But such a strange way of trying to warn us. Why not simply come out and present what you know, rather than cloaking it in "faction"?
I'm ambivalent towards Martin.
Martin's writings and life continue to fascinate but I'm not sure what they add to the Church's efforts to spread the Gospel, nor to my own personal journey and battle with sin.
But given susequent events his warnings were spot on.
‘The Encounter’ was a super book
I’m ambivalent towards Martin.
I know, that’s what makes him so fascinating.
The only consistent aspect of his reputation that he did not try to debunk was the description of himself as a towering intellectual giant.
Reading his books, this seems to be a bit of an exaggeration. He was certainly a bright man - you had to be in order to become a Jesuit in the 1940s.
The real story of Malachi Martin seems to be this: he was an academic studying Ancient Near Eastern paleography as well as being a Jesuit.
He travelled in Communist countries during the 1950s, partially to do academic work with Eastern bloc experts in paleography but also to report back to the Vatican on the state of the Church in the East and any other worthwhile information he could glean.
Because of his academic specialty he was one of the many researchers involved in the Dead Sea Scrolls project and met many prominent Israeli academics.
Sometime in 1964, his life changed radically. Maybe he had a breakdown, maybe he had it out with a superior, who knows. What we do know is that he resigned his professorship, he resigned his post in the Curia, he left the Jesuit order, he stopped writing academic articles and basically became a laicized priest. His professional career was less than 11 years long (ordained in 1954, resigned in 1965)
His exit from the clerical life coincided with the appointment of ultra-liberal Pedro Arrupe as the superior general of the Jesuits.
For the following 40 years he spent his time as an independent author, writing a slew of books of varying quality (I'm speaking of the quality of the research and the arguments, not the prose).
His legacy seems to be that he was able to make the rent on his NYC apartment for decades by selling sensationalism and stoking conspiracy theories.
Find later...
Did the journalist offer any proof? If not, I'd give his accusation the same weight as those accusations about being on the side of the Nazis, that have been thrown around about Pope Pius XII.
Malachi Martin bump
“Why not simply come out and present what you know, rather than cloaking it in “faction”?”
If you take the position theoretically that what he wrote in Windswept House was true, then you would understand that there was great danger in presenting what he knew...he would have quickly been murdered before publication.
I do know that there have been murdered conservative priests who were fighting evil and also there is a nominal code for the different characters in the book. I do not know if the book was based on reality but I recognize that it may have been in some parts.
I find it interesting that he was wrapped in alleged scandals...that certainly would have been done by some nefarious group if he was telling more truth than fiction.
If nothing else, let his writings prompt you to a deeper prayer life.
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But did he have tiger blood and Adonis DNA?
Malachi Martin (July 23, 1921 July 27, 1999} was made En Pectore Cardinal Bishop by Pius XII, along with a dozen other men. The immediate reason for MM’s being made so was to remove a scandalous priest in Czechoslovakia but carried on further activities behind the Iron Curtain. If I recall there were two of these twelve still living at the time of MMs death.
Rama Coomaraswamy (d 2006) was (not) made a priest by him and others (disaster, indeed reason I slowly backed away from RC)- I have the photos-will transmit if you freemail me your email address. His cassock was last known to be under the care of Father Leonard Giardina (d Jan 7 2011) though who knows now given:
http://www.fathercekada.com/2011/05/30/tragedy-and-treason-at-christ-the-king-abbey/
Coomaraswamy held MM became a sedevacantist with JP2’s rejection of Windswept House. Martin had personally handed Wojtlya a copy, gave him time with it and personally heard from him (MM had a regular phone/visit relation w/ JP2) such MM, upon returning from Rome, told RC JP2 was “a heretic”.
It was made very clear to me without actual name being used that Bp. Robert McKenna, famous at least for videos of exorcisms, worked with MM in tandem on some. The very aged Bp. McKenna may become prominent soon enough as Jerry Bruckheimer is said to be presently making a movie based on ex NYC police detective Ralph Sarchies book on Satanism in the NYC area entitled Beware the Night. Bp. McKenna wrote the forward to the book, which has a chapter or two on google books. Perhaps Bp. McKenna will attest to MMs status as Cardinal-Bishop.
The film now entitled Deliver Us from Evil is set for a July 2, 2014 release (per wiki) and there is a trailer.
RC also said MM had subconditionally (re)consecrated some 100 priests, one actually while crossing Red Square.
I was on an active enough yahoo group on MM early-mid 00’s and it was claimed by one who seemed to be personally in contact with MM that he dropped sedevacantism in the very near end. I got to know for the time through the site and slightly personally William H. Kennedy of Everette, MA who died at 49 in Sept 2012, who was very friendly with MM in the mid 1990s. He claimed MM designated him to write his biography. I reject much of what WHK held on Catholic Church and paranormal matters you can look up yourself, droves of especially the latter on the net.
I am basically sympathetic to MM but certainly see him as enigmatic, but more certainly see him as extremely important. I was also told but havent confirmed that Look Magazine held him one of 100 most important people of the 20th century. If they didnt, he should be on such a list.