Thalamus Center - Early Childhood Psychological Development Growing up Gay
Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
April 20, 2015
Rev. Mercier,
I received your letter dated March 3, 2015 on March 20, 2015 - postmarked from Grand Rapids, on March 18, 2015. In answer to - the letter that I received from Bishop Walkowiak, dated November 26, 2013, regarding Bishop Walter Hurley’s canonical proceedings to remove me from the priesthood - I have previously sent my letter of appeal, dated January 16, 2014, FedEx to Pope Francis, Casa Santa Marta, Piazza Santa Marta, 00120 Citta del Vaticano.
However, due to the extraordinary revealing events related to the Synod of Bishops on Family - October 2014 they disclosed information crucial to my appeal - in addition - to the letter of appeal I sent to Pope Francis, January 16, 2014. I have included these observations and the documentation in a two part posting labeled - Ghosts in the - Synod of Bishops on Family - October 2014 - Repress Unacknowledged Need for Empathy? The links to these postings are found below.
Due to my penniless situation, at the age of 65 years old - a direct cause of the Vatican’s severe retaliation tactics waged against me that first began two months after I came out in March 1997 for the protection of gay children as young 4 and 5 years of age, at which time - I was instructed, then at the age of 47 years old, by Bishop Robert Rose that I was to be sent away on a sabbatical that was being put together for me - to reeducate me on the subject of sexual orientation. Though, I was told that it is taking some time to find the right place to send me to be reeducated on the subject of sexual orientation.
Regardless, this idea was not only irrational but the attempt to even conceive the idea of forcing someone, a priest, to such inhumane mistreatment void of any consideration of compassion - was not only sociopathic, in nature, but psychotic as well - a complete break external reality. Even more disturbing was the fact that Bishop Rose, a long time friend of mine, was being complicit with these unconscionable and sadistic directives coming from the Vatican.
The irresponsible lack of any canonical recourse for a priest in my situation to seek protection - is equally sociopathic and psychotic behavior, as well. It appears to be a socially accepted behavior, likely, born out of having been schooled in seminaries, as young adolescence “where known sexual abuse of the students, by adult faculty members was going on and no one did anything to stop it. And though a student may never been assaulted sexually, but was aware of the sexual abuse was going on and no one stopped it - would be a severe form of the abuse of neglect (http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2015/03/repost-cold-blooded-murderers-revised.html).” This is the type of culture that still appears to pervade the curia and the majority of the hierarchy. One that particularly allowed Cardinal Burke to reign so inhumanly that was destructive for decades.
Having absolutely no recourse available to me in June 1997, including even to this day 18 years later, to address this sociopathic and psychotic retaliation being waged against me and refusing to be coerced into compliance into their irrational and inhumane directives - I did what any person would do who valued his or her life is to escape to safety, even at the cost of leaving all your belongings behind. I had to escape at the sacrifice of giving up regular priestly salary, among other things besides. And like any person, who escaped such inhumane mistreatment, one has no clear idea what he or she is going to do or how to resolve the situation. No sane person would suggest or force a severely abused wife to return to her husband - the one who is the abuser. Regardless how much he pleaded for her to come back or made it look like she left him and is a disobedient wife for not returning to her husband.
The Vatican’s severe retaliation tactics waged against me did not end in 1997. They continued in the way of character assassination attacks made against my character - destroying my reputation, credibility and thus the means for me to support myself. I have been a victim for the past 18 years, ever since I came out, March 1997, for the protection of very young gay children, of these severe retaliation tactics that includes, now as evidence - the present canonical processing you have registered with the protocol number 20131723/F.
Therefore, due to my penniless situation, as described in brief above - I am unable to mail to you these documents, including this letter.
However, I have been informed that the blog, I started for the protection of gay children called the “Thalamus Center - Early Childhood Psychological Development Growing Up Gay” has been closely monitored by your department, among others. Therefore, this letter addressed to you that is dated and posted on April 20, 2015 - contains a link to my appeal letter and enclosed documents that I sent to Pope Francis, January 16, 2014 and including the links to the additional documentation regarding the Synod 2014 that are all listed as follows:
Fr Marty Kurylowicz’s - Appeal Letter Sent to Pope Francis - “Coming Out” March 1997 - Gay Catholic Priest - For Protection of Children - January 16, 2014
Original post: January 16, 2014
Part 1 - Ghosts in the - Synod of Bishops on Family - October 2014 - Repress Unacknowledged Need for Empathy?
Fr. Marty Kurylowicz - September 16, 2014
Part 2 - Ghosts in the - Synod 2014 ---- & ---- Fr Kurylowicz’s - Appeal Letter - “Coming Out” March 1997 - For Protection of Children - 1/16/14
Repost 3/04/15 -- “Cold-blooded Murderers”- Revised 1/31/15 - Update 3/14/15:
This letter is being compose in two parts. However, due to my situation, again as described in brief above, I am still in the process of compiling and completing the additional documentation pertinent not only to my situation, but crucial for the protection of defenseless children.
I estimate the above to be completed within the next few days. I will be posting sessions as they are completed and issue a statement when they are completed in total.
Fr Marty Kurylowicz
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Update: 4/25/15
Preface
“Blaming the Victim”
It is vital to preface, a word of caution regarding the tendency of “blaming the victim” before reviewing the brutal and dehumanizing mistreatment I have been subjected to by members of the curia and the “unnamed” bishops of my diocese for the past 18 years of my life that you have reduced to a number - registering with the protocol number 20131723/F.
There is an understandable human tendency that when we hear a bizarre situation consisting of a series of severely tragic events that end up to be lethal “cold-blooded murder” - to blame the victim of fabrication and guilty of causing the hostility.
In my situation this is not the case. The crucial difference is that I came out based on valid authoritative documentation regarding human sexuality and the lifetime harm that is caused to children in early childhood developmental years growing up gay - by antigay social and religious norms.
And the cruel and ruthless treatment that I have been subjected for the past 18 years by the Vatican is based on the complete suppression of the authoritative documentation regarding human sexuality, This has been overwhelmingly been verified by the past 30 years, the Vatileaks, but most especially by the fierce negative reaction to the Synod 2014 - welcoming gay people and supporting gay children.
“Belief In A Just World”
Though it is quite common to blame the victim of a brutal, dehumanizing situation (i.e. rape), according to the research of social psychology, without looking at the total picture of the situation (http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2010/04/blaming-victim-ellen-langer-harvard.html & http://www.thepsychfiles.com/2007/03/episode-7-blaming-the-victim-and-other-biases/#sthash.HcMvcb34.dpbs & http://www.psych.ualberta.ca/~jschimel/psych%20241/12%20Angry%20men%5Bnotes%5D.htm).
We blame the victim to maintained our “belief in a just world” and our false belief that bad things only happen to bad people (http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v3n2/justworld.html & http://www.erzwiss.uni-halle.de/gliederung/paed/ppsych/chap_Guilford_final_final_accepted.pdf). We do this because we want to believe that we live in a safe world, it calms our fears and anxieties from the truth, the reality that bad things can and do happen to good people.
Dispositional vs. Situational
We are quite adept in reviewing a brutal situation after it has taken place and reconstruct the facts of the situation in a way that supports our “belief in a just world.” We do this by judging the disposition of the person (the victim) and not the whole situation. Research studies have shown that there is a tendency to wrongly blame the victims of crimes or accidents that they caused their own fates; the victims of rape are blamed for being raped and that battered wives are somehow responsible for their abusive husbands behavior. People like to think that bad people get what they deserve and that life is safe, orderly, and predictable - as along as - one just follows the rules. There is a general understanding that the poor and the disadvantaged in the world - have less because they deserve less.
Vatileaks - & - the “X-Files”
In attempting to explain the past 18 years of my life - regarding the Vatican’s cruel vindictive mistreatment - I have prefaced my explanation by stating “it is going to sound like a Sci Fi (science fiction) movie or the TV series called the “X-Files.” It would not be justice - to make an assessment of the past 18 years of my life - separate from the whole situation - the obsessive antigay crusade that has been raging on from the Vatican for the past 30 years, including the corruption and character assassinations noted in the Vatileaks and confirmed several times by Pope Francis. Photo
...Then there is “existential schizophrenia: the sickness of those who live a double life, fruit of the hypocrisy typical of the mediocre and the progressive spiritual emptiness that cannot be filled by degrees or academic honours. This ailment particularly afflicts those who, abandoning pastoral service, limit themselves to bureaucratic matters, thus losing contact with reality and with real people. They create a parallel world of their own, where they set aside everything they teach with severity to others and live a hidden, often dissolute life”...
Crucial Importance
is
Protecting Children
...Exposure to traumatic events in childhood can have dire and long-lasting consequences, not only for traumatized children but for society as well. Green (1985) has suggested that “failure to master the trauma of childhood creates a continual need to repeat and reenact them during adult life”... Kenneth E. Fletcher
However, it was the negative reaction to the midterm report of the Synod on Family 2014 - welcoming gay people and supporting gay children that was most revealing, in particular by Cardinal Burke. I came out, in March 1997, for the protection of gay children as young as 4 and 5 years of age and the lifetime harm that is caused to them by the influence of the antigay social and religious norms ( http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2015/03/repost-cold-blooded-murderers-revised.html ). It was the negative reaction to the idea of welcoming gays at the Synod 2014, noticeably absent is any substantiating evidence to support the degree of the intensity of their emotional negative response that was most revealing ( http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2014/09/ghosts-in-synod-of-bishops-on-family.html ). It most unfortunately matched the emotional intensity of the obsessive antigay campaign that is heavily documented through the history of the past 30 years, starting with Archbishop Hunthausen. It was so obsessive to the exclusion of the reality of the critical needs of human beings around the world. It is an addiction to hatred.
Mercenary Culture
of
Repressive Homosexuals
It pointed back to organizational structure of the hierarchy and the curia over the past 30 years - indicating the likely highest population of repressed homosexuals - who were harmed for life by the antigay social and religious norms - when they were children as young as, 4 and 5 years of age. They sadly validated the research that I based my reason for “coming out” in March 1997. It is further validated - by their extreme low of level of sociability noted by their endless infighting, power struggles, attacking one another, gossiping, leading to cold-blooded murder, as verified by the Vatileaks and Pope Francis. They reach a hight level of solidarity only when they are demonizing, dehumanizing and scapegoating homosexuals, while disregarding all substantiated - documentation to the contrary.
MRIs - Anger vs. Laughter
As demonstrated by their endless public remarks made against gay people, especially at the Synod 2014 regarding considering gay people and gay children in a favorable light - has shown that the mere thought of homosexuals is enough to evoke an emotionally intense reflex of instant hostility that is indiscriminately directed at gay people. It is so immediately explosive that it bypasses all logical and rational thought processes. MRIs taken of the brain at the time of intense anger have shown that only two parts of the brain light up - meaning they are activated, while leaving the rest of the brain in darkness, that is inactive. This is because blood rushes to only two parts of the brain. This gives new meaning to the phase, when it is said that someone is “not playing with a full deck” of 52 cards” - implying that the person is mentally deficient.
In shard contrast, MRIs taken of the brain at the time of intense laughter have shown that every part of the brain lights up meaning that every part of the brain is activated. It makes sense that when we are intensely anger it restricts proper blood flow - unlike when we are relaxed and at ease blood flows properly throughout the body.
These MRIs studies of the intense emotions of anger and laughter helps us to better understand when we operating mentally at our best and when we have lost perspective on an issue. They help to explain in part - why their hostility is so intense against homosexuals that it completely excludes the integration of any science regarding sexual orientation or the consideration of other scriptural interpretations regarding homosexuals. It is so strong that they adamantly refuse to even openly dialogue about gay people or to give any validated reasoning to support their position. The explanation of homosexuality that is given is rote and is expressed the same by all, as if it was frozen in time.
Early Childhood Abuse - Growing Up Gay
Violence Perpetuated in Adulthood
by
Repressed Homosexuals
In brief, there appears to be three blatant indications - a culture of repressed homosexuals exists and that they were harmed in early childhood by the influence of antigay social and religious norms. First, is their inability to connect to one another or anyone - indicating a severe lack of empathic caring in early childhood. Second, is their unison of switching from being the victims of the childhood abuse that is caused by the lifetime harm of antigay social and religious norms to becoming the aggressors of attacking gay people. Third, the fact their attacks against gay people grew to be unquestioningly obsessive to the exclusion of any logical or rational oversight regarding the science and the harm they were causing - to gay people and especially gay children - is an indication that large numbers of repressed homosexuals exists in the curia and the hierarchy. Because no one voiced an objection to this insanity.
However, most encouraging was the fact that - this is not true of all members of the hierarchy, otherwise the Synod 2014 would never have - consider the idea of welcoming gays and most especially the need of - supporting gay children.
Goals & Ideas
Over
Human Beings
Though, as an organization - they embodied many of the characteristics of a mercenary culture - rating low on a sociability scale, high on solidarity and where business goals are highly valued over the value of any individual human being.
...Indeed, almost all communication in a mercenary organization is focused on business matters. The reason: individual interests coincide with corporate objectives, and those objectives are often linked to a crystal clear perception of the "enemy" and the steps required to beat it. As a result, mercenary organizations are characterized by the ability to respond quickly and cohesively to a perceived opportunity or threat in the marketplace. Priorities are decided swiftly - generally by senior management - and enforced throughout the organization with little debate...
Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones - 2011
Read more:
It was - Archbishop Weakland, in 1986, who boldly criticized the harsh crackdown waged against Archbishop Hunthausen - blaming - the amateur status of the staff of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, lacking the essential qualifications, he identified that they:
“easily became headhunters and leaders were picked (on the basis of) the rigidity of their doctrine, so that often second-rate and repressive minds, riding on the waves of fear, took over.
“Religion under such circumstances then can become an ideology that tolerates no obstacle and that values ideas more than people,” he wrote…
Read complete article:
Sexual Orientation & Human Empathy
Attachment vs. Sociopath
Science has for over the past 3 decades unraveled some basic facts about (1) homosexuality, sexual orientation that it is not something people chose of their own free will. More facts indicates that a (2) person’s sexual orientation is set very early in life - either just before birth or very soon afterwards. And once it is set - it is resistance to change. And furthermore sexual orientation from the very beginning in a person’s life is then and always about (3) loving and attaching to people - to love and wanting to be loved. It is how a person learns to feel as one with another from very early in childhood in a non-sexual way. A person sexual orientation from early childhood begins the formation of the ability to empathize with others. And if its development is disrupted, depending the kind and degree of disruption, in early childhood it can have lasting effects throughout a child’s lifetime. A disruption in a child’s ability learning how to love - is traumatic for a child. It is the lack of empathic caring that can destroy a child’s ability to form secure attachments to other human beings, and in forming lifelong lasting relationships.
(4) Growing up gay in an antigay social environment, depending upon the severity, can significantly harm a child’s ability to empathize with other human beings. The question remains - if growing up gay in a severe antigay social environments contributes to destroying child’s ability to empathize - the making of sociopaths? It is interesting that so often people, priests, ministers, politicians and others who speak so harshly against gay people - are found out later to be publicly involved in gay sexual relationships.
The deliberate repression of anyone’s sexual orientation (heterosexual or homosexual), depending on the severity will always surface in more inappropriate behaviors lasting throughout a lifetime. It is what, in part, the causes of many sexual fetishes and sexual addictions.
Distorted Thinking
The noted endless infighting of the curia and hostile treatment of each other - does not in anyway represent secure attachments to other human beings. It clearly appears to be an inability tune into - to understand or imagine what another person may be feeling. This inability would also extend their ability to form a spiritual relationship with God and would more than likely lead to a distorted understanding of God’s love. And the only time that they express any solidarity is when they turn their hatred on a common enemy - gay people, or rather they revert to being the adult aggressor and mistreat others the way they were mistreated/abused as a children growing up gay.
Leading A Double Life
It is easy to understand that they would appear to be living a double life. However, being well over the age of 60, they may not even be aware they are living a double life. Though in one way - they be acting in a way they have grown to believe that is expected of them and in another way they may or may not be conscious they are acting any differently. It would likely be a dissociated form of acting out their true sexual orientation desires. Though through some distorted way of thinking they do not consciously acknowledge that they are acting out their true sexual orientation. This is how it is possible for some of those who are speaking out publicly - so harshly against gay people - and then see no inconsistency in their being involved in secret same-sex liaisons of any number of varying sorts and degrees of intensity. J. Edgar Hoover initiated the witch hunts for homosexuals in the government, all the while he was involved in a same sex relationship. US Senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin 1947-1957 was notorious for his ruthless and deceitful in his witch-hunt for Communists, and especially more harmful for homosexuals in the US government, he also had accusations made against him of alleged homosexual behavior.
Update - May1,2015
Introduction
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Know thyself
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This above all:
to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
William Shakespeare
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Why do you look at the speck of sawdust
in your brother's eye and pay
no attention to the plank
in your own eye?
How can you say to your brother,
'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,'
when you yourself fail to see the
plank in your own eye?
You hypocrite,
first take the plank out of your eye,
and then you will see clearly
to remove the speck from
your brother's eye.
Luke 6:40-42
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Dispositional AND Situational
The situational context of the past 18 years of my life - reduced to a number - as the protocol number 20131723/F - answering the question - Obedient to Whom?
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OBEDIENT to WHOM???
1997-2015 Protecting Gay Children
vs.
Burke’s Hysterical Antigay Demagoguery:
a
LOBOTOMY on Truth & the GENOCIDE of Gay Children
KIDS ARE BEING HURT!!!
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Since, the release of the Synod 2014 - midterm report - and Cardinal Burke’s irrational and hysterical disregard for the lives of human beings, especially children he made evident by his emotionally charged public statements - no longer protected by the bureaucratic anonymity of the curia. It appears he revealed way more than he may intended - about himself and how extensively he was involved in the campaign against homosexuality.
Demagoguery
It is quite surprising how - Cardinal Burke born 1948 in Wisconsin so closely mirrored the same demagoguery tactics employed by US Senator Joseph McCarthy also from Wisconsin - in his witch-hunt against homosexuals 1947-1957 that of: demonizing, dehumanizing, scapegoating, character assassinations, refusing to redeem false claims he made against homosexuals, and in the process ruining people’s careers and lives without any concern for the devastation he caused.
Collective Dissociation
Cardinal Burke’s pubic statements, also gave new insight into the culture of curia and hierarchy. A culture of collective dissociation from the reality of human sexuality - in particular homosexual sexual orientation. It is the denial of one’s sexual orientation, a futile attempt of suppression, which is an impossibility. It is like breathing that operates continuously without our conscious thought or intention - it is automatic. It is possible to suppress, to dissociate one’s sexual orientation from consciousness, but it remains alive and active in an unconscious state of mind. It then is free to operate in ways that the individual is not fully aware, but is obvious to others that is unless the others are also in the same state of dissociation from the same sexual orientation.
Alice in Wonderland
Among the members of the curia and hierarchy there is a collective dissociation from their sexual orientation, which is homosexual, noted by their antigay obsession, their disregard to be educated on the topic, and their fierce emotional rejection about welcoming gay people and offering no rational explanation to support their position. And like the politicians and ministers who publicly are strongly antigay, only to be found out later in same-sex encounters in public restrooms and or hiring gay prostitutes, etc. The Vatican has had its share of gay scandals, as well. This collective dissociation on the part of the members of the curia and hierarchy - it is this that gives the air - the atmosphere that is surreal, bizarre - where the irrational is collectively and firmly accepted as rational, i.e. Alice in Wonderland, a psychiatric ward. Photo
Vatican Antigay Demagoguery
Galileo Galilei
I had first identified this collective behavior, as groupthink, which I wrote about in an article dated March 4, 2008 (http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2013/05/children-growing-up-gay-vaticans.html) - shortly after my first and only meeting with, one of the unnamed bishops of my diocese, Walter Hurley, on February 15, 2008. Meeting on February 15, was an interesting coincident, because it was - the day that Galileo Galilei was born on, in 1564. It was alarmingly clear then that Hurley was absent of any personal thought or moral conviction regarding homosexuality. He did not meet me in his office, but met me in the entry way flanked by two other priests, who I knew. He impressed me - as being a coward and a puppet of some greater form of this Vatican antigay demagoguery. This was because Hurley’s conversation matched the same irrational and unconscionable ruthlessness and cruelty that I first experienced behind closed doors in June 1997 - ordering me to be sent away to be re-educated on subject of sexual orientation. The only difference - there was an added element of smugness and arrogance - even a sense of pleasure of seeming being able to harm and dominate over another human being. Photo
Hunthausen 1980s
Intimidation Tactic to Bishops
At the time, I had only personally experienced lethal effects of this form of the Vatican's antigay demagoguery that was destroying my life, my reputation, my credibility, my personal and professional relationships and the means to support myself - to leave me penniless and homeless. Although, it strongly appears they want people to believe that the destruction of my life happened because of my sexual orientation and would serve as a deterrent, as a way to intimidate other priests who would dare to stand up for truth - no matter - even if it is directly for the purpose of protecting children. In this regard, the harsh ruthlessness and demeaning way I have been mistreated - is similar to the way Archbishop Hunthausen was treated by the curia - also to intimidate other bishops.
No Substantiated Reasoning
Offered
And in my case, the pervious 5 years prior to my attending - the National Symposium of the New Ways Ministry held in March 7,8,9, 1997, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I had already done extensive research and study, on the subject of sexual orientation:
(1) at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
(2) attending the American Psychological Association National Conventions, particularly attending the lectures, discussions groups and workshops related to sexual orientation and gender studies and including
(3) attending a number of regular meetings and events of LGBT Organizations, such as:
(a) Pflag - “Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, including Transgender - LGBTQ,”
(b) the Catholic LGBT group DignityUSA - in Detroit, Los Angeles, and San Francisco,
(c) the University of Michigan - LGBTQ Center, workshops, lectures and resources,
(d) Affirmations, Ferndale, MI, a local - LGBTQ Community Center, courses, and activities,
(e) Gay Pride Parades, in the cities of San Francisco, CA and in Los Angeles, CA,
(4) years of personal psychotherapy sessions - that was directly related to the lifetime harmful effects caused by being subjected to the antigay social and religious norms - in particular the Vatican’s unsubstantiated antigay teachings and
(5) spiritual direction and retreats.
Therefore, long before I attended the National Symposium of the New Ways Ministry in March 7,8,9, 1997, I was reasonably
competent in the scope of understanding sexual orientation, from four different perspectives, as stated above. However, what I was not aware of was information Dr. Richard Isay imparted in his keynote address at the Symposium. Dr. Isay explained the early childhood psychological development growing up gay. He noted that children as young as 4 and 5 years of age know that they are “different” not that they are gay. It is only as adults do they identify this being “different” as being gay. It is only as adults do they identify this being “different” as being gay. Photo
I was amazed that without warning how quickly his information resonated through the history of my life, as far back to when I was 3 or 4 years of age. As he began to explained in detail how the harmful influence of antigay social and religious norms are severely disruptive the a child’s early childhood psychological development growing up gay - causing lasting harmful effects throughout the child’s lifetime - especially disrupting their ability to form long and lasting relationships.
April 2009 - SEXUAL ORIENTATION is less about sex and more about LOVE, being one with another human being. Attachment Theory - - LOVE & RELIGION --- Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
Nothing in life is more precious than the intimate relationships we have with love ones. Healthy love relationships delight us give us confidence to take on challenges and support us in difficult times...
Dr. Isay’s explanations both helped me to, once again face and re-experience - the harm caused by being subjected to the antigay social and religious norms throughout my life - beginning in my early childhood. In this process, I was unknowingly - reconnecting from childhood - extremely unpleasant and overwhelming emotions that I had longed buried and reconnecting them to the numerous situations in my life that had caused them.
And like Dr. Henry Krystal describes - when such overwhelming emotions are separated from the situations that caused them and then are buried - though they are forgotten - they still remain active in our unconscious. They are not only active, but they continue to be destructive to our lives, in ways that we are unaware is happening. It is only through the process of remembering and reconnecting these painful and overwhelming emotions to the situations the caused them that we deactivate their destructive force in our lives. Dr. Henry Krystal:
...Love is the representation of our life powers. The painful emotions can be understood as love hindered, rejected, denied. Emotions recognized, received, and acknowledged, produce the experience of wholeness and competence. What we cannot accept lovingly and peaceably we must try to reject and alienate and we must denote it as ‘nonself.’” (1971a: p. xvii) Our memories, wishes, representations of ourselves and of our objects must be consciously accepted, tolerated, accommodated to, and, hopefully, utilized to one’s advantage. Otherwise they must be handled by repression, isolation, projection, and other (fantasy) defenses, which are experienced as externally, imposed “symptoms.” Contrary to subjective experiences of affect that seem to be explainable by the residues of the antiquated psychoanalytic theories, we cannot “express” them in the sense of ridding ourselves of our affect -- emotional self continence is a self evident truth. However, only consciously acknowledged, and experienced self continence results in a feeling of well being. Illusionally estranged mental elements seem to continue to radiate the painful affects...
Read more:
Henry Krystal, M.D., author of Integration & Self-Healing, Affect, Trauma, Alexithymia, 1988, is a Holocaust survivor born, 1923, four years before Benedict XVI was born 1927. Dr. Krystal is an internationally renowned psychiatrist. He is noted for his extensive work with Holocaust survivors and traumatized people. For well over fifty years Dr. Krystal has been studying and writing about the consequences of psychological trauma, often disguised by drug addiction and/or psychosomatic problems. His work included detailing the development of emotions from infancy through adolescence.
In March 1997, after this experience of reliving and reconnecting these painful memories to the buried unpleasant emotions - I also experienced a burst of new energy, because I no longer was repressing long forgotten painful memories. And on the last day of the National Symposium of the New Ways Ministry, the news media was invited in for the last session. We were all seated together, a news media reporter seated next to me had asked me questions about the symposiums, and at the end - the reporter asked me for permission to use my name in the news report this reporter was writing up.
This reporter asked for my permission - just as the next speaker at the symposium began speaking, and I was not able to respond to this reporters request. I had about 40 minutes to consider the consequences of giving my permission, which I did not want to do. Actually, I was frantically trying to think away to gracious decline this reporters request. I was finally, feeling better and renewed than I ever did in my life, I was 47 years old, at the time. I just wanted to enjoy feeling good and happy about living. I felt absolutely no urgency, in the least, to come out publicly.
The crucial reason that was the deciding factor, which I simply could not evade, in good conscience and is why I gave my permission to this reporter to use my name - was related to the research of Dr. Selma Fraiberg.
In brief, it is a grave significance that I had a well above average competency on the subject of sexual orientation, as I have described in some detail above, before I even attended this symposium. It was for this reason that I was able to integrate so thoroughly nearly every detail of Dr. Richard Isay’s keynote address. I was able to in a most extraordinary way remember practically every painful memory and emotions - of not only my early childhood, but the lasting effects throughout my entire life.
Realizing the pain and suffering that I went through because the lifetime of the antigay social and religious norms - and for me particularly the Vatican’s unsubstantiated antigay teachings, I could immediately empathize with gay children growing up and as a priest, as human being I therefore could not in good conscience turn my back on those children - regardless whatever would happened to me. I gave my permission when the speaker finished to the news reporter to use my name.
Dr. Selma Fraiberg, in her research - she explains in detail what happened to me regarding my reaction to Dr. Isay’s address and why I willingly (though with great fear) gave the reporter permission to use my name. In her research, she explains that when adults are cognizant - remember their own painful childhood memories they are able to empathize with their children and are careful not to repeat the same harm/violence they experienced as children.
Ghosts in the Nursery:
A Psychoanlytic Approach to the Problems of Impaired Infant-Mother Relationships
By Selma Fraiberg; Edna Adelson; Vivian Shapiro - 1974
...The parent, it seems, is condemned to repeat the tragedy of his childhood with his own baby in terrible and exacting detail...
...[The baby]...begins to cry. It is a hoarse, eerie cry in a baby...On tape we see the baby in her mother's arms screaming hopelessly; she does not turn to her mother for comfort. The mother looks distant, self-absorbed. She makes an absent gesture to comfort the baby, then gives up. She looks away. The screaming continues for five dreadful minutes on tape...
...As we watched this tape later in a staff session, we said to each other incredulously, "It's as if this mother doesn't hear her baby's cries!" This led us to the key diagnostic question: "Why doesn’t this mother hear her baby’s cries?”
...The answer to the clinical question is already suggested in the mother's story. This is a mother whose own cries have not been heard. There were, we thought, two crying children in the living room. The mother's distant voice, her remoteness and remove we saw as defenses against grief and intolerable pain, Her terrible story had been first given factually, without visible suffering, without tears. All that was visible was the sad, empty, hopeless look upon her face. She had closed the door on the weeping child within herself as surely as she had closed the door upon her crying baby.
'This led us to our first clinical hypothesis: "When this mother's own cries are heard, she will hear her child’s cries.”...
Read more:
Reflections on the Work of
Professor Selma Fraiberg
A Pioneer in the Field of Social Work and
Infant Mental Health
Vivian Shapiro - 2007
...In summary, Selma formulated and investigated hypotheses designed to explain the factors that caused some parents to repeat their own traumatic history with their child, and to raise questions about why some parents, who also had been traumatized did not repeat their history of early trauma. It was more likely, she suggested, that parents who remembered the painful feelings of their childhood, could empathize with their infants, and choose to create a different more positive path of relationships with them. But, those parents who had repressed their feelings of pain and loss had shut off their capacity to feel. They could not empathize with their child. Indeed they had responded to their pain with primitive defense mechanisms of repression and identification with the aggressor and had internalized their parents pathological attachment patterns. They had shut down their feelings of the need for love, but the birth of their dependent infant had reawakened some subliminal feelings within them. However they continued to repress their unacknowledged need for parental empathy and love, and could not respond to their own child’s needs. It was as though the ghosts from the past had risen, and unconsciously these parents built an emotional wall between themselves and their infants...
Read more:
This same reporter at end the of the symposium asked me again for my permission and added that it would be understandable if I wanted to decline giving my permission. I said to the reporter - use my name - it was okay and I fully understood the consequences that may result.
However, never did I even dream that the most vicious and cruelest retaliation would be forthcoming from the Vatican that is supposed to be the ultimate place of Christ’s love, justice and truth, which has proven to be the opposite.
Truly I tell you,
unless you change and
become like little children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore,
whoever takes the lowly position of this child
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And
whoever welcomes one such child
in my name welcomes me.
Matthew 18: 3-5
I came out - to draw public attention - to protect children from a lifetime of harm from the influence of the social and religious antigay norms - that are unsubstantiated. And for the past 18 years, no one in the curia or hierarchy has attempted to offer any substantiated reasoning to help me understand their opposing position.
Those hiding in the Vatican have only tried “behind closed doors” to silence me by using severe intimidation tactics to coerce me into leaving the priesthood on my own, because they had no grounds to remove me from the priesthood then and there in March 1997, nor throughout the past 18 years.
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Psychological Projection
Paranoia
Repressed Homosexual Feelings
Overall, the Vatican’s antigay mistreatment that I have been subjected to, including these canonical proceedings labeled as the protocol number 20131723/F - appear to be more along the order of the psychological defense mechanism known as - projection. Psychological projection happens, when someone wants to rid him or herself of unwanted feelings, thoughts and desires - by projecting them onto another person.
Projection
When an internal impulse provokes too much anxiety, the ego may reduce that anxiety by attributing the unwanted impulse to an external object, usually another person. This is the defense mechanism of projection, which can be defined as seeing in others unacceptable feelings or tendencies that actually reside in one’s own unconscious (Freud, 1915/1957b)...
...For example, a person who is rude may constantly accuse other people of being rude...
However, from the extensive documentation over the past 30 years, especially within the last decade in the USA - it appears to be a severe variation of projection that of paranoia that is “...characterized by powerful delusions of jealousy and persecution.” This is quite obvious from the unbelievable twisted idea that after the Vatican’s relentless and mercilessly antigay campaign waged against gay people, which they truly have the upper hand in attacking gay people, however, in some perverted way they claim to be the ones being persecuted. What? How?
Paranoia
&
Repressed Homosexual Feelings
...According to Freud (1922/1955), a crucial distinction between projection and paranoia is that paranoia is always characterized by repressed homosexual feelings toward the persecutor. Freud believed that the persecutor is inevitably a former friend of the same sex...When homosexual impulses become too powerful, persecuted paranoiacs defend themselves by reversing these feelings and then projecting them onto their original object. For men, the transformation proceeds as follows. Instead of saying, “I love him,” the paranoid person says, “I hate him.” Because this also produces too much anxiety, he says, “He hates me.” At this point, the person has disclaimed all responsibility and can say, “I like him fine, but he’s got it in for me.” The central mechanism in all paranoia is projection with accompanying delusions of jealousy and persecution…
For example, the Vatican - claims that their religious freedom of expression, as a religious institution, is being violated by the United States Senators passing the bill to include sexual orientation as part of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) on November 7, 2013, despite the US Catholic Bishops strong opposition against it (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/11/05/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-employment-non-discrimination-act-enda/ ).
Bishops state 'great concern' over executive order on LGBT discrimination - June 20, 2014
WASHINGTON - Archbishop-chairmen of several U.S. bishops' committees issued a statement Friday citing "great concern" over news that President Barack Obama is planning to issue an executive order banning discrimination against LGBT persons by federal contractors.
Key to their concerns, say the bishops, is how the new order will define the terms "sexual orientation" and "gender identity."
"Because we do not know how the executive order will define these critically important terms, or if it will provide sufficient (or any) religious freedom protection, we cannot provide substantive comment on the order," state the bishops...
Pope [Benedict XVI] Blasts U.K. Anti-Discrimination Laws - February 2, 2010
In Speech, Benedict Raises Fears that Vatican Could Be Prosecuted for Stances Against Gays
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The projections that have been projected onto me are of a severe negative understanding of homosexuality that appear closely associated to Burke’s hostile treatment of gay people. Burke presents the idea of homosexuality, as if were the worst situation in the world. “Who will want you if they know you are a homosexual?” This is the statement that was emphatically made to me at the same time I was told that would be sent away to be re-educated on the subject of sexual orientation, June of 1997. For an adult - this statement expresses an inordinate intensity of overwhelming dreaded fear of being a homosexual. It is more reminiscent of the emotional state of a child, who has been traumatized by the threat being abandoned.
"Why it is a 'gift' from God!!!"
Update - May 9,2015
Being "gay"
"Why it is a 'gift' from God!!!"
This is the verdict:
Light
has come into the world, but
people loved darkness instead of light because
their deeds were
evil.
Everyone who does
evil hates the light, and will not come
into the light for fear that their
deeds will be exposed.
John 3:19-20
Behind Closed Doors
Because if this were not the case of someone who feels no sense of urgency to rid him or herself of unwanted feelings, thoughts and desires - that person would simply and civilly explain the substantiated facts regarding homosexual sexual orientation to me and work at helping me to understand. And there would be no need to do this it behind closed doors, in secret or without the public knowing as well. The person would not feel threatened about answering questions related to the emerging science on homosexuality. Nor would that person feel any threat to having and an open dialogue - discussions with other people, including professionals in the field of human sexuality. Instead, of all this guarded secrecy and vigilance - to not even mention the word - homosexual as was the case with me March 1997 and has remained so even at the Synod 2014. Like Cardinal Burke has been demanding that the issue of homosexuals not even be discussed (taken off the table) for the Synod 2015 - because as he states it is not even a family issue.
Above all - it would not be a situation that was fraught with uncontrollable intensified hostile emotions - as if the person was in a state of panic. These, along with many others signs, are all giveaways signs of a severely dissociated (repressed) homosexual and of an organizational culture that supports such cruel and ruthless irrational behavior even when it is leading to lethal ends. And no one blinks an eye.
However, I had no idea in, June 1997 or on February 15, 2008 - just how pervasive and lethal this Vatican antigay demagoguery was globally. Being jobless, and forced into isolation by their design - it left me to concentrate all my time and effort in protecting children by starting the Thalamus Center. It was this project that threw me into researching further and deeper into this cancerous phenomenon - this Vatican antigay demagoguery. I would only later find out how extensively it has been used as a political wedge - to usher certain people into elective office in the USA. And later, from documentation it plain to realize how this continuous rise of the Vatican antigay demagoguery that began with Hunthausen in the 1980s to the present day: - so closely paralleled the delegation of many of the legal economic safeguards that has led us into depths of globalization where profits are valued over the individual lives of human beings, including leading us into a war that is highly debated was under false pretenses.
It was only at the arrival of Pope Francis on the scene that I fell that children were in much safer hands, because of his honestly, his sense of realism without losing any spirituality and above all his plain and simply respect for the dignity of each and every human being. Now that is what it means to be Catholic - to be a disciple of Christ, as Christ has told us - they will know that you are my disciple by the love you have for one another, as I have loved you.
In the wake of Pope Francis work reforming the curia, he has not only greatly increased the level of transparency and lessened the bureaucratic anonymity, but in his manner of doing so - he established a stark contrast - next to this pervasive Vatican antigay demagoguery accepted culture of the curia and hierarchy - though as the Synod 2014 has shown this is not the case of everyone.
Pope Francis from the started, 2013, openly admitted that there is a real stream of corruption the exist in the curia and that he could do the work alone, but he would need a lot of help.
“Open Heart Surgery”
_-_WGA3516.jpg)
This Vatican antigay demagoguery grew out of this collective dissociation of homosexuality pervasive in curia and hierarchy. No member of the hierarchy nor the curia or even Cardinal Burke would allow someone to perform “open heart surgery” on them - if that person did not have proper credentials (knowledge, training and experience) to perform open heart surgery. This would be blatantly true, even if it was a member of the curia or hierarchy - who most dogmatically believed that he was qualified to do “open heart surgery” without the proper credentials, even emphatically stating that the need for such credentials were part of a “heart surgeon agenda” to take over hospitals. He definitely would not be allowed to the surgery. Photo
Global Synod 2015
Gay Agenda???
However, in making a life and death - decision about sexual orientation - human sexuality (Synod 2014 & 2015) - that will negatively continue and violently - effect the lives millions of millions of children as young as 4 and 5 years of ages, including adults globally: (1) these same members of the curia and hierarchy without the any proper credentials (knowledge, training and experience) regarding human sexuality, (2) who in fact have strongly opposed and discredited such science as the product of a gay agenda and (3) approved of the silencing and removable anyone in the Church who openly discussed it - they believe they are fully qualified and even deemed by God to make such a decision. And where do they get the confidence and support to back them in making this decision without any qualification to do so - where else - but from the collective dissociation the culture in bodied in the members of curia and hierarchy. This phenomenon is known as groupthink that has been proven to caused catastrophic events - killing lives. Photo
And how I am treated - regarding my “coming out” in March 1997 - for the protection of gay children and the situational context of the past 18 years of my life that has been reduced to a number - as the protocol number 20131723/F - in answering the question - “Obedient to Whom?” - will speak volumes and set an example globally - of the competency, the credibility of the curia and the hierarchy, as globally leaders of the Catholic Church.
It is because - I am a nobody, a person of little consequence, the least among us - makes it an issue. I do not say this arrogantly - because the overall importance is the protection of gay children. The science regarding sexual orientation and gender issues is widely known and has been for decades - that is of course, outside the insulated and isolated culture of the curia and hierarchy.
Update: 5/03/15
A new command I give you: Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
if you love one another.
Any attempt to save face in a sense of collegiality among the members of curia and hierarchy - by discrediting even in the slightest the person with the protocol number 20131723/F or refusing proper restitution - for the harm inflicted upon me by the Vatican - with all due respect, if you will pardon the expression - you can kiss your ass - Good-by!
I will explain, as I have written to many US politicians, how I handled this situation:
WELL-INFORMED CONSCIENCE
Protect Religious Freedom - but not
Tyranny in Religion
June 20, 2011
The way to begin for us all, not only the NY State Senators, to protect Religious Freedom and not Tyranny in Religion is by obtaining a well-informed conscience. We start by individually approaching and studying in great detail, because it involves the lives of children, from the best and the brightest (1) scripture scholars regarding the references related to homosexuality and (2) scientists in the field of study of human sexuality, in particular, but [not] limited to, the onset of sexual orientation. The prerequisite to the formation of a well-informed conscience is making a thorough study of all sides of the issue from all available authoritative data and research, including opposing views. Then in this way we are better equipped to decide who and what needs government protection in regards to the gay marriage bill. This exhaustive procedure follows to the letter the Gospel quotation about the “plank” and the” speck.”
How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Luke 6:42
The “plank” for us is ignorance. If we satisfactorily resolve this ignorance, then together we will be able to see more clearly, whether or not, as NY State Senators (government officials) and as citizens we are colluding with the Catholic Hierarchy and are harming children, as was found to be the case in the Ireland Murphy Report.
…This piece of legislation the gay marriage bill is not like any other in that it involves the well-being of children, at its very root…
How I resolved this situation was through hours upon hours of continuous prayer. Afterwards, I came to the realization that my life had already been altered – changed forever. Because there was no way I could pretend I did not know what I knew, how severely children are harmed for life by the Vatican unsubstantiated antigay teachings and antigay social norms. I decided that I could not live with the regret knowing that I had a chance to make a profound difference for the better for others, most especially children and that I did nothing. My life would be nothing. I took the bungee jump and I came out to my parishioners. It definitely was not easy, but one thing that happened to me is - I gained a real sense of peace and well-being that has remained constant and unshaken. The scripture passages that kept repeating over and over in my head were:
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
Matthew 16:25
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What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?
Luke 9:25
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Anyone who loves their FATHER or mother more than me is not worthy of me;… Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Matthew 10:36-38
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…whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Matthew 18:6
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Written by
Fr Marty Kurylowicz
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February 10, 2013 - Fr. Kurylowicz’s letter sent to US government officials...
I made an appeal to counteract Bishop Hurley’s manipulation of canon law in order to be able to charge me on a technicality “not returning home” by separating it from the situation that caused it after I came out 1997. Letter gives an extensive accounting of my “coming out” situation of 1997 - not separated from Hurley’s charges against me.
There is a collective dissociation related thought of being homosexual that is pervasive throughout curia and hierarchy - and again it does not apply to everyone or in the same degree.
The dissociation is directly related to early childhood trauma caused by the enforcement of antigay social and religious norms. This is because the truth about sexual orientation is directly involved with our ability, as human beings - to love and to be loved - another human being.
April 2009 - SEXUAL ORIENTATION is less about sex and more about LOVE, being one with another human being. Attachment Theory - - LOVE & RELIGION --- Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
Nothing in life is more precious than the intimate relationships we have with love ones. Healthy love relationships delight us give us confidence to take on challenges and support us in difficult times...
In brief, the trauma occurs when a child of 4 or 5 years of age is innocently expressing some gesture of love or affection that comes naturally to the child - towards the same-sex parent or caretaker or relative and is abruptly rejected and/or reprimanded for expressing love. The rejection and/or reprimand is motivated by the parent’s understanding of the antigay social or religious norms. It is important understand - that to a child - no matter how seemly slight or implicit it may seem to the adult - the rejection of this kind will be overwhelming to the child. Why?
First, the child has no understanding what was wrong with expressing love, because at a younger age such signs of affection were likely reciprocated with an outpouring of love. However, around the ages of 4 and 5 - such same-sex gestures of affections have not subsided for the child and are likely becoming worrisome for the adult caretaker(s). This happens - for any number or combination of reasons all related to the adults understanding of the antigay social and religious norms, such as, though not limited to: (1) worries that they are causing the child to be gay, (2) fears that the child’s future will be filled with hardships and violence, (3) fear of the belief that God will send their child to hell, (4) fears about the family social status, (5) more irrationally that the child is cognizant of wrong doing, (6) conscious or unconscious fears about the parent’s or adult caregiver’s own repressed homosexual feelings, etc.
All the above aspects are subject to (a) the kind of parental and or adult caregiver’s rejection/reprimand i.e. whether implicit, explicit or both, (b) the degree of intensity that it was imparted to the child, (c) the number of times it was repeated and (d) by whom - that will effect the severity of lifetime harm that is caused to the child.
Second, the early childhood trauma of this type - is it not the same as a child witnessing domestic violence, or a catastrophic event(s) I.e. natural disasters (floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.), or living in a war zone - these are all traumatizing to a child causing lasting lifelong harmful effects. The lifetime harmful effects caused by the influence of antigay social and religious norms attack the cord of a human being - severely mutilating a child’s spirit - the child’s ability to love and to be loved, which is the very essence of living.
The child feels rejected, not because the child was misbehaving i.e. fighting, throwing a tantrum, refusing to eat vegetables, running around and in the process knocking over & breaking priceless historical artifacts. The child feels rejected - for doing something child knows to be a good thing - expressing love/affection - wanting to be one with another human being - child’s parent.
It is the shock of the withdrawal of empathic caring (unconditional love) of the parent and or the adult caregiver that is traumatizing to the child. The child in varying degrees feels abandoned by the parents or caregivers - the key figure(s) the child is dependent on. Because what the child has likely for the most part been able to count on as stable - the empathic caring of a parent’s ability to tune into the needs of the child, essential to the developmental process of the life of the child - had vanished, which is terrifying for a child. The experiencing of unpleasant emotions for a child that is different from an emotional mature adult is that the adult knows that unpleasant emotions are not lasting. When a child is experiencing of an unpleasant emotion - the child thinks it will last forever and ever - never ending. The child’s only defense mechanism available is to attempt to block out every aspect of the unpleasant emotion from consciousness. The child’s dissociates from the unpleasant emotion by separating it from the memory fo the event by relegating it to the unconscious. Though the memory of the unpleasant emotion is out of conscious sight, however, it remains alive and active in the unconscious.
To be continued:
Fr. Marty Kurylowicz - May 3, 2015
Update: 4/23/15
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Background information - 1997 - 2015: Photo
Fr Marty Kurylowicz’s “Coming Out” 1997
News Reports:
March 29, 1997 - Parishioners Supportive of Gay Priest - “coming out” for the protection of children.
(check The Grand Rapids Press for accuracy)
June 28, 1997 - Kurylowicz Comes Out
“...U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference said Kurylowicz” coming out to his congregation, first in a newsletter then from the pulpit on Holy Thursday, is “unprecedented.”
(check The Grand Rapids Press for accuracy)
October 8, 2005 - Impending rules on gay priests creates Catholic divide
…Rev. Martin Kurylowicz...said...the struggle would be made harder for many others if the Vatican issues new rules that reportedly would ban gays from becoming priests… “Kids as young as 4 or 5 know they're different," said Kurylowicz... "They grow up with this pervasive guilt, which sabotages their growth and motivation." The result is thousands of dollars in therapy to accept their natural orientation, he said, adding, "Does the Vatican want to take that on, like the tobacco industry had to take on for the damage it caused consumers?”...
(check The Grand Rapids Press for accuracy)
May 27, 2006 - Gay priest removed from ministry
(check The Grand Rapids Press for accuracy)
Note: Bishop Hurley unethically manipulates canon law misrepresenting my situation: by excluding the factual details of the Vatican’s equally unethical punitive sanctions and threats imposed on me for “coming out” for the protection of children in March 1997, e.g. lost of the possibility of future assignments, regular priest salary and educational benefits, to coerce my compliance to be reeducated - to assure my silence in protecting children or to force me to leave the priesthood. Hurley’s dishonest response to the press was meant to destroy my credibility and reputation. Hurley also disclosed the cost of my psychotherapy sessions, a breach of employer employee confidentially. There are No USA civil laws to protect gay priests from such a fatal destructive public attack on my reputation. The same tactic was used, again in 2012, against Vatican Bank, ex-president Tedeschi, who was attempting to increase the transparency of the scandal-ridden Vatican institution. There is “…the publication of a letter from a psychotherapist detailing the mental health of the Vatican's recently ousted bank chief…and appeared aimed at further discrediting and humiliating the Vatican bank's ex-president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, once a top papal adviser…”(http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-06/D9VBK7581.htm)
Hurley’s deliberate distortion of the facts of my situation was meant to humiliate me publicly, a character assassination against me. This was not just one single isolated character assassination attack made against me. The exact pattern of this character assassination attack, since 2004 to 2014 has been over used by the Vatican under Benedict XVI - against anyone - deemed as a threat to their specific ideology, especially related to gay sexual orientation. On, April 30, 2014, Cardinal Muller of the CDF, issued a forceful public statement against the LCWR leaders that is confusing and irrationally based on a misrepresentation of unsubstantiated facts. Cardinal Burke during and after the Synod on the Family, October 2014 - fiercely demonstrated by his unwillingness to even discuss issues related marriage and gay sexual orientation, the pervasive hostile attitude against homosexuality.
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March 4, 2008 - Children Growing-up Gay & Vatican's Impact Harmful - GROUPTHINK
Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
December 26, 2008 - AUSCHWITZ -- CHRISTMAS 2008 -- A flashback far more severe than in --- BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN – Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
Reposting
April 2009 - SEXUAL ORIENTATION is less about sex and more about LOVE, being one with another human being. Attachment Theory - - LOVE & RELIGION --- Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
Nothing in life is more precious than the intimate relationships we have with love ones. Healthy love relationships delight us give us confidence to take on challenges and support us in difficult times...
December 17, 2009 - Roman Catholic hierarchy child sexual abuse “cover-ups” ordered by Benedict XVI to avoid public outrage & criminal charges falsely accused gay priests, WATERGATE? - Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
...A major problem with the hierarchical structure of the Roman Catholic Church is that there are no “checks and balances.” When the necessary “checks and balances” are not in place to protect any organization, it leaves "not making waves" the rule that governs the hierarchy and opens the way to many devastating mistakes harmful to everyone and allows corruption to grow...
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July 2010 - The letter sent out by Fr. Marty Kurylowicz to USA government officials and others – a victim of structural violence - for protecting children - seeking legal assistance as a citizen of the USA
(a copy found on the link below)
February 10, 2013 - Fr. Kurylowicz’s letter sent to US government officials...
I made an appeal to counteract Bishop Hurley’s manipulation of canon law in order to be able to charge me on a technicality “not returning home” by separating it from the situation that caused it after I came out 1997. Letter gives an extensive accounting of my “coming out” situation of 1997 - not separated from Hurley’s charges against me.
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November 26, 2013 - Letter from Bishop Walkowiak - regarding Bishop Hurley’s canonical proceedings to remove Fr. Kurylowicz from the priesthood - ultimatum
December 30, 2013 - Fr. Kurylowicz’s letter of response to Bishop Walkowiak - and has appealed his case to Pope Francis
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Update: 4/21/15
Protect Children
and the
Rest of the World will be Safe
Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this
child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And whoever welcomes one such child in
my name welcomes me.
Matthew 18: 3-5
War & PTSD in Children: A Review 2010
&
April 21, 2015
(The continuation of the above letter - addressed to Rev. Mercier,)
... This letter is being compose in two parts.
Part I - Synod on Family 2014
Welcoming homosexual persons
Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community...
...homosexual unions it has to be noted that there are cases in which mutual aid to the point of sacrifice constitutes a precious support in the life of the partners. Furthermore, the Church pays special attention to the children who live with couples of the same sex, emphasizing that the needs and rights of the little ones must always be given priority...
…whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Matthew 18:6
Welcoming Gay People & Gay Children
The first part, contains background information that is a product of the new factual knowledge acquired from the information leading up to, revealed at the Synod 2014 and what followed thereafter. This information includes the organizational structure of the Synod: the attempt at global inclusiveness, the overall stress on open and free discussion that fostered an increased transparency. The most revealing and pivotal factor was the almost instant - fierce negative reactions of the hierarchy, not only from those in attendance but also from those around the world e.g. Chaput, Sarah - to the idea of welcoming gay people: noting the gifts and qualities they bring to the Christian community, and recognizing that there are cases of homosexual unions “in which mutual aid to the point of sacrifice constitutes a precious support in the life of the partners.”
Beginning the Process
This, of course, does not include every member of the hierarchy. And what was most encouraging was the fact, though few in number, were those members in the hierarchy who supported the idea of welcoming gay people and were concerned about the safety and protection of all children - including gay children growing up. Whatever, the circumstances may be regarding the teachings and doctrines with present day realities - we must be ever mindful regarding the impact of our public statements have on little children.
Sociopathic - & - Psychotic
Unlike what I was told, at the time, in 1997 when I was being coerced into being reeducated on the subject of sexual orientation - I asked to study psychology, at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was told the Church does not need psychologists - we need more liturgists and canon lawyers. This statement has the same identifiable sociopathic and psychotic quality - as sending someone away to be reeducated on the subject of sexual orientation. It is a complete disregard for the well-being of human beings.
Catholic - Universal
Diversity
Not only do we need psychologists, but people from every possible academic perspective as we can involve - in addition we need a curia made up of a diversified group clerics, lay people and most especially women. Women make up one half of the world’s population and they do not have equal voices as men in governing the Church? This is also sociopathic and psychotic in nature as well and sets another example of devaluing human beings - that is harmful to children.
Irrational - & - Emotional
Outbursts
Cardinal Burke’s emotional public outbursts, in particular, before, during and after the Synod 2014 - were pivotal in understanding the make up and culture of the curia and hierarchy for the past two decades or more. Burke seemed to quite unaware that he was no longer protected by bureaucratic anonymity of working in the Curia, since he was removed from all authority prior to the Synod 2014.
Burke’s irrational and emotional outbursts that he made against even the idea of openly discussing the topic of welcoming gay people - let alone any thought regarding the protection of children and even less gay children - were astounding. They give strong reason for an overall reassessment of Pope Benedict XVI participation in this obsessive antigay crusade that lasted over the past three decades.
Burke’s Human Atrocities
It gives new insights into a situation that is indeed more complex, and most unfortunately one that is likely littered with human atrocities of a structural and covert nature, as well as, aided by willing accomplices - stretching over possibly the past 30 years. I realize how harsh this statement sound, and I truly hope to be proven wrong, however, there is amply evidence in this regard. Having done psychological research on the Holocaust, I am all too well aware of the unbelievable human atrocities that can be committed by people - when society allows such people, like Burke to hold such powerful positions and or offices having authority over others - without any oversight.
The canonical processing you have registered belonging to me with the protocol number 20131723/F, is a sampling of the type of these human atrocities - a pure lethal form of unconscionable vindictiveness. I am being blamed, for protecting myself, in 1997, like any sane person would whose life has been threatened. And because I did so I then have been attacked, by people in the Vatican, like Burke, if not Burke, and by Bishop Hurley for the past 18 years. Together they are like a sociopath abusing husband who no longer can control into submission his abused wife - he then becomes obsessive in hunting her down to destroy her. An example of this is found in the The Grand Rapids Press - of Bishop Hurley’s public character assassination attack made against me:
May 27, 2006 - Gay priest removed from ministry
(check The Grand Rapids Press for accuracy)
Note: Bishop Hurley unethically manipulates canon law misrepresenting my situation: by excluding the factual details of the Vatican’s equally unethical punitive sanctions and threats imposed on me for “coming out” for the protection of children in March 1997, e.g. lost of the possibility of future assignments, regular priest salary and educational benefits, to coerce my compliance to be reeducated - to assure my silence in protecting children or to force me to leave the priesthood. Hurley’s dishonest response to the press was meant to destroy my credibility and reputation. Hurley also disclosed the cost of my psychotherapy sessions, a breach of employer employee confidentially. There are No USA civil laws to protect gay priests from such a fatal destructive public attack on my reputation. The same tactic was used, again in 2012, against Vatican Bank, ex-president Tedeschi, who was attempting to increase the transparency of the scandal-ridden Vatican institution. There is “…the publication of a letter from a psychotherapist detailing the mental health of the Vatican's recently ousted bank chief…and appeared aimed at further discrediting and humiliating the Vatican bank's ex-president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, once a top papal adviser…”(http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-06/D9VBK7581.htm)
Hurley’s deliberate distortion of the facts of my situation was meant to humiliate me publicly, a character assassination against me. This was not just one single isolated character assassination attack made against me. The exact pattern of this character assassination attack, since 2004 to 2014 has been over used by the Vatican under Benedict XVI - against anyone - deemed as a threat to their specific ideology, especially related to gay sexual orientation. On, April 30, 2014, Cardinal Muller of the CDF, issued a forceful public statement against the LCWR leaders that is confusing and irrationally based on a misrepresentation of unsubstantiated facts. Cardinal Burke during and after the Synod on the Family, October 2014 - fiercely demonstrated by his unwillingness to even discuss issues related marriage and gay sexual orientation, the pervasive hostile attitude against homosexuality.
Benedict XVI - Himmler
Antigay Childhood - Nazi Germany
It is interesting to note: that Pope Benedict XVI was raised as a child during the time of Nazi regime while Himmler was notorious for dehumanizing of homosexuals and Burke from Wisconsin was raised during the time that US Senator Joseph McCarty from Wisconsin was terrorizing the nation by his witch-hunt against homosexuals.
“...Himmler was the key and senior Nazi official responsible for conceiving and overseeing implementation of the so-called Final Solution, the Nazi plan to murder the Jews of Europe...
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Burke - McCarthy
Antigay Childhood - US & Wisconsin
What is even more interesting is how much Burke mirrors many of the same demagoguery tactics employed by Joe McCarthy: demonizing, dehumanizing, scapegoating, martyrdom of rhetor, polarization, refusal to redeem claims, character assassination, ruining people’s careers and lives without any concern devastation they caused (http://www.drw.utexas.edu/roberts-miller/sites/www.drw.utexas.edu.roberts-miller/files/demagoguery.pdf). Photo
Demagoguery
In particular, has Burke been mirroring - McCarthy’s intimidation tactics to expel homosexuals from government positions, to remove gay priests from the Church? Surprisingly - they are the same type of tactics used against me, when I came out in March 1997 for the protection of children.
...Not as widely known as McCarthy's anti-Communist crusade were his various attempts to intimidate, and expel from government positions, persons whom he accused, or threatened to publicly accuse, of homosexuality. Former U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson has written: "The so-called 'Red Scare' has been the main focus of most historians of that period of time. A lesser-known element...and one that harmed far more people was the witch-hunt McCarthy and others conducted against homosexuals.” This anti-homosexual witch-hunt that McCarthy and others waged alongside their "Red Scare" tactics has been referred to by some as the "Lavender Scare"...
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However, since, I openly came out and admitted I was a gay priest - I could no longer be intimidated with the threat of being exposed publicly as a homosexual. Though, uncharacteristically of Bishop Rose, he made an intimidating statement to me, in June of 1997 two months after I came out and after the news media had reported that the parishioners expressed an overall acceptance of me for “coming out” - he forcefully stated - who is going to accept you as a homosexual (http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2014/01/appeal-letter-sent-to-pope-francis-fr.html). I rememberer being stunned by him for making such an ill-informed statement. I distinctly remember, at the time, thinking to myself, though I did ended up making the statement - that may have been true in the 1950s, but clearly (which I felt it should have been obvious to him) that is not the way it is anymore that due to the research - gay people are more widely accepted than ever before.
Though, Bishop Rose’s statement was uncharacteristic of him - however, after the Synod 2014 - this statement was characteristic of Burke, in kind, in tone and the degree of intensity. It is identifiable in his irrational statements made against gay people, including as it is found in the canonical proceedings made against me and in the letter I received from Bishop Walkowiak, dated November 26, 2013 (http://fathermartykurylowicz.blogspot.com/2014/05/november-26-2013-letter-from-bishop.html). They have the same emotional outburst quality found his statements made against the Synod 2014 regarding welcoming gay people.
Burke’s dehumanizing statements made against gay people and gay relationships, as evil - as no different then murderers, and making false claims, then refusing to redeem, retract or provide addition evidence to substantiated his claims are all evidence of the characteristics of demagoguery (http://www.drw.utexas.edu/roberts-miller/sites/www.drw.utexas.edu.roberts-miller/files/demagoguery.pdf).
...In the interview, Burke also blamed gay clergy for the church’s sexual abuse crisis, saying priests “who were feminized and confused about their own sexual identity” were the ones who molested children.
Researchers have disputed that claim, and experts note that the reported rise in the number of gay men entering the priesthood since the 1980s coincided with a sharp drop-off in abuse cases...
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Wisconsin
Burke & McCarthy
Demagoguery
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Characteristics of Demagoguery
Patricia Roberts-Miller
"What, in the changed conditions after the war, Hitler was able most signally to exploit was the belief that pluralism was somehow unnatural or unhealthy in a society, that it was a sign of weakness, and that internal division and disharmony could be suppressed and eliminated, to be replaced by the unity of a national community." (Ian Kershaw, Hitler, 1889-1936)
A basic principle of democracy is that the general public can make appropriate
decisions on matters of common interest. This ability is dependent upon the public's access to information. The more distorted that information, the less likely the public will make appropriate decisions. Distorted information is generally called "propaganda," and, while harmful to public discourse, it isn'tfatal. That is because, as long as the discourse is free and open, propaganda is likely to be countered--if you tell a lie, I can point out that it was a lie, as long as I have the ability to speak. If, however, my ability to criticize you is restricted, then your lies will stand.
decisions on matters of common interest. This ability is dependent upon the public's access to information. The more distorted that information, the less likely the public will make appropriate decisions. Distorted information is generally called "propaganda," and, while harmful to public discourse, it isn'tfatal. That is because, as long as the discourse is free and open, propaganda is likely to be countered--if you tell a lie, I can point out that it was a lie, as long as I have the ability to speak. If, however, my ability to criticize you is restricted, then your lies will stand.
The easiest way to restrict the ability of people to criticize you is to make it dangerous to do so. This can be done through passing laws--so that people can be thrown in jail, fined, or sued for saying certain things. But it can also be done through so rousing your followers that they will try to harm anyone who disagrees with you. That is what demagoguery does...
Demagoguery is polarizing propaganda that motivates members of an ingroup to hate and scapegoat some outgroup(s), largely by promising certainty, stability, and what Erich Fromm famously called “an escape from freedom.” It significantly undermines the quality of public argument for reasons and in ways discussed below. In the most abstract, the reason it is so harmful is that it creates and fosters a situation in which it is actively dangerous to criticize dominant views, cultures, and political groups. It makes discourse a kind of coercion, largely through rousing and appealing to hate. Thus, the very people who make the decisions cannot hear all the information they need. Historically, demagoguery is a precursor to the ending of democracy--that is, when demagogues succeed, their first move is almost always to restrict the power of the people or parliaments in favor of some kind of tyrannical or totalitarian system.
Some people don't distinguish demagoguery from propaganda (which is generally defined as dishonest and fallacious discourse intended to further the power or agenda of the propagator), but I would say that it is a subset of propaganda: demagoguery is polarizing propaganda that functions to motivate people by rousing and justifying hatred of an outgroup. In other words, all demagoguery is propaganda, but not all propaganda is demagoguery. In addition to propaganda, there are other kinds of discourse that are unproductive or harmful (e.g., bargaining), but they are distinguished from demagoguery in that they don't promote hate and violence...
Read more - list of Characteristics of Demagoguery:
Patricia Roberts-Miller
Professor — Ph.D., Rhetoric, 1987, University of California, Berkeley
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Archbishop of Seattle Hunthausen
issues a letter against homosexual discrimination
July 1, 1977
On July 1, 1977, the Catholic Archbishop of Seattle, the Most Reverend Raymond G. Hunthausen, publicly defends the rights of gays and lesbians.
Seattle’s Archbishop Supports Gay Rights
Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen has restated the position of the U.S. Bishops and the Washington State Catholic Conference on the issue of homosexuality in the July 1 edition of Catholic Northwest Progress.
Following is the text of his letter.
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Dear Friends in Christ:
The Mayor of Seattle, along with many other mayors throughout the United States, has set aside a special week to call our attention to the injustices suffered by many homosexuals in out community.
I would like to take this occasion to remind everyone of the statement made last fall by the Bishops of the United States at their semi-annual meeting. They said, ‘Homosexuals, like everyone else, should not suffer from prejudice against their basic human rights. They have a right to respect, friendship and justice. They should have an active role in the Christian community.’
And I would also like to call your attention to the statement issued to the Social and Health Services Committee of the Washington State House of Representatives by the Washington Catholic Conference in March of this year.
‘The Washington State Catholic Conference recognizes the terrible impact that discriminatory patterns in society have upon both the individual and the total community. We firmly uphold the necessity of constantly motivating all people to cease and desist from discriminatory activity. We further recognize that many individuals in our society are not sufficiently motivated by moral or civic principles and must be constrained from their discriminatory patterns through restrictive legislation to protect the public order.’
‘We also realize that many people have physiological or psychological sexual orientations which are not consonant with the majority and which are beyond their own free choice. We sincerely believe that to discriminate against this group of men and women is not only contrary to sound religious principles but in conflict with protection of basic rights in our American civic life. They should not be discriminated against merely because of the discovery of this basic sexual orientation in their lives. We are not addressing ourselves to any forms of conduct which follow from one’s sexual orientation but only to the fact of a particular orientation; that fact should not result in discrimination in employment, housing, licensing or other matters of public participation.’
This statement clearly expresses the fundamental attitude that marked the ministry of Jesus' charity. It is the responsibility of every Christian person to work toward the establishment of a society that is based on love and which expresses this love in its laws and customs. We should all pray earnestly that Christian love -- and its minimal requirement, justice -- will characterize the relationships of all men, women and children with one another.
May God be with you. His joy. His peace. His love.
[signed]
(Most Rev.) Raymond G. Hunthausen
Archibishop of Seattle
(Most Rev.) Raymond G. Hunthausen
Archibishop of Seattle
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Demeaning Hunthausen effectively
“intimidate”
Fellow Prelates
Archbishop Asks Rome To Ease Up
September 28, 1986
MILWAUKEE — Rembert George Weakland..., has...forthrightly told the Vatican to...soften its drive to coerce doctrinal uniformity bypunishing dissenters.
He asserted that Draconian measures used throughout Christian history to silence those who challenge traditional church teaching have resulted in “much cruelty, suppression of theological creativity and lack of growth.”
Archbishop Weakland...is the first...to publicly raise alarm over the perceived crackdown by Rome on prominent and liberal U.S. Catholic thinkers who question Vatican stands on sexual morality and other issues...
…The liberal Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton of Detroit predicted that the “cruel (and) demeaning” treatment of Archbishop Hunthausen would effectively “intimidate” his fellow prelates
The moderate Archbishop Francis T. Hurley of Anchorage…petitioning Rome to offer a more detailed rationale for its “drastic reprimand” of Archbishop Hunthausen, who has withheld a portion of his income tax in protest of U.S. military policies and who has permitted a national convention of gay and lesbian Catholics to use the Seattle cathedral church...
The more philosophical and historically grounded warnings raised by Archbishop Weakland…in his columns, titled “The Price of Orthodoxy,” …appeared to be directing his remarks to Vaticaninquisitors…
…He contended that previous efforts to monitor and safeguard Catholic doctrine have been undertaken in an atmosphere where “amateurs-turned-theologians easily became headhunters and leaders were picked (on the basis of) the rigidity of their doctrine, so that often second-rate and repressive minds, riding on the waves of fear, took over.
“Religion under such circumstances then can become anideology that tolerates no obstacle and that values ideas more thanpeople,” he wrote…
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CURRENT THEOLOGY
NOTES ON MORAL THEOLOGY: 1986
Archbishop Rembert Weakland, O.S.B., authored two columns that 30 are the equivalent of a pastoral letter to his people. He first recalls that the Catholic Church has been willing, even if hesitantly at times, to accept truth wherever it comes from and to integrate it with revelation. But often enough that has involved struggle. These struggles brought with them two characteristics: excessive cruelty to human beings and fear. "In such an atmosphere, amateurs—turned theologians—easily became headhunters and leaders were picked, not by their ability to work toward a synthesis of the new knowledge and the tradition, but by the rigidity of their orthodoxy." Weakland uses the first decade of this century as an example. The suppressions associated with the Modernist crisis "resulted in a total lack of theological creativity in the U.S.A. for half a century." The struggle for purity of doctrine, Weakland urges, "must avoid the fanaticismand small-mindedness" of past years of church history. He concludes by citing Pope John XXIII: "Nowadays, however, the spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity. She considers that she meets the needs of the present day by demonstrating the validity of her teaching rather than by condemnations."
There can be no doubt that Weakland was referring to the Curran and Hunthausen cases, for he explicitly states that the integrativechallenges of today come from psychology and the human sciences and "thus the troubled territory today is sexuality.”
Weakland's message is pellucidly clear: we should have learned from history that suppression—the type that the Vatican is now pursuing—is no way to deal with the pursuit of truth (p 91 Theological Studies 48 (1987) http://www.ts.mu.edu/readers/content/pdf/48/48.1/48.1.5.pdf).
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CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH 1 October 1986
LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
ON THE PASTORAL CARE OF HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS
Vatican Warning Seen Against Liberal Views on Sexuality
October 31, 1986
October 31, 1986
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican's latest condemnation of homosexual acts, issued Thursday, was seen by some churchmen here as another in a series of blunt warnings to European and North American Catholics to abandon their increasingly liberal views concerning sexuality and other social issues...
The letter, dated Oct. 1 [1986] and made public Thursday, accused gay rights organizations of "deceitful propaganda" and trying to gain a foothold in the church...
Reference link:
"The Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual" in which she administered several psychological tests to groups of self-identified male homosexuals and heterosexuals and asked experts to identify the homosexuals and rate their mental health. The experiment, which other researchers subsequently repeated, argues that homosexuality is not a mental disorder, as there was no detectable difference between homosexual and heterosexual men in terms of mental adjustment...
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Vatican Warning 1986 - continued:
"Increasing numbers of people, even within the church, are bringing enormous pressure to bear on the church to accept the homosexual condition as though it were not disordered and to condone homosexual activity," it said.
The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is the church's watchdog of doctrinal deviation and a powerful force within the church...
Reference link:
John Jay College of Criminal Justice - 5-Year Study by American Bishops – Roman Catholic Church Sex Abuse Cases - May 18, 2011
...Since the scandal broke, conservatives in the church have blamed gay priests for perpetrating the abuse...
The report notes that homosexual men began entering the seminaries “in noticeable numbers” from the late 1970s through the 1980s. By the time this cohort entered the priesthood, in the mid-1980s, the reports of sexual abuse of minors by priests began to drop and then to level off. If anything, the report says, the abusedecreased as more gay priests began serving the church...
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Vatican Warning 1986 - continued:
...citing Vatican condemnation earlier this year of Father Charles Curran, an American Catholic theologian at Catholic University in Washington, and Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen of Seattle...accused...of holding unacceptably liberal views on human sexuality, including homosexuality...
Hunthausen, an archbishop since 1975, was stripped of much of his authority in the Seattle archdiocese in September because of liberal practices that included allowing the first-ever homosexual Mass in a Catholic cathedral. Curran was banned from teaching moral theology after he refused to disavow views that included respect for homosexuals who develop stable sexual relationships...
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Conflict in the Catholic Hierarchy :
a study of coping strategies in the Hunthausen affair...
by Timothy Peter Schilling - 2003
Conflicts within the Roman Catholic hierarchy poses risks to the organizational effectiveness of the Church, but the hierarchy’s approach to conflict handling has rarely been subjected to systematic, empirically grounded study...
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June 1992 – First time U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops - Addresses the child sexual abuse cover-ups - "Five Principles to Follow in Dealing with Accusations of Child Abuse"
...Bishop Wilton Gregory of Bellevue, Ill., president of the Bishops Conference, last month acknowledged the harm done to the church by the scandal. He affirmed by phone last week that the bishop in charge of each diocese is answerable only to the Vatican.
The bishops won't get much help there. Joaquin Navarro-Valls,Pope John Paul's spokesman, suggested to a New York Times reporter that the problem with much of the abuse is homosexuality in the priesthood. The issue, however, is not sexual orientation but protection of youngsters of either sex from the small minority of clerics who are sexually attracted to them...
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Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:
Silencing the evolution towards acceptance of homosexuals
A Timeline: 1984-1999
July 30, 1999
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VATICAN: GAY DISCRIMINATION Document Released July 24, 1992
...The document, leaked excerpts of which were published in the United States last week, forcefully states that "there is no right to homosexuality"...
CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH
SOME CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING THE RESPONSE TO LEGISLATIVE PROPOSALS ON THE NON-DISCRIMINATION OF HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS*
July 24, 1992
UNSIGNED
Bishops Protest Vatican Advisory Condoning Anti-Homosexual Bias
Nov. 2,1992
Two Roman Catholic bishops have joined more than 1,500 Catholics in publicly protesting a Vatican document that said discrimination against homosexuals could be justified in areas like adoption, military service and the hiring of teachers or coaches.
Bishop Walter F. Sullivan of Richmond and Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton of Detroit were among the signers of a statement challenging the document, which was circulated to American bishops last June.
The document also warned against "well-intentioned support" of anti-discrimination laws that could lead to approval of homosexual behavior.
The document was unsigned...
...many other bishops are cool to the Vatican warning, either because they disagree with its contents or because they think it makes political judgments that should be left to local bishops, whohistorically have taken a variety of positions on local laws barring discrimination against homosexuals.
The Vatican document is based on "several misconceptionsregarding homosexuality," the statement says. "There is an irrational fear that lesbian or gay people influence the sexual orientation of children or youth with whom they live or work. There are erroneous beliefs that lesbian and gay persons are erotically attracted to every person of their own gender and that they cannot control their sexual impulses in same-sex environments."
Homosexuals, it says, are "numbered among our finest teachers and coaches" and "have provided loving and nurturing homes for many children."
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HATE CRIMES
History of violence against LGBT people in the United States
The history of violence against LGBT people in the United States is made up of assaults on gay men, lesbians, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex individuals (LGBTQI), legal responses to such violence, and hate crime statistics in the United States of America. Those targeted by such violence are perceived to violate heteronormative rules and contravene perceived protocols of gender and sexual roles. People who are perceived to be LGBTQI may also be targeted.
A hate crime is simply defined as when individuals become victimized because of their race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation.[1] Hate crimes against LGBTQI people often occur because the perpetrators are homophobic. Violence targeted at people because of their perceived sexuality can be psychological and physical up to and including murder. These actions may be caused by cultural, religious, or political mores and biases. In the case of Ahmed Said and Dwone Anderson-Young, they can targeted within larger murder spree intended to punish the US for military policies in the Middle East...
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Vatican opposes UN Declaration on decriminalisation of homosexuality
Dec. 12, 2008
Homosexuality is illegal in nearly half of the world's nations. In most of those countries which ban consensual adult same-sex relationships, the penalties range from a few years in jail to life imprisonment. But in the case of seven countries, all governed by Islamic law, the sentence is death. Two of those countries, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, will sit on the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2009.
The picture here shows two young gay men about to be hanged in Iran. In May, Britain granted asylum to a gay Iranian teenager studying in London who feared execution by Iranian authorities after his boyfriend was hanged for 'sodomy'. Iranian human rights campaigners say more than 4,000 gay people have been executed in their country since 1979.
The United Nations appears now increasingly minded to end the criminalisation of homosexuality, and later this month the UN General Assembly will issue an historic declaration calling for the decriminalisation of homosexuality across the world. It's historic because the General Assembly has never before considered the rights of the global gay and lesbian population in any convention, declaration or humanitarian law.
Why, then, is the Vatican opposing this new Declaration?...
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Pictures From An Execution Come Into Focus
July 20, 2006
Not since they confronted snapshots a slightly built young man named Matthew Shepard and the fence where he was left for dead in 1998 by two drug-addled no-hopers in Laramie, Wyo., have gay people been so agitated by a set of photographic images. Protesters brought black-and-white reproductions of the pictures -- which show the public execution last year of two teenage boys in Iran -- to a rally in Dupont Circle yesterday afternoon. The images were also used in other protests, at least 26 in countries around the world, according to bloggers involved in organizing them, and the images are displayed in the windows of Lambda Rising bookstore, near Dupont Circle.
The pictures show a dismally sad drama: Two young men, identified by the Associated Press as aged 16 and 18, are seen shackled in a prison van, sobbing; one of them is then seen being led to a scaffold; other shots show the boys together with dark-hooded men placing nooses around the boys' necks; and two final images show their bodies hanging from ropes, in a large public square, as a crowd watches from a distance.
The hanging images, taken in the large northeastern city of Mashhad, raced across the Internet after the July 19, 2005, execution was reported by the Iranian Student News Association. There was a brief burst of very angry reaction among gay rights leaders, politicians in Europe and some human rights groups in the United States and abroad. Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian woman who won the Nobel Peace Prize for her human rights work, protested the execution of minors. The two boys quickly became gay martyrs, killed, said activists, only because they desired each other and acted on that desire...
Perhaps the saddest thing about these pictures is that no major news organization outside Iran has tracked down what really happened. The final indignity of these boys' short lives was that they didn't matter enough to spark a serious investigation. And yet, even with the particular facts of the alleged crimes in dispute, the images have haunted gay people in the West and become part of a larger debate about the political alignment of gay rights groups. Should Western activists engage with gay rights issues across cultural and religious borders? And do they risk being dragged into a crude anti-Islamic fervor popular among some fundamentalist Christians (who are no friends to gay people) and right-wing political groups?
Rob Anderson, 23, organized the Dupont Circle protest of about 40 people...And killing children for homosexuality is one thing that is absolutely wrong...
"For gay people, I think all of us have a fear of being killed, and of being killed for who we are," he says. What he sees is two young men being "executed for something you see in yourself."...
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DIRECT VIOLENCE
Photos
UNITED NATIONS issues first report on human rights of gay and lesbian people
15 December 2011 – The first ever United Nations report on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people details how around the world people are killed or endure hate-motivated violence, torture, detention, criminalization and discrimination in jobs, health care and education because of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Photos
The report, released today by the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva, outlines “a pattern of human rights violations… that demands a response,” and says governments have too often overlooked violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Homophobic and transphobic violence has been recorded in every region of the world, the report finds, and ranges from murder, kidnappings, assaults and rapes to psychological threats and arbitrary deprivations of liberty. Photo
LGBT people are often targets of organized abuse from religious extremists, paramilitary groups, neo-Nazis, extreme nationalists and others, as well as family and community violence, with lesbians and transgender women at particular risk.
Violent incidents or acts of discrimination frequently go unreported because victims do not trust police, are afraid of reprisals or are unwilling to identify themselves as LGBT...
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STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE
Introduction
by Deborah Du Nann Winter and Dana C. Leighton
Direct violence is horrific, but its brutality usually gets our attention: we notice it, and often respond to it. Structural violence, however, is almost always invisible, embedded in ubiquitous social structures, normalized by stable institutions and regular experience. Structural violence occurs whenever people are disadvantaged by political, legal, economic, or cultural traditions. Because they are longstanding, structural inequities usually seem ordinary—the way things are and always have been.
But structural violence produces suffering and death as often as direct violence does, though the damage is slower, more subtle, more common, and more difficult to repair. The chapters in this section teach us about some important but invisible forms of structural violence, and alert us to the powerful cultural mechanisms that create and maintain them over generations.
But structural violence produces suffering and death as often as direct violence does, though the damage is slower, more subtle, more common, and more difficult to repair. The chapters in this section teach us about some important but invisible forms of structural violence, and alert us to the powerful cultural mechanisms that create and maintain them over generations.
Johan Galtung originally framed the term “structural violence” to mean any constraint on human potential caused by economic and political structures (1969). Unequal access to resources, to political power, to education, to health care, or to legal standing, are forms of structural violence. When inner-city children have inadequate schools while others do not, when gays and lesbians are fired for their sexual orientation, when laborers toil in inhumane conditions, when people of color endure environmental toxins in their neighborhoods, structural violence exists. Unfortunately, even those who are victims of structural violence often do not see the systematic ways in which their plight is choreographed by unequal and unfair distribution of society’s resources. Such is the insidiousness of structural violence…
Recognizing the operation of structural violence forces us to ask questions about how and why we tolerate it, questions that often have painful answers. The first chapter in this section, “Social Injustice,” by Susan Opotow, argues that our normal perceptual/cognitive processes lead us to care about people inside our scope of justice, but rarely care about those people outside. Injustice that would be instantaneously confronted if it occurred to someone we love or know is barely noticed if it occurs to strangers or those who are invisible or irrelevant to us. We do not seem to be able to open 
One outcome of exclusionary thinking is the belief that victims of violence must in some way deserve their plight. But certainly it is easy to see that young children do not deserve to be victims…
Read complete - Section II:
Winter, D. D., & Leighton, D. C. (2001). Structural violence. In D. J. Christie, R. V. Wagner, & D. D. Winter (Eds.), Peace, conflict, and violence: Peace psychology in the 21st century. New York: Prentice-Hall.
Peace Psychology Book
Discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity
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Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights*
Summary
The present report is submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to its resolution 17/19, in which the Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to commission a study documenting discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, and how international human rights law can be used to end violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
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Vatican calls for homosexuality to be decriminalized
Dec. 31, 2008
...An explanatory note published in the official Vatican newspaper LOsservatore Romano said that if the resolution on sexual orientation aimed simply at ensuring no country treated homosexuality as a crime, there would have been no reason for [the Vatican] to criticize that document.
The Catholic church maintains that free sexual acts between adult persons must not be treated as crimes to be punished by civil authorities, said the newspaper.
The Vatican specifically objected to the declarations use of the terms sexual orientation and gender identity, which it said had no established meaning in international law.
The Vatican specifically objected to the declarations use of the terms sexual orientation and gender identity, which it said had no established meaning in international law.
According to the Vatican newspaper, these terms imply that sexual identity is defined only by culture, and their use in the declaration is part of an attempt to equate same-sex unions with marriage and to give homosexual couples the chance to adopt or procreate children...
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Pope Blasts U.K. Anti-Discrimination Laws - February 2, 2010
In Speech, Benedict Raises Fears that Vatican Could Be Prosecuted for Stances Against Gays
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Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican's Number 2: Priest Pedophilia Linked To Homosexuality – April 12, 2010
“This is a perverse strategy by the Vatican to shirk its own ethical and legal responsibility by making a spurious and disgusting connection…"
“This is a perverse strategy by the Vatican to shirk its own ethical and legal responsibility by making a spurious and disgusting connection…"
Characteristics of Demagoguery
Patricia Roberts-Miller
demonizing, dehumanizing, and/or scapegoating the out-group, especially on racial, ethnic, or religious bases. Demonizing is done through explicitly saying that the
out-group is Satan himself or a tool of his (e.g., Falwell on homosexuals...
This move has several functions. In addition to justifying extreme measures (as one should give no quarter to the devil), it is a scare tactic that helps polarize the situation. If one can persuade one's audience that the out-group is Satanic, then even listening to that group is exposing one's self to the wiles of the Evil One. And, anyone who argues for fair treatment of that out-group (or even allowing their point of view to be heard) can themselves be demonized (as when Falwell says that the promotion of tolerance toward homosexuality may be Satan preparing the way for the Antichrist); this is part of the general project of demagoguery of making it actively dangerous to disagree...
Archbishop Dolan: GAY MARRIAGE ‘ORWELLIAN SOCIAL ENGINEERING’ - May 13, 2011
Dolan “…says to expand the one-man, one-woman definition of marriage would be…‘perilous to all of us’…[Dolan] called the allegation that anti-gay marriage advocates are prejudiced or bigoted ‘nonsense’”
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops - adviser - saying DEVIL MAKES PEOPLE GAY – November 4, 2011
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Chicago's Cardinal George - under fire for comparing GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT to Ku Klux Klan – December 22, 2011
Persuaders of Hate: Anti-Gay Rhetoric from the Christian Reich - May 4, 2010
...The satirist Jonathan Swift once said, “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. ”I wonder why that is? When the Klu Klux Klan, a “White Christian Organization,”(kukluxklan.bz, 2009) makes derogatory statements about someone’s race or sexual orientation, we often call that hate speech. But when other Christian groups use anti-gay rhetoric to communicate their views, it is often legitimized and justified by hiding behind religious ideals...
'God's Rottweiler' silenced many as head of doctrinal congregation - Feb. 27, 2013
Catholic bishops oppose discrimination in letter opposing anti-discrimination bill - 11/4/13
Three prominent Catholic prelates—Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, CA, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, and Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore—have made it known that they plan to “work with leaders and all people of good will to end all forms of unjust discrimination, including against those who experience same sex attraction.”...
Catholic bishops apparently feel that discriminating against LGBT people in the workplace is not only just, but in fact, not being able to do so threatens their religious liberty. So the USCCB is appealing to lawmakers to vote against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)...
Bishops state 'great concern' over executive order on LGBT discrimination - June 20, 2014
WASHINGTON - Archbishop-chairmen of several U.S. bishops' committees issued a statement Friday citing "great concern" over news that President Barack Obama is planning to issue an executive order banning discrimination against LGBT persons by federal contractors.
Key to their concerns, say the bishops, is how the new order will define the terms "sexual orientation" and "gender identity."
"Because we do not know how the executive order will define these critically important terms, or if it will provide sufficient (or any) religious freedom protection, we cannot provide substantive comment on the order," state the bishops...
Characteristics of Demagoguery
Patricia Roberts-Miller
martyrdom of rhetor, personalizing of criticisms, rhetor is synecdochic of larger group. One of the principles of good conflict resolution is that people not take their ideas personally, and not take criticism personally. Demagogues generally violate this principle, probably intentionally. A demagogue often claims to represent the entire movement (as usual, Hitler is the perfect example here), so that any criticism of him/her is an attack on the in-group and vice versa...
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Offerings: Catholic leaders fear authentic dialogue about change - July 4, 2014
Pope Francis wanted open debate. With clashing cardinals, he’s got it - October 2, 2014
Pope calls synod to speak 'boldly'; cardinal defends current teachings - October 6, 2014
VATICAN CITY Pope Francis opened discussions at his worldwide meeting of Catholic bishops Monday by telling the prelates they should speak openly, without fear of upsetting him or limiting discussions to things he would want to hear.
Using the Greek term parrhesia -- meaning to speak candidly or boldly and without fear -- the pope told the some 190 prelates gathered in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall they should "speak with parrhesia and listen with humility."
Working in a synod, the pope continued, does not mean prelates should say only what Francis wants to hear. "This is not good!" he said.
"A general condition is this," the pope said. "Speak clearly. Let no one say: 'This you cannot say.' "
"You need to say all that you feel with parrhesia," he continued. "And, at the same time, you should listen with humility and accept with an open heart what your brothers say."...
Synod shows potential to advance conversation on family - October 7, 2014
The extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family kicked off in Vatican City on Monday, and we are beginning to see what frank and open dialogue may look like in the church at its highest level in 2014.
Many Catholics are hopeful the synod will bring meaningful change to how the church ministers to the modern Catholic family. But where Pope Francis encouraged synod members to speak boldly and candidly, at least one prelate was quick to say that bold does not always mean earth-shattering... Photo
Characteristics of Demagoguery
Patricia Roberts-Miller
anti-intellectualism...For many scholars, this is an extremely important part of demagoguery, but I think it's fairly minor...Another factor that makes people think demagogues aren't the sharpest pencil in the drawer (albeit often very cunning) is that demagogues often evince a deep loathing for intellectuals. It is not necessarily jealousy (although I'm not ruling that out), but may simply be the realization that they are threatened by anyone capable of doing critical analysis.
It's important to remember that the last thing a demagogue wants is fair and open discussion of issues--the main goal of demagoguery is to keep opposition points of view from getting a fair hearing. (Although they often claim to be in favor of such a discussion, in fact, they do everything they can to prevent it.) Because demagoguery is based in over-simplifying the situation, polarizing the community, and promoting hatred of out-groups, people who advocate careful consideration of the evidence and who can notice and draw attention to the demagogue's fallacies are actively dangerous for the demagogue's project...
Vatican debate on gays provokes strong reaction from all corners - October 10, 2014
...“They fully believed in the church’s teachings and they knew their grandchildren would see them welcome the son and his partner into the family,” the couple told those assembled in the Vatican’s Paul VI hall. “Their response could be summed up in three words: ‘He’s our son.’”
American hard-liner Cardinal Raymond Burke shot back on Thursday (Oct. 9) that children should be protected from “exposure” to gay relationships, which he rejected as “evil.”... Photo
Characteristics of Demagoguery
Patricia Roberts-Miller
polarization. This is one of the two most important qualities of demagoguery. To polarize is to divide a diverse range of things into two poles. Thus, a demagogue breaks everything into two camps: the one s/he represents (what people call the in-group), and evil (the out-group). This kind of polarization recurs throughout demagoguery--there are only two options, there are only two policies, there are only two groups...
Archbishop Chaput ‘disturbed’ by Vatican synod debate, says
‘confusion is of the devil’ - October 21, 2014
Archbishop Chaput: Pope's 2015 Philadelphia visit won't focus on hot-button sex issues - Nov. 19, 2014
VATICAN CITY Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput says hot-button socio-sexual issues won't be the central focus when the World Meeting of Families welcomes Pope Francis to the City of Brotherly Love next year...
Cardinal says church under Pope Francis is a ‘rudderless ship’ - October 31, 2014
...When the synod signaled a more welcoming tone to gay and lesbian Catholics, Burke publicly accused the global gathering of bias and was among those who pushed for a less conciliatory approach in the final report....
Cardinal [Burke] urges pope to take hot-button issues off table for next synod - November 19, 2014
LIMERICK, Ireland – A recently reassigned Vatican official has urged Pope Francis to take the issues of Communion for the divorced and remarried, cohabitation and same-sex marriage “off the table” for next year’s Synod of Bishops...
Detroit Archdiocese bans pro-gay speaker, meeting from church - November 22, 2014
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Cardinal Raymond Burke - Wisconsin
Raymond Leo Burke (born June 30, 1948) is an American cardinal prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He serves as the patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a position widely interpreted as a demotion from his previous position asCardinal Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, which he held until November 2014...
Burke was born on June 30, 1948, in Richland Center, Wisconsin, the youngest of the six children...
Burke is a critic of liberal bishops' moves to soften the church's attitudes toward homosexual activity. In an interview in October 2014, Burke referred to gay relationships as "profoundly disordered and harmful", also suggesting that parents should not allow their children to have contact with sexually active gay people and should discourage them from attending family gatherings such as celebrations at Christmas...
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Cardinal Burke denies rift with pope, warns of ‘gay agenda’ for Synod - April 1, 2015
Homosexual agenda (or gay agenda) is a pejorative term introduced by some conservative Christians in the United States as a disparaging way to describe the advocacy of cultural acceptance and normalization of non-heterosexual orientations and relationships. The term refers to efforts to change government policies and laws on LGBT rights-related issues. Additionally, it has also been used by some social conservatives and others to describe alleged goals of LGBT rights activists, such as recruiting heterosexuals into what they term a "homosexual lifestyle"...
Contemporary usage and meaning
The term is applied to efforts to change government policies and laws on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues, for example, same-sex marriage and civil unions, LGBT adoption, recognizing sexual orientation as a protected civil rights minority classification, LGBT military participation, inclusion of LGBT history and themes in public education, introduction of anti-bullying legislation to protect LGBT minors - as well as non-governmental campaigns and individual actions that increase visibility and cultural acceptance of LGBT people, relationships, and identities...
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Cardinal Burke: Gays, remarried Catholics, and murderers are all the same - March 27, 2015
...The cardinal also blamed gay clergy for the church's sexual abuse crisis, saying priests "who were feminized and confused about their own sexual identity" were the ones who molested children...
Cardinal Burke: Serving at Mass is a 'manly' job - January 9, 2015
Former highest-ranking U.S. cardinal blames ‘feminization’ for the Catholic Church’s problems
January 13, 2015
...Sadly, Church has not effectively reacted to these destructive cultural forces; instead the Church has become too influenced by radical feminism and has largely ignored the serious needs of men.”
And men had lots of serious issues, Burke said. Like addiction to pornography. And masturbation. “This is lethal for men, especially young men,” he said. “Young men may begin to engage in the sexual sin of masturbation. Men have told me that when they were teenagers, they confessed the sin of masturbation in the confessional and priests would say, ‘Oh, that’s nothing you should be confessing. Everybody does that.’ That’s wrong. These are sinful acts.”...
...Sadly, Church has not effectively reacted to these destructive cultural forces; instead the Church has become too influenced by radical feminism and has largely ignored the serious needs of men.”
And men had lots of serious issues, Burke said. Like addiction to pornography. And masturbation. “This is lethal for men, especially young men,” he said. “Young men may begin to engage in the sexual sin of masturbation. Men have told me that when they were teenagers, they confessed the sin of masturbation in the confessional and priests would say, ‘Oh, that’s nothing you should be confessing. Everybody does that.’ That’s wrong. These are sinful acts.”...
Characteristics of Demagoguery
Patricia Roberts-Miller
denial of responsibility for situation (except lack of vigilance). This quality is connected to the assertion of simple solutions. When a demagogue is talking to his audience about the disastrous situation in which we stand, s/he does not describe them or their policies as responsible for that situation, except insofar as we have not been vigilant enough. Hitler didn't tell his audience that Germany's having started WWI contributed to their situation; on the contrary, he insisted they were innocent victims...
This strategy is, of course, connected to scapegoating. We are not responsible; they are. The solution is not to change what we are doing, but to get rid of them.
This strategy may be one reason that people are really drawn to demagogues. It is not very pleasant to have to face up to having made a mistake, or to having had bad judgment. Under those circumstances, it is difficult to face up (and own up) to one's error. Some people find the possibility of having to change their minds (especially on major issues) absolutely terrifying, and will grasp at the denial of responsibiilty like a drowning person at a log. That's what demagogues offer people--a way not to have to admit error...
http://www.drw.utexas.edu/roberts-miller/sites/www.drw.utexas.edu.roberts-miller/files/demagoguery.pdf
Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret.
(Though you drive Nature out with a pitchfork, she will still find her way back.)
Religious Reasons - Suppressing Desire to View Porn - Research Indicates - Exacerbates Sexual Problems - June 23, 2011
...Repression seems to figure prominently into the puzzle of pornography. In 2009 Michael P. Twohig, a psychologist at Utah State University, asked 299 undergraduate students whether they considered their pornography consumption problematic; for example, causing intrusive sexual thoughts or difficulty finding like-minded sex partners. Then he assessed the students with an eye to understanding the root causes of their issues.
It turns out that among porn viewers, the amount of porn each subject consumed had nothing to do with his or her mental state. What mattered most, Twohig found, was whether the subjects tried to control their sexual thoughts and desires. The more they tried to clamp down on their urge for sex or porn, the more likely they were to consider their own pornography use a problem. The findings suggest that suppressing the desire to view pornography, for example, for moral or religious reasons, might actually strengthen the urge for it and exacerbate sexual problems. It’s all about “personal views and personal values,” Twohig says. In other words, the effects of pornography—positive or negative—have little to do with the medium itself and everything to do with the person viewing it...
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Sexual Repression: The Malady That Considers Itself the Remedy
Adultery causes earthquakes? Sexual repression can cause much worse.
by Christopher Ryan - April 20, 2010
Did gays in the Vatican drive Benedict out?
February 22, 2013
Former Dominican Friar On Vatican Gay Sex Scandal: Homosexuality A 'Ticking Time Bomb' (VIDEO) - 2/26/13
Vatican hit by gay sex scandal - 3/4/10
Vatican chorister sacked for allegedly procuring male prostitutes for papal gentleman-in-waiting
Cardinal Raymond Burke: 'Feminized' church and altar girls caused priest shortage
January 7, 2015
Characteristics of Demagoguery
Patricia Roberts-Miller
refusal to redeem claims. A basic premise of civil discourse is that interlocutors will "redeem" any claims that someone else questions. That is, if two or more people are talking, and anyone challenges the assertion of another, that person will try to justify the assertion with additional evidence or supporting reasons, or retract it. So, if I say, "Hitler said Jews should be exterminated," and you say, "I don't remember that he said that," then I need to show you a place where he did (or retract the claim).
Demagogues, however, refuse to give additional evidence of assertions that are disputed, instead resorting to fallacies (especially red herring and ad personum) or silencing the questioner (as when proslavery forces tried to get abolitionists thrown in jail for publishing criticisms of slavery). McCarthy is an interesting example of this, as he was pretty clearly inventing numbers..."To exaggerate, to affirm, to resort to repetitions, and never to attempt to prove anything reasoning are methods of argument well known to speakers at public meetings"...
McCarthy would toss out all sorts of apparent evidence. But the "evidence" always turns out to be really problematic...
New Catholic Sex Abuse Findings: Gay Priests Are Not the Problem – November 18, 2009
The data, which was presented to the U.S. hierarchy on the second day of their annual meeting here, also appears to contradict the widely held view that homosexuals in the priesthood were largely responsible for the abuse.
"What we are suggesting is that the idea of sexual identity be separated from the problem of sexual abuse," said Margaret Smith, a researcher from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, which is conducting an independent study of sexual abuse in the priesthood from 1950 up to 2002. "At this point, we do not find a connection between homosexual identity and an increased likelihood of sexual abuse."
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11/18/new-catholic-sex-abuse-findings-gay-priests-not-the-problem/
John Jay College of Criminal Justice - 5-Year Study by American Bishops – Roman Catholic Church Sex Abuse Cases - May 18, 2011
...Since the scandal broke, conservatives in the church have blamed gay priests for perpetrating the abuse, while liberals have argued that the all-male, celibate culture of the priesthood was the cause. This report will satisfy neither flank.
The report notes that homosexual men began entering the seminaries “in noticeable numbers” from the late 1970s through the 1980s. By the time this cohort entered the priesthood, in the mid-1980s, the reports of sexual abuse of minors by priests began to drop and then to level off. If anything, the report says, the abusedecreased as more gay priests began serving the church...
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John Jay Report on Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church – “... no causative relationship between…homosexuality and the sexual victimization of children in the Church.” 5/18/11
Facts About Homosexuality and Child Molestation
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Senator Joseph McCarthy - Wisconsin
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread Communistsubversion. He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the United States federal government and elsewhere. Ultimately, his tactics and inability to substantiate his claims led him to be censured by the United States Senate...
Not as widely known as McCarthy's anti-Communist crusade were his various attempts to intimidate, and expel from government positions, persons whom he accused, or threatened to publicly accuse, of homosexuality. Former U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson has written: "The so-called 'Red Scare' has been the main focus of most historians of that period of time. A lesser-known element...and one that harmed far more people was the witch-hunt McCarthy and others conducted against homosexuals.” This anti-homosexual witch-hunt that McCarthy and others waged alongside their "Red Scare" tactics has been referred to by some as the "Lavender Scare"...
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The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government - David K. Johnson
Question: From the 1930s to the end of the Second World War, Washington D.C. offered a fairly benign, if not hospitable, environment for gays and lesbians to live and work. The city was growing rapidly, thousands of jobs were being created in the federal government, and gay men and women were taking advantage of these opportunities. And then what happened?
But after the war a concern began to grow throughout the nation that American morality was in a state of decline. Publication of the Kinsey report fed these fears, particularly Kinsey's statistics that suggested widespread homosexual behavior. Congress responded by passing a tough sexual psychopath law for the District of Columbia to crack down on deviant behavior. At the same time the U.S. Park Police initiated a "Pervert Elimination Campaign" for D.C. parks frequented by gay men. With the rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy and his charges that communists and homosexuals had infiltrated the federal government, the men arrested in Washington's parks on sex charges seemed to threaten not just the morality of the city but the national security. Their arrest records were forwarded to the executive agencies and hundreds began losing their jobs...
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Edward R. Murrow -
Response to Senator Joe McCarthy’s report of March 9, 1954
on CBS' See It Now
Originally Broadcast 13 April 1954
...He proved again that anyone who exposes him, anyone who does not share his hysterical disregard for decency and human dignity and the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, must be either a Communist or a fellow traveler...
Having searched my conscience and my files, I cannot contend that I have always been right or wise. But I have attempted to pursue the truth with some diligence and to report it, even though, as in this case, I had been warned in advance that I would be subjected to the attentions of Senator McCarthy...
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Lavender Scare
The lavender scare refers to the fear and persecution ofhomosexuals in the 1950s in the United States and United Kingdom, which paralleled the anti-communist campaign known as McCarthyism. Gay men and lesbians were often considered "fellow travelers" of the communists, and the era that the lavender scare began "may be seen as the time when homosexuals became the chief scapegoats of theCold War."
Former U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson has written: "The so-called 'Red Scare' has been the main focus of most historians of that period of time. A lesser-known element ... and one that harmed far more people was the witch-hunt McCarthy and others conducted against homosexuals."...
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Archbishop Weakland, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
“easily became headhunters and leaders were picked (on the basis of) the rigidity of their doctrine, so that often second-rate andrepressive minds, riding on the waves of fear, took over.
“Religion under such circumstances then can become anideology that tolerates no obstacle and that values ideas more thanpeople,” he wrote…
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For whoever wants to save their life will lose it,
but whoever loses their life
for me will find it.
Matthew 16:25
What good is it for someone to gain the whole world,
and yet lose or forfeit their very self?
Luke 9:25
Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me;… Whoever does not take up their cross
and follow me is not worthy of me.
Matthew 10:36-38
…whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have
a heavy millstone hung around his neck,
and to be drowned in the
depth of the sea.
Matthew 18:6
Mercier’s letter sent from Vatican City - is dated March 3, 2015. However, the postmark on the envelope is dated March 18, 2015 and sent from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The actual letter has been posted - above.
Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
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Margaret Chase Smith, US Senator - June 1, 1950
1941-1963
June 1, 1950
A Declaration of Conscience
A Declaration of Conscience
As Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine boarded the Senate subway, she encountered the junior senator from Wisconsin, Joe McCarthy. “Margaret, you look very serious,” he said. “Are you going to make a speech?” Without hesitation, Smith replied: “Yes, and you will not like it!” The date was June 1, 1950, and Smith was about to deliver the most memorable speech of her long career.
Four months earlier, McCarthy hadrocketed to national attention. In a well-publicized speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, he claimed to possess the names of 205 card-carrying communists in the State Department. Smith, like many of her colleagues, shared McCarthy's concerns about communist subversion, but she grew skeptical when he repeatedly ignored her requests for evidence to back-up his accusations. “It was then,” she recalled, “that I began to wonder about the validity... and fairness of Joseph McCarthy’s charges.”
At first, Smith hesitated to speak. “I was a freshman Senator,” she explained, “and in those days, freshman Senators were to be seen and not heard.” She hoped a senior member would take the lead. “This great psychological fear...spread to the Senate,” she noted, “where a considerable amount of mental paralysis and muteness set in for fear of offending McCarthy.” As the weeks passed, Smith grew increasingly angry with McCarthy’s attacks and his defamation of individuals she considered above suspicion. Bowing to Senate rules on comity, Smith chose not to attack McCarthy, but to denounce the tactics that were becoming known as “McCarthyism.”
"Mr. President," she began, "I would like to speak briefly and simply about a serious national condition.... The United States Senate has long enjoyed worldwide respect as the greatest deliberative body.... But recently that deliberative character has...been debased to...a forum of hate and character assassination." In her 15-minute address, delivered as McCarthy looked on, Smith endorsed every American’s right to criticize, to protest, and to hold unpopular beliefs. “Freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America,” she complained. “It has been so abused by some that it is not exercised by others.” She asked her fellow Republicans not to ride to political victory on the “Four Horsemen of Calumny–Fear, Ignorance,Bigotry, and Smear.” As she concluded, Smith introduced a statement signed by herself and six other Republican senators–her “Declaration of Conscience."
Her speech triggered a public explosion of support and criticism. “This cool breeze of honesty from Maine can blow the whole miasma out of the nation’s soul,” commented the Hartford Courant. “By one act of political courage, [Smith has] justified a lifetime in politics,” commented another. Newsweek magazine ran a cover story entitled “Senator Smith: A Woman Vice President?” Critics called her “Moscow-loving,” and much worse. McCarthy dismissed her and her supporters as “Snow White and the Six Dwarfs.”
Smith’s Declaration of Conscience did not end McCarthy’s reign of power, but she was one of the first senators to take such a stand. She continued to oppose him, at great personal cost, for the next four years. Finally, in December of 1954, the Senate belatedly concurred with the “lady from Maine” and censured McCarthy for conduct “contrary to senatorial traditions.” McCarthy’s career was over. Margaret Chase Smith’s career was just beginning.
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Declaration of Conscience - June 1, 1950
Excerpts:
...I think that it is high time that we remembered that we have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution. I think that it is high time that we remembered that the Constitution, as amended, speaks not only of the freedom of speech, but also of trial by jury instead of trial by accusation.
Whether it be a criminal prosecution in court or a character prosecution in the Senate, there is little practical distinction when the life of a person has been ruined.
Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in makingcharacter assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism— The right to criticize; The right to hold unpopular beliefs; The right to protest; The right of independent thought.
The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood nor should he be in danger of losing his reputation or livelihood merely because he happens to know someone who holds unpopular beliefs. Who of us doesn’t? Otherwise none of us could call our souls our own. Otherwise thought control would have set in.
American people are sick and tired of being afraid to speak their minds lest they be politically smeared as “Communists” or “Fascists” by their opponents. Freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America. It has been so abused by some that it is not exercised by others.
The American people are sick and tired of seeing innocent people smeared and guilty people whitewashed. But there have been enough proved cases, such as the Amerasia case, the Hiss case, the Coplon case, the Gold case, to cause Nation-wide distrust and strong suspicion that there may be something to the unproved, sensational accusations...
As members of the minority party, we do not have the primary authority to formulate the policy of our Government. But we do have the responsibility of rendering constructive criticism, ofclarifying issues, of allaying fears by acting as responsible citizens.
As a woman, I wonder how the mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters feel about the way in which members of their families have been politically mangled in Senate debate—and I use the word “debate” advisedly.
As a United States Senator, I am not proud of the way in which the Senate has been made a publicity platform for irresponsible sensationalism. I am not proud of the reckless abandon in which unproved charges have been hurled from this side of the aisle. I am not proud of the obviously staged, undignified countercharges that have been attempted in retaliation from the other side of the aisle.
I don’t like the way the Senate has been made a rendezvous for vilification, for selfish political gain at the sacrifice of individual reputations and national unity. I am not proud of the way wesmear outsiders from the floor of the Senate and hide behind the cloak of congressional immunity and still place ourselves beyond criticism on the floor of the Senate.
As an American, I am shocked at the way Republicans and Democrats alike are playing directly into the Communist design of “confuse, divide and conquer.” As an American, I don’t want a Democratic administration “whitewash” or “cover-up” any more than I want a Republican smear or witch hunt.
As an American, I condemn a Republican “Fascist” just as much as I condemn a Democrat “Communist.” I condemn a Democrat “Fascist” just as much as I condemn a Republican “Communist.” They are equally dangerous to you and me and to our country. As an American, I want to see our Nation recapture the strength and unity it once had when we fought the enemy instead of ourselves...
5. It is high time that we stopped thinking politically as Republicans and Democrats about elections and started thinking patriotically as Americans about national security based on individual freedom. It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques—techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life.
Read more:
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/Speeches_Smith_Declaration.htm
Margaret Chase Smith Is Dead at 97; Maine Republican Made History Twice - May 30, 1995
Edward R. Murrow - Challenges Joseph McCarthy
Transcripts excerpts:
Edward R. Murrow:
A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy
See it Now (CBS-TV, March 9, 1954)
...No one familiar with the history of this country can deny that congressional committees are useful. It is necessary to investigate before legislating, but the line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one, and the junior Senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly. His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind, as between the internal and the external threats of Communism. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men—not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.
This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy's methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn't create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it—and rather successfully. Cassius was right: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."
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Until this moment, Senator,
I think I never really gauged
your cruelty or your recklessness ...
Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator.
You've done enough.
Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?
Have you left no sense of decency?
Joseph Nye Welch
Joseph N. Welch - Army-McCarthy hearings
Joseph McCarthy meets his match - June 9, 1954
In a dramatic confrontation, Joseph Welch, special counsel for the U.S. Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during hearings on whether communism has infiltrated the U.S. armed forces. Welch’s verbal assault marked the end of McCarthy’s power during the anticommunist hysteria of the Red Scare in America.
Senator McCarthy (R-Wisconsin) experienced a meteoric rise to fame and power in the U.S. Senate when he charged in February 1950 that “hundreds” of “known communists” were in the Department of State. In the years that followed, McCarthy became the acknowledged leader of the so-called Red Scare, a time when millions of Americans became convinced that communists had infiltrated every aspect of American life. Behind closed-door hearings, McCarthy bullied, lied, and smeared his way to power,destroying many careers and lives in the process...
...however, McCarthy’s recklessness and increasingly erratic behavior became unacceptable and the senator saw his clout slowly ebbing away. In a last-ditch effort to revitalize his anticommunist crusade, McCarthy made a crucial mistake. He charged in early 1954 that the U.S. Army was “soft” on communism. As Chairman of the Senate Government Operations Committee, McCarthy opened hearings into the Army.
Joseph N. Welch, a soft-spoken lawyer with an incisive wit and intelligence, represented the Army. During the course of weeks of hearings, Welch blunted every one of McCarthy’s charges. The senator, in turn, became increasingly enraged, bellowing “point of order, point of order,” screaming at witnesses, and declaring that one highly decorated general was a “disgrace” to his uniform. OnJune 9, 1954, McCarthy again became agitated at Welch’s steady destruction of each of his arguments and witnesses. In response, McCarthy charged that Frederick G. Fisher, a young associate in Welch’s law firm, had been a long-time member of an organization that was a “legal arm of the Communist Party.” Welch was stunned. As he struggled to maintain his composure, he looked at McCarthy and declared, “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness.” It was then McCarthy’s turn to be stunned into silence, as Welch asked, “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?” The audience of citizens and newspaper and television reporters burst into wild applause. Just a week later, the hearings into the Army came to a close. McCarthy, exposed as a reckless bully, was officially condemned by the U.S. Senate for contempt against his colleagues in December 1954...
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McCarthy-Welch Exchange - June 9, 1954
Transcript excerpts:
Mr. Welch: Senator, you won't need anything in the record when I finish telling you this. Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty, or your recklessness. Fred Fisher is a young man who went to the Harvard Law School and came into my firm and is starting what looks to be a brilliant career with us...
Little did I dream you could be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury to that lad. It is, I regret to say, equally true that I fear he shall always bear a scar needlessly inflicted by you. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty, I would do so. I like to think I'm a gentle man, but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me...
Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator...
You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?...
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Part II - Synod on Family 2014
To Be Completed:
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This entire posting has been perviously sent out as a US group mailing prior to posting here on the Thalamus Center.
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A new command I give you: Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
if you love one another.
John 13:34-35
Lawful Church Authority?
We are to obey only lawful authority. How are we to identify lawful Church authority? Jesus has told us how we can determine lawful authority in the Church that we will know his disciples, if they love one another, in the same way that he loved them. Jesus loved us all to the point of dying for us. Photos
Reported
Ruthless and Deceitful
“Cold-blooded Murderers”
Well, this certainly negates much of the Roman Curia and hierarchy as lawful authority for the past few decades - considering the saturation of infighting, character assassinations (e.g. Dino Boffo case), and corruption that exists throughout the curia, as reported in the Vatileaks that led Pope Benedict XVI to unexpectedly resigned the papacy. The need for reform was so pervasive that it became the mandate that was given to Pope Francis at the time of his election, March 2013. And although, Pope Francis has made significant progress, along with his diversified entourage of colleagues, consultants and experts, to make the much needed reforms, notably with the Vatican Bank (http://fortune.com/2014/08/14/this-pope-means-business/) - according to his, December 22, 2014, address to the curia, there still remains a considerable amount of infighting, gossip, character assassinations, calling them “cold-blooded murderers (http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/12/22/).” Even as recent as, February 2015, a character assassination attack was made against Cardinal Pell by an anonymous member or members of the curia leaking false information about his activities to the news media (http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/02/28/the-vaticans-financial-reform-the-nasty-is-back/ -- & -- http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/03/03/on-financial-reform-pope-francis-doesnt-blink/).
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Vatileaks - Background links:
Vatican Confidential: Why Are So Many Rumors Coming out of the Holy See? - 2/22/12
...In the past few weeks, the Holy See has sprung a series of leaks. Their contents range from allegations of corruption and cronyism in Rome, to internal criticism of a Vatican effort to tackle money laundering...
Each leak would be embarrassing enough on its own. Together, they add up to a picture of disarray at the top tiers of the Catholic Church...
...A likely target is Pope Benedict XVI's second-in-command, Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Appointed in 2006 to run the day-to-day affairs of the Vatican while the pope focused on affairs of the spirit...
...In this view, the leaks are in part attacks on Bertone's administration, but also the manifestation of behind-the-scenes maneuvering, driven by internal rivalries and the beginnings of the inevitable battle for succession. "You've got lots of groups, clans, small and medium, that in the confusion are fighting with each other,"...
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Exhausted in the Vatican: The Final Battles of Pope Benedict XVI - 6/15/12
The mood at the Vatican is apocalyptic. Pope Benedict XVI seems tired, and both unable and unwilling to seize the reins amid fierce infighting and scandal. While Vatican insiders jockey for power and speculate on his successor, Joseph Ratzinger has withdrawn to focus on his still-ambiguous legacy.
...A House in Disarray
Fear is running rampant in the Curia...No one trusts anyone anymore...
...complaints about poor leadership and internal divisions are being aired outside the Vatican's walls...
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Vatican shuffle cloaked in controversy - 6/26/12
Pondering the 'what,' not the 'who,' of Vatileaks - 6/01/12
The Boffo case - a style of character assassination...
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Character Assassinations
Character assassination is a deliberate and sustained process that aims to destroy the credibility and reputation of a person, institution, social group, or nation.[1] Agents of character assassinations employ a mix of open and covert methods to achieve their goals, such as raising false accusations, planting and fostering rumours, and manipulating information.
Character assassination is an attempt to tarnish a person's reputation. It may involve exaggeration, misleading half-truths, or manipulation of facts to present an untrue picture of the targeted person. It is a form of defamation and can be a form of ad hominem argument [...appealing to the emotions and not reason or logic -- & -- ...attacking an opponent's motives or character rather than the policy or position they maintain].
Cardinal says church under Pope Francis is a ‘rudderless ship’
October 31, 2014
VATICAN CITY (RNS) American Cardinal Raymond Burke, the feisty former archbishop of St. Louis who has emerged as the face of the opposition to Pope Francis’ reformist agenda, likened the Roman Catholic Church to “a ship without a rudder” in a fresh attack on the pope’s leadership...
Read more: http://www.religionnews.com/2014/10/31/cardinal-catholic-church-pope-francis-ship-without-rudder/
Character Assassinations - continued:
For living individuals targeted by character assassination attempts, this may result in being rejected by their community, family, or members of their living or work environment. Such acts are often difficult to reverse or rectify, and the process is likened to a literal assassination of a human life. The damage sustained can last a lifetime or, for historical figures, for many centuries after their death.
Pope Francis: a Curia that is outdated, sclerotic or indifferent to others is an ailing body
Dec. 22, 2015
...The sickness of “chatter, grumbling and gossip: this is a serious illness that begins simply, often just in the form of having a chat, and takes people over, turning them into sowers of discord, like Satan, and in many cases cold-blooded murderers of the reputations of their colleagues and brethren. It is the sickness of the cowardly who, not having the courage to speak directly to the people involved, instead speak behind their backs”...
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Character Assassinations - continued:
In practice, character assassination may involve doublespeak, spreading of rumours, innuendo or deliberate misinformation on topics relating to the subject's morals, integrity, and reputation. It may involve spinning information that is technically true, but that is presented in a misleading manner or is presented without the necessary context. For example, it might be said that a person refused to pay any income tax during a specific year, without saying that no tax was actually owed due to the person having no income that year, or that a person was sacked from a firm, even though he may have been made redundant through no fault of his own, rather than being terminated for cause...
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Cardinal Burke: Gays, remarried Catholics, and murderers are all the same
March 27, 2015
...the American churchman has spoken out again, telling an interviewer that gay couples and divorced and remarried Catholics who are trying to live good and faithful lives are still like “the person who murders someone and yet is kind to other people.”...
On the surface, Burke’s comments break little theological ground;...
But comparing those situations in any context is unusual, and certainly out of step with the pastoral tone that Francis has set in his papacy...
During last fall’s synod, several high-ranking churchmen spoke about the lives of unmarried or remarried couples as having value that the Church should recognize.
Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, for example, repeatedly stressed that the Church should “look at the person and not the sexual orientation.” He cited the case of a gay couple he knew in which one partner cared for the other through a long-term illness in a way that was “exemplary. Full stop.”
Similarly, Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, a senior adviser to Francis, said that “one simply cannot say that a faithful homosexual relationship that has held for decades is nothing.”...
Burke, 66, has raised eyebrows, and made headlines, with previous comments. Earlier this year, he argued that the Church has become too “feminized” and he blamed the introduction of altar girls more than 20 years ago for the decline in vocations to the Church’s all-male priesthood.
The cardinal also blamed gay clergy for the Church’s sexual abuse crisis, saying priests “who were feminized and confused about their own sexual identity” were the ones who molested children.
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Demagogue
A demagogue /ˈdɛməɡɒɡ/ (from French "demagogue", derived in turn from the Greek "demos" = people/folk and the verb "ago" = carry/manipulate thus "people's manipulator") or rabble-rouser is a political leader in a democracy who appeals to the emotions, fears, prejudices, and ignorance of the lower classes in order to gain power and promote political motives. Demagogues usually oppose deliberation and advocate immediate, violent action to address a national crisis; they accuse moderate and thoughtful opponents of weakness. Demagogues have appeared in democracies since ancient Athens. They exploit a fundamental weakness in democracy: because ultimate power is held by the people, nothing stops the people from giving that power to someone who appeals to the lowest common denominator of a large segment of the population...
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Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged
your cruelty or your
recklessness ...
Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator.
You've done enough.
Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?
Have you left no sense of decency?
Joseph Nye Welch
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence. It also means "the practice of making unfair allegations or using unfair investigative techniques, especially in order to restrict dissent or political criticism." The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from 1950 to 1956 and characterized by heightened political repression against communists, as well as a campaign spreading fear of their influence on American institutions and of espionage by Soviet agents. Originally coined to criticize the anti-communist pursuits of Republican U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, "McCarthyism" soon took on a broader meaning, describing the excesses of similar efforts. The term is also now used more generally to describe reckless, unsubstantiated accusations, as well as demagogic attacks on the character or patriotism of political adversaries.
During the McCarthy era, thousands of Americans were accused of being communists or communist sympathizers and became the subject of aggressive investigations and questioning before government or private-industry panels, committees and agencies. The primary targets of such suspicions were government employees, those in the entertainment industry, educators and union activists. Suspicions were often given credence despite inconclusive or questionable evidence, and the level of threat posed by a person's real or supposed leftist associations or beliefs was often greatly exaggerated. Many people suffered loss of employment and/or destruction of their careers; some even suffered imprisonment. Most of these punishments came about through trial verdicts later overturned, laws that were later declared unconstitutional, dismissals for reasons later declared illegal or actionable, or extra-legal procedures that would come into general disrepute...
Homosexuality was classified as a psychiatric disorder in the 1950s. However, in the context of the highly politicised Cold War environment, homosexuality became framed as a dangerous, contagious social disease that posed a potential threat to state security. As the family was believed to be the cornerstone of American strength and integrity, the stigmatisation of homosexuals as "sexual perverts" meant that they were both unable to function within a family unit and presented the potential to poison the social body. This era also witnessed the establishment of widely spread FBI surveillance intended to identify homosexual government employees [FBI director J. Edgar Hoover was one of the nation's most fervent anti-communists, and one of the most powerful.].
The McCarthy hearings and according "sexual pervert" investigations can be seen to have been driven by a desire to identify individuals whose ability to function as loyal citizens had been compromised. Joseph McCarthy began his campaign by drawing upon the ways in which he embodied traditional American values in order to become the self-appointed vanguard of social morality. Paradoxically, accusations of alleged homosexual behaviour marked the end of McCarthy’s political career...
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Joseph McCarthy - US Senator 1947-1957
Wisconsin
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread Communist subversion. He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the United States federal government and elsewhere. Ultimately, his tactics and inability to substantiate his claims led him to be censured by the United States Senate...
The term McCarthyism, coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy's practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist activities. Today the term is used more generally in reference to demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents...
Not as widely known as McCarthy's anti-Communist crusade were his various attempts to intimidate, and expel from government positions, persons whom he accused, or threatened to publicly accuse, of homosexuality. Former U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson has written: "The so-called 'Red Scare' has been the main focus of most historians of that period of time. A lesser-known element...and one that harmed far more people was the witch-hunt McCarthy and others conducted against homosexuals." This anti-homosexual witch-hunt that McCarthy and others waged alongside their "Red Scare" tactics has been referred to by some as the "Lavender Scare"...
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Evelyn Hooker
Psychology (Yesterday and) Today:
Evelyn Hooker
In the 1950s, when McCarthyism was at its height and suspected homosexuals were being purged from government employment, Evelyn Hooker had the insight and courage to scientifically test the then-prevalent assumption that homosexuality was indicative of pathology. As she explained in her 1975 Psychology Today interview with Paul Chance, she administered projective tests to matched pairs of homosexual and heterosexual men (none of them psychiatric patients) and asked internationally recognized testing experts to rate each man’s adjustment without knowing his sexual orientation.
The experts judged most of the men in both groups to be functioning well — a finding incompatible with the classification of homosexuality as a mental illness. Moreover, using the men’s Rorschach responses — which were then believed to permit “diagnosis” of homosexuality — the judges couldn’t distinguish between heterosexual and homosexual men at levels better than chance...
Hooker’s research was subsequently replicated by other scientists, creating an empirical foundation for the removal of homosexuality from the DSM in 1973. She continued to conduct pioneering research on the gay community and chaired a NIMH Task Force on homosexuality...
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In 1957, Evelyn Hooker’s most notable and ground breaking research proving that homosexuality is not a mental illness was completed called -
"The Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual" in which she administered several psychological tests to groups of self-identified male homosexuals and heterosexuals and asked experts to identify the homosexuals and rate their mental health. The experiment, which other researchers subsequently repeated, argues that homosexuality is not a mental disorder, as there was no detectable difference between homosexual and heterosexual men in terms of mental adjustment...
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Being Gay Is Just as Healthy as Being Straight
Evelyn Hooker's pioneering research debunked the popular myth that homosexuals are inherently less mentally healthy than heterosexuals, leading to significant changes in how psychology views and treats people who are gay...
Hooker's work was the first to empirically test the assumption that gay men were mentally unhealthy and maladjusted. The fact that no differences were found between gay and straight participants sparked more research in this area and began to dismantle the myth that homosexual men and women are inherently unhealthy.
In conjunction with other empirical results, this work led the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from the DSM in 1973 (it had been listed as a sociopathic personality disorder). In 1975, the American Psychological Association publicly supported this move, stating that "homosexuality per se implies no impairment in judgment, reliability or general social and vocational capabilities…(and mental health professionals should) take the lead in removing the stigma of mental illness long associated with homosexual orientation." Although prejudice and stigma still exist in society, this research has helped millions of gay men and women gain acceptance in the mental health community.
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Evelyn Hooker, 89, Is Dead; Recast the View of Gay Men - November 22, 1996
...Her most significant work was a paper delivered in 1956 to the American Psychological Association in Chicago and published the next year as ''The Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual'' in The Journal of Projective Techniques.
Dr. Hooker administered three standard personality tests, including the Rorschach ink-blot test, to two groups of 30 men, one heterosexual, one homosexual, who had been matched in I.Q.'s, age and education levels.
She then asked a panel of expert clinicians to assess the results without knowing the subjects' sexual orientation. To their surprise, the judges were unable to discern between the two groups on the basis of the test.
''The most striking finding of the three judges,'' Dr. Hooker wrote, ''was that many of the homosexuals were very well adjusted. In fact, the three judges agreed on two-thirds of the group as being average to superior in adjustment. Not only do all homosexuals not have strong feminine identification, nor are they all 'somewhat paranoid,' but, according to the judges, some may not be characterized by any demonstrable pathology.''...
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Evelyn Hooker, Ph.D.
September 2, 1907 - November 18, 1996
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To be continued:
