Archbishop Ranjith

[I was sent this quote yesterday from the speech of Archbishop Ranjith last Saturday in The Netherlands. This quote was given at the end of a lecture entitled "Faith, Obedience and Theology" at the annual meeting of the Dutch Latin Liturgy Association (Vereniging voor Latijnse Liturgie) in 's-Hertogenbosch (The Netherlands), October the 6th 2007.

I had been holding off on posting this quotation until I looked a bit into any possible inaccuracies. This was because of the fact that it had been translated back and forth from and into English. However, the person who sent it has noted that they themselves heard this quotation and it is a person who I trust as regards this sort of information. The quote was an aside at the end of Archbishop Ranjith's presentation in the Netherlands, but its contents are secondarily confirmed by a Dutch reporter who printed it here: http://www.katholieknieuwsblad.nl/

Therefore, while many of you have likely seen this already, I present it nonetheless.]

English translation:

"The motu proprio Summorum Pontificum on the Latin Liturgy of July 7th 2007 is the fruit of a deep reflection by our Pope on the mission of the Church. It is not up to us, who wear ecclesiastical purple and red, to draw this into question, to be disobedient and make the motu proprio void by our own little, tittle rules. Even not if they were made by a bishops conference. Even bishops do not have this right. What the Holy Fathers says, has to be obeyed in the Church. If we do not follow this principle, we will allow ourselves to be used as instruments of the devil, and nobody else. This will lead to discord in the Church, and slows down her mission. We do not have the time to waste on this. Else we behave like emperor Nero, fiddling on his violin while Rome was burning. The churches are emptying, there are no vocations, the seminaries are empty. Priests become older and older, and young priests are scarce"

Dutch text taken from the newspaper mentioned above:

"Het motu proprio Summorum Pontificum over de Latijnse liturgie van 7 juli 2007 is de vrucht van een diepe overdenking door de paus van de missie van de Kerk. Het is niet aan ons, die het kerkelijk paars en rood dragen, daar dan vraagtekentjes bij te zetten, ongehoorzaam te zijn en het motu proprio ongeldig te maken met allerlei eigen kleine, kleine regeltjes. Zelfs niet als dat gebeurt door een bisschoppenconferentie. Ook bisschoppen hebben dat recht niet. Wat de Heilige Vader zegt, moet in de Kerk opgevolgd worden. Als wij dat beginsel niet aanhouden, leidt dat ertoe dat wij ons als instrument laten gebruiken door de duivel, en door niemand anders. Het leidt tot verdeeldheid in de Kerk, en vertraagt haar missie. We hebben geen tijd daaraan te verspillen. Anders gedragen we ons als keizer Nero, die fiedelde op zijn viool terwijl Rome brandde. De kerken lopen leeg, er zijn geen roepingen, de seminaries zijn leeg. Priesters worden ouder en ouder, en jonge priesters komen er nauwelijks"