Question for SSPX members and others

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There is a chapel not far from me, though I have never been. I would not attend regularly because there are parishes closer to my home and my university buildings but I would go if it were convenient to do so. There would be no reason why I wouldn’t go if it were my closest parish.
 
PerfectTiming said:
There is a chapel not far from me, though I have never been. I would not attend regularly because there are parishes closer to my home and my university buildings but I would go if it were convenient to do so. There would be no reason why I wouldn’t go if it were my closest parish.
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That’s good to hear -I hope the talks will bring good fruits to everyone.
 
There is no SSPX chapel near me so I don’t think it would make much difference in my Mass attendance habits. If one does pop up in the vicinity, I would definately go to Mass there at least occassionally. I love my own parish so I don’t think I would travel far to go to an EF Mass - SSPX or other.
 
If the SSPX is ever reconciled with Rome, and if they ever forge a Parish within travelling distance of my house, I would absolutely, without the faintest shadow of a lingering, erstwhile doubt go. As it stands now, I have purchased materials from them, Papal Encyclicals, and have listened to the homilies of some of their Priests. I find little that they have to say to be doctrinally objectible and lament terribly their disunion with the Holy See. In fact, I find much of their talking points to be far more in line with my own expression of Catholicism, their conservatism appeals to me, as does their dogged pursuit of Tradition. Sometimes, with the way things stand now, I feel like there’s too much division in the Church, we are allowed, on certain matters, too much room for loud opinion. But that’s just me, I guess. I have, at any rate, given much thought to the situation with the SSPX and would be greatly pleased if they came into Communion. We need their discipline and zeal.
 
John_Carlton said:
If the SSPX is ever reconciled with Rome, and if they ever forge a Parish within travelling distance of my house, I would absolutely, without the faintest shadow of a lingering, erstwhile doubt go. As it stands now, I have purchased materials from them, Papal Encyclicals, and have listened to the homilies of some of their Priests. I find little that they have to say to be doctrinally objectible and lament terribly their disunion with the Holy See. In fact, I find much of their talking points to be far more in line with my own expression of Catholicism, their conservatism appeals to me, as does their dogged pursuit of Tradition. Sometimes, with the way things stand now, I feel like there’s too much division in the Church, we are allowed, on certain matters, too much room for loud opinion. But that’s just me, I guess. I have, at any rate, given much thought to the situation with the SSPX and would be greatly pleased if they came into Communion. We need their discipline and zeal.
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Glad to hear that you would consider attending Mass at an SSPX chapel. I know there are many who, like yourself, already buy books and Papal Encyclicals etc from them. I was talking to a diocesan priest a few months ago and in his study I noticed that he subscribed to the Angelus magazine! Another point you raise which is relevant is the travelling distance. I know some people who attend SSPX masses travel for miles and would like to be buried in thier family grave yard. I think greater co-operation will allow more people who attend SSPX masses to have thier SSPX priest say their funeral Mass in their local diocesan chapel. I know this has happened often in the past, but it would be great if it were more widespread.
 
I would not refuse to go, but I probably would not go very often as I do not normally attend the EF.
 
thewanderer said:
I would not refuse to go, but I probably would not go very often as I do not normally attend the EF.
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Thanks for sharing your opinion. I think a lot of people will think along the same lines. At the time of Summorum pontificum most people remained unaffected. The situation here will be no different no doubt. After all, most people have never heard of the SSPX!
 
There is only one chapel somewhat near me and I think I would consider going. Likewise, I’ve been kinda discerning the priesthood for a while, and if they were regularized, I would give them a vocational look.

And, well, if someone was getting married there or had a funeral there…of course i’d go!

Also, I appreciate the charity thus far on this thread. Often we break into squabble 🙂
 
It would make no difference to me directly. However, as we are all interconnected in the same Body, it is something I pray for.
 
I’m not an SSPX member, so I can respond. 😃

Anyway, it wouldn’t make a difference to me. I’d attend an SSPX Mass now. I’d attend one after the deal (assuming it’s coming).
 
Honestly: if SSPX gets closer to Rome or not, it would not make much difference for me. I am sure that for the RCC it would be a step closer to some unity.
 
Non SSPXer here. I would definitely go to some Masses at the chapel near me. I am already married so… but I would also consider baptisms of children there. All of this of course depends on what I thought of the SSPX priest and Chapel. And it would depend on my family and our preferences. It would be interesting to go from a life teen rock Mass to SSPX.😉 I suppose I would have to forget all the hand jiving dances that the music group encourages.:rolleyes:
 
wasserfall said:
I would argue, however, that this is a useless, and possibly misleading, thing to say.

The priest certainly knows whether he has heard objective mortal sins in the confessional, so to state the (obvious) fact that he can’t see the state of men’s souls, in such a way that it might be interpreted that he hasn’t heard any (objective) mortal sins is, as I said, misleading.
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I understand what the priest is saying. He’s not talking about objective sin. His speaking about subjective culpability. That is actually something that the confessor can’t accurately measure, unless he’s Padre Pio. He has to go with what the penitent says. At the end of the day, when you’re a confessor or a spiritual director, you have to get to subjective culpability. The objective truth about an act is easy to discuss, but the state of the person’s soul is very specific. That’s harder to navigate unless you’re trained in the spiritual life, which most priests are not, since most are secular priests. The get the usual one semester course on Christian Spirituality. If you’re a religious, you get 6 to 10 years of studies in the spiritual life.

Like some teachers, some priests are naturals at this and don’t need a lot of training to work with the soul. It’s a gift that they have. They’re insightful and very analytical.
Even if they don’t know the right philosophical or theological name for something, they can work with it. Not every human being has this gift.

Secular seminaries have never had strong curricula in spiritual theology because their focus has always been on dogmatic theology. It was simply assumed that only religious did spiritual direction and that secular priests simply heard confessions and absolved. In light of the fact that 80% of priests are secular, there is a shortage of priests who are actually trained to do spiritual direction. However, as I said, some are naturally gifted at it, even if they can’t tell one mood from another or explain the soul’s journey into the mind of God.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, FFV 🙂
 
JReducation said:
I understand what the priest is saying. He’s not talking about objective sin. His speaking about subjective culpability. That is actually something that the confessor can’t accurately measure, unless he’s Padre Pio. He has to go with what the penitent says. At the end of the day, when you’re a confessor or a spiritual director, you have to get to subjective culpability. The objective truth about an act is easy to discuss, but the state of the person’s soul is very specific. That’s harder to navigate unless you’re trained in the spiritual life, which most priests are not, since most are secular priests. The get the usual one semester course on Christian Spirituality. If you’re a religious, you get 6 to 10 years of studies in the spiritual life.

Like some teachers, some priests are naturals at this and don’t need a lot of training to work with the soul. It’s a gift that they have. They’re insightful and very analytical.
Even if they don’t know the right philosophical or theological name for something, they can work with it. Not every human being has this gift.

Secular seminaries have never had strong curricula in spiritual theology because their focus has always been on dogmatic theology. It was simply assumed that only religious did spiritual direction and that secular priests simply heard confessions and absolved. In light of the fact that 80% of priests are secular, there is a shortage of priests who are actually trained to do spiritual direction. However, as I said, some are naturally gifted at it, even if they can’t tell one mood from another or explain the soul’s journey into the mind of God.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, FFV 🙂
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About a year ago in a homily at my Parish, Father stated that it is so hard to commit Mortal Sin that he has never heard one in confession. I took this a bunk and would think that most others would as well. Needless to say, he is not my confessor. However there does seem to be 2 extremes with this. The people who say, God is so understanding and compassionate that every grave matter has extenuating circumstances that make it not a mortal sin. Or the other side in which people say it is near impossible to get a plenary indulgence because one cannot be free from the attachment to sin.

I think the truth lies in the middle.
 
Moore11 said:
About a year ago in a homily at my Parish, Father stated that it is so hard to commit Mortal Sin that he has never heard one in confession. I took this a bunk and would think that most others would as well. Needless to say, he is not my confessor. However there does seem to be 2 extremes with this. The people who say, God is so understanding and compassionate that every grave matter has extenuating circumstances that make it not a mortal sin. Or the other side in which people say it is near impossible to get a plenary indulgence because one cannot be free from the attachment to sin.

I think the truth lies in the middle.
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Father may be telling the truth in this sense. If you’re not trained to analyze the soul, you can miss the mortal sin. Also, if you’re sitting hearing confessions for an hour and it’s just people coming in and out, you don’t really get enough time with the person to discern what’s going on. You have to ask if the person is sorry, say something and absolve, because you have a line outside. If this has been pretty much his situation for years, he probably never picked up on a subjectively culpable person. It’s too fast for you to analyze and discuss with the penitent. That’s why I said, you take what the penitent says at face value. If the penitent asks for forgiveness, you absolve and you assume that the penitent knows his soul. If you have the insight to analyze and the time to do it, you can find mortal sin, if it’s there and you can help the penitent see it.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, FFV 🙂
 
JReducation said:
Father may be telling the truth in this sense. If you’re not trained to analyze the soul, you can miss the mortal sin. Also, if you’re sitting hearing confessions for an hour and it’s just people coming in and out, you don’t really get enough time with the person to discern what’s going on. You have to ask if the person is sorry, say something and absolve, because you have a line outside. If this has been pretty much his situation for years, he probably never picked up on a subjectively culpable person. It’s too fast for you to analyze and discuss with the penitent. That’s why I said, you take what the penitent says at face value. If the penitent asks for forgiveness, you absolve and you assume that the penitent knows his soul. If you have the insight to analyze and the time to do it, you can find mortal sin, if it’s there and you can help the penitent see it.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, FFV 🙂
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I get all that but Father was actually stating and has on many occasions that people just don’t commit mortal sin. And he has told me personally in the confessional that things were not a mortal sin (such as pornography, and birth control) that I knew were. When my wife brought forth the temptation to use Birth Control he flat out told her to do it and not worry about it at all. (We had no reason to abstain)
Thankfully, his line is short and most of us wait in the longer, more helpful line for confession. 🙂 To tie this in with the subject, part of this may be why the SSPX could be so attractive and helpful in the Church.
Praying for unification!

PS Expecting our 4th in Dec.!!!:extrahappy:
 
There is already an diocesan-approved EF Mass celebrated by an FSSP priest in my diocese, so it would have no effect on me.

Although that being said, I have never been to an EF Mass and don’t really have any interest in attending one (same as I don’t have any interest in going to a Ukrainian Catholic Divine Liturgy; we have a Ukrainian-Rite eparchy with their Cathedral here too). I’ve lately been going to the Roman Catholic Cathedral, and the Mass there is great so I have no plans to change (and I’ve recently volunteered as an alter server). My spiritual director is one of the priests there.

As for the second question, I’ve already been accepted to the Seminary for my diocese, so that’s a no to joining the SSPX as a priest/brother.
 
No, in my dioceses we already have two nearby terrific parishes with wonderful Priests that offer the Latin Mass. If these did not exist and there was an SSPX in communion with Rom near by I would wait about a year before trying it out.

God Bless
 
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