The Mormons make the same claim about their book. It is because you just know it is. It is an undeniable, unassailable logic, but it is also a circle. Without getting into the reasons the SSPX is right or wrong, one can know that the consequences, if one defies the Church wrongly is much more dire than if one obeys the Chuch when the Church is in the wrong.
This is why I was referring to some of the great reformers and founders in the history of the Church: Francis, Bruno, Bernard, Teresa of Avila, just to name a few. They completely agree with your statement.
They taught their followers and the laity of their time to obey, even if the Church was mistaken, as long as they were not asked to sin. They believed that obedience was more pleasing to God and man. They also believed and taught that no one outside of the legitimate authority in the Church could be absolutely certain that they were right, without the confirmation of the Church’s authority. In addition, they always taught that we must defer to the current authority as the proper and final interpreter of tradition.
Granted, these men and women present changes that were necessary. But they always submitted their will to the reigning pope. Often their proposals were very good, but they were turned down by the popes and they accepted that with much humility and prayer. Someone like Clare of Assisi who presented her reform of religious life to the pope was turned down for 40 years. She kept presenting the same idea again and again. She had the scripture on her side. She also had sacred tradition on her side. But she did not have three consecutive popes on her side. In the meantime, she lived by under their authority, even though she believed they were missing something. Well, after much prayer and dialogue with the Holy See, two days before her death her reform was approved by the Holy See.
Sometimes, we have to learn to persevere from within, rather than put ourselves outside of the physical church.
No one is questioning whether or not the SSPX undestands the truth, whether they are valid bishops and priests, or whether they are Catholic. At least I would not question that, becaue the Church has already spoken on those points. We follow what the Church has said.
The issue remains that even if they did have full possession of the truth, they remain without a canonical place in the Church. Unless the Church grants them a canonical place, they may not celebrate the sacraments licitly and may not celebrate marriage and penance validly. That is not up to the SSPX or any individual to decide that the law speaks in their favor. That is up to the Church to decide whether the law speaks in their favor. Currenlty, the Holy Father and the Sacred Congregations do not interpret the law in their favor.
What we have here is a situation where one side (SSPX) says that the law says this and this, we lean on that. Then we have the Holy Father and the Sacred Congregations who say that the law does not apply in this case.
For the common man in the pew, it is important to have some clarity. The best advice that anyone can give to the common man in the pew is to adhere to what the Holy Father and the Sacred Congregations say. Why? Because they are invested with legitimate authority. That is a point that the SSPX will not deny. We can see that in their desire to dialogue with the Holy Father and the Sacred Congregations. If they did not accept their legitimate authority, they would simply ignore their existence.
What we need to do is to pray for a resolution to the problem, not for the tirumph of the SSPX or the Holy Father. Prayer should not be partisan. It must be open to the will of God. We also need to pray for the man in the pew, that he will always be faithful to the authority of the Church. If he begins to follow every position that is posed by someone or a group who does not have authority, he will be spiritually split assunder. That’s not what we want for our people. That’s not fraternal or fair.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
