Saint-Mike website?

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I must correct you. I did not make rash judgments about Fr. Amorth. Try reading the page you linked instead of taking statements out of context

Included in my support of what I said, I quoted Fr. Fortea, who is just as well known as Fr. Amorth. Fr. Fortea said that Fr. Amorth had “gone well beyond the evidence”.

Father Fortea concluded by emphasizing, “Statements must be proven, especially when they are about such grave accusations that affect the honorability of those who form part of the Head of the Church as far as they help the Supreme Pastor… to affirm that some cardinals are members of satanic sects is an unacceptable distance.”"

I backed up my assertions with specific information and backed up by Fr. Fortea; I agreed with Fr. Fortea.

Using Fr. Fortea’s criteria, you have failed to back-up your assertion, as I knew you would.
 
I don’t know Brother Ignatius from Adam, and I am not concerned with his credentials. I have not scoured every last corner of his website, but I can tell you, what I have seen is good from a practical standpoint. The 7 steps to Self Deliverance and the Spritual Warfare Catalog are especially effective for those in need. The Hedge Prayer they have listed has become part of my nightly regimen.

I myself don’t blame him for being peeved. He, and perhaps others, have put a lot of work into this website, and have made it available for anyone in need of help. And yet, while he and his associates put forth this valuable effort, others want to sit on their butts and criticize, apparently for the sport.
This is how I feel as well. As a matter of fact his site was one of the first ones I went to when I was having spiritual warfare difficulties. Bro Ignatius gave me advice and I went on from there to re-learn my Catholic faith. His site was my stepping stone to Catholic Answers. The Holy Spirit definitely uses whoever He needs to bring people to Him. Everything I’ve seen on Bro Ignatius’ site has been very orthodox in manner.

We’re all a broken people, one way or another… and when broken people help other broken people move toward God in an orthodox way, well I’m not complaining! Now, if I saw things that were REALLY a red flag on a site, definitely I would make a judgement call and remove myself and anyone thinking of frequenting it.
 
I must correct you. I did not make rash judgments about Fr. Amorth. Try reading the page you linked instead of taking statements out of context
I must correct your correction of me! LOL I did not assert that you made rash judgements about Fr. Amorth. My assertion was that you assaulted his character by stating that Fr. Amorth is known for imprudent and rash statements.
Included in my support of what I said, I quoted Fr. Fortea, who is just as well known as Fr. Amorth. Fr. Fortea said that Fr. Amorth had “gone well beyond the evidence”.
Father Fortea was well within his rights to criticize Fr. Amorth’s statements about the Vatican. Fr. Fortea has been to the Vatican and is certainly entitled to his opinion. Father Fortea made no comments about Father Amorth’s character and did not posit what Fr. Amorth is or is not known for. The statement about Fr. Amorth’s character came from you and is not supported by Father Fortea.
I backed up my assertions with specific information and backed up by Fr. Fortea; I agreed with Fr. Fortea.
Please provide the specific information from Fr. Fortea regarding Fr. Amorth being know for imprudent and rash statements.
Using Fr. Fortea’s criteria, you have failed to back-up your assertion, as I knew you would.
Unlike you, I have not failed to back anything that I have asserted.

I like the St-Mike website and I am sure that many people are helped. Thanks for the good work and please keep it up.

May I suggest that you simply delete your statement which defames Fr. Amorth?
 
This whole issue was about rash judgment (making judgments upon assertions without any proof). Using the phrase “pot calling the kettle black” is an assertion that I was doing the same thing that I accuse others doing to me. That is not true.

People are making nothing but shear accusations without a single shred of evidence to prove their assertion. I did not do that.

In the article linked I did back up my statements. Fr. Fortea provided just one example of Fr. Amorth’s careless and exaggerated remarks. I have pointed out this tendency, with specific examples, a number of times. The article you linked provided on example.

It is not necesary for Fr. Fortea to use the exact same phraseology as I did. To demand that is thinking like a Protestant fundamentalists. A rose by any other name is still a rose.

Fr. Fortea described Fr. Amorth’s careless rash judgment without using the same word I used. This is not rocket science.

I just recently published another rather serious example on my Blog, the most serious example ever. To this incident Fr. Amorth should be censured by his bishop has he defames everyone who is not a devotee of Medjugorje:
saint-mike.org/bubba/538

Fr. Amorth has also made careless statements about halloween saying, “*f English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one night of the year that is not a problem. If it is just a game, there is no harm in that.”

The Bible disagrees with him. St. Paul teaches us that we are not to even have the appearance of evil: (1Th 5:22 From all appearance of evil refrain yourselves.) and (Php 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.)

My suggestion about Halloween are found at:
saint-mike.org/warfare/library/wp-content/docs/halloween.asp

Now, whether or not you or anyone agrees with my opinion about Fr. Amorth’s comment is not the point.

The point is that I did not just make the assertion, I provided backing for my view.

These defamers of me give nothing, nada, they just make the claim.

This discussion is about making unsubstantiated assertions. Your assertion that I do what I am asserting others are doing to me is patently and obviously false.

I admit what is true, I challenge what is false or unsubstantiated. If I have made a mistake and something points that out to me, then I correct it.

There is a reason why people make unsubstantiated assertions, St. de Sales talk about it in his essay on the worldly mind – They have a worldly mind. St de Sales defines what he means. You can read it at:
saint-mike.org/cafe/viewtopic.php?f=86&t=667*
 
You fail to address the point of the argument. The point is not whether or not you agree with any of Fr. Amorth’s statements. The point is whether or not he is known for making imprudent and rash judgements or statements, and more to the point, whether or not it is moral to make such a claim against a person, especially a priest, on a public forum.

Your last post leads me to conclude that you feel that Fr. Amorth makes imprudent statements and rash judgements. When you state that someone is** known** for something, you are saying that others beside yourself also think similarly. Since you didn’t qualify your statement as to who has this knowledge of Fr. Amorth, it implies that the knowledge is widespread.

You have not provided any support that Fr. Amorth is known for imprudent statements and rash judgements. The only support provided is that you think it. I can provide support that states that Fr. Amorth is a highly regarded priest who has served the church well and has a lifetime of knowledge and experience.

I assume that you and Brother Bubba are friends, or one in the same?

The title of the article you linked to, Fr. Gabriele Amorth Falls Off His Rocker, is truly sad. Please stop defaming our priests. Please pray for them. Fr. Amorth is wonderful and has helped so so many people. He should not be publicly insulted.
 
I am not the only one who has made these statements. I provided an example of that with Fr. Fortea.

I have included evidence of his carelessness.

That you do not like my answers is of no concern.

As for the Off the Rocker post, that is not insulting nor defaming Fr. Amorth. It is reporting an incident. The story was in the Press.

Fr. Amorth is a good and honorable priest, but that does not mean that every word out of his mouth is prudent.

A priest is not sacrosanct. If he makes public statements that are problematic, we can and should call him to account. Canon Law actually gives us that right. Canon Law 212.3s states:
They [the faithful] have the right, indeed at times the duty, in keeping with their knowledge, competence and position, to manifest to the sacred Pastors their views on matters which concern the good of the Church. They have the right also to make their views known to others of Christ’s faithful, but in doing so they must always respect the integrity of faith and morals, show due reverence to the Pastors and take into account both the common good and the dignity of individuals.
The imprudent comments Fr. Amorth made about Halloween can cause problems to the faithful. His comments which were insults to all who do not follow Medjugorje are divisive and way out of line.

I respect Fr. Amorth as an exorcist. We use his material in our training program for deliverance counselors. But, that does not remove the fact of his documented imprudence, an imprudence that I have personally seen the effects among some of our clients.

Again, the issue is that people need to substantiate their comments about others. That is the ONLY point here. The accusations against me that were pointed out did not include a single point of evidence.

You referring to me as pot calling the kettle black is an accusation of hypocrisy. That is a serious charge of which you have not provided a shred of evidence.

St. Paul tells us to avoid unproductive argumentation. St. De Sales says to make a statement of truth to refute the allegation and then let it go.

We are going in circles over semantics of how YOU define “known”. I do not accept your definitions. Thus, this debate is ended as it is getting silly.
 
We are going in circles, thus this debate is ended.
I agree.

I am going to assume that you made your statements in good faith and are trying to help others rather than defame and insult Fr. Amorth.

Is English your first language? Perhaps you do not know what your statements mean. For example, Father Amorth was described as being off of his rocker.

From the urban dictionary: OFF HIS ROCKER 1.Looney. Crazy. Crackhead.
 
LOL, English is my native language and I am a professional writer, publisher, and teacher of writing.

Any more put-downs you like to make? Let us make a list.
 
Hi, I have read a review of this site on catholicculture. It doesn’t seem to be very positive. So is Saint Mike an ok website to visit?

here’s the review
catholicculture.org/culture/reviews/view.cfm?recnum=144
I can’t believe that’s still online. It’s been around for years. All you need to know appears on the website. They have no ecclesiastical approval and they’re not seeking any, reason somewhat unclear. It appears to be just a website as far as people contacting them on the website. Period.

History: This is one of the “catholic chat” websites dating from the era when there weren’t many of those and on the internet Catholics were very hungry for contact with each other. When Catholicity chat closed a number of these increased their operation for a bit to satisfy that desire. None of them are very important anymore, given the huge presence of the Church now online.

Not sure if this person has anyone living with him. Or if he ever wears the garb he’s pictured in outside the house. But hey, he has the liberty to do this sort of thing privately, I guess, like anyone else might. You can dress up like a spaceman, a horse or anything else you like inside your own house, if you want to. Live and let live.

I sure wouldn’t get too wrapped up in this though, or donate much of anything. There are a number of people who have recognized that it’s possible to raise money by “apostolates” on the internet. Some of them are fine, some not so fine. Donators beware. There are probably many things more in union with the church and more needed that you could donate to, instead. Besides, this thing is off the official religious grid pretty much.

On the other hand, maybe you like the guy. No crime there. Lots of people on the internet to like. Just be careful about claims. It’s dangerous out there.

For the record: This is not an official religious order, congregation or institute nor is it an associate of one, if that’s what the original poster was asking.
 
Jeff Miras reminds me a lot of Martin Luther, who was confronted at the time on why he had added the word “alone” to Romans 3:28. Luther’s response is very revealing.
'Dr. Martin Luther will have it so, … I will have it so, and I order it to be so, and my will is reason enough.
Thus sayeth the “humble” Martin Luther.

Jeff Mirus has the same arrogance in thinking that his opinions outrank the Church.

Mirus gave us the red flag for allegedly lacking fidelity to the Church. This is a very serious charge. His “proof” was that he has the opinion that no one should do a deliverance apostolate without the express permission of the Bishop. He says that this is the Mind of the Church.

Well, he is wrong.

The Mind of the Church is objectively known through Canon Law, the Catechism, and the Church documents. Mirus’s opinion (the Mind of Mirus) has not backed up his opinion with any objective facts from any Church document.

The facts are that the faithful can form religious associations and apostolates with or without the permission of the Bishop. We have been examined by Canon Lawyers who give us a thumbs up. As to our deliverance apostolate we have been checked out by exorcists and given a thumbs up. We have had diocese and archdiocese refer people to us. We have a Deacon who has the permission of his bishop to be in our training program to train people how to be Deliverance Counselors.

In addition, Fr. Amorth and other exorcists, people who actually know what they are talking about, affirm that the laity can do delverance apostolates with or without any formal recognition.

John LaBriola, from the EWTN crowd, was interviewed on EWTN about his book, “Onward Catholic Soldier”, and affirmed in the interview and in his book that laity can do this apostolate as we have both the biblical and canonical authority to do so.

The Church does place restrictions on deliverance apostolates. We obey those restrictions.

Contrary to Mirus at least we are providing some facts to back up our position.

Generally speaking the only time we hear people say that we or others cannot do a deliverance apostolate are those who have no credentials or experience to offer that opinion; and they never prove their opinions with any Church document, or they will do violence to a Church document to twist it to fit their views.

Nevertheless, if anyone wants to hold that opinion, even in face of biblical and canonical facts affirmed by exorists and people like John LaBriola (whose book is endorsed by Fr. John Hampsch), they may certainly do so. But, such people have no right to assert that others are lacking fidelity to the Church, a very serious charge, because those people hold a different opinion than one’s own. This is what Mirua has done for more than a decade. He is well known for accusing people of lack of fidelity because they do not agree with him and defaming people by “guilt by association”.

(Yes, “well known”. Many people have talked about this over the years. There are even some people who have a good rating from him say this about him. This has been a controvesy and topic of discussion for at least 14 years.)

Just one example of Canonical permission is Canon 215-216:
Can. 215 The Christian faithful are at liberty freely to found and direct associations for purposes of charity or piety or for the promotion of the Christian vocation in the world and to hold meetings for the common pursuit of these purposes.

Can. 216 Since they participate in the mission of the Church, all the Christian faithful have the right to promote or sustain apostolic action even by their own undertakings, according to their own state and condition. Nevertheless, no undertaking is to claim the name Catholic without the consent of competent ecclesiastical authority
By the way, Jeff Mirus’ CatholicCulture.org does not have the formal or informal permission of his bishop. We called his bishop and asked. Furthermore, Mirus is in violation of Canon Law (the mind of the Church), by placing the word “Catholic” in his organizational name. That is not allowed without express permission of the bishop.

RealCatholicTV is under fire right now for doing this in their organizational name.

The fact is that Mirus’ accusation that we lack fidelity is a libel. Canon 220 states:
Can. 220 No one is permitted to harm illegitimately the good reputation which a person possesses nor to injure the right of any person to protect his or her own privacy.
And further:
Can. 221 §1. The Christian faithful can legitimately vindicate and defend the rights which they possess in the Church in the competent ecclesiastical forum according to the norm of law.
The Catechism 2477-2479 defines the grave sins calumny, rash judgment, and detraction. Mirus has done all three of these grave sins upon us.

We are planning to make a formal complaint against Mirus with his bishop for his libel that we lack fidelity to the Church and her bishops.
 
The American religious landscape is an interesting thing. It always has been. Have you ever heard of Pope Michael I? He’s pretty darned strange, but he lives in Kansas and he has a great wardrobe.
 
This fellow, Michael, is not, of course, even remotely the legitimate Pope. This is from a sede vacantist’s group who are so arrogant as to declare every pope since 1958 a heretic and thus leaving the Chair of Peter empty all this time, until they came along.

Sede vacantist groups cannot even agree amongst themselves. There is another “pope” I think in Montana.

I trully beleive these people to be mentally ill.

At any rate, what is this to due with me? since I am the target of this “discussion thread”
 
Some questions - Does the Church recognise the L.Th. and D.D. degrees issued by Schola Sancti Anthonii Domusque Studiorum Bibliorum in Montana?

I have read that you claim that your spiritual director has given you permission to conduct spiritual warfare ministry. Is that exorcism by another name?

Is there any public record of this priest giving you this permission?

What is the difference between exorcism and deliverance ministry other than the facts that an exorcism can only be conducted by a priest with the bishop’s permission?

What dioceses and archdioceses have referred clients to you?

What is the name of the bishop who you claim gave permission for a deacon (permanent or transitional?) to be trained in Deliverance Counselling?

What formal studies have you undertaken in Deliverance Counselling?
 
This is fun isn’t it. I am amazed at how easily people hate others or so easily jump on the bandwagon of negativity like a feeding frenzy… I will be sure to include parts of this thread on a website dedicated to study hate on the internet.

As for your questions, one is not required to get a degree from a Catholic university. Jeff Mirus’s Ph.D. is from a non-Cathilic university. Scott Hahn’s bachelor and master degree were granted at Protestant schools, yet he was given the job at Stuebenville anyway.

So what is the point?

No, deliverance is not the same as solemn exorcism. Read John LaBriola’s book for details.

A public granting of permission by my spiritual director is not required by any bishop or by any Catholic legislation and I would never give it to protect him from hateful harassment that I get all the time. He was other things to worry about.

For the same reason and the fact that I do not have permission from them to publicly reveal names and dioceses, I will not reveal that either. No one reveals that. And the public has no need to know, except to either harass those people or to harass me.

Besides, the worldly mind according to St. De Sales is never statisfied. Those with a worldly mind will not settle for that information. They will just find another point to harass. That is the nature of the worldly mind.

Contrary to popular opinion our apostolate is NOT accountible to assorted people on the internet. I am accountible to my spiritual director, the bishop, the Pope and Magisterium, and to God.

My training in deliverance came partly from the International Center for Biblical Counseling. It is Protestant. I was one of the charter participants in their training. This was before I was Catholic. I was a Ptotestant exorcist at the time. Most of it, however, has come from on-th-job training and studying the subject from people like Fr. Amorth, et al… At the time that I became a Catholic deliverance counselor there was no formal training available. Even exorcist priests mostly had no formal training. As a Catholic I do not do solemn exorcisms because I obey the Church. Deliverance counseling is not solemn exorcism, which is done in the name of the Church and is a like a swat team approach.

Deliverance Counseling is helping people to live good Christian lives of prayer and devotion and to help them see the truth about their relationship with God so they can be free from the lies the devil tells. Christ said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” This is the basis of Deliverance – a truth encounter approach and intercessory prayer.

If you wish to point out anything I have said about deliverance that is wrong, I will be happy to change it. But you will find that what we do is in full concert with people like Fr. Amorth, Fr. Fortea, and theologians such as Scott Hahn and Peter Kreeft.

At this moment, the training acadamy we have to train deliveraqnce counselors is the most extensive than any other in the Catholic or Protestant Churches. It takes about 3-4 years to get through our programs. Our textbooks are books written by Fr. Amorth, Fr. Fortea, Peter Kreeft, Fr. John Hampsch, and many other similar experts on the topic.

Again, accustion after acusation and not a bit of proof that we are doing anything wrong. The burdon of proof in on the accuser, not the one accused.

Why is Catholic Answers allowing a thread that is dedicated to bashing a loyal and obedient Catholic? That is the real question.
 
Why is Catholic Answers allowing a thread that is dedicated to bashing a loyal and obedient Catholic? That is the real question.
I’m glad for this thread. It is providing a public forum to answer questions and counter criticism. The questions and criticisms have been raised before on this forum and in other circles. I am finally getting the Saint-Mike side of the story. I hope this thread stays.

BroIgnatius is doing a good job of answering questions and responding to criticism. It does seem that when someone pokes with a question, the response is a bit like “shock and awe”. I suspect that he has been poked before.
 
Thank you MtnDwellar:

I try to follow the advice of St. Francis deSales about how to handle calumny and such. Everyone ought to read that. His advice is mighty wise. Here again is a link of St. deSales essay about this: Here

Yes, I have been poked to a point that at one time it has affected my health. I have been accused of just about everything you can imagine. Several people have harassed me and tried to destroy me and this apostolate off of the Internet and in “real life”. I have even had my life threatened. One person even tried to use my children to attack me. All this because apparently these people do not like the truth and will tell any lie to shut down me and this organization.

In each and every case, these people offer no evidence to back their accusations. They do what St. deSales says of the worldly mind:
It is not possible to satisfy the world’s unreasonable demands… if we give in to the world, and laugh, dance, and play as it does, it will affect to be scandalized; if we refuse to do so, it will accuse us of being hypocritical or morbid. If we adorn ourselves after its fashion, it will put some evil construction on what we do; if we go in plain attire, it will accuse us of meanness; our cheerfulness will be called dissipation; our mortification dulness; and ever casting its evil eye upon us, nothing we can do will please it. It exaggerates our failings, and publishes them abroad as sins; it represents our venial sins as mortal, and our sins of infirmity as malicious.

… and if it cannot find fault with our actions, it is sure at least to impute bad motives to them…

There is no surer groundwork for the beginnings of a devout life than the endurance of misrepresentation and calumny, since thereby we escape the danger of vainglory and pride… We are crucified to the world, and the world must be as crucified to us. It esteems us as fools, let us esteem it as mad.
I think the reason that God allows this terrible behavior on the part of other Catholics (whom are suppose to be fellow brothers and sisters), is that if I, or anyone like me, cannot persevere through the mud slinging, then I have no business doing this or any other apostolate. It is a test that God uses to teach and mold. Besides, the mud slinging says nothing about me, but it says volumes about the mud-slinger. Keep in mind, in order to sling mud the mud-slinging must get his own hands muddy.

St. deSales says that when we are slandered in a way that effects others, then we must do a little more than just make a statement of truth. We get around 500,000 hits per month. That is a small amount, but it is a lot when one considers that we do no promotion at all so far. 100,000s of thousands of people around the world since 1997 have read our websites, which also contains my essays. I take that seriously because I will be held accountable to God for how I have publicly influenced people.

I think people need to remember the advice by St. Ignatius of Loyola:
Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another’s statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved.
Also, the advice of St. Paul who said: "But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another" (Gal. 5:15).

I try to follow this advice. I fail at it sometimes, but I do try. There is no point in biting each other. This is not the Christian way.

We are, however, to expose error whenever it is found and regardless of whom posits that error.

By the way, I have been asked why I do not defend myself much of the time. The reason is that if I were to address each and every attack I would get nothing else done.

This, I created a blog called The Detractor Malefactor Chronicles. In this blog my detractors get their full say unedited, then we write a response line-by-line. We fully acknowledge the things that are true, and point out the things that are false.

One note: just because something is true does not make it fair game to gossip about and try to harm people. That is called detraction, which is a grave sin.

By having this blog we can let people know our side of things, and expose the evil and lies that get purported.

The Jeff Mirus situation has not been written up yet, but it will go on this blog. There are a couple of other entries that need to go on the blog and will get there eventually. We don’t spend a lot of time on it as there are much more important tasks to perform. But, St. deSales says we should respond to error in respect for the truth.

St. deSales also says that once that truth has been presented, if the slanderer is convicted of his sin, praise God. If the slanderer is not convicted of his sin then also praise God for we are to accept it as mortification and, as St deSales says, “A 1000 pounds of mortification is greater than one ounce of honor.”

Jesus says we are to bless those who persecute us or harm us. I bless each of you who have participated in gossip and defamation or false accusations toward me. May you be well and blessed and happy in the Lord and healed of the ill will toward anyone.
 
This website (St Mike) has been online using various URLs for a long time. At one time, it was used primarily as a chat website for a few refugees from Catholicity.com when they closed about 10 years ago. There were several of these because the Catholic presence on the web was much smaller than it is now. These are no longer important Catholic sites since there are so many bigger and better ones online now.

And just to keep the record straight: This organization is not an official religious order, congregation or institute nor is it an associate of one, if that’s what the original poster was asking.
 
About associations of the faithful: According to canon law, these are merely groups of people within the Catholic church who meet or associate regularly. Period. A simple association of the faithful could be a group of people who have met long-term to say the rosary or vespers, or a Catholic home-schooling group or an altar society. They typically have some rules and expectations, but the expectations can still be quite sketchy or informal and they can still belong to an association of the faithful.

Religious orders, congregations, institutes or associates are not merely associations of the faithful. Rather, they have approval by the bishop or the Holy See in order to claim status as a religious congregation or institute of diocesan right or pontifical right.

Little known fact: Anyone can set up an association of the faithful and attach letters to their last name. This does NOT make a person a religious, a monk or a priest. It just means they are in an association of the faithful, which means they belong to a group of Catholics that meet regularly. Period.

If an association of the faithful wants to become a religious congregation or institute, it must obtain the permission and approval of the local diocesan bishop or the Holy See. It involves having their way of life and their constitutions scrutinized carefully and amended if necessary. It involves an assessment of their lifestyle and faithfulness to make sure they’re really Catholic. This can take years, yes, but the higher the approval an organization has, the more credible and reliable they tend to be.

Associations of the faithful without approval from a bishop are very common. They form and disband frequently. Some go on to get approval; some don’t. The ones that don’t even try to get approval from the local diocesan bishop should be viewed with some caution. St. Mike’s is one of these.
 
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