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.