Letter from Salzburg
During what was likely his last pilgrimage to the Black Madonna, the "heart of Bavaria" at Altoetting, Don Capisco paid a visit to Salzburg during the Festival Weeks in order to visit the exhibition of Mozart's church music compositions in the Cathedral Museum. (It was an excellent display, well thought out and executed, with a first cflass catalogue containing several very good articles, published by Carus in Stuttgart.)
Of particular interest to readers of this blog and to members of the CMAA in general, was a short announcement in the official "Gazette of the Archdiocese of Salzburg" which follows in English translation from the 'Verordnungsblatt der Erzdioezese Salzburg' no. 5 (5 May 2006) page 85, under the heading '53. Priestly Fraternity of St Pius X : Information." Here the text...
According to an authoritative statement from the Pontifical Commission 'Ecclesia Dei, ' the following points regarding the Priestly Fraternity of St Pius X are, from a juridical point of view, indisputable facts :
-- the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988 (here follow the four names) are excommunicated. Priests ordained within the Fraternity are suspended for lack of a valid incardination.
-- Regarding the faithful who sympathise with the SSPX, we must insist that a) we are dealing with Catholic faithful who -- provided they have performed no explicit actions -- in no way wish to leave the Roman Catholic Church; b) attending Masses celebrated by priests of the SSPX is not in itself a delict and does not bring about excommunication; c) only those of the faithful who see the SSPX as the only true church, and who make this visible externally, incur the penalty of excommunication; d) it is consequently not at all appropriate to regard as non-Catholic the children baptised in the chapels of the SSPX, and to treat their marriages to another Catholic as mixed marriages; e) when baptism by a priest of the SSPX is attested in writing and the parents of the newly baptised do not see the SSPX as the only true church, then this attestation sufficews for registration of the baptism in the Liber Baptizatorum of the parish of baptism, under the running number 0. On the basis of this registration, a baptismal certificate can be issued.
The earlier edict concerning marriage to a Catholic who was baptised in an SSPX chapel (see below) is to be applied only if the Catholic thus baptised sees in the SSPX the only true church and who makes this visible externally.
In order to prevent misunderstandings, the Archiepiscopal Chancery Office will examine each case individually.
From the Archiepiscopal Chancery, on 10 May 2006. Protocol number 579/06. (Thus far the official text.)
The background is interesting, to say the least. Several months earlier the same Chancery Office in Salzburg had published (in the Verordnungsblatt 2006, page 126) an edict according to which persons baptised by an SSPX priest were "non-Roman Catholic Christians" who, in the event of marriage to a Catholic, were to be treated as though they were entering a "mixed marriage."
The archdiocesan functionaries responsible for the official Salzburg Gazette are Chancellor Dr Hansjoerg Hofer and Vicar General Dr Johann Reissmeier. The Liber Baptizatorum is the official registry document which proves membership of the Roman Catholic church (canon 535 CJC/1983). Since this new edict was published after a communication from the Ecclesia Dei Commission, it may be regarded as the official view of the Holy See. The rather forced and clumsy reservation clause (only when baptised persons "see in the SSPX the only true Church and make this visible externally" is a "mixed marriage" judgement appropriate) should rather be regarded as an attempt to veil at least in part the embarrassing earlier statements of the Chancery.
And course one will be permitted to wonder what it will actually look like when one of the faithful "makes visible externally" his conviction that the SSPX is the only true Church...will he perhaps have to parade in front of the Cathedral in a sandwich board saying : "RC Church : NOT TRUE CHURCH"?
In any event, the Salzburg Chancery Office is not to be envied for its self-appointed task of examining "each individual case" by itself...."
Of particular interest to readers of this blog and to members of the CMAA in general, was a short announcement in the official "Gazette of the Archdiocese of Salzburg" which follows in English translation from the 'Verordnungsblatt der Erzdioezese Salzburg' no. 5 (5 May 2006) page 85, under the heading '53. Priestly Fraternity of St Pius X : Information." Here the text...
According to an authoritative statement from the Pontifical Commission 'Ecclesia Dei, ' the following points regarding the Priestly Fraternity of St Pius X are, from a juridical point of view, indisputable facts :
-- the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988 (here follow the four names) are excommunicated. Priests ordained within the Fraternity are suspended for lack of a valid incardination.
-- Regarding the faithful who sympathise with the SSPX, we must insist that a) we are dealing with Catholic faithful who -- provided they have performed no explicit actions -- in no way wish to leave the Roman Catholic Church; b) attending Masses celebrated by priests of the SSPX is not in itself a delict and does not bring about excommunication; c) only those of the faithful who see the SSPX as the only true church, and who make this visible externally, incur the penalty of excommunication; d) it is consequently not at all appropriate to regard as non-Catholic the children baptised in the chapels of the SSPX, and to treat their marriages to another Catholic as mixed marriages; e) when baptism by a priest of the SSPX is attested in writing and the parents of the newly baptised do not see the SSPX as the only true church, then this attestation sufficews for registration of the baptism in the Liber Baptizatorum of the parish of baptism, under the running number 0. On the basis of this registration, a baptismal certificate can be issued.
The earlier edict concerning marriage to a Catholic who was baptised in an SSPX chapel (see below) is to be applied only if the Catholic thus baptised sees in the SSPX the only true church and who makes this visible externally.
In order to prevent misunderstandings, the Archiepiscopal Chancery Office will examine each case individually.
From the Archiepiscopal Chancery, on 10 May 2006. Protocol number 579/06. (Thus far the official text.)
The background is interesting, to say the least. Several months earlier the same Chancery Office in Salzburg had published (in the Verordnungsblatt 2006, page 126) an edict according to which persons baptised by an SSPX priest were "non-Roman Catholic Christians" who, in the event of marriage to a Catholic, were to be treated as though they were entering a "mixed marriage."
The archdiocesan functionaries responsible for the official Salzburg Gazette are Chancellor Dr Hansjoerg Hofer and Vicar General Dr Johann Reissmeier. The Liber Baptizatorum is the official registry document which proves membership of the Roman Catholic church (canon 535 CJC/1983). Since this new edict was published after a communication from the Ecclesia Dei Commission, it may be regarded as the official view of the Holy See. The rather forced and clumsy reservation clause (only when baptised persons "see in the SSPX the only true Church and make this visible externally" is a "mixed marriage" judgement appropriate) should rather be regarded as an attempt to veil at least in part the embarrassing earlier statements of the Chancery.
And course one will be permitted to wonder what it will actually look like when one of the faithful "makes visible externally" his conviction that the SSPX is the only true Church...will he perhaps have to parade in front of the Cathedral in a sandwich board saying : "RC Church : NOT TRUE CHURCH"?
In any event, the Salzburg Chancery Office is not to be envied for its self-appointed task of examining "each individual case" by itself...."
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