, especially heads of families, to mount a powerful crusade – a vast Catholic Action movement – to “recreate” Catholic Christendom. [3]
Therefore, by denying the greatest peril and refusing to expose and fight against antichristian Jewry in particular, the combat the Church has urged us to fight from the beginning and more so as the peril became greater down through the centuries, we are not only reneging on our baptismal duty to renounce the works of Satan, but we are also doing a colossal disservice to the cause of Christ by handing the enemy a major victory. This is not acceptable. So that what is today most needed are righteous and learned men who will both study the question and allow the Spirit and Grace of God to transform them into eleventh hour, front line and fearless defenders and rebuilders of the City of God – defenders of the Mystical Body of Christ against the demonic scourge of the unrighteous Elders of Zion, whose forefathers committed the one hate crime of all hate crimes – the crucifixion of the Son of God. They continue in the 21st century and in the same spirit of Christ-hatred the crucifixion of the Bride of Christ and death of her Sacred Traditions and Christian Civilization. Just look at how their bastard and terrorist state of Israel is right now, not only rampaging through the Holy Land slaughtering innocent Christians and forcing them to abandon the sacred places and flee for their lives, but stirring up Muslim hatred so that they too have once again become, as centuries ago, butchers of Christian peoples. True Jerusalem and true Rome are under attack as never before. While the ill-informed point an accusing finger at the Mosque alone, the Synagogue continues getting away with global mass murder – and worse, the murder of innumerable souls – on a never before seen scale.
The League of Christ the King – A Brief Background
Certainly the hour is late. No one is denying that these are in all probability the End Times, generally speaking. But to be Catholic is to be militant right up to our dying breath – End Times or not. This means that we must act like Catholics living not in times of peace but in times of war. It’s Total War against Christ and His Church, against our families and homes, our schools and youth, our culture and country; against the freedoms God meant for us to have in order to work out our salvation, and against our very souls and civilization. And we must fight this war with all our minds and hearts and souls, whether we are in the Last Days or not. What kind of men would we be if we were to fail to take up our spiritual arms and assemble on the front lines against such a massive onslaught of Organized Evil as we presently face?
But prayer and action, necessary as they are, are not even enough in themselves. In contemplating the combats of Christ, organization is another key factor. As Fr. Fahey also pointed out, the forces of Antichrist are always well organized, the forces of Christ generally are not. And as we wrote in our 2012 book, Synagogue Rising: if evil is the absence of good, Organized Evil is the absence of Organized Good. No doubt this is one of the reasons the enemy is always advancing while Catholics are ever in retreat. They are furthering their diabolic aims with an army at their disposal, and we have no such thing on our side, even as the Papal mandate is for Catholic Action “... to oppose as a solid army the many-sided wickedness of the enemy” (St. Pius X, Quae Nobis). With this in mind, then, and after considerable thought, consultation and prayer, it has been decided to undertake the re-organization of the good by reactivating the League of Christ the King (LKC). A Catholic Action army to meet the antichristian armies in face-to-face spiritual warfare that just as often finds us fighting on temporal battlefields. Why temporal battlefields if the work of Catholic Action is primarily spiritual? Because Christ’s Kingship requires that we labor to deliver to His Sacred Heart not merely people and the Church but societies, nations, civilization itself; in other words, not merely individual souls, but the whole world. “Every Christian must contribute to the great work of the salvation of the world…We want Jesus to reign over the whole world…” (Pius XII, Allocution to the Children of Mary of the Sacred Heart, 11 April, 1957).
We will begin this challenging undertaking of reactivating the League by republishing our official quarterly magazine, Oportet Christum Regnare (Christ Must Reign), which was quite popular in the past and which inspired the militant spirit and energized the Magisterial program of resistance and reconstruction in a large number of good men all across the country and in several foreign nations. More than a few priests told us that the LKC and its magazine were an inspiration to them, as well as a great help in their pastoral work. Perhaps even more remarkable, given that the LKC is a men’s only organization as the social and counterrevolutionary combat of Catholic Action itself is intrinsic to the masculine state in life (traditionally women held supportive roles in Catholic Action but it is always the men, not the women, that must fight on the front lines and in the trenches), we’ve nonetheless received several dozen letters from the ladies sincerely thanking us for the tremendous positive influence the League was having on the men in their lives – husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, grandfathers, etc. A lot of good men want to do more for the Church but are at a loss for what they can do. Retirees especially have lots of free time on their hands and keep themselves busy with a lot of relatively unimportant activities. Catholic Action provides them with the best way to put their manhood to the best possible use in the Lay Apostolate. In this way, for many of them – young and old alike – the LKC was a Godsend to them personally – as well as to their families, their traditional pastors and the Universal Church alike.
We are still in contact with many courageous old soldiers and a growing number of new recruits of sound mind and heart who have likewise demonstrated a zeal for the things of God that propel them to go above and beyond the call of duty. Though the vast majority of fellow traditionalists seem to have succumbed either to a crippling complacency, or to an unfortunate extremism, or to an otherwise misdirected zeal which has them hopelessly “spinning their wheels” and getting nowhere fast, there are enough good men that still have some fight left in them and that haven’t been led astray and greatly neutralized. We think you are one of those men. Therefore, we are reaching out to you, hoping that you join with other good men of like mind in rallying to the League of Christ the King for the purpose of forging a unified front and in this way of engaging in the most effective Catholic Action possible, following our guidelines as we ours-elves strictly follow the directives of the pre-Vatican II Popes. Catholic Action as we practice it is no novelty, but very much a part of Catholic Tradition.
For those of you that might not know, the League was originally commissioned in 1997 as the Society of St. Pius X’s official Catholic Action Lay Apostolate in the United States. But the SSPX of today is no longer the same SSPX of those days. In recent years, most conspicuously since 2012, a small group of liberals managed to pirate the SSPX ship and re-chart a course that is now leading it to eventual shipwreck. Because of this unfortunate change of direction, we must now identify the SSPX as the neo-SSPX. Neo because it is no longer the same priestly Society that Abp. Lefebvre bequeathed to us; Neo because its leaders are no longer true to the beliefs, vision and mission of Abp. Lefebvre. No subtle change in attitude, agenda and direction has been imposed but a radical one, well documented by Superior General Bp. Fellay’s very own contradictory and scandalous words, actions and deceptions. [4]
The LKC and the SSPX Resistance
So it came about that the few priests of the SSPX that remained faithful to the ideals of the old-SSPX and its saintly founder found themselves persecuted by the neo-SSPX for the unpardonable “crime” of maintaining the same position regarding unconverted Rome that Abp. Lefebvre and the original SSPX long maintained. In time, these priests either voluntarily left the neo-SSPX, were unjustly expelled from it, or remained in it only to be silenced, alienated and in many ways neutralized. Some of the ones that left formed various Resistance groups, no doubt an act of Divine Providence to salvage what could be salvaged of the original SSPX and its multiplicity of holy and fruitful works, and to continue the same as much as possible, as before. Father Francois Chazal was one of those loyalist priests, a one-man dynamo of missionary fervor. It was he that encouraged me to reactivate the LKC under the auspices of the SSPX Resistance, to continue the work begun under former District Superior Fr. Peter Scott and in line with the original SSPX, its founder, and the mandate and directives of the Magisterium summoning all good men to organize in defense of the City of God and under the banner of Catholic Action.
As I said, after much reflection and prayer I am pleased to accept the invitation And so we are likewise pleased to announce that the League of Christ the King is back in operation once again. Even as we never actually disbanded, circumstances forced us to place the League on a back burner for some years – until now.
Now we are up and running again, hoping to recapture some of the momentum of our initial launching 17 years ago.
“All well and good,” you might be saying to yourself, “but what has all this to do with me, personally”?
You are one of 1,000 laymen and a handful of priests attached to Catholic Tradition that have been carefully selected to receive this letter and are being invited to consider joining the LKC and assisting the SSPX Resistance in a more concerted and therefore more effective manner. In fact, one of the immediate objectives of the LKC and its magazine, Oportet Christum Regnare, will be to promote the work of the SSPX Resistance, which is none other than the CATHOLIC Resistance to the modern errors and evils. We wholeheartedly support Bp. Richard Williamson, who has played the single most important role in continuing the work of Archbishop Lefebvre and the Catholic Resistance.
Now this does not mean that we have entirely given up on the neo-SSPX just yet. There is still good in the Society, good priests doing good work despite its present poor leadership and the doctrinal corruption that is slowly spreading downward to its clergy and people. In other words, if the SSPX changes its leaders, or if the present leaders undergo a complete change of heart, we can foresee the SSPX Resistance and LKC returning to the SSPX as one, same as before (nothing is impossible with God!). It seems to me a duty of charity incumbent upon all of us to at least pray for this intention. But let us entertain no illusions: just as Rome would have to convert before traditionalists could confidently reunite with it, so now too the present neo-SSPX similarly would have to convert – and for the exact same reason, which, let us not fall for the deception, is DOCTRINAL, and nothing less.
The deceivers argue that the Resistance is the creature of disobedience and the catalyst of division and disunity, whereas the facts tell a quite different story: the facts clearly maintain that principle and doctrine are at the heart of the SSPX split, because, quite simply and quite certainly, prudence, obedience and unity must always be at their service (at the service of principle and doctrine), and not the other way around. Again, nothing less than doctrine is at stake! This is what the SSPC Resistance is all about – resisting the liberalism which undermines doctrine and/or fails to give it due primacy of place.
As for the League’s long-range objective, we will be taking up the cause of Christ the King as before, and once again we will be declaring open warfare against every error and evil that militates against our Divine King, beginning with the most powerful and destructive ones first. In this we anticipate our magazine becoming more important as time goes by. The neo-SSPX, The Angelus, The Remnant and now Catholic Family News can no longer be considered integrally trustworthy voices of Catholic Truth or of the Catholic Combat and Counter-revolution. “Mainstream” Traditionalism no longer represents the Church Militant in its integrity and counter-revolutionary character and thrust. It is therefore time for others to step up to the plate. Please God, The LKC and OCR will help in some small way to fill at least part of the void, not because we are the best suited or most worthy to assume the role, but because God chooses “the weak things of this world” to “put to shame the strong” (1 Cor. 1: 27), and because, by His grace alone, we refuse to compromise, proudly serving as cooperators of the priests who have also refused to compromise … the Catholic Action auxiliary of the SSPX Resistance.
As for your part: speaking as founding president of the LKC and editor of OCR I am extending an invitation and making this appeal to you:
Join us, if you are so motivated. Start by subscribing to our quarterly magazine.
Most of you receiving this letter are all devoted friends and supporters of the League of Christ the King or Catholic Action Resource Center, inclined to Catholic Action, favorable to Bp. Williamson, distrustful of Bp. Fellay and the neo-SSPX and at least somewhat sympathetic to the SSPX Resistance even if not yet, in every case, openly supportive of it. You laity are being encouraged to enlist in the Apostolate in a rank and file foot-soldier capacity, and you consecrated fathers as chaplains of Catholic Action. Why again Catholic Action? Because the times demand it, God wills it, and the Church mandates it!
What will be expected of you as prospective lay members and consecrated chaplains of the LKC?
We state the obvious for the benefit of those new to the struggle (while appealing to the veteran soldier of Christ to be patient a little longer as we briefly go through a few of the basic conditions of membership): (a) wholehearted attachment to the Traditional Latin Mass, this Mass alone which gives all due recognition to the Royal Kingship of Jesus Christ. And this necessitates the corresponding rejection and denunciation of the New Mass as a formidable instrument of Our Lord’s universal dethronement; (b) daily prayers and sacrifices for the intention of procuring the return of nations and every lesser society (families, schools, parliaments, associations of every kind, etc.) to Christ the King; specifically reciting every day at least one decade of the Rosary for this intention along with the Prayer to Christ the King; (c) a strong resolution to study, adopt, profess and defend the truths which serve as the basis for the work of Catholic Action and the League, and which are necessary for the reform of the thinking of modern (liberal) man. These truths are: that error has no rights; that, as a consequence, the rights of man, as mandates for modern-day constitutions and legislation, and which presume to empower the nations of the world with their political standing and agendas, must be exposed, repudiated and ultimately suppressed (by conversion not coercion), making way for the Rights of God, Jesus Christ and His Church; and that every society depends on God by an absolute and sovereign dependence and that therefore these must submit themselves completely to Him; (d) an equally strong resolution to know our enemy, the enemy of God and man, and to combat Organized Evil wielding the weapons of Christ and through the campaigns of Catholic Action. This requires combating the modern heresies propagated by Our Lord’s enemies; (e) active rather than passive membership is expected. At the very least, the two “action” projects that are required of League membership will be (a) to wholeheartedly support the work and cause of the priests of the SSPX Resistance; and (b) to introduce the League of Christ the King and its magazine to other good men within your own circles of influence, as opportunities present themselves in the daily exercise of your duties of state and defense of the Faith (this could be done by chaplains promoting Catholic Action and the LKC among the men of their flock, and by the men with a simple act of sharing the League’s quarterly or literature with other intelligent Catholic men that you deem to be of strong faith and excellent character – simple acts that oftentimes yield plentiful fruit).
Other than that, whatever time, effort and financial help you give us – if any at all – will be determined entirely by you and God. In other words, your degree of commitment and extent of active involvement will be entirely your decision and dictated solely by your conscience. We will also not require membership dues as was previously the case, hoping to generate sufficient funds for our program of prayer, study and action by magazine and book sales and voluntary donations (please give if you can, especially to help us print our magazine, which is quite costly to produce and distribute).
No doubt most of you are already extremely busy men, long active in the fight for the Faith. As we said, we will impose no additional demands on you nor assign any specific duties to you. However, for those of you that ask – and there are hundreds of you that have been asking – we will gladly provide a list of suggested activities and action projects to help you exert the greatest possible influence on the men that cross your paths and thereby deliver the greatest possible impact on souls, on the Catholic Counterrevolution and on the over-all Restoration. And for the new men drawn to this holy and virile cause, we will provide as well a list of encyclicals and books to read and study as part of the soldier of Christ’s intellectual formation and combat readiness. For the more apostolic-minded among you, these recommended titles should be thought of as missionary tools – our “arms in times of war” – through which you can more effectively win souls to Jesus and Mary, better organize and embolden the men, and greatly empower the true Resistance – all this by means of organized, disciplined, Magisterial and Counter-revolutionary Catholic Action.
So give it some thought and let us know your decision – to join us or not. In the meantime, I have compiled a few pages of excerpts from various Papal encyclicals and allocutions stressing the importance of Catholic Action. By giving them a reading and sharing them with other men, you will have already begun assisting the work of the League of Christ the King and the greater cause it represents. Feel free to make and distribute as many copies as you would like along with this letter, inviting other good men to join with us.
Thank you for your time and for your past and present dedication to the cause and the support of our work. I look forward to hearing from you and to working with you for the greater glory of God and exaltation of Holy Mother Church.
In Jesus Christ our King and Blessed Virgin Mary our Queen,
Hugh Akins, League President
To subscribe to our quarterly magazine, Oportet Christum Regnare (Christ Must Reign!) go to this page on our website.
“THE TIMES WE LIVE IN DEMAND ACTION”
Magisterium Summons Church to Action
- “The first point to remember, it seems to Us, is that of the necessity of action, of action clearly conceived and firmly willed;” [5]
- “So vehement an attack demands an equal or greater defense – namely, that all good men should form the widest possible association of action and of prayer. We beseech them, therefore, with united hearts, to stand together and unmoved against the advancing force of the sects;” [6]
- “Christ, before going to Heaven, entrusted to His apostles and through them to the whole Church, the office of evangelizing the world in His Name. Each Christian must, therefore, be persuaded that a part of that office rests upon his shoulders and that no one can discharge it in his place;” [7]
- “The Apostolic See not only permits your action; it exhorts you to the apostolate, to spend yourselves for the realization of the great missionary duty of Christians, to bring back all the wandering sheep into one fold under one Shepherd;” [8]
- “Amongst the duties which we owe to God and His Church, an important place must be given to the zeal with which each one must work, in the measure possible, to propagate Christian Faith and reject errors;” [9]
- “Everyone according to his position ought to gird himself for the task, and indeed as speedily as possible, lest, by delaying the remedy, the evil, which is already of vast dimensions, become incurable;” [10]
- “The call of the moment is not for lamentation but action; not lamentation over what has been, but reconstruction of what is to arise and must arise for the good of society. It is for the members of the Christian family, filled with the enthusiasm of Crusaders, to unite in the spirit of truth, justice and love, to the call: GOD WILLS IT, ready to serve, to sacrifice themselves, like Crusaders of old;” [11]
- “The Christian who does honor to his name is always an apostle; it is not fitting for the soldier of Christ to abandon the combat, for death alone puts an end to his service;” [12]
- “Besides, as it is a question of a sect which has invaded all domains, it is not enough to remain on the defensive. Catholics must descend courageously into the arena and combat it face to face. This you shall do, dear sons, by opposing publications to publications, schools to schools, associations to associations, congresses to congresses, action to action…” [13]
- “The just man is a Christian who will not be satisfied with standing idly amid the ruins; he will feel it his duty to resist and prevent the catastrophe, or at least to lessen its impact. He will be there to rebuild.” [14]
- “The times we live in demand action…Therefore, there is no need for Us to remind you that, when the enemy approaches and is at our doors, it is time for the call to arms. But for you, it is not only a question of sounding the alert; the enemy is in the very interior of the Empire…All the faithful, then, must be gathered together, and especially the most valiant among them. We exhort you to do this with all your strength.” [15]
WHY CATHOLIC ACTION?
- Because Catholic Action “constitutes the best protection against the stratagems of evil [and] the most efficacious training ground in Christian strength;” [16]
- Catholic Action constitutes lay “collaboration in the evangelizing mission of the Church and in her work in civilizing the world; in the defense of her liberties and her rights…[and] to restore and promote in Christ true Christian civilization;” [17]
- “…[T]he participation of the laity in the apostolate of the Hierarchy…[18] [aiding the priest in] carrying the torch of truth, and in relieving grave spiritual and material suffering…[Catholic Action must] organize propaganda on a large scale to disseminate knowledge of the fundamental principles on which, according to the Pontifical documents, a Christian social order must build…” [19]
- Catholic Action is a “highly Christian enterprise, which exalts the zealous children of the Church Militant to the merit and dignity of the noblest and holiest crusade, being fought for the extension, defense and consolidation of the Kingdom of Christ in the human race;” [20]
- Its aim is “to establish the human race under the rule of Our Lord, Jesus Christ…” [21] [T]he restoration of all things in Christ;” [22]
- And “to convert the world and to unite all nations in the Kingdom of God;” [23]
- “…[B]ringing back to Jesus Christ the multitudes who for so long have unhappily been led astray from Him…diffusing and establishing in individual, family and social life the Catholic principles of authority, obedience, order, justice, equity and charity…;” [24]
- “…[T]he diffusion of Christ’s Kingdom among individuals, in the family, and throughout society;” [25]
- “…[E]xpanding the Kingdom of Christ…to obtain thus for society the maximum good, and then, all the other benefits that flow therefrom, that is, those that belong to the good ordering of a nation, and are called ‘political;’” [26]
- “…[R]estoring the reign of Christ in the world…revitalizing and reinforcing the foundations of civil society;” [27]
- Repairing “the losses in the Kingdom of God already won to Him;” [28]
- Catholic Action “embraces all the works of mercy…”[29] “[It] concentrates itself upon social and religious work, and looks to raise the people by rendering them obedient to the Church and her Head, by shielding them from the perils of socialism and anarchy, by inculcating respect for the principle of authority, and by lightening their load of poverty by the manifold works of Christian charity;” [30]
- “Immense is the field of Catholic Action; it excludes absolutely nothing which in any way whatsoever, directly or indirectly, pertains to the divine mission of the Church;” [31]
- “…[T]o lay the foundations of good politics; to prepare politically the consciences of citizens, to form them in a Catholic and Christian manner…” [32]
- “…[T]o sustain and develop it [Catholic Action] with the help of a daily newspaper: always on the condition that this newspaper prove itself to be really and in the fullest sense Catholic [i.e. Catholic in the integral, militant, Magisterial and counterrevolutionary sense]…” [33]
- “…[C]learing away the darkness of evil…” [34] “[T]he urgent matter of the unified defense [of our country]…[P]rotecting the very foundation of the faith and of Christian civilization…[T]he energetic and timely application of remedies which will effectively ward off the catastrophe that daily grows more threatening;” [35]
- Catholic Action “must unite their efforts to repel [the enemies of religion]…” [36]
- Important tasks for the men of Catholic Action must include “Religious culture. A deep, firm knowledge of the Catholic faith…Sanctification of feast days of obligation…Salvation of the Christian family…A more equitable distribution of wealth…[A] consciousness of responsibility for the common good…” [37]
- “…[T]o unite all their forces in order to combat anti-Christian civilization by every just and lawful means, and to repair in every way the grievous disorders which flow from it…” [38]
- “…[T]o reinstate Jesus Christ in the family, the school, and society; to re-establish the principle that human authority represents that of God; to take intimately to heart the interests of the people, especially those of the working and agricultural classes…to improve their economic condition; to endeavor, consequently, to make public laws conformable to justice, to amend or suppress those laws which are not so; finally, with a true Catholic spirit, to defend and support the rights of God in everything, and the no less sacred rights of the Church;” [39]
- “[T]o reestablish order in a society which has been overturned…[by restoring] religious principles to their place of honor;” [40]
- “…[T]o oppose as a solid army the many-sided wickedness of the enemy;” [41]
- “…[O]pposing effectively the progress of socialism which, breathing hatred against Christianity, and robbing the people of their hopes of heaven, is advanced menacingly to destroy utterly the already shaken structure of society;” [42]
- “Today dikes are broken and evil rushes onward like a torrent which destroys cities and countryside and submerges beneath its unclean and disease-laden waters whole populations…To react openly and firmly against such great evils is a primordial duty of…Catholic Action;” [43]
- “Every Christian must contribute to the great work of the salvation of the world, clearing away the darkness of evil…The task of Catholic Action is more urgent and more important than ever, for the enemy of humanity is always gathering more recruits in greater numbers;” [44]
- “We cherish the firm hope that the fanaticism with which the sons of darkness work day and night at their materialistic and atheistic propaganda will at least serve the holy purpose of stimulating the sons of light to a like and even greater zeal for the honor of the Divine Majesty;” [45]
- “To work then and to labor, beloved sons! Close your ranks. Do not let your courage fail; do not remain inert in the midst of the ruins. Come out from them to build a new world for Christ;” [46]
[1] I refer to the CFN article, “Irena, World War II Samaritan,” by Michael D. Hall in the May, 2014 issue, which article poisons its readers and maligns the name Catholic with Nazi death camp and Holocaust propaganda under the guise of praising a genuine Catholic heroine who risked her life to come to the aid of persecuted Jews during WWII. But persecuted Jews are not the same thing as Jews deliberately marked for extermination in homicidal Nazi gas chambers, WHICH DID NOT EXIST … See Synagogue Rising for the documented evidence of the alleged gas chambers’ total non-existence.
[2] John Allen, NCR staff, “Lefebvre Movement: Long, Troubled History with Judaism,” National Catholic Reporter, Jan. 26, 2009, NCRonline.org. Consider this quote as well: “Since Israel refused the true Messiah, it would give itself another messianism that is temporal and earthbound, dominating the world by money, Freemasonry, Revolution and social democracy…The worldwide designs of the Jews are being brought about in our time…” From Marcel Lefebvre: The Biography, Bp. Bernard Tissier de Mallerais.
[3] 1979 conference calling for Catholic men to begin a crusade to recreate Christendom.
[4] If you have not already read them, The Impossible Reconciliation: Documents of Operation Suicide of Bp. Fellay by Fr. Olivier Rioult, and Resistance to the Liberalism of the Neo-SSPX – the excellent public rebuttal to Fr. Themann’s Conference, “Opposition to What?” are absolutely must reading. Issue no. 4 of the League’s quarterly, Oportet Christum Regnare, also features as its main article, “Why the SSPX Marian Corps; Why not the neo-SSPX?”
[5] Pius XII, Allocution Poussees par le desir, to the World Union of Women’s Catholic Action, Sept. 29, 1957, The Lay Apostolate.
[6] Leo XIII, Humanum Genus, on Freemasonry, 1884, New York Catechetical Society.
[7] Pius XII, Allocution Poussees par le desir, to the World Union of Women’s Catholic Action, Sept. 29, 1957, The Lay Apostolate.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Leo XIII, Sapientae Christianae, on duties of Christian citizens,1890, St. Paul Editions.
[10] Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, on conditions of working class, socialism, predator finance, 1891, Regina House, Dublin.
[11] Pius XII, Christmas message, 1942, The Pope Speaks: The Teachings of Pius XII, 1957.
[12] Pius XII, Sertum laetitae, to the Episcopate of USA, 1939, Political Pronouncements of the Popes.
[13] Leo XIII, Letter to Italian People, Dec. 8, 1892, PapalEncyclicals.net.
[14] Pius XII, To the members of the Roman nobility, Jan. 1, 1947, The Lay Apostolate.
[15] St. Pius X, Il Fermo Proposito, 1905, Confraternity of Traditional Catholicism (CTC).
[16] Pius XI, Firmissiman Constantian, 1937, The Lay Apostolate. .
[17] St. Pius X, Il Fermo Proposito.
[18] Pius XI, Letter to Card. Bertram, Nov. 13, 1928, quoted in The Lay Apostolate.
[19] Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, PapalEncyclicals.net.
[20] Pius XII, Summi Pontificatus, 1939, Pius XII: Selected Encyclicals and Addresses, 1959.
[21] St. Pius X, E supreme apostolatus cathedra, 1903, Confraternity of Traditional Catholicism.
[22] St. Pius X, Il Fermo Proposito.
[23] Pius XII, allocution to members of Italian Catholic Action, Sept. 4, 1940, Directives to Lay Apostles.
[24] Pius XII, Summi Pontificatus, 1939, op. cit., Political Pronouncements of the Popes.
[25] Pius XI, Letter to Card. Segura, Primate of Spain, Nov. 6, 1929, quoted by Mgsr. Civardi, A Concise Manual of Catholic Action.
[26] Pius XI, Quae Nobis, letter to Card. Bertram, quoted by Ibid.
[27] Pius XII, Se a temperare, the pope’s “Magna Charta” of Catholic Action, Sept. 4, 1940, quoted by Hamish Fraser, “Catholic Action, Catholic Manhood,” Dossier on the Antichristian Revolution.
[28] St. Pius X, Il Fermo Proposito.
[29] St. Pius X, Editae Saepe, re: canonization of St. Charles Borromeo, May 26, 1910, PapalEncyclicals.net.
[30] Leo XIII, Spesse Volte, 1898, PapalEncyclicals.net.
[31] St. Pius X, Il Fermo Proposito.
[32] Pius XI, Allocution to the Italian Federation of Catholic Men, Oct. 30, 1926, quoted by Fr. Stephen Delallo, Catholic Action for Christ our King, 2005.
[33] St. Pius X, Qua Tu Prudentia, letter to the Archbishop of Quebec, May 27, 1907, quoted by Fr. DeLallo, Ibid.
[34] Pius XII, Allocution to the Children of Mary of the Sacred Heart, April 11, 1957, The Lay Apostolate.
[35] Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris.
[36] Pius XII, Letter Obsequentes litterae, to Franciscan tertiaries and members of Catholic Action, Aug. 15, 1952, Directives To Lay Apostles.
[37] Pius XII, address to the Union of men of Catholic Action , Sept. 7, 1947, quoted by Michael Chinigo, The Pope Speaks, op. cit.
[38] St. Pius X, Il Fermo Proposito.
[39] Ibid.
[40] St. Pius X, Per la prima, letter to the leaders of the Economic and Social Union of Italian Catholics, Jan. 20, 1907, The Lay Apostolate.
[41] St. Pius X, Quae Nobis, letter to the archbishop of Seville, July 1, 1905, quoted in “Saint of the 20th Century,” Dossier on the Antichristian Revolution.
[42] St. Pius X, Per la prima, op. cit.
[43] Pius XII, Allocution Quale anniversario, to young men of Rome, members of Catholic Action, June 10, 1945, Directives To Lay Apostles
[44] Pius XII, Allocution to the Children of Mary of the Sacred Heart, April 11, 1957, The Lay Apostolate
[45] Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, March 13, 1937, St. Paul Editions.
[46] Pius XII, Radio message, Ancora una quinta volta, to the world on the responsibilities of Christians, Dec. 24, 1943, Directives to Lay Apostles.