There has been some buzz recently in Catholic social media over the announcement of the “Catholics in Communion” conference in Bozeman, Montana, hosted by the good folks over at TradRecovery.com. Naturally, their criticisms have been perceived by those attached to the Mass of Antiquity as an attack on “Traditionalism” itself.

The esteemed Catholic seminary professor Dr. Janet Smith dedicated two articles to this kerfuffle, “Modern Catholic Recovery Conference” and “Can Catholics Oppose Traditionalism?”

In her second article, Dr. Smith writes:

Unwisely, TradRecovery uses “traditionalism” as an umbrella term that includes terribly misguided parents who imposed too rigorous prayer regimens on their children; sedevacantists; people who argue that the TLM is superior to the Novus Order; sex abusers in some traditional communities; people who find Pope Francis’ ambiguous deliverances unsettling; those who have some problems with some of the teachings in Vatican II, and more. Getting all those folks into one “family” definition, indeed, into one Venn diagram, would be a very difficult task.

While I appreciate Dr. Smith’s attempt to be level-headed and fair, I believe she missed the mark in her analysis and failed to recognize the underlying problem of traditionalism.

In her analysis, Dr. Smith seems unable to grasp the common thread in people’s negative experiences in the traditionalist movement. It has caused damage and dysfunction that folks have been complaining about for years. This common thread is the spirit of fear, discord, and division.

It is this author’s contention that the genesis of this “spirit” is “Lefebvrism.”

The Spirit of Marcel Lefebvre

Who am I to say such things? Am I just another “neocon” Catholic outsider who doesn’t get traditionalism? And with what authority do I speak?

In the spirit of transparency, I have been a member of Trad Recovery since January 2024. And although Dr. Smith’s bona fides as a scholar certainly outdo mine, what I lack in academic pedigree, I make up for in my experience in the Traditionalist movement.

• I began attending the Latin Mass in 1978.
• My father established a Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) parish.
• I was confirmed by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
• I’m a graduate of St. Mary’s Academy, an SSPX school in St. Mary’s Kansas.
• I spent nine months at the SSPX seminary in Winona, Minnesota.
• Presently, I am a Catholic in good standing, a graduate of Christendom College, and a father of seven. I work in pro-life ministry and I still love the Latin Mass. But I’ve seen too much to remain silent.

Sitting in the pews of an SSPX chapel circa 1988 — the year of their illicit episcopal consecrations — I routinely heard divisive sermons undermining the legitimacy of Pope St. John Paul II, the Church’s hierarchy, The Second Vatican Council, and the Novus Ordo Missae. We St. Mary’s Academy students were well-versed in the conspiracy theories about the Church being infiltrated and prophecies about Rome’s apostasy. We were led to believe that we “traditional” Catholics were the real Catholics and “Novus Ordo” Catholics were lost modernist dupes.

After many years, I finally came to realize this was a facade.

Based on what I have witnessed in recent years, I have become greatly concerned that the same spirit of fear, discord, and division that has long gripped those connected to the SSPX has crept into many other Latin Mass communities. This is the elephant in the room that many traditionalists are unwilling to see. But I have watched it grow and I feel obligated to share what I saw and heard growing up in the SSPX.

A few examples:

• The headmaster at St. Mary’s Academy when I was a student, Fr. Ramon Angles, once said to me that Adolf Hitler was a “good Catholic.” He showed the Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will to my fellow students.
• On one occasion, Fr. Angles boasted that he was going to have a former student “whacked” (as in murdered — and no he wasn’t exaggerating) simply because he falsely believed the young man was responsible for graffiti on campus.
• When he was still affiliated with the SSPX, the Holocaust-denying Bishop Richard Williamson asked my now-deceased sister, “What’s a few beatings?” This happened during a marriage counseling session after she suffered physical abuse from her husband.

Catholics need to realize that what is really behind this veneer of piety is not Christ, but a caricature.

The SSPX likes to boast that were it not for Lefebvre’s courageous efforts, there would be no Latin Mass indult, no Fraternity of St. Peter, and no Institute of Christ the King. Many Latin Mass attendees (even those outside the SSPX) accept this notion as true, and naturally it cultivates a sense of indebtedness to Lefebvre and the Society. But using the same line of thinking, people could argue that we owe a debt of gratitude to Martin Luther for the codification of the Tridentine Mass and for putting a stop to the sale of indulgences.

The ends do not justify the means.

Many traditionalists will argue, “But look at their fruits! Look at their vocations! Look at their large families! Look at how modest their women are. Look at their stance against the progressive ideology.”

The same can be said about Mormons or Muslims.

Look deeper.

A toxic culture

The SSPX boasts that they are the fifth-largest Catholic religious congregation in the world, with over 700 priests. But I have heard that the SSPX has ordained 1400 priests since the mid-1970s. The attrition rate is very high. What does that indicate?

Some will inevitably say, “You can’t judge the whole based on a few bad apples.” But it isn’t just a few bad apples. The problem is systemic.

Many people overlook the fact that Rome and Lefebvre reached an agreement in May 1988 (drafted by Cardinal Ratzinger) that would allow Lefebvre to consecrate a bishop that August. But Archbishop Lefebvre reneged on the deal, then disobeyed a direct command from the Pope and illicitly consecrated four bishops on June 30. The SSPX essentially claimed, “Well, we couldn’t trust Rome.”

How can a faithful Catholic say this?

What happened to trusting the Holy Spirit?

What happened to trusting Christ’s promise to Peter, “Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18)?

What happened is that the SSPX embraced a malevolent spirit of mistrust. The facts that Pope Benedict freed the Tridentine Mass in 2007 and lifted the SSPX excommunications in 2009 alone should pulverize the divisive misconception they had. Yet even these benevolent gestures could not uproot their schismatic mindset. It proves just how seriously this spirit warped their judgment.

This was just one of many formal acts of schism (sins against charity) committed by the SSPX –canonically speaking. Doctrinally speaking, the SSPX is rife with Jansenism and Pelagianism.  Morally speaking, there are many examples of SSPX clergy cultivating a mindset in the faithful that there are two Churches, which has torn families apart.

One example of this that I witnessed was when the SSPX refused to acknowledge the annulment of my friend’s marriage, which had been granted by a legitimate Catholic Church tribunal. Of course, in this case the SSPX brass did not like the tribunal’s justification — that the marriage was invalid because it took place in an SSPX chapel and the SSPX lacked canonical jurisdiction to witness valid marriages. But this example shows clearly how the SSPX places their authority above the Church’s — at the expense of my friend’s spiritual well-being.

For years, my friend lived on the fringes, sending his kids to an SSPX school, but he was unable to receive Communion at SSPX masses. One day he and his children left the Catholic faith altogether. He had been led to believe there was no salvation outside the SSPX. He is now an atheist. You could say that my friend and his family were sacrificed at the altar of traditionalism.

This is the pastoral care from the same group that allowed their former US District Superior, Fr. Arnaud Rostrand to continue in public ministry even after writing a letter in 1998 to his superiors that he was attracted to children. Later on, he acted on his impulses and molested children, yet he was still kept in public ministry. He is now facing charges in France for abusing seven children, confessing to his crimes in court.

Recently, I saw a meme on the SSPX Faithful Facebook page where one of their priests is quoted as saying, “I’d rather literally die than offer the New Mass.”

This news might not shock people familiar with the SSPX. But what should shock people is that I shared the above-mentioned SSPX meme with a fellow Christendom alum, who attends Mass at the Fraternal Society of St. Peter (FSSP). His response at seeing this meme?

“I don’t blame him.”

The reach of the Lefebvrist ideology

The SSPX’s schismatic mentality is spreading through the Church. For years, I’ve heard FSSP pastors lament this from the pulpit, chiding parishioners to exercise greater charity and warning them that their self-righteous Pharisaism is driving Catholics away.

Ironically, in an effort to help heal the SSPX schism and show charity, Pope Francis granted their priests faculties to hear confessions and preside over marriages. No one has done more to help elevate the profile of the SSPX than Pope Francis. Unfortunately, in providing faculties to the SSPX, he has given them an air of perceived legitimacy, while they continue promoting their schismatic ideology throughout the world.

In 2021, when Pope Francis promulgated the Motu Proprio Traditionis Custodes to clamp down on the divisive spirit of traditionalism, this only seemed to fuel it more. Throw in the controversies over Pope Francis’s off-the-cuff remarks and the shuttering of churches during the Covid lockdowns (the SSPX remained open for business) and a perfect storm driving Catholics further into “Lefebvrist” ideology was created.

Conspiracy theorists may chalk this up as a masterstroke of progressives in the Vatican who have plotted to herd conservative-minded Catholics into a pen with schismatics and extremists in order to isolate them and prevent them from undermining Vatican efforts to reshape the Church.

Another scenario is simply that the Pope is trying to shield the Church from those whom St. Teresa of Avila called “gloomy saints.”

In the final analysis, I agree wholeheartedly with Dr. Smith that to be Catholic is to be traditional. I personally wish that Pope Francis had left the Tridentine Mass crowd alone. I think this form of the Mass is no more a problem than any of the other liturgical rites in the Church.

There are many wonderful Catholics who love the older form of the Mass, respect the pope and their bishops, and have no qualms with Vatican II or attending the reformed Roman Rite. I know there are many lovely people with good intentions affiliated with the SSPX as well. They are simply afraid and misguided.

This isn’t a choice between Modernism and Traditionalism. Both Modernism and Traditionalism are errors. Modernist Catholics lack truth. Traditionalist Catholics often profoundly lack charity. The fullness of Catholicism is to live in truth and charity.

This is the Tradition we must strive to maintain.

“I pray that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.” (Jn 17:20-23)

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Image: “First Mass of Fr Bernard Bevan SSPX – El” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by MJAlford98