Church unity does not mean everyone holding hands singing "Kumbaya." It also doesn't mean pretending a problem doesn't exist.
Sometimes it means telling people they are out because they did not abide by the rules.
That's what Pope Leo XIV recently did with the Society of St. Pius X,
known as SSPX, known for celebrating the Latin Mass and rejecting some
of the church's Vatican II reforms.
In a move not done lightly July 2, the Vatican announced that the SSPX clergy had brought upon themselves an automatic, or latae sententiae,
excommunication because they consecrated bishops without papal
approval. It also said the group was in schism with the Catholic Church
and that sacraments of penance and matrimony administered by SSPX
priests were invalid, and lay Catholics who "adhere formally" to the
group were similarly excommunicated.
It's not as if they hadn't been warned that their ceremony without
papal blessing would have consequences. The day before the Mass —
attended by over 15,000 people at the foothills of the Swiss Alps where
the group's international seminary is located — the pope himself had pleaded with them not to do this.
His letter to the head of the society, Fr. Davide Pagliarani, did not
mince words saying the ceremony would be akin to tearing "the seamless
garment of Christ" and "a sin of extreme gravity."
SSPX leaders went ahead with their plans in a four-hour Mass and thereby cut themselves off from the church.
NCR's Vatican correspondent Justin McLellan's coverage
of the consecrations and reaction from laypeople who attended it shows
that the situation is serious and complicated. Those he spoke to might
not have been NCR readers, but they certainly share our faith tradition
and a camaraderie with each other over their similar beliefs. Some grew
up in SSPX families and this was the only church they knew.
Many there seemed unfazed by the Vatican's direct edict and were confident that the society was doing the right thing.
A woman from Mexico City, for example, told McLellan she was in a
place where her ideas were aligned and "no one is moving me from there,"
and by no one, she meant the pope.
Given the group's rejection of many Vatican II reforms and its troubling history — the Anti-Defamation League describes
SSPX leaders as promoting "theological and conspiratorial anti-Semitism
among its adherents" — this excommunication might be celebrated in some
circles.
But we do not take a triumphant view about what unfolded. Instead, we
look to the voices of those who see this rupture as a sad moment,
particularly several U.S. bishops, since in the U.S., alone, there are more than 100 SSPX chapels and 28 schools.
This hit close to home for two dioceses in the Midwest.
One of the newly ordained, now excommunicated bishops, Michael Goldade,
grew up in St Marys, Kansas, and for about seven years he was prior of
the SSPX church, St. Vincent de Paul, in Kansas City, Missouri, which is
not officially part of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese but is located in its boundaries.
The bishop there, James V. Johnston Jr., said the illicit ordinations
of four bishops without a papal mandate was "unfortunate and indeed, a
source of grief." The U.S. headquarters of SSPX in Platte City is also
located within this diocese.
On his Facebook page
July 2, Johnston stressed concern for the SSPX members in his diocese
and said he wanted to reassure them of his pastoral concern and "desire
to assist you in this time of crisis."
Archbishop Shawn McKnight of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas,
which includes St. Marys, Kansas, home to what the SSPX claims is the largest SSPX-built church in the world, The Immaculata, spoke more in depth about the schism and its local impact in a July 2 statement.
McKnight called what transpired "a source of profound sorrow for the
whole Church" and said it was "particularly sorrowful because the Holy
See has, for many years, sought reconciliation and full communion with
the Society of Saint Pius X." He also said the imposed "canonical
penalties" were "not intended as expressions of hostility or rejection,
but as medicinal measures that reflect the seriousness of the offense
and are ordered toward repentance, healing, and the eventual restoration
of communion."
He urged those in his archdiocese who attend SSPX services to "know
that they are loved by the Church and remain the object of our prayers
for unity." He also asked them to stay united with the pope and to seek
guidance from local priests about any questions they might have about
the validity of sacraments they may have received.
He also went a step further to say that the "Church's
doors remain open, and our hope remains that the unity for which Christ
prayed may one day be fully realized."
We say "Amen" to that, recognizing that the decisions of the SSPX
leadership have had major implications and their actions will need to be
unpacked, and in some cases, undone, if the group seeks to have unity
with the Catholic Church.
Richard DeClue, a theology professor at the Word on Fire Institute
who has written about the society's history, emphasized how Catholics
who share many of the group's "concerns and confusions" will be impacted
by the schism.
"Those people deserve to be treated pastorally as well," he told Our Sunday Visitor.
"They shouldn't feel like orphans within their own Church just because
they love tradition, and they love magisterial teachings from decades
ago, and they love the traditional liturgy that’s part of their
conciliar U.S. Church’s liturgical heritage."
Similarly, Michael Sean Winters wrote
recently in these pages, that sympathy for these faithful is warranted.
But he also said: "We need have no sympathy for the men who permitted
themselves to be consecrated nor those who performed the ritual in
Écône. They should know better." They should know how their leadership
has led their followers to a place of schism.
Massimo Introvigne, an Italian religion sociologist who has studied SSPX, thinks that despite this rift, dialogue will resume.
"The dialogue, at least under the table, will continue," he told Catholic News Service. "But to have a meaningful dialogue, some things should change," he said, including changes in SSPX leadership.
And that's what we will keep our eyes on.
