You've probably not heard of Vincent Lewis. "Vin" to his friends. This is an indictment of the World. A World where the Kardashian sisters and their wasted lives are the ideal for scores of millions. A world where nearly one-third of the Internet's bandwidth is dedicated to pornography. A World where Joe Biden and his billionaire masters can steal a Presidential election in broad daylight, then convince multitudes of the electorate that the problem is their lying eyes.
On a more honest planet people would know a lot more about Vin, and a lot less about others. But, same as it ever was, right?
Yes, Vin should be much better known than he is. Part of that's due to his own indifference to fame and fortune. More significantly perhaps the World was indifferent to what he was saying. But he didn't much care. As he once told me, "God will see it gets out to the people it needs to get out to."
He just followed truth... wherever it led. One of the places it led to was this: Catholics, and ONLY Catholics, get to Heaven. And not many of them either. This caused him some problems.
Vin was a Catholic of a very unusual sort: his celebrity never went to his head. Unlike Karl Keating, Michael Voris, Christine Niles, The Dimond Brothers, Scott Hahn, Michael Lofton, Father James Martin and so many other Catholics, who believe their half ounce of celebrity makes them forces to be reckoned with, Vin always kept his head on his shoulders. And on a swivel.
Vin was super smart and had four or five degrees. Two of them were masters. On leaving college he joined the US Army and ended up as an intelligence officer in Vietnam, rising to first lieutenant. He held the Montagnards in high regard and made a point of helping them out whenever he could.
We once talked about America's defeat in Vietnam. He summed it up thus: "We underestimated them." That and, "You can't bomb people into being your friends."
On leaving the Army Vin joined the NY State Police and became a trooper. I don't know how long he was with them but he got fired. Being Vin, I'm sure he aggravated his superiors - loose cannon that he was.
He told me some funny stories about his time there.
One concerned a pervert who'd call random women up on the phone. He'd pretend a woman was someone that he knew, and who knew him. Then he'd begin telling the woman he "had the money". Once that got their undivided attention he'd describe how he'd had to torture and kill someone to get the money. Then he'd move on to various sexual things he was going to do to the woman, and that he would torture and kill her too.
What made the story funny was that the pervert had called up some twenty-thirty women doing this shtick before one of them finally reported him to the police.
After being fired from the NYSP Vin didn't try to find another job worthy of his intelligence. He started picking up bottles and cans on the roadsides of his part of NY state. He once told me, "You find a lot more bottle and cans on the exit and entrance ramps of Interstates." Somehow he, one of the two or three smartest people I've ever known, was able to scratch out a living, picking up bottles and cans at the side of the road. But he considered the humbling he got from this as being well worth it. "It humbled me. I needed it."
In the mid 80's he started a ministry he called "ARM". All Roads Ministry... as in: All roads lead to Rome. ARM was a unique tour de force. Books, periodicals, tapes. Vin would take on all comers in Catholic vs. "whomever" debates. He was a very good debater. He could remember things someone said then make them eat it ten minutes later. He recorded these debates and would then distribute them as cassettes.
He'd call up famous ministers and record their conversations. He was on talk radio shows, local TV shows, national TV shows. One of those was Sally Jesse Raphael. On one episode two couples were arguing over custodial rights of a surrogate baby, after listening to them and their lawyers squabbling for a few minutes, Sally turned to Vin, sitting in the audience, and asked his thoughts on the matter. Vin didn't disappoint, saying: "One measure of just how egregiously immoral this case is, is that the only halfway moral people up there are the lawyers."
Again, on another Sally Jesse Raphael episode, a woman demeaned him saying, "Why should I listen to someone dressed as poorly as you?" Vin replied, "I see your point."
For many years he also put out a monthly publication called "The Armament", in which he'd examine, explain things from a Catholic perspective, and use his own experiences to encourage the reader to go out and spread the Faith. He also liked to logically parse things that pass for wisdom - and find, expose and explain the flaws in their premises and conclusions.
"In order for the conclusion to be true, the premises must be true. And the conclusion must be true under all circumstances."
His favorite debating target was Protestantism, which according to him, "Turned women into idiots... and men into women." He didn't much differentiate between the various protestant creeds as ALL of them are theologically flawed and logically inconsistent. Some more than others.
"There are two kinds of people in the world: Catholics and non-Catholics. No intelligent person sees it any other way."
The Armament was filled with bright gems scattered throughout its pages.
Eventually he was able to make a decent enough living from All Roads Ministry to be able to leave picking up bottles and cans behind. But he never bragged about his successes. Rather he'd brag about how little he made from it all. And that in spite of monetary constraints, he always had enough money to make ends meet; and that he was getting along fine.
I first met Vin while doing carpentry on a house belonging to a friend back in 1990. I was a nascent Catholic at the time and Vin was doing the plumbing. When I asked about his plumbing credentials he told me, "All you really need to know about plumbing is that water flows downhill." Once when adding on a sewer line at house, the old line broke and spewed poop all over him. Vin's response: "I should have taken up bowling."
He had a scruffy old terrier named "Spot". Spot wasn't one of those cute YouTube video dogs. He was indifferent at best. Even to Vin. He liked to wander off and make Vin have to look for him. Once I didn't see Vin for awhile, the next time I did he had a different dog. I asked him "Where's Spot?"
He looked at me funny and said "What do you mean?"
I told him "Your dog... Spot?"
Vin said, "He's right there."
Exasperated, I said: "Not him. Spot the terrier!"
"Oh him! He died last month."
"You named this dog 'Spot' too?"
"Oh, yeah. I name all my dogs 'Spot'."
At a "Catholic Rendevous" at the Ragamont Inn in Salisbury, Connecticut he debated the "celebrity Catholic", Karl Keating of Catholic Answers. Vin won the debate pulling away.
The next day there was an anti-nuke protest near the Ragamont and Vin had the idea that we should go and join them, which we did... holding up our pro-life signs. The no-nukes weren't happy about us being there and told us to go stand on the other side of the street. Which of course we didn't.
One of the women tried to argue with Vin about how, "Roe v Wade is the law." In response to his question about when life begins she said, "No one knows when life begins!" Vin then clobbered her, "So, Hitler didn't kill six million Jews since, according to you, they may not have been alive?" She turned and walked off saying, "We can't be seen with these people."
Some old guy, looking at one of our signs showing aborted fetuses in a trash can, and trying to justify his sense of righteous liberal superiority said, "Get out of here! Those aren't babies, they're monkeys!"
"No, they're not monkeys." Vin answered, "If they
were monkeys you'd be protesting with us."
I moved to Oklahoma back in 1990 but kept in touch with Vin and helped with his All Roads Ministry work. Eventually I got too busy with my job to continue with ARM, but we still kept in touch. Unfortunately, over the years we lost touch. I hadn't spoken to him in ten tears or so, and when I tried to reconnect it was to learn he'd died half a year earlier.
Looking back from whatever advantage being thirty five years older confers, I understand now that God put Vin on my path. I'll always be grateful for that. And for having known him. He was a unique man and thinker.
To you reading this, please spare a prayer for his soul.
https://www.allroadsministry.com/
Fitz
