The Cranky Professor

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January 28, 2009

So WHERE is the SSPX in America? How many masses do they say they say?

I've blogged in the past about the coffee problem chez Tinkler. Well, this morning my parents are off to a doctor's appointment leaving me with ALL the coffee in the second pot! Bwah hah hah!

In my caffeine induced state of well-being, I got to thinking about the SSPX in America. I had never actually looked to see in detail what they say they are doing and where they say they are. So I checked here - on their own Chapels of the SSPX in the USA page. Since they want to maximize attendance we have to assume that this is a regularly updated list - and at the bottom of the page we see 2009.

I did some counting and find:

97 places with Mass scheduled at least once a month
16 places with priories or priests' residences
3 places with daily and Sunday masses but no listed priory or residence
50 places with Sunday Masses (and perhaps another day or two). I didn't see any places with weekly Masses where there wasn't a Sunday Mass - but I may well have missed some.

I put my list into the extended entry. Click on the "continue reading" link at the bottom if you're interested.

This information is interesting in case of a corporate reunion with the Roman Catholic Church - there will be a lot of complications over what Cardinal Ricard described as "the integration of the juridical structure of the Fraternity of St. Pius X in the Church." In other words, if and when there were to be a entry into full communion, under what circumstances will they be allowed by local bishops to work in a particular diocese.

That will be a difficult process.

Though I pray everything will go smoothly, I won't be surprised if some priests and even whole congregations refuse to go along.

Compare the 16 priories and 3 places with daily Mass with this map I did back in the Fall (and haven't updated since November - has anything changed lately?) of the residences of priests (etc, etc) who say Mass in the Extraordinary Form. That is to say, most (if not all) of these places also have daily Mass according to the books in use in 1962. Looks to me as though there are more of them than there are of the SSPX.

All of this is based on self-reporting, but there you go. I'm an amateur.

Posted by CrankyProfessor at January 28, 2009 9:33 AM