The SSPX is very tempting to me, I attended their Mass a couple of times (which were great) but I haven’t been back since because my parish priest told me that I could not attend Mass at their chapels. The thing is this, I understand where the SSPX is coming from, I even agree with a lot of what they say, but their Masses ARE illicit. The question with the SSPX is not validity, their Masses are certainly valid, the question is licitness. Since the SSPX has no canonical status, they have no local bishop, and no jurisdiction. Therefore, (since jurisdiction is required for the sacrament of confession) all of their confessions are invalid, and all of their Masses are illicit. Remember if a priest celebrates a black mass it is valid, but it is not licit.
To go against the Pope and to go with the SSPX is like saying Jesus is wrong, when he said that the gates of hell would not prevail against his Church, because why else would someone leave it. Remember that we are called to be obedient, obedience is key throughout the Catholic faith, MANY of the saints preached about obedience (St. Padre Pio, St. Josemaria Escriva, St. Alphonsus Ligouri, St. Francis de Sales…the list goes on) and they were following the example of obedience the was set by Christ himself when He was obedient unto death, death on a cross. After the second Vatican Council (which didn’t call for MANY of the changes we see in some of the Masses today) the Pope said “Roma Locuta Est, Causa Finita Est” which is Latin for “Rome has spoken, the matter is closed,” once the Pope pronounced this we as loyal subjects of Christ are required to obey the successor of Peter (who Jesus made head of the Church). I assure you that we have not acquired some great knowledge in our life that makes us so smart that we know better what to do than the Pope does.
Also St. Alphonsus Ligouri said that we must always be obedient to the Pope, if the Pope told him to get into a row boat and to row across the ocean in the midst of a great storm St. Alphonsus said he would do it, and that if he died then it would be the Pope’s fault for telling St. Alphonsus to do it, but that it is not his place to question the Pope. My point is that we are called to be obedient to the Pope, and always do what he says even if it seems to be wrong to us, and if we are doing what is wrong because of the Pope, then that is something the Pope has to answer for, not us. However, when we go on our own and join an illicit society that is NOT in communion with Rome, then we are disobedient to the Pope, and if Archbishop Lefebvre leads us down the wrong path, he is NOT accorded the same status of the Pope. If we do something that is wrong because Archbishop Lefebvre told us to then that is on us, because Archbishop Lefebvre is not the Pope, Jesus did not build the Church on the Rock of Archbishop Lefebvre, therefore we CANNOT follow the SSPX without risking our souls.
I agree that there have been abuses in the Novus Ordo, but there are GOOD Novus Ordo Masses too, if you go to a Novus Ordo and the are using Gregorian Chant, an Organ, and generally being Catholic then YOU HAVE TO GO TO THAT MASS IF THERE IS NO LATIN MASS AROUND YOU. If the Novus Ordo has dancing girls, they are blessing you with a supersoaker, and the priest is beat-boxing the consecration, then I would avoid that Mass. If there is a good Novus Ordo around you and there is an SSPX Latin Mass around you, YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE NOVUS ORDO, THE SSPX DOES NOT FULFILL YOU OBLIGATION AS A CATHOLIC BECAUSE IT IS ILLICIT.
Remember there were abuses in the liturgy before Vatican II as well, in Malachi Martin’s book Hostage to the Devil a possesed priest would change the words because he was speaking Latin and no one knew the difference, he would also baptize in the name of the earth, the wind, and fire. Liturgical abuse is not something new. We as Catholics that do understand and know are faith should try to change our parishes from within, we cannot abandon our Church, if we see something wrong, we should speak up, but we cannot go outside of the Church and expect to still be a part of the Church.
