Society of St Pius X

Introduction

I am a former member of the laity who attended Masses offered by the breakaway Catholic group, the Society of St Pius X (SSPX). This group has been established in Ireland since the 1980s. My family started attending their chapels when I was a child. I left the Society many years ago and now I look back and believe that this group is a cult or has cultic tendencies. My understanding of a cult or high demand group is that it is not defined by belief but by behaviour, that behaviour being undue influence and control over other people’s lives. It is possible that the Society of St Pius X was initially set up with good intentions but quickly became a high demand group with cultic characteristics. I wish to highlight what attracts well-meaning Catholics to this group and the control that is then exercised over many aspects of their lives. I also wish to highlight the need for a greater understanding of cultic issues and groups in Ireland by the Irish Government. There is a great need for a State funded body to provide support and advice to cult survivors, to investigate high demand cultic groups, to provide education about this topic to the general public. The Government has done great work in passing legislation making coercive control in personal relationships a crime that can be tried in court. Coercive control exercised by cultic groups must also be addressed.

Brief history of the SSPX and it’s beliefs

The SSPX is a worldwide order of priests founded by French Archbishop Marcel Levebvre on 1 November 1970. Archbishop Levebvre was a French bishop and former member of the Holy Ghost Fathers and had spent many years as a missionary in Africa. He attended the second Vatican council which took place from 1962 to 1965 but came to disagree with the reforms introduced in its wake. These reforms were intended to help the Church connect with a rapidly modernising and progressive world.  He set up a seminary in Econe, Switzerland and initially had the approval of the local bishop in Fribourg. Archbishop Levebvre gradually fell out of favour as he refused to go along with reforms of Vatican II, most noticeably no longer using the Latin Mass which had been used by the Church for hundreds of years. Instead the Church adopted the New Order of the Mass which was said in the vernacular, or the language of the local people. As Archbishop Levebvre refused to implement the reforms of Vatican II in his seminary the new bishop of Fribourg withdrew approval for the SSPX on May 6 1975. The Archbishop and his priests no longer had permission to celebrate Mass and the Sacraments. The Archbishop also no longer had permission to ordain new deacons and priests. They then officially became a schismatic group after Archbishop Levebvre consecrated four bishops without the Pope’s permission in 1988. The Archbishop decided to take this step after talks with Rome about providing the SSPX with a bishop to ordain its priests after he himself had passed on had broken down. He believed that any bishop provided by Rome at that point would not be conservative or traditional enough. He called the consecration of the bishops without the Pope’s permission “Operation Survival.” He believed that he was literally preserving the Catholic Faith against heresy. The Pope then excommunicated him and the four bishops. Archbishop Levebvre died three years later in 1991. He was still under excommunication at the time of his death and this has never been revoked. The SSPX has always argued that these excommunications were unjust and that canon law allowed for a “state of emergency” which justified consecrating bishops without the Pope’s permission. Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications in 2009 in an attempt to bring the SSPX back into the Catholic Church. They are still canonically irregular and outside the mainstream Catholic Church to the present day.

Today the SSPX is still one of the most prominent priestly orders of what became known as Traditional Catholicism, or pre-Vatican II Catholicism. It has spread all over the world and regards itself as an international priestly order. There are many groups that celebrate Mass and the sacraments as they were before Vatican II. These groups accept the teachings of Vatican II and are in good standing in the Catholic Church. There are also many local diocesan Latin Masses allowed by bishops all over the world. There are other Traditional Catholic orders of priests who are not recognised by the Catholic Church and do not believe that there is currently a pope in Rome. These various groups are known as sedevecantists and don’t believe that a Pope who promotes the “errors” of Vatican II can really be Pope. They hold strictly to pre-Vatican II teachings and the Latin Mass and believe that the last valid pope was Pius XII. The Palmarians are a group influenced by pre-Vatican II teachings and ceremonies but have their own Pope. There are many more Traditional Catholic groups of all beliefs and positions providing the Latin Mass to the laity both inside and outside the official Catholic Church, and they mostly disagree with each other’s positions. Some of these other groups can also be found in Ireland.

The SSPX disagrees with most of these other groups and believes itself to hold the only correct position. They disagree with Vatican II in its entirety but at the same time they say that they recognise the Pope really is the Pope and profess their loyalty to him. They then say that they must disobey him in any matters where he is “teaching errors” against the Catholic Faith which according to them crept into the Church after Vatican II.  Archbishop Levebvre used to call this “True Obedience” and “False Obedience”. Using this argument the SSPX portrays itself as being balanced between what they see as the extremes of Vatican II and sedevecantism. Archbishop Levebvre taught that the error of “Modernism” was taught in the Catholic Church through Vatican II. Modernism attempted to re-interpret Catholic teaching in a way that would reconcile it to the modern world, with many non-Catholic influences. Pope Pius X condemned Modernism in an encyclical he wrote in 1907 called Pascendi Dominici Gregis. In this encyclical he referred to Modernism as “the synthesis of all heresies”. It is not difficult to see why Archbishop Levebvre named his order of priests after this Pope.

The Mass

The Archbishop saw any reforms brought in by Vatican II as fundamentally changing the formulas of the Mass and the Sacraments, thereby bringing their validity, or their ability to transmit “God’s grace” into a person’s soul, into question. The “Grace of God” is taught to be essential to help a person to be good and go to Heaven. Salvation is impossible without it.

Previously Mass had been celebrated in Latin with the priest with his back to the people. The Mass was taught to be actual re-enactment of Christ’s death on the cross which was the price for our sins and the original sin passed onto every human being from Adam and Eve. The priest and the people were facing towards God together with the priest interceding for the laity.

The Second Vatican Council brought in the New Order of the Mass also know in Latin as the Novus Ordo Missae. The Mass was now celebrated in the local language with the priest facing the people. Lay people were encouraged to participate in the Mass by doing readings or being Ministers of the Eucharist giving out Holy Communion. The SSPX strictly opposes these reforms and considers lay participation in the Mass sacrilegious. The priest is viewed as being transformed into “another Christ” by the sacrament of Holy Orders. It leaves a special mark on his soul which makes him the only one worthy to touch the Blessed Sacrament. Lay people must kneel at altar rails to receive Holy Communion at SSPX churches. Communion in the hand is not allowed and must be received on the tongue.

The SSPX teaches that the Mass celebrated in the vernacular is not just a direct translation from the Latin but that a lot of the wording itself has been changed. This is viewed as very problematic because having the wording fundamentally changed brings the consecration of the hosts into the body and blood of Christ into question

The Sacraments

The validity of the other sacraments such as Holy Orders (ordination of priests) and Confirmation are also called into question by the SSPX as the form or wording was also changed after Vatican II. The SSPX teach its parishioners that priests ordained using the newer form of Holy Orders may possibly not be ordained at all. Any priests who leave the mainstream Catholic Church to join the SSPX must be “conditionally” ordained by an SSPX bishop. Any lay people who received Confirmation in the mainstream Catholic Church using the newer form of the sacrament are also advised to receive “conditional” Confirmation. It is common to see many teenagers or adults who begin to attend SSPX masses to receive conditional Confirmation.

Undue influence and control

The faithful are convinced by the SSPX’s convoluted and legalistic arguments surrounding doctrine, the liturgy, the sacraments and the excommunications. They are charmed by the elaborate and reverent ceremonies that are part of the pre Vatican II Mass and sacraments. There is an unhealthy and over the top reverence for the priests as representatives of God, “other Christs”, who have special power from their ordinations to provide Mass and the sacraments, the only source of God’s grace. This provides them with a powerful psychological hold over the laity. Some priests who may have controlling or narcissistic tendencies are therefore in positions of authority over the faithful. However, there are many genuinely good priests in the SSPX who are just trying to live their faith as best they can and work hard in their missions and mass centres.

The SSPX is very misogynistic. It promotes teachings that a woman’s place is in the home, that the husband is the head of the family and is to be obeyed. A woman’s main duty is to be a child bearer and mother. She can’t have a career outside the home if she is married and has children. Women attending society chapels are strictly indoctrinated regarding dressing modestly and in a feminine manner. Women must wear skirts below the knees, tops that aren’t too low and that have sleeves that cover at least the shoulder. In general clothes can’t be too tight, see through or revealing. If a woman doesn’t dress modestly, she may tempt a man to sinful thoughts. Women must cover their head at Mass in order to show respect to the Blessed Sacrament in the church. They can wear a scarf, hat or a lacy head covering called a mantilla. The men must have to have their heads uncovered in the church. The symbolism behind this is that men are under the authority of God and women are under the authority of men. Women can’t be altar girls. Women can’t enter the sanctuary (the area around the altar enclosed by altar rails) unless for cleaning purposes. The laity in general are not allowed to enter the sanctuary without a good reason. For example, men can only enter to serve mass or for altar serving practice. The level of misogyny varies between families and chapels in different countries.

The private lives of families and individuals are controlled by strict teachings regarding morality. Married couples aren’t allowed to use contraception “under pain of mortal sin” and are encouraged to have large families to populate heaven and “God will provide.” This is also pre-Vatican II teaching, but they promote it with no exception. Even the natural rhythm method isn’t allowed. No sex outside of marriage, no long-term relationships or cohabiting without being married. A civil marriage isn’t recognised in the eyes of God. No divorce. Separation may be permitted if the circumstances are serious, but remarriage isn’t allowed as it won’t be recognised by God. Gay relationships are “wrong” and against the “natural order” created by God. Being gay is a “sinful inclination” which must be fought against. The State is wrong if it legalises abortion or divorce. Any of these things are a “mortal sin” which will send you to Hell if they are not confessed to a priest and absolution given.

Hell, Purgatory, the Devil and sin are very real to those who attend SSPX chapels.  The teachings of pre-Vatican II are that there are two types of sin, mortal sin which kills the soul and sends you to Hell, and venial sin which only weakens the soul and leaves little stains which you will have to spend time in purgatory to get rid of.  Even after your sins are forgiven in confession, you won’t go to Hell, but you may have to spend time in Purgatory before going to Heaven to make up for “the temporal punishment due for sin.” Purgatory is basically like Hell with fire except you don’t spend eternity there. You could possibly spend years and years there if you don’t do enough “prayer and penance.” Certain prayers have indulgences attached to them which shorten your time in Purgatory. You can also say these prayers for yourself of for relatives who might still be in Purgatory. Attending Masses also shorten your time or a relative’s time in Purgatory. This was mainstream Catholic teaching before Vatican II but the SSPX also promotes it. It is a cruel teaching that makes you worried that your loved ones might possibly be suffering in Purgatory because you may not have said enough prayers or heard enough masses for them. 

Another cruel pre-Vatican II teaching that is strictly taught to the laity is that limbo exists and that unborn babies who are unbaptized go there. Catholicism teaches that everyone is born with Original Sin on their souls from Adam and Eve and that Christ instituted the sacrament of Baptism to cleanse the soul. It is not just a ceremony that welcomes the child into God’s community. A child is considered incapable of committing any sins until they reach “the use of reason” at approximately 5-7 years old. However, an unbaptized child is still unworthy to see God if it has Original Sin on its soul. Because he/she didn’t commit any personal sin he/she goes to limbo, which is a place of peace, but God is not there. Most Traditional Catholic parents carry immense anxiety about their children until they get them baptized and do so as soon as possible after birth. This writer is not a parent, but I can only imagine the heartbreak endured by Traditional Catholic parents who lose children through miscarriage and end up believing that the souls of their children will never see God.

Extreme Unction (Sacrament of the Sick) is the means to strengthen you against the attacks of the Devil in your last moments. The laity are taught that the devil tries to make one last bid for your soul when you are dying. If parents don’t have the “State of Grace” provided by the Sacrament of Marriage, they will find it difficult to bring up their children as good Catholics and save their souls. Without the SSPX you won’t be guaranteed priests who are ordained properly and who can provide the true Mass and the sacraments vital for salvation. If you deny even one ”Article of Faith” you commit a mortal sin. If you miss Sunday Mass without a good reason, you commit a mortal sin. If you eat meat on a Friday without an exemption for ill health you commit a mortal sin. Mortal sins kill the soul and send you to hell. Mortal sins must be confessed, and absolution received in confession, or you will go to hell.

These teachings make the laity very psychologically dependent on the clergy for their “eternal salvation.” There is no possibility of having a personal relationship with God. There must be a human intermediary, the priests, the “other Christs”. Only they have the power to offer Mass which is the re-enactment of Christ’s death on the cross which earned the salvation of humankind. Only they have the power to administer the sacraments, the source of God’s grace. Only the SSPX has priests that you can be sure are validly ordained and that teach the Catholic Faith without any errors or compromise. All other religions are false religions and will not help you get to Heaven. Even the mainstream Catholic Church may not get you to Heaven because of Vatican II. The SSPX teaches “outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation “ and they think that they are the only true Catholics.

Isolation from the outside world

A certain amount of isolation from society is encouraged, isolation from “the world, the flesh and the Devil.” The most common type is regarding the education of children. Mainstream schools are seen as not teaching the Catholic faith. They are seen as teaching “Modernist” or secular ideas, or “anti-family” ideas such as LGBTQ rights. Passing on the Faith to children and teaching them to be good Catholics is seen as one of the most important duties of parents. Many parents send their children to SSPX schools or homeschool them if that option is not available.  Other Traditional Catholic parents see no problem with sending their children to local schools and do not see it as incompatible with their passing on the faith to their children. The idea is to have adults who will be faithful Traditional Catholics and who will possibly consider that they have “vocations” to become priests or nuns.

The faithful are also discouraged from watching TV, films or programmes or reading any material that is deemed to be immoral or dangerous to the faith. The SSPX has long discouraged it’s faithful from having TVs or unrestricted internet access, though it is okay to have them if you only watch things that are considered wholesome.

Attendance at children’s summer camps, young adults weekend outings, retreats and pilgrimages organised by the SSPX is strongly encouraged in order to “strengthen your faith.”

Controversies

In recent years many sex abuse scandals within the SSPX have come to light and several priests have been convicted and jailed in other countries.  There are investigations currently taking place abroad into sex abuse by SSPX priests and cover ups by SSPX superiors. The SSPX allegedly has a history of covering up abuse, moving priests to different missions around the world to preserve their reputation, or the “reputation of the Church” which they view themselves as being synonymous with. This writer has only discovered this information online years after leaving the group. The SSPX is deceptive and withholds vital information like this from it’s parishioners.

The SSPX was also mired in controversy when one of it’s bishops, Richard Williamson denied the Holocaust in an interview for a Swedish documentary in 2009. The SSPX itself has also faced accusations of anti-semitism over the years, though it has tried to clear up it’s image and present itself as a viable Catholic religious order that has a lot to offer the Church.

Bishop Williamson has never recanted his opinions. He was expelled from the SSPX in 2012 because of disobedience to his superiors. He is currently leading a breakaway group from the main SSPX, called the SSPX Resistance. This is a loose group of priests and laity around the world. It broke away from the main SSPX approximately a decade ago over concerns that the SSPX was going to reconcile with the mainstream Catholic Church without addressing the doctrinal concerns of Vatican II. The indoctrination of the laity to reject Vatican II backfired against the SSPX in this instance. Both groups see themselves as the only ones truly preserving the legacy of Archbishop Levebvre and completely disagree with each other.

The SSPX resistance has a base in Ireland in West Cork for several years now. The resistance group in Ireland, and most likely other resistance groups around the world have even less oversight than the original SSPX group. Both groups have the same cultic characteristics.  A second Swedish documentary from 2017 covers concerns of sex abuse in both the main SSPX and the SSPX resistance worldwide. Many people who attended the SSPX resistance masses in Ireland have returned to main SSPX group over the years.

I am concerned for all the people who are attending the masses celebrated by both these groups. Most people are sincere Catholics who just want to practice their faith and are brainwashed into thinking that only these breakaway groups from the Catholic Church can provide them with eternal salvation. Many people have grown up in this group and have known of no other option for attending to their spiritual needs. As a former member of the laity who was indoctrinated as a child I can attest to the hold these groups have over the minds and hearts of those who just want to serve God as best they can.

Conclusion

The Society of St Pius X and it’s splinter group the SSPX resistance has many of the cultic characteristics defined by experts who study high demand/cultic groups and undue influence. I have taken most of these examples from Dr Steven Hasan’s BITE model. The list is not exhaustive.

• Excessive devotion to a leader living or dead
• Excessive devotion to an ideal or a set of ideals
• Minimise or discourage access to non-cult sources of information such as TV, books, magazines and the internet
• Indoctrination or self-indoctrination through the group’s own books, magazines, videos, catechisms and other sources of material
• Foster an Us vs them mentality
• Internalise the group’s doctrine as the truth
• Instil black and white thinking
• Discourage independent and critical thought
• Discourage criticism of the group, it’s leader, doctrines or policies.
• No happiness or fulfilment outside the group
• No legitimate reason to leave the group
• Those who leave are weak, worldly or brainwashed by outside influences
• Terrible consequences if you leave ie: losing your soul and going to hell
• Phobia indoctrination ie: if you don’t wear a brown scapular you’re more likely to lose your soul
• Thought stopping techniques to get rid of negative thoughts ie: saying a short act of faith to drive away any temptations against unbelief.
• Labelling alternative believe systems as evil or not legitimate or useful
• Regulate when, how and with whom you can have sex
• Regulate clothing and hairstyle
• Discourage individualism, encourage group think
• Impose rigid rules and regulations
• Use of loaded language and cliches which only those in the group really understand “Novus Ordo”,“True obedience vs false obedience”, “Operation Survival” “State of Emergency”,”Eternal Rome.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Ireland_(SSPX)