UNDER THE BLUDGEONINGS OF CHANCE

There are no second acts in American lives. Fitzgerald

A decent man has no tolerance for injustice. We formed the first picture of the rector’s high threshold for clerical bad behavior when he actively supported “One-Hand” Dan, Blundering Tony, and Murky “The Principal” during the SGG School scandal in 2009. This frightening image grew sharper as Pistrina reported how he condoned the unfair treatment of his few intelligent seminarians at the hands of Scut the Prefect, the Clone, and the Toady. Now, in the wake of “One-Hand’s” coercing the people of Chambéry, France, to send their gentle, justice-loving priest away, the rector has declined to redeem himself in publicly condemning “One-Hand” for his heavy-handed treatment of traditional Catholics overseas.

Here the rector missed a rare opportunity to confound his critics, including the Reader. More than that, he could have taught the slow-witted young men interned at the pesthouse an object lesson in moral courage. These backward boys know that Danny’s cult supplies MHT with a lot of money; they are keenly aware that one whispered command from a pettish “One-Hand” (or “Dollar” in seminarians’ argot) will turn off the cash flow. Therefore, what a magnificent occasion it would have been to show dim but impressionable minds that virtue must prevail over personal interest. That’s what Fr. Hall did when he spoke truth to power and appealed to “One-Hand’s” conscience and sense of duty, for which act of moral courage he was subsequently dismissed (by a cowardly email) from his teaching post.

Characteristically, the rector didn’t seize this second chance to embrace justice; he refused to show a doubting Catholic world that he possessed a true ethical compass. Instead, the pesthouse hatchlings learned that nothing is sacred in the pursuit of a mean-spirited personal agenda. In fact, they may have witnessed a master class in the art of ruthlessly sharp dealing with innocents: There are some persistent reports about the rector’s intimating that he himself might send a priest who could pass Danny’s muster.*

Deeds reflect the inner man. From the opaque looking glass of the rector’s works peer the dusky likenesses of the host of traditional Catholics who have deserted their chapels, left the faith, and lost their vocation all for want of justice from Diminutive Danny. Added to that multitude last week were the faithful of Chambéry. The tiny chapel of the Curé of Ars, torn apart by clerical vindictiveness, today numbers itself among the casualties that are the fruit of “One-Hand” Dan’s baleful oversight.

Perhaps if the rector had taken the second chance he was offered, he might not have been able to forestall this catastrophe: Almighty “Dollar” rules in the U.S., and most American clergy are meekly groveling subjects. Nevertheless, a courageous protest might have made it easier for the rector to look himself in the mirror (if, indeed, there are any mirrors permitted in the swampland compound).

CLOSE THE PESTHOUSE.

* We’re waiting to confirm the story, but for now, the Reader thinks such an offer, if it had been made,would have been nothing but hot air -- “barroom bloviation” as it were. After all, whom could the rector send? A pathetic socially awkward recent Scandinavian convert? Scut, a silly, shrieking martinet who avoids the laity like the plague? The Toady, a third-rater who couldn’t perform a burial service? Linguistically and liturgically challenged Father “What Me Consecrate”? Sorry, but those terminally handicapped American-trained clerics aren’t the kind of missionary material suitable to regain the hearts and minds of wounded but still proud and free Frenchmen!