Two Days Before New Year, Charlotte Diocese Releases List of Accused Clergy: "It's Incomplete, There Are Names Missing"

Hmm. We count 43 names on the Charlotte list, not 14. Presumably to minimize the extent of the abuse, the diocese put the clerics in three categories and only "counted" those in one. https://t.co/XT1ioZuhFg

— SNAP Network (@SNAPNetwork) December 31, 2019

A follow-up to my posting on the 26th noting that Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte, North Carolina, promised in May this year to release a list of priests accused of abusing minors in the Charlotte diocese before the end of the year:

"The Immigrant Children…Cannot Be Erased by Shopping Excursions": An Advent Sermon by Wendell Griffen

I'm happy to be able to share with readers a sermon I heard my friend Reverend Wendell Griffen deliver this past Sunday at New Millennium Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. Wendell has uploaded the sermon to his blog site, and has given me permission to share it here, too. Wendell's sermon, which is entitled “An Advent Prayer for Desperate People,” contextualizes Advent and Christmas in a way that Lisa Koop's Advent sermon, which I shared two days ago, also does. Both note the struggle many of us have in finding spiritual foundations and hope in a world in which much seems deeply awry, in which the powerful abuse the weak, with self-professed Christians standing squarely on the side of the powerful and cheering them on. Wendell's sermon follows.

A Reminder: Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte, North Carolina, Has Not Yet Fulfilled Promise to Release List of Accused Priests This Year

It's now the final week of the year, and Bishop Peter Jugis of the Catholic diocese of North Carolina has not released the list of priests accused of abusing minors in the Charlotte diocese. He made a promise this past May to release such a list before the end of the year.

Charlotte has been characterized by watchdogs as one of the least transparent dioceses in the nation. It is one of the last dioceses in the nation to release a list of accused priests.

If the bishop fulfills his promise and releases his list between Christmas and New Year's Day, it will, of course, be buried in the news lull that occurs in the final week of the year. 

"This Is Happening in our Country Today and Is Being Done in All of Our Names": An Advent Sermon by Lisa Koop

Christian Trump supporters, take note. https://t.co/xn3kCgkjaA

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) December 24, 2019

I'm happy to be able to share with you this Christmas day an Advent sermon Lisa Koop preached at Assembly Mennonite Church in Goshen, Indiana, on 15 December. The sermon asks a question that haunts me as other Americans and I celebrate Christmas: How, in fact, does one or can one celebrate Christmas when this is happening in our country today and is being done in all of our names? How does anyone in the U.S. who claims a connection to Jesus and the gospels cope with the fact that what is happening in our country now — what is being inflicted on fellow human beings who are immigrants and refugees — was set into motion by the votes of more than half of the nation's white Christians in 2016?

Lisa Koop's sermon follows:

St. John Paul II, Pray for Us! Legionaries of Christ Report Shows Maciel Abused at Least 60 Boys, Abuse Was Rife in the Order

Sexual abuse of minors was rife among superiors of the Legionaires of Christ, with at least 60 boys abused by its founder Father Marcial Maciel, report shows. https://t.co/2LUelQ4U6i pic.twitter.com/AhJm3HTihy

— Philip Pullella (@PhilipPullella) December 22, 2019

Philip Pullela reports, 

Ruth Krall, "Bearing Witness: The First Step in Reconciliation" (2)

Vincent van Gogh, "The Good Samaritan," original in the Kroller-Muller Museum in Otterlo, The Netherlands, uploaded to Wikimedia Commons for online sharing.

The essay below is the second half of Ruth Krall's essay "Bearing Witness: The First Step in Reconciliation." The first half of this essay is here. This essay is one in a series of essays by Ruth Krall entitled "Compassionate Peacemaking: Healing the World's Wounds One at a Time." Part one of the series, which has the series title "Bearing Witness," consists of four essays. When I introduced you to this series of essays (see the preceding link), I noted that they seem to me very important statements for those who observe the Christian liturgical season of Advent.

In this essay, Ruth writes, "To accept the mission of reconciliation as our vocation means stepping into the politicized position of the margins rather than the more imposing and secure position inside the centers of power." And what does this statement mean, if it does not sum up the logic of God's choice to take flesh in Jesus: what Ruth says about the mission of reconciliation is in key respects a summary of the gospel stories about the birth of Christ. Ruth's essay follows:

At Long Last, Christianity Today Lowers the Boom — "It's Time to Call a Spade a Spade" — & Republicans Rage

Christianity Today was founded by Billy Graham, the most prominent evangelical figure in modern history. It is a vehemently anti-choice, conservative publication.

The second it called for Trump's removal, the entire GOP attacked it as "far-left."

THIS IS HOW CULTS THINK.

— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) December 20, 2019

I will publish the second half of Ruth Krall's wonderful essay "Bearing Witness: The First Step in Reconciliation" in the next day or so. Meanwhile, these developments, which have just unfolded, seem to demand commentary — and here are some good pieces I've read in the past two days:

Ruth Krall, "Bearing Witness: The First Step in Reconciliation"

Vincent van Gogh, "The Good Samaritan," original in the Kroller-Muller Museum in Otterlo, The Netherlands, uploaded to Wikimedia Commons for online sharing.

As my previous posting stated, I'm privileged to offer another set of essays by Ruth Krall, entitled "Compassionate Peacemaking: Healing the World's Wounds One at a Time." Part one of the series, which has the series title "Bearing Witness," consists of four essays. The essay you'll find below is the first part of Ruth's second essay in the "Bearing Witness" series, entitled "Bearing Witness: The First Step in Reconciliation." The second half of the essay will appear in a day or so after this.

As Ruth's footnote appended to the title of this essay states, she first presented this essay as an invited faculty presentation at the annual faculty retreat of her alma mater Goshen College in 2001. Please note that the footnotes to this essay begin with the number vi because the number sequence begins where notes in the previous essay ended. The first part of Ruth's essay "Bearing Witness: The First Step in Reconciliation" follows. Ruth has dedicated this essay series to her friend and mentor Nelle Morton.

Ruth Krall, "The Good Samaritan: Pious Parable or Subversive Instruction?"

Vincent van Gogh, "The Good Samaritan," original in the Kroller-Muller Museum in Otterlo, The Netherlands, uploaded to Wikimedia Commons for online sharing.

I'm privileged to be able to offer readers another set of essays by Ruth Krall, entitled "Compassionate Peacemaking: Healing the World's Wounds One at a Time." Part one of this series, which has the series title "Bearing Witness," consists of four essays. The essay I'm publishing today is the first in the "Bearing Witness" series. It's entitled "The Good Samaritan: Pious Parable or Subversive Instruction?"

Ruth's essays bear witness to the struggle to repair the world at a time in which that struggle seems overwhelming to many of us — and, for this reason, the essays strike me as timely and important. For those who observe Christian liturgical seasons, they seem especially appropriate during this Advent time, when people of Christian faith meditate about darkness and light, in hope that light will prevail and darkness cannot overcome it. 

Footnote to My Eulogy of Carmel McEnroy: "As so Many Others Have Experienced in This Life, Her Complete Redemption Had to Wait Till the Next Life"

Mercy Sister, Carmel McEnroy, author who captured women's role in #VaticanII, dies https://t.co/UxKj64GdVU via @ncronline @SistersofMercy @GerardRMoloney @FlanneryTony @MiriamTDuignan @vofwomen

— Sarah R Mac Donald (@SarahRMacDonald) December 3, 2019

A response David Jackson made to my remembrance of my graduate school colleague Sister Carmel McEnroy, RSM, prompts me to add a footnote to that posting. David writes,

Recommending "The List" — Commentary on Catholic Diocese of Charlotte and Its Yet to Be Fulfilled Promise to Release List of Abusive Priests

As I have noted in previous postings (a bibliography is appended at the end of this posting, covering the past several years), the diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of the last dioceses in the nation to release a list of priests credibly accused of abusing minors, though its sister diocese in Raleigh long since published its list. As I've also noted (again, please see the bibliography below), Charlotte Bishop Peter Jugis promised this year that he would release a list of credibly accused priests prior to the end of the year.

Remembering Carmel McEnroy, RSM, a Distinguished Theologian Whose Career Was Cut Short by St. Meinrad Theology School

Mercy Sister, Carmel McEnroy, author who captured women's role in #VaticanII, dies https://t.co/UxKj64GdVU via @ncronline @SistersofMercy @GerardRMoloney @FlanneryTony @MiriamTDuignan @vofwomen

— Sarah R Mac Donald (@SarahRMacDonald) December 3, 2019

I've learned today from the tweet of Sarah R. MacDonald above  that my graduate school classmate Carmel McEnroy has left us. Carmel was a few years ahead of me in the graduate theology program at University of St. Michael's College of the Toronto School of Theology. I'm saddened to hear of her death. Carmel was a person of great integrity, who suffered much when St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology School fired her, a tenured professor, after she signed a statement calling for keeping discussion of women's ordination open.

As GOP Channels Putin: Commentary on Republican Long Game in Cozying Up to Russia's Strongman Autocrat

Heather Cox Richardson, "Letters from an American, 7 December 2019":

In June 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that democracy is obsolete. He believes that a few oligarchs should run the world while the rest of us do as we are told, and he is doing his best to destroy both American democracy and the international structures, like NATO, that hold it in place. The interests of reactionary American leaders and Russian president Putin run parallel. Astonishingly, that affinity has recently come out into the open. Some of our leaders are publicly echoing Putin’s propaganda, apparently willing to work with him to undermine the principles on which our nation rests so long as it means they can stay in power. 

Will we permit the destruction of American democracy on our watch?

What We Are Now Living Through Creates a Serious Crisis of Religious Faith

In the video above, discussing the death of 16-year-old Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez in a detention center for immigrants this past May, Mika Brzezinski states that Nancy Pelosi is filling a leadership void and a moral void in this country. Joe Scarborough then states that evangelicals used to fill this moral void and no longer do so:

Who Catechized Devin Nunes?

Devin Nunes is Catholic.

Who catechized Devin Nunes?

Who normalizes men like William Barr and Devin Nunes (and Patrick Buchanan and Sean Hannity and countless others) in American Catholicism — while figures like Dorothy Day are regarded as marginal and negligible?

— 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕞 𝔻. 𝕃𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕤𝕖𝕪 🌈 (@wdlindsy) November 25, 2019

"You Served Your Tour with Valor": Honoring Veterans of the African-American Struggle for Justice and Dignity

Today is the U.S. Veterans' Day holiday, and as tributes to this or that family member who has been in the military pop up in my social media feed, I'm thinking of a tribute my friend Wendell Griffen posted on his blog a number of days back to an Arkansas civil rights attorney and state representative, John W. Walker. John Walker died 28 October, and Wendell eulogized him at his funeral in Little Rock on 1 November.

Father Tom Doyle's Recent Lecture, "What the Sexual Abuse Phenomenon Has Done to the Catholic Church"

I'd like to point you today to a resource Ruth Krall has told me about: as the video at the head of the posting indicates, recently, a lecture that Father Tom Doyle gave last month at Gonzaga University has come online in video format. The lecture is entitled "What the Sexual Abuse Phenomenon Has Done to the Catholic Church," and was presented under the auspices of Gonzaga's Flannery Lecture series.

If I Were a Young Person Seeking a Church Home for Myself, Why Would I EVER Want to Consider a Church in Which….

If I were a young person seeking a church home for myself, why would I EVER want to consider a church in which

"It's Not All in the Past": Commentary on Abuse Stories in the News Now, Across Church Lines and National Lines

“Rev. Marcotte is 32 years old and represents part of the "new guard" of the Catholic Church, yet by all indications, he has been grooming and abusing children since his 2014 ordination.”

Guess it’s not all in the past. #VaticanChikdSexTrafficking https://t.co/kA0PcuXdiD

— Indie Theology (@IndieTheology) October 29, 2019

Irish Voice, "Covering up pedophiles while refusing Joe Biden communion":

As Hallowe'en Approaches….

My apologies to you readers of Bilgrimage for being away from this blog for so long. I may have mentioned at some point that I have been working for quite some time to co-author a book that will be published by University of Arkansas Press. The book, whose title is A Family Practice: The Russell Doctors and the Evolving Business of Medicine, 1799-1989, will come out this spring. I've co-authored it with a cousin of mine, Bill Russell, who is a descendant of the doctors discussed in the book, and Mary Ryan, formerly head librarian at the library of the University of Arkansas Medical School.

Newman Canonized, and Talk of His Love for Ambrose St. John Rocks the World of Macho-Heterosexist Clerics: My Thoughts

1/ It has long been a tactic of homophobes to claim that one cannot identify people in the past as gay when they did not identify themselves that way, even when they spoke or wrote about same-sex relationships in their own lives. This tactic wants to invisibilize gay people.

— 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕞 𝔻. 𝕃𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕤𝕖𝕪 🌈 (@wdlindsy) October 14, 2019

Jeff Chu on Meeting the Woman Who Fired Him Because He Was Gay: Valuable Twitter Thread for #RiseUpOct8

The US Supreme Court will hear arguments this week on whether LGBTQ people are protected by existing anti-discrimination law. I've been thinking about this topic. On Saturday at #EvolvingFaith19, I came face-to-face with a woman who fired me from a freelance gig because I'm gay.

— Jeff Chu (@jeffchu) October 7, 2019

The Twitter thread Jeff Chu shared yesterday, which begins with the tweet above, is very important to read today, as the Supreme Court hears more arguments about the "right" of people to appeal to religious belief as their basis for discriminating against LGBTQ citizens in the workplace, in schools, in public services, in housing, in the marketplace, etc.

Douglas Hostetter, Interfaith Paths to Peace

Photo is from Doug Hostetter's Picture of Peace website.

INTERFAITH PATHS TO PEACE

Douglas Hostetter

United Nations NGO Representative

Pax Christi International

Peace Pastor

Evanston Mennonite Church

(former) Visiting Scholar and Adjunct Lecturer

Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

(former) Adjunct Professor 

Goshen College, Goshen, IN

DougHostetter@gmail.com

Presented at 

First International Conference On Peace And Conflict Resolution

University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
April 29-30, 2019

Abstract

The paper draws heavily on my personal experience doing alternative service with the Mennonite Central Committee in Vietnam during the American War in Vietnam (1966-1969) and directing the Bosnian Student Project during the War in Bosnia (1992–1995), when I was the International/Interfaith Secretary of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. 

Glitch with Disqus Today

Readers of Bilgrimage: there appears to be some glitch with the Disqus commenting system today, and I wanted to alert you to it. When I go to the blog page and try to reply to comments, Disqus tells me I need to check my internet connection. But when I click one more time immediately after that to post my reply, it goes through.

If you are encountering a message that you are not online as you try to leave a comment here, or are not signed in, clicking your reply a second time may well send it through. I do not know why the glitch is occurring and will try to get a solution to it, but in the meantime, I did not want you all to think you cannot comment here due to this technical problem.

Dominican Priest-Theologian James Alison Receives Affirming Phone Call from Pope: When Will the Call Come for the Rest of Us?

Pope Francis’ call and respect for Alison’s path rights a major injustice inflicted by the Vatican. It should give all Catholics encouragement to follow their consciences and do the work to which God calls them, even if church leaders condemn or exclude. https://t.co/RAMkMOmZiD

— New Ways Ministry (@NewWaysMinistry) September 29, 2019

I am delighted for James Alison's sake. He's a first-rate theologian.

It's Still Going on — Cover-Up of Abuse Is Still Going on — and Catholics Know This, Do not Trust Their Bishops, and Are Withholding Money

Since some of us recently had a discussion here about Catholics withholding donations to parishes and Catholic institutions because many Catholics see their money put to uses that disgust them, including covering up clerical abuse of minors, I thought I'd draw your attention to this recent article by Brian Fraga. As he reports, Catholic donations to parishes and Catholic institutions in the U.S. are dropping because many Catholics believe their donations have been abused, in particular, to cover up clerical sexual abuse of minors. Fraga writes,

Catholic Bishop of Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, First to Be Investigated Under New Church Guidelines: A Selection of My Commentary on Crookston Diocese Over the Years

This could get interesting. https://t.co/zKizQX0SbR

— Jennifer Haselberger (@jmhaselberger) September 11, 2019

The bishop of the Catholic diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, Michael Hoeppner, is now under canonical investigation for allegedly interfering with civil or canonical investigations of clerical sexual abuse of minors. As Jean Hopfensperger states in the report I have just linked, Hoeppner is the first sitting bishop to be investigated under new Vatican protocols for reviewing and disciplining bishops in such matters.

Wendell Griffen, "Standing with Elaine"

With the permission of my friend Judge (and Reverend) Wendell Griffen, I'd like to share with you a statement he has made recently on his blog The Fierce Urgency of Prophetic Hope. A bit of background: as Wendell's posting notes, in October 1919, hundreds of black men, women, and children were murdered in an event in eastern Arkansas now known as the Elaine Massacre. There are some outstanding historical accounts of what occurred in this massacre — one of the largest race-based massacres in American history. These accounts provide a narrative of what happened to the extent to which historians can piece together what occurred, when so much evidence has been lost or suppressed.

Two Mass Shootings in Texas in One Month: Who Owns Guns in the U.S? (Answer: White Republican Evangelical Men Above All)

Latest mass shooter in Texas from Odessa American

1/ Texas has just had two mass shootings in one month. In both, aggrieved white males who had easy access to guns went on rampages and killed multiple people. In light of this, we need to review — all over again — who owns guns in the U.S., where they're far too easy to access.

— 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕞 𝔻. 𝕃𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕤𝕖𝕪 🌈 (@wdlindsy) September 2, 2019

"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. 

A Note About the Timeliness of Ruth Krall's "Historical Meandering: Ideologies of Abuse and Exclusion"

In the second part of her essay entitled "Historical Meandering: Ideologies of Abuse and Exclusion," which I just published, Ruth Krall writes the following:

Ruth Krall, Historical Meandering: Ideologies of Abuse and Exclusion (2)

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

The essay below is the second part of Ruth Krall's essay entitled "Historical Meandering: Ideologies of Abuse and Exclusion." The first part was published on Bilgrimage several days ago. As the introduction to the essay at the link I have just provided explains, the essay is one of a series of essays Ruth has published on Bilgrimage, under the series title "Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice." Links to the previous essays in this series appear at the link I've just given you above. The common theme binding these essays together is the endemic natural of religious and spiritual leader sexual abuse of followers. The current essay explores this theme by arguing that clergy sexual abuse is a global public health issue whose noxious presence can be found inside multiple language groups and national identities. The secong part of Ruth's essay, "Historical Meandering," follows (note that footnotes begin with xiii because this essay is a continuation of the first part published previously):

Happy 68th Birthday to My Husband Steve

Someone had a birthday in our household yesterday, and since I recently shared with you the news of what Steve's employer, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, chose to do to him several months before he turned 68, I thought I'd share this photo from yesterday's birthday celebration. We had an enjoyable festive meal with Steve's brother Joe. I took the photo below of Steve and Joe several evenings earlier, when Joe joined us for supper.

Ruth Krall, Historical Meandering: Ideologies of Abuse and Exclusion (1)

Vasily Polenov, Le droit du Seigneur (1874) (i)

The essay by Ruth Krall that follows below is the fifth in a series of essays entitled "Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice." The first essay in this series appeared in two installments, here and here. The second appeared in another two installments, here and here. The third essay is here, and the fourth essay, in two installments, is here and here. In this multi-part series of essays, in which Ruth generously offers us the fruits of her years of research about these matters, Ruth hypothesizes the endemic nature of religious and spiritual leader sexual abuse of followers. The current essay continues this theme by arguing that clergy sexual abuse is a global public health issue whose noxious presence can be found inside multiple language groups and national identities. In this essay, which is rich and lengthy and which I'll offer to you in several installments, Ruth continues her investigation of these claims with an historical sounding. Ruth's essay follows (first installment):

I Refuse to Hate: People of Faith Challenge GOP Racism, or What's Wrong with the U.S. Catholic Bishops?!

Chris Morley comments on Bilgrimage,

"We Are Watching as a President Returns Naked Racism to the White House": Commentary

The graphic above is the lead headline on Huffington Post this morning.  My commentary about it:

Ruth Krall, Looking Slant: Oppressive Ideologies and Belief Systems (2)

Ebola: Transporting a Sick Child to a Care Facility

This is the second part of Ruth Krall's essay "Looking Slant: Oppressive Ideologies and Belief Systems." The first part is here, and that link also points you to links to three previously published essays in the same series, which Ruth has entitled "Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice." This current essay follows on the three preceding essays, in which Ruth which hypothesizes the endemic natural of religious and spiritual leader sexual abuse of followers. The current essay continues this theme by asking what might be the role played by various ideologies in establishing institutional climates that faciliate abuse and then cover it up. 

Because this posting is a continuation of the first half of "Looking Slant: Oppressive Ideologies and Belief Systems," footnote numbers start at the point at which footnotes in the first part of the essay left off in the previous posting. Ruth's essay follows:

Ruth Krall, Looking Slant: Oppressive Ideologies and Belief Systems

Ebola: Transporting a Sick Child to a Care Facility (1)

The essay by Ruth Krall that follows below is the fourth in a series of essays entitled "Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice," which I've had the honor to publish on Bilgrimage in the past weeks. The first essay in this series appeared in two installments, here and here. The second appeared in another two installments, here and here. The third essay is here. As Ruth's introduction to the essay below notes, it follows on her three preceding essays, which hypothesize the endemic natural of religious and spiritual leader sexual abuse of followers by asking what might be the role played by various ideologies in establishing institutional climates that faciliate abuse and then cover it up. As with some of Ruth's previous essays in this series, I'm posting this one in two parts: part one is below.

Margaret Renkl on Obligation of Catholics to Defend Their LGBTQ Brothers and Sisters — Even Against Archbishops

Margaret Renkl, "How to Defy the Catholic Church: Believers have a spiritual obligation to defend their L.G.B.T.Q. brothers and sisters, even against archbishops":

Despite the archbishop's words [i.e., Archbishop Charles Thompson of Indianapolis addressing his orders to two Catholic schools to fire gay employees], his behavior does look very much like a witch hunt. He has apparently not directed Catholic school officials to fire teachers who practice birth control or divorced teachers who remarry without benefit of a church annulment. In calling for the dismissal of all teachers who fail to exemplify every teaching of the Catholic church, the "categories of people you would need to fire'"would amount to "a huge list," the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and editor at America Magazine, told The Times. Persecuting teachers in same-sex marriages is Archbishop Thompson's specific focus. … 

Catholics today don't hear much about the primacy of an informed conscience because many priests take the position that a conscience at odds with the church is by definition insufficiently informed. But the primacy of an informed conscience belongs as deeply to church tradition as the current brand of pastoral authoritarianism does. It is time for Catholics to remember it again and stand up for their brothers and sisters in same-sex marriages, as Brebeuf Jesuit has done, even if it means defying the teaching of their own imperfect church.

Everybody Has a Story: Updating You on Recent Events in My Husband Steve's and My Life

Weeks back, I alluded to a hard patch through which Steve and I have been walking, and told you readers of Bilgrimage that I would say more about this when the time was ripe. I am now free to talk. I shared the following statement on Facebook yesterday. I feel a certain ambivalance about making this story public, and I think the ambivalence arises from my concern that I not target the individuals who created this hard patch for Steve and me.

Indianapolis Archbishop Claims Firing of Gay Employees Necessary to Address "Public Situations": My Response

Masha Gessen, "Coming Out, and Rising Up, in the Fifty Years After Stonewall," on the Supreme Court ruling in Bowers v. Hardwick (1986)

Associated Press, "Indiana archbishop defends firing of teacher in gay marriage": 

Archbishop Charles Thompson said during a news conference that he didn't seek out information about the marriages involving the teachers but had to respond to what he called a "public situation" of Catholic school employees not following church doctrine.

My Thoughts on Sharing the Photo of the Drowned Bodies of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and His Daughter Valeria

We must force ourselves to keep seeing.

Yesterday, on social media, I shared a photo of the bodies of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his daughter Valeria who drowned recently trying to cross the Rio Grande and enter the U.S. after weeks of waiting to enter. As I shared the photo, I stated that, though some media outlets had chosen to hide it behind a click-screen, in my view, we must not let ourselves look away: we are doing this to fellow human beings, and we need to see what we are doing.

"If Evangelical Christians Stood Up for These Children…"

If evangelical Christians stood up for these children, things could change in the camps very quickly. 

~ Caitlin Flanagan, "Christ in the Camps"

Caleb Crain: Gay-Panic Defense Began to Be Challenged When Gay People Were Permitted to Write about Anti-Gay Crimes — Implications for the Catholic Media

A seed of change, however, was finally planted in the late nineteen-fifties, when the gay community began to write about such crimes themselves, making visible the complicity of the judicial system and the press in entrenching homophobia.

~ Caleb Crain, "The Theory That Justified Anti-Gay Crime"  

John Gehring on Why Catholic Bishops Need a Year of Abstinence on Preaching about Sexuality

John Gehring, "Why Catholic bishops need a year of abstinence on preaching about sexuality":

"Indescribable Cruelty": Commentators on the Concentration Camps Now Being Operated by the United States Under Donald Trump

7/ For 10 years, not one migrant child died in U.S. government custody.

Since September, at least 6 kids have died in the custody of DHS or HHS.

How many more kids must die before we end this madness?

— Alvaro Bedoya (@alvarombedoya) June 21, 2019

The firing of gay employees of Catholic institutions is hardly the most horrific thing happening in the world today. There's also this:

WaPo: Indianapolis Diocese Threatens "To Strip Away Catholic Identity" from Schools "That Employ People Who Are Not Heterosexual"

The statement I've underlined from this Washington Post article will be challenged. People will say this is not about punishing schools that hire employees who are not heterosexual. It's about going after gays who don't behave themselves and who publicly dissent from Catholic teaching, they'll maintain.

Ruth Krall, Religious Leader Sexual Abuse — What Language Shall We Use?

Citrus Trees Ready for Harvest (1)

This essay is the third in a series Ruth Krall has written with the title "Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice." The first essay in the series was published in two parts (here and here), and was followed by another two-part essay (here and here). As Ruth notes below, "In the first two essays, I utilized the language of public health to explore issues of prevention, containment and treatment. In this essay I have raised questions about how we begin to study these issues. I have raised the question of our research language as essential."

As she further states, "Vis-à-vis the current clergy sexual abuse issue in multiple world religions, we need, I believe, an enhanced vocabulary. We need this enhanced and more precise vocabulary in order to comprehend the complex institutional forces at work in today's religious communities as they experience and/or demonstrate the affinity sexual violence phenomena." Here's Ruth's valuable essay:

"The Saint of Dry Creek": Story Corps Remembers Stonewall Uprising

Watch “The Saint of Dry Creek,” as part of our #StonewallOutLoud initiative to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Learn more at https://t.co/b57SPaI7GY pic.twitter.com/qaGJVe3dBQ

— StoryCorps (@StoryCorps) June 15, 2019

I shared this "Saint of Dry Creek" video back in October 2015. I'm very happy to see Story Corps circulating it again on social media this week as part of its #StonewallOutLoud initiative.

It's a keeper, in my view.

Ruth Krall, Religious Leader Sexual Abuse: A Pan-Denominational Approach (Part 2)

Transferring an Ebola Patient for Transport to a Care Facility 

Religious Leader Sexual Abuse: A Pan-Denominational Approach

Ruth Elizabeth Krall, MSN, PhD

This is a continuation of an essay by Ruth Krall, the first half of which was posted a few days ago.  As that previous posting noted, this essay, entitled "Religious Leader Sexual Abuse: A Pan-Denominational Approach," continues Ruth's analysis of religious leader sexual abuse of vulnerable individuals from the standpoint of public health. It proposes that "any effort to eliminate sexual abuse as a public health problem must, therefore, be both a national and an international effort. It must also be pan-denominational — reaching into multiple religious communities." Here's the second half of Ruth's outstanding essay — note that footnote numbers begin in medias res because this part of Ruth's essay links to the part previously posted: 

Abuse Whistleblower Rachael Denhollander on Why Survivors Know How Extensive Abuse Is in Southern Baptist Churches

With nearly 15 million members, the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. Now it's facing a reckoning over sexual abuse. @R_Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse Larry Nassar, joins @JudyWoodruff in studio. pic.twitter.com/uKPPRhbZ9O

— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) June 12, 2019

Rachael Denhollander was a courageous whistleblower in the case of Larry Nassar, who sexually assaulted her at age 15. When she came forward with her claims about Nassar, Immanuel Baptist, the church to which she and her husband Jacob Denhollander (a Southern Baptist seminary student)  belonged, refused to support her. They then left that church and joined another.

Ruth Krall, Religious Leader Sexual Abuse: A Pan-Denominational Approach

Transferring an Ebola Patient for Transport to a Care Facility  

I recently had the privilege of publishing an essay by Ruth Krall entitled "Prolegomena: An Act of Re-Thinking" (here and here). That essay challenged readers to re-think how we've come to view the phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable people in religious contexts, and to consider applying terms and concepts from the realm of public health (e.g., epidemic, endemic, or pandemic) to this phenomenon.

"Prolegomena" is the first in a multi-part set of essasys on which Ruth has been working, with the title (for the entire series), "Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice." In her manuscript gathering essays together under that title, Ruth includes a dedicatory note acknowleding the influence of her father Carl S. Krall on her life, work, and thought. It reads,

Southern Baptist and U.S. Catholic Leaders Meet in Same Week, Both Confronting Serious Sexual Abuse Problems: A "Gender Hurricane" Results

It's a gender hurricane out there this week. Come Holy Spirit. https://t.co/ebDdAKIsEc

— Natalia Imperatori (@nimperatori) June 11, 2019

At the same time, the Southern Baptist Convention is holding its annual meeting in Birmingham, Alabama, and the Catholic bishops are meeting in Baltimore. High on the agenda of both sets of gentlemen: what to do about sexual abuse of minors and other vulnerable church members? What to do about the fact that the public knows and will not now unknow? 

Ruth Krall, Prolegomena: An Act of Re-Thinking (Part 2)

This posting is a continuation of an essay by Ruth Krall, the first part of which I posted several days ago. As that previous posting notes, Ruth's essay, entitled "Prolegomena: An Act of Re-Thinking," invites readers to re-think how we've come to view the phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable people in religious contexts. Ruth urges us to consider applying terms and concepts from the realm of public health to this phenomenon. Is this abuse an epidemic in religious contexts today? Is it endemic in religious structures? Is it pandemic?

Because the essay belows continues (and links to) the first part published previously, the endnotes begin at xvi rather than 1. Here's the second part of Ruth's valuable essay: