The Rise and Fall of Michael Voris

I have written many, many times on this blog about Michael Voris and the danger he poses to Catholics.  He has told Catholics that they should stop financially supporting their parishes and dioceses.  He has told Catholics that they should leave their parishes and find new churches because the vast majority of Catholic churches are Catholic in name only.  He has relentlessly and ruthlessly condemned validly ordained Catholic priests, bishops and cardinals.

A Catholic writer who is also a doctor and professor and friend of Michael Voris from their days in the seminary, took Voris to task for making threatening statements against Cardinal Dolan, as you can read HERE.   Voris recently made another threatening statement against a New York Archdiocesan priest, Father Jonathan Morris, when he said about Father Morris, "Won't someone rid us of this troublesome priest?"  You can read the transcript of this particular Vortex episode and watch it HERE.

Voris has informed us that the only REAL Catholics left in the world are those who believe exactly as he does. Everyone else is a fake Catholic headed to hell.
I have shown time and time again how Voris twists and manipulates facts and figures, and even tells outright lies to his listeners.  Last year I reported on the Pre-Pride Mass held at St. Francis Church in Manhattan.  I personally attended the Mass so I know firsthand exactly what happened there.  As I reported HERE and HERE, Michael Voris, who was also in attendance, gave a report that contained half truths and outright lies, all designed to fit the picture he personally wanted to paint.  

I showed the two totally contradictory stories Voris told about the incident at this year's St. Patrick's Day Parade in which he confronted Cardinal Dolan, which you can read HERE.

Yet Voris supporters continued to stand up for their hero and condemn me and anyone else who would dare to show the true nature of Voris's statements.  Nothing could deter "Vorisites" away from their hero.

Until now.

Diehard Voris supporters are suddenly finding their hero's wings are tarnished, that he is not quite the man they thought he was.  What has brought this about?  Have they finally seen through his negative and destructive comments?  Have they finally seen that his goal is not to unite the Church but to divide it and to set himself up as the one true Catholic whom they should all imitate?

Oh no, nothing like that. Traditionalists have turned their guns on Michael Voris because he has had the audacity to criticize the Society of St. Pius X, a dissident group of Catholic priests who reject everything post-Vatican II and actually tell their followers that the "Novus Ordo" Mass is invalid. Michael Voris insists that they are schismatic. That is not officially correct. Yes, they definitely have a schismatic mindset, but the Magesterium has not labeled them as such.

The SSPX is the darling of most Traditionalists who try their best to emulate them without actually going outside of the Church as they did. Most traditionalists look to the founder of the SSPX, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, as their hero. Archbishop Lefebvre blatantly and unapologetically disobeyed a direct order from Pope John Paul II, and as a result, Archbishop Lefebvre died in a state of excommunication from the Church. The four men ordained by LeFebvre were also excommunicated, but this was lifted in later years by Pope Benedict XVI. However, Lefebvre was already dead, so his excommunication can never be lifted.

I'm not sure that Lefebvre would have appreciated the kindness shown by Pope Benedict XVI.  As reported in his obituary in the New York Times, Lefebvre was completely unrepentant of his disobedient act. He stated, "I prefer to be in the truth without the Pope than to walk a false path with him."

As far as Voris supporters are concerned, you can say anything you want and make any threatening statements you care to make when it concerns validly ordained priests, bishops and cardinals who are in good standing with Rome.  But say something about the dissident Archbishop Lefebvre and his followers, and it's curtains for you.

This has especially become an issue because Pope Francis has given priests in the SSPX the authority to hear confessions and absolve sins.  They have not had this authority since splitting with Rome because they have not been under the authority of a valid bishop.  However, for the Year of Mercy, in his efforts to spread God's mercy across our globe, Pope Francis has by-passed the bishops and directly given the SSPX such authority if people come to them to make their confessions.

The traditionalists have seen this and have correctly noted that this proves Voris is wrong in his assertion that the SSPX is schismatic.  One of the better kinown traditionalist bloggers wrote about this HERE.  This blog is called, "A Blog for Dallas Area Catholics", and the author of the blog calls himself "Tantumblogo."  (I have had my own run-in with him when he came out in support of Voris's call to stop financially supporting our parishes and dioceses.  I disagreed with him, and I have since been banned from commenting on his blog.)

Tantumblogo tells us that not only has he been an ardent supporter of Voris, but he actually invited him to speak locally and Voris stayed at his house for three days.  As TB writes:

In fact, I would say that, until mid-2013, there was not a single topic on which we could be said to disagree. It was around this time however that the various reactions towards this pontificate began to manifest themselves.

TB believes this "troubling change" happened because of an unnamed man who provides major financial support to Voris:

[T]he man who provides a great deal of CMTV’s funding and who seems to have had an increasing influence on editorial content in the past few years, in particular, took some of this catechesis and ran with it, so to speak, influencing, over time, CMTV’s approach to topics related to the SSPX, criticism of the pontificate, and some related matters.

This is serious business to TB - not criticizing the Pope and "related matters."  However, the straw that broke the camel's back is this:

It was in the latter half of 2013 that this same individual began, privately, sending out a new, very negative position CMTV was going to stake out with regard to the SSPX. I’m not going to argue the merits of that position. However, he tried mightily to win me over to his very hostile view towards the Society. I simply don’t see the Society as being a major threat to souls today, certainly not anything that remotely compares to the dangers stemming from the modernists, the Synod, and this pontificate.

TB sees nothing wrong with criticizing the Holy Father and the rest of the Church - but keep your bloody hands off of the SSPX! This was the line that Voris dared to cross. Therefore, TB is finding it very hard to continue his support of Voris. But as TB reports, Voris's private comments are very different from his public comments, and this confuses TB even more:

The amazing thing is, privately, some folks at CMTV have, privately, inveighed quite harshly against Pope Francis. It is not a matter of not seeing the manifest problems. In fact I’ve heard some of the key players at CMTV say things regarding Pope Francis (privately) that go much beyond anything I or many others have written. But because they’ve gotten totally twisted off on this notion of “never criticize the pope publicly, no matter what,” and the complimentary notion that any criticism of the Pope will cause huge numbers of souls to “fly” to the SSPX, they refuse to broach this belief in public. Which, frankly, I’m fine with. If CMTV wants to privately counsel souls to avoid the SSPX and point out all the problems they perceive in that organization, fine. If they feel criticizing the Pope is not the right thing for them to do, fine. But they haven’t left it at that. They have waged unremitting war against those who feel differently and have spread ugliness and ill-will far and wide, including among many good people who have been in the struggle to restore the Church far, far longer than Michael Voris or “the funder” have been.

This is exactly why I no longer attend the TLM. I love the Traditional Mass, but TB's attitude is the common attitude found in those who attend the Mass. They feel they are basically at war with the Church, and that anyone who does not feel as they do is their enemy. The enemies of these traditionalists include the vast majority of Mass-attending Catholics and the hierarchy of the Church.

When TB refers to "many good people who have been in the struggle to restore the Church," he is referring to traditionalist fanatics such as Michael Matt, Chris Ferrara, the late Father Gruner, etc. These people stand in direct opposition to the mainstream Catholic Church. Voris has distanced himself from these particular people, and that is an unforgivable sin to many of his followers.

TB actually writes:

But when I say change, I’m referring to something more. I sense a negativity, a sort of dour imperiousness, that didn’t used to be so apparent, did it?

Is this guy kidding me?  No one can top Voris when it comes to negativity toward the mainstream Catholic Church.  But now that the negativity is extended towards other heroes in the traditionalist movement, Voris supporters are starting to balk.

TB ends his post with this:

PPPS – I’m probably going to regret this post. I am not posting this to make enemies, even if I know it is possible it will be viewed that way. I don’t view anyone as an enemy, though I know some who do. I want to repeat that I think everyone on every side in this fracas – Michael Voris, Terry Carroll, Matt, Ferrara, Vennari, the SSPX, the FSSP, etc., all are completely honest actors and doing what they think is absolutely vital according to virtue and what is best for souls. I hope this post will be taken in the same sense. May we all treat each other accordingly.

TB is very representative of those who will take the words of these traditionalist fanatics over those of the Magesterium.  TB is very concerned that all of those involved in the traditionalist movement treat each other as being on the same side and not as enemies.  Who is the enemy?  The Holy Father, the Magesterium and your local Ordinary and church.

Mary Ann Kreitzer, with whom I have exchanged comments several times, both here on and her blog, wrote a post in support of TB, which you can read HERE.   Mary Ann has not only been an ardent supporter of Voris, she has appeared on his programs and has written articles for his website.

But as she now writes:

And...I have to agree with Tantum. I've thought for awhile that Church Militant TV is over the top in their attack on the traditionalists. The smearing of Catholic Family News, John Vennari, Chris Ferrara, et al earlier this year was beyond the pale. I blogged about it at the time because I thought it was so unprofessional.

Mary Ann continues:

I hate to say that because we desperately need truth-tellers who lift the rocks to expose the public scandals in the Church and those committing them. As a good priest once said to me, "If you can't stop a scandal, the next best thing is to expose it." And Michael Voris and his team did it so well in the past. Why they shifted to attacking the SSPX as public enemy #1 I don't know. I've never belonged and have never attended an independent chapel, but I remember the days when the SSPX was formed. I think Archbishop Lefebvre had good reason to be concerned.

Mary Ann ends her post as follows:

Today, I find myself watching The Vortex less frequently and going to the website rarely. I used to post The Vortex on my blog several times a week. Not so much now. 

Let's pray that Church Militant TV experiences a revival. We need strong voices in the Church to call for fidelity to Jesus Christ and His teachings. We sure aren't hearing those strong voices from the pope and the bishops for the most part. Just look at the World Meeting for Families with its organizing team loaded with pro-aborts funding Democrats who hate Church teachings. What's wrong with that picture? 

No, Mary Ann.  The question is, what is wrong with the picture of Catholics getting upset that one of their heroes refuses to publicly criticize the Pope? As TB reported, the people at Voris's organization has no problem speaking against the Holy Father in private, but have decided they don't want to do it publicly. It is not enough for Voris's supporters that he is still just as hateful towards the rest of the hierarchy in the Church and that he has no problem with privately criticizing the Holy Father. They want him to speak publicly against the Holy Father, and to stop "bashing" the poor SSPX, who really are right but have just gone about it the wrong way.

These people need to realize that Voris is on a major ego trip. He holds himself up as a model Catholic - one who understands everything, and certainly far better than the evil Church hierarchy does. Voris has all the answers we are looking for, and he wants everyone to know it. He doesn't want to share the spotlight with the other "completely honest actors [who are] doing what they think is absolutely vital according to virtue and what is best for souls", as described by TB. Voris attacks priests, bishops and cardinals of the Catholic Church, and he attacks the other "leaders" of the traditionalist movement because he wants to be the sole leader that everyone looks up to. 

 
But this is all backfiring on Voris. He is losing supporters because they will not tolerate someone who refuses to speak against the Holy Father. Voris didn't count on this. Voris didn't count on this kind of press from his former friend, Louie Verrecchio:

As  Verrecchio writes:

Church Militant.tv and Michael Voris and their puppet master money man are positively obssessed; obsessed with slandering at every turn the Society of St. Pius X.

Voris has tried to grab it all for himself, and as a result, he is losing it all.  And he should thank God for this.  Maybe he will somehow come to his senses and repent of his real obsession - which is to "slander at every turn" the Catholic Church.

How I wish that the Voris supporters who are now turning against him were doing so because they support the Catholic Church.  The sad truth is that they support their perception of the Catholic Church, which for the most part rejects Church hierarchy.  They give much more credence to the dissident SSPX than they do to Rome,  As a result, they may very well be those virgins who do not have enough oil in their lamps and will be left on the outside looking in.