They’re Tired of It ALL, Dannie!

$GG’s May 22, 2016 Bishop(?)’s ’Corner was another one of Dannie’s trademark weekly doses of sanctimonious pap n’ crap, coupled with (of course) another one of his favorite themes: playing the beggar.  This time, it was a plea for “plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables” -- ostensibly for Tony.  (Dannie has been using Tony’s recent illness as a sympathy ploy to get more financial aid from the Gerties.)  We say “ostensibly” because, as usual, Dannie has decided to include himself (and the other cult-center “clergy”) in the doling out of the goodies: “Fr. Cekada will be needing plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables in order to regain his health. (I’m sure they wouldn’t hurt the rest of us either!)” [our bold emphasis]

And, as if that wasn’t enough, he actually directed his food donors to “please use the Cucina Clerical website so you can pace our food deliveries.” [our bold emphasis again]  How characteristically presumptuous of you, Dannie, to not only get in line with your hand held out -- automatically assuming that you and those others are entitled to the dole -- but to stipulate that they “pace our food deliveries” to optimize the distributing of your freebies.  But, what the heck!  Why stop there?  Why not direct them to La Petite France’s website, and suggest some of your favorite entrée’s (and wines)?

Then, once you get them to “cough up” for that, how about requesting some “rehab time” for Tony at the Bishop’s Lodge; and, of course (as you did on the “fruits and vegetables”), include yourself in that request, since it was always your favorite “getaway” destination.  (But don’t include Lurch and the others in that getaway; that would stretch your budget too thin.  Besides, Lurch wouldn’t know how to act in a classy place like that!) 

So, go for it, Dannie!  After all, if you can sucker them into donating over and over again for an ever-leaking roof, or get them to pay for your “excessive heating bills” (while you’re “lenting” down in Mexico, pigging out on “copious quantities of beef”) – or buying an unneeded “new” organ for Tony (that breaks down almost immediately after it’s bought), then getting them to spring for this ought to be “a piece of cake”!  You know, Dannie, if you play this thing right, you’ll be able to get all kinds of concessions from your Gerties.  Plus, you’ll also be able to find out just how far you can “push their button” – to see how much they can take before they “snap” – an important defining limit!  

But actually, Dannie, don’t you think that many of your Gerties have already reached that limit?  Don’t you think that they’ve been squeezed enough?  WE DO.  We think that they’re tired of sacrificing and “offering it up,” just so that you can go on your winter “apostolates” to sunny Mexico (especially when you decide “at the last minute” to go).¹  We think, too, that they’re tired of paying for roofs that continue to leak, for AC units that prematurely fail, for unneeded organs (that also break down) – and especially for a “school” that provides a woefully inadequate “education” for a mere handful of students – at a woefully exorbitant premium paid to the “principal” and his family. ²

We think that they’re also tired of your pretentious sanctimony and your double-standard hypocrisy: tired of obeying your puritanical “dress code” rules, while you “look the other way” as the principal’s sons “do porn” (or fornicate) – both with complete impunity; tired of your sanctimonious pap about “the sanctity of human life” while you and Tony pamper your pet cats, yet disinterestedly watch Terri Schiavo being starved and dehydrated to death); tired of you talking about “protecting our innocent children,” while you allow a sadistic school principal to brutalize SGG’s school kids; tired of your selective enforcement of your “rules” (such as, denying a parishioner’s mother the last rites and a Requiem Mass because she was “Novus Ordo,” yet holding SGG’s biggest funeral ever for another parishioner’s “Novus Ordo” wife – the only difference being that the latter parishioner was a big donor at SGG, and the former wasn’t).    In fact, they’re getting tired of it all.

Dannie, we don’t think you’re fooling anybody anymore with your syrupy sanctimony and your pretentious, over-the-top “shows.”  People are starting to see them for what they are: cosmetics -- and that, behind the cosmetics, there’s really nothing there – except a “medicine show” barker in bishop’s garb, selling snake oil.  Dannie, it is also embarrassingly obvious that you are using Tony’s illness as a pretext for shaking down your Gerties even more: you know that there was NO REASON for including yourself and the others in this latest “fruits and vegetables” scam – but you did it anyway.  That’s because you can’t help yourself: you’ve been getting your own way for so long, you expect it as a birthright.  And as long as you can find suckers to fall for your predatory panhandling, you’ll keep on doing it.

But Dannie’s “sucker list” is growing short.  As Pistrina so aptly pointed out (in its article, Enough is Enough), people are starting to find out, for instance, that Dannie’s Mexican “apostolate” is not only bearing no fruit, but is, in fact, a huge FLOP – and that it’s only succeeding in emptying parishioners’ wallets.  (Click here for article).⁴   In fact, the Gerties are finding out that just about everything that Dannie and Tony do is a flop: Tony’s YouTube videos have been cut to pieces, SGG’s “Ordo 2016” has been a total (and embarrassing) failure, and their other abortive attempts at passing themselves off as “Latinists” have made them the laughing stock of Traddieland.  Outside the cult corral, nobody takes these buffoons seriously anymore.

Eventually, everyone – perhaps even the “hard core” -- will catch on to Dannie’s act; and he and Tony (and Donny, for that matter) will have to fold up their tent and move their medicine show elsewhere.  Actually – since their reputation as frauds has spread to the world-at-large -- we think that there really isn’t any place they can go unnoticed.  We think, therefore, that they should do what Big Don once sarcastically suggested, i.e., become WalMart greeters.  (Well, on second thought, only Dannie would be a “fit” for that job. With his mousy grin and his syrupy demeanor, he’d be a “natural.”)  Tony, on the other hand – since he lacks Dannie’s “social skills” (and perceives himself to be a “scholar”) – would do better as WalMart’s “intelligentsia guru,” and open up a line of designer dunce caps.⁵  So again, we say, “Go for it, Dannie!  Go for it, Tony!”

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¹ We did a little checking to find out what a trip to Mexico City (from Cincinnati or Dayton) would really cost, if booked “at the last minute” -- say, two to four days before the flight.  The price for one “coach” ticket is anywhere from $1350 to $2000, depending on whether the flight is non-stop, its takeoff time, etc. – and that doesn’t include baggage fees.  It also doesn’t include any other air or land travel within Mexico, or hotels, meals, taxis, etc. – or how much “entertaining” is done at the other end.  Add all this up, and one of Dannie’s spur-of-the-moment “quick trips” might run DOUBLE the airfare figures given above – or more.

² The “principal” and his family get the lion’s share of the remuneration paid to the school’s “faculty.”  (The other teachers -- if there are any left -- get little to nothing for what they do.)  And what do the Gerties get for their money?  Not much.  Academically speaking, the “school” is a joke.  About the only thing that it has going for it is draconian discipline from a sadistic schoolmaster – fondly reminiscent of the character Mr. Creakle (in Dickens’ David Copperfield) or Wackford Squeers (in Dickens’ Nicholas Nickelby) – both of whom are often held up as arch-typical examples of sadistic schoolmasters).

³ The instances of mistreatment of the school’s students by the principal and his family are many -- and well documented.  (Click here to see a fairly representative sampling.)  They were, In fact, the primary reason why half the congregation exited SGG back in 2009.  But even more despicable than the acts themselves was Dannie’s condoning of them – and how he ignored the pleas of parents who brought their grievances to him.  He disdainfully told them that they could go elsewhere if they didn’t like it.  He even fired one of his teachers who had complained to him when he was physically and verbally threatened by one of the principal’s sons.  (But the boy, of course, received no disciplinary action whatsoever.)  That teacher, by the way, was a foreign national, and was eventually reported to Homeland Security by Anthony Cekada – the very man who was supposed to be taking care of his “immigration” papers.  (Click here for a complete account of what happened.)

Why did Dannie not only allow this to happen, but condone and defend it as well? What sort of “leverage,” we ask, does the principal have on Dannie and Tony that they couldn’t summarily dismiss him for what he did?  Well, all that we can say is that the principal has reportedly boasted on several occasions that “they cannot fire me; I know too much.”  So we the answer, "draw your own conclusions."

⁴ Other than a couple of panhandling padres that Dannie has managed to corral by buying them off with gringo dinero, Dannie is persona non grata in Mexico.  He has had to reach farther south – to Ecuador – to find new “fertile ground” (and we wonder how long it will be before that too runs afoul).  Whatever the case, Ecuador is certainly a more expensive proposition than Mexico.

⁵ Actually, WalMart could open up new product lines in both Dannie’s and Tony’s names.  Taking a cue from Mattel’s Barbie Doll®, they could feature a Dannie Doll® -- a bobble-head version of Wee Dan that hillbillies could hang from the rearview mirrors of their pickup trucks.  And, like Barbie, there could be different versions of Dannie: Doubtful Dan® (complete with a “one-hand” ordination kit), Beggar Dan® (with one hand stretched out in eternal supplication), and Dannie the Martyr® (a talking Dannie that, when its string is pulled, whines about the persecution that SGG is suffering at the hands of the local energy utility’s “high heating bills,” the local governmental authority’s “discriminatory building codes,” or some other “injustice” at the hands of some imagined “oppressor”).

Tony’s product line (the dunce caps) could be expanded, too, to include not just the caps themselves, but dolls (of Tony) wearing them – and perhaps even marketed internationally (as Señor Simplón in Latin countries, as Tony der Trottel in German-speaking countries, etc. etc., etc.).  And, oh yes, one last product idea, reflecting Dannie’s morbid preoccupation with his feral cat, Caravaggio: a Baby Bunny Shredder.®  This would be something on the order of an ordinary paper shredder, except that it would, in this case, shred baby bunnies.  And to play on the “cat” theme, its “infeed” wouldn’t have a set of conventional rollers, but a faithfully executed rendition of Caravaggio’s head, with a macerating mechanical “mouth” to ensnare and dismember the little critters. 

With such a device, other unbalanced individuals could “share” in Dannie’s sociopathic fantasies, and duplicate his singular depravity, without the bother of actually having to buy (and care for) a real live cat.  And perhaps, too, a “Lotarski” version of this contraption might also be offered – one with a built-in camcorder, to catch the action for further viewing (with, of course, forward, reverse, and “slow-mo” features to “maximize” the experience.)  So, at the risk of repeating ourselves, we once again say, "Go for it, Dannie!"

Why Culties Aren’t Catholic

One of the things that is truly amazing is the way Dannie’s culties simply IGNORE all the wrongdoing and harm that he has done, and support him – no matter what.  Nothing seems to faze them.  Dannie can do just about anything, and it rolls off them, like water off a duck’s back.  They’ll put up with anything, as long as they get their “show.”  For instance, the abuses of the school principal and his boys during the 2009 SGG school troubles: the behavior of the Lotarski family was nothing short of APPALLING – but the culties took it all in stride.  When Dannie referred to the Lotarski boys’ watching porn and animal torture videos on the school computer as “boys will be boys,” one would think that this would’ve outraged the parishioners – or at least make them take notice.  And when one of the Lotarski boys impregnated a girl student at SGG’s school, one might think that this would’ve been universally condemned by them – especially when Dannie ignored that too.¹   But it wasn't.  Nary a soul “batted an eye.” 

And as for Dannie, not only did he not publicly (or privately) castigate the boy for his blatantly criminal act of immorality, but he actually feted him on several occasions afterwards.  (Dannie actually featured him in an SGG Newsletter not long after that, commending him for his expertise “on the organ.”  [We wonder to which “organ” he was referring!]  And the girl?  When Dannie did assess any blame, it was to her.  He said NOTHING about the boy.

And did the boy “do right” by the girl?  Did he accept responsibility, and offer to marry her (or even offer to support her or the child in any way)?  NO.  He entirely abrogated his responsibilities, and skipped off, “Scot Free.”  The girl and her child now live with her parents, who support them both.  Not a penny of support came from the Lotarski clan.  Now, one of Dannie’s “apologists” might contend that the child is not the Lotarski boy’s -- but DNA evidence readily confirms otherwise.  (Actually, no DNA evidence is necessary: the child is a spitting image of her father.)

And is the boy or his parents – or Dannie – ashamed of what happened?  Do they have any sense of guilt or remorse?  NO.  On the contrary: they simply pretend that it never happened, and “life at the cult center” goes on, as if nothing had happened.  And what about the parishioners?  Do they condemn this in any way?  NO.  They also pretend.  Why?  Because morality has no place for them: SGG is all about “the show,” not about morality.  That’s all that counts.  As long as they get their “show,” ANYTHING is permissible.

Well, one might counter again, “Perhaps the parishioners were not aware of what was going on.”  To this, we must counter that, for them not to be aware of this, is like the captain of the Titanic not being aware that his ship was sinking.  EVERYBODY at SGG was aware of it (as they were aware of everything else going on at the school).  It was on everybody’s lips – and virtually every parishioner was informed of it in writing by other concerned (and irate) fellow parishioners.  They simply IGNORED it all, because it got in the way of their “show.”  That’s the kind of “morality” that sets the standard at SGG.

Another example of cultie “morality” that bears mentioning involves a couple who, staunch supporters of Dannie, came to him one day to request that he give the wife’s mother the last rites.  Dannie refused, because she was “Novus Ordo” -- and therefore not “Catholic.”    He also refused to give her a Requiem Mass when she died shortly thereafter.  Now what makes his refusal so incredibly hypocritical (as well as monumentally uncharitable) is that, some time prior to that, he DID grant a Requiem Mass for a “Novus Ordo” Catholic: the deceased wife of -- you guessed it -- another SGG parishioner.

The difference was this: the aforementioned couple, being of modest means, had little money to give, while that deceased wife’s well-to-do husband was a big contributor at SGG.  Oddly enough, that deceased wife was not only Novus Ordo, but she detested both Dannie and Tony – usually reason enough for Dannie to deny someone.  But that didn’t matter: it was her husband’s money that mattered.  And her funeral, in fact, was arguably the biggest, splashiest affair ever held at SGG.³   (So, it seems that any “ecclesiastical” or “canonical” reasons Dannie might have had for refusing the one did not apply in the case of the other – more of Dannie’s “double standard” hypocrisy.)

The couple was naturally upset, and left SGG.  They then found a priest who readily granted their request for the last rites (and subsequent Requiem Mass).³ The couple were obviously elated (and grateful) for this priest’s having the Catholic charity to accommodate them; and in gratitude, they decided to attend his Masses rather than go back to the cult center – or so one would think.  But, because his Masses were not the ornate extravaganzas that Dannie put on (they were Low Masses, offered in a private home), the couple – who missed “the show” – eventually quit this priest, and returned to SGG.  That is the kind of “gratitude” they showed for this man who so graciously and unselfishly accommodated them in their hour of need.  This is how they repaid his kindness and charity.

How could they do such a thing?  How could they return to the vipers who refused them, and spurn the priest who accommodated them?  Simple: they got what they wanted, so they didn’t need that priest anymore.  They have come to emulate their cult-masters: to use people to get what they want, and then to discard them.  And, of course, they invent “reasons” to justify their treachery.  For them, Catholic morality doesn’t count.  Pontifical pageantry, polyphonic music, and elaborate spectacle – in the end, that’s what counts.  If the Lotarski boys watch porn or fornicate (or if their father habitually brutalizes students at SGG’s school), or if Phony Tony justifies Terri Schiavo’s being put to death, none of that matters to them.  It’s only “the show” – superficiality, not substance -- that counts.

But that’s what the cult mentality does to people: it turns them into people who would rather have lavishly embellished lip service and lies than unadorned, unvarnished truth.  Ignoring what really counts, they dwell on the superficial (such as, condemning people for violating “dress codes,” even though they themselves don’t observe them – especially the “privileged elite” at SGG and MHT).  And, like that Pharisee who prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people,” they take the moral high ground, look down their noses at the “Samaritans” around them, and find fault with just about everyone.⁴

The culties of Tradistan, whether they choose to admit it or not, are Pharisees.  They are hypocrites.  And they are wrong.  And, down deep, they know it – but they’re too proud to admit it.  They blot out the truth, and settle for the alluring cosmetics of make-believe Catholicism – because that is more palatable for them than facing up to reality.  “Porn?”  “No problem!”  “Animal torture flicks?”  “No problem!”  “Fornication?”  “No problem!”  “Terri being starved and dehydrated to death?”  “No problem – as long as we get our bell-ringing processions and our annual donkey parade!”  What kind of people, one wonders, can reconcile such things in their minds?  

And what will this kind of "pretending" and denial gain them?  In the end, whom will they hurt but themselves, because “the truth always outs.”  Eventually, they will no longer be able to ignore it (or live with it), and they’ll have to face the obvious truth – and face their Creator as well.  When that day of realization (and reckoning) comes, how much damage will have been done – not just suffered by them at the expense of their cult-masters, but done by them to others as well?⁵   How many other souls will they have endangered by their living in denial (and thus “enabling” the cult-masters)?  When they meet their Maker, Who “can neither deceive nor be deceived,” how will they answer for all their deception and denial?   They had better think about that.

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¹ Yes, many did disapprove, and left SGG -- approximately half the congregation) – but many stayed.  They were made aware of the abuses -- both by word of mouth, and in writing – but they chose either not to believe it, or to ignored it.  If it didn’t happen to them personally, it didn’t “register” with them.  (But that’s the way it is for a lot of people: if it doesn’t actually happen to them, it’s not “real” for them.)  But, that being said, there really was more than enough evidence to convince them. SGG’s biggest benefactor, for one, was convinced – and left.  (See A Tale of Two Letters.)  It only goes to prove that, for those who stayed, no amount of evidence will ever convince them.

² Dannie also refused the sacraments on other occasions -- even to his own parishioners, if they violated his “rules.”  (One such parishioner was the brother of Fr. Ahern.  Dannie refused him communion because he had attended an SSPX chapel while on vacation.)

³ This was the celebrated “Triple Play” Requiem Mass that we reported about some time back in an earlier article.  (Click here for article.) It was actually three Masses – said simultaneously by three different priests – something unprecedented in the history of SGG.  It makes Dannie’s refusal of that couple’s mother all the more hypocritical; but it also makes that couple’s returning to SGG all the more hypocritical as well, especially if they were aware of that former “triple play” funeral -- and they probably were.  But whether they were or not, the duplicity of their action alone is enough to indict them.  If they are not thoroughly ashamed of what they have done, they ought to be.

⁴ One of SGG’s prominent parishioners is fond of saying that this person or that “has problems.”  In a discussion one day about well-known entertainment personalities, he ridiculed the late singer Perry Como, saying that he had “problems.”  Amongst other things, he accused Como of often appearing with female performers who were, by cult-master standards, “inappropriately dressed.”  Funny thing, though: this parishioner’s wife often wore dresses that were “tightly wrapped”; but, since he was a prominent parishioner, the double-standard cult-masters said nothing about it.

As it turns out, Perry Como was a devoutly Catholic man who led an exemplary life.  The seventh of thirteen children, he married his childhood sweetheart, whom he remained with for over 65 years (until her death in 1998).  He never remarried.  In an age when scandal was the norm for popular entertainers (and secret “liaisons” could be easily and discreetly arranged, there was never a hint of it in his case.  And, being one of the most popular (and handsome) personalities of his generation, he was undoubtedly a tempting target for worldly, unscrupulous women – and he could have easily succumbed to such temptation.  But he didn’t.  Instead, he insisted on regularly travelling with a Franciscan priest to make sure that nothing of that sort ever happened. 

Also, he was one of the very few pop entertainers who sang religious (and Catholic) hymns on his “Christmas” shows.  (He typically closed his Christmas shows with Schubert’s Ave Maria or with the hymn O Holy Night.)  Personally, professionally – in fact, in every way – he was a shining example of what a true Catholic gentleman should be.  We wonder if, in similar circumstances (i.e., facing the temptations to which a rich and famous personage is exposed), this parishioner would have led as exemplary a life as Mr. Como did.  We think not. 

But, apparently, Mr. Como did not measure up to this parishioner’s “standards,” just as, in our Lord’s parable, that publican didn’t measure up to the Pharisee’s “standards.”  And (besides that), what makes his slanderous remarks about Mr. Como so hypocritical is that, when he made them, he was simultaneously trying to squelch rumors then circulating about Dannie and Tony.  It was okay for him to slander Mr. Como, but not for anyone else to do the same for Dannie and Tony -- another shining example of the double-standard hypocrisy that pervades SGG.  (But that’s to be expected: he was only emulating his cult-masters’ behavior.) 

⁵ And much damage has been done.  Not only have people’s wallets been drained by the cult-masters; but, more importantly, there has been much spiritual harm done – perhaps irreparable harm – especially to the younger generation.  Many of the culties’ children, for instance, being not so gullible as their parents, have seen through the double-standard hypocrisy of the cult-masters; and they have become disillusioned to the point where they have lost their Faith.  And even for those who (as yet) haven’t, their disillusionment will inevitably come – but it will be greater.