Is Fr. Longenecker a FrancisChurch Evangelist, or Just a Tortured Bubbling Pot of Rage?

One of the most sinister fronts in the barrage of Pope Francis faux-Catholic leftist political propagandizing is his ongoing comparison of faithful people to ISIS.  After regularly denouncing Catholics who believe Church teaching as sick, twisted ‘fundamentalists,’ Francis chose last week to blame ‘fundamentalists’ for the recent Brussels bombing which killed 70 and injured 300.   Refusing to fault the actual Islamists for the massacre, our Holy Father easily linked these mass-murderers to strong adherents in any religion, including Catholics.  “We have them too,” Pope Francis loves to say.

Closer to home, this shocking FrancisTorch is carried by media pundit and former Anglican priest, Fr. Dwight Longenecker.  Some weeks ago Fr. Longenecker wrote an outrageous piece tying the faithful Catholic ‘fundamentalists’ at The Remnant, who vigorously defend Church teaching, to people on the edge of violence.

The magazine’s editor Michael Matt was quick to respond in a powerful critique and call for retraction, but that wasn’t all.  Today we find that attorney and Remnant columnist Chris Ferrara, conscious of the ramifications of such anti-Christian slander, also sent a demand letter directly to Longenecker.

This worked.  The response was quick and complete, apologetic and accurate. It also had three published versions, each progressively less chastened, more angry, and condescending.

Notice the changes in the following three segments.

****

Mr Matt is Not a Violent Man

March 31, 2016 by Fr. Dwight Longenecker

I have received a letter from Christopher A. Ferrara–an attorney for The Remnant which says:

Accordingly, I hereby demand that within five days of the date of this letter you publish on your website, with as much prominence as the original article, your full and unequivocal retraction of the statements “given enough rope they will move from verbal violence to physical violence” and “given enough rope they will move from verbal violence to personal violence” as they apply to the Remnant its Editor and his associates.”

In compliance with Mr Ferrara’s request I retract fully, unequivocally and completely any statement or suggestion that Mr Matt, The Remnant staff, readers and associates might tend towards violence of any kind, nor would they ever threaten anybody.

****

Mr Matt is Not a Violent Man

March 31, 2016 by Fr. Dwight Longenecker

I have received a letter from Christopher A. Ferrara–an attorney for The Remnant which accuses me of libel and says:

Accordingly, I hereby demand that within five days of the date of this letter you publish on your website, with as much prominence as the original article, your full and unequivocal retraction of the statements “given enough rope they will move from verbal violence to physical violence” and “given enough rope they will move from verbal violence to personal violence” as they apply to the Remnant its Editor and his associates.”

In compliance with Mr Ferrara’s request I retract fully, unequivocally and completely any statement or suggestion that Mr Matt, The Remnant staff, readers and associates might tend towards physical violence of any kind.

I further retract my outrageous suggestion that Mr Matt and his associates would ever resort to personal violence, or threaten anybody.

****

Mr Matt is Not a Violent Man

March 31, 2016 by Fr. Dwight Longenecker

I have received a letter from Christopher A. Ferrara–an attorney for The Remnant which accuses me of libel and says:

Accordingly, I hereby demand that within five days of the date of this letter you publish on your website, with as much prominence as the original article, your full and unequivocal retraction of the statements “given enough rope they will move from verbal violence to physical violence” and “given enough rope they will move from verbal violence to personal violence” as they apply to the Remnant its Editor and his associates.”

In compliance with Mr Ferrara’s request I retract fully, unequivocally and completely any statement or suggestion that Mr Matt, The Remnant staff, readers and associates might be angry fundamentalists who are inclined towards physical violence.

I further retract my outrageous suggestion that Mr Matt and his associates would even conceive of the idea of resorting to personal violence.

They would never, for example, threaten anybody.

****

Funny.  Oh the irony!

What kind of person can only muster some fraternal respect and decency under pressure, and then only as little as possible?  Do Catholics now need to adopt the world’s childish, angry, and glib persona too?

Go ahead, Fr. Longenecker.  Defame and malign the faithful all you want.  We’ll continue to defend the Church whether you feel ‘threatened’ or ‘unsafe’ like some student activist or not.  Throw all journalistic integrity to the wind even though you’re a priest.  You’ll only make ever more clear the stark difference between what passes for a Catholic opinion leader these days and a true, gentle Christian.