In answer to your preliminary concerns, the information you have reported about the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) is correct:
Assuming the SSPX priest was validly ordained, the consecration of the Eucharist at an SSPX Mass is valid. However, because the SSPX is in a state of schism from the Church (cf.
Ecclesia Dei), Masses offered by SSPX priests are gravely illicit (i.e., unlawful).
In theory, if there were no other place in your area where you could go for Mass, an SSPX Mass could satisfy the Sunday obligation. Even then, though, when such circumstances as being in a place without a valid, licit Catholic Mass exist, the Sunday obligation is dispensed and so there is no need to try to fulfill the obligation at an SSPX Mass. In your case, you do have access to the valid, licit Masses offered by your diocese, so there is absolutely no reason you should be attending an SSPX chapel for daily or Sunday Mass.
As for confession, you have again been given correct information. Because SSPX priests do not have faculties from the local bishop to be hearing confessions, the ordinary confessions given to an SSPX priest are invalid. Because the Church recognizes the need for confession for a dying person, the Church allows for such a person who is in danger of death to receive the sacrament from
any validly ordained priest – even one who is in a state of schism, or who has been laicized, or even one who has abandoned the Church altogether. In ordinary circumstances though, the Church expects a Catholic to find a properly-authorized priest to hear his confession. (For more information, please see Jimmy Akin’s article
SSPX Confessions.)
In
Ecclesia Dei, the late John Paul II pleaded with those who were associated in any way with the SSPX:
In the present circumstances I wish especially to make an appeal both solemn and heartfelt, paternal and fraternal, to all those who until now have been linked in various ways to the movement of Archbishop Lefebvre, that they may fulfill the grave duty of remaining united to the Vicar of Christ in the unity of the Catholic Church, and of ceasing their support in any way for that movement.
I sympathize with your desire for the Tridentine Mass, a desire that John Paul II affirmed as a valid desire and asked the bishops of the world to fulfill by allowing celebrations of the Tridentine Mass in their dioceses. Indeed, you report that your own diocese does offer celebrations of the Latin Mass.
Your first obligation though is to attend the Mass and to receive the sacraments that the Church provides, whether or not the Mass or the sacraments are celebrated according to the rubrics you prefer. If diocesan-approved Tridentine Masses are available in your diocese, that’s great and you should feel free to attend. If not, then please offer up your longings for the Tridentine Mass and the prior rubrical celebration of the other sacraments to Jesus on the cross and receive the sacraments at Catholic parishes (either Latin or Eastern rite) in your diocese. The sacrifice may seem great, but God is never outdone in generosity.
**Recommended reading:
A Crisis of Saints** by Fr. Roger Landry
[
Problems In the Church (
http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2001/0104bt.asp) by Jimmy Akin
