Double War

TRANSCRIPT

In the almost 18 years Church Militant has been around, we've shifted gears on a few occasions as events warranted and the situation called for it. When we first started, it was strictly catechesis, apologetics, Church history, etc. The flagship show was and remains The One True Faith — 118 hours of Church teaching on practically everything. We also, during that time, produced close to an additional 100 hours on apologetics, Church history and so forth.

Then, 2009 arrived, and Obama went to Notre Dame. That was the first of the gear shifting we underwent here. That revealed to us in stark terms that something was very wrong in the hierarchy. So we started out on that foray, adding to the already existing abundance of theological productions.

And so it was until the next major shift, 2016, when Hillary declared, on the campaign trail, that religious doctrines and teachings would have to change, in a speech before a radical feminist group. Then 2018 arrived and the revelations about Theodore McCarrick, and it became an all-out assault on the cover-up hierarchy, especially here in the United States.

For all of those years, developing what we have done here from the beginning (the massive theological content) and then adding all these other aspects on top of that, we were largely speaking out against heresy — all sorts of heresies. As you might imagine, that garnered no love from the hierarchy as they have been the recipient of much-needed criticism.

Now, in 2023, Church Militant has arrived at another such moment. Without sacrificing anything that has gone on before — the theology, politics, the investigations — it is now time to step forward and embrace the next aspect: the fight against schism. It will require, in certain ways, a different approach from how heresy is treated; but, nonetheless, they both lead innocent souls out of the Church.

The reign of Pope Francis has thrown gasoline onto the crisis, emboldening the heretics while at the same time giving ammunition to the schismatics to make outrageous claims about the Church Herself. A few come right out and deny the validity of the Second Vatican Council. Most, however, keep those cards close to their chest because they realize the danger of saying that overtly.

Others maintain Francis either never was pope or, at some point along the way, became a heretic and is no longer pope. And some actually say there hasn't been a real pope since Pope Pius XII. These last ones are called "sedevacantists," Latin for "the Chair is empty" — referring to the Throne of St. Peter.

In fact, largely out of public view is the vicious war that goes on between groups like the schismatic Society of Saint Pius X and the really schismatic groups of the sedevacantists. It is no exaggeration to say those two groups detest each other, with each accusing the other of all sorts of logical and philosophical errors.

And remember, schismatics ultimately deny the primacy of the current pope in one area or another just like Protestants do. So to sit back and watch the unholy war between sedes and SSPX is like watching a slugfest between Anglicans and Baptists — except the Prots are more charitable with each other.

Just like when Donald Trump got elected and his presence drew out all the players and revealed much of the cultural-political crisis, so, too, the election of Pope Francis had the same effect in the Church. So while many Catholics have been aware for a very long time about the heretics in the Church, now they are slowly coming to learn about the schismatics and their many varieties.

And just as Trump exposed the fake media in the secular realm, Church Militant is committed to exposing the fake Catholic media in the realm of supposedly faithful Catholics. There are major fissures beginning to open up, and souls are falling into these. And in many cases, the supposedly faithful Catholic internet types are leading the way.

They gloss over, for example, that since the SSPX schism became formal in 1988, three popes have declared it "schism." But that's not good enough for them. They simply ignore the popes or say they were wrong. Yo, dudes — that's called Protestantism. But what's worse is, they refuse to tell you that they believe the popes are wrong in their governing of the Church.

They give schismatics a platform for writing articles, being interviewed on their podcasts or shows or whatever and refuse to admit where they stand, which at the end of the day is, "The popes have it wrong;  we have it right." And what viewers and subscribers and followers of these personalities and internet sites need to realize is this: The editorial policies of what they cover (who they interview, what they talk about, what they publish) are all geared around psyching you up to believe the SSPX is legitimate.

It is not. Pope Benedict, who they lauded with crocodile tears when he died, declared the SSPX is not legitimate. But to give the appearance that they are united with the Church, they praised him in death even though they rejected his authority in life. So yes, Church Militant has discerned that just as other inflection points in the Church and culture demanded this apostolate respond for the good of souls, we are now at another inflection point: fighting schism.

The schismatics — because they have largely been out of view, like the gay clergy was until 2002 — have had what amounts to a free pass to undermine the Church and victimize innocent souls. Well, not here — schism, as we have been talking about all this week, is just as dangerous to the Faith as heresy; it's just not as sexy.

Faithful Catholics out there need to contact these various media outfits that purport to be Catholic while at the same time denying a council of the Church or the authority of the pope, and ask them to go on the record and declare openly, do they support schism in the Church (in whatever variety)? And don't let them tell you, "Well, it's unclear; it's a difficult problem ... blah blah."

No, it's not. Three popes in a row have declared it so. So the question to them is not "Do you think there is a schism?" Nope, there is a schism — ask the popes. The question is "Do you agree with the popes' authoritative declarations that the SSPX is in schism, yes or no?" It's that simple: "Do you agree with the popes or the schismatics?"

The faithful Catholics need to begin to view and listen to what's being reported by these outfits and individuals, with a much more jaundiced eye. So add schismatics to the list of investigations and programs and reports and discussions that you'll be hearing much more of on Church Militant. It's dishonest for any Catholic media to not come right out and say whether they support or reject papal authority — because that is what this is all about.