Mr. Don McLean,

A reader of TIA website from India gave me your e-mail as being the editor of Catholic at the time the following letter by Archbishop Lefebvre was published.

http://traditioninaction.org/Questions/B135_LefebvreLetter.html

I ask you the favor to confirm the authenticity of the document in a way that I can post it on our website for our readers.

     Thanking for your kindness, I send you my best regards,

     Atila Guimaraes, Editor - August 2, 2007

Mr. Atila Guimaraes,

Dear Atila,

We did indeed publish the letter that Archbishop Lefebvre wrote to his four candidates. It does seem, however, that the date of August 29, 1987 may be in error. At that time as I remember, the candidates had not been chosen. If asked, my guess would be that it was written around April or May 1988.

The copy for that issue, and all of the issues of Catholic we published has long since been destroyed. On the same page we published a defence of Msgr. Lefebvre's action by Father T.C.G. Glover, JCD, probably the reason why we added the letter. I cannot remember where the copy came from, and I probably had it in my files for some time before April 1996. Be assured that it is genuine. It does not appear in the original issue of 'Archbishop Lefebvre and the Vatican' (Angelus Press) but it might be worth checking the current revised edition.

I suggest that you contact the SSPX direct, or either Bishop Fellay or Bishop Williamson. I do remember that there was considerable discussion about the use of the word "anti-Christs" at the time. The explanation as I remember was that the word was plural, and used in the context of persons being "anti-Christ", just as we printed it. We could truly say that any number of people could be described as 'anti-Christ', as say Abraham Foxman, President Bush, Prime Minister Blair and many others who act against Christ.

There is no suggestion that Msgr. Lefebvre described Pope John Paul II, and/or the Roman hierarchy, as being the "Antichrist", but being "anti-Christ" in the sense that he and they acted against the interests of Christ, and I am sure you would agree with that. But there is a vast difference between a bad Pope and an heretical non-Pope.

It is certain that Msgr. Lefebvre was not sedevacantist, and it is equally certain that neither was Bishop de Castro Mayer. We have the audio tape of the speech of Msgr. de Castro Mayer, given at Econe circa June 27, 1988, that shows he was not sede-vacantist, as many have tried to prove. A translation of the speech was also published in Catholic.

Some background. I established Catholic in 1982 and gave it to the Redemptorists in 2000. It went through 195 issues and every single issue supported the work of Msgr. Lefebvre and the Society of Saint Pius X. I believed then, and do now, that this saintly Archbishop was rasied up by God to preserve the Catholic priesthood. His life and work achieved that, and the work goes on. It is not perfect, as no human work is perfect, but we still have the Mass.

You are free to use this information as you like.

     May God bless your work,

     Don McLean - August 3, 2007

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