Crazy? Angry? You decide and I couldn’t care less!

Triggered Much?

Update: The Atlantic has literally tried to change this headline 2 times since the original posting. Nice catch, Michael Thomas! Maybe if they just change it 5 more times they’ll be taken seriously instead of being taken as the drama queens they are.  https://twitter.com/MichaelTG09/status/1559293715616862209

I’m super busy but this one was so incredibly over-the-top I just couldn’t pass it up. I’m sure all of you carrying your assault rosaries will also get a good chuckle. Watch where you point those things, OK?

IDEAS

This is the section in the Atlantic which this screed was found. I think “ABSURDITIES” would have been far more succinct.

How the Rosary Became an Extremist Symbol
By Daniel Panneton

Yes, you read this right. You extremist! You believe the faith. The horrors! What’s next, you recite some sort of creed or something because, of course, you belong to a right-wing cult? It’s hard to believe someone would actually attach their name to this.

The AR-15 is a sacred object among Christian nationalists. Now “radical-traditional” Catholics are bringing a sacrament of their own to the movement.

What in the @#$%?! Apparently, Danny Boy has just stumbled onto this bunch of beads thingy. It’s called a sacramental, and yes, many saints and our own pope have called it a spiritual weapon. And, no, nobody kneels down to or prays on the AR-15. 

Just as the AR-15 rifle has become a sacred object for Christian nationalists in general, the rosary has acquired a militaristic meaning for radical-traditional (or “rad trad”) Catholics. On this extremist fringe, rosary beads have been woven into a conspiratorial politics and absolutist gun culture. These armed radical traditionalists have taken up a spiritual notion that the rosary can be a weapon in the fight against evil and turned it into something dangerously literal.

Uh, what?! First of all, faithful Catholics, not just rad trads, should be praying the Rosary daily. Maybe Mr. Panneton doesn’t know any faithful Catholics? Can anyone tell me why he has a problem with praying against evil? I mean, those that are evil are the only people who would fear that, right? Oh… It’s all becoming a bit clearer now, isn’t it? “Dangerously literal?” How does this work? I pray the Rosary and a puppy dies? Is anyone else wondering why the Atlantic would post such drivel?

Their social-media pages are saturated with images of rosaries draped over firearms, warriors in prayer, Deus Vult (“God wills it”) crusader memes, and exhortations for men to rise up and become Church Militants. Influencers on platforms such as Instagram share posts referencing “everyday carry” and “gat check” (gat is slang for “firearm”) that include soldiers’ “battle beads,” handguns, and assault rifles. One artist posts illustrations of his favorite Catholic saints, clergy, and influencers toting AR-15-style rifles labeled sanctum rosarium alongside violently homophobic screeds that are celebrated by social-media accounts with thousands of followers.

A link to all these fascist Rosary prayers would be nice. Just a few. Crusaders are kind of part of our history. They usually didn’t carry AR-15’s from what I remember, but they did carry the weapon of the day. So does he have a problem with swords now? And, homophobic slurs? Any examples or are we supposed to just take his word for it?

The theologian and historian Massimo Faggioli has described a network of conservative Catholic bloggers and commentary organizations as a “Catholic cyber-militia” that actively campaigns against LGBTQ acceptance in the Church. These rad-trad rosary-as-weapon memes represent a social-media diffusion of such messaging, and they work to integrate ultraconservative Catholicism with other aspects of online far-right culture. The phenomenon might be tempting to dismiss as mere trolling or merchandising, and ironical provocations based on traditionalist Catholic symbols do exist, but the far right’s constellations of violent, racist, and homophobic online milieus are well documented for providing a pathway to radicalization and real-world terrorist attacks.”

I know Massimo has a little trouble understanding this and apparently so does Dan, but you might say we actively campaign for the teachings of the Church. The ridiculous attempt to classify this as ultraconservative, right-wing extremist, Nazi Catholic is, well, just that. Ridiculous. We are faithful Catholics and, last time I checked, Catholics are free to own guns. Dan and Massimo might want to look into Saint Gabriel Possenti (or really just into anything Catholic). We all enjoy crusader memes just because of these two knuckleheads with whom we often have to do battle. (Take a breath guys, I don’t mean that literally.)

The rosary—in these hands—is anything but holy.

The Rosary is always holy but, my, how judgmental you are! Your holier than thou ego is showing.

But for millions of believers, the beads, which provide an aide-mémoire for a sequence of devotional prayers, are a widely recognized symbol of Catholicism and a source of strength. And many take genuine sustenance from Catholic theology’s concept of the Church Militant and the tradition of regarding the rosary as a weapon against Satan. As Pope Francis said in a 2020 address, “There is no path to holiness … without spiritual combat,” and Francis is only one of many Church officials who have endorsed the idea of the rosary as an armament in that fight.

In mainstream Catholicism, the rosary-as-weapon is not an intrinsically harmful interpretation of the sacramental, and this symbolism has a long history. In the 1930s and ’40s, the ultramontane Catholic student publication Jeunesse Étudiante Catholique regularly used the concept to rally the faithful. But the modern radical-traditionalist Catholic movement—which generally rejects the Second Vatican Council’s reforms—is far outside the majority opinion in the Roman Catholic Church in America. Many prominent American Catholic bishops advocate for gun control, and after the Uvalde school shooting, Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, lamented the way some Americans “sacralize death’s instruments.”

Not even a trad here… First you say that Pope Francis says it, but then you say it’s out of the mainstream. Get a clue. IT IS A SPIRITUAL WEAPON. And most devout Catholics consider it so. Are you going to try to paint Fr. Calloway as a “rad-trad.” Please. https://catholicexchange.com/rosary-spiritual-sword-mary/ Is calling the Rosary the Spiritual Sword of Mary triggering to you boys?

Militia culture, a fetishism of Western civilization, and masculinist anxieties have become mainstays of the far right in the U.S.—and rad-trad Catholics have now taken up residence in this company. Their social-media accounts commonly promote accelerationist and survivalist content, along with combat-medical and tactical training, as well as memes depicting balaclava-clad gunmen that draw on the “terrorwave” or “warcore” aesthetic that is popular in far-right circles.”

Oh my gosh. Just stop with your incredible drama. I consider the Rosary to be a powerful spiritual weapon and I’m a mom. Deal. Oh, and I also appreciate gun ownership to protect my family. I guess I’ll be signing up for my combat-medical class soon. I realize that exaggerating opinion writing plays to your base, but your base includes only low info Catholics, if they are Catholics at all. Your cute little GIF on your article can’t even get the number of beads right. When was the last time you saw a rosary, Dan?

Like such networks, radical-traditional Catholics sustain their own cottage industry of goods and services that reinforces the radicalization. Rosaries are common among the merchandise on offer—some made of cartridge casings, and complete with gun-metal-finish crucifixes. One Catholic online store, which describes itself as “dedicated to offering battle-ready products and manuals to ‘stand firm against the tactics of the devil’” (a New Testament reference), sells replicas of the rosaries issued to American soldiers during the First World War as “combat rosaries.” Discerning consumers can also buy a “concealed carry” permit for their combat rosary and a sacramental storage box resembling an ammunition can. In 2016, the pontifical Swiss Guard accepted a donation of combat rosaries; during a ceremony at the Vatican, their commander described the gift as “the most powerful weapon that exists on the market.

Are we talking “Rugged Rosaries” or “Roman Catholic Gear”? If so, we have a few around here. I recommend them both. For boys, they’re just that, rugged. Do you know how many rosaries my husband went through over the years? Many. He actually has the combat rosary complete with Pardon Cross and everything. First one he hasn’t demolished in years. You really need to ask yourself why this is so scary to them? If a dude wants to remind himself with an even more visual of it being a spiritual weapon, what is your beef?

The militarism also glorifies a warrior mentality and notions of manliness and male strength.

Sigh. A guy afraid of manliness and male strength is, well, just pathetic.

This conflation of the masculine and the military is rooted in wider anxieties about Catholic manhood—the idea that it is in crisis has some currency among senior Church figures and lay organizations. In 2015, Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix issued an apostolic exhortation calling for a renewal of traditional conceptions of Catholic masculinity titled “Into the Breach,” which led the Knights of Columbus, an influential fraternal order, to produce a video series promoting Olmsted’s ideas. But among radical-traditional Catholic men, such concerns take an extremist turn, rooted in fantasies of violently defending one’s family and church from marauders.

Wait, now Bishop Olmstead is a rad-trad? You’re a joke and your lack of understanding that men should be protectors – physically and spiritually – is why so many women complain to me about some of the men today. I can’t blame them.

The rosary-as-weapon also gives rad-trad Catholic men both a distinctive signifier within Christian nationalism and a sort of membership pass to the movement. As the sociologists Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry note in Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States, Catholics used to be regarded as enemies by Christian nationalists, and anti-Catholic nativism runs deep in American history. Today, Catholics are a growing contingent of Christian nationalism.

Please, let’s just start naming names instead of just painting any man who takes the Faith quite seriously as a rad-trad or nationalist.

Helping unite these former rivals is a quasi-theological doctrine of what Perry and another sociologist, Philip S. Gorski, have called “righteous violence” against political enemies regarded as demonic or satanic, be they secularists, progressives, or Jews. The hostility toward liberalism and secularism inherent in traditionalist Catholicism is also pronounced within Christian nationalist circles. No longer stigmatized by evangelical nationalists, Catholic imagery now blends freely with staple alt-right memes that romanticize ancient Rome or idealize the traditional patriarchal family.

I LOVE the traditional patriarchal family. Are we supposed to hate that now? Just tell me now, are you a male feminist? You are, aren’t you?

Some doctrinal differences and divisions remain. Many radical-traditional Catholic men maintain the hard-line position that other forms of Christianity are heretical, and hold that Catholics alone adhere to the one true Church.

Uhhhhh…. Again, not a trad here, much less a rad-trad, but that statement is totally true for all faithful Catholics, so you might want to ask yourself what you are missing.

Christian nationalism’s nativism and its predilection for “Great Replacement” theory alienate some radical-traditional Catholics who are not white or who were not born in the United States, and deep veins of anti-Catholicism persist among far-right Protestants.

This is just getting out there.

Yet the convergence within Christian nationalism is cemented in common causes such as hostility toward abortion-rights advocates.

He’s kitchen sinking it here. How many liberal issues can he throw into one piece?! Abortion is evil. Do you believe that, Danny Boy? If not, why would anyone consider you an expert on anything Catholic? You’re just peddling your liberal wares.

The pro-choice protests that followed the leaked early draft of the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, led to a profusion of social-media posts on the far right fantasizing about killing activists, and such forums responded to Pride month this year with extremist homophobic and transphobic “groomer” discourse. Rad-trad networks are also involved in organizing rosary-branded events that involve weapons training.

Killing anyone is bad. Let’s just get that out of the way. Now, please tell me who firebombed churches and pro-life pregnancy centers? Was it the mean ol’ rad-trad who hides under your bed with their AR-15? We faithful Catholics tend not to burn down churches.

Catholics are taught to love and forgive their enemies, that to do otherwise is a sin. But the extremist understanding of spiritual warfare overrides that command. To do battle with Satan—whose influence in the world is, according to Catholic demonology, real and menacing—is to deploy violence for deliverance and redemption.

Again, it would be nice if you provided just one little link of the Catholics who are deploying physical violence in spiritual combat. It is SPIRITUAL combat after all. Let’s just be honest, you probably don’t even believe in hell or Satan because both are kind of mean and that just can’t be real.

The “battle beads” culture of spiritual warfare permits radical-traditional Catholics literally to demonize their political opponents and regard the use of armed force against them as sanctified. The sacramental rosary isn’t just a spiritual weapon but one that comes with physical ammunition.

OK, in short, if you refer to the Rosary as a spiritual weapon and you are not Pope Francis, you are a radical right-wing Catholic extremist extolling violence. Have I got that right? Delusional.

Daniel Panneton is a writer based in Toronto, Canada.

Oh, Canada. This might explain the problem with him.

40 thoughts on “Triggered Much?”

  1. Ok time to interpret the liberalspeak here. The luciferians are very good at their father’s native language of lies and obfuscation and half truths.
    Let’s start with Christian nationalist. So that’s the new scary term for what used tobe call , ya know, Americans? Until 20 minutes ago this used to be a Christian nation filled with even democrats who loved this country. Remember JFK?

    What these marxists are trying to do of course is to paint anyone who loves God and country as a dangerous frothing at the mouth violent racist neanderthal. They’re confusing patriots with antifa and Burn-Loot-Murder mostly peaceful protesters. AKA violent racist marxist God and country hating mobs.

    You know what gets me jacked faster than an American Flag at a leftist riot? A luciferian trying to tell me what I’m supposed to be doing as a Catholic. Yes, we forgive our enemies but we also protect ourselves from them. We are morally obligated to resist evil and this activist disguised as a journalist clearly sees righteousness as a threat to himself.

    Now back when Bishops and Popes had spines and other male anatomical configurations they realized the occasional need for the sword. After decades and centuries of being bloodied by proponents of a religion of peace they were forced to take up arms against their mostly peaceful proponents of a religion of peace.

    The Rosary was considered a very powerful weapon beside armed Catholics and after winning impossible battles in Malta 1565, Lepanto 1571 and Venice 1683 the Pope declared a feast day of Oct 7 to be held in honor of Our Lady of Victories.

    What these people are afraid of is Christian men beginning to act like men.

    It’s almost like the only thing they are more terrified of than God, pregnancy and Truth is testosterone.

    1. I just had to look up this self proclaimed ” on- line hate researcher”. Yes, that is how he identifies himself. Just as I expected, he appears to be a member of the soy boy team. Apparently he is desperately searching for his 15 min of fame and like most weak minded spineless haters today, he turns to the Catholic faith as his personal punching bag. I found the content of his article pathetic , unfortunately there will be those who lap it up and believe every word. PRAY WITHOUT CEASING!!

    2. Thank you! I was trying to formulate a comment and you said what I was hoping to say only more clearly!

    3. To these pitiful clowns I say:
      Be afraid, be very afraid.
      Our Lady, Terror of Demons
      ora pro nobis.

    4. I think it’s great! But they truly missed it ..the Rosary is nothing next to a puney AR15. It’s more like an atomic bomb, if they want to go down that pathetic path.
      The “other team” is obviously terrified. Good, keep ’em running. God will not be mocked and Mary’s Immaculate Heart will triumph. A win win for us extremists🤣

  2. I am not going to accept moral tutelage from apologists for those whose hygiene regimen requires washing the blood of unborn children off their hands.

  3. J. Murray Tarter

    Wow! These guys did such amazing research on their iPhones. They read like a group of martians that followed a group of faithful Catholics around and made a series of absurd conclusions.
    I once had my rosary break (I guess) into three(!) sections whilst in my pocket during a protest of Fr. James Martin. So my wife got me a Fr. Heilman Combat Rosary complete with the radical card mentioned in the article.
    Michael Voris should now see an upsurge in his book on the Rosary, “The Weapon.”
    And Timothy Gordon likes the motto “Deus Vult.”
    Disappointed that Mad Mom is not a Rad Trad…yet.
    Please, please, please, go to the TLM. Experience the solemnity and feel the reverence of the families in the pews.
    Orémus Y’all.

    1. You seem to assume I haven’t attended the EF. I’ve probably attended them longer than most since we lived under the Indult way back when I was a teen. I’m not opposed, and they are my backup when I can’t get to my normal Mass.

  4. “Disappointed that Mad Mom is not a Rad Trad…yet.
    Please, please, please, go to the TLM. Experience the solemnity and feel the reverence of the families in the pews.”

    Please.
    I for one refuse to be called a Rad Trad. I’m sick of these little names and the categorizing of Catholics who do their best in following the faith. I am a faithful, practicing Catholic. Period. I do say the rosary, try to do spiritual and corporal acts of mercy, give in charity when ever I can. I do not have to be called a Rad Trad to do what is asked of me by God. The Church gave us the Novus Ordo. It is a valid and legitimate liturgy where we receive the Body and Blood of Christ just as we do at a Latin Mass. As far as the NO, Jesus would never impose on us something like the NO through HIS Church if it were not true and according to His will especially knowing the faithful are called to obey what the Church hands down to us. Are there abuses with the NO? Of course but the onus is on the priests and bishops who commit and allow such things in the course of Holy Mass. There were also abuses by the Jewish religious leaders in our Lords time but that didn’t make going to temple and the synagogue wrong.

    I AM part of the Church Militant, one who fights in this life for the salvation of my soul and aids others to save their souls. It does not make me a Rad Trad. I’ve come to hate that term as if we are more “special” than other faithful Catholics.

    The TLM? The first 15 years of my life was in the experience of the TLM for there was no other Mass. So please don’t talk to us as if you’re experiencing something no one else has because we do not belong to that “special” club. I love the TLM but have no way of attending one in my area. Oh no! Am I committing a sin because I’m not traveling 3 hours to the TLM? As absurd as that sounds that is exactly what some of the Rad Trads sound like when being condescending against those who attend a holy and reverent NO. They can be found you know. I may not like a NO as much as a TLM but I’m fortunate to have a parish priest who isholy and faithful where we can also feel the reverence of the families in the pews.

    Please, don’t ever say that we who have to attend or desire to attend a NO are not receiving the sacramental graces offered to us just because we don’t go to the TLM. My goal in life isn’t to become a Rad Trad. It is in following God’s plan and l for me to become the best practicing and faithful Catholic that I can be before spending eternity in heaven with Him.

      1. I realize my reply was over the top but when Catholics start jousting as to whom is a better Catholic I have to put my foot down. There is no traditional Catholic. You are either a believing, practicing, follower of Tradition and Magisterium (sp?) Catholic or you are not. I just wish people(Catholics) would stop labeling each other. That”s all. As you were.

  5. Agree!
    The author claims to be an “online hate researcher”. More like “hate influencer”. I believe he is Jewish and has major issues with the TLM because of its “anti-semitism”. This article is an overt attack on all rosary wielding, faithful Catholics. The only Catholics who are “safe” for the public are Biden/Pelosi “Catholics” in his “hate-free” world.

    The rest of us are harmful extremists.

  6. I don’t know which is worse – the fake news gushed out by the main stream media or those like this Dan who doesn’t know what they is talking about about. He is probably like those who think Satan went away after Christ left this earth – no need to worry about Satan in today’s world.

    The sad part is that a lot of people will lap up his swill. And since he lives in that bastion of liberalism – Canada – could he possibly be charged with a hate crime for denigrating Catholics? Oh wait, crimes against Catholics can’t possibly be hate crimes.

    Santa Maria mater Dei – Ora pro nobis!

  7. Edward J Mulrenan

    Sad to say these libtards believe this nonsensical bilge. They regard st Michael’s the archangels prayer after mass as a call to.battle . Also Why they and Pochataas sen . Allegedly rc. Warren etc. Go ballistic at pro.life pregnancy centers . …
    Sadly most of Ct. congressional grumpy reps. tried to get the Fbi to shut down Carolyn’s place a Waterbury based home for unwed moms . Luckily the Fbi was busy searching Melanie Trumps undies for classified nuke secrets. ……Sadder still ts the Torba rpt. .homosexuals in the vatican & Jesuits saying the same thing about Rosary 📿 protetestors at abortion clinics . Plus tradition ltn .mass supporters like Ab Cordeleone and Ab. Burke etc..

  8. Pingback: Triggered Much? | Deaconjohn1987's Blog

  9. I guess I’m a marked extremist now. Went to Costco with my Rosary in pocket and wearing a red Church Militant shirt!
    As a member of the Knights of Columbus, I was told to keep a rosary at hand (pocket) always. I guess Daniel isn’t aware there are 1.9M extremists out there doing good stuff!

  10. Teach Acceptance

    It seems like you all were triggered by Daniel Penneton. Somehow, I can’t imagine Jesus saying most of the things that you are saying. Calling people names (libtards), embracing violence, etc. Calling someone a libtard calls to mind the word retard. That’s a playground taunt. I can just see Jesus, who you all claim to follow, calling out those who disagree with him, a retard or another insult of his day. Can’t you?

    1. Well, let’s see. How about “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” Or how about “blind guides,” “fools,” “serpents,” “generation of vipers,” etc. He wasn’t exactly throwing roses at them. Read the Scriptures much?

    2. As always you only see what you want or pretend to see TA. Why should I, as a Catholic, follow the advice of someone who left the Catholic faith? When you leave the Truth what is it you have to offer except your interpretation? Christ was not as politically correct towards people you think He was. What was that about calling a woman a dog? Hmmm….jog my memory TA.

    3. Christine Edwards

      You made no comment on the Dan Panneton article or on OMM commentary. I’m assuming, therefore, that you agree with it. What is it that you like about the Atlantic article?

  11. They are Libtards.. 5 of the 7 Ct. USA. Congress reps. here in Ct Tried to Get FBI No Less to Attack Carolyn’s Place a Award Winning pair of Shelters For Battered Women and Unwed Moms at old St Francis Xavier School etc. here in Wtby.. Even the Liberal Media was ASTOUNDED at their Rant of a Press Briefing. Seriously.

  12. “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
    No, I tell you, but rather division.” — Gospel 20th Sunday OT Cycle C

  13. I read the Atlantic piece and without a doubt this writer is now in the Hall of Fame for unhinged people.

  14. Fabulous commentary, thank you! The absolute fits the writer and his ilk have at the idea of funny memes is as crazed as their obsession with AR-15s. Share that “Deus vult” meme with a Crusader’s helmet peeping over an office cubicle wall, and you’ve crossed the line into slavering would-be hyperviolent warlords ready to (checks notes)… “defend your family and church from marauders.” The horror.

  15. Pingback: Canon212 Update: Francis’s Rosary Actually IS an AR-15. When Will The Faithful Catholic Media Stop His Assault? – The Stumbling Block

  16. Pingback: Ignoramus Claims Rosary a Symbol of Far-Right Violent Extremism: Hate-Crime Police... Helloooo! - Catholic Truth

  17. Pingback: Have a Little Dignity, Atlantic! – One Mad Mom

  18. Pingback: TVESDAY EDITION – Big Pulpit

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d