Why is Bishop Miller no longer affiliated with the SSJC?
November 18, 2002, Bishop Miller publicly left the Society. On this date he officially handed over the office of Superior General to Fr. Gregory Bellarmine, saying "With your dedication to the Tridentine Mass and the old ways of the pre-Vatican II church, you are ideally suited to be Superior General. I look forward to hearing great things concerning the Society as you take the reigns." However, we pray for his repentance and return to the Traditional Catholic Faith.

Why is there no "Mass Directory?"
Latin Rite Priests who are openly affiliated with the Society are listed in Fr. Morrisson's Worldwide Latin Mass Directory. However, the majority of others are either retired or inactive due to laicization due to factors other than moral laxity. This majority prefers to work quietly without drawing too much attention from the local diocesan. We are priests not politico's and so avoid conflict by receiving the faithful on their request rather than by attracting by advertisements, which is taken more often as a challenge to rightful authority.

What about financial considerations?
First - we are all volunteers. The Society is a way of life during the crisis, not an organization in the secular sense. We do not own property, nor desire to do so. Consistent with current Church custom, however, if you give Mass stipends, though, these remain with the clergyman who provided the service and are considered a personal donation. We are 100% pastoral.

Why are you both Latin and Eastern Rite Catholic?
To reflect the fact that the crisis is not one of medieval forms and rituals but of the teachings entrusted to the Apostles. Liturgy is an expression of instruction, and thus the Novus Ordo Mass is seriously flawed. However, the crisis is one of teaching: The Equality of All Religions, Protestantized Eucharistic Theology, Excessive Religious Liberty, Living Magisterium versus Deposit of Faith, to name a few.

This crisis is not about Latin or Greek or the local language of the people. This profound crisis is about what the Apostles received from our God and what has in key ways been replaced by Modernism and Liberalism from a hierarchy that has been disloyal to Christ for nearly 40 years!

Why not Join SSPX?
We are both a Latin Rite and an Eastern Rite Fraternity. SSPX'rs have an important charism in the resistance, but it is not ours. We believe ours is a private charism of sacrifice, while they negotiate with Rome and seem equipped to do so.

What about SSPV under Bishop Kelly?
The Mendez consecration of Mr. Kelly is often cited as suspect. We're disinclined to agree, though people are entitled to their opinions. As we are neither sedevecantist or orthopapist or even seddeprivationist, it would be inappropriate to join the SSPV for us.

Are your priests allowed to marry?
No, a single priest may never validly contract a marriage. But a married man may become a priest. Tradition and church law avers that no Latin Rite priest may validly marry after having received Holy Orders. However, consistent with current and ancient Canon Law, married men of the Eastern Catholic Rites may be ordained to the priesthood, and so celebrate the Divine Liturgy according to their tradition. As well, ministerial converts from other Christian denominations may retain their married state but are encouraged wherever possible to use the Anglican Rite missal.

In a Papal Encyclical entitled "Ad catholici Sacerdotii" dated December 20, 1935, Pope Pius XI said of the married priesthood of the Eastern Rite, "We do not wish that what We said in commendation of clerical celibacy should be interpreted as though it were Our mind in any way to blame, or, as it were, disapprove the different discipline legitimately prevailing in the Oriental Church." Likewise we in no way disapprove of what the Popes themselves approve as legitimate.

Are the married priests continent?
The fact is that the issue is not being single, but engaging in sexual activity after having given one's life to Christ in the permanent bond of Sacred Orders.

In the Summa Theologica, which was placed alongside the Holy Scriptures at the Council of Trent, the great St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that, "Religious are bound to continence like those who are in sacred orders. But a man may enter religion after marriage, if his wife die, or if she consent. Therefore he can also receive orders. Further, a man may become a man's bondsman after marriage. Therefore he can become a bondsman of God by receiving order . . . Marriage is not an impediment to the receiving of sacred orders, since if a married man receive sacred orders, even though his wife be unwilling, he receives the character of order: but he lacks the exercise of his order. If, however, his wife consent, or if she be dead, he receives both the order and the exercise."

In sum, the Church believes that sexual activity is the issue not the state of being married. A priest's wife must consent to Order, or he cannot exercise it licitly. Also, the married priest gives up the right to expect sexual engagement.

Is the Society an authentically Catholic Organization?
Most definitely, from both a legal and doctrinal point of view. Canonically, the Society receives jurisdiction to administer the sacraments only as an automatic act of canon law provides - real and verifiable necessity - and never steps out of the clearly defined boundaries of action. Doctrinally, the Society rests on the foundation of Catholic Tradition unblemished by Modernism. Founded as a quiet refuge from the torrent of errors propagated by liberals since the Second Vatican Council, the Society's clergy offer one of the few havens left for those seeking the Catholic Faith they grew up practicing.

What is the main purpose of the Society?
Bishop Miller founded the Society for two reasons: the preservation of the traditional Roman Catholic Faith and to offer spiritual sacrifices to free the Holy See from the false gospels of Liberalism and Modernism.

Under the guidance of the present Superior General the Society has focused its efforts on liberating the Holy See by spiritual sacrifice, especially through the mass and works of mercy. We offer all these spiritual goods toward the restoration of the Church in Rome and elsewhere. Our masses, then, are celebrated privately so as not to give even the appearance of schism. The right to say mass privately versus publicly is a right retained by all priests, whether "retired" or "laicized." To celebrate public masses is a privilege reserved to parish priests alone.

Are the members of the Society excommunicated?
No, the Society is not excommunicated. According to Canon Law:
1. If a person violates a law out of necessity, even
if in fact there is no true state of necessity, he is not subject to penalty according to the following conditions (canon 1323, 4).
a) If one inculpably thought there was one, he would not incur any penalty (canon 1324, 7),
b) Even if one culpably thought there was one, he would still not incur any automatic penalties (canon 1324, 3; 1, 8).
2) No action incurs a penalty unless it is knowingly and willfully a mortal sin (canons 1321, 1, 1323 7). We make it manifest that we are bound in conscience to preserve the traditional priesthood, which would be impossible if there were no active Traditional Priests. Under the law, even if we are wrong, there is no subjective sin on our part and therefore no penalty.
3) Ecclesiastical law is subordinate to divine law just as positive law is subordinate to the eternal law. The Pope or the Roman Curia have no more authority to demand that a bishop compromise his Faith than a father has to demand a sinful act from his child. Since `the way one prays is the way one believes(lex orandi, lex credendi), changing the Mass and the Sacraments can only result in a change of belief. An angel from heaven would not have the power to oblige any bishop to act contrary to the unchanging Faith (cf Gal I:8); on the contrary, as a pastor of souls, such a bishop is under the grave obligation to defend it.

In disobeying the Pope, does not the Society by that very fact become schismatic?
Not at all. We do not disobey a Pope who is not the Pope at all. Our position is that although the Chair of Peter is materially occupied, a notorious and unrepentant heretic is by definition outside the Church. By extension one who is outside the church is a non-Catholic, and non-Catholics can in no way become the Pope!

We cannot disobey what isn't there. We conclude as with others that the Vatican and its hierarchs are no longer part of the Catholic Church. They may have the buildings but we have the Faith, and thus they are outside and we still within. Thus we remain in obedience to the Faith, rather than to the novelties of men.

Then is the Society in good standing with Rome?
Certainly yes, if one is referring to the Apostolic and Eternal Rome. And a qualified yes if one is referring to a temporal city that sometimes seems more remote from the needs of the faithful with each passing day.

What is to be done in the meantime?
"Is it Tradition? Ask no more." This is the admonition of the great Church Father, St. John Chrysostom. With these words to inspire us, we must do precisely that; and by so doing we will avoid the major errors of our times: False Ecumenism and Secular Humanism. By holding firm to Tradition, the Society will act as a refuge for all who are looking for the Truth, pure and unadulterated, and who can find no comfort in the chaos of the Conciliar and post-Conciliar reforms.