Fr. Spadaro and the Long Knives for Raymond Arroyo!

My colleague at Restore D.C. Catholicism has a great post on Fr. Spadaro's attack on Raymond Arroyo.

Father Spadaro Points Long Knives At Raymond Arroyo - Call Him Out On It

Spadaro retweeted a silly Twitter post calling for EWTN to be put under interdict unless they fire Arroyo for daring to criticize some of the appalling swill being brewed at the Vatican. Really...the vindictiveness of these clerics staggers the imagination. They strain at the gnat of orthodoxy and swallow whole the camel of heresy. I posted on Spadaro awhile ago pointing out how disingenuous he is. That seems to be a common quality of FOF (Friends of Francis).

I'm not going to repeat what Janet already described so well, but be aware that when Pope Francis told people to "make a mess" it appears he was talking to the heretics. The orthodox are slandered and stamped on if they dare to question the almost daily assaults on the faith. Anyone who tries to mess with those spouting moral relativism gets the hobnailed boot treatment. I wouldn't be surprised if someone at the Vatican is in touch with Fr. Gerard Murray's bishop urging him to rein the man in. He is a canon lawyer and an eloquent defender of the faith so he must be shut up! The pope told the Family Synod fathers he wanted everyone to speak freely, but some speech is more equal than others and Spadaro is one of those with his lips close to Francis' ear.

As Edward Pentin pointed out last November at the Catholic Identity Conference there is a "climate of fear" at the Vatican.  And Pentin isn't the only one talking about it. The LifeSiteNews team wrote about it in 2016. Dan Hitchens of the U.K.'s Catholic Herald wrote about it just last October quoting an academic critical of Amoris Laetitia who described a "toxic atmosphere of intimidation."

Is anyone surprised? It's happened before after all. During the Arian heresy, not only were orthodox voices silenced, many clergy and laity were murdered by the heretics. The various popes and emperors during that time either sided with the Arians or with Athanasius or, like Constantine, vacillated back and forth. What chaotic times to live in! St. Athanasias was banished more than once and had to go into hiding frequently. At one point he was in the wilderness in a cave and the people would bring him food. He fully expected to be martyred, but it obviously wasn't God's will because somehow he always managed to escape. We too are living in a period of chaos very much like the Arian heresy. We haven't yet been called on to shed blood, but many are experiencing a white martyrdom for daring to defend the truth.

The laity in the pew are less able to be "punished" than the clergy or lay scholars at Catholic universities and those in official Church positions or connected to Church ministries. So it's up to us nobodies to defend and speak up for the clergy and public figures like Arroyo (and Austin Ruse who was also targeted by Spadaro). They are courageous enough to "hold ground" and deserve our support. And when we see how often in history God uses nobodies to do his will it should give us zeal to step out in faith, confident that the message of truth will not go unheard.

So be a mouthpiece for the Lord and shout the truth from the housetops. We aren't likely to be murdered for it like so many martyrs during the Arian heresy and the Protestant revolution. Are we really so afraid of being hated and reviled that we can be intimidated into silence? I hope not.

Our Lady, Queen of the martyrs, pray for us.
St. Athanasias, pray for us.