25th anniversary of Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter
July 19, 2013
In 1988, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without papal approval, leading to the excommunication of all five.
A dozen priests and 20 seminarians of the archbishop’s Society of St. Pius X soon founded the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, whose mission, notes its website, is twofold: “first, the formation and sanctification of priests in the cadre of the traditional liturgy of the Roman rite, and secondly, the pastoral deployment of the priests in the service of the Church.”
“We’ve gone from a handful of priests and seminarians to 240 priests and 140 seminarians worldwide,” said Father John Berg, the Fraternity’s superior general. “The numbers are good, so you have to be thankful for them. More important than numbers, though, is the retention of our original identity while serving the lay faithful on a day-to-day basis.”
“I suppose each generation thinks that this is an even greater challenge than it was for the one before it, but we need to form men who want to live a life of self-sacrifice,” he added. “This is done in imitation of Christ, in whose priesthood they share.”
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Further information:
- Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter Turns 25 (National Catholic Register)
- Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter
- Blessed John Paul II: Apostolic Letter Ecclesia Dei Adflicta (1988)
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