The conciliar church’s fruits continue to rot, as the “new” SSPX grows continually more mute and accepting of the present evil in the conciliar church. Joining the “conservative” wing of the conciliar revolutionaries, the “new” SSPX focuses on saving the conciliar fruits from rot, as if there were any conciliar fruits worth saving.
For example, concerning the new annulment procedures, new-SSPX theologian, Fr. Matthias Gaudron, recently worried:
Pope Francis simplified the procedure for causes of nullity of marriage: there are serious reasons to fear that in the future there will be a plethora of dubious declarations of nullity...1
It is blind for the SSPX to fear as a possible future problem something which is long accomplished. Fearing that possible future annulment abuse could occur, is like fearing that the Church hierarchy might become modernist.
This same Fr. Gaudron who now fears possible future annulment abuse, used to clearly see that there is a decades-long annulment crisis. Back in his less liberal days, Fr. Gaudron proved there is an annulment crisis, using this evidence:
The number of annulments in America jumped from 338 in 1968 to over 50,000 in 1998.2
Fr. Gaudron’s annulment total of 338 understates the problem because the conciliar crisis was already ongoing in 1968. A few years earlier (1965), there were only dozens (instead of hundreds) of annulments in the United States.3
In 1965, the number of annulments worldwide was very tiny. Id. Fourteen years later, there were 62,719 annulments granted worldwide.4
It is true that in recent years the number of annulments has declined worldwide. But this is because more Catholics cohabitate and do not bother getting married (so they do not “need” any annulment to move on to the next relationship). But the rate by which the annulment tribunals grant annulments has not changed and remains at about 90%. 5
So why does Fr. Gaudron waste time worrying about possible future annulment abuse? Because Bishop Fellay worries about this! A few months ago, Bishop Fellay confided his worry to the pope:
[W]e feel obliged to say that, despite reminders concerning the indissolubility of marriage, the canonical changes required by [the recent annulment law] facilitating declarations of nullity will de facto open the door to legal proceedings authorizing “Catholic divorce,” even if goes by another name.
Quoted from Bishop Fellay’s 9-15-15 petition to Pope Francis (bold emphasis added).
This is one of countless examples of the SSPX worrying about the deteriorating conciliar status quo, as if there were any conciliar fruits worth preserving.
To see another example of a “conservative” trying to preserve a conciliar practice from further liberalizing, see “Bishop” Athanasius Schneider’s opposition to divorcees becoming lay “eucharistic ministers”.