The REAL Tragedy

While “channel-surfing” one evening recently, I came across a documentary about the sinking of the Titanic.  At approximately 11:40 P.M. on April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic, having left Southampton four days earlier, struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic.  By 2:20 the next morning, it disappeared beneath the waves, along with 1519 of its 2224 passengers.  In terms of loss of life, it wasn’t the greatest sea-going disaster of all time, but it was certainly the most famous.*  At the time, it was the largest vessel afloat, and it was considered by its builders to be “unsinkable.”  Since this was its maiden voyage, the Titanic was carrying much of the crème de la crème of American and British society, including the millionaire John Jacob Astor and others.  And since the ship was thought to be unsinkable, its builders didn’t think it needed lifeboats; and it was therefore outfitted with barely half the number needed.

One can only imagine what went through the minds of the Titanic’s passengers, when the realization hit them that they were going to die – that they were doomed, and that there was nothing they could do about it.  The sense of tragic irony must have been particularly acute for those wealthy passengers, many of whom sailed on the Titanic only because they wanted to “see and be seen” on this glorious “floating palace” – and who now realized that all their millions could not save them from the same fate that was befalling the lowliest steerage passenger. 

But the sense of frustration and dread must have been no less acute for those steerage passengers, most of whom had pawned their life’s savings to book passage to go to a new and better life in America.  For both the lofty and the lowly, their sense of impending doom -- of the certainty that they were going to perish in the icy waters of the North Atlantic -- must have been overwhelming.  One can only imagine the horror and the dreadful anticipation that passed through their minds.  This “unsinkable” ship -- as its builders (and the media of the day) so haughtily proclaimed it to be -- sank on its first outing: a sober and terrible reminder from our Creator that He is Everything and we are NOTHING.

While watching this documentary, it got me to thinking about another “T”: Terri Schiavo; and it struck me that, as horrendous as the Titanic’s sinking was, it did not compare with what happened to her.  The Titanic disaster was an act of God -- an accident. Terri’s death, on the other hand, was no “accident”: it was a totally pre-meditated, deliberate act of men, not God.  The Titanic sinking was God’s retribution for culpable men’s pride and arrogance.  Terri’s death wasn’t; it was the murder, by men, of a helpless innocent who did nothing to merit her fate, and whose only “crime” was costing her husband too much “insurance settlement” money – a man already shacked up with a new concubine, and who wanted to keep the money for himself and his bimbo. Terri’s continued care constituted, for him, a waste of money – and, in Anthony Cekada’s words, “a grave burden on society.”  Teresa Marie Schiavo expired on March 31, 2005.

While the Titanic’s victims died relatively painlessly and quickly, Terri’s death was a slow, painful ordeal.  Terri's final death agony lingered a full two weeks.  She didn’t die of “natural causes” or even of “malnutrition” – and she certainly wasn’t “terminally ill” or in any danger of dying; her organs weren’t “shutting down.”  The proximate (and official) cause of death was dehydration – forced dehydration by court order.  Anyone – even a child -- who tried even to wet her cracked, bleeding lips, was prevented from doing so by an armed guard; and anyone who tried to give her water or food would be criminally prosecuted.  It was a slow, methodical execution – for a crime that she never committed.

According to Fr. Frank Pavone, an eyewitness, Terri Schiavo’s facial expression in her last hours was one of dread and disbelief.  In his words, “to describe the way she looked as peaceful is a total distortion of what I saw.”  “Her eyes were open but they were going from one side to the next, constantly oscillating back and forth, back and forth.  The look on her face (I was staring at her for three and a half hours) I can only describe as a combination of fear and sadness….a combination of dreaded fear and sadness.”  “Her mouth was open the whole time,” he continued, “It looked like it was frozen open.  She was panting rapidly.  It wasn’t peaceful in any sense of the word.  She was panting as if she had run a hundred miles.”  Like the Titanic’s victims, Terri Schiavo knew that she was going to die, but couldn’t fathom WHY she was being deliberately put to death.  And, because of that, her feeling had to have been one of utter, unspeakable terror.

One of the many facts “overlooked” by Anthony Cekada (that is, ignored by him) in his now infamous account of her death is that Terri Schiavo was actually able to swallow – including the Sacred Species in communion.  Many of the nurses who attended to her (before she was condemned to death) attested to this.  Another piece of public (but not publicized) medical fact is that when Terri Schiavo was first “discovered” by paramedics, she was “face down” (her husband made no attempt to “turn her over” so that she could breathe more easily); and subsequent X-rays in the hospital confirmed that she had several broken bones – breaks that did not look like they were caused by “falling,” but which appeared to be more likely the result of physical beating.

Yet Phony Tony ignored all this evidence (and more) and instead trumpeted out a “make-it-up-as-you-go” pile of bone-headed gibberish (including his absolute absurdity about a feeding tube constituting a painful and “extraordinary means” of sustenance -- an especially outrageous claim, considering the fact that, at that time, one of his own parishioners was being fed from that self-same feeding tube!).  Equally outrageous was Cekada’s proffering his own crude, baseless medical opinion on Schiavo over that of an internationally known neurologist’s – where he not only questioned that doctor’s professional knowledge, but then FALSELY labeled his medical assessment of Schiavo as “presuming to pronounce on matters of faith and morals.”  It seems that the only time that Phony Tony is lying -- as they say – is “whenever his lips are moving.”  It is difficult to distinguish which is Cekada’s more dominant trait: his arrogance or his ignorance.

It is evident too, from what both Cekada and Dolan had to say about Terri Schiavo (both then and afterwards), that they had no REAL compassion for her – but it is not surprising.  After all, what compassion did they show for the scores of children who were abused at SGG over the years?  The only thing that passes for “compassion” from these two is the syrupy sanctimony that they pander day in and day out from their cult-center pulpit (or from the affected, insincere slop that Dannie drivels forth in his Bishop’s Corner column).  The only thing that is really surprising about all of this is that their followers actually swallow it: people who know better – who know who and what Dolan and Cekada are -- and yet who lend their continued moral support to this thoroughly immoral pair: surprising -- and tragic.

The Titanic was an act of God – and, indeed, a terrible tragedy -- but it was a lesson learned (albeit a bitter one).  Schiavo, on the other hand, was man-made -- concocted by evil men with an evil agenda -- where no lesson was learned.  It was simply the “trial balloon” -- the “testing of the waters” -- for euthanasia: the “test market before the rollout.”  What makes it even more tragic is that people like Dolan and Cekada never learned that lesson either.  As men who call themselves “Catholic,” it was their moral duty to stand up for the dignity of life – but they didn’t.  Instead, they stood up for the “right” of a man to have his wife put to death – a position that, to this day, they have never retracted.

But perhaps the greatest tragedy is that people who also call themselves Catholic – and who had supposedly learned that lesson – have apparently “unlearned” it.  Several of those who were thoroughly disgusted with SGG -- and who left in protest -- have come back to these lepers (as Lay Pulpit’s last article illustrated).  They, who not only have valid but legitimate alternative places to go for the sacraments, have returned to and re-embraced the toxic twosome.  What that says about these people is that they themselves are not Catholic, that they really haven’t any Catholic principles, and that “the show” means more to them than their convictions -- more than their Catholic Faith.  That is the real tragedy.

________________________

*An even greater maritime disaster (in terms of loss of life) was that of the riverboat SS Sultana, which exploded and sank on April 27, 1865, on the Mississippi River.  A couple of interesting coincidences it shares with the Titanic are that both carried roughly the same number of people (2224 for the Titanic vs. approximately 2400 for the Sultana), and both sank in the month of April.  Although the exact number of the Sultana’s victim’s is not known, it is estimated that 1800 perished.  Another interesting thing to note is that the Sultana was built by the John Litherbury Shipyard in Cincinnati, Ohio – not all that far from SGG, Dannie Dolan’s southwest Ohio cult center.  

Why Flattery? Because It Works!

A man who was once a parishioner of SGG (St. Gertrude the Great Church), and who had become thoroughly disgusted with Dolan and Cekada – especially for their part in the events of 2007-2009, left SGG shortly thereafter.  He deplored what they had done so much, that he even wrote articles (one of which will be quoted from later) about it -- as did others -- on a dissident website (“sgginfo).  He also had another, particularly personal reason to detest everything that they stood for: he had a daughter who was on both a respirator and a feeding tube at about the time when Cekada was trumpeting out his Schiavo travesty about how “painful” it was to have “a hole poked in you, a tube shoved in and then having to eat and drink that way [that] would be burdensome for any normal man.” 

If this man had taken Phony Tony’s advice, his daughter would have died within days.  Fortunately, he didn’t.  (As just about the whole world knows, what Cekada said about Schiavo was utter nonsense – and a complete pack of lies.)  So, for this and the other aforementioned reasons, this parishioner left SGG, resolving never to return.  He then joined the scores of others who had left because of those same abuses of 2007-2009, and who had formed the new parish: St. Albert the Great (SAG).  Another parishioner, who had left SGG for similar reasons, also joined up with the SAG congregation.

However, both of them are now back at SGG.  Why?  The answer is simple: flattery.  The dynamic duo enticed them back with what has always worked for them: dazzling them with “the show.”  In both cases, it took the form of putting on an elaborate funeral for a family member of each man: in the one case, a deceased wife; and in the other, a deceased daughter.  In each instance, the parishioner fell for the dynamic duo’s naked, unabashed flattery, trading his principles and self-respect in return for a fleeting bit of pompous, pretentious (and insincere) adulation.

The funeral for the one parishioner’s wife was particularly ostentatious: three priests (yes, three priests) “simul-celebrating” Masses for the deceased (yes -- all at the same time) – something never done before (or since) for anyone at SGG.  What was particularly ironic about this was the fact that the deceased detested both Dolan and Cekada.  Not only that: while she was alive, she regularly attended a Novus Ordo church; she habitually never set foot inside SGG.  But why all the hoopla?  Why did Dannie and Tony put on their “three-ring circus” for someone who absolutely couldn’t stand them?  That answer is simple too: it wasn’t done for her; it was done for the husband.

He, like so many others who were (rightfully) outraged at Dolan’s, Cekada’s, and their SGG school principal’s disgusting behavior, left there to join the congregation at SAG; but he always harbored a lingering taste for “the show” – SGG’s elaborate rites and rubrics – which SAG couldn’t match.  He, who was also a board member of SAG, had some points of disagreement with SAG’s pastor, culminating in him resigning from the board.  This combination – his love of “the show” and his disenchantment with SAG’s pastor (coupled with the fact that his son’s family was still at SGG) – eventually caused him to return to SGG. It was probably the former that was the overriding factor: he was absolutely enamored with all the pomp and ceremony that went with “the show,” and was probably looking for some pretense to return.  The friction with SAG’s pastor provided that pretense.  It was a classic case of leaving SGG for the right reasons, but returning for the wrong reasons. 

Since this parishioner’s “returning to the fold” was a good public relations coup for Deacon Dannie – and as a “reward” for him having done so – Dannie then exploited it by putting on his shameless, over-the-top “triple play” pageantry – unprecedented in the history of SGG – for a woman who absolutely loathed him: the ultimate triumph of “show” over substance.  Another probable reason for this bit of brazenness was the fact that this parishioner “has some bucks” and hence represents a potential source of substantial revenue for the dynamic duo.  So, to ensure that his returning prodigal son was sufficiently “reconciled,” he felt the need for “something big” to “seal the deal” – therefore, the “triple-play” tomfoolery.  Let us hope that the parishioner’s conscience eventually supersedes his appetite for flattery, and that he comes to see their maneuver for the calculated ruse that it was.

In the case of the other parishioner (the one whose daughter was routinely nourished for decades on that feeding tube that Phony Tony so vehemently eschewed as prohibitively “painful”), it was also, as we said, a funeral Mass that was the bait that brought him back to SGG.  And, like the “triple-play Mass” parishioner, this man too was always enamored with “the show” – especially the “polyphonic music” part of it.  Also like the other parishioner, he had left SGG in disgust (he even wrote several articles for an anti-SGG website, lambasting Dolan, Cekada, and SGG’s school principal), supposedly resolving never to return).  The funeral Mass was for the man’s daughter, who finally succumbed to the genetic heart condition that necessitated her feeding tube (as well as a respirator).

For this parishioner, it was probably the “polyphonic music” that provided the primary impetus to drive him back into Dannie’s arms: he was at one time SGG’s choir director, and then SAG’s later on.  When SAG liquidated, he then went to “IC” (Immaculate Conception Church), hoping to get the job there.  But IC already had a choir director, so he was relegated to “second fiddle” there (which didn’t fill his needs).  His daughter’s funeral thus provided the “opening” to let him return to SGG in a quasi face-saving way, plus get his old job back.  I say “quasi” face-saving way, because here is a man who (apparently) thoroughly burned his bridges with Dannie and Tony; and it would seem that any return to SGG would be an embarrassing, “tail-between-the-legs”: ordeal for him, in light of what he had said about them in the past.

For instance, in a letter to the late Fr. Stepanich, he spoke of the SGG school principal’s “criminal abuses and the SGG clergy’s consent to his iniquitous and soul-destroying words and actions (all publicly proven in the objective, external forum).”  He further added that the principal “has abused, psychologically and even physically, many of the children put into his charge at SGG school.  Parents and teachers have prayed (as you [Fr. Stepanich] suggested) and reported the abuses to the pastor and assistant pastor, who both have refused to this day to take any substantive action to correct the abuses.  On the contrary, those who have tried to protect their children have been privately, and even publicly, castigated and even thrown out of the school and/or parish” [his italics].

And, as if that wasn’t damning enough, he added, “How is it even possible the horrendous crime of child abuse, practiced and rewarded by the perverts of the Novus Ordo, is repeated in our own midst! How is it possible that certain priests show an utter lack of compassion for children, let alone their struggling parents!  I personally believe that such an utter lack of basic human compassion, as typified by Bp. Dolan and even more especially Fr. Cekada, is a very real sign of demonic possession” [again, his italics].

In addition to the foregoing (from his letter to Fr. Stepanich), this man wrote even more damning testimony against Dolan and Cekada.  Yet, here he is, once again, swallowing his pride (and his integrity) and “sucking up” to them, because his penchant for polyphonic music outweighs his principles.  Apparently, he can conveniently forget what he publicly stated in the past, and can "let bygones be bygones” for the sake of being reinstated as choir director.  What makes his behavior all the more despicable is that he made similar allegations against an INNOCENT man (Bp. Paul Petko) -- which were proven to be patently false (but for which he has never recanted) -- yet he can “forgive and forget” when it comes to the serpents of SGG, whose wrongdoing has been proven to be patently true.  This is hypocrisy on a scale that puts this man in a category all by himself.

What motivates men such as these two to utterly abrogate and prostitute their Christian principles?  What motivates them to crawl on their bellies back to the serpentine “shepherds” of SGG?  Again, it’s flattery – and it is appearances, “the show” – that count. What also counts is having a short memory.  These two men conveniently FORGOT (or knowingly ignored) the heinous behavior of Dolan and Cekada because they wanted something.  They didn’t care about what Dolan and Cekada are, and what they stood for – as long as they got what they wanted.  They chose to “forgive and forget” – not for the sake of forgiveness, but purely for the sake of forgetfulness.  Their interest was in expediency, not ethics – and in serving themselves, not God.

Are they alone -- are they unique -- in this regard?  Not by a long shot: several others have emulated their behavior.  It is a sad fact that many who have sworn they’d “never go back to that place” are often seen back there on SGG’s doorstep.  They decide to go back “occasionally”; and their reason for doing so is that “they do a good job there.”  This is a NON-reason.  And, in a way, these people are even more hypocritical and cowardly than the two illustrated in this article, for these two had at least some vested (albeit selfish) interest in doing what they did.  Those who come back “occasionally” (for whatever reason) have no reason whatsoever (other than the pomp and the pageantry).  Their behavior is, at best, irrational – especially considering the fact that they have several viable and legitimate alternatives elsewhere.

The only “good job” that they can expect the SGG clerics to do is that of emptying their wallets – and, ultimately, emptying their souls; and all they are accomplishing by “occasionally” going to SGG is to aid and abet these hucksters -- to reinforce their behavior, and to reinforce the false impression in the minds of SGG’s parishioners that they are “legitimate.”  The only “safe” way for the “occasional” visitor to SGG is to stay away.  Going back there “every now and then” or “for old time’s sake” is, again, only enabling these vipers to continue their mischief.  The only real thing to do is simply not to go there – to STAY AWAY.  As another website so aptly admonishes, STARVE THE BEAST.

I am sure that Dolan and Cekada think that getting back those two parishioners (and, occasionally, the other “part-timers”) was a public relations masterstroke on their part.  Or was it?  These people may have been “won over” for now, but the memory of the dynamic duo’s track record still lingers in their minds; it may be “in remission,” but it has not gone away.  One day, Dolan and Cekada will inevitably overstep their bounds (because tigers do not change their stripes); and these two, who were foolish enough to take the vipers’ bait this time around, will not – let us hope -- be fooled the next time.  They will see through the “tinsel” and once again discover that there is no “tree” there – no substance.  They’ll see the dynamic duo for what they always have been and continue to be: a couple of self-seeking profiteers -- a sham.

This, of course, is something that they should have recognized long before – and probably did.  But flattery is a powerful thing, as is the glitz and emotional appeal of “the show.”  It deceives people, it blinds them, and it causes the weak-willed to relapse.  That is why it is used so often: because it works – and it worked on them.  No matter how nakedly obvious, no matter how insincere, no matter how amateurishly done, flattery always seems to work.  For the brain-dead, it works just about every time.  But for those with any spark of intelligence and principles left in them, it shouldn’t – at least the second time around. 

Let us hope that for those two parishioners – and those “part-timers” who occasionally “window shop” at SGG – that on their “second time around,” they’ll have the wits to “see through the tinsel,” and the strength of character to lay aside their self-interest (and their pride) and act on that conviction.  In the end, their spiritual survival may well depend upon it.

Serendipity

This past week, two serendipitous things happened: first, this writer was alerted to Daniel Dolan’s “Bishop’s Corner” article in this past Sunday’s (Nov. 24) SGG (St. Gertrude the Great) church bulletin; and secondly, yours truly ran across another website that he didn’t know existed.  An associate told this writer to read this particular Bishop’s Corner, the reason being that it was particularly nauseating.  It not only struck me in that respect, but it also jogged my memory back to the time when the website “VoVWatch.com”* was extant – for reasons that will be explained forthwith.  That website had a weekly feature called “Viper’s Den,” which was a parody of Dolan’s Bishop’s Corner – a parody that was (of course) not only satirical, but also dead-on accurate (and, at times, hilariously funny!) -- and whose brilliant, incisive satire was made all the more brilliant by the fact that it was written the very same morning that Dolan’s Bishop’s Corner appeared in SGG’s bulletin. 

I thought to myself, “Wow, we could have really had a “field day” with this Bishop’s Corner!!!”  This particularly ponderous article contained all the usual falderal: references to (of course!) the weather (Dannie must be a frustrated meteorologist!), comments about a procession (he must be a frustrated drum-major, too!), along with other extraneous “small talk”: waxing savoringly about how good the Chili was at a recent SGG “get-down” (as if he habitually partook of such fare with the peasants), and thanking everyone but the parking lot attendant for their servitude performed during his latest liturgical extravaganza – even thanking someone for having “straightened out our crooked candelabra.”

He even managed to squeeze in some more of his usual effeminate (and irrelevant) crap about his cats, Caravaggio and Puccini (Vivaldi must have been away at the kitty spa, getting his claws done – or perhaps he ran into one of those coyotes that Dannie mentioned in his soliloquy).  And, of course, everything was seasoned with fulsome flattery and his trademark syrupy sanctimony, as if his audience were -- instead of a congregation of mature adults -- a Sunday School class of kindergartners, waiting, like so many unfledged sparrows with mouths wide open, to gulp down his latest morsels of regurgitated mediocrity.

They say that “a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down”; and for bad medicine, one needs lots of it.  This was the case for this Sunday’s Bishop’s Corner article: Dannie needed to slip some bits of swill down the gullets of his fledglings, so he camouflaged it with lots of “sugar” to make it go down unnoticed.  The first “bit” slipped in was his mention of the “Sacrament whose valid celebration is the very raison d’être of our existence at St. Gertrude the Great.”  The key word here, folks, is “valid”: this was Dannie’s not-so-sly way of trying to convince the flock of the validity of his dubious ordination – and, by extension, the validity of Bede Nkamuke’s ordination.  And it probably worked – as it always does on those whose minds have been anesthetized by years of preconditioning.  But for the rest of us, Dannie, no amount of sugar will make that medicine go down!

The other bit of Bishop’s Corner “medicine” – make that mendacity – was Dolan’s (unwittingly hilarious) reference to “Father’s [Cekada’s] trademark precision.” Precision??!!!  Who are you trying to kid, Dannie?  “A spoonful of sugar?”  This’ll take a metric ton!!  Tony has all the “precision” of a blind spastic performing brain surgery -- with a hammer in one hand, and a vial of nitro-glycerin in the other!  Dannie’s use of the word was, of course, a veiled (and vain) attempt by him to legitimize Tony’s pathetic defense of his one-handed “ordination.”  Sorry, Dannislaus, but that just won’t wash – or were you referring to Checkie’s “precision” on Schiavo or WHH?  Either way, we’re talking “NO way!”  Please, Dannie, don’t embarrass yourself like that again!

In the aforementioned “VoVWatch.com” website, the “VoV” stood for “Vipers of Vaudeville” – a reference to Dolan and Cekada.  It was a phrase coined by the man who first brought to everyone’s attention the abuses that were going on at SGG – abuses which Dolan and Cekada not only ignored, but which they were an integral part of.  The moniker “Vipers of Vaudeville” is appropriate for two reasons: first, they behave like vipers; and second, their chicanery was (and is) so amateurishly done, that it’s like a bad Vaudeville act. 

But bad or no, they are not an “act”: they are deadly serious – and they have done much mischief – mischief which has been brought to light not only by Lay Pulpit, but by yet another website (the one that this writer mentioned “running across” at the beginning of this article).  This website is significant in that it is yet another “data point.”  That is, it provides independent documented proof corroborating that which Lay Pulpit has also proved -- that the dynamic duo have indeed lied – except that, this time, the lies have signatures affixed to them. 

It is a still extant dissident website, put up by ousted members of SGG’s satellite church in Milwaukee (St. Hugh of Lincoln), documenting instances of lying not just by Cekada, but by one of his underlings (Fr. Charles McGuire) as well.  One such instance involved something that Cekada said in his online “Quidlibet” column, where he denied dismissing four SHL parishioners -- calling their charges “more lies and distortions,” and “more hogwash, indeed, more fantasy” [Cekada’s words and bold emphasis] -- when there was written proof (by his own hand) that he did so (in letters to those parishioners).

There were two letters: one written to three parishioners, the other to a fourth – both of which were registered with the local police department, and both of which were signed by Cekada and by his dutifully acquiescent weasel, Charlie McGuire.  These letters, coupled with the website’s other article, constitute a proven, embarrassing truth that the dynamic duo, their spineless boot-licker Charlie, or their brain-blanked, rubber-stamping cultlings may obstinately deny (or defy), but which no one else can – that is, anyone who abides by the rules of rational logic.  Moreover, it is evidence that they cannot erase -- a mortifying fact that will remain for as long as the dissident SHL website stands.

In addition to the St. Hugh of Lincoln website, there are others which, though now defunct, have documented even more of Dolan and Cekada’s “escapades” – and we will be resurrecting and preserving them in due course (and referring to them from time to time).  Meanwhile, my advice to Dannie and Tony is – if they want to stop embarrassing themselves – that they had better 1) sew each other’s lips shut, 2) put each other’s “writing” arm in a permanent sling, or 3) both of the above.  But if they do write something, we suggest that they at least do not “archive” it (lest it be used as “ammo” against them later on).  However, they will probably not heed that advice.  “And for that,” as they say, “we are eternally grateful!”

The Real Audience – and What They Must Do

This website (as well as others) has written often about the deeds – make that the misdeeds – of Daniel Dolan and Anthony Cekada: Cekada’s catastrophe about Schiavo and his bogus (and hypocritical) defense of Dolan’s “ordination,” and the dynamic duo’s “SGG escapades,” which include dismissing blatant immorality as “boys will be boys,” and turning a deaf ear to the pleas of parishioners whose children were mistreated by a sadistic school principal (actions which cost Dolan half his congregation).  We have mentioned them often – over and over -- to the point where the dynamic duo (and, I’m sure, many at SGG) are complaining, “Why are you harping about all of this again?”  The reason is simple: because it is the truth, and it needs to be said, and often – again and again – so that it cannot be “swept under the rug” by the dynamic duo, or “explained away” by their followers who wallow in perpetual denial and/or “selective amnesia.”

But the more important reason for keeping it in front of the public eye is just that: there is a public out there who need to be informed and warned – both the not-yet-informed who could become the dynamic duo’s potential victims, and the already informed who need occasional reminding, lest they forget.  It is, nowadays, a sad fact that what is “out of sight” is “out of mind”; and if something is not constantly kept in front of the public eye, it is quickly forgotten.  As they say, “repetition is the mother of memory.”  But the most important reason for speaking up is that one has a moral obligation to do so, for to be silent and acquiescent in the face of wrongdoing – and not to warn those who are in harm’s way – is to be complicit in that wrongdoing.

“But,” one of the dynamic duo’s apologists might say, “lately, they have been ‘behaving themselves,’ so why keeping harping on ‘old news’?”  Firstly, such a claim would constitute an admission that they did “misbehave” in the past; and there is plenty of real evidence that they did, including eye-witness testimony from the scores of people they’ve victimized, plus written verification of it (some coming from their own lips) -- behavior for which they have absolutely no remorse (much less, have admitted to), and for which they have never apologized (as, of course, Cekada has never done on Schiavo).  Besides, it is not certain that they are “behaving themselves” right now*; and their obsequious cultlings – who are all that are left at SGG (now that everyone else has been scared away) – would probably not admit of any chicanery anyway, just for “solidarity’s” sake.

Another objection to criticism of Dolan and Cekada is the old “Alter Christus” argument, i.e., that they are “men of the cloth” who should not be “slandered” – and that, their “misdeeds” notwithstanding, they constitute a “valid source of the sacraments.”  Well, if they were “the only game in town,” that might be (but really isn’t) a valid argument – because people who live in that area have several valid and legitimate alternatives instead:  churches whose priests not only celebrate a valid Tridentine Mass (and who can even put on a “good show”), but who stand up for Catholic morality as well.  (To be sure, there is nothing wrong per se with a “good show,” i.e., with ornate ceremony -- but not at expense of utterly disregarding Catholic morality.)

It is obvious, from both the dynamic duo’s past and present behavior, that these tigers do not intend to change their stripes; nor is it likely that the intransigent “hard-core” at SGG will change their views as well.  So, they may again ask, “Why are you bringing all of this up again?  You are not going to convince us, whatever you say – so leave us alone!”  Yes, it is probably true that they won’t be convinced; but we will not “leave it alone” – because, to repeat, the dynamic duo and their cultlings are not our primary audience: there is a public out there, for whom we “sound the alarm,” so that they do not become the dynamic duo’s next “exploitees.”  They are our real audience. 

And that “real audience” includes especially traddieland’s clergy, because they must not only be warned, but must warn others.  It is they, the “shepherds who tend the flocks” -- the ones to whom people look for spiritual guidance and support -- who need to hear the message, because it is they who have the responsibility, nay, the obligation, to protect the innocent from such exploitation.  It is they who must take the lead, and they must act.  Acquiescence in the face of evil will no longer do.  Those who do not speak up and act become accomplices in the dynamic duo’s skullduggery – and they will be judged accordingly.

That being said, the writer realizes that there is a “time to speak up” – and that one must use discretion in “knowing when.”  But isn’t that time now?  When Cekada uttered his infamous drivel about Schiavo, there should have been a resounding chorus of condemnation – but there was but a whimper.  And when the horrific events of 2007-2009 took place at SGG, many were made aware of it – and deplored it – but few really did anything about it.  For the most part, they just sat back, hid in the wings, and watched it happen.  And now that Cekada’s lame defense of Dolan’s one-handed “ordination” has been exposed as the sham that it is, many have privately acknowledged it – but few have publicly done anything about it.  [Editor’s note: Cekada’s defense of Dolan’s one-handed “ordination” is not only a sham, but it is hypocritical as well, as a recent Pistrina article reveals: Phony Tony argues that his boss does not need to take the “safe course” and get re-ordained, while insisting that it is required in someone else’s case.]  

Simply lamenting wrongdoing is not enough.  The time for that is over.  It is time to turn apathy into action. We can continue to let ourselves be slowly asphyxiated by “insidious gradualism” -- and “go down the toilet” a little bit at a time -- or we can come to the realization that things have “gone far enough.”  One of the hazards of initial acquiescence is that it grows into complacency, and then into permanent inaction.  We cannot afford to let this happen, if we are to avoid permanent damage.  And some damage has already occurred – especially among SGG’s youth.  Many of them, when they’re old enough to “know what’s going on,” are seeing through Dolan and Cekada’s phoniness and “double standard” behavior (and spreading the word by “networking” with their friends) – and have been “turned off” by it.  And many have become disillusioned by it – to the point where it is destroying their faith.

Many are “revolting” – in major ways: one is now in the Peace Corps, in some third-world country, involved with “population management” (i.e., handing out condoms, disseminating birth-control info, etc.).  Another has had two children out of wedlock, while yet another has turned lesbian.  These are just a few “samples” of what Dolan and Cekada’s brand of “Catholicism” has wrought -- the “fruits of their labors.”  Their actions have not produced “good Catholic families”; they have done the opposite: they have destroyed them.  By their immoral “double standard” behavior, they have scandalized (and disillusioned) the young; and by their “cult” tactics -- coercion, intimidation, “guilt-tripping,” and enforcing divisive shibboleths such as “una cum” -- they have managed to scatter, not unite, their flock: splitting up whole families, turning sibling against sibling, cousin against cousin, and even parents against their offspring. 

It’s time to stop pretending that “all is well” and that “things will somehow work out.”  All is NOT well.  It is time for the dynamic duo’s followers who are wallowing in denial to stop pretending that Dolan and Cekada are “basically good men” (or pretending that what they have done “never really happened”).  And it is time for the rest of us to realize that simply “ignoring” them will not work.  One does not cure a cancer by ignoring it or by “wishing it away.”  It will not go away by itself; it will continue to fester until it is dealt with. 

Nor can anyone claim “ignorance” as an excuse: all have been made painfully aware of the dynamic duo’s deeds (and words) – so “ignorance” won’t work, nor will such platitudes as “It’s premature to act right now” or “it’s not as simple as that,” etc.  These are only delay tactics designed to “put it off until tomorrow” – to ensure that “tomorrow” never comes.  The question must be asked: how long does one remain silent?  Silence in the face of wrongdoing – when one can prevent it -- is acquiescence, and acquiescence equates to aiding and abetting.  Is it right to let an evil continue, and hope that it goes away by itself?  Are we to sit back and succumb to “insidious gradualism” -- to “sit back and let it happen” – or will we face it and deal with it?  I think that you know the answers to those questions.

__________________________

*Dolan’s recent decision to ordain a young African seminarian is one indication of this: that nothing has really changed.  Instead of having Sanborn perform the ordination, which would have allayed all the fears about the ceremony being valid (because of Dolan’s one-handed “ordination” itself being doubtful), Dannie chose to perform the ceremony himself.  He was no doubt aware of all the recently unearthed proof that his own ordination is doubtful (because Cekada’s bogus “defense” of it was such an unconvincing conglomeration of mistranslation and misinformation); but he doesn’t care.  He chose to do perform the ceremony anyway, ignoring the repeated pleas for “taking the safe route” -- just as he did years ago, when his fellow priests implored him to do so -- and having Sanborn do it instead.  Dannie had to do it – just to show the world that he was still “the boss” – and to defy and spite his “doubters”; his pride and his arrogance would not permit him to do otherwise (just as Cekada’s pride and arrogance won’t let him recant his position on Schiavo).

Why Stop at Paver Stones?

With the anticipated sales of Anthony Cekada’s WHH (Work of Human Hands) tanking as they have, the marketing moguls at SGG (St. Gertrude the Great Church) have had to turn to new ways of squeezing blood from the proverbial turnip.  Well, just when it seemed that they had run out of ideas – poof! – they have come up with what they hope will be a successful fund-raising ploy: memorial paver bricks!!  The idea here is that one can remember a loved one – living or deceased – by purchasing an “inscribed memorial stone” to adorn SGG’s cloister walkway.  And “loved ones” include (according to SGG’s ad on its website) not just relatives and friends, but veterans, war dead, military units (?), favorite saints (?), and “the forgotten” (i.e., just about anybody) – all for the paltry sum of $75 a brick!  (Wow, what a bargain!)  Oh, and if you’re an “out-of-towner” and can’t make it there to actually see your brick, they’ll send you a photo of it (double wow!).

The “beauty part” of pavers is that they are “no-brainers,” i.e., they require no “authorship” on anyone’s part.  There’s no “treatise” to write, hence no risk of Tony’s botched, mistranslated Latin coming into play, nor any of his arrogant, puerile rhetoric – just simple, carved inscriptions.  Not only that: unlike WHH, one gets – according to SGG’s website ad – “graces” for buying a paver.  And in SGG’s wonderful fantasy world of “anything goes” Epikeia, that can include just about anything: an indulgence – perhaps even a plenary indulgence – or even a “boys-will-be-boys” dispensation that whitewashes one’s next act of carnal immorality or sadism.   

Also, pavers are great “peer pressure” devices: when one parishioner buys a paver, others will then feel obligated to do the same.  Until one buys a brick, the very fact that one's name doesn’t yet appear on the walkway labels him as a “non-participant”  -- thereby providing a built-in incentive for shaming him into buying a brick.  But, you know, the cloister walkway is only so long; and, eventually, it’ll be filled to capacity.  No problem!  There’s the walkway from the rectory to the church!  And how about the parking lot?!  And, to ensure filling them up, what about expanding “loved ones” to include animals too – a favorite pet, for instance?  Or, how about getting a memorial stone to commemorate Puccini, Vivaldi, or Caravaggio (SGG’s resident pet cats)?  (Look at the brownie points this would get one with the cult-masters!)

And, while we’re on the subject of critters, remember that SGG’s grotto pond happens to contain critters (fish, that is); and, occasionally, these fish die (either from natural causes, or from “attrition” at the hands of Puccini, Vivaldi, or Caravaggio) -- and therefore need to be “replenished” now and then.  So, there you have it: yet another golden fund-raising opportunity!  One could sponsor a “replacement fish” (let’s call it “adopt-a-carp”!).  And as each “replacement” fish dies, it gets replaced for, say, two hundred bucks a pop.  And remember also, that each dead fish automatically qualifies as a “memorial critter” for yet another paver brick – doubling the fund-raising potential!

But why stop at memorial paver bricks (or critter sponsoring)?  There are other commemorative “themes” that could be exploited too: how about commemorative floor tiles in the church?  Commemorative pews? And in a variation on the old “pay toilets” theme, how about requiring people (who use the restrooms) to pay for the privilege?  And how about – if they leave church to use the restroom (or tend to a crying baby) during the sermon – how about letting them come back in before the sermon is finished (which they’re currently not allowed to do) – but charging them double for it?

To be sure, these suggested “fund-raising ideas” – offered, of course, in jest -- seem far-fetched; but, in principle, they’re no more far-fetched than the “pavers” idea: they’re all unnecessary, “non-value-added” creations.  The cloister walkway, by the way, is already “paved” -- so why do it again?  But that doesn’t matter; the two SGG “shepherds” don’t need a reason – a good reason, at least -- as long as it increases their revenue.  SGG’s website is crammed with solicitations for donations (and suggested ways to do so).  So, it is only a matter of time before more “imaginative” alternatives of revenue generation (not very dissimilar to the ones facetiously suggested here) take root in the fertile minds of the dynamic duo.

In lieu of fund-raising alternatives, however, may we suggest – not in jest, but in dead earnest – that they try taking Ben Franklin’s advice of “A penny saved is a penny earned,” and stop spending and start curtailing.  What was the need for a 2000 sq. ft. rectory (big enough to accommodate four or five bedrooms) to house two priests, each with his own 20+ ft. bedroom, private full bath, and walk-in closet?  And what was the need for the rectory to be outfitted with three (yes, three) HVAC (Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning) “climate zones” (while SGG’s church vestibule is kept unheated during the cold winter months for its “crying room” mothers)?  What was the need for “pilgrimages” or “sabbaticals” to a $400/night resort in the desert Southwest, or for yearly “apostolates” to Europe and Latin America?  Why did SGG’s pastor and assistant pastor have to dine regularly at upscale restaurants?  And why did they have to celebrate separate “silver jubilees” (of their priestly ordinations) at what is arguably the most opulent (and expensive) venue in town: the Palm Court in downtown Cincinnati’s premier hotel?

Now they (or one of their cultlings) might argue that they were entitled to all those goodies; and SGG’s parishioners might also argue that they too were invited to those “jubilees”; and, hence, the money was spent on them as well.   Yes, that is true – but the “sheep” were served the cheaper wines, while the “shepherds” got “the good stuff”; and the twenty thousand dollars or so that went for each “jubilee” could have been better spent on heating SGG’s vestibule so that its shivering “crying room” mothers wouldn’t have to “offer it up” while their “shepherds” sit comfy in a well-heated church (or in their rectory “climate zones”).

Now before one of SGG’s cultlings accuses this writer of complaining “about the money spent on God,” the twenty thousand dollars or so spent at these jubilees (or the money spent at the Bishop’s Lodge, or at the La Petite France, Iron Horse Inn, and Grand Finalé restaurants) was NOT spent on God, but on the comfort and gratification of two men.  They may also argue that Dolan and Cekada no longer regularly dine at fine restaurants.  This may be true, too – but they would if they could.  The fact is -- now that they’re no longer being underwritten by the family who used to be their main benefactor (but who became disgusted with them and left) -- they can no longer afford the extravagances of “the good old days.”  (Perhaps, then, the “pavers” will help bring back some of yesteryear’s “luster”!)

But the fact also is, people are getting fed up with privileged clergy’s extravagance at the expense of cash-strapped parishioners who are expected to bankroll that sort of thing.  Just recently in the news, the Novus Ordo Bishop of Bling (Germany) was suspended for spending $42 million to renovate his “residence.”  The faithful of his diocese RIGHTFULLY revolted (and, reportedly, are now leaving in droves).  But I’m sure that the SGG “apologists” will find some way to interpret these peoples’ reaction as “Judas-like,” just as an anonymous “commenter” did the same with the author of the Pistrina Liturgica blog, who mentioned the Bishop of Bling’s extravagance on that website (and who rightfully likened it to the extravagance of some “traddie” clergy). 

That “commenter” stated that “back in the good old days,” the faithful always “provided well” for their clergy.  Well, I would like to remind this “commenter” that back in the real “good old days” (i.e., when Our Lord walked this earth), He reminded His apostles that “the first shall be last, and the last shall be first.”  He did not promise them a life of luxury, or even a life of modest comfort; He promised them a life of hardship and sacrifice (and, for most of them, martyrdom).  Our Lord did not live in a European palace, or in a three-climate-zone rectory – nor did He intend for anyone else to; He set the example of humility for the apostles to follow – which they did.

But, as history shows, His divine institution fell prey to worldly men, who did not follow that example, but who all too often followed a worldly path, where, in time, the Church came to be not an avenue for spiritual growth, but a way for nobles’ sons (other than the first-borns who “got the manor house”) to “get ahead.”   The abuses of the late Middle Ages are well-documented: simony, lay Investiture, and the worldly pursuits of Church prelates, including several popes – abuses which ultimately led to the split-up of Christendom.  It was this, by the way -- the Protestant Revolt, not the anticlericalism of Voltaire and others in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (as another “commenter” on the Pisrina blog erroneously contended) – that turned people against the worldliness of the Church.  (Voltaire and his “Enlightenment” buddies – the Illuminati -- were more about Rationalism and opposition to kings than about opposition to clerical opulence per se).

It is ironic that the building of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome – which was to be the visible symbol of "the Church triumphant” – signaled the beginning of its downward slide.  The selling of indulgences (and that’s what it was in many cases) to provide funds for St. Peter’s was the “final straw” that convinced people of what they had suspected for some time: that it was more about building an impressive edifice -- about “the show,” about money -- than about the Faith.  That, probably even more so than the doctrinal arrows slung by Calvin et al, is what split Christendom asunder; Luther and the Protestant Revolt were largely Frankensteins of the Church’s own making.

Only after the Church got back to its spiritual roots – with people like St. Francis of Assisi and St. Ignatius of Loyola, who did their best to purge it of its worldliness – did it start to flourish again.  And it will continue to flourish only if it sticks to this formula.  There is nothing wrong with beautiful rites and rubrics per se – but putting on elaborate pageantry while ignoring Catholic morality are not what Catholicism is all about.  The SGG duo are counterfeit not so much because of their extravagant lifestyle (although that is certainly part of it), but because they really aren’t Catholic.  If they were, they’d care about the dignity of life – Terri Schiavo’s life -- and they wouldn’t apply a hypocritical double standard when it comes to Catholic morality: dismissing their school principal’s sons’ watching porn (or impregnating a female student) as “boys will be boys,” while having a boy who is not one of the principal’s sons beaten with a wooden paddle because he missed his homework assignment.

No matter how impressive SGG’s “show” is, or how “holy” it seems, the dynamic duo’s sanctimony will never pass for sanctity, nor will their “guilt-tripping” and coercion ever pass for “authority” – and all the hapless “damage control” apologetics mouthed by their fawning followers will not change what they are: unprincipled, self-seeking con men -- unbridled mini-potentates answerable to no one but themselves -- who pursue a worldly agenda, and who will make (and break) whatever rules necessary to get what they want.  The time for men like them is past.  We cannot tolerate such scoundrels; nor can we tolerate -- to borrow Belloc’s words -- a “re-calcification” of Catholicism, where spectacle becomes more important than substance, and where unscrupulous demagogues preach one thing but practice another.

What is needed is men who will lead by example – the Christ-like example of St. Francis and St. Ignatius – not self-appointed authoritarians who don’t practice what they preach (and who can’t even be trusted in what they do preach).  Fortunately, the real audience out there – the clergy who are not part of SGG’s cult clique – are starting to realize this, and are finding out what the “dynamic duo” are all about -- and they are becoming convinced.  And that’s all that really matters.  The dynamic duo’s apologists can continue to wallow in their fantasy of denial -- but the truth is becoming too apparent for them to ignore.  In time, perhaps even they, for their own benefit, will get over their myopic bias and see what everyone else is seeing.

And what about Dolan and Cekada themselves?  Unfortunately, the only practicable way to convince them – or, at least, to stop them – is to starve them, because, to date, appealing to their consciences has not worked.  When confronted with concrete evidence of their misdeeds – of the so many that they have victimized – they have simply ignored it, instead “playing the victim” themselves, and hiding behind a mask of pharisaic piety and false humility – a mask, that when stripped, reveals shameless hypocrisy and duplicity.  The only real hope of “reforming” them – if that is indeed possible -- is for them to be stripped of their worldly riches, i.e.,  to have their revenue flow cut off, forcibly depriving them of the same.  That is the only medicine, it seems, that will effectively work for them.  “For them,” as the late Vince Lombardi might have put, “it’s not the best thing, it’s the only thing.”