With reference to earlier posts on this site, highlighting the recent harsh and destructive actions of the Bishop of Christchurch, New Zealand, when 'banning' the 'Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer', otherwise known as the 'Transalpine Redemptorists', from saying public Mass in the Diocese, and ordering them without justification, to leave their home, their church, and their loyal and substantial congregation, of many years. This post has been written by Father Michael Mary FssR, Rector Major, who unambiguously accuses The Press (New Zealand) of 'Grievous Lies'.
Editor.
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August 1997. It's nearly once upon a time! In those days our community was living in France. We were about to set off on a 7,000 Kms pilgrimage. First we needed to get from France to Ukraine and gather pilgrims from Lviv. These were our friends, nuns from the Ukrainian underground Church, a Greek Catholic priest, a married couple and some youths and get them back to France where we would begin our pilgrimage.
At our monastery in France we took on more
monks, nuns, some English laity and an SSPX seminarian. We were joining other
Catholics in Fatima for Our Lady's feast on the 22nd August when the SSPX
Bishops would Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This
section of the pilgrimage was about 2,000 Kms each way, and our first step was
to Lourdes in France.
It is in Lourdes that The Press gives
out the biggest of its sensational and grievous lies. It said that I ordered
the monks to "strip naked" and swim in the river! It doesn't fit the
context of our pilgrimage at all and it would be dreadful to do such a thing in
Lourdes. Madness. The source consulted never said that either. He said that he
never went swimming, but nor did I, nor did most of the others. (Monks swim in
shorts and teeshirt!)
The Lourdes baths were closed. Disappointed,
four or five of the pilgrims wanted to go for a swim down river. Two were
guests from Ukraine and two or three were monks. I never ordered them to swim,
but in that heat, I had nothing against them having a swim either.
Perhaps my critic read my feelings through his
own outraged sense of what should not be permitted? Perhaps his past Plymouth
Brethren culture was triggered? I have no idea at this distance.
But it was a great pilgrimage for our
Ukrainians, most of whom had not travelled outside Ukraine. As I see it,
if a few pilgrims and monks who went for a swim in the heat was a scandal ....
if that's it, from 27 years ago........ no wonder The Press using
gutter journalism tried to make it sensational.
But what was truly sensational was the
pilgrimage of 7,000 kilometers. It was an epic journey of prayers, singing,
rosaries, heat, tiredness, and much more, all for the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Some context from our
Chronicles:
Tuesday 19 August
80th Anniversary of the 4th Fatima Apparition.
The second anniversary of Br Joseph's death.
All the priests offered Mass in the morning.
After breakfast, we were off in the bus. On
the journey we sang the Panachida for Br Joseph Mary, and sang
the rosary in Slavonic.[Note:The Panachida is a memorial
service for the dead, which is celebrated fairly frequently in the Byzantine
Catholic Church.]
Spiritual reading was read over the intercom
system in English, Ukrainian and Polish. The video about ecumenism was also
shown. At the end of a long day we began to sing the Lourdes Ave in
Ukrainian and English. We put out things in the hotel, and some of the
confreres and sisters went down to the grotto immediately - it was almost
midnight already. there were very few people still there, and it was very
quiet. Most everyone came back to the hotel around 1:00 am in the morning but
Mr A** stayed all night, making a vigil of it. While at the Grotto, Br P**
spoke with an Irish Redemptorist (dressed in civies).
Wednesday 20 August
Rise was at 8:30 a.m. After breakfast everyone
started for the Grotto. As Religious, we were allowed straight into the grotto
itself without waiting. Afterwards, we went to fill all our bottles with
Lourdes water. While there, we met two Italian Redemptorists - one from Pagani
the other from Naples. They were both wearing their habits, but as they spoke
only Italian, we could not communicate with them.
For dinner we drove out to Fr Ra****'s Summer
Camp for boys. Our second bus driver - the young son (perhaps 25 years old) of
the driver - wasn't so good a driver as his father, and the bus managed to get
badly nicked on the way as he tried to negotiate some difficult turns on the
windy roads. Father Ra*** made everyone very welcome, and we ate our picnic in
his back yard. He had at least two dozen boys with him aged between 8 and 15 -
and they sang some beautiful polyphony for us, and our Ukrainians sang some
Marian hymns in harmony for them. We saw their chapel -an old converted grange
- which was beautifully decorated as well as their tent. From there we returned
to Lourdes. The baths were closed when we arrived back - they only open four
hours a day. But Fr Ra*** had told us that the miraculous spring is almost
dried up, and thus most of the water one gets at Lourdes is only taken from
other Pyrenees springs. So we went down to the river, and our confreres
were able to take a nice swim in the cold water - which was very pleasant after
a hot day. A policeman came, however, and asked us not to swim there for safety
reasons. Some little French children came up to Fr Michael Mary and
asked for his blessing. Brother E*** gave Miraculous medals to each of them.
After that we went to the SSPX chapel, where our three priests offered Mass at
8:00 p.m. Then we went back to the grotto for the candlelight procession.
Earlier in the afternoon we met a Polish Redemptorist in his habit, who came to
speak to us. He was with a group of nine boys who had made a Marian pilgrimage
to Fatima, Lourdes and were off to Paris for the World Youth Day led by the
Pope on August 22nd. After the procession we returned to the hotel for supper
at 10:00 p.m. While everyone was heading to bed at 11:30, Fr V*** came in to
say that he had been unable to say Mass at the Ukrainian church in Lourdes, as
he had left his Celebret in Ukraine. So he offered Mass in the hotel.
