Monthly Archives: December 2023

I’ve been really fighting the urge to post anything about the story out of Ferndale. Like many of you, I’ve read and seen about more than I ever hoped to about these people. And like many of you, I once (many years ago) was a premium subscriber to CM.

I want to begin by saying that I met Gary once. My opinion of him in a nutshell? He was gracious. He took time out of his day to meet with a “fan”. He allowed me access to the media room at CPAC – he was covering the event – and showed me around. In all he spoke with me for about thirty minutes. Now that one meeting says nothing other than that he was, as I said, gracious. My late alcoholic brother was also gracious… and extremely charming. And that same brother, God rest his soul, would have given you the shirt off his back despite the countless demons he fought (or didn’t fight) during his time on earth. And having dealt with McCarrick and his ilk earlier in my life, I knew that appearances are just that.

I thought long ago (and still believe) that Gary did very good work. I also thought about three years ago that he shifted gears and went off the rails. Case in point, about six years ago, I cancelled my premium membership. I was going over the home budget and realized we could save a couple pennies by cutting five or six subscription services. Within minutes of hitting the button I received an email from an intern at CM asking why I would do such a thing. I was taken aback. Nonetheless, I’m glad I did. As time went on, I saw strange things. I saw Gary breathlessly reporting on the transfer of Archbishop Sheen’s mortal remains while wearing a tee shirt that no man should ever wear outside of a gym and even then it’s questionable. I saw his cohort, Mrs. Niles, ruthlessly attacking the SSPX. I saw Gary fawn over Milo. It was all just a bit too fabulous.

Then I saw them dox Mike Parrot. I’m not Parrot’s biggest fan but I could tell he was in the right on this one. I was pretty much done. I even contemplated asking Frank Walker to put a disclaimer on any link to CM articles so I’d know that’s where I was going before clicking, so “done” with all that was I.

When the news of Gary’s ouster broke several weeks ago, I thought, “Sad…” And it is sad. I watched his video and this is what thought. I don’t despise him. It is obvious now that he should never have been in a public role as he was. Do I think he is sincere in his desire to repent, and reform his life again? I certainly hope and pray that he is as I also hope and pray that he stays away from cameras and microphones for the rest of his life.

As for the people around him who are now coming out against him… The lady who was supposedly his “TV Wife” (and I use that term quite innocuously as I worked in the same television news industry as Gary and it means just what it says it means) distancing herself from him with such disgust. She says she did not know, and that we should give her the benefit of the doubt, and by the way, please continue to follow her. I never saw that same benefit applied to the SSPX. I saw Thug #2 mount his soapbox with such haughtiness, claiming to be a “loyal son of the Church”. Funny, but all the things he now says that he was aware of, never crossed his mind to inform the general public until the day he was fired. In the back of my mind, I tend to concur that he is a son of a something.

And I have seen countless videos online of other former employees begging their viewers to continue to support the “good people who are still left in that organization”. They say, “It is almost Christmas and it would be terrible to be out of a job right now.”

Listen, I get it. I was in that position once. I quit a job two weeks before Christmas a few years ago. I was working for a diocese as the vice principal of a Catholic school. I was informed by the principal that if I told anyone the real reasons why I quit my job. – mainly his incompetence – that I would not be paid for the remainder of the pay period which went through Christmas. Funny enough, that diocese did not contribute to the state’s unemployment system. Odd how that works, isn’t it?

And I do feel sad for them. I don’t want anyone to be out on their ears, especially not in December.

Here’s where they get me. They all seem to have jumped on the fact that a young CM employee has made an offer to the Board of Directors to purchase the assets. They all seem to think that this is great news, and that the organization can be revitalized and reconstituted.

What they are not telling you – for what it’s worth – is that this young buck is Gary’s godson. Take that for whatever it is worth. I had it confirmed for me by a former CM employee. Do I think that things can possibly turn around at that place?

As they say in Berlin, “Hell Nein!”

The best thing that could happen to that place right now, is its total dissolution.

And while we are on the subject…

If I hear one more person try to make excuses for the fact that a man in his 20s (or several of them for that matter) just “didn’t know what to do when an older man attempted to groom them in the ways of sodomy” I’m going to vomit.

Dudes, there are scores of videos on YouTube, teaching anyone who wants to watch how to throw a punch. And if any one of you had stood up to Gary years ago and knocked him flat on his ass, left his nose bloodied, and told him in the words of the poet, “Get bent,” you wouldn’t be in this position today.

McCarrick never tried anything with me and thank God for that. Because of my own past experience, I do believe that there are many people inside that organization in Ferndale, who really did not know what was going on. But I can tell you that if Teddy had ever put a hand on me for any reason, other than to ordain me to the priesthood, we would’ve had a dead archbishop on our hands.

And now I think I’m good.

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!