St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary (SSPX)

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If someone is ordained a Priest through the SSPX, are they really a Priest? Can someone go into detail in the relationship between SSPX Priests and the Church.
 
If someone is ordained a Priest through the SSPX, are they really a Priest? Can someone go into detail in the relationship between SSPX Priests and the Church.
You were looking for a list of “liberal Bishops” earlier. A priest is a priest, just as a bishop is a bishop. Most priests have faculties. All SSPX priests have none. Their Masses are valid and illicit, while their confessions are invalid.
 
You were looking for a list of “liberal Bishops” earlier. A priest is a priest, just as a bishop is a bishop. Most priests have faculties. All SSPX priests have none.
Could you please elaborate on what you mean by ‘faculties’? It sounds like something from academia to me.
Their Masses are valid and illicit, while their confessions are invalid.
Why aren’t both valid or both invalid?

I have heard of SSPX bishops (or perhaps it was cardinals) having the power to validly ordain priests, but I don’t get why one part of their, for want of a better word “powers” would be functional and the other part dsyfunctional. Again, could you elaborate please? Thank you. 🙂
 
Since the SSPX’s four bishops were all validly ordained (though without permission), the men they ordain are valid priests. Forgiveness of sins is something that comes from the bishop of a diocese; the priests need their permission to perform absolutions in confession. I don’t think any SSPX priest has that kind of permission so their confessions are held to be invalid. Somehow, marriage works this way, too I’m told. It’s a bit over my head but that’s as far as I understand it, that’s the Church’s ruling.

So for us laymen:

You can take Communion at an SSPX chapel if you have no other place to assist at the TLM and you have no intention of being disobedient to the Church, but

you shouldn’t go to an SSPX priest for confession, and

you shouldn’t get married by an SSPX priest.
 
Since the SSPX’s four bishops were all validly ordained (though without permission), the men they ordain are valid priests. Forgiveness of sins is something that comes from the bishop of a diocese; the priests need their permission to perform absolutions in confession. I don’t think any SSPX priest has that kind of permission so their confessions are held to be invalid. Somehow, marriage works this way, too I’m told. It’s a bit over my head but that’s as far as I understand it, that’s the Church’s ruling.

So for us laymen:

You can take Communion at an SSPX chapel if you have no other place to assist at the TLM and you have no intention of being disobedient to the Church, but

you shouldn’t go to an SSPX priest for confession, and

you shouldn’t get married by an SSPX priest.
Thank you for that. And TLM, could you please explain that abbreviation also? Thank you. 🙂
 
And I still am. Thanks for reminding me? lol
“Liberal bishop” is a euphemism…you can look for is either a ** orthodox bishop** or a heterodox bishop…only two flavors exist…but…what you may validly mean and be validly looking for…and you can find…is a bishop with a “liberal” pastoral Shepherd style or a bishop with a** “conservative” pastoral Shepherd style**…that is possible and clearly keeps the bishop and his flock in communion with the Pope and the Magisterium…and very acceptable.

Lastly, the only place to find a heterodox bishop is in the “dust bin of history”…that is where they are or will soon be…2000+ yrs of history proves this fact.

Pax Christi
 
Is “horseless carriage” wrong, or just an antiquated form of “car”? Call it what you will it only bothers those folks that have too much time on their hands.m 😃

Bad, bad me. :eek:
 
Could you please elaborate on what you mean by ‘faculties’? It sounds like something from academia to me.
Why aren’t both valid or both invalid?

I have heard of SSPX bishops (or perhaps it was cardinals) having the power to validly ordain priests, but I don’t get why one part of their, for want of a better word “powers” would be functional and the other part dsyfunctional. Again, could you elaborate please? Thank you. 🙂
I’ll answer this all at once.

If a man is a priest (ordained as one), then when he celebrates Mass he truly consecrates the Eucharist; it is valid. The priests of the SSPX are currently under suspension and their society has no canonical place in the Church, so all their Masses are illicit (illegal essentially).

Confession as a sacrament requires jurisdiction for the purposes of validity (this similarly applies for marriage). That is where faculties come in. An ordinary can give a priest faculties to hear confessions for his particular flock. What that means is that to hear confessions in the Diocese of New York at a permanent location for laity who ordinarily live there (for example. Yes, I’m being this specific because to avoid the “what about this” cases), you need permission from Cardinal Dolan, otherwise your confessions are invalid (essentially, nothing happens. You are not absolved or your marriage is null ab initio). You are essentially jumping over the fence to tend the flock without permission of the shepherd.

To use your word, the “power” the priests have are only exercisable in union with the bishop. The particular Church (the diocese) belongs to the Bishop, all the people in the diocese belong to the Bishop. If you want to minister to the Bishop’s flock, you need to work with him, in a way you share in the bishop’s ministry.

The 4 bishops of the SSPX, similar to the SSPX, do not hold a canonical place or jurisdiction in the Church. This means they cannot give faculties.

*There is one exception, which is that any priest, even a laitized priest, can give valid confession/absolution in case of grave emergency. Read: This means you are imminently about to die.
 
Let me fix that for you.

Yes, they are really suspended priests.
You may not believe this, but I was going to come back and add that, but then thought against it as it would only elicit a ton of objections from the pro-SSPXers.

Better coming from you, Friar David, than me! 🙂
 
You may not believe this, but I was going to come back and add that, but then thought against it as it would only elicit a ton of objections from the pro-SSPXers.

Better coming from you, Friar David, than me! 🙂
They can object all they wish. That does not change the fact of the matter.

In the view of the Catholic Church anyone validly but illicitly ordained is suspended at the moment they are ordained.

That means that they only offer the Mass illicitly. Any confessions they hear (out side of the case of emergency as laid out in Canon Law) and marriages they perform are invalid. They may not confirm (need the approval of the local bishop to do so). Baptisms would also be valid but illicit.

If they were later ordained as a bishop then all that changes is confirmation which becomes valid but illicit. I believe the rest stays invalid as they do not have a legitimate jurisdiction as a bishop so they are not the head of a local church.
 
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