…as he recounts his journey away from the horrifying Thing that Used to Be Conservative Catholicism in his excellent piece “When the Scales Fell from our Eyes“. No, this is not yet another sneering rejection of the Faith by an ex-Catholic who can’t stop picking the scab of a faith he has renounced but cannot seem to stop obsessing over. It is an affirmation of the Catholic faith he continues to hold despite grotesque distortion of it by a MAGAfied conservative American sect that cares more about GOP culture war bullshit, mammon, nihilist power, Euro-aesthetics, and a white fertility cult than about the gospel of Jesus Christ faithfully preached by a pope they hate. Here’s a taste:
There’s something that many right-wing Catholics—especially those who fiercely oppose Pope Francis—don’t seem to understand about people like me: we were once part of their world. We admired the same Catholic figures, consumed the same media, and shared the same hopes for the Church. We followed Bishop Robert Barron, Archbishop Charles Chaput, Scott Hahn, Cardinal Raymond Burke, Cardinal Gerhard Müller. We tuned in to EWTN, read First Things, supported Word on Fire, subscribed to the National Catholic Register and the Catholic Herald, and trusted the apologetics of Catholic Answers.*
This was our world. Our spiritual formation, our theological education, even our sense of Catholic identity was shaped by these voices. And then, slowly at first—but later undeniably—we began to experience a profound rupture. We still believe in the Creeds, doctrines, and sacraments. We still follow the same rules. We still go to Mass and participate in Church life, even if some of us have felt forced to change churches or jobs or schools.
Looking back, we can now see the point of no return was in 2016. It was on April 8 of that year that Pope Francis released Amoris Laetitia, his apostolic exhortation on love in the family. A few months later, the so-called dubia—submitted by four cardinals challenging the document’s orthodoxy—was released to the public. Unlike other theological debates, the kind the Church has always weathered, the dubia sparked something darker, more corrosive, more sinister.
The opposition to Pope Francis that coalesced in the wake of Amoris Laetitia has not only persisted and intensified; it has hardened. It has become institutionalized in much of the American Catholic Church. Bishops, media outlets, commentators, and influencers have made dissent from the pope’s teachings a defining feature of their identity. Entire apostolates exist primarily to critique or undermine his papacy. What once was unthinkable—publicly accusing the pope of heresy or implying he is a danger to the faith—is now routine in certain circles.
For those of us who were once in these circles, this is a tragedy. We shared their instincts, their pieties, their love for tradition. In some cases, we shared meals with them. For example, when we both worked for the USCCB, I ate lunch with Fr. Peter Ryan multiple days a week. I enjoyed our conversations about theology and Church doctrine and almost anything else under the sun. He was among the first coworkers I told about my father’s terminal cancer diagnosis and he spontaneously offered one of the most beautiful prayers I’ve heard. My heart broke this week when I read the tired and vapid article that he coauthored with Christian Brugger condemning Amoris Laetitia. There was nothing new or insightful in the article, which was easily dismantled by Pedro Gabriel, it was just another feeble effort by two dissenting theologians publicly proclaiming that they are more Catholic than the pope.
What has happened? After nearly a decade of watching the unraveling, I can scarcely recognize the Catholic world I once considered our home. And I know I’m not alone.
Much more here. It does not perfectly map on to my experience, but that’s only because every individual takes a different path in life and is asking different question that lead to different answers. It takes a while before the aggregate of experiences leads you into the realization that there are a lot of people who are seeing what you see. If the above resonates with you and you are among those coming to similar conclusions about the colossal lie that so-called “faithful conservative Catholicism” in the US is, go read the whole thing and know that you are not alone and that there remain 7000 in Israel who have not bent the knee to Baal.
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9 Responses
As a 74 year old cradle Catholic, who was a Latin Rite altar boy and who endured 12 years of Catholic school, I have noticed that “conservative” or should I say right wing Catholics try to be more Catholic than the Pope. Often, converts who were Evangelicals, become quite fanatical, and wallow in self righteousness, sitting in judgement of other people and their sins, especially sexual sins. They seem to turn a blind eye to greed and are OK with throwing the poor under the bus however.
They espouse a “Pharisidic Catholicism” which is obsessed with petty rules. For all their vaunted intellect, they fail to understand that rules are a means to an end, not an end in and of themselves. They buy into Trump’s MAGA “theology” that demonized immigrants, gays and everyone who is not a White Christian. In short, they subscribe to a “religion” that is a perversion of Christianity.
In arguments, they drown you in a flood of Biblical quotes take out of context. The right wing Christians think that they, and they alone, speak for God. To quote James Mason from the movie “Lord Jim,” they bear the stench of a reformed sinner.
A lot of people leave the Church because of obnoxious right wing “Catholics.” I am not leaving. This is my Church and why do I have to leave if I disagree with fanatics? My comments will likely upset some right wing Catholics. Good. Perhaps they might try to think for a change.
Thank you for this. A friend sent me Lewis’s excellent piece earlier this week, just as I was grieving Bishop Barron’s apparent seduction by the glamor of Mar-a-Lago. We have never needed authentic Catholic voices more than we do right now. Bless you for your good work.
Thanks for sharing this Mark. Mike is speaking for me too. I lost my mom to cancer this past September, but really lost her long before that to the anti- Christian, anti-Francis MAGA cult that opposes everything she once tried to teach me as a child. She was obsessed with politics and online trad-ery and addicted to the internet and conspiracy theories and became much less interested in having real relationships with me and my wife and our kids. I hoped and prayed that she would escape and foolishly believed that I could show her that she had fallen for lies. I’m angry and disgusted and disoriented.
She was a very intelligent woman who prayed so many rosaries and led many Bible studies. I don’t understand why God didn’t protect her. Donald Trump is nothing like Jesus or Joseph, or even my dad, but she would viciously defend Trump against any and all criticism.
One thing that I can see that she really always had in common with him was her stubborn belief that she could manipulate and manifest her own reality… the Norman Vincent Peale / Joel Osteen thing. There are other personality traits that she has always shared with him, but I don’t want to bad mouth her any more than I already have.
I’m so sorry to hear of your sufferings. Disciples of Jesus always, sooner or later, are confronted with the reality of rejection by those we love because he was confronted with it. I can’t explain this mystery of evil and won’t try to. But we can still hope that those we love will be given the grace in Purgatory that they could not, for whatever reason, receive in this life. May you yet meet merrily in Heaven through Christ our Lord when this terrible trial is past.
I’m a pretty easy going person most of the time, but when my husband hears me say: “I love the truth! I wouldn’t ask that they *not* misbehave! say slanderous things! Cheat me from my daily bread!…” –he knows how adamant I fell.
I’d rather that a snake reveals itself to be a liar and a cheat, and yes a snake! The only thing worse than being lied to is needing to lie to myself for the sake of the group.
Never again.
Cruelty is cruelty, and I’ll never tolerate or make excuses for it again.
I realized just how bad the “conservative” Catholics are when they attacked the Holy Father for his embrace of Fr. Martin. Fr. Martin is bringing the Gospel to people who have been marginalized by Soviet and, sadly, the Church.
One thing we should all be able to agree on: Francis is the great Clarifier. The days of the squishy middle ground are over!
Thanks for posting.
Hi Mark. I’ve been following your blog for almost 15 years. It’s my first time commenting as I’ve never had much of an online presence until very recently. I’ve always loved your writing – including your blogs and books. This post – like many others – also resonates with me. Mike Lewis expressed so clearly what I’ve experienced for years but struggled to articulate. Thanks for all your great writing!
Thanks! Don’t be afraid to find your voice and speak out against this deadly antichrist cult. There are more of us than there are of them.