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So long, Bp. Richard Stika.

Last week, Knoxville Bp. Richard Stika announced his retirement after a lengthy Vatican investigation and extensive news coverage over his alleged cover-up of a rape. Leading the charge in that news coverage was Church Militant, as insiders were providing us much information on his alleged cover-up of a rape.

While The Pillar was first to break the story, for which they deserve credit, Church Militant was the only one to air a video documentary and the only one to expose the texts exchanged between the perpetrator and the victim — a smoking gun that exposed the bishop as profusely lying and made the perpetrator's involvement undeniable.

Our Church Militant Spotlight investigation, part 1 and part 2, was described as an "earthquake" in the diocese of Knoxville, and was soon followed not only by the Vatican investigation but also by local newspapers finally covering the story (after remaining deafeningly silent for months).

Please consider Church Militant Evening News for daily hard-hitting news and analysis through an authentic Catholic lens, covering the latest developments in the Church, across the nation and around the world.

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Saintly footwear created by Catholics for Catholics.

When Bp. Sheen, who could be a canonized saint by now if not for the scheming by various U.S. bishops to prevent that from happening, said it's up to us, the laity, to save the Church. he wasn't kidding.

So in addition to all kinds of efforts of the more high-minded sort dealing with the brain and intellect directly, there are also what we might term more down-to-earth efforts (literally, down to earth), like what you put on your feet while walking around. We're talking about Catholic devotional socks, the brainchild of Scott and Elizabeth Williams, who started up Sock Religious — home-based in Indianapolis and just having passed the 100,000 order milestone, making it the biggest Catholic sock company in history.

Scriptures do say, "How beautiful the feet of those who bring glad tidings." So those feet might as well be wearing beautiful socks as well, right? In fact, something we may almost never really pay any attention to in the Bible is feet.

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Corruption may be holding back his canonization.

Dr. Howard is a leading expert on the teachings of Ven. Fulton J. Sheen and the founder and president of the Fulton Sheen Institute headquartered in Sandpoint, Ohio, where it exists to continue the implementation of Sheen's mission and teachings. Howard is the author of "The Woman: Mary as Mediatrix in the Teaching of Fulton J. Sheen", the authoritative book on Sheen's Mariology. He has traveled the globe helping others discover this future saint and advancing his cause.

Petition: SET THE DATE FOR SHEEN.

Please consider Church Militant Evening News for daily hard-hitting news and analysis through an authentic Catholic lens, covering the latest developments in the Church, across the nation and around the world.

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It's more than just boys.

We reported in yesterday's Vortex on the legal hellhole the archdiocese of Baltimore has fallen into, owing to a flood of 600 lawsuits over sexual predation of minors.

It is very likely that, in short order, Abp. William Lori will file for bankruptcy protection for his archdiocese — the first diocese established in America.

Aside from the symbolic blow such a move would be to the Church in the United States — joining 30 other dioceses in filing for bankruptcy for the same reason — there is an entirely overlooked aspect to all this as well.

It isn't just minors that have been sexually assaulted, although those cases are the ones that make headlines because of the victims' ages.

There are also vulnerable adults — especially seminarians who have been and are assaulted by homopredator clergy.

Recall that most of Theodore McCarrick's victims were not minors, although significantly some were, but were mostly seminarians at his Jersey Shore beach house — and then this went on for years.

Charges and accusations just like this have plagued seminaries and their faculties for decades now, up to and including the prestigious bishop factory in Rome: the North American College.

Most of the time, corrupt leaders circle the wagons and get rid of the whistle-blower seminarians and then return to business as usual.

One such leader who is accused of this is the Baltimore archbishop, William Lori, the chaplain of the Knights of Columbus who, by the way, has yet to release any statement on the Maryland attorney general's report proving Lori kept predators and cover-up personnel in place.

He knew what had happened and participated in the cover-up. For that alone, if he doesn't resign, he should be removed by Pope Francis.

Please consider Church Militant Evening News for daily hard-hitting news and analysis through an authentic Catholic lens, covering the latest developments in the Church, across the nation and around the world.

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The list keeps growing.

With the recent announcement by the diocese of Oakland, California, that it too would now join the growing list of bankrupt dioceses in the United States, the number now stands at 30 out of approximately 180. That's more than 15% of all dioceses in the country. However, there is a monster case, a very likely bankruptcy that is sitting out there in the wings, very likely to be filed sooner rather than later.

Church Militant broke the news a couple of weeks ago of the release of the state of Maryland attorney general's report nailing the archdiocese of Baltimore in its complicity in covering up hundreds of sex abuse cases. Baltimore is massively important because of its symbolic value to the Church here in the United States, being the first diocese erected in the new nation and therefore having pride of place.

For the past few decades, the archdiocese, it turns out, has been a cesspool of cover-up, secret payouts, shifting and/or hiding culprit clergy and doling out huge sums of parshioners' money to lawyers to keep it all under wraps. Church Militant has been all over this story for quite some time now, even before the A.G. report, and joining me on set for this Vortex is our producer/reporter Nick Wylie, who has been looking deeply into all this for us.

Please consider Church Militant Evening News for daily hard-hitting news and analysis through an authentic Catholic lens, covering the latest developments in the Church, across the nation and around the world.

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Woke bishops like Abp. Gustavo García-Siller aren't really shepherds at all.

There are fewer things in the Church more revolting to listen to or see than woke bishops. They are just the latest evolution in the class of men who began as social justice warriors and simply morphed into the next phase.

Take, for example, the archbishop of San Antonio, Texas, Gustavo García-Siller, a poster boy for the woke crap we see everywhere. And before we get into specifics about him, consider that all of these terms are nothing other than dog whistles for communism: woke, social justice, socialism, equity and any other substitute word that comes to mind. It's communism, plain and simple.

And communists create and use and deploy every imaginable weapon they can in their attempt to gain global domination. It's done through a combination of seizing on naturally occurring events, like the weather, and then insisting that global domination must be exerted to gain control of the climate.

Please consider Church Militant Evening News for daily hard-hitting news and analysis through an authentic Catholic lens, covering the latest developments in the Church, across the nation and around the world.

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There was a moment when it was just one person.

As we arrive at and live through the holiest days of the year, there is one very tragic yet also profoundly beautiful thought to reflect on — Our Blessed Mother's experience through all this.

In a certain sense, it is not incorrect to say that the entire Church "collapsed" into her while Our Blessed Lord was in the tomb. Remember, the faith of the Apostles had evaporated (even though it was very likely at least some of them were watching the gruesome crucifixion, even St. John up close). Their presence was motivated by love, sadness, emotional attachment — but not Faith.

Remember, none of the Apostles, as well as Mary Magdalene, James and John's mother, none of them, not one, had belief in Our Lord's Resurrection or, when all was said and done, even the prospect of it. The women went to the tomb not to witness their resurrected Lord and God but to finish the burial anointing per Jewish law.

The Apostles were shaking like terrified cats in the Upper Room. Even when Our Lord physically presented Himself to them that first Easter evening, the gospels tell us He had to upbraid them for their disbelief.

So the women didn't believe. The Apostles didn't believe. Even His disciples didn't believe. In a word, they all saw all of this as over.

Now it was turning into every man for himself. No faith, no hope, questionable charity at best.

And before we turn to Our Blessed Mother, let's consider for just a brief moment the reaction of the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin.

As Ven. Abp. Fulton Sheen observes, it is the greatest irony that with regard to Our Lord's Resurrection, His enemies believed and His friends did not.

Please consider Church Militant Evening News for daily hard-hitting news and analysis through an authentic Catholic lens, covering the latest developments in the Church, across the nation and around the world.

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2023 Winter News Wrap-Up.

It's almost impossible to be involved in the Church — believing, caring, concerned — without being plugged into affairs in the world. Venerable Abp. Fulton Sheen called the world "the theater of redemption."

While we are not of the world, we certainly are in the world. And that imparts a duty, an obligation to be involved in the work of evangelization. And that means a sufficient grasp of the world — what's going on, how it intersects with the Faith — is vital, especially in these days of such tumult and confusion.

It's why Church Militant is so adamant that faithful Catholics be aware of what's going on in the Church, the culture, politics — all of it. You have to be informed and knowledgeable.

That's why, each quarter, at the end-of-calendar quarter, we bring you a summary of the major stories Catholics should know. For today's Vortex, we are going to present the major stories, with analysis, from this just-passed first quarter.

Please consider Church Militant Evening News for daily hard-hitting news and analysis through an authentic Catholic lens, covering the latest developments in the Church, across the nation and around the world.

Church Militant (a 501(c)4 corporation) is responsible for the content of this commentary. If you also seek the truth, then please consider joining Church Militant today by supporting our work. Sign up for a Church Militant Premium account or simply make a donation. Feel free to contact Church Militant with your questions, comments, or concerns, at anytime. And now, let's begin with today's Vortex...

The Flanders Fighter.

Belgium used to be one of the most Catholic countries on earth — specifically, the northern part which shares a border with the Netherlands, the region known as Flanders. But like so many former Catholic bastions, Belgium — Flanders — has fallen prey to the hopelessness and despair that come with modernism and Marxism. However, one strong young man is not only pushing back, he’s also trying to help others see and reclaim the Catholicity of the once very Catholic region.

[Transcript unavailable]

Dries Van Langenhove is Belgium's leading activist. He came to his choice after being the youngest member of the Belgian Parliament, which he has since resigned from, believing that politics in and of itself is insufficient.

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Keep Dries and his developing Belgian youth movement in your prayers. The fight is real — it's intense — but it contains within itself its own reward and glory. Thank you, Dries, for your work. Keep it up, brother, and when the inevitable discouragement begins to encroach and hem you in on all sides, remember your original zeal and tap back into it as often as need be.

Wherever you are in your faith, grow even stronger. The Faith is not a weapon for just changing the culture, which is, of course, a noble goal in and of itself, but Catholicism is an end in itself, changing men. It is changed men — changed from sinful creatures into fully alive sons of God — who will change the culture.

Please consider Church Militant Evening News for daily hard-hitting news and analysis through an authentic Catholic lens, covering the latest developments in the Church, across the nation and around the world.

Church Militant (a 501(c)4 corporation) is responsible for the content of this commentary. If you also seek the truth, then please consider joining Church Militant today by supporting our work. Sign up for a Church Militant Premium account or simply make a donation. Feel free to contact Church Militant with your questions, comments, or concerns, at anytime. And now, let's begin with today's Vortex...

Needed now, more than ever!

Just before we begin, we'd like to wish a happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone out there, and the reason we are singling out St. Patrick is because roughly half of the Catholic population, historically, in the United States, has roots stretching back to Ireland, which obviously goes back to St. Patrick who converted the savage Celts. So, Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Starting this coming Monday and each Monday following, Church Militant will be airing what we call Membership Monday at 7 p.m. ET. It will be a live chat program where Premium members will have access to the live chat — meaning, your questions or comments can be tapped to further the live discussion.

Viewers on the ChurchMilitant.com site or on the Church Militant YouTube site will each be able to view the show. But, again, to get into the chat, please sign up for a Premium membership — that's why we call it Membership Monday. There are so many things going on in the Church and the world that it is impossible to cover everything.

Many times, things happening intersect with the world and the Church and need to be talked about (explained more in-depth) and you need to be given an opportunity to ask more about them. That's why we're launching this new effort. And I'm a bit biased, I know, but I can say with full confidence — there is no outfit in the Catholic world (as well as many secular outfits or personalities) that has the chops to talk about a large assortment of issues like Church Militant.

In short, there's just nobody in the Catholic world that has the firepower we have here at Church Militant. I did a little canvas of our staff, and even I was surprised at how much knowledge and accreditation is here.

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You mean those reliable sources? You cannot make this stuff up, folks. Church Militant is a constant target precisely because what we report is based on fact, and they know it. That's why no other Catholic media apostolate or operation draws the scrutiny that we do, plain and simple. We talk plainly, truthfully and reliably — and the bad actors hate it. And we have the firepower here to ensure we know what we're talking about.

Please consider Church Militant Evening News for daily hard-hitting news and analysis through an authentic Catholic lens, covering the latest developments in the Church, across the nation and around the world.