Fr. Michael Rodriguez has penned an extensive article for The Remnant outlining his plan to restore the Faith along traditional lines. It’s quite a long article, but one much worth reading. I excerpt a bit below, but you will certainly want to read it all if you have not already (emphasis in original, a few comments of my own):
I want to urge all of you to look to Christ’s Cross for the answers on how to go about restoring the Catholic Faith and its glorious Tradition. This, then, is the first principle I propose, namely, the true blueprint for restoring Tradition is found at the foot of the Cross. For the purposes of this particular article, I will concentrate primarily on one aspect of the Mystery of the Cross: Jesus on the Cross giving us His Mother, and entrusting His Church to her maternal care and intercession, “Woman, behold thy son,” “Behold thy mother.” This is a culminating moment of the Passion and Death of Our Lord.
Hence, the second principle I propose is that, in God’s mysterious design, it is Our Lady who provides us with the true blueprint for restoring Tradition. Two thousand years ago, she stood faithfully by the foot of the Cross, and ever since then—across the centuries—she brings us all the necessary graces which flow from the Eternal Sacrifice of her Son…….
……So this takes us to my proposal of a third principle—the Holy Mother of God came to Fatima to provide us with the grace and light of the Cross that is specifically needed for our times. With her Message at Fatima, she provides us with the blueprint for restoring Tradition. In the post-Vatican II period, the devil’s tail has been wrecking widespread disorientation and destruction within the Church by promoting a counterfeit Catholicism. The devil has attacked, and continues his assault against Holy Mother Church by means of the Modernist heresy and the Modernist revolution disguised as “aggiornamento.” Yet we do not despair because Our Lord has given us the solution . . . His Mother came from heaven to Fatima in 1917, in order to crush the modernist head of the serpent.
[I now skip ahead to the section on the Papacy]
The awful crisis which Our Lady of Fatima came to warn us about and help us prevent, is no doubt a colossal crisis of faith . . . but it is also a crisis of the Papacy.Consider some of the Catholic Prophecy which alerts of a coming papal crisis:……
…….Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, a German Augustinian nun who bore the stigmata of Our Lord, from visions which she had in 1820: “I saw a strange church being built against every rule . . . In that church, nothing came from high above . . . It is probably a church of human creation, following the latest fashion, as well as the new heterodox church of Rome, which seems of the same kind. I saw again the strange big church that was being built in Rome. There was nothing holy in it. I see the Holy Father in great anguish. I see the false church of darkness is making progress, and I see the dreadful influence it has on people. The Holy Father and the Church are verily in so great a distress that one must implore God day and night.”
Ÿ Our Lady of La Salette, September 19, 1846, but not put in writing by Melanie, the main seer, until 1878,“Rome will lose the faith and become the seat of the Antichrist. The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay.”
[skipping some other prophecy and also discussion of the 3rd Secret of Fatima, only partially revealed, with which I will assume readers are already quite familiar]
………The full content of the Third Secret of Fatima remains undisclosed, but the available testimony regarding this content zeroes in on a Papal crisis. For example:
→ Cardinal Oddi, stated on March 17, 1990, “The Blessed Virgin was alerting us against apostasy in the Church.”
→ Cardinal Ciappi (personal papal theologian to Popes Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II), stated in March 2002, “In the Third Secret it is foretold, among other things, that the great apostasy in the Church will begin at the top.”
→ Fr. Malachi Martin, who was a close collaborator with Cardinal Bea under Pope John XXIII, read the Third Secret. In 1997, Fr. Martin gave an interview on the Art Bell Show. He confirmed that the Secret reveals a Pope who “would be under the control of Satan.”
One of the salient indications of the Message of Fatima is that while it warns of a grave crisis in the Papacy, it also underscores the authority of the Pope, the sacredness of the Office, and identifies the Papacy as the solution to the crisis! Our Lady highlights the key and indispensable role of the Pope—it is the Vicar of Christ who must consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart in union with all of the world’s Bishops. Our Blessed Mother reveals plainly that the solution to the crisis rests in the hands of her Son’s Vicar on earth and Successor to St. Peter. The answer lies in Catholicism, whole and untarnished, without which man shall most certainly perish forever………[I really thank Father for saying this. It is so very rarely heard today]
[Also omitting a discussion of the nature of the Petrine office and its essential role in insuring the integrity of the Doctrine of the Faith, as defined at Vatican I, Fourth Constantinople, and Florence. Getting to the crux of the matter:]
……….What happens if the See of St. Peter is blemished by error, allows error to go unchecked, or even promotes the spread of heresy? How can this be? Is this even possible? We just finished quoting Church doctrine, “the See of St. Peter always remains unblemished by any error.” The scope of this article is very limited, so it cannot address this substantial topic directly (i.e. the sedevacantist argument/position); however, I will note that the Message of Our Lady of Fatima provides us with two significant points to consider in this regard: (1) we are witnessing a terrible crisis in the Papacy, and (2) the divine remedy for the crisis will come from the Papacy. It is the Pope who must consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is the Pope who must obey God’s command. It is the Pope himself who must submit to Catholic truth, in order for there to be a restoration of Catholicism. [I have to agree with this. I also have an admission I’ve been meaning to make, which I might break out as a separate post, but in spite of my indication I intended to sign the petition calling for Pope Francis to step down (in a moment of great exasperation), I found myself unable to do so. I just can’t. I am not able to fully explain why, it just doesn’t feel right to me, as a lay person (and a convert from protestantism), to tell the Pope what to do.]
Ever since the Apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima, the Popes themselves have illustrated the crisis afflicting their Office. On the one hand, they have given unprecedented papal approval and support to Fatima; on the other hand, they continue to disobey Our Lady’s command. Including Pope Francis, eight consecutive Popes have now failed to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and all six Popes since John XXIII, inclusive, have refused to reveal the full contents of the Third Secret. The Popes have not obeyed the command of Heaven! Scandalous, inconceivable, yet incontestably true: the Popes have disobeyed God. [Because, many feel, myself included, they have been far more concerned about the opinion of men than obeying the Will of God. They fear the worldly repercussions of such a definitively unecumenical act. They fear political fallout. They fear economic repercussions. They fear, apparently more than they love or believe.]
Our Lady’s Message at Fatima presents us with a daunting paradox: the Papacy is in grave crisis/only the Papacy can provide the ultimate solution. In light of this paradox, in order to restore Tradition, we must do the following:
(1) Following the example of Sr. Lucia of Fatima, we must do our very best to practice obedience and respect towards legitimate Church authority, especially the Pope, because the ultimate solution to the crisis will come from the top. Jesus Christ’s Church is hierarchical.
(2) The Pope and the Papacy itself will have much to suffer. The Papacy is in crisis, so following the example of Blessed Jacinta of Fatima, we must make greater efforts to pray and sacrifice for the Holy Father. [God allows our sins to be the source of our punishment. While that punishment is not overtly visible, yet, it is easy to imagine ways in which the Papacy will suffer greatly as a natural result of the path popes have followed over the past several decades]
(3) Following the example of Blessed Francisco of Fatima, let us spend more time before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. We go before Our Lord because we love Him. Let us go before Him to make reparation for our sins, the sins of others, and the sins of the Church hierarchy.
(4) Let us take seriously the daunting nature of this papal paradox. In practice, this means no infighting among the various traditionalist groups because we recognize that allegiance to a particular group (FSSPX, FSSP, Institute of Christ the King, Diocesan Latin Mass apostolate, the Resistance, Sedevacantist groups) is not the ultimate solution to the crisis. It is the Pope who must obey God and the timeless lex orandi, lex credendi of the Catholic Church. It is the Pope who must religiously guard and faithfully expound the Deposit of Faith transmitted by the Apostles, which includes the Traditional Latin Mass. It is the Pope who must consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in union with the Bishops of the world. [This is such an important point, and one of the prime reasons why I have always assiduously avoided the internecine conflict traditional Catholics seem to love so much. Doing so has cost me, personally, quite a bit. I am very comfortable in a certain traditional milieu, but, many in that same milieu have been formed in a certainty that only their particular group is really right/good/holy, and that those in other groups are deficient, bad, or even unholy. So it’s been a very difficult position to maintain, but I do so because I feel much like Father does, in this time of unprecedented confusion and unbelievable abdication of duty at the highest levels of the Church, we should have great compassion and understanding for those who may not have it as perfectly figured out as we do, or like to think we do. I also maintain my position of assiduous neutrality in the traditional wars because I think this conflict is pointless and self-defeating.]
(5) Let us take seriously the daunting nature of this papal paradox. In practice, this means acknowledging the positive contributions which each group of traditional Catholics is making towards the restoration of the Faith, and realizing that we need each other. Almost certainly, there is no single, natural way through which God will choose to bring about His victory (i.e. no one, sole traditionalist group has the papal paradox perfectly figured out). The diabolical disorientation that has clouded every level of the Church is real, and it affects all traditional Catholics as well. This makes it extremely difficult to discern God’s holy Will properly.We need each other.
There is a papal crisis, so let us thank Almighty God for the heroic efforts of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Bishop Bernard Fellay, and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X, to preserve the lex orandi, lex credendi of the Church pure and uncontaminated. The Society of St. Pius X are loyal sons of the Church. May God bless them. Only the Papacy can provide the ultimate solution to the crisis, so let us thank Almighty God for all the various Ecclesia Dei priestly societies and communities, and Diocesan Latin Mass apostolates, for their sincere efforts to practice holy obedience to the Holy See. They too are loyal sons of the Church. May God bless them. Finally, there are many of our sedevacantist brethren who love the Church and the Papacy, and are trying their very best to contribute to the restoration of the true Faith. They are also loyal sons and daughters of Holy Mother Church. May God bless them.
———-End Quote———-
This post is getting quite long, so that’s all for now. I will say that Father’s recommendation for our role in the restoration of the Faith (the third part of his three part plan, the cross) is centered much more on practicing personal sanctity than it is on polemics and, it must be said, getting fired up reading blogs or other Catholic news sites. In fact, he recommends that souls to a lot more penance, Adoration, prayer, and works of virtue than reading sites like mine. I have no problem with him saying that. It gives me much to think about.
In closing, may I return the blessing on Fr. Rodriguez…….he has suffered much for Holy Mother Church and has done so with a placid, joyful heart. I pray he may continue to do so. I pray he may continue to fight for the restoration of our glorious Holy Mother Church. I pray God may bless him and his apostolate most abundantly at all times. And I pray the persecution he has endured may cease.
Do go read the whole thing, as they say.