Why the Cult-Masters Aren’t Catholic

It was reported recently that “Mother Angelica,” a Catholic nun who founded EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network), died this past Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016, at the age of 92.  The reason that we mention this here is not, as some might speculate, to delve into any lengthy discussion about how “Catholic” she was (or wasn’t).  We mention it here only to note that, for some number of months, she was on a feeding tube (click here for one hyperlink reference to it).  After suffering a couple of strokes, she was unable to eat or swallow on her own, and hence was put on the feeding tube.

Of course, the mention of “feeding tube” brings to mind Terri Schiavo, who was denied the use of a feeding tube (as well as water), which quickly resulted in her death.  (The proximate cause of death was dehydration.  Without water, one can survive only a matter of days.)  And, of course, we mention this to remind everyone once again that Anthony Cekada, SGG’s resident “theologian,” justified her death with his depraved comments, which – to borrow from FDR’s words about Pearl Harbor – “will live in infamy.”

March 31, 2016 – just a few weeks ago – marked the twelfth anniversary of Terri’s untimely (and unwarranted) death; and, ironically, Mother Angelica’s death came within a few days of that anniversary.  It’s also ironic that the “Novus Ordo” church to which Mother Angelica belonged spared her life, while a “traditional priest” – SGG’s resident “theologian” -- saw fit to justify the opposite: to condone a death that was unspeakably agonizing.  These contrasting examples remind one of our Lord’s parable about the Good Samaritan – the “heretic” of his day -- who helped the injured man lying in the roadside, while the Priest and Levite ignored him.  What our Lord asked the Pharisees -- “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” – applies today.  With a little re-phrasing, let’s ask this question again:  Who are the real Catholics – the Novus Ordo “heretics” who spared Mother Angelica’s life, or the “orthodox” traddie” who saw fit to let Terri Schiavo literally shrivel up and die?*

Many of today’s traddies are so wrapped up in “letter-perfect rubrics” that they have lost sight of what real Catholicism is about.  Dannie and Tony pride themselves on keeping “the old rites and rubrics,” – and condemn as “heretical” anything short of that.  The irony here is that Dannie and Tony -- in proclaiming their novel “doctrines” – are themselves heretical: nowhere in Catholic teaching, for instance, is there anything about “sedevacantism” – or about “motu” Masses being invalid.  Both of these claims are pure fiction.  And they are mere assertions made by men who have neither the authority nor the jurisdiction to make them – nor the proof.  What they are proclaiming can only be proclaimed by a pope.

To repeat, no one outside the institutional Church – especially tinhorns like Dolan and Cekada -- has the power (or right) to make such claims.  Period.  So why do they make those claims?  Is it out of a sincere desire to search for the truth, or out of a sincere concern for souls?  No.  It is out of a sincere desire to manipulate, control, and exploit people for material gain.  The fact is, people like Dannie and Tony don’t care two straws for the Catholic Faith; for if they did, they’d care about (and stand up for) Catholic principles.

What kind of Catholic, for instance, would have referred to the SGG principal’s sons’ watching porn on the school computer as “boys will be boys”?  And what kind of “theologian” would have justified the murder of Terri Schiavo?  What kind of Catholic would condone such things, yet condemn things such  as riding a roller coasters or wearing a “sport” headband in church as mortal sins?  And, for that matter, what kind of Catholic would claim that all the abortions ever performed were not as displeasing to God as one “motu” Mass?

What kind of Catholic? No kind of Catholic!  The fact is, the cult masters (both at SGG and at the Brooksville puppy mill) haven’t the foggiest notion of what real Catholicism is about – nor do they give a tinker’s damn.  Their only priority is -- and always has been -- themselves.  They simply tell people what they want to hear (and see): “Catholic-sounding” words and phrases, and elaborate rites and rituals (aka, “the show”) -- whatever it takes to get them to “donate.” 

Have you ever noticed how much of Dannie’s Bishop’s(?) Corner is devoted to phrases such as “Immaculate Heart of Mary,” “Sacred Heart of Jesus,” or “Holy Sacrifice of the Mass”?  Or how about his frequent use of ejaculations such as “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” “Deo Gratias,” or his wishing people a “Blessed Passiontide.”  Then, of course, there are his favorite guilt-tripping buzzwords, such as “reparation.”  Dannie’s ’Corner is always chuck full of such flowery fluff, to give everyone the impression that SGG is “the real thing.”  But it’s not; all of this is just another facet of “the show.”

What Dannie and Tony really care about – what they’ve always cared about -- is not souls but MONEY – and doing whatever it takes to get it: guilt-tripping, sacramental blackmail, puritanical rules and regulations, etc., etc. etc.   Hardly a week goes by when Dannie is not asking for money for his latest pet scheme (or to fix some part of his prematurely crumbling cult center), and using buzzwords like “reparation” to guilt-trip the Gerties into “doing their part” in paying for it (while he skips off to sunny Mexico to do his “part”).

And, like the “letter-of-the-law” Pharisees of old, the cult masters pass themselves off as the only “real” Catholics, following all the “correct” rite and rubrics; while looking down their noses at Novus Ordo “Samaritans” like Mother Angelica.  Yet, at the same time, they invent their own novel “doctrines” (such as sedevacantism and their “motu Mass” myth), which they demand as “prerequisites” for being “Catholic.”  But Catholicism is much more than the mechanics of “getting the words right.”  It is about obeying -- and applying -- God’s commandments; and it is about applying them, not selectively, but in their entirety.  It is about “doing unto others as you would have them do unto you” – and it is about charity.

And that – charity – is a problem for Dannie and Tony, because they don’t have any.  For all their holy talk, these “tinkling cymbals” have no charity: they had none for Terri Schiavo; nor had they any for those scores of children so sadly abused during the SGG school scandals.  (Irate parents who complained about the abuse were told either to accept it or to leave.)  And anybody who disobeyed their arbitrary “rules” (or who questioned them in any way) was often denied the sacraments (and sometimes physically banned from church property).  Actually, even people who didn’t oppose them were victimized and vilified.  The late Abbot Giardina, for example -- a good and holy man, who never did them (or anyone else) any harm, was fair game for them.  It seems that the only ones they care about (besides themselves) are Caravaggio, Puccini, and Vivaldi (their pet acts). 

And, adding to their vindictive, despotic natures, recent events have – for the umpteenth time – borne out another one of their “trademark traits”: their total incompetence.  These two hucksters, who try to pass themselves off as “Latinists,” “theologians,’” and “experts” on liturgy are none of those things.  Their recent attempts at showcasing their liturgical expertise – “ordo 2016” and their “all saints calendar” -- have been abysmal failures.  They are not Latinists; they are not theologians; and, as Schiavo and the scandalous events of 2009 have shown, they are certainly not authorities on (or practitioners of) Catholic moral theology.  So what are they?  They are simply two amateur opportunists who prey on the gullible with a combination of pontifical pageantry, syrupy sanctimony, and intimidation – all for the purpose of parting people from their money. 

It should also be painfully obvious that there’s another thing that Dannie and Tony are not: they are not Catholic.  (The same thing goes for the bombastic blowhard down in Brooksville.)  As they’ve proven time and again, what they do is a caricature of Catholicism: all show, no substance.  They simply tell people what they want to hear -- and then proceed to exploit them for everything they can.  The good news is that more and more people are finding this out.  But the bad news is that there are many more “copycat cultist” like them in Tradistan.  (Although, we must admit that Dannie, Tony, and Big Don are the benchmark models by which all others are measured.)

Because of men like Dannie, Tony, and Big Don, “traditional” Catholicism has become a disunited, disjointed mishmash of self-seekers, all going off in different directions – but collectively downward. This is not Catholicism.  It is play-acting at Catholicism.  And, all too often, it is fraud and deception.    So, what to do?  As both Pistrina and we have said so many times, a good start is to stop giving these parasites money.  Defund them.  Money is the engine which keeps these creeps going – so cut it off.  But simply defunding them won’t do the job: a poor scoundrel is still a scoundrel.  But, removing material incentive will create a healthy atmosphere that will discourage them -- and attract good, non-mercenary men in their stead: men with the right intentions; men of charity.  So, although defunding them might not finish the job, it is a good (and necessary) start.  That is the prerequisite for Traddieland becoming Catholic.

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* Terri Schiavo’s death was anything but peaceful.  It was ghastly; and, contrary to what Phony Tony claimed, she was fully aware of what was happening.  (Photographs taken revealed a bewildered look of disbelief on her face.)  And one must remember that she was deprived of both food and water.  Death by dehydration is particularly horrible: the skin cracks open, the bodily apertures dry up and recede (such as her eye sockets, which became two shrunken slits, oozing blood).  (Lay Pulpit has written several articles about her death: click here. and here for two of them.)  Her death was, in effect, the test case “Roe vs. Wade” that paved the way for euthanasia.