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| Fr. Larry Richards, from his website |
I like Mr. Rogers. But when I say "Mr Rogers priest", I think you know what I mean.
Celebrity priest Fr. Larry Richards ("Fr. Larry"), founder and head of the The Reason for Our Hope Foundation, looks and sounds like a slightly more plump combination of disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker and Mr. Rogers.
In his podcast homilies and YouTube videos he often goes into a sort of shriek/whine denouncing "ang-guuur" and "hate-tred"
Weirdly, he may be most well-known for his "Be a Man!" book and DVD set.
Speaking of weird. Why are our priests like this? I mean, even though he comes off as a bit girlish, for all I know he's straight as an arrow. And as far as I can tell, he's orthodox, at least by the standards of 2019. Yet why is he like this?
Now, maybe he can't help the way he looks and sounds. But here's the thing:
Real men don't make up hoax stories against their perceived enemies just to get sympathy or make a point.
Mr. Rogers wouldn't do that.
Not only did Fr. Larry do a Jussie Smollett against Church Militant, but when called out on it, he tried to weasel out.
Here's what Richards said in a January lecture to the Legatus Summit.
You know, a couple months ago I said something about Church Militant and they threatened to kill me. Literally. I got death threats from a good Catholic organization that wants me dead in God's name.
When Michael Voris and Christina Niles of Church Militant were alerted to this, as part of a story by Dorothy Cummings McLean of LifeSite News, published yesterday, they not unexpectedly strongly denied it.
Voris held out the possibility of legal action while stating that the celebrity priest appears to be "suffering from some condition" or "suffering from some disorder."
Late last night, Fr. Richards responded, as is often done these days, with a tweet:
I was wrong in what I said about Church Militant - it was NO ONE in their LEADERSHIP who threatened me - it was one of their FOLLOWERS who called me on the phone and threatened me. I should have made that clear. We need to stop demonizing each other, I will stop first. Peace
I understand that it's difficult for people, especially quasi-famous people with a following, to explicitly admit to telling a whopping lie. But still.
"I should have been more clear."
He was clear - "I got death threats from a good Catholic organization that wants me dead in God's name" - that's the problem.
And, of course, I'd love to hear the recording of that death threat. The one where someone threatened to kill him. Literally. One would save that, right? Though there is no indication that he ever notified the police. Perhaps he didn't want to give in to fear.
And, of course, I'd love to hear the recording of that death threat. The one where someone threatened to kill him. Literally. One would save that, right? Though there is no indication that he ever notified the police. Perhaps he didn't want to give in to fear.
Richards has been quite clear on other occasions about what he thinks of Church Militant and two other Catholic sites (from a homily on 9 September, 2018):
In his career, Fr. Richards has steered a sort of middle course, working with orthodox or "conservative" publishers and media such as Ignatius Press and EWTN, while at the same time defending the likes of Fr. James Martin against the stokers (I guess) of anger, fear and hatred.
That he was chosen to host the Legatus Summit was apparently somewhat controversial among its members.
His Jim Bakkeresque quasi-apology seems to be going down okay with his Twitter followers - "Its great to see FrRichards keeping it classy!!" said one, who also admitted to listening to Church Militant.
Well, I jumped around for a few minutes on his homilies and videos and I have to say I see no reason to spend any more time with Fr. Larry. I think I already get the message about the anger and fear thing. And to the extent that I sometimes need a bit of help being a man, there are other sources.
But when Fr. Larry claims that Mahound's Paradise dumped bleach on him in the rectory, then I'll know I've made it.
First of all, we cannot stoke the fear, right? And we stoke the fear by listening to things that just keeps piling on that fear. Like again, I've told people before, three websites you should not be paying attention to any of these websites right now, is LifeSite - it's not of God, it's filled with anger, it's filled with hate and it's filled with mistrust [I mean] mistruth. Church Militant - you should not be watching that. It's filled with anger, hatred. This is not of God. OnePeterFive. These are three websites that a lot of Catholics are going to now, and that's where they're getting their information. And what this information is doing is causing you more fear, more anger, more hatred. That is not of God.LifeSite News broke the hoax story. I guess they're not completely filled with mistruth.
In his career, Fr. Richards has steered a sort of middle course, working with orthodox or "conservative" publishers and media such as Ignatius Press and EWTN, while at the same time defending the likes of Fr. James Martin against the stokers (I guess) of anger, fear and hatred.
That he was chosen to host the Legatus Summit was apparently somewhat controversial among its members.
His Jim Bakkeresque quasi-apology seems to be going down okay with his Twitter followers - "Its great to see FrRichards keeping it classy!!" said one, who also admitted to listening to Church Militant.
Well, I jumped around for a few minutes on his homilies and videos and I have to say I see no reason to spend any more time with Fr. Larry. I think I already get the message about the anger and fear thing. And to the extent that I sometimes need a bit of help being a man, there are other sources.
But when Fr. Larry claims that Mahound's Paradise dumped bleach on him in the rectory, then I'll know I've made it.
Fr. Larry says on the air that he is an extreme extrovert. He sounds manic to me. He is a terrible listener. He rarely answers the question that a caller has actually asked. And he's a NORMIE. There's NOTHING about Bergoglio that's the least bit concerning--and anybody who says there is is stoking ANGER, FEAR, and HATE. I hear him only in the car, and I've been switching the station for years when comes on.
ReplyDeleteQuestion Oakes: Why do you think Legatus members thought Fr. Larry was controversial?
ReplyDeleteBecause Fr. Larry is too conservative? Doesn't make sense to me.
No, the opposite. Because he’s pro-Francis, pro-current Vatican, anti- Church Militant, etc. Remember, Legatus decided to temporarily freeze it’s annual donation to the Church. I’m sure many in the audience follow and like Church Militant. So what does he do? He gets right in their faces and smears CM, perhaps just to spite them. He’s clearly a mental case.
DeleteThanks Oakes. I was friends with some of the Lagatus folks some years ago who were associated with the Legionaries of Christ. They were conservative but not Traditional or controversial. They have been clearly behind all the Vatican II Popes including until recently Pope Francis. In the past Fr. Larry would have reflected their thinking. Glad to see Legatus is wising up.
DeleteJust unbelievable... this priest is obviously a Two dollar Bill..
ReplyDeleteAre these men dense or tone deaf. How can a priest today issue a book with a young male's prominent derriere, legs, and form on the cover. I mean...really? Were there no photos of boys romping to put on the cover?
ReplyDeleteTo me it is very suspect when someone tries to steer others away from sources of information. And to literally accuse CM of making death threats. He was very clear on that, but clearly he didn't expect to be held accountable for it. So if CM had not heard about it, he would be guilty of making a dreadful accusation to his followers that was patently false and inflammatory about an organization and people. When confronted he manages to make himself the hero, by trumpeting the virtue of making a clean breast of it and admitting his lie.
I would ask why does this type always rise to the top but we all know the answer too well. I believe many of these men do indeed have personality disorders at the least. No surprise at all. And so many of them are effeminates, the only reason Mr. Rogers (God rest his soul) has made a cultural comeback is, let's face it, he epitomizes a "gentle soul" bordering on effeminacy. I always wondered why he has been resuscitated by our rotten culture. He was married and apparently a heterosexual man and by all appearances a very good man, but still, no wonder they brought him back.
Fr. Larry appears on EWTN with Dr. Ray at the end of his program. The hysterical part about this is that Dr. Ray is a psychiatrist.....and Dr. Ray hasn't figured out Fr. Larry needs meds yet?
ReplyDeleteI can’t stand Dr Ray. I always turn off EWTN as soon as I hear his voice. The way he so condescendingly speaks about children makes me ill he sets them up as the enemy. Much prefer Dr Popcak
ReplyDelete