UNA-CCEPTABLE

'tis the eye of childhood/That fears a painted devil. Shakespeare

Side by side with the Trying Threesome's failure to produce any reasoned, substantive advancement to the theory of the Sede Vacante, their venal una-cum ghost story condemns them as theological adventurers. Even one of the MHT completers recognizes this fiction for what it is: a patent attempt to keep the faithful from taking their dollars to the SSPX. That's why he gave the green light a while back to some Catholic laity to assist at society Masses. Moreover, the terminally challenged CMRI, as marginalized as it is on the far fringes of Catholic thought and praxis, has enough sense to reject this ploy to scare the ignorant into submission.

No matter what these three self-interested characters argue, the plain fact remains that the Church has not pronounced on the matter. Accordingly, their strident assertions remain just private opinion -- and rather low-level private opinion inasmuch as these three can never be considered theologians.

No one need pay one ounce of attention to this wild theory hatched in the fetid imaginations of ecclesiastical entrepreneurs. The motive behind this amateurish démarche is clearly fear that the faithful will abandon them, their bad habits, and their troubled orders for the more attractive and relatively stable SSPX. What was scary was the prospect of exiting dollars.

Rather than make up boogeyman theories out of whole cloth, the Terrible Trio should focus on getting rid of their odious cultic trappings and attempt, even at this late hour, to make a genuine contribution to Traditional Catholicism, say, by way of the liturgy or pious practices. It's obvious they should abandon theology as a science outside their limited grasp and very minor abilities.