- “But Father George! Father George! I’m gonna snitch on you to the highest of ecclesiastical tribunals like I’ve done before many times to complain that you’re spending your time as a priest commenting on Fox News stories on some stupid blog, because, you know, like, as fake neo-conservatives, we’re holier than thou! And besides, Portland is NOT YOUR PARISH! What the hell are you talking about?!”
Good question, actually. Here’s what I’m talking about:
That headline, because mentioning North Carolina, where I am, acts, of course, like click-bait. I gotta find out which town they’re talking about. I thought that surely it’s gotta be Charlotte or Raleigh, five and seven hours away. Nope, it’s Asheville, just down the road from the parish. Any tourists to Asheville make it out my way so as to drive through the Nantahala gorge, perhaps over the Trail of Tears, perhaps along The Tail of the Dragon.
I immediately thought of a guy and a gal who are perhaps now helping to head up whatever anarchical group, perhaps a “them” and a “them” (I can never keep up with the thousands of fake pronouns), who came out to the parish right after a Sunday Mass. I’m guessing that they had been waiting in the parking lot for everyone to leave, but a couple of us were still having a gab-fest in the counting room before I went off on Communion Calls. Instead of spray-painting and knocking over statues, breaking stained-glass windows and stealing the Most Blessed Sacrament for satanic rituals, they decided to talk instead.
They droned on and on with prepared soundbites about wanting to use the parish as a hub for “community organizing”, remaining secretive about their “grass roots” organization at a certain university campus. Upon my questioning, I discovered that they had zero individual donations for their activities. They were not “grass roots.” Funding came from one person whose name they were not allowed to disclose. Oh my! Who could that possibly be?
They had questions about the demographics of the parish, because, of course, they were racist in the sense that, to them, only black and brown lives matter (they were lily white). Combine that with their agitation-Marxism and they had a perfect lead-in for their most important question of all:
- “So, anyway, like, you are, like, able to defend, like, your church, right?”
Looking hard at one of the “thems” in the eye, I said slowly and with some degree of calculated firmness, very deliberately: “Yes… I am able to defend… and we are able to defend…” Meanwhile, I was open carrying, as always. Hehehe.
Later, I discovered that, generally speaking, such like have been visiting pre-researched targets, whether pro-life centers that give out diapers and baby formula (therefore, their enemies), or church communities (because, you know). Their criteria for shortlisting targets for an actual attack included just how “soft” a target might be. The goal is to hit hard, destroying property and committing violence on people at their most vulnerable time, and then getting away without a scratch.
We haven’t seen hide nor hair of them since, but I’m fully expecting that they’ll be back, with chances of an incident rising hyperbolically as we get closer to the mid-term elections.
Does your pro-life center or parish church have any kind of situational awareness going on? Are they those among you who are able to stop already being delivered mortal aggression while knowing how to minimize possible harm to non-aggressors?
Oh, and what are the political leaders in Asheville doing about their being a “hub” and their astronomical rise in violent crime? Well, they are defunding the police, dumping criminals on the street, and talking about… wait for it… climate change!
ARISE! LET US BE GOING! 