Sunday, June 09, 2019

A Chapter-by-Chapter Refutation of Dr. Taylor Marshall’s Book, Infiltration: The Plot to Destroy the Church from Within. Part One.


I. Introduction: Setting the Table.

Recently, people have been talking about Dr. Taylor Marshall's Book, Infiltration: The Plot to Destroy the Church from Within (Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press 2019). After reading some favorable reviews of the book as well as some unfavorable critiques of the book, particularly those by my friend, David Armstrong, I bought the book (Kindle edition) for myself. Upon reading the book, I decided that my first real apologetics endeavor since my heart attacks and open-heart surgery in 2016 would be a defense of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and her popes from the salacious conspiracy claims of Dr. Marshall.

The premise of Dr. Marshall's book is straightforward. He claims that the present-day Catholic Church is in an unprecedented crisis. He lays the blame for the said crisis on the minions of Satan who have infiltrated the Church seeking to destroy it from within. He names the culprits:
Satan uniquely entered the Catholic Church at some point over the last century, or even before that. For over a century, the organizers of Freemasonry, Liberalism, and Modernism infiltrated the Catholic Church to change her doctrine, her liturgy, and her mission from something supernatural to something secular.  

Marshall, Taylor. Infiltration: The Plot to Destroy the Church from Within. Sophia Institute Press. Kindle Edition. Location 110.  

Dr. Marshall argues that at some point in the 19th century, a secret plot was hatched by a cabal of politically disaffected ne=er-do-wells to destroy the Church through the implementation of a plan that would cause the Church to adopt philosophical and theological principles designed to undermine the Faith. This conspiracy's goal was to replace the Supernatural faith, which is Catholicism with Naturalism, which he suggests is the faith of Satan. The aim of all this is as follows:

The Catholic Church is in crisis because the enemies of Christ plotted organized efforts to place a pope for Satan on the Roman Chair of Saint Peter.
Ibid.  Location 123
So basically, Taylor Marshall wants the reader to believe that the universal Church has been enthralled by the forces of darkness and the pope is now the pope of Satan instead of the vicar of Christ. He wants the reader to believe him over Jesus Christ, who at the founding of His Church told St. Peter and the other apostles:

And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18).


But yet, there is more, Jesus didn't really mean it when He said:
And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.  (Matthew 16:19)
For Marshall, "whatsoever" doesn't mean "whatsoever" when he and his fellow reactionary brethren disagree with what the pope teaches and says.

In short, Marshall's book advances a conspiracy theory about the Church. The book advances a conspiracy theory that has been peddled before. For example, These Last Day Ministries argues that Communist agents have infiltrated the Catholic hierarchy to destroy from within. Another website that I occasionally read published an article that claims the Catholic abuse crisis is likely no accident, but a strategy to destroy Church from within. The Church Militant group claims that in the 1920s-30s thousands of young communist men enrolled in Catholic seminaries to become priests subvert its doctrines in an article unsurprisingly entitled Infiltration! What is different about Marshall's book is that it postulates that Satan's conspiracy to take over the Church from within began in the early 19th century as opposed to the early 20th century. Instead of Communists, Marshall's bugaboos are Freemasons and the Carbonari.

What is one to make of this purported conspiracy? After all, it could be true, couldn't it? There are numerous instances where conspiracy theories are conspiracies-in-fact. For that matter, most popular conspiracy theories gain traction and gain a following because they often do contain a grain of truth. The one advanced by Dr. Marshall is no different. Scripture and dogmatic teaching inform us that Satan is implacably at war with the Church. There were indeed secret organizations in the 19th century opposed to the Catholic Church. (That said, there have been secret organizations, as well as not-so-secret ones, which have fought the Church in every age since Jesus founded it two millennia ago.) The Church has approved the Marian apparitions at La Salette and Fatima as worthy of belief. The Carbonari did exist. Freemasonry is still a great evil in this world. There is no doubt that the Soviet Union sought to destroy Catholicism and even attempted to have a pope assassinated. Vatican II did happen. The Church has been rocked with bank scandals and clerical sexual abuse scandals (What else is new?) The Novus Ordo Mass of Pope St. Paul VI is now the ordinary rite of the Latin Church. (Of course, the Tridentine Mass of Pius V replaced rites that existed before it, too.) There is no shortage of spiritual and worldly mercenaries in the hire of the Evil One who prowl about the world seeking the ruination and damnation of souls.

Moreover, the Church has seemingly undergone a great many changes since Vatican II. The teaching of the post-Vatican II popes has engendered hesitancy and uncertainty among many Catholics. There is a natural resistance to change because change is unsettling, and many are yearning to return to the way things used to be when the world and the Faith made sense. And on occasion, one does feel overwhelmed and lost because of those changes.

Dr. Marshall's book demonstrates that he is one of those  lost ones who want the Church to turn back the clock and go back to the way things used to be: the Tridentine Mass, popes who exercise temporal as well as spiritual power, a Church patterned after the Council of Trent as opposed to the Church of the Second Vatican Council. He wants to hop in Mr. Peabody's Wayback machine and pretend that the Age of Enlightenment did not happen; that the French Revolution did not occur; that Italian unification did not take place; or, that the rise of nationalism, socialism, communism, scientism, existentialism, modernism, and emotivism/relativism, did not take hold in Western civilization. Upon reading Dr. Marshall's book, it comes across not so much of a diagnosis and cure for what ails the Church, but a salve to soothe hurt feelings of a group of Catholics who feel left behind by a Church seeks to proclaim the Gospel in a post-modern world. He longs for a world where the words
"Ressourcement" or "Aggiornamento" had never been uttered.

Joseph Uscinski, an associate professor of political science at the University of Miami and co-author of the 2014 book American Conspiracy Theories (Oxford Scholarship Online: August 2014) quips "Conspiracy theories are for losers,"  The reason that conspiracy theories are popular is that they give unhappy people someone or something else to blame for their unhappiness or their worries. Someone or something has to be blamed for our loss of certainty or happiness. Witness the unhappy Democrats blaming Hillary Clinton's loss of the 2016 presidential election to a complete reprobate like Donald Trump.  They can only overcome their bitterness by concocting a conspiracy theory that Trump colluded with Russians to meddle and undermine the electoral process. Of course, the fact that Mrs. Clinton was a horrible candidate and ran an even worse campaign had nothing to do with her loss. Personally, I think a lack of humility is at the heart of such denialism.

I touch upon all this to point out that conspiracy theories are psychological phenomena. They are founded on feelings as opposed to reason informed by facts or evidence. Facts are made to conform to a narrative rather than used to form conclusions. They provide certainty in an uncertain world.  Someone or something is screwing with us and it is not our fault.  In Hillary Clinton's case, even though there have been two years of investigations, hundreds of witnesses interviewed, millions of documents reviewed, all of which determined that President Trump did not collude with Russia, many people still advance the narrative that Donald Trump still conspired with foreign agents to get elected.

Furthermore, conspiracy theories like the one postulated by Dr. Marshall are readily accepted due to our wish to explain why things seem to be the way they are. We need to create a framework or a world view to understand events or actions. Our brains are hard-wired to find patterns upon which to build our world view. St. Thomas Aquinas explains this is the way we intellect in his Summa Theologiae (ST I, Q.87). We tend to take our experiences and link them together to intellect. In other words, we use such cause and effect to reason. Indeed, efficient causation is one of the key ways we can prove the existence of God from nature.

In this case, Dr. Marshall attempts to link a series of events in the history of the Church and Europe such as Marian apparitions, the loss of the Papal States, the election of various popes, Freemason and KGB machinations, Vatican II, the Novus Ordo Mass, and the actions of Pope Francis, etc., with the Alta Vendita, a document allegedly concocted by Italian Carbonari in the early 19th century that outlines a plan to infiltrate and destroy the Church from within. He forges these links to show how that insidious plot of the Carbonari is now coming to fruition a hundred or so years later and is successfully undermining the Church. He wants the reader to see a pattern. He wants the reader to join his world view that the popes of the Church are now popes of Satan. And from the campaign he undertook on Amazon to get readers to buy his book, he well understands that if he can convince people through favorable reviews that other folks see the same patterns he does, the more people he can persuade to accept his world view that the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church has been subverted and taken over by Satan himself.

Thus, to refute Dr. Marshall's conspiracy theory, I will not challenge the facts he uses as much as to attack the way he links those facts together. I intend to present the context surrounding the events and facts he uses in his book to demonstrate that the patterns he fabricates with those facts do not exist. I will leave it to the reader to decides whether Marshall's assertion of what those facts mean and whether his conspiracy theory is worthy of belief or should be consigned back to the hell from which it was spawned.

For I am the Lord thy God, who take thee by the hand, and say to thee: Fear not, I have helped thee. (Isaiah 41:13)


6 comments:

ArizonaWill said...

Americans have been "dumbed down" to the point that younger generations cannot even read cursive, thereby ensuring that they cannot read many of the great documents of the Western World from the originals in libraries and will only be able to express their thoughts on paper at the speed with which they can draw the "stick figures" of the alphabet. A grand conspiracy or just stupid decisions? You be the judge (with ominous music growing in menace in the background). I have watched many of Taylor's YOUTUBE videos. He caters to a rather dim fan base who cannot understand the complexities of our modern world and urgently want simple answers. Taylor and his sidekick Tim Gordon give them such answers every time a video is added to his YOUTUBE channel. If only we would return to the Latin Mass, everything would be alright again. If only we would get rid of altar girls, God would withdraw his wrath from the Church (yes, we are to believe that God hates the post-Vatican II Church per these 2 self-appointed authorities). If only the priests wore more colorful vestments and threw the gay laity out, then the Church would find the return of the Holy Spirit. If only women wore veils again, if only there were Communion rails, if only, if only.....Taylor claims to be a Church patriot but every episode bashes the actual Catholic Church that exists outside his fantasies. In one episode, Taylor was sharing his ideas for the perfect Church, which included an Imperial Pope with vast temporal power and guards that would be the envy of the Emperor of the Star Wars universe. The entire world would be ruled by the Pope through benevolent Catholic monarchies since Catholicism is the secret foundation of the American form of government anyway. When his pal Tim Gordon goes off script, he expresses a sneering at times vicious ignorance about any person or group different from himself. The siring of children seems to be a significant sign of manhood. Taylor is winning now with 8 children, but Tim mentioned in 1 episode that he hopes to sire 10, winning an award as best Catholic man of the year (Every Sperm is Sacred). The machismo Texan definition of manhood is quite the ideal, complete with 1950's wild west fantasies of fist fights in defense of the women folk and "Rad Trad" Catholicism. Yes, they are entertaining, but I often feel dirty after watching an episode. Returning to the fan base, they take every word as sacred truth. Down with the gays! Down with uppity women who are not housewives! Down with everyone unlike ourselves (The conservative battle cry). Since Taylor has 8 kids, expect many religious bestseller potboilers to come.

ArizonaWill said...

Not to put too fine a point on it, but in one episode Taylor remarked that he was planning out his children's entire lives for them including their mates. He said he would have to send his kids to Poland to find a mate, since Taylor does not think American Catholics are pure enough. He seems to think that Poland has a pure version of Catholicism so he (at least in this case if not in any other case) would support immigration of Polish mates for his 8 children. God help one of those kids if they grow up to have a mind of their own and want to create their own life independent of dear overpowering Patriarch Supreme Taylor Marshall. And on a much more serious note: anyone who really believes that Pope Francis is demonically inspired is seriously mentally ill and out-of-touch with any sort of reality. Pope Francis may say things that are ill-advised at times but to equate this to a Satanic plot is really men in white coats and padded room material.

Unknown said...

Paul I like Dr. Marshall's book for the most part. I appreciate your critique with the smoke of satan quote. Sloppy on his part and I wasn't sure why he chose to include it anyways. I feel compelled to share why his general theme of the book "there is a sinister problem in the church and speculating on the cause without the facts can be helpful" is something I appreciate. When i read the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report, or parts of it I found myself asking the question: how did these men become priests? How did they get through seminary? I'm not talking about homosexual men i'm talking about the priests in that report who satanically abused kids in confession, the stuff with holy water, really bad abuse cases. Really bad sick stuff. How did they get through? And why would they go through 7 years of school to become a priests? Are they purely motivated by disordered sexual gratification? I don't see how anyone can come to that conclusion after reading the report.

My stance is this: We can't cast aside the communist infiltration/freemason/ etc stuff lightly after Pennsylvania report/McCarrick Vigano. There isn't enough evidence to convict by a court of law standard either. So where does that leave us? 1. Ignore it. 2. Speculate prudently.

So far your critique and others seem to take the approach of "I don't like the approach of Dr. Marshall speculating so i'm going to pick apart his bad sourcing of facts in a couple areas to deteriorate his credibility and therefore his argument. I don't see how this would sway many people who like his book because you provide no alternative answer to the big questions. Where did McCarrick and bad Penn priests come from? How did they get through seminary? Why is the Pope saying ambiguous things that lead many people to believe things contrary to Catholic teaching?

I plan to read the rest of your posts as i valued the smoke of satan quote catch. Nice work! Without you answering any of the above questions or atleast how an average catholic should deal with them i remain unmoved by your effort here. Dr. Marshall saw thousands of people like me wanting answers and proposed this book. That's why its selling so hot right now. I'm not alone looking for answers.

God Speed!

DR

Brock said...

"So basically, Taylor Marshall wants the reader to believe that the universal Church has been enthralled by the forces of darkness and the pope is now the pope of Satan instead of the vicar of Christ. He wants the reader to believe him over Jesus Christ, who at the founding of His Church told St. Peter and the other apostles:

And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)."

I know Dr. TM personally and I realize the author of this article may not BUT this conclusion is bordering detraction if it hasn't already completely cleared the fence.

Unknown said...

I am disappointed with this response you claim that dr Taylor Marshall is wrong in his analysis of church history but you haven't given any better alternative some one rightly said some people are good at smelling rotten eggs than laying good ones. Do you mean things are well in the church today? You have not answered any of the claims that your trying to criticize here. What is your point any way on the trend church has gone through? I am sorry you said dr Taylor Marshall is mixing the emotions but I think I am right you are the one who is reacting to this book with emotions.

IncandescentSonder said...

Thank you for this analysis and review. I think TM is leading people into heresy and disobedience. He’s no better than church militant.