Who Sounds More Like a Faithful Catholic? Michael Matt or Michael Voris?

Once there were two Michaels. Both were named after the warrior archangel and both used the media to promote their message. Both Michaels made videos and wrote articles to get their messages out and raise a Catholic army to fight for the faith. One Michael’s banner bore the cross of Christ the King and, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather (who founded the oldest Catholic newspaper in the county, The Wanderer), this Michael defended the faith of our fathers. He called on  his army to pick up their rosaries and rally round Scripture, Church doctrine, and Holy Tradition. He urged faithful Catholics to resist to the face the pope and those bishops undermining 2000 years of Church teaching and tradition.

The other Michael began well. He also urged his followers to fight for the faith. Many didn’t like his tone, but, frustrated with the infidelity of wolves in Roman collars, appreciated his spunk. His voice often spoke for them. But then something happened to this Michael. What exactly? Pride? Vanity? Too much love for the limelight? Desire for clicks by reporting ever more scandalous stories? Money interests?

Whatever happened, this Michael no longer rallied his followers under the banner of Christ, but under the banner of Church Militant. The fight against the “Church of Nice” began to be ever more waged by Michael’s “Church of Nasty.” Instead of focusing on the enemies of the Church, he lobbed many of his grenades into the camps of former friends until it looked like every apostolate on the planet had to be destroyed until Church Militant could stand alone as the righteous warriors of the world. LifeSiteNews, The Remnant, Catholic Family News, EWTN, the SSPX— all became targets of Michael and his little band of raging, rabid, rock stars. No one could fight like Church Militant and they wanted to be alone in the ring, no longer defending the faith, but defending their own turf like mafia dons. 

Michael Matt acted like a man when the internecine warfare began. Rather than engage with the Ferndale bullies, he withdrew from the haggling fight leaving the stage to the ever-more vitriolic and rabid showman peddling his snake oil as the holy chrism of the Ferndale church, even organizing a “retreat” over the Easter Triduum with ten talks delivered by himself and two Q and A sessions. Wow! Talk about loving the limelight. No doubt his only regret was not being able to offer the Masses as well.

Meanwhile, Michael Matt focused on “uniting the clans” to defend the faith and ignored the Magnificent Militant Michael of Michigan.

Two Michaels, two approaches. 

Listen to this video by Michael Matt and then read the transcript of Michael Voris’ recent screed against the bishops. (I couldn’t bear to listen to more than a few minutes of his sarcastic assault on every bishop in the country.) Who sounds more like a mature Catholic who loves the Church? Who fights fair and who fights dirty?

 

Voris’ over-the-top attack on every single bishop in the country is scandalous. They are all either 1) homosexual predators, 2) active homosexuals, 3) homosexual enablers, or 4) cowards. Not a single one cares about the souls of their flocks. They are all lumped together and every single one, “to a man,” should resign.

WOW!

This machine gun slaughter of the bishops is scandalous, and certainly unlikely to aid the battered bride of Christ, but what’s truly ridiculous is the claim that Church Militant cares about the flock and “the salvation of souls.” They care about their little fiefdom in Ferndale. Ah, but they preen and posture to the point one wonders whether they are devising their own parallel church, one reigned over by Pope Michael the Magnificent and the Queen of the Nile with court jester, Simon. What do they really care about? Is it their adoring audience of fans who write scathing comments against all who disagree with their Galahad, or is their Holy Grail money or the number of followers and clicks and comments their vicious posts accrue, while they label anyone who disagrees with them hypocrites and pedo-enablers. 

You decide? Which Michael do you trust?

TRANSCRIPT (my comments in red) 

If the city of Baltimore thinks its latest legal stall tactics are going to keep Church Militant from going to Baltimore when the U.S. bishops are there, they need to rethink that.

We're going.

And we're not saying officially that you faithful Catholics should show up, and say, walk around the street by the hotel and bring signs denouncing these crooked shepherds and mill about by the thousands or anything like that. We aren't saying that at all. Nope, not at all. [A judge reinstated the rally, so this looks like escalation out of revenge. You try to stop Church Militant, we’ll get you, my pretty, and your little aides too, and we’ll call you every name in the book while we do it.]

Nor we would ever, in a million years, suggest in the slightest that, say around 4:30 in the afternoon on Tuesday, November 16, at, say, the front of the hotel just as the bishops start to roll out of their meaningless meeting in the swanky digs (which you are paying for) and as they are getting into their luxury SUVs to be taken to expensive steak dinners, that a few thousand Catholics be standing there as a witness to their evil. It's revolting that the city of Baltimore is in league with this filthy rotten crop of men.

It's revolting that the city of Baltimore is in league with this filthy rotten crop of men.GabTweet

Leaving aside all the legal analysis and opinions for the moment, what all this boils down to is even more than First Amendment rights. The city of Baltimore is in league with the bishops, protecting a bunch of homopredator abusers of children and vulnerable adults. Let's be very clear about it. The U.S. hierarchy is riddled with gay men who cover up for other gay men who rape altar boys by the thousands and prey on vulnerable seminarians. They do it until they get caught. 

Then when they get caught and massive lawsuits come pouring in, they steal your money to pay expensive attorneys fees to avoid paying the settlements or to cover up their crimes.

This is not, as Cdl. Donald Wuerl said, something that happened decades and decades ago. It goes on right now. Regardless of how much this crowd of wicked men and cowards tries to gloss over the reality, over 80% of the victims of these monsters are physically mature teenage boys. Lives destroyed, horrible coping habits like drugs, alcohol, suicide and so forth often become the norm, families are shattered, and the victims suffer a huge loss of faith.

This is the reality. Pure and simple. This is the system that the bishops operate in and this is what the city of Baltimore is protecting — a hive of predators and thieves. And Baltimore is also stealing from taxpayers to continue to drag out this futile legal battle to run the clock out on the rally.

Like the bishops, it's not their money, so they don't care. To make a distinction here within the USCCB, some are gay. Some of them are active. Others are cowards who look the other way on all this. But to a man, they need to resign. [Venting his spleen might give Michael some relief, but what if this really happened? What if every bishop deserted his post? Good-bye Bishop Strickland, Bishop Sample, Bishop Olmstead, and Bishop Paprocki. Good-bye, Archbishop Cordeleone and Archbishop Neumann. Ironically, Church Militant has praised a number of these bishops. Now they should all resign? Really? Take a tranquilizer, Michael!] They sit atop the most dangerous sexual abuse cover-up and financially corrupt organization one could imagine.

Back in 2018, when the city didn't quite realize what our Silence Stops Now Rally was all about, we slipped into town under the radar. It was, of course, peaceful. Regardless of the city solicitor Jim Shea's lies that Church Militant is violent and "has ties" to January 6, whatever that means, this apostolate focuses on one thing: the salvation of souls. [Really? Who would ever guess that?]

But that group of cowards and perverts meeting on the second floor of Waterfront Marriott in November doesn't care about souls. They care about power and pride. [You can read the souls of all the bishops and know their motivation? Talk about arrogant pride!] The perverts and cover-up artists among them are consumed by power, the raw exercise of it over their clergy, victims and anyone they can laud it over.

The cowards are consumed by their pride, excusing their silence on all this evil, convincing themselves that somehow God needs them and what they are doing in their diocese back home to "save the Church."

What God "needs" is for them to speak up, and bring an end to this reign of spiritual tyranny. [Wow! You know what “God NEEDS?” Talk about arrogant pride!] The senior leadership, at the very least, needs to be accused to their faces of the evil infrastructure that they have put in place. They have built an empire of spiritual filth and been themselves consumed by it.

Every single one of those men in that meeting knows exactly what's going on. Donald Wuerl gets $2 million a year in retirement. His old pal and fellow criminal Theodore McCarrick is now in court for his crimes. Most of them should be as well. [Really? Most of the bishops belong in jail, not only the real criminals but all the rest? Gather up anyone with a mitre and send him to the dungeon? Tried by Church Militant and found guilty? Really? Talk about arrogant pride.] Jim Shea, the city solicitor who told me over the phone that he was not going to allow this rally to happen, is deep in bed with the bishops, organizing and raising millions for their so-called charities.

Interestingly, when I mentioned that under sworn testimony in the courtroom a couple of weeks back, the city's attorney who works for him got all defensive and said, "Where did you get that from?" I said that it's public record, and she snorted back, "Then why don't you introduce the evidence?"

We hadn't introduced the evidence because it wasn't part of the legal argument for granting us a preliminary injunction to hold the rally. I thought she would understand that, being a lawyer and all. But it is part of the tapestry of all this, so here it is.

The city attorney arguing Baltimore's case is Renita Collins. Her boss is Jim Shea, the one who is directing the city's strategy, such as it is.

What God 'needs' is for them to speak up, and bring an end to this reign of spiritual tyranny.GabTweet

So, Renita, here are the public records showing your boss's work to raise and/distribute millions for these cowards and perverts and child molesters and cover-up artists. Shea sits on the board that distributes millions in grants to the archdiocese of Baltimore, run by Abp. William Lori. Isn't that cozy and convenient?

Shea is in charge of Baltimore's law office. He's the top attorney, and that role puts him on a board that passes millions to the archdiocese of Baltimore — but we are certain that none of that would influence his decision to prevent a St. Michael's Media Church Militant rally from coming to town to call out the evil of the men he helps fund.

Certainly not. We would never suggest that.

Just as we would never suggest that thousands of Catholics show up, rally or not, with signs, shirts and whatever else they want to exercise their First Amendment rights to free speech and peaceable assembly.

During the oral arguments a couple of weeks back, Renita actually said to the court, "Your Honor, why do they have to use the MECU Pavilion? Why can't they just gather on the street in front of the Marriott if they want the bishops' attention?"

Thanks for the free legal advice, counselor.

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If you’re a serious Catholic who loves the faith and thinks our fight is with the men in mitres who actually commit evil rather than every man in Church leadership, maybe it’s time to give Michael Voris the boot. His loaded language and scorched earth warfare is not helping the Church. Look for some grownups to follow like Michael Matt and John-Henry Weston, rather than a man afflicted with same-sex attraction who is obviously obsessed with a desire for attention. Stop feeding that disordered desire. Pray for Michael and his raging band, but stop encouraging them.