Vatican excommunicates bishops of breakaway group, casting spotlight on Kansas town
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- The Vatican excommunicated six Society of St. Pius X bishops.
- St. Marys hosts a large SSPX community and the 1,500-seat Immaculata.
- The archdiocese said marriage faculties for SSPX priests ceased after the Vatican decree.
A small northeast Kansas town is in the spotlight after the Vatican declared last week that it was excommunicating six Society of St. Pius X bishops, a day after four were consecrated without the pope’s approval.
St. Marys, a town of about 2,800, roughly 90 miles west of Kansas City, is home to a large population of followers of the SSPX, a fraternity of priests that celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass and strongly opposes the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
Visitors come to the quiet town from around the world to attend Mass at The Immaculata, the world’s largest SSPX-built church.
The ultraconservative breakaway group has been at odds with the Vatican for decades. And on July 1, two SSPX bishops consecrated the four new bishops in a highly visible ceremony in Écône, Switzerland, after being warned that doing so would result in their excommunication.
The bishops ignored the warning, and the Vatican followed through with its threat the next day.
One of the new bishops is from the United States, grew up in St. Marys and once served as the prior of St. Vincent de Paul Church, Kansas City’s only SSPX-run church.
Not only did the Vatican excommunicate the bishops involved in last week’s consecrations, it went a step further and said that all clergy, as well as others who “formally adhere” to the SSPX, could face excommunication, one of the harshest punishments prescribed.
The Vatican’s announcement made international headlines and prompted responses from the leaders of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. SSPX in St. Marys lies within the boundaries of the KCK archdiocese.
“This action is a source of profound sorrow for the whole Church because it wounds the visible unity that Christ desires for his body,” said Archbishop Shawn McKnight, of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, in a July 2 statement.
He said that “the consecration of bishops without authorization from the Roman Pontiff constitutes a grave offense against ecclesial communion and carries the canonical consequences established by the law of the Church.”
McKnight said the action was “particularly sorrowful” because the church for years has sought reconciliation and full communion with SSPX. Pope Benedict XVI lifted excommunications that had been previously ordered by their bishops, McKnight said, and Pope Francis granted SSPX priests the authority to hear confessions.
“He also authorized local diocesan bishops to grant the priests of the Society faculties to assist at marriages, faculties that Archbishop Emeritus Naumann and I have granted,” McKnight said in his statement.
But that ended last week, the archdiocese said.
“There is no affiliation whatsoever between the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and the Society of Saint Pius X,” Marissa Easter, a spokesperson for the archdiocese, said in an email on July 2. “The faculties we have granted for marriages with permission from Pope Francis cease today with the decree from the Holy See.”
St. Marys sits near the banks of the Kansas River, where farmland and pastures dot the surrounding countryside. For nearly half a century, the Society of St. Pius X has made its home there, its followers coming from across the country to raise their children according to traditional Catholic values.
SSPX bought the property in 1978 and established St. Mary’s Academy and College, which comprises a K-12 school and a two-year college.
In recent years, with attendance at Latin Mass topping 4,000, the SSPX built a 1,500-seat, $42 million church high on its campus overlooking the tranquil town. The Immaculata opened in 2023 and, according to the SSPX, is the biggest traditional Catholic church in the world.
James Vogel, director of communication for the U.S. District of the Society of St. Pius X, did not respond to a request for comment on how the Vatican’s order would affect those in St. Marys.
The SSPX also has ties to the Kansas City area. Its U.S. headquarters is in Platte City, which is within the boundaries of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. And St. Vincent de Paul Church at 3106 Flora Ave. celebrates traditional Latin mass and is run by SSPX priests.
The priests attended the bishops’ consecration last week. The church’s former prior, the Rev. Michael Goldade, was one of the four bishops who were excommunicated.
Goldade led the St. Vincent de Paul Parish from 2014 to 2021, which included oversight of the church’s K-12 academy and a religious community. In 2021, he was named assistant to the SSPX district superior of the United States, and two years later became rector of St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Virginia, which is run by the SSPX.
St. Vincent de Paul was formerly a parish church of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese, said Ashlie Hand, a diocesan spokesperson, in an email to The Star. It was closed in the 1970s, she said, and is no longer part of the diocese.
