From Specola:
«Priests Crossing Over to the Fraternity
The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X publishes in its own bulletin a tally of diocesan priests who approach or join it, and the tally includes dates. In the United States, the diocese of Knoxville announced on October 2 the withdrawal from Father David Mary Engo of “all faculties, permissions, and authorizations” for his pastoral activity associated with the Fraternity and in support of it; ordained in 1997, a former Franciscan and founder of the Franciscan Brothers Minor, he was until recently chaplain of a contemplative community. Days earlier, Father Philip Conklin, ordained in 2024 in Minnesota, was subjected to a canonical procedure after confirming his affiliation, and he explained it this way: “I am a priest who simply could not ignore his conscience.” Father David Fulton joined last year, after twenty-one years of diocesan ministry and two of formation with the Fraternity. In Poland, Father Wojciech Kmak, of the diocese of Łowicz, began his probationary period in Warsaw on June 29, and the Fraternity lists five more Polish priests who have come from the diocesan clergy or from religious communities. In Brazil, Father Rodrigo de Oliveira Silva, suspended by his diocese in February, opened a new place of worship and in August received new sanctions. In Ireland, Father Ailbe Michael O’Reilly has publicly described the sanctions from Rome as unjust and invalid. In Austria, the September priestly meeting brought together nineteen priests of the Fraternity, four associates, and two diocesan friends, and in Italy the district superior speaks of several groups of “priests friends of the Fraternity,” mostly diocesan. What is interesting is not the names, which are few, but the direction and the moment. Rome is preparing a procedure for priests who wish to leave the Fraternity, and the Fraternity responds by publishing the list of those who enter».
And the defections, if the Church does not expand the facilities for those attached to the traditional Mass, will grow among priests and laity.