www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Some Lefebvre Followers Reconcile With Rome

From ZENIT [zenit.org]

Good news but I find this wording in the article strange.

Five priests and seminarians, including past members of the Society of St. Pius X, founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, have returned to full communion with the Catholic Church.

So 5 men, how many of them are priests and how many are seminarians? How many of them were part of the SSPX? The way it is worded it could be 1 priest, 4 seminarians, with only one of them being a past member of SSPX and it could be that he left the SSPX sometime ago as it only says that some of them were "past members".

Also, why create a new institute? There are already many groups dedicated to the old Latin Mass.


David, Byzantine Catholic and Carmelite pre-novice (postulant)

David,

This CNA release may help clear up your question.

CNA Story [catholicnewsagency.com]

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

It seems to me like they are chipping away at it, one chunk at a time.

Divide and conquer?

Hi,

Indeed this is good news!

No, it is not divide and conquer, the SSPX is divisive in itself, the Church is only trying to restore unity. If we need to do so 6 priests at a time, that is fine.

Now, about the new society of apostolic life, it is well within the Latin tradition to form new groups and movements. In particular, a society of apostolic life is a group of people who will live together and consecrate their lives to a particular charism (in this case, the celebration of the Pian Rite), but who are not monastics.

I think the description fits perfectly this group, so the creation of a society of apostolic life is the right way to go.

My prayer is to see the day in which this hideous schism is brought to an end and we welcome back to the fold all of those who, for a little while, decided to follow their own pride and fear.

Shalom,
Memo

This "Good Shepherd Institute" differs from the likes of the FSSP and the ICK in that it seems to be directly aimed at ex-SSPX priests and seminarians. This seems to be the group's special "charism," if you will, so in this way, it is indeed something unlike any other Traditional sacerdotal/priestly order or fraternity.

Fr. Zuhlsdorf has lots to say about it, so check ot his blog. Also check out Rorate Caeli.

Logos Teen

One telling difference between this new Institute and the FSSP (and the ICK) is that the Good Shepherd priestly society will be able to celebrate exclusively the TLM, which is the prevailing request of the main SSPX.

Although both the FSSP and the ICK are granted the indult to celebrate the TLM, both of these priestly societies may be asked to celebrate the Novus Ordo Missae, in Latin or in the vernacular, by the local ordinary if the need arises.

Whereas, under the proposal of the Archbishop of Bordeaux, France, Cardinal Ricard, the Institute will be allowed to celebrate solely the pre-Vatican II TLM, which Pope Benedict XVI approved under the Cardinal's care and guidance.

Amado

I was hoping for a quick resolution to the PX Society problem. However, Bishop Felley may be feeling the heat from many in the order. Oh well, this is good news that some are getting in communion. Let's all say a prayer for all traditionalists to come back and help the Roman church. Indeed, this may help with some of the nutty masses that many have to endure.

Dear Friends,

I personally don't feel the SSPX is "schismatic" which is why Rome is treating them "with kit gloves" as it should.

One of our Canadian RC hierarchs participated in the ordination of a group of Tridentine priests a few years back in Ottawa and he could only comment on the excellent characters of the priests etc.

The Tridentine movement under Rome will continue to be a harbinger of what is best in RCism for one reason or another.

Fasting, longer services, dignified traditional ritual and others were perhaps thought by the reformers of RC liturgy to be things of the past, not relevant to "modern man."

The tenacity by which the Tridentine Rite is held onto by even young RC's today and its witness to the more vertical religious spirit as opposed to the horizontal one might prove that they were wrong after all.

Certainly, the "mysterium tremendum" that some RC's say has been lost with the NO is what is later picked up by them when they become EC or Orthodox.

Modern man needs a sense of awe, liturgical beauty, ritual and mystery.

Alex

Alex,

Right you are, on all accounts, and like you said, this ingrained desire for awe and mystery is what has attracted so many Catholics (who are lucky enough to know/be exposed to it) to the Traditional Mass and traditional Catholic piety.

This is why the younger generations, who've never been exposed to this type of religious expression before, are crowding around traditional convents, seminaries, and seeking the priesthood or religious life, and why the average age of most traditional orders of nuns, monks, and priests ranges from late 20s to late 30s, and why the average age of women in orders like Sr. Joan Chittister's are about the same age as she!

I think also that this is why Islam has been making inroads in the younger population of Europe and America to some extent. It offers the assurance, discipline, and personal sacrifice mixed with mystery for which our souls long. The travesty is that the false religion of Islam is providing this to young people who could have experienced this in traditional Christian expressions of Catholicism or Orthodoxy!

Take it from me, young people want to be free to follow the strict disciplines of the Church; as many popes and saints have explained in the past, having comeplete freedom to do anything one wishes is really slavery. True freedom comes through personal sacrifice.

Logos Teen

Dear Teen Logo,

"True freedom comes through personal sacrifice!"

I bow to you, sir!

An excellent assessment - you are wise beyond your years!

Alex

Well, thank you, Alex, but I was just repeating what the Church has told us for so long through the saints!

Logos Teen

excellent comments by Orthodox and Teen !!!!!

Dear Alex,
I take exception to his comment.

All of this can be found within the Church without resorting to the old Latin Mass.

Traditionalism is not found solely within that camp.

I also disagree with Teen's image of hordes of young people flocking to the old Latin Mass, that is just not supported by any statistics I have seen.

The change to the use of the vernacular within the Latin Church is a very good things, as the Holy Father is on record saying.

As for the "charism" of this new group being only for going after SSPX members, that is a very limited thing and not good in my mind.

Priests should not be limited in which Mass they are allowed to celebrate. The FSSP went though this a number of years ago with the Vatican sideing with the members who wished to be able to con-celebrate the Pauline Mass with the bishop at the Chrism Mass. Priests should always be allowed to con-celebrate with the bishop, the bishop should not be forced into the old Latin Mass to show his unity with the priests that serve within his diocese. Priests should show their unity with the ordinary.

But that is my opinion. Also my opinion is that some people take the old Latin Mass over tradition/unity and raise it to some superstitious high.


David, Byzantine Catholic and Carmelite pre-novice (postulant)

Well, David, have you attempted to look at any statistics?

To be fair, there doesn't seem to be a meticulous census-keeping of how many people choose to go to the TLM over the NO, as that is hard to measure anyway.

But we can find out through personal experience, through the mean age of traditional orders and seminaries, number of seminary applicants, rate of growth, what the hierarchy says, etc.

Personally, at both the FSSP parish and SSPX parish I've been to, there have been a largely disproportionate number of young parents with lots of kids.

We know that the FSSP seminary in Lincoln cannot build fast enough to keep up with the number of applicants, the mean age for traditional orders is incredibly low. We also see normally hostile hierarchs allowing in the TLM to historic churches in the urban areas so as to save those churches from having to be sold (this was very recently done in Detroit, I think it was).

We can also look at what hierarchs have to say, albeit indirectly.

Mgr. Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don, secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, had a July 13, 2006 interview with Antoine-Marie Izoard from the I. Media agency, a partner with APIC in Rome. In the interview:

Hierarchs know, and admit they know, the the Tridentine Mass draws people, oftentimes people who are justifiably repulsed by the local celebration of the Pauline Mass.

Logos Teen