I saw this on my Facebook wall today:

(Picture of two smiling men in cassock)

Fr. Picot and Br. June Mark
Marian Corps of Saint Pius X Society
visited my house..

The first comment on this post?

God bless the Society of Pius X

When your Resistance organization is so named, that people say "God bless the SSPX" when they hear about your organization -- we have a problem!

Of course, it's cheap enough to pray for and wish blessings on others. That's fine. But what if the hard work and edifying example of Resistance priests and brothers led ___ people to get out their checkbooks and write a check to the SSPX, or attend their chapels!

Seriously, this man sounds tempted to attend his local SSPX even if a Resistance chapel were the same distance away, because, "they're united anyhow so it doesn't make a difference", right?

The response of the 2nd man is bad because it expresses enthusiasm, edification, and an emotional/human hope in an organization that has (objectively speaking) hopelessly fallen. We can (and should) pray for anyone and wish them well -- and hold out supernatural hope for them. But this expression "God bless the Society of Pius X" doesn't express *supernatural* hope. It shows a genuine enthusiasm for the organization.



Now for my commentary:

I don't have anything against Fr. Chazal, or the two men who posted these things. They are just going with the flow -- that's what Fr. Chazal calls his group, after all!

But I think it's stupid. Real stupid.

Resistance sounds A) generic B) a bit negative  but at least it firmly expresses the divorce from the SSPX organization.

"SSPX Marian Corps" implies a unity or connection with the Neo-SSPX and in that respect the name utterly fails. Words are meant to convey ideas; they must convey meaning.

If words convey no meaning, they are useless. If they convey the OPPOSITE of reality, they are deceptive and harmful!

For example, I say "Traditional Catholic" which conveys a different meaning from "Catholic". The latter is usually a worldly Novus Ordo Catholic, ignorant about his Faith, often with a small family and often on birth control.

Traditional Catholic suggests attendance at a Tridentine Mass, a person who has left his local parish, and certain other things (better informed, not on birth control, gives up meat on Fridays, etc.)


Anyhow, I understand that they had to pick some name in the very beginning, and for a while they went with "SSPX-Strict Observance" or "SSPX- Marian Corps" but we need to give up on the idea of turning things around in the SSPX at this point.

Even Resistance fails in this respect: it doesn't give up on the SSPX. It implies we are a group within the SSPX that are resisting the new liberal direction, as well as the upcoming practical agreement with Rome. But it's a done deal, so we need to pick a new name and LEAVE the SSPX altogether!

Allow me to express myself in a more organized manner.

The name of our group (currently "the Resistance") should achieve 3 aims:

1. Give us an identity (any name would fill this purpose), or a shorthand to refer to our position, our membership, our priests and bishops, etc.
2. Express what we are and what we do (strict fidelity to +ABL, holding the old SSPX position, resisting the new liberal direction, against the practical accord with Rome)
3. Express our complete independence from the SSPX. We are not associated with the SSPX in the slightest degree! We are 100% not in union with them. SSPX superiors have 0 control and 0 input within the movement.

Now let's judge the various names applied to our Movement:


"The Resistance"
1 - Check. Although it's extremely generic. Every rebel movement (good and bad) is a "Resistance". Plenty of movies, books, and stories have a "Resistance" in them. In a Trad context, everyone knows what you mean, so "Resistance" gets a pass here, although it might be closer to 1/2 a pass or 3/4 of a pass.

2 - Debatable. It's true we are resisting, but mostly in the context of the SSPX, which we need to put behind us. However, at least one clever priest framed it as "Resistance to Vatican II" which kind of works...

3 - 1/2 a check - While our name doesn't have "SSPX" in it, and most people understand the Resistance is those who resist and rebel from the new orientation, left their SSPX chapels, etc., still the very name implies SSPX. If you google "Resistance" you won't get our group -- you pretty much have to say "SSPX Resistance".

Then again, it's true that we came from the SSPX and hold the old SSPX position. So as long as we have a firm negative term like "Resistance" it can be used with "SSPX" and not confuse people into thinking we're associated with the current SSPX.


SSPX Marian Corps
1 - Check. Any name is identity, so this is a freebie.
2 - Fail. It doesn't say what they are, OR what they do.
3 - Fail. It implies they are part of the corrupted neo-SSPX. Not good.


SSPX-SO (SSPX of the Strict Observance)
1 - Check (any name is an identity)
2 - Check - it implies they are staying faithful and strict, while most others are going lax and liberal.
3 - Fail - Again, they imply an association with the "mainstream SSPX" which is simply not true.

Another problem with naming our organization -- we need a name that can apply to ANYONE who wants to join.

In other words, if you leave your SSPX because you are against the new liberal orientation, you are free to call yourself Resistance. It's a free and open term, not trademarked or owned by anyone.

It's not even an official group that you have to formally join (with or without a trial period or formal test), much less can anyone give you a warning, kick you out of the organization, etc.

We do need a name like that. A generic term for our position.

Now other smaller, official groups might be desirable as well -- for example, the Priestly Union of Marcel Lefebvre.

Fr. Pfeiffer also has his own independent group in the larger Resistance, but he only "approves" your membership if you acknowledge his own headship. But following Fr. Pfeiffer's leadership isn't for everyone, let's be frank on that.

Given your intention of getting beyond the SSPX, maybe you should go with "Meta-SSPX Express".

Given your intention of getting beyond the SSPX, maybe you should go with "Meta-SSPX Express".

Look!  I even have a logo for you.

The argument could be that members of the SSPX are perpetual members, and so, for example, the unjust expulsion of Bishop Faure from the SSPX is without legitimacy and he continues to be a member of the SSPX. So when people say "God bless the SSPX", I see nothing offensive about it.

I saw this on my Facebook wall today:

Quote from: Picture of two smiling men in cassock

Marian Corps of Saint Pius X Society visited my house.

The first comment on this post?

Quote

God bless the Society of Pius X

I can imagine another response, albeit not written: "Marian Corps?   I wonder what the Corps does.  Hmmm.  Maybe they're the people in SSPX who're responsible for organizing the SSPX "Rosary Crusades".  That would make sense.  Sure!  That's probably it!"

When your Resistance organization is so named that people say "God bless the SSPX" when they hear about your organization -- we have a problem!  [....] But what if the hard work and edifying example of Resistance priests and brothers led ___ people to get out their checkbooks and write a check to the SSPX, or attend their chapels!

What if it led an admiring person to write a check to "Saint Pius X Marian Corps", and lacking an address, decided to drop it into an SSPX collection basket, on the guess that "someone at the SSPX chapel will know how to get that check to the Marian Corps--I'm sure it'll get to them soon enough".  What could possibly go wrong?  Buuuzzz!

"SSPX Marian Corps" implies a unity or connection with the Neo-SSPX and in that respect the name utterly fails.

And it fails more crucially, the less an onlooker knows about SSPX.

Words are meant to convey ideas; they must convey meaning.  If words convey no meaning, they are useless. If they convey the opposite of reality, they are deceptive and harmful!

Important considerations, which arise not only when naming organizations or alliances, but also when naming publications or Web sites.

The passage of time will once again clear the mind of unrealistic attachments and reveal the hard facts. The rather vague and sloppy idea of a traditional movement at war with modern Rome and the world has tended to pacify generations of disgruntled Catholics and given them hope that one day things will turn around. The truth is there is no unity among the aggrieved and what leaders there are display their insularity and even boast of their impotence. Resistance has become a personal internal matter rather than a flag of campaign. And dissenters are now looking like bands of unruly deserters looking for a way back to any home that gives them some security. Waterloo has come and gone.  

After Waterloo came the Napoleonic Legend and then the triumph of everything the Emperor stood for.  Perhaps we should call the Resistance by its actual name:  Pan-European Catholic Nationalism.  Catholic Rome fell to the Red Barbarians in 1944, then came some years of relative peace and the Apocalypse, the mystic death of Christianity and civilisation.  Catholic laymen who can't serve Christ the King with a rosary in one hand and a sword in the other aren't worth saving, and most likely won't be.  The "dissenters" who look like unruly bands of deserters are the lukewarm, those whom Our Lord despises most.  

They are not finding security; God is spitting them out into Everlasting Darkness.  May we not be found among them.