October 2002

Fr. Flapdoodle Fully Exposed

Given the sex scandals by priests, and the coddling of fallen priests by bishops, the many articles in and ads for the NOR exposing Fr. Flapdoodle and Amchurch are prophetic and true to the mark. Your targets deserve the full disclosure they are finally receiving. What a defilement of the priesthood! Indeed, all the demons have been unleashed, and they have corrupted government, destroyed families, undermined basic morality, and have been trying to poison the priesthood. It seems they have polluted everything except the Rock — the strongest evidence of Christ’s promise that the Gates of Hell would not prevail against His Church.

Thank you for not compromising one iota with liberal Catholicism, Amchurch, or feminism. I’ll fight in your army in every battle.

Mitchell Kalpakgian

Magdalen College

Warner, New Hampshire

Hope Regained

This summer many things, from sloppy liturgical practices to priest scandals, had me depressed about the state of our Church. Then I (age 23) participated in World Youth Day in Toronto from July 18-28. I saw not thousands or tens of thousands, but hundreds of thousands of fellow young people who deeply love the Church and the Faith. In the streets, subways, and parks, young people discussed the Pope’s encyclicals, sang hymns, and prayed the Rosary. Hundreds of young priests and nuns from many orders walked in their respective habits, talking and laughing with groups of teenagers from every corner of the globe. The atmosphere through the pouring rain and the searing heat was not one of sentimental cheerfulness, but of real joy. After seeing so many youths pledging themselves to Christ’s army, I have regained my hope for the coming springtime in the Church.

Brendon Devlin

Livingston, New Jersey

Do You Move Around a Lot?

This letter comes via an ad of yours in The Weekly Standard. I hope Room 724 is correct. Other ads of yours in The Weekly Standard listed Room 323 and Room 903. I’m curious: Do you move a lot? I’m told it’s cheaper than paying rent. Or are the various Room numbers actually codes and you’re really in a one-story office building? Then again, your ads are written with élan, so maybe the various Room numbers are your way of humorously disguising that you do your work from your kitchen table?

Your ad in the Standard’s June 17 edition appears immediately after a well-written 12-page article regarding perverted and molesting Catholic priests. Is this a bad location? Maybe you should complain to the Standard’s Layout Editor. Does a long negative article demean your ad? After all, both the article and your ad have a common denominator, the Catholic Church. Or maybe this location is good for you. After reading the previous article, your traditional views look like a viable alternative to the results of theological liberalism.

I do enjoy reading your ads. So why don’t I send you money and subscribe? Well, I’m Jewish, not Catholic. While I do have a peripheral interest in your topics, they are not a high point in my life. Besides, I can’t seem to keep up with all my Jewish reading.

I can empathize with you traditional Catholics. We Jews have had liberals biting off pieces of our traditions, our Orthodoxy, for well over a hundred years. Maybe we are just more advanced than you. But don’t give up. In the last generation, we have seen a great return to our observances. Many people, raised completely secular with no idea of Judaism, have a hunger for the knowledge and practice of Torah True Judaism. When they find The Truth, or when The Truth finds them, they are receptive.

Many years ago, when as a kid coming out into the world from my isolated little realm and meeting other types of people, all non-Jews were lumped together. But gradually I could identify Catholics. Their actions and talk gave them away. Example: One fellow asked where I lived, in what parish?

Me: What’s a parish?

He: The neighborhood around a church.

Me: I’m not Catholic, I’m Jewish; we don’t go to church, we go to synagogue.

He: But you live somewhere. There’s a church there. That’s your parish.

Today, I’m back to the point where all non-Jews look alike. Even the nuns. On a business occasion, I didn’t catch the name of a young lady, a manager. I kept calling her Ma’am. Upon parting, I ‘fessed up: I’m sorry, but I didn’t get your name.

She: Sister Shirley.

Me: Uh, um, well, duh, I didn’t know….

She (laughing): I assumed you didn’t. We wear regular clothes today.

Shabsi Turner

Chicago, Illinois