Episode 3040: Why Traditional Catholics Must Avoid Conciliar Churches

"Prudence, Purity, and Principle: Why Traditional Catholics Must Avoid Conciliar Churches"
There was an article written on April 23, 2025 by Catholic Candle titled “New” SSPX Promotes Praying in Conciliar Churches during the “Holy Year” that I would like to critique without reading you the articles and instead allow you to read it for yourself. But before doing so lets start with a prayer for guidance.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
O Lord Jesus Christ, Who art the Eternal High Priest and the spotless Victim, grant us, Thy faithful servants, unwavering love for Thy Sacred Body and Blood. Preserve us from every form of sacrilege and from the errors that have entered Thy Holy Church. May we cling always to the fullness of the Catholic Faith, loving Thee above all else and abhorring all offenses against Thy Sacred Majesty. Through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we beg for the grace to remain steadfast unto death. Amen."
Today’s episode comes from a deep concern for the purity of our Catholic Faith. We will discuss why it is gravely inappropriate for Traditional Catholics to pray in modernist "conciliar" churches during the so-called "Holy Year" of 2025, despite the encouragement of some who were once counted among the firm defenders of Tradition such as the SSPX.
We will also revisit the Precepts of the Church, as they were clearly taught before Vatican II, grounding ourselves in what true Catholic life demands.
Part I: The “Holy Year” of 2025 and the SSPX’s Deviation
Pope Francis had proclaimed a "Holy Year" for 2025, offering plenary indulgences to those who pray in designated churches including diocesan cathedrals throughout the world. As with 2015, he extends indulgences tied to participation in modernist diocesan churches.
Alarmingly, the SSPX, once a beacon of resistance against Modernism, now encourages its faithful to partake in these indulgences by praying in conciliar churches.
Fr. Peter Scott, once a pillar of traditional intransigence, now encourages the faithful to visit their local cathedrals and pray the Rosary to gain the indulgence. Similarly, Bishop Fellay previously urged participation in the 2015 "Holy Year" indulgences.
But how can we, faithful Catholics, participate in spiritual benefits tied to places that now blaspheme Our Lord through sacrilegious liturgies and compromises with the spirit of the world?
I mean you must ask the obvious question, if an order that was founded by AB Lefebvre who once said “It simply not Catholic” now concede?
If Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre were alive today to witness members of his beloved Society encouraging the faithful to participate in so-called "holy year" indulgences by praying in conciliar churches, he would be filled with profound sorrow, righteous anger, and a paternal call to repentance.
The Archbishop, who founded the SSPX precisely to preserve the untainted Catholic Faith against the Revolution of Vatican II, would denounce such encouragement as a grave betrayal of the Society’s founding mission. He would see it not merely as a practical misjudgment but as a theological error a public compromise with the modernist spirit he fought so vigorously against. To Archbishop Lefebvre, the modern conciliar church with its new mass, its false ecumenism, and its man-centered religion constituted a new religion, separate from the Catholic Church of all time. Thus, entering a conciliar church for prayer, without urgent necessity, would amount to a practical acceptance of that false religion, regardless of the internal intentions of the individual.
Archbishop Lefebvre would likely recall his own words spoken at his famous sermon in Lille, France (1976), when he declared:
"They have changed our religion, and they wish us to accept the new religion without question. That we cannot do!"
He would surely exhort the faithful not to participate in any ceremonies, indulgences, or devotions originating from a counterfeit church, no matter how pious they appeared. The Archbishop would remind the faithful that the modern Church’s visible structures have been co-opted by enemies of Christ, and thus no true grace could come from participating in their sacrilegious worship or initiatives unless by divine exception and necessity, not ordinary rule.
Moreover, Archbishop Lefebvre would likely point out that true charity love for God and souls demands a complete separation from the structures of error. He would insist that to enter conciliar churches for indulgences is to weaken the faithful’s horror for sacrilege, to dull the sense of the true Faith, and to scandalize weaker Catholics who might believe that modernism is acceptable or sanctified.
Lastly, Archbishop Lefebvre would, with fatherly but firm words, admonish the priests and bishops encouraging this behavior, calling them to repentance for scandalizing souls and for betraying the purpose for which the Society was founded. He would urge them to return to the uncompromising love for Christ the King, even if it meant being labeled disobedient, schismatic, or extreme by worldly voices.
For Archbishop Lefebvre, faithfulness to Catholic Tradition was not merely about maintaining Latin Masses or wearing cassocks it was about remaining absolutely separated from the poison of Modernism, even when Modernism hides itself under seemingly good offerings like indulgences.
To end, he might have said again, as he once did in 1974:
"We hold fast to all that has been believed and practiced in the Faith, morals, worship, teaching of the catechism, formation of the priesthood, and institution of the Church by the Catholic Church of all time, to the exclusion of all the novelties…in opposition to the Magisterium of all time."
Now let me provide you with a Mock speech that AB Lefebvre would have delivered under these circumstances. I remind you he did not say it but based on all my research and even the writing of a book on him titled “Marcel – The Remnant”, I feel comfortable that I will do it justice rather than scandalize the faithful.
He would have said:
"My dear faithful,
It is with deep sorrow that I must speak to you today. A sorrow that weighs heavily upon a father’s heart sorrow for seeing confusion and betrayal spread even among those who were once our closest allies in the battle for the Faith.
I hear that priests of our own Society are encouraging the faithful to enter conciliar churches during this so-called 'Holy Year' declared by the Roman authorities. They tell you that indulgences may be gained there, that graces are flowing from those places of sacrilege.
My dear children, what a terrible error! What a wound inflicted upon Our Lord, already so scourged by the betrayal of His own!
Have you forgotten why we resist? Have you forgotten why this Society of Saint Pius X exists? It was founded to preserve the Catholic Faith whole and entire, without compromise with the Revolution that has overtaken the Church since the Council.
The new conciliar church is not our mother. It is a counterfeit a church of man, not of God! It offers a poisoned bread, not the Bread of Life. Its ceremonies mock the Holy Sacrifice. Its teachings mock the Kingship of Christ. Its indulgences are tainted by the same spirit of apostasy.
How dare anyone tell faithful Catholics to go pray in these polluted temples, where Our Lord is daily dishonored?
It is blasphemy to suggest that we should seek graces there as if Christ has abandoned His spotless Bride and now distributes His favors through the harlot of Modernism!
I say to you with the authority of the Faith: Stay away! Stay far away from these places! If you can not find a Traditional Catholic Mass celebrated by a Traditional Catholic order it is better to remain at home, to pray your Rosary with a heart burning for the true Faith, than to enter into a house where sacrilege is daily committed against your God.
Have we grown so cold, so blind, that we prefer the appearance of grace to fidelity? Have we forgotten that true grace never comes at the price of compromise?
I warn you, and I warn those priests who have lost their sense of the sacred: you are leading souls to destruction if you teach them to make peace with error.
The Church of Christ will triumph, yes but it will not triumph through betrayal! It will triumph through the Cross, through suffering, through fidelity without compromise.
My dear faithful: cling to the Mass of All Time, cling to the Faith of All Time, and reject with horror the poisoned compromises of this adulterous generation.
May Our Lady, Virgin Most Faithful, keep you pure and strong in this terrible combat, until the glorious day when the Church, purified by suffering, will shine again with the splendor of Truth.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."
Part II: Three Grave Reasons to Avoid Conciliar Churches
Let us now reflect on the three grave reasons why faithful Catholics must not enter these modernist churches:
1. Places of Sacrilege Are Unfit for Prayer
As St. Thomas Aquinas teaches in his Summa Theologica, locations where grave sins against God occur become unfitting for sacred actions unless properly re-consecrated.
The Novus Ordo Mass inherently man-centered and protestantized constitutes sacrilege by irreverently treating the Sacred Mysteries. Even if valid, this makes the sacrilege more dreadful, compelling the very Real Presence of Christ to endure insult.
Thus, praying in these places stained by decades of sacrilege gravely offends the dignity owed to Almighty God.
2. True Catholics Instinctively Abhor Sacrilegious Places
Love for Our Lord demands hatred for sacrilege.
Just as a widow would shun the site of her husband's brutal murder for any joyful use, so too Catholics who understand the gravity of the Novus Ordo sacrileges instinctively find these places intolerable.
They are not places of honor but places of ongoing offense against Christ the King.
3. Entering Conciliar Churches Causes Scandal
By merely entering, we risk giving the appearance that we approve what occurs there.
Scandal, as defined by the Church, is not merely "shock" but an action that encourages others to sin or diminishes horror for evil.
Our actions teach others. Entering these churches subtly tells others, "It’s not so bad."
Thus, even private acts of devotion in these buildings risk making us accomplices to the Revolution.

Part III: What the Precepts of the Church Demand (Pre-Vatican II Teaching)
Before Vatican II, the Church clearly set forth Six Precepts that bound all Catholics under pain of mortal sin:
1. To assist at Mass on all Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.
2. To fast and abstain on the days appointed.
3. To confess our sins at least once a year.
4. To receive Holy Communion during Easter time.
5. To contribute to the support of our pastors.
6. Not to marry within forbidden degrees of kindred or solemnize marriage at forbidden times.
These precepts were not optional. They formed the bare minimum of Catholic living.
Nowhere in these precepts was there any allowance for compromising the Faith, praying in heretical settings, or participating in sacrilegious environments even under the pretense of gaining indulgences.
Rather, the Church, through countless saints and councils, warned the faithful to avoid heretical gatherings, suspect churches, and occasions of scandal at all costs even at personal loss.
As Pope Pius XI declared in Mortalium Animos (1928), Catholics must "not approach non-Catholic assemblies" nor give the appearance of unity with error.
Part IV: A Warning for Our Times
Dear listeners, the sad reality is that groups like the SSPX have blurred the line between the Catholic Church and the conciliar counterfeit.
They urge the faithful to seek "graces" through polluted streams. But no true grace can come through sacrilege.
Let us remember:
"For what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever?" (2 Corinthians 6:15)
True fidelity means staying firm. It means sacrificing supposed "opportunities for indulgences" when they come at the cost of honoring God rightly.

Conclusionary Prayer:
"In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
O Lord Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest, grant us the spirit of true devotion and loyalty to Thy Sacred Heart. Strengthen us to reject every compromise with error and to bear witness boldly to the fullness of Thy Holy Faith. Through the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Queen of the Apostles, may we abhor all sacrilege and seek only that which gives Thee glory. Keep us faithful unto the end, O Lord, that we may merit to see Thee face to face in everlasting bliss. Amen."
Closing Line:
Thank you for joining us today.
Let us remain firm in the Faith, unsullied by compromise, as we await the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
God bless you, and may Our Lady keep you safe under Her mantle.
Now go out and convert a Novus Ordo Catholic.