STORY OF THE DAY - PRACTICAL ADVICE

doesn't usually advise eating chocolate
for breakfast unless you're absolutely
convinced that's the kind of advice you need


From StoryPeople.

GAY ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS?

On Richard Sipe's website titled Celibacy/Sex/Catholic Church, I came upon an intriguing essay titled "Are American Bishops Gay?"

The short answer is yes, some are.

I am pursuing this discussion in the spirit of contemplative transformation espoused by Fr. Thomas Keating who challenges us to confront the biases that keep us from facing truth when we fail to ask penetrating questions: “Are you so enamored with your religion that you have a naïve loyalty that cannot see the real faults that are present in a particular faith community? Do you sweep under the rug embarrassing situations and bow to the security or esteem needs of the community?”1

Who is Richard Sipe?

A.W. RICHARD SIPE is a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor who earlier spent 18 years as a Benedictine monk and priest. He was trained specifically to deal with the mental health problems of Roman Catholic Priests. In the process of training and therapy, he conducted a 25-year ethnographic study of the celibate/sexual behavior of that population. His study, published in 1990, is now considered a classic. Sipe is known internationally and has participated in 12 documentaries on celibacy and priest sexual abuse aired by HBO, BBC, and other networks in the United States, United Kingdom, and France. He has been widely interviewed by media including CNN, ABC, NBC, CNBC, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, People magazine, Newsweek and USA Today.

There's more biographical information at Sipe's website, including what I presume is a picture of him at the Vatican with John Paul II.

Sipe goes on:

Why start a dialogue about human sexuality with identifying gay bishops?

At first glance this focus may seem prickly, provocative and contentious. Not true. Rather this is an effort to define a sexual reality and not celibate failure.

Denial of the reality that clergy, bishops included, have some sexual orientation—whatever it may be—is destructive and forms a linchpin keeping a diseased process in place. Also in treating disease—in this case religious hypocrisy—one starts first to address the symptom. A boil can be an ugly and painful sign of a blood disorder; it has to be treated locally and systemically. The hypocrisy of some American bishops, their arrogance and duplicity patently manifested in their dealings with the victims of abuse by clergy, their pronouncements about the “intrinsic disorders” and “intrinsic evil” of masturbation, birth control and the whole host sexual behaviors common to Christian men and women cry to the heavens for an honest accounting and open discussion. Bishops need to be honest about sexuality—even their own. Painful as it might be the boil must be lanced. That is a start to treatment and cure.
....

Am I proposing here an “outing” of gay bishops? No!

I am suggesting that the reality of bishops‟ sexual orientation/behavior and the need to hide it is a significant element in clerical culture and structure that keeps us from facing basic facts about how that culture operates and affects millions of people. (My emphasis)

Since I left the Roman Catholic Church 15 years ago over the child abuse and cover-up in my diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, I've thought much about the reasons for the abuse and cover-up, and, although I'm no expert, I'm convinced that forced celibacy as a condition for ordination in the RCC is the source of at least some of the abusive behavior. Perhaps men predisposed to be child-abusers made their way through the ordination screening process, but it seems to me that being taught to live one's life in denial of one's own sexuality, whether oriented to straight, or gay, or somewhere in between, could, in some instances, lead to aberrant behavior of several varieties, including abuse of children, even if one was not originally predisposed to such behavior. A godly call to celibacy is one thing, but forced celibacy is a whole other matter.

To leave my church of almost 60 years was no easy matter, but I will say that if I had not left back then, by now I would be out of the RCC for other reasons. By no means am I saying that everyone should leave the RCC. I have many friends who are Roman Catholic, and I admire my friends who stay in the church and fight the good fight for change. When I left, I promised myself that I would not be a bitter ex-Catholic, and I believe that I've succeeded in that endeavor more than I have failed.

Regarding the cover-up, I saw the probable cause of the bishops circling the wagons and moving quickly into denial as the default response as a desire to protect the church as an institution, and in their skewed moral assessment, it was more important to protect the institution, than to protect the children.

Perhaps I'm naive, but never once did I think of the gay men amongst the bishops, probably not all of whom were celibate, having to protect themselves from being found out, as another reason to deploy the policy of cover-up. The massive scale of the hypocrisy within the Roman Catholic Church in its failure to acknowledge the numbers of priests within its own clergy population who do not practice celibacy is stunning. As the news of the scandal broke, I began to say of the priests, "For God's sake, do what you have to do, but find a consenting adult, and leave the children alone!"

Let's start where the hierarchy has long staked out its sexual concerns—specifically about homosexuality even before the term came into common parlance in the 1850s. Same sex orientation and behaviors remain a perennial and major concern of Vatican officials both concerning laymen and within the clerical culture.

When James Hickey, later cardinal of Washington D.C. was rector of the Pontifical North American Theological College in Rome, a sign posted on a bulletin board in the college stated “Overt homosexuality will not be tolerated in this seminary.” A priest from Louisiana took a photo of the bulletin board when it appeared.

Once again, it's the hypocrisy that is so very disturbing. Sipe cites Andrew Greeley's novel, The Cardinal Sins, which I read back in the day:

Father Andrew Greeley outlined the clerical celibate/sexual system most elegantly and accurately in his novel The Cardinal Sins. Struggles and failures around power and celibacy are personified in two boyhood friends who become priests. Pat Donahue is a prototype of the clerical sociopath who even violates a classmate and sneaks dates with girls while in the seminary. As he ascends the clerical ladder to become a cardinal he has sexual encounters—some sadistic—with women, fathers a child, and is dominated by bi-sexual passion that is equaled only by his limitless ambition and ecclesiastical savoir-faire. Kevin Brennan the faithful celibate friend and fellow priest repeatedly covers up for Donahue and saves him and the Church from scandal.

Although Greeley could hardly have intended it at the time of writing, the book remains a paradigm of the clerical culture and the celibate/sexual structure—homosexual Vatican Monsignori and all—that constitutes clerical society. Greeley‟s “novel of grace” has the status and force of a parable: clerics collude to cover clergy malfeasance to preserve the Church from scandal. The sexual abuse crisis in the U.S. (and Ireland) spotlights that paradigm with glaring clarity.

The essay was an eye-opener for me, and I'm probably quoting too many of Richard Sipe's words, but I hope that some of you will read the essay. It's 16 pages in a pdf file, but worth taking the time.

As I look at the leadership in the Roman Catholic Church today, I see no move towards openness or an acknowledgement of the reality of the state of the RCC clergy. But the RCC is not simply the hierarchy. The church is the people and the priests who go about their business each day doing the Lord's work and therein lies my hope for the church in which I spent so many years of my life.

I'll end on a humorous note with one more quote from Sipe:

A longtime religion reporter/editor for a prominent daily remarked one time during an interview that he was struck by “all the beautiful young priests” who were in attendance to bishops he had interviewed during his career. Similar innuendoes and jokes are circulated among the Rome Press Corps about a young priest-secretary who attends Pope Benedict XVI. The pope's red Gucci pumps and his obvious predilection for fashionable miters and robes (in addition to his long assault on the "intrinsically disordered" population) do nothing to establish a secure masculine image.

Thanks to John for pointing me to Richard Sipe's writing.

PJ IS PUBLISHED!

A note from my virtual and real-life friend PJ (Phyllis) Degenaro:

Hello all:

Sorry for the shameless self-promotion, but I've finally had a short story published and I figured I might as well shout it from the rooftops.

This is the journal: Adirondack Review.

And this is a direct link to the story:

Just imagine how obnoxious I would be if it was a print journal. ;)

-Phyllis/PJ

No way PJ can be obnoxious, except to those who really deserve the treatment.

After reading PJ's story, here's what I wrote back:

Hello back, PJ,

Your story is good! Gritty and real, or you coulda fooled me. Written out of the experience of your misspent youth, no doubt. I started, had one interruption, came back and read it through with anticipation. Congratulations! The in-print stories will come. I look forward to saying, "I knew her when...." I told you so, didn't I?

I watched "The Daily Show", and Samantha Bee did a sketch with a real guy, who is a game blogger and has a 13.5 in. penis. Samantha is trying to convince him that he's "born for porn".

Sorry for the interruption. Hang in there and keep writing.

xxoo

Mimi

50TH ANNIVERSARY STORY

A couple were celebrating 50 years together. Their three kids, all very successful, agreed to a Sunday dinner in their honor.

"Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad," gushed son number one, "Sorry I'm running late. I had an emergency at the hospital with a patient, you know how it is, and I didn't have time to get you a gift."

"Not to worry," said the father. "The important thing is that we're all together today."

Son number two arrived and announced, "You and Mom look great, Dad. I just flew in from Los Angeles between depositions and didn't have time to shop for you."

"It's nothing," said the father. "We're glad you were able to come."

Just then the daughter arrived. "Hello and happy anniversary! I'm sorry, but my boss is sending me out of town and I was really busy packing so I didn't have time to get you anything."

After they had finished dessert, the father said, "There's something your mother and I have wanted to tell you for a long time. You see, we were very poor. Despite this, we each worked two jobs and were able to send each of you to college. Throughout the years your mother and I knew that we loved each other very much, but we just never found the time to get married."

The three children gasped and all said, "You mean we're bastards?"

"Yep," said the father. "And cheap ones too."


If you're cheap and forgetful with your mama and daddy, and the joke makes you feel guilty, don't blame me, blame Paul (A.). :-)

STORY OF THE DAY - DESTINY

Destiny? there's only your time & then
there's not your time, she said. All the
rest is made up to keep you busy


Oh. Now I see.


From StoryPeople

MORE GOOD NEWS

From Ekklesia:

In a dramatic development, the House of Lords has voted to allow the use of religious premises and religious language in same-sex partnerships.

Sitting yesterday evening (2 March), peers voted in favour of the proposal by 95 votes to 21, despite opposition from the government and several Church of England bishops.

Good news and about time. Why should Anglican bishops exercise control over the polity and practices of other denominations?

Links to other stories about the vote can be found at The Lead.

BUNNING BACKED DOWN

He removed the roadblock. What to say? Bunning says his only concern is for the people. Can't you tell? Sen. DeMint of South Carolina said, "Sen. Bunning is my hero."

WHERE HELL IS

For decades pundits have been saying that The New Orleans Saints were so bad at playing football that Hell would freeze over before the Saints would ever win The Super Bowl.

On Sunday, February 7, 2010 The Saints won the Super Bowl.

On that same Sunday, Washington D.C. was paralyzed under several feet of snow and the Government was shut down.

I suppose we now know where Hell really is.


Thank Doug, because the joke is fittin', jes' fittin'.

WORN DOWN

Oh dear! I'm having an unproductive blogging day. I've started a couple of posts and not finished them. Whether I'll ever finish them is questionable. Through a link from Americablog, I came upon the following news from ABC:

White House officials tell ABC News that in his remarks tomorrow President Obama will indicate a willingness to work with Republicans on some issue to get a health care reform bill passed but will say that if it is necessary, Democrats will use the controversial reconciliation rules requiring only 51 Senate votes to pass the "fix" to the Senate bill.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been awaiting the president’s remarks direction on how health care reform will proceed.

Can we truly believe that some form of decent health care reform will be passed by both the House and the Senate and signed by the president? For a year now, the path of my emotions, paralleling the course of health care reform, have been a roller-coaster ride, hopes up, hopes dashed, hopes up, hopes dashed, and no bill signed into law yet. Can our Democratic legislators in the Congress come together and produce a bill, and pass the bill through both houses, and get the bill on the president's desk for him to sign? Why not six, eight months ago? Or if substantive legislation is really about to be passed, should I not even ask the question?

I confess that when I hear the words, "Obama will indicate a willingness to work with Republicans", I begin to hyperventilate from anxiety. Mr President, please!

The president will outline the plan to pass the bill, including having the House of Representatives pass the Democratic Senate health care reform legislation as well as a second bill containing various “fixes.”

He will say that if Republicans refuse to allow and up or down vote in the Senate on the fixes to the bill, Democrats will use the reconciliation rules.

"[I]f the Republicans refuse to allow an up or down vote"? Mr President! You simply cannot be credulous enough to believe that there is any chance whatsoever that the Republicans will allow an up or down vote.

I confess that I'm worn down. I'll believe in a health care reform bill when I see President Obama signing the bill on the TV. And then, I'll start praying that the bill is, at least in some ways, better than what we have now.

Note: John Aravosis thinks the news is great. I'd love to be as hopeful as John.

WENCHOSTER CALENDAR - MARCH

 

Pretty Boy Procession 1899

 

Shown above is the official calendar for the month of March from the Diocese of Wenchoster. Once again, the feast days are somewhat different from the calendar of the Episcopal Church and includes saints of whom we may never have heard. After all, the Diocese of Wenchoster is in England, and we should expect that their calendar will be a bit different from ours.

As usual, click on the pictures for the larger view.

I must tell Grandpère about St Mulch of Compostella. Dedicated gardener that he is, I'm sure he will want to adopt the saint as his patron.

Is it just me, or do others judge that not all the boys in the procession are pretty? Still what a grand and glorious ceremony the Crowning of the "Pretty Boy" must be. Is it a bit odd that such a ceremony would take place in the solemn season of Lent?

As to the "Cutting of the Ears" ceremony, my question is, "Whose ears?" Not the Pretty Boys' ears, surely.

Note that the calendar appears only one day late. Not bad, all things considered.