“Liberalism follows the world’s degenerative movement - there’s nothing good about it” – Interview with Canon212.com’s Frank Walker.
I’m a married, 55-year-old father of four grown children. We live in a small town in Florida a few blocks from a standard Catholic Church. But we drive to the Ancient Mass most Sundays. I have two granddaughters.
What is your background?
I went to Florida colleges and, prior to now, worked mainly in the area of education and corporate training. My Master is a combination of learning science and management. I’ve taught people to do all sorts of jobs.
You are also a musician?
Yes, I have loved music since I was a boy, and before I was married. I used to play in little clubs around the area. My other joys in life are simple. I like to spend time with family and friends when I can, to travel, to read letters, hear funny stories, see nature and beautiful places. If I had more time I’d probably spend it boating, camping, sitting on the beach, fixing up the old houses (like the one I’m in), and I’d straighten out the bumper on my Jeep.
How was your Faith journey?
I was raised in the 1970’s Church. Later when I was grown, faithless and in despair, I found a rosary and a statue of Our Lady in an old box. I knew the Our Father and Hail Mary beads, so I tried to say it. I realized then, with Mary’s help, that the Holy Family and the faith of the saints were all true.
And then?
With God’s grace I began learning about the true Faith and the history I’d never been taught. Back before the internet, sources like wonderful Mother Angelica, National Review, New Oxford Review, Latin Mass magazine, and Catholic World Report helped me see what I’d been missing. Soon I was seeking ways to help others learn and grow in their faith too.
Canon212.com is your baby. What is it?
Canon212.com is a Catholic news aggregator. Its main function is to collect current news stories and present them in one place as a picture of the moment. I try to do that accurately. I also try to undo damage and clear up misunderstandings. Most news articles have an element of propaganda. I read them for the facts and try to bring that out in my headlines.
So, you may change the title of a story?
Yes. Occasionally someone will advise me to remain ‘neutral’ and stick to the authors’ titles, since I don’t write the articles myself, but if that message is misleading or buries the real story, then it would be a disservice to do that.
How did you begin with Canon212.com?
I actually started working for PewSitter, writing articles, then doing updates ten years ago. I suppose there is an element of teaching in Canon212.com. You try to be specific about where your audience is, what they know, and what they still need to learn and do.
What was your experience at PewSitter?
At PewSitter I had a personal motto: Help Catholics become more conservative and help Conservatives be more Catholic. I noticed a reluctance in the Catholic press to go anywhere near politics except when it came to abortion and moral issues. “Traditional Catholicism” was also off limits. I tried to use PewSitter to correct some of that pattern.
But then something changed?
Yes. When Pope Francis arrived on the scene, a wave of confusion and uncertainty came over the faithful Catholic press. They lurched left under pressure from their backers, the Vatican and the Bishops. There was a terrific push to soften the commentary and reporting in deference to the normal respect for the papal office.
What was the result?
Francis of course, like a bull in a China shop, smashed precious doctrines and practices left and right. Let’s face it: Undue ‘respect’ for contemptible things is misleading and dishonest. Proper satire and contempt are much more accurate and effective. But PewSitter’s founder started to receive complaints about my updates.
How did this end?
With Francis, the Catholic media establishment became more political. Early in the 2016 primaries, while the Catholic press and bishops were busy sabotaging the pro-life Trump candidacy, I was trying to work against them. I guess the complaints to my PewSitter partner became too much at that time and I got the sack. I started Canon212.com, and the readers went with me.
How do you put Canon212 together?
I cull through hundreds of titles and Catholic articles every day. Then I read a bunch of faithful blogs and secular sites. I keep track of what’s happening on Twitter. Writers and readers also directly share things they’ve written or found. A lot of good, intelligent and informed Catholics around the world contribute to Canon212. It’s encouraging to see their faith and their fight. Once I have all the articles selected and titled, I post links to sections and format everything with graphics. I do this twice a day, adding big stories as they break.
How is Canon212.com different from other Catholic news pages?
Even though it has a definite message, Canon212.com isn’t a blog. It’s a portal. Many writers in the Catholic and the secular press read it. It saves them the trouble of poring over hundreds of stories to get the most-newsy events. That gives me a chance to contribute real perspective not just to our readers, but to their readers too. My goal is to make that perspective accurate and compelling. I see Canon212.com as polemical, in service to the Church.
So, you want to be “polemical” not “objective”?
The U.S. media used to claim to be ‘objective’ and stay above politics. Now they don’t even pretend. Similarly, the Catholic media has always claimed the Faith was above politics (which it is) but also neutral and nuanced about it (which it’s not). I believe the faith of Christ is active and powerful. Like Francis, I also think the Church should be political.
What is your theological position?
I’m not an ‘Integralist’ or a ‘Distributist’ (Chesterton’s plan for wider distribution of wealth and capital), although I agree with the symptoms those groups seek to cure. I’m not an ‘Americanist,’ but I wouldn’t call a ‘conservative’ thinker an ideologue just for deferring to the past. I think to be Catholic is to be a Conservative because Conservatives look back, sometimes vaguely through the fog, at Christendom.
And liberalism?
Liberalism (in the modern sense) truly is a systematic ideology. It closely follows the degenerative movement of the world: the voice of the Bad Shepherd. My motto at Canon212.com is: There’s nothing good or Catholic about liberalism.
Which pushbacks have you experienced?
Media is a form of leadership, even in this faithful Catholic niche. The Catholic ‘resistance’ to Francis’s destruction can be peppered with lies, betrayals, and futile messages. But if you undermine these negative, false messages or expose them, you can make enemies. If they can’t find anything substantial with which to attack you, they’ll use smears.
What are your favorite smears against Canon212.com?
Canon212.com has been called ‘sensationalist,’ dishonest, pseudo-Catholic, sedevacantist, or even ‘BennyVacantist’ just for criticizing the wrong person, or for calling on bishops to investigate the conclave or address Francis’s heresies. In the end, a smear is the only weapon a liberal has. This is the destructive climate of Pope Francis, testing all the faithful to stay strong and forthright in the face of confusion, financial threats, a corrupt hierarchy, and persecutions.
Is liberalism generally the reason for the destructive climate in the Church?
People blame the problems in the Church on all kinds of ‘isms.’ I don’t think isms have the power to act. People also blame Vatican II. But I think the problems with the Church, even back in the 60’s, came from personnel, from people who aren’t truly Catholic, from occult enemies of Christ. Some say there is an infiltration of ‘The Church.’ There is a lot of evidence for that idea. The Pope and most of the bishops today only pretend to be Catholic. The actual Church is not the same as the visible Church at all.
So, it is a problem in the clergy?
Lay people are also a problem for the Church. The political power that supported the John Paul II/Benedict XVI Church has collapsed. With the 2008 economic crisis, the consolidation of banking and intelligence, and the neutering of conservative politics, the stage was set for an influenced conclave. The post-Constantine Church has always needed powerful backing. That’s not there anymore. Former Vatican Bank Chief, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, could say a lot about this.
And Pope Francis?
I don’t know Francis’s canonical status, but having an uncatholic pope, or a ‘not canonically-elected, uncatholic pope,’ is deadly to the Church. It’s the only issue, really. And it needs to be addressed, not talked around, moralized about, or covertly defended.
Why are these problems not resolved?
A lack of courage, and an unwillingness to sacrifice wealth, reputation, position, and in some cases life. This enables the Church’s enemies, who fight against God and can’t win. The suppression of the Ancient Mass and the sacramental life has created this character vacuum. Catholic Apostles are shoved back into the Upper Room.
Without Peter?
When Benedict stepped down I guessed, like many, that something was wrong. So, I was not surprised to see a Francis creep onto the balcony. Popes very rarely step down, especially, like Benedict, for no good reason. And you don’t perpetrate a coup in order to insert a like-minded replacement. I coined the term FrancisChurch because I knew he would attempt to create an uncatholic Church, and he has. I have never assumed that Francis is a valid Pope (though he might be. That is for the Church to figure out.) I have always asserted though, that he should be removed and all his acts stricken, even posthumously. Heretics should not be popes.
You think, it is that evident?
Yes. Normal, thinking Catholics aware of the situation understand that Francis isn’t one of the faithful. It is only among the perhaps too-comfortable intelligentsia that there is all this hand-wringing and detraction. It’s dishonest and unfair to expect reasonable people to hold Francis’s validity as some article of Faith at a time when you can hardly point to a principled voting cardinal anywhere in the Church.
I support all legitimate efforts to investigate Benedict’s abdication, Francis’s conclave, and his numerous heresies.
So, what may the everyday Catholic do?
Pray hard. Frequent the sacraments and whenever possible, the Ancient Mass. Say daily rosaries, the Angelus, and support all efforts to prosecute FrancisChurch for what it is: a criminal homosexualist gang. Fight globalism worldwide and support pro- Christian, conservative politics. Put no faith in the faux-Catholic resistance or in any bishop unwilling to condemn Francis’s heresies or to call for his investigation. Work hard.
How long shall we continue this fight?
Until a Catholic is returned to the throne of Peter, the marks of the Church will be obscured and it will remain small and underground. A new pope must be willing to excise all the un-Catholic bishops through examination of their records and inquisition. All non-Catholic institutions must be removed. All state funding of the Church should be eliminated. To do these things would mean renouncing the vast majority of what today is called the official Church.
You propose a very radical therapy…
The FrancisChurch hierarchy is comprised mainly of depraved and ambitious men eager to curry worldly favor. If you cut off that incentive, it would practically collapse on its own. One could call this “the St. Francis model.” Political, legal, and economic pressure must be brought to bear against the corrupt Church. The resultant purified Church would grow like wildfire.
Is that all?
In addition, a purified Church should re-affirm its suppressed condemnation of usury. Then the faithful Church would grow rich and powerful, while the rest of the world watched. Is this pie-in-the-sky and unreachable? It’s the only way. And it’s giving Christ a goal worthy of His glorious assistance.
I should mention that people can also listen to you…
Now they can, Yes. About a year ago I started doing a daily video update on the top headlines. I thought it would be a simple addition since I’m familiar with the material and I can give some perspective. It runs about 11 minutes and you can reach it from Canon212.com. A lot of people sit down and turn it on at the end of the day.
Why is this video not on the vicious YouTube?
I know I should link it to YouTube, but I’m a bit worried about their “rules.”
Frank Walker talked to gloria.tv's Father Reto Nay.
