So how come nobody ever punched Uncle Ted in the nose?

I hesitate to write this because it will probably offend a lot of people but I have simply had enough of the sugar coating that has been going on concerning the latest clergy sex scandals. For years people have been gossiping about Monsignor Rossi, the rector of the Immaculate Conception basilica in DC   and male Catholic University students.  I am not defending Rossi. In fact, I'm horrified. If he made overtures to male students he should be removed as rector of the Basilica, public ministry, and returned to the lay state.  However, he has not been accused of slipping drugs into drinks or running a Turkish prison out of his office. He may have said " How bout it?" or "Do this or I'll make sure you lose your scholarship," but the grown and in the prime of his life  college student couldn't be forced into it.  We treat college students like boys and girls but they are not and if you've ever been in an emergency room  near a university on a weekend night you've probably seen what damage an angry college student can do using nothing but his fists.

In all the years he was preying on seminarians apparently nobody  has claimed to have seen  Theodore McCarrick coming to Mass with a black eye or having to make an emergency dental visit because he claimed to have been in an accident that caused him to lose a few teeth.  I don't think that any seminarian over the age of 18 who engaged in sex acts with that wizened, foul imp can claim legal rape and neither can any male college student who acquiesced to Rossi.  McCarrick and Archbishop Bransfield up in West Virginia are a gruesome twosome but we  obviously have another problem that nobody seems to be talking about.   Why did so many young men, seminarians, lay college students and young priests put up with all this? Is sex for recompense the way to get ahead in certain Catholic circles? Why are some young men golden boys in the clerical and professional lay Catholic ranks and others-- devout, smart, and liked and trusted by men,  relegated to the outer Mongolias of their dioceses?



Update:
For further information about Monsignor Rossi see this post at An Archdiocese of Washington Catholic blog.  I can't be shocked anymore but these things do make me sick.

Mass on a road trip

Rocky's nephew graduated this weekend so we went to Mass at St. Ignatius at Chapel Point.  The parish was founded in 1641 and I think is the oldest continuously used parish in the US.  The parish priest gave a very good homily. He taught what the catechism says about the Holy Trinity and discussed what the Church Fathers have said over the centuries. The parishioners are kind and very tolerant of tourists. Sitting in the old pews I couldn't help but think about all the people who have  walked up this aisle over the centuries. May they rest in peace and may they pray for me.

Adventures in ushering-- the modesty edtion

Some years ago when Rocky was ushering at our old parish he asked a lady and her two daughters if they wanted to take up the unconsecrated Hosts and wine. They agreed. The lady and her family had been parishioners for many years and the family were friendly with the pastor. They had taken the gifts up before without incident. This time,when they got up  everyone could see that the youngest girl who looks to be about 13, was wearing white lace shorts that barely covered her buttocks. Several people complained to Father after Mass.  Later a memo went out to all the ushers to make sure that the people asked to take up the gifts were decently dressed. Rocky was very unhappy that the ushers were expected to do what the parents should be doing and said so. He also pointed out that the girl was wearing a long sweater when he saw her in the pew that covered her to the knees. He had no idea that she'd take the sweater off and he certainly had no idea of what she wearing underneath. The only person at fault was the mother. The people who were upset with Father should have been in her face instead.

It's odd but if you talk to women about modesty they freak out and accuse you of wanting them to look like Afghan women. Nonsense.  God made us to look good to men. He did not make us to look like we are for sale. There is a huge line between see through lace shorts ---which served no legitimate purpose; the church was ice cold and if the girl was that hot she needed to be taken to the hospital---- and wearing a woman hating mobile prison.

A PRAYER FOR THE REDEMPTION OF BAD PRIESTS

Divine Savior Jesus Christ, Thou are the Good Shepherd who gives His life for His sheep. Oh, be in a very special way the Good Shepherd of those poor lost priests who are also appointed by Thee to be leaders of Thy people, but who have broken the oath of their holy ordination and have become unfaithful to their exalted calling. Bestow upon these poorest of the poor the very fullness of that pastoral solicitude with which Thou dost so faithfully seek the sheep that are lost! Touch their hearts with the irresistible ray of grace which emanates from Thine all-merciful love! Enlighten their minds and strengthen their wills, that they may turn away from all sin and error and come back to Thy holy altar and to Thy people. O most compassionate Savior! Remember that Thou didst once redeem the souls of Thine erring priests with Thy Precious Blood and in infinite preferential love didst impress upon them the indelible character of the priesthood. Put wholly to shame those miserable helpers of Satan who lay snares for the virtue of priests and endanger the holy ideal of the priesthood. Most graciously accept our prayers and sacrifices for poor priests who have gone astray and hear our earnest petition.

 Amen 

Imprimatur - Bishop John F. Noll (April 18, 1948)

St. Anthony of Padua, defender of the Holy Eucharist, obtain for us holy priests

St. John-Mary Vianney, model of sacerdotal holiness, obtain for us holy priests

St. Francis Xavier, patron of missionary priests, obtain for us holy priests

St. Therese of the Child-Jesus and of the Holy Face, victim offered for the sanctification of priests, obtain for us holy priests

Saints and Servants of God, obtain for us holy priests.

What's up with all the soft core porn on Catholic sites?

I used to read a political/cultural blog by a man who raised a lot Hell back in the 60s and 70s but repented . Why did I stop reading him? Because of the porn. He can have a beautiful post about goodness, kindness and the mercy of God and then in the very next post have  a photo of a semi naked woman. Lately even his posts about his prodigal years seem less like St. Augustine's confessions and more like "I know it was bad and I wish I hadn't done it but I sure had fun," semi-boasting.  Another Catholic Tumblr blog that I used to read had breathtakingly beautiful Catholic art but also had gauzy soft core photos and paintings of naked women.

What is the deal with these guys? Are they faking their Faith for kicks or are they trying too hard to show  that while they're devout they aren't girly? If it's the latter isn't anyone worried about this? I've seen many tiresome rants about Catholic men not participating in their parishes but why would they when many men look around see that the parish is only for women, little kids and Father Skippy? Nobody talks about it but it's gotten to the point where men seem to be ashamed of being devout and have to demonstrate in some way, albeit a crude one that they aren't like Fr. Skippy.

Don't make your money from writing or talking about the church

Whenever I meet a young lay person studying theology and complaining about how little they are going to make as a professor I always want to give them a good shake. In  America we are taught to follow our passion when it comes time to get a job but what if your passion simply will not support a family and a wife who is not interested in genteel poverty? I've seen Protestant preacher converts who were too old to start over with a career who glide into being Catholic apologists and I've seen cradle Catholic guys, (its' mostly guys) who have some talent at it, supplement their incomes with writing gigs at  Catholic media outlets. The writing gig can lead to a book and the lucrative speaking circuit and fans who hang on their every thought instead of consulting an actual priest. The trouble with this is the gravy train has to be fueled.

When you have a family and the rent/mortgage/tuition needs to be paid it's pretty hard to take a stand that could take food from your children's mouths or make your spouse very unhappy because the bill collector keeps calling. Dr. Peter Kwasniewski wrote a review on Amazon about Antonio Socci's book. Somebody didn't like it and he revised the review four times and each time was less positive a bout the book.  Pitiful.

The Figueiredo Report

Hospitality workers, secretaries and personal assistant's all  see  the private side of the people they work for and I was reminded of all this when I finished reading the Figueriedo Report.  Monsignor Anthony J. Figueiredo was then Cardinal McCarrick's secretary for many years. The correspondence shown therein shines a harsh light on Cardinal Wuerl's claim that he knew nothing about Cardinal McCarrick being told to get out of the Mater Dei seminary, stop making public appearances, diplomatic travel and turn to silent penance. Benedict's restrictions were weak and Uncle Ted defied them almost immediately but they did exist and were known about.

 

A Prayer against the Enemies of Christ

Eternal Father I offer Thee the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ and all the other instruments of His Holy Passion, that Thou mayest put division in the camp of Thine enemies; for as Thy Beloved Son has said, “A kingdom divided against itself shall fall.”

Well that was interesting and other random thoughts

St. Rita, patroness of impossible causes, pray for us

• I just read an article about my old parish, St. Rita's in 1P5. Normally I don't bother with Steve Skojec's site anymore but I was pleasantly surprised to see St. Rita's. Getting a glimpse of how someone else sees something you care about passionately is an interesting experience.. The author's view of St. Rita's and why things happened was pretty different from mine. He praises Fr. Scalia, who was the parochial vicar, and rightly so because he was pretty awesome (people wept when he announced that he was leaving to be a pastor at another parish), but the author failed to mention Fr. Donohue, the pastor during those years. Everything that Fr. Scalia did was made possible because Fr. Donohue allowed it and he ought to get some credit for that. I even remember Fr. Scalia giving a lecture series for Lent and at one point he said that being a parochial vicar was great because he had Fr. Donahue's backing for all his big ideas.
  
  Also, the number one reason why the music at St. Rita's is so good was not mentioned at all. Mr. Bowie the head of sacred music is not only a fine organist; he's also a very good judge of vocal talent. We never had screeching divas or lounge act tenors at St. Rita's. You had to be be able to sing complicated music. You had to work hard and you had to accept that the Mass is not about the lector and is not a Broadway musical. That was all on Mr. Bowie.The author also left out the reason why St. Rita's is so beautiful. Being in a not so great neighborhood with a  gang problem   heavy gang presence kept the busy bodies out of St. Rita's. So the church retains most of it's architectural beauty and the parish has been largely left alone.
  
  

•  Whenever someone cries poverty in one breath and then talks about their vacation   oh excuse me, pilgrimage to France I always want to laugh. C'mon we all know the plane tickets for the entire family were not free, nor was the hotel or the fabulous food or the trains in Europe. If you can afford to go to Rome and post the photos on your blog er.. lay apostolate, then you aint poor.
  
  
  
  
• I certainly don't want to defend  the odious Cardinal Wuerl but in all fairness there is no way to know if  he saying "I love you" in sign language to a woman in the pew, a man or a group of deaf people. I was not happy  that he was at Archbishop Wilton's installation  but we need to know who he was signing to before assuming that he's talking to a lover in public. 

• Some people are all upset about talk  of Martin Luther King Jr. being an adulterer. Except for the under 30 set, I have to ask, "Where have you people been? Do you not read? Did you grow up in the Twilight Zone?"  Dr. King's best friend the Reverend Ralph Abernathy wrote about the affairs and one night stands in his book''And the Walls Came Tumbling Down'. He wrote that on the last night of his life Dr. King was with two women and got into a shoving fight with a third. Abernathy was called a Judas and was shunned until his death. Georgia Davis Powers   wrote a memoir called I Shared the Dream, years ago. She said that she had a long intense relationship with MLK and was one of the women who was with him on his last night and would have gone with him to the hospital when he was shot had a quick thinking Andrew Young not stopped her. She was not ashamed and justified her behavior as nothing more than what millions of women would have done had they gotten the chance.
  
  The media ignored her book and those of us who read it knew better than to discuss it at work or school.  LBJ used to get a good laugh by playing the FBI tapes of MLK for visitors. JFK, interestingly enough heard them and was saddened. Jackie Kennedy privately told friends that MLK was no saint. It's said that the FBI even sent poor Coretta King a photo of her husband with another woman. In college, professors who did acknowledge that there were other women in Dr. King's life made excuses... he was under constant stress and never knew which day would be his last (true), women were constantly throwing themselves at him (very probably true), the FBI was constantly sending women to try to seduce him (possible) so he fell a couple of times (according to Ralph Abernathy it was more than a couple of times) and he and Coretta were not a love match and she understood that sacrifices had to be made for the greater good, (impossible to confirm as Mrs. King is dead).  None of what you may be reading is new.
  
  I come from a Baptist family. It is common for Baptist preachers to have affairs and as long as  he is discreet it is ignored. Complain and you'll be told, "Touch not, God's anointed," or that it's the pastor's wife's fault because she's not a good First Lady.  A family or two may be upset and leave for another church but nobody cares. A group of families may leave to form another church over it but that's happened so many times before that most churches know how to weather the financial storm until membership stabilizes again. 

Santa Evita? Seriously?

• If Eva Peron's cause for beatification, much less canonization EVER gets opened and taken seriously by the Vatican it will be one of the most ridiculous, indefensible spectacles to ever befall the Church. 

• A number of people are sad about Fr. Jonathan Morris leaving the priesthood because it's too hard and he'd like to get married.  My first reaction was to ask why is the Legionare  order still in existence? As for Fr. Morris personally, I think that he will discover that his girlfriend, if he already has one may have the attributes  that males look for in a mistress  but   those same attributes make for a  poor wife. The girlfriend--if she exists may very well discover one day that if she can pull a priest away from God then there's no reason to think that another woman can't do the same to her.
  
  
• Game of Thrones is finally over and  it was very quiet in my office this morning. I'm so relieved. 

St. John of  Nepomuk, faithful priest and martyr, pray for us. 

Entrappment

I think this California law is going to lead to entrapment. Sooner or later an FBI agent or  cop is going to go into a confessional and lie to a priest and then arrest him for not breaking the seal of the confessional.

Fr. Richards apologized

Fr. Larry Richards has apologized to Church Militant and they have accepted. Now he really needs to do the same for the Stark family.

random thoughts on a Saturday afternoon

• I still look terrible after my dental surgery but at least the black eye is gone. If the swelling hasn't gone completely down by Monday I'll just put on my sunglasses and get on with it.
  
  
  
• Pray for Bishop James Su Zhimin of Baoding. He's been swallowed up and no-one knows if he is living or dead. Does the pope care? Do the Vatican flunkies say this is sad but there's a greater goal that will be reached somewhere down the road and sacrifices have to be made. I suppose that's what Paul VI may have muttered about Cardinal Mindszenty.
  
  
• I was watching a fashion show and suddenly a question popped into my head. What would Western women look like if the fashion industry wasn't dominated by men who have no love for womankind?
  

• Ann Barnhardt called it  about men like this individual over a year ago on one of her podcasts. In a way, being insulted by such a person is a compliment because it means you are not the kind of woman he likes being around: train wrecks. 

• The Mothers Day Mass is tomorrow. Father will ask all the mothers to stand up and receive a round of applause and every mother will get a rose or carnation depending on what's in the flower account. I don't like this. As Pope St. Pius X said, “It is not fitting to applaud the servant in the house of his Master.” 
  
  
  
• Have you noticed that Pope Francis is not inviting migrants to Argentina?

St. Apollonia, pray for me

Apollonia is one of my patron saints and I'm having dental surgery today. My dentist says to take tomorrow off because I'm definitely going to be feeling pretty bad.

0 Glorious Apollonia, patron saint of dentistry and refuge to all those suffering from diseases of the teeth, I consecrate myself to thee, beseeching thee to number me among thy clients. Assist me by your intercession with God in my daily work and intercede with Him to obtain for me a happy death. Pray that my heart like thine may be inflamed with the love of Jesus and Mary, through Christ our Lord. Amen. 0 My God, bring me safe through temptation and strengthen me as thou didst our own patron Apollonia, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Mass in Wartime

Lamb of God

Meet the new boss.....same and the old boss

Oh dear. I had a feeling that the new bishop of DC was going to be more of the same. 

a prayer for the redemption of bad priests

Divine Savior Jesus Christ, Thou are the Good Shepherd who gives His life for His sheep. Oh, be in a very special way the Good Shepherd of those poor lost priests who are also appointed by Thee to be leaders of Thy people, but who have broken the oath of their holy ordination and have become unfaithful to their exalted calling. Bestow upon these poorest of the poor the very fullness of that pastoral solicitude with which Thou dost so faithfully seek the sheep that are lost! Touch their hearts with the irresistible ray of grace which emanates from Thine all-merciful love! Enlighten their minds and strengthen their wills, that they may turn away from all sin and error and come back to Thy holy altar and to Thy people. O most compassionate Savior! Remember that Thou didst once redeem the souls of Thine erring priests with Thy Precious Blood and in infinite preferential love didst impress upon them the indelible character of the priesthood. Put wholly to shame those miserable helpers of Satan who lay snares for the virtue of priests and endanger the holy ideal of the priesthood. Most graciously accept our prayers and sacrifices for poor priests who have gone astray and hear our earnest petition.

 Amen 

Imprimatur - Bishop John F. Noll (April 18, 1948)

St. Anthony of Padua, defender of the Holy Eucharist, obtain for us holy priests

St. John-Mary Vianney, model of sacerdotal holiness, obtain for us holy priests

St. Francis Xavier, patron of missionary priests, obtain for us holy priests

St. Therese of the Child-Jesus and of the Holy Face, victim offered for the sanctification of priests, obtain for us holy priests

Saints and Servants of God, obtain for us holy priests.

Your Peter's Pence Money is Being Used to Meddle in US Affairs

The pope is sending $500,000 to assist the Mexican parishes and charities that are taking care of the Guatemalans,  El Salvadorans, and Hondurans in the caravans who are attempting to flood into the US.  How much, if any  of the Peter's Pence money is being sent to Sri Lanka or to help the Nigerians Catholics has not been reported. I've been  looking at the reactions on Twitter and news forums and you know what?  People wrote that their Faith had been battered in recent years but this was the final straw and they are leaving the Church. Others wrote that they aren't putting anything in the collection basket not only on Peter's Pence day but any day.  I also saw a lot of comments from non Catholics who now see the Church as a force that is actively working against our country. This is very bad. Americans give more to Peter's Pence than any other country and our money is being used to meddle in our affairs and drive a wedge between us and our countrymen. This whole scenario looks like ten miles of bad road to me and it's not going to end well.

random thoughts on a Saturday afternoon

• There is an organization called the Bail Project that pays bond for people who can't come up with the money on their own. On their website they say that they "... pay bail for people in need, reuniting families and restoring the presumption of innocence." Well, Marcia Johnson didn't want to be reunited with her husband after he struck her back in April. The police were called and he was arrested. His bond was $5000. Marcia certainly had no intention of paying it and apparently nobody who knew her husband wanted to pay it either. The well meaning do-gooders at the Bail Project decided to meddle and as soon as Scott Johnson was released he went home and killed his wife. What do you think went through that poor woman's head when she saw him come through the door? Marcia Johnson was in need and the Bail Project certainly made everything worse for her and her children.The road to Hell is paved with good intentions and I hope that Mrs. Johnson's family sue the Bail Project and the employee/volunteer who thought that bailing out a wife beater was a good idea.  

• Today is the feast of St. Pere de Roquart, who served Our Lord by rescuing slaves from the Muslims. 

• Back in the 70s a young husband and father was taking his parish's bingo money to the bank when he was robbed and murdered. Although his death was a horror and he was a good man who was highly respected by his priest and other parishioners, nobody called him a martyr. Dying on the way to Mass, at Mass or after Mass does not make one a martyr. The Romans, other pagans, Communists and heretics of all kinds said to Christians over the centuries, "Reject Christ and we will leave you alone." They were answered with a refusal. To be a martyr, one must consciously refuse to deny Our Lord and His Faith.