Culture of Corruption

Click here to read the letter

TRANSCRIPT

By now, every connected Catholic has heard the news about Fr. Frank Pavone not just being silenced but kicked out of the priesthood. Until Church Militant was able to obtain a copy of the official letter, the only public source was an article published in Catholic News Agency, which is owned by EWTN. Since Mother Angelica was forced to step down from her leadership role at the network, there are serious questions surrounding EWTN and, now, CNA's integrity. 

In a story this explosive, credibility and integrity are everything. To that point, full disclosure: I have personally known Fr. Pavone since our overlapping days at St. Joseph's Seminary in New York, known as Dunwoodie back in the late 1980s. He was every bit committed to the cause of life then as he is now.

We have been in touch multiple times over the many years we have known each other, and this time is no different. I spoke with Father, Sunday (late morning), and we spoke for about 40 minutes. He was not evasive or nontransparent. Every question I put to him, he answered directly. Transparency is the heart of the claim here.

Catholic News Agency, which seems woefully unaware of journalistic standards, has still not, as of this recording, published the letter. Church Militant has — it's right there, available by clicking on the link. Yet CNA, in a major breach of journalistic professionalism, sent an email to Fr. Pavone asking for his response to a letter he had not seen nor was even aware of. In the news world, you just do not do that.

It's a breach of every ethical standard to essentially blackmail someone to respond to something about him that the person has not seen, and — very important here —  that you will not show him. This leads to the much larger question of credibility and corruption, and the lack of justice and just plain old fairness, which is now standard in the Church. Bishops will not answer questions. The Catholic media who obey them don't play by the ethical rules, and no one gets to question the bishops or their lackeys or their tactics.

It's immoral to operate like this because it causes scandal. Catholic News Agency was duty-bound to publish the letter if they had it in their possession. They should have, at the very least, shared it with Fr. Pavone when asking for his response — but they didn't.

Catholic News Agency's slipshod article never raised the obvious question that if the congregation kicked Pavone out of the priesthood on Nov. 9, why did Apostolic Nuncio Christophe Pierre wait more than a month to inform the bishops of the United States? Why did he not inform Fr. Pavone first or at least close to the same time? Why was the letter transmitted to CNA before Fr. Pavone even knew about it?

If CNA couldn't publish the letter because it was given on condition of anonymity, then it doesn't get to "talk about it" and then run a story on it and provide absolutely no context or proof or support. And you don't ambush the subject of the letter without showing it to him.

Father Pavone told me he was shocked at the possibility because he had been told since the date of the letter (again, Nov. 9), that "very high" — his words — authorities in the Vatican were speaking personally with Pope Francis about his case, and a "simple resolution" (again, his words) was in the works. Catholic News Agency made no mention of that.

Catholic News Agency and EWTN are now wholly operating according to concerns of the U.S. bishops, who managed to force Mother Angelica to resign and seized control of the entire operation, consolidating it as a force to promote neocon Catholicism, also known as the Church of Nice. Anyone who doesn't follow suit with niceness and politeness eventually comes face to face with these cowardly Catholics who make their living off the ignorance of half-plugged-in Catholics.

To report this story at all without also publishing the letter is a crossing of the journalistic line, which is just the latest in a long series of such crossings. So, as it stands now, the hierarchy once again has its way. A priest who challenged corruption routinely is shunted to the sidelines. 

They have no accountability for their actions, no transparency, no having to explain anything, and their little in-house mouthpiece posing as a "news" agency gets to break the code of professional conduct to carry their water. And, again, they are likewise unaccountable. The Catholic media world is a joke. And then, of course, looking to capitalize on the news, there are the expected calls to go into schism from that side of the nutjob world.

One major outfit has, of course, cranked up the sign-this-petition machinery to get your email and later send you donation requests. It's disgusting. But one thing that did come out loud and clear and without any question surrounding it: Fr. Pavone said, in the face of all this, "I'm sticking with the Church. No matter how corrupt the various clergy may be, it's never an excuse to go into schism or heresy."

In every crisis that comes along, the parasites come along with it — whether it's from the Church of Nice establishment carrying the water for the bishops or from the let's-push-schism crowd, happy to leech off yet another scandal. It's agenda Catholicism, and, once again, it's able to flourish because of the homosexual men in miters and their allies who continue to allow the faithful to be rocked and buffeted by one scandal after another.

Notice in the letter the telling line from the Apostolic Nuncio Christophe Pierre where he says Fr. Pavone is a "high-profile figure," and this case may be "a matter of interest among the faithful." He even went so far as to write a little talking-point memo for the U.S. bishops, just to keep everyone on the same narrative. Let's just say everything they accuse Fr. Pavone of is true — that he is such a horrible man that he no longer has a place in the priesthood. Is this how you go about handling the case? Really?

• Leaking it to your own media outlet
• The media outlet not publishing it
• Not actually informing the priest first
• Refusing to answer any questions
• Providing a talking-points memo to the bishops (to cover their butts)

This is all hard evidence clearly indicting the culture of corruption that the hierarchy has now embraced. If you are looking for justice, fairness, straightforwardness — do not look to these men. They are deceivers of the first magnitude, and they get away with it because they hide behind their robes and offices.

We will be keeping you updated on all this as events unfold and become clear. And tomorrow, with a special focus on James Martin, we'll be asking, Which is worse, blasphemy or out-and-out heresy?