Michael Voris and Psychological Projection: Eternal Rome

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JMJ

 

 

 

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or gazelle. When the sun comes up, you'd better be running." Source Business Insider

As noted earlier, Voris et al have now launched a new branch to their campaign.  Interestingly, I was at Francis Palmquist's ordination but that's not the topic of this article.  Here's where Voris' personal belief is coming through:

Their members claim to be (or reference) what they call "Eternal Rome." What they mean by that is only they have kept true to the Church, holding fast to the teachings, Liturgy and so forth. In short, the correct understanding and practice of the Deposit of Faith has been deposited in them; therefore, the society enjoys a certain type of privilege.

Wow, I wish he had provided a citation for this,because otherwise it seems to reflect more Voris' opinion about himself than that of the SSPX. More on that in  a bit.

First let's unpack the claims:

If you want to see it for yourself, google the quote and then use the cached version so Voris et al don't get the satisfaction of a click.Why? Because that's why people publicize sensational articles that hearken back to the propaganda of the  "Big Lie". They generally need the attention, either for financial gain or narcissistic reasons.

Onwards ...

So, first, the SSPX does not believe that they have only kept true to the Church.  But I am pretty confident in saying that they have kept truer to Church Teaching that Voris (see previous article).

I mean if this really was a competition between the SSPX and CMTV (ala Gazelle vs Lion), all they would have to do is be better than the slowest gazelle, while CMTV has to be better than the fastest Trad.  We wall know who eventually gets eaten - don't we?

With regards to claim 1,2 and 3.  The SSPX does not claim to be the Church. They claim that they are part of the Church. That is an objective reality which, I suppose, really gets under Voris' skin. Claim #3 is more closer to the reality, the "Eternal Rome" hearkens back to Archbishop Lefebvre and his declaration.  Written by the Archbishop in 1974 when Voris was a spry lad of 13.

With regards to the 'red flag', the SSPX doesn't claim that they're the only ones that have kept true to the Church. That's the various sedevacantist and papal claimants perspective ... I do not include Pope Francis in the list of claimant. He IS Pope, much to Michael Voris' chagrin.

Voris' conclusions are incredible..  The SSPX simply follows what the Catholic Church clearly taught. In my 30+ years as an SSPX trad, I have never once come across such an idea from the SSPX. From sedevacantists and those who have 'elected' their own popes, definitely, but not the SSPX.

I feel that his ultimate conclusion (blue question mark) is definitely more a reflection of Voris' own self proclaimed mission than that of the SSPX. 

Which leads us to psychological projection or shame dumping.

The SSPX received its original mission from the Catholic Church.  That is a fact.  It is also a fact that Rome didn't follow its own rules in its suppression.

Michael Voris took on his mission of his own accord.Who does he report to?  Those who provide him financial support.

Voris tweeted: Who does the SSPX report to?  Well, while being in the unfortunately situation of needing to disobey illegimate commands from lawful superiors, the SSPX does report to Rome.  There are stronger ties between Rome and the SSPX than many like to admit. Hence the reason for the 'resistance'.

It would seem that Voris is projecting his shame (you can read about it elsewhere) onto the SSPX and perhaps to a larger extent on the rest of the Catholic Church.

This is his personal crusade, and I have to wonder what good has he done for the Catholic Church?

We know at least one good concerning the SSPX: Summorum Pontificum and by extension Universae Ecclesiae are a direct result the SSPX's long and arduous fight for the Truth.

Perhaps that is just too much from Voris et al, that this persecuted tenacious religious congregation could succeed where he has failed.

The End Note

Voris ends his little tirade with:

The SSPX is no more "Eternal Rome" than the Church of Nice. Obedience [Tradical: See this Series to get a Catholic understanding of Obedience] and orthodoxy are what's needed. An end to the lies, cover-up and complicity of Catholic bloggers who have a personal dog in the fight — all of this has got to go.

Well obeidience, yep, but not blind obedience to the Church of Voris.  As long as he stayed away from people and events close to me, I didn't really care to investigate. But when he crossed that line, he drew both my attention, ire and disgust.  I find such a lack of integrity repulsive.   Once again Voris goes on to lament his lonely battle, castigating Catholic bloggers (I guess myself included).  

Then Voris closes with this little ditty:

Remember, those of us whom Our Lord has blessed with a microphone have a much greater responsibility to tell the truth!

 A microphone does not invest one with either authority or responsibility beyond one's station in life.

Voris is right about only one thing in this entire tirade: We all have a responsibility to principle of Catholic Truth. Bounded by Catholic moral teaching.

We already know that Voris et al have a wee bit of a problem telling the truth - just look through the recent articles with this tag. 

P^3