I did not know until a Rod Dreher column this week that Catholic pugilist Steve Skojec is now ex-Catholic pugilist Steve Skojec. Dreher says Skojec is now an agnostic. He didn’t even slow down and join the Orthodox, like Rod did. He went right out the back door into disbelief. Skojec says he has not attended Mass in a year.
Skojec explains how he got a very raw deal at the hands of the Legion of Christ and its lay movement Regnum Christi. I have no way of judging his charges. But he was very involved at the same time the Legion founder abused boys, fathered children, and plagiarized. Such a culture can only result in the abuse of the rank and file. Skojec describes psychological abuse; he says he was brainwashed. When he tried to leave, he says the Legion went all Saul Alinksy on him: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy.”
Skojec spent part of this college years at Steubenville as a “Legionary counter agent.” Over the next several years, Skojec was quite obviously and seriously vexed about issues in the Church; sexual abuse by priests, the liturgy, changing of doctrine, Francis, the Bishops, Covid, and much else. He fought like hell. He fought and fought and fought. And then he left.
Long ago, I figured Skojec would leave the Church.
His story reminds me of Rod Dreher’s who spent years looking into the abyss of priest sexual abuse. I have gone on record that Rod was right about all that and I was wrong. But maybe where Rod did go wrong was spending so long looking into the abyss and feeding his anger, which led him to question the theological claims of the Catholic Church. He left for Orthodoxy.
Their stories remind me of Joseph Sciambra, a man I deeply admire. Joe spent years living in the homosexual abyss and came out of it quite damaged. He looked for succor from the same Church he accuses of encouraging his behavior and abetting his abuse. Understand that Joe is the guy who tries to save gay men by going to the most sexually perverse San Francisco festivals wearing a “Jesus Loves Gay Men” tee-shirt and handing out rosaries.
Sciambra tried for years to convince various Churchmen that the Church was allowing the rise of homosexualism in the Church. He pointed to openly homosexual parishes in San Francisco and New York. He tried to convince Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles that Fr. James Martin ought not be featured at the annual education conference in L.A. No one would listen. I think the only Bishop who formally met with him was Cardinal Burke, a meeting that I arranged.
It seems to me that when you set yourself up to fight the institutional Church, you run the risk of walking out the door. Make no mistake, Rod’s fight was just. Joe’s fight was just. I am not sure exactly what Steve’s fight was because it seemed so immense and multi-faceted, but without a doubt, he believes it was just. Even so, when you set yourself up to fight the institutional Church and you never give up, you run the risk of allowing your frustration and anger to lead you right out of the Church.
Full story at Catholic World Report.
Very well stated. After all of the corruption and filth that has emerged in recent years I thought about leaving as well and have been tempted many times to do so. But I stay…..
Tempted is the right word.
Many of us have probably had similar thoughts as these two men due to the poor, and even evil, leadership in the Church. I always have to remind myself that you can never leave Jesus, because of Judas.
Three men.
Don’t foist your White supremacist binary math on us (even if you’re not White). The numbers in this, and every, story add up to 1619. Stop being a fragile angry While male (even if you’re not a man). Check your privilege and stop claiming you know the answer.
Ask for fortitude.
So is this a weird form of “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em”?
100%. I’ve seen it dozens of times.
Joe Sciambra now claims to be a member of The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Of Russia, a sect that was started in 1920.
I’m sorry to hear that Joe, a fine and brave guy, has left although I, too, before rediscovering the TLM considered the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. One can attend beautiful vespers at the cathedral on Geary Boulevard on Saturday and Sunday late afternoons/evenings. I once attended a Sunday morning liturgy, in English, in a cathedral chapel that included the most beautiful music, sung by three women, that I’ve heard outside of a Missa Cantata with excellent Gregorian Chant.
Wallowing in your own anger and misery will only take you so far.
You might drum up some support for a short while, but after that, you look like an embittered crank.
You are just one of many, many people that have gone before you.
The key here people is not to “fight” the Church. One must “work” with the Church, and most importantly doing so because one loves the Church, not oneself. Many great saints sought to work with the Church in order to make reforms. Many succeeded. Though some encountered push back and even persecution, none of these saints contemplated leaving the Church. St. Teresa of Avila at the end of her life said, “Finally, I am a daughter of the Church.” The difference is that these saints loved God and the Church, first and foremost, not themselves.
Very sad about everyone who has left the Church for one “righteous” reason or another. I however did my best before leaving this or that parish. I gave the Pastor and his parish to Our Dear Lord and moved on. I found the TLM and remain steadfast in my Faith. I will never leave Jesus and His Church, nor the mantle of protection of Our Mother Mary. Pray, Hope and Don’t Worry, God has this.
What will you do when the TLM is removed or shut down?
Alas, it won’t be ..it outlast all of you
Matthew 10:28
The problem is that when you get mad, you magnify your enemy. You make them appear bigger and more powerful than they actually are.
Keep calm and carry on.
Very wise comment.
Thank you.
To God be the praise
RamRod Dreher has yet to apologize to George Rutler.
What does he need to apologize for? CRISIS and LIFESITE are the only two outlets that claim he was totally innocent, and they have absolutely no sources to backup their claims. Dreher did a pretty fair assessment on the whole incident.
The story was lame from the get-go. A child could have seen through it. Manhattan’s radical woke DA thought so too.
Human institutions of all kinds are always vulnerable to human corruption. I only follow the great and original leaders of an institution. For example, I follow the original American concepts, laid out in our great Declaration of Independence and Constitution. I follow only the original concepts of a solid Education for children, not the modern corrupt garbage. I follow only our true religion, founded by Jesus Christ. He was always fighting the corrupt Jewish leaders of His day– the Pharisees! I believe in the Bible, I believe in all of our original Catholic teachings– no modern corrupt garbage. It takes a lot of careful mental focus and discipline, to pay attention to the Truth, and follow it. Jesus said that we must enter Heaven “by the Narrow Gate,” because the lazy, easy, “Broad Road” leads you to corruption– and failure. This life, so far from God, is like a penance, the result of Adam and Eve’s Fall from Grace– and it is really a pilgrimage, requiring lots of dedication and hard work. Christ gave us the Gift of Salvation– but we are required a dedicated life of lots of selfless love of God, prayer and hard work for it. The monastic life is truly our foundation– “you, the Christian soul, and God Alone.” Even those in the world can lead a semi-monastic life, dedicated to God Alone, as taught by Catholic saints and spiritual masters. We have to learn the life of quiet prayer, sacrifice, selfless love of God, and detachment from all created things– love of God Alone. “You and God,” in a life of loving, selfless prayer, penance, and good works for others. That is the original life of a true Christian. Not easy, but God can lead us, and give us the grace to learn it.
St. Teresa of Avila and her fellow Carmelite nuns, as well as St. John of the Cross– faced terrible trials and persecutions, in the institutional Church of their day. Yet they persisted anyway, following their Carmelite reforms, back to the original Carmelite contemplative spiritual way. Union with Christ in the true, authentic spiritual life, is beyond this world. And our true Catholic brothers and sisters, in Christ– are His true followers, many of them unknown and unseen to us. They are His True Church, His Yrue Bride, hidden from most of us.
Catholic clerics of today need to accept Sacred Scripture as the Word of God. They must stop preaching harmful lies and evils, such as recognition of Gay Sex Perversions as “normal,” and “acceptable,” in the sinful, false concept of Gay “Marriage.” Very, very dangerous for the Church and for all societies! Especially dangerous for children! And a total lie! Gay pervert sex acts should be illegal. Sin is sin. Virtue is virtue. Read the holy Scriptures and believe what God tells us! Human beings must not “play God” and pretend to “update” the teachings of Sacred Scripture, because they do not believe in the Bible anymore.
Many of today’s Catholic clerical leaders need to return to acceptance of Sacred Scripture, as being the Word of God. Many of them falsely accept Gay Pervert Sex Acts in a type of fraudulent Gay “Marriage,” rejecting Biblical teachings on Marriage, given to us by God. These bad Catholic clerical leaders also wrongly reject many other truths, given to us by God, in the Holy Bible. Many really do not accept Christ at all, and seek to set up a fraudulent, man-made, fake religion, in place of Christ’s True Religion. Gay “Marriage” is a horrible lie– a terrible sin, and extremely dangerous also, for children and young people! And Abortion– Baby Murder– is always intrinsically evil, a horrific mortal sin.
Every child deserves a good, loving, safe home, with a real Mommy and a real Daddy, who are good, loving, and morally excellent people. Children must be taught that this is the true Marriage and true Family– and nothing else. No sinful, sick and deviant ideas. If some creepy man tries to molest them, they must know that this is a horrible sin– and must immediately run away fast– and scream for help! Dirty, filthy school-teachers, counselors and librarians, peddling sex, birth control, abortion, gay sex, and dirty books, cartoons and films– all should be put behind bars, and their records should be marked as “deviant, criminal sex purveyors to children.” They should all be strictly forbidden to ever work with or be around children, ever again. And all of their filthy material should be burned and forbiddden by law.
Even in the good ol’ days every child did not have a good, loving, safe home with a real Mommy and a real Daddy (either biological or psychological) who were good loving morally excellent people. Children don’t get to decide who gives birth to them or who raises them.
Of course, there has always been sin in this world. Sin is unacceptable! A poor, helpless child must be rescued from all dangerous, sinful situations. My whole point is that a child deserves a real Mother and a real Father, even if adopted. And every child deserves a good, loving, safe, morally-excellent Momny and Daddy, and family home. Children are helpless, from the moment of conception. Proper care and raising of the child– a precious Gift of God– is a huge responsibility, for our society — and for our Church.
Several decades ago, at the Story Hour at a local public library, there were a few cases of children brought by mothers who were “shacking up” (with no intention to marry), and LGBTs, “shacking up,” and raising kids (before Gay “Marriage” was legal). Some may have been involved, also, with drugs. All of the properly-married moms began to complain, and seek out better, safer, more reliable activities for their children. They complained that they did not want to raise their children in situations of socialization with immoral families in the neighborhood. They also did not want their children to be taught immoral, dangerous lies, that these kinds of deviant, so-called “family” situations, are “normal,” and “acceptable.” Some of these married moms had previously been “hippie” and immoral when younger, but had come to their senses, and had given up all of that, when they got married and settled down. And they did not want their children to be exposed to any of these evils. I felt badly for what they all had to go through– they were all sadly at the mercy of a very selfish, immoral, bunch of barbaric, tyrannical thugs, who had hijacked our good and decent society, and turned it into a dangerous, filthy slum. Today’s good and decent parents now fight worse evils, at their local, neighborhood schools, libraries, and even churches. There is little support now, in our country, for them. The Satanic Culture of Death needs to be ended for good!
Q.115 What is the Church? A. The Church is the congregation of all who profess the faith of Christ, partake of the same Sacraments, and are governed by their lawful pastors under one visible head.
Q. 117 Who is the visible head of the Church? A. Our Holy Father the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, is the Vicar of Christ on earth and the visible head of the Church. (Vicar- a person acting in the name and with the authority of another)
Q.121 Are all bound to belong to the Church? A. All are bound to belong to the Church, and he who knows the Church to be the true Church and remains out of it cannot be saved.
Yes and those creating the false Church, such as liberals and modernist will be the first to be damned.
While it’s tragic and heartbreaking, it’s not at all surprising that scandals drive good Catholics to abandon the Catholic faith, particularly when the scandals come from the pope, cardinals and bishops. It begins to call into question whether the Church is led by the Holy Ghost, that such evil, deceptive, manipulative, conniving, lying men could be installed by the Holy Ghost to lead the Church.
I am surprised that more have not abandoned the faith in the era of Francis.
That is the temptation. That is how the devil gets you.
Don’t judge the Church on the behavior of the sinners.
Quite frankly, I have stayed in the Church because of Pope Francis and his leadership. I think his encouragement of priests to get know their flock has been good for the Church. Too many priests are quite comfortable staying holed up in the rectory and hanging out with their brother priests.
Out of the frying pan, into the fire.
People leave the Church because of idolatry. I do not know what idol these men were seeking. Sometimes it is something good like holiness. My last temptation was seeking peace.
The Lord showed me “You want peace. Not Me.” So I dropped the websites that I was using (tending toward Buddhism) and the Lord showed me in Sacred Scripture the exact same things that were attracting me to the Peace websites.
Even the Bible or the papacy or your politics etc can become an idol.
Please come back. What you want is here. You can’t see it because of idolatry.