Inertia

Isaac Newton’s first law of motion is his Law of Inertia.  One text defines inertia as “the resistance of any physical object to any change in its state of motion, including changes to its speed and direction.”  The word inertia comes from the Latin iners, meaning “idle” or “sluggish.”  Today, the word is used figuratively as well as literally, i.e., it is applied not just to physical objects but to people, where it means resistance to change in ideas or thinking.

And nowhere is this resistance to change more evident than at Daniel Dolan’s southwest Ohio cult center.  Last week’s Lay Pulpit documented just a few of the many examples of Dolan’s (and Cekada’s) scandalous behavior – behavior which, among other things, drove half their congregation away back in 2009.  One would think that this should have driven the entire congregation away – but it didn’t: many ignored the evidence, and stayed.  Why?  Inertia, that’s why: once people’s minds are set on a course, it is very difficult to dislodge them.  And it is easy to set them on that course because people are, by nature, trusting – and, like sheep, most are easily led.  That is why the term pastor is such a good metaphor: it's from the Latin for “shepherd.”  And shepherds they are: where the pastor leads, the congregation usually follows -- especially traddies.

That is why the automatons at SGG not only follow Dannie and Tony, but defend them as well.  That is why they ignore the obvious wrong that they do, and treat them almost as if they were living saints.  Hence, it seems that, in the programming of human nature, inertial gullibility is one of its worst “default settings” -- but it can be overcome.  The way to go about it is to hammer away at it -- slowly, gradually, patiently, and repeatedly: repetition is not only the mother of memory; it is the mother of belief.  That is why we’ve talked so often about Dannie and Tony -- about putting on “the show,” and that what they do is just a caricature of Catholicism, etc.  And we say it not only because we have a moral right to do so, but because it is our moral duty.

It is always a constant source of private amusement to many of us that, when Dannie and Tony slander people, their apologists can ignore their slander; but when someone points out and exposes that slander, they condemn that someone as a slanderer – and they invent all sorts of reasons why tat is so.  Their “favorite,” perhaps, is the “Alter Christus trump card” that they play: one cannot speak out against a priest because he is “another Christ.”  Yet they fail to see that Dannie and Tony have done that very thing several times – and to priests -- priests who have done them no harm.  For these hypocrites, it is okay for Dannie and Tony to do it – but no one else can.

But, more importantly, they also fail to see that, what their cult-masters allege about others, it is just that: allegation – mere assertion -- and NOTHING ELSE.  When Dannie preached his so-called “apology” sermon (where he tried to victimize someone else while playing the victim himself), what did he give to back up his allegations?  Nothing.  When he wrote his letter of accusations against a young French priest, what proof or evidence did he have?  None.  When he deputized Thomas Le Gal to slander that other priest mentioned in our last article, what proof was there?  Again, ZERO.  Conversely, anything that we (and others) have said about Dannie and Tony has been documented with real evidence – usually from Dannie’s and Tony’s own mouths.  We have even shown where Dannie and Tony have, with their own words, lied and contradicted each other.

And not only have the dynamic duo been putting their feet in their mouths, but so have their followers.  Perhaps the best example of this was “Introibo” – the intrepid imbecile who challenged Pistrina Liturgica to provide evidence that “One-hand Dan’s” ordination was doubtful.  This gave Pistrina an open invitation to re-examine what had heretofore been accepted as a “closed matter” – and, as a result, the whole traddie world is now aware that Dannie’s orders ARE, in fact, doubtful.  It seems that whenever one of Dannie’s drudges opens his mouth, he swallows a shovelful of hot coals – and Dannie gets skewered.

In their trance-like devotion to the dynamic duo, Dannie’s and Tony’s supporters accuse all who oppose them of being “vengeful” creatures who try to derive some sort of profit from “victimizing” them. But what “vengeful creature” would take the time and trouble to do such a thing -- and what kind of “profit” would he derive?  Did half of SGG’s congregation – including a good, holy man who gave them millions in support – leave out of “vengeance” (or seek any material gain)?  What kind of “profit” did the people of SGG’s satellite parish in Columbus, Ohio derive by having their building fund confiscated and their church sold out from under them?  (And, for that matter, how many of us have a “donate buttons” on our websites?)  In short, who were the victims -- and who were the victimizers -- in all these cases?  The truth is, the overwhelming evidence of material gain, vengeance, and victimizing has been on the SGG clergy’s part, not anyone else’s.

Continued opposition to these lepers, again, is our moral duty.  Not to do so, out of some misguided sense of “not wanting to cause scandal” (as some of traddieland’s clergy have done), is cowardly – and it is wrong.  To quote Pope St. Felix III once more: “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 agree.  We too are not in the business of “encouraging them” – especially those who, as the people of Lawrence, Massachusetts can attest – continue to demonstrate that they have not lost their reptilian touch.  Therefore, that opposition must continue, in the hope that it may one day energize these weak-willed, acquiescent fools to overcome their own inertia – and, just as importantly, that it will deter others from making the same mistake.