How to Smell a Traditionalist Catholic Rat

I'd like to take a break from my usual bashing of atheist idiots and talk about a little discovery I've made about the traditionalist Catholic community.

Quick disclaimer:
I do consider myself a member of this group. I do think the Church is in a dire condition, I do think we must do something to stem the tide of people leaving the Church in droves, revive dying religious orders--in particular, female religious orders--I do think a good number who claim to be Catholic are, at the end of the day, material heretics, and I do think one of the best weapons we have in solving the problem is the pre-Vatian II Mass.

Having said that though…I do not believe that the vast majority of traditionalist Catholic groups one can find in a basic web search are doing Holy Mother Church any favors. In fact, I see no difference between a priest who offers a "clown Mass" and a priest who says "our current Pope is not legitimate."
Neither one deepens the faith in anybody and it just leads to more confusion.

Now, if any traditionalist Catholic is reading this, please keep in mind I am not attacking the good you as an individual are doing. Every single one I've encountered try to live holy lives and spread this lifestyle to their fellow man. However, that does not change the fact I see eerie parallels between some groups and some financial scammers.

One may ask what one has to do with the other. Well, much like investing, it is important to go with your gut instinct and after looking at several financial con-men--as well as reading a whole book on how to detect one--I've come up with my own method of how to spot when a Trad Catholic is trying to fool and/or scam you and whether you should just walk away. On some of these, I have a little anecdote to get the point across:

-If the parish is not listed on the (arch)diocese website...walk away.
(Note: Opus Dei is the only exception, because they don't have to follow the same rules.)

-If you ask the people at the questionable parish why they're not listed, and their answer includes either modernists, Freemasons, or heretics…walk away.

-If the parish is either run by an order not in good standing…walk away.

-If they claim they're a branch of a recognized order but the order in question doesn't recognize them…walk away.

-If they quote from Vatican II documents, but misrepresent what the documents say…walk away.

    (I should note this does go both ways. For example, most parishes will claim Vatican II said it was okay to have female altar servers, when the subject can't be found in the documents. Likewise, trad Catholic scammers will make claims like "so and so document says all religions are valid" when the document was actually talking about the points Christianity and other faiths agree…salvation not being one of them.)

-If they say or imply "the Vatican made a mistake making so-and-so a saint"…walk away.

(Even the Doctors of the Church say it is not the place of lay people to question the Vatican on this. Sure, the Doctors of the Church are all saints, but then again they made their statements BEFORE the fact, not after.)

-If they claim there has been no legit Pope since a certain year…walk away.

(This is such an obvious error on so many levels. Jesus promised the gates of hell will NOT prevail against the Church. Some have tried to go around it by saying either someone else is the real pope or the current pope is the real one but because he promotes modernism he does not attain full office. Neither one really makes a lot of sense if you think about it.)

Speaking of which….

-If they say the pope is either a modernist, heretic or worse…walk away.

( If they keep insisting, point out to them that they most likely are not as holy as St Catherine of Sienna, who actually did critique the pope at the time…but then she had valid reasons for it and others admired her holiness. The point is Catholics are to submit their will to the papacy, not pick and choose who they feel like listening to).

"But wait a minute," a traditionalist Catholic might interject. "I've grown closer to God with these groups than I ever did with a Norvus Ordo parish. Other parishes don't talk about hell, or sin or salvation, or quote the Church Fathers. I know more about the faith. Aren't these beneficial things?"

To that, I say it's great you get more from your parish, but then again people made money from Enron..does that mean what that company did should get a pass?

But if you do want all those teachings but still be in line with the Vatican, take my advise and get in touch with Una Voce.

You don't want to come off as an atheist, because atheists are idiots.