* Infiltration, innuendo, and the longing for certainty by Jennifer Roback Morse

Morse: “Marshal cites a 19th-century document showing that the Freemasons wanted to subvert the Church. But showing they wanted to infiltrate the Church does not prove that they actually succeeded.”

“He shows that the town of Sankt Galen has a historical connection with Freemason and Satanic groups. He places a young Theodore McCarrick in the town of Sankt Galen in 1949. Unfortunately, simply placing these people and institutions in the same location does not tell us what they did or indeed whether they did anything at all.”

“The most startling instance of under-researched but over-stated conclusion occurs in the chapter entitled, ‘Infiltration in John Paul II’s Pontificate.’ “

* Taylor Marshall’s “Infiltration” by Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Longenecker: “What’s the book about? It “exposes” nefarious influences in the contemporary Catholic Church. Taylor lines up the usual suspects: Freemasons, Modernists, Communists, the Mafia, International bankers etc. etc. These infiltrators have got us in the present bad place. Anyone who has dipped into the websites of the traditionalist movement will be familiar with the mix of conspiracy theories, anti-Vatican II invective, bitter criticism of the Ordinary Form of the Mass and condemnation of every pope since Pius XII combined with slipshod theology, quotes out of context, reliance on rumor, hearsay, apparitions, private revelation and Marian end times prognostications.”

* Reactionary Infiltration of Taylor Marshall’s Book, “Infiltration” by Dave Armstrong

Armstrong: “So, of course, Taylor — with all of 13 years’ experience as a Catholic (he was received in 2006) — is smarter than the pope / more Catholic than the pope. He knows his theology; Pope Benedict does not, and simply — you see — likes the “smells and bells” and facing the altar and Latin and fancy vestments. This sort of flatulent rhetoric is arrogant beyond comprehension. And the people saying it seem to not have the slightest comprehension that it is. It’s as natural as breathing to them, to treat a pope (and a very brilliant theologian at that) in this condescending, patronizing fashion.”

** See also Dave Armstrong’s now-deleted Amazon review of Infiltration

* Infiltration: An idiot’s guide to the problems of the Church by Jeff Mirus

Mirus: “It is hard to know where to begin a review, since discussing the book is rather like pointing out the absurdity of a crazy relative who always has an answer to every objection, pulled out of a world that exists only in his head. The fundamental stupidity of the book arises from the author’s felt need to explain the normal human condition in terms of a series of conspiracies. Developments and ideas the author considers bad—from the loss of the Papal States through the Second Vatican Council and right up to the current pontificate—are ascribed to the secret machinations of the Masons, the Modernists, the Communists, the gays, the St. Galen Mafia, you name it.

The technique is reminiscent of McCarthyism in America in the 1950s. If you have an idea that is similar to one held by one of the conspiratorial groups, it is a sure sign of the effectiveness of the conspiracy. If you happen to know someone in one of the conspiratorial groups, it is a sure sign that you have been successfully recruited. Even more absurd, the normal manner in which all human individuals and groups pursue their own interests is tagged, whenever convenient to the argument, as conspiratorial.”

I’ll be posting my own review, when I have the time. Here it is: Infiltration by Taylor Marshall: Does Jesus have a demon? This book is extremely offensive to Christ, as it claims that the Church has been infiltrated by Satan. But since the Church is the body of Christ, enlivened by the Holy Spirit, that claim is like saying Jesus has a demon.

* Documentation of Taylor Marshall’s attacks on Pope Francis (and prior popes) by Scott Eric Alt

* Dawn Eden Goldstein’s comments on Infiltration

by
Ronald L. Conte Jr.
Roman Catholic theologian and translator of the Catholic Public Domain Version of the Bible.

Please take a look at this list of my books and booklets, and see if any topic interests you.