I Support Michael Voris Today
Though ChurchMilitantTV has been at odds with Traditional Catholics in my circles for the last year, I find myself backing them and Michael Voris today.
According to CMTV, the archdiocese of New York is planning a smear campaign against Michael Voris by revealing his sinful past before his conversion into Catholicism. If true, this is a wretched and terrible thing for the archdiocese to do. According to CMTV, calumny was being spread about Voris at the Dunwoodie seminary, and that a campaign was to begin which would attempt to tarnish his name.
This scheme has forced Michael Voris' hand, causing him to strike first and reveal his sinful past for millions of viewers online. I will not even link to this CMTV Voris episode, as it is unfortunate and unnecessary for Voris to have to qualify himself in such a humiliating manner.
Voris does not have to qualify himself for me or any other Traditionalist Catholic. A sinful past is past. It is wrong for anyone to try to dredge up something on a repentant man in order to do damage to his reputation. Voris, for all appearances, has a clean life and is full of zeal. Anyone can see that.
Now, Voris and CMTV have said some nasty things about Traditionalist Catholics. They muzzle anyone who criticizes Pope Francis, and they're quite wrong about the Society of Saint Pius X. However, their organization has done a lot of good as well. Exposing corrupt clergy has been a great help for the common laity. CMTV has done great service for regular people who hold no authority over anything. Time and again, Voris and company have exposed wicked things going on within the Church hierarchy, and for this we shall forever be grateful.
However, if I and others are to take issue with Michael Voris or CMTV, it is because of what they say, not what they may have done in the past. If Voris, Niles, or any one of them over at CMTV goes off on another tear about how people attending SSPX Mass are more wicked than satanists, then they are completely wrong and deserve to be called out. However, let it not be denied that they also hit the nail right on the head on other issues. They are a mixed bag, so I say: accept that.
Speaking of comparing SSPX to satanists, CMTV's buddy, Father Paul Nicholson has decided to do a 180 on Voris and friends, and to COMPLETELY DISOWN THEM.
First, there was this:
Dear friends; I apologize for not providing you with a daily video, and this may be for a while. I have ceased doing business with the company that provided the platform. While my future is uncertain, I entrust myself to the Providential goodness of God the Father. If you could, in your kindness continue your financial support during this adventure, I would be most appreciative. God reward you! Fr. Paul Nicholson
So, okay. He's disowning CMTV here. Then, he goes along to stab his former colleague in the back. Fr. Paul Nicholson, a public figure and a leader who we address as "Father," acts petty, and attributes some of the worst stereotypical characteristics to Michael Voris. He does this in the manner of a backbiting, gossiping, high school cheerleader who's putting down her competition on the team:
Those who are the most ardent fault finders are those who suffer from a deep self-hatred. ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ acts produces in an individual such self-loathing that it not surprising that the gαy culture manifests itself in attacking with hostility. Unwittingly the culture of the Internet is dominated by this gαy culture ... And today, many Catholics are so deformed that they have succuмbed to it. That is why there are groups and individuals who can make a living off of bashing bishops. They survive on poorly formed Catholics. Do not follow or listen to anyone who bashes the sacred hierarchy. It is an evident sign they experience self-loathing. Even if the person has repented of deep sɛҳuąƖ sins in their past, human nature will be infected by those sins. It can happen therefore that the prodigal son can turn into the elder brother. Have nothing to do with these forms of "apostolate".
Not only is this comment terribly bad-natured, but it is also un-Christian. How could Fr. Nicholson not know that Voris had a gαy past? Did he never hear Voris' confession? Surely he did. How could he so completely disown someone he used to support so much. It's completely duplicitous.
But also, Fr. Nicholson is quite wrong in his accusations. Accusing Voris of gαy culture? CMTV is a Catholic organization that has done nothing but to push for the exposure of corruption in the Church. Surviving "on poorly formed Catholics?" Only the poorest formed Catholic could fail to see through this murky behavior. And even if Michael Voris was spiritually deformed because of his past life--why in the Hell did Fr. Paul Nicholson go along with the CMTV operation in the first place, and why would he be disparaging this deformed person so publicly, rather than helping Voris to heal, and encouraging him in the Catholic Faith?
Finally, Fr. Nicholson states the following for his followers:
To save us all a lot trouble, let me say that I am more than happy to have anyone unfriend me who thinks that you can serve the Church by using: Rage (impersonating holy anger), Sarcasm, Gossip, Shame. These tactics belong to the world. These are not instruments that Catholics can use to reform the Church. The sɛҳuąƖ revolution has ruined all of us. We are all loaded with self-hatred. That is why we need to try to be good children of God. That is why we must try to be Christian. The gαy culture lives off of rage, sarcasm, gossip and shame. The gαy culture destroys dioceses, religious orders, even noble attempts to serve the Church. I am done with the gαy culture impersonating service to the Church. Done. Absolutely done. Unfriend me so we can go our separate ways. I am done catering to this pathology.
Amazing. Am I the only one seeing this? Fr. Nicholson is already guilty of three of these. He is raging against the repentant Voris, gossiping about his past unnecessarily, and he is attempting to shame him. Michael Voris is a repentant man. The clergy that CMTV goes after is still in the middle of their corruption, still doing damage, still leading souls away from the Church, and still unrepentant. These worldly tactics are being employed by the world...and by Fr. Nicholson.
And he says, "I am done with the gαy culture impersonating service to the Church." This is a false accusation. CMTV is not gαy culture. It is against ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖity, and it is exposing sodomy and many other corruptions within the Church hierarchy. He is fishing for a conflict where no conflict exists. Perhaps Father is just caught up in the type of thinking that says: Oh! Voris was a queer! He thinks like a queer! He always will! And the whole damned CMTV studio thinks like queers! That is how Fr. Paul Nicholson is sounding here. He sounds like a reactionary, not a spiritual leader. I can only shake my head in disappointment. Watching this spectacle from him is worse than watching Fr. Dwight Longnecker's Trad bashing.
I appreciate it when a priest comes out and states that ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖity is evil. But this is wrong, wrong, wrong. Michael Voris is a repentant man. There's plenty of ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ enemies of the Church, and Voris is not one of them. Even if he is struggling with some sort of addiction, it's none of our business, and it is clear that he is trying to serve the Church in spite of his personal battles with sin. A lot of us try to serve God despite our sins.
Today, I support Michael Voris and ChurchMilitantTV. I take the Michael Matt approach of The Remnant, and I extend my hand out in friendship towards them, pointing to that organization as an example of good resistance against the evils engorging on a weakened Church on Earth. CMTV has been difficult and wrong on occasion. But they are also allies of a type.
If anything, Michael Voris' latest testimony only strengthens his character and makes him more of a leading figure in the Catholic world than ever before. People will see through the various shallow attempts to smear him, and they will only appreciate him more. I have viewed the video of his testimony, and I am moved greatly. Indeed, with God, all things are possible. I am thankful that God has a servant such as Michael Voris--for his sake and all of ours. With any luck, the next time Voris comes to Tulsa, perhaps I could meet the guy.
So, again, today I stand by CMTV and Michael Voris. I do this, even if it is true that they will never stand by me, The Remnant, Louie Verrecchio, Steve Skojec the badass, Hilary White, Ann Barnhardt, or the SSPX--the Society, who has been fighting all this time for our Church since shortly after Vatican II. It's a one-sided kind of affection, but it's usually that way when you're a Christian.
UPDATE: As of now, Fr. Paul Nicholson has unfriended me on Facebook. This, because about half an hour ago, I kindly told him that it's strange that he should be talking about people "going our separate ways," when he's the one who is our spiritual father, and that we are supposed to be looking up to him. Instead, he's only keeping around those Facebook posters who praise him. Such behavior is not leadership, and it is not masculine.