It's amazing, when you think about it. After we exhaust ourselves for decades asking Bishops to discipline those teaching in Catholic settings and getting their tin ear, it took a President's mandate to get them on a horse to lead a crusade.
Though I searched and searched for outrage from Cardinal O'Malley and not surprisingly came up empty, all kinds of good things are happening.
Bishop Jenky has restored the prayer of St. Michael after Mass.
Archbishop Gomes is rallying Catholics to fight against it.
Cardinal-designate Dolan is calling for action.
I thank them. Pray for them. Pray more of them follow their lead.
But, what action do we really want them to take?
We're calling the people who spent decades positioning themselves to take away religious liberty to ask them to pretty please rescind it?
I don't have a crystal ball. All things are possible with Christ, but IMHO, I don't have a lot of hope Christ will see the wisdom of making the fix this easy for us.
So, we speak out, oppose it, make a lot of noise and the Obama Administration does nothing. Then what?
In case anyone out there is suffering from the same case of amnesia affecting the luminaries at the USCCB, it was the Catholic Bishops who suppressed teaching and manipulated uncatechized Catholics into voting for and electing Obama. They published hundreds of thousands of booklets that gave Catholics the nudge and the wink to elect Obama. They solicited Sr. Carol Keehan who was rewarded with a magical presidential pen. They crowned their american pope at Notre Dame.
It was all good.....right up until the time the Obama Administration cut out funding to the USCCB. When the Obama Administration stopped lining the wallets of the Bishops, a stampede of them came out riding horses named Outrage and Sob Stories.
It's got to smack. Forty years of paying Bishops to suppress the teachings of the Church to elect their american pope, and as soon as it's done, they stop the extortion. The money is going, going, gone. Cry me a river. It is the best thing that happened to us in 40 years.
I'm sure you'll find this rich: Top Bishop feels betrayed by Obama. But he said he would respect Catholic Conscience rights. I was bouyed. Bishops are pushing him to something more than keep going to the White House to be patronized. He doesn't know what to do.
Let us not lose sight of the right action item.
It's critical to talk about our religious liberties, for Bishops to stand up and be counted, to engage what is left of the faithful. It's a small crowd but we finally have the harmony of the Bishops and we should take full advantage of it.
Speaking out, isn't enough. We have a deadline approaching whereby these Bishops will have two choices. They can go along with the mandate or they can refuse to go along with the mandate, come what may. Come shutting down hospitals, schools. Come jail. Notify the President. Notify the lawyers. Notify the doctors, bankers. Notify the indian chiefs. That's the right action item.
Excluding Cardinal O'Malley, who would and does force Catholics to, you know, harm and even kill other people through contracting executioners and providing the victims a ride to their death, Catholic Bishops can't go along with it.
Send out notices to hospitals to plan on emptying their beds by the deadline date and handing out pink slips. Send out notices to schools, colleges and missions that every administrator is to refuse the cooperate in the execution of this mandate or they will be fired.
We are at an intersection of religious liberty in our country. Stand up and fight.
The Tenth Crusade
Showing posts with label USCCB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USCCB. Show all posts
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Saturday, November 20, 2010
All Glory is Fleeting
The Massachusetts priest that stalked Conan O'Brien is back in the news, accused of stalking local newsman he believed was working on a story about him to 'give him his side of the story'.
After receiving disturbing letters from Ajamian, the newscaster got a protection order which Ajemian promptly brought it to the police station saying he wanted to be arrested so he could be interviewed by the television personality. He told police he'd spent the day in town eating and taking some walks around town in an effort to find him, got a room at a local hotel and went to the police station because his search was coming up empty.
There's something chilling about the picture of Fr. Ajemian. I wanted to blog about the story because on its face value (having nothing to do with the particular situation), the picture reminded me of the consequence of misguidance that has brought a generation to abandon repentance and the use of the Sacrament of Confession, prayers casting out demons, sacramentals and the rite of exorcism.
Several readers and commenters have asked me to write thoughts about Mark Mallet's recent post So Little Time Left and I wanted to get this post up.
These are very interesting times for sure. The confusion and confused whipping up the frenzies, the spiritual armies seems to me to be taking victims at greater speed and with greater force on both sides.
The darkness on the left and the light on the right is causing the people living in the gray to head towards their destinations with a little more bounce in their step. The people firmly planted in the gray are making a lot of noise because their crowd is thinning out. These are certainly the times and opportunities to influence people who have been led to the gray. I see people teetering. People falling. People attacking truth with more vigor. I also see more people speaking the truth with more purpose and zeal.
Something spiritual is taking place.
Strictly speaking in the world of Catholicism (because it's my only area of expertise), most of the people sucked into the guidance of rebellion against God are sucked in by priests and Bishops teaching free will is some kind of a spiritual force of its own (nonsense).
The Jesuits in control of our teaching facilities have led millions (or more likely billions) to their spiritual deaths. The Bernadin crowd, the Commonweal crowd, Vox Nova crowd, National Catholic Reporter crowd, America Magazine crowd have all been sucked into the vacuum. I think we need to be very aware of the spiritual battles around us because we are going to need every tool we have at our disposal. I see apostolates that were formerly faithfully leading souls to salvation falling into the hands of those who are in error and the opposite is also true.
There are forces behind the battle waging on each side to collect as many souls as possible.
Catholics are very open to understanding how prayer, worship and abandonment of our own wills to hear the guidance of angelic forces actually empower them and enable them to work in our lives and in the lives around us. But there's been an avoidance of Catholic teaching on how the parallel work of demonic forces actually operate in the exact same ways. The Bishops seem aware of what is going on too as for the first time in who knows how long, they are looking into beefing up exorcisms.
I think we should tune up on it, so here are my thoughts:
There is a commander of each spiritual and powerful army of spirits, God commands the angelic and the devil commands the demonic. These forces are really powerless in our lives unless we empower them in some way.
God has given each of us control through free will. Free will is a complicated subject but for the purposes of this post, I'll limit it to the license to control our own intellect and spirit to either surrender them to God and His army, knowing we are severely limited to understand what is best for us - like Christ and Mary, or we choose the path of Adam and Eve - accepting the temptation to live our lives pursuing advice and counsel elsewhere because our intellects are limited to understand and know why what we want to do, or have the desire to do, is not good for us and the surrender to God just isn't good enough.
Under the command of God, angelic forces can be concentrated in a particular place. A Sanctuary, holy ground, a particular place or city our country where many souls have been praying and empowering them. They are limited to act when based upon how much we have surrendered our will to the Father, whether we are in a state of grace or immersed in weakness or sin. When many are gathered who are in a state of grace, there is a concentration of angelic forces.
Catholics for the most part get that angelic forces don't 'possess' us. We are in possession of our own spirits and intellects though there are moments of willfull surrender when they can have more influence over what we say and do. Christ's Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity can be a guest in our souls if we are in a state of grace.
More or less of His Presence can reside in our immortal souls but that Presence offers us the ability to rest our spirit in Him so He can act with and through us but God retains the possession of His Divinity. With Saints there is a mystical fusion. The person does not become God or an Angel but the manifestations of the fusion are present.
Alternately, the hierarchy of demonic forces work mirror this empowerment. There are people who worship and make sacrifices to the devil (which is actually the opposing force of the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass). There are people in various identity crises who get roped into it through peers. Most of them don't realize what they're doing because the occult has been neutralized and in some cases made cutesy in a Harry Potter kind of way. (btw - Learning where Harry Potter has led its main actor, a horses ass, selling the drunken hogwart occult and sex culture as a benign influence has lost all merit.) Nevertheless, occult practices can empower forces that concentrate in a particular locus for a particular reason. They can surround a person, be more concentrated in a home, school, diocese. Sometimes, there is a fusion. The person does not become the devil but manifestations of the fusion are present.
To people attune to the spiritual world, they hang in air like bad smell when they're in play in a situation or person or place.
Of particular interest to me have been interactions during the battle (and ultimately the stunning victory) over the USCCB have been the people who don't see things from the perspective of a battle for souls but rather a battle of dueling political philosophies. The fatal wound to the political and cultural control they have had over the USCCB is causing them to lash out with such venom and with irrational arguments, they are impossible to believe if you are a lover of truth and justice. Frankly, it is so outlandish, it seems to me to be more than something mortal going on.
Their messiah and cultural warrior has fallen and he can't get up. They are so blinded, they put Nancy Pelosi right back as their fearless leader. No matter who wins or losses on the political level, the Bishops have just signaled that the battle for the soul of the Church has split of from their trajectory.
Two quotes come to mind - one from General Patton~
The other from Pope John Paul II~
After receiving disturbing letters from Ajamian, the newscaster got a protection order which Ajemian promptly brought it to the police station saying he wanted to be arrested so he could be interviewed by the television personality. He told police he'd spent the day in town eating and taking some walks around town in an effort to find him, got a room at a local hotel and went to the police station because his search was coming up empty.
After police told him to go home, Ajemian later called 911, saying he had found Everett’s house and was going to visit him at noon the next day. Police arrested Ajemian in Cohasset on Thursday.
At his arraignment yesterday in Quincy District Court, Ajemian pleaded not guilty to violating the order and was sent to the Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center in Boston until his Dec. 8 court date.
During the court proceedings, a doctor said Ajemian was a Harvard-educated, “extremely bright” man who had a long history of mental illness and had been off his medications for two weeks.God help him.
There's something chilling about the picture of Fr. Ajemian. I wanted to blog about the story because on its face value (having nothing to do with the particular situation), the picture reminded me of the consequence of misguidance that has brought a generation to abandon repentance and the use of the Sacrament of Confession, prayers casting out demons, sacramentals and the rite of exorcism.
Several readers and commenters have asked me to write thoughts about Mark Mallet's recent post So Little Time Left and I wanted to get this post up.
These are very interesting times for sure. The confusion and confused whipping up the frenzies, the spiritual armies seems to me to be taking victims at greater speed and with greater force on both sides.
The darkness on the left and the light on the right is causing the people living in the gray to head towards their destinations with a little more bounce in their step. The people firmly planted in the gray are making a lot of noise because their crowd is thinning out. These are certainly the times and opportunities to influence people who have been led to the gray. I see people teetering. People falling. People attacking truth with more vigor. I also see more people speaking the truth with more purpose and zeal.
Something spiritual is taking place.
Strictly speaking in the world of Catholicism (because it's my only area of expertise), most of the people sucked into the guidance of rebellion against God are sucked in by priests and Bishops teaching free will is some kind of a spiritual force of its own (nonsense).
The Jesuits in control of our teaching facilities have led millions (or more likely billions) to their spiritual deaths. The Bernadin crowd, the Commonweal crowd, Vox Nova crowd, National Catholic Reporter crowd, America Magazine crowd have all been sucked into the vacuum. I think we need to be very aware of the spiritual battles around us because we are going to need every tool we have at our disposal. I see apostolates that were formerly faithfully leading souls to salvation falling into the hands of those who are in error and the opposite is also true.
There are forces behind the battle waging on each side to collect as many souls as possible.
Catholics are very open to understanding how prayer, worship and abandonment of our own wills to hear the guidance of angelic forces actually empower them and enable them to work in our lives and in the lives around us. But there's been an avoidance of Catholic teaching on how the parallel work of demonic forces actually operate in the exact same ways. The Bishops seem aware of what is going on too as for the first time in who knows how long, they are looking into beefing up exorcisms.
I think we should tune up on it, so here are my thoughts:
There is a commander of each spiritual and powerful army of spirits, God commands the angelic and the devil commands the demonic. These forces are really powerless in our lives unless we empower them in some way.
God has given each of us control through free will. Free will is a complicated subject but for the purposes of this post, I'll limit it to the license to control our own intellect and spirit to either surrender them to God and His army, knowing we are severely limited to understand what is best for us - like Christ and Mary, or we choose the path of Adam and Eve - accepting the temptation to live our lives pursuing advice and counsel elsewhere because our intellects are limited to understand and know why what we want to do, or have the desire to do, is not good for us and the surrender to God just isn't good enough.
Under the command of God, angelic forces can be concentrated in a particular place. A Sanctuary, holy ground, a particular place or city our country where many souls have been praying and empowering them. They are limited to act when based upon how much we have surrendered our will to the Father, whether we are in a state of grace or immersed in weakness or sin. When many are gathered who are in a state of grace, there is a concentration of angelic forces.
Catholics for the most part get that angelic forces don't 'possess' us. We are in possession of our own spirits and intellects though there are moments of willfull surrender when they can have more influence over what we say and do. Christ's Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity can be a guest in our souls if we are in a state of grace.
More or less of His Presence can reside in our immortal souls but that Presence offers us the ability to rest our spirit in Him so He can act with and through us but God retains the possession of His Divinity. With Saints there is a mystical fusion. The person does not become God or an Angel but the manifestations of the fusion are present.
Alternately, the hierarchy of demonic forces work mirror this empowerment. There are people who worship and make sacrifices to the devil (which is actually the opposing force of the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass). There are people in various identity crises who get roped into it through peers. Most of them don't realize what they're doing because the occult has been neutralized and in some cases made cutesy in a Harry Potter kind of way. (btw - Learning where Harry Potter has led its main actor, a horses ass, selling the drunken hogwart occult and sex culture as a benign influence has lost all merit.) Nevertheless, occult practices can empower forces that concentrate in a particular locus for a particular reason. They can surround a person, be more concentrated in a home, school, diocese. Sometimes, there is a fusion. The person does not become the devil but manifestations of the fusion are present.
To people attune to the spiritual world, they hang in air like bad smell when they're in play in a situation or person or place.
Of particular interest to me have been interactions during the battle (and ultimately the stunning victory) over the USCCB have been the people who don't see things from the perspective of a battle for souls but rather a battle of dueling political philosophies. The fatal wound to the political and cultural control they have had over the USCCB is causing them to lash out with such venom and with irrational arguments, they are impossible to believe if you are a lover of truth and justice. Frankly, it is so outlandish, it seems to me to be more than something mortal going on.
Their messiah and cultural warrior has fallen and he can't get up. They are so blinded, they put Nancy Pelosi right back as their fearless leader. No matter who wins or losses on the political level, the Bishops have just signaled that the battle for the soul of the Church has split of from their trajectory.
Two quotes come to mind - one from General Patton~
For over a thousand years, Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of a triumph - a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeters and musicians and strange animals from the conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conqueror rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children, robed in white, stood with him in the chariot, or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror, holding a golden crown, and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting.
The other from Pope John Paul II~
"Do not be afraid.
Do not be satisfied with mediocrity.
Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."
Two different battles that can sometimes merge but if our hearts lose sight of the ultimate objective of our purpose here on earth, anything else we are doing was a battle for the glorification of our own egos.
Keep the focus. Choose well.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
The Earthquake in Baltimore
This is a nice round up by Rachel Zoll of AP -
Bishop Dolan Elected in Upset.
Lots of hands went into this - kudos to everyone for answering the call to serve the Lord to work towards the dramatic turn around of the USCCB.
The Bishops heard our pleas and responded. This is an absolute change in the wind for Church Militant.
The good old boy network that gave absolute assurances to internal protocol for the first time in 40 years was broken up.
What happened today is huge in so many ways.
Theology will be impacted, education, direction on the best way to serve God's people in political activism, including the 2010 election.
There are calls for a more unified voice, building on the work that Cardinal George began three years ago.
Here's the quid pro quo - Archbishop Kurtz was elected as VP. Here's his thoughts on Summorum Pontificum. Here he is at an abortion clinic.
Here's some thoughts one of the patrons of Commonweal left relating to her experiences over the Liturgy:
Any more questions?
And, best of all, Archbishop Chaput is poised to be next in the machine.
I know some Catholics in conservative quarters have some reservations about Ab Dolan because he (disappointingly) has circumvented the Church's call of the Prodigal Father (Canon 925) and there was disappointing participation at a parish where moral theology on human sexuality is being twisted into Masses celebrating their booty calls. I saw the video of that and I was not too pleased myself -- but you've got to remember that Ab. Dolan signed the Manhattan Declaration. He is a solid prolifer and has spoken out courageously about politicians and abortion. I believe we scored on this one.
Big. Huge. Gargantuan.
The Roman Catholic Church in the United States has just freed up from the chains of the immorality of Bernadin's 40 year reign of terror.
Feel the momentum.
And He shall reign for ever and ever. Hallelujah.
Bishop Dolan Elected in Upset.
New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan was elected president Tuesday of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in a surprise win that underscored the bishops' shift toward a more aggressive defense of orthodoxy.
Kicanas was pilloried in the days leading up to the vote by conservative Catholic bloggers, who urged readers to send protest faxes and leave messages for bishops at the Baltimore hotel where they are meeting.There is nothing like open public documentation to Bishops that states the scandal, asks them do the right thing, is backed up by blogochatter and articles written by activists and the prayers of the people, the Communion of Saints and souls in Heaven and purgatory. It is a winning combination and one that we intend on carrying forward with other scandals going on right here in the Archdiocese of Boston. (Next on my radar are the structure changes that moved power away from the Archbishop and the first policy being written by counterfeit operation in power in the Boston Chancery - "non-discrimination policy" at Catholic schools - brace yourselves)
Lots of hands went into this - kudos to everyone for answering the call to serve the Lord to work towards the dramatic turn around of the USCCB.
The Bishops heard our pleas and responded. This is an absolute change in the wind for Church Militant.
The good old boy network that gave absolute assurances to internal protocol for the first time in 40 years was broken up.
What happened today is huge in so many ways.
Theology will be impacted, education, direction on the best way to serve God's people in political activism, including the 2010 election.
There are calls for a more unified voice, building on the work that Cardinal George began three years ago.
Here's the quid pro quo - Archbishop Kurtz was elected as VP. Here's his thoughts on Summorum Pontificum. Here he is at an abortion clinic.
Here's some thoughts one of the patrons of Commonweal left relating to her experiences over the Liturgy:
Some here have wondered what ideological position Kurtz might occupy, or what sort of a mind he has. Let me offer one illustrative ancedote. When he was pastor of a parish in the Diocese of Allentown, he invited me to give a workshop for his liturgical ministers. The next day he phoned to complain that my presentation had not been sufficiently doctrinal. What was wrong? I had referred to the Eucharist as the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation.
Any more questions?
And, best of all, Archbishop Chaput is poised to be next in the machine.
I know some Catholics in conservative quarters have some reservations about Ab Dolan because he (disappointingly) has circumvented the Church's call of the Prodigal Father (Canon 925) and there was disappointing participation at a parish where moral theology on human sexuality is being twisted into Masses celebrating their booty calls. I saw the video of that and I was not too pleased myself -- but you've got to remember that Ab. Dolan signed the Manhattan Declaration. He is a solid prolifer and has spoken out courageously about politicians and abortion. I believe we scored on this one.
Dolan has been a strong friend and ally and has been called a “hero” by leading pro-life advocates in part for speaking out about Catholic politicians who support abortion.
“It bothers me if any politician, Catholic or not, is for abortion,” Dolan has said. “Because in my mind, we’re talking about a civil right, we’re not talking about a matter of Catholic Church discipline. We can’t allow the noble pro-life cause to be reduced to a denominational issue.”
In 2008, Dolan took House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice-President Joe Biden to task for misrepresenting Catholic pro-life teachings.
“Church tradition is equally clear that bishops are the authentic teachers of the faith. So, when prominent Catholics publicly misrepresent timeless Church doctrine – as Biden and Pelosi regrettably did (to say nothing of erring in biology!) – a bishop has the duty to clarify,” he explained.
Big. Huge. Gargantuan.
The Roman Catholic Church in the United States has just freed up from the chains of the immorality of Bernadin's 40 year reign of terror.
Feel the momentum.
We've had enough of exhortations to be silent"! Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues. I see that the world has become rotten because of silence." ~ St. Catherine of Siena
And He shall reign for ever and ever. Hallelujah.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Commonweal Magazine, Bishop Kicanas and the Subculture of Fundelin
Grant Gallicho at Commonweal Magazine continues to shed light on the sick pedophile enabling culture in the sexual liberation theologists from the pews and all the way up the ranks into the USCCB.
Boston Bloggers are in the middle of sorting out more tips on what transpired under Bp. Kicanas but have responded substantively HERE.
There is a timeline and some pretty compelling "rebuttals" to Bp. Kicanas' 'response'.
As is often the case with things we start to peel back the layers, I am getting the feeling that the election of Bp. Kicanas means something bigger than the USCCB electing a Bishop who sees ordaining a drunkard with three documented allegations of sexual abuse in his seminary file, including one minor, as fair play.
If you go over and read the thread in Commonweal, it's pretty scary actually. It really drove home to me that the Catholics who sell sexual liberation theology are dangerous. They're dangerous in the pews, in our parishes and all the way up to the USCCB. The liberation theologists supported Paul Shanley et al and while I have been skeptical their disputations about sexual abuse of minors was more about an agenda to strike at the Body of Christ, this incident really confirmed it for me.
The Commonweal crowd is deleting factual information posted in their comments section, and worst of all now saying that the abuse of older 'minors' is some kind of excusable offense to protect Kicanas and the USCCB from being held accountable -- it is painful. I've clipped their most disturbing twists of factual information below.
Here we have a Bishop who had a conversation with a seminarian after a complaint came in about his drunken night in a barroom groping a minor in the pants. He reveals to the Bishop that he was an alcoholic and the drink causes him to lose control sexually. He admits, directly to the Bishop, that the problem has led to numerous sexual encounters. The vice rector of the seminary testifies that seminarian's file contains a Memo describing three instances of abuse, including one instance with a minor. Kicanas, who was the rector of the seminary concludes that it would be grossly unfair not to ordain him and he clears the seminarian for ordination. Says he thought the "activity" was something the seminarian would eventually work out of his immature sexual system. The Memo describing the abuse disappears from the file. After 23 more victims, he says there was nothing he would have done differently. This week, he issues a statement full of holes.
This is the most egregious thing I have ever read from a Bishop.
SNAP spent the day today protesting and asking the Bishops not to vote for Kicanas.
I'm standing by waiting for Grant Gallicho to write about the SNAP folk being ignorant people who aren't in control of the facts or abusing a 16 year old is different than abusing a 10 year old and wouldn't be a red flag McCormack was a pedophile.
This story about Mundelin and this story about a seminarian victimized at Mundelin (though not during Kicanas' tenure) has made me realize that I've really been underestimating our little problem.
Here in Boston, we'll often get information from priests who are afraid of what they call the 'lavender mafia'. The interesting thing is, it seems to me to be worse under Cardinal O'Malley's regime but maybe I am just hearing it over the last seven or so years. In any event,
This story for me is something I have prayerfully thought about over the last few days. I don't think I ever really understood what they meant by it.
The story is a hard one because the priest who abused the power of his position actually was very remorseful and had been living a celibate life. I suspect he was abused himself. I hope and pray he made it through the gauntlet. Read:
The use of the Sacrament of Confession to exploit this man's weaknesses is incredulous. I also could not help but wonder about the oddly placed refence to the Sacrament of Confession in his explanation of what he meant by the word "activity".
This is unadulterated evil and I am really beginning to wonder if Bp Kicanas is a poster boy for the cult.
Incidently, while Kicanas didnt return phone calls to journalists covering the sexcapades, call this a hunch, but me thinks Kicanas was very proactive about making a phone call to Fr. Owen at the National Catholic Register to get a wordsmythed booty-protecting FAQ into the Register.
I can’t quite grasp what you see as a problem. Kicanas appears to me to have addressed all of the concerns about his handling of McCormack, except perhaps for a 2nd or 3rd hand account of 3 “incidents” while M was at Mundelein. These incidents may have been the 3 allegations about a single incident in Mexico, or that incident plus two ‘experiments’ before Mundelein. K explicitly states “to our knowledge he never had any sexual activity with anyone during his four years at Mundelein”, which directly contradicts what has been represented as Cardinal George’s testimony....K considered these peer relations, and I am not sure there was a reason to question that.
When McCormack was an undergraduate (i.e. not under Kicanis’ supervision), he seemed to have had some boozy, consensual sex on a couple of occasions, as is wont to occur among college undergraduates,at least when I was in college. Presumably, both McCormack and his partner(s) were not minors...
That’s what I have to keep reminding myself — that there is more to their ministry than keeping perverts from children,...
There's a regime at stake that more than meets the eye with the election of Kicanas. One of the commenters say if 'they' are successful in 'derailing' Kicanas, it will be the end of the Bernadin era at the USCCB.
I think that's the tip of the iceberg of what's going on here.
BTW - The Rainbow Sash Movement has endorsed Bishop Kicanas. So that makes Commonweal and the Rainbow Sash Movement.
Interesting.
The work is done and it's time to pray.
Boston Bloggers are in the middle of sorting out more tips on what transpired under Bp. Kicanas but have responded substantively HERE.
There is a timeline and some pretty compelling "rebuttals" to Bp. Kicanas' 'response'.
As is often the case with things we start to peel back the layers, I am getting the feeling that the election of Bp. Kicanas means something bigger than the USCCB electing a Bishop who sees ordaining a drunkard with three documented allegations of sexual abuse in his seminary file, including one minor, as fair play.
If you go over and read the thread in Commonweal, it's pretty scary actually. It really drove home to me that the Catholics who sell sexual liberation theology are dangerous. They're dangerous in the pews, in our parishes and all the way up to the USCCB. The liberation theologists supported Paul Shanley et al and while I have been skeptical their disputations about sexual abuse of minors was more about an agenda to strike at the Body of Christ, this incident really confirmed it for me.
The Commonweal crowd is deleting factual information posted in their comments section, and worst of all now saying that the abuse of older 'minors' is some kind of excusable offense to protect Kicanas and the USCCB from being held accountable -- it is painful. I've clipped their most disturbing twists of factual information below.
Here we have a Bishop who had a conversation with a seminarian after a complaint came in about his drunken night in a barroom groping a minor in the pants. He reveals to the Bishop that he was an alcoholic and the drink causes him to lose control sexually. He admits, directly to the Bishop, that the problem has led to numerous sexual encounters. The vice rector of the seminary testifies that seminarian's file contains a Memo describing three instances of abuse, including one instance with a minor. Kicanas, who was the rector of the seminary concludes that it would be grossly unfair not to ordain him and he clears the seminarian for ordination. Says he thought the "activity" was something the seminarian would eventually work out of his immature sexual system. The Memo describing the abuse disappears from the file. After 23 more victims, he says there was nothing he would have done differently. This week, he issues a statement full of holes.
This is the most egregious thing I have ever read from a Bishop.
SNAP spent the day today protesting and asking the Bishops not to vote for Kicanas.
SNAP member and supporters distributed leaflets outside Holy Name Cathedral and urged church leaders to vote against Bishop Gerald Kicanas, a former Chicago priest who is now a Bishop in Tucson.
According to SNAP, Kicanas was the rector of Mundelein Seminary where convicted pedophile priest Daniel McCormack studied. The group says Kicanas knew of McCormack's sexual abuse and did nothing about it.
"We question why they would want to pick someone who has a history of covering up for a child molester and someone who failed to warn parents about his problems," said SNAP's Barbara Blaine
I'm standing by waiting for Grant Gallicho to write about the SNAP folk being ignorant people who aren't in control of the facts or abusing a 16 year old is different than abusing a 10 year old and wouldn't be a red flag McCormack was a pedophile.
This story about Mundelin and this story about a seminarian victimized at Mundelin (though not during Kicanas' tenure) has made me realize that I've really been underestimating our little problem.
Here in Boston, we'll often get information from priests who are afraid of what they call the 'lavender mafia'. The interesting thing is, it seems to me to be worse under Cardinal O'Malley's regime but maybe I am just hearing it over the last seven or so years. In any event,
This story for me is something I have prayerfully thought about over the last few days. I don't think I ever really understood what they meant by it.
The story is a hard one because the priest who abused the power of his position actually was very remorseful and had been living a celibate life. I suspect he was abused himself. I hope and pray he made it through the gauntlet. Read:
The alleged affair began in 1990 during the student's freshman year. At that time, the former seminarian said, Yakaitis served as his spiritual director, counselor and academic professor. In a letter released Monday, the former seminarian said he understood his communication with Yakaitis as his spiritual director to be confidential.
"In the course of my spiritual direction with Father Yakaitis, I divulged my confusion about my sexuality, my dawning realization that I am gay, and my struggle to learn how to integrate my sexual identity with my desire to be a priest," he wrote. "Father Yakaitis presented himself as a mentor and a friend, leading me to trust and confide in him."
But, the former seminarian said, late in the fall of his freshman year, Yakaitis abused his role and began using alcohol, coercion and blackmail to initiate a series of sexual encounters. Every time the student tried to end the relationship, he said, Yakaitis threatened to terminate his seminary career.
In November 1991, the seminarian confronted Yakaitis when another student confided that he, too, had sexual encounters with the priest, the former seminarian said. During that confrontation, the student said Yakaitis told him that he would inform his family and the archdiocese of the student's homosexual behavior and expel him from the seminary.
Frightened by that prospect, the student withdrew from the seminary and continued his studies at Loyola University, he said.
In summer 1993, the student sought admission to St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein to "conquer my pain by facing the abuse and reclaiming my desire to be a priest," he said.
During a series of meetings, he said he notified a number of administrators within the archdiocese about Yakaitis' behavior, including Rev. Gerald Kicanas, now bishop of Tucson, Ariz., and Rev. John Canary, then vicar for priests, now rector of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary.
In a memo, Kicanas, then rector of the Mundelein seminary, recommended that the victim take two years off "to explore these issues in therapy to resolve the justified anger that resulted from this significant breach of trust."
Kicanas did not return calls for comment Tuesday.
The use of the Sacrament of Confession to exploit this man's weaknesses is incredulous. I also could not help but wonder about the oddly placed refence to the Sacrament of Confession in his explanation of what he meant by the word "activity".
This is unadulterated evil and I am really beginning to wonder if Bp Kicanas is a poster boy for the cult.
Incidently, while Kicanas didnt return phone calls to journalists covering the sexcapades, call this a hunch, but me thinks Kicanas was very proactive about making a phone call to Fr. Owen at the National Catholic Register to get a wordsmythed booty-protecting FAQ into the Register.
HERE IS THE TESTIMONY FROM THE DEPOSITION:
. I had thought that Father Kicanas was the
17 Rector.
18 o. Okay.
19 And it goes on to state of the seminary
20 identified that three distinct allegations of
21 sexual of both adults and of a minor on
22 the part of Father McCormack were brought to the
23 attention of the seminary officials in the spring
24 quarter of 1992. The former Vice Rector recalls
17 Rector.
18 o. Okay.
19 And it goes on to state of the seminary
20 identified that three distinct allegations of
21 sexual of both adults and of a minor on
22 the part of Father McCormack were brought to the
23 attention of the seminary officials in the spring
24 quarter of 1992. The former Vice Rector recalls
**CONFIDENTIAL***
1 Q. He should never have been ordained, should
2 he, based on that — based on that memo you
3 reviewed?
4 A. He would not have been ordained now and he
5 should never have been ordained then.
6 Q. The last paragraph of this document states
7 there was a sense — and this is quoting Kicanas –
8 there was a sense that his activity was part of the
9 developmental process and that he had learned from
10 the experience. Kicanas said, quote, I was more
1 Q. He should never have been ordained, should
2 he, based on that — based on that memo you
3 reviewed?
4 A. He would not have been ordained now and he
5 should never have been ordained then.
6 Q. The last paragraph of this document states
7 there was a sense — and this is quoting Kicanas –
8 there was a sense that his activity was part of the
9 developmental process and that he had learned from
10 the experience. Kicanas said, quote, I was more
11 concerned about his drinking. We sent him to
12 counseling for that.
13 It’s correct to say that that memo that
14 you reviewed and those documents regarding
15 McCormack’s seminary years belie the assertion made
16 by Bishop Kicanas?
17 MR. KLENK: I would object to the extent that
18 this deals with any report from a mental health
19 advocate or he’s done an analysis. I donJt want
20 him to do that because we are precluded by law, as
21 you know, from getting intoJthat sort of
22 information.
23 MR. ANDERSON: I think you can answer,
24 Cardinal.
98
McCORKLE COURT REPORTERS, INC.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS (312) 263-0052
***CONFIDENTIAL***
1 THE WITNESS: This is a memo based upon report
2 and the memo does say that his problem is drinking.
3 BY MR. ANDERSON:
4 Q. It also says that he had sexually abused
5 at least one minor
2 and the memo does say that his problem is drinking.
3 BY MR. ANDERSON:
4 Q. It also says that he had sexually abused
5 at least one minor
HERE ARE THE CITATIONS FROM THE COMMONWEAL CROWD:
I can’t quite grasp what you see as a problem. Kicanas appears to me to have addressed all of the concerns about his handling of McCormack, except perhaps for a 2nd or 3rd hand account of 3 “incidents” while M was at Mundelein. These incidents may have been the 3 allegations about a single incident in Mexico, or that incident plus two ‘experiments’ before Mundelein. K explicitly states “to our knowledge he never had any sexual activity with anyone during his four years at Mundelein”, which directly contradicts what has been represented as Cardinal George’s testimony....K considered these peer relations, and I am not sure there was a reason to question that.
When McCormack was an undergraduate (i.e. not under Kicanis’ supervision), he seemed to have had some boozy, consensual sex on a couple of occasions, as is wont to occur among college undergraduates,at least when I was in college. Presumably, both McCormack and his partner(s) were not minors...
That’s what I have to keep reminding myself — that there is more to their ministry than keeping perverts from children,...
Carol:
Again, your comment is nonresponsive. When McCormack was a seminarian the archdiocese had no accusations of pedophilia against him.... Let’s further imagine that Kicanas dismissed him from Mundelein. What do you think happens then? His latent abusive tendencies vanish? What happens if he’s not part of a hierarchical structure that demands obedience to a superior and on which he relies for material comfort?...I’m afraid you don’t have a command of the facts in this case.....Of course now we know he was a serial abuser. But at the time, it’s not clear to me that anyone at Mundelein had cause to remove him. They suspected he had a drinking problem (although I don’t know whether he really did, or this was just a way to get him into counseling) and send him to therapy for it....
The one significant difference is that George identifies the victim in the Mexican bar as a minor. Not as a child, but as underage. That raises questions about the age of people in bars in Mexico vs US. (Abuse of an 18 year old is different from abuse of 10 year olds...
Carol, you are ignorant. “Continued indulgences.” Where is your evidence for that?...
I refer, obviously, to statements like ““When they inventory their precious bank accounts, they will regret doing so.” As far as I know, this is a new low in modern anti-Catholicism: that Tighty-Righty dissenters would make threats about money to try to bully the bishops into electing their preferred candidate, is a new low.
Obviously, at this point, the bishops pretty much have to elect Kicanas, or look like a bunch of cowards. ...
I, for one, would not ordain Carol McKinley. Would anyone here?
I’d also suggest ignoring her....
Commonweal commenting ground rules state “Your comment will be more likely to be edited or deleted if it includes ad hominem attacks; is off-topic; contains inappropriate or offensive language, advertising, copyrighted material, or suspicious information.”
To that I would add, “ignores evidence or rules of logic.”
If a subscriber refuses to acknowledge known evidence related to a discussion or argues irrationally, that should be good enough to block the account, period.
Jeanne: feel free to ignore Carol’s comments. It’s a tricky balance. I edited a couple of her lines because they were personal attacks agains Kicanas (speculating about his psyche). ...I didn’t call her stupid. I said she was ignorant about this case, and showed why. I stand by that judgment. I also stand by my judgment that she has been demagoguing this issue from the get-go. Her failure to respond to my many corrections of her distortions was the tell. Incidentally, I know that conservatives here like to play the victim when people like me push back on their arguments forcefully. I’m not going to let this thread descend into victimology.
Grant Gallicho
CONTRIBUTOR
CONTRIBUTOR
Kicanas says he had not heard any allegations of sexual abuse at the time. He learned of inappropriate sexual conduct and, after investigating and speaking with McCormack...
END
I think that's the tip of the iceberg of what's going on here.
BTW - The Rainbow Sash Movement has endorsed Bishop Kicanas. So that makes Commonweal and the Rainbow Sash Movement.
Interesting.
The work is done and it's time to pray.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Bishop Kicanas Responds: More Questions Arise
Bishop Kicanas has published a rebuttal.
It is eerily similar to the many times Boston Catholics tried to report factual information to Catholic journalists and found out the Chancery was running interference and putting pressure on journalists to publish a FAQ they ginned up that danced around the incriminating facts.
In fact, this is exactly one of the reasons Boston Catholics are building their own media outlets to expose episcopal corruption. As things were unraveling here under Cardinal O'Malley and we gave Catholic journalists factual information about what was going on, when Cardinal O'Malley and his staff got wind of it, they would use their influence to try to snuff out the story.
One time (I think it was over the major stockholder shares the Archdiocese took in the abortion referral business before they unloaded Catholic Healthcare all together), they scrounged up their own journalist to gin up a FAQ that was a damage control waltz to discredit Catholics distributing factual information.
I got wind of the set up from an employee at the Chancery. The FAQ deceptively tip toed around the incriminating evidence. I wrote to all involved in the deceptive FAQ initiative, restated the facts, told them I would make sure it would backfire in Christendom and they withdrew that strategy from the table. The Cardinal eventually had to admit to the sufficient findings that the Archdiocese had set up an abortion referral business and were set to receive profits which they said they intended to defer to somebody else.
Not surprisingly, Boston Catholics were not at all comforted by their solution that they would tithe any profits the abortion business brought in. It's a little like the mob skimming the top to donate to a peace and justice commission.
The influence the Cardinal and their staff uses with Catholic newspapers and media outlets, including sadly some orthodox people who blog actually has happened dozens of times. This is why we are going outside of their circle of influence to expose in detail the factual information in a way where there is no tool to apply pressure. We don't have donors who can put the squeeze on us and we are abandoned to serving Christ and His Church and truth.
Let me cut to the chase:
He takes exception. He never knew. He was never there.
He didn't know the journalist was going to write about his poor judgment and he had no opportunity to do damage control.
Here we go with the same old same old:
He's where I start having some trouble:
It is eerily similar to the many times Boston Catholics tried to report factual information to Catholic journalists and found out the Chancery was running interference and putting pressure on journalists to publish a FAQ they ginned up that danced around the incriminating facts.
In fact, this is exactly one of the reasons Boston Catholics are building their own media outlets to expose episcopal corruption. As things were unraveling here under Cardinal O'Malley and we gave Catholic journalists factual information about what was going on, when Cardinal O'Malley and his staff got wind of it, they would use their influence to try to snuff out the story.
One time (I think it was over the major stockholder shares the Archdiocese took in the abortion referral business before they unloaded Catholic Healthcare all together), they scrounged up their own journalist to gin up a FAQ that was a damage control waltz to discredit Catholics distributing factual information.
I got wind of the set up from an employee at the Chancery. The FAQ deceptively tip toed around the incriminating evidence. I wrote to all involved in the deceptive FAQ initiative, restated the facts, told them I would make sure it would backfire in Christendom and they withdrew that strategy from the table. The Cardinal eventually had to admit to the sufficient findings that the Archdiocese had set up an abortion referral business and were set to receive profits which they said they intended to defer to somebody else.
Not surprisingly, Boston Catholics were not at all comforted by their solution that they would tithe any profits the abortion business brought in. It's a little like the mob skimming the top to donate to a peace and justice commission.
The influence the Cardinal and their staff uses with Catholic newspapers and media outlets, including sadly some orthodox people who blog actually has happened dozens of times. This is why we are going outside of their circle of influence to expose in detail the factual information in a way where there is no tool to apply pressure. We don't have donors who can put the squeeze on us and we are abandoned to serving Christ and His Church and truth.
Let me cut to the chase:
He takes exception. He never knew. He was never there.
At no time while McCormack was a seminarian at Mundelein did I receive any allegation of pedophilia or child molestation against him. I never received any allegation, report or concern about McCormack during his seminary years at Mundelein that involved sexual abuse of anyone.
He didn't know the journalist was going to write about his poor judgment and he had no opportunity to do damage control.
Further, the reporter misrepresented to the Diocese of Tucson the nature and focus of the report when he contacted the Diocese seeking to talk to me, saying only he wanted to talk about the election of the new president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. That was not what the report was about.
Here we go with the same old same old:
There are many Web sites and blogs that are vehicles for communicating outrageously inaccurate and grossly unfair assertions. I had never heard of this Web site before last week. We do respond to news media reports as we deem necessary. When an inaccurate report begins to be exploited by other legitimate news media without any effort to ascertain the accuracy of the report and without allowing us to respond, we do respond, which is why we were in contact with the Register today.It is tiring that these Bishops continually control the Catholic media and undermine legitimate concerns with this kind of behavior.
He's where I start having some trouble:
Can you explain what is documented in the deposition of Cardinal Francis George and the subsequent news stories that cite that you were made aware of three incidents involving Daniel McCormack while he was a seminarian?
I have not read nor do I know any details about the Cardinal’s deposition....
Were you made aware, at any time, while rector, of adult, consensual, homosexual activity on the part of Daniel McCormack, with his peers in the seminary?
Outside the Sacrament of Reconciliation, any sexual experience of a seminarian that the Mundelein seminary administration learned about would have been subject to evaluation and would have been a possible cause for dismissal.
The Bishop’s clarifications do not address Cardinal George’s deposition which reveals there was evidence Bishop Kicanas was aware, according to the Cardinal.
It is a rather casual dismissal of a substantive factual conflict in his assertions, is it not?
Further, I’m curious to know why there is a reference to activity ‘outside the Sacrament of confession’. Do I understand this to mean that if priests confess pedophilia he can protect himself from evaluation and dismissal unless or until a victim comes forward?
I am pretty sure this is how the Sacrament of Confession works. Peculiar it is mentioned in the Bishop’s rebuttal. Why bring it up at all?
It almost seems like an inoculation.
Let us take it to the lowest common denominator – Bishop Kicanas says he had a seminarian on his hands with a noted problem with booze and a confirmed instance that the booze made him lose his inhibitions and have numerous inappropriate sexual encounters.
The revelation of these sexual encounters came when a complaint was brought forward that he inappropriately was patting another man's backside at a bar. But drunken innappropriate sexual encounters had all been worked out with his spiritual advisor, the seminarian said.
Well then, what was he doing in the Bishop's office explaining why he was in barroom patting somebody's bum bum?
Did the Bishop ever find out the age of what the seminarian referred to as ‘peers’ in these encounters?
Why did 23 more victims have to come forward before the Bishop supervised the man given this history?
There is nothing more he could have done about this? Really?
Even if you can get past the fact that the very reason why the seminarian was in his office proved the problem was not taken care of, how about supervising the man a little more closely given the nature of the problems that he admits were brought to his attention before 23 more problems developed?
There is nothing more he could have done about this? Really?
Even if you can get past the fact that the very reason why the seminarian was in his office proved the problem was not taken care of, how about supervising the man a little more closely given the nature of the problems that he admits were brought to his attention before 23 more problems developed?
This still raises many questions in my mind that are very unsettling to me.
At the end of the day, the election of Bishop Kicanas is going to put the scandal right front and center again and he should recuse himself along with any other Bishop on the list (irrespective of their history of doctrinal positions) who has a history of poor judgment that led to the sexual abuse of minors.
BOSTON CATHOLIC INSIDER has an ACTION ALERT.
Please take part in the action and circulate it to those in your network who may also be interested.
BOSTON CATHOLIC INSIDER has an ACTION ALERT.
Please take part in the action and circulate it to those in your network who may also be interested.
Bishop Kicanas President? Hope Not...
Matt Abbot has joined the growing chorus of voices raising the alarm about the election of Bishop Kicanas.
Matt points out the concerns expressed by Tim Drake and also quotes an Illinois private investigator who is dedicated to exposing sexual predators, Thomas Hampson. Hampson points out the inconsistency in Kicanas conflicting statements that there was no "evidence" that the priest in questions had really raped the children but he concluded that the "activity" of raping children was something the priest would get out of his system eventually:
I don't know how to say this charitably, but there also seems to be a problem with Kicanas' honesty.
Matt also links to concerns raised by Mary Ann Kreitzer, our efforts here in Boston, and Tom Roeser.
Catholic Culture has also picked up the story.
It is noteworthy to keep watch on the Commonweal crowd.
Matt points out the concerns expressed by Tim Drake and also quotes an Illinois private investigator who is dedicated to exposing sexual predators, Thomas Hampson. Hampson points out the inconsistency in Kicanas conflicting statements that there was no "evidence" that the priest in questions had really raped the children but he concluded that the "activity" of raping children was something the priest would get out of his system eventually:
"It was an open secret that McCormack was involved with boys during the time he was in seminary. On the one hand Kicanas said there was no 'credible' evidence against McCormack. On the other he said that McCormack's involvement with two adult males and a minor, 'was a developmental process and he had learned from the process.' [A 2007 Chicago Sun-Times article] also reported that Kicanas sent McCormack to counseling for a drinking problem. What did he do about McCormack's involvement with the minor? Such involvement would have been a crime! Was he in the habit of overlooking criminal conduct that was brought to his attention? So, was there no credible evidence, or did he just consider it a developmental issue?"
I don't know how to say this charitably, but there also seems to be a problem with Kicanas' honesty.
Matt also links to concerns raised by Mary Ann Kreitzer, our efforts here in Boston, and Tom Roeser.
Catholic Culture has also picked up the story.
It is noteworthy to keep watch on the Commonweal crowd.
All their hooey about the 'sex abuse crisis" was really never about the children after all.
It is about how sizing up the situation to see who the “conservatives” are and take a strategy position based on how much damage can be done. Even if it means advancing a man who sees raping children as learning experiences that will eventually work itself out.
You know what's even crazier? When the USCCB Bishops were looking for some savvy advice to lecture them about how to handle the aftermath of pedophile enabling in the US Conference of Bishops, they summoned Commonweal's Peter and Margaret Seinfels.
Check back again later today when the Boston Catholic Insider will have a special announcement on the Kicanas election.
UPDATE - BISHOP KICANAS RESPONDS - HERE.
UPDATE - BISHOP KICANAS RESPONDS - HERE.
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