"In Every Dictatorship The Past is Censured" -- From the Life of a Diocesan Priest Who Discovered the Immemorial Mass of All Ages

(Milan) Don Alberto Secci, born in 1963, ordained in 1988, is a priest of the Diocese of Novara on the border with Switzerland. Don Secci became famous when he announced with two other diocesan priests, that he was bringing the traditional form of the Roman Rite back according to the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI.. The result was great resistance from the diocesan leadership, the rest of the clergy and public hostility. Today he may celebrate the Old Rite and proclaim the undiminished faith - in a tiny mountain village with a few hundred inhabitants. In an interview, he talks about the crisis in the Church and the importance of tradition.

As the three priests announced their decision according to  Summorum Pontificum,  there was massive resistance in the diocesan leadership and the rest of the clergy of the diocese who immediately stirred up  sedition  of  the parishioners against their pastor. The priests became a national news story. The entire press of Italy reported about them. They were described as "stubborn" and denounced as "agents provocateurs"."We had become a scandal overnight, for the world and the diocese," said Don Secci. The Pope generously granted the Motu Proprio "and for that, the Church can't thank him enough," said the priest. However, Rome was unable to prevail against the selfishness of some bishops who consider their diocese as a private fief. Two Priests are active today in the Southern Alps at Domodossola Verbania and close to the Swiss border, a pastors. To expand its reach, they run the Internet apostolate Radicati nella Fede (Rooted in Faith) and  seek the instruction of the faithful in the Church's teaching of all time in their parish boundaries. In January, the fourth annual "Day of the Tradition" will take place, which Don Secci organizes once a year. The theme for 2014 is: "Winter in the Church after the Second Vatican Council". The topic is taken from the book by Cristina Siccardi (see separate article The Winter of the Church after the Second Vatican Council - The new book to an open question )  who will be present as a speaker.The interview with Don Alberto Secci was conducted by Riscossa Cristiana .

1) It is becoming increasingly apparent, even in relation to the celebration of the Holy Mass (Old Rite and New Rite) that there are two different ways to live the Catholic religion: priests and faithful, are oriented to lessons that are subject to the modern revolution, and other priests and faithful who adhere to the teachings and principles of the Church's tradition. How do you think it will be possible one day to resolve this dichotomy again?

Don Alberto Secci: It is necessary that those who have the grace to recognize this terrible dichotomy, have to choose for God, to live in complete catholicity  according to Catholic tradition. This is the crucial point. In Christianity there is nothing abstract. You said: "also in relation to the celebration of the Holy Mass in the traditional rite".  I'd rather say they remain Catholic, believers hold fast to the teachings and principles of the Church's tradition.. The believers who are  held by the revolution, however, have only a vague Christian inspiration and the only in the best cases. To be precise, you said: "in reference to the Mass."  Allow me to emphasize this "also". Why? Not in the sense, as if there were just the Mass, because the Doctrine of the  Faith is inseparable from the Mass and  connected to the entire apostolate. But it is much more in the sense that the Catholic life is the continuation of grace, which comes above all through the sacraments, and thus is the center of the Holy Mass, indeed a Mass without an ambiguous rite. Therefore, If  someone had the grace to understand the dramatic situation,  he would not trade his   conscience for personal acquiescence. One must look for a traditional Mass site and make this the comprehensive place of education in the faith, in the broadest sense of the word, not just intellectually. Small centers of the normal Catholic life, quite modest and perhaps even quite poor, but largely because of the graces that they convey. This will be the solution, God willing. It is our duty to decide whether we want to tread a path of grace and therefore, tradition by loving the Church in Her suffering. God is the solution to this mystery ailment. But God has already solved everything. We are to lovingly care about the Church and not "politically."