Hardline clergy who feared that the SSPX had become infected with “modernism” left the Society or were expelled most notably among them Bishop Richard Williamson of Holocaust denial fame.Ī priest named Joseph Pfeiffer was also among those who left the Society at this time. The talks ultimately came to nothing, but the mere fact that such talks were occurring led to a rift in the Society.
#SSPX KENTUCKY SERIES#
During a series of meetings concluding in 2012, the SSPX and the Holy See tried to find common ground in a cautiously respectful attitude toward the Second Vatican Council. Perhaps I can, like Belloc, illustrate my point with a cautionary tale. The arguments over such things as whether ministers should genuflect during the prayer for the Jews on Good Friday were truly absurd. The infighting was all terribly hypocritical, for the Society has long used a bizarre hybridization of different liturgies.
I saw this very clearly during my time with the SSPX. The 18th-century writer Jacques Mallet du Pan famously wrote that “the Revolution devours its children,” and this adage can easily be applied to traditionalists. This spiritual snobbery not only damages the bond of charity with other Catholics but turns in on itself. Dialogue with traditionalists is notoriously difficult, for they begin with the premise that their own model of liturgical purity, whether it be the Missal of St. Well, there is something worse, and it’s an obsession with liturgical rectitude that admits of no latitude and gives no quarter. Traditionalists, of course, would have us believe there is nothing worse than an unsatisfactory liturgy. Yet we need to be careful in our quest for liturgical purity lest we find something worse than unsatisfactory liturgies. For me, the cherry on the top is that he still uses the chalice veil and burse. The priest observes the rubrics beautifully, and he doesn’t interrupt the liturgy to explain things that are clear enough from the text. For me, it’s a Resurrectionist parish where the sanctuary is lovingly furnished (with perhaps a few too many reliquaries) and the vestments are simple and dignified. Many of us have our places of refuge from the turmoil of the times. If such reluctance causes us to part with the College of Bishops, however, we should bear in mind the warning of Hilaire Belloc:ĭon’t misunderstand me – every Catholic has a right to good liturgy and to the authentic guidance of the Church. It can be tempting to cling to old paths and to shy away from the risks and adventure of reform. Pius X (SSPX) and other traditionalists sift through Vatican II, only accepting the statements they happen to agree with.
This resistance to the Council of Trent is reminiscent of the way that the members of the Society of St.
Indeed, the kings of France accepted only its doctrinal decrees, but not its disciplinary rulings. The Council of Trent was resisted not only by the Protestants but also by the Catholic princes of Europe they did not want to surrender their “traditional” influence over the Church. The First Council of Nicaea, which defined the dogma of the divinity of Christ, was followed by a period in which Arianism rivaled Catholicism as the dominant form of Christianity. Almost every general council has been followed by a period of unrest – a tussle between reformers and resisters. The cloud of ignorance and confusion that tends to surround any reform shouldn’t scandalize anyone. Instead, they treat it as a sort of bogeyman and blame it for every problem in the modern Church-and this despite the fact that an increasing number of them were not even alive when the Council met! In the case of the liturgy, it is unfair to blame the frequently banal celebrations of the Vatican II liturgy on the Missal itself in fact, such problems in the liturgy are caused by a failure to implement the General Instruction of the Roman Missal and the liturgical directives of the Vatican. Many traditionalists make no attempt to appreciate the significance of the Second Vatican Council and its associated reforms. In my last article, I discussed the dangers of traditionalism and finished by promising to address the traditionalist anxiety about change and instability, especially in the liturgy.
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