Hi there - this is the “OP” speaking,
Thanks for all the comments so far - I am finding this very useful and informative.
It seems there are definitely “mixed signals” coming down Rome. We have the PCED (Mgr Perl) variously saying Mass at an SSPX chapel does, and does not, fulfil the Sunday obligation (surely, either it does, or it does not?); we have the same Commission, and other entities saying that the entire “Lefebvrian” movement is considered schismatic; others say mere attendance does not mean schism, but that can come over a period of time; now the HEAD of that commission - and though his words do not carry the weight of an official pronouncement or ruling, I cannot believe that they were not thought out, and carry no weight, considering the source - that the SSPX is not a formal, fully-fledged schism as such (the SSPX and its lay supporters, I assume he means, not the late Archbishop and those whom he consecrated).
Add to the mix the fact that Pope Benedict has said that the Tridentine Mass was never abolished and was thus always permissible - for what, then, was the Archbishop and many individual priests who stayed with this Mass, punished? Was not the original punishment nullified by its manifest injustice? Was there no state of necessity in the 1970’s at least, to perpetuate this heritage, when, the powers that be were telling us that this Mass was abolished, was illegal, etc.
Also, anti-SSPXers seem to downplay the extent of the crisis in the Church, as though we are in normal times, and the hierarchy are to be trusted. The “reverent NO” that so many speak of is NON-EXISTENT for many people. Heresy is rampant in all aspects of church life. Wherever one turns, there is heresy! Try marriage instruction in the local diocese - one will be told that one is entitled to follow ones conscience on the Pill, etc (okay, I don’t know that from personal experience, but I can quite believe it). Sermons routinely attacking the pre-Vatican II church; catechism classes in schools and parishes which amount to nothing more than, “Jesus loves you, now let’s do a collage”; millions of people pushing woman priests, married priests, etc. Liturgical abuses such as unnecessary use of EMHC’s are standard, not exceptional. Prelates who are literally out to destroy the Faith and the Church, and who are in open defiance of Rome. Now I know everyone has heard all this before - but I cannot comprehend those who say we do not have a massive, all-encompassing, almost unprecedented crisis of faith and authority, implicating the highest authorities in the Church, who seem intent on continuing it, what are we to do? What was Archbishop Lefebvre to do? Accept the illegal de facto suppression of the Traditional Mass? Remain quiet in the face of errors and abuses? Allow seminarians to rather attend seminaries where they would be indoctrinated in modernism in a discipline-free environment? Remain silent when millions upon millions of people have come to believe one religion is more or less as good as another, and do not believe th Catholic Church is the one true church outside of which there is no salvation, that error has no rights. Why is the Syllabus of Errors no longer proclaimed from the rooftops? Why do they (apparently) discourage conversions from Orthodox churches? Why!??
The SSPX says nothing it does can be understood unless seen in the context of the mass apostasy of the last 45 years. They point to the evident campaign, orchestrated by jealous French bishops, against the Archbishop, and the unlawful suppression of the old rite in those days; how would the old rite have survived without him? How many people attribute their not losing the faith, to the refuge of sanity and orthodoxy provided by the SSPX? Not all of us have convenient access to a reverent NO, an Eastern rite parish, or an authorised TLM (and would those exist without the witness of the Archbishop?)?
People cite the extravagances of certain “rad trads” (it ought not to be forgotten that some of the websites cited, like the one of Fr Cekada, are sedevacantists, and hate the SSPX); even when these do include things from prominent SSPX members, one must not forget that they are not the SSPX - you will find whackos in every walk of life; for every “rad trad” bishop or priest, one will find a hundred, a thousand, apostate pro-feminazi, modernist prelates and priests in “good standing” with the powers that be.
Our forefathers were much more frank about the failings of priests, prelates, and Popes, than some are today. They did not believe every last utterance of the Pope was infallible, or above criticism.
I am SOOOO confused…I want to be in full union with HMC, my conscience is okay with still going to the SSPX - even local priests in our diocese, prominent ones at that, have told me I can attend the SSPX chapel for Mass, as long as I don’t miss Mass on other Sundays. That, combined with what Rome has said, has put my conscience almost at ease on that score. However, what forum members have said does disturb me, as that also makes sense, and I know there are problems with the SSPX. But what is the alternative? Won’t my wife and kids lose the faith at the local modernist NO parish? Won’t my little girl want to be an altar girl? Won’t she want to receive the Host in the hand, like most other people? Won’t the heretical preaching confuse us all? Kids are so impressionable and to expose them to all that…I couldn’t bear it. Now, if there was an Extraordinary Form Mass on offer, or even just a very reverent NO Mass, I’d be less worried…I just cannot go on half-half, half supporting the SSPX, while also attending the NO (which the SSPX is against). I do want to keep my family together…the ideal would be an EF Mass which we could all attend, but that seems a long way off.
God bless
Mitch
