Toting Guns To Presidential Addresses Because We Can

President Obama meets some of Sarah Palin's rich supporters. One who is also toting a gun because he can.

This morning I got up, got some coffee, and start reading the news. I can't say I was the least bit prepared for the site of a man openly carrying an AR15 at a rally at which the President of the United States was scheduled to speak. And it wasn't just one man. According to the AP there were at least a dozen people carrying open weapons, and CNN reports that there were two men carrying AR15s.

I understand that it is legal in Arizona to openly carry weapons. But we're not talking hunting rifles here. We're talking assault rifles and hand guns. The local paper The Arizona Republic reported:

A man, who decided not to give his name, was walking around the pro-health care reform rally at 3rd and Washington streets, with a pistol on his hip, and an AR-15 (a semi-automatic assault rifle) on a strap over his shoulder.
"Because I can do it," he said when asked why he was armed. "In Arizona, I still have some freedoms."
Two police officers were staying very close to the man. (Just to protect his freedoms one hopes.)

I do not remember ever hearing any report of any person openly carrying a gun around any other president. Arizona represents the third time this week that open guns have been reported at events in which President Obama is scheduled to speak. There was one arrest in New Hampshire, but no arrests in Arizona.

What is happening in this country? Since when have we reached the point that we need to bring guns to town hall meetings and other political events. What message is being sent?-- or maybe more pertinent, what message is being heard that people feel the need to do so?

I'm beginning to really wonder if the message being sent isn't the one that says if we don't have a Republican in the White House the streets aren't safe from our fellow fear filled Americans. We need a Republican president just to keep the paranoid wing nuts in check. And until we do have a Republican in the White House they'll just let Rush and Sarah and company keep the fear level red lined and all those folks all stirred up. They don't want a debate. They want to stop all debate, and threaten everybody that doesn't agree with them until we come to our senses and allow them to save us from them. Great political strategy--- if we let them get away with it.

Then there is Senator Chuck Grassley who is single handedly stopping the senate from coming up with any kind of health reform bill. (Actually, I guess now it's called a health insurance reform bill.) He too is doing this because he can, since Senator Max Baucus is letting him. Max would have us believe it has nothing to do with the millions in pact money both of them have received from the health industry. He wants us to believe it's because of their long friendship and the respect he has for Chuck. Chuck deserves his input even if it consists of one word---NO. Maybe Chuck just wants to save us from his good friend Max. Great friendship this is--if we let them get away with it.

This all reminds me of the strategy of the hierarchy with in Catholicism, especially some of our US bishops. If one really looks at what came out of the USCCB regarding the sexual abuse crisis, we laity are expected to trust our bishops to save our children from them. This is especially cool for them since they exempted themselves from any of their own mandates. What a great system, and we kind of sort of let them get away with it.

Then there are traditional Catholics whose concept of debate is to tell progressives to leave the Church. At least that takes a few more words than Senator Grassley has in his vocabulary. This less than friendly advice is to save us from us, or save Jesus from us, or just plain save something, since Jesus is about saving. I don't think I've ever heard this particular talking point used much in the other direction. Is it because progressives choose not to, or is it their low intensity commitment, as John Allen postulates in his current piece in the NCR.

I think when high tension commitments foster toting guns to presidential addresses, one needs to look at either the tension, the commitment or both. Exactly the way I feel about Senators with one word vocabularies, and senators with way too intense a 'friendship', or bishops whose authority is unchecked, nontransparent, and accountable only to themselves, and Catholics who play the 'leave' card.

All this one sided high tension is leading to undesirable outcomes. It might be time for progressives to raise their own tension, because we can. So let's all have another cup of coffee.

More On Maciel--Shining Light In Very Dark Corners

I've taken the following excerpt from the blog American Papist. The ongoing coverage of the Maciel/Legion scandal has been fairly and accurately reported by this blog. Although I had heard of the information coming out of Mexico I hesitated to report on it until credible American sources reported the same information. Today the NCR has come forward with this same information. The fact that most Catholics would not put the NCR and the American Papist in the same wing of the Church lends credibility to the veracity of these accusations.

Claim: Legion founder Maciel had multiple children; other details emerging

For some time, I have refrained from reporting on the ongoing saga of the Legionaries of Christ out of deference for the canonical visitation which is taking place.
AmP was the first major blog to report the scandal of Maciel having a biological child, and became a hub for accurate reporting on the story in the tumultuous weeks that followed.
However, because the most recent round of news changes the situation dramatically, I will report on it as well. The conclusions of the apostolic visit cannot be expected for some time, but individuals who are still in the Legion or Regnum Christi deserve to know what is happening now.

Multiple stories from Mexico report that three additional individuals claiming to be children of Fr. Maciel are suing the Legion of Christ for inheritance rights. It appears the original daughter of Maciel, and her mother, were supported by Legion money (i.e. money contributed by Catholic faithful for supporting Fr. Maciel's work). (They have also reached a settlement with the Legion since the allegations surfaced, for reception of a substantial permanent pension in exchange for their silence.)

The mother claims she was a minor when her relationship with Fr. Maciel began. And it appears that "highly placed officials" in the Legion knew of this situation and were complicit in it. Details beyond this are sketchy, but it appears probable now that there are even more children than the ones mentioned (the most frequent number I hear is six total).
If you are interested in the details, two ex-LC blogs provide them: Life-after-RC and Ex LC Blog.

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There are also claims that the daughter was a victim of Maciel's abuse, but these claims don't specify the type of abuse. However, it is not unheard of for pedophiles to create future victims by having their own children. This is one reason the Vatican should shut down every minor seminary and high school run by the Legion. There is ample evidence that Maciel had ulterior motives when creating these schools.

The articles at Life-after-RC and Ex LC are worth reading, especially the article at Ex LC which gives the history of the first investigation of Maciel and the Legion in great detail. This investigation took place in the mid to late fifties and involved exactly the same accusations which have prompted the latest visitation.

I suppose it should come as no surprise that Maciel and the Legion were exonerated during the interegnum between the pontificates of Pius XII and John XXIII. The exoneration was written by a Cardinal who received 'favors' from Maciel and probably didn't have the authority to issue such a report. It should also come as no surprise that the actual members of the visitation team recommended exactly the opposite, but their recommendations seemingly became null and void with the death of Pius XII.

The subsequent treatment of Maciel seems to prove that money is the real voice of the Holy Spirit in the upper echelons of Catholicism. It is inconceivable to me that the protection of Maciel by Pope John Paul II will not figure in the current effort to canonize him. The Legion has mercilessly used the relationship between John Paul and Maciel as their prime recruiting tool and the biggest validation of their charism. I don't believe for one second that John Paul II was innocent of the goings on with Maciel or the inner circle of the Legion.

The Mexican attorney, Jose Bonilla, who is representing the three children attempting to gain access to Maciel's personal fortune, states he has photographs of Maciel with his children, as well as one purportedly of Maciel introducing his children to John Paul II. I'm sure they were introduced as his 'spiritual' children. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Archbishop Chaput, and his fellow archbishops on the visitation team, are dealing with a potential nuclear bomb for the Church. If they take their job seriously, they can't stop their investigation with the Legion. They must take it all the way to the highest corridors of the Vatican because it is here that the real enabling of Maciel occurred when decades of credible allegations were suppressed and/or ignored.

It was the Vatican, and John Paul specifically, whose glowing endorsements of Maciel and the Legion allowed the Legion to amass it's wealth, abuse and brain wash it's members, bilk it's supporters, and see itself as some sort of 'special charism' for the renewal of TRUE Catholicism. Undoubtedly, Legion millions given to the right people, paid for this compliance and duplicity. Some of these alleged paid for protectors are still in very high places and will have a great deal to say about the results of this visitation. (See Cardinal's Rode, Levada, and Sodano.)

I really hope and pray Archbishop Chaput has the guts to investigate the Legion where ever that investigation takes him. Especially because of the Legion influence in the North American Church and it's politics. Archbishop Chaput has a history of taking in ex Legionaries for his diocese and has requested personal input from disaffected LC and RC members. He also needs to listen to the millions of Catholics who are not members of the LC or RC because our anger, while not necessarily as personal, is never the less as important. We are sick of seeing just how co opted the leadership of this Church is when it comes to protecting it's own clerical caste.

If there is ever a time when transparency and accountability is needed by this Church for the maintenance of any kind of credibility, that time is now, with this Legion investigation. Rode and Levada can try to divert attention with the LCWR investigation, but it won't wash. I really hope and pray that Archbishop Chaput will show himself to be a true priest of honor and integrity and expose the whole truth of this long standing and really sordid episode.

Real evil cares not whether it enters the Church through traditionalists or progressives, through laity or religious. It only cares that it's in the shadows and covered up. The People of God have had enough of the shadows and cover ups. It's past time to shine some real light into some very dark corners.

The Financially Bad Karma Of Hypocrisy And Deception

Ironic divorce
Protector of traditional marriage Doug Manchester leaving wife of 43 years
By Eric Wolff --San Diego CityBeat--8/11/09
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In July 2008, hotelier and developer Doug Manchester donated $125,000 to help gather signatures for a proposition that would ban same-sex marriage in California. The early money was crucial to getting the initiative—which ultimately passed—on the ballot. At the time, he told The New York Times that he made the donation because of “my Catholic faith and longtime affiliation with the Catholic Church,” which preferred that marriage remain between a man and a woman. Indeed, the Catholic Church has vehemently opposed gay marriage. Then again, it’s also not too keen on divorce. (It is big on accepting money from any hypocrite in a 'good cause'.)

On Oct. 9, 2008, Manchester ended 43 years, eight months and nine days of marriage to Elizabeth Manchester by moving out of their La Jolla abode. The couple spent the next several months trying to reach a quiet settlement on how best to distribute millions of dollars in cash and other assets. In July, those talks totally broke down, and Doug started playing financial hardball with Elizabeth, allegedly draining the couple’s shared accounts and stealing her mail. On Aug. 6, Elizabeth filed a petition for redress in family court. All of the information in this story comes from those petitions. CityBeat contacted attorneys for both parties, but neither returned calls by press time.

The court records say Doug pushed very hard for a speedy divorce agreement after he moved out, but Elizabeth would have none of it. She insisted on hiring lawyers and forensic accountants to fully assess Doug’s assets. Doug controls the Grand Del Mar Resort, the Manchester Hyatt, the Torrey Executive Center and the Manchester Financial Building. He also has $56.9 million divided among nine bank accounts, though the papers make clear that her accountants believe there’s far more holdings to be assessed. Elizabeth’s petition alleges that Doug has withheld some of the documents needed to make a full accounting. As negotiations dragged on, Doug apparently became impatient.

In March, Doug told Elizabeth he’d no longer maintain the bank account the two shared to pay her expenses, and that she should submit her bills to his office. She followed this procedure, but was surprised to get a call from AT&T saying her bill was past due.

“Doug began dragging his feet on paying my expenses,” she writes, “refusing to pay certain expenses until I accepted his demands regarding our property division. I believe Doug did this to squeeze me financially.” (No, not the great protector of traditional marriage. He must not have meant to let her bills go unpaid. He wasn't trying to squeeze her.)

She also alleges that Doug received an $8.2-million tax refund check from the IRS that was made out to both of them, and that Doug deposited the money and refused to split it with her. She has requested a copy of the check to see if someone forged her name to the endorsement, as is usually required to deposit a check made out to two people. (No, Doug would never embezzle any money from his cherished wife. Nice refund check though.)

On July 25, Doug ran out of patience. He sent an “angry e-mail” to Elizabeth that said he “wish[es] to pursue all rights to protect all of [his] separate property and wish[es] also to litigate vigorously any and all spousal support.” (Brackets quoted from the petition).

That day, Doug wired $100,000 out of the ac-count the couple shared, leaving a $17,000 balance. Elizabeth argues in her petition that the account balance will be negative when outstanding checks come due. She also learned that day that Doug had spent the previous six months taking $9.3 million out of their joint bank accounts and putting it into his separate account. (Poor Doug must have some very interesting legal advice. California is a common asset state, but maybe Doug feels discriminated against by this California law protecting traditional marriage, and is pretending he makes his money in some other state.)

Elizabeth writes that she believes all of these tactics—the mail, the financial restrictions, submitting bills to Doug’s office—are attempts to “squeeze” her.
“Respondent was attempting to compel me to settle on his terms by impeding my access to funds for living expenses,” she writes in her petition. (Hmmm, seems poor Elizabeth wasn't being 'complimentary' enough.)

On the weekend of July 30, Elizabeth was at their house in Sun Valley, Utah—one of six vacation residences the couple owns together. She alleges that Doug went into the La Jolla house, which he had not lived in for months, and took several pieces of mail belonging to her, including a letter from her attorneys at the law firm of Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek. The letter included a detailed invoice of what the firm had done for her and discussed a strategy for her case. An attorney with Hervey and Wood, representing Doug, eventually returned the letter saying Doug “had opened it by mistake.” (There, poor Doug admits he's doing all of this by mistake.)

Elizabeth petitioned the court to guarantee that she have sole use of the La Jolla residence, that he return the mail (which was returned) and that he restore the $100,000 so she can meet her monthly expenses of $131,625. These include nearly $20,000 on clothing and jewelry, $7,000 in electric bills, $1,700 in groceries, $4,901 in household supplies, tuition at three private schools for some of the couple’s 10 grand children, $7,500 in salary for the full-time groundskeeper and housekeeper, $1,200 in membership dues for the La Jolla Country Club and money toward the hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel expenses the couple was accustomed to spending.

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I admit, it's hard for me to identify with this kind of financial life style. 'Poor' indeed, but I can identify with hard ball divorce tactics.

It's also hard for me to identify with Doug the uber Catholic, since I was taught by uppity LCWR nuns that lying, cheating, stealing, hypocrisy, and divorce were not part of the Catholic 'life style'. Maybe the sisters really were as wrong and heretical, as the rich uber Catholic right insists.

So much for traditional Catholic marriage and it's mostly male uber right Catholic supporters. Traditional marriage is great when it works for you, but no so great when it, and all the laws supporting it, threaten your finances.

I also came across another ironic story. Focus On The Family is selling it's ex-gay therapy program to Exodus International. From the Minnesota Independent:

Focus on the Family, James Dobson’s anti-LGBT empire and the largest organization in the religious right, announced earlier this week that it would be selling off its ex-gay therapy program called “Love Won Out.” The organization says it’s part of an effort to downsize in the wake of record profit losses of nearly $6 million. The news comes days after the nation’s largest psychological organization released a report condemning ex-gay therapies.

“Right now we’re facing a serious budget shortfall that threatens our ability to reach out to parents, families and married couples who count on our help,” said Jim Daly, Focus’ CEO in a letter to 800,000 members. “Income is down nearly $6 million from what we expected and planned for this year. I want to assure you that we’re committed to good stewardship AND living within our means, just as so many families are today.”

Maybe Focus On The Family could fix their bottom line by focusing on the Manchester's, who seem to need some help. It seems changing gays was not the profit cash cow they thought it would be, even though it's mission name is appealing to Exodus International. Maybe saving the marriages of their rich supporters will prove to be even more lucrative, if about as successful as Love Won Out---not very.

Unless that is, success is determined by how many buy into what your are selling, as opposed to whether it actually works. If that's the success criteria, then Exodus International is successful, even if, like with Doug Manchester, love doesn't win out.

Archbishop Dolan On The State Of American Catholicism

N.Y. archbishop takes stock of challenges in the American Catholic Church
Phoenix, Ariz., Aug 13, 2009 / 12:33 am (CNA).-

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York told CNA last week that the Catholic Church is currently facing many challenges, four being: the vocation to marriage, the state of Catholic parishes and schools, the great number of lapsed Catholics and finally the difficulties in a culture desperate to keep the Church and morals out of the public square.

Sitting down with CNA in Phoenix, Arizona during the 127th annual Knights of Columbus convention, the archbishop noted that while he loves his new assignment as the Archbishop of New York, his archdiocese of 2.6 million Catholics, as well as the Church in the United States, is currently facing some serious challenges.

“Oh, there’s tons of challenges, my Lord, there’s never any dearth of challenges,” the archbishop began, explaining that the basic challenge for all Catholics is the same one that Jesus gave on Pentecost Sunday: “Go out to the world and preach the Gospel.”

The archbishop then broke down Jesus’ words into four practical challenges the Church currently faces in preaching the Gospel to all people, the first being the instability of marriage and family.

“That’s where we have the real vocation crisis,” he remarked, noting that “only 50% of our Catholic young people are getting married.”

“We have a vocation crisis to life-long, life-giving, loving, faithful marriage. If we take care of that one, we’ll have all the priests and nuns we need for the church,” Dolan said. (Only if these young couples agree to have more than two children. Addressing this crisis will not happen through wishful thinking or genial memories of the way it used to be when you were a boy. There is no answer for this in a return to the past.)

The second challenge the Church faces, according to Archbishop Dolan, is that it must “maintain and strengthen the blessed infrastructure that we have in the Catholic Church in the United States.” This infrastructure, the parishes, schools, religious education programs, Catholic Charities and hospitals, has “fortified the Church” for “over 200 years.” Now, however, these same institutions are struggling because of their size and cost. ( Size and cost. Spoken like a true bureaucrat. This infrastructure was actually built by the LCWR congregations you are now investigating. It was paid for by immigrant laity. Nice of you to leave the 'people' part out of the equation.)

The aim isn’t only to maintain them, he continued, they need to be strengthened because “now more than ever does the Church need a public face.”

The Church needs to have a good public profile because there are “a lot of people out there who would like to exclude the Church from any type of public witness and we can’t let that happen,” the Archbishop of New York said. (There are also people out there who are using the public witness of the Church for their own agenda and we can't let that happen either.)

Moving on to the third challenge for the U.S. Catholic Church, Dolan simply described it as reaching out and inviting our people home.

“It scares the life out of me when I find out that second most identifiable religious grouping on the religious landscape of the United States are people who say, ‘I used to be a Catholic.’” (It should scare the life out of you because this trend isn't close to reversing. It's getting worse.)

We bishops have to do something about this, he insisted. “We have to say, ‘no, look, there is no such thing as a former Catholic. Your Catholicism is, as a matter of fact, in your DNA. And whether you like it or not you’re born into it just like you’re born into a natural family.’” (Perhaps you could start this process by telling your conservative members to stop telling us to find another church and remind them that we are indeed, Catholic in our DNA, and whether they like it or not part of the family. Good luck with that one.)

Now, he continued, “you might say, ‘I’m ticked off at my natural family, I’m not hanging around with them anymore, I’ve got things to work out.’ But you’re still a member of that family and sooner or later you usually make your peace with it and go home.” (Sometimes, but that also depends on the family who was left. It's never a one way street. see parable of prodigal son.)

In comparison, “the Church is our supernatural family,” he explained, “you might be upset with it, you might not be showing up for Sunday dinner, you might be mad at it about a couple of things…but you’re still a member.”

The Church “is your supernatural family, and, darn it, we need you and want you to come back home. You’re always welcome,” Dolan offered. (You mean welcomed like the father of the prodigal son--with no strings attached? Or more like his brother who pitched a fit.)

The final challenge the he listed is confronting “a culture” with many “strident voices who want to keep” God, morals, virtue and the Church “out of the public square.”

He explained that those voices will say that “religious is fine as an individual hobby… but don’t enforce it on the rest of us.” (Nice turn of phrase-- because it's true. For too many people religion is lived like a hobby and that witness is why so many other people want those voices kept out of the public square. Who wants to be controlled by the vagaries of some one elses hobby?)

However, Dolan argued, without the voice of the Church, “our public square is reduced if the Church isn’t part of it, and what makes America great is that religion has always had a strong, respected place at the table.” Those who want to exclude the voice of the Church, he said, are involved in “galloping secularism.”

He explained: “There are those movers and shakers in society that want to take the teeth out of religion and we can’t let that happen” because America, individuals, the world and culture would be much worse off. (And there are movers and shakers who want to hide behind the teeth of religion and let it mask their own personal agendas and we can't let that happen either.)

“We’ve got something to say, and darn it, we want to say it,” he stated. (I know you have something to say, the question is, darn it, will you also listen? Or is this just a one way dialogue?)

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I hope Archbishop Dolan reads this. One because I am very gratified that he has listed the exodus out of the Church as a major concern. Not many bishops have had the grace to actually admit this in public, and two, because I'm beginning to think he may actually care enough about it to listen.

More than any of his other concerns, the exodus of millions of lay Catholics out of the church is the fundamental reason for the existence of the his other concerns. Along with the priest abuse scandal, the fact the second largest grouping of religious in America are non practicing Catholics has to have under cut the credibility of the voice of Catholicism in the public square. This staggering loss is a major contributor to his concerns about the loss of the Catholic infrastructure. Only God knows how many lost vocations are in this continuing exodus. It is pointless to plug holes in the dike, when the dike itself is breached.

I hope he can understand that inviting people back is not just a matter of them trundling back on their own. No one returns to a family which has consistently made their presence unwelcome and unwanted, with re admittance on their terms, no negotiation, no compromise, no coming back otherwise. In other words, coming back to the very same conditions which precipitated leaving in the first place. Truly healthy people don't do that. What they will do though is come back if everyone agrees the coming back into the family adds more to the family than it causes angst--for either side. This calls for both sides to swallow a little pride, let go of some self certainty, and work for the bigger picture.

Imagine how much could be added if even a third of those who have left came back. The addition which be worth far more than the angst it might cause, but this can only happen if Catholics like Archbishop Dolan really want it to happen and are realistic about what they expect.

A Cardinal Talks To The Troops With A Message Strictly For Troops

Knights of Columbus saluting Pope Benedict in Washington last year.

When cruising through blog sites yesterday I came across an article which dealt with USCCB President Cardinal George's speech to the Knights of Columbus. Today I have found many blog sites addressing the same speech, but most especially one particular quote of the Cardinal's. This quote:

"A Catholic way of life is based on assent to revealed truth and obedience to appointed pastors, both of which create the unity Christ wishes us to enjoy."

I was stopped in my tracks with this particular quote. I don't believe I have ever heard the Catholic way of life described in quite this stark a way. Usually there is some token mention of love, occasionally sacrifice, often repentance for sins, and once in a great while some notion of communion. Now I guess it's just assent to revealed doctrine and obedience to appointed pastors. Nice to know the whole Catholic thing has become so simple.

Sarcasm aside, Bill Lyndsy has written a great piece on this whole notion of Cardinal George's vision of the Catholic way of life. Below is an extract. The full post can be read here.

Cardinal George’s attempt to ground Catholic unity in obedience to appointed pastors is actually a tacit admission that Catholicism has a big problem to deal with today. When coercion replaces the experience of love as the foundation and center of the Christian life, then something has gone radically wrong. And no amount of coercion is going to solve the problem, since the pastors doing the coercing are the ones who have led the church to precisely the impasse it’s now facing, through their attempts to replace love and communion with obedience and coercion.

If obedience is the best we’ve got to offer, we’re really admitting that we’ve simply failed to build communion by living communion. And so we need to use the cudgel of obedience, as we make ludicrous claims about its centrality to the Christian tradition and about what it means, to enforce a formal “unity” that is not really there in the life of the community, as the lived experience of love within a communion bound together in love.

Note where that cudgel is especially active today, and I think you’ll see the depths of the problem. It is no accident that Rome and the Catholic right in the U.S. (who have long egged Rome on with false apocalyptic claims about the situation of American Catholicism) are now targeting American religious women. Disobedient women. Nothing enrages the right more than women out of control.....

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It maybe that Cardinal George fine tuned his thoughts for his audience. The Knights of Columbus is an all male organization and hierarchical in it's own right. One doesn't get to parade with a sword until one has reached fourth degree status. In a quasi military organization of men it might make more sense to define the Catholic way as assent to revealed doctrine and obedience to the appointed chain of command.

To the ears of this woman it sounds bizarre.

I have a friend who makes a very cogent case that the Church's biggest mistake was to organize along military lines--lines which may have been essentially co opted from the Roman military cult of Mithras. This allowed the clergy to become an officer class and relegated laity to the status of privates. Women religious were treated as the lowest of the official institutional privates, with their leadership accorded the status of perhaps a sergeant. Saluting was replaced with ring kissing and genuflecting. The return salute was father's blessing.

This notion makes far more sense to me than the official idea the Church is based on some kind of cosmic marriage or family model. The problem with the military model is it leads to objectifying, using, and finally abusing the lower troops while protecting the senior officer class and leaving junior officers out to dry. These less exalted troops are sometimes referred to as Canon fodder. Real military organizations have a judicial process which keeps the abuses in check and sometimes even punishes high level abusers. Not so much the Church.

I imagine it is difficult for bishops to deal with women religious who had previously acted as vowed privates only to find those privates have educated themselves into what must appear to the bishops as a separate officer class. No military organization can withstand the creation of a separate officer class. I think it's called insubordination and mutiny, ---sometimes even when none is present.

Also one is never allowed to self promote--in any sense of that word. It's bad for discipline. So is dumping your uniform which is frequently seen as desertion. Given all this it's no wonder the LCWR congregations are being investigated--or should I say court martialed.

The problem I have is that the military model works very well when the goal is the organized killing of mass numbers of people. Confusion in and about the chain of command or the quality of it's orders is inefficient and counter productive when the stakes are killing or being killed.

The Church is supposed to be about love, communion, forgiveness, evangelizing, and spiritual grace. It's supposed to be filled with servant leaders and members who demonstrate Jesus equal love for all of us. It's mission is life, not death. I guess I don't see how the military model is all that useful for a mission of life. In fact, it seems utterly counter intuitive, unless the mission is to kill spiritual initiative. The military model is pretty good for that, but then that's killing.

Sarah Palin And Not Seeing Beyond Your Own Nose

Lots of people in right wing politics are working for this award. It will be given in the dozens by Rush himself.

If this is what we can expect as reasoned discourse from a Sarah Palin, who no longer has any responsibility to any for anything she says (except to those who pay her to say it), Americans are in for a long haul. She is the front runner for the Rush awards ceremony.

"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of productivity in society," whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."

Sarah must have had good health insurance from somewhere. I hope she can afford her Cobra coverage because once she loses it she may find out just how many of us face "death panels" in the existing system. Kathleen Reardon addresses this point in the following article from Huffington Post. Kathleen is not in the running for the Rush award.

"When insurance companies deny coverage to critically ill patients because of what they deem "pre-existing conditions," they sentence those people to misery and often death. And that has nothing to do with proposed health care reform. This travesty exists now. (This is also very operative in who gets life saving organ transplants. Maybe Sarah isn't aware of the fact that Downs syndrome automatically disqualifies her son from consideration for a heart transplant. Democrats had nothing to do with policies which mandate no heart transplants for Downs patients.)

When acutely and chronically ill people are unable to purchase medicine because of exorbitant prices, pharmaceutical death panels have spoken. And again, this has nothing to do with universal health care proposals. (It does have everything to do with the kind of unregulated capitalism Sarah is so fond of telling us is so good for us.)

When an infant is stillborn because of inadequate or nonexistent prenatal care, a cancer patient forgoes or is denied treatment because of costs, a family is forced to decide whose medical needs will be met -- whose postponed, don't tell me somewhere a death panel isn't at work.

Sarah Palin is supposedly worried that people are going to die if health care reform occurs. They're dying now! Right under our noses! (Maybe Sarah can't see under her nose because it's somewhere else.)

Instead of what could be, let's talk about what is. Instead of fiction, let's discuss reality. And instead of President Obama responding to wild attacks from fabricators as if deserving of reasoned responses, let's hear him describe the death panels we have now and how much worse it is going to get if only the lucky and the wealthy have health care.

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According to reports, the Secret Service is ramping up the security surrounding President Obama's town hall meeting in New Hampshire. Principally because of fears of vast numbers of out of state agitators. People I think of as professional tea partyers. Wow it's great to see "grass roots" democracy at work.

Kathleen Reardon is right though, PO and the democrats shouldn't be wasting time responding to fabrications and out right fear mongering. Not with reason anyway. That's wasted effort. It's time he presented his case to the vast majority of Americans who want health care reform and past time he ignored the professional tea partyers--who hardly represent the American majority anyway.

Sarah isn't the only one who can't see what's under her nose, and not the one in the running for a Rush award. Many are 'normal' tea partyers. I think here of a man of my acquaintance who thinks the sun rises and sets on Rush Limbaugh. It is not unusual to hear him go on about welfare and taxpayer support for illegal immigrants, immoral single mothers, fascist liberals and blah blah blah.

Under his nose, he cant' see that tax payers are paying for the juvenile criminal justice system which is now raising his addicted daughter, or that the tax payer funded educational system is providing the drugs and therapy needed by his son for his ADHD and subsequent acting out behavior. In his mind he's a go it alone kind of American guy. Why can't everybody suck it up and be like him and take care of their own? Why do people think the government needs to bail them out?

I can't help but wonder how many of the tea partyers are like my acquaintance. Folks who are taking all kinds of services from the government while deluding themselves that they are going it alone. People with their noses glued to Rush, whose own nose is glued to people higher up the revered rightwing ranks. Glued directly to the people who really want to force most of us to go it alone because it means way way more for them.

LCWR May Learn Their Fate From The IHM And Their Fate Under Cardinal Mcintyre

I have to admit I'm kind of at a loss to explain why the Vatican has taken such an interest in investigating US religious women and specifically the LCWR. On one hand the various diocesan bishops, Vatican Congregations and assorted USCCB committees have been at this process more or less non stop since Cardinal Mcintyre of Los Angeles went head to head with the Los Angeles Immaculate Heart of Mary Congregation back in the late 1960's. Some years it's just more of a hot war than other years. This must be a 'hot' year. Thankfully for me, the NCR has just posted a Ken Briggs piece which chronicles this long simmering stew of differences of opinion.

There's something about the IHM conflict though which struck me forcefully as having great relevance to what's happening now. After doing some research it became apparent that everything hurled at the IHM's in the 60's and 70's is still being hurled at nuns today. One can go back and read some of Cardinal Mcintyre's demands of the IHM and find the same demands of women religious today. Demands which seem to insist that religious women go back to medieval concepts of dress, behavior, community, submission to authority, regimented spiritual practices, and charisms restricted to teaching, nursing, and praying. Somehow, all the social change and upheaval since WWII--not to mention Vatican II itself--should have no effect women's religious vocations or how they are expressed.

In that sense the conflict between Cardinal Mcintyre and the IHM's was just the first battle in a war about what it means to be an adult religious woman in today's world. For all the good Cardinal Mcintrye accomplished for the Archdiocese of LA, he did demonstrate quite the blind spot to the idea of an 'adult' woman.

This particular blind spot did not work well with a congregation of women of whom over half had college degrees and many of that percentage had advanced college degrees. They weren't a bunch of stunted pre pubescent girls in habits. They were a bunch of highly educated adult professional educators in habits. Unfortunately for Cardinal Mcintyre, they also taught in 50 of his parochial elementary schools, 11 of his high schools, ran their own highly ranked college, as well as two hospitals and various other endeavors. Given such a high presence in his Archdiocese the outcome of this conflict, which resulted in the dissolution of the Congregation, was a disaster for his diocese.

Even though the IHM's were a pontifical congregation, and not a diocesan congregation, somehow the Vatican allowed Cardinal Mcintyre a great deal of latitude in his exercise of authority over the IHM's. In the end he essentially he gave the IHM's the choice of capitulation to all his demands including the rejection of their own charter for renewal, or dispensation from their vows. Faced with this choice, fifty returned to the old days, 136 chose dispensation from their vows, and 400 formed a non canonical religious community which still exists to this day. In the meantime the parochial school system in LA found themselves short some 300 or so teachers. How did it ever get to that end?

That depends on what you read and who you believe. One of the more 'interesting' accounts is that of Dr. William Coulson who takes credit for most of the mess. He, along with Carl Rogers, conducted a two year experiment with the IHM in 1965-67 in which sensitivity or T groups were used extensively as part of IHM formation and also as a core part of their teacher formation. According to Coulson this was an experimental project that had no real desired outcome except to see if group and individual techniques that worked well with neurotic clients would have any effect on normal people. As Coulson says in this article, the T group process was a product of the Navy's OSA and an outgrowth of the CIA's psychological warfare program of the fifties. Many of these same group techniques have been modified and used by current right wing religious cults, but apparently that's escaped Coulson's notice.

Coulson maintains the sensitivity sessions had a profound effect, but almost exclusively to the detriment of the women involved. They had no background from which to deal with the intensity of the experience. (Essentially he's saying they were not 'mature' enough, not 'properly grounded in their faith') Instead of enhancing their faith experience, it killed it because it opened them up to repressed sexual and emotional desires for which no firm pastoral guidance was given. They were left to decide on their own whether to act on their sexual proclivities, and once they acted, their faith died with the sexual expression.

In his scheme of things it seems faith in the God of Catholicism is connected to sexual repression. Remove the repression and there goes the Faith in the Catholic God. He actually may have a legitimate point here, but not for the reasons he gives. In any event he cites less than a half a dozen examples out of some 600 to support his theory that he and Carl Rogers killed the IHM's. Unfortunately, this view from one man, holds a great deal of sway amongst the conservative elements with in the Church. Which is why we hear so much about feminazi's, capitulation to the 'me' culture, and the infestation of New Age spirituality in these rebellious liberal orders.

For another view, the story as told by Sr. Anita Caspary, in her book "Witness to Integrity" is probably more enlightening. Sr. Caspary led the order at the time Cardinal Mcintyre took exception to their attempts at renewal. After reading the book I was struck with what an enormously difficult period this must have been for her and her order. They were caught between the Vatican mandate to renew themselves, and Mcintyre's insistence he determine their 'renewal' even though they weren't under his Canonical jurisdiction. The saddest part for me is when it becomes apparent to Sr. Caspary that their Vatican 'defender' has no desire to take on Mcintyre and the forces that supported him. Once this knowledge became common in the order, the mass exodus began. In the end it wasn't the too much 'sensitivity' of Carl Rogers that killed this order, it was the too much sensitivity for Mcintyre in the halls of the Vatican.

Nothing will change this time around. Those orders who followed the path laid out by the IHM in Los Angeles and adopted much of their renewal are most likely in serious of jeopardy of facing the same choice the IHM did. Only this time we won't be talking about an order of 600 and it won't have the devastating consequences for any particular diocese. It may be the Vatican has waited this long to investigate the LCWR because they learned their lesson with the IHM. They waited until the repercussions would be much less devastating and the pickings even more ripe.

The Message From The Cross Of San Damiano

Cross of San Damiano over the sanctuary in the Basilica of St. Francis in Santa Fe, NM.

Lots of stuff going on which has interrupted my ability to consistently maintain this blog. Hopefully, I'll be able to get more consistent after I get moved to New Mexico. My apologies for the lack of posts. Sometimes the best intentions get side tracked by events one doesn't expect and can't plan for.

I came across some information today which is related to the cross depicted with this post. This is the cross of San Damiano. For the last six or seven years I have worn this cross around my neck having no clue as to it's history and no real motivation to research it. For some reason I just liked this cross. It sort of spoke to me on some level, and even though it was sort of a large and heavy cross, I never participated in any spiritual ceremony without wearing it.

I first noticed this special connection here in Helena where I bought my original version. While in New Mexico I found a larger wall version in the Sanctuary at Chimayo, which I promptly bought and put on the kitchen wall in my New Mexico home. A couple of days later while touring the Basilica of St Francis in Santa Fe, I couldn't help but notice it was prominently displayed in the Cathedral above the Sanctuary. Now my curiosity was getting peaked. Finally today I looked up this history of this cross. Nothing that happens to me along these lines is truly coincidental. There's always a message.

It is the cross from which Jesus spoke to St Francis and gave St. Francis his mission. The recorded words of this mission were: "Go and save my church, which as you see is falling completely in ruin." Francis originally took this message quite literally and rebuilt the Church of San Damiano--which was literally in ruins. Later he began to see that Jesus might have had a little larger meaning concerning what exactly was in ruins and so Francis went on to attempt to fix that ruin by building the Franciscans, and with his friend Clare, the Poor Clares for women. They were two religious groups dedicated to radical charity, poverty, and humility. Three virtues which were sadly lacking in the greater institutional church.

Interestingly, it was St. Clare who saved the original crucifix from the church of San Damiano and that original resides in the Chapel of San Giorgio in the Basilica of St Clare of Assisi, in Italy. It is felt by scholars that the original was painted in the late 1100's and was in poor shape by the time St. Francis had his mystical encounter with it. It was restored and put on display in the Chapel of St. Giorgio in 1957. For the entire history and symbolism of the Cross of San Damiano try this link . It's worth reading.

I've found on the spiritual path that sometimes you just get attracted to certain things and don't actually think much about the whys of the attraction. I've also found out that sometimes this happens because you may not be quite ready for any of the whys and it's best just to enjoy the attraction. Kind of like St Francis got attracted to rebuilding San Damiano before he finally realized it was a much much bigger mission, this rebuilding of a church in ruins.

I think some of us are being recalled to the same seemingly endless mission--rebuilding a church in ruins. Sometimes institutions or cultures are brought back to same energy because the same mistakes have been repeated. Changing the outcome necessitates a radical approach to the situation. St Francis' approach was a very radical witness. No less is called for now.

This time the call is not just towards charity, but towards justice and charity. Justice is the harder part and that will take a radical reformation of the very heart of the Church, because it's this lack of any sense of real justice with in the Institution which has brought Catholicism to it's current state.

The Church can no longer insist on obedience to cover it's internal lack of justice. The multiple abuse crisis's have shown just how lacking the sense of justice is in the clerical institution. As has the replacement of pastoral bishops with conservative obedience oriented bishops and the extension of this trend with the investigation of the LCWR. Lack of justice towards it's own people of God can not be covered over with strident cries for obedience. That can't continue.

The message of the Cross of San Damiano still resonates with clarity, even after all this time.

Technical Problems And Random Thoughts

Petroglyph depicting the Sacred Heart at Puye ruins. Circa 1600 or so. Has nothing to do with following article, but everything to do with yesterday's.

Yesterday I wrote that I would be writing more on the notion of love as a quantum force. I will get to that, but today I spent some of the morning talking with my friendly Verizon broad band tech about the fact my Internet card was causing me no end of problems. Such as most of the time I couldn't connect as I was suddenly unauthorized, and if I did connect it was slower than dial up and kicked me off after eight or so minutes. One can't get much done under those circumstances. Since I needed to do some research, which I didn't get done, I will be writing on the love topic tomorrow. The good news is my Internet card now works like it is supposed to and I can get to the research tomorrow. Unfortunately it took too long and I have places to go and people to see the rest of this day.

For those of you who might still want a little brain food, I encourage you to check out the NCR article on the visitations being conducted for American women's religious communities. The commentary is very interesting. It seems love does not play a part in how people are perceiving these visitations. One can only hope the sisters themselves take the visitations in a better spirit than some of us laity.

My own personal take is that the Vatican is trying to shore up the authority of the USCCB by undercutting the authority and mission of women they see as competitors for the authentic voice of the church in the US. If that's the case, these visitations are probably way too late and will backfire badly. One can not regain lost credibility by needlessly attacking the credibility of others.

Bill Lyndsey also has article that is well worth reading on the uber right wing Catholic Eric Prince. Prince is the genius behind the security company Blackwater and made millions off the Iraq war before congress stepped in. The article is chilling in it's implications. It is not about the quantum power of love. It is all about the ego power of supremacy. Until tomorrow.

Two Views Of Quantum Reality And Another View Of Caritas En Veritate

Wood carving of The Sacred Heart at the Sanctuary of Chimayo. It contains an important message about the nature of quantum reality for the scientists of Los Alamos. Note the tile pictograph at the top of the carving.

The following is an NCR editorial by Father Tissa Balasuriya dealing with Pope Benedict's recent encyclical Caritas en Veritate. It has been edited for length. The entire editorial can be accessed here.

This encyclical is a valuable document, but has some missing dimensions. It does not analyse the way the modern world has been set up as an association of Christians with governments and colonial powers, especially from 1492 to 1945. The pope seems to overlook the inadequacies of the church in the course of history.

The Catholic church, it needs to be recalled, was closely associated with the invasion of the lands of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and Oceania. In addition to plundering the riches of these lands, the Western invaders virtually exterminated almost the whole of these people in North America. It is estimated that there were 80 million Native Americans in these lands in 1492, but by 1600 their numbers had been reduced to one million due to wars and diseases brought by the invaders.

The map of the modern world was made mainly by European (colonial) expansion which was by invasion and capture of weaker peoples territories, by expelling the natives further into the interior, by their murder and virtual extermination, by wars among colonial powers, and even by purchase of vast areas of land from colonisers, usually after their conflicts......

This is what passes for the present world order, legitimized by the United Nations, set up with their national borders as inviolable. It consolidates centuries of European victories, pillage, colonization, exploitation, and marginalization of other peoples. The structural adjustment policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank do not call for structural improvements in relation to population and land. Only factors such as capital, resources and technology are considered mobile in the so called "free market" and "free world". The present distribution of land among the peoples is taken as legal and unchangeable, except with their consent.

The church needs to analyse how the message of love of God and neighbor revealed by Jesus Christ seems to have been gravely distorted during many centuries until the Second Vatican Council in 1962-1965. Further, has not the truth of history been so overlooked by Christians and the church to forget the harm they have done to other peoples, other religions and nature itself during nearly a millennium? We can all profit by reflecting on the hundred and more apologies of the Pope John Paul II to the groups thus offended.

Pope John Paul did not, however, take these apologies to their practical consequences of a good and integral confession and penance including: to assess the extent of the damage, reparation, compensation, firm purpose of amendment, avoiding occasions of sin. The tone of the encyclical would be less self justifying and more self purifying if it would undertake a good analysis of these historical realities, seeing also the neo-colonial re-domination of the world by the super powers and their multinationals. Can not the universities, seminaries and research institutes of Christians and civil society help us all in seeking the truth and action of justice and charity to build a better world as the pope desires? (I see this neo colonization as more of one of multinationals and their super power lackeys. Multinationals have no national allegiances.)

The church would have much to learn and gain from a serious dialogue on these issues with activists and scholars of other faiths and cultures, who have a not so pleasant experience and memory of powerful Christian powers during the past five centuries. As the pope mentions, the human community can get together to build a civilization of love and truth in this century, which commenced with a “war against terror” since March 2003.

In his inauguration homily, Pope Benedict XVI said: “My real program of governance is not to do my own will, not to pursue my own ideas, but to listen with the whole church, to the word and the will of the Lord, to be guided by Him, so that He himself will lead the church at this hour of our history.”

This reflection shows that the Catholic church has had to correct herself on several issues during the course of the centuries. Some issues include the claim that the Catholic church is the sole possessor of the truth about God, ignoring that the Spirit of God is present to all persons, cultures and historical events and processes and unique and necessary path to human salvation. (The presence of God is the foundation on which all creation is built. One can be ignorant to God's presence in their life, but God is still there.)

The church has shown it could:

--marginalize women in church and society and exclude them from decision making.
--use violence as a means of spreading the faith,
--adopt authoritarian ways to suppress dissent on doctrines.
--tolerate and even encourage colonial imperialist policies and profit from them.
--teach that the way to human salvation depends on amends made to God the Father for the sins of humanity by Jesus Christ by his death on the cross.

This view has overlooked the social mission of Jesus in working for the liberation of the poor and oppressed. The church accordingly stressed works of charity but neglected action for social justice and the reform of the social structures within countries and the world at large. (I would go further and state that the Church actively used personal acts of charity as a means of undermining any real social justice reform specifically to support the colonial powers.)

On this basis Christian spirituality encouraged humble acceptance of domination by others, as a way of discipleship of Jesus who accepted suffering even unto death on the cross. This is said, to make amends to the Father for the sins of humanity. Due to this perspective, the spiritual life was interpreted more as a flight from the world rather than as a commitment to realise the kingdom of God on earth.

During 15 centuries, until recently, the accent in Christian spirituality was more on charity and works of mercy rather than social justice. There was no insistence on the need of reforming the unjust world order which Christians helped to set up. Thus, even at the beginning of the 21st century, Euro-Americans, controlling most of the land and resources of the world, are forgetful of the core teaching of Jesus on sharing with the needy.

In the process the Catholic liturgy was made more a ritual than an expression and experience of the love of God and neighbor. Thousands of Holy Masses can be celebrated in a country without much serious reflection on and impact on social justice in a world of great inequalities and armed conflicts. Prayer and meditation can be, de facto, indifferent to unjust social realities and to gross violations of human rights. (And they can be purposefully taught so that they in fact support gross violations of human rights and leave people stagnant and ineffectual in their spiritual life.)

It would be beneficial if pluralist groups would dialogue on these issues for our common good.

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One didn't have to look hard to see the effects of 500 years of Euro-American rule on the indigenous population of the Southwest. The city of Santa Fe and the communities surrounding Santa Fe show the effect. I couldn't begin to afford living in Santa Fe, but twenty miles out of the city it's a different story--a different world.

Santa Fe seems to revolve around wealthy international tourists and the professional population of Los Alamos. It was mind boggling to meander down the Old Santa Fe Plaza and see the unbelievable mark up on Native art and all the outlets for some of the more expensive stores one would find on Rodeo drive in Los Angeles. It didn't take long to figure out I was not one of the elite Old Santa Fe exists to serve. Santa Fe serves the rich scientific modern world in the way that Chimayo serves the poor spiritual old world.

The ironic thing for me is that both the Catholic spirituality of Chimayo and the Indigenous spirituality of the Navajo and Pueblo tribes co exist with the cutting edge science of Los Alamos. In my scheme of things both world views deal with quantum reality and their respective effects on Newtonian reality. I guess it's not surprising these two world views are in the same area, with Santa Fe in the middle, benefiting and profiting from the adherents of both mind sets.

What I have called spiritual technology works from the quantum level to further the common good and is always holistic, balanced, and healing. It is based in unconditional love, as love is a real force in the quantum world. See these previous postings.

Man's technology is often beyond man's capacity to predict the full consequences of it's use. It all too frequently does not result in balance and holistic integration. The consequences of it's use throw cultures and societies completely out of balance, resulting in little that resembles healing.

On that note it was interesting to see that many of the exhibits at the Bradbury Museum in Los Alamos stressed that one use of the discussed weapons technology was medicinal. With out their nuclear and computer research there would be no CAT or PET scans, no use of radioactive isotopes in diagnosing and treating cancer. Without research into bio weapons there would be no human genome project and fewer break throughs in vaccine technologies and delivery systems. Very little of the modern medicine we all know and love (and most of us can't afford) wouldn't exist without the weapons related research of the scientists of Los Alamos.

Los Alamos is worth the trip. The Bradbury museum is really well done. The exhibits extolling the scientific progress made at Los Alamos are informative while mostly devoid of any mention of the negative impact the created technologies have had on the world. It is never the less, a mind boggling experience.

The exhibit on the progression in computer technology starts with the slide rule and ends with the latest super computer. That's a progression in data processing speed of a half a bit per second to three trillion bits per second. My daughter was floored to think that a lot of this progression happened in my life time. She came away with a much better appreciation of the amount of change society has undergone since World War II.

For people in Pope Benedict's age bracket, whose lives have experienced one endless technological revolution after another, this has been especially theologically challenging. Catholic leaders like Benedict grew up with a ritualized formal spirituality which, as Fr. Balasuriya points out, was specifically designed to be a spiritual flight from the world, not an active participant in the world. This has not only resulted in a lack of real social justice, but in a theology which has allowed the Western scientific community to define reality on their terms. Western science does not have the whole truth. It isn't close to having the real truth.

A more complete world view must also contain the truth about the quantum force Jesus called love. This truth is not part of the Western scientific model. It was the truth Jesus came to teach. It is the truth which is timeless and limitless and the one where western Christianity has seriously dropped the ball. The consequences of that fumble now threaten the entire world. Love has no place in our quantum calculations when it should have first place.

More on this tomorrow.