We have long speculated that there are deep divisions within the SSPX and the sides are lining up both for and against the looming regularization of the Society. We need speculate no longer. Rorate has published a letter from Bishop Fellay, Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X (FSSPX /SSPX), and the other two members of the General Council, First Assistant Fr. Niklaus Pfluger and Second Assistant Fr. Alain-Marc Nély. The letter is addressed to The Most Reverend Tissier de Mallerais, Williamson, and De Galarreta (aka the likely holdouts)
We only get to see one side of this conversation, but one can only surmise what must have been the contents of the missive the holdouts sent to Bishop Fellay. This letter is in response to some previous letter.
I reprint in part…
Menzingen, April 14, 2012
The Most Reverend Tissier de Mallerais, Williamson, and De Galarreta
Your Excellencies,
Your collective letter addressed to the members of the General Council received our full attention. We thank you for your solicitude and charity. Allow us in our turn, with the same concern for justice and charity, to make the following observations.
First of all, the letter indeed mentions the gravity of the crisis gripping the Church and precisely analyzes the nature of the ambient errors that pullulate in the Church. Nonetheless, the description is marred by two defects in relation to the reality in the Church: it is lacking in a supernatural spirit and at the same time it lacks realism.
The description lacks a supernatural spirit. To read your letter, one seriously wonders if you still believe that the visible Church whose seat is at Rome is indeed the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, a Church horribly disfigured, to be sure, a planta pedis usque ad verticem capitis, but a Church that in spite of all still has as its head Our Lord Jesus Christ. One gets the impression that you have been so scandalized that you no longer accept that it can still be the true Church. For you, it would seem to be a question whether Benedict XVI is still the legitimate pope. And if he is, there is a question as to whether Jesus Christ can still speak through him. If the pope expresses a legitimate will concerning us which is good and which does not order anything contrary to the commandments of God, have we the right to neglect or to dismiss this will? Otherwise, on what principle do you base your actions? Do you not believe that if Our Lord commands us, He will also give us the means to carry on our work? Now, the pope has let us know that an abiding concern for the regularization of our situation for the good of the Church lies at the very heart of his pontificate, and also that he knew very well that it would be easier both for him and for us to leave things as they stand now. And so it is indeed a decided and legitimate will that he is expressing.
With the attitude you recommend, no room is left for the Gideons or the Davids or for those who count on the Lord’s help. You reproach us with being naïve or fearful, but rather it is your vision of the Church that is too human, and even fatalistic. You see the dangers, the plots, the difficulties, but you no longer see the assistance of grace and of the Holy Ghost. If one grants that Divine Providence leads the affairs of men while safeguarding their liberty, it is also needful to admit that the gestures in our favor over the last several years are also under its guidance.
A few more key quotes before I recommend you read the whole thing. Bishop Fellay suggests that the holdouts are among those
“Within the Society, some are making the conciliar errors into super heresies, absolute evil, worse than anything, in the same way that the liberals have dogmatized this pastoral council. The evils are sufficiently dramatic; there is hardly any reason to exaggerate them further (cf. Roberto de Mattei, Une histoire jamais écrite, p. 22; Mgr. Gherardini, Un débat à ouvrir, p. 53, etc.).”
Ouch.
Then Bishop Fellay tells them that he has kept them out of this discussion purposefully because they are wearing there tin foil hats. I paraphrase of course.
You cannot know how your attitude these last months–quite different for each one of you–has been hard on us. It has kept the Superior General from communicating and sharing with you these weighty matters, in which he would have so willingly involved you had he not found himself before such a strong and passionate incomprehension.
The lines have clearly been drawn and they are not wholly unexpected. Certain people get used to and then come to prefer being separate. I think this is why the Pope is so insistent on resolving this now, for the good of souls.. I am most interested to see how the faithful line up.
May 11, 2012 at 5:33 am
All I can say is "WOW!"
May 11, 2012 at 9:13 am
If one refuses to obey the Successor of Peter and remain loyal to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, then why would one accord any fidelity to Bishop Fellay (or any future leader of the SSPX?
May 11, 2012 at 2:48 pm
Lynda: exactly.
May 11, 2012 at 3:36 pm
Lynda, I suspect you are missing the point. Pope Benedict XVI and Bishop Fellay are working with all respect and prayer to resolve the unfortunate mishandling of the dispute between Rome and the SSPX. This letter should increase our understanding of the difficulties both Bishop Fellay and His Holiness Pope Benedict have to overcome both in Rome and the SSPX. We should pray fro their success.
Don
May 11, 2012 at 4:30 pm
I don't think Lynda is missing the point. I think she is asking a question that is strongly implicit in +Fellay's response.
May 11, 2012 at 5:59 pm
Oh snap. Totally selfish request here, Lord– PLEASE let my relations in the society choose to stay with the Pope. Please???
May 11, 2012 at 8:39 pm
Exactly – if the SSPX holdouts already dis the Pope, why would they even hesitate to turn on +Fellay just as quickly if he doesn't do things the way they want?
May 11, 2012 at 9:10 pm
I always knew that Williamson was a flake and a half, but I'm sad to hear the other two bishops are siding with him. I hope Fellay can win over those two and isolate Williamson so he can't do anymore damage.
Williamson was always a loose cannon. He has a tendancy to use his office as bishop to make statements on subjects he has no education or training in. Take his tv interview that brought the SSPX and the Holy Father much unneeded grief. He nade some comments on the Holocaust and the six million number. He never bothered to inform Bp. Fellay about this interview before he went the air. He did not think of how this would and cold hurt the SSPX, the church, and the Holy Father. All he thought about was himself and a chance to tell the truth (as he saw it) about the holocaust. He was out of line to talk about a subject (history) that he has no formal training in. He is a Catholic priest, his job is to teach the Catholic faith, not to get involved tn secular matters that cause unnessasary disputes. It's hard enough to defend the faith these days without getting involved in historical contraversies that occupy historians fll time.
May 13, 2012 at 8:09 pm
Just went and read the letter with footnotes. "Benedict is a liberal but not a heretic." LOL
May 13, 2012 at 8:54 pm
Not so sure that it is three against one.
"You cannot know how your attitude these last months–quite different for each one of you–has been hard on us."
I think, dangerous I know, this letter is an attempt to cover a number of issues and not point to any one of the bishops(or anyone of the priest or faithful) in particular. Trying to maintain unity and charity; knowing this letter would be published.
May 14, 2012 at 6:06 am
I am not catholic, but have dear friends who are…. both SSPX AND so called 'Novis Ordo' … My Novis Ordo friends who are informed desire reconciliation, while maintaining their legitimacy, while, in the opposite, several of my SSPX friends demand that they need not 'come back to Rome', but rather, Rome need come to them. I only hope, that first, Benedict is indeed an honorable man, and also, that Fellay too is honorable. If there is a God at work in the 'christian' church, as I believe there is, I pray that HE can sift the hardened hearts of prideful men, and allow that the 'church' not be distracted by these issues. We are fighting a battle which is being lost on a horrifying scale, and the momentum is NOT in the favor of christianity. We are not being the humble children God commisioned us to be.