Random thoughts on a humid afternoon.

• I just read about some Catholic people who were conned by a  person who runs a purported charity.  It's very sad and I won't go into it except to offer a word of caution. Folks, when someone asks you for donations or investor money you can't just accept their pitch. If they are claiming to be a charity then you need to look up their Form 990. If they are a business then you need to go to the Secretary of State site for the state this person's entity is located in.  At the very least, do a Google search. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I noticed multiple people were wearing face masks at Mass. My first thought was "Not again!" I normally don't care if someone is masking or not as long as they don't try to force it on me but  the timing made me a little nervous. So many people were mentally crushed by Covid and never recovered. I hate to see people falling for Hantavirus and Ebola panic. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• When it comes making an argument for their position, the greatest enemy  Sedevacantists have is themselves. A few years ago a man posted a Tweet that I thought was  stupid but largely inoffensive. A sedevacantist-minded woman  replied by implying that the man's bedroom activity was unnatural and she got so scatological that I decided to mute her. Up until that day I enjoyed reading her comments but this was shocking and completely over the top. It was like dropping a bomb on a raccoon digging through the trash. 
  
  A few weeks ago a Sede insulted the appearance of a man's family member on multiple occasions. This had nothing to do with the belief that there has been no valid pope since the death of Pius XII and was completely uncalled for.  Where I come from, you don't talk bad about somebody's wife or their mama unless you're prepared  to lose blood in a fight.
  
  Just  a few days ago I read the comments of  a self proclaimed Sede who went off  on a guy for posting a weak theological opinion and called the man pedophile adjacent, ugly, Hell-bound  and said the guy had a sub-normal IQ. 
  
  There are a lot of people who have been looking around their parishes, and at the bishop and the stuff coming from  Pope Leo's mouth and they're are wondering what the Hell is going on. These people may or may not accept the Recognize and Resist  or the Benecantivist arguments  but they won't ever listen to anything the Sedes have to say because too many of the online adherents go for the jugular vein with a rusty razor  when a rhetorical slap would have done.  It's distasteful. Regular Pew Sitting Novus Ordo or Traditional Catholics aren't going to listen to you if you come off like a rabid dog.