Reality check: Church Militant faq on the sspx

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JMJ

I decided to go and see if Church Militant's "FAQ" on the SSPX had been updated.

First the opening barrage ...

The position of ChurchMilitant.com concerning the SSPX is that of the Holy Father, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, as expressed in the motu proprio Ecclesiae Unitatem, issued July 2, 2009:

In the same spirit and with the same commitment to encouraging the resolution of all fractures and divisions in the Church and to healing a wound in the ecclesial fabric that was more and more painfully felt, I wished to remit the excommunication of the four Bishops illicitly ordained by Archbishop Lefebvre. With this decision I intended to remove an impediment that might have jeopardized the opening of a door to dialogue and thereby to invite the Bishops and the "Society of St. Pius X" to rediscover the path to full communion with the Church​. As I explained in my Letter to the Catholic Bishops of last 10 March, the remission of the excommunication was a measure taken in the context of ecclesiastical discipline to free the individuals from the burden of conscience constituted by the most serious of ecclesiastical penalties. However, the doctrinal questions obviously remain and until they are clarified the Society has no canonical status in the Church and its ministers cannot legitimately exercise any ministry. (emphasis added) 

The SSPX bishops were excommunicated and their illicit consecrations defined as schismatic in the motu proprio Ecclesia Dei issued July 2, 1988. The excommunications have been lifted, but the canonical status of the SSPX remains unchanged.

There are two important points here:
1. The SSPX is not in full communion with the Church and is invited by the Church to rediscover this path.
2. The SSPX has no canonical status in the Church and its ministers cannot legitimately exercise any ministry.

Tradical: Wow, so their entire position is based on a 10 year old document. Seriously?  Much has transpired since then. We always have to ask ... what does "not full communion" mean? Is it the same as the protestants and orthodox? 

The SSPX, for all its many good qualities, does not consist of faithful Roman Catholics because communion with the Chair of Peter is a constitutive part of Roman Catholicism — something the SSPX accepts in principle but rejects in practice. The SSPX has "no canonical status," "no legitimate ministry," is "invited to rediscover the path to full communion," has no faculties from any bishop, is not part of the divinely ordained hierarchical structure of the Church, and all its priests are suspended a divinis. No individual or group can seriously claim to be Catholic and have all this true of themselves.

Tradical:  Ok, so a Catholic attends the SSPX for the Sacraments ... say confession ... and suddenly they are no longer "faithful Roman Catholics"?  Because "communion with the Chair of Peter" is somehow broken?  I guess they have jumped from "not full communion" to "schismatic". This is really old news and addressed in detail over the decades since the consecrations of 1988.  Where to start ...

First, there was no schismatic act. Changing a law to find someone guilty after the fact doesn't work in civil law and it doesn't work in canon law.    I wrote to the CDF looking for an official clarification on whether or not the SSPX is in schism and all I got back was the 'not in full communion' mantra (see article here) .  If the CDF could have stated that the SSPX was in a state of formal schism, they would have.  So "not in full communion" is a catch all for schism, heretic and ... no canoncial status.

Second, we have Pope Francis giving world wide jurisdiction to the SSPX for confession and the ability for the local ordinaries to provide jurisdiction for marriages.  This completely contradicts CMTV's statement above.  In short, if Pope Francis makes a juridical decision that doesn't break the requirements for obedience, then obedience is not optional (see this article series).

We are well aware of ongoing dialogue between the SSPX and Rome. It is to be fervently hoped that this dialogue results in a return of the SSPX to full communion with the Church, granting its bishops and clergy canonical status and the authority to exercise ministry. Reconciliation of the SSPX with the Church would be a great blessing for the Church but most especially for the SSPX. The SSPX has consistently refused the most generous and magnanimous invitations from the Church to reconcile and place itself under the authority of the Vicar of Christ, rejecting his dogmatically defined "full power of shepherding, ruling and governing the universal Church," a power "ordinary and immediate over all the churches and over each and every member of the faithful" ("The Pope Exercises Supreme Jurisdiction" [Original Italian here]).

Tradical:  Well this is interesting as the "dialogue" continues, as noted above with various concessions being made to the SSPX.  Beyond this we have to remember that the reason that the SSPX is denied a canonical status is the 'manta' (see this article).

Perhaps the SSPX fears it will be crushed by an unsympathetic hierarchy and pope. Perhaps it is justified in such fearful apprehensions. But there is precedent in the history of the Church — in the lives of the saints, in the life of Our Lord Himself — for risking or allowing oneself to be crushed by obedience. Until such time as the SSPX chooses to reconcile with the Church, ChurchMilitant.com must support the judgment of the Holy Father and the Church concerning its status.

Tradical: Well I think that a little history of CMTV's existence might serve as a useful example.  When Voris first launched his independent apostolate, it was called: Real Catholic TV.  

Here's an extract from Wikipedia:

St. Michael's Media is a 501(c)(3) organization which operates in the State of Michigan under the officially-registered assumed name of Church Militant via the website ChurchMilitant.com. Church Militant is a Catholic lay apostolate and traditional Catholic news website founded by Michael Voris. It was known as Real Catholic TV until 2012, when the Archdiocese of Detroit notified Michael Voris and Real Catholic TV that "it does not regard them as being authorized to use the word 'Catholic' to identify or promote their public activities". Mr. Voris responded by changing the name to Church Militant. While Church Militant makes use of a paywall and offers premium content to subscribers, the website's most well known feature is its free segment The Vortex, simulcast on YouTube and hosted by Voris. As of December 2018, 34 employees create videos and write content for Church Militant.

 If I remember correctly, they even relocated their operations.

So they aren't authorized to use the word "Catholic" to identify themselves.  Hence the attempt to inflict the same punishment upon the SSPX ... who by the way was founded canonically in the truest sense. Voris et al are "persecuted" and their response is to simply relocate and change their name, all in the name of exposing the truth.

Hmmmm, there are some similarities here but I guess they are lost on Voris et al.

We know why the SSPX has been persecuted and the distinction that is missed by Voris et al in citing saintly examples is simply this: What was at stake was not the Catholic Faith.  True obedience does not require us to abandon the truth, such as that the Tridentine Mass was never abrogated.

The reason why the SSPX is still in a canonical grey zone is precisely for the same reason that CMTV no longer calls itself RealCatholicTV.

The Truth.

P^3