Matt, I read much of your stuff and agree with most of it. However, this rehashing of the SSPX situation and positing them in the most negative light is not beneficial to true ecumenism if you are truly a Catholic who is obedient to Vatican II.
In fact, there is a public interview where Cardinal Hoyos is quoted as saying he detected no heresy nor schismatic attitudes among three of the four SSPX bishops after meeting extensively with them. This was not one of your better articles.
One of the first things Pope Benedict XVI will attempt to do is to reconcile SSPX and free the Mass of All Ages. I'm not a betting man, but I'll wager on that one.
Not just the bishops...
Letter of Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos to Mgr. Fellay
The Vatican, April 5, 2002After these events, in noting your good will and based on the fact that your Fraternity certainly was not spreading any heretical doctrine and did not maintain schismatic attitudes, I had dared you to propose, without consulting anyone first, to set a possible date for reintegration. I suggested as a possible date the Solemnity of Easter 2001, and Your Excellency, although surprised, did not exclude this possibility, while expressing in any case that, probably, at the center of the Society of St. Pius X a few problems would arise. I therefore took pains to find a formula that would give to your Fraternity the full guaranty of maintaining its charism of service to Tradition, of assuring the rite of the Mass of St. Pius V, and of continuing fully its effort to safeguard sound doctrine and preserve discipline and Catholic morality.
... With much honesty, Your Excellency presented several points of view concerning the Holy Mass and the difficulties to be expected in this process. At that time, it seemed clear that no dogma was denied, nor was pontifical authority. One felt on the other hand faced with difficulties of theological interpretation, of estimation of the life and the crisis of the Church, of the explanation or of the interpretation of certain texts of Vatican II. I believed that these dialogues concerning theological detail, certainly important and not without difficulties, could be examined in the very heart of the Church, after the attainment of full substantial communion which, however, did not exclude a healthy criticism. My assessors and the Cardinals specially involved in the affair shared my opinion on this point.
One of the first things Pope Benedict XVI will attempt to do is to reconcile SSPX and free the Mass of All Ages. I'm not a betting man, but I'll wager on that one.
The Holy Father has said in the past that he is willing to grant the universal permission for the traditional Roman rite which the SSPX has demanded. Their other condition, unfortunately, was a declaration of the nullity (as opposed to the lifting) of the 1988 excommunications. If they are willing to compromise for a "if we did anything wrong, it was in good conscience but we're sorry anyway" formula, then I suppose by next Easter they will be unambiguously back in the Church...