Catholic Candle note: The article below is an update of an article and data about the plummeting SSPX totals from its “rosary crusades”, comparing 2009, to 2016, and now in 2021.

 

 

 

St. Paul infallibly teaches us: “without Faith, it is impossible to please God.”  Hebrews, 11:6.  Therefore, without faith, no piety pleases God or can be a true piety.

 

There is no true Faith outside the Catholic Church.  Therefore, there can be no true piety outside the Catholic Church. 

 

As a person’s Faith weakens, so does his piety, diminishing his prayer life.  Our Lord told us that strong prayers require strong Faith and that strengthening our Faith will strengthen our prayers.  Here are His words:

 

If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, “Remove from hence hither”, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you.

 

St. Matthew’s Gospel, ch.17, v.19.

 

Just as our prayers become stronger when our Faith becomes stronger, likewise our prayers weaken when our Faith weakens.

 

The “old” SSPX recognized this obvious correlation, when discussing the conciliar church.  For example, in 2002, the SSPX said (regarding the use of the rosary in the conciliar church): “the rosary … has fallen into disuse and even contempt”.[1]

 

Of course, this decline in prayer took time among conciliar Catholics, just as their decline in Faith also took time.  Nonetheless, their decline in piety and prayer was inevitable, given their decline in Faith.

 

This same decline in Faith and piety is now occurring in the “new” SSPX, although (of course) this takes time and the decline still has far to go.  The decline of Faith is chronicled in Catholic Candle[2] and elsewhere.  Similarly, the corresponding decline of piety is palpable in every “new” SSPX parish, although in some more than others (as was similarly true among conciliar parishes in the 1970s).

 

One measure of the “new” SSPX’s overall decline in piety, is the tally of the latest rosary crusade:

 

➢  During the latest 4¼ month rosary crusade in the U.S. District (from November 21, 2020 through April 1, 2021)[3] the “new” SSPX claims its followers said 282,508 rosaries.[4]  If we multiply this by three, it would give us the approximate annual rate of 847,524.  

 

➢  Compare this to the 2016 one-year rosary crusade (beginning in August 2016), when the SSPX U.S. District tallied approximately 1.5 Million rosaries.[5]

 

➢  Compare that to the one-year rosary crusade (beginning May 2009), when the same U.S. District tallied approximately 5.5 Million rosaries.[6]

 

➢  In other words, after the weakening of the Faith within the SSPX, especially since 2012, SSPX followers prayed the rosary in 2020-2021 at a monthly rate which was a little more than half (56.5%) of the rate in 2016 and only roughly one seventh (15.4%) the monthly rate of 2009!

 

 

To our readers who still attend the “new” SSPX chapels:

 

Are you worried and scared?  Are you afraid to forgo sacraments that are frequent and relatively easy to obtain?  If you leave the “new” SSPX, do you fear you will lose whatever piety and prayer life you have?

 

The opposite is true!  If you stand up for the Faith and reject compromise and liberalism, God will strengthen your Faith and your piety, as He does for all Catholics who stand up for Him! 

 

If you put the Faith first and thus stand against compromise and liberalism, God will strengthen your Faith because you put it (and Him) first and act by the light of your Faith, by shunning the evils you now silently tolerate.

 

Likewise, because your prayer life and piety grow proportionately with your Faith (as shown above), you will improve your prayer life without those compromise sacraments you now receive from the “new” SSPX and which you dread forsaking.

 

If you stay in the (new) SSPX, your Faith and piety will inevitably atrophy, just as even the staunchest conciliar Catholics inescapably weakened.

 

The most important thing you can do for your piety and prayer life, is to leave the “new” liberal SSPX and its sacraments!  Do it now!