SSPX Dialogue Continues: “Patience, Serenity, Perseverance, and Trust are Needed”

SSPX Dialogue Continues: “Patience, Serenity, Perseverance, and Trust are Needed” | Michael J. Miller | Catholic World Report



The last several months’ developments in Vatican/SSPX relations have been misinterpreted by extremists of all ideological stripes.

The
last official meeting between the Ecclesia
Dei Commission and the authorities of the Society of Saint Pius X took
place in the offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on June
13, 2012. Some sanguine observers expected the return of the Society to the
fold in months if not weeks, while the more cynical opined that the meeting
marked the end of the CDF-SSPX negotiations. 

Since
June there were major personnel changes at the CDF, and the Society held a
General Chapter, defined the parameters for its future dealings with the
Vatican, and neutralized an internal threat to its unity. Commentators weighed
each of these developments in turn as though it could seal the ultimate fate of
the Society. Often lost in the shuffle was the key fact that the SSPX
authorities still had not responded officially to Rome’s latest offer—a fact
helpfully pointed out in a communiqué from the Ecclesia Dei Commission issued in late October. 

This
article reviews these events and offers a perspective on the controversies
surrounding them. 

A new phase of discussions

At
the June 13 meeting at the Vatican Cardinal William J. Levada, then-prefect of
the CDF, presented to Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the SSPX, a doctrinal
declaration and a proposal for the canonical regularization of the Society. The
first document was the most recent form of the “Doctrinal Preamble” drawn up by
the Ecclesia Dei Commission in late
2011; the acceptance by the SSPX of the principles stated therein was to be the
basis for any arrangement to reinstate the Society in the Church with a
canonical mission. It was understood that the Society could modify the wording
but not the substance of the Doctrinal Preamble; as of June 2012 the SSPX
authorities were waiting for Rome’s response to a version that they had
proposed. 

They
were surprised, therefore, that the “Doctrinal Declaration” presented for them
to sign on June 13 was almost identical to the original Preamble. They were
even more perplexed by the canonical proposal. When the Society began its
doctrinal discussions with the CDF, it assured its members that there would be
no talk about regularizing its canonical status until after the doctrinal
issues were settled. Now Rome was asking for both at once. Bishop Fellay and
his assistants prudently deferred their response to Rome’s proposal until they
had the opportunity to consult widely with other SSPX members. 

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