[GirlShortstop]

Why is this story/report so exclusive to Mr. Vennari?  Does anyone recall EWTN, or a non-SSPX group covering this?

Several years back Fr. Brian Harrison traveled to Arizona to meet with a group of Integrists (i.e., extreme traditionalists who confuse the accidents and substance of the Faith) to decide whether he might publicly answer a 5 part Wanderer series I did entitled Traditionalists, Tradition and Private Judgement . That series was a response to a book this group published attacking the Holy Father, charging him abusrdly, among other things, with having made a rupture with (an ossified, non-catholic view of) tradition.

That, it goes without saying, is a very serious charge since it means the Pope is, in effect, in schism, teaching schismatic errors....<snip>  

Now, why would Fr. Harrison theologically defend this gang of five (Michael Matt, John Vennari, Atila Sinke Guimaraes, Christopher Ferrara and Marian Horvat)? Why would he still be writing for such a publication as they support at all (even if it only has a tiny subscription base)?

And elsewhere: Dubious sources in Catholic Family News

Residents of St. Blog's will recall that the scandal involving Robert Sungenis and CAI in 2002 was sparked by his use of dubious sources in his article "Conversion of the Jews Not Necessary? The Apocalyptic Ramifications of a Novel Teaching." ¹.

One of the key sources of last year's controversy was Sungenis' praise of Fr. Denis Fahey, a proponent of the Jewish Zionist conspiry who is held in high regard by both the SSPX and various White Supremacist organizations, and whose book The Kingship of Christ and the Conversion of the Jewish Nation received rave review by John Vennari in The Remnant (and is in fact, sold by the Remant bookstore).

Regretfully, in the past month evidence of another recent traditionalist use of dubious sources has surfaced. The latest issue of Catholic Family News, edited by John Vennari, features an article on The Attack on the Oberammergau Passion Play, which, besides prominent mention of Fr. Fahey, also mentions as a credible source Judaism's Strange Gods by Michael Hoffman II.².

18. Talmud, Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts, Robert Goldenberg (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984), pp. 166-167. Cited from Judaism's Strange Gods, Michael Hoffman II, p. 6.

22. One of the finest contemporary books on the subject of the Talmud and the Kabbalah is Judaism's Strange Gods by Michael Hoffman II, (Cour d'Alene: The Independent History and Research Company, Fourth Printing, August, 2002).

This is not the first time Michael Hoffman II is referred to by Catholic Family News. The March 2003 article "The Talmudic Touch: The Real Story of the Offertory's Replacement" by Craig Heimbichner also cites Hoffman's book as a source.

So, one may ask: just who is Michael A. Hoffman II? -- According to his website, he is a revisionist historian and investigative reporter, self-proclaimed source for "suppressed information on Judaism's strange gods, secret societies and psychological warfare and radical history", and when he's not inveighing against Zionism, the Talmud, and the Holocaust, or defending white separatism, , he's attacking Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger as "covert adherents of the religion of Judaism. They are crypto-rabbis, loyal to Talmudic doctrine, rather than the authentic Gospel of Jesus Christ, which they betray". He even refers to the Holy Father as "the Judas Iscariot of our time." One doesn't have to look very far to find similar polemics on "The Jewish Mentality".

Traditionalists may have legitimate grievances about the post-Vatican II church and the right to express them -- and it is entirely possible to do so in a respectful and credible manner. However, one can only conclude that Vennari's high praise of such a controversial source³ as "one of the finest contemporary books on the subject of the Talmud" in the pages of Catholic Family News can only result in the further tarnishing and discrediting of the Catholic traditionalist movement.⁴

[sinkspur]

One of the key sources of last year's controversy was Sungenis' praise of Fr. Denis Fahey, a proponent of the Jewish Zionist conspiry who is held in high regard by both the SSPX and various White Supremacist organizations, and whose book The Kingship of Christ and the Conversion of the Jewish Nation received rave review by John Vennari in The Remnant (and is in fact, sold by the Remant bookstore)

CatholicGuy used to say "Scratch a trad often enough and you'll find an anti-semite". In many, many cases, he was right.

[B Knotts]

Sorry. This won't do, IMO. This is argumentum ad hominem. As I predicted, people will attack the source, but IMO he has provided reasonable proof this time.

I'm no integrist/"rad-trad"/etc., but I think the burden of proof has been met, and it is up to the other side now to come up with a plausible explanation for these pictures.

The fact that he may be a kook doesn't make the pictures any less damaging.

[GirlShortstop]

Does anyone recall EWTN, or a non-SSPX group covering this?

I asked that question last week, and didn't see any information about "coverage", but today I came across this commentary at EWTN...

 

EWTN Catholic Q&A

Ecuminisim
Question from Joseph Cole on 07-07-2004:

I have received in the mail a "complementary" copy of the magazine "Catholic Family News." The front page story on the July issue was a report of a Hindu ritual perfromed as if it was a liturgical/Ecumenical function in a chapel at Fatima. If true, was this a desecration of the shrine and against doctrine?

Answer by Fr. Robert J. Levis on 07-08-2004:

Dear Joseph, I received the same. In Nostra Aetate, Vatican Council 2, the Fathers showed respect for some of the philosophical tenets of Hinduism. But with the Fatima affair, it is my judgment that these acts were acts of sacrilege, violations of the First Commandment. God bless you. Fr. Bob Levis

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