Letters 10.28.18

Readers respond to Register articles.

(photo: Register Files)

A Call to Action

The letter “Empowering Women” in the Sept. 16-29 issue proposes some well-thought-out solutions to current problems in the Church. I congratulate the Register for publishing this letter, and I imagine that it will get many responses.

Here is my response: The first issue that I have is the statement, “Until the powers that rule this organization realize that it is running on only 50% of its power …” This “organization?” What does that mean? I always thought that “The mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is brought to completion in the Church, which is the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 737).

The Church is the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit, not an “organization.” The letter continues to malign the Body of Christ, comparing it to a machine and then an engine. The words “organization,” “machine” and “engine” are lifeless. Jesus Christ is “the Way, and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by [Jesus] me” (John 14:6).

The “powers that rule the organization”: What does that mean? It is Christ’s Church. He is the head, the CEO.

Is Jesus running on 50% of his power?

Catholic women as well as non-Catholic women have already said, “Enough already!” And what did the world get? The contraceptive pill, easy divorce, abortion, hook-ups, decline in sacramental marriages, active homosexuality, gross immodesty, and the beat goes on. The wisdom and solutions these women implemented were of the world — “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world” (John 2:16).

A certain prayer states, “Mary, you gave birth to Jesus, you nursed him, you taught him, and you help him grow to manhood.” The Blessed Virgin’s example is the template for women to follow or to ignore; sadly, most ignore Mary: “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.”

Women have failed miserably in their duty: first by avoiding sacramental marriage; second by avoiding having children; third, when they do have children, or more likely a child, they do not help him to grow to manhood or her to womanhood. Women hire strangers to raise their children. And even when they are with their children, they have their noses in some electronic gadget, teaching the child to have his/her nose in some electronic gadget. Kids today are lost and looking for a mother’s love and father’s love.

Mothers who forgot how to mother 24/7 and fathers who forgot how to father 24/7 have turned the world upside down and into a perverse active homosexual world.

A call for action is needed — women and men were created to be united in sacramental marriage and to be fruitful. God is first; family is second, not jobs, not income, not vacations or spectacular homes — but seek first the kingdom of God by fulfilling your duty as fathers and mothers, and all these things may just come your way. And the world will be a better place.

Don’t blaspheme God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit by demanding something Jesus himself established, his body, the Holy Roman Catholic Church.

         Paul Kachinski

         Greenwood, Indiana

 

Elusive Big Picture

 

Relative to “Uproot the Culture of Abuse: Holy Father Responds to US Crisis, but Further Action Requested” (front page, Sept. 2 issue):

Noting that the 2004 John Jay Report into clerical sex abuse in the U.S. found that four out of five of the offenses involved young teenagers and young men, Father Weinandy concludes, “It seems to me the heart of the problem is actively homosexual priests and bishops [not the cover-story ‘pedophilia’].”

But others dismiss this picture by pointing to the later 2011 Jay College Report (“The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors, 1950-2010”) to say that homosexual priests are no more likely than others to abuse minors.

Too many readers (including bishops) scan only abbreviated executive summaries. A reading of the more detailed findings in Chapter 2 of the 2011 report includes this revealing distinction regarding seminarians engaged in pre-seminary and/or in-seminary same-sex behavior:

“After analyzing pre-seminary and in-seminary same-sex sexual behavior separately, only in-seminary (not pre-seminary) same-sex sexual behavior was significantly related to post-ordination sexual behavior. Priests with in-seminary same-sex sexual behavior were more likely to have sexual experiences with adults than minors, and they were not significantly more likely to sexually abuse minors than priests with no same-sex sexual behavior in-seminary.”

But then there’s this omission from the executive summary: “However, after considering pre-seminary and in-seminary sexual behavior separately, only in-seminary (not pre-seminary) same-sex sexual behavior was significantly related to the increased likelihood of a male child victim.”

The elusive big picture is that straight incoming seminarians have been groomed in the seminaries and that these late victims of other homosexual seminarians then have gone on to victimize male children. The homosexual connection is proved rather than disproved.

Related at this moment of the documented homosexual agenda (e.g., Rueda, The Homosexual Network, 1982) is the still-curious wording nested in the Dallas Charter of 2004. From the current USCCB website, the new 2018 revision to the charter includes this only-partial amendment to Article 6: “Changes were made to emphasize that all those who have contact with minors [formerly those in ‘positions of trust’] abide by standards of behavior and appropriate boundaries.”

So three questions for the possible Vatican visitation requested by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo: First, what is still meant by “appropriate boundaries” — an age-group boundary? Second, who planted and then retained this apparent exemption for non-minors (the “McCarrick factor”)? And, third, who might have helped the John Jay College research team to truncate the 2011 executive summary?

         Peter D. Beaulieu

         Shoreline, Washington

 

Bishops’ Checklist

 

While it is desirable to weed out bishops and even cardinals who have been negligent, we wish to defend and protect those who have been faithful to Catholic teaching. It is important that faithful Catholics know where their own bishops stand on important issues.

Consequently, I suggest that a database be constructed, by state and by city within each state, in which each cardinal, archbishop and bishop is asked to insert his own verifiable statements and record of actions before Aug. 1, 2018, (maximum of 250 to 300 words on each issue) regarding these and other important issues of Catholic teaching:  position of the family regarding raising of children; way the Church should deal with persons who have same-sex attraction; acceptance of such persons as priests or seminarians; whether baptized Catholics who are known in the public square (such as politicians, entertainers or athletes) and who support abortion should be admitted to Holy Communion; whether persons who are invalidly married or in irregular unions should be removed from positions in Catholic schools; whether baptized Catholics should be instructed on the need for confession before Holy Communion if they are conscious of unconfessed serious sins; their manner of dealing with persons accepting or supporting: sex between unmarried adults; cohabitation; remarriage after divorce; gay or lesbian relations; gender change; doctor-assisted suicide; human embryonic stem cell research; their own position regarding contraception.

         Don Murray

         New York, New York

 

Personal Appeal

 

“Go forward bravely. Fear nothing. Trust in God; all will be well.” — St. Joan of Arc

Hundreds of priests and several bishops, archbishops and cardinals have been named as perpetrators in an epidemic of abuse and cover-ups that have been going on for decades and continue to go on today. The light has been shone to reveal that we aren’t dealing with isolated events, but extensive abuse and cover-up of criminal and outrageous behavior launched not only against children and teens, but against adult men and seminarians.

What’s a mother to do?

n Impress upon your children the necessity of telling an adult whom they feel they can trust. Urge them to immediately report a verbal or physical incident that was uncomfortable or unwelcome.

Children are not guilty, nor should they feel ashamed or be deceived into protecting a perpetrator; they were victimized.

n Mothers can insist and ensure that a child under the age of 12 isn’t alone with an authority figure for more than 30 seconds. This also protects the authority figure from false accusations.

n Having at least three people present can prevent victimization and false accusations.

n Select a separate-door confessional rather than same-room confessional.

n Be careful about placing complete faith in a priest, bishop or pope.  Do not make assumptions, but err on the side of ensuring safety for your family.

n You might like to decrease your contributions to your parish and withhold contributions to your bishop’s annual fundraiser. Where is the money going? How will the diocese pay for legal fees and settlements to abuse victims? Donate to community organizations.

n Various internet sources have alleged that “homosexual predation” exists and claim that hundreds of priests and seminarians have been victimized.

Men who enter the priesthood must understand the possible environment they’re entering and pray that they can resist evil and be an instrument of change. No human being should endure rape silently or conform to a sinful environment.

Offenders target weak families. They’re highly skilled and know how to go undetected. Parents need to protect their children.

n It’s truly a gift to be Catholic.  Live a virtuous and holy life so you can continue to feel God’s grace and blessings. Pray that good priests will not become discouraged.

         Lynn M. Griesemer

            Tampa, Florida