+- The Catacombs (https://thecatacombs.org)
+-- Forum: Catholic Resistance (https://thecatacombs.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=8)
+--- Forum: The New-Conciliar SSPX (https://thecatacombs.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=18)
+--- Thread: The Recusant #59: What About SSPX Masses today? (/showthread.php?tid=4459)
The Recusant #59: What About SSPX Masses today? - Stone - 11-07-2022
The following article is taken from The Recusant #59, pages 18-21. It follows a reprint of Fr. Marc Van Es's Angelus article: The Attendance at Today's Masses.
...to anyone who has read the previous article carefully and understood it, one fairly obvious question suggests itself:
What About SSPX Masses today?
The old SSPX expressed, with great clarity, why one should not go to Indult Masses. What about the present day SSPX, ought we to go to Mass there? Not surprisingly, there does not exist an article by the SSPX explaining why one should avoid the SSPX. Instead therefore, let us try to apply what the old SSPX and Archbishop Lefebvre used to say and see how it applies to the SSPX in our time.
“To attend the ‘indult’ Mass is at least to approve implicitly and to encourage the work of the destruction of Catholic Tradition undertaken by the official hierarchy.” (Fr. Van Es)
Likewise, to attend the modern SSPX Mass is at least to approve implicitly and to encourage the betrayal of Catholic Tradition and the slide into liberalism and compromise undertaken by the SSPX hierarchy.
It is also means, at least implicitly, approving the work of the modern conciliar hierarchy with whom the SSPX have been working ever more closely and whom they no longer condemn.
“[The Indult Mass is a] means and bait to attract the traditional Catholics now considered as schismatics because they are no longer considered as “being in communion” with the present-day Rome, of liberal and modernist tendency.” (Fr. Van Es)
In our own time, the modernist infiltrators who are destroying the Church no longer consider the compromised SSPX as being “schismatic” or off-limits. Even the arch-modernist Pope Francis has decided to announce that he now provides jurisdiction for their confessions; their ordinations are also done with the approval of modernist Rome. Even SSPX marriages are performed by modernist Novus Ordo priests. SSPX leaders, for their part have said all sorts of flattering and obsequious things regarding the modernist authorities against whom the SSPX used to be fighting. To all intents and purposes, they can now be considered as being “in communion” once again by the present-day Rome of liberal and modernist tendencies, albeit still in a somewhat “canonically irregular” situation. That is how the modernist Romans consider them, and it is also how the outside world seems to see things. Small wonder then that they no longer talk about “neo-modernist” or “neo-Protestant” Rome or the “conciliar church” but rather speak about it as though it were one and the same as eternal Rome.
By the contrast, the Catholics who today are still considered as being “not in communion,” “schismatic,” “rebellious” and are the targets all the other epithets which used to be hurled at the SSPX, are undoubtedly those of what is called the Resistance. In our day, these are the Traditional Catholics who must not let themselves be baited or tempted with either Indult Masses or those of the SSPX.
“[The Indult Mass] constitutes a danger for the faith of the faithful, a danger which comes from the priests themselves who are celebrating it. Because to obtain this indult from the official hierarchy, these priests must fulfil the following conditions: ‘That it should be very clear that these priests have nothing to do with those who place in doubt... the doctrinal soundness of the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI, in 1970 and that their position should be without any ambiguity and publicly known.’ ” (Fr. Van Es)
In our day, the SSPX Mass too constitutes a danger for the faith of the faithful, for the same reason. The SSPX’s change of position, from rejecting the legitimacy of the New Mass to accepting it, is a real one. It may not be as “clear and unambiguous” as the acceptance required by the Indult and one might still encounter an SSPX priest who didn’t get the memo or who is playing a game of pretending that he is still living in the year 2011. But the official corporate acceptance (“We declare that we accept…”) of the New Mass as “legitimately promulgated” by Paul VI, can be found in the April 2012 Doctrinal Declaration. It was signed, sealed and handed over to modernist Rome and can be found in the March 2013 issue of the SSPX’s
own internal bulletin, Cor Unum. What cannot be found anywhere is a corresponding repudiation, retraction, denial or rephrasing of that acceptance by a Superior General on behalf of the whole SSPX. Therefore, as the official position of the SSPX, it stands.
“In the hands of the official hierarchy, the Tridentine Mass serves therefore as a temporary means and bait to attract the traditional priests and people and to destroy at the same time the work of Catholic restoration, started by Archbishop Lefebvre, Bishop de Castro Mayer and their priests.” (Fr. Van Es)
In our own time, has not the compromised conciliar SSPX made great use of the Tridentine Mass to try to lure people away from the Resistance? How else does one explain the egregious articles and videos, noted in these pages and elsewhere, which play on the emotions of their audience, exhorting them to be grateful for their regular Tridentine Masses, etc.? Does not the unwillingness of the modern SSPX to spread itself thin, in the manner of the old SSPX, also play into this?
“Hundreds of priests, seminarians and faithful have been lured with the Tridentine Rite and now are made to forcibly return to the ranks and the spirit of the Council.” (Fr. Van Es)
With priests, some far less subtle means have been employed to stop them leaving the SSPX and joining the Resistance: threats, transfers, isolation, psychological torture, expulsion, destitution as well as the constant playing on their anxiety towards the perceived material discomfort. What is clear to any impartial observer is that all, priests, seminarians and faithful are being made “to return to the spirit of the Council.” That the SSPX can give its priests and faithful permission to take experimental “covid” injections or promote a Darwin-friendly cosmology which requires a wholly modernist interpretation of Sacred Scripture are two recent signs of this slide. That there is so little outcry or pushback visible from any SSPX priests or faithful in response to such things is itself another sign.
“This work of destruction continues by the approval of Indult Masses close to our important Mass centres... A good method to empty the latter or at least to prevent them from developing.” (Fr. Van Es)
Since this article first appeared in English in 1994, the SSPX around the world has seen many chapels close and even one of its seminaries (Goulburn, Australia). And yet in recent years it has not been the modernist Romans who are responsible for this “work of destruction” but the SSPX authorities themselves. With the approval of the General House, the British District has lost perhaps 40% of its Mass centres since the late-1990s. The SSPX priests, including the District Superior, tell the faithful of those closed chapels that they should go to the Indult Mass instead. To the modern SSPX it didn’t make sense for them to have a chapel in Portsmouth when the faithful could be sent instead to the Indult Mass said by the Franciscans in Gosport.
So the SSPX Masses and the Indult Masses are no longer the bitter rivals in competition with one another in the way they were when the Fr. Van Es article appeared; rather the SSPX see themselves as complementary, almost as another indult option to be added to the Fraternity of St. Peter, the Institute of Christ the King and all the rest. The very small number of priests available to the Catholic Resistance prevents it from having anything like the impact that the SSPX used to have, and yet there is quite a bit of evidence that wherever the Resistance gains a foothold, both conciliar diocese and the SSPX react accordingly. Here is one example. When Resistance priests began making regular visits to a small group of faithful deep in rural Suffolk in 2016, the SSPX decided that after all they would be able to send a priest on regular trips up to that out-of-the-way part of the world, despite never having done so before, and despite the fact that it was not anywhere near any of their Mass circuits and the fact that they had just shut down their only Mass centre in the whole of East Anglia, in neighbouring Norfolk. As the years went by, the diocese likewise took more of an interest in the Traditional Mass and after a little while, the once-a-month Indult Mass was transformed into a dedicated Indult priory with daily Traditional Mass and two Masses on Sunday, located in a privately owned chapel in Suffolk. Coincidentally this very same chapel had not seen the Tridentine Mass once in all the years since the Council until the Resistance started using it in 2016. Rumour has it that the SSPX District Superior declined any interest in setting up a regular SSPX Mass there because it had already become “too closely associated with the Resistance.” Who knows if that is true, but if so it would be both very amusing and quite telling.
“To attempt to restore the Traditional Mass without considering the historical context of the crisis of the Faith is to become a blind instrument in the hands of the conciliar hierarchy.” (Fr. Van Es)
Is this not the point upon which the priests and faithful of the Resistance have been insisting since the Resistance began? Our fight is not merely about the Traditional Mass. It is about the whole crisis in the Church, it is about the Faith, and to place the Mass above the crisis of Faith
in order of importance is tantamount to betrayal. Many faithful were given the grace of understanding the crisis in the Church and the SSPX’s fight against modernism. Many faithful were given the grace of perceiving the gravity of the SSPX’s betrayal of that fight in 2012 and 2013.
And yet a significant number of those faithful, alas, chose not to openly oppose the SSPX.
Their motive for acting thus, in most cases it seems, was access to the Traditional Mass. Correspondingly, many priests who could see what had happened, but who chose not to openly oppose their superiors, seem to have had as their motive access to the chapel and the faithful who attend it. To paraphrase Fr. Van Es one last time, have they not, in effect, become blind instruments in the hands of the conciliar church?
What Conclusion Can We Draw From All This?
That the precept of attending Sunday Mass is obligatory for all Catholics who have reached the age of reason but that some may be excused particularly those who are only near Masses “of Pope Paul VI” or traditional Masses said under the “Indult” or the Masses of the present-day SSPX. Why? Firstly, because of the danger for the faith coming from the priests who celebrate or from the faithful who attend them; secondly, legitimisation is given to the new liturgy and finally an approval more or less implicit of the work of destruction of the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Tradition.
“When they affirm that they have not given up anything, it is false. They have given up the possibility of contradicting Rome. They cannot say anything now. They must remain silent because of the favours they have received, and it is now impossible for them to denounce the errors of the conciliar church. Very slowly they accept... From the point of view of ideas, they turn very gently and end up admitting the false ideas of the Second Vatican Council, because Rome has granted them some favours for Tradition. This is a very dangerous situation.” - Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre
![[Image: recusant.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/1zJhydXx/recusant.png)
RE: The Recusant #59: What About SSPX Masses today? - Solas7 - 02-26-2023
Hi,
Although still relatively new to Tradition, having only attended my first Tridentine Mass at the end of 2019 (which was an Indult), I am now uneasy about attending SSPX Masses given everything that I have learned about the slide of the Society over the last decade. This is in addition to the priest in my chapel proposing some questionable things in sermons - such as encouraging the laity to undertake Eucharistic adoration in Novus Ordo churches. I am caught between two minds about what to do. I desire to fulfill my Sunday obligation but I feel doubts about attending these Masses. I especially do not want to be giving money at the collection to a Society that promoted the abortion jab among other issues.
Resistance Masses are nearly 2.5 hours away so if I attend there it will not be on a weekly basis. I would appreciate some advice on the matter further to what is stated here.
Regards,
E
RE: The Recusant #59: What About SSPX Masses today? - Juan Diego - 02-26-2023
Welcome Solas7 to The Catacombs and Tradition!
You can already see with your own eyes the division which the present crisis causes. What a blessing from God!
Get to know what Archbishop Lefebvre taught and explained by reading his books and letters. One book, OPEN LETTER TO CONFUSED CATHOLICS is posted by chapter on this forum here: https://thecatacombs.org/showthread.php?tid=266
You might consider starting up a resistance chapel in your area. Invite everyone you know. There are protestants and former atheists who recognize truth when they hear it and converted by attending a resistance Mass. God often works in many wondrous, and unexpected ways.
As Fr. Hewko suggests, follow the Mass via the livestreams when you can. His sermons in themselves are edifying to learn what Archbishop Lefebvre said and taught, as he sometimes reads right from the Archbishop's books.
Pray. Pray to always know the truth, speak the truth and love the truth.
RE: The Recusant #59: What About SSPX Masses today? - Stone - 02-27-2023
(02-26-2023, 02:28 PM)Solas7 Wrote: Hi,
Although still relatively new to Tradition, having only attended my first Tridentine Mass at the end of 2019 (which was an Indult), I am now uneasy about attending SSPX Masses given everything that I have learned about the slide of the Society over the last decade. This is in addition to the priest in my chapel proposing some questionable things in sermons - such as encouraging the laity to undertake Eucharistic adoration in Novus Ordo churches. I am caught between two minds about what to do. I desire to fulfill my Sunday obligation but I feel doubts about attending these Masses. I especially do not want to be giving money at the collection to a Society that promoted the abortion jab among other issues.
Resistance Masses are nearly 2.5 hours away so if I attend there it will not be on a weekly basis. I would appreciate some advice on the matter further to what is stated here.
Regards,
E
Yes, welcome to The Catacombs, Solas!
A few things to add to Juan Diego's words.
You are right to be uneasy about attending SSPX Masses. Many of us came from the SSPX and were deeply saddened at that slide that has occurred. We see fresh proofs all the time of the SSPX compromises in not only doctrine but morals as well. But it is the slide on doctrine that is the most serious.
As you have observed, the SSPX has been for some time quietly promoting a blending of tradition and the new Conciliar religion. It has been slowly dropping any distinction between the Traditional Faith of all time and the new 'man-centered' faith of the Novus Ordo, of the New Order. Unfortunately, this leaves so many souls in a spiritual dilemma.
To let you know you are not alone, there are several souls all over the US who drive 2+ hours to get to the Masses of uncompromising priests. It is indeed a sacrifice of time and money (fuel costs) but they considered it well worth the effort to be assured they and their children will not hear anything that contradicts our holy Faith.
As for your concerns about fulfilling one's Sunday obligation, if you will permit me, I would like to draw your attention to what the Church teaches about this, especially in this context of this crisis, this Passion of the Church - please see the last Q&A in particular:
Taken from The Recusant - Issue 29 [September 2015]
Assisting at the New Mass
Is it permitted to take part in the New Mass?
Even if the New Mass is valid, it displeases God in so far as it is Ecumenical and Protestant. Besides that, it represents a danger for the faith in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It must therefore be rejected. Whoever understands the problem of the New Mass must no longer assist at it, because he puts voluntarily his faith in danger, and, at the same time, encourages others to do the same in appearing to give his assent to the reforms.
How can a valid Mass displease God?
Even a sacrilegious Mass celebrated by an apostate priest to mock Christ can be valid. It is however evident that it offends God, and it would not be permitted to take part in it. In the same way, the Mass of a Greek Schismatic (valid and celebrated according a venerable rite) displeases God insofar as it is celebrated in opposition to Rome and to the unique Church of Christ.
Can one attend the New Mass however when it is celebrated in a worthy and pious manner by a Catholic priest with a faith that is absolutely certain?
It is not the celebrant who is called into question, but the rite that he is using. It is unfortunately a fact that the new rite has given very many Catholics a false notion of the Mass, which is closer to that of the protestant last supper than that of the Holy Sacrifice. The new Mass is one of the principal sources of the current crises of the faith. It is therefore imperative that we distance ourselves from it.
Can one assist at the new Mass in certain circumstances?
We must apply to the new Mass the same rules we use for the attendance at a non-Catholic ceremony. One can be present for family or professional reasons, but one behaves passively, and especially does not receive Holy Communion.
What can one do when it is not possible to assist every Sunday a traditional Mass?
Whoever does not have the possibility to assist at a traditional Mass is excused from the Sunday obligation. The precept of the Sunday obligation only obliges in the case of a true Catholic Mass. One must however, in this case strive to assist at a traditional Mass at least regular intervals. What’s more, even if one is thus dispensed from assistance at Mass (which is a commandment of the Church), one is not thus so for the commandment of God (“Thou shalt sanctify the Day of the Lord”). One must replace, by one manner or another this Mass which one cannot have, with for example the reading of the text in one’s missal, and uniting the intention, during the time of the Mass to a Mass celebrated elsewhere, and in practicing a spiritual communion.
[Editor’s Postscript - With regard to that last point, care must be taken not to be misled by the way it is phrased. We do not believe that the author means to suggest that any Mass will do, so long as it is “Traditional”. It would surely be better to avoid any public Mass, even a Traditional Mass, where attendance might mean a compromise on matters concerning the Faith. This would include Ecclesia Dei Masses and those of the SSPX. -Recusant Ed.]
RE: The Recusant #59: What About SSPX Masses today? - Stone - 02-27-2023
Please see also:
The Angelus 1994: Attendance at Today's Masses
Fr. Peter Scott: Is the Novus Ordo Mass invalid, or sacrilegious, and should I assist at it?
And please note, while these articles were written by the 'good' SSPX of several years ago with respect to the New Mass, the principles apply to any compromised Mass, including those of the SSPX and other indult groups.
Also, one cannot fail to mention the great Archbishop Lefebvre, who was able to discern the traps being laid for traditional Catholics so many years ago. And now, with so many indult groups being caught in the trap being sprung by Pope Francis with his attempts to remove all "permissions" for the Latin Mass from the dioceses, the Archbishop's prudence and wisdom in not being in an agreement with Rome until it converts to the true Faith is once more being justified and validated.
Here is a small sample of his words on a variety of topics affecting our Faith and this crisis in the Church. One cannot ponder and appreciate them enough. He makes it very simple, by seeing everything through the lens of Christ the King: Archbishop Lefebvre [by topic]
RE: The Recusant #59: What About SSPX Masses today? - TheRecusant.com - 02-27-2023
(02-26-2023, 02:28 PM)Solas7 Wrote: Hi,
Although still relatively new to Tradition, having only attended my first Tridentine Mass at the end of 2019 (which was an Indult), I am now uneasy about attending SSPX Masses given everything that I have learned about the slide of the Society over the last decade. This is in addition to the priest in my chapel proposing some questionable things in sermons - such as encouraging the laity to undertake Eucharistic adoration in Novus Ordo churches. I am caught between two minds about what to do. I desire to fulfill my Sunday obligation but I feel doubts about attending these Masses. I especially do not want to be giving money at the collection to a Society that promoted the abortion jab among other issues.
Resistance Masses are nearly 2.5 hours away so if I attend there it will not be on a weekly basis. I would appreciate some advice on the matter further to what is stated here.
Regards,
E
Good evenging E,
Please let me add my tuppence to what's already been said.
You're quite right. You should stop going to the SSPX. Plenty of us have been where you are now, and at the time it broke our hearts to have to stop going. But it was the right decision and in hindsight we're glad that we had the courage to walk away. Nothing is more precious than the Faith, and we must do everything we can to avoid even the risk of endangering it. Likewise, we should want to die rather than do anything which might displease our Lord. I used to love going to Mass at the local SSPX church - but does Our Lord want me to go there? And if He doesn't, then that's that, if I were to go it would be for me and not for Him.
Two and a half hours is a bit of a chore, but it could be worse. There are people who travel further. I would recommend what Archbishop Lefebvre used to say. Make a regular commitment that you will go, for instance, once a month at regular intervals, or once every two weeks. In all likelihood you'll find after a while that you get used to it and that it isn't as bad as you at first thought. On the other Sundays without Mass, just make sure that you sanctify the day, say the rosary, read the Epistle and Gospel from your missal. Learn how to make a spiritual communion if you aren't used to doing it.
The Ten Commandments oblige us to keep the day holy, they don't oblige us to attend Mass. Attending Mass is a commandment of the Church and therefore it depends entirely on there being a Mass which you can in good conscience attend.
Finally, let me assure you that, while yes, it's hard, Our Lord will reward with His grace the sacrifice you're about to make. I'm certain that everyone else here will testify to that too, as well as many other people who aren't on the internet. God bless.
RE: The Recusant #59: What About SSPX Masses today? - Solas7 - 02-27-2023
I appreciate the advice from everyone.
It really does seem than the SSPX is in terminal decline. There are various other clear signs of Modernism creeping into the chapel that I attend. This includes removing the old Stations of the Cross (which were grand granite edifices) for small wooden portraits, and deciding to "innovate" with the laity's postures throughout the Mass - all while the priest was telling the laity not to be resistant to change. I fear these steps are priming the congregation for some more significant subversive alterations in the near future.
I don't understand how things can be getting this bad that the last organised bastion of the Faith can be falling away. It was small enough to begin with.