Society of St. John Suppressed

The Society of St. John has been suppressed by its local ordinary. A sordid and depressing story, it can be found here. I mention it at all because I have linked to their website with approval in the past. (Their website is here, at least for the time being, if you're interested.) The rumors about them were frequent. I had hoped they were false. Increasingly, it doesn't look like it.

One quibble with the story: the Society of St. John was not a "traditionalist" society as that term is usually understood. The society used a good deal of Latin, an ad orientem posture at Mass, and many other traditional practices. But their liturgy did not employ "the liturgical books in use in 1962" as prescribed by the papal indults. Rather they used what is usually referred to as the "1965" liturgy although it included changes made even later than that. This is something usually not acceptable to the pricklier traditionalists. And, Lord knows, that probably describes most of us.