Judicial Vicar Rev. George de Laire filed a federal lawsuit against the far-right news outlet Church Militant this week, claiming the outlet published “recklessly false” statements about de Laire after a notorious radical sect was disciplined by the New Hampshire diocese.
Gary Michael Voris, who goes by Michael Voris in his internet videos, runs Church Militant, a website that reports on Catholic news and politics. The outlet published videos and articles calling de Laire “emotionally unstable,” stating de Laire is incompetent, and implying he’s corrupt, according to the lawsuit filed in the United States District Court in Concord on Friday.
Michael Voris and Church Militant have a long history of targeting Fr. de Laire after he began working with the diocese to try to bring the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary into compliance with Rome.
Damien Fisher broke the story with exclusive details and background at NHReporter. Read the rest here.
Disclosure: Damien Fisher is my husband. I did not work on this story with him.
Photo of Voris by Clarissa Swan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
This is going to be a steep road for Fr. de Laire. Supreme Court precedent (Sullivan v. New York Times) requires proof that the media outlet knew this was false and published it anyway. The First Amendment will otherwise protect the free press. Fr. de Laire was irresponsible in bringing this lawsuit. He needs to grow a thicker skin. He took a fiasco that few people would even notice and then handed it a megaphone. He has made himself the subject of scorn. Most unfortunate.
What a laughable lawsuit. The same first amendment that gives Damian the right to report false accusations, slander and fake facts about the Voris reporting gives Voris the right to do the same. For my money, I trust Voris more. At least Voris doesn’t suck up to those who aided and abetted Uncle Ted by writing for America magazine and refusing to criticize them for everything they did to enable his predation.
Voris sucks up to the Slaves and sweeps their big pile of dirt under the rug. If you’ve never heard of Fr Rudolf Grega, you can partly thank Voris. He won’t cover this predator who was one of the priests at the Saint Benedict Center. Grega is a reject from the FSSP. The FSSP won’t have him because he does like the ladies. Fr. Grega went to the Feeneyites because he couldn’t find any place else to go, and they took him. Then, they didn’t want to let him go.
Damien Fisher’s facts aren’t fake, and his accusations aren’t false, but thank you for acknowledging that Voris’ are.
Kudos to your husband for reporting on this, and I hope the lawsuit is successful. I’ve had the unfortunate experience of watching a Michael Voris video after a member of my homeschooling group sent it out, and it is not an experience that I want to repeat.