Dannie’s in Trouble – and He Knows It

In SGG’s January 28, 2018 bulletin (click here), Dannie Dolan’s ’Corner had all the usual “ingredients”: syrupy sanctimony, “name-dropping” – and even more gory anecdotes about his (and Big Don’s) cats.  But the salient theme was -- as it often is – guilt-tripping.  Of course, Dannie tried to be “subtle” about it; but the guilt-tripping message came through loud and clear (and it wasn’t all that “subtle”).  In fact, it wasn’t subtle at all (and even had an added note of sarcasm to it).

Dannie started off by wistfully recalling SGG’s “Friday night Lenten sermons back in the palmy years of the 80’s. Sermons ran as long as 45 minutes, and the darkened church was well filled!  Anybody remember?”  [Yes, Dannie, we do remember: those interminably long sermons (during which the Gerties had to keep their little ones from crying, and/or squirming in their seats, lest it “offend” you) – and we remember the dimmed lights, the affected, hushed whispering, and all the other histrionics you ginned up to enhance “the Show.”  It all sounded so splendid, and it “packed the house” (and kept them spellbound) -- for a while.]

Dannie then added, “Well, those days are done. Many souls, well fed, have departed to the Everlasting Banquet. But we still have our Sunday Masses, and some Sundays the Mass is well filled.”  [Our bold emphasis.]  Then, as if to reassure himself that things would get better, Dannie added, “Of course, we still do have Friday evening Stations…” after which he then added, “Today’s purple tells us it is planning time for Lent. What will we give up, what will we do ‘extra?’” [The “we,” in this case, are the Gerties, who, Dannie is hinting, must -- come Lent -- make sure that SGG’s pews are “well-filled.”]

But then, with his next dose of guilt-tripping, Dannie decided to embellish it with something extra.  Dannie started off with this: “I’ve only heard from one or two souls about a good daily Mass time. One individual said he wouldn’t be attending but that 7 AM would be the best time. How about you?”  But then came this fitting exclamation point on his guilt-tripping:  “What would be the best Mass time for you not to attend?”  “Not to attend?”  Wow, that bit of sarcasm was the “icing on the cake”!  [Careful, Dannie!  Through your cheesy smile, your fangs are showing!]

Recovering somewhat after that acerbic post-script, Dannie -- after regaling his Gerties with another one of his tasteless “cat stories” (this time, involving Sanborn, with whom Dannie is trying to give us the impression that he is a “bosom buddy”)² – Dannie continued with one last bit of guilt-tripping by (not-so-subtly) hinting that the Gerties come on Candlemas for “Winter Soup Supper, and All Night Adoration,” adding, “You will not want to miss any of it, I am sure. We would miss you if you did.  In the meantime, we’ll get started on taking down the Christmas decorations. You could help, maybe. But don’t miss Friday Mass! Our Lord would miss you.”   Wow!  The Gerties are not only being guilt-tripped into “taking down the Christmas decorations,” but coming to Friday Mass and All Night Adoration too.  Otherwise, it’s not only a case of “we would miss you,” but “Our Lord would miss you” as well.  [Wow!  A “double-whammy” guilt-tripping!  It doesn’t get any more “emphatic” than that!]

Well, Dannie, “don’t hold your breath” for the Gerties to come flocking back.  That bit of sarcasm before -- “What would be the best Mass time for you not to attend?” – turned out to be a Freudian slip: the Gerties indeed aren’t attending!  And do you now why, Dannie? They aren’t because, since then, they’ve been finding out the truth about you, and that all your theatrical whispering and lighting effects are just that: theater – just part of “the Show” – an act put on by an imposter who is the exact antithesis of all those sweet, pious words that you so melodramatically whispered out in those sermons. 

Since then, Dannie, they’ve witnessed the litany of scandalous events of 2009: how you ignored – actually, condoned -- the abuses at the school, and how you rebuffed those parents who came to you with their grievances (even Bernie Brueggemann, your main benefactor, whose grand nephew was so maliciously treated by “the principal”).  They saw how you also ignored what “the principal’s” sons did – a school girl impregnated, and the watching of porn on the school computer – and you wrote it all off as “boys will be boys.”  They’ve since found out how you treated Bernie Brueggemann – your main benefactor – and tried to guilt-trip him into returning to SGG after he had left in disgust.  (And, too, many of them recall Schiavo -- and how you and Tony actually condoned that travesty.)¹   And, adding all of this up, Dannie, they now realize that all of those nostalgic Friday night Lenten sermons that you want them to recall ere just so much empty rhetoric, that now rings hollow in their ears.  They now realize that, again, it was all just part of “the Show.”

For the past several months – for the past several years, in fact – Dannie has been whining about attendance at “the Show” being down.  And as time goes by, Dannie’s whining has become more strident and shrill -- and desperate.  Just recently, Dannie again invoked another one of his phony “dispensations” (from abstinence) to get his Gerties to come to “the Show” on Friday.  And whether it fills the pews or not, it is (as Pistrina noted – click here), proof that Dannie has had to resort to bribery to get his Gerties to come – and is, as we’ve just noted, a sign that he is getting desperate.

That Freudian slip of Dannie’s that we mentioned earlier -- “What would be the best Mass time for you not to attend?” -- was perhaps even more “telling” than anything else, because – besides being a sign of Dannie’s obvious frustration -- it is a telltale admission by Dannie that the Gerties are indeed tiring of his “show” – that he’s losing his grip on them.  (That “individual [who] said he wouldn’t be attending” was telling Dannie, in effect, “I really don’t care what time it is; I’m not coming anyway.”  And the diminished crowds at “the show” are a reinforcing confirmation that this indeed is the case.)³ 

We also feel that the Gerties are finally starting to realize what real Catholicism is all about: that it’s not about – as with that Pharisee in Our Lord’s parable -- “saying all the right prayers” (aka, “coming to ‘the show”), but about “doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  And perhaps they are also finally realizing that the way Dannie has been “doing unto others” is NOT what Our Lord intended.  And -- that being the case -- why then, Gerties, do you support such a leper?  Why go to the cult center out of “convenience” (or because of some “technicality” that Dannie invents to disqualify others), or out of the (false) notion that SGG is “the only game in town”?

Do not enable this predator, and in doing so, become his accomplice – which gives you a share in moral responsibility for those he victimizes.  Don’t let that continue to happen – to them or to you.  Get out now – and don’t let your “inertia” or your pride stand in the way.  Just get out.  But, for those of you who can’t yet find the courage to do that, you can at least stop supporting the mitered maggot.  You can…

Starve the Beast!

___________________________

¹ No doubt, too, they’ve been exposed to at least some of what they've heard from fellow (and former) SGG parishioners, and what blogs such as PL (and ours) have reported – either by reading us directly, or, more probably, by “word-of-mouth” from former SGG parishioners (which, in this latter case, represents independent corroboration of what we say).  And coupling that with what they have observed or discovered by themselves, all of this is starting to “sink in” for them.

² And tasteless it was: “Bishop Sanborn and I were trading cat stories. In my absence, Fr. Cekada was feeding ours. An over-enthusiastic Caravaggio (he does enjoy his dinner) suddenly body blocked Fr. Cekada, and cat food was spilled all down the front of Father’s new Polish cassock. Bishop Sanborn was awakened recently by munching noises under his bed. The cat had deposited a finch there and was eagerly consuming the little bird, bones and all.  [Our italics.]  Wow, what a nice, depraved touch -- and just before mentioning the Candlemas “Winter Soup Supper”!  What an appetizing “lead-in” for the “supper”! 

For that “supper,” by the way, the Gerties had to bring their own soup -- another way for Dannie and his indolent “clergy” to enjoy yet another freebie.  (That’s a common practice of Dannie’s: many of the “celebrations” that he has are “B.Y.O.” – “Bring Your Own” – affairs, where the Gerties must supply the goodies.)  It’s like inviting someone to dinner – and then asking them to pick up the tab.

³ Upon further reflection, one might also add that it was actually stupid of Dannie to mention this, because it is public confirmation on his part as well.  And mention it he does.  Just last week in his 'Corner, he started off by stating, "Like last week's rain you came in dribs and drabs all day, rather than a downpour."  (Dannie just can't seem to stop guilt-tripping, can he?!)