The Leftist Playbook Is Key for Conservative Catholics – The American Spectator

On Jul 16, 2023

As polarization within the Catholic Church increases, faithful Catholics need to consider how to address the swelling ranks of leftists and modernism within the Church’s hierarchy. Some have proposed schism as the answer: rejecting the authority of the Pope because the current Pope’s pontificate has been what the late, faithful Cardinal George Pell called “a toxic nightmare,” dismissing the Second Vatican Council because it resulted in the creation of the Novus Ordo Mass, or insisting that Pius XII was the last valid pontiff. Such approaches fail for several reasons, chief among them the fact that schism cuts one off from the Catholic faith, no matter how well-intentioned one’s defense may be of Catholic doctrine.

Nor is sitting by idly and just wishing leftism away an answer. The homosexual infestation of the priesthood, the promotion of bad theology, the failure of bishops to catechize those under their care — none of these issues will simply vanish. Patience is a noble and even a necessary trait to cultivate, but it will achieve nothing on its own. (RELATED: Don’t Just Blame the Dodgers: Blame the Collapse of Catholic Fidelity)

So what’s a faithful Catholic to do? Exactly what the leftists in the Church are doing: stack the deck. Pope Francis has made several shocking and even disheartening decisions over the course of his pontificate and seems to be increasing them exponentially of late. There’s his controversial new pick to head the Vatican’s doctrine office, for one — an archbishop who’s promoted poor theology, denigrated the post he’s now been appointed to, and admitted he’s unequipped for one of that post’s chief responsibilities. That appointment was followed succinctly by the announcement that the controversial bishop, Víctor Manuel Fernández, would be made a cardinal in September, along with twenty others.

As of right now, there are 121 cardinals eligible to elect the next Pope once Francis vacates the Chair, either by his death or his resignation. Nine were made cardinals by Pope St. John Paul II, 31 by the late Pope Benedict XVI, and 81 by Pope Francis. After this next consistory, there will be 102 Francis-picked cardinals ready to elect his successor, and there’s little doubt that that will be not only Francis’s successor as Pope but his ideological successor, too. Veteran Vatican journalist John L. Allen, Jr. described it as “the consistory of a pope in a hurry.”

Then there’s the upcoming Synod on Synodality. Aside from convening this ambiguous behemoth of an undertaking, Francis has, true to form, empowered leftists and modernists to lead it. A prime example is Synodal Relator General Jean-Claude Hollerich, who has called for the Church to change her perennial moral teachings on homosexuality. Ten participants were appointed to the Synod from the U.S. Five were selected by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: conservative-skewing archbishop Timothy Broglio, current president of the USCCB, along with New York’s cardinal Timothy Dolan, Texan bishop Daniel Flores, bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne and South Bend in Indiana, and bishop Robert Barron of Word on Fire fame.

The other five U.S. participants were handpicked by Francis: cardinal Blase Cupich, noted for eradicating the Tridentine Mass from the archdiocese of Chicago and obstructing sex abuse reform in the wake of the 2018 McCarrick scandal; Washington, D.C.’s cardinal Wilton Gregory, a protégé of leftist cardinal Joseph Bernardin and disgraced ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick who was identified by clerical sex abuse expert Richard Sipe as an active homosexual; San Diego’s bishop Robert McElroy, who covered up for McCarrick’s sexual abuse and has promoted both LGBT ideology and female ordinations to the priesthood; Boston’s cardinal Sean O’Malley, who has been accused of covering up sex abuse, despite heading the Pope’s problematic commission on sex abuse; Seattle’s archbishop Paul Etienne, who advocated giving Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians like Joe Biden; and Jesuit priest James Martin, a well-known proponent of homosexuality.

Pope Francis is, effectively, securing a leftist, modernist stranglehold on the next few years of the Catholic Church’s hierarchy. So we return to our original question: What’s a faithful Catholic to do? In short, the same thing the leftist infiltrators are doing, but under the banners of truth and justice instead of homosexuality and moral relativism. Faithful Catholics need to patiently fortify themselves and prepare to stack the deck themselves.

In her book The St. Gallen Mafia: Exposing the Secret Reformist Group within the Church, Julia Meloni recounts the slow burn of a cabal of uber-progressive priests and prelates, culminating in the nebulous disaster the Church is facing today. The groundwork for Francis’s pontificate was laid long ago; the progressive element within the Church’s hierarchy has waited patiently, seeking out allies wherever possible and covertly vying for the papal throne. Faithful conservative Catholics need to do the same.

Faithful Catholics need to patiently fortify themselves and prepare to stack the deck themselves.

Do not despair, do not “go along to get along.” Study the history and the teachings of the Church, teach your children properly and prepare them not just to face but to fight the evils of the present age, encourage your children in religious vocations. Bide your time. It won’t be easy, and there will be hardships. Faithful Catholics need to be prepared to face these hardships. St. Moses the Black reminds us, “You fast, but Satan does not eat. You labor fervently, but Satan never sleeps. The only dimension with which you can outperform Satan is by acquiring humility, for Satan has no humility.” So suffer in humility, for the time being. But be always preparing for the day when faithful Catholics can stack the deck.