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.

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*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).