Texas bishop: ‘No reason’ for Catholics to attend SSPX Mass if they can go elsewhere

CNA Staff, Nov 1, 2024 / 16:35 pm

Bishop Michael Olson Fort Worth, Texas, this week stated that Catholics have “no need” to attend Mass or receive sacraments from priests associated with the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) so long as they are able to attend other churches run by priests in full communion with the Church.

Olson published the letter on Thursday after he “received several inquiries regarding the ecclesial status” of the traditionalist Catholic society. The “recent frequency and sincerity of inquiries” led him to issue the message, he said.

The inquiries likely stemmed from the SSPX’s involvement in a long-running controversy between the Diocese of Fort Worth and a group of Carmelite nuns in Arlington, Texas. The Vatican dismissed the nuns from religious life last month after they repeatedly defied orders and governance from both Olson and the Holy See itself.

The nuns in September had announced that they were associating with the SSPX. Olson in his Thursday letter did not reference that controversy but rather responded to “commonly asked questions” about the Catholic group, founded by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970.

Olson noted that the SSPX is not in “formal schism” with the Catholic Church, nor is it “in full communion or good standing.” The group has a canonically irregular status stemming from its rejection of formal Church teaching.

The priests of the SSPX “administer valid sacraments,” but they “do so illicitly,” Olson noted. 

“To align with the SSPX knowingly and formally is to align with an illicit and irregular relationship with the Catholic Church, her hierarchy and her teaching,” he said. 

The bishop said that Catholics who are “able to receive the sacraments at a Catholic church from clerics in good standing” have “no reason to attend and receive sacraments at an SSPX church or chapel.”

The prelate acknowledged that Catholics in danger of death would have good reason to receive the sacraments of penance, anointing of the sick, and viaticum “if no other priest in good standing is readily available.”

Yet in the Fort Worth Diocese, he said, there are enough Catholic churches available that a Catholic should have “no acceptable reason” to seek out the sacraments from an SSPX priest. 

The bishop further noted that those looking to worship at a Traditional Latin Mass can attend a parish run by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, a traditionalist group with a canonically regular status. 

“There is no need, especially curiosity, to attend an SSPX Mass at a chapel or church within the territory of the Fort Worth Diocese,” Olson said. 

The bishop in his letter called for prayers for “the authentic communion enjoyed by us together with our Holy Father and the members of all those local Churches and their bishops who enjoy full communion with him.”

Olson expressed hope that the faithful in his diocese “might align ourselves with … authentic and sound teaching as we pray for the reunion of all Christians.”