Rome and the SSPX: a very puzzling dialogue
When Moyra Doorly began to wonder if the SSPX is right about Vatican II she asked leading theologian Aidan Nichols to address her doubts

3 July 2009

Pope Benedict XVI and Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the SSPX: 'Doctrinal discussions between the SSPX and Rome may not proceed as quickly as anticipated'e

Letter from a confused Catholic:
Could the liturgical crisis stem from the Council itself?

Reply to a confused Catholic:
The contrasts you draw are unnecessarily sharp

Introduction
By Moyra Doorly

Calls for the Society of St Pius X to "accept Vatican II" have come thick and fast in the wake of recent events. Now that negotiations with the Vatican have been announced, the expectation is that the SSPX will soon follow the path taken by other traditionalist groups and allow their "attachment to some previous liturgical form of Latin tradition" to be accommodated within the folds of the Conciliar Church.

But as the Holy Father pointed out in his March 12 letter concerning the lifting of the excommunications against the Society's four bishops, "the problems now to be addressed are essentially doctrinal in nature". Which suggests that the SSPX's 491 priests, 215 seminarians, 117 brothers, 164 sisters and thousands of otherwise ordinary Catholic supporters across the world, find themselves in an extraordinary situation for reasons that go beyond mere obstinacy and a refusal to wake up to the modern world.

Because according to The Problem of the Liturgical Reform: A Theological and Liturgical Study published in 2001 by the SSPX (Angelus Press), the Second Vatican Council has introduced a new understanding of the Mass, one that is "less an application of the merits of Redemption and more a liturgy of the saved - the liturgy of 'a people your Son has gained for you'. Rather than being an action whereby the priest in persona Christi applies the merits and satisfactions won by Christ in His redemptive sacrifice, the Mass is the action of a people - 'the sacred assembly, a chosen race, a royal priesthood' - who celebrate with thanksgiving a Redemption already released in full."

At the heart of the reforms, the study claims, is the theology of the Paschal Mystery which shifts the emphasis away from Christ's Passion as the central salvific act, focuses instead on Christ's Passion and Resurrection and Ascension, and no longer considers redemption principally as the result of Christ's expiatory sacrifice on the Cross. In contrast, according to the study, "for classic theology it is the Passion rather than the Resurrection which sums up man's salvation. The Resurrection certainly contributes to our salvation, notably as an example for us, but classic theology maintains that only the death of Christ - and not His Resurrection - has a meritorious and satisfactory value."

Thus the new theology considers the consequence of sin, not as an offence against God which leaves man in debt to His justice, but primarily in terms of its effect upon the sinner who is turned from God's love as a result. While classic theology has always held that Christ's Passion was an act of sacrificial love by which He offered Himself to the Father in order to reconcile man to God and make satisfaction for his sins, the new theology focuses instead on Christ's saving act as the revelation of God's infinite and unconditional love for mankind. As a result, "the propitiatory character of the sacrifice of the Mass has been virtually dropped from the new missal".

Another feature of the new theology, according to the study, is a view of the sacraments as "making something present in reality", rather than as "signs which produce an effect", ie grace in the soul. Thus, the liturgy becomes the sacrament which makes present the mystery of salvation veiled beneath its ritual symbols, as does the gathered assembly which makes Christ present in its midst. Christ's presence in His Word is also emphasised in the equivalence the new missal draws between the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

In this way, taking part in the liturgy becomes the means by which the people penetrate the mystery and encounter the God who reveals, hence the new emphasis on lay participation in the rites, which extends to attributing an almost sacramental role to the laity who by virtue of their royal priesthood participate in celebrating the Eucharist. In contrast, the traditional teaching is that the sacraments apply to us the merits of Christ, who is both Priest and Victim of the sacrifice, and produce the grace in the soul necessary for salvation. The laity participates "not actively in a visible liturgical rite, but by uniting themselves with the prayers and intentions of the priest by whose hands the offering is made, so that the external sacrificial rite is reflected in their interior worship".

What's more, while the Extraordinary Form is an explicitly sacrificial rite as reflected in its structure - "oblation of the victim (Offertory), immolation (double consecration) and consummation (Communion)" - the Ordinary Form has taken on the structure of a memorial meal - "blessing of the food (presentation of the gifts), thanksgiving for gifts received (Eucharistic Prayer) and breaking and partaking of the bread". Thus the new understanding of the Mass is first and foremost as a memorial, and then "as a sacrifice insofar as the memorial makes the sacrifice of the Cross present beneath the veil of mystery". One of many examples included in the Study is the new Mysterium Fidei. Following the Consecration in the Ordinary Form, the people are invited to "proclaim the mystery of faith" according to one of three new acclamations, eg, "Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again" etc. But in the Extraordinary Form, the Mysterium Fidei refers to the Consecration itself, to the fact that the body and blood of Christ are now truly present on the altar under the species of bread and wine, as its place in the traditional Prayer of Consecration makes clear, "take and drink ye all of this, for this is the chalice of My Blood, of the new and eternal testament: the mystery of faith: which shall be shed for you and for many unto the remission of sins". According to this change, the study claims, the Mystery of Faith no longer refers to the Real Presence of Christ brought about by transubstantiation, but to "all the mysteries of Christ's life proclaimed and remembered together".

Thus the SSPX refuses to "accept the Council" for reasons that go way beyond a subjective preference for a particular form of liturgical expression. While acknowledging that there are no explicit denials of traditional doctrines in the Council documents, the Study claims that the new theology has been so emphasised that the reformed missal "no longer propagates the lex credendi of the Church".

So startling are these arguments that they could generate all manner of response. According to Dr Alcuin Reid: "The Second Vatican Council made no new doctrinal definitions. Nor did it change the traditional teaching of the Church. It proposed new ways of presenting the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church in the modern world. These approaches - 'policies' if you will - are not doctrines, but applications of doctrines. They must be taken seriously and their purpose must be respected, but they may be discussed, even disagreed with, in good faith."

And yet in his letter to Pope John Paul II which forms the introduction to the study, Bishop Fellay wrote that the new theology introduced by the Council "renders the post-conciliar liturgy dangerously distant from Catholic doctrine". Which suggests that the forthcoming doctrinal discussions between the SSPX and Rome may not proceed as quickly and easily as is currently being anticipated.


Moyra Doorly's No Place for God: The Denial of the Transcendent in Modern Church Architecture (2007), is published by the Ignatius Press