What is the next step for the regularization of the SSPX

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Here’s something related. Dated 11 December 2013

SSPX and the Church Dialogue in Limbo

Relations with the traditionalist society, which is outside full communion with the Church, have deteriorated since mid-2012, but hope remains for full reconciliation.

ST. LOUIS — Dialogue between the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X and the rest of the Catholic Church appears to have come to a complete stop. However, hope remains that a full reconciliation is possible in the pontificate of Francis, even as the SSPX faces a rebellion within its own ranks that opposes any full unity with the bishop of Rome. [Click http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/sspx-and-the-church-dialogue-in-limbo/#ixzz2nCeiZsVD”]HERE to read more]
 
Well, I would say there already is an immense amount of disrespect for both Pope Francis and any local bishop in communion with him by the SSPX. The SSPX are celebrating the holy sacrifice of the mass illicitly and attempting to celebrate other sacraments invalidly within the jurisdictions of these validly elected and appointed Church officials.

The SSPX needs to rid themselves of their pride, then understand and accept obedience to the appropriate hierarchy of the church put in place by God, Himself, including the current successor to Peter and Vicar of Christ, Pope Francis.
Well that is not quite what we talking about Feet … please re-read the post. It was about a phone conversation and how someone who answered the phone at an SSPX chapel spoke respectfully of the Pope and the Bishop - as one should expect from any Catholic when referring to the Holy Father or a successor of the Apostles, whether or not one has points upon which they disagree.
 
Actually, I never heard it from the Vatican. It does not mean that it was not part of the conditions. It just means that I did not hear from the Vatican. I read it on an SSPX site where one of their priests was up in arms about this.
That was a point falsely circulated by one of the priests expelled from the SSPX for that very reason - criticizing terms never demanded by the Vatican

Of your other points, more clarification is also needed:

a. Accept that Vatican II is error free
This was never a condition demanded by the Vatican. Acceptance of Vatican II with the opportunity to discuss where it had been implemented contrary to already established points of the Magisterium was the point.

b. Accept the the OF is error free, is valid and is legal
Acceptance of the OF as valid and licit was the point. Error-free is your wording. The OF has undergone certain corrections since its promulgation in 1969. Certainly the recent corrected mistranslation from the Latin of pro multis is an example.

c. Accept that the CCC is error free
This was never a demand from the Vatican suffice to say that the CCC was the measure that the Vatican proposed to use as the gauge to determine whether a concept was in harmony with the church’s traditional teachings. Bishop Fellay proposed, as an alternative, the previous papal Oath Against Modernism, which the Vatican rejected.

d. Accept that only the pope can interpret tradition, not the Society.
Agreed, although it is unfortunate that any concept of the faith is in need of interpretation.

e. Accept whomever the pope appoints as the prelate over the Society
Agreed.

f. Give up a certain number of chapels ( can’t remember what percentage)
Bunk - but we discussed this.

g. Agree not to enter any diocese without the local bishop’s permission
Not true. This would be a matter of how the Society was structured and obtaining the Bishop’s permission would not necessarily be the case, although asking his permission would be required in most of the known structures. The Pope may do what he pleases as far as the structure goes, as we have discussed many times on this board. But this was certainly not a condition, per se.
 
That was a point falsely circulated by one of the priests expelled from the SSPX for that very reason - criticizing terms never demanded by the Vatican

Of your other points, more clarification is also needed:

a. Accept that Vatican II is error free
This was never a condition demanded by the Vatican. Acceptance of Vatican II with the opportunity to discuss where it had been implemented contrary to already established points of the Magisterium was the point.

b. Accept the the OF is error free, is valid and is legal
Acceptance of the OF as valid and licit was the point. Error-free is your wording. The OF has undergone certain corrections since its promulgation in 1969. Certainly the recent corrected mistranslation from the Latin of pro multis is an example.

c. Accept that the CCC is error free
This was never a demand from the Vatican suffice to say that the CCC was the measure that the Vatican proposed to use as the gauge to determine whether a concept was in harmony with the church’s traditional teachings. Bishop Fellay proposed, as an alternative, the previous papal Oath Against Modernism, which the Vatican rejected.

d. Accept that only the pope can interpret tradition, not the Society.
Agreed, although it is unfortunate that any concept of the faith is in need of interpretation.

e. Accept whomever the pope appoints as the prelate over the Society
Agreed.

f. Give up a certain number of chapels ( can’t remember what percentage)
Bunk - but we discussed this.

g. Agree not to enter any diocese without the local bishop’s permission
Not true. This would be a matter of how the Society was structured and obtaining the Bishop’s permission would not necessarily be the case, although asking his permission would be required in most of the known structures. The Pope may do what he pleases as far as the structure goes, as we have discussed many times on this board. But this was certainly not a condition, per se.
Vatican II error free – Archbishop Mueller made that public

OF valid, licit and error free – Archbishop Mueller and Bishop Fellay made this public. The not referring to errors in translation, but to doctrinal errors.

CCC error free – Archbishop Mueller said this

To enter a diocese with bishp’s permission – Bishop Fellay made this public, because it’s part of the law that governs a prelature and Pope Benedict did not propose any changes in canon law regarding prelatures. This was Bishop Fellay’s point.

Giving up houses – As I said, I got it from an SSPX article. I don’t know the man or what happened to him. You say that he is no longer with them, then this is no longer an issue.

The real question is will the offer be on the table tomorrow?

Answer: who knows. 🤷
 
You folks are discussing something that is not going to happen.

No matter if they are right or wrong, the SSPX will not reconcile after the recent developments concerning the Franciscans of the Immaculate.

See Rorate Caeli for the latest.
 
Vatican II error free – Archbishop Mueller made that public

OF valid, licit and error free – Archbishop Mueller and Bishop Fellay made this public. The not referring to errors in translation, but to doctrinal errors.

CCC error free – Archbishop Mueller said this

To enter a diocese with bishp’s permission – Bishop Fellay made this public, because it’s part of the law that governs a prelature and Pope Benedict did not propose any changes in canon law regarding prelatures. This was Bishop Fellay’s point.

Giving up houses – As I said, I got it from an SSPX article. I don’t know the man or what happened to him. You say that he is no longer with them, then this is no longer an issue.

The real question is will the offer be on the table tomorrow?

Answer: who knows. 🤷
Who knows, indeed. I would expect that the Vatican will choose to “let it be” until/unless some event brings focus to the situation again. The Society will do the same, refraining from rocking the boat with a new episcopal consecration, for instance.

It would not be of pastoral benefit, IMHO, to declare the SSPX in formal schism. It would obviously affect hundreds of thousands of souls, as well as boding ill for any ecumenical efforts to bring the Eastern Orthodox or other Protestant sects back into the fold. Truth be told, if the Eastern Orthodox would sign the document that Bishop Fellay proffered to the Vatican, bells would be ringing in Rome.

As I’ve said before, I do not represent the SSPX in any capacity. My inside knowledge of what is happening comes from being a tertiary and having a son in the clergy.

I believe that both sides will take advantage of a cooling-off period and let things remain status quo for a long while, avoiding any protagonistic events.

Lest anyone think that a majority of those associated with the SSPX desire a prolonged estrangement, that is far from the truth.
 
You folks are discussing something that is not going to happen.

No matter if they are right or wrong, the SSPX will not reconcile after the recent developments concerning the Franciscans of the Immaculate.

See Rorate Caeli for the latest.
That situation certainly put wind in the sails of those who believe that the Vatican would make an arrangement with the SSPX with the intention of ultimately suppressing it.
 
I agree that nothing will change during our lifetime. It is going to take a different Pope and different CDF.

I know many SSPX priests and find them very kindly toward the Holy Father. Only one priest of the SSPX was really hostile. You’ll find the same “cut” of opinions in the SSPX as anywhere else in the Catholic church.

My only concern, is that as time marches on, Bishop Fellay and the other two will be aging and will need to consider replacements for themselves.

Edited by moderator
 
I continue to pray for the health of the SSPX Bishops. Bishop Fellay is in his mid fifties as are the other two bishops. Hopefully, they will not need to consider replacement bishops during the current Pontificate. It is anyone’s guess what the Holy Ghost will have in store afterwards.
 
I agree that nothing will change during our lifetime. It is going to take a different Pope and different CDF.

I know many SSPX priests and find them very kindly toward the Holy Father. Only one priest of the SSPX was really hostile. You’ll find the same “cut” of opinions in the SSPX as anywhere else in the Catholic church.

My only concern, is that as time marches on, Bishop Fellay and the other two will be aging and will need to consider replacements for themselves.

Edited by moderator
On the contrary, I think something will happen soon. It can go two ways. Their leadership is getting older. If they ordain another bishop without a papal mandate, there will be excommunications again. Which would be tragic and can lead to a schism. To avoid excommunications, they can choose to continue without bishops once the current bishops die or they can become normalized. Whether they ordain another bishop or they move toward total rehabilitation, it will be a change regardless.

I pray that they move toward total rehabilitation and incorporation.

I’ve only known two of their priests. One is a delightful chap. The other is a stick in the mud. But that’s not original to the SSPX. Trust me. I’ve known many of both kinds. The lay people who grace the SSPX chapel in our town are another story. I find them to be more problematic than the clergy. The priests that I know don’t seem hostile. They actually like our brothers, though they don’t like how we dress. LOL They say that we’re sloppy. That’s because each of us has only one habit and that habit gets washed once a month. 🤷

The lay faithful that I’ve met from that chapel are not nice to us. They became very angry when this superior said that our friars would not open the door for laymen to attend the EF in our chapel and then again when we said that we would not advocate for an EF mass in every parish, because that has nothing to do with us. We have an EF mass, because we have a brother who knows it. If we didn’t have him, we’d have an OF and we’d be happy just as well. It’s the mass that matters to us, not the form. We like both forms and we don’t like nonsense. We also have an Indian brother who is a Malankara Syrian Catholic. We often have that rite for mass. Again, it’s not a big deal. We don’t want to get sucked into making the mass a point of contention. That did not go over well with some people. Go figure.

If you open your mouth, you’re in the dog house. If you say that you don’t want any part of the conversation, you get evicted from the dog house and you’re now in the dog pound. Sometimes, you can’t win. :yup:
 
That’s because each of us has only one habit and that habit gets washed once a month. 🤷
My son has a few cassocks - but there is one nasty one that he uses for work outside and playing basketball, football, etc. The bottom of it has many white speckles from the time I asked him to put chlorine in the pool during his summer visit home and he sort of miscalculated the weight of the 5 lb container while pouring and ended up with a mess.
 
Who knows, indeed. I would expect that the Vatican will choose to “let it be” until/unless some event brings focus to the situation again. The Society will do the same, refraining from rocking the boat with a new episcopal consecration, for instance.

It would not be of pastoral benefit, IMHO, to declare the SSPX in formal schism. It would obviously affect hundreds of thousands of souls, as well as boding ill for any ecumenical efforts to bring the Eastern Orthodox or other Protestant sects back into the fold. Truth be told, if the Eastern Orthodox would sign the document that Bishop Fellay proffered to the Vatican, bells would be ringing in Rome.

As I’ve said before, I do not represent the SSPX in any capacity. My inside knowledge of what is happening comes from being a tertiary and having a son in the clergy.

I believe that both sides will take advantage of a cooling-off period and let things remain status quo for a long while, avoiding any protagonistic events.

Lest anyone think that a majority of those associated with the SSPX desire a prolonged estrangement, that is far from the truth.
Are there really that many people affiliated (for lack of a better term) with the SSPX or are you saying that others not affiliated in some way will be affected?

-Tim-
 
Are there really that many people affiliated (for lack of a better term) with the SSPX or are you saying that others not affiliated in some way will be affected?

-Tim-
There are that many attached, for lack of a better word.
 
There are that many attached, for lack of a better word.
I just looked up the number of priests on the website. It says 575 as of last summer.

200,000 divided by 575 is 348 persons per priest so I guess it is not unreasonable to say that hundreds of thousands will be affected.

I didn’t think it was that big.

-Tim-
 
I just looked up the number of priests on the website. It says 575 as of last summer.

200,000 divided by 575 is 348 persons per priest so I guess it is not unreasonable to say that hundreds of thousands will be affected.

I didn’t think it was that big.

-Tim-
The BBC did a documentary several years ago and estimated the number at 2 million. I would suspect it is under 1 million. Bishop Fellay gives a conservative estimate of 600,000 worldwide. It is amazing what the SSPX does with a small number of priests. Some priories are huge in the US and France. St. Mary’s has 5 Masses on Sunday and they are all packed.
 
Currently, the SSPX is celebrating sacraments illegally. The laymen who attend the SSPX need to take the law more seriously.**** The mindset that “it’s illicit, but valid; therefore, it’s OK” is not OK. If something is illegal, it’s not OK to do it.****

The priests of the SSPX do not have legal permission to celebrate any sacrament, not even mass. They are suspe…
In my rosary intentions i pray for the traditionalists and radical traditionalists. Trads and radtrads.

Ccc 2120 on Sacrilege (sp?)

These persons are outside the church, outside of which there is no salvation. Again and again the ccc on the first commandment and the v2 document on religious freedom says the dogma.

I can count the number of times i’ve been to a sspx mass on one hand, for the op.

It was fun and valid, but as jr says, its illicit, or illegal in other words.

In the trad and radtrad world, they dont care about legality, they scoff at terms like licit and illicit, and just go with terms with Valid or invalid. They deem our religion, the christian religion, that subsists in the catholic and apostolic church, outside of which there is no salvation, to be invalid. Its 7 sacraments invalid. Hell, they even believe in turning around our dogmas and using them against us, the no salvation dogma (name removed by moderator)articular.

First comes love. They are enamored with the latin mass. Then comes marriage. They read old books that paint a rosy triumphalist portrait of the pre conciliar church. Then comes the baby carriage. They break the first commandment in sacrilege by profaning our things and people that are consecrated to God. They become Trads (r&r) and RadTrads (SVs) and try to steal sheep from our shepherds.

If the knuckle draggers were to look at endnotes and foornotes, and see them through the source - the bible, they would be our generations most militant church yet.

Op,

Go to the local sspx mass to kill your curiosity. Then go to your parishes confessional and confess the sin of participating in non catholic service. Keep in mind that its a sspx service, and not a rcc service.

Do you have an EasternCatholic option nearby? The orthodox, like the sspx, are not an option. If it’s an revernent or exotic service you want, try our eastern rites.
Do you have many parishes nearby? Try parish-hopping to find a reverent OF one.

Hope that helps .
 
In my rosary intentions i pray for the traditionalists and radical traditionalists. Trads and radtrads.

Ccc 2120 on Sacrilege (sp?)

These persons are outside the church, outside of which there is no salvation. Again and again the ccc on the first commandment and the v2 document on religious freedom says the dogma.

I can count the number of times i’ve been to a sspx mass on one hand, for the op.

It was fun and valid, but as jr says, its illicit, or illegal in other words.

In the trad and radtrad world, they dont care about legality, they scoff at terms like licit and illicit, and just go with terms with Valid or invalid. They deem our religion, the christian religion, that subsists in the catholic and apostolic church, outside of which there is no salvation, to be invalid. Its 7 sacraments invalid. Hell, they even believe in turning around our dogmas and using them against us, the no salvation dogma (name removed by moderator)articular.

First comes love. They are enamored with the latin mass. Then comes marriage. They read old books that paint a rosy triumphalist portrait of the pre conciliar church. Then comes the baby carriage. They break the first commandment in sacrilege by profaning our things and people that are consecrated to God. They become Trads (r&r) and RadTrads (SVs) and try to steal sheep from our shepherds.

If the knuckle draggers were to look at endnotes and foornotes, and see them through the source - the bible, they would be our generations most militant church yet.

Op,

Go to the local sspx mass to kill your curiosity. Then go to your parishes confessional and confess the sin of participating in non catholic service. Keep in mind that its a sspx service, and not a rcc service.

Do you have an EasternCatholic option nearby? The orthodox, like the sspx, are not an option. If it’s an revernent or exotic service you want, try our eastern rites.
Do you have many parishes nearby? Try parish-hopping to find a reverent OF one.

Hope that helps .
I’m sorry, but there are some serious mistakes here and some of them border on a serious violation of justice.

EENS does not apply to the SSPX nor to anyone born outside of the Catholic Church. In its historical context it was written to protect Catholics from defecting into heresy and apostasy. The Church has no jurisdiction over non-Catholics.

The SSPX clergy and friends are Catholic. Until such time as the individual cross the line into schism, they are collectively Catholic. I make an important distinction here between collective and individual. There are some SSPX priests, brothers and friends who are schismatic. But those are individuals who have decided to cast aside the authority of the Bishop of Rome and have become their own magisterium. But as a body, the SSPX remains Catholic.

The priests of the SSPX are suspended from the moment they are ordained deacon. Therefore, all celebrations of the sacraments, except Baptism, are illegal or illicit, to use the canonical term. However, the only sacraments whose validity is called into question by Canon Lawyers are Matrimony and Penance. Penance is valid if there is iminent danger of death. Even a laicized priest who was dismissed for a crime as heinous as abortion can absolve in such a situation. The Church provides jurisdiction. In that instance, absolution is valid and licit.

Any mass celebrated by a validly ordained priest, be he Catholic or Orthodox, is valid as long as he does what the Church intends to do, which is to consecrate bread and wine. In the case of the Orthodox, all of their masses are both valid and licit (legal). Their bishops authorize the priest to celebrate mass. In the case of the SSPX, the mass is valid, because the priest is validly ordained. It is illegal, because one needs permission either from the bishop of the diocese or a male religious superior to celebrate mass. Being ordained does not give one the right to celebrate the sacraments, nor the power to do so. The right and power comes from the Ordinary. Only a diocesan bishop and a male religious superior are ordinaries. Each of them has jurisdiction in specific scenarios.

Having said this, the mass celebrated by an SSPX priest or an Orthodox priest is truly Catholic. Here is the difference. The difference is that a Catholic cannot attend an Orthodox Divine Liturgy to fulfill his Sunday obligation, because we are not in communion. Participation at mass and the reception of the HOly Eucharist is, among other things, a profession of communion with the universal Church. This does not mean that the mass itself is defective.

When one participates at a mass celebrated by an SSPX priest, one remains in full communion with the universal Catholic Church as long as one’s intention it to reap the fruits of the traditional mass, not the intention of denying the Ordinary Form or aligning oneself with the SSPX’s positions. If one attends mass at an SSPX chapel because one believes that the Ordinary Form is inferior or defective or because one believes that the SSPX has a valid case against Rome, then one is schismatic.

This must carefully understood, before you go off half-cocked calling others schismatic. I can agree with the SSPX on points A, B, and C. That does not make me a schismatic.

If I say "The SSSPX is right, Rome has fallen into apostasy, then I am cutting myself off. Why? Because if Rome is apostate, I have to choose, I go with Rome and am aso apostate or I deny the primacy of Rome. But if I deny the Primacy of Rome, then I’m schismatic.

Rather than be involved in mental gymnastics, it is more advisable to stay away from an SSPX chapel and to discourage family members and friends from attending.
 
One who attends an SSPX mass has nothing to confess. There is no grave matter involve. Schism, heresy and apostasy are grave matters. I guess, if one wants to confess something, one can confess lending support to a priest who is acting outside the law without justification. There is rarely any justification for any of us to act outside of Church law. We are not the law givers, the law-makers or the interpreters of the law. That role belongs to the pope and those with whom he wants to share it.

I have been to several masses at the local SSPX chapel, even in my sloppy habit. Unlike the SSPX priests, we don’t own more than one piece of anything except boxers and t-shirts. I have been there for funerals, first Holy Communions, a baptism and an anniversary mass. I did not go because I stand with the SSPX. I did not go because I hunger for the EF; we have one in my religious house and it’s legal. I did not go to show communion with the SSPX. I was invited by the individuals for special occasions.

It is also a grave injustice to accuse the SSPX of violating the First Commandment. Such an accusation is serious. A violation of the First Commandment occurs when one turns to false gods. This is not true of the SSPX or its friends. The statement is false and unjust.

I would not accuse them of stealing sheep. People need to take responsibility for their own actions and stop blaming others. In fact, this is one of my problems with the SSPX. They insist that we in the mainstream have led souls to perdition. The fact is that if one is naive and has no idea that something is wrong or bad, one is not culpable of sin. If one knows that something is wrong or bad, one is culpable, not the other person. The other person may be culpable of exposing you to an occasion of sin, but not of choosing for you. The SSPX priests are not more masters over the free will of others than any other priest. They are guilty of sophistry, but that’s another subject for another thread.

They are guilty of violating the authority of the local bishop. No one may enter a diocese without the permission of the local bishop, not even a prelature. Canon Law is very clear on this. The SSPX has no permission to be in places where they are. Again, those people who know that they are violating Canon Law and that they are dismissing the authority of the local bishop are materially guilty, if not formally guilty when they lend them support or when they take the attitude that it’s not important.

If we were to go about in civil life as dismissive of law as some people are in the Church, half of us would be in jail.

To close, the SSPX has many faults, but let’s not burden them with falsehoods. That is a sin against justice and against charity toward other human beings.
 
To anyone considering attending an SSPX Mass, to me it’s not a question of whether it is permissible - it is - but whether it’s prudent, which I think not. Suppose an SSPX priest is considering “coming in from the cold”. When you attend an SSPX Mass, or retreat, or other program, you encourage him to stay where he is.

The SSPX of the 1970s was filled with people who lived almost their whole lives benefitting from the living Magisterium of the Church. Most of the SSPX leaders and clergy of today lack that common experience, or at least not for recent years. Their spiritual heritage now is mostly SSPX, not the Catholic Church.

The leaders of the SSPX today are far more adversarial than the SSPX in the 1970s. When I go to their own, and other pro-SSPX websites, they are no longer complaining about abuses in local parishes, rarely criticizing Protestants or secularists, but almost exclusively criticizing the Pope and bishops. The recent years of making, or condoning, the attacks on Catholic Church leaders undoubtedly affect the SSPX leaders and clergy.

I think the SSPX of the 1970s or 1980s could have been “regularized” as a communion, because there then was more agreement than disagreement with the Church. Today, that area of common heritage is much less. Like the LCWR and Call to Action, SSPX will become more aggressive, more focusing on the Vatican as the main, or only source of evil in the world.

The SSPX has moved far from the Vatican, and farther still from the SSPX of the 1970s.
The moderate SSPX members will join, or rejoin full communion with Rome as individuals. The entire situation calls for prayer.
 
Reply to OP:

I don’t think there will be regularization of the SSPX. Not now, probably not ever. In fact I think that at this point they are more likely to schism completely than to reconcile. I do predict, however, that they will have an increase in attendance/growth.
 
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