Infiltration: The plot to destroy the church from within, book review
Infiltration is written by Dr Taylor Marshall and was published in 2019. Available in hardcover with 224 pages and priced at around £15, digital with 195 pages and priced at around £7.75 and as an audiobook at nearly 7 hours long and priced around £16, it is narrated by Peggy Normandin.
This book was well received when released and is still considered to be a must read by most Catholics. However, it did receive some criticisms mainly but not entirely from individuals and organisations with ties and or sympathies to the church establishment.
The book takes you through a part of the church’s modern history. It shows the reader or listener the many outsiders and insiders that have attacked the church, as well as the ones that are still attacking the church to this day. Covering a wide array of subjects and situations. The book is well written and is very engaging. It puts very complicated and emotional issues into as simple as possible language, to understand without simplifying it down too much.
The book is well sourced and deals with many facts however this is where it gets complicated. Some of the information, not all, is based on circumstantial evidence, as well as assumptions. This is where some reviewers or individuals take an overly hard/unrealistic tone on the book. However, there are a lot of things in the world where we take circumstantial evidence or assumptions very seriously or even as facts. From science to morals to eyewitnesses and promises/handshakes, much is taken on trust.
Yet the book gives a vast array of good circumstantial evidence and takes some educated assumptions all backed by as many facts as possible. When facts are difficult to find. It is true that circumstantial evidence is not always effective to prove your point, however you only need to take a look at the history of something and all the facts around it to see if the evidence makes sense. You should always be ready to change your option if more evidence comes to light. Let me give an example of circumstantial evidence.
If a mans house burns down a week after he took insurance out on it, that does not make him a criminal, if this has happened 7 times in a row and yet the man says he has never not once burned down his house for the insurance money. So does the man work with fire or flammable liquid or items no, does he live somewhere prone to this no, is this common no and no to many more questions but he says he have never done anything thing he finds wrong. We do not have film of him planning to set a fire, buying the materials, setting them up and lighting them on fire. And so, he must be innocent right. Yet he has motive, the means, and the capability to do all these things. And he benefits from it when all around him do not. Yes, he has said many times in the past how he has wanted to do this and yes after it happens, he said it was a good thing and yes, he keeps saying how it would be good for it to happen again, then it happens.
But we need film of him doing it or him confessing to it or it does not count. That is the logic of some of the critics who attack the author on certain pieces of evidence that the author gives.
The book is well written, and it is an important book to read. It paints an interesting picture of the state of the modern Catholic church. If groups, organisations, and individuals were more honest and open then circumstantial evidence and assumptions would not be needed, that is the fault of the people who hold the power. Do not ignore this book, to do so would be a grave mistake. Books like this are so important during these vague and dark times for the Church.
