THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE

Say, is there Beauty yet to find?/ And Certainty? and Quiet kind? Brooke

Nothing characterizes the ongoing ecclesial crisis more accurately than the absence of certitude about once certain assumptions of Catholic life. The result has been a riot of competing guesses -- a few plausible, most untenable --about the Church's constitution. Exacerbating the confusion has been the appearance of self-interested, striving, clerical adventurers hell-bent on grabbing for themselves the kind of comfortable life that their social class, poor work ethic, and inferior education would have denied them were it not for the pitiable state of Christ's Church. (To be frank, the majority of these detestable loafers would've had a hard time becoming lay brothers in the good ol' days.)

For most of us, this uncertainty is maddening. We join a chapel based on emotion or prejudice or convenience. We persevere in our choice, for we've resigned ourselves to never knowing with certainty whether our decision was right or wrong. That's probably how most Traddies ended up in one or another of the several sede sects. It also explains why most don't leave even after such moral catastrophes like the 2009 SGG School Scandal. It's plainly a matter of negative loyalty: No matter how bad things are, the situation is probably worse elsewhere, so stick with the devil you know.

We'll never have meaningful answers until the Restoration. That event may not happen in our lifetimes. Nevertheless, our ignorance needn't condemn us to living with the nasty results of an honest mistake. In other words, there must be a way for us to sort out which Trad sect or chapel is the least injurious to our soul, our family, our bank account, and our will. Then we can escape Cultilandia.

Well, we think we've found the way, and that way is uncertainty itself. Here's what we mean:

If you're thinking of joining a chapel or want to decide whether to stay in the one you're in, talk to the priest about such topics as the defection of the pope, the Pius X/Pius XII/1962 liturgies, the validity of N.O. holy orders, una-cum Masses, modesty and strapless women's shoes, attendance at chapels with differing views, the Thục lineage, Sedevacantism and/or Sedeprivationism,  etc. (If, like many of Tradistan's clergy, yours is surly, backward, uncommunicative, or arrogantly standoffish, you'll have to listen to his public remarks on these matters.)

If he somehow acknowledges that these are opinions, not Church dogma, and that you are by no means required to agree 100% with him in order to assist at Mass and receive the sacraments, then you may have found the right place. Don't worry if he tries to persuade you. That's to be expected, as long as his attempts aren't high-pressured or harassing. Just leave at once if later he denies you communion or absolution, threatens you with removal, accuses you of mortal sin if you can't go along with his whole program, or claims that you are "confusing" the other faithful.

Believe it or not, there are priests out there well-formed enough to know the difference between sacred dogmas pronounced by the magisterium and mere speculations concocted by malformed ecclesiastical entrepreneurs. An intellectually honest, trustworthy, intelligent priest will acknowledge that the opinions he holds on these topics are not revealed truth. His uncertainty, then, is a sure sign that you haven't landed in a cult where a money-mad, disturbed control-freak aims to do violence to your conscience and empty your pocketbook.

On the other hand, run from any con artists who glibly offer pat answers to the profound mysteries of the Vatican II crisis. You now can recognize them. (But, then, you knew their identities without our help, didn't you?)