Reflections on the Recent Actions of the SSPX

July 1, 2026 - The Memorial of St. Junipero Serra

I would like to depart from our discussion about the Roman Canon today. There is a grave occurrence that I think is wise for me to address. That occurrence, as you may have seen in Catholic news or on social media, is the illicit consecration of four bishops by the Society of St. Pius X. I won’t be able to go into all of the details here. However, I am happy to have a conversation with anyone who is troubled by the situation and needs to sit down with a priest to discuss the matter.

And, it is truly disturbing. The illicit consecration of bishops is, according to the Church, a grave act of violence to the Church and her members. Christ established the Church as a communion of souls bound to him by way of the apostles, their successors (the bishops), and most especially to the Prince of the Apostles, St. Peter and his successors. To sever this communion is a moment of great sadness, and should be a great sadness to all of the faithful. We must pray for those who were involved in the consecrations and these four new bishops. We must pray for them because the penalty for such an act is to incur automatic excommunication.

When the Church assigns a penalty for an action she does so for the purpose of expressing just how serious the situation is. It is not a penalty designed to be retributive. Rather, it is the sincere hope that the seriousness of the penalty will cause the person to reflect on the act and seek repentance and return to communion. This is the unity that Christ himself prayed for. Christ specifically prayed for Peter’s faith, that he might lead the Church and preserve unity.

I believe that there is a lesson here for all of us. I believe that when we see such a grave act of disunity we can reflect on our own heart and mind. We can take the opportunity to see where we might fail at preserving Christian unity. We might be able to repent of where we were too timid to proclaim the truth of the faith. We can also see where we can work to promote this unity in our own lives. At the very least we can pray for unity. We can pray that those who step away from the faith may find their way back to the source of living water. This is my invitation to all of you today: pray! Pray for Christian unity. Pray for those who were illicitly consecrated bishops and those who consecrated them. Pray for those who adhere to and support this act of schism. Pray, as Christ did, that we all might be one!

In Our Holy Father Dominic,

Fr. Gabriel, OP
Pastor