Sunday, September 15, 2013

A Novel Idea

I have a couple of projects to work on this week, so I won’t be blogging.  (Besides that, my house is in bad need of cleaning – I guess I’d better make that one of the projects!)

Instead, I invite you to help me with my novel (everyone’s writing a novel, right?!).

I’ve always wanted to write a novel, since I was a little 7-year-old aspiring writer submitting stories to the Kids’ Korner of the local newspaper. It turns out I’m a lot better at writing essays, though, so the novel has never materialized.

Still, I have actually started one! The title is The Demise of a Diocese. The plot is influenced by conspiracy stories like AA-1025, mentioned in the comments the other day; and alleged real-life events like those reported by the likes of Bella Dodd; and even my own modest real-life experiences (see this post and this one). Here's the concept:

We won't know friend from foe
till the end!
Basically, there is a plot by the enemies of the Church to begin dismantling dioceses in the US. There are so many parishes closing…to begin closing entire dioceses would weaken the faith even more. So the insider enemies decide that for starters, they should attempt to take down a small, rural diocese (the Diocese of Baker, heh heh).  It all starts with a bishop (not an actual enemy of the Church, but a pawn of Satan nonetheless – and Satan has many pawns in my novel!) throwing the diocese into debt with a huge retreat center project that requires a “capital campaign”. My thought is that if a diocese is really in bad financial shape, it could be “closed”, or basically subsumed under the nearest archdiocese. All the parishes would become “mission” parishes, and Mass would be said less and less frequently, especially in the outlying rural areas. That would lead to further deterioration of Catholic faith and identity.

In my novel, the plan to destroy a diocese is succeeding. Think about it: few would care if the dismantling of dioceses in this country began with Baker…er…a small rural diocese named... uh… Cook, yeah, the Diocese of Cook! People here there would just go to the Methodist Church down the road instead.

The Archbishop - one
of the good guys...
unless there is a surprising
plot twist!
But...there's a glitch for the enemy when the Most Reverend Alexander Sample is appointed Archbishop of Portland. Well, of course, we fictionalize that and make it Archbishop Example in the Archdiocese of Harborland. Archbishop Example is a shining…um…example of what a good archbishop should be. Since the small rural diocese is absorbed by the Archdiocese, Archbishop Example starts visiting the parishes in the defunct diocese, and he begins efforts at renewal. He's one of the good guys, we are pretty sure.

But the wheels are turning to undermine the Diocese of Baker Cook anyway. Several of the neighboring bishops and archbishops who are wolves in shepherds’ clothing all conspire to put a stop to Archbishop Example's inroads.

And then... we’ll cap it all off with a zombie apocalypse ending! 
Ha ha! Well, I don’t know about that, actually…

So here’s your job, dear readers: become writers. Feel free to put your thoughts, character suggestions, and plot twists in the comments section, or just email them to me if you want. (drjayboyd@msn.com)

Suggestions:

Describe a character (like liberal Mrs. Smith, for instance, who loves liturgical abuse)

Is there a secret message
inside that balloon?!
Describe a situation that illustrates the conspiratorial nature of the liberal progressive modernist agenda (the closer to the truth, the better!)

Describe fictional or non-fictional ways the conspiracy can proceed (like false priests who dedicate their lives to destroying the Church that they don’t even believe in; or bishops who conspire to appoint communist homosexual clerics to positions of power; or bishops who transfer orthodox priests to the far corners of a diocese in order to undermine the EF Mass).

You get the idea. Have some fun! Outlandish and humorous contributions are welcome!

 I’ll see you next week with a report on the progress of our novel!

10 comments:

  1. Sr. Siobhan Sojourner, CSMM (Congregation of Saint Mary Mediatrix - well known for their environmental advocacy)is brought in from her mother house in urban Harborland by the apostolic administrator of the Cook diocese (prior to its absorption by the Archdiocese)to be the chief liturgist of the diocese. She will also act as pastoral associate at the Cathedral in Cook Town. Life in isolated, rural Cook Town proves difficult at first, when she finds her environmental views are not shared by the local ranchers and farmers. Yet she perseveres, slowly building her influence on the foundation of fair-trade coffee and donuts made from organically grown flour. Her big debut, though is the Holy Week liturgy where her own brand of theology will be on full display. She will have amply prepared during Lent by filling the holy water fonts with sand and replacing the sanctuary flower arrangements with barren sticks and round stones, encouraging the parishioners during her "pastoral commentary" at mass to offer up carbon offsets as penance. She laments that not all parishioners will be able to fit in the sanctuary (around Our Lord's supper table) to help concelebrate the Holy Thursday Eucharist. Undaunted she presses forward slowly implementing her changes. Removing statues here using confessionals as storage closets there, whittling away at the last remaining vestiges of traditional Catholicism in the diocese. But, in her quiet crusade of modernization, she stumbles upon disturbing evidence of a conspiracy afoot - a conspiracy to destroy the diocese! She's no traditionalist (she assures herself) yet something in her loves the Church she's given her life to and she just can't see bear to see it the victim of obvious malefactors. Not knowing at first that she is a key pawn in this game she is shocked to learn of the conspiracy's existence. She's torn. The conspirators are some of her key theological allies, yet she discovers a dark side to their theology. They don't just want to modernize and inclusivize, they want to destroy. This is too much for her. She begins to question everything. In a dark moment of despair she finds herself on her knees before Our Lord, for the first time in years. What will Sr do? Will she go along with the conspiracy? Will she boldly stand up? Will she join the quiet resistance?

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  2. Ha ha! I like that, George. And I like your haiku verses on your blog...

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  3. Since I only know about the atrocious conditions in the German Church and how to bring down German Dioceses I feel sorry not being able to contribute to your novel(in my poor English).

    But in order to get some additional inspirations for characters in the Amchurch I would recommend reading about the life of Father Peter Mascari who worked successfully each day 24 hours for the greater glory of God and about the priest who replaced him after Father Mascari was ordered by his Bishop to resign (Page 12 and following)
    Page 11 is also very interesting for developing realistic characters for the Bishops in your novel:
    http://www.rcf.org/pdfs/AMDGsummer2005Final.pdf

    Stephen Brady has to be thanked for making public much more of it: http://www.rcf.org/amdg/

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  4. Some additional thoughts: In order to develop the character of a subversive priest it is useful to know the term our "common ground”. The Marxists used it in their “détente”-period in order to lead the attention of their capitalist and roman catholic enemies only to allegedly shared characterics and never ever to their opponent doctrines.
    For example: Catholics and Marxists both fight for social justice. Conclusion: Marxism can´t be that bad. Maybe we could work together.
    Or: Catholics and Marxists both fight for social justice. But Marxist fight for social justice all the time, Catholics could show much more action. Conclusion: Although Marxists are Atheists they are much more concerned for the well-being of the people than Catholics.
    It doesn´t matter if the claims are true (for example: “Marxists fight for social justice” which is not at all true) because Marxists are allowed by the Party to lie all the time in order to reach their subversive goals.
    I own several books from the GDR where Christians were instructed to think only in the way described above.

    Look how Thomas Merton O.C.S.O used these tactics. He also praised the false religions where the “common ground”-tactics also can be applied:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp6icJG7RV0
    Only God knows if Father Merton did this deliberately or out of stupidity. Wikipedia knows this about him: “Merton was also interested in Communism at Columbia, where he briefly joined the Young Communist League; however, the first meeting he attended failed to interest him further and he never went back.”

    You may learn more about psychological warfare, subversion and destabilisation in order to destroy a Diocese or a Country from a Soviet Defector:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gnpCqsXE8g
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLsi0Ialvxk


    It doesn´t matter if the claims are right (for example: “Marxists fight for social justice” which is not at all true). Marxists are allowed by the Party to lie all the time in order to reach their goals to subvert the enemy.
    I own several books from the GDR where Christians were instructed to think only in this way.
    Look how Thomas Merton O.C.S.O used these tactis. (He also praises the false religions.):
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp6icJG7RV0
    Only God knows if Father Merton did this deliberately or out of stupidity. Wikipedia knows this about him: Merton was also interested in Communism at Columbia, where he briefly joined the Young Communist League; however, the first meeting he attended failed to interest him further and he never went back.

    You may learn more about psychological warfare, subversion and destabilisation in a Diocese from a Soviet Defector:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gnpCqsXE8g
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLsi0Ialvxk

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  5. Fr. John Murphy has a been a long time proponent of the TLM. His fight against the homosexual lobby is a constant reproach for the Bishop who himself is not a homosexual, but too weak to stand his ground. After being pressured by countless homosexual priests, he suspends Fr. John without any appearent reason, leaving behind a traditional parish that is only used to the TLM. The diocese brings in Fr. Richards, a proponent of Liberation Theology, who at first agrees to say the old Mass once a month, but due to his constant liturgical abuse while saying it(not wearing maniple and stole, insisting on saying the TLM facing the congregation, having women come up to read the gospel), the Parish soon disintegrates. Fr. John has to witness the destruction of everything he built during his life as a priest. Dark thoughts creep up in his soul. Should he found a break-away chapel in his parent's log house in the mountains, where the traditional "remnant" would come together for the TLM and sound Catholic doctrine, or should he accept the unjust punishment and suffer in silence?

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  6. You might want to read "The Barchester Chronicles" of Anthony Trollope as a primer on how to approach this topic.
    -John G.

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  7. Link to PDF of Bella Dodd's "School of Darkness" http://bit.ly/1aFtR5m

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  8. Great info from all. There's also an article on Bella Dodd in the Aug 2013 print issue of the Remnant. Not sure if it's on-line.

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  9. Link to PDF of Marie Carre's "AA-1025" http://bit.ly/1aFuvjp

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  10. Anyone interested: you can get the 6 Barchester novels on Kindle for 99 cents. But the title says "Barsetshire"; if you "look inside" though, you see it's all "Barchester".

    CK - yes,actually, I've read all three of the MacFarlane novels. The last one is "House of Gold". I enjoyed them very much at the time I read them, which was more than 10 years ago.

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