On Obedience, the Crisis in the Church, and the SSPX

By now, everyone with an interest in the traditional Catholic Faith has heard that the Society of St. Pius X has announced they will proceed with episcopal consecrations on July 1, 2026, the (old calendar) feast of the Most Precious Blood.

It is obviously massive news—not that anyone is really surprised; this has been coming for a long while now.

I have conflicting thoughts and I don’t think that’s inappropriate, given the confusing times in which we are living. Anyone who expects me either to condemn the SSPX or to valorize it unconditionally will be disappointed. I have always been moderately pro-SSPX, my position is well known on that score; but I have also always said that I think it is objectively better to be in full regular communion with the Catholic hierarchy, which is why I have always attended and would attend Mass with an Ecclesia Dei institute, given the choice.

Let me simply say: there is a great good at stake, as well as a great evil.

The great good is full and regular communion with the hierarchy of the Church. The Ecclesia Dei institutes have chosen this good as a first principle, and as a result they often do not speak out as loudly or clearly on the issues of the day. Still, they are manifestly doing the Lord’s work; they are quietly, patiently restoring tradition all over the world. I have seen the immense fruits. They are rebuilding the Church from the ground up, one apostolate at a time.

On the other hand, the great evil is the modernism that has infected the Church at every level, to such an extent that it is now taken for granted; it has become like a pervasive noxious gas, invisible and odorless. Against this trend, Archbishop Lefebvre took a courageous stand for the traditional Catholic Faith (Yves Chiron’s Between Rome and Rebellion is essential reading for those who wish to understand the depth of the crisis he confronted, one that we still confront), and his Society continues to hold aloft that bright torch. I admire them for their witness, which they have purchased at a bitter price.

Some people object to the language of “full or partial communion.” I’m not stuck on that. I’m talking about the institutional irregularity of the Society, which is not a mere nothing. The SSPX may well be doing the right thing, but they themselves would be the first to confess they are not “the Church” simply speaking and that the Church’s hierarchy still exists with Pope Leo at its head (however full of corruption and error at this time). In other words, they are not sedevacantists; and therein lies the drama of this moment. Sedes dwell in an imaginary land where they have no actual earthly authorities to answer to; makes things simple, as only madness can do.

Whatever some unrestrained enthusiasts might say, the Society leadership is not triumphalist about taking this step; they are doing so out of a sense of what must be in order for them to continue the work they believe they are called by God to do, and which they cannot do by compromising any principle.

What is the essence of their case?

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