The false equivalence between the SSPX and Protestant heretics like Martin Luther

Michael Sirilla:

A common misunderstanding I see among Catholics regarding the SSPX involves a facile and erroneous likening of the Society to Martin Luther and/or Protestantism in general.  The claim is made: the SSPX, like Luther, substitutes their private judgment for that of the Church’s Magisterium.

So I’d like to bring a little clarity here: the principal issue with Martin Luther, as with all heretics, is the substitution of private judgment for the Magisterium on mysteries of faith.  Luther denied the papacy, many of the sacraments, the need for good works, etc.  All of these truths of faith are matters of infallible Magisterial teaching.

The principal issue with the SSPX is fundamentally different.  With the Society, the issue is obedience and the allegation of schism, not heresy.  And this difference is significant.  They do not deny any infallibly-defined truth of faith.  They don’t, like Luther and other heretics, substitute their private judgment for Magisterial teaching.  

Regarding schism, it’s truly a difficult matter - one about which doctoral dissertations in Canon Law have been written (for example, Fr. Gerald Murray from EWTN wrote an important dissertation on the Society and schism).  The Society does not intend to set up a hierarchical/juridical structure parallel to that of Christ’s Church.  But their bishops do materially disobey the pope when consecrating new bishops (as in 1988 and, forthcoming in July).  Whether that amounts to formal (and culpable) disobedience is a matter of genuine good-faith debate.

So one of the essential questions to resolve, theologically and canonically, is whether or not that material disobedience is permissible (something all law - divine, natural, and human - has always recognized): for example, speeding in a 25 mph zone to get someone to the hospital before they bleed to death.  Honest and good theologians and canonists on all sides of this issue recognize that this is not a simple matter.  It really isn’t like Lutheranism or Protestantism at all.  And unlike in matters of defined dogmas, the Church is not infallible in her juridical decisions (see, e.g., St. Joan of Arc).

@msirilla1