The first thing to understand about the AOD vs. Voris/RCTV dispute

[Sirach2]

Canon Lawyer explains Canon 216 and implications with the Archdiocese of Detroit and RealCatholcTV. [From NewAdvent.org news posting today.]

The first thing to understand about the dispute between the Archdiocese of Detroit and Michael Voris and/or RealCatholicTV is that the dispute turns essentially on canon law. As a canonical dispute, it will not be decided by seeing who musters more or louder supporters in the blogosphere; it will be decided by recognizing what Church law says about such matters and then abiding by that finding. …]

But sentence two of Canon 216 is another matter: “Nevertheless, no undertaking is to claim the name ‘Catholic’ without the consent of competent ecclesiastical authority.” The plain text of this canon unquestionably puts the burden on those behind an undertaking to secure consent from the competent ecclesiastical authority before claiming the name “Catholic” for their project(s). Voris/RCTV expressly (indeed, pervasively) use the word “Catholic” to name their undertakings. They repeatedly proclaim that theirs is “Real Catholic TV”, that theirs is a “Catholic Investigative Agency”, and that theirs is “The Catholic Critic”.
The Archdiocese of Detroit demurs, whence the dispute.

Let me suggest an analogy.

Continue reading here.

And his follow-up here.

1. Like her Founder, the Catholic Church has precious few “tools” with which to carry on her mission, but among those tools is her very name, Catholic. True, Catholics in every land and in every age have misused the name “Catholic”—not always with evil intentions, of course, yet often enough with bad (sometimes, very bad) consequences for the Church. But, notwithstanding the frequency of such misappropriations of her name, the Catholic Church has the right to take whatever steps she can to protect her name from being appropriated by those who think they have the authority to wrap themselves up in it.

 

[Tridentinum]

Fr. Z talked about it on his blog.

 

[Sirach2]

Thank you for the link, Tridentinum. Lots of interesting comments, indeed! One posted this morning made a surprizing statement that . . .

The Canonist who authored the instant article (Edward Peters) is an employee of AOD. Essentially in his article Canon Lawyer Peters is defending the actions of another AOD employee (The PR guy) who announced that Mr. Voris is not authorized to use the word “Catholic”.

I sense more strongly that the AOD is really pursuing this matter with diligence.

A few more comments were interesting, concerning the problem of Marc Brammer being the so-called owner of the website. In my research, I have found this is not true. This article presents some factual information about the two entities, and prompted me to do my own research. I find that what this guy says is completely true.

On 4/14/2008, this domain name was created by Marc Brammer, giving an address in South Bend, Indiana. On 5/28/2008 Greenstar Enterprises, Inc, a for-profit corporation was created which has a DBA (doing business as) RealCatholicTV.com of which Marc Brammer is listed as Principal also in South Bend at the same address.

Second there is Concept Communications DBA RealCatholicTV.

Concept Communications is a for-profit business, started by Michael Voris in 1997 in Michigan which operated DBA Saint Michael’s Media and then added the RCTV name in July of 2010. **The two men involved do not appear on any public documents we found as holding financial interest in each other’s businesses. **

 

[jasonjessica09]

This whole thing is ridiculous. Are we not on the same side here? The salvation of souls? RealCatholicTV is relentless in this pursuit and has a great message. What does an Archdiocese have against what RCTV is teaching to the public?

 

[Julia_Mae]

This whole thing is ridiculous. Are we not on the same side here? The salvation of souls? RealCatholicTV is relentless in this pursuit and has a great message. What does an Archdiocese have against what RCTV is teaching to the public?

I don’t know but are you okay with the Bishop who has a secret family but gave faithful service to the Church? I’m just saying I don’t think what’s in the message is the real point here.

This is my problem with the whole deal: Voris is making a product and he is operating a for-profit business. That’s great! This is America, land of opportunity! But he is targeting Catholics and he is claiming to be a faithful Catholic who is obedient and still, if you look at some of these links, he’s a liar not at all obedient. He owns the name RealCatholicTV in Michigan in the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Detroit, the OP proved that in another thread. The Archdiocese seems to not be willing to explicate exactly why they have always refused to grant him apostolate status and why they want him to stop using “Catholic.”

There was an episode of MASH where Colonel Potter says, “When they make you a Colonel they take the bone out of your head that makes you explain orders.” The Archbishop is the Archbishop and he doesn’t have to explain anything. He also might be trying to avoid scandal, which we are supposed to do. That second link about the doing business as RealCatholicTV, also says Voris has been claiming to be a non-profit corporation and an apostolate and he is neither, so he’s taking money under false pretenses.

I think anyone can make a lot of videos that support Church teaching just to make themselves rich and then use the name RealCatholic as if somehow the Church approves.

What’s the job of the Archbishop here? His responsibility to the faithful? I don’t know, exactly, but I think he is trying to do that. When did we decide being faithful Catholics meant always second-guessing the Church because we like some guy’s product? You can’t claim, to make money, to be “RealCatholic” anything, especially if you are lying all the time. The Archbishop is trying to protect the integrity of the Church, as far as I can see.

 

[ringil]

This whole thing is ridiculous. Are we not on the same side here? The salvation of souls? RealCatholicTV is relentless in this pursuit and has a great message. What does an Archdiocese have against what RCTV is teaching to the public?

I am not on the same side as Voris and I am a practicing Catholic. I find him less than appealing.

 

[jasonjessica09]

I am listening to what is in the message. What I am asking is this: What do Catholics find so bad about what Michael Voris has to say? I think his message is spot on, that there are many threats to somebody’s soul from outside and unfortunately within the Church too. I think seeing a Bishop lie about fathering 2 kids is an example of that. You see this in other areas such as liturgical abuse, terrible modern church architecture, and other things that I wont get specific about at the risk of the forum moderator getting upset.

What do Catholics have against the message that Voris is sending? He is very tough at times but I think this is needed. Jesus did not go out to make friends but to save the world. Jesus himself said he came to divide the world and not unite. Am I seeing examples of what Jesus said here on these very forums? This was brought up by Michael Voris during a recent Vortex by the way

 

[Sirach2]

Awesome honors were bestowed on this Canon Lawyer referenced in my OP, Edward Peters, according to this testimony by his son. All the more reason to believe that the Archdiocese has its finger on the pulse and will pursue justice in this matter.

My father’s appointment as an expert consultant to the Apostolic Signatura (the highest court in the Catholic Church) was announced yesterday in the Vatican’s *Bollettino. *I’ve waited to announce it on AmP until my father notify his friends personally. He sent this email around yesterday.

 

[Joe_5859]

This whole thing is ridiculous. Are we not on the same side here? The salvation of souls? RealCatholicTV is relentless in this pursuit and has a great message. What does an Archdiocese have against what RCTV is teaching to the public?

It’s not as though the AOD is going after Voris with a vengeance and trying to shut him down. They’re simply issuing a clarifying statement in light of the many questions they have apparently received. They’re not saying Voris must cease and desist but only that he has not obtained the permission from the AOD (in lieu of Canon 216) to call his enterprise “Catholic”.

That’s not an attack. It is simply conveying factual information for the benefit of those laity who have questions about the organization’s relationship with the institutional Church.

 

[Julia_Mae]

I am listening to what is in the message. What I am asking is this: What do Catholics find so bad about what Michael Voris has to say?

But see, that’s not the topic. It’s not the topic of the thread or of the article the OP linked. The canon lawyer said this:

Let me suggest an analogy.

Say that I’m a pretty smart lawyer, that my legal advice is usually right, that it secures for folks a better situation than they had before, and that it saves them lots of time and tons of money. All of this would mean zilch if, along the way, I held myself out to be licensed for the practice of law in some state where I was not authorized to practice. The state would not have to prove that I don’t have a law degree (in fact I do) or that my advice was unsound (it might be sound or not, depending on the issue) or that I am profiting by my work (perhaps I don’t). The state would simply have to show that I am claiming to be something I am not, namely, someone authorized to act as an attorney. I would be lucky if I got-off with just a Cease-and-Desist order.

Similarly, the AOD does not have to prove that Voris does not have a degree in theology (in fact he does), and/or that Real Catholic TV, and/or the Catholic Investigative Agency, and/or The Catholic Critic, etc., is wrong about something they said (frankly, much of what they say is sound), and so on; instead, the AOD simply has to show that one or more Voris/RCTV undertakings claim the title “Catholic” without having secured canonical authorization to make that claim.

My personal issue is that it’s obvious that Voris knew he wasn’t supposed to use the name before he registered it, years before. He did it anyway. And he lies. But that isn’t this issue either. You have a personal issue and so do I, but Authority is the issue, I think.

If what you want is to read or hear faithful Catholic teaching, read your Bible, read and listen to Jimmy Akin, or hang around the Vatican website. You are right now reading a forum called “Catholic Answers Forum” that does have permission to use the word Catholic. If their Archbishop, whoever that is, decided for some reason to say, “Take the word Catholic off your forum” do you think that they would refuse to do so?

We don’t pick and choose what part of the authority of our Church to submit to. That would make us not faithful Catholics.

(Also what Joe said just above: great post.)