Gregory XVIII / “Fr.” Tran Van Khoat fraud exposed!

© Copyright 2018, T. Stanfill Benns (All emphasis within quotes added by the author)

The following link is posted on a site that has promoted (Peter) Tran Van Khoat as Gregory XVIII, Giuseppe (Cardinal) Siri’s “successor,” for the past two decades: (http://www.tcwblog.com/182861438/6821741/posting/manifest-heretic-khoat-van-tran-in-plush-vn-pad-w-wife). It reveals that Khoat is married (his wife’s name is Nguyen Thi Giang Huong) and has been an international businessman for all these years. Another site lists Khoat as the father of at least two sons (http://ourladysresistance.org/peter-khoat-van-tran.html. (This link is provided only for reader reference; the website creators falsely teach Pope St. Pius X was the last true pope.)

This, of course, is no surprise. Since 1989, I have warned Catholics away from Khoat. Why? His 1967 ordination was never confirmed by Traditionalists and could not be confirmed. He is not listed in the Catholic Directories for 1967 or 1968. He arrived in the U.S. with no proof of his ordination, at least none that has ever been seen or could ever be verified. The NO hierarchy may not have been able to easily confirm his credentials because of the war years (1960s, 1970s). They later declared him excommunicated for functioning without their jurisdiction, initially as a Pius X Society “priest,” but were they sure he was ever qualified to possess it? Only they can answer that question.

A 1975 article in a Ft. Chaffee, Arkansas newspaper quotes the head of a “Catholic Conference of Chaffee” as reporting that Khoat had been “relieved of his duties in Saigon and was no longer a representative of any (emph. mine) religious group.” So did NO church officials sanction him or government officials? The South Viet Nam government was not interfering with the functioning of the NO church at that time; this occurred only after 1975, (see https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/vietnam-catholic-church). Was Khoat dismissed by NO officials because he was married? Was he possibly involved in other non-Catholic religious activities as well?  The visuals on this Vietnamese language site might offer readers some clues: (http://hotranvietnam.vn/index.php/home/chitiethodongtrantoc/1. And one reader conducting additional research alleges that Khoat may actually be a Viet Nam Buddhist who belongs to the Tran Dynasty! This seems further supported by information below.

Correspondent provides info

I received correspondence regarding this situation with Khoat and his fatherhood/ business dealings several years ago. Because revealing it would have involved crossing Today’s Catholic World editor David Hobson, and because I had been advised by others to wait until a more opportune time to address it, I did not post it to my website. In 2008, Hobson threatened to sue me for comments posted about Khoat. I did correct a typo he objected to, but that was not enough. He eventually attacked my website, which cost me a good chunk of change to rebuild. I had no desire to tangle with him again and every reason to believe he would respond just as hatefully as he did the first time if I tried to forward the information. I have kept all those emails if anyone is interested in corroborating this.

Catholic theologians teach no one is obliged to correct someone if there is good reason to believe they will not listen. Neither Hobson nor his followers have ever given the slightest indication they are open to any criticism of Khoat or the Siri fantasy. But now Hobson has been forced to admit Khoat has perpetrated a gigantic hoax on those belonging to his papal restoration crowd. And to his credit he has corrected at least some of the record, but only after Khoat self-published his Catholic Manifesto book. He has yet to take down his many pages supporting Khoat and the Siri “papacy.”

The whole tragedy could have been avoided if the laws and teachings of the Church had been followed in the first place. A doubtful cleric is no cleric at all. It is the unanimous opinion of theologians, the theological manuals state, that a doubtful opinion regarding the validity of the Sacraments is not sufficient to justify their reception. And being unanimous, such an opinion must be followed, according to the teaching of Pope Pius IX. We have grave doubt that Khoat received valid ordination — if he received orders at all, it was from an NO bishop who possessed no jurisdiction to ordain him in the first place. Ecumenical councils and the continual magisterium have consistently nullified all the acts of antipopes and their illegitimate hierarchies. We have only Khoat’s say-so that he was ordained in 1967, in the old rite, and there is nothing to back this up. Do we really trust this man to tell anyone the truth?!

The laws governing papal election and clergy functioning without papal approval are deadly serious matters, but no one takes them seriously. Pope Pius XII made obedience to papal and church law a necessity for Church membership, so those not obeying these laws and openly flaunting them cannot be considered Catholic. But who listens to the popes? Who follows their teachings and instructions? Certainly not Traditionalists who would rather receive “Catholic” truths from men Christ considers hirelings and false shepherds. It is total disregard for and outright hatred of both papal laws and Canon Law that has led all these people down this road; that and the refusal to perform due diligence in vetting the “clergy” to whom they entrust the most precious gift of all — their eternal salvation.

The following background on Khoat could have been discovered by those who truly value their faith, and the people so zealously promoting these fraudulent characters. Why did they failed to uncover it? That is a question that demands answers.

A little history

President Ngo dinh Diem (a Catholic) was the leader of (South) Vietnam during the 1950s and up to his assassination in 1963. He had several brothers, two of whom were Ngo dinh Nhu and Ngo dinh Thuc, the Traditionalist bishop. In his capacity as bishop, Ngo dinh Thuc helped his brother rule South Vietnam; his assigned area was Cochin, China. He was very ambitious and his brother actively campaigned to have him appointed cardinal.

Cochin China was a hotbed for criminal activity dating back to the 1920s. Chinese criminal organizations infiltrated existing Viet Nam gangs and crime families during this time period and set up camp there. This region was often referred to as the birthplace of the “Vietnamese Mafia.” A young street thug named Bai Vien headed the criminal activities of what was known as the Binh Xuyen in Cochin during this time period. After spending many years in prison, Bay Vien escaped and went back to his old haunts and habits. His organization later evolved into a secret society. In August 1945 the Viet Minh’s chief of Cochin China, Tran Van Giau, formed an alliance with Bay Vien and others against the French.

Competing for power with Bai Vien were two sects, one of which was “the monotheistic, syncretic religion officially established in the city of Tây Ninh in southern Vietnam in 1926 known as Cao Dai, or Caodaism.” The official name of the religion means “The Third Great Universal Religious Amnesty… Caodaism teaches that, throughout human history, God the Father has revealed his truth many times through the mouths of many prophets, but these messages were always either ignored or forgotten due to humanity’s susceptibility to secular desires. Adherents believe that the age has now come when God speaks to humanity directly” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caodaism). The sect has its own “pope” and “hierarchy. (Compare this definition to Khoat’s description of his new book, “A unique book that prepares us for the “true new time” on Earth…Khoat’s next book “will be about ‘God Our Heavenly Father’s “True New Time” on Earth …called the Catholic Revolution” (https://outskirtspress.com/catholicmanifesto; also https://selfpublishingauthor.wordpress.com/2019/10/09/introducing-rev-khoat-van-tran-ph-d-author-of-catholic-manifesto-a-trilogy/). So was Khoat claiming all this time to be a Caodaist pope or a Catholic Pope?! Was he a Caodaist, a Buddhist or both? At this point, only Khoat himself knows, and he isn’t telling.)

Ngo dinh Nhu, brother of Ngo dinh Diem and Ngo dinh Thuc, was married to a Buddhist woman who converted to Catholicism. Madame Nhu’s maiden name was Tran van. Her father, Tran van Chuong was the Vietnamese ambassador to Washington, Canada, Argentina, and Brazil, and his wife was a Vietnam representative to the UN. The historian Hilaire du Berrier (Background to Betrayal, p. 46) wrote that Diem established his political base on his brothers and immediate family, and then, “Beyond them would come the in-laws, and their in-laws, spreading downward through ever widening rings of cousins…Wherever one looked there were only Ngo dinhs and Tran vans…” Du Berrier describes the Ngo dinhs and Tran Vans as Viet Nam royalty. Khoat claims to have met Ngo dinh Thuc only once after coming to the U.S., but we suspect  there is far more of a connection there than Khoat was willing to reveal.

The Viet Nam war began in earnest during the Johnson administration, ending in 1975. It was at this time that Khoat emigrated to the U.S., according to court documents later filed in 1996 (https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1657831/tran-v-fiorenza/). We believe Tran van Khoat may be related to Madame Nhu, which is how he obtained citizenship so quickly, long before the “boat people” he came with were able to do so. In 1977 Khoat bought a Baptist church he used for services to minister to the Vietnamese — Vietnamese Resurrection Church dedicated by Marcel Lefebvre. Eventually these Vietnamese left him to open their own church within the Novus Ordo diocese there. In the mid-1980s, Khoat sold the Baptist church to the Buddhists. Where the money came from originally to purchase this church and where it went when it was sold is not clear.

As the court document shows, Khoat represented a number of fishermen from a village in Viet Nam. He said they were distant relatives and acquaintances but one article states none of them even knew him until he began organizing the immigrants in Ft. Chafee, Arkansas in 1975 (see quotes from article above). While he contended with Novus Ordo authorities for years over running Resurrection Church under their auspices, he eventually joined forces with Lefebvre who then dedicated the church. The Novus Ordo declared he had been automatically excommunicated for this action and for not deeding the church over to the diocese, as the court documents demonstrate. If they knew anything about his Saigon separation, they do not indicate it. But transparency on this subject would have gone a long way to clarify the situation and protect others from being duped by Khoat.

A Tran Van Khoat also is connected with a company called Keystone Development Management SA in Switzerland, which could be connected to the Keystone Development Co. in the U.S. Two separate articles in the Stroudburg, Pennsylvania Pocono Record, written in 2001 detail what homeowners describe as the unethical mortgage maneuvers used by this company to acquire real estate and what they suffered as a result of these practices. (Google Unreal Deals: inflated prices spur mortgage mess). In 2010, the Keystone Development Management SA was deleted from the commercial register in Geneva, Switzerland. The firm went bankrupt in June 2005 shortly after a Swiss financial publication reports that Keystone went into “liquidation,” as reported here: (https://www.moneyhouse.ch/en/company/keystone-development-management-sa-en-21474044571. Tran Van Khoat is listed as the contact for liquidation along with a Quang Thach Ngo. In the autobiography for his newly released book, Catholic Manifesto, Khoat mentions his business activities (https://selfpublishingauthor.wordpress.com/2019/10/09/introducing-rev-khoat-van-tran-ph-d-author-of-catholic-manifesto-a-trilogy/), identifying Switzerland as one of his bases of operation.

“Fr.” Khoat and Siri

Later Khoat accepted money sent to Gary Giuffre by Hutton Gibson to visit Siri in Italy,  then eventually declared himself to be Siri’s successor. All this was based only on Khoat’s accounts of his trip to Italy. No documentation from Siri was ever presented confirming the fact he was pope, that he discussed his “papacy” with Khoat, that he was a “prisoner,” that Khoat’s “orders” were regularized as he claims on Hobson’s site, etc. Several Traditionalist writers, including Hutton Gibson, eventually abandoned the Siri theory as promoted by Gary Giuffre, who miserably failed to prove his case for Siri as pope. And the funding of that project began in earnest in 1991, following David Bawden’s “election”!  They eventually abandoned their efforts because the facts could not and did not prove the case. In his January 2006 newsletter, The War Is Now, Gibson concludes: “Gary was an extremely selective investigator who thought to cover the fact that he covered facts.” Nuff said.

My personal experience with Khoat occurred in March of 1989 when, at the invitation of David Bawden, I attended a religious retreat Khoat hosted in Port Arthur, Texas Bawden had been in contact with Khoat since October of 1988, when he traveled to Texas to speak to him about Khoat’s meeting with Siri that May. He later went to Port Arthur to study under Khoat in February of 1989. When I first entered Khoat’s rectory, I was shocked to find a large picture of Karol Wojtyla hung over the entrance to his office. When I asked Bawden about it, the excuse was given that he used it to lure people in, then would explain the Traditionalist stance. But I wasn’t convinced. The slide presentation I attended given by Giuffre to promote the Siri “papacy” was not convincing either. Something was off, and I would later find out why my radar was sending urgent signals.

During the retreat, Khoat made several outrageous statements, suggestive of what Bawden had already revealed in a letter: his intention to establish a Catholic Secret Society based on the Essenes, an idea favored by Traditionalists Dennis D’Amico (aka Ely Jason) and Spark* editor Christopher Shannon. He was very interested in the Essenes, as were those who were connected with Britons Catholic Library. Towards the end of the retreat, he denied that the documents of the ordinary magisterium could contain infallible statements and limited the incidence of infallibility to rare occasions. He also endorsed the material/formal heresy, as did the Thucites. On hearing these heresies, I stood up during the retreat session, told him he was teaching heresy, left the retreat and returned home a few days later, in time for Easter. (There were several witnesses to this among those also attending the retreat.) Bawden remained in Port Arthur for an indefinite period of time after my departure. He did not leave Texas for Kansas until April 19. From April 5-April 8, 1989, Bawden does not make it clear exactly where he was.

In 2007 or 2008, Bawden posted on his website that Khoat officiated at a Buddhist wedding on April 8 but does not say whether this ceremony was held or how he knew about the ceremony. (I left Bawden in March 2007.) Bawden states on his site that Khoat’s family had recently converted from Buddhism and notes that under Canon Law, by marrying the Buddhist couple, Khoat was more or less guilty of communicatio in sacris. Bawden also lists some of Khoat’s questionable business dealings. In March of 2008, David Hobson posted documents on his website that prove Bawden had completely accepted the Siri “fact,” as Hobson called it and had even approached a “Siri bishop” for ordination while in Texas with Khoat. This is documented with Bawden’s own letters at http://www.todayscatholicworld.com/mar08tcw.htm#kook-in-kan. I have signed letters from Bawden which show I never realized he accepted the Siri theory and did not approve of his studies with Khoat. This even before I journeyed to Texas for the retreat.

In attempting to counter Bawden’s claims regarding Khoat’s business practices, Hobson wrote on his site: “Fr. Khoat did no wrong here. I have gone through hundreds of documents concerning his life and business dealings — what is the point, here?” Well the point is that where there is smoke a fire often exists, and a meticulous investigation needs to be conducted. I am sure Mr. Hobson is beginning to understand this, now that he has been badly burned and his followers blinded by the dense smoke this fire created for so many years. But if he isn’t aware of all the background information above, he cannot possibly come completely clean with his readers. And he still has yet to admit that those who divested themselves of Giuffre, for failing to prove Siri was really the pope elected following John 23, were right all along. He also claims that the “sacraments” Khoat administered to the papal restoration group were valid until only recently, when he “suddenly” became a heretic. But there was nothing sudden about Khoat’s change of heart; no one can be certain he was ever a priest in the first place.

As documented in The Phantom Church in Rome and elsewhere, Siri was not a Catholic cardinal going into the conclave to begin with. He proved this beyond a reasonable doubt by remaining a prominent member of the Novus Ordo hierarchy, excommunicating himself by accepting John 23 as a true pope and participating in succeeding conclaves. What “prisoner pope” elects a new “pope”? Following such theories down the proverbial rabbit hole and trying to make sense of anything only leads to a condition approaching total insanity. We decided a long time ago we were not going there. Who needs drama and make-believe when we have1,958 years of Catholic teaching to guide us!

The Siri conjecture and Catholic truth

The Khoat business may be making a little more sense now that a few other shoes have dropped.  Those on Trad forums are commenting that the videos issuing from the Catholic Identity Conference (CIC) two weekends ago are creating new interest in the plausibility of the Siri theory advanced for the past 35 years by Texan Gary Giuffre. The CIC was held for the fourth year in a row to unify Traditionalists (an impossibility), in the midst of the Francis controversy over pachamama and other heresies. I suspect the enthusiasm being generated for this foolishness is mainly among the younger generation who have no personal knowledge of what really went on in the 1970s, 1980s. But whatever was discussed at this conference or decided by it, the underlying reason it was held was to begin to rally Traditionalists in support of a papal restoration, the true reason behind Khoat’s exposure as a shyster.

So maybe we need to look at the Khoat situation from the standpoint of the attempts to “de-pope” Francis. The Siri theory has been encumbered by Khoat and his antics since the 1980s. Those backing Giuffre (Hutton Gibson and son Mel) eventually jettisoned him for failure to prove the case despite hundreds of thousands spent funding his efforts over a 15-year period. Khoat split with Giuffre for a new manager before the Gibsons cut Giuffre loose, muddying the water over the years with his papal restoration campaign. So In the end, he needed to go as well. But he also needed to go for another reason. The Gibsons and others already had their doubts about Khoat and they so informed Giuffre. Giuffre also had been warned by the Gibsons about other “priests” he recruited to say Mass at St. Jude’s Shrine in Stafford, Texas. An excerpt below from Hutton Gibson’s The War is Now, (no. 64, p. 7-8) sums up the situation.

“Gary is a great priest-finder. He tracks them down and brings them to St. Jude’s Shrine, so that Catholics in the area need never do without the traditional Mass. So he has maintained such jewels as Hector (the collector) Bolduc, Mario Blanco [ordered out of the Sacramento, Calif. diocese in 1973; later accused of alleged sexual misconduct with young boys-Ed.] and Vincent (novus ordo) Le Moine, all up to his strict standards. You may have read about our trials with Le Moine in The Enemy Is Still Here!, pages 342 to 353, in which he is called ‘Father X.’” Gibson further relates that these priests remained in their positions even despite numerous complaints to Giuffre regarding their behavior. (This is a great case in point, regarding only one of many Trad operations. Why should it surprise anyone that they would wind up with only NO flotsam as priest material?! Another great reason to keep the faith at home.)

But Giuffre managed to recover from the sound and well merited public trouncing delivered by his funders, and this recovery was not surprising. Giuffre was marketing a commodity Traditionalist organizers desperately needed, and they patiently waited for the right time to use it for their own purposes. They knew the dam would eventually break where Khoat was concerned (and possibly even facilitated the break?), and that this would free them up so they could move forward. Papal restoration could then be entirely their game. Others would be freed to join the cause without Khoat’s embarrassing baggage. And this speculation is based on similar dynamics at work in past Traditionalist splits.

Some believed Khoat was the pope in exile or perhaps a cardinal. (Khoat stated he and others worldwide had been appointed cardinals.) Others did not buy Khoat’s cardinal story while believing in the existence of a Siri successor — somewhere. Khoat was a major player in obtaining “confirmation” that Siri was elected in 1958, but only after flipping his initial story in 1988 — that Siri denied he was elected three times — to a new version in 1989. This was relayed to Jim Condit, alleging that that Siri later told Khoat he was elected pope in 1958. This turnaround happened not long after Siri’s death. To the best of my knowledge, Khoat’s is the only (firsthand) testimony available on this topic, (although it appears that one other person has also changed his story to now report Siri was elected). Yet after what has been revealed regarding Khoat, who could possibly trust anything he says, now or then?! And that being set aside, where is the documentation either of these statements were ever made to Khoat?

The tantalizing details of Siri’s “papacy” are being released piece by piece in interviews with Giuffre on the CIC website. But the details of this story are nothing new; it has changed very little since 1989 when I viewed it as a slideshow. Only those promoting it and the method of delivery has changed. It is new and exciting only to the younger set who don’t realize the implications of this tale and its dubious background. And much of the information on that background has yet to be revealed.

The question begs to be answered — how would Trads benefit from embracing the Siri theory? Well it could be the universal cure all for their nagging ills. With Siri’s successor identified and secured, they might successfully challenge and unseat Francis. They could claim to restore the Church to Her former state of existence. But most importantly, they could rerun the Western Schism scenario and claim the pope in exile and his successor had reigned all along, secretly, guaranteeing jurisdiction for all Trad clerics. It is a problem they have struggled with from the beginning and never successfully resolved. Jurisdiction has been a thorn in their side since the 1980s, when various lay people pointed out Traditionalists did not and could not possess it, neither from Christ Himself nor some other (hidden?) source. And certain validity, while they will not even discuss it as a possibility, also has been lacking from the beginning. The “Siri thesis,” as Giuffre calls it, is the one solution that would tie up every loose end and legitimize their existence. There is just one problem: it’s not a thesis, and IT’S NOT CATHOLIC.

To be a Catholic, one must think and act like a Catholic. The dictates of Catholic thought and belief are set out by the Popes, decisions of the Holy See, the Ecumenical Councils, Canon Law and the unanimous opinion of scholastic theologians. When one sets out to prove a case, especially something as important as who is the lawful successor of the Roman Pontiff, it is a theological necessity to demonstrate the veracity of the proofs presented in the form prescribed by the Church, according to the most reliable sources available. Before embarking on such a daunting task, one must first make absolutely certain that all preliminary investigation has been duly conducted. If one is proposing that a man be considered as the possessor or potential possessor of a clerical office of any kind, it must first be proven that man is beyond any doubt a baptized Catholic who has not in any way been suspected of or excommunicated for heresy, apostasy or schism. Baptism is proven by church records, but Canon Law determines if someone has abandoned the Catholic faith.

Let us pretend we just heard a rumor Siri was elected pope in 1958. Our first impulse should not be to dive into the middle of the story, but to ask the question, “Who is this Siri?” and proceed from there. With only a little research on the Internet, it is easy to see that Siri was a man who became a cardinal under Pope Pius XII, served in his capacity as cardinal until his death in 1989, celebrated the Novus Ordo Missae, participated in the elections of John 23, Paul 6, John Paul I and John Paul 2 and otherwise endorsed and accepted everything that was the V2 church. Now, if one is a true Catholic who rejects the Novus Ordo as just another non-Catholic sect, s/he should know that Catholics who participate in non-Catholic services and functions are no longer considered members of the Church, especially if they are high-ranking prelates and even if they are not. The hierarchy, however, is held accountable to a higher degree because they are presumed to know better. This sin, resulting in ipso facto excommunication (automatic, with no need of a declaration from a superior), is called communicatio in sacris. It is incurred by anyone assisting at Novus Ordo (or Traditionalist) services in any way.

Had Siri truly been elected with the intent to preserve the Church as She existed under Pope Pius XII, he would have made this fact known. He would not have addressed John 23 as Holy Father, continued his activities as a Novus Ordo cardinal, or participated in subsequent elections of false popes. He would at the very least have resigned as cardinal and retired to some Italian hamlet or left the country. This is only common sense. Was he kept a prisoner and not allowed to function? Shades of the crazy Paul 6 in chains confabulation that circulated in the 1970s! No, the devil made him do it alright, and no one can prove otherwise. Given Siri’s behavior following the election of John 23, could he possibly have been considered a Catholic? There is no way he could have received absolution, since all those who defected from the Church in accepting John 23 automatically resigned their offices and lost all jurisdiction to absolve from censures and forgive sins. Oh, and by the way; only a true pope can absolve from sins involving heresy, apostasy and schism, which Siri committed in accepting the Novus Ordo church. So was Siri even a candidate for consideration as the successor to Pope Pius XII? Not hardly.

Because Siri’s fitness to be considered a papal candidate was never considered, we have the “Siri thesis.” And those pretending to reject the Novus Ordo and all it stands for are actually willing to accept this man — and possibly some trumped up successor — as a true pope! They trash Giuffre’s funders for collaborating with a Novus Ordo publication (Inside the Vatican) to expose the Siri theory as groundless, but think nothing of absolving Siri from all guilt in actively collaborating with the church in Rome. Anything to validate themselves, no matter how flimsy the evidence might be. They believe Giuffre when he trots out his learned “thesis,” not even knowing or understanding the obligation on Giuffre’s part to faithfully fact check his own work.  But then what Giuffre has presented is not really a thesis at all. A thesis is defined in Catholic terms by Rev. A. C. Cotter, S.J. (The ABC of Scholastic Philosophy) as a statement devoid of any ambiguity, obscurity or superfluity, worded with the utmost care. Proofs must be presented and the meaning of the thesis as a whole laid down. The work Giuffre calls a thesis, rather than being free of the flaws just described, is riddled with them. This is not an idle statement, but has been documented over the years by myself and others. Visit the site to read this article: (https://www.betrayedcatholics.com/articles/a-catholics-course-of-study/traditionalist-heresies-and-errors/errors-in-matters-of-faith-and-morals/why-guiseppe-siri-was-never-pope/).

In fact, Giuffre’s ramblings do not even qualify as an hypothesis. Bernard Wuellner, S.J., in his Summary of Scholastic Principles, states that: “An hypothesis must be probable (not in conflict with other truths and not leading to consequences against the facts), useful (as guiding and suggesting further research and experiment) and capable of being further tested” (no. 261, p. 268). Giuffre’s entire presentation on Siri is shot through with factual errors and flies in the face of all the papal documents laying down the procedures for papal elections, as well as the canons regarding ecclesiastical elections. Rather than facilitate further research, it handicaps the researcher, who is forced to wade through a sea of might haves and maybes to get to the bottom of what Giuffre is really trying to say. At best, Giuffre’s observations and conclusions qualify as a conjecture, “An inference formed without proof or sufficient evidence” (Merriam-Webster). Pope Pius XII condemned the use of conjectural opinions in Humani Generis:

“17. Hence to neglect, or to reject, or to devalue so many and such great resources which have been conceived, expressed and perfected so often by the age-old work of men endowed with no common talent and holiness, working under the vigilant supervision of the holy magisterium and with the light and leadership of the Holy Ghost in order to state the truths of the faith ever more accurately, to do this so that these things may be replaced by conjectural notions and by some formless and unstable tenets of a new philosophy… is supreme imprudence and something that would make dogma itself a reed shaken by the wind. The contempt for terms and notions habitually used by scholastic theologians leads of itself to the weakening of what they call speculative theology, a discipline which these men consider devoid of true certitude because it is based on theological reasoning…. If such conjectural opinions are directly or indirectly opposed to the doctrine revealed by God, then the demand that they be recognized can in no way be admitted.”

Scholastic theology has been demeaned by Traditionalists for decades, an error proscribed by Pope St. Pius X in his condemnation of modernism. There is no reason to believe that now, all of a sudden, it will be esteemed and used as the proper method to evaluate the truth. Likewise Canon Law, consistently misrepresented, misconstrued and misinterpreted by Traditionalists since the 1970s. Pope Pius XII’s infallible constitution on papal election, Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis, is not difficult to follow; the actions of anyone contravening his constitution by usurping papal jurisdiction or violating papal or Church law are declared null and void. The Phantom Church in Rome explains in detail how many of these laws were violated. The book also outlines St. Robert Bellarmine’s teaching on what to do in the case of a doubtful pope. Although Bellarmine has been quoted many times in support of various Traditional propositions, this teaching of his is never cited.

Both Pope St. Pius X and Pope Pius XII taught in their papal election laws that if there was any lay interference whatsoever in the election, it was null and void. If Giuffre has proven anything, he has proven there was interference. Ergo, the entire election was null and void. Could we say there was doubt regarding who was elected pope? That is an understatement. Yes there certainly was doubt, meaning any men issuing as supposed popes from that conclave were no popes at all. The legitimacy of the Roman Pontiff is a dogmatic fact, which cannot be denied because it is so closely connected to the dogma of unbroken succession to the papacy. This fact must be certainly established and when there is positive doubt regarding a papal election, this cannot happen. Serious, positive doubt has been documented regarding Roncalli’s election as well as Siri’s purported election. These very serious doubts, in and of themselves, are sufficient to consider both men out of the running; nothing else needs to be proven. This we have from popes, councils and a Doctor of the Church. But Gary Giuffre and his suspense-laden tale of intrigue and skullduggery is so much more appealing! Obedience to the Roman Pontiffs and the rule of law is so old hat, so boring. Not to mention necessary for the salvation of souls.

And so we leave this as a record, knowing that sooner or later this misguided attempt to recreate the Church will come unglued like all the others. It reminds me of the statue described in the book of Daniel: “And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest the iron mixt with miry clay, they shall be mingled indeed together with the seed of man, but they shall not stick fast one to another, as iron cannot be mixed with clay. But in the days of those kingdoms, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed…and it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and. Itself shall stand forever.” (Dan. Ch. 2, vs. 42-44). Here, of course Daniel speaks of the Catholic Church, which can never be destroyed, not by the likes of the Siri crowd or any other false sect. Iron and clay, the ideologies of different sectarian parties struggling for control, do not mix.

These Traditionalist sects could not accept the teaching of the continual magisterium of the past and if they elect yet another false pope, they will not be able to accept his rule over them either.  Christ will destroy all with the spirit of His mouth and the brightness of His coming (2 Thess. 2:9), be it during a visitation of His justice or the Second Coming. Lift up your heads… for the time is at hand.

 

Gregory XVIII / “Fr.” Tran Van Khoat fraud exposed! 

All Souls Day

The following link is posted on a site that has promoted (Peter) Tran Van Khoat as Gregory XVIII, Giuseppe (Cardinal) Siri’s “successor,” for the past two decades: (http://www.tcwblog.com/182861438/6821741/posting/manifest-heretic-khoat-van-tran-in-plush-vn-pad-w-wife). It reveals that Khoat is married (his wife’s name is Nguyen Thi Giang Huong) and has been an international businessman for all these years. Another site lists Khoat as the father of at least two sons (http://ourladysresistance.org/peter-khoat-van-tran.html. (This link is provided only for reader reference; the website creators falsely teach Pope St. Pius X was the last true pope.)

This, of course, is no surprise. Since 1989, I have warned Catholics away from Khoat. Why? His 1967 ordination was never confirmed by Traditionalists and could not be confirmed. He is not listed in the Catholic Directories for 1967 or 1968. He arrived in the U.S. with no proof of his ordination, at least none that has ever been seen or could ever be verified. The NO hierarchy may not have been able to easily confirm his credentials because of the war years (1960s, 1970s). They later declared him excommunicated for functioning without their jurisdiction, initially as a Pius X Society “priest,” but were they sure he was ever qualified to possess it? Only they can answer that question.

A 1975 article in a Ft. Chaffee, Arkansas newspaper quotes the head of a “Catholic Conference of Chaffee” as reporting that Khoat had been “relieved of his duties in Saigon and was no longer a representative of any (emph. mine) religious group.” So did NO church officials sanction him or government officials? The South Viet Nam government was not interfering with the functioning of the NO church at that time; this occurred only after 1975, (see https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/vietnam-catholic-church). Was Khoat dismissed by NO officials because he was married? Was he possibly involved in other non-Catholic religious activities as well?  The visuals on this Vietnamese language site might offer readers some clues: (http://hotranvietnam.vn/index.php/home/chitiethodongtrantoc/1. And one reader conducting additional research alleges that Khoat may actually be a Viet Nam Buddhist who belongs to the Tran Dynasty! This seems further supported by information below.

I received correspondence regarding this situation with Khoat and his fatherhood/ business dealings several years ago. Because revealing it would have involved crossing Today’s Catholic World editor David Hobson, and because I had been advised by others to wait until a more opportune time to address it, I did not post it to my website. In 2008, Hobson threatened to sue me for comments posted about Khoat. I did correct a typo he objected to, but that was not enough. He eventually attacked my website, which cost me a good chunk of change to rebuild. I had no desire to tangle with him again and every reason to believe he would respond just as hatefully as he did the first time if I tried to forward the information. I have kept all those emails if anyone is interested in corroborating this.

Catholic theologians teach no one is obliged to correct someone if there is good reason to believe they will not listen. Neither Hobson nor his followers have ever given the slightest indication they are open to any criticism of Khoat or the Siri fantasy. But now Hobson has been forced to admit Khoat has perpetrated a gigantic hoax on those belonging to his papal restoration crowd. And to his credit he has corrected at least some of the record, but only after Khoat self-published his Catholic Manifesto book. He has yet to take down his many pages supporting Khoat and the Siri “papacy.”

The whole tragedy could have been avoided if the laws and teachings of the Church had been followed in the first place. A doubtful cleric is no cleric at all. It is the unanimous opinion of theologians, the theological manuals state, that a doubtful opinion regarding the validity of the Sacraments is not sufficient to justify their reception. And being unanimous, such an opinion must be followed, according to the teaching of Pope Pius IX. We have grave doubt that Khoat received valid ordination — if he received orders at all, it was from an NO bishop who possessed no jurisdiction to ordain him in the first place. Ecumenical councils and the continual magisterium have consistently nullified all the acts of antipopes and their illegitimate hierarchies. We have only Khoat’s say-so that he was ordained in 1967, in the old rite, and there is nothing to back this up. Do we really trust this man to tell anyone the truth?!

The laws governing papal election and clergy functioning without papal approval are deadly serious matters, but no one takes them seriously. Pope Pius XII made obedience to papal and church law a necessity for Church membership, so those not obeying these laws and openly flaunting them cannot be considered Catholic. But who listens to the popes? Who follows their teachings and instructions? Certainly not Traditionalists who would rather receive “Catholic” truths from men Christ considers hirelings and false shepherds. It is total disregard for and outright hatred of both papal laws and Canon Law that has led all these people down this road; that and the refusal to perform due diligence in vetting the “clergy” to whom they entrust the most precious gift of all — their eternal salvation.

The following background on Khoat could have been discovered by those who truly value their faith, and the people so zealously promoting these fraudulent characters. Why did they failed to uncover it? That is a question that demands answers.

A little history

President Ngo dinh Diem (a Catholic) was the leader of (South) Vietnam during the 1950s and up to his assassination in 1963. He had several brothers, two of whom were Ngo dinh Nhu and Ngo dinh Thuc, the Traditionalist bishop. In his capacity as bishop, Ngo dinh Thuc helped his brother rule South Vietnam; his assigned area was Cochin, China. He was very ambitious and his brother actively campaigned to have him appointed cardinal.

Cochin China was a hotbed for criminal activity dating back to the 1920s. Chinese criminal organizations infiltrated existing Viet Nam gangs and crime families during this time period and set up camp there. This region was often referred to as the birthplace of the “Vietnamese Mafia.” A young street thug named Bai Vien headed the criminal activities of what was known as the Binh Xuyen in Cochin during this time period. After spending many years in prison, Bay Vien escaped and went back to his old haunts and habits. His organization later evolved into a secret society. In August 1945 the Viet Minh’s chief of Cochin China, Tran Van Giau, formed an alliance with Bay Vien and others against the French.

Competing for power with Bai Vien were two sects, one of which was “the monotheistic, syncretic religion officially established in the city of Tây Ninh in southern Vietnam in 1926 known as Cao Dai, or Caodaism.” The official name of the religion means “The Third Great Universal Religious Amnesty… Caodaism teaches that, throughout human history, God the Father has revealed his truth many times through the mouths of many prophets, but these messages were always either ignored or forgotten due to humanity’s susceptibility to secular desires. Adherents believe that the age has now come when God speaks to humanity directly” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caodaism). The sect has its own “pope” and “hierarchy. (Compare this definition to Khoat’s description of his new book, “A unique book that prepares us for the “true new time” on Earth…Khoat’s next book “will be about ‘God Our Heavenly Father’s “True New Time” on Earth …called the Catholic Revolution” (https://outskirtspress.com/catholicmanifesto; also https://selfpublishingauthor.wordpress.com/2019/10/09/introducing-rev-khoat-van-tran-ph-d-author-of-catholic-manifesto-a-trilogy/). So was Khoat claiming all this time to be a Caodaist pope or a Catholic Pope?! Was he a Caodaist, a Buddhist or both? At this point, only Khoat himself knows, and he isn’t telling.)

Ngo dinh Nhu, brother of Ngo dinh Diem and Ngo dinh Thuc, was married to a Buddhist woman who converted to Catholicism. Madame Nhu’s maiden name was Tran van. Her father, Tran van Chuong was the Vietnamese ambassador to Washington, Canada, Argentina, and Brazil, and his wife was a Vietnam representative to the UN. The historian Hilaire du Berrier (Background to Betrayal, p. 46) wrote that Diem established his political base on his brothers and immediate family, and then, “Beyond them would come the in-laws, and their in-laws, spreading downward through ever widening rings of cousins…Wherever one looked there were only Ngo dinhs and Tran vans…” Du Berrier describes the Ngo dinhs and Tran Vans as Viet Nam royalty. Khoat claims to have met Ngo dinh Thuc only once after coming to the U.S., but we suspect  there is far more of a connection there than Khoat was willing to reveal.

The Viet Nam war began in earnest during the Johnson administration, ending in 1975. It was at this time that Khoat emigrated to the U.S., according to court documents later filed in 1996 (https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1657831/tran-v-fiorenza/). We believe Tran van Khoat may be related to Madame Nhu, which is how he obtained citizenship so quickly, long before the “boat people” he came with were able to do so. In 1977 Khoat bought a Baptist church he used for services to minister to the Vietnamese — Vietnamese Resurrection Church dedicated by Marcel Lefebvre. Eventually these Vietnamese left him to open their own church within the Novus Ordo diocese there. In the mid-1980s, Khoat sold the Baptist church to the Buddhists. Where the money came from originally to purchase this church and where it went when it was sold is not clear.

As the court document shows, Khoat represented a number of fishermen from a village in Viet Nam. He said they were distant relatives and acquaintances but one article states none of them even knew him until he began organizing the immigrants in Ft. Chafee, Arkansas in 1975 (see quotes from article above). While he contended with Novus Ordo authorities for years over running Resurrection Church under their auspices, he eventually joined forces with Lefebvre who then dedicated the church. The Novus Ordo declared he had been automatically excommunicated for this action and for not deeding the church over to the diocese, as the court documents demonstrate. If they knew anything about his Saigon separation, they do not indicate it. But transparency on this subject would have gone a long way to clarify the situation and protect others from being duped by Khoat.

A Tran Van Khoat also is connected with a company called Keystone Development Management SA in Switzerland, which could be connected to the Keystone Development Co. in the U.S. Two separate articles in the Stroudburg, Pennsylvania Pocono Record, written in 2001 detail what homeowners describe as the unethical mortgage maneuvers used by this company to acquire real estate and what they suffered as a result of these practices. (Google Unreal Deals: inflated prices spur mortgage mess). In 2010, the Keystone Development Management SA was deleted from the commercial register in Geneva, Switzerland. The firm went bankrupt in June 2005 shortly after a Swiss financial publication reports that Keystone went into “liquidation,” as reported here: (https://www.moneyhouse.ch/en/company/keystone-development-management-sa-en-21474044571. Tran Van Khoat is listed as the contact for liquidation along with a Quang Thach Ngo. In the autobiography for his newly released book, Catholic Manifesto, Khoat mentions his business activities (https://selfpublishingauthor.wordpress.com/2019/10/09/introducing-rev-khoat-van-tran-ph-d-author-of-catholic-manifesto-a-trilogy/), identifying Switzerland as one of his bases of operation.

“Fr.” Khoat and Siri

Later Khoat accepted money sent to Gary Giuffre by Hutton Gibson to visit Siri in Italy,  then eventually declared himself to be Siri’s successor. All this was based only on Khoat’s accounts of his trip to Italy. No documentation from Siri was ever presented confirming the fact he was pope, that he discussed his “papacy” with Khoat, that he was a “prisoner,” that Khoat’s “orders” were regularized as he claims on Hobson’s site, etc. Several Traditionalist writers, including Hutton Gibson, eventually abandoned the Siri theory as promoted by Gary Giuffre, who miserably failed to prove his case for Siri as pope. And the funding of that project began in earnest in 1991, following David Bawden’s “election”!  They eventually abandoned their efforts because the facts could not and did not prove the case. In his January 2006 newsletter, The War Is Now, Gibson concludes: “Gary was an extremely selective investigator who thought to cover the fact that he covered facts.” Nuff said.

My personal experience with Khoat occurred in March of 1989 when, at the invitation of David Bawden, I attended a religious retreat Khoat hosted in Port Arthur, Texas Bawden had been in contact with Khoat since October of 1988, when he traveled to Texas to speak to him about Khoat’s meeting with Siri that May. He later went to Port Arthur to study under Khoat in February of 1989. When I first entered Khoat’s rectory, I was shocked to find a large picture of Karol Wojtyla hung over the entrance to his office. When I asked Bawden about it, the excuse was given that he used it to lure people in, then would explain the Traditionalist stance. But I wasn’t convinced. The slide presentation I attended given by Giuffre to promote the Siri “papacy” was not convincing either. Something was off, and I would later find out why my radar was sending urgent signals.

During the retreat, Khoat made several outrageous statements, suggestive of what Bawden had already revealed in a letter: his intention to establish a Catholic Secret Society based on the Essenes, an idea favored by Traditionalists Dennis D’Amico (aka Ely Jason) and Spark* editor Christopher Shannon. He was very interested in the Essenes, as were those who were connected with Britons Catholic Library. Towards the end of the retreat, he denied that the documents of the ordinary magisterium could contain infallible statements and limited the incidence of infallibility to rare occasions. He also endorsed the material/formal heresy, as did the Thucites. On hearing these heresies, I stood up during the retreat session, told him he was teaching heresy, left the retreat and returned home a few days later, in time for Easter. (There were several witnesses to this among those also attending the retreat.) Bawden remained in Port Arthur for an indefinite period of time after my departure. He did not leave Texas for Kansas until April 19. From April 5-April 8, 1989, Bawden does not make it clear exactly where he was.

In 2007 or 2008, Bawden posted on his website that Khoat officiated at a Buddhist wedding on April 8 but does not say whether this ceremony was held or how he knew about the ceremony. (I left Bawden in March 2007.) Bawden states on his site that Khoat’s family had recently converted from Buddhism and notes that under Canon Law, by marrying the Buddhist couple, Khoat was more or less guilty of communicatio in sacris. Bawden also lists some of Khoat’s questionable business dealings. In March of 2008, David Hobson posted documents on his website that prove Bawden had completely accepted the Siri “fact,” as Hobson called it and had even approached a “Siri bishop” for ordination while in Texas with Khoat. This is documented with Bawden’s own letters at http://www.todayscatholicworld.com/mar08tcw.htm#kook-in-kan. I have signed letters from Bawden which show I never realized he accepted the Siri theory and did not approve of his studies with Khoat. This even before I journeyed to Texas for the retreat.

In attempting to counter Bawden’s claims regarding Khoat’s business practices, Hobson wrote on his site: “Fr. Khoat did no wrong here. I have gone through hundreds of documents concerning his life and business dealings — what is the point, here?” Well the point is that where there is smoke a fire often exists, and a meticulous investigation needs to be conducted. I am sure Mr. Hobson is beginning to understand this, now that he has been badly burned and his followers blinded by the dense smoke this fire created for so many years. But if he isn’t aware of all the background information above, he cannot possibly come completely clean with his readers. And he still has yet to admit that those who divested themselves of Giuffre, for failing to prove Siri was really the pope elected following John 23, were right all along. He also claims that the “sacraments” Khoat administered to the papal restoration group were valid until only recently, when he “suddenly” became a heretic. But there was nothing sudden about Khoat’s change of heart; no one can be certain he was ever a priest in the first place.

As documented in The Phantom Church in Rome and elsewhere, Siri was not a Catholic cardinal going into the conclave to begin with. He proved this beyond a reasonable doubt by remaining a prominent member of the Novus Ordo hierarchy, excommunicating himself by accepting John 23 as a true pope and participating in succeeding conclaves. What “prisoner pope” elects a new “pope”? Following such theories down the proverbial rabbit hole and trying to make sense of anything only leads to a condition approaching total insanity. We decided a long time ago we were not going there. Who needs drama and make-believe when we have1,958 years of Catholic teaching to guide us!

 

 

 

 

 

How secret societies seduced Catholics unknowingly

How secret societies seduced Catholics unknowingly

+St. Agatho and Bd. Gregory X, Popes+

Additional note on the Mystical Body series

A reader from Africa has forwarded a sermon from Henry Edward Cardinal Manning that I have been trying to locate for several years. It is probably the best illustration of the establishment of the visible and invisible heads of the Mystical Body, as prophesied by the prophets Isaias and Ezekiel, that could be found. Written in 1859, it unquestionably demonstrates, even before the definition of infallibility handed down by the Vatican Council, that there would be a living voice to guide the people until the very consummation of the world. But you say, “We have no pope!” We may not have a pope, yet we have very nearly all that the popes have ever written readily available to us, a virtual treasury of their teachings, including the mandate for the conduct of the Church during an interregnum infallibly delivered by Pope Pius XII. For all who wish to see that this promise was made to us by the very prophet who likewise foretold Christ’s coming and His suffering and death on the Cross, please read this sermon here very carefully. And then dare to state that we can trust the very “opinions” of any other human authority on what must be believed. More on this below.

Where does one find the truth?

Several readers have asked over the past few years for referral to like-minded sites for those who pray at home. While there are a few sites with good resource material for Traditionalists in general that are not objectionable, there are no sites I am aware of that promote the pray-at-home position and at the same time have their theology straight. For this reason I cannot in good conscience refer people to those sites where they may easily encounter errors. Even among those who pray at home and also write blogs or host websites, there is a general tendency to engage in liberal charity that cannot be ignored. This tendency over time, if imbibed often enough by readers, convinces them that one must be sympathetic and indulgent even to those who teach error and that to snub them or renounce those errors is a lack of Catholic charity.

We have discussed this here before, referring readers to Fr. Felix Sarda-Salvany’s Liberalism is a Sin, which is the only known antidote to this syrupy poison that renders so many otherwise commendable articles and treatises dangerous to Catholics. What perhaps needs to be pointed out, however, is that Catholic and Protestant Liberalism is not just an error condemned by the Church; it is the first level of Freemasonry marked by Edith Star Miller, (an American who married into British royalty, Lady Queensborough) on her Masonic pyramid. Lady Queensborough was later murdered in Paris for her expose’ regarding Freemasonry. Directly above this liberalism we find British Israelism, also previously discussed on this site. This is the error that has infested so many among the Traditionalist sect, particularly those of the St. Pius X Society (SSPX) and its related organization, the Knights of St. John Jerusalem.

The idea promoted by certain Traditionalists is that the popes long ago conveyed jurisdiction to this order and therefore that they operate under that jurisdiction. This nonsense was first promoted by Fr. James F. Wathen, O.S.J., (Order of St. John, (Knights) of Jerusalem or the Shickshinny, PA “knights), among several other prominent Traditionalists. Wathen taught in his work defending the order that it was indeed an order initially sanctioned by the Holy See, and that it was specifically given power to institute its own priests and bishops by direct grant of Pope Anastasius IV in 1154. This grant by the pope, however, insists that those clerics admitted to the “order” must be verified as certainly validly ordained. And it ends by decreeing that all these clerics so admitted ultimately must be subject to the Roman Pontiff (Is the Order of St. John Masonic, TAN Books, 1973).   

The Church condemns “Catholic” secret societies

Research into this order, later declared to be fraudulent in a civil court, leads one into the dark recesses of Aryanism and the White Brotherhood. Scary stuff. It also provides links to Mass centers and Traditionalist operations of various stripes and colors and even references the John Birch Society, a right-wing, purportedly anti-Communist group many Traditionalists joined in the early days of the movement. As reported elsewhere, the founder of the Knights was a man also associated with the Priory of Sion, a secret society of “Catholics” which appears to have been headed at one time by none other than Abp. Marcel Lefebvre. The idea of a “Catholic secret society” was floated for several years by many different players in the Traditional movement, including the infamous non-priest Peter Tran Van Khoat, heralded as a true priest and possible “pope-elect” by the Siri idiocy bunch. Plunging head-first into the “Catholic” secret society rabbit hole is a sure ticket to hell. And during the reign of Pope Pius XII, the following statement regarding such societies was released:

“Among the things which are springing up again with renewed vigor and not only in Italy is Freemasonry with its ever-recurring hostility to religion and to the Church. What appears to be a new feature in this Masonic renaissance is the rumors circulating in various social classes that a particular rite of Masonry might no longer be in opposition to the Church whereby even Catholics can enroll at their ease in the sect without fear of excommunication and reproach. Those responsible for propagating these rumors must surely know that nothing has been modified in the Church’s legislation relative to Freemasonry and if they continue this campaign, it can only be in order to profit from the naivete of simple folk. The bishops know that Canon 684 and especially Canon 2335 which excommunicates those who have given their names to Masonry without any distinction between rights are as full in force today as they always have been; all Catholics ought to know this and remember it so as not to fall into this snare and also so as to know how to pass due judgment on the fact that certain simpletons believe they can call themselves both Catholics and Freemasons with impunity. This, I repeat, applies to all Masonic rites, EVEN IF SOME OF THEM IN VARYING CIRCUMSTANCES DECLARED THAT THEY ARE NOT HOSTILE TO THE CHURCH” (Most Reverend Mario Cordovani, Master of the Sacred Palace; printed in Osservatore Romano, March 19, 1950, as quoted by Vicomte Leon de Poncins).

This should be the end to any speculation that such a thing as a Catholic secret society could ever exist. And it also should alert Catholics to the fact that the Church was well aware that organizations such as the Priory of Sion and St. John of Jerusalem were attempting to deceive Catholics into joining their ranks at precisely that point in time when these two organizations were first organizing. Move a little further up the pyramid from British Israelism and we find Pro-Masons “Without the apron.” In other words, Liberal Catholics favoring Masonry who are not actually members are counted by Masons AS MEMBERS. Then there is actual Communism, which most Catholics would assume they could easily avoid. But Communism relies on the process of gradualism, a slow and perhaps imperceptible conditioning process facilitated by the practice of Liberal charity and involvement with Traditional organizations, often founded, at least, by those affiliated with secret societies who believe and promote British Israelism. To make Communism more palatable, its disseminators have devised new variations that appear to be something they aranotin order to better deceive the general populace. It begins with the teachings of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, born in Germany in 1770.

Hegelianism prepares the way

We last encountered Hegel in ours series on education. Award-winning New York state teacher and author, John Gatto, wrote regarding Fabian Socialism in Great Britain: “The puzzling security and prestige enjoyed at the moment by those who speak of globalism and multiculturalism is a direct result of heed paid earlier to Fabian prophecies that a welfare state followed by an intense focus on internationalism would be the mechanism elevating corporate society over political society and is a necessary precursor to utopia… One insightful Hegelianism was that to push ideas efficiently, it was necessary first to co-opt both political left and political right. Adversarial politics competition was a losers’ game… “By infiltrating all major media, by continual low-intensity propaganda, by massive changes in group orientations (accomplished through principles developed in the psychological warfare bureaus of the military) and with the ability, using government intelligence agents and press contacts to induce a succession of crises, they accomplished that astonishing feat… Thus the deliberate creation of crises is an important tool of evolutionary Socialists. Does that let you understand the government school drama a little better or the well-publicized doomsday scenarios of environmentalists?” (The Underground History of American Education, 2001).

So basically Hegel was an evolutionist, believing that nothing actually “is” but only is in the process of perpetually “becoming,” (primitive Modernism). He is best known for his ideas on the philosophia perennis, that “all previous systems of thought — religious, mythological, philosophical — aim at and partially unveil the same doctrine,” the teaching that a grand synthesis of opposing beliefs would culminate in unity and equality,” (What is the Hegelian Dialectic?, by Niki Raapana and Nordica Friedrich, http://nord.twu.net/acl/agenda21.html). Some believe that Hegel’s ideas are essentially Hermetic, with Hermeticism (Rosicrucianism, Alchemy, Theosophy, ESP, New Age thinking, Freemasonic beliefs) constituting a middle position between pantheism (that God, an eternal being is somehow one and the same with the world itself, which is of limited duration) and the Judeo-Christian conception of God. This is why his philosophy also is called “the Third Way.”

Hegel invented the notion of a different sort of dialectic, the term so common to evolving religious and political beliefs first taking center stage in the 1960s during the ecumenical movement. He believed that the only way to “become” was to engage in the expression of one’s thought processes, since these processes infallibly reflected a sort of ingrained wisdom passed on via man’s unconscious from generation to generation. By way of poetic discussion held through written and verbal exchange, Hegel taught that one could reconcile mythology with philosophy and religion to create a “new mythology of reason.” Thus is the perennial philosophy perpetually completed. Thought itself, in other words, “becomes” divine. This process joins all men and all disciplines, then, in a synthesis of experience that would replace the need for religious belief.

God is the world and the world is God; we all are bound up in the same absolute knowing because we are Him. (This is related to a concept some also know as secular humanism.) Hegel’s intent in implementing his dialectic was to initiate constant conflict. The conflict created in these discussions resulted in the continual melding of systems and ideas, whether right or left in origin, (syncretism). And this in turn, he believed, would accomplish the ideal spiritualization and perfection of mankind. While this background information may be difficult to digest and appear to many to be irrelevant, this is far from the truth. It is necessary to understand exactly how dialectic has been employed in the formation and perpetuation of communitarianism in order to appreciate how communitarianism relates to so much of what we see today.

In his encyclical Divini Redemptoris, Pope Pus XI places this process in perspective: “According to this doctrine, there is in the world only one reality — matter — the blind forces of which evolve into plant, animal and man. Even human society is nothing but a phenomenon and form of matter, evolving in the same way. By a law of inexorable necessity and through a perpetual conflict of forces, matter moves toward the final synthesis of a classless society…Communists claim that the conflict which carries the world towards its final synthesis can be accelerated by man. Hence they endeavor to sharpen the antagonisms which arise between the various classes of society. Thus the class struggle with its consequent violent hate and destruction takes on the aspect of a crusade for the progress of humanity.”

Communitarianism = communism

It is easy to see from what has been described so far that communitarianism tallies perfectly with Communist tactics and teaching as outlined by Pope Pius XI. Hegelian philosophy is all about evolving socially; the system engages others in a “mystical” dialectic process of discussion to initiate the conflict necessary for Communism to establish itself. These dialectics, in turn, wear those engaging in them down and confuses them until eventually they arrive at a conclusion reached through a series of surrenders and compromises. This is a Communist war of words, not battlefields. It is a hidden and deceitful form of mind control known as coercive persuasion, engineered to arrive at the desired result without shedding blood. Those who come out on top in this process go on to become the new missionaries for the cause. This is how slowly and for many decades — almost imperceptibly — the United States was absorbed into the anticipated global community governed by Community (communitarian) Law.

Members of the legal community worldwide have worked for years to revise laws of states and regions to conform to Community Law. Yet under the U.S. Constitution and U.S. Criminal Code, communitarian law is not only illegal — it is treason. Why? Because, as Prof. Francis Snyder writes in his “Institutions of the Union and the European Communities,” (Google translation): “Communitarian law…integrates extreme communism with extreme capitalism. It defends the rights of the global ‘collective’ against the rights of the greedy, selfish individuals clinging to their ‘outdated notion’ of independent nations.” In short, then, communitarianism is nothing less than global communism, implemented by dedicated volunteers who agitate ceaselessly for a “communitarian, or communist, system,” (Weekly Worker, Jan. 25, 2001). But who will stand as judge and advocate for us to ensure that the return to common law alleged by those establishing this new world order is not actually contaminated with communitarianism? Is there a way to identify this system at work? According to an article in the Nov. 1998 issue of The Education Reporter, there is.

The Delphi Technique

In her “Using the Delphi Technique to Achieve Consensus,” Lynn Stuter explains how the Hegelian dialectic of “thesis, antithesis synthesis” is set into motion. By the unethical practice of creating tension and friction, change agents or facilitators move two sides towards the middle, making one set of views appear sensible and the other set ridiculous. Eventually this results in a new “thesis,” or melding of views, and the process will be repeated as many times as necessary until the desired result is achieved. “The facilitators or change agents…are hired to direct the meeting to a preset conclusion…to encourage each person in a group to express concerns about the programs, projects, or policies in question. They listen attentively, elicit input from group members, from “task forces,” urge participants to make lists, and in going through these motions, learn about each member of a group. They are trained to identify the “leaders,” the “loud mouths,” the “weak or non-committal members,” and those who are apt to change sides frequently during an argument.

Using the ‘divide and conquer’ principle, they manipulate one opinion against another, making those who are out of step appear ‘ridiculous, unknowledgeable, inarticulate, or dogmatic.’ They attempt to anger certain participants, thereby accelerating tensions. The facilitators are well trained in psychological manipulation. They are able to predict the reactions of each member in a group. Individuals in opposition to the desired policy or program will be shut out. In her book Educating for the New World Order, author and educator Beverly Eakman makes numerous references to the need of those in power to preserve the illusion that there is ‘community participation in decision-making processes, while in fact lay citizens are being squeezed out.’” The similarity to recent events in this country and even the use of the same language by those agitating for a new thesis are too obvious to even merit comment. Communitarianism is obviously alive and well, even among those Catholics who denounce Communism.

Truth is One

The Delphi Technique has been used repeatedly to squeeze out the common man and move ever closer to certain individuals’ dream of a global community. And its application is not limited to the political sphere — it has been used for decades among Traditionalists and even at times among those who profess to keep the faith at home. Those employing this technique fancy themselves to be clever manipulators able to achieve the melding of different opinions and positions within the Traditionalist spectrum to achieve at least a consensus if not a contrived sort of unity. In order to accomplish this, they must make it appear that all doctrinal differences amount only to a matter of opinion, when nothing could be further from the truth. And yet it takes only ONE denial of faith to lose membership in Christ’s Mystical Body. Examples of these divergences form the faith are legion and have been pointed out on this site for years. Among them are:

— the belief that the pope can become a heretic AS A LEGITIMATELY ELECTED POPE, condemned infallibly by the Vatican Council;

— that bishops can be validly consecrated without papal appointment or approval during an interregnum, condemned infallibly in Mystici Corporis Christi and Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis;

— that epikeia can “supply” jurisdiction during an interregnum, likewise condemned infallibly in Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis;  

— that the Church considers the Jews the primary founders and originators of Freemasonry who are responsible for Her demise, when this has never been taught by the Church;

— that the Church, as She was constituted by Christ, can exist without the pope, when the pope is the head bishop — condemned implicitly in Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis and Pope St. Pius X’s Vacante Sedis Apostolica, a codification of all papal election laws.

And there are many others. But none of the above are up for debate, speculation, can be left to private opinion or are able to be interpreted in any way. Questions on such matters cannot be settled during an interregnum; without a pope there is nothing that can be decided. Traditionalists hate to hear this, but objective truth is one, while error is manifold. And the only source of objective truth left to us on this earth were the Roman Pontiffs. As one reader pointed out recently, there are only two cities — the City of God and the city of Satan. As St. Thomas Aquinas writes, “There are two mystical bodies in this world: The Mystical Body of Christ and the mystical body of the Devil or of the Antichrist. To one or another every man belongs.” St. Augustine writes: “They cannot be at the same time members of Christ and members of a prostitute. Many receive the Body of Christ in the Sacrament, but not in their souls. By failing to receive Christ spiritually and leading bad lives, they reduce the members of Christ, making themselves members of the Devil, so they greatly diminish the Body of Christ.”

St. Louis Grignon de Montfort, in his True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, wrote: “The Most Holy Virgin is called by the Holy Ghost the City of God (Ps. 86:3)… God has set…enmities between Mary and the Devil… between the true children and servants of Mary and the slaves of the Devil. They have no love for each other… The children of Belial have always persecuted those who belong to our Blessed Lady…  [Our Lady’s] humble slaves and her poor children… shall be little and poor in the world’s eyes, abased before all, trodden underfoot and persecuted as the heel is by the other members of the body. But in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of God.” Hail-fellow-well-met may be the norm among attorneys and politicians today, but among Catholics, liberal charity can only be the beginning of that fateful principle of toleration that amounts to indifferentism. And this then leads to the ascent of the pyramid illustrated above, whether those identifying as Catholic realize it or admit it or not.

We were all born to be Soldiers of Christ, not the “woke” variety of soldiers now populating today’s military. True soldiers who believe their primary duty is to rid the earth of all that is inimical to Christ’s teaching will stop at nothing when it comes to defending their faith. As Fr. Sarda says, “Give the enemy no quarter.” We are either with Christ or against Him; we either belong to the City of God or the City of Satan. One denial of a Catholic dogma deprives Catholics of Church membership. And refusing to accept the fact that that we are forbidden, during an interregnum, to decide on matters of faith or those closely connected to it — and not accept those binding teachings and sacred Canons already governing it — is a denial of the supreme jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff as defined at the Vatican Council. It is a denial of everything written by Henry Cardinal Manning written in the sermon mentioned in the first paragraph of this blog.

The illumination which is diffused throughout the whole body of the Church resides imminently in the episcopate but resides pre-eminently and above all in the chief of Bishops, the Pastor of Pastors, the Vicar of the Incarnate Word himself. Here then we have the fulfillment of the prophecy for what is the Vicar of Jesus Christ but the representative of Jesus Christ — the true, special, personal witness — the very presence, so to speak, of the son of God on earth? And as the prophecy of Isaias was accomplished when the son of God was incarnate rose up in the city of Nazareth, anointed by the Holy Ghost, so His representative and Vicar now stands in the midst of the world, the true special heir of those promises and on his anointed head rest the spirit of God never to depart, and in his mouth the word of God which cannot pass away. He is the oracle, the organ and the living voice through whom the Spirit of God accomplishes to this hour the prophecy of Isaias.

All doctrines have been disputed, cast out, disfigured in controversy and railed upon; for since Jesus withdrew Himself, and the shame which fell on Him had no longer a divine personal object in the world, never was there anything so railed at as that one, universal faith of the holy Catholic and Roman Church. It bears the shame of Jesus: You shall be hated by all men for my name’s sake’ has been fulfilled in the faith which we believe. And why is it so? Because it speaks in its Master’s name; because it perpetuates His voice; because every article of the Council of Trent is an account of the voice of Jesus. Therefore men gainsay it as they gainsaid Him; but the words of the prophet stand true: My spirit, which is on thee, and my word, which I put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, sayeth the Lord, from henceforth and forever.

“There is also another truth and it is an awful one — a truth which follows from this so inseparably and by so strong a necessity that I dare not pass it by. If indeed God the Holy Ghost be in the midst of us and if it be God the Holy Ghost that speaks to us through the One, Holy Catholic and Roman Church, then it imposes its doctrines on the consciences of men under pain of eternal deathTo disbelieve what the Holy Ghost, through the Church of God has taught, incurs the pain of eternal death for those who, with their eyes open, reject it.” 

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False popes running amok

+Pope Victor I+

As the world situation continues to further deteriorate on a daily basis, Catholics can expect to see a corresponding increase in false christs and false prophets. A reader informed us not long ago that a man calling himself Jacobus I is claiming to be pope, apparently by divine appointment, and has posted several videos on the Internet. In watching these verbose videos and reading this man’s “encyclicals,” it soon becomes clear he is of the same cloth as Michael I and Gregory XVII and XVIII and has no intention whatsoever to be transparent regarding his qualifications, his ordination/consecration (he offers “mass” according to the John 23rd missal on one video in strangely garish vestments) or his actual election. He asserts that the quality and elevated tone of the information he provides should be enough to convince people of his superior, God-given intellect and therefore no one should question him.

Jacobus, who refers to himself as heading the catacomb church but does not reveal his legal, given name (for safety reasons, he says) is quick to declare anyone who automatically rejects his claim as excommunicated. He rants against Traditionalists and the Society of St. Pius X, apostate Rome and the evils of Communism and Socialism. Much of what he says may be timely and informative, was it not coming from the mouth of yet another false pope. But Catholics need only consult the encyclicals of Pope Pius IX and Pope Pius XI on Communism and Socialism (although every Catholic should know these systems were long ago condemned). And there are numerous site articles exposing Traditionalists and the Novus Ordo. To better understand why Jacobus has no claim to the papal see, please read the article posted at https://www.betrayedcatholics.com/articles/8-14-gregory-xviii-yet-another-means-of-deceiving-the-elect/ Note: the Gregory XVIII information in this article may be disregarded, as the fraudulent Tran Van Khoat, (aka Gregory XVIII), a married-with-children real estate developer with dubious international ties, was exposed for what he truly was a few years ago. That article may be viewed at https://www.betrayedcatholics.com/?s=Tran+van+Khoat Nothing more should need to be said here about the dangers of these crafty imposters!

What is curious about this latest papal pretender is the timing of his appearance. It has already been mentioned here that Novus Ordo and Traditionalists alike have been making loud noises that Francis is a heretic and no pope. We will not go into the ramifications of this here, since numerous site articles and the book The Phantom Church in Romealready treat of this. But basically, Francis could not be a validly elected Pope and public heretic at the same time. He would either need to be a public heretic pre-election, hence invalidly elected, or commit heresy only in his private capacity for him to be considered as possibly validly elected. The promise of infallibility precludes a validly elected Pope from ever becoming a public heretic, (although the Vatican Council did concede that a pope could err in his private capacity). For the gates of hell shall never prevail against Peter’s faith. A man appearing to be pope might commit such heresy, but this would only indicate that he never became pope in the first place.

There seems to be a great need at present for people to grasp at anything with an appearance of what they think is legitimacy, a dangerous tendency. They forget that legitimacy can be determined only by the Church — papal and conciliar decrees, also Canon Law. These are our teachers, not some phony baloney wearing a white dress and skullcap posting YouTube videos. As Rev. As the saying goes, been there, done that and suffered the consequences. A pope may be elected only by cardinals or in their absence the bishops, i.e., the hierarchy. He could not be elected by the laity in the absence of bishops and priests. Pius XII  specifically states this, and automatically nullifies and voids anything that happens contrary to his law (see https://www.betrayedcatholics.com/free-content/reference-links/1-what-constitutes-the-papacy/apostolic-constitution-vacantis-apostolicae-sedis/ — click on blue VASannot link). This law is binding on every Catholic for belief under pain of excommunication for denying the infallibility of the Roman Pontiff, and this cannot be stressed enough. It is listed in the Acta Apostolica Sedis as an authoritative document, something Pius XII tells us is a clear indication of its binding power.

Moreover, the valid election of a pope must be accepted as a dogmatic fact, and this being the case, no one could accept a doubtfully elected man as pope. With the Church in disarray as it is at present, no certainty can be obtained regarding such an election, and as St. Robert Bellarmine teaches, a doubtful pope is no pope. While those in the past may have had an excuse for mistakenly accepting such men owing to a lack of information and understanding on the subject, that is no longer the case today with the availability of so many works explaining the reason why we have no true pope today, particularly Cum ex Apostolatus Officio and Vacantis apostolicae sedis. Nor should anyone any longer be confused about the infallibility of these two documents, once passed off as no longer binding by those wishing to operate independently as Traditional clergy or be elevated to the “papacy.” Christ, should He come to visit the earth (not for a second time, but by way of chastisement), will resolve the problem of the papacy; He who is its author is the only one able to restore it today. And if that requires a miracle, so be it.

Francis follies

Another recent development exciting the neo-Traditionalists was Francis’s crackdown on the Latin mass centers and his reining in of those offering this mass, which Benedict 16 permitted during his pontificate. This seems strangely to be on a timeline with the appearance of this new papal claimant. To be clear, however, all Francis forbade was the celebration of the mass referred to as the Tridentine Latin Mass, making it appear it had its beginnings at Trent in the 1500s! John 23rd was never Pope; therefore, any changes he made to the 1400-year-old Canon of the Mass — the very one and ONLY one that Pope St. Pius V teaches may be celebrated in perpetuity — are null and void. There is no guarantee of perpetual permission to celebrate the 1962 missal, whether it is recited in Latin or in English. Pope St. Pius V, who reaffirmed Pope Paul IV’s Cum ex Apostolatus Officio could never have intended to approve the celebration of any other rite but the Roman Latin rite as it then existed; nor could it hardly be said he would have sanctioned anything done by a man doubtfully elected. This information has been around for decades but has never made a dent in the John 23 missal crowd.

This absolute refusal to accept the fact that the majority of Cardinals voting in the 1958 election of John 23rd were no longer cardinals and hence had no ability to elect even the local mayor (see The Phantom Church in Rome) is inexcusable. According to Paul IV’s bull, retained in the code in Canon 188 no. 4, they automatically resigned their offices by espousing liberalism and other heresies long before the 1958 election. This was confirmed by their participation in Vatican 2. Failing to examine the valid issues treated by Pope Paul IV in his bull Cum ex Apostolatus Officio and other proofs discovered regarding this election (and no Siri was not qualified to be elected either and could never be proven to have been elected) is a sin against the Holy Ghost. This sin is classified as rejecting the known truth and such sins are especially heinous. Although able to be forgiven if confessed, theologians opine that this sin often is not recognized or confessed, owing to the obstinacy of those who are guilty of committing it. Roncalli had, as a matter of public record, already been tagged as a suspected Modernist on two different occasions, and one suspect of heresy could not be validly elected. Even had he not been so identified, his knowledge of and open cooperation with an open campaign for his election, secretly carried out before Pius XII’s death, would alone disqualify him according to Pope Pius XII’s infallible election law, Vacantis apostolicae sedis.

Those refusing to address Roncalli’s invalid election today are to the Church Militant what the current leftwing media is to conservative Americans. The campaign to block any real discussion of the matter has existed for decades, since the 1970s leaders of Traditional groups and Traditionalist themselves have ruthlessly censored, silenced and continuously ridiculed those broaching the subject, just as the mainstream media has done with conservatives. In fact, many even refer to this blog and a few others as representing the lunatic fringe. Pope St. Pius X describes this Modernist tactic as follows in his Pascendi Dominici Gregis:

“There is little reason to wonder that the Modernists vent all their bitterness and hatred on Catholics who zealously fight the battles of the Church. There is no species of insult which they do not heap upon them, but their usual course is to charge them with ignorance or obstinacy. When an adversary rises up against them with an erudition and force that renders them redoubtable, they seek to make a conspiracy of silence around him to nullify the effects of his attack. This policy towards Catholics is the more invidious in that they belaud with admiration which knows no bounds the writers who range themselves on their side, hailing their works, exuding novelty in every page, with a chorus of applause.”

Sound familiar? It should. These same tactics have been used against Catholics for decades and can now be seen on the nightly news as tools of Cancel Culture. But transparency in truly Catholic journalism and scholastic investigation is even more important by far than transparency in political matters because all must be based on the truth: Christ Himself and the Church He founded. Those now lamenting Francis’ phony crackdown may well be eventually propelled into the arms of the waiting pretender popes and other groups after fleeing Francis. All was set up long ago, as Mary Lejeune noted below in her May-June 1977 newsletter Sword of Truth:

“Awhile back, I received a booklet from a reader.  It is entitled, Brotherhood of the Illuminati and it is written by the Freemasons themselves. It is published in London, England and within the pages we read all about the so-called “Pre-Nicene Church” (Arianism) which these Freemasons set up in October, 1953 while we Catholics were praying and acting like Catholics, unaware of the fact that a Masonic revolution was about to come down upon our unsuspecting heads. Let me quote, please: “This Church was formed in October 1953, with the objects of carrying on the true Catholic Tradition and the original ‘Mysteries of Jesus’ and the Gnosis of the Soul. Candidates for the Priesthood (which would maintain the traditions) must have completed three years’ probation in the Brotherhood of the Illuminati; they are required to have a thorough knowledge and understanding of the Gnostic Church for the first three centuries of the Christian Era.  PRIVATE CHAPELS WILL BE ESTABLISHED AS AND WHEN THE NEED ARISES.” So, these “candidates” will have Arianism in their hearts while they carry on the “true Catholic Tradition.”  No wonder these secret Masons are so well-versed in the use of semantics.”

So how are all of you Ari(y)ans coping out there these days?! What a travesty that even 30 percent of those calling themselves Catholics, a number roughly corresponding to conservatives now wary of what is happening today with the media, cannot see through the conspiracy to keep them distracted, psychically coerced, (a term used by Pope Pius XII to describe CCP (Chinese Communist Party) brainwashing in the encyclical Ad apostolorum principis); uninformed and unaware of true Catholic teaching and unable to access the fullness of their Catholic birthright. All this because they refused to credence the teachings of the popes and councils and approved theologians writing prior to Pope Pius XII’s death, choosing instead to embrace Gallican-minded Traditionalist clergy and other leaders who were never approved, never validly ordained or consecrated and not in communion with the Roman Pontiff. It is truly the operation of error to believe lies and if anyone doubts it for a moment, then they have lost their ability to reason and accept reality.

May God help us all!