[Alberta's Child]

My theory is that the Traditional institutes like the FSSP and ICKSP have been left intact because these organizations were established by the Catholic Church with founding documents that carry tremendous legal weight. Consequently, the Church would have faced a major fiasco under both Canon Law AND -- in many countries (the U.S. in particular) -- civil laws related to property ownership and non-profit corporations if it attempted to shut them down.

[ebb tide]

I’m not really sure who “owns” the properties of the ex-Ecclesia Dei societies. I thought most were owned by the dioceses and not the societies as a condition to “operate” in those specific dioceses. My every experience with the FSSP has been in diocese-owned churches/chapels.