Skip to main content

The SSPX has a new church! SSPX.org

+
JMJ

The SSPX has procured a new church (see article) which is wonderful.  

However, I want to draw attention to the prevailing attitude (a cultural artifact) that became evident during the various exchanges with the Diocese and no the Diocese did NOT allow the SSPX to purchase one of their buildings.

However, the bishop had invited the Fr. Lawrence DiNardo[1] to the meeting. Interestingly, Fr. DiNardo was also pastor of Holy Wisdom Church where the Pittsburgh Latin Mass Community organizes a weekly Mass, at that time attended by nearly 1,000 faithful. Of course Fr. DiNardo would be favorable to another traditional Mass group buying St. Michael’s from the diocese and extending the Mass of All Time to another part of the city, right? Wrong! Fr. DiNardo insisted that the SSPX was schismatic and that therefore the bishop could not sell it to us. So much for religious liberty and ecumenism.


By fall of 2013, as the diocese was laying off employees due to a $2.3M deficit in their budget, the price of St. Michael’s had dropped down to $150,000 despite the readiness of our checkbook. At that time a local reporter contacted the diocese about the sale of St. Michael’s and asked why the diocese had previously sold churches to the Lutherans and Baptists while they would not sell to the SSPX. The response that was posted in the newspaper was,those groups [Lutherans and Baptists] are not schismatic in the eyes of the Church.” What a losing battle this was! There was no use trying to reason with the diocese. It became clear that they might sell this church for Protestant “worship” or to a developer for making apartments, but not to a group that would use it according the purpose for which it was built—the Mass of All Time and the perennial teaching and sacraments of the Church.Courtesy of SSPX.org
The belief being put forth (whether they know it or not) by the Diocese is that the Protestants are within the Catholic Church and the SSPX is not.

Even the response that I received from Ecclesia Dei didn't go that far.

Following this logic, a person attending the SSPX would be better off going to a Lutheran or Baptist liturgy and participate in false worship.  Of course this is not what the law etc says, but that is the belief implied by the response of the Diocese.

This truly is just an example of the crisis of the Church.

P^3
Prayer
Penance
Patience

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Morning and Evening and other sundry Prayers

+ JMJ Along the theme of P^3 (Prayer, Penance, Patience), and for my own reference ... here is a collection of Morning and Evening prayers from the Ideal Daily Missal along with some additional prayers. In this crisis of the Church, I do not think it is possible to do too much prayer, penance and have patience. P^3

Is it sinful to attend the Novus Ordo (New Mass) - Is it Sinful to Not Attend the Novus Ordo on Sunday?

+ JMJ A non-SSPX Catholic is upset over the SSPX statements on not attending the Novus Ordo Missae. Ladies and gentlemen, what the SSPX, or at least its website editor, is advocating is a mortal sin against the Third Commandment.  Unless the priest deviates from the language of the Sacramentary, the consecration, and thus the rest of Mass is to be considered valid.  No one may elect not to attend Mass simply because abuses are occurring therein.  Might I suggest that such absenteeism is its own abuse?  The Third Commandment binds under mortal sin.  Father So-And-So from the SSPX has no authority whatsoever to excuse attendance at Mass, be that Mass ever so unpalatable. Source:Restore DC Catholicism Well, this is interesting. First why does the SSPX issue this statement? Because it is sinful to put your faith in danger by attending a protestant service.  It is likewise dangerous to put your faith in danger by attending a protestantized mass (ie the Novus Ordo Missae

Remember this day March 25, 1991 - The Death of Archbishop Lefebvre

+ JMJ This is the day, 25 years ago, that Archbishop Lefebvre passed on to his eternal reward. I know that he has as many (perhaps even more) critics than admirers.  For example I still remember Fr. Paul Nicholson's screed in which he shouted from the top of his webpage: "To die excommunicated - how horrible". I'll leave aside Fr. Nicholson's ignorance on the matter as in the grand scheme of things, his impact on the life of the Mystical Body of Christ, which IS the Roman Catholic Church is no greater than that of Michael Voris etc. Archbishop Lefebvre and the work he founded (ie Fraternal Society of St. Pius X ) have had a significant impact. Let us list of few from greatest to smallest: Consistent and constant Catholic perspective on the crisis of the Church from the halls of the Second Vatican Council to the Synod on the Family (and beyond!) Summorum Pontificum and Universae Ecclesiae : By which the restoration of the sacramental life of the