Church Bells Ringing Throughout the World, Horns Honking, Fireworks and People Dancing in the Streets: Celebration of the End of Trump Presidency

"The Guardian, CNN's Van Jones brought to tears as Joe Biden wins US election"

Mark Sumner, "America is celebrating like a cloud has left the skies and a weight is off our hearts":

Right now, a pandemic is raging. Right now, the economy is in recession. Right now, the nation is suffering from four years in which Donald Trump did everything possible to rewind decades of progress and tear at the foundations of democracy.

But right now. Right now. All of that has to be set aside. Right now, it is time to shout. To cry in joy and in relief. To jump. To dance. To celebrate.

Again, Case Study from Minnesota: Bishops Playing Culture-War Games Cannot Effectively Address Real, Pressing Problems Like Racism

On 23 May, I posted a piece here entitled "As US President Demands That Churches Re-Open, Case Study from Minnesota." That posting noted the intent of the Catholic bishops of Minnesota to "defy" the stay-at-home orders of the state's governor and re-open churches. The word "defy" is used in the headline of a 20 May MPR article about this story to which I linked on 23 May.

Reaping the Whirlwind: America Now Confronts the Reality of Its 2016 Election

People Can Only Bear So Much Injustice Before Lashing Out via @thenation https://t.co/qevqJ0pvk4

— 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕞 𝔻. 𝕃𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕤𝕖𝕪 🌈 (@wdlindsy) May 30, 2020

Jack Holmes, "This CNN Crew's Arrest in Minneapolis Is More Than a Mistake":

Imagine what they're capable of when they're not live on national television. 

As US President Demands That Churches Re-Open, Case Study from Minnesota

My Reflections as Minnesota and Vermont Declare Grocery Clerks Emergency Workers

Hell yeah, now make it national https://t.co/XEad0wx53j

— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) March 19, 2020

The people putting their lives on the line right now to serve the rest of us are medical personnel and also grocery store workers and people delivering goods in trucks all over the country. The latter two groups are often significantly underpaid and have few or no benefits, including paid sick leave.

Now This in Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina: "Advocate Wants Former Belmont Abbey Priest Named as Child Sexual Abuser"

In an article entitled, "Advocate wants former Belmont Abbey priest named as child sexual abuser," Nathan Morabito writes, 

The names of more than 40 clergy members credibly accused of sexually abusing children before, during or after their time in the Diocese of Charlotte are now public, but just weeks after church leaders released that long-awaited list, we've learned there are still others who served in our area who were not named.

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.

Documents in Settlement of Curtis Wehmeyer Case Reveal Vatican Interference in Investigation of Allegations about Archbishop Nienstedt's Sexual Improprieties

WHAT HE'S SAYING: Well, there you have it at the top of this posting. Archbishop Nienstedt's full statement in response to the revelations contained in documents in last week's settlement of the Curtis Wehmeyer case in St. Paul-Minneapolis can be found appended to this article by Marino Eccher in Twin Cities Pioneer Press. Nienstedt's response: 

Jennifer Haselberger's Affidavit in the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocesan Bankruptcy Case: "A Question of Equity and Fairness" Grounded in the Corporatist Tradition of Catholic Theology and Ecclesiology

Before we left for our recent vacation, I made a promise here, I seem to recall, to read and comment on the 22 May affidavit of Jennifer Haselberger, former Chancellor for Canonical Affairs of the Catholic archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis. The affidavit is Haselberger's testimony in the bankruptcy case of the archdiocese now pending in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota (case no. 15-30125).

Jennifer Haselberger: "The Philosophy, the Ideology, Has Always Been to Protect the Assets of the Church" — Not to Respond with Pastoral Concern

As abuse survivors in Minnesota charge that the archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis is shielding millions of dollars of assets in a bankruptcy case, Jennifer Haselberger, former canon lawyer for the archdiocese and whistle-blower regarding its cover-up of clerical sexual abuse of minors, reminds us that it is and always has been about protecting the assets of the church (and its image), when abuse survivors come forward to report what has happened to them.

Cousin of John Nienstedt Reports That He Told Nienstedt of Abuse by Nienstedt's Priest-Friend, and Nienstedt Did Nothing: The Unholy Trinity of Lies, Secrets, and Silence

The story told in the video above is one to which a valued reader of this blog alerted me yesterday. The report is from KMSP (Fox News) in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. As you'll see when you watch the video, a reporter from this news outlet, Tom Lyden, interviews a cousin of deposed Twin Cities archbishop John Nienstedt — Mike Hinske — who maintains that a priest-friend of Nienstedt's, Samuel Ritchey, sexually abused him when he was 16 years old. Lyden also interviews an unwilling Nienstedt.

Daily Beast on Jeyapaul Story: "This May Be the Worst Case We’ve Ever Seen. What Does a Priest Have to Do to Get Kicked Out of the Catholic Church?"

Noting that the Vatican has placed convicted rapist Father Joseph Jeyapaul back into a parish, Barbie Latza Nadeau (and Daily Beast) write, 

Laurie Goodstein on Why the Catholic Abuse Story Remains a Story (and Minnesota Survivor Megan Peterson Files Lawsuit As Her Abuser Father Jeyapaul Is Returned to Ministry)

Recommended: New York Times reporter Laurie Goodstein's "Times Insider" report today on why the sex abuse story in the Catholic church remains a story. Be sure to listen to the podcast discussion between Goodstein and Susan Lehman about Goodstein's report.

Abuse Survivor Megan Peterson on Pope Francis's Recent Statement About Holding Bishops Accountable: Actions Talk Louder Than Words

In what I posted earlier today about Pope Francis's recent statement that a bishop who moves a priest to another parish when a case of pedophilia is discovered is irresponsible man and should resign, I stated, 

From Bad to Worse in News Of Catholic Abuse Crisis: Vatican Tells Bishops They Don't Have to Report Abuse to Authorities, Indian Bishop Places Criminally Convicted Priest in Ministry

This week, as Carnival was in full swing in many Catholic regions of the world and as the body of Padre Pio was paraded in Rome in a glass coffin, things appear to have gone from bad to worse in news of the response of Catholic officials to the abuse crisis. Patricia Miller sums up the response of many thinking Catholics (and non-Catholic observers) to the papal abuse commission's recent silencing of Peter Saunders by noting that "[f]or abuse survivors, the move to silence Saunders confirms their fears that the commission was largely a PR tactic."

Footnote to a Footnote: Fixation on Homosexuality in Discussions of Catholic Abuse Crisis, and Questions About Hate Speech

I'll admit to you all a frustration bordering on peevishness at the way many people in religious circles seem inclined to turn plain truth on its head as they parse the lives and fates of fellow human beings who are LGBT. The classic formulation of this truth inversion: "I'm not homophobic. I love gay folks. I just want to speak the truth to them in love as I tell them they are under God's judgment, are headed to hell if they do not repent, and cannot have the same rights other people have -- because love."

Footnote to Discussion of St. John's Abbey Story: NCR Thread Filling Up with Homophobic Charges That Catholic Abuse Crisis Is Rooted in Homosexuality

A footnote about what I posted earlier today regarding the documents just made public by St. John's Benedictine Abbey in Minnesota, re: monks credibly accused of having abused minors: as happens so often in the toxic, homophobic context of American Catholicism when stories about sexual abuse by Catholic clergy are made public, a string of people have already logged into the thread discussing Brian Roewe's story to sling around the usual accusations about homosexuals abusing boys. Check out the thread started by Marty Eble's comment setting that line of discussion rolling.

St. John's Abbey Releases 15,000 Pages of Disclosure re: 18 Monks: NCR Reader Writes, "To Me, This Story Encapsulates the Entire Scandal"

Does anyone but me ever have the sense that Catholic pastoral authorities have played and continue playing an ugly game with the rest of us about the abuse situation in the Catholic church? (I'm being facetious, of course: we all know that they've long been playing games with us about this.)

Pathology of Internalized Homophobia in Gay-Bashing Catholic Clerics: "How Strange Their Psyches Must Be As a Result...and Sometimes Dangerous As Well"

The synchonicity of conversations on the worldwide web never fails to intrigue me — discourse community linking to discourse community when they're to all appearances not connected at all. As Mary Q pointed out in a comment here two days ago, at the same time (roughly) that I was having a conversation with Chris Morley here about the peculiar pathology of the Roman Catholic clerical system, which intermixes hypocrisy (especially about matters sexual involving the clergy) with power and the abuse of power, with the ravening desire of career clerics to be at the top of an ecclesiastical ladder in which being on top means using, hurting, throwing away a lot of folks at the bottom, a reader of Jennifer Haselberger's blog was leaving a comment there very similar to my statements to Chris.

As Pope Arrives: "Until Francis Gets the House in Order on the Matter of Sexual Abuse of Clergy, All the Other Pastoral and Charitable Efforts of Our Church Are Like Sandcastles"

Two simple (but are they simple?) reminders this morning about the abuse situation in the Catholic church, and the imperative need of Catholic pastoral leaders to address it — from the highest level of church governance: