This foreword was written after I wrote the rest, as forewords usually are. This is one of the hardest posts I’ve ever written. It was physically uncomfortable to hack this out, and I had to stop several times and walk around before taking up the sword again. I suppose I will hesitate a few times and pray a bit before I hit that PUBLISH button.
One of our comments, under another post, mentions the website of a priest, Fr. Edwin Palka, who explains why some priests have not blown the whistle on homosexual priests and homosexual priest predators. Frankly, his post put some steel into my fingers.
Priests can set discouraging examples for their brethren. They can also set good example for encouragement.
What he wrote is grisly. It is also true. He opens the Ugly Box to let a little purifying sunshine in. I will do the same, and in the same vein.
Folks, I know that you are really angry. The depth of ugly you see in the news is often not nearly as deep as the ugly that some priests see. You are surely and rightly angry. Do you think that we priests are not?
I have to remind myself that when Our Lord cursed the fig tree before His Passion, that wasn’t the model that we priests should employ when it comes to homosexual predator priests.
And let’s be clear. This scandal is about HOMOSEXUALITY.
Some of these homosexual predators are, I think, possessed. Think about it. If you know anything about demonic activity, and this is something that lay people should not get too involved with, then you know that certain demons specialize in certain kinds of sins. They will attach themselves like spiritual lampreys to the souls of people who commit them and also to the places where the sins were committed. Once a demon gets hold, they claim the right to be there, until the layers of their connection are broken one by one. That’s what exorcism rites do: they break the legalistic claims of the Enemy to be there.
Homosexual sins are particularly grave and their demonic force is concomitantly vile. And these sins also involve the young or those who are subject to the authority or power of the predator. Millstones are not enough. If you wonder about the Lord and capital punishment, HE spoke of the millstone before the Church did.
That’s the supernatural side. There is also the natural side. It seems to me that men with these strong disordered inclinations don’t… how to put this… act like other men. They think differently, they work out differences differently. I know, I know. But that’s my sense of things. It’s hard to articulate.
To explain another issue, I have a couple of anecdotes.
First, way back when, as a seminarian, I remember the pastor of my parish telling us young guys not to write our name in our breviaries or prayer books. He explained that were we to lose the book, someone could claim that it was found in a “house of assignation”. Some of the guys thought that was funny. I didn’t. My folks were cops. I grew up hearing about and seeing photos of the ugliest human circumstances imaginable. I figured out “blackmail” and “compromise” waaaaay back. Also, if you talk to cops who have been on the job for a while, they will confirm that male on male “violence” is among the worst that they see. Ask cops if you know any pretty well. Ask ER docs and nurses what they see come in and how it was inflicted. Here’s a not so little factoid for you: In Italian, a derogatory term for a homosexual male is “froccio”, which etymologically comes from Latin ferox, “savage”. Are all that way? No. Of course not. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t those who are.
Next, still as a seminarian, over breakfast a then-auxiliary bishop told me that when he reported on something to the archbishop, he was shut down: “If I know about it, I might have to do something about it!” Then the auxiliary said, “Remember, John, there are old women of both sexes.” That would be confirmed countless times in the next years. When I went to the seminary rector to complain about the things I was hearing through the walls, their treatment of me only worsened and I got thrown out the second time. That’s how I got to Rome.
In Rome, because I was in the unusual position of curial work and seminary, because of my youth, etc., I was subtly warned of certain well-placed people who would offer this or that, to open this door, to invite into that circle, to climb more quickly, to gain some favors, etc. I was being warned, mainly, about two groups, the Mafia and homosexuals. Both groups – along with Masons, but I think they were in both these other tribes – wanted insiders, and I was perceived at the time as having the potential to be advanced. Sure enough, every once in a while I would get an invitation, a gift out of the blue, a strong suggestion that X might be a good choice to get ahead. Years later I read of one of them, a gentiluomo di Sua Santità, found tied up with his head bashed in and homosexual porno video in the VCR. I had met him at the Lateran University, where he for some reason was taking courses along with the seminarians. My “gaydar” is strong, so this guy didn’t get far with me. But some of my classmates….
As a priest, I quickly figured out that, if you were on the wrong side of things, you would be subtly and not so subtly targeted for persecution, of course, but also for compromise, be it homosexual, heterosexual, money, drugs, ambition, whatever your weakness might be. They would set honey traps for you.
If you think about it, if you try to think like the Enemy, doesn’t that make sense? If you can’t get someone to join you in your slime, but you suspect he has your number, you try to get something on him. Many years ago now, a woman told me about a meeting she went to of some pro-choice feminist organization or other. She said that one of the things they talked about, after the more public meeting was over, was figuring out which one of them could target for seduction certain priests in the diocese who were overtly preaching against contraception and abortion. One of them would do it or they could hire hookers and set honey traps.
It’s classic spycraft, really. Compromise the guy to shut him up.
The problem is, most priests are compassionate guys who, when faced with a woman in distress, might let their guard down. Face facts. Women, who are wired in certain ways, think differently than men. They can wrap guys around their lipstick case if they aren’t wary, and men often are not wary enough. Some tears and a little GBH can work wonders on the naive. That technique goes for the “gay” predators as well. This is one reason why I think that homosexual predators of young men think differently, apart from the help of the demons in their heads.
Also, as a priest, there are the truly sacrilegious ways that some of these agents of Hell will work to shut up priests who don’t and won’t putt from the ruff. They use the Seal of the confessional against the solid non-queer priest confessor. They go to confession to a good confessor to bind him by the Seal. Of course that is pretty underhanded, satanic even. It is a horrible sacrilege. A lot of good priests know that if they hear something in the confessional they must never ever talk about it. They don’t know what to do, and, in prudence, they clam up about their brethren. This is one reason why the Church’s law discourages a superior of hearing the confessions of those under his authority.
I know guys who simply couldn’t take it anymore and quit. There have been moments when I’ve thought about it myself. But then my cold Prussian fury and stubbornness flares and, I’m sure, the grace to stick it out for whatever I am destined to do or endure.
Dear readers… this is all out war. It is war on every level, human and supernatural. The Enemy of the soul is a really good general, a relentless and malevolent tactician of destruction of souls and long view strategist The Enemy preys on human weakness. War is horrible, vicious and seriously ugly. Spiritual war is worse than material.
Even now, I was texting with a friend about this new wave of dreck. He wrote:
These bastards have not only violated countless innocents and stained the Catholic name. They have set in motion the process that will lead good men to suffer greatly to defend celibacy and the seal of confession. It would be so easy to feed a few certified perverts to the secular justice and gain time to ascertain the facts on all others. Because, make no mistake, innocents will be accused and it will be IMPOSSIBLE to talk about burden of the proof without accusations of cover up. Innocents will have again to pay the price of reform the hard way.
They will show good will by targeting the good guys. They’ll find a degenerate in an otherwise sound group and, there, fixed!
The media, and of course bishops, are downplaying the distinctive tract of all these stories, the vice of most offenders. CNN even presents it with a pic of a woman crying.
It will be again a case of white heterosexual Christian men raping women and even when boys are involved it will be only because of a) power b) celibacy 3) culture of secrecy protecting power via seal of confession.
Which is in fact what happened, only it’s the sodomite modus operandi to protect themselves and strengthen their grip over power positions within the Church.
As I have written before, I do not buy the claims that a high number of priests are homosexual. But I do indeed buy that that percentage is higher among those who have power. The Boys Club perpetuated itself by grooming with preferential treatment of certain likely fellows. They made sure that they went to Rome, which could help a future career, or they got the chance at higher studies, the key role in the chancery, the roles that would be good on the CV when it was time to submit a terna. Mind you, that wasn’t all bishops or seminarians or priests. Don’t look cross-eyed at a guy sent to Rome. These days, I am sure that in the vast majority of cases, its because the guy has potential to serve the Church well and that’s the best place to realize the potential.
Do not.. do NOT.. slip into the trap that I see in news stories and fuming posts with sloppy language about how, “These bishops and priests! They all failed us!” No. They did not all fail you. Some did. They’re failures were galactic and all priests are suffering the fallout. But don’t turn your wrath and blame on every priest and bishop. That would surely make the Devil grin. That’s the objective, after all. Through some attack them all.
Tables are turning on Satan’s plans. However, when you wonder about all this stuff going on, remember that the Enemy plays the long game.
Your calls for short term retribution or for instant action etc. will have their own repercussions down the road. For example, even as many people call for the resignation and removal of this or that bishop, cardinal, etc., keep in mind that there is only one guy, in the human sphere, who signs off on the new bishops and cardinals. Try to picture the results over time if you get what you ask for.
Finally, please take this to heart.
This is a primarily a supernatural battle that is being fought right now. The bloody trenches and killing alleys are directly through the ranks of the Church’s priests, and they directly involve matters intimately tied into the very center of the Church’s core, priesthood and sacraments like Penance.
No priest, no Eucharist, no Church.
This war involves human weakness, identity perversion, and also demonic possession. Hence, our response has to involve all of these dimensions.
Priests and bishops….
Please start saying Masses and having devotions for reparation and for deliverance from the assaults of the Enemy. We have tried and true spiritual weapons, if only we would dust them off, polish them up, and use them. Enough of this mealy-mouthed excuse making and temporizing. Enough of this rubbish about all the really important things that fill the clerical day, like committees and meetings. If you are going to have a meeting, meet about how we have to do reparation, who will be unlocking the church for Exposition and Rosaries and Novena and CONFESSIONS.
Priests and bishops, for the love of all that is Holy, use your mighty spiritual weapons given by Orders and Holy Church’s own authoritative, tried and true Tradition.
And, I’ll say it again and again and again… the Devil HATES LATIN. Let’s stop fooling around. Put the .22 long rifle away and start with the .50 cal already. The time for the MaDeuce of our sacred liturgical worship is NOW. Extraordinary Form, brothers. Stop fooling around. If you Latins out there don’t know and can’t use your whole Latin Rite, then.. who the hell are you, anyway? C’mon guys!
Meanwhile, I am implementing the personal plan I’ve been cobbling together from my convictions, experiences, resolves. I have to be willing to stay on the Cross. Please pray for me that I will stay up there. In spite of my weakness, as a sinner among sinners, I will do my best to adapt, improvise and overcome the obstacles that I am sure will now hammer on me for this post.
You can send me email about this and I might post some of it. But the combox is CLOSED.
Mary, Queen of the Clergy, protect me and my brethren. If the hour of the Chalice is upon us, ask your Son the High Priest to make our wristbones strong for the nail, our footbones strong for the spike. As crowned Queen of Angels, bid for us mighty helpers from the celestial choirs, who know God’s will for us even as they contemplate God’s face. As Virgin Theotokos, tell Joseph your most chaste spouse which priests need his most urgent aid. How can he refuse your request to show himself, their Terror, to those demons who beset your sons, your priests and bishops? New Eve Queen, place your foot over the feet of your priests that they will trample the nahash in the vineyard and in their lonely oilpress gardens. Put your maternal hand on their shoulder as they unworthily stumble along, sinners, in their daily calvaries. Mary, Queen of the Clergy, protect me and my brethren.
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary…
From a reader…
