Monday, October 31, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
ITCHCRAFT, AND THE गोद्देस्स / Fr. Matthew Fox
WOMAN CHURCH, WITCHCRAFT, AND THE GODDESS
Fr. Matthew Fox
(Chapter 6 of the book UNICORN IN THE SANCTUARY by Randy England, published by Tan Books and Publishers, P. O. Box 424, Rockford, IL 61105, 800-437-5876.)
One of the most enigmatic spectacles in modern Catholic America is the popularity of Dominican priest Father Matthew Fox. His books "Whee! We, wee" and "On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear" and "Original Blessing" (and others) can be found on the shelves of most Catholic as well as occultic bookstores. As any Catholic knows and as the Church teaches, sin is inherited from Adam and is only removed through Christ's redemption.[1] The Scripture too, is in exact agreement: "For just as by the disobedience of the one man the many were constituted sinners, so also by the obedience of the one the many will be constituted just" (Romans 5:19). In "Original Blessing," Fox denies the traditional doctrine of original sin. He says we do not enter existence as sinful creatures:
"We burst into the world as 'Original Blessings.’" The only sin Fox F recognizes is the sin of dualism; i.e., of seeing people and things as being separate from one another. The only sin is the refusal to see all as one.[2]
His brand of religion is aptly called "Creation-Centered Spirituality." Creation-Centered Spirituality is focused not on God the Creator, but on god the creation. Father Fox is calling for Catholics to be in the leadership of the new spiritual age.
In her book "A Planned Deception," Constance Cumbey wrote a chapter entitled "The Incredible Heresies of Father Matthew Fox." She related her experience of hearing Matthew Fox address parish leaders in a talk sponsored by the Liturgy Committee of the Archdiocese of Detroit:
He shamelessly committed public blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, by telling an impressionable audience well under the spell of his hypnotic powers that the Holy Spirit was demanding they adopt wicca (witchcraft), shamanism, and goddess worship. Hundreds of well dressed parish leaders and nuns listened to him in trance-like rapture. They appeared to adore Matthew Fox! One distinguished looking CCD teacher proudly told me that he had taught St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine for 30 years. "That was" he said "a waste of time. I wish I had been teaching Father Matthew Fox!"[3]
As with all orthodox New Agers, Fox insists that sin consists in the failure to embrace the New Age, the age of Aquarius. He warns in "Whee! We, wee All the Way Home.. A Guide to a Sensual, Prophetic Spirituality":
One tradition that offers us a glimpse into our own futures ... is the astrological tradition.
In particular, Jung subscribes to the way of seeing human history in 2000 year stages corresponding to the Age of the Bull (4000 2000 B.C.), a symbol of primitive instinctual civilizations and represented by Cretan religion; the Age of the Ram (2000 B.C.-1 A D), characterized by the religions of the Jews and the emergence of conscience and awareness of evil wherein religion sacrificed rams; the Age of Pisces, the fishes, (1 A D.-1997 A D.), dominated religiously by the figure of Christ....
There is an extremely important Caveat and danger sign that looms on our journey. That is the warning not to look back.... If you recall, when Moses came down from his experience with God on the mountain top, he was so infuriated by what he saw the Israelites doing that he broke the commandment tablets. What were they doing? They were whoring after the past gods! They were worshipping the religion of the previous age, the Age of the Bull. They refused to face the new spiritual consciousness that Moses ushered in, that of the Age of the Ram.
So we, too, on the verge of breaking into a new spiritual age, need to beware of the Gods of the past.... We have a clear lesson from the Israelites: to look back piningly is to commit idolatry.[4]
What delusion is it that allows Catholics to believe teaching which insists that to remain within traditional, biblical Christianity is idolatry; that it is "whoring after past gods?" It seems impossible that anyone could be so deceived, but in his second letter to the Thessalonians, St. Paul wrote of how those who were headed for destruction would not turn aside from their chosen course:
For they have not the love of truth that they might be saved. Therefore God sends them a misleading influence that they may believe falsehood, that all may be judged who have not believed the truth, but have preferred wickedness. (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12)
Whereas Pierre Teilhard de Chardin bridges the gap between East and West, Matthew Fox champions the paganism of the West. Like Teilhard, he worships matter as his God, but Fox repudiates Teilhard for his belief in self-denial and renunciation of pleasure seeking.[5] He believes that "enough evils and crosses exist in our lives without making up new ones."[6] Fox is perhaps the American Church's most enthusiastic cheerleader for hedonism or what he calls "ecstasy."
In the New Age movement drugs can be more than just a way to have fun and pass the time until "the Christ" comes. Drugs can play an important role in altering consciousness. Whether it is the LSD popularized in the 60's or the peyote of the Indian sorcerer in the Carlos Castenada books, the use of drugs serves as a shortcut to mystical experience. The same occult meditative states that normally require extended practice to achieve are effortlessly attained through drug use. The same experiences and even the spirits encountered are common to either method. In fairness, most genuine gurus will snub the drug user's "training wheels" as an expedient which does not ultimately lead to the very highest (or lowest?) states.
In Fox's book, "On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear," he has written that while "excess" drug use is not wise, "intelligent use of drugs" is unquestionably an aid to prayer. Its value, says Fox, is in opening up one's awareness and also as a temporary escape from the worries of the everyday world. He maintains that "drugs can democratize spirituality, which has for so long been imagined to be in the hands and hearts of the wealthy, leisurely classes."[7]
Before looking further into Fox's paganism, it is worth examining his view of Jesus. In "Original Blessing," Father Fox rates numerous historical figures on their creation-centeredness. On a scale of one to five Jesus gets a "five," but (as in the theology of Teilhard) Jesus really has no place at all except as an example of a wise man among other wise men and women.[8] He says Jesus "was always looking for wisdom in order to grow in wisdom " and refers to Jesus as "weak and imperfect."[9] One has to ask: Where is Father Fox getting this picture of Christ? In his latest book, "The Coming of the Cosmic Christ," Fox laments Jesus' "cruel and premature death."[10] He says, "no one can ever bring back the time that Jesus lost and will never live out. His was truly an untimely death if ever there was one."[11]
Father Fox seems not to have heard that Jesus is alive after having spent just three days in the grave; seems not to understand the very reason Jesus was born. Rejecting the truth that Jesus came to die for man's sins he paints a picture not of Jesus resigning Himself to His Father's will but as trying to escape His sacrifice. Speaking of Jesus facing the crucifixion he says, "How thoroughly he rejects it, flies from it, desires it prevented. 'Let this cup pass from me.' Yet he fails and the crucifiers have their way."[12] It is difficult to see how such an uninspiring Jesus could be the same person who created the universe. But He is, as St. Paul tells us, "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For in Him were created all things in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether Thrones, or Dominations, or Principalities, or Powers. All things have been created through and unto Him. and He is before all creatures, and in Him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:15-17).
Matthew Fox also sees the miracles of the Bible through the perspective of his creation spirituality. Our traditional fall/redemption theology accepts miracles as an intervention by the supernatural into the natural order of things. Fox sees a naturalistic explanation in Christ's miracle of the loaves and the fishes: [T]he real miracle that Jesus wrought was not a quantitative magic trick of turning five loaves and two fishes into thousands. The true miracle was that Jesus got people to let go, to share with one another."[13]
In "A Spirituality Named Compassion," Fox insists that Jesus was not good because he was God, but instead was divine because he was good. This denies the objective divinity of Jesus. Specifically, he writes: "Jesus is not so much compassionate because he is divine as he is divine because he is compassionate. And did he. . .not teach others that they too were...divine because they are compassionate?[14]
At best he considers Jesus not as the God who created the universe, but as a sort of drum major out in front of the parade we should all be in. His lip service to Jesus as the most "creation- centered" human ever to live is mere pandering. One wonders why he wastes good ink on Him. If Matthew Fox has any historical reference point it is in the person of the 14th century German mystic, Meister Eckhart.
Eckhart was born around 1260 A.D. entering the Dominican order while a youth. A popular speaker, his pantheistic ideas strongly identified God with his creation. Eckhart has been hailed as a forerunner to Theosophists, Nazis and Pantheists. Hindus regard him as a "kindred spirit."[15] He felt that a God "out there" was unfathomable. Evelyn Underhill, in her book "The Mystics of the Church," wrote that Eckhart had "a tendency to exile God from His creation; and led him to set up a sharp distinction between the Absolute and unconditioned Godhead, "unknown and never to be known," and the God of religious experience. This separation is fundamental to Eckhart's thought....
[T]his leaning to transcendental speculation, land[ed] him at last in a monism which...can hardly be reconciled with Christianity."[16]
Eckhart saw a unity between God and man and he tended to see Jesus as the first human to realize that unity. Many of his ideas can be taken in more than one sense. The result is that one meaning may be insightful while the second meaning is solidly heretical. In one of his sermons he said, "If God's being is my being, then God's existence must be my existence and His essence my essence...." In another he said, "...the Holy Spirit receives his being...from me as from God."[17]
It was his radical ideas combined with his popularity that eventually brought him into conflict with the local authorities. Near the end of his life in 1326, he was cited for heresy by a hostile tribunal in his native Germany. Eckhart appealed to the pope for an unbiased hearing. He agreed to repudiate any teachings which were found to be heretical, but died before his case was decided.
In 1329, the year after his death, 17 of his propositions were condemned as heretical in the bull ("In Agro Dominico") of Pope John XII. It was declared that he had been deceived "by the father of lies who often appears as an angel of light" into "sowing thorns and thistles amongst the faithful and even the simple folk."[18] Another eleven statements were considered rash and dangerous but capable of being interpreted in an orthodox manner. His willingness to submit to the Church's authority was reflected in the edict, which stated that Eckhart,
"at the end of his life, professed the Catholic faith, revoked and even condemned the...26 articles, which he admitted having preached [as well as] all other matters written or taught by him, either in the schools or in sermons, that might create in the minds of the faithful an heretical or erroneous impression and one hostile to the true faith."[19]
While the German mystic himself was willing to repudiate his teachings, Meister Eckhart's admirers have not. His unorthodox ideas and speculations have grown in popularity in recent years and have found their most ardent proponent in Matthew Fox. He gives Eckhart the second-highest score on his one-to-five scale of creation-centeredness. More important, Fox has taken Eckhart's condemned teachings and given them his own concrete meanings. Fox quotes Eckhart declaring, "You may call God love; you may call God goodness; but the best name for God is Compassion."[20] Such a statement may not be heretical, depending on the meaning one gives to it. In Father Fox's dictionary, it has the most corrupt meaning possible: witchcraft.
The Craft
What is this twisted meaning Fox gives to the word "compassion?" This "compassion" is (supposedly) the source of every virtue. It is the quality that makes us (and Jesus) divine. He calls visualization "extrovert meditation" explaining it as listening to the inner self and uttering "the new images from within outwards. This giving birth to new images is the work of all creative persons."[21]
Compassion is explained in the following excerpt from "A Spirituality Named Compassion." The word "craft" is a common euphemism for witchcraft. Another is the term "wicca" or "wikke":
"Extrovert meditation, then, gives birth to this new kind of power...a power with, [which] is properly called compassion. It is a power to imagine with others and to be changed by this imagining. Crafts initiate one into a new kind of power. The German word for power is Kraft. There is no cover-up in this kind of power. "We can't fake craft. It lies in the act.... We do not have the craft or craftmanship, if we do not speak to the light that lives within the earthly materials; this means ALL earthly materials, including men themselves."
[C]ompassion is (the realization of the interconnectedness of all things)."[22]
The discussion of the "craft" or witchcraft need not be limited to the traditional image of the medieval wart-nosed hag stirring a bubbling cauldron. Rather, it encompasses most of what would commonly be called paganism. Matthew Fox expands the definition in "Original Blessing:"
"Native American spirituality is a creation-centered tradition, as are the other prepatriarchal religions of the world such as African religions, Celtic religion, and the matrifocal and Wikke traditions that scholars and practitioners like Starhawk are recovering. The contemporary mystical movement known as "New Age" can also dialogue and create with the creation spiritual tradition."[23]
Miriam Simos (Starhawk) is a practicing witch on the staff of Matthew Fox's Institute for Culture and Creation Spirituality (ICCS). Her specialty is the teaching of ritual. Constance Cumbey calls her, "one of the world's most politically active and important witches. She is a high priestess in a major coven and has been [active] politically in both the witches/Neopagan movements as well as the feminist movement. She is a frequent speaker at New Age convocations and conferences."[24] Starhawk writes: "In the Craft, we do not believe in the Goddess—we connect with her; through the moon, the stars, the ocean, the earth, through trees, animals, through other human beings, through ourselves. She is here. She is within us all."[25]
Witchcraft, which is often called "the old religion," is the worship of (or connection with) "the goddess" or the divine which it finds in nature. Typical of paganism and the Craft are beliefs in female deities, the sacredness of nature, power of the individual will, and the nonexistence of original sin or any division between good or evil. It is the foundation of feminism.
Christianity And Feminism
Feminist spirituality has nothing to do with the issues of fair play and equal pay. Those are rights that Christians can support. True feminism is anti-Catholic, anti-Church and anti-Christ.
What the feminists want covers a wide spectrum. Some want absolute identity between the roles of men and women in the church. They support abortion on demand, lesbian rights and in general can be found in the liberal wing politically. These are the moderates. The mainspring groups though, are not looking for a role in the Church—as we know it—at all. They are devoted to the "goddess" who is found in nature and themselves: creation-centered spirituality. Their Wikkan rituals tap the "goddess" power. They would drag God from His heaven and install the mother goddess. While they insist on the goddess, the sexual aspect is secondary to the real appeal—the appeal of having a goddess which they can control. She empowers them but makes no demands. She takes no offense at sin, nor calls for any redemption in the traditional sense.
The feminists' dominant mode of operation is to create discontent. They foster frustration, resentment and delusions of persecution by the "unjust patriarchal structures" in the Church, while simultaneously extending the promise of the goddess within. To some the appeal to power and pride is irresistible. The old beliefs lose their grip, and hell signs up another tenant. The point at which one crosses over to the other side comes sooner than most imagine. On the other hand the Church has not been hasty in drawing that line. Consequently, the neo-pagans have a forum for their views. Some of the most public displays occur when feminism's Catholic adherents gather. Such events are invariably blasphemous.
March 9-16, 1985 at Mundelein College in Chicago was the time to celebrate "The Goddess and the Wild Woman." The brochure cover sported a woman, with one breast exposed, dancing and with flowers springing up beneath her feet. Ancient goddesses, Artemis, Athena, Demeter and others stand by. Inside, the brochure speaks of drawing "aside the curtain woven by patriarchal consciousness to reveal within each of us the Goddess and the Wild Woman."[26]
Another gathering of more than 2000 Catholic feminists (as usual, mostly nuns) took place in Washington D.C. on October 10-12, 1986. The conference was entitled "Woman in the Church." Just a sample of the fare:
Speaker, Sister Madonna Kolbenschlag, ripped through "the papacy, the Church, Western civilization, the Judeo-Christian tradition, the Trinity, ("a good ole boy, associating with two other divine males") and monotheism. She asked the participants, in the name of "our elder brother, Jesus," to "be a scandal to the patriarchy." Further, "Someone once asked me, "What can we salvage from the traditional god-myth that is not destructive?" I don't think that salvaging is any concern of ours. Faith is the process of continually replacing the metaphors for god.... Women today must reclaim their reality from the fantasies, especially through the power of a holistic sexuality, and the right to a free and personally responsible expression of it...."[27]
Among the other festivities was a rally in support of Seattle archbishop Raymond Hunthausen as well as the inevitable exhibits by pro-abortion and lesbian groups. There was even a group sponsoring a "feminist liturgy" with a consecration by the women attending. Participants sang and recited poetry and chanted "My name is (X) and I claim my power as church." The priestesses proclaimed, "We are empowered by a loving goddess. We proclaim the power of our foremothers." They spoke of "our exodus from the patriarchal church...." Then at the consecration: "We bless this bread of the eucharist of Woman Church."[28]
A reporter asked keynote speaker Sister Joan Chittister if the American Church as an institution was ready to stand in opposition to Rome. "Do you want an answer or a prayer?" she replied. "Oh, God, I hope so!"[29]
A feminist philosopher has written of the irreconcilable differences between Christianity and feminism:
"I imagined women functioning as rabbis, priests and ministers...wearing clerical garb and performing clerical duties and suddenly I saw a problem. How could women represent a male god?
God is going to change.... We women are going to bring an end to God...we will be the end of Him. We will change the world so much that He won't fit in any more.
Jesus Christ cannot symbolize the liberation of women.... [F]eminists have to leave Christ and Bible behind them."[30]
This feminist spirituality is probably the most blatant form of heresy in the church today. One wonders how far the leaders of the movement can go without waking up those who, as yet, follow unwittingly. It is not as if the feminists are going around on tiptoe. "Catholic" feminist theologian, Rosemary Ruether writes about her own experience:
"I knew that Ba'al was a real god, the revelation of the mystery of life, the expressions of the depths of being which had broken through into the lives of the people and gave them a key to the mystery of death and rebirth.... As for the defects of Ba'al, were they more spectacular than the defects of the biblical God or Messiah, or perhaps less so?
I could hardly tell her [a nun] that my devotion to Mary was somewhat less than my devotion to some far more powerful females that I knew: Isis, Athena, and Artemis![31]
James Hitchcock has pointed out that she held these opinions as an undergraduate, "and thus held them throughout the period when she had a public identity as an orthodox Catholic theologian."[32]
In an April, 1985 interview, Ruether was asked why she even bothered to stay within the Church when so many others with her beliefs had left. Her answer might have come from any one of thousands of modernist Catholics in the Church today: "As a feminist, I can come up with only one reason to stay in the Catholic Church: to try to change it."[33]
The Infection Spreads
American Catholics are not the only ones being exposed to this "tradition." Our brethren to the North are not free of the "Woman Church" phenomenon. The Canadian Bishops have allowed the use of a "Study Kit" on women's issues. The bibliography of this material recommends the reading of radical feminist theologians. One of twelve sessions "contains a liturgy drawn from Wiccan (witchcraft) sources." One report on the kit maintained that women claimed that the experience had given them a "greater sense of dignity."[34] (Apparently the discovery of your goddess- hood does that for you!)
How far can the return to paganism go? In many places it has gone far. A "National Catholic Reporter" headline reads, "Archbishop summoned for 'witchcraft'."[35] In Germany, there is an officially registered school for witchcraft. A pharmaceutical company produces tincture of cannabis and other drugs used to enhance pagan rituals.[36] We should take warning from the situation in Brazil, where voodoo cults thrive. On most nights, thousands of followers of the old African religion offer animal sacrifices and while in trances worship spirits which have been merged with the worshippers' favorite Catholic saints. Each cultist is assigned particular spirits, who symbolize Christ, the Virgin Mary and other saints, but are actually demons carried over from the old religion.
The Brazilian church is the largest in the world. Ninety percent of Brazil's 131 million people are Catholic and it is estimated that this mixture of African ritualism and Catholicism is practiced by nearly half of all Brazilian Catholics. The clergy shrug at the problem, admitting that if Rome ordered the pagan practices stopped, no one would listen. One priest said that official church policy opposes the cults "but if we had a hard inflexible attitude we would lose them all."
As American Catholics, we too have slipped far; especially when it is realized that witchcraft or pre-Christian paganism is merely another facet of the New Age movement. Even Father Matthew Fox admits that his Western-oriented creation spirituality is part of the same picture. His Institute for Culture and Creation Spirituality (ICCS) has "become a focus for dialogue with native and Eastern spiritual traditions, the human potential movement, the new physics and the Green Movement."
He says, "Christians and others should not be afraid of terms like 'New Age.' The 'new' can in fact prove to be quite old. For example, a 'new' theology of original blessing is in fact far more ancient than the familiar theology of original sin."
Finally, as if to make certain that no one misses all the connections, the last page of Fox's five point Creation-Centered honor roll reads like a "Who's Who in the New Age movement":
Teilhard de Chardin
Carl Jung psychologist, occultist
Buckminster Fuller, author, "Spaceship Earth"
Fritjof Capra, author, "The Tao of Physics"
Starhawk, author, "Dreaming the Dark"
Marilyn Ferguson, author, "The Aquarian Conspiracy"
David Spangler, author, "Revelation: Birth of a New Age"
Of course, each author returns the favor and often recommends the others for New Age reading. David Spangler's Lorien Press distributes exclusively New Age titles, some of which were actually dictated by demons. Lorien offers Fox's "Original Blessing," calling it "a seminal work which Lorien Press is proud to offer."
It is difficult to say how much more popular the New Age movement will become in future years. What is certain is that Christianity is the prime force holding it back. Catholics are the big prize. Unfortunately, the Church, which should be the "salt of the Earth," finds itself in need of salt. If individual Catholics do not act as that salt and stand clearly across the path of this giant, then Matthew Fox's hope may yet come true:
Beginning with artists in the nineteenth century and extending today to scientists, feminists, New Age mystics, and social prophets, a veritable explosion of creation-centered spiritual energy is and has been occurring. If entire religious bodies such as Christianity could enter into this expanding spiritual energy field, there is no predicting what powers of passion and compassion might become unleashed.
Father Fox is an insightful man. He sees a need within the Church and moves to fill the vacuum. He points out that we have lost some of the mystery and darkness of the liturgy. The Latin, the smell of many candles and incense, and the somber tones of the Gregorian chant are gone; and gone with these some sense of holiness and awe.
Having noted the need for "darkness" and ritual, Father Fox has a program. He guides us to Native American sweat lodges; to ceremonial dances with drums and fire; and to the witch's Moon Ritual.[37]
While Father Matthew Fox's work continues to grow in popularity in America his teachings have not gone unnoticed in Rome. After a four-year long investigation of his works, Fox's Dominican Order silenced him. Fox announced that the Order had acted "under pressure from the Vatican Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly known as the Holy Office of the Inquisition." In Fox's statement to the press on October 20, 1988, he said that it was "an honor to be silenced by the present regime in the Vatican.... [T]he Vatican has grown deaf—deaf to the cries of Mother Earth, deaf to the cries of women, of native peoples and persons of color, of artists...." He spoke of the "need for a spirituality which can heal Mother Earth and usher in an era of a Global Renaissance.... I am proud to be a part of that movement." Fox's organization, the Friends of Creation Spirituality (FCS), announced that Fox would begin a sabbatical on December 15, 1988 and that he anticipated returning to the Institute for Creation Centered Spirituality in the fall of 1989. FCS also initiated a letter writing campaign to support Fox and the spread of Creation Spirituality. Like his proud modernist forbears, it appears that Father Matthew Fox will carry on the tradition of minimal outward submission coupled with contemptuous defiance.
Fr. Matthew Fox
(Chapter 6 of the book UNICORN IN THE SANCTUARY by Randy England, published by Tan Books and Publishers, P. O. Box 424, Rockford, IL 61105, 800-437-5876.)
One of the most enigmatic spectacles in modern Catholic America is the popularity of Dominican priest Father Matthew Fox. His books "Whee! We, wee" and "On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear" and "Original Blessing" (and others) can be found on the shelves of most Catholic as well as occultic bookstores. As any Catholic knows and as the Church teaches, sin is inherited from Adam and is only removed through Christ's redemption.[1] The Scripture too, is in exact agreement: "For just as by the disobedience of the one man the many were constituted sinners, so also by the obedience of the one the many will be constituted just" (Romans 5:19). In "Original Blessing," Fox denies the traditional doctrine of original sin. He says we do not enter existence as sinful creatures:
"We burst into the world as 'Original Blessings.’" The only sin Fox F recognizes is the sin of dualism; i.e., of seeing people and things as being separate from one another. The only sin is the refusal to see all as one.[2]
His brand of religion is aptly called "Creation-Centered Spirituality." Creation-Centered Spirituality is focused not on God the Creator, but on god the creation. Father Fox is calling for Catholics to be in the leadership of the new spiritual age.
In her book "A Planned Deception," Constance Cumbey wrote a chapter entitled "The Incredible Heresies of Father Matthew Fox." She related her experience of hearing Matthew Fox address parish leaders in a talk sponsored by the Liturgy Committee of the Archdiocese of Detroit:
He shamelessly committed public blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, by telling an impressionable audience well under the spell of his hypnotic powers that the Holy Spirit was demanding they adopt wicca (witchcraft), shamanism, and goddess worship. Hundreds of well dressed parish leaders and nuns listened to him in trance-like rapture. They appeared to adore Matthew Fox! One distinguished looking CCD teacher proudly told me that he had taught St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine for 30 years. "That was" he said "a waste of time. I wish I had been teaching Father Matthew Fox!"[3]
As with all orthodox New Agers, Fox insists that sin consists in the failure to embrace the New Age, the age of Aquarius. He warns in "Whee! We, wee All the Way Home.. A Guide to a Sensual, Prophetic Spirituality":
One tradition that offers us a glimpse into our own futures ... is the astrological tradition.
In particular, Jung subscribes to the way of seeing human history in 2000 year stages corresponding to the Age of the Bull (4000 2000 B.C.), a symbol of primitive instinctual civilizations and represented by Cretan religion; the Age of the Ram (2000 B.C.-1 A D), characterized by the religions of the Jews and the emergence of conscience and awareness of evil wherein religion sacrificed rams; the Age of Pisces, the fishes, (1 A D.-1997 A D.), dominated religiously by the figure of Christ....
There is an extremely important Caveat and danger sign that looms on our journey. That is the warning not to look back.... If you recall, when Moses came down from his experience with God on the mountain top, he was so infuriated by what he saw the Israelites doing that he broke the commandment tablets. What were they doing? They were whoring after the past gods! They were worshipping the religion of the previous age, the Age of the Bull. They refused to face the new spiritual consciousness that Moses ushered in, that of the Age of the Ram.
So we, too, on the verge of breaking into a new spiritual age, need to beware of the Gods of the past.... We have a clear lesson from the Israelites: to look back piningly is to commit idolatry.[4]
What delusion is it that allows Catholics to believe teaching which insists that to remain within traditional, biblical Christianity is idolatry; that it is "whoring after past gods?" It seems impossible that anyone could be so deceived, but in his second letter to the Thessalonians, St. Paul wrote of how those who were headed for destruction would not turn aside from their chosen course:
For they have not the love of truth that they might be saved. Therefore God sends them a misleading influence that they may believe falsehood, that all may be judged who have not believed the truth, but have preferred wickedness. (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12)
Whereas Pierre Teilhard de Chardin bridges the gap between East and West, Matthew Fox champions the paganism of the West. Like Teilhard, he worships matter as his God, but Fox repudiates Teilhard for his belief in self-denial and renunciation of pleasure seeking.[5] He believes that "enough evils and crosses exist in our lives without making up new ones."[6] Fox is perhaps the American Church's most enthusiastic cheerleader for hedonism or what he calls "ecstasy."
In the New Age movement drugs can be more than just a way to have fun and pass the time until "the Christ" comes. Drugs can play an important role in altering consciousness. Whether it is the LSD popularized in the 60's or the peyote of the Indian sorcerer in the Carlos Castenada books, the use of drugs serves as a shortcut to mystical experience. The same occult meditative states that normally require extended practice to achieve are effortlessly attained through drug use. The same experiences and even the spirits encountered are common to either method. In fairness, most genuine gurus will snub the drug user's "training wheels" as an expedient which does not ultimately lead to the very highest (or lowest?) states.
In Fox's book, "On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear," he has written that while "excess" drug use is not wise, "intelligent use of drugs" is unquestionably an aid to prayer. Its value, says Fox, is in opening up one's awareness and also as a temporary escape from the worries of the everyday world. He maintains that "drugs can democratize spirituality, which has for so long been imagined to be in the hands and hearts of the wealthy, leisurely classes."[7]
Before looking further into Fox's paganism, it is worth examining his view of Jesus. In "Original Blessing," Father Fox rates numerous historical figures on their creation-centeredness. On a scale of one to five Jesus gets a "five," but (as in the theology of Teilhard) Jesus really has no place at all except as an example of a wise man among other wise men and women.[8] He says Jesus "was always looking for wisdom in order to grow in wisdom " and refers to Jesus as "weak and imperfect."[9] One has to ask: Where is Father Fox getting this picture of Christ? In his latest book, "The Coming of the Cosmic Christ," Fox laments Jesus' "cruel and premature death."[10] He says, "no one can ever bring back the time that Jesus lost and will never live out. His was truly an untimely death if ever there was one."[11]
Father Fox seems not to have heard that Jesus is alive after having spent just three days in the grave; seems not to understand the very reason Jesus was born. Rejecting the truth that Jesus came to die for man's sins he paints a picture not of Jesus resigning Himself to His Father's will but as trying to escape His sacrifice. Speaking of Jesus facing the crucifixion he says, "How thoroughly he rejects it, flies from it, desires it prevented. 'Let this cup pass from me.' Yet he fails and the crucifiers have their way."[12] It is difficult to see how such an uninspiring Jesus could be the same person who created the universe. But He is, as St. Paul tells us, "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For in Him were created all things in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether Thrones, or Dominations, or Principalities, or Powers. All things have been created through and unto Him. and He is before all creatures, and in Him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:15-17).
Matthew Fox also sees the miracles of the Bible through the perspective of his creation spirituality. Our traditional fall/redemption theology accepts miracles as an intervention by the supernatural into the natural order of things. Fox sees a naturalistic explanation in Christ's miracle of the loaves and the fishes: [T]he real miracle that Jesus wrought was not a quantitative magic trick of turning five loaves and two fishes into thousands. The true miracle was that Jesus got people to let go, to share with one another."[13]
In "A Spirituality Named Compassion," Fox insists that Jesus was not good because he was God, but instead was divine because he was good. This denies the objective divinity of Jesus. Specifically, he writes: "Jesus is not so much compassionate because he is divine as he is divine because he is compassionate. And did he. . .not teach others that they too were...divine because they are compassionate?[14]
At best he considers Jesus not as the God who created the universe, but as a sort of drum major out in front of the parade we should all be in. His lip service to Jesus as the most "creation- centered" human ever to live is mere pandering. One wonders why he wastes good ink on Him. If Matthew Fox has any historical reference point it is in the person of the 14th century German mystic, Meister Eckhart.
Eckhart was born around 1260 A.D. entering the Dominican order while a youth. A popular speaker, his pantheistic ideas strongly identified God with his creation. Eckhart has been hailed as a forerunner to Theosophists, Nazis and Pantheists. Hindus regard him as a "kindred spirit."[15] He felt that a God "out there" was unfathomable. Evelyn Underhill, in her book "The Mystics of the Church," wrote that Eckhart had "a tendency to exile God from His creation; and led him to set up a sharp distinction between the Absolute and unconditioned Godhead, "unknown and never to be known," and the God of religious experience. This separation is fundamental to Eckhart's thought....
[T]his leaning to transcendental speculation, land[ed] him at last in a monism which...can hardly be reconciled with Christianity."[16]
Eckhart saw a unity between God and man and he tended to see Jesus as the first human to realize that unity. Many of his ideas can be taken in more than one sense. The result is that one meaning may be insightful while the second meaning is solidly heretical. In one of his sermons he said, "If God's being is my being, then God's existence must be my existence and His essence my essence...." In another he said, "...the Holy Spirit receives his being...from me as from God."[17]
It was his radical ideas combined with his popularity that eventually brought him into conflict with the local authorities. Near the end of his life in 1326, he was cited for heresy by a hostile tribunal in his native Germany. Eckhart appealed to the pope for an unbiased hearing. He agreed to repudiate any teachings which were found to be heretical, but died before his case was decided.
In 1329, the year after his death, 17 of his propositions were condemned as heretical in the bull ("In Agro Dominico") of Pope John XII. It was declared that he had been deceived "by the father of lies who often appears as an angel of light" into "sowing thorns and thistles amongst the faithful and even the simple folk."[18] Another eleven statements were considered rash and dangerous but capable of being interpreted in an orthodox manner. His willingness to submit to the Church's authority was reflected in the edict, which stated that Eckhart,
"at the end of his life, professed the Catholic faith, revoked and even condemned the...26 articles, which he admitted having preached [as well as] all other matters written or taught by him, either in the schools or in sermons, that might create in the minds of the faithful an heretical or erroneous impression and one hostile to the true faith."[19]
While the German mystic himself was willing to repudiate his teachings, Meister Eckhart's admirers have not. His unorthodox ideas and speculations have grown in popularity in recent years and have found their most ardent proponent in Matthew Fox. He gives Eckhart the second-highest score on his one-to-five scale of creation-centeredness. More important, Fox has taken Eckhart's condemned teachings and given them his own concrete meanings. Fox quotes Eckhart declaring, "You may call God love; you may call God goodness; but the best name for God is Compassion."[20] Such a statement may not be heretical, depending on the meaning one gives to it. In Father Fox's dictionary, it has the most corrupt meaning possible: witchcraft.
The Craft
What is this twisted meaning Fox gives to the word "compassion?" This "compassion" is (supposedly) the source of every virtue. It is the quality that makes us (and Jesus) divine. He calls visualization "extrovert meditation" explaining it as listening to the inner self and uttering "the new images from within outwards. This giving birth to new images is the work of all creative persons."[21]
Compassion is explained in the following excerpt from "A Spirituality Named Compassion." The word "craft" is a common euphemism for witchcraft. Another is the term "wicca" or "wikke":
"Extrovert meditation, then, gives birth to this new kind of power...a power with, [which] is properly called compassion. It is a power to imagine with others and to be changed by this imagining. Crafts initiate one into a new kind of power. The German word for power is Kraft. There is no cover-up in this kind of power. "We can't fake craft. It lies in the act.... We do not have the craft or craftmanship, if we do not speak to the light that lives within the earthly materials; this means ALL earthly materials, including men themselves."
[C]ompassion is (the realization of the interconnectedness of all things)."[22]
The discussion of the "craft" or witchcraft need not be limited to the traditional image of the medieval wart-nosed hag stirring a bubbling cauldron. Rather, it encompasses most of what would commonly be called paganism. Matthew Fox expands the definition in "Original Blessing:"
"Native American spirituality is a creation-centered tradition, as are the other prepatriarchal religions of the world such as African religions, Celtic religion, and the matrifocal and Wikke traditions that scholars and practitioners like Starhawk are recovering. The contemporary mystical movement known as "New Age" can also dialogue and create with the creation spiritual tradition."[23]
Miriam Simos (Starhawk) is a practicing witch on the staff of Matthew Fox's Institute for Culture and Creation Spirituality (ICCS). Her specialty is the teaching of ritual. Constance Cumbey calls her, "one of the world's most politically active and important witches. She is a high priestess in a major coven and has been [active] politically in both the witches/Neopagan movements as well as the feminist movement. She is a frequent speaker at New Age convocations and conferences."[24] Starhawk writes: "In the Craft, we do not believe in the Goddess—we connect with her; through the moon, the stars, the ocean, the earth, through trees, animals, through other human beings, through ourselves. She is here. She is within us all."[25]
Witchcraft, which is often called "the old religion," is the worship of (or connection with) "the goddess" or the divine which it finds in nature. Typical of paganism and the Craft are beliefs in female deities, the sacredness of nature, power of the individual will, and the nonexistence of original sin or any division between good or evil. It is the foundation of feminism.
Christianity And Feminism
Feminist spirituality has nothing to do with the issues of fair play and equal pay. Those are rights that Christians can support. True feminism is anti-Catholic, anti-Church and anti-Christ.
What the feminists want covers a wide spectrum. Some want absolute identity between the roles of men and women in the church. They support abortion on demand, lesbian rights and in general can be found in the liberal wing politically. These are the moderates. The mainspring groups though, are not looking for a role in the Church—as we know it—at all. They are devoted to the "goddess" who is found in nature and themselves: creation-centered spirituality. Their Wikkan rituals tap the "goddess" power. They would drag God from His heaven and install the mother goddess. While they insist on the goddess, the sexual aspect is secondary to the real appeal—the appeal of having a goddess which they can control. She empowers them but makes no demands. She takes no offense at sin, nor calls for any redemption in the traditional sense.
The feminists' dominant mode of operation is to create discontent. They foster frustration, resentment and delusions of persecution by the "unjust patriarchal structures" in the Church, while simultaneously extending the promise of the goddess within. To some the appeal to power and pride is irresistible. The old beliefs lose their grip, and hell signs up another tenant. The point at which one crosses over to the other side comes sooner than most imagine. On the other hand the Church has not been hasty in drawing that line. Consequently, the neo-pagans have a forum for their views. Some of the most public displays occur when feminism's Catholic adherents gather. Such events are invariably blasphemous.
March 9-16, 1985 at Mundelein College in Chicago was the time to celebrate "The Goddess and the Wild Woman." The brochure cover sported a woman, with one breast exposed, dancing and with flowers springing up beneath her feet. Ancient goddesses, Artemis, Athena, Demeter and others stand by. Inside, the brochure speaks of drawing "aside the curtain woven by patriarchal consciousness to reveal within each of us the Goddess and the Wild Woman."[26]
Another gathering of more than 2000 Catholic feminists (as usual, mostly nuns) took place in Washington D.C. on October 10-12, 1986. The conference was entitled "Woman in the Church." Just a sample of the fare:
Speaker, Sister Madonna Kolbenschlag, ripped through "the papacy, the Church, Western civilization, the Judeo-Christian tradition, the Trinity, ("a good ole boy, associating with two other divine males") and monotheism. She asked the participants, in the name of "our elder brother, Jesus," to "be a scandal to the patriarchy." Further, "Someone once asked me, "What can we salvage from the traditional god-myth that is not destructive?" I don't think that salvaging is any concern of ours. Faith is the process of continually replacing the metaphors for god.... Women today must reclaim their reality from the fantasies, especially through the power of a holistic sexuality, and the right to a free and personally responsible expression of it...."[27]
Among the other festivities was a rally in support of Seattle archbishop Raymond Hunthausen as well as the inevitable exhibits by pro-abortion and lesbian groups. There was even a group sponsoring a "feminist liturgy" with a consecration by the women attending. Participants sang and recited poetry and chanted "My name is (X) and I claim my power as church." The priestesses proclaimed, "We are empowered by a loving goddess. We proclaim the power of our foremothers." They spoke of "our exodus from the patriarchal church...." Then at the consecration: "We bless this bread of the eucharist of Woman Church."[28]
A reporter asked keynote speaker Sister Joan Chittister if the American Church as an institution was ready to stand in opposition to Rome. "Do you want an answer or a prayer?" she replied. "Oh, God, I hope so!"[29]
A feminist philosopher has written of the irreconcilable differences between Christianity and feminism:
"I imagined women functioning as rabbis, priests and ministers...wearing clerical garb and performing clerical duties and suddenly I saw a problem. How could women represent a male god?
God is going to change.... We women are going to bring an end to God...we will be the end of Him. We will change the world so much that He won't fit in any more.
Jesus Christ cannot symbolize the liberation of women.... [F]eminists have to leave Christ and Bible behind them."[30]
This feminist spirituality is probably the most blatant form of heresy in the church today. One wonders how far the leaders of the movement can go without waking up those who, as yet, follow unwittingly. It is not as if the feminists are going around on tiptoe. "Catholic" feminist theologian, Rosemary Ruether writes about her own experience:
"I knew that Ba'al was a real god, the revelation of the mystery of life, the expressions of the depths of being which had broken through into the lives of the people and gave them a key to the mystery of death and rebirth.... As for the defects of Ba'al, were they more spectacular than the defects of the biblical God or Messiah, or perhaps less so?
I could hardly tell her [a nun] that my devotion to Mary was somewhat less than my devotion to some far more powerful females that I knew: Isis, Athena, and Artemis![31]
James Hitchcock has pointed out that she held these opinions as an undergraduate, "and thus held them throughout the period when she had a public identity as an orthodox Catholic theologian."[32]
In an April, 1985 interview, Ruether was asked why she even bothered to stay within the Church when so many others with her beliefs had left. Her answer might have come from any one of thousands of modernist Catholics in the Church today: "As a feminist, I can come up with only one reason to stay in the Catholic Church: to try to change it."[33]
The Infection Spreads
American Catholics are not the only ones being exposed to this "tradition." Our brethren to the North are not free of the "Woman Church" phenomenon. The Canadian Bishops have allowed the use of a "Study Kit" on women's issues. The bibliography of this material recommends the reading of radical feminist theologians. One of twelve sessions "contains a liturgy drawn from Wiccan (witchcraft) sources." One report on the kit maintained that women claimed that the experience had given them a "greater sense of dignity."[34] (Apparently the discovery of your goddess- hood does that for you!)
How far can the return to paganism go? In many places it has gone far. A "National Catholic Reporter" headline reads, "Archbishop summoned for 'witchcraft'."[35] In Germany, there is an officially registered school for witchcraft. A pharmaceutical company produces tincture of cannabis and other drugs used to enhance pagan rituals.[36] We should take warning from the situation in Brazil, where voodoo cults thrive. On most nights, thousands of followers of the old African religion offer animal sacrifices and while in trances worship spirits which have been merged with the worshippers' favorite Catholic saints. Each cultist is assigned particular spirits, who symbolize Christ, the Virgin Mary and other saints, but are actually demons carried over from the old religion.
The Brazilian church is the largest in the world. Ninety percent of Brazil's 131 million people are Catholic and it is estimated that this mixture of African ritualism and Catholicism is practiced by nearly half of all Brazilian Catholics. The clergy shrug at the problem, admitting that if Rome ordered the pagan practices stopped, no one would listen. One priest said that official church policy opposes the cults "but if we had a hard inflexible attitude we would lose them all."
As American Catholics, we too have slipped far; especially when it is realized that witchcraft or pre-Christian paganism is merely another facet of the New Age movement. Even Father Matthew Fox admits that his Western-oriented creation spirituality is part of the same picture. His Institute for Culture and Creation Spirituality (ICCS) has "become a focus for dialogue with native and Eastern spiritual traditions, the human potential movement, the new physics and the Green Movement."
He says, "Christians and others should not be afraid of terms like 'New Age.' The 'new' can in fact prove to be quite old. For example, a 'new' theology of original blessing is in fact far more ancient than the familiar theology of original sin."
Finally, as if to make certain that no one misses all the connections, the last page of Fox's five point Creation-Centered honor roll reads like a "Who's Who in the New Age movement":
Teilhard de Chardin
Carl Jung psychologist, occultist
Buckminster Fuller, author, "Spaceship Earth"
Fritjof Capra, author, "The Tao of Physics"
Starhawk, author, "Dreaming the Dark"
Marilyn Ferguson, author, "The Aquarian Conspiracy"
David Spangler, author, "Revelation: Birth of a New Age"
Of course, each author returns the favor and often recommends the others for New Age reading. David Spangler's Lorien Press distributes exclusively New Age titles, some of which were actually dictated by demons. Lorien offers Fox's "Original Blessing," calling it "a seminal work which Lorien Press is proud to offer."
It is difficult to say how much more popular the New Age movement will become in future years. What is certain is that Christianity is the prime force holding it back. Catholics are the big prize. Unfortunately, the Church, which should be the "salt of the Earth," finds itself in need of salt. If individual Catholics do not act as that salt and stand clearly across the path of this giant, then Matthew Fox's hope may yet come true:
Beginning with artists in the nineteenth century and extending today to scientists, feminists, New Age mystics, and social prophets, a veritable explosion of creation-centered spiritual energy is and has been occurring. If entire religious bodies such as Christianity could enter into this expanding spiritual energy field, there is no predicting what powers of passion and compassion might become unleashed.
Father Fox is an insightful man. He sees a need within the Church and moves to fill the vacuum. He points out that we have lost some of the mystery and darkness of the liturgy. The Latin, the smell of many candles and incense, and the somber tones of the Gregorian chant are gone; and gone with these some sense of holiness and awe.
Having noted the need for "darkness" and ritual, Father Fox has a program. He guides us to Native American sweat lodges; to ceremonial dances with drums and fire; and to the witch's Moon Ritual.[37]
While Father Matthew Fox's work continues to grow in popularity in America his teachings have not gone unnoticed in Rome. After a four-year long investigation of his works, Fox's Dominican Order silenced him. Fox announced that the Order had acted "under pressure from the Vatican Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly known as the Holy Office of the Inquisition." In Fox's statement to the press on October 20, 1988, he said that it was "an honor to be silenced by the present regime in the Vatican.... [T]he Vatican has grown deaf—deaf to the cries of Mother Earth, deaf to the cries of women, of native peoples and persons of color, of artists...." He spoke of the "need for a spirituality which can heal Mother Earth and usher in an era of a Global Renaissance.... I am proud to be a part of that movement." Fox's organization, the Friends of Creation Spirituality (FCS), announced that Fox would begin a sabbatical on December 15, 1988 and that he anticipated returning to the Institute for Creation Centered Spirituality in the fall of 1989. FCS also initiated a letter writing campaign to support Fox and the spread of Creation Spirituality. Like his proud modernist forbears, it appears that Father Matthew Fox will carry on the tradition of minimal outward submission coupled with contemptuous defiance.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
galileo battle for the heavens/. vs/ the roman catholic church
Watch Galileo's Battle for the Heavens on PBS. See more from NOVA.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
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Testimonies from ex-Roman Catholic Priests
Testimonies from ex-Roman Catholic Priests
catholic priestby Matt Slick
The following quotes are taken from the book by Richard Bennet, Far from Rome, Near to God: Testimonies of 50 Converted Roman Catholic Priests, Carlisle, PN: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1997. They are quite interesting and valuable since they give an insight to Catholicism from those who were priests in the Catholic Church and then left it to find salvation in Jesus.
Following are excerpts from only a few of the fifty testimonies in the book:
Henry Gregory Adams. Born in Saskatchewan, Canada. He entered the Basilian Order of monks and adopted the monastic name of "Saint Hilarion the Great." He was ordained as a priest and served five parishes in the Lemont, Alberta area.
Sacraments. "The monastic life and the sacraments prescribed by the Roman Catholic Church did not help me to come to know Christ personally and find salvation...I realized that the man-made sacraments of my church and my good works were in vain for salvation. They lead to a false security." (p. 3)
Joseph Tremblay. Born in Quebec, Canada, 1924. He was ordained a priest in Rome, Italy and was sent to Bolivia, Chile where he served for 13 years "as a missionary in the congregation of the Oblate Fathers of Mary Immaculate."
Salvation by works. "My theology has taught me that salvation is by works and sacrifices....my theology gives me no assurance of salvation; the Bible offers me that assurance....I had been trying to save myself on my works...I was stifled in a setting in which I was pushed to do good works to merit my salvation." (pp. 9, 11-12)
Bartholomew F. Brewer. He applied to the Discalced Carmelites, a strict monastic order. He received training of "four years of high school seminary, two years in the novitiate, three years of philosophy, and four years of theology (the last after ordination)." He was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary in Washington, D.C. He eventually served as a diocesan priest in San Diego, California and entered the Navy as a Roman Catholic chaplain.
Upon questioning Rome's Beliefs, "At first I did not understand, but gradually I observed a wonderful change in mother. Her influence helped me realize the importance of the Bible in determining what we believe. We often discussed subjects such as the primacy of Peter, papal infallibility, the priesthood, infant baptism, confession, the mass, purgatory, the Immaculate Conception of Mary, and the bodily assumption of Mary into heaven. In time I realized that not only are these beliefs not in the Bible, they are actually contrary to the clear teaching of Scripture." (pp. 21-22)
Relying on works.
He left the Roman Catholic Church, got married and through conversations with his wife and other Christians, "I finally understood that I had been relying on my own righteousness and religious efforts and not upon the completed and sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The Roman Catholic religion had never taught me that our own righteousness is fleshly and not acceptable to God, nor that we need to trust in his righteousness alone...during all those years of monastic life I had relied on the sacraments of Rome to give me grace, to save me." (p. 25)
Hugh Farrell.
Born in Denver, Colorado. Entered the Order of our Lady of Mount Carmel, commonly called the Discalced Carmelite Fathers. Ordained as a priest.
Priestly power to change elements: "The priest, according to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, has the power to take ordinary bread and wine, and, by pronouncing the words of the consecration prayer in the sacrifice of the Mass, to change it into the actual body and blood and soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. Hence, since one cannot separate the human nature of Christ from his divinity, the bread and wine, after being changed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ, are entitled to the worship of adoration." (pp. 28)
Temporal punishment due to sins. "I knew from the teachings of the priests and nuns that I could not hope to go directly to heaven after my death. My Roman Catholic catechism taught me that after death I had to pay for the temporal punishment due to my sins. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that 'the souls of the just which, in a moment of death, are burdened with venial sins or temporal punishment due to sin, enter purgatory.'" (p. 29)
Penance. Regarding life in the monastery and doing penance. "These penances consist of standing with the arms outstretched to form a cross, kissing the sandaled feet of the monks, receiving a blow upon the face from the monks, and, at the end of the meal, lying prostrate before the entrance to the refectory so that the departing monks must step over one's body. These, and other penances, are supposed to gain one merit in heaven and increase one's 'spiritual bank account.'" (p. 36)
The Mass and sorcery. "According to the teaching of the Roman Church the priest, no matter how unworthy he may personally be, even if he has just made a pact with the devil for his soul, has the power to change the elements of bread and wine into the actual body and blood, soul and divinity, of Jesus Christ. Provided he pronounces the words of consecration properly and has the intention of consecrating, God must come down on the altar and enter and take over the elements." (p. 39)
Alexander Carson. Baptized into the Roman Catholic Church as an infant. His priesthood studies were at St. John's seminary, Brighton, Massachusetts. He was ordained by Bishop Lawrence Shehan of Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1955 and was a priest in Alexandria, Louisiana. Also, he was pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Rayville, Louisiana.
Bible or Tradition. "...the Holy Spirit led me to judge Roman Catholic theology by the standard of the Bible. Previously, I had always judged the Bible by Roman Catholic doctrine and theology." (p. 53)
Mass contrary to scripture. "In my letter of resignation from the Roman Catholic Church and Ministry, I stated to the bishop that I was leaving the priesthood because I could no longer offer the Mass, as it was contrary to the Word of God and to my conscience." (pp. 54-55)
Charles Berry. He entered the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine and became a priest after 17 years. He was given orders to continue studying until he achieved a Ph.D. in chemistry and was then "transferred to the headquarters of the Augustinian order in the United States."
Superstition. "In the United States the Roman Catholic Church is on its best behavior, putting its best foot forward because of its critics and opponents. In a Roman Catholic country, where it has few opponents or critics, it is a very different matter. Ignorance and superstition and idolatry are everywhere, and little effort, if any, is made to change the situation. Instead of following the Christianity taught in the Bible the people concentrate on the worship of statues and their local patron saints." (p. 59)
Idols and Statues.
"When I met in Cuba a genuine pagan who worshiped idols (a religion transplanted from Africa by his ancestors), I asked how he could believe that a plaster idol could help him. He replied that the idol was not expected to help him; it only represented the power in heaven which could.
What horrified me about his reply was that it was almost word for word the explanation Roman Catholics give for rendering honor to the statues of the saints." (p. 59)
Bob Bush. He went to a Jesuit Seminary and studied for 13 years before being ordained in 1966. He entered a post graduate program in Rome.
Works: "When I entered the order, the first thing that happened was that I was told I had to keep all the rules and regulations, that to do so would be pleasing to God, and that this was what he wanted for me. We were taught the motto, 'Keep the rule and the rule will keep you.'" (p. 66).
Salvation is by faith: "It took me many years to realize that I was compromising by staying in the Roman Catholic Church. Throughout all those years I continued to stress that salvation is only in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and not in the infant baptism; that there is only one source of authority which is the Bible, the word of God; and that there is no purgatory but rather that when we die to either go to heaven or hell." (p. 69)
Salvation by works: "The Roman Catholic Church then goes on to say that in order to be saved you must keep its laws, rules and regulations. And in these laws are violated (for example, laws concerning birth control or fasting or attendance at Mass every Sunday), then you have committed a sin....'individual and integral confession and absolution constitute the only ordinary way by which the faithful person who was aware of serious sin can be reconciled with God, and with the church' (Canon 9609)." (p. 75)
Works: "The Roman Catholic Church adds works, and that you have to do these specific things [keeping its laws, rule and regulations] ]in order to be saved, whereas the Bible says in Ephesians 2:8-9 that it is by grace that we are saved, not by works." (pp. 75-76)
As you can see, even Roman Catholic Priests can discover the truth found in God's word and escape the error of the Roman Catholic system of works righteousness. To God be the glory.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast," (Eph. 2:8-9).
catholic priestby Matt Slick
The following quotes are taken from the book by Richard Bennet, Far from Rome, Near to God: Testimonies of 50 Converted Roman Catholic Priests, Carlisle, PN: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1997. They are quite interesting and valuable since they give an insight to Catholicism from those who were priests in the Catholic Church and then left it to find salvation in Jesus.
Following are excerpts from only a few of the fifty testimonies in the book:
Henry Gregory Adams. Born in Saskatchewan, Canada. He entered the Basilian Order of monks and adopted the monastic name of "Saint Hilarion the Great." He was ordained as a priest and served five parishes in the Lemont, Alberta area.
Sacraments. "The monastic life and the sacraments prescribed by the Roman Catholic Church did not help me to come to know Christ personally and find salvation...I realized that the man-made sacraments of my church and my good works were in vain for salvation. They lead to a false security." (p. 3)
Joseph Tremblay. Born in Quebec, Canada, 1924. He was ordained a priest in Rome, Italy and was sent to Bolivia, Chile where he served for 13 years "as a missionary in the congregation of the Oblate Fathers of Mary Immaculate."
Salvation by works. "My theology has taught me that salvation is by works and sacrifices....my theology gives me no assurance of salvation; the Bible offers me that assurance....I had been trying to save myself on my works...I was stifled in a setting in which I was pushed to do good works to merit my salvation." (pp. 9, 11-12)
Bartholomew F. Brewer. He applied to the Discalced Carmelites, a strict monastic order. He received training of "four years of high school seminary, two years in the novitiate, three years of philosophy, and four years of theology (the last after ordination)." He was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary in Washington, D.C. He eventually served as a diocesan priest in San Diego, California and entered the Navy as a Roman Catholic chaplain.
Upon questioning Rome's Beliefs, "At first I did not understand, but gradually I observed a wonderful change in mother. Her influence helped me realize the importance of the Bible in determining what we believe. We often discussed subjects such as the primacy of Peter, papal infallibility, the priesthood, infant baptism, confession, the mass, purgatory, the Immaculate Conception of Mary, and the bodily assumption of Mary into heaven. In time I realized that not only are these beliefs not in the Bible, they are actually contrary to the clear teaching of Scripture." (pp. 21-22)
Relying on works.
He left the Roman Catholic Church, got married and through conversations with his wife and other Christians, "I finally understood that I had been relying on my own righteousness and religious efforts and not upon the completed and sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The Roman Catholic religion had never taught me that our own righteousness is fleshly and not acceptable to God, nor that we need to trust in his righteousness alone...during all those years of monastic life I had relied on the sacraments of Rome to give me grace, to save me." (p. 25)
Hugh Farrell.
Born in Denver, Colorado. Entered the Order of our Lady of Mount Carmel, commonly called the Discalced Carmelite Fathers. Ordained as a priest.
Priestly power to change elements: "The priest, according to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, has the power to take ordinary bread and wine, and, by pronouncing the words of the consecration prayer in the sacrifice of the Mass, to change it into the actual body and blood and soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. Hence, since one cannot separate the human nature of Christ from his divinity, the bread and wine, after being changed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ, are entitled to the worship of adoration." (pp. 28)
Temporal punishment due to sins. "I knew from the teachings of the priests and nuns that I could not hope to go directly to heaven after my death. My Roman Catholic catechism taught me that after death I had to pay for the temporal punishment due to my sins. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that 'the souls of the just which, in a moment of death, are burdened with venial sins or temporal punishment due to sin, enter purgatory.'" (p. 29)
Penance. Regarding life in the monastery and doing penance. "These penances consist of standing with the arms outstretched to form a cross, kissing the sandaled feet of the monks, receiving a blow upon the face from the monks, and, at the end of the meal, lying prostrate before the entrance to the refectory so that the departing monks must step over one's body. These, and other penances, are supposed to gain one merit in heaven and increase one's 'spiritual bank account.'" (p. 36)
The Mass and sorcery. "According to the teaching of the Roman Church the priest, no matter how unworthy he may personally be, even if he has just made a pact with the devil for his soul, has the power to change the elements of bread and wine into the actual body and blood, soul and divinity, of Jesus Christ. Provided he pronounces the words of consecration properly and has the intention of consecrating, God must come down on the altar and enter and take over the elements." (p. 39)
Alexander Carson. Baptized into the Roman Catholic Church as an infant. His priesthood studies were at St. John's seminary, Brighton, Massachusetts. He was ordained by Bishop Lawrence Shehan of Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1955 and was a priest in Alexandria, Louisiana. Also, he was pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Rayville, Louisiana.
Bible or Tradition. "...the Holy Spirit led me to judge Roman Catholic theology by the standard of the Bible. Previously, I had always judged the Bible by Roman Catholic doctrine and theology." (p. 53)
Mass contrary to scripture. "In my letter of resignation from the Roman Catholic Church and Ministry, I stated to the bishop that I was leaving the priesthood because I could no longer offer the Mass, as it was contrary to the Word of God and to my conscience." (pp. 54-55)
Charles Berry. He entered the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine and became a priest after 17 years. He was given orders to continue studying until he achieved a Ph.D. in chemistry and was then "transferred to the headquarters of the Augustinian order in the United States."
Superstition. "In the United States the Roman Catholic Church is on its best behavior, putting its best foot forward because of its critics and opponents. In a Roman Catholic country, where it has few opponents or critics, it is a very different matter. Ignorance and superstition and idolatry are everywhere, and little effort, if any, is made to change the situation. Instead of following the Christianity taught in the Bible the people concentrate on the worship of statues and their local patron saints." (p. 59)
Idols and Statues.
"When I met in Cuba a genuine pagan who worshiped idols (a religion transplanted from Africa by his ancestors), I asked how he could believe that a plaster idol could help him. He replied that the idol was not expected to help him; it only represented the power in heaven which could.
What horrified me about his reply was that it was almost word for word the explanation Roman Catholics give for rendering honor to the statues of the saints." (p. 59)
Bob Bush. He went to a Jesuit Seminary and studied for 13 years before being ordained in 1966. He entered a post graduate program in Rome.
Works: "When I entered the order, the first thing that happened was that I was told I had to keep all the rules and regulations, that to do so would be pleasing to God, and that this was what he wanted for me. We were taught the motto, 'Keep the rule and the rule will keep you.'" (p. 66).
Salvation is by faith: "It took me many years to realize that I was compromising by staying in the Roman Catholic Church. Throughout all those years I continued to stress that salvation is only in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and not in the infant baptism; that there is only one source of authority which is the Bible, the word of God; and that there is no purgatory but rather that when we die to either go to heaven or hell." (p. 69)
Salvation by works: "The Roman Catholic Church then goes on to say that in order to be saved you must keep its laws, rules and regulations. And in these laws are violated (for example, laws concerning birth control or fasting or attendance at Mass every Sunday), then you have committed a sin....'individual and integral confession and absolution constitute the only ordinary way by which the faithful person who was aware of serious sin can be reconciled with God, and with the church' (Canon 9609)." (p. 75)
Works: "The Roman Catholic Church adds works, and that you have to do these specific things [keeping its laws, rule and regulations] ]in order to be saved, whereas the Bible says in Ephesians 2:8-9 that it is by grace that we are saved, not by works." (pp. 75-76)
As you can see, even Roman Catholic Priests can discover the truth found in God's word and escape the error of the Roman Catholic system of works righteousness. To God be the glory.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast," (Eph. 2:8-9).
Sunday, October 16, 2011
या सुरेRead the Bible for a Plenary Indulgence
Patrick Miron p-miron@hotmail.com to Al, Andy, Ben, benmik, Billy, CAF, Catherine, Chris, Dan, jeddy48128, Kaleb, Kathy, Ken, Kristy, Lauren, Machelle, Mark, Mike, Outlaw, me, Stephanie, Talia, Tony, trekgirl22
show details 4/14/10
I didn't know this so thought I'd shre it.
Read the Bible for a Plenary Indulgence
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 by Taylor Marshall
Who said Catholics don't read the Bible? Did you know that the Church grants an indulgence to those devoutly read Sacred Scripture. (By the way, an indulgence is the remission of temporal punishment for a sin already forgiven by God. The distinction between guilt and the debt of punishment is explained here: The Mechanics of Sin and Redemption in Catholic Theology)
The Church grants a plenary indulgence to those who read the Bible for 30 minutes:
50. Reading of Sacred Scripture (Sacrae Scripturae lectio)
A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful, who with the veneration due the divine word make a spiritual reading from Sacred Scripture.
A plenary indulgence is granted, if this reading is continued for at least one half an hour.
Obtaining a plenary indulgence also has the following conditions (see Norms which are summarized below):
* Sacramental confession. A single sacramental confession suffices for gaining several plenary indulgences; but Communion must be received and prayer for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff must be recited for the gaining of each plenary indulgence.
* Eucharistic Communion.
* Prayer for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff. The condition of praying for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff is fully satisfied by reciting one Our Father and one Hail Mary; nevertheless, each one is free to recite any other prayer according to his piety and devotion.
* It is further required that all attachment to sin, even venial sin, be absent. If the latter disposition is in any way less than perfect or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be partial only, saving the provisions given in Norms 34 and 35.
from the Enchiridion:
show details 4/14/10
I didn't know this so thought I'd shre it.
Read the Bible for a Plenary Indulgence
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 by Taylor Marshall
Who said Catholics don't read the Bible? Did you know that the Church grants an indulgence to those devoutly read Sacred Scripture. (By the way, an indulgence is the remission of temporal punishment for a sin already forgiven by God. The distinction between guilt and the debt of punishment is explained here: The Mechanics of Sin and Redemption in Catholic Theology)
The Church grants a plenary indulgence to those who read the Bible for 30 minutes:
50. Reading of Sacred Scripture (Sacrae Scripturae lectio)
A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful, who with the veneration due the divine word make a spiritual reading from Sacred Scripture.
A plenary indulgence is granted, if this reading is continued for at least one half an hour.
Obtaining a plenary indulgence also has the following conditions (see Norms which are summarized below):
* Sacramental confession. A single sacramental confession suffices for gaining several plenary indulgences; but Communion must be received and prayer for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff must be recited for the gaining of each plenary indulgence.
* Eucharistic Communion.
* Prayer for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff. The condition of praying for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff is fully satisfied by reciting one Our Father and one Hail Mary; nevertheless, each one is free to recite any other prayer according to his piety and devotion.
* It is further required that all attachment to sin, even venial sin, be absent. If the latter disposition is in any way less than perfect or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be partial only, saving the provisions given in Norms 34 and 35.
from the Enchiridion:
Saturday, October 15, 2011
patrick micron / protector of roman catholic perverts/The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
Boysville of michigan where Holy Cross Brother s will teach you now to masterbate and not master bate..
they augh to know... it's a sin that is common in the holy cross brotherhood
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Op-Eds, Essays, Speeches
Op-Ed • Op-Ed •Op-Ed • Op-Ed • Op-Ed • Op-Ed • Op-Ed • Op-Ed • Op-Ed • Op-Ed
Bishops should help Ohio stop child molesters, by Donna Kollars, January 6, 2005
Bishops Seek Way Out from Sex Abuse Scandal, by John Salveson, December 7, 2004
Mindset of Syracuse Diocese allows abuse infection to fester, by Marianne Barone Trent and Charles Bailey Jr., October 23, 2003
New Hampshire Catholics: Why Have Your Forsaken Us?, by Peter Pollard, August 1, 2003
Reforming the Statute of Limitations - The Single Most Effective Legislative Remedy To Make Sure Kids Are Safer, by David Clohessy and Barbara Blaine
Addiction to Power, by Mark Vincent Serrano, SNAP Board Member, April 11, 2003
Archbishop's words intentionally inflicted harm on women, By David Clohessy, SNAP Executive Director, March 8, 2003, San Antonio Express-News
Back to Sunday School, by Mark Vincent Serrano, SNAP Board Member, February 14, 2003
San Francisco Police Department - To Protect and Serve? By David Clohessy, SNAP Executive Director, February 7, 2003, San Francisco Chronicle
Protect Kids - Not Bishops, by Mark Vincent Serrano, SNAP Board Member, January 27, 2003
Church Unlikely to Get Tough with All Abusive Priests, By Mark Vincent Serrano, SNAP Board Member, June 3, 2002 - USA Today
Vatican Comedy, by Steve Pona, St. Louis, MO SNAP Leader
It's Time for Laity to Step Up, By Mark Vincent Serrano, SNAP Board Member, November 2, 2002 - Tha Dallas Morning News
What WILL the Cardinal say? By Arthur Austin, Boston, MA, November 2002
Speeches • Speeches • Speeches • Speeches • Speeches • Speeches
Remarks at Dedication of Millstone Memorial, Speech by Mark Vincent Serrano, April 25, 2004
Announcing Formation of New SNAP Chapter, Speech by SNAP CT Leader Landa Mauriello-Vernon
Remarks to Minnesota VOTF Meeting, Speech by SNAP Minnesota Leader Belinda Martinez, July 31, 2003
Providence, RI Solidarity March, Speech by SNAP New England co-coordinator Ann Hagan Webb, March 16, 2003
Heroes, vs. Cowards, Speech by Boston SNAP Leader John Harris, delivered February 2, 2003, at Worcester, Massachusetts
Good News . . .Bad News, Speech by SNAP leader Belinda Martinez at SNAP Minnesota Conference in St. Paul, delivered January 25, 2003
Be Careful What You Wish For, Speech by Bill Gately, SNAP New England, January 2003
Remarks by Philadelphia SNAP Leader on Changes to Dallas Charter, Speech by John Salveson, Archdiocese of Philadelphia, delivered November 15, 2002
What Took You So Long?, Address to Voice of the Faithful Conference, by Phil Saviano, SNAP New England, July 20, 2002
You Are Not Alone, Speech given by Mark Furnish, Diocese of Rochester, NY, to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. Geneva, Switzerland, October 12, 2002
Legislative Testimony • Legislative Testimony • Legislative Testimony
A Boston Survivor's Remarks on Charitable Immunity, Testimony by Phil Saviano, SNAP New England, October 9, 2003
Testimony in Support of Legislation in Massachusetts, by Carol McCormick, SNAP New England, October 9, 2003
Essays • Essays • Essays • Essay • Essays • Essays • Essays • Essays
New Year's Message to Boston Survivors, Essay by Ann Hagan Webb, Co-coordinator, SNAP New England
Snapdragons On My Mind, Essay by Bill Curtis, New Jersey SNAP Leader
Clerical Abuse: A Case Against Forgiving or Forgetting,
Essay by Peter Pollard, Springfield, MA SNAP Leader
Driven from the Flock, by Janet Patterson, Kansas mother of abuse victim, SNAP Board Member
The Truth, and My Voice, by Cynthia Desrosiers, Worcester, MA Diocese, June 1999
Letters • Letters • Letters • Letters • Letters • Letters • Letters • Letters
Where are the Victims of the 1990's?, letter to Milwaukee district attorney, by SNAP Wisconsin leader Belinda Martinez, November, 2002
Healing Prayer Service • Healing Prayer Service • Healing Prayer Service •
Survivor writes Liturgy for Healing, a musician, writer and survivor composed "A Service for Victims," which was presented recently at a church in Cleveland.
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
www.snapnetwork.org
they augh to know... it's a sin that is common in the holy cross brotherhood
Survivor's
Voice
BACK TO:
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
The Survivor's Voice
Op-Eds, Essays, Speeches
Op-Ed • Op-Ed •Op-Ed • Op-Ed • Op-Ed • Op-Ed • Op-Ed • Op-Ed • Op-Ed • Op-Ed
Bishops should help Ohio stop child molesters, by Donna Kollars, January 6, 2005
Bishops Seek Way Out from Sex Abuse Scandal, by John Salveson, December 7, 2004
Mindset of Syracuse Diocese allows abuse infection to fester, by Marianne Barone Trent and Charles Bailey Jr., October 23, 2003
New Hampshire Catholics: Why Have Your Forsaken Us?, by Peter Pollard, August 1, 2003
Reforming the Statute of Limitations - The Single Most Effective Legislative Remedy To Make Sure Kids Are Safer, by David Clohessy and Barbara Blaine
Addiction to Power, by Mark Vincent Serrano, SNAP Board Member, April 11, 2003
Archbishop's words intentionally inflicted harm on women, By David Clohessy, SNAP Executive Director, March 8, 2003, San Antonio Express-News
Back to Sunday School, by Mark Vincent Serrano, SNAP Board Member, February 14, 2003
San Francisco Police Department - To Protect and Serve? By David Clohessy, SNAP Executive Director, February 7, 2003, San Francisco Chronicle
Protect Kids - Not Bishops, by Mark Vincent Serrano, SNAP Board Member, January 27, 2003
Church Unlikely to Get Tough with All Abusive Priests, By Mark Vincent Serrano, SNAP Board Member, June 3, 2002 - USA Today
Vatican Comedy, by Steve Pona, St. Louis, MO SNAP Leader
It's Time for Laity to Step Up, By Mark Vincent Serrano, SNAP Board Member, November 2, 2002 - Tha Dallas Morning News
What WILL the Cardinal say? By Arthur Austin, Boston, MA, November 2002
Speeches • Speeches • Speeches • Speeches • Speeches • Speeches
Remarks at Dedication of Millstone Memorial, Speech by Mark Vincent Serrano, April 25, 2004
Announcing Formation of New SNAP Chapter, Speech by SNAP CT Leader Landa Mauriello-Vernon
Remarks to Minnesota VOTF Meeting, Speech by SNAP Minnesota Leader Belinda Martinez, July 31, 2003
Providence, RI Solidarity March, Speech by SNAP New England co-coordinator Ann Hagan Webb, March 16, 2003
Heroes, vs. Cowards, Speech by Boston SNAP Leader John Harris, delivered February 2, 2003, at Worcester, Massachusetts
Good News . . .Bad News, Speech by SNAP leader Belinda Martinez at SNAP Minnesota Conference in St. Paul, delivered January 25, 2003
Be Careful What You Wish For, Speech by Bill Gately, SNAP New England, January 2003
Remarks by Philadelphia SNAP Leader on Changes to Dallas Charter, Speech by John Salveson, Archdiocese of Philadelphia, delivered November 15, 2002
What Took You So Long?, Address to Voice of the Faithful Conference, by Phil Saviano, SNAP New England, July 20, 2002
You Are Not Alone, Speech given by Mark Furnish, Diocese of Rochester, NY, to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. Geneva, Switzerland, October 12, 2002
Legislative Testimony • Legislative Testimony • Legislative Testimony
A Boston Survivor's Remarks on Charitable Immunity, Testimony by Phil Saviano, SNAP New England, October 9, 2003
Testimony in Support of Legislation in Massachusetts, by Carol McCormick, SNAP New England, October 9, 2003
Essays • Essays • Essays • Essay • Essays • Essays • Essays • Essays
New Year's Message to Boston Survivors, Essay by Ann Hagan Webb, Co-coordinator, SNAP New England
Snapdragons On My Mind, Essay by Bill Curtis, New Jersey SNAP Leader
Clerical Abuse: A Case Against Forgiving or Forgetting,
Essay by Peter Pollard, Springfield, MA SNAP Leader
Driven from the Flock, by Janet Patterson, Kansas mother of abuse victim, SNAP Board Member
The Truth, and My Voice, by Cynthia Desrosiers, Worcester, MA Diocese, June 1999
Letters • Letters • Letters • Letters • Letters • Letters • Letters • Letters
Where are the Victims of the 1990's?, letter to Milwaukee district attorney, by SNAP Wisconsin leader Belinda Martinez, November, 2002
Healing Prayer Service • Healing Prayer Service • Healing Prayer Service •
Survivor writes Liturgy for Healing, a musician, writer and survivor composed "A Service for Victims," which was presented recently at a church in Cleveland.
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
www.snapnetwork.org
Roman Catholic perverts are easy to find ask/ patrick micron
Boysville of michigan a starting place for perverts
Thomas more high school / where education is second to all
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SNAP Press Release
Victims to leaflet area where accused priest worked
Suit says Catholic officials knew of crimes for 40 years
Cleric was in three California dioceses, including Fresno
A dozen others - including former Memorial HS students - have reported his inappropriate actions around kids
What:
Holding signs and photos of themselves at the age they were abused, victims of child sexual abuse and their supporters will:
-- discuss a clergy sex abuse and cover up lawsuit filed last week involving the Fresno diocese,
-- hand out leaflets to Catholics leaving mass and to community members about the alleged predator priest, and
-- urge anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes to call police immediately.
The lawsuit says that:
- at least 14 witnesses, including students at San Joaquin Memorial High School, have come forward to testify to the priest's misconduct, and
- church staff in three different dioceses knew of (and kept silent about) the priest's sexual misconduct as far back as the 1960s.
Where:
Outside of St. John's Cathedral, 2814 Mariposa St. (at R Street), Fresno, 93721
When:
Tuesday, August 16, 2011 at 1 pm
Who:
2-3 survivors of sexual abuse and their supporters who are members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), the nation's largest support group for men and women who have been sexually abused in religious organizations.
Why:
Last week, a northern California man filed a child sex abuse and cover-up lawsuit alleging that a priest who worked in Fresno, Fr. Don Flickinger, sexually victimized him as a boy in San Jose in 2001. The lawsuit also alleges that church officials in three dioceses – Fresno, San Jose and San Francisco - knew about Flickinger's predatory behavior for more than 40 years and did little or nothing to protect kids.
The victim, now 23, says that Fr. Flickinger sexually assaulted him in Flickinger's room when the boy was 13 and Flickinger was working in the Diocese of San Jose. The boy went to the police to report the abuse. When contacted by the victim via a "police sting call," the cleric was evidently aware of the investigation and did not incriminate himself. Flickinger was then transferred from the San Jose area to St. Paul's church in San Francisco, where parishioners were not warned about child sex allegations against the priest.
The victim, like many victims of child sexual abuse, has suffered severe emotional and psychological damage. In 2009, he pled no contest to a misdemeanor count of possession of child pornography. He downloaded the images while still a teen and soon after the alleged abuse.
Witnesses who have come forward include former students at San Joaquin Memorial High School. According to the lawsuit, allegations of Fr. Flickinger's misconduct begin in 1968, soon after he was ordained a priest in the Fresno diocese. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2011/07_08/2011_08_12_Guy_SuitClaims.htm Flickinger has been accused by other witnesses of sexual abuse, intimidating and threatening children who reported him. The lawsuit says that Flickinger hand-picked Memorial High School freshman boys to pull out of class. He would then take them to his office, ask them inappropriate questions about sex and masturbation, and then sexually harass them. The lawsuit says that Flickinger also harassed boys at a summer camp at Bass Lake.
In 1972, according to the suit, a Memorial High student inadvertently reported Flickinger's predatory behavior to San Francisco church officials. Flickinger then told the boy he would be criminally prosecuted for making an allegedly false allegation, and bullied him into signing a document recanting his story.
Flickinger's predatory behavior continued when he was sent to the Diocese of San Jose, where others - including parents - noted the cleric's dangerous and inappropriate relationships with young boys over the next 35 years. At least one parent reported Flickinger's behavior to a lay San Jose church official in 2009, who confirmed that her own son thought the priest was "creepy." http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2011/07_08/2011_08_12_Sankin_DonFlickinger.htm
Since both allegations were made - the 1972 allegations to church officials and the current victim's report to law enforcement - Catholic officials in Fresno, San Jose and San Francisco have done little or nothing to warn parishioners, police, or the public about Flickinger, or limit his access to kids.
SNAP is hoping to reach out to other potential victims and alert parents in the Fresno Diocese of the serious public safety danger at the parish.
After being ordained in the Diocese of Fresno in 1964, Flickinger worked at Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and Memorial High School until approximately 1971.
The victim is represented by attorney Tim Hale of Santa Barbara (805) 963-2345
Contact:
Tim Lennon, SNAP San Francisco Leader, 415-312-5820, sflennon@gmail.com
Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach, SNAP Western Regional Director, 949-322 7434, jcasteix@gmail.com, snapcasteix@gmail.com,
Barb Dorris, of St Louis, SNAP Outreach Director, 314-503-0003, snapdorris@gmail.com
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
www.snapnetwork.org
Thomas more high school / where education is second to all
SNAP
Press
Release
BACK TO:
Roster of Press Releases
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
SNAP Press Release
Victims to leaflet area where accused priest worked
Suit says Catholic officials knew of crimes for 40 years
Cleric was in three California dioceses, including Fresno
A dozen others - including former Memorial HS students - have reported his inappropriate actions around kids
What:
Holding signs and photos of themselves at the age they were abused, victims of child sexual abuse and their supporters will:
-- discuss a clergy sex abuse and cover up lawsuit filed last week involving the Fresno diocese,
-- hand out leaflets to Catholics leaving mass and to community members about the alleged predator priest, and
-- urge anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes to call police immediately.
The lawsuit says that:
- at least 14 witnesses, including students at San Joaquin Memorial High School, have come forward to testify to the priest's misconduct, and
- church staff in three different dioceses knew of (and kept silent about) the priest's sexual misconduct as far back as the 1960s.
Where:
Outside of St. John's Cathedral, 2814 Mariposa St. (at R Street), Fresno, 93721
When:
Tuesday, August 16, 2011 at 1 pm
Who:
2-3 survivors of sexual abuse and their supporters who are members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), the nation's largest support group for men and women who have been sexually abused in religious organizations.
Why:
Last week, a northern California man filed a child sex abuse and cover-up lawsuit alleging that a priest who worked in Fresno, Fr. Don Flickinger, sexually victimized him as a boy in San Jose in 2001. The lawsuit also alleges that church officials in three dioceses – Fresno, San Jose and San Francisco - knew about Flickinger's predatory behavior for more than 40 years and did little or nothing to protect kids.
The victim, now 23, says that Fr. Flickinger sexually assaulted him in Flickinger's room when the boy was 13 and Flickinger was working in the Diocese of San Jose. The boy went to the police to report the abuse. When contacted by the victim via a "police sting call," the cleric was evidently aware of the investigation and did not incriminate himself. Flickinger was then transferred from the San Jose area to St. Paul's church in San Francisco, where parishioners were not warned about child sex allegations against the priest.
The victim, like many victims of child sexual abuse, has suffered severe emotional and psychological damage. In 2009, he pled no contest to a misdemeanor count of possession of child pornography. He downloaded the images while still a teen and soon after the alleged abuse.
Witnesses who have come forward include former students at San Joaquin Memorial High School. According to the lawsuit, allegations of Fr. Flickinger's misconduct begin in 1968, soon after he was ordained a priest in the Fresno diocese. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2011/07_08/2011_08_12_Guy_SuitClaims.htm Flickinger has been accused by other witnesses of sexual abuse, intimidating and threatening children who reported him. The lawsuit says that Flickinger hand-picked Memorial High School freshman boys to pull out of class. He would then take them to his office, ask them inappropriate questions about sex and masturbation, and then sexually harass them. The lawsuit says that Flickinger also harassed boys at a summer camp at Bass Lake.
In 1972, according to the suit, a Memorial High student inadvertently reported Flickinger's predatory behavior to San Francisco church officials. Flickinger then told the boy he would be criminally prosecuted for making an allegedly false allegation, and bullied him into signing a document recanting his story.
Flickinger's predatory behavior continued when he was sent to the Diocese of San Jose, where others - including parents - noted the cleric's dangerous and inappropriate relationships with young boys over the next 35 years. At least one parent reported Flickinger's behavior to a lay San Jose church official in 2009, who confirmed that her own son thought the priest was "creepy." http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2011/07_08/2011_08_12_Sankin_DonFlickinger.htm
Since both allegations were made - the 1972 allegations to church officials and the current victim's report to law enforcement - Catholic officials in Fresno, San Jose and San Francisco have done little or nothing to warn parishioners, police, or the public about Flickinger, or limit his access to kids.
SNAP is hoping to reach out to other potential victims and alert parents in the Fresno Diocese of the serious public safety danger at the parish.
After being ordained in the Diocese of Fresno in 1964, Flickinger worked at Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and Memorial High School until approximately 1971.
The victim is represented by attorney Tim Hale of Santa Barbara (805) 963-2345
Contact:
Tim Lennon, SNAP San Francisco Leader, 415-312-5820, sflennon@gmail.com
Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach, SNAP Western Regional Director, 949-322 7434, jcasteix@gmail.com, snapcasteix@gmail.com,
Barb Dorris, of St Louis, SNAP Outreach Director, 314-503-0003, snapdorris@gmail.com
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
www.snapnetwork.org
alvin glombowski / lier pervert / http://snaparch.com/
SNAP branches
http://snaparch.com/
SNAP
Statement
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SNAP Press Statement
For immediate release: Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Five clergy sex cases settled in NJ, SNAP responds
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, National Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314-566-9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com)
We applaud these brave men who found the strength to report abuse and the wisdom to take legal action. We hope this resolution brings them some long-overdue and sorely needed healing.
We also hope it will encourage others who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes to come forward, expose predators, protect kids and start healing. It’s always tempting to keep quiet about child sex crimes – whether known or suspected. However, it’s also always irresponsible. Kids are only safe when adults are brave and caring enough to speak up.
NO amount of money can restore the shattered faith and stolen childhoods of these wounded men. But through their compassionate actions, they can help repair some of the horrific damage they have experienced. And, in the process, they can inspire others to take steps to safeguard kids.
We hope every single individual with information or suspicions about clergy sex crimes – by Becker or other priests, nuns, seminarians or bishops – will do what’s right and step forward.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 23 years and have more than 10,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, SNAPblaine@gmail.com), Peter Isely (414-429-7259, peterisely@yahoo.com), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com)
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/127868178.html
Posted on Tue, Aug. 16, 2011
Trenton Diocese to pay $1M to settle sex abuse claims
By John P. Martin INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. - The Catholic Diocese of Trenton has agreed to pay $1 million to five men who claimed their parish priest sexually abused them when they were altar boys 30 years ago, lawyers for the men said Tuesday.
The settlements bring to $1.3 million the amount the diocese has paid to alleged abuse victims of the Rev. Ronald Becker. Becker was removed from the priesthood in 2002 after allegations against him first surfaced. He has since died.
Becker molested the five boys at Incarnation parish in Ewing hundreds of times between 1972 and 1984, in spans that ranged from six months to four years, according to Mitchell Garabedian, the Boston-based lawyer who represented the men. The abuse occurred in the church, the rectory and on trips.
The men came forward after another of Becker's victims went public with her allegations two years ago. The settlements announced Tuesday followed months of mediation.
One of the victims, 45-year-old Otis Roberts, said he came forward in part to protect his 11 year-old-son, who is now the same age he was when Roberts was molested. Trembling as he read a statement, Roberts said the abuse destroyed his life and his faith.
"I don't believe in the church anymore," Roberts said. "I believe it's a business. And I saw that during mediation."
The Diocese admitted no liability and did not apologize to the men, their lawyers said.
A spokeswoman for the Diocese said it would release a statement on the matter later Tuesday.
The settlement is the latest in a series of payouts nationally over abuse claims. Earlier this month, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, a Delaware-based religious order with priests throughout the region, agreed to pay $24 million to settle 39 lawsuits by alleged sex abuse victims. And the Diocese of Wilmington, which was forced by a wave of abuse claims to file for bankruptcy, has agreed to set aside more than $77 million for 150 abuse victims. Other settlements have been reached in Corpus Christi, Pueblo, Colo. and Kansas City, Mo.
More than a half-dozen similar claims are pending against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, all filed in the wake of the arrests of four current and former priests and grand jury report that accused the archdiocese of failing to reform.
Contact staff writer John P. Martin at 215-854-4774 or at jmartin@phillynews.com.
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SNAP - The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
HOME
Make a Donation on-line
** Best in America **
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Join SNAP as a Supporter
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SELF HELP:
By sharing our stories, we recognize that we are not alone, and we are not guilty for what happened to us. Gradually coming to a full knowledge of this empowers us to confront the truth, and to find healthy mechanisms for healing.
EDUCATION:
We work together to educate ourselves and our communities about the effects of the abuse.
PREVENTION:
Once we learn the truth about what has happened to us, we can then use that power to bring about change. When we put our voices together, we become so strong that we can no longer not be heard.
FULL MISSION STATEMENT
The SNAP Viewpoint
SNAP weighs in -- reaching out, speaking up, seeking justice, prevention and accountability.
SNAP PRESS RELEASES
Giving voice to victims' views and hopes.
SNAP STATEMENTS
Weighing in on the discussion, from the rights of victims to the future of the church.
CLOHESSY'S Q & A:
Executive Director David Clohessy talks about SNAP, the history of the movement, and where to go from here.
Activists' Corner
Silence makes evil possible. Here are a few antidotes:
Contact Your Legislators
Let them know your story and your views. Encourage them to sponsor legislation that protects children and holds perpetrators accountable.
Write a Letter to the Editor
This is one of the most widely- read sections of the newspaper. It's a great way to keep an issue in the public eye.
Leaflet at Your Local Parish
Reach out to fellow parishioners with a smile and a handout that will give them more information about SNAP and the clergy abuse issue.
Step up to the Microphone
Contact your local SNAP rep for advice on speaking out through the news media or talk radio. If you are a survivor, consider sharing your story with a local gathering of Voice of the Faithful.
Get To Know Your D.A.
These elected officials have the power to decide who gets prosecuted and who does not. Let them know why accountability is so important.
NEWS OF THE DAY - Aug 16, 2011
"Rabbi Kamenetsky's Unfortunate Comments"
SNAP press statement - 08/16/11
NJ: Five clergy sex cases settled in NJ, SNAP responds
SNAP press release - 08/16/11
CA: Victims to leaflet area where accused priest worked
Upcoming radio show
Just Released - Sins of the Abused - by Marco Bernardino, Sr. and Helen Wisocki. Marco, a former altar boy opens up in this graphic memoir of grooming, abuse, and the long road to recovery. Radio interview on the book scheduled for Thursday, August 18, 8 p.m. EST. Please call in with questions and comments to (213) 769-0952 http://www.blogtalkradio.com/monicabrinkmanandoana/2011/08/19/child-abuse-part-ii-marco-bernardino-sr-helen-wisocki
Dr. Christine Courtois’ presentation from the SNAP 2011 Conference
• Understanding Complex Trauma, Complex Reactions, and Treatment Approaches
• Clergy Abuse: Betrayal and Relational Complex Trauma
USCCB Report
• 3 victims respond to new church abuse report
• 4 fallacies in new bishop’s abuse report - SNAP
• New bishops document on abuse released; SNAP responds
• SNAP: Bishops to issue “blame-shifting” report
New Vatican Guidelines
• Ten reasons the Vatican’s new abuse guidelines will change little
• New Vatican child sex abuse guidelines; SNAP responds
• Victims rap Vatican child sex abuse guidelines
• What the Vatican COULD have done today; SNAP responds
Were you abused in Wisconsin?
More news headlines
Quick links
SNAP press releases
SNAP press statements
Recent headlines on SNAPnetwork.org
Abuse tracker posted by Kathy Shaw
SNAP on Google
Have Church Officials Reformed?
- Here are Four Cases
That May Shock You -
* * * * * *
Sipe & Murray Report:
"International Traffic in Catholic Priests Who Abuse"
What to Do When Your Priest is Accused of Abuse
En español: Qué hacer cuando su cura es acusado de abusos
What to Do When Your Minister is Accused of Abuse
View our selective book list here.
Proceeds benefit SNAP when you buy books through Amazon.com.
Some new films. . .
All God's Children
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Boys and Men Healing
View our list of movies and documentaries here.
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Updated: National Survivor Study!
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Survivors abused as adults
Welcome
If you've been victimized by clergy, please know that you are not alone. You can get better. You can reach out to others who've been hurt just like you have. Together, we can heal one another.
We are SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. We are the largest, oldest and most active support group for women and men wounded by religious authority figures (priests, ministers, bishops, deacons, nuns and others). We are an independent and confidential organization, with no connections with the church or church officials. We are also a non-profit, certified 501 (c) (3) organization.
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Helpful advice from someone who has "been there." This is a compil-ation of things that SNAP members have learned and shared at SNAP meetings, with advice on healing, contacting the church, and staying emotionally healthy.
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Vigils News Coverage Here
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SEPT 28, 2004: Ex-Bishop in MA Indicted for Sex Abuse; Charges Dropped
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The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
SNAP Press Statement
For immediate release: Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Five clergy sex cases settled in NJ, SNAP responds
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, National Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314-566-9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com)
We applaud these brave men who found the strength to report abuse and the wisdom to take legal action. We hope this resolution brings them some long-overdue and sorely needed healing.
We also hope it will encourage others who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes to come forward, expose predators, protect kids and start healing. It’s always tempting to keep quiet about child sex crimes – whether known or suspected. However, it’s also always irresponsible. Kids are only safe when adults are brave and caring enough to speak up.
NO amount of money can restore the shattered faith and stolen childhoods of these wounded men. But through their compassionate actions, they can help repair some of the horrific damage they have experienced. And, in the process, they can inspire others to take steps to safeguard kids.
We hope every single individual with information or suspicions about clergy sex crimes – by Becker or other priests, nuns, seminarians or bishops – will do what’s right and step forward.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 23 years and have more than 10,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, SNAPblaine@gmail.com), Peter Isely (414-429-7259, peterisely@yahoo.com), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com)
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/127868178.html
Posted on Tue, Aug. 16, 2011
Trenton Diocese to pay $1M to settle sex abuse claims
By John P. Martin INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. - The Catholic Diocese of Trenton has agreed to pay $1 million to five men who claimed their parish priest sexually abused them when they were altar boys 30 years ago, lawyers for the men said Tuesday.
The settlements bring to $1.3 million the amount the diocese has paid to alleged abuse victims of the Rev. Ronald Becker. Becker was removed from the priesthood in 2002 after allegations against him first surfaced. He has since died.
Becker molested the five boys at Incarnation parish in Ewing hundreds of times between 1972 and 1984, in spans that ranged from six months to four years, according to Mitchell Garabedian, the Boston-based lawyer who represented the men. The abuse occurred in the church, the rectory and on trips.
The men came forward after another of Becker's victims went public with her allegations two years ago. The settlements announced Tuesday followed months of mediation.
One of the victims, 45-year-old Otis Roberts, said he came forward in part to protect his 11 year-old-son, who is now the same age he was when Roberts was molested. Trembling as he read a statement, Roberts said the abuse destroyed his life and his faith.
"I don't believe in the church anymore," Roberts said. "I believe it's a business. And I saw that during mediation."
The Diocese admitted no liability and did not apologize to the men, their lawyers said.
A spokeswoman for the Diocese said it would release a statement on the matter later Tuesday.
The settlement is the latest in a series of payouts nationally over abuse claims. Earlier this month, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, a Delaware-based religious order with priests throughout the region, agreed to pay $24 million to settle 39 lawsuits by alleged sex abuse victims. And the Diocese of Wilmington, which was forced by a wave of abuse claims to file for bankruptcy, has agreed to set aside more than $77 million for 150 abuse victims. Other settlements have been reached in Corpus Christi, Pueblo, Colo. and Kansas City, Mo.
More than a half-dozen similar claims are pending against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, all filed in the wake of the arrests of four current and former priests and grand jury report that accused the archdiocese of failing to reform.
Contact staff writer John P. Martin at 215-854-4774 or at jmartin@phillynews.com.
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SNAP - The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
HOME
Make a Donation on-line
** Best in America **
Certified by Independent Charities of America
Join SNAP as a Supporter
Join SNAP as a Survivor
Abuse Tracker by Kathy Shaw and Bishop Accountability
SNAP Videos
SNAP's Mission
SELF HELP:
By sharing our stories, we recognize that we are not alone, and we are not guilty for what happened to us. Gradually coming to a full knowledge of this empowers us to confront the truth, and to find healthy mechanisms for healing.
EDUCATION:
We work together to educate ourselves and our communities about the effects of the abuse.
PREVENTION:
Once we learn the truth about what has happened to us, we can then use that power to bring about change. When we put our voices together, we become so strong that we can no longer not be heard.
FULL MISSION STATEMENT
The SNAP Viewpoint
SNAP weighs in -- reaching out, speaking up, seeking justice, prevention and accountability.
SNAP PRESS RELEASES
Giving voice to victims' views and hopes.
SNAP STATEMENTS
Weighing in on the discussion, from the rights of victims to the future of the church.
CLOHESSY'S Q & A:
Executive Director David Clohessy talks about SNAP, the history of the movement, and where to go from here.
Activists' Corner
Silence makes evil possible. Here are a few antidotes:
Contact Your Legislators
Let them know your story and your views. Encourage them to sponsor legislation that protects children and holds perpetrators accountable.
Write a Letter to the Editor
This is one of the most widely- read sections of the newspaper. It's a great way to keep an issue in the public eye.
Leaflet at Your Local Parish
Reach out to fellow parishioners with a smile and a handout that will give them more information about SNAP and the clergy abuse issue.
Step up to the Microphone
Contact your local SNAP rep for advice on speaking out through the news media or talk radio. If you are a survivor, consider sharing your story with a local gathering of Voice of the Faithful.
Get To Know Your D.A.
These elected officials have the power to decide who gets prosecuted and who does not. Let them know why accountability is so important.
NEWS OF THE DAY - Aug 16, 2011
"Rabbi Kamenetsky's Unfortunate Comments"
SNAP press statement - 08/16/11
NJ: Five clergy sex cases settled in NJ, SNAP responds
SNAP press release - 08/16/11
CA: Victims to leaflet area where accused priest worked
Upcoming radio show
Just Released - Sins of the Abused - by Marco Bernardino, Sr. and Helen Wisocki. Marco, a former altar boy opens up in this graphic memoir of grooming, abuse, and the long road to recovery. Radio interview on the book scheduled for Thursday, August 18, 8 p.m. EST. Please call in with questions and comments to (213) 769-0952 http://www.blogtalkradio.com/monicabrinkmanandoana/2011/08/19/child-abuse-part-ii-marco-bernardino-sr-helen-wisocki
Dr. Christine Courtois’ presentation from the SNAP 2011 Conference
• Understanding Complex Trauma, Complex Reactions, and Treatment Approaches
• Clergy Abuse: Betrayal and Relational Complex Trauma
USCCB Report
• 3 victims respond to new church abuse report
• 4 fallacies in new bishop’s abuse report - SNAP
• New bishops document on abuse released; SNAP responds
• SNAP: Bishops to issue “blame-shifting” report
New Vatican Guidelines
• Ten reasons the Vatican’s new abuse guidelines will change little
• New Vatican child sex abuse guidelines; SNAP responds
• Victims rap Vatican child sex abuse guidelines
• What the Vatican COULD have done today; SNAP responds
Were you abused in Wisconsin?
More news headlines
Quick links
SNAP press releases
SNAP press statements
Recent headlines on SNAPnetwork.org
Abuse tracker posted by Kathy Shaw
SNAP on Google
Have Church Officials Reformed?
- Here are Four Cases
That May Shock You -
* * * * * *
Sipe & Murray Report:
"International Traffic in Catholic Priests Who Abuse"
What to Do When Your Priest is Accused of Abuse
En español: Qué hacer cuando su cura es acusado de abusos
What to Do When Your Minister is Accused of Abuse
View our selective book list here.
Proceeds benefit SNAP when you buy books through Amazon.com.
Some new films. . .
All God's Children
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Tuesday, October 11, 2011
catholic perverts / easy to find
Life
when i was working for theRmoTron
You are right!!
Well i certainly have seen a lot of tricks in how to work the system in this chamber business..
now the kid i worked with in california .. robbed and embezzled about 50 thousand dollars.. he had ... as hil sysbesma said .. " he had tom bannish around his little finger"..he started his carreed by being the neighbor hood thief and bugler.. he showed me all the housed he robbed when we were in Pasandia visiting his mother..Tom bannash loved his lies..he was his pet false wittness
But Enseco Fired him within 6 months.. for robbery.. embezzelment etc..
it may seem high ..but after Rouloff's removed the salesman bo bjarno.. then the sky was the limit..his 10 thousand a year went to about 20 thousand..
5 securtaries, the 2 sales man , and my self told .. bannash about it... but i learned a big lesson about that management style .. harrasement, lying, and drumming out people = (equals) basic dis-honesty
You can't tell a Dummy anything .. "That's why they are called Dummies"
As tom bannish said"every one is the manager" .. which of course means there is no manager.. just lying back stabbers.
Heck i asked the upper management what they budgeted for thief and embezzelment, and asked if they were some kind of mafa operation. or were a money laundering operation..
But you are right.. If lying , robbery and embezzelment is still the standard than i would not be a fit..
Cheers.. and happy new year
ONE GOOD TRICK
A man was sitting at a bar whose selling point was that it was on top of the largest skyscraper in town. Another man walks in and asks the bartender for a Jack Daniel's. He downs it, and then takes a running leap out the window. Much to everybody's surprise, he floats back up and climbs through the window back into the bar. The man at the bar is amazed and asks the man how he did it.
"Easy," says the man. "Outside this window are some very strong wind currents which can carry you back to the window."
"Wow," says the man at the bar. "I gotta try this." He takes a running leap out the window and falls to a horrible, bloody, and flat death.
"Goodness, Superman," says the bartender. "You can be a real a jerk when you're drunk."
HA HA HA.. it was just politics !!
>From: "Tom Patterson"
>To: "paul saint"
>Subject: Re: say something nice
>Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2002 16:34:46 -0500
>
>Hi Paul,
>Happy New Year! You haven't said anything that's offended me so no apology necessary. It's hard for any of us to have the proper positive attitude right now.
>I have never seen this severe of a drop in business. Going way back to "81 I remember that a large Boeing order literally kept us afloat for the year. I bet you remember that too.
> We were holding our own but slowing until Sept.11 and then the bottom dropped out. It's extremely frustrating that the attack was such a terrible immediate human tragedy and also an unbelievable emotional and economic effect as well.
>It looks as though you picked a good time to exit our industry. Do you find teaching rewarding? I'm sure there are frustrations but hopefully there are some rewards and success stories also.
>There have been several times over the years that other of our friends have sought to come back to the industry that I have really not been able to decide if helping them to return was really doing them a favor or not. In retrospect I think that most were better off in the long run in another, more stable- less competitive industry.
Ooooweeooo ahhhh ooooh
I¿m always thinkin¿ ¿bout it
I don¿t know what I¿d do without it
I love, I really love my pancreas
My spleen just doesn¿t matter
Don¿t really care about my bladder
But I don¿t leave home without my pancreas
My pancreas is always there for me
Secreting those enzymes
Secreting those hormones too
Metabolizing carbohydrates just for me
My pancreas
My pancreas
My pancreas
My pancreas
My pancreas
My pancreas
Oooh
My pancreas attracts every other pancreas in the universe
With a force proportional to the product of their masses
And inversely proportional to the distance between them
Woo woo woo woo
Don¿t you know you gotta flow, flow, flow, pancreatic juice
Flow, flow, into the duodenum
Won¿t you flow, flow, flow, pancreatic juice
Flow, flow, into the duodenum
Insulin, glucagon
Comin¿ from the islets of Langerhans
Insulin, glucagon
Comin¿ from the islets of Langerhans
Lipase, amylase and trypsin
They¿re gonna help with my digestion
Lipase, amylase and trypsin
They¿re gonna help with my digestion
Can¿t you see I love my pancreas
Golly gee, I love my pancreas
Can¿t you see I love my pancreas
Golly gee, I love my pancreas
i was talking to al glombowski.. and over the past 40 years he has convinced me that it is ok for HIM to lie slander and steal.. but that is the type of priest he go's too..
just a catholic pervert... wow are they easy to find...
when i was working for theRmoTron
You are right!!
Well i certainly have seen a lot of tricks in how to work the system in this chamber business..
now the kid i worked with in california .. robbed and embezzled about 50 thousand dollars.. he had ... as hil sysbesma said .. " he had tom bannish around his little finger"..he started his carreed by being the neighbor hood thief and bugler.. he showed me all the housed he robbed when we were in Pasandia visiting his mother..Tom bannash loved his lies..he was his pet false wittness
But Enseco Fired him within 6 months.. for robbery.. embezzelment etc..
it may seem high ..but after Rouloff's removed the salesman bo bjarno.. then the sky was the limit..his 10 thousand a year went to about 20 thousand..
5 securtaries, the 2 sales man , and my self told .. bannash about it... but i learned a big lesson about that management style .. harrasement, lying, and drumming out people = (equals) basic dis-honesty
You can't tell a Dummy anything .. "That's why they are called Dummies"
As tom bannish said"every one is the manager" .. which of course means there is no manager.. just lying back stabbers.
Heck i asked the upper management what they budgeted for thief and embezzelment, and asked if they were some kind of mafa operation. or were a money laundering operation..
But you are right.. If lying , robbery and embezzelment is still the standard than i would not be a fit..
Cheers.. and happy new year
ONE GOOD TRICK
A man was sitting at a bar whose selling point was that it was on top of the largest skyscraper in town. Another man walks in and asks the bartender for a Jack Daniel's. He downs it, and then takes a running leap out the window. Much to everybody's surprise, he floats back up and climbs through the window back into the bar. The man at the bar is amazed and asks the man how he did it.
"Easy," says the man. "Outside this window are some very strong wind currents which can carry you back to the window."
"Wow," says the man at the bar. "I gotta try this." He takes a running leap out the window and falls to a horrible, bloody, and flat death.
"Goodness, Superman," says the bartender. "You can be a real a jerk when you're drunk."
HA HA HA.. it was just politics !!
>From: "Tom Patterson"
>To: "paul saint"
>Subject: Re: say something nice
>Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2002 16:34:46 -0500
>
>Hi Paul,
>Happy New Year! You haven't said anything that's offended me so no apology necessary. It's hard for any of us to have the proper positive attitude right now.
>I have never seen this severe of a drop in business. Going way back to "81 I remember that a large Boeing order literally kept us afloat for the year. I bet you remember that too.
> We were holding our own but slowing until Sept.11 and then the bottom dropped out. It's extremely frustrating that the attack was such a terrible immediate human tragedy and also an unbelievable emotional and economic effect as well.
>It looks as though you picked a good time to exit our industry. Do you find teaching rewarding? I'm sure there are frustrations but hopefully there are some rewards and success stories also.
>There have been several times over the years that other of our friends have sought to come back to the industry that I have really not been able to decide if helping them to return was really doing them a favor or not. In retrospect I think that most were better off in the long run in another, more stable- less competitive industry.
Ooooweeooo ahhhh ooooh
I¿m always thinkin¿ ¿bout it
I don¿t know what I¿d do without it
I love, I really love my pancreas
My spleen just doesn¿t matter
Don¿t really care about my bladder
But I don¿t leave home without my pancreas
My pancreas is always there for me
Secreting those enzymes
Secreting those hormones too
Metabolizing carbohydrates just for me
My pancreas
My pancreas
My pancreas
My pancreas
My pancreas
My pancreas
Oooh
My pancreas attracts every other pancreas in the universe
With a force proportional to the product of their masses
And inversely proportional to the distance between them
Woo woo woo woo
Don¿t you know you gotta flow, flow, flow, pancreatic juice
Flow, flow, into the duodenum
Won¿t you flow, flow, flow, pancreatic juice
Flow, flow, into the duodenum
Insulin, glucagon
Comin¿ from the islets of Langerhans
Insulin, glucagon
Comin¿ from the islets of Langerhans
Lipase, amylase and trypsin
They¿re gonna help with my digestion
Lipase, amylase and trypsin
They¿re gonna help with my digestion
Can¿t you see I love my pancreas
Golly gee, I love my pancreas
Can¿t you see I love my pancreas
Golly gee, I love my pancreas
i was talking to al glombowski.. and over the past 40 years he has convinced me that it is ok for HIM to lie slander and steal.. but that is the type of priest he go's too..
just a catholic pervert... wow are they easy to find...
Monday, October 10, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
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