Does anyone remember Daniel Dolan’s celebrated (make that disgusting) apology sermon of November 15, 2009? (To refresh your memories, go ahead – click here and listen) And does anyone know how many traditional clerics registered any dismay with that sermon? Or how many traditional clerics reprimanded Dolan for that sermon’s despicable slander? I’ll give you a hint: it’s a number that begins with a “z” and rhymes with “Nero.”
Here’s another question for you: How many traditional priests – other than Fr. William Jenkins, Fr. Brendan Dardis, and perhaps one or two more -- publicly denounced Anthony Cekada’s article justifying the murder (yes, murder) of Terri Schiavo? And how many of them denounced his amateurish reply to a Catholic neurologist’s account of the Schiavo case? Answer again: zero.
Ah, one more: when Dolan & Co. attempted to get Fr. Ramolla deported to Germany (their efforts were in vain, by the way), where was the hue and cry against that? When they did the same to Bernard Hall, who devoted over a decade of service to them, how many traditional clerics denounced their base treachery? Once again: zero. [Editor’s note: Bernard Hall, a British national, a man whom Cekada and Dolan have known for over thirty years, was invited by them to come to SGG to teach. Cekada was supposed to have taken care of Mr. Hall’s immigration papers, but made no attempt to do so – even though the latter was there at SGG for over five years. When Mr. Hall complained about the abuses at SGG, he was fired. A few months later, Cekada turned him in to Homeland Security; his deportation is still pending. For a more detailed account of the betrayal of Mr. Hall, click here].
Did anyone demand that Daniel Dolan retract his calumny against Fr. Ramolla? Did anyone demand that Anthony Cekada do the same about Schiavo? Was anyone upset about Dolan and Cekada’s efforts to get Fr. Ramolla and Mr. Hall deported? Did any fellow clerics censure Dolan or Cekada for this? Was either even mildly chided? No. There was pure silence. Yet when Fr. Ramolla, in an interview, tried to defend his position against Dolan’s slander, what happened? He was immediately told to retract it, and to render an apology. He was forcibly silenced. Why? Who told him to retract? Who forced him to apologize? Why was not the same demanded from the SGG clergy? Why the “selective enforcement”? Why the double standard? Good questions. It seems that the unholy trio of Dolan, Cekada, and Sanborn are made of Teflon, untouchable and immune, allowed to do whatever they want; but woe to the poor soul who gets in their way, or who tries to defend himself against them! It seems to be another case of “ignore the culprit, blame the victim”!
Dolan’s slander of Fr. Ramolla was doubly detestable in that it was done not only publicly, but also from the pulpit – where only the word of God is supposed to be preached. That most of you are apparently ignorant of this is incomprehensible; several of you have been informed about it (and about the myriad, blatant abuses committed by the sadistic principal of SGG’s school); many have done their best to inform (and warn) you and others about it. The same goes for Cekada’s detestable and highly public statements on Schiavo; for you to be ignorant of all of this is inconceivable. But, if -- for some inexplicable reason – that has been the case, it is no longer. You now know. You now have no excuse to remain silent. I wonder: if, instead of Dolan publicly slandering Fr. Ramolla, it had been the other way around, how many of you would have remained silent? Not many, I’ll bet.
We, the laity, are tired of donating our hard-earned dollars to predatory priests who take our money and then dispossess us of what we have paid for, as these scoundrels at SGG have done. The clerics of SGG, and those who have been ordained from their disordered seminary in Florida, have been anything but good shepherds. They have scattered and abused their flocks. They have exploited them. They have swindled them, and used their ill-gotten proceeds to build their own little material empire. They have vilified and slandered anyone who has had the courage to stand up to them. Are you going to perpetuate such wrongdoing, by your silence and your inaction?
Wake up and pay attention, because we have woken up. Sanctimonious silence in the face of injustice won’t work this time. Pretending that “all is well,” and using heavy-handed “stone-walling” -- admonishing us to “shut up and not make waves,” or feigning “righteous indignation” and labeling our just complaints as “slander” -- won’t work this time. And condescending, irrelevant non-answers to our complaints, such as, “Well, they have a valid Mass there at SGG” – that too won’t work this time. Or playing Pontius Pilate -- washing your hands of the whole affair -- won’t work this time. And, finally, hoping that “the dust will eventually settle” and that “we’ll just go away” after having had our say – that’s not going to work, either. We’re here to stay -- to see it to the end.
For some clerics, there seems to be a tendency to “cover up” for fellow members of their “Roman-collar club” – or to put up with a situation in the hopes that “things will get better.” The CMRI tried, for a time, to live with the situation with Francis Schuckardt. It didn’t work; things only got worse -- until the CMRI clergy faced up to reality and cleaned house; things then got much better. At SGG, there is not enough of a critical mass of decent clergy left to do the same; there are too many bad apples in charge of the barrel. It is up to you, their fellow traditional clergy, to do something, not just for your own good but for the good of the traditional Catholic cause itself – because that is what is really at stake.
“Well, traditional Catholicism can be helped in a positive way,” you might say. Or you might suggest, “reason with them; give it one more try.” Answer: “been there, done that – way too many times.” Scores of us have tried to reason with the clergy at SGG -- to no avail. In each and every case, the faithful have invariably been stone-walled, vilified, slandered, mistreated, exploited – you name it. And in each and every case, Dolan and Cekada have steadfastly refused to admit any guilt or wrongdoing. On the contrary: they have shifted the blame to every one of their victims. So, for you “compromise seekers” in the crowd, save your wishful thinking. One cannot reason or “negotiate” with a serpent. One cannot peacefully co-exist (for long) with a tumor.
So what are we asking you, the clergy, to do? Well, first familiarize yourselves with what has been going on the last several years. How? Start by reading some of the accounts about the scores of people who have been victimized by Dolan and Cekada over the years. And where can you find such information? SGG Info Archives is a good place to start. Many, many concerned (and victimized) people have taken great pains to chronicle what has happened. And how can one be sure that they are telling the truth? First of all, by their sheer numbers: there are just too many of them to have all been mistaken – with the SGG clergy being the same common denominator in each and every case. Secondly, much of what they have said can be corroborated by documented facts, or by numerous eye-witnesses (some of whom are still at SGG!). In contrast, every one of Dolan or Cekada’s assertions is baseless, with no proof whatsoever. They have been caught in lies several times – and in one instance, even contradicted each other.
Lastly, what these people say has the ring of truth to it. Contrast that with the things that Dolan and Cekada have written. Cekada’s inaccuracies in his shameful account of Schiavo are laughable -- none of which he has retracted to this day. And Dolan’s “apology” sermon of November 15, 2009: does that have the ring of truth to it? – or the ring of treachery? Read the former; listen to the latter. Why? Because they give real insight as to what these two are all about: no compassion, no conscience – just self-interest (read also Schiavo Revisited, and see if you don’t agree).
Read also the dozens of articles painstakingly chronicled and compiled in SGG Info Archives – especially School Dazed Revisited. In this six-part series, Cekada’s School Dazed assertions are refuted in a “side-by-side comparison” format. Click on each one of the following six parts (part 1, part 2, part 3. Part 4, part 5, part 6) to get the whole story. As you read that and more, things should become painfully evident: the countless instances of abuse and exploitation, Cekada’s Schiavo travesty, the extravagant lifestyle of the SGG clergy, the lies – all of it. The shameless and arrogant character of Dolan and Cekada will come through, loud and clear. Then, after reading this, do what your conscience must demand that you do.
We are keenly aware that many of you are extremely busy administering to the spiritual needs of your flocks and that you perform yeoman work in God’s service (for all of which we are sincerely grateful), and that you may be hard-pressed to find the time to read all of what has been proposed here – but you must. You are not just providers of the sacraments; you are protectors of the flock as well. Doing the one without the other is not a half-measure; it is no measure. What is going on at SGG reflects negatively on the whole traditional community, just as the Schuckhardt business once did; it is hurting all of us – right now. The evil at SGG will not go away by itself. It is not some temporary “embarrassment” or one-time anomaly that can be swept under a rug; it is a continuing cancer that must be excised.
So, again, we ask you to start “networking” with other clergy, to educate yourselves on what’s going on, to seek out the truth -- you have a duty to do so. Then, speak up. Catholics, especially traditional Catholics, listen to their clergy. Speak; they will listen. But, by all means, do something. Do not take the expedient of doing nothing; that is the coward’s way out. Charity demands that you actively seek the truth, and then break your silence. Sitting by the sidelines is cowardly. It is hypocritical. It is not Catholic. As someone once put it with this quote from Pope St. Felix III: “Not to oppose error is to approve it; and not to defend truth is to suppress it; and indeed to neglect to confound evil men, when we can do it, is no less a sin than to encourage them.” We, the lay faithful, are not going to accept inaction any more. We are not going to swallow the SGG swill any longer. We have sounded the alarm – many times. Are you listening? The time has come for you to act – and for some of you, that time is long overdue.
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