Lies and the Lying Liars Who Lie Them

A friend, who is not Catholic, and not particularly sympathetic to anything that smacks of conservatism, in politics or the arts, was listening to the news, (can't recall whether it was network or cable,) with me and reference was made to the joy with which the crowd in St Peter's square greeted the news of Francis's election in contrast to the grim reaction to Benedict's.
Wha??!?#?$?? he asked, I watched that on television, they showed it over and over, the crowds at the announcement of Benedict reacted the way they ALWAYS do, jubilantly, there were nuns jumping up and down, seminarians wave flags and cheering, why in the world would they say --

Slow your roll, Mike, I demurred, that is the accepted version of the MSM and the dissenting Catholic press, that's what everyone always claims now.

And whether you heard it from a Republican strategist, ("perception IS reality!"), or a Nazi, (a lie of sufficient enormity to convince everyone, since NO one could have "the impudence to distort the truth so infamously"), you all know how it works.
They couldn't say it on those Interwebs if it weren't true, right? And my boyfriend is a French model....

There are some matters that one never looks into, everyone says it so....

All this is prelude to another story of lies and the lying liars who've been lying them.
The National Catholic Register's having actually looked in to something.
You know, the way actual news organization do, well, are supposed to pretend to.
Recall the matter of the evil, hated California priest who has left acrimony in his wake, and stirred things up, and wounded all and sundry at his new parish... NOT.

As the signatories [of a newspaper ad clling for their bishop's removal] framed Father Illo’s appointment as another blot on the [Cordileone's] legacy in the city, the situation on the ground at Star of the Sea remains far more nuanced — and far less grim — than the harsh claims would suggest.
“The old-timers are delighted that Father Illo has come because he is ‘breathing new life into the parish,’” Vivian Dudro, a new parishioner and mother of four who returned almost two decades after her youngest child was baptized at Star of the Sea, told the Register.
“The parish is attracting new people who want to go to the liturgies and public prayer open to the public. My husband went to the men’s prayer, and a high-school student was there who had shown up on his own for prayer.”
“If that’s not evidence of new life,” Dudro said, “I don’t know what is.”
Indeed, those who attended the retirement party for Carmel Tickler, the parish's operations manager since 1991, said Tigler's farewell speech noted that there had never been more pastoral activity during her tenure than at the present time, under Father Illo's leadership.....
he pastor made the decision to focus on training altar boys back in November. Two months later, he said, “the day before the 2015 Walk for Life, the local CBS affiliate arrived with cameras to do a story” on the only all-boy altar-server program in the diocese.
When he watched the story on the news, the pastor recalled his surprise at the “the grim way it was treated, as if there was some kind of catastrophe or scandal in San Francisco.”...
Father Illo explained the rationale behind his decision to the parish-school community....

‘Popular’ Pastor in Stockton
Finally, the priest strongly disputed the claim that he had a troubled history in the Diocese of Stockton before his arrival at Star of the Sea.
Media reports have already noted that Father Illo created a stir in Modesto when he told parishioners that it was wrong to vote for a candidate who supported abortion rights even if his or her other positions were good.
However, The Modesto Bee described Father Illo as a “popular” pastor. And the priest told the Register that he ran a large parish with “5,500 families — about 19,000 members. We had more men in the seminary than any other parish and one of the highest levels of Mass attendance.”
These details were absent from the Chronicle ad. Also missing was information that contradicted the portrait of Star of the Sea’s new pastor as an unmitigated disaster.
Jesuit Father Joseph Fessio, the founder of Ignatius Press, which is located in San Francisco, has known Joseph Illo since before he entered the seminary and dismissed the allegation that he had a “troubled” history in Stockton.
“When we have the annual Walk for Life, there are several busloads of people from Modesto, where he is hugely popular,” said Father Fessio, who nonetheless agreed that the priest had stumbled somewhat during his first year at Star of the Sea — and taken responsibility for it.

New Initiatives
When Father Illo arrived at Star of the Sea last August, he took up residence in a diverse but fading parish with an aging population and weak finances.
He planned to establish an oratory of St. Philip Neri at the parish, after obtaining Archbishop Cordileone’s agreement to a plan that seemed like an ideal path for revitalizing Star of the Sea.
An oratory, he explained, is a “community of priests and brothers who are committed to a life of common prayer and apostolic work.”
“Usually, the oratories enhance the parish and school because they provide a stable body of priests that stay with the parish for the rest of their lives,” Father Illo explained.
At present, one other priest has already joined the oratory. Star of the Sea has 1,200 parishioners, mostly elderly couples and single people.
Father Illo hopes to attract many more Catholics and already sees signs of hope, with a 60% increase in parish revenue since he arrived and much higher numbers at this year’s Triduum services.
“We assume we will be here for the duration, and we are putting in programs and improving the church lighting and sound system.”
“New initiatives include Bible study and men and women’s support groups,” he said.
... Father Illo...believes his parish and the city of San Francisco desperately need hope to overcome the challenges ahead.... But if Father Illo and his oratory have actually lit the flame of hope at Star of the Sea, why has the pastor become a target of angry critics?
As Father Illo sees it, part of the problem is that Star of the Sea School is only 40% Catholic, and the school community has become separated from the parish.
Thus, even as parishioner Vivian Dudro celebrates the increase in Mass attendance, along with the new Bible study class and parish barbecues, last month also featured an angry meeting of school parents who aired a host of grievances about the priest’s policies.
Father Illo hopes he can build bridges with the school, and his immediate goal is to move from monthly to weekly Masses for students and also teach a religion class. [ed. note- a Catholic school that only offers a school Mass once a month????]
But even as he labors to stabilize his parish school, there is little sign that the fury against Archbishop Cordileone will abate, and that means this new pastor could face further trouble.

Pray for San Francisco, and pray for the city's Catholics and non-Catholics, and pray for Fr Illo and pray for Archbishop Cordileone.