Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

Editor’s Note:  At the request of our readers, we too at Lay Pulpit have taken Pistrina Liturgica’s lead, and are now moderating our readers’ comments. This will spare them wasting their time putting up with some of the repetitive, “off-color” ranting we’ve been getting from a few “crazies” of late.  We wish to repeat Pistrina’s words – that we will tolerate negative comments, as long as they meet reasonable standards of decorum and decency.  Also like Pistrina, we will be monitoring our blog several times a day (as we always do) to make sure that comments are posted punctually.   

In his latest fit of turbo-charged megalomania (and vanity), Big Don Sanborn has created what he calls his “Roman Catholic Institute” – and has, of course, installed himself as its “Superior General.”  The Donster, not content with lording it over his ever-shrinking band of groveling swampland toadies, is now seeking recruits outside the cult-center walls for his new “Institute.”  Fortunately, most folks will see through this subterfuge, and write this off as just the latest in a long line of hare-brained schemes concocted by this deranged despot – but some will actually take him seriously – perhaps because they’re “afraid” to do otherwise.

And that’s what Big Don is all about: fear and intimidation -- his two “pillars of fate.”  He’s a bully.  (Others, to be sure, employ such tactics as well: Dannie, for instance -- albeit in a more subtle, “guilt-tripping” way.)  But, for good old-fashioned, "dyed-in-the-wool" BULLYING, Big Don takes the prize.  No one even comes close to him.  He is Tradistan’s undisputed “High Priest of Humbug”; and, over the years, he has carefully fine-tuned his skullduggery, bullying his way to the top, until he’s got most of the swampland servile shivering in their boots.  But what is it, one may ask, that strikes such fear into people there that they robotically submit -- in almost trance-like obedience -- to this Svengali?  What is it?  Simple: it’s a CULT (as if you didn’t know!).  It’s Jonestown without the Kool-Aid.¹

There are a multitude of supposed “reasons” for their fear, perhaps the biggest being that they’re afraid that “there’s no place else on earth” where they can go to find “salvation” (or “the sacraments”).  But there’s also the fear of “losing their friends” (because some have been “shunned” by their cult-center “friends,” similar to what the Amish do).  Well, regarding that first “fear” (“no salvation outside the cult center”), that is pure BALDERDASH.  Actually, the opposite is true: all too often, there is no salvation inside the cult center – only disillusionment and despair.  And, as they have proved over and over again by their actions, these men are not Catholic, nor do they have anyone’s spiritual welfare in mind.  They’re interested only in themselves and their own material gain (at the expense of others, of course).

And as for that second “fear” -- “what will our ‘friends’ say” -- we must ask, “what friends?”  Anyone who shuns someone for leaving the cult is not a “friend,” but a Pharisee.  To do such a thing is not only uncharitable and un-Christian; it is downright childish.  “Friends” like that are not worth having; they are like the Pharisee who, rejoicing that he was “not like other men,” shunned the publican (or the Samaritan).  The thing to do when this happens is, as St. Paul once said, to “dust off your sandals and move on.”  Find NEW friends.  (After all, that’s what you did when you joined the cult, didn’t you?)  And, guess what?  Your world will not come to an end – and you will actually feel better for having broken free of those “friends.”

Much of this “fear” stems, too, from the notion that the cult-masters still have some kind of “credibility” or “power” left.  THEY DON’T.  By their own words and actions, they have destroyed their reputations, and have forfeited any right to any “respect.”  And, although people in the cults may still be fooled (or intimidated) into thinking that they have that credibility, NO ONE else does.  Nobody in TradWorld (or anywhere else) takes these clowns seriously anymore.  Most trad clergy now realize that Tony’s error-filled defense of one-handed ordination, for instance, is garbage (along with the other examples of his “scholarship” – such as Schiavo -- that are just more of the same humbug).  And they also know that the 2009 school scandals have exposed the cult-masters’ “morality” as bankrupt.  So why are many of those trad clergy still showing these dirt-bags deference – especially when they know the cult-masters’ “track record”?  Why are they not speaking out against these worms?

Is it “Roman Collar Club Syndrome”?  Are they not saying anything because it would be “bad” or “scandalous” for “traditional Cathoilcism”?  Or is it "fear of retribution” from these sleaze bags?  To answer that first fear (the “scandal” that “opening one’s mouth” might cause), one must realize that it is the covering up of wrongdoing (for “appearance’s sake”) – not the exposing of it – that is scandalous.  Covering up the truth has NEVER furthered the cause of good.  On the contrary: it has hindered it – sometimes irreparably.  It only “keeps the sore festering” until such time that the inevitable truth comes out – making that “cover up” all the more embarrassing and harmful.  As “men of the cloth” who are supposed to be “experts” on morality, trad clergy should know this – but all too often, they show themselves to be the “fallible mortals” that many trads mistakenly think them not to be.

And the other fear – the fear of “retribution” -- WHAT retribution?!  These humbugs have no “power” anymore!  They are “paper tigers” who have long since lost any “influence” or “leverage” that they might have once had (if, indeed, they ever had any to begin with).  They are, in fact, now the laughing stock of TradWorld.  And – to repeat – being bullies, they are cowards.  If one stands up to them, they will cower down, like the poltroons they are.  The plain truth is, they can do absolutely nothing to you – so why be “afraid” of them?  And, more importantly, why protect them?

You are not furthering the cause of “traditional Catholicism” by remaining silent.  On the contrary: you are helping to destroy it.  Acquiescence only furthers the cause of the cult-masters – and it not only enables them, but it is makes you their accomplices.  For the most part, it has been we lay people who have (so far) taken the lead in standing up to these predators.  Now it is time for clergy to join in. After all, standing up for truth and justice is - as they say -- “everyone's business.”

Clergymen oftentimes exhort us laymen to “do our part” (and admonish us that “if you don’t, God will judge you”).  (And that’s perfectly okay, because such exhortations are usually legitimate – unlike the cheap “guilt-tripping” that Dannie habitually employs.)  Well, now “the shoe is on the other foot”: clergymen, do your job.  “Do your part” to help put these predators out of business.   Some of you, of course, have “done your job.”  But now it’s time for all to get involved.  Collectively, all of you can “put them out of business.”  Remember, God can judge you too – and, remember too, He holds you to a higher standard. ²

We as laymen will continue to do “our part.”  But the help of the clergy is essential to properly “finish the job” – especially in convincing those poor disillusioned souls at the cult centers (many of whom believe “only what a priest says”).  As clergymen – if you are really interested in furthering the cause of “traditional Catholicism” (vs. “not getting involved,” as so many did on Schiavo) -- you must “do your part.”  And, as clergymen, your duty to do so is even greater. 

There is really nothing to stop you – only “inertia” and/or perhaps some unnamed “fear.”  But, again, there really isn’t anything to fear.   So don’t be “afraid of the big bad wolf.”  “The wolf” is certainly bad, but he’s no longer “big.”  “His “teeth,” so to speak, “have been pulled.”  The cult-masters are certainly no longer a threat to anyone (except perhaps to themselves).  So, don’t be an enabler of these predators.  Don’t be an accomplice.  The souls of many (including your own) may depend upon it.

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¹ One wonders how (otherwise) “normal, intelligent people” (some even college-educated professionals) could allow themselves to be controlled in such a way.  What possesses them to surrender their wills to such a carnival con man as the Flushing Rat (or the “Detroit Door Mouse”)?  And what motivates them (especially older women) to bankroll these thieves during one’s lifetime, and even to forsake their own families – their own would-be heirs -- and sign over all their assets and bequeath their entire estates to these thieves?

As many have written to us and reported, every facet of life at the swampland cult center is dictated, detailed, and choreographed down to the n^th degree – from whom one may have as “friends,” to what kind of clothes one may wear (both at and away from the cult center) – even to one’s conduct -- what one may say and do -- in one’s own home); and, of course, TV sets are forbidden in cult homes (unless it’s one of the “elite” families). 

² Again, this is not to imply that some have not done so.  Many, indeed, have spoken out against people like Dolan, Cekada, and Sanborn.  But there are many who haven’t – many who “have the goods” on them, but who, out of some false sense of “propriety” or desire “not to get involved” – do nothing.  It is these latter to whom our exhortations are directed.