Traditionalist Catholic

This article is about the modern movement. For the 19th century movement, see Traditionalism (Catholicism).

Altar at a traditional Roman Catholic church

Traditionalist Catholics are members of the Catholic Church who believe that there should be a restoration of many or all of the customs, traditions, liturgical forms, public and private devotions and presentations of the teaching of the Church before the Second Vatican Council (1962–65). They are commonly associated with an attachment to the Eucharistic liturgy often called the Tridentine, Traditional Latin or extraordinary form of the Mass.

Different types of traditionalists

Tridentine Mass in the chapel of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston, Palm Sunday 2009

Traditionalist Catholics may be divided into four broad groups.

Traditionalists in good standing with the Holy See

Since the Second Vatican Council, several traditionalist organizations have been started with or have subsequently obtained approval from the Catholic Church. These organizations accept in principle the documents of the Second Vatican Council, and regard the changes associated with the Council (such as the revision of the Mass) as legitimate, if often prudentially unwise, but celebrate the older forms with the approval of the Holy See.

• Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP)
• Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICRSS),
• Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer
• Institute of the Good Shepherd (IGS)
• Servants of Jesus and Mary (Servi Jesu et Mariae, SJM)
• Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem (CRNJ)
• Canons Regular of Saint John Cantius (SJC)
• Canons Regular of the Holy Cross
• Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrer
• Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney (PAASJV)
• Miles Christi (MC)

There are also multiple monastic communities, including

• Monastery of Our Lady of the Annunciation of Clear Creek
• Monastery of St. Benedict in Norcia
• Monks of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel
• Monastery of Our Lady of the Cenacle
• Abbaye Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux, France

See Communities using the Tridentine Mass for a more detailed list.

In addition, many traditionalist Catholics in good standing with Rome are served by local diocesan or religious priests who are willing and able to offer the traditional rites. Many other Catholics who sympathize with or who identify themselves as traditionalist are not able to attend the traditional liturgy regularly because it is not offered in their area (at least not with regular canonical standing) and attend the Mass of Paul VI, the current ordinary or normal Roman Rite of Mass following the Second Vatican Council. Others may attend the liturgies of Eastern Catholic Churches, if they are available. There are also numerous local and international lay organizations of traditionalist Catholics, such as the youth-groups of Juventutem.

Catholics in good standing with Rome who attend the traditional liturgy have diverse worldviews and outlooks ranging from (modern concepts of) liberal to conservative.

Traditionalists whose standing with the Holy See is a matter of discussion

Some traditionalists practise their faith outside the official structures of the Church, though they affirm their loyalty to both the Church and the papacy. The largest priestly society to fit this description is the Society of St Pius X (SSPX), which was established in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a founding figure of Catholic traditionalism. Members of this category view many of the post-Conciliar changes as being doctrinally and pastorally unacceptable. The fact that they recognise the official Church hierarchy while rejecting some decisions which they perceive as not consistent with traditional Catholicism, or ineffective in terms of catechesis and how the Catholic faith is passed down, draws accusations of disloyalty and disobedience from the preceding groups—whom this group in turn accuse of blind, un-Catholic obedience. Discussions between the SSPX and the Holy See have been in progress for some years, and in January 2009 the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops remitted the excommunications which the Congregation had declared to have been incurred by the Society's bishops in 1988. Bishop Bernard Fellay of the Society expressed his gratitude for the remission of the excommunications, although the Society has always denied that they were valid excommunications in the first place, citing canon 1323, §4, canon 1323, 70 and canon 1324, §3; §1, 80 of the 1983 edition of the Code of Canon Law. The Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops further expressed the hope that the Society would speedily return to full communion (a term rejected as misleading by the Society, as they claim that it implies it is possible to be in partial communion with the Church, and that they are not in communion with the Church in the same sense as other Catholics) with the Church by showing "true fidelity and true acknowledgment of the Magisterium and the authority of the pope".

Sedevacantists

Main article: Sedevacantism

Sedevacantists hold that the post-Vatican II popes have forfeited their position through their acceptance of heretical teachings connected with the Second Vatican Council and consequently there is at present no known true pope. They conclude, on the basis of their rejection of the revised Mass rite and their rejection of certain aspects of postconciliar Church teaching as false, that the popes involved are also false . This is a minority position among traditionalist Catholics and a highly divisive one, so that many who hold it prefer to say nothing of their view, while other sedevacantists have accepted episcopal ordination from sources such as Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục

The terms sedevacantist and sedevacantism derive from the Latin phrase sede vacante ("while the chair/see [of Saint Peter] is vacant"), a term normally applied to the period between the death or resignation of one pope and the election of his successor.

The most well known, and most likely well organized Sedevacantist organization is the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (CMRI). Many often refer to the Society of Saint Pius V (SSPV) as being a Sedevacantist organization as well, however, it has never formally adopted this position, and considers the question of the validity of recent Papacies to be unresolved.

Conclavists

Main article: Conclavism

Conclavism is the belief and practice of some who, claiming that Pope Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II and other recent occupants of the papal see are not true popes, elect someone else and propose him as the true pope to whom the allegiance of Catholics is due. They are often classified as sedevacantists because they reject the official papal succession for the same reasons. Conclavist groups include the

• "True Catholic Church", founded by Lucian Pulvermacher ("Pope Pius XIII")
• Palmarian Catholic Church
• Pope Michael

The Palmarian Church has drastically altered its worship and doctrines and as such is no longer considered Catholic by other traditionalists.

Traditionalist positions

Coat carved in a wooden door, of Antonio de Castro Mayer, Bishop of Campos, Brazil, one of the most important members of Catholic traditionalism in the world, the Lion symbolizes the fight of faith, that must be fought by Catholics.

Traditionalist Catholics believe that they are preserving Catholic orthodoxy by not accepting all changes introduced since the Second Vatican Council, changes that some of them have described as amounting to a "veritable revolution". They claim that the positions now taken by mainstream Catholics—even conservative Catholics—would have been considered "modernist" or "liberal" at the time of the Council, and that they themselves hold positions that were then considered "conservative" or "traditional".

Many traditionalists further believe that errors have crept into the presentation and understanding of Catholic teachings since the time of the Council. They attribute the blame for this to liberal interpretations of the documents produced by the Second Vatican Council, to harmful post-conciliar pastoral decisions, to the text of the conciliar documents themselves, or to some combination of these.

Most traditionalists view the Council as a valid, albeit problematic, Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church, though most sedevacantists regard it as wholly invalid. It is common for traditionalists in dispute with Rome to affirm that the Council was "pastoral", and hence that its decrees were not absolutely binding on Catholics in the same way as the dogmatic decrees of other Ecumenical Councils. Support for this view is sought in Pope John XXIII's Opening Address to the Council, Pope Paul VI's closing address, statements from Pope Benedict XVI, and the lack of formal dogmatic definitions in the Conciliar documents.

Pope Benedict XVI contrasted the "hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture" that some apply to the Council (an interpretation adopted both by certain traditionalists and by certain "progressives") with the "hermeneutic of reform, as it was presented first by Pope John XXIII in his Speech inaugurating the Council on 11 October 1962 and later by Pope Paul VI in his Discourse for the Council's conclusion on 7 December 1965." He made a similar point in a speech to the bishops of Chile in 1988, when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger:

[Archbishop Lefebvre] declared that he has finally understood that the agreement he signed aimed only at integrating his foundation into the 'Conciliar Church'. The Catholic Church in union with the Pope is, according to him, the 'Conciliar Church' which has broken with its own past. It seems indeed that he is no longer able to see that we are dealing with the Catholic Church in the totality of its Tradition, and that Vatican II belongs to that.

There is some tension between different traditionalist groups at the official level. The SSPX, for example, condemns the FSSP and attendance at its Masses. At the same time, the SSPX is also often in conflict with other traditionalists, primarily due to its compulsory "sedeplenism" (the position of accepting the Vatican II popes as valid) and its willingness to accept priests ordained in the Paul VI rite into the organization without ordaining them in the traditional rite unless they specifically ask for it. In fact, the only common denominator that is held by all the groups identifying as traditionalist is love of the traditional form of the Mass and the other sacraments, traditional devotions, a handful of teachings that they claim have become obscured since the Second Vatican Council, and, usually, suspicion of modern "neoconservative" Catholicism, which is viewed as shallow, ahistorical, and intellectually dishonest. On other questions, there are a variety of opinions.

Many traditionalist Catholics associate themselves with a particular priestly society. Other small groups of traditionalists sometimes form around an individual "independent" priest who has no ties with any particular organisation.

Some leaders of Independent Catholic Churches also claim to be traditionalist Catholics and to be preserving the Tridentine Mass and ancient traditions. Examples are the Apostolic Catholic Church, the Canonical Old Roman Catholic Church, and the Fraternité Notre-Dame.

Traditionalists' claims of discontinuity and rupture

Traditionalists' claims that substantive changes have taken place in Catholic teaching and practice since the Council often crystallise around the following specific alleged examples, in which others see not what Pope Benedict XVI called "discontinuity and rupture", but what he called "renewal in the continuity of the one subject-Church which the Lord has given to us":

• A new ecclesiology which they claim fails to recognise the Catholic Church as the one true church established by Jesus Christ, and instead holds that the Roman Catholic Church is some sub-set of the Church founded by Christ. They see some of the confusion as stemming from an unclear understanding of the phrase "subsists in" which appears in the Vatican II document Lumen gentium, and which the Church has declared applies uniquely to the Catholic Church and means the "perduring, historical continuity and permanence of all the elements instituted by Christ in the Catholic Church, in which the Church of Christ is concretely found on this earth". They claim that this "new ecclesiology" contradicts Pope Pius XII's Mystici corporis Christi and other papal documents.
• A new ecumenism which they see as aiming at a false pan-Christian religious unity which does not require non-Catholics to convert to the Catholic faith. They see this as contradicting the teachings of the Bible, Pope Pius XI's Mortalium animos, Pope Pius XII's Humani generis and other documents.
• Acceptance of the principle of religious liberty as involving more than prudent religious tolerance, based on one interpretation of the Second Vatican Council's decree Dignitatis Humanae, allegedly in contradiction to Pope Pius IX's teachings in Quanta cura and the Syllabus of Errors.
• A revision of the Mass liturgy of the Roman rite which, they affirm, de-emphasises the central Catholic doctrines that the Mass is a true sacrifice and that the bread and wine are changed through transubstantiation into the body and blood of Jesus Christ, that it has been stripped of important prayers, that it is centered on the congregation rather than on God, that it is less beautiful and spiritually edifying, and that it omits certain Bible readings that mention subjects such as hell, miracles, and sin. Traditionalists hold differing opinions on the validity and acceptability of the revised rite of Mass:
  • Some see it as valid, and as acceptable when necessary, though the older form should be attended when possible.
  • Some, including the leadership of the Society of St Pius X, hold that it is in principle valid as a sacramental rite but maintain that the revisions in the liturgy are displeasing to God, and that it is often celebrated improperly to the extent of being sacramentally invalid. They therefore generally refuse to attend it.
  • Some, including many sedevacantists, see it as categorically invalid in principle and entirely unacceptable.
  • Some hold that celebration of any modern-language translation even of the Tridentine Mass would have to be presumed invalid.
• An inappropriate emphasis on the "dignity of man", which they claim ignores original sin and the need for supernatural grace, and which they also claim has led to a utopianism that sees world peace as possible without recognising the kingship of Christ. They see this orientation as contradicting Pope Pius XI's Quas Primas, Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum, and other papal and conciliar documents.
• A teaching on collegiality that attributes to the bishops of the world a share, with the Pope, of responsibility for the Church's governance in a way that they claim is destructive of papal authority and encourages a "national" church mentality that undermines the primacy of the Holy See. They also claim that national bishops' conferences, whose influence was greatly increased following the Council, "diminish the personal responsibility of bishop[s]" within their dioceses.
• A new and critical attitude towards the Bible that, they say, contradicts Leo XIII's Providentissimus Deus and Benedict XV's Spiritus Paraclitus, among other documents.
• A departure from the traditional belief that the Church and the world are at variance with one another to some degree, and that the Church has enemies. They believe that Pope Pius X's warnings in Pascendi Dominici Gregis, Leo XIII's Humanum Genus and other papal warnings against Freemasonry and other alleged enemies of Christianity have gone unheeded.

Example of one such claimant

Georges de Nantes, a priest of the Diocese of Grenoble and founder of the traditionalist Catholic League for Catholic Counter-Reformation, criticized the Second Vatican Council for encouraging ecumenism and reform of the Church, and accused Pope Paul VI of heresy and of turning the Church into a movement for advancing democracy, a system of government that de Nantes abhorred. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a notification on 10 August 1969, stating that, as de Nantes continued to maintain his views on the Council, the aggiornamento of the Church, the French episcopate, and the "heresies" of Pope Paul VI, he thereby "disqualified the entirety of his writings and his activities". It issued another notification in 1983, published on L'Osservatore Romano of 16–17 May of that year, stating that de Nantes had come to Rome to present a "Book of Accusation against Pope John Paul II for Heresy, Schism and Scandal", and that the Secretary of the Congregation had received him, as instructed by the Pope, but had refused to accept from him a book that contained unjustified gravely offensive accusations of the same character as those that de Nantes had directed against Pope Paul VI in a book published in 1973. It added that the refusal of de Nantes to retract his previous attacks on Pope Paul VI and the Second Vatican Council, to which he was now adding attacks on Pope John Paul II, made it impossible to believe in the sincerity of his declaration in 1978 and 1981 of a desire for the reconciliation for which the Pope remained always disposed.

Responses to traditionalists' claims

Those who in response to these criticisms by certain traditionalists defend the decisions of the Second Vatican Council and the subsequent changes made by the Holy See make the following counterclaims:

• They say that the criticisms are false, exaggerated, or lacking appreciation of the organic character of Tradition, and give as examples traditionalist criticisms that Dignitatis Humanae contradicts the Church's earlier teaching on religious liberty, and that the revised rite of Mass represents a break rather than a prudent development of the earlier liturgy.
• They say that traditionalists who claim that there has been a break from and discontinuity with the Church's traditional teaching are displaying a Protestant attitude of "private judgement" on matters of doctrine, instead of accepting the guidance of the Magisterium of the Church.
• They say that such traditionalists fail to distinguish properly between changeable pastoral practices (such as the liturgy of the Mass) and the unchangeable principles of the Catholic faith (such as the dogmas surrounding the Mass).
• They say that traditionalists of this kind treat papal authority in much the same way as the dissident, liberal Catholics. While liberals believe that, on sexual matters, "the Pope can teach whatever he wants... but whether or not he should be listened to is very much an open question", the stance of certain traditionalists on the reform of the Mass liturgy and contemporary teachings on ecumenism and religious liberty amounts to the view that, on these issues, "faithful Catholics are always free to resist [the Pope's] folly.... As theories of religious dissent go, Catholic liberals couldn't ask for anything more."
• The traditionalist claim that the Second Vatican Council was pastoral is often countered by referring to Paul VI subsequently emphasising the authoritative nature of the Council's teachings.

Sedevacantists' criticisms of certain other traditionalists

Sedevacantists claim that they avoid much of the mainstream Catholic critique of traditionalism because their view is that, beginning with John XXIII or Paul VI, one or both of whom and all their successors they consider to be heretics, there is no valid Catholic Pope or body of bishops to whom allegiance or obedience is owed. They criticise sedeplenist traditionalists for recognising the recent Popes, on grounds such as the following:

• They say that those sedeplenist traditionalists who declare that the revised liturgy of the Mass promulgated and defended by these popes undermines the faith thereby teach that the Church can decree evil and has decreed evil.
• They say that those sedeplenist traditionalists who declare that the teachings of the Second Vatican Council contradict the Church's Tradition, thereby either repudiate the teaching of the First Vatican Council on the infallibility of even the ordinary and universal magisterium of the Pope and the bishops, or they implicitly deny that the Pope and bishops at the Second Vatican Council were truly the Pope and truly Catholic bishops.
• They say that those sedeplenist traditionalists who consider a pope legitimate but refuse subjection to him contravene the famous Bull Unam sanctam in which Pope Boniface VIII stated: "... we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff." In other words, organizations like the SSPX take a schismatic position not unlike that of the Eastern Orthodox.
• Compounding the problem, according to the sedevacantists, is the revising of the rite of Holy Orders in 1968; many believe that priests and bishops consecrated according to the new rite are invalid and could not administer traditional sacraments even if they wanted to. They say this problem applies to the FSSP and even to many SSPX priests, since the SSPX accepts priests ordained in the new rite, although it ordains its own new priests in the old. According to this line of reasoning, Benedict XVI and Francis are only priests, and never received valid episcopal consecration, and therefore have been given no true authority to be Pope, i.e., the Bishop of Rome.

Radical traditional Catholicism-critique

"Integrism" is a term used to describe traditionalist Catholicism especially in a social and political context. Kay Chadwick writes: "It would be naive to suppose that [Catholic integrism] does not harbour a political agenda. It is both anti-Masonic and anti-Communist. It finds a voice in the Right-wing press. ... The annual Joan of Arc procession in Paris brings together integrists and National Front supporters. The annual National Front party celebration is preceded by a Latin Mass, celebrated according to the rite of Pius V. Just before his death in March 1988, Lefebvre was fined eight thousand francs by the Court of Appeal in Paris for 'racial defamation' and 'incitement to racial hatred', for suggesting publicly that immigrants, beginning with Muslims, should be expelled from Europe. In 1976, he declared his support for Latin American dictatorships. He was an admirer of Maurras and Pétain, and supported the cause of French Algeria."

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) used the terms "radical traditionalist Catholics" to describe those who "may make up the largest single group of serious anti-Semites in America, subscribe to an ideology that is rejected by the Vatican and some 70 million mainstream American Catholics and many of their leaders have been condemned and even excommunicated by the official church. The SPLC also claims that adherents of radical traditional Catholicism "routinely pillory Jews as 'the perpetual enemy of Christ'", reject the ecumenical efforts of the Vatican, and sometimes assert all recent Popes are illegitimate. And the SPLC says that adherents are "incensed by the liberalizing reforms" of the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) which condemned hatred for Jewish people and "rejected the accusation that Jews are collectively responsible for deicide in the form of the crucifixion of Christ" and that "Radical traditional Catholics" also embrace "extremely conservative social ideals with respect to women."

The SPLC clarifies, however, "Radical traditionalists are not the same as Catholics who call themselves 'traditionalists' — people who prefer the old Latin Mass to the mass now typically said in vernacular languages — although the radicals, as well, like their liturgy in Latin."

Traditionalist practices

Rite of Mass

Altar of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, erected in 1700 and still used today. It faces both east and versus populum (towards the people)

The best-known and most visible sign of Catholic traditionalism is an attachment to the form that the Roman Rite liturgy of the Mass had before the liturgical reform of 1969–1970, in the various editions of the Roman Missal published between 1570 and 1962. This form is generally known as the Tridentine Mass, though traditionalists usually prefer to call it the Traditional Mass. Many refer to it as the Latin Mass, though the Mass of Paul VI that replaced it can also be celebrated in Latin (Latin is the original language of all liturgical documents in the Roman Rite). In his 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum Pope Benedict XVI relaxed the regulations on use of the 1962 Missal, designating it "an extraordinary form of the Roman Rite". Some refer to it, less exactly, as "the extraordinary form".

Different traditionalist priests use different editions of the Roman Missal to celebrate the Tridentine Mass. Most, not only those in good standing with the Holy See but also such as those in the SSPX, use the 1962 edition, the only one that the Holy See authorises. A series of modifications to the 1962 liturgy introduced in 1965 are used by some traditionalists in good standing with Rome. This version of the liturgy is sometimes referred to as that of the "1965 Missal", though no new edition of the Roman Missal was in fact published in that year.

Since sedevacantists consider John XXIII not to have been a Pope, they reject the 1962 typical edition of the Roman Missal, which he promulgated. They generally use the 1920 typical edition, updated to some date previous to 1962. The Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen follows the Missal as in 1955, accepting the changes introduced by Pius XII, but others reject his alteration of the calendar of saints and his revision of the rites of Holy Week. Thus these others reject both John XXIII's 1962 edition and Pius XII's changes, seeing them as steps that led to the Novus Ordo Missae. There are no reports of priests regularly using any typical edition of the Missal earlier than that of 1920, which incorporated the rubrical and calendar changes made by Pope Pius X in 1910.

Linked with the celebration of the Tridentine Mass is the observance of the liturgical calendar of saints' days as it existed before the revision of 1969 (see General Roman Calendar of 1960). Some also ignore the revisions of 1960 by Pope John XXIII, and of 1955 by Pope Pius XII, and use instead the General Roman Calendar of 1954.

Individual and private devotions

Many traditionalist Catholics lay stress on following customs prevailing immediately before the Second Vatican Council, such as the following:

• Abstaining from meat on Fridays. Present discipline maintains Fridays and Lent as days and times of penance, declares that abstinence from meat or some other food as determined by the local episcopal conference is to be observed on all Fridays (excluding solemnities) and on Ash Wednesday, and allows episcopal conferences to permit other practices of personal penance to take the place of abstinence from meat.
• Fasting for at least 3 hours before receiving Holy Communion. It was in 1966, after the Second Vatican Council, that Pope Paul VI reduced the fast to one hour, a rule included in the 1983 Code of Canon Law. In 1953, Pope Pius XII abolished the traditional rule of fasting since midnight, requiring only a 3-hour fast.
• Kneeling to receive Communion directly upon the tongue, under the Host species alone, and from the hand of a cleric rather than a layperson. Some would refuse to receive even from deacons, who, before the reforms of Pope Paul VI, were allowed to give Holy Communion only if there were a serious reason for permitting them to do so. Many traditionalists regard the practice of receiving communion in the hand, though ancient and authorised by the Holy See, as an abuse and as sacrilegious.
• Women wearing a headcovering in church, as the 1917 Code of Canon Law required and as St. Paul required in 1 Corinthians 11:1-17. Accordingly, many traditionalist women, though not all, wear a mantilla or some other type of veil, a hat, or a headscarf when inside a church.
• Frequent confession, a practice that grew in the first half of the 20th century, when increasingly frequent Communion led to more frequent confession.
• Prayers such as the Stations of the Cross and the Rosary in the form in use in the mid-20th century, and so without the alterations in the number and identity of the Stations that became common, though by no means universal, in the time of Pope Paul VI and without the addition of the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary given as an option by Pope John Paul II.

These practices are, of course, not confined to traditionalists: many mainstream Catholics also follow them. Likewise, they are not all followed by all traditionalist Catholics at all times.

Traditionalism and the Eastern Catholic Churches

Opposition to the Post-Conciliar doctrine and attempts to remove Roman Rite borrowings have caused a very small Traditionalist backlash in the Eastern Catholic Churches as well. The dispute has been most highly publicized within the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. In some other Eastern Catholic Churches, however, there are small numbers who try to hold to practices as they were before the 1958 death of Pope Pius XII.

Background

The Holy See has argued since before the Second Vatican Council that Latinization was never an organic development. Frequently cited examples of this are Pope Leo XIII's 1894 encyclical Orientalium dignitas and Saint Pius X's instructions that the priests of the Russian Catholic Church should offer the Liturgy, "No More, No Less, and No Different," than the Orthodox and Old Ritualist clergy.

Liturgical De-Latinization began with the 1930s corrections of the liturgical books by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky. According to his biographer Cyril Korolevsky, however, Metropolitan Andrey opposed the use of coercive force against those who remained attached to Latin Rite practices. He expressed fear that any attempt to do so would lead to a Greek Catholic equivalent of the 1666 Schism within the Russian Orthodox Church.

The De-Latinisation of the UGCC gained further momentum with the 1964 decree Orientalium Ecclesiarum of the Second Vatican Council) and several subsequent documents. This resulted in the Latinisations being discarded within the Ukrainian diaspora. The Soviet annexation of Western Ukraine had meanwhile forced Byzantine Catholics into a clandestine existence and the Latinizations continued to be widely used in underground parishes, seminaries, and religious communities. After the prescription against the UGCC was lifted in 1989, numerous UGCC priests and Hierarchs arrive from the diaspora and attempted to enforce liturgical conformity. This has provoked widespread opposition.

SSPX and the Eastern churches

The Priestly Society of Saint Josaphat, which operates a seminary, Basilian convent, and numerous parishes, alleges ties to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, while simultaneously receiving priestly orders from the bishops of the Society of St Pius X. The PSSJ's superior, Father Basil Kovpak, has accused the UGCC hierarchy of using intense psychological pressure against priests who are reluctant or unwilling to de-Latinise. He alleges that numerous laity, who have been attached to the Latinisations since the Soviet persecution of the UGCC, would prefer to stay home on Sunday rather than attend a de-Latinised liturgy.

The SSJK opposes the removal of the stations of the cross, the rosary and the monstrance from the liturgy and parishes of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. They also reject the replacement of the UGCC's liturgical language, Old Church Slavonic, with the vernacular Ukrainian language. In his memoir Persecuted Tradition, Fr. Kovpak also cites numerous examples of the UGCC turning away Orthodox clergy and laity who wish to convert to Eastern Catholicism. In many cases, he alleges, this is because the converts are not ethnically Ukrainian.

In 2003, Cardinal Lubomyr excommunicated SSJK superior Kovpak from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Kovpak appealed this punishment at the papal Sacra Rota Romana in Vatican City and the excommunication was declared null and void by reason of a lack of canonical form.

On November 22, 2006, Bishop Richard Williamson who was then a member of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), illicitly ordained two priests and seven deacons in Warsaw, Poland for the SSJK, in violation of canon 1015 §2, and of canons 1021 and 1331 §2 of the Code of Canon Law and the corresponding canons of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. An American-born SSPX priest who was present remarked, "We were all very edified by their piety, and I myself was astonished by the resemblance of the atmosphere amongst the seminarians with that which I knew in the seminary - this in spite of the difference of language, nationality and even rite."

Archbishop Ihor Vozniak of Lviv, the archdiocese in which the PSSJ is most active, denounced the ordinations as a "criminal act", and condemned Kovpak's participation in the ceremony. He stressed that the two priests whom Bishop Williamson had ordained would not receive faculties within the archeparchy. Officials of the Lviv archdiocese said that Kovpak could face excommunication, and that "'he deceives the church by declaring that he is a Greek (Byzantine) Catholic priest,' while supporting a group [SSPX] that uses the old Latin liturgy exclusively, eschewing the Byzantine tradition, and does not maintain allegiance to the Holy See."

Father Kovpak's excommunication process was restarted by the hierarchy of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and was confirmed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on 23 November 2007.

Sedevacantism in an Eastern church

On 3 March 2008 a group of Basilian priests stationed in Pidhirtsi, Ukraine, informed Pope Benedict XVI that four of them had been consecrated as bishops in order to save the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) from heresy and apostasy. On 11 August 2009, they announced the formation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church as a "new Church structure for the orthodox faithful of the UGCC", professing the Catholic faith, including the primacy of the Roman Pontiff, and disassociating themselves from "contemporary heresies which destroy both the Eastern and the Western Church". Having elected their own patriarch, they declared on 1 May 2011 that both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI were excommunicated, leaving the Holy See vacant; they added: "The Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate is now commissioned by God to protect the orthodox doctrine of the Catholic Church, including the Latin Church. Only after an orthodox Catholic hierarchy and an orthodox successor to the Papacy is elected, will the Patriarchate be relieved of this God-given duty."

Relations with the Holy See

The Holy See recognises as fully legitimate the preference that many Catholics have for the earlier forms of worship. This was apparent in Pope John Paul II's 1988 apostolic letter Ecclesia Dei and Pope Benedict XVI's 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. Naturally, however, the Holy See does not extend its approval to those who take a stand against the present-day Church leadership.

Ecclesia Dei Commission

The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei was founded in July 1988 in the wake of Pope John Paul II's apostolic letter Ecclesia Dei. Pope Benedict XVI was a member of the Commission during his tenure as Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Speaking on 16 May 2007 to the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, Cardinal Castrillón, the current head of the Commission, stated that his department had been founded for the care of those "traditionalist Catholics" who, while discontented with the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council, had broken with Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, "because they disagreed with his schismatic action in ordaining Bishops without the required papal mandate". He added that at present the Commission's activity is not limited to the service of those Catholics, nor to "the efforts undertaken to end the regrettable schismatic situation and secure the return of those brethren belonging to the Fraternity of Saint Pius X to full communion." It extends also, he said, to "satisfying the just aspirations of people, unrelated to the two aforementioned groups, who, because of their specific sensitiveness, wish to keep alive the earlier Latin liturgy in the celebration of the Eucharist and the other sacraments."

In the same speech Cardinal Castrillón indicated that it was intended to make the Commission an organ of the Holy See for the purpose of preserving and maintaining the traditional liturgy; at the same time he stated that this was not with the purpose of "going backward, of returning to the times before the 1970 reform.... The Holy Father wishes to preserve the immense spiritual, cultural and aesthetic treasure linked with the old liturgy. Recovery of these riches goes together with the no less precious riches of the Church's present liturgy."

Summorum Pontificum

Following months of rumour and speculation, Pope Benedict XVI issued the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum in July 2007. The Pope ruled that priests of the Latin Rite can freely choose between the 1962 Roman Missal and the later edition "in Masses celebrated without the people". Such celebrations may be attended by those who spontaneously ask to be allowed. Priests in charge of churches can permit stable groups of laypeople attached to the earlier form to have Mass celebrated for them in that form, provided that the celebrating priest is "qualified to [celebrate] and not juridically impeded" (this would exclude traditionalist priests not in good standing with Rome).

The document, as well as being welcomed by the traditionalist groups that have been in good relations with Rome, has been considered by groups such as the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, which have been in dispute with Rome, to be sufficient grounds for seeking an agreement. The Society of Saint Pius X welcomed the document, but referred to "difficulties that still remain", including "disputed doctrinal issues" and the notice of excommunication that still affected its bishops. Sedevacantists of course consider all documents issued by Benedict XVI to be devoid of canonical force.

Validity of holy orders of traditionalist clergy

Bishop Lineage (apostolic succession) before and after Vatican II.

The conferring of holy orders may be valid but illicit. The Catholic Church obviously considers the orders of traditionalist clergy who are in good standing with the Holy See, such as the clergy of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, to be both valid and licit. It sees as valid but illicit the orders of the bishops and priests of the Society of Saint Pius X, and accordingly considers them to be forbidden by law to exercise priestly offices. As for the "independent" traditionalists, whether bishops or priests, it certainly sees their ordination as illicit, but its judgement on the validity is less clear. The Holy See declared devoid of canonical effect the consecration ceremony conducted by Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục for the Carmelite Order of the Holy Face group at midnight of 31 December 1975, while expressly refraining from pronouncing on its validity. It made the same statement with regard also to any later ordinations that those bishops might confer, saying that, "as for those who have already thus unlawfully received ordination or any who may yet accept ordination from these, whatever may be the validity of the orders (quidquid sit de ordinum validitate), the Church does not and will not recognise their ordination (ipsorum ordinationem), and will consider them, for all legal effects, as still in the state in which they were before, except that the ... penalties remain until they repent."

Traditionalists themselves are divided on the question of the validity of the orders conferred using the rite promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1968. Those who deny or put in doubt the validity of the sacramental liturgies as revised after the Second Vatican Council pass the same negative judgement on all such ordinations. The Society of Saint Pius V split from that of Saint Pius X for reasons that included Archbishop Lefebvre's acceptance of priests ordained according to the revised sacramental rites as members of the traditionalist Society that he founded.

Number of traditionalist Catholics

According to the Vatican's Statistical Yearbook of the Church, the Catholic Church's worldwide recorded membership at the end of 2005 was 1,114,966,000. Estimates of the number of traditionalist Catholics vary. Catholic World News reported that "the Vatican" estimated the number of those served by the Fraternity of St Peter, the Society of St Pius X and similar groups at "close to 1 million". Various sources estimate the adherents of the Society of St Pius X alone at 1 million. No major religious survey has ever made an attempt to sample and enumerate subsets of Catholics by their position on a liberal to mainstream conservative to traditionalist and sedevacantist continuum, so any figure on the numbers of traditionalist Catholics must by necessity be more or less educated guesses.

The two most prominent societies of traditionalist priests – the SSPX and the FSSP – claim to have a presence in 31 and 14 countries respectively. A large share of their members in each case are stationed in France. Two other societies, the SSPV and CMRI, are based in the United States and also claim a presence in many countries, especially the CMRI. Traditionalist Catholics in English-speaking countries and Germany are more likely to be sedevacantist than those in France and other Latin countries.

For purposes of comparison with mainstream Catholic organisations, the Knights of Columbus in the United States are stated to have 1.7 million members, the Neocatechumenal Way is reported to have around 1 million members, and Opus Dei is claimed to have 87,000 members.

Another comparison is that Eastern Rite Catholics number 16 million. Approximately 7,650,000 belong to the fourteen Catholic Churches of Byzantine Rite, whether they attend the Divine Liturgy in that liturgical rite or in another, and 8,300,000 belong to other Eastern Catholic Churches of Armenian, Coptic and Syriac traditions.

See also

Doctrinal and liturgical issues

• Cafeteria Catholic
• Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus
• Second Vatican Council
• Mass of Paul VI
• Sedevacantism
• Tridentine Mass
• Catholic fundamentalism

Notable Traditionalist Catholics

• List of Traditionalist Catholics by nationality

Canonically regular traditionalist groups

• Canons Regular of Saint John Cantius
• Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem
• Canons Regular of the Holy Cross
• Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce
• Fœderatio Internationalis Juventutem
• Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest
• Institute of the Good Shepherd
• Latin Mass Society of England and Wales
• Militia Templi; The Poor Knights of Christ also called the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ (Latin: Christi Pauperum Militum Ordo), a lay order formed on 21 Sept. 1979 with headquarters at the Castello della Magione, Poggibonsi, Italy
• Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney
• Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter
• Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer
• Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrer
• Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Still River, MA group only)

Canonically irregular traditionalist groups

• Fraternite Notre Dame
• Priestly Society of Saint Josaphat
• Society of St. Pius X

Sedevacantist groups

• Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen
• Society of St. Pius V
• Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church

Sedeprivationists groups

• Istituto Mater Boni Consilii

Generic list of groups

• Communities using the Tridentine Mass

See also

• Continuing Anglican movement, a comparable phenomenon in the Anglican Communion
• Old Believers, a comparable phenomenon in the Russian Orthodox Church dating from the 17th century
• Confessing Movement, a similar movement in Mainline Protestant denominations
• The Remnant – an American newspaper dedicated to traditionalist themes

External links

• International Federation Una Voce The main international organisation of Traditionalists considered regular by the Holy See
• The Society of St. Pius X The largest traditionalist body considered irregular by the Holy See
• The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei The Vatican department which deals with relations with traditionalists
• Foederatio Internationalis Juventutem Largest organization of young traditionalist Catholics
• Christ or chaos Site by Dr. Thomas A. Droleskey, sedevacantist
• Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen Largest sedevacantist religious congregation
• In Today's Catholic World Catholic news source for "Church in Eclipse"

Further reading

• Hull, Geoffrey (2010). The Banished Heart: Origins of Heteropraxis in the Catholic Church, 1995, rpt. T&T Clark/Continuum, London. ISBN 978-0-567-44220-8

Media

• Video of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's 1988 consecration of Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson, Bernard Fellay, and Alfonso de Galarreta as bishops of the Society of St. Pius X
• Priests for the 3rd millennium (German)