Skojec’s Rant Today Demonstrates How The Catholic Nomenklatura is Full of Itself and Cannot Save the Church.

Yesterday, I posted about the strange twist of words employed in Sr. Lucia’s facts-only written account of the Third Secret of Fatima. Today, erstwhile director of the 1 Peter 5 blog, Steve Skojec, went on a worthwhile rant about why he now says he is not Catholic — much of it has to do with his view of the Church that he saw as a player in the nomenklatura of modern hyperreal church. Steve says at one point that he ruled “tradistan” for a while and gives the reach of the 1P5 blog as evidence that he was certainly influential in human public media focused around traditional concerns. That’s perhaps the problem I’ve alluded to so many times, and that I’ve referred to when I’ve called the current pop-cultura in the Catholic nomenklatura the “Fourth generation trads.” While there is no denying that 1P5 had media reach, it’s silliness to think he “ruled” me or you. But that is the illusion of modern media, and particularly of the hyperreal Church we are experiencing these days. To him, from his dashboard view of web statistics, we are but blips — only now that he’s jumped ship might he be beginning to realize that “tradistan” never existed — it’s hyperreal. It’s a simulation.

Steve makes several conclusions that, from his tone, indicate that he thinks he discovered these facts – for instance, in a clever and well put turn of phrase, he states:

screenshot of Skojec tweet that states: "I don't think it's possible for a red-blooded man who cares about meaning or purpose or is inspired to worship only (and by nothing less than) by awe and wonder and transcendence to ever set foot in a modern Catholic Church and think, "this seems authentic.""

As Wanderer Forum Foundation / Bellarmine Forum readers know, especially those who have been with us going back for decades, this is precisely what we’ve been discussing and enduring for decades now. Your author was writing about this banal sanitized AmChurch “liturgy” before there ever was a 1P5. And I got the idea by sitting at the feet of priests like Fr. Hardon. Steve is right to see this problem — but he misses what it’s all about.

In two exchanges, Skojec reveals why he claims to no longer be Catholic:

and

There’s a clear issue with these two explanations — for one thing, Catholicism does not cause insanity, but rather error does. Secondly, there are no contradictions in the Faith. But, there are plenty of cognitive dissonance problems and contradictions in the nomenklatura. If you are going to be a player, you are going to face numerous conflicting expectations of behavior, and places where you are expected to speak differently than what’s on your mind. As we know, sanity is the measure of conformity of one’s mind with reality.

Also, I have sympathy for some of the contradictions that are maddening in AmChurch – and the lunacy of the schismatic American Bishops. But I have refused to leave the true faith over them. There is no where else to go.

So, with this background set, Steve makes this observation:

That’s fascinating to me. What kind of mental prison had he erected for himself while running 1P5 that lead him to believe that he had to leave the Church in order to speak his mind freely? Was he not able to tell the truth while there? Why not? Whatever else Skojec said, this issue right here nails all the true problems. I will agree with him — saying something contrary to what you think is a lie — being forced into a position to say things contrary to what you think is hell. If that’s what Skojec was experiencing while running 1P5, that’s not the Catholic Faith.

In a similar tweet that I will selectively quote, in order to get around his spicy adjectives employed, he laments that “the Church is dying all around them but they still cling to this 60s boomer” stuff.

And, then to this tweet where we get the gist of the vice of despair:

That’s where Skojec and I have to part ways of experience. God has intervened. Specifically, He sent His Mother at Fatima and Akita. Steve may be impatient with what is happening, but recall the Tower of Babel…. When did God take the Tower down? It was once it was built, right? Again, for Sodom and Gomorrah, it was only once one good family was left in town, and the wife still couldn’t get it straight and turned back on salvation at the end. For Abraham, he negotiated with God, and God relented destruction provided there were some good people. God holds back on total annihilation out of mercy for us that do hold on — the “true believers” as Skojec says.

This “God doesn’t care about the lost souls” is a lie. Our Lady said it both at Fatima and Akita that the loss of so many souls grieved her, but she told us the choice being made: 1) God would send fire from Heaven; or, 2) we could offer up suffering to save souls and Mary would work an alternate plan — one where her Immaculate Heart triumphs. At Akita, she warned destruction so severe that the survivors would envy the dead, but that she would save those who put their trust in her. I’m sad that Skojec has not availed himself of this intervention. He had access too all of it at his fingertips when at 1P5, but it must not have sunk in what was happening to Mother Church. That Third Secret is afoot — the city in ruins, soldiers killing the faithful. Or, as she said at Akita, destruction of souls consecrated to her. It’s a war.

In my life in particular, I can name countless examples of asking God for help and He sent immediate assistance. Particularly in regards to these issues that have become existential to Skojec. He forgets, God doesn’t ask him to change it. God doesn’t put the results on Steve’s blog reach. God, through His Mother, merely asks for reparation and the Rosary daily. Taking care of the soldiers in the Church is Our Lady’s work. She will fix things, and she will do it in a way that recovers as many souls as she can. She only asks you, me, and Skojec (who doesn’t see it at the moment) to pray and make reparations. She’ll handle the battle and the results.

And about those souls, maybe Skojec should try that rosary some more. Thanks be to God, we get frequent contacts from people who have reconciled with God thanks to something they found here. We don’t rule tradistan, Our Lady does.


This article, Skojec’s Rant Today Demonstrates How The Catholic Nomenklatura is Full of Itself and Cannot Save the Church. is a post from The Bellarmine Forum.
https://bellarmineforum.org/skojecs-rant-today-demonstrates-how-the-catholic-nomenklatura-is-full-of-itself-and-cannot-save-the-church/
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John B. Manos

John B. Manos, Esq. is an attorney and chemical engineer. He has a dog, Fyo, and likes photography, astronomy, and dusty old books published by Benziger Brothers. He is the President of the Bellarmine Forum.
  • William says:

    Great article. Thank you for that, Mr. Manos.

    Skojec and Sciambra seem to think that God has to submit to their wills. Both of them should ask for a stronger faith, but, instead of that, they use themselves like a some kind of “gold standard” of faith. This is a severe lack of humility, and, like we can see in this case, that leads to concrete consequences, and only God knows how many people are influenced by them.

    Sciambra is a very traumatized man. Skojec seems to me to be a self-centered guy, one who thinks the world must spin around him. Both of them need our prayers above all.

    God bless!

    • John B. Manos says:

      Thanks be to God. We should pray for them. It’s sad that although I engaged him on Twitter, when he replied to my tweet he was speaking to someone else about me. Even then he tried to dismiss what I said — oddly by trying to imply that I don’t know what it’s like to have articles reach like his (!) I had to laugh because by God’s grace, right here on Bellarmine, I’ve had numerous articles go insanely viral over the years. But, like you said, they convince themselves that they are in another world — one where you and aren’t relevant. That’s really odd and strange – but I think you nailed the cause!

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