More than two dozen Franciscan University of Steubenville theologians and administrators have issued an open letter urging the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) to abandon its planned episcopal consecrations July 1 and instead return to dialogue with the Holy See, warning that the move would further deepen the society's separation from the Catholic Church.
Addressed to SSPX Superior General Father Davide Pagliarani and the society's general council, the June 25 letter was signed by 26 members of the university's theology faculty and leadership, including university president Father Dave Pivonka, TOR; theologians Scott Hahn, John Bergsma, Regis Martin, William Newton, Petroc Willey, and Mark Miravalle; and Provost Stephen Hildebrand.
"We write not as adversaries, but as fellow Christians who love the Church," the signatories said, praising the Society's "love for the beauty of the traditional liturgy" while pleading with its leaders to reconsider the announced consecrations.
"Please don't do this," they wrote. "Please don't create this wound! Please, re-enter into dialogue with the Holy See and into full communion with the Church."
The letter comes days before the SSPX is expected to consecrate bishops at its seminary in Ecône, Switzerland, a decision that has heightened concerns about the society's relationship with Rome. It marks one of the most prominent public appeals from Catholic academics and university leaders since the SSPX announced its intention to proceed with the episcopal consecrations. The letter follows a Catholic Culture op-ed from licensed moral theologian Eamonn Clark explaining why the society should not proceed with the consecrations, as Zeale News previously reported.
The appeal from the Franciscan University leaders also follows the SSPX's own open letter to Pope Leo XIV and the College of Cardinals, published June 24 alongside a 28-page profession of faith. In that document, the society defended its doctrinal positions and called on Church leaders to address what it views as a decades-long crisis within the Church.
The Franciscan University signatories acknowledged that the Church has endured significant internal crises but argued that such difficulties cannot justify actions that risk further separation from the Successor of Peter.
Quoting the First Vatican Council's constitution Pastor Aeternus, the Second Vatican Council's Lumen Gentium, and the Code of Canon Law, the letter emphasized that visible communion with the Roman pontiff belongs to the Church's constitution and that Catholics are called to preserve ecclesial unity.
"The Church is one because Christ is one," the signatories wrote. "We are convinced that every bishop, priest, and faithful Catholic is called to preserve and strengthen that visible unity."
While recognizing that "legitimate questions or grievances may exist," the authors argued t they "are no excuse to create a schism."
The letter appealed to Sacred Scripture, citing Christ's prayer "that all may be one" (Jn 17:21) and St. Paul's exhortation that Christians be "united in the same mind and the same judgment" (1 Cor. 1:10).
The signatories also stressed that the treasures of the Church's tradition belong "at the heart of the Church," not outside communion with the Holy See.
"A new episcopal ordination outside the ecclesial hierarchy without the Apostolic mandate would create a new wound in the Body of Christ," they wrote, “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."
The letter concluded with a direct appeal not only to the society's leadership but also to its faithful, echoing Christ's words from the Gospel of John (Jn 6:67): "Do you also want to leave?"
"What are you looking for? Whom are you seeking?" the signatories asked. "Christ is right here, in his Church, in his sacraments."
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