CathInfo.com

NOTE: This is purely a hypothetical scenario. I have no intention to demean Independent priests, or to infer that they are any more likely per-capita to offer sloppy Masses than priests belonging to some other organization.

An SSPX priest offering a meticulous, liturgically perfect High Mass at St. Isidore's (a building that was built by Trads, and looks like an actual church) with top-notch equipment, plenty of servers who practice regularly, accompanied by a beautiful well-rehearsed schola of 12 men, surrounded by 500 Faithful and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of art, statues, architecture...

...is in the same canonical status, and is just as "disobedient", as ...

some laid-back "independent priest" saying Mass quickly and/or sloppily in a hotel or garage with poor/minimal equipment, using a single altar server who barely knows the responses, for a single family of 5.


Both operate under supplied jurisdiction and are 100% -- not 90%, 99% or 99.9% -- as legitimate as each other.

Let that sink in. Some SSPXers really need to internalize this truth!

You are absolutely right and how I wish parishioners at Our Lady of Sorrows in Phx would see that. 

If they would remove their rose colored sspx issued glasses long enough to see the truth maybe they would seek out a independent priest or pool the money they withheld to start a new community. There are options out there

I would go as far as saying that the independent Priest and Mass you described is far more pleasing to God then a Mass with all the bells and smells said in a church built on a foundation of lies,deceit,theft and intimidation.  

Matthew:
I have no problem personally with Matthew's assessment.  But it would be interesting to hear reaction from X to his comments on this thread.

Oh, you're talking about the "should we start a large SSPX replacement organization, or do the loose association of independent priests thing".

If it makes you or others feel better, you can replace "independent" with "SAJM", "MC-SPX", "traditional religious congregation not in union with the SSPX", "Resistance", "SSPV", etc.

I'm purposely passing over the issue that strictly speaking, there should be no "independent" priests. A priest is fundamentally a bishop's helper. The Crisis in the Church doesn't change that. We can't throw Canon Law completely to the wind just because the Church is in crisis.

Therefore, any Trad priest has the obligation to seek out a faithful Trad bishop and place himself under him. It is only when such isn't available (not locally, not in your country, not worldwide) then you can operate completely on your own. But who qualifies for that today? There are at least 4 faithful bishops out there. Any priest choosing to be his own highest authority is doing it for selfish and base reasons. Each priest needs to work with and under SOME bishop, even if his apostolate appears to be quite independent on the surface.