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. . . .
Separation of Church and Penn State: A Media Double Standard
. . . Ted made the very same point that I made above about the news media letting pass an opportunity to truly expose and effect sexual abuse: "I hope the pendulum swings back to some degree. I never agreed with zero tolerance. There has to be some respect for priests as basic citizens presumed to be innocent . . . The lack of balance in regards to the Globe and NY Times coverage indicates that they have clearly missed a chance to address societal child abuse. This belies a more sinister agenda by people who want to destroy the Church. Since the level of sexual sin in our society is so great, it makes people somehow feel good to persecute the Catholic Church for its abuse problem as a way to feel absolved of their own sin in some way." . . .
New Year's Resolutions, and a Remembrance From East of Eden
. . . So my resolution for the New Year in 2012 is to let the mourning of loss become the triumph of the Spirit. It's a tough sell to a world that measures success in the most material of terms. It's an even tougher sell within me, however, having to witness the world of grace from within prison walls, at least for now. Hence, the resolution. . . .
These Stone Walls at Year's End: My Hits and Misses for 2011
. . . A "cup o'kindness" in the Scotish tradition is usually something with the words "single malt" imprinted on the label. That, too, is not possible in prison. But I have some Starbucks coffee I've been saving, and I plan to brew it on New Year's Eve. I'll have a cup o'that in honor of you, the friends I have met on this long and winding road. These Stone Walls is such a strange and unlikely place, yet it exists, and from it every week you let me reach into your hearts in friendship, and with a shared vision of grace at work in our world. . . .
Down the Nights and Down the Days: Advent for a Prisoner Priest
. . . Offering Mass in a prison cell is a little like offering Mass in a battlefield. We don't have the luxury of an altar, and must make do with what we've got - which isn't much. In the middle of the floor in this eight-by-twelve-foot cell are two concrete stumps that protrude about two feet out of the concrete floor. Just inches to one side of my stump is an iron bunk, and inches to the other side is a concrete counter protruding sixteen inches from the stone cell wall. At first, I offered Mass sitting on the concrete stump with my Mass kit spread at the edge of my bunk. One of my treasures is a Hammond World Atlas. Whenever TSW readers post comments that mention where they are, Pornchai and I like to find their town or city in the Atlas. So far, we have had readers from 31 countries. . . .
A Book Every Priest Needs to Read: Catholic Priests Falsely Accused
. . . My call to action is as simple as that. Help us spread news of this book. Consider giving it to the priests you know. Consider reading it yourself. Above all, encourage the priests you know and make them a part of your daily prayer. And there is another way you can help, especially now as we prepare to revisit my own case for a possible new appeal in the new year. If you like this post - or any other - you can help by tweeting it, pinging it, sending a link to your e-mail contacts, Facebook pages, and posting the link in comments on other blogs and Catholic websites. There is a viral effect among faithful Catholics, and its power should not be overlooked. . . .
Thy Brother's Keeper: Why Wrongful Convictions Should Matter to You
. . . I was sitting in a county jail awaiting sentencing to prison. I was cut off from everyone. My Diocese would not even accept my collect calls. My own lawyers told me I had no choice. What meager assets I had were exhausted on the first trial. So, post-trial, I entered into what I called - then and now - "a negotiated lie." It was a lie that was extorted from me, but the lie was not mine alone. If you've read my post, "The High Cost of Innocence," you know that even then the pressure never ended. Prison itself has any number of sanctions to further punish those who do not admit guilt. I spent five years confined to a cell housing seven other prisoners because I would not admit guilt. The notion that men in prison always claim to be innocent is a myth. There are dire consequences for such a claim. . . .
A Treacherous Descent: Religious Freedom in America Put to the Test
. . . The case currently before the Supreme Court seems an almost natural result of what I have repeatedly called "the settlement game" that has driven the Catholic scandal. In the Boston College Law Review, Professor John S. Baker summarized the grave implications of this capitulation: "The Church should recognize the New Hampshire settlement for what it potentially is: ‘the camel’s nose inside the tent.’ Over the years, the U.S. Department of Justice has set precedents by bringing and then settling dubious cases against corporations and other business entities. Over time, prosecutors use these unlitigated "precedents" to launch bolder prosecutions, as circumstances permit. This intrusion by a state prosecutor into the jurisdiction of the Church may encourage and be the basis for actions by other state prosecutors." "The decision by the Diocese [of Manchester] to enter into this agreement represents a dangerous capitulation by one diocese that may have created a serious threat to the other dioceses of the United States.” (44 B.C.L.Rev. 1061, July/Sept. 2003). . .
Faith Trumps Relativism: Pope Benedict XVI at World Youth Day
. . . "The answer comes down to this," she wrote: "1960s-style liberation - from moral codes, family obligations, religious commitments - has betrayed us . . . So our baby-boomer parents partied hard, yet in so many cases left us only the hangover: heartbreak, addiction and broken homes, rising rates of teenage depression and suicide. The anything-goes religion of the late 20th century cannot prevent, or even explain these consequences. For Anna Williams, the solution for Catholic youth in the first decade of the 21st century has been evident. The solution is the great adventure of orthodoxy evident in The Catholic Spring seen in young Catholics throughout the Western world - including In our seminaries. They reject the assumptions Of the 1960s in favor of the creeds, practices, and moral codes that defined religious life in the Catholic Church for centuries. Why, Anna Williams asks, are these million young Catholics at World Youth Day so happy to be Catholic? "Because they've recognized that the Church's teachings are, in fact, true, and because freedom lies in self-sacrifice." . . .
"SNAP's Last Gasp!" The Pope's "Crimes Against Humanity"
. . . The speech was delivered in Berlin on May 28, 1937. Here's an all-too-familiar excerpt: "There are cases of sexual abuse that come to light every day against a large number of the Catholic clergy. Unfortunately, it's not a matter of individual cases, but a collective moral crisis that perhaps the cultural history of humanity has never before known with such a frightening and disconcerting dimension. Numerous priests and religious have confessed. There's no doubt that the thousands of cases which have come to the attention of the justice system represent only a small fraction of the true total, given that many molesters have been covered and hidden by the hierarchy." The speech was quite effective in its original German, its orator bedecked in the uniform and insignia of the Third Reich, an immense swastika waving in the wind behind him as he fired up the mob. In the moral panic to follow, 325 Catholic priests from every diocese in Germany were arrested and sent to prison on trumped-up sex abuse charges. . . .
To Guard You in All Your Ways: The Archangels on These Stone Walls
. . . Re-reading these two angelic posts might be a good way to commemorate the Feast of the Archangels celebrated by the Church this week (September 29) as well as the Feast of the Guardian Angels (October 2nd) even though the Sunday liturgy takes precedence in the Church's liturgical calendar. I'm very glad to have written these two posts. They have deeply felt meaning for me and for many TSW readers. Please join us in honoring the Angelic Presence of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael at the two links below. "For to His angels he has given command about you that they guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot." (Psalm 91:11-13). . .
SNAP Judgements Part II: Ground Zero of the Catholic Scandal
. . . So I was not at all surprised when prisoners came one after another to my cell door during "Court TV's" coverage of the Father Geoghan trial. After some incredible testimony from the accuser, they showed up during commercials to ask, “Are you watching this?" I was watching it, and I heard what they heard. The twenty-something-year-old accuser testified that a dozen years earlier, when he was eleven, he was in a public swimming pool. He said that he recognized Father John Geoghan as someone who had visited his housing project. While trying to climb out of the pool, the young man testified, Father Geoghan came up behind him and, under the guise of helping him to climb out, squeezed his buttocks. Based upon this testimony, the 68-year old priest was convicted of sexual assault and sentenced to nine years in prison. It was a death sentence. . . . Am I defending Father John Geoghan? Not at all. Do I doubt that this accuser told the truth? Not at all. The behavior ascribed to Father Geoghan was consistent with what scores of others said of him, and an egregious example of how much his own reasoning and judgement skills had deteriorated. The Church had a responsibility to protect young people from John Geoghan and a responsibility to protect Father Geoghan from himself. Church officials failed on both counts. I don't question the truth of any of it. . . .
The "Stuck Inside Literary Award": At Sea with Patrick O'Brian
. . . A few TSW readers - notably Sharon Morris and Lavern West - have traveled to New Hampshire to obtain one of Pornchai's vessels. Lavern has a magnificent tall ship displayed in her living room window in Cincinnati with some beautiful handcrafted stained glass in the window just above it. She sent a photo which Pornchai proudly added to the collection on his cell wall. One day, a guard came into this cell and was looking intently at the photos of Pornchai's beautiful ships. When he saw the one in Lavern's window, he said "Wow! That's just incredible." Pornchai smiled and sat up straight waiting for the usual comments about his carving skill. Then the guard said, "That's some of the nicest stained glass I've seen!" I just about hurt my ribs laughing. Pornchai told me that on his next ship, he's adding a plank for me to walk. . . .
Fr. Gordon MacRae Discussed on EWTN's The World Over
. . . Editor's Note: You may be interested to watch Dr. Bill Donohue of the Catholic League discuss Father Gordon MacRae and These Stone Walls on the most recent The World Over with Raymond Arroyo on EWTN. Click through post to watch . . .