Can the Pope win over the SSPX?

A SCEPTIC'S VIEWPOINT
BY JOHN WETHEF1ELL
The priests of the Society of St Pius X (SSPX) have never celebrated the Novus Ordo, the post-Vatican II Mass of Paul VI, promulgated on the First Sunday of Advent in 1969. Their founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, held that the New Mass was ambiguous in its theology. Unlike the extremists, the archbishop did not question the validity of the New Mass, but felt it was an ecumenical confection and feared it would lead to heresy. To the SSPX, therefore, the debate about the Mass is principally about theology. Latin is almost incidental. Some years ago one of the Society's priests said that he would rather celebrate the old Mass in English than the New Mass in Latin.
The Society of St Pius X was founded by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1970. Soon afterwards he opened a seminary in Ec6ne, Switzerland. His purpose was to ordain priests to use the old ("Tridentine") rite, and at the same time to resist the so-called "spirit of Vatican II", which even by 1970 had led to all sort of liturgical and other abuses without generating any sort of "renewal": churches were emptying and so were seminaries.
To begin with, Archbishop Lefebvre operated with full episcopal approval, but conflicts soon arose. By 1974 the French bishops were refusing to incardinate the Society's priests. Matters came to a head in 1988 when, to ensure episcopal continuity, Archbishop Lefebvre and Bishop Castro Mayer of Campos in Brazil, with whom Lefebvre had been associated for some years, consecrated four bishops, including the current Superior of the Society, Bishop Bernard Fellay. The then Cardinal Ratzinger acted as a mediator between Archbishop Lefebvre and Pope John Paul II. The four newly consecrated bishops, together with Lefebvre and Mayer, were excommunicated, but the validity of the excommunication is disputed by canon lawyers both within and outside the SSPX. Whatever the status of the excommunication, however, it did nothing to stop the growth of the Society, which now has almost 500 priests in over 50 countries, and a million followers. In the British Isles it has 30 churches and chapels. ft is a small but powerful and influential group. Its schools and seminaries are flourishing, particularly in France, Germany, Australia and America. Within the wider Church. furthermore, a new consensus has been emerging that there must be a return to liturgical orthodoxy. Most traditionalists welcomed to election of Cardinal Ratzinger. He had long been considered a friend of the Old Rite. But would Benedict XVI turn out to be the same man as Joseph Ratzinger? There were signs that he would. In December 2006 Cardinal Medina Estevez, Prefect Emeritus for the Congregation for Divine Worship, leaked a rumour that the Ecclesia Dei Commission had prepared a motu proprio for Pope Benedict XVI granting freedom for the celebration of the Tridentine rite.
But traditionalist excitement was tempered by caution. As this newspaper observed in a leading article in March this year: "By the time you read this article, Pope Benedict's motu proprio on the use of the Traditional (Tridentine) Rite may have been published. Or we may have to wait for months." Or longer? A senior priest of the Society remarked recently: "The deafening silence from Rome on the question [of the motu proprio] makes us wonder if we will ever hear any more of it, or of the commission of nine Cardinals who, in 1986, stated that the Traditional Mass had never been forbidden."
Latest reports indicate that the motu proprio will indeed be issued, but whether it will herald a return to tradition is another matter. It must be remembered that Pope Benedict was a peritus (expert) at the Second Vatican Council, and therefore must be assumed to be in sympathy, in principle, with the liturgical "reforms" that followed it. Indeed, in Sacramentum Caritatis, issued in February, he exalts the Novus Ordo and "the underlying intention of the liturgical renewal called for by the Second Vatican Council... The different Eucharistic Prayers contained in the Missal have been handed down to us by the Church's living Tradition and are noteworthy for their inexhaustible theological and spiritual richness-.
Nowhere in the 86-page exhortation is there any mention of the Traditional Roman Rite the Mass of St Gregory the Great. It is therefore not altogether surprising that some members of the SSPX, and their many supporters, are not convinced that a motu proprio will change very much, and indeed regard the early excitement about the Pope's apparent enthusiasm for the traditional rite with a mixture of cynicism and wry amusement.
Quite apart from anything else, they realise and have had experience of the intransigence of the bishops. Rome speaks, but these days the matter is rarely settled. In 1988, Pope John Paul II in his motu proprio Ecclesia Dei Adflicta wrote: "To all those Catholic faithful who feel attached to some previous liturgical and disciplinary forms of the Latin tradition, I wish to manifest my will to facilitate their ecclesial communion and to guarantee respect for their rightful aspirations. In this matter I ask for the support of the bishops." Most bishops ignored the Pope in what might reasonably be seen as an act of mass disobedience.
When the support sought by Rome was not forthcoming, Cardinal Estevez wrote: "The Holy See urges bishops to be extremely tolerant of those of Christ's faithful who wish to participate in the sacred liturgy in accordance with the previous liturgical books and to keep their sensibilities constantly before their eyes." Yet there was very little tolerance. Cardinal Ratzinger was later to express some disgust: "Anyone who nowadays advocates the continuing existence of the traditional liturgy or takes part in it is treated like a leper; all toler ance ends here... 1 must say, quite openly, that I don't understand why so many of my episcopal brethren have, to a great extent, submitted to this rule of intolerance which, for no apparent reason, is opposed to making the necessary inner reconciliations within the Church."
The episcopal brethren of the SSPX are as keen as Pope Benedict on inner reconciliations, but since they and their priests have never agreed that the Traditional Mass was abrogated (any more than Rome now does) they feel in no need of a motu proprio and will continue to use the Old Rite whether or not the Pope lifts the restrictions. For there to be peace, the Society believes, Rome must grant unconditional freedom for the Traditional Mass for all priests and withdraw the decree of excommunication of the Society's four bishops. Such a move from Rome, says Bishop Fellay, "would greatly benefit the Church by re-establishing, at least in part, her rights to her own Tradition. Not only would the treasure of graces available to the Society no longer be hidden under a bushel, but the Mystical ' Body would be given the remedy it so needs to be healed."
As the years pass, the Society seems no nearer achieving a just reconciliation with Rome, even though its position has always been (in the words of Archbishop Lefebvre reiterated by Bishop Fellay last year) that "We adhere with all our heart and all our soul to Catholic Rome, guardian of the Catholic Faith and of the traditions necessary for the maintaining of that Faith, to eternal Rome, mistress of wisdom and of truth..." In the revolving doors of curial politics cardinals come and go and many have been delegated to resolve the "Society problem". All have failed. It sometimes seems to the Society that no pope is willing, or able, to grasp the nettle; each appears to hope that the issue will resolve itself or simply evaporate. That, it most certainly will not do.
Against the current background of the Church's catastrophic decline in Mass attendances, fall in financial support, empty seminaries, doctrinal confusion and liturgical chaos, the SSPX sees its steady growth and increasing attraction to young Catholics as a Godsent sign that it must, at all costs, hold fast to the Traditional Mass and its theology; the Faith cannot be compromised.
John Wetherell is the author of L,ex Orandi, Lex Credendi, an examination of the ethos of the Tridentine Mass and that of the Novus Ordo of Pope Paul VI, published by The Saint Joan Press
A LITURGIST'S VIEWPOINT
BY ALCUIN REID
Two feasts of Pope St Pius V (April 30 in the new calendar and May 5 in the old) have come and gone and we are still left asking: where is this motu proprio stating that the traditional liturgical rites may be celebrated freely? It is possible that by now it has been published. It's also possible that it has not. The fact of the matter is, we simply don't know when it will appear and conjecture or anxiety about its release date is simply not helpful.
But we do know that it shall appear. Cardinal Kasper recently lamented that "it is clear that the decision that has been made cannot now be changed." And no less than the Holy Father's closest collaborator, the Secretary of State, Cardinal Bertone, "announced" the motu proprio in an interview with the French daily Le Figaro on March 31. In that interview he offered an insight into its rationale: "The merit of the conciliar liturgical reform is intact. But both [for reasons of] not losing the great liturgical heritage left by St Pius V and for granting the wish of those faithful who desire to attend Masses according to this rite, within the framework of the Missal published in 1962 by Pope John XXIII, with its own calendar, there is no valid reason not to grant to priests in the entire world the right to celebrate according to this form.
"The authorisation of the Supreme Pontiff would evidently preserve the validity of the rite of Paul VI. The publication of the motu proprio which specifies this authorisation will take place, but it will be the Pope himself who will explain his motivations and the framework of his decision. The Sovereign Pontiff will personally explain his vision for the use of the ancient Missal to the Christian people, and particularly to the bishops."
Until the document itself appears, this explanation of the motu proprio is probably the most authoritative and comprehensive insight into it that we shall have. It says a great deal about the importance of this forthcoming act of Benedict XVI.
"Not losing the great liturgical heritage left by St Pius V" surely means that there is or has been a risk of indeed losing it. It is likely that future liturgical historians will look back on this pontificate and attribute to it the reconnection of the Roman liturgy with its millennial tradition which was to put it nicely somewhat prejudiced by the "fabricated" (Cardinal Ratzinger's word) rites which followed Vatican II. ft seems that the Holy Father wants this ancient liturgical tradition to live and breathe freely in the Church of the future, once again to contribute its riches to the spiritual sustenance of the faithful of this and the coming generations, rather than be an archaeological reserve for nostalgics or a hobby for tweedy young fogies.
This will create a strikingly new situation in the life of the Church. As Cardinal Bertone affirms, the motu proprio will "preserve the validity of the rite of Paul VI". It would be grossly insensitive, pastorally disastrous and quite impractical to attempt to abolish the modern rites by papal fiat. But in the light of the motu proprio the modern liturgical rites and their proponents will no longer enjoy the authoritative monopoly that has protected them for the past few decades. Benedict XVI will end this artificial and legalistic rigidity and open up the liturgical life of the Church so that it is more inclusive and pluralistic in a truly Catholic sense.
It may be that some parishes and communities will benefit from the use of both rites. It may be that some will find that one or the other serves them well. But in this new liturgical freedom it will be the needs of the coming decades and not the diktat of individual popes, bishops, priests or liturgists that will gradually decide the future of the modern rites, and indeed the extent of the use of the ancient ones.
This forthcoming act of the Pope should not be read in isolation. His recent emphasis in Sacramentum Caritatis on the ars celebrandi and his insistence on viewing the liturgical reform following Vatican II with an "hermeneutic of continuity" is itself nothing less than a call for a an approach to the modern rites that is in harmony with the spirit of the liturgy as received in tradition. And let us not forget Redemptionis Sacramentum, the 2003 document which was a joint project of Cardinals Ratzinger and Arinze. As Cardinal Arinze said at the time: "The do-it-yourself Mass is ended. Go in peace." These, together with the motu proprio, are pillars of what will become known as the liturgical reform of Benedict XVI.
Although Cardinal Bertone doesn't say so explicitly, the motu proprio will also be, as the Abbot of Pecos recently put it, a "Christ-like gesture of pastoral love" towards the Society of St Pius X, after the model of the Good Shepherd who seeks out the one lost sheep. The new situation that it creates in the Church will serve as a catalyst towards reconciliation. Certainly, there are other issues to be addressed in dialogue with SSPX, but this step for which they have long since asked will be a significant one and a testament of the Pope's goodwill and of his profound desire for unity within the Church. Please God, all involved will respond promptly and generously so that this anomaly is soon relegated to history for, quite frankly, while there is disunity among ourselves the work of converting the world to Christ and to His Church suffers.
We know that there are bishops implacably opposed to this development. They are a problem. Yet there are other bishops who support it, as do almost all of the younger generation of priests and the vast majority of the faithful. But numbers do not matter. The Pope governs the universal Church and this act of governance motu proprio of the Holy Father's personal initiative does not depend upon polls or opinions. It rests solely on what His Holiness, before God, judges to be for the good of the Church. Two curial cardinals have informed us that this judgment has been made, and while we wait for its precise details to appear we would do well to prepare to respond as generously as we are able to the Holy Father's lead in this area.
Dr Akuin Reid is a London-based liturgical scholar