Running Off At The Keyboard

SPINE IN MITER AWARD

to Bishop Robert Vasa, M.Div., J.C.L., Bishop of Baker, Oregon. The following is an excerpt from an interview with Catholic Online: which was sent in by a reader:

Therefore, on April 23, 2004, Bishop Robert F. Vasa, published a 40 paragraph document entitled, "Giving Testimony to the Truth" addressed to the lay ministers of his diocese.

Following this pastoral, Bishop Vasa attached an oath of fidelity, which he titled 'Affirmation of Personal Faith.'

In the Diocese of Baker, this has been expanded to include those who take on the ecclesial duties of Catechist, Teacher, Liturgical Reader, Cantor, Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, Directors of Youth Activities and other Church positions, which entail a presumption of orthodoxy.

The Church teaches that anyone commissioned to lay apostolate in the Church should be fully accepting of all Catholic teachings.[7]

Bishop Vasa points out that it is ultimately the Bishop, as chief shepherd of a Diocese, who commissions persons to exercise these works. It is also the Bishop's responsibility to establish clear qualifying or disqualifying criteria of who may serve.

Bishop Vasa asked that everyone serving the Church in some official capacity, in all parishes, attest their acceptance of each of the Affirmation's parts.

"You would be very angry at me if I permitted someone to teach your child who had been fired from a teaching job for inappropriate actions with children. Your anger would be justified.

"You would likewise have cause to be angry with me if I permitted a person lacking all faith in the Eucharistic Presence to serve as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion or to serve as a Catechist for First Communion.

"A failure on my part to verify a person's suitability for ministry would be judged as seriously negligent. While I may want to 'presume' a person's appropriateness for ministry such presumptions are not sufficient."

Bishop Vasa made another statement in the interview that may have incredible implications:

Were all of the bishops informed of Cardinal Ratzinger's clear supportive directive citing why the bishops must deny manifest, obstinate, persistent persons in grave sin?

Bishop Vasa replied that the June memorandum from Cardinal Ratzinger was not given to the Conference of Bishops in Denver.

"As I recall, Cardinal McCarrick made reference to some letter, but I did not see a copy of the letter at the meeting. I don't know if the committee writing the 'Statement,' entitled "Catholics in Political Life," was given a copy of the letter."

Bishop Vasa was not sure when the memorandum was delivered to Cardinal McCarrick and Bishop Gregory.

It is well known that Cardinal McCarrick presented to the Conference his 'Interim Report', which instead warned against denying anyone the Eucharist.

This would indicate that it is possible Bishop McCarrick and/or Bishop Gregory had the letter and chose deliberately to withhold it from the bishops who were meeting to formulate a policy, imposing instead his own opinion which was contrary to Cardinal Ratzinger's. To put it bluntly, he may have told his superior to go to ...

Bishop opposing bishop...

The Church is coming apart. At least there may be support for faith and truth and holiness in the days ahead, even if it has to be sought out diligently to be found. I believe that the internet is the reason this is taking place. Any Catholic who wants to know what the Church really teaches and has taught down through the centuries can find out rather easily now that we can look things up on the web. This is unprecedented in the history of the Church. Perhaps it is a gift from God given to us so we can get through these difficult days with our faith intact.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

PERSECUTION OF AN ADMIRABLE PRIEST

Fr. Haley. Whistleblower. Michael Rose at Crux News tells the story of Fr. James R. Haley's persecution by Bishop Paul S. Loverde, for blowing the whistle on three priests at three different parishes. Ironically, though the Bishop did nothing about the first two, it does appear that expposure of the third priest's involvements were much more disturbing to the bishop than the other two. And it was "extraordinarily graphic and incredibly disturbing sadomasochistic sexual torture, cross-dressing, transgender pornography that involved she-males" that was the subject of the third report. Stephen Brady of Roman Catholic Faithful is supporting Fr. Haley. From the article at Crux News:

"I’ve seen the vile filth that Fr. Haley documented in those three rectories," added Brady, who describes the evidence as hardcore homosexual pornography—both magazines and videos. "I’ve got copies of it all," he added, "and the fact that Bishop Loverde failed to act on any of this evidence speaks volumes. Instead, he decides to persecute this priest while perverts and pedophiles walk free."

THE STATE OF OUR CHURCH

A reader sent in some prophecies which were given to her by a priest friend. They are attributed to Bl. Anna-Katarina Emmerick (Anne Catherine Emmerich), the same source of prophecies that Mel Gibson used to write "The Passion of the Christ."

These are taken from the book Catholic Prophecy: The Coming Chastisement by Yves DuPont, 1973, Tan Books and Publishers, ISBN: 0-89555-015-6. I read the book many years ago, and it has never been far from my thoughts. Since I have the source, I've added the paragraph citations and page numbers to what I received in e-mail. The prophecies seem to fit the current condition of the Church, so I'm sharing them with readers. Here they are, and there is much more in the book:

#53.23 June 1, 1821 -- "Then, I saw that everything that pertained to Protestantism was gradually gaining the upper hand, and the Catholic religion fell into complete decadence. Most priests were lured by the glittering but false knowledge of young school-teachers, and they all contributed to the work of destruction." (p. 68-69)

#53.30 April 22, 1823 -- "I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. They were building a great, strange, extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted to it in order to be united and have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description. Such was to be the new Church.... But God had other designs." (p. 71)

#53.3 Sept. 12, 1820 -- "I saw a strange church being built against every rule.... No angels were supervising the building operations. In that church, nothing came from high above.... There was only division and chaos. It is probably a church of human creation, following the latest fashion, as well as the new heterodox church of Rome, which seems to be of the same kind...." (p. 61)

#53.4 Sept. 12, 1820 -- "I saw again the strange big church that was being built there (in Rome). There was nothing holy in it. I saw this just as I saw a movement led by Ecclesiastics to which contributed angels, saints, and other Christians. But there (in the strange, big church) all the work was being done mechanically (i.e. according to set rules and formulae). Everything was being done according to human reason...." (p. 61)

-- "...I saw how baleful would be the consequences of this false church. I saw it increase in size; heretics of every kind came into the city (of Rome). The local clergy grew lukewarm, and I saw a great darkness...." (Can't find this one.)

#53.15 Sept. 27, 1820 -- "I saw deplorable things: they were gambling, drinking, and talking in church; they were also courting women. All sorts of abominations were perpetrated there. Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence. I saw that few of them were still godly, and only a few had sound views on things. I also saw Jews standing under the porch of the Church. All these things caused me much distress." (p. 66)

#53.2 May 13, 1820 -- "Once more I saw that the Church of Peter was undermined by a plan evolved by the secret sect, while storms were damaging it. But I saw also that help was coming when distress had reached its peak. I saw again the Blessed Virgin ascend on the Church and spread her mantle [over it]. I saw a Pope who was at once gentle, and very firm.... I saw a great renewal, and the Church rose high in the sky." (p. 60)

#53.16 Oct. 1, 1820 -- "The Church is in great danger. We must pray so that the Pope may not leave Rome; countless evils would result if he did. They are now demanding something from him. The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks are to spread everywhere...." (p. 66)

#53.22 June 1, 1821 -- "I saw what I believe to be nearly all the bishops of the world, but only a small number were perfectly sound. I also saw the Holy Father -- God-fearing and prayerful.... [h]e was weakened by old age and much suffering. His head was lolling side to side, and it dropped onto his chest as if he were falling asleep. He often fainted and seemed to be dying...." (p. 68)

#53.25 1820-1821 -- "I see many excommunicated ecclesiastics who do not seem to be concerned about it, nor even aware of it. Yet, they are (ipso facto) excommunicated whenever they cooperate to [sic] enterprises, enter into associations, and embrace opinions on which an anathema has been cast. It can be seen thereby that God ratifies the decrees, orders, and interdictions issued by the Head of the Church, and that He keeps them in force even though men show no concern for them, reject them, or laugh them to scorn." (p. 69)

#53.27 April 12, 1820 -- "I had another vision of the great tribulation. It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded. It was as if people were splitting into two camps." (p. 70)

#53.17 Oct. 4, 1820 -- "When I saw the Church of St. Peter in ruins, and the manner in which so many of the clergy were themselves busy at this work of destruction -- none of them wishing to do it openly in front of the others -- I was in such distress that I cried out to Jesus with all my might, imploring His mercy. Then, I saw before me the Heavenly Spouse, and He spoke to me for a long time.... He said, among other things, that this translation of the Church from one place to another meant that she would seem to be in complete decline. But she would rise again; even if there remained but one Catholic, the Church would conquer again because she does not rest on human counsels and intelligence. It was also shown to me that there were almost no Christians left in the old acceptation of the word." (p. 67)

#53.28 Jan. 27, 1822 -- "I saw a new Pope who will be very strict. He will estrange from him the cold and lukewarm bishops. He is not a Roman, but he is Italian. He comes from a place which is not very far from Rome, and I think he comes from a devout family of royal blood. But there must still be for a while much fighting and unrest." (p. 70)

SPAIN AND SEXUAL CHILD ABUSE

Yesterday I posted a link to the Spanish bishop's statement on homosexual marriage. A reader sent in this gay and lesbian website describing the benefits of a visit to Spain, which includes, among other things, the age of consent in Spain. Specifically, 12 years old. For lesbian, gay, and hetero sex. 12. As in 7th grade. Most of the boys are shorter than the girls in 7th grade. They haven't had their growth spurt yet. But in Spain they are considered to be sexual adults. Eligible to marry a gay lover if the government of Spain approves homosexual marriage?

Where Spain goes, will the U.S. fail to follow? Catholic parishioners, after all, support their gay priests. Check out Roman Catholic Faithful's evidence on Fr. Lasteri and his "guest" at the rectory, who attempted to sodomize a 6-year-old. If Catholics fail to get upset about this, why would anyone else?

The usual "forgiveness" apologists are out in Amy's blog. Forgiving this staining of the Bride of Christ is going to take a lot more repentance than there is any evidence of. Read and look at Fr. Lastiri's goodbye letter website carefully. Notice the background? That's a rainbow back there. That symbol spits in the face of the victim and his mother. Notice that Fr. Lastiri is touting his monetary accomplishments. He's quite proud of them. Why does he even bring them up? They have no place here. But they are a footprint. You can't serve God and Mammon. He has told us who he serves. CCC 1867: The catechetical tradition also recalls that there are "sins that cry to heaven": the blood of Abel, the sin of the Sodomites, the cry of the people oppressed in Egypt, the cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan, injustice to the wage earner.

Need I also point out that many of the minors who were abused were sons of widows or orphans?

Will CCC 1867 make the cut in the new catechism that is in the works? Don't bet on it!

While the Pope goes on tour, the Church burns.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

AN INTERESTING INTERVIEW

Robert Duncan interviews Marc Zappala, a gay chaste pro-life homosexual who is sympathetic to the Catholic religion, though not a practicing Catholic himself, and who is a Jungian. He gives some surprising answers to some probing questions.

TRANSLATION OF STATEMENT BY SPANISH BISHOPS

regarding the government's push to legalize same-sex marriage and allow homosexuals to adopt children. Robert Duncan has done the translation.

E-MAIL FROM DR. BOND

Dear Friends,

When you read the Associated Press article [linked] below concerning charges of sexual abuse against Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity, be forewarned that the author apparently has a pro-homosexual agenda. Why else would the author spin the story to make it an issue about the "age of consent"? The author misses the point that it is illegal to grab a man's penis regardless of age. The "age of consent" is irrelevant when there is no consent, but simply assault.

The article does have the virtue of revealing, however unwittingly, Timlin's own pro-homosexual agenda.

Pax vobiscum,

Dr. Jeffrey M. Bond

http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/state/9219186.htm

THE 1972 GAY RIGHTS PLATFORM

A reader found this disturbing. It was created at the National Coalition of Gay Organizations Convention held in Chicago. Read it here.

That's quite a list. And I see that it's well on the way to implementation, at least at the Federal level. Take a look at the State Level...especially the last several entries. Likely to happen? If these rules were already in place there would be no Catholic scandal. Our abusive priests would all be righteous and upstanding American citizens. What, I'm wondering is would the victims still be victims? Would legalizing this stuff mean that the victims would no longer struggle with the moral and emotional implications of abuse? Would the Church still claim to oppose it while her members continued to act like She condoned it?

We seem to be at some sort of crossroads, and what happens in the Roman Catholic Church may set standards--legal and moral--the whole world will have to live with in the near future.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE AND WEDDING CEREMONIES

While I was listening to the radio in the car yesterday afternoon, NPR did an interview with a proponent of gay marriage. Frankly, I switched it off. But then I started thinking about marriage and the cultural definition of it.

In 2004 in America, there is a lot of talk about redefining marriage. But in order to redefine it, we have to first know what its current definition is. The nation seems to be sort of confused about that. What exactly are the homosexuals asking for when they ask for the right to marry? Since it's starting to look like we really don't know because we have already done a lot of redefining ourselves, I'm tempted to conclude that many in positions of power don't see how anything they get is all that important anyway, so why not let them have it.

I tried to list some things they would be looking for, and surprisingly, I couldn't come up with much. I could make a list of the things marriage seems not to be about any longer in the thinking of our cultural leaders, like

1. A traditional religious commitment made in a familiar house of worship - Theme weddings are in, so atmosphere is important.
2. A man and a woman - Admittedly this is a gray area.
3. Conceiving children - Couples are choosing not to.
4. A union that lasts until death of a spouse - Read the divorce statistics.
5. Sexual exclusivity - Does a non-Christian really see adultery as a big deal?
6. Family - Birth control, divorce, and our mobility have almost defined family out of existence.
7. Sexually defined roles - Our clothing styles, women in the workforce, and men at the stove make us androgynous.
8. A cohesive social unit - Our working relationships get more time and attention than the relationships in our home.
9. A last name for the children - How does this work out when more and more women are using hyphenated last names or keeping their own?

What else is there? What do they intend to get when they apply for a marriage license? If the object is legal rights and privileges, those can be arranged without a marriage, per se, so that must not be it. The right to live in the same house? They don't need a marriage for that. All they need is a lawyer, and sometimes not even that. Couples do it all the time.

What does a marriage provide for the homosexual couple? In fact, what does a marriage provide for a heterosexual couple in concrete terms? Some sort of cultural legitimacy that is a holdover from the past even if it doesn't mean anything?

When I looked at the pictures of some gay weddings, this looked to be the primary focus, since many of the couples appeared with one member in a wedding gown and one member in a tux. But two women or two men do not make a traditional marriage, no matter how carefully their wedding is costumed.

Not only does homosexual marriage seem to serve little purpose, the fact that a lot of educated people support it says something about the purpose of heterosexual marriage as well, or rather the lack of it. If our cultural elite see homosexual marriage as a legitimate expression of good, they must not be seeing in heterosexual marriage any of the things that homosexual marriage lacks.

What if marriage itself, apart from the marriage of practicing Judeo-Christians, has become an anachronism? What if it's practiced solely out of the habit of defining our associations in terms of marriage, and it's too confusing to stop even when the lived reality is something entirely different? Then there really is no reason to prohibit homosexual marriage.

But even worse, what if it's nothing more than a big bash that brings in money and stuff that would be harder to acquire some other way, plus a great opportunity to be the center of attention? What if it's really just about the party, and we are not yet ready to admit it? In that case, sure, why not let homosexual marriage become the law of the land. I mean who would care if the two women living on the next block had a party and dressed up in costumes?

This line of thought led to reflections on a wedding shower I recently attended. It was a very sophisticated wedding shower. Held at a country club, with a buffet breakfast including omlets done to order, served, along with a decorated cake that the future bride and groom cut together just like at a wedding. It was much more engagement party than wedding shower, in spite of the fact that only women were invited. In lieu of party games, the couple opened her shower gifts, most of which would have been wedding presents 35 years ago. In fact, this wedding shower was more elaborate than my best friend's wedding 35 years ago. And ironically, my best friend opened her wedding presents at her reception, while the rest of us ate cake and drank punch.

In my circle of family, friends, and acquaintances wedding showers used to be held in someone's livingroom with usually less than 20 of the bride's best friends and closest family members. This recent shower must have had 100 people in attendance, and maybe more.

I don't run around in exclusive circles. I don't come from a wealthy family background. The bride's parents are working people who live in a neighborhood like mine. Ditto for the groom. There were more people at her shower than there were at my wedding. Times 3.

I guess I'm showing my age, or at the very least my disappearing values. My wedding was not about the party, obviously. Neither, I think, was my best friend's wedding. When I got married, I was making a commitment to God, to husband, and to family. To kids. To grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. Couples back then were making an unspoken promise to parents that there would be someone around to remember them even after their children, died. That there would be someone to put flowers on their grave. I was making a promise to a man that I would be there to stand by his coffin, unless he first stood by mine. That we would share our mutual memories of being young when one day we were old.

Our kids were proof that our parents' life had meaning, that they were part of the chain of humanity that started with Adam and Eve and will conclude with Christ's return. They planned to take their grandchildren to heaven with them if they got there, as we would with our own grandchildren; and back then we were certain we would have them.

None of this seems to be part of a homosexual marriage. And frankly, none of it seems to be part of a heterosexual marriage anymore, either. Now the couple packs up and moves five states away, likely as not. They will probably plan on two children, one child, or none; and they may wait for years before taking the parental plunge. If they stand beside any coffins, it will be because American Airlines had a flight out in time and the divorce papers arrived late.

Commitment to family is somewhere between tenuous and non-existent, unless Grandma and Grandpa want to babysit. Even though we still talk about it a lot, we don't let it get in the way of career advancement or vacations with bragging rights. On the list of priorities, family ranks with the need for sleep which is necessary but gets in the way of the really important stuff we want to do; and we hope science will come up with a way to dispense with it soon--especially the pregnancy and childhood part. Family interaction is limited to the number of free cell phone minutes left this month.

There do seem to be two benefits of marriage that we still retain...an efficient economic unit, and a way to postpone loneliness. Marriage can develop into a working team to accomplish what must be done in order to keep on getting and spending money. Two income bases help tide us over emergencies. Responsibilities for cooking and cleaning can be shared, and occasionally unpleasant chores can be delegated. Someone is there as a listening ear when the day has all gone wrong. It beats talking to the dog.

There is no reason I can cite to preclude homosexuals from creating a cohesive economic and social unit. No decent person would wish other people to be lonely or broke. Unless we recapture the meaning of marriage in western civ. the homosexuals are going to win their bid for legitimacy. And frankly, I'm beginning to suspect that it's not totally unreasonable that they will, though their victory may look terribly shallow from the other side of the law courts.

CATHOLIC PRESS ASSOCIATION

has awarded the Best Book by a Small Publisher award to Appreciative Inquiry in the Catholic Church by Susan Star Paddock, according to the Catholic Appreciative Inquiry website. A review at Amazon describes the book: 2004 Catholic Press Associations' "Best Book By A Small Publisher." Susan Star Paddock explains that Appreciative Inquiry is a new way of looking at the world that turns problem-solving upside-down by looking within our heart-felt memories for the undiscovered solutions that already exist. This quick-read is rich with how-to information from those who use Appreciative Inquiry in Catholic communities for strategic planning, parish planning, relationship building, transition, community development, and for spiritual renewal. She tells the stories of Catholic Relief Services, the Diocese of Cleveland, the Catholic Health Association of Canada, four different religious communities, Catholic schools and parishes, and many others. The compatibility between Appreciative Inquiry and Catholic theology is well documented in this exciting new book.

This is the program used in Vibrant Parish Life throughout the Cleveland Diocese. Its objective is to allow only positive statements during meetings, and to dispel criticism. Appreciative Inquiry is the methodology that launched United Religions Initiative worldwide. It was created at a university in Cleveland.

SPIRIT POSSESSION

is the explanation being given for the strange behavior of 11 girls at the Zamboanga City Limpapa National High School, according to ABS-CBN News Students stopped coming to school, turning it into a ghost town according to the article. An exorcism was performed by a male Subanen [I have no idea.] and a Catholic priest has said Mass. A health team was also sent to the area.

Blogger credit to Crux News.

ROGUE WAVES

As tall as ten-story buildings have been documented by satellite imaging to exist, as anecdotal evidence of sailors has claimed, and may be responsible for the sinking of ships, according to Yahoo! News

Blogger credit to Spirit Daily

BUSINESS AS USUAL - VATICAN STYLE

Spirit Daily has linked a story in The Australian that claims that a document has been discovered in the Vatican's secret archives that outlines a procedure similar to what we have seen unfolding in the sexual abuse scandal. The document is supposedly signed by Pope John XXIII. The paper calls it the equivalent of a Vatican "ratline." From the article:

Called Crimine Solicitaciones, marked confidential and bearing the seal of Pope John XXIII, its English title reads: "On the manner of proceeding in cases of the crime of solicitation." Sent to every bishop in the world in 1962, it outlines procedures for dealing with sexual abuse in the church - specifically the crime of using the privacy of the confessional for acts of sex abuse or to solicit sexual favours.

What it commands is the utmost secrecy among those involved, on pain of excommunication, and, lawyers argue, promotes a culture of keeping abuse problems in-house. Alarmingly, the 69-page instruction spells out procedures for shifting accused clerics to new postings.

"There is nothing to prevent superiors themselves, if by chance they have discovered [one of their] subjects delinquent in the administration of the sacrament of Penance ... from being able to ... admonish and correct and, if the case demands it, to remove him from some ministry. They will also be able to transfer him to another [assignment]." It states accusers also are under threat of excommunication if they speak out publicly.

While the document deals mostly with the relationship between the priest and the person taking confession, US lawyers point to a clause they say makes the document applicable in all cases of sex abuse. It reads: "To have the worst crime ... one must do the equivalent of the following: any obscene, external act, gravely sinful, perpetrated in any way by a cleric or attempted by him with youths of either sex or with brute animals (bestiality)."

How ironic that animals are mentioned here right after animals came up yesterday in the Austrian affair.

But here is the punch line. Two lawyers have concluded they can use the laws of the European Union to sue the Vatican. They aren't even waiting for the United Nations to provide the venue. This was inevitable given the animus against the Church that is as old as humanity itself, given the power increasingly placed in international political structures, and given the prophecy contained in Revelation.

"The chances really are very slim," Durso says. "Under US law the Vatican is immune from suit and each diocese is its own independent entity. We're looking at the opportunity of suing under European Union law, which guarantees other rights."

These lawyers probably will not succeed, but they have spelled out the objectives and will set a precedent that will be followed. It's just a matter of time.

BODYWORK...CONNECTING THE DOTS ONCE AGAIN

In the field of New Age alternative medicine, bodywork is one of the categories.

Nuns practice it. The Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet offer it at the Dwelling in The Woods, along with meditation, spiritual direction, a sauna, and a labyrinth.

The Sisters of Holy Names of Jesus and Mary - Ontario Province offer it:

What is meant by the “Ministry of Touch: The Art of Anointing”? It is non-sexual bodywork or massage with a spiritual dimension to the process of getting in touch with oneself.

What is bodywork? It is a nurturing touch, which is one of the oldest methods of healing. A variety type of bodywork is offered.

The rest of this website has to be read to be believed, considering that it's a website of Roman Catholic nuns.

Sister Jeannine Randolph, a Sister of the Living Word:

I am nationally certified for therapeutic massage and bodywork, offering my services at several sites. In keeping with the SLW mission, I view my work as freeing the oppressed and bringing new life.

There are more Catholic women religious involved in bodywork, but I won't bore you with more websites. If you want them, just check into Google. They're not hard to find.

Considering that it's listed separately from massage, and considering that one of the nuns' website specifically mentions that their method is "non-sexual," just what the heck is bodywork?

The Massage & Bodywork Resource Center lists a great variety of types of the technique.

Bodywork is certified by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. There is a school for it that attempts to present a professional program.

There is a New School of Erotic Touch where Dr. Joseph Kramer presents courses online from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, in San Francisco, that trains erotic bodyworkers. Notice the "Course Structure":

Course Structure
This training is a half-trimester, 150-hour course. Students participate in six weeks of home study before attending 100 classroom hours in a two-week intensive format. Upon completion, students will receive a Certificate in Sexological Bodywork. Furthermore, course credits can count toward any academic degree at the Institute, including the Master of Public Health, the Doctor of Education and the Ph.D. in Human Sexuality.

Another page in the website leaves little doubt as to what this school is about. (Warning, you may find this webpage offensive.)

I almost took it for granted that none of the nuns would have anything to do with the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, considering the course content of one of its schools, which is little more than legalized and certified prostitution. Almost, but not quite.

A website dedicated to clergy sex abuse cites the Institute:

Question: What is Sexual Attitude Restructuring? Answer: It's a pornography show by which you get a degree, essentially. It was created at the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco, and its academic dean was Dr Wardell Pomeroy, co-author of the Kinsey Report (p 38). To get a degree you had to watch hundreds of hours of pornography, in order to accept and enjoy this activity (p 39). Clergy came to such training institutes, and went into clergy-training institutions to train future clergy (p 39 a). Their mission statement says that everybody, including children, ought to be able to have sex with anybody. (p 39 b).

A Catholic hospital cites it as well:

Are oats sexy? In 1986, researchers at the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality gave 300 milligrams Avena sativa to 20 men and 20 women for six weeks. Genital sensation increased 22% in men and 15% in women, while frequency of orgasm increased 36% in men and 29% in women. In a subsequent study, 120 volunteers received oats for 28 days and then a placebo for 28 days. The men reported increased sex drive and more sexual satisfaction when taking oats versus placebo. Experts explain that the sex hormone testosterone binds to various substances in the body as people age, which can reduce sexual desire. Avena sativa frees up testosterone in the body, which reportedly stimulates the libido.

You'll find that citation under "Myths and Maybes." Can an institution get any more mainstream than being cited by a Catholic Hospital? Here is someone the Institute has certified. Want to see a picture of her? While you're there, take note of the fact that she specializes in Massage Therapy and Bodywork. She also specializes in being a surrogate partner. Legalized, certified prostitution?

The Catholic women religious have certainly come a long way from the days of cloisters and perpetual adoration. This may help to explain why there is often not even a hint of God in their websites. Will they embrace the total package of bodywork, or keep their version non-sexual? Considering the relationship between massage, goddess worship, tantra, sacred sex; and considering the nuns enthusiasm for goddess worship, bodywork, massage, and other new age enthusiasms along with the Vagina Monologues, I'm not hopeful about the future of the religious orders. At the very least it can be said that they are playing with fire, and the Church is apt to once again get burned.

Thanks to a reader for suggesting this topic and finding some of the websites.

ANOTHER SCANDAL AND A LAWSUIT THAT WILL USE THE RICO ACT

Check out Michael Rose's story on another one, which will be the first time RICO will be used. Immorality, fraud, lies, attempted rape, and cover-ups. It's revolting.

The story ends with these paragraphs:

Hower’s own investigation, he says, has revealed the same pattern of deception in the dioceses of Boston, Los Angeles, Saint Louis, Minneapolis, Chicago, Manchester and Portland, Maine—to name but a few. Hower’s treatment at the hands of Keeler and Moreno illustrates the modus operandi whereby whistleblowers are treated as criminals, while active homosexual priests are protected and promoted by their allies in what priest sociologist Fr. Andrew Greeley has dubbed "the Lavender Mafia."

"The pattern of job termination and banishment continues to underscore the Church’s attempt to obstruct justice and to create a so-called stone wall between itself and civilian law enforcement authorities who seek the identification of perverted priests so that criminal prosecutions might ensue," the lawsuit states.

The suit also states that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops under the leadership of Bishop Wilton Gregory assisted the defendants in the obstruction of justice.

In a paragraph that nicely sums up the nature of Hower’s complaints, the lawsuit states: "The actions of which [Hower] complains were committed by persons in pursuit of their own secular interests, who used the structure of the Roman Catholic Church as a shield behind which they could conduct their affairs in wanton and intentional disregard of the criminal and civil law of the State of Arizona and the United States of America, and in contempt of the tenets of their faith, and in deliberate flaunting of their nominal positions as officials and managers within the Roman Catholic Church."

For the past month, the Diocese of Tucson has been considering filing for bankruptcy.

Frankly, at this point, I hope they are all convicted and end up going to jail.

I don't think I'll ever be able to respect a bishop again. At least not one of the bishops who have been in office during the years when this scandal was under cover. They all need to be replaced!

SSJ IN THE NEWS AGAIN

At the Scranton Times Tribune.

TORONTO BLESSING EVALUATED

A report at the website of the Christian Research Association, by Anne-Marie Skegg, based on her dissertation on Toronto Blessing for the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

She describes the phenomena experienced, and notes the typical result--division of the congregation, and the fading out of the phenomena after a short period of time.

She also labels Toronto Blessing as the third of three waves beginning with the Pentecostal movement in the early part of the 20th century, moving on to the second wave of Charismatic Renewal, and culminating in the third wave Toronto Blessing.

Interestingly, Holy Trinity Brompton is mentioned particularly.

The ‘Toronto Experience’ is now uncommon, even in those churches which were swept by it a few years ago. The general assessment from the churches where the experience occurred has been positive. Many participants continued to experience growth in their Christian life. An atmosphere of enthusiasm continues to echo in congregational life although in more indirect forms. In some churches the contrast between now and five years ago, before the ‘Blessing’, is quite striking.

Sometimes churches who originally embraced the move with open arms still exhibit its hallmarks. Holy Trinity Brompton, London is an example. The fervour has diminished. The laughter and unusual noises are rare now.

Also interesting in the negative category:

Some conservative evangelicals have labelled it unscriptual. The Revd Alan Morrison, the Baptist minister whose video on it was widely viewed, claimed that it was occultic-gnostic-evil-New-Age Meditation that allowed the individual to become infested with the Hindu Shakti power.

On a related note, some information on glossolalia...

In the book The Assemblies of God at the Crossroads: Charisma and Institutional Dilemmas, by Mrgaret M. Poloma, published by The University of Tennessee Press, I found:

Charismatic manifestations that play an important role in the scriptures, particularly in the Acts of the Apostles, which recounts the history of the early Church, appeared to retain their importance until organization usurped them. Partially in reaction to the Montanist and Gnostic heresies, in which glossolalia and other charismata were widely practiced, the emergent ecclesiastical organization discouraged these forms of religious experience along with the alleged heresies. In the language of social science, the religious experiences that launched the organization were now being opposed by the ecclesiastical structure. ...Paradoxically, the Roman Catholic Church accepted these charismatic manifestations as evidence of sainthood while attempting to keep the reins on the religious experiences of the common person.

In summary, Burgess (1976:25) makes two observations about medieval Catholicism's dual standards. It condemned glossolalia and interpretation as evidence of demon possession while simultaneously honoring "a few of its more illustrious number for their tongue-speaking." (p. 24-25)

That double standard reflects what I've found in reading Catholic material, particularly Catholic prophecy.

Also from the same book:

Glossolalia is believed to be primarily, if not solely, a Christian-based phenomenon. Although Samarin maintains there are non-Christian forms of glossolalia (he devotes some attention to a spiritualist medium's use of it), he acknowledges that the recorded cases are mainly Christian, with non-Christian usage being "hard to document" (Samarin, 1972:131). Records from the early Church suggest that glossolalia was practiced extensively in Christianity until the third century (Fordsham, 1946; H. Hunter, 1980). At this time the early Church Fathers took a stand against the Gnostic and Montanist heresies, both of which included speaking in tongues. (Williams and Waldvogel, 1975: 64-66). Although the practice of glossolalia may have an unbroken history in the Orthodox Church (Kelsey, 1964:43), it was not until the seventeenth century that speaking in tongues was again reported in Western Christianity. Possible evidence exists for glossolalia among the Ranters and Quakers in Britain and among a group of Huguenots in France (Kelsey, 1964). In the nineteenth century both the Mormons and Shakers assigned it an important place in their constitutions. (Hinson, 1973:65)

Since I can find no evidence anywhere else that the Orthodox Church has kept glossolalia, I checked the specific reference in the Biblio. The book cited is Kelsey, Morton T., Tongue Speaking, 1964, Doubleday.

WHAT IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE ?

They're in church. I see confessionals, so the church is Catholic. It's not the orans position. Are they trying to bless some First Communicants? Anyway, the picture is linked at Novus Ordo Watch.

SMOKE OF SATAN SPEECH

Pope Paul VI's "Smoke of Satan" speech is often mentioned, but the speech itself was apparently not kept.

In May of 2001 I wrote to the Cleveland diocesan seminary, St. Mary's, asking for a copy of it, and was given a microfilm printout of the following, which seems to be all that is available.

Since Justin and Soraym asked for it in a comments box, here it is.

===============================================

On 29 June Paul VI celebrated Holy Mass for the liturgical solemnity of the feast of SS. Peter and Paul and for the IX anniversary of his Coronation The Holy Father delivered a Homily which is summarized below.


Be Strong in the Faith

Pope Paul’s homily on the Feast of SS. Peter and Paul

L’Osservatore Romano

July 13, 1972

On 29 June Paul VI celebrated Holy Mass for the liturgical solemnity of the feast of SS. Peter and Paul and for the IX anniversary of his Coronation. The Holy Father delivered a Homily which is summarized below.

The Holy Father began by saying that he owed warm thanks to all those, Brothers and Sons, who were present in the Basilica and those who, far away, but associated with them spiritually, were attending the sacred rite. The latter, intended to celebrate the Apostle Peter, to whom the Vatican Basilica, the privileged custodian of the tomb and relics, is dedicated, and the Apostle Paul, always united with him in apostolic design and worship, had another intention, that of recalling the anniversary of his election to the succession in the pastoral ministry of the fisherman Simon, the son of Jona, whom Christ named Peter, and therefore in the function of Bishop of Rome, Pontiff of the universal Church and visible and humble Vicar of Christ the Lord on earth. His warm thanks was for all the love of Christ that the presence of so many faithful showed him in the sign of his poor person, and therefore assured him of their loyalty and indulgence, as well as their resolution, so consoling for him, to help him with their prayer. Paul VI went on to say that he did not want to speak in his short address of St. Peter, for it would take too long and was perhaps superfluous for those who already know his admirable story; nor of himself, since the press and the radio, to which he expressed his due gratitude, already speak too much of him. He wished rather to speak of the Church, which at that moment and from that place seemed to appear stretched out before his eyes in her vast and complicated panorama. He would merely repeat a word of the Apostle Peter himself, as said by him to the immense Catholic community in his first letter, included in the Canon of writings of the New Testament. This beautiful message was addressed from Rome to the first Christians of Asia Minor, partly Jewish, partly pagan in origin, as if to show, even then, the universality of Peter’s apostolic ministry. It is parenetic, that is, exhortative in character, but it also contains doctrinal teachings, and the saying to which the Pope referred was one of these, so much so that the recent Council took it as one of its characteristic teachings. Paul VI invited them to listen to it as spoken by St. Peter himself for those to whom he addressed it then.

The Israel of Christ

After recalling the passage of Exodus which narrates how God, speaking to Moses before giving him the Law, said: “I will make this people a priestly and royal people”, Paul VI said that St. Peter took this saying and applied it to the new people of God, the heir and continuer of the Israel of the Bible to form a new Israel, the Israel of Christ. St. Peter says: It will be the priestly and royal people that will glorify the God of mercy, the God of salvation.

These words, the Holy Father pointed out, have been misunderstood by some people, as if the priesthood were only one order, that is as if it were communicated to all those who are part of the Mystical Body of Christ, to all Christians. That is true as regards what is indicated as the common priesthood; but the Council tells us, and Tradition had already taught us, that there exists another degree of the priesthood, the ministerial priesthood, which has particular and exclusive faculties and prerogatives.

But what concerns everyone is the royal priesthood and the Pope dwelt upon the significance of this expression. Priesthood means the capacity to worship God, to communicate with Him, to offer him [sic] something in his [sic] honor in a worthy way, to talk to him [sic], to seek him [sic] always at a new depth, in a new discovery, in a new love. This impetus of humanity towards God, who is never sufficiently reached, nor enough known, is the priesthood of those who are part of the only Priest, who is Christ, after the inauguration of the New Testament. He who is a Christian is for that very reason endowed with this quality, this prerogative of being able to speak to the Lord in real terms, as a son to his father. “Audemus dicere”: we can really celebrate, before the Lord, the Pope said, a rite, a liturgy of common prayer, a sanctification even of profane life, which distinguishes the Christian from the non-Christian. This people is distinct, even if confused in the midst of the great tide of humanity. It has a distinction, an unmistakable characteristic of its own. St. Paul said he was “segregatus”, detached, distinguished from the rest of mankind just because he was invested with prerogatives and functions not possessed by those who do not have the extreme good fortune and excellence of being members of Christ.

Paul VI said, therefore, that the faithful who are called to be children of God, to take part in the Mystical Body of Christ; and are animated by the Holy Spirit, and have been made the temple of God’s presence, must exercise this dialogue, this talk, this conversation with God in religion, in liturgical worship, in private worship, and extend the sense of sacrality also to profane actions. “Whether you eat, or drink—St. Paul says—do so for the glory of God.” And he says so several times, in his letters, as if to claim for the Christian the capacity of infusing something new, of illuminating, sacralizing even temporal, external, fleeting, profane things.

We are invited to give the Christian people, which is called the Church, a really sacred meaning. And we feel we must check the rising wave of profanity, desacralization, secularization, which wishes to confuse and overcome the religious sense in the depths of hearts, in private life or even in the affirmations of external life. The tendency today is to affirm that there is no need to distinguish one man from another, that there is nothing that can bring about this discrimination. On the contrary, the attempt is made to restore to man his authenticity, his being like all the others. But the Church, and today St. Peter, calling the Christian people to self-awareness, tell them that they are the elect people, distinct, “acquired” by Christ, a people that must exercise a particular relationship with God, a priesthood with God. Today this sacralization of life must not be cancelled, expelled from behavior and daily reality as if it should no longer have a place.

Sacredness of God’s People

We have lost the religious habit, Paul VI pointed out, and so many other external manifestations of religious life. On this point there is still a great deal to be discussed and a great deal to be granted, but it is necessary to maintain the concept, and with the concept also some sign, of the sacredness of the Christian people, of those, that is, who are members of Christ, the High and Eternal Priest.

Today some sociological movements tend to study mankind disregarding this contact with God. The sociology of St. Peter on the contrary, the sociology of the Church, in studying men emphasizes precisely this sacral aspect, of conversation with the ineffable, with God, with the divine word. It must be affirmed in the study of all human differentiations. However heterogeneous mankind is, we must not forget this fundamental unity that the Lord confers on us when He gives us grace; we are all brothers in Christ Himself. There are no longer Jews, nor Greeks, nor Scythians, nor barbarians, nor men, nor women. We are all one thing in Christ. We are all sanctified, we have all participation in this degree of supernatural elevation that Christ has conferred on us. St. Peter reminds us of this: it is the sociology of the Church which we must not wipe out or forget.

Paul VI then asked himself if the Church of today can tranquilly be compared with the words that Peter bequeathed to us, offering them in mediation. “We think once more at this moment with immense charity—the Holy Father said—of all our brothers who leave us, of those who are fugitives and forgetful, of those who have never even become aware, perhaps, of the Christian vocation, although they have received Baptism. How much we would really like to stretch our hands out to them, and tell them that our heart is always open, and that the door is easy to find, and how much we would like to make them participants in the great, ineffable good fortune of our happiness, that of being in communication with God, which does not deprive us in any way of the temporal view and of the positive realism of the exterior world!”

Perhaps our being in communication with God in this way, the Pope went on, obliges us to make renunciations and sacrifices, but while it deprives us of something, it multiplies its gifts. Yes, it imposes renunciations but it heaps other riches upon us. We are not poor, we are rich, because we have the Lord’s riches. “Well—the Pope added—we would like to tell these brothers, wrenched away, as it were, from our priestly soul, how present they are to us,how much we lovethem now and always and increasingly, and how much we pray for them and try with this effort that follows them, and surrounds them to make up for the interruption that they themselves interpose in our communion with Christ”.

Satan’s smoke seeping through

Referring to the situation of the Church of today, the Holy Father then affirmed that he had the feeling that “Satan’s smoke has made its way into the temple of God through some crack”. There is doubt, uncertainty, problems, restlessness, dissatisfaction, confrontation. People no longer trust the Church; they trust the secular profane prophet that speaks to us from some newspaper or from some social movement, running after him and asking him if he has the formula of real life. And we do not realize that we are already owners and masters of it. Doubt has entered our consciences, and it has come in through windows that ought to be open to the light.

From science, whose purpose is to give us truths that do not detach from God but make us seek Him more and more and honor Him with growing intensity has come criticism and doubt. It is scientists who bow their heads most thoughtfully and tormentedly. And they end up by teaching: “I don’t know, we don’t know, we can’t know.” School becomes a center of confusion and sometimes absurd contradictions. Progress is celebrated only to demolish it subsequently with the most strange and radical revolutions, to deny all that has been won, to become primitive again after having exalted so much the progress of the modern world. This state of uncertainty reigns in the Church, too. People thought that after the Council a day of sunshine would come for the history of the Church. There came, on the contrary, a day of clouds, storm, darkness, search, uncertainty. We preach ecumenism and we are becoming more and more separated from others. We are trying to dig gulfs instead of bridging them.

Something preternatural

How has this come about? The Pope confided his view to those present; that there has been the intervention of a hostile power. His name is the Devil, the mysterious being who is referred to also in St. Peter’s Letter. The mention of this enemy of men returns so often, moreover, in the Gospel on Christ’s own lips. “We believe—the Holy Father remarked—in something preternatural that has come into the world for the very purpose of disturbing and stifling the fruits of the Ecumenical Council, and to prevent the Church from bursting into a hymn of joy at having regained full awareness of herself. It is for this reason that we would like, more than ever at this moment, to be capable of exercising the function, which God assigned to Peter, of strengthening our brothers in the Faith. We would like to transmit to you this charism of certainty that the Lord gives to him who represents him, even unworthily, on this earth.” Faith gives us certainty, security, when it is based on the Word of God accepted and found in agreement with our reason and human mind. He who believes with simplicity, with humility, feels he is on the right path, that he has an inner testimony that strengthens him in the difficult conquest of truth.

The Lord, the Pope went on, shows Himself as light and truth to those who accept Him in his Word, and his Word becomes no longer an obstacle to truth and to progress towards being, but a step onto which we can climb and be really conquerors of the Lord who shows Himself through the way of faith, this foretaste and guarantee of the final vision.

“Lord I do believe!”

Stressing another aspect of contemporary humanity, Paul VI recalled the existence of a large number of humble, simple, pure, upright, strong souls, who follow St. Peter’s invitation to be “fortes in fide”. And we would like, he added, this strength of faith, this security, this peace to triumph over all obstacles. Finally the Pope invited the faithful to an act of humble and sincere faith, to a psychological effort to find in themselves the impetus towards a conscious act of adherence: “Lord, I believe in your word, I believe in your revelation, I believe in him whom you gave me as witness and guarantor of this revelation of yours, to feel and savor, with the strength of faith, a foretaste of the blissful life that is promised to us with faith”.

E-MAIL FROM DR. BOND

Fourth Open Letter to Bishop Joseph Martino

Dear Bishop Martino,

While you perpetuate Bishop Timlin's policy of protecting the predator priests in the Diocese of Scranton, the Society of St. John has been busy preparing an exit strategy. With the federal trial for sexual abuse fast approaching, and with damaging testimony continuing to mount, the SSJ wants to find a new home in Argentina. The SSJ's new superior general, Fr. Daniel Fullerton, has been searching for property in Buenos Aires, Mendoza, or San Luis (San Luis having a bishop who reportedly is friendly to the SSJ).

You should know that one of Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity's favorite images for the SSJ is that of a submarine whose hatches can be shut tight if one compartment of the submarine becomes flooded and disabled. Thus, as the Shohola compartment fills with water, the SSJ is prepared to close the hatch and move into the Argentinean compartment. And you can be sure that Urrutigoity will not hesitate to shut the hatch on those who remain in the Shohola compartment and fail to recognize the leaks.

Indeed, what is especially wicked about the latest SSJ scam is that Fullerton is simultaneously attempting to raise money to develop the SSJ's Shohola property. In a fundraising letter sent out on July 1, 2004, Fullerton announced that the SSJ plans to expand their chapel in Shohola due to overcrowding at Mass. (The last time Fullerton spoke of "overcrowding" it was to justify the SSJ's practice of sleeping in the same bed with boys.)

In this same fundraising letter, Fullerton beats the tired old drum of the SSJ's plan to build a "city on a hill" in Shohola. He even reports that the SSJ has signed an "exclusive agreement with a Benedictine-trained developer/realtor" named Chaba Pallaghy. Fullerton claims that "Mr. Pallaghy will work during this coming year to see what options he can pursue." Options? What options?

The truth is, as Bishop Timlin admitted years ago, all options with respect to the Shohola property are dead. Yet Fullerton does not hesitate to go once more to that dried up well to defraud more Catholic donors whose money will be pocketed and carried down to Argentina if the SSJ is shut down in Shohola. And poor Mr. Pallaghy, like all the other deceived developers before him, will be left shaking his head and wondering what happened to those nicely dressed "Benedictine" brothers.

When it comes to money, Fullerton's shamelessness knows no bounds. In email letter sent out today to the SSJ's supporters, Fullerton concludes with the following: "All is well here in Shohola. I'll write to you soon regarding the expansion of the Chapel. I should have some architectural studies to show you by then as well."

Years ago the SSJ was fooling people with their plans to expand and their "architectural studies," and the deceit continues to this day. The hopes of many have been betrayed, and many have been irreparably harmed, especially the victims of sexual abuse. All is well in Shohola? Fullerton has lied before to cover up for the sex crimes of Urrutigoity and Ensey, and Fullerton is lying now.

Bishop Martino, when will you put an end to this fraud?

Sincerely,

Dr. Jeffrey M. Bond

# posted by Carrie : 9:19 PM

THE AUSTRIAN SCANDAL

According to Channelnewsasia.com Bishop Klaus Kueng, the Pope's representative who is investigating the seminary, has viewed photos of priests and students kissing and fondling, but still has not proved the authenticity of the photos. There is a new development in the details:

The Austrian news agency APA on Wednesday reported that the first whiff of scandal from St Poelten came in October last year when a seminarist was found drowned in the Danube canal.

At the time, the police said they could not exclude foul play.

The suspect in the case claims not to be concerned, maintaining that they have "mixed up two different people." However, according to Polish News Agency PAP this seminary student:

...first studied at a seminary in the Polish city of Lublin but was not ordained as a priest there due to a "congenital mouth defect". He was only ordained as a priest in Sankt-Poelten.

The story does not clarify. It does indicate that:

Prosecutors earlier this year began investigating suspected child abuse at the seminary but the allegations only blew up into a national scandal last week when Profil splashed the compromising pictures on its front page.

Meaning that once again, it took the media to make the Vatican take notice. The story mentions that not only are photos of sex with children in the hands of police. They also have photos of sex with animals. Meanwhile 2,000 people have signed a petition to the Pope to keep Bishop Krenn in office, while it has been reported that 72% of Austrians want Krenn to resign.

Thanks to a reader for sending in this story.

ALICE VON HILDEBRAND PULLS NO PUNCHES

in her article in the current New Oxford Review titled "The Second Vatican Council: Why Pope John XXIII Would Weep," she says:

Many laymen have deeply grieved the response given to Ex Corde Ecclesiae by the U.S. bishops. It is well known that the German Bishop Karl Lehmann (now Cardinal Lehmann) repeatedly ignored the orders of the Pope prohibiting his staff from signing papers permitting abortion. It is only when Peter used his full authority "as holder of the keys" that Lehmann finally yielded. What is the sense of having authority if it is not used? Things were not so at the time of Pius XI, who took away a cardinal's red hat because the latter had dared challenge a papal decision. Pius XI was a true leader.

Authority can be abused; but when authority is no longer authoritative, another type of cancer menaces the Church. We all know of bishops who certainly do not live up to their calling. Rome is aware of this. But these bishops know they can continue shirking their responsibilities because they know they will not be demoted.

As every parent knows, if there is no consequence for disobedience, there will be no obedience. When our children refuse to obey us, we are robbed of the ability to protect them. When there is no consequence for disrespecting the authority given to Peter, the faith cannot be protected.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

E-MAIL FROM DR. BOND

Dear Friends,

The Times Leader has reported today that new court documents reveal two more witnesses against Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity, founder of the Society of St. John. These documents provide additional evidence about which we will have much to say in the days ahead.

Pax vobiscum,

Dr. Jeffrey M. Bond

http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/9202097.htm Two more allege sex abuse by priest
Documents reveal ex-Bishop Timlin sparred with attorney over his concern of issue.
By MARK GUYDISH
markg@leader.net
SCRANTON - New court documents reveal two more witnesses who say they were molested by the Rev. Carlos Urrutigoity, one of two priests at the center of a lawsuit alleging sexual misconduct by the priests and negligence by the Scranton Diocese, former Bishop James Timlin and others.

Also, the records reveal the former bishop showed a rarely seen flare of temper during a deposition in the civil suit. And he admitted some seminaries have reputations for alleged homosexual activity.

The new details were made public in a flood of paperwork filed by James Bendell, the attorney for a man identified only as John Doe. Doe says he was sexually assaulted by Urrutigoity and the Rev. Eric Ensey, founding members of the Society of St. John in Shohola, Pike County.

[Go to the website to finish reading the story. - ct]

LINK TO THE MASONIC ROSSLYN TEMPLARS

who are attempting to piece together the history of Rosslyn Chapel and other so-called "collegiate churches," including Crichton, Dunbar, Dunglass, Seton, and others listed linked here..

One link in the website, An Account of the Chapel of Roslin - 1778, offers a reprint of this booklet which it appears will be available in September. The booklet is said to be written by Dr. Robert Forbes, (Episcopal) Bishop of Caithness, and first published in 1774.

Another page in the website offers The Illustrated Guide to Rosslyn Chapel, Hawthornden&c. It appears from the description that this book presents information from the Christian perspective.

The website also offers a list of additional books on related topics. There are also Knights Templar books, though I see that Peter Partner's book didn't make their list.

They offer the History of the Rose Croix as derived by looking at antique jewels of the order. Written in French, unfortunately.

SR. JOAN CHITTISTER HAS A NEW BOOK

titled Called to Question: A Spiritual Memoir. USA Today reviews it, asking in the process an interesting question considering that Chittister talks about the "mind-binding of denominationalism":

Why is she still Catholic?

"I can't not be Catholic!" she exclaims, calling her church a "treasure house" of culture, history, tradition and discipline that "develops the soul."

Yet she also was shaped by "three great streams of change: Vatican II, Vietnam and the women's movement. No one can stand in the midst of all these deluges and not know you are being carried to a new place."

So why, half a century after her first vows, is she still a sister?

"It's the way I can model Jesus. He was always walking, giving, doing, challenging, questioning, raising people up, always fearless."

It's what sisters do, says Chittister, prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pa., from 1978-90 and head of the national Leadership Conference of Women Religious in 1976-77.

Jesus was obedient to the will of His Father, even unto death. Sr. Joan, however, is anything but obedient.

The Vatican bureaucracy doesn't dictate the Erie Benedictine's daily lives or ordinary decisions, but it has the right to discipline any Catholic institution. In 2001, a Vatican committee asked the prioress, Sister Christine Vladimiroff, to block Chittister from addressing an international women's ordination conference; Vladimiroff declined. In the end, there was no formal discipline from Rome, which ruffled some conservatives.

Sr. Joan's appearance at that conference was in direct disobedience to the Pope. Yet there were no consequences. In fact, for all intents and purposes, there was a sort of de facto forgiveness implied by the silence. Is it any wonder, then, that Sr. Joan has not mended her ways? And is it any wonder that people like John Kerry could conclude that two-faced Catholicism is welcome in the Catholic Church?

NEW BOOK ON BILL WILSON

titled My Name is Bill by Susan Cheever. Bill Wilson was co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, an organization started in my hometown with the help of Dr. Bob Smith and Sr. Ignatia, at St. Thomas Hospital. The book is reviewed by TheStar.com.

Something I didn't know about Bill Wilson:

For all it accomplishes, Hitchens might be pleased to know he would still probably run into as many practising rogues as holy rollers at most AA meetings. Wilson himself dabbled in spiritualism, psychedelic drugs and regular adulteries after sobering up. AA doesn't get you saintly. It gets you sober. What you do after that is pretty much up to you.

Bill Wilson is pretty much treated as a "saint" in this area, especially among the AA groups.

SEMINARY INVESTIGATOR ALREADY AT WORK

CJAD 800 reports that the Papal investigator assigned to uncover the truth in the Austrian seminary is already on the job. This is encouraging given the fact that investigations in the 1980s permitted preparation time for the seminaries to get their act in order. God please grant that the truth will be discovered!

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

THE CHURCH IN SPAIN

SFGate.com says, is rsponding to the challenge presented by the new government voted into office in March. The question remains whether the laity will follow this leadership:

The Rev. Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, secretary-general of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, said that Catholic legislators should vote against the bill and that all Spaniards, Catholic or otherwise, should protest it. He would not say whether the church would encourage government bureaucrats to refuse to enforce the law if it passes.

Zapatero's Socialist government, elected in an upset in March that ended eight years of conservative rule, says a law formally recognizing same-sex unions should be ready to submit to parliament in September and could be enacted as early as January.

This is only one of many issues over which the church and the new government have clashed. Zapatero has indicated that he plans to relax restrictions on abortion and divorce, permit stem-cell research using human embryos and shelve a law that made Catholic instruction compulsory in schools.

THERAPEUTIC MASSAGE AND RELATED ACTIVITIES

Massage has been around for quite a while, but therapeutic massage is relatively new. The idea that this could be used as a form of medical therapy comes out of the alternative medicine or holistic health segment of the medical arena. As an article in Spirituality & Health indicates, Catholic women religious are quite frequently practitioners of massage.

An article in St. Catherine Review spells out the changes in the activities of religious in the healthcare field which once meant nursing, and now can mean a wide variety of activities some of which are associated with the New Age.

WorldNetDaily ran a story today on the change in legal requirements for a permit to perform massage in San Francisco. Essentially the permit was switched from the Police Department to the Department of Public Health. The article cites Brian Goodwin, a massage therapist who claims that this amounts to a decriminalization of prostitution. According to the article:

Under the old law, Police Code 27, applicants for a massage permit were required to undergo an identification process that included photographing and fingerprinting. That has been removed from the code, along with a section that prevented anyone convicted of prostitution from getting a permit. ...

The new law also does away with restrictions against sexually suggestive advertising and loosens restrictions on trainees. Previously, the trainee could work only for the massage school in which he was enrolled, and the trainee permit could not be renewed beyond three months. The new law also has a trainee permit, but its only requirement is the payment of fees and registration as a student, and it can be renewed indefinitely.

For a full permit, the director of the Department of Public Health must administer a "culturally sensitive test to all applicants, in the applicant's own language, to confirm basic proficiency in massage before issuing a permit."

Goodwin says the term "culturally sensitive" casts a wide net in San Francisco, pointing out that some massage schools are explicitly prostitution oriented, such as the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality's program in "Sexological Bodywork." (click the "lectures and training" link at the website for some idea of what they teach.)

Massage had the reputation of being an excuse for prostitution that practitioners have worked hard to overcome. This appears to be a backward slide with the potential to spread across the country as many other California innovations have spread.

Nuns often offer Reiki and therapeutic massage at retreat centers. An example is The Bridge Between Dominican Retreat Center where Sharon Janty is the Massage Therapist.

But not all retreat centers are Catholic. Take Wildwood Retreat Center in California where a program titled "Two Spirits: An Erotic Retreat for Men and Woman is described in terms not unfamiliar to those reading websites for Catholic retreats...up to a point. Then is deviates into a blatantly sexual encounter.

Buddhist retreat centers such as this Hope Springs Retreat Center near Cincinnati focus on Tantra, a ritual sex technique associated with Buddhism.

This website attempts to compare life as a Buddhist nun with life as a Catholic nun. (See link No. 2 on the left). If you scroll down a little farther you will come to the Tantra link.

The point of all this is that our nuns are messing around in a field that seems to be reverting to its original category. That is, prostitution and massage linked together, which will fit in with Buddhist spirituality. Where, then, will interreligious dialogue take our Reiki-practicing nuns, particularly if the fascination with New Age retreats being presented by Catholic nuns loses appeal while income must still be generated? When I consider the potential and look at what some of our priests have gotten themselves into, I can't rule out the incredible possibility of prostitution presented as holistic health sex therapy within the Catholic retreat houses. As outrageous as this sounds, there have been enough outrages produced within the communities of women religious via the EarthSpirit Rising Conferences to make me say that I wouldn't put anything past them.

In fact, Philip St. Romain is author of a book titled "Kundalini Energy and Christian Spirituality: A Pathway to Growth and Healing." He is also associated with the Heartland Center, according to his website where you will find:

1997 (Fall). Working part-time at the Heartland Center for Spirituality in Great Bend, KS, and at the Center for the Improvement of Human Functioning in Wichita. I'm doing webmaster and spirituality work for both places.

1998. Working out of Contemplative Ministries, Inc., an organization I formed to enable me to continue working at Heartland Center for Spirituality and other places that can make use of my services. So far, this is working out just fine.

The Heartland Center is a Dominican facility.

Thanks to a reader for providing some of these links.

CONTINUATION OF COMMENTS ON BLOG POSTED YESTERDAY

titled "From the Comments Box on Yesterday's Post on Forgiveness"

I turned to the Trent Catechism, commentary on The Lord's Prayer, which says, under the heading "Necessity of Forgiveness":

Even the law of nature requires that we conduct ourselves towards others as we would have them conduct themselves towards us; hence he would be most impudent who would ask of God the pardon of his own offences while he continued to cherish enmity against his neighbor.

Those, therefore, on whom injuries have been inflicted, should be ready and willing to pardon, urged to it as they are by this form of prayer, and by the command of God in St. Luke: If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him; and if he repent, forgive him; and if he sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, "I repent," forgive him. (p. 560)

Therefore, according to the Trent Catechism, repentance is needed before forgiveness is granted. Moving on to the passage on "Penetential Dispositions" under the subheading "And Forgive Us Our Debts" I find:

But that this Petition may be really fruitful we should first seriously reflect that we are suppliants before God, soliciting from Him pardon, which is not granted but to the penitent; and that we should, therefore, be animated by that charity and piety which are fitting in penitents, whom it eminently becomes to keep before their eyes, as it were, their own crimes and enormities and to expiate them with tears. (p. 563)

This teaching is not given in relation to the Sacrament of Confession but rather in the simple rendering of the Lord's Prayer.

In Luke I find:

He said to his disciples, "Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the person through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, 'I am sorry,' you should forgive him." (Luke 17:1-4)

This passage clearly, too, places repentence as a condition of forgiveness. Unless the sinner repents, all we can do is prepare ourselves to forgive. Forgiveness is not a one-way street. Something must be put into forgiveness from both the offender and the person offended. God expects us to respond in this way to Him and to each other. Forgiveness from God is ours if we only ask, but we must ask in order to restore right relationship. The same is true of man. Forgiveness is given when it is requested, or else it becomes a means of enabling the sinner.

Look at the way priests were forgiven without repentence for their offenses of abusing minors, and look at the result of extending forgiveness without repentance. More minors were abused. Had the precepts of the Church been followed, namely forgive after repentence is shown, and avoid the near occasions of sin, the scandal might have been only a small one and many young people's lives would not have been destroyed. The bishops have much to answer for.

Gnostic Christianity eliminates guilt and judgment and therefore eliminates the need for repentence. Ultimately, as the Gnostics show us, this eliminates the need for the Crucifixion. This thinking, that forgiveness must be extended whether there is contrition or not, is behind the Sacrament of Confession falling into disfavor. If we are forgiven without asking for it, we will never ask for it. If we never dispose ourselves to ask for it, we will not give up our sin. It's easy to look around the culture and see where this leads. It's a slippery slope to Hell presented to us disguised as generosity and love offered in the name of Christ. This should not surprise us since satan is the arch deceiver.

Turning to the CCC, I find:

#2842: This "as" is not unique in Jesus' teaching: "You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect"; "Be merciful even as your Father is merciful"; "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

This passage equates the mercy of God with the mercy we are to show each other, using the word "as" in each instance.. God is ready and willing to forgive us, but we must repent and ask for it. The same teaching is therefore applicable to our relationship with our fellow man.

#1450: "Penance requires...the sinner to endure all things willingly, be contrite of heart, confess with the lips, and practice complete humility and fruitful satisfaction.

#1451: Among the penitent's acts contrition occupies first place. Contrition is "sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again."

We are to be merciful AS our Heavenly Father is merciful. Since our Heavenly Father requires repentance before forgiveness, it is reasonable for us to also require repentance.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

DALLAS MORNING NEWS COVERAGE

of the scandal appears to have ceased. A few short weeks ago, Rod Dreher indicated in one of the blogs that DMN had uncovered significant evidence that the cover-up is ongoing, and that the stories were going to come out over the next several weeks. The first one involved the priest in Samoa passing out candy to the kids after Mass...a priest who was subsequently apprehended and taken back to Australia to face charges. A few more followed, but this is hardly the sort of story Rod led us to expect.

It's been about a week since anything was released. I expected another one over the weekend. The Austrian situation may be the reason there was none. But there is another possibility. Have the stories been killed as a result of the talk of forgiveness that has been going on on the Catholic boards? Did the editors conclude it would not sell papers? Because selling papers is what the editors are about.

In effect, have we killed the messenger? And if we have, how now will the chanceries be cleaned up without the pressure the press applied?

Rod was extremely discouraged by the response he got in Amy's blog the other day. Was that a last ditch effort on his part to revive interest so that the rest of the stories would be published? Dear Lord I hope not! Because as we have already seen by the cover-up that began after the story came out in the 1980s, if the hierarchy can silence the press, they can go back to business as usual.

THE POPE APPOINTS A SPECIAL INVESTIGATOR

in the Austrian scandal according to Wired News.. Unlike the Vatican's slow reaction to the US scandal, the Pope is acting swiftly this time. Perhaps the pictures made the necessary impact.

The last time there were delegations from the Vatican in the 1980s, they did not accomplish their purpose. Rather it was a kind of whitewash of the seminary situation. Will this time be different?

JAMES K. FITZPATRICK ANALYSES ANDREW GREELY'S ANALYSIS

of why church pews are empty since Vatican II at The Wanderer. Though Greeley is inclined to blame the clergy for the ills of the Church, Fitzpatrick says the laity share equally in the responsibility for the state of our Church in 2004.

DE FIDE HAS A NEWS WEBPAGE

here that links up-to-date articles on Kerry and the heresy charge. Today there is linked the article at www.chiesa that attempts to shuck the pea, so to speak, by taking out of the pod each of the articles that have attempted to discern the true teaching of the Church on the issue of the impact a candidate's religion should have on his politics. I don't get the impression from the Chiesa article that this has become a definitive teaching yet.

POPE RETURNS TO ROME FOR GENERAL AUDIENCE

this week, changing the original plans to hold his Wednesday audiences at Castle Gandolfo according to Zenit.

I wonder if this means that he is going to address the scandal this Wednesday?

TODAY REASON FOR HOPE

It's difficult to really know what is happening in Iraq. Bush is currently being depicted as an evil politician who went to war without justification. But read this account of Chaldean Bishop Rabban Al-Qas of Amadiyah titled "Iraqi Prelate Tells of the Good Going On" at Zenit. He paints a very different picture, saying that the news is focused on only what is wrong, and is ignoring all of the good things that are happening in Iraq. He lists them, and he is optimistic. One of the most interesting statements he made is this one:

"I believe that what the Americans did was truly a liberation, the liberation of Iraq. And on this basis the new Iraq shall emerge," the bishop continued.

SIGH !

Blogger credit to Novus Ordo Watch.

TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION

Will the Tea Party be held in Boston again?

According to James P. Tucker Jr. of the American Spotlight Organisation and associate of the American Free Press (AFP) agency, last month’s secret Bilderberg meeting held in the Italian city of Stresa proposed that a United Nations (UN) oil tax should be applied worldwide. Tucker, who has covered Bilderberg meetings for the last 25 years, is considered by many Bilderberg aficionados as one of the world’s foremost authorities on an organisation which they accuse of operating under a veil of secrecy to map out future economic and political global policies.

The tax will be paid direct to the UN by anyone who drives a car, rides on public transport or flies in a plane. Also under consideration is a direct UN tax to be paid by people engaged in financial transactions, including money transfers, across the globe.

Blogger credit to Novus Ordo Watch.

ST. STARBUCKS

The latest trend in "community building" at church is the Starbucks coffee bar complete with the real thing...Starbucks authentic. Apparently it has caused some problems. Worshippers tend to get up during the sermon and visit the bar for another cup. Once that problem is under control, the coffee bar does seem to be able to do what Christ failed to accomplish...get 'em to come to church. But are they coming for spiritual nourishment or to satisfy a coffee jag?

Apparently the Catholics haven't fallen for this latest trend...yet.

Thanks to a reader for this one.

SUBURBAN WILDLIFE

Nature never fails to surprise me with the variety of animals she presents in our backyard. Squirrels, chipmunks, birds and rabbits are expected along with the typical suburban pet on a neighborhood stroll.

We've had deer on a few occasions. Racoons have tried to get into the house through the roof exit of the kitchen ceiling vent, after crawling up the downspout. The racoons live in the sewer and come out near dark.

A possum got into the have-a-heart squirrel trap once. Nasty beasty. Hissed a lot. Well, it was crowded in there, I suppose.

A groundhog is living under someone's storage shed, and a neighbor saw a skunk strolling down our driveway last summer. Fortunately the skunk kept on going.

This morning's wildlife chapter was unusual. I was eating breakfast in the kitchen by the window when a hawk flew into the yard and landed on the deck railing. He's actually one of the new neighbors. Been nesting in a tall tree two doors down this spring, and seems to have young up there. We haven't seen the female yet. He is the common variety of hawk that is less afraid of man, according to the bird book, but still a hawk on your railing is an event.

He sat there for at least 20 minutes, turning his head up, down, and around all the while. I have a much better appreciation for the phrase "hawk eye" than I had yesterday. He could manage approx. a 170 deg. turn of his head, so this birdie knew what was happening. Apparently what was not happening was a fur or feather breakfast. He looked hungry, and I think he had a taste for chipmunk, since on a normal morning they scamper around right where he was sitting. A gray squirrel took offense at his presence and went after him, but the hawk had no problem dispensing with the squirrel, who ran off to sulk in a tree. It didn't seem to bother the hawk when I walked around the kitchen, even though he was posed to look directly in the window. Finally, though, he got discouraged and flew away.

THE GROWING TREND IN AUSTRALIA

that the politicians are sitting up and taking note of, is a religious trend. A revivalist trend. But what is at the heart of it? The article indicates this is part of it:

A powerful part of that message is the gospel of prosperity.

If you believe in Jesus, the Church says, he'll reward you here on earth as well as in heaven.

Brian Houston, the head preacher at Hillsong, is also the author of a book called You Need More Money.

It's a Christian gospel that sits easily alongside today's dominant political paradigm.

That thinking is not going to produce anything truly of God. It's not about Mammon, after all. So those who get on this bandwagon for that reason...? Add to that dubious motivation the political one that is being coupled with this revivalist trend, and the result sounds like a dangerous mix.

E-MAIL FROM DR. BOND

Dear Friends,

Another graduate of St. Gregory's Academy, who then joined the Society of St. John, has come forward to accuse Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity of homosexually molesting him.

I have reproduced this young man's affidavit below. A copy of the original can be found on the PACER web site (http://www.pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/) where all federal pleadings are posted.

Urrutigoity has now been formally accused of homosexual molestation by four young men:

(1) The first accused Urrutigoity of molestation while Urrutigoity was a seminarian in La Reja, Argentina;

(2) The second young man accused Urrutigoity of molestation shortly after Urrutigoity was expelled from the Society of St. Pius X seminary in Winona, Minnesota;

(3) The third accuser was an alumnus of St. Gregory's Academy who filed the federal lawsuit in 2002 against Urrutigoity and Ensey; and

(4) The fourth young man made his accusation against Urrutigoity to the District Attorney and the Diocese of Scranton over a month ago.

In addition, we know of others who have been abused but who are not prepared to come forward to accuse Urrutigoity.

While there was no doubt as to Urrutigoity's guilt even before this latest accusation, no rational person can continue to defend Urrutigoity in light of the convergent sworn testimony that now exists. Nonetheless, even though Bishop Joseph Martino has known about this fourth accusation for over a month, he continues to allow Urrutigoity to present himself as a priest among families with children, and among boys and young men who idolize him. Bishop Martino, like Timlin before him, has chosen to play the legal game rather than to protect young souls from the predator priests of the Society of St. John.

Pax vobiscum,

Dr. Jeffrey M. Bond

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AFFIDAVIT OF [name withheld]

Being first duly sworn, I declare as follows:

1. I attended St. Gregory's Academy and graduated in 1999.

2. I also enrolled in September, 1999 at the Society of St. John for studies.

3. During either the Winter or Spring of my second year at the Society of St. John, Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity asked me to sleep in the same bed with him. I initially told him that I would feel uncomfortable doing this. Fr. Urrutigoity said that the reason I felt uncomfortable was because I had a puritanical attitude, and that this was due to a bad relationship with my father. He said that sleeping with him would heal this problem. I therefore agreed to do so. At the time I had great trust and respect for Fr. Urrutigoity and thought he was a perfect priest.

4. For the first few months of sleeping with Fr. Urrutigoity nothing untoward happened. Then one night I was awoken because Fr. Urrutigoity had his hand touching my abdomen. Fr. Urrutigoity then gradually worked his hand down to my private area and grabbed my penis. At that point I grabbed his hand and pulled it up to my chest. I held it there for a while and finally let go. Fr. Urrutigoity then moved his hand away.

5. I told Fr. O'Connor about this but did not tell anyone else for a long time. Fr. Urrutigoity later told me that he did not do this and that he was sleeping. He asked me to believe him.

6. I finally told these facts to the Chaplain here at Christendom College. He told me to contact the District Attorney which I did about over a month ago. I was informed by the DA's office that criminal prosecution was barred because of the statute of limitations.

[Name withheld]

STATE OF VIRGINIA
County of Warren
SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this 9th day of July, 2004.