"After the truth, healing will come" --Tom Roberts, NCR

Archbishops have no real authority over other bishops. They are supposed to set the tone for the region (as presumably the city the lead does in the secular world), but not much more than that.

++++++
What I'm Listening To...

Paris,

"If JPII was a saint, he would have smelled priest-pedophilia like a skunk."

I believe JPII is a saint, that is, that he is in heaven. Not, mind you, because he was good, but, as in the case of all saints, because God is good.

As for smelling priest pedophilia, knowing how the Church opereates, I simply cannot believe that, in those 26 years, he did not know exactly what was going on and, if he did not order it, he at least condoned it. Nothing on this scale goes on in the Chruch for that long without Rome knowing and approving it. Our bishops simply would not take it upon themselves to make such decisions nor, apparently, to question the marching orders they received from Rome. The abuse was far too wide spread and over far too long a time for the manner in which it was handled not to have been systemic. Virtually every bishop in the U.S. must have, at some time and to some extent, been involved in some way or another in the cover-up. The same thing is being investigated in Ireland. Where does it stop?

Hello, Mr. Roberts. The truth is, I do not always follow up on my postings and did not see this until yesterday. By then I had forgotten my password... hence the delay. Big smile. I apologize.

Abuse of power is, I believe, the basic element in the sexual abuse scandal. Since that problem was created by leaders in the church, there isn't much that I can do about it personally. That's why I entered into this dialogue, I was very gratified that a person in your position, who has influence in so many areas, had written the article promoting hope for truth followed by peace.

On the matter of 'truth commissions' I really have no idea what those might be. In my mind, I picture lightning bolts and high winds circling like a tornado around the bishops. That made me smile, but only for a moment. It's so sad to have to enforce truth.

As a survivor, I can share with you that my coping skills have developed considerably in the last ten or so years. It would have been so easy for the bishops to have told the truth in the first place. Isn't that what they tell the rest of us to do? There's something wrong with a church that 'rules with a double-edged sword.' Equally wrong is a church that posturizes truth and twists it.

Thank you for the Clergy Abuse Tracker, for this conversation cafe and for believing in yourself You are appreciated!

"We are the ones we have been waiting for." -- Hopi Nation, Oraibi, AZ

Dear Kay, I very much agree with you that "abuse of power is...the basic element in the sexual abuse scandal."

To me, the sex abuse crisis has always been a crisis about the abuse of pastoral power in the church. I don't think until it's addressed at that level, that we'll begin to see healing.

You say, "Since that problem was created by leaders in the church, there isn't much that I can do about it personally."

I think you ARE doing something about the problem, though, by telling your story and speaking out. When those who control the institution seem to have such power on their side, the temptation is to feel that our voices don't count. I'm speaking not as a survivor of clerical sexual abuse, but as one who very much wants to see the problem addressed, because of how power is being abuse and people are being hurt.

Please keep your voice strong: you are the one we have been waiting for.

I do endorse Mr. Roberts' call for a national truth commission, as long as that commission is not composed of "representative" (that is, muted and hand-picked) voices. The voices the pastoral leaders need to hear inhabit the margins to which the church has pushed them--a point recognized very strongly in the recent Australian study of the reasons many Catholics are disaffected.

William D. Lindsey

Hello, Mr. Lindsey.

First, please know that your kind words brought tears to my eyes and a very strong feeling of both validation and vndication! Thank you.

I do what I can, and I believe this forum is comprised of very real people who feel it is time for a change. Opression has never worked successfully in enlightened arenas. The John Jay report that the bishops refer to so often was commissioned by them for them. The actual amounts of monies spent to 'cure' predators, even the sizes of parishes and the numbers of Catholics worldwide come from the bishops. The real amount of money spent to 'settle' cases before they go to trial is provided by the bishops. I can no longer believe them. Their words are 'dust, blowing in the wind.'

For me, all of this is so very sad. I lived more than 50 years with my abuse and am finally free to observe with objectivity. That alone is the greatest blessing there is. My freedom was worth the abuse.

"We are the ones we have been waiting for." -- Hopi Nation, Oraibi, AZ

Please call me plain Bill, Kay.

I deeply regret the pain you have had to live through, which was undeserved and inflicted on you by people claiming pastoral authority over you.

You're very right: the John Jay report was commissioned by the bishops themselves. The most recent auditing process was, in almost every diocese I know anything about, a self-audit. And at the very time its results were being compiled and posted everywhere, new cases were breaking in places like Chicago--which weren't listed in the audits of the dioceses in question.

One diocese I have followed carefully has revealed the composition of its review board only once, in an obscure publication, though the bishop of the diocese promised many moons ago to reveal the names of the board members in the near future. The names that were published included a number of priests and others who are, in my view, almost certain to be more concerned about protecting the diocese from embarrassing disclosures than on giving an unbiased hearing to those bringing claims of clerical abuse.

All of this is rooted in the same abuse of power that is at the heart of the abuse crisis. Until this power dynamic is addressed honestly, openly, and with fidelity to the gospels, I don't believe there will be healing or forward movement.

But take heart: many people stand in solidarity with you and hear your voice.

William D. Lindsey

Hi, Bill! My father was Bill, my brother was Bill, my son is Bill. Love that name!

I am interested in the composition of the review boards. In my diocese, the Vicar General asked me to be a member of a panel to be interviewed when the John Jay people were in our area. I agreed, after a small delay as I considered why in the world they would want to hear from a victim abused in 1952, and because this same Vicar General had publicly announced two weeks after I filed my report with his 'internal' board that no new cases had come forward. In addition, that Vicar General had told some of his priest friends that an elderly lady had come forward 50 years after the fact and that there was absolutely nothing he could do. I learned that information second hand, of course. Needless to say, I was in a 'chopped liver' state when I e-mailed him to say that I would agree to be interviewed.

In the next two or three days, through the internet, I contacted all of the survivors in my area who had come forward, and survivors everywhere else through SNAP and Linkup asking if they wanted to submit a message through me at my 'hearing.'

The response was spectacular and filled an entire three-ring notebook.

On the day before I was to appear, I received a letter from the Vicar General. In it, he 'uninvited' me, saying that the persons to be interviewed had already been chosen...

Well, to make a long story short I blew a gasket. I had been interviewed here in 2002 during the Dallas fiasco and I was the only survivor the press could find who had not gone to Dallas. (GRIN). I called that same TV station, told them about the John Jay interview that wasn't going to happen, they came to our home (in the middle of a neighborhood garage sale) and did a full interview which ran twice that evening... it was great!

They called the chancery office here, and the VG said through a spokesperson that "Ms. Goodnow had obviously misundertood..."

The response to the TV story, which ran in the News, was very strengthening.

After a long talk with family members, friends, and finally remembering the words of many psychiatrists and psychologists along the way, I realized that the anger I was feeling was anger at myself. At the end of the day, I had 'let' them re-victimize me again.

The 'victims' who were actually interviewed by the John Jay people actually were not victims. One was the brother of a victim. Two were the parents of a victim. One was the attorney for the diocese... NO victim was interviewed. I later mailed the notebook to the Director of the John Jay study at the USCCB, but there was no response, of course.

I learn the hard way. But I learned. I keep learning. And now I am learning from you. Thank you for your support which, with your permission, I will share with the survivor community (without using your name). It's important for them to know that people like you are out there, and that we share a common dream.

"We are the ones we have been waiting for." -- Hopi Nation, Oraibi, AZ

Dear Kay, it seems the world is full of Bills! I'm glad the name has a good association for you. My family--both sides--has a long history of naming the oldest son for both grandfathers. I'm named for a grandfather who was himeself named for grandfathers named Wm. and Zachariah. I lucked out with the assortment of names my parents could have chosen: I could have been Benjamin Zachariah rather than Wm. Dennis.

But to the real point: your story rings lots of bells with me. It's very similar to my own dealings with church authorities at a time of pain and crisis in my life. That statement by the Vicar General, "Ms. Goodnow had obviously misunderstood"--it's precisely the treatment I got in my own Waterloo period with the church.

I was hired by a Catholic college to head its theology program and--so I was told--help begin a lay theological institute in the area, where the Catholic population was rapidly expanding. I turned down an offer of tenure at another Catholic university to take the job.

Won't go into all the details, but when I got to the college, it was obvious that I was not welcomed by key administrators, key faculty members, and some of the monks who owned and ran the college. At every turn, as I tried to do the job I had been hired to do, barriers arose. Finally, when I offered to write a grant to begin the theological institute, since I had a contact with a granting agency that made the college a virtual shoo-in for funding, the Academic V-P told me, "No one ever asked you to start a theological institute when you were hired."

I had "obviously misunderstood." The baldness of the lie, the arrogance with which I was lied to, took my breath away--and this from a man who claimed to represent embattled Catholic values at the college. When I discovered that the abbot of the monastery who owned the college not only backed up this administrator, but was clearly part of the maneuvering to run me away from the college, I became more baffled at the violation of the most basic Catholic values--as in, Speak the truth.

In the midst of the conflict, I asked to see the abbot. He wrote me back a curt note claiming that he did not interfere in college business. A few weeks later, he invited a disgruntled staff member to come and see him, to provide him with a list of grievances against the college president. Later, when I decided that I could not keep my integrity in such a situation of lies and smokescreens except by resigning, the abbot--the same man who wrote me a note saying he refused to see me--told colleagues he was furious that I had resigned without coming to tell him in advance.

The point of the long story is that I understand. I understand what it is like to be lied to and manipulated by men of the cloth and their henchmen. I know the bitterness that settles in the soul when this happens. It is humiliating to be lied to--and grossly and without shame--because one somehow feels made dirty, belittled, when one is lied to in such a way.

I understand that feeling of being re-victimized and the anger that goes along with it. In my naivete, I turned to the bishop of the diocese in which the college was located for a hearing. I assumed he'd naturally care that core Catholic principles were being violated by the college in its dealings with me.

The bishop played games with me. He sent the diocesan vicar to deal with me. The vicar told me the bishop was upset at how I was being treated, that he wanted to help. But when push came to shove, the bishop sided with his brother priests, and when I eventually asked to see him face-to-face, rather than dealing with him through his vicar, his secretary told me the bishop was offended that I would make such a request, that it was disrespectful.

As you describe, I felt even more violated at that point, as if I had opened myself to further pain by not recognizing in advance that a church leader would naturally take the side of other clerics.

I'm certainly not implying in any shape, form, or fashion that what I was put through is equivalent to what happened to you. I think that the pain of being sexually abused by a religious authority figure has to run deep into the soul and psyche.

But in a tiny way, I have come to know what it feels like to have your faith shattered, to feel yourself wadded up like a used tissue and thrown away by a church you love and whose mission you felt called to serve. I have learned the pain of having holy people look you in the face and lie to you boldly, as if you did not have the intelligence to distinguish fact from fiction. I've also learned the kind of smear campaign that can be mounted when you decide to go public with your story and seek a hearing at any level that can provide a hearing and perhaps some justice. I know whereof survivors of clerical sexual abuse speak, when they say that the same church that victimized them by abusing them in the person of a sexually abusive cleric revictimizes them by slandering them if they go public.

After I resigned my position at that Catholic college, I was called by a former student, who told me of a conversation he had had with the college's president re: my firing. The president told him that, among other reasons, my lifestyle had been problematic. From that point forward, I began to hear one story after another coming from the college community, including a monastic leader, pushing the lifestyle issue. The son of a key faculty member told some of my students that I had deserved to be fired since a Catholic college cannot have gay faculty, because they might make advances on students. A faculty member who chaired the college's grievance committee told me when I asked for a hearing by that committee that the committee had been told not to hear my case, since I had been given a terminal contract (this preceded my resignation) for personal, and not academic, reasons. He asked me if I had molested a student. I told him that I had not done so, and if I had done so, the college would have given a reason for presenting me with a terminal contract, because our contracts had a clause allowing one to be fired for moral turpitude. I was given no reason at all for receiving a terminal contract.

The attempt to smear my character has continued for years following that experience. I have been unable to find a position as a theologian at any other Catholic college. My gifts as a theologian have clearly not been wanted, because of what happened to me--what was done to me without any cause that has ever been explained to me--by a Catholic institution that claims to represent Catholicism at its purest.

I will be honored to have you claim me as a supporter of the survivor community. In fact, I have long supported SNAP financially, and have had the privilege of helping to support several survivors in other ways.

Please keep speaking out. Your voice is important and deserves a hearing. Otherwise, church authorities would not have sought to silence you.

William D. Lindsey

Hello Bill. There are no degrees of abuse. You were abused, but you survived!

(Smiley face emoticom here) What happened to both of us is typical of the value they place on us... Boils down to they are afraid of us, afraid of truth, afraid of losing control of the almighty $.

Your credentials are awesome, whereas I have only life experiences to claim but that's okay, we are both people. We have both been victims. I feel your strength and I share your pain.

Just came back from a press conference outside the local Vatican (chancery office).
A brand new lawsuit has been filed against a priest who is now a successful insurance agent. A similar lawsuit was file against that same priest 16 years ago, the diocese settled for $150,000 to the survivor and required a gag order. Obviously, since the diocese settled for that much at that time, they had had other reports. The survivor who was awarded the settlement moved out of town and returned to this city about 10 years ago. At that point he became aware that the diocese was doing nothing except hiding these priests and be broke his gag order. He went on the record and revealed everything that he knew. He had pictures, tape recordings and letters from that priest, but at the time of settlement, along with the gag order, he surrendered them to the diocese.

Point is, it is fun to go to these press conferences and talk with the media. I try to stand so that I am facing the chancery office, and it's fun to see them looking out at us behind venetians blinds that move ever so slowly from time to time... I believe our attorney said that there are 45 cases waiting here, there are 10 priests named in those suits walking around free as a bird, and the diocese has filed 560 motions to quash...

As with your case, they have started smear campaigns which have not been successful. I am know as "that victim who won't go away." Huge grin. What are they going to do, put an elderly lady in jail? That would generate enough publicity to keep me going forever. HUGE grin! I win! You, on the other hand, are still living with ongoing damage and the loss of your position with no explanation. That's against the law in the state where I live, how about yours? You could take them to court through an employmer fair practices agreement.

An article published yesterday in Ohio reported that the Court had ruled that one of the 501(c)(3) 'businesses' run by the Corporate Roman Catholic Church will have to pay real estate taxes on their immense estate... Best news of the day!

The CRCC discriminates against everybody except heterosexual males. That, in itself, is an abuse of power worsened by the brainwashing they instill from birth and the terror of burning in the hell of their own making.

Why would I want to be a part of something like that? I can't. In spite of all that has happened, they gave me the freedom to be myself. They are giving you that same strength and energy!

"We are the ones we have been waiting for." -- Hopi Nation, Oraibi, AZ

Kay, you're a kindred spirit. One of the ironic things I've discovered through being trashed by some church pastoral leaders is that, on the other side of the enormous pain, thee's tremendous freedom.

As you say, "I am known as 'that victim who won't go away.' Huge grin. What are they going to do, put an elderly lady in jail? That would generate enough publicity to keep me going forever. HUGE grin!"

I understand what you mean. Ironically, in dispossessing me and hounding me out of my vocation and livelihood, those who thought they would shut me up permanently only gave the courage to say what I had long thought, but had avoided saying, to keep my place in the Catholic theological academy.

What do I have to lose now? They have effectively excommunicated me in driving me away and not providing a reason, and in refusing to apologize. My livelihood now does not depend on them, and God has opened amazing doors for me that would never have opened otherwise. My voice can sound perhaps more freely than it would have ever sounded, had I remained within Catholic academic institutions.

You say, "What happened to both of us is typical of the value they place on us." Absolutely true. Part of what burned like acid into my soul in the experience of being lied to so boldly was the recognition that my humanity was being valued as less than the humanity of clerics who mounted this oppression against me. You don't lie to people with such boldness unless you believe that those to whom you are lying--and about whom you are lying--are somehow not human in the same way you are human.

You ask about the law in the state in which all of this happened to me. Sad to say, it does not protect an employee from firing with no disclosure of a reason for the termination. The abbot who mounted the "event" I experienced had been a lawyer prior to entering religious life. I know full well that the monastic community and college did what they did to me with complete awareness that they were within the bounds of law in taking their action, though what they did was ethically insupportable. The college president even told me, in announcing that I would be given a terminal contract for no disclosed reason, that he felt ethically conflicted, because he knew what he was doing was legal, without being ethical.

Your freedom of spirit gives me hope, Kay. Finding out that you don't count in the eyes of the holy, washed, and pure is actually liberating, once you work through the pain. I've found that, since I'm a nobody, I might as well speak my mind--as the Spirit moves me to speak it. And please don't think my credentials are any less than yours. What you've worked through gives you credentials that excel any I could ever earn!

William D. Lindsey

Kay, I just noticed over the Christmas holidays--when I couldn't do a thing to alter the preceding post--that it ended with the bizarre statements, "And please don't think my credentials are any less than yours. What you've worked through gives you credentials that excel any I could ever earn!"

As the second sentence indicates, the first should have read, "And please don't think your credentials are any less than mine." I don't know how I got it all turned around! I apologize for not having seen this error sooner.

Whereas some folks seem to have guardian angels watching over their computers, I'm convinced mine is inhabited by a malicious gremlin that sometimes causes me to think one thing and then type the opposite.

I hope your Christmas was a good one and I wish you a very good 2007.

William D. Lindsey

William and Kay, both excellent and inspiring comments. Thank you!

Shooting Star, your chosen name speaks of your soul. It's beautiful.

"We are the ones we have been waiting for." -- Hopi Nation, Oraibi, AZ

I think they can work if the participants are willing to be truthful, and placed in a situation which virtually compells their truth. In your arcticle you referred to this as a type of 'sacramental' concept. In that context it might work, but given the USCCB just issued documents upholding Humanae Vitae, and the completely intrinsic evil in all sexual acts not open to procreation, I don't see where this frontal assault indicates a willingness to be upfront and truthfully concilliatory about their own complicity in the sexual abuse crisis.

Colkoch, you say, "I don't see where this frontal assault indicates a willingness to be upfront and truthfully concilliatory about their own complicity in the sexual abuse crisis."

I think you're absolutely right to link the bishops' posture in the recent meeting to the abuse crisis. Their backs are against the wall, and they're coming out fighting--but on diversionary grounds.

Where better to try to assert authority over others, when we feel our authority is in question, than in the area of sexual morality? If you can control people in that intimate sphere of their lives, then you have the illusion of total control.

I'm perturbed by the mainstream media's seeming willingness to allow the bishops to engage in such diversionary posturing. Not long after the bishops' meeting, I began to see reports cropping up in papers all around the country of a recent poll that purportedly shows the bishops regaining people's confidence and respect.

It seems to me a little suspicious that this media release came just after the bishops' meeting. I have to ask myself what the mainstream media have invested in helping to bolster the bishops' authority, and in helping them do damage control and image management that divert our attention from the real issue at stake in the discussion--the collosal abuse of power and pastoral authority by not a few bishops.

William D. Lindsey

Bill,
You say you are "perturbed by the mainstream media's seeming willingness to allow the bishops to engage in such diversionary posturing." Why does that surprise you? Most of them are not Catholics, were not educated as Catholics, and have no very deep understanding or attachment to the Catholic Church. It fascinates them like some distant medieval pageantry, (The Election of a Pope, a proclamation from Rome, The Visit to Turkey) but they no more would consider it "part of their lives" than the Man in the Moon! It simply does not affect them.

To them, what the bishops do is like what the Chinese do. Have you ever seen them "once" have a panel discussion about whether people actually intend to "follow up" on these regulations? No, because that would threaten people's attendance at Mass and Communion. It is better to be annonymous about these things. The only "rep" they have on (besides NCR's John Allen who at least gives a decent presentation) is that sad person from that "Catholic" organization who is an embarrassment to any thinking Catholic. I ask, is this horror the Church that supposedly was founded by Jesus Christ? I don't THINK so...It has drifted so far from Galilee it isn't even funny anymore. (sigh).

Excellent points, Star. One point you're making--and this seems very true to me--is that the mainstream media's coverage of religious issues is often shallow and ill-informed.

But I'm also intrigued by the apparent need in our own media to protect the Catholic church and bolster the claims of the bishops. It seems to me that the intransigence of the Catholic church on some issues has come to be seen as a kind of shorthand for the last-ditch stand of moral agents in our society against a moral decay that some groups want us to believe is eating away at the foundations of our society.

I wonder where this imagination comes from. It often seems to me to rise out of powerful political and economic interest groups who really don't have a lot invested in religion, but who believe that religion--in its intransigent forms--will protect their self interest. I suspect that a lot of money changes hands behind the scenes, to assure that the coverage of Catholic issues in many mainstream media outlets remains "balanced" and "non-agenda-oriented."

William D. Lindsey

"Where better to try to assert authority over others, when we feel our authority is in question, than in the area of sexual morality? If you can control people in that intimate sphere of their lives, then you have the illusion of total control."

Bill, I think this is the irony of the pedophile crisis. Apparently 2/3 of bishops deluded themselves into thinking they had control over the sexual lives of deviant priests. So much so that they sent them back to the very populations these priests prey on. They apparently thought they had so much control over these men they felt free enough to place them back into 'near occasions of sin'.

I think they should all meditate and pray on this irony. If they failed so miserabley in controlling the sex lives of their own priests, maybe they will come to the conclusion they have no business trying to control anyone else's.

Brilliant statement, colkoch--and to my way of thinking, dead on. There's abundant irony in the attempt of a group of church leaders to control the sexual behavior of everyone else--when they have conspicuously failed to control the behavior of "their" priests (and the more we learn, in many cases, their own behavior).

The time for diversion and image management seems long past, to me.

William D. Lindsey

Again, my apology for responding so late. I am still catching up.

I concur with everything you said and wanted to let you know that I appreciate your support. Probably, the original church was meant to be a sharing of Christ's message, in the spirit of love and support for each other. Over time, it became something else which I personally believe was based on a need for power (wealth). It splintered and continues to splinter.

Sometimes I think about grains of sand. In the Bible we are told that each of us is as different as grains of sand. It just keeps coming back to me, over and over again, that each of us is unique and that the gift of life is meant to be cherished. Christ's message is the message of a loving God. In order to love and serve others, we have to learn to love ourselves, and we must be free to be ourselves.

From that (my) point of view, no form of organized religion can meet the needs of all of mankind. As an example, because I believe that God is in me and in all others, it's easy for me to be open and interested in people. I listen, read, absorb, sort, retain what is valid for me, and move forward. That's not going to happen in an environment where the leadership is closed, and/or chooses not to hear.

Your comment about leadership hiding from us is extremely interesting to me. I have always seen them as placing themselves above not only us, but above our laws. Even worse, they see themselves as above God's laws.

"We are the ones we have been waiting for." -- Hopi Nation, Oraibi, AZ

"As an example, because I believe that God is in me and in all others, it's easy for me to be open and interested in people."

I think you've hit on an important point. I think too much of priestly formation focuses on God 'out there, and in this sacramental accident etc. There doesn't seem to be much identification with 'God in me'. If I don't see God in me I am not likely to see God in you. In fact, I may go so far as to ask you what you're whining about and ask you to stay quiet and hidden. I might actually treat you like an object, because on some level, I see myself as an object, or worse yet, a role in a religious pageant. And I often wonder how many of our bishops really understood the public nature of the priesthood when they went into the seminary. Based on their public performances outside official ceremony, I'm thinking not too many, and so they hide what they can't handle.

LOVED this!

When I was first starting my journey to truth, I thought about this business of the shepherd and the sheep. We are the flock. We are to be gathered together and prodded with a big stick towards the shepherds goal.

One day it occurred to me that I am not a sheep. Then it occured to me that the shepherd tends to the flock until the flock is ready to be fleeced. That led to 'fleecing the flock' and then 'guiding them to the slaughter house.'

To this day, I cannot control the humor I feel every time I see one of those croziers.

Some of us will always be sheep. Some of us are just beginning to awaken. Others are moving forward. I am not talking about survivors here, I am talking about Catholics. The decision to move forward is just that, a decision. The strength comes from within each of us because ultimately, we alone are responsible for our spirituality.

"We are the ones we have been waiting for." -- Hopi Nation, Oraibi, AZ

Colkoch, your comment about a 'them and us' mentality in the hierarchy resonates with me. As the clerical child sexual abuse in Dublin, Ireland unfolded via the media, I was shocked at how little the then Archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Connell, understood the gravity of the situation. He simply didn't have a clue.

He constantly was in 'damage limitation mode' and gave the impression he didn't understand what all the fuss was about. It was painfully clear his priorities were his relations with the Vatican and fellow bishops. The Laity and their children, which I have no doubt he would claim he served, seemed to be merely wallpaper to the important ecclesiastical ceremonies he performed.

The upcoming Government Inquiry into clerical sexual abuse in his diocese will hopefully prove him to be incompetent rather than a scoundrel but what an indictment of the 'years of spiritual formation' our clergy and hierarchy have, so we understand, undergone.

Jim Houston

JimH, I appreciate your comments concerning the issues in Ireland. I have been following Ireland's path through this morasse with interest and hope you can keep us informed with regards to the upcoming hearings. Seminary formation must have been quite interesting in Irish seminaries judging from the O'Grady information coming out in the states.

Wallpaper to important ecclesiastical ceremonies HE performs: what a great image for how the laity seem often to be regarded by the clerical caste, Jim. Thanks for sharing it.

William D. Lindsey

"Wallpaper to important ecclesiastical ceremonies HE performs."

I second your comment Bill, this is wonderfully truthful imagery. A former bishop here used so much incense during his Masses that the wallpaper would have to move out of the first six pews. Whenever the wallpaper mentioned the incense, the bishop would increase his usage. It became a case of smoke and wallpaper hanging together.

The laity as moving wallpaper evicted by incense--what a great image, Colkoch.

Sad that the more the wallpaper complained about the smoke, the stronger it wafted.

This reminds me of a story I was told by a diocesan vicar a few years back. He said to to me--with approbation--that the bishop of the diocese had told him that, whenever he said Mass for a group of disgruntled women, he deliberately chose the canon that has the most obtrusive male-specific references in it.

The unilateral power gets asserted in all kinds of interesting ways--as clouds of stifling incense, canons used to beat people over the head with, or, in another story I heard about from the same diocese, referring to the former bishop, in an actual physical struggle between the bishop and the cathedral pastor about what crucifix would used in the Easter vigil procession.

At least we focus on the important issues in Holy Mother the Church!

William D. Lindsey

As I see it, we are absolutely dealing with "an ABUSE of authority and accountability" and I see every the bishops have absolutely no clue that they are doing anything wrong.

However, lets remember that our bishops are not as free as we are to speak out or to question. Yes, there are those like Gumbleton, but they are few and far between. The problem goes much higher up the ecclesial ladder than our bishops.

I really don't think there is any way to make them open and honest until the Chruch begins to see things in a very different way.

To give an example lets use the teaching on artificial birth control. The Magisterium has spoken. The Sensus Fidelium has rejected what the Magisterium said. Yet, the Magisterium continues to say the same thing. The present understanding is that the Holy Spirit speaks to the People of God through the Magisterium. We have to see it as the Holy Spirit speaks to the Magisterium through the People of God.

"I really don't think there is any way to make them open and honest until the Chruch begins to see things in a very different way."

That very different way is the way of the Hopi in Kay's post further down the page. As long as the Church refuses to live Christ's message in the 'now' moment, there will be no change. All of us have to understand that Christ's message of peace, love, and joy must be lived in the 'now' moment.

I have two Native friends who used to provide Native American medicine circles for corporations. This is an extremely powerful ceremony in which you are not allowed to speak unless you have the Eagle feather in your hands, and you must speak truth or pass it on. The last session they ever ran was for the CIA. The administrator who asked them to do this quadrupled their fee in his gratitude for what transpired during the session.

I often wonder what would happen if the bishops participated in such a ceremony but instead of using an eagle feather they passed a consecrated host in the circle. Might actually put them in a position where they had to think about truth instead of spin.

The bishops are ABSOLUTELY FREE to speak out. They CHOOSE not to. It profit a man nothing if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul...but for a red hat?

Frannie,

I stand corrected.

Bob

Somebody once told me, "the hat makes the man ..."

Hmmm ...

The Rev. Dr. E. McCoy

Ephesians (5:15-16)
"Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. "

"The present understanding is that the Holy Spirit speaks to the People of God through the Magisterium. We have to see it as the Holy Spirit speaks to the Magisterium through the People of God." This is an EXCELLENT comment, Bob.

When the Spirit speaks to the People of God, who needs the Magisterium? They are very afraid, the leaders of this church, that [their subjects], the people of God will realize that the message brought by Christ stands valid even today. The message itself is eternal. Forced interpretation of Christ's message of joy is abuse.

"We are the ones we have been waiting for." -- Hopi Nation, Oraibi, AZ

Thanks Kay,

"We are the ones we have been waiting for." What a wonderful thought. How much it says.

Wish I could claim it as my own, Bob. Someone sent it to me in greeting card form. Here is the entire text:

There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is to great and swift that there are those
Who will be afraid.
They will feel that they are being torn apart
And will suffer greatly.
Know that the river has its destination.

The elders say we must let go of the shore,
Push off into the middle of the river,
Keep our eyes open and our heads above water.

And I say, "See who is in there with you
And celebrate!
"At this time in history we are to take nothing personally,
"Least of all ourselves.
"For the moment that we do,
"Our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt."

The time of the lone wolf is over.
Gather yourselves!
Banish the word 'struggle' from your vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done
In a sacred manner and in celebration.

We are the ones we have been waiting for.

This spoke to my heart. I saw it then as inspirational and deeply spiritual. It translates easily into the message brought by Christ. I hope you like it.

Thanks again.

"We are the ones we have been waiting for." -- Hopi Nation, Oraibi, AZ

Kay, here is a companion prayer (in anticipation of Christmas) that I think fits in with our Christain advent waiting and expresses a similar spiritual message and will be part of our Christmas liturgy:

THIS, TONIGHT,IS THE MEETING PLACE

***** At the time when we are lighting the candles (as we darken the Church and sing “Silent Night� before the final prayer and procession out) there will be a space of time. In that space I shall say the following prayer *****

This, tonight
is the meeting place
of heaven and earth.

For this, tonight,
is the stable
in which God keeps His appointment to meet his people.

Not many high are here;
not many holy;
not many innocent children,
not many wordly wise,
not all familiar faces,
not all frequent visitors.

But, if tonight
only strangers met,
that would be enough.

For Bethlehem was not the hub of the universe,
nor was the stable a platform for famous people.

In an out-of-the-way place
which people never thought to visit –
there God kept and keeps his promise;
there God sends his son.

(from the Iona Community, “Cloth for the Cradle�)

*********

Thanks so much for yours.

The Rev. Dr. E. McCoy

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near." (Phil 4:4-5)

Thank you for posting this companion piece. I have printed it and will refer to it often.

I attended a funeral today (and this is Sunday). The Masons held their ceremony at the funeral home. Their ceremony is always brief, to the point, and presented from their viewpoint, that to be a Mason one has simply to believe in God. I am not a Mason (of course), but I am married to one. He keeps me 'levelled' out. Grin!

The Masonic ceremony was followed by a religious one. The speaker, a female, is from the Baptist church that the deceased and his wife attended. I was squeamish at first, but she spoke only of the "message brought by Christ" and I was able to relax immediately. Most of the Scriptures she used were from the Old Testament.

I thought about how things are changing, every day, one day at a time. There was a time when the Masons would not have willingly entered into a shared ceremony... and there was a time when Christian denominations would not have permitted Masons to be anywhere near one of their ceremonies.

As usual, my heart and my head ruled. Funerals should be a celebration of life. If we do not believe in life after death, why do people fear it? Do they not hear the message brought by Christ?

"His spirit lives, he is free now," I said to his widow. "I agree," she responded. In her eyes I could see that she knows unequivocally that her husband is with God.

"We are the ones we have been waiting for." -- Hopi Nation, Oraibi, AZ

Thanks, Kay. I made a copy of it and will meditate on it often. Thank you for so much.