Sex, Lies, and Videotape: Lessons from the Duke University Rape Case
. . . dded to that uproar were the tactics of a now disgraced and disbarred state prosecutor. Former Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong was more interested in throwing "gasoline on the fire," according to USA Today, than gathering evidence. He ignored the complete lack of evidence, not to mention the accuser's constantly changing story, and vowed to continue his prosecution even after the case fell apart. This prosecutor suppressed exculpatory evidence, hid it from defense lawyers, and held repeated news conferences to keep the momentum of judgment going in the court of public opinion. Co-opting some Duke faculty into pre-trial condemnation of the accused was a tactical advantage for prosecutor, Mike Nifong. The result was a trial-by-media that should sound hauntingly familiar to Catholics reeling from the Church's own sex scandal. . . .
Inherit the Wind: Pentecost and the Breath of God
. . . Most people don't know that "Inherit the Wind," - both the play and the classic 1960 Spencer Tracy film - first borrowed the title from the Book of Proverbs: "He who troubles his household will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise." (Proverbs 11:29). It's just possible that the Book of Proverbs itself borrowed the phrase from an even more ancient source: the followers of Pazuzu, the Assyrian god of wind and pestilence. In some ancient Mesopotamian religions, "an ill wind" carried the spirits of demons, and so to inherit the wind could mean generations of suffering for one person's sin. . . .
Vacation Rerun: Going My Way
. . . This last of TSW's "Hiatus Highlights" first appeared during Lent last year, but "Going My Way” also recalled the day I was ordained, 5 June 1982. As I prepare to celebrate my 29th anniversary of priesthood ordination, I decided to re-visit "Going My Way." I suppose the real reason for this is that absolutely nothing in my life or priesthood has ever gone my way! That fact had much less sting when I came to see that we are passengers, and not conductors, on this train of life. Things don't have to be going my way for priesthood to manifest itself even in dark places. . . .
Vacation Rerun: Saints Alive! Padre Pio and the Stigmata: Sanctity on Trial
. . . An example of the subtle ways Saint Padre Pio has been an inspiration is this: I decided to end the month of May by asking readers to re-visit this post in his honor, but I had no idea at the time that today, 25 May, is also Saint Padre Pio's birthday. Francesco Forgione, who became the modern world's most beloved Saint Padre Pio, was born 124 years ago today on 25 May 1887 to Mario Forgione and Maria Giuseppa de Nunzio Forgione in Pietrelcina, Italy. On the next day, 26 May 1887, he was baptized. . . .
Vacation Rerun: Are Civil Liberties for Priests Intact?
. . . If you read my recent post on Father John Corapi, then you know well the challenges and consequences for any Catholic priest accused of misconduct in the current climate. The story of Father Corapi is not yet fully told, and the evidence for his culpability, if any, has not yet been revealed. Nonetheless, Father Corapi has been the subject of much mud slinging in the media, including on some Catholic blogs and websites. It's a lesson learned. Priests are easy targets in this climate, and priests who are high profile, like Father Corapi, are the easiest targets of all. . . .
We'll Be Right Back After This Long Commercial Break!
. . . The break we are taking is due to several circumstances. Charlene is planning a journey to Rome in May, and I have no one else available to scan and forward my posts. Also, Suzanne is planning a blog design upgrade. This might mean that the site will look off kilter while she adjusts the graphics and HTML/CSS/PHP/MySQL customizations to fit in with the new WordPress theme. Suzanne is on Australia time so midnight on the U.S. East Coast where I am a prisoner is 2:00 PM the next day in Australia. TSW's hiatus reminds me of something I wrote about last year. Once during a Sunday Mass in my last parish, I had some sort of allergic reaction that constricted my larynx. As I finished reading the Gospel, I lost my voice completely. Only a squeak would come out. So I skipped my homily while the lector led parishioners in the Nicene Creed and Prayers of the Faithful. . . .
Simon of Cyrene, the Scandal of the Cross, and Some Life Sight News
. . . "The Passion of the Christ" depicted Simon of Cyrene just as I have always imagined him: resentful, even bitter at first, about the Cross he was compelled to bear. He was simply a man on his way to something else when fate, on that day, pulled him out of the crowd and into the Fifth Station of the Way of the Cross. In his inspired and inspiring new book, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2011), Pope Benedict XVI underscored the historical necessity of Simon of Cyrene's role: "The fact that Simon of Cyrene had to carry the cross-beam for Jesus, and that Jesus dies so quickly, may well be attributable to the torture of scourging, during which other criminals sometimes would already have died." (p.198). Critics of "The Passion of the Christ" deride it for its graphic and violent depiction of the scourging and crucifixion of Christ. It is an event of history, however, and it was not a gentle, civil affair. By the end of Simon's brief journey with Christ, he was changed. In the film, he was now compelled from within himself to remain there with Christ, to finish it. . . .
The Beatification of Pope John Paul II: When the Wall Fell
. . . In his 1948 book, The Gathering Storm, Winston Churchill wrote of a 1935 proposal to Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin suggesting that the Soviet Union should not suppress Catholicism, but should rather encourage it in order to gain favor with the Pope. Stalin famously responded, "The Pope? How many divisions has he got?" Ironically, that conversation took place on May 13, 1935, forty-six years to the day before the Soviet Union tried to kill Pope John Paul II because he was the most feared man in all of Europe. The Pope survived. Stalin's successors in the Soviet Union learned the answer to his question far too late for their own survival. Karol Wojtyla has earned the place in history summarized by the title given to him by Father Richard John Neuhaus and other admirers. He helped rid the world of Satan's most earthly Evil Empire. Without doubt, he was - and is - Pope John Paul the Great. . . .
Sitting in Your Own Pew: Religious Liberty and Literacy in America
. . . I wrote of it in "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas 17 Times." Still, the apathy of many Catholics about the tenets of their faith has only furthered the atheist agenda, not to mention their relative score. Before we all sign up for remedial CCD classes, it might boost our Catholic spirits to know that American Protestants fared no better than Catholics on the Pew Center study. Their score was also a solid "F." Jews did better overall than Catholics and Protestants, but also flunked, and Mormon scores were just under the atheists’ barely passing "D." Americans as a whole averaged a score of 50%. There are no bragging rights anywhere. . . .
Potholes on the High Road: Forgiving Those Who Trespass Against Us
. . . So, have I forgiven this man? It seems a moot point now. The baggage of resentment evaporated with my prayer. No matter how hard I try, I just cannot pray and hate in the same sentence.So if there is someone out there you just can't forgive, someone who hurt you so much that you are burdened with the sheer weight of it, and cannot put it down, then prepare for the moment when you will offer prayer for that person, and maybe even the sacrifice of some of the very suffering that person imposed. Offer it as a share in the suffering of Christ and the garment you wear - like Saint Maximilian Kolbe's - will no longer be divided. You cannot both pray for a person and hate him at the same time. I've tried it, and it cannot be done. "And Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And they cast lots for his garments." (Luke 23:34). . . .
Sticks and Stones: My Incendiary Blog Post on Catholic Civil Discourse
. . . In the online world, we can be anyone or no one at all. We can light fires with our words, or we can fan an inferno lit by someone else. We are free to write with the assurance that no one out there knows who we are, or can suspect what is truly in our hearts. We can strip the Beatitudes from our soulful existence, and let anger and disdain run amok. We can take a rumor and run with it without ever stepping for a single moment into the shoes of the subjects of our contempt. We can delude ourselves into kneeling before God with thanks that we are truly unlike that tax collector over there on the other side of the Church. We can pat ourselves on the back believing that his sin, now in the open, is so much worse than our own, still hidden behind the veil of cyberspace - hidden from everyone but God. . . .
Protect Us from All Anxiety: Nightmares and Dreamscapes in the Desert
. . . A few days ago, Pornchai and our friend, Donald, were in our cell talking about anxiety in prison. I told them of the awful dream I had. Donald suggested that I must feel really let down by being left to face the mob alone on the steps of the Church. Then Pornchai said, "I disagree. He wasn't alone at all." I was really thunderstruck by Pornchai's insight, and I believe he was right. The dream wasn't about the obvious source of my anxiety, the mobs pointing fingers of accusation, but rather about the fact that I am not alone in my anxiety, that Christ is there with me. How could I not see it? I see the same dark dream now in a completely different light. The next day, Pornchai brought up the "Libera Nos" prayer again, and asked me about the "protect us from all anxiety" part. It is rare that Pornchai speaks about his past, but he told me about his ongoing problem with anxiety. Living in the same cell, I have been aware of some of the times he awakens in the night in the steel bunk four feet above me, and I can feel the anxiety and pain in those times. Pornchai sleeps with his Saint Maximilian Kolbe medal hanging on the stone wall just inches from his face. I have seen him clutching it in the night. . . .
The Spring of Hope: Winter in New England Shows Signs of Thaw
. . . There's a "Southie" accent, a North End accent, a Charlestown accent, and of course the famous Boston Brahmin accent of Beacon Hill. A linguist once told me that the Boston accents evolved from the period of the 1630s when Boston became the geographic and social center of New England Puritanism after the success of Plymouth Colony that I described in "The True Story of Thanksgiving." Some think the Puritans came here just to one day make famous the phrase, "Pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd." There's another subtle accent distinction on the North Shore (the "Nawth Shoah") where I grew up, and still another if you head west out to the Berkshires. Venturing north to New Hampshire, where I am in prison, or west to Vermont or nor'east to Maine, you'll hear other distinct variations on the basic New England accent. . . .
Michelangelo and the Hand of God: Scandal at the Vatican Revisited
. . . Dante’s description of “The Dark Wood of Error” captures well the Catholic scandals that are fodder for the media today. Having lived in the shadow of accusation and scandal for so many years, I can only agree with Dante Alighieri (1265 – 1321): “I never saw so drear, so rank, so arduous a wilderness!” But the Church isn’t seeing any of this wilderness of scandal for the first time. I invite you to revisit “Michelangelo and the Hand of God: Scandal at the Vatican” for an injection of hope that, like Dante’s Dark Wood will all come to good if surrendered to sanctifying grace. . . .
Pornchai Moontri: From Prison Blues to Poetic Muse!
. . . In the post, I made a brief mention of a letter from Father Neuhaus to Pornchai Moontri, and of how that letter was among the forces that caused Pornchai to become a Catholic. What surprised me was the number of comments mentioning my brief paragraph about Pornchai. He was certainly not central to that post, but lots of people mention him in their comments on several of my posts. In fact, I've noticed a pattern. It might be just my imagination, but when I mention Pornchai, readers seem to comment more. I showed the comments on that post to Pornchai and told him about my theory. He readily concurred. "If you don't mention me," he said, "no one reads it!" Well, I doubt that's true. At least, I HOPE it isn't true! . . .
Cable News or Cable Nuisance? Gloom and Doom in America's Newsroom
. . . Greg Erlandson, publisher of Our Sunday Visitor, knows the difference, too, and it prompted him to add cable news to his list of things to avoid in 2011 (OSV, "New Years Resolutions," January 2). He clearly considered at least some of what passes for news on 24-hour cable news channels to be more akin to nuisance when he wrote: "The talking heads seem engaged in an anger and anxiety arms race, playing on ignorance and fears to get the best ratings."Greg Erlandson resolved to find "more rational and less incendiary ways" to be informed of the news. A couple of OSV readers reacted in letters to the editor. Dave Maxwell of Adrian, Michigan wrote that for him, "FOX News and The Wall Street Journal are the only reliable and balanced sources for the daily news." It seems that a lot of people agree. I'm not writing an advertisement for Fox News or The WSJ, but both news outlets are pulling in the highest ratings these days. I suspect there's a good reason for that, but it may also cause other news outlets to compete for ratings, sometimes by appealing to our basest nature. . . .
More on Pro-Catholic Star Trek, and the Books of Winter's Long Night
. . . I don't mean to pick on Jacqueline Suzanne and Harold Robbins, though Mr. Spock might have. Their books are actually quite popular in prison where any human dramas - even the seediest ones - are preferable to the ones prisoners are living. C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien are also very popular here, as are many classic authors like Jack London, Mark Twain, and John Steinbeck. The literary elite are as snooty in prison as anywhere else. Not long ago in the Library check-out line, I saw a prisoner with a pair of Steinbecks sneer at a grizzly-looking guy in line with a stack of books by Jackie Collins and Nora Roberts. The question of what books endure the test of time doesn't really apply here. Many prisoners will read whatever they can get their hands on, within limits. Part of my job in the library is to fill book requests for prisoners who have misbehaved and have been hauled off to "the hole" for weeks, or months, or sometimes years. . . .
