Raoul,
Once. I become a Sede, then what?
Does it really matter?
Whether this is the Church or not it's all still going to Hell.
Sede-ism to me is just hopelessness and despair.
I'm depressed enough already.
Sheesh! I didn't mean to engender that kind of reaction. All I can say is be comforted by knowing that others are in despair as well. If you weren't in despair, I would seriously question your devotion. We are witnesses to something unspeakably awful.
Oh wait -- you are just depressed, while sedes are the ones in despair. I'll make sure to tell my fellow sedes about that; I'm not sure they know.
Is this the impression that sedes give off in the SSPX world? I've never felt despair from sedevacantists at all. I haven't met many, if any, who are as gung-ho as I am, though... Most of them are just provisional sedevacantists who would have no problem going to SSPX. They just come across as normal Catholics -- too normal, in my opinion. I always want more engagement, more action, more intensity from everyone. There is such an inertia among Catholics, they are so constipated, I wish all trads could just completely throw off the shackles of VII and say "WE ARE THE CHURCH -- THEY ARE NOT." Just draw the line in the sand once and for all. I don't like this uneasy detente, this diplomacy with jackals.
You must think that the sedevacantist thesis in itself is permeated with despair. But our circuмstances are so extraordinary that I've never doubted they will end or be changed in an equally extraordinary way. I don't see why doubting Ratzinger's papacy is inherently fraught with despair. Believing he is Pope is much more depressing. Was St. Bernard in despair when he fought anti-Pope Anacletus II? ( People don't talk about that bizarre, forgotten episode in Church history enough ).
Once you are a sede, not much will change, but you will have the satisfaction of not contributing your time and energy to a futile cause, or of being made a fool out of, over and over again. You don't have to pretend that the "Holy Father" is going to correct any abuses. I no longer believe that one will be damned by being in SSPX, but sedevacantism is more consistent. Consistency is a big thing with me.