I sincerely hope that Bishop Felay is just posturing, but will in the end be humble enough to accept the authority of the Pope, and trust that if the he does, the Pope, as a good father will lift the excommunications. Judging from their website and their Q&As for Catholics, I am not hopeful considering one of the “new” items added to this section is entitled “Is it true to say that now there is a “conciliar” Church?” or articles like “Is it possible to say that the post-Conciliar Church is a new religion, and if so, how can it be considered as Catholic?” With these articles still up on their main site, I am not hopeful the SSPX as a whole will reconcile even if Bishop Felay does reconcile. This is sad, as I think the Church as a whole could only benefit from their full reunion.

You could be quite right, DJB, that the present SSPX leaders prefer their podiums to the possibility of reconciliation. I hope you’re not, obviously, but I worry. It’s a dangerous thing, letting oneself get high on the intoxicating thrill of leading rebellion, and we can definitely see some of that in the SSPX. Martin Luther began his rebellion with fear and trembling, shedding many tears for the dreadful thing he was about to do. But by the time the movement began gathering steam, he began to like it more and more until he had no qualms about marrying an ex-nun or boldly labeleing the pontiff “the antichrist.” When you look at a figure like Williamson… he doesn’t appear to be shedding too many tears over the breach with Rome, does he? Quite the contrary, he seems quite satisfied with himself and his present position. I often think that the parallels between the early Lutherans and the SSPX are rather striking.