November 2024
Sixty years on, the latest synodal jamboree is gathered and sealed in the Vatican bubble, exuding the usual hot air about "participation," "mission" and, of course, a "new dawn." Meanwhile, beyond the delusory bubble Vatican II apostates everywhere still brandish the same Modernist publications spouting the same hackneyed agenda of "relevance," "renewal" and "change" that has long emptied parishes, seminaries and religious orders.
Now decrepit, but still addicted to fostering dissolution and decay, they continue on like the endless synods: chatting to each other amid the lonely ruins of moribund local Churches stripped of physical and supernatural life. Egged on by priests and prelates captured and enraptured by the zeitgeist, Church funding provides them free space to peddle the flared-trouser ‘theology’, love-bead ‘ecumenism’ and psychedelic spirituality of their 60s salad days.
On the one hand, it is hilarious: a Pythonesque scenario.
On the other, since the fate of immortal souls is always at stake, it is tragic beyond words: especially when prelates view ruination as salvation.
This critique by the former editor of Scotland's Catholic Truth newsletter lays bare the falsehoods and delusions of puffed-up dissidents that we have endured for half-a-century. Alas, having gained a new lease of life under a pontiff after their own heretical hearts, their chattathons seem destined to carry on with no prospect of self-examination and repentance — until the last apostate drops dead while touting women priests before an empty conference room.
Talking the Church to Death
Blah-blah vs. Catholic Reality
A Scotland's Synodal Journey: a conversation about becoming a synodal church [sic]" was the title of a June 2024 conference sponsored by Open House and advertised on the Catholic Facebook page of the Catholic Parliamentary Office of the Archdiocese of Glasgow. That fact is a scandal in and of itself.
Open House (OH) is a notoriously dissident journal. The one and only orthodox Catholic publication in Scotland, Catholic Truth (which closed operations in May 2023) reported regularly on the scandalous articles published in OH, highlighting the fact that the bishops permitted the spreading of the errors and false beliefs published in that journal despite their clear duty to prevent the spreading of such errors and false beliefs. Indeed, the editor of Christian Order himself also exposed and excoriated the bishops for their OH complicity in his two-part nuclear-demolition job: "Great Defenders? ... Or Great Pretenders? — The true face of Cardinal Winning and the Scottish Hierarchy" (April/May 1998). Among much else, he wrote:
The Scottish Bishops have further distinguished themselves by making common cause with the Dundee based Open House. Outwardly a bit like a naughty university rag run by giggling adults frozen in adolescence, Open House is actually one of the most militantly dissident journals in the U.K. It has referred to Church pronouncements as "crap" and made dissent its raison d'étre. One response to Veritatis Splendor, suggested the Editor in October 1993, "may be to laugh at the absurdity of the whole thing." In November 1995 we were told that "the 1870 decree on papal infallibility was a disastrous mistake." While elsewhere it made the thigh-slappingly funny recommendation that "all Church-goers should carry automatic nonsense detectors which react whenever the holders are asked to take seriously in a Church context, propositions that they would laugh out of court anywhere else." In May 1997, its readers were given the opportunity of signing a declaration of support for the heretical "We are Church" movement.
You get the picture. And now, 26 years on, we have the Archdiocese of Glasgow no longer hiding its approval in plain sight but openly espousing said errors and false beliefs by providing not only a platform to the personnel of OH to promote their scandalous Conference, but a venue in which to hold it: the Glasgow Archdiocesan Offices.
Anything-but-Catholic mindset
My own first instinct on reading about this event was to book a ticket. Not because I wanted to hear the talks (I knew that the whole thing would be a horror show for anyone with even a modicum of Catholic sense) but to see for myself the numbers and identities of the priests who attended. The attendees who wore Roman collars on that day spoke volumes about the state of the Archdiocese of Glasgow.
When I mentioned the forthcoming event to a friend, he replied with amazement that OH was still on the go, adding “I call them heretics, but they're actually apostates from the Faith…”
One of the OH contributors, Joe Fitzpatrick, is a former priest of the neighbouring Diocese of Motherwell. In his writings, predictably, Fitzpatrick spouts the ... how can I put it … predictable (and fake) claims about celibacy dating from the twelfth century, as if it is of no consequence that Christ (and His apostles) lived the celibate life in the first century.
Fitzpatrick misleads readers by pointing to St Paul (1 Tim 3) where reference is made to a bishop only having one wife, as evidence that married clergy was the norm in the earliest days of the Church, ignoring the evidence of the Gospel itself that Christ’s first followers “left everything” to follow Him (Matthew 19:27), and ignoring the workings of the Holy Spirit as the Church’s teaching developed on everything, including vocations.
Fitzpatrick also argues, somewhat hilariously, that the story of Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit is not about sin but about evolution. (...heavy sigh...)
In his article “Priesthood and modernity” Fitzpatrick offers a snapshot of the OH anything-but-Catholic mentality to which the Archbishop of Glasgow hitched his star through supporting this Conference, as if he hasn’t already hitched his star to Modernist errors. Joe Fitzpatrick writes (emphases mine):
We live in a time of transition in the Catholic Church. The certainties of yesteryear are gone. We no longer think we are the one true church, and the rest must learn from us. We have become aware of the changes in our own history and there appears to be a widely shared judgment that the Holy Spirit wishes our church to change.
Wrong! God wants each of us to change — from sin to sanctity. Not the Church, which is the Spotless Bride of Christ. He went on:
There are those who refuse to change and condemn Pope Francis and this notion of synodality which he has introduced. Because we must attempt to make our church more relevant, more helpful to people, I would like to offer my thoughts on priesthood, and advocate changes that would make priests more responsive to the needs of people today. My argument is not about falling numbers or ageing priests, but about relevance and purpose.
The speakers advertised on the OH Conference poster would not have been there but for their Modernist (to say the least) credentials.
I can’t recall the details now, but some years ago I attended a talk in Glasgow featuring the lovely Sister Gemma Simmonds, who had travelled up from England to share her imaginative ideas. She was decked out in tartan for the occasion, and I remember thinking that if she had taken half as much time to prepare her theological input as she had obviously taken with her Scottish outfit, all manner of things would have been well.
Diabolical delusion
And then there’s Mary Cullen — Editor of Open House. Below, extracts from her account of her interview with Archbishop Nolan of Glasgow (OH, 1 March 2024):
Drawing on Pope Francis’ vision of a church which goes out into the world to share the joy of the Gospel, his pastoral focus is on evangelisation and the development of outward looking Christian communities. He speaks of investing in people rather than property, closing churches that were built for another age and developing a collaborative approach to decision making which involves lay people as well as clergy.
This is the usual gobbledegook, meaningless blather that we have come to expect from the Scottish Bishops. In fact, the churches in Glasgow were built to accommodate the large congregations which were the norm right up until the moment when the Holy Spirit arrived ... when was it, again ... oh, yes, 1965. Seems He wasn’t crazy about packed churches. The blather continued:
One of the biggest challenges the church faces, he says, is to change the mindset that kept it for so long within its own walls.
What?!? Until the Vatican II era, the Church was alive and thriving, with missionaries worldwide bringing converts into the Church; we had regular parish missions bringing back the lapsed! “We need to change our mindset [to be more outgoing/missionary minded]…” Laugh? I thought I’d never start.
Under the sub-heading of “Legacy” we read about the Archbishop’s work as Bishop of Galloway where he had laity involved in funerals etc. This is the typical Modernist trick of turning failure into success, and giving it a label. “Legacy” here means: we have hardly any priests, few showing an interest in joining the “hardly any” and so we recruit lay people to take on priestly tasks. Crisis? What crisis?
Listen: if your heart doesn’t sink when you see a woman dominating the sanctuary in any parish church, whether you are a priest or a lay person, you need to recognise that your understanding of the Catholic Faith is — to put it mildly — lacking; by the ton-load. Real Catholics, male and female, are heartbroken at the sight. Cullen gushes that:
Archbishop Nolan is also known for his commitment to Catholic Social Teaching. As President of the Justice and Peace Commission for almost a decade, he is a familiar figure at peace rallies and demonstrations at the gates of the Clyde Submarine Base at Faslane.
But never “a familiar figure” at pro-life events, or a passionate opponent of abortion up to birth. But wait! ....
He has visited the Calais refugee camp, spoken out passionately against the UK government’s policy on asylum seekers and announced the formation of the Scottish Bishops’ office for the Care of Creation ahead of COP 26 in Glasgow.
Pleeeze! Give us a break!
"What struck him most about his new diocese?" asks Cullen, referring to his appointment to Glasgow a year after the death of his predecessor:
"The very very warm welcome," he said.... Rather than focus on empty pews, he spoke of strong faith, social activity and the commitment to justice he encountered: "like stars shining in the darkness of a clear night sky.".
“Strong faith”?
In what way? How is that made manifest in parishes?
There are still women in leading liturgical roles in once Catholic sanctuaries, with some of the “hardly any” priests not so much as batting an eyelid. None of those lay people with allegedly strong faith bat an eyelid either, let alone speak out against such outrages so close to the Tabernacle.
Somebody needs to tell the Archbishop that “social activity and the commitment to justice” are not specifically “Catholic” concepts. Indeed, these are buzz words and phrases currently being used to cover up the lack of divine and Catholic Faith among priests and people in Glasgow.
"Missionary spirit"?!?
When asked by Cullen about his priorities for the archdiocese, he answers with no hesitation:
"Evangelisation. The good news. We can’t keep it to ourselves." He speaks about Pope Francis’ first Apostolic Exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel, and its emphasis on "going forth" to enhance the lives of others.
Now we’re into really crazy territory. The Archbishop goes on to argue, unconscionably, that evangelisation “has not been our tradition”:
"The main barrier we need to overcome is our mindset. We, clergy and people, were not trained to think this way. We stayed within our communities and looked after ourselves. We need to evangelise those who are committed, those who have fallen away, and above all those outside the church. This has not been our tradition."
Rubbish! We were taught this in preparation for our Confirmation!
For pity’s sake, who does this Archbishop think he’s fooling?
Prior to Vatican II, the Church was thriving thanks to the truly strong faith of the people nourished by the Mass of the saints and martyrs and sustained by the sacraments and devotions, rosary, Benediction etc. I wonder how many Glasgow parishes offered the traditional May Devotions this year, even one evening a week (—in my youth, we had May Devotions, rosary, Benediction, Hymns to Our Lady, EVERY evening). We had young men and women joining Religious Orders to go across the world to evangelise, to win converts for Christ.
These days, it would be easier to find Lord Lucan than to find the Catholic missionary spirit anywhere in Scotland. And that’s because, in no small measure, dissidents like Joe Fitzpatrick and his ilk have been allowed free rein to spread their false teaching within the Church for far too long now – primarily through the dissident publication Open House.
Financing decline
Now, Mary Cullen’s interview turns to money, money, money:
Last November [Archbishop Nolan] launched a £1 million evangelisation fund to encourage projects which reach those untouched by the Gospel message.
[...] Archbishop Nolan said: "Parishes should be spending money on this kind of project anyway. We are challenged to make evangelisation — reaching out in faith to others — our principal objective. The resources we have, including our energies, our buildings, and our material resources, should all be directed towards this objective."
The Archbishop speaks with forked tongue here.
On the one hand, he is saying we must evangelise — go out and bring others in, blah blah. But what to do with those good souls whom we are blessed to win for Christ — where are they to go, since the “buildings”, the churches, are being closed right, left and centre. Makes no sense. Under the sub-head "Pruning", Cullen writes:
This is the context in which he is tackling the issue of fewer priests, dwindling congregations and too many churches....
Again, this is a glaring contradiction. How can we have too many churches if we are seriously evangelising? Seeking to bring back the lost and lapsed?
He speaks of a ‘time of pruning’ which will involve discussions at parish and deanery level across the archdiocese [... big yawn ... more talking shops...] to decide what can be closed or cut back in order to focus on what needs to grow. The aim is to have fewer parishes, fewer church buildings, new approaches to developing outward looking faith communities and greater responsibility for lay people.
And so, I repeat… Where are we to take those people whom we evangelise? The local mosque? That’s only partly a joke.
And what greater responsibility can any lay person have than to live out our Confirmation duty to spread the Faith, to be Soldiers of Christ. Yet, instead of teaching that, the Archbishop is advertising for a youth officer — who will, by definition, not have been taught the Faith him/herself — to work with the young for nearly £34,000 ($44,000 US) p.a.
Truly, you couldn’t make it up. If I’d known there was money in it, I would never have spent all that time working the Catholic Truth apostolate for free, thinking I had a Confirmation duty to exercise and spread my beautiful Catholic Faith. The advert on the website of the Archdiocese of Glasgow, should read:
Looking for the blinds to lead the blind. If YOU were born after Vatican II and thus not had the privilege of a sound Catholic Education, we want to hire you to lead a Catholic youth movement!
Instead, minus my sarcastic words in parenthesis, the advert actually reads:
Do you have a love of the faith [you’ve never been taught] and a heart for young people [whatever that means]? Then this could be the job for you. The RCAG YOUTH office are currently recruiting for a TEMPORARY - YOUTH OFFICER (£33,683.00) ...
Finally…
There’s another reason why the Archbishop’s evangelisation projects won’t work.
Even if new “converts” and the lapsed pour into what’s left of parish life in Glasgow, what will they hear from the pulpit?
A letter to be read out on some political or moral issue?
OR, a cycle of real sermons preached with conviction, about the dogmas of the Faith and the natural moral law? Sermons preached fearlessly and with conviction, arming the congregation to answer, adequately and with confidence, the Godlessness and immorality around them in their workplaces and places of leisure.
Any chance?
Not likely. The priests of the Archdiocese of Glasgow, generally speaking, show no sign of challenging the Archbishop’s plans to close down Glasgow — ironically in the name of Evangelisation.
Attacking dogma, undermining morals and closing parish churches is a strange kind of “progress.” To many of us it seems that we are witnessing the death throes of the Church, not only in the Archdiocese of Glasgow but across Scotland.
Requiescant in Pace.
Editor's Note:
For many years, the late Glaswegian Ronald McDonald apprised the CO editor of goings on north of the border: both by phone and by way of various Scottish publications and news items which arrived with impressive regularity, stuffed into A4 envelopes. Indefatigable and uncompromising in his defence of the Faith, a one-page covering letter of personal observations sat atop the pile of material, with more noteworthy and scandalous sections of the enclosed items underlined or circled in trademark red ink.
The most brazen Modernist pap among all the information he sent was wrapped within the covers of Open House magazine. Awash with "relevance" and "change" and every other corrosive Modernist cliché employed by its hapless contributors, it wreaked of "Non serviam!" — delivered with a dilettantish undergraduate air.
Thus I came to possess much of the ammunition I finally fired off in my major exposé of the complicit Scottish hierarchy. Referenced at the outset of the above article, it really did rock their Modernist boat, if only momentarily. Still, it was something! And of course its factual contents will now inform posterity. Rest in peace, Ronnie, "good and faithful servant" of the Lord.