Word: bishops
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Bishop or Archie Bunker...
...young Catholic, I applaud Bishop Lefebvre [Sept. 13]. The church should see that the Tridentine Mass in Latin is relevant. The essence of our faith is eternally relevant because it is true. We need the symbolism of the old rites to express to us the depth and mystery of the sacraments...
...Lille, he was ordained in 1929 and spent 30 years in Africa, where he became Archbishop of Dakar. But he had difficulty adjusting to the changes that swept Africa in the 1960s, when many colonies won independence, and he was transferred back to France. After a brief stint as bishop of Tulle, he was appointed head of a missionary order, the Fathers of the Holy Spirit. When the order's general assembly voted a series of reforms, Lefebvre resigned, charging that "democratization" of the church was the work of Satan. Six years ago he founded a seminary at Econe...
...bishop, Lefebvre possesses his authority in what Roman Catholics believe to be apostolic succession from the original apostles; thus, his partisans might argue, he has the power to set up a church structure of his own. While some extreme traditionalists in Europe might welcome such a move, its appeal in the U.S. is doubtful. A number of priests in the U.S. still defiantly say the forbidden Tridentine Mass, but their bishops generally ignore them, content to remind Catholics that the Mass is illicit. Some of these priestly recalcitrants might conceivably join a Lefebvre schism; at least...
Apart from the suspension, the Pope has treated Lefebvre with considerable restraint, even tenderness. In a poignant note in French, handwritten in Rome two weeks before the Lille Mass, the Pontiff addressed the erring bishop as "our venerated brother," urged him to reconsider "the insupportable irregularity of your present position" and "break the illogical bonds which make you alien and hostile to the church." The letter apparently affected the intransigent archbishop very little. Last week in Lille he told reporters that he did not feel at all isolated. "I am with 20 centuries of the church," he declared confidently...