Campos is fallen



February 1, 2002



Dear Friends and Benefactors,



So, Campos is fallen. The two dozens priests with their own bishop
who for 20 years from distant Brazil were the re-assuring
comrades in arms of the Society of St. Pius X in its lone stand for
Catholic Tradition have gone back in with Conciliar Rome. What
happenned? What will happen? What does it mean?

What happened can be briefly told: in Shakespeare’s phrase, the
Campos priest had greatness thrust upon them. They laid the
burden to one side.

The story of how the diocese of Campos came ingto the limelight of
Catholic Tradition after the Second Vatican Council is known to
many readers from the book “The Mouth of the Lion” by Dr. David
White. Before the Council, the Brazilian country diocese of the
seaside city of Campos, lying three hours by car to the north of
Rio de Janeiro, was gifted with a truly Catholic bishop, Antonio de
Catro Mayer. As is clear from his marvelous “Catechism of
Opportrune Truths Opposed to Contemporary Errors”, written for
his diocese in the 1950’s, Bishop de Castro Mayer thoroughly
understood the danger of the heresy of modernism. All the
ernicious errors then and sinces devasting the Catholic Church are
laid in all their deadly charm. Opposite, the bishop presents the the
Catholic truth, less charming but free of poison. Beneath, he
explains where the poison lay hidden and why the Church’s
teaching on the matter is the truth.

This bishop, wether or not he was conscious of the impeding
esaster of Vatican II, in any case by his insistence on true
doctrine, as Dr. White expresses it, earthquake-proofed his
diocese in advance of the earthquake. When the Council
happened (1962 to 1965), his priests and people were prepared,
so that the bulk of them kept the true Faith, and when the New
Mass was introduced (1969), while a few of his priests took it up
and left for another diocese, most of his priests made use of his
ermission to continue saying the old Mass.

Not that the bishop was defiant of Pope Paul VI, or heedless of the
Pope’s pressure to introduce the New mass. But he had written to
he Pope a most respectfull letter, asking for doctrinal problems that
he had with the new rite of Mass to be cleared up, and when he
received absolutely no answer from the Pope, he acted upon what
he knew to be good doctrine, and gave his priests the permission
to stay with the rite that was safe and sure.

So his diocese, priests and laity, in large part followed him until his
andatory retirement at age 75 in 1981. The official Church
appointed to succeed him a bishop who would by force and
violence wrench the diocese away from the old religion and
establish it as a “normal” part of the Newchurch. But the priests
formed by Bishop de Castro Mayer resisted, almost to a man, and
the laity followed their good priests, with the result that when these
priests were – of course- thrown out of their parishes, the best of
Campos’ laity rallied behind them and built –this is not a wealthy
diocese!- ten brand-new churches in which to continue the
rand-old religion. I can hardly believe my ears when I ear that none
of the Campos laity (or priests) are protesting the putting back
under Rome of these churches expressly and expensively built to
resist that very Rome, but this is what we are told that has
happened! Have the priests been up front with their laity?

But back to the story. When Bishop de Catro mayuer had to resign
and the Newchurdch put in a wrecker to replace him, for ten years
he resistance movment flourished in the form of the St. John Mary
Vianney Union of Priests. But in 1991, one month to the day after
Archbishop died, Bishop de Castro Mayer died. At the Union’s
request, three SSPX bishops consecrated a successor, Bishop
Liciano Rangel, so that the Campos Catholics would continue to
receive Confirmations and Ordinations. However, as we know now,
replacing Bishop de Castro Mayer as Confirler and Ordainer was
the easy part. The hard part was to replace the anti-liberal leader.
And we are back into the mystery of neo-modernism, this
incredible mind-rot capable of rottong apparently the most Catholic
of minds.

For there can be no doubt of the Catholic Orthodoxy of the
ampos priests and laity that Bishop de Castro Mayer left behind
him. Nor, at least until the summer of 2000, was there any trace
(as far as I know) of deviation from the line of defence of Catholic
Tradition laid down by the two great bishops (Lefebvre and de
Castro Mayer) in the 1970’s and 1980’s. But from the time of
Tradition’s pilgrimage to Rome in August of 2000, maybe discrete
contacts between Campos and Rome were re-established (or
fortified?). In any case there emerged last year the recent
agreement, proclaimed all over the Newchurch media in the middle
of last month (January, 2002).

This agreement whereby the Campos Traditionalists are ”welcomed
back into the Church” looks like a sweetheart deal for the priests
and laity of Catholic Tradition. In return for putting an end to their
resistance to the Newchurch, they are granted what is called an
apostolic administration”, meaning, more or less, a personal
diocese coming directly under the Pope, and depending only upon
the person of their own bishop, presently Bishop Rangel. They are
allowed to keep the Tridentine liturgy, in other words they may
continue to say the true Mass. It looks too good to be true!

And it is of course too good to be true. For instance, as everybody
knows, Rome batter than anybody, Bishop Rangel is stricken with
ancer, and his days are numbered. The Campos priests must
believe that he will be replaced, but if Rome is in control when he
dies, what will stop Rome either from choosing the most liberal
priest in the group, or from declaring that the mainstream bishop in
Campos is sufficient for all Catholics, mainstream or Traditional,
now that they are all in together again? Already, the Pope’s
theologian in Rome, Fr. Cottier, is reassuring any conciiliarists
alarmed by the apparent concessions to Tradition in Campos:
“Little by little we must expect other steps, for example that they
(the Campos priests) also participate in concelebrations in the
eformed rite. However, we must not be in a hurry. What is
important is that in their herats there no longer be rejection.
Communion found again in the Church has an internal dynamism
of its own that will mature” (Interview, Jan. 20).

Indeed. Indeed. Another classic exemple of “internal dynamism” of
“communion maturing” in the Vatican II Church was provided
ecently by the appearance in Rome last November of a little book
entitled “The Jewish people and the Holy Scriptures in the Christian
Bible”, written by Rome’s Biblical Commission and prefaced by
Cardinal Ratzinger, no less. This book’s thesis is that “The Jewish
wait for the Messiah is not in vain”, a typically ambiguous
statement, capable of meaning that the Messiah will come at the
end of the world either a second time (perfectly true), or for the
fisrt time (horrendously false).

When questionned about the ambiguity, the Pope’s (Opus dei)
pokesman, Dr. Navarro Valls, replied: “It means that it would be
wrong for a Catholic to wait for the Messiah, but not for a Jew”! In
other words Jesus of Nazareth truly was and truly was not the
Messiah promised in the Old Terstament! In other words, there is
no objective truth. Truth depends on who you are!

So the Campos priest are also losing their minds. They are putting
their trust in Romans to protect the absolute truth of Catholic
Tradition when these Romans believe in no such thing. What do
the Romans believe in? In making us all feel good. And that is what
the Campos priests are switching over to. The Campos priests
claim they will continue their fight for Tradition from inside the
mainstrem Church. But what chance do they have up agiant the
insanity of Rome of Rome, as continued for instance in another
Assisi meeting, clearly condemned by Bishop Fellay on the sheet
nclosed?

The poor Campos priests! Having given away the store (the sanity
of their mind) in order to come in from the cold (the marginalisation
of their hearts), they will amost certainly from now on go along with
anything the Romans say, rather than have to go back out into the
cold of being “excommunicated”, “schismatic”, etc.. Like St.
Peter’s Fraternity, they will have paid so dearly (with their sanity
and integrity) fort acceptance by Rome, that they will pay anything
further in order not to lose acceptance. Which Rome well knows,
and will exploit to the full, but “little by little”, as the Pope’s
theologian says.

Incredible. But let us throw no stones. Today’s confusion is
niversal, and is coming from the top – “the shepherd is struck, and
the sheep are scattered” (Zach. XIII,7; Mt. XXVI,31). In war,
bullets fly, comrades go down. One spends half a minute with one’s
handkerchief to wipe away a disfigurement, or wipe away a tear,
and then the war goes on. Rather than throw stones, let us take
thought for ourselves. The Campos priests presently falling in with
the insanity and betrayal of Rome have had the true Mass, breviary
and traditional prayers for the last 20 years, yet still they have
allen. Who then is safe?

I might say that the Campos priests fell because under Bishop de
castro Mayer they had too easy a passage from a pre- to
ost-Council, so theirs is just a belated case of Fiftiesism. But as
ecalled above, they were earthquake-proofed before the Council,
and had to rebuild from ground zero afterwards. Was that still not
enough to vaccinate them against neo-modernist mind-rot?
Apparently not. Truly, if these days are not shortened by God
intervening, we all of us risk losing our minds. Kurie eleison. “But
when these things begin to come to pass,” says Our Lord, “loop
up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand”
(Lk. XXI, 28).

Dear readers, God has thrust upon the greatness ot not falling in
the madness all around us. For love of Our Lord and His Mother of
Sorrows, let us not lay the burden to one side: “He that shall
ersevere to the end, he shall be saved” (Mt. X,22).



With my blessing, in Christ,

+ Richard Williamson

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