Armchair Theologians

Editor’s Note:  As we did last year around this time, we will be posting weekly (instead of bi-weekly) while Pistrina Liturgica is away.  Then, after their return, we’ll be taking a “hiatus” ourselves.  After our last weekly posting, we’ll let our readers know how long that “hiatus” will be.

Our May 20 article, But What About SSPX and FSSP, got several comments dissenting with our attitude toward both the SSPX and FSSP – and some of which had “links” to websites with derogatory information about them.  We also got comments accusing us of not being knowledgeable about the SSPX and FSSP – especially the FSSP.  One commenter wrote: “Clearly, the author(s) of this blog are not very familiar with most traditionalists and the FSSP in particular.”  Well, that commenter is absolutely right: we don’t have a thorough, in-depth knowledge about the FSSP – nor did we ever profess to have.

But what we can assert is that, until proven otherwise, their Mass and sacraments must be assumed to be valid – and, regardless of how many “links” that the dissenters post to give the impression that the majority of FSSP clergy are liberals and radicals, that is simply not the case.  By and large, these clergy detest what Bergoglio is doing.  And what’s more, most are decent men, not money-grubbing charlatans like the SGG and MHT cult-masters.  Have we personally “checked out” each and every one of them?  Of course not!  (Nor have we personally “checked out” each and every “traddie” priest.)  It is not our business to check out each and every priest to certify whether he is “good” or “bad.”  We only claim that there are good and bad clergy in any camp, and that anyone with normal discernment can sort out which is which.  And if they “check out” okay, then go with them.  It’s as simple as that.

The dissenting commenters who flooded us with their “links” about errant FSSP or SSPX priests would have us believe that they’re all “reprobates” and heretics.  No, that’s not the case – just as showing what charlatans the SGG and MHT cult-masters are does not mean that all traditional clergy are trash.  And, in the same vein, these commenters have no business pronouncing on the validity of any SSPX or FSSP clergy (or any other clergy, for that matter).  To those who questioned the validity of these orders – especially those of the FSSP – let us ask them in return: who among you has the authority to rule on the validity of their orders?  And under whose jurisdiction do you make such a claim? 

The answer to those two questions is: under no one’s authority or jurisdiction – no one, that is, except a pope.  For Traddieland’s “armchair theologians,” let us repeat that: no one except a pope can make such a judgment.  Therefore, until a pope rules that they are invalid, we must assume their orders to be valid.  And, along with that, one must also assume that their sacraments are valid.  And, since none of us is pope, none of us can say that one cannot go to one of their priests for Mass or the sacraments.  These commenters can rant and rave all they want; but their views are only that: their views, i.e., mere opinions, carrying no weight or juridical force whatsoever.   

To these armchair theologians who, like their cult-master idols, try to pass off their private opinions as “articles of faith,” (and who try to force them on the rest of us) we have this to say: keep your opinions to yourselves.  And to these same hair-splitters who dissect every word to find fault and/or to willfully misconstrue everything one says, we also invite them to act with at least equal scrutiny toward their cult-masters heroes.  It is simply amazing how such pious Pecksniffs can ignore hard, factual evidence about bagworms such as Dannie, Tony, and Big Don, yet resort to using conjecture and baseless assertions to denounce and disqualify everyone else.

It is also amazing how all these people who have never experienced being personally victimized by the cult-masters, can rule on the testimony of those who have been victimized. All the “Robert Rawhides” and “Sal Monelas” of the world who crawl out of the woodwork to question everyone else, yet defend Dannie and Tony’s depraved justification of Terri Schiavo’s murder, for example: how can they do that, and still look at themselves in the mirror every day?  How can these men, who call themselves “Catholic,” take such a position – and still call themselves “Catholic”?  What kind of “sick puppies” are they that they can stoop to such irrational rationalizations? 

What’s more, what motivates them?  What kind of contentment or satisfaction do they get out of supporting men such as Dolan, Cekada, and Sanborn?  It must take a special breed of person to support these moral lepers, and to categorically deny the truth about them.  Perhaps if they “sign up” and join one of the cults’ leper colonies and experience firsthand what its previous victims have endured, they might gain some “perspective” – and we heartily invite them to do so.  Perhaps then, if any of their close friends or relatives ends up in the same predicament as Terri Schiavo, they can come to Dannie or Tony for “advice” on how to “cost-effectively” deal with it.

No doubt, for reiterating our position about the SSPX and FSSP, we will get another flurry of dissident “fan mail.”  And, depending on how “disruptive” they are, they’ll either be answered, or go into the “spam” file.  (And, yes, we’ll try to answer them – until they get to the point where they are being disruptive simply for disruption’s sake.)  But one thing that these disruptive efforts prove is that our efforts are working – that they’re having an effect -- and that people’s attitudes about the cult-masters are changing (regarding Schiavo, for instance).²   

People are listening, and steering clear of the cult centers.  They are no longer blindly following these imposters and swallowing their swill.  People are starting to wake up and think for themselves.  The cult centers are dying: their ranks are shrinking, and their coffers are dwindling – and that’s a good thing.  In time, leper colonies like SGG and MHT will be a thing of the past.  We urge all those who are there to wake up as well, and to hurry that process along.  Do what so many others before you have done: start by voting with your pocketbooks; and then, “with your feet”: leave the leper colony!  Either way,

Starve the beast!

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¹ For one thing, one can count on an SSPX or FSSP priest to be better formed, with real moral (and theological) expertise – and someone you can count on to render real moral judgments.  To repeat what we said in our original article, “one gets real Catholic morality, not some counterfeit, make-it-up-as you-go-along claptrap from one of Tradistan’s tinhorn ‘theologians.’  And that’s because their clergy are properly formed, with a real education at a real, accredited seminary – not some janitor-in-training apprenticeship from one of Tradistan’s trade schools.  And, because the SSPX and FSSP are part of the institutional Church – and thus answerable to a hierarchy – they must be fiscally accountable, and not use the collection basket as their own personal bank account, as the answerable-to-nobody cult-masters do.  They will not fleece their sheep for money to go on ‘apostolates’ to posh destinations, nor will they solicit “donations” for questionable ‘improvements.’  In short, they will ‘play by the rules’ – and not make up their own.”

² The email traffic at Pistrina confirms this.  (We at Lay Pulpit are not set up to receive email.)  People who, for instance, heretofore agreed with Phony Tony about Schiavo (or at least remained acquiescently silent about it) are now speaking out; and more and more are sharing stories of their own personal experiences of abuses suffered at the hands of Dannie, Tony, and Big Don.  People’s attitudes are changing, and they are coming to the realization that the cult-masters are nothing more than self-seeking, self-serving hucksters.