“Do you also want to leave?” (John 6:67)                                           

Open Letter to the Society of Saint Pius X (General House)

Dear Father Davide Pagliarani, Superior General

Dear Members of the General Council 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ! 

We write not as adversaries, but as fellow Christians who love the Church, which is built on Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, and who, like you, long for the salvation of souls.

Your love for the beauty of the traditional liturgy and your reverence in worship witness your earnest desire to serve the Lord. We share this love and desire.

With humility we ask you to reconsider the announced consecration of bishops, scheduled for July 1st. It would cement and deepen the already existing separation between the Society and the See of Peter. Our Lord Jesus Christ prayed to the Father, “that all may be one” (John 17:21). Unity in the Church is not merely practical; it belongs to the very will of Christ. The Church is one because Christ is one. We are convinced that every bishop, priest, and faithful Catholic is called to preserve and strengthen that visible unity. 

The First Vatican Council taught that “by divine ordinance, the Roman church possesses a pre-eminence of ordinary power over every other church, and that this jurisdictional power of the Roman pontiff is both episcopal and immediate. Both clergy and faithful, of whatever rite and dignity, both singly and collectively, are bound to submit to this power by the duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, and this not only in matters concerning faith and morals, but also in those which regard the discipline and government of the church throughout the world.” (Pastor Aeternus 3). 

Echoing the same Tradition, the Second Vatican Council taught that Christ entrusted the care of the universal Church to the college of bishops united with its head, the successor of Peter. The Council declared that the Roman pontiff is “the perpetual and visible principle and foundation of unity of both the bishops and of the faithful” (Lumen Gentium 23). Codifying this tradition, the Church holds that “schism is the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him” (Code of Canon Law, Can. 751). 

The Church acknowledges that at times in the past, “quite large communities came to be separated from full communion with the Catholic Church – for which, often enough, men of both sides were to blame” (Unitatis Redintegratio 3). And yet, whatever legitimate questions or grievances may exist, they are no excuse to create a schism. 

The Council also taught that the Holy Spirit continues to guide the Church through history.  In every age, the Church may experience even grave crises. St. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, is our model in such times since he declares: “I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10). He spoke candidly and openly with Peter (Gal. 2:11), and ultimately, he undertook not a mission of his own design, but the one entrusted to him by the authority of the Church (Acts 15:25; Gal. 2:9). In the face of even the gravest of crises, he beseeches us to ”bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2).

We live in a time in which the Church faces many crises. Yet Christ’s promises remain: “I will not leave you orphans” (John 14:18), and “I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). Fidelity to Christ includes trusting that God has not and will not abandon his Church, even though the call for continued conversion and renewal applies to all members at all levels in the Church. The treasures of Catholic Tradition do not belong outside communion with Peter; they belong at the heart of the Church. A new episcopal ordination outside the ecclesial hierarchy without the Apostolic mandate would create a new wound in the Body of Christ and place the gifts that God has entrusted to the Society, which belong to the Church and are ordered towards unity with her (Lumen Gentium 8), outside of her maternal embrace. Please don’t do this. Please don’t create this wound! Please, re-enter into dialogue with the Holy See and into full communion with the Church. 

And we would ask the faithful: “Do you also want to leave?” (John 6:67). What are you looking for? Whom are you seeking? Christ is right here, in his Church, in his sacraments. He offered his body on the cross, and his mystical body, his Church, is not to be divided. 

All that remains for us now is to wish you that “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14).

May Our Lady, Mater Ecclesiae, pray for you, and for all of us! 

In Christ,

The Undersigned Franciscan University of Steubenville Theology Faculty and Administrators

Dr. Donald Asci, Professor of Theology

Dr. Mark Banga, Assistant Professor of Theology, Catechetics and Evangelization

Dr. Hannah Barrett, Professor of Theology 

Dr. John Bergsma, Professor of Theology

Dr. Ron Bolster, Associate Professor of Theology, Dean of the School of Theology and Philosophy 

Dr. Scott Hahn, Professor of Theology

Dr. Stephen Hildebrand, Provost and Professor of Theology

Dr. Regis Martin, Professor of Theology

Dr. Mark Miravalle, Professor of Theology 

Dr. Jeffrey L. Morrow, Professor of Theology

Dr. William Newton, Professor of Theology, Chair of the Department of Theology

Dr. Shane Owens, Assistant Professor of Theology, Director of Master of Theological Science

Dr. James Pauley, Professor of Theology and Catechetics

Fr. Dave Pivonka, TOR, President

Dcn. Bob Rice, PhD, Professor of Catechetics, Director of Graduate Studies for Evangelization and Catechetics

Fr. Shawn Roberson, TOR, Chaplain

Dr. Amy Roberts, Professor of Theology and Catechetics

Dr. Deborah Savage, Professor of Theology, Director of the Institute for the Study of Man and Woman

Dr. Alan Schreck, Professor Emeritus of Theology

Dr. Scott Sollom, Professor of Theology 

Fr. Jonathan St. André, TOR, Vice President for Franciscan Life

Dr. Michael Waldstein, Professor of Theology

Dr. Katharina Westerhorstmann, Professor of Theology and Medical Ethics 

Fr. Patrick Whittle, TOR, Assistant Professor of Theology

Dr. Petroc Willey, Professor of Theology and Catechetics

Dr. Jacob Wood, Professor of Theology, Director of the PhD in Sacred Theology