Both the Vatican and the SSPX have handled their conflict poorly, writes Kevin Tierney, in a convincing short essay. But perhaps the damage can be undone if everyone involved asked themselves what they might have done to make reconciliation more difficult— and stopped doing it.

Just for examples— and these are my examples, not Tierney’s— there’s no good reason why a faithful Catholic would celebrate the excommunications, and there’s no good reason why someone who didn’t attend an SSPX Mass in the past would start now.