“Fidelity to Promises”  –Fr. Vili Lehtoranta

Easter III

Bishop’s Note
I think it’s been a pretty good week here in West Chester. Most of our First Communicants are ready and I’m confident that the rest soon will be. Fr. Lehtoranta tested them last week. This time each year is such a sweet time as we (parents, teachers, and clergy) do our part to prepare the way, St. John the Baptist-like, for Our Lord, Innocence itself, to enter into the innocent of heart. Don’t you wish you could go back to your first Communion Day and do it all over again? Ah! That’s a bit of a trick question. We should not look backwards with vain wishes, but look forward with a courageous heart and lots of good will. You get to receive Our Lord each day, if you choose. Let our children’s First Communions renew your fervor, and pray for those who have lost their love for the Eucharistic King and who have not yet made their Easter Duty.

Congratulations to John and Julie (Hudson) Brueggemann on their wedding yesterday. Fr. Brueggemann did a find job—I believe it was his first wedding. There are a number of other weddings scheduled this summer, another encouraging sign of our growth here at St. Gertrude’s!

Fr. McKenna told me that “Bishop” Vitus Huonder died a few days ago. Do you remember the name? He was the retired bishop of the Novus Ordo who “consecrated” the holy oils for the SSPX last year. The problem: he was consecrated in the invalid new rite of episcopal consecration and even ordained in the new rite of priestly ordination. Invalid bishop = invalidly consecrated holy oils. Invalidly consecrated holy oils = invalid Confirmations and Extreme Unction. This should give anyone who thinks well of the SSPX cause to rethink the organization. Mass in union with a heretic, acceptance of some priests and bishops of the New Rite, and now more invalid sacraments. Still think they are carrying on the sacred mission of Our Lord Jesus Christ?! They are on the same level as the Novus Ordo because their position leads right back to the Novus Ordo.

This Friday is a big, important day for us. April 26th is Fr. Lehtoranta’s birthday, the feast of the Mother of Good Counsel (who continues to be so good to us, offering her good counsel), and the second anniversary of Bishop Dolan’s death. A “quick” Pontifical Requiem Mass with Absolution will be sung at 11:25 AM. I hope you can come and pray for our beloved late pastor.

As always, I am edified and extremely grateful for all of you, my spiritual children—both here at St. Gertrude’s and in the missions, and I pray for you daily. Please keep me and all the clergy in your prayers.

– Bishop McGuire