Bishop Williamson said that SSPX has "supplied jurisdiction". [....] He said that SSPX has no power to keep people as members of their chapels. [....] Logical conclusion: SSPX has an agreement with Rome and keeps it secret OR they are lying about having the authority to demand census cards be filled out.
Being an outsider, I can't claim any, um,
sensus SSPXus, but couldn't this "
census" be more readily explained as an attempt to bluff attendees of SSPX Masses and recipients of SSPX sacraments into providing docuмents that can be used as a basis for follow-on,
ummm, "
requests" for
donations?
Some
Novus Ordo parishes seem to have abandoned all subtlety, e.g., annually supplying parishoners-of-record with preaddressed envelopes bearing individually-
identifying bar-codes [‡], to be used for regularly mailing donations to their parish. I believe that I've even seen mention of a concept of being
behind schedule on contributions, but perhaps that was in the context of tuition for a parochial school.
There is a fundamental prohibition in Canon Law on any
quid pro quo in which a donation is treated by clergy as a
requirement for reception of the sacraments [†]. How close the modernized process approaches a violation of Canon Law is an issue that I'll leave to be debated by
CathIinfo members who are more familiar with Canon Law than I am.[
*]
-------
Note
*: 1917/1918
C.I.C. compilation of Pius "SS
PX" X via Benedict
XV, please.
Note ‡: Some privacy could be maintained for parishoners if there were no human-readable return addresses on those envelopes. But placing cash into a traditional long-handled collection basket preserves privacy even more effectively, and doesn't depend on parish employees or volunteers meticulously following a parish's privacy rules.
Note †: I assume that this was a reform at the Council of Trent that was motivated by the "indulgences" scandal that fueled early antiCatholic preaching during the Protestant-Revolt.