I know I don't normally post or ask for rumors on CathInfo, but I'll make an exception this once. Just to be clear: I'm distinguishing this from just about everything else in this subforum, which is substantiated fact and first-hand report.

In other words, when it's a rumor, don't worry: I'll call it a rumor.


There is a persistent rumor coming out of Ireland and Scotland that:

"there's a meeting just now, or soon, in Canada with Frs. Schmidberger, Pfluger and the Society of St. Peter to work out the merger of both groups.  If true, they have kept it very quiet."

1. This is a rumor
2. It's pretty fantastical

So does anyone know if this can be A) substantiated or B) proven false? Or is it one of those rumors that conveniently can't be proven one way or the other?

Considering it is already solidly known that the SSPX is heading towards a sort of merger with Rome to become like the Society of St. Peter, I see nothing wrong with presenting a "rumor" that they would actually merge with that society. It doesn't even really have to be a rumor because one could legitimately give that a raw speculation.

Considering what is already known, I don't consider the rumor fantastical.

Additionally, I would expect something like this as being likely, considering the SSPX just built a VERY expensive seminary in Virginia and they wouldn't have done so unless they were sure they would be able to fill it....which is coming up next year.

It all fits together.

Obviously, it can't be proven false.  Even if Frs. Schmidberger and Pfluger can be proven not to be in Canada, "soon" is in the future and, by its very nature, future events cannot be proven false.

If it is true, it will be proven true when the announcement is made that the two groups are merging in some manner.  What do think the name of the (rumored) merged organization would be?  Would it be:

1.  Society of St. Pius X (SSPX).
2.  Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP).
3.  Society of the Priestly Fraternity of Sts. Peter and Pius X (SPFSPPX).
4.  Ecclesia Dei Society of St. John Paul II (EDSSJP2-We Luv You).

I vote for rumored name #4.

Who sent you this information?

Where did that person get his info from?

What led him to believe that what he was told was true?

Why did this rumor come out of Scotland and Ireland?

Why are Frs. Schmidberge and Pfluger meeting in Canada? Wouldn't Europe be a more fitting place? I don't think the FSSP has much of a presence in Canada.

This only serves to confuse matters and disturb people's emotions.

Last week a friend from Saint Mary's,KS told me that on the grounds there was held a fund raiser with the local KofC and SSPX collecting $$ for St. Peter Soc; said that's   how it was announced. Don't know anymore.

Remember that the FSSP was founded in 1988 by a dozen or so priests of the SSPX, led by Fr. Bisig, who didn't want to accept the consecrations of 4 bishops by Abp Lefebvre, as they thought it would lead to a schism, and they feared the whole SSPX would be excommunicated. They thought the protocol of May 1988 was good enough.

Now, it is very possible that Rome has "lowered"  the level of their conditions to an agreement with the SSPX, compared to those presented to +Fellay on June 13 2012. Then the main condition was an outright full acceptance of Vatican II and the actual magisterium.

Maybe now Rome is agreeing with +Fellay who said the "problems" the SSPX has with VII could be discussed and resolved AFTER an agreement. Maybe Rome is also saying: If we recognize the SSPX and give it a status of personal prelature, thus having the SSPX going BACK to Rome, then FSSP should go BACK to the SSPX.

Rome would present this as a practical consequence of an agreement with SSPX because, basically, the FSSP has houses that are always in the same locations than the SSPX. So why have two official and recognized traditional Societies in the same towns? It would be a waste of manpower! Therefore, Rome is saying: Let us merge both Societies, and go back to the situation before June 30, 1988, and have ONE big happy family. The merger would also allow the new Society to sell properties where FSSP and SSPX used to have one each, and use the money to open houses where there was nobody before. This would expand the presence of Tradition in the whole world.

I can very well see +Fellay fall for these arguments. As for FSSP, it might be a bit more difficult to swallow, but they will have the prospect of having their priests ordained by surely validly consecrated bishops. Moreover, maybe Rome will even propose that the FSSP superior would be consecrated by the 3 SSPX bishops, so as to replace +Williamson. With the worlwide expansion caused by the merger, four bishops would not be too great a number to satisfy the needs of the faithful.

With these reasons and proposals, it is possible Rome will succeed to obtain the merger, especially if she makes it the only condition to an agreement with SSPX. If the SSPX accepts the idea of such a merger, Rome could go to FSSP and threaten them with suppression if they don't agree. Rome would say: How dare you put an obstacle to such an agreement with SSPX? How dare you refuse to help heal and close the wound opened in 1988? Besides, the reason you had to leave the SSPX in 1988 does not exist anymore, you have to go back to it!

In other words, even if the rumor is false, this scenario is very plausible, and even probable. Come to think about it, I think this scenario will HAVE TO HAPPEN if the SSPX accepts an agreement with Rome.

And the result of such a merger will of course be a catastrophe for Tradition! Indeed, the conservative elements still belonging to the SSPX would be swamped by all those priests and seminarians and faithful who have been steeped in liberalism since 1988!

Very quickly, with the new assignments that would follow the merger, the SSPX faithful would lose track of many of the priests, and they will never be sure if this or that priest they never saw before is originally from the SSPX or the FSSP. I doubt the former FSSP priests would accept to be conditionally re-ordained. Hence: A big problem!

The advantage of a merger for +Fellay, besides a financial gain coming from the sale of useless properties, would be that the arrival of so many FSSP priests and seminarians and faithful would more than offset the number of those leaving the SSPX to join the "Resistance".

The more I think about it, the more this scenario looks like the thing Rome and +Fellay would want to do, and FSSP would not have much of a choice. They surely would not want to become "vagi" and without jurisdiction and all that...

Rumours usually start with a grain of truth.

That being said, it sounds perfectly logical if the SSPX goes with Rome that the SSPX and the Fraternity of St. Peter would be combined under a new title and put under the Diocesan bishops, (just like the Transalpine Redemptorists).

A personal prelature is only a dream.  The NO bishops wouldn't have it.
In Canada the two Fraternities already are located close to each other in the diocese with one having a church and the other perhaps sharing space with N.O. parish.

The SSPX and the Fraternity have been friendly for the past year or so, so I think it's a probability if the SSPX goes with Rome.

This would not be surprising. I was told the same thing by a district superior of the SSPX in 2001 when there was also a plan for merger in the air. The district superior had just been told this by Bishop Fellay. Fellay apparently had been speaking with the Romans about a deal. One thing that was emphasized was that Rome would  not make a deal with the SSPX unless ALL the bishops of the SSPX "came in" to the Conciliar Church --- this seemed like, at the time, as the MAJOR stumbling block to an accord. The deal was portrayed as a universal traditional personal prelature. When bishop Fellay asked the Romans --- I think it was Cardinal Hoyos -- "What will happen then to the Fraternity of St. Peter?" Cardinal Hoyos said, "They will be under YOU!"
I can assure you that this actually happened. Now there is certainly less opposition in the SSPX to it then there was in 2001.