Sometimes I can't help uttering a guffaw when I get an email telling me about CM's latest comedy show and go to check it out. These days I rarely waste two seconds at CM in six months, but today I watched Simon Rafe's lecture to viewers (on the donation page, of course). His message? Pony up, you Catholic deadbeats!
Before I get into Simon's sanctimonious claptrap, let me remind readers that he's the author of the lewd adult videogame, Castle Dracula, that invited players to have a sexual encounter (either homosexual or heterosexual) with a beautiful Elven woman. When Rafe was outed in 2011 Catholic News Agency wrote about it:
In that same introduction to “Castle Dracula,” Rafe directs readers to his blog, which bears the biblically-inspired title “As Iron Sharpens Iron” and was written under the name “Darknight.” In one entry, “Darknight” discusses the ethical implications of a story he has written, which introduces lesbian elements into the storyline of Star Wars.
“Am I self-justifying? Perhaps I am,” he states, regarding his artistic license with characters' sexual behavior. “Perhaps I am also moving beyond some rigid position into a more nuanced one, one where the strictures of duty begin to give way to the fluidity of art. Perhaps this is a dangerous movement, perhaps I should not be going there.”
Ya think, Simon?
No problemo with Voris and company, however. Not only did Simon remain in the CM stable, but is the chief of staff which seems to be chief propagandist. Rather appropriate I think in view of what CM has become
It doesn't stop there, however, the article goes on:
As of August 17, Rafe's “Darknight” writings had disappeared from both the “Batcave” site and his blog. The blog instead featured “an explanation,” stating: “I am no longer running this blog. As it may be important to keep copies of the posts, however, I have marked them all as 'draft' so they do not appear but so they are still saved and accessible to me.”
On that same date, RealCatholicTV's website was still announcing that “Michael Voris, Simon Rafe and other hosts and personalities of RealCatholicTV.com are happy to come and speak at your parish, conference or other event.”
So...does Simon still have his lewd game "saved and accessible" so he can visit it before he goes off to a conference to preach to Catholics on the Commandments including the sixth?
Would you trust this guy with your kids?
But now let's look at the latest laugh-in routine. I won't link to CM, so I'll just quote from the video pitched on their Lenten Reflections week 4 page which had nothing to do with Lenten Reflections but was essentially a donation page. Simon aka "darknight" gave his pitch in his weird accent. (Is that part of his schtick?)
HARD LINEPUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH ISYou have a moral obligation.March 19, 2023You're watching the show [Hard Line]. Thank you. Starting in April this program...will be going Premium. You won't be able to get it for free. So sign up now for a Premium subscription so you can watch it and also so you can support us, BECAUSE YOU WATCH US. You use our product! You take the fruits of our labor and benefit from them. You, quite honestly, have a moral obligation to support us if you are in any way able to. And that support means financial -- not prayers and encouragement alone....Join the dollar a day campaign, thirty bucks each month, one dollar a day. Apparently, we're good enough to employ, but are we good enough to pay?
Straight from the horse's mouth to your ears. Send money, suckers! |
At CM money talks a lot louder than prayers and encouragement. Gotta keep their circus freak show going and that costs. So...short answer to Simon's question, "Are we good enough to pay?" Absolutely not! Your organization is a bunch of narcissistic grifters building an empire for your own personal benefit and an annual paid "retreat" vacation -- usually on a cruise ship. So, no, ponying up just encourages you to continue slandering and attacking fellow Catholics. There was a day when you seemed to have a right order. That day is long past.
I'm happy to say that CM appears to be having financial difficulties. Not long ago they offered a 50% off Premium subscription rate. They also not long ago chortled over their 2,000th subscriber. Wow! A multi-million dollar organization with 56 employees has 2,000 subscribers. What an accomplishment!
Well, I only have 248 followers on my blog. That's only 12.4% of CM's. On the other hand I have one partner, my dear friend Susan. We have no employees to do our research. We have no green screen or tech experts to help us create slick videos that use Hollywood-type manipulation tactics to work on the emotions of viewers. We have no money to take trips to interview "whistleblowers." And neither of us has a closet full of clothing like Christine's so we can add a "pop of color" to enhance the viewing experience of our visitors.
It seems to me that CM has seen it's heyday and will be going down. I think that will be best for both the Catholic world and for the spiritual good of the CM staff. A stage is not the best place for a self-professed former homosexual who loves attention and his narcissistic friends.
Please pray for the folks at CM. I still wonder what happened to Joe Gallagher, Voris' worshiping young clone. Whatever the reason he left (or was fired) I'm glad he's out of their clutches. He was beginning to sound as self-righteous and arrogant as his idol. Young people need to be careful who they choose as heroes. I recommend replacing Voris, Rafe, Niles and company with Jesus, Our Lady, St. Joseph, your guardian angel and all the angels and saints of heaven.
Simon, I look at your website every day and skim the headlines. I might be more interested if you hadn't dumped me off your comment box for telling the truth about you. But now I miss you like I miss the mumps.
ReplyDeleteRemember that sentence in a CM article on Jan. 4, 2022, "For 60 years, U.S. bishops, for the most part, have not only been silent on Church teaching, they have also openly opposed it"? And I called that "slander," and while bishops may at times be mediocre or even bad, they haven't for the most part opposed Church teaching for sixty years. And then you suggested that I apologize for telling the truth. Not quite what I was inclined to do.
Is the OnePeterFive associated with them? Because those guys have some truly scitzophrenic takes.
ReplyDeleteIf Catholics don't fall for the "MORAL DUTY" scheme and pay up, will CM be telling Catholics that it's a "MORTAL SIN" not to do do your MORAL DUTY to Church Militant? Will CM have another video stating "YOU WILL GO TO HELL IF YOU DON'T SUPPORT CM FINANCIALLY" ?
ReplyDeleteIs "DO YOUR MORAL DUTY AND SEND US MONEY" spiritual blackmail? I have no inkling, however it certainly indicates CM's manipulation of Catholic consciences for monetary purposes.
This guy is a raving lunatic. That place has gone off the rails.
ReplyDeleteThis is just every TV preacher begging for money to buy another Rolls Royce. It's Jim and Tammy Faye for the new millennium. How is that not obvious?!?
ReplyDeleteHaha...TV preachers Mike and Christine Faye begging for money.
ReplyDeleteHi, Mary Ann:
ReplyDeleteI checked the CM website, and I can't find the video in the section you said it was part of (donations). Perhaps it has already been taken down, but I don't even see a program listed as Lenten Reflections. I sure hope somebody didn't feed you some bogus information or spin what CM did to make it look much worse than what it is, and you repeated it as part of your on-again-off again feud of sorts with CM.
Please check on this and provide a solid citation. If you can't find it, you might want to remove your post asap to avoid acting too rashly as CM does quite often.
It was on the page headed Lenten Reflections week 4, but I made a mistake about the title of the video. He was talking about "Hard Line" which will go to premium shortly. I took a screen shot of the page as well. So there was no mistake. I still won't link. It's on the sidebar of their home page with a picture of Simon looking smug.
ReplyDelete“Buy This Magazine or We’ll Shoot This Dog!”
ReplyDeleteQ: Which issue had “Buy This Magazine or We’ll Shoot This Dog!” on the cover?
A: That was the January ’73 (Death) issue. In the following issue, they claimed they did shoot the dog, laying the blame on all those heartless people who didn’t buy the magazine.
National Lampoon Magazine
https://media2.fdncms.com/sevendaysvt/imager/u/original/23671423/crime2-2-46f4fd3b9fbd9e02.jpg
Mary Ann:
ReplyDeleteThanks for your follow-up to my concern about whether someone fed you a false report regarding CM. Indeed, Simon went off the rails after rightly speaking about financial obligations to the local parish Church, and he used that real obligation to also claim a parallel obligation to Church Militant, which is ridiculous.
God Bless!
DB
The profit made from selling things that belong to the church has been described as; The Devils Excrement. Not sure when Queen Mike jumped the shark, but when he put the absurd hate on the SSPX I knew he was "going down".
ReplyDeleteI said a few years ago that it is only a matter of time before they implode.
ReplyDeleteTo have a be-wigged, shrill, homosexual calling the shots is death for any business. (Except a gay bar, perhaps).
There is a good reason that the Catholic Church refers to them as "intrinsically disordered".
I got banned from commenting there a few years ago. I had never sent them any money. Not a huge loss for me.
ReplyDeleteI swing by once every couple of months.
I see that their comment moderation does allow someone named "Michele Campbell" to hijack every thread. She endlessly grovels at Voris's feet and drops emojis like a flock of bird droppings on all of her comments.
MikeB, That place was never on the rails.
ReplyDelete