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The SSPX Confronts Rome: the Consecrations are Scheduled for July 1 T. S. Flanders February 2, 2026

Author’s note: I dedicate these words to my editor-in-chief, the Immaculata. May she open all hearts to reconcile with brothers and unite in the one faith and one truth of Christ in His One Church, the Holy Roman Catholic Church. O Theotokos,  softener of evil hearts , by your sorrows and tears, I beg you to reconcile brothers in Christ. The announcement has finally come that the SSPX intends to consecrate bishops this year. The press release is very short so let’s read the whole thing. From  their website : Advertisement - Continue Reading Below — Press release dated 2 February 2026. On 2 February 2026, the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, the Reverend Father Davide Pagliarani, Superior General of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, during the ceremony of the taking of the cassock which he presided over at the International Seminary of Saint-Curé-d’Ars in Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, France, publicly announced his decision to entrust the bishops of the Society with...
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AI: Ripperger's Focus: The search results indicate that Fr. Chad Ripperger focuses on traditional Catholic theology, the state of the Church, and "generational spirits". In a discussion about modern, "anthropocentric" (human-centered) views—where the human is treated as the ultimate truth—some traditionalist perspectives (including those often discussed in relation to Ripperger) argue that the "hyper-civilized" approach tends to reject anything outside human autonomy. The Conflict: Critics of modern Catholic philosophy often argue that it has shifted away from a strictly theocentric (God-centered) view to a more humanitarian one. While Maritain himself defended a rigorous, spiritual, and Thomistic approach, his emphasis on "Integral Humanism" and the "human person" has been critiqued by some traditionalists as allowing for a shift in focus from the divine to the human.

Ripperger's Focus:  The search results indicate that Fr. Chad Ripperger focuses on traditional Catholic theology, the state of the Church, and "generational spirits". In a discussion about modern, "anthropocentric" (human-centered) views—where the human is treated as the ultimate truth—some traditionalist perspectives (including those often discussed in relation to Ripperger) argue that the "hyper-civilized" approach tends to reject anything outside human autonomy. The Conflict:  Critics of modern Catholic philosophy often argue that it has shifted away from a strictly theocentric (God-centered) view to a more humanitarian one. While Maritain himself defended a rigorous, spiritual, and Thomistic approach, his emphasis on "Integral Humanism" and the "human person" has been critiqued by some traditionalists as allowing for a shift in focus from the divine to the human.  
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Mary M. Keys has suggested...that while Charles De Koninck...De Koninck focused on a more traditional reading of rational nature, while Maritain [my read: Kantian autonomy] sought to secure the autonomy of the individual and personal freedom

Mary M. Keys has suggested that while Charles De Koninck and Jacques Maritain both addressed the common good, they did so from different foundational emphases:  De Koninck focused on a more traditional reading of  rational nature , while Maritain sought to secure the  autonomy of the individual  and personal freedom
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From personalism to liberalism? Villey & Lamont & Kraynak show it appears to be disguised Kantianism and NOT>: Carrying this logic one step further, it may also be possible to challenge the assumption that the conception of human rights that prevails today is indeed as internally homogenous as Moyn suggests when he claims that, after the “death of Christian Europe” human rights were reinvented along the lines of an essentially neo-Kantian philosophy. Perhaps if human rights remain so widely discussed and influential today it is precisely because the basic tension we uncovered at the heart of Maritain’s thought—between a Christian (or conservative) conception of human rights and a liberal or individualist one—remains yet to be resolved.

https://tif.ssrc.org/2015/06/11/from-personalism-to-liberalism/#:~:text=Maritain's%20starting%20point%20is%20the,ground%20is%20always%20the%20same.  personalism to liberalism? by  Carlo Invernizzi Accetti June 11, 2015 Print In his paper “ Personalism, Community and the Origins of Human Rights ,” Samuel Moyn argues that a relatively understudied current of Catholic political thought—known as personalism—played a key role in the affirmation of human rights as today’s dominant ideological framework. This may initially appear surprising given the well-known opposition of traditional Catholic social doctrine to the values normally associated with liberalism, modernity and the French Revolution. 1 Moyn’s argument, however, is that Catholic political thought underwent a transformation in the middle of the twentieth century, developing a distinctive doctrine of human rights on the basis of a concept of the human “person,” which turned out to be crucial for the inscription of human ri...
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Google AL: Maritain sought to secure the autonomy of the individual and personal freedom.

Jacques Maritain defined  freedom of choice  (free will) as a means, not an end, that should be used to attain " freedom of autonomy " or "freedom of exultation" (independence/mastery of self). He argued that true freedom is the expansion of the human person, achieved when freedom of choice is used to align oneself with goodness.   Key aspects of Maritain's distinction: Freedom of Choice  (Freedom from Necessity):  This is the basic, initial freedom of the will to choose between alternatives, including the ability to choose evil. Freedom of Autonomy  (Terminal Freedom/Exultation):  This is the higher, ultimate freedom that comes with spiritual and moral maturity, where one acts according to their own rational nature in accordance with the good. The Goal:  The purpose of freedom of choice is to be used, through correct moral decisions, to conquer or achieve this state of full autonomy, or independence from external constraints and internal disorder...
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Mary M. Keys has suggested that while Charles De Koninck and Jacques Maritain both addressed the common good, they did so from different foundational emphases: De Koninck focused on a more traditional reading of rational nature, while Maritain sought to secure the autonomy of the individual and personal freedom.

Mary M. Keys has suggested that while Charles De Koninck and Jacques Maritain both addressed the common good, they did so from different foundational emphases:  De Koninck focused on a more traditional reading of  rational nature , while Maritain sought to secure the  autonomy of the individual  and personal freedom .  
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Google AI: The "Ripperger" Perspective: Father Chad Ripperger and other traditionalists often critique Maritain’s "Integral Humanism" for potentially opening the door to a secularized love. From a Thomistic standpoint frequently cited by Father Ripperger, loving a neighbor solely for humanistic reasons (not for God's sake) is a purely natural virtue rather than the supernatural virtue of charity required for salvation. The Problem of Secular Humanism: Critics like Ripperger argue that when "love of neighbor" is divorced from "love of God," it becomes a "partial humanism" that eventually loses the true understanding of the human person. For more on these distinctions, you can review traditional Catholic teachings on the Virtue of Charity provided by the Holy See.

The "Ripperger" Perspective:  Father Chad Ripperger and other traditionalists often critique Maritain’s "Integral Humanism" for potentially opening the door to a secularized love. From a Thomistic standpoint frequently cited by Father Ripperger, loving a neighbor solely for humanistic reasons (not for God's sake) is a purely  natural virtue  rather than the supernatural virtue of charity required for salvation. The Problem of Secular Humanism:  Critics like Ripperger argue that when "love of neighbor" is divorced from "love of God," it becomes a "partial humanism" that eventually loses the true understanding of the human person. For more on these distinctions, you can review traditional Catholic teachings on the  Virtue of Charity  provided by the  Holy See .  
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Google AL: Integral Humanism vs. Secular Humanism: Maritain proposed an "Integral Humanism" that integrates human autonomy with divine grace. However, critics like Ripperger argue this compromise with "Enlightenment modernity" risks subordinating the spiritual to the political. In Ripperger's view, true love for a neighbor cannot exist "outside of God" because without God, there is no objective moral basis for the neighbor's value.

To approach "anything outside of human autonomy"—particularly in the context of Jacques Maritain and Father Chad Ripperger—is to move from the  natural plane  of human self-governance to the  supernatural plane  of divine dependence. The Problem of Autonomy:  Maritain argues that modern man often seeks an "anthropocentric humanism" where the individual's will becomes a "little pointless 'god'". In this state, love of neighbor is based on  natural sentiment  rather than a divine mandate, which Father Ripperger critiques as a failure to engage the  virtue of charity —a virtue that must be directed toward God as its primary object. The "10th Street" Analogy:  While Maritain did not famously use a "10th Street" metaphor, his philosophy often deals with the "intersection" of the  temporal  and  spiritual . For traditionalists like Ripperger, staying only on the "street" of human autonomy (the temporal) is a pa...
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