Michael Voris, "RealCatholic TV" and Archbishop Vigneron.

I normally don't comment on volatile issues within the Church. Face it, if we're attacking one another just who benefits from the fighting? It isn't those trying to follow Christ. So I've not spoken out about (former) Father John Corapi, Father Pavone, Our Lady of Medjugorje, the 4th Secret of Fatima, Father Thomas Euteneuer or any other controversial items. The hate and discontent raised amongst the Faithful is already too much, why should I add to it?

The Voris/Arbp. Vigneron dust up is different because too many Catholics are ready to go to the mat for the wrong reasons. I'm talking specifically about the defenders of Michael Voris and his "RealCatholic TV" organization.

For those who aren't Catholic and really don't give a rip, this whole affair has been over the term "Catholic" in Voris' organization's title. The Archbishop has said Voris & Co. never received permission to use that word and they should cease immediately. That's where the fun begins.

Hey, Voris DOES put out a lot of thought provoking things via his webcasts on YouTube. Some of them are damned good, some of them are of completely Looney Tunes quality.

One thing he does is routinely claim many Church problems as having originated approx. 50 years ago (read "Fruits of Vatican II"). It's an almost reflexive statement on any given topic. He's as wrong as a football bat, Vatican II and it's changes HAVE been used to cover some abuses but many more of our problems are merely the fruits of long festering rot in the Body of Christ.

If you don't agree with me, fine. It's only my opinion, I'll stick by it until proven wrong. But you will notice that I don't cover my rants with the "Catholic" cloak of respectability, which is what Voris does.

The Archbishop was right in calling him to task on this, he needs to stop trying to pass his commentary off as almost Magisterial in origin.

Voris DOES have a lot of education in the Faith, he received a Sacred Theology Baccalaureate (STB) from Sacred Heart Major Seminary/Angelicum in Rome – Magna Cum Laude. That's a far cry from my own 8 years of attendance at Our Lady of Perpetual Payments Elementary School and the single year of schooling in a now defunct Catholic high school. But he, like myself, is a member of the laity. He is not a member of the clergy, he is not a part of the teaching Magisterium. He is expressing ONLY his own opinions as a Catholic (as I am here) and they should be more easily identified as such. They're not so identified and IMO can be readily mistaken as official Church positions.

So whatever other faults Arbp. Vigneron may have, he is right on the money in this instance. As the leader of the Archdiocese of Detroit he has the responsibility to protect his flock from possibly erroneous teaching. The fact that the teaching we're talking about has a worldwide reach is unimportant, it reaches into the AOD and so it needs to be addressed by the Archbishop there. End of story.