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Hello and welcome to Beyond the Ferns with your host Susie. Buckle up, things are about to get a little scary. Hello and welcome to another week of Beyond the Ferns. I am thrilled to have everyone here listening along. I hope the past couple months have given you a little burst of joy and horror, as one would say. I wanted to share a little bit of housekeeping before I get into today's episode. The first time I'm saying it is right now. You're hearing it for the first time. There is a mini series that I, myself, Susie, is putting out for Beyond the Ferns podcast. That mini series is going to be a holiday one, and it is, there's an official title to it now, it is called A Season to Die For, Tidings of Terror. What is this, you ask? This mini series is going to be for the month of December. It is going to tie in holiday murders. throughout the month to lead you into December and the first part of the year. It's going to consist of five episodes over the month. And I'm going to be diving into true crime around the Christmas holidays. So your true crime murders that have happened around the month of December. You will see a lot of updates on my podcast platform, beyond the ferns podcast on Instagram. And I hope to have a lot of you along for the ride as we celebrate the holidays in true crime fashion. That will be beginning December 3rd. As I always say, this one's a doozy. Buckle up on those because they're going to be pretty terrifying. Today's episode, a good friend of mine. Shout out to Megan. Megan from Kansas, my good friend. I used to be roommates with her. Hopefully we can be roommates again someday because I absolutely loved it. She recommended that I cover the SSPX church. SSPX church is something that is very new to me. I knew nothing about it and everything else on my podcast has been about murder or spooky or haunted. But this is completely different. The topic and research is something that I have really tried to take my time on so that I can do it justice. Because there's a lot going on within this episode, a lot of conclusions can be made. And it's very controversial, which allows at the end of day for very meaningful discussion, but ultimately places a microscope over the SSPX church. And organizations that run like the SSPX church and that exist in our world today. Now, what is the St. Mary's SSPX church? It's located in a small town between Manhattan, Kansas, and Topeka, Kansas. And if you research and simply type in St. Mary's SSPX church into a browser, you are met with claims, accusations, And multiple journalists that have provided coverage on stories that insinuate SSPX has used their power and control to victimize their members. You'll also get a wide variety of claims that SSPX is a religious cult. Now I want to preface as a precursor here that I take the word cult and usage of the word cult very, very seriously. I understand that the connotation in itself is a negative and often used as a blanketing word to describe something in its entirety without much forethought. Like often times we hear the word thrown around in reference to leaders that have big followings. quote, he's such a cult leader, the cult leader. This is such a cult. All of these different things are used as blanket statements to describe something with a huge following, whether it's true or not. Therefore, in order to avoid resorting to this out of the gate. I have leaned heavily on copious amounts of findings and research to truly understand the frameworks of being considered a cult and how SSPX operates and how they play into that name or not. I will reference several sources today with first hand experience, which some of that is going to be from former SSPX members. The first person, I was able to speak with, carried a wealth of information for my research. I reached out to her on a social media platform and I was extremely interested to get her firsthand account. You can research all day, but if you have someone that has experienced this and can speak to the ideas and concepts, it makes research so much easier, right? I reached out and I asked if she would be open to sharing some of her story with me, and I'm extremely appreciative of her opening up about her experience while attending the SSPX church. She spent a large majority of her time in the SSPX community, Both in the church and both in the SSPX school system. And she left on her own volition and ultimately cut ties with the organization. So I sent her upwards of 85 questions, just kidding, but it felt like that. And her answers helped me understand the inner workings of the organization. Another big help for my research was an extensive 32 page research paper written by a former SSPX member. Along with a couple newspaper articles that touched on claims made. This wealth of information painted an extremely dark and sinister picture of what this organization is to this very day. Now if you're like me, before researching any of this, I knew not a colada, goose egg, about this place, let alone the Roman Catholic religion. I grew up in a religious household myself within the United Church of Christ, very left, very liberal, which is on the entirely different end of the spectrum of that of the Catholic religion. Therefore, I am breaking down bits of the Catholic religion as I know it, and attempting to put it in layman's terms in an elementary school style definition that will be digestible enough to understand my topic today. But I won't get too much in the weeds here because Spotify ain't trying to publish my 53 hour episode. So I want to note this research I have found and cited, and ultimately I'm not here to tarnish anyone's reputation, but instead Elevate former SSPX voices who have been lowered or ignored entirely to share their personal experiences, to educate everyone on this topic because you don't know what you don't know, and to share the history of the organization and the framework of their belief and value systems. Now the conclusion and stance is yours to make. I will do my best at providing enough relative and important information to explain the religion. But don't at me if I miss something, because this is all new to me and I'm trying. Thank you. Now let's dive in. From 1570, the land of I got nothing. All I can think of is wigs and excessive shoe shinings or something like that. Anyway. Anyway, from 1570. To 1962, Traditionalist Roman Catholic services practiced under the same liturgy, which is how they partake in worship and rituals throughout the services. This was called the Tridentine Mass, also referred to as the Traditional Latin Mass. In 1962, the traditional Roman Catholics had a realization that in order to evolve with the ever changing times and world, they believed reformation was key to expanding the religion to be more inclusive. Right? So they thought, you know, some of these practices, although they work, we want to be more inclusive. We wanted to involve more people. We want it to be a growing religion and more accepting. The second Vatican Council was established to reform the Catholic Church. Think of this as a little group that comes together to talk about the future of the church. And they thought in order to modernize the future of the church, that they would start with some reforms, right? So the reforms consisted of vernacular worship, which was the opportunity to have the services consist of other languages outside of the origin Latin. Expand lay people's roles in the church and lay people are church members who are baptized, but are not ordained like that of priests and bishops. So think of people that are. going to church services that are baptized church members, but they don't hold leadership roles. So they wanted to expand the ability for some of those lay people to be able to take part in bigger positions and roles in the church. Now another key component of this reform was to create open dialogue between other religions of faith. And like I said, to be more open to people joining. and practicing the Catholic religion, who maybe didn't come from that of Catholic roots. This would ultimately dissolve the Tridentine Mass and a new liturgy was established and followed. This was expanding the religion, changing a lot of the basic ways that the church worshiped. It was a huge deal. Now this sounds like a slam dunk to me. As I'm learning about it, I'm like, that sounds. Like it's very accepting, like it's gonna, you know, help the religion overall. But as we know, as we see, with any kind of change, people often times avoid it at all costs. Because change invokes fear and concern for the future of anything. Which brings me to the SSPX. What does this stand for? The SSPX stands for Society of St. Pius X. Taken from their very own website is how they identify their organization. Quote, We are simply Roman Catholics who are continuing to follow the unchanging faith of 2, 000 years as expressed in the tradition. But more particularly, the SSPX is merely a union of priests. and religion that has the object to form priests. If the faithful who attend the mass centers operated by the society, in parentheses, because unfortunately the faithful cannot, usually to their own local parish, due to the infection and the dangers of the new mass, end parentheses, adhere to the SSPX, it is because they recognize that the priests offered them the church's true doctrine. and sacraments without any compromise with modernism. Now, this exact excerpt is located under the page on their website titled Responding to False Accusations. We'll get into that. Don't worry. The SSPX was founded in 1970. By Marcel Lefebvre. I will be referring to him as Marcel because he has a French descent, last name, and I'm completely butchering it by saying the English version of it. So we will not do that. But Marcel was a French Bishop who descended from the Catholic church in response to the reforms made by the second Vatican council between the years of to 1965. What this means is that Marcel did not believe that the church should change at all from the original ways it was conducting worship, how it was viewing certain practices. He was on the very conservative side and did not want to modernize anything. And his belief system about the Catholic church, he believed it should operate a certain way. And he wholeheartedly supported the Tridentine Mass and felt that any changes to what had been done for centuries combated directly with the integrity of the true doctrine and sacraments of the Catholic religion. Marcel believed the New Age modern practices were irrefutably evil and that modernism itself tainted the religion. In response, Marcel decided to establish the Society of Priests, and these appointed priests would lead under the traditional Catholic value and belief systems, adhering strictly to belief that Christ founded only one church and the Catholic faith was revealed by God. Anything that deviated from the original system compromised the Catholic faith. These two entities, we have the conservative church that up until 1962 was doing the same thing hundreds and hundreds of years. Then we have reforms made by the second Vatican that would allow for major changes. And that's where Marcel was like, hell no, we want to keep the original way. So we're going to keep it this way by inventing the SSPX church that would be able to practice In the original conservative views, as you can see, we have two starkly different views of how the Roman Catholic religion should be practiced, which snowballed into forming the SSPX. If it ended, let me get this straight, if it ended with the religious peace and an agree to disagree stance, then my friends, we would not be gathered here today. We would Then for me to explain an overview of the Catholic religion and the reform of the Catholic religion, but it doesn't end there clearly. Now remember how I alluded to a blurb where the SSPX was, quote, responding to false allegations and accusations? Now what's that about? The SSPX church has been shrouded with claims and accusations of being a cult for decades upon decades. And in my humble opinion, if you have to constantly prove and fight accusations, releasing statements, ensuring to the public that you are not a cult, then you might want to look inward within the confines of your four walls. Because the way you practice or conduct your organization needs to be looked at more closely. There are many organizations that do not carry the same beliefs as the reform of the Catholic Church. But, they have not gotten the same accusations as SSPX. I want to note that one size may not fit all, but also, there is a way that you conduct something that is either purely a good thing, you're minding your own business, you're doing what you need to do, and then there is something that is corrupt, which we'll be getting into. Now, the definition of a cult is a group of people who share extreme beliefs about a person idea, or philosophy, and are often characterized by the following characteristics. Isolation. Authoritarian structure. Psychological manipulation. High pressure to do xyz in accordance with the values of the group. Deviant practices. Hostility to non members. Excessive control. And these cults can be either religious or non religious entities. The SSPX practices under a traditional lens and standpoint where they have their own practices such as communion, baptism, matrimony, hymns, sacraments, doctrines, etc. However, it is much more than a traditional practice religion. SSPX is a way of life. With the religion comes a rulebook. This rulebook shows how you devote yourself, how you are loyal. And a commitment to the church SSPX leaderships set parameters on what the members consume, how they dress, who they marry, how they view other religious sanctions, who they associate or don't associate with, and most importantly, to adhere to the Trident and mass and attend church regularly, since I'm not. a prior SSPX member or a current one for that matter. I have no experience in this organization. So let's get to the facts of this matter by reviewing the hard data of how the organization operates. A YouTube interview between Handel, Miss Happy Catholic, and a former SSPX member, Mike, alludes to his experience within the church. And Mike wrote a 32 page extensive research paper that looks into the classifications of a cult taken from the CEI website, which is the Cult Education Institute. Now the CEI keeps an archive of data over religious cults and organizations to educate people and to safeguard the validity of this information. And report on claims to avoid any skewed social media platforms that offer data that isn't accurate, right? So it's like a hub for cults, information behaviors of organizations throughout the country. Mike's paper consists heavily upon former SSPX members answers to their experience and treatment while in SSPX. He sent 12 statements, and these 12 statements gauged cult characteristic qualifiers to determine if their experiences aligned with that of a cult. We sent out this survey, right? And this survey was to different people that he found in Facebook groups that were ex members of SSPX. And he decided to In order to really gauge how it is, because if you have one person's experience, that's great, but it's important to kind of get a pool of people and see if all of their experiences have common denominators. The topics were unquestioning commitment to the leader or group. No questioning of the group. You couldn't question anything going on within the organization. The group is always right. The us versus them mentality and fear of rejection of the outside world. No leadership accountability, fear of leaving, disconnecting and shunning those who do leave followers controlled by shame and guilt. similar experiences from former SSPX members, and the ends justify the means, elitist mentality, records of historical abuse, and lastly leadership dictates rules in great length. Let me touch on some of these points about those survey questions to understand the inner workings of a cult. and cult like behavior. Marcel passed away in 1991, but his presence in SSPX is present throughout the church to this very day. Priests use his teachings to help his legacy stay alive. And while Marcel is held in the highest regard, the Society of Priests are too. The belief system and ideologies carry the same weight and following as they did when he was alive. and leading the services as it does today. Marcel is an authority figure that has withheld the sense of time. His statues and pictures line the places of reverence throughout homes and schools in St. Mary's. And his teachings are not just something to follow. They are law. SSPX former members speak to the unwavering commitment to Marcel's teachings. It's not a matter of picking and choosing what you do or do not believe and putting those practices into motion. It is following the teachings to a T. Rejection of any part of the Tridentine Mass and the traditional religious practices are prohibited and met with shame, guilt, things like that. Now former SSPX members accounts share a common denominator. If you do not question or criticize the SSPX beliefs. Then you'll be just fine. However, if you question, you'll be referred to as the dissented. You'll be shunned. You'll be accosted and told you are being defiant. Let's say you have a question because you're just curious what something means or how something fits into the tradition. Perhaps you're not even questioning the validity. You're merely inquiring to understand it better. Like you just wanna be well educated about what. You are deciding to follow. This fact alone, that you are not taking the word at face value and trusting, is an act of rebellion. Shame and guilt are practiced and manipulation tactics are enforced in these instances. Quoting a couple survey responses from Mike's paper, these are from individuals who attended the SSPX church and no longer do. Quote, There is continued fear mongering of hell, shaming and demand for perfection from the earliest ages. It can certainly be mind altering to young children's minds as they grow and form in that environment, and even adults who spend enough time there. Even spying and interrogation tactics have been employed to use followers to reveal the wrongdoings of other followers, all while being told they are doing something good. The constant tearing down and negativity fosters judgment and discord among followers. They dismiss doubt with comparison of their mission to that of a military or sports figure. Okay, so this is a wildly interesting contrast. That something like spying and interrogation at face value is something that is allowable, praised even, And it serves a benefit to the church. And by doing these acts, you were held to a high level of esteem, like nice job. You told me that Sally over here was. Sharing that she was confused about a certain thing in scripture, and now you're reporting back and you're getting a pat on the back. That was essentially the idea of what they expect dedicated, devoted SSPX members to do. Another quote from a former member is, quote, Outside the SSPX, there is no salvation. That was a very real tactic that worked to keep young minds from questioning overly much about the SSPX. Telling a child that their doubts were equivalent to nailing Jesus to the cross with their own hands is devastating. End quote. Something that is entirely mind blowing to me is the mind altering manipulation that is not only placed on adults, but on children. End quote. Not to say that adults should experience this either, they should not, but telling a child that their doubts equate to personally nailing Jesus onto the cross is something unfathomable. And on a whole different level. Now, children's brains are sponges. And during this point, they're connecting point a to point B, growing up with teachings that are focused on one track, thinking, never questioning, just following blindly because of religion. That at the forefront is a recipe for unthinkable behaviors and actions. Ones that could undoubtedly lead to violence of many kinds. Throughout history, we have seen blind commitment, the blind commitment that ultimately leads to major catastrophic events, acts of violence, assault of various kinds, coercion, death. And although some of these are extreme examples, if you decide to never falter, and someone asks you to jump, and you say how high, that is a slippery slope for a multitude of destructive conclusions. And speaking of thought processes, this leads me to another defining characteristic of cult behavior tendencies. The use of language, buzzwords, overused phrases, all of those things. So the purpose of these phrases works to stop critical thought and is a mindless way to support something without taking a closer look. We see this in a lot of cases where It'll just be a statement that they'll say constantly, they'll shout it, they'll say it in response to something, right? We see these kind of phrases that are overused in a lot of different settings throughout the world. Within the SSPX, there are several phrases that are consistently used within the organization. The first is, that's a Protestant mass, vatican II was only a pastoral council. All to say, those are some of the phrases. I want to note that it is an interesting thought for these phrases and stances. That through thorough research, like if you just go online, you can find evidence that would combat and dismantle these things easily, which is why any kind of questioning is a slippery slope for leadership and they know this. Cause if someone questions SSPX beliefs and pushes against the religious orders or the rule book. Established by the SSPX founders, they are categorized and referred to as dissenters, rebels, or alienated entirely from SSPX. And being an SSPX member is one of a conditional relationship with that of the leaders. If you attend the services and follow the foundational rules of the SSPX, if you stay in line, then you'll make no waves and will not be a subject to any scrutiny. It's the moment that you do where all bets are off. Not only are these phrases learned and leaned on as quick, supportive language to enhance comradery and unwavering devotion to SSPX. They are also taught and repeated in the SSPX school system, because remember, they have a school system as well as a church. And SSPX schools implement assignments that are centered on maintaining a division with other religions by asking students to write essays answering questions like this, quote, is the new mass Catholic quote, what are the three errors of Vatican second? I bet you can determine what is F material here. It's all to continue to keep SSPX students focused solely on SSPX and to strengthen the avoidance of the modern Catholic Church. That is the whole idea behind continuing to have them answer these questions and to see what they say and to divide them from other religions, especially. the modern Catholic religion. My insider source lived in St. Mary's and she spoke to the specific things taught within the SSPX church and school system. Now, it wasn't your typical five subject kind of course. There is many conspiracy theories that lined the regular teachings. One was in reference to politics. It was noted globalism will erase religion and established Illuminati type of government. And that political parties in place, which was that of Democrat and Republican, were a part of the new modernism. And this was the new world order, which worked against the traditionalism and old world practices. So these were on the basis of these parties, they do not have validity. And that globalism is going to completely erase everything that is traditional. Another interesting thing was they looked at feminists as representing a source of evil. Because the use of birth control did not line up with submitting to men's advances. They referred to men's advances to bear children as the natural order of human society. They oftentimes referenced Adam and Eve, and they explained that this was exhibit A of why women should not be in charge of things or make decisions. When it came to your normal subjects that would be taught in most schools, climate change was also noted as a conspiracy, and evolution and advanced sciences were not taught at all. American history was not taught past the 1950s. And the Civil Rights Movement was considered a regression in human society and errors of modernism, as well as the New World Order. When it came to kids and adults, a lot of it was taught the same way. From an early age, they were told they were soldiers of Christ and that SSPX will bring the kingship of Christ the King to the world. Their goal was to enforce social domination and abolish worldly institutions that are in contrast to the old traditional world. Another big contributor to cult behavior is the us verse them mentality. The Cole Education Institute lists this on their page as quote, unreasonable fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophic evil conspiracies and persecutions, end quote. The SSPX was developed in 1970 with the traditional teachings being essentially stuck in time. Through the scope of SSPX, modernism is the devil and anything worldly is evil. But what does this mean? SSPX denies modernism to the highest degree, which means anything that enters into the realm of worldly was believed to strongly influence a member to inevitably turn away from God and sever religious values. Therefore, this truly means that anything before 1962 is a green light, for the most part, and anything beyond 1962 is off limits. SSPX believes that the consuming of current trends is not conducive and in accordance with the old traditional teachings and practices of the Catholic religion. So anything pop culture, anything such as books, TV shows, movies, new clothing trends, anything after 1962 is a no go. Now the Kansas Reflector released an article covering SSPX stating, quote, In 2023, the city commission succeeded in forcing the library to remove LGBTQ books for youths from the library, end quote, which alludes to the fact that what you're consuming in this community is censored and is monitored with precision. They're getting rid of books to support their claim of this modernism, to make sure that you're believing a certain way. And to stretch this point home even more. SSPX believed that these materials were gateway items that play the optimal influence of living a life filled with sin. Media was heavily monitored, is heavily monitored, and according to my insider source, quote, families were pressured to not own a TV or a computer. If you had either, there was an abundant amount of parental controls and restrictions on what you consumed. Shows could not have any kinds of violence, swearing, nudity, and absolutely nothing related to sexuality. Now typically, if the show was old enough, an old musical from the 1950s or prior, it could pass the SSPX standards. However, anything after 1960 and later would be considered too wordly. and would interfere with the traditional value system. In addition, my insider source spoke to her own experience growing up in an SSPX family and the treatment of media by her parents. Quote, I noticed that my parents would get radicalized against media after attending religious retreats put on by the priest in the summertime. That's usually when my mom would come back with new rules for the household. She recounted one memory where she remembers her mom breaking their family TV, stating that media was evil. If you look at pictures of SSPX members, you will notice a very specific dress code. It's no shocker that the majority of the dress code rules are given and told to against women. The dress code for women was centered around modesty, and that impending sin. That could ensue if it is not followed correctly. Specifically, women were expected to only wear dresses. They had to be covered up, so think, you know, your collarbone area. That all has to be covered up, up to your neck. No chest can be shown. Dresses had to go beyond the knees. Absolutely no pants were allowed, even if you were doing yard work. You do that in a dress. I would honestly fail because the only time I wear a dress is when I have no pants that are washed. And when people are like, you look so good today, I'm like, well, it's because my pants are all in the wash, but thanks. So, I would suck at this. Kudos to the SSPX women that put on a dress every day. But that was a big part of the, the church, is to make sure that they're covered up, they're modest. Now, when in church, veils are to be worn over the face by all women and girls. Even toddlers. With if you ask me is creepy as fuck. Let's say you walked into a church without a veil, right? You're like, ah, forgot my veil today. You forgot it at home. No veil, no problem. The church notes on their website that if you do not have a veil, if you did not BYOV, then the church will supply you with one. So why the dress code? Why was it of the utmost importance to the SSPX church? It's said to have stemmed back from Bishop Williamson's opinions from the earlier days of the church. If we take an even closer look, there's a lot more to it. The idea was to protect men and boys from being distracted in these settings by lustful and reactionary thoughts and temptations, referred to as occasions of sin. Now these messages were vocalized through sermons in church and teachings at the SSPX schools. In the same paper, Mike recounts a time he was at an SSPX church service, and during the sermon, the priest commented on a social media post of a member. She was wearing jeans, and he reiterated the dress code, stating, quote, Ladies, when you sit down in the pew, your skirt should be covering your knees. As you can see, religion is out the door and now these services have turned into a monitoring. They monitor your individual decisions in your day to day life. I find it erroneous that someone is put on blast during a church service and embarrassed when the members are there to practice and worship. Now you're segwaying from a religious stance to a you're too much in my freaking business stance. According to the survey responses in Mike's paper, many responses yield a resounding yes, along with examples of this kind of behavior and influence on what they wore. And it's to no surprise the dedication to enforcing dress codes was predominantly on to women. Now, account number one, I was wearing inappropriate parentheses. To them, in parentheses, clothing. It was sleeves above the elbows and skirts with a slit. I was told by a priest that I was destined to be a whore. Account number two. My parents were called into father's office to give their permission for me to get married. There is also a very strict dress code for women. One of the nuns once ordered me to bring a skirt I had worn to a parish function to school the next week so she could, quote, dispose of it. Because my knees were showed when I sat down and she deemed it to be too tight despite me having plenty of room to move in. But it's important to note that it's so blatantly obvious that the leadership operates between the lines of, If you are not modest, then you are indicating that you are open with your sexuality. It's not rare to hear the word whore tossed around to explain someone's choice of clothing. I know we're all waiting for my hot take. Laughs. Ready for it? Here we go. When organizations readily turn to rules and the teachings of avoiding modernism at all costs, they are losing touch with religion. Play it back. Now they are no longer teaching the basics of faith and why everyone is here to attend church, but rather creating an us versus them philosophy in which it's no longer about religion, but about creating a divide between two parties. We see this all the time. When the focus changes from the supportive messaging of the group's goals and missions to that of finding any way to slander a different group, we have lost sight of the purpose of why everyone is there, and that is to uphold the traditional Catholic teachings and word. And this is when you deviate from religion to cult like behaviors. While we're on the topic of women, let's talk about their role in the SSPX community. Or should I say, the expectation of their role. This section, I received insider information from my source, speaking to gender to gender expectations. Now boys and girls at an early age, kindergarten and beyond, are taught in different classrooms. And since genders were separated, it wasn't openly said that you couldn't have these friendships. However, they didn't really give them the opportunity due to the different buildings and classrooms. It was normal to be friends with someone of the same sex. When it came to interacting and dating of the opposite sex, it was a very slippery slope. There's no such thing as casual dating. It was dating with an accelerated process with the main focus of marriage. So you dated to marry. Upon seeing someone, you would need to make a quick decision on whether this was someone you wanted to continue down the path of marriage with. If you didn't, then you would risk the rumor mill of conversations pointing to your participation in sinful activities. My source speaks to dating years later explaining that her and people she knows that were former SSPX members have social anxiety regarding the opposite sex because of these very constructs that created another layer of challenge. Since they never really had exposure to these different sexes, and since You know, when they did, they were scrutinized. It offers this layer of challenge, confusion, and a whole plethora of emotions around the act of dating. When it comes to having a family, families are expected to be large. Five children and beyond is the standard. And that is the sole purpose of the woman, is to tend to the household and to her husband. Remember, we are forever stuck in 1962 and before. We are forever stuck in 1962 and before. The gender expectation of a SSPX woman is to never turn down sexual passes from her husband. Meaning that marital rape was often unreported, or undocumented, or unrecognized, and was at an all time high. When it came to birth control or abortion, both were considered sinful. Not surprising the ultimate sin was sex outside of marriage. And my source speaks to a couple of her friend's situations. One of her friends was expelled for getting pregnant out of marriage. And another not being able to wear a white wedding dress because she had a baby out of wedlock. Unfortunately and sadly, the SSPX is a patriarchal run system that holds minimal regard for women's wants and needs at a micro and macro level. But high regard for how they live their lives, speak, react, dress, and conduct themselves in private and in public settings. The word docile is thrown around quite a bit in the SSPX community, directed at women and the way they should behave. It's this don't rock the boat, step in line mentality. With this rulebook, it's undoubtedly a recipe for sexual harassment, sexual abuse. called the SSPX, which is rampant within the SSPX majority of accounts and accusations stem from SSPX, men and leadership roles, ones of power teachers, priests, and followers of the SSPX church. How reverent someone is to the Word of God is something that surpasses all. Even the law, it seems. If you go to church and you're devoted, but at home you're committing marital rape, sexual abuse. All of that is kind of tossed under the rug. It is this facade that you are following the SSPX church and everything else is less of a priority to look into. And I have backup information for this because we'll get into it soon about the sexual abuse allegations throughout the years. Within the SSPX church, my hot take, we see this in multiple different ways, which translates to that of a secular level when groups or leaders are on a pedestal that can do no wrong. And they run the show members that are considered to have lower amounts of power or status subsequently have their voices muffled or muted. And as a result, when those leaders are taking their opinion as truth, And either anyone from seeking clarity or being heard, legalities oftentimes are not followed and truth is buried under it all. With that being said, people will do anything to hide the truth to protect these leaders. Even if it means breaking laws and subjecting members to high levels of emotional or sexual abuse. We see this. All the time within vulnerable groups of people, my least favorite section, but something that is the most important and that is SSPX and their long history of sexual allegations of misconduct against clergy members and priests. According to an article in the Kansas City Star on February 1st, 2020, 186 reports of abuse have been reported by the hands of SSPX leadership. And at this point, 112 investigations opened up to be investigated by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The claims range, however, a lot of them point to sexual abuse An inappropriate behavior by SSPX priest and employees, as well as cover up by leaders. This is not against one specific priest, but upward of 8 to 10 that we know of, taking part in these heinous crimes. It has been reported that SSPX parishioner was employed by SSPX. And was convicted of serious sexual crimes involving his own children. And even though reporting these acts within the SSPX eight years prior, no investigation was concluded. And this is something very prevalent within the SSPX. Stuff is reported. People speak up. However, Investigations either go cold or are never followed up on. What I find highly confusing and interesting is in response to the allegations, SSPX put out a formal statement announcing that they will be forming a permanent independent review board to investigate sex abuse allegations. I think, how independent are we talking? To me, if it's within the four walls of SSPX or has anything to do with SSPX. then the review board is worthless since it is tied in with the church. In addition, again, if you have to create a permanent review board because you are receiving an unflexed amount of sexual abuse allegations, then something is horribly wrong with your organization you're running. To sum up, this is extremely discouraging that a place and leadership that you should feel completely comfortable and safe within. And the countenance claims also holds true to another characteristic of cult mentality, which is similar experiences from former members. Now, before we get into that, I want to make one more thing clear. We're putting lives of people lower than we're putting power of leadership. That's the issue. We would rather protect these leaders from facing consequences than Rather than protect people of abuse, my insider sources spoke to the sexual abuse in the SSPX community, quote, the SSPX leadership always had an action plan for silencing victims of sexual abuse, neglect, and violence. They would shut down victims if they planned to speak out. They lead victims away from CPS, the police, and the news. With distrust of the outside world, they often blame the victim while the perpetrator goes free, end quote. End quote. She specifically spoke to going through abuse herself, and the response she received was pray and bear the burden, which meant that of her home life and her abusive mother, to pray and bear the burden. The sheltering of the group and being raised in a purity culture was something that made receiving abuse and speaking up for yourself confusing and shameful. Information was lax on what was normal and what was criminal. Moving on to some more troubling information, but not as heavy as that. Trust me when I say a palate cleanser will be needed after this, and I will definitely share one of mine with you. But SSPX discourages their members from speaking with outsiders for fear that they would be a bad influence. Now, there has been an overarching view that outsiders would influence SSPX members and would corrupt them with New Age ways of life. When it comes to members who follow the New Age Catholic religion, this is first on the list of people to avoid when you're an SSPX member. It's important to note that this way of thinking is one fueled by insecurity, which powers their ways of thinking. Alice, if we shelter SSPX members from media, outsiders, and the like. then they are less susceptible to question anything. It was a driving force for implementations and rules surrounding what was consumed. If someone is kept in a bubble with no access to the outside world, then they will be saved from the influences of sin or temptations of things outside of SSPX. Aside from outsiders, it very well could be that someone is who is depicted as an outsider, is someone's own family or friends. When you devote yourself to the SSPX, it means that anyone and everything that does not align to the SSPX belief and value system should be devoid of connection to. Isolating members as a method of control and something that is heavily turned to to keep members strong in their beliefs. International Cultic Studies Association refers to elitist mentality as another cult characteristic. As quoted on their page, quote, The group is elitist, claiming a specialist, exalted status for itself, its leader, and its members. For example, the leader is considered the messiah, a special being, an avatar. Or a group and or leader that's on a special mission to save humanity. As stated earlier, SSPX considers themselves the true church, the true doctrine. A phrase repeated throughout SSPX is quote, many are called, but few are chosen. Alluding to a special mission, a specific person or entity to get something accomplished. A couple quotes that I felt really hit the nail on the head to sharing evidence of this being highly prevalent in the SSPX is, quote, they credit themselves with being saviors of the traditionalist Latin mass and attribute any Latin mass being offered as their work. They laud Archbishop Marcel as saint, and they are the faithful remnant of the church, the true church. I can't say it enough. I throw on the word true a lot here, but what that translate is. Anyone that practiced modern Catholic religion, it is not true. It's not valid. It's not a matter of pure or intention. It is, we are right, you are wrong, and what you're doing is something that lacks validity and truth. Interesting discovery that literally carves this belief into the walls of existence is the ceiling of the Immaculate, which is the Mass Center in St. Mary's. The ceiling has artwork. And it's a picture of Noah's Ark carrying the last remnant of the faithful to God through the floodwaters. Now perhaps they just like Noah's Ark, okay? Maybe that's their jam. Maybe it's a coincidence, something that they admire. However, if we're looking at the track record of making sure that the things they're doing are calculated, one could also state that intention could be an impression. Of what the SSPX oftentimes refer to themselves as being the remnant, the last true followers of the Catholic traditional religion, viewpoints and religion as it was from 1570. So it kind of seems a little bit coincidental that out of anything they could put on their ceiling, that was what they went with. Next point I have is if you have a group or you join a group, aim towards a certain activity and goal. Chances are, the most flack you're going to receive when you decide it is no longer for you or you leave is, Ah, we're gonna miss you. Are you sure? It was so fun having you here. No, don't go. You know, all very innocent. Usually out of sadness that something's coming to an end. However, usually there's a bit of support tied into it. Disconnecting from a group like SSPX is more convoluted. It is the hardest thing to do. Loyalty to the organization is the main pillar in SSPX. And when that loyalty is no longer, then you no longer matter. Now even if it's a corrupt organization, if you grew up in the church and that's all you ever knew, it's gotta be hard. You have a lot of sad feelings around it. Because that means it's a change, right? It's something that is hard because it's all you've known. And throughout this episode, I've explained the constraints, power, and manipulation that accompanies an SSPX member while in the organization. Which means leaving is difficult. Also as a prime indicator that you may be in a cult if leaving is so damn difficult to do. The Cult Education Institute describes this as, quote, There is no legitimate reason to leave. Former followers are always wrong in leaving. They are negative or even evil. So if you said, Oh, Sally left last year. It's not going to be like, Oh, what's Sally up to? Does she like where she lives now? Where does she work? What's up with Sally? I want to know. It is Sally is evil. Sally is dead to us. Sally does not matter because Sally left. It is the ultimate betrayal of the SSPX church. There are rows and rows of survey responses on this one. SSPX members, X members share that leaving resulted in immediate severed ties from the church and clear instructions to not speak to them, nor any current member to reach out to any X member, a survey entry shared quote. Absolutely. I was terrified to leave when my husband and I made the decision to leave the SSPX, I cried the whole day, not because I didn't want to leave, but because I was terrified of the backlash. My insider source speaks to her escaping the SSPX with quote, getting away was really difficult because the SSPX people were isolated from everyone else, including their own family and old friends. If your former relationship was not part of the group, you were encouraged to cut ties, except when fundraising for the school, all socializing was done within the group, either locally or with other SSPX communities in the country. I definitely felt the guilt that was indoctrinated into me for not going to the SSPX church at first. This was within the first two to three years after leaving St. Mary's over time ID programmed. As Cole experts call it. And those conditions responses went away. Therapy also helped her acknowledge where these feelings and behaviors were coming from. And it helped with reconditioning herself. She definitely still has trauma responses to certain situations that people, and also has difficulty socializing and probably some forms of PTSD. The monumental effect these organizations have on members and ex members cut deep. And to the surface of someone's psyche, my heart goes out to anyone who has had personal experiences, existing and a cult structured organization and environment who have felt coursed into elicited practices that are created to dilute silent people's voices, leaving room for abuse and a variety of different forms. Some insidious and oftentimes not realized. And others resoundingly loud and form these fear based and led organizations and still and balances of power along with insecure attachment styles between members and leadership ultimately met to wear a person down to fully accept an idea or a concept without allowing them any free will to make their own decisions, removing ties from the outside world. And in this case, instilling value and belief systems that are thoroughly focused on opinions of one person or several people within leadership. After completing my research, the 12 indicators of a cult that I tucked into this episode all fall under the SSPX church. A final hot take of mine is that I do believe SSPX was formed out of fear That their religion was being torn apart and changed. And with any change comes concern that something will be lost forever. When it comes to religion, that can be a very terrifying thing, since religion is often someone's main purpose in life. Do I think the SSPX planned on being the powerhouse that they are at its conception? To divide and ultimately conquer the Roman Catholic religion? To treat members like this and act in a way that they have been? I'm not sure. I do think the change made them extremely angry. made them fearful, and I do think that they wanted it to divide to some degree because they were upset. But part of me hopes that this wasn't the main intent, but that it got out of hand. The more they implemented the rules and tried to continue the traditional religion, but it's really hard to say. It goes way past the confines of religion. When you have to go to a priest or bishop to ask about who you should marry, what you should wear, and what you can watch or read, that means it is beyond just a religious entity practicing under a religious context. That is the difference between infiltrating someone's every decision or having a healthy relationship with an organization and having things outside of that organization of your own that differentiates between that of a cult. We can pose that same question to everything we do. Something cannot be your everything. Otherwise, it could be at your detriment rather than for your own gain. I wish I could end on something uplifting that provided or instilled hope for the future of SSPX. But where it stands now, it is still very much operating under the same value system. In Baptist News Global. Several supports of TLM, the organization, were convinced that sexual abuse investigations were attacked by government and instead of wanting them to look further into these investigations, they pooled nearly 42 million to help rebuild the church. The Kansas Attorney General stepped down and Chris Kovic replaced him. That's when we saw a decision to stop the investigations. Now, as you can see, it takes one person to change everything. And that one person that holds a lot of power could have allowed for these investigations to progress. For people to look further into these accounts that are 186. I'm not saying that one account should ever be overlooked, but it's so blatantly obvious. when you have 186 allegations. We need to talk about this. We need to share this. We need to get more exposure to these issues before more people are hurt, more people are abused, more people are brainwashed. Right? More people are treated in the way that they've been treated. And through outlets like this, through platforms like this, I'm able to speak to this and gather evidence and point to these things that are so wrong, so that we can all take a stand and fight for justice, and fight for the things that matter in our world. I believe through educating ourselves about these organizations and watching out for each other with the tried and true signs of being a cult and understanding what those 12 indicators are, we can protect one another and avoid these kinds of operations. And for the former SSPX members who were able to disconnect their ties from SSPX or other cults, I commend you. I imagine it's the hardest thing you'll ever have to do. And with those hard decisions come a long journey of healing and unraveling trauma from years of abuse and turmoil. You're amazing. And now for a palate cleanser, because God knows I need one. Hmm, what am I going to do tonight? Okay, so I'm going to eat a casserole of sorts because it is cold outside and I just think soup or casserole a lot of times. I'm It's already dark because it gets dark so early. So sad. I always say that chocolate is the best thing. I also am going to stay away from candles because that shit, I don't recommend it. Not for your hair at least. But I hope everyone has a beautiful week ahead. Again, I will be releasing in the month of December. A season to die for. Tidings of terror. A mini series for the holiday season outlining five murders that happened over the month of December, over Christmas, and unraveling those cases for you over the spooky, spooky holiday season. So, keep an eye out for that. I'll be doing a countdown, a 10 day countdown. to get everyone excited for the holidays and these little episode releases. So love y'all. Thank you for tuning in. Thank you for your support. You are the best. And I hope everyone enjoys their week ahead. Take care. Bye.