So, where are the former SSPX people?

Where I am, they are going to the fssp, indult, and eastern.  

The SSPX as you know very well SJ is not what it used to be. The original founders of all the SSPX chapels in the USA, the original few serious Catholics who kept the faith and braved long drives and hard work just to have the mass, have been slowly replaced by the Neo-SSPX since like 2000, and today 20 years later, one can say that 90% of the SSPXers are gone. They have been replaced by what I would call SSPX Indulterers, Indult Mass type people who go there because it is convenient, for their children, it is more reverent, smells and bells... If and when the SSPX becomes lepers again, I think that we will see who really was serious. So, when the gentleman says 90% of the SSPXers have left that is what I think he really means.

Now, add to that all of the Novus Ordos that abruptly came over during the plandemic, they represent about 66% of the parishioners in the largest SSPX mass center in Florida, the Sanford priory ( I can only assume it is the same in the other Florida chapels). Therefore, you have 10% real old time SSPX types, 23% neo-SSPX (really like indult types) and 66% Novus Ordo's ( indults and Novus Ordos). Many of these new types we hope will become serious Catholics, but from my life's experience, it will go the opposite direction, the rotten apple will spoil the barrel. Still God's Grace is there for everyone that is TRULY seeking the Faith. It will be like the 1960's, a few will survive this change for the worse.

The Sanford, FL priory is just like any Catholic Church in 1965, really strikingly identical, and everything "was going great" then too. We are just living 1965 all over again.

Exactly. All you said is true. Most of the smaller chapels don’t even offer Adult Catechism. The SSPX in Florida is obsessed with new “projects,” and they never get completed. It is a disaster of epic proportions. Resources are wasted money thrown away on useless endeavors etc.  

For example, they have a mass center in a shopping center at Miramar Beach, a sleepy little tourist town of 6,000 people—but they don’t have a chapel in the most populous county of Florida of close three million people. How does this make any sense?

Answering to the opening post, I have heard that our Priest has a letter from our local Bishop allowing the SSPX to say Masses in our Diocese. We don't have a priory here, just weekly Sunday Mass.

I don't know if this is news for you, but I had never heard about it. I mean, asking for an authorization from the Bishop to say Mass on a SSPX, not on a Diocesan church. In this case, a rented house.

Oh no. Entirely factual. How do I know? Because I have been to  three chapels in Florida pre COVID and post COVID, the increase and mix of parishioners is entirely different from even two years ago.

You do not have to take my word for it; you can ask some of the SSPX Florida members on this forum, and some will tell you the same.

I had an Usher tell me in one of the chapels they had one hundred attendees pre COVID;  after COVID, it was up to 275. He told me(not that I did not know why) that Parishioners from the Novus Ordo who were locked out during  COVID  started attending the SSPX chapel. After the Diocesan chapels opened, they decided to stay.

Without getting into the fray of what happened in Florida and what were, or were not, the reasons for it, the last two sentences say a lot.  The TLM is inherently attractive, and these 175 people obviously liked what they found there.  Would you rather have them returning to the Novus Ordo?  The question answers itself.

Look, it's pretty clear that there is no difference between the neo-SSPX and the indult mass offered at the local diocese.  I mean, the SSPX choir sometimes attends and sings at the Diocesan TLM and vice versa.

Look, it's pretty clear that there is no difference between the neo-SSPX and the indult mass offered at the local diocese.

That is certainly true in some respects, but there are still some important differences which remain (differences which may no longer be as important to the SSPX as they once were, but which are still important to many faithful):

1) The SSPX will **usually** have a priest or Bishop with certainly valid orders, whereas indult/Ecclesia Dei priests/bishops have merely more or less probable orders.

2) The SSPX will still have **many priests** who will reject the hermeneutic of continuity, and understand V2 is a unique aberration (not as many as formerly, admittedly, but some is better than none, which is what the indult groups field).

3) The SSPX is branded and muzzled, and despite its best efforts, only 85% captured by conciliar Rome.  Consequently, once in a while, someone surprises us with a courageous violation of the suicidal branding campaign, but this NEVER happens with the 100% captured/controlled indult groups.

So by degrees, like a slow motion train wreck, Operation ѕυιcιdє limps toward the precipice, but it is not yet synonymous with the indult.  I do admit the distinctions disappear more and more as the years go by, and nothing but sermons on virtues, spirituality, and the Mass slowly transform the faithful and clergy into emasculated 1950’s Catholics (and make them just as ripe for full blown integration into conciliarism).

That is certainly true in some respects, but there are still some important differences which remain (differences which may no longer be as important to the SSPX as they once were, but which are still important to many faithful):

1) The SSPX will **usually** have a priest or Bishop with certainly valid orders, whereas indult/Ecclesia Dei priests/bishops have merely more or less probable orders.

2) The SSPX will still have **many priests** who will reject the hermeneutic of continuity, and understand V2 is a unique aberration (not as many as formerly, admittedly, but some is better than none, which is what the indult groups field).

3) The SSPX is branded and muzzled, and despite its best efforts, only 85% captured by conciliar Rome.  Consequently, once in a while, someone surprises us with a courageous violation of the suicidal branding campaign, but this NEVER happens with the 100% captured/controlled indult groups.

So by degrees, like a slow motion train wreck, Operation ѕυιcιdє limps toward the precipice, but it is not yet synonymous with the indult.  I do admit the distinctions disappear more and more as the years go by, and nothing but sermons on virtues, spirituality, and the Mass slowly transform the faithful and clergy into emasculated 1950’s Catholics (and make them just as ripe for full blown integration into conciliarism).

Excellent post, Sean, and I fully agree.

The SSPX is on a downward trajectory, that much is certain. But they're not at the bottom yet.

Actually, there could be some in the Indult (both priests and laity) "on the way up", as it were, in their spiritual journey. They could be of good will and heading upward, even though today they are only in the Indult, possessing that level of truth. But where will they be in 5 or 10 years? Perhaps they will have a more perfect grasp of the truth.

Meanwhile, the SSPX is on a DOWNWARD trajectory. Where will THEY be in 5 or 10 years? Possibly lower than some who attend the Indult today. But I speak here about those of good will, not those who KNOW BETTER and are there out of weakness, compromise, cowardice, laziness, etc.

Let's be honest -- it's easier, more socially acceptable, more convenient, and takes less guts to show up at an Indult Mass than it does to associate with independent chapels and small, maligned groups like the Resistance. The Indult is simply more accommodating, offers more opportunities for socializing and networking, is more accepted by the World, etc. The physical buildings are prettier. The aesthetics (architecture, Chant, decor, etc.) are often superior. The congregations are usually larger. So a person CAN attend the Indult for reasons other than "to serve and worship Almighty God". With the Resistance, for example, that is the ONLY reason you attend.

People don't eat kale out of gluttony. They ONLY eat it because they care about their health.

Even Indult "fans" have to admit -- when you go to the Indult, the bad guys running the Conciliar Church don't fight you. They are OK with you. You don't have to fight. But ask yourself: is that a good thing? SHOULDN'T YOU have to fight, when the Church has been taken over by the enemies of God and man? I'm not saying everyone attending the Indult is a coward -- but it's true that fighting is not necessary when you attend the Indult. So I believe that all (would-be Trad) cowards are attracted to the Indult. So it's not that all Indult are cowards -- but that all cowards are Indult. How could it be otherwise? The Indult is literally the group which involves the LEAST fighting and opposition to both the World and Conciliar Church authorities. I welcome any arguments to the contrary.