SSPX Receiving Communion

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If you receive communion in a SSPX church, is it a valid sacrament?
 
Yes. The situation re the SSPX is “an internal matter of the Church” as per the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1996.

SSPX priests are Catholic priests. Every SSPX priest prays for Pope Francis and the bishop of the local diocese at every Mass. Pope Francis is also prayed for at Benediction, Rosary and other public and private prayers.

In 2016, Pope Francis gave SSPX priests ordinary jurisdiction re confession and extended his permission indefinitely.

Any SSPX priest would be happy to help you.
 
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If the Eucharist is a valid sacrament, are all the 6 sacraments valid?
 
Yes. They’re very strict re proper form, matter and intention.
 
Catholic21 said:
If the Eucharist is a valid sacrament, are all the 6 sacraments valid?
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Six sacraments? Are you saying “the other six” (besides the Eucharist), or that there is a sacrament that cannot be valid in the SSPX?

As far as matrimony concerned, the present regulations are complicated, in my opinion too much so. To make a long story short, an SSPX marriage can be valid, if certain conditions are met. The other sacraments, no problem as regards validity.

I am not going to get into liceity. Suffice it to say that Rome and the SSPX are working together in good faith, to regularize the SSPX fully. We might just stand back and let the Holy Spirit handle the rest.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
Six sacraments? Are you saying “the other six” (besides the Eucharist), or that there is a sacrament that cannot be valid in the SSPX?
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I am asking if the other sacraments done by the SSPX are valid in the Catholic Church.
 
Catholic21 said:
Six sacraments? Are you saying “the other six” (besides the Eucharist), or that there is a sacrament that cannot be valid in the SSPX?
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Oh, OK then, no problem. I’m sure you know this, but validity and liceity (lawfulness) are two different things. Validity means that the sacrament is a true sacrament. Liceity means “is it in accord with Church law for (x) to administer a given sacrament?”. A sacrament can be valid without being licit, depending on what sacrament is being considered. But a sacrament can never be licit without being valid.
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Not necessarily. The Church only recognizes marriage in SSPX chapels if also recognized by the local bishop. That’s on a case by case basis.

Confession was dicey until Pope Francis extended faculties.
 
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HomeschoolDad said:
I am not going to get into liceity. Suffice it to say that Rome and the SSPX are working together in good faith, to regularize the SSPX fully.
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For the purposes of your post, you might not choose to get into liceity. But in real life, an informed Catholic would consider the fact that popes prior to V2 did regard this as important, and that Prudence is still an important virtue in 2019.

According to some reports over the years, the Vatican and SSPX have been noted to be on the verge of regularization from discussions (since the mid 1980s!), which gives a new meaning to being “on the verge”.

Of course, there are people who say the Church is on the verge of allowing other things, so they are starting to do those other things now. The argument for them, and SSPX loyal laity, is that “X will be licit tomorrow anyway” so we may as well live now as if it were.
 
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If they do not celebrate the sacrament of matrimony in cooperation with the local diocese then their celebration of matrimony is invalid.
 
commenter said:
I am not going to get into liceity. Suffice it to say that Rome and the SSPX are working together in good faith, to regularize the SSPX fully.
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OK, as for liceity. The SSPX justifies all of its actions by virtue of an “emergency situation” in the Church, and that any faculties or liceity they lack, strictly speaking, are supplied by the Church (ecclesia supplet). The Vatican, of course, does not concede that there is any “emergency situation” whatsoever. Therefore, in the objective order, the five sacraments of baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, holy orders, and anointing of the sick (extreme unction) are all valid but illicit (cases of grave necessity excepted). The Vatican has given blanket permission for all SSPX priests to confer valid absolution in the sacrament of penance, so there is no question either of validity or of liceity. Permission is given for SSPX priests to witness the sacrament of matrimony if they have obtained faculties from the local bishop and no diocesan priest is available to witness the conferral of the sacrament. So there you have both validity and liceity as well.

It seems, then, that conferral of the remaining five sacraments, while technically illicit, is “tolerated” by the Vatican, similar to the Dutch civil law concept of “gedogen” — the law exists, but it is not enforced, and in point of fact, there is no way to enforce it. Yet the Vatican, at least in some individual cases, has conceded that the faithful may attend SSPX Masses, receive Holy Communion, and make a modest contribution to the offertory. SSPX priests have been given permission to celebrate Mass at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Retired bishop Vitus Huonder was even making plans to retire to an SSPX facility, and may yet do so.

Though it will never happen, I would welcome the opportunity to ask the Holy Father face-to-face whether SSPX sacraments and Masses are totally licit, totally illicit, or somewhere in between, and if the latter is the case, may the faithful partake of them freely?
commenter said:
According to some reports over the years, the Vatican and SSPX have been noted to be on the verge of regularization from discussions ( since the mid 1980s!) , which gives a new meaning to being “on the verge”.
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Yes, it has been a longer process than anyone would like, but progress continues to be made towards fully regularizing the SSPX, an effort we should all pray will soon come to fruition.
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Yes, sacraments of the Society of St Pius X are all valid. Some, such as confession and marriage (on a case by case basis are licit) but my understanding is that the Mass would be illicit.

However, the Church has recently seemed to suggest that the faithful may in good conscience attend a Mass offered by them and become part of an SSPX parish, as long as they do not support what they say that is in objection to the faith.

However, it is probably best to stay away from them. The only Extraordinary Form of the Mass offered in my Archdiocese is by the SSPX, and so while I could attend in good conscience (and it is tempting), I choose not to for the sake of wishing for their reconciliation - until then, I feel I cannot encourage them.

If you want to go, then you may in good conscience, but I personally would not.
 
catholic03 said:
Yes, sacraments of the Society of St Pius X are all valid. Some, such as confession and marriage (on a case by case basis are licit) but my understanding is that the Mass would be illicit.

However, the Church has recently seemed to suggest that the faithful may in good conscience attend a Mass offered by them and become part of an SSPX parish, as long as they do not support what they say that is in objection to the faith.
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This is exactly what I was saying, simplified and in fewer words. I do not regularly attend an SSPX Mass — it’s been over 15 years ago — as I have diocesan TLM alternatives within equal driving distance (none close by). But I would have nothing against so doing, especially if it were the only TLM available to me. When one is traveling and doesn’t know the local parishes, at least with the SSPX, you know you are not going to be subjected to any liturgical craziness or questionable doctrine, even if you do not regularly attend the TLM otherwise.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
conferral of the remaining five sacraments, while technically illicit, is “tolerated” by the Vatican, similar to the Dutch civil law concept of “gedogen” — the law exists, but it is not enforced,
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Not sure I would say the law is “not enforced”. No SSPX priest is a pastor, no bishop ordinary. If you think pastors and ordinaries are important, Big consequences for lay Catholics!

It didn’t matter so much decades ago, when people attending SSPX also had a home parish they grew up in, and diocese, and the priest at the chapel likely had been a pastor, likely went to the same seminary as most local clergy.

Not today. Consequences are building up over time.
 
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commenter said:
Not sure I would say the law is “not enforced”. No SSPX priest is a pastor, no bishop ordinary. If you think pastors and ordinaries are important, Big consequences for lay Catholics!
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Pastors and ordinaries don’t exist in the SSPX, nor do they claim to.

The bishops of the SSPX are very explicit that they do not claim any ordinary jurisdiction, rather, they exist solely to confer sacraments (confirmation and holy orders) that are normally conferred by a bishop. I say “normally” because confirmation can be validly conferred by a priest, and there are apocryphal stories of medieval priest-abbots having ordained other priests with the permission of the Holy See (Ott’s Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, p. 459). But the SSPX does not “go there”.

Likewise, it is relatively rare for a priest to be resident at an SSPX chapel; they come in from central priories every weekend. So they are not “pastors”, nor unless the term is used incorrectly in a colloquial sense (e.g., an SSPX “parishioner” referring to his priest as “pastor” when conversing with others), does anyone claim they are.

The law is “not enforced” because there is really no way to do so. If a diocesan bishop were to tell the SSPX operating in his diocese to cease and desist from celebrating Mass and administering sacraments, they are not simply going to say “oh, right you are, Your Grace, we’ll stop doing that right now”.
commenter said:
It didn’t matter so much decades ago, when people attending SSPX also had a home parish they grew up in, and diocese, and the priest at the chapel likely had been a pastor, likely went to the same seminary as most local clergy.

Not today. Consequences are building up over time.
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All it would take is a fiat from the Holy Father to bring the SSPX into a personal ordinariate “just as they are”, thus regularizing the SSPX and everything they do. If the SSPX agreed to this, problem solved. I hope I live to see this day.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
All it would take is a fiat from the Holy Father to bring the SSPX into a personal ordinariate “just as they are”, thus regularizing the SSPX and everything they do
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If course, there are many other groups, mostly in the Left, that would seek the same thing, if Fiats start being issued.

Just as they are.

The Fiat machine is easier to turn on than to turn off.
 
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HomeschoolDad said:
It seems, then, that conferral of the remaining five sacraments, while technically illicit…
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Is it a mortal sin to receive an illicit Sacrament if the Sacrament is easily available licitly?
 
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