…But We’re Not Holding Our Breath

Anthony Cekada’s comments about Schiavo, when published, sent shock waves throughout the Catholic world.  Many Catholics – “Novus Ordo” and “traddie” alike -- rightfully condemned Tony Baloney’s depraved position justifying Terri Schiavo’s murder.  And at SGG, the reaction was generally the same: most Gerties disapproved of what Phony Tony said.  But, ingrained with a misplaced notion of “respect for the cloth,” they pretty much “looked the other way” and remained silent about it.  Most of them probably figured that “getting the sacraments” outweighed their private concerns, so they said nothing – at least publicly.  The small contingent who did voice their concerns (in private letters to Phony Tony) were arrogantly rebuffed by him.  And, although they may have circulated their letters amongst a few other Gerties, that same misplaced “notion of respect” kept them from voicing their concerns more widely.  For the most part, it all stayed “within SGG’s walls.” ¹

However, many Gerties no doubt made a mental note of what he said.  Then came the 2009 school scandals, which included not only widespread brutalization of students by the school “principal,” but openly immoral behavior by his sons. When one of the school’s teachers complained to Dannie about that immoral behavior (including one of those sons fornicating with a fellow student), the teacher was dismissed (and later slandered by both Dannie and Tony as being “mentally disturbed”).²  News of this “spread like wildfire” throughout SGG’s congregation -- and especially, when the girl got pregnant, it spread amongst SGG’s younger set.  For many Gerties, all of his was the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back.”  (For a more about what went on, click here.)

The immediate impact of these events was that half the parish left in protest. Included among them were many of the families whose children got victimized – including SGG’s main benefactor, Bernie Brueggemann, whose grand nephew was also one of those victimized.³  But, although half the congregation left, many of those who were victimized pretty much “kept it to themselves” – again, because they still harbored some feeling of “respect for the cloth.”  However, a few did voice their concerns (including Bernie). And when they did, they did so with that same “respect for the cloth.”  In each and every case, they gave Dannie, Tony, and the Donster every “benefit of the doubt”; but, in each and every case, they were arrogantly rebuffed by them. 

But now there isn’t any doubt. We now know that these “men of the cloth” deserve no respect whatsoever – first, because they are not really clergy, but, more importantly, because they are evil men.  These maggots have repeatedly ignored the basic precepts of Catholic morality (and the sanctity of human life), they have slandered dozens of innocent people, and they have used the sacraments as “weapons.”  They have also bamboozled the Gerties into paying for an unneeded new facility (that is now prematurely deteriorating, and in continual need of repair), into paying for a “school” that has accomplished nothing except drain the parish’s funds, and into bankrolling the cult-masters’ boondoggle “apostolates.”  Their track record at SGG has been one of continual subterfuge and deception – doing whatever it takes to get what they want – and it’s all been documented and verified.⁴

And the majority of the Gerties still there at SGG know this.  They cannot feign ignorance of what Dannie and Tony have done; and to the degree that they know, there is a corresponding degree of culpability.⁵  So, for them, there is no excuse for staying there and giving these maggots “the benefit of the doubt” – because there is no doubt.  So why do they stay?  Some, as Pistrina Liturgica pointed out in a recent article (click here), have even returned to the cult center after having left.  Why are they there?  They are there because, as PL also pointed out, it’s an addiction: they just can’t do without the pontifical pageantry that Dannie puts on every week, and they don’t care if they have to sacrifice their principles to get it.

In all probability, the Gerties know all about Phony Tony’s position on Schiavo, and they know all about the abuses that occurred in 2009 – but they don’t care, as long as they get their “Show.”  That’s all that matters.  And, as we said before, depending on what degree of knowledge they have, so too is their corresponding degree of culpability.  But for those who once left SGG and then returned, their culpability is even greater: they cannot be given any “benefit of the doubt” whatsoever.  These worms fully knew who and what Dannie and Tony are – and what they have done.  They have absolutely no excuse.  

They are perhaps even more culpable than Dannie or Tony themselves. After all, those two maggots can’t help doing what they do; they have a vested interest in engaging in their predatory practices, because that is their “business model”: it puts money in their pockets.  But those “returnees” have no such material stake – nor do they have a spiritual one, because, as PL pointed out, they have plenty of options for “getting the sacraments” elsewhere.  They lost nothing by leaving SGG, and they gained nothing by returning.  So why have they returned?  There is certainly no rational reason.  So, for them to return to SGG – knowing full well what Dannie and Tony are -- makes them an even lower form of scum than those two.

This indeed is unfortunate.  But the “good news” is that these brain-dead are, by and large, older people.  And as they die off, the younger people – who are not so gullible (and spineless) as they -- are not coming in their stead.  Attrition will take care of the problem.  (Just recently, in fact, Dannie alluded to this, wistfully recalling the large crowds at SGG in the past, and then lamenting, “Those who once attended are dead.”  (And, on another occasion, he lamented,“Sad. The dead are gone, the devout grow older and can’t come, and no one takes their place anymore, although the memory of their example reproaches us.”)  So, as time inexorably marches on, Dannie’s “demographics” problem will only get worse.

And the reason that the younger are not so gullible as their parents is that (as we’ve mentioned more than once) it was they, the younger Gerties, who in 2009 really saw what was going on at SGG. They witnessed first-hand all the abuse and the immorality, and how Dannie condoned it -- and they saw through the sheer hypocrisy of it all.  (We might also add that they saw through Schaivo as well,)⁶  They, more than any others, realized that Dannie’s “Show” is just that – for show – and that behind its façade, there’s nothing: no Catholic morality, no Catholic principles – no real Catholicism at all.  It’s all fake.  It’s all a farce.  And they weren’t buying it.⁷

So, perhaps the real “solution” at SGG is the demographic shift now going on.  We can certainly hope that those older folks do someday “see the light” before they die.   But, if they didn’t see it after Schiavo (or in 2009), how can one realistically expect that they will now? What magnitude of “eye-opener” will it take to make them “see the light”?  We, of course, hope and pray that they do see the light, for their own wellbeing -- both material and spiritual.  But making that happen is a tall order.  One can lead a horse to water – but if that horse is “brain-dead,” how can it discern water from “Cult Kool-Aid”?  Again, we can certainly hope that those folks wake up and “see the light” – but we’re not holding our breath. 

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¹ The correspondence between one of the parishioners and Cekada did eventually get put on a website (click here.), but it never got the “press” that Tony’s comments got.  (Tony’s original “position paper” was included as an “insert” in one of SGG’s Sunday bulletins.  Negative comments from disgruntled parishioners were discreetly “kept out of sight.”) 

² The teacher, by the way, was absolutely right about that (and other things): the girl soon afterwards got pregnant.  The vilification campaign against that teacher continued on a regular basis.  In addition to the “mentally disturbed” lies told about him, he was said to be a “slacker” and a “failure”; and then false rumors began being circulated about him (including one that he was carrying an AK47 rifle, and was going to terrorize an SGG “parish picnic” one year!).  Far from being a “slacker,” the man is a hard worker, has a good job, and is now happily married and living in Florida.

 ³ Shortly after he left, Bernie received a letter from Donald Sanborn (whom Dannie had informed of Bernie’s leaving), arrogantly (and wrongfully) rebuffing him for leaving SGG. Bernie then replied, firmly setting Big Don straight with the truth – but with much more respect than Bombastic Don accorded him.  ((See A Tale of Two Letters.)

⁴ Much of the verification is from independent sources (that is, sources connected with neither us or the cults), or from the testimony of people whose reputations are beyond reproach (such as Bernie Brueggemann), and/or from multiple eyewitnesses (for instance, the dozens who witnessed the widespread victimization that occurred in 2009).  And, of course, much of our corroboration comes from Dannie’s or Tony’sown lips.  (Dannie and Tony routinely indict themselves with their own words. In fact, on at least one occasion, they even managed to contradict each other.)

Dannie’s and Tony’s (and Big Don’s) “corroboration,” on the other hand, comes from them “blowing their own horns,” or from them singing one another’s praises.  And in every case, it’s gross misrepresentation.   

⁵ Some of the people who are still there at SGG were close friends of those who were victimized (or, in several cases, even witnessed the victimization themselves); yet they chose to disregard their friends’ testimony, and remained at the cult center.  “The Show” was more important to them than the truth.

⁶ The “younger set” back then included a girl, Maria Duff, who suffered from a severe heart defect.  And, in addition to being fed through a tube (as Terri was), she was also confined to a wheelchair -- and was on a heart monitor, a respirator, and oxygen as well.  She, unlike Terri, was truly on “life support” (as Tony falsely intimated that Terri was) – yet, unlike Tony, her parents did the truly Catholic thing, i.e., they respected the sanctity of her life, and lovingly cared for her.  They didn’t “pull the plug” on her, as Tony would have done.  The other kids saw this – and thus saw through Tony’s hypocrisy as well. 

⁷ Back in 2009, the brutalization going on at the school was common knowledge amongst the younger set -- as was the watching of porn and animal torture videos on the school computer.  (The principal’s” sons were not very discreet about their activities back then.)  And, of course, when one of them got a girl pregnant, that news spread like wildfire.  The younger set quickly spread word throughout their “grapevine” – and, unlike their obsequious, blindly obedient parents, they easily saw through Dannie’s obvious hypocrisy in “playing holy” while ignoring all of this, and they wisely rejected Dannie’s bogus brand of “Catholicism.”