The National Catholic Register reports on young adults finding “spiritual fatherhood” in campus priests, presenting this as a heartwarming trend of vocational discernment and paternal guidance. Beneath the saccharine veneer of ice cream socials and “text-away” companionship lies a devastating omission: the complete absence of the supernatural reality of the priesthood, the total silence on the state of grace, and the reduction of Holy Orders to a therapeutic support role within a structure that has systematically dismantled the Catholic formation these young souls desperately need.
The Reduction of the Priesthood to a Campus Counselor
The article presents a series of anecdotes where young Catholics describe their interactions with “fathers” in the conciliar structures. Lonán Mooney, a student at Hillsdale College, describes Miles Christi “Father” Patrick Wainwright telling her, “Your worth isn’t defined by your grades… Your worth isn’t defined by what you can do for other people.” While psychologically comforting, this is a naturalistic platitude. Where is the call to the supernatural life? Where is the reminder that her worth is defined by her baptismal character and her state of grace? The modernist “clergy” have become providers of self-esteem, not ministers of the sacraments. They offer a “spiritual haven” that is merely a psychological safe space, entirely devoid of the supernatural reality of the Catholic priesthood.
The Silence on the Supernatural and the State of Grace
Annie Ortega, a law school graduate, describes her return to the faith through conversations with “Father” Patrick Reidy. She notes, “Through Father Pat, I realized the Lord knew my heart.” This is the language of Protestantism—a subjective, emotional “relationship” with the Lord that bypasses the necessity of the sacraments and the objective reality of the Faith. The article celebrates her receiving “Communion” for the first time in a decade, yet it remains utterly silent on whether she was in a state of grace, whether she had made a proper confession of her sins, or whether she even believed in the Real Presence. In the conciar sect, the Eucharist is reduced to a communal “moment” of emotional connection, stripped of its propitiatory and sacrificial nature as defined by the Council of Trent.
The “Gentle, Loving Father” as a Substitute for the Crucified God
Lexie Hadjin’s testimony is perhaps the most revealing of the modernist inversion of the Faith. She states, “I just needed a gentle, loving father to show me who God is.” This is a direct contradiction of the Catholic doctrine of God as He is in Himself—infinitely just, terrible in His majesty, and mysterious in His ways. The God of the Bible is a consuming fire, not a “gentle, loving father” in the sentimental, modernist sense. The article promotes a therapeutic deity designed to soothe the anxieties of the youth, rather than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who demands penance and sacrifice. The “steady presence” of “Father” Michael Bremer is offered as a substitute for the theological virtue of faith, which must often walk in darkness, not in the comforting glow of a campus ministry office.
The Apostasy of the “Clergy” and the Ruin of Vocations
Jacob Sadler, a student entering the seminary, claims that the “fatherhood” of “priests” inspired him to pursue the priesthood. He describes them as “your dad, but also your best friend.” This fraternalization of the clergy is a hallmark of the conciliar revolution, which sought to dismantle the hierarchical and sacrificial nature of the priesthood. The 1917 Code of Canon Law, in Canon 125, strictly separates the clergy from the laity in their distinct vocations. The modernist “priest” is no longer an *alter Christus* offering the Unbloody Sacrifice of Calvary, but a “best friend” who shares hobbies. This is the fruit of the apostasy warned of by St. Pius X in *Pascendi Dominici Gregis*, where he condemned the reduction of the priesthood to a mere function of the community.
The Omission of the Great Apostasy
The most glaring omission in this article is the complete silence on the state of the Church itself. These young adults are being “guided” by “priests” who operate within a structure that has embraced religious liberty, false ecumenism, and the evolution of dogmas. The “spiritual fatherhood” described is a counterfeit, leading souls into the abomination of desolation that currently occupies the Vatican. The true spiritual father, as described by St. John of the Cross or St. Teresa of Ávila, is one who leads the soul through the dark night of the spirit, stripping it of consolations, not one who offers ice cream and text-message availability. The conciar sect has produced a generation of “clergy” who are “uniquely positioned to offer clarity,” as José Freire Nunes claims, but that clarity is the clarity of naturalism, not the light of Revelation.
Conclusion: The Counterfeit Fatherhood of the New Church
The article is a testament to the success of the conciliar revolution in replacing the supernatural reality of the Catholic priesthood with a naturalistic, therapeutic counterfeit. The “fathers” described are not fathers in the order of the sacrament of Holy Orders as understood by the perennial Magisterium, but rather functionaries of a system that has lost the Faith. The young adults mentioned are not being guided to sanctity, but to a comfortable, subjective “spiritual” experience that will not save their souls. As the true Church endures in the faithful who profess the integral Catholic faith, we must reject this modernist sentimentalism and call for a return to the supernatural reality of the priesthood, where the father is a shepherd of souls, leading them to the Cross, not to the ice cream parlor.
Source:
When Young Adults Find Spiritual Fatherhood (ncregister.com)
Date: 21.06.2026