Opinion: Prudence and the Consecrations, by Kennedy Hall

The word “prudent” gets thrown around a lot, and it is often misused. Recently, a friend posed a question to me about the prudence of the forthcoming SSPX consecrations, and it was not the first time I had been asked. There are, of course, many people who are sympathetic to the Society of St. Pius X to varying degrees. The consecration of bishops without papal approval, however, is something that troubles many consciences, for obvious reasons.

I understand that people of goodwill come down on different sides of this question, and that is entirely understandable given the profoundly confusing period in which we live. When questions are genuinely in dispute, men of goodwill can reach different conclusions based on the same facts, depending on how they weigh and assemble them. In this article, I will argue that the forthcoming consecrations are, in fact, prudent. I will also address the legacy of Archbishop Lefebvre’s own consecrations in the light of recent events. But first, we must establish what prudence actually is, and what it is not. …