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Author Topic: Profession of Faith, Pilgrimages quite optional for neo-SSPX  (Read 537 times)

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Offline Matthew

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Profession of Faith, Pilgrimages quite optional for neo-SSPX
« on: October 28, 2018, 03:23:24 PM »
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  • SSPX is losing fervor, especially with regards to promoting the reign of Christ the King in the public sphere. Maybe it's just the SSPX in Texas, but what other parts of the SSPX can I speak about with any experience or authority?

    I will restrict myself to the facts. I will trust the reader to draw any necessary conclusions.

    1. St. Joseph's Chapel in San Antonio, TX is a long established SSPX chapel dating back to 1975, with 200+ souls.
    2. Every year the chapel organized a "Mission Pilgrimage" along a special Mission Trail to the 4 Franciscan Missions still open to the public (free of cost). It was always held on a Saturday, usually in May but in later years it was moved to April to have cooler weather and less profuse sweating. This is south Texas after all. Some of these Missions pre-date the United States of America.
    3. In 2018, St. Joseph's Chapel cancelled their Mission Pilgrimage for some reason (not necessary to speculate as to the reason why).
    4. In late 2018, Bp. Zendejas decided to organize a Mission Pilgrimage to the aforementioned Missions.
    5. St. Joseph's always had Mass at their chapel beforehand; Bp. Zendejas was more in favor of having a public Mass near one of the Missions (you know, to be apostolic: to edify others and witness to the Faith publicly). This is also how the energetic and apostolic Fr. Timothy Pfeiffer used to operate when he was pastor of St. Joseph's (up to 2005).
    6. Such energy, virility, and apostolic fervor is what attracted many (including Yours Truly) to the SSPX over the years.
    7. Bp. Zendejas decided to have a public, open-air Mass at 11:30 AM near Mission San Jose. This was announced in the e-mail, bulletin, etc. so the Faithful could attend just the Mass if they wanted to.
    8. All and sundry were invited to the Mission Pilgrimage, which took place on October 27, 2018, the day before the Feast of Christ the King. The entire St. Joseph's "mailing list" was contacted and invited to the Pilgrimage over 6 weeks in advance. A reminder e-mail was sent out closer to the date of the Pilgrimage.
    9. Only a couple parishioners from St. Joseph's Chapel showed up -- for the Pilgrimage OR the Mass.


    What has become of the fervor of this chapel? Is the SSPX to blame for making their parishioners less fervent about publicly professing their Faith -- and at the same time becoming more acceptable to the Modern World?
    I understand that all chapels have a stratification or hierarchy of fervor -- some fervent souls at the top attending daily Mass (if available), doing most of the volunteering, and Sunday Catholics at the bottom, with most of the parish somewhere in the middle. But in a parish of 200+ souls, couldn't a few more of them have showed up, considering:

    1. There was always a good turnout for this Pilgrimage in the past
    2. It was still in the same location: central San Antonio -- as convenient as ever for most parishioners.
    3. This same number (80 souls?) should have been eager to attend a Pilgrimage, since they didn't get to attend one this year.
    4. It was still on a Saturday, same time of day
    5. The weather was beautiful at least for Texas: sunny, 60's in the morning, high of 83, not very humid
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    Offline Ekim

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    Re: Profession of Faith, Pilgrimages quite optional for neo-SSPX
    « Reply #1 on: October 28, 2018, 06:59:19 PM »
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  • Two thoughts...
    1). +Zendejas has been dubbed “Persona non grata” by the SSPX.  Folks may fear retribution is seen participating.

    2). People have developed a fear of public displays of religion.  I’ve heard one mother say “I’m not marching through downtown with my kids dressed in long skirts and chapel veils.  People don’t respect and admire it like they use to.  They look at us like we’re strange. Some nutter may decide to run us over or shoot us”.  

    Perhaps a bit extreme, but such things now run through people’s minds in the big city.