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Traditional Catholic Faith => Crisis in the Church => Topic started by: Caraffa on September 18, 2012, 05:26:08 PM

Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: Caraffa on September 18, 2012, 05:26:08 PM
The Network Gone Wrong
Goes Wrong... Again


by Christopher A. Ferrara
September 12, 2012


One of the realities that prompted me to write EWTN: A Network Gone Wrong six years ago is that EWTN's roster of celebrities is curiously prone to scandal. Here is a list of major EWTN celebrities who have bitten the dust since 1998, which I have discussed elsewhere:

In 1998, Father Ken Roberts, a hugely popular EWTN celebrity and an avid promoter of the phony apparitions at Medjugorje — misleading countless souls — was removed from the network and all material related to him was expunged from EWTN's website after his suspension from the priesthood on account of allegations involving the sɛҳuąƖ molestation of minors.

In 2002, Father John Bertolucci, another EWTN superstar and proponent of the pan-Christian "Catholic Charismatic Renewal" — a clear threat to the integrity of the Faith — was expunged from the network without comment after he was identified by the infamous Bishop Hubbard as one of twenty child-molester priests in the Diocese of Albany.

In 2007, Father Francis Mary Stone, the immensely popular host of EWTN's crass and often morally offensive, rock-and-roll-themed youth show, "Life on the Rock" (discussed extensively in Chapter 15 of my book), left the network in disgrace and then the priesthood after announcing his love affair with a widow. When last seen on the Internet, he was peddling a nutrition drink called Zrii under the name Dave Stone, shamelessly using the slogan "living life on the rock."

In 2009, the aptly named Father Alberto Cutié, EWTN's telegenic Hispanic heartthrob who "reach[ed] millions of households throughout the United States, Canada, Spain and Latin America on EWTN Español," left EWTN and then the Catholic Church after photos of him groping a married, bikini-clad woman on a beach surfaced in a Spanish-language tabloid. He married the woman and became an Episcopalian priest.

In 2010, Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, former head of Human Life International and a fixture in EWTN's video and audio programming, left the network and resigned from HLI after he admitted to "violating the boundaries of chastity with an adult female who was under my spiritual care" — meaning his "exorcism ministry." Euteneuer maintained that the "vast majority" of his decisions and conduct had been "morally sound and consistent with all standards of pastoral care of persons." The parents of the young woman Euteneuer admitted to violating, however, say they are aware of two other victims.

Then, in 2011, Fr. John Corapi, perhaps the single biggest celebrity in EWTN's history, was removed from the network after an investigative panel appointed by his order alleged continuing sɛҳuąƖ improprieties, drug abuse, and a lavish lifestyle contrary to his vow of poverty (to which the order, it must be said, had previously failed to object). As I noted in a column for The Remnant, in response to the report Corapi "issued an evasive non-denial and purported to 'resign' from the priesthood rather than contest the charges against him. 'That era of my life is sadly ended,' he said, speaking of his sacred priesthood as if it were a job opportunity that had reached an unfortunate dead end." I further noted that "Shortly thereafter Corapi appeared in a video on his [now defunct] website wearing a leather Harley Davidson jacket, his head shaven and his gray beard dyed black, to announce that he would pursue an Internet career under the bizarre moniker 'Black SheepDog.'"

Now, as John Vennari has put it, "another one bites the dust." As Catholic News Agency (CNA) has reported, Franciscan friar Father Benedict Groeschel — whose heterodox ramblings before EWTN cameras were the subject of Chapter 8 of my book on the "Network Gone Wrong" — has "stepped down as host of EWTN's Sunday Night Prime television show following his apology for making comments about the sɛҳuąƖ abuse of minors." Groeschel was sacked after he declared during an interview in the neo-Catholic newspaper National Catholic Register (published Aug. 27) that "a minor is 'the seducer' in 'a lot' of sɛҳuąƖ abuse cases" and that "he was inclined to think that abusers on their first offense should not go to jail 'because their intention was not committing a crime.'"

EWTN president Michael P. Warsaw told CNA that "It should have been obvious to the editor [of the National Catholic Register] that Father Benedict's physical condition and mental clarity have deteriorated and that the comments were completely inconsistent with his life's work and witness."

Well, we are all subject to the frailties of advancing age, and it is certainly true that Father Groeschel's performance on EWTN has been declining since my book appeared. But there is nothing to indicate that what Fr. Groeschel said did not reflect what he actually believed at the time he said it. A lack of mental clarity is not the same as a loss of reason. Unless EWTN is going to claim that Fr. Grosechel has lost his mind and does not even know what he is saying at this point in his life, what is their explanation for the scandal he has caused? Indeed, if this was merely an inadvertent misstatement, why was Fr. Groeschel sacked?

This is not the end of the line of EWTN celebrities who are prone to fall from scandal. Consider, for example, EWTN celebrity Father Robert Sirico, who managed to be ordained a priest in the 1980s despite his openly acknowledged and publicly reported past as a "gαy Protestant minister," following his apostasy from the Catholic faith of his youth. On April 21, 1975, Sirico "made the annals of 'gαy' history as a pioneer 'gαy rights' activist when he performed the first same-sex 'marriage' in the United States of two male ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖs with a civil marriage license at the First Unitarian Church of Denver, Colo."

Fr. Sirico's militant ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ past is meticulously docuмented here, and is essentially admitted entirely by Sirico himself here, yet today he is a regular political commentator on Catholic social issues for EWTN. With supreme irony, Sirico's commentary was solicited by EWTN talking head Raymond Arroyo during the same episode of The World Over — EWTN's pretentious, simulated "big time" news show — during which Arroyo announced the removal of Father Corapi from the network.

Has EWTN lost its collective mind? Sirico may have repented for his sins, but how could those responsible for EWTN's content think that a network that holds itself out as the gold standard of conservative Catholicism can simply overlook his utterly abominable past? No one whose résumé includes a career as a militant ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ activist and "gαy man" should have been ordained to the priesthood in the first place. Of all the intelligent priests available for commentary on affairs of the day, this is the man they choose? What is going on here?

Since my book was published, I have had communications from EWTN insiders who warned me that I don't know the half of what has gone wrong at the network. I suspect that they are right, and that my book only scratched the surface of the problem. Yet the propagandists of the neo-Catholic establishment, led by EWTN, cluck their tongues at Father Nicholas Gruner, who has honored his vows and kept the Faith unswervingly. Such is the "diabolical disorientation" that afflicts the human element of the Church today, to quote Sister Lucia of Fatima once again.

Link (http://www.fatimaperspectives.com/sv/perspective623.asp)
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: Stephen Francis on September 18, 2012, 06:06:40 PM
Why did the Ecuмenical Worthless Television Network choose Sirico as a commentator? Why was he ordained to the Novus 'priesthood'?

Simple. Newchurch promotes heretics and pagans, lets them see the wicked underbelly of Newrome's perversions, and then is powerless to do anything except see them 'fired' from the network. Why?

Because these drug addicts, perverts, blasphemers and other non-Catholics all know where the 'bodies' are buried, so to speak. They know what skeletons are in which closets.

Newrome can hardly defrock anyone; if Ratzinger and his bunch had any Catholic morals, ethics or decency, they would never have allowed these miscreants to be 'ordained' in the first place. B16 defrocking someone calls to mind something about pots and kettles calling each other names...

What is SO tragic about all this is the fact that there was a time in the world when faithful Roman Catholics represented deep piety and such devotion to Our Lord. As such, they were a social, moral and even political and economic FORCE to be supported by decent people everywhere and to be feared by those who would publicly act or endorse acts in opposition to Church teaching.

One day, Deo volente, we will see the glory of Holy Church in the faces, hearts and lives of millions again.

St. Anthony of Padua, hammer of heretics, terror of Hell, pray for us.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, triumph soon!

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: alaric on September 18, 2012, 06:07:02 PM
Quite disturbing indeed.
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: Nadir on September 18, 2012, 06:10:07 PM
Thanks for posting this, Caraffa. And Ferarra makes no mention here of the  scandal of ʝʊdɛօchristianity that EWTN promotes.

The book itself is an eye-opener.
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: alaric on September 18, 2012, 06:16:46 PM
"In 2010, Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, former head of Human Life International and a fixture in EWTN's video and audio programming, left the network and resigned from HLI after he admitted to "violating the boundaries of chastity with an adult female who was under my spiritual care" — meaning his "exorcism ministry." Euteneuer maintained that the "vast majority" of his decisions and conduct had been "morally sound and consistent with all standards of pastoral care of persons." The parents of the young woman Euteneuer admitted to violating, however, say they are aware of two other victims. "

According to Fr Euteneuer's own admission of guilt on this he speaks of these "violations" of his chastity vows as "not involving the sɛҳuąƖ act".....


If not, then what gives?

Part of the list of his own admissions and summary of his situation found here from a LSN website;

My violations of chastity were limited to one person only, an adult woman;
•The violations of chastity happened due to human weakness but did not involve the sɛҳuąƖ act;
•The accusation that I “targeted” vulnerable women or otherwise sought them out for spiritual direction is utterly false and a serious defamation of my character and ministry;



Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: alaric on September 18, 2012, 06:40:36 PM
"Then, in 2011, Fr. John Corapi, perhaps the single biggest celebrity in EWTN's history, was removed from the network after an investigative panel appointed by his order alleged continuing sɛҳuąƖ improprieties, drug abuse, and a lavish lifestyle contrary to his vow of poverty (to which the order, it must be said, had previously failed to object). As I noted in a column for The Remnant, in response to the report Corapi "issued an evasive non-denial and purported to 'resign' from the priesthood rather than contest the charges against him. 'That era of my life is sadly ended,' he said, speaking of his sacred priesthood as if it were a job opportunity that had reached an unfortunate dead end." I further noted that "Shortly thereafter Corapi appeared in a video on his [now defunct] website wearing a leather Harley Davidson jacket, his head shaven and his gray beard dyed black, to announce that he would pursue an Internet career under the bizarre moniker 'Black SheepDog."


I don't believe Fr Corapi admitted to anything and accused one of his previous employees (female) of false accusation and sensationalism, maybe even in an attempt to shake his ministry down for money, I don't know. But he said for years he was marked by the liberals and ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖs in the Church and they would eventually take him down, which they did. there still hasn't been any real closure to this saga and the good father has been silent for the better part of a year now, maybe in obedience to his superiors, again, I don't know.

I actually liked Fathers style when I first seen him on his old Catechism series years ago but I think the fame, success, and money might have tempted him into backsliding into his old ways, he was of course a "shrewd" business man back in his "bad old days" before his recovery back into the Church and evetually the ministry. I'm personally hoping he comes out vindicated from this scandal, but it doesn't look good at this point.

The whole "Black Sheep dog" thing was just bizarre.
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: Nadir on September 18, 2012, 10:25:36 PM
The case of Fr Euteneur is possibly a set-up. He may been getting a bit too explicit about the main perpetrators of the pro-death industries.

The founder of HLI , Fr Paul Marx, was made a prisoner because he started wondering out loud.
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: Iuvenalis on September 19, 2012, 01:57:42 AM
How quickly trads and 'conservative' Catholics eat their young. When a conservative NO or trad figure has any sort  of notoriety and is accused of impropriety, the denunciations are pretty quick.

Have you  ever heard  of a  setup??

A  couple of these figures mentioned  (maybe more) besides  Corapi even have  said they'd   eventually get  taken  down.  But, in their naivete,  they seemed to expect the beenfit of  the doubt by  right-minded Catholics, or people that listened to their homilies to  recall their prediction of a takedown and see through it. It doesn't seem to happen, even when a guy  'told you so'.

I'm not saying this is always the case,  or that  these people are always above reproach, but they  paint a serious target on their back  when they get  *serious* about prolife  ministry,  start naming  names,  talking about the enormous money  behind it, mentioned the actual  supernatural evil behind it and its wealthy supporters, and the USCCB's  complicity such as  the CCHR or  the  CRS donating  to  abortion providers, 'family planning' or birth control pushers.

Alinsky himself discussed the tactic of getting the  opposition to "eat their young", especially  when the opposition identity is circuмscribed by some moral stance (as opposed to ethnic or other):  Get them to hold themselves to their own standards while you flout them.

So, while they go on pushing  infanticide and setting  the agenda in mainstream  society, the news, academia, defining  what passes  for 'polite' conversation, we collectively rip  to shreds and cast out anyone who exhibits human weakness and makes a mistake (let's contextualize drug abuse, it's not murdering millions of babies, let's contextualize a priest having consensual heterosɛҳuąƖ sex with an adult woman like Fr. Cutie, it's not murdering millions of babies)  while 'they' carry  on grinding up the bones of a millions babies a year for their bread (a million just in the US!).

If you don't think these forces collude, you're a jackass. Pedophiles supported (and continue to) each other in the clerical ranks for probably 50 years and hid each other, all the way up to bishops. No accusations of ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖity or pederasty, and if there were, they didn't stick. If you promote the TLM, oppose gαy  marriage in a serious way, or pay more than lip  service to prolife efforts (the USCCB *talks* a lot about 'life') and piss of potential donors or expose the h0Ɩ0cαųst of innocents that is being stood by idly by much of the hierarchy who should be leading the charge, then mysteriously all sorts of accusations and accusers, and insinuations of impropriety start to emerge, and ironically the lavender mafia hangs the dreaded pederasty albatross around your neck and people who were demonstrably  not living in the  country at the time some good priest ostensibly abused him start speaking out and piling on.

A few, a very, very few recant once in awhile and describe large (to them) cash payments to  them in exchange for such tall tales and the press is completely uninterested-- they love nothing better than the salaciousness of the prolife, or anti gαy marriage priest getting 'outed' as a self hating gαy.

Consider that by piling on without *knowing* what really happened (and how can you *know?), you are part of the problem.
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: Iuvenalis on September 19, 2012, 02:14:48 AM
One more thing:  consider the source.

Ferrara is 'interesting' in  terms  of  which heretics  he defends (he   defends mightily Mother Angelica who promoted religious indifferentism for one) and which ones he decries.

He is quick to point a finger at guys that travelled around doing lectures and selling books (people I will call "Professional Catholics") and seems to be quite unaware of the irony of him  making such denunciations.
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: Belloc on September 19, 2012, 07:14:14 AM
Quote from: Nadir
The case of Fr Euteneur is possibly a set-up. He may been getting a bit too explicit about the main perpetrators of the pro-death industries.

The founder of HLI , Fr Paul Marx, was made a prisoner because he started wondering out loud.


had dinner w/Marx a few weeks prior to his death, largely in a wheelchair and not too mobile and I heard, none to cognitive....age and infirmity sadly...

Euteneur attacked Fox "news", Hannity and others, then poof, he is in trouble.......no hard to connect dots........
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: Belloc on September 19, 2012, 07:15:57 AM
Quote from: alaric
"Then, in 2011, Fr. John Corapi, perhaps the single biggest celebrity in EWTN's history, was removed from the network after an investigative panel appointed by his order alleged continuing sɛҳuąƖ improprieties, drug abuse, and a lavish lifestyle contrary to his vow of poverty (to which the order, it must be said, had previously failed to object). As I noted in a column for The Remnant, in response to the report Corapi "issued an evasive non-denial and purported to 'resign' from the priesthood rather than contest the charges against him. 'That era of my life is sadly ended,' he said, speaking of his sacred priesthood as if it were a job opportunity that had reached an unfortunate dead end." I further noted that "Shortly thereafter Corapi appeared in a video on his [now defunct] website wearing a leather Harley Davidson jacket, his head shaven and his gray beard dyed black, to announce that he would pursue an Internet career under the bizarre moniker 'Black SheepDog."


I don't believe Fr Corapi admitted to anything and accused one of his previous employees (female) of false accusation and sensationalism, maybe even in an attempt to shake his ministry down for money, I don't know. But he said for years he was marked by the liberals and ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖs in the Church and they would eventually take him down, which they did. there still hasn't been any real closure to this saga and the good father has been silent for the better part of a year now, maybe in obedience to his superiors, again, I don't know.

I actually liked Fathers style when I first seen him on his old Catechism series years ago but I think the fame, success, and money might have tempted him into backsliding into his old ways, he was of course a "shrewd" business man back in his "bad old days" before his recovery back into the Church and evetually the ministry. I'm personally hoping he comes out vindicated from this scandal, but it doesn't look good at this point.

The whole "Black Sheep dog" thing was just bizarre.


I liked much of what he did/said as well, brought me back to going to Mass......but the investigations, by Church and secular, revealed a guy living way too well for a priest.......whatever moral accusations aside.....several cars, boats and I always had issues with "why does this order priest live alone, in the wilderness, when others live and are assigned duties"
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: Neil Obstat on September 19, 2012, 10:05:34 AM




Quote from: Caraffa
The Network Gone Wrong
Goes Wrong... Again


by Christopher A. Ferrara
September 12, 2012


...
Has EWTN lost its collective mind? Sirico may have repented for his sins, but how could those responsible for EWTN's content think that a network that holds itself out as the gold standard of conservative Catholicism can simply overlook his utterly abominable past? No one whose résumé includes a career as a militant ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ activist and "gαy man" should have been ordained to the priesthood in the first place. Of all the intelligent priests available for commentary on affairs of the day, this is the man they choose? What is going on here?

Since my book was published, I have had communications from EWTN insiders who warned me that I don't know the half of what has gone wrong at the network. I suspect that they are right, and that my book only scratched the surface of the problem. Yet the propagandists of the neo-Catholic establishment, led by EWTN, cluck their tongues at Father Nicholas Gruner, who has honored his vows and kept the Faith unswervingly. Such is the "diabolical disorientation" that afflicts the human element of the Church today, to quote Sister Lucia of Fatima once again.

Link (http://www.fatimaperspectives.com/sv/perspective623.asp)



Selectively promoting perverts and criticizing other faithful priests -- Hmm...

Sounds reminiscent of the recent trend out of Menzingen: selectively promoting
Fellayite yes-men and sanctioning the courageous few who dare to stand up to
the neo-modernist tendencies in the SSPX leadership.

The difference is, EWTN's corruption is more aptly described as "depravity," while
Menzingen's is at a low-level in comparison, but nonetheless, headed in the same
direction.


Quote from: Iuvenalis
One more thing:  consider the source.

Ferrara is 'interesting' in terms of which heretics he defends (he defends mightily Mother Angelica who promoted religious indifferentism for one) and which ones he decries.

He is quick to point a finger at guys that travelled around doing lectures and selling books (people I will call "Professional Catholics") and seems to be quite unaware of the irony of him making such denunciations.


Are you suggesting that Ferrara is culpable of the same misdeeds as those he
criticizes? Maybe you're forgetting that he's a lawyer, and as such, sometimes
is asked to defend someone who isn't entirely squeaky clean? Mother Angelica
may have "promoted religious indifferentism for one," but does that mean that
a lawyer shouldn't defend her when she's attacked unjustly on other accounts?

And just because Ferrara travels around giving lectures and selling books, he is
therefore unqualified to denounce the misdeeds of anyone else who travels
around giving lectures and selling books?

You must live in a strange reality.


Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: Raoul76 on September 19, 2012, 05:05:50 PM
Belloc said:
Quote
I liked much of what he did/said as well, brought me back to going to Mass......but the investigations, by Church and secular, revealed a guy living way too well for a priest.......whatever moral accusations aside.....several cars, boats and I always had issues with "why does this order priest live alone, in the wilderness, when others live and are assigned duties"


I don't know much about Father Corapi who I'm sure is really "Father" Corapi, but this is a Protestantized notion. Throughout the history of the Church many of the clergy and Popes have been from wealthy families and had money. Is this the greatest thing for the faith? In most cases, probably not, but you can be a priest and have money.

It is the Prots who then come and use the flaws of the priests, as well as their wealth, against them. It comes from an erroneous set of ideals, the same one that makes them complain about the wealth of Rome. The key is to be poor in spirit. So Father Corapi may be worldly in his behavior, I don't know, but the clergy can have money.

Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: Telesphorus on September 19, 2012, 05:53:08 PM
EWTN and its personalities are really irrelevant.

The scandals just show the helplessness of what Stevus calls the "neocaths"
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: Sigismund on September 19, 2012, 07:21:36 PM
Quote from: Raoul76
Belloc said:
Quote
I liked much of what he did/said as well, brought me back to going to Mass......but the investigations, by Church and secular, revealed a guy living way too well for a priest.......whatever moral accusations aside.....several cars, boats and I always had issues with "why does this order priest live alone, in the wilderness, when others live and are assigned duties"


I don't know much about Father Corapi who I'm sure is really "Father" Corapi, but this is a Protestantized notion. Throughout the history of the Church many of the clergy and Popes have been from wealthy families and had money. Is this the greatest thing for the faith? In most cases, probably not, but you can be a priest and have money.

It is the Prots who then come and use the flaws of the priests, as well as their wealth, against them. It comes from an erroneous set of ideals, the same one that makes them complain about the wealth of Rome. The key is to be poor in spirit. So Father Corapi may be worldly in his behavior, I don't know, but the clergy can have money.



You can be a diocesan priest and have money.  You can't be a member of a religious order vowed to poverty and live like a prince.  
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: Stephen Francis on September 20, 2012, 10:03:24 AM
You know what always stinks about these people and their lifestyles? The secrecy. I don't think anyone would be shocked if the rectory at a church in a very well-to-do parish was MUCH nicer than the rectory in a poorer area. The difference is that these "priests" are ABUSING their positions and reveling in their status. Then they get found out, and what do they do? They LEAVE the so-called "priesthood".

If there was truly nothing wrong, why should they hang their heads?

The molesters and other sinners against chastity, on the other hand, should be glad they lost their ministries and not their heads. One of these days, a parent or even a victim is going to get through the security around these perverts and something tragic will follow.

Reading about the corruption that Newchurch's doctrines and practices have wrought just makes my heart ache for the chance to see the Church gloriously reflecting Christ's holiness again.

St. Anthony of Padua, hammer of heretics, terror of Hell, pray for us.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, triumph soon!

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: Belloc on September 20, 2012, 10:36:05 AM
Quote from: Raoul76
Belloc said:
Quote
I liked much of what he did/said as well, brought me back to going to Mass......but the investigations, by Church and secular, revealed a guy living way too well for a priest.......whatever moral accusations aside.....several cars, boats and I always had issues with "why does this order priest live alone, in the wilderness, when others live and are assigned duties"


I don't know much about Father Corapi who I'm sure is really "Father" Corapi, but this is a Protestantized notion. Throughout the history of the Church many of the clergy and Popes have been from wealthy families and had money. Is this the greatest thing for the faith? In most cases, probably not, but you can be a priest and have money.

It is the Prots who then come and use the flaws of the priests, as well as their wealth, against them. It comes from an erroneous set of ideals, the same one that makes them complain about the wealth of Rome. The key is to be poor in spirit. So Father Corapi may be worldly in his behavior, I don't know, but the clergy can have money.



Money is not the point, he did win a court case for medical malpractice.

He is an order preiest, yet has refused to elave his home and live like other priests.

For a priest, is it necessary he have several cars, boats, fancy digs? This a good example?
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: PenitentWoman on September 20, 2012, 10:44:32 AM
Quote
In 2007, Father Francis Mary Stone, the immensely popular host of EWTN's crass and often morally offensive, rock-and-roll-themed youth show, "Life on the Rock" (discussed extensively in Chapter 15 of my book), left the network in disgrace and then the priesthood after announcing his love affair with a widow. When last seen on the Internet, he was peddling a nutrition drink called Zrii under the name Dave Stone, shamelessly using the slogan "living life on the rock."



I liked Father Stone, but I guess that was just because of my upbringing. It wasn't until my adulthood that I met a priest under the age of 60 who wasn't super shy and sort of effeminate.  Like many modern Catholics, the impression of the priesthood is either very old, or very gαy.  That is just the sad truth.   I'm sure it hurt a lot of potential vocations when the announcement was made he had grown close to a woman and was leaving LOTR.

I believe that he did go on to have a child with the widow, but I am not sure if he was ever laicized or if he left the church completely or what.  Since the 1970's something like 150,000 priests have left to get married, so it does happen.
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: parentsfortruth on September 20, 2012, 11:45:05 AM
Quote from: Iuvenalis
One more thing:  consider the source.

Ferrara is 'interesting' in  terms  of  which heretics  he defends (he   defends mightily Mother Angelica who promoted religious indifferentism for one) and which ones he decries.

He is quick to point a finger at guys that travelled around doing lectures and selling books (people I will call "Professional Catholics") and seems to be quite unaware of the irony of him  making such denunciations.


My grandmother was a victim of her propaganda in this regard. : :cry:
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: Belloc on September 20, 2012, 01:46:22 PM
Quote from: parentsfortruth
Quote from: Iuvenalis
One more thing:  consider the source.

Ferrara is 'interesting' in  terms  of  which heretics  he defends (he   defends mightily Mother Angelica who promoted religious indifferentism for one) and which ones he decries.

He is quick to point a finger at guys that travelled around doing lectures and selling books (people I will call "Professional Catholics") and seems to be quite unaware of the irony of him  making such denunciations.


My grandmother was a victim of her propaganda in this regard. : :cry:


??
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: parentsfortruth on September 20, 2012, 10:13:38 PM
Belloc, I mean that my mother in law became an indifferentist because of EWTN and Mother Angelica and her "one religion is as good as another" talk. She had EWTN on at her house practically 24/7. She even had that "Father Roberts" over at the house. I was there. It was just ...  :barf:
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: Capt McQuigg on September 20, 2012, 11:36:19 PM
EWTN is just about unwatchable now.  It's terrible TV.  Forget the fact that the channel presents Vatican II in the light of the New Pentecost and how everything should be seen in this light.  Not to mention that those televised novus ordo services are not only banal but hard on the eyes and ears.

Turn off the TV and pick up St. Francis de Sales or St. Alphonse de Liguori or St. Louis de Montford or something devotional, instructional, informational and faithful to the Catholic traditions.  Reread the Baltimore Catechism.  Increase the time you devote to your prayer life and improve your interior life.  

There was a time when I enjoyed EWTN but I'm more knowledgeable than that now.
   
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: guitarplucker on September 30, 2012, 10:41:13 AM
Haven't watched it for years, but Life on the Rock was the worst. Nothing more pathetic than "Catholics" who try to be hip.
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: Traditionalmom on September 30, 2012, 07:49:19 PM
Yeah I've seen a lot of junk on EWTN. I saw Fr. Groeschel blow his nose on a tissue then he put it down on the altar and went on with the Mass. I was shocked. Isn't that supposed to be holy? (and not a place for snot rags)
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: Neil Obstat on October 01, 2012, 04:50:45 PM
Quote from: Belloc
Quote from: parentsfortruth
Quote from: Iuvenalis
One more thing:  consider the source.

Ferrara is 'interesting' in  terms  of  which heretics  he defends (he   defends mightily Mother Angelica who promoted religious indifferentism for one) and which ones he decries.

He is quick to point a finger at guys that travelled around doing lectures and selling books (people I will call "Professional Catholics") and seems to be quite unaware of the irony of him  making such denunciations.


My grandmother was a victim of her propaganda in this regard. : :cry:


??
Quote from: parentsfortruth
Belloc, I mean that my mother in law became an indifferentist because of EWTN and Mother Angelica and her "one religion is as good as another" talk. She had EWTN on at her house practically 24/7. She even had that "Father Roberts" over at the house. I was there. It was just ...  :barf:


As my mother was getting very old, she complained there was nothing worth
watching on TV anymore. This was around 1995. I had some friends who were
rather enthusiastic about EWTN who suggested getting satellite TV so my mom
could have EWTN. So I installed a "dish" on her roof and she was able to watch
the shows, but she never really got "into it" much. She was always half-disappointed.
I only saw a show from time to time, and I relied mostly on her reports. I must
say, my mother was able to identify the trend long before others I knew were
aware of it. When I would relate to them that EWTN was going "downhill," they
would disagree and say I was dreaming.

Eventually, around 1999 or 2000, she abandoned the dish network entirely,
because she would no longer watch EWTN and there was nothing else worth
watching. I eventually removed the "dish" because it was an eyesore.

So I was fortunate to have a mother who was not "sucked in" by indifferentism.
Her education was better than that. It gave me the "heads up" that something was
amiss.

The chapel they had set up gave the appearance from a TV angle that it was a
Traditional Latin Mass, but if you listen carefully and pay close attention you would
see that it was actually a Novus Ordoized liturgy with the TV audience sitting
BEHIND the sanctuary. There was a kind of rood screen on the "back" side of the
altar, and beyond that was an area for the cloistered nuns to attend Mass. If you
imagined the screen missing and the TV audience area walled off, all that would
be left is an altar facing the "people" - that is, the nuns - with a tabernacle in the
way -- that's how it first looked when they first turned the altar around in 1969:
the priest had to peek around the tabernacle at the congregation. And the next
move was to put the tabernacle off to the side, and eventually in a broom closet
or in another room, in exile.

I know a priest who imitated this setup, and used a hybrid liturgy, half Novus
Ordo, half TLM, and when he gave his sermon, he stood off to the left side,
facing the altar, so that the congregation on his right and the "cloister" on his
left, could both see him from the side, so to speak.

At the time when in the TLM the priest turns around and says "Dominus
vobiscuм," he would have been turning away from the cloister, which would make
no sense. As I recall, there was some other rubric they used there so as to give
the impression the cloister was included in the "vobiscuм." He may have said it
twice, facing both ways, but I don't recall exactly. But it was different than a
normal TLM, also in other ways.

There are pictures you can see of the "early days" of the Novus Ordo, where
the young woman who would become Mother Angelica was involved with the
music for mass. She played the drums. You can see her there, sitting on a stool
behind a rock 'n roll drum set, big grin on her face, waving drumsticks. Those
were the days, eh? So you can see "where she came from." In her later years
she was a lot less "progressive," but she still "had it in her." It seems to me she
typifies the new age with one foot in Tradition and the other stepping off the cliff
of Modernist innovations.
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: parentsfortruth on October 02, 2012, 06:36:29 PM
Quote from: parentsfortruth
Belloc, I mean that my mother in law became an indifferentist because of EWTN and Mother Angelica and her "one religion is as good as another" talk. She had EWTN on at her house practically 24/7. She even had that "Father Roberts" over at the house. I was there. It was just ...  :barf:


Correction: My grandmother, not my mother in law.
Title: The Network Gone Wrong
Post by: ServusSpiritusSancti on October 02, 2012, 08:22:03 PM
Mother Angelica may not have been perfect, but let's give credit where credit is due. She was forced out of EWTN after she called Cardinal Mahoney a heretic and said the so-called "Third Secret" released by the Vatican in 2000 was a phony. She also didn't like the Bogus Ordo.

A lot of Trads like her. Heck, even sedes like her. So I say let's give credit where credit is due.