Father Francis Fenton

I believe the nearly 2,000-year-old Roman Catholic Church to be the one true Church established by the son of God as the one ordinary means for the sanctification and salvation of all men. I believe that that Church exists today and that it will continue to exist until the end of time. Whatever that Church has taught down through the centuries as being the revealed Word of God, I firmly and fully accept, and I believe any violation of- or deviation from- that teaching to be unacceptable because it is contrary to the will of God. 

Over the last several years I have seen so many and such drastic and radical changes in the Roman Catholic Church that it has become ever more difficult for me to recognize the current Catholic Church as identifiable with that of history. The contents of the catechetical texts being used in so many of the Catholic schools around the country bear little resemblance to traditional Catholic doctrine. Alleged Catholic priests openly deny the divinity of Christ, the Redemption, papal infallibility and life after death, while others publicly call into question such fundamental doctrines of our faith as original sin, the Virgin Birth, Transubstantiation, the Resurrection, and the Ascension as well as the traditional teaching of the Church on such subjects as abortion and marriage. To say nothing of those priests who have aligned themselves with the avowed enemies of God, family and country through all sorts of revolutionary and subversive activities. I have seen these priests remain in good standing in the current Catholic Church with rarely any action taken against them by their superiors. 

Above all else, I have seen this beautiful, ages-old Latin Mass- the very heart and center of our God-given faith-all but totally supressed in the current Catholic Church and substituted in its place a service which many non-Catholics can and do accept, who believe neither in the Real Presence nor in the sacrificial nature of the Mass. I have seen Catholic Churches and the liturgy around the country discredited with all manner of  abominations with hardly a word of reprimand, much less forthright condemnation, being uttered but those responsible before Almighty God for the proper and reverential conduct of divine worship. 

While myself refusing to offer the so-called "new mass" and while taking advantage of the various opportunities presented to me by way of  public speeches and published articles to expose and to oppose the destruction of the orthodox Roman Catholic Church, I nonetheless some time ago began increasingly to feel the necessity to do more to preserve and to restore the Catholic faith that  I had thus far been doing. 

And so it was that I received with much satisfaction the world of the establishment of the Orthodox Roman Catholic Movement and, in due time, became quite convinced both of its soundness and of the great potential it offered as a viable means for the preservation and propagation of our traditional Catholic religion. This movement is thoroughly orthodox in the sense of total fidelity to the sacred teachings and traditions of the historic Roman Catholic Church. The situation being what it is in relation to the current Catholic Church, the existence of the Orthodox Roman Catholic Movement is completely justified morally and canonically. It provides an absolutely legitimate answer to the massive problem which has beset traditional Roman Catholics in recent years as to what to do and where to turn in the face of the universal turmoil and deterioration that has befallen the Roman Catholic Church. Be assured that, God willing, this Movement is here to stay until such time as its existence is no longer needed, however long or short in the Providence of God that time may be. I thank the good Lord for it and beg His continual guidance and blessing upon all of those who are in any way associated with it.

The other day a gentleman came into this chapel and, as he viewed for the first time the beautiful traditional altar and sanctuary and all the rest, with a voice faltering with emotion he turned to me and said: "Father, it's just like coming home again." It is indeed. In the words  addressed by St. Peter to Christ on Mount Thabor, "Lord, it is good for us to be here" - a sentiment shared, I am sure, by just about everybody here this morning. After a lengthy absence, it's always good to be home again. 

(delivered at Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel, Monroe Conn.)