From Non Possumus, taken from:
LA CROIX
Céline Hoyeau and Mélinée Le Priol, on 05/31/2017
An agreement between Rome and the heirs of Monsignor Marcel Lefebvre, thirty years after his excommunication, could be announced by this summer. This perspective provokes in the faithful close to the SSPX reactions found.
By mid-May, St. Nicholas of Chardonnet was boiling. Fr. Patrick de La Rocque, parish priest of this emblematic church in central Paris, occupied by the traditionalists since 1977, has just been relieved of his duties by his superiors of the FSSPX with six other members of the fraternity. In question, his public opposition to the recent Vatican text recognizing marriages among the Lefebvristan faithful.
An umpteenth symptomatic episode of the tensions provoked by the perspective, more real than ever, of a reconciliation with Rome. The Vatican could in fact grant to the SSPX a personal prelature, a very flexible legal framework under the model of Opus Dei: the Fraternity would then form part of the hierarchical structure of the Church without being confined to a territory such as the dioceses.
Even among those who welcome this reintegration, the concerns are great. "Once we are united to Rome, will we have the same freedom?" Asks Caroline, faithful of St. Nicholas of Chardonnet. "Can they continue our schools without having to ask for the authorization of the local bishop? Or will they give us a prelature to prevent us from doing what we want?"
"The more time passes, the more the gap widens"
"Distrust", "risk", "danger": these words come back again and again in Tomás, company tax, who also frequents St. Nicholas of Chardonnet. He is said to be in favor of ralliement led by Bishop Bernard Fellay, the superior of the SSPX. This thirty-year-old fears that the hand laid by Rome is "a pretext to get us into the line." However, he considers that the FSSPX "has nothing to lose".
"The more time passes, the more the gap widens, and if we wait too long, we will end up in a real schism. For me, that would be too painful. If we consider that the Church is still the wife of Christ, separating from it does not make sense. " Thomas also fears that the Fraternity will become a marginal entity, without a leader or authority. "Mons. Lefebvre did not want us to stay too long at the margin, at the risk of being won by a sectarian spirit, "adds Caroline.
She wants this agreement, but notes that many around her are destabilized by the figure of Pope Francis, whom she judges "unexpected" and "surprising". "He reaches out to all who are marginalized, but his ideas are so far from Lefebvre." In question, the ecuмenism preached by the pope and the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. "We, the Catholics of all times, maintain the infallibility [sic] of marriage," says Caroline.
Refractories especially in France
If these fears are so real, refractory to an agreement with Rome seem to represent only a minority, limited to the district of France. In Germany, Switzerland, or the United States, negotiations are favorably followed, and a petition launched almost two weeks ago in several languages against the agreement on marriage annulments, has collected no more than 500 signatures worldwide .
For Marie Alix Doutrebente, faithful of Our Lady of Consolation in Paris, these are the "last jolts" of some priests who now resist that the agreement is close ... Most, in the opinion of this woman who has collaborated to the foundation since 20 years ago, a group of informal dialogue between Catholics on both sides [the GREC, note of NP] , is waiting for a successful outcome. "For us, the faithful, it has been a real suffering for forty years. We aspire to rediscover our place in the Church and pray in the same pews. "
Show the Church the Straight Path
Equally, the spirits are more mature, she says, since the publication of the motu proprio ten years ago, by which Benedict XVI liberalized the Tridentine Mass. "Many families that did not attend more than the chapels of the SSPX, now also attend the Mass of the Cristo Rey Institute or the diocesan parishes where it is celebrated in extraordinary form."
Once reintegrated and "de-diabolized" as they say, the lefebvistas affirm nevertheless to want to show the Church the right way. "We have not changed anything from the usual doctrine," Caroline confided. "The Fraternity could give the Church a great service by contributing this rigor in the faith. And our many religious vocations could benefit all Catholics. " A return, perhaps, but apparently without yielding anything in the background.
***
Three French bishops recognize the marriages of the SSPX .
The archbishop of Strasbourg, Monsignor Luc Ravel became the third French bishop on Wednesday 31 May to apply the letter of the Ecclesia Dei commission on 27 March regarding the marriages in the SSPX.
After Archbishop Alain Planet, Bishop of Carcassonne and Narbonne, and Bishop Dominique Rey, Bishop of Fréjus Toulon, Bishop Ravel will give certain priests of the FSSPX in his diocese the delegation necessary to bless or receive the consents of the marriage.
This authorization is a further step towards the return of the lefebvristas to the full communion of the Catholic Church: the latter did not recognize, until now, the marriages celebrated by a priest of the SSPX.
Céline Hoyeau and Mélinée Le Priol