Sedevacantists survive on the outside

As A SEDEVACANTIST myself that is, a Catholic who believes that the See of Peter is at present, in theological reality, vacant I was most interested to read Daniel O'Sullivan's report (10 October) concerning the Isle of Dogs sedevacantist group, with their comments and those of the founders of Britons Catholic Library.
As was stated fairly in the report, sedevacantism is a belief about the post-Vatican II situation of the Catholic Church, not a particular organisation within it. Catholics throughout the world who have arrived at that conclusion as a result of their experiences and studies of the Vatican II Reform, and in particular as a result of their critical studies of the New Mass, have adopted a variety of views and practices to deal with the perceived situation.
Some, like the Britons Catholic Library founders quoted, have adopted a survivalist strategy of persevering with their own notion of Catholicism, either entirely alone, or in small groups of people who share their views over a range of issues, not simply that the post-Vatican II claimants have not been valid Popes.
Others, as the report indicated, have considered that the emergency situation of the Church has justified them in obtaining priestly and episcopal orders mainly, though not exclusively, deriving from the late Vietnamese Archbishop Ngo-dinh-Thuc.
It is, however, important to be aware that by no means all sedevacantists take the view that they must not assist at Masses or receive the sacraments from priests who may not share their sedevacantism. I am certainly not the only English sedevacantist to assist at Masses celebrated by priests of the Society of St Pius X, in spite of its "official public position" of recognising John Paul II as a valid Pope.
Nor should it be thought that sedevacantism is some kind of English Catholic eccentricity. Largely through my production of a quarterly newsletter, The Counter-Reformation Association News and Views, I have come into contact with sedevacantists in many countries, not only in Europe, North and Latin America, and Australasia, but even in Asia.
Only last week, my postbag included another fulllength sedevacantist book, the just published French edition of the first volume of a critical study of the teachings of Vatican II and John Paul IL by the Roman author Arai Daniele, L'Esprit disolant de Vatican II.
W Morgan Monks Kirby, Rugby