Why this publication is here

Plus: Some tips for when you go to confession

Mar 02, 2024

Hello everyone and happy Saturday. As we enter the third week of Lent, I know I need to remind myself of the promises I made to work on being more holy during this season. But it is important to remember that if we slip up and fall, even if we sin, we must not wallow in our own self-pity; doing so only empowers the one who wants us to turn away from God.

Rather we need to remember to pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off, and return to the one who made us and confess our sins. As Jesus says in St. Matthew’s version of the Lord’s prayer, “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you.” If we sin against ourselves, as so often we do, we must remember to forgive ourselves as well.

Be on the lookout to see if your parish is hosting a penance service this Lent. The sacrament of confession is the best way for us to return to God after we have returned to him. Scared? I don’t blame you; it isn’t easy sharing our sins with other people. But as a priest at my parish said during his homily, pleading with his flock to come to confession, you’re not going to say anything that will astound the priest.

Tomorrow is the Third Sunday of Lent and the readings at Mass are Exodus 20:1-17, Psalm 19:8-11, 1 Corinthians 1:22-25, and John 2:13-25. If you happen to be at a parish where you have catechumens facing scrutiny this weekend (not as troubling as it sounds), you may hear these readings instead: Exodus 17:3-7; Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9; Romans 5:1-2, 5-8; and John 4:5-42.

In the Liturgy of the Hours, we are beginning Psalter Week III tonight and during the Office of Readings, we will continue reading the book of Exodus. At this point in the Israelites’ journey, God led the people victoriously out of Egypt, drowned Pharaoh’s chariots and charioteers, and provided water from the rock. This week Moses receives the Ten Commandments, the Israelites build the golden calf, and God provides Moses with the instructions for the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle.

One of the things about modern Hollywood that frustrates me is the need to change the story when directors and writers attempt to make depictions of the Bible (I’m looking at you, Noah (2014)) when the original story is already fantastic enough. After all, Cecil B. DeMille didn’t find it necessary to change the story of the parting of the Red Sea:

Here is a calendar for the rest of the week:

Monday, March 4th - Commemoration of Saint Casimir (optional)
Thursday, March 7th - Commemoration of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs (optional)
Friday, March 8th - Commemoration of Saint John of God, Religious (optional)
Saturday, March 9th - Commemoration of Saint Frances of Rome, Religious (optional)

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.

John 3:16

In the news:

I am normally of the habit of not naming names of other Catholic media outlets that I think do a disservice to the Church so as not to give them added publicity, but today I am making an exception.

I am doing so today because I have heard on a credible account that the rad-trad website Church Militant will be ceasing operations in April.

I know of many people who actively read and watch Church Militant’s content thinking that they are receiving accurate information about corruption and abuse in the Church. I, for my part, have tried to steer them away because I have seen firsthand how they distorted the truth and outright lied.

When I worked full time for Ave Maria Radio (full disclosure, Ave Maria Radio still contracts me and my company to produce Michigan Mornings™), there were several instances where Church Militant published stories with vast and sweeping generalizations about Ave Maria Radio, EWTN, and Relevant Radio. I knew they weren’t true; I worked at one of those organizations.

Most outlets attacked by Church Militant made, in my opinion, the correct decision to refrain from responding to their stories. It would only provide more fodder and clicks on their website. Most outlets or personalities on those outlets also refrained from suing, simply because it is very difficult to win a defamation or libel lawsuit when you are a public figure.

Back in 2021, however, the Judicial Vicar of the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire filed a lawsuit against Church Militant founder Gary Michael Voris and the Church Militant parent company, St. Michael’s Media. In the lawsuit, he alleged that his character and reputation had been greatly diminished because of several stories published by the outlet that included multiple anonymous sources and claims that were not vetted.

Now, I want to pause and say that working in the Church you sometimes need anonymous sources. I know J.D. Flynn and Ed. Condon over at the Pillar have repeatedly said that because investigative journalism can be tricky and finding people to speak on the record can be near impossible. But, the folks at the Pillar, unlike at Church Millitant, verify and back up their claims.

Church Militant has now admitted they did not verify their source’s claims about the priest in New Hampshire. In fact, it appears, that the author of the story failed to show up for the deposition. Church Militant has agreed to pay $500,000 to the priest and to publicly apologize.

I don’t say all of this to rub their nose in it and to claim I stand on a higher pedestal. For starters, I don’t claim to do journalism here on the Purple Catholic. What I do claim to do is to share news and stories from a broad range of sources within the Church. Those sources, however, are from bona fide Catholic institutions, not outlets that were set up for a particular agenda.

For example, the Pillar was created to do real investigative journalism and they have demonstrated they have, the National Catholic Register has the backing of EWTN and remains one of the only distributed Catholic newspapers in the United States, Crux has the base of Vatican insider John Allen, Jr, Vatican News is the official outlet of the Holy See. On the other hand, Church Militant had the mission of attacking people it didn’t like and accusing them of being fake Catholics. The National Catholic Reporter pushes progressive policy agendas.

Now, all outlets have their slants and biases that is, for better or worse, the way reporting is done; we all have different perceptions of what is going on.

Since the Catholic Church is the most diverse community of people in the world and the issues we face here in America are not the same issues facing the faithful in Africa, we necessarily must broaden our world view outside of our own perceptions.

For example, as I’ve said repeatedly here before, our faith does not fit neatly into either of the main American political parties. At this point, I don’t think the Republicans or Democrats come close to our faith at all, save a few issues.

That is one of the reasons why I started the Purple Catholic. You and I, because I read these stories too, get a sample of news from everywhere from all perspectives, even those you and I might not necessarily agree with. Unlike other newsletters and websites, however, I take great care to not say “this person is Catholic and this person isn’t” based on whether or not I agree with them. That is not my place; that does nothing to have a broader understanding of the world and does nothing to build the Church.

Publications like Church Militant often blur the line between opinion and deception. With the story of the New Hampshire priest, perhaps they can legitimately claim it was sloppy journalism. But when Michael Voris was publishing videos about my employer while I worked there? I can confidently say that it was deceptive, not opinionated or sloppy.

I do think the Church is better off without Church Militant, but I am not so naive as to think that they were the only rad-trad publication out there. I do think, however, that they were one of the mostly influential (although that influence seems to have diminished greatly in the last year) and their readers will have to go somewhere.

Unfortunately, I doubt many of them will end up here simply because I am not of the business of sharing rumors or doing checkbook journalism. After all, the Purple Catholic isn’t a tabloid, it’s a newsletter.

I do hope and pray, however, that the damage that Church Militant has caused to the reputation of the American episcopacy and the Vatican (in some circles) can be repaired.

That is why it is important to support and subscribe to good publications (like this one perhaps?) that do their best to build up the Church and bring people closer to Jesus. Like I said above, I try to do that here by sharing a wide perspective of ideas. I try to remember to focus on Jesus because as Fr. Joe Krupp said, if the website you’re on isn’t doing much to talk about Jesus, it’s probably not worthwhile staying there.

Finally, we are in a time where the world is shaking. We are in a very divisive political state in the United States and we are in a very confusing time in the Church. Sometimes, it can very well feel like God has forgotten about us.

But He hasn’t and he won’t. As Jesus said to Peter, “the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against” the Church. That doesn’t mean the netherworld won’t try as perhaps is happening now.

We must not run off to our own little corners and try to handle this ourselves. That didn’t work out so well for the Israelites and the golden calf. If we remain in the Church and work to build each other up, we will be safe with the unshakeable God’s protection.

Why this publication is here

Plus: Some tips for when you go to confession

In the news:

The United States

The Vatican

The World

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