What about the SSPX?

Are the laity allowed to attend Mass at St. Anthony of Padua, the SSPX chapel in Charlotte?

Photo Caption: St. Anthony of Padua Chapel 108 Horseshoe Bend Beach Road, Mount Holly, NC 28120

In short, yes. The Holy See has, on various occasions, written that the Masses of the SSPX are valid and that the faithful who attend them fulfill their Sunday and Holy Day obligations (see links below). The Holy See has even written that in justice, we are free to contribute to their collections at Mass.

The CLMC, as an association, neither encourages nor discourages Mass attendance at SSPX chapels. This is a decision which families will have to discern for themselves. 

The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX; Latin: Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii X) is an international fraternity of traditionalist Catholic priests founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. They are a private association that has an irregular canonical status.  Since the mid-1980s, priests of the SSPX have traveled to the Charlotte area to hold private masses at the request of faithful Catholics who have expressed a state of necessity. In the year 2000, local Catholics raised private funds to purchase a private chapel (pictured above), located in the town of Mount Holly, NC, a few miles from downtown Charlotte.

In 2016, Pope Francis granted priests of the SSPX universal faculties to hear confessions. Also in 2016, the Bishops of the SSPX were granted permission from Rome to ordain priests. In 2017, Pope Francis asked local diocesan bishops to cooperate with the SSPX in regards to faculties for the celebration of marriages.

In 2008, even before the contested excommunications were lifted, the then Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei wrote that, “Catholics who frequent the chapels of the Society of St. Pius X do not incur any sin or canonical delict by doing so.“  And additionally, “This Pontifical Commission does its best to transmit responses which are in full accord with the magisterium, … One should accept them with docility and can act upon them with moral certainty.“

And in 2017, Pope Francis ordered the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to publish a letter with this line in it’s final paragraph: “Certain that in this way any uneasiness of conscience on the part of the faithful who adhere to the Society of St. Pius X … may be alleviated, and at the same time that the process towards full institutional regularization may be facilitated, …”

The most comprehensive and well researched opinions we could find on the topic are below:

  1. Father John Zuhlsdorf (“Father Z”) on the Truth of the SSPX
    • Note that Father Zuhlsdorf worked for years in Rome at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, working daily on this topic with then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. He is highly respected on these matters.

  2. Bishop Athanasius Schneider Defends the SSPX
    • Note that Bishop Athanasius Schneider was appointed by the Vatican to conduct an official visitation to two SSPX Seminaries and to continue doctrinal discussions on behalf of the Vatican.

  3. Bishop Vitus Huonder (Three part video series on the SSPX: Each video is only about 15-mins)
  4. Crisis Magazine: “The Status of the SSPX” Eric Sammons Interviews James Vogel
    • Note: Crisis Magazine is a well-respected neoconservative Catholic opinion journal founded in 1982. This interview is a respectful, thorough, open, and objective discussion between the editor of Crisis Magazine, Eric Sammons (an admitted SSPX skeptic), and the Director of Communications for the US District of the Society of St. Pius X. They very calmly unpack and discuss various points of controversy regarding the status of the SSPX.

But, if there are currently Latin Masses offered by the Diocese, does a state of necessity exist for families to attend Mass at a SSPX chapel?

This too is a question for which families will have to discern. For some, their spiritual needs are fully met by what is currently provided by the Diocese.

For others, this state of necessity may have been reached by one or more of the following (partial list):

  • Diocesan Masses were cancelled or restricted during the government lockdowns of 2020-2021, and for some period the only “in-person” Mass in town was at the SSPX chapel.
  • The traditional Easter Triduum and Sacrament of Confirmation were abruptly cancelled by the diocesan bishop.
  • Over the past 10 years, on numerous occasions, the laity have petitioned the Bishop to grant his permission for the creation of a full traditional chapel in the Charlotte area. While similar requests were granted to other smaller communities, our requests were all ignored or rejected.
  • Unlike diocesan parishes, the SSPX chapel offers a full traditional Catholic catechetical program for children and adults.
  • In order to worship according to the traditional liturgy, families would otherwise be required to hop from parish to parish on various days for Mass and other parish activities.
  • In our 2022 Synod Survey, ninety-six percent (96.6%) of traditional Catholic respondents said that they would prefer a dedicated chapel to what is currently offered by the diocese.
  • In another question, only thirteen percent (13.4%) thought that the Diocese of Charlotte was doing a good job listening and responding to our spiritual needs.
  • In November 2022, Bishop Jugis declared that he will be implementing “the new course charted for the Church by Pope Francis” … “to return to a unitary form of celebration” … “the need to return in due time to the Roman Rite promulgated by Popes Paul VI and John Paul II” (the Novus Ordo Mass).

All of these are unreasonable disruptions that have damaged the sense of spiritual stability that families require to adequately pass the faith down to their children. Many families believe that this lack of long term stability is, in itself, a state of necessity.