Neither Schismatic Nor Disobedient?
Neither Schismatic Nor Disobedient? A layman tries to understand this summer’s events Since the first of July, when four men were consecrated bishops at Écône without the mandate of the Roman Pontiff and against his explicit and public plea, one question has sat at the center of the discussion among Catholics. Is the Society of Saint Pius X now in schism, or has it merely been disobedient? Rome has said schism. 1 The Society has answered, firmly and repeatedly, that it is neither schismatic nor disobedient, that it has at most declined a single unjust command for the good of souls and that a genuine love of the papacy survives the whole affair intact. I am a layman. I have no authority to settle the matter and no wish to pretend otherwise. But a layman still owes the Church the effort of understanding, and the argument the Society is making is a serious one that deserves to be met on its merits rather than shouted down. So I have tried to work through it...
