Thursday, December 01, 2011

Persecution? What persecution?

In a recent post dealing with the coming persecution [which has actually already begun but which will become increasingly violent], I noted the gradual process by which secular humanists and other anti-Christian types weed out Christian thought and eventually ban it altogether, often criminalizing the Gospel.  I am now under attack [along with such prominent Catholics as Cardinal Raymond Burke and Dr. Jeff Mirus] for having the audacity to warn of the coming persecution against the Church by the Homosexual Hate Movement.

In a post which may be found here, I am accused of engaging in "Catholic persecution fantasies."  This after the writer asserts that my Blog post and additional articles are "deranged" and "loony."  Referring to my post, the writer asserts:

"The blogpost gets more and more deranged after this, so I will spare most of the details. Amongst other things, he urges us to read another loony article of his called The Homosexual Hate Movement: Another form of totalitarianism, which offers further insight into his demented religious mindset. What is most worrying, though, is how Melanson finds so much encouragement for his political and religious obsessions from the leaders of the Catholic Church. His post was prompted in the first place by news of Cardinal Burke's ludicrous claim that American Catholics are on the brink of a great persecution. He is also able to cite Pope John Paul II writing that 'Authentic democracy is possible only in a State ruled by law, and on the basis of a correct conception of the human person'. Or in other words, democracy is only 'authentic' and legitimate if the government conforms to Catholic teaching."

The writer concludes his confused piece by asserting that, "There is no totalitarian Homosexual Hate Movement...sorry to disappoint you Mr. Melanson, but nobody wants to persecute you.  Get over it."  The homosexual movement has nothing to do with hate?  Tell that to the Catholics, Protestants and Mormons who came under both verbal and physical attack in California after the Prop 8 controversy.  See here.  Nobody wants to persecute me?  That must be why I have received numerous threats and hate mail, not to mention hateful comments at this Blog directed against my person.  Nobody wants to persecute me [and other Christians and people of good will who are morally opposed to the radical homosexual agenda]?  Is that why a homosexual activist called The Mothertown News in Massachusetts to tell them he objected to an article I wrote for that publication - explaining the Church's authentic teaching regarding homosexuality which includes respect for the homosexual person - and that he was going to kill me with his high-powered rifle?

Persecution?  What persecution?  It was the French philosopher Gabriel Marcel, a man whose thought so greatly influenced my own, who said that, "Fanaticism is essentially opinion; opinion pushed to paroxysm; with everything that the notion of opinion may imply of blinded ignorance as to its own nature...whatever ends the fanatic is aiming at or thinks he is aiming at, even if he wishes to gather men together, he can only in fact separate them; but as his own interests cannot lie in effecting this separation, his is led...to wish to wipe his opponents out. And when he is thinking of these opponents, he takes care to form the most degrading images of them possible - they are 'lubricious vipers' or 'hyenas and jackals with typewriters' - and the ones that reduce them to most grossly material terms. In fact, he no longer thinks of these opponents except as material obstacles to be overturned or smashed down. Having abandoned the behaviour of a thinking being, he has lost even the feeblest notion of what a thinking being, outside himself, could be. It is understandable therefore that he should make very effort to deny in advance the rights and qualifications of those whom he wishes to eliminate; and that he should regard all means to this end as fair. We are back here again at the techniques of degradation...fanaticism is, of its very nature, incompatible with any regard for truth; and as truth itself is not really seperable from our regard for it, we need not hesitate to say that the fanatic is the enemy of truth..." (Man Against Mass Society, pp. 149-150).


Which is why Catholics faithful to the Church, faithful to the Lord Jesus, must be painted as "loony" and "deranged."  We must be made to be seen as being somehow "dangerous."  We must be demonized and eventually criminalized.  And then we can be disposed of in the gulag or in front of a firing squad.

Persecution?  What persecution?

Related reading here and most importantly here.

20 comments:

  1. Note the title of the Blog which is attacking you and leaders of our Church: Catholic Internet Watch. That is absolutely chilling. What does this individual do with the information he finds on the internet about Catholics? Is he reporting to somebody or some entity? Chilling.

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  2. Anonymous8:57 AM

    http://catholicinternetwatch.blogspot.com/2011/10/catholic-internet-watch-is-pro-catholic.html

    Some complain Catholic Internet Watch is "anti-Catholic". It is not. I am the grandson of three Catholic grandparents and count Catholics amongst my friends. Real anti-Catholic prejudice is something I deplore. Growing up in London during the 1980s and 1990s, I remember the suspicion against Catholics at the time of the IRA bombing campaign.

    Critics ask me, "Why focus just on Catholics?" It is true that narrow-mindedness can be found amongst the members of other belief systems. I could start a blog called "Protestant Internet Watch", "Muslim Internet Watch" or "Atheist Internet Watch" and find much of legitimate concern to blog about. If I wanted to be even-handed, I could do an "Everybody Internet Watch" and devote each week to a different misbehaving group.

    The fact of the matter is, though, that my time and knowledge is limited, and as the old dictum goes, "it is best to write about what you know best". I believe I am, or hope I am, well-placed to study Catholic internet goings-on because I was immersed in that world for a while myself. But that does not make me "anti-Catholic". In fact, I admire the more beautiful aspects of Catholicism, and was at one time very personally interested in the religion on a positive level.

    What eventually turned me off was the effect Catholicism has on so many of its followers. That is why Catholic Internet Watch was born. The internet is a largely anonymous forest where you can often best gauge what people are really like and what they are really thinking. It is here that I learnt about the darker side of the collective Catholic mind, and I believe it has to be exposed if people are to become aware of the problem that exists. In many ways, the Catholic leadership fails to deal with or even encourages bad thinking and bad behaviour, and this is also something that needs to be exposed.

    Catholic Internet Watch encourages Catholics to build on that which is good and beautiful within their movement, and challenge that which is bad and ugly. My blog could not be more pro-Catholic in the most authentic sense of that term. It is only by taking on the hardliners and challenging the Catholic community to address them that progress can be made in taking the Catholic Church forward, both morally and reptutationally.

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  3. Jonathan10:40 AM

    Your website is anti-Catholic anonymous. Which is probably why you choose to remain anonymous. That you choose to cater to the radical homosexual agenda is further proof of where you are coming from. Take your hate elsewhere please. We aren't buying here.

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  4. Anonymous is anti-Catholic and ignores the evidence which doesn't fit his world-view. As Michelle Malkin has documented at her website (I guess she too is "loony"), mobs of hateful anti-Christian bigots - all of them homosexuals - violently assaulted Christians over Prop 8 in California.

    One witness recounts: "After just singing and worshiping God for a while, Roger decided that we should all hold hands in a circle and continue singing. So we did.

    Someone (Actually a person who came up and hugged and kissed some of us who he knew from the past) convinced some people that we were there to protest against the no on 8 campaign.

    Then some guy who was dressed up like one of the sisters (The sisters of perpetual indulgence is a group of men who dress up like nuns and call themselves the spiritual authority of the Castro.) took a curtain-type thing (Which I think they use to curse people) and wrapped it around us.

    Then a crowd started gathering. We began to sing “Amazing Grace”, and basically sang that song the whole night. (At some points we also sang “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus” and “Oh the Blood of Jesus”.) At first, they just shouted at us, using crude, rude, and foul language and calling us names like “haters” and “bigots”. Since it was a long night, I can’t even begin to remember all of the things that were shouted and/or chanted at us. Then, they started throwing hot coffee, soda and alcohol on us and spitting (and maybe even peeing) on us. Then, a group of guys surrounded us with whistles, and blasted them inches away from our ears continually. Then, they started getting violent and started shoving us. At one point a man tried to steal one of our Bibles. Chrisdene noticed, so she walked up to him and said “Hey, that’s not yours, can you please give it back?”. He responded by hitting her on the head with the Bible, shoving her to the ground, and kicking her. I called the cops, and when they got there, they pulled her out of the circle and asked her if she wanted to press charges. She said “No, tell him I forgive him.”

    Afterwards, she didn’t rejoin us in the circle, but she made friends with one of the people in the crowd, and really connected heart to heart. Roger got death threats. As the leader of our group, people looked him in the eyes and said “I am going to kill you.”, and they were serious. A cop heard one of them, and confronted him. (This part is kinda graphic, so you should skip the paragraph if you don’t want to be offended.) It wasn’t long before the violence turned to perversion. They were touching and grabbing me, and trying to shove things in my butt, and even trying to take off my pants – basically trying to molest me. I used one hand to hold my pants up, while I used the other arm to hold one of the girls. The guys huddled around all the girls, and protected them."

    http://michellemalkin.com/2008/11/17/anti-prop-8-mob
    -watch-san-francisco-castro-district/

    But don't expect anonymous the dishonest to address this anti-Christian hate from the homosexual haters.

    It doesn't fit into his world-view.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ted Loiseau11:23 AM

    Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, a high-ranking Vatican diplomat, has said that, "People are being attacked for taking positions that do not support sexual behavior between people of the same sex." Go here:

    http://af.reuters.com/article
    /worldNews/idAFTRE72L4XU20110
    322?feedType=RSS&feedName
    =worldNews

    So clearly anonymous doesn't know what he's talking about. He claims to be Catholic but I doubt this is true. Because Pope Benedict XVI said just recently that abortion and same-sex "marriage" are the greatest threats to society. But anonymous doesn't attack abortion or "gay marriage." Only faithful Catholics who uphold and defend Catholic teaching.

    He's about as "Catholic" as the "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence."

    ReplyDelete
  6. Athol/OrangeCatholic11:38 AM

    Mr. Melanson, the Christianophobic bigot who is attacking you should reflect very carefully upon these words from your friend Deacon Nick Donnelly:

    "Cardinal Burke is the second US prelate to warn that persecution of the Church will soon be upon the Church in the USA. In 2010 Cardinal George warned:

    'I expect to die in bed,my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square.'

    These are highly regarded,highly placed bishops in the Church,whose words should be heeded by Catholics who live by the teachings of the Church."

    http://protectthepope.com/?p=4238

    For this angry bigot to suggest that such high-ranking prelates are
    somehow "loony" or "deranged" is not only ridiculous but morally offensive.

    These are not the words and actions of a sincere Catholic. I suspect we are dealing with a bitter and frustrated homosexual activist who has issues.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Those who have been visiting this blog for some time have probably read the excellent post which noted that Cardinal Ratzinger, Monsignor Schooyans and several prominent commentators have warned that the International Criminal Court (ICC) could very easily invoke international law against the Catholic Church and her leaders for failing to recognize the new "rights" such as same-sex ?marriage." If you haven't already read this post, do so. It is a sobering warning.

    http://lasalettejourney.
    blogspot.com/2011/07/signs-of-times.html

    ReplyDelete
  8. BostonCatholic201112:12 PM

    One doesn't have to read much at the "Catholic" Internet Watch weblog to quickly realize that it is nothing more than a cheap experiment in Catholic-bashing. The author of this garbage attacks the seal of the confessional and anrily claims that Church dogma must change.

    http://catholicinternetwatch
    .blogspot.com/2011/11/child-welfare-vs-seal-of-confessional.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. GardnerHolyRosary1:47 PM

    Another anti-Catholic blogger posing as a Catholic. Legitimate Catholics will see through his claptrap.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Jennifer Goguen2:18 PM

    "Catholic Internet Watch" is pro-abortion. The writer of this blog, who refers to himself as "Scout," has criticized Bishop Mark Davies of the UK [ Shrewsbury Diocese] for opposing abortion and for referring to the abortion Holocaust. "Scout" also accuses the Catholic Church of having links to Nazism.


    http://catholicinternetwatch.blogspot.com/catholic-anti-choicers-hijack-holocaust.html

    ReplyDelete
  11. Athol/OrangeCatholic2:22 PM

    Thanks for that Jennifer. He writes, "Whatever else you think of abortion, it is not the same as murder and it is not the same as the Holocaust. To suggest otherwise is a deceit and an insult to the millions who died. Yet this is the very thing I see Catholics do again and again and again."

    And this guy claims to be a Catholic? He's no more Catholic than Kissling and her group "Catholics for a Free Choice."

    He's a clown.

    ReplyDelete
  12. ACatholicinClinton2:58 PM

    If "Scout" is a typical "Catholic" in the United Kingdom, small wonder there have been so many problems over there. What an example of extremely poor catechesis. Or none at all. Pray for the Catholic Church in England.

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  13. HolyCrossStudent7:08 PM

    Don't allow any more comments from this pseudo-Catholic Paul. His pro-abortion/pro-homosexual agenda says all that we need to know. I would just as soon not hear any more about this anti-Catholic activist.

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  14. ShrewsburyCatholic5:38 AM

    People like "scout" are really victims of their own hatred and bigotry. They are fanatics who cannot see what others see, that their hatred and violent rhetoric is ample evidence of mental illness.

    ReplyDelete
  15. MargaretfromBraintree8:42 AM

    Poor Scout. He must have a persecution complex. You wrote one post which excellently refutes his horse manure of a blog post and he is whining about it at his blog.

    If he had to deal with the hundreds of threats which you have Paul (including death threats), he would be an emotional wreck.

    What poor Scout doesn't understand, because he is not intellectually gifted enough to see it, is that Christians all over the world are being persecuted by radical homosexual activists. Which is why the Vatican spoke on this subject recently.

    Scout doesn't understand because his bas against Catholicism has blinded him. As Roman Catholic Faithful used to say, "Sin makes you stupid."

    ReplyDelete
  16. Brian Bridson is "Scout." At another Blog, this atheist from the UK writes:

    Excommunication and Defection from the Catholic Church
    First of all, there is a very real difference between excommunication and defection. Excommunication is an action taken by the Roman Catholic Church that comes close to fully removing you from the Church, but, in typical Catholic fashion, they leave you with the option of repenting and reclaiming your good standing with the Church. So even if you are excommunicated, you are still counted as a member of the flock.

    Defection is different. Also known as Actus formalis defectionis ab Ecclesia catholica, grants the person seeking it the right to have their name removed from records of the Catholic Church and nullifies your baptismal certificate. Of course, when seeking Actus formalis defectionis ab Ecclesia catholica, it would be good to include the rationale for your defection. You will also want to know where and when you were baptized.

    I first called the priest servicing the Church in which I was baptized to inform him that I would be pursuing the issue. He spoke with the bishop about it and confirmed that all I need to do is provide the priest with a letter, stating my intention to defect, with my baptismal information and reasons for defection. He will then take the letter to the Bishop of the Diocese, have it processed, and I will receive a letter in the mail confirming my defection.

    Below is the text, minus personally identifiable information, that I provided to the priest stating my intention to defect (submitted Monday, March 21, 2011):

    My name is Brian Bridson. I was baptized at xxxx Catholic Church, in xxxx, Ontario, during late August or early September in xxxx. Becoming Catholic, much less confession, communion and confirmation, were never decisions I made myself; I never chose to be Catholic.

    Due to the fact that I never chose to be Catholic, and because I believe that not once has any evidence for the existence of any gods, much less the Christian or Catholic one, I hereby request a formal defection from the Catholic Church (Actus formalis defectionis ab Ecclesia catholica).

    Please send record of my formal defection from the Catholic Church to the address below:


    Brian Bridson
    xxxxxxxxxx

    Thank you for submitting my Actus formalis defectionis ab Ecclesia catholica.


    Brian Bridson

    It is short and simple, but all that was needed. Don’t forget to sign (include your signature in) your letter. I will post the letter I receive from the Church when I get it."

    http://philosophershaze.com/?page_id=7

    There are links to many atheist and secular humanist websites at this blog of his. And in a post on "Catholislam," one of his tags is "catholic internet watch," which, surprise - is the title of his new anti-Catholic blog.

    I've copied all of this should he decide to delete the pages. More on the atheist Brian Bridson here:

    http://philosophershaze.com/?page_id=127

    ReplyDelete
  17. Here's what Brian Bridson - the "grandson of three Catholic grandparents" - has to say about the Church in his post entitled "Catholislam":

    The catholic church isn’t interested in educating its followers, much less encouraging them to be able to have genuine conversations with atheists and agnostics. This attitude is summed up rather nicely by Suzanne Scotconi of the archdiocese of Toronto, who said that “We rather like the weak ones.” (See this post for more information about Scotconi’s remark.) What the church really wants in a bunch of mindless sheep that are too scared to think for themselves and who are unable to have honest, genuine conversations with others who haven’t drank their kool-aid.

    And what does this do? Well, with great ignorance comes great misunderstanding. These sheep, especially the good ones who have given over the entire substance of their being to this vampiric organization, become unable to enter into honest dialogues with those who have competing or greatly different outlooks on the world. And this misunderstanding, as it grows, often leads to open animosity towards these various “others”.

    Don’t forget though – this is a church of understanding.

    Then think about the manner in which the church treats members of the TBLGQ communities. In fact, the contempt is so great for these people that in the UN the church, via the Vatican, tried to strike down a motion that would designate them as having special status under international human rights legislation. And why would they seek to deny ensuring this discriminated group of individuals be given special status? Because their “holy book” tells them that these people are akin to evil monsters; swine even.."

    Full anti-Catholic post here:

    http://philosophershaze.com/?p=2125

    ReplyDelete
  18. Betty3:33 AM

    Mr. Bridson's dishonesty is made manifest by the very fact that he claims not to be anti-Catholic while elsewhere describing the Catholic Church as a ?vampiric organization" which is leading the faithful astray while seeking to deny homosexual persons dignity.

    He's a rabid anti-Catholic and nothing more.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Jennifer Goguen8:20 AM

    Mike, I visited the blog created by Brian Bridson and the tag "catholic internet watch" may be found underneath the post you cited. Additionally, Mr. Bridson is from the UK. As is "Scout," who - posting as anonymous in the second comment in this thread -writes about, "Growing up in London during the 1980s and 1990s.."

    This is definitely the same man. Someone with a real animus against the Catholic Church. Which is why he focuses so much anger and hatred toward Paul.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Stewart11:24 AM

    Another Catholic blogger has blogged on "Scout" and his lunacy.

    http://shadowlands1.blogspot
    .com/2011/10/be-prepared-for
    -three-fingered-salute.html

    I think he needs to go back on his meds.

    ReplyDelete