You go much much much further than what Cdl Hoyos has said about parishoners that go to SSPX chapels. Again, I do not care for Bp. Williamson and his cult of personality that has developed within the English speaking world of the SSPX, in fact I despise it.
That said, if I was in a diocese where those in authority were quite malformed, such as Cdl. Mahoney and his neighbor, Bp. Todd Brown, I would not even give a second thought about going to a SSPX or non sede "independent" chapel. "Authority" only goes so far when those in authority are questionable. I know you blackelk, cant quite seem to fathom that, but the current state of the church is quite ugly, and I will not put my soul, much less the souls of any children I may have, in grave danger by getting angry at heresy from the pulpit and sub Methodist liturgy.
Sorry to say BlackElk, its not quite a black and white situation, and the problem with so many "conservative" Catholics is they have authority be the end all be all, I am not one for primacy of concience, and ones concience has to be formed with church teachings, the dogmas and doctrines, and if there is an emergency situation, then some measures have to be taken. You may not like it, but the laity that go to SSPX chapels are not excommunicated(except in the Lincoln diocese, and that diocese has as a default reverent novus orders and is very generous with indults), nor has Rome taken any formal measure to excommunicate the laity that attend SSPX chapels, and I need not remind you of the ex communications that were overturned by then Ratzinger himself, even though the laity in that case went as far to have a SSPX priest flown in.
Lastly, you throw Lefebvre and Felly in the same category of Protestant "reformers". Let me ask you, did any of these "reformers" accept all 7 sacraments, and accept the dogmas and doctrines of the faith? At worst, you can say the SSPX is equivlent to the Eastren Orthodox, schismatic leadership, but not in heresy. LIke I said, my problem with "conservative" Catholics comes from the fact they make authority, even when those in authority appear to be malformed, an end all be all. God gave me a brain and the ability to reason, the ability to read the dogmas and doctrines of the church, read what the teachers had to say, read history such as teh Arian heresy, read about the vile mess that took place after Vatican II(The Dutch Bishops conference though their "authority" destroyed the church there), and damnit, I will use my brain.
You are to Catholicism what Bill Keller is to liberty.
There is NO EMERGENCY whatever it may please the excommunicated schismatic SSPX moonbats to pretend in support of their nasty little collective attack on Roman Catholicism.
Yes. authority is very, very important in the Roman Catholic Church since Jesus Christ (our Founder) saw fit to establish it in the papacy as one of His gifts to the Church and, through the Church, to the world and all within it.
Dario Cardinal Castrillon de Hoyos has no authority whatsoever to lift the decree of schism issued by John Paul the Great or the excommunications imposed by John Paul the Great. Neither do I. Neither do you. Neither do such miscreant excommunicants as Fellay. Time was when I hoped for Castrillon de Hoyos to be pope. Just goes (redundantly and unnecessarily) to show that God's plan is one heck of a lot better than mine.
I can fathom your persuasion (since I once shared it before coming back to my senses). The controversy is not all about SSPX. It is not all about me. It is not all about you. It is not all about Williamson. It is not all about Fellay or about the late unlamented (by Catholics at least) Marcel the Malcontent. It is about Jesus Christ and His Church which He guaranteed to be with until the end of time. Anyone who thinks Jesus Christ lied to us or that he provided malignant Marcel as His instrument of preservation of Catholicism is free to join other religions whether SSPXism or Methodism or Ultramontanism or whatever but puhleeeeeeze refrain from confusing Marcelism with Catholicism.
Actually, in addition to the blessed diocese of Lincoln and its bishop who should be pope if occasion arises, those who were excommunicated by Pope John Paul II were and are, ummmmm, excommunicated until Benedict XVI or some other legitimate pope rules otherwise.
If you really believe there is an emergency and you happen to be in a diocese such as that of McPhony or Tod Brown, we live in a free country which will not restrain you from moving here to the diocese of Rockford, Illinois (Bishop Thomas Doran) or even the diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska. Both offer ample opportunities to attend fully approved Tridentine Masses. What is the expense of relocation compared to a devil's dichotomy of living in a diocese like that of McPhony or Brown on the one hand or consorting (and teaching one's children to consort) with a near occasion of sin like the SSPXers and their hatred of the Church and of JP II and of all Vatican authority unless that authority knuckles under to their rebellious SSPX ids?
Sorry. A substantial part of the ugliness afflicting Holy Mother the Church nowadays may be viewed through your right eye if you remove the eye patch protecting you from seeing SSPX as it is. I cannot imagine your soul or the souls of any children you may have being endangered by righteous anger directed at "heresy in the pulpit" or subMethodist liturgies. As to the latter, does that mean that, since Methodist liturgies are inherently incapable of transubstantiating mere bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that you view the Novus Ordo as always and everywhere (even in Lincoln, Nebraska) invalid and, well, even LESS valid than Methodist "liturgies?" And yet you wonder why Catholics seethe at the pretensions of SSPX. Remember, always remember, SSPX="near occasion of sin."
If all Lefebvrists and all Reformers were in agreement that the sun appears to rise in the East or that raisins contain sugar or that papal authority is to be despised, they might well differ on other issues. That Lefebvrists who, after all, pretend to be Catholics and perhaps the only Catholics, believe in seven sacraments should come as no surprise. That they claim to be "Traditional" Catholics while despising papal authority is where the contradiction in terms lies. In that respect they are no more Catholic than Luther, Hus, Wycliffe, Zwingli, Calvin or millions of others who writhe like banshees doused in Holy Water at the notion of submitting to papal authority.
You may like it or not but the adherents of SSPX and its bishops were EXCOMMUNICATED by JP II in Ecclesia Dei. This is the Roman Catholic Church. When papal authority is exercised, the debate is over. Roma Locuta, Causa Finita. You either trust Jesus Christ's guarantees or you do not.
Why don't you tell the rest of the story on Bishop Ferrario's overturned excommunications? Ferrario was a lavender queen with a former altar boy stashed in a San Francisco apartment/passion pit for the bishop's weekend and vacation, ummmm, entertainment. The Honolulu folks who were "excommunicated" by Ferrario on the fraudulent ground that they were attending SSPX Masses were public critics of his, ummmm, social life and he was retaliating against them for resisting his massacre of his own vow of chastity and his exercises in perversion. Additionally, any action by the Holy Office which might have purported to whitewash the SSPX did not and could not override Ecclesia Dei, a papal document far more directly on point. Finally, in any event, NO ONE CLAIMS that mere attendance at SSPX Masses is an excommunicating offense. OTOH, I promise in the sacrament of penance to avoid the near occasion of sin. Don't you?
God did indeed give you a brain. He also gave you free will with which you are to govern that brain. You may choose apostasy or you may choose obedient submission to the Vicar of Christ on Earth. You will earn the consequences in either event. Worshiping your intellect is no substitute for worshiping God.
Translating your last paragraph and adding criticism of same: God gave you the ability to choose your preferences over His. SSPX gives you the opportunity to favor your preferences over God's and the thin rationalizations to make glib arguments for your tastes over God's Church. Let your last six words not be prophecy if the "it" in damnit is a reference to your brain.
Don't tell me about the "vile mess" after Vatican II. I served the Tridentine Mass in the time of Pius XII. I lived through the vile mess. My tastes were offended too. I returned to the practice, however imperfect, of Catholicism and there I will remain accepting the promises of Christ. I will not follow or even tender the slightest respect to the SSPX practitioners of grand theft ecclesiastical and who, suspecting the bitter eternal wages of their pride, being excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church, being declared in schism, continually prove that misery loves company.
Dead Marcel chose Williamson. God's plan was also a lot better than dead Marcel's. To say the very least.