Church Militant The Vortex Feed

TRANSCRIPT

First, a blessed Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception to you and your loved ones. The role of Mary in salvation history cannot be overstated, and this, coincidentally, is related to today's Vortex topic.

Protestantism — the heresy — has a very difficult time with Mary. In varying ways, it either ignores her, diminishes her or even insults her. Although, oddly enough, as much as statues are reviled in Protestantism, statues of Mary do pop up every year at this time, even on Protestant properties in the manger scenes.

But heresy in general is denoted by its denial of truth; and for this reason, America (as well as large parts of the Church) is crippled. The connection between theology and society is significant. When we talk about "culture," the word itself derives from "cult," which ties directly to religion.

So if a culture is going to be preserved or proposed without any reference whatsoever to religion, then it has no hope of survival. But even more so, in our culture here in the United States and the West, where multiple versions of religion (in general) and Christianity (specifically) coexist, the truth of the matter is, they really don't coexist — they only appear to.

Sure, individual men may be polite and so forth with each other, even get along and be friendly. In the end, the ideas and beliefs will war with each other until one or another comes out on top — for such is the nature of truth when it is proposed to the intellect.

In the realm of Christianity, for example, the role of Mary is rejected by almost every single Protestant denomination. Catholicism has a great devotion to Mary and honors her in her role because God assigned her the role she has. To acknowledge Mary (beyond the barest recognition) is to acknowledge God's choice to elevate her above all creation.

That and many other theological points prove the supremacy of Catholic dogma, but, in a pluralistic society, political and cultural leaders will declare that such a claim cannot be made. Unfortunately, this includes Catholic leaders who don't necessarily reject the supremacy of Catholicism — at least publicly — but never out-and-out declare it, as they are divinely charged to do.

Here is the brutal truth: Catholicism is the fullness of the Faith, period. It is the Church established personally by Christ and promised to never be overcome by the gates of Hell, with Her teachings guaranteed by the Holy Spirit.

Protestantism is a heresy, and as such, it possesses some truth, but it can never possess the fullness of the truth. If it did, it would cease to exist and simply be Catholicism. Protestantism is a cultural pit stop on the road to either atheism or Catholicism.

At the end of the day, no other belief system can exist or lay claim to truth. Religion, by its very nature, is an all-or-nothing proposition. Who, for example, believes his religion to be the right religion but then disagrees with it in various ways? It's the teachings we're talking about. Why would any thinking man belong to a religion he disagrees with, much less claim it is the "right religion"? And if he doesn't believe it to be right, why belong?

But even if an individual believer doesn't see the obvious contradiction here, certainly the religion itself adheres to the proposition that it is the correct religion. If not, that would enter the realm of the preposterous. What religion exists believing another religion is the true religion? If so, how could it make any claim on its followers?

So beginning with the proposition that every religion believes itself to be the true religion, and continuing with the reality that there are tens of thousands of religions and/or denominations, it is the case that, as a culture, we have never resolved the large issue of which religion is the right religion.

And failing that, there has never been any further settlement on the question, posed by atheism, whether God exists or not. In previous world civilizations, these questions were settled. There was a God, or gods, and the State approved a religion (a cult), which the culture submitted to.

But that approach has never been followed in the Enlightenment West. A chaotic scattergun approach to religion (or no religion) has been adopted, and, as a result, the culture has become chaotic, with no one having any claim on truth other than by force (namely, the government).

But is there not truth as it exists in itself? If so, what is its nature? What is the philosophical underpinning of any religion? All this needs to be hashed out. Is there a God? If so, what worship is accorded Him? What religion promotes that worship? And that means there could not be more than one true religion.

But the "culture" has avoided these questions, and because religious men and women have not tackled these issues, atheism, with its own morality, has surged to the fore and is now the dominant force in the culture. That atheism would control culture stands in direct defiance of all human history and human experience.

If human affairs and morality are not governed by a force outside of the race, then where do they come from? The only answer would have to be the State, which explains why there is such a scramble for control of the government and its power, its authority.

For the moment, Christianity is the majority religion in America, with almost two-thirds of the population identifying as such. But since there is debate over which version of Christianity is correct — and only one of them can be — atheism has seized the day. After all, there is no real disagreement and infighting among atheists over the nonexistence of God. What would there be to actually debate?

Protestantism cannot make a claim — no Protestant denomination can make any claim — to be the authentic Christian religion because Protestantism didn't even appear on the scene until 15 centuries after the events of the New Testament. But the intransigence of this particular heresy, now 500 years old, has opened the door for cultural confusion and chaos, which we are now feeling the full brunt of.

Protestantism must choose; it cannot remain forever on the sidelines, in a cultural pit stop. No one can remain idled indefinitely. Protestantism must either admit of Catholicism or succumb to atheism. There is no other choice. It's all or nothing — every thing or no thing.

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A little more than a year ago, Church Militant hosted a New Orleans sex abuse victim here in the studio and interviewed him about his tragic story. Local media outlets, as well as documentary makers, provided extensive coverage of his case in the archdiocese of New Orleans.

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During our interview, recorded at Church Militant in November of 2021, Richard Windmann dropped a bomb.

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We sat on this interview for more than a year while we checked it out. Immediately after hearing this information from Richard Windmann, we directly texted Abp. Aymond with the following text:

"Hello, Archbishop. This is Michael Voris from Church Militant, and we have received some reports that you personally sexually abused a man who was a former seminarian, and another case where you abused a minor male. Do you have any comment for us?"

We sent that text at 7:34 p.m. ET on Nov. 2. That was 6:34 Abp. Aymond's time. We received no response from him. But the next morning, we received a call from his communications director, who immediately asked me if we could talk off the record. I told her no. Reporters should never give away their right to report, because they would enter into an agreement without knowing the terms.

I asked her point-blank if the archbishop denies the charges, and she became evasive. It struck me as really weird that an archbishop gets a text out of the blue from a media outlet asking if he sexually abused someone personally, and he doesn't immediately deny it.

That he would send his communications director on a hunt for information on what we knew was even more strange. At some point, the facts of how he handles this become problematic. What man would not immediately deny an accusation that he molested both an adult and a minor if he had, in fact, not? Then, what man sends his communications person to gather background information on what we know?

 Based on what we were learning quickly and continually, I texted Aymond a second time about a week later:

Good morning, Your Excellency. As you may know, we have delayed publication of our story regarding accusations against you, owing to a growing number of individuals being in touch with us with what we might term "more information." The story, as they say, is "developing," with reports that you are on a "witch hunt" to discover who is talking to Church Militant. That issue aside, we have a question for you based on these "developments." Question: Have you ever had sex or sexual activity with any priest under your charge in the archdiocese? We would appreciate an answer from you directly instead of your communicating many hours later through a communications director. A reporter's duty is to get as close to the source as possible. In this case, you are the source who can best answer the question, which, frankly, doesn't need a lot of thought. You can answer me directly in one second. Additionally, I don't know if it was communicated to you that, having scored a righteous victory over the city (and the USCCB operating behind the scenes), Church Militant will be in Baltimore and warmly invites you to do an on-camera interview with us while there. If there is no truth to any of this, we will happily provide you the opportunity to utterly deny it, as well as share with us your own private investigation results as to why these accusations are arising. Thanks, Archbishop. God bless.

Well, it took a year, but, at last, the news broke last week and was, in fact, the lead story on Church Militant Evening News one week ago.

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The specific charge, which Church Militant sat on for more than a year as we vetted it ourselves, involves a former seminarian of Aymond. He alleges that Aymond, as rector of the seminary, groped and touched him and made a pass at him after he went to him to complain of fellow seminarians coming on to him.

Notre Dame seminary has, for years, had a notorious reputation for being a homosexual hotbed, earning it the nickname "Notre Flame." Aymond was rector during some of those years.

Earlier this year, Aymond declared his archdiocese, the second oldest in the country, bankrupt — unable to bear up under the weight of enormous lawsuits, all alleging homosexual predation on the part of multiple members of the clergy protected by a gay chancery.

Church Militant will keep you updated on this story as it develops, but we can tell you that it was only because of the bankruptcy that this case came to light, as the archdiocese's records were turned over for inspection. It's likely, given the volume of cases, that much more will be coming to light.

In the meantime, to give you a sense of how the New Orleans archdiocese conducted itself for many years, we'd like you to watch the full interview we did with Richard Windmann. You can watch that by clicking on the provided link.

TRANSCRIPT

As more and more dioceses around the country declare bankruptcy in the face of a flood of sex abuse lawsuits, bankruptcy is proving to be a double-edged sword for the bishops.

First, and very important to understand, their declaring bankruptcy has nothing to do with not having the money (or resources) — they do. It has everything to do with preventing victims from gaining access to it.

And even before bankruptcy, dioceses, like the one here in Detroit under the leadership of the duplicitous Abp. Allen Vigneron, take proactive steps to shield their assets. A couple of years ago, Vigneron and his complicit legal team from Bodman schemed up a crafty plan. 

They took all of the diocese's assets and shifted them into a brand new company called Mooney Real Estate Holdings, which officially has nothing to do with the archdiocese. The only member of the corporation is Abp. Allen Vigneron.

So, officially, all of the assets of the archdiocese no longer belong to the archdiocese, and, therefore, the archdiocese can't be sued for them. We'll see if that legal maneuver holds up in court when the lawsuits are revealed here in Michigan (expected later this year).

Remember that the state attorney general's office raided the Detroit chancery a while back and has been sifting through boxes of confiscated files since then. But the move in Detroit by Vigneron points to the larger issue that bishops are now having to face the music for their immoral, sinful and (perhaps) criminal actions of covering up sex abuse for decades, burying the cases in archives and hoping they just get forgotten about.

Other dioceses, like Santa Rosa, California, as well as New Orleans, Louisiana, have recently filed for bankruptcy. While that does limit the amount of payout to victims, it also exposes those records to scrutiny by a public court.

In the case of New Orleans, that exposure resulted in revelations that the archbishop himself, Gregory Aymond, was accused by a former seminarian of sexual abuse when he reported harassment by gay seminarians. No wonder bishops don't want these files gone through.

But in the case of Bp. Robert Vasa of Santa Rosa (which includes Napa Valley) and his close association with Tim Busch and his annual Napa Conference (which Vasa attends religiously each year), a history of revelations of untoward activities regarding priests begins to be revealed.

As a quick aside that helps contextualize all this, Vasa's attendance at Tim Busch's annual Napa Conference is facing increased scrutiny since Church Militant revealed that Tim Busch hosts gay weddings and receptions at his lavish properties, something Vasa has never commented on, even after it became public.

Likewise, Tim Busch, owner of the Meritage Resort properties, has never issued a response to the revelations. This is made even more poignant by the fact that his annual conferences are all about "Catholic identity and fighting the culture wars." He rents out his properties to the very ideologues he rails against each summer, all while collecting millions of dollars of income.

So Vasa's silence on all that is even more curious, considering he is viewed as a "good bishop." But, perhaps, this may be a case of keeping each other's dirty secrets. Last week's bankruptcy filing by Vasa opened up old wounds for the diocese of Santa Rosa, involving various priests stealing money from parishes and wealthy donors and Vasa's potential cover-up of it.

For example, Church Militant has discovered a 501(c)(3) nonprofit attached to a Santa Rosa priest from India. Sources in Africa and India tell Church Militant that priests from foreign countries use this as a means of stealing and funneling money. Local reports reveal this may be the case with this particular Indian priest in Santa Rosa — doing this with Vasa's knowledge. This has been going on for a number of years. 

The non-profit is called Joy Bharath, and federal records reveal it traces back to Fr. Balaswamy Govindu, one of Vasa's priests. Why is a foreign priest who operates under a U.S. bishop running a tax-exempt nonprofit? Who is he soliciting for funds? Why is Vasa silent on this? Is he reviewing his priest's financial affairs? What exactly is going on in this diocese?

But this isn't all that's being revealed in this bankruptcy. A story exploded in 2019 about a priest by the name of Fr. Oscar Diaz, who had embezzled close to $100 thousand from his parish, according to Vasa and his diocesan investigators.

The former pastor, however, says the real figure is substantially more — closer to half a million. In fact, the diocese of Santa Rosa has a decades-long history of theft (of huge sums of money) by a homosexual clergy, something critics say Vasa has spent more time covering up than cleaning up.

Fr. Diaz was brought into the diocese by then-Bp. Zeimann, a homosexual thief who blackmailed one of his priests into sex, once the priest was discovered to have been stealing from parishes. Diaz had actually been promoted to vicar for Hispanics and remained in that position under Vasa until a much-publicized car crash, in which he incurred significant injuries when racing toward San Francisco. When police arrived at the scene, they found tens of thousands of dollars in cash blowing around in the vehicle.

Sources inside the diocese tell Church Militant that this news prompted Vasa and his vicar-general to go to Diaz's rectory, where they entered through an unlocked door. There, according to sources, they found suitcases jammed with cash and Sunday parish collection bags from various parishes — also crammed with cash. Our sources say no one knows what happened to all that cash. It was not returned to the parishes.

However, parishes were reimbursed through a mysterious insurance company controlled by the bishops. Vasa is on the board of the insurance outfit. When law enforcement began to investigate and ask questions, Vasa sent Diaz back to Mexico. Additionally, a separate insurance payment was made to Diaz's parishes for close to half a million dollars, which seems to support the reasoning that the priest stole much closer to that sum than just a hundred thousand.

But some other information has emerged as a result of all these bankruptcy filings, and it has to do with an enormous pile of cash the U.S. bishops are sitting on through this self-insurance business — the same business that reportedly made the half-million-dollar reimbursement to Diaz's parish.

It's called Catholic Mutual, although some regions give it a slightly different name. But it is a completely nontransparent company that handles hundreds of millions — likely billions — of dollars for the bishops. Almost no Catholic has the slightest idea this giant fund exists. More on all that on tomorrow's Vortex.

TRANSCRIPT

Just before we begin, we'd like to say "thank you" to everyone who has contributed to our End of the Year Campaign as well as invite those of you who have not yet done so to please click on the provided link.

As you know, Church Militant reports on affairs in the Church that damage souls and cripple the spread of the gospel message, and we do it like few others. It costs a lot to run this operation, so your donations are necessary and much appreciated.

And in keeping with that type of reporting, Church Militant has been made aware of what one person with knowledge described as a "giant slush fund" for the U.S. bishops. It appears to pass as an insurance company called Catholic Mutual, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, in a $9-million building that doesn't seem to have many workers (at least judging from the parking lot during regular working hours).

It is an insurance company. In fact, it is a massive insurance company. But on its website — and here's the really weird twist — Catholic Mutual says plainly, "As part of the Catholic Church, Catholic Mutual is the leading provider of property, liability and employee-benefit coverage ... currently serving 134 dioceses and archdioceses and 200 Catholic religious orders."

There are some strange things here. For example, the line that Catholic Mutual is "part of the Catholic Church" is a little vague. It's actually yes and no. It's true that bishops of the Church run the insurance agency. Church Militant has learned it's actually listed as its own church, but there doesn't appear to be any specific, direct tie to the Church.

Furthermore, how can an insurance company really be "Catholic" — just because bishops set it up? It is a corporation and only associated with the Church because of the bishops. And because it is a business, it should be able to have its finances examined. But because the bishops set it up, it is free from all scrutiny.

What is known is that enormous — "outrageous" was the word used by some clergy Church Militant spoke to — monthly premiums are paid by individual parishes, and they are not allowed to shop on the open market. The bishops force their parishes to pay into this insurance pool.

And moreover, in recent years, as the premiums have increased, the deductibles have also actually increased, as reported to Church Militant by various pastors. That's not how insurance (of any kind) works. The higher you pay for your monthly premium, the lower your deductible is supposed to be. You don't have both go up.

But Catholic Mutual is completely free from any oversight or scrutiny because of the hierarchy's machinations. Thousands of parishes are forced to pay thousands and thousands of dollars every month into this insurance company. Years go by, quite often, before any parish ever makes a claim, especially with higher-than-should-be deductibles.

In addition, multiple religious orders are paying monthly premiums. Catholic Mutual has published that 134 dioceses and archdioceses are members. That figure represents thousands of parishes of the nation's roughly 16 thousand. Factor in all the religious orders also paying monthly premiums, and it becomes pretty clear that a massive amount of money is pouring into the bishops' insurance coffers every month — likely in excess of $50 million, every month. 

That's a huge amount of money just accumulating in that building. More than half a billion each year, and Catholic Mutual has been around for decades. Which, if any, of these funds are ever paid out? Who keeps track of them? Where's the oversight? In what and how are they invested?

This is absolutely insane. A body of men — the bishops — who lied to the faithful for decades about gay clergy raping teenage boys, and now deliberately bankrupting themselves to avoid payouts, is sitting on billions and billions of dollars, completely free from scrutiny because they claim to be religious. This is as immoral as hell.

Not a Catholic in America should give a penny to anything related to the corrupt, establishment Church. These men are beyond corrupt. They have access to, likely, billions of dollars and never breathe a word about it to anyone. We have no idea what this is being used for. We do know we've never seen a homeless bishop and certainly not a starving one.

Virtually no Catholic in America knows about this, and yet there it is. Why should bishops not have to explain this? They are constantly fleecing the flock, and yet over there, on the side, they have a giant slush fund that you can bet your bottom dollar is being used, at least in part, for immoral activity. These men are immoral and have access to virtually unlimited amounts of cash. That is a deadly combination. They need to open the books, immediately.

Using this group, priests are forced to pay for their car insurance, parish premiums, health insurance, all of it. The bishops will not allow parishes to shop around for lower rates, so what you're dealing with here is forced monopoly. And remember, the money pastors have to pay to the bishops' slush fund is your money.

And moreover, what's to stop a bishop or diocese from laundering hundreds of millions through this outfit? The answer is, absolutely nothing — especially if they are all in on it. "Slush fund" doesn't come close to describing what's going on here. In fact, you've got to wonder why the IRS hasn't descended on Catholic Mutual and said to open the books. This is a multi-billion-dollar insurance company posing as a church, nothing more.

For years now, Church Militant has been saying that the hierarchy is an international gay crime syndicate. The "gay" part has pretty much been established. The "criminal" part is likewise well established. Well, here is the "syndicate" part. You need to start demanding answers, and that means priests as well as the laity. Stop giving these liars and thieves anything. Let them dip into their multi-billion-dollar slush fund.

TRANSCRIPT

Catholic hymns — meaning sacred songs — are wonderful teaching aids. Deep truths are translated into simple lyrics and transmitted to meditative rhythms.

For example, the beautiful hymn "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" is a huge favorite. Every line is pregnant with deep theology, but one verse, in particular, has a very revealing line.

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The world (creation) is ordered by God, and it's not just ordered but ordered mightily. The power of the Holy Trinity transcends all creation and keeps it in existence — keeping it in right relation to Him, to Itself and to each other.

The breath of the Holy Spirit permeates all life and blows its life into everything, making us partakers in the divine life — echoing that we are made in the image and likeness of God. God the Holy Spirit keeps all immersed in the mighty order established by the Creator.

However, when man used his God-given free will to transgress and go astray, God did not abandon him. He sent a Savior, ordained in the divine mind from all eternity, to take us back from the power and rule of Satan. The entirety of Catholic life is summed up in this truth, as well as this verse.

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What we anticipate here in Advent and celebrate at Christmas is the very truth that we are saved from Satan's power if we only embrace salvation. This is the good news.

Man's natural destiny is damnation; he is unable to save himself. But God's love for man — even to the point of sending his own Son as our Savior — is indeed a cause of comfort as well as joy.

The good news is just that: God Himself injected Himself into our demolished world that had become the dominion of Satan and opened up a door or a window by which we could escape his power.

God Himself had to do this. This is the glory of the Faith, the reason for existence. Remember all this as Advent winds down, and Christmas begins to dawn. And, yes, feel free to leave a comment about our Church Militant trio.

TRANSCRIPT

As the culture and Church continue crumbling around us, it's important to make sure you tune in to (plug in to) a reliable source for your news.

But no organization bringing you truthful takes on the news operates in the ether, out "there."

Such an organization in the Catholic world is completely dependent on the people bringing you the news — that they are completely faithful.

They can't be supportive of schism or heresy or anything of the like. That's why it's important for you to know who is bringing you the news.

Here at Church Militant, we have an incredible group of producers and reporters with degrees in theology, lots of experience and proper training in actual journalism (not just point-of-view pieces).

Bottom line: If it isn't rooted solidly in actual Catholicism, you can be easily misled.

Recently we gathered a group of Church Militant reporters and produced a roundtable with them, so you can get to know them better. Here are some portions of that Church Militant reporter roundtable.

[Transcript unavailable]

If you'd like to watch the whole jam session, please click on the provided link. It's critical you know the backgrounds and faithfulness to authentic Catholicism of those who bring you Catholic news.

Again, just click on the link — we think you'll really enjoy it.

On Feb. 13, 2004, Fr. John Minkler was called into a private meeting with Bp. Howard Hubbard in the diocese of Albany, New York. Two days later, Minkler was dead. In this first-ever, in-depth investigation into the death of the whistleblower priest, Christine Niles tries to answer the question, What happened to Fr. Minkler?

Support for Special Projects comes from the general fund of Saint Michael's Media. Donations made via this form will be used for general expenses, including Special Projects.

TRANSCRIPT

He's headquartered in the scandal-plagued diocese of Scranton, and every show he produces is completely no holds barred.

[Transcript unavailable]

The host is Paul Ciaccia, an extremely dedicated and faithful Catholic, who is sick to death of the corruption and cover-up and lack of accountability of the U.S. bishops.

[Transcript unavailable]

When Vatican II charged the laity with taking up the business of evangelization, the Council Fathers may have said more than they knew at the time.

It's clear now that way too many bishops simply do not believe the Faith, so the work of catechesis and evangelization has largely fallen to the faithful, and many of them, many of us, are demanding the truth be proclaimed — not politically correct, woke garbage.

[Transcript unavailable]

If you would like to see the entire interview with The Angry Catholic and me, please just click on the provided link. It is well worth the watch — trust us.

TRANSCRIPT

He's headquartered in the scandal-plagued diocese of Scranton, and every show he produces is completely no holds barred.

[Transcript unavailable]

The host is Paul Ciaccia, an extremely dedicated and faithful Catholic, who is sick to death of the corruption and cover-up and lack of accountability of the U.S. bishops.

[Transcript unavailable]

When Vatican II charged the laity with taking up the business of evangelization, the Council Fathers may have said more than they knew at the time.

It's clear now that way too many bishops simply do not believe the Faith, so the work of catechesis and evangelization has largely fallen to the faithful, and many of them, many of us, are demanding the truth be proclaimed — not politically correct, woke garbage.

[Transcript unavailable]

If you would like to see the entire interview with The Angry Catholic and me, please just click on the provided link. It is well worth the watch — trust us.

On Feb. 13, 2004, Fr. John Minkler was called into a private meeting with Bp. Howard Hubbard in the diocese of Albany, New York. Two days later, Minkler was dead. In this first-ever, in-depth investigation into the death of the whistleblower priest, Christine Niles tries to answer the question, What happened to Fr. Minkler?

Support for Special Projects comes from the general fund of Saint Michael's Media. Donations made via this form will be used for general expenses, including Special Projects.