Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Ok, ok...

I do believe in global warming!

Let up!

You've seen this here before...

...you'll see it again from time to time!



You go before me.
You shield my way.
Your Hand upholds me.
I know you love me...
What can separate me now!

Here's Some Encouragement

This is a very nice sign of show and support for the BCBC from a blog called the Priests' Secretary

The rank-and-file pewsitters that make up much of the mere 16% of Boston Catholics who still make it to Mass on Sundays (source) are finally taking up their own weapons in the battle to save their sinking ship. They are getting their concerns to archdiocesan authorities via the blogosphere about what they view as out-of-control dissent and moral/fiscal corruption, according to the Boston Globe. We can imagine that when all other forms of personal communication fail, the internet is one avenue to get one’s message out. Last week, archdiocesan authorities gave clear indication they have read the material on such sites as they blocked access to one of the websites from computers within its headquarters.....



News stories out the the archdiocese just from this past year alone have made many around the country wonder when such reaction against dissent and corruption would hit...

It is unclear weather blogs from Boston Catholic dissidents have been banned from the network at Archdiocesan headquarters...


We are late to the party.

Better late than never.

Today's Gospel Reading

Today's Gospel reading has always been striking to me.

Here you have what seems like strange but rather innocuous questions and an affirmation of Christ's holiness and yet we learn it was and unclean spirit and Christ performs an exorcism.

Oh, that boogeyman!

He's a crafty old serpent!


Gospel
Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee.
He taught them on the sabbath,
and they were astonished at his teaching
because he spoke with authority.
In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon,
and he cried out in a loud voice,
“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are–the Holy One of God!”
Jesus rebuked him and said, “Be quiet! Come out of him!”
Then the demon threw the man down in front of them
and came out of him without doing him any harm.
They were all amazed and said to one another,
“What is there about his word?
For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits,
and they come out.”
And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region.

Today's Sighting On My Way to the Commuter Rail in Boston





Say what?

Stats in the BCBC

The Boston Catholic Blogger Community will often get questions about our readership stats.

As you can imagine, on our (now almost daily) conferences, a lively discussion takes place about our readership statistics.

TTBO in 2010 gets 2500-3500 unique readers every week.
Bryan Hehir Exposed around 2000-2500 (I need to confirm this stat with most updated in last few weeks)
Boston Catholic Insider gets 5000 to 6000 unique readers per week.

Not at all shabby!

Thank you for your support and readership.

We rely on your prayers  -- so many thanks to those of you praying.

Speaking of Boston Catholic Insider - join the thousands gathering and check out today's post!

Monday, August 30, 2010

Caritas Buys Landmark and Admits Distancing Itself from Operating as Catholic



UPDATED





Sometimes when I check my stats, I can see TTBO readers refreshing their browsers quite a bit when there's some ghastly development in the Archdiocese and I haven't posted substantively on it yet.    


Its like I know exactly that you're thinking.   "Whhhoah, look at this story.   I'll bet McKinley is steamed up. Let me mosey on over to TTBO to catch the locomotive!  "


:O)

So sorry about the post with no links and the radio silence.  It's been a crazy few days.   


I hope you found you way to the lively post at Bryan Hehir Exposed post HERE that contrasts what Caritas says:


"the deal does not require Landmark to become a Catholic hospital or to accept the limitations of Catholic doctrine.  Landmark spokesman Bill Fischer said the hospital intended to remain secular, and Caritas spokesman Chris Murphy confirmed that, saying, “Our intent is to preserve Landmark in its current form, which includes no religious affiliation.”
..with what Cardinal O'Malley says:
"Caritas Christi will never do anything …in any way to participate in actions that are contrary to Catholic moral teaching.”
Good Heavens no, Caritas Christi will never do anything contrary to Catholic moral teaching.  Why that would be preposterous.


Boston Catholics following the turmoil in the Archdiocese will tell you that the Landmark acquisition was preceded by the announcement from the "Pastoral Center" that the Caritas and the Cardinal had entered into a "Stewardship Agreement" with Cerebus that reportedly preserved the Catholic identity of Caritas.


The Pilot story about the agreement is here.


Given the news this week, I'm repeating the story in its entirety (emphasis mine)









The Archdiocese of Boston and Caritas Christi Health Care announced today that they have executed a Stewardship Agreement that ensures the Catholic identity of the Caritas Christi hospitals, pending the approval of the transaction transferring the system to Steward Healthcare System LLC (“Steward”), a newly formed affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. 





“We are pleased to announce the completion of a Stewardship Agreement that memorializes Steward’s commitment to maintain the Catholic identity of the Caritas Christi Health Care system and its fidelity to the mission of the Church’s healthcare ministry,” said Cardinal Seán O’Malley. “The transaction with Steward will provide the system much needed capital for its infrastructure, programs, and pension funds while continuing to provide high quality healthcare in accord with the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (the “Ethical and Religious Directives”).”





“In our search for capital, we were committed to finding a partner that valued our Catholic tradition. Cerberus Capital Management has committed to preserving the Catholic tradition of Caritas Christi Health Care and this agreement solidifies that commitment. We are grateful that the RCAB and Caritas will continue to work together to fulfill our mission,” said Ralph de la Torre, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Caritas Christi Health Care.





“I wish to express my appreciation to Dr. Ralph de la Torre and his leadership team for their commitment to working with the Archdiocese to achieve a Stewardship Agreement for these hospitals,” said Cardinal Seán. “I am grateful that we have reached a meaningful agreement that allows us to continue to serve those in need while never losing sight of the moral and religious teachings handed down to us by Christ.”

They will never lose sight of it, I tell you.


Here are some other quotes about the Stewardship Agreement gathered up from another BHE post:





We announced yesterday that an agreement has been reached with Cerberus that ensures the Catholic identity of the Caritas Christi hospitals. The sale is still pending as the Attorney General has to review it, but this stewardship agreement was a key component for us because it will preserve the Catholic identity of Caritas. (Cardinal Sean’s May 7, 2010 blog) 





The Stewardship Agreement memorializes Steward’s commitment to maintain the Catholic identity of the Caritas Christi Healthcare system and its fidelity to the mission of the Church’s healthcare ministry.” (Fr. Richard Erikson, Vicar General, quoted in The Pilot, May 14, 2010) 





This is a substantive and structural commitment by the archdiocese and Steward to operate this hospital system by the religious and moral directives of the Catholic Church.” (Fr. Bryan Hehir, Secretary for Healthcare and Social Services, quoted in The Pilot, May 14, 2010) 



The Coalition to Save Catholic Healthcare has been all over this, asking the Nuncio to step into the donnybrook, among other things.   Their communications are worthy of its own post - which I hope to get to over the weekend.  


Deal Hudson picked up the story today, publishing CJ Doyle's spectacular press release.  




I'd say my sentiments could be accurately summarized by the comment named Enrichment from Abortions.





This is sadly not the first time the archdiocese has positioned itself to be enriched from abortions and other moral evils performed on sick and distraught patients. 





This does seem to be the most transparent arrangement. 

I f they follow their usual modus operandi, the archdiocese will make prominent an agreement signed by Cardinal O'Malley that purportedly binds Caritas to Catholic ethics and moral teaching keeping their fingers crossed that the Holy See will not scratch the surface. 

The agreement of course is set up to be nullified at any given time the new owners find Catholic moral teaching is in conflict with civil law, at which point they will give the Cardinal 25 million dollars and the Cardinal will release them from the Agreement. 

I am not making this up. 


The Cardinal has put the wolves in charge to ravage the souls of the sheep.  He has repeatedly made clear that he wants us to surrender, without resistance, our children to be destroyed.   But what a happy day it will be when we can all be unified with the game plan of the wolves.


Good luck with that.



Sunday, August 29, 2010

Cardinal Sean's Blog (August 27, 2010)

This is the first of a weekly series that will open up free speech in the comments section in response to the Cardinal's blog.

On a sad note, this week's entry notes the loss of the Chancellor's mother.  Losing a mother is very difficult and we were sorry to hear this news.    We also received news that Ed Saunders who heads up the Mass Catholic Conference died this weekend after a very brief illness.  Saunders was younger than I am if my memory serves me correctly, so this must be also be very difficult for his family.  

Though we have raised many concerns over the years about these two men, the Catholic Blogger Community extends it's condolences and prayers for the losses of both of these families.

Other than that, good times were had by all once again this week.


You will also note that with the diocese imploding, this week's travelogue features Pot Luck with Wally the Green Monster.

He also got a dig in on Bill Donohue:
I understand there was a controversy a few weeks ago over lighting the Empire State Building blue and white in her honor. The greatest honor we could give her is to try and recognize Christ in the distressing disguise of the suffering and the poor in the way that she did.


Indeed.

And, might I add that among the suffering and the poor are sick priests whom the Cardinal has cut the salaries down from $1800 a month to as low as $200.  The Archdiocese has a new sick and suffering healthcare program for priests, in the tradition of the greatest honors he could give to Mother Teresa:   No workie, no checkie.  

If you want to think about the distressing disguise of the suffering and poor, think about our priests being sick and trying to pay the co-pays on their medicines and doctors visits with $200.

Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks.  
I don't care if I ever come back.
For it's one, two, three strikes your out at the old ball game.

Birthrate Lowest It Has Been In a Century

A century.  Wow.


A report issued on Friday showed the U.S. birth rate in 2009 falling to the lowest in a century. Experts, including president Steve Mosher from the Population Research Institute, (PRI) have cited the current economic recession as a significant factor in the recent numbers.
Wither the results of policies that were going to foster giving birth to children?

Could it be that mounting debt upon the shoulders of working people to give free homes and insurance to people who stay home and watch cartoons is making it more difficult to afford children?

It doesn't seem Bryan Hehir work to iron out the 50 dollar abortion contracts so Caritas could help take care of God's little punishments for having sex in this pluralistic world is panning out, is it?

In Fire Gold is Tested

One day last week on my walk across town to catch the commuter rail, I came across a group waiting in a long line outside of some barroom to see a band.  A hundred or so of them dressed like folks that take your breath away when you see them coming the other way, and you wonder what sad predicament happened to their mother.

This one caught my attention because of the pentagram on her purse.  I did not notice the irony of the two crows tattooed on her back poised to peck at her brains until I looked at the pictures when I got home.:




These two females had some kind of writing tattooed on the side of their head where they shaved their beautiful hair.  The sweet-looking blonde has a spider on her arm:


This was a group I thought was a little long in the tooth to still be caught up in the cyclone:


Assuming it's an adult band, wouldn't you think when they look out into their audience and be aghast at the life of consequences they are grooming in their following?

Other than aspiring to work at Newbury Comics, where are you leading them for their future?

What kind of people are you setting up to be attracted to them?

At best, the ridicule eats away at a person's self-esteem.  At worst, all kinds of messed up people are going to try to take advantage of them.

How do you not feel some kind of responsibility when you know that some of these kids are going to walk into experiences that are going to impact them negatively for the rest of their lives?

Other than a few crazy hairdoos in the 70s and 80s, I don't think we've experienced this kind of a culture warp since the 60s.  There were some really crazy get ups, but I don't remember anything that couldn't be reversed with a good hairdresser and putting a small load of clothes into the trash bin when Charlie Manson took the culture to it's end.

Like the 60s are all kinds of choices about the kind of love we give to our children, family, friends and the world at large that seem to be getting all jumbled up.

Seems like  the common denominator between the 60s and this generation is the cultural cheapening of eros. A generation robbed of the differences between eros and filial love can never experience the fullness and intensity of neither.   Agape is devoured in the distribution of emotions that are self-centered.

A culture of choice framed on our own needs and desires without the process of contemplating how those choices impact the people around you and your relationship with God always results on chaos.

Parenting is a delicate walk where wisdom is sometimes gained with the experience of our errors.   The vigilance it takes, the self-sacrifice, the willingness to lay down our lives for the sake of the children God has placed into our custody is a bigger job than anyone could ever anticipate at the starting gate.   The older the children get, the more complex, intellectual, spiritual the job of  parenting becomes.

Children don't realize that our appearance is an enormous factor on how we earn respect.  From respect, our self-esteem is anchored.  A child whose self-respect is challenged by rejection from adults and peers because of the way they look is an at-risk child.   Adults have the responsibility to rescue at-risk children - to advise them and guide them out of the holes they get themselves into.

As my children aged and said dumb things like they're 18 now, I'd respond by saying "So then  if I were to go downtown in a crumpled dirty low-cut dress that just barely covered my underpants, with my hair a mess and goth makeup on at the ripe old age of 50, this situation should not be open to feedback from you, right?  

To wit, my point was always made.

A family is a unit where what we do impacts all of us, where we watch out for each others backs, where the kind of love exists between us that we are willing to consider everyone around us before we do something something wild and stupid because we feel like it or want to.

This is the foundation of every successful relationship they will ever have with people and with God.

To this parent, if you don't give your children the broader concept of agape, self-sacrificing love, I don't see how they will ever understand how relationships joyfully function in filial and erotic love.    Without this basic understanding, they will always see the people around them as bitter and controlling killjoys.  This ultimately is how they perceive God and they will be engaged in battles all their lives.    Friends and the people who love them will be foes.

A savvy parent learns how to tailor and package information to the unique personality of each of their children to mitigate rejection of the wisdom.  But the reality is, the role of a parent often intersects at the beams of the cross.  

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Camelot Reconsidered



About this time last year, Ted Kennedy was buried from our beloved Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Roxbury known for the miracles that have been granted there.

To the left and right of an Altar where the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is prayerfully petitioned and venerated, are baskets filled with crutches and canes of people who were cured.

There are some more beautiful pictures of the Shrine HERE

I am honored to publish with permission a beautiful piece written by Patrick Walsh at the time of Ted Kennedy's death that reflects the concerns of Catholic evangelists who are soul-salvation focused.

I hope you enjoy his piece as much as I did.   


Camelot Reconsidered
Patrick J. Walsh

With the death of Senator Kennedy goes the phantasmagoria of Camelot. Camelot was a term used in reference and reverence to the JFK presidency, and faithfully propagated by
an adoring Kennedy media.  Camelot was Ted Kennedy’s true faith . At the 1980 Democratic convention, he called it “the dream that shall never die.” The Senator’s passing gives us pause to ponder the phantasm of this dream.

Camelot of old was the legendary castle of the King Arthur whose round table became a symbol of civil order. King Arthur, a mythical king and his knights lived by a code of chivalry protecting the weak, the defenseless and many a damsel in distress. Thomas Malory wrote an epic about the king’s exploits and later Tennyson put it all to poetry in Idllys of the King. The spiritual force behind Camelot was Christianity.

In that era, the greatest quest of a knight was to search for the Holy Grail – a cup - used by Christ at the Last Supper. This quest for the grail was a striving for an otherworldly reality, which kept one, balanced in this our temporal world. The knight in search for the grail would deny himself, fast, humble and sacrifice himself in order to be worthy of the venture.

One need not dwell on the obvious disparity of the Kennedy clan aiding damsels in distress or defending human life. Kennedy Camelot is a symbol for those who have camped down on earth and forgotten any supra temporal reality. Their Camelot is not a battle against the world but an immersion in it, a celebration of the automonous self, wealth and power - the very obverse of the word Camelot and antithetical to Christianity.

Observing the people at the Kennedy library where Senator Kennedy’s closed coffin lie waked, I noticed a definite type congregating there. Many late middle aged and elderly American-Irish sentimentalizing their distant lineage, sporting college rings as  a kind of emblem of their material success. I thought of some lines from T.S Eliot’s The Wasteland, of those “assured of certain certainties and eager to assume the world.” JFK and the 1960 campaign was a great turning point in their secularization and new found faith in the vague, dream of a new secular world order Camelot.

During that campaign, J.F.K proclaimed that his Catholic faith was secondary to his Americanism. Indeed, his sister Eunice Kennedy said if someone were to write a book about her brother’s Catholic faith, “it would be a very thin volume.” Historian John Lukacs noted that the 1960’s in America were a period of the devolution of Catholic faith and institutions with the Kennedy’s leading the way.

This “thin volume” of Catholic faith was very evident at the funeral Mass of Edward M. Kennedy. It was fitting that the main server be Fr. Monan, former president of Boston College whose tenure distanced the college from the control and teachings of the Roman Magisterium while reorganizing it on a purely secular basis.  And Prayers of the Faithful offered by Kennedy children were anything but faithful showing a dire need of remedial religious instruction. To put things in perspective it should be noted that the Vatican rejected Caroline Kennedy as an inappropriate ambassador from the United States to the Holy See.

That the archdiocese of Boston allowed such a high profile funeral was an extraordinary scandal. Cardinal O’Malley looked like a penitent servant of Kennedy clan rather than a Cardinal of the Roman Church. He should not have been there. Sen. Kennedy was a man who took every opportunity to publicly oppose the Church on many basic teachings and on the very nature of what constitutes a human person, as known to all previous civilizations. He was a champion of what Pope John Paul called “a culture of death”. Senator Kennedy reminds one of Rex Mortram in Brideshead Revisited who as Waugh put it, “did not correspond to any degree of paganism known to the missionaries”. The Senator’s lack of religious sensibility is painfully evident in his posthumous autobiography.

Cardinal O’Malley chided Catholics who protested this high profile Mass, pretending that the funeral was an act of Christian charity. It may have been if some statement were issued by Sen. Kennedy renouncing his public support of abortion and his more recent championing of homosexual marriage. But no such statement was forthcoming from the family. If the Senator confessed his errors to a priest before dying then God will judge the integrity of his soul. And we should all pray for his salvation. But, in either case, a huge public funeral with the Cardinal present was a scandal to the faithful Roman Catholics. Genuine Christian charity speaks hard truth to an unbelieving world as Christ did. Woe to those who seek to appease rather than to appall, as the spiritual seeker Melville said.

The faithful in Boston and the USA were looking for a rock and Cardinal O’Malley gave us mush. He allowed himself to be manipulated and badly used by secular forces bent on the Church’s destruction. As Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro in Rome stated, “the problem of the scandal remains because the ordinary of the place where the funeral was officiated could not have been ignorant that the funeral was going to be turned into a
celebration of the life of that particular person.” In addition, “the Roman Missal 382 establishes: At the Funeral Mass there should, as a rule, be a short homily, but never a eulogy of any kind.. There is abundant evidence provided by the press that this norm was not respected and that is in itself a reasonable source of scandal.”

O’Malley’s actions were especially repelling for non Catholics earnestly looking for a faith uncorrupted by secular power and struggling to believe in this dark age.  They were turned off by this pantomime funeral. Disconsolate, I was reminded of something Walker Percy once said about the absurdity of our time –“Catholic or Protestant, the believing writer is equally unhappy. He feel like Lancelot in search of the Holy Grail who finds himself at the end of his quest at a Tupperware party.”

*********

Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Pray for us

Boston Catholic Blogger Community Welcomes Pilot Readers



This week's Pilot features a story about the situation cooking in the Archdiocese of Boston.   


The article is HERE.

Do you think it would be in poor taste to ask to have links to our blogs inserted into the story? 


A few things I'd like to mention.  

I must say that the article is a fair one but we do take umbridge with the name:

 "Archdiocese defends critical blog, seeks open dialogue"


It is important to note that while the diocese is trying to make this about their right as an employer to block a website, and they are people who seek open dialogue, this is PR spin.

The Boston Catholic Blogger Community is whistleblowing about concerns they have already tried to resolve internally and been ignored or retaliated against in one way or another.  Eight years of trying to report  concerns about conflicts of interest and the money, cronyism, and more importantly injustices to people and our faith have been met with obfuscation, harassment, threats and slander.


It is the response to having no systems in place to report injustices and corruption that will be taken seriously and acted upon.        This should resonate with anybody who has been watching and have concerns about the internal flaws of the people in positions of power and responsibility inside of the Catholic Church.


The whistleblowing community is a place where the Archdiocese no longer has the darkness to keep their dirt under wraps by threatening or taking punitive action against the people reporting it.  

Substantiated, verifiable situations are now seeing the light of day.  We are protecting the victims and  threats of chasing us down to destroy or punish us -- the tricks and treachery will also be very public so all will see and know what happens when you are a lover of justice.


What did the Archdiocese do when they saw their ability to sweep things under the carpet threatened in ways they would have no ability to control?

They tried to stifle our voices with threats of spending huge amounts of money to hire washed up and retired detectives to find out the identities of the people leaking their dirt, they limited people from access to the information and spin up the PR machine that try though they may to enter into Christ-centered talks with us, we have rebuffed them.  

Talk is cheap.

We have talked to them for eight years.  Nobody is listening and the situation is now out of control.

We have exhausted every internal forum.  The heirarchy is probably so bogged down, and there are only 24 hours in a day, the system is simply too gummed up to sit back and wait to be rescued.

It us up to us.  

We want civil and canonical rights of our priests restored.   We want them to have access to health care when they are sick and a pension to live on.

We want people who are being treated unfairly or harmed by employees and agents of the Archdiocese to have a process that hears those complaints and resolves the situation to the satisfaction of the victim.

We want the Catechism taught to our children and we want people who are teaching our children to object to those Truths to be removed from their ministries or teaching and administrative positions.  We want a system in place to report these concerns and resolves them to the satisfaction of those who want faithfulness taught to this generation and the next.

We want an end to cronyism, nepostism, conflicts of interest.

We want to keep our Catholic hospitals so that we can serve the poor and sick without leading them into temptation or violating our own consciences.   Since Caritas is now turning a profit, and we can't seem put our hands on how the diocese is being compensated for all of the Caritas assets in the big sell off, since the deal is riddled with conflicts of interest, since our religious symbols are being ripped off the walls before the Attorney General publishes her findings on the sale, we want the sale to Cerebus to be halted unless or until the deal is structured to protect the rights of Catholics, the sick and the poor.


The truth to the people running the Archdiocese will always be 'unfounded' because they block all efforts to find it.   They block other people from finding it.    They use their money and their power to silence people who know it and ask them to be accountable for resolving it.

THIS is the story.

In the aftermath of the 'sexual abuse' fracas, the Archdiocese is re-building the foundation of our Church on sand.  Truth is still the cornerstone that the builders are rejecting.

The Boston Catholic Blogger Community wants a stronger Church.  We want training to be evangelists.  We want ourselves, our children, family and friends to have the ability recognize sinfulness so we can all seek the refuge of the Sacraments.

We have more than a right to these precious gifts, we have a duty to make sure the next generation has access to Them.





Love

Father Pavone has a post up that does a better job of the meme I posted HERE.


We have the greatest respect for those who disagree with us. But when victims are oppressed, we don’t sit back and “agree to disagree” with the oppressor. Rather, we intervene to save the victim. We have been victims of terrorism in America. We don’t just “agree to disagree” with the terrorists; we stop the terrorists. 
Abortion is not about beliefs; it’s about bloodshed. It’s not about viewpoints, it’s about victims.
Those who need protection need it precisely because there are some who think they shouldn’t have it. When it comes to protecting the vulnerable, disagreement is an argument for action, not for sitting back and letting the violence happen simply because some think it should.
When Catholics get behind a cause to rally, people who don't know the motives behind what we are doing can perceive it as a "fight between enemies".    The clanging that perceives our motives as hate or self-righteousness can sometimes derail us.  They do not see the love for God, for salvation, for our brothers and sisters, the justice for the oppressed behind our work.  When we see our own flaws and emotions getting caught up in our work, we derail.

All of us have been tangled up in rejection of truth and sin, in one way or another.  We have experienced the separation from God the situation brings about.   We've crawled back on our hands and knees to God and have been brought back to life from the brink of our spiritual deaths.   We see the effect sin had in our own lives all around us and we work to unravel it.

In moments of doubt, remind yourself that it is about love and justice and salvation.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Terry Nelson's Post on Loving Our Enemies

<----More on this picture in another post but I took a picture of this young lady (and more of her companions) on my way to the commuter rail.

A walking billboard to sell bitterness, anger and pain as a lifestyle.

Sweet.

Some thought-provoking reading today at Abby Roads about loving our enemies and forgiveness.


Terry having an I think I'd rather be Mother Teresa moment is he?  

Been there done that.



If you love those who love you, what recompense do you have?  Even the tax collectors do that.  If you greet your brothers only, what's so unusual about that?  Even the pagans do that. 

Amen to that!

But, if you've taken up the role of evangelism or a prophet (meaning the kind that can see the impact of sin and testifies - not the kind that sees the future), enemies are not people who hate us or want to harm us.   Those are blips on the radar screen.

Our enemies are the people doing something harmful to others - people who point the public in a direction of personal or spiritual destruction.   God is constantly stoking the fire of an evangelist so that righteousness and justice are not under the bushel.

Everyone is promised the chance to to choose.

It's the been there done that calling of the consciences.    The snap out of it and don't follow the individual on the road to perdition.  The get on the Ark and when the floods of your life come, you'll be safe.

The trick is keeping the you and all your passions and flaws out of the fracas.

I loved this from Terry's post:

"Sin passes itself off as something good, what we mistake for virtue or zeal is at times vice."

Isn't that the truth.

Sometimes something we think is virtue is self love and/or cowardice.  False compassion.   Just plain old tiredness.

Was it the prophet Jeremiah who saw the effects of sin and after being frustrated said he was sick and tired of the whole thing but when he tried to keep his mouth shut, it only served to build the intensity until it all came blowing out like a volcano?

"And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna."

When it domes to the Mystical Body of Christ, why would the Lord ignore His own advice?

 Maybe some people can be excused, you never know.  Been there done that too.  What looked like refuge turned out to be three days in the belly of the whale and the next thing you know, you're vomited onto another shore.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Left a piece of my heart at a dorm room 2 hours away from home today.




I left my third and youngest child at college today. I left my oldest at college exactly ten years ago.  You would think it gets easier but it doesn't.  We're a normal family in that we drive each other crazy from time to time but we've been blessed with a happy home, filled with laughter and joy.  We are closer than most families.   It is hard.   I miss her terribly already.

She is loving, smart, intuitive, has a really good sense of humor, she always made good choices in friends.  I trust her implicitly because she gave me every reason to.  She told me she wasn't going to miss me telling her to do her chores, which she rarely did without exhaustive efforts on my part to hold her accountable for doing them.    (My most successful achievements as a mother are definitely not in this category!).

We do the best we can with what we've got.   It is rarely perfect.   When the day comes, in faith, we place our children in Christ's loving hands.  We ask the Blessed Mother to watch over them.  St. Michael.  Their guardian angels.    We praise God for the love, precious gifts and treasures bringing a life into this world have brought to us.  We look forward to the changes and blessings that God will bring into each of our lives in the transitions.  

Sometimes, there is a nanosecond of promise, hope and the change we can all believe in.    :O)

Father, bless and protect all children who are leaving the comforts and securities of their friends, family and home.  We ask this in the Name of Your Son and Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Boston Catholic Blogger Community Roundup



A lot of news in the Boston Catholic Blogger Community (BCBC) over the last few days.   To be honest, there's a lot of news every day!   Boston Catholics started  the whistleblower project because there was (and is) no forum to report or people of good will who will do something about it internally.  This was (and is) giving people who want to take advantage of the situation the opportunity to do anything they want without any accountability.  


The situation over the last 8 years has become untenable.  


Our priests, our deposit of faith, laity are being victimized in all kinds of ways.   No lover of justice and righteousness could watch it and stand by and do nothing.


I've got to tell you something, now that there is a venue for people to report things, the river flowing is not a pretty sight.  We're blown away by the magnitude of the mess.


But enough seriousness.  Let's get to today's roundup.




For giggles, I thought we'd start with a post at Boston Catholic Insider taking a trip down memory lane to refresh your memory on how the Archdiocese gushed over Voice of the Faithful when he met with VOTF "reform group leaders".


By way of the request, the VOTF representatives expressed a desire to be helpful to the Archdiocese. Cardinal Sean continues to demonstrate a willingness and openness to dialogue, and is committed to vibrant parish life throughout the church of Boston. We welcome the participation of all people who wish to assist with this work.”


But the BCBC expressed a desire to be helpful and demonstrates a willingness and openness to dialogue with the Archdiocese too, didn't we?


 The only beef we have is trying to pin down who would be doing the talking and who would doing the listening.  


Remember the communication Catholic bloggers received from the diocese?



Good morning,
The objective of the meeting is to have a frank conversation about what is the best way to serve Christ and His Church.  I believe there is much on your blog that is untrue and harmful to individuals and to the Body of Christ. I know of your convictions based on what you write in the blog. I hope our conversation would give you a broader frame of reference for future blog entries.   I anticipate Fr. Hehir, myself and, perhaps, one or two of my colleagues from the Pastoral Center being present for this meeting.



This indicates the objectives of the diocese are frank conversations and lessons on how to sweep things under the carpet.


The dialogue of reporting corruption is when we do the talking, show the documentation, ask for injunctive relief for whoever and whatever is being victimized by it so that everyone present can be a witness to what the diocese knew and when they knew it.  


We've each been to the diocese individually to have frank discussions controlled by diocescan cronies.   


If you like tricks and treachery and have a few hours of your life you feel like wasting, by all means, head to 66 Brooks Drive.  Pull up a chair and have some conversations with the people who wrote the wikpedias on how to stretch and obfuscate truth to give this world broader frame of reference on their ineptitude and corruption.  


The conversations we want to engage in are about freedom and justice. We want to know up front that the games they've been playing for the last decade in Boston are not going to be played with us.  


The conversations they want to have are not "Christ-centered" at all.  They are them-centered.


They don't know the difference.  We are not playing the game just when the whisteblowing project is giving people the forum they have needed to report situations and have something done about them, instead of victimizing the people doing the reporting.


Yesterday, the two million dollar plus PR machine sent out the following email to add to their 50 year pile of Memos on how they kept themselves in the dark so they could claim things are unfounded:




From: Terrence_Donilon@rcab.org
To: 
Sent: 8/23/2010 9:58:10 A.M. Eastern Daylight 

Subj: Globe story on blogs

Good morning,
Today you may have seen a story in the Boston Globe regarding blogs which have been critical of the Archdiocese and its leadership.  
Following is a statement we provided to the Globe and any media following up on today's story:
"Cardinal O’Malley and his staff are dedicated to building unity in Christ and Christian community within the Archdiocese.  Toward that end, we have reached out to bloggers on numerous occasions to ask them to enter into a professional and  Christ-centered conversation with us.  We are concerned about the harm caused to individuals and to the community by anonymous and unfounded claims on blogs.”
In addition, we wish to share with you information which is made available to dioceses by the USCCB on the use of social media.  While these USCCB norms specifically refer to use of social media by Church personnel, they are illustrative of good practices/habits for everyone within the Church.  The guidelines and information are available at http://www.usccb.org/comm/social-media-guidelines.shtml.  If you are unable to access this site, please contact Kate Zabriskie, in the Chancellor’s Office and she will assist you in retrieving this information.  Kate is available at 617-746-5659 or via email at kathryn_zabriskie@rcab.org.  
Finally, some priests and parishes of the Archdiocese have been sent unwelcomed emails, including a request to take a survey, from an anonymous blogger. Please know that this request has not been authorized or endorsed by the Archdiocese.   
Thank you,
Terry
********************************************** 




Terrence C. Donilon 




Secretary for Communications 






If you never let people put the evidence on your desk in the presence of witnesses, if you never have a good faith forum to listen to scandals your accountable for - you never have to order an investigation that leads to a pursuit of truth.  You never have to claim your critics complaints are true.  You never have to fire an employee who is hurting somebody or the Church.

When you spend your time obstructing yourselves from receiving the information - or keeping the information from your employees, when people go outside of the Church to seek justice, this crowd dips into the treasury of answers they deliberately didn't find to claim the allegations were 'unfounded'.

This Chancery blocking and banning the information is simply another round of the game.


Finally, you won't believe this - but there is yet another scandalous proabort 'social justice' conference headed up by Bryan Hehir.

With blogs blocked, they march on.

Stand up and fight.  

Monday, August 23, 2010

Boston Globe Article on Archdiocesan Ban on Boston Catholic Insider

 The Globe did a very fair and balanced article on the efforts to index what's going down in Boston and the Machiavellian response of diocesan luminaries.

Of note, is the duplicity in what Terry Donilon claims is their excuse for banning the blog.  In one breath, he says bloggers were 'spamming' employees with unwanted links to posts.  In the next breath, he indicates that so many employees were glued to the blogs, it was a "distraction".

You can't have it both ways.   Either employees were not interested and didnt want the links, or they wew clicking on the links and reading.

I'm putting up the link to the Globe story posted at Boston Catholic Insider.

An Open Letter to the Cardinal is also posted on the link.  

The Open Letter is a culmination of several concerns brought forward from Catholics (including volunteers,  priests, employees of the diocese.  Serious concerns (including a decent whistleblower policy) that have been obfuscated and dismissed in internal forums in the Catholic Church.

There are several people who are limiting their intellect to whether or not the archdiocese should block a website indexing conflicts of interest and cronyism.  Yet the response of banning and blocking is appalling because they're doing it instead of taking corrective action.

The diocese would like to keep the focus on whether or not an employer should ban a website so there will be no focus on what they are NOT doing - creating a forum where corruption can be reported without having the administration retaliate.

Catholic laity want a forum where corruption can be reported to people of  good will and have that corruption acted upon without fear they will be retaliated against.    In Cardinal O'Malley's absence/abandonment there is thuggery when wrongdoings are reported.

How do you think that works in a post sexual abuse scandal caused by not having a forum where corruption can be reported to people of good faith who would act upon it?

This problem should resonate with everyone. Every Catholic on any side of anything should be deeply concerned.  When one of their employees is hurting somebody else or Christ's Church, nobody should 'agree' that it is righteous to resort to banning bloggers who exhausted every effort internally to correct the problem.

The fact they are banning the website of people who have tried to hold them accountable to create the forum internally and have been rebuffed, is a distraction.   They are avoiding the recognition that the flaw which enabled pedophiles is still in full swing.     There is no forum to complain about an employee who is hurting somebody else.  Instead, the Chancery in Boston goes into attack mode.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

You have got to check out the latest at Boston Catholic Insider!

"Undercover Diocese vs. Catholic Bloggers"


When you're done, head over to Deal Hudson's post and check out the spin left by the hooligans at the diocese in the comments section.

"cloaked in a veneer of facts that cast aspersions upon good people doing good works"

How lame.

Anyone want to to take a stab at cracking that code?

The diocese playing another round of "when you don't have facts, throw some poo at your detractors".

The financials lead to the conclusion that the Archdiocese is handing over more than 2 million a year for their PR machine and this is what they get in return.

Give me a break!


Readers strongly encouraged to pony up and  leave a response in the comments section over at Hudson's post.  Follow the link.

The Associated Press Spin Machine and the Ground Zero Mosque

Catholics in Boston learned a valuable (and shocking) lesson about the "Associated Press" during the "abuse crisis" coverage of 30-40 year old cases that were reported early in 2000s:  It's a spin machine for those bankrolling the attack on Christendom and the demoralization of America.

Every reader of this blog knows I have no delusions about legitimate cases of sexual abuse and the circles of cronies that coddle corruption.  But, the coverage of the corruption in the Catholic Church went so far beyond the reality of the fracas that it left no room to believe it was an honest and good faith reporting.  

There was a well financed campaign to take things that happened 40 years ago and create enough hysteria to give the appearance that there's a sexual abusing priest in every parish who just hasn't been outed yet because of the corruption and clericalism.

In the evolution of these stories, when many priests were plucked out under dubious circumstances, these priests stepped forward to stepped forward to say things like "I wasn't even assigned to that parish during that time" and other facts that would shed light on the falsehood of the allegation but these things did not make the story so many times that it was clear to everyone who knew the facts that the idea of a "free press" where a journalist investigates and reports both sides to accurately portray events no longer existed.  (Remember that the regime under Cardinal O'Malley actually forbade the priests from correcting the false allegations publicly which certainly gives the impression that their energies go into supporting the false reports and destructions of the vocations of many innocent priests rather than a pursuit of real facts and a just outcome).

It is actually a rather mind blowing thing to discover and ponder who was driving  it, the potential consequences and ultimate outcome for our country.  

When the messiah ascended from this media pit, many pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

With the brain dead nation finally waking up to realize what they elected, the Associated Press is giving out new orders to give the Muslims the back up they need to put up their victory monument over where they left the hole in the ground and 3,000 dead Americans.

In an unusual move, the Associated Press has publicly released an advisory memo to its reporters on how to cover of the Ground Zero mosque story – and the first rule is that journalists must immediately stop calling it the “Ground Zero mosque” story.

A New York imam and his proposed mosque near ground zero are being demonized by political candidates — mostly Republicans 

One of the “facts” that the AP feels the need to “clarify” is that Ground Zero mosque organizer Feisal Abdul Rauf is a moderate Muslim.

A moderate muslim is he?

A week after his people attacked our country, Rauf claimed Americans were an 'accessory' to the attack and murders.

Furthermore, a lot of oppressed and dead women and children take exception to the oversight to come to the conclusion that the muslim religion is a 'religion of peace'.

Again, knowing how Americans feel about it, if this imam and the muslims were acting in good faith, he would have no problem moving a couple of miles down the street.

With the head of this protecting the rights of terrorists machine leading the charge that the American people are 'bigots', the orders have been given to the Associated Press.  

The "Associated Press" is the secular version of the "Catholic News Service" or the "National Catholic Education Association".

Malarky central.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Bishop Ouelet Sounds Very Promising

Newly appointed prefect for the Congregation of Bishops is on our radar screen in Boston.  He seems to 'get it'.

We Need Bishops With ‘Spiritual Discernment’ over ‘Political Calculation’


“We have suffered from this mentality of dissent” that is “still dominating the intelligentsia,” said Ouellet.....
“There is no real discipleship there, real discipleship,” he added. “The discipleship that is emerging is from those who believe and who really love the Church.”

We're getting a paper trail all tidied up.

As soon as the dust settles, we'll be moseying his way.

By the way, with all the hubbub around BostonCatholicInsider, don't forget to check in with Bryan Hehir Exposed who is working away at chronicling the "acting bishop" of Boston.

Phenomenal post today about the company Hehir keeps.

Check it out.

Once upon a time, you dressed so fine, threw the bums a dime, in your prime, didn't you?



You remember from September to the election in November of 2008, public schools were lobbying students for Obama?


We saw kindergartners singing "Mmm, mmmm, mmm, Barack Hussein Obama", and all the way up to the high school, students were being brainwashed about the coming messiah?


I think I mentioned this before, but my youngest (who was in her junior year) was even a little influenced by it.  For Christmas, one of her friends thought it would be funny to donate an Obama poster so she could put it up in her room to annoy her conservative mother.


A hearty har har it was.  


Not too long after the election and television was a 24/7 infomercial for Obama (remember those days??) disenchantment set in and I would find her sneering and talking all cynical under her breath at the television when he was on.    


I don't know where she'd pick up that habit from.   


[Ahem] Moving right along.


Anyhoo, the poster disappeared.


Over the last few months, she's been organizing her room and things to get ready for college and today when I got home, she was as proud as a peacock to show me where she put the poster.


A proud Mommy moment I thought was a good visual for the disenchantment meme picking up momentum.


You've all seen the economic news by now?   Unemployment is way up.  


The "economic recovery" (as predicted) was killed by the rising costs of having to pay for health insurance for people who sit home and watched cartoons while the rest of us were studying and working our tails off.    


Obama noted that in the last few months of 2009, businesses with fewer than 50 employees accounted for 60 percent of the job losses in the U.S.


It's killing small business owners.  And, way ahead of the predictions.


Forecasts on what this situation could potentially mean ranges from stalled recovery to the Second Great Depression.


What a difference a year makes.




This week, there's all kinds of speculation as to why momentum is growing behind the conviction that Obama lied about his religion.
Is it because he was 'born a Muslim'
That's sure part of it.    His name is another clue.    His paper trail indicates he claimed he was an Indonesian citizen - the worlds largest Muslim nation.  He's been pandering to Muslim terrorists from the get go - throwing our soldiers under the bus and releasing the Muslim terrorists they've captured.  He's made attempts at destabilizing and demoralizing our police forces and our CIA until it was clear our country was not quite ripe enough for the brainwashing.  This week, he used his platform to give momentum to erect a Muslim shrine feet from where radical Muslim terrorists left a hole and 3,000 dead. It simply confirmed what has been suspect all along.


Last week, he was a pathetic sight when he went to Florida for a photo op, swimming in the ocean to generate some tourism and trust after the drink was polluted with oil on his watch and nobody gave a crap.


There has to be pandemonium at the Kennedy School of Government.  


Remember this?:



You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, a lot like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy towards people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Who is bitter now. 


George Bush is laughing all the way to the Rasmussens. 


People called, said beware doll, you're bound to fall, you thought they were all..kidding you.

:O)

Who knew.  There's one Messiah.   Obama didn't turn out to be it.