Father Yannick Escher, SSPX Priest, Talks

Jan 23

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Hoped to die before having to celebrate the Novus Ordo: Padre Pio.

This man is certainly worth 17 minutes of your time and I’d suggest that you do not let your next meal come before having seen this video.

Father Yannick is obviously not an originally trained SSPX priest. He mentions both the formation in a state university and his experience in a (non-SSPX) seminary. He makes examples of what obviously was his life as a diocesan priest. He has nothing of the, let us say, “Williamson” style of being an SSPX member. This is a young, well-prepared, eloquent, sincere priest talking about the problems experienced in his trying to be a good priest.

Forget for a moment that he did become a member of the SSPX. This short document is disconcerting, because the very same words could have been said (were it not for the fear or retaliation) by almost any priest in Western Europe. There is not one word of rebellion to Rome and not one word of criticism of the reality (that is: the documents, not the “spirit”) of Vatican II; there is the constant reference to how Rome says things must be done as opposed to the praxis found in his diocese; there is a simple, calm but determined attitude of looking at the problems in the face rather than just singing the next sugary hymn and pretending that everything is fine.

In seventeen minutes, this short interview covers much of what doesn’t work and at the same time shows that SSPX and the Vatican are much nearer to each other than you’d think. The greatest distance from the SSPX is to be found not in Rome, but in the liberal dioceses with their heterodox praxis and their utter neglect of their duty of care.

You will enjoy this video. Every second of it. It looks at the problems, but it gives hope. It clearly speaks of the thirst for real spirituality among the young and the way this thirst is not quenched. But the thirst is there.

I wish we had more priests like this one, and I wish that they weren’t forced to move to the SSPX to do their job properly.

Mundabor

Posted on January 23, 2011, in Catholicism, FSSPX and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.

  1. bmcp4tr01 | January 24, 2011 at 11:01 am

    I encountered a pre-seminary candidate who was a free thinking but conservative 17 yo with a healthy contempt for authority. I spoke to him several years into his course and the transformation is tangible: he has become a total “company” man – buying completely into the model which Fr Yannick questions.

    A young man can be sent to Rome at a cost of 100k and emerge with 3 degrees – all paid for by the Church (unlike a close relative of mine who is facing a bill of in excess of 30k for her three year course). He is also given a house and a car as ordination gifts. What causes concern is that if the seminary course is of dubious value and imposing an ecclesiological model on the candidates which is flawed, who will question this? Certainly not the recipient of the 3 degrees, car and house when one might realistically hope that these young bucks would question the failed policies of the status quo. The matter is further complicated by the hostility to the priesthood which now exists at the highest levels the Church. If a bishop if forking out 100k a shot, do not lay led communion services seem even more attractive than ever before?

    Talking to the older Irish priests in our diocese it was the common practice for pre-conciliar candidates to pay for their own training. On occasion an English bishop might offer assistance with the funding during an interview early in their formation at All Hallows. By contrast, the present strategy towards priestly formation is more complex than ever and unless a candidate has an independent income from wealthy parents and thereby control his own formation, what sort of priests is the present system producing?

    • mundabor | January 24, 2011 at 8:30 pm

      Excellent observations, bmcp, but I think that the problem is not who pays, but for whom it is paid.. 😉

      I don’t know who pays in Econe, but boy I do not think they have such problems over there..

      Today I have known of Thiberville. If I were a french priest, the SSPX would clearly be an option.

      M

      P.s. authority should be looked at with respect first, if you ask me. Healthy mistrust/control is OK, but I wouldn’t go beyond that….

  2. wk1999 | May 22, 2011 at 1:03 pm

    Tried to look at the video, but it seems to have been deleted recently. Mundabor, do you have any other link to it. Your post made me quite curious. Thanks and best regards, wk1999

  3. mundabor | May 22, 2011 at 8:38 pm

    wk1999,

    I have found another link and this one even has Spanish undertitles.. 😉 .

    http://bibliaytradicion.wordpress.com/2011/01/28/la-crisis-en-la-iglesia-vista-por-un-sacerdote-de-la-fsspx/

    I have updated the link too, and thank for your information!

    M

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