he heritage of the Society of St. Pius X is one of missionaryCatholicism. As “descendants” of the Holy Ghost Fathers — a missionary orderof which Archbishop Lefebvre was the Superior General until the destructive effects of the Second Vatican Council hit his beloved order —the Society carries on the missionary spirit of the Catholic Church: a spirit which converted millions of souls around the world to Christ, butwhich was abandoned as “out of step with the times” after the Council.

As a missionary, Archbishop Lefebvre labored for 30 years in Africa, where the fruits of his efforts can still be seen today. Later, as founder of theSociety of St. Pius X, he spent another twenty years building the Society into the missionary force it is today. Thanks to his work, the Society is keep-ing Tradition alive in over 20 countries around the world. And this year, dozens more traditionalist priests were ordained and sent all over the worldfor the salvation of souls.

With the grace of God, true Catholicism will continue to spread into every part of the globe — rebuilding the Faith one day at a time.Such is our heritage. Such is our future.

Our Missionary Heritage...And Future

ISSUE No. 50

Saint Thomas Aquinas Seminary

Stockton Hill

SUMMER, 1993

Winona, Minnesota

55987 U.S.A.

T

The Ordinands of 1993

Archbishop Lefebvre as a young missionary priest arriving in Africa The Archbishop (front row at right) among native seminarians in Africa.

“Go into the whole wgospel to every c

Father Jorge DiazRev. Fr. Jorge Diaz of El Paso, Texas, is a native of

Mexico who, prior to his arrival at the Seminary inRidgefield in 1987, worked as anengineer in both Mexico and theUnited States, and taught Spanish at alocal college in El Paso. A twin, he isone of 12 children.

Having made his First Communionbefore the onset of the LiturgicalRevolution, Father grew up watchingthe post-Vatican II changes withdismay. Even so, he had started tosense a calling to the religious life,but it was only after he becameacquainted with the Society of St.Pius X — in which he saw thecontinuation of the true Catholic Faith— that Divine Providence urged him to try his vocation.

Part of what drew Father Diaz to the priesthood was the inspiration hereceived from reading lives of the saints and the Church Fathers. He alwayshad a great love for the Mass, and he attributes this to his desire to save soulsfor the glory of God by offering Mass, hearing confessions, and preaching.

Father is currently assigned to a brand-new priory in the land of his birth: inTorreon, Mexico — one of the largest potential growth areas for the Society inthe world.

Father Francis GallagherThe traditional Catholic community in St. Mary’s,

Kansas, rejoiced when Fr. Francis Gallagher wasordained to the priesthood in Winona on June 19th. Fr. Gallagher, who had been doing pastoral work as adeacon in St. Mary’s for the past two years, will remainat St. Mary’s as a fifth priest helping to meet thepastoral needs of the growing congregation there.

Fr. Gallagher, a native of Enniskillen, Ireland, wasattending the Tridentine Mass in Dublin and Belfastwhen he received his call to the priesthood. Prior to

this, he had received degrees in English and Politics from the University ofUlster, where he continued pursuing a graduate degree in English. He wasattracted to the Society by their pastoral work which they were doing inIreland, especially after they had stationed a priest there in 1983. It was duringthis time that he realized God was calling him to the priesthood, so heinterrupted his studies and entered the seminary in Ecône in 1985. Aftercompleting his studies in Ecône in 1991, he was stationed at St. Mary’s, wherehe has been assisting the pastoral work there by preaching sermons, teachingcatechism, and supervising theEucharistic Crusade forchildren.

During his time at St.Mary’s, Father has gainedmuch experience andknowledge of the priestlyministry. He states, “I am veryhappy indeed to know that Iam remaining in St. Mary’s. Iam looking forward to helpingwith the wonderful work thatis being done for Catholiceducation there.”

Father Jason Huvar“To re-establish the reign of Christ the King in the

world” was Fr. Jason Huvar’s immediate response tobeing asked why he wanted to become a priest. Fr.Huvar, ordained April 24 in Mexico City (the firstSSPX priest ordained in that country) continued, “OurLord is daily more disregarded in society and even Hisfollowers often relegate Him to a ‘sacristy God.’ Weneed men today who are willing to sacrifice all in orderto further Our Lord’s rights and save souls.” Fittingly,Fr. Huvar is currently stationed in Mexico, the nobleland which bred those intrepid warriors of Christ theKing, the Cristeros.

With the grace of God, Fr. Huvar will continue theglorious tradition of these men in a country well over90% Catholic, but with an anti-Catholic Masonic gov-ernment. “The people have the Faith — a strong andsimple faith — with great humility and trust in God.The problem seems to be the lack of an ongoing body ofpriests to guide them. However, it is clear that they arenot happy with the changes of Vatican II. I see this mostclearly manifested in their reaction toward a traditionalpriest in a cassock: their respect and affection are veryedifying. Modern priests just don’t get this.”

Fr. Huvar, now fluent in Spanish, is very happy withhis assignment, although the work will be difficult, asthe harvest is great but unfortunately the laborers arefew. “We now have nine priests but enough work for 50.The work is heavy — confessions, sick calls, catechism— and it’s only increasing. But this is truly the joy of apriest: to spend himself daily doing the Master’s work.”

Finally, Fr. Huvar exhorts those who desire to followOur Lord more closely: “All the trials, temptations, andhardships are worth it, when you consider the good oneholy priest of God can do with God’s grace to bringsouls to love Him for all eternity.”

world, and preach thecreature.”Mark 16:15

Father Louis AlessioA native of West Paterson, New Jersey, Fr. Louis

Alessio attended traditional Catholic schools and Masscenters in the northern part of New Jersey nearly all hislife. Six years ago, he answered the challenging call tothe priesthood. He relates that he was inspired “mainlyby a desire to assist the Church in Her mission ofsaving souls, especially the souls of fallen-awayCatholics in these times of crisis,” and also because of“the ongoing corruption in the modern world,” ofwhich he witnessed a good deal while living andworking in the world.

Father values his vocation very highly. He wants to bring souls to the trueFaith, and enlighten those who have been deceived by the modern errors inthe Church and in the world.

Father Alessio has been assigned to the St. Aloysius Retreat Center inLos Gatos, California, where he will give retreats and run camps for boysand girls.

Father Thomas HaynosFather Thomas Haynos was born in 1963 and lived

in Laveen, Arizona, until he was nineteen. He went toKansas University but, desiring to give his life to God,he made his way to the traditional Benedictinemonastery in Le Barroux, France, where he joined thescholasticate and began studies for the priesthood. Heleft that monastery after two years when, at the time ofArchbishop Lefebvre’s consecration of new bishops,the monastery compromised on Tradition and put itselfunder the local conciliar bishop. Father Haynos thencame to Winona in the Fall of 1988, from whence he was sent to Ecône tocomplete his studies for the priesthood.

Fr. Haynos has been assigned to be the prior in one of the Society’snewest priories: in Torreon, Mexico — a city of about 300,000 people, wherehe will work alongside Father Jorge Diaz. Father Haynos looks forward to hisassignment. “The people in that area are the descendents of the Cristeros, somany of them will have martyrs in their families, which should make fertileground for the apostolate.”

Father Haynos, whose brother James is an SSPX priest in Armada,Michigan, is excited about the life of the missionary priest. He sees the Massas the very center of the life of the missionary. “At the Offertory, in unionwith the Sacrificial Lamb, we offer ourselves to God ‘in a humble spirit andwith a contrite heart.’ This involves daily sacrifice, and that’s what we mustdo as missionaries.”

Father Haynos summed up the life of a missionary priest by quoting avery experienced missionary, Archbishop Lefebvre: “The Archbishop oncesaid that a French Benedictine Abbot had tried to justify ecumenism bysaying that we all worship the same God. The Archbishop said to me, ‘No!For us, our existence has to be Jesus Christ: every word, every thought, everyact has to be united to Jesus Christ.’ To me, that is what the missionary is allabout.”

Father Gerard OckerseOn June 29, in Ecône, Switzerland, Fr. Gerard

Ockerse ascended the same steps to receive Holy Ordersas did his brother, Fr. Francis Ockerse, seven yearsbefore. Born in 1957 in Johannesburg, South Africa,Father Gerard’s first contact with the Society was in1980 when he attended an Ignatian retreat given by thenFr. Williamson in Natal, South Africa. After receivingdegrees in Biochemistry and Genetics, he worked in thefield of cancer research for two years. But the thoughtthat his life would be better spent as a priest persuadedhim to leave his promising career and enter the seminary. Thus he began hispriestly training in the Society’s French seminary at Flavigny in 1986. He thentransferred to Winona in 1988, where he completed his studies. Father wasordained in Ecône because his mother’s health did not allow her to make thetrans-Atlantic journey from South Africa to the United States.

The Ockerse family has been blessed with vocations. The year he enteredthe seminary, his brother, Fr. Francis Ockerse, was ordained a priest and hissister, Celeste, entered the Novitiate of the Sisters of the SSPX and now isSister Mary Joseph, at the Motherhouse in St. Michel en Brenne. Fr. Ockerseis especially grateful to have his very own “Sister” praying for him!

Fr. Gerard Ockerse will assist Fr. Craig Bufé at St. Joseph’s priory inHarare, Zimbabwe. Fr. Ockerse vividly sees the need for the salvation of soulsin his apostolate, which was one of the primary factors why he entered theseminary to become a priest. He anticipates a full vineyard in the cities ofHarare and Buluwayo (another Society mission in Zimbabwe). “My work willbe, with the grace of God, that of sanctifying first my own soul, and then thesouls of the faithful. The people of Zimbabwe are certainly less materialisticthan most. The Jesuits did a lot of good missionary work there. They have avery simple faith, and in turn have been affected less than most countries byVatican II. They have been very generous with the priory and have been veryhelpful. Although they may not be very wealthy, they have made a lot ofsacrifices for the Society and its priests.”

In concluding, Father advises the faithful to strive for sanctity. “Sanctity,”Father stated, “is not something that one pulls out of the closet on Sundaymorning, but should be part of our everyday life. This is done by doing theordinary daily tasks well, rather than trying to do the extraordinary. Everyonemust strive to sanctify themselves, for we are all called to be with God inheaven.”

In mid-January of this year at theSeminary, Superior General Fr. FranzSchmidberger gave a conference onthe ever-expanding horizons of theSociety’s international apostolate,focusing on the urgent need for priest-ly vocations to meet the spiritualdemands of so many traditionalCatholics around the world. FatherSchmidberger painted an exciting pic-ture of the missionary work beingdone by Society priests, particularlyin “underdeveloped” countries. Afterlistening to Father Schimdberger’sconference, the seminarians under-stood why Father has called for thecurrent Prayer Crusade for Vocations,and why they should highly valuetheir own.

A Futur e In MexicoFather Schmidberger first gave a

description of the Society’s work inLatin America, which makes up halfof the Catholic Church. In Mexico,for instance, there are roughly 80 mil-lion people, and at least 85-90% pro-fess the Catholic Faith. Unfortunately,the government in Mexico is veryanti-Catholic, Socialistic and Freema-sonic. Nevertheless the population isprofoundly attached to the Churchand to the Catholic Faith. It is the sec-ond largest Catholic nation in theworld after Brazil.

As a result, many traditionalpriests are needed to handle the enor-mous amount of work that needs to bedone in Mexico. As of January, theSociety had only six priests there;now, with the ordinations of FathersHuvar, Diaz and Haynos that numberis up to nine.

But Father Schmidberger is veryoptimistic about Mexico’s future. “Itis a very young population,” heexplained. “About 50% are 20 yearsold and below. There are a lot of chil-dren. That means a lot of potentialvocations. After an intensive work of

many years, Iam sure Mexi-co will bringforth manygood vocationsto the religiouslife.”

“ T h i n kabout the Cris-teros in theyears 1926-1929,” Fatherexclaimed. “There were a lot of peo-ple martyred. Many Catholics shedtheir blood for the Faith. This blood isthe seed of new Christians, and someof our faithful are the sons or grand-sons of those martyrs.”

With only nine Society priests inMexico now, why do we not sendmore? “Because we do not havemore!” Father Schmidberger com-plained. “We need 20, 30, even 50more priests. It is an enormous fieldin which to labor.”

Brazil: In Need of VocationsTurning his attention to Brazil,

Father Schmidberger acknowleged thewonderful work of Bishop de CastroMeyer’s priests in Campos. But, hesays, they are completely occupied bytheir work in their own parishes. Theysimply do not have the time to go outand visit the other traditionalCatholics in areas like Sao Paulo,Santa Catalina, etc. Brazilians for along time have been asking the Soci-ety, “When will you establish a prioryhere? When will you give us priests?”Father Schmidberger’s reluctant replyis, “We can’t. We don’t have them.”So he tells the Brazilians, “Send usvocations and we will train them andsend them back to their own coun-tries.” But they answer, “No, Father,you must first send priests here andthey will bring forth vocations bytheir work, and then we will be able tosend some.”

Indeed, it is usually the presenceof Society priests that inspires nativevocations, as demonstrated by India...

Growth in IndiaFather Schmidberger happily

describes the results of the Society’swork in India: “In India there is a pop-ulation of about 800 million, of whichalmost 13 million are Catholic. Wehave a priory in the south of India,with two priests. The Prior (Fr.Simonot) wrote me recently that thereare about, in the next four or fiveyears, 19 vocations to the priesthood.Next year there will be the first Indianpriest ordained in Ecône. It is a greatjoy to us. Father wrote me that if weput three or four more priests there,they could do a lot of good work forthese faithful Indian souls.”

Into AfricaThe Society’s work in Africa is

just as exciting, as Father Schmid-berger described: “We have a priory inGabon in central Africa, whichopened just seven years ago. I wasthere in November to visit this prioryand to see the Fathers’ work. I canassure you that it is quite amazing andencouraging to see what is going onthere. In that time they have baptizedalmost 2,000 children and adults. Icelebrated a High Mass on Sunday the15th of November. At the first Mass,at 9:00 a.m., there were around 450people. At the High Mass at 10:00a.m. which I celebrated, the wholechurch was full, which holds 800, andthe whole yard outside was full. Wehad about 1,000 people and they sangthe Gregorian Chant in a wonderfulmanner. You will not see it so welldone in all Europe. Absolutely won-derful. The whole congregationsang...everybody! They have about700 children in their catechism pro-gram. Imagine what this represents interms of work! It is the only priory we

have in Gabon and there are onlythree priests there!”

Progress in the PhilippinesEven in the Society’s new priory

in the Philippines, opened only lastAugust, progress has already beenmade. Fr. Schmidberger reported thatas of March, “more than 200 faithfulare attending Sunday Mass; 70 chil-dren are being taught their catechism;also, a youth group and adults arereceiving religious instruction, andlectures are being given to a few hun-dred university students. Three youngmen presently living in the priory willnext week enter our Major Seminaryin Australia. In addition, our priestsare visiting various villages in order tocelebrate the Holy Sacrifice for con-gregations of up to 200 people, andevery Saturday evening they give ahalf-hour’s worth of religious instruc-tions on the radio.”

For the Rest?But sadly, in mostparts of Latin

America, Africa, Asia, EasternEurope, and elsewhere, the Society isunable to tend to the needs ofCatholics who desire the true Faith.“All these groups,” says the SuperiorGeneral, “have the same request:‘Send us some priests, found a priory,help us to maintain our Faith, help ourchildren, be among our sick, adminis-ter the Last Sacraments to the dying.’But we don’t have the priests. There-fore we must continue our Prayer Cru-sade for vocations, and we must praythat the Lord sends a lot of laborersinto this harvest. Why is it? Becausein all these countries there are a lot ofsouls who will not be saved if thereare no priests. The Good Lord said inthe Gospel to go and teach the Faith toall nations. This is what the Apostlesdid, and this is what we have to doonce again.”

This year at Winona, while fourmen were ordained priests, four oth-ers received the diaconate. Threemonths earlier on March 19 theselatter had received the sub-dia-conate, the first of the major orsacred orders, which permanentlyconsecrated them to the service ofthe Church: to be God’s representa-tives in the Mystical Body.

While the subdeacon may havebeen unsure of God’s will before,the uncertainty vanishes when thebishop calls him to the subdia-conate. Rev. Mr. Lawrence Novak,having performed the role of a sub-deacon at solemn Mass previous toordination, admitted that afterwardsit was entirely different, because hewas now certain of God’s will forhim.

From the subdiaconate onward,the ordinand is obliged to remaincelibate and to pray the Breviary.The Breviary, or “Divine Office,”consists primari ly of the 150psalms, prayed each week. This,together with the Mass, comprisesthe public prayer of Christ in HisMystical Body. When the Breviaryis prayed, it is the word of Godoffered to God by a man chosen andconsecrated by God for this pur-pose. In this case the prayer works

ex opere operato. Rev. Mr. JosephPfieffer , the youngest of the newdeacons, finds the Breviary to besomething a priest active in theapostolate can look to for a point ofstability and inspiration.

In observing perfect chastity, thesubdeacon renounces the possibilityof marriage. Rev. Mr . ThomasBlute was particularly taken by the

exchange that occurs in this renun-ciation. The subdeacon, he said,gives up the potential of having thecomfort of a spouse, the satisfactionof providing for a family, and thejoy that children can provide, inorder to have a greater good.

The subdeacon’s participation inthe apostolate is primarily throughthe invisible work of prayer, but ordi-

narily he is elevated to the more activeapostolate of the diaconate, as thesefour were this summer. With thisorder, they became “ministers ofChrist and dispensers of the mysteriesof God,” (Rite of Ordination) a phraseusually associated only with thepriesthood. It is this conformity withChrist the High Priest that mostinspires Rev. Mr. Gary Campbell tofulfill the duties of his new state.Unlike the laity who are more con-formed to the members of Christ’sBody, the sacred minister, he says, ismore conformed to the Head.

The most visible duty of the deaconis to preach, directing the faithful asthe head directs the members of abody, and also to sing the Gospel. Hehas a more intimate relation to thepriest in offering the Holy Sacrifice ofthe Mass, especially in co-offering thechalice. This is appropriate, since thewater mixed with wine represents thefaithful to whom the deacon preaches.The deacon’s duties also extend to thesacraments; the deacon can expose theBlessed Sacrament, as well as admin-ister Baptism and Holy Communion.

With the grace of God, these dea-cons will advance to the priesthoodnext year and enter the fields of theirministries, which are white for theharvest. Please pray for them.

From left to right: Gary Campbell, Joseph Pfeiffer, Lawrence Novak,and Thomas Blute during their ordination to the diaconate.

The Harvest...

Fr. Schmidberger

...The Laborers