I first bumped into a Ouija Board when I was a 4 year old kid. Back then, in the late 1950s, Ouija Boards were regarded as a harmless toy, safe for kids and adults. One of my older siblings received a Ouija Board as a gift, and retreated to the basement of our home with another older sibling to experiment with it. I followed them down into the basement and watched their Ouija Board ritual with the keen, pure interest of an innocent 4 year old. All were greatly disappointed when nothing seemed to happen, and they quit their game.
Nothing seemed to happen, that is, until late that night ...
That night, I had the first "ghostly" experience of my life. I awakened in my bed in the darkened house, and listened and heard my brothers sleeping soundly in their beds behind mine in the boy's room, and my parents snoring peacefully in their bed through the doorway to their room next to my bed. I pulled my blankets up to my chin and waited for sleep to come. Suddenly, I felt a strong, distinct compulsion ...
"Peter, look into your parents' bedroom. Something is about to happen."
I looked, and saw a classic ghostly figure come floating into my parents' bedroom from the direction of the other door to their room. She floated around the end of their bed, enabling me to see that she was dressed in a flowing translucent gown, about an inch above the floor -- toward me in my bed!
Frightened, I pulled my blankets over my head, hoping "the ghost lady" -- I had a strong feeling that "it" was a "she" -- would just go away.
After a few minutes, I peeked out from beneath my blankets and into my parents' bedroom, and saw that the thing was gone. Greatly relieved, I turned over to my other side under the blankets -- and froze.
There the thing was, between my bed and my older brother's bed, bent over my older brother's sleeping figure, staring intently at him.
After a few moments, the thing turned her head around, and stared at me, as I continued laying there, frozen in astonishment. Then it straightened up, and floated out the other door to our bedroom into the hall.
It dawned on me, years later, that when the thing first floated into our parents' bedroom, it was coming from the direction of the bedroom of the other sibling who participated in the Ouija Board "seance" that day, and then came and stared at the brother who had been participant #2, while I was alerted to watch -- what I had done in the basement during my siblings' "ritual."
I.e., the Ouija Board worked.
The house remained haunted for years after that. The thing followed a pattern. (1) It came in the dark or subdued light; (2) when the experiencer was asleep, going to sleep or waking up; (3) and "put on a show" for the experiencer; (4) frequently evidencing a "female" presence.
The "show" was comprised of knocking on the walls, or a physical grabbing of the body, or a sudden raising of the shades in the room -- anything to get our attention.
Once, when I confided that "ghostly" experience, and others, to Phyllis, one of the ladies who lived next door, she suggested that I try to contact the thing back. Astonished and fearful, I immediately said, "NO WAY!"
But, "fools rush ..."
On an evening not long after my conversation with Phyllis, everybody in our family had a place to go after dinner but me. It occurred to me that, isolated, I could attempt to contact the ghost, as Phyllis had suggested, with no one else in the family to distract or shame me.
When all had left and I was alone, I placed a paper and a crayon on the coffee table in the living room, turned on some soft music to help lull myself into a sleepy state, doused all of the lights in the house, sat on the living room sofa, and announced, "Okay, whoever you are, I would appreciate it if you tried to contact me."
Nothing happened except suddenly the radio broadcast some raucous rock music in place of the soft music.
I jumped up and changed stations, tuning the radio to MAGIC, WMGK FM 103, where I found some quiet soft shoe music. I returned to the sofa and repeated my request, "Okay, whoever you are, I would appreciate it if you tried to contact me." But I added, "If you do, I promise I won't tell anyone."
All of a sudden, an invisible cloud of cold materialized at my face, characterized by a sensation of wild touching, touching, touching. Then the touching sensation launched itself into my nose and mouth, and to my astonishment rushed down my lungs till, at heart level, it began to make my heart beat very violently.
"IT'S A DEMON TRYING TO POSSESS ME!" I thought to myself in a panic as I jumped up and kind of prayerfully "no'd" it out of me.
Poof. The sensation vanished and my heart went back to normal.
I never tried to contact the thing again. And I kept my promise to not tell anyone -- for a year or so.
But then, one night, when I walked into the house, I found my father telling the gathered family about his ghostly experiences when he was young. I thought to myself, "If he can do it without shame, I can do it," and I ran through the list of ghostly experiences beginning with the visitation which followed the use of the Ouija Board and ending with my "communication experiment" that had such a bad ending. As I told them about the communication experiment, I was conscious of the fact that I was breaking my promise to the thing. The members of the family who were present that night stared open-mouthed as I told them the story.
That night, or maybe one or two nights later, I had the worst "ghostly" experience of my life in the form of a wild, frightening nightmare. A group of 4 or 5 black-eyed "muchkins" in deep blue gas-station-style jumpsuits walked towards me, out of the screen of my dream, angrily sneering, "YOU SON-OF-A-B - - - H, YOU BROKE YOUR PROMISE TO US TO NOT TELL ANYONE. WE'RE GOING TO GET YOU FOR DOING THAT!!!" At that point I noticed that they were carrying a thick hose between them, like firemen holding a fire hose, and they suddenly rushed at me and rammed me in the belly with it. In the dream I went "oooooooooooooooofff" in response.
But then I awakened slowly in my bed. As I came to, I realized that I was screaming, screaming, screaming in my bedroom bunk. As I stopped screaming, I realized that not only was I covered head-to-foot with sweat, but I was lying in pools of sweat on the sheets. I also had a distinct sensation that I had been anally raped by the hose, not punched in the stomach by it. As I apprehended this, I saw a vision of the "muchkins" in the periphery of my vision laughing at me.
And then I realized that it was 10:00 a.m. on a sunny weekend morning, and that the rest of the house was quiet. I got down off my bunk, got a towel and dried off the sweat, and I dressed and went downstairs. There members of the family were gathered in the living room, staring at me angrily. One explained, "Around midnight you began yelling and screaming in your sleep. We tried to wake you, but couldn't. We've been down here for hours while you screamed in your sleep, talking about what to do with you."
"Sorry about that," I stammered without further explanation, hoping that they'd just drop the whole thing. I found it impossible, then, to tell them about the rape dream.
Years later, after I became a New Jersey trial lawyer and married and moved to New Jersey, I stopped at Blockbuster Video and rented the Whitley Streiber film Communion for entertainment one Friday night after court while I and my wife chomped on pizza. I had heard of Communion and of the Abduction Phenomenon, but that was it.
As we sat watching the film and eating pizza, the movie advanced to the point where the movie portrayed Streiber experiencing the blue-suited "munchins" assisting the almond-eyed abductors in the Abduction Phenomenon.
I had already told my wife about my rape dream years before. So, I blurted out, "THAT'S THEM! THOSE ARE THE BLUE-SUITED B - - - - - DS WHO ANALLY RAPED ME IN THAT RAPE DREAM YEARS AGO TO PUNISH ME FOR BREAKING MY PROMISE!"
And since that time, I have been firmly committed to the notion that the beings in the Abduction Phenomenon are demonic, and that the "ghosts" engendered by Ouija Boards are the same.
Take it from me -- Ouija Boards are thoroughly dangerous. Keep the kids away from them.
Monday, September 4, 2017
Friday, September 1, 2017
TOURETTE'S SYNDROME
Our family was friendly with a couple, years ago, where the husband seemed to suffer from two different facial tics. He was a very, very nice guy, except that he was prone to rage in disputes with his wife. When I would pay a visit to their home and accidentally walk into the middle of a fight, I would hear him robotically repeating, "F - - k my mother-in-law; f - - k my wife's uncle," again and again, hundreds of times. On such occasions, I would convince him to take an hour-long walk through town with me, during which he would continue repeating, "F - - k my mother-in-law; f - - k my wife's uncle; f - - k my mother-in-law; f - - k my wife's uncle; f - - k my mother-in-law; f - - k my wife's uncle; f - - k my mother-in-law; f - - k my wife's uncle."
On one such occasion, the encounter was especially bizarre. It was evening. Their child was curled-up in a corner of the living room, shaking, when I entered the house. The husband was holding the crying wife prisoner in a chair in front of a mirror by her hair, repeating as usual, "F - - k my mother-in-law; f - - k my wife's uncle; f - - k my mother-in-law; f - - k my wife's uncle; f - - k my mother-in-law; f - - k my wife's uncle; f - - k my mother-in-law; f - - k my wife's uncle." He didn't seem to realize I was there. I called home to my wife and told her that the mother and child would have to sleep in our spare bedroom. When my wife came over to assist, I gently persuaded the husband to let the wife leave that chair, and my wife quickly ushered the wife and child out the front door to our house. As I turned around to face the husband again, he walked past me without seeing me, still repeating his evil curse words, "F - - k my mother-in-law; f - - k my wife's uncle." I took him for his hour-long walk to give him the chance to calm down. He returned home and slept.
I probably should have called police, but the wife stubbornly refused to cooperate with that effort.
As I pondered the problem, I thought, "Where else have I seen this behavior in my law practice?" And then it dawned on me: In my few cases involving Tourette's Syndrome.
Tourette's cases are typically evidenced by multiple varieties of facial tics, and, again, the husband in this case had two of them -- a regularly-occurring sniff and a regularly-occurring grimace. Also, robotic behavior emerges, and I had clearly witnessed that. Also, there is sometimes a pronounced proclivity to obscene cursing -- my neighbor's outstanding persistent symptom. He had Tourette's. I was sure of it. When I told the husband and wife about my analysis and compared the husband's behavior to the list of symptoms on a brochure on Tourette's, they both burst out laughing. I pleaded, "At least see a doctor on this. Medication may solve the problem."
They laughed some more, and politely declined to abide by my suggestion.
But the fights continued. The husband's bad behavior continued. The situation finally exploded in divorce, which I was glad to see, if only for their traumatized child's sake.
On one such occasion, the encounter was especially bizarre. It was evening. Their child was curled-up in a corner of the living room, shaking, when I entered the house. The husband was holding the crying wife prisoner in a chair in front of a mirror by her hair, repeating as usual, "F - - k my mother-in-law; f - - k my wife's uncle; f - - k my mother-in-law; f - - k my wife's uncle; f - - k my mother-in-law; f - - k my wife's uncle; f - - k my mother-in-law; f - - k my wife's uncle." He didn't seem to realize I was there. I called home to my wife and told her that the mother and child would have to sleep in our spare bedroom. When my wife came over to assist, I gently persuaded the husband to let the wife leave that chair, and my wife quickly ushered the wife and child out the front door to our house. As I turned around to face the husband again, he walked past me without seeing me, still repeating his evil curse words, "F - - k my mother-in-law; f - - k my wife's uncle." I took him for his hour-long walk to give him the chance to calm down. He returned home and slept.
I probably should have called police, but the wife stubbornly refused to cooperate with that effort.
As I pondered the problem, I thought, "Where else have I seen this behavior in my law practice?" And then it dawned on me: In my few cases involving Tourette's Syndrome.
Tourette's cases are typically evidenced by multiple varieties of facial tics, and, again, the husband in this case had two of them -- a regularly-occurring sniff and a regularly-occurring grimace. Also, robotic behavior emerges, and I had clearly witnessed that. Also, there is sometimes a pronounced proclivity to obscene cursing -- my neighbor's outstanding persistent symptom. He had Tourette's. I was sure of it. When I told the husband and wife about my analysis and compared the husband's behavior to the list of symptoms on a brochure on Tourette's, they both burst out laughing. I pleaded, "At least see a doctor on this. Medication may solve the problem."
They laughed some more, and politely declined to abide by my suggestion.
But the fights continued. The husband's bad behavior continued. The situation finally exploded in divorce, which I was glad to see, if only for their traumatized child's sake.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
DO "THEY" LITERALLY HAVE US DRINKING RAW SEWAGE IN CAMDEN COUNTY ?
I kind of "tell all" in this blog, right? Well, wait till you read this!
Every time the powers-that-be do something, it benefits "them" at the expense of some group -- or everyone.
For example, Governor Christie is wildly in support of blowing a billion-and-a-half State dollars on North Jersey casinos, now, which will buy him North Jersey votes ...
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/01/christie_nj_leaders_reach_deal_on_north_jersey_cas.html
... WHILE he nastily condemns making quarterly payments to the State's public employees pension system, in effect demanding that the pension rush even faster toward bankruptcy by breaking the contract with State employees, threatening the safety of hundreds of thousands of New Jersey senior citizens! ...
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/christie-highlights-bipartisanship-dives-pension-fight-36250737
Note well that those two positions together amount to a withdrawal FROM the pension fund INTO worthless casinos that only make the rich as fat as ... well, you know.
IN EFFECT, Governor Christie is stealing from senior citizens and state employees to buy North Jersey votes.
Well, could it be that the powers-that-be now have us drinking raw sewage?
Apparently, yes!
My wife Rise` trained me to be a water drinker. It makes everything better in your physiology.
Many months ago, I noticed that the water from our cold water tap in Magnolia began to smell. Like life. Like water from a fish tank after fish begin crapping in it. I thought, "Huh!"
So, I started drinking hot water, only, because it didn't have the smell.
Then, at a place and time which I can not reveal, because it might get someone fired, I sat down with an employee of New Jersey American Water, the water provider to millions of people in our region, including Magnolia. He/she told me that the smell in the water came from the untreated Delaware River water that had been added to our water supply by New Jersey American Water, and that part of New Jersey American Water's executives' understanding of the consequences of doing that is that THE OPERATIONAL LIFE OF MILLIONS OF HOT WATER HEATERS WOULD BE VISIBLY SHORTENED BY THE ADDITION OF UNTREATED DELAWARE RIVER WATER TO OUR LOCAL WATER SUPPLY. Why? Because the hot water heaters functionally kill and then distill the bodies of trillions of microorganisms in the Delaware River water out of the water headed for our taps, filling our hot water heaters with debris which shortens tank life.
My friend's words explained why hot tap water was so much less unpleasant than cold tap water in Magnolia and elsewhere in South Jersey, now.
My wife Rise` also purchased a filtered pitcher for drinking water for our family. It seems to work. The water from the cold water tap now has no smell.
But something occurred to me the other day ...
Months ago, I noticed that one of our sons allowed his dog to "kiss" him on the lips.
Aware that dogs habitually lick their anal apertures, I thought, "YEEEEEECH!" He argued that dogs have super-powerful enzymes in their saliva that killed everything.
I researched that concept of super-powerful dog saliva enzymes on-line, found it to be a "Wives' Tale," and ran a blog item featuring pictures of some of the shocking microorganisms in dog spit after they lick everything horrible which all dogs habitually lick.
It dawned on me the other day, as I continued to obsessively think about our fish-tank-smelling tap water, that the exact same microorganisms in dog spit might now be in our drinking water because of the addition of Delaware River water.
The most repulsive microorganisms portrayed in the dog-kissing blog piece were "cryptosporidia" -- intestinal microorganisms whose offspring come out in human and animal crap which take up residence in and become a part of our intestines. They are incredibly disgusting. If you want to know what organisms are "of the essence of" drinking sewage, it is "cryptosporidia."
So, when I checked the New Jersey American website, and looked at the analysis of the Delaware water now added to our drinking water, GUESS WHO THE "STAR OF THE SHOW" WAS.
Yup!
Every time the powers-that-be do something, it benefits "them" at the expense of some group -- or everyone.
For example, Governor Christie is wildly in support of blowing a billion-and-a-half State dollars on North Jersey casinos, now, which will buy him North Jersey votes ...
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/01/christie_nj_leaders_reach_deal_on_north_jersey_cas.html
... WHILE he nastily condemns making quarterly payments to the State's public employees pension system, in effect demanding that the pension rush even faster toward bankruptcy by breaking the contract with State employees, threatening the safety of hundreds of thousands of New Jersey senior citizens! ...
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/christie-highlights-bipartisanship-dives-pension-fight-36250737
Note well that those two positions together amount to a withdrawal FROM the pension fund INTO worthless casinos that only make the rich as fat as ... well, you know.
IN EFFECT, Governor Christie is stealing from senior citizens and state employees to buy North Jersey votes.
Well, could it be that the powers-that-be now have us drinking raw sewage?
Apparently, yes!
My wife Rise` trained me to be a water drinker. It makes everything better in your physiology.
Many months ago, I noticed that the water from our cold water tap in Magnolia began to smell. Like life. Like water from a fish tank after fish begin crapping in it. I thought, "Huh!"
So, I started drinking hot water, only, because it didn't have the smell.
Then, at a place and time which I can not reveal, because it might get someone fired, I sat down with an employee of New Jersey American Water, the water provider to millions of people in our region, including Magnolia. He/she told me that the smell in the water came from the untreated Delaware River water that had been added to our water supply by New Jersey American Water, and that part of New Jersey American Water's executives' understanding of the consequences of doing that is that THE OPERATIONAL LIFE OF MILLIONS OF HOT WATER HEATERS WOULD BE VISIBLY SHORTENED BY THE ADDITION OF UNTREATED DELAWARE RIVER WATER TO OUR LOCAL WATER SUPPLY. Why? Because the hot water heaters functionally kill and then distill the bodies of trillions of microorganisms in the Delaware River water out of the water headed for our taps, filling our hot water heaters with debris which shortens tank life.
My friend's words explained why hot tap water was so much less unpleasant than cold tap water in Magnolia and elsewhere in South Jersey, now.
My wife Rise` also purchased a filtered pitcher for drinking water for our family. It seems to work. The water from the cold water tap now has no smell.
But something occurred to me the other day ...
Months ago, I noticed that one of our sons allowed his dog to "kiss" him on the lips.
Aware that dogs habitually lick their anal apertures, I thought, "YEEEEEECH!" He argued that dogs have super-powerful enzymes in their saliva that killed everything.
I researched that concept of super-powerful dog saliva enzymes on-line, found it to be a "Wives' Tale," and ran a blog item featuring pictures of some of the shocking microorganisms in dog spit after they lick everything horrible which all dogs habitually lick.
It dawned on me the other day, as I continued to obsessively think about our fish-tank-smelling tap water, that the exact same microorganisms in dog spit might now be in our drinking water because of the addition of Delaware River water.
The most repulsive microorganisms portrayed in the dog-kissing blog piece were "cryptosporidia" -- intestinal microorganisms whose offspring come out in human and animal crap which take up residence in and become a part of our intestines. They are incredibly disgusting. If you want to know what organisms are "of the essence of" drinking sewage, it is "cryptosporidia."
So, when I checked the New Jersey American website, and looked at the analysis of the Delaware water now added to our drinking water, GUESS WHO THE "STAR OF THE SHOW" WAS.
Yup!
Thursday, August 10, 2017
RESOLVING THE CATHOLIC SEXUAL ETHICS MESS
As the number of Catholics in the pews at Mass in Catholic churches dwindles Sunday after Sunday, church finances grow ever more desperate -- despite the sale of one Catholic parish after another.
Our parish, St. Gregory's Parish in Magnolia, Camden County, New Jersey, no longer exists. At the busy intersection of White Horse Pike and Evesham Road, it had a big, big parking lot. Its finances were solid, in large part because of the parking lot -- although there were fewer large families and fewer young adults married or unmarried in the nave every Sunday, Mass attendance, generally, remained strong.
Nonetheless, as a parishioner and as a member of church council, I could read the writing on the wall -- the Catholic Church was clearly in trouble, as the Diocese "consolidated" Catholic parish after Catholic parish, and confronted the declining number of pastors with the need to sell Catholic Church properties in their parishes for lack of manpower or users.
On one Sunday at Mass at St. Gregory's, I noticed something odd about the Church: A crack ran though a beam comprising a rafter in the ceiling, into the adjacent ceiling, down the wall, and into the basement. I went and got Monsignor Korda, and pointed the anomaly out to him. Monsignor called a private inspection service, who agreed that the ceiling and adjacent wall and floor were in danger of collapse due to an insufficient foundation.
He said to me, "Peter, I have to spend a quarter of a million dollars to fix this defect you discovered." I said, "Father, why do that? The Diocese is shortly going to close this parish anyway."
"Ah, Peter," he responded, "The Diocese would never close this parish. We're one of the few parishes 'in the black.' Our location and parking lot are a big draw for Mass."
I answered, "Monsignor, that is why they'll close down St. Gregory's. If they sell it, it will generate cash proceeds. It will sell for a good price because it's an excellent commercial location, with no mortgage to pay off. The Diocese needs the money because of declining overall finances generated by Catholics alienated by Humanae Vitae, the priest sex cases, and growing Catholic materialism due mostly to modern communications. Haven't you noticed the pattern in the sale of Church properties? They're selling the good stuff, and keeping the heavily mortgaged properties with bad parking lots."
Lo and behold, after Msgr. Korda's retirement and replacement, St. Gregory's Parish was ridiculously merged into Mary Mother of the Church Parish in Bellmawr, over 4 miles distant. Alarmed parishioners asked me to try to verify that St. Gregory's would not be closed and sold. I secured from the Bishop's Office a letter personally signed by the bishop promising that there were "no plans to sell St. Gregory's." Today, St. Gregory's is demolished and is being replaced by a commercial gas-station-and-convenience-store combination. So, "No plans" functionally meant, "No plans today, but, hey, tomorrow, who knows? ..." A lie in writing by a bishop?
No matter what, the prevailing role of dissonance in the Catholic Church over sexual issues in its slow decline is so important to analyze, to understand all of this.
BIRTH CONTROL. About 20 years ago, a federally financed study verified that about 72.4% of church-going Catholics made regular use of artificial birth control in their sexual relationships; among all Catholics, the numbers approximated 95%. The one son who will discuss the issue with me says, "Dad, in my generation, the number is 100%." He's wrong, but his attitude is telling. It's close to 100%.
Now, think about that. Between 72% and 100% of those regularly attending Mass when the Church passes the hat at Sunday Mass regularly disobey infallible Humanae Vitae in and outside marriage.
The priests saying Mass know this. Have you ever seen a priest decline to give communion to a parishioner he knows to be a regular and persistent violator of Humanae Vitae? I tripped into this question in this form ...
Years ago, in the early 1980s, I went to Saturday confessions at St. Gregory's for the first time. Father Robert Cairone -- a gentle, forgiving soul -- was the priest in the north side confessional. The pastor, Monsignor Edward Korda, was the priest in the south side confessional. Fr. Cairone's confessional had no line. Msgr. Korda's confessional had about 10 penitents in waiting. I said to a neighbor at the end of Msgr. Korda's line, "What gives? Why does everyone seem to be avoiding Fr. Cairone for confession?"
My neighbor smiled. "This is the birth control line. In Msgr. Korda's line, we can come in week after week and confess to use of birth control in our marriages. If Fr. Cairone catches us doing that, he finds that there is no true repentance and declares the sin 'retained.'"
I thought about that, and said, "Everyone who does that on this side is making an invalid confession. Fr. Cairone is correct. Msgr. Korda is probably abusing the sacrament." I switched sides and went to Fr. Cairone for confession.
I bumped into the issue a second time, with Msgr. Korda. I once commented to him that in my Bible study program, we had discussed one of the New Testament verses on oral contraceptives.
"Peter," said Msgr. Korda, "There's no such Bible verses!"
"Humanae Vitae doesn't cite them, Msgr., but there are actually four of them." I ran through the list, and showed him the corroborating proof -- an Early Church catechism called the Didache, and an early Epistle, respected but not included in the Scriptural canon -- the following day.
I bumped into the issue a third time as follows. One Saturday, Mgsr. Korda called me and asked me to discuss something with him at the rectory. I went over immediately and he had me read an express written order from the bishop to all priests in the Diocese to dedicate the following Sunday's homily to the moral importance of obeying Humanae Vitae vis-a-vis use of artificial birth control -- the great Contraception Sunday experiment in Camden Diocese.
"The faithful are going to hang you from the rafters," I commented.
"That was my reaction," he answered.
Nonetheless, all three priests in our parish obeyed the order. In the Diocese's dozens of other parishes, about one-third of the priests simply disobeyed the order (according to an insider I shall not identify). Masses where the order was obeyed generated hundreds of walk-outs and thousands of letters of protest to the bishop (according to the same source).
The experiment was never repeated.
And our priests regularly give communion to contributing church-going Catholics even if it is clear that they are disobeying Humanae Vitae -- where are the kids beside them in the pews? -- while the number of church-going parents with multiple kids next to them in the pews at Mass on Sunday is embarrassingly rare.
Functionally, most of the Faithful are knowingly living in a state of rebellion against the Church, week-in and week-out.
SEX ABUSE OF KIDS AND YOUNG ADULTS BY OUR PRIESTS. Even my comments here will generate controversy in an uncontroversial moral realm...
It's a gay problem.
An unimpeachable source one asked me, "Pete, how many of our priests are gay, do you think?"
"A third," I opined.
"That's my guess," he responded. "How do you feel about gays as priests?"
"My answer's complex," I said. "I believe the articles claiming that gays have trouble keeping their pants on. One was an article by a psych explaining that males are grazers and women are nesters, and that gay men retain their grazer characteristic, and lesbians remain nesters, and that male gay relationships involving two grazers are almost never genuinely committed, marriage or no; and that the reason why police hate lesbian domestics, involving two nesters, is that the couples drive each other crazy with mutual emotional smothering generating explosive battles with no insight. Another article was by a Catholic priest who said, 'I sought celibate relationships with fellow gays in the priesthood. All the other guys ever wanted was sex. It was hopeless.' If the Church discovers that a priest is gay but keeping his pants on, God bless him. I would like that gay man as my pastor. If a priest clearly isn't keeping his pants on, he's gotta go, period. If the Church wants to bar gays from the priesthood as a matter of policy because gay men are innately promiscuous, then God bless the Church.
"I also read an article by a gay guy arguing, 'Let's face it -- gay guys like prime beef, the younger the better.' Thus, the priest sex abuse cases involve young male victims in five-sixths of the cases, without question. The priest sex cases are really a gay problem. It exists because so many priests are gay. Why do we have so many gay priests? I believe that it is because 'having a vocation' comprises a good way to 'stay in the closet.'"
Most church-going Catholics are not Catholics because of their love of Catholic doctrine. Most are Catholics because of inculcated habit.
But the habit shrivels and dies easily when non-Catholic neighbors comment to them, "Oh, isn't that the Church of Perverted Priests? Why do you attend it?"
HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE. In essence, God makes homosexuals, to the extent that He imposes the consequences of Original Sin on humanity. I happen to ascribe to psychologist Joseph Nicolosi's "super male" analysis of male gays -- a gay male is born straight, but direly needful of an affectionate father figure to "tool around after" in his infant years. If there is such a male in his life, he "imprints "male" at or around the age of 4. Lacking a father figure, because father is rarely at home or sadly unavailable to his young son, emotionally, the son, in or around his fourth year, substitutes-in the next best source of information on the subject of gender characteristics, mom. In a study that supposedly met with great success, Nicolosi identified "super male infants," and instructed cooperating parents to make sure that dad was physically and emotionally a strong presence in the boy's life, with the consequence that homosexuality did not emerge among the maturing infant test population.
Now, if Nicolosi is correct, the mainspring of the problem is the rather-well-hidden emergence of the super-male component among our infant males created by God. And if Nicolosi isn't correct, and gays will simply be gays, the dysfunction is really God's fault in that case also. Those who argue that gays are misbehaving straights are all wet.
That doesn't morally justify gay behavior. But then my proclivity to engage in straight sex doesn't justify non-marital fornication or adultery.
But if the homosexual dysfunction is such that gay men are innately promiscuous, then I can see how God conceivably can be more forgiving of gay fornicating, in or out of the sham of gay marriage, than He is of heterosexual fornication. I.e., the moral rules are there for both, but God is less forgiving of heterosexuals because their relationships lack that innate promiscuity!
Legally, the homosexual marriage Supreme Court case is improper. The Court relied on the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process rule and the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause to support gay marriage in the Obergefell decision. But -- think -- how possible is it that such was within the intent of the Amendments' framers? Wouldn't the Framers have declined to pass the 5th Amendment, or declined to pass the 14th Amendment and to rejoin the Union, had they been told, "You know, because of these amendments, our federal courts can order troops into your states to force judges to marry men to men and women to women"?
Nonetheless, suppose a modern amendment to the Constitution is ratified to require gay marriage where desired. How should Catholics respond?
To be non-hypocritical, Catholics must respond, "Heterosexual and homosexual masturbation, birth control, fornication, and adultery, including fornication between gays under cover of marriage, are all sinful, and must be punished criminally to an equal extent."
In other words, are "heteroes" entitled to a "free ride," sexually at the same time God punishes gays? No. If you are hetero and expect a free ride every time you slip on a rubber, then if gays want to "play marriage," or if society wants to experiment with the marriage concept, then God bless!
Because adults having sex with kids is not morally justifiable under any analysis, then gays "doing it" with the young must always be severely punished.
Most will be thoroughly dissatisfied with how I handle Catholic sexual ethics in this article:
(a) Humanae Vitae is right -- Scripture says so 4 times!; (b) Catholic priests hiding their homosexuality under the disguise of having a vocation, caught "doing it" to young male victims, should be very severely punished! The Church must cooperate with the prosecution. Catholic bishops caught abetting the gay offenders should be very severely punished! The Church must cooperate with the prosecution; (c) the Supreme Court decision in favor of gay marriage is illegal;
(d) however, Catholics enjoying freedom from criminal prosecution of their sex sins owe a hearty "welcome" to their gay neighbors engaging in sex under cover of gay marriage, sham or not. Christ hates hypocrites most of all.
None of this will staunch the chronic bleeding of contributing parishioners so badly needed to support the Church in our current age. However, I believe that we have entered the time of the 2 Thessalonians 2 "apostasy" -- the so-called Great Falling Away. So, don't fret as things fall apart. Just be faithful.
Our parish, St. Gregory's Parish in Magnolia, Camden County, New Jersey, no longer exists. At the busy intersection of White Horse Pike and Evesham Road, it had a big, big parking lot. Its finances were solid, in large part because of the parking lot -- although there were fewer large families and fewer young adults married or unmarried in the nave every Sunday, Mass attendance, generally, remained strong.
Nonetheless, as a parishioner and as a member of church council, I could read the writing on the wall -- the Catholic Church was clearly in trouble, as the Diocese "consolidated" Catholic parish after Catholic parish, and confronted the declining number of pastors with the need to sell Catholic Church properties in their parishes for lack of manpower or users.
On one Sunday at Mass at St. Gregory's, I noticed something odd about the Church: A crack ran though a beam comprising a rafter in the ceiling, into the adjacent ceiling, down the wall, and into the basement. I went and got Monsignor Korda, and pointed the anomaly out to him. Monsignor called a private inspection service, who agreed that the ceiling and adjacent wall and floor were in danger of collapse due to an insufficient foundation.
He said to me, "Peter, I have to spend a quarter of a million dollars to fix this defect you discovered." I said, "Father, why do that? The Diocese is shortly going to close this parish anyway."
"Ah, Peter," he responded, "The Diocese would never close this parish. We're one of the few parishes 'in the black.' Our location and parking lot are a big draw for Mass."
I answered, "Monsignor, that is why they'll close down St. Gregory's. If they sell it, it will generate cash proceeds. It will sell for a good price because it's an excellent commercial location, with no mortgage to pay off. The Diocese needs the money because of declining overall finances generated by Catholics alienated by Humanae Vitae, the priest sex cases, and growing Catholic materialism due mostly to modern communications. Haven't you noticed the pattern in the sale of Church properties? They're selling the good stuff, and keeping the heavily mortgaged properties with bad parking lots."
Lo and behold, after Msgr. Korda's retirement and replacement, St. Gregory's Parish was ridiculously merged into Mary Mother of the Church Parish in Bellmawr, over 4 miles distant. Alarmed parishioners asked me to try to verify that St. Gregory's would not be closed and sold. I secured from the Bishop's Office a letter personally signed by the bishop promising that there were "no plans to sell St. Gregory's." Today, St. Gregory's is demolished and is being replaced by a commercial gas-station-and-convenience-store combination. So, "No plans" functionally meant, "No plans today, but, hey, tomorrow, who knows? ..." A lie in writing by a bishop?
No matter what, the prevailing role of dissonance in the Catholic Church over sexual issues in its slow decline is so important to analyze, to understand all of this.
BIRTH CONTROL. About 20 years ago, a federally financed study verified that about 72.4% of church-going Catholics made regular use of artificial birth control in their sexual relationships; among all Catholics, the numbers approximated 95%. The one son who will discuss the issue with me says, "Dad, in my generation, the number is 100%." He's wrong, but his attitude is telling. It's close to 100%.
Now, think about that. Between 72% and 100% of those regularly attending Mass when the Church passes the hat at Sunday Mass regularly disobey infallible Humanae Vitae in and outside marriage.
The priests saying Mass know this. Have you ever seen a priest decline to give communion to a parishioner he knows to be a regular and persistent violator of Humanae Vitae? I tripped into this question in this form ...
Years ago, in the early 1980s, I went to Saturday confessions at St. Gregory's for the first time. Father Robert Cairone -- a gentle, forgiving soul -- was the priest in the north side confessional. The pastor, Monsignor Edward Korda, was the priest in the south side confessional. Fr. Cairone's confessional had no line. Msgr. Korda's confessional had about 10 penitents in waiting. I said to a neighbor at the end of Msgr. Korda's line, "What gives? Why does everyone seem to be avoiding Fr. Cairone for confession?"
My neighbor smiled. "This is the birth control line. In Msgr. Korda's line, we can come in week after week and confess to use of birth control in our marriages. If Fr. Cairone catches us doing that, he finds that there is no true repentance and declares the sin 'retained.'"
I thought about that, and said, "Everyone who does that on this side is making an invalid confession. Fr. Cairone is correct. Msgr. Korda is probably abusing the sacrament." I switched sides and went to Fr. Cairone for confession.
I bumped into the issue a second time, with Msgr. Korda. I once commented to him that in my Bible study program, we had discussed one of the New Testament verses on oral contraceptives.
"Peter," said Msgr. Korda, "There's no such Bible verses!"
"Humanae Vitae doesn't cite them, Msgr., but there are actually four of them." I ran through the list, and showed him the corroborating proof -- an Early Church catechism called the Didache, and an early Epistle, respected but not included in the Scriptural canon -- the following day.
I bumped into the issue a third time as follows. One Saturday, Mgsr. Korda called me and asked me to discuss something with him at the rectory. I went over immediately and he had me read an express written order from the bishop to all priests in the Diocese to dedicate the following Sunday's homily to the moral importance of obeying Humanae Vitae vis-a-vis use of artificial birth control -- the great Contraception Sunday experiment in Camden Diocese.
"The faithful are going to hang you from the rafters," I commented.
"That was my reaction," he answered.
Nonetheless, all three priests in our parish obeyed the order. In the Diocese's dozens of other parishes, about one-third of the priests simply disobeyed the order (according to an insider I shall not identify). Masses where the order was obeyed generated hundreds of walk-outs and thousands of letters of protest to the bishop (according to the same source).
The experiment was never repeated.
And our priests regularly give communion to contributing church-going Catholics even if it is clear that they are disobeying Humanae Vitae -- where are the kids beside them in the pews? -- while the number of church-going parents with multiple kids next to them in the pews at Mass on Sunday is embarrassingly rare.
Functionally, most of the Faithful are knowingly living in a state of rebellion against the Church, week-in and week-out.
SEX ABUSE OF KIDS AND YOUNG ADULTS BY OUR PRIESTS. Even my comments here will generate controversy in an uncontroversial moral realm...
It's a gay problem.
An unimpeachable source one asked me, "Pete, how many of our priests are gay, do you think?"
"A third," I opined.
"That's my guess," he responded. "How do you feel about gays as priests?"
"My answer's complex," I said. "I believe the articles claiming that gays have trouble keeping their pants on. One was an article by a psych explaining that males are grazers and women are nesters, and that gay men retain their grazer characteristic, and lesbians remain nesters, and that male gay relationships involving two grazers are almost never genuinely committed, marriage or no; and that the reason why police hate lesbian domestics, involving two nesters, is that the couples drive each other crazy with mutual emotional smothering generating explosive battles with no insight. Another article was by a Catholic priest who said, 'I sought celibate relationships with fellow gays in the priesthood. All the other guys ever wanted was sex. It was hopeless.' If the Church discovers that a priest is gay but keeping his pants on, God bless him. I would like that gay man as my pastor. If a priest clearly isn't keeping his pants on, he's gotta go, period. If the Church wants to bar gays from the priesthood as a matter of policy because gay men are innately promiscuous, then God bless the Church.
"I also read an article by a gay guy arguing, 'Let's face it -- gay guys like prime beef, the younger the better.' Thus, the priest sex abuse cases involve young male victims in five-sixths of the cases, without question. The priest sex cases are really a gay problem. It exists because so many priests are gay. Why do we have so many gay priests? I believe that it is because 'having a vocation' comprises a good way to 'stay in the closet.'"
Most church-going Catholics are not Catholics because of their love of Catholic doctrine. Most are Catholics because of inculcated habit.
But the habit shrivels and dies easily when non-Catholic neighbors comment to them, "Oh, isn't that the Church of Perverted Priests? Why do you attend it?"
HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE. In essence, God makes homosexuals, to the extent that He imposes the consequences of Original Sin on humanity. I happen to ascribe to psychologist Joseph Nicolosi's "super male" analysis of male gays -- a gay male is born straight, but direly needful of an affectionate father figure to "tool around after" in his infant years. If there is such a male in his life, he "imprints "male" at or around the age of 4. Lacking a father figure, because father is rarely at home or sadly unavailable to his young son, emotionally, the son, in or around his fourth year, substitutes-in the next best source of information on the subject of gender characteristics, mom. In a study that supposedly met with great success, Nicolosi identified "super male infants," and instructed cooperating parents to make sure that dad was physically and emotionally a strong presence in the boy's life, with the consequence that homosexuality did not emerge among the maturing infant test population.
Now, if Nicolosi is correct, the mainspring of the problem is the rather-well-hidden emergence of the super-male component among our infant males created by God. And if Nicolosi isn't correct, and gays will simply be gays, the dysfunction is really God's fault in that case also. Those who argue that gays are misbehaving straights are all wet.
That doesn't morally justify gay behavior. But then my proclivity to engage in straight sex doesn't justify non-marital fornication or adultery.
But if the homosexual dysfunction is such that gay men are innately promiscuous, then I can see how God conceivably can be more forgiving of gay fornicating, in or out of the sham of gay marriage, than He is of heterosexual fornication. I.e., the moral rules are there for both, but God is less forgiving of heterosexuals because their relationships lack that innate promiscuity!
Legally, the homosexual marriage Supreme Court case is improper. The Court relied on the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process rule and the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause to support gay marriage in the Obergefell decision. But -- think -- how possible is it that such was within the intent of the Amendments' framers? Wouldn't the Framers have declined to pass the 5th Amendment, or declined to pass the 14th Amendment and to rejoin the Union, had they been told, "You know, because of these amendments, our federal courts can order troops into your states to force judges to marry men to men and women to women"?
Nonetheless, suppose a modern amendment to the Constitution is ratified to require gay marriage where desired. How should Catholics respond?
To be non-hypocritical, Catholics must respond, "Heterosexual and homosexual masturbation, birth control, fornication, and adultery, including fornication between gays under cover of marriage, are all sinful, and must be punished criminally to an equal extent."
In other words, are "heteroes" entitled to a "free ride," sexually at the same time God punishes gays? No. If you are hetero and expect a free ride every time you slip on a rubber, then if gays want to "play marriage," or if society wants to experiment with the marriage concept, then God bless!
Because adults having sex with kids is not morally justifiable under any analysis, then gays "doing it" with the young must always be severely punished.
Most will be thoroughly dissatisfied with how I handle Catholic sexual ethics in this article:
(a) Humanae Vitae is right -- Scripture says so 4 times!; (b) Catholic priests hiding their homosexuality under the disguise of having a vocation, caught "doing it" to young male victims, should be very severely punished! The Church must cooperate with the prosecution. Catholic bishops caught abetting the gay offenders should be very severely punished! The Church must cooperate with the prosecution; (c) the Supreme Court decision in favor of gay marriage is illegal;
(d) however, Catholics enjoying freedom from criminal prosecution of their sex sins owe a hearty "welcome" to their gay neighbors engaging in sex under cover of gay marriage, sham or not. Christ hates hypocrites most of all.
None of this will staunch the chronic bleeding of contributing parishioners so badly needed to support the Church in our current age. However, I believe that we have entered the time of the 2 Thessalonians 2 "apostasy" -- the so-called Great Falling Away. So, don't fret as things fall apart. Just be faithful.
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
DECEASED SOUL VISITS MAGNOLIA
Many years ago, in 1978, before I married or lived in Magnolia, I had a minor stroke and a Near Death Experience in which I was told that I had "too much to do" before I would be allowed to die. Although I am inclined to think that my wife Rise`'s subsequent interpretation -- that what I had to do was IMPROVE MYSELF, MORALLY -- was the correct one, some other things did occur which could qualify as things left to do.
One was my effort to evangelize to a client I'll call Joe Doakes. When I was appointed by the Court to represent him, I knew immediately, from my experience with other clients, what I was looking at -- a male who had been sexually abused by his father when he was young. When I told his paramour this, she roared with laughter and said I was wrong. Years later, she called me and told me that Joe's brother had shocked her by confirming that I was right.
I ended up representing Joe in about 10 cases. We did pretty well in those cases. Joe, however, was one who did not know to not bite the hand that fed him. On one occasion, on returning from court, I found him inside my home, removing my favorite china closet from the living room after falsely convincing my son that he had bought it from me!
On another occasion he stopped by my house to borrow $50 from me. A heroin abuser, he was obviously in withdrawal. I said, "No, Joe. I'm not going to subsidize your habit. However, take advantage of your withdrawal. Instead of feeding the habit, let's get you into a program now -- today." He said, "Pete, that's a good looking station wagon you have there," implying that if I didn't pay him, he'd steal it. "Joe," I answered, "Don't do that to me. That's so low."
As soon as he left, I drove to our local car parts store and bought The Club, that heavy hardened steel bar for steering wheels. That night I had to represent someone in night court in a neighboring town, and did not return home until 1:30 a.m. I sat in the family room and stripped down to my knickers to prepare for bed while I watched late night TV. At around 1:45 a.m. a car with its headlights on pulled-up outside my house, and I heard several male voices arguing. I looked out the window, and saw about 5 men standing around the station wagon, pointing at The Club on the steering wheel. I jumped up and clad only in my jockey shorts threw open the door and jumped off the front stoop and started screaming like a lunatic. The thugs, more aware of the dynamics of the situation than I -- if I caused their arrest, they would have someone do something like burn down my house, right? -- just ignored me. Then I heard Joe Doakes in a car stopped on Warwick Road, in front of our house, screaming, "Steal it! Steal the f-----g car!," obviously unaware of the problem of The Club on the steering wheel. The thugs decided that The Club made the car too hard to steal, got into their car and drove away. Then Joe Doakes drove away.
A few years later, Joe called me from a hospice in Burlington County and said that he was dying of brain cancer. He had always insisted, to his paramour, that he was "Catholic" whenever she tried to entice him into her Protestant assembly. So, I asked Joe if he wanted me to arrange for a priest to give him Last Rites. "Sure!" he said,
"In addition to an anointing, it involves a final confession and receipt of the Eucharist," I explained. "Don't worry -- the priest'll help you through the confession. But I have to warn you about something, Joe. The confession is no good, and what the priest does has no effect, unless you tell him your worst sins, the ones you're really ashamed of. You know what I'm talking about. Otherwise, you're giving evil a place to hide in you. I'll send you a priest who is a friend, and you let him know how you'll need help with your confession. Okay?"
"It sounds great, Pete," he responded.
I sent Fr. Jerome Romanowski, who is dead, now. He later told me, "Obviously, Pete, the Seal of Confession prohibits me from revealing any details, but I can tell you that Joe's confession was the most amazing confession of my career." I thought, "Good! Joe swallowed his pride and did the difficult thing in making his confession!"
And Joe died shortly thereafter.
The other incident in which I think I had spiritual impact was a case involving a deathbed will. My typist, whom I can not identify because her name is so distinctive, referred to me her sister-in-law Linda, who lay dying of cancer in Garden State Hospital. After the will signing, I asked her my client if she was Catholic, and did she want a priest for "Last Rites."
"I'm not Catholic," she said, "but I'll talk to you."
I explained that "Last Rites," in addition to an anointing, involved a combination of a final confession and apology to God, followed by receipt of the Eucharist.
"Can you help me with the final apology to God for my sins?" she asked.
"Absolutely," I said. And I had her pray privately for help from the Holy Spirit to be mindful of her sins, and sorry for them, and I had her repeat the words of the Catholic Act of Contrition after me -- an invalid substitute for the Sacrament of Reconciliation if a priest is available, if one is Catholic, but a good alternative, surely, for those outside the Catholic fold.
After the Act of Contrition, I left Linda alone. Her sister-in-law, my typist, passed me going up to Linda's bedroom as I was leaving the hospital.
The next morning, as my family sat at the breakfast table chomping on our cereal, my middle son Reid, who was about 5 at the time, excitedly said, "Mom, Dad, did you see the bright light outside our windows!? My shade was up, so that it lit up my entire room! I looked at the clock beside my bed after it went away. It was about 1:15 a.m."
When I went upstairs to check, I saw that only Reid's window shade had been up that night.
A little later that morning, my typist called and said, "Pete, I was with Linda when she died last night. She was in great distress trying to stay alive. I whispered into her ear, 'Linda, let go. God is waiting for you.' And she did. She died in front of me."
"What time?" I asked.
"1:15 a.m."
So, here's the question: Did Linda stop by the house, on her way up, to say "Thank you?"
I think so.
One was my effort to evangelize to a client I'll call Joe Doakes. When I was appointed by the Court to represent him, I knew immediately, from my experience with other clients, what I was looking at -- a male who had been sexually abused by his father when he was young. When I told his paramour this, she roared with laughter and said I was wrong. Years later, she called me and told me that Joe's brother had shocked her by confirming that I was right.
I ended up representing Joe in about 10 cases. We did pretty well in those cases. Joe, however, was one who did not know to not bite the hand that fed him. On one occasion, on returning from court, I found him inside my home, removing my favorite china closet from the living room after falsely convincing my son that he had bought it from me!
On another occasion he stopped by my house to borrow $50 from me. A heroin abuser, he was obviously in withdrawal. I said, "No, Joe. I'm not going to subsidize your habit. However, take advantage of your withdrawal. Instead of feeding the habit, let's get you into a program now -- today." He said, "Pete, that's a good looking station wagon you have there," implying that if I didn't pay him, he'd steal it. "Joe," I answered, "Don't do that to me. That's so low."
As soon as he left, I drove to our local car parts store and bought The Club, that heavy hardened steel bar for steering wheels. That night I had to represent someone in night court in a neighboring town, and did not return home until 1:30 a.m. I sat in the family room and stripped down to my knickers to prepare for bed while I watched late night TV. At around 1:45 a.m. a car with its headlights on pulled-up outside my house, and I heard several male voices arguing. I looked out the window, and saw about 5 men standing around the station wagon, pointing at The Club on the steering wheel. I jumped up and clad only in my jockey shorts threw open the door and jumped off the front stoop and started screaming like a lunatic. The thugs, more aware of the dynamics of the situation than I -- if I caused their arrest, they would have someone do something like burn down my house, right? -- just ignored me. Then I heard Joe Doakes in a car stopped on Warwick Road, in front of our house, screaming, "Steal it! Steal the f-----g car!," obviously unaware of the problem of The Club on the steering wheel. The thugs decided that The Club made the car too hard to steal, got into their car and drove away. Then Joe Doakes drove away.
A few years later, Joe called me from a hospice in Burlington County and said that he was dying of brain cancer. He had always insisted, to his paramour, that he was "Catholic" whenever she tried to entice him into her Protestant assembly. So, I asked Joe if he wanted me to arrange for a priest to give him Last Rites. "Sure!" he said,
"In addition to an anointing, it involves a final confession and receipt of the Eucharist," I explained. "Don't worry -- the priest'll help you through the confession. But I have to warn you about something, Joe. The confession is no good, and what the priest does has no effect, unless you tell him your worst sins, the ones you're really ashamed of. You know what I'm talking about. Otherwise, you're giving evil a place to hide in you. I'll send you a priest who is a friend, and you let him know how you'll need help with your confession. Okay?"
"It sounds great, Pete," he responded.
I sent Fr. Jerome Romanowski, who is dead, now. He later told me, "Obviously, Pete, the Seal of Confession prohibits me from revealing any details, but I can tell you that Joe's confession was the most amazing confession of my career." I thought, "Good! Joe swallowed his pride and did the difficult thing in making his confession!"
And Joe died shortly thereafter.
The other incident in which I think I had spiritual impact was a case involving a deathbed will. My typist, whom I can not identify because her name is so distinctive, referred to me her sister-in-law Linda, who lay dying of cancer in Garden State Hospital. After the will signing, I asked her my client if she was Catholic, and did she want a priest for "Last Rites."
"I'm not Catholic," she said, "but I'll talk to you."
I explained that "Last Rites," in addition to an anointing, involved a combination of a final confession and apology to God, followed by receipt of the Eucharist.
"Can you help me with the final apology to God for my sins?" she asked.
"Absolutely," I said. And I had her pray privately for help from the Holy Spirit to be mindful of her sins, and sorry for them, and I had her repeat the words of the Catholic Act of Contrition after me -- an invalid substitute for the Sacrament of Reconciliation if a priest is available, if one is Catholic, but a good alternative, surely, for those outside the Catholic fold.
After the Act of Contrition, I left Linda alone. Her sister-in-law, my typist, passed me going up to Linda's bedroom as I was leaving the hospital.
The next morning, as my family sat at the breakfast table chomping on our cereal, my middle son Reid, who was about 5 at the time, excitedly said, "Mom, Dad, did you see the bright light outside our windows!? My shade was up, so that it lit up my entire room! I looked at the clock beside my bed after it went away. It was about 1:15 a.m."
When I went upstairs to check, I saw that only Reid's window shade had been up that night.
A little later that morning, my typist called and said, "Pete, I was with Linda when she died last night. She was in great distress trying to stay alive. I whispered into her ear, 'Linda, let go. God is waiting for you.' And she did. She died in front of me."
"What time?" I asked.
"1:15 a.m."
So, here's the question: Did Linda stop by the house, on her way up, to say "Thank you?"
I think so.
Saturday, April 29, 2017
HE NEVER PROMISED US A ROSE GARDEN
The Church has been a special challenge to us all, especially me. The priest sex cases are a terrible stumbling block for millions. And I struggled to find a parish which would sponsor -- give us a meeting room for -- un-programmed Bible study. If no priest or deacon is avaible to mentor the Bible study in a hands-on way, all the Church will tolerate anymore is watching television -- watching Bible study experts giving recorded speeches.
Respecting the priest sex cases, Father Judge High School -- my high school -- in the early 1970s was one of the first cases to hit the headlines with news of cases involving sexual abuses in our era. The football coach, Mr. Degnan, and a priest named Fr. Robert Hermley were arrested for sharing male students between themselves. I at first had trouble believing Philadelphia Bulletin and Inquirer descriptions of case after case in the Phildelphia area, but I finally became a "believer," when it dawned on me that no one is going to falsely volunteer that he dropped his pants and bent over for a priest, in the hope of winning money in a lawsuit. Such a life-changing admission just isn't worth it.
I've tried to talk to priests about the whole phenomenon, but there seems to be a general policy of silence on the subject in place, consistent with diocesan offices' dishonest denials and settlement payments in return for silence -- an overall policy of endless stonewalling with explosive, highly destructive results.
Damage to the Church from the phenomenon seems massive. I have been looked-at like I am crazy when I tell people, "I am Catholic."
During this time, I fell in love with the Bible and with Bible study. I ran Bible study for about 15 years at St. Gregory's Church in Magnolia. The pastor tried to derail our group a few times, but failed. (There were about 30 of us in the group, too many to disrupt easily.) Finally, he simply banned us from the church premises just before a new pastor took over, as though sorely embarrassed at our utterly orthodox program. (The pastor used to sit in on the sessions, waiting for doctrinal errors to crop up. Once, when I said that Mary "died" before her assumption, he thought he had me and he stood and accused me of "heresy" in public, to the Bible study group. I privately read to the pastor the verses from the assumption encyclical verifying that Pope Pius XII affirmatively taught that Mary "died," using that word in the official Vatican translation, and he privately acknowledged his error.) For several years I searched for a parish interested in Bible study, without success. Lying was the chief tool used to put me off while I paid my parish envelope -- "Pete, I'll meet with you next week ..." "Pete, I have to break my appointment ..." One pastor broke his appointment about 18 times.
So, why do I call myself "Catholic"?
Well, first, Christ foreshadowed a few times that the Church would generate evil. He said to Peter, 5 minutes after appointing him head of the Church ("You are Peter and upon this rock etc."), "GET BEHIND ME, YOU SATAN!" When Peter tried to walk on water he succeeded for a few seconds and then sank in. Sinking into water is a typological symbol of being sinful. (Remember the story of demonically possessed pigs drowning themselves.) And then Peter denies Christ 3 times shortly AFTER a clear warning to him that he would.
Also, in 2 Thessalonians 2 Paul warns of "the apostasy" to precede the end of time. Since Paul was surrounded by "apostasies" at the time, Bible commentators assume that Paul is referring to something enormous. In our current day and age, vocations have plummeted. Millions whose faith has been made cold by the media generally and the sex cases in particular are leaving the Church annually. Catholic schools -- the Church's biggest evangelizing tool -- and churches are shutting down everywhere. I believe that we are experiencing "the apostasy" -- what our Fundamentalist brethren refer to as "the great falling away" -- right now, as I write this.
Nonetheless, Christ's purpose, in giving us an imperfect Church, and in predicting its sins and through Paul its eclipse, was to prepare us for the future, not to de-commission the Church. It has to do with the nature of the sacraments. The sacraments can operate despite the imperfections of the Church, even in the process of collapse, despite our era's ignorant, mean-spirited priests. The sacraments are a generous gift, by God, of shortcuts to salvation, administered by His officially commissioned organization, the Church -- as easy as it can get. I have no interest in leaving the "salvation machine" established by Christ.
Respecting the priest sex cases, Father Judge High School -- my high school -- in the early 1970s was one of the first cases to hit the headlines with news of cases involving sexual abuses in our era. The football coach, Mr. Degnan, and a priest named Fr. Robert Hermley were arrested for sharing male students between themselves. I at first had trouble believing Philadelphia Bulletin and Inquirer descriptions of case after case in the Phildelphia area, but I finally became a "believer," when it dawned on me that no one is going to falsely volunteer that he dropped his pants and bent over for a priest, in the hope of winning money in a lawsuit. Such a life-changing admission just isn't worth it.
I've tried to talk to priests about the whole phenomenon, but there seems to be a general policy of silence on the subject in place, consistent with diocesan offices' dishonest denials and settlement payments in return for silence -- an overall policy of endless stonewalling with explosive, highly destructive results.
Damage to the Church from the phenomenon seems massive. I have been looked-at like I am crazy when I tell people, "I am Catholic."
During this time, I fell in love with the Bible and with Bible study. I ran Bible study for about 15 years at St. Gregory's Church in Magnolia. The pastor tried to derail our group a few times, but failed. (There were about 30 of us in the group, too many to disrupt easily.) Finally, he simply banned us from the church premises just before a new pastor took over, as though sorely embarrassed at our utterly orthodox program. (The pastor used to sit in on the sessions, waiting for doctrinal errors to crop up. Once, when I said that Mary "died" before her assumption, he thought he had me and he stood and accused me of "heresy" in public, to the Bible study group. I privately read to the pastor the verses from the assumption encyclical verifying that Pope Pius XII affirmatively taught that Mary "died," using that word in the official Vatican translation, and he privately acknowledged his error.) For several years I searched for a parish interested in Bible study, without success. Lying was the chief tool used to put me off while I paid my parish envelope -- "Pete, I'll meet with you next week ..." "Pete, I have to break my appointment ..." One pastor broke his appointment about 18 times.
So, why do I call myself "Catholic"?
Well, first, Christ foreshadowed a few times that the Church would generate evil. He said to Peter, 5 minutes after appointing him head of the Church ("You are Peter and upon this rock etc."), "GET BEHIND ME, YOU SATAN!" When Peter tried to walk on water he succeeded for a few seconds and then sank in. Sinking into water is a typological symbol of being sinful. (Remember the story of demonically possessed pigs drowning themselves.) And then Peter denies Christ 3 times shortly AFTER a clear warning to him that he would.
Also, in 2 Thessalonians 2 Paul warns of "the apostasy" to precede the end of time. Since Paul was surrounded by "apostasies" at the time, Bible commentators assume that Paul is referring to something enormous. In our current day and age, vocations have plummeted. Millions whose faith has been made cold by the media generally and the sex cases in particular are leaving the Church annually. Catholic schools -- the Church's biggest evangelizing tool -- and churches are shutting down everywhere. I believe that we are experiencing "the apostasy" -- what our Fundamentalist brethren refer to as "the great falling away" -- right now, as I write this.
Nonetheless, Christ's purpose, in giving us an imperfect Church, and in predicting its sins and through Paul its eclipse, was to prepare us for the future, not to de-commission the Church. It has to do with the nature of the sacraments. The sacraments can operate despite the imperfections of the Church, even in the process of collapse, despite our era's ignorant, mean-spirited priests. The sacraments are a generous gift, by God, of shortcuts to salvation, administered by His officially commissioned organization, the Church -- as easy as it can get. I have no interest in leaving the "salvation machine" established by Christ.
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
I NEEDED A GYNECOLOGIST FOR MY EAR
Years ago, the virulent disease MRSA entered our house. I was last in the family to get it. It nearly killed me. The powerful antibiotics given to me at the hospital to save my life killed every germ in my body. When that happens, it opens the floodgates for mold infections -- unaffected by antibiotics. Suddenly, I had a wicked ear infection.
Dr. Todd Schachter, DO, our family doctor, referred me to an ear, nose and throat specialist in Voorhees, New Jersey. The latter doctor's treatment dragged on and on and on, for week after week. I'd come in for my appointment, shell-out my deductible, bend my head sideways for carefully-administered eardrops, and go home with cotton in my ears and a prescription for ear drops at home.
When this went on for 3 months, I became suspicious. Was the ears, nose and throat specialist just running up the tab? I had listened carefully when he said that I had a Candida albicans infection in my ear -- a common yeast infection. I checked the label on my ear drops -- the concentration of anti-yeast medication was 1% of that if my wife's vaginal medication. I thought, "WHAAAAAAT?"
So, I put a single dab of vaginal yeast medication of a cotton swab, spread the medication in my ear canal, and slept on it.
The next day, my Candida infection was cured.
One day after that, I had my appointment with the ear, nose and throat specialist. "Huh!" he said as he examined me, "Your infection's all gone! How?" As though he knew that it shouldn't have been.
When I told Dr. Schachter the story, he burst out laughing and said, "I should have referred you to a gynecologist."
Dr. Todd Schachter, DO, our family doctor, referred me to an ear, nose and throat specialist in Voorhees, New Jersey. The latter doctor's treatment dragged on and on and on, for week after week. I'd come in for my appointment, shell-out my deductible, bend my head sideways for carefully-administered eardrops, and go home with cotton in my ears and a prescription for ear drops at home.
When this went on for 3 months, I became suspicious. Was the ears, nose and throat specialist just running up the tab? I had listened carefully when he said that I had a Candida albicans infection in my ear -- a common yeast infection. I checked the label on my ear drops -- the concentration of anti-yeast medication was 1% of that if my wife's vaginal medication. I thought, "WHAAAAAAT?"
So, I put a single dab of vaginal yeast medication of a cotton swab, spread the medication in my ear canal, and slept on it.
The next day, my Candida infection was cured.
One day after that, I had my appointment with the ear, nose and throat specialist. "Huh!" he said as he examined me, "Your infection's all gone! How?" As though he knew that it shouldn't have been.
When I told Dr. Schachter the story, he burst out laughing and said, "I should have referred you to a gynecologist."
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