CathInfo.com

If this secret pagan publicly professes the Catholic faith I don't see why he wouldn't be a member of the Church. If he was baptized as an adult, but internally rejected this act, even at the very moment of it's carrying out, he would be a member, a dead member.

I just clicked on a thread out of curiosity, and the above quote is what I read. Here is my first impression:
Talk about an ivory tower, hypothetical, useless, academic discussion!  Is that what the rest of this thread is like?

In other news, "here is how many angels could fit on the head of a pin..."

Meanwhile, Tradition burns.

Seriously -- think of the situation for so many Trads today: the downfall of the SSPX, the necessity of Mass, the economic reality of 2018, newlywed couples trying to get by, couples where the wife is forced to work, the issue of education "how to school our children without sending them to public school, and I can't homeschool", finding friends for your children who aren't a horrible influence, young people discerning marriage (both male and female), dealing with non-Trad and non-Catholic family members, dealing with Trad/Catholic/theological disagreements with your spouse, and so many other important, critical, AND PRACTICAL topics.

We're talking about issues that affect Trads everywhere, in all parts of Tradition, regardless of what group they patronize. There are a lot of struggles we have in common. Yes, even between a young sedevacantist couple and a young SSPX couple. Yes, I know that's blasphemy for those who love to divide...

So is this academic issue really the most important issue pressing on Trad Catholics today? Are our lives so stable and worry-free that we can indulge in such academic discussions? I'm sure many would like to say (or shout) MUST BE NICE.

I could go on for hours with examples of the sufferings and struggles faced by Trads in 2018.

NOTE: I'm actually in a pretty stable situation myself -- but A) even I have issues I have to deal with, like the lack of weekly Mass, raising children in the 2018 pagan modern world, lack of friends/family "support network", etc. and B) I'm objective -- I don't always talk about myself. I step outside myself and my situation as easily as others are comfortably stuck thinking from their own situation/perspective :)


TL;DR:
We need less "Crisis in the Church" posts and more "Catholics Living in the Modern World" posts. The latter could have been called "The Rubber Meets the Road" or "Trad Catholic in Action" or "Trad Catholic life all week long - the struggles" and so forth.

I'll add this: when people criticize CathInfo, they are usually talking about the Crisis in the Church subforum -- or the Anonymous subforum. I have heard almost zero criticism over the past 12 years about the contents of "Catholics Living in the Modern World", "The Sacred", or any of the other sub-fora on CathInfo. 

When I went to Mass for Ascension, I caught myself feeling disappointed that it was a Low Mass rather than High.  And I thought "how spoiled I have become!"  I need to more grateful that I have so many opportunities to attend the TLM within a reasonable driving distance.  Not only am I able to attend every Sunday, I am close enough even to go on weekdays.

This is such a great blessing and yet, I have gotten used to it.  I should never take my ability to attend Mass for granted.

.

When I went to Mass for Ascension, I caught myself feeling disappointed that it was a Low Mass rather than High.  And I thought "how spoiled I have become!"  I need to more grateful that I have so many opportunities to attend the TLM within a reasonable driving distance.  Not only am I able to attend every Sunday, I am close enough even to go on weekdays.

This is such a great blessing and yet, I have gotten used to it.  I should never take my ability to attend Mass for granted.

.
For me, the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord came and went with very little fanfare. The most notable unique event was the extinguishing of the Paschal candle. It seemed rather anti-climactic in retrospect. Our hymn to Our Lady and crowning her "with blossoms today" was prominent.
.
Every year I get the feeling that these past 40 days since Easter have gone by so much FASTER than did the recent 40 days of Lent.
.
Our priest managed to give a short sermon, but he somehow missed saying what the Ascension means theologically.
.
He pointed out that it was as Our Lord ascended, and was physically not standing on the earth but rising into the clouds that He spoke to His Apostles, giving them their great Apostolic Commission to go forth to the farthest parts of the earth teaching everything as He has commanded you, and instituting the Sacrament of Baptism by giving them the Form: "Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned." I keep thinking, that was a whole lot of stuff to drop on them at a time when they couldn't open a discussion or ask Him any questions about it.
.
It was a friend who told me that was the time, by ascending, when Jesus opened the gates of heaven. As such the Ascension ought to be a much more prominent Feast Day than it has come to seem in our age.