- Feb 5, 2002
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The subject of the priestly Society of St. Pius X has been coming up a lot lately in Catholic circles, possibly because of (a) the role they have played during the present crisis, and (b) the distress that many Catholics feel over the closures of churches, and over bishops using the coronapanic as the occasion to try to quash traditional practices like Communion on the tongue. The SSPX has some very vociferous critics, particularly among some professional Catholic internet wonks. I myself have been very critical of the Society in the past, and in this space, because their dealings with Rome seemed to me fraught with arrogance, and because I felt that, by retreating to their mountain fastnesses outside the regular structure of the Church, they were leaving me and others like me by ourselves, to foot it as best we can in a modernist environment. I also avoided their chapels for years and years, despite my great desire for the traditional Mass, because of their irregular situation. But now, amid the crises of our times, I have revisited my opinions about the SSPX. Herewith my thoughts on the Society of St. Pius X, for what they are worth, and in which there is probably something to displease people from every point on the Catholic continuum, from CINOs to ueber-traditionalists.
In the interests of full disclosure, I have to admit to my own motives in this area. I have come to love the traditional Mass, and have long wished to attend it exclusively, though I live in a diocese where, until a year ago, there was no parish within 300 miles that had the traditional Mass at all. There is still no local parish that has it every Sunday. Yet ever since I discovered the traditional Mass, the Novus Ordo has become increasingly painful to attend. Modernism is in the ascendancy, and traditional-minded priests are marginalized and have little influence. The situation has only gotten worse with the coronapanic, in which the opportunity has been taken to try to purge the Novus Ordo Mass of traditional practices such as Communion on the tongue and Communion on one’s knees. Mother Angelica aptly described this state of affairs as “electric church”: every time you go, you get a shock. I have had enough of the shocks. There is an SSPX chapel less than an hour’s drive from home, and I could no longer come up with any good reasons not to go there when there is no traditional Mass at a regular parish.
I am not a canon lawyer, and so I do not pretend completely to understand the SSPX’s very messy and very complicated canonical status, which they admit is complicated and irregular. But I think I understand enough about them now for my own purposes. Although ‘90s talking points persist, and people constantly cite to them without taking into account later events, the evidence seems to weigh against the Society’s being schismatic. Since 1988, the hierarchy, and particularly the pontifical commission Ecclesia Dei (whose functions have now been transferred to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), has softened its position on the SSPX. Catholics are allowed to fulfill their Sunday obligations at SSPX Masses, make contributions to the SSPX, and have their marriages witnessed and their sins forgiven by SSPX priests. In fact, it must be the case that we can fulfill our Sunday obligation at the SSPX chapels even if we have other options: if there were really no other options, and the SSPX were really in schism, then the Sunday obligation would be impossible to fulfill and therefore non-existent. SSPX priests work with diocesan bishops and have dealings with diocesan tribunals. Pope Francis, of all people, has broadened their faculties, or at least removed doubts about the existence or validity of their faculties. That SSPX priests may receive faculties would seem to indicate that they are not suspended. The SSPX priests have always prayed for the current Holy Father, including Pope Francis, by name, in their Masses, showing that they recognize the Pope’s authority. The Society has received and cooperated with visitations from Rome. This is all evidence that the Society is not a schismatic sect.
Continued below.
V for Victory!: Thoughts on the SSPX
In the interests of full disclosure, I have to admit to my own motives in this area. I have come to love the traditional Mass, and have long wished to attend it exclusively, though I live in a diocese where, until a year ago, there was no parish within 300 miles that had the traditional Mass at all. There is still no local parish that has it every Sunday. Yet ever since I discovered the traditional Mass, the Novus Ordo has become increasingly painful to attend. Modernism is in the ascendancy, and traditional-minded priests are marginalized and have little influence. The situation has only gotten worse with the coronapanic, in which the opportunity has been taken to try to purge the Novus Ordo Mass of traditional practices such as Communion on the tongue and Communion on one’s knees. Mother Angelica aptly described this state of affairs as “electric church”: every time you go, you get a shock. I have had enough of the shocks. There is an SSPX chapel less than an hour’s drive from home, and I could no longer come up with any good reasons not to go there when there is no traditional Mass at a regular parish.
I am not a canon lawyer, and so I do not pretend completely to understand the SSPX’s very messy and very complicated canonical status, which they admit is complicated and irregular. But I think I understand enough about them now for my own purposes. Although ‘90s talking points persist, and people constantly cite to them without taking into account later events, the evidence seems to weigh against the Society’s being schismatic. Since 1988, the hierarchy, and particularly the pontifical commission Ecclesia Dei (whose functions have now been transferred to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), has softened its position on the SSPX. Catholics are allowed to fulfill their Sunday obligations at SSPX Masses, make contributions to the SSPX, and have their marriages witnessed and their sins forgiven by SSPX priests. In fact, it must be the case that we can fulfill our Sunday obligation at the SSPX chapels even if we have other options: if there were really no other options, and the SSPX were really in schism, then the Sunday obligation would be impossible to fulfill and therefore non-existent. SSPX priests work with diocesan bishops and have dealings with diocesan tribunals. Pope Francis, of all people, has broadened their faculties, or at least removed doubts about the existence or validity of their faculties. That SSPX priests may receive faculties would seem to indicate that they are not suspended. The SSPX priests have always prayed for the current Holy Father, including Pope Francis, by name, in their Masses, showing that they recognize the Pope’s authority. The Society has received and cooperated with visitations from Rome. This is all evidence that the Society is not a schismatic sect.
Continued below.
V for Victory!: Thoughts on the SSPX
