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Phil Lawler's Substack
July 4, 2026
By Phil Lawler
The week in review, from the perspective of a veteran Catholic journalist
Happy 4th of July!
The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence hasn’t prompted nearly the sort of celebration that attended the 200th: yet another sign (as if you needed it) that things are not right in our nation.
But for the Lawler family, the 4th has become the occasion for a Gathering of the Clan. Children and grandchildren began more arriving than a week ago, and the party will reach its peak just in time for the fireworks— after our annual re-reading of the Declaration.
With many grandchildren to chase around (and be chased by), I haven’t been working my usual schedule this week, as you’ll see. Look for more next week.Subscribe
Article
The illicit ordination of new bishops by the SSPX marked a sad day in Church history, made sadder still by the fact that some people— on both sides of the dispute— seemed delighted. We all knew that the excommunications were coming; let’s hope and pray that the Vatican takes other steps to address the legitimate concerns of tradition-minded Catholics who might be tempted toward the schism.
Notes
Among the scores of articles written in anticipation of the SSPX ordinations, one by Roberto de Mattei struck me as both balanced and insightful. While quite sympathetic to the traditionalist cause, he saw two paradoxes (if not outright contradictions) in the SSPX justification for defiance of Rome.
But then a New York Times op-ed by David Gibson, who is definitely not friendly to traditionalism, was revealing as well. He did his best to write off the SSPX as an insignificant fringe group (then why does their action merit commentary in the Times?) Oddly enough, though, he accurately quoted my wife Leila’s comments on the dispute, and linked to her more cogent analysis.
Yes, there was some news apart from the SSPX brouhaha. The US bishops amended their “Dallas Charter” policy on sex abuse, and Michael Mazza’s commentary for Catholic World Report was on target—although a bit too gentle for my taste. Suffice it to say that not much has changed; the bishops still don’t “get it.”
Then to close out the week, I observed that whenever the Vatican announces that someone has been excommunicated, you can always count on an argument that the excommunication is invalid, because of some canonical technicality. (For the record, I posted this Note before I saw the first such canonical claim on behalf of the SSPX.)Among the scores of articles written in anticipation of the SSPX ordinations, one by Roberto de Mattei struck me as both balanced and insightful. While quite sympathetic to the traditionalist cause, he saw two paradoxes (if not outright contradictions) in the SSPX justification for defiance of Rome.