Bishop Athanasius Schneider: I have to say it’s truly not a sin to go to Holy Mass celebrated by a priest from the Society of Pius X. It’s truly not. And of course, you fulfill your Sunday Obligation. There is a document from Ecclesia Dei, from a couple of years ago, where the answer says that you can fulfill your Sunday Obligation by attending the Holy Mass of the Society of Pius X in special circumstances. Of course, when there is no mass in the old right, you have a right to the Traditional Mass, and that is celebrated by the Society of Pius X, so you can go there. The canonical status is a difficult situation because it is connected to the global crisis of the Church. Since the Vatican Council, we have to be very honest. If there would not have been a crisis, the New Mass Order would not have been imposed upon us.
There would not have been a Society of Pius X in an uncanonical form. I mean, the guilt is more on the side of Rome, than on the side of Msgr. Lefebvre or the Society of Pius X. This is evident because Rome started these things first. They’re big on teaching this New Mass, which is really undermining by time, the sureness, and the clearness of the Eucharistic Doctrine. No one can deny this. We have to see the Society of Pius X in the global context of the unprecedented doctrinal and liturgical crisis of the Church, which we are living in since the Vatican Council. Of course, the New Mass is not bad in itself. This would be an exaggeration, which unfortunately members of the Society of Pius X are saying. We have to say, no, that it isn’t sacrilegious in itself.
I mean, it has defects but it is not to say, evil. We can say, of course, that many celebrations of the Novus Ordo are sometimes really sacrilegious. This is another thing, but we speak on the New Mass in itself. I also celebrate the New Mass. I don’t perform a sacrilegious Mass and the other good priests do not either. So we have to be careful here, but albeit in general, the situation of the Society of Pius X, is now canonically improved in the sense that the pope gave them the faculties of confession and also to receive the right to assist managers. So it is a very important step towards canonical recognition.
This Originally appeared in the following live broadcast, https://livefatima.io/december-qa-with-bishop-schneider/
If you have any questions, reach out https://livefatima.io/contact-us/