Aberdeen, Scotland, Aug 24, 2012 / 12:30 pm
A traditionalist religious order that used to be part of the breakaway Society of St. Pius X has received formal recognition as a diocesan institute within the Catholic Church.
"On this festive solemnity of the Assumption of the Holy Mother of God body and soul into Heaven our spiritual joy and fraternal rejoicing is great indeed," read the statement issued Aug. 15 by the Congregation of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer. The religious community is based on the tiny island of Papa Stronsay in the Orkney Isles off the north coast of Scotland.
"Our community," it announced, "has been granted canonical recognition as a Clerical Institute of Diocesan Right by His Lordship the Right Reverend Dom Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B., Bishop of Aberdeen."
The move brings to a completion a process of reconciliation that began in 2008 when the community joined the Catholic Church following Pope Benedict XVI's issuing of "Summorum Pontificum." The papal decree allowed traditional Latin rites to be more widely used within the Church.