Leo XIV vs. Donald the Demented

Leo being Catholic

 in Satan's service, the dumbest apprentice

Last night Deranged Donnie issued two disturbing posts on his vanity twitter.  One was an attack on Pope Leo XIV, in which as he typically does, he thoroughly misrepresents [LIES] about his victim of abuse. The next one was a computer generated image where he has replaced Jesus in performing a miracle.

Will such items cause his religious supporters to fall away from continued support?  I would say, not by much. Many of those supporters hate Catholicism with an absolute maniacal vengeance, and in their churches they have raised up Demented Donnie to a godlike figure already.

Now what about "Catholic" trumpsters?  Their easy out is simple, we only have to follow the pope in severely limited instances, when he is speaking on faith and morals, or when he speaking "ex cathdedra" [which has happened only twice].  Of course Leo is speaking out against war, but to these people that does not qualify as speaking on faith and morals. Leo is echoing Jesus in the New Testament, but that is immaterial. Some of them will equate such an opinion with all the accusations leveled by those that hate the papacy a priori.   Leo is being like Pius XII with nazism, or with popes who encouraged the Crusades. Strange bedfellows in shared hate and calumny, but whatever it takes.  Some of these trumpsters are just as racist as Donnie, or like his mercenary capitalism, but others are monomaniacal anti-abortionists. Every repuke gets an absolute pass because those partei members mouth the mandatory shibboleths. The light of reason will not shine on them. The first rule of Catholic ethics is: the ends never justify the means. They do not believe that, and so in the most vigorous manner.

Some would consider this blasphemous, but how many will become former trumpsters?

three papal tweets above

These sort of statements set off Orange Caligula.

Comparing the two men, which one is following Jesus?

photographs of abandoned places #45

Akron Baptist Temple

This decayed quickly. The main building was built from 1947 to 1949. Eventually there were seven or eight buildings on twenty-nine acres, and extensive parking spaces. I was never on campus. We were on Manchester Road earlier on the 11th of the month, and i said i want to photograph the front. We kept on driving. A few days ago, i saw on teevee, Akron's new mayor, Shammas Malik had the property fenced off, and began demolition formally on the 19th.

[24 March 2024]

The thing that really caught my attention was the quote from Matthew, "Upon this rock i will build my church". The full verse is "And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Peter is in Greek 'rock'. The presentation changed the meaning; apparently Bible literalists are very selective (not unlike constitutional originalists). With that shortened verse, i would have thought that the name of the church was Saint Peter's. Yes, i saw great incongruity; but then again...Baptists. Then there is the empty scroll, it used to read: Dr. Dallas F. Billington Founder & Pastor. It is very common among Baptist and Pentecostal churches to have this kind of citation on the building. The facade is also quite tall, and there used to be on top flashing neon letters, Akron Baptist Temple; not unlike the Firestone, and Goodyear signs in Akron.

This Independent Baptist Fundamentalist Megachurch (the three adjectives can be any order) was run by three generations of Billingtons, starting in 1934 to 2007. Dallas F. Billington left Paducah Kentucky to work in a tire factory in Akron. He was a Baptist preacher with ambition and energy, who was willing to use extensive, and then for the time, novel promotional techniques (stunts, gimmicks). The membership for many years were white southerners, and those from Appalachia, and their children. Growth, called evangelism, was paramount.

Elmer Towns. The Ten Largest Sunday Schools. 1969., listed Akron Baptist Temple as #1 with c.7,000. For some reason this was considered the criterion to gauge largest megachurches in the US of A. I could discuss this much further here, but no. It is to be remembered, this is a Protestant phenomena, and the church can have several sites simultaneously. Also these type of establishments have the chief pastor as unaccountable; it is convenient to be 'independent' or 'non-denominational'. In the US they are usually Baptists, in the rest of the world usually Pentecostalist/Charismatic.

After a time, Akron's population stopped growing. Some things happened along the way, besides demographics. A new pastor in a megachurch with different programmes/methods/agenda/style can effect the congregation greatly. Firstly, a portion of the congregation might be in disagreement and leave, and new congregants might not make up the difference.

In 2018 the new chief pastor sold the church to a black megachurch pastor. Both congregations used the campus for a time, then Akron Baptist Temple moved elsewhere under a new name. By this time the third Billington had a separate Akron church of his own. The new Word Church ownership did some remodeling, but the new congregation preferred the previous Akron location (the main site is in a Cleveland suburb). In 2019 it was up for sale. Soon thereafter, scrappers, vandals, and the homeless have used the campus, and trashed a good deal of it. The neighbours, fire department, and the police find it a continuing nuisance. Realtors wanted it to be a strip mall, but prospective buyers want the area cleared before they spend a dime. Asbestos is rumoured, does that not survive in fire and brimstone? Another chapter of church and commerce in America.

Saw similar art deco tile fringe on other Akron buildings [click]

2324 Manchester

Looks more like an abandoned theatre.

coded language of the baptistverse

I read some comments by Baptist church attendees. They have a coded language. I have noticed this before*. I was trying to find something on internet search engines, and the results were few that got to the point. First in this regard, i find Baptist, fundamentalist, evangelical, non-denominational as all equivalent terms. Using the words: lingo, jargon, vocabulary, language was fruitless.

The general community understands religious terms when they are used as the dictionary describes. Catholicism is quite fecund, and defined. It uses standard language with particular terminology that may be unfamiliar to some. But in very conservative American Protestantism, the dictionary is not helpful. It is inside group speak, somewhat like corporate business jargon. Now, Mormonism does this too, but a lot of theirs is the invented mythology of the group.

Also, this baptistverse has been successful in taking Christian as their synonym. It is not. Finally i found a person who started a thread on reddit that spoke on this. Here is an example he used:  I have been praying for you (unprompted) – You are doing something bad that I don’t approve of, or not doing something you should be doing, like attending church, and I am going to be extremely passive aggressive about it. 

• And another he used: Being Intentional Don’t waste your time making small talk with the grocery store clerk or the gas station attendant; Be Intentional by making everything you say to everyone somehow circle back to your Jesus thing.
  
• Someone else wrote: "They're a believer" A believer in what? Just another way to say "they're one of us."
• Another winner:  Witness: "We're going to go witness to folks at the county fair"   Translation: we're going to go annoy the general public telling random people how sinful and damned to hell they are.
• Another someone:  "Evangelicals bait and switch." A social interaction becomes an ambush.
  
• This insight:  this stuff doesn't appear anywhere in the New Testament.

The phrases in bold type are the ones i want to discuss. Baptists proselytise, that word they do not use. Their goal is to gain converts, or evangelise as they put it. They will use any hook, any gimmick, any trick, any verbal subterfuge to get you. They are intentional about this, everything else is fluff to them. They proclaim they are the bible believing, the true and only christians. In this they act like cultists.

Now, to a Christian that is not of this type, this is extremely off putting. To someone else this must be more confusing, and maybe worse. Now in retrospect, i understand some of the language, and am not pleased. Now, where i first encountered a heavy dose of this was in college. I was extremely unnerved, when "Navigators" surrounded me while i was sitting in a dorm; an immediate hard sell, the intentional thing. Complete strangers demanding to know my private beliefs, and wanting me to join them. (They were worse than the porch hopping Jehovah Witnesses, which are similar.)  I got up and left.

 

Another encounter with the baptistverse in college was with a 'confrontational evangelist', the infamous Jed Smock. Mentioned him in a post in 2013, went to check the almighty wiki, he died in 2022. The New Yorker had an obituary column about him. Apparently, he began using props after my time in college. He was verbally vicious. He haunted college campuses. He would find a crossroad spot where paths intersect en route to many classroom buildings, and assault passerbys with vulgar insults. He was a mean spirited bully.

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* [click]  People of certain religious persuasions have their own parallel language. It is not terminology of specifics that do not exist elsewhere. No, it is the same words with different meanings. ... they are using internal code

random Columbus

Terry Allen. Scioto Lounge [1 of 3]. 2014. Columbus.

This one is on the Rich Bridge, the other two are lounging on the west bank of the Scioto below.

Next to Interstate 71 is this lighthouse on top of a church. The roof had shingles with the words, "Jesus is Lord", spelt out. Some time ago, new shingling was put on without wording. Also, a sailor dummy had been on the tower. I had passed this several times over the years, this time i got off the freeway to foto it.

from the highway October 2019

Leland Ernest Loretz started this congregation, Calvary Temple*, in 1954, and led it till his death in 2011. It was then put on the market. The church was built in the 1970s, Lighthouse Christian Academy in 1978. This sort of construction, incorporating slightly bizarre elements is common among Pentecostalists (and some Baptists). Loretz was a graduate of an Assemblies of God college. Recently it has become Evangelical Church of the Sanctified, a black Pentecostalist denomination, which here is a Haitian congregation.

Daniel H. Burnham. Columbus Union Train Station Arch. 1893-1979.  

This arch was moved from High Street. This is now called McFerson Commons, or Arch Park. The Ohio State Penitentiary was here 1834-1998. There is a marker for John Hunt Morgan on the acreage. He was a confederate general who stole horses, and was captured. It was the furthest excursion north by the confederates. He and some officers were imprisoned here, and he and six of them tunneled out into the yard, and escaped over the wall. The day of this snap, sunlight was low and in front of me, late in the afternoon of a mid-December day. The field was empty.

Beaux-Arts classicism

 a very tall sign in an Italian Village parking lot, behind St. John the Baptist church

Originally Ohio Central, then Toledo and Ohio Central Railway was active from 1895 to 1930. Again, the harsh afternoon light came to play. Another sight best pictured in the morning, or when the sun is not so low in the west.

The pagoda like tower is next to the elevated rails. 

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* postscriptum 12 January 2024: Coincidence or not, Rex Humbard's congregation was also called 'Calvary Temple' before it became Cathedral of Tomorrow. He was a Pentecostalist in Cuyahoga Falls, who began building a tower. It was stopped after 22 days of construction at 494 feet, because of financial/legal problems.

like scoring in quidditch

For those who suffer from abortion monomania [click], the mental arithmetic is like scoring in quidditch. There is a universe of issues. In Catholic theology there are many moral, ethical, and justice issues. Some come into contact with the secular political world. Abortion is one such.

J.K. Rowling, invented, and inserted into her Harry Potter novels the wizardly game of quidditch. In that game, each team defends three goals. If an opponent puts the ball through a goal it scores ten points. There is another ball, a small feathered ball, the golden snitch. Catching the ball is worth 150 points, and ends the game.  It is virtually impossible to gain the snitch, and lose. That is the design of the invented game. In her stories only once did the catcher of that ball lose the game.

Scoring all the goals is not of prime importance:  e.g. the situation when one team has scored 14 goals, and the other team has not scored one, nor does not even attempt to score a goal, so that the score is 140 to 0, which in some other games would have triggered a mercy rule to end the game, so as to avoid the ridiculous lopsided victory, would not come into play here. That captured snitch would make the score 140 to 150, and the clock would have ended. 

In stated, official American Catholic bishops' rationale in voting, abortion is very important in consideration  to support a candidate; but there are circumstances of great importance where that position is not decisive. Ultra conservative Catholic bishops, and their flocks are playing philosophical quidditch, and they start with the possession of the snitch in their pocket.

Evangelical Witness

People of certain religious persuasions have their own parallel language. It is not terminology of specifics that do not exist elsewhere. No, it is the same words with different meanings. I read an article about Trump's effect on the evangelicals. He created a disruptive wave among them. This writer says it is lingering, but over all they are as they were. The one area where it has caused a problem is in "witnessing".

When certain Protestants use the word "witness", or "witnessing" they are using internal code. Witness in standard speech refers to attesting to fact as in testimony, evidence, proof, knowledge from being present, and the like. They mean proselytising. They want to recruit converts. To many this is not wanted, it is uncomfortable, irritating, sometimes insulting, especially when it is intrusive, or aggressive.

Outside of religious services, this is the most religious activity they engage in. This activity is verbal, almost exclusively. One does not have to behave as a Christian (they find good works meaningless, faith is expressed in words), one hectors. Many see this as an aspect of conspicuous hypocrisy.

So why is witnessing in the age of Trump more difficult? This is the elephant in the room that is not mentioned, but fully acknowledged silently—credibility. White evangelicals were [and are] so allied with Trump. It was noticed with disgust by the world, because Trump has no positive attributes in common with good Christian living, morality, or ethics. The only thing that is shared is hypocrisy, and unnecessary verbiage. Trump is first, and most of all—a liar. He is a psychopath. This bears a  permanent stain of shame.

abortion monomania

Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol *1772, 1840† was a physician, and an early psychiatrist. He studied asylum patients, and wrote about monomania. Monomania is a partial insanity, in which a generally sane person is pathologically singularly preoccupied.

The first idea in Catholic ethics is that the means DO NOT justify the ends. As in the syllogism, false premises invalidate conclusions. Also, to promote God sincerely is to do so without lying. Jesus does not need your lies.

There has been a successful campaign by forces of politically "conservative" Catholicism to reduce all morals, and politics to only the position on abortion. All other social justice issues have become incidental, or contrary. This includes most bishops, much Catholic media, especially Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). Any attack is of use to advance the position, any method, no regrets. By any means necessary is antithetical to Catholic (Christian) ethics, and they don't care. And "conservative" politicians, and interests (financial predominately) have benefited by this blank cheque, carte blanche.

In earlier American history, there was a movement to prohibit the use of alcohol. These prohibitionists sought laws to achieve their ends. They effected the outcomes of elections. They wanted candidates to give them lip service in order to achieve their ends. They did not care about anything else, and they did not care whether the candidate complied with the prohibition of alcohol himself. They did not care if he was competent, or corrupt. The cause for temperance was not good enough, absolute prohibition. The full force of the movement would be used against the "wets". Eventually the "drys" won. So Prohibition was in effect from 1920 to 1933, and crime increased.

Beware the company you keep

These presumptive, authoritarian, conservative voices have taught hatred towards Democrats, Catholic Democrats, and those who vote for Democrats. They came after John Kerry, and now Joe Biden. They hated Obama, and the Clintons, and before especially Teddy Kennedy. And now they pushed for Trump.

Trump is a psychopath. He is vicious. There is probably no false accusation against him, he has done far more dirty deeds which have not been made public. His personal life was, and is, filled with immorality unto depravity. He wanted the daughter of the woman, who was his second wife, aborted. Marla Maples told him she was pregnant, that was his solution. Maples did not have an abortion. Trump had raped many women, and had affairs with others. Were there other children? born, or unborn? 

Donald has cheated in every endeavor he was in. No public figure has demonstrably lied as much as Trump. Everything he touches, he destroys. His career is that of destruction, he almost destroyed America. The failed self-coup of the 6th of January, failed primarily because of the idiots Trump used as insurrectionists. There are many confederates not yet known to the public. 

In addition, to the fascist Hitlerian modeled flags and merchandise displayed by the Trumpfenwaffenleute, there were "Christian" flags in the mob. I am not surprised by the lunatic fringe of apocalyptic Protestant millenialists, dominionists, and other lunatics in the rabble that seiged the Capitol. There has also been Catholics who have been recruited through successful propagandising. 

There were draws to making trumpsters:  the first, foremost, and strongest was race hatred, and racial resentment; those that want white supremacy. But, the religious issue that was cast to catch Catholics was abortion.

Birds of a feather...not the flock to be in

And on the issue of abortion, Catholics have made a compact with others. Not everyone is Catholic, but anyone can be a person of good will regardless if they have any religion, or none at all. The groupings of people who have the least good will towards Catholics, are those Evangelicals, who are by other tags Baptists (whatever they may call themselves), and Pentecostalists (who also sometimes identify as "non-denominational"). When they say they love Catholics, they mean only to convert them, and have absolute contempt otherwise. So, any Catholic, with the sense God gave a goose, would be extremely wary of such allies. Two of the megachurch preachers who really hate Catholics are Robert Jeffress, and John Hagee, both well known trumpsters. These are not people of good will. These vocal Protestants are anti-Catholic bigots, they would not want a second Catholic President, as much as an earlier generation had Norman Vincent Peale, and Billy Graham lead Protestants against John Kennedy. Trump's father had the family listen to Peale weekly, in person, and Donald had him officiate his first marriage. Graham's son, Franklin, is also a trumpster. Jeffress runs the First Baptist Church of Dallas, the first megachurch under the earlier W.A. Criswell, which had Billy Graham as a member, and Ted Cruz as a featured speaker. Criswell often spoke against Kennedy in Dallas, up to his assassination. Criswell later would be president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The Buffalo Idea, the Mass Mob Movement

Cleveland Mass Mob [click, and here] finished their third year with their twenty-fifth mobbing on the 13ᵗʰ of November 2016 at St. Emeric, which was the last of the eleven parish churches ordered to be re-opened by Roman decrees. It has become, practically, de jure for any religious affiliated thing to have a foundation statement. Of course, after announcing our existence, we had to explain who?, what?, and such. So: We wish to attract people to come for a Mass, a celebration of Liturgy and Eucharist, in a parish community of an historical, and beautiful church.

In Buffalo [click, and here], four friends wanted to help St. Adalbert Basilica. St. Adalbert's was the first basilica in the United States. Buffalo's ordinary had closed the parish and church. Parishioners appealed to Rome, they made note of its status. The diocese denied it was a basilica. The documents showed it was. The diocese reluctantly obeyed Rome, and opened the church for worship (i think one day a year). So the first mass mob was on All Souls Day 2013. Buffalo Mass Mob II made a national Associated Press story [click].

Buffalo was the first to form, and nearly two dozen locals announced thereafter. The Parable of the Sower is an apt metaphor. The seeds were distributed about, and some plants grew well, and others not. Buffalo continues. Some locals did little more than make an announcement. Detroit's [click, and here] has done marvelously. Since their second mobbing, the local daily had a story before and after each and often with several photographs. Local television and radio have had stories, and interviews. Detroit has larger churches than Cleveland, some seat fifteen hundred, and at least one seats two thousand. Most mobbings produced no empty seats.

Something happened in Buffalo. The environment of conditions, and the spark in a few people's minds gave us this 'Buffalo idea'. The spirit we wanted to promote is appreciation that leads to rejuvenation. The United States has relentlessly promoted a disposable culture of immediate reward. So many of our societal problems are children of this philosophy. Community has been attacked for convenience, and for the desires of the aggressively ambitious and selfish. We need to celebrate and cherish something more important and valuable. Mass Mob is a form of popular evangelism. Other than religious aspects, there are community, historical, architectural, anthropological, and sociological aspects to this phenomena.

"For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

These are the red letter words from the mouth of Jesus as recorded by the evangelist Matthew. This is the charter for the parish, a group of people in physical communion with the actual presence of Jesus with them. This is why a parish is so important. An hundred years ago, and more, people crossed the ocean and came to a new country. Their pennies, and dimes (for that was their wages) built edifices to house their community in dignity and respect befitting what they believed honored God. Often, these newcomers, 'greenhorns', were not welcomed by the greater community. These churches were bulwarks aiding them to keep the faith. Now, the progeny of some of these people are the establishment, they are integrated in the general community; but they hold a similar disregard for those who started those parishes, and built those churches. There are bishops, and other Catholics who prefer large homogenised, bland, interchangeable, indistinct units of the suburban sprawl which have large Sunday collections. These old parishes are our legacy, they are our culture, they are part and parcel of our faith.

Our goal was to, at least on occasion, flood the naves with the faithful. We wanted a greater audience to hear the invite. The genius of this Buffalo idea was to invite the public by social media. The chief, and most frequent social media organ than promotes the movement is facebook. The secular press and media, where it has given notice, has been unanimously positive, and the press has increased the invitation beyond the circle of social media available to the local organisers. Here in Cleveland, one reporter at the local daily told the city [click], and the paper [in the physical copy, or at least on line] made notice. And so did an AM radio news station. One television station came to our first mobbing, and it was linked to by an Italian publication.

Of the several locals, the first distinguishing factor was between organic and clerical. Cleveland as Buffalo was organic, and started and remained in the hands of the laity. In Detroit, there were four people who individually wanted to follow Buffalo's lead, and coalesced together with institutional support. The public enthusiasm of their local bishopry has been complete (the archbishop recorded a commercial [click], and has presided over three masses i think; and auxiliary, and retired bishops have said masses), and it is has to be believed it has added to the success there. The bishop of Ft. Wayne and South Bend asked for two mobs, the Knights of Columbus organised South Bend. In Kansas City Mo., and Memphis Tenn., it was organised by young adult ministries. A new seminarian organised in Bridgeport. The opinions of people employed professionally as Catholics, and the 'official' church's reception has been on a continuum of acceptance. Some places have skeptical critics, or have been loathe to say anything publicly. There has been expressed a worry of 'poaching' parishioners.  An old teevee cartoon had various characters say something uncomfortable about "...those meddlesome kids". I know of words that have circulated to me, that, the chancery on East Ninth does not like Cleveland Mass Mob. Some priests were timid when approached about having their parish mobbed.

The press early on was interested in this novel (and perhaps gimmicky nature of this evangelisation, and several liked to example "twitter", which use was scant and sparse) approach; and pooh-pooing critics (outside of the press, and with very small reach) looked dismissively on the movement. We made the Sunday New York Times [click]. The reporter, Michael Paulson, used the term 'Rust Belt Catholicism'. Yes, that captures the situation. Here we are in the battered industrial engine that helped create America; and here we still have great beauty, and the churches and parishes our immigrant forebears created are still here giving witness. The reporters i have talked to, and those who have talked to others elsewhere were universally positive. Many of these reporters are either active, or disenchanted, Catholics; and they like the concept, and the goals. Many people do see the Church as a community of believers that can gain members.

The call to mob is an anonymous opportunity to explore or revisit a parish, a church. A member of the mob can be incognito, and comfortable about it. The people who regularly attend that mass, are pleased to see that others want to see their church, their parish, their community. I was told after Cleveland Mass Mob III, that the mobbing confirmed the parish in its decision to appeal to Rome.

Some people object to the terminology. I remember, a Scottish folk musician say that 'mob' was the English word for a Scottish committee. Our beloved Pope Francis said, in Rio de Janeiro at World Youth Day, to make trouble in the diocese. Keep Massing and Mob On!

Destructive Bishops

reprinted from: 25 July 2013 entry  http://www.stcasimir.com/blog.html

I am writing to express a grave problem in the American church.

Boston's, and now Cleveland's Richard Lennon is one of many bishops that have caused people to leave the Catholic Church, and often Christianity. There are many actions they have committed to bring this ever growing departure. On top of that, they lack the candor and integrity to confess. How at Mass, can one say repeatedly 'through my fault' and beat one's chest, and not make an admission?

One hugely grievous programme of error is the eradication of parishes. And the pattern attacks the ethnic parishes first and foremost. So many of the Eastern Churches are defined by their national origin, that is the one factor of their distinctiveness and that which holds them together. Membership in these communities is usually by birth or marriage. In the United States there are many denominations. As meaningful, important, beautiful, and Christian as the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, and so many others may be they exist because of their culture and tradition. Now, when some Roman Catholic bishop unilaterally suppresses and causes ethnic parishes (and others) to become extinct can he not see the destruction of that Christian community causes the loss of Christianity in members, and causes a loss to the universal church?

Each parish (community in Christ) has its own personality and charism. Every parish in the United States (and everywhere) has a personality. Now, we are a nation of immigrants, so our parishes bring a culture and a flavor from the old country; but also that of what we have made here. In an hundred years from now those parishes will have more experiences, and more traditions. People psychologically need and want tradition. This layer of symbolism allows possession. To remove and destroy this is to destroy a community. When the English defeated the Scots at Culloden, the aftermath was to destroy all semblance of the Scots as a nation. The tartan, and the bagpipes were forbidden, and this prohibition enforced by executing the traditionalists and patriots. Similar measures have been implemented by others wanting a 'cleansing' of ethnicity. These things held emotional value, and were symbols of their existence as a people. Similarly the loss of ethnic components in church life is to eradicate those members of the church that love those items. These 'things' are not things, but symbols. For supposed religious people not to understand the value of symbolism is absurd.

Precisely this line of argument infuriates these destroyers of parishes, because they are on target. Of the several letters that i have written to the chancery, only the first received a response from Richard Lennon. In it, he quotes one of my sentences (“These nationality parishes, often disregarded by the hierarchy, have greater integrity than the parishes of the suburban sprawl.”) and proceeds to scold me. “...personally I am offended...I know not what standard of measurement you so boldly employ in this statement. ...” Here is a great episcopal error: the parish is the primary Christian unit, not the diocese. In the parish people, over a course of years, experience their sacramental life in an organic folk community. The diocese was a Roman governmental administrative unit of subprovinces. The parish is a community of believers in God. The true founder of every parish is Jesus. We all know this...Jesus told us, “For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”.  And what God has put together, man should not destroy. And we know this too, or at least some of us do. At one time, every peasant in the villages knew that; but in current America not so much; and the most invincibly ignorant is often the bishop.

a savage capitalism surrounds us

There are local problems too, that are different from the international church. Yes, there is a monarchial model, but in the US it is worse. In the US it is an american business corporate model. For all extensive purposes, Mitt Romney and Richard Lennon are indistinguishable as executives. Self-justifying Calvinism is part and parcel of both capitalism and americanism. Success is license, and under license there is no penalty for the successful. This creates a pitiless and unrepentant monster. Everything is his right (power), and wrong is not an applicable category. Those not having power are not to be considered.

But there is hope beyond the sea. Our Pope Francis at least sees and speaks of the problem. On May 21st he said,"A savage capitalism has taught the logic of profit at any cost, of giving in order to get, of exploitation without thinking of people..." Earlier, at Mass on Mayday he spoke of the Bengali clothing factory where more than a thousand perished, "A headline that really struck me on the day of the tragedy in Bangladesh was 'Living on 38 euros a month'. That is what the people who died were being paid. This is called slave labour". "Not paying fairly, not giving a job because you are only looking at balance sheets, only looking at how to make a profit. That goes against God!" Francis sounds like a modern day Amos, or Micheas, or Jeremias.

Woe to him that buildeth up his house by injustice, and his chambers not in judgment: that will oppress his friend without cause, and will not pay him his wages. — Jeremias xxii.13.

Few priests in this diocese say words like that at Mass. Here in America, secular and religious, big money dictates. What American politician would ever use the phrase 'savage capitalism'? Every idiot on Fox would have a conniption, they would be demanding immediate impeachment. Bernie Sanders is a socialist, and a US senator, and the microphone and camera never find him; beyond that who? Not even the fantasy Kenyan immigrant would be attributed those words, not in his 50s Eisenhower mode, perhaps in the late January '61 cameo. Certainly not the bishop protector [Robert Morlino] of the Ayn Rand acolyte [Paul Ryan], and the anti-labor Wisconsin governor, and the apologist for the School of Assassins at Ft. Benning. No, the United States is the defender of savage capitalism. It is not 'an invisible hand' it is a richly gloved, and ringed hand that clenches into a fist, when it is not pointing directions. To be a good Christian, and a good citizen one is called to be in opposition to, at least, the policies of our leaders.

This savage capitalism has permeated the country. It is true that New Deal America allowed Americans to prosper, but this brutal greed has eroded that. It has seen a push to take away what was gained, and it finds new people from poorer countries to abuse. It levels prosperity downward towards slavery, and as economic rights diminish, so do political, social, and religious rights. This savage capitalism allows a very, very few to rule the masses. These economic royalists rule society, and control government, and ever increasingly so.  

In the church the same arrogance of power also holds. The average parishioner has the same standing as the average laborer. Instead of a brotherhood of 'we' or 'us', it is the exalted one over the very many. Our Pope Francis is giving us hope. He does not have the power to right governments, but he can govern our church, and shame the rich. Will bishops like Lennon, Morlino, and Finn fade from the scene? Will priests challenge Catholics to act as Christian citizens?

it's not over...

I was struck by a letter a friend forwarded.  One of the issues that has concerned me is the rights of the many against the power of the one. What has been important to me, and i have noticed of many others is their spiritual life, and particularly their religious culture and heritage. These two have come together in the questioning of religious governance. I recognise and proclaim to others that in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland there is great discordance. Now, to put this in perspective: Cleveland is not alone, and the majority of people in the area are not Roman Catholics (and in that they are fortunate), also some in the diocese have not been touched. Those in that latter group, should be. It is possible that their lives and communities have not been directly affected, for certain targets are very visible, and others not so much; but they should be cognisant of the damage done. Some are, and some are pitiless.

The diocese is not the Christian unit. The parish is the Christian unit. The parish is the community. The press, at least locally, will not let that argument (and argument it is not so much as it is the fact) air. Now what is a parish, and who created it?

For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.—Jesus quoted by Matthew (xviii. 20)

Instead of having arguments emanating from the parish, we are fed arguments from the diocese. And the crisis here is the diocese extinguishing parishes. The public square has been set. Now the diocese is the bishop, and the one Cleveland has is the proverbial 'hard man'. The parish are the people in it. This bishop 'listens' only to the pastor of the parish, whom serves at his pleasure. The local contest between the bishop and the parish is fixed at every possible point in favor of the bishop. The bishop demands every consideration, and many people demand it for him. I have been scolded, and worse, for my presumed lack of fealty, respect, and love for the bishop; of course the bishop gets a pass.

Well, in Cleveland it is the work of one particularly mean-spirited tyrant, Richard Lennon. He has been censured by Rome, but continues to operate at his wont. But even less odious American bishops have caused immense pain, and i am only speaking on the issues of parish life, governance, and the rights of Catholics in their own local church. There are other issues and causes i am not addressing, and advocates of certain causes may overlap interest in these issues i mention, i am not advocating modernisation and reformation, but a return to justice, even radically so. Essentially i am calling for traditionalism, and that is not anything in similarity to American 'conservatism'. I am anti-clericalism.

I referred to a letter, it was from greater Pittsburgh. I will quote the relevant passage: 

I believe there has been a mental and physical impact on people--many of whom are senior citizens--including my own parents and many of their friends.  I am not a psychologist, but I am pretty sure many of the men I am working with are depressed.  People I talk to cry quite a bit and I think it's because their support network is being taken away.  This is about much more than a church closing.

One woman who is my parent's neighbor was in the E.R. two weeks ago with a racing heart beat.  I realize it could be related to many things, but I know how upset she is over this situation and when I talked to her yesterday, I started thinking about how much damage I have seen.  Something clicked.  One senior citizen was found slumped over his steering wheel the same day he received a letter saying his church was being merged.  Maybe it was a coincidence.  We'll never know.

Is there any way to look at the physical and psychological damage done to people when their faith family is dismantled, their support network is removed and their routine is disrupted?  The damage being done is multi-generational but the group I am working with is largely senior citizens.

We work to try to arrange social events to keep people connected, but when I think about it, we are working to do what their church used to do.

Help for people in situations like this would sometimes typically come from a church, but in this case, it is the church unleashing the havoc.

No, no, no, it is not the 'church'. We are the church, it is those who have wrested power over the local church who have created this desolation. It was an elegant plea for a 'study' to examine the situation. Perhaps a committed academic may achieve national recognition of the situation. We doubt an American cleric would look.

John XXIV, John Paul III ?

 An interesting moment in church history is happening. Benedict XVI is resigning in a few days. This is news. Certainly, this is headline news. It is not unprecedented. It has been rumoured for years that Pope Benedict was considering retirement.

Pope St. Celestine V was chosen as an aged monk to become pope in 1294. He resisted the decision and resigned in five months. Benedict visited his tomb in Aquila on 29 April 29 2009, and left behind his pallium (a stole that [in the West] the pope, and archbishops wear as sign of office). He visited again to pray on 2 July 2010. After both visits, some people thought Benedict was showing a public message of similar considerations to follow Celestine's path. There had been other popes that left office, but for different reasons, and not willingly. The pope is the Bishop of Rome, and all bishops can resign.

Benedict is now past 85 and frail, his predecessor was very ill for years. They made different decisions, and both are valid. John Paul gave example of the dignity that all people aged and weak and suffering had merit. Benedict is showing politically that the office deserves a man of full competencies, and that the office and the man are separate.

It is true, the Church has great troubles now (and it and the world always have had). Much of the trouble is self-inflicted. A great deal of that is predicated by unchecked clericalism. There is extremely little accountability of management, and the higher up, the more so.

What of Vatican II and its critics? This has not been resolved. And many of these critics are guilty clericalists.

The reporter, John Allen, brought this very, cogent, following point up. This conclave will be remarkably different. It will be absent of funereal tributes, and mourning. The emotional grip and shock will be absent. The extreme outpouring of feeling for the passing of John Paul can not be forgotten. "Santo Subito" the crowds implored, not so this time. Benedict has not passed, he has remained.

Now, when the story broke Monday in America, reporters jumped to ask, and to find people to speak, on how a new pope would be different for Catholicism. The issues all had some relation to sex (married priests, women priests, birth control, abortion), as if those are the only issues that exist in the Church. Those are not my issues (per se).

Then the talk went to handicapping the field, as do gamblers and bookmakers. People continue to chatter nonsense, and we live in the US, so a papal conclave of cardinals is going to convene their electoral convention. An American pope? Timothy Dolan, you got to be kidding, or you are stupid. Besides being a windbag that likes the camera, what is Dolan's heft? Is there an American cardinal that speaks much more than English? Is there one that is a scholar? The American bench is weak, and even if it was not, who outside of the United States would consider an American?

Now, there are many issues. One extremely important one, that the press and much of the public does not consider, and oversees all the things they are interested in:  is the relationship between the People of God, and the structure of the Church.

Here is the great opportunity. This conclave, this college of cardinals, can consider in clearer concentration their candidate. A negative liability is that the last two popes have chosen all these men, and their combined perspective might be narrow and inadequate. We will need the active intervention by the Holy Spirit. Perhaps these imperfect men may come to an excellent choice.

After the white puff of smoke is seen, and the new man is introduced on the balcony to the world, we will be given his mini-biography. In those few details his most attractive salient experiences and characteristics will be presented. That may hint, but we will see in his actions his virtue for the office.
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postscriptum 13 February 2014:  Well, i guess this answers it:
 
....“John, I would have called myself John, like the Good Pope; I would have been completely inspired by him,” Bergoglio told Cardinal Francesco Marchisano, according to a new book by longtime Italian Vaticanista Gianluca Barile.

(“Giovanni, mi sarei chiamato Giovanni, come il Papa Buono, mi sarei ispirato completamente a lui.”)....
[click]

Is the Pope a CINO???

Now, i have seen the accusatory epithet 'CINO'. Certainly, this is not known to the broad populace. It is used by a narrow group. It is directly modeled after the somewhat well known political epithet 'RINO'. In fact, the group that uses the former is a subset of the latter.

The users of the term are self anointed police, and judges desirous of being executioners. Firstly, one needs know the audience aimed for. They are the true-believers, or really those acceptable to a clique of true-believers.

The 'INO' part is acronymic for "in name only". This clique wants to purge members of the group they find insufficiently fervent, and extreme. They represent themselves as 'conservatives', they are equivalent to fascists. 

Now, who in the United States are so extreme to think such policing and purging necessary? What other 'R' group could such fanatics be a part of? Answer: Republicans. This is why they run primary insurgents against their successful incumbents. This is why they have no embarrassment with such outhouse rat crazies as Michelle Bachmann, Steve King, Rick Santorum, Allen West, Joe Walsh et. alia.

Now, i see 'C' is for Catholic. Now, any pharisaic Catholic DOES NOT have either the power, or the authority to ex-communicate, not even to ostracize others. Though these people want a stalinistic purge, it only exists in their own demented minds. In politics they can vote out some member, and replace him with a crazier one; they can't do this in the faith. They have not accepted the lessons of their own catechism: "once Catholic, always Catholic". They do not see, that, the faith is broader than they.  It is interesting, that the only parts of  Catholicism they approve of coincides with their politics, and often with their [or their masters'] economic desires, which contradicts Christianity. When they encounter Catholicism they don't approve (yet they know is valid) of, they brush it away as debatable, or trivial.

On the first day of this year, the pope, Benedict XVI had this to say, and in so doing expands on one of Jesus's Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, which are the core of Christian teaching:

Although the world is sadly marked by “hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor, by the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated financial capitalism,” as well as by various forms of terrorism and crime, I am convinced that the many different efforts at peacemaking which abound in our world testify to mankind’s innate vocation to peace.

Capitalism is linked to terrorism and crime.

about a Finn

from the New York Times

---

December 2, 2012

Missouri Bishop’s Conviction Leaves Clergy Divided

By JOHN ELIGON and LAURIE GOODSTEIN

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In the three months since Bishop Robert W. Finn became the first American prelate convicted of failing to report a pedophile priest, lay people and victims’ advocates have repeatedly called for his resignation.

Now, recent interviews and a private survey by a company working for the Roman Catholic diocese here show for the first time that a significant number of the bishop’s own priests have lost confidence in him.

Bishop Finn, who oversees the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, is serving two years of court-supervised probation after his conviction in September on a single misdemeanor count. The survey by Church Development, a consulting firm the diocese hired to run a capital campaign, was of 40 priests. In the 32 responses obtained by The New York Times, half of them seriously doubted whether the bishop should continue as their leader, and several suggested that he resign.

“I think it would be easier for us to move forward without Bishop Finn as our bishop,” the Rev. Michael Clary, the pastor at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Lee’s Summit, Mo., which is part of Bishop Finn’s diocese, said in an interview. He added, however, that the bishop’s resignation may not be the only way forward.

Such sentiments raise the question of whether Bishop Finn can successfully continue to oversee a diocese of 87 parishes and more than 130,000 people, or whether he will go the way of Cardinal Bernard F. Law, who gave up his post in Boston a decade ago after an outcry over his practice of reassigning priests accused of abuse to new parishes. A national online petition calling for Bishop Finn’s resignation has collected nearly 110,000 signatures.

But the bishop also has a strong base of supporters who contend that the critical priests do not appreciate Bishop Finn’s doctrinally conservative approach. He belongs to Opus Dei, a conservative Roman Catholic organization.

“Yes, there is a divide in the presbyterate, but in my opinion it’s the same old tired divide that has existed from the day he arrived,” the Rev. Vince Rogers, the pastor at St. Andrew the Apostle in Gladstone, Mo., and a 20-year veteran of the diocese, wrote in an e-mail. “In a word, some of the priests wish that we had a more liberal bishop, and they are willing to use any means to achieve that end.”

Bishop Finn’s conviction stemmed from his failure to report the Rev. Shawn Ratigan to the authorities after hundreds of pornographic pictures that Father Ratigan had taken of young girls were discovered on his laptop in December 2010.

The bishop sent Father Ratigan to live in a convent when the photos were discovered. But the information about the nature and extent of the priest’s photographs was not reported until May 2011, when a church official went to the authorities without the approval of Bishop Finn, who declined to comment for this article. The diocese also declined to answer a series of questions.

Debate over the bishop’s next steps seems to have split the clergy of 70 active priests and 32 retired ones along generational lines. Older priests generally urge the bishop to step aside, and younger ones tend to back him.

The divisions date to seven years ago, when Bishop Finn took over the diocese and implemented broad changes in a variety of areas, from the tone of the diocesan newspaper to the way priests celebrate Mass. Supporters praised him, saying that he brought the diocese more in line with church teaching. But detractors accused him of wielding power unilaterally, and described him as aloof and defensive.

Critics are troubled by the silence of church leaders in the United States and Rome.

Bishop Finn attended the most recent meeting of the American bishops, in Baltimore in November — the first since his conviction — but no bishop addressed the matter publicly. Asked to comment on Friday on Bishop Finn’s situation, the chairman of the bishops’ child protection committee, Bishop R. Daniel Conlon, of Joliet, Ill., declined.

Only the pope can remove a bishop from office. Several priests in Kansas City have written to Pope Benedict XVI’s representative in the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, calling for Bishop Finn to resign. The archbishop did not respond to an e-mail requesting his comments.

Regardless of where the diocese’s priests stand on the bishop, most find themselves stuck between a bishop they want to see succeed and angry parishioners.

Weekly giving at parishes is down slightly across the diocese, and priests said some of their members were reluctant to donate because they did not want their contributions going toward the bishop or the diocese’s central administration. Parishioners have been turned off, priests said, not only by the bishop’s actions but also by the fiscal obligations of the diocese. These include the almost $1.4 million spent on the bishop’s and the diocese’s legal fees and the potential payouts that will result from the dozens of pending civil suits.

The survey sought to determine whether the priests believed the new fund-raising drive to build a high school could be successful. About 65 percent of them recommended delaying the drive. Seven priests suggested a new bishop was necessary to be successful.

Church Development has lowered its estimate of how much the capital campaign could raise to $15 million from the $40 million it estimated before the abuse scandal broke last year.

Festering anger and mistrust throughout the diocese present huge challenges in persuading parishioners to open their wallets. Priests critical of Bishop Finn said that for that to happen, he needed to admit wrongdoing and ask for forgiveness.

“Some say he has made that apology, he has said he’s sorry, but he hasn’t told us what he’s sorry for,” said the Rev. Matthew Brumleve, pastor at Holy Family in Kansas City and another 20-year veteran of the diocese. “Is he sorry he got caught? Is he sorry we don’t see things the way he sees them? Or is he truly sorry for letting down the children of this diocese?”

But Father Brumleve said he believed that Bishop Finn did not see the necessity of offering a more robust apology.

“That’s going to be the millstone around our neck until that happens,” he said.

During the priests’ annual retreat at a resort in the Lake of the Ozarks in November, one priest told an anecdote about when he had been caught speeding in Kansas. As the bishop stood before them in a windowless room, the priest explained that he had not realized he had been driving too fast until he had gotten pulled over and received a ticket. Even though he did not mean to break the law, he still did, the priest said, likening his situation to the bishop’s.

But during the meeting, Bishop Finn denied that he had done anything wrong, according to two priests there.

The bishop’s supporters raise their brows at the demands of their brother priests for further apologies. “I believe he’s accepted responsibility for what happened and he’s paying the price for it,” said the Rev. Angelo Bartulica of St. Columban in Chillicothe, Mo. “I don’t understand what more people want.” 
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 postscriptum 6 pm 21 April 2015: Finn has resigned as bishop. [click] and {click}

Inconsistencies of politicised religion

from Catholic Democrats

This was put out as promotional material. The two major political parties will each have a Catholic vice-presidential candidate. The Democrat, Joseph Biden, believes in the 'Catholic Social Justice Tradition'. The Republican, Paul Ryan, believes in unbounded capitalism. Biden has been ridiculed for not editing his comments. Ryan is an aggressive, testy liar; but considered the boy genius of his party. His political and economic beliefs are identical to the party's last vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin. Palin is now unwelcome in the official campaign, because she is considered to be a 'rogue', and an idiot.

 

 Social Darwinism [survival of the fittest] is the Republican's Godless, materialistic, social-economic programme

Religion is odd in American politics. When [1960] John Kennedy wanted to be president, his Catholicism was a huge interest of political debate. The conservative Protestant clergy [including national figures such as Billy Graham and Norman Vincent Peale] of the time were actively against him. John Bennett, Dean of Union Theological Seminary at the time, recognised a "Protestant underworld that stirs up undisguised hatred of Catholics".  It was still evident when [2004] John Kerry ran, there was still much ground talk against him as a Catholic. But an odd element was added to this, many Catholic clergymen, especially the bishopry and other ambitious sorts had become Republican. The Catholic Church officially demands the clergy to be neutral, but many actively promoted the candidacy of Kerry's opponent, and permitted distribution of literature [propaganda] against the Catholic candidate on church grounds.

Now [2012], we have seen the Republican underworld suggest, previously, that Barack Obama was  part of a black militant Protestantism, and then a crypto-Moslem. For both fictive reasons [though mutually contradictory] his candidacy was and is opposed. Now, we see the Republican candidate for the presidency, Willard Romney, to be a polytheist, and a former bishop in his 'church'; and there is no conservative [or liberal] objection.

Obdurate officials of the ordinariate

Ten parishes in the Cleveland Latin-rite diocese that were unjustly forced not to meet have now been operating with official episcopal acknowledgment. An eleventh one has been impeded by the overbearing ordinary. A twelfth has been denied a real explanation of their status.

In Kansas City a bishop has been convicted and put on probation for his role in a pedophilia coverup. Robert Finn, a politically active bishop, has spent over a million dollars of diocesan money trying to avoid that conviction. He is a public disgrace. He still is bishop and continues to operate as before. Now, many other bishops could be convicted on similar charges if government wanted to exercise vigilance. Of course, those who agree with his politics and church polity will vigorously defend such criminal bishops, and bash those that do not.

Bishops have been removed from office throughout history. But the hierarchy loathes to have one of their number to be driven from office, or removed. In Finn's case a life of private prayer and penance would be appropriate.

Now, in Cleveland, we have Richard Lennon. Lennon would not pass scrutiny. Fortunately for him, he is not going to be investigated. Records and evidence will remain secreted. He was transferred from Boston, which he and his sponsor, Bernard Law, left in shambles. Although his office in Boston was considered temporary, Boston was more prestigious than Cleveland. The management of the entire local press will not allow a censure or investigation in Cleveland. The national, and international press are far more interested. There has been "pervasive commingling of accounts" where monies from the sale of parish properties, and supposedly dedicated funds fall into general funds, which in turn can be used for anything.

The people who have their parishes back, are only interested in their parishes now. Two groups of local faithful that made up Endangered Catholics, and Code Purple are spent and involved in their parishes, and personal lives. Local government is filled with Catholics not willing to chance their positions at the ballot box, and social circles.

Now we have parishes trying to rebuild. By accident and by purpose, no parish received the same pastor they had had. Lennon did not want that sort of continuity. Lennon wants these parishes run by these new men alone. Now, some parishes were lucky and got men whom like their communities. This was seen at the Homecoming Masses in which there was a great celebratory presence, and the intentions and words of praise the priest had for the parishioners whom fought for their parishes. In others, the contrary absence of celebration and admiration for the people, coupled with praise and concern for Lennon was also indicative, but adversely so. At St. John the Baptist in Akron, many parishioners made it known that they do not care for the administrator appointed, for he had worked for the parish's closure. St. James Lakewood also received a lennonist.

Lennon has avoided coming to the Homecoming Masses. He is making a point of coming to the parish to 'install' the pastor. Of course, these Masses will be attended not only by a fraction of those coming to the Homecoming, but also a fraction of an average Mass, even though the pastor will encourage the Christians to come. While St. Mary Akron had their Homecoming, Lennon installed the pastor at St. Mary Bedford.

One priest who said good things at his first re-assignment said troubling words at his second. A second newspaper journalist shared some of those words with the public, a first reporter judiciously did not. The Amish are a forgiving, and pacifist people; but as circumstances were, they do not have to see Charles Roberts. To counsel people to forgive an unrepentant Lennon, is the same as counseling a battered woman to stay with her man. Lennon is just like a wife beater, and will continue to abuse.

Many people thought Richard Milhous Lennon could not stay after the parish debacle, and the low morale of his priests. He has had these unusual 'meetings' with groups of priests. Yeah, they know he is vindictive, and a mental case, and very few have shown any courage before in speaking. Why would they feel free to speak now, especially when after six years they certainly know him? Has there been a public disclosure of the outcomes of those meetings?

Lennon has had at least three emissaries come to town to ask him to remove himself, he has not. Lennon has been to Rome several times and has been advised and scolded, and told of his problems. Unlike Martino of Scranton, he did not take a hint. Such bishops have pushed away an altogether too numerous a number of individuals from the faith, and therefore their families, and generations yet to be born. To keep the faith is, at times, a very trying task. Jesus promised us [Matthew xi. 30] His yoke was sweet, and His burden light. We have been assigned a pharisaic faro whose yoke is harsh, and burden heavy.

I had always thought at least some of the Cleveland parish appeals were going to be successful. I was certain most, if not all would have been successful after the Allentown decisions. But we never did find out how many were in play. There was at least one occasion when Lennon's departure would have had a good cover story (his operation). I have heard many people say that they can not see him continuing as bishop in Cleveland. I can.
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postscriptum 6 pm 21 April 2015: Finn has resigned as bishop. [click] and {click}