Father Mark Goring: Why The Sheep Must Now Rise Up!

           In early January 2019 Father Mark Goring of the Catholic Charismatic Center in Houston, Texas was given the order by his superiors to “cease and desist.”  For those of you who do not know who Father Goring is, he has been a courageous voice for the Church since the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report came out.  He has made it his goal to encourage prayer, fasting, peaceful resistance and renewal in the Catholic Church.  He has even taken it upon himself to establish the St. Joseph’s Battalion, a group of lay men and women dedicated to this very ideal.  Many times his videos have exposed what he calls “The Corruption Network” which has allowed homosexual deviancy to continue unabated, the abuse of minors to go unreported and the lies and cover-ups by the bishops to go unchallenged.  

            He has been heroic in his defense of dynamic orthodoxy. At a time when real men are needed to stand up to evil, Father Mark Goring has done that and more.  

            And, like so many heroes who have gone before him, he has been silenced.  This occurred after he published a youtube.com episode rebuking the Archdiocese of Washington for scheduling the disgraced Cardinal Wuerl to celebrate the Rally for Life Youth Mass prior to the annual March for Life.  (Cardinal Wuerl did not say the Mass, by the way, thank God). Father Mark made it very clear that Cardinal Wuerl, owing to the PA Grand Jury Report, among many other indiscretions, should not have any part in celebrating a Mass for youth.     

            The next day his final video, titled Cease and Desist, explained the order of obedience he received to discontinue his videos in regards to the scandal.  I am not here to debate the vows of obedience priests take at their ordination.  Nor am I here to address why Father Mark Goring was told to cease putting those videos out.  That is for another day and time.  What I am here to address is the manner in which each one of us can honor Father Mark and continue the great work he has started.  

Strike the Shepherd 

            There is a great line from the epic film Braveheart, spoken by the sworn enemy of Scotland, the ruthless King of England, Edward The Longshanks.  Longshanks, who is growing weary of his ongoing battle with the Scots, led by the Warrior Poet William Wallace, is seeking counsel with his advisors on how to quell the rebellion.  

            His advisors tell him, “He rallies new volunteers in every Scottish Town and when he replenishes his numbers….”

            To which Longshanks angrily replies, “The sheep’s mere sheep….Easily dispersed if we strike the shepherd.”    

            This one line has been the modus operandi of every attempt by evil to overthrow the good.  Throughout the pages of history, the brave men and women who have fought against the status quo, have themselves been struck down through words and deeds.  

            Joan of Arc was burned at the stake.  Maximilian Kolbe defended the truth in the midst of Nazi occupied Poland and was sent to Auschwitz.  Ghandi peacefully resisted Britain’s tyrannical rule and met his end by a terrorist’s bullet.  Martin Luther King Jr. led one of the greatest social revolutions of all time and was gunned down for it.  Christ told his disciples just hours before his Passion, “strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter.” (Matt 26:31)  

            Evil, to even exist, must silence the good, the true and the beautiful.  If you want to understand Satan’s cunning plans, look no further than what happened in Genesis Chapter 3.   Adam and Eve were created in the Image and Likeness of God.  That is exactly what Satan attacked.  He spread lies in the face of truth, twisted the good with evil and destroyed the beauty of man and woman’s intimacy with God by sowing seeds of disobedience.  If Satan can silence this echo of God’s Image in our hearts, if he can silence the heroes who defend it like Father Goring, he wins.    

            Amidst all of the scandal unfolding within the Church throughout the globe, it feels like Satan is having his hour, while dancing atop the shattered hearts of wounded men and women.  But where Satan may have his hour, God will have his day.  Where Father Mark Goring has been silenced, we, his spiritual sons and daughters can make our voices heard in his stead.    

Rising From The Ashes, Raising Our Voices   

            Have you ever noticed, whether it be in sports, a TV show or an epic movie, when all seems lost, when defeat seems inevitable, somehow, some way the hero or heroine is thrown a lifeline.  In The Return of the Kingthe fate of Middle Earth hangs in the balance as Minas Tirith is being overrun by the Orc Armies of Mordor.  Just when the Witch King of Angmar is ready to strike down Gandalf, the Riders of Rohan show up.  When the Riders of Rohan are about to meet their end at the hands of the Haradrim, Aragorn shows up with the men under the mountain, securing victory.  

            In Lone Survivor, Navy Seal Marcus Luttrell is being tortured within an inch of his life by the Taliban, then the US Military shows up.  Hundreds of thousands of innocent children are being sacrificed to the pagan gods in Mexico and Our Lady of Guadalupe shows up, converting nine million Aztecs to the Catholic Faith.  When the PA Grand Jury Report came out, when so much of the faith seemed lost, the daily Mass readings offered messages of hope along with strict warnings to the leaders of the Church.  As John Paul once said, “in the designs of providence there are no mere coincidences.”[i]  

            Only a day after Father Goring was order to stop producing videos, the gospel reading at Mass was the feeding of the 5,000.  (Matt 14:13-21). As I was praying over this article, the words that finally struck a chord in my heart were Christ’s instructions to his disciples: “You give them something to eat.”  

            When we get in a tight spot, it is human nature to expect someone else to get us out it.  I know when the going gets rough, I pawn the issue off on someone else.  But in this reading, Christ is pulling something out his followers.  He is asking them to give everything to him no matter how small, so he can take it, multiply it and feed the multitudes, just as he did with the five loaves and two fish.  

            In the midst of this crisis, Christ is calling upon each and every one of us to give all we have.  It does not matter how small or insignificant others may think our prayers, sacrifices, offerings or encouragement may be.  What matters is we hand over it to Christ so he can take it, multiply it and feed the starving multitudes with the truth so these wounds of sexual abuse, lies and cover ups may be healed, restored and made whole with the Blood of Our Lord.  

            That is how we will honor Father Mark Goring and every victim of this heinous scandal.  That is how, we, the sons and daughters will carry on the work of the St. Joseph Battalion and crush the corruption network within the Church!  

            Pray daily to St. Joseph and Our Lady, who were the first purifiers of the Church.  May they do it once again!

            And as Father Mark Goring would always say “Viva Cristo Rey!” (Long Live Christ the King!)     

   [i

]Weigel, George. John Paul II Preparing For The 21^stCentury.  November, 1997. https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/faith-and-character/faith-and-character/john-paul-ii-preparing-the-21st-century.html