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Was Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre a Freemason? - IV
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What Is the Order of Our Lady of Sion? TIA Reader
Masons in ÉcôneChristopher Shannon
I Do Not Want to be Led Astray TIA Answers
TIA Clarification on a Previous Post on Arch. Lefebvre Patrick M. Odou
"I Tried to Investigate Lefebvre & Was Banned" Mark Williams
Objection: Arch. Lefebvre Was Not a Mason TIA Answers
"I Am Convinced Msgr. Lefebvre Was Not a Mason" TIA Answers
On June 13, 2019, TIA responded to a question about Msgr. Marcel Lefebvre. The reader had visited a website in which an eyewitness – an ex-seminarian – had participated in some processions in the twin towns of Écône-Sion and gave a report on it. Those processions were preceded, he affirmed, by a Masonic band. The witness also stated that he had heard from others to not worry about it because Msgr. Lefebvre himself was a Mason. The report is dated and signed. The reader asked TIA’s opinion on that episode.
We reproduced the document without endorsing it. We left the question to be answered by someone more authorized on the topic.
That TIA posting was considered by the followers of Arch. Lefebvre as a blasphemy, almost a sacrilege, and is generating an uproar of hysteria: “What an absurdity…”; “How dare TIA raise this possibility…”
As a consequence, we have been receiving a barrage of personal attacks from SSPX milieus, often – sad to say – accompanied by filthy words, which good Catholics normally avoid. This climate of frenzy is also generating a string of prudential advice directed to us: “It is better to remove this post”; “TIA is losing credibility”; “For your own good, don't attack Arch. Lefebvre.”
We believe that this campaign in both its phases – violence and prudent counsels – has been partially spontaneous and partially orchestrated by SSPX priests and agents.
In view of this scenario TIA wants to make this clarification:
1. Regarding the way this campaign against us has been conducted:
A - A preliminary point that the unconditional followers of Lefebvre are omitting is that there are many traditionalist Catholics who are not moved by a priori suppositions that he was a saint. These groups of Catholics are moved by reason. So, when arguments are given that he could have been a Mason or a Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, they are expecting to hear a rational response.
Therefore, for the latter, the more the SSPX milieus fire out their personal offenses without presenting arguments, the more they look like they are:
a - Using a stratagem to avoid giving a rational response, or
b - Zombies of a sect who repeat whatever they are told without thinking.
B - We can understand hyper-emotional reactions in ladies whose sensibilities are so intense they cannot recognize a reasonable presentation when they see someone they consider a saint depicted as suspect of something that tarnishes that high state of virtue they believe their hero to have.
C - We do not understand this same reaction in men who then look like nervous women, unwilling to examine the argument and present a rational response as normal men do.
D - We believe that the priests who are behind this campaign are fraudulent insofar as they ignited this campaign of personal offenses against TIA in order to deviate attention from the merit of the arguments raised, which will be addressed shortly. (n.2)
E - This fraudulent attitude seems to repeat their previous hoaxes regarding three important issues in Msgr. Lefebvre’s past, to wit:
The red arrow shows the original signature of Lefebvre on Vatican II documents - for a larger copy click here
b - That he had not signed the documents of Vatican II – today the Vatican has issued a copy of his signatures in each of the conciliar documents, photo at right;
c - That he had never said the New Mass – today it has become evident that he said it for many months, here.
In other words, the heads and priests of SSPX have painted and disseminated a deliberate false image of their leader to create for him the profile of a saint.
F - The only honest way to face the accusations that Msgr. Lefebvre could have been a Mason is to refute the proofs and circumstantial evidences that were presented explicitly or implicitly in that posting by TIA, which will be listed below. (n.2)
G - So, any defender of the SSPX founder – be he from the official SSPX, from Bishop Williamson’s line, or others – is invited to come forth and prove that Msgr. Marcel Lefebvre was not a Freemason by refuting the proofs and circumstantial evidences. We at TIA would be very glad to know that he was not a Mason. But, so long as his followers do not prove it and resort to excuses – “It is so absurd that we don’t need to respond” – they give the clear impression that he was, and that they are simply engaging in another of their deceptions.
2. Regarding the merit of the subject matter:
A - The mentioned website quotes an eyewitness stating that on precise dates:
a - SSPX processions were preceded by a Masonic band;
b - He complained to SSPX insiders about it (a) and was met with the excuse: “Don’t worry, Bishop Lefebvre is also a Mason.”
So, for a defender to disprove these accusations, he needs to show either that the eyewitness was mentally ill or that the dates and facts are not exact. We hope that he can do so. However, until he does, the Archbishop is under suspicion.
The ecumenical Order of Our Lady of Sion pays homage to Arch. Lefebvre as its Grand Master – for full page here
The Order of Sion affirms it is at the service of SSPX – for a larger copy click here
SSPX holds copyrights over the marriages performed by the Order of Sion – for a larger copy click here
Further, this Order of Sion also identifies itself with SSPX in various parts of its website (here and here). Now then, supposing that this is a fake SSPX, why has the real SSPX allowed this site to use its name for all these years and to affirm, among many other things, that Msgr. Lefebvre was its Grand Master?
C - This is all the more difficult to understand as Bishop Bernard Fellay was quick to exercise the SSPX power against another person for allegedly misusing the name and work of Msgr. Lefebvre. Indeed, a French priest, who had been the chauffeur of Arch. Lefebvre for years, recorded his sermons and placed about 50 of them online with Lefebvre’s original voice and text. After this material had been online for a few months, Fellay opened a lawsuit against that priest for the unauthorized use of Lefebvre’s voice. He won the case and the priest was obliged to remove those sermons from public circulation.
Now, that priest was clearly moved by good intentions and posted those sermons online out of devotion to his leader. Why did Fellay forbid that dissemination? It is a question open to speculation.
But what is most strange and contradictory is that Bishop Fellay and his new successor have allowed the website of Our Lady of Sion to stay online for more than 10 years claiming that Lefebvre was its Grand Master. Why did the Superior of SSPX not take an analogous legal action against that website to stop it? Is he unable or unwilling to counter those claims?
We at TIA, many other traditionalist Catholics and the public in general would like to have a clear answer to this question. Because if the answer is affirmative, we would have more to say, since that Order defines itself as ecumenical – admitting Greek Schismatics and Rabbis – and even calls itself modernist.
Below, we list a few examples of circumstantial evidences that cannot be dismissed with a simple: “All these data are absurd because we know that Arch. Lefebvre was a saint.”
D - The book Holy Blood, Holy Grail also speculates that Msgr. Lefebvre was linked to the French Priory of Sion (pp. 211, 212, 214), possibly linked to the Masonic Hiéron du Val d’Or (p. 211), and presents as one piece of evidence the August 1980 issue of Bonne Soirée magazine, which states that he was actually linked to the Priory of Sion (p. 214); check here.
E - The study Priory of Sion: The Facts, the Theory, the Mystery available on the Internet also mentions Marcel Lefebvre as a member of this organization and its possible Grand Master between 1963-1981.
F - The French collection of brochures Les Mystères de Rennes-le-Château (The Mysteries of the Castle of Rennes), under the responsibility of Pierre Jarnac, reproduces the article “The Circle of Ulysses.” In it author Jean Delaude affirms: “What is the Priory of Sion preparing? I don't know, but it represents a power capable of confronting the Vatican in the days to come. Msgr. Lefebvre is a very active and feared member, capable of saying: ‘If you make me pope, I will make you king.’” (p. 10)
Let us not forget that the Rennes-le-Chateau – the name of the mentioned collection – is considered to be the symbolic center of the Priory of Sion.
Here are some circumstantial evidences that, added to the actual proofs quoted above (2A, 2B), cannot be dismissed by any serious followers of Arch. Marcel Lefebvre.
So, we at TIA are awaiting an honest and logical response to come, if the admirers of the valiant Archbishop do not have anything to fear regarding his past life. In the case it does not come and SSPX continues its personal attacks, we and the public will understand that it is a tacit confession that he is actually guilty of those accusations.
Cordially,
Patrick M. Odou, Secretary of TIA
Articles in the Controversy