Downfall

 Michael Voris is gone.  Christine Niles says she submitted her resignation on November 10th.  I'm not dancing a jig but it is for the best that this is so.  Watching the whole Church Militant show play out over the years has been like watching a case of folie a deux syndrome and it became disturbing on primal level. Have you ever seen something so ugly that your skin tingled and your stomach tightened? That's the effect Voris's reportage had on me.

I've seen comments on Twitter condemning  anyone who is gloating that  the board of Church Militant forced him to resign. but while there were a few people who were delighted and expressed themselves in really crass ways, the majority of Catholic media has either been silent or been kind.  

To those who say "Oh, this is a tragedy. Voris  and Church Militant have done such good and been so influential for Catholicism,"I suggest that you read Randy Engel's 2017, article, "All The Men Behind the Opus Dei Curtain," and then go to Mass this Sunday and afterward mention CM and Voris to your friends. Most will tell you they never watched or read his Tweets and the rest will ask, "Who?" The majority of Catholics around the world have no idea who Michael Voris is or who Taylor Marshall, Patrick Coffin, Michael Lofton or Kennedy Hall are.  

 Pray for Voris  that he gets his spiritual life in order but I think we can all do without CM or Voris's type of journalism. Six months or so, if he shows up again on the media stage please don't give him money. Don't look to professional media Catholics to be your spiritual guides. 

Tertullian, St. Ignatius, a pop song and one lone bishop

St. Ignatius of Antioch always leaves me awestruck.  He was a disciple of St. John, the Evangelist, and was the third bishop of Antioch. In his old age during the reign of Emperor Trajan the holy bishop was taken prisoner in Antioch and carried off to Rome. He was going to be eaten alive by lions for the amusement of the Flavian Amphitheater going public. Most people today facing such an end  would have been reduced to screaming hysteria, but Ignatius managed to write six letters to his fellow Christians encouraging them and letting them know that he was ready to lay down his life for Jesus. Read those letters and you will be amazed and inspired. 

A bishop cannot be a coward. A bishop, if he is worthy of his cassock should be ready to suffer and die for the love of Our Lord and in defense of his flock.  Non Veni Pacem has posted parts of a letter to Bishop Strickland  from an unnamed friend of the bishop's that quotes Tertullian and exhorts Bishop Strickland to remember and behave like St. Ignatius. The bishop  mentions the letter in a speech. Non Veni Pacem links to the whole thing.  It is a beautiful letter and the speech is one that will stick with me. When I read it, I remembered the first time I heard the song, How This Ends. That song is one of my all time favorites and was a calming factor during a very hard time. 

How It Ends Lyrics

Hold your grandmother's Bible to your breast

Gonna put it to the test

You wanted it to be blessed

And in your heart

You know it to be true

You know what you got to do

They all depend on you

And you already know

Yeah, you already know how this will end

There is no escape from the slave catcher's songs

For all of the loved ones gone

Forever's  not so long

And in your soul

They poked a million holes

But you never let them show

Come on, it's time to go

And you already know

Yeah, you already know how this will end

Now you've seen His face

And you know there's a place in the sun

For all that you've done

For you and your children

No longer shall you need

You always wanted to believe

Just ask and you'll receive

Beyond your wildest dreams

And you already know

Yeah, you already know how this will end

I think Bishop Strickland of Tyler, Texas has a pretty good idea  how his current situation ends. No, he will not be fed to lions but the rest of his life is going to be quite different than what he may have expected when he first went to the seminary. St. Ignatius and St. John Fisher, please pray for your brother. 

Random thoughts on a warm Sunday morning.

•  A lot of people in DC and London are shocked and frightened by the huge anti-Israel marches. I'm mystified as to why. Did these people think that a Muslim person whether a refugee, naturalized citizen or second or third generation born citizen would go "Yay Israel,"!, on command? Have you read their book? It clearly states what they believe. 
  
   A lot of middle class people live in an intellectual  and social bubble. They are so happy that a new restaurant from --- country has opened up or they fondly remember going to college with a person from --- country and assume foolishly, that everyone from --- is just like their old college buddy. Worse, they see minorities of all spectrums as mere symbols for them to patronize and virtue signal about.  Northern Virginia and the whole DVM has a huge population of people from countries who don't like Israel. Of course, they are expressing themselves. Those of you who work for Catholic Charities migrant services or other NGOs especially have no excuse for being surprised.
  
  
  

• I don't like professional Catholics. The man or woman who makes their living from the Faith will do and say whatever is necessary to keep the mortgage paid. Instead of going to the endless conferences these people keep putting on and fattening their wallets; why not read a a book written by a saint? Why not go to Adoration or on personal pilgrimage? 
  
  
  
• I enjoyed the You Tube videos of a really interesting woman who had similar tastes in clothes, home décor,  history, and art to mine but out of no where she dropped a bomb. She's a practicing  "good" witch. Nope. I'm out. I blocked her channel and was quite disappointed. The typical occultist is not just  that oddly smelling girl whom nobody liked back in school.  It's gone mainstream and  you'd be shocked to see how many apparently normal people you know are involved. 
  
  

• We're going to South Carolina this month to clean all the family graves and order any necessary repairs. I'll be bringing Klean Logik Headstone Cleaner and D/2 Biological Solution  with me but I'll buy the brushes and water buckets at Walmart when I get there. Mama will supervise while I clean and Rocky and Uncle Junior can be the water brigade.  It's been too long since I was last saw my father's grave and I'm really looking forward to saying a rosary there. 
  
  
  
  
• In your charity, could  you say a prayer for a particular priest? When I looked up at him during the processional I was shocked. He looked terribly sick and unsteady all through Mass and I wanted to grab him and check his pulse.