Monday, November 30, 2020

The Deacon Project - Deacon Mark Asselin (Special Update)

 Well, it did not take long for Deacon Mark Asselin to block me.  

Not certain if he did not like my tweet that the only thing the media comments upon +Gregory is his race or the fact that I am highlighting his tweets on this blog.

Nevertheless, the series on Deacon Mark will continue for many days.

 


 



The Deacon Project - Deacon Mark Asselin (Part Two)

As mentioned earlier, this post and the next few, will highlight the thoughts of Deacon Mark Asselin on TWITTER.  Of course, there will be many in Archdiocese of Washington who will love him for it. 

Two things to note:

  • These tweets are not necessarily in date order.
  • If his tweet is unavailable, it is because he deleted it.

 





 

Sunday, November 29, 2020

The Deacon Project - Deacon Mark Asselin (Part One)

Note: I published this out of order. Apologies.

 +++


And so today, and I saved the best for last, we come to the last Deacon who has a TWITTER account: Deacon Mark Asselin.

Deacon Mark Asselin is currently assigned to St. Elizabeth's Church in Rockville, MD.  He was ordained to the Deaconate in June 2019 and is also a senior official in the DOD.  You can read his bio over at the St. E's website.

Deacon Mark is the most prolific deacon on TWITTER from the Archdiocese of Washington.  Most of his posts deal with the election and his hatred (there is no other word to use, IMHO) of President Trump. 

 As mentioned, most of his posts are against President Trump and in support of the Democrat Party.  In addition, his posts are all leftest and one sided.  

Like a fundamentalist Christian, who we may see with a bible in his hand, Deacon Mark  "carries" the NY Times, and Washington Post as his bible. He regularly quotes and links to these papers.  If it does not exist in one of these papers, then it does not exist, unless it is on CNN or MSNBC.

 However, he is smart enough to not to come out directly in support of Biden, except on one occasion, which I was unable to capture.  

For example, if there is violence against a member of the left, he highlights it.  If there is violence against a member of the right, it is ignored.  He regularly comments or at least repeats that Trump supporters are basically white nationalists, racists, etc.

Here is a person who has had an account since June of 2011, but there is nothing before Oct. 2020.  How can that be?  Simple.  He is deleting his tweets, after a period of time to hide his true thoughts/beliefs.

I consider him not only a member of the Deep State, but of the Deep Church.

Over the next few days, and there will be a number of his days, I will be posting images from his TWITTER account.

I do expect that I will eventually be blocked.

BTW, he must have a lot of time on his hands, for him to tweet this much.

 


 

Saturday, November 28, 2020

The Deacon Project - Deacon Timothy Tilghman

As mentioned earlier, The Deacon Project is to take a look at the TWITTER accounts of some of our ordained clergy in the Archdiocese of Washington.

Today we focus on Deacon Timothy Tilghman.

Deacon Timothy Tilghman, was ordained in 2010 and is currently assigned to our Lady of Perpetual Help in DC.  He was ordained in the same class as Deacon Joel Carpenter.  BTW, it was a class of 20 Deacons.  Huge!

From what I can tell, although there are a couple of political posts, most focus on family and the Church.


 

Friday, November 27, 2020

The Deacon Project - Deacon Peter Barbernitz

 

As we continue with our review of Deacons in the Archdiocese of Washington, with TWITTER accounts, we come to Deacon Peter Barbernitz.  

He is currently assigned to St. Camillus in Silver Spring but has restricted his TWITTER feed.  

Not certain what he may be hiding, but that it his right to block anyone from viewing without granting access.

 

 


 

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

The Deacon Project - Deacon Joel Carpenter

 Today we look at Deacon Joel Carpenter (@DeaconCarp), currently assigned to St. George (Valley Lee), which is down near Piney Point.

He does not post much on TWITTER and has not done so, since February, as of this writing.  Some religious, some family, very little political.




Tuesday, November 24, 2020

The Deacon Project - Arch. of Washington (Part Two)

Yesterday, I wrote about how surprised I was at the fact that Catholic Deacons were commenting on TWITTER, criticizing priests who supported President Trump. And, let's not talk about what they said about +Vigano.

Having seen this over the last few months, I decided to take a little time and carry out what I like to call The Deacon Project.

The Deacon Project was my attempt, on a small and limited scale, to see how widespread this sort of criticism -- both mild and sharp -- not simply of the President but of what might be called "conservative" clergy and commentators.

So, how did I do this?  

Well, I searched TWITTER for all of the active Roman Catholic Deacons in the Archdiocese of Washington DC.  I did not look at retired Deacons.

In addition, I did not do some sort of in depth, deep dive search.  I search a couple of different ways and think I found most of them.

So what did I find.

First, almost all active Roman Catholic Deacons in the Archdiocese of Washington do not have a Twitter account.

Second, a few (very few) Roman Catholic Deacons in the Archdiocese of Washington have accounts but they don't seem to be active.

Third, there are one or two who have active accounts.  

The Deacon Project - Arch. of Washington will take a look at these Deacons.

Monday, November 23, 2020

The Deacon Project - Arch. of Washington (Part One)

Over the last few months, I have spent a great deal of time on TWITTER.  

I swore that I would not, but I did.  I have sinned.

While on TWITTER, you could not help to notice a number of trends. 

Now, for those of you on TWITTER, the trends are not simply what people are hash-tagging, but who says what and how they respond to them.

For a while, there were a number of priests who came out against Joe Biden and were attacked for it. Some of these were posts on TWITTER and some were postings from homilies on YouTube.

Of those who attacked/criticized these priests:

  • Some accused these priests of suffering anxiety and or depression due to the COVID aka Wuhan Virus lock down.  
  • Some accused them of playing politics. 
  • Some accused them of not looking at "the seamless cloth" of social justice issues.  

The question is: Who conducted the attacks/criticism?

  • Many were just regular pew sitters.  Catholics like you and me.
  • Some were laity, who are actively involved in the Church.  Some paid by Catholic organizations, others who make their living dealing with various Church issues.
  • Some were folks that were probably/most likely not Catholic, but decided to have their say. 
  • Some are well known figures in the Catholic Church.

However, there were two groups that surprised me.  

The first group were Catholic "journalists and media" types.  And I will touch more about that in another posting, much later. 

The second group which really surprised me were Catholic Deacons.  Some were mildly critical, some were very sharp but veiled in their attacks/criticism.

Again, some of these were well known and some were not.  And so that lead me to decide to take upon myself what I like to call:

The Deacon Project

To be continued...

   

Friday, November 20, 2020

Next Week...

Starting Monday, we will run a series focusing on a subset of the ordained clergy in the Archdiocese of Washington.  

You will have to tune in on Monday to learn exactly what it is.  Hopefully, you will tune in.

Thursday, November 19, 2020

The Assist Project

 

Having been on TWITTER for a while, one of the accounts I stumbled across was one called the Assisi Project (@Assisi_Project).

As you know, I don't normally post about things outside of the Archdiocese of Washington, but because I was on TWITTER, I came across their postings.

According to their website:


 

 As you can see they are a "non-profit, tax exempt charitable organization."   

Now you would think that they would publish items about St. Francis, the Franciscans, the Gospel, etc.  And they do.  

However, they also seem to be left of center, and can't seem to help posting about politics.  

What interested me about this group was that they did not like the fact that I challenged them on a couple of items, and I was therefore blocked.

Which leads me to the question:  Should I write to the IRS asking that their tax exempt status be pulled?"

 






Tuesday, November 17, 2020

+Gregory: A Rumor?

There is a rumor spreading around TWITTER that +Gregory will be tapped to replace +Wuerl, to be part of the group to help select new cardinals.   In part, this would be due to his race.  

Now, this would be a mistake for two reasons:  (1) we do not need to put people in positions due to race, we need to put them in because of competency; (2) he is a Bernadin/McCarrick protege.

BTW, +Wuerl is 80 and therefore must step down from the committee, which helps identify cardinals.

Monday, November 16, 2020

Fr. Mark White: Interview by Church Militant

 Fr. Mark White, a priest in the Diocese of Richmond, was recently interviewed by Church Militant.

As some of you know, Fr. Mark White was ordained in the Archdiocese of Washington by Cardinal McCarrick.  Also, as you know, Bishop Knestout was part of the Archdiocese of Washington, at the time.  

At some point, Fr. White asked to leave the diocese and managed to be reassigned to the Diocese of Richmond.  A few years later, Bishop Knestout was assigned as the Bishop of the Diocese of Richmond.

It is interesting to watch, but what I found most interesting, starting at the 29 min. mark, was something mentioned by Fr. White.  He talks about a comment made by Bishop Knestout about an "old wound."   

Now, in my conversations with Melvin, when all of this started, I discussed the fact that I believe that something happened between Fr. White and Bishop Knestout (or maybe Cardinal Wuerl) at some point, while both were in the Archdiocese of Washington, but I don't know for certain.  This may be what Bishop Knestout referred to?

In addition, I speculated to Melvin, that Fr. White might know something, that others are worried that may come out.  Fr. White alludes to this.

Listen to all of it, or at least from the 29 min. mark to the end. 

 



Saturday, November 14, 2020

The Angry Catholic Podcast

 

I wanted to share with you a podcast that I regularly listen to: The Angry Catholic.

Now, I don't listen to a lot of podcasts, especially ones more than ten or fifteen minutes in length, but I do listen to this one.


The show is focuses on the goings on in the Church in the US.  

It is broken up into four segments: An Introduction and three 15 to 20 minute segments.  Sometimes they all focus on the same theme/topic, and sometimes, the segments will focus on different topics.  I will say that each week I do learn something from the podcast. 

How did it come about?   According to Paul:  

Twice in two different dioceses, my sons were put in direct contact with priests who had abused children and the Bishops knew.  The McCarrick revelation and the release of the Pa Grand Jury report make me ANGRY and there needs to be an outlet to discuss the issues in a public format. I have spoken with many different people about the current situation in the Church, and I found people either didn’t know about, didn’t care, or thought that the abuse scandal was from long ago.

I have seen nothing so far to make me believe that most of the bishops are taking this situation seriously enough. Our bishop sent a DVD to each parish about the scandal.  The presentation was so offensive, filled with “Bishop Speak” and sounded like it was written by an overpaid PR firm.  My family and I literally got up and walked out a third of the way through the DVD presentation.  I was outraged that our bishop tried to protect himself and said nothing about his involvement in the scandal.  He can behave this way because we allow it.  He thinks that there is no one to hold him accountable for his actions.  If the laity continues to go to Mass, stay quiet, and send money to him, why would he have any reason to think otherwise.

I no longer trust that our bishops will protect their flock.  I strongly feel that it is the Bishops of the United States’ responsibility to come clean and be truthful if there is any hope of regaining that trust with the laity.  I have seen nothing to date that would make me believe that they are serious about being truthful with us. Leaders in the Church that are not truthful and forthright should not be allowed to continue in their positions.  We cannot wait for our bishops to wait out the storm.  We need to demand that they right the ship.

If you have a tip or know of something that is happening in your diocese, especially with clergy who are being railroaded by their bishop or maybe some sort of corruption, please drop them a line: mail@TheAngryCatholic.com


Friday, November 13, 2020

A New Catholic College in Maryland!

 

It looks like a new Catholic college is in the formation in Hagerstown, MD.  It is called the COLLEGIUM SANCTORUM ANGELORUM.

According to their website: 

The Collegium is an independent institution of higher learning that pledges full fidelity to the unchanging Magisterium of the Catholic Church. Faculty and staff are practicing Catholics who are fully supportive of the Collegium’s mission and have signed the Oath Against Modernism.

The: "curriculum is foundational to our mission to impart the knowledge of God, that He might be loved and served in this world. We have a set, integrated curriculum of theology, philosophy, history, English, literature, logic, rhetoric, Latin, math, science, music and art."

It is scheduled to open in August 2021.  However, at this time it is not approved by the Maryland Higher Education Commission but is hoping to have the accreditation process completed by the end of the calendar year.

 

For more information, go to:   https://www.the-collegium.org/


Thursday, November 12, 2020

The McCarrick Report and +Gregory

 Well, by now, you know that the McCarrick Report has been out.  

In case you did not read it, let me share with you the section which mentions +Gregory:


In early 2004, Cardinal McCarrick and then-USCCB President Bishop
Wilton Gregory (2001-2004) traveled to Rome to meet about the issue with
CDF Prefect Cardinal Ratzinger and Congregation for Bishops Prefect
Cardinal Re.641 In June and July 2004, some Catholic groups, which self-identified
as “conservative,” accused McCarrick of having mis-characterized
a private letter, later divulged by a news organization but never published by
either the USCCB or the Holy See, that Cardinal Ratzinger had provided to
McCarrick and Bishop Gregory following their Rome meeting.
McCarrick, who has stated that he had remained in close contact with
Cardinal Ratzinger regarding how to address the issue, was never reproached
by the Holy See for his handling of the matter.643 Nonetheless, McCarrick’s
interpretation was thereafter referred to by some as mis-representative of
what Cardinal Ratzinger had intended and as a distortion of Catholic
teaching.

 

Personally, I don't believe it.  If this is the case, then the easiest way to clarify the matter would be to release the letter.  However, they won't because, as I believe, it will show that +Gregory hid vital information from his brother bishops.

 

 



Wednesday, November 11, 2020

MoCo Gov't Reduces Mass Attendance

 Yesterday, the government of Montgomery County Maryland decided that due to COVID (aka the Wuhan Virus) that all indoor religious activity must be reduced to 25% of capacity.  However, to my knowledge, there has been no indication that religious activities have helped to increase the spread of the Wuhan Virus.

As of this writing, I have not heard any comment from +Gregory, but I doubt he will say anything. 






The McCarrick Report and Cardinal Wuerl

 I have been reading the McCarrick Report and you can tell that there is a good deal of whitewashing going on.  Why?

For one thing, and I have to give credit to George Neumayr, that the report allowed for Wuerl to once again claim that he knew nothing about McCarrick.  This is a lie.


More on the report later.