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

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