Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Bishops Turn A Blind Eye

Over the past few weeks, we once again demonstrated in Boston how a Bishop (in our case a Cardinal) handles complaints about corruption. Not only does he turn a blind eye, he takes it one step further. He pens a letter about how wonderful the person is.

What makes this action so despicable, is that it is a deliberate shot across the bow of people who have been reporting the corruption he refuses to take action upon. It says go bleep yourself.

This is not the first time Cardinal O'Malley has resorted to this passive-aggressive response. He is a pro at it. In fact, he did the same thing six months ago, after a dossier was delivered to him on the devastating career and tenure of Fr. Bryan Hehir. He even called in a chit from Rome to have Fr. Hehir 'honored'. Rome played along.

When Cardinal O'Malley and his administration promised the Commonwealth that they would provide abortions and made good on that promise by contracting abortionists and driving the women there, pouring millions of dollars into their own pockets -- we made sure Rome knew every detail. And, not just about the fact that they appointed a Cardinal who would go so far as to facilitate murdering children -- we had a long list of how they were lying about it, how they were using their PR machines to lie about what they were doing and slander people who were publishing factual information.

Even when it comes to lying about the profits they want to make murdering children, the Holy Father will continue to find favor with that Cardinal.

It pains me to say it, because I love the Holy Father. But, I love Christ and His Church and salvation much, much more and so I find that I must say it.

The people in the Chancery know they are positioned to do just about anything without being stopped, and they take full advantage of it.

How this dynamic, how they all turn a blind eye, manifests itself when it comes to abusing children is further revealed in the documents released about Jesuit Fr. McGuire.

Our friend Maria has highlighted in the comments section what the Jesuits knew and when they knew it - and what they did about it.

Specifically, the documents and testimony in this case
show that by the end of 2002, the Jesuits knew:
(1) that there had been allegations involving McGuire's interactions with the son of
a family in Gennany and that McGuire subsequently brought the son to live
with him at Loyola Academy;
(2) that McGuire had "much relations" with several boys in Europe;
(3) that Austrian police had investigated McGuire's relationship with a kitchen boy
in Innsbruck who had travelled extensively with McGuire;
(4) that had been repeatedly abused at Loyola Academy, including
that Fr. Schlax had sent Loyola Academy officials a letter indicating that.
had called McGuire a "pervert" and had also made similar allegations during a
meeting between Jesuit officials and Fr. Schlax;
(5) that Fr. Reinke from Loyola Academy had reported several serious concerns
about McGuire, including that he allowed his "friends" to sleep overnight in his
room;
(6) that McGuire had been accused of having inappropriate interactions with
students at the University of San Francisco;
(7) that McGuire's faculties in Los Angeles had been tenninated;
(8) that Jesuit officials had consulted with an expert on pedophilia about McGuire;
(9) that in 1991 Brother Palacio had reported that he was "quite suspicious" of
McGuire's behavior towards a 16 or 17 year old boy travelling with him;
(10) that Fr. Fessio had reported in 1993 that McGuire had been traveling with
young men, including one with whom he was taking showers, reading
pornography, and masturbating;
(13) that the psychological evaluations of McGuire indicated that he had a sexual
behavior disorder;
(14) that a Jesuit assisting with the evaluation of McGuire in 1993 had concluded
that McGuire had "grave moral problems";
(15)
(16)
that the Jesuits had received a report from mother in 1994
indicating that _ lived with McGuire while a student at Loyola in the
1960's and that he would cry when she asked him about McGuire;
that John Doe 130's mother had called them in 1995 to report on her suspicions
regarding McGuire and her son, and had also told McGuire to leave her son
alone;
(17) that in January 2000 the Jesuits could not issue a "letter in good standing" for
McGuire because of the information that had been received about his behavior;
(18) that, throughout the late 1990's and early 2000's, McGuire had utilized the
services of several teenage boys as "aides" who assisted him both day and
night, spent considerable time with him at Canisius House in Evanston, and
travelled extensively with McGuire;
(19) that two different families whose sons had served as McGuire's aides wrote to
the Jesuits in 2000 to express concems about McGuire;
(20) that McGuire might have been the legal guardian of a 16 year old boy, John
Doe 116, who was extremely close to McGuire;

(21) that McGuire was travelling to India with an "aide"~) in late 2000, in
clear violation of the "Guidelines" imposed upon him by the Jesuits;
(22) that in july 2001, Jesuit Marc Andrews reported suspicions about McGuire's
behavior with_;
(23) that in July 2002, McGuire was scheduled to give a "special retreat" to minor
children;
(24) that McGuire was traveling with a "high school boy" (John Doe 116) III
Summer 2002;
(25) that several Jesuits had made reports about McGuire's "personality" problems;
and
(26) that McGuire had ignored four different sets of Guidelines placed on his
behavior by various Jesuit Provincials in 1991, 1994, 1995, and 2001, each
(00058238.DOC} 38
time requiring yet more restrictive limits to be placed on his behavior (which he
continued to ignore).



They can get away with murder. Literally. They can even position themselves to make a profit off of it. And there is nobody over in Rome who will say - "Gee, here's a guy who contracted with the state to drive children to be executed for a lucrative contract, turned a blind eye to it and then lied about it in the public square. Tormented the people who were making the facts known. Perhaps whatever he has wrong with him makes him untrustworthy and we should find a nice position for him somewhere else serving the poor in a village in Africa."

The crocodile tears about how sorry they are that the system is broken really does not move the people here in Boston. When they flop themselves onto the floor in a dramatic show about how sorry they are, and they wash people's feet -- and the cameras are rolling to capture how much they 'care' -- all I see is the Pope's traveling circus. The meaningless gesture is self-serving.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Former Boston Archdiocescan Chancellor David Smith Asks Attorney General and Secretary of State to Investigate, Pension Victims' Abuse Group Forming

Earlier today, former Boston Chancellor David Smith (2001-2006) asked Attorney General Martha Coakley, Secretary of State Bill Galvin and the IRS to investigate the Archdiocescan pension plan.

Terry Donilon's personality is starting to shine:

Terrence C. Donilon, a spokesman for the archdiocese, reacted angrily to Smith's criticisms.

"It's outrageous -- when David Smith was chancellor, we were running annual deficits and we are now running a balanced budget,'' Donilon said. "If he wants to get into a give and take about his performance as chancellor, which included serving as a trustee of the plan, I'm sure a lot of people would like to do that. But we have prepared a good plan to address the lay pension plan for the future."


Lots of expertise in modeling Christ at 66 Brooks Drive.

I hope this didn't lure these humble and repentant men away from planning ceremonial lamentations and washing of the feet to circulate nastygrams.

A balanced budget?

Who do they think they're working for, Congress?

Let's cut to the chase: When Smith handed it over, the pension was more than fully funded:

The church's pension plan, which was more than fully funded in 2007


They have a good plan.

Here it is:

They're paying 10 Chancery cronies 3 million dollars and 'balancing the budget' by ripping off employees of their pensions. Employees who spent years taking low salaries because they wanted to serve Christ's Church and His people.

Do they think this is something to crow about?

Nobody is impressed that the growing circle of friends of Jack Connors making 300,000
+ is "balancing the budget" by robbing people of their pensions.

The Globe repeated the independent advice they got from a pension specialist who said it's a terrible idea unless hospice is at your house and you're dying:

The move is intended to allow the church to reduce its liability and wind down the fund earlier. But a pension specialist interviewed by the Globe last year said the deal is a bad one for employees, unless they have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and know they won't be around to accept the monthly payments when they retire.


There's evidently some virtue in deceiving people so they can voluntarily screw employees out of their pension rather than mandating it:

Donilon said the lump sum offer was voluntary.

"The options were presented to people, and it's been done with a good deal of thought and professional input, and with the sole purpose of serving the beneficiaries to the best of our abilities," he said.


There was a good deal of "thought" and professional input all right.

When they told the employees to grab their money and run - because the faster the wizards spend it, the greater the likelihood of bankrupting the pension - they "thought" more people would take the money if they forgot to tell them their pension plan was guaranteed.

Here's the devastating statement from David Smith.

I am here today because almost 10,000 people, most of whom worked for years at low wages in service to the Catholic Church in Boston, have their retirement pensions endangered by a reckless attempt by the Archdiocese to shirk their financial commitments by changing the previous “defined benefit” plan with guaranteed benefits to a “take your share of whatever happens to be left” offering. Conflicted trustees are doing this through coercion and deceit, and by withholding information needed to evaluate their offer.....

Curiously, absent from their presentations on funded status is any reference to the obligations of the Trustees to invoice the participating institutions as needed to meet Plan liabilities, the liquidity of many of the participating employers or the obligation of these employers to fund the Plan as directed by the Trustees. For example, paragraph 19.3 of the pension plan says:

“Each employer shall periodically make contributions which … are sufficient on an actuarial basis approved by the plan’s actuary to fund the costs of the plan arising with respect to the participants…”...

In summary we have:

Coercion
Deceit
Shifting of funds set aside for by one corporation to benefit another
Conflicts of interest
Selective offers
Breach of promise to fund liabilities of closed parishes
Material non-disclosure
10,000 or so victims of pension abuse
The tax status of the beneficiaries at risk

The Secretary of the Commonwealth and/or the Attorney General share responsibility to address these breaches of public trust and to protect the best interests of these citizens of the Commonwealth. I urge them to take control of this plan away from those with conflicts of interest who have broken the trust of the beneficiaries and have acted wrongly, and to appoint an independent trustee to correct this situation and protect the 10,000 people at risk.


Please read Smith's statement in its entirety.


I'm sure the diocese was hoping to quickly settle with the Daughters of St. Paul so that their financial records would never be on the receiving end of a subpoena for discovery.

In this morning's post, I spoke about Cardinal O'Malley timing his letter gushing about Chancellor Jim McDonough to send the message he was setting his face like flint.

That letter may actually turn out to be a very embarrassing indictment of Cardinal O'Malley and his administration.

Smith also said he plans to meet today with a group he has provocatively dubbed "Boston Pension Abuse Victims.'


Like all people who abuse power and the people they are entrusted, they're full steam ahead on the road to their destruction. Sadly, they don't even know it.

Bon Voyage gentlemen.

Don't miss the excellent coverage of this story at BCI.

Jim McDonough gets appointed for five more years.

While Jim McDonough's appointment for another five years was not unexpected, the Cardinal's timing and his crackpot letter ends the charade of the "humble pastoral barefoot friar", doesn't it?

When your sheep are pointing out the corruption, the mismanagement, the conflicts of interest, the lying, the cronyism, the dereliction of fiduciary duties and the bankruptcy of trust, and asking you to "let my people go", he set his face like flint and pulled a passive aggressive stunt.

The cruelty is.... breathtaking.

The absurd letter was compounded by the "code of conduct" policy, wasn't it?

The man puts on the best dog and pony show in the history of Christendom.

Stay tuned kiddies. And buckle up

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Pope Sends Message to Obama - Stop the Bombs

Inquiring minds want to know...where are all the anti-war demonstrators?

Where is the outrage for the civilians being killed?



Benedict said the “ever more dramatic news coming out of Libya” was increasing his “trepidation for the safety and security of the civilian population as well as (his) apprehension for how the situation, marked by the use of arms, is developing.”

Libyan rebels took back a key oil town and were pushing westward toward the capital on Sunday, seizing momentum from U.N.-authorized international airstrikes that tipped the balance away from Moammar Gadhafi’s military.

The pope also expressed concern over violent clashes rocking much of the Middle East in recent days. Benedict, saying he had in mind both “authorities and civilians of the Middle East,” pressed for “the path of dialogue and reconciliation to have priority in the search for just and fraternal coexistence.”



Egypt, Yemen, Syria, Iran, Afghanastan, Palestine...

Somebody should make a lits of the countries in violent turmoil since the election of the "nobel peace prize" winner.

He's a winner all right.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Update on Fr. Corapi

The secular media company that publishes Fr. Corapi's DVDs and programs has issued a press release saying they are not affiliated with the Catholic Church, nor are they under the jurisdiction of the Bishop or any other official in the Catholic Church.

One assumes this means they are under no obligation to refrain from saying what they know. (Bishops prohibit priests from revealing information that exonerates them).

Their statement paints a picture of unstable behavior of the accused after being fired (including assaulting other employees,) and threats of retaliation.

We have consulted with a number of canon lawyers. They have assured us that the actions of the Bishop of Corpus Christi, Texas are, on several points of canon law, illicit. It is our fervent hope that The Dallas Charter will be changed because of false accusations like this. There is no evidence at this time that Fr. Corapi did anything wrong, only the unsubstantiated rant of a former employee, who, after losing her job with this office, physically assaulted me and another employee and promised to "destroy" Father Corapi. We all continue to pray for this person, and we ask you to do the same.

I'd love to see the Dallas Charter changed too. Pedophiles got away with raping children because the Bishops can have nobody who will hold them accountable and there are some personalities that will take advantage of the situation. They breed the cult mentality in the people underneath them and they are off to the races.

There are too many nutcases out there and people with grudge against the teachings of the Church to remove our priests, take away their faculties to perform Sacraments, leave them hanging for a decade without a dime to hire an attorney and then refuse to reinstate those found innocent to appease Catholic Church vigilantes.

Police do investigations before they come and remove a criminal. People making accusations against priests need to be held to the standard of 'credible' before our priests are removed.

"Credible", means when you ask them questions they can supply you with compelling facts and witnesses who at least saw something fishy, inappropriate or too much together time, googly eyes. Credible people who can substantiate times and places.

An end should come to silencing the accused who often have evidence that exonerates them as the 'case' drags on for ten years or who are never returned to appease vigilantes.

Terrorists in Guantanamo Bay have more rights than Catholic priests.

Another Anne Fox/MCFL Crack The Code for Scott Brown Emails

Anne Fox of Mass Citizens for Life is at it again.

Scott Brown announced earlier this week that he is not against federally funding family planning.

Among other things, here's what Scott Brown said:

"I support family planning and health services for women".

The Scott Brown spinmeister at MCFL sent out a press release to explain how to crack the code on this one -I'll get to that in a minute. Here is the rest of Brown's statement:

Brown, a Bay State Republican, said in a statement. “Given our severe budget problems, I don’t believe any area of the budget is completely immune from cuts. However, the proposal to eliminate all funding for family planning goes too far. As we continue with our budget negotiations, I hope we can find a compromise that is reasonable and appropriate.”…


Here's what I understand Anne Fox believes the prolife position is on giving federal money to abortionists: When politicians oppose eliminating funding to abortionists, they are NOT in favor of funding it.

This of course is patently ridiculous.

If you are not in favor of funding abortionists, your position would be in favor of eliminating their federal funding.

Brown has dug himself into a hole. Anne Fox is in the hole with him because she and MCFL have been lying and covering up Brown's prochoice position to rally up Scottt Brown fans from the prolife trenches.

Let me explain how Brown is putting lipstick on the pig.

Brown is trying to say that he is in favor of giving money to abortionists because they provide other services, like birth control and vaccines to women.

If you remember, Kermit Gosnell had vaccines in his back room along with jars filled with babies feet and other body parts.

Pretending we need abortionists to give out flu shots and birth control is one the ways politicians back door federal funding to abortionists. It is political chicanery.

For the record, Catholics teach other Catholic women the perils of birth control pills and the sole use of the gift of human sexuality as a means of physical pleasure. When we have the opportunity, we explain to non-Catholics how they are robbing themselves of real sexual intimacy, planting seeds for breast cancer and circumventing God's Divine plan for their lives. We are NOT in favor of exploiting women in this way, sexualizing them, making them recepticles for semen in their relationships, but we are not in the habit of public advocacy to outlaw contraception.

Catholics certainly are opposed to using our tax dollars for it because we know the harm it does to women and their relationships and to God. If Brown's intentions were providing "decent quality" healthcare to women, gynecologists give out birth control and primary care physicians give out vaccines. He wouldn't be sending women to back alley abortionists and the Kermit Gosnells of this world. The money provided to abortionists is used for other expenses - electricity, heat, payroll -- which frees up other money to provide abortions on the cheap. Even Anne Fox admits this in her press release.

Here's how the Tea Partisan put it:

If federal money went towards PP’s abortion practice, he’d have to vote no, but since it’s earmarked for contraception and unrelated services (which of course frees up other money at PP to apply towards abortions), well, that’s A-OK. Behold the dilemma of a Massachusetts Republican, forever inching his way along a political tightrope.

By the way, for you prolifers out there who have been taking Anne Fox at her word, Brown has repeatedly made his prochoice position clear. Here is a straightforward statement from the transcript from Barbara Walter's interview with Scott Brown (You can read the transcript in its entirety HERE).:

WALTERS: Let's talk about another rising star in the Republican party -- Sarah Palin. Do you think that Sarah Palin is presidential material?

BROWN: Well -- well, sure. I mean, she's been a mayor, and a governor. And -- and has a lot of -- a national following. But I think the more people in a presidential race, the better. She's never contacted us, and vice-versa.

WALTERS: Let's talk about some of your specific views. You are pro-choice, yes?

BROWN: Yes

(As Charlie Sheen says) 'WINNING!'

Anne Fox's most recent in the series of Scott Brown crack-the-code press releases is below. If you can make heads or tails out of it, please let me know.

Anne has turned MCFL into a puppet for politicians who support abortion. I can't figure out who the puppeteer is - are wealthy Republicans pulling her strings?

Whoever and whatever it is, her leadership and strategies have been catastrophic for the prolife movement in Massachusetts. Mass Citizens for Life has been driven into the ground.

Our efforts to rationally discuss the problem have failed.

It is lousy servitude to the unborn - and more importantly to Christ - for us to be paralyzed because we are afraid to hurt Anne's feelings. Let's blow up the balloons. It's time for the retirement party.


The main stream media "reports" that Sen. Brown has come out in favor of funding Planned Parenthood. That is not actually what he said.

"I support family planning and health services for women. Given our severe budget problems, I don't believe any area of the budget is completely immune from cuts. However, the proposal to eliminate all funding for family planning goes too far. As we continue with our budget negotiations, I hope we can find a compromise that is reasonable and appropriate."

The reporting has confused the provision of H.R. 1 that zeroes out Title X for the rest of the fiscal year (on which MCFL has taken no position), with the Pence Amendment, which does NOT reduce funding for Title X but which denies federal funding, from any program, for PPFA and its affiliates. Brown clearly expressed disagreement with the former provision, but he made no comment on the Pence Amendment.

Brown has pledged to vote against abortion funding. Title X money is not supposed to be used for abortions. Of course you are right - the funds are fungible, Planned Parenthood is doing a lot of murky things, they don't even provide some of the services they are touting, they have said they don't need federal money, a few years ago they could not account for hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funds, etc.

NPR got in trouble for using federal funds to lobby for federal funds. It appears that PP will get away with it. If they have sold their message to Congress better than we have, shame on us.

This means we must redouble the pressure! The vote on the Pence amendment in the Senate has not occurred, so please get back on the phones. Try to bring in some of your friends who haven't called yet.

Please make all the points you want, in any way you want, about the other awful things Planned Parenthood does, since those are the things that the Pence Amendment would defund.

Please call now, (202) 224-4543


If you can visit his office, so much the better

John F. Kennedy Federal Building, Suite 2400
15 New Sudbury Street
Boston, MA 02203, 617-565-3170


Defunding Planned Parenthood has been on our miracle list. Now that it seems in the realm of possibility, we must work harder than ever. Go to it!
Anne

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Liz Taylor Dies at 79

I've met a lot of people in my life who are really, really brilliant or over-the-top talented in some way or breathtakingly beautiful.

Some of them political or theological leaders. Others cross my life in other venues. Sometimes there's a tornado there. A rollercoaster ride.

My mother often quoted a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay that to me, always captures these people:

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
It gives a lovely light!

Liz Taylor (of course) was a public tornado. What a breathtakingly beautiful woman. In reading her obits today, I was struck by the number of losers she was attracted to and the hot water she got herself into. Like a moth to the flame.

I didn't realize that the Holy See released a message directed at her saying she was guilty of erotic vagrancy. (John XXII?) Can you imagine?

When actors and actresses who are a bridge to our parent's generation die, a little bit of something slips away. I don't even really have to feel particularly attracted to the personalities. I just remember growing up sitting on the beaches every Summer with my Mom and favorite Aunt reading the newspaper and commenting about the antics of all these characters -- much like we do now. A lot of that chatter planted seeds. I miss them, miss the chatter. In some ways I want to pick up the phone and talk about the death...and their memories.

Taylor was in the hospital for six weeks, according to the stories. I hope she prepared, found her way to Our Lord, to pardon and peace.

My Jesus Mercy.

Boston Catholic Insider Time for Change Campaign

I mentioned this earlier, but if you haven't done so already, please take a moment to go to BCI and take part in the fax campaign that is circulating very serious concerns about the future of our archdiocese.

THIS LINK will take you to the post.

The Tenth Crusade gets a thousand to two thousand readers a day on an average no-real-news day.

Please take the time to make a difference.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Cardinal O'Malley's Right-Hand Man (Jack Connors) Helping With Obama's Election

Jack Connors is a familiar name to those of you who are following along with us in the archdiocese of Boston.

Jack has stacked the Chancery with friends of his and his buddy Jim McDonough and given them such high salaries that ten of them are now costing us 3 million dollars. I won't bore you with the details, but you can read about it on BCI if you go over to the right hand side of the blog and read the posts filed under 'conflicts of interest and cronyism.


Yesterday, in a post about the Daughter's of St. Paul missing pension money and the Cardinal's refusal to turn over the data and money to it's rightful owners - there is a very interesting detail on how money gets diverted into Jack Connor's pet project piggy bank instead of things like employee pensions.


As we reported in “Is Boston Archdiocese Committing Fraud?", $5 million is owed to the pension fund for employee pensions by closed parishes. That has not yet been repaid, yet $2.5 was diverted from closed parish reconfiguration funds to pay costs of Finance Council member, Jack Connors’ pet Catholic Schools project in Brockton.


When you owe your employees 5 million dollars from closed parishes and the money comes in, why would you hand it over to Jack Connors instead?

Does that seem ethical to you?

Is Jack Connors fundraising for the Archbishop or is the Archbishop a fundraiser for Jack Connors?

While the Archbishop is giving money to Jack Connors that belongs to the Daughters of St. Paul and sick and retired employees, Connors is holding fru-fru events for the wealthy elite drumming up donors....for OBAMA!

Vice President Joe Biden came to the top of the John Hancock Tower in downtown Boston yesterday afternoon to rally about 100 elite Democratic financial backers...yesterday’s cocktail party...guests, who drank from an open bar and snacked on rare beef tenderloin crostini ...were being courted for future financial help....thanked the crowd, including health care entrepreneur Jack Connors... for its influence as much as its money.


The Daughters of St. Paul and the employees getting screwed out of their pension would have enjoyed the rare beef tenderloin crostini, the open bar and the beautiful view to talk about that 2.5 million.

Biden said he hopes the Archbishop's chief fundraiser will help Obama get elected just like last time:

“Our shot at getting reelected is through you and the same way you did it the last time,’’ he said.


In addition to the cocktail party gathering, Biden also met with a smaller group of supporters in Connors’s 60th-floor office, the highest floor in the skyscraper. Connors is the lead fund-raiser for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, and, like others in attendance, has wide influence on other potential fund-raisers.


I sure hope while he had the attention of the wealthy elites, he mentioned the hole he's digging the Archdiocese into.

Why can't meet his fundraising goals at 66 Brooks Drive?

The more important question is, what is Cardinal O'Malley's right-hand man doing helping to re-elect the most destructive and deadly, proabortion administration in the history of American politics?

Noteworthy too is that two brothers and a sister-in-law of Archbishop's spokesperpon, Terry Donilon also work in Obama's White House. Thomas, is National Security Advisor, Michael is Joe Biden's Chief Counsel and Michael's wife is chief of staff to Joe Biden's wife Jill.

BTW - It's very strange, isn't it, that there's nobody in the Cardinal's Cabinet who worked for George Bush. Ronald Reagan. I know plenty of Catholics faithful to doctrine who have applied for jobs and leadership positions - but unless you're a friend of Jack Connors or Jim McDonough, you don't have the credentials.

There's something really dirty going down in Boston and I really believe it needs an independent auditor. And a RICO investigation.

It is critical that you visit Boston Catholic Insider today and take part in the latest fed up campaign. Pleas visit the link in my sidebar.

Enough is enough.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Globe Article On Daughters of St. Paul Suing the Wizards at the Archdiocese



The Globe picked up on the story BCI broke last week about the Daughters of St. Paul suing the wizards.


The Daughters (and their lawyers) have run into the same chicanery Boston Catholics have been reporting for years:

The trustees, the lawsuit alleges, never kept separate records for each contributing employer — even though, it alleges, they were required to do so by the document establishing the trust.

Marcia S. Wagner, a pension law specialist whom the nuns hired in 2007, said she has never encountered such difficulty acquiring basic information to complete what she said should have been a straightforward matter.

“What struck me as most atypical is the incredible lack of responsiveness, the lack of any hard data or information, non-answers to very specific questions, and just endless, fruitless negotiations,’’ she said.

She added: “When you want to accomplish something that is par for the course and ordinary, and it becomes mired in arcane complexity, nonresponsiveness and non-answers, that will usually mean that something is amiss.’’


How long will the Holy See continue to ignore the corruption here in Boston?

Wasn't this and isn't this the dishonesty that makes an environment a dangerous place?

Unless you have experienced it first hand, it's impossible to grasp the impact of the dynamic of deception and lies - both by commission and omission.

The shattered trust. The realization that your Cardinal and his administration are untrustworthy liars, that it's all smoke an mirrors...it is shocking. Dealing with the people who have been shattered by their abusive treatment is demoralizing. Hearing their stories, seeing the pain and destruction. Maddening.

We dealt with it in life and death matters when the Cardinal and his staff tried to go into the abortion business with Centene. The Cardinal himself played a role in the deception by using his blog to undermine the credibility of Boston Catholics exposing the scandal by calling us 'people who do a disservice to the Church'. Just about Tue same time he gave Ted Kennedy a funeral given to a Saint. A man who spent his life fighting for the rights to even decapitate children alive.

We experienced it when the Archdiocese sold off of Catholic Hospitals (and Catholic conscience protections) to lay the groundwork for Obama's socialized medicine (led by Ralph de la Horre). It's all left us with the conviction that the mafia has nothing on the Cardinal's Cabinet. (In fact, they are often referred to in the trenches as the Irish Mafia.)

Our most recent experience with the pastoral center for the propagation of lies, involved the 'non-discrimination policy'. You can review a good summary of that experience HERE.

What they lack in honesty, they sure make up for with audacity and duplicity. Take a look at what Terry Donilon had to say HERE.

Terry Donilon, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said the archdiocese has a good relationship with the Daughters of St. Paul and is confident the lawsuit can be resolved through mediation.

"We're happy to resolve this," he said. "We are trying to ensure that when they withdraw, that there's a plan, that they are going to continue to provide for the well-being of the beneficiaries of the fund. We don't think that is a lot to ask."


Trying to ensure there is a plan?

Excuse us, but isn't the priests' pension set to completely run out of funds in 2012? Aren't these the same people holding 'get your RCAB pension before there's no money left' meetings last week?


The source who wrote this roundup on the RCAB's pension meeting last week, had one very interesting point that needs to be highlighted.

As the archdiocese uses the scare tactic of telling employees their pension plan may go bankrupt to coerce them nto taking a partial buyout payment, they withheld some pretty critical information from them:

“Is there FDIC Insurance behind this?” Of course there isn’t. Make sure that you don’t tell them that paragraph 19.3 of the trust agreement says “Each employer shall periodically make contributions which … are sufficient on an actuarial basis approved bythe plan’s actuary to fund the costs of the plan arising with respect to the participants…”

Don’t tell them that your benefits are GUARANTEED BY NOT ONLY THIER EMPLOYER BUT ALL OF THE OTHER EMPLOYERS IN THE PLAN.



The pensions are guaranteed?

If they were scaring you by telling you that you may have nothing, the information that your pension is actually guaranteed, that would be a mitigating factor in deciding whether or not to take a dime on the dollar of your retirement money, wouldn't it?

Can you think of a reason they didn't tell them?

I can.


You have to have some kind of chutzpah to not give people their own money while saying you need to make sure THEY are going to provide for the well being of their employees when you don't do it yourself.

Employees should call the Daughters lawyers. Along with the district attorney.

Mark Shea and Pat Archibald on Fr. Corapi


Two posts of note on the Fr. Corapi situation.

Mark Shea posted HERE and takes the healthy position of reserving judgment. As I've pointed out,thought it's tempting to make a judgment based upon what we know about Fr. Corapi and what we know about the injustices of the 'zero tolerance' policy -- we have zero details.



So what do we "do" about the question of Fr. Corapi vs. his accusers? I think the wisdom of Professer Digory Kirke should be our guiding light: How about if everybody minds their own business and lets the investigation proceed so that the facts, whatever they are, will be uncovered?


This situation has not begun to unravel - and so we need to let the situation take it's course. To a point, that is, because we've been letting our priests get sidelined ad infinatum - and many of them on allegations that have no merit.

I don't know what the answer is, but this much I know: There's been way too much minding our own business. Way too much.


I am certainly not in any position to judge the facts in this particular case, but I must believe Fr. Corapi is innocent until proven otherwise. Beyond that, all I have is my gut feeling and my hope, both of which tend toward innocence. Time will tell. I’ve been wrong before.

But beyond the particulars of his own case, Fr. Corapi takes issue with the process, a process which seemingly holds the accused guilty until proven innocent. The truth is that someone of the prominence of Fr. Corapi may never recover his reputation, even though he be as pure as the driven snow, forever stuck in scandal limbo.

It would seem that the destruction of reputations, even of the innocent, is the inevitable consequence of a zero-tolerance policy administered by those seeking to avoid embarrassment. In the past, accusations would be ignored to avoid embarrassment, destroying lives. The flip side is that acting on any and all such accusations without meaningful due process will destroy lives too.

This topic hits home for me. As someone who was once accused of all kinds of baseless and crazy things in a wrongful termination suit, I know how it feels to be falsely accused. It is frustrating, saddening, infuriating, and much more. But the one the one emotion I retain from that horrible experience is gratitude. My employer, also implicated in the suit, stuck by me and defended me until it was eventually dropped. Wrongfully accused priests no longer have this luxury.

A zero-tolerance policy without due process that de facto impugns the reputations of the accused is immoral. The Church has a duty to protect the innocent, even if the innocent is a priest. Of course, the Church has a moral duty to make sure that the scandal of abuse and coverup is never repeated, but it cannot willfully sacrifice the reputations of the innocent as indemnification. The end does not justify the means. I do not know that any of this applies to the Father Corpai case, but we have seen this happen in other cases too and it is wrong.

It is wrong.

We can't continue to keep minding our own business.

Here are the statements of his superior and the local Bishop - both of whom are urging the presumption of innocence and state that in no way does it mean that he is guilty of the charges. They are both decent and fair statements.


Statement from Rev. Gerald Sheehan, Regional Priest Servant

Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity

18 March 2011


Today, as Regional Priest Servant for the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, I have the unhappy responsibility to announce that Father John Corapi, SOLT has been placed on administrative leave from priestly ministry, in accordance to the Code of Cannon Law of the Catholic Church. We have received an allegation that Father Corapi has behaved in a manner unbecoming of a priest and are duty-bound to conduct an investigation in this accusation.

It is important to keep in mind that this action in no way implies Father Corapi is guilty of the allegation. It is equally important to know that, based on the information we have received thus far, the claim of misconduct does not involve minors and does not arise to the of criminal conduct. Consequently, this matter will be investigated internally, and unless and until information suggests otherwise it will not be referred to civil authorities. In the event that we learn of any occasion where the criminal civil law may have been breached we will immediately refer the matter to civil authorities.


Statement of Bishop George Leo Thomas, the bishop of the Diocese of Helena

“It is important to accord Father Corapi the principles of due process, including the assumption of innocence, until a full investigation is carried out by his superiors. More importantly, I appeal for prayers on behalf of everyone involved in this very complex situation.” Father Corapi has a personal residence in Kalispell, Mont. He does not hold priestly faculties in the Diocese of Helena, said Diocese of Helena Chancellor Father John Robertson.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

When the Enemy of My Enemy is Maxine Waters

A hard-core group of liberal House Democrats is questioning the constitutionality of U.S. missile strikes against Libya, with one lawmaker raising the prospect of impeachment during a Democratic Caucus conference call on Saturday.

Reps. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), Donna Edwards (Md.), Mike Capuano (Mass.), Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), Maxine Waters (Calif.), Rob Andrews (N.J.), Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas), Barbara Lee (Calif.) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.) “all strongly raised objections to the constitutionality of the president’s actions” during that call, said two Democratic lawmakers who took part.

Kucinich, who wanted to bring impeachment articles against both former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney over Iraq — only to be blocked by his own leadership — asked why the U.S. missile strikes aren’t impeachable offenses.

Kucinich also questioned why Democratic leaders didn’t object when President Barack Obama told them of his plan for American participation in enforcing the Libyan no-fly zone during a White House Situation Room meeting on Friday, sources told POLITICOAnd liberals fumed that Congress hadn’t been formally consulted before the attack and expressed concern that it would lead to a third U.S. war in the Muslim world.
.


It's a tough pill to swallow when we agree with Waters, Capuano and Kucinich - but at least this group of democrats has the decency to call out the constitutionality of Obama's going to war with Libya without Congressional approval.

Obama has turned the three branches of government into a dictatorship. He has subverted the structure of the counsel of an appointed cabinet by simultaneously appointing his own 'czars' outside of the outside of our power structure. He believes he has the power to overturn SCOTUS, nullify law and now, he goes to war with another country - possibly starting World War III - without any respect for the powers, checks and balances of the Constitution of the United States.

If you want to implement a no-fly zone and fire missiles at another country, you need a declaration of war.

Folks, it's time to pull out our bell bottom pants, tie-dye shirts and love beads and start thinking about war protests and demands for impeachment in front of the White House.

We need a good short little ditty - three or four words that we can keep chanting and repeating in the public square. Maybe we can dig something up from the 60s.


Fr. Corapi Has a Bad Hair Day and Suddenly He's the Next Charlie Sheen


Having been a blogger for close to ten years, I've heard many stories about sexual abuse and abuse of power. And, I've heard these stories from both legitimate sexual abuse victims and priests who have been falsely accused and exonerated.

The fact is, the Bishops made a policy that tells us what we already know. They really don't care whether an allegation is true or false, they are fundraisers and everything they do is focused on protecting the money. When Catholic were willing to take money and cover up their children's abuse for the sake of saving Father's reputation - and the faithful played along - it was focused on the keeping people in the pews giving them money.

Now that the pendulum has swung the other way, the Bishops created another policy, the "Dallas Charter", which again, has nothing to do with meritorious allegations, justice, truth or protecting children. It removes priests without affording them the opportunity to exonerate themselves. Even when the accuser is found to be lying, the priest is removed permanently because the Bishops are basically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually castrated... fundraisers. There are a couple of handfuls of exceptions to this of course -- and we have many Bishops who are sitting on the bench underneath the castrated fundraisers -- but the situation is what it is. Let us acknowledge it.

When somebody comes to you with allegations of sexual abuse or a priest comes to you with allegations he has been falsely accused and abused by the diocese, you respond by asking questions.

You ask what happened, when, where, what time. You ask if for details that you can corroborate - people who saw, heard, were around at the time.

Sometimes, they will tell you Father abused them on a trip to New York but it will turn out that Father did not go on the trip to New York, or Father wasn't even a priest in the parish at the time.

Other times, you find out the accuser has also accused their father, brother, cousin, uncle, grocery store clerk, mailman and John F. Kennedy and all of the details come together with the realization that the accuser is a mentally ill person, drug addict with a gripe against the Church who in desperate need of cash and attention.

Still, there are other times when the accuser doesnt' want to answer questions or even tell their story - they just say Father had sex with them and they demand you accept that statement and find the accused guilty.

I am in the habit of using the brain God gave me. I don't take anyone's statement on face value. I do the diligence. If people don't want me to do diligence, that is suspect to me. You know that routine? If you don't immediately condemn the accused without facts or a real victim, you are a pedophile protector or hurting the invisible victim or you are demonic.

If people start throwing around intellectual or spiritual malarkey accompanied by histrionics and emotional tantrums, instead of giving me the the facts and witnesses, that has the stink of a deceiver and manipulator.

When allegations about Fr. Euteneuer first began to surface, I proceeded with caution but my instincts were not good. Of course, there was never anything in Fr. Euteneuer's presentation to lead me to suspect he was anything but a deeply faithful and orthodox priest who understood and even used the gifts of his ordination to practice in the mystical world. But, all the experiences we had in the aftermath of his disappearance began to have a shocking context. Rational and faithful Catholics, people I respect, who had historically supported and admired Fr. Euteneuer, looked gaunt and scandalized.

When Fr. Euteneuer and his Bishop realized the charade that he was being persecuted for his orthodoxy was finally up and they put together a public statement admitting sexual abuse during the ritual of Exorcism, the despicable statement they called 'an apology' validated his spiritually manipulative nature.

Each case has to be discerned and played out. The accused has rights that we are handling with gross negligence.

Listen, people. This is getting beyond ridiculous.

It is at the point now where people are demanding when they produce a picture of Father on a bad hair day or with a tan - and circulate it through the internet -- it is evidence he is the son of beelzebub.

Push back.

We have not served our priests well in this witch hunt atmosphere.

Stand up and fight.

Be a man.

Be a handmaiden of our Lord and His Church.

We don't have any facts about Fr. Corapi's accuser and her allegations. When and if we do, you'll need to have your brain handy and you'll need to check your emotions at the door of discernment.

The accused have to have a process. We have a duty to see that falsely accused are exonerated and returned to ministry. They are crying out for justice and our response has been abysmal.

We've got to pony up.

************




People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.


Saturday, March 19, 2011

Stations of the Cross in the Company of Clowns

I know what you were thinking, and NO, this isn't about Stations of the Cross at 66 Brooks Drive.

It's a real Stations of the Cross with clowns in the Diocese of Albany.

Here's a narrative of the buffoonery and an article with a picture from a similar circus at the Crucifixion of Our Blessed Lord.

I hesitate to say this, but I do wonder why they do not do clown funerals for their dead relatives and friends. Imagine how life-changing it would be if clowns could re-enact the cancer treatments and car accidents. It would really make you see things differently if clown pallbearers could escort the casket out of the Church on teeny-tiny little bikes, wouldn't it?

Do you think they'd finally get the hostility we feel when they do it as we are mourning the death of Christ if we surprised them with a clown service at one of their funerals?

Get it?

The Commemoration and Anniversary of the Bloody Execution and the price of our salvation is not the time for clowns.

It is infuriating that people would make a circus of out these solemn and prayerful events.

Are these people who are terrified of emotions? Do they not experience a real relationship with Christ?

Somebody clue me in because I don't get how they could be so insensitive to people mourning our Savior.

Obama Bombs Libya - We are at War with Gaddhafi

How could this have happened so swiftly?

This is unbelievable.

Can somebody tell me why the Muslim Brotherhood can massacre Christians, women and children without interference from Barack Hussein (and in fact he supports them) but he is, as we speak, bombing Libya?

I am on the edge of my seat waiting for outrage from Catholic Democrats.

My Best Thought By Day Or Night

Fr. Corapi Accused of Being a Drug Addicted Svengali

Fr. Corapi calls out for prayer and points out the asinine process:

On Ash Wednesday I learned that a former employee sent a three-page letter to several bishops accusing me of everything from drug addiction to multiple sexual exploits with her and several other adult women. There seems to no longer be the need for a complaint to be deemed “credible” in order for Church authorities to pull the trigger on the Church’s procedure, which was in recent years crafted to respond to cases of the sexual abuse of minors. I am not accused of that, but it seems, once again, that they now don’t have to deem the complaint to be credible or not, and it is being applied broadly to respond to all complaints. I have been placed on "administrative leave" as the result of this.

I’ll certainly cooperate with the process, but personally believe that it is seriously flawed, and is tantamount to treating the priest as guilty “just in case”, then through the process determining if he is innocent. The resultant damage to the accused is immediate, irreparable, and serious, especially for someone like myself, since I am so well known. I am not alone in this assessment, as multiple canon lawyers and civil and criminal attorneys have stated publicly that the procedure does grave damage to the accused from the outset, regardless of rhetoric denying this, and has little regard for any form of meaningful due process.

All of the allegations in the complaint are false, and I ask you to pray for all concerned.


I'm with him in prayer, fasting, suffering.

The problem is, the 'process' can go on for decades. Perhaps it won't because Father Corapi is so high-profile.

I don't know what happened here. I have my own personal and very serious doubts about the veracity of the claim for a variety of reasons. One thing I do know is that Fr. Corapi's statement about the process is absolutely true and it is abuse of power and injustice. I know several priests who have suffered gravely. Those who take part in the false witness have also been driven into the ground as a consequence of their temporal punishment for the grave dereliction.


Priests are not supposed to be placed on administrative leave until the allegations are proven to be credible. This standard is not met. All anyone has to do is come along and say something has happened and the diocese will give you money to shut up and remove our priests whether the allegations are credible or incredible. (In fact, here in Boston, drug addicts and mentally ill people, God Bless them, who were handed millions by the Cardinal were deemed not to be credible by Martha Coakley - the attorney general.)

It is a tragedy all around.

My updated thoughts are HERE.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Boston Archdiocese Pulls Holy Trinity Off the Market




Some good news for a change - the Archdiocese has pulled Holy Trinity off the market.

In mid-February, Cardinal O'Malley reported that he was considering selling closed Churches.

There was a big process where everyone could tell him what they thought. "Consultation" they called it, and he was going into the process with no predetermined decisions mind you.

There's a first for everything.

Considering he hasn't even been here, it certainly leaves a lot to be desired in the credibility department, but here's what the Vicar General said: "It is a very dramatic step and one that should and can only be taken with grave reason,"

But, the next thing you know, Holy Trinity was listed at Southeby's for sale and was being shown twice a week by real estate agents.

As readers and Boston Catholics are well aware, Holy Trinity Parishioners asked the Holy See to intervene in the sale, saying the Archdiocese had not completed the process to convert this magnificent jewel to profane use.

A spokesman said the archdiocese knows it can’t sell the property until that process is completed.

When the listing was yanked today, the spokesperpetrator said when the Archdiocese listed the property for sale with Southeby's, they were not going to sell it. Heaven's no.

They were simply testing the market and looking for a buyer.

On Friday, spokesman Terry Donilon said the listing meant to gauge the market or attract a buyer from a Catholic organization.


Do I have a red ball at the end of my nose?

Honesty at 66 Brooks Drive is like clams. Sometimes, you'll find a pearl but most of the time, it's just slime.

**UPDATE

Check out Pinnochio's Nose at BCI, where they make some very astute observations:

If you want to find a Catholic buyer, what in the world makes Terry Donilon, as spokesperson for Cardinal O’Malley, think anyone would believe that you would list the property for sale with Sothebys, a residential real estate broker, who has no reach whatsoever with a Catholic audience. Where is the listing in a Catholic newspaper, like, say our own Pilot, the “America’s oldest Catholic newspaper”? Did anyone place listings to find a Catholic buyer in Our Sunday Visitor or the National Catholic Register? Heck, even publications like America and the National Catholic Reporter call themselves “Catholic” too.


They were looking for Catholic buyers with Southeby's. If they found a Catholic buyer they did not mean to sow the confusion that it was their intention to sell Holy Trinity. I am sure came as a complete surprise to Southeby's who has spent money running advertisements and with whom they have signed a contract.

Another exploitative agreement entered into in bad faith?

Dude Looks Like a Lady

See THIS?

That's when it starts getting too weird for me.

I am a fan of the surplice.

Japan Raises Severity Rating

Engineers are racing to extend an emergency supply of power so the water supplies that cool the reactor can kick back in. Prayers are with these heroic men.

Update HERE.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Fr. Robert Kennedy and Pedophilia

I went through a couple of years of soul searching during the 'sex abuse' crisis. I really tried to figure out how far the priests go to run a successful diocesan fundraising machine and what it meant for the salvation of my soul and the souls of my children.

It got low.

After going through rigorous training about salvation, if priests were willing to lie to the people in the pews, through omission and commission on all the hot button issues, I didn't have any trust that as they were standing there saying the words of consecration, they had the intentions of the Church to convect the wine and bread into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord.

Aryan heresy, schmeracy.

The priest has to do three things. He's got to say the right prayers, he's got to use the right matter and he has to believe and intend to Consecrate.

If he uses the wrong matter or if he doesn't say the prayers - or both - you can't tell me that he showed up at the Altar with the intention. My mother did not raise a fool.

We watch people coming and going each week without any sense of sin, being blasted and maligned and scandalized when they believe in the Sacraments. There is no basis for believing the priest is a believer.

You've got to pick up your family and find a good priest. If your efforts to try to convert them have failed, Christ gave us the instructions. Dust your sandals and get out of Dodge.

There are more priests out there who are believers than there was 10 years ago. Even in Boston. They have to fly under the radar here because the Chancery is occupied by catechetical terrorists -- but they are out there. Find one. Settle in and let the curses pass over.

Matt Abbot has a story today that exemplifies the ridiculousness of crowd in control of and withholding the temporal goods of our faith in a story about a priest who claims there is no teaching that pedophilia is a sin.

Technically speaking, this is true. You've got to know what the Commandments mean and then apply the tools to all behavior. If you eliminate that tool, you lose it all.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Crash Course on Writing to Your Archdiocese

For a few decades now, faithful Catholics have been reporting scandals to their Bishop. At least we thought that's who we were reporting them to. Come to find out, the Bishop likes to keep himself clueless. He surrounds himself with people who are experts at obfuscation.

Though we know hundreds to thousands of people may be writing the Bishop about a scandal, here's their most famous and tired excuse for not investigating or doing something about a complaint based upon the merits: "You're the only one complaining".

It's not whether their employees and agents are abusive, it's the number of people visible who are raising a ruckus. How much of a PR disaster it is, dictates whether or not they will muster up the energy to send you a patronizing letter from their Microsoft Word template collection.

99% of people will take them on face value. They know how to give you a forum to say whatever you feel needs to be said, knowing the minute you walk out the door with the delusion they are going to do something about it, their work is complete.

This is one of the reasons why Boston Catholics have embarked on:

1. Reporting the scandals publicly.

2. Organizing a communication campaign where they know that we know a large group of people have reported the scandal, put forth factual information to expose their public relations poppycock, ask them to respond to specific questions that we know the answers will make liars out of them, or ask them to take the appropriate action.

Guess what?

Now they're complaining that too many people are contacting them and saying the same thing.

If you want to see a beaut, check out the email written by one of the Cardinal's cabal that's posted on Bryan Hehir Exposed.

We be naughty. You see it's customary for Catholics to talk up their complaints to their representatives on the pastoral council. That group of spineless wimps meets with the Cardinal to rubber stamp his ideas. They are saddened, down in the dumps, got the doldrums that the word corrupt is being used to describe such a fine group of luminaries.

Here's a bit from the crash course on writing to your diocese:


From: Joe Sacerdo
To: “Reverend___@rcab.org”
Date: Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 6:47 PM
Subj: Re: Stop sending copies

Fr.____,

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts back in the detailed message. Much of what you outlined would make sense and would work in the means you outlined–if the actions by the archdiocese weren’t rooted in deception and were rooted in the teachings of the Church.

I think we may differ on much, but on this we should agree–the Catholic Schools admission policy and it’s means of coming about were rooted in deception. Cardinal Sean put out his statement last May saying the Denver policy would be carefully studied and considered, but Fr. Bryan Hehir said a day later on WBUR that the Denver policy didn’t matter at all to the Cardinal–the Boston Archdiocese was already admitting children of gay parents and would continue doing so, just with a formal policy. One of the these two gentlemen was lying. Based on the outcome policy, it would appear that it was the Cardinal.


You will very much enjoy this forthright letter. As you can imagine, he did not receive a reply.

We are finished with the Tom Foolery.

When will they get it?

More on the Pope and Conversion of Jews

My regulars are going to love this one but Fr. Trigilio does an excellent job on the recent context snipping of the Pope's book.

He uses some of your favorite theologians. (Did Dulles actually write for America Magazine? Ouch)


The Catholic Church does not believe in a dual-covenant theology in which Jews are saved by the Old Covenant while Gentiles are saved by the New Covenant.

Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ, wrote an article in America magazine (October 21, 2002):

While [Pope John Paul II] does not “target” Jews in any special way for conversion, he makes no exception for them. On the part of Catholic Christians, “dialogue should be conducted and implemented with the conviction that the Church is the ordinary means of salvation and that she alone possesses the fullness of the means of salvation” (No. 55). This does not mean, of course, that we must despair of the salvation of non-Christians or that they are to be pressured into accepting our faith. On the contrary, Vatican II made it clear that God offers the possibility of salvation to all who conscientiously strive with his help to find his truth and do his will, and that explicit Christian faith, while it is a great blessing, must always be free and un-coerced.

Later, Cardinal Dulles wrote in First Things (November, 2005)
Vatican II brought out the profound truth that the mystery of Israel and the mystery of the Church are permanently intertwined: “As this sacred people searches into the mystery of the Church, it recalls the spiritual bond linking the people of the New Covenant to Abraham's stock.” The Church is conscious that she is a branch grafted onto the olive tree of Israel. Pope John Paul II was deeply conscious of this affinity. Speaking at the synagogue of Rome on April 13, 1986, he made the point: “The Jewish religion is not ‘extrinsic' to us, but in a certain way is ‘intrinsic' to our own religion. With Judaism, therefore, we have a relationship which we do not have with any other religion. You are our dearly beloved brothers and, in a certain way, it could be said that you are our elder brothers.”

In continuity with Vatican II and earlier Catholic tradition, John Paul II saw the two covenants as intrinsically related. The Old is a preview and promise of the New; the New is the unveiling and fulfillment of the Old. “The New Covenant,” he declared, “serves to fulfill all that is rooted in the vocation of Abraham, in God's covenant with Israel at Sinai, and in the whole rich heritage of the inspired Prophets who, hundreds of years before that fulfillment, pointed in the Sacred Scriptures to the One whom God would send in the ‘fullness of time.'

Some Christians, in their eagerness to reject a crude supersessionism, give independent validity to the Old Covenant. They depict the Old and New Covenants as two ‘separate but equal' parallel paths to salvation, the one intended for Jews, the other for gentiles ...

It is unthinkable that ... Paul would be proposing salvation for Jews apart from Christ ...


So I do not think Pope Benedict XVI is undoing what he did in 2000 (Dominus Iesus). I think he is continuing what Pope John Paul II began. It is a matter of LOGISTICS, EMPHASIS and PRIORITY not one of doctrine and dogma.




Here are five terrifying words for my family, friends and people in my inner circle: "I have a good idea."

When one reaches the level of a Monsignor, let us take leave of the lowest common denominator theology.

Worrying about what the next best thing is in moral order to sleeping around with HIV or saying Catholics are relieved of the burden of witnessing and conversion of a sector of people may seem ok from the perches in Rome, but your talking to a generation that has been robbed of their faith. The bar has been too low for too long.

It's Time for the Republicans to Man Up




I, a pro-life conservative Catholic, and others like me helped send them to Washington for three reasons. To de-fund Planned Parenthood, to get government spending under control, and to cut Obamacare off at the knees by de-funding it for the next two years until possible repeal. By continually laying up, the Republicans are putting themselves in a position to deliver none of it.

No doubt, shutting down the government is a serious step and should not be taken lightly. After 1995, I can almost buy the idea of voting for the first continuing resolution even though it did nothing to accomplish any of the stated goals. I reluctantly accepted it as a tactic, a juke to the left before we run right. But in the subsequent 2 weeks, Republicans have done nothing to strengthen their negotiating position, in fact they have likely weakened it considerably.

Now Republicans in the House have voted for another continuing resolution to fund the government for 3 more weeks. To fund Planned Parenthood for 3 more weeks. To spend money we don’t have for 3 more weeks. To fund Obamacare for 3 more weeks.

Like I said, a tactic is a juke to the left when you intend to run right, but if you continue to run to the left it’s no longer a tactic—it’s a direction.

Republicans need to man up and do what we sent them there to do, and if that means shutting the government down. Then SHUT IT DOWN.



Amen to that.