The “new” SSPX apparently considers Opus Dei to be part of Catholic Tradition. In its News from Tradition feature, the Angelus Magazine reports that Pope Francis appointed an Opus Dei lay member to a Vatican communication job.¹

You will search this Angelus article in vain for anything even remotely resembling Catholic Tradition. There is not even the shallowest Traditional Catholic “buzzword”. The truth is that Opus Dei is a thoroughly conciliar group which promotes the new mass, as well as Pope Francis’s Lutheran ecumenism (in October 2016, in Lund, Sweden), and countless other conciliar evils.²

The Angelus Magazine’s News from Tradition feature includes a second article, about some Italian conciliar Benedictines who are brewing beer to finance the repair of their historic buildings.³ The Angelus tells us that these monks now say the Traditional Mass⁴ but the Angelus does not disclose that these monks also say the faith-destroying new mass.⁵

Because the monks say the new mass too, they must be only nostalgic for the Traditional Mass and don’t hold the real Traditional Catholic principle that the new mass is inherently evil, as Traditional Catholics do. In other words, those monks have the same indult mentality as the “new” SSPX.⁶

When the “new” SSPX uses its deceptive slogan “Preserving Catholic Tradition,” we see that the “new” SSPX really means a watered-down so-called “tradition” which is broad enough to include even conciliar monks and Opus Dei.

Archbishop Lefebvre built the SSPX to adhere to uncompromising Catholic Tradition but the SSPX has now abandoned this purpose. What can the SSPX do now to avoid losing its followers, as often happens to groups which abandon their founding purpose? Here are two deceptive strategies the SSPX is using:

1. Promote a Sentimental Attachment to Archbishop Lefebvre

The SSPX has replaced adherence to Archbishop Lefebvre’s principles⁷ with a merely sentimental attachment to his person. To maximize cohesion based on this sentimental attachment, the SSPX now uses a continual stream of his photos and uses other sentimentality such as publishing a poetic ode to his smile (which poem was supposedly inspired by the Archbishop Lefebvre movie).

2. Continually Use Feel-Good Slogans

The “new” SSPX continually uses slogans such as “Preserving Catholic Tradition,” because the “new” SSPX fears that its followers will wake up if it does not continually repeat such slogans. These slogans put to sleep those “new” SSPX followers who derive a soothing feeling of wellbeing from hearing the buzzword “tradition”. However, thinking men see that the SSPX really means a watered-down “tradition” which is broad enough to include conciliar monks and the liberal Opus Dei.

A truthful man does not need to keep saying “I’m telling the truth”, just like the “old” SSPX did not need to continually say it was “Preserving Catholic Tradition.” By contrast, a lying politician continually declares that he is telling the truth, just like the “new” SSPX continually declares it is “Preserving Catholic Tradition.”