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The Birth of John the Baptist
24 June 2007
Dear Friends in Christ,
Pope Benedict XVI has often written about the reforms of the sacred liturgy which began at the Second Vatican Council, and since his election to the papacy, there has been speculation that the new pope either would begin to make changes to our present liturgy or would make it easier for priests to use the old liturgy. In recent weeks there have been reports that the pope is preparing to publish a document about the Tridentine Mass, and when or if that document should ever be published, I will take great care to explain what it means for the liturgical life of the Church. For now, however, I write to warn you about a group of renegade bishops and priests who are leading people out of full communion with the Catholic Church in the name of the old liturgy.
In 1970, a French bishop named Marcel Lefebvre formed the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) as a group of priests dedicated to preserving the form of the Mass codified by the Council of Trent, and for five years, the SSPX functioned within the Catholic Church. In 1975, however, the Society lost its canonical standing, and in 1976 Marcel Lefebvre was suspended from all priestly faculties. For twelve years, authorities in Rome worked with Lefebvre to prevent a permanent rupture, but in 1988—against the specific instructions of Pope John Paul II—Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four bishops for the SSPX, and by that act both Lefebvre and all four new bishops were excommunicated. This was an act of schism, a grave offense against the unity of the Catholic Church, and from that day in 1988, the bishops and priests of the SSPX have been in a state of schism and have incurred the penalty of excommunication. Moreover, the Holy See has made it clear many times over that it is morally illicit for any Catholic to attend Mass celebrated by a priest of the SSPX or to receive any sacrament from one of these priests.
If the anticipated papal document is published, there will be considerable attention given in the media to the Tridentine Mass and to the Catholics who prefer to pray according to the Missal of 1962. And it is possible even now to participate lawfully in this Mass when it is celebrated with proper permission, as is done here in Greenville on the first Sunday of each month at Prince of Peace Church. There are even entire communities of priests within the Church which are dedicated to preserving the old Mass, and it is lawful to receive the sacraments from those priests. What is never lawful, though, is for Catholics to attend a Mass celebrated by a priest of the SSPX or to receive any sacraments from priests of the Society. The SSPX maintains chapels in Mt. Holly, NC and in Atlanta, and you may have heard of Catholics attending Mass in these places while offering a variety of bogus justifications for this disobedience. As your pastor, I must warn you that it is gravely immoral to participate in any way in these illicit and schismatic acts of worship, and I urge you in the Name of God not to do so or to encourage others to do so, even by your silence. Our constant goal must be to live and die in full communion with the Lord Jesus and His Holy Church, and that cannot be accomplished by acts of schism.
Father Newman