1) So the "Conciliar Church" is a literal second visible Church, but not a completely distinct visible Church? How exactly does that work out? For the past six years, no Resistance folks have been able to explain what that means. A literal second but not completely distinct Church is definitely a theological novelty, incompatible with what every pre-Conciliar dogmatic theologian says about the nature and unity of Christ's Church.
2) You're presuming I'm just a mainline SSPX-adherent. But I'm not. I used to be a Resistance mass-attendee years ago, and then I grew up. I simply sympathize with the mainline SSPX, attend their masses occasionally, and agree with much of what Abp. Lefebvre did/said, etc. I have no commitment to them. Lefebvre was a holy man, but he was not Christ; likewise, the SSPX is an organization greatly serving the salvation of souls, but it is not the Roman Catholic Church itself.
But you guys are different. I know your type -- I attended a Resistance chapel for three years. You guys say not to attend even mainline SSPX masses, FSSP masses, diocesan trad masses, or Eastern Catholic divine liturgies. You say that the only acceptable masses are Resistance ones, which only feeds into the insinuation that the Resistance basically = the Roman Catholic Church. My point about your divisions/schisms was to point out that you guys cannot be the true Church, since you lack the Ecclesial mark of Unity.
3) Ok, which branch of the Resistance do you follow then, X?
1. The "Conciliar Church" is a real thing. But it's a mystery, like the Crisis in the Church itself, which no man can fully or perfectly explain. Only God knows how it all fits together, and how it's going to be solved. Just like heretics over the ages have done with the Trinity and other supernatural Revelation, trying to simplify THIS mystery so that it fits comfortably inside a human meat-brain is going to be a recipe for error and heresy.
2. This is a straw man argument. No one on CathInfo nor any of the Resistance bishops, nor the priests that work with them, is claiming that "they, together, constitute the whole Catholic Church". Likewise, who ever said +Lefebvre was Christ? That's the most ludicrous straw man I've ever read.
3. What Resistance priest did *you* associate with for 3 years? Was it Fr. Pfeiffer/Hewko? You seem to know the most about them, so that is the most probable.
But it's more than that -- your brain's entire data file for "the Resistance" is filled with Pfeifferian rhetoric, propaganda, and theology. Outside Pfeifferville, no Resistance priests teach that they ARE the Catholic Church, that all other groups are automatically off-limits (a.k.a. "Red lighting"), etc. As a matter of fact, most Pfeifferites crucify +Williamson for keeping a wise, balanced, and sane view on this subject!
4. You THINK you know the Resistance, and by extension, a bunch of us here -- but all you REALLY know is the Pfeiffer cult, which accurately reflects the Resistance about as much as Pope Michael accurately reflects the Traditional Catholic movement.
5. All your charges of "divisions", "schisms", etc. are spurious. The Traditional Movement as a whole has always had differing opinions, lack of unity (usually regarding some point touching on the Crisis in the Church, not the Faith itself -- see #1 for the nature of the Crisis). "Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered." The Pope is the principle of unity in the Catholic Church. How can a Crisis like this happen -- wherein the Pope himself joins with Her enemies and begins tearing apart the Church with his own hands -- without necessarily costing us our valuable unity? It is sad, but it is not our fault.
We are not the ones with new, novel doctrines. Like the Traditional Catholics in the 1970s (including +Lefebvre) WE are the ones who DIDN'T change.Faithful Catholics don't have the first dent in their otherwise perfection, the first thing to apologize for, just because the mass of Catholics and Churchmen apostatized after Vatican II. It is the latter who are guilty of schisms, division, and breaking the unity of Faith.
Any apparent lack of unity in the Traditional Movement (of which the Resistance is a part) is easily explained by A) the confusion and mystery surrounding the Crisis itself, and B) the novel doctrines and outrageous behavior of the Conciliar Popes, who are supposed to be the principle of unity in the Catholic Church.
Sure, things look pretty chaotic at times in the Traditional Movement, but remember the words of Our Lord:
"Judge not according to appearances, but judge just judgment."