That would be such a mess.
Bishop Strickland IS still a bishop, but he has no diocese. That's a mess too. Kind of like old Athanasius. But at least Athanasius could flee to Rome after being exiled. I am hoping some day soon he can be restored to his diocese as Athanasius was. It will take a better pope to do that.
What Dr. Kwasniewsky is arguing is that bishops should ignore unjust and unwarranted attempts by the Pope to depose them, and I agree.
It's hard to know how 'not standing for this' will work out. I'm sure some will leave to become sedevacantists. Or Orthodox. Or just join up with the evangelicals down the street. Or just give up on faith entirely. But for the most part we will answer as the Apostles did and stay.
Forgive me, I hope I did not give the impression that I desire a mass desertion of Catholics for other denominations. That would be a disaster, and its also what happened in the mainline Protestant churches.
Rather, my prayer is that the conservative hierarchs and canon lawyers will work together to find a solution.
We need to pray for them and their success, and also for Pope Francis. We should not assume that Pope Francis is behind Fiducia Supplicans, since it directly contradicts earlier statements of his, and given his age, it is possible his health has deteriorated and his situation is being exploited by those in the Vatican who are opposed to tradition. Or perhaps he made a severe mistake.
I am going to post a separate thread specifically on this issue.
One observation I would make is that HIs Beatitude Metropolitan Sviatoslav, the Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, is very much a papabile at present, and is also extremely opposed, together with the other Ukrainian bishops, to this action, and I believe Metropolitan Sviatoslav, if elected Pope, would be in a position to reverse liberal legislation within the church and complete the work began by Pope John XXIII that continued under St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI and indeed even under Pope Francis (who has a very good relationship with His Eminence Hilarion Alfeyev, the Russian Orthodox Metropolitan of Hungary, who until last year when he was compelled to resign, was also in charge of the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, who organized ecumenical dialogue which was making considerable progress under Pope Francis (for example, Metropolitan Hilarion organized the historic meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kyrill in Cuba).
We do not yet know how Fiducia Supplicans will impact ecumenical dialogue, or if the Orthodox hierarchs are even aware of it. I do understand your frustration, however. I suspect among the Orthodox there existed a fear that a liberal Pope like Francis could have been elected despite their presence, and depending on the terms of the union, could have imposed it. There is also unfortunately a movement within Eastern Orthodoxy specifically, one that I strongly disagree with, that believes that ecumenism is a “pan-heresy,” ignoring the fact that ecumenical dialogue has enabled Eastern Orthodox churches such as the Antiochians and the OCA to absorb several denominations outright, such as the Evangelical Orthodox Church, as well as the remnants of a former cult, the Holy Order Of Mans), who in a strange move became attracted to Orthodoxy, reorganized into Christ the Savior Brotherhood, and were then successfully converted. And also members of that group are unaware of the positive benefits that ecumenical dialogue has brought to the Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions in the Middle East, particularly the agreements with the Oriental Orthodox. Also, despite the stall in ecumenical rapprochement, the friendly relations with the Anglican Communion have helped facilitate monetary donations which have greatly assisted the persecuted Christians, and also Anglican bishops in the UK and elsewhere have helped raise awareness of the suffering of the persecuted Orthodox Christians in the Middle East.
