Against Tim Flanders and His Diabolism

A Note to the Tenderhearted In general, my audience knows my writing to be measured, and it is often described as charitable. This is something I work hard at, because it isn’t always easy to stay cool as a cucumber when you do what I do. There are legions of people who would like to see my downfall, and, lets be honest, it isn’t an easy thing to defend Catholic Tradition, and especially the SSPX. At times my motives have been questioned — the Trad Inc. stuff, etc. — and I have been accused of every sin under the Sun. I do what I do for basically two reasons, which are really one reason; and neither of those reasons are financial, because defending the SSPX is not what I would call a good business decision! My family certainly won’t miss any meals, but you would be out of your mind if you thought someone like me could achieve the professional success of a mainstream Catholic commentator by doing what I do. Those men, and I don’t blame them, will get hefty speaking fees to show up and speak at massive conferences, and so on. I, on the otherhand, will hop in my car and drive to Timbuckto to give talks for a bit of money and trust that the Lord will encourage people to be generous with donations. I am grateful for all of it, and I do not lament or regret doing it, because it isn’t about the money. If I could do it for free, I would. In any event, my reasons. First, I want to defend the Catholic Church, because it is the most important thing that I believe I can do with my time as a professional. I didn’t seek out this path, but it sort of fell on my lap, and I took it as a sign from Providence that I should continue down the path laid in front of me. Initially, I merely wanted to do something like being a run of the mill apologist at a place like Catholic Answers. Then, I found Catholic Tradition, and the rest, as they say, is history. Second, I do what I do, with regard to defending Tradition and the SSPX, because I am convinced, as God is my witness, that a Revolution has taken place in the Church, and therefore we must defend against the Revolution for the sake of the Church. My path brought me to the SSPX, which I was not raised in, and did not seek of my own accord. It is my belief that the SSPX is the only priestly organization within the Church that has both the theological formation, and the administrative reality sufficient to offer a comprehensive resistance to the disease of Modernism. Of course, there are other great priests outside the SSPX, and I count many of them as my friends, but as far as things go, the SSPX does not have to give a hat-tip to Modernism in any way, even implicitly or by silence, and I think that is indispensable. Whether you attend the SSPX or not, you benefit from their fight, because their fight is for you and your soul, even if you have never met them. Now, I always defend my own. I will defend my family, I will defend my friends and my community, I will defend my country, and I will defend my priests. In addition, I will always defend Archbishop Lefebvre because I believe he was, is, a great saint, and that history will show us as the years and centuries go by, that he truly was an Athanasius of our time. In any event, when someone attacks my own, I do take it personally, because I am a human being, and I am not a sociopath, so I have emotions and affection for persons that I love very much. I love the SSPX, because I love Archbishop Lefebvre like a father, even though I never met him. I love my priests because they love my wife and children enough — along with the other faithful they serve — to choose a life of being an outcast and hated by the Church they serve as valiantly as anyone for nothing other than love of Our Blessed Lord and his Bride. When men like Tim Flanders go down the path of creating new cockamamie ways to try and prove the SSPX is in schism, they don’t just do bad theology, but they hurt people. Real people. And I see that with my own eyes. For instance. Families that fou