BishopAccountability.org
	Holiday Hiatus, Some Links for Those Long Nights, See You in 2008 By Kay Ebeling City of Angels December 10, 2007 http://cityofangels3.blogspot.com/2007/12/holiday-hiatus-some-links-for-those.html City of Angels Blog is going on hiatus until early 2008, but before signing off here are some things to read: From Tom Doyle's letter re a "Mass of Remembrance for Sex Abuse Survivors" (that really is how they announced it, a Mass for dead survivors. . . ) which took place November 28 in Newton, Mass. "One of the fundamental problems with our Catholic approach to serious problems is the belief that some form of liturgy will bring a solution. Many of us believe the only ones who come away from such rituals feeling satisfied are those who planned them or took part in them. The fallacy is that such events effect healing. "How can you or anyone expect them to take a liturgy seriously when true pastoral care has not only been ignored but refused. "These efforts would be better spent by the cardinals and bishops in Massachusetts and other States working hard for legislative reform that would enable all sex abuse victims, to find redress and justice in the courts "Many of us see such ventures as hypocritical or worse, as a calculated attempt to drum up positive publicity for an institutional Church that has clearly failed." Church hierarchy ask of priest rape survivors: "What more do they want." "Basically they want complete honesty which includes a concentrated effort to comprehend just how horrendous and toxic the actual sexual abuse has been as well as the on-going official Church response. No liturgy whether it's a Mass of Remembrance or the dramatic but ineffective gestures by Cardinal O'Malley over a year ago will work. It will take a fundamental change in attitude and clerical culture. We clerics must start acting as if the words of Jesus really mean something: "Whenever you did this to the least of my brothers [or sisters] you did it for me." ME: ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU CONSIDER SOME OF US CAN'T EVEN ENTER A CHURCH — ANY SONGS IN MY BIBLE STUDY MEETINGS THAT SOUND LIKE OLD CATHOLIC HYMNS MAKE ME HAVE TO GET UP AND LEAVE THE ROOM ME: I Say what we need are therapy centers all over the country on the same scale as treatment centers that coddled pedophile priests for decades. Saunas, massage, group and personal therapy — months long stays — at the church's expense That's what we deserve and need. ===== Writing about the bishops' propensity to issue statements about world affairs, in an article titled: "Catholic Bishops versus Grownups" Eugene Cullen Kennedy, wrote November 18, 2007 "The bishops should examine themselves about the moral implications of the choices they have made, for example, about dealing with the sex-abuse crisis by church personnel. What can Catholics make of recent pronouncements by church leaders that seem like talking points rather than deeply held moral convictions? And the LA TIMES FINALLY GETS IT BUT. . . This was at the very end of a long article about the investigation that finally put Michael Baker in prison. From Sunday December 9th story by John Spano: "Loffredo said the only person who knew about Baker and the boy was a nun who worked in the parish, according to the victim. "Once, the nun had walked into Baker's second-story room and found them together, kissing. She left without saying a word. "A week later, Loffredo and Scott interviewed the nun at a retirement home in the San Fernando Valley. She denied knowing anything about any abuse. "On the drive back, Loffredo told Scott he thought she was lying. "I bet she's already on the phone with [Cardinal Roger] Mahony," he said. The next day, Loffredo received a letter from the archdiocese that correctly identified the victim. Michael Hennigan, a lawyer for the archdiocese, confirmed that the church later provided detectives with the man's correct surname. He said the church did not deliberately mislead investigators. Asked about detectives' assertion that church officials had not interviewed the victim or his family, he said: "I'm not aware of any reason why church officials would have . . . said they had interviewed people they had not interviewed." ===== You can spend a week or so at either of these sites reading: (Copy and paste address into your search engine, I can't figure out how to get links in here.) http://reform-network.net/ Voice from the Desert Or http://www.renegadecatholic.com/ for Jay Nelson's collective writings ====== PLUS: CROSSES Excerpts from "Crosses" published in 2007 are at: http://www.trolleyarchive.com/Production/PhotoGroupView.aspx?pbid=4&msa=1&pgid=10734927 This one too http://www.trolleyarchive.com/Default.aspx "Crosses" is photos and life stories of a selection of survivors from around the country. ==== I'm going to spend the holiday season in a kind of spiritual pursuit, mainly because I NEED TO CALM DOWN so bad. Also I need to reposition. The blog will continue at: http://cityofangels4.blogspot.com Hopefully with more art and possibly video next year. Maybe I'll finally figure out how to make links link in this blog as well. . . Enjoy the season and, me, I'm going to catch some Zzz's like a beat. Rest up.
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