Were Ananias and Sapphira Nazi Zombies?

Last night at our Bible study (it uses the Jeff Cavins DVD classes), we got to the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. The exact circumstances of their sin aren't immediately clear, but I go along with Jeff Cavins's interpretation, that the couple, although whatever amount they donated was completely voluntary, represented that they had sold their land and donated the whole amount to the Church, when in fact they'd secretly withheld some amount.

When Peter exposed the truth, they each fell dead. The sin wasn't in withholding their donation, it was in being deceptive -- in other words, being in a certain way holier-than-thou and claiming to follow a higher standard than they actually did.

I suppose that since I'd been thinking about Nazi zombies earlier in the day, I would inevitably read Nazi zombies into the story. But insofar as Fr Longenecker sees Nazi zombies ignoring the First and Greatest Commandment, Nazi zombies would certainly be against the spirit of the early Church as elaborated in Acts. The penalty for being a Nazi zombie is severe.

A visitor familiar with Our Lady of the Atonement comments on Fr Longenecker's remarks yesterday,

Having enemies is the best way to bolster the group’s coherence. Having an enemy bolsters the ideologue’s self righteousness. Having an enemy helps build fear in the group and loyalty to the leader.

—> describes Atonement under you know who.

What I'm finding is that becoming Catholic after being for even a short time a "continuing" Anglican hasn't been an easy or seamless process, whatever the people in the CDF might have thought it could be. It isn't helped by representations in even the loyal-opposition Catholic press that Vatican II was a disaster, and the Church is run by a lavender mafia that promotes or looks the other way at abuse. Certainly this was a set of assumptions I had to work through when I made a decision to come in.

What I'm discovering in a successful diocesan parish -- which, admittedly, I had to seek out with at least minimal effort -- is that these issues don't dominate day-to-day life in a diocese or parish. I don't believe I would have come to recognize this if I'd been in a group that successfully went into the North American ordinariate. I would have stayed in a small ghetto that ran the serious risk of assuming the Church at large was the enemy.

The same visitor who commented above adds,

However, you can trust and work with a pastor, preacher, priest or principal who simply wants to serve and love God and love and serve other people.

There is a great deal of truth to what he says. But I have yet to come across that perfect balance in a pastor or priest, in or out of the Ordinariate. Whether they are showboats or have secret lives, the leader with pure love for others who also is a man with a zeal for building up the church - does he exist? I would go even farther to say that the church’s own selection method for bishops is not guided by pure intentions, but always seems to involve some internal politics.

Well, yeah, but as our pastor periodically reassures us in homilies, Judas, one of the first bishops in Christ's inner circle, betrayed Him, while Peter denied Him. Our pastor goes to confession, by his account, once a month, more often if necessary. (One of his hobbies is surfing. He told us of a situation where he became agitated and apparently angry and jealous of another surfer who seemed to be hot-dogging. He felt an urgent need to head for the confessional.)

He isn't perfect. He apparently has to go to confession with some frequency. The parish is successful and provides resources like the Jeff Cavins Bible study. It ought to be possible to find a diocesan parish like this just about anywhere, but it takes some initiative to go looking.