Did communists try to infiltrate the Catholic Church

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hudson said:
So you guys don’t think the sex abuse stuff that happened, the loss of reverence, the wreckovation of the Churchs, etc had anything to do with an attempt to undermine everything we stood for? I don’t know if this book is legit or not, but I found this while reading stories:

amazon.com/Aa-1025-Memoirs-Communists-infiltration-Church/dp/0895554496
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A) Sex Abuse: No, I don’t believe that was the result of “communist infiltration,” not because I don’t believe communism is bad (I do), but because I think it’s only fair to blame those who are blameworthy. A communist may also be a paedophile, but I doubt that by and large paedophilia is any more prevalent in a given population of fervent communists than it would be in a given population of fervent capitalists. I also doubt that it is viewed as a viable weapon by Communists (or Masons or anyone else that conspiracy theorists choose to accuse of attempting to bring down Holy Mother Church or the United States or the local bird watching society). A tool Satan might use? Yes, certainly. The blame for the scandal, however, at the very least has to be laid at the feet of some of our bishops. I also give a great deal of creedance to the idea that most of it can be blamed on what was (and hopefully is not now) a burgeoning “lavendar mafia” in the curias of a large number of diocese, ie, practicing homosexuals rising to rank and influence in varioius curias, who then ensured the advancement of like-minded and heterodox others, who then perpetuated it further, etc., etc., thus dicouraging orthodox men from the vocation of the holy priesthood.

B) Loss of reverence: I blame that on the societal and cultural revolution which took place during the 60’s and early 70’s, concurrent with (but not to be confused with) the Second Vatican Council. I have read, though I cannot cite it now, that the periods after councils have always been times of upheaval for the Church. The questioning of authority and institutions during that time period is what I blame for the loss of reverence and I think we are slowly recovering from it, because I think most people realize how necessary authority and reverence for authority, particularly the Church, really are for society at large. I bet there are a lot of aging hippies who look back at photos of themselves sheepishly and who now shake their heads ruefully. Yes, the Council took place at the same time, but correlation does not prove causation.

C) Wreakovations: See B.
 
TimothyH said:
Perhapse Nashville?

nashvilledominican.org/Home

Record numbers of women are answering the call to religious life in this order dedicated to teaching children. I think they had something like 35 profess last year.
-Tim-
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Bet you a nickel that “adrift” wasn’t taught by a Nashville Dominican in the 50’s. While I love them and the handful of other orders that are thriving today, you surely can’t be ignoring the literally hundreds of thousands of nuns that have vanished since the 50’s.

My claim is that the main cause of that disappearance was that the nuns changed their focus from inner conversion and evangelization to external structural ‘social justice’ struggles in a way that held more resemblence to communism than catholicism. Communist infiltration via ideological corruption rather than insertion agents.
 
An interesting read;

avangelista.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/the-communist-infiltration-of-the-catholic-church/

Some excerpts:

Kremlin Orders Infiltration of Catholic Clergy

Mr. Manning Johnson, a former official of the Communist Party in America gave the following testimony in 1953 to the House Unamerican Activities Committee: “Once the tactic of infiltration of religious organizations was set by the Kremlin … the Communists discovered that the destruction of religion could proceed much faster through infiltration of the Church by Communists operating within the Church itself. The Communist leadership in the United States realized that the infiltration tactic in this country would have to adapt itself to American conditions and religious make-up peculiar to this country. In the earliest stages it was determined that with only small forces available to them, it would be necessary to concentrate Communist agents in the seminaries. The practical conclusion drawn by the Red leaders was that these institutions would make it possible for a small Communist minority to influence the ideology of future clergymen in the paths conducive to Communist purposes.”

Further on in his testimony, Mr. Johnson pointed out the grim fact that: “THIS POLICY OF INFILTRATING SEMINARIES WAS SUCCESSFUL BEYOND EVEN OUR GREATEST EXPECTATIONS”. It is the axiom of Communist organization’s strategy that if a body has 1% Communist Party and 9% Party sympathizers, this 10% can effectively control the remaining 90% who act and think on an individual basis.”

Mr. Johnson further testified that the goals of this infiltration were twofold:

1**. To make the Catholic Church no longer effective against Communism.
2. To direct clerical thinking away from the spiritual and toward the temporal and political … hence, the preaching of the “social gospel”.**

In U.S.A. 1100 Young Radicals Entered Clergy in 1930′s

Mrs. Bella Dodd spent most of her life in the Communist Party in America and was Attorney General designate had the Party won the White House. After her defection, she revealed that one of her jobs as a Communist agent was to encourage young radicals (not always card-carrying Communists) to enter Catholic seminaries. She said that before she had left the Party in the United States, she herself had encouraged almost 1,000 young radicals to infiltrate the seminaries and religious orders … and she was only one Communist.

A Number Now Are Bishops

She also said that the changes would be so drastic that ‘you will not recognize the Catholic Church’. (Note, this was about 10 to 12 years before the Second Vatican Council.)

“She explained that there would be a guilt-complex introduced into the Church … to label the ‘Church of the past’ as being oppressive, authoritarian, full of prejudices, arrogant in claiming to be the sole possessor of truth, and responsible for the divisions of religious bodies throughout the centuries. **This would be necessary in order to shame the Church leaders into an ‘openness to the world’, and to a more flexible attitude toward all other religions and philosophies. **

The Communists would then exploit this openness in order to undermine the Church. Mrs. Dodd in effect was describing the ‘ecumenism’ that was to come. And now, Our Lady of Fatima’s grave warnings have come to pass. Russia has spread her errors, even into the very bosom of the Church.”

Rings true.
 
Hello Hudson, et al,

A book you may seriously want to look into is entitled, “AA-1025,” compiled by Marie Carré- a French nurse who tended to an auto accident victim that happened to be an upper echelon Communist infiltrator who had become a priest. He died several hours after arriving at the hospital; when he arrived; he was clutching a small leather attaché case containing his autobiographical manuscripts, (something he had been forbidden to write- but consumed by the very vainglory he railed against; he had written them anyway), that Nurse Carré had taken into her care.

After his death; Nurse Carré, when realizing what these documents were, put her medical ethics aside for the good of the Church, (she said); and sent the manuscripts to a publisher. They were published in 1972 in French under the title, “ES-1025,” (with the “ES” being the French for Seminary Student); the book proved quite popular and was translated into English a short while later with the English title of “AA-1025,” (with the “AA” standing for Anti-Apostle).

The book is still available in paperback for $7.95 from TAN Books.* Anyone interested in the Communist infiltration of the Catholic Church will find it interesting… and also very telling.

Oremus pro invicem,

Sean C. :knight1:
  • I am still reading this book- but it has proven very illuminating so far. 😉
**Please recite the Rosary daily. Each bead; devoutly said; is an eternal rose presented to Jesus and Our Blessed Mother.

Be sure to read The Secret of the Rosary by Saint Louis de Montfort. It will change your life.

When you are in a tight spot; pray to St. Jude and have faith.**
 
I would believe it. Communism is very evil, and naturaly is and enemy of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.
 
I just finished reading School of Darkness*

I think every Catholic and every American should read Bella’s book as well as Whittaker Chambers, Witness** and J. Edgar Hoover’s Masters of Deceit** so we can recognize their tactics when we see them. Of course, the Blessed Mother said at Fatima that the daily rosary, penance and monthly confession would stop the spread of communism. It’s never too late to start only now we have to pray for the conversion of our own country and Church.*
 
The Communist Party in the USA went through different phases re the Church. In the 20s it was totally hostile toward religion. In the mid-30s it fosued on a ‘united front against fascism’ that tried to exploit religious idealism, aimed more at Protestants than Catholics, but with little success. During World War II, of course, it was almost patriotic for Americans to hail the Red Army as it fought the invading legions of Hitler.
Code: 
  In the 30s, incidentally, there was an interesting difference when it came to the Spanish Civil War. I don't recall the exact statistics, but a poll discovered a marked difference in attitudes between Protestants and Catholics in the USA. The Protestants were generally neutral, but a sizeable minority favored the Loyalists who fought against Franco. Catholics were more likely to be supportive of Franco, who also received the support of the Vatican. largely because of the Loyalist hostility toward and persecution of the Church. Hitler and Mussolini supported Franco with arms and volunteer troops. Stalin supported the Loyalists. Etc.

 The notion that communist influence was significant among American Catholics (or Protestants) is simply silly. The charge of infiltrating Catholic seminaries is a result of paranoia or outright deception. It just didn't happen. Sadly, some of those professional anti-communists were either deceived or deliberately deceptive themselves. Some of them made a good living off their alarming 'revelations'. What tiny success the Communists had was on the fringes of Protestantism - a wee number of ministers, usually peripheral, became actual Communists. Most of these few were enticed by the Party during World War II and the majority of these few were African-American. The Communist Party fought racial discrimination here despite its own persecution of minorities, political and ethnic, in the Soviet Union.

 The arena in which the Communists made some headway among Catholics was in a few trade unions. Eleven or twelve unions were communist-controlled at one point, were ousted from the AFL-CIO, and a few of these had significant Catholic leadership and membership.

  The real danger of communist influence among Catholics came after World War II in places like Italy, where a third of the population was supporting communist candidates even though more than 95% of the population was nominally Catholic. France had a very strong Communist Party also. In eastern Europe - e. g., Poland - the Church was a bulwark against the Communist government, but there also were Catholic collaborators with the Communists both within and outside the Church. Pope Paul II, of course, was to become a significant influence leading to the fall of Communism in Poland and elsewhere.

  Back to the main point. The charges of extensive communist influence in the American churches, Catholic or Protestant, are totally bogus. They reflect the wild-eyed and paranoid perspective that burst forth in the US for awhile during the early phases of the Cold War. 

  There were, incidentally, more serious struggles among various Orthodox groups - Russian, Romanian, Albanian, Armenian, etc. - as to whether or not to stay aligned with churches in their 'homelands', churches that often were under Communist control. Among the Russian Orthodox, for example, three separate and competing groups emerged: a separate, independent US church (now the Orthodox Church of America), the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (heavy Czarist influence), and churches in the US that kept their ties to the Moscow Patriachate, such as the cathedral in Manhattan which resulted in a major court case as to which faction was to control it.

  All very complicated. Please don't fall for crazy and false 'findings' which are not in any way supported by the facts.
 
Thank you Dragonslayer for mentioning Bella Dodd. I was searching through this thread looking for someone to mention her. I think she claimed to have personally recruited 1600 young men to become priests.

If she is truthful then I wonder where in the church they are or were. And more importantly who they were.
 
Hmm, anybody care to remember who was instrumental in the fall of communism? And for that matter, to what institution he belonged?
 
SAINT PIUS X (1903-1914)

The Dream of Re-Shaping Society will Bring Socialism

“But stranger still, alarming and saddening at the same time, are the audacity and frivolity of men who call themselves Catholics and dream of re-shaping society under such conditions, and of establishing on earth, over and beyond the pale of the Catholic Church, ‘the reign of love and justice’ … What are they going to produce? … A mere verbal and chimerical construction in which we shall see, glowing in a jumble, and in seductive confusion, the words Liberty, Justice, Fraternity, Love, Equality, and human exultation, all resting upon an ill-understood human dignity. It will be a tumultuous agitation, sterile for the end proposed, but which will benefit the less Utopian exploiters of the people. Yes, we can truly say that the Sillon, its eyes fixed on a chimera, brings Socialism in its train.”
(Apostolic Letter Notre Charge Apostolique “Our Apostolic Mandate”] to the French Bishops, August 15, 1910, condemning the movement Le Sillon)
 
Armenian_cpa said:
Our Lord said the gates of the Netherworld will not prevail against his church. I have faith and believe in him.

Matthew 16
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But He never said "The Church throughout the whole world all the time"would be protected.
It could be a small portion of the Catholic Church will remain intact from the bufettings of Hell.
There are great parts of the Church in Europe and the USA that are in apostacy.[the institutional aspect]
 
Roy5 said:
The Communists tried, of course, to infiltrate and control the Catholic Church in its satellite nations in eastern Europe, such as Poland and Hungary and Czechoslovakia. They met with some success, not much.

They seem to be more successful in China at the present time, a scenario still in process.
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I’ve heard a few speakers on EWTN talk about this Communist infiltration into eastern Europe during the war.
 
Here is an interesting blog article:

awakentheelephants.com/blog/?p=3657

The Catholic Church is a great target for infiltration. Easily infiltrated too, what with its open arms and pure heart for lost souls.

Just because a Catholic label is slapped on a cause doesn’t make the cause or means a great Catholic outreach tool. Sometimes, it’s a trick and a joke with the Church as the butt.

Be careful in your dealings with anything dedicated to “social justice”, for it just may have communist backing.
 
Big_Feet said:
Please, praytell, which ones?
Please be specific, and advise as to why.
Thank you.
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Blessed John Paul II himself said that much of Europe is in “silent apostacy”.
Much of Austria has lost the Faith, so has Switerland, France, Ireland for sure etc.

In the USA, whole diocese are quickly losing the Faith such as Rockville Centre in NY, where I lived for many years and saw it first hand.
Much of the Diocese of Albany NY.
A lot of California etc etc.
 
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