Society Of Saint Pius X in Canada, Winnipeg, MB

Archbishop Lefebvre founded the Society in light of a twofold purpose: the preservation of the Priesthood and Tradition, and the sanctification of souls. "At the hour of my death, when Our Lord asks me: 'what have you done with your episcopate, what have you done with your episcopal and priestly grace'? I do not want to hear from His lips those terrible words, ‘You have helped to destroy the Church along with the rest of them'" Schism denotes the refusal to recognize the Pope’s authority. But disobedience of a command does not mean that the authority of the one commanding is being denied. A simple example is that of a disobedient child. Although the child refuses to obey his parents, he is not denying that they are his parents. Consecrating bishops without pontifical mandate would only have been a schismatic act, if, along with the full priestly powers of Holy Orders, the Archbishop had pretended to confer the power of jurisdiction, namely, the governing power over a particular flock. As regards the standing of those faithful who attend the Mass and receive the Sacraments confected by Society priests, we refer them to a case in Hawaii in 1991. On May 1, Bishop Ferrario ‘excommunicated’ some faithful in his diocese for attending the Mass of a Society priest and receiving confirmation from a Society bishop. This decision was overturned by Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: From the examination of the case "…it did not result that the fact as referred to in the above-mentioned decree, are formal schismatic acts in the strict sense, as they do not constitute the offense of schism; and therfore the Congregation holds that the Decree of May 1, 1991, lacks foundation and hence validity" (June 28, 1993).