A Small Glimmer of Justice Found in The Fisher's Net Awards

These Stone Walls is a finalist for Best Social Justice Site

These Stone Walls, the blog of falsely accused priest Fr Gordon MacRae, is a finalist for The Fisher's
Net Award for Best Social Justice Site, an ironic achievement given that justice is denied this priest.


In the sometimes dark forest of Internet research, I came upon a ray of light one day, an online endeavor called The Fisher's Net Awards.  It's an international effort to recognize the finest website or web presence, in any of ten categories, that best represents the mission and teachings of the Catholic Church.  According to The Fisher's Net Awards website, "nominees must exemplify excellence in online media utilising creative use of design and technology or exceptional content."

I went to The Fisher's Net Awards site and did some exploring.  While there, I decided to nominate These Stone Walls for the category of "Best Blog."  I thought it would go nowhere, and nowhere is exactly where it went. There are some 20 million blogs and thousands of them describe themselves as Catholic blogs.  I thought the sheer volume of competition would overwhelm my nomination of the blog of a priest unjustly in prison.

The nominations for this award closed on September 8 so I went back there to have a final look. Sure enough, These Stone Walls was missing from the long list of finalists in the "Best Blog" category.  I spent some time reviewing the sites listed, and voted for the Catholic blog I thought best fit the criteria for exceptional content even though it wasn't the one I nominated.

Then I opened up a few other categories to scroll through their list of nominees.  When I looked at the nominees for "Best Social Justice Site," I was startled to see These Stone Walls listed among the five finalists. I voted again, thinking I might be in a tiny minority.

A week or so later, I began to come across some social media buzz about this category so I went back to it.  I was shocked to see the voting tally for These Stone Walls stretch all the way across the page with more than 70% of the votes.  I can only attribute this outpouring of support to one thing:  among the hearts of Catholics, there are many who recognize the need to bring some small glimmer of justice to the story behind These Stone Walls.

This is not the first public acclaim that the consistently exceptional content at These Stone Walls has produced.  But it is the first main stream Catholic recognition on an international scale.  Please lend your support to this endeavor by visiting The Fisher's Net Awards, by reviewing the nominees, and by voting in each of the ten categories listed there. Please also spread word of this effort among your social media contacts.

And if you deem it worthy, please join the votes and voices of many in recognition of These Stone Walls, a voice in the wilderness that raises the bar in the Catholic online world.  You can vote only once in each category, and voting closes on December 1, 2015.

A Compelling New Book : Catholic Priests Falsely Accused

“In 2002, the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire, faced accusations of abuse from 62 individuals. Rather than spending the time and resources looking into the merits of the accusations, Diocesan officials did not even ask for specifics such as the dates and allegations for the claims. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it,’ a pleased and much richer plaintiff attorney admitted.” (Catholic Priests Falsely Accused, p.80).

Thus is told the chilling tale of how decades-old claims of abuse by Catholic priests become “credible” to torte lawyers who score windfall profits from every claim, and Church officials cowered by a scandal-hungry media and the tactics of vigilante “victim” groups. Catholics disheartened by the sordid scandal of sex abuse in their Church would do well to read this well-researched account of how the Church’s tragedy was hijacked by contingency lawyers and others with nefarious agendas of their own. David F. Pierre tells the sordid story the mainstream media won’t touch.  It rings of both truth and justice.

Being very familiar with the trial of one falsely accused priest whose case is explored in David Pierre’s book, I marvel at the depth of his research and skill in telling this disturbing story. In succinct and lucid style, the personal accounts in Catholic Priests Falsely Accused leave the reader with some nagging questions:  How did the mainstream media fail to notice and report the extent of obvious fraud that took place in more recent years in the Catholic scandal?  Why did entire groups of self-described victim advocates, like SNAP, turn a blind eye to this fraud and blatantly deny its existence?

David Pierre goes on to answer these questions, and the answers are part of the horror of this story.  Mr. Pierre here exposes the sordid agendas of news media personnel looking to disparage the Catholic Church and “advocates” who have been transformed from the advocacy of victims to that of contingency lawyers, their ultimate masters.  As I have pointed out in other venues, “Greed ranks right up there with lust among the Seven Deadly Sins.” I highly recommend Catholic Priests Falsely Accused:  The Facts, The Fraud, The Stories.

Related link: A Book Every Priest Should Read:  Catholic Priests Falsely Accused. 

(Ryan A. MacDonald is a Spero News columnist, and an occasional contributor to These Stone Walls)