Too Catholic: A Defense of the SSPX

Recently, the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has come under heavy fire without any provocation in Catholic social media. I suspect that is because the Society is too Catholic for the tastes of those who seek to modernize Catholicism. In defense of the SPPX, I will explain what I mean by being too Catholic and why I have no problem, whatsoever, with attending our local SSPX church and priory for Mass and receiving sacraments.

Please note that I do not represent the SSPX, I am not employed by them, and I do not speak for them. I am simply giving you my defense of the SSPX and my reasons for attending a SSPX church.

Some Background

Just a quick bit of background, I was born and raised a novus ordo Catholic. I was raised in the post-Vatican II world of the 70’s 80’s and 90s and only attended the New Mass. After a period of time when I fell away from the faith, I came back and began to look for a parish.

I returned to attending a novus ordo parish, and quite a liberal one. I changed parishes a few times. Each time the parish we moved to was more “conservative”—that is, the liturgy and teaching of the pastors was more reverent and orthodox. I kept looking for the right fit but knew something was missing. I finally figured it out—tradition! For more details and explanation as to why we made the switch to exclusively attending the TLM, check out my prior post on this issue from two years ago.

Eventually, my family and I ended up attending a FSSP (Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter) parish and truly had a good experience there. We also began attending the local SSPX church, which was nearby, on a regular basis as well. Over time, I began to feel more at home at the SSPX than the FSSP. At first, I was uncertain about this decision because of the negative rhetoric against the SSPX. Over time, my conscience became more at ease as I did the necessary research into the status of the Society.

Reasons for Attending the SSPX

Okay, so why do I have no problem whatsoever with attending a SSPX Mass and receiving the sacraments from SSPX priests? The answer is quite simple: because SSPX priests and bishops are validly ordained, they offer valid sacraments, they are in communion with the Church, and they do not compromise with heresy. Quite frankly, if that is all true, why would I go anywhere else?

I am not a Pollyanna. I understand many argue the SSPX are “schismatic” or are in some way out of communion with the Church. This misunderstanding is often a result of listening to pseudo-theologians on YouTube or even their local Bishop. Sadly, just like you cannot trust your bishop to always hold true to the real Catholic faith, you cannot always trust them to understand the SSPX situation correctly either.

Much of the flak the SSPX takes on is due to ignorance. But a good portion of it is due to the fact that they are simply too Catholic. Too Catholic for a Modernist Church that is embarrassed by its past and seeks to create a “new” Church with a “new” Mass and with “new” teachings in effort to fit in with the rest of the secular world.

I am not going to go into the history of the SSPX or their interactions with the Vatican. Books, many books, have been written on those issues, as well as many podcasts and interviews conducted. See the list of resources at the end of this article for some of them.

What I can say is that having done the research, my conscience has reached the level of moral certitude that not only is it “okay” to attend a SSPX Mass and receive SSPX sacraments, but it is vitally important for the wellbeing of my soul and the souls of my family members.

The worst thing anyone can legitimately and fairly say about the SSPX as a general matter is that they are canonically irregular. That means they are in a unique state of canonical legal limbo without any official status. First and foremost, that does not mean their Masses or the sacraments are somehow invalid. Even the folks at Catholic Answers will, and often do, admit that.

Jurisdiction and the Crisis in the Church

Where those who hold unexplained vitriol in their hearts for the SSPX really think they are laying down the hammer is that the local bishops typically do not give the SSPX any official recognition in their dioceses. My local bishop on his website tells his flock not to attend the local SSPX church, and yet I also know he approved of their faculty to witness Catholic marriages. You see, even the local bishops do not really know what to do with the SSPX and often take uninformed conflicting public and private positions. This, despite the fact that the Pope never placed a direct excommunication on the SSPX bishops, Pope Benedict XVI made it clear that SSPX validly ordained bishops were not excommunicated, and even after the Vatican under Francis approved of SSPX sacraments such as confessions and priestly ordinations.

But, even if this was not the case, while the SSPX may not have regular canonical status, and its priests may not have ordinary jurisdiction, their priests have supplied jurisdiction from the Church herself, under the terms of canon law. This is because the Society recognizes that undeniable reality that there is a crisis in the Church that necessitates the need for the faithful to access the TLM, traditional teachings of the Church, and other sacraments for the salvation of souls.

From day one, it has been the position of the Archbishop Marcel Lefevbre, the founder of the SSPX, and subsequent superiors that the Society is needed in order to preserve the traditions of the faith from being extinguished in face of the Modernist crisis infecting the Church. If you deny there is a Modernist crisis, then of course, the SSPX position will not make sense to you and would not be justified. But we cannot be expected to deny what is staring us in the face every day or ignore the warnings Pope St. Pius X gave us over a century ago about the evils of Modernism.

At the end of the day, the SSPX remains in a state of canonical limbo, and quite honestly it is not a bad place to be right now. The entire existence of the SSPX, the point of all of this, was to ensure the existence of the TLM and continue the education of traditional Catholic priests who would pass on the Tradition to future generations, despite the Modernist infiltration in Rome.

Moreover, as I have discussed before when I talked about the FSSP and the compromises they are being forced to make with Rome to maintain their legal canonical status, the SSPX is under no such coercion.

At the core of this doctrinal dispute is the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) and refusal of the society to celebrate the New Mass of Paul VI. Vatican II, both its documents and its spirit, are contrary to the Catholic faith in many (albeit not all) respects. The New Mass is also contrary to the Church’s teachings in several aspects, which can harm a person’s faith. Do we really need to talk about the lack of faith in the Real Presence in most novus ordo parishes today? If that is not proof in itself that there is a crisis in the Church, then what else could convince you?

The Virtue of Obedience

Another topic that needs to be touched on when understanding the crisis in the Church and need for the SSPX is the virtue of obedience. Or rather, the real problem of false obedience that is killing the TLM.

One cannot in good conscience deny truths of the faith that have been handed down to us, regardless of who says we should. This problem of false obedience is at the core of many disputes between the pro-SSPX and anti-SSPX people.

But a healthy and proper understanding of the virtue of obedience compels any reasonable person to accept the reality that no pope, no antipope, no bishop and no priest can ever, and I mean EVER, force a faithful Catholic to deny or compromise on teachings of the faith. They claim the SSPX is disobedient to the Pope and bishops. And yet it is THEY who are disobedient to the magisterium of the Church when they cling to certain teachings of Vatican II and deny dogmatic teachings of the faith.

If Francis teaches something contrary to faith, which he does on almost a daily basis, then you CANNOT accept those as valid and submit to them. When he attempts to destroy the TLM and claim that it is not Catholic to continue to attend such Masses, that is a blatant heresy and error. Pope St. Pius V promised the TLM could never be abrogated primarily because the Roman Rite is a reflection of the Church’s proper understanding of Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary.

The weight of all Tradition, Truth and common sense (2+2=4) requires one to stay loyal to Jesus Christ and His Church, even if his purported vicar and his Modernist minions teach something different.

This is the position SSPX finds itself in, and it is the position we all find ourselves in. We shouldn’t be in it. What the Modernists are doing to the Church and faithful is evil and unconscionable. Yet—here we are, and we have to deal with it. Therefore, how will you respond?

We were born into these times for a reason. We are called to donate our time, skills and effort for the Church in order to defend her. Sometimes that means taking hard, but necessary, positions. While warrior Catholics in the past had to strap on metal body armor, train with swords, and risk their physical lives for the faith, we are in the position of strapping on our spirtual armor to preserve the faith for future generations. That’s not going to be easy. But it is not supposed to be. Compromising with error to appease your bishop, or to keep a paycheck rolling in, that’s the easy way.

It Is Not Schismatic to Be Catholic

Finally, does any of what I discussed above make the SSPX no better than a protestant sect? Of course not. Protestants are protestant because they reject Papal primacy, they reject the teachings of the Church, and they reject the visible Roman Catholic Church as an institution. The SSPX does none of that. They fully subscribe to all the teachings of the faith and are obedient to the magisterium.

The problem is when those who claim the mantle of the magisterium require us to deny certain truths of the faith, including the celebration of the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass. Failing to compromise on these important questions does not make the SSPX protestant. Rather, it proves their obedience to teachings of the Catholic Church.

The SSPX is the one of the few societies in the Church today doing this hard work of defending the faith in the face of great opposition, much of it unfair and unwarranted. Their actions are consistent with and justified by canon law. Yes, they criticize Vatican II, but only to the extent it requires them to compromise on matters of Catholic faith. Yes, they often operate outside the direct control of the local Bishop. Not because they want to, but because many local bishops and priests are not adhering to the teachings of the faith to the detriment of souls. That does not make the SSPX schismatic, disobedient or Protestant—it makes them CATHOLIC.