The Tenth Crusade
Friday, August 30, 2013
Do we need Fr. Longenecker?
Until now, I have kept quiet on the self-appointed celebrity priest Fr. Longenecker. However, today I read this piece where he 'exposes' Michael Voris, whom he disparagingly calls a 'self-appointed prophet'.
It's not necessarily a bad thing to hold people accountable, however there are serious problems with the way Fr. Longenecker made his criticism and I must be blunt!
First of all, he asks 'what status does Voris have as a Catholic watchdog' and 'who appointed him as policeman for Catholic apostolates'.
If I didn't know any better, I'd think Fr. Longenecker was ignorant of the credentials of Baptism. Baptism gives any and every Catholic the standing to carry out any and every action codified in Canon Law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Since he isn't ignorant, it's hard not to conclude he is willfully and deliberately marginalizing the fiat and power of the Sacrament of Baptism.
The Catholic Church has canonized lay people who corrected the errors of misguided Catholics and apostates.
Fr. Longenecker then asks 'whether the financial situation of Al Kresta and Catholic Answers is any of Voris' business'
Actually, yes.
The point of the video was to point out the fact that people who earn a living reporting Catholic news are turning a blind eye to episcopal and presbyteral corruption.
I like Al Kresta and all - but he DOES coverup corruption by refusing to report the corruption. I Like Carl too, but it's pretty clear he's let his apostolate be used to tarnish and attack faithful Catholics in who attend the Latin Mass. I don't read Catholic Answers, but it's clear he's insulted a number of faithful Catholics who are now shunning his apostolate. He is now reaping the consequences.
Voris is 100% right on the money. No pun intended!
Just like the mainstream media isn't covering the ethnic cleansing of Catholics - just like the mainstream media didn't cover what was going on in Auschwitz and every other concentration camp -- just like the mainstream media did not cover what actually took place in Benghazi or in the Obama administration -- Al Kresta is a player in the Catholic journalist blackout of corruption. So isn't Carl. The National Catholic Reporter, EWTN - etc., etc.
If one is 'taking money' for reporting Catholic news, one has the duty to be impartial and report the facts, irrespective of the identity of a person. If a whistleblower comes and reports corruption and has the facts to back it up, if the corrupt person is a priest or bishop and they bury the story, they are an accessory to the damage being done. Their silence is an intentional act to protect a person who is harming other people.
It has been going on for a very long time. It has in the past caused Catholics their salvation and sometimes, even their very lives. Catholic journalists do not give a damn about it or they do but the cash cow they have going for themselves is more important to them than the lives and souls of their brothers and sisters.
It's a tough and embarrassing thing to face and say but it is the truth.
Consequently, the fact that Catholic journalists take money for reporting Catholic news is a perfectly reasonable fact -- and I would argue necessary - in reporting the craven and selfish practice of covering up corruption.
Fr. Longenecker then states he learned things as a protestant.
A word to the wise.
Fugghetttabout the stuff you learned as a protestant. The man you knew with the bulldozer who quietly tithed is irrelevant. I'll say it again: The moral of Voris' story is about Catholic journalists who take money to report Catholic news and then protect corrupt people with their silence.
Nobody cares where their royalties are coming from. Nobody is saying they shouldn't get a fair wage.
Fr. Longenecker makes good use of his emotions to build straw men and distractions.
Again: The fact that they earn lots of money to report Catholic news and then refuse to report corruption -- that is something reasonable and impartial people get disgusted about.
It is a wrong and righteous people try to right it.
Then there is folks like Fr. Longenecker who try to undermine and discredit the people who are reporting corruption.
Most people don't want to be discredited or shunned by a priest or a bishop or the entire USCCB!
This kind of conduct wields it's own power. They used same weapon used against people who knew priests were raping children.
There are relatively few people in this world who will choose to serve Christ no matter what the price. It's clear, at least to me, that Fr. Longenecker knows he isn't one of them and is lashing out at a person who is.
I see what he is doing and it is pathetic.
The next problem with Fr. Longenecker is that he contradicts scripture.
First, he mischaracterizes the content of Voris' video to do a character assassination. Check the section where Scripture describes the content on the Tablet Moses carried down from the mountain.
Next, he questions whether Voris sat down with Keating and Al to talk about their covering up corruption.
Is he serious?
How about the fifteen years we have approached Catholic journalists with the goods on the corruption?
Is fifteen years worth of trying good enough?
You know what whistelblowers got in return from folks in the Catholic Church like Fr. Longenecker?
Even when a bishop goes so far as to hire subcontractors to kill unborn children and force Catholic doctors, nurses and pharmacists to go along with the murders whilst he sits at arms length from it all in the peace and quiet of his rectory?
Cover ups and character assassinations, bullying, threats and intimidation.
It's fair to say we have given up on Catholic journalists who run the spin machine for corrupt priests and bishops. We have found our own ways of doing God's work.
I'll tell you something else. You know what got this crowd crazy about Boston Catholic Insider? They couldn't retaliate. They couldn't slander. They couldn't bully and threaten and intimidate. They couldn't damage and hurt the whistleblowers. It drives them absolutely wild. They can't execute retaliation.
What kind of a priest has convictions about 'lunatics' and 'loons'. Is that how he attracts people who are scandalized and hurt back to the Church?
Moreover, a man wearing a roman collar who tries to claim the moral superiority of keeping gripes private because that's what scripture tells him to do, then proceeds to violate it himself, doesn't have very much credibility.
Father also tries to use sedevacanists to slander people who attend Latin Masses in complete communion with Christ's Church - "if they are not careful" they're next.
Quite the screed.
But whatever you do, don't jump to conclusions.
Fr. Longenecker doesn't want to be misunderstood as not liking Michael Voris.
Heavens no. Why that would be preposterous.
Father said it is just that Michael has the kind of personality that is never happy. Voris is the kind of person who is always looking for an enemy. Voris is insecure and paranoid and thinks "everyone" is a heretic and apostate. He thinks he's so good, all smug and warm in his own little group attacking his next enemy in his smug little self-righteousness. He's a sicko that one.
One last thing: Fr. Longenecker's ending is page right out of Mark Shea's phony attempts at humility.
He's a sicko himself dontcha know. He's sought to remove the speck out of Voris' eye before his own and for this he repents unconditionally.
Does he actually think we don't know that any sincerity in that statement would have caused him not to publish this piece of trash?
Voris' excellent rebuttal HERE.
Cyril's excellent commentary HERE
Janet's HERE.
Connecticut Catholic Corner HERE.
The Connecticut Catholic Corner notes something else: What kind of a priest would author a piece on the intranet naming a faithful Catholic in good standing saying the person is not needed in the Catholic Church?
If Fr. Longenecker was trying to assist Catholic Answers fundraising efforts, it has backfired on him, here's another post at Ars Orandi that is disgusted with him.
David Werling gives Fr. Longenecker the benefit of the doubt that he just didn't comprehend what Voris was saying. It is charitable, but I don't buy into that at all.
Fr. Longenecker's piece is so riddled with mischaracterizations, it is impossible to believe it is a good-faith misunderstanding.
Werling points out the obvious purpose of Fr. Longenecker's malicious piece: He has the pins for the Latin Rite community.
As I point out above, it is that and more. Fr. Longenecker has chosen his cash cow over being an impartial Catholic journalist who reports the truth and own selfish motives have driven him to envy those who put Christ and His Church above anybody and everything.
Werling writes to Fr. Longenecker: Your moral, ecclesial and theological credibility is nil among traditionalists.
It's bigger than that. He has lost his credibility with anyone who loves justice and truth.
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35 comments:
Well, the prophets of old Israel were independent of the system and they got stoned. Christ Himself pointed this out to the in-crowd. And, I for one, need the prophetic, sometimes strident voices for my own soul, my own complacency.
Go, Michael!
Great response to Fr. Longenecker! Thanks!
Voris is really drawing a line in the sand that will make it easier for us lay Catholics to discern the goats from the sheep.
I wasn't online last night so I'm playing catch up. As I told Dr. Jay many days ago, "Wait until the Patheos crowd sees MV"s video" (I still have to go watch the newest one.)
I think Connecticut Catholic really nailed it - as have you. I particularly liked CC's timeline.
I happened to see Kathy Schiffer's bleg for CA when it only had 9 comments - all of which were negative. I mentioned to my husband at breakfast that I'm sure she was gobsmacked by the reception her plea was eliciting.
I never heard the CA show bashing trads and could care less what they said, but it obviously ticked off a bunch of people. It's been years since I've even been to CA.
Here's the real point - for me, at least: I get what they (CA) may be saying about the really radical trads. Yes, they do exist, but are such a small little group that to even speak about them is a waste of oxygen.
On the other hand, the present day institutional Church is turning a blind eye to most of the shenanigans going on. They absolutely refuse to acknowledge the Marxist influences that crept into the Church many generations ago.
If you step back and look at the larger picture of what is going on politically and link it up with what is happening in the Church it becomes much more clear.
When you try to present incontrovertible proof of these things the Patheos crowd and their sycophants immediately label you a conspiracy theorist or poke fun and ask where your tinfoil hat is.
Saul Alinsky would be proud...
Whew! What a week! All one needs to do is look for the Truth. Thank you, Carol, for speaking it. Lots to digest here.
Isn't Longenecker in league with that other trad-basher Fr. Newman of Greenville?
Keep these words in mind from Augustine:
It is a perversion for people to want to enjoy money, but merely to make use of God. Such people do not spend money for the sake of God but worship God for the sake of money.
City of God, Book XI, chapter 26
http://www.culturewars.com/1998/Hahn.htm
Isn't Longenecker in league with that other trad-basher Fr. Newman of Greenville?
Keep these words in mind from Augustine:
It is a perversion for people to want to enjoy money, but merely to make use of God. Such people do not spend money for the sake of God but worship God for the sake of money.
City of God, Book XI, chapter 26
Did any of you EVEN listen to the CA radio show? They NEVER insulted traditonal Catholics or The Latin Mass,NOT ONCE ! This gossiping has gooten way out of hand. Everyone needs to go to confession and STOP playing int ot he devil's hands. GEEEEEEZ !
Anonymous, As I have stated above, I don't frequent CA and consequently have no first-hand knowledge.
This much I do know:
It seems that an overwhelming number of Catholics who attend the Latin Rite have formed the opinion that whatever was and is said and done or not done reveals the same contempt Fr. Longenecker and the other clowns at Patheos have exhibited over the past few years.
Furthermore - and maybe more important to me as far as I am concerned - the use of the word 'trad' is much like the use of the 'n' word or referring to gays as sodomites - it reveals the contempt of the person using it.
The use of the word 'trad', accompanied by the screeds filled with conjecture that Catholics who attend the Latin rite are angry anti-Semites - etc., tells me everything I need to know about the underlying motives of the person opining.
These people are Catholics in good standing who strive to respect the Sacraments and the tools of salvation and they do whatever they can to stop people who teach errors and mislead souls.
After watching their shtick for years, every time they pull something like this, it comes across to me as the same malicious cult that bullied mothers of children who were being raped. If you dare to try to stop Catholics who are hurting other Catholics - this is what you get.
What Carl Keating is now realizing is, when they do it, they are not just offending Catholics who attend the Latin Rite.
They are offending every Catholic who knows they are bullying people to cover up and protect people who are hurting other people - and that is most of us.
And, by the by, the fact that Longenecker and the other thugs at Patheos pulled their most recent stunt on the Feast of St. John the Baptist does not go unnoticed.
As I have mentioned above, I like Carl and Al and I don't know the details of the dust up that has him over the barrel. The thugs at Patheos have not done them any favors, IMO.
Thanks for the shout out to my blog.
As far as Michael Voris... I believe he is only doing what Saint Thomas Aquinas said...
"If the faith is in imminent peril, prelates ought to be accused by their subjects, even in public." -St. Thomas Aquinas
Carol...extremely well said and referenced...your links were stellar in their content. You've proven your chops again as one of the smartest, clearest, best-written blogs in the 'sphere'. Dead-on right.
Very well said. I think Fr. longnecker shot from the hip and did not think through what he posted.
We all know Catholic answers, Al, and EWTN, do very good work but as long as we don't call to attention our Bishops who support or are silent about the politicians who promote baby murder, sodomy, and contraception and as long as some parishes are allowed to continue to preach modernism the church will continue to lose souls.
Tim Dolan is a great guy. I would love to play golf with him, have dinner with him or have him as a neighbor - but Cardinal Dolan does not defent the church from those who destroy it from within.
The more the Conciliar Church starts to crumble, the more ardent the supporters of the Conciliar church will become. They sense they are loosing. They sense a tide change. And I think they are right. Catholics are starting to awaken, shake off the conciliar fog, and rediscover true Catholic identity and The Catholic Faith.
You can expect to see much more of these assaults going forward.
And with all due respect to Fr. Longenecker, many of the Prot converts that found the Conciliar Church to their liking, will leave in droves when Real Tradition is restored. I hope I am wrong about that, but we will see.
I do not like Fr. Longenecker, nor do I trust him. I've never said so because I hate to criticize a priest but I've had concerns about him for a few years now.
TTC,
Just a few months ago I started to read your blog regularly. I am commenting for the first time here because this post is such an excellent, fantastic analysis of the situation, summing up everything, and addressing all the issues.
What a counterpunch!
Bravo, good lady. I tip my hat to you.
"Fr. Longenecker doesn't want to be misunderstood as not liking Michael Voris.
Heavens no. Why that would be preposterous."
I cracked up so hard when this sarcasm hit me... touche
Just one small point. You said:
Baptism gives any and every Catholic the standing to carry out any and every action codified in Canon Law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Not quite. Those of us who are not ordained priests cannot do those things codified in canon law and the Catechism that only priests have the power to do. But your point still stands.
Our restrictions are clearly spelled out in canon law and the catechism, though, right?
Stevie - you are so right. It's almost scary.
Adrienne - you said it better than I. Caricaturing the entire Latin Rite Community with the fringe sedevacanists is like continuously hammering away that priests and perverts are synonymous.
Tom - Fr. Newman is a new one on me. In a lot of ways, I do not want to know!
Julie - you did a bang up job. You are a great writer and warrior for Christ. God bless you and yours.
Viva - I couldn't agree with you more about Timmy D. He's a hoot at a cocktail party or swanky event but the people in serious trouble because of his negligence makes it hard for me to even think about enjoying his company.
Cap'n - If we ever have the guts to grab our boots and restore our catechesis, the protestant church is going to look a lot more attractive to a lot of folks.
Dympha - me neither.
Susy, Lynne - thanks much for your supportive words.
TH2, Thanks for your cheer and for letting us know you are reading. A belated welcome.
Anita - if what I wrote was unclear, thank you for giving it clarity. I definitely meant to convey that the restrictions that apply.
How sad. No, we do not need a priest such as Longenecker. I cannot call him 'Fr.' because he has not taken to that roll at all.
The Church is better off with a shortage of priests than it is with these wolves who come in priests clothing. This is Rev. Longenecker's third church. How long will it take him to tire of this one? What's next? From his misunderstanding of the Gospel and the Church one can only assume he will start his own.
The rant from Rev. Longenecker is full of error, anger and bitterness. We do not need or want men such as this preaching in our churches. Please leave and no longer call yourself Catholic as you surely are not.
You have not listened to Catholic Answers, but instead are reporting on it based on what others are saying. Perhaps you should take a moment and listen. They repeatedly said that the Extraordinary Form of the Mass is celebrated at Catholic Answers. They were addressing those who have placed themselves outside of union with the Church (i.e. SSPX) NOT traditionally-minded Catholics.
Perhaps you should take a listen and have the facts (not hearsay) before you criticize.
Ron, you might want to reign in some of the rage. We do need him. He messed up. He needs prayers (as do all priests), but he's been given a calling and an anointing from God, and we do need him. Don't let the same rage that overtook him snuff out the last spark of your charity. He is a priest of God...pray for him. Pray for our Pope, pray for Cdnl. Dolan...it looks like a mighty rag-tag and scruffy bunch of leaders we've been given for the most part, but God can do wonders with weakness. And if they remain weak and feckless to our increasing tribulation, pray even harder to your last breath for them...they will have a mighty judgment.
When does the blame game end?? http://pegponderingagain.com/2013/08/02/the-blame-game-fake-war/
Ron, Susan is absolutely right. Unlike Fr. Longenecker, I was not intending to imply that we do not need Fr. Longenecker. The name of my post and its content was intended to mimic Fr. Lonenecker's post and hold a mirror up to his own face.
What we don't need is pieces authored by him which reveal his contempt for the people he is supposed to be serving. We don't need long screeds filled with slander. We don't need him writing things to reveal that he considers the people he is supposed to be healing 'loons' and 'lunatics'.
We need him to act like a priest who has compassion, empathy, love - even those who are lost. Dare I say especially those that are lost.
At Patheos, he is in with a herd of thugs. He that lieth with the dogs has arisen with their fleas. He is in need of our prayers.
Anonymous, I have repeatedly said that I don't know, but the number of reasonable and prudent Catholics with good judgment who fled in droves tells me there is something more to what is going down than you suggest.
There are less angry, anti-Semite, sedevacanists in the Latin community than there are pedophiles in the priesthood.
If you read Fr. Longenecker's screed, he uses that infanticimal number to paint the entire Latin Rite community with that brush. He makes the claim that the very fact that they attend a Latin Mass is an action that is fostering rage, anti-Semitism and breaking unity with the Roman Catholic Church.
You seem to be implying that rational Catholics with sound judgment had problems with a perfectly reasonable conversation about the sad situation of sedevacanists.
I just don't buy into the suggestion that the very people who are focused on the evangelization of the teachings of the Church that bring people to salvation were somehow offended with a reasonable discussion at CA about sedevacanists. It just doesn't hold water for me.
Peg, I only read the first few lines of your post. It struck me as veiled attempt to discredit Catholics who are telling Fr. Longenecker that he has done something terribly wrong as a priest and a human being and his actions require apologies, an firm purpose of amendment and the Sacraments - perhaps a retreat as it seems to convey he sees broken people under attack from Satan as people he is called to caricature as lunatics in the public square.
Don't you see that he needs help as a priest and a human being? Something spiritual is going haywire.
There is nothing 'fake' about it.
You don't seem to have any intellectual tools to sort out the difference between people who are harming other people and people who try to stop them. It is all a big unnecessary squabble to you.
That is sad and you have my prayers.
you might like this...http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/09/some-of-us-just-cant.html
Peg, I am sorry, but I don't want to publish your piece here. I understand your focus on the individual battle for each soul, but this is a situation where Catholics, including a priest, are acting like thugs to dissuade righteous people who are doing the things they don't have the guts or selflessness to do.
This isn't the time nor place to suggest that the errors and thuggery are imagined or to undermine righteousness. It just isn't the time and place.
When people are hurting other people, it is the time to attempt to stop them.
I must have been taught wrong. I know that with and through the sacrament of confirmation I became a soldier of Christ and have not the right to defend the Church agauinst her enemies. I know that tje scriptures talk about the sentinel who stands inside the walls watching for the enemy within. Please stop compromising at what we are and stand up and defend the Mystical Body of Christ
Carol, nice work covering this attempted purge of Michael Voris.
It never ceases to amaze how the "self-appointed" censors (voices of a complacent establishment) continuously lash out against "dangerous", "traditionalist", "reactionary" Catholics. Meanwhile the same folks look the other way as the so called "progressives", who have set up their Trojan horse in the Lord's vineyard, are well on their way to secularizing the institutional Church.
TTC- I beg you to think about what you just said and ponder the "Mob Mentality" in the Garden of Gethsemane. What did our Lord say to St. Peter about striking the ear of the servant? When we do this, rather then placing our faith in Him, we are in fact, cutting off our own ear. If you find fault with my post, fine. I ask you then to read this one from one of my Carmelite Sisters and tell me what you think is right and just... May God have mercy on us ALL http://te-deum.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-catholic-virtual-wars-time-for.html?spref=tw
I forgot to say thanks to James above. I LOL to hear my sarcasm struck your funny bone. For me, it keeps my mood light, even when saying things that are hard to say and hear. It gets me into trouble most of the time. LOL.
Peg, you are clearly a sweet woman who God has called into a different role for Christ's Church. But you misunderstand that scene in the Garden of Gethsemene. It was not meant to teach the lesson that we not correct errors or permit others to rob people of their salvation.
This is how you know: Our Beloved Church has canonized many great saints who stood up in the public square and corrected errors. Furthermore, Christ called St. John the Baptist the greatest man who lived and will ever live.
If a person comes to rip me to shreds, that's fine so long as what they are doing doesn't discredit authentic Church teaching. You don't sit passive on that.
The mob mentality is coming from Patheos. These folks do not understand how the Mystical Body of Christ operates. What the different parts are and how each person is gifted according to their role.
If they don't stop assaulting the people unraveling the corruption, they're going to be struck with gale force winds.
here's another one!
http://ecclesandbosco.blogspot.com/2013/09/do-we-need-dwight-longenecker.html
Thank you for the courage to stand up to that unhappy and erratic man. Fr. Longenecker's followers and employees will one day wonder how they were ever deceived by him.
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