Does SSPX fulfill Holy Days of obligation?

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K, so like, I’m technically not suppose to be here since I took a prolonged absence in the Back Fence, but 1) TK421 does what TK421 pleases, and 2) this is important and I’m asking both Ask an Apologist and here, since I’m finding conflicting information.

I have a friend that attends an SSPX parish. With this parish:
  1. Can a Catholic freely receive communion
  2. Can a Catholic fulfill their Sunday/Holy Day obligation
If you can provide a link that would be wonderful. I don’t want personal opinions. I want authority. Thanks guys. You’re terrific.
 
Yes, an SSPX Mass fulfills the Sunday obligation. Here is what Fr. Z says about reception of Holy Communion and the Sunday obligation with SSPX Masses.
 
TK421 said:
K, so like, I’m technically not suppose to be here since I took a prolonged absence in the Back Fence, but 1) TK421 does what TK421 pleases, and 2) this is important and I’m asking both Ask an Apologist and here, since I’m finding conflicting information.

I have a friend that attends an SSPX parish. With this parish:
  1. Can a Catholic freely receive communion
  2. Can a Catholic fulfill their Sunday/Holy Day obligation
If you can provide a link that would be wonderful. I don’t want personal opinions. I want authority. Thanks guys. You’re terrific.
Click to expand...
  1. No.
  2. No.
Canon 1248.1
Can. 1248 §1. A person who assists at a Mass celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the feast day itself
or in the evening of the preceding day satisfies the obligation of participating in the Mass.
vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4N.HTM

The words “in a Catholic rite” means “within the Catholic Church.”

It does not mean that the priest (even if he is validly ordained) is merely using a Missal approved by the Church. It means that the priest himself is in union with the Catholic Church.

The priests of the SSPX are not priests of the Catholic Church. They have no ministry in the Church.

Pope Benedict made this point very clearly

As long as the Society does not have a canonical status in the Church, its ministers do not exercise legitimate ministries in the Church. There needs to be a distinction, then, between the disciplinary level, which deals with individuals as such, and the doctrinal level, at which ministry and institution are involved. In order to make this clear once again: until the doctrinal questions are clarified, the Society has no canonical status in the Church, and its ministers – even though they have been freed of the ecclesiastical penalty – do not legitimately exercise any ministry in the Church.
w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/letters/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20090310_remissione-scomunica.html

Look again at the words in the canon:
“anywhere in a Catholic rite”

And again at the words of HH Benedict
“its ministers …do not legitimately exercise any ministry in the Church.”

It’s quite obvious that a priest who does not exercise any ministry in the Church cannot at the same time be “in a Catholic Rite.”

What is important here is also what canon 1248 does not say.
The canon does not say that if the priest is validly ordained, and is using an approved Catholic Missal then the obligation is fulfilled even if the priest is not a priest of the Catholic Church.

We must also keep in mind that the obligation to attend Mass on Sunday is a canonical obligation—one articulated in the Code of Canon Law. The obligation to “keep holy the Lord’s Day” on the other hand, is a Divine command, which is less specific than canon law. The Church can define for Catholics exactly what constitutes the Sunday obligation. The Church is free to define fulfilling the Sunday obligation in other ways. To illustrate this, there are different canonical requirements for Latin Catholics and Eastern Catholics.

So, in order to satisfy the Sunday obligation, one must meet the criteria articulated in canon 1248. It must be a Mass “in a Catholic rite.” Since the SSPX priests do not exercise any ministry in the Catholic Church, their Masses (while admittedly valid) do not satisfy the requirements of the canon.

In summary: their Masses are valid Masses, but they do not meet the requirements of canon 1248.
 
TK421 said:
I have a friend that attends an SSPX parish. With this parish:
  1. Can a Catholic freely receive communion
  2. Can a Catholic fulfill their Sunday/Holy Day obligation
Click to expand...
The SSPX does not have, does not say they have, any parishes or pastors. A “chapel” is very different, in most ways not at all equivalent to a parish. A priest working out of a chapel is not equivalent to a pastor, especially when the chapel and that priest have no relationship to your bishop.

Your friend, and you, do have a pastor somewhere, usually the closest RCC parish, unless you chose to join another parish. Consult the pastor for prudence in this matter.
 
Excellent post, Father David.

I will only add that the sspx chapel in my city operates outside the authority of the diocesan bishop. How could Mass celebrated there fulfill any obligation of the Church when that Mass is celebrated without the approval of the bishop who is the Church’s official authority?

The answer is, it can’t.
 
Tim_D said:
Excellent post, Father David.

I will only add that the sspx chapel in my city operates outside the authority of the diocesan bishop. How could Mass celebrated there fulfill any obligation of the Church when that Mass is celebrated without the approval of the bishop who is the Church’s official authority?

The answer is, it can’t.
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You’re on the right track…but…

Canonically speaking, the Mass does not necessarily need to be under the direct authority of the local bishop in order to fulfill the obligation (Sunday or Holy Day).

Some institutes are exempt from the authority of the local bishop because they either answer directly to the Holy See, or to another legitimate superior. One may certainly attend their Masses. Likewise, Eastern Catholic priests are not under the authority of the local Latin bishop.

Also, a traveling priest does not always have the explicit approval of the local bishop, but a Mass celebrated by him would always fulfill the obligation. Example: I visit relatives for a weekend. I’m only there for 3 days, so there’s no need for me to contact the local bishop. I can celebrate a Mass, attended only by my relatives, in a dignified place (not necessarily a church).

In any such example, certainly the priest must be in communion with the local bishop.

Again, you’re on the right track. But it’s not about the authority of the local bishop as such. It is about whether or not the priest is a minister of the Catholic Church.

Certainly, contacting the local diocese is one way of knowing whether or not a particular priest (or a “chapel”) is in-fact in Communion with the Catholic Church.
 
Hoosier_Daddy said:
Yes on yhe Sunday. However I’m not sure on the hdo.
Click to expand...
The obligation works on the HDO the same as on any Sunday. Or vice versa.

This in spite of the fact that parishes typically have a reduced Mass schedule on HDOs.
 
I’ve begun romantic conversation with a woman that - I only discovered later - is attending an SSPX church. Her reasons are fairly pedestrian and conventional: she loves the reverence and the peace it brings her. I’ve developed strong feelings towards her quickly and I can’t undo them now. I know where the expression, “a heavy heart”, comes from, because that is the exact physical sensation that I have in my chest. I feel like my heart is a rock. It’s horrible. I connected with her so rapidly. Everything about her was right in every way. She talks about how she had a bad past and how she tries so hard every day to follow God’s will. She says the Rosary every night and prays to Mary for guidance and help. She has an optimistic take on life and hopes to become a pediatrician someday. She is a marvelous woman.

This is a bouldar in the road. My own views towards traditionalism are quite firmly behind the Holy Father. There is not a grain of valor to be had in responding to any lack of reverence in Catholic worship by retreating to a sheltered country club. Laity belong on the field of battle. Where she is, I can’t follow. Not just for my own sake, or even just for God’s sake, but I won’t tolerate raising children in that environment either.

Still, I’m aware of the fact that many an unsuspecting person, walking into a chapel without prior knowledge of the situation, will inevitably get a very different understanding. It goes without saying that SSPX clergy aren’t going to admit/acknowledge that their Masses are illicit or that their Reconciliation (except this year) & Marriage is invalid: they are smarter and wiser than Rome ever could be.

I hope I can get her to follow me to her true home and make her understand where she is and where she ought to be. I love her. I don’t want to lose her. I feel what is happening is not something by coincidence, but that Divine Providence is behind it.
 
TK421 said:
I hope I can get her to follow me to her true home and make her understand. I love her. I don’t want to lose her.
Click to expand...
You seem like a very understanding person. I hope it works out for you.
 
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