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Wolves and princes of darkness

AJ West aims to prove his point in a theological thriller that the Catholic church is under attack

Monday, August 29, 2005

Culture: Books
by Robert Duncan

A press release for A.J. West's "theological thriller" promises provocative revelations from within the Catholic church, and claims that by opening his book one will wonder about mysterious plots and the supernatural. As proof, it is noted that the opening line of the book is, "Pope John Paul was dead." The book was released eight days before the death of the Pope John Paul. The book's title is Wolves Among the Ruins: The Prince Dethroned.

The press release touts West's book surpassess "fictional novels like The Da Vinci Code in factual accuracy."

A.J. West is a self-described follower of the controversial Catholic priest Fr. Malachi Martin, and he is positive the Catholic church is under attack.

To the unitiated his claims ring of conspiracy fodder. A press release for West's book begins: "Dealing with crises is certainly nothing new for Roman Catholicism. It has been besieged with one thing or another since its beginning. From the widespread "Arian Heresy" of around A.D. 315-380 which denied the divinity of Christ to Martin Luther’s theses nailed to the door of the Wittenberg Church in 1517 which began the Reformation, the Church has constantly battled to remain true to its basic tenets and ward-off destruction both from within and without."

West then links to more modern times.

"In more recent years, the Church has faced pressure because of its stand on social issues such as abortion, and even more dramatically, felt the sting of public outcry over the much-publicized priest sex scandals. "In fact," says A.J. West, a Roman Catholic author, philosopher, theologian, and historian, "this is the worst crisis the Church has ever experienced," according to the press release.

According to a West website, "Only six months away from becoming a Roman Catholic Priest he was stopped by the same liberal infiltrators that had stealthily gained positions of authority within the Church, particularly in America. These men continued to promote known, practicing homosexuals into the priesthood while "weeding out" men like Mr. West who held fast to the traditional teachings and practices of the Catholic Faith."

The website also says West received a BA in Philosophy and History from Loyola Marymount University, as well as spending two years in a monastery continuing his studies in Thomistic Philosophy and Augustinian Spirituality and a "Master’s degree in Theology, from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas."

Despite claiming to being a friend of Fr. Malachi Martin, Mother Theresa of Calcutta and two private audiences with Pope John Paul II, West appears to be a traditionalist and sympathetic to Society of Saint Pius X, a Catholic church he claims is not schismatic - as do most SSPX followers (For a related article regarding if the SSPX is schismatic or not, check out canon law attorney Pete Vere's Envoy article, My Journey out of the Lefebvre Schism: All Tradition Leads to Rome). West noted in one forum, "The SSPX for all its flaws (because it is run by fallen human beings just like the rest of the Church) is doing a great service to the Church. Whatever their failings they are maintaining the Truth of the Catholic Faith and Praxis in a world gone mad and a Church made impotent by its embracing of the world."

In an Amazon book review for Martin's Windswept House, West writes:

Prophesy is the proclamation of the truth in a culture that rejects the truth. In most cases the prophet is reviled by his contemporaries because they don't want to be told that they are living in satanic mire.

Fr. Malachi Martin was a prophet. I knew him personally and I can tell you his spiritual gifts were profound. Inspired by him and as his pupil I have written my own poor attempt to carry on his prophetic mission. Father Malachi opens your heart and mind to exactly what has happened to the Church. For this he was hatd (sic) and reviled. But he was correct and his book "Windswept House" he (sic) proclaims the truth even as the infiltrators plug their ears and defame his character. God Bless Fr. Martin for giving the world so important a book as Windswept House. May my poor attempt to carry on his work find hearts and minds open to the movement of the Holy Ghost in the pages I have written in honoring this great man and in crying out on the roof tops for those of good will to see what has been done to the Catholic Church by the Prince of this World. It surely has become a matter of WOLVES AMONG THE RUINS!

According to the press release for West's book, it’s not just criticism of Church policy or defrocked priests that have created the current crisis. "It’s really evident that some other forces are at work here other than human immorality," he is quoted as saying, and which added that "He believes, as have others, that the destruction of the Church has been the goal of a number of forces for many years. "Modernists have infected everything within the Church from its theology, its liturgy, its moral teachings to its dogmas and doctrines," West says. It is all part of a conspiracy, if you will, to destroy the church from within." According to West, unlike the Arian Heresy of long ago, these forces do not directly attack Church doctrine; they reinterpret them. "They will say the same thing, but mean something completely different," says West in the release. "Through this method they have been able to subvert the faith of millions." This modernist relativism seeks to deny that there are absolutes. Morals, truths, and doctrines are all relative, the press release continues.

West says the Freemasons had as their purpose in the 1800’s, "to transform society, and eventually through society, the Catholic Church, into a more humanist, secular, and man-centered religion." Last century, Communists set in motion an even more direct and sinister plot, "to change the Church from within." According to West, they have done so by infiltrating the Church itself with people steeped in relativism.

The result, says West, is the Church of today, which drifts further and further from its Roman Catholic tenets allowing such things as homosexual and even pedophile priests. This public embarrassment is the outward manifestation of an inner infection, he claims.

To bring this crisis to light, West says he wrote Wolves Among the Ruins, in which he provides insights about changes in the Church in the last 50 years as well as the plot to corrupt it. Reading the book, he says, will give readers of any religious point-of-view, an understanding of the "significance of what has happened to Western Civilization as a whole, because the same forces corrupting the Church have infiltrated themselves into every facet of government and education to set the stage for a New World Order."

There is further material at the above mentioned website, where West's theory is expounded: "By 1960, many men had been primed with Masonic concepts. When Pope John XXIII called the Second Vatican Council it was systematically compromised to push a Masonic agenda. From that point until today the Church has chnaged (sic) vastly. Reflecting the philosophy and religion on the Freemasons it no longer reflects the Christianity established by Christ and held fast by the Apostles and their successors for nearly 2000 years."

"In that atmosphere A.J. West writes a novel about a future where a Pope comes to the throne of Peter "unenlightened" by Masonic concepts but thoroughly imbued with the ancient Catholic Faith," the site reads.

Besides working for many years as a journalist, including a stint as a bullfighting photographer, Robert Duncan is an ombudsman for Spanish foreign press as executive board member for Spain´s oldest and largest foreign press body the Club Internaciónal de Prensa. He is also honorary vice-president for the Organización de Periodismo y Comunicación Ibero-Americana.