By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them: Part 2

Daniel Dolan and Anthony Cekada are, as our last article noted, “in it for the money.”  Everything they say or do is geared towards that. They, in fact, use it as their gauge for success, both in themselves and others.  In his Quidlibet newsletter, for instance, Cekada measured the late Abbot Leonard Giardina’s “success” by how much money he took in.  And in SGG’s bulletin (and web page), readers are inundated with exhortations to donate to this or that “fund-raiser”: SGG’s “building program,” or its on-going “remember us in your will” plea.  There is even a “donate” button dedicated to “support SGG school” – as well as a “Make Automatic Monthly Donation” Subscribe button, with donation “options” ranging from five to five hundred dollars monthly.  Then there are the occasional “novelty” fund-raisers, like “paver stone memorials” – and, of course, the ongoing (futile) efforts to peddle Tony’s literary train wreck, Work of Human Hands.

How does one persuade people to donate to all those “causes”?  How can people fall for any of that?  How can they be so subservient? so compliant?  so gullible?  The answer, unfortunately, is that “trads” are naturally inclined to be that way.  And, because of their disenchantment with the changes of Vatican II, many of them were ready and willing to support anyone who opposed it; and those who “promised to bring back the true Faith” were given almost a “blank check” to do so.  The problem was (and is) that not all those who opposed Vatican II’s changes did so for the right reasons. The opposition, though fairly effective and legitimate at first, gradually split up and fell into disarray, attracting factions with “not-so-lofty” intentions: fortune seekers, opportunists, and – as so often happens in religious movements – assorted fanatics and “loonies.”

Everyone recalls Francis Schukardt, the tyrannical megalomaniac who ran his congregation like a despot. If he was not traddieland’s first to set the pattern for cult behavior, he was certainly its defining example.  At first, he seemed to give the people what they wanted: a return to orthodox Catholicism – or so it seemed.  What he was actually giving them was the appearance of Catholicism: the Latin Mass, the “old” rites and rubrics, elaborate ceremonies, beautiful polyphonic music, etc. (sound familiar?).  But as time went on, he started introducing practices that went beyond that -- and became more and more autocratic, more manipulative, more cult-like.  Women had to dress in almost Amish garb; and everyone was forced to follow ridiculous rules (such as having to walk backwards out of church after Mass).  Besides the dictatorial behavior, there was also his extravagant life-style (sound familiar?).  Also, he was accused by his colleagues of being a pedophile (although the charges were never pursued in court), and was eventually dismissed (for “incompetency”) by his colleagues.  (For more, see Wikipedia link.) 

The damaging thing about Schukardt is that he set the “cult” pattern for others to follow; and follow they did – especially Dannie and Tony.  They (and others) quickly realized that the way to attract and keep followers was to emulate Schukardt’s behavior: get them to join up by offering them “orthodoxy” (or what appears to be orthodoxy) but keep them with cult tactics – an easy enough thing to do, especially with traddies, who already have a tendency for blind obedience to authority.  And that’s just what Dannie and Tony have done.  But along the way, they, like Schukardt, over-stepped their bounds, becoming “mini-popes” – not by proclaiming themselves as popes (as Schukardt did), but by acting as such: forbidding parishioners to attend rival chapels (and denying them the sacraments if they did); dispensing parishioners from abstinence on a Friday if they attended Mass (and withholding it if they didn’t) and proclaiming a Mass “invalid” if one prayed for someone whom they didn’t recognize as pope (the “una cum” nonsense) – as if they had the authority to do all theses things, which they don’t.

The irony of it all is that these “keepers of orthodoxy” have themselves become increasingly heterodox.  In addition to making up their own rules as they go along, they are actually breaking the rules:  Cekada’s Schiavo travesty was probably the clearest, most flagrant example of this; and his lame defense of Dolan’s one-handed “ordination” – in which he misquoted, mistranslated, and misrepresented official papal teaching -- was downright laughable.  And, denying the sacraments to someone simply for attending an “illicit” chapel -- that is not only uncharitable, it is illicit itself  (and mortally sinful).  (Even when not actually forbidding people to attend rival chapels, Dannie and Tony routinely discourage them from doing so, whether they consider the chapel “legitimate” or not – as a recent Pistrina article noted.)

The problem is that this sort of behavior has spread elsewhere: traddieland in general has developed a “we’re the only game in town” mentality, where each group tries to convince its followers that it has the only “valid” clergy, and that its rivals are “flawed” – or even bogus.  One traddie group, for instance, claims that the “Thuc lineage” (anyone ordained by Archbishop Thuc) is invalid, and that people who go to its churches are public sinners (!).  Other rival factions have similar caveats and prohibitions, with much of traddieland degenerating into a quagmire of bickering biddies, all issuing mud-slinging interdicts against one another.  There is little loyalty among traddie clergy – and certainly no unity.  And, as far as “authority” is concerned, the truth is, none of them has the power (or right) to “outlaw” anyone, since they’re all outside the institutional Church (and therefore have no juridical power to do anything).

Another problem with traddieland is that it has no intellectual base.  Many traddie clergy have a very superficial knowledge of the Faith and of basic moral theology (not to mention, poor academic formation in general).  That’s why they know only how to “nit-pick”: condemn people for “wearing inappropriate clothing,” call them “public sinners” for going to “the wrong chapel,” or declare a Mass invalid if one “prays for the wrong pope” -- but can’t apply the correct basic moral theology when dealing with Schiavo or with things like organ transplantation.  Sometimes, they even go so far as to condone immoral behavior outright, as Dolan did when he dismissed watching porn as “boys will be boys.”  As for academics, the only traddie seminaries that approach anywhere near pre-Vatican II levels are those of the SSPX.  “Seminaries” like MHT barely meet high school standards.

The good news, though, is that people are starting to wise up to the hucksters who pass themselves off as “scholars,” or who bill themselves as “the only game in town.”  They’re starting to question why these leaders use such exclusionary tactics (fear, guilt-tripping, etc.) to keep their flocks from scattering, why they so jealously guard their turf, and why they conjure up such bogus reasons to “disqualify” one another.  (After all, UNITY is supposed to be one of the four marks of the Church!)  They’re finally coming to realize that clergy should be “putting out the welcome mat” instead of turning folks away for violating arbitrary “rules” – especially when those “rules” are not articles of Faith.  They’re increasingly tiring of men who are interested only in money or in “empire building” – especially second-rate outfits like SGG and “Big Don’s” Florida puppy mill.

But more “wising up” needs to occur if traddieland is to survive.  What traditional Catholicism sorely needs are honest, principled clergy: good men, who will not sell Terri Schiavo down the river, or compromise their principles for convenience or for material gain -- and who have the academic acumen to really know how to deal with basic moral issues.  What it doesn’t need are fly-by-nighters like Dolan and Cekada who are just floats in a parade: all show, with nothing underneath, or pompous firebrands “Big Don,” whose hell-fire-and-brimstone pulpiteering is only so much flatulence -- and whose “seminary” is indeed a puppy mill churning out incompetent stooges.  Traditional Catholics need to start recognizing such “signs” when they see them – and to steer clear.  To paraphrase that well-known marketplace admonition, “Let the traddie beware.”

By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them: Part 1

Outside its myopic circle, the Dolan-Cekada-Sanborn cabal is pretty much regarded as an intellectual backwater: Flammenwerfer Don’s Brooksville puppy mill cranks out incompetent, simplex simpletons, while Dannie and Tony ply their snake oil on SGG’s street-carnival-and-freak-show crowd, for whom a donkey in a Palm Sunday procession represents a dazzling spectacle, and for whom Tony’s juvenile WHH is “profound stuff” – and who lap up whatever tent-revival crap these two store-front hillbillies throw at them.  They are two small-time hucksters -- consumed with their own self-importance, blinded by their own arrogance, and oblivious to their own ignorance -- whom the rest of traddielnad has long since written off as non-entities.

Not only are their arrogance and ignorance legendary; but their record of misconduct and misdeeds is also well-known (and well-documented) throughout traddieland (and corroborated by scores of individuals, including several traditional clergy).  But the thing that really sets them apart, more than anything else, is their inordinate preoccupation with MONEY – with any form of material gain.  Everything else is subservient to it, and is, in fact, all geared towards that goal: maximizing material gain.  Whether it’s putting on a three-Mass funeral extravaganza for a major donor’s deceased wife, or bad-mouthing some “rival” who is encroaching on their “turf,” or trying to peddle one of Tony’s literary flops, the underlying reason for everything they do is always MONEY.

Back around the turn of the millennium, when SGG conducted its “building campaign” to replace its old facility (in Sharonville, Ohio) with a new one, Dolan and Cekada expected their congregation of less than a hundred families to donate about five million dollars towards the new project – a totally unrealistic sum.  (This figure does not include the land donated beforehand for the new facility – valued at $400,000).  The Sharonville church, by the way, was paid for; but Dolan wanted a new church -- a “sermon in stone” – as well as a new school building to replace the old church’s crowded school, which was housed in its basement.  A new facility might have been justified, if it weren’t for the fact that the old church was perfectly adequate.  As for the “school in the basement,’ a building next door to the church would have provided for a more-than-adequate school (and would have freed up space in the church for expansion) -- and it was available, for less than what the new facility’s land alone was valued.

As it was, the “building campaign” had to be drastically curtailed, even though one family (SGG’s main benefactor at the time) chipped in well over a million dollars (plus donated labor).  Even with that help, the rest of the parish just couldn’t meet the unrealistic goals set by Dolan and Cekada.  The irony was that Dolan never got his “sermon in stone” anyway -- the school’s gymnasium became the “church”; and the school, built much larger than it needed to be, ended up housing only a handful of students -- half of whom were the school principal’s kids.  (In its first ten years of operation, the school graduated only one student outside the principal’s family.)  Almost half the rooms in the school ended up being used to store pack rat Dolan’s surplus junk.

And, although the congregation did not get their “sermon in stone,” Dolan and Cekada did get their three-climate-zone, 2000 sq. ft. rectory (see Extreme Makeover, Brain-dead Edition), plus a “convent” (at least, that’s what the parishioners were told it was) that ended up housing priests, not nuns (there were three nuns: one died, and two left SGG in disgust).  And, of course, Dannie and Tony did not give up La Dolce Vita: gourmet meals at their favorite restaurants, “sabbaticals” to the desert Southwest, and “apostolates” to sunny Latin America (in the winter) and to Europe (in the summer).  And it is interesting to note that, even in today’s “hard times” (their million-dollar main benefactor – along with half the parish -- left SGG in disgust after the 2008-09 school scandals), Dannie still managed to go on two “apostolates” to Latin America this past winter (even though he didn’t have money to pay SGG’s heating bills at the time).

The dynamic duo’s preoccupation with money pervades everything they do; even providing the school was done with that in mind: the school was supposed to be a “drawing card” – to make SGG look like a “full-service” parish, and thus to draw (and keep) parishioners with school-age kids (plus, to provide a retirement nest egg for the school principal and his family, half of whom were either on the school’s or the church’s payroll).**  Now there is nothing wrong with having a school; many traddie churches have schools.  But SGG’s “school” was an afterthought – a sub-standard institution staffed with sub-standard personnel.  (Actually, there were a few who were well qualified -- and most of whom taught for nominal wages (or even gratis); but most of them were dismissed – for having opposed the scandalous events of 2008-09.)

The kinds of things that Dolan and Cekada have done (and still do) should serve as red flags for Catholics who are wanting to know what (and what not) to look for in their clergy: Do they continually exhort their parishioners to “sacrifice” and “offer it up” while they themselves live in luxury?  Are their schools well run (and accredited), or are they just "stage props" thrown together to attract business?  Do they spend an inordinate amount of time (and money) traveling on “church business” – especially to warm climates in the winter and places like Europe in the summer?  Do they “guilt trip” their parishioners about “not giving enough”?  Is MONEY the thing on which they seem to focus all the time?  If your clergy meet or exhibit any of these criteria, then watch out.

Money, to be sure, is the sole reason for Dolan and Cekada's "being in business.”  But how were they able to accumulate their money?  More importantly, how were they able to convince people to give it to them?  The answer is simple: by convincing them that “we’re the only game in town.”  That ploy -- which Dannie and Tony have used quite extensively – is, unfortunately, a tool not only used by them, but one commonly used throughout traddieland. Next to money, it is perhaps the second major “watch-out” for people to consider – and one which we’ll be looking at next.  Stay tuned.

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** The school principal, who was supposedly “fired” after the 2008-09 school scandals, was re-hired within a week – and his newly appointed replacement then inexplicably sacked.  Not only was the principal was retained, but so were his wife and at least one of his daughters (as teachers), even though the daughter was only a high school graduate – of SGG.  Besides that, at least three of their other children were on the church payroll.  As for being rehired (after having been “fired”), the principal is reputed to have said, “They can’t fire me; I know too much.”

They Just Don’t Care

A recent Pistrina article brought out a good point explaining why so many traddies behave the way they do, namely, how so many of them blindly follow self-appointed cult-masters, no matter what.  The Pistrina article, in turn, cited another article (by Michael Dougherty) that recently appeared in The American Conservative, a well-known national publication.  The Dougherty article contended that – because of the “social cross-currents of the last 50 years,” Catholics have come to regard the pope – not the institutional body of the Church itself -- as the Church's defining authority.  The pope has come to be regarded as some sort of saintly “keeper of Catholic orthodoxy” (whether he keeps it or not) whom Catholics can rely on to keep the Faith, no matter how lax or heretical the local clergy might be; and, in the process, he has come to be looked upon as one who can say (or do) no wrong.

But the problem with Bergoglio (and his two predecessors) is that they really haven’t kept Catholic orthodoxy, but have undermined it (or muddled it in a cloud of ambiguity), saying one thing to one group, and another thing to another – much like today’s politicians.  And, because of this, the Church has developed a political party mentality, where Church teaching and doctrine are no longer Divinely-inspired, absolute, immutable truth, but something that can be modified, like a party’s political platform.  And the pope has become the head of that party – its paramount figure – and he has eclipsed the Institution itself.

The Pistrina  article made the point that this mentality – where the person becomes the important thing – has filtered down to traddieland, where cult-masters like Dolan and Cekada have come to emulate the man whom – ironically enough -- they ostensibly oppose. They have set themselves up as mini-popes; and, with a combination of sanctimony, theatrics, and cult-like manipulation, they have passed themselves off as folk heroes to the gullible.  But, whereas Bergoglio’s aim is to destroy orthodoxy (through ambiguity and double-talk) to further his evil spiritual agenda, these hucksters are (supposedly) upholding orthodoxy -- but to further their own material agenda. 

It is ironic that, in an age when Bergoglio et al are trying to undermine the authority of the papacy, hucksters like Dolan and Cekada are trying to assume that authority -- passing themselves off as mini-popes, exercising an “authority” that they neither possess nor deserve: issuing phony missives like “una cum” as if they were official Church doctrine, denying the sacraments to anyone who goes to a chapel that they don’t consider “Catholic,” or declaring that Masses can be offered for the deceased only if they are “traditional”** – as if they had the authority to do all these things.  Meanwhile, on issues that really matter, they are morally bankrupt.  On Schiavo, for instance, they contemptuously disregarded official Church teaching on moral theology -- and with the SGG school scandals, they approvingly condoned sadistic behavior and blatant immorality.

And how (and why) do the “groveling gerties” at SGG justify such actions?  As Pistrina’s article pointed out, many of them know who (and what) Dolan and Cekada are; and they know what went on at the school -- yet they ignore it as if it had never happened, and they continue to eagerly support these lepers who run their cult center.  Why so?  One reason is that their minds were already made up long ago: they are following preconceived notions that were formed while their minds were still “blank sheets” -- sheets which, once “written on,” are hard to erase – even with the truth.

People who have been shown hard evidence about Dolan and Cekada – and who admit it to be true – either ignore that evidence outright, or perhaps temporarily acknowledge it -- responding with a half-hearted “uh huh” -- and then go back to their preconceived “default setting.”  Pride, of course, also has a hand in this: the “not wanting to admit that I was wrong” piece -- and inertia too: people naturally tend to resist change, especially when it requires mea culpa’s on one’s part.  But the real bottom line is that they really don’t care: they have a fantasized notion of Catholicism, and they don’t want it spoiled by unadorned, un-poetic reality.  As long as the two lepers put on “a good show” for them, they’ll go for it – just as their Novus Ordo counterparts have swallowed Papa Pancho’s swill.

Those traddies and Novus Ordites are hung up on the same thing: appearances.  (Indeed, so are many people.)  And we’ll repeat here what we’ve said so many times before: until traddieland rids itself of this mindset, where appearances -- not substance -- are paramount, it will go nowhere.  There are those who contend that these traddies are really “ignorant” of what they're doing – that they’re unaware that what they’re doing is wrong.  And, of course, “ignorance s bliss.”  But that kind of “ignorance” is not of the “innocent” variety; it is of the “expedient” variety.  These traddies aren’t “ignorant” or “unaware.”  They know what they’re doing – and know that what they’re doing is wrong.  They just don’t care.

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**Yes, Dannie stated that only traditional deceased Catholics could have Masses offered for them.  We wonder, then, how the “triple play extravaganza” – the three funeral Masses simultaneously celebrated by three separate priests – could have happened, because the deceased (for whom they were offered) was NOT a traditional Catholic.  In fact, while she was alive, she habitually never attended SGG – and she detested Dolan and Cekada.  Perhaps Dannie will contend that she had a “deathbed reconciliation” and “converted” before she died.  (Given Dannie’s mendacious track record, we have a hard time believing that.)  But, if so, why the triple-Mass extravaganza?  Would it have something to do with the fact that her husband is a major donor at SGG?

New Puritans/Same Old Pharisees

A friend recently experienced in a “traditional” chapel something strikingly similar to what habitually goes on at SGG (St. Gertrude the Great Church, Daniel Dolan’s cult center in West Chester, Ohio) -- things like dress codes, rules governing “conduct,” and other practices that were (and probably still are) “staples” at SGG:  first off (like this traditional chapel), SGG has a strict dress code.  Men and boys are required to wear suits with ties (or dress slacks, jackets, and ties) – and, of course, no “shorts” (and no “sports logo” jackets); and women are required to wear dresses (no slacks or “pants suits”) with hems well below the knees (ankle length is preferred), and some sort of head covering (hat or veil).  At one time, Dannie heavily hinted that women should also wear gloves (but stopped short of making it a requirement).  The women are required, too, to wear dresses with sleeves (the longer the better).  “Sleeveless” dresses are verboten.

Anyone who violates this “code” is forbidden communion, and told to sit in the back, where they can’t be seen (and, in some cases, they’re told to leave the premises altogether).  Even first-time visitors to SGG are subjected to this sort of treatment, and are made to feel as unwelcome as possible.  One wonders that Dannie and Tony don’t require some sort of covering over the crucifix itself; for, according to SGG’s dress code, our Lord is dressed immodestly as He hangs there!

Some of the SGG womenfolk look like they just got in from Amish country -- or Saudi Arabia.  Yet, at the same time, there are some who – if they were “favorites” of Dannie and Tony, could bend (or break) the dress-code rules at will.  Some of the “preferred women,” for example, could get away with wearing tightly-fitting dresses; and one man who was a “major fixture” at SGG habitually showed up in a pullover and “dockers.”  To those who were “important enough,” the rules did not apply.  But God help the “less important” -- the “nobodies” – and especially the occasional itinerants “just passing through” who showed up at SGG (especially “novus ordo” types).  These poor devils were treated like lepers, and, of course, were told not to come to communion if they had not “confessed their sins to a traditional priest’ or had not “followed traditional communion fasting rules.”

Besides the “dress code,” there are other “rules” at SGG, such as the “thou shalt not re-enter the church during the sermon” rule: if a person steps out during the sermon (for example, to use the restroom), he cannot re-enter church until the sermon is over.  This includes moms who have to leave if their babies are crying (a disturbance which His Self-Importancy will not tolerate while he’s talking).  Those mothers cannot re-enter until after the sermon – even though the unheated vestibule is almost at freezing temperatures during the winter.  Another “rule” – at least in the past -- was that children could not use the drinking fountain (in the vestibule) during Mass.  When the SGG school principal’s daughter (a choir member at the time, and whose throat was dry from singing), once tried to use the fountain, he shooed her away, humiliating her in front of everyone.

And, of course, talking (or making any kind of undue “noise”) is strictly forbidden (making too much noise while walking, for instance).  At SGG, even people outside the church building are not supposed to talk while Mass is going on (a former SGG church organist, for instance, who used to take a “smoke break” outdoors during the sermon, was chided by one of SGG’s priests for talking outside; this priest, by the way, was none other than Fr. Saavedra, the moron who skipped the consecration during one of his Masses).  Another time, a woman exiting church after Mass made the mistake of hugging a friend (whom she hadn’t seen in a while) before she reached the vestibule.  She was chided for “inappropriate behavior” (specifically, “turning her back on the Blessed Sacrament”).

And is SGG the only place this sort of nonsense has gone on?  Not really.  In the heyday of Schukardt, the CMRI faithful had to leave church after Mass by walking backwards, because they weren’t allowed to “turn their backs on the Blessed Sacrament”; and every woman in the congregation had to wear her dress down to her ankles (and long sleeves, of course).  Thankfully, this sort of lunacy is no longer enforced.  However, there are traddie chapels where women are still required to look “Amish,’ and where they can’t even whisper to each other while Mass is going on, without being tapped on the shoulder by some self-appointed traddie “policeman.”

Is this Catholicism?  The answer, of course, is a resounding NO.  Granted, the blatant immodesty that is tolerated in many Novus Ordo churches is not Catholicism either – but neither is the other extreme.   What we have in traddieland today is some prudish cult-master’s warped notion of what constitutes “modesty” and “proper behavior.”  This sort of nonsense has no basis in fact.  Catholicism was NOT like this prior to Vatican II.  Yes, immodest dress was not tolerated, but a sleeveless dress was not considered “immodest”; nor, by no means, were ankle-length dresses required -- or even encouraged.  And, although men usually wore suits and ties, they were not considered “improperly dressed” if they didn’t – and they were certainly not denied the sacraments.  As for young boys, suits and ties were NEVER required; and many young boys – especially pre-school aged ones – were often dressed in shorts.

“Professional prudes” like Dolan and Cekada have given today’s traddies the false notion that anything short of covering one’s entire body (excepting face and hands) is “indecent.”  The irony of it all is that Dannie and Tony really don’t care about modesty.  It’s all for show – to give their parishioners the impression that they care.   And the strict rules about conduct are employed simply because they are an effective cult manipulation tool in exacting obedience from people. If he really did care, Dannie wouldn’t have referred to the SGG school principal’s sons’ watching porn on the school computer as “boys will be boys” – and he wouldn’t have tolerated one of those sons’ fornicating with (and impregnating) a fellow student.  (Anywhere else, the boy would have been expelled.)  One wonders if the principal’s sons were wearing “proper attire” while they were watching those porno flicks – or if the girl with whom one of them was fornicating was wearing an ankle-length dress at the time.  Kind of makes the term “dress code” ring shallow, doesn’t it?

Besides the irony, what this really points up is Dolan’s consummate hypocrisy: preaching modesty and chastity, while completely ignoring them in practice.  But that is what Dolan and Cekada have always done: they preach one thing, and practice another.  They can excuse gross immorality on one hand (as long as it’s one of their “favorites” who’s doing it), yet can have a student threshed with a wooden paddle for missing a homework assignment.   They can tell their parishioners to “sacrifice” and “offer it up” during Lent, while Dannie does his “sun and fun thing” in Latin America; and mothers with week-old babies are expected to use an unheated vestibule as a “crying room” in the winter, while the dynamic duo live in comfort in their three-climate-zone rectory (and ask the parishioners to pick up the tab if they can’t pay their heating bills).

Dolan and Cekada certainly represent a worst-case scenario of traddieland (at least, we hope so!) – because they are men without principles or conscience.  But the rest of traddieland does share some common traits with them: like them, trads are usually preoccupied with appearances, and with being “letter-of-the-law.”  When the occasional “Novus Ordo” Catholic shows up at their door, traddies usually look down their noses at them, and treat them like lepers.  Instead of putting out the welcoming mat for these folks, they “turn them off” with their sterile, elitist attitude that is, at best, aloof – and, at worst, hostile.

Things such as “strict dress codes” and the like have little to do with real Catholicism.  Collectively, what they represent is a cruel caricature of Catholicism.  What traddieland lacks is balance: it fights one extreme with another extreme. And it is full of pharisaic hypocrites who think themselves superior to everyone else -- who confuse sanctimony with sanctity, and who are ready to pounce on anyone who violates one of their “protocols,” or who doesn’t measure up to their standards.  And the reason that they behave this way is simple: they lack charity.  They are the perfect example of St. Paul’s “sounding brass” or “tinkling cymbal” –of the Pharisee looking down his nose at the publican or the Samaritan.

Until traddieland rids itself of this mindset, where appearance -- not substance -- is paramount, and where extremism takes the place of common sense, it will go nowhere.  It will fall victim to its own sterility, and it will bear no fruit.  Traddies often think of themselves as the “real Catholics” – but, all too often, they are not.  In too many cases, they are the new Puritans – or, put another way, the same old Pharisees.

Telltale Traddie Traits

The “Traditional Catholic” movement promotes itself as being real Catholicism, the one and only truly Catholic answer to the debacle of Vatican II.  But the joke of it all is that it really isn’t.  First off, it is not one unified movement, but a motley collection of different sects, each with its own agenda, each going off in its own direction, each often trying to outdo its rivals – and each often condemning or disqualifying its rivals on this or that technicality.  The epitome of this cutthroat one-upmanship is, of course, Daniel Dolan and Anthony Cekada, who have set the standard for others to emulate.  And, because the different trad groups are answerable to no hierarchy (and therefore have no one to police them), they often become mini-potentates, developing the following traits that have come to typify the SGG clergy, and others like them:

1.   They’re overly authoritarian.  It is one of those ironies that, the less authority there is in traddieland, the more authoritarian it becomes – especially places like Dolan and Cekada's SGG cult-center.  They pass themselves off as “the only way to salvation” – “the only game in town” – and anyone who disobeys their precepts is denied the sacraments, or “disciplined” in some other way – as if Dannie and Tony were “mini-popes,” whose every utterance is to be treated as if it were “ex cathedra.”

2.    They’re above the law.  They can make (and break) rules at will – rules that apply to everyone else, but (of course) not to them.  If Dannie wants to fill up the church pews on a Friday, he simply decrees that anyone who shows up for Mass that day is dispensed from abstinence (and anyone who doesn’t come is not dispensed).  If Dannie doesn’t want to follow the Lenten fasting and abstinence rules he lays down for everyone else, he simply goes to Latin America, where he can exempt himself from our Gringo rules that don’t apply down there.  And he can make up whatever rites and rubrics he wants, so long as they look “traditional” -- because he knows that the culties probably won’t notice (and wouldn’t dare question him, even if they did).

3.  They really have no principles.  They will compromise (or even abandon) their principles, depending on the circumstances.  If the SGG school principal’s sons watch porn on the school computer, Dannie Dolan simply proclaims that it is a case of “boys will be boys”; or if one of those sons fornicates with (and impregnates) a fellow student, no problem!  But if another student misses his homework, that merits being beaten with a wooden paddle; and if student wears an “inappropriate” headband in church, that is a “mortal sin.”  And, of course, Tony Cekada can justify the starving and dehydrating to death of Terri Schiavo as “her husband’s right.”

4.   They never admit they’re wrong.  It is one of those universal truisms that people will readily believe rumor and hearsay, but not truth.   Truth, as they say, “is an orphan.”  This was never more evident than in the case of the accusations made against Bp. Paul Petko (see articles: Lie No. 1, Lie No. 2, and Lie No. 3), who was falsely (and unjustly) accused of wrongdoing by two men (Markus Ramolla and Thomas Drolskey).  Ramolla, who was pastor of St. Albert the Great Church at the time, convened a “parish meeting” (which Petko was barred from attending); and Petko was given “kangaroo court” justice by these men and by the parish lynch mob they convened (an audio recording, which this writer possesses, captures the whole sordid affair).  Although the accusations against Bp. Petko were later proved to be false, none of those parishioners (nor Droleskey or Ramolla) withdrew their accusations, nor did any of them ever apologize to Petko.  To this day, they all pretend as if the whole thing never happened.

5.   They take the moral high ground.  Because they never admit that they’re wrong (and are therefore “always right’), many traddies invariably take the moral high ground, even when they’re standing on quicksand (which is usually the case).  It’s always “the other guy” who’s wrong: sometimes he’s a “pompous doctor who presumes to pronounce on matters of faith and morals,” or sometimes he’s black-balled for using “inappropriate language” -- like the former SGG parishioners who referred to Dolan’s pack of lies about his deceased father as “bullshit” – and was roundly condemned for it (see A Pristine Example of Hypocrisy).  Like the Pharisee who looks down his nose the publican, they cloak themselves in their faux piety, condemning everyone else.

6.    It’s appearances that matter.  As has been pointed out so many times, it’s “the show” that counts – especially at SGG.  Whether it’s a pontifical pageant with wall-to-wall polyphonic music, or a sumptuous “triple-play” funeral for a rich parishioner's deceased spouse, or a Palm Sunday procession complete with donkey, the glitter of spectacle has always been Dannie Dolan’s modus operandi (as has been his flattery, syrupy sentiment, and all the rest of the saccharine insincerity that he doses out daily to the SGG gullible). 

The examples given in the foregoing have been confined, for the most part, to SGG; and not all of traddieland is so blatantly superficial (and mercenary) as they – but the tendency is there in varying degrees, just the same.  One traddie group, for instance, sanctioned a couple’s child getting a heart transplant – a couple who just happened to be major benefactors of that group.  What good is “being traditional” when one does not respect the sanctity of human life?  Harvesting an organ from a live donor, who is then taken off life-support and left to die, is just as clear a violation of Catholic morality as was the murder of Terri Schiavo.  And even for those traddies who do not partake in such travesties, they seem to tolerate it in those that do.  Who, for instance (save for a precious few), raised an eyebrow at what Cekada said about Schiavo?  This alone should have put the SGG vipers out of business – but it didn’t.

And, as noted earlier, traddies in general have this snobbish notion that they are superior to everyone else – that they are “the elect,” simply because they say all the right words and follow all the right rubrics.  All too often, they have failed to realize that there is more to Catholicism than "dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s."  They have become like the hypocritical Pharisee in the parable, who looks down his nose at the publican or the Samaritan.  The plain truth is that many “Novus Ordo” Catholics and protestants will make it through heaven’s door, while many letter-of-the-law traddies won’t, because of their pride, and their lack of charity, and their failure to be Catholic in deed as well as in word.

And until traddieland stops practicing its superficial brand of Catholicism that follows its letter but ignores its spirit, until it stops its sectarian bickering and in-fighting, and until it rids itself of self-serving, parasitic hucksters like Dolan and Cekada, it will remain a rag-tag pack of aimless renegades, going nowhere in a hurry.  What it needs is some clear direction -- and good men who will get back to putting truly Catholic principles into practice, not just preach them (and certainly not completely ignore them, as Dolan and Cekada have done).  Until it does this, it will not prosper.  It will not survive.

A Trip to Nowhere

In recent weeks, we have been reporting about Daniel Dolan’s winter sojourns to Argentina and Mexico; and we have been speculating that the money spent on these boondoggles could have been put to better use.  Dannie’s laments about the winter heating bills (voiced in his Bishop’s Corner in SGG’s Palm Sunday church bulletin) reinforced our suspicions, and prompted us to comment about the dynamic duo’s preoccupation with money (see Show Me the Money), and about how their relentless appetite for extravagance necessitates the never-ending solicitation of money from their culties.

As it turns out, Dannie’s lament (in Palm Sunday’s Bishop’s Corner) was more than just idle chatter: reliable sources tell us that SGG was in arrears (about $3300) on their heating bills.  But, thanks to beggar Dannie’s whining appeals from the pulpit, some “generous donors” (aka SUCKERS) came forward to erase that deficit.  This, of course, came at a time when Dannie was taking his two unnecessary trips – one to Argentina and one to Mexico.  One wonders why he didn’t just CANCEL those trips, knowing that he was in arrears on the heating bills (and at a time when SGG’s cash-strapped parishioners had their own heating bills to pay).

But Dannie has always wanted to have his cake and eat it too, so it really didn’t matter to him that he was shamelessly begging from the pulpit for that heating money after sunning himself down in warm Argentina and Mexico.  He knew the culties would be good for it, and that they’d bend over and “take it up the tail-pipe” for him (as they always have) – even though many of them had to forego a lot of that heat that they were paying for: the young mothers, for instance, in the vestibule “crying room,” which is kept UNHEATED in the winter.  (There’s provision for heating; it’s just not used).

As long as Dannie and Tony are warm and cozy in their three-climate-zone rectory, what the hell do they care for the culties?  The latter are good for paying the bills, doing the grunt work for “the show,” and keeping their mouths shut.  As Dannie and Tony well know, “culties should be seen and not heard.”  If they’re worked to the nubs during Holy Week, no problem!  Just thank them profusely for their servitude -- showering them with flattery and all the rest of the Dolanesque BS that goes with it – and they’re good for another year!

In fact, what Dannie might want to do is to keep on begging for the culties to foot the heating bills.  That way, Dannie (and perhaps Tony too) could afford to go to Europe this summer on another “apostolate.”  Instead of the heating (or cooling) being paid for out of SGG’s “general operating fund,” it could be “a la carte”:  Do you culties not want to sweat this summer?  Then pay for it!  Do you young mothers want the vestibule heated for your newborn babies this winter?  Then pay for it!  Oh, and how about pay toilets in the vestibule?  If Mother Nature calls, then pay for it!  (And in an unheated vestibule, Mother Nature will call quite often!)  In time, this “a la carte” thing could become an effective generator of revenue -- and the culties would eventually get used to it!

Of course, besides the “studio audience” at SGG, revenue generation can also come from the “cyber culties” out there – the ones who read SGG’s web page.  And the “beauty part” about them is that, not being physically present at SGG, they’re not aware (for instance) of what the shivering young moms are going through in the vestibule.  All they see are the pretty pictures plastered all over SGG’s web page – such as the recent full-color, panoramic view of the altar all decorated for Easter, or the photo from SGG’s Newsletter depicting Dannie parading through a Mexican pueblito, flanked by a half dozen or so struggling campesinos hoisting up a heavy gold-threaded canopy over him to shield his self-importancy from the sun.  But not to worry – the “cyber culties” don’t notice that, but see only “happy, smiling faces,” with “a good time being had by all.”

The fact is, Dannie and Tony can do just about anything -- and create any impression -- that they want.  Being independent (and hence not answerable to any hierarchy -- or church board -- to police them or scrutinize their finances), they literally have a blank check to do anything they choose.  They are the epitome of that all-too-common traddie phenomenon: the tinhorn-turned-mini-pope, who passes himself off as whatever he wants to be: “scholar,” “theologian,” “interpreter of doctrine” – an easy enough thing to pull off, when dealing with the liturgically illiterate.  And with no hierarchy to police him, all one has to do is just hang out his shingle, and start proselytizing.

And don’t worry about “consistency.”  Dannie and Tony can “flip–flop,” saying one time that they’re not “sedevacantist,” and then, at another time, saying that they are (which they did) – and then use their “authority” to deny the sacraments to anyone who goes to a “non-sedevacantist” church (which they did).  They can dispense parishioners from Friday abstinence if they come to Mass that day, or deny dispensation to those who don’t come (which they did).  They can even declare a Mass as “invalid” if the celebrant prays for someone of whom they don’t approve (such as someone whom they don’t recognize as pope).  They can, in fact, make up (and change) whatever rules they want, then (selectively) punish anyone who breaks those rules.  In other words, they can say or do (or spend) just about anything they wish -- and who’s to stop them?

What all this autonomy has bred in them is an air of arrogant, tyrannical self-importance, where they demand absolute fealty from their cultie subjects, who must obey their decrees, accept whatever they spend, and perform whatever tasks they assign.  The SGG cult center now employs a small army of volunteers to help with “the show” -- a workload that has already claimed three sacristans (two nuns and a lay woman) -- and driven one of them to nervous collapse.  And since, again, there’s no hierarchy (or church board) to hold them accountable, Dannie and Tony can say or do whatever they wish – leaving the parishioners with no option but to accept it, or leave (which many have already done).

And, of course, the “mutual adulation society” of Dolan and Cekada hail each other as "ecclesiastical experts”: Tony is the “scholar and theologian,” and Dannie is the “keeper of the liturgy.”  The culties are expected to blindly accept Tony’s bogus logic and fractured, mistranslated Latin, his maniacal moral theology, and his and Dannie’s “make-it-up-as-you-go rites and rubrics – and they do.  With the dumbed down lot at SGG, Dannie and Tony don’t have to “sweat the details”; they can wow them with anything, as long as it “looks traditional” – and the culties accept it as “the real thing” (as one recent Pistrina article and another pointed out).  As they say, “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”

What Dolan and Cekada are doing at SGG is reminiscent of what happened in the Church in the late Middle Ages, where the clergy became a worldly, privileged class who exploited their flocks instead of serving them – abuses that eventually brought on the Protestant Revolt.  Dolan and Cekada are basically doing the same thing – by using the sacraments as weapons, by convincing the gullible that they are “the only game in town,” and by using a combination of flattery and fear tactics to enforce that notion.  By using shibboleths such as “una cum” to determine what is “Catholic,” these renegades -- with no authority whatsoever to do so -- are passing off their private opinions as “articles of faith,” using them as criteria for determining who is allowed to enter church, who is allowed to receive the sacraments, and so on. 

And by ostracizing people whose private opinions clash with theirs, they are splitting up – not uniting – Catholicism.  People who have private opinions on things that are not articles of faith should be able to worship without fear of being disqualified on this or that trumped-up technicality – especially by self-proclaimed, self-appointed “experts” who make and break rules to suit whatever their purpose is at the moment.  And with Dannie and Tony, that purpose is invariably worldly; and their rules are made not to protect the Faith, but to protect their turf.  And until such renegades as they are put out of business, the rudderless ship known as traditional Catholicism will stumble along on its trip to nowhere.

And perhaps “traditional” Catholicism should go nowhere.  Catholicism should not be “qualified” by such adjectives as “traditional”; Catholicism should just be… Catholicism.  And if a person holds, for example, the opinion that Jorge Bergoglio is (or isn’t) a pope, the holding of that opinion should not be used as a criterion for whether or not that person is “Catholic,” or whether or not he can receive the sacraments – especially if the “judging” is being done by some unlettered idiot like Tony Cekada.  So long as articles of faith are not compromised, one should be able to “leave his private opinions at the door,” and worship unencumbered.

In today’s troubled times, what the Church needs are not counterfeits like Dolan and Cekada, who sow dissention and discord, but good (and competent) men who will unite and heal -- men who are selfless, not self-serving; who are spiritual, not worldly; who are truly Catholic in thought and deed (and who don’t misuse and misconstrue God’s word to promote their own worldly agenda).  Until the traddie establishment rids itself of such self-seeking tinhorns as the dynamic duo – and no longer tolerates them -- rudderless traditional Catholicism will remain on its present course – on a trip to nowhere.