03/17/2004 

KLAMATH FALLS — Baker Bishop Robert Vasa has written a letter to Catholics in Klamath County, warning them against associating with a schismatic community based in the small town of Keno.

Members of the Society of St. Pius X reject the Second Vatican Council, hew to Latin liturgies and do not recognize ties to the pope.

The group holds services in Portland, Eugene and Keno.

“Since the members of the society have rejected union with the Holy Father, no Catholic may attend or participate in Masses offered by priests of the Society of St. Pius X . . . without embracing the same schism which the society itself embraces,” Bishop Vasa wrote in a Feb. 26 letter placed in parish bulletins.

The society, founded in 1970 by the former French archbishop Michael Lefebvre, broke with the Catholic Church in 1988.

That was when Lefebvre ordained four bishops, even though he had been forbidden to do so by the Holy See.

Bishop Vasa wrote that, despite “devotion and good intentions,” the society has brought excommunication upon itself.

“These are strong words, and they are deliberately strong because wounds to the unity of the Church are serious,” the bishop told Catholics.

Like the Protestant reformer Martin Luther in the 16th century, the Lefebvre schismatics have some “legitimate concerns” yet have followed Luther’s divisive lead, showing a lack of faith, Bishop Vasa wrote.

The bishop said that those who affiliate with the Society of St. Pius X may not attend Mass and receive Communion in Baker Diocese parishes.

“Associating with and supporting individuals and organizations which persist in willful disobedience to the Holy Father is a serious offense against God and the intrinsic unity of the Mystical Body of Christ,” he wrote.

The bishop recognized that many Catholics yearn for the reverence that was part of the Latin Mass.

“These are legitimate concerns, but the way to address them is not the abandonment of the Pope and the abandonment of the teaching authority of the Church, but rather the establishment of a deeper trust and confidence in Jesus who established this Church,” the letter says.

Bishop Vasa says he is open to inviting to the diocese a priest from an approved group for saying Latin Masses. The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter was formed for the purpose.

The bishop said his letter was not meant to condemn people who hunger for Latin and reverence in liturgy.

“I have the utmost respect for that hunger and those memories,” he writes.

“I also recognize, however, that this hunger is truly a hunger for Jesus, and despite the change of language and liturgy we believe that Jesus is still made present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in our Eucharistic Sacrifice.”

Deepened reverence can be achieved, he concluded, without abandoning union with the Church.

Bishop Vasa did point out that some “liturgical abuses” in the Catholic Church are being corrected.

He is now traveling the large diocese, holding seminars on recent liturgical reforms that aim to promote reverence in the Mass.