The SSPX will Remain Status Quo Under Pope Benedict.
Rorate reports on a letter by SSPX District Superior for Asia, Fr. Daniel Couture, published in “Appeal to the SSPX Korean faithful” which contains the following passage.
Bishop Fellay said recently, in many public conferences in Australia, that nothing new would happen for the SSPX under the present pope. And if we consider the appointment last June of the German Archbishop Müller at the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – he considers Vatican II as infallible – the present situation is going to continue as it is for many more years.
Some however thought and prophesised that Bishop Fellay was going to surrender the SSPX to the modernist authorities, to the conciliar errors and to the new mass. They were certain this was going to happen in June. But it didn’t. They then announced it was going to happen in July. It didn’t. Now they say it will be in October, or November, it will not. Or in 5 or 10 years. It will not! They are like the false prophets announcing repeatedly that the end of world is imminent, and that we should store food in our houses in preparation. As a consequence people live in constant fear of what might happen soon. Those who are doing this today are leading souls by fear and away from Catholic Tradition.
Is any hope of progress on this front a dead letter for the remainder of Pope Benedict’s pontificate? That would be sad, but it might be true.
September 10, 2012 at 4:21 am
This is upsetting. I mean, he's literally telling them that they will stay outside the Catholic Church for a LONG time, perhaps forever. They aren't going to get a better deal from the next pope, and this is the best deal the SSPX could get… The SSPX should also know that Archbishop Muller is frequently mistranslated; German and Italian can be tricky (remember the Pope's interview in Light of the World? Yep, same problem). He's not Joseph Ratzinger but he knows his stuff.
September 10, 2012 at 4:30 am
This is a great disappointment to people like myself, who had really hoped for a reconciliation, at what seemed like the perfect time.
Alas, the SSPX has maintained itself under a "state of siege" mentality for decades. Giving that up requires humility, a quality that the late Cardinal Gagnon found lacking when he visited Econe many years ago. It has not changed much. Not all of the Society's demands were reasonable, and in the end, having to answer to someone else gave Fellay and company the opportunity to find any excuse to back away from the negotiations. (If it hadn't been the appointment of Archbishop Muller, it would have been something else.) They may have been essential to preserving the Traditional Mass, but at the end of the day, it can only truly be preserved in the unity of the Church that Christ founded.
September 10, 2012 at 5:41 pm
This is why we must fight to prevent schism–because once people turn their backs on the Church, they grow to love the separation and refuse to reconcile,….
It's like Lucifer— it's not God that keeps him in Hell, it's his own pride that has damned him.
September 10, 2012 at 5:44 pm
Also, to any SSPX types reading this:
Several Latin Mass orders have been welcomed in the Church and are growing by leaps and bounds.
Bishops are required to let any priest who WANTS to offer the EF offer it.
There's no excuse to be in schism, except a love of division.
September 10, 2012 at 6:19 pm
I'm disappointed because Cardinal O'Malley (Archdiocese of Boston) won't allow the FSSP in (although the SSPX does have a chapel here and I attended my first SSPX Mass yesterday)…
September 10, 2012 at 9:18 pm
Lynn– there are latin Masses in the Boston area.
Quick Google search reveals:
http://www.latinmassnorth.org/index.htm
http://www.boston-catholic-journal.com/mary-immaculate-of-lourdes-newton-ma.htm
http://home.comcast.net/~pkoenen/UnaVoceBoston/
No need to go SSPX. Stick with the approved stuff, don't mess with schism.
September 10, 2012 at 9:19 pm
Many dioceses just have diocesan tridentine Mass… FSSP often gets invited in when the bishop feels he can't spare one of 'his' priests for it….
September 11, 2012 at 4:01 am
"There's no excuse to be in schism, except a love of division."
Or of not having to answer to anyone.
September 11, 2012 at 8:37 am
I can't really fault the society or Bishop Fellay for that matter. After the last second things that were pulled on Bishop Fellay and then add to that the appointment of Muller that was simply a slap in the face of the SSPX. It was just too much for the leadership of the society to take.
Sad as it is the fever has not broken in Rome yet.
September 11, 2012 at 4:38 pm
If it was acceptable to turn your back on Rome every time you disagreed with a papal appointment, there wouldn't be any Catholics left.
September 11, 2012 at 11:15 pm
You are right there are Catholics left but because of appointments like that of Muller there are very few, and I am willing to bet that after Muller is done with the CDF there will be a lot less.