HIS HOLINESS STILL DOESN'T GET IT

For a couple of days, I didn't post the link and quote which follows. Although I was sickened by the story, I find it more and more difficult to write on the subject.

From The Huffington Post:

Hundreds of sex abuse victims have come forward in Belgium with harrowing accounts of molestation by Catholic clergy that reportedly led to at least 13 suicides and affected children as young as two, a special commission said Friday.

Professor Peter Adriaenssens, chairman of the commission, said the abuse in Belgium may have been even more rampant than the 200-page report suggests.

"Reality is worse than what we present here today because not everyone shares such things automatically in a first contact with the commission," he told reporters.

Adriaenssens, a child psychiatrist who has worked with trauma victims for 23 years, said nothing had prepared him for the stories of abuse that blighted the lives of victims.

"We don't just talk about touching. We are talking about oral and anal abuse, forced masturbation and mutual masturbation. We talk about people who have gone through serious abuse," Adriaenssens said.
....

Friday's report said 507 witnesses came forward with stories of molestation at the hands of clergy over the past decades. It says those abused included children who were two, four, five and six years old.

Family members or friends said 13 victims committed suicide that "was related to sexual abuse by clergy," the report said. Six other witnesses said they had attempted suicide.

"It is notable how often one issue comes back in the witness reports: the high number of suicides," the report said.

The subsequent link which follows persuaded me to post on the story.

From Fox News back in June of this year:

Pope Benedict XVI lashed out Sunday at what he called the "deplorable" raids carried out by Belgian police who detained bishops, confiscated computers, opened a crypt and took church documents as part of an investigation into priestly sex abuse.

Benedict made a rare personal entry into the escalating diplomatic dispute with Belgium, issuing a message of solidarity to the head of the Belgian bishops' conference and other bishops who were detained in the June 24 raid.
....

Belgium's justice minister defended the searches on Sunday, saying the bishops were treated normally and that the search warrant was fully legitimate.
....

Benedict said he wanted to write to Belgium's bishops "at this sad moment" to express his solidarity "for the surprising and deplorable way in which the searches were conducted." He noted that the monthly meeting of the bishops was set to discuss clerical abuse.

The pope didn't get what is truly deplorable in Belgium and around the world. Poor bishops. How they suffered at the hands of the law enforcement authorities. What about the children, your Holiness? What about the suicides, your Holiness? What about the families and friends who lost their loved ones, your Holiness?

In addition to being sickened by the stories of what took place in Belgium, I'm sickened by the pope's response to the raids.

Lapin sent the links.

OUR WEDDING ALBUM - SEPTEMBER 13, 1961

 

My brother-in-law, Frank, Tom, me, my sister Gayle

For years, I had no idea in which of our many photo albums to look for the snapshots of our wedding, but after a persistent search through a good many albums, I found them a few months ago. Tom and I married in Charleston, South Carolina, at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. John in the bishop's private chapel. The small chapel was the perfect setting for our wedding, because only a very few were in attendance. Fr. Francis Friend presided over the ceremony, and he was a true friend. Because we were not members of their parishes, the other Roman Catholic priests whom I approached to do the honors, refused. We wanted to do the right thing, but we could not find a priest to make an honest woman out of me until I discovered Fr. Friend.

 

The bride and groom

Fr. Friend worked at the Cathedral office of the Marriage Tribunal, which generally handled annulment cases, but, in our case, he agreed to preside over our wedding ceremony. Present were my sister, Gayle, my brother-in-law, Frank, my niece Donna, Frank's sister, Chally and her two children, Cindy and Don. After the ceremony, my sister had a surprise wine and cake party for our small group. It was lovely, and I would not change a thing.


The happy couple once again...

After I finished graduate school at Louisiana State University in early August 1961, I went to stay with my sister in Charleston, South Carolina, because Tom was on active duty in the US Army at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina. He came to visit in Charleston on weekends until he was released from active duty to the US Army Reserve at the end of August or early in September. Since we wanted a small wedding, we decided to get married in Charleston. My family was large, and there was no way to have a small wedding in New Orleans without hurting the feelings of a good many people.

 

...and again - sipping champagne

Tom and I both had jobs waiting in Mobile, Alabama, and after a honeymoon that lasted a night and a day in St. Augustine, Florida, we headed to New Orleans and New Roads, Louisiana, to pick up our few possessions before we went to Mobile to our jobs. We had very little money and none for a longer honeymoon.

 

Me, my niece, Donna, and Tom

On the way to New Orleans, my car the, 1953 Chevrolet hard-top convertible pictured behind us, began to make a terrible noise when we turned curves. We were able to complete the trip to New Orleans, with the grinding sound on every curve, and we knew that we likely had expensive repairs facing us. I'd purchased the car used several years before, and, in those days, car dealers routinely turned back the mileage on used cars, so no telling how many miles the car had run. Instead of paying for the repairs, we decided to buy a new car.

We purchased a 1961 Ford Falcon, with no money down, only my old car as a trade-in and proof that we both had jobs. We loaded all our possessions into the Falcon (Those were the days of the simple life!) and started out on our new life together in Mobile.

And here we are, 49 years later, hardly changed at all.

STORY OF THE DAY - SIMPLE LIFE

I was going to live simply & give away all
my money to the poor, she said, until I
figured out then I'd be poor, so the
simple thing was just to keep it. I like it
when things make sense like that, she
added.

From StoryPeople

ARSON CAUSE OF FIRE AT LESBIAN COUPLE'S HOME

The Daily Times:

Carol Ann Stutte and her partner, Laura Stutte, are afraid to return alone to what is left of their Vonore home in Monroe County (Tennessee).

After being victims of an arson and having the word “queers” spray painted on their garage, the lesbian couple is fearful for their safety.

“We would love to stay (in the area),” Carol Stutte said Friday. “But we will never, never rebuild (on that property) again. I take someone with me constantly — one or two people to make sure I'm OK while I'm up there.”

Detective Travis Jones, with the Monroe County Sheriff's Department, said authorities aren't releasing many details about the fire — which happened Sept. 4 at about 10 p.m.

“It is an arson and we are continuing the investigation,” he said Friday. “There are people of interest in the case,” and authorities, including the state Bomb and Arson Squad, are still conducting interviews.

Well, for the time being, bigotry seems to have won the day in driving the Stuttes from their home, but perhaps the ugliness of the incident will serve to open some eyes in the community. I hope that the authorities pursue the case vigorously and bring the arsonist or arsonists to justice.

H/T to Jim Burroway at Box Turtle Bulletin.

GALILEO WAS WRONG AFTER ALL

From Slashdot:

"'Galileo Was Wrong' is an inaugural conference to discuss the 'detailed and comprehensive treatment of the scientific evidence supporting Geocentrism, the academic belief that the Earth is immobile in the center of the universe.'

Ann V. sent me the link to the website sponsoring the conference with the subject, "you gotta be kidding me". The conference is real, but what to say about the folks who believe "the Earth is immobile in the center of the universe"? For every cockamamie idea that arises, the gullible are out there to latch on to it.

A few, not all, of the subjects to be discussed:

Geocentrism: They Know It, But They're Hiding It
Scientific Experiments Showing Earth Motionless In Space
The Biblical Firmament: Outer Space Is Not Empty (Who says it is?)
The Fathers and Exigesis of Scripture on Geocentrism
Carbon 14 & Radiometric Dating Show Young Earth

Ya gotta be kidding me.

Slashdot adds:

Unfortunately, there is still a significant minority of Western people who believe that the Earth is the center of the universe: 18% of Americans, 16% of Germans, and 19% of Britons."

I hope there is live blogging from the conference..

Me, too.

PRAYER FOR SABBATH REST

Since I did not use the prayer on Labor Day, when Ann Fontaine sent me the link, I thought I'd post it on the Sabbath - today or tomorrow.

From In Praise of Sophia.

"CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL, PEOPLE"

Nicked from MotherAmelia at My Mother Is a Father, who says:

Watch this Nissan commercial. It was aired at the New Orleans Saints' football game and it really nails the global warming issue. Besides, polar bears are beautiful creatures to watch. Makes me want to consider a Leaf as my next car.

Me, too. It's a great commercial. Good for Nissan.

IN REMEMBRANCE - SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 - PART 2

For remembrances from those closer to the scene:

Tobias Haller's poem at In a Godward Direction

Doug's post at Counterlight's Peculiars

Fran's three-part account of the day at There Will Be Bread:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

UPDATE: And Elizabeth Kaeton's post at Telling Secrets.

IN REMEMBRANCE - SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

I have not forgotten. Once again, I find that I have no words, only thoughts and emotions which I cannot express. I offer these words from The Book of Common Prayer:

I am Resurrection and I am Life, says the Lord.
Whoever has faith in me shall have life,
even though he die.
And everyone who has life,
and has committed himself to me in faith,
shall not die for ever.

As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth.
After my awaking, he will raise me up;
and in my body I shall see God.
I myself shall see, and my eyes behold him
who is my friend and not a stranger.

For none of us has life in himself,
and none becomes his own master when he dies.
For if we have life, we are alive in the Lord,
and if we die, we die in the Lord.
So, then, whether we live or die,
we are the Lord's possession.

Happy from now on
are those who die in the Lord!
So it is, says the Spirit,
for they rest from their labors.

(Book of Common Prayer - p. 491)

Below is the interior of St. Paul's Chapel near the World Trade Center, which I still consider the miracle church. However did the chapel come out relatively unscathed from the destruction all around it? When Grandpère and I were in New York a year or so after September 11, 2001, we attended a brief noonday service at St. Paul's. I was quite moved just to be inside the building which seemed even more hallowed because of its service as a place of rest and refreshment for those who worked at the site of the destruction. On an earlier visit, while the workers were still using the chapel, my sister and I cried as we walked around the perimeter of the fence when the memorials still covered every surface.



This post is mostly recycled from last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. I remember and note the day with deep sadness, but I have few words.

Images from Wiki here and here.

HOW TWINS ARE MADE...

So this is how they do it...
One of life's great mysteries solved.

 

(Only twenty years ago, no one would have understood this joke!)

Awwww... Thanks to Doug.