Unchained Melody: Tunes from an 8-Track in an iPod World
. . . Joseph likes to stop by to help with my TSW titles. He brags that every recent title that "was a hit" had his hand in it. So when he asked about this post, I told him I wanted to call it "Unchained Melody" after the great love song. "Never heard of it," said Joseph. "Can't you find something that isn't pre-Roman Empire?" I tried humming a few bars. Surely this kid has heard this great song. "Nope!" said Joseph. "Way before my time! That's why you need my help," he insisted. "You're kind of like an 8-track in an iPod world!" . . .
Why Are So Many Catholics So Angry With So Many Priests?
. . . One Philadelphia defense attorney who reads These Stone Walls described this trial as “justice with an agenda." She wrote that few in Philadelphia are now very proud of this "District Attorney with an ax to grind, and a judge who appeared to work for the prosecution." When law is reduced to a lynch mob in this arena of decades-old child abuse claims, the jury is in before the trial even starts. Those who would tritely say today that Monsignor Lynn had his day in court and justice prevailed have no first hand knowledge of the prolific injustices that have permeated our justice system. Just see "Thy Brother's Keeper” for a vivid example. . . .
David v. Goliath: Standing up to Anti-Catholic Bias in the News
. . . Another published letter by Bernice Durbin of Crossville, Tennessee concluded that Catholic priests "don't deserve First Amendment protection." I could not believe I was reading this in the nation's second largest daily newspaper. Could you imagine the backlash if USA Today gave a platform to someone declaring that Jews, or Muslims, or African Americans no longer deserve First Amendment rights and freedoms? As I wrote in “Honoring Father Norman Weslin,” those who have claimed to advocate for victims – some real, but many feigned – have created a whole new set of victims by dismantling the freedoms and civil liberties of a single class of citizens: accused Catholic priests. The outcome of the trial of Monsignor William Lynn in Philadelphia is the result. . . .
Honoring Father Norman Weslin as Light Finally Dawns Upon Notre Dame
. . . There is a lot at stake. Don't let the news media's exploitation of scandal sway you from the urgency of what this government is trying to sell you under the guise of health care. Perhaps it's time to stand finally with the faithful voices courageously telling us the truth, such as that of Cardinal Timothy Dolan who told CBS's “Face the Nation" on April 8:"We didn't ask for this fight, but we won't back away from it." Catholic fidelity would go a long way toward removing the real millstone of Catholic scandal, the one depicted in stark contrast around the necks of Father Norman Weslin and President Barak Obama on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in that 2009 photo. Long after that other Catholic scandal is forgotten, this one will endure for generations to come. . . .
Marking 30 Years of Priesthood: If I Knew Then What I Know Now!
. . . But make no mistake, we will suffer for it. The signs are all around us, and there is no escaping it. Our culture is in for some very hard times. The role of the Church and priesthood in Western Culture is going to be severely tested, and we stand at the precipice. Much of what we have taken for granted in terms of freedoms and rights is about to fall from under us. We are on the verge of cultural disaster, and the faith that our world now laughs at will – if it stands fast – usher the world through another Dark Age. . .
Msgr. Michael: The Red Blood of the Martyr St Thomas Becket and Father Gordon MacRae
. . . I am just an ordinary priest, I work in the missions (have been in “the missions” for nearly 20 years) and I am contemplating a change of course in my life…toward, perhaps, a monastic vocation. Please make a little prayer for this poor priest from the plains of Canada, who, after working in the mountains of Italy (whilst studying Canon Law), left Rome for a missionary life in the Islands. I am humbled that Fr. Gordon asked me to write a guest post. . . .
Fr. George David Byers: When Jesus Was in Prison
. . . Many TSW readers know of Anna Katharina Emmerick, who died in 1824, and was beatified on 3 October, 2004, by Blessed John Paul II, only some months after the screening of The Passion of the Christ. Mel Gibson partially based that film on The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, dictated by Anna Katharina to Clemens Brentano, whose secretarial skills seem to have left something to be desired. Nevertheless, The Holy See praises her accounts. She speaks of the Lord’s imprisonment. Although we don’t read of this in the Gospels, there is a space of time that is entirely conspicuous for its lack of description, the hours between the initial questioning and mocking of Jesus that first Holy Thursday evening and the following morning. It is a period of time in which, all things being equal, anybody in Jesus’ position would have been imprisoned for safe keeping until the next day. . . .
Spring Cleaning Behind These Stone Walls, And News from the Front
. . . Right now, however, I have a far greater challenge to face than the temper tantrums of SNAP members long accustomed to having their distortions rule the day. It's a greater challenge even than waiting for the legal system to catch up with justice. The most immediate and daunting challenge I face at this moment is one many of you have to take on as well. It's called spring cleaning. As you know well, my world of the last nearly 18 years consists of an 8 by 12-foot cell which must be shared by two prisoners, one of whom wrote "The Duty of a Knight" two weeks ago. Well, it turns out that it isn't the duty of a knight to do all the spring cleaning while I just sit here on my bucket (umm . . . I mean this big plastic one) and type. We need to do something prisoners are required to do periodically. We have to empty out this cell completely, and clean everything . . .
The Expendables: Our Culture's War Against Catholic Priests
. . . the woman came into the sacristy before Mass, introduced herself as a Buddhist, then introduced a woman accompanying her as her "lover." Father Guarnizo wrote that, like all priests, he presumes good faith when any person comes forward for the Eucharist, but this woman and her companion reportedly made a militant point of presenting themselves as living publicly a lifestyle that placed them in opposition to the Church. Note the word, "publicly." She made a point of divulging to Father Guarnizo before Mass the source and substance of her public separation from the Church. Then the woman went to a newspaper with her story of being denied the Eucharist by Father Guarnizo. Coming in the middle of Lent, it made just the sort of story the secular media loves to use to slam the Church. . . .
Pornchai Moontri: The Duty of a Knight - To Dream the Impossible Dream
. . . Editor's Note: The following is a guest post written by Pornchai Moontri. . . . I was a teenager when I went to prison. Over the years, I was sent back to solitary confinement over and over, for up to three-and-a-half years at a time, because I was so hostile. The longer I was there each time, the more inhuman I felt and became. Living for years on end in solitary confinement joined with the guilt I felt for the life I took during a struggle when I was 18 years old. So I just gave up on myself as a human being. I sank to the very bottom of the prison I was in, and stayed there. Then in the spring of 2005, after almost 14 years in and out of solitary confinement, I was told that I was to be shipped to another prison in another state. I sat for 10 months alone in my cell wondering about whatever hell was coming next, and I told myself I didn't care what comes next. Then one day, guards in riot gear came and chained me up. . . .
Accommodations in the Garden of Good and Evil
. . . That, for me, is Jamil's wake-up call. The Catholic Church in America - and I do not refer just to the United States of America - is in the process of being parked a block or so outside the Public Square, and it's going to be accomplished by a force I have written of before on These Stone Walls. It is the most insidious force of all, but it is vague and subtle and indistinct, and we cannot blame President Obama for it. That force is best characterized as "the noise of a few, and the silence of many." . . .
Winter into Spring, a Little News, and an Easter Uprising
. . . I've always thought TV Newscasts had it backwards. It’s a New England tradition that polite conversations begin with the weather, then gradually descend into the gritty news at hand. But TV news does just the opposite, at least in New England. Folks up here are so interested in the weather that the newscasters hold it until last to keep viewers' attention on the news. I'll follow the more polite social tradition, however, and begin with the weather, then sneak in – here and there – the things I really want to convey. . . .
Saint Patrick and the Labyrinthine Ways
. . . The story of St. Patrick of Ireland is a perfect example of the gravity of grace. We tend to reduce Saint Patrick to the whimsical Shepherd of Ireland who inspires our parades (and maybe a snort or two of Jameson's) this week, but the life of the real Saint Patrick is one of terrible tragedy responded to with the courage born of sanctifying grace. Stepping for a moment into the life and lore of Saint Patrick of Ireland will help us see more clearly these labyrinthine ways of grace. Whether you're Irish or not - and whether you're Catholic or not - the story of Saint Patrick is one of profound struggle against the forces of human evil, tragedy, and salvation against the tides of human history. . . .
The Gravity of Grace: When Bad Things Happen to Good People
. . . In the story, the bad things happening to good people become the catalyst for God's plan not only for them, but for their children, for their wider community, and for their souls as the Bigger Picture unfolds. Much good that lasts for generations to come has its roots in the struggles of one person, one family, or one village. A sacrifice made one day may not manifest its blessings until two generations later. Then the entire story culminates in one place: the cathedral the story’s characters are struggling to build to praise and glorify God. The talents of many, the burdens of some, and even the sins of a few, are all interconnected and committed - willingly or not - toward that end. . . .
Bitter Herbs Before the Exodus: Skooter Changes Course for Lent
. . . I received some snail mail recently from Liz Feuerborn who frequently comments on my posts at These Stone Walls. At the very end of her letter was a scribbled P.S.: "You haven't mentioned Skooter in awhile. Is he okay?" Several other readers have also asked about Skooter in their recent comments, and it's odd that his name should come up right now. It's odd because on the day I received Liz's letter, I had just spent an hour outside in the freezing cold prison yard talking with Skooter. The short answer to Liz's question is “No," Skooter is not okay, but I'm pretty sure he will be. . . .
Special Report: New Appeal Filed in the Case of Fr. Gordon MacRae
. . . [Click through to post for links] I am grateful for this invitation to bring to your attention a major step toward possible justice in the case of imprisoned priest, Father Gordon MacRae. The Boston-based National Center for Reason and Justice announced a Motion for New Trial in the case of Fr. MacRae last week, and posted it on the NCRJ website.The published brief presents a detailed description of newly discovered evidence in the case as well as other legal considerations. I invite readers to review this compelling document and to suggest the NCRJ link to others. . . .
Downton Abbey Blue Bloods Touch Falling Skies Upon Criminal Minds
. . . It's time to come clean and confess. I owe TSW readers the truth, and just can't go on living this secret any longer. I've been seeing someone. I can't really say she's my soul mate just yet, but I find her mesmerizing and alluring in her own peculiar way. She lives far beyond my state in life, but now I feel incomplete without her. There is little so painful as unrequited love. There! I've said it! So, who is this new spark of joy in my life? Why, who else could she be but Lady Grantham, the Dowager Countess of Downton Abbey? Yes, yes, I know she's old enough to be my mother, but - like justice - love is blind, and sometimes it's deaf and dumb, too. Most people who spend five minutes with the elder Lady Grantham want to flee for cover, but I see beyond this matriarchal conniver to a heart laid bare by a looming threat: the winds of change. The incomparable British actress, Maggie Smith, plays the role to perfection. . . .
E.T. and The Fermi Paradox: Are We Alone in the Cosmos?
. . . For Father Georges Lemaitre, for me, and now for my friend, Joseph, there comes a point when "a profoundly improbable sequence" of events crosses a border into the profoundly impossible. Science has promised a better explanation for centuries, but it hasn't ever delivered one. Creation and our Creator become the sole rational explanation for what seems otherwise irrational and impossible: life itself, and not just life, us! - the impossible mathematical odds against the very existence with which we ponder Him. And thus far, at least, we ponder Him alone. "I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details." Albert Einstein . . .
The Conversion of Saint Paul, And the Cost of Discipleship
. . . Saint Stephen, the first martyr in the Christian world, was stoned to death. Stephen was one of "The Seven" appointed to serve tables - the traditional role of a deacon - in the Church at Jerusalem. He was brought before the Sanhedrin to answer for placing final authority in Christ instead of in the high priest and Temple. The mob was stirred up against him by the Sanhedrin, and he was stoned. No one present at the stoning of Saint Stephen could have possibly predicted the transformation of Saul into the Apostle Paul. Consider this one passage and feel its chill: . . .
These Stone Walls Returns to The Last Full Measure of Devotion
. . . As America remembers the call of Martin Luther King, Jr., to “Let Freedom Ring,” a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision did just that for freedom of religion. . . . As I considered what to write this week to help honor and remember Civil Rights in America, I cannot help feeling oppressed by some urgent unfinished business. I wrote about it at this time last year, and I urge you to mark this Civil Rights observance by reading this and passing a link along to others. There is a denial of basic human rights in our culture, and it’s a threat to the most basic human freedom: the right to exist. . . .