While we do not get a high doze of "we live in time of crisis" at the SSPX place I attend, the topic is interlaced into sermons quite frequently.

Yesterday before Mass, I was introduced to a newbie at the chapel.  I asked him how he landed here, and he said he’d been going to the Novus Ordo chapel down the road, but had been studying about the TLM. I was hoping he’d volunteer something about concerns regarding Vatican 2, modernism, the post-conciliar reforms, etc., but in our short conversation, his comments were restricted to the Mass.

In the back of my mind, I was thinking about the dilution of tradition, if this was representative of the depth of what brought and/or sustained people in the SSPX pews now days.

While conceding this gentleman might simply be at the beginning of his journey into tradition, and could expand the breadth of his understanding in time, it made me wonder how this would actually come about in the branded SSPX: Who would introduce him to the doctrinal crisis in the Church?  Certainly not the priest from the pulpit.  Certainly not the faithful at coffee/donuts after Mass, as in the good old days.  Who was going to introduce him to the old, unedited Michael Davies books, Archbishop Lefebvre’s polemical works, or the history of the SSPX and it’s full raison d’etre? 

What is mostly talked about is the new school addition, the purchase of land for a future boys school, the purchase of land for a priory, how big we’re getting, what new people are coming, etc.  There's just not much talk these last 10 years about the fight against modernism (without which the Church cannot recover).  What good does getting big do, if the bigger you get, the less you combat the errors of the day, only to repeat the errors/compromises of the indult groups?

I thought, were I the one to introduce this man to the wider world of the combat for the faith, it would not be appreciated by the others.  Possibly it would even be viewed as troublemaking. 
15 years ago, I would not have had such concerns, and was perceived as a good representative SSPX parishioner by faithful and clergy.  But not today.  15 years ago, I would not have had such concerns roll through my head, but for better or worse, I’m the same old Sean. I’m not the one who changed.  I do not deny that coming from the Novus to the neoSSPX is still an improvement, but it’s not as big an improvement as it once was.

The joy I used to feel at seeing a newbie come to Tradition wasn’t the same, because I had to wonder how much Tradition he would be exposed to beyond the Mass.  I welcomed this gentleman with a smile, a handshake, and a few polite words, and went on my way, wondering such things.

This perspective is proof you are fairly new to the SSPX (i.e., since 2012):

Firstly, because you try to excuse the SSPX for not speaking about the crisis in **every** sermon.  How about **ANY** sermon? 

Secondly, because until the orders came down from +di Noia/+Fellay, the SSPX used to preach about it all the time.

So what you say "is not posssible from the pulpit" was actually common. 

Never would you have gone months without some topical doctrinal sermon on the crisis, but more than a decade??

You have only known the branded shell of the neoSSPX, but things were once very different.

So what you say "is not posssible from the pulpit" was actually common. 

Yesterday before Mass, I was introduced to a newbie at the chapel.  I asked him how he landed here, and he said he’d been going to the Novus Ordo chapel down the road, but had been studying about the TLM. I was hoping he’d volunteer something about concerns regarding Vatican 2, modernism, the post-conciliar reforms, etc., but in our short conversation, his comments were restricted to the Mass.

In the back of my mind, I was thinking about the dilution of tradition, if this was representative of the depth of what brought and/or sustained people in the SSPX pews now days.

While conceding this gentleman might simply be at the beginning of his journey into tradition, and could expand the breadth of his understanding in time, it made me wonder how this would actually come about in the branded SSPX: Who would introduce him to the doctrinal crisis in the Church?  Certainly not the priest from the pulpit.  Certainly not the faithful at coffee/donuts after Mass, as in the good old days.  Who was going to introduce him to the old, unedited Michael Davies books, Archbishop Lefebvre’s polemical works, or the history of the SSPX and it’s full raison d’etre? 

What is mostly talked about is the new school addition, the purchase of land for a future boys school, the purchase of land for a priory, how big we’re getting, what new people are coming, etc.  There's just not much talk these last 10 years about the fight against modernism (without which the Church cannot recover).  What good does getting big do, if the bigger you get, the less you combat the errors of the day, only to repeat the errors/compromises of the indult groups?

I thought, were I the one to introduce this man to the wider world of the combat for the faith, it would not be appreciated by the others.  Possibly it would even be viewed as troublemaking. 
15 years ago, I would not have had such concerns, and was perceived as a good representative SSPX parishioner by faithful and clergy.  But not today.  15 years ago, I would not have had such concerns roll through my head, but for better or worse, I’m the same old Sean. I’m not the one who changed.  I do not deny that coming from the Novus to the neoSSPX is still an improvement, but it’s not as big an improvement as it once was.

The joy I used to feel at seeing a newbie come to Tradition wasn’t the same, because I had to wonder how much Tradition he would be exposed to beyond the Mass.  I welcomed this gentleman with a smile, a handshake, and a few polite words, and went on my way, wondering such things.

There is an enormous difference, still, between the SSPX and the Indult, in terms of the validity of the Mass and Sacraments, and the solidity of the doctrine and spirituality. There is no doubt, however, that the SSPX is intent on running headlong into Indultland, but it is not there yet. Let us hope and pray against all the odds as BW recommends.

“Don’t be surprised if one day you wake up, and you are in Rome.” (Fr. Pfluger)