Sunday Gospel & Homily Notes by Fr. Joe Harris, C.S.Sp.
Easter Sunday (A)
24th April 2011
Gospel: Jn 20: 1-9
taken from the Antilles Episcopal Conference website: http://www.aecrc.org/joomla/
On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.
Homily
This year we will celebrate Easter again, as we did last year and God willing as we will do next year and the following. Yes the parish may try something new as we did last year and we wonder if it will have the same impact as what we tried last year did. Parishioners remember our celebration from last year and no doubt lives were impacted in some ways, on the individual level perhaps but was there any real impact on the societal level so that it could be said that the celebration of Easter brought about some change. Do we as a people or as a Church really understand Easter?
Easter came after the most devastating experience the disciples had ever experienced. They had been enthused by Jesus whose words had moved their hearts in so many ways. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you; love those who persecute you!” The disciples had believed that it was possible and then it had all come crashing down. The master had been arrested, had been whipped scoured and crucified. He had been true to his teaching to be sure for when the ear of the servant of the high priest had been cut off, he had healed the man. Yet in the face of that continuing kindness and love he had still been executed. To them it must have seemed to have been a waste of time. There was nothing left for them except the ridicule of persons whom they knew of fishing colleagues they had left behind to follow Jesus and of course the possibility of persecution by the chief priests and the Pharisees. And then the news comes to them, brought by the women. He is alive. He is not dead. He is Risen.
If as I told you last week, the cross is the opening through which we see, and experience and come to understand, as far as mystery can be understood, the life of God, the Resurrection also tells us that LOVE never dies. Easter reminds us that LOVE lives through rejection, pain, suffering and death. We are reminded the God is Love and that Love conquers all even the certainty of death.
The Gospel account of the “third day” shows us two people who did not believe and a third who believed because he loved. Of all the male disciples he was the only one who stood firm at the foot of the cross with Mary, the mother of Jesus and the other women.
What is interesting is that shortly before this they had seen another resurrection. They had seen Lazarus being raised from the dead by Jesus through the power of the Father. Yet now they were loath to believe “for they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.” After having witnessed the raising to life of Lazarus, they must have admitted the possibility of resurrection, yet they would not admit the possibility of resurrection for Jesus.
It must have been that their disappointment was too great. The only one who believed, loved so much that he stood by Jesus to the bitter end, and because he stood there to the bitter end, he could accept with gratitude that his master and friend had risen from the dead. He believed in the possibility of life, in spite of apparent and real death.
That is the experience of love; True love makes us stand with the other to the very end and when that happens we are often privileged to see transformation.
While for all of us the final resurrection will come on the last day when the Lord will change our mortal bodies into glorious bodies like his own, there are other resurrections taking place daily around us. People do change and change radically. We witness these changes and in fact often generate these changes through our unconditional love which makes us stand to the bitter end with those who are on the path of destruction, just as the unconditional love of the Father raised Jesus to life again.
Today as we celebrate and thank God for the resurrection of Jesus, we also remember and thank God for those who show us that unconditional love can in fact bring about earthly resurrection even now. We thank God for parents whose unconditional love for an errant daughter or son has brought about radical change and gives the lie to the expression, “People do not change!”
We thank God for saints like John Bosco, whose unconditional love for street children turned them from raging wolves into gentle lambs and for Mother Teresa and her sisters who unconditional love has transformed the lives and deaths of so many living and dying destitute on the streets of our great cities. We thank God for organizations like Servol in Trinidad which have transformed the lives of so many young people who were otherwise destined for lives of crime.
They all show us that belief in the Resurrection, that belief in the power of unconditional love can indeed transform death into life.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, after the apparent defeat of the cross, Easter tells us that Love can never be defeated, that Love can never die because You are Love itself. Your love changes apparent defeat into triumph and New Life. Help us to love so that what appears to be death around us may be changed into Life. Many believe that change and transformation is impossible in our land, that we are too far gone. Help us to believe in the power of Love so that transformation may come and our Land begin to live again in new and better ways. We ask this through the intercession of Mary and St. John who stood at the foot of the cross to the bitter end and through Jesus who rose from the dead. Amen
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Friday, 22 April 2011
Good Friday and turning into a fish
Holy Good friday to all.
This morning I walked up Calvery Hill in Diego Martin with my kids. We did not stop at each station, instead we all went in procession to the top. It is a good way to start the day and did the stations of the cross ontop the hill.
Usually for good friday my mother would boil some provisions: Sweet Patato, Casava, Dasheen, and Yam. She was not a lover of cush-cush, tanya, and eddoes, other west indian roots. This with some steam fish, coo-coo, plantain and beans and you have a meal that I would run a mile NOT to eat.
There was another thing about Good Friday that I would not follow. The old people would say that if you bathe in the river or in the the sea on Good friday that you would turn into a fish. In fact 70 years ago when my mother was a littel girl her neighbour and her went into the Blue Basin River to bathe and while she escaped a good "cut-tail" her neighbour "Telly" could not escape the guava whip her mother beat her with.
I used to swim in the river all the time. Even on Good Fridays. Despite being told the story of the flying dutchman and it's captain who decided to set sail on good friday so that he could make his destination at the quickest pace and who's ship disappeared at sea because he chose the love of water on such a Holy Day. The ship is now beleived to be only legend. They say no such ship existed, only stories
Well, I am no fish today, but I understand that as a Good Catholic even on Good Friday I must put my love for pleasure away in favour of sacrifice. What Jesus went through for me... what is a little time away from cold river water on a scorching hot day.
Also I have grown to love a meal of "provions" or roots.
This morning I walked up Calvery Hill in Diego Martin with my kids. We did not stop at each station, instead we all went in procession to the top. It is a good way to start the day and did the stations of the cross ontop the hill.
Usually for good friday my mother would boil some provisions: Sweet Patato, Casava, Dasheen, and Yam. She was not a lover of cush-cush, tanya, and eddoes, other west indian roots. This with some steam fish, coo-coo, plantain and beans and you have a meal that I would run a mile NOT to eat. 
There was another thing about Good Friday that I would not follow. The old people would say that if you bathe in the river or in the the sea on Good friday that you would turn into a fish. In fact 70 years ago when my mother was a littel girl her neighbour and her went into the Blue Basin River to bathe and while she escaped a good "cut-tail" her neighbour "Telly" could not escape the guava whip her mother beat her with. 
I used to swim in the river all the time. Even on Good Fridays. Despite being told the story of the flying dutchman and it's captain who decided to set sail on good friday so that he could make his destination at the quickest pace and who's ship disappeared at sea because he chose the love of water on such a Holy Day. The ship is now beleived to be only legend. They say no such ship existed, only storiesWell, I am no fish today, but I understand that as a Good Catholic even on Good Friday I must put my love for pleasure away in favour of sacrifice. What Jesus went through for me... what is a little time away from cold river water on a scorching hot day.
Also I have grown to love a meal of "provions" or roots.
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Lets bash Easter like we bash Christmas
A press release from the US Group "The Catholic League..." dated 20th April 2011 has identified a bunch of crazies who trip on Easter:
• Ricky Gervais felt the need to offer a very public "Holiday Message," notifying the world that though he is not a Christian, he is a very Christ-like person. It is revealing that this British atheist couldn't find a single secular humanist to model himself after.
• Lady Gaga, who admits to being "confused" about religion, offered more proof of her addled state by choosing to release her single, "Judas," this weekend. It begins with, "I'm in love with Judas."
• Third graders at a Seattle school were told they must call Easter Eggs "Spring Spheres," though the kids refused to cooperate.
• Adults in Munson Township, Ohio were ordered to call their Easter Egg Hunt the Egg Hunt. Watch for it to be banned next year.
• Filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici, who a few years ago entertained us with the hoax about Jesus' tomb, is back again, this time claiming he found two nails used to crucify Jesus. He is looking in vain to find an archaeologist who might believe him.
• Evangelist Rob Bell made the cover of Time, and that's because they like his "Happy Meal" approach to Christianity: sin and evil don't exist, just sugar and spice and everything nice.
• The History Channel is gifting us with "Jesus: The Lost 40 Days," based on the "lost gospels," not the real ones. Nice to know more weight is given to writings which were penned in the second and third centuries rather than in the first.
• On Good Friday, James Frey—the same guy Oprah sized up as a fraud—will introduce his book, The Final Testament of the Holy Bible: he portrays Jesus as an alcoholic who lives in a filthy Bronx apartment, smokes dope, kisses men and impregnates prostitutes. Frey is agnostic on the question of whether Jesus ever worked for the New York Times.
• Ricky Gervais felt the need to offer a very public "Holiday Message," notifying the world that though he is not a Christian, he is a very Christ-like person. It is revealing that this British atheist couldn't find a single secular humanist to model himself after.
• Lady Gaga, who admits to being "confused" about religion, offered more proof of her addled state by choosing to release her single, "Judas," this weekend. It begins with, "I'm in love with Judas."
• Third graders at a Seattle school were told they must call Easter Eggs "Spring Spheres," though the kids refused to cooperate.
• Adults in Munson Township, Ohio were ordered to call their Easter Egg Hunt the Egg Hunt. Watch for it to be banned next year.
• Filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici, who a few years ago entertained us with the hoax about Jesus' tomb, is back again, this time claiming he found two nails used to crucify Jesus. He is looking in vain to find an archaeologist who might believe him.
• Evangelist Rob Bell made the cover of Time, and that's because they like his "Happy Meal" approach to Christianity: sin and evil don't exist, just sugar and spice and everything nice.
• The History Channel is gifting us with "Jesus: The Lost 40 Days," based on the "lost gospels," not the real ones. Nice to know more weight is given to writings which were penned in the second and third centuries rather than in the first.
• On Good Friday, James Frey—the same guy Oprah sized up as a fraud—will introduce his book, The Final Testament of the Holy Bible: he portrays Jesus as an alcoholic who lives in a filthy Bronx apartment, smokes dope, kisses men and impregnates prostitutes. Frey is agnostic on the question of whether Jesus ever worked for the New York Times.
Monday, 18 April 2011
Queen Elizabeths birthday gifts to Pope Benedict XVI
Vatican City, Apr 15, 2011 / 11:29 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth sent two presents to Pope Benedict XVI on April 15. Her first gift was a telegram containing best wishes for the pontiff’s 84th birthday tomorrow, and the second was a new U.K. ambassador to the Holy See.
Nigel Baker is the man chosen as Her Majesty’s latest representative to the Vatican. According to The Telegraph newspaper, 44-year-old Baker worked briefly at the British Conservative Party’s headquarters in the late 1980s. Interestingly, one of his co-workers there is the now British Prime Minister, David Cameron. Since joining the U.K. Foreign Office in 1989, Baker has held postings in Prague, Havana and most recently Bolivia, where he was ambassador. He also spent three years as Private Secretary to Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales.
The U.K. Foreign Office says Baker knows Italy well, having spent an academic sabbatical in Verona and Naples between 1996 and 1998. While he isn’t a Catholic, his Slovakian wife, Sasha, is. They have one son.
Upon his appointment Baker said, “I am delighted and honoured to be taking up this posting. The last few years have seen the development of a strong and fruitful global partnership between the United Kingdom and the Holy See. The historic visit of Pope Benedict XVI in September 2010 reinforced that relationship and opened new avenues for bilateral and multilateral collaboration.”
Nigel Baker is the man chosen as Her Majesty’s latest representative to the Vatican. According to The Telegraph newspaper, 44-year-old Baker worked briefly at the British Conservative Party’s headquarters in the late 1980s. Interestingly, one of his co-workers there is the now British Prime Minister, David Cameron. Since joining the U.K. Foreign Office in 1989, Baker has held postings in Prague, Havana and most recently Bolivia, where he was ambassador. He also spent three years as Private Secretary to Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales.
The U.K. Foreign Office says Baker knows Italy well, having spent an academic sabbatical in Verona and Naples between 1996 and 1998. While he isn’t a Catholic, his Slovakian wife, Sasha, is. They have one son.
Upon his appointment Baker said, “I am delighted and honoured to be taking up this posting. The last few years have seen the development of a strong and fruitful global partnership between the United Kingdom and the Holy See. The historic visit of Pope Benedict XVI in September 2010 reinforced that relationship and opened new avenues for bilateral and multilateral collaboration.”
Monday, 11 April 2011
Straight talk about the Catholic church
The "Catholic League for religious and civil rights" based in New York city took out a full page ad in the New York times today (monday 11th April 2011) called "Straight talk about the Catholic Church". It deals mainly with Priest abusers, and embodies all that the League has been saying for the past several years. However, with this public ad, there is bound to be increased discussion. Here it is in it's entirety:
When the Boston Globe exposed massive wrongdoing in the Boston Archdiocese in 2002, Catholics were understandably angry. And when more horror stories surfaced elsewhere, we were furious. But now our anger is turning on those who are distorting the truth about priestly sexual abuse. That some are exploiting this issue for ideological and financial profit seems plain.
Every time a new wave of accusations surfaces in one diocese, not coincidentally we see a spike in accusations in other dioceses. What is not often reported is that the vast majority of new accusations extend back decades. For example, for the first quarter of this year, 80 percent of the cases of alleged abuse involve incidences that occurred before 2000.
In March, an 80 year-old man came forward in St. Louis claiming he was abused 70 years ago by a priest who has been dead for a half century. This is not an anomaly: the same phenomenon has happened in other dioceses. Unfortunately, too often bishops have been quick to settle, thus inspiring more claims. When $225,000 is dished out to a Michigan man who claims he was abused in the 1950s by a priest who died in 1983—and the diocese admits the accusation is unsubstantiated—it encourages fraud.
A common belief, fostered by the media, is that there is a widespread sexual abuse problem in the Catholic Church today. The evidence is to the contrary: In 2004, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice issued its landmark study and found that most of the abuse occurred during the heyday of the sexual revolution, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s. What we are hearing about today are almost all old cases. To wit: from 2005 to 2009, the average number of new credible accusations made against over 40,000 priests was 8.6. This is a tribute to the reform efforts that have taken place: 5 million children and 2 million adults have gone through a safe environment program. Indeed, there is no religious, or secular, institution that can match this record, either in terms of the low rate of abuse or the extensiveness of a training program.
Penn State professor Philip Jenkins has studied this problem for years. After looking at the John Jay data, which studied priestly sexual abuse from 1950-2002, he found that “of the 4,392 accused priests, almost 56 percent faced only one misconduct allegation, and at least some of these would certainly vanish under detailed scrutiny.” Moreover, Jenkins wrote that “Out of 100,000 priests active in the U.S. in this half-century, a cadre of just 149 individuals—one priest out of every 750—accounted for over a quarter of all allegations of clergy abuse.” In other words, almost all priests have never had anything to do with sexual molestation.
The refrain that child rape is a reality in the Church is twice wrong: let’s get it straight—they weren’t children and they weren’t raped. We know from the John Jay study that most of the victims have been adolescents, and that the most common abuse has been inappropriate touching (inexcusable though this is, it is not rape). The Boston Globe correctly said of the John Jay report that “more than three-quarters of the victims were post pubescent, meaning the abuse did not meet the clinical definition of pedophilia.” In other words, the issue is homosexuality, not pedophilia.
When the National Review Board, a group of notable Catholics, issued its study in 2004, the team’s chief, attorney Robert S. Bennett, said that “any evaluation of the causes and context of the current crisis must be cognizant of the fact that more than 80 percent of the abuse at issue was of a homosexual nature.” One of the members, Dr. Paul McHugh, former psychiatrist-in-chief at Johns Hopkins, has said that “This behavior was homosexual predation on American Catholic youth, yet it’s not being discussed.” By the way, the figures after 2004 haven’t changed—eight in ten cases involve homosexuality. Worldwide, the Vatican estimates that 60 percent of the cases are same-sex, 30 percent are heterosexual and 10 percent involve pedophilia.
Though the data belie the conventional wisdom, it’s hard to break stereotypes. The assault on priests as child abusers has become a staple in the arsenal of Jay Leno, Bill Maher, Denis Leary, George Lopez, “The View” panelists, and others. So it is hardly surprising to learn that a stranger approached New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan at the Denver airport last month saying, “I can’t look at you or any other priest without thinking of a sexual abuser.” Indeed, most priests I know do not dress in priestly garb when traveling—they’ve had to deal with similar instances.
Why are priests being singled out when the sexual abuse of minors among other segments of the population is on-going today? According to Virginia Commonwealth University professor Charol Shakeshaft, the nation’s leading education expert on this issue, “the physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests.” We know from the work of Jenkins, and others, that there is no reason to believe that the rate of abuse is higher among Catholic priests than among the clergy of other religions. Moreover, there has been a slew of stories over the past few years detailing the extent of this problem in the Orthodox Jewish community; some rabbis still insist that sexual abuse cases should be handled internally. No wonder Jenkins maintains, “As a result of the furious investigations of the past decades, and particularly the John Jay study, the U.S. Catholic clergy are now the only major group on the planet that has ever been subjected to such a detailed examination of abuse complaints, using internal evidence that could not have come to light in any other way.”
It would be nice if we could all get on the same page regarding the proper remedies. But just three months ago, Federal District Court Judge Jack B. Weinstein took a “compassionate” view toward a man found guilty of collecting thousands of explicit pictures of children, as young as three, that he downloaded from a child porn website. Weinstein slammed existing legal penalties for the crime, saying, “We’re destroying lives unnecessarily. At the most, they should be receiving treatment and supervision.”
How often has the Church been ripped for following the advice of psychiatrists who thought they could “fix” molesters? To be sure, that was the zeitgeist several decades ago, as virtually every institution and profession can testify. Indeed, the punitive approach so favored today would have been cause for condemnation at that time had it been followed. Interestingly, a report on this situation in Ireland correctly concluded that had more bishops followed canon law, instead of seeking a more “compassionate” strategy, much of the problem could have been avoided.
The real damage done by the therapeutic approach is that it fostered the phenomenon of reassigning priests after they were treated. The exact same thing happened in the teaching profession. Indeed, moving treated teachers to new school districts is so common that it is called “passing the trash.” While moving treated priests to new parishes is no longer tolerated, the New York Times found that the practice of moving abusers around who work in New York’s state-run homes is commonplace.
Mandatory reporting of sexual crimes is not uniform in law or practice. In New York State, several attempts to blanket the clergy and other professionals have been met with resistance. Not by the bishops—but by Family Planning Advocates (the lobbying arm of Planned Parenthood) and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU). Planned Parenthood counselors routinely learn about cases of statutory rape; mandatory reporting would obviously work against their clients’ interests. Even where mandatory reporting is law, such as in the state-run homes, it is seldom followed (more than 95 percent of the time the authorities are not contacted).
Calls for suspending the statute of limitations have regularly been made. But even if one sets aside the fundamental due process reasons why such laws exist, what is most disturbing about this issue is that they almost never apply to public employees. Unless explicitly stated, laws that revise the statute of limitations leave untouched those in education: they are protected by “sovereign immunity,” making transparent what the real goal is—“getting the priests.” And when proposed changes apply to teachers, in every state where this has happened, teachers’ unions and school superintendents have organized to register their objections. Why, then, should bishops who protest these revisions be criticized for doing so?
When the bishops met in Dallas in 2002 to consider reforms, panic gripped the conference. If there was one cleric who saw what the rush to judgment would do to the rights of priests it was the late Cardinal Avery Dulles. Sadly, events have proven him right. Quite frankly, it is more acceptable in our society today to defend the rights of Gitmo detainees than Catholic priests.
Grand juries are launched with the specific directive of investigating “sexual abuse of minors by individuals associated with religious organizations and denominations,” but then quickly evolve into the single-minded pursuit of priests; in Philadelphia, those who initially reviewed the accusations weren’t even called to testify. The unseemly practice of attorneys searching for new “victims” in bars and prisons is a disgrace. Just as sick is the sight of attorneys advertising for alleged victims of priests, but refusing to represent those abused by others. It has gotten so bad that dioceses are now being sued for “wrongful death” in cases where an alleged victim kills himself after his accusation was found wanting. And when AP runs a story on the “scandal” of allowing ex-priests to go unmonitored—as if someone is monitoring non-priest abusers—the bias shines through.
There is a huge difference between an accusation, a credible accusation, a substantiated accusation and a finding of guilt. But not when it applies to priests. I once had a female reporter lambaste me in my office when I expressed my opposition to proposals calling for all dioceses to publish the names of accused priests. I then asked her for her boss’ name and phone number. Startled, she asked why. “Because I want to press charges against you for sexually harassing me,” I intoned, “and then I want to see your name posted on your employer’s website.” She got the point.
BishopAccountabilty.org is accessed by reporters and lawyers for information on priestly sexual abuse, though the standards it uses cannot pass the smell test. It admits that the database “is based solely on allegations reported publicly” and that it “does not confirm the veracity of any actual allegation.” Swell. Furthermore, it says that “If an individual is ‘cleared’ or ‘exonerated’ by an internal church investigation and/or a diocesan review board decision, the individual remains in the database.” Ditto for cases where a priest faces an allegation for an act which occurred after he left the Catholic Church; even lawsuits against the dead are listed. There is no other group in the U.S. which is subjected to such gross unfairness. No wonder wildly exaggerated claims have been made based off of such collected “evidence.”
Perhaps no reform made in Dallas has proven to be more intrinsically dangerous than demands for “zero tolerance.” It all sounds so macho, but priests on the ground know first-hand what it means. Obviously, there should be no wiggle room in the most serious cases, but when priests are sued for “emotional” abuse, or violating “boundary issues,” the door is left wide open for exploitation. Dulles got it right when he said that “A priest who uttered an inappropriate word or made a single imprudent gesture is treated in the same way as a serial rapist.” Even worse, we now have the specter of a priest being suspended because a woman heard a kid in a playground call him a pedophile; she promptly called the cops. Joe Maher, president of Opus Bono Sacerdotii, a group that monitors the incidence of falsely accused priests, says that “at least a thousand priests…have been removed and remain out of public ministry because of unproven accusations.”
Because the Catholic Church is often criticized for not following a “zero tolerance” policy, the Catholic League did some investigation of its own. Here’s what we found. Almost every media outlet, teachers’ union and religious organization we examined does not have a “zero tolerance” policy in place for sexual misconduct (or any other offense). The few that do make no mention of mandatory reporting.
These organizations are not wrong for not having the same kind of policy that the Catholic Church has. The New York Times seems to understand this matter when applied to schools. In an editorial titled, “The Trouble With ‘Zero Tolerance,’” it noted that schools which have adopted these policies have created conditions where children are being “arrested for profanity, talking back, shoving matches and other behavior that would once have been resolved with detention or meetings with the students’ parents.” The NYCLU agreed saying, “De facto zero tolerance causes wrongful arrests, searches and suspensions of students in too many of the city’s neediest schools.” Yet as recently as April 2, the Times issued another editorial insisting the bishops follow this flawed policy.
No amount of reform will ever satisfy some. Attorneys like Jeffrey Anderson, and his well-greased friends at SNAP, a professional victims’ group, are dogmatic in their convictions; their hatred of the Catholic Church is palpable. Similarly, when others tell the bishops we’re going to “sue the s*** out of you,” and are informed that the goal is to put an “out of business” sign in front of every parish, school and charitable center, it is evident that the Church needs to fight back with greater vigor.
What accounts for the relentless attacks on the Church? Let’s face it: if its teachings were pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage and pro-women clergy, the dogs would have been called off years ago.
The British atheist Richard Dawkins is no fan of Catholicism. But he is honest enough to say that the Catholic Church “has been unfairly demonized over the issue, especially in Ireland and America.” Now if Dawkins gets it, why can’t others?
Bill Donohue
President
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights
When the Boston Globe exposed massive wrongdoing in the Boston Archdiocese in 2002, Catholics were understandably angry. And when more horror stories surfaced elsewhere, we were furious. But now our anger is turning on those who are distorting the truth about priestly sexual abuse. That some are exploiting this issue for ideological and financial profit seems plain.
Every time a new wave of accusations surfaces in one diocese, not coincidentally we see a spike in accusations in other dioceses. What is not often reported is that the vast majority of new accusations extend back decades. For example, for the first quarter of this year, 80 percent of the cases of alleged abuse involve incidences that occurred before 2000.
In March, an 80 year-old man came forward in St. Louis claiming he was abused 70 years ago by a priest who has been dead for a half century. This is not an anomaly: the same phenomenon has happened in other dioceses. Unfortunately, too often bishops have been quick to settle, thus inspiring more claims. When $225,000 is dished out to a Michigan man who claims he was abused in the 1950s by a priest who died in 1983—and the diocese admits the accusation is unsubstantiated—it encourages fraud.
A common belief, fostered by the media, is that there is a widespread sexual abuse problem in the Catholic Church today. The evidence is to the contrary: In 2004, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice issued its landmark study and found that most of the abuse occurred during the heyday of the sexual revolution, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s. What we are hearing about today are almost all old cases. To wit: from 2005 to 2009, the average number of new credible accusations made against over 40,000 priests was 8.6. This is a tribute to the reform efforts that have taken place: 5 million children and 2 million adults have gone through a safe environment program. Indeed, there is no religious, or secular, institution that can match this record, either in terms of the low rate of abuse or the extensiveness of a training program.
Penn State professor Philip Jenkins has studied this problem for years. After looking at the John Jay data, which studied priestly sexual abuse from 1950-2002, he found that “of the 4,392 accused priests, almost 56 percent faced only one misconduct allegation, and at least some of these would certainly vanish under detailed scrutiny.” Moreover, Jenkins wrote that “Out of 100,000 priests active in the U.S. in this half-century, a cadre of just 149 individuals—one priest out of every 750—accounted for over a quarter of all allegations of clergy abuse.” In other words, almost all priests have never had anything to do with sexual molestation.
The refrain that child rape is a reality in the Church is twice wrong: let’s get it straight—they weren’t children and they weren’t raped. We know from the John Jay study that most of the victims have been adolescents, and that the most common abuse has been inappropriate touching (inexcusable though this is, it is not rape). The Boston Globe correctly said of the John Jay report that “more than three-quarters of the victims were post pubescent, meaning the abuse did not meet the clinical definition of pedophilia.” In other words, the issue is homosexuality, not pedophilia.
When the National Review Board, a group of notable Catholics, issued its study in 2004, the team’s chief, attorney Robert S. Bennett, said that “any evaluation of the causes and context of the current crisis must be cognizant of the fact that more than 80 percent of the abuse at issue was of a homosexual nature.” One of the members, Dr. Paul McHugh, former psychiatrist-in-chief at Johns Hopkins, has said that “This behavior was homosexual predation on American Catholic youth, yet it’s not being discussed.” By the way, the figures after 2004 haven’t changed—eight in ten cases involve homosexuality. Worldwide, the Vatican estimates that 60 percent of the cases are same-sex, 30 percent are heterosexual and 10 percent involve pedophilia.
Though the data belie the conventional wisdom, it’s hard to break stereotypes. The assault on priests as child abusers has become a staple in the arsenal of Jay Leno, Bill Maher, Denis Leary, George Lopez, “The View” panelists, and others. So it is hardly surprising to learn that a stranger approached New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan at the Denver airport last month saying, “I can’t look at you or any other priest without thinking of a sexual abuser.” Indeed, most priests I know do not dress in priestly garb when traveling—they’ve had to deal with similar instances.
Why are priests being singled out when the sexual abuse of minors among other segments of the population is on-going today? According to Virginia Commonwealth University professor Charol Shakeshaft, the nation’s leading education expert on this issue, “the physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests.” We know from the work of Jenkins, and others, that there is no reason to believe that the rate of abuse is higher among Catholic priests than among the clergy of other religions. Moreover, there has been a slew of stories over the past few years detailing the extent of this problem in the Orthodox Jewish community; some rabbis still insist that sexual abuse cases should be handled internally. No wonder Jenkins maintains, “As a result of the furious investigations of the past decades, and particularly the John Jay study, the U.S. Catholic clergy are now the only major group on the planet that has ever been subjected to such a detailed examination of abuse complaints, using internal evidence that could not have come to light in any other way.”
It would be nice if we could all get on the same page regarding the proper remedies. But just three months ago, Federal District Court Judge Jack B. Weinstein took a “compassionate” view toward a man found guilty of collecting thousands of explicit pictures of children, as young as three, that he downloaded from a child porn website. Weinstein slammed existing legal penalties for the crime, saying, “We’re destroying lives unnecessarily. At the most, they should be receiving treatment and supervision.”
How often has the Church been ripped for following the advice of psychiatrists who thought they could “fix” molesters? To be sure, that was the zeitgeist several decades ago, as virtually every institution and profession can testify. Indeed, the punitive approach so favored today would have been cause for condemnation at that time had it been followed. Interestingly, a report on this situation in Ireland correctly concluded that had more bishops followed canon law, instead of seeking a more “compassionate” strategy, much of the problem could have been avoided.
The real damage done by the therapeutic approach is that it fostered the phenomenon of reassigning priests after they were treated. The exact same thing happened in the teaching profession. Indeed, moving treated teachers to new school districts is so common that it is called “passing the trash.” While moving treated priests to new parishes is no longer tolerated, the New York Times found that the practice of moving abusers around who work in New York’s state-run homes is commonplace.
Mandatory reporting of sexual crimes is not uniform in law or practice. In New York State, several attempts to blanket the clergy and other professionals have been met with resistance. Not by the bishops—but by Family Planning Advocates (the lobbying arm of Planned Parenthood) and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU). Planned Parenthood counselors routinely learn about cases of statutory rape; mandatory reporting would obviously work against their clients’ interests. Even where mandatory reporting is law, such as in the state-run homes, it is seldom followed (more than 95 percent of the time the authorities are not contacted).
Calls for suspending the statute of limitations have regularly been made. But even if one sets aside the fundamental due process reasons why such laws exist, what is most disturbing about this issue is that they almost never apply to public employees. Unless explicitly stated, laws that revise the statute of limitations leave untouched those in education: they are protected by “sovereign immunity,” making transparent what the real goal is—“getting the priests.” And when proposed changes apply to teachers, in every state where this has happened, teachers’ unions and school superintendents have organized to register their objections. Why, then, should bishops who protest these revisions be criticized for doing so?
When the bishops met in Dallas in 2002 to consider reforms, panic gripped the conference. If there was one cleric who saw what the rush to judgment would do to the rights of priests it was the late Cardinal Avery Dulles. Sadly, events have proven him right. Quite frankly, it is more acceptable in our society today to defend the rights of Gitmo detainees than Catholic priests.
Grand juries are launched with the specific directive of investigating “sexual abuse of minors by individuals associated with religious organizations and denominations,” but then quickly evolve into the single-minded pursuit of priests; in Philadelphia, those who initially reviewed the accusations weren’t even called to testify. The unseemly practice of attorneys searching for new “victims” in bars and prisons is a disgrace. Just as sick is the sight of attorneys advertising for alleged victims of priests, but refusing to represent those abused by others. It has gotten so bad that dioceses are now being sued for “wrongful death” in cases where an alleged victim kills himself after his accusation was found wanting. And when AP runs a story on the “scandal” of allowing ex-priests to go unmonitored—as if someone is monitoring non-priest abusers—the bias shines through.
There is a huge difference between an accusation, a credible accusation, a substantiated accusation and a finding of guilt. But not when it applies to priests. I once had a female reporter lambaste me in my office when I expressed my opposition to proposals calling for all dioceses to publish the names of accused priests. I then asked her for her boss’ name and phone number. Startled, she asked why. “Because I want to press charges against you for sexually harassing me,” I intoned, “and then I want to see your name posted on your employer’s website.” She got the point.
BishopAccountabilty.org is accessed by reporters and lawyers for information on priestly sexual abuse, though the standards it uses cannot pass the smell test. It admits that the database “is based solely on allegations reported publicly” and that it “does not confirm the veracity of any actual allegation.” Swell. Furthermore, it says that “If an individual is ‘cleared’ or ‘exonerated’ by an internal church investigation and/or a diocesan review board decision, the individual remains in the database.” Ditto for cases where a priest faces an allegation for an act which occurred after he left the Catholic Church; even lawsuits against the dead are listed. There is no other group in the U.S. which is subjected to such gross unfairness. No wonder wildly exaggerated claims have been made based off of such collected “evidence.”
Perhaps no reform made in Dallas has proven to be more intrinsically dangerous than demands for “zero tolerance.” It all sounds so macho, but priests on the ground know first-hand what it means. Obviously, there should be no wiggle room in the most serious cases, but when priests are sued for “emotional” abuse, or violating “boundary issues,” the door is left wide open for exploitation. Dulles got it right when he said that “A priest who uttered an inappropriate word or made a single imprudent gesture is treated in the same way as a serial rapist.” Even worse, we now have the specter of a priest being suspended because a woman heard a kid in a playground call him a pedophile; she promptly called the cops. Joe Maher, president of Opus Bono Sacerdotii, a group that monitors the incidence of falsely accused priests, says that “at least a thousand priests…have been removed and remain out of public ministry because of unproven accusations.”
Because the Catholic Church is often criticized for not following a “zero tolerance” policy, the Catholic League did some investigation of its own. Here’s what we found. Almost every media outlet, teachers’ union and religious organization we examined does not have a “zero tolerance” policy in place for sexual misconduct (or any other offense). The few that do make no mention of mandatory reporting.
These organizations are not wrong for not having the same kind of policy that the Catholic Church has. The New York Times seems to understand this matter when applied to schools. In an editorial titled, “The Trouble With ‘Zero Tolerance,’” it noted that schools which have adopted these policies have created conditions where children are being “arrested for profanity, talking back, shoving matches and other behavior that would once have been resolved with detention or meetings with the students’ parents.” The NYCLU agreed saying, “De facto zero tolerance causes wrongful arrests, searches and suspensions of students in too many of the city’s neediest schools.” Yet as recently as April 2, the Times issued another editorial insisting the bishops follow this flawed policy.
No amount of reform will ever satisfy some. Attorneys like Jeffrey Anderson, and his well-greased friends at SNAP, a professional victims’ group, are dogmatic in their convictions; their hatred of the Catholic Church is palpable. Similarly, when others tell the bishops we’re going to “sue the s*** out of you,” and are informed that the goal is to put an “out of business” sign in front of every parish, school and charitable center, it is evident that the Church needs to fight back with greater vigor.
What accounts for the relentless attacks on the Church? Let’s face it: if its teachings were pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage and pro-women clergy, the dogs would have been called off years ago.
The British atheist Richard Dawkins is no fan of Catholicism. But he is honest enough to say that the Catholic Church “has been unfairly demonized over the issue, especially in Ireland and America.” Now if Dawkins gets it, why can’t others?
Bill Donohue
President
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights
Sunday, 10 April 2011
Lessons from Numbers 17 & 18
My brother and i were having a chat. I am going through an issue with my job and have decided to take it lying down. I have turned the cheek and decided to be absolutely meek on the issue.
"What are you talking about Sean," He Says "Read Numbers 17 & 18 and see what God says about blessings that he has given to you. How you sometimes have to fight, to take what God has promised to you. How you must do this in faith knowing that it is God's will that you claim what is yours." Well I don't think the reading is applicable to my issue, but it sure is a powerful piece of scripture.
Here's what Moses says to the Israelites:
"... don't rebel against the Lord, and don't be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us. Don't be afraid of them!"
And God says to Moses "... How long will they not trust in Me..."
So the lessons are "trust in the Lord". "Claim what is yours in God's Name" and if you have to fight for it, know that "God is your Champion".
"What are you talking about Sean," He Says "Read Numbers 17 & 18 and see what God says about blessings that he has given to you. How you sometimes have to fight, to take what God has promised to you. How you must do this in faith knowing that it is God's will that you claim what is yours." Well I don't think the reading is applicable to my issue, but it sure is a powerful piece of scripture.
Here's what Moses says to the Israelites:
"... don't rebel against the Lord, and don't be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us. Don't be afraid of them!"
And God says to Moses "... How long will they not trust in Me..."
So the lessons are "trust in the Lord". "Claim what is yours in God's Name" and if you have to fight for it, know that "God is your Champion".
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Earthquake Prophecy for trinidad.... the Sequal!
On February 26th I published a post entitled "Earthquake Prophecy for Trinidad... sigh!" I was truly tickled by this prophecy because I keep hearing from the UWI people and others that we must prepare for the big one. Now, I am not saying that we may not have a big earthquake, but to me it all seems so alarmist. Put it into context of the end of the world which is planned by other alarmists for December 2012 and I am thinking my future is pretty much doomed.
Fear not all: Jesus died and Rose. And by His rising He conquered death.. and by His assumption into heaven, He conquered life. He has prepared a home for us in Heaven. If we are ready.
Anyhoo, about the prophet. Well, his number one follower (I think it is his wife or himself)who goes by the name "Christian" and who did not leave a return address (of course he wouldn't)left a note on my blog. Apparently, the "prophet" is not finished. According to the individual the "prophet" did NOT give a date for the earthquake (of course he did not), and 2011 is still young, so the prediction is still in effect (of course it is) Maybe at the end of 2011 he may say he never gave a year:
I wish to thank the submitter of the above note and wish to point out a few things:
1. I have no wish to question your Doctor friend.
2. I quoted a person who seems to know him.
3. Since you know the gentleman, why not verify, clarify or debunk the accusations.
4. I am indeed a Christian as you are. Heaven is not mine to give or take.
5. I pray for my salvation and that of the whole world (that includes you: "For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world."
6. I notice that you judged me. Did you pray for me? I hope so.
7. So what in your mind would Jesus do in this situation?
8. In my mind I keep thinking of several things:
(a) Chase him away "And then will I profess unto them,I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."(Mat7:23) OR
(b) Forgive you me and him (if there is repentance and sorrow) "Then neither do I condemn you, Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11)
My God is a God of Love and Mercy. My faith teaches this. You should learn what the Catholic Church teaches. If you are willing, send me another post with your email address and I will be sure to answer any questions that you have.
Fear not all: Jesus died and Rose. And by His rising He conquered death.. and by His assumption into heaven, He conquered life. He has prepared a home for us in Heaven. If we are ready.
Anyhoo, about the prophet. Well, his number one follower (I think it is his wife or himself)who goes by the name "Christian" and who did not leave a return address (of course he wouldn't)left a note on my blog. Apparently, the "prophet" is not finished. According to the individual the "prophet" did NOT give a date for the earthquake (of course he did not), and 2011 is still young, so the prediction is still in effect (of course it is) Maybe at the end of 2011 he may say he never gave a year:
The PROPHECY given by Dr. Leslie Rogers did NOT have any date attached to it. The one from Benny Hinn I cannot speak about because I have no information on it but as God is my witness, Dr. Leslie Rogers NEVER gave any date about any earthquake. With reference to the comments on his personal life ask him and discuss it with him if you want to know so badly. And FYI, if you do happen to know about some fault in a man or woman of God it has automatically become your duty to PRAY for them NOT use the opportunity to bash them because they are still a man or woman of God and are still a soul that is in dire need of salvation. If you are indeed a CHRISTIAN you would make it your duty to pray for the person so that their soul and the souls of those that they are responsible for will not perish. Stop bringing the church of God into disrepute. No wonder the world is so full of SINNERS. What would Jesus Christ do in this situation?
I wish to thank the submitter of the above note and wish to point out a few things:
1. I have no wish to question your Doctor friend.
2. I quoted a person who seems to know him.
3. Since you know the gentleman, why not verify, clarify or debunk the accusations.
4. I am indeed a Christian as you are. Heaven is not mine to give or take.
5. I pray for my salvation and that of the whole world (that includes you: "For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world."
6. I notice that you judged me. Did you pray for me? I hope so.
7. So what in your mind would Jesus do in this situation?
8. In my mind I keep thinking of several things:
(a) Chase him away "And then will I profess unto them,I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."(Mat7:23) OR
(b) Forgive you me and him (if there is repentance and sorrow) "Then neither do I condemn you, Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11)
My God is a God of Love and Mercy. My faith teaches this. You should learn what the Catholic Church teaches. If you are willing, send me another post with your email address and I will be sure to answer any questions that you have.
THE END OF THE WORLD
There is so much buzz about the end of the world, the Psalm reading for yesterday (Tuesday April 5th 2011)which I am showing below suggests that even though there may be awful circumstances, God is with His people and He will protect them Always.
Psalm 46:2-3,5-6,8-9
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God will help her right early.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.
8 Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has wrought desolations in the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear, he burns the chariots with fire!
Psalm 46:2-3,5-6,8-9
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God will help her right early.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.
8 Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has wrought desolations in the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear, he burns the chariots with fire!
Teaching Virtues to our Children in Schools .
I came across this interesting article in the Sunday Express Newspaper of 3rd April 2011. It was written by Aabida Allaham.
It is about implementation of a virtue program for children leaving the primary schools (10-12year olds). Apparently the program has been in effect for several years however they hope to put a Trinidad flavour to it. I am hoping to discuss this program with my son, who we hope (by the Grace of God) will be attending a Catholic Secondary School in September.
It is about implementation of a virtue program for children leaving the primary schools (10-12year olds). Apparently the program has been in effect for several years however they hope to put a Trinidad flavour to it. I am hoping to discuss this program with my son, who we hope (by the Grace of God) will be attending a Catholic Secondary School in September.
STANDARD five pupils attending Roman Catholic schools in Trinidad and Tobago will have an opportunity to learn about issues ranging from responsibility to abstinence during their final semester.
The initiative is part of the 2010 Values and Virtue Programme developed by the Catholic Commission for Social Justice and the Archdiocese of Port of Spain and aims to help young people find ways to enable themselves to live full and productive lives.
"The way the world is going, we need to ensure that our children are instilled the kind of virtues and values that will help them to make the right choices," said Leela Ramdeen, chair of the Commission.
Ramdeen made the comments during an interview with the Express at a training workshop for more than 100 teachers from various Roman Catholic primary schools across the country at the Centre of Excellence, Macoya.
"We developed the programme with teachers and with principals so that they can implement it in their schools and reflect also on the values of their school," she said.
For two years the programme relied on American teachings, but this year Ramdeen said they have been able to localise with the help of Republic Bank and other sponsors.