Anyone know anything about the FSSP?

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So, as you all have seen, I’m currently a teenager in high school discerning a vocation to the holy priesthood. I know that I’d like to belong to an order or a certain fraternity because I feel that, with that charism, I’d be able to more effectively do God’s work as a religious priest, rather than diocesan. The thought of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter has popped into my head, as I watched their seminary YouTube videos and the life seems very rigorous, but also very attractive to me. Tradition is very big for me, and for a lot of young people today, and I believe that it is tradition that will attract young people, not modern, watered down theology and liturgies. I do not attend the Latin Mass regularly, nor do I know most of what is going on when I rarely attend one, but I know that if I were to become a priest, no matter the order, I’d like to learn to celebrate it. It truly brings to life the mystical union of heaven and earth, and makes the sacrifice of Christ more visibly present, in my opinion, than any ‘versus populum’ Mass could. Does anyone know anything about the life of the FSSP priests? Does anyone know any FSSP priests who are good, holy ones, different from most? Are they in communion with the Church? Any information, not coming from the website, helps, as I’ve already read their website information.

Thanks for all of your answers as always,
Matt
 
MattBalkus said:
Are they in communion with the Church?
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Yes.

The FSSP is what the SSPX ought to be - in fact, the FSSP originates from SSPX priests who got fed up with being in de facto schism from the Holy See and reconciled and normalized their canonical situation.

The FSSP is a great place to look to for a tradition minded Roman Catholic.

I know a very solid FSSP Priest and parish near me. Great people.

I pray for the day the entire SSPX does what the FSSP did. The Church really needs the SSPX - I really wish they would humble themselves and cross the bridge the FSSP built…

But alas instead of that, it seems everyday the SSPX fractures and breaks into more and more splinter factions… Protestant Catholicism at its worst…

Anyway I’m off topic now 😦
 
The FSSP is a fraternity and not an order and live the life more of a parish priest than an order priest. They are very good about making sure that priests are not sent out alone. The seminary forms their priests well, and all of them seem to be well trained to preach and hear confessions. I know some that remind me of the saints. They do tend to stick to the large cities because they can reach larger numbers of souls there, which personally rubs me the wrong way because there are smaller areas with large Latin Mass communities, including my own. But I guess if that’s the worst thing I can think of to say about them, then they’re doing okay.
 
I have. I emailed Fr. Calloway but their priests are only trained in the Novus Ordo form of the Mass. I’m not sure if every priest could learn to celebrate the Latin Mass if he desires. I know they promote orthodoxy though, and I love that.
 
ChristMyLife,
  • No, the SSPX is not is Schism.
Again, let me make the point, how can they be in ‘Schism’ if they have the ordinary canonical faculties to hear confession? You can’t be in Schism and operate with ordinary Jurisdiction.

The SSPX basis it’s position on solid principles of the faith. They need not ‘cross’ any line. They are ‘Catholic’ as Pope Francis has openly stated.
 
All the FSSP homilies I’ve heard have been from very sharp, well-educated men, who aren’t afraid to mince words. They’re much more forthright about uncomfortable topics-- whether it’s the usual hot-button moral issues, or whether it’s about the devil/demons.

I do want to say one of the FSSP priests once mentioned that they were only allowed to say Mass and hear Confessions. I don’t think they were authorized to marry people during a Tridentine Mass— which was odd, because marriage is the one sacrament that a couple conducts upon itself, and the priest is the witness. So I may be misremembering. But they couldn’t Baptize, or offer other sacraments.
 
midori said:
All the FSSP homilies I’ve heard have been from very sharp, well-educated men, who aren’t afraid to mince words. They’re much more forthright about uncomfortable topics-- whether it’s the usual hot-button moral issues, or whether it’s about the devil/demons.

I do want to say one of the FSSP priests once mentioned that they were only allowed to say Mass and hear Confessions. I don’t think they were authorized to marry people during a Tridentine Mass— which was odd, because marriage is the one sacrament that a couple conducts upon itself, and the priest is the witness. So I may be misremembering. But they couldn’t Baptize, or offer other sacraments.
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FSSP clergy certainly baptize and perform marriages and other sacraments, if they have faculties in that diocese. Of course, this assumes they are in a parish. If they are ministering in a chapel, they might not be able to offer, in the chapel, all the sacraments that are normally provided in a parish. That would be true of non-parish priests in any religious order, or diocesan clergy. But if they had permission from the pastor of a parish, sure FSSP clergy could offer them, in that parish church.

Think of it this way: certain sacraments are parish - connected. They are entered on the books of the parish, regardless of whether the priest who did it is diocesan, or visiting religious order priest. People who go to a chapel on Sunday have a parish somewhere.

SSPX does not have parishes, they have (non authorized) chapels. FSSP will sometimes start a (authorized) chapel in a new city, try to grow the community to the point it becomes a parish. The ICKSP may do the same thing. The diocese may not want to recognize a parish until they see a strong enough, viable community is developed.
 
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cathapolo said:
Again, let me make the point, how can they be in ‘Schism’ if they have the ordinary canonical faculties to hear confession? You can’t be in Schism and operate with ordinary Jurisdiction.
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The SSPX is not in de jure schism.

However, they are in de facto schism.

This has been shown time and time again, and even Cardinal Burke recently said the SSPX was in de facto schism.

I don’t care to argue about the SSPX. It is my opinion that they are in de facto schism even though they are not in de jure schism.
 
MattBalkus said:
Does anyone know any FSSP priests who are good, holy ones, different from most?
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This phrase stands out to me.

Do you have reason to believe that most priests are not good nor holy?

You might take some time to get to know the priests at your parish and neighboring parishes. Are you involved with Youth Group? Are you an Altar Server? Becoming more involved at your parish may help you to learn that most priests are good, holy, men. I’d advise you to work through some of your possible misconceptions about priests in general.
 
cathapolo said:
ChristMyLife,
  • No, the SSPX is not is Schism.
The SSPX basis it’s position on solid principles of the faith. They need not ‘cross’ any line. They are ‘Catholic’ as Pope Francis has openly stated.
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  • Make a distinction between the SSPX organization and the individual SSPX clergy; the status of the one does not necessarily create the status of the other;
  • Many individual priests have in fact crossed the line, and recognized there was a significant line needing to be crossed;
  • Perhaps schism is not the right word, not the right argument. 40 years ago far more SSPX clergy had lots of experience in a diocese than is the case today. Many younger clergy today likely grew up in the SSPX, so had little or no even lay experience of a diocese, or parish, and few teachers who ever worked in a diocese.
Thus, the SSPX now is less attached to the Church than it was in the past, it will later be less attached than it is now.
 
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midori said:
I do want to say one of the FSSP priests once mentioned that they were only allowed to say Mass and hear Confessions. I don’t think they were authorized to marry people during a Tridentine Mass
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I think you may be confusing them with SSPX, even though Pope Francis has now given them faculties to perform marriage ceremonies under certain conditions.
 
The FSSP, or any other seminary for that matter, is going to want to see you in person before they decide to admit you and take the risk. Make sure you have the right stuff and are going to stick it out and will be a good fit.

I’d suggest you make a plan to visit their seminary in Nebraska or other facility so they get to know you.

in the mean time, if you do enter their seminary, you’ll be studying Latin and philosophy, among other topics.If your high school offers those courses, go for it.
 
It may have been a diocese-specific thing that I ran into, or it may have been a diocesan-specific-thing-at-that-moment-in-time. I’m remembering the Diocese of Dallas and the Diocese of Fort Worth between 2003-2006’ish, when they were hosted by the Discalced Carmelites in Dallas and Assumption in Fort Worth, but in the time since, they’ve got their own parish and everything. So maybe while they weren’t allowed to do x, y, and z, it was because they weren’t permanently attached anywhere; they were only guests.
 
I am sure that there are more holy priests than I could ever imagine. But, as has recently been revealed, many priests are the farthest thing from holy. Also, ones that water down Church teaching and irreverently celebrate the sacraments shouldn’t be deemed ‘good’ priests in my opinion. That’s what I meant.
 
MattBalkus said:
ones that water down Church teaching and irreverently celebrate the sacraments shouldn’t be deemed ‘good’ priests in my opinion.
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Where did you get the impression that priests like what you’ve described are a large percentage of the diocesan priesthood?
 
Commentor

On the contrary, the fact that the SSPX like FSSP has distanced itself from many of the diocesan novelties means precisely it has been able to maintain the true sense of the Catholic faith.

Bp. Athanasius Schneider has point that out in an interview not so long ago:

http://www.catholicapologetics.info/apologetics/defense/schneider.htm


" **What, if some novel contagion seek to infect not merely an insignificant portion of the Church, but the whole? Then it will be his care to cleave to antiquity, which at this day cannot possibly be seduced by any fraud of novelty." - St. Vincent of Lerins.
 
I’ve been to an FSSP parish for Mass before; it was great! The Fraternity is really booming and they seem to have a lot of great guys.

I’d suggest learning more about the Traditional Latin Mass and getting more involved in it before committing yourself to joining an order which celebrates the Latin Mass exclusively. And also, just because there are some parishes which don’t celebrate Mass in the most traditional way or have “watered-down” liturgies doesn’t mean there aren’t lots of good, reverent OF parishes and priests. We have a lot of good, holy, traditional guys here in the seminary who want to celebrate the Liturgy reverently and will no doubt be very inspiring for their parish communities.

Anyway, best of luck with your discernment.
 
Also, let’s not turn this into another SSPX thread. That’s not what the OP is asking about.
 
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