I've lost my patience. I cannot afford the time it takes to render responses to people who habitually ignore the matter. I'm sure there are many subjective causes to this, not the least of which is the secret recognition of the esential weakness of a position. God forbid you question the party line!
I think that I've made my points sufficiently clear for anyone reading these posts. If anyone feels that they can formulate a well-reasoned, dispassionate, disinterested, objective reply, my email is public. I've already had several email exchanges that have been disappointing to say the least. Again, I call on the best and the brightest members of the "Church of the Sede Vacante" to present his or her case. We shall see if it stands the test of rigorous examination.
I do not consider as members of this "church" faithful who are so scandalized by the evils of the hierarchy that they recoil in horror, saying in their hearts, "they cannot be true priests." This is a moral privation, and one that is recognized even by Gregory the Great -- being morally absent from office, but not necessarily juridically. It is a fleeting feeling of reprehension that does not purport to be a juridical declaration, nor does the idea become speculative, governing thougths and actions. Nor do I recognize as members those who privately hold that, on good grounds and reasonable cause, this or that prelate has lost his office through heresy recognizing such a judgment for what it is, namely a less probable opinion that can in no way bind other catholics. From this disposition, hateful condemnations never proceed because it understands that as a matter of concrete fact, good men can differ and that no true certitude could ever be obtained. These men recognize that the external bonds of faith, sacraments and governance define our union and nothing more. Anyone who prescinds from this threefold union has only himself to blame; it remains between him and God. Let the dead bury the dead.
On the other hand, I consider as members of this sect those who adhere to a theoretical or speculative "sedevacantism" that governs all else. These sectarians pretend that they alone constitute the "true church" and pretend that their opinions are certain and, practically speaking, infallible. Fierce condemnations of other catholics are launched threatening damnation for anyone who does not join their ranks. Their communion is defined by one thing alone: their opinion on the status of the Papacy. Thus, talk of "una cuм" masses consume them. Their opinions precede every other consideration and rely heavily upon their imaginative descriptions of the state of the Church. So convinced do they become of the promptings of their imagination, the fury increases in proportion to the pretended realization that every other catholic who is in any way associated with the "anti-church" is in reality associating with nothing more than a sect. From this judgment comes declarations on other legal matters, for example, the status of the 1962 missal or other traditional priests.
It is to the members of this sect that I address this message. If you truly want to restore the Church of Jesus Christ, you must understand that union with all traditional Catholics in the fight against modernism within the Church and the restoration of the same is very important. I sincerely empathize with your effort to make sense of this crisis, but I firmly believe that your solution to the problem is false and just as harmful, if not more so, than the problem itself.
Feel free to contact me with observations or questions.
-Caminus
Topic: Farewell (Read 633 times)