25 August 2011

One Brit's View

There has been much commentary floating about with regard to Michael Voris, some of it accurate, and some of it not so much. Yesterday, he gave a talk in London, and it is said the line was 100 yards long half an hour before the event, and the galleys were packed.

This mother attended the event, and offered her own observations (it seems her opinion was shared by many):
[H]e came across as sincere, authentic and profoundly Catholic. You got the sense that you were listening to a man with a genuine love for Christ, who is profoundly grateful for his re-conversion and the shot at eternity it gives him. A man who has discovered the pearl of great price, and wants to share it with as many people as possible.

He started and ended with prayer, and constantly redirected our focus to the Holy Trinity. This was not the "Michael Voris" show; he was the medium not the message.
...
To be Catholic is to embrace Our Lord fully and to be prepared to accept His cross. You might be made fun of, you might lose a few friends or compromise your career, but, argued Voris, none of these measure up to the sacrifices made by early Christians so that we could have the Faith handed down to us.
...
Based on last night's talk, I'd say that none of the criticisms I've heard leveled at Michael Voris would stick. He was humble, charitable, amusing, self-effacing, meticulously faithful to the Magesterium, Catholic down to his very essence. Oh, and to knock another myth on the head: his hair was clearly all his own.
[Never doubted it for a moment.-ed.]

Among the people I went with there was (at least) one skeptic who, by the end of the talk was utterly convinced of Voris's sincerity and orthodoxy. The general consensus was "What's not to like?"
One sees Voris at his best and most candid, not on the scripted Vortex videos (which he himself says are deliberately provocative), but rather during the presentations and talks he gives. It's also worth watching his hour-long interview with Canadian talk show host Michael Coren (you may have to sign up for a free account to gain access to the link). I found his talks in Madrid to be especially inspiring, to demonstrate a man on fire with apostolic zeal, in love with his faith, and genuinely full of love for souls. The caricature one sometimes hears of him--arrogant, self-righteous, superior--is so grossly off the mark one doesn't even know what to say.

He has also done a powerful exposé on the cost of abortion, available to watch free here; a tape of this was sent to each member of Congress.