They Just Don’t Care

A recent Pistrina article brought out a good point explaining why so many traddies behave the way they do, namely, how so many of them blindly follow self-appointed cult-masters, no matter what.  The Pistrina article, in turn, cited another article (by Michael Dougherty) that recently appeared in The American Conservative, a well-known national publication.  The Dougherty article contended that – because of the “social cross-currents of the last 50 years,” Catholics have come to regard the pope – not the institutional body of the Church itself -- as the Church's defining authority.  The pope has come to be regarded as some sort of saintly “keeper of Catholic orthodoxy” (whether he keeps it or not) whom Catholics can rely on to keep the Faith, no matter how lax or heretical the local clergy might be; and, in the process, he has come to be looked upon as one who can say (or do) no wrong.

But the problem with Bergoglio (and his two predecessors) is that they really haven’t kept Catholic orthodoxy, but have undermined it (or muddled it in a cloud of ambiguity), saying one thing to one group, and another thing to another – much like today’s politicians.  And, because of this, the Church has developed a political party mentality, where Church teaching and doctrine are no longer Divinely-inspired, absolute, immutable truth, but something that can be modified, like a party’s political platform.  And the pope has become the head of that party – its paramount figure – and he has eclipsed the Institution itself.

The Pistrina  article made the point that this mentality – where the person becomes the important thing – has filtered down to traddieland, where cult-masters like Dolan and Cekada have come to emulate the man whom – ironically enough -- they ostensibly oppose. They have set themselves up as mini-popes; and, with a combination of sanctimony, theatrics, and cult-like manipulation, they have passed themselves off as folk heroes to the gullible.  But, whereas Bergoglio’s aim is to destroy orthodoxy (through ambiguity and double-talk) to further his evil spiritual agenda, these hucksters are (supposedly) upholding orthodoxy -- but to further their own material agenda. 

It is ironic that, in an age when Bergoglio et al are trying to undermine the authority of the papacy, hucksters like Dolan and Cekada are trying to assume that authority -- passing themselves off as mini-popes, exercising an “authority” that they neither possess nor deserve: issuing phony missives like “una cum” as if they were official Church doctrine, denying the sacraments to anyone who goes to a chapel that they don’t consider “Catholic,” or declaring that Masses can be offered for the deceased only if they are “traditional”** – as if they had the authority to do all these things.  Meanwhile, on issues that really matter, they are morally bankrupt.  On Schiavo, for instance, they contemptuously disregarded official Church teaching on moral theology -- and with the SGG school scandals, they approvingly condoned sadistic behavior and blatant immorality.

And how (and why) do the “groveling gerties” at SGG justify such actions?  As Pistrina’s article pointed out, many of them know who (and what) Dolan and Cekada are; and they know what went on at the school -- yet they ignore it as if it had never happened, and they continue to eagerly support these lepers who run their cult center.  Why so?  One reason is that their minds were already made up long ago: they are following preconceived notions that were formed while their minds were still “blank sheets” -- sheets which, once “written on,” are hard to erase – even with the truth.

People who have been shown hard evidence about Dolan and Cekada – and who admit it to be true – either ignore that evidence outright, or perhaps temporarily acknowledge it -- responding with a half-hearted “uh huh” -- and then go back to their preconceived “default setting.”  Pride, of course, also has a hand in this: the “not wanting to admit that I was wrong” piece -- and inertia too: people naturally tend to resist change, especially when it requires mea culpa’s on one’s part.  But the real bottom line is that they really don’t care: they have a fantasized notion of Catholicism, and they don’t want it spoiled by unadorned, un-poetic reality.  As long as the two lepers put on “a good show” for them, they’ll go for it – just as their Novus Ordo counterparts have swallowed Papa Pancho’s swill.

Those traddies and Novus Ordites are hung up on the same thing: appearances.  (Indeed, so are many people.)  And we’ll repeat here what we’ve said so many times before: until traddieland rids itself of this mindset, where appearances -- not substance -- are paramount, it will go nowhere.  There are those who contend that these traddies are really “ignorant” of what they're doing – that they’re unaware that what they’re doing is wrong.  And, of course, “ignorance s bliss.”  But that kind of “ignorance” is not of the “innocent” variety; it is of the “expedient” variety.  These traddies aren’t “ignorant” or “unaware.”  They know what they’re doing – and know that what they’re doing is wrong.  They just don’t care.

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**Yes, Dannie stated that only traditional deceased Catholics could have Masses offered for them.  We wonder, then, how the “triple play extravaganza” – the three funeral Masses simultaneously celebrated by three separate priests – could have happened, because the deceased (for whom they were offered) was NOT a traditional Catholic.  In fact, while she was alive, she habitually never attended SGG – and she detested Dolan and Cekada.  Perhaps Dannie will contend that she had a “deathbed reconciliation” and “converted” before she died.  (Given Dannie’s mendacious track record, we have a hard time believing that.)  But, if so, why the triple-Mass extravaganza?  Would it have something to do with the fact that her husband is a major donor at SGG?