As was I. Being a Christian takes a lot of humility. Pride kills.
I can see where the SSPXers are coming from, but the same rationale could be applied to every existing schismatic group. And some like the Copts and the Assyrians have been in schism for over 1,500 years.
The Copts are still condemning Pope St. Leo the Great for “changing the faith” in the nature of Christ in 449 A.D. and accusing Catholics of being Nestorians among other things.
As a fellow convert, I can say it is easier for people like us because we discovered Catholicism. But it is harder for those who grew up as cradle Catholics to adjust or accept change.
Just look at how many Catholics left the Church as a result of the Vatican II changes. My father did. The changes made him think that Catholicism was a joke, so he became a Lutheran.
I’m sort of glad about that because I wouldn’t be here otherwise. Meaning he never would have married my mother otherwise.
Easier and harder. The point is that we were even OLDER schismatics, the essential differences between protestants and Catholics date back to the councils from Trent onwards. SSPX is just a schism over the most recent council.
So they aren’t really ‘protestants’ per se, but there is no difference in their rejection of Vatican II as from the rejection of Trent.
For us to ‘climb over the fence’, we had to first admit that we were wrong and then start tackling the later councils. This is the hard part. Fellay et al aren’t at the point where they are willing to admit that they have it wrong.