Traditionalist Catholicism

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A 1950s Low Mass in Bohermeen, Ireland in the presence of a bishop and several priests and with the altar arranged for Eucharistic devotions to follow

A traditionalist Catholic is a Roman Catholic who believes that there should be a restoration of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions, and presentation of Catholic teachings that prevailed in the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).

Terminology

Traditionalist Catholics generally prefer to be referred to either simply as Catholics or, if a distinction must be made, as "traditional Catholics" (with a lower-case T). However, since Roman Catholics in general consider themselves to be "traditional" in the sense of being faithful to the historical Catholic teaching, they are referred to in this article as "traditionalist Catholics" or "Traditional Catholics" (with an upper-case T). It is not intended thereby to imply either that they are not true members of the Catholic Church or that "Traditional Catholic" is a formal title.

Different types of traditionalists

Traditionalist Catholics may be divided roughly into four broad groups.

Some traditionalist priests and laypeople are in good standing with the Holy See and with the "official" hierarchy of the Church. Several officially approved societies of traditionalist priests exist, most notably the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest and the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney.

A second group of traditionalists practise the Catholic faith outside the official structures of the Church, though they are vehement in affirming their loyalty to the Church and to the papacy. The largest such priestly society that does not have official approval is the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), which was established in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a founding figure of Catholic raditionalism. Priests of the SSPX and similar organisations exercise their ministry in a state of dispute with or separation from Rome, but claim their canonical position as being entirely legitimate.

A third group neither enjoy nor seek the approval of the Church leadership, since they regard the Pope and the bishops of the official Church as having fallen into heresy and having therefore forfeited their authority. This position is known as sedevacantism, from the Latin phrase meaning "while the chair [of Peter] is vacant" (sede vacante). Sedevacantists usually date the vacancy of the papacy from the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, though some regard Pope John XXIII (1958-1962) as a true pope. Sedevacantist groups include the Society of St. Pius V (SSPV) and the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (CMRI).

A fourth group - stemming from sedevacantistism - consisting of organizations as the true Catholic Church and the Palmarian Catholic Church have given recognition to alternative popes of their own. Strictly speaking, such people are not sedevacantists, since they believe that the papacy is not vacant; they are sometimes referred to as conclavists.

Traditionalists of the first group tend to regard the changes in the Church that followed the Second Vatican Council as being at least tolerable, though they may regard them with distaste and wish them to be reversed. Traditionalists of the other groups regard the changes as unacceptable and doctrinally unsound, or even as heretical and evil. The fact that traditionalists of the second group recognise the official hierarchy while rejecting its decisions draws accusations of disloyalty and disobedience from the first group - whom the second group in turn accuse of blind un-Catholic obedience.

There is some tension between the different groups at the official level - the SSPX, for example, condemns the FSSP and attendance at its Masses - but the divisions are sometimes less pronounced at the lay level, with some happily attending Masses celebrated by priests of any group. Divisions between sedevacantists and other traditionalists are generally more pronounced, even if not absolute.

Many traditionalist Catholic laypeople associate themselves with a particular priestly society. Other small local groups of traditionalists sometimes form around an individual "independent" priest who has no ties with any particular institution.

Validity of holy orders of traditionalist clergy

All traditionalist groups are careful to ensure, according to their own lights, the validity of the Holy Orders of their clergy. For members of the first group, ordination is conferred in strict accord with canons 1012-1023 of the Code of Canon Law with regard to who can authorize an ordination and who can confer the sacrament. However, some members of the second and especially of the third and fourth groups consider that an ordination conferred using the rite revised by Pope Paul VI in 1968 is invalid or at best of doubtful validity, and some of them draw the conclusion that there are by now very few validly ordained bishops and priests in the mainstream Catholic Church, and that Pope Benedict XVI cannot be Bishop of Rome, never having been validly ordained a bishop. On the other hand, the validity of the orders of some priests of the third and fourth traditionalist groups, many of whom have had the rite administered to them by Episcopi vagantes, is questioned by others.

The Holy See has rarely made statements about the validity of the orders of traditionalist groups. However, it has explicitly recognized the episcopal consecrations that Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre conferred without papal mandate for the service of his followers, while declaring the bishops involved to be automatically excommunicated. It views the priests of the Society of St Pius X whom these bishops ordain as validly ordained, but considers them suspended a divinis, i.e. forbidden by the Church to celebrate Mass and the other sacraments.

On the other hand, in the case of the ceremony carried out by Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục at Palmar de Troya, Spain at midnight of 31 December 1975, the Holy See declared: "As for those who have already thus unlawfully received ordination or any who may yet accept ordination from these, whatever about the validity of their orders, the Church does not and will not recognize their ordination, and will consider them, for all legal effects, as still in the state in which they were before, except that the ... penalties remain until they repent."

Traditionalist positions

Traditionalist Catholics believe that they are preserving Catholic orthodoxy by not accepting certain changes officially introduced since the Second Vatican Council, changes which some of them have described as amounting to "a veritable revolution". They claim that the positions now taken by mainstream Catholics - even conservative mainstream Catholics - would have been considered "modernist" or "liberal" at the time of the Council, and that they themselves hold positions that were then considered "conservative" or "traditional".

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A session of Vatican II

Pope Benedict XVI has contrasted the "interpretation of discontinuity and rupture", which some traditionalists apply to the Council, with the interpretation of "reform and continuity" put forward by the Church authorities. After quoting John XXIII's statement that the Council was intended to "transmit [Catholic] doctrine, pure and integral, without any attenuation or distortion", he continued:

"Our duty is not only to guard this precious treasure, as if we were concerned only with antiquity, but to dedicate ourselves with an earnest will and without fear to that work which our era demands of us...". It is necessary, Pope John XXIII said, that "adherence to all the teaching of the Church in its entirety and preciseness..." be presented in "faithful and perfect conformity to the authentic doctrine, which, however, should be studied and expounded through the methods of research and through the literary forms of modern thought. The substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the way in which it is presented is another...", retaining the same meaning and message. [2]

By contrast, many traditionalist Catholics (those not belonging to the first group mentioned above) believe that errors have crept into the presentation and understanding of Catholic teaching since John XXIII spoke those words. They attribute the blame for this is to liberal interpretations of the conciliar documents, to harmful post-conciliar pastoral decisions, to the conciliar documents themselves, or to some combination of these.

Most traditionalist Catholics view the Second Vatican Council as a valid, albeit problematic, Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church, though most sedevacantists regard it as wholly invalid. It is common for traditionalists in dispute with Rome to affirm that the Council was "pastoral", and hence that its decrees were not absolutely binding on Catholics in the same way as the dogmatic decrees of other ecumenical councils. Support for this view is sought in Pope John XXIII's Opening Address to the Council, Pope Paul VI's closing address, and the lack of formal dogmatic definitions in the conciliar documents. On the other hand, Paul VI subsequently emphasised the authoritative nature of the Council's teachings, notwithstanding the pastoral nature of the council.

Traditionalists' claims of discontinuity and rupture

An image of a Low Mass
The image was commonplace in Catholic prayer books for children from the 1920s to the 1960s.

Many traditionalist Catholics maintain that the present-day teaching and practice of the mainstream Church are incompatible with the teachings and provisions of earlier Church documents and cannot be seen merely as reform and continuity with what went before.

Their criticisms are directed in particular against the following alleged innovations:

• A new ecclesiology which they claim fails to recognise the Catholic Church as the one true church established by Jesus Christ, and instead holds that the true Church "subsists in" the Catholic Church in an unclear way. They claim that this phrase, as often understood, contradicts Pope Pius XII's Mystici Corporis Christi and other papal documents.
• A new ecumenism which they see as aiming at a false pan-Christian religious unity without requiring non-Catholics to convert to the Catholic faith. They see this as contradicting the teachings of the Bible, Pope Pius XI's Mortalium Animos, Pope Pius XII's Humani Generis and other documents.
• An acceptance, in the Second Vatican Council's decree Dignitatis Humanae, of the principle of religious liberty, which they claim was condemned by Pope Pius IX in Quanta Cura and the Syllabus of Errors.
• A new rite of Mass, which they refer to as the "Novus Ordo Missae" or "Novus Ordo" (see Mass of Paul VI). They regard this as de-emphasizing central Catholic doctrines on the Eucharist according to which the Mass is a true sacrifice and that the bread and wine employed in the rite truly become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. They further contend that the revised liturgy is man-centered rather than God-centered; that it is less beautiful, poetic and spiritually edifying than the earlier liturgy; and that it omits certain readings that mention Hell, miracles or sin, or that might offend Jews. Traditionalists hold differing opinions on the validity and acceptability of the revised rite of Mass:
  • Some see it as valid, and as acceptable when necessary, though the Tridentine Mass should be attended when at all possible.
  • Some, including adherents of the Society of St. Pius X, hold that it is in principle valid as a sacramental rite - so that the bread and wine used in it truly become the body and blood of Christ - but maintain that the revisions in the liturgy are displeasing to God, and that Masses celebrated using the revised rite are often celebrated improperly to the extent of being sacramentally invalid. They therefore generally refuse to attend it.
  • Some, including most sedevacantists, see it as invalid and entirely unacceptable.
• A new focus on the "dignity of man", which they claim ignores original sin and the need for supernatural grace, and which they also claim has led to a sort of Utopianism that sees world peace as possible without recognizing the Kingship of Christ. They see this attitude, and teachings rooted in it, as contradicting Pope Pius XI's Quas Primas, Pope Leo XIII's Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae and Rerum Novarum, Pope Pius X's Notre charge apostolique, and other papal and conciliar documents on social matters.

Mainstream Catholics' criticism of Traditionalists' claims

Criticisms by mainstream Catholics of the allegations by those traditionalists who say that Church teaching and practice has underone rupture and discontinuity include the following:

• They claim that the allegations by those traditionalists are false, exaggerated, or fail to appreciate the organic character of Tradition. They argue, for example, that Dignitatis Humanae does not in fact contradict the Church's earlier teaching on religious liberty, [3] and that the revised rite of Mass represents a legitimate development of the earlier liturgy rather than a dangerous break from it.
• They maintain that those traditionalists fail to distinguish between changeable pastoral practices (such as the liturgy of the Mass) and the unchangeable principles of the Catholic Faith (such as the dogmas surrounding the Mass).
• They argue that those traditionalists who not only disobey and resist the Church authorities, but actually declare their decisions to be incompatible with the Church's unchanging Tradition, are acting against the teaching of Pope Pius XII that to "the Teaching Authority of the Church ... has been entrusted by Christ Our Lord the whole deposit of faith - Sacred Scripture and divine Tradition - to be preserved, guarded and interpreted" (emphases added). The traditionalists in question reply with the words of the First Vatican Council: "The Holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine" (emphases added). They thus indicate that, in their judgement, "the Teaching Authority of the Church" has in fact introduced new doctrines.

Sedevacantists' reaction to mainstream Catholics' criticism

Sedevacantists claim that they avoid much of the mainstream Catholic critique of the form of traditionalism just discussed, because they believe that there is at present no Pope or body of bishops whose teaching must be accepted. They accuse of inconsistency those traditionalists who recognise Benedict XVI as Pope but resist his decrees. A talk available as audio files at a sedevacantist website attributes three grave theological errors to the "sedeoccupantist" Traditionalists, precisely because they recognize the post-Second Vatican Council Popes:

1. By declaring that the revised liturgy of the Mass, promulgated and defended by these Popes, is evil, they teach that the Church can decree evil and actually has decreed evil; moreover they contravene canon 7 of session XII of the Council of Trent: "If anyone says that the ceremonies, vestments, and outward signs which the Catholic Church uses in the celebration of masses, are incentives to impiety rather than stimulants to piety, let him be anathema."
2. By declaring that the teaching of the Pope together with the bishops in the Second Vatican Council contradicts the Church's tradition, they either repudiate the teaching of the First Vatican Council on the infallibility of even the ordinary and universal magisterium of the Pope and the bishops - according to Father Philippe Laguérie, founding member of the Institute of the Good Shepherd, this was in fact taught in the Ecône seminary of the Society of St. Pius X - or they implicitly deny that the Pope and bishops who composed the membership of the Second Vatican Council were true Pope and bishops.
3. By refusing subjection to one whom they recognize to be Pope, they contravene the famous Bull Unam sanctam in which Pope Boniface VIII stated: "... we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff."

Practices of traditionalist Catholics

The rite of Mass

The best-known and most visible sign of Catholic traditionalism is an attachment to the form that the Roman Rite liturgy of the Mass had before the liturgical reform of 1969-1970. This form is generally known as the Tridentine Mass, though traditionalists usually prefer to call it the Traditional Mass. Its most distinctive feature is that in almost all countries it was celebrated only in Latin.

Different traditionalist priests use different editions of the Roman Missal to celebrate the Tridentine Mass. Most use that of 1962, the last before the post-Conciliar reform and the only one for which the Holy See gives authorisation. Since this edition was promulgated by Pope John XXIII, sedevacantists naturally reject it and generally use the 1920 Missal, with some modifications (some even reject the revised rites for Holy Week promulgated by Pius XII in 1955, though they regard Pius XII as a true pope). Some traditionalists in good standing with Rome use the 1962 Missal with a series of rubrical modifications that were introduced in 1965 (hence the references sometimes found to the "1965 Missal", though no new edition of the Roman Missal was published in that year).

Linked with the celebration of the Tridentine Mass is the observance of the liturgical calendar of saints' days as it existed before the simplification of 1960 (see Traditional Catholic Calendar). The calendar in general use today incorporates a further revision made in 1979 and some additional celebrations (see Roman Catholic calendar of saints).

Individual and private devotions

In keeping with their preference for the customs prevailing in the Church before the Second Vatican Council, traditionalist Catholics are often associated with practices such as the following:

• Abstaining from meat on Fridays. Before the twentieth century, it was customary to abstain from meat not only on Friday but also on Wednesday, a custom from which is derived the names of some days of the week in the Irish language and which is still followed in most, if not all, Eastern Churches. In the Latin Church, abstinence was once obligatory also on Saturdays, a law that was not abrogated until the entry into force of the 1917 Code of Canon Law. According to Canon 1252 of that Code, abstinence from meat was obligatory not only on Fridays, but also during the whole of Lent from Ash Wednesday to noon on Holy Saturday, on Ember days and on four vigils of feasts. Sundays and holy-days of obligation outside of Lent were excepted. Present discipline maintains Fridays and Lent (not excluding Holy Saturday afternoon) as days and times of penance, declares that abstinence from meat or some other food as determined by the bishops' conference is to be observed on all Fridays (unless a solemnity falls on the Friday) and on Ash Wednesday, and allows episcopal conferences to permit other practices of personal penance to take the place of abstinence from meat (canon 1249-1253 of the 1983 Code). (The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India has allowed abstinence from meat to be reckoned a penitential exercise only for those for whom meat is a normal part of their diet.)
• Fasting from midnight before receiving Holy Communion. This discipline was modified as early as 1953, several years before the Second Vatican Council, by Pope Pius XII, who reduced the obligatory fast before Holy Communion to three hours.

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Solemn Mass celebrated ca. 1946 in the Netherlands

• Kneeling to receive Communion directly in the mouth in the form of consecrated bread alone and from the hand of a bishop, priest, or deacon. Some would refuse to receive from deacons, who, before the reforms of Pope Paul VI, were allowed to give Holy Communion only if there were a serious reason for permitting them to do so.
• Women wearing a head covering in church. Only with the 1917 Code of Canon Law did this rule (which corresponded to what the Apostle Paul prescribed in 1 Corinthians 11:1–17) become a universal law for the Latin Rite of the Church. Canon 1262 of that Code mandated that, in church, women should cover their heads and men should uncover theirs "unless this is in contrast with approved customs of peoples." The same canon declared it desirable that, in line with long-standing custom, women and men should be separate from one another in church. The photograph here of Mass in the Netherlands in about 1946, two decades before the changes that followed the Second Vatican Council, shows that neither practice was then universal.

Becoming a traditionalist Catholic usually involves a personal decision somewhat comparable to joining associations such as the Legion of Mary or Opus Dei. Though to a lesser extent than the members of such associations, traditionalist Catholics are likely to be above average in dedication to devotional practices such as:

• Frequent Confession;
• Prayers, such as the Stations of the Cross and the Rosary, in use in the Latin Rite, with authoritative encouragement, for most of a millennium. (Many traditionalist Catholics do not accept Pope John Paul II's 2002 recommendation to add the Luminous Mysteries to the Rosary.)

How many traditionalists?

Estimates of the size of the worldwide traditionalist Catholic community vary widely. There follow some estimates of the number of traditionalists of different kinds.

All traditionalists

"Millions" worldwide - Pro-SSPX article in The Remnant, 2006 [4]

?6-7 million worldwide - Internet site on traditionalism, 2004 [5]

?1 million worldwide - Vatican estimate, according to article from pro-Rome source, 2005 [6] Cf. the alleged Vatican estimate of 1 million (the same figure) SSPX adherents given below.

Under 200,000 in France (an important centre of traditionalism) - Estimate posted on traditionalist forum, 2006 [7]

5% of French Catholics - Statistics reportedly used by French bishops, according to blog item, 2006 [8]

Traditionalists in dispute with Rome

17 million "sympathisers" in the US - University of Chicago National Opinion Research Center as reported by pro-SSPX source, 2005 [9]

2 million+ worldwide - Pro-SSPX article, 2006 [10]

2 million in the US - "Usual" estimate, according to pro-SSPX source, 2005 [11]

100,000 in the US - New York Times Magazine, cited in academic article, 2003 [12]

50,000-100,000 in the US - Upper and lower limits of attempted estimates, according to article in The Scotsman, 2004 [13]

?50,000 in the US - Academic article, 2004 [14]

Traditionalists in good standing with Rome

2 million+ worldwide - Pro-SSPX article, 2006 [15]

Adherents of the SSPX

1 million worldwide - Pro-SSPX article in The Remnant, 2006 [16]

1 million worldwide - Estimate attributed to SSPX itself in secular news article, 2006 [17]

1 million worldwide - Estimate attributed to SSPX itself in article in The Wanderer, 2006 [18]

1 million worldwide - Claimed Vatican estimate, cited at second hand, 2004 [19] Cf. the alleged Vatican estimate of 1 million (the same figure) traditionalist Catholics of all kinds given above.

20,000 in the US - Estimate attributed to SSPX itself in The Scotsman, 2004 [20]

Sedevacantists

?1.3 million worldwide - Internet site on traditionalism, 2004 [21]

500,000+ worldwide - Pro-SSPX article, 2006 [22]

Places of worship

A pre-Vatican II Latin-rite altar with reredos

Some traditionalist Catholics attend celebrations officially sanctioned by the Church authorities of Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal. The Congregation for Divine Worship's circular letter Quattuor abhinc annos of 3 October 1984 granted an "indult" (from Latin indultum) for bishops to authorize "priests and faithful... to celebrate Mass by using the Roman Missal according to the 1962 edition", on certain conditions, including that those who request authorisation clearly do not question the lawfulness and doctrinal soundness of the revised Missal. Pope John Paul II reiterated this in his 1988 letter Ecclesia Dei: "Respect must everywhere be shown for the feelings of all those who are attached to the Latin liturgical tradition by a wide and generous application of the directives already issued some time ago by the Apostolic See for the use of the Roman Missal according to the typical edition of 1962." Priests who offer these "indult" Masses are not necessarily members of priestly societies founded specifically to ensure continuance of the older form of the Roman Rite of Mass, such as the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, the President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, occasionally celebrates the Tridentine Mass in public, and other cardinals (including Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI) have also done so in recent years, though much less frequently.

See Communities Using the Tridentine Mass for a list of priestly societies and religious institutes in good standing with the Church authorities that are dedicated to preserving the older rite of Mass.

Eastward-facing altar of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, as arranged in 1700 and still used, without modification, today

Many other groups and individual priests celebrate the Tridentine Mass in a situation of schism or separation from the Church. The Society of St. Pius X offers Mass according to the 1962 Missal in its own Mass centres, maintaining that Catholic priests do not require any permission to celebrate the Tridentine rite. It rejects the conditions laid down in Quattuor abhinc annos, and teaches that it is unlawful to attend what it calls the Indult Mass, and takes the view that "those who are only near Masses 'of Pope Paul VI' or to traditional Masses said under the 'Indult'" are excused from the obligation of attending Sunday Mass. The Society adopts a similar attitude towards Mass celebrated by members of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter, which was founded by former members of SSPX who reconciled with Rome.

Others, rejecting the 1962 Missal, offer Mass according to earlier editions, especially sedevacantist groups who do not recognize Pope John XXIII as Pope. They include the Society of St. Pius V and the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen. It is debatable whether these groups are Catholic at all (in the sense of being part of the Roman Catholic Church, which they claim to be), since, while theoretically professing their obedience to the Papacy, in practice they do not recognize the Pope nor any means of electing a new Pope (see also Great Apostasy and anti-Catholicism).

A complete list of all Traditional Latin Masses was maintained after Vatican II by Mr. Radko Jansky in his Catholic Traditionalist Directory (last published in 1989) and then by Fr. Francis LeBlanc in his Directory of Tridentine Latin Masses (last published in 1992). Since 1994 the National Registry of Traditional Latin Masses maintains, updates, and publishes monthly the Official Traditional Catholic Directory, Listing All Traditional Latin Masses and Traditional Resources for North America. This directory lists all Traditional Latin Mass sites in North America (the United States, Canada, and Mexico) and contacts for such sites in countries outside of North America.

Those who worship independently of the diocesan bishops justify their position on the grounds that they must do so in order to ensure they are able to administer or receive all of the Sacraments - including, but not limited to, the Eucharist - in the traditional way, and to be able, without fear of reprisal, to give or hear sermons on controversial matters (e.g. ecumenism, evangelism, liberalism, sin, Hell, political issues) that contradict the teaching of the bishops.

Relations with the Holy See

The Holy See views as schismatic both sedevacantists and many other individual traditionalist Catholics - in particular, many of those involved with organizations in which priests act in complete independence of the Holy See and the diocesan bishops, even in matters for which a link with those bishops is normally a condition for validity of the act.[23] The personal situation of such individuals is therefore distinguished from that of the associations to which they may belong: for instance, the situation of the Society of Saint Pius X has been described as a "situation of separation ... even if it was not a formal schism." [24]

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A sister of the Associação Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima of Campos, Brazil.

On the other hand, the Holy See recognizes as fully legitimate the preference for "the Latin liturgical tradition" shown by those traditionalist Catholics who do not dispute the authority of the Holy See. [25] While the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" normally leaves the decision to the local bishops, who have the advantage of direct knowledge of the situation in their dioceses, it recommends them to grant permission generously for the celebration of "Tridentine" Mass. The Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter are examples of associations of traditionalist Catholics that operate as a normal part of the Catholic Church in harmony with "the successor of Peter and the bishops in communion with him."(Lumen Gentium, 8).

With regard to the episcopal consecrations that Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer conferred without papal mandate, the Holy See explicitly recognizes their validity, but sees the bishops involved as automatically excommunicated. It views the priests of the Society of St Pius X whom these bishops ordain as validly ordained, but, in accordance with canon 1383 of the Code of Canon Law, "suspended from the order received", i.e. prohibited from exercising it (canon 1333). The Ecclesia Dei Commission has stated that attendance at Masses offered by these priests is "morally illicit" for Catholics in normal circumstances, but that attendance at such Masses is not, of itself, an act subject to ecclesiastical penalties such as excommunication. [26][27][28]

Criticisms by other Catholics against some traditionalist Catholics

Many Catholics, traditionalist or not, who accept, as part of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, the interpretation of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council that has been confirmed and acted upon by the Holy See, point out that Catholic teaching, even the non-infallible teaching of the "ordinary Magisterium", demands obsequium religiosum, that is, religious assent, which, in this case, may be considered as somewhat analogous to that which is commonly called "the benefit of the doubt". These Catholics believe that this sacred duty is transgressed in the open dissent of some traditionalist Catholics against statements and decisions of the bishops of the Catholic Church gathered with the Pope in the Second Vatican Council, as well as later statements issued by the Holy See and accepted and acted upon by the bishops.

They see this dissent as not unlike that of liberal Catholics who place their own judgment above that of the Magisterium, and they argue that the spiritual dynamic of the dissent is a failure of submission of the will. This failure of submission, they claim, has negative consequences for the Church, such as anger, bitterness, disunity and ultimately schism, consequences that contradict the spirit of unity that is a mark of the Church.

The traditionalist Catholics thus criticized reply that their attitude is not at all like that of liberal Catholics, because, instead of revolting against traditional teachings of the Church, they are merely trying to follow these teachings, which they see as contradicted by what they qualify as unlawful decrees and unsound doctrine of the Second Vatican Council and the Holy See. They say that they practice Catholicism as the faithful did for many centuries, Saints among them, and ask how that can be considered wrong or schismatic. They also, as mentioned above, question the authority of the Second Vatican Council, which they see as contradicting the Council of Trent.

See also

Doctrinal and liturgical issues

• Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus
• Sedevacantism
• Sirianism
• The Papal Oath
• Pre-Tridentine Mass
• Tridentine Mass
• Post-Tridentine Mass
• Roman Missal

Important figures

• Marcel Lefebvre
• Antônio de Castro Mayer
• Fernando Rifan
• Licínio Rangel
• Alfredo Ottaviani
• Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục
• Clarence Kelly
• Daniel Dolan
• Francis Schuckardt
• Malachi Martin
• Rama P Coomaraswamy
• Leonard Feeney (partly)

Historical events

• First Vatican Council
• Second Vatican Council
• Council of Trent

Canonically recognized traditionalist groups

• List of Traditionalist groups in communion with Rome
• Canons Regular of Saint John Cantius
• Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter
• Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney
• Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest
• Latin Mass Society of England and Wales
• Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce
• Militia Templi

Traditionalist organizations that the Roman Catholic Church considers irregular

• Society of St. Pius V
• Society of St. Pius X
• Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen

External links

• International Federation Una Voce The main international organization of Traditionalists considered regular by the Holy See
• The Society of St. Pius X The largest traditionalist body considered irregular by the Holy See
• Traditional Roman Catholic Network sedevacantist site

Media

• Video of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's 1988 consecration of Tissier DeMallarais, Richard Williamson, Bernard Fellay, and Alfonso de Galaretta as bishops of the Society of St. Pius X