Announcement to the faithful: Appointment of the District Superior of Canada

The Fraternity of Saint Pius X, which seeks first and foremost to make priests through its seminaries, wants at the same time to accompany, supervise and help these same priests to live their priesthood, to put into practice all the magnificent teaching of the Church on priestly sanctity towards which they must strive.

As early as the 1970s, Archbishop Lefebvre put in the Statutes of the Society this project which he had at heart.  The same Archbishop who had brought the Carmelites to Senegal to assure the divine blessing on his missionary work also wanted a contemplative house in the Society as he stated in these words:

“In the main house or in another house designated for this purpose, there will be a community of a more contemplative character, devoted to the celebration of Holy Mass, to the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, to the preaching of retreats, and hearing confessions.

Some members, with the approval of the Superior General, could be attached to this community in a definitive way. All those who so wish could come, with the same authorization, to spend a year or two in this community in order to increase their sanctification and fervour. This community should be the solid base and lightning rod of the Fraternity. It must allow the Society to always keep its true end which is the sanctification of the priesthood, its essential devotion to the holy sacrifice of the Mass and the holy Passion of Our Lord, its doctrinal firmness, its true zeal for the salvation of souls.”  

(Statutes of the Society of Saint Pius X)

This project has been carried out in recent years with the Notre-Dame Contemplative House, in Montgardin, France. In fact the building is a former Carmelite convent.

On my departure, I would like to thank my confreres who work in our seven houses in this great district for their priestly and truly fraternal friendship and for their generous apostolate for the salvation of souls. Ad multos annos!

I also thank all of you, faithful of the Society of Saint Pius X, for your support which is manifested unceasingly and in all sorts of ways: your prayers, your sacrifices, your frequent encouragement, your financial generosity, especially towards our schools.

May the Good Lord give it back to you a hundredfold here on earth and for all eternity.  You can be sure that I will carry you all in my heart whenever I have the privilege of going to one of those shrines that adorn these countries of old Europe and at the grave of Archbishop Lefebvre.

My successor will be Father David Sherry, who is currently the principal of our school in Ontario, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy. Please give him all the support he deserves and will need.  

Our new assignments will come into effect on August 15, feast of the Assumption.

I bless you all in the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

Father Daniel Couture