Posted on 06/06/2006 6:39:44 AM PDT by NYer
Jun. 05 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican has shown a declining interest in restoring normal ties with Lefebvrists, according to the head of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX).
Bishop Bernard Fellay, speaking to the French newspaper Le Figaro during an annual pilgrimage from Chartres to Paris, said that he thought "the enthusiasm for the reconciliation that the Pope wants has abated." He conceded, however, that Vatican officials might be waiting for the outcome of this summer's chapter general, at which the SSPX will elect its leader, before reviving active discussions.
Rumors about Vatican plans to regularize the status of the SSPX circulated freely earlier this year. The topic was reportedly on the agenda for the consistory of the College of Cardinals on March 24. But any plan for reconciliation will have to overcome considerable opposition, both within the Roman Curia and within the ranks of the traditionalist group.
In a homily preached to participants in the SSPX pilgrimage, Bishop Fellay illustrated the extent of Lefebvrist disaffection from Rome, saying that the modern Church leadership was engaged in "suicide" because Catholicism had renounced its missionary spirit.
Bump to #14.
Just got back from lunch, I will try and locate the source where I read the article.
So you are saying my diocese is schismatic?
Defending the Papacy: Opposing the Sedevacantist Enterprise
You can do a search on the actual SSPX site as well.
Uh, what are you trying to prove? My understanding is that Fatima.org is a pro-SSPX site, and if you are look, there are articles defending the SSPX. When this author is talking about Sedevacantists, he's not talking about the SSPX.
If Pope Benedict XVI allows for the wider use of the Tridentine Mass and the use of Latin, the SSPX would become even more fictionalized in itself, and there would be many who would come back into communion with Rome, leaving the remainder of the SSPX as delusional schismatics who won't be pleased with anything but the complete reversal of Vatican II, and then some.
I do sympathize with many of the ends that the SSPX wants, but I am very much against the means in which they communicate with the Vatican. They are always on the attack, many of their articles are against individuals who THEY view as being wrong, such as Pope JPII & Pope B16, and are very angry and spiteful people in how they communicate. It's either their way or the highway.
I would love to go to the traditional Masses each Sunday, and to do it in Latin, that was what made the Catholic Church so great, and is a huge part of her identity, tradition, and universal nature. I would not break communion with Rome to do so. By definition, if you were in communion with Rome, and by your words or actions are no longer in communion with Rome, either willingly or unwillingly, you are a heretic. I don't like it, but thats how I see it.
I'm not so sure that's true. On another forum, I met someone who met and "fell in love with" someone off the dating site CatholicSingles.com, who was in the SSPX. This was a constant source of friction between the two, the former being a more "modern" Catholic (for lack of a better term). I've also recently discovered that one of my fellow parishioners first came back to Catholicism (about 2 years ago) because of the actions of a very conservative Catholic, who has since become an SSPX.
Interestingly, both of these men (the SSPXers) were from the Illinois area. There must be some serious liturgical abuses out there. According to the former girl I mentioned (from another forum), the SSPX movement is gaining a lot of popularity in Illinois.
I wouldn't shrug the SSPX off so casually. This is a movement that finds a home in a lot of disgruntled, conservative Catholic hearts. That said, I don't think there will be any reconciliation, other than the SSPX admitting to the error of their ways, especially now since the Tridentine Masses are gaining popularity in many dioceses, the SSPX has little else to stand on, other than their simple, obstinate objection to Vatican II.
True enough and they have quite a few chapels in Texas. See chapel list below.
More locations of the SSPX worldwide:
If you click on each one of those links, they have quite a large following considering the number of locations, chapels, seminaries, etc. I wonder how many are in the SSPX? Does anyone know the exact number?
They are certainly not going away that's for sure or dying out as some predicted.
Dear FourtySeven,
I suspect that the SSPX waxes in one place while waning in another.
Some years ago, when I first began to encounter the followers of the SSPX schism, they asserted that the SSPX was a rapidly growing movement. I went to one of the websites, and found that worldwide, the SSPX has about 500 priests. That's perhaps half as many as live in the Archdiocese of Washington.
An SSPX sympathizer assured me that that was old data, from the early or mid-1990s. They had many more priests now (this was four or five years ago), he assured me.
I dug a little and found that they still had roughly 500 priests at that time. And even today, their numbers hover around 500 priests.
In the meanwhile, I suspect that the laity who attend their Masses probably haven't increased dramatically, either.
It's a stagnant, stagnating group of folks. It would be wonderful if the pope could persuade them to effect corporate reunion, but I think that their moment has passed, and it is quite possible that they will fade increasingly into irrelevancy.
It's too bad. There is nothing good about losing Catholics to schism.
sitetest
Having been in the SSPX formerly, I can tell you that their growth was more rapid in their earlier years. From about the mid-90's on, that growth has stagnated as you indicated. Their only growth is now coming from large numbers of children born to its members, and a sizeable percentage of these children have not nor will not necessarily remain either in the SSPX or as practicing Catholics. Sad, but the same overly authoritarian attitudes of pre-V2 are rampant in the SSPX, and those attitudes are having a similar affect on how the children cannot embrace Catholicism personally and lovingly.
Are there any FSSP parishes near you?
I actually do not know of any myself, but I am sure that there are some, as northern NJ has a very large Catholic population. You can pm Coleus, he may know of some.
If you want a traditional Latin Mass from a group in full communion with the pope, try to find one.
Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey
Our Lady of Fatima Chapel
Fr. Mark Fischer, FSSP, Administrator
Fr. Benoit Guichard, FSSP, Assistant
Fr. Gregory Pendergraft, FSSP, Assistant
32 W. Franklin Ave. (First and W. Franklin Ave.)
Pequannock, NJ 07440
tel/fax (973) 694-6727
Sunday 7:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., & 5:00 p.m.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 7:00 a.m. & 8:00 a.m.
Tuesday & Thursday 7:00 a.m., 8:00 a.m. & 7:00 p.m.
Saturday 7:00 a.m. & 9:00 a.m.
full list here:
http://www.fssp.com/main/uscan.html
Thanks Nihil Obstat
It's too bad. There is nothing good about losing Catholics to schism.
Amen. It's a sad affair.
Do you have some evidence for that assertion? According to their website, SSPX has a grand total of 35 "priories" in France. Hardly "very large."
I've read the Wanderer forever
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