Resurrexit Sicut Dixit! A Final Word from Septuagesima70

Resurrexit sicut dixit! Alleluia! He is risen as He said — and with those ancient, jubilant words, the whole of our Septuagesima70 journey finds its meaning and its crown.

To every soul who walked with us through these weeks of preparation, reflection, and renewal: a most blessed and holy Easter to you and to all those dear to you. May the joy of the Resurrection fill your homes, your hearts, and your prayer — not only on this great feast, but throughout the fifty days of Eastertide and beyond.

We set out together in the ancient season of Septuagesima, seventy days before Easter, walking the Church's long preparation in a spirit of recollection and conversion. What began in the grey of late winter ends now in the white and gold of the Resurrection. Lumen Christi. The light of Christ — and what a light it is.

Your Lenten Money Box — Three Worthy Destinations

As our programme draws to a close, many of you will be asking: what to do with the contents of your Lenten money box? We are grateful to be able to suggest three worthy destinations — each one a way of turning your small, faithful sacrifices into something lasting and fruitful.

1. The Iria Foundation

The Iria Foundation was established to support the traditional Catholic faith, its education, and the apostolates that flow from it. It is the body that makes Septuagesima70 possible — quietly providing the infrastructure, the platform, and the organisational framework that brings programmes like this one to you.

Yet the Foundation finds itself at a critical juncture. Simply maintaining the website, the non-profit structure, and meeting Australian tax and regulatory obligations costs in the order of $5,000–$7,000 each year. Behind the scenes, dedicated volunteers — among them Marisa, Phoebe, and others — have given their time generously and without remuneration to make Septuagesima70 what it has been. None of this is possible without ongoing support.

Beyond infrastructure, the Foundation has a pastoral heart. It has assisted priests who, through their fidelity to the Traditional Liturgy, find themselves without a diocesan stipend — helping with living costs, travel, and the practical necessities that allow them to continue their ministry to the faithful. This is quiet, unglamorous, and deeply necessary work.

And the Foundation's vision reaches forward. Among the projects its directors are developing is a Traditional Vocations and Pilgrimage Tour — a remarkable 16-day journey for high school aged boys and their fathers, departing Sydney in September, visiting traditional seminaries, monasteries, and shrines across France, Germany, Italy, and beyond: from the IBP Seminary at Courtalain and Le Barroux, to Lourdes, the FSSP Seminary at Wigratzbad, Trent, Milan, Bologna, the Holy House of Loreto, Norcia, Florence, and Rome. Daily Traditional Latin Mass, fraternal formation, and an encounter with the full breadth of the living tradition — all in a single extraordinary pilgrimage. This is the kind of future the Iria Foundation is working to make real.

Your Lenten money box contribution to the Iria Foundation helps keep this work alive — the visible and the invisible, the already accomplished and the yet to come.

Donate at: iriafoundation.org.au/donate

2. Tithe for Tradition

Tithe for Tradition is a foundation with a singular purpose: to preserve, protect, and promote the Traditional Latin Mass — not by managing decline, but by fuelling a genuine rebirth of Catholic culture. Your contribution through this foundation supports two remarkable initiatives, both close to the heart of Septuagesima70, and both animated by the tireless ministry of Fr. Withoos.

The Chartres Pilgrimage

Each year at Pentecost, one of the most extraordinary events in the traditional Catholic world takes place: nearly 20,000 young people walk a marathon a day for three days, from the centre of Paris to the greatest work of Gothic architecture in the world — Chartres Cathedral. It is gruelling, joyful, prayerful, and utterly alive.

This year, Fr. Withoos will make his 18th pilgrimage to Chartres as chaplain of the St. Joseph Custos Traditionis chapter — the most multinational of the hundreds of chapters from around the globe. For young Catholics who have never encountered the tradition beyond their own parish or country, Chartres is a revelation: proof, in tens of thousands of marching, singing, praying young feet, that the Church's future belongs to those who love her past. Scholarships are available for those in need, because cost should not be the only obstacle to participating.

Pro Civitate Dei

If Chartres moves the heart and tests the body, Pro Civitate Dei — the City of God — is its intellectual companion. Each year, some of the brightest young Catholic minds from around the world are brought together for approximately ten days in the South of France, immersed in what remains of living Catholic culture — and invited to help rebuild it.

The days are ordered by Mass, the Divine Office, and the full rhythm of the liturgical life. The evenings, and the table, and the vine-covered air of the Midi are all consciously Catholic — a living argument that beauty, truth, and goodness belong together. But at the heart of Pro Civitate Dei are the lectures: rigorous, inspiring, demanding engagements with the Catholic intellectual tradition, designed to arm young minds for the very real challenge of remaining — and thinking — Catholic in a world that is, in many quarters, openly hostile to the faith.

Fr. Withoos brings to this initiative the same pastoral dedication he brings to Chartres: a priest who walks with the young, in every sense.

Your contribution to Tithe for Tradition helps sustain both of these apostolates directly. Give at: tithefortradition.org

3. A Personal Word — Fr. Withoos

I confess this is the section I find hardest to write. Asking for money does not come naturally to me — but then, as someone once observed, it does tend to make the world go around, and honesty compels me to admit that I am no exception to that rule.

The work I do for Tradition — for God and for His Church — means that I no longer receive a standard diocesan stipend. The Sisters at Still River provide my accommodation and a small honorarium, and for that I am truly grateful. But beyond that, I rely on the generosity of those who value what this work is and what it costs.

And there are costs. Travel to and from Australia is not cheap — and this year there is a potentially historic reason to make that journey: to assist a new traditional religious order in establishing itself here, in this country. Travel to Europe each summer, to walk with young people at Chartres, to give myself to Pro Civitate Dei, to encourage vocations wherever I find them — that too must be paid for somehow. And then there are the ordinary, quiet expenses of running a rectory: entertaining brother priests, the small but real demands of priestly hospitality — all, as they say, on my own dime.

So this year, for the first time, I am making available a simple and direct way for you to contribute, should you feel so moved. I have set up a Wise account, which accepts contributions in a wide range of currencies — making it straightforward whether you are in Australia, the United States, Europe, or anywhere else.

If you do not yet have a Wise account, you can sign up here: wise.com/invite/ihpc/markleonardusw

To contribute directly, simply follow this link: wise.com/pay/me/markleonardusw

(For those in Australia, it is simple enough to make a contribution directly to my NAB account via PayID — please send me a DM at @FrWithoos on Telegram to request the details.)

(And indeed, if you would like to know more about my work, my travels, or any of the initiatives I am involved in, I am always happy to hear from you — please do not hesitate to reach out by DM on Telegram as well.)

Qui seminat in benedictionibus, de benedictionibus et metet.

He who sows generously shall also reap generously.

Whatever you are able to give, I receive with gratitude and hold in my prayers.

Resurrexit sicut dixit. Alleluia, alleluia.

With every blessing of the Paschal season,

Fr. Withoos

Septuagesima70

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