Fr. Hewko: 2018 - 2019 - On Ambrose Moran

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The following notable posts and threads are taken from the Archived Catacombs:



Father begins speaking about Bishop(?) Ambrose at minute mark: 09:50 and finishes at minute mark: 21:40:

Highlights:

• Fr. Hewko exhorts us to pray first and foremost to pray to know God's will, that we ask God to show us clearly His will in this matter, so there is no doubt and no question.
  

• He notes that there are some objective, reasonable concerns surrounding Bp. Ambrose.
  

• Fr. Hewko spoke about the openness of Archbishop Lefebvre in discussing his plans and concerns over the years. The investigation should be handled as the Archbishop handled things in responding to the concerns of the faithful.
  

• He reminds us that Fr. Pfeiffer is still conducting his investigation. Fr. Hewko also reminds us that any thorough investigation takes times and should not be done hastily, that this investigation should go very slow, weighing things carefully. 
  

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Comments from the member O.L. of Fatima Chapel, exactly one year after this sermon:

When Fr. Hewko delivered that sermon here at Our Lady of Fatima Chapel in Massachusetts, he addressed the great trepidation and anxiety of the faithful by announcing his own grave reservations regarding the legitimacy of William Moran. And then, as S.A.G mentioned, Father requested everyone's prayers. So, a special novena to Our Lady of the Rosary was promptly organized; and soon the suspicions of fraudulence were confirmed, as important nuggets of information slowly came to light - like an onion's layers being peeled away! And isn't this how our heavenly Mother usually works? As Father himself later stated: it was all attributed to the power of Our Lady of the Rosary. The novena began in October - the month of the Holy Rosary, and then Father began his new mission of The Sorrowful Heart of Mary this past February 11th - the feast of Lourdes.   

We continue to offer great thanks to Almighty God through the intercession of His Immaculate Mother, for granting Father the special graces of clarity and resolve to stand up for the truths of the Faith and assist the faithful in avoiding occasions of doubt ...all the while continuing the authentic mission of Archbishop Lefebvre. May the Immaculata guide and protect us always!

Regina Sacratissimi Rosarii - Ora pro nobis

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Statement of Fr. Hewko concerning Bp. Ambrose Moran - January 13, 2019

Dear Faithful, we must pray! We all suffer in this diabolical disorientation that Our Lady of Fatima warned about affecting the entire Church. Regarding Bp. Ambrose Moran, I notified Fr. Pfeiffer that if OLMC has not disassociated publicly from him within a week, I will be obliged to leave. For many reasons this is a dead end. Please offer your Rosaries to Our Blessed Mother for Her intercession!  - Received from Fr. David Hewko, January 13, 2019

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Fr. Hewko elaborates on this Statement in the following Sermon:

Partial Transcript done by the member Deus Vult [many thanks!] beginning at the 4:31 minute mark:

We see the wisdom of Archbp. Lefebvre in his guide rail.  He said, among the many things,  we must neither be modernists nor schismatic or sedevacantist. He said when it comes to matters of faith, when it comes especially the spirit of the Church is with regard to episcopal elections and the sacraments, we must always take the tutio pars. We say in moral theology, you always take the tutio pars, which means the safest position.  If there's any doubt, for example, of an ordination or episcopal consecration, or validity of a sacrament, you stay away. That's why Archbp. Lefebvre's practice was with confirmation for example done by the new rite by the modernist bishops, the new rite of confirmation has been so changed that it puts the sacrament in doubt.   

That's why Archbishop Lefebvre's practice was, anyone who was confirmed in the Novus Ordo let them be re-confirmed conditionally.  Which means if you're not confirmed you will be with the traditional sacrament of confirmation. This is very important.  Obviously the devil wants to strike the Catholic Church right at the root, cut the source of grace, which is the sacraments. And once you change the Mass and change the words of consecration you've got a doubtful thing. It may be valid if it's a valid priest with the proper matter, form and intention but maybe not. Maybe not. Anything doubtful you stay away from. That's goes with the sacraments, that goes also with bishops and elections of bishops.

So in a very short nutshell we see how wise Archbp. Lefebvre really was to guide us with, stay with Catholic tradition, stay with priests who hold the faith, and wait and pray and persevere and rebuild until Rome comes back to Catholic tradition.

All of you are aware with the whole question of Bp. Ambrose.  I ask your prayers for him.  He's a very likeable man, however when one studies the documents, the photographs, the history, it's swimming in all kinds of question marks.  I'm not a detective, I'm not a moral [? can't hear at this mark for noise in background], Canon lawyer.  All I can say is there is enough there to say stay away.  Stay away.

I have told Fr. Pfeiffer respectfully that if within a week there is no public disassociation from Bp. Ambrose I will be obliged to leave Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in KY. I've consulted with Canon lawyers, I've consulted with fellow priests.  Everyone unanimously says flee, don't go with that direction because of the schismatic Orthodox consecrations which by Canon Law there's a punishment, there's a suspension for a Catholic man to go seek to be consecrated by an Orthodox schismatic is a punishment of suspension. If they do it in good faith it's up to Rome to determine when they will resume their use of the sacraments.  It can be valid, but it's illegitimate.  I know we're in this time of crisis.  If they profess the faith that's a good thing for them but with this case it's swimming in such contradictions and doubts.  Anyone who looks deep into the case you're just swimming in question marks.  So Archbishop Lefebvre, I go back to him again, he's our guide here.  If it's not absolutely certain and if it's not 100% without doubt stay away, he said.  So that's where I'm obliged to make that decision.  Pray for me, pray for Fr. Pfeiffer also that he makes the right decision here.

Pray for this.  Let's ask the Holy Ghost, let's really beg the Mother of God for the great happy hour when she will step in and throw this whole mess over and give us a pope that will consecrate Russia as she demanded.  Until the Pope obeys the Virgin Mary we're gonna be in continual storms and chaos, and upside down until Rome comes back to Catholic tradition.

So we have to do our part.  We gotta become saints, we have to sanctify our life.  We gotta strive for holiness.  We gotta strive for union with Christ all the time.  We have to grow in charity towards God and our neighbor.  We gotta be saints and we must beg heaven for that hour of Our Lady's victory which she promised it will come.

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BRIEF STATEMENT OF FR. DAVID HEWKO

[FEBRUARY 2019]

In the Acts of the Apostles (15:39), we find a dissension arose between the Apostles of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Sts. Paul and Barnabas, who had parted ways and continued spreading the Faith in different regions. Please permit me to draw a similar comparison, given this new situation.

In 2015 A.D. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in Boston, Kentucky (OLMC) had publicly disassociated from Ambrose Moran, and it should have rested there. But, contrary to the recent Statement of the “second disassociation” (January 23, 2019), rather than a “slow movement forward in this case,” he was hastily reintroduced by Fr. Joseph Pfeiffer with the conditional ordination of Fr. Poisson, in July 2018. Fr. Poisson had been previously ordained in 1996, by a bishop consecrated in the New Rite, making this first ordination doubtful. So now, poor Fr. Poisson has two doubtful ordinations, yet he continues to be sent out for Masses representing OLMC.

The moral theology of the Church insists that we are not allowed to be “probabiliorists” with the sacraments, but always take the safest side ensuring validity and legitimacy, that is, the “tutiorist” position. Since the recent Statement of Disassociation also admits not having sufficient proof of the “necessary certificates and real clear authentication” of Ambrose Moran, this merely confirms the doubts of both: this “bishop” and the conditional ordination of Fr. Poisson. Nothing demeaning to the good character of Fr. Poisson, but the fact is, he still must be conditionally ordained by a traditional Catholic bishop, without any doubts!

Furthermore, should the papers proving the validity of Ambrose Moran ever happen to appear, in spite of this, his active participation with the schismatic Orthodox in liturgical ceremonies, the confusion and doubts surrounding his records, photos, documents, (which in normal times would be examined and cleared by the proper authorities of the Church) all dictate, by supernatural prudence, to avoid association with him. Besides, a baptized Catholic seeking holy orders from schismatics incurs suspension, according to Canon Law, and forfeits the right of administering the sacraments, if it happened to be done “in good faith” (c. 2372). Given our present situation, we priests are in no position to rehabilitate such a person. This recent reintroduction and aggressive promotion of Moran has been the cause of much confusion, bad fruits, and scandal to the Faith of clergy and the faithful.

The second reason for my departure from OLMC is the amount of power given to a layman helping with material concerns, admittedly, and this is much appreciated. But, let it suffice to say, that his self-imposed title of “Chief in Charge” is, by no means, an empty one! Were his influence restrained and his videos (publicly representing OLMC) censored, his leverage would do far less damage to many, many souls. It’s because souls are driven away and harmed that obliges me to counteract this injustice.

Lastly, all the negative impact the above reasons have had on the seminarians’ formation and my fruitless efforts to correct these negative effects, show me God’s Will is elsewhere. If any good-willing souls were harmed through all this, I beg pardon.

My whole priesthood, apostolate and future are consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, all is in Her hands! With Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, I stand with the Catholic Resistance against the dissolving of the Faith infiltrating the entire Church and the Conciliar-SSPX by Modernism (cf. Pascendi, St. Pius X).

The preaching of the integral Catholic Faith, the Mass of All Time, and the salvation of souls must continue. Even after a good pope fulfills Our Lady of Fatima’s demands for the Consecration of Russia, and Rome finally returns to Tradition along with the Virgin Mary’s prophesied Victory, this work must still continue! It is the ardent desire of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to save souls!

On a practical note, my temporary address is:

16 Dogwood Road South, Hubbardston, MA 01452

Sermons, catechisms, Mass schedules, and conferences will be found on the YouTube channel: SSPXMarianCorps and The Catacombs. Any “scattered sheep” seeking the crumbs off the Master’s Table and desiring the Holy Mass, may contact me at: (315) 391-7575 or fr.d.hewko@gmail.com.

Let us join forces, with the weapon of Our Lady’s Rosary and Scapular, praying for all! Please pray for me, and all priests so minded, to continue, with the grace of God, making our own the great Declaration of Archbishop Lefebvre of 1974, now more applicable then ever!

Sincerely in Christ the King,
Fr. David Hewko

[Archbishop Lefebvre's]
Declaration of November 21, 1974

We hold firmly with all our heart and with all our mind to Catholic Rome, Guardian of the Catholic Faith and of the traditions necessary to the maintenance of this faith, to the eternal Rome, mistress of wisdom and truth.

We refuse on the other hand, and have always refused, to follow the Rome of Neo-Modernist and Neo-Protestant tendencies, which became clearly manifest during the Second Vatican Council, and after the Council, in all the reforms which issued from it.

In effect, all these reforms have contributed and continue to contribute to the destruction of the Church, to the ruin of the priesthood, to the abolition of the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Sacraments, to the disappearance of the religious life, and to a naturalistic and Teilhardian education in the universities, in the seminaries, in catechetics: an education deriving from Liberalism and Protestantism which had been condemned many times by the solemn Magisterium of the Church.

No authority, not even the highest in the hierarchy, can compel us to abandon or to diminish our Catholic Faith, so clearly expressed and professed by the Church's Magisterium for nineteen centuries.

"Friends," said St. Paul, "though it were we ourselves, though it were an angel from heaven that should preach to you a gospel other than the gospel we have preached to you, a curse upon him" (Gal. 1:8).

Is it not this that the Holy Father is repeating to us today? And if there is a certain contradiction manifest in his words and deeds as well as in the acts of the dicasteries, then we cleave to what has always been taught and we turn a deaf ear to the novelties which destroy the Church.

It is impossible to profoundly modify the Lex Orandi without modifying the Lex Credendi. To the New Mass there corresponds the new catechism, the new priesthood, the new seminaries, the new universities, the "Charismatic" Church, Pentecostalism: all of them opposed to orthodoxy and the never-changing Magisterium.

This reformation, deriving as it does from Liberalism and Modernism, is entirely corrupted; it derives from heresy and results in heresy, even if all its acts are not formally heretical.

It is therefore impossible for any conscientious and faithful Catholic to espouse this reformation and to submit to it in any way whatsoever.
The only attitude of fidelity to the Church and to Catholic doctrine appropriate for our salvation is a categorical refusal to accept this reformation.
That is why, without any rebellion, bitterness, or resentment, we pursue our work of priestly formation under the guidance of the never-changing Magisterium, convinced as we are that we cannot possibly render a greater service to the Holy Catholic Church, to the Sovereign Pontiff, and to posterity.

That is why we hold firmly to everything that has been consistently taught and practiced by the Church (and codified in books published before the Modernist influence of the Council) concerning faith, morals, divine worship, catechetics, priestly formation, and the institution of the Church, until such time as the true light of tradition dissipates the gloom which obscures the sky of the eternal Rome.

Doing this, with the grace of God, the help of the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and St. Pius X, we are certain that we are being faithful to the Catholic and Roman Church, to all of Peter's successors, and of being the Fideles Dispensatores Mysteriorum Domini Nostri Jesu Christi In Spiritu Sancto.

+ Marcel Lefebvre

BRIEF STATEMENT OF FR. HEWKO-1.pdf (101.04 KB)

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Sermon and Transcript of Fr. Hewko's first Sermon after leaving OLMC [with grateful thanks to the member Initiation for transcribing]:

Father Hewko: Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturdays - February 16th, 2019 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

So, here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, February 16th, Saturday night Mass in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturdays.

This is my first Mass having departed from Our Lady of Mount Carmel. I ask your prayers, of course, for all souls involved. Father Pfeiffer and Ambrose Moran too, we gotta pray for him, pray also for Mr. Hernandez and all these reasons that have erupted over the last few years to conclude in my departure. Pray for all the good seminarians there, generous young men who are seeking to do God's will and give their life for the priesthood. But I won't go into all the details now but you've read my statement, brief statement and the most serious matter, of course, is the danger of invalid sacraments which is touching on a questionable priest, bishop prelate. So, that's the main thing threatened and with the sacraments we cannot be, well maybe it's valid, maybe it's not, we'll go just in case it's valid, we'll go. We can't do that with the sacrament we have to be…(unsure of spelling)…as the moral theologians say, that is the safest position, that you must ensure the validity of the sacrament.

This departure of mine was not easy, it was two weeks of prayer, actually, seven months of intense begging of God, show me Your light, show me Your will, what do we do with this situation. Do I stay and try to rectify it from within? But I saw it was not possible and so, hence my departure.

So, I ask your prayers for all souls involved. This is not easy but the Faith is clear, the Faith is always, Christ is always the light. “In Thy light Lord, we shall see light” says the Psalms. Into the light of truth, we know it's pretty clear what we always have to do. Avoid questionable sacraments, avoid questionable orders and ordinations and especially, with a history of schismatic ceremonies, active participation in schismatic ceremonies, according to the facts regarding Ambrose Moran. Pray for him also, he's got a soul to save.
 
Tomorrow I'll touch on defending Archbishop Lefebvre because Archbishop Lefebvre was severely attacked in his question of ordinations and consecrations by Cardinal Lienart. But I'll explain how that's foolish to even question that validity. So, pray for all and pray for the seminarians especially. I think some of them do have true vocations and God will lead them, God will lead them if they have true vocations to where they must go next. So, pray for them all, pray for me, pray for all the Catholics throughout the world, all Catholics, all souls striving to save their soul and keep the Faith in this apostate time. It's easy for any of us to get sidetracked and I'm not pointing fingers and I'm not condemning Father Pfeiffer, I could be falling into error next year, in two years, ten years, God knows. So, I tremble myself, when we see popes, bishops, traditional bishops fall to compromise, it is scary, it is frightening and fellow priests who are falling in this battle.

Saint Philip Neri used to say when he saw condemned criminals being taken to be executed, he would point to them and say to the people around him in Rome, in the streets, he would say, “There goes I, that's me if it wasn't for the grace of God. I would be also a criminal and led to my execution. So, thanks be to God's mercy, I am not being executed.” Meaning any of us could fall, any of us can lose the state of grace and lose the Faith and it's a very dangerous time. So, we need to pray, especially to the Mother of God.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.

That's the announcement. Now the little sermon and I promise small. This little gospel, so short for the Mass of today, is taken from Saint Luke Chapter 11 and it's at the end of a long event and then, what happens? Our Lord gives a parable, He's speaking and then a woman speaks up in the crowd and she praises Our Lord and she says, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you.” So, she's praising the Mother of Our Lord but Our Lord says, “Yay rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”

So, some heretics will interpret this and say, see Christ doesn't want His Mother that much honored because the woman speaks out praising His Mother and He deflects the honor to His Mother and said no, ‘blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it’. But quite the contrary since St. Bernard of Clairvaux and St. Bruno, they say no, our Lord is actually highlighting His Mother, pointing Her out. He says, don't honor My Mother just because She gives birth and can nurse, any mother can naturally do that and that's a beautiful thing in God's plan, but any natural mother, a pagan mother can do this, but He says honor My Mother. Rather blessed and She's blessed among women, among all the angels, in all creation. She's blessed because She not only does what any mother can do, but She hears the Word of God and She keeps it. She hears it so well that the Word of God became flesh in the garden of Her soul.

The Virgin Mary is the new paradise. We lost paradise when our parents Adam and Eve were driven out from their sin, the gates were shut and shielded by the angels. So, there was no more access for the human race, anyone to get back into the Garden of Eden and with the destruction of the whole earth by the flood of Noah, everything was destroyed and the continents ripped apart and that's the result of sin. So, where do we walk, where do we find this Garden of Paradise now? And it is the Virgin Mary. She is the garden with the walls around it, with no doors around it, no windows, only the light of God shines in there and only He enters in by the Incarnation when the angel greeted the Virgin Mary, “Hail Mary full of grace.” Full of grace, full of the Sun light and all the fruits and garden and all the sweet flowers and trees in Her soul. So, She is the new Garden of Paradise and it's there we're going to find that new Tree of Life to eat that new fruit which gives eternal life. Because remember Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree in paradise and eating it once in a while it was like a huge, super multivitamin with enzymes and it kept them young, strong and they just had to eat of it once in a while and it kept them ever young. But they lost it. They would die, 930 years old Adam died and Eve shortly after.

So, what is this fruit in this new Garden of Paradise, off this new Tree of Paradise, that if we eat it, we will not just live maybe a little longer on earth because it does give some health of body and soul but actually, the reward of eating this is you will live forever. You will live immortal and in the glory of heaven forever. That's the promise of this fruit and what is this fruit? We say it in the Ave Maria. Holy Mary, Mother of God, excuse me, Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with Thee, blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the Fruit of Thy womb. Jesu Christus, Jesu, Jesus. He is that fruit. So, in the Mass we kind of enter into this Garden of Paradise and the Mass which is so close to the Virgin Mary, just as She stood at the foot of the cross, the priest stands at the foot of the cross and the Virgin Mary next to him and all the millions of angels. The priest when he says the words of consecration, the new Tree of Life is planted right on the altar, which is the cross Jesus crucified and then we eat of this live fruit, it's not a dead fruit, it’s full of life which is the very body, the living blood, the living soul, the Living Divinity of Jesus Christ, the King, the King of heaven and earth.

He gives us to eat of this fruit and the priest at the altar he plucks the fruit off the tree, of the cross, and gives you to eat of this life, divine fire, this life-giving sweet wine, this refreshing fruit for the soul. Blessed is the fruit of Thy womb Jesus, this is who we receive in communion and it's the Virgin Mary, She is that new Garden of Paradise, that's where we want to go and the doorway is Her heart.

The doorway into the Catholic Church is symbolized by the doorway of Noah's Ark, said St. Augustine, because the Ark, the door was on the side of the Ark and the Ark was about five-hundred-and-thirty or five-hundred-and-ten-feet long, it very long and the door was built open by Noah and when they went in through that doorway and all the animals, two by two, into that side door then the door was shut by God, seven days before the huge fountains of the deep burst and the rains hit.
 
All the animals pouring into the doorway of the Ark prefigures all of us animals, that is the Gentiles and the converted Jews, coming into the Heart of Jesus. His Heart opened on the cross is the doorway of the new Ark and He built this new Ark on wood, the wood of the Cross and the doorway into this new Ark of Salvation, outside of which no one can be saved, in the Heart of Jesus Christ, that doorway is His Heart opened on the cross and we got to go into that doorway by washing in Christ's precious blood by baptism and frequent contrition and confession, the confession really washes our soul with His precious blood. So, it's the blood of this Lamb that washes the soul and then He feeds us in the Holy Eucharist, of course.

The Heart of Mary pierced when Jesus Christ died on the cross, He was already dead, His soul had already parted and went down into limbo. So, St. Bernard says, Jesus Our Lord, He didn't feel the pain of that opening of His heart by the spear. But whose heart was open and whose heart bled and whose heart felt that pain so sharply? The Blessed Virgin Mary standing at the foot of the cross. So, her heart is the doorway to the Heart of Jesus and that is the doorway to the new garden of paradise so we want to run there and stay in that garden of paradise by the state of grace, by a deep love and devotion of the Virgin Mary. In the Holy Roman Catholic Church of Tradition, we want to live in this Holy Church and die in this Holy Church. Even though she's being bombarded by enemies bombing her from above, submarines from below, ships on the sea attacking her at every level and as Saint Pius X said a hundred years ago, the ship of the Church seems almost sinking and today almost seems sunk, humanly speaking. But she's divine.

Where will the Church survive? In those who preserve the Faith, those who keep the Holy Faith and live in the state of grace and profess the Holy Catholic faith with all its integrity. Which includes especially as Archbishop Lefebvre fought for so well and so much, the social Kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ. The true Mass, the true sacraments of all time and the true Doctrine of the Church, our Catechism of Tradition. We reject, we do reject that new catechism of Vatican II, it was poisoned with the heresies of Vatican II, we do reject that. Of course, there's a lot of truth in it but we reject the error but we don't play with mixing truth and error, we've got to stay away from that, stay with what is true and integral which is our Holy Catholic Faith of Tradition.

May the Virgin Mary place Her mantle over all of you and all Catholics today striving and may She in Her mercy and goodness intercede to bring many conversions in our time. Many poor souls are lost, many poor souls are confused, many poor souls don't know where to turn. But where do kids go when they're lost and confused and sick? They turn to their mother, they run to their mother as little kids will do, always to their mother. So, let's run to Her, She's our Heavenly Mother, run to Her and stay close to Her and hold onto Her mantle and don't let go, don't let go no matter how hard the winds hit, never let go.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee.
O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee.
O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee.

In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

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Sermon and Transcript of Fr. Hewko's second Sermon after leaving OLMC [with grateful thanks to the member Initiation for transcribing]:

Father Hewko: Septuagesima Sunday - February 17th, 2019 in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

[Fr. Hewko speaks of Ambrose Moran at the end of the sermon. Prior to that, Father address the false reports about Archbishop Lefebvre's Ordination and Consecration.]


In the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

We begin this season of the Church, Septuagesima, and it begins right off the bat with St. Paul. St. Paul who would have traveled much through Greece, he's speaking to the Corinthians, they all knew the Olympic Games, they were very acquainted with the sports of the time. Wrestling was popular and all kinds of track and field competitions. So, St. Paul and St. John Chrysostom and many of the Fathers of the Church will draw the examples from the sports domain and St. Paul right off the bat here, the Church puts this right. You got a trophy to win and you got a fight to obtain it and to obtain that trophy look at the athletes, they trained, they discipline their body, they have a certain diet, especially wrestlers they have to cut weight and they have to enter into this whole disciplined mentality and face all kinds of adversity and trials and competitions and lose much to win the big trophy.

So it is with us. We have to fight continually, discipline our soul and the basic disciplines are the ten commandments. The introit of the Mass also pulls us with the breviary of Mother Church, the breviary of the priests takes us right back to Genesis Chapter 1, the very beginning. “In the beginning God created heaven and earth,” and then, Adam and Eve on the sixth day and then, what's the state of the Adam and Eve after the fall, after they're disobedience to God? It's well expressed in Psalm 17, the introit here, “The grounds of death surround me and the sorrows of Hell encompass me.” This is Adam and Eve right after they fell and driven out of the Garden of Paradise. “And in my affliction, I called upon the Lord and He heard my voice from His holy temple.”

What is this Holy Temple? It is His body. Christ said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will rebuild.” He was not talking about the structure of the building, He was talking about His temple which is the body where God dwell, in the sacred body of our Lord which will be hung up on the cross and pour out all His blood for the love of us. That was foretold to Adam and Eve, there will be a Redeemer and there will be a Woman who will be exalted to crush the head of the serpent.

“The groans of death surround me and the sorrows of Hell encompass me.” Adam and Eve did penance for 930 years and man lived a long time before Noah's Flood. An average man's life was five, six, seven hundred years old and we know about Methuselah. Methuselah is an interesting great character of the Old Testament because he lived 969 years, that means he knew Adam and Eve as a boy, he met them and probably talked to them a lot. I'm sure everyone turned to Adam and Eve for wisdom and he had the fullest of wisdom, Adam had all knowledge of all science and that's why it's logical to conclude, I say this often, but it's very logical to conclude because there's evidence of this, that the state of mankind before the flood was far more technologically advanced than our cell phones and our airplanes. They had something far more advanced, far more sophisticated and just for an example they find these huge rocks, megaliths they’re called, cut with machinery that we can't even imagine how they cut it. We don't even have anything close to cutting angles and depth and precision the way they find these huge gigantic rocks that were cut by a civilization before the flood.
  
Adam and Eve, they lived a long time so all their descendants, all their children and grandchildren and great-great-great grandchildren they lived to see and one of these was Methuselah and he knew Adam and Eve and he lived long enough, he's the longest living human being in the history of the world, he lived also to see Noah. He knew Noah and he died shortly before the flood. So, Methuselah will be interesting to talk to once we get to heaven because he knew all the human history and he lived, he's the connection between Adam and Eve and the flood, that first age of the human race. But how well he understood, how well all these saints of the Old Testament understood “the groans of deaths surround me and the sorrows of Hell encompass me.”

Why? Because from sin we have four effects. Briefly, in our intellect we have ignorance, so study becomes a pain in the neck, boys especially, hate to go through school. But we have to study, we have to learn and even if you're out of school and out of college, our whole life we got to be studying, we got to be reading the spiritual books that inflame in us the love of God, that steer us in the true correct doctrine. That's why I encourage you men, don't fear to pick up the great Encyclicals of the Popes, they're not that difficult and I mean the popes up to Pius XII. Their encyclicals are clear. Read the encyclical on liberty by Pope Leo XIII because everybody talks about freedom, independence and liberty. Well, let's get this thing straight and see what is true liberty and what is false liberty. Leo XIII, his encyclicals are very clear, very, very pleasant to read and meditate on. You should make this kind of time for in-depth studies, in-depth listening. Now with internet you can drive and listen to conferences, sermons, talks, audio books that are very good books.

We have to be hungry in our mind to fill our mind with truth, the light of truth. Because look how the devil attacks the mind with advertisements and all the internet trash to fill minds with emptiness and garbage. God can't fill a glass that's filled with mud, He wants to fill it with the pure crystal water, crystal clear water of His grace and His wisdom. Spiritual reading and listening combats ignorance and we suffer from ignorance because of Original Sin.

In our will we suffer malice. We have malice in our will. Now, yesterday we supplied the ceremonies for a new little born baby, right now this little born baby is an angel in God's sight because her soul is filled with the sanctifying grace, there is no sin in her. But Original Sin is going to start showing up, the parents will discover this very soon, especially when more brothers and sisters come, they start fighting ‘it's mine,’ ‘no it's mine.’ You got a war on your hands. Why is this? Because there's malice in the will, there's malice. It's in all of us, that tendency towards evil in that overwhelming tendency towards selfishness and self-centeredness and Christ shows us how to combat that by selflessness. Look to the good of your neighbor and do good to them and treat others as if you would treat yourself, the way you treat others. So, malice in the will combatted by constantly forging our will, forging like the blacksmiths have to forge a piece of metal that’s red-hot. That's how we have to be forged in God's hands to conform to God's will and it's always a fight, it's always a struggle, in all of us, because we are again inclined towards evil.

In the irascible passions, that's the fighting passions, that's the passions of the battlefield, the passions of perseverance and difficult times. There's weakness in us, there's weakness, we’re prone to be weak, we're prone to make excuses and this is where we need to turn to the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary for strength in the face of difficult trials. God gives us all difficult trials, He sees us all as athletes of the field to obtain that trophy of heaven and we got to grow stronger and this means self-discipline, self-denial and that's why Septuagesima, that’s what it’s all about. Preparing for getting ready for Lent, the big competition of Lent, forty days of training and we're not in Lent yet, we're not in the fast time yet, but the Church is already setting our mind, start getting ready to do battle, to root out violently all the sins in us and evil inclinations and occasions of sin, do battle, get ready for war. So, weakness.

Then the last, of course, concupiscence passions. These are the passions of pleasure, the pleasure in the all the passions. The pleasure of seeing a beautiful sunrise, the pleasure of a good meal, the pleasure of good friends, the pleasure that pertains to the sacredness of marriage and procreation of children. These are all gifts of God, that God wants to be used for His glory. But because of Original Sin, man can twist these things, twist the body to offend God instead of glorify Him, twist even a good meal and a good glass of wine or beer to abuse and get drunk like an animal. We can all do this. So, this weakness in us and this inclination to misuse pleasure, we need grace to straighten us out, we need grace and that's why we must pray.

If we don't pray, if I don't pray, I will go to hell, I know that. That goes for all of us. Padre Pio said this often, if you pray, you're going to go to heaven. If you don't pray, you're going to go to hell. It's really that simple. So, none of us have excuses and God will give us the grace if we ask Him. He is a greater father than any good earthly father and He loves us more than any father and mother could. Look at the goodness Our Lord Himself says Himself, look at the Sun, God gives the Sun to shine on the good and the bad. The bad farmers and the good farmers, the ones knew obey His commandments, the ones who don't obey His commandments, He gives the sunlight for their crops of the field. God also gives the rain for the good and the bad. So, if God will be so generous to everybody with natural gifts, the air, the rain and sun, if He's so generous with the way He does nature.

Another example given by Saint John Chrysostom, when you plant an apple seed, what do you get later? An apple tree. But out of that one seed, what do you get? You got billions of apples every harvest season, thousands of apples. So, in the natural order God is so generous. One seed of corn, apricot, watermelon, you name it, you get an abundance in return. God is so generous at the natural level. So, how much more He is more generous what pertains to the salvation of your soul. So, when you pray to Him, He hears you and He does give more in abundance. We don't often see it and feel it because God, He's a wise businessman, He knows when to give the harvest, He knows when to give the benefits and He knows when to answer our prayers, that is best. But we've got to keep persevering in asking Him and praying to Him.

So, the effects of Original Sin in us. Let's get ready mentally for the coming time of Lent, to be generous with God, to really make war against the sins that grow in the fields of our soul and to discipline our life. Spiritual reading, self-control, directing all our actions to the glory of God, living in that cheerfulness of giving towards God and the love of God and the love of our neighbor.
 
I'd like to conclude this sermon before we close, I just want to touch on something important, it's probably more for a moral theology class, but recently we have heard Archbishop Lefebvre attacked again. Archbishop Lefebvre attacked in the sense that questioning the validity of the priesthood and the Episcopacy of Archbishop Lefebvre. This is not a new argument, it’s one that’s been floating around for a number of years and that is, well, the one that ordained Archbishop Lefebvre, it seems he was Freemason, Cardinal Liénart, and the one that consecrated Archbishop Lefebvre, the same cardinal, was a Freemason. Since the Freemasons are out to destroy the Church, he withheld his intention and it was all invalid, that's the attack. I'm going to show you briefly this is ridiculous and it's false. I'm drawing from the Angelus article back in 1978 so that you can see this is a long floating attack against Archbishop Lefebvre but it's very important because if they attack this, they're attacking the whole survival of Catholic Tradition and so let's answer this.

Archbishop Lefebvre was ordained into the priesthood September 21st, 1929. He was consecrated a bishop September 18th, 1947, by Achille, Cardinal Liénart, the Bishop of the Diocese of Lille in France. So, we all know this article written by a priest, Father Laudenschlager. He goes through, of course, what's needed for sacrament to be valid, it must have the proper matter for a baptism, it must be water and not Coca-Cola or milk, must be water. There must be the form, that is the proper words that Christ instituted. So, for baptism, ‘I baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,’ and you can't say anything more, you can't say anything less and that's the form that Christ gave. The form, the matter and the intention are required for the sacrament and this is where they're attacking Archbishop Lefebvre, is the intention of this Freemason Cardinal Liénart.
 
Now, Cardinal Liénart, was he a Freemason? That's a rumor, I don't know. But there's certainly no pictures of him in the lodge, there's no pictures of him in Freemasonic ceremonies, so apparently on his deathbed he admitted he was a Freemason. But the Church is loaded with Freemasons and it has been, it has been, even in the time of Pius X but it wouldn't necessarily make their sacraments invalid and we'll see why.

“The intention is what's at question here. Before considering the case directly, let's look at the intention of the minister of the sacrament. First of all, what the question is not. The Church is solemnly defined and all Catholics must believe that for the valid confection of a sacrament neither faith nor the state of grace is required in the minister.” So, for example a Jew driving down the street, a doctor, he's a Jewish doctor, he comes across the car accident and there's a family that's really in a terrible state and the mother cries to him and says, ‘my baby is not baptized,’ and the baby's dying and the mother's dying and she says, ‘sir can you baptize my baby? I can't move. I was on the way to the Church to baptize my baby and there's an accident.’ So, the Jew, he doesn't believe in this but he can take water and pour water on the baby's head and say ‘I baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,’ it is a valid sacrament and the baby is baptized and the Church has always taught this. All the bare minimum of that Jew was to say, I just want to do what the Church does and I don’t believe in it, I don't like it but I'm going to do what the Church does, I'll baptize him for your sake. It would be valid and this is defended by many, many popes down the history of the Church, the validity of such a sacrament.

“Neither the faith nor the state of grace is absolutely required in the minister.” So, for example, again, the state of grace, if a priest is in mortal sin it'd be a sacrilege for him to offer Mass, in the state of mortal sin. But would that Mass be invalid? Would it be a totally invalid sacrament? No, it would be a valid sacrament. Does that mean the priest can say, ‘well since it's still valid I can live in mortal sin and say Mass’? Well, that would be a mockery of his priesthood and a mockery against God and a sacrilege for him, but not for the souls, not for the people. But the sacrament would still be valid, a priest in mortal sin is still a valid sacrament, it's still the true consecration, it does not get affected by that and that's a great thing, not to say Mass in mortal sin, but it's a great thing the objectivity of the sacraments. Because what's behind that is the Sacred Heart of Our Lord, He wants to save all souls as much as possible, He wants to save souls and that's why He makes the sacraments as easily accessible as possible. That's why, for example, it's easy to baptize anybody anytime because there's always water wherever you go that you can find water.

“Therefore, both sinful and heretical, schismatical and apostate priests or bishops can validly confect sacraments. Although, if they do it's sinful and illicit.” And then, that's the very important point. For schismatics it’s illicit, they don't have the right to say Mass and give sacraments by the Church, because they stole the apostolic succession, they stole the ordination, they stole the consecration from the Catholic Church and they don't have the right to use it. That's why it's forbidden for us Catholics to go participate in a valid Greek Orthodox Mass, it's valid, our Lord is there but you cannot participate in that because it's illicit, it is not blessed by Mother Church. That's why, for example, if any Catholic goes to be ordained or consecrated by the schismatics, that's an automatic suspension by the Church, it's a punishment by the Church. Is it a valid sacrament? Most likely, if it's an apostolic succession. But it’s illicit, it's not legitimate in God's eyes nor the Church's eyes. That's why we can't have anything to do with that and for someone to be rehabilitated to be a Catholic bishop or priest, who has done this, they must be rehabilitated by the proper authorities of the Catholic Church.

So, let's continue with this study of the intention, it's not that long so bear with me. But it is important to defend this because of all the bishops God was not well pleased but with Archbishop Lefebvre He was pleased, because he did what all the bishops should have done. So, when Archbishop Lefebvre is attacked, we need to defend him.

“The question therefore is not whether or not Cardinal Liénart as a Freemason could validly administer a sacrament at all but whether he did in this case. Secondly, let us formulate more precisely the question of the required intention.” So, let's get more specific about this intention, what does it really mean? “We shall distinguish the external intention by which the minister wishes to accomplish properly the external ceremonies and rites of the sacrament, but inwardly wishes not to confect the sacrament and the internal intention by which the minister truly and interiorly wishes to do what the Church does. The question is, does the external intention suffice? That is, will a sacrament be valid if the priest or bishop properly performs all the necessary external rites and ceremonies with the proper matter and form, if within himself he wishes not to confect the sacrament?” Then he's going to now draw the authorities, the Council of Trent, Pope Leo XII, St. Thomas Aquinas. “The Church has defined that the priest or bishop must have the intention of doing what the Church does. Council of Trent Session 7 Canon 11.” That is the bare minimum, the priest or bishop, he just must do what the Church does.

“Therefore, at least the external intention of doing what the Church does and thus of accomplishing the ceremony properly is required. The central question then will be how are we to recognize the presence of this internal intention required in the priest or bishop for the valid confection of a sacrament?” So, how do you know if, in the case of Cardinal Liénart, how do you know if he really conducted a true sacrament? Pope Leo XIII answers clearly and with solemn authority, he says, “Concerning the mind or intention, in as much as it in itself, something internal the Church does not pass judgment but insofar as it is externally manifested, she is bound to judge of it. Now if in order to effect and confer a sacrament, a person has seriously and correctly used the do matter and form, he is for that very reason presumed to have intended to do what the Church does.” If a priest has water and he says the words and pours it while saying the words, the Church says it's valid because he's doing externally what's needed for the sacrament, this is the point. “It is on this principle that the doctrine is solidly founded, solidly founded, which holds as a true sacrament. That which is confirmed by the ministry of a heretic or of a non baptized person as long as it is conferred in the Catholic Rite.” That's r-i-t-e.

“St. Thomas Aquinas, Prince of Theologians, says the same thing. The words uttered by the minister,” this is…(unsure of spelling)…Question 64 Article 8, he says, “The words uttered by the minister,” the priest or bishop, “the intention of the Church is expressed and this suffices for the validity of the sacrament, except the contrary be expressed exteriorly.” Notice that, ‘exteriorly’. So, if a priest at baptism says, ‘I don't intend to baptize’ and he goes through with and he expresses it externally or withholds pouring water or changes the form, it's not valid but you can tell externally it's not valid. This is the point of St. Thomas. “Unless the contrary be expressed exteriorly on the part of the priest or bishop.” So, if the priest or bishop just does the normal Rite of the Church, the external ceremonies of the Church correctly, according to the Roman Missal or the Roman Ritual of Tradition, it's valid, it's valid.

Now, another question, which I won't go into here, is when they change the Roman Missal and change the Roman Ritual in the New Rite, that is objectively changing the matter, form and intention. That's why Archbishop Lefebvre says the sacraments of the New Rite of Vatican II are at least doubtful, at least doubtful, because they've changed many of the form and in some cases the matter such as the holy oils which has to be olive oil. In the New Code of Canon Law, they allow other oils. Palm oil, coconut oil, Crisco etc.

This is very important point of Pope Leo XIII and St. Thomas Aquinas. If a bishop or priest fulfills the normal external ceremonies required by the Church's Traditional Roman Ritual and missal, it's valid, it’s considered valid. “Therefore, in the Conferral of the Sacrament of Holy Orders or of any other, as long as the ordaining bishop, be he Catholic or apostate, as long as he observes externally the rite prescribed for the sacrament he must be presumed to have the right intention and the sacrament must be accepted as valid.” A very important point right here. “Let us consider momentarily a few more points on the intention required in the Minister of the sacrament. A) We shall distinguish the intention of doing what the Church does and the intention of doing what the Church intends.” I know this is moral theology right here, but enjoy the taste of it. “The Church does perform, she performs a Sacred Rite instituted by Christ and by this rite she intends to confer grace and in some sacraments the character, the minister, the priest or bishop does not at all need to intend to confer grace by the rite which he performs. It suffices that he intends to perform a Sacred Rite, so teach all theologians, including St. Alphonsus.”

So, if the priest just says, ‘I just want to do the Rite of the Church’ and he's not even thinking much about it, it's still valid and Father Gregory has mentioned this. If a priest is up late from being on a sick call and he's really tired in the morning and he has his normal routine Mass and his mind is kind of foggy and he just goes through the ceremonies of the Mass and he's really not even paying much attention even, because he's half-asleep. Is that Mass still valid? Of course, because he's fulfilling all the external rites. Even though in his attention might be a bit foggy, he always has the intention to do what the Church does.

“Be indeed the priest or bishop does not even have to believe that the rite which he is performing is sacred, it suffices that he intend to perform seriously a rite which Christians hold as sacred.” Thus, for example a Jew can validly baptize a Christian child even though he believes that baptism is a completely meaningless ceremony. “If he intends to perform a rite which Christians hold to be sacred. Thus, also a priest who has lost the faith in the sacraments can still confect them validly as long as he has the intention of performing seriously the rites which the faithful ask of him in which they considered sacred.”

To take this to the extreme, and there are cases of this, if a priest who has apostatised and joins the Satanic Church and he says Mass doing what the Church does and intends to do it, it's a valid Mass and they do this. Archbishop Lefebvre mentions this in one of his sermons in 1976, how these apostate priests and even bishops, they will confect the sacrament and they know it's valid, they have no doubt Satanists, and then they take the Blessed Sacrament and treat our Lord sacrilegiously, blasphemously and do all sorts of profane and disgusting things with Our Lord in the Holy Sacrament. So, this shows you the beauty, let's just say, of the objectivity of the sacraments, it's really great and it shows the goodness of our Lord to make it almost impossible to bring about an invalid sacrament.

Now, and take note, the Satanists do not say the New Mass nor do they use the New Roman Ritual, the New Rite of the Roman Ritual, they don't bother with that. They use the Old Mass in the Old Ritual because they know those are valid. St. Thomas teaches the same thing in his…(unsure of spelling)…Book 4. “Sometimes,” he says, “the priest or bishop intends to do what the Church does, although he considers it to be nothing, the minimum intention required in the Minister of a sacrament is than this, that he intend to perform a rite which the Church considers sacred and to accomplish seriously all the prescribed externals.” If that's there, it's valid. “Indeed, who could possibly lack this minimal attention in administering a sacrament. We have seen that the Church considers the presence of the required intention the normal case as regards sacraments administered by heretics, schismatics etc. According to the solemn teaching of the Church therefore and the conclusions of sound theology, there is absolutely no justification for any doubts on the validity of the Holy Orders of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre as history records Cardinal Liénart did not at any moment, neither before nor during or after the ceremonies, give the least indication that he did not intend to do what the Church does in conferring Holy Orders upon Marcel Lefebvre.”

That's pretty clear. Cardinal Liénart now, when he ordained Archbishop Lefebvre, he was alone but he fulfilled all the sacraments and it's a valid sacrament, he fulfilled all the external requirements and there's tons of MC’s, altar boys, there's other older priests, they're all watching him do the ceremony and he better do it right and he does because he follows the ritual. Then with the consecration of a bishop, normally according to the Pontificale Romanum there has to be three co-consecrators. So, if one says, ‘well this bishop didn't have the right intention,’ well the other two did. These co-consecrators even in the unimaginable case where two of the three bishops would lack the necessary intention, the remaining bishop would still validly consecrate the bishop and that's Pope Pius XII allocution in 1956.

Bishops who are consecrated or ordained in heresy or schism, the Church, if they're Apostolically succession, the Church does recognize them as valid bishops, they can be valid bishops but they don't have the right to use their Episcopal powers. It's like a stolen sacrament and that's why it's illegitimate. “In any case though this has no relation to any question of Holy Orders Cardinal Liénart never lost his jurisdiction as Archbishop of Lille. Even if he was a Freemason and thus, ipso-facto excommunicated, he retained his jurisdiction as bishop until a declaratory or condemnatory sentence by a higher authority,” which was never given, which was never given, “we must and we may presume that Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre validly received the sacrament of Holy Orders. Absolutely nothing would permit or justify a conclusion to the contrary.”

To bring this up to attack Archbishop Lefebvre in this way is complete foolishness and you just heard a long, long explanation of how the intention, the bare minimum is to do what the Church does and if any priest or bishop fulfills the bare minimum of the external rites required, it is considered valid. Absolutely valid. So, that applies to Archbishop Lefebvre.

Let me just close by a warning Archbishop Lefebvre gave and I say this with reference to the recently hot topic of Bishop Ambrose, which is one of the reasons why I had to leave Boston, Kentucky. Because it's not just a question of being valid, he may be valid, he may not but there's so much doubt and confusion and so many contradictory stories and convolution in his story, you've got to question everything and I, in no way, want to discredit the reputation of such a man or any man but, I want to tread carefully here because I'm a poor sinner myself and need your prayers and grace. But when in this case, that I'm speaking about, there is records, public records of fraud and I'm not going to go more into detail though, that suffices it to say that public records of fraud and several cases of arrests. How can you trust such a man? Who says this and says that, when he's got a record of fraud? You can't trust anything of such a man, on such important issues as bishop, Mass, validity, consecration and involvement with schismatic rites.

Here's what Archbishop Lefebvre says, this is another reprint of an Angelus issue years ago, way many years ago. ‘A warning to traditional Catholics concerning false shepherd.’ “During his recent visit to America, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre referred several times to the report that several individuals including some claiming to be called ‘so called traditional priests,’ had attempted to have themselves consecrated bishops. Archbishop Lefebvre totally condemned their actions and warned all Catholics to have nothing to do with them, ‘they will bring ruination and scandal on the Church.’” Archbishop Lefebvre. And when he was replied, when asked his opinion of the scandal-ridden consecrations he says, ‘they will bring ruination and scandal on the Church.’ He says, ‘it is a direct result of what happens when one loses faith in God and separates himself with Rome and the Holy Father and the enemies of the Church including those who are so strongly who promote modernism will try to associate us.’ Because they're calling us schismatics already because we're disobeying the Pope. ‘They will try to associate us and other good traditional Catholics with these fanatics in hopes of trying to bring discredit upon the good as well as the evil.’ And then he mentions about the Thuc line, he says, Archbishop Lefebvre about Bishop Thuc. ‘He seems to have lost all reason.’

I was recently informed also that in the 1970s, one of the Society Saint Pius X priests in St. Marys, he brought in two priests who were from the Antiochian schismatic sect and they were ordained in this schematic sect. But the priest thought ‘well they're valid so I'll let them say Mass on the altars at St. Marys in Kansas.’ And this was a red flashing light and alarm to the other priests and they said ‘you can't do this.’ So, they wrote to Archbishop Lefebvre, there wasn’t email in those days, they had to write a letter and the Archbishop Lefebvre immediately responded and said ‘dismiss them immediately.’ That was his action. He dismissed them and forced them out of there immediately and corrected that priest. So, this priest made a big mistake and he was a good priest but he made a big mistake and the Archbishop came down and had to whack him. So, I think this applies in the case with what we're dealing with now, may it be done and over but even if he's valid, and I have my doubts even now about that because of the fraud history, but even if he was valid it's not licit and you don't get involved with such a case, as Archbishop Lefebvre warned.

So, dear little flock consecrate yourselves to the Virgin Mary, according to the St. Louie de Montfort prayer, and do that. Let that be one of your big goals in Lent, renew your consecration to Our Lady and love Her and be devoted to Her and really pray Her Rosary well, it is the weapon of these days. May She fortify you in this battle, strengthen you so you obtain the happiness of heaven.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee.
O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee.
O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen

[Stone]

Father Hewko: Catechism Regarding His Decision to Leave OLMC
February 24th, 2019 in Saint Catharines, Ontario, Canada