+ JMJ Perspectives – FSSP vs SSPX In August, Fr. Debow (FSSP) of Holy Family Parish in Vancouver, B.C. wrote two letters on the SSPX “situation”. Obviously, Father is writing from the FSSP perspective and some elements are simply repeating what he’s been taught in seminary by the founders of the FSSP. In other words, they don’t truthfully reflect the position of the SSPX or, I feel, make the necessary distinctions. Father’s key points I noted were: The situation isn’t primarily about the Tridentine 1 Mass, the SSPX “no longer believes that Rome can transmit the faith, the SSPX “have taken it upon themselves to save the Church”, the penalties are not a persecution but a correction of a theological error manifesting itself as schism, It is a sin to attend Mass at an SSPX chapel. My goal is to assess the five points in as objective a manner as possible. Since I have sought the sacraments from either Fr. Normandin or the SSPX since the early 80’s it is probably t...
+ JMJ The reactions to the July 2026 Episcopal Consecrations continue as the media storm subsides. I guess the most interesting news this week is Tim Flander's decision to stop his support of the SSPX. There's a lot of comments about this and while I've only read a little of his reasons, I came to one conclusion - everyone seems to get tripped up on some ancillary issue or event without looking at the whole picture and the key principles. One thought that occurred is that this isn't about jurisdiction, schism or any of the other dozens of opinions. Rome has already stated what it is about multiple times and it is about the New Mass and the Second Vatican Council. Any canonically regular religious organization that has made a move towards the Tridentine Mass or even pre-conciliar thinking gets persecuted by Rome, the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate are one example that did both. In the same era, the Knights of Malta also were punished. The persecution of any and a...