Catholic Candle note:  Occasionally, we analyze the liberal statements of the “new” SSPX.  Yet, someone could wonder:

 

Why mention the SSPX any longer, since they are unimportant as merely one of very many compromise groups? 

 

It is true that a priest (or group) is of small importance when he (or the group) is merely one of countless compromisers.  By contrast, an uncompromising priest is of great importance, even though he is only one.

 

However, regarding the “new” SSPX: we sometimes mention them for at least these four reasons, motivated by charity:

 

➢  New Catholic Candle readers might not be sufficiently informed of the N-SSPX’s liberalism to avoid that group.  Out of charity for them we occasionally provide these warnings to help those new readers appreciate the danger of the N-SSPX.

 

➢  Some longtime Catholic Candle readers might forget the N-SSPX poison or vacillate in their resolution to stay away from the N-SSPX, if they never received a reminder warning about the danger of the N-SSPX.  This is like the fact that all it takes for many people to become conciliar is to never be reminded about the errors of Vatican II and the conciliar church.  Out of charity for them we occasionally provide these reminders for readers who would otherwise “forget” the danger of the N-SSPX.

 

➢  The N-SSPX serves as an important study case to examine how leaving the truth often happens.  It is a warning to us all about a very common way to depart from the truth and become unfaithful.  Out of charity for ourselves we occasionally provide these insights about becoming unfaithful by taking this common road of compromise the N-SSPX is taking.

 

➢  Over time, the N-SSPX provides us with a thorough catalogue of liberal compromises and studying those compromises and errors with the contrasting Traditional Catholic truth is a helpful means of studying our Faith and guarding ourselves from the principal errors of our time.  This helps us to fulfill our duty of continually studying the doctrines of our Faith.  Out of charity for ourselves, we use the occasion of the N-SSPX’s liberalism to study our Traditional Catholic Faith better and the corresponding N-SSPX liberalism.

 

For those readers who are resolute in their determination to completely avoid all support for the N-SSPX, they can receive just as much of the substance of those Catholic Candle articles, if they substitute the phrase “a liberal could say” anytime they read “the SSPX teaches”.

 

 

The “New” SSPX (and Calvin) Teach the

Heresy of the Predestination of the Damned

Recently, the Society of St. Pius X published an article which teaches that “divine predestination includes all poor sinners”.[1]

The “new” SSPX frequently teaches heresy as if it were Catholic doctrine.  For example, in 2016, the SSPX characterized the deadly sin of presumption as if it were the Theological Virtue of Hope.[2]

We mention this recent SSPX heresy because it is an instructive contrast to the Catholic truth and further brings to mind that the heretic John Calvin taught that the wicked were predestined – a heresy which was condemned by the Council of Trent.[3]

In twenty-five words, here is the explanation of the Catholic truth which is opposed to the heresy of the SSPX and Calvin:

Predestination is God’s foreknowledge of what He Himself will do.  But sinners damn themselves.  It is not God’s work.  Thus, the damned are not predestined.

Let’s look at the explanations of three of the great Catholic Doctors:

St. Paul shows us that the saints are predestined, but not the damned (i.e., not “all poor sinners” as the SSPX says).  Below, St. Paul plainly teaches that the predestined are the saints, who from their predestination, are then “glorified”:

Whom He predestinated, them He also called.  And whom He called, them He also justified.  And whom He justified, them He also glorified.

Romans, 8:30 (emphasis added).

St. Thomas Aquinas, greatest Doctor of the Catholic Church, elaborates on this Catholic doctrine that God’s predestination is God’s foreknowledge of what He Himself will do in causing the salvation of the saints.  Here are St. Thomas’s words:

Predestination refers to a certain preordination in the soul of those to whom this is done.  God predestines from eternity the blessings He gives to His saints.  For this reason, predestination is eternal.  Predestination differs from God’s foreknowledge because foreknowledge refers only to knowing the future, whereas predestination refers to what God Himself causes in the saints.  Therefore, God foreknows concerning sinners but predestines the salvation of the saints.[4]

In other words, God foreknows that some people will damn themselves but He does not force them to commit the sins that cause them to damn themselves.  Thus, God does not predestine them. 

By contrast, God is a necessary cause bringing about the salvation of the saints and God’s work in their salvation is called “predestination”.  Thus, the saints are predestined, but not “all poor sinners” (as the SSPX heretically claims).

The great Doctor of Grace, St. Augustine, explains this Catholic doctrine the same way as St. Paul and St. Thomas, showing that every person who is predestined, goes to heaven:

Predestination is nothing else than the foreknowledge and foreordaining of those gracious gifts [that God gives] which make certain the salvation of all who are saved.[5]

Conclusion

The “new” SSPX teaches heresy when it says that God predestines “all poor sinners”.  Again, here is the explanation of the Catholic truth which is opposed to the heresy of the SSPX and Calvin:

Predestination is God’s foreknowledge of what He Himself will do.  But sinners damn themselves.  It is not God’s work.  Thus, the damned are not predestined.

If you care about your eternal salvation, do not trust the “new” SSPX’s teaching on this or other matters.