The days are ticking down. What’s going to happen?
The SSPX in Italy has sent a booklet to all the residential bishops of the Italian Bishops Conference. HERE
The Priestly Society of Saint Pius X has sent to all the residential bishops of Italy the recently published book in which it explains the reasons behind the announced episcopal consecrations. The booklet, published by Edizioni Piane, the official publishing house of the SSPX in Italy, with the eloquent title ” At the Service of the Church ,” sets out the main theological and canonical arguments justifying what Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, in 1988, called “operation survival” of Tradition.
Delivered to the Bishops these days, the book introduces itself with a quote from St. Paul: “Even if we, or an angel from heaven, were to preach to you a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Gal 1:8). By “we ourselves,” the Apostle refers to the entire Apostolic College, with Peter at its head, and today we must acknowledge the dire reality of this “gospel” adulterated by the very Shepherds of the flock who place souls in the need to protect themselves, a situation that underlies the right to resist Authority invoked by the Society of St. Pius X.
This gesture is intended to be, writes the District Superior, Don Gabriele D’Avino, in his letter of presentation to the Bishops, “an invitation to renew reflection on the crisis” in the Church, and on the battle that must be undertaken to contribute to its Restoration; hoping “to be able to provide an opportunity, with this contribution, for a shared journey of reflection, study, and discussion, always and only in the interest of souls and for the greater glory of God.”
I wonder. How many of the 200+ diocesan bishops will read any of it it? Maybe… tens?
Folks who are still seeing the SSPX as the wrongdoers are like people who read Act 1 Scene 1 of “King Lear” and side with Goneril and Regan against Kent and Cordelia. I suspect the Italian Bishops (and, honestly, the vast majority of bishops everywhere) won’t be reading “King Lear” or anything sympathetic with the SSPX position any time soon.
“Tens” sounds optimistic to me. A dozen might be nice already.
But I guess they aim at just a single one of them, which is all they need. (They didn’t choose all bishops in France, or Germany, or the US or Brazil, they picked Italy.)
Yet I doubt His Holiness sorts his own mail.
Moreover, I doubt this will endear the SSPX to any bishop at all, even those who would read it and would find the arguments compelling. Without having read it, I admit, but it sounds like it might be saying “you screwed up as bishop so we need to bypass legitimate authority to get bishops unlike you”. If that’s an olive branch, it might end up tasting like a very, very tart olive.
You have always been an optimist, my friend.
I attend Mass and receive the sacraments at an SSPX chapel. For my wife and I, this is non-negotiable–we have finally, after years, found a home with good fellowship, solid preaching, beautiful liturgies, and Tradition lived out in full. The current situation is about so much more than the SSPX: it boils down to one simple question. Do you believe there is a crisis in the Church? If no, then what qualifies as a crisis? if yes, then how do you intend to fix it? If you make reference to Vatican II, your answer is immediately disqualified. Alas, almost all the bishops would rather cling to the failures of the past 60 years rather than try something different. The Italian bishops are no different.
A valent effort by the SSPX which will have no impact unless the Holy Father reads it and demands the episcopate and associates to take up the book and read it themselves. Already the bishops have been released from their obligation to take this wound in the life of the Church as of any import. It is pastoral malpractice.
This situation is absolutely critical and it must be addressed with the greatest pastoral urgency and responsibility. To do otherwise will mark this pontificate poorly for all of history.
I’ve heard rumors that the SSPX priests basically found out about this whole thing when the rest of us did, and if the SSPX leadership feels like it needs to make the argument to its own priests… How many SSPX priests are opposed to kicking the beehive with Rome but can’t say so because of obedience? I feel like a book like this doesn’t exist unless there’s dissent in the ranks, or a strong risk of it.
I do not know much about the bishops of Italy. When it comes to correcting or righting the so-called “modern” teachings of Church, we should remember what happened in England during the time of Sts. Thomas More & John Fisher. Hardly any of the bishops, abbots, etc. back then opposed Henry VIII’s break with the Church. I do not see much difference between those who “went with the flow” then and many of our bishops today.
It will take the strength of martyrs to right the Church; pray for our Pope that he has that strength!