The Cardinals Chirp About The Judge

JUDGE VAUGHN --WALKER GOT IT WRONG

Personal Blog of Cardinal Mahoney of The Archdiocese of Los Angeles - 8-4-2010

Today it was announced that U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn R. Walker has ruled that Proposition 8 which was enacted by the People of California is unconstitutional. His decision fails to deal with the basic, underlying issue--rather he focused solely upon individual testimony on how Prop 8 affected them personally. Wrong focus. (No actually Judge Walker focused on the lame and inventifacted arguments of your side.)

There is only one issue before each of us Californians: Is Marriage of Divine or of Human Origin?
(A secular judge does not decide matters of theology and faith, but matters of secular constitutional law. Catholicism is still free to discriminate in it's sacramental interpretation.)

Judge Walker pays no attention to this fundamental issue, and relies solely upon how Prop 8 made certain members of society "feel" about themselves.

Those of us who supported Prop 8 and worked for its passage did so for one reason: We truly believe that Marriage was instituted by God for the specific purpose of carrying out God's plan for the world and human society. Period. (I doubt this is even remotely true.  You did it because it fit your political and theocratic agenda.  If you were actually defending 'god's' plan, you'd be advocating for male polygamy and the status of women and children as chattel property.)

Every single religious faith community in our known history has held this belief since recorded history began. Every indigenous group discovered down through history also understood this belief about marriage, and carried out cultural and religious practices to sustain that belief. Marriage is of divine origin, and that belief is embedded deeply into the heart and spirit of human beings--also described as the natural law for the human family. (Total inventifact.)

Judge Walker assumes that the institution of marriage is of human and civil origin, and therefore, that "marriage" can mean anything any person wishes to ascribe to the institution. Wrong. (No, Judge Walker was correct.)

The union of a man and of a woman in a life-long loving and caring relationship is of divine origin. No human nor civil power can decree or declare otherwise.

It is too bad that Judge Walker chose to listen to anguished voices about their perception of marriage rather than plumb the depths of the origin of this divinely inspired institution. (Actually, I think he did plumb the depths and discovered you are totally inventifacting.  Oh and by the way, most of the anguished voices were those advocating for prop 8 and those he did ignore.)

For many of us, we will continue to believe that God is the origin of marriage, and we will follow God's constant revelation to that effect.

We in the Roman Catholic Community are totally "pro-marriage" and "pro-family" precisely in the understanding God gave when the first human beings received the breath of God's spirit.


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Poor Roger, now he's down to looking silly.  His only two rebuttals are Judge Walker did not take God into his decision and he based it on the 'anguished' emotional testimony of a few gay couples.  I suspected the proponents of Prop 8 were going to have some trouble rebutting the points Judge Walker made, but really, this is so lame.  It almost makes me wonder if Mahoney produced this lame rebuttal on purpose, sort of going through the motions because he's expected to go through the motions.  Pretty much like someone who knows the bridge game is lost, but has to play every last card until there are no more.

The Prop 8 crowd ran pretty well playing the trump card of gay marriage 'hurting' straight marriage and family life, but when that canard was trumped by the facts, there aren't many arguments or cards left to play.  I guess God becomes the wild card in this scenario, the deus ex machina of solutions.  It's too bad constitutional law is not based on theology.  I exactly precludes playing someones definition of 'what god wants' as an argument.

Cardinal George, in the USCCB rebuttal, played the 'what the people want' card.  That's a pretty weak card because two years after Prop 8, polls show a slight majority of Californians now in favor of gay marriage.  It appears that change is fueled by a change in the attitudes of Hispanic Catholics.  Maybe they are remembering what happened to their indigenous ancestors when a theocratic state trampled all over their culture in the name 'of what god wants'.  

As an Anglo Catholic maybe Cardinal Mahoney forgets that Our Lady of Guadalupe presented herself as a pregnant single mother, not a married matriarch.  The message was as much about the importance of children as the future of humanity, not heterosexual marriage.  The standard family model in indigenous culture was not one man/one woman,  but extended families of grand parents and aunts and uncles and cousins and even adopted family members.  It took the tribe to raise a child and there were good reasons for that.  One of the most important reasons was to teach the child the importance of seeing themselves as part of an inter dependent community, not an isolated individual. 

It is the western notion of nuclear family that conveys the message of isolated individuality.  When that nuclear family implodes, as it does over half the time, the isolation experienced by the children of that mini tribe escalates enormously.  When this last ditch attempt to promote the nuclear family is finally spent, I sincerely hope we take a serious look at the whole notion of the nuclear family. We might just find that when it comes to raising our future generations it's not a very good idea at all---except for the global economic system which absolutely needs a work force unencumbered by attachments which hamper employee mobility. 

If we actually took a real look at the nuclear family we might find it has sacrificed the whole notion of the good of the family and it's children for the sake of the good of the corporate economy.  We might find this very recent understanding of the 'healthy' nuclear family has actually sacrificed God's design for that of Mammon's design.  Perhaps this whole crusade against gay marriage is actually designed to stop society from embarking on that kind of analysis.

The Judge Decides In California's Prop 8 Case

Judge Vaughn Walker of the 9th District Court struck down California's Proposition 8 which constitutionally banned gay marriage in California on grounds of due process and equal protection.  It was instantly appealed to 9th Circuit Appeals Court and will probably wind up in the Supreme Court.  What I loved about his opinion is he makes some critical observations which Maggie Gallagher and her NOM cohorts are going to have trouble re inventing.  The following is from the Huffington Post coverage.

In deciding the case, Walker offered a variety of findings that may be as important as the ruling itself. Among them were the following:

•"Sexual orientation is commonly discussed as a characteristic of the individual. Sexual orientation is fundamental to a person's identity and is a distinguishing characteristic that defines gays and lesbians as a discrete group. Proponents' assertion that sexual orientation cannot be defined is contrary to the weight of the evidence."

•"Individuals do not generally choose their sexual orientation. No credible evidence supports a finding that an individual may, through conscious decision, therapeutic intervention or any other method, change his or her sexual orientation."

•"Same-sex couples are identical to opposite-sex couples in the characteristics relevant to the ability to form successful marital unions. Like opposite-sex couples, same-sex couples have happy, satisfying relationships and form deep emotional bonds and strong commitments to their partners. Standardized measures of relationship satisfaction, relationship adjustment and love do not differ depending on whether a couple is same-sex or opposite-sex."

•"Marrying a person of the opposite sex is an unrealistic option for gay and lesbian individuals."

•"Same-sex couples receive the same tangible and intangible benefits from marriage that opposite-sex couples receive."

•"The availability of domestic partnership does not provide gays and lesbians with a status equivalent to marriage because the cultural meaning of marriage and its associated benefits are intentionally withheld from same-sex couples in domestic partnerships."

•"Permitting same-sex couples to marry will not affect the number of opposite-sex couples who marry, divorce, cohabit, have children outside of marriage or otherwise affect the stability of opposite-sex marriages."

Judge Walker more or less hit all the bogus arguments, while leaving God totally out of it, which is as it should be in a secular society.  I bet the NOM bus is not rolling merrily along tonight.  I bet the drinks flow for different reasons at the K of C convention.  I bet there will be celebrations across the land for gay couples and their families and somewhere a very depressed young gay teen may suddenly have a glimmer of hope.

Just a quick note to let readers know there is a new post on the personal journey page.  For whatever reason I can't add a comment function on additional pages.  Commenting is reserved to the home page.  So I will let you know about new posts on the home page as I post them.  That will allow for commenting.

Archbishop Wuerl Encourages K of C To Be 'Their Brothers Keeper'

Archbishop Donald Wuerl has probably done enough of this to earn his red hat.

The Knights of Columbus are in the midst of their International Convention in Washington DC.  Archbishop Donald Wuerl gave the sermon at the opening Mass held in DC's Basilica Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  Wuerl stresses the Kof C role in Benedict's New Evangelization with the idea that the Knights are their brother's keeper.  The following short excerpt is from the end of the homily as reported by CNA:

Turning back to the contemporary culture, Archbishop Wuerl said, “Our mission as Jesus’ witnesses takes place in a world profoundly in need of a New Evangelization. The threads of an encounter with the living Lord and the love that he brings into this world need to be woven once again into the fabric of our culture, of our society, our nation and our world. This, Christ and his Church entrust to us today.”

“We are our brother's keeper! in wild contradiction to all the other lifestyles, options and opinions, we are to be champions of the New Evangelization … to be a living, effective sign of the Risen Christ in this highly secular world, in which we are still called to ‘walk on the water’,” knowing that Jesus “is there saying ‘don’t be afraid, don’t doubt’.”

I read this article and I couldn't help but wonder in what sense Archbishop Wuerl was using the phrase 'brother's keeper'.  The recent history of the Kof C under Carl Anderson would tend to make one think that being one's brother's keeper is taken pretty literally, and not in the charitable sense, but in the political sense.

The Kof C has been a major player and contributor in the culture wars, especially in generous funding for the anti gay marriage crusade.  The whole idea in this campaign is to keep some of their brothers from enjoying certain benefits accorded other of their brothers.  It seems to me the Kof C has gone from being a  selfless group working local charity projects with little fan fare, to something entirely different.  It now functions as more of a political PAC on the national and local level.  If that's to be the definition and modus operandi of the New Evangelization, I don't expect to be seeing Carl Anderson walking on water any time soon.

As to Archbishop Wuerl's ability to be his brothers keeper, apparently he takes this quite literally as his 'brothers' keeper and does not extend this to his 'sisters'. 

It is really difficult for me to write about ecclesiastical leaders like Donald Wuerl.  There were eight Cardinals at this Mass and there has never been any question in my mind that Donald has been working his tail off for his entire career to sit along side them as an equal.  After all, Wuerl has been at the center of a great deal of high level Church politicking.  As the personal secretary of Pittsburgh's wheel chair bound Cardinal Wright, Wuerl was one of three non cardinals to be present for the conclave which elected John Paul II.  From here he proceeded to accept the assignment as Auxiliary Bishop of Seattle in the Vatican's attempt to undercut and embarrass Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen.  In this capacity, Wuerl was not exactly successful, but he was still rewarded with the Archdiocese of Pittsburgh and appointment as Chaplain to the US branch of the Knights of Malta.  He has now moved up to Washington DC and added the Knights of Columbus. I'm sure the red hat is soon to follow, at which time he will probably also be made chaplain to the Knights of the CIA.

An honest in depth study of the career of this man would probably give us a great deal of insight as to what exactly goes on in the minds and methods of the Vatican.  We'll never get such a study though, because the one thing the Vatican is really good at is being 'their brothers keeper'.

A Must Read

Are these nuns or nurses or both?  If the Church is looking for a very similar example of poor cognition, the male medical model should be eerily familiar.

The National Catholic Reporter has just posted an article by Fran Ferder and John Heagle in which they analyse the thinking of clergy sexual abusers.  For those who wish to try to understand how the Vatican can make some of the statements they do, this article is a must read.  I have excerpted the heart of their analysis.  This link will take you to the full article.

We have conducted psychological evaluations of dozens of clergy sex abusers over the past 25 years, becoming familiar with their style of cognitive processing. Similar to sex offenders in general, they typically deny responsibility, minimize the seriousness of their offenses, blame their victims, react with outrage when accused and redirect attention away from their behavior. They are self-centered and often exhibit a sense of grandiosity -- a belief that they are above accountability. If this sounds familiar, it is because we have repeatedly -- and sadly -- been seeing it in the responses of church officials from the cathedrals of the United States to the basilicas of Rome.


A mentality is a way of thinking, a deeply ingrained pattern of perceiving, reasoning and decision-making. A sex-offender mentality is one that prompts defensive, self-serving, deceptive and blaming responses when faced with credible accusations of sexual crime. Unaware of their abnormal processing, sex offenders display a blindness that is central to the problem.

Even more disconcerting, however, is that characteristics observed in the mentality of individual offenders can also be present in systems and institutions. The similarity in cognitive processing between actual offenders and the system that seeks to shield itself from their offenses is often chilling:

•“Holy Father, the people of God are with you and will not let themselves be influenced by the petty gossip of the moment” (Cardinal Angelo Sodano, former Vatican secretary of state, Easter 2010, St. Peter’s Square).

•“Pupils told me on concert trips about what went on. But it didn’t dawn on me from their stories that I should do something” (Fr. Georg Ratzinger, brother of Pope Benedict XVI, BBC, March 29).

•Only 300 of about 3,000 sexual abuse cases spanning 50 years involved allegations of “genuine pedophilia” (Scicluna, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s promoter of justice, March 13).

•“All we ask is that it be fair and that the Catholic church not be singled out for a horror that has cursed every culture, religion, organization, institution, school, agency and family in the world” (Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, March 28).

•And the latest -- the attempted ordination of women is a grave crime that ought to be treated with the same severity as the sexual abuse of a child.

These and similar statements illustrate a mentality whereby the characteristic way of thinking of sex offenders has found its way into the collective psychic structure of an institution. The same “default” setting in the brain that triggers distorted mental processing prompts members of an entire group to think and respond in much the same way that sex offenders do. This “group think” inadvertently offers protection to actual sex offenders, and may have attracted them to the institution in the first place.

Let us be clear: We are not suggesting that church leaders are sex offenders. But we must name a tragic reality: Many of them think or respond the way sex offenders do when confronted with clergy sex abuse and its cover-up: They deny, defend and blame. They minimize and cover up. They become outraged when their abysmal handling of abuse cases is exposed. Most egregious of all, they display appalling deficits in empathy for victims: They turn to categorizing crimes when all people want is a heartfelt pastoral response from their leaders.......

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The process of cognition described here is certainly not limited to the clerical system of the Catholic church.  It can be seen in the medical profession when doctors think of patients first as a collection of symptoms rather than real live people.  For some doctors, it's been the nurses job to take care of the 'people' needs.  Thankfully this pattern of cognition is being addressed in medical schools.

But the medical field is another good example of a systemic patriarchal culture which has had the same cognitive issues the Vatican and clerical culture now present.  This can be seen historically as well, as the upswing in medicine as an exclusive province of males is happening at the same time the witch Inquisition is going full bore in Europe.  The suppression of female herbalists, midwives, and village healers can be seen as a necessary component in furthering the advancement of the scientific academic approach to medicine. Some would say this period of history represents the ascendant of the rational ordered left hemispheric world view over the emotional irrational and unprovable right hemispheric world view.  One mode of cognition is the purview of the male mind, and the other is the purview of the female mind.  The justification of the one over the other is the notion of 'complimentarity'.

One of the really fun things about experiencing the Native American world view is that both the spiritual and the medicinal is embodied in the same person. Although there are some distinctions with in the concept of medicine person, a holy person incorporates the practice of 'doctoring' as one of their gifts for the community.  On the other hand, a medicine person need not be consider a holy person.  For Native Holy People exposed to Christianity,  such as Black Elk, Jesus as a Holy Person is considered the epitome of both spiritual person and medicine person.

I just think it's most fascinating that the spiritual and medicinal practices as espoused in Western thinking, have in the past, and are now,  faced with the necessity's of trying to restore a gender and cognition balance to both fields of endeavor.

These are also both historically 'service' vocations, and both, under patriarchal domination have become paths to status and power with in Western culture. This accumulated wealth and status has too frequently come at the cost of exploitation rather than service.  We need to restore the balance, because we literally can not afford the status quo.

What IS Going On With The Neocons?

I've always like Lord of the Rings because there are many stories with many morals.  The tale of the betrayal of Suraman the White never seems to make the list of good Catholic neo con morality tales.  I wonder why that is?

Frank Cocozzeli asks a very interesting question in his most recent post for Talk2Action and Open Tabernacle. What is going on with the neo cons?  If readers have recently had the chance to check out Deal Hudson's Inside Catholic.com  they will find a new, snazzier format.  This week readers will also find two interesting articles which have almost nothing to do with conservative pro life politics, but a whole lot to do with spiritual fear/warfare and medieval penitential practices. 

Hudson's current article is entitled "Pro Life Leader Who Is Also An Exorcist."  I have to give Hudson some credit, he at least gets the pro life connection in the title.  I am also left with the impression that Hudson and Fr. Euteneur, who the article is about, would like their readership to connect pro life politics with spiritual warfare.  This is the exact connection made by the New Apostolic Reformation.  In this scenario pro life politics is really a Spiritual War between true believing Jesus folks and Satan and all his legions.  Satan's side is represented in politics by pro choicers and gay marriage supporters--amongst a host of 'other' others.  So it should come as no surprise that in this same issue there is also an article which gives strategies with which to deal with gay marriage supporters, along with the one advocating self whipping. 

What I found to be the most interesting part of the gay marriage article was point number two in which the author concedes that the divorce and adultery rate in heterosexual marriage is a counter witness in the defense of heterosexual marriage.  The author, Eric Pavlat then states: 

None of the damage done to marriage and families -- whether by contraception, divorce, porn, affairs, the hook-up culture, or artificial fertilization -- was inflicted by homosexuals. Only by acknowledging this fact -- and stating your opposition to these things -- can you show consistent support for the institution of marriage."

I find this gutsy on Pavlat's part because he is stating that to acknowledge these facts one must also agree with the Church's position on birth control.  I'm not sure most of my conservative friends are prepared to accept that at face value. I'm not sure my gay friends would agree with the statement that gays didn't add to the divorce rate.  Estimates are that 3-5 million gay men and women in the United States have made an honest attempt to do what the Church demands and enter into heterosexual marriages and produce children. What's even more disturbing about this, but not necessarily surprising, is that the largest percentage of these failed marriages come from the Red States.  So does this mean that the position of the Catholic Church and the other Culture Warriors  on gays and gay marriage is adding to the divorce rate?  3-5 million is a lot of failure, but since it doesn't fit in the apologetics, I guess it's best to leave this little fact out.

I don't even know where to begin with Hudson's article.  First it's an advertisement for Fr. Eutenuer's recently released book on his career as an exorcist.  Since Rome's most famous exorcist has done pretty well with his autobiography I suppose it's not surprising that one of EWTN's celebrity talking heads should take advantage of an apparent market.  Nothing like striking while the pitch fork is hot.

This is the paragraph that really got me:  Exorcism and the Church Militant is intended, in part, as a warning to parents who allow their children to be desensitized to "the dark world" by books and films like the Harry Potter series and the vampire books of Stephanie Meyer. Father Euteneuer told me possession is almost always a result of someone getting involved in some sort of occult practices, such as witchcraft, Wicca, tarot cards, and Ouiji boards.

Fr. Euteneuer is either hopelessly naive or an outright opportunist.  Mental health professionals who have worked in this field feel early childhood abuse, especially sexual abuse, has far more to do with this than Harry Potter and tarot cards.  Drug and alcohol addiction also are significant contributors to the ego disassociation exhibited by the 'possession' phenomenon.  It's not hard to think of a reason or two for Fr. Euteneuer to fail to mention early childhood sexual abuse.

It seems to me that Deal Hudson and Fr. Euteneuer should reflect on a lesson from JRR Tolkein in the Lord of the Rings.  The one about dwarves and delving to deeply in the mines of Moria.  That's the story where the dwarves dug too deeply and unleased an evil that overcame them.  Fr. Eutenuer especially should meditate on this story as I don't think he qualifies for the part of Gandalf.

The Never Ending Story Continues

This is another one of Fr. Dan Hillen's stained glass pieces.  Unfortunately it was destroyed in a car wreck, but it does ask a most pertinent question.  Perhaps the only question that really counts and the one which fuels my own personal journey with Catholicism.

The sudden appearance of orbs in my photographs only appeared sudden at the time because I was oblivious to all the prior preparation.  I had overlooked all the other times in the past when I had been a fish swimming merrily along, had been hooked, but managed to wiggle off the hook.  No,  it would be more accurate to say I actually was hooked, but the fisherman at the other end of the line knew how to play his fish.  I was always given enough slack to to think I wasn't hooked, and then gently reeled in until I was given a pretty good yank.  When I kept fighting, out would come the slack.  Thinking I was free again I couldn't see I was actually following a boat that was trolling ever so slowly and determining the path.  All I did was make the choice to stay in the wake of the boat where I found the swimming was easier.

What I also couldn't see, is that coming down that fishing line and through that hook was a ton of information. This was information I really had no logical reason to have known but it was always very accurate. For most of my life this kind of information was practical, not the least bit spiritual.  Sometimes it was about future events, but given in risk assessment terms.  Then an event would happen that exactly matched the risk assessment and everyone of us, including me, would start to wonder---about me.  Was I really that prescient, that lucky, or was it something else entirely?

The year before the orbs started appearing, I was given a task through the fishing line.  I was to attend daily Mass for an entire year.  This didn't seem strange to me because it mirrored a previous request. When I was twelve I was given a similar message and time frame.  My family had just moved to the ranch from Detroit, and our foreman told me if I really wanted to become a true horseman I should ride bareback for an entire year.  Being the awestruck obedient kid I was I didn't question this at all. I accomplished the task and in the process I discovered that a rider kept their balance by becoming 'one with the horse', establishing a live connection.  Interestingly enough, that connection got so strong, I could ride a horse with only a halter.  I didn't need the 'hook' of a bit.  Even after this formative year, I rarely rode with a saddle, or if I did, it was a saddle pad.  I never used a bridle with a bit.  At most it would be a modified hackamore.  Even back then my actions mirrored the way I myself was being reeled in.  I would even say stuff like "I mostly let them have their head until I have to remind them we are going to go where we need to go."  Ha ha ha ha.

The advent of the orbs also ushered in the advent of a number of very powerful relationships.  These relationships would be instrumental in opening doors into my own consciousness and the Native world.  Dianna introduced me to the Monroe Institute and the world of shamanic consciousness.  Dianna was also the person who introduced me to the orb phenomenon.  Raylene was the first to begin explaining the Native world view and help me understand that world view was all encompassing.  A person who practiced Native spirituality lived it 24/7.  It wasn't an hour a week phenomenon, or as in my case, an hour a day phenomenon. Natives didn't compartmentalize spirituality such that special times for communication were set aside.  In the Native world view this communication could happen anywhere at any time and you had to be alert for it.  Native ceremonies were times when Natives created a sacred space in which the Spirit world could interact in this world.  For instance a sweat lodge was it's own separate reality in which both ancestors/Holy Ones and humans could interact in each other's reality. 

Once I began to kind of understand some of this, along comes Deb who singled out Dianna and I for another level of teaching, and another part of the path.  It took Dianna and I quite awhile to figure out Deb actually saw orbs where as we could only photograph them.  Part of Deb's interaction with us was to introduce us to some of her Elder teachers. These truly spiritual and gifted men thought it was hysterical that whites had to use technology to 'see' what they saw with their own eyes.  They also took it as a sign that confirmed them in their own dreams.  It was time to teach all races and nations their particular keys to the kingdom.......



Future installments for this story will be posted on a separate page from the home page.  Readers will be able to access the page from the top of the side bar--right above the donate button.

The story continues.....

My own path in Catholicism changed dramatically when I made one heart felt prayer in utter frustration.  Not terribly surprising I suppose but it came in the Spring of 2003, when I was up to my ears in the clerical abuse scandal.  I had been teaching high school CCD, was on another diocesan board and was a daily communicant.  As time went on I kept slamming into the understanding that with most of my fellow Catholics, even though I engaged in the same kind of service, and the same sacramental practices, I was not operating from the same mind set.  If I had to try to explain this I guess I would say I was moving towards something--I didn't really know what--and others around me seemed to be at ease and comforted by what they had.  In view of the abuse scandal I had no patience with this attitude at all.  My lack of patience wasn't helped any by the fact I was privy to too much information about our own diocese.

I tried to tell myself that maybe they had found their vocation and I was still searching, or somehow the answers coming from the hierarchy worked for them and for some personal reason those answers were not enough for me.  Except on a profound level I could feel things shifting in my relationship with Catholicism.  Not with Jesus, but with Catholicism.  There was something about Catholicism that was seriously out of whack.  So in utter frustration, I demanded to know where I was supposed to go with this Catholic spirituality thing of mine.  What good was it,  if all it did was mess with my mind and heart.
With in days my life started to get more interesting and much more challenging, but in a good way. I also saw if I was ever to get where I was going, I wasn't going to be given a map.  Of if I did get one, it was going to be mostly blank except for a little bit around the spot where I was at any given moment in place and time.  I had to trust, to have faith, that there was a higher guiding intelligence behind me and that no matter how weird it would get, it was as it was meant to be.  I felt an overwhelming sense of peace with that and so I gave consent. The "Thy will be done kind of thing".   I wish I had a dollar for everytime from then on I would look at myself in the mirror and think "You are an idiot."

I understood that I was going on an extended pilgrimage of sorts in which I would experience how things used to be and how Jesus intended them.  From this I was to begin a process of understanding where mankind might need to go.  The first concrete sign things were changing showed up in my photography.  All of a sudden I was getting orbs in a third of my shots.  My profile photo is one of the very first I ever took, and it's also one of the clearest.  That particular photo was a shot of a stained glass window depicting St Helena finding the true cross. It later dawned on me that this first photo might have been a metaphorical message of what this pilgrimage of mine was all about.  Me being me,  I'm not looking at it that way at all. 

I thought for sure the phenomenon would show up around the Constantine window because Constantine's mystical conversion is when Catholicism really took off. I burned up maybe 200 or so shots in attempts to get a photo of an orb around the Constantine conversion window.  I wanted validation for my thoughts.  I somewhat failed to see I was getting validation because I didn't want to think about that kind of validation. Thank god you can delete digital photos because I was persistent.  It has never happened to this day.  It's always St Helena, and never Constantine.

Native elders say that an experience such as this one has layers with in layers with in layers.  These kinds of experiences rarely lend themselves to an obvious surface explanation.  When the Ancestors, or maybe in this case, the Communion of Saints and Angels, breaks through with this kind of message it always has many many meanings.  Some of them are personal and some of them are for the tribe.  The most powerful and important visions or experiences always center on messages for the good of the tribe.  I'll let my readers think about what the universal messages might be. 

For me personally St Helena represented a coming pilgrimage through a culture I wasn't familiar with on a similar search for meaning in the life of Christ and His teachings.  The hopeful part of the message is in the end St Helena found what she was looking for--at least in a believable sense to her.  I think the same thing holds true for all of us.  More to come.......

What's A Frustrated Catholic To Do?

Today I want to feature a couple of posts from two prominent writers who have extensive experience with the more corrupt aspects of clericalism.  The first is an excerpt from Eugene Kennedy's current article at the National Catholic Reporter.  The second is from Fr. Tom Doyle explaining how clericalism itself engendered the duplicitous responses of bishops to clerical abuse allegations.  Fr. Tom's is actually a response to an analysis by William Carfardi as posted in Commonweal.  Cafardi's article dealt with the influence of 'secrecy' as an official Church strategy.  Fr. Tom has a different take.  First Eugene Kennedy:

Chicago was once the imperial seal embossed on America's clerical culture. That's when Cardinal Mundelein rode to his brick replica of Mount Vernon on the seminary grounds in a limousine with crimson strutted wheels and would ask absently, on his way to a priest's funeral, "What was Father's name again?" Chicago still has a cardinal archbishop named Francis George who is also president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is pleasant the way the man who sells you a suit is and just as hard to recall afterward. His phantom-like presence, except when he gets irritated with gays who want to receive the Eucharist together, is a symptom of the withering away of the clerical culture.


Clerical Culture, once the greatest show on earth, has not posted its closing notices but, like the three ring circus it so closely resembled in its days of glory, it has seen its tattered wonders outstripped by those of modernity, and the people are neither enticed by its barkers nor willing to believe in its clever illusions anymore. Its dissolution is a sign, starker than a symbol cut into a wheat field, of the collapse of the hierarchical pre-Vatican II establishment that so many righteous clerics are struggling to restore. (Kennedy makes a very important point.  The scientifically unprovable claims of the Church, along with it's unique and self serving interpretation of it's own history,  have been totally outstripped by modern science, psychology, anthropology, historical scriptural scholars, and archeology.)

Fr. Tom's essay explains in more detail than Eugene Kennedy's, why this culture itself created secrecy and why those who belong to the culture can't let it die in spite of the over whelming evidence as to it's practical,  moral, and criminal dysfunction.

The Church is a visible institution. The Church teaches as official dogma that the Church as we know it, that is, a hierarchical structure that is totally run by celibate male clerics (mostly bishops), was instituted by Jesus Himself. The Church teaches that the pope is the representative (Vicar) of Christ on earth. It teaches that Christ founded His church and left it in the control of the twelve apostles and explicitly willed that these apostles pass this power down to their successors. Consequently the official teaching is that the visible church is run by men who have been explicitly chosen by the Supreme Being. Furthermore the Church teaches that priests are fundamentally different than other humans. They are, in the words of John Paul II, uniquely configured to Christ. Catholics are taught to believe that priests are special. They represent Jesus Christ. They have very special spiritual powers. Their intercession is essential for anyone who wishes to make it to heaven in the next life.


This teaching is the foundation for the clerical culture that runs the Church. Clericalism is the belief that clerics (deacons, priests and bishops) are superior to lay persons and are rightfully entitled to deference, unquestioned respect and exemption from many of the obligations born by most lay people. This clerical world is the home of the men who make up the Church power structure. The Church teaches that this structure is the church. To be a Catholic, one must believe totally in the teachings about the nature of the church strictures and the sacredness of the Church’s clerical ministers.

If all of these teachings were true, would there be a need for all of the secrecy? If these teachings were true, especially about the “Christ-like” nature of priests and bishops, would there be such widespread corruption, dishonesty and abuse found among clerics at every level?  

If all of these things were true! The problem is that there is no authentic historical evidence that any of it is true. The various titles, roles and offices attributed to popes, bishops and priests are not products of divine revelation but of human invention, often as a response and reaction to serious external threats to the power and wealth of the clerical aristocracy. For example, and it’s a good example, Papal Infallibility was literally invented by Pope Pius IX and forced through the First Vatican Council...for political reasons. The pope’s kingdom, the Papal States, was threatened with dissolution by the Italian social upheaval at the time. Likewise the title “Vicar of Christ” was part of a conscious program of a medieval pope to fortify papal power. This title has had a long and complex and by no means consistent history. It was not applied to the Papacy until the 13th century when Pope Innocent III took it to enhance his overall program of actively concentrating just about all power in the Church in the papacy.

Consequently this massive institution seeks above all to preserve itself. Sexual abuse of children or anyone by members of the sacred elite is potentially disastrous for the image, credibility and hence the power of the Church. The bishops really believe that they are essential to the existence of the Church. Therefore protecting the hierarchy is essential and believed to be God’s will. The popes and the bishops did not have to conspire to keep sexual abuse by clergy buried as deeply as possible. The secretive response is in the blood of the bishops. It is rooted in the fundamental urge to survive. Disruption and disintegration of the monarchical structures of the Church means the end of the system of power and control as we know it. This poses an unthinkable threat to the clergy and to the clerical world. The threat is personal because this world, this monarchical institution, this magical theological support system is the past, present and future of the bishops. It is their source of identity. To change or destroy it is a threat to the very being of the clerics who feed off of it. (And the same can be said for the laity who truly believe the theology and incorporate all of this as part their ego identity. They are just as clericalized as the clergy themselves and just as survival dependent if in a different way.)

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Given that the clerical leadership appears incapable of change, where does a Catholic who has moved beyond the three ring circus find a genuine faith expression?  The responses range from leaving and blowing the whole thing off, seeking to supplement their spiritual life by double or triple dipping in other spirituality's--my solution of choice--, staying and praying and wishing and hoping, joining more compatible congregations such as the Episcopalian or Orthodox churches, forming their own emerging communities, or doing as Eugene Kennedy suggests, joining and working with reform groups like VOTF.

For this post and subsequent ones, I'm going to focus on my own choice to double dip.  There are other readers who comment on this blog who can speak far better to the other options I've listed.  Eugene Kennedy favors what I feel is more or less just a continuation of a political two party system.  Trouble is the current leadership of the current Church structure is not predisposed to work as a two party system.  It has done everything it can to insure it's survival as a one party system.

My own quest started quite a long time ago with what to me was a very personal but important question.  Just what is spiritual power and is it tangible, repeatable and useful?  According to the New Testament, for Jesus and His disciples spiritual power was very tangible, repeatable and highly useful.  Spiritual power demonstrated a direct connection to a greater reality and Jesus taught that reality was both with in us and of His father.  Pentecost was all about a purposeful enhancing of this effective form of spiritual power in Jesus's followers.  And those followers weren't limited to the original Twelve Vatican All Stars.  So what happened, because none of this effective spiritual power is demonstrated by today's Vatican All Stars.  If you look at the history of the Church with an open mind about this question, you can't help but come to the conclusion it was sold out in favor of secular power at the Council of Nicea.  From this point on there are very few in leadership positions who are connected to the Pentecostal form of spiritual power.  Expectations about Christian spiritual power in leadership begins to be radically redefined as 'mystical sacramental power' and not practical spiritual power. 

This same phenomenon has happened in Native American society after it was over whelmed by White culture.  Their healers and Holy people, those folks who had connections with the greater reality, became harder and harder to find.  These all important connections, and how to make them, were getting lost.  Which is why the rez is now plagued with opportunistic half trained people who are essentially medicine wheeler dealers. They have all the clothes, all the language, a consistent ceremonial ritual, but they dont' have half the effectiveness of the preceding generations.  The more honest ones are really really trying to recover that powerfully effective aspect of their religious culture that has been lost.  But one of the problems most difficult to overcome is the farther you follow the 'red road' the more obvious it becomes that you have to live the life described in the ancestral teachings.  And that life is virtually indistinguishable from the Way taught by Jesus.  The more disconnect there is between how you actually live your life, and how the teachings say you should live your life, the more the effectiveness of the spiritual power of a ceremony gets compromised or the connections are taken over by something else. 

Pretty soon one finds it's mostly all ritual and any effective power is determined by the belief of the recipient not the 'holiness' or faulty connections of the ceremonial leader.  Which is why when a ceremony doesn't do what it's intended,  it's blamed on the faithlessness of the recipient, having nothing to do with the ceremonial leader.  I bet this sounds really familiar to Irish Catholics because Benedict's solution to the Irish abuse scandal places a great deal of the fault on the faithlessness of the Irish people. The clerical culture Benedict leads can not admit to any other reason than blaming it on the laity, because to admit otherwise is to admit the Emperor and his court have no clothes.

To be continued........................

Is The ADF Defending First Ammendment Rights Or Expanding The Rights Of Christian Moralists?

The ADF is attempting to jam the Christian morality crayon in the secular counseling box. 

The Alliance Defense Fund has initiated a couple of law suits that have me intrigued.  They involve graduate level counseling students whose Christian views about homosexuality are deemed by their faculty supervisors to have compromised their ability to function with in today's professional counseling paradigm.
 
According to attorneys for the ADF:  “A public university student shouldn’t be threatened with expulsion for being a Christian and refusing to publicly renounce her faith, but that’s exactly what’s happening here. Simply put, the university is imposing thought reform,” said ADF Senior Counsel David French. “Abandoning one’s own religious beliefs should not be a precondition at a public university for obtaining a degree. This type of leftist zero-tolerance policy is in place at far too many universities, and it must stop. Jennifer’s only crime was to have the beliefs that she does.”


The ADF filed another similar suit against Eastern Michigan University which they lost in federal district court and are now appealing. This one has an additional wrinkle in that the Christian student was assigned a client for counseling whose major issues revolved around homosexuality.  After consultation with her faculty advisers she referred the client to another counselor.  This is standard professional procedure for any counselor who identifies a serious potential conflict which might impair their ability to help a given client.  The faculty at EMU then suggested a remedial program for the student which was designed to bring her 'belief' structures in line with the programs philosophy.  I don't know, but I suspect this had to do with helping her see the difference between a definition of mental illness based in 'morality' and one based in more objective standards.
 
I understand the ADF is a group of Christian lawyers defending the rights of Christians to be Christian in a secular society.  I just happen the think they are arguing for the sake of proselytizing.  Both of these students are enrolled in secular counseling programs which adhere to professional ethical standards and categories of diagnosis accepted across the mental health professional continuum.  In these standards homosexuality itself is not considered abnormal or a symptom of mental illness.  Nor is homosexuality considered a moral illness. 
 
One of the major attributes a counselor is supposed to accept in working in secular settings is not to operate out of counseling paradigm that is overly influenced by personal moral thinking.  If a given counselor is unable to conform there are religious settings that will encourage one to do this to their heart's content. And as I am quite familiar with,  there are no such restrictions on clients.  Many of them do seek to deal with their issues as moral illnesses rather than my notions of diagnostically derived mental illnesses.  I routinely referred these clients to counselors who shared their particular world view. 
 
The problem the ADF is going to have is they want to legally assert a Christian counselor has the right to assert their own definition of moral illness in secular settings.  I'm sure they would also be inclined to argue the opposite, that a secular counselor has no right to take their definition of what constitutes professionally accepted mental illness into a religious setting.  In this case freedom of religious speech trumps accepted secular professional practice and legally mandated non discrimination clauses across the board. 
 
In the EMU case these are the issues which fuel the ADF case:  The EMU speech codes enabling the university’s actions were challenged as part of the ADF lawsuit, Ward v. Wilbanks. One policy prohibiting “discrimination based on…sexual orientation” adds that counselors cannot “condone” what the university defines as discrimination. Another problematic policy states that EMU’s counseling department may discipline a student who shows a “failure to tolerate different points of view.”
 
It seems to me the ADF wants Christians to have their cake and eat too. Something I doubt they would extend to Muslims. I will give them some credit though, this is a clever way of attempting to introduce 'moral' illnesses back into secular practice. Beliefs dictate moral views and in my estimation, a professional secular program teaching current professional models and best practices,  has every right to determine a prospective professionals belief structure and determine if that belief structure is incompatible with it's professional code of conduct.  Or to put it differently, secular programs shouldn't be under any more pressure to professionally 'ordain' Christian moralizers than the Catholic Church is to 'ordain' women.