The Humble Capuchin: The Artful Dodger's Adventures and Ad Hominems

I apologize for the light blogging. Most blogs are people who use their talents to comment on theology and politics. While I do that here too, I'm really an activist with a blog which means the bulk of my work is done behind the scenes. You'll see a pattern if you read here. When something scandalous is going down and is posted here, the radio silence that follows means what time I have is being devoted to direct contact with the parties, with other Catholics, and disclosing and communicating what is going on to the Nuncio and the Holy See. Articulating our requests/expectations for intervention, etc.

There is a pervasive pattern of responding to scandal in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Chanceries across the USA.

They first try sweetness and flattery. They want you to be their friends. You are so smart, you see, they need you to serve on some committee. Your valuable insights and fidelity will be trumped on every policy because they've stack the committees with people who oppose Church teaching of course, but in the meantime, they've silenced your voice in the public square.

If the complaints are physical or spiritual abuse, they will throw money at you. The money comes piggybacked with a confidentiality agreement to get you to sit down and shut up.

When all tried and true tactics fail, they malign and slander. This is memorialized in the Archdiocese of Boston's public relations campaign in response to complaints of the spiritual abuse of parishioners at St. Cecelia's by Fr. John Unni.

The worst of the statements is here in this Lifesite article:

The spokesman also shot back at criticism of the archdiocese’s handling of the situation from Catholics on the blogosphere.

“I’m not going to let these people attack the Cardinal’s integrity nor his 40 plus years of priesthood,” said Donilon, defending O’Malley’s record defending the unborn and marriage, and calling the attacks “outrageous and disgraceful.”

“This isn’t about defending Catholicism, this is about hurting, defaming, denegrating people, and speaking mistruths, and manipulating words and positions of the cardinal and archdiocese. I think they’re malicious,” said Donilon.

As Judie Brown pointed out here, Catholics who want Church teaching promulgated are quite accustomed to Cardinal O'Malley's character assassinations.

There is no difference between this current situation and the problematic nature of the sale of a string of Catholic hospitals to Cerberus Capital Management with the agreement that the hospitals could easily drop their Catholic credentials with a $25 million payment (payoff) to the archdiocese.

Clarity of Catholic teaching has somehow evaded the Archdiocese of Boston in the wake of its efforts to placate the world and its expectations rather than fostering a spirit of healing to those who are troubled and confused.

The nice, kind, humble, pastoral Capuchin once again uses his media relations to characterize complainants as no good so and so's.

Thank you for writing to me expressing your concerns/prayers. I appreciate them and use them. But I don't want you to ever be concerned that these tactics have (or will) intimidate me. I'm out here as a witness. I'm here to remind them (and you) that my allegiance is to God and the Church He left to serve souls for the benefit of our salvation.

What they say bounces off of me like a flea on a dog that's been treated with frontline.

I have written to Mr. Donilon, the Cardinal, his secretaries, his lawyers, the Nuncio and the CDF and told them, and in no uncertain terms, it is my expectation that they cease and desist from using intimidation tactics by characterizing people this way.

Additionally, I shot a flare across their bow that was quite specific on what kinds of things they are to restrain Fr. Unni vis-a-vis his screwball intimidation and slander tactics. We'll see what happens.


There is an excellent set of ten questions posted at BHE that exposes the fundamentals of the artful dodging the Cardinal is doing to cover up and protect Fr. Unni's long history of spiritual abuse at St. Cecilia's which has been laid out on the internet over the past several weeks.

Rescheduling the timing of a Mass they claim was simply a Mass open to all parishioners is a ridiculous and deceptive ruse. The problem with the Archdiocese is, they have never had the good sense to surrender their lies at the foot of the Cross until they are completely discredited by the truth. The handwriting is on the wall but they are too consumed with their charades to read it and recognize its warning.

There's an art to living a life of lying by omission and the commission of ad hominems when somebody reveals your lies. The Boston Archdiocese is the crown jewel of that kingdom.

We have arrived at this desolate place in Catholic history because priests and prelates deprived a generation of Catholics the deposit of our teachings to avoid conflicts with people offended by them.

Cardinal O'Malley is advancing us from the deprivation to the next stage, overtly misleading the flock with false teaching and maligning, intimidating, slandering Catholics who are publicly exposing the chaos of his misfeasance and malfeasance.

This is an on-going story. Boston bloggers have another story cooking on what the Archdiocese does to people who proclaim Church teaching, so stay tuned.

As promised, here's a spectacular editorial that was published in this week's edition of the Fall River Anchor on the pastor care at St. Cecilia's and the Archdiocese of Boston.

Fr. Landry is a priest who will take any soul on that he feels is derailing. Nevermind the courage to take on a Bishop, *I* have been on his radar more than once in my public ministry. That's what you call valor! His demeanor is forthright. He doesn't just drop a hint, or say what he feels he needs to say as a priest. When you try to defend yourself, he stays in the ring. Goes above and beyond to try to get you to see it. A lover of souls and salvation... and a royal pain when you don't want to hear it. :)

His introductory paragraph summarizes the problem quite well:

The ongoing controversy at St. Cecilia’s Church in Boston over the scheduling, postponing and re-theming of a Mass originally planned to celebrate Boston’s gay “pride month” has brought to the surface issues that extend far beyond the boundaries of one parish or archdiocese. The controversy touches not only on the subject of the pastoral care of the Church toward those with same-sex attractions, but on the much larger matter of the purpose of the Church’s pastoral care to anyone and everyone: Whether the Church, her priests and parishes will faithfully, lovingly and courageously care for people with the fullness of the Gospel; or whether her ministers and ministries — perhaps out of too much fear to give offense, a lack of faith in the teachings of the Church, or a faint-hearted notion of what true love demands — will dilute the Gospel of its saving power by stripping it of the uncomfortable and countercultural teachings that some listeners most need.

Here, he disabuses the artful dodgers of the notion that we can't see what they are doing:

Cardinal O’Malley’s intentions to dissociate the Mass from “gay pride,” however, sadly haven’t succeeded, as many members of the parish and of the media have continued popularly to refer to the Mass as a gay pride Mass. Those who have ceased to draw explicit attention to the connection with gay pride have continued, however, to use coded language — “a welcoming Mass” — to communicate that supporters of the gay agenda do not have to worry about being made to feel uncomfortable at the Mass over the incompatibility of the gay agenda with Church teaching. The expression “welcoming Mass” now being employed to refer to the July 10 liturgy does not mean merely that people will be received with genuine Christian hospitality. Like the expression “welcoming parish” used in various places (such as the 200 “gay friendly” parishes promoted by pro-gay websites), it’s a euphemism that communicates to those who may be living in objective discordance with the teaching of Jesus and the Church —like those engaging in the gay lifestyle, living in irregular marriages, cohabitating, undergoing in-vitro fertilization, or actively supporting the practice of abortion, gay marriage or other practices contrary to the faith — that not only will they never have to hear a peep about any of these unpleasant topics, but very likely neither will they hear anything suggesting the necessity of concrete conversion, confession, and of being in doctrinal, sacramental and moral communion with Christ and his mystical Body the Church in order to receive Jesus worthily in Holy Communion....

Do read this treasure of an editorial in its entirety. Fr. Landry says he'll be writing more on the pastoral conundrum next week which I'll be sure to link here at TTC.

The Cardinal has been given documentation that Fr. Unni has not just been depriving his parishioners of Church teaching to make them feel at ease, he has been leading them to rebel against Church teaching and further, heckle it should it be proclaimed. The Cardinal has clarified that this kind of pastoral care has his 'full confidence' and 'support' and he has referred to Fr. Unni as a great pastor.

Since the Cardinal is not ignorant of Fr. Unni's methods of making people feel comfortable, and since he is aware that every Mass ever said in the history of the Catholic Church in every parish across the planet earth welcomes all parishioners and the wider community, there is no other conclusion to draw but that Cardinal O'Malley is on board making people feel comfortable by not only depriving them, but with training them to rail against Church teaching.

I'll leave you with a beautiful reflection written by St. Gregory of Nyssa to remind you of what is being stolen from our brothers and sisters at St. Cecilia's and other Catholics:

…If you draw from him the thoughts in your mind and the inclinations of your heart, you will show a likeness to Christ, your source and origin, as the gleaming water in a jar resembles the flowing water from which it was obtained.

“For the purity of Christ and the purity that is manifest in our hearts are identical. Christ’s purity, however, is the fountainhead; ours has its source in him and flows out of him. Our life is stamped with the beauty of his thought. The inner and the outer man are harmonized in a kind of music. The mind of Christ is the controlling influence that inspires us to moderation and goodness in our behavior. As I see it, Christian perfection consists in this: sharing the titles which express the meaning of Christ’s name, we bring out this meaning in our minds, our prayers and our way of life.”

Christian Perfection by St. Gregory of Nyssa, Bishop http://divineoffice.org/