I'd like to make a point, and that point is this:

Your experience of the SSPX (or any other trad group, incidentally) is going to be heavily colored by the surrounding people and local culture.

For example, at my chapel people are very down-to earth, and even rich people dress in a quite casual and un-assuming manner. (A man who makes $30,000 a year drives a truck. A man who has $5 million to his name drives ... a brand new truck. An average Joe wears sandals to the store. A man who lives in a $800,000 home wears...sandals.)

Men don't flaunt wealth or status in Texas, for whatever reason.

Likewise, the demographics are going to be different. Anna1959 mentioned that her traditional chapel is populated by white folk almost exclusively. Our chapel, on the other hand, is at least 50% Hispanic. I'm speaking of the SSPX chapel in San Antonio.

And, as we discussed, race/nationality/culture DO matter, as they shape everything from attitude toward money to attitude toward outsiders, dating, family priorities, education, careers, self-adornment, the world, recreation, opposing evil, you name it.

The United States is a big place -- big enough for there to be several distinct cultures within its borders.

When I mentioned trad chapels being all white, I didn't mean only the SSPX, but also the diocesan TLMs, as well as the two sede chapels some distance from me. The only thing close to me are two diocesan TLMs, and although I don't go to them now, I did go a few times to see what they were like. 100% white. Ditto for the sede chapels that I went to once or twice when I got a ride. The SSPX chapel (an hr away by car) is 100% white except for one Filipino man.

I live in NE Pa/Southern Tier NY.  Our chapel is all white.  Our area, which is very rural, is 99.5% white.  There are large numbers of Polish, Italians, and Germans.  That is reflected in our chapel.  This area is very middle class.  In fact, they pride themselves on that.  Of the under 50 crowd, we have engineers, farmers, electricians, and a business owner or two.  We have nurses and teachers.  We have a small percentage of really wealthy, but you wouldn't really know it.  We also have some that are pretty poor.  

By the way, Matthew, you have millionaires in your chapel? And a man who owns a nearly million dollar home? Or was that just an exaggerated example to make a point?

I've been to the closest SSPX chapel on only one occasion for a high mass, and it was largely white with a few Mexicans and Asians (not sure if East Asian or Filipino of Chinese descent).  

On the other hand the FSSP parish in the same city is probably 50% Filipino, 50% White/Hispanic (generally). The problem is that the choir is overwhelmingly Filipino (and they are best in the diocese, if not the state) so at the high masses there are a lot of Filipinos, whereas the low mass earlier in the morning is almost all white. The afternoon low mass attracts a lot of the Mexicans that either commute or live in the surrounding neighborhood. A lot of strange people (residents of the slum-like surroundings) also wander in from time to time to the afternoon low mass, which is why one shouldn't be quick to judge if they see a girl wearing supertight jeans and shirt walking in, etc. (the same is true for the cathedral in this town, where there are always homeless people of varying degrees of sanity wander in during mass, sometimes receiving Holy Communion)

This is in a city where there are huge populations of Hispanics, Blacks, Chinese and Vietnamese along with Whites.

There are also a few east asians that go to the said FSSP but they have eluded my detection (I just know from the mass intentions in the bulletin). The parish does have a very strong non-white presence though. This is probably one of the most established FSSP parishes in the West, if not the nation.

While the SSPX and FSSP locations where in the same city, there are located at very different parts. The SSPX chapel is located in an older, mainly white area, whereas the FSSP is right in the middle of the Mexican/Asian/Black run down part of town. There is a wide variety of people (in terms of income, jobs, etc) that attend. A lot of home-schoolers and large families.

In another city, where whites are the minority, I attended Holy Mass at a ICK oratory which was mainly white with 1 Mexican and 1 Vietnamese (there was only like 20 people though). There is a SSPX priory in a neighboring city which I have been told has a small Vietnamese group of chapel-goers that sing in the choir. I hope to attend Holy Mass there in the future, if that is pleasing to God.

Quote from: Capistrano

By the way, Matthew, you have millionaires in your chapel? And a man who owns a nearly million dollar home? Or was that just an exaggerated example to make a point?

Not at my chapel, but we do know millionaires who behave as I describe. Unfortunately, we are not that "close" to them :)

Is it Mel Gibson?

Quote from: Capistrano

By the way, Matthew, you have millionaires in your chapel? And a man who owns a nearly million dollar home? Or was that just an exaggerated example to make a point?

Not at my chapel, but we do know millionaires who behave as I describe. Unfortunately, we are not that "close" to them :)

and that's how they probably became millionaires or at least that's how they may be keeping their money, by living like their neighbors who have less money.  

Has anyone here read "The Millionaire Next Door"?  The main theme among millionaires is that they live way below their means and you could have one living next door to you and not even know it.  Of course, most or many of them lost much of their paper wealth in the last 3 years but that's another story, isn't it?

Here's a summary of the book:
Most millionaires drive older cars (average of 10 years old or so),
own houses that are smaller or simpler than what they can afford,
decorate their homes simply and inexpensively,
wear clothes from JC Penney's or Sears,
don't eat out all that much.  
They may even homeschool or send their kids to public schools.  
Many of them made their millions by working long and hard at some type of business but they may not have finished college.
 
They don't look like they have lots of money and so one may be your next door neighbor who drives a 10+ year old Chevy truck and wears jeans and a flannel shirt to his Janitorial business, employing 50 hard-working people.

These millionaires used to put a lot of their money in the stock market and so many of them lost much of their money since '08 and are no longer millionaires.  Have anyone seen articles lately about how the U.S. now has far fewer millionaires than there were in '07?  

If you want to read the book, just borrow it from the library or get it for a penny plus shipping from Amazon if think you have to own it, but you probably don't need to spend money to put it on your shelf, since I already told you the main theme of the book:  Live below your means, and look like you don't have money.  Then you won't be tempted to try to keep up with whomever it is that you envy.  


Of course, I'm sure that most if not all of us here are already working on living below our means and not envying our neighbors, but I doubt any of us expect to be millionaires.  I just hope to be able to retire some day, and hard work and trusting in God are my "main themes".    :stare:

I grew up in and odd position having 2 chapels almost exactly apart from each other. Arcadia and Colton California. We'd attended both, but for the most part, my family attended the Colton chapel, which was more inland to the LA-close Arcadia Priory.

Arcadia could well be seen as more well off monetarily both in the chapel itself and of the parishioners who would attend; here in California people do seem to show off their wealth more.  Funny thing is is that I never made any friends at the Arcadia chapel. No one seemed to want to stay after mass as much as Colton. Unfortunately the priest there, and also the head in the priory, Fr. Ward, seemed to mirror this attitude there. He was the one SSPX priest whom I'd never developed a bond with and actually whom I'd taken issue with on an entirely other matter much later on. But thats another story.

Colton, being located in much less affluent Inland Empire of Calfornia, seemed more homey to me. People were more down to earth, and my parents and I felt right at home there. There were more children and young men and women my age. Unfortunately, in hindsight, I think my friends and I at the time were trying to live in two worlds; but that also is another matter. I wish I could have been more of an example to some of the others. Too bad I didn't know about CI then (perhaps it didn't exist? 2002-2006)

Well thats my experience with SSPX chapels locally in high school, and immediately after. I'd also helped out quite a bit in the Carmichael Chapel (Sacramento) when in stationed in the military out there. I made very good friends with one of my favorite priests ever, Fr. Hewko. I assisted when I could, on my days off from the fire department, at the retreat center cleaning up; but I didn't get to do that as much as I'd wanted.