LEXINGTON, Ky. (ChurchMilitant.com) - Bishop John Stowe used Pride Month to proclaim his support for the LGBT community in the diocese of Lexington, Kentucky.

Stowe offered his support on Twitter as LGBT events commenced: "With Lexington Pride underway, I am grateful for the presence of people of faith reaching out to those who have been turned away or felt rejected by the Church. Our arms are open to all who seek the Lord with good will!"

The bishop also issued a prayer card in celebration of Pride Month that includes a San Damiano cross with a rainbow glowing over it and a prayer written by the bishop. It was distributed throughout the Lexington diocese by the Catholic LGBTQ Ministry and Fortunate Families in Lexington.

Celebrity priest Fr. James Martin promoted the card on social media, noting that the Stowe "marks #PrideMonth in his Diocese."

The prayer card uses Psalm 139 to imply that people are born gay and that God is pleased with homosexuality:

My prayer is that each of us can celebrate that glorious discovery of how we are made and loved by God who knows us intimately and who calls us to a deeper relationship with Himself.

When we acknowledge this in ourselves, we have to be able to see this beauty in each other. There are so many things which can divide us, let's all come together in the recognition that we are wonderfully made and we are made to reflect the glory of God.

One Twitter user reacted to the prayer by asking: "Am I the only one that sees that this prayer goes against church teaching."

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says that homosexual acts "are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life" (CCC 2357–2359).

Church teaching remains firm on acts of homosexuality: "Under no circumstances can they be approved."

For the second year in a row, and with Stowe's full permission, St. Paul Catholic Church in Lexington put up a rainbow banner to broadcast its support of the LGBT community which reads: "LGBTQ+ Catholic - Family, Friends & Allies — All Are Welcome."

"This is a church that's open to all people and hopefully, this sign gets that across," said Stan Zerkowski, executive director of Fortunate Families and facilitator of Catholic LGBT Ministry in Lexington.

"Homophobia is a sin," he added. 

Saint Paul's pastor, Fr. Chris Clay, said to his parishioners that the banner represents "a small way of counteracting any experiences of hostility, rejection and silent treatment that LGBTQ Catholics may have experienced."

Stowe's participation in the activities of New Ways Ministry, a Church-condemned activist group run by a censured nun, has not sat well with many Kentucky Catholics.

At the dissident organization's "Justice and Mercy Shall Kiss: LGBT Catholics in the Age of Pope Francis" conference in Chicago in 2017, Stowe said he has been "observing and admiring" the heterodox group's outreach to LGBT Catholics over several years.

"New Ways Ministry made me want to come here," he said.

The bishop told the pro-LGBT assembly that the infinite value of the human person is "the touchstone and foundation for determining the morality of a given act or issue," not "rules, norms or commandments."

"The flack has been 'enormous' and 'vicious,'" Stowe said, speaking to his participation in the New Ways Ministry conference, describing detractors as "self-righteous strangers."

In a radio interview at the time, responding to Church Militant's report on Stowe, he denounced Church Militant as "self-appointed watchdogs of orthodoxy" akin to "the Pharisees and the scribes."

Stowe erroneously blamed Covington Catholic High School students who attended the March for Life in Washington, D.C. in January. In an op-ed, Stowe blasted the students caught in the web of fake news about their encounter with a Native American elder at the march.

The LGBT advocate said he joined the diocese of Covington and other Catholic leaders "in apologizing in the wake of this incident."

The students wearing pro-Trump apparel at the March for Life in Washington, D.C., is problematic, he said.

"I am ashamed that the actions of Kentucky Catholic high school students have become a contradiction of the very reverence for human life that the (March for Life) is supposed to manifest," Stowe wrote. 

Even after Covington High School students were cleared of any wrongdoing after an independent investigation, Stowe failed to issue a correction or an apology.

MDINA, Malta (ChurchMilitant.com) - Archbishop Charles Scicluna may have tipped his hand regarding his views of same-sex relationships after "inadvertently" sharing a tweet celebrating gay pride.

The July 1 tweet "liked" by the archbishop of Malta features Charles Joughin, former press secretary for the LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, standing with another man at the June 30 LGBTQ Pride Parade in New York City.

The photo is captioned with what may be interpreted as a double entendre: "Going out with a bang!" One interpretation may have been to commemorate the final day of Pride Month, while another might refer to common slang for sexual activity.

The like was deleted from Scicluna's Twitter account. As reported by the National Catholic Register: "Kevin Papagiorcopulo, the head of media for the Archdiocese of Malta, told the Register, 'With reference to your email to Archbishop Scicluna on his Twitter account activity, please be informed that the like was done inadvertently and has since been removed.'"

Not everyone is buying that explanation, however.  

"If — as the Maltese Curia alleges — the tweet 'like' was done inadvertently, then naturally His Excellency Mons. Scicluna should not be faulted," said Philip Beattie, president of the Maltese Society for Christian Civilization — Pro Malta Christiana. "I do, however, find it difficult to swallow that one makes such mistakes."

As leader of a Vatican panel investigating clerical sex abuse in Chile from 2002 to 2012, Scicluna earned a reputation as a tough prosecutor after his investigation resulted in every bishop in the South American country resigning.

After 2012, however, Scicluna's stance on homosexuality in the Church seems to have softened significantly.

In December 2018, Church Militant reported a Vatican panel led by Scicluna "rejected recommendations to defrock at least 15 sex abusers, instead reducing their punishments to temporary suspensions ranging from 3–5 years. The clergy come from various countries, including Mexico, Peru and Francis' former country of Argentina."

Appointed by Pope Francis as adjunct-secretary for the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the archbishop of Malta has amassed an ever-growing list of statements, stonewalling and other forms of implied consent for homosexual activities and extramarital heterosexual sex.

Church Militant has followed Scicluna's activity in Malta for some time, reporting in February the archbishop's interpretation of Pope Francis' Amoris Laetitia — an interpretation contrary to longstanding Church doctrine regarding granting sacraments to sexually active adulterers.

As noted by Church Militant at the time, the "interpretation mandated that if 'a separated or divorced person who is living in a new relationship manages ... to acknowledge and believe that he or she is at peace with God, he or she can not be precluded from participating in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.'"

It is the impression of Beattie, however, that Scicluna is moving ever closer to endorsing homosexual unions. For example, according to Beattie, Scicluna's "comments during the February summit on homosexuality are ambiguous to say the least."

Beattie was referring to remarks Scicluna made to the press covering the February Vatican sex abuse summit. 

When asked why the committee's documents didn't specifically address credible statistics that 80% of clerical sex abuse cases involved post-pubescent boys, Scicluna responded that heterosexuality and homosexuality are "human conditions that we recognize, and that exist, but they aren't something that really predisposes to sin."

Orthodox Catholic skepticism of Scicluna increased after the archbishop refused to address pro-homosexual comments made by Fr. Kevin Schembri on national television in Malta on March 8.

In that broadcast, Schembri remarked that homosexuality was "part of God's plan" and homosexual relations are perfectly normal "so long as they are based on clear love." 

NEW YORK (ChurchMilitant.com) - A victim of clergy sex abuse is suing the archdiocese of New York alleging he was abused as a boy by two priests, while the archdiocese did nothing to stop it.

Represented by Mitchell Garebedian — the attorney made famous for his representation of abuse victims during the 2002 Boston sex abuse scandal and who has never lost a case — John Michael Norman filed his lawsuit in April, but the suit has been stayed until Aug. 14, when the look-back window opens under the amended Child Victims Act, which circumvents the statute of limitations.

The lawsuit demands a jury trial and names as defendants the archdiocese of New York, Our Lady Help of Christians, Our Lady Help Of Christians School and the Catholic School Region of Staten Island. 

Norman alleges that between the ages of 8–10 and as a student at Our Lady Help of Christians School on Staten Island (around 1969–1977), both Fr. Arthur N. Fernando and Msgr. Jeremiah Brennan sexually abused him on multiple occasions.

Fernando would use masks and other items to attract children to himself during recess at Our Lady Help of Christians School, lending the items to children and requiring them to return those items to him at the rectory, where he could get them alone. 

From approximately 1972–1973, Fernando "sexually assaulted, abused, and/or had sexual contact with the Plaintiff [Norman] at the rectory on multiple occasions," according to the lawsuit. 

When Norman began serving as an altar boy around 1974, he came under the influence of the second abuser, Brennan.

"The abuse occurred most times Plaintiff [Norman] served as an altar boy under the direction and control of Monsignor Brennan and continued for approximately six months," states the lawsuit.

The archdiocese, parish and school are implicated inasmuch as they "knew and/or reasonably should have known, and/or knowingly condoned, and/or covered up, the inappropriate and unlawful sexual activities of Father Fernando and Monsignor Brennan."

The lawsuit contains seven causes of action, including gross negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and failure to report abuse.

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Norman's case precipitated the archdiocese of New York's own lawsuit against 32 insurance companies for breach of contract, after the companies indicated they would not pay out abuse settlements, expected to be in the tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars, once the look-back window opens on Aug. 14.

According to the New York Law Journal, "The suit serves as a proactive move by the archdiocese, which is seeking a declaration by the court that the insurance companies must provide coverage for, and defend the church against, those claims."

The archdiocese filed the lawsuit after Indemnity Insurance Co. of North America (INA), a subsidiary of Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, clarified the company would not defend the archdiocese against a lawsuit by clergy sex abuse victim John Michael Norman.

Another sex abuse lawsuit filed against the archdiocese this year involves a woman who claims she was repeatedly molested by nuns as a child. 

Robin Campell is suing the archdiocese for sexual and physical abuse she allegedly suffered as a girl at the hands of religious sisters at the orphanage of Mount Loretto Catholic Mission in Staten Island.

According to Campbell's petition, sisters at the orphanage sexually molested her from the ages of 6–11, with the abuse often occurring at night:

We slept 100 girls in a room, with 50 bunk beds, and I was molested repeatedly at night. I would be assigned to the bed closest to the door. I would often wake up and Sister Rosemarie would be at the side of my bed (just inside the door) with her hand under the covers and her fingers on my vagina. They kept my bed closest to the door so that Sister Rosemarie could fondle and "finger" me in close proximity to the door without walking past all the other girls. This happened very frequently, way more times than I could count, and many more times than I could possibly remember. Sometimes she gave me hickies on my neck.

She also claims the sisters physically beat her and even once broke four of her fingers by slamming the piano cover down on her hand as she was playing. 

If the archdiocese loses its lawsuit against the insurance companies and they fail to pay, it will fall to the archdiocese to satisfy all abuse settlements. If the archdiocese is unable to do so, it might go the way of a number of other dioceses and be forced to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

--- Campaign 31540 ---

Michael Voris talks to Jack Posobiec, anchor at One America News Network, about the anger and growing extremism of the Left.

 

TRANSCRIPT

It's crunch time for Franciscan University at Steubenville (FUS). Huge donors are ticked off, as are parents and alumni, that homoheretic Cdl. Blase Cupich is going to be speaking at the college which dubs itself as being "passionately Catholic."

It is a well-known fact that when it comes to Catholicism, the only thing Cupich is passionate about is fomenting revolution against the Church.

He is pro-gay, pro-sacrilegious Holy Communion, attacks and persecutes good priests like St. John Cantius priest Fr. Frank Phillips as well as Fr. Paul Kalchik.

He has not turned over to the Illinois attorney general the names of all accused clergy, notably Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, a story which Church Militant broke two weeks ago when the secret files were given to us by a whistleblower.

Cupich was denounced by Abp. Viganò as being part of the homosexual cabal running the Church into the ground — and owing his episcopal advancement to homopredator Theodore McCarrick.

Cupich has ordered his clergy at every diocese he's been bishop to not attend pro-life prayer rallies or events at abortion killing centers.

At the Vatican sex summit last February, he went out of his way to prevent the topic of homosexuality within the clergy even being brought up as a discussion point.

He has turned a blind eye to active homosexual priests in his own archdiocese.

He continues to allow dissident priests like Fr. Michael Pfleger to preach heresy and dissent.

He lied about the context of an interview by local Chicago NBC station and even had a letter read from the pulpits attacking the station — the famous "rabbit hole" controversy.

The list with this man never ends. He's only been archbishop of Chicago for not quite five years and has already racked up an impressive list of anti-Catholic moves and comments.

He worked with the lying, cheating Donald Wuerl behind the scenes with Pope Francis to derail any real efforts at substantive reform of predatory clergy in the United States by pushing for and getting the "bishops will investigate themselves" proposal made official.

For all the above reasons, and then some, Cupich was voted the least liked bishop in the United States.

And now, for this disgrace of a cleric, Franciscan is throwing open wide its doors.

But officials at Franciscan are putting distance between themselves and the errant cardinal, saying that the school itself didn't actually invite Cupich, that he came along with the package of speakers who were part of a larger group that had been involved with last October's Vatican Youth Synod.

Well, OK, fair enough. Cupich got brought in, like gum on a shoe, and the school didn't know that.

Well, now they do. The school now has two options: insure Cupich does not set foot on the campus in any official capacity or allow him to speak and suffer the consequences from all the bad press and severe drop in donations — as well as applicants for future students.

Cupich is the very model of everything wrong in the hierarchy, and no one who has supported FUS in its mission to produce students who are "passionately Catholic" can agree with his official presence, however it came about.

Administrators have a number of options when it comes to making sure he doesn't appear:

1. They can make private calls and say they would prefer that he not appear and let him withdrawal on his own accord and make up some bureaucratic or scheduling reason.
2. They can issue a press release and simply say they didn't realize he came along with the package of speakers and the school has disinvited him owing to his controversial track record.
3. The school could make a bold statement condemning Cupich's errors and treatment of the Blessed Sacrament and good priests and the faithful and simply say he and those like him who support "revolution" in the Church are never welcome on campus. And for the record, "revolution" is the very word Cupich himself used to describe what he wants to bring to the Church under the leadership of Pope Francis. He made the comments at a speech in Cambridge, England.
4. Or Franciscan can just go along with the flow here and choose to not tick off Francis' right-hand man in the United States, but suffer the loss of everything they have built up for decades and a great walkaway of donors and future students.

The time has come for Franciscan, as it is coming more frequently for all sorts of Catholics — decision time.

Which side are you on? The revolutionaries, the homosexual cabal which has operational control of the Church? Or tradition, the Magisterium and the glory of Catholic truth.

Franciscan has not sought out this war — true. Privately, some in the administration are expressing grief over the situation and do not want him on campus.

But this war is not private. Sides must be chosen, publicly. As the expression goes, you may not be interested in war — ah, but war is in interested in you.

The war for the soul of the Church has come to Franciscan; all that remains to be seen at this point is which side the school will choose.

At least one major donor Church Militant is aware of has contacted the school, enraged at the news of Cupich being given a speaking platform, and demanded his hundreds of thousands in donations be returned immediately.

He is even threatening a lawsuit to get his money back. Whatever merit such a suit would have or not have is beside the point, however.

It would demonstrate the depth of the crisis and create a public inflection point for school and the Church at large.

Old gay cardinals and archbishops, the revolutionaries of the 1970s have surged back under Francis, and this time, they have moved from parishes into the very nerve center of the Church and seized control.

Nothing less than that is going on and faithful Catholics are mad as hell about the non-stop encroachment on the Faith and the destruction of the Church and their families that has come about as a result.

What happens now with the Franciscan/Cupich affair may very well turn into the "shot heard round the Church," whichever route Franciscan chooses.

Cupich's official presence on campus will bring about the destruction of Franciscan's identity. 

The school disinviting him publicly, for the truthful reasons, will be a stake in the ground that faithful Catholics will be able to rally around.

Each choice will have its consequences, both in the near term and the future.

Franciscan, the moment has arrived. It's decision time: tradition or revolution?

DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) - A priest of the archdiocese of Detroit is categorically denying claims that he abused a minor.

Father Eduard Perrone, longtime pastor of Assumption Grotto, with a reputation for orthodoxy and promoting the Traditional liturgy, was temporarily placed on leave following a single allegation the archdiocese has deemed "credible."

"Effective July 5, 2019, Father Eduard Perrone, 70, has been temporarily restricted from any public ministry due to a credible allegation of abuse of a minor pending the outcome of a Church process," the letter from the archdiocese stated. 

The archdiocese goes on to detail its contact with Macomb County law enforcement and the Michigan attorney general's office, adding, "The Archdiocese Review Board subsequently deemed the complaint to be credible, meaning it has a 'semblance of truth.'"

But critics have noted that the letter violates Pope Francis' instructions on handling sex abuse allegations. Catholics are also upset that the letter deliberately leaves out any mention that Perrone maintains his innocence.

In guidelines published on February 21, Pope Francis lists 21 points by which all sex abuse investigations must be handled.

Point number 14 states:

The right to defense: the principle of natural and canon law of presumption of innocence must also be safeguarded until the guilt of the accused is proven. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent the lists of the accused being published, even by the dioceses, before the preliminary investigation and the definitive condemnation. 

After the noon Mass Sunday, about 20 parishioners surrounded Msgr. Michael Bugarin, episcopal vicar and delegate for matters of clergy misconduct, demanding to know why Perrone was being treated unjustly.

Church Militant's Michael Voris, a longtime parishioner at Assumption Grotto, specifically questioned Bugarin as to why he violated point 14 of the pope's guidelines by publishing Perrone's name before any "definitive condemnation." Bugarin claimed to be unaware of the document — a stunning claim from the chancery official in charge of overseeing all investigations into clergy misconduct.

Voris and other parishioners also asked why the archdiocese deliberately left out any mention that Perrone categorically denies the allegations, why he is forbidden to make any public statements in his defense and why he is prohibited from even speaking with his parishioners.

"Do you think this is fair? Do you think right now that Fr. Perrone is being treated justly by the archdiocese?" Voris asked.

Bugarin answered yes, explaining, "That's part of the process." It was a phrase he repeated more than a dozen times during the exchange, followed by audible frustration from onlookers.

"We are following the process like we always do," Bugarin repeated. 

Voris asked whether they followed "the process" in the case of Fr. Larry Ventline, a notorious homosexual priest who ran a gay massage parlor for years, with the knowledge of the archdiocese, and who was accused of raping an 11-year-old. The police investigation into the allegation was eventually closed without making a determination of guilt or innocence either way. 

"It seems to me you're awful silent in this case, and why?" asked an elderly female parishioner, who was visibly upset. "We want to know what is going on with our parish priest!"

She asked about Bugarin's treatment of another priest, Fr. Darrell Roman, who has been placed on an indefinite "medical leave of absence" for more than a year following his abrupt removal as pastor of St. Isaac Jogues Church in 2018. Father Roman also had a reputation for orthodoxy, offering strong sermons and promoting reverent liturgy and daily eucharistic adoration at his parish.

The archdiocese has to this day offered no substantive explanation for his removal, nor has it indicated whether Roman will ever be placed back in active ministry.

Father Roman was the only priest in the archdiocese who signed a petition to Pope Francis in 2017, along with thousands of others around the world, requesting clarity on Amoris Laetitia. 

A woman who drives an hour to attend Perrone's Mass told Bugarin, "How many bad people are in the archdiocese of Detroit, and so many of them should be investigated, but they are not — but when a holy priest ... and he's the one who tells us the whole truth of Catholic teachings — he is investigated so quickly, but how about others?"

Fr. Perrone Exposes Gay Porn Scandal at Detroit Seminary

Father Perrone was instrumental in shutting down St. John's Provincial Seminary in Detroit, after exposing a gay pornography scandal. As Jay McNally, former editor of Detroit's archdiocesan newspaper, has reported:

When Vatican officials came for the first visitation in about 1982 at St. John's Seminary, which was proudly labeled the "Pink Palace" by local homosexuals, Detroit's Cdl. Edmund Szoka was able to prevent any real discussion of the homosexual culture there, until the final day, when Fr. Eduard Perrone forced the issue by secretly delivering a long and detailed dossier about the seminary's homosexual culture to the visiting Vatican official.

The story of amazing intrigue — and courage — by Perrone is included in Michael Rose's profile of Perrone in his book, Priest: Portraits of 10 Good Men Serving the Church Today. Since 1994, Fr. Perrone has been pastor of one of the most orthodox parishes in the Detroit archdiocese, Assumption Grotto Church.

Perrone's dossier led to the Vatican forcing Szoka to shut down St. John's and consolidate the major and minor seminary at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. 

Perrone was eventually ordained to the priesthood, but faced opposition from the archdiocese, which filed a canonical case against Perrone for "heresy." The priest defended himself against the charges, the case was appealed to Rome and the Vatican ultimately sided with Perrone. 

Perrone founded Call to Holiness in direct response to the heterodoxy and dissent promoted by Call to Action, the U.S. bishops' gathering that promoted female ordination, the abolition of priestly celibacy and relaxation of strictures on contraception and homosexuality. Call to Action was founded by Detroit's Cdl. John Dearden, a leading liberal voice in the Church.

Father John Hardon, the Jesuit known for his orthodoxy and who suffered persecution by Detroit clergy, and who mentored Perrone, said of Call to Holiness, "History may show that Call to Holiness was the spark that ignited the restoration of authentic Catholicism in the United States." 

Detroit has a long history of protecting homosexual predators, including Fr. Gerald Shirilla, removed from active ministry in 1992 after multiple credible allegations of pederasty spanning decades.

Unbeknownst to the public, Shirilla was secretly placed back in active ministry in the neighboring Gaylord diocese after Cdl. Adam Maida, then head of the archdiocese of Detroit, approved the move with Bp. Patrick Cooney. When local Catholics discovered a homosexual predator was assigned to their parish, outcry ensued, leading to his removal, while the Detroit archdiocese claimed it knew nothing of the decision — in direct contradiction to Cooney's own public statements explaining he'd received Maida's cooperation in the assignment.

Shirilla's most famous case involved abuse of the Paciorek brothers, some who were professional baseball players, who were each abused by the priest.

Msgr. Bugarin Denies Homosexuality Linked to Abuse Crisis

Bugarin, who remained in the vestibule throughout all weekend Masses at Assumption Grotto, has denied that homosexuality has anything to do with the priest abuse crisis. 

During a call-in radio show in August on WJR talk radio in Detroit, when Bugarin was a guest, two callers asked specifically whether gay clergy are a problem in the Church.

Jane, a caller from Toledo, Ohio, asked, "Some of the bishops have stated that there's a network of homosexual priests and bishops and they've stated that we really need to work on that issue. Are you guys acknowledging that in Detroit?"

Bugarin evaded the question, saying, "This isn't a gay problem, a straight problem; this isn't a left problem, a right problem. This is about not living the Gospel and I think that's where we have to keep our hearts."

Church Militant asked a question on air:

How can you claim that there's not a homosexual clerical problem in the Church when the John Jay Report released earlier notes that over 80 percent of abuse cases were homosexual and ... 75 percent of cases in the Pennsylvania grand jury report were homosexual? ... What is the archdiocese of Detroit doing to stop homosexual abuse by priests on seminarians and other adults?

Bugarin acknowledged the John Jay report's statistics, but repeated, "I go back to the quote I stated earlier, this is not a gay problem, this is not a straight problem, this is not a left, right, this is about living the Gospel."

Church Militant has learned that Bugarin forbade priests from asking any questions about homosexuality in a meeting with Abp. Allen Vigneron in 2018, set up specifically for priests to discuss the sex abuse crisis in the Church.

Accuser's Allegations

The accuser, an adult male in his 50s, alleges that he was abused by Perrone as an altar boy approximately 40 years ago. The allegations reportedly arise from what he claims are "repressed memories" that surfaced for the first time this year.

He claims he was among altar boys who were invited to spend time at Perrone's mother's lake house, where he claims the priest wrestled with them in the water and at times inappropriately touched them.

"Never inappropriate touching," Fr. Perrone said in comments to the Associated Press. "I never ever would have done such a thing."

He confirmed the outings at the lake house, but made clear that other adults were always present and that everyone was "fully clothed."

A temporary administrator, Msgr. Ronald Browne, has been assigned to oversee Assumption Grotto in Perrone's absence. Perrone has secured both civil and canon lawyers for his defense.

Those wishing to write letters to Fr. Perrone can do so here, and they will be forwarded to him:

Assumption Grotto
ATTN: Fr. Eduard Perrone
13770 Gratiot Avenue,
Detroit, Michigan, 48205

Traditional Detroit Priest Categorically Denies Abuse Allegations
Fr. Eduard Perrone placed on leave over a single allegation from four decades ago. FULL STORY

Abp. Viganò Accuses Pope of Covering-Up Sex Abuse
Details emerged of a seminarian abusing altar boys inside the Vatican. FULL STORY COMING SOON

Father of Disabled Man Blasts French Court's Order to Remove Feeding Tube
Pierre Lambert: "It's murder in disguise." FULL STORY

Abortion Activists Post Fake Reviews of Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers
#ExposeFakeClinics urging feminists to flood Yelp and Google with reviews. FULL STORY

Federal Judge Blocks Ohio Heartbeat Law
Pro-life supporters planning appeal with the eventual goal of a Supreme Court case. FULL STORY

Watch today's Download here

The precarious state of religious liberty.

If you were living under communism in Poland, you couldn't say the "S" word. One man defied the ban by uttering the verboten word "Solidarity" six times in his Angelus address on Dec. 13, 1981, just a few hours after the Communist dictatorship imposed martial law on Poland.

Two years later, Karol Wojtyła went to Poznań and explicitly voiced the word "Solidarity." At Jasna Góra, he defiantly used other seditious words in his homily: "dignity" four times, "independence" four times, "free" or "freedom" 20 times and "nation" or "national" 20 times.

If you are living under the new despotism of homofascism in England, you can't say the "S" word in relation to homosexuality. A Cameroonian immigrant defied the ban and dared to utter the verboten word "sin" when posting comments on Facebook.

Felix Ngole, a postgraduate social work student at the University of Sheffield, was responding to the jailing of American registrar Kim Davies, who conscientiously objected to issuing gay couples with marriage licenses because of her Christian beliefs on marriage.

In Kim's defense, Ngole used the proscribed "S" word and associated sin with gay sex. Wielding his digital pen like a Samurai sword, the 38-year-old father of four, wrote with passionate intensity:

• "Same sex marriage is a sin whether we accept it or not."
• "Homosexuality is a sin, no matter how you want to dress it up."
• "[Homosexuality] is a wicked act and God hates the act."
• "God hates sin and not man."

Ngole supported his statements with three biblical texts. He quoted Leviticus, which uses the Jewish cultic term "abomination" to proscribe homosexuality; he referred to Sodom and Gomorrah from Jude; and he pasted three verses from St. Paul's letter to the Romans — censuring homosexual acts as "contrary to nature."

A faceless student from Ngole's university, cloaking her cowardice under the apparel of anonymity, snitched on the social worker to the university's "Gaystapo." For the next four years (from November 2015), Ngole was forced to face the Sheffield Witch Trials, hauled before an ascending hierarchy of the university's Unholy Inquisition like a heretic and excommunicated from his MA course.

Ngole's inquisitors in Pinkshirts invariably kept parroting the same pedestrian reasons for their despotic decision.

Here's how the Office of the Independent Adjudicator put it: "The posts amounted not just to Mr Ngole quoting passages from the Bible, but also to him expressing his own personal views, for instance saying that 'homosexuality is a sin, no matter how you want to dress it up.'"

Nein! Nein! Es ist verboten! Dummkopf, repeat after me ze first commandment of ze Rainbow Reich: "Thou shalt not use the 'S' word for homosexuality in public!" After four years of psychological waterboarding by the "all you need is love" brigade, Ngole remained as immovable as the pillars that prop the universe.

Last week, the Court of Appeals came crashing down like the ice of a polar sea on the university's kangaroo courts and monkey trials. In a landmark judgment, it even overturned the High Court decision against Ngole.

The judges identified the key issue with laser-sharp precision: "Namely, that the University told the Claimant that whilst he was entitled to hold his views about homosexuality being a sin, he was never entitled to express such views on social media or in any public forum."

Irony of ironies! Progressives want gays to come out of the closet and parade their pleasures with "Pride," but at the same time seek to shove Christians into the closet, slam the door tightly shut on biblical views of sin and let free speech suffocate to death.

"If social workers and social work students must not express such views, then what of art therapists, occupational therapists, paramedics, psychologists, radiographers, speech and language therapists: all professions whose students and practitioners work under the rubric of the same general regulations?" the three judges asked in a surprising spurt of torrential eloquence.

You don't need to be a Christian or have a view on sin or sexuality to see through the pygmy intellects and logical fallacies of Sheffield University's inquisitors. Their entire case against Ngole is as bare as an ape's rump — a jabber-fest of inanity, inarticulacy, obfuscation and pseudo-legal arguments raked up from the night-soil tray.

Ngole's posts breached the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) code and guidelines, the inquisitors alleged. On the contrary, the HCPC "Guidance on Social Media" encourages its practitioners to "be honest and trustworthy" and only not "post inappropriate or offensive material," for example, "racist or sexually explicit" remarks. Even the court admits Felix was as polite as a pigeon.

The most fatuous leap of faith the university made was to assume that because Ngole believed that homosexual acts to be sinful, he would discriminate against homosexual people.

When it became clear as a cube of solid sunshine that Ngole had never discriminated even against a bed bug and would never discriminate against gays because, as he explained, the Bible prohibited him from discriminating against anybody, he was told by Inquisitor Bosworth: "I don't think you would behave in a discriminatory way, however, you could inadvertently discriminate."

So, Mr. Bosworth, punishing someone for a crime they've never committed, they say they will never commit, but which you (after gazing into your crystal ball) predict they "might inadvertently" commit, is justice, eh?

Let's take this argumentum ad ignorantiam to its logical conclusion. Ngole, like most Christians, also believes that lying, cheating, stealing, gambling, gossiping, fornicating, cohabiting, hating and hitting others are sins. He could hang posts on Facebook with biblical lists of all these sins strung together like sausages.

Ergo, Ngole and his fellow Christians, cannot be social workers (or work in any of the health and caring professions) because they might inadvertently discriminate against liars, cheaters, thieves, gamblers, gossipers, fornicators, and cohabiters — a list which essentially covers the human race, including Ngole himself, since as St. Paul writes in the same letter to the Romans (which Felix quoted on gay sex) "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God … none is righteous, no, not one."

In reality, I can discriminate against people even if I don't find their behavior sinful. A white supremacist will discriminate against blacks simply because of skin color — not because he thinks black people are indulging in sinful acts like homosexuality.

But how can you argue with ideologically driven academics who run Britain's first Department of Artificial Stupidity? When enlightened arguments fizzled out, they told Ngole that he "could be perceived as expressing views which albeit based on his religious beliefs, were discriminatory towards single sex couples."

Even the High Court judge took the view that what troubled the university was how some readers might "perceive" his posts "as judgmental, incompatible with service ethos, or suggestive of discriminatory intent."

So now we don't punish people for crimes they commit but for a postmodern reader response of other people's perception of how they subjectively might interpret a person's views expressed in public!

Paul Diamond, barrister extraordinaire, who represented Ngole on behalf of the Christian Legal Centre, showed the judge she is a few light bulbs short of a chandelier and demonstrated that this charge amounted to little more than a "heckler's veto."

If the Court of Appeals had not vindicated Ngole, we could be punished for anything we say because of how a reader perceived what was said.

This would create a new legal category of subjectively offensive speech — speech that offends some people. Of course, other people might approve of this speech and so banning such speech would mean privileging one group above the other and flushing justice down the toilet.

The Tower of Babel in Eastern Europe came tumbling down in less than a decade because a Polish pontiff refused to submit to the new fascism militating against freedom of speech.

One very big wall propping up the totalitarian Tower of Babel in Western Europe has now come tumbling down because a Christian Cameroonian immigrant refused to stop repeating the "S" word on social media.

VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - A high-ranking whistleblower says Pope Francis was complicit in covering up the alleged abuse of underage boys.

Vatican whistleblower Abp. Carlo Maria Viganò gave an interview with The Washington Post published June 10. According to recent reporting from LifeSiteNews, The Washington Post cut out from the article a set of damning accusations against the Pope and several high-ranking prelates.

When The Washington Post asked Abp. Viganò if he thinks the Vatican has made progress on the abuse crisis, he replied, "The signs I see are truly ominous. Not only is Pope Francis doing close to nothing to punish those who have committed abuse, he is doing absolutely nothing to expose and bring to justice those who have, for decades, facilitated and covered up the abusers."

He pointed to Francis' flattery of Cdl. Donald Wuerl, archbishop emeritus of Washington, D.C., who resigned amid fallout from abuse scandals. Viganò noted that despite Cdl. Wuerl's "repeated and blatant lies," the Pope praised Wuerl's "nobility" when accepting his resignation.

Archbishop Viganò remarked, "What credibility has the pope left after this kind of statement?"

He then went on to state:

I now wish to bring to your attention two recent and truly horrifying cases involving allegations of offenses against minors during Pope Francis' tenure. The pope and many prelates in the Curia are well aware of these allegations, but in neither case was an open and thorough investigation permitted. An objective observer cannot help but suspect that horrible deeds are being covered up.

The first case Abp. Viganò discussed involved abuse allegations at the Vatican's St. Pius X Pre-Seminary — which is where boys from around the world can train to be altar servers for the Pope.

A young man attending St. Pius X Pre-Seminary claims that an older seminarian committed homosexual assault against a younger seminarian over the course of five years, beginning when the younger victim was only 13 years old.

Kamil Jarzembowski, the roommate of the alleged victim, claims he witnessed the 21-year-old seminarian sexually assault the boy on more than 100 occasions.

The diocese of Como, located in northern Italy, is responsible for overseeing the pre-seminary in Rome. Father Andrea Stabellini, judicial vicar of the Como diocese, conducted a preliminary investigation into the abuse allegations and determined a need for further fact-finding. But higher-ups in the hierarchy prohibited him from continuing his investigation.

Responsible for the cover-up, according to Abp. Viganò, were "then-bishop of Como, Diego Coletti, together with Cdl. Angelo Comastri, Vicar General of Pope Francis for Vatican City."

In November 2017, the Como diocese threatened to sue journalist Gaetano Pecoraro for his investigative reporting on the abuse allegations at St. Pius X Pre-Seminary.

Archbishop Viganò gave further information on how the abuse claims were covered up:

You might wonder how this horrible case was closed. The Bishop of Como removed Don Stabellini from the post of Judicial Vicar; the whistleblower, the seminarian Kamil Jarzembowski, was expelled from the seminary; the two fellow seminarians who had joined him in the denunciation left the seminary; and the alleged abuser, Gabriele Martinelli, was ordained priest in July 2017. 

The second case that Abp. Viganò discussed was one involving Abp. Edgar Peña Parra, the Venezuelan prelate whom Pope Francis appointed substitute for the Secretariat of State last year.

Archbishop Viganò said about Francis' appointment of Abp. Peña Parra, "In doing so, the pope essentially ignored a terrifying dossier sent to him by a group of faithful from Maracaibo," the archdiocese where Abp. Peña was ordained a priest in 1985.

That dossier, Abp. Viganò noted, was titled "Who really is Msgr. Edgar Robinson Peña Parra, the New Substitute of the Secretariat of State of the Vatican?"

As early as 2000, allegations surfaced that Peña Parra had seduced two underaged seminarians at a parish back in 1990.

The Venezuelan archbishop was also accused of being involved in the mysterious deaths of two people in August 1992. Archbishop Viganò commented, "This same accusation is also contained in the aforementioned dossier sent by a group of lay people from Maracaibo, with the additional detail that the two corpses were found naked, with evidence of macabre homosexual lewd encounters."

Archbishop Viganò claimed that these two accusations were "known by the Secretariat of State in the Vatican since 2002, which I learned when I served as the Delegate for Pontifical Representations."

He further argued that Cdl. Pietro Parolin, who has served as Vatican secretary of state since 2013, is complicit in covering up the allegations against Peña Parra.

"Furthermore," Abp. Viganò added, "Cdl. Parolin knows the names of a number of priests in the Curia who are sexually unchaste, violating the laws of God that they solemnly committed themselves to teach and practice, and he continues to look the other way."

He also put blame on Francis, saying, "If Cdl. Parolin's responsibilities are grave, even more so are those of Pope Francis for having chosen for an extremely important position in the Church a man accused of such serious crimes, without first insisting on an open and thorough investigation."

According to reports, men who were in seminary with Peña Parra in the 1980s complained that he was a homosexual.

Archbishop Viganò finished his newly revealed response to The Washington Post's question by stating, "You ask me if I see any signs that the Vatican, under Pope Francis, is taking proper steps to address the serious issues of abuse. My answer is simple: Pope Francis himself is covering up abuse right now, as he did for McCarrick. I say this with great sorrow."

He continued:

When King David pronounced the greedy rich man in Nathan's parable worthy of death, the prophet told him bluntly, "You are the man" (2 Sam 12:1–7). I had hoped my testimony might be received like Nathan's, but it was instead received like that of Micaiah (1 Kings 22:15–27). I pray that this will change.

Archbishop Viganò has been living in hiding since August of 2018, when he released a bombshell testimony claiming that Pope Francis rolled back canonical disciplines that Pope Benedict XVI had imposed on notorious abuser Theodore McCarrick — now a laicized ex-cardinal.

In the months that followed, Abp. Viganò released several more public letters from hiding.

DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) - The world's biggest bookseller has buckled under pressure from homosexual activists and banned the works of the world's most famous Catholic clinical psychologist on reparative or conversion therapy.

Amazon pulled books written by pioneering therapist Dr. Joseph Nicolosi after British homosexual activist Rojo Alan stepped up a social media campaign calling for a ban on psychological literature on reparative therapy, which helps people seeking to change their sexual orientation.

Dr. Nicolosi, who died in 2017, was a devout Catholic and licensed clinical psychologist and academic, who rejected the fatalism of the premise that people are "born gay" and have no choice. Homosexuality, he believed, is an adaptation to trauma; it is rooted in a same-sex attachment problem that leaves the boy alienated from his true masculine nature.

He assisted hundreds of clients with their goal of reducing same-sex attractions and exploring their heterosexual potential through the Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic, which had a staff of seven therapists handling about 135 cases a week of people from around the world and the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), which he co-founded.

In March, "Sky Gray," a U.S.-based LGBTQ activist who self-identifies as "pansexual trans," launched a Change.org petition against Nicolosi's books after Amazon removed a "gay conversion app" from its app store.

"Celebrating books that qualify homosexuality as an illness is not right and you can help stop it," Sky Gray urged in his petition, which attracted over 80,000 signatures.

"Surprise: none of these therapies work. And moreover, they're incredibly damaging to the victims," he claimed, adding, "they can and have lead to mental health issues including depression, self-harm, and suicide."

On May 31, Alan Rojo intensified pressure, and in a Facebook post asked his supporters to help him in "getting a number of homophobic books pulled from Wordery and Amazon" by leaving "a bad review" and contacting the providers.

"It took a couple of weeks but the rating on Amazon dropped from a 4 star to a 2 star. I was finally getting somewhere," he bragged in a Facebook post.

Amazon, which sells Hitler's Mein Kampf, six books by Dr. Joseph Goebbels, works by white supremacist David Duke and pro-Stalin works by American academic Grover Furr, who argues in his books that Stalin killed nobody, pulled Nicolosi's works from their online shelves on July 3, because they do not meet "content guidelines."

Church Militant spoke to Dr. Mike Davidson, Dr. David Virtue and Dr. Lisa Nolland, who knew Nicolosi well and had benefited from his labors.

"Anyone who knew Joseph Nicolosi well will attest to his unfailing compassion and skill with those wanting to leave unwanted homosexual practices," remarked Dr. Davidson, CEO of Core Issues Trust, who directed the movie Joseph Nicolosi: A True Friend, which is available on Amazon in the United Kingdom at the time of writing.

"Nicolosi has left a framework of understanding that too many identify with to be allowed to be eliminated by Amazon. His concepts had mass appeal across language, cultural and religious divides. His work is foundational, building on Elizabeth Moberly's foundational work before him and together with Bieber and Sacorides," he added.

Virtue, editor of Virtue Online, told Church Militant:

I first met Dr. Nicolosi in London and saw him in action with about 100 young homosexuals who had come from all over Europe looking to break free from their homosexual desires. They had come voluntarily without coercion. As they expressed their concerns and fears, I watched as Dr. Nicolosi led them through their relationship with their fathers, sometimes mothers, which were always dysfunctional, usually absentee fathers, emotionally disconnected fathers, abusive fathers.

As they talked, I watched as grown men cried, argued and fought with Dr. Nicolosi. He held his ground. He was tough and kind in the same breath. He demanded that at all times they tell the truth about the family relationships. Were these men instantly healed? No. But they were on the way to healing and Dr. Nicolosi would always be there for them. Later I heard that some married women and could testify that reparative therapy did work.

"Dr. Joseph Nicolosi understood gay men better than most — he spent his entire career listening to and trying to understand them! Thankfully, Joe's son Joseph Nicolosi Jr. has built on his father's magnificent work," sex historian Nolland said.

Until recently, distinguished members of the American Psychological Association (APA), like its former president, Dr. Robert Perloff, commended Nicolosi's books and condemned the takeover of the APA by special interests groups like the gay lobby.

"The policies and resolutions of organizations such as the APA, and probably the American Psychiatric Association as well, would be better framed and more truthfully based were these organizations cognisant of, and open to, the sentiments promoting reparative therapy," wrote Perloff in his foreword to Nicolosi's Shame and Attachment Loss: The Practical Work of Reparative Therapy, published in 2009.

Although some in the APA maligned reparative therapy, "it has not been rejected as a therapeutic modality for those seeking to change their sexual orientation, especially Christians or other religious or morally motivated persons," Dr. H. Newton Malony, observed in a second foreword to the book.

He explained that Nicolosi himself never presented reparative therapy as a "therapeutic cure-all" or "as a model that explains each and every incidence of homosexuality."

He explained: "Reparative therapy is offered as a hopeful remedy grounded in one environmentally significant determinant — namely family interaction. It is also offered as an option for religiously motivated persons who are seeking some alternative to the view that they cannot change."

Meanwhile, on July 5, Rojo Alan said he was widening his net and calling activists in different countries to "check other titles" on conversion therapy and have them removed.

Committed Catholic Jeremy Schwab, who left the "gay life" 10 years ago and leads an apostolate called Joel 2:25 to help others struggling with homosexuality, said that Alan was also targeting other books, including his own literature and testimonies of former homosexuals. 

He told Church Militant: 

In a free market, we should be able to just go to another platform, but the same people who demanded that Amazon remove our books and resources have consistently demanded that any app, video and content we create be removed. Apple, Google, Amazon, Vimeo and YouTube have all jumped to meet their demands. This is not just about Amazon. They really are trying and succeeding in silencing anyone who dares to disagree with them.

Amazon has also recently removed books on conversion therapy by Anne Paulk, Gerard J. M. van den Aardweg, Richard Cohen and Alan Medinger and has launched a counter-petition asking Amazon to reverse its decision.

Linda Nicolosi, the late psychologist's wife, has also joined the fight against the militant homosexual activists seeking to suffocate free speech and choice.

"If this ban stands, it will effectively amount to a stranglehold on the free flow of information for conservatives and people of traditional faith, because Amazon holds a virtual monopoly on book sales, the public will be unable to access information on the causes of homosexuality, and of any hope for change," Linda told Virtue Online.

"Of course, this is what gay activists want — to control the free flow of information. Their activism was never about tolerance — it was about the marginalization and shaming of anyone with a different viewpoint," she said.

Nicolosi isn't backing down. Her husband's books — including a new book about to be published, The Best of Joseph Nicolosi — will soon be available directly on his website.

VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - Pope Francis welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Vatican July 4, the two negotiating common ground while eyeing ways to make yardage on their competing views of Christianity and nationhood.

For Putin, the meeting, for which he was an hour late, represented a way to reify his stature as a global leader.

For Francis, the meeting represented a way to gain leverage in his relationship with populist, anti-migration Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and in negotiating better relations with the Russian Orthodox Church — as well as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The 55-minute private meeting in a room in the Vatican library was described as "cordial," with the men engaging in traditional gift-giving and expressing "satisfaction at the development of bilateral relations."

Francis gave Putin a signed copy of his peace message for this year and an 18th-century etching of St. Peter's Square, "so you don't forget Rome." 

Putin gave the Pope a DVD of Sin, a movie about the Renaissance master painter and sculptor Michelangelo by the Russian filmmaker Andrei Konchalovsky and a painted Orthodox icon of Ss. Peter and Paul.

The Vatican and Russia signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the collaboration between the Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital in Rome and pediatric hospitals in the Russian Federation. The memorandum was signed by Fr. Paolo Borgia, assessor for general affairs of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See and by Veronika Skvortsova, minister of health of the Russian Federation.

The Russian team was informed of the hospital's most innovative techniques and areas of research, including advanced genetic research and the development of cell therapies for the treatment of leukemia.

Alessandro Gisotti, interim director of the Vatican Press Office, tweeted the words of Bambino Gesù Hospital President Mariella Enoc to Minister of Health of the Russian Federation Veronika Skvortsova: "We love children. You love children. There is no better understanding to work well together!"

Reportedly, the topic of Ukraine and its mired religiopolitical history was also broached.

In January, Ukraine broke from the Russian Orthodox Church it had been tied to for more than four centuries and started its own independent Orthodox Church, as had been reported.

Bartholomew I, the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, to which Ukraine had been loyal until 1686, recognized the independence of Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

In response, the Russian Orthodox Church — which stood to lose a significant chunk of real estate — said it would no longer recognize the Istanbul-based patriarch. Putin sided with Cyril, patriarch of Moscow and the Russian Orthodox Church, and Francis needs the support of Putin to smooth things out with Cyril. 

The larger context of the Francis-Putin Vatican meeting heightens the stakes of its outcomes.

Francis is hailed by many European liberals as "the greatest moral voice against the resurgence in populism" and a great supporter of migrants.

Putin, however, figures for many nationalists throughout the world as an "alternate pope — the spiritual strongman of their movement."

Gianmatteo Ferrari, the secretary of Lombardy Russia, a pro-Russian, anti-globalist organization, said: "I may be speaking heresy, but President Putin looks more like a pope to me, for the way he is living Christianity, compared to the one who should to all effects be the pope."

"The greatest, proudest and most strenuous advocate of our Christian values is President Putin," Ferrari said.

Of the most gushing takes on Putin is to compare him to "Katechon, a Greek word referring to a force that keeps the Antichrist at bay."

Putting a wedge into easy black-white interpretations, Roberto de Mattei, president of the Lepanto Foundation, an organization critical of what it sees as Francis' failure to defend Europe from Islam, said he did not share the sympathy some Catholic traditionalists feel toward Putin and suspected that the Russian leader was waging a "political operation."

"My fear is there is a double game," de Mattei said, adding that he felt stuck on a chessboard between Putin and Francis, while "the West doesn't have a real leader."

Putin thanked Francis for "very substantive" talks on the day before Francis would welcome the major archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, as well as other Ukrainian Catholic leaders to the Vatican.

Modern relations between the Vatican and the Kremlin can trace their inception to the December 1989 meeting of St. Pope John Paul II and Mikhail Gorbachev. It was the first meeting of a pope with a Soviet leader. Diplomatic relations between the Vatican and the Soviet Union have flown ever since out of that banner.

REIMS, France (ChurchMilitant.com) - Vincent Lambert likely will die sometime this week after Sebastopol Hospital in northeastern France removed the remainder of his feeding and water tubes. The doctors' actions followed the removal of other life support mechanisms early last week.

The actions were precipitated by an appeals court ruling in favor of Sebastopol doctors' efforts to end Lambert's life on June 28 — against the wishes of the 42-year-old former psychiatric nurse's mother, father, two sisters and half-brother.

The last-minute pleas by Viviane Lambert, Vincent's mother, to the European Center for Law and Justice to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Geneva were unsuccessful.

His doctors and other medical specialists confirm Vincent can breathe without the assistance of a respirator and he also responded to external stimuli. His condition was listed as stable prior to removal of basic medical services keeping him alive.

Viviane and Pierre Lambert were both present on Sunday when their defenseless son was deprived of life-sustaining nourishment.

"It's murder in disguise, it's euthanasia," 90-year-old Pierre told the press.

Vincent has been hospitalized since a motorcycle accident in 2008 rendered him a quadriplegic with severe brain damage. His family has been divided legally on whether to continue life-sustaining measures for six years. Lambert's wife, six other siblings and a nephew support ending his life via dehydration and starvation.

A previous attempt to starve and dehydrate Lambert was averted in May when a French court ordered his feeding tubes reinserted. The United Nations, meanwhile, requested time to conduct its own investigation, but their request was declined by the French government.

As reported by Church Militant at that time, Viviane wrote a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron wherein she expressed: "Mr. President, my son was sentenced to death ... my son did not deserve to be hungry and dehydrated ... Vincent's not in a coma, he's not sick, he's not connected. It's not a machine that keeps my son alive. He's breathing without assistance. ... Vincent is disabled but alive."

The May ruling was overturned in June. President Macron, an atheist, insists Lambert's fate depends on the wishes of his wife in consultation with her husband's doctors. As a result, he is refusing to intervene on Vincent's behalf.

Protests on behalf of saving Lambert scheduled for July 8 were canceled, according to a news source: "A group of supporters who oppose the ending of life support were to have held a demonstration in Paris Monday, but called it off at the last minute after Lambert's parents said his death was 'now unavoidable' and they were 'resigned' to accepting it."

HONG KONG (ChurchMilitant.com) - Cardinal Joseph Zen has highlighted serious problems with the Holy See's new pastoral guidelines for clergy registration in Communist China.

Having recently met with Pope Francis, Cdl. Zen updated his website on Monday with the full text of his dubia on the Holy See's new guidelines concerning the civil registration of the clergy in China.

Zen summarizes his dubia:

This document has radically turned upside what is normal and what is abnormal, what is rightful and what is pitiable. Those who wrote it hope perhaps that the pitied minority will die a natural death. By this minority I mean not only underground priests (who have been deprived of the leadership of a bishop, and recently even of a simple delegate — because the above ground bishop is legitimised) but also the many brothers in the official community who have worked with great tenacity to achieve change, hoping for the support of the Holy See, but now are asked to 'enter the cage' amid the laughter of the winning opportunists. 

Published on July 28, the "Pastoral guidelines of the Holy See concerning the civil registration of clergy in China" attempts to offer guidelines for clergy in China in the wake of the Vatican-China agreement signed in September 2018.

It is reported that the agreement allows the Pope to appoint and veto bishops approved by the Communist Party of China. 

After the agreement was signed, the Chinese government continued its religious persecution without making any exceptions for Catholics, even demolishing two Marian shrines, one in Shanxi and another in Guizhou.

Zen immediately boarded a plane to meet with Pope Francis once he learned the Holy See published these guidelines on June 28.

He brought a list of nine criticisms with him, all of which can be read on his website (the English translation is at the bottom).

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Perhaps the most pertinent tension is between the Vatican's position on Church autonomy and the Communist Party's requirement that all bishops and priests register with the government.

The pastoral guidelines offer a way around this by allowing bishops and priests to register with the Chinese government but stating that the "independence, autonomy and self-management of the Church must be understood without undermining Catholic doctrine."

This does not work, according to Zen.

"A text is signed against the faith and it is stated that the intention is to promote the good of the community, a more suitable evangelisation, and the responsible management of Church assets," he says.

"This general rule is obviously against all fundament[al] moral theology! If valid, [it] would justify even apostasy!" adds Zen.

Bishop Joseph Strickland is the only American bishop so far to voice concern over the direction the Vatican has taken with China.

"China and Amazonia are half a world apart but the Vatican seems to have both regions on the same path to apostasy," he tweeted. 

China and Amazonia are half a world apart but the Vatican seems to have both regions on the same path to apostasy....Cdl. Zen warns Pope Francis that Vatican directives for China church may lead to ‘death of true faith’ | News | LifeSite https://t.co/aDjRmtKYqW

— Bishop J. Strickland (@Bishopoftyler) July 6, 2019

Establishment reporters such as Massimo Faggioli, a contributor to Commonweal magazine and writer for the Italian version of HuffPost, viewed Strickland's concern as an accusation against the Pope and were quick to call Strickland out on social media as a possible apostate.

Your Excellency, I think you don’t realize how serious this accusation against pope Francis is.
This message sounds much more apostasy than anything happening in China or the Amazon region. https://t.co/b8thTPcrYp

— Massimo Faggioli (@MassimoFaggioli) July 6, 2019

Other American bishops and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) have mostly remained silent on this topic.

The USCCB only mentions the persecuted in China once in its lectionary notes for the Solemnity of Christ the King 2018.

"Christians in the Middle East, Nigeria, China, and other places face intense, violent persecution," states the note, which immediately adds, "Christians are not the only ones who suffer. Muslims in places like Burma and China are also being severely persecuted."

Zen and Strickland see the situation in China differently than men like Massimo Faggioli, and unlike most bishops, refuse to remain silent.

"May the Lord not allow the fulfillment of the wishes of those who want the death of the true faith in my dear homeland. Lord, have mercy on us," concludes Zen.  

Church Militant reached out to Cdl. Zen for comment but received no response as of press time.

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President Donald Trump is defending the rights of all Americans to live a moral life and highlighted his fight at the recent Faith and Freedom Coalition (FFC) in Washington, D.C.

During his FFC talk on June 26, Trump noted he's protecting the right of such groups as the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic religious community, to live according to their conscience.

"We're cherishing our nation's religious heritage once again," said Trump. "My administration has taken historic action to protect religious liberty. We are protecting the conscience rights of doctors, and nurses, and teachers, and groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor. We're with them."

Trump also recalled his recent defense of allowing conservative speakers on liberal college campuses. Such speakers are often banned from speaking, owing to left-leaning college administrators.

We've made a lot of progress. We've taken action to uphold free speech on college campuses. Colleges are now, by the way, looking around very carefully when they throw conservatives and religious folks off of their campuses. Looking around very, very carefully because they have a big, fat, beautiful monetary penalty to pay.

NEW YORK (ChurchMilitant.com) - Former President Bill Clinton's association with a notorious child sex-trafficker is under scrutiny, and the Democrats are worried.

Following the arrest of billionaire Jeffrey Epstein on Saturday for new sex trafficking allegations, both the media and Democrats are seeking to minimize the discussion of Clinton's association with Epstein's so-called "Lolita Express" flights to and from the British Virgin Islands where rich and powerful men are alleged to have had sex with underage girls.

In 2008, Epstein was jailed for 13 months for raping underage girls. But, as described by Anne Coulter in Taki's Magazine: "Democratic county prison officials — not the feds — who placed Epstein in a private wing of the county jail and allowed him to spend 12 hours a day, six days a week at his Palm Beach mansion throughout his 13-month 'imprisonment.'"

Clinton took his "Lolita Express" flights at least 26 times, sometimes dismissing his Secret Service team from their duties to keep watch over him.

Christine Pelosi, daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted, "It is quite likely that some of our faves are implicated but we must follow the facts and let the chips fall where they may - whether on Republicans or Democrats."

ABC News refused to mention Clinton's connection, only commenting Epstein "has been associated with some of the world's most powerful people including former presidents and movie stars."

Clinton press secretary and ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos passed over Clinton's and his own connection with Epstein and the fact Epstein had been a heavy Democrat donor for years, donating nearly $150,000 to Democrats running for office and the Clinton Foundation.

Epstein was known to associate with famous and powerful people, including actors Kevin Spacey, Woody Allen and Chris Tucker. Both Spacey and Allen have a reputation for being serial sexual predators.

While media is struggling to keep Clinton's ties to Epstein a secret, it's maintaining Epstein and President Donald Trump were close, with MSNBC saying:

• "a friend of Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein"
• "child sex trafficker and child rapist and friend of Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein"
• "a billionaire friend of Donald Trump's"

As a media personality before his political career, Donald Trump did have an association with Epstein going back to 1987, saying about him, "He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life."

Epstein frequented Trump's Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida but was banned after he made an advance at the underage daughter of a fellow guest.

MINNEAPOLIS (ChurchMilitant.com) - A priest of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter has been excommunicated, and his parish permanently closed, months after he criticized certain actions of various popes both during and after the Second Vatican Council.

On April 1, Bp. Steven J. Lopes announced he had issued a decree of excommunication against Fr. Vaughn Treco, pastor of St. Bede the Venerable in suburban Minneapolis, citing "rejection of the magisterial authority of an Ecumenical Council and a series of popes."

The charge stems from a homily Fr. Treco delivered on Nov. 25, 2018, the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

Titled "The Father's Grapes and the Children's Teeth," the address was based on Ezekiel 18:2, which declares: "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge."

In his homily, Fr. Treco identified multiple roots of the current Church crisis — faulting missteps and failures of popes during and after Vatican II — and outlined an appropriate Catholic response.

On June 28, when asked about allegations that he denied Vatican II and supported a sedevacantist position, Fr. Treco told Church Militant: "Thank you for asking this question of me directly. In answer, I can say without any dissimulation that I have never denied the validity of the Second Vatican Council, and I do not now believe, nor have I ever believed that the Apostolic See is vacant."

At the outset of November's homily, Fr. Treco explained to his congregation: "I wish to set before you a deeper understanding of the crisis that now engulfs Holy Mother Church and to propose a way forward in the months and years that lay before us."

He contrasted "the spirit of Catholicism" with "what some have called the 'spirit' of the Second Vatican Council," noting that the former is "set in opposition to the world," while describing the latter as "an embrace of the world."

"The Catholic Church exists to bring all men and every nation under the Kingship of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Universe," he said, adding: "But friends: In the face of our Lord's clear teaching regarding the mission of the Church, the Conciliar Popes, the Successors of Peter have — in a way — repeated Peter's three-fold denial of Jesus Christ."

Three Papal Blunders 

Father Treco proposed that the conciliar popes had fallen short of their responsibilities in three ways. 

First, he said that at the heights of the Cold War, Pope Paul VI looked to man, rather than God, to forge a path away from conflict. Father Treco suggested to parishioners that "in Paul VI, Peter said the United Nations, not the Catholic Church, has the mission of bringing peace to the world."

Father Treco quoted Paul VI's Oct. 4, 1965 address to the United Nations General Assembly in which the pontiff proclaimed that "this organization represents the obligatory path of modern civilization and world peace," contrasting it with Pope Pius XI's 1922 encyclical Ubi Arcano Dei Consilio: On the Peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ, which declared that "the only remedy" for human conflict "is the peace of Christ since the peace of Christ is the peace of God," and that "these ideals and doctrines of Christ ... were confided by Him to His Church and to her alone for safekeeping."  

Second, Fr. Treco faulted Paul VI for lax administration, saying that "through Pope Paul VI, Peter denied his responsibility to rule and govern the Church: an authority that Jesus Christ Himself had entrusted to Peter."

He noted that during his pontificate, Paul VI "refused to discipline wayward Catholic bishops, theologians and seminary professors" and instead "promoted and advanced clerics who openly denied the perennial and immutable truths of the Faith." 

Elaborating on this point, Fr. Treco added:

Men who denied the divinity of Christ; men who denied the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ; men who denied the unique saving power of Jesus Christ, and the daily re-presentation of this sacrifice, made once for all on the Cross of Calvary, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; men who denied the divine origin of the Church; men who denied the apostolic succession of the episcopacy, and men who denied the necessity of the ministerial priesthood of Jesus Christ.

Third, Fr. Treco lamented that the conciliar popes had shown a measure of deference to other faiths, saying that "through Popes Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI, Peter denied the Church's obligation to offer worship to no other God, but the Blessed Trinity."

Among other examples, he recounted how "each visited and took part in services of worship at the synagogue in Rome, giving credence to the false notion that it is possible for a people to have access to God the Father even though they have rejected His Only Begotten Son."

Father Treco pointed to the fruit — the "sour grapes" — wrought by the Second Vatican Council, noting that in its wake "the religious orders of the Catholic Church collapsed, with more than 80,000 women religious forsaking their vows, along with more than 32,000 priests abandoning their office."

He also observed that after Vatican II, "heresies that had been previously condemned have been allowed to run rampant in the Church; and these heresies have been promoted by professors of Catholic theology and philosophy, theologians, priests, bishops and cardinals."

He noted further that the crisis has crescendoed under Pope Francis: 

And now we are told from the Vatican itself that people living in adulterous second marriages can receive Holy Communion in certain cases, which is exactly the opposite of what even Pope John Paul II taught, when he insisted that it was "intrinsically impossible" to give Holy Communion to the divorced and remarried because — as the Catechism that he had published states — they are living "public and permanent adultery."

In his final assessment, Fr. Treco declared:

The current epidemic of fornication, adultery and the acceptance of homosexuality as a moral good among the faithful and of the clergy ... and the current scourge of homosexual predation among the priests and bishops of the Catholic Church are the foreseeable and inevitable fruit of the conciliar popes' decision to respect, honor and approve the aspirations of modern man so-called; and to declare, pursue and defend the exaltation of man in the temples of God.

He also called on his parishioners to remember Our Lady of Akita, who in an Oct. 13, 1973, Church-approved apparition, warned Sr. Agnes Sasagawa:

The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres ... church and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. 

Father Treco rallied his parishioners to respond to the crisis in the Church by actively seeking "to restore the Kingship of Jesus Christ in our personal lives, in society and in the nations of the world."

He urged them to "make knowing Christ the King and His holy doctrine the chief priority" by abandoning "convenience Catholicism"; by attending reverent Masses; by reading "only those theological and spiritual books that are faithful to the ancient faith"; and by teaching "the true faith, and only the true faith to our children."

"In this regard," he added, "a helpful rule of thumb would be to return to those theological and spiritual resources that were approved by the Holy See prior to the revolution of the 1960s."

Father Treco's homily was well-received by his parishioners, and word of it soon reached The Remnant, a Twin Cities-based traditionalist publication sympathetic to the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX). The newspaper contacted Fr. Treco and asked if he would agree to publish his homily online. He consented, and on Dec. 5, an audio recording of the address was published on The Remnant's YouTube channel, and a transcript posted to its website. Within days, the homily had registered more than 20,000 views.  

Accusations of Schism

The first signs of trouble came on Dec. 11, when Fr. Treco was contacted by Ordinariate Vicar General Fr. Timothy Perkins. Father Perkins denounced the homily as tantamount to heresy and ordered Treco to fly to Texas for a meeting with Bp. Steven J. Lopes, head of the Personal Ordinariate. 

The following day, Fr. Treco met with Bp. Lopes, Vicar General Perkins and Fr. Richard Kramer, director of vocations at the Ordinariate's Houston chancery. 

As Treco later recalled, Fr. Perkins spoke first, accusing the priest of misinterpreting Ezekiel 18:2:

Father Perkins correctly noted that the purpose of this Old Testament text was to dispel the then commonly held belief that children will be held guilty for the sins of their fathers. However, Fr. Perkins seemed to have completely missed the poetic manner in which I was employing the text in my homily. Rather than making clear the case that the children of the Church will be held guilty by God for the sins committed by the Fathers of the Church, I was making the more subtle observation that the failure of the Fathers of the Church to be diligent in their duty to guard the Faith was having a deleterious effect upon the children of Holy Mother Church.

Father Kramer addressed Fr. Treco next, quoting a layman's comment made in response to his homily: "Finally, a priest who gets it."

"Do you get it?" Fr. Kramer asked.

Father Treco recounted: "To this question, which seemed calculated to entrap me, I said simply, 'I am not sure that I know what the writer meant by 'it.'"

"I was asked if I believed that the Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis were legitimate popes," he said. "Quite honestly, I was taken completely off-guard by the question. It seemed to be quite unrelated to anything that had been said in the meeting thus far, and I was surprised because the question was completely unrelated to the substance of my homily."

"Even so," he added, "I affirmed without hesitation that I believed that Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis were each validly elected successors of St. Peter."

For his part, Bp. Lopes expressed surprise that Fr. Treco had not come to the meeting with a letter of resignation.

Over the next four months' correspondence with the bishop, Treco's plight rapidly worsened. On Dec. 18, he sent Bp. Lopes a personal profession of faith, in which he reaffirmed the teachings of the Apostles' Creed and denounced the so-called "Higher Criticism" — the interpretation of Sacred Scripture through the lens of false philosophy:

I reject that method of judging and interpreting Sacred Scripture which, departing from the tradition of the Church, the analogy of faith, and the norms of the Apostolic See, embraces the misrepresentations of the rationalists and with no prudence or restraint adopts textual criticism as the one and supreme norm.

In addition, as Pope Pius X had done more than a century before, Fr. Treco condemned the heresy of modernism:

I declare that I am completely opposed to the error of the modernists who hold that there is nothing divine in sacred tradition; or what is far worse, say ... that a group of men by their own labor, skill, and talent have continued to hold through subsequent ages a school begun by Christ and his apostles. I firmly hold, then, and shall hold to my dying breath the belief of the Fathers in the charism of truth, which certainly is, was, and always will be in the succession of the episcopacy from the Apostles. The purpose of this is, then, not that dogma may be tailored according to what seems better and more suited to the culture of each age; rather, that the absolute and immutable truth preached by the apostles from the beginning may never be believed to be different, may never be understood in any other way. 

Finally, Fr. Treco confirmed that he was in no way sedevacantist: "I affirm, also, that I believe that the Second Vatican Council was validly convened by Pope John XXIII, and validly continued by Pope Paul VI, and that this council's teaching ought to be received in the manner intended by Pope Paul VI and the Council Fathers."

He added: "I further affirm that I believe that Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI, John Paul I, Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis each to have been validly elected successors of Blessed Peter the Apostle and first Roman Pontiff."

Unanswered Questions

In spite of Fr. Treco's pledges of fidelity, Bp. Lopes dismissed his personal profession of faith, accusing the priest of fomenting schism within the Church. As Fr. Treco and his backers point out, the bishop has refused to specify how and where in his homily Fr. Treco incited schism, noting that instead, Lopes has lobbed accusations only in general terms.

On Jan. 17, Bp. Lopes withdrew Fr. Treco's priestly faculties. Three days later, he removed Fr. Treco from his position as pastor of St. Bede the Venerable. On Jan. 21, he chastised Fr. Treco, accusing him of intransigence:

At no point in our dialogues of the last weeks have you offered any word of regret or remorse for your schismatic act and promotion of schism among the faithful. ... To underscore, your published denial of magisterial authority of the Second Vatican Council and your assertion that the Council itself and a series of Popes are in error constitutes a public act of schism.

Father Treco responded the next day, telling Bp. Lopes:

Please, be assured that I will recant anything that I have said which is contrary to Catholic Faith; however I am not aware that I have articulated anything against the Catholic Faith. As a matter of accuracy, and so that I may be able to respond to what you believe I have articulated against the Catholic Faith, I ask that you please identify what I said that is contrary to our Catholic Faith? I will recant anything that was wrong to state as I remain faithful to the Church and Magisterium.

But again, the bishop refused to explain how Fr. Treco's remarks were schismatic, repeating his accusations only in general terms.

On Jan. 29, Bp. Lopes suspended Fr. Treco for "having committed the delict of schism."

On April 1, Bp. Lopes notified priests of the Ordinariate that Fr. Treco had been formally excommunicated for his criticism of the conciliar popes:

Considering that maintaining the teachings of the Second Vatican Council represent a "departure from Catholic tradition," and declaring that the Popes since that Council have "set aside the mandate given to [them] by Our Lord Jesus Christ" is incompatible with the exercise of the sacred ministry, and that this action causing grave public scandal ... the penalty of excommunication imposed [latae sententiae] upon Rev. Treco for having committed the delict of schism ... is hereby declared with all of the effects and consequences found in canon 1331.

Father Treco's parishioners were dismayed by the decision, again questioning Bp. Lopes' assertion that the priest had incited schism. In the lead-up to Lopes' decision, supporter Mary MacArthur composed a letter to the bishop, asking him to clarify which Catholic teachings Fr. Treco had denied in his homily. Between Jan. 20 and March 29, she circulated the letter among her fellow St. Bede parishioners, more than half of whom signed it. The letter read:

Your Excellency the Most Reverend Steven Lopes, 
Bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter,

In your letter announcing the removal of our former pastor, Fr. Vaughn Treco, it was stated that he denied Church teaching in his Feast of Christ the King homily, which was critical of the Second Vatican Council and certain subsequent statements and actions by popes. The letter did not, however, state what Catholic teaching it is judged that Fr. Treco denied.

Since the letter was publicly read, we request public clarification, citing the specific sentences where the homily in question denied Catholic dogma, explaining exactly what defined doctrine they contradict. If we were taught error, we, the faithful of the Church of St. Bede the Venerable, have the right to know what it was and what the correct teaching is. 

Yours in Christ,
[signatures redacted]
Parishioners of St. Bede the Venerable

The congregation's letter went unanswered. But on May 6, 2019, it was announced that St. Bede the Venerable would be shut down. The final Mass was celebrated on May 19.

"I do not believe that the Christ the King homily was in any way heretical or schismatic," MacArthur later wrote. "Father Treco compared the papal actions he was criticizing to St. Peter's denial of Christ. Doing so was in no way denying these popes' papal authority, any more than it was denying St. Peter's papal authority!"

"If Bp. Lopes sincerely believes that Fr. Treco's homily was contrary to the Catholic Faith, why refuse to give an explanation of how exactly?" she asked. "Why refuse to give guidance to the flock that he claims was led astray by an erring pastor?"

Father Treco is fighting his excommunication. Recently, a timeline of events outlining the basic facts of the case was released to the public. The report contains detailed documentation of correspondence between Fr. Treco and Bp. Lopes. Supporters stress that they did not receive the document from Fr. Treco, but from a separate source within the Ordinariate.

Father Treco's excommunication has deprived him of the means to support his family. In response, backers have set up a GoFundMe page as well as a PayPal account in an attempt to raise funds to sustain them until Fr. Treco can secure secular employment.

Additionally, they've launched a website detailing the circumstances of his case. Above all, they're asking for prayers for Fr. Treco that justice will prevail.

TRANSCRIPT

The war going on in the Church these days, while predominantly a spiritual war, is also a battle of personalities. And those battles are not so easily squeezed into good guys and bad guys categories.

We are all painfully aware of the bad guys, the homoheretic, dissident, social justice, heterodox crowd that runs the show from top to bottom that Viganò called out.

But there is a different battle going on in the good guys' camp, and by good guys we mean the more or less faithful Catholic crowd that largely rejects the theology and politics of the bad guys.

But there's more to this war than just choosing up sides and being a good guy. There is the difficult and delicate question of how to respond to the bad guys.

And this is a war unto itself in the good guys' camp. It could be largely broken down into two subgroups: the "Deplorable Catholics" vs. the "Country Club Catholics."

The deplorables just say it like it is, the "call 'em as we see 'em" crowd.  

It's from this group that you hear the calls for bishops to resign, for a RICO investigation to clean house, the demands that bishops start acting like bishops, the condemnation of the homosexual current, the support for Abp. Viganò — in short, the non-establishment crowd.

In the opposite corner are those who consider themselves the Catholic elite, the country club crowd who consider it gauche to speak about such things as an actively gay bishop covering up for his loverboy homopredator priest.

They don't necessarily deny it, they just don't want any discussion of it. It ruins the Chateaubriand just as it arrives at the table.

For them, all this is just so "distressing." But their money or influence or willingness to remain quiet has bought them access to the bishops' establishment, and they get to brag about having just come from lunch with the cardinal.

They get honors and awards for teaching at colleges or writing books that they go on the Catholic establishment media and crow about in all the phony humility they can generate.

They are the sponsors of conferences or the invited speakers at the conferences. They get interviewed by the establishment media crowd because they are all part of the same country club — just sitting at different tables.

You'll find all kinds of niceties and politeness at the Catholic country club. There will be the visible crucifix appropriately placed, with assorted statues and so forth scattered about.

The likes of George Weigel and others will be holding forth in some corner talking about his next book and speaking engagement, neither of which will be of any significance in the great war going on in the Church right now.  

It will be an unmistakably "Catholic" environment, true. But you will not hear a word about how to address the war head-on.

Direct confrontation is not allowed on country club grounds. The overarching rule is: in all things, politeness — even if that means politeness dictates we not talk plainly about the crisis.

It's a mindset really — a personality type. 

Many of the Country Club Catholics got their tickets punched precisely because they are more like the bishops than the regular Massgoers. They care more about image than reality.

They like hob-nobbing, feeling important, sipping martinis, talking about inane topics and so forth. Their gatherings could best be described with the phrase from F. Scott Fitzgerald: They gather where they can be "rich together."

This is a closed society, no doubt about it, despite the view looking in through the window that appears Catholic.

Real Catholics are born for combat — but not this crowd.

This is not so much the hoity-toity crowd as it is the haughty-taughty one who don't really want much to do with the hoi polloi, deplorable folks outside the country club.

There's just too much for the elites to lose if they started paying close attention to what the deplorables were saying and writing and giving talks about.

They would lose their place at the table of respect of the bishops and other elites they socialize with now.

Carl Anderson from the Knights of Columbus wouldn't invite George Weigel to his summer gatherings, and Tim Busch, who runs the Napa Institute, wouldn't get the rest of the crowd to drop thousands and thousands of dollars per head to "be rich, together."

Doug Keck and Michael Warsaw, who run EWTN and have steered it far away from its Mother Angelica vision and mission, would have a heck of a time getting press passes to cover the bishops' events.

All these "good guys" who do for the moment command the majority of the discussion because of their relationships with the bishops, at the end of the day accomplish nothing.

It's more important to them to feel as though they have accomplished something and tackled the crisis head-on than to actually have done so.

The Church has burned down to the ground while they have been golfing with the bishop and writing huge checks to the annual diocesan fundraiser.

And for what? Have any of them lifted a finger, risked one modicum of their beloved "respect," to help truly fight the evil in the Church?

When Weigel, for example, was writing his tomes about John Paul — which catapulted him into the elite crowd — did he ever delve deeply into the dark side of John Paul's papacy, the sinister influence of Cdl. Dziwisz and the control exercised over him by Theodore McCarrick?

Where are the tomes written about the rape of seminarians by the hundreds — still ongoing, by the way — passed off as consensual sex; the homosexual bishop Daniel Ryan and his foraging city parks for teenage male prostitutes; the embezzling of millions by bishops like Michael Bransfield; the predominant homosexual activity of thousands of men in the priesthood; the persecution of good priests by dissident bishops like Cupich in Chicago?

Can you imagine dropping any of those bombs at the upcoming Napa Institute gathering, or showing up at the next annual national Knights of Columbus gala?

The pearl-clutching would be astounding, including by a good number of the more effete bishops who like using their office to hang around the rich as well.

The whole structure of how business is conducted — stratification of elite Catholics who are the only ones who have access and then do nothing with that access for fear of losing it — this whole stinking, revolting mess needs to be burned to the ground.

This is not how Our Blessed Lord designed His Church, it is not a country club with the deplorables hanging around the outside looking in.

The rich, the influencers, the suck-ups in the Catholic media, the folks who have made their parasitic living off the patrimony of the Church, all of these have contributed to Her destruction and demise.

They do not take up arms against the heretics and homosexual current in the hierarchy because the people they would have to take up arms against are the very bishops and senior Churchmen whose company they so desperately want to be in.

Does Tim Busch ever stand up before a crowd of bishops and demand they publicly denounce Fr. James Martin's leading souls to Hell? 

Does George Weigel ever speak at conferences and denounce the bishops' embrace of illegal immigration for which they receive billions of dollars from the federal government?

Does EWTN ever air programs asking why the bishops will move mountains about social justice Democratic Party issues but remain so soft-spoken about abortion and the Catholic politicos who support it?

On that point, if the bishops put one-tenth of the effort into the pro-life cause that they do into the illegal immigration effort, Roe would have toppled decades ago.

The bishops, as a body, are corrupt as hell, led by devils like Cupich, Wuerl, Farrell, etc., yet the Country Club Catholics simply do not want to face this reality squarely in the face.

They hate war, even when it's necessary, because, well, it's hard to fight with a martini in one hand and some delightful glazed shrimp appetizer in the other.

They must be terribly insecure within themselves to want the approval of such a wicked bunch of men, which makes you wonder: Which group of Catholics at the end of the day is really deplorable?

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