Culture Of Life 101… “Dissenter Tactics”

By BRIAN CLOWES

(Editor’s Note: Brian Clowes has been director of research and training at Human Life International since 1995. For an electronic copy of the book Call to Action or Call to Apostasy, consisting of a detailed description of the current forms of dissent and how to fight them, e-mail him at bclowes@hli.org.)

Conclusion

We have seen that the most prominent tactic used by dissenters at the diocesan and parish level is the false and one-sided appeal for tolerance and nonjudgmentalism. There are several other approaches we should be aware of.
A second tactic the dissenters use is the classic mixing of lies with the truth in order to confuse people. In order to gain an initial foothold in a parish or diocese, dissenters might organize an event that features both relatively orthodox local Catholic speakers and those holding heretical views. When challenged, the organizers will usually claim that they are attempting to “represent a variety of viewpoints.” The purpose of such events, of course, is both to get a “toe in the door” and see how far they can push local Church authorities.
Such “mixed” events are both hypocritical and inconsistent, since Call to Action never allows orthodox Catholic speakers at its events. CTA’s founding convention in Detroit in 1976 ruthlessly shut out and ridiculed orthodox speakers even while extolling the virtues of inclusivity, and this tradition of monolithic exclusivity has continued unabated to the present day.
Dissenters work in the same manner as the Father of Lies: They proclaim truth, but it is a false “truth” laced with heresy, lies, and omissions. Pope St. Pius X said of them, “Although they express their astonishment that We should number them amongst the enemies of the Church . . . they proceed to diffuse poison through the whole tree, so that there is no part of Catholic truth which they leave untouched, none that they do not strive to corrupt” (Pascendi Dominici Gregis, n. 3).
Catholics have been confused by this tactic for many years, and it is time for us to stand up and say “No More!” Anyone who suspects that dissenters may speak in their parish or diocese should contact a Catholic organization dedicated to defending the faith in order to find out what the speaker’s viewpoints really are (these groups were listed in this column in the April 28 edition of The Wanderer, p. 7B).
If a speaker is a known dissenter, orthodox Catholics should document this fact as quickly and as completely as possible and present the assembled evidence to the pastor, bishop, or event coordinator, asking that the dissenter’s invitation be revoked. Make sure that the person making this decision knows that he or she has a clear choice between authentic Catholic doctrine and heresy, and make certain that the decision maker knows that his or her decision will be carefully observed and publicized.
If the decision-maker delays replying for a long period of time (stonewalling, a common tactic designed to make the question moot), or refuses to disinvite the dissenter, local orthodox Catholics can take many courses of action. These include contacting the local Catholic and secular press, picketing and leafleting the event, videotaping the dissenter’s talks, carrying protest signs and banners into the event, and asking the dissenter difficult and awkward questions. If enough controversy arises from the event, the diocese or parish will think twice before inviting another dissenter to speak.
The bottom line is this: Orthodox Catholics must no longer tolerate dissent in their parishes and dioceses, and must send a very clear message that the dissenters will encounter organized and effective resistance wherever they go. Do not apologize for being “exclusive”; truth by its very nature is exclusive, because it must be intolerant of lies.
As Bishop Fulton Sheen once noted, we must have less non-virtuous tolerance and more virtuous intolerance.
The third dissenter tactic is one we are all familiar with. The dissenters have a glaring double standard: They demand tolerance while offering none themselves. They declare that they are inclusive, yet systematically exclude viewpoints other than their own. They claim to be “nonjudgmental” even as they harshly judge and ridicule orthodox Catholics.
In order to confuse lay people, dissenters frequently stereotype orthodox priests and lay people, whom they label “timid,” “fearful,” “out of touch,” “harshly legalistic,” and “arch-reactionary.” Their publications are saturated with disrespectful stereotyping of those people who do not agree with them.
The most prominent practitioner of this type of hypocrisy is certainly “Catholics” for [a free] Choice (CFFC). Its publications and its website are littered with pleas for tolerance and condemnations of harsh language and stereotyping. For example, CFFC writer Valerie J. Stroud sobbed: “We must hold our hand out in friendship even when our faces are slapped. We have to listen and seek to understand even when our ears are assailed with venomous words.”
Meanwhile, Conscience (the CFFC journal) is crammed with condemnations of orthodox bishops and lay people.
A handful of issues selected at random labeled pro-life bishops as “absolutist,” “angry,” “anti-woman,” “arrogant,” “blind,” “bullies,” “callous,” “coercive,” “confused,” “cruel,” “dangerous,” “dogmatic,” “dumb,” “embarrassing,” “fanatical,” “hard-hearted,” “harsh,” “hypocritical,” “illogical,” “imperialistic,” “irresponsible,” “liars,” “loony,” “Luddites,” “manipulative,” “mean,” “misogynist.”
And: “nasty,” “narrow-minded,” “obsessive,” “obstructive,” “pathological,” “pernicious,” “pig-headed,” “prattlers,” “reactionaries,” “rigid,” “ruthless,” “sanctimonious,” “self-righteous,” “simplistic,” “slippery,” “terrible,” “totalitarian,” “tyrannical,” “unethical,” “unhinged,” “unjust,” “unkind,” “vehement,” “virulent,” and “vituperative,” and even “betrayers of Christ” and “the seed of Satan,” among many, many others.
The dissenters see themselves and those who adhere to the authentic Catholic faith in very different ways. In her talk at the 1996 CTA National Conference, dissenter Nancy Westmeyer said:
“[Words that describe patriarchy] include control, lone ranger, controlled, ‘right-way’ answers, dictator, unequal, fear, pushed, dominated, suspicion, limitations, closed, selfish, dead end, loneliness, monologue, frustration, lack of respect for persons, deficiency, divisive, angry, aggressive, defensive…they reflect our experience of patriarchy….
“The partnership ones are consensus, togetherness, listening, willingness, recognition of gifts, affection, process, assertive, energizing, wisdom, feminine, understanding, trust, relational, peace, justice, spirit, humor, discernment, support, humility, mutuality, mutual respect, collaborative, honesty, communication, openness, acceptance, freedom, equal, respect, caring, vulnerability, creativity, shared power, we, communion, affirmation, participation in decision-making and accountability.”
Dissenters gleefully pounce whenever a pro-life priest or lay person falls into sin and acts inconsistently with Church teachings. Orthodox Catholics can use this tactic as well by exposing those dissenters who do not practice what they preach when they claim to be “tolerant,” “nonjudgmental,” and “inclusive.”
The fourth dissenter tactic is the plea for a false “dialogue.” As we have seen, dialogue with dissenters is completely useless because they do not believe in objective truth. Any time a faithful Catholic sits down and “dialogues” with dissenters, he is wasting his valuable time.
Dissenters see “dialogue” as a tool to extract concessions from orthodox Catholics that will cripple their ability to fight heresy, and to distract attention from critical issues. Any orthodox Catholic who “dialogues” with apostates and does not concede important points to them should expect to see himself and his organization ridiculed and labeled “rigid” and “obstructionist” in the apostate’s next newsletter.

Stand Firm

The fifth dissenter tactic is to completely disregard Church law and customs.
Every liberal social movement has broken the law on a wide scale in order to project an image of principle and courage. If the authorities crack down on these criminals, they immediately assume the victim cloak and proclaim their fellows to be martyrs; if the authorities do nothing, the liberals claim that the law is useless and the behavior in question should be legalized because it is “happening anyway.”
Whenever true Catholics take action against dissenters, the resulting crescendo of sniveling is deafening. For example, after a half-dozen orthodox Virginia Catholics were dragged out of their own parish church by police for protesting a Call to Action function there, the dissenters whined:
“It is outrageous that mainstream Catholics are being treated as pariahs by a group of radical, right-wing ideologues who resemble nothing so much as the Brown Shirts of Nazi Germany.”
Dissenters have taken a page from the abortionists’ playbook and are flouting Church law and tradition on a wide scale. The late Fr. Bill Callahan once explained this tactic: “The [Church] system is showing such strains and contradictions that it is ready to crumble. Systems crumble much more readily if there are people marching around the walls, everyone with a little rock pick, working on their part of the wall! You can’t repel them all.”
Louise Haggett, founder of Celibacy Is the Issue (CITI), describes the process that the dissenters are encouraging: “In the Catholic Church, practice becomes custom, and custom becomes law. If you look at the recent history of altar girls, the Vatican had initially said no, but people ignored that and had them anyway and eventually that changed the law. That’s what I think will happen with married priests.”
Whenever the dissenters want to make “progress,” they simply ignore everything but their own desires, particularly in the area of the liturgy. In a manual published by the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual (WATER), Dianne Neu and Mary L. Hunt wrote:
“Women are co-celebrants in some services whether they are ordained or not. In some Catholic churches, the congregants, especially women, are saying the Eucharistic prayer with the priest whether they are invited to or not.”
The only possible response that orthodox Catholics can take to this kind of agitation is to stand firm in the tradition of St. Augustine and not give an inch. The dissenters may ridicule us and call us “Nazis,” and liberal pastors may even have us arrested and dragged away, but thousands of saints have suffered far more in defense of the faith, and we should model ourselves after them.