Well, we disagree on that one, they did leave the Church and find their faith in their own egos while saying it was in their own piety. They did commit adultery and they didn’t recognize John Paul II nor do they recognize Benedict XVI. If you have any doubt, I have dozens of their tapes and I would consider sending them to you if I could find them. I have hours of conversation with my SSPX friend.
It is pride and arrogance, with a mask of wannabe holiness, they weren’t willing to wait on the Holy Spirit they wanted a perfect church and they wanted it NOW or else they’d go play by themselves. And they had enough faith in themselves but they didn’t have enough faith that Jesus’ promise would be honored.
“What would your comparison be in application to a bishop who refuses to sanction proabort Catholic politicians or instructs the priests not to preach against contraception, but never formally disobeyed the Pope?”
First of all, it seems that you are assuming that they haven’t done it in private. We have a hierarchical church but they are NOT perfect, only God is and that is where SSPXers really failed, they left a void so that the Pelosis and the Bidens could have a louder voice while they muted their own.
We are the Body of Christ, each and every one of us is responsible for those in our parishes who are wrong headed and the way we can change them is to pray and wait on the Lord and Catechize them when God gives us the opportunity.
If it is a priest then the faithful must call them to task with love. Many saints have taken the priests, bishops and popes to task but you take them to task as one of your children and believe me some children are more stupid than others but God loves them too. You don’t hate them, you hate the deed, God will punish them if they deserve punishment and God-willing they will all be enlightened someday and God-willing they will have a very public enlightenment that will bring others of like mind back to the truth. It sometimes takes the example of horrible sinners to make an impact.
Let’s use Fr. Corapi as an example, do you not think that drug addicts and people who love the rich life listen more to him than they would to a priest who has always lived a holy life? They know he can understand them and if he can become a priest after publicly living a life of dissolution then they can also respond to God’s calling. Had you known Fr. Corapi in his wild days and seen him in church would you be judging him?
I have had people point out to me that some person who a lot of people know is doing something sinful went to communion and what did I think, I say it doesn’t matter what I think but what God thinks and NO, I don’t look to see who is going to Communion and who isn’t, it isn’t my business it is God’s. But, once again, if God gives me the opportunity to help them then I’m ready if God gives me the words. And He has!
I really would be okay with a priest denying a Pelosi or a Biden the Eucharist because while many sin they are sinning in a very public way and if they came to my parish, I would speak with the priest and ask him to talk to them in private and hopefully he would deny them as long as they were publicly sinning.
Just a thought, it is darned near impossible to keep them hypocrital sinners out of the Church!
This is something that Protestants usually say but you have to put your trust in Jesus. Do not despair, do not be afraid, do not worry, put it in God’s hands and try to discern His will in your life. Live your vocation the best you can with God’s help, ask to be an instrument, put yourself in the position to be an instrument and wait on the Lord and He will use you.
I know we’re only human and we want this perfectly spotless church where everyone is good and faithful and fully lives their vocation but even the Apostles walking alongside Jesus constantly messed up and didn’t get it. It was only after His death and the working of the Holy Spirit that they did get it.
If I have said “The gates of hell shall not prevail....” once to my SSPX friend, I’ve said it 10,000 times and if that is not true then what else is? While most of her friends and many of her relatives have abandoned her, I stick like glue because I feel that God made me her friend for a reason.
Sorry for the rambling, I have the flu and my mind is cloudy and my mind is not at its best.
SSPX as a whole is not sedevacantist. They recognize the papacy and do not dispute the validity of the modern popes. It could be that some sedevacantists also go to SSPX chapels, and would consider themselves part of the SSPX, but that is not the official SSPX position. So, there is no adultery.
On the rest of your post, I mostly agree. I myself have never been associated with SSPX for a variety of reasons. I think, however, that their position has been vindicated now and they have provided an invaluable service to the Church by insisting on the Latin Mass. Further, it is good that they are forcing a dialog on ecumenism and its limits. This in no way should diminish the excellent work the Catholic conservatives do while staying fully obedient to Rome, or excuse the excesses of which SSPX is demonstrably guilty. Conservative Catholics have a lot to celebrate with regularization of SSPX, and the liberal Catholics have a lot to fear.