…not so much. I’m back. A friend has been visiting, and the “sex abuse summit” seemed like an unspeakable farce, so I guess I’ve been taking a couple of days off. And, as nearly always happens, the world I came back to is unrecognisably weirder. Item 1: George Pell is going to prison following second trial conviction on dodgy evidence in Melbourne. Now, lots of people are talking about the dodginess of the evidence and the trial procedures, and of the prosecutors’ motives for bringing it to a second “try-again” trial.

Are they evil or just stupid? “You begin to wonder is there a plot, sort of a Machiavellian plot, that people are missing? They can’t be this stupid. Is there some little voice inside of all this that’s saying, ‘Let’s destroy the Church. Let’s just tank it.’” ~ Maybe this will help answer the question. ~

Frankly, if I never hear the guy – or any Catholic bishop – ever say the words “male-on-male sheckshual abyush” it’ll be too soon. Way too soon. ~ In other news, Pope Francis just doesn’t see what the fuss is about. Just chill, yo! Richard Spinello, writing for Crisis, seems to have noticed there’s a problem with the pope… The pope concurs with Wolton’s premise that the most radical message of the Gospel is greed and “money madness.

The usual way. This was a brag. Hey everybody! Remember this? Abuse victims “the devil” Abuse victims “stupid”. Abuse victims “slanderous”. And lest we forget:   ~

~

Or, “Why the Vatican ‘Summit on clerical sex abuse’ will be a smash success!” The ultimate goal is not the control of damage (far less is it the “address the problem”.) The ultimate goal is to complete the Paradigm Shift.  “Hey did you hear the one about the clerical sex abuse summit that was designed to fail? It’s starting this week in Rome.” Except, it’s not actually designed to fail.

Time to dust off some old memes. A friend is listening to the opening press conference right now and his helpfully sending me some little paraphrases, like kitty treats, to get us all interested. At least they’re being up front about the intention to avoid actually addressing anything. ~ For those with the stomach for it, here’s the whole thing. Ed Pentin (at 1:12:18):

“Fall Guy”: The member of a criminal gang who takes the public blame for crimes his bosses commit. ~

My old friend David Warren has a few hard sayings for those of us struggling in the trap and who still think that politics and activism are some kind of answer: I am trying to show how we moderns are trapped in a blind alley of our own enlightened choice. We cannot make improvements in our lives, or win our freedom, by the methods that were devised to make improvements, and free us.

DIBS! Anyone who writes for the Remnant (Chris!) who’s thinking of doing a thing on Mindszenty, back off. He’s mine! I first was introduced to the great Mindszenty by being invited to an annual conference on him in 2003, which is where I first met the whole world of Catholic anti-communism, and all that goes along with it. I suppose it was one of my early steps into the wild and wacky world I now inhabit.