J
JReducation
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That does not prove that I’m wrong. I never claimed to be an FSSP priest. I was very clear. I was a major superior and these are the rules for major superiors. Unless the FSSP has earned exceptioins to these rules, its superior works within the same framework as the rest of us.
We must understand one thing here. The ED communities are not exempt from Canon Law or the protocols and procedures of the Sacred Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. The were placed under the ED to protect them from being bullied and for the sake of having an office in the Holy See with oversight of their ministry. However, the ED does not make rules and policies for the institutes. That right falls to the Sacred Congregation or directly to the Holy Father as is the case with the Jesuits and with the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross (Opus Dei).
They follow the policies, procedures and laws that are typical for religious and secular institutes, except those from which they are exempt because of their status. In the case of the Jesuits, they are free from many obligations of religious life. In the case of the Holy Cross, they are part of the Prelature of the Opus Dei, therefore secular. However, the Prelature functions like a diocese without boundaries. Rather than follow the systems that most societies of apostolic life follow, they function as if they were diocesan priests in a diocese without bounds.
I do not deny that the FSSP may also have privileges and exceptions created only for them. I have simply said, that in the absence of that information, we do what the Church always does, we assume that they follow what is established for societies of apostolic life. You should never assume an exemption.
Again, if you know something that we do not, it would help us to understand the FSSP better, if you share it.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
