My favorite is probably the "Popesplainers" one lol But I have to say the pope often says things that sound ridiculous only if you're less familiar with the classical Church theology he's usually grounded in. The Popesplainers are doing people a favor by explaining these things to people. There's more to "Catholic" than meets the eye. But there are also those who blindly defend every word, and every administrative action of the Pope, no matter how indefensible ("All religions are a path to God"), how imprudently worded ("Who am I to judge?") or how reckless (Let's restrict the Latin mass). The balanced "popesplainers" are a good breed. The unbalanced ones, not so much. I don't like BS Gymnastics, no matter where it comes from.
Sometimes you DO have to 'squint' to understand the pope, but that IS how the Church is. It has always been that way. The average layperson doesn't know that because most laypeople don't have to get into the weeds of Catholic theology and history (and they shouldn't have to).
I know this is humor anyway, and sorry to contribute something straight. I appreciated the piece, but that funny bit about Popesplainers sparked these thoughts.
Over-pope-splaining will eventually burn you out and lead you to the same despair in the end as if you gave up on the papacy immediately. I like Joe Heschmeyer's middle ground as he explains on his interview with Matt Fradd here:
There needs to be Bishop Barron/Fr Mike Schmidts normie cons on here. Usually millennials obsess with theology of the body and JP2. I guess that’s Scott Hahn but to me he’s too boomer. I also thinks there needs to be the philosophy bro Catholics who converted reading Ed Feser or James Ross
Very endearing article but why do you say that a sedevacantist is essentially in schism? If a pope is heretical or an apostate then the chair is empty. This does not excommunicate those of us who see it. Ad Jesum per Mariam⚔️
I'd again also be interested in hearing your background and what persuaded you in particular towards your position. Email me at jamesgreenAV@gmail.com if you're interested in discussing all this more (Everett Polinski is but my pseudonym for satirical articles)
I am not convinced that it is empty. For me, as I write rather forcefully on my other Substack, sedevacantism in any extended, hidden form as it is usually argued would, if true eliminate the practical weight of papal infallibility and primacy.
To me the closest analogue so far to our present situation is that of the Avignon Papacy, whereby we have imprudent actions, personal faults that are visible to all, and lots of possible faults of omission by the recent popes, but no definitive official promulgations by the recent Popes that are outside of continuity with Tradition
I would be called by most a "recognize and resist" Catholic if you were to label me, even though I don't really prefer that title, but something in the vein of St. Catherine of Sienna who opposed the imprudence of the Popes of her day but did not give up on them, doing her duty to persuade them do their duty
I am rather more curt and abrupt in this article here, but I'd love to talk and discuss this with you if you're interested.
Furthermore, many people like the Dimonds are emphatic that there is a schism between them and the visible Church and they are proud to be separated from it. Even Lefebvre at times said things approaching this, that he was glad to be separated from and excommunicated by "modernist Rome."
My view of how we got into the current place whereby there is a lot of woke theological slop seeming to come from Rome and many people feel very justified in opposing it even to the point of sedevacantism is because there has been a "false spirit of Vatican I" with major misunderstandings of that council's teachings creating the conditions for the present crisis in the Church. More on that later...
I’ve just been accused of being with the 77th brigade by Sauvek who is affiliated with Dr Mike Yeadon. It seems he was triggered by me saying I was a Catholic and a psychiatrist and a virus sceptic. Yes, I am a cradle Catholic, half Irish and half Portuguese. Born in Mocambique and left at age 5 after its independence from Portugal. Raised in South Africa and studied medicine and psychiatry. Married to a Dutch Catholic and we have 4 children. My eldest was born very premature and he struggled mightily to survive his first few months and was left with severe disabilities. He was pure love and he went to Jesus in 2018 at the age of 20. I say this with humility but knowing that Nicolas was not able to sin and so he is in heaven. After his death, I was rendered grief stricken and almost catatonic for the first year. I had no loss of faith in fact the opposite. I had 3 remaining children and husband to care for and I did this but the Lord shook me from my comfortable life and I didn’t work for a year. This year was a painful gift which allowed me to pray, to read and to start to heal.i
It was in my reading since 2018 that I discovered the TLM and the errors of V2. South Africa was mostly Novus Ordo and I never experienced any other form of the mass until my reawakening after 2018. Now I long for it and all that has been lost by it not being around as the default mass since V2.
And Russia was baited into going to save their brothers who were being genocided in the Donbas by the Ukronazis. They had no choice but to go in, to de nazify, demilitarise, protect the Russian speakers and I do believe that Ukraine has lost around a million men to Russia’s one tenth of that. The US/UK/NATO are the true instigators and the Ukraine merely a sick pit to injure Russia.
I believe human (and country's) motivations are always mixed, and I have some qualms with Russia, and some quibbles even within your statement there, but I generally agree with the "West" being the primary cause of the current conflict (2014 coup, etc.)
My awakening in matters of faith also accompanied awakening in other areas. I never went along with obvious demonic talk of overpopulation and global warming but I did believe in viruses and vaccines. Through in-depth reading, I have seen that there is no such thing as a virus and that all vaxines are toxic. We unknowingly poison ourselves, our children and our elderly with these toxins. The hoax pandemic teaches that all of them are hoaxes as is much of what the sciences have been saying: heliocentricity, spinning globe, evolution, dinosaurs, man going to moon etc etc. I only believe now what my faith teaches and what I verify with my own eyes.
Thank you for answering, I will read the other article to which you linked. I can’t bring myself to defend an action like placing Pachamama on an alter nor the persecution of the TLM. To me, he has excommunicated himself. His election I believe was also fraudulent. So I think he does not sit in the chair. Perhaps our pope is Vigano, perhaps we have no valid pope at this time. But, the Church persists as Jesus promised it would
I'm again sympathetic, yet I see many of the 15th-century popes as just as more debaucherous and equally scandalous at times to the issues today.
Again, having just read through your Substack Notes, I'd be interested in hearing of your geopolitical thoughts as well. I read Simplicius and BigSerge and think they raise valid points against the Western propaganda, albeit with the truth about the battlefield reality probably being somewhere in the middle.
Yes, the Church persists, and that's the most important part, that we don't let the devil attack our very fidelity and turn it into a despair that keeps us from using it to serve the Lord.
I will be writing something more on this soon, but basically average Catholic parish with strong parent examples and a strong home faith life growing up, a turn toward being interested and pretty deep into tradition (Latin Mass, Divine Office, etc.) in college (but for less than perfect reasons) but this has been followed by a deep wariness of going "too far" in any direction more recently after a vocational discernment to a traditional monastery didn't go anywhere (at least right now). Right now I mostly still attend Novus Ordo Masses due to my location (and not seeing anything completely illicit) but pray much the old Divine Office even as I also remain interested in some of the Byzantine prayers and customs... I'm trying to get more clarity myself.
Thanks Everett for the shout-out and the hilarious article!
Thanks for the help writing it!
I’m becoming a Crusade Enjoyer (later in life)
The demand for Crusades is exceeding the current supply leaving many wannabe Crusaders currently unemployed... for now at least.
“he’s over there and we pray for him but he doesn’t affect us all too much.” LOL! Guilty as charged. Byzantine Catholic for the past nine years.
May the Lord keep the Pope, safe, well, and far away from us." - Traditional intention (according to a Byzantine priest I know)
My favorite is probably the "Popesplainers" one lol But I have to say the pope often says things that sound ridiculous only if you're less familiar with the classical Church theology he's usually grounded in. The Popesplainers are doing people a favor by explaining these things to people. There's more to "Catholic" than meets the eye. But there are also those who blindly defend every word, and every administrative action of the Pope, no matter how indefensible ("All religions are a path to God"), how imprudently worded ("Who am I to judge?") or how reckless (Let's restrict the Latin mass). The balanced "popesplainers" are a good breed. The unbalanced ones, not so much. I don't like BS Gymnastics, no matter where it comes from.
Sometimes you DO have to 'squint' to understand the pope, but that IS how the Church is. It has always been that way. The average layperson doesn't know that because most laypeople don't have to get into the weeds of Catholic theology and history (and they shouldn't have to).
I know this is humor anyway, and sorry to contribute something straight. I appreciated the piece, but that funny bit about Popesplainers sparked these thoughts.
I completely agree. Thank you.
Over-pope-splaining will eventually burn you out and lead you to the same despair in the end as if you gave up on the papacy immediately. I like Joe Heschmeyer's middle ground as he explains on his interview with Matt Fradd here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3zo2Ado9so
Kwasniewskite!
Are you one of them?
That’s the description I fit best, yes. I’m an R&R Catholic and I admire Dr. K very much.
James, this is a fabulous article. I enjoyed it immensely. THANK YOU to you and Charles. GREAT writing!!
I'm a recovering Kwasniewskite, but trying to be an old church lady instead.
Recovering?
It’s easy to get caught up in the earthly politics of it all and get Skojeced or Drehered. So learning to let it all go, or at least hold it lightly.
I commend you for your moderation!
There needs to be Bishop Barron/Fr Mike Schmidts normie cons on here. Usually millennials obsess with theology of the body and JP2. I guess that’s Scott Hahn but to me he’s too boomer. I also thinks there needs to be the philosophy bro Catholics who converted reading Ed Feser or James Ross
We'll do a take two sometime soon...
Very endearing article but why do you say that a sedevacantist is essentially in schism? If a pope is heretical or an apostate then the chair is empty. This does not excommunicate those of us who see it. Ad Jesum per Mariam⚔️
I'd again also be interested in hearing your background and what persuaded you in particular towards your position. Email me at jamesgreenAV@gmail.com if you're interested in discussing all this more (Everett Polinski is but my pseudonym for satirical articles)
I am not convinced that it is empty. For me, as I write rather forcefully on my other Substack, sedevacantism in any extended, hidden form as it is usually argued would, if true eliminate the practical weight of papal infallibility and primacy.
To me the closest analogue so far to our present situation is that of the Avignon Papacy, whereby we have imprudent actions, personal faults that are visible to all, and lots of possible faults of omission by the recent popes, but no definitive official promulgations by the recent Popes that are outside of continuity with Tradition
I would be called by most a "recognize and resist" Catholic if you were to label me, even though I don't really prefer that title, but something in the vein of St. Catherine of Sienna who opposed the imprudence of the Popes of her day but did not give up on them, doing her duty to persuade them do their duty
I am rather more curt and abrupt in this article here, but I'd love to talk and discuss this with you if you're interested.
https://grainofwheat.substack.com/p/thoughts-on-sedevacantism
Furthermore, many people like the Dimonds are emphatic that there is a schism between them and the visible Church and they are proud to be separated from it. Even Lefebvre at times said things approaching this, that he was glad to be separated from and excommunicated by "modernist Rome."
My view of how we got into the current place whereby there is a lot of woke theological slop seeming to come from Rome and many people feel very justified in opposing it even to the point of sedevacantism is because there has been a "false spirit of Vatican I" with major misunderstandings of that council's teachings creating the conditions for the present crisis in the Church. More on that later...
I’ve just been accused of being with the 77th brigade by Sauvek who is affiliated with Dr Mike Yeadon. It seems he was triggered by me saying I was a Catholic and a psychiatrist and a virus sceptic. Yes, I am a cradle Catholic, half Irish and half Portuguese. Born in Mocambique and left at age 5 after its independence from Portugal. Raised in South Africa and studied medicine and psychiatry. Married to a Dutch Catholic and we have 4 children. My eldest was born very premature and he struggled mightily to survive his first few months and was left with severe disabilities. He was pure love and he went to Jesus in 2018 at the age of 20. I say this with humility but knowing that Nicolas was not able to sin and so he is in heaven. After his death, I was rendered grief stricken and almost catatonic for the first year. I had no loss of faith in fact the opposite. I had 3 remaining children and husband to care for and I did this but the Lord shook me from my comfortable life and I didn’t work for a year. This year was a painful gift which allowed me to pray, to read and to start to heal.i
It was in my reading since 2018 that I discovered the TLM and the errors of V2. South Africa was mostly Novus Ordo and I never experienced any other form of the mass until my reawakening after 2018. Now I long for it and all that has been lost by it not being around as the default mass since V2.
And Russia was baited into going to save their brothers who were being genocided in the Donbas by the Ukronazis. They had no choice but to go in, to de nazify, demilitarise, protect the Russian speakers and I do believe that Ukraine has lost around a million men to Russia’s one tenth of that. The US/UK/NATO are the true instigators and the Ukraine merely a sick pit to injure Russia.
I believe human (and country's) motivations are always mixed, and I have some qualms with Russia, and some quibbles even within your statement there, but I generally agree with the "West" being the primary cause of the current conflict (2014 coup, etc.)
Have you listened to Darryl Cooper's take on the subject?: https://subscribe.martyrmade.com/p/thoughts-on-ukraine-remastered
Mark Bisone, another great writer here on Substack also just came out with this great take today on Russia and Western Civilization:
https://markbisone.substack.com/p/west-of-east
My awakening in matters of faith also accompanied awakening in other areas. I never went along with obvious demonic talk of overpopulation and global warming but I did believe in viruses and vaccines. Through in-depth reading, I have seen that there is no such thing as a virus and that all vaxines are toxic. We unknowingly poison ourselves, our children and our elderly with these toxins. The hoax pandemic teaches that all of them are hoaxes as is much of what the sciences have been saying: heliocentricity, spinning globe, evolution, dinosaurs, man going to moon etc etc. I only believe now what my faith teaches and what I verify with my own eyes.
Thank you for answering, I will read the other article to which you linked. I can’t bring myself to defend an action like placing Pachamama on an alter nor the persecution of the TLM. To me, he has excommunicated himself. His election I believe was also fraudulent. So I think he does not sit in the chair. Perhaps our pope is Vigano, perhaps we have no valid pope at this time. But, the Church persists as Jesus promised it would
I'm again sympathetic, yet I see many of the 15th-century popes as just as more debaucherous and equally scandalous at times to the issues today.
Again, having just read through your Substack Notes, I'd be interested in hearing of your geopolitical thoughts as well. I read Simplicius and BigSerge and think they raise valid points against the Western propaganda, albeit with the truth about the battlefield reality probably being somewhere in the middle.
Yes, the Church persists, and that's the most important part, that we don't let the devil attack our very fidelity and turn it into a despair that keeps us from using it to serve the Lord.
What is your faith background James?
I will be writing something more on this soon, but basically average Catholic parish with strong parent examples and a strong home faith life growing up, a turn toward being interested and pretty deep into tradition (Latin Mass, Divine Office, etc.) in college (but for less than perfect reasons) but this has been followed by a deep wariness of going "too far" in any direction more recently after a vocational discernment to a traditional monastery didn't go anywhere (at least right now). Right now I mostly still attend Novus Ordo Masses due to my location (and not seeing anything completely illicit) but pray much the old Divine Office even as I also remain interested in some of the Byzantine prayers and customs... I'm trying to get more clarity myself.