I continue to hold Michael Voris in great respect for the service that he has done - and continues to do - in bringing Catholic scandals to light. As we all know, light and fresh air are often the best medicine for festering boils, provided they are first lanced to release the pus and poison.
With that in mind, I view with great alarm his Vortexes of the past few days. Blogs such as this exist to bring scandals to light so that they can be rectified. It matters not the source of these scandals; to cover up and ignore hindrances to the Faith because they emanate from the Vatican and even the unguarded words of the present Holy Father only allows the poison to spread. I've said before that I respect the decision that Voris has made for his apostolate. I regret that respect is not reciprocated, as Vortex continues to lump us together with sedevacantists. I not only regret such condescension; I must denounce it in the strongest terms, hoping for an apology or at least a clarification.
In the Vortex from Tuesday, Voris insists that we must keep our concerns and questions private and that we should write letters as opposed to voicing them electronically. As many others have said, we have learned at the local diocesan level that letters don't work. They get placed in that circular bin known as the waste basket. And no, it doesn't matter diddly-squat if you write "personal and confidential" on the envelope.
Well, there is ONE exception to that rule and I know relate to you THE MIRACLE OF THE MIRACULOUSLY FOUND LETTER! Here's what happened. About twenty years ago, I wrote to the DC chancery about a certain matter which I must keep private. I was rather new at this sort of activism, but perhaps the Holy Spirit was whispering to me. And what might He have been saying? "Send the letter via Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested!" And I obeyed. A month passed and I received no reply. So I called the chancery and reported that I had not received a reply. The woman very politely informed me that they had no record of receiving my letter. I replied how I sent it, and that I had received that little green card. I didn't have it with me at the time, so I told her I'd call her the next day and let her know who signed for it. I promptly forgot about it, but less than a week later - lo and behold (cue "angelic choir" miracle-music) - I received a reply to the letter that had one been lost! What a miracle! Now the reply did the most minimum lip service to the matters I broached, but that sure taught me a lesson about how little they really regard us and what we have to say.
In this Vortex, lapses in logic abound. At about 2:56, Voris remarks that St Thomas More would never have waged a Facebook war with the pope. Of course the internet didn't exist back then. Now Voris might have in mind some sedevantists and/or progressives taking to electronic media to vent their spleens. Others of us are using these electronic means to raise voices of reason and caution. And it must be said that the Vatican itself is utilizing the internet (whether successfully or clumsily) to promulgate its message. The internet is a medium to all; to suggest that faithful Catholics limit themselves to communication techniques that are antiquated is beyond ridiculous.
At 5:25 he remarks about the "amount of words spilled by Catholics..writing things for the whole world to read.." In saying this he ignores the obvious point that we "write these things" about papal gaffes precisely because they have already been promulgated through the internet - much of it with Vatican approval. Else, how would we have learned about them? To address "private" letters about globally known matters is an inadequate response to the problems raised by the papal gaffes. Of course these letters would never reach the intended party anyway. Many, when they suggest this course of action, have Matthew 18:15 in the back of their minds and they misinterpret it. A careful reading of this makes plain that Our Lord is talking of private quarrels, matters about which people other than the quarreling parties would have no knowledge. He was not talking of the exchange of ideas in a public square.
After giving to us the mailing address and other helpful hints, Voris says (of these hypothetical letters) "it will get to him" at 6:13. Who does he think he's kidding??? "Get to him"?? Anybody with two brain cells knows that any letter will get handled/mishandled by layers of Vatican bureaucracy. What??? Does the Pope have time to read thousands of "personal letters" that arrive from all over the world on a daily basis?
What is it that is driving Voris to insult our intelligence in this fashion? There's more to this than meets the eye. Unless Voris issues a clarification soon, acknowledging the differences between the writings of faithful Catholics (who will remain with Holy Mother Church) versus sedevacantists, I must assume that other forces and entities are at work here.
Let me link now to an article written by the late Dr. William Marra regarding papal critiques. Again, this blog has and won't challenge the internal policies of Church Militant TV. We object to, and denounce the de facto slander being leveled against us because we follow the advice of Dr. Marra, St Thomas Aquinas and others.
The "letter-writing" Vortex is below.
Voris is being incredibly Unchristian to those of us who see the rot and dare complain the emperor has no clothes. His oh so pious "tell the Pope, and not the world" is nonsense on stilts. The Pope is causing public scandal by his statements and behavior, and he's "telling the world". Also, consider this: was the queer priest crisis dealt with by letter writing? No, the hierarchy stonewalled for years until good Catholics went public with it. I don't know why Voris is attacking those of us who criticize Papal Phoolish publically, but I'm cynical enough to think the dollar is the bottom line. He knows the Pope Francis is incredibly popular, and many Catholics who are spellbound by his charisma might not want to donate to CMTV if their rock star is given a Voris Vortex treatment. Well so much for "lies being trapped and exposed" eh?
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