Views from a department store

When Cleveland had people shopping in the department stores of downtown, Higbee's was the top of the line. Its twelve floors were part of the Terminal Tower complex. The central tower, sat over trains, and once was the tallest building between New York City and Chicago.

The elevators were five on one side, and five across from them.  They were modeled after those in the transoceanic liners like the Normandie and the Titanic. Plastic jambs and lintels were formed to resemble marble. Handsome veneers on the outside door, with long vertical inlays where they met. On each door there were art nouveau stencils. These will remain when the lower floors are converted to a casino.

Now, I have pointed out, St. Michael's is visible from many points in the city. From the Higbee's building looking along W. 2nd, beyond the neon guitar, and the Lorain-Carnegie bridge, is the taller steeple of St. Michael's. The shorter one is directly in line and behind.

Daughters of St. Paul had a bookstore at Ontario Street, kitty corner from Higbee's, now there are lawyers' offices there, and the property has been sold in speculation to a parking lot magnate. The sisters left behind a statue of Paul [it must not have been on Lennon's inventory].
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Postscriptum 2 November 2011: The building and the block, that had the bookstore, has been demolished.

On, Wisconsin!

On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Plunge right through that line!
Run the ball clear down the field,
A touchdown sure this time. (U rah rah)
On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Fight on for her fame
Fight! Fellows! - fight, fight, fight!
We'll win this game.

The goofy-looking, college dropout Scott Walker has been governor of Wisconsin for a little over a month. In a very Republican year, he had 52% of the vote. Now, for Republicans that is a landslide mandate equivalent to unanimity. Often now, even if they are a minority they claim the right to dictate. His desire is to have a fascist state. Where business and government combine as one (just the way Mussolini and his writer Gentile wanted in corporatism, and what the US had before Franklin Roosevelt).

“It’s like Cairo has moved to Madison these days.” -- Cong. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), chairman of the Budget committee.

Ryan is a good looking youngish man. He is a self-contradicting (R, here is redundant) trickle down theory spouter of rubbish. He may have been right on this one, accidentally. And other people have seen it too. Egypt is sending pizza money for the unionists.

Walker is a catspaw for the monetary royalists. The Wisconsin state budget deficit is a ruse. Walker wants to eliminate unions. He wants reduced wages and rights for the majority. He wants reduced taxes on the rich and the corporations. That increases the deficit. Kasich wants the same in Ohio, he is scheduled for a worker's demonstration on the morrow. Most of the economic troubles of America are on account of the continuous roll back of Jeffersonian and Rooseveltian Democracy, to the greater benefit of the avaricious and their powerful. Is Bernie Madoff the only swindler imprisoned? The banksters got off scot free and are now receiving millions in lucre, eh, bonuses.

One of the things Walker and his crowd object to is collective bargaining. No bargaining, only dictates are desired. Dictatorship not Democracy. Unionisation is democracy. "Conservatism", Republicanism, or whatever they wish it to be called, is corporatism which is fascism.

Recently, Green Bay's football team won the championship. They are the only municipally owned major league sports franchise, is the smallest town to have a major league team. Some players are publicly backing the workers.

We are seeing interesting theatre there. The Democrats in the state senate have left the state, so as not to have a quorum. In 2003 some Texas legislators did this, and Tom Delay (outside his jurisdiction, of course, but not his desire; he has since been convicted for one of his tactics in fixing and rigging government) sent out the Fed. Aviation Adm., and the Texas state police (Rangers) to get them. Also, thousands of Wisconsin's laboring people have come to the capital in Madison, as well as out-of-state teabaggers to counter protest.

Republican wave collapsing

The timing was very fortunate for the Republicans. Their popularity hit a crest in early November, it is down hill now. The gains they made throughout the nation were very impressive. They control more states than before. They will gain through redistricting.

In Ohio, the wretched John Kasich is governor. He has within his first month shown how he will conduct business [in secret and benefiting those with money, while attacking those without]. Boehner is Speaker of the House. Now, if the Democrats acted as Republicans they would start impeachment campaigns.

The president has made gains in stature and popularity. His level of aloofness hurt the Democracy. The Democracy was going to suffer losses and Obama's relative disinterest in fighting made matters worse.

After the Arizona assassination attempt, some Repukes have curbed their vile tongues, after loudly affirming their vicious vitriol serves the public. To-day, there is news Kyl, who made that affirmation, a senator from Arizona and the second 'man' [Miss McConnell is first] in the Republican Senate power structure, is not seeking re-election.

An odd development happened overnight. Chris Lee a multi-millionaire Repuke from the Buffalo suburbs resigned from Congress. He had just won his first re-election. This is surprising in the extreme. Not because of the moral hypocrisy of a "family values" man wanting to cat around. Republicans have no problem with hypocrisy. They have only some problem getting caught. Senator Diaper Dave Vitter was caught using prostitution services [more than once], he won easy re-election. Mark Sanford [(R-naturally) governor S. Car.] finished his term, his wife refused to stand beside him. She did not have to, she held the money. Senator Larry Craig [(R-naturally), Idaho] finished his term after engaging in rude behavior in an airport toilet.

Why did Lee resign so fast? After all, being a Republican is never having to say, "I'm sorry".

Ecclesial Glass

Cyril and Methodius. Immaculate Heart of Mary, Cleveland, O.
Many like stained glass windows. Windows bring in light. In part, stained glass mimics a prism. Stained glass adds to the ambiance of sacred space. Stained glass became associated with gothic architecture, early modern Europe, not much. Then a revival came with 19th century romanticism. A painterly style was very successful in south Germany, and very well distributed throughout the world.

Some churches do not have colored glass. Some Catholic churches do not have colored glass, though in this area not many. There is some overlap of subjects between Catholic and Protestant churches. The tendency is for the Catholic universe to be larger and more numerous.

There are different types of glass. The oldest is mouth blown glass. The glob of molten sand has metallic salts in it, producing the colors. The glass is cut and fixed between leaden cames, almost a mosaic (and older art form). Now there is machine glass. There is painted glass that is fired in a kiln.
faceted glass of Jesus and the Eucharist with loaves and fishes. St Louis, Cleveland Hts
A different sort is faceted glass, dalle de verre. Whereas traditional glass is ¼′′ or ⅛′′ thick, faceted glass is 1′′ thick hammer chipped dalles (slabs of glass akin to flagstone pavers). The areas between dalles are filled with opaque epoxy resin (usually black). Now such dalles can be sorted into a figure. Often they are not, and the epoxy is wide and the result is often bands of color. Sometimes thick bands of metal separate the dalles and epoxy. There are more abstract configurations than with older glass. Overall, there are more aesthetic failures. Some could be windows in storage rooms of commercial buildings, and no one would think they were ever installed in a church or chapel. Some good installations take a time to warm to.

The tendency is for Protestants to have less visual art. Some churches have only colored glass, solid sheets, or panes, or leaded cames with one color; sometimes alternating diamond patterns of two colors, and other geometric forms. An american innovation was opalescent (milky colored, semi-opaque) glass. Of course other religions, or non-religious groups have these also.

Then there are windows that have one symbol surrounded by other panes of colored glass. In christian iconography there is a selection, which includes: butterfly, dove, peace dove, cross, pillar, the veronica, turtle doves, ten commandments twin slabs, cross and crown, chalice, grapes, wheat, bread, fish, thurible, pierced heart, sacred heart, peacocks, pelicans, lily, pomegranates, scallop, alpha, omega, chi rho, harp, anchor, lamb, bells, and more.

Then there are people and scenes. Jesus, Mary and Joseph show up; Jesus most of all, the other members of the Holy Family rarely in Protestant windows outside of nativity scenes.

Many churches have the four evangelists, and or their symbols: Matthew (man/angel), Mark (lion), Luke (ox), and John (eagle). Slightly bigger churches may have the twelve apostles, often with Paul, sometimes Matthias (Judas is rare outside the Last Supper). Some have the four latin doctors (Augustine, Ambrose, Jerome, Gregory the Great). The three greek doctors (John Chrysostom, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen), more so in Byzantine, and Eastern Orthodox. The western church would add Athanasius for a fourth.

Now, Old Testament figures are less common; though here they are maybe more common in Protestant churches that have people depicted. Often four prophets, instead of four doctors, are paired with the gospel writers. The major prophets: Isaias, Jeremias, Ezechiel and Daniel or Moses and Elias (the last two are in Transfiguration windows). Jonas (and the whale), Osee (Hosea), Amos and Michæas are rarer. Zacharias, Abdias, Habakuk, and the rest are rarer still.
Mother of Our Savior. Saint Mel, Cleveland, O.
Catholic churches are filled with Marian Windows. Sometimes many with symbols from the titles in the Litany of Loreto (e.g. Mother Most Chaste, Virgin Most Merciful, Seat of Wisdom, Tower of Ivory, Queen of Martyrs, etc.). Foremost, the scenes of the Rosary, and people do not notice. Now, many protestants have a bias against Mary. Mary always points to Jesus. Many of the mysteries of the rosary are scenes of Jesus, so people who are not familiar with the rosary do not recognise the connexion. Many churches will have one side of the nave lined with the Joyful Mysteries, and the other with the Glorious Mysteries, along with other windows, depending on the number of bays.

Now, there were three sets of five mysteries.
Five Joyful Mysteries
Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Presentation, Finding Jesus in the Temple

Five Sorrowful Mysteries
Agony (Gethsemane), Scourging, Crowning with Thorns, Carrying of the Cross, Crucifixion

Five Glorious Mysteries
Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost, Assumption, Coronation

The late pope, John Paul II, added a fourth. The windows were already there.
Five Luminous Mysteries
Jesus' Baptism, Cana, Proclamation of the Kingdom (this can be any or all of the following: Calling Apostles, Sermon on the Mount, Friend of Children and Men, Giving Peter the Keys, Curing the Sick, Raising the Dead, Forgiving the Penitent, Mary Magdalene Anointing Jesus' Feet), Transfiguration, Last Supper

Often ethnic churches have national saints or scenes of their historical christianity. A church will often have their patron saint on a window. Now, since most Protestant churches don't have a patron saint this is less so, although they sometimes have a memorial to a church member.
St. Francis of Assisi. Saint Cecilia, Cleveland, O.
Many churches have a window of Saint Cecilia (the patron of music) in the choir loft. Other popular saints are Anthony of Padua, and Thérèse of Lisieux. Windows of the parables are made, the most frequent—the Prodigal Son.

This is not exhaustive. There are so many churches, and so many opportunities. Some are thematic, like the seven sacraments. At Francis de Sales, Parma there are the first five popes on one side of the nave, and the first five of the 20th century on the other; Pius XII was still living when the window was made. Some are unexpected. In the Perpetual Adoration chapel at St. Gregory, South Euclid there is Iscariot with his back turned to you. Judas is always holding the purse, or betraying Jesus.

Saint Stephen, Cleveland has windows of several shapes and of many figures and ornamentation. They had a deluxe order from Munich. They have the common scenes, and the less common ones (death of Joseph, Jesus driving away the merchants from the Temple, Jesus teaching Nicodemus--the John 3.16 window) and they have two large windows of two scenes of the parish patron Stephen, the martyr deacon of Jerusalem, and Lawrence, the martyr deacon of Rome. At Saint Stanislaus, Lorain, there was a small window of God breathing life into Adam. Most people never saw it. It was on the stairwell going to the organ. Last time i saw it, it was misidentified on Lennon's/Henniger's internet trading site.

of bishops and saints [and parishes]

“As a convert, I never expected much from the bishops. In all history popes and bishops and father abbots seem to have been blind and power loving and greedy. I never expected leadership from them. It is the saints that keep appearing all thru history who keep things going. What I do expect is the bread of life and down through the ages there is that continuity. Living where we do there certainly is no intellectual acceptance of the Church, only blind faith. I mean among the poor.

The gospel is hard. Loving your enemies, and the worst are of our own household, is hard.” – Dorothy Day (*1897, 1980†) from a letter to Gordon Zahn (*1918, 2007†)


The Eucharist was initiated with the Last Supper. The apostles were the first bishops. They were at the table, and Judas Iscariot was amongst them. Bad bishops were there at the beginning. As centuries passed several bishops promoted heresies and schisms. A bishop was not a guarantee of saintliness, nor orthodoxy. In the centuries, there were many bishops that were political, and dynastic appointments. Many bishops were interested primarily in secular activities. No, a bishop is not equal to a saint. Many bishops persecuted those that were to be recognised as saints.

To-day, when we have a bishop that has become a martyr, such as Oscar Romero, a man that, truly, a call for "Santo Subito!" should have held, we see some in the church whom still oppose the man. What is true, is that, some bishops are exemplars of Christ and the friend to humanity, and others are not. The Iscariots are not equal in dignity to the Romeros, the Borromeos, the Baragas, and the Fishers. Some that fall far from universally accepted sanctity are not villains, but are merely joyless functionaries whom had ambitions. They will not be remembered in generations to come, while Augustines, Peters, Hilaries and Nicholases shall. And we have had horrible bishops of Rome: Benedict IX, Sergius III, John XII

Now in Buffalo, parishioners appealed to Rome to keep their parish, Saint Adalbert open. They waited for a decision. Rome wants her open. It seems the local bishop [Edward Kmiec] is recalcitrant. Perhaps he does not need to listen to Rome, if he chooses not to. Perhaps he has forgotten Rome has made him a bishop.

Throughout the United States, parishes are being suppressed. Parishes were all created to be perpetual. Rome has been flooded with appeals. Being a bureaucracy, the Curia has an overwhelming tendency to agree with bishops. Many appeals are waiting. They have been on the table.

At least one recent decision allows the bishop to close parishes but not to sell the property. This sort of presents him the cake but forbids him to devour it. Has Rome had enough of arrogant american bishops acting as capitalist overlords?

Storms

We have had a solid winter these two months. The atlantic seaboard has seen much snow. The middle west was to have been pounded, to-day and yesterday. The local television news channels are gung-ho and intensely excited whenever they can bring out Storm-master 2000 or equivalent. They send out an handful of 'reporters' to photograph, analyse and bravely investigate precipitation. Here in northeast Ohio on the south shore of Erie, we had some snow and some ice. We have had many greater visitations.

With winter storms, the advance publicity is two, three, four days. This promotes a rush to the food stores and the gas stations, although, if it really comes down, you are not driving anywhere. Rarely have we seen closed gasolineras.

Anxiety, and especially fear is played on. It attracts viewers, that increases advertising rates, and that brings in coin; and coin is the object of desire. And it is so much easier than doing journalism. Too much dogged attention and pursuit of actual journalism can be dangerous to employment and, in some countries, life.

Now, we have channels that have two hour blocks of air time. Especially, during morning programmes the time is filled by fashion, food, health, the fools gold glitterati of Hollywood, and other trivialities. Sports has been reduced [in Cleveland the exceptions are game day for the Browns, and the nauseating soap opera over a particular basketballer], perhaps ESPN has a near monopoly? Weather has expanded. Sometimes, there is a 'meteorologist' inside the studio, and one on the outside. Do you need a weatherman to tell you which way the wind blows?

Now, in the real world: from the Maghreb a movement for democracy has spread to the middle east, centering in Egypt. Is it a khamaseen or a samoom wind that will topple walls? Egypt which has entered its sixth millenia is again the focus of the world. China is displeased, or rather its government. The US has had Egypt do much dirty work for it in the last few years, the lion's share under bushjrcheney; but against the fears of rabid republicans, and against real democrats' desire, Obama has done little to end such arrangements. Whoever heads the US government does not change much government activity. The world was so happy, when bushjr left government, it granted Barack Obama a peace prize.

Now an earlier Nobel peace winner, Mohamed el-Baradei, is becoming a voice for freedom in Egypt. He as chief of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency frustrated the busheviks in not supporting their false claims against Iraq. Certain americans will never stomach him for being in the UN, or in his stance for reality and truthfulness, and attempt to prevent an unnecessary war.

The US foreign minister, Hillary Clinton, is dancing around this egyptian question. There is an air of inevitability -- kismet. Mubarak was good for business. Mr. Obama is making a mild commitment toward peace and democracy; this is counter to GHW Bush's extreme slowness to support those nations that brought down communism in eastern europe. Empires prefer stability over the exercise of popular sovereignty, or the voice of the populace.

To-day there is a report that has WikiLeaks (founder Julian Assange) nominated for the Nobel. Assange has angered Washington. He let loose 'secrets' that most of the world knew, he confirmed reality. WikiLeaks is against unnecessary government secrecy. An american soldier, Bradley Manning, is now a political prisoner in solitary confinement for his help to WikiLeaks. When one does nasty things, one prefers no spotlight, and the powerful lashes out at such people as not to encourage others.

Local news advises you to button up your overcoat.

Protestant Jesus on Glass

Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear my voice, and open to me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
 Now with iconography, and an historical sense and memory conducive, for grounding, one can walk into a building and recognise and identify items, which, those familiar with the building do not ken. Without being told, nor having access to a written account, a narrative can be sleuthed and pieced together in moments [writing it up may take hours]. With access to some resources a fuller, and confirmed, account can be presented.

Brooklyn Methodist recently closed. An anglican group continues to use their chapel for Sunday services. Under a glass cupola dome the methodists had held services from 1911, the congregation from 1818 [read cornerstones]. They have many opalescent windows about the building. They have painted glass with scenes in the worship area; three large windows, two interrupted by seating. A medallion on top, and two on bottom portray Jesus.

William H. Hunt painted The Light of the World (1853–54). The original is at Keble College, Oxford. A larger and greater seen version went to the anglican cathedral, St. Paul's, in London, after touring the world and continued to be popular. Hunt had read a sad sonnet by the dissolute priest Lope de Vega, To-morrow, that is about the man behind the door and based on Apocalypse iii. 20.

Warner Sallman *1892, †1968, was a Chicago artist, who in the 1920s drew for protestant periodicals. In the 1940s he painted, in oils, the most reproduced paintings of Christ in the United States. The portrait oblique in sepia brown and yellow hues that the Salvation Army distributed as a wallet 'snapshot' is the prime protestant icon of Jesus in America. To the left is another of his popular paintings, his Jesus at the Door. Now in anglican England, and in lutheran Germany this was a popular scene. The part of waspish America which could appreciate and accept visual arts looked to wilhelmine Germany, and victorian England as exemplars. The far wider,deeper and ancient catholic well was less drawn from.

Heinrich Hofmann painted in 1890, a much reproduced Christ in Gethsemane. This is the second protestant icon of Jesus. The original was bought by John D. Rockefeller for his Riverside Church in New York City. Rockefeller had been a Cleveland boy. Brooklyn Methodist has a glass version also. A catholic Gethsemane usually has an Angel holding a cup, and often the three sleeping apostles. Hofmann's, and the glassy one in Old Brooklyn, has Jesus kneeling with fingers folded on top of a rock.

The third Christ they have glased is Jesus the Friend of Children. This is the most 'catholic' of the three, a very similar one is in Saint Emeric's on W.22nd.
At the bottom of the medallion, it reads "in memory of Seymour Trowbridge & Wife". Whoever Trowbridge was, at one time he was someone important to someone. The church is on Archwood, which is just south of Interstate 71. Just north of the interstate is Trowbridge. Trowbridge is an english name, but not well known, and it is not a realty planner name (Maple, Maplewood, Mapledale, Fox, Foxwood, Foxpath, Foxtail). It takes an elementary sherlock to see the window dedication is related to the street honoree. Canvass the residents, if one could be found cognisant of the name, he is probably a relative; but even that is doubtful, the population has changed. Seymour Trowbridge was the mayor of Brooklyn Village from 1869 through 1871.

Karma and dharna beg justice

For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting. — Galatians vi.8.

Is karma destiny? There is not only one view in the theologies and philosophies from India. Karma is the word for 'action', 'deed' or 'act'. It is the logic of simple physics. There is cause and effect. Actions have karmic effects. We have similar colloquial advice and commentary: "what goes around comes around", "payback is a bitch". The concept is not only tied to the transmigration of the soul, or the conditions of the afterlife.

A realist, not blinded by optimism, sees some consequences tied to some actions; but he does not see a quid pro quo, or an ultimate balance, justice. A moral man, one who might be described as having a fear of God, feels compelled to do right action. Another man, will do what he will without regard to cosmic justice or good karma. Whether he skates, or has things blow up in his face remains to be seen.

Another indian concept is dharna. Dharna is an attempt to gain justice or payment. The form it took was the plaintiff would sit at the entrance of the offender's home, or business, and wait, wait continuously till he got his justice, or died waiting for it. This is a genesis of the peaceful protest that had Gandhi and millions sit on the doorstep of the british empire. "We shall not be moved" is a stand for justice. Occupations of property are attempts to obtain justice. It is an attempt to shame people to do right. Centuries ago, the transgressor or the debtor had a fear, that this implacable soul would haunt his conscience, or being, for all time. The fasting until death at a doorstep was put in play creating a spirit that could not be appealed to--an unforgiving perpetual ghost.

Not everyone is capable of being shamed. In India in 1919, General Dyer had thousands killed in a peaceful demonstration at Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar.

Peaceful protest while being stoically gallant, and noble, does not always succeed. Some have no ruth, no mercy, no humanity to appeal to. In other protests people have said, "God is watching". Some still don't care. In the movie, The Fugitive, Harrison Ford yells at Tommy Lee Jones "I'm innocent!". His reply is, "I don't care!".

Cathedral of Tomorrow • WBNX 55

Sometime ago, a friend wanted to go to Cathedral Buffet in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. I was up for it.

Rex Humbard was the pentecostalist preacher, who buried Elvis Presley, and in the 1950s was the first national television evangelist. He moved up from Arkansas. Ernest Angley moved up from North Carolina. Both ended up in Akron-Cuyahoga Falls. Humbard built his Cathedral of Tomorrow and the television station, channel 55. Grace Cathedral was Angley's. Angley was born two years after Humbard. Humbard retired and sold the complex to Angley.

Angley is, now a very elderly, chubby guy with a very apparent wig. It only needs a single face bar to look more like a helmet. Johnny Carson used to imitate him. Angley places his hand on people's foreheads and says an exaggerated, "Jeee-SUS". On both television shows they featured much gospel music, with in-house singers. There is a huge, suspended crown (Tower of London-Margarine style) and pillars.

Neither preacher, in my memory, engaged in crazy politics or anti-catholic vituperation. Maybe they concentrated on the 'end times', but ignore their ramblings as i do the russelites and the rest.  I tend to ignore this speculation as entertainment. Their comments on the Last Day, just did not register in my attention. I remembered Augustine asking where are the past and future? and dismissing them. Akron does have a nickname of being the capital of West Virginia; so these two boys were far more agreeable than hard shelled baptists, or porch hopping russelites. It was easy to take them with good humour, or ignore them.

To the buffet i did go. Now, i remember being told that only catholics had statues. The buffet has a christian wax museum. Well, that is 'cheesy'. With the trouble the Catholic Church has done to itself recently, it is not so comfortably easy poking fun at the protestants. Did not even cross my mind to photo the wax museum. If i got into the studio, i would the crown. Outside, and on one side there is a neon sign of Michigan J. Frog. What if Mary Flannery O'Connnor had been born in Akron, instead of Savannah; perhaps more comic and less grotesque.

 "Grace changes us and change is painful." — Mary Flannery O'Connnor

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postscriptum:  14 September 2023. I see, that blogger re-formatted the text into one paragraph. It has done that in several of my posts. I have corrected blogger here.

Lennon vs. Saint Peter's

This story has been picked up nationally. It is rippling out in notice to Sandusky, Columbus, Indianapolis, and beyond. Lennon has made a move. In this matter he had been silent since August.

The phrase "breakaway congregation" and/or "breakaway church" has been used in the press. This is inaccurate, and it plays to possible defenders of Lennon's actions. The parish has not broken away. They are meeting elsewhere. The use of their physical church has been denied them. They have a current appeal in Rome to rescind the suppression decree. Until Rome says so, no property of the parish can be disposed of. The parish's continued canonical existence is still open. The parish, as an association of Christians, still exists and meets.

No one in the congregation of the Parish of Saint Peter, in Cleveland, has publicly proclaimed any heterodox opinions. Certain defenders of Lennon, who see themselves as arbiters of catholic orthodoxy, have compared them to heretics such as Luther, Swaggart, Calvin, et cetera. These 'hard liners' are wrong, as is their wont.

It is not easy, or possible, to defend the judgment, or many other qualities, of Richard Lennon, other than his authority. Authority has limits, not everyone wishes to see this.

A question of schism, separation by division, is ultimately conceivable. This 'breakaway' appellation is premature. The parish was evicted. Now they meet elsewhere. They have not separated from the Catholic Church. A priest and other Catholics are celebrating the Sacraments. Their ordinary disapproves, and speaks of vague threats. At one time, his spokesman at least, Bob Tayek said the bishop was willing to speak with these Catholics. Apparently, this is his manner of speech.

Further Lennon accuses Fr. Marrone of "scandal" and "corruption". Now the world knows, Lennon knew of real corruption and scandal in Boston. He vouched for a paramount villain. Lennon's use and facility of language has always been questionable. A priest who buggered children, in Lennon's statement was "in good standing and enjoyed the faculties of the Archdiocese of Boston". Lennon may win the definition of terms, and still look ridiculous and odious to the world.