Tradicat

 + JMJ Today's question is are Traditional Catholics Optimists? For reference, here's some definitions from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary : Optimistic: of, relating to, or characterized by optimism : feeling or showing hope for the future. Pessimistic: : a person who is inclined to expect poor outcomes : someone who is given to pessimism Optimism: a doctrine that this world is the best possible world, an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome Pessimism: an inclination to emphasize adverse aspects, conditions, and possibilities or to expect the worst possible outcome;  So a Traditional Catholic who is inclined to expect poor outcomes could be a realist in the near-term, but what about the long-term? The Extreme Sedevacantists that follow their principles to successively de-throning multiple Pontiffs to the absurdity are not optimists.  I think that they may be fatalists or dogmatic pessimists . But t

 + JMJ  One of my kids popped her head into my office as asked if she could ask me a question.  Of course I said yes. She sat down and asked: If a man or woman murdered their current spouse so they could marry another, would that invalidate the following marriage? Suffice to say that I was speechless for a bit. Thinking she may have broken Daddy's brain she hastily added:  Someone said that it would. I wasn't sure so I wanted to ask you! Someone said that it would? The answer is actually clear - even for today.   Canon 1090: §1. Anyone who with a view to entering marriage with a certain person has brought about the death of that person’s spouse or of one’s own spouse invalidly attempts this marriage. §2. Those who have brought about the death of a spouse by mutual physical or moral cooperation also invalidly attempt a marriage together. Nice when things are clear and concise. :-) P^3 References https://www.newadvent.org/ cathen/04489a.htm https://www.vatican.va/ archive/cod-iur

 + JMJ  So ... I noticed on Les Femmes (link), that has been fired resigned from the organization that he founded all those years ago.    At first I had a short "well pot calling kettle black" moment, but then I realised that it must be bad and he does need prayers. Afterall, that is the Catholic thing to do ... pray for the man, it must be humbling and hopefully it will be a time of grace for him.  P^3

 + JMJ   So ... Pope Francis the First has removed Bishop Strickland from his Diocese.   I know the legality of this is being contested on the web, but let's just take a look at what this means in the life of the Catholic Church. First anyone in the 'mainstream' Church who has deviated or given the impression of drifting towards the pre-conciliar doctrine or liturgy is punished - either by the Pope, Church or Civil authorities. When writing this I am obviously thinking about Cardinal Burke. This has happened from Cardinals down to religious (priests, brothers, sisters, nuns, monks).   So there is no 'safe' harbour for those who want to simply 'be' Catholic. That, obviously, leads me to the SSPX.  As long as the Pope, on principle, punishes those who drift towards the SSPX 'position' there will be no peace within the Church. The neo-modernist revolution will continue, the good will be punished, the bad will be promoted. Does this mean that the Pope ca

 + JMJ   The Conflict From my perspective, the Hamas / Israeli conflict is, at its core, a religious conflict that is buried beneath decades of rights, wrongs,  stones, grenades, bullets, missiles, bombs, fighting and death. Lots of death. I've read "Son of Hamas" that provided a good perspective of the situation, specifically that there are "good" and "bad" people on both sides of the conflict.   Let's be clear, the "good" people are not the ones who act from a position of cruelty to kidnap, beat, rape, and kill civilians. The recent events show the Hamas "soldiers" being guilty of these actions.  From the "Son of Hamas" and Wikipedia (link) we have older accounts of Israeli soldiers being guilty of the similar actions. So this is a situation where, from a cultural perspective ( Edgar Schein link ) deep and enduring assumptions have formed. Anything that contradicts or threatens these assumptions will create a stron

Pillar (link)  + JMJ    Rorate-Caeli has reported that Bishop Strickland has been removed from his Diocese. STRICKLAND REMOVED - Francis Peron attacks again: to my enemies not even Justice Removal of bishop of Tyler, U.S.A., and appointment of apostolic administrator The Holy Father has removed Bishop Joseph E. Strickland from the pastoral care of the diocese of Tyler, United States of America, and has appointed Bishop Joe Vásquez of Austin as apostolic administrator of the same diocese, rendering it  sede vacante . [ source ]     If only Bishop Strickland had been a member of Uncle Ted McCarrick's clique of abusers of minors, or used bodily fluids in chalices (Rupnik) after raping sisters, he might have been named a Cardinal by Francis… Courtesy of Rorate-Caeli Here's a link to a BBC article giving a different perspective (link) and the Associated Press (link) , Lifesite (link) , and Pillar (link) , CNA (link) , Crux (link) , Crisis (link) , and Register (link) .

 + JMJ   The following is a round up of news articles accompanied with my thoughts.  Overall, things the trajectory of the Catholic Church is, no surprise, still in a death spiral.  The attempt to pull out of the spiral (Pope Benedict XVI) was short lived.   So now we obviously wait patiently to see what the next pontificate brings. P^3 Pope Francis  A dog's gonna do what a dog does also, remember that you can't medicate stupid.  God will sort this out His way in His time. Pope Francis warns against ideologies in Church and world - Vatican News Pope's big meeting on future of the church wraps up | CTV News How Pope Francis Is Inadvertently Developing the Doctrine of the Papacy - Crisis Magazine The next two are a little bit about the sedes.  I've known some that were very reasonable, logical and polite. Some others just took the idea and ran with it. One believes that there hasn't been a valid Pope since Leo XIII or something like that.  Others go and 'elect&