Where did Theodore McCarrick come from?

 Susan Matthiesen at the Les Femmes blog wrote back in January about how young Ted McCarrick was expelled from high school at age 15, and was apparently was a ghost for 16 months.  That post deserved a lot more attention than it got. Where was he?  Did the boy sit in his room sulking? Was he with his late father's family in Virginia? Was he running the streets? Who was advising the boy and his mother? I don't know what the truancy laws in New York were in the 40s but surely there must have been some busybody neighbor  or agent of the court who wanted to know where this kid was.

Young McCarrick started high school again at 17, and attended Fordham Prep on scholarship. McCarrick has said that his indefatigable  mother talked to a Jesuit or an family friend alumni, (exactly who has been lost to time), about her bright son and got him into Fordham and that may be true.  I remember reading a speech by a man who said his success began because his father who was a West Virginia miner walked into a rich man's office and told him about his son and the rich man was so impressed by the nerve and devotion of that poor man that he arranged for the boy to be educated at a very good school. At any rate some important person made it possible for young McCarrick to attend Fordham Prep despite his having been expelled from Xavier High School. When I went to high school every girl knew that if you messed up and got expelled that was it. Unless your dad could pull some long strings no other Catholic school in the diocese would take you.

Theodore McCarrick graduated from Fordham prep and although he was a poor boy on scholarship with a widowed mother he was able to afford to go to Europe with a friend on what we now call the gap year. At one point, according to McCarrick  he was in a Carthusian monastery in Switzerland discerning his vocation.  Before James Grein's testimony one could only assume that Mrs. McCarrick was doing quite well at her factory job. Grein, who is believed to be McCarrick's first victim says that his wealthy family took young Ted to Switzerland with them on their vacations so that could be how the plane and train tickets, food and accommodations were taken care of.

After his gap year he comes back to the States goes to Fordham University and then to St. Joseph's Seminary. From there he takes off like a rocket. Les Femmes concludes that young Ted caught some influential perverts eye early on and he used that to further his career and because one or more of his superiors were already compromised nobody was in position to say anything when he began preying on the innocent.  Church Militant and Complicit Clergy have proposed another theory.  What if young Ted met some nasty old perverts and joined in ,but these particular nasty old perverts were part of the school of darkness with Bella Dodd?  As you may have read, Bella left the Communists and converted thanks to Archbishop Sheen. She said that her job in the party was to help with the seminarian project. The project was to get rotten young men into the priesthood, create a network that would serve the party and degrade the Church from within. The young men were promised all the sex they wanted and protection so long as they served. A match made in Hell. No matter who McCarrick's sugar daddy really was it's clear that he had one or several and in turn he played that role for others. This is distasteful but every Cardinal, every bishop and every priest who owes his position to McCarrick has got to be asked two questions: What did you know about McCarrick's beach house and why did he like you so much?

Stella Maris

Our Lady, Star of the Sea, pray for us. 

at prayer

A Woman to Admire

Chief Warrant Officer Oscar and Mrs. Grammer 

Every war leaves a mess of immorality for decades to come. The black children of American soldiers stood out and suffered in Germany. A good Catholic woman named Mabel Grammer tried to do something about it and found homes for 500 of them.

In the Closet of the Vatican and other random thoughts

1. A number of people in the office were gleefully talking about this book. Last Ash Wednesday Catholic co-workers heard some jokes from  non-Catholic co-workers. Heaven only knows what it's going to be like this year.  I am not complaining. A few just on the edge of louche remarks  are nothing compared to the Know Nothings attacking Catholics in the streets or burning convents but it is just a little unnerving. Between the  the pedophile scandals the perception that the Church supports  illegal immigrants whether the locals are happy about strange men wandering around the neighborhood or not, the jokes are going to get worse and I have a feeling that the day is coming when complaints to HR about it will fall on deaf ears.

• An anonymous homosexual priest says to the New York times that he's not in the closet but a cage since he doesn't dare tell his parishioners about his sexual interests.  I'm guessing this priest is so self observed that he does not even dream that many of his parishioners already know about him. He also would probably be surprised to know how many young males in his parish were completely turned off of parish life because of him and his gushing fans. 

• She and her daughter, Queen Catherine will never be canonized but there is an open cause for Queen Isabella of Spain's canonization.
  
  
• Yes, that is Theodore McCarrick in stained glass to the right of John Paul II. As my father-in-law once said, never make a memorial to a man until he's dead. I would add that  even then you might want to wait a few years in case something embarrassing comes out about him. 

The end of a dirty game or have the cards just been reshuffled?

The ever charming, ever smiling Cardinal McCarrick is now Mr. McCarrick.  His former roommate and protege Cardinal Farrell, (who claims that he NEVER saw anything freaky or suspected anything untoward about Cardinal McCarrick the whole six years he lived with him),will be in charge of the entire Church in the event of the pope's death until the end of the conclave. His favorites are still in charge of the Church in America so McCarrick-ism lives on. 

Is this the end of Teddy?

There are reports from foreign sources that Archbishop McCarrick going to be cast out of the priesthood. I'll believe it when I see it.

The higher the monkey climbs

The higher the monkey climbs the more he exposes..... If Dr. Ralph Northam had stayed out of public life and hadn't chosen to use his power to try to kill babies  this never would have come to light. 

A prayer for the redemption of bad priests

Divine Savior Jesus Christ, Thou are the Good Shepherd who gives His life for His sheep. Oh, be in a very special way the Good Shepherd of those poor lost priests who are also appointed by Thee to be leaders of Thy people, but who have broken the oath of their holy ordination and have become unfaithful to their exalted calling. Bestow upon these poorest of the poor the very fullness of that pastoral solicitude with which Thou dost so faithfully seek the sheep that are lost! Touch their hearts with the irresistible ray of grace which emanates from Thine all-merciful love! Enlighten their minds and strengthen their wills, that they may turn away from all sin and error and come back to Thy holy altar and to Thy people. O most compassionate Savior! Remember that Thou didst once redeem the souls of Thine erring priests with Thy Precious Blood and in infinite preferential love didst impress upon them the indelible character of the priesthood. Put wholly to shame those miserable helpers of Satan who lay snares for the virtue of priests and endanger the holy ideal of the priesthood. Most graciously accept our prayers and sacrifices for poor priests who have gone astray and hear our earnest petition.

 Amen 

Imprimatur - Bishop John F. Noll (April 18, 1948)

St. Anthony of Padua, defender of the Holy Eucharist, obtain for us holy priests

St. John-Mary Vianney, model of sacerdotal holiness, obtain for us holy priests

St. Francis Xavier, patron of missionary priests, obtain for us holy priests

St. Therese of the Child-Jesus and of the Holy Face, victim offered for the sanctification of priests, obtain for us holy priests

Saints and Servants of God, obtain for us holy priests.

a prayer for the redemption of bad priests

Divine Savior Jesus Christ, Thou are the Good Shepherd who gives His life for His sheep. Oh, be in a very special way the Good Shepherd of those poor lost priests who are also appointed by Thee to be leaders of Thy people, but who have broken the oath of their holy ordination and have become unfaithful to their exalted calling. Bestow upon these poorest of the poor the very fullness of that pastoral solicitude with which Thou dost so faithfully seek the sheep that are lost! Touch their hearts with the irresistible ray of grace which emanates from Thine all-merciful love! Enlighten their minds and strengthen their wills, that they may turn away from all sin and error and come back to Thy holy altar and to Thy people. O most compassionate Savior! Remember that Thou didst once redeem the souls of Thine erring priests with Thy Precious Blood and in infinite preferential love didst impress upon them the indelible character of the priesthood. Put wholly to shame those miserable helpers of Satan who lay snares for the virtue of priests and endanger the holy ideal of the priesthood. Most graciously accept our prayers and sacrifices for poor priests who have gone astray and hear our earnest petition.

 Amen 

Imprimatur - Bishop John F. Noll (April 18, 1948)

St. Anthony of Padua, defender of the Holy Eucharist, obtain for us holy priests

St. John-Mary Vianney, model of sacerdotal holiness, obtain for us holy priests

St. Francis Xavier, patron of missionary priests, obtain for us holy priests

St. Therese of the Child-Jesus and of the Holy Face, victim offered for the sanctification of priests, obtain for us holy priests

Saints and Servants of God, obtain for us holy priests.

Darkness over Virginia

I'm living In this world, of hell that I made (chorus) 

When darkness falls, I fall with it Into the dark abyss, dead I fall I've got no limit, 

I walk alone When darkness falls, I fall with it)  from Darkness Falls

I’d advise you not to look up the full lyrics to this song because it's from the psycho-billy genre and grim doesn't even begin to describe that music but I heard the song once and it’s the only thing that came to mind when I think of Governor Northam and all the people who supported the infanticide bill. Mary Anne at Les Femmes has done an excellent job showingwhat really motivates my state’s governor. Lord have mercy on this country. In just my life time we've fallen so far it's shocking. 

The Conversion of St. Paul

This image of St. Paul being knocked off his high horse isn't famous like the great Caravagio painting but I like it.  Paul looks completely shocked, completely helpless and when he gets up from the ground after having heard Our Lord he will completely converted.

Random thoughts on a Sunday afternoon

• All the priests and Catholic influencers who Tweeted condemnation of the kids from Covington High School should be ashamed.  I'm really disgusted. They were so eager to go with the crowd that they disengaged their brains.  Don't completely trust an initial media report. Good grief! My father told me that when I was eight! When Princess Diana died, my local news reported that she was okay and then 15 minutes later they said she was dead. A few weeks ago, we were told that a middle aged white man in a truck shot a little girl in Houston. It turned out to be young black man in a car.  In my town we read an initial report that there was an unattended death  (these are usually illness or accident related) in an apartment near me. A week later the report is that it was the first murder of the year for my town.  Not only are initial reports are almost always wrong but the smart person ALWAYS considers the source. 
  
  
• That thought reminded me of something I wrote years ago only now I have include Twitter priests:
  
  Should Priests Blog Pt. II 

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  Fr. Pinot, French martyr

  
  
  I've said before that priest's really shouldn't blog (or Tweet several times a day about  worldly matters such as what food he's eating right now, politics, movies, gaming) unless it's strictly their homilies and catechetical or apologetic material or posts about parish events. I've seen blogs by priests that were downright scary. A priest is an alter Cristus. He should not seem like a pop star tossing PR tidbits to his fans or a guru communicating his wishes to his groupies. His blog should never  leave readers wondering about how his lifestyle is financed or speculating that Father has too much time on his hands or if what they just read was written by a real priest at all.
  
  

  Blessed Fr. Pinot, of France courageous example for priests and us all, pray for us.

  Mother Vogl, pray for us.

  St. Pio, pray for us.

  Blessed Fr. Pro, pray for us.

  Blessed Fr. Popieluzko, pray for us.

  Cardinal Mindzdenty, pray for us.

  St. Fr. Edmund Campion, pray for us.

  Priest martyrs of Nagasaki, pray for us.

  Priest martyrs of Gorkum, pray for us.

  
  

Catholic parents, it's past time to rethink the whole way you play the college game

Catholic blogland has been discussing reports on the professor and head of the English department  at Franciscan University at Steubenville who assigned a mandatory reading assignment of a blasphemous and pornographic book, which I will not name, to his students. At first the university defended him. Now, after parents and alumni said they were closing their check books the professor has been fired and replaced. The school president has apologized.  Steubenville was once considered to be a safe, solid Catholic school.  Although the Newman Society says things at the university are still pretty much okay  people are beginning to wonder about that.

Supposedly the  "safe" schools are what? Christendom, Thomas Aquinas, Wyoming, Steubenville  and Ave Maria? Except for Wyoming and Aquinas I've read complaints that didn't seem frivolous or stupid about all of them.  College is not required to keep your Faith and there are devout Catholics who never went to college or who chose went the two year route. Frankly, unless your kid is majoring in a hard science or technology program  like biology, nursing, architecture, engineering, etc., you are probably paying a fortune and running up a massive debt for a useless degree that won't lead to a good paying job.
 I read the suggestion of one writer who plans to have his kids go to the state school but live at home. His argument is that his son will probably be able to handle the nonsense at the secular school better than the sly Faith undermining that would take place in a Catholic school with an impious faculty. I think it's time for Catholic parents to stop being sentimental. Your grandpa may have gone to Notre Dame and you may have gone to Trinity but you can't just send your kid off to a "Catholic" school and think that everything is going to be okay. As it turns out the professor has an agenda and is looking for victims at a Catholic school so he may be worse than he would have been at a secular school.

What kind of untity are you talking about?

 I keep seeing all these dreary posts on Catholic Twitter demanding that people be nice and stop disagreeing with one another in the name of unity. Unity ofwhat?  If you're going to call people stupid, weird, uncouth, and so far beneath you that it's not even worth being civil to them because they dare to disagree with you on a non dogmatic matter then you're way too much like the initially bland but ultimately vicious pod people in Invasion of the Body Snatchers screaming at some survivor who managed not to get assimilated into the alien union.

 Think how boring Catholic Twitter and Catholic blogland would be if everyone was the same. I don't want unity with the pod people. One person that I really liked became downright ugly towards anyone who has questions about Pope Benedict's abdication. I lost respect for this person and just feel a bit sad when I see this individual's posts, articles, and Tweets. It's rather like the moment when Nancy in Invasion realizes that Donald Sutherland didn't make it and has become one the aliens.

Pray for us, Holy Mother!

a prayer for the redemption of bad priests

Divine Savior Jesus Christ, Thou are the Good Shepherd who gives His life for His sheep. Oh, be in a very special way the Good Shepherd of those poor lost priests who are also appointed by Thee to be leaders of Thy people, but who have broken the oath of their holy ordination and have become unfaithful to their exalted calling. Bestow upon these poorest of the poor the very fullness of that pastoral solicitude with which Thou dost so faithfully seek the sheep that are lost! Touch their hearts with the irresistible ray of grace which emanates from Thine all-merciful love! Enlighten their minds and strengthen their wills, that they may turn away from all sin and error and come back to Thy holy altar and to Thy people. O most compassionate Savior! Remember that Thou didst once redeem the souls of Thine erring priests with Thy Precious Blood and in infinite preferential love didst impress upon them the indelible character of the priesthood. Put wholly to shame those miserable helpers of Satan who lay snares for the virtue of priests and endanger the holy ideal of the priesthood. Most graciously accept our prayers and sacrifices for poor priests who have gone astray and hear our earnest petition.

 Amen 

Imprimatur - Bishop John F. Noll (April 18, 1948)

St. Anthony of Padua, defender of the Holy Eucharist, obtain for us holy priests

St. John-Mary Vianney, model of sacerdotal holiness, obtain for us holy priests

St. Francis Xavier, patron of missionary priests, obtain for us holy priests

St. Therese of the Child-Jesus and of the Holy Face, victim offered for the sanctification of priests, obtain for us holy priests

Saints and Servants of God, obtain for us holy priests.

Holy Innocents, pray for us

Merry Christmas

Fiat