Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 7:13pm

Nauseating

Saint Judas Iscariot

Patron “saint” of Turncoats.

As faithful readers of this blog know I have little use for Michael Voris.  However, I found this kiss and tell post by one of his former employees nauseating:

I was an ardent defender of the Truth, and I viciously attacked anyone who dared question someone like my main hero, Michael Voris.

Four years of living my Catholic faith like that was dispelled in four months. And how did that happen? It’s quite simple, really.

I worked at Church Militant.

It all started on a very exciting June day. I had gotten the call that I was one of the four men accepted into the one year internship at Church Militant known as the Pause Program. It was my dream come true: I was going to meet my hero and work under him. I prostrated on the ground in my room and thanked God sincerely for giving me such a gift.

I flew from home, a young 18 year old homeschool graduate afraid to live on his own, but still incredibly excited about what I was going to do. I landed in the airport, and I was greeted by Michael Voris and the three men I would be undertaking this year with. It was a surreal moment that will always stick in my mind.

It was decided that I would be a staff writer in news due to my skill at writing. I was very excited to write news, and I was very pleased to see my articles published. I was also pleased to see I was well liked, and had even been given the nickname “Smiles and Hugs” because I constantly smiled and frequently hugged people.

But unfortunately, two weeks in I was given an article that would start me on a life-changing course.

I was told to write an article on Cardinal Dolan and his Making All Things New pastoral initiative. In it, many dying parishes were being closed down to save the Archdiocese of New York money. I added several quotes from distraught and sad parishioners, as the angle was clearly to portray Cardinal Dolan as a bad person. However, I made a mistake in the writing of it: I added a quote from Dolan saying how sorry he was for having to close down the parishes, and that he felt for the parishioners who were losing their parish communities.

I was told by my editor that overall the article was good, but the quote was taken out. When I asked why, I was given a shocking answer: “It made him look good, and that’s not what we want.”

I stared for a moment in shock, nodded my head, and then walked away, disillusioned by what I had just heard.

It was at this moment that I began questioning all that I had done and believed in for four years. Two weeks into my dream, and I was having a crisis; not of faith, but of how to live that faith. Deep with thoughts of doubt and regret, I asked for my name to be taken off the article.

A week after this, I began questioning the purpose of releasing the information about clerical abuses (and supposed abuses) and bashing clergy for pastoral decisions in the first place. What was it accomplishing other than sowing deep-seated division in the Church? None of our articles to my knowledge had ever resulted in the punishment of a priest or bishop.

And why were we telling laypeople about these things in the first place? They didn’t have the authority to take care of the issue. Why weren’t we contacting bishops directly to inform them of things they are unaware of in their dioceses? Why was our immediate impulse to tell the whole world rather than to tell the people who could actually take care of the issue?

My head continued to swim with all these questions, and the more I questioned what we did, the less visibly loyal I became in the office. I began openly questioning why we were going to publish this or that information, and what good it would do, in the end. Needless to say, this was not appreciated.

After a little over two months of working there, my attitude and perspective had changed almost completely. I had come to believe that the public bashing (not to be confused with occasional respectful disagreement) of a cleric is immoral. I had become an avid fan of Bishop Robert Barron (seen as nothing less than an enemy of the truth at Church Militant,) and I had decided that perhaps bishops and cardinals who weren’t completely orthodox weren’t terrible people after all. Despite theological issues, I believed they ultimately had good intentions. This was a breakthrough in my mindset which had been taught by Church Militant to believe these men were literally evil and intentionally trying to destroy the Church.

My demeanor changed at this point as well. Through the direction of a good and holy priest, I had come to believe that in the life of the Christian, it is spiritually healthier and in fact more effective in evangelization to have a general attitude of gentleness and serenity, especially towards those who disagree with you. “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar,” he reminded me, using Saint Phillip Neri as an example, and I took his instruction to heart.

It wasn’t long before my questioning and changed outlook on life and the Church was noticed by Michael. Word had gotten to him that I was openly questioning our methods, and at times even asked not to do certain assignments. All of this came to a head in early October.

I had been assigned to do what we called Synod Profiles: background information on the “bad guys” as my coworkers termed them, that would become videos exposing their vile heterodox agenda. I was given eight names, and I began writing them with an uneasy and conflicted conscience. Through the counsel of the priest I mentioned, I had decided not to openly disobey, but rather to give balanced backgrounds on these bishops, reporting the good as well as the bad.

After completing and sending them in, it became apparent that my work was less than satisfactory. One friend mocked my policy of fairness and said my Profiles could be broken down into this (somewhat paraphrased) synopsis: “This Bishop believes this incorrect thing and did this bad thing, and his favorite color is purple and he loves bunnies.”

After turning them in, I was informed I was going to be given more Profiles to do. I was distraught. I had been unable to sleep well for the entire month I had been writing those transcripts due to stress of constant inner moral conflict, and I wanted out. I pulled Michael aside and begged him to get me out of the project. He accepted my request, but took note of how I said I couldn’t continue doing them “in good conscience.” After pressing me on the issue, he learned that I had developed a belief that perhaps what the apostolate did wasn’t good for the Church.

Thinking nothing of it and reveling in my conscience’s emancipation from the project, I went about the rest of the week very happily. However, the following week, I was suddenly visited by Michael and pulled from my work to speak with him in his office.

At this point I had forgotten about the Profiles already, and I walked in without concern or worry, not knowing why he wanted to speak with me. Michael sat down with me very casually, and began to probe me in my discernment. He asked me why I thought God was calling me towards the priesthood. After answering, he told me the reason he asked is because I was displaying a lack of understanding of the Church crisis, and that he was greatly concerned for my possible priesthood as a consequence.

He began to tell me stories and gave me future scenarios of my life wherein my bishop punishes me unjustly for following Church teaching, questioning what I would do in this or that scenario. He told me it had been reported to him that I had developed a reputation in my office for being a, quote, “Church of Nice Apologist,” and that I needed to cease watching all Bishop Barron videos immediately.

To me, what was most distressing was when he said, “Miles, you’re a sweet and gentle guy, but you need to change your personality and become aggressive for the sake of the Church.”

Go here to read the rest.  The author is a young man so I will do him the courtesy of assuming he is being an unintentional idiot rather than evil.  Voris goes out of his way to give a completely inexperienced youth a chance to work in media and he is rewarded with this slimy piece of betrayal made worse by the buffoon puffing himself up as a really nice guy.   That this individual is studying to be a priest should make for some interesting exposes whenever he decides that he does not like where he has been placed within the Church, unless maturity intervenes.  Future employers and superiors view him with caution.

I have worked for several employers over my life that I did not think much of after I left their employ.  Elementary decency prevented me from savaging those publicly from whom I had willingly accepted a paycheck, but I guess concepts like loyalty and honor are outmoded these days.

The hilarious icing on the cake was the Catholic King of Nice, Mark Shea, coming out to congratulate the author for nicely kicking Voris in the teeth:

Has Michael Voris ever approached the many, many victims he has bashed before publishing another video smearing them as enemies of the Faith? Did you, Karen, ever go to Voris to ask him that question? Or are Voris critics the only ones you ever single out for that demand?

The author has said much more about himself, and that all negative, in his blog post than he did about Voris.

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The Bear
Tuesday, December 15, AD 2015 7:29pm

Voris should have fired him when he learned people were calling him “Smiles and Hugs.” That ain’t right. Good perspective.

Greg Mockeridge
Greg Mockeridge
Tuesday, December 15, AD 2015 10:16pm

The article doesn’t contain anything Voris’ detractors don’t already believe about him. As to what effect this has on his future employability, it may very well be a resume enhancer if he applies to any mainstream Catholic apostolate, practically all of whom despise Voris with a passion.

If this kid does pursue a priestly vocation, he will find if he tries that with a bishop, the repercussions will not be to his advantage. I remember a priest friend of mine telling me that as a layman, I have much more freedom to criticize Church authorities than he as a priest does. I said, “Yeah, I don’t have faculties a bishop can yank.” His silence was all the affirmative response I needed.

Ernst Schreiber
Ernst Schreiber
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 12:08am

Offhand, I’d say that it seems to me Voris and Shea are the two sides of the tarnished coin.

But then I’m a convert and this is all too deep into the weeds of KremlinVaticanology for me.

Don the Kiwi
Don the Kiwi
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 1:14am

I don’t have too much of an issue with Michael Voris. He is the extreme side of the battle which, in view of the very major issues in the Church today needs a strong voice.
As an ordained permanent deacon of just less than three years, I agree with what Greg had to say about clerics being in a difficult position to speak out.
I have spoken briefly on this blog about a faithful, humble and holy priest who has been falsely accused of sexual misconduct, and had his faculties removed. The accusation was made by a prostitute who was on medication for drug addiction, has accused all the male members of her family of sexual abuse – yet the police investigated and found the accusations to be false. He was found guilty, despite this, by the Protocol Committee – on the balance of probabilities( a very low criteria) by our very unliked acting Vicar genral at the time, plus another priest who was guilty of physical abuse of a parishioner (which was “buried” by the current bishop), and my current parish priest.
In the course of this, the current bishop retired, and a new bishop has been appointed – after the judgement was made against the priest. The new bishop was not from this area, and so followed the advice of those priests – whom he has since elevated to permanent positions in the diocese. My current parish priest was also on the protocol committee. He found out that I was a supporter of the accused priest, and threatened me with advising the bishop That I was disobeying my bishop, and would thus have my faculties (preaching, assisting at Mass and proclaiming the gospel) removed, and since then have had a further two arguments/disagreements with him. I continue to tell him that I support Fr. Alex – an Indian priest, who has been discriminated against and defamed from the pulpit, was not given his rights under the protocol and has been refused a canonical trial – so we have gone to the secular courts, the proceedings which will become in the public arena early next year. Then the “Stercus ad flabellum impellit” – the excrement will hit the fan. There are many – in fact most – of the priests in the diocese support Fr. Alex.
So, after that epistle, what I am getting around to, is that there is much corruption in the Church – MY Church – that I have grown up in from my birth 73 years ago, and have seen all the rubbish that is perpetrated by the homosexual agenda, by extravagant heterodox bishops, and heretical cardinals from the Vatican down. God spare us, the Vatican is riddled with homosexuals, or gay friendly clerics.
I and a number of other in our parish are members of the Marian Movement of Priests and conduct our weekly Cenacles – the reading we have – locutions to Fr. Gobbi by Our Lady from the early ’70’s till the late ’90’s have foretold all that is happening – along with Fatima, Garabandal, Akita – you name it. Our Mother Mary is the messenger that Jesus now sends to us to warn us, and the warnings are currently being fulfilled.
Voris may be a radical, often overstates things and unpalatable to many – but his voice is needed.

DJR
DJR
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 1:40am

This young man is a very confused, sick individual.

On the same page as the Voris article, on his own blog, the following appears:

Hello, my name is Miles, but I assume people will rather refer to me as Miles (Pronounced “Me-less”) instead. Miles Ecclesiae is just fancy Latin for Soldier of the Church. As you have no doubt realized, I am a faithful Catholic whom errs on the traditional side of things (Though I am most certainly not a rad trad,) and I am something of a Ratzinger/Burke fanboy.

I am turning 18 on October 6 (note: written in 2014), and I am soon thereafter spending one week with the Franciscan Brothers Minor in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to discern a possible vocation with them. I have been discerning for four years now…

But the following also appears:

One thing that bothered me constantly when watching pornography even when I was 13 was how emotionally detached it was…

Sadly, I have succumbed to the temptation to watch pornography several times after this event happened, as all these realizations that came to me were unfortunately forgotten (We’re only human, after all), but almost as soon as the videos started, I had to turn them off…

He claims to be discerning a vocation for the last four years, but he has been viewing pornography since he was 13 (at least as of last year) and posting explicit material on the Internet.

In the Voris article, he claims: “Through this influence, for four and a half of five years, I had an uncontrolled fiery passion for all things Catholic. I told people “the way it is,” and if they didn’t like it, take it up with God. For me, everything was black and white, Good Catholic vs. Bad Catholic. I believed the Body of Christ was 90% cancerous with modernist heretics and estrogen-filled men who wanted to dialogue with sin and falsehood, and it needed a good amputating so we could purify the Church.

This guy is allegedly telling people what’s black and white while at the same time viewing pornography?

This very conflicted young man exhibits the same personality traits as the many sick individuals who infiltrated the Catholic priesthood and acted on their sinful inclinations. In no way should he ever be ordained.

Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 4:18am

Surprising the kid wasn’t fired or quit much sooner. My impression is that Michael Voris has some administration issues which are harming his efforts.

DonL
DonL
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 4:47am

I too have some questions about Voris, but like those wayward bishops that he is eager to criticize (but never Pope Francis) one might well argue that he too may have the best of intentions–that have gone awry.

Philip
Philip
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 5:05am

@Don the Kiwi

God bless you and strengthen you.

This fight within the church was prophecy in Scripture as well as in the blue book.
Fr. Alex and other priests are suffering the same false accusations that our Lord suffered so many years ago, and He told us we would suffer much to follow him.
We’re in good hands and on the right path.
I know you already know this but maybe it helps to hear it again. I hope it helps.

David Spaulding
David Spaulding
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 6:30am

I agree with your take, Mr. McClarey, but I wonder of this young man isn’t onto something here: What is the use of criticism if the Church couldn’t give two hoots for what we think?

A while back, a commenter justly took me to task for harping on the sins of the Hierarchy, Pope Francis, in particular, and bringing scandal to a recent convert on the same thread. Critiques that hurt the faith of the laity, dismay the lower hierarchy, and have no impact on the higher offices or the lay administrators making the day-to-day decisions in diocese are useless and counter-productive, no?

Take my concern about American bishops turning their backs on Catholic education. What are my critiques here, on Facebook, in respectful e-mails to the diocesan office, the Archbishop, and my pastor doing? Is it self-gratification? Seeking adulation from the like-minded? What is the point and what is the effect?

Here we have commenters confirming the perception of Bishops all too willing to punish faithful clergy. If they are willing to damage the priesthood to avoid hearing Truth, what good does our criticizing their fiscal incompetence and lavish lifestyles or their lack of attention to scripture or church teaching do?

Maybe the kid is right and we critics are engaged in a defeatist tilting at wind-mills.

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 6:53am

Regardless of the failings of this young man, Michael Voris’ cult of personality will lead to the same type or magnitude of scandal that had engulfed Father Corapi.

David Spaulding
David Spaulding
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 7:00am

A fair point about simply speaking the truth, regardless of its effect.

Dante alighieri
Admin
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 7:41am

Dale Price’s take on this was good, I thought. It seems that the author merely traded one cult of personality for another.
http://dprice.blogspot.com/2015/12/1-corinthians-112-13-lather-rinse-repeat.html

Art Deco
Art Deco
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 8:02am

I’m not seeing how this is ‘nauseating’. Compared to the treatment of Fr. Neuhaus by Damon Linker, this is weak sauce. I don’t care for this young man’s general disposition (but, being a reflexively caustic person who saves his smiles and hugs for a very short list of people, I have certain biases), but he has some arguable points (at least in the first instance regarding Cdl. Dolan). Being in the business of ‘watching’ or ‘exposing’ some other entity can be a corrupting enterprise, and you have to watch yourself.

Ernst Schreiber
Ernst Schreiber
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 9:04am

The idiot who wrote the post could not be more wrong. Like Saint Paul we must fearlessly speak the truth in season and out of season, and be no respecter of high office within the Church.

And what if the truth is that Cardinal Dolan really is sorry about having to close parishes?

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 9:19am

While I have little if any admiration for Cdl Donal, I agree with Ernst: what if the truth were that Cdl Dolan was sorry he had to shut those parishes down and Michael Voris refuses to report that lest the truth detract from an agenda?
.
Sometimes the employer screws up and needs to be reported on. If Voris is going to be Cdl Dolan’s watchman, then who is the watchman’s watchman? Voris needs to be held to the same standard to which he holds Cdl Dolan.
.
My industry is different than news reporting. Employees are required to have a questioning attitude, and to report when they see things being done wrong. We have an internal Corrective Action Program per the Code of Federal Regulations (I work in nuclear power), and we have whistleblower protection for reporting directly to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Obviously none of those things exist in news reporting. So this young man, regardless of his pre-occupation on pornography in two recent posts at his blog, did what people in his field have recourse to do in order to address grievances: public blog post. If Voris cannot handle the heat that he routinely dishes out to everyone else, then maybe he should get out of the kitchen.
.
As for Mark Shea’s comments of response in the post that this young man made about Voris at his blog, Shea is just like Voris. They deserve each other. Put them in a locked room together with bread and water and a toilet and two cots, and let them stay there till they calm down and start acting human.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 11:46am

Shea is just like Voris.

I suspect a content analysis would reveal that Voris is going to have to turn the dial up from 4 to 11 before he reaches Mark Shea’s level of vitriol, but I’ll defer to someone who routinely reads both.

Foxfier
Admin
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 1:33pm

Victims? Banished?
From the guy who routinely blocks, deletes, then chases down for more abuse, those who don’t agree with him?
****
Given the guy’s reaction to eventually being told he’s not a good fit and asked to leave long after (per the article) he’d decided that he WASN’T a good fit, as far as if what he’s describing is entirely accurate, I find my self quoting Christoph.

…….
It’s possible it did go down the way he describes it; it’s also possible that he’s leaving a lot out, because he doesn’t feel like it needs to be said. (For example, if the Dolan quote was actually placed in a defensive way, sort of like the famous “not that there’s anything wrong with that.” It’d really muddle the entire point.)

Foxfier
Admin
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 1:36pm

Put them in a locked room together with bread and water and a toilet and two cots, and let them stay there till they calm down and start acting human.

Good heavens, man, do you have any idea how dangerous that is?! What if they JOINED FORCES?!?

Pinky
Pinky
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 4:32pm

It’s very common for young people to get enticed by the most passionate and extreme voice on the spectrum, then fall out of enchantment. How many political conservatives got their start as college-age Randians? Ideally, only people who understood Voris would get hired by him, but if it took this kid nearly drowning in a vat of yellow ink to figure out what yellow journalism is, he’s probably better off for the journey. I wouldn’t hesitate to hire him on the basis of treachery, only on the basis of immaturity.

Does he have a priestly vocation? Who knows? I’d like to see a person have a better sense of himself before he pursues his vocation.

David Spaulding
David Spaulding
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 4:41pm

Well said, Pinky.

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 6:13pm

Foxfire quote my previous comment of Wednesday, December 16, A.D. 2015 at 9:19am where I said:
.
“As for Mark Shea’s comments of response in the post that this young man made about Voris at his blog, Shea is just like Voris. They deserve each other. Put them in a locked room together with bread and water and a toilet and two cots, and let them stay there till they calm down and start acting human.”

Greg Mockeridge
Greg Mockeridge
Wednesday, December 16, AD 2015 11:32pm

“It seems that the author merely traded one cult of personality for another.”

An epidemic in the Church today. Interesting times in the Church such as these make an 80s funk metal band sound like prophets:

Michael Paterson-Seymour
Michael Paterson-Seymour
Thursday, December 17, AD 2015 2:10am

“[A] young 18 year old homeschool graduate”
There is a young man who would have benefitted from a boarding school education.
“There’s a breathless hush in the Close tonight –
Ten to make and the match to win –
A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
An hour to play and the last man in.
And it’s not for the sake of the ribboned coat,
Or the selfish hope of a season’s fame,
But his Captain’s hand on his shoulder smote –
‘Play up! Play up! And play the game!’”

Pinky
Pinky
Thursday, December 17, AD 2015 12:21pm

We need a neutral committee to publish Crank Ratings for each site. Every blog should have their rating in the top right hand corner. Click on Voris’s site, there’s a giant red 5 on the screen. Oh, ok, now I know how to treat its content. It’d be funny to watch various bloggers react to their ratings. There are a lot of 4’s and 5’s out there who think they’re 1’s and 2’s. (Don’t worry, Don, as long as the pope isn’t giving an extemporaneous press conference on a plane, you’re firmly in the 1 zone.)

We should have a similar rating for presidential candidates.

The original Mr. X
The original Mr. X
Thursday, December 17, AD 2015 4:36pm

@Art Deco:

I’m not seeing how this is ‘nauseating’. Compared to the treatment of Fr. Neuhaus by Damon Linker, this is weak sauce. I don’t care for this young man’s general disposition (but, being a reflexively caustic person who saves his smiles and hugs for a very short list of people, I have certain biases), but he has some arguable points (at least in the first instance regarding Cdl. Dolan). Being in the business of ‘watching’ or ‘exposing’ some other entity can be a corrupting enterprise, and you have to watch yourself.

I totally agree. Michael Voris is an important news source for many Catholics, and if his organisation is manipulating its stories to make them more sensational, it’s important that people know this.

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