Skip to main content

Is the SSPX in Schism? What is the difference between Disobedience and Schism???

Image
By

 +

JMJ

There remains people ... even today ... who believe that the SSPX is in schism.

The Evidence

So ... let's go through some of the arguments put forward to support that assertion.

3. In itself, this act was one of disobedience to the Roman Pontiff in a very grave matter and of supreme importance for the unity of the church, such as is the ordination of bishops whereby the apostolic succession is sacramentally perpetuated. Hence such disobedience - which implies in practice the rejection of the Roman primacy - constitutes a schismatic act.(Note 3) In performing such an act, notwithstanding the formal canonical warning sent to them by the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops on 17 June last, Mons. Lefebvre ... have incurred the grave penalty of excommunication envisaged by ecclesiastical law.(Note 4) Vatican: Ecclesia Dei Adflicta

So ... Pope St. John Paul II wrote that the disobedience implies a rejection of the Roman primacy and therefore constitutes a schismatic act. This is followed by the reference to the Canon 751 in the 1982 code of canon law.

Note 3: Can. 751 Heresy is the obstinate denial or obstinate doubt after the reception of baptism of some truth which is to be believed by divine and Catholic faith; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.

Things are vague about what constitutes submission to the Supreme Pontiff. The clear items are when the Pope issues commands and decrees related to Faith and Morals with the intention to bind.

Note 4: Canon 1382 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law deals with the consecration of a bishop without papal mandate. Specifically, it states that a bishop who consecrates someone as a bishop without the required papal mandate, and the person who receives such consecration, incur a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See. This means the excommunication is incurred automatically upon the commission of the act, without the need for a formal declaration.

Counter Point

Point 1 The Missing Canon

So, the first problem is that Canon 751 was not cited in the Canonical Warning.

Canonical Warning Congregation for Bishops to His Excellency Archbishop

Marcel Lefebvre, Archbishop-Bishop Emeritus of Tulle

Since on June 15, 1988 you stated that you intended to ordain four priests to the episcopate without having obtained the mandate of the Supreme Pontiff as required by Canon 1013 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, I myself convey to you this public canonical warning, confirming that if you should carry out your intention as stated above, you yourself and also the bishops ordained by you shall incur ipso facto excommunication latæ sententiæ reserved to the Apostolic See in accordance with Canon 1382. I therefore entreat and beseech you in the name of Jesus Christ to weigh carefully what you are about to undertake against the laws of sacred discipline, and the very grave consequences resulting therefrom for the communion of the Catholic Church, of which you are a bishop.

Given at Rome, from the Office of the Congregation for Bishops, June 17, 1988.

By Mandate of the Supreme Pontiff,

Bernardin Card. Gantin

So, what what we have here is a law that "changed" after the fact and the Canonical warning.  Even in the Catholic Church, I don't think a person can be guilty after the fact.

Point 2 Implied Is Not a Fact

The second point that I would make is that PSJP2 stated that the act of consecration without Pontifical Mandate "... implies in practice a rejection of the Roman primacy ...".  I fail to see how that assertion can be made in the face of the actual intentions stated by Archbishop Lefebvre before he consecrated the four bishops. In other words, "implies" means that something wasn't stated explicitly. So now we have a canonical assertion that Archbishop Lefebvre believed something other than what he stated.

Point 3 The Missing Canon  Revisited

My third point is that, when PSJP2 mentioned that they incurred the penalty of excommunication, he only cites canon 1382, not Canon 751. So it doesn't figure in the excommunication.

Point 4 Rome Says Nope

My fourth and final point is that when I asked the CDF about this in 2014 ... I received the following reply stating that the SSPX is not in full communion. Now I know that some say it is code for schism and I would ask - prove it.  Yes, Rome has used this phrase to include groups that are either objectively schismatic or heretical ... as well as the SSPX which is neither.  So we have term used to collect them all together.

I will be the first to acknowledge that the SSPX is not in a state of full communion.  It is obvious to anyone who understands how the Catholic Church is contituted.




Point 5 Talking Heads Aside

I know that there are many reputable people who have made the assertion that the SSPX is schismatic etc.  In the face of the above, I fail to see how their assertions align with the reality.  


Conclusion

While many want to believe that the SSPX is in schism, the facts noted above just don't support the belief and assertions.  When I first heard that people were saying that the SSPX was in schism because of Ecclesia Dei, I responded simply that it was a scare tactic.  Looking above I have reached the same conclusion again ... 37 years later.

Hopefully, Pope Leo XIV will cut the Schismatic Gordian Knot and enact the 2014 agreement without the footnotes that changed the meaning of the agreement.


P^3


PS. I have discussed disobedience in this collection (link) and would like to draw your attention to  this summary Refresher (link).  Disobedience is just that, disobedience. It does not automatically imply a rejection of the authority of the superior, but that a higher authority requires obedience.  

If that were not the case, then all the bishops who fought Pope Benedict XVI were schismatic :-)


Reference

https://tradicat.blogspot.com/2015/07/a-look-back-cardinal-lara-and-sspx.html

https://tradicat.blogspot.com/2017/10/is-sspx-in-schism.html

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/imply


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Comparision of the Tridentine, Cranmer and Novus Ordo Masses

By
+ JMJ I downloaded the comparison that was linked in the previous article on the mass (here) . ... a very good reference! P^3 From: Whispers of Restoration (available at this link) . CHARTING LITURGICAL CHANGE Comparing the 1962 Ordinary of the Roman Mass to changes made during the Anglican Schism; Compared in turn to changes adopted in the creation of Pope Paul VI’s Mass in 1969 The chart on the reverse is a concise comparison of certain ritual differences between three historical rites for the celebration of the Catholic Mass Vetus Ordo: “Old Order,” the Roman Rite of Mass as contained in the 1962 Missal, often referred to as the “Traditional Latin Mass.”The Ordinary of this Mass is that of Pope St. Pius V (1570) following the Council of Trent (1545-63), hence the occasional moniker “Tridentine Mass.” However, Trent only consolidated and codified the Roman Rite already in use at that time; its essential form dates to Pope St. Gregory the Great (+604), in whose time the R...
Post a Comment
Read more

SSPX and the Resistance - A Comparison Of Ecclesiology

By
Shining the light of Church Teaching on the doctrinal positions of the SSPX and the Resistance. Principles are guides used to aid in decision making.  It stands to reason that bad principles will lead to bad decisions. The recent interactions between Rome and the SSPX has challenged a number of closely held cultural assumptions of people in both sides of the disagreement. This has resulted in cultural skirmishes in both Rome and the SSPX. Since it is the smaller of the two, the skirmishes have been more evident within the SSPX.  The cultural fault-line that Bishop Fellay crossed appears to be linked to two points of Catholic Doctrine: Ecclesiology and Obedience.  The cultural difference of view points is strong enough that it has resulted in the expulsion of a number of members.  It should also be noted that some other priests expelled since the beginning of the latest interactions (starting in 2000) held the same view points and have joined with the l...
8 comments
Read more

If Pope Francis is bad - what about Pope St. John Paul II et al?

By
+ JMJ So here we are on the apparent cusp of yet another post conciliar Papal canonization. This time we have Pope's John-Paul I and Paul VI canonizations to 'look forward' to. This follows, obviously, on the heels of Pope St. John Paul II's canonization? So the first question that I usually encounter is: How is it possible, keeping in mind the doctrine on infallibility of canonizations (note doctrine not dogma), that Pope St. John Paul II is a Saint? First, what does it mean???  According to the doctrine of dogmatic facts - it is the universal opinion of Theologians that canonizations are infallible.  It means that they enjoy the beatific vision.  ... that's it.  That is the doctrine and it is at the level of universal opinion of theologians.  It is called a 'dogmatic fact'. That they made mistakes is obvious.  That the miracles seem to not be very miraculous is also a bit of an issue. Here's something to consider: The rush that surrou...
16 comments
Read more

Spiritual Journey Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre - Extracts

By
+ JMJ I have posted these two chapters to provide context for the quote of: It is, therefore, a strict duty for every priest wanting to remain Catholic to separate himself from this Conciliar Church for as long as it does not rediscover the Tradition of the Church and of the Catholic Faith. P^3 Courtesy of SSPX.ca Chapter II The Perfections of God We ought to remember during this entire contemplation of God that we must apply all that is said of God to Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is God. We cannot separate Jesus Christ from God. We cannot separate the Christian religion from Jesus Christ, Who is God, and we must affirm and believe that only the Catholic religion is the Christian religion. These affirmations have, as a result, inescapable conclusions that no ecclesiastic authority can contest: outside of Jesus Christ and the Catholic religion, that is, outsi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dogmas of the Catholic Faith (de fide) - Expanded Listing: Answer for Reader

By
 + JMJ  A reader asked the following question in the 2015 version of the article on the Dogmas of the Catholic Faith (link) : 117: "In the state of fallen nature it is morally impossible for man without Supernatural Revelation, to know easily, with absolute certainty and without admixture of error, all religious and moral truths of the natural order." Where can you find this in the documents of the Church? ( Link to comment )  Here's the reference from Ott: The citation that Ott provided was Denzinger 1786 and the source document is Dogmatic Consitution Concerning the Faith from the First Vatican Council (Papal Encyclicals - link) : Chapter 2 On Revelation, Article 3: It is indeed thanks to this divine revelation , that those matters concerning God, which are not of themselves beyond the scope of human reason, can, even in the present state of the human race, be known by everyone, without difficulty, with firm certitude and with no intermingling of error. Here's ...
Post a Comment
Read more