Wikileaks is at it again!



The fourth round of John Podesta email leaks were published this morning by Wikileaks.

John Podesta is the Chairman of the Hillary Clinton Campaign.

In an email from Sandy Newman of the organization Voices for Progress, we learn of the intent to spread dirty progressive seed within the Catholic Church in order to stimulate a foreign backed “spring” or revolution, “in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic church.”

Podesta appears to back Newman and admits:

“We created Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good to organize for a moment like this. But I think it lacks the leadership to do so now. Likewise Catholics United.”

Of course, authentic renewal within the Church is often, as Podesta grants, from the “bottom up”.

Groups like Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United have received their fair share of criticism, as well. Of course, sources of funding and support, like most bourgeois philanthropists – many of whom are friendlier to conservative crowds in the Church – push big money causes, can be inauthentic, and can reinforce an agenda of domination against the oppressed.

Consider these articles on the Catholic Contras by CNA and catholic.org.

(Note: Catholic.org is run by a Trump supporting member of the clergy, Deacon Keith Fournier, and is on the same advisory board, and fellow Trump supporter, Father Frank Pavone. Sadly, it seems the Church has already been infiltrated by the bourgeois mentality – a victory for “Progressives”.)

Read the full e-mail here:

It’s very interesting to note how some would plot against the Church with such great ignorance. As Newman notes, “Of course, this idea may just reveal my total lack of understanding of the Catholic church…” [sic].

It’s also sad to realize how phony the intentions of various groups’ supporters may be – like those, possibly, of John Podesta. Groups can also re-launch their purpose and identity – and we shouldn’t automatically reject anyone who is associated with those in various e-mails from years in the past. This isn’t something difficult for Trump supporters to consider as they cling to their candidate, believing in repentance after each new damaging moment in his past is leaked.

Yet, there are a few takeaways, here. There is too much coziness between money and the Church. There is too much coziness between money and Catholics. There is too much coziness in this nation between the powerful and the oppressed – where one group is lured by another into thinking that various donors or patrons have our good, the good, at heart.

Let no one think that we are to be isolated from non-Catholic groups, or people who share a concern for injustices that are repulsive to all humans. We should keep watch, however, as various organizations and bourgeois donors attempt to co-opt movements inspired by a spirit for justice.

Not every Bishop in the Church has been without guilt when it comes to defending oppressors and big money donors against the oppressed – but this isn’t a battle between Hierarchy and Laity. The Spirit will move those who are open and willing; sometimes they are Bishops, sometimes they are lay people, and sometimes they aren’t Catholics – but the Spirit will never be silenced.

The Church can never cease being open to renewal, but unlike political systems of oppression that need to be subverted – whether managed by Democrats or Republicans, or both – it is not subject to the bourgeois spirit of the age, but the Spirit of Life.

We need to organize locally, faithfully, and openly. Meet your neighbors and fellow worshipers at Mass. Learn the social doctrine of the Church – not by Fathers Pavone or Sicico, etc., but by learning the teaching at its source (as written and as lived by holy men and women like Dorothy Day, Oscar Romero, Helder Camara, John Paul II, Maximos IV, Basil, Bonaventure, etc., etc.). Establish base communities. Say no to Hillary. Say no to Donald. Again: Say no to both of these liberal elites who are presented as our only choices in this option for false-democracy. Receive and bring Good News to the Poor. Listen to the word of the oppressed. Reject capitalism, follow the Spirit of Life.

Persons of interest in this email include:

Sandy Newman

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend

John Podesta

Tom Perriello

UPDATE –

12 October, 2016:

– Christopher Hale, Executive Director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good responds to the e-mail exchange here. His statement reads as having been attacked personally for the contents of the e-mails, and we have no reason to believe Hale is at fault in any of this. Nor should anyone think we find any of Mr. Hale’s work through any organization automatically suspicious or inauthentic – indeed, much of his work has been very positive and transcends binary politics.



– Edited the sentence reading “Of course, like most bourgeois groups – many of which are friendlier to conservative crowds in the Church – they’re big money causes, inauthentic, and reinforce an agenda of domination against the oppressed.” to read “Of course, sources of funding and support, like most bourgeois philanthropists – many of whom are friendlier to conservative crowds in the Church – push big money causes, can be inauthentic, and can reinforce an agenda of domination against the oppressed.”– Dave Griffey has commentary here – Note, while we have no confirmed the authenticity of the e-mails, we take as support the refusal to deny their authenticity by Mr. Podesta or the Clinton Campaign, in addition to the general “spirit” of the e-mails communicating the relationship between the specific organizations, organizers, donors, and the hierarchy. A correction piece would promptly be generated if we had reason to doubt their authenticity.– See CNA’s piece on this round of e-mails here – The paragraph reading “It’s also sad to realize how phony the intentions of various group supporters may be – like those of John Podesta.” Now reads “It’s also sad to realize how phony the intentions of various groups’ supporters may be – like those, possibly, of John Podesta. Groups can also re-launch their purpose and identity – and we shouldn’t automatically reject anyone who is associated with those in various e-mails from years in the past. This isn’t something difficult for Trump supporters to consider as they cling to their candidate, believing in repentance after each new damaging moment in his past is leaked.”

Until next time,

Keith Michael Estrada