A RUDE AWAKENING

Life is perhaps most wisely regarded as a bad dream between two awakenings. O'Neill

There's one good thing about the Terrible Trio: their behavior always proves their adversaries' point.

Last week, "One-Hand Dan" impressed his cult with a brief account of his ordaining to the priesthood a man who belongs to a group of latter-day "Dominicans" in Boston. Then he casually boasted that the newly minted levite would be spending a few months in West Chester to finish his priestly studies "under Fr. Cekada's tutelage."

Nothing, we think, is more emblematic of the intellectual morass of the traditional movement than this ugly, little story. As you can see, things have come to such a pass that "One-Hand" doesn't even bother with requiring a semblance of sacerdotal formation before he makes a priest forever. All that's required is a few months of post-factum indentured servitude in a highly dubious independent study program. (We won't even comment about the "tutor's" qualifications.)

What we have here is the blunt admission that becoming a priest is mentally less rigorous than getting a GED. Gone is all pretense that a Roman Catholic priest is carefully selected, well formed, and thoroughly vetted.

Perhaps that's a good thing. It better suits the crisis than the absurd charade that MHT completers have any connection whatsoever to the priestly training of the past. Perhaps such ordinations will, in the end, make traditional Catholics wake up a realize just how bad it's all become.

It all goes to prove the Readers' point that the Restoration will have to come from the conservative Novus Ordites, because Traddieland has surrendered.

STAY HOME ALONE -- YOU'LL BE IN BETTER COMPANY.

FLOOD OF REMEMBRANCE

Lest we forget -- lest we forget. Kipling

Pistrina's series on the Terrible Trio's zero-legacy leads the Reader to put the essential question: What is to be done to wrest traditional Catholicism from these small-bore minds with 16"/50 caliber Mark 7 ambitions?

They hold tight-fisted control of the non-profit corporations underwritten by the hard work and sacrifices of the faithful. They have made dead sure that the people who support them have no voice in any matter. They behave and spend as they please. They are confident they can weather the frequent storms of opposition that arise because they can rely on an unthinking base of cult followers to keep them in the clover.

No doubt, the fierce reaction to the Blunderer's grisly opinion on the Schiavo case or to the SGG School scandal has cost the Triad gravely. Indeed, they will never recover. Their stature in the traditional world is forever diminished.

However, just because they have been exposed and have lost their influence outside the small cultlets they have bewitched doesn't mean they are without financial resources to keep themselves going for a little while longer. By this time, it's not unreasonable to suppose that their tiny band of supporters is so brainwashed that they will keep giving until they have no more. Perhaps, there are a few decent souls left who harbor doubts, but the number of the principled few must be so small that their leaving will have little impact on the Trio's basic comforts. They know that the remnant they have is immune to reason and to an appeal to common sense and Catholic principles. Their lock on this morally lost, frightened cadre of fanatics is as firm as their heightened sense of self-preservation.

In a word, nothing short of actuarial tables, the economy, and their own aging can stop them from doing just about whatever they will. Sure, their luxuries have been drastically cut back by the severely reduced income stream, but the scope of their control of properties and organizations remains intact. No one's going to change that, even if they must one day become greeters in some big-box discount store to eke out a living.

Just the same, there's a reason enough to continue the vocal opposition. The Japanese have a saying that goes something like this: "After 75 days, all men forget." Without a swelling torrentof reminders, it's all too easy to forget what troubles the Trio has visited upon traditional Catholics. They may be unschooled, but their savvy self-interest has taught them the basics of marketing: They simply have to put on a good face and make nice, and then the money will come trickling back. In fact, their business model requires that the faithful just fuggedaboutit. Their cagey experience with the average Traddie has confirmed that weak-willed people hope time will heal all wounds.

Without opposition, time is on their side. That's why it's important to make everybody outside their cult remember just who these swashbucklers are. There is no anodyne for the suppurating wounds they have viciously inflicted on the traditional Church. While we cannot prevent them from preying upon their own passive cultists, we can contain their contagion by countering their PR initiatives with the truth.

Keep the Beast weak. Don't believe it. Refuse its avaricious demands for your money. Tell the world why!

THE NOONDAY DEVIL

...daemonium meridianum, the most stubborn spirit to govern and guide that any man can meet, and the most perilous withal. Hawker

From the Desert Fathers to St. Thomas Aquinas, we stand cautioned against acedia, indifference in spiritual matters, "soulful don't-care-ishness." Yet in the Sede Vacante, we laymen remain uncaring of the dire effects of intellectual acedia, negligence in scrutinizing the scholarship and credentials of those clergy who lay claim to being our spiritual guides. How else can we account for our listless failure to reject out of hand Work of Human Hands -- that bespattered canvas of gaudily grinning errors---and the brazenly meretricious proposition that the Unacum market-cornering ploy is dogma. How else could we have listened to the nonsense that burbles forth from the pulpits of ill-formed MHT clergy, distinguished more for their blinding defects than for their illuminating learning.

We're not talking about the indolent acquiescence of the gullible and invincibly ignorant-- the witless wonderment of wan and sad-eyed Traddie women shrouded in their impossibly long, dirt-gathering calico skirts; or the surly aggressiveness of their pot-bellied and grim-lipped menfolk straitened by their seam-bursting, unlaundered polyester slacks three 0r four sizes too small. On the contrary, the Readers mean the educated and affluent Traddie minority, who would see the sham were they to awake from their inertia.

Without something substantial of the Church's intellectual tradition, the Traddie movement is nothing other than a cult. As the old ads used to say, Accept no substitutes. The un-credentialed Blunderer, "One-Hand," the rector, and other even more ignorant pretenders have no grounding in genuine Tradition. They are but a pedestrian re-imagination of the Church.

The problem will only get worse.

Just look at the shriveled and rotten fruits of MHT: One forgot the consecration at Mass. Another couldn't perform a burial service. A third was unable to bless holy water without an operatic mad-scene of self-doubt and embarrassing false starts. Today we have a fresh Lutheran convert from ultra-modern Scandanavia, who was fast-tracked to the priesthood. Next up is a Russian who was only received into the church when he entered MHT. Not only is learning flown away, but so is Catholic culture, the unspoken requirement of the priesthood.

In light of their scanty gifts, these purblind clerics are barely fit to offer Mass. No one need be a scholar to sense the sham so close to the surface. Why is it that so few laymen have detected these deficiencies in the manifest failures of the rector's completers? or in "One-Hand's" maudlin sermons? or in the Blunderer's howlingly laughably below-par effort, Work of Human Hands? The only explanation can be intellectual lethargy.

Pistrina invites the witted to wake up and shake off their sorrow about the intellectual good of the Church in exile. Refuse consent to a flight from the standards of good Catholic scholarship by condemning the Terrible Trio. Dispel your tedium. Subdue your turpitude by resistance to all these tempter-beggars disguised in grubby collars and shabby amaranthine robes. The Traddie movement simply cannot produce scholars or intellectuals. The rejects it possesses are only -- and just barefly -- fit to offer Mass and provide the other sacraments. Tell them so. Tell them to stop pretending and to get back to the basics. Demand they be silent until God raises better men. If they will not see that they can never be part of the Restoration, then

STARVE THE BEAST, STAY HOME ALONE, SAY YOUR ROSARY, MAKE YOUR ACT OF PERFEC T CONTRITION.

BITING OFF MORE THAN HE CAN CHEW

...with small men no great thing can really be accomplished. Mill

The beginning of February has the Readers expectantly awaiting this month's MHT Newsletter. No, we're not looking for the rector's big $30K plan, the delivery of which has been unfulfilled since last spring. (That bit of beggary was a non-starter from the hour it appeared in print.) What we want to read is his commentary on the Osservatore Romano article by Mgr. Ocáriz Braña. Of greatest interest will be any remarks on what in January the rector called its "serious errors."

To be sure, Ocáriz Braña is a modernist, and his short article reflects the cant and New-Age vocabulary characteristic of Novus-Ordite writers (for instance, this little gem of rhetorical puffery: "an assessment of... [post-Conciliar] teaching should transform a possible situation of difficulty into a serene and joyful acceptance of the Magisterium..."). Secular academics know, that's what it takes to get published nowadays, and the bathos mustn't cause us to forget that Ocáriz Braña is, unlike the rector and the Blunderer, a man with rock-solid scholarly credentials.

Born in 1944, Ocáriz Braña studied physics at the University of Barcelona, a world-renowned public institution of higher learning considered the best university in Spain. In 1969 his received his licentiate in theology from the Lateran University in Rome and in 1971 his doctorate in theology from the University of Navarre, Spain. His formation took place in the early years of the Novus Ordo, at a time when Catholic educational institutions were in transition. During that period, some of the old standards remained (even at the Lateran, which owed much to Roncalli). Furthermore, the Opus-Dei University of Navarre is recognized as one of the finest private universities in Spain, and it ranks among the top schools in the world. Entrance requirements at these selective Spanish universities were and are high. Only the best and the brightest matriculate.

So it's no surprise that we're looking forward to watching our Brooklyn-schooled rector -- someone brought up during the struggling, chaotic, nascent years of Écône -- as he confronts a professional endowed with a world-class education and an advanced degree. Will it be a contest between David and Goliath? Or will this be a tale of a gnat annoying a lion and then flying off into a spider's web?

We're standing by our inboxes.

BETTER IS THE END OF A THING

The rising unto place is laborious, and by pains men come to greater pains; and it is sometimes base, and by indignities men come to dignities. The standing is slippery, and the regress is either downfall, or at least an eclipse. Bacon

In a desperate attempt to appear relevant, the rector has tried to piggy back on the recent Vatican II critiques of monsignors Gherardini and Ocáriz Braña; he has even promised a forthcoming commentary on the latter (see the Jan. 2012 MHT Newsletter). It takes no insight to discern an anguished cry in the dark from a pathetic outsider who became irrelevant years ago.

As Pistrina has written, the Novus Ordo is undergoing its own counter-revolution of sorts. Real intellectuals within the Vatican Establishment -- men with authentic academic credentials and the insight that comes from a careful formation -- are now mounting the definitive analysis of the Council's failure and its radical departure from tradition. Sadly, it seems that they, not the carping lumpen pretenders of the traditional movement, have the intellectual tools to consign the Council and its evils to the trash heap of history.

The rector -- whose weak and borrowed light, though many orders of magnitude brighter than the dwarf-stars of "One-Hand Dan" and The Blunderer, is infinitely less luminescent than the brilliant scholars he envies -- has been eclipsed. Like F. Murray Abraham's Salieri, he endeavors without result to attach himself to real genius in the tragicomical hope of being (mistakenly) associated with genuine talent. Hence the embarrassingly patent effort to reflect a few stray rays cast off by two radiantly gifted scholars.

If the rector and his overstuffed clown-car of ill-trained clergy merited compassion, we would pity them as they struggle futilely in the face of insuperable limitations to claim a place in the most important theological discussion of this new century. As the Reader has noted elsewhere, the Novus Ordo is producing from within the rigorous analysis that will eventually defeat the heterodoxy of Vatican II. The reed-thin, shrill screeching of the half-educated traddie clergy is soon to be drowned out by the clear, steady, articulate voice of the growing conservative resistance of the post-Conciliar Vatican Institution. When the Restoration comes, it is this remnant who will have been the chief instruments of its triumph, not the feeble likes of the Terrible Trio and their ilk.

We wish it had been otherwise. We wish the traditional resistance had not been high-jacked by careerist entrepreneurs and clerical adventurers more interested in themselves than in the weal of Christ's Church. However, we now see that such was not God's will. Yet we still harbor hope for the Restoration: for as the traditional movement disintegrates, rent by suicidal, internecine controversies started by ambitiously acquisitive and terminally short-sighted clergy, Providence steps in to raise a well-schooled generation of men to take the holy fight to the brazen portals and into the hushed corridors of St. Peter's itself.

It is clear that the rector and his entourage can leave no legacy. Now, they won't even be a footnote in the history of the Restoration. At best, they offered some frightened folks a rickety lean-to in the storm of heresy. Sad to say, the leaky shelter was no match for the weather. As this series of posts has shown, the rebuilding of the fabric of the Church will belong to others outside the narrow and infernal circle of traditional cults and their poseur masters.

THE MORE THE MERRIER

To paraphrase Nancy Mitford: The episcopacy in the Sede Vacante is like a gelding: it may prance and jump, but in fact it is impotent.

Cyberspace has been a-buzz of late with anxious rumors of yet another consecration in the offing. The general tenor of the hand-wringing lamentation seems to be that we don't need another bishop.

Rubbish! As far as we're concerned at Pistrina, we need quite a few more of these episcopi vagantes. Indeed, we argue that all priests should receive the episcopacy as soon as they can scrape together enough cash to buy the basic starter kit of miter, pectoral cross, ring, and, perhaps, a cassock with piping.

Shocked? O.K., we'll explain:

If every priest were made a bishop, then the Hermit-Kingdom monopolies controlled by these traddie mediocrities would soon come to an end. No more withholding holy oils, confirmations, ordinations; no more putting on airs and parvenu uppityness; no more deadly ecclesiastical adventurism and vain empire building. Soft-conscienced prelates would perforce have to concentrate on serving exclusively the people whose toil and sweat make it possible for them to live comfortably and play (often hilariously) the great man on their home turf.

As to objections about the great dignity of the episcopacy or the laying on of hands too wantonly, the Readers remind everyone that we're in the Sede Vacante. Let's remember that these see-less bishops possess only the bare-bones minimum: they can sanctify but not rule or teach. Moreover, they enjoy only material apostolic succession. In the utter absence of authority, there are no means to sift the chaff from the wheat to assure that only worthy men receive episcopal orders.

As the situation stands, any ambitious priest who covets a miter can get one, provided he find a willing consecrator. (And their number is legion.) In other words, self-selection constitutes "election," not the studied scrutiny of the institutional Church. Good character, piety, zeal for souls, solid learning in theology are no longer the real criteria -- they're just unsupported and sometimes tacked-on claims, which often are belied by our knowledge of these men's sorry record of accomplishment. How else, then, could we have gotten the likes of so many of the wandering bishops who now plague traditional Catholicism in the U.S.?

Traditional Catholic self-identity is best severed from the episcopacy so that the clergy can focus on the cure of souls. It's hard to focus on the faithful when self-aggrandizing petty prelates ration the sacraments in order to guarantee their corner on the market. What's funny is that these characters don't even have the span of control of a big-box discount store assistant manager. Let's face it: in the Sede Vacante, bishops really have a but very limited role to play, essentially to bless holy oils (and perhaps sacred vessels) and to ordain. They're not really needed for confirmation and the many other functions that a priest has the power to perform.

Therefore it's no big deal to multiply these orders. The cachet is gone. If everyone has the same standing, then traditional bishops may be less inclined to strive for self-promotion (particularly if the laity won't be impressed). Then we may see an end to some of these ecclesiastical kleptocracies and personal cheerleading societies. Maybe, just maybe, the salvation of souls may once again become the first law of the clergy. Maybe, just maybe, the traditional movement can be brought back to life.

WHEN IMPIOUS MEN BEAR SWAY

…that no flowers be planted on my grave & that no man remember me. Hardy

A disturbing yet sadly revealing eyewitness report from out West has come to the Readers’ attention: the gravesite of Fr. Leblanc appears to be in a sorry condition. Lying only a few footsteps away from the tenants’ residence and within walking distance of the church, the final resting place for the mortal remains of a holy priest is said to be overrun with weeds and disfigured by overgrown grass.

Burial of the dead is a corporal work of mercy, and by extension so is the seemly care and solicitous upkeep of burial places. Catholic cemeteries have long had endowed funds for the continued and habitual Christian care of graves. Even the Novus Ordo recognizes that burial grounds should be hallowed places of comfort, reverence, and prayerful devotion to the remembrance of the faithful departed. Moreover, as the Novus Ordo ever affirms, the care for beauty of sacred grounds is an affirmation of the Church’s hope in the Resurrection.

Why must simple pietas, “the attitude of dutiful respect towards those to whom one is bound by ties of religion “ (Glare), be absent in a traditional Catholic community? Why, if the report be accurate, don’t any traditional religious or clergy perform this small corporal work of mercy for a deceased priest? Surely Fr. Leblanc’s efforts to build and endow the lovely chapel must have warranted some small perpetual care burse. Surely the current property tenants could spare, in their charity, a half hour (or even less) weekly to assure that Father’s grave is a place of serenity, beauty, decency, and loving, respectful attention.

Perhaps it wasn't in the contract.

Fortunately, by this writing, we trust that a pious Catholic lay person will have stepped in to remedy the scandal.