"George Pell AC (born 8 June 1941) Is an Australian Cardinal of the Catholic Church and Convicted Child Sex Offender": Questions We Might Ask

Plus ça change: for people who profess to be all about taking history and tradition seriously, many self-professed Catholic conservatives/traditionalists seem uncommonly unwilling to learn anything at all from history. Several decades ago, there George Weigel and the folks at First Things were, loudly proclaiming the innocence of the notorious serial abuser of youth and drug addict Father Marcial Maciel and defaming those like Jason Berry who did their journalistic duty and told the world the truth about what Maciel was doing — and how top Catholic officials were covering up his activities.

In Commemoration of Death of Richard Sipe in August 2018, a Revised Copy of "Clerical Spirituality and the Culture of Narcissism"

A resource I'd like to bring to your attention: in commemoration of the anniversary of Richard Sipe's death on 8 August 2018, those who continue maintaining his website Celibacy, Sex & Catholic Church have uploaded a revised copy of the very important study entitled "Clerical Spirituality and the Culture of Narcissism" that Richard Sipe, his wife Marianne Benkert, and Thomas Doyle wrote in 2013.

The revised copy of this important document is here. The screenshot at the head of the posting is from Richard Sipe's website.

Recommended: Ian Gilmour, Slavery to Civil Rights

I'd like to recommend to you a little monograph entitled Slavery to Civil Rights, written by my friend Ian Gilmour, a Presbyterian pastor in Edinburgh who is currently serving the Scottish kirk in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Ian's small book reflects years of research into the role that spirituals and music in general have played among African-Americans and in African-American churches, to sustain hope and courage as people battle prejudice and discrimination. I find Slavery to Civil Rights — which is engagingly and clearly written — fascinating from a number of standpoints.

Ruth Krall, A Brief Afterword to "Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice"

Healthcare Workers in Ebola Protective Gear (i)

Ruth Krall has generously prepared a brief afterword to her six-part series of essays entitled "Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice." I've published those six essays in installments at Bilgrimage, and at the end of this posting, will provide links to the entire series. The basic premise of Ruth's series of essays is that sexual abuse of vulnerable people by leaders is an endemic problem in religious groups across the globe, and, as she states in the afterword below, "Until the world community learns how to accurately assess this world public health/community mental health phenomenon of clergy sexual abuse of the powerless and the vulnerable, the problem will continue to proliferate." Ruth's essay follows:

"Ladies, You'll Never Have to Use a Washing Machine Again When You Get to Heaven": I Report on a Funeral Sermon

Maytag Ad 1959

"Ladies, just think! You'll never have to use a washing machine again when you get to heaven."

Then the preacher sidled his head around and gave an impossibly cute look-at-me grin to the "ladies" in the church, which was designed to communicate that he thought he was the niftiest thing since sliced bread, and quite the lady-killer.

Ruth Krall, Moral Corruption in the Religious Commons (3)

Theodore Rombouts, (1597-1617), "Christ Driving the Money-Changers from the Temple"

The following is the third part of Ruth Krall's essay entitled "Moral Corruption in the Religious Commons." The previous two parts of the essay have been published here and here. In this concluding section of her essay, Ruth asks what we ought to do when we recognize the depths of corruption and abuse enfolded in religious institutions: "Do we become enablers of abuse by keeping silent, or do we become informers and whistle-blowers about the levels of institutional violence we see? Do we respond to what we know by speaking up?" Ruth's essay follows (part 3, with footnotes continuing at xxxii):

Ruth Krall, Moral Corruption in the Religious Commons (2)

Theodore Rombouts, (1597-1617), "Christ Driving the Money-Changers from the Temple"

The essay below is the second installment of Ruth Krall's essay "Moral Corruption in the Religious Commons." Part one was published previously. In this essay, which is the sixth of a series of essays Ruth has entitled "Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice," whose premise is (to quote the essay below), "Studies of sexual violence inside our denominational homes require new vocabularies and new conceptual models." 

In this current essay, Ruth argues, "If it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to repeatedly enable sexual abuse of that same child." But also: "Remember this: it takes only one of us to be a healer."

The continuation of Ruth's essay on moral corruption in the religious commons follows (note that endnote numbers begin at xx because this is the second part of an essay whose first part has previously been published):

Ruth Krall, Moral Corruption in the Religious Commons (1)

Theodore Rombouts, (1597-1617), "Christ Driving the Money-Changers from the Temple" (i)

My house shall be called a house of prayer

But you have turned it into a hideout for thieves.
(Mathew 21: 13, Good News Translation)

This essay is the sixth in a series of essays Ruth Krall has generously offered us on Bilgrimage, under the series title "Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice." This link will point you to links to each previous essay in the series. In her "Recapitulation" series, Ruth addresses what she sees as the he endemic nature of sexual abuse of followers in religious contexts and contexts offering spiritual guidance. From the outset, Ruth's latest essay on moral corruption in the religious commons announces its theme:

If it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to repeatedly enable sexual abuse of that same child. This is so whether she lives inside secular society or he lives inside a deeply pious religious and worshipping community.

Ruth's essay "Moral Corruption in the Religious Commons" follows. Because the essay is rich and long, I'll be sharing it in several installments, of which this is the first:

"Responding with the Biggest Ever Anti-Immigrant Raid to the First Ever Anti-Latino, Anti-Immigrant Gun Massacre in This Country: This Will Be History"

Regardless of whatever they say and whatever comes out of the president's mouth, this IS the story of how our government responded to an anti-immigrant massacre committed by someone who quoted the words of the president's re-election campaign about needing to stop an immigrant invasion .... That is how this will look in history. 

The administration responding with the biggest ever anti-immigrant raid to the first ever anti-Latino, anti-immigrant gun massacre in this country: this will be history. This will go down in history as what our government did. 

~ Rachel Maddow

SIX HUNDRED ICE Agents Haul Away 680 Workers as Man in White House Heads to El Paso: What "Pro-Life" White Christians Have Wrought

HAPPENING NOW: In Forrest, Mississippi where one of the #ICE raids happened nearby Children of those who were arrested are left alone in the streets crying for help. Strangers and neighbors are taking them to a local gym to be put up for the night. FULL STORY TONIGHT ON @WJTV. pic.twitter.com/s2zuTTRYfM

— Alex Love (@AlexLoveWJTV) August 8, 2019

SIX HUNDRED armed thugs ICE agents.

They hauled away 680 workers.

This Is How a Real President Responds to an Act of Racist Mass Murder

"We Must Call the El Paso Shooting What It Is: Trump-Inspired Terrorism" — Commentary on White Supremacist Roots of Recent Mass Shootings

El Paso Shooter:
Not an immigrant.

Parkland Shooter:
Not an immigrant.

Tree Of Life Shooter:
Not an immigrant.

Las Vegas Shooter:
Not an immigrant.

Borderline Bar Shooter:
Not an immigrant.

Sandy Hook Shooter:
Not an immigrant.

Charleston Shooter:
Not an immigrant.

— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) August 4, 2019

Peter Baker and Michael D. Shear, "El Paso Shooting Suspect's Manifesto Echoes Trump's Language":

Ruth Krall, Today's Sermon: Today's Idolatrous Slaughter of the Innocents

Today's Sermon: Today's Idolatrous Slaughter of the Innocents

Ruth Elizabeth Krall, MSN, PhD

Idolatry defined: extreme reverence, love, or reverence for someone or something other than G-d. 

The New Normal: Mass Shooting Following Mass Shooting Within Hours; 9 More Murdered and 26 Injured as Americans Slept

In 1963 George Wallace spewed his racist hate rhetoric & policies. By Sept racists emboldened by him were blowing up children in churches. President Trump is lying & spewing his racist hate rhectoric & policies. Now we have a mass shooter in El Paso. This has to stop.

— Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II (@RevDrBarber) August 4, 2019

Ian Milhiser:

While you slept, a second mass shooter murdered ten people last night. 

It never ends.

Ruth Krall, Historical Meandering: Ideologies of Abuse and Exclusion (3)

Vasily Polenov, Le droit du Seigneur (1874), in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow

This is the third and final installment of an essay by Ruth Krall entitled "Historical Meandering: Ideologies of Abuse and Exclusion." The previous two parts of this essay have appeared here and here. This essay is one in a series of essays Ruth is publishing on Bilgrimage under the series title  "Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice." The first of the two links above will give you links to each previous essay. In this essay series, Ruth is focusing on the endemic nature of religious and spiritual leader sexual abuse of followers.