“Catholic? You’re Fired!”

Pat Archbold has been sacked by the National Catholic Register, a publication now officially on its way to becoming as bad as the rag ending with “Reporter” instead of “Register”.

Mr Archbold says he wants to spare us the “gory details”, but they truly aren't difficult to fathom: increasing pressure to conform to the Age Of Madness, and a writer who does not want to betray his Catholicism by doing so.

Mr Archbold says, revealingly enough, that the problems have manifested in the “last two years”, and the reference to The Most Astonishing Hypocrite In Church History could not be more evident. The truth is that the “official” Catholic outlets (all of them: from the Catholic Herald to Radio Maria to the Reporter's owner EWTN, the latter clearly going down the drain fast) have the choice between defending Catholicism and kow-towing to the Age of Madness, and they invariably choose the latter. They are not even lukewarm. They are just plain sold.

I have no doubt about this: if Francis were to die of pasta overdose, and a halfway decent Pope were to be elected in his stance, all those who now sack the Archbolds of the world would suddenly discover a new orthodoxy in them, and would actually vigorously deny they ever departed from it. I pity and despise them.

As the official Catholic space is occupied by sycophants and assorted plate-lickers, orthodoxy will more and more express itself through unofficial channels: the blogs, the discussion boards, the small independent initiatives.

Sooner rather than later, the likes of the “Register” will discover that acquiescence is bad for the business, as people don't need to buy a magazine that has the same crap with which Francis carpet bombs them all the time. Papal and fake-Catholic fluff is available every day for free: why pay for it?

My congratulations to Mr Archbold for choosing to pay a personal price rather kow-tow to the Francis Crowd. I am glad to know this will have little impact on his and his family's finances. Mr Archbold shows that making money from Catholic writing is nothing worthy of censure for him who is steadfast, but also that those who do not get any money from their writing have one problem less. EWTN does not like what they write? Oh well…

This is a time of very clear persecution of Catholics from the very top of the Church, in a frenzy of heretical stupidity that starts from Francis and trickles down to the lower echelons of power. It is the time when it is not possible to stay a decent Catholic without the “official” Catholics making you pay for it.

It will not work. With lies one can impress only those desirous to hear them. The “Register” & Co. will discover that, as already happened to the “Tablet”, the embracing of Francis' strange ideology leads to loss or readership. They will, in time, go away just as the faithful desert St Peter Square. Stupidity can be had for free on BBC or Fox News anytime.

Those who care for Truth will find other ways. It's in the nature of things. They will find personal blogs, small family magazines, home made TV stations, family videos, and the like.

These people think they can silence Catholicism.

Fools. The day will come when they all know better.

M