The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X has taken note of the signature, today, of the decree of erection of the Institute of the Good Shepherd, by Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, an institute of Pontifical Right especially founded for five priests and some seminarians who [once] belonged to the work founded by Abp Lefebvre.
The erection of this Institute is not a surprise. It belongs to the logical sequence of the steps taken by some of these priests, for several months, alongside the Commission Ecclesia Dei for a canonical regularization: the signature of the "formula of adhesion", the issuing of a "celebret", and the search for incardination.
This institute itself does not constitute a canonical innovation. The Commission Ecclesia Dei has supported, since its creation in 1988, similar foundations: the Fraternity of Saint Peter, the Fraternity of Saint John Mary Vianney of Campos (Brazil)[*]... In fact, the Institute of the Good Shepherd is to particularly more similar to the Saint Philip Neri Institute of Berlin, also of Pontifical right, founded in 2003 for a priest and four seminarians. It is a very precarious foundation today... The future will tell what distinguishes the new institute from the preceding initiatives.
The Fraternity of Saint Pius X recalls, on this occasion, that it cannot endorse a communitarian solution, in which the Tridentine Mass would be confined to a particular statute. The Mass of the bimillenial Tradition must enjoy in the Church full and complete Right of Citizenship. It is not a privilege reserved for some, it is a right for all the priests and all the faithful of the universal Church.
This is why the Fraternity of Saint Pius X invites priests and faithful to join its campaign of prayers the purpose of which is to present Pope Benedict XVI next October with a million rosaries for the complete liberation of the Traditional Mass.
Menzingen, on the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, September 8, 2006
Source.
*This is a factual mistake, since there is no such Fraternity: the priests of the Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney are secular priests whose obligations and rights are those of any diocesan priest, and not members of a Fraternity.
*This is a factual mistake, since there is no such Fraternity: the priests of the Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney are secular priests whose obligations and rights are those of any diocesan priest, and not members of a Fraternity.
