![]() The following day, Cardinal Bernadin Gantin of the Congregation of Bishops declared Lefebvre's excommunication. On June 30, 1988, Archbishop Lefebvre proceeded with this intention in violation of canon law, incurring an automatic excommunication under the law. Neverthless, a few days afterwards, Archbishop Lefebvre retracted his signature and announced his intention to consecrate bishops without Rome's permission. The protocol agreement was signed by both Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and Archbishop Lefebvre. On this day, agreement was finally reached between the SSPX and Rome, reconciling the SSPX to the Church. Relations between Rome and the SSPX remained rather static until May 5, 1988. Over the next thirteen years, Lefebvre continued to operate illicitly and expand the SSPX, while negotiations continued on and off again with Rome. Yet Lefebvre ignored the canonical suppression and began illicitly ordaining his seminarians to holy orders, an action which led to the suspension of his faculties later on in the same year. By 1974 the controversy had become so heated that Lefebvre made a famous declaration within Traditionalist circles calling into question the validity and orthodoxy of the Second Vatican Council.įinding this declaration problematical, Pope Paul VI canonically suppressed the SSPX and its seminary in 1975. ![]() However, Lefebvre's continued use of the Tridentine Mass eventually became an issue with the Vatican. Pius X (SSPX).īoth these institutions received canonical approval on an experimental basis near Econe, Switzerland. Concerned with the lack of discipline that had overtaken many French seminaries and the many doctrinal weaknesses in the formation program of seminarians, in 1969 Lefebvre founded a House of Studies, which soon evolved into both a seminary and his Priestly Society of St. ![]() Thus they approached Archbishop Lefebvre in 1970 and coaxed him out of retirement in Rome. In this capacity he founded many missionary dioceses in Africa, and in fact under Pope Pius XII he was appointed the papal legate to French-speaking Africa.īefore retiring in Rome just after the Second Vatican Council, he also served as Superior General of Spiritan Missionaries.Ĭertain problems, however, began to arise in the French seminaries during this time, and many young seminarians became disenchanted by the confusion that had arisen within their program of formation. Who was Archbishop Lefebvre?Īrchbishop Marcel Lefebvre was ordained a Spiritan Missionary and later became the first Archbishop of Dakar, Africa. In addition, during the last two years I've pursued a licentiate in canon law from the Church, studies that have culminated in the publication of a major research paper entitled "A Canonical History of Archbishop Lefebvre's Schism." Here's a brief account of what I learned that led to my reconciliation with Rome. My conclusions draw upon eight years of personal experience within the Traditionalist Movement the last five after being reconciled to Rome. The answers to these questions eventually led me to conclude that Sacred Tradition can only be fully actualized in communion with Rome. What follows is a practical reflection on questions concerning Catholic Tradition that troubled my conscience during my sojourn in the SSPX schism. For that reason, at the heart of my journey back to full communion with Rome lay many questions about the unity of the Church as an institution founded by Christ. Such ruptures from communion with the Church, the Catechism of the Catholic Church points out, "wound the unity of Christ's Body" (CCC 817). I failed to realize, however, that at the root of every schism, as the present Code of Canon Law explains, "is the withdrawal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or from communion with the members of the Church subject to him" (Can. Like most SSPX adherents, at the time I thought that my separation from Rome was merely temporary. In fact, it was precisely because of such sympathies, as well as the beauty of the Tridentine Mass, that I found myself frequenting SSPX chapels about eight years ago. It's easy to sympathize with these folks since most of them have joined the SSPX after being scandalized by contemporary abuses in doctrine and liturgy in some of our Catholic churches in North America. ![]() In short, on the surface, adherents to Archbishop Lefebvre's schism appear to be devout Catholics They're filled with devotion to the Blessed Mother, extremely conservative with regard to most moral issues afflicting the Western world today, and quite reverent before the Blessed Sacrament during their old Latin liturgies.
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