A slick new informercial video, produced by the SSPX, makes a compelling case for the construction of a huge new seminary in Virginia.  On this video we see the Winona seminary operating to capacity, bursting at the seams, seminarians running around everywhere, crammed three to a dorm room, getting in one another's way.  The serious overcrowding,  we're told, affects the quality of the priestly preparation each candidate is receiving.  It prevents students from achieving the level of quiet and contemplation required in the pursuit of their vocations, etc.


Yet, when Fr. Pfluger was here in Post Falls on April 10 he spoke of a serious crisis in vocations within the Society.  He told us that there were many students in the Society's schools alright, but "few vocations" coming out of them.  Then he wondered aloud whether it was our fault.  Are we providing the "faith and example" in order to win our children?  Children have to see the truth in their parents and teachers, he said, (Oddly, no mention of priestly example). In that way alone can we win these children to give their lives for the church.

Bottom line: Are there many vocations in the Society or are there not?  Does Fr. Pfluger testify to the reality of a lack of vocations?  Or do Winona Seminary director Fr. LeRoux and other SSPX officials, featured in the video, give us the proper pictures of things as they really are?  Touching priestly vocations, does the SSPX hold a flush or merely a pair?    

I am not sure why, but when a grassroots  organization switches from homespun posters and bakesales to glossy media campaigns, my gut reaction tells me that something has changed.

They could have easily expanded Winona....the new Seminary is a waste of money.

I am not sure why, but when a grassroots  organization switches from homespun posters and bakesales to glossy media campaigns, my gut reaction tells me that something has changed.

For years, we used to give to a diocesan charitable cause.  Each time we sent a donation in, we received a short hand written thank you note.  Furthermore, we never received solicitations for money.  The group assisted the poor in an area of the city and, we thought, did a good work.  One day, we started receiving very professional appearing brochures soliciting donations.  When we did donate, we received a computer generated thank you form letter that also provided our "stewardship" information.  Bottom line was that, instead of being staffed primarily with volunteers and operating on a shoe-string and actually doing a good work, the organization turned into a money making venture (though, of course, it was legally a not-for-profit) with a professional staff (i.e., well-paid college graduates) that had to cut services while increasing their property holdings.

After all, you have to pay well to get the best people....right???   :furtive:

While I don't really know the answer, I suspect that this diocesan charity no longer uses (or uses very few) volunteers, and few (if any) employees are Catholic.  Based on its own advertising, I now see this as a purely secular "social services" organization with a Catholic sounding name.

I know absolutely nothing about what is going on with the SSPX seminary, but I do have the same sort of gut reaction that 1st Mansion Tenant describes.

Quote from: 1st Mansion Tenant

I am not sure why, but when a grassroots  organization switches from homespun posters and bakesales to glossy media campaigns, my gut reaction tells me that something has changed.

For years, we used to give to a diocesan charitable cause.  Each time we sent a donation in, we received a short hand written thank you note.  Furthermore, we never received solicitations for money.  The group assisted the poor in an area of the city and, we thought, did a good work.  One day, we started receiving very professional appearing brochures soliciting donations.  When we did donate, we received a computer generated thank you form letter that also provided our "stewardship" information.  Bottom line was that, instead of being staffed primarily with volunteers and operating on a shoe-string and actually doing a good work, the organization turned into a money making venture (though, of course, it was legally a not-for-profit) with a professional staff (i.e., well-paid college graduates) that had to cut services while increasing their property holdings.

After all, you have to pay well to get the best people....right???   :furtive:

While I don't really know the answer, I suspect that this diocesan charity no longer uses (or uses very few) volunteers, and few (if any) employees are Catholic.  Based on its own advertising, I now see this as a purely secular "social services" organization with a Catholic sounding name.

I know absolutely nothing about what is going on with the SSPX seminary, but I do have the same sort of gut reaction that 1st Mansion Tenant describes.

I agree with you both. You're certainly on to something.

There's been a change -- a loss of respect/reverence for the sacrifices families have to make these days just to raise a family, let alone support the Church. It is a fact that for the past 250 years, it has never been harder to raise a Catholic family than here in 2013. The value of the dollar is at an all time low, and the economy is awful. It has never been as hard as today for young men to get established enough to start a family.

The SSPX Rule speaks about the Spirit of Poverty -- how we should take care of things, try to do without, etc. keeping in mind the sacrifices that every $10 bill represents. We should respect those sacrifices by trying to get by with as little as possible.

Now, that's all changed, at least in reality (the Rule might say the same thing, but now it's only lip service). Now they're downright cynical about us laymen -- comparing us to suburban, middle-class Americans who spend $500 on Christmas. As if that were accurate for most Trads!

What I strongly suspect is that the new seminary will eventually be presented to Newchurch, and that some sort of conglomerate, hybrid priestly training will occur there in the future.

It will be a center close to Washington DC for pro-Zionist, "traditional Catholic" Republicans.

Glossy pamphlets! Hm?  Grass root organizations? Hm?  My mind says, ah, ha!  When you look at New Order, they operate on the peoples money and then that money goes to Federal gov't through United Way and charities and such.  For every $1. the New Order would see $3 and Grant monies for programs.  Grants are very difficult to come by,to read, for they are kept hidden well! If you get clout from the governor, you could see the movements of the New Order. Dioceses newspapers can have articles written of grant monies to support certain programs.  An idea to research and find out maybe more, is to be an interested person and phone or contact the charities and ask them if one was to financially support seminaries what program might that be?  You want to know "the" program, not an answer like United Way, which is an umbrella of many orgs under it.  It get the feeling that the money flow is from very, very high sources, and maybe out of our reach.

What I strongly suspect is that the new seminary will eventually be presented to Newchurch, and that some sort of conglomerate, hybrid priestly training will occur there in the future.

The New Church and the Society have what each other needs---the Society has priests and people; the New Church has money and churches.

Once the "regularization" happens, and it will happen, there will be a spiffy new Seminary in Virginia, where the weather is warm.