Bishop who warns against going to SSPX Masses took part in interfaith Hanukkah ceremony

The bishop of the Diocese of San Angelo, Texas, warned Catholics not to attend Masses offered by the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) after the announcement of its bishops’ excommunications even though the San Angelo prelate has himself participated in an interfaith Hanukkah ceremony, an objectively immoral act.

Bishop Michael J. Sis issued a letter on Monday reiterating the Vatican’s claim regarding the SSPX: that priests of the SSPX “unlawfully administer the sacraments” and that “the sacrament of penance administered by them and marriages witnessed by them are now invalid.” Such a claim presumes the real excommunication of these priests, which canon lawyer Father Gerald Murray admitted has not been legally effected.

In Sis’ letter, he encouraged San Angelo Catholics to avoid SSPX Masses offered in Midland, Texas, in St. Michael the Archangel Chapel and to instead attend a traditional Latin indult Mass offered at St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church “with permission from the Holy See each Sunday.”

“To assist those Catholics who might have worshipped locally with the SSPX at the St. Michael the Archangel Chapel in Midland, and who would like to make it clear that they adhere to the universal Roman Catholic Church in union with Pope Leo XIV, the Holy See has provided protocols which I would be happy to make available to them,” wrote Sis, referring to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF)’s guidelines for SSPX clergy and laity who wish to “reconcile” with the Vatican after excommunications.

However, Sis has participated in an interfaith gathering denounced as sinful by traditional Catholic canon law and moral theology. In 2023, he helped coordinate and spoke at an “Interreligious Hanukkah service” attended by Jewish and Methodist faith leaders that concluded in a menorah lighting ceremony. The diocese’s announcement of the event was accompanied by a graphic of a tree adorned with symbols of different religions, including Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism.

“For us to honor one another’s religions and to respectfully participate together in cultural and religious ceremonies, it’s a way for us to open our eyes to the experience of another, and to see how they practice their faith and honor God,” Sis explained at the time.

Catholic theology warns that communicatio in sacris (the communication in sacred things) with non-Catholics, including Jews, is, in many cases, gravely immoral.

As Father Thomas Slater, S.J. explains in A Manual of Moral Theology:

“The ceremonies and practices of the Jewish religion signified that the Messiah was to come, and so now, after the coming of our Lord, they could not be employed without superstition. Inasmuch as falsehood in religion is a grave injury to God, this species of superstition is mortally sinful.”

Accordingly, the 1917 Code of Canon Law states that “It is not licit for the faithful by any manner to assist actively or to have a part in the sacred (rites) of non-Catholics.” (Canon 1258) Exceptional circumstances, it stated, could be tolerated for “grace reason”:

“Passive or merely material presence can be tolerated for the sake of honor or civil office, for grave reason approved by the Bishop in case of doubt, at the funerals, weddings, and similar solemnities of non-Catholics, provided danger of perversion and scandal is absent.”

Whether this case is as bad as people say, there have always been interfaith examples of cooperation symbolically.

Years ago the late Swami Satchidananda (1914-2002) began an ongoing tradition of hosting interfaith sessions at his “Yogaville” temple in Buckingham County, Virginia. Rules included no badmouthing of the others. No one can berate the others for not accepting their one and only doctrine such as
only their revered leader or Messiah counts as real. Sessions are still going on today.

In 1967 Rabbi Joseph Gelberman and then in 1968 Catholic monk Br. David Steindl-Rast started sessions with the Swami and Gelberman’s allowing yoga classes was the first synagogue featuring them.

He used to go on national dual speaking tours with the rabbi who used to quip “Maybe in a past life I was the swami and you were the rabbi.”

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=f9ea9d52e862e8b8&udm=2&fbs=ABfTbFVyMZGZf1hfvX9uKjN_-G8c4u0nXx4bEIpwm1lnNH832VstEKsVDqPorK0Gahnm2nq-aQnTz_mBV-EZYISbLc-StUIq_PhL7hb0Qt0YiIGOHmbgdzA7WLFluE76f-Gw9-nam4dVWip9KrjboMiq7tHl3BFGFCGXI4dTcTlh4kpFBdTeoLzuSsXBNTeGsKRzAAovl-rW-izgBvLT8fRdxCyOQBn-3w&q=images+LOTUS+ashram+in+US&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiY5ZmVkcmVAxXJD1kFHa0_I_IQtKgLegQIFhAB&biw=1316&bih=621&dpr=1.21

I don’t mean taking part in an actual rite or religious ceremony of another religion which I agree is wrong. These are sort of celebrations honoring others.

My late mother-in-law took up Transcendental Meditation (the one promoted by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who was admired by Donovan, Marianne Faitthful and the Beatles). She questioned the local people and said “I will not participate in any idolatry or worship of anyone in here” They agreed and assured her it doesn’t happen.

After a session or two they all were told to go to the next room where they lit candles and sat on the floor on cushions in front of portraits of the Maharishi.

She said, in effect, “That’s it. I am outta here.”

There is a book Learn To Discern: Is It Christian Or New Age? by Susan Brinkmann. Says many yoga postures and rituals are occult and started from worship of pagan gods. Also many New Age practices are from a false belief in a rival to God in the form of spiritual energy and so on, a violation of belief in God. She is a Catholic writer.

the faithful to teach out to members of the SSPX

Teach them what?

Teach them that:

Sodomy is not a sin?

Adultery is OK to receive Holy Communion?

All men are saved, except for the "excommunicated" SSPX?

It OK to worship Pachamama idols?

There are many paths to God?

The case for womyn deacons is open for debate?

The Blessed Mother plays no role in the salvation of men?

The muslims worship our Triune God?

Rather, I think the SSPX could teach you synodalers quite a few things about the Catholic faith.

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