Ed. Note: It's time to catch up on some correspondence of general interest.
Readers,
Really enjoy the blog but can't help but wonder why you don't get discouraged by Trads who support discredited priests. In the real world, normal people would never patronize a business run by men like them. I'm sure you know not everybody who forks over their money is a red neck. Some of their supporters have college degrees.
We get this question all the time, so we'll try to give a complete response. First of all, even death-row inmates have their fans. (Remember the report of marriage proposals sent to Scott Peterson?) No amount of evidence or appeals to decency will change the minds of folks so inclined.
The second, and more important, reason is that these losers are not the audience we have in mind. Sure, it'd be great if one or two could see the light, but we don't expect it. A university credential is no guarantee of moral clarity, a well-informed conscience, or the ability to invoke right reason. For instance, we personally know of a case where a highly educated professional returned to a cult-center in spite of his continuing well-founded misgivings. His excuse? **Sniffle. Whimper**He wanted to be with his family. (Good grief!)
No. Our target audience is not depraved groupies. We speak to those Catholics whose genuinely Catholic mothers taught them better. If they want to attend Mass at the cult center, we've no objection, although the question of a certain prelataster's priestly orders is by no means settled. (But, what the hey! Who knows what's what in the crisis, right?)
We just want to be sure that Catholics with a conscience don't support the untrustworthy ambitions of sub-standard clergy. We don't care about the odd sawbuck or double sawbuck thrown into the collection plate. Why, that's the price of admission to the "really big shew." We want to discourage the big donations that fund the world-travel junkets and wild-eyed building programs at the expense of the economic health of Catholic families.
And we're succeeding.
Can you please name the priest you refer to in your second paragraph. Otherwise how do we know you're telling the truth? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI am an Eastern Orthodox Christian who has been secretly (perhaps sneakily?) following your blog for some time now. Much of what you print about the Catholic church applies to many of us also! Would that we could have our own chapels in which to hold services, but alas, our bishops don't give up their perks lightly. Our clergy have to have a special cloth called an antimension that has tiny relics sewn into it, and signed by the bishop, in order to serve the Divine Liturgy.
ReplyDeleteLay people can do other non-sacramental services like Matins and Vespers without a priest.
Thank you for your work. It gives me hope.
Pelagios Olympiancencensis
Dear Mr. Ragmon,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind words. We sympathize with your plight, but we confess to more than a little envy: at least you have no doubt about the validity of your bishops' holy orders. We of the Roman rite, whether Novus Ordites or traditionalists, are plagued by grave reservations on every side. In addition, as our recent experience confirms, the Eastern Church still maintains high standards in its seminaries, while in the West the standards have decayed dramatically for the Novus Ordites and are utterly absent among the traditionalists except for the SSPX and the FSSP.
Implying colleges make people smart anymore and don't just terrorize and propagandize minds.
ReplyDelete