From The Francis-Effect Department: John Gehring Carries On At NCR

"NCR" in my title stands for Not-At-All Catholic Reporter.  In his latest plop in the online edition of that rag, John Gehring had the hypocritical gall to call a pro-life governor a "cafeteria Catholic".  There are so many errors here one scarcely knows where to begin - but I'll give it my heroic effort.

Before I begin, have you ever noticed something odd about Gehring and other progressive "katholyc" authors?  They often chide Catholics who champion pro-life causes for not adhering to the (discredited) seamless-garment ideology.  Never have I ever read of them rebuking pro-abortion politicians for anything, let alone their shilling for baby-murder.  I find that to be rather telling regarding their own convictions about the lives of the unborn.  And get a load of Gehring's Twitter page!  But I digress!

The backdrop for Gehring's dribble is the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast.  Right in the second paragraph is one whopper.  He claims that capital punishment, war and "other moral issues" clash with traditional Catholic teaching.  No, they don't.  There are conditions that must be met before capital punishment or war are engaged, but they are not the intrinsic evils that abortion and contraception are.  I'll link now to a very pertinent article written by Father C. John McCloskey, showing the place capital punishment has in the realm of Catholic moral theology.  And there is this, from the Catechism of Pope St Pius X: "It is lawful to kill when fighting in a just war; when carrying out by order of the Supreme Authority a sentence of death in punishment of a crime; and, finally, in cases of necessary and lawful defense of one’s own life against an unjust aggressor.”

Further down Gehring whines, "But when a national Catholic event that attracts leading Republican politicians and Catholic bishops consistently sends a message that being pro-life or pro-family can be reduced to a narrow agenda that aligns with one political party, that is a problem."  If he believes that is a "problem", did he bother to ask how that "problem" came into being?  Which of the two main political parties has abortion rights and "gay" rights ensconced within its official party platform?  It's simply fact that the pro-life position is more closely aligned with the GOP platform - but that's only because the Democrats formally reject all things having to do with protecting innocent babies in their wombs!  Why does Gehring ignore that?  I believe there is a deliberated reason for that!

At the bottom of the article we read that Gehring is Catholic Program Director at Faith in Public Life.  My Catholic Media Coalition colleage Stephanie Block did several exposes of FPL (see here and here) several years ago, exposing its rather squalid alliances with dissident organizations such as Dignity and Call to Action and their own nefarious activities.

Three years ago The Blaze ran an article that revealed the funding that FPL received from George Soros.  It also detailed a "behind the scenes" media campaign that Gehring undertook to undermine the bishops' efforts to combat the Obamacare contraception mandate.  A prior position Gehring held was Communications Director for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.  I've written about them and their undermining of Catholic teaching and the funding they've received from (guess!) George Soros!  Are we sensing a pattern here?

At the Not-At-All Catholic Reporter, John Gehring is quite at home, for many (if not most) there, when it comes to matters Catholic, don't know apple butter from cow pie.

Father Weinandy Causes John Gehring To Have A Meltdown

That is evidenced by the latest hissy-snit against Father Weinandy as published by Comic-squeal.  It is spewed forth from the frothings of John Gehring, entitled "More Catholic Than The Pope".   The whole thing reads like one massive temper tantrum.   I could spend all night picking this mess apart, but instead I'll focus on two things.

Here is one telling quote: "Pope Francis isn’t undermining doctrine. In fact, he is rescuing doctrine from dusty theology books, insisting that human beings, in all our complexity and messiness, must be at the center of the church’s vision."  See the problem?  Human beings are NOT at the center of the church's vision.  God is.  In a Freudian slip fashion, Gehring betrays his humanistic, as opposed to Catholic, mental paradigm.

Here's another: "It’s particularly galling that Fr. Weinandy would so condescendingly rebuke the pope given his history of accusing progressive Catholic theologians of disloyalty and dissent."  Father Weinandy's actions are not contradictory for in both these circumstances cited by Gehring, Father Weinandy defended the Church's timeless teachings, regardless of the person(s) dissenting from them.

Enough of that.  Let's look at Gehring himself.  I've made mention of him in previous posts.  He is quite the progressive dissident himself, and probably feels the sting of Father's rebukes personally and for good cause.  Here's a page devoted entirely to him and the mischief he's wreaked over the years; note that he most likely was the receiving end of George Soros's cash infusions at one time.  In that post I made mention of Gehring's twitter page.  Here's a current one indicating that he supports the gay lifestyle.  No wonder he resents Father Weinandy, for darkness hates the light.

SNL's Che on @pwcdanica victory - her opponent was "in fact so homophobic that he refused to get within 8 points of her." pic.twitter.com/dSb2RhMFbL

— Tom Perriello (@tomperriello) November 12, 2017

Rancid Souposiums

A monthly email from the Archdiocese of Washington's Department of Charity and Justice is promoting something called "Sunday Souposiums" put on by the Franciscan Monastery.  Some further research indicates that the "soup" might contain just a smidgen of rat poison.

The Franciscan Mission Service gives some insight about past "souposiums".  One held in January featured as its main speaker Sister Margaret Mary Kimmins.  She is the board president of  Franciscan Action Network.  Now read that home page for an eyeful of dissent.

Catholic Standard Watch - Progressive Catholics Diss Trump's Appearance At March For Life

Here is the article in question.  Please note that it is a Catholic News Service piece; thus it is most likely published at the unction of the USCCB.  First, we see quoted one John Gehring, Catholic program director of Faith in Public Life.  One would never know from this puff piece that FPL is funded by George Soros.  John Gehring is not fit to be quoted in any Catholic publication.  His complaints about the President are no doubt guided by his own progressive leanings (not to mention Soros and the USCCB).

Next to whine is Father Dauses, pastor of St Andrew by the Bay in Annapolis.  He is quoted as saying he was "really, really conflicted attending" the March.  Were the babies a high priority for him?  That is a fair question, in light of the "social justice" page from his parish's website.  This group, in working with other nearby "faith communities", identified "6 priorities".  Notice what is not a priority.

These two progressives are simply using the president's presence as a feeble excuse for their own disregard of unborn children.  At least the article quoted Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, who made plain that the murder of thousands of babies daily trumps all other issues in scope and importance.  As long as our clergy remain on the dole from progressive sugar daddies, they will be morally compromised and will likely have difficulty at their particular judgments.

John Carr Retiring From USCCB, Will Eventually Be At CUA

After more than 20 years at the helm of the USCCB's Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, John Carr is retiring from that position.  I have written extensively on Carr and the mischief wrought (please read that link and all the posts included therein for a full picture of Carr).  Probably the most scandalous of harm done by Carr and the USCCB minions that he supervised (most notably the Catholic Campaign for Human Development) is the funneling of millions of Catholic donations to Alinskyan organizations over the past few decades, including the now-disgraced ACORN.

Catholic Morality And Right To Self Defense

Thanks to Pewsitter today, I found an excellent treatise on the right to self-defense as found in Catholic tradition.  The author refers both to Summa Theologica (click here and go to Article 7) and the Catholic Catechism, summarizing the conditions under which the use of lethal force may be allowed and even mandated.

I suggest that all read it.  One interesting point he makes is why so many abortion proponents seem keen on depriving us of the means of self-defense - and he makes perfect sense.  The progressives who push for abortion and the destruction of the traditional family wish to make the state into a de facto deity.  The right to self defense comes from God - a source outside the state.  Thus they perceive this right as a supreme threat to their state-idol. Their puppets in the USCCB and various chanceries are merely doing their bidding to make people more dependent upon, and subservient to the state-idol.  Why are these preceding sentences italicized?  You'll see below!

A perfect "case-in-point" occurred yesterday in the online edition of the Not-So Catholic Reporter.  The bloviations typical for that rag run rampant throughout the article, calling for disarming the citizen (What?  Do you  think crooks are going to obey gun laws and surrender their arms?)  One source of the whining is John Gehring of Faith in Public Life.  My Catholic Media Coalition colleague, Stephanie Block, exposed Faith in Public Life for the left-wing front organization that it is.  Here's another piece that she did.  Faith in Public Life has taken money from George Soros.  So much for their credibility when it comes to things Catholic.

Another key whiner is none other than the USCCB.  They issued a statement that says in a footnote (tucked away so we nasty right-wing bloggers don't notice!), "However, we believe that in the long run and with few exceptions -- i.e., police officers, military use -- handguns should be eliminated from our society."  Now compare this statement to the italicized sentences two paragraphs prior to this one.  The USCCB is indeed spouting the talking points of their progressive puppet-masters.  They are doing so even to the point of dissenting from Catholic moral teaching in regards to the right to self defense.  To me, that means that the push to disarm that may come from "social justice" arms of chanceries and conferences must be opposed and resisted as the departures from morality that they are.

Francis Effect - To Proudly Embrace Worldly Corruption

In this Vortex, Michael Voris rightly decries the accommodation of Church leaders to the immoral and anti-God standards of this world.  It's apparent from the video that at the time of its creation, Church Militant had not yet received word that the Boston KofC council pulled out of the now-defiled Boston St Patrick's Day parade.  Their press release is here.  While the council did the right thing, no one can gainsay that they did so willingly.  They got caught with their hand in the cookie jar and they hate it.  I hope it's because many good Knights threatened to withdraw membership and their membership dues.  I have more discussion below the video.



Voris insinuated that Church leaders, e.g., Dolan, are simply dupes of the worldly powers-that-be.  I for one don't believe they are that innocent.  They did not attain their positions by being dunces.  They knew what they wanted and used some considerable smarts to attain it.  Their "jolly-bumpkin" demeanor is simply an act.  They know they're undermining the faith and betraying their God.  They love their cushy situations more than the souls in their charge - and maybe their own.  Pray for them that they truly convert.

Let us now turn our attentions to this US News article, that talks of the Pope's shakeup of Vatican personnel.  At one time, many Catholics seemed to think that the Pope was just a lovable guy who wouldn't harm a fly, what with his clown-nose and all.  Save for a few pollyannas who persist in wearing rose-colored glasses with respect to the pope, that "aw-shucks!" image has been, well, shucked by the pope himself.  The US News article, in its left-wing way, is quite up front about the "madness behind the method" at the Vatican.

All kinds of Catholic left-wing hacks are quoted.  One of them is John Carr, former head of the USCCB social justice division.  He remarked that "personnel is policy".  I don't agree with Carr on most things, but on this point he is spot-on correct.  Commenting on changes regarding American bishops is another progressive, John Gehring of Faith in Publc Life.  He says, "you are going to see some of these Francis bishops really start to change not just the image of the church but the substance of the church and the direction moving ahead."  As you can see from this unabashed declaration, the progressives, emboldened by Pope Francis, are no longer couching their agendas in nuanced language.  "Change the substance"?  What is the "substance" of the church if not her identity as the Mystical Body of Christ entrusted by Him to save souls by proclaiming His eternal and immutable Truths?  While the pope cannot solemnly proclaim error, much deliberate damage can be done under the guise of being "pastoral".

The article talks of changes at the Congregation for Bishops.  Cardinals Raymond Burke and Justin Rigali were removed from that college.  Burke is a champion of orthodoxy.  In their places he installed Cardinal Wuerl and reaffirmed Cardinal Levada - not champions of orthodoxy.  A third left-winger is cited: Michael Sean Winters, dissident hack at the Not-At-All Catholic Reporter.  Says Winters, "instead of two culture warriors and one non-culture warrior, you have two non-culture warriors as the Americans on that congregation".  These are strange times when I find myself agreeing with these progressives, but it's only because they are "letting down their hair" and admitting who they really are.  When we look at the sick, demented worldly culture that now infests western civilization, is it not evident that we need culture warriors?  Both Wuerl and Levada, like Dolan, openly facilitate the infestation of Holy Mother Church with the poison of secular culture.  And no, they aren't simply being wimps.  Witness the draconian treatment meted out to Father Guarnizo at the behest of Cardinal Wuerl and his underlings at the DC chancery.  They moved with great alacrity and purpose as they threw Father Guarnizo under the bus - draconian, but not wimpy.

The article goes on to state how the Pope ushered in Blaise Cupich as Archbishop of Chicago.  Lauding Cupich's "more civil tone on divisive topics like same-sex marriage and birth control", the author somehow forgets to mention that while Bishop of Spokane, he forbade his priests to participate in the 40 Days for Life campaign.  Apparently the pope also played a direct role in the placement of Robert McElroy as Bishop of San Diego.  My blogging colleague at A Blog For Dallas Area Catholics reports on McElroy's dissidence.

Please read the entire US News article.  We must keep our eyes open and prayers forthcoming.