Documenting decadence, deceit and denial of truth and goodness.

Prayers at the Foot of the Altar

Psalm 43. Judica me, Deus. 

Priest: Give sentence with me, O God, and defend my cause against the ungodly people;

O deliver me from the deceitful and wicked man.

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Liberal Jesuit Catholic priest Father James Martin, who has routinely undermined church teaching on homosexual acts and transgenderism, sparked a significant backlash from people of all persuasions on Monday night when he defended an archbishop who protected sexually abusive priests. - Breitbart

• https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/08/23/liberal-catholic-priest-father-james-martin-hammered-for-defending-bishop-who-protected-sex-abusers/

Archbishop Rembert Weakland has died. An erudite scholar, gifted pastor and Benedictine abbot primate, his legacy was marred by revelations that he paid money to a man with whom he had been in a relationship. I considered him a friend and mourn his loss. May he rest in peace(.)” - Fr. James Martin

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Fr. Martin deleted his highly offensive Tweet, then followed up with a message amounting to "Jesus hung out with sinners... I'm just like Jesus," exposing his need to justify his moral superiority at the expense of truth and justice.

Joe McLane offers a balanced assessment of the problematic Martin/Weakland situation at his YouTube channel: 10:12

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UcrmLC0ElA

The NCRegister has: https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/the-many-sins-and-crimes-of-archbishop-rembert-weakland

Weakland, in a 2009 memoir, revealed that, after becoming an archbishop, he had a series of homosexual affairs. To one such paramour, theology student Paul Marcoux, Weakland paid $450,000 in hush money to keep the archbishop’s duplicitous life secret. Even worse, Weakland used diocesan funds to pay off Marcoux.

Marcoux would later allege that the encounters amounted to date rape, while Weakland claimed that Marcoux was blackmailing him. It all came to light after the Boston scandals of 2002, and Weakland resigned in disgrace. 

Later investigations in Milwaukee would reveal that Weakland had been a notorious protector of abusive clergy, even destroying documents related to predator priests.

George Neumayer has written a scathing factual indictment of Weakland and his supporters.

The (New York Times) interview was beyond parody: a crooked and libertine prelate, still retaining all of his privileges, pushing open heresy while seated in a church office named in his honor. It is hard to find a more fitting picture of episcopal decadence. (...)

The (Weakland) funeral will provide vivid confirmation that the (American) bishops still don’t get it. No one can take their talk of “reform” seriously as long as they continue to honor reprobates who facilitated the abuse of children and made a mockery of Catholic discipline and teaching. 

https://spectator.org/the-legacy-of-archbishop-weakland-is-not-complex-but-sinister/

Twelve years ago, challenging another offensive article in the New York Times, Fr. Raymond J. De Souza exposed Rembert Weakland's atrocious behaviour and the Times' flagrant lie-ridden attempt to demean Pope Benedict and his pontificate.

A Response to the New York Times

by Fr. Raymond J. De Souza

March 27, 2010

The New York Times on March 25 accused Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, of intervening to prevent a priest, Fr. Lawrence Murphy, from facing penalties for cases of sexual abuse of minors.

The story is false. It is unsupported by its own documentation. Indeed, it gives every indication of being part of a coordinated campaign against Pope Benedict, rather than responsible journalism.

Before addressing the false substance of the story, the following circumstances are worthy of note:

The New York Times story had two sources. First, lawyers who currently have a civil suit pending against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. One of the lawyers, Jeffrey Anderson, also has cases in the United States Supreme Court pending against the Holy See. He has a direct financial interest in the matter being reported.

The second source was Archbishop Rembert Weakland, retired archbishop of Milwaukee. He is the most discredited and disgraced bishop in the United States, widely known for mishandling sexual-abuse cases during his tenure, and guilty of using $450,000 of archdiocesan funds to pay hush money to a former homosexual lover who was blackmailing him. Archbishop Weakland had responsibility for the Father Murphy case between 1977 and 1998, when Father Murphy died. He has long been embittered that his maladministration of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee earned him the disfavor of Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, long before it was revealed that he had used parishioners’ money to pay off his clandestine lover. He is prima facie not a reliable source.

Laurie Goodstein, the author of the New York Times story, has a recent history with Archbishop Weakland. Last year, upon the release of the disgraced archbishop’s autobiography, she wrote an unusually sympathetic story that buried all the most serious allegations against him (New York Times, May 14, 2009).

A demonstration took place in Rome on Friday, coinciding with the publication of the New York Times story. One might ask how American activists would happen to be in Rome distributing the very documents referred to that day in the New York Times. The appearance here is one of a coordinated campaign, rather than disinterested reporting.

Fr. De Souza's article merits a full read: https://www.nationalreview.com/author/fr-raymond-j-de-souza/