"Can't speak for the other sedes, but I obey my bishop, in whom I can place my entire confidence."
And, from whence does your "bishop" derive his authority? What is his line of apostolic succession? Or did you just "elect" pastor So-and-so and declare him a "bishop"?
"So that's how you simplify it and make it palatable. You choose between faith and obedience--always judging, of course, which is appropriate in each given instance."
It's not a matter of what *I* do; it is what all thinking traditional Catholics *should* do.
"I find life immeasurably easier when I simply steer clear of untrustworthy people."
Well, we certainly do agree on this point.
"Besides, I have found that it is not feasible to have one's cake and eat it, too."
Yes, but we're not talking about "cakes"; we're talking about the Faith. And besides, the analogy doesnt hold: the SSPX's stance is perfectly Catholic, even if the Novus Ordonistas and Sedevacantists dont think so. I rather form my opinion, among other things, regarding the position of the SSPX by comparing it against the position of those who speak against them. The differences are stark.
"Make no mistake he said that the Moto Proprio was in no way to make nice with the 'Schismatic group known as the SSPX, founded by the renegade Marcel Lefebvre.'"
Of course it wasnt. I cannot prove my theory just yet, but I rather think that the Motu Proprio was issued as a means to make a bad situation even worse. By re-"allowing" the traditional Mass, now you take the wind out of the sails of the flagship bone of contention between traditionalists and those of the Novus Ordo: the traditional Latin Mass. Now that it has been "permitted", the SSPX has to fall back to the fact that the doctrinal questions arising from the Second Vatican Council have still not been addressed.
Also, the matter of the bogus "excommunications" has not been cleared up, either, which further isolates the position of the SSPX to the uncritical, common mind.
So, this Motu Proprio will solve nothing. All it does is declare what all traditionalists have known all along. But, practically, it will accomplish little unless and until Rome clears the matter of the so-called "excommunications" and opens up a dialogue concerning the Second Vatican Council.
"And, I have said it here before and I say it again. There is a Pope in Rome, but he happens not to be Catholic."
That might be the case, and it might not be. Either way, the man obviously needs our prayers.