Since Easter, we've seen in the Catholic Blogosphere a flame war, across Twitter and certain blogs, over a clash between Taylor Marshall and his now former podcaster colleague Timothy Gordon, and Gordon's brother. Gordon takes issue with Marshall's more recent support of the SSPX, Marshall in turn on Easter Sunday "tweeted" he and his family attended Easter Mass at the SSPX. In the spirit of the Risen Lord, these gurus and their groupies have since had it out across social media. While I've rarely used Twitter, my glance at what everyone was saying suggested a schism now between Taylor and Timothy, who up until a week or so ago were good friends.
You can't make this up.
Enter Fr. Z at his blog, who, like Marshall, once was a strong critic of the SSPX and traditionalists who support their line of thought; ironically, now he is on the side of the SSPX putting the Gordon bros and other anti-SSPXers in their place with a couple blog posts.
(Edit on 4/26: and the last several days now the anti-SSPX inquisition has continued thanks to Michael Voris and Christine Niles of Church Militant, issuing an expose of certain SSPX priests accused of sexual abuse; labelled by many a biased hit piece because it portrays the entire SSPX as a stronghold for perverted priests covered up by their superiors.).
Round and round we go.
Keep in mind these are almost entirely lay Catholic men, asking for donations, many depending on those donations as their primary source of income to buy groceries for their kids, with a major online presence and following.
Also somewhat recently we learned that Taylor Marshall and his colleague Alexander Tschuggel, the guy who tossed the Pachamama idols into the Tiber, actually planned together the whole event, the unrolling of it to Catholic media, and the subsequent exposure of Alexander as a Catholic leader. What many had a problem with most, is that Marshall (and at the time his sidekick Gordon) acted the whole time like he had never met Alexander, and that he was surprised to learn how he dunked the Pachas. Something that he himself, we now learn from him, orchestrated.
Another lay Catholic, asking for donations, with a major online presence.
Quite the unprecedented paradigm shift since the lay Catholic blogosphere has gained a major stronghold in the last few years. Can you imagine Thomas Nelson, founder and editor of TAN books, pulling off internet media stunts, getting in spats on Twitter, or showing off his hot wife, trad brood, and cool haircut in order to sell Catholic classics? And spread the Catholic faith? He was a hard core trad, but I'm certain he was guided in his apostolate/business by priests helping him select books to publish, and giving oversight to any editorializing.
And then, almost on a weekly basis, we are treated to another flame war against Frank Walker of the website Canon212 by Steve Skojec of the famous OnePeterFive, usually through Twitter. Though Skojec claims it all goes the other way.
A lay Catholic, making $150,000 a year through his Catholic website, spreading the Word about Christ and His Church, by means of inter-trad flame wars on Twitter, and writing blog posts as the editor-in-chief of...his own website.
Need I go on? It's all been a spectacle building momentum the last decade for any Catholic who would dare use google to research Catholic subjects or news. When odds are they will land squarely inside the Catholic blogosphere.
Now we have every other trad blogger personality acting like a pundit about the coronavirus crisis. Michael Matt is sounding the alarm about the bishops suspending public Masses for the last FOUR weeks (as if that constitutes a crisis), alerting all of us to the globalist machinations unfolding before our eyes about the lockdown, vaccine, etc.
Another lay Catholic, asking for $, now with a major online presence.
The trad pundits are distilling all the public information now about the virus, so we will get the big picture from a Catholic perspective, especially how, in their view, we are certainly facing an apocalyptic shift in society. Taking a glance, the trend is to predict for the reader/listener how this is going to go down according to eschatological, end-times prophesy.
I get it. The faithful are hungry for Catholic information and guidance, which the vast majority of clergy are not providing from the pulpit or confessional. Where are they to turn?
Writing a Catholic blog is one thing, to share your mere opinion to the collective of blogs, to compare notes, disseminate news, ask critical questions of our Church leaders (as canon law #212 permits), and to just wax and wane about what's happening in the world, or in your personal life, from the perspective of your life as a Catholic.
Even to offer up theological or philosophical articles, and to teach other lay Catholics what the Church already teaches, or to speculate on open doctrinal questions. Such, according to tradition, requires some kind of Church oversight and supervision which, correct me if I am wrong in my observation, is lacking 99% of the time across the Catholic Blogosphere in bloggers who write "articles" that are obviously essays on per se theological and philosophical subjects. Even from traditionalist priests or societies giving such blessing and guidance.
It is quite another thing for a lay Catholic to set up a Catholic blog, with or especially without any kind of theological-philosophical academic/teaching credentials, either by means of a degree or certificate, or verifiable official teaching experience, but then to go beyond offering mere opinion, or facilitating the dissemination of information from authoritative Catholic sources. To set themselves up, effectively, as one-man classrooms.
To develop popularity, evidenced by comments, blog stats, and mentions on other blogs seems natural. But to carve out an actual following which treats said lay blogger like an enlightened guru, teacher, prophet, leader, and one of their primary sources of Catholic knowledge and guidance seems, well, unnatural, disordered, and spiritually dangerous.
To market this enterprise as a Catholic apostolate, with tiered Patreon donation programs, effectively setting yourself up as a lay pastor with your own flock, teaching, guiding, counseling Catholics in the spiritual life of a Catholic in ways always before reserved for priests and bishops, OR...
By Catholic teachers approved by the hierarchy. That has always been the constant tradition, for lay Catholics doing anything remotely like teaching on matters of faith and morals, to submit to Church authority.
And for the record, that authority is the hierarchy under Rome, which in my opinion includes traditionalist societies and priests like that of the SSPX.
I'm not talking about Joe Bloe trad blogger, who likes to talk about what his family made for Easter dinner, in order to share with others the Catholic celebration of Easter, or who just wants to give his two cents in a fun and at times humorous way.
I'm talking about the money-making online, lay professional bloggers, growing in number by the week, effectively pontificating about every jot and tittle that comes across the news feed. And in turn those lower-tiered bloggers imitating them.
I am not bitter about it all, but sad, and frankly scandalized. It is not good for my spiritual health to make a habit of seriously following the mainstream of the Catholic blogosphere, in which petty disputes across social media and the blogs themselves come across our screen on almost a daily basis. And I suspect for most, it is the same.
By this I mean most of us checking in at news conglomerates like Canon212 to skim the headlines, as I do most every day, when I scan my news sources before I start the day. I scan for substantial news and articles from actual Catholic newspapers and journals, or from priests and Catholic academics.
I doubt Canon212 and the host of trad bloggers/podcasters are going anywhere: TM, Voris, Michael Matt, Barnhardt, Skojec, etc, especially as the Church keeps spiraling down for the indefinite future.
Considering then all the adolescent nonsense across the Catholic blogosphere that I think most of us agree is a serious pattern, I would argue that other blog posts and discussions like this need to be critically raised before taking it all seriously as we do. We need a moratorium on the role of the Catholic blog.
What authority or right do they have? How to prevent them forming, perhaps inadvertently, their own online blog church, with them as their follower's pastor? How to submit it to divine Church authority--something we can never escape doing if we are Catholic--to guide it and prevent it from becoming a Moshpit of wild, ferral arm-chair theologians "in control of the narrative."
Seems like a fair observation. Not of all bloggers, but if this post hits a nerve with them, then they know who they are. And I am not innocent, I've crossed the line before into what I am talking about, even though I think I've consistently staid clear of the trend.
I welcome comments, questions, points and counter-points being raised, as long comments don't fall into the very thing I'm pointing out, otherwise as I usually do, I will have to delete them.
The Comm box is open and will be moderated.