Bless Me, Me For I Have (Sortta) (Almost) Sinned
Bless me, Me, for I have (sortta)(almost) sinned.
By accident, I discovered Only Boys Aloud and, for the first time ever (Honest, Me!), I lost (but didn’t waste) almost four hours going bonkers with YouTube following them, and Only Girls Aloud and Only Kids Aloud.
And they introduced me to Calon Lan, after the National Anthem, the favorite song of the people of Wales:
I don't ask for a luxurious life
the world's gold or its fine pearls,
I ask for a happy heart,
an honest heart, a pure heart.
A pure heart full of goodness
Is fairer than the pretty lily,
None but a pure heart can sing,
Sing in the day and sing in the night.
If I wished for worldly wealth,
It would swiftly go to seed;
The riches of a virtuous, pure heart
Will bear eternal profit.
Evening and morning, my wish
Rising to heaven on the wing of song
For God, for the sake of my Saviour,
To give me a pure heart.
Wait! Wait!
Let’s start over, ‘cause…
Bless me, Me, for I have (sortta)(almost) sinned, again. I just spent a second afternoon watching more of their videos. I guess, with all the muck (I’m cleanin’ it up, ‘cause I’m goin’ to confession to myself.) goin’ on in Washington, I needed a break for my soul.
Now, Me. Here’s the problem: Some folks in the White House and the Oval Office decided to ingurgitate the future votes of who-knows-how-many Catholics and Evangelical Christians by spreading mule fritters. [“Ingurgitate” is just too good to pass up.] On February 6, President Trump issued “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias.”
In the third paragraph, the document argues that the previous administration
“sought to squelch faith in the public square by bringing Federal criminal charges and obtaining in numerous cases multi-year prison sentences against nearly two dozen peaceful pro-life Christians for praying and demonstrating outside abortion facilities. Those convicted included a Catholic priest and 75-year-old grandmother, as well as an 87-year-old woman and a father of 11 children who were arrested 18 months after praying and singing hymns outside an abortion facility in Tennessee as a part of a politically motivated prosecution campaign by the Biden Administration. I rectified this injustice on January 23, 2025, by issuing pardons in these cases.”
Anti-Catholic and anti-Christian basis? What are they smokin’?
For Fathers Tobin and Flynn, facts matter. So, here’s the facts:
In 1994 President Bill Clinton signed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, prohibiting “violent, threatening, damaging, and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the right to seek, obtain, or provide health services.”
In May 2024, a Nashville, Tennessee federal court sentenced seven defendants to terms of 27 to 57 months for "a felony conspiracy against rights and a Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act offense” by blockading entrance to the Carafem Health Center in Mt. Juliet, TN.
Thomas More Society attorney Steve Crampton, representing defendant Paul Vaughn, said in a press release, “This was a peaceful demonstration by entirely peaceable citizens – filled with prayer, hymn-singing, and worship – oriented toward persuading expecting mothers not to abort their babies.” Additional defendants incurred similar charges under the FACE Act without the “conspiracy against rights” charges.
The problem is Mr. Crampton didn’t tell the whole story.
A video posted on Facebook on March 5, 2021 showed a large group of pro-life activists – ranging from children to elderly adults – walking into the Carafem Center and blocking access to the door by sitting in front of it. One of the defendants faked an appointment to gain access to the facility
A May 15, 2024 (Updated February 6, 2025) Department of Justice press release tells the story Mr. Crampton didn’t:
“Prior to the clinic incursion, the defendants met with other co-conspirators to plan their crime, which included making a fake patient appointment to ensure the group’s entry into the clinic, using chains and locks to barricade the facility and passively resisting their anticipated arrests to prolong the blockade. The clinic invasion was advertised on social media as a ‘historic’ event that was live-streamed on Facebook. The defendants’ forced entry into the clinic at the outset of the invasion resulted in injury to a clinic nurse. During the blockade, one patient had to climb through a receptionist window to access the clinic, while another laid in the hallway outside of the clinic in physical distress, unable to gain access to the clinic.”
The presidential statement also asserted:
“In this atmosphere of anti-Christian government, hostility and vandalism against Christian churches and places of worship surged, with the number of such identified acts in 2023 exceeding by more than eight times the number from 2018. Catholic churches and institutions have been aggressively targeted with hundreds of acts of hostility, violence, and vandalism.”
The White House statement stands at odds with an undated post – “Arson, Vandalism, and Other Destruction at Catholic Churches in the United States” – on the official Web site of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:
“At least 372 incidents have occurred across 43 states and the District of Columbia since May 2020. Incidents include arson, statues beheaded, limbs cut, smashed, and painted, gravestones defaced with swastikas and anti-Catholic language and American flags next to them burned, and other destruction and vandalism. This list [included with the post] shows incidents of vandalism, arson, or other destruction at Catholic sites that have been publicly reported in news media. It excludes incidents where circumstances suggest a motive other than hostility toward the Church.”
The post - Backgrounder: Attacks on Catholic Churches in the U.S. | USCCB – provides links to local and national news reports of vandalisms and “attacks” on Catholic churches and institutions between January 2020 and mid-March 2025. Many of the news reports indicated that the individual events were being investigated and/or prosecuted as federal “hate crimes” - standard protocol for attacks on churches of all denominations, mosques and synagogues.
We thoroughly reviewed all of the 2024 and 2025 reports through March on the USCCB site; although some attacks appear to be abortion related, the majority of cases seem to be ideology-free acts of vandalism and/or the work of individuals with mental illnesses and – for whatever reason – focus on images/statues of the Virgin Mary – especially heads and hands. Statues, often outdoors and unprotected, are easy “targets” for adolescents out to create problems or individuals with mental health problems. It was impossible to find an “anti-Catholic” agenda in the USCCB reports.
The Oval Office declaration also noted an eleven-page FBI memo that was leaked in 2023 and quickly withdrawn. Despite the efforts of Bureau officials to distance themselves from it, some have used the memo to criticize the Bureau and suggested, without evidence, that it was part of a wider Biden administration effort to persecute Catholics and conservatives over their beliefs.
The memo - a so-called awareness product, similar to memos drafted after Virginia legalized online sports betting, to determine its effect on money laundering and other criminal activity - was drafted by an FBI analyst in late 2022, completed by other authors in January 2022 and cited potential threats from self-identified Catholic extremists and “far-right white nationalists.”
Although the memo did not name a specific individual, it referred to a male resident of Henrico County, VA who described himself as a “radical traditional Catholic Clerical Fascist,” “(who) illegally collected weapons, had a history of making violent threats against liberals, racial minorities and Jews and seemed to be preparing to launch some kind of domestic terrorists attack,” according to an April 18, 2024 The New York Times report (“No Bias Found in F.B.I Report on Catholic Extremists”):
“The F.B.I. investigation of [the individual] included scrutinizing his interactions with members of a conservative Catholic congregation, unaffiliated with the local archdiocese, that he attended.
“The bureau placed a confidential informant in the congregation to befriend the man, and to determine if he was trying to recruit other members ‘to carry out an attack,’ the inspector general found. The F.B.I. decided to deploy the informant because it was the only potential opportunity to establish regular contact with [the subject].
“The informant was under strict orders to collect information only about the target, and not about the church or other parishioners, according to the inspector general.
“The Richmond office contacted officials in the domestic terrorism division of the F.B.I.’s national headquarters in Washington to discuss creating a report for the bureau’s senior leaders.
“An analyst at headquarters replied that she was ‘really interested in this resurgence of interest in the catholic church’ among people they identified as domestic violent extremists — but the effort was dropped when the memo was made public, the inspector general found.”
Despite its revocation, it should be noted that the initial FBI analysis distinguished between "radical traditionalist" Catholics as "separate and distinct" from "traditionalist Catholics" or Catholics who "simply prefer the Traditional Latin Mass and pre-Vatican II teachings."
On April 22, 2024, OSV (formerly Our Sunday Visitor) News reporter Kate Scanlon provided the most thorough background on the kerfuffle:
“…the FBI opened an assessment of an individual identified as ‘Defendant A’ in 2019, ‘after he made online statements advocating civil war and the murder of politicians.’
“Defendant A later was overheard ‘making comments about political violence while purchasing several AR-type rifles, multiple high-capacity magazines, and large quantities of .223 ammunition,’ and was later arrested by local police ‘after he vandalized and slashed the tires of a parked car.’
“Defendant A pleaded guilty to felony vandalism charges and as a part of his guilty plea agreed to avoid contact with firearms and related materials. He was documented while in jail as using ‘increasingly violent rhetoric’ and indicating ‘that he would commit violence against certain racial and religious minorities,’ including against Jews. Within a week of his release, he violated the conditions of his guilty plea and sentence by visiting the firearms sections of various sporting goods stores.
"’Based on Defendant A's online rhetoric, threats, and other activity, an FBI Richmond task force had been aware of Defendant A since 2019 and continued to monitor him,’ the report said. ‘They identified a social media profile associated with Defendant A that included Nazi symbols and rhetoric, as well as posts advocating killing police officers, 'ganging up on and beating' racial and religious minorities, conducting a mass shooting at a school for special needs children, taking up armed resistance against the government, learning how to manufacture pipe bombs, and using untraceable means to purchase supplies to manufacture 3D-printed weapons.
“In early 2022, Defendant A began to attend a church ‘associated with an international religious society that advocates traditional Catholic theology and liturgy but is not considered by the Vatican to be in full communion with the Catholic Church,’ the report continued, adding he demonstrated anti-Semetic rhetoric in online conversations about that church, and described himself in his social media profile as ‘Fascist and Catholic’ and a ‘radical-traditional (rad-trad) Catholic clerical fascist.’
"’Based on his online communications, investigators determined that Defendant A was attempting to actively recruit other individuals with similar belief systems’ and ‘had begun talking about an attack,’ including ‘discussing plans to carry out attacks, including making comments to others (the church) about his intent to commit violence.’ Investigators expressed concern about the safety of the church and those who attend it.
“An investigator who identified himself as an FBI agent questioned some members of that community, including its priest, specifically about Defendant A, not their religious practices, the report said.
"’…this led the FBI to discuss expanding outreach to other area churches to help educate clergy about potential signs that an individual was mobilizing to commit violence and establish a process for reporting suspicious behavior,’ the report said.
“Defendant A was later indicted in federal court on one count of possessing ammunition while a convicted felon and one count of possessing destructive devices, and he pleaded guilty to possessing destructive devices…
“As a part of its investigation process, the report said, the bureau sometimes creates documents about sociological or environmental variables that can impact its work, citing as an example research on sports betting after some jurisdictions legalized it more broadly. In response to the investigation surrounding Defendant A, an analyst was intrigued by that individual's interest in the church.
“The analyst said ‘that there was no evidence that Defendant A was being radicalized at (the church), because he had been on the FBI's radar “as an unstable, dangerous individual” before “any association with any Catholic related entity whatsoever;” rather, the concern was that Defendant A was attending (the church) and “interacting with a group of people who … may not understand, or know what to do with someone of his caliber or … his mindset,” and that other (comparable individuals) similarly might be attracted to other parishes.’
“One analyst was cited in the report as saying any suggestion that he was motivated by anti-Catholic bias was ‘patently false,’ rather, he sought to ‘promote outreach to the Catholic Church, in part to protect that community from potentially violent actors.’ A second analyst said similarly, arguing the intent behind their actions ‘was to try to protect these houses of worship by sensitizing them to a potential threat to their congregations.’ They said they began drafting the document ‘in November 2022, following the arrest of Defendant A on state charges.’
“Investigators said they asked both analysts to explain how they chose the term ‘radical-traditionalist Catholic.’ Both said that they initially learned the term during the investigation of Defendant A, arguing that the individual in question referred to himself as a ‘rad-trad Catholic clerical fascist’ on social media.
“Some of the groups named in the withdrawn FBI memo identify as Catholic, but have taken positions flouting either the Catholic Church's leadership or its official teachings -- including one group denounced by its local bishop as ‘blatantly antisemitic’ and forbidden by the Vatican from calling itself Catholic….”
So, Me…
After clarifying that the lies about FBI’s and Biden Administration’s anti-Catholic prejudice was grade A, 100% bull cookies, I’m gonna listen to Only Boys Aloud, Only Girls Aloud and Only Kids Aloud sing Calon Lan - Calon Lân - Only Boys Aloud, Only Girls Aloud, Only Kids Aloud - Finale
And I am heartly sorry for all the sins of my past life.
Amen.