Did Communists Infiltrate the Catholic Church?

http://www.chuckmorse.com/communism_catholic_church.html ^ | Chuck Morse

[narses]

As a traditional Jew, I'm deeply concerned over the plight of the Roman Catholic Church, which I consider to be the largest and most influential repository of conservative Judeo-Christian values in America today. I believe that those of us who care about the furtherance of a moral society have a stake in the future of the church as a moral force. The American church is under siege today, not only from the usual external forces but also from the weight of its own internal contradictions. The scandal of corrupt homosexual priests violating the innocence of minors in their care is, to put it mildly, a contradiction in Christian and Catholic practice and faith. When did this corruption inject itself into the system and why was the situation allowed to deteriorate to such a degree?

Much has been written regarding Communist methods of infiltration. The standard method was to "bore from within" which involved Communists disguising themselves as loyalists to an organization they sought to undermine. Once gaining entry, they would gradually and subtly change the values and principles of the targeted organization. The process of "change" can take a generation. Communists have exhibited unlimited patience and supreme confidence in the ultimate attainment of their goals. Examples in America include substantial inroads by Communists into organized labor, academia, the legal profession, race relations, cultural institutions, and the government itself.

When planning to infiltrate, the Communists probe for an institutional weakness to exploit and, in the case of the Catholic Church, perhaps they perceived the weakness to reside in the all-male celibate priesthood. Did Communists send their followers, particularly homosexuals, sexual deviants, and enablers, into seminaries to become priests in order to foster a homosexual culture within the church? Homosexuals, practicing their predilections in an overwhelmingly conservative Catholic community, while given protection by well placed minded superiors, could certainly contribute to the undermining of faith in Catholicism and could unquestionably shake the credibility and moral standing of the church itself down to its very foundations. Undermining Catholic authority has been a clear and often stated goal of the Communist left. Speculation regarding how the Communists attempted to implement their program is reasonable and necessary in order to better understand the present situation.

Two former Communists, Bella Dodd and Manning Johnson, spoke on Communist infiltration of the Catholic Church. Dodd, an important Communist party lawyer, teacher and activist, converted to Catholicism in April 1952 under the tutelage of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. Stating that the Communist infiltration was so extensive that in the future "you will not recognize the Catholic Church," Dodd also asserted that:

"In the 1930's, we put eleven hundred men into the priesthood in order to destroy the Church from within."

"Right now they are in the highest places, and they are working to bring about change in order that the Catholic Church will no longer be effective against Communism."

Manning Johnson, a former Communist Party official and author of "Color, Communism and Common Sense" testified in 1953 to the House un-American Activities Committee regarding the infiltration of the Catholic Church:

"Once the tactic of infiltration of religious organizations was set by the Kremlin ... the Communists discovered that the destruction of religion could proceed much faster through infiltration of the (Catholic) Church by Communists operating within the Church itself. The Communist leadership in the United States realized that the infiltration tactic in this country would have to adapt itself to American conditions (Europe also had its cells) and the religious make-up peculiar to this country. In the earliest stages it was determined that with only small forces available to them, it would be necessary to concentrate Communist agents in the seminaries. The practical conclusion drawn by the Red leaders was that these institutions would make it possible for a small Communist minority to influence the ideology of future clergymen in the paths conducive to Communist purposes This policy of infiltrating seminaries was successful beyond even our communist expectations."

As a radio talk show host and avid listener to talk radio in Boston, I've listened intently to comments by Catholics as the crisis has unfolded. Much has been said regarding the left dominance of the seminaries and a prevalence of the ideas of "liberation theology" which is a biblically contradictory Trojan horse within the Catholic gates. Establishment organs, such as the Boston Globe, continue to wring their hands over the homosexual activities of priests while supporting a homosexual agenda everywhere else. Hopefully, the Catholic flock will wake up and sweep the corruption out of their church in the same way that their founder, Jesus of Nazareth, swept the moneychangers out of the Temple.

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[Polycarp]

Personally I tend to think the book "AA-1025" is purely a work of fiction. I have never seen anything to prove it is a factual history.

Some of its commentary is prophetic, some of it sensationalistic, some of it doubtful.

None-the-less, given the current crisis, I know several people carefully re reading it, as well as "Windswept House."

[RobbyS]

If more than 1000 communists were sent as "moles" into the Church, and if these guys were truly bright and dedicated, then we can speculate that more than a few became bishops.

[Polycarp]

he probably borrowed the material from some conspiracists somewhere

Don't write it all off as the work of conspiracy nutz.

Fatima mentions the errors of communism will spread worldwide. Fatima is Church approved and its hard to write off Sr. Lucy as a conspiracy theorist.

[narses]

What is your opinion? Is there truth in these reports? Is there a significant atheist presence in the hierarchy of our Church?

[Polycarp]

he should have been suspended from the priesthood

He had already been laicized when he was elected president of Haiti. He was no longer a priest by then.

[Aliska]

Maybe that AA-1025 is true and maybe it is just hysteria. There is no documentation whatever within its pages, and I believe the nurse who allegedly found it remained anonymous.

I read through it twice. Pretty scary when he murdered the vocations discerner.

[narses]

I keep hearing references to "Windswept House", should I read that?

[Aliska]

He had already been laicized when he was elected president of Haiti. He was no longer a priest by then.

Whew! I wasn't up on him. Score one for the church!

[Aliska]

Personally I tend to think the book "AA-1025" is purely a work of fiction.

That is what I finally concluded. It could have been a plant by someone who wanted to sow some seeds of discord and undermine confidence in the clergy post Vatican II.

[Aliska]

Fatima mentions the errors of communism will spread worldwide.

I always assumed she meant outside of the church. Certainly to some extent the church may have been contaminated by communist ideas, particularly in the poorer countries.

If I've met any communists in the church, they sure have fooled me.

[Polycarp]

Is there a significant atheist presence in the hierarchy of our Church?

I make a distinction between "practical (or pragmatic) atheists" and an ideological atheist. The former professes a belief in God yet in his words, deeds and life in general he bahaves as if God does not exist.

The latter outwardly proclaims God does not exist. Sometimes the latter live exemplary, moral lives. Often they live the lives of Stalins, Lenins and Maos.

I think there are many of the former in the hierarchy, and few of the latter. Yet even a few of the latter, if they exist in higher ranks in the hierarchy, can do tremendous damage.

One note about activist atheists:

Activist Atheists cannot stand the thought or mention of God. They do all they can to banish His name and His image and His laws from all public places. They are literal iconoclasts, destroying the Image of God everywhere. Once they are successful with that they move on to try to destroy God in private places and then even in the minds of their subjects.

When they accomplish this, they realize the image of God STILL EXSISTS, to their rage and hatred.

For man is made in the image and likeness of God.

So atheists always and everywhere eventually devolve to the destruction of the innocent, for the last image of God is in the eyes of childlike innocence.

Atheism as the animating philosophy of the state ALWAYS murders its own innocent. It is the ultimate iconoclasm.

[Litany]

I had not read any of it prior to your post. But it is eerily prophetic, to say the least, esp. the part about not kneeling and taking Communion in the hand.

But I am comforted in the knowledge that Christ will never let His Church be destroyed. We must continue to be faithful and strong.

[Loyalist]

Personally I tend to think the book "AA-1025" is purely a work of fiction.

Perhaps it's more of a fictional recreation of actual events; a historical novel, if you will. We may never know to what extent Vatican II was influenced by, if not actually planned, the Kremlin.

[Polycarp]

"Windswept House", should I read that?

Hmmm, it is a frightening fictional tale, yet many think it is the actual reality of the modern Church. Some think Malachi Martin was a prophet, some think he was a kook.

I thoroughly enjoyed it as a work of fiction. If you read it with that in mind, that's fine.

You'll have to then look at the signs of the times and decide whether, as some commentators say, it is 85 to 90% fact.

[Polycarp]

But I am comforted in the knowledge that Christ will never let His Church be destroyed. We must continue to be faithful and strong.

Amen. There will always be a true Pope and a faithful remnant. Of that we have been assured.

[Aliska]

I wouldn't discount the theory entirely, and don't doubt but what they tried and were successful to some extent. The problem is that there are many unsubstantiated allegations which are very damaging. I have some materials which claim that Pope Paul VI liked to read communist newspapers at breakfast. Without unimpeachable sources, some of these people are doing a lot of damage by their possibly slanderous remarks, in furtherance of their own agenda, of course.

We can't really know for certain what goes on behind closed doors. We have to take someone else's word for it. Because the church has a rather secretive mystique, it is a perfect target for all sorts of theories and innuendos.

[Loyalist]

Amen. There will always be a true Pope and a faithful remnant. Of that we have been assured.

Thank you, Polycarp! All too often people don't realize that this hope is what keeps traditional Catholics from despair--itself the flip side of presumption.

[AKA Elena]

My sister, a Carmelite in a teaching order holds two Master's degrees in education and administration. I recently had a chance to stay with her and her Sisters in Christ and I asked particularly about the crisis of so many Orders working independently to support their Motherhouse, instead of being contracted to the schools.

The answer I got was not too surprising, given the aura of today and may not hold true of ALL teaching Orders. They, in particular are unable to reconcile the parents influence and the stricter philosophies that they embrace.

In particular, my sister brought a rural Catholic school from virtual intellectual obsolescence to one of the finest Catholic schools in Louisiana. She was written up in the papers as some kind of Golden Gift to be treasured by all.

After a long and stressful "battle" with parents over the misconduct of some of her students ... she resigned as Principal and within weeks all of her fellow Sisters from her convent also left that school.

The wonderful convent of which she was Superior as well, a gift of an old family in the town, was given back to the lady and the teachers who lived there left that town. They thought it unfair not to have the house used by someone working in the Parish, which grounds virtually surrounded the convent.

She went back to teaching in another town and then was called home to California to care for my Mom until her death.

She is now a vibrant (although ill right now) committed Sister ... and both she and the other ex- Principal with whom she now lives have the same attitude and complaint ... they cannot compromise morals and faith with the parents in order to serve.

Perhaps someone else knows of other situations which are like this.

BTW, before my Mom needed full time nursing, my sister did some substitute teaching in California. Her most positive experience was when she was able to go to St. Catherine's Military Academy in Anaheim (taught by my high school teachers, Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose, Ca) where discipline and right thought was never questioned.

[redhead]

"Homosexuals, practicing their predilections in an overwhelmingly conservative Catholic community, while given protection by well-placed [similarly]minded superiors, could certainly contribute to the undermining of faith in Catholicism..."

As I have stated before, THIS is the nut of the thing. The priests would have gotten nowhere with their predations and abuses if their BISHOPS hadn't been complicit. Don't get me wrong: I love my Church and what she stands for. But I have had real misgivings about the holiness and purity of intention of most of the U.S. bishops for several years. I can't say what triggered the suspicion, but it hasn't improved with time. I guess I want to say that it won't do much good to kick out and defrock the pederast priests if we leave their equally guilty superiors in place.

[redhead]

As I read your post, I thought that it would be sad and ironic, indeed, if the Church watched over by Karol Woytyla, that fearsome old Commie-cruncher, were to be mortally wounded on his watch by the very Communists he has so decisively bested before. We need a LOT of very serious prayer and fasting for this battle. It is not the beginning of the end. But it might almost be the end of the beginning.