Church Militant's Hate for the SSPX Part 5: Can You Trust Their Impartiality?

Short answer... NO! Long answer...HELL NO!

In April 2020, Church Militant came out with its slick yellow journalism piece attacking the SSPX as a Society "Sympathetic to Perverts." Let me begin by pointing out that many of these alleged events occurred in the early 1990s. So keep in mind that we're looking back 30 YEARS! The alleged suicide of Michael Gonzalez occurred in 2000, over 20 YEARS ago. Even Jassy Jacas' claims, which have changed a number of times, are over a decade old. How much have memory lapses, errors, embellishments, and even deliberate lies covered up the truth like kudzu? And how eager is CM to spin the story to present the SSPX in the worst possible light?

Don't get me wrong -- sex abuse, especially child sex abuse, is diabolically evil and those who commit it don't get a free pass just because their crimes happened a long time ago. I would like to see every sex abuser serving time behind bars, especially those who committed crimes against innocent children. I'm happy to see Theodore McCarrick finally being brought to justice. But there are false accusations as well. I have a friend who was the victim of one, and his family suffered incredible agony because of it. That is also diabolically evil. So it's important to discover the TRUTH and not just what one wants to be true.

The question is whether CM's relentless attack on the SSPX is agenda driven, biasing everything they produce. Do they embellish or exaggerate or add unproven details to make their stories as salacious and damning as possible? How much of their "reporting" is fact and how much is fabrication, a myth created with many of the primary actors either mis-remembering, changing their stories, or having an axe to grind? 

Let's take a look. And remember, much of this story is lost in the fog of time. Did Niles go to the town of St. Mary's and to Topeka to dig into the archives of the local papers from 20 or 30 years ago? Or is she just trusting "whistleblowers," like Jassy Jacas, Hannah Merz, and others whose credibility is seriously questionable?  

The "Pervert" Spotlight was aired in April of 2020. It began with a heartrending story about a young boy named Michael Gonzalez who was allegedly molested by an SSPX priest, Fr. Ramon Angles, and later allegedly committed suicide because of it. But there's a claim from several Twitter threads that CM's story isn't true, that Michael Gonzalez was a gang member from a troubled family whose father was an abuser who committed incest with his own daughter, Theresa. They claim Michael was murdered in gang-related activity. 

Now anonymous twitter threads aren't the most reliable sources, but when they contain solid information and are backed up with the witnesses' own words, they're worth looking at. I'm posting a portion of a Twitter thread from a year ago, about a month after Niles' story aired. My comments are in red. Ask yourself whether there is reason to doubt Christine Niles' version of the "Pervert" story. You can go to this thread yourself by clicking on the name.

#AmericaFirst4Trump

@AmFirst4Trump

   

May 25th 2020, 17 tweets, 5 min read [To see the full thread click on the ID]

90s era SSPX/Fakenews is churning again thanks to Virus & his lying fruit fly Niles. [unnecessary slurs, their actions speak for themselves]

"I don't blame @judylthomas [a reporter for the Kansas City Star] for getting a few things wrong in her recent piece on the SSPX, with so many people lying, it's hard to know what's what.

You can read Thomas' stories here and here. Keep in mind that Jassy Jacas, who's changed her version of things a number of times, is a major source for both Niles and Thomas. CM also makes a big deal about the SSPX encouraging their priests and employees not to speak to police without legal representation. That confirms their guilt in Niles' investigative mind.

Really? 

That common sense advice is the same given by my brother, a Baltimore County Police Detective for 25 years. Never talk to the police without legal representation! There is nothing incriminating in that advice despite Niles' self-serving and deceptive spin.

I am here to help! Let's begin. 

For now, I'm only focusing on the death of Michael Gonzalez since that's the emotional narrative Niles used to frame her Spotlight piece and groom the audience to accept everything as gospel truth. It's a common propaganda strategy. Raise the emotion level to put the viewer's reason on pause/stop. 

Now for Michael Gonzalez. He didn't commit suicide & there is no suicide note. Gonzalez was a member of the gang that shot up Fr. Rizzo's house, and his death by murder, was gang related.

So we have two scenarios. Was it suicide or was it a gang killing? What is the evidence for a gang-related killing? What is Niles' evidence for suicide? She claims that next to the body was a "suicide note." Where did she get that information? She doesn't tell us. What is the text of this supposed note? She doesn't tell us. Does it even exist? Who are the sources to confirm it? One, Kurt Chione, is another non-credible witness. I'll go into that in another post. 

Did Niles look into arrest records, court cases, coroner autopsy reports? She doesn't tell us. Is all her "evidence" based on hearsay? Could Niles produce the suicide note in a courtroom or does Niles only have the word of Gonzalez's sister, Theresa, a self-professed witch, an "ex-girlfriend" who is not identified, (Does she even exist?), and Kurt Chione who appears to have an axe to grind? Are these the sources for the story?

At this point, I'm not going to examine CM's claims that SSPX parishioners arranged for the shooting at Fr. John Rizzo's house because they are ridiculouos. When I listened to that, I confess I felt like I was in a Sherlock Holmes novel, The Valley of Fear about the murderous Masons. 

The fact is that the shooting was linked AT THE TIME to a gang leader, Patrick Martin. So where did the bit about the malevolent SSPX parishioners come from? This raises another whole group of questions. Was Michael Gonzalez a member of the gang that shot up the house? Did he remain in the gang until his death?

These articles from the St. Mary's press support an alternate version from the one Niles presents. I'm sorry the second one is undated. I tried to find it on-line but a 30-year-old article probably needs to be looked up in the newspaper archives. Since I don't have CM's resources of $3 million, a trip to St. Mary's and Topeka isn't in my budget.

I can't confirm the information below, but there are some members of the St. Mary's community commenting in a long forum discussion here who seem to have insider information. If you have the patience and the interest you can read all the comments. Back to the Twitter thread:

The Gonzalez family is a very troubled one. Michael's father is an admitted pedophile who abused his own kids & grand children. The mother abandoned the family.

Michael's sister Teresa, a victim of incest, is now an anti-Catholic who identifies as a witch. [Christine Niles claims this isn't true, but

Her allegations are self serving, and the payoff from Fr. Angles she refers to was the act of a generous pastor, who forgave all the bills of large families who couldn't pay & those who wanted to leave to follow Fr. Rizzo.]

With regard to Niles' statement that Theresa is not a witch, she had to ignore the young woman's own testimony. What a head scratcher! How could this crackerjack investigator deny something so easy to confirm? Did she "miss it" or deliberately lie about it, or is she less of an investigator than she wants everyone to believe? 

I agree with Niles' tweet below that we should pray for Theresa. On the other hand, uncritically accepting the statements of a self-professed witch is quite another thing. Would you trust the testimony of someone devoted to the earth goddess? Niles slanders the SSPX when she says Gonzalez is, "not a 'witch,' Another lie spread by SSPXers." Sorry, Christine, the one who is mistaken (or lying) is you.

Can I confirm that Theresa Goodman, the self-professed witch, who lives in Shawnee, KS is the same as Theresa Gonzalez, the sister of Michael? I don't like to assume things so I did a data search and found this on MyLife:

Maria Goodman is 47 years old and was born on 09/20/1973. Maria Goodman lives in Shawnee, KS; previous cities include Overland Park KS and Fort Worth TX. Maria also answers to Theresa M Gonzalez, Maria T Gonzalez, Maria Theresa Goodman, Maria T Lara and Maria Theresa Gonzalez, and perhaps a couple of other names. Maria maintains relationships with many people -- family, friends, associates, & neighbors -- including Jezael Gonzalez-hernandez, Claudette Gonzalez, Juan Gonzalez, Victor Gonzalez and Hilda Wade. Read Full Summary

So far, the twitter writer seems pretty accurate, more so, perhaps, than Christine Niles who denied her own witness's personal testimony that she is a witch. So I'll let the anonymous tweeter go on.

Michael & Teresa also have another uncle...in jail for a shooting & another who abandoned his wife & 10 kids, a few of whom were molested by his father.

If all of this is true, the Gonzalez family is seriously disturbed. If Michael did, indeed, commit suicide was it because of family abuse? Was Michael molested by his father or his uncle? Is it any wonder the young people were so messed up? I hope readers will pray for Michael Gonzalez and his sister Theresa and everyone involved, but all this casts serious doubt about the true story behind Michael's death. 

Remember, the origin of the story is buried in a 30 year old fog, the time frame of the alleged abuse. Did Niles just embrace what she heard and wanted to believe and run with it? We may never know. But, WOW, did the suicide story provide a powerful propaganda tool for going after the evil SSPX "perverts."

The old adage, TRUST BUT VERIFY, applies here. Everything CM does looks Hollywood slick. But if you closely examine the narrative, an incredible amount is based on hearsay, supposition, witnesses who are anything but credible, and images like sad looking girls from stock photos. 

TRUST BUT VERIFY??? 

I don't TRUST Church Militant one bit, and I will certainly VERIFY!

And a last thought... I'm still curious to know what happened at CM in the 2012-2015 years that shifted the Voris/Niles agenda into all-out-scorched-earth warfare on the SSPX. Was it the entrance of Terry Carroll with his big bucks and his hatred for the SSPX, a group he describes as, "Halloween Catholics [who] dress up and play Catholic probably better than most but, at the end of the day, unlike Halloween revelers dressed as Spider Man, they actually believe that they are the characters that they are playing." Carroll actually wrote that drivel in 2014 in response to a letter written to Church Militant! Let me repeat that. The letter was NOT written to Carroll, but to CHURCH MILITANT. So what exactly was/is his role there -- a spokesman for the group with the authority to speak for them? And remember, he also recently sent me an email for which Mike Voris congratulated him and copied to me. It would all be funny if it weren't so pathetic!

 

Yes, indeed, somebody definitely needs to follow the money at Church Militant! 

TO BE CONTINUED....