SSPX Schism

September 14, 2025 Dear Friends, Since I'm on this email feed, I feel compelled to keep responding whenever the SSPX is labeled schismatic. I try to do so in a friendly way, not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings. I don't claim to have papal authority, so consider my remarks to be, at best, a private theological opinion. First, I note that to judge any moral action (or state), we need to consider the object of that action and the circumstances as well. Prudence always requires the consideration of circumstances. It's not enough to simply consider a definition or a commandment and apply it to a case without checking all the circumstances. For example, a boy might be accused of the sin of disobeying his father, citing the 4th Commandment as proof. Looking deeper into things we might learn that the boy's father was drunk and issuing immoral commands. One might compare the spirit of Vatican II or that of the conciliar church with its novelties breaking with t...

September 13, 2025 Schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or communion with those subject to him. The Society meets both canonical elements even though only one is required for schism. The Society has refused submission to the Pope's jurisdiction because it has repeatedly reject the Protocol agreements of the Holy See which included accepting the Catholic Church's Profession of Faith (which the Society rejects, like all schismatics). They refuse communion with the Roman Catholic Church which they call the "conciliar church." The Society also refuses communion with 99% of those in the Roman Rite, because they reject the Novus Ordo.  Those are the canonical elements of the crime of schism. And these elements are proven in the external forum by a notoriety of fact. But let's face it. Given that Society's theological arguments are so poor and have all been refuted (ask Fr Laisney about our exchanges and challenges to the Society's...

June 9, 2025 Dear Fr. K: I commend you on your pursuit of truth in regard to geocentrism. We need more faithful priests like you to know, embrace and teach what the Church has always taught. Thank you for your courage and witness.   In regard to your comment about there still being freedom to be heliocentrists because the doctrine has not been defined, I would add that we need to be careful to follow the Church's Profession of Faith, which requires religious submission of intellect and will to truths which the Magisterium has authentically proposed (the truth of geocentrism and the falsity of heliocentrism being two such truths, based on the Scriptures and consensus of the Fathers). This is precisely why I as a Catholic apologist entered into this debate over 15 years ago; because our counterparts were arguing that since the 16th century decrees were not "infallible," they could be dismissed.  While a case could be made that these teachings are infallible by t...

Why You Should NOT Attend SSPX: A Deep Dive Eric Tafoya Interviews Laurence Gonzaga on the SSPX FULL:  https://www.youtube.com/live/7jmZhkXnKWg Bookmarks 2:30 Introduction https://www.youtube.com/live/7jmZhkXnKWg?si=MviS5LgHkbPfoOHB&t=150 6:00 Overview of the SSPX: Vatican 2, The New Mass, Reactions from Traditionalists https://www.youtube.com/live/7jmZhkXnKWg?si=0D3ZfcA5ICjMowG2&t=360 14:30 The act of schism: Illicit consecrating 4 bishops without papal approval https://www.youtube.com/live/7jmZhkXnKWg?si=Ly3ZTbEwvFImLAlH&t=870 16:30 SSPX justification: Epikeia, the state of emergency https://www.youtube.com/live/7jmZhkXnKWg?si=rFn5L-4M139QlSsr&t=990 18:45 Pope John Paul II and Assisi: Emotional reactions, syncretism, indifferentism, universalism https://www.youtube.com/live/7jmZhkXnKWg?si=rUoSHgmDf9ytJnEG&t=1185 25:45 SSPX in Colton, CA, my first Traditional Latin Mass https://www.youtube.com/live/7jmZhkXnKWg?si=5MpZMFenpyNTktWh&t=1545 29:00 Bishop Barnes ...

Father Brian Harrison, OS, MA, STD on The Journey Home (EWTN) Editor, L. Gonzaga: With permission, I publish here a private group message written by Fr. Brian Harrison, OS, MA, STD addressed to two SSPX priests, whom I am not naming as their emails have not been approved for publication. This message was in support of an initial case made by Dr. Robert Sungenis on the status of the SSPX. On Fri, Sep 12, 2025, 5:55 PM Brian Harrison wrote: If I may be permitted to weigh in here:   Dr. Sungenis is right.  Pope Benedict XVI, even when lifting the 1988 excommunications on the SSPX bishops in 2009, said (via the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops), that the Society was not "in full communion" with the Catholic Church, and that he hoped this gesture would be a step towards bringing them back into full communion.    As is well known, "not in full communion" with the Catholic Church is just the polite, ecumenically-oriented post-Vatican II term for being in schism ...

I think traditionalist-minded folks can get bogged down with the technicalities of the Msgr Perl letters, and there are several of them, because of nuances related to fulfilling the Sunday obligation and other particular issues. My approach to this issue is simply this: 1. Canon law defines what " schism " is: "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 ." (CIC, 751 ). 2. Schism is incurred " latae sententiae ", that is to say, automatically by the very act of schism, without a need for declaration from the ecclesiastical authority: "An apostate from the faith, a heretic or a schismatic incurs a latae sententiae excommunication " (CIC, 1364 ). 3. The SSPX, in various...

As a dog that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly. -Proverbs 26:11, DRB Let's start off with what was publicly stated by the Transalpine Redemptorists in 2008. Read how important undisputed communion with Rome is for them... back in 2008. Tuesday, July 01, 2008 Canonical Good Standing 1 July, 2008 Feast of the Precious Blood My dear friends, I am happy to inform you that last June 18th, before Cardinal Castrillon and the members of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei in Rome, I humbly petitioned the Holy See on my own behalf and on behalf of the monastery council for our priestly suspensions to be lifted. On June 26th I received word that the Holy See had granted our petition. All canonical censures have been lifted. Our community now truly rejoices in undisputed and peaceful posession of Communion with the Holy See because our priests are now in canonical good standing. We are very grateful to our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI for issuing, last July,...

In the span of just a few days, two well-known Catholics publicly gave what I maintain are erroneous conclusions regarding whether or not SSPX Masses fulfill the Sunday obligation. On September 18, 2024, in an interview with Gene Zannetti, Fr. Chad Ripperger stated that SSPX Masses fulfill the obligation. And on September 21, 2024, in an article by Daniel Payne for Catholic News Agency (about the Carmelite nuns who defected to the SSPX), Jimmy Akin of Catholic Answers is also quoted as suggesting that SSPX Masses fulfill the obligation (because he says Catholics can attend their Masses and receive Holy Communion). As I will demonstrate in this article, both statements fall short of a proper understanding of canon law, which lead to the erroneous conclusion. Note that I already addressed this issue at length in my November 2021 article “Do SSPX Masses Fulfill the Sunday Obligation?” (this previous article also analyzes all the negative judgments by the Holy See regarding SS...

Lefebvrist: "The SSPX is not in schism!" CIC: "....schism is the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him." (Canon 751) - - - - - -   Marcel Lefebvre: “We refuse on the other hand, and have always refused, to follow the Rome of Neo-Modernist and Neo-Protestant tendencies which became clearly manifest during the Second Vatican Council, and after the Council, in all the reforms which issued from it.” (Declaration, November 21, 1974) “We believe that we can affirm, taking into consideration the internal and external critique on Vatican II, that is, in analysing the texts and in studying its circumstances and its consequences, that the Council, turning its back on Tradition and breaking with the Church of the past, is a schismatic council. The tree is known by its fruits. Since the Council, all the larger newspapers throughout the world, American and European, recognise that it is destroying t...

I don't know much about FrDave Nix. I never heard of him before Mass of the Ages. I'm sure he's a smart and generally doctrinally sound priest. I don't watch or listen to his content. Someone informed me that he has weighed in on the John Salza Pints with Aquinas (Matt Fradd) interview calling it "silly". I checked the post and commented. He sounds like he is a schismatic in training, if not already one himself. I wouldn't follow this blind "leader" into schism any more than the blind leaders who stay within the Catholic Communion. They are wrong for different reasons which is a distinction that emotion based Trads have a hard time making. Lesser of two evils won't work for you here because the perceived lesser of two evils here, participation in, support of, promotion of the SSPX and all similar setups, takes you out of the Catholic Church and into a schismatic "church".  There's only one Cat...

Lefebvre: Marks of the Church only with SSPX, not with others "Where is the visible Church? The visible Church is recognized by the signs that she has always given for her visibility: she is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. (…) where are the true marks of the Church? Are they more in the official Church (it is not the visible Church, it is the official Church) or with us, in what we represent, what we are? If there is still any visibility of the Church today, it is thanks to you. These signs are no longer found in others. There is no longer any unity of faith among them, yet it is faith that is the basis of all visibility of the Church. Catholicity is one faith in space. Apostolicity is one faith in time and holiness is the fruit of faith, which materializes in souls by the grace of God, by the grace of the sacraments. It is quite wrong to consider ourselves as if we were not part of the visible Church. […] is to make a mistake in equating the official Church with th...

Dan Kavic to talk about his journey through the SSPX and Sedevacantism. SSPX a cult?

For those who do not know, the Transalpine Redemptorists of Papa Stronsay were formerly associated with the SSPX, but did reconcile and joined the Catholic Church as of 1 July 2008, see here:  https://papastronsay.blogspot.com/2008/07/canonical-good-standing.html  Source:   https://papastronsay.blogspot.com/2010/01/business-of-enemies.html  Source:  https://papastronsay.blogspot.com/2010/02/nb.html

"It is clear that with all those who leave us or who have left us for Sedevacantism or with those who want to be subject to the current hierarchy of the Church while hoping to keep the Tradition, we can no longer have relations with them. It is not possible. We say that one cannot be subject to ecclesiastical authority and keep Tradition. They claim the opposite. This is to deceive the faithful. (…) we want to be absolutely free from compromise both with regard to Sedevacantists and with regard to those who want to be subject to ecclesiastical authority." -Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre  Conference in Flavigny, December 1988, Fideliter n° 68, p. 16. Konstantin: So basically the Church no longer exists because being in union with the ecclesisastical hierarchy and holding on to Tradition is no longer possible. So many of these quotes not only reek of schism but of heresy. ... Question: 17) Can we go to the Masses of the “ralliés” [the ED communities]? No, you can't ...