I say: “Shut up, pray for the man, keep doing your thing and stay out of sight. Winter is not over. The wolves are not dead yet.”
-Fr. Z relaying a quotation from a “highly credentialed” colleague, regarding “Leo XIV”
It is time to instruct the distinguished Latinist and liturgist, Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, the most important word in the English language, and precisely how we will respond to his admonitions to shut up . . . NO!
Here again, for the benefit of Fr. Z, today’s eminent polyglot churchman, let us explore this word’s similar structure in the more Latin-based, Spanish language . . . NO!
What a beautiful, succinct, and effective word for answering all academic clergy who have surrendered their will to fight and insist that others do likewise. No! No! No!
No, we will not shut up and pray, Reverendo. Are you or your over-educated but unlearned peers aware that prayer and discourse are not mutually exclusive?
Furthermore, allow me to submit another question, using plain vernacular language, comprehensible even for a distinguished Latinist:
Who are you telling to shut up?
Is this a message you would deliver face-to-face without the benefit of Internet semi-anonymity? Would you speak this way if you had to interface more directly? I suspect it may not be the most suitable prose for an in-person encounter, but that’s neither here nor there.
Nevertheless, Fr. Z, champion of silence, allow me to elaborate why you are not in a favorable position (and neither are your credentialed buddies) to make such suggestions.
No More Calls for Silence
“We’ve had enough exhortations to be silent. Cry out with a thousand tongues. I see the world is rotten because of silence.” -St. Catherine of Siena
I suppose Fr. Z will explain how the above quotation was somehow mistranslated from St. Catherine’s Latin or Italian. I can’t wait to discover why I should hush myself and cease referencing this quotation so often.
Truth be told, Fr., you and the other credentialed guys find yourself sitting squarely in the same seat as the Avignon-Crisis clergy, who required St. Catherine’s intervention. They luxuriated and passed the buck along just as today’s intellectual leadership plays chess, enjoys lavish meals and delicacies (see Fr. Z’s blog, every day), and shirks all direct confrontation.
While I understand you might not wish to fight, or lead others into spiritual battle, could you at least stop hindering and gaslighting the rest of us? If you won’t oppose modernism more forcefully and vocally, then that is your prerogative, but don’t presume to silence us, as you and your OneLeoFive compatriots are wont to do.
Wolves Not Dead Yet
I agree the wolves are not yet dead, so let us not devise complacent ways to feed them a bountiful feast of tepid Catholic souls. Silence and pusillanimity are the active ingredients, comprising the centerpiece for such a feast.
Since the wolves still thrive, what do you and your esteemed colleagues intend for us to do about them? Shall we hide in the catacombs or flee to the mountains, expecting things to improve . . . for no reason at all?
They wolves expand their ranks vampirically by ensnaring numerous impressionable souls, yet all you suggest is to pray and await the triumph of the experts who will juridically punish them. That leaves only one problem: the experts are too timorous, reticent, and non-combative to adjudicate them. If lay people bide their time, waiting for “officials” to “take care of things,” then all of us would soon resemble that lonely skeleton peering out the window.
Am I exaggerating the problem? Please correct me.
Next, if we should “shut up” and return to prayer, I have another inquiry. What stage have we entered in your grand strategy of “pray and do nothing else”? Will it be time for us to join Cardinal Burke on a ninety-year novena, where we pray that God miraculously eliminates the modernists while we loaf around and hide?
Only Possible Prevost Solution: Re-Submit the Dubia?
To your credit, you have identified a semi-effective way of evaluating the “pontificate of Leo XIV.” You’ve suggested the cardinals re-submit the Amoris Laetitia dubia and discover if Prevost offers a different response from the more obvious heretic, Bergoglio.
This is a decent solution, but, as I’ve written elsewhere, a Prevost attempt at the consecration of Russia is still superior. The consecration of that country to Mary’s Heart would produce immediate results, and if they were positive, would vindicate Prevost’s legitimacy. It would be the best way to verify he is indeed an authentic pope since only someone holding that office could finally achieve the consecration (if worded properly).
What have we to lose with this much more expedient papal litmus test?
After all, Bergoglio ignored the dubia, and folks like you and Peter Kwasniewksi turned a blind eye to his antipapacy for several years thereafter. Bureaucratic methods for dealing with modernists just don’t yield terribly effective results, I’m afraid.
Conclusion: The Combox Is Not Closed
Unlike Fr. Z, who eliminated the opportunity for comments on his ridiculous “shut up” post, I will not forbid commentary. You’re welcome to explain why I’m a foolish peon, or contribute anything else you desire to append to the bottom of this article (excluding spam and blasphemies). I have no precious faculties to lose and therefore have no reservations about communicating with non-credentialed folks over pressing Church matters.
Otherwise, you should pray the Rosary, all 15 decades, every day. Do this to beseech the Blessed Virgin for the grace to possess the courage not to shut up, contrary to Fr. Z and his comrades. If he desires not to issue a more forthright opposition to Antipope Prevost and his obvious modernism, then that’s his problem. We shall continue fighting with prayer and good works until God dismisses his servants.
Catholics Aren't Zombies! 
Couldn’t have said it better myself!
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Thanks Harvey, but I was happy to see you and at least one other fellow express similar sentiments. It’s nice to not be on an island about these matters. Keep up the good work on your blog as well, sir.
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The idea that we Catholics SHUT-UP and don’t ask questions reminds me of the Covid JAB propaganda.
“two weeks to flatten the curve”
“follow the science”
“safe and effective”
“You won’t catch covid”
“You won’t transmit it to others”
“We’re all in this together”
“vaccines will END the pandemic”
They will say anything to shut you up and guilt you into doing their bidding.
Christ on the other hand warned us:
“Beware of FALSE PROPHETS who come to you in the clothing of sheep but inwardly are ravening wolves” Mt 7:15
“And many FALSE PROPHETS shall arise and shall seduce many. Mt 24:11
“For there shall arise FALSE CHRISTS and FALSE PROPHETS, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. Mt24:24
“For there will rise up FALSE CHRISTS and FALSE PROPHETS, and they shall show signs and wonders, to seduce (if it were possible) even the elect.” MK 13:22
Christ also gave us instructions to identify them.
“Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” 1JN 4:1
“By their fruits you shall know them.” MT 7:16 and 20
“My sheep hear my voice; and I know them, and they follow me.” Jn 10:27
“But a stranger they follow not, but fly from him, because they know not the voice of strangers.” JN 10:5
Finally, Cannon Law 748.1
All persons are BOUND to seek the TRUTH in those things which regard God and His Church and by virtue of DIVINE LAW are bound by the obligation and possess the RIGHT of embracing and observing the truth which they have come to know.
(emphasis mine)
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Yes, it’s as if we’re living in a “do-what-your-told” world, only it’s not shepherded by selfless leaders, but folks with a selfish agenda and quest for power, comfort, security, and honor.
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”Ninety year Novena”🤣
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Excellent Point!
Those are not the best fruits…
selfish agenda
quest for power
comfort
security
honor
I would also consider adding to that list whatever fruits remain from the bergoglio usurpation. It seems to me any true pope would rescind all the non-catholic garbage. Any good Bishop or Cardinal would demand the same-regardless of the consequences.
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Thank you for this. I had pretty much the same reaction to Fr. Z’s post, only I am not nearly as articulate and humorous as you are in pointing out the snobbishness and passivity of the “experts.” You nailed it. And then some!
From the minute Prevost was announced, and the words “from Chicago” hit my eardrums, my stomach turned and I wept. Because I am a lifelong Chicagoan, and I know what the Church in Chicago spawns. And I know what those from Chicago who go up the ladder in the Church are, because the ones who are not that get sidelined, and if, after being sidelined, they don’t toe the line, they get canceled.
It’s pretty pathetic when a new fox enters the barnyard and the roosters tell the chickens to not squawk…to “shut up,” give the fox “a chance”, see what he is before you go off squawking up a storm. After all, his tail isn’t as bushy as the previous fox’s tail, and he maybe won’t maul and kill the flock like the last fox did.
I also think it’s pretty funny that Fr. Z has mentioned several times he feels like a huge weight has been lifted off of him, like some kind of traumatic experience of long duration has ended. Just yesterday he posted: “I slept a lot today. I think I finally understand this to be a relief from a kind of PTSD. Moral Injury. Anyone else feeling that?”
No, Fr. Z, I am not feeling that. I’m feeling sick to my stomach, and pierced to the heart, and I am weeping, because I fear I will live to witness the (apparent) death of the Catholic Church, and the apparent triumph of Satan (we all know in the Catechism is says the Church will enter the same passion and death as her Spouse, and like Him, will be resurrected as well). I feel like I am seeing the water on the seashore has retracted back about a mile or so, and that can only mean one thing: a tsunami.
I hope Fr. Z and the rest of his eminent colleagues in his exclusive text group survive it.
Thanks for not shutting up.
God bless you.
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Well, first, don’t let things get you too despondent or depressed. We not only know that Our Lord will triumph, but that it will only come after incredible tribulations beforehand. That’s yet another reason to doubt all this Prevost euphoria: it contradicts the obvious present trajectory for the Church, which must involve its Passion, Death, and Ressurection. We should not attempt to hide (to borrow Fr. Z’s terms) from this heavily prophecied reality.
I like this point you made: “It’s pretty pathetic when a new fox enters the barnyard and the roosters tell the chickens to not squawk…to “shut up,” give the fox “a chance”, see what he is before you go off squawking up a storm.”
It reminds me of another concern I have. Will the whole “wait and see” crowd be vigilant about the dangerous possibilities facing us, new and more surreptitious foxes? Put another way, will they be all “wait” and no “see.” Many false trads are quite adept at waiting . . . with no intention of investigating anything whatsoever. “Bishop Schneider told he’s not an antipope, so that’s that.” I suggest we resist this intellectually slothful mentality.
Thank you for your kind feedback.
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Thank you Mr. Munier for presenting an edifying Catholic blog conducted by a charitable gentleman.
Never had a way with words myself, but I greatly appreciate reading yours!
Thank you!
Katie
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