Questionable priestly ordinations in the conciliar Church

The moral theology of the Church insists that we are not allowed to be “probabiliorists” with the sacraments, but always take the safest side ensuring validity and legitimacy, that is, the “tutiorist” position.

It would, indeed, be tragic if all traditional priests did not have moral certitude as to their ordination, and if there existed two different grades of priests, a higher grade ordained in Tradition, and a lower grade. It is for this reason that the superiors have the right to insist on conditional re-ordination for any priest turning towards Tradition, and will only accept ordinations in the conciliar Church after having investigated both priestly and episcopal ordinations and established moral certitude.

Archbishop Lefebvre clearly recognized his obligation of providing priests concerning whose ordination there was no doubt. It was one of the reasons for the episcopal consecrations of 1988, as he declared in the sermon for the occasion:

He continued, explaining that he could not leave the faithful orphans, nor abandon the seminarians who entrusted themselves to him, for “they came to our seminaries, despite all the difficulties that they have encountered, in order to receive a true ordination to the priesthood...” (Fr. Francois Laisney, Archbishop Lefebvre and the Vatican, p.120). He considered it his duty to guarantee the certitude of the sacrament of holy orders by the consecration of bishops in the traditional rite, who would then ordain only in the traditional rite.

We must observe the same balance as Archbishop Lefebvre. On the one hand, it is our duty to avoid the excess of sedevacantism, which unreasonably denies the very validity and existence of the post-conciliar Church and its priesthood. On the other hand, however, we must likewise reject the laxist and liberal approach that does not take seriously the real doubts that can arise concerning the validity of priestly ordinations in the post-conciliar Church, failing to consider the enormous importance and necessity of a certainly valid priesthood for the good of the Church, for the eternal salvation of souls, and for the tranquility of the consciences of the faithful. Given the gravity of these issues, it is not even a slight doubt that is acceptable. Hence the duty of examining in each particular case the vernacular form of priestly ordination, the intention of the ordaining bishop, the rite of consecration of the ordaining bishop, and the intention of the consecrators.

Just as the superiors take seriously their duty of guaranteeing the moral certitude of the holy orders of their priests, whether by means of conditional ordination or careful investigation (when possible), so also must priests who join the Society accept conditional ordination in case of even slight positive doubt, and so also must the faithful recognize that each case is different and accept the decision of those who alone are in a position to perform the necessary investigations.

For regardless of the technical question of the validity of a priest’s holy orders, we all recognize the Catholic sense that tells us that there can be no mixing of the illegitimate new rites with the traditional Catholic rites, a principle so simply elucidated by Archbishop Lefebvre on June 29, 1976:

... because priests and faithful have a strict right to have shepherds who profess the Catholic Faith in its entirety, essential for the salvation of their souls, and to have priests who are true Catholic priests.

Secondly, because the Conciliar Church, having now reached everywhere, is spreading errors contrary to the Catholic Faith and, as a result of these errors, it has corrupted the sources of grace, which are the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Sacraments. This false Church is in an ever-deeper state of rupture with the Catholic Church. thecatacombs.org/thread/713/letter-bishop-castro-mayer-december

Father, the next question is: Is not the Archbishop making concessions on the new rite of ordination? Why does he not insist on conditional reordinations for such new priests who are coming into the Society?

The Bishop acts according to Catholic theological principles. And here it is necessary to make a few distinctions. It is much simpler to say, it is all completely invalid, the new rite is completely invalid, no priest ordained by it is any good, every priest is doubtful, or whatever. But, according to Catholic theology, it is not quite as simple as that. The Archbishop says, in the matter of repeating a sacrament like baptism, confirmation or holy orders, there are two rules. On the one hand, I must repeat the sacrament if there is a serious doubt; on the other hand, I must not repeat it if there is not a serious doubt. And the reason is, I will commit a sacrilege by exposing the sacrament if there is not a serious doubt, the second time to the risk of invalidity. And that is, in fact, a sacrilege. Hence, there must be a prudent doubt. Another point is that this prudent doubt in the case of baptism and confirmation is, maybe, not so important. In baptism or confirmation I might say I must be sure in any case, and there are no grave consequences of repeating. But if a priest accepts to be reordained, who has been doubtfully ordained, he is logically accepting to put some doubt against everything he has done up to that moment as a priest. Logically, you can't escape the consequence. Hence, he must accept that there is some doubt against all the sacraments that he has confected and conferred as a priest. Now these consequences are serious. Now, these consequences would be no reason not to reordain if the reordination was really necessary, but they are certainly not a reason not to reordain if the doubt is not serious and, hence, once must examine if the doubt is serious.

Now, in a sacrament, for a Catholic sacrament to be valid, there are needed Form, Matter, and Intention. In the case of the sacrament of ordination, the Intention is what the bishop means to do, and there are plenty of bishops even today who mean still to ordain Catholic priests. I don't believe all bishops ordaining today have lost the right Intention. I simply don't believe it, and I don't believe Archbishop Lefebvre believes it. Secondly, I am sure most of these bishops use the right Matter, that is the imposition of hands, if not all of them. The imposition of hands is still there. So, often, two of the three parts necessary are intact. The real question arises over the Form, or the words which the bishop says. Now I have examined for myself the Form of the new rite of ordinations in English, and even in English, it seems to me that there is a strong argument for these Forms being valid. I don't like them, they are bad translations, I much prefer the old Latin. The old Latin is much clearer and much better. Nevertheless, there is not in my own mind a serious doubt as to the validity of the new rite of ordination, even if it is administered in English, so long as the English Forms are properly followed, because the English Forms signify clearly enough the grace that they have to effect. And that is the principle of Catholic theology. Now, His Grace may come to a different conclusion on the question of the English rite for ordination, and if His Grace comes to a different conclusion, I shall be very inclined to follow him because he is a far better theologian than I am. But such as I, at any rate, analyze and study these Forms, they seem to me valid. I don't have a serious doubt that anybody ordained by a bishop with the right Intention and using the right English Forms, using them properly, I don't have any serious doubt whether he is a priest; I am sure he is. Let me add that I have consulted three experienced and competent English-speaking theologians on these new English Forms, and all three are agreed that both are valid, that neither of them admits of serious doubt.

But, Father, with all your complications and distinctions, aren't you going to take us all to Hell in a conciliar hand-basket?

No, I mean to take you all to Heaven with Catholic doctrine. When the devil is attacking the Church with highly sophisticated guided missiles like the Novus Ordo and the new sacramental rites of a poisonous subtlety, a priest can't defend the Church with a pea-shooter or even a musket, with false over-simplifications. These also lead to hell, for instance, in a rigorist hand-basket. That is why the Archbishop insists on making distinctions. For instance, what the new rite of ordination does do, even if properly done it would be valid, is to introduce by the ambiguous rite an element of doubt, for instances as to the Intention of the bishop ordaining. That is exactly why the Archbishop's principle is to examine the circumstances in each case, and he asks each priest, what was the Intention of the bishop ordaining you? and did the bishop have the Faith? did he carry out the ordination in Latin? or if he did it in English, what words did he use? And then the Archbishop judges according to the circumstances. In other words, once again, the Archbishop insists on examining the circumstances. What he refuses is the automatic refusal of absolutely anything of the official Church. Source