When Peter sued Paul....or David Domet vs Goliath

Peter's Denial - Caravaggio

I am reasonably certain that David would chastise me for that headline yet its hyperbolic wording does contain some grains of truth.  It actually contains more than just a few.  David does not see himself as a St Paul nor does he necessarily see his adversaries as Goliath.  Yet I am willing to bet there is a little bit of both of those two personalities in David Domet and the man whose very words he has exposed to wider public scrutiny.

Regarding Goliath, that could mean the armies of reptilian traitors in Rome, their cultists in the Neo-Catholic media and clueless Catholics in the pews who no longer see anything incongruous about having balloons on the altar of God.  In a way that's a formidable Goliath to contend with.  Entrenched ignorance about the Catholic Faith and its two millennium history has helped enormously.   But we are speculating a bit here.

After an exhaustive search I have uncovered no evidence that St Peter took St Paul to court after Paul had to "resist him to his face".  But that was in the old days, I guess.  These days if you say something a cleric doesn't like he may drag you through the courts.

By now many in the Catholic alternative media, e.g. the blogosphere, are aware of the ungentlemanly, indeed unCatholic manner in which David Domet was threatened with legal action by a priest who is vaguely connected to the Vatican.  Mr Domet's offense was to quote the exact words of this priest (who I sincerely hope does not see himself as a St Peter!), words that reflected the priest's somewhat hazy idea of Catholicism and then comment on those words.  The story has been thoroughly told by David on his blog and, of course, in subsequent interviews he has given and other blogger's articles.  We wont go over ground already well covered, other than to add our words of relief that the priest in question is now back-pedalling faster than a centipede confronted with Lysol .

Via telephone and email David and I had a discussion about the ramifications of this whole fiasco.  Given what happened to him in light of his publicizing the very words of a priest I wondered if he thought that we should perhaps be more circumspect about publishing their words.

"Absolutely not, we can and we must continue. It is important whenever we do so on our blogs that we provide links to the original or an image of the original, for example from Twitter. This is critical in order to ensure that we maintain our credibility and ensure that we are giving “fair comment” [which is a legal term in Canada in these matters]. Furthermore, it is our right and our duty under Can. 212 §3. According to the knowledge, competence, and prestige which they (i.e. the laity) possess, they have the right and even at times the duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful, without prejudice to the integrity of faith and morals, with reverence toward their pastors, and attentive to common advantage and the dignity of persons.

The looming - God help us - October Synod, Part Two will be upon us in a very short time.  Already a number of blogs have been on this story and give every indication that they will keep on it.  One thinks, for example of the exemplary work on this being done by Restore DC Catholicism and a few others.  Looking at the forces at work in the Synod and at the agenda they are no longer even shy about maintaining, it is easy for good Catholics to get somewhat discouraged.  Not Mr Domet, however

"There has been a lack of understanding of blogs by those in position in the Church and by Catholic media in general. A journalist and author friend of mine who writes regularly in Catholic media has said to me directly “the future is in the blogs.” We can respond quickly to anything out there much more so than the Catholic media. I take a story and put my view on it and you take it and add yours and some new information that I may not have been aware of. Blogs also represent a “light” and I use that word for a purpose and with all its meaning. I’ve read somewhere a comment that some bloggers have turned the “blogosphere into a black hole of vitriol, anger and profound sadness.” I certainly don’t see it that way. So to answer your question, yes; I think some will go on the offensive and it will also come not just from Churchmen directly but from their friends in the “mainstream” Catholic media; I’ve seen that quite clearly recently."

He has good advice for other bloggers as well, this one very much included:

We need to blog almost daily as we all have different readers in different parts of the world – we can’t leave it to others. The secular media will take the side of those that would attempt to change doctrine and sadly most in the Catholic media will take a soft approach because they know who it is that butters their bread.

We need to be prepared and we need to study the documents leading up to the Synod and the writings and sayings of those bishops and cardinals who will not be swayed by the potential heresy and those who would attempt to change doctrine by changing practice.

With these demonstrations by personages such as Rosica and now the placid Catholic press it will be interesting to see just how low the defenders of this lunatic Synod might be willing to go.  The lawsuit threat was in and of itself pretty low.  Says David:

The threat of the lawsuit has been “dropped” and let me be clear it was a “threat;” let us make no mistake about that. I think this is not the lowest that some could go. I think we could see personal attacks, intimidating letters even perhaps an attempt to remove us from volunteer work in various apostolates, some may even try to undermine our employment in Catholic institutions. Now one might think by me making that statement that I am wearing a tin-foiled hat, but not all things have come into the light.

As is becoming more obvious, those Catholics who are more "in tune" shall we say to the current zeitgeist yet nevertheless share the concerns of many who watch in horror some of the outrageous remarks of those such as Cardinal Godzilla Marx will nevertheless feel the need to take a pot shot or two at any blogger who doesn't toe the line.  One such is the normally level-headed Phil Lawler who could not, it seems, fight the temptation to denigrate the work of Vox Cantoris even while pointing out the silliness of Rosica's threatened lawsuit.  His article was a sad performance unworthy of a serious writer on Catholic topics but is, I believe, perhaps the opening salvo in a long series of similar pieces to come.  perhaps the reason behind this embarrassing article is the fact that Lawler's boss is Dr Jeff Mirus.  [I ceased taking Dr Mirus seriously when after writing him a courteous letter asking him to stop using the perfectly innocent word "gay" to describe sex perversion - which he does incessantly - he wrote back a note - dripping with condescension - telling me that since the homosexual "community" prefers to call themselves "gay" he is going to respect that (!?)]  Dr Mirus has distinguished himself among those Catholics who refuse to see the things that are staring them squarely in the face. I would tend to believe then that Mr Lawler's article is in keeping with what his boss would want and is a taste of what is going to be coming more and more.

And of course the attacks have been coming, so far in comment sections of blogs and on one or two neo-Catholic websites.  Some denigrate the Vox Cantoris blog out of a misguided sense of "doing the right thing" while others are motivated by malevolence.  It will do credit to David Domet as he continues to keep a cool head during these onslaughts which he surely realizes are only just beginning.  Many of these attacks can be safely ignored since the more astute readers can usually see through the venom, a venom which could possibly be described as "a black hole of vitriol and anger".

We have learned something by this affair.  We are the despised ones, I guess, the ones who have to be the bearers of bad news.  Yes, that can get depressing at times which is why our blog occasionally likes to remind readers of the beauties still in the world be they visual or aural.  Moreover we have to often "tell it like it is" not, to be sure, that it will make us many friends in certain Church circles but that it will remind us of how it used to be in the Church, and how it will be once again after the good God decides to begin the restoration.  Until then we will do what St Anthony, that Hammer of Heretics, once felt compelled to do.  St Anthony was never one to mince words.  Preaching once at a synod in Bourges, France he began his sermon by turning directly to the Archbishop, Simon de Sully saying, "And you, O mitred one, it is about you I shall be preaching now!"  The rather stunned Archbishop listened in chastened silence, and by the grace of God and the firm words of Anthony he ultimately repented of his errors.

This is an example that we poor laity must needs follow.  We are not in Saint Anthony's class but that cannot prevent us from telling men like Wuerl and Dolan what they need to hear, and the firmer the better in my opinion.  It is just possible that if the laity emulate Anthony in this way that God will awaken the courage in priests and Bishops to do the same.  Indeed we are seeing the small beginnings of this already.

Alas that must also include Popes.  When Saint Bruno, Bishop of Segni, opposed Pope Pascal II on the question of investiture he wrote to him saying,

"I esteem you as my father and lord...I must love you; but I must love still more Him who created you and me...I do not praise the horrible, unnatural accord [signed by the Pope] made with such treachery, and contrary to all piety and religion".  (Quoted by Bouix, "Tract, de Papa," Vol 2, page 650.)

So we have learned and will no doubt continue to learn as new devices are used to silence the laity.  David, perhaps sensing this, suggests a sort of "linking" of blogs in order to keep on message with regard to the threats coming our way:

This past few weeks has introduced me to literally hundreds of blogs around the world in various languages previously unknown to me and I dare say, Vox Cantoris to them. Every one of them is solidly Catholic and we are all onside with the issues of the Synod. What can we all do to ensure that we are sharing the latest information and how can we link up in this? I’ve just come across Veri Catholici (http://vericatholici.org/) but have not had time yet to research them; perhaps this may be a vehicle of common cause.

An interesting idea and one which we at The Eye-Witness can support without reservation.  There is something to be said for a united front, something that has been notable by its absence in Catholic circles for at least half a century.  More prosaically, there is safety in numbers; they can't sue everybody.

I asked him if he thought we bloggers are doing enough right now:

All of us can always do more. Remember the words from scripture that Saint John Paul II used from the loggia “Do not be afraid.” If these last few weeks have shown us anything it is the power that we have even though our keyboard does not make us a “bishop or liturgist” as I’ve heard it said. I prefer to remember Venerable Fulton Sheen’s address in June 1972 to the assembled Knights of Columbus: “Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops and religious. It is to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act as priests, your bishops like bishops, and your religious act like religious.” Those in the Church that think and speak otherwise are clericalists.

Carry on, Vox Cantoris, and carry on, David.