Archdiocese bans schismatic sect from Denver churches

CNA ^ | August 27, 2007

[NYer]

Denver, Aug 27, 2007 / 10:38 am (CNA).- Members of the schismatic Society of St. Pius X complied with directives from the Archdiocese of Denver on Saturday, banning them from praying in two Denver churches.

Since 1999, members of St. Isidore the Farmer Church in Watkins, Colorado have embarked on a 50-mile walking pilgrimage to Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden, Colorado to thank God for the completion of their church.

In the past, the pilgrims stopped along the route to pray and rest in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception or Holy Ghost Church, both in downtown Denver.

However, the last several years, parishioners from the two churches complained that the pilgrims were leaving behind Pius X literature and trying to recruit members, communications director Jeanette DeMelo told Rocky Mountain News.

In 2002, Archbishop Charles Chaput put an end to these pilgrims celebrating their Mass at the Cabrini shrine because of the group has split from the Roman Catholic Church. Since then, the pilgrims have celebrated their Mass at the highway turnout below the shrine.

The Vatican has determined that the Society of St. Pius X is schismatic based on its adherence to a 16th-century version of the Latin Mass, its rejection of the Second Vatican Council, and in some cases, their rejection of the authority of the Pope.

[Tax-chick]

So you think they’d welcome me to make a return visit if I dropped off some excerpts from the Westminster Confession, perhaps from Chapter 25 or 29.

LOL! That would be very bad manners, which is what this dispute is really about. I think any church should be open to anyone who wants to visit it when it's open, as long as the person behaves politely. It is polite to sit silently and pray. It is not polite to distribute literature.

[bboop]

We were in Denver over the weekend, attended the Sunday evening mass with Chaput presiding. He is such a good man. Beautiful cathedral, too. It made us (under Mahoney’s shadow here in LA) want to move there.

[topher]

About 7 years back, the Pius X group in Atlanta advertised their church as a Catholic Church in the Phone Book. I complained to the phone company about them being put in the Catholic Section.

This was also not much of a church -- they had mass at a hotel...