That’s an interesting question. My gut feeling is no. Here’s my logic and we can think this through together.
The Sui Iuris Churches that are in full communion with Rome have always existed. They were not rebel groups that broke off from Rome. Either they were founded by an Apostle or grew naturally out of one of the Apostolic Church, such as the Maronites.
Okay. I’m even more ignorant about this than most Catholics, so I’m posting this image as illustrating your point:
So organizationally, we see no church has ever “broken off from” or maybe been “spawned by” the Latin Church of Rome. But, since so many have from the other ancient apostolic churches, perhaps we can posit that it’s possible because there is precedent in the Universal Church.
The SSPX has apostolic succession through Archbishop Lefebvre. He was a validly ordained bishop. The bishops whom he ordained are validly so. However, they are not in good standing with the See of Rome and they are part of the See of Rome. The Sui Iuris Churches were never part of the See of Rome. They were always in communion with Rome, but autonomous. They had their own laws, liturgy, art, music, spirituality, theology in some cases, prayers, customs and even their own forms of religious life.
Okay. So, we can give them Apostolic succession in fact. What does it take to not be part of the See of Rome? Can they just declare themselves separate? Do they have to petition to be released with the intent of becoming a
sui iuris church? Even as young as they are, they seem determined to also have their own laws (Canon Law that is not defunct in the RCC), liturgy, all of it. Similar or the same in some cases, but not the norm of the RCC. Different. Derived.
The SSPX, on the other hand, is very Roman Catholic in all of these respects. It’s liturgy, art, music, customs, prayers, spirituality and its forms of religious life. There is nothing that would identify them as different from Roman Catholics except for the fact that unlike other Roman Catholic institutes, this one is suspended. I mean the members are all suspended priests.
There are Sui Iuris Churches that walked along with the rest of the Orthodox Churches. But they were identifiable as autonomous even then. Later they reconciled with Rome and rejoined the Catholic Church, while keeping their identity.
But don’t you think at the beginning, when all those Eastern church first were established separately, they were very similar to those that spawned them? I know that with the extant Sui Iuris churches, we are talking about differences in geography, local culture and custom and language. But wouldn’t that have evolved over time in those places, not started out that way? Just because it was that way historically, doesn’t mean we can’t see this is something very similar, just without the geographic boundaries in a world that has become as small as ours and as connected as ours especially with the advent of the Internet.
These people, the SSPX, not just the clergy, but the laity apparently, are creating their own culture, their own practices, their own theology (somewhat) while maintaining in large part their Latin Rite Catholicism. They are by action if not word declaring independence.
I think what works against this idea the most (to me and I’m no one, of course) is that they are so unstable within their own community. However, maybe unbeknownst to me a lot of these other churches were historically visited by these problems also as they became independent of their mother churches. It probably took more than a century for the other churches to become fully independent. We’re coming up on a half-century for the SSPX. Things move quickly these days. What will they be in another half-century if things drift along as they have been?
I don’t know how this looks to you, but to me there is not much common ground between the SSPX and the Sui Iuris Churches. The Sui Iuris Churches were never Roman Catholic to begin with.
How it looks to me is that to be in communion with Rome, all these churches had to acknowledge the Primacy of Peter in the Papacy. If the SSPX won’t do it now, I see no reason why they would do it in the future. And I think that that, more than anything else, is why they can’t become an independent Catholic Church in union with Rome. I think legally and historically it could be made to happen. But because they are by definition, by their own declarations, not only not in union, but in opposition, it’s impossible.
