Deo gracias! Wunderbar! Holy moley! Praise the Living God! Yes!! I recently received, from a Reader and Benefactor, "Anonymous," who happens to be a professional, Catholic gentleman and Okie trad, a practically brand-new, very nice Dell Inspiron 15, 7000, 7548 Laptop with a 15.6 inch Touchscreen, that can be used both with Microsoft and as a Chromebook. Having spent most of the past six months typing my blog posts using my right thumb and my 3 inch smartphone, this is quite the relief. Our little chromebook got fried, and the wallet was thin. And my right metacarpophalangeal joint in particular is thankful!
My Metacarpophalangeal Joint
is Thankful!
And thanks again to another generous Okie trad and professional gentleman, "OkiePapist," for lending me his laptop recently! Look up there in the upper right hand corner, and you can click
the post about it, and please pray for his Mother, for her conversion to the Catholic Faith!
Later, I'll put up a reminder to pray for the intentions of the Anonymous donor of the Dell; but as promised, I am writing a blog post about a topic of his choice. He emailed me the other day, after I let him know the Dell came in the mail, and suggested the topic. It is--using Trump's voice--huuuuuge! Right up my alley, and it fits the majestic vision that came down from heaven as I was sharing a cigar October last year, with a Tulsa Trad. The thought was to use the Blog as a Voice for Traditional Catholicism/Catholics across Oklahoma. Here is the 2016 POST describing my grandeous dream.
Anyonymous' Idea for a Blog Post is....drum roll please
The Blogosphere/Internet as the
21st Century Version of the
Catacombs
And this here is the idea, fellow trads and Okies: take the Counter-Revolution, and Traditionalist Remnant Church Online! As a Safe, Legitimate Refuge from the Modernists that Be within the Hierarchical Structure of the Church. This is of course already the case, to a certain degree. We have all sorts of traditional Catholic blogs/forums/online journals,newspapers/etc. This Online Remnant is already de facto a reality. You will hear Michael Matt talk about it over at his Remnant online TV program,
with a setting that resembles an underground Catacomb.
Online Remnant Catholic Church
The Internet Catacombs
In Oklahoma, the online Catholic counter-revolution can be found at The Okie Traditionalist blog, The Hirsch Filess blog, The Catholic Gentleman blog, Oremus Traditional Catholic Newspaper website (out of Oklahoma City), The Catholic Manshow Radio Program (out of Tulsa, part of St. Michael's Radio, podcasts saved on websites), Mother Miriam's Daily Podcast/Radio Program, Most Precious Blood Parish FB page/website, etc.
By now, most know that Joseph Ostermeir lays his head down every night on the East side of Oklahoma, so that might be more my focus. Building up the Traditional Catholic Remnant across the Tulsa Diocese
In Oklahoma, we already have an Online, Remnant Catholic Church, De Facto Network of Traditional Catholics. My hope is to help facilitate and encourage our Online Okie Local Church.
Outside of Oklahoma, the Online Catholic Underground Church is seen with Michael Voris and the CMTV, Catholic Answers, The Remnant website, Fr. Z's blog, Rorate Coeli blog, New Liturgical Movement blog, Eponymous Flower blog, Vox Cantoris blog, all sorts of great blogs by Trad Priests (Fr. Kirby's Vultus Christi is a great example.). The main tradition-minded Catholic newspapers and journals are part of the Traditional Catholic Blogosphere/Online Remnant: The Remnant, Catholic Family News, Angelus Press, Wanderer--each with their own Conferences which now can be viewed from home via paid Streaming, and EWTN TV/Radio/website.
A Canonical Underground Church on the Internet: 3 Reasons Why We Can/Must
1. Canon 212 says that Lay Catholics have the right to make known their opinions and concerns to the Pastors. But is it not true, that too often our letters to the Chancery or an office in the Vatican go unanswered? What other means is more effective and long-reaching besides the Online Blogosphere Catacombs "to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion of matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faifhful?"
2. Catholics also have canonical rights to establish Catholic entities without the approval of the local ordinary, to share matters pertaining to the Catholic Faith: blogs, websites, forums, online journals, etc. These are basically "private associations of the faithful" which share information publicly online. It is grassroots and word-of-mouth, and in my opinion when you have a Catholic Blogosphere, constantly sharing knowledge and wisdom via Social Media, that is a (using Trump's voice again) huuuuugggeee Force to be Reckoned With.
3. The Catholic Church, even the official structures of each Diocese, are going more and more online. It is just a matter of time before so much of our daily life is integrated with a Virtual Reality via the internet, smartphones, laptops, and VR goggles. The time is ripe to build up an Online Remnant for Traditional Catholics! As we are witnessing today.
Imagine if God-forbid, your bishop or even the pope himself, should suppress the traditional Mass. He has the authority to suspend or transfer priests, shut down parishes/convents, or remove traditionalist priestly societies from his diocese. But he DOES NOT have the authority to dissolve coalitions of traditional Catholics in the flesh or online. The Online Catacomb Catholics can come together and organize for traditional Catholic Action.
Imagine you learn your progressive or modernist Bishop is about to shut down a Traditional Latin Mass community. Whispers in the parking lot (to borrow a phrase from Laramie Hirsch), or letters to the chancery just aren't cutting the mustard. But with the Power of the Blog, and social media, lay Catholics can respectfully organize and voice their concern. And these kind of stories go viral.
Imagine you want to start up a TLM, but are having a hard tim finding locals interested, or the support of the Local Bishop and/or his Presbyteral Council. Look no further. Turn on your electronic device, make sure you have a Wifi connection, in a few keystrokes, and use of a few simple online tools, they Project is underway.
Think how you can help build up an Online Blogosphere Traditional Catholic Remnant in your own Diocese. To help build up Tradition! To help defend it! One of the beauties of canon law combined with the Internet, is that traditionalist Catholics can in fact legitimately organize a Traditional Movement across their Diocese.
A few tips: focus criticisms on words and actions, rather than personal attacks of a bishop or priest; network with other blogs, websites, forums, etc; highlight the good, true, and beautiful in your diocese, and at the same time respectfully express concern what seems to be bad, false, and ugly.
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5 Ideas for the Diocese of Tulsa, Online Traditional Catholic Blogosphere/Catacombs (A Model for other Local Churches):
1. Bloggers and website owners network via email and Facebook, and have meetups to strategize.
2. Make known this network. The Okie Traditionalist Blog and OkieTradCats Forum can be a Hub for the network.
3. Have an outreach to Bishop Konderla and the Powers-that-Be on his Presbyteral Council: make known to them our Network, our concerns and cares, and ask for assistance. Offer assistance.
4. Informally network with Bishop Emeritus Slattery (he still has an office at the chancery) and tradition-minded priests (who are or may be interested in the TLM). Use Fr. Z's Tridentine Latin Mass Society of Madison as a model, how to spread the TLM throughout the Diocese. To help preserve and increase +Slattery's Works of Traditional Restoration! And to defend them from being removed.
5. Have conferences, social events, and informal meetups of traditional Catholics of Eastern Oklahoma from Clear Creek, Sts. Peter and Paul, Most Precious Blood, the former SSPX-Tulsa members, etc.