and work of the Society of Saint Pius X is the problem of jurisdiction. Do priests of
the Society of Saint Pius X have jurisdiction? This is the question we are going to answer
in this video. The crisis currently affecting the Church
really justifies and even necessitates traditional priests to fulfill their duties even without
ordinary jurisdiction. Every member of the Church has the right to
receive from it the doctrine and the sacraments necessary for salvation.
If the normal hierarchy
- pastor, bishop, etc. - Do not fulfill its duty, the faithful find themselves in a state
of necessity that allows them to have recourse to any Catholic priest. Because of the necessity,
this priest then receives from the Church what is called supplied jurisdiction, in order
to minister to the faithful. In the current crisis, supplied jurisdiction
empowers traditional priests to hear the confessions of penitents, to marry those who request it,
etc.
These are often Catholics who otherwise would not depend on these priests. That is
why there is no doubt about the validity of such confessions or marriages: Canon Law allows
for such emergency measures. By virtue of his ordination, a priest can
bless all things and even consecrate bread and wine so that they become the very Body
and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. But whenever in his ministry he has to deal authoritatively
with people, he needs, over and above the power of Orders, that of Jurisdiction, which
empowers him to judge and rule his flock.
Jurisdiction is, moreover, necessary for the
validity itself of the sacraments of the penance and matrimony. Now, the sacraments were given by Our Lord
as the ordinary and principal means of salvation and sanctification. The Church, therefore,
whose supreme law is the salvation of souls wants the ready availability of these sacraments,
especially penance. The Church wants priests and empowers them liberally to hear confessions.
This jurisdiction to hear confessions is to be revoked only for a grave reason.
Jurisdiction
is ordinarily given by a mandate from the Pope or diocesan bishop, or perhaps delegated
by the parish priest. The priests of the Society of Saint Pius X
do not have jurisdiction in this way. Extraordinarily, however, the Church supplies jurisdiction
without passing by the constituted authorities. This is foreseen in the Code of Canon Law.
Therefore, the Church, wanting the ready availability
of penance, extraordinarily supplies jurisdiction in view of the needs of her children, and
it is granted all the more liberally the greater their need. Now, the nature of the present
crisis in the Church is such that the faithful can on good grounds feel it a moral impossibility
to approach priests having ordinary jurisdiction. And so, whenever the faithful need the graces
of penance and want to receive them from priests whose judgment and advice they can trust,
they can do so, even if the priests do not ordinarily have jurisdiction. Even a suspended
or excommunicated priest can do this for the faithful who ask for any just cause whatsoever
in the words of Canon Law.
This is even more the case if a faithful Catholic can foresee
his being deprived of the true sacrament of penance from priests with ordinary jurisdiction
until he dies. Only God knows when this crisis will end. The extraordinary form for marriages is foreseen
in canon 1116, paragraph 1. If a man and woman cannot approach their parish priest without
serious inconvenience and they may consider as such his insistence on having the Novus
Ordo Missae for the wedding, or their apprehensions concerning his moral teaching in marriage
instructions - and if they foresee these circumstances to last for at least a month, then they can
marry before another priest (e.G., A priest of the Society of Saint Pius X) if possible.
Even if one were to consider the above arguments as only probable, then jurisdiction would
still be certainly supplied by the Church (Canon 144).
And so we must answer affirmatively:
Traditional priests do have a jurisdiction that is neither territorial nor personal but
supplied in view of the needs of the faithful in a state of necessity. This interesting question, so important in
the present crisis in the church, deserves a complete episode in another series. For further understanding and insight on this
question, we recommend watching the DVD: Archbishop LefebvreA Documentary, which can be found
at Angeluspress.Org Another great source we recommend is Supplied
Jurisdiction by Bishop Tissier de Mallerais and Validity of Confessions and Marriages
in the SSPX a canonical study by Father Ramon Angles, also available at Angeluspress.Org To learn more, go to sspx.Org and subscribe
to our email list..
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