... excerpt taken from the letter by Fr Peter Scott in the Sept, 2001 issue REGINA COELI REPORT.
You will probably have heard that the most recent defection
from our ranks is that of Father Benedict Vanderputten, so well
known to many of you by his outspoken and frank conferences,
sermons and retreats. I feel that it is my duty to warn you that in
leaving the Society of Saint Pius X, to which he had bound him-
self in perpetuity, he has taken it upon himself to attack the Supe-
rior General, for his refusal to accept the canonical arrangement
proposed by Cardinal Castrillon, asserting furthermore that to refuse
such propositions is a schismatic act. (Emphasis mine) He himself has obtained a
celebret from Cardinal Ratzinger, and now celebrates the Indult
Mass, under the condition that he place himself under a diocesan
bishop within six months.
This is kinda interesting. We started going to the St. Aloysius Ctr in Los Gatos a week or two after Vanderputten left in (early 2001?) We never met him until later, and that was merely a brief one-time encounter at a Latin Mass Magazine conference. We did, however, meet the parents of the girl with whom, it is reported, Father behaved inappropriately. They were so devastated by their daughter's experience that they left the sspx chapel permanently shortly after our arrival.
We were given to understand that Vanderputten was expelled from the Society the moment his misdeeds saw the light. Yes, as we heard it, Fellay called St. Aloysius within hours of finding out about the scandal, and demanded that Father pack his bags, and get out immediately. That was the popular explanation of what had happened anyway.
But Fr. Scott's letter calls all that into question. He says, (if this letter is authentic,) that Vanderputten voluntarily defected "from the (sspx) ranks." Why? Because Fellay did not accept the "canonical arrangement proposed by Cardinal Castrillon."
Something doesn't compute here. Either Vanderputten got the permanent boot by Fellay in 2001, or he was simply reassigned until that same priest decided to leave of his own volition.
Can you understand my confusion?