(Not So) Masters of Deceit

A recent Pistrina Liturgica article (click here) caught Dannie wrongly attributing “Lurch” (aka, “Fr. McGuire”) as being the author of something written in a recent St. Hughes bulletin, when in fact it was a verbatim repetition of something actually written by someone else -- a priest named Fr. Simon Tugwell.  And in yet another article (click here), Pistrina found Dannie plagiarizing again – this time from a piece written by a man named Paul Anthony Jones.  Afterwards, Pistrina then gave Dannie a chance to mend his ways (and not plagiarize again), warning him not to plagiarize the following Sunday -- but Dannie didn’t heed the warning: that following Sunday, he passed off even more of Mr. Jones’ writing as his own. (Click here for that article.)

But that’s not the first time that Dannie has plagiarized – nor will it be the last.  For instance, here’s another example: in an article in September of 2016 (click here), we mentioned how Dannie quoted a passage from a Dr. Anthony Esolen (concerning the proper running of a school), following that with a statement giving the reader the impression that SGG’s school and Dr. Esolen’s representation of what a school should be were one and the same.  Nothing, of course, could be farther from the truth. 

The other false impression that Dannie’s readers probably got was that this “Dr. Esolen” was “traditional.”  He is not.  Actually, he is affiliated with Providence College, a Novus Ordo institution (which Dannie would otherwise be bad-mouthing).  But Dannie probably figured that none of his Gerties would check up on Dr. Esolen’s “credentials” or affiliation, and hence figured it was safe to “use” Dr. Esolen for his own purposes.

But plagiarizing is just one of the many ways that Dannie “practices to deceive.”  There are others, one of his “favorites” being name-dropping.  A few examples will illustrate:  Once, Dannie mentioned a priest coming to SGG for a “Solemn Mass with Fr. Cekada and myself” – insinuating that this had just happened.  He was, in fact, referring to an event that had taken place twenty-five years prior.  (See Dannie’s Name-Dropping Bird Droppings.)  Dannie wanted to give his readers the impression that he and this priest were “the best of buddies.”  The priest, at one time on friendly terms with Dannie, had long since broken with him -- and now loathes Dannie.¹ 

But perhaps Dannie’s most frequent use of name-dropping is that of invoking the name of Bernie Brueggemann.  (See Name Dropping’s Poster Child.)  Dannie always liked to use his name because Bernie -- at one time SGG’s main benefactor (before he left after the 2009 school scandals) -- is still remembered (and revered) by many at SGG, and hence of good “propaganda value" to Dannie.  Once, after engaging in a bit of “Bergoglio bashing,” Dannie added, “What would Bernie Brueggemann have to say about this?”  And on another occasion, Dannie stated, “In the last year of his life [our emphasis], Bernie more than once expressed his wish to be buried from St. Gertrude the Great. He was buried instead from Immaculate Conception, although he once so opposed this group’s scandalous inception in 1989, as to forbid discussion of the very subject in his home.” 

What Dannie conveniently failed to remember was that Bernie spent “the last year of his life” (and longer than that) NOT at SGG but at another church (St. Albert the Great); so, during that time, he couldn’t possibly have “expressed his wish to be buried from St. Gertrude the Great.” And another thing that Dannie failed to mention was that Bernie actually attended Immaculate Conception Church every First Friday for a good number of years before “the last year of his life”; and he did NOT, as Dannie put it, “forbid discussion of the very subject in his home.”  This was, plainly put, a BALD-FACED LIE.  When Bernie’s son heard what Dannie said, he was IRATE, and responded (in an e-mail) that it was “bulls**t.”  For Dirt-bag Dan to say what he did was not only despicable, but downright STUPID, for Bernie’s entire family could bear witness to it’s being utterly false.  However, that did not deter Dannie from making his false claim, because he probably figured that his gullible Gerties would believe it anyway.

Then, of course, another act of deception (and subterfuge) was Dannie’s abortive attempt to sabotage the ordination of a priest in Lawrence, Massachusetts (mentioned in our last article).  Dannie tried to deceive the people there into believing that the young man to be ordained was “unfit.”  (See Pistrina’s article, A Shut Soul’s Hypocrisy.)  This was not only an act of deception, but one of duplicity and mendacity as well.  And who could forget Dannie’s trying every year to convince everyone that SGG’s altar is “privileged” (because Dannie is a “bishop”).  As Pistrina correctly pointed out in its article, “Altar” Ego, only a lawfully appointed bishop (with a see) can claim a privileged altar – and Dannie doesn’t qualify on either count.

Yet another (embarrassingly stupid) attempt at deception by Dannie was this one, when Dannie wrote in his Bishop’s(?) ‘Corner of Jan. 3, 2016 that some of his affiliate clerics “had crosses* this Christmas”….  Fr. Mardones says Juarez and El Paso had the worst (and first!) snow in many years, shutting down the cities over the weekend.  Bishop Sanborn’s back grew worse after his Michigan trip for Bishop McKenna’s funeral, and he finally had to cancel his Christmas trip to England and the Continent.”  How sad to miss Mass for Christmas, or be laid up and out of action.”  Dannie was insinuating that Fr. Mardones missed Christmas because of the snow (and that Sanborn missed his trip because of back trouble).

The problem, however, with Dannie’s insinuation that Fr. Mardones missed Christmas Mass (because of the snow) is that the snow down in El Paso and Juarez didn’t even start until the afternoon of the day AFTER Christmas.  So, the snow couldn't possibly have caused Fr. Mardones "to miss Mass for Christmas" – making a liar out of Dannie once again.  (Click here for the El Paso newspaper’s account of the snow-storm).²

There are actually many more examples of Dannie’s deception that we could catalog here – but that would make for a prohibitively long article.  However, two more recent examples bear mentioning: SGG’s embarrassingly inaccurate “Ordo 2016” (and 2017), and its equally pathetic “calendar.”  Dannie tried to pass both of them off as “SGG originals” – but both were largely plagiarized copies of other peoples’ efforts.  And even though they were just “copy jobs” – they were still riddled with errors.  It seems that even when they “practices to deceive” by copying someone else’s work, SGG “can’t get it right.”

The truth is, Dannie’s entire tenure at SGG has been one of deception.  Every week, he plies his Gerties with some form of it, trying to convince them that SGG alone is “the real thing” -- and that everyone else isn’t.  In his recent Septuagesima “Corner, for instance (click here), he bad-mouthed everybody from (of course) Bergoglio to Bishop Fellay and the SSPX -- and even blasted Fr. Jenkins and IC, commenting that “Fr. Jenkins has produced a long, rambling and fatally boring video on the old question of the validity of the Thuc consecrations,” then adding, “I presume he’s worried about the number of his faithful who often attend St. Gertrude the Great.”  (Firstly, Dannie, for “fatally boring, try watching one of Tony’s videos!  And secondly, it’s not IC’s folks who are in danger of defecting to SGG, but the opposite – but one can always count on you to misrepresent the facts!)

The fact that deception is a mainstay of Dannie’s “repertoire” should surprise no one, however, for Dannie is Tradistan’s premier and consummate hypocrite; and, after all, deception is what hypocrisy is all about – pretending to be what one is not.  He (and Tony, of course) will continue to “practice to deceive” – except that they’ll be deceiving no one but themselves.  The truth is, his Gerties are seeing through all of this deception -- and the lying and everything else that goes along with it.  Dannie and Tony, who are always representing themselves as Traddieland’s “authorities on everything,” have in fact shown themselves to be nothing more than bungling know-nothings.

So, what say you, Gerties?  We think it’s high time that you stop deceiving yourselves, and -- as Pistrina so aptly put it -- give these imposters the “pink slip” they deserve, and …

Starve the Beast!

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¹ Our article, in fact, prompted one of our readers to write to us and comment “about Dolan’s using the name and reputation of other clergy to garner support for himself by suggesting that they are somehow affiliated with him or supportive of him and his various endeavors, when in fact they are NOT.”  Our correspondent later added, “Now that Dolan is under attack and suffering losses on all sides, he is back to name dropping so people won’t realize how alone he is.”  (For a complete account of what he had to say, click here for our article, Starting to Unravel.)  

² Now one of Dannie’s apologists might argue that it was Sanborn to whom Dannie was referring when he lamented, “How sad to miss Mass for Christmas.”  But, upon inspection, this doesn’t hold up to logic.  As Dannie himself pointed out, it was a Christmas trip (to England) that Big Don missed, not Christmas Mass -- and it was because of back trouble, not snow.  Also, the trip was to be after Christmas anyway; hence, one can only deduce that Dannie was referring to Fr. Mardones – not Big Don -- when he said, “How sad to miss Mass for Christmas.” 

Sentimentality as a Weapon

A recent Pistrina Liturgica article (click here) did an excellent job of pinpointing Dannie’s fawning (and obsessive) preoccupation with “the baby Jesus” and his syrupy, over-the-top sentimentality that goes along with it. Indeed, Dannie gushes forth with lots of “sentimentality.”  It has become Dannie’s trademark modus operandi, just as pedal-to-the-metal hellfire and brimstone has become Big Don’s.  But there’s something macabre and eerie about Dannie’s sentimentality, because one also finds him matter-of-factly “waxing sentimentally” about baby bunnies being dismembered and devoured by feral felines – leading one to think that Dannie’s “sentimentality” is the kind one might expect to find in a chamber of horrors (or perhaps the padded cell in a home for the criminally insane).

Another example of Dannie’s sick sentimentality is – as Pistrina has often pointed out – his “Doctor Jesus” fetish, where he dresses up an infant “doll” in white “doctor duds” (complete with stethoscope), passing off this peculiar ensemble as “Doctor Jesus” (a custom reportedly practiced by Latinos, from whom he borrowed it).  He usually displays the doll by suspending it from the pulpit – dangling quasi-comically (and inappropriately) -- almost as if in effigy.  Perhaps it is an acceptable custom in some Latino cultures; but here in gringo-land, it comes off as somewhat ridiculous – more fawning puerility from Dannie’s disturbed mind.  (We doubt, too, that Latinos display it as haphazardly as Dannie does.)

Yes, Dannie’s “sentimentality” certainly is “sick”; and, as Pistrina also correctly pointed out, it is just a smoke screen to cover up for the SGG cult’s deplorable deficiencies (and its lack of true Catholicism).  Like everything else he does, Dannie’s “sentiment” is all for show.  The truth is, that behind this sentimental veneer, is a cold, calculating mind that is, ironically, totally devoid of any real sentiment or compassion.  His “sentiment” is just a weapon – or, more precisely, a carefully cultivated business strategy -- that he uses to achieve his goals. There’s nothing sincere or “spontaneous” about it.  It’s carefully measured, and he turns it on or off, like a faucet or tap, to suit his purposes.

Witness the episode between him and a recently widowed woman, for instance. When she declined Dannie’s “invitation” (i.e., his “guilt-tripping” attempt at coercion) to have her husband buried from SGG, his demeanor quickly morphed from syrupy sentimentality to cold vituperation.  Even as she was reeling from having just lost her husband, Dannie proceeded to accuse her of being selfish in “denying” her husband a “Catholic burial.”¹ He also told her that he couldn’t attend her husband’s visitation because it was “ecumenically impossible” for him to be in the same room as her son, a Baptist minister (see our article, Hypocrisy’s Poster Child).  This was, in fact, a LIE.  Later, he compounded his lie by telling another SGG parishioner (a friend of the widow’s) that he didn’t attend because he got the date “mixed up.” ²

Of course, the foregoing is not the first instance of Dannie’s lack of any real compassion (not to mention, his lack of veracity).  It was already very much in evidence on Schiavo.  How he and Tony could justify (or even countenance) the murder of Terri Schiavo is simply beyond comprehension.  How could Dannie look on with such disinterested indifference as she was being slowly and methodically starved and dehydrated to death?  What kind of person – one who calls himself “Catholic” -- could even think of doing such a thing?  Where were his “sentimentality” and his compassion then? ³

But perhaps the most prominent (and publicized) example of Dannie’s utter lack of “sentimentality” was the 2009 SGG school scandals.  When the school’s kids were being brutalized by its sadistic principal, Dannie simply ignored the complaints of their irate parents (and ignored their pleas for him to do something about it).  When one woman complained to him, he simply told her that she could, in effect, go somewhere else if she didn’t like it.⁴  And when another complained about the principal’s boys watching porn on the school computer, Dannie – who is always sentimentally cooing about “protecting the innocence of our children” -- responded with his “boys will be boys” comment – not only disdainfully indifferent, but totally flying in the face of Catholic morality.⁵  It was his cold insensitivity about all of this, in fact, that precipitated the mass exodus of people from SGG back then.

Not only is Dannie’s demeanor totally lacking in true sentiment, but it has, more often than not, a scheming, conspiratorial aspect to it.  For instance, when a young man was to be ordained at a chapel in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Dannie clandestinely phoned them in an effort to sabotage the ordination.  (See Pistrina’s article, A Shut Soul’s Hypocrisy.)  Fortunately, the effort failed miserably; but it evoked a response from the ordaining bishop.  And, fortunately for Dannie, that bishop, man of good breeding and discretion that he is, did not expose Dannie as the culprit.  Instead, he graciously spared Dirt-bag Dan by not mentioning his name, saying only that “an ecclesiastic of prominent hierarchy (to whom we offer the charity of not naming although he didn't have it when he formed his evaluations) called a trustworthy priest on the phone, asserting that we would be ordaining a candidate who lacks sufficient formation” -- something, if circumstances were reversed, that no-class, low-life Dannie would NEVER do.⁶  We, however, DID put the finger on Dannie, for he deserves no such anonymity. 

This episode gives valuable insight into Dannie’s psyche, perfectly illustrating his deviousness and his duplicity, and showing the depths to which this weasel will descend to achieve his goals.  It also shows that, under Dannie’s sentimental veneer, there just isn’t any sentiment.  Like everything else he does, his “sentimentality” is not what it appears to be: it is fake; it is counterfeit -- and it is just one more facet (and proof) of his consummate HYPOCRISY.  In reality, Dannie is anything BUT sentimental.  He is a veritable ”Rasputin in shepherd’s clothing” – a cold, scheming Machiavelli, always ready to use whatever means available to further his agenda.  Fortunately for us, however, his sorry attempts at subterfuge are easy to spot; and he always exposes himself as the hapless bungler that he is.

But as long as his gullible Gerties keep falling for it, Dannie will never learn his lesson, and will continue to use his “sentimentality” strategy (along with his other “weapons”).  And we, of course, must thank him for that, because it gives us the opportunity to continue to expose his folly to the world, thus diminishing what little reputation (and credibility) that this bungling buffoon has left – and thereby increasing the chances that his Gerties, at long last, WILL wake up and realize that his “sentimentality,” like everything else he is and does, is a sham, and – ultimately -- that everything he is and does is not Catholic.

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¹ Actually, her husband did get a Catholic burial: Fr. Bernard Hall, when informed of the deceased man’s death by his widow, immediately said a Requiem Mass for him; and, when he attended the man’s visitation (which Dannie refused to attend) he also blessed the man’s body, casket, etc.

² After we reported about Dannie refusing to come to the deceased man’s visitation, Dannie then changed his story and told an SGG parishioner (named “Natalie” – a friend of the man’s widow) that the reason he didn’t come was because (as we stated earlier) “he got the date mixed up.”   The widow, however, said that no such “mix-up” occurred, and that both she and the funeral director gave Dannie the correct information.  Dannie simply LIED to “Natalie,” thinking that this would “put the matter to rest.”  Well, it didn’t, Dannie.  You only “dug yourself a deeper hole.”

³ At the time, Dannie and Tony were “living high on the hog,” frequently going to their favorite gourmet restaurants.  How they could ignore Terri in her death agony is simply beyond belief – especially when considering the fact that even their pet cats (“Caravaggio,” “Puccini,” and “Vivaldi”) enjoyed all the food, water, and “kitty spa” perks their little feline hearts desired, while Terri lay dying a slow, painful death of court-ordered starvation and dehydration.

⁴ The boy’s name was “Andrew”; and when his mother complained to Dannie, his (Dannie’s) exact words were, “So you won’t be sending them back” (because she had other kids in the school too).  (See our article, Well, He Got Schiavo Wrong, But…)  (See also, Litany of Reported Abuses at SGG.)

⁵ When one of the principal’s sons impregnated a female student at SGG’s “school,” Dannie again made light of it.  He said nothing about it, except to later blame the girl involved.  The boy, however, he later feted in an SGG Newsletter article (about his skill at playing the organ) – typical of misogynist Dannie.  And what makes Dannie’s behavior here all the more hypocritical is that he was warned almost a year in advance about the boy’s misbehavior, but Dannie ignored the warning.  (He was warned by one of SGG’s teachers at the time – who was later dismissed from the faculty, then labeled by Dannie and Tony as “mentally unbalanced.”)

⁶ Dannie delights in exposing (and vilifying) anyone whom he perceives as a “rival” or “threat” to him and/or his SGG cult.  Among others, he did so to Fr. Bernard Hall (click here), accusing him of being a “trouble-maker.”  And before Fr. Hall was ordained, and still a teacher at SGG, he was wrongfully fired; then – because he was a foreign national – he was later “anonymously” reported to Homeland Security.  In an extensive article, a former parishioner chronicles all the events leading up to this.  (Click here for article.)

 Dannie also slandered a Fr. Florent Grassigli.  In a letter, dated November 21, 2013, to the Association Saint Pie V de Chambery (in France), Dannie not only attacked Fr. Grassigli for his “”lack of canonical fitness,” but even attacked his parents, by referring to Grassigli as “the son of a Lyonais communist.”  (In that same letter, he also attacked Bps. Slupski and Dymek as being “canonically unfit.”)  (A copy of the letter to which we refer is in our possession, but in “pdf” form.  Since we are not “cyber savvy” enough to make it a hyperlink, we cannot reproduce it here.  However, if one of our readers can find it (and has the capability to hyperlink it), perhaps he or she could send us that “link.”

Tony Cekada has done much the same, including what is perhaps his most despicable attack, an unprovoked hatchet job on the late Abbot Leonard Giardina (click here).  The SGG cult-masters have “slammed” many others besides, including Fr. Jenkins (of Immaculate Conception), and, in the past, the CMRI (although they and CMRI now seem to be more or less “getting along”).  Actually, both SGG and MHT habitually discredit whomever they perceive as being “in their way.”  And if the full truth were known, the “list” would probably be much greater than what we have reported here.