Sedevacantists, Schism, and Sympathy
There was a time when I badly wanted the SSPX to come back.
I realized this morning, contemplating my Weekly Wrap-Up, that I never delivered on my Monday promise to relate my personal experience of the SSPX. It’s not too extensive, though I certainly had many conversations back in the day with people who were SSPX or sedevacantist. (Sedevacantists believe that there should be a pope but that there is at present no legitimate pontiff, hence “the chair is vacant.”) That was interesting, and certainly fed into the sentiments I expressed in my Tuesday essay, about traditionalists and their pain. I did really find it hard not to resent Pope Francis for his open antipathy towards traditionalists. They seemed to be the only people he didn’t want us to regard with endless sympathy and pastoral concern. I wanted to ask him: How many conversations have you personally had with a sedevacantist? Do you know what sorts of experiences many of these people had after Vatican II?
I’ve been to Mass at SSPX chapels a handful of times. I never received Sacraments there, nor filled any formal Mass obligation. I certainly never considered joining.
Why go at all, though? It’s not because I was ever “SSPX-curious.” Schismatics often have an exotic allure for (say) mainstream reporters, but not for me, because I knew scores of traditionalists at that point. It was familiar turf, not exotic. The SSPX’s irregular situation seemed to me like a real and wrenching tragedy, and I was not at all tempted. Staying with Rome, for sure. It really just boiled down to this: at that stage, I drew a certain spiritual sustenance from the liturgy that felt necessary. In a very real sense, I craved it. Though I still love liturgy, I don’t have quite that same emotional dependence now. Not sure why. Anyway, back then, it could happen that I would find myself jonesing for a Latin Mass when there wasn’t one available nearby. What if the only place to find one is the SSPX? As noted above, I never received Sacraments there.
When the SSPX walked away from that negotiation, I gave up on the cause and stopped following. If there was a man out there who could bring them back, it was clearly Pope Benedict XVI. You’re never going to have a leader wiser, more brilliant, and more deeply sympathetic to traditionalists. They’re not coming back.
It’s been many years now since I darkened the door of an SSPX chapel, and I’d need a very good reason to go now. But I remember feeling grateful for the chance. Also very aware that even though I didn’t approve of their semi-schismatic position (it was a little hazy at that point where they stood exactly), I did share something important with traditionalists of all stripes: a deep love of beautiful liturgy. I have a particularly moving memory of a Maundy Thursday Mass at an SSPX chapel somewhere in Texas, and feeling somewhat overcome by the bittersweet tragedy of it all: the beauty of the Mass, my gratitude for being there, but also real pain at the breach that still existed between us. I hoped so much at that point that they would come back.
Thus, I was very sad in 2012 when Bishop Fellay’s negotiations with Rome fell through the floor. It really looked like reunification might happen, and back then I was still emotionally invested in that. But when the SSPX walked away from that negotiation, I gave up on the cause and stopped following. If there was a man out there who could bring them back, it was clearly Pope Benedict XVI. You’re never going to have a leader wiser, more brilliant, and more deeply sympathetic to traditionalists. They’re not coming back.
Of course, individual priests and members of the laity absolutely can! Please do. We still want you. I really do understand why many people gravitated to the SSPX at one time (I’ve talked to people about it of course), but at this point, there’s nothing real to gain or fight for. Certainly nothing that could realistically be won in that way. It’s vastly better to be in communion with the Church. Just come back.
On that note, here’s a brief weekly recap:
Last Sunday I wrote a small spiritual reflection for fellow gardeners.
Monday I set up “Traditionalist Week.”
On Tuesday I told the story of how I first got into traditional liturgy in my essay, “The West Needs Traditionalists.”
Wednesday I recommended Pope Benedict XVI’s The Spirit of the Liturgy.
Thursday I wrote my second essay on women in traditional communities: “Beyond Tradwifery.”
And yesterday I posted my cover story from America magazine on “How We Worship,” a conversation with the less-traditional Fr. Matthew Cortese, reminiscing on the amusing set-up to that conversation.
That’s it for this week. Next week we’re going to get back into some philosophy! That’s what I’ve been jonesing for of late. Let’s talk about Alasdair MacIntyre! And Scholasticism!