![]() ![]() And whatever one thinks of their particular stands, especially their resistance to some documents of the Second Vatican Council, the Society’s image is changing at the highest levels of the Church.There has been a flurry of news in the past week about a supposed purchase made by the SSPX in Rome, prompting unbounded speculation. ![]() The SSPX are sometimes unfairly described as “rigid” or merely nostalgic, but in general I have not found this portrait accurate. The young priest took a bite of his dessert and grinned. “Well, there are exceptions.” At just that moment, Fr Wegner kindly pointed to his plate: “Eat, Father,” he ordered. “You never have any dessert?” I asked, trying (and failing) to imagine a life without carrot cake or strawberry rhubarb pie. He explained that he was perpetually fasting – offering his abstinence for the conversion of his family back in Iran. As the evening went on, I noticed this priest hadn’t taken any wine and didn’t touch his dessert. Bishop Fellay and Fr Wegner presided at one end of the table, and I was seated next to a young priest of Persian extraction. For instance, I had dinner with a few members of the SSPX last autumn. One suspects that, as the Society begins to engage more with the broader Church, caricatures inevitably fall away. When I interviewed former SSPX superior general Bishop Bernard Fellay last October, he spoke of an equally promising reception in Rome. If there is any trend,” he adds, “it is one of openness and even warmth towards the SSPX.” Most of them are impressed looking at the fidelity and youth of our faithful and priests. They have met SSPX priests, “and even attended our priest retreats and meetings. Their spokesman reports that “several US bishops have visited our priories, chapels, and schools”. Thirty dioceses out of 200 might not sound like much, but while most Catholics still look on the Society as a fringe group, it has already made significant inroads with US bishops.īut that still isn’t the end of the story. The SSPX spokesman puts the number at 40 delegations. According to the New Orleans’s communications director, Fr Wegner “reported to us that roughly 30 dioceses have created similar policies”. She adds: “The request for these faculties was made by Fr Wegner in a spirit of cooperation, mutual respect, care for souls and transparency”.Īn SSPX spokesman said that the Society has “visited or contacted some 45 dioceses so far” seeking similar permissions from local bishops. This is due to the fact that some of the faithful might be invited to attend a wedding at an SSPX location”, of which there are two in Archbishop Aymond’s jurisdiction. The spokeswoman says: “We felt it was important to notify all the faithful in our archdiocese of this new policy. The archbishop appointed Fr O’Brien, a canon lawyer, to lead the deliberations at their end. The diocesan spokeswoman explains that Fr Jurgen Wegner, district superior of the SSPX’s United States of America District, reached out to New Orleans last autumn. These provisions “authorise local Ordinaries the possibility to grant faculties for the celebration of marriages of faithful who follow the pastoral activity of the Society”. (I was, anyway.) In fact, Archbishop Aymond acted in accordance with certain provisions set down by of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2017. Many readers may also be surprised to hear of a diocese granting legitimacy to a group that is still considered “canonically irregular” by the Holy See. These are contingent on requirements that are common for priests who visit a diocese to celebrate a nuptial Mass: a letter of good standing from his superior, proof that they’re authorised to legally witness a marriage, and the like. On March 9, the Clarion Herald published an article by Fr Garrett O’Brien announcing that “Archbishop Gregory Aymond approved a new policy for marriages witnessed by SSPX priests in our area.”Īccording to the archdiocese’s newly updated policy manual, SSPX priests “are able to receive the faculty to witness marriages within the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of New Orleans”. Yet, unless you read the Archdiocese of New Orleans’s newspaper, it probably slipped your notice. If an American diocese granted permission for the Society of St Pius X (SSPX) to celebrate nuptial Masses within their territory, you might assume a reasonably well-informed layman would hear something about it.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |