the reason I am placing this is a general investigation of corruption: lets face it: if you love God you are not going to abuse children. And remember: Jesus said anyone who corrupted the little child should be thrown in a lake with a millstone around his neck.
Since Pedophilia by gentiles was commonplace, (remember: Galilee was full of Greco Syrian people, and even the Romans were scandalized by the Greek pedophile practices) one suspects this is one of those sayings that got whitewashed by the naive theologians.
But in Altoona diocese, I wrote quite a few protesting letters to the editor about what was being pushed in the diocese newsletter.
My kids? Well, I laughed when my youngest brought home a catechism lesson on Hispanic wife abuse, where the feminist anglo sister was the heroine. I asked him: How would you handle this? And he answered what I knew was true for Latin America: If my sister was abused, my brothers and I would go over and tell him if he does it again we will beat him up.
Families are the answer. My objection was not opposing wife abuse, but that the example was clueless as to how things work in those countries.
The nun teaching the classes for confirmation was reputed to be especially bad. Luckily my sons had been confirmed in Colombia so I opted them out.
And for high school, they went to public school and later my youngest to the local Christian school....when he heard a visiting priest give a sermon on sexual morality, he told me: Hey, that is what we learned from Brother Fetterman. Apparantly he didn't learn anything about this in his catholic grade school...
Well, anyway our parish priest had the novena and fairly nice masses, so I couldn't complain. My husband's parish had a world wearly but good pastor, who had weekly evening mass for us on wednesday, and we could actually go to confession afterward.
(No, I don't go to confession here in the Philippines...I have no idea when they hold it).
so the really sad part about Altoona is that there were many good lay catholics, and many good priests trying to keep the faith while the layfolk knew about the abuse, the coverup, and the very very bad bishop.
In Catholicism, the mass and the sacraments are valid even if the priest is a sinner or hypocrite, because this power is given to him by God and doesn't depend on his personal perfection. I see it like my ability to be a doctor: The guy might be sleeping around and cheating on income tax, or a right wing asshole, but hey, if he is a good surgeon the operation will go well, because his skill and training are what you want.
However, if the priest is a sinner, he has a heck of a lot more to answer for when he gets to the judgement seat (which is why good catholics like Dante and Michaleangelo put popes and bishops in hell).
On the other hand, not only have I seen good priests (including in the Altoona Diocese) but I have known priests who were martyred or risked their lives for their people. See the movie Romero., although my experience was in Africa.
does one SOB abuser count more than a priest who has served the poor, and been martyred by those who hate the Lord?
so why don't I switch churches? I'm sometimes tempted, but it comes down to Peter's reply Where would we go Lord when you have the gift of eternal life.
Tolkien once wrote his son about the modern mass, which he hated, saying a bad mass where you offer your dryness to God is worth more than a beautiful one. However, we are human, and we have a need for the "eros" of God (to use the words of Benedict XVI)...and yes, I do miss a good spirit filled mass. They aren't bad here in the Philippines, but usually it's hot and I just say my rosary and try not to faint before I get communion, say a prayer and can leave.
so end of ran...more stuff about the diocese.
the latin mass/ conservative types are the ones with a lot of the dirt. Think of them as the church's tea party. Benedict gave them a way to get priests who say the Latin mass to avoid the hippie masses, but in other areas they slide into schismatic churches who are more catholic than the pope (although that saying has lost it's meaning with Pope Francis going around being heterodox).
From
TLM (the latin mass) site:
Altoona-Johnstown diocesan seminary (Pennsylvania)Although some Catholic dioceses screen out would-be priests because of gay sexual orientations, the eight-county Altoona-Johnstown Diocese in Pennsylvania does not, said Bishop Joseph Adamec. The diocese is currently reviewing about a half dozen allegations of homosexual abuse of minors. (Read more…) Michael Rose writes that David J. Brown, a clinical psychologist under contract with the Altoona-Johnstown diocese to screen candidates for the priesthood, has “gone out of his way to make the case that homosexuality is ‘perfectly normal’ and that ‘homosexuality is natural, not unnatural.’” David Brown has made the outrageous statement that Sodom was destroyed for “inhospitability,” not homosexuality. It seems Mr. Brown needs a refresher course in Scripture. The men of Sodom refused Lot’s daughters, but sought the men, saying, “Where are the men that came in to thee at night? Bring them out thither that we may know them” (Gen. 19:5). Lot replied to them, “I beseech you, my brethren, do not commit this evil” (Gen. 19:7). For this sin, the men of Sodom were blinded by the angels (Gen 19:11), and Sodom was later destroyed by fire and brimstone (Gen. 19:24-25). The New Testament recalls the destruction of Sodom (2 Peter 2:6; Jude 1:7). Our Lady of the Roses explains that the destruction of Sodom had nothing to do with “inhospitability”: "You who cry love your neighbor, do not twist the truth and say that Sodom and Gomorrah fell because they were inhospitable! Oh, no! I say unto you: hospitality had nothing at all to do with this. It was a manner of degrading, debased sin, using a creation of the Father for vile acts, animal acts, and far worse until your filth and pollution has entered into the minds and souls of the young! You defilers of mankind, the skin shall burn off of your bones soon!" - Our Lady, April 2, 1977
lots more dirt at that site from the early 2000s
then we have
this site with a seminary report. The problem is that I am not familiar with them so can't vouch for their accuracy
this
website has a "psu.edu" address...
he has several excepts from Rose's book including about Altoona.
from chapter 3
The problem can be distilled down to this: many psychologists who are contracted by dioceses and religious orders hold beliefs that differ, sometimes markedly, from the beliefs of Catholics (even if sometimes these screeners are nominal Catholics themselves). As such they often fail to be objective in their evaluation of an applicant, using their own belief system as the standard by which to judge an applicant’s suitability for the priesthood. This seems especially true regarding matters of sexual morality. Dr. David J. Brown, a clinical psychologist who screens candidates for the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Pennsylvania, is a case in point if only because he has never been shy about broadcasting his opinions and beliefs. Brown, in his statements at local school board meetings in State College, Pennsylvania, and in local papers, has gone out of his way to make the case that homosexuality is “perfectly normal.” Brown has argued publicly in many instances that “the sin of Sodom was inhospitality,” that St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae challenged natural law arguments, and that “homosexuality is natural, not unnatural” and “homosexuality among animals is natural, not unnatural.”[Remarks taken from a videotaped school board meeting March 3, 1998, available at: http://www.diocesereport.com/diocese-report/news/ajc_homo_part2.shtml] Testifying before the public school board in State College, he argued on spiritual grounds for legitimizing homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle in the public schools there. Brown told the board that he was “appalled” that the school district had excluded known militant homosexual speakers from Penn State University from making presentations to teachers at in-service day workshops. Brown was referring to speakers who are on the record as promoting homosexuality as an “alternative lifestyle” and who are either homosexuals themselves or homosexual advocates. He stated that he was a Christian and that “hate” was not a Christian message, implying that hate was the motive behind those who refused to invite the pro-homosexual activists – a typical “homophobia” straw man argument. Brown then went on to claim that Jesus Christ himself would be “appalled” if the promotion of homosexuality were not included on the teacher in-service venue.
The fact that someone would pose such an argument is not news itself. But when such a man, whose views are publicly known, is contracted to screen applicants for the seminary, what is remarkable is the obvious incompatibility. [Above is excerpted from Chapter 3, pp. 65-68.]
But Chapter 9 has stuff where Father Trigilio (who has his own blog and is frequently seen on EWTN) recounts what he went through in Erie.
an excerpt:
One good man traces his tortuous route to ordination
“If you wore a cassock, you were a reactionary ‘daughter of Trent.’ If you wore women’s underwear they’d make you seminarian of the year.” – FR. JOHN TRIGILIO, former seminarian, Mary Immaculate Seminary, Northampton, Pa.
Some priests have such harrowing tales of a “vocations inquisition” it seems no less than an act of God that they were ever ordained. Father John Trigilio, who co-hosts Web of Faith, a popular apologetics program on Mother Angelica’s EWTN television network, recounted his seminary days as on “overly circuitous route to ordination,” spanning three seminaries, three dioceses, and a host of rejections from others. Because he overtly supported the teachings of the Church, he was targeted as an “orthodox” candidate as early as his high school seminary years when he was just 14-years old. During his four years at St. Mark’s (St Mark’s High School Seminary in Erie, Pennsylvania), Trigilio faced head on all the obstacles that are commonly placed in the way of an orthodox vocation. Looking back upon his experience now he understands that a serious spiritual battle was taking place around him. “It became evident that there was a diabolical element at the seminary,” Trigilio explained. “There were nights when I couldn’t even sleep because I was so scared. I could almost feel the presence of evil in that place. The way the priests had so much disdain for the Eucharist and for Mary, for example, was outright hostility. I remember being humiliated, for instance, because I wanted to pray the rosary.”
Sigh.
on this
PSU.EDU page (again GLM) we see articles from the bishop claiming there is no problem. (again 2002) The author answers:
I respectfully submit that, by Bishop Adamec’s own definition, there IS a crisis, especially in his Diocese, because he and his vocation director Msgr. Michael Becker have remained intransigent in their refusal to see a problem with their allowance of a publicly known militant pro-homosexual clinical psychologist, Dr. David J. Brown, a man who has repeatedly committed heresy in regard to the Faith, to screen their prospective seminarians.
hmm...there still is a David J Brown who is listed as a pschologist in the Penn State/State College area.
Look at this
glowing letter to the editor in 2015 saying he would make a great city counseler.
DUH? Same Guy? Actually,
they had printed several such letters there.
from
FreeRepublic in 2002: a debate in State College about gays in the priest hood. Originally in the
CentreDaily Times (local paper) which doesn't show us the original article, but luckily the Freepers have part of the article there.
Debate on gays in priesthood roils diocese
By Mike Josephmjoseph@centredaily.comWith the Roman Catholic Church engulfed in a widespread sexual abuse scandal, conservative critics of the local bishop have stepped up their campaign to pressure him to stop using a priesthood candidate evaluator whose views on homosexuality they consider too liberal.
The campaign has included attacks on Web sites and an anonymous newspaper advertisement suggesting churchgoers consider withholding money until, among other things, the bishop "removes" the targeted evaluator, State College psychologist David J. Brown.
Although Altoona-Johnstown Diocese Bishop Joseph Adamec said collections and other charitable donations have not declined, some Catholic faithful who haven't before taken sides say they have considered using money to leverage a clarification and elaboration of diocesan policy from the bishop.
"We want the priests and the bishop to follow the teachings of the church. It's bizarre to have to say that, but that's what we want," said Mary Risley, 40, a parent and a parishioner at Our Lady of Victory Church in State College.
Morella is interviewed there (too long to put here) (and no, he was not part of the group who put up the billboards...their names can be found in my earlier posts and are from the Johnstown area).
the article then goes on to quote two people who linked abuse with homosexuality but (AHA) no, said another person: It is immaturity. One guy goes on a tirade about the church obsession with "pelvic" issues and being overcontrolling.
Again the lie is repeated: when it is forbidden, people will do it.
Uh, proof? As a doc, I remember when drugs were taboo, and use was low: It wasn't until the Beatles and hippies made their use okay that america faced the drug epidemic.
and Brown denies the charges against him
He said perhaps one out of every four of the 200 seminary candidates he has screened has become a priest, and he said none of those priests has ever been accused or otherwise been alleged to have been sexually abusive to anyone.
"I'm proud of my record," Brown said.
ah, but why people are upset is that he is promoting the gay lifestyle and opposes what the church believes. Should such a man be doing the psychological testing of candidates?
Rigidity is a personality dimension that can apply to all ideological perspectives," Brown said.
Brown faulted his own critics for their narrow focus on right and wrong.
"They think there's only one right way to be and anything else is sinful," he said. "It really is just a discrimination against homosexuality."
note the shift in his definitions: right and wrong are equated with "discrmination" against homosexuality.
But we are not talking about those with same sex attraction, but about those whose actions correspond to the gay lifestyle of promiscuity etc.
Sinner vs sin. Not the same thing, but a common logical fallacy to demonize Christians in 2016 (Manny Paquiao take note).
anothe
FR article from 2002 (original Johnstown TribDem)
A controversial new book names the Altoona-Johnstown Roman Catholic Diocese as one of many dioceses that turns away qualified candidates for the priesthood in favor of a “gay subculture” and threatens the Church with dangerous reforms.
The book criticizes a State College psychologist who screens candidates for the diocese, saying his view of homosexuality is too liberal.
In response, the diocese says the author never contacted the diocese to verify any facts, and that the author lacks credibility.
The psychologist says the characterization is false, the author is a hate-monger, and his conservative critics are “the Catholic Taliban.”
Although penned before the burgeoning sex scandals, the book now has become a battle cry for conservative Catholics in this region.
It has also reignited a 2-year-old controversy within the Altoona-Johnstown diocese over the Church’s position on homosexuality and whether gays should be ordained.
And for one aspiring priest from Cambria County, it opens old wounds from his seminary experience, where he says he was sickened by the sexually decadent environment and criticized for being chaste.
Much of the controversy within the diocese centers around Penn State University.
Author Rose writes that David J. Brown, a clinical psychologist under contract with the Altoona-Johnstown diocese to screen candidates for the priesthood, has “gone out of his way to make the case that homosexuality is ‘perfectly normal’ and that ‘homosexuality is natural, not unnatural.’ ”
He criticizes Brown for telling the school board in State College that they were wrong to exclude homosexual speakers from Penn State.
“The fact that someone would pose such an argument is not news itself. But when such a man, whose views are publicly known, is contracted to screen applicants for the seminary, what is remarkable is the obvious incompatibility,” the book says. |
In a telephone interview form his State College office, Brown said he did testify in favor of non-discrimination and non-harassment of homosexuals.
“I drew from the Bishop’s Pastoral Letter on the topic, and I expressed the opinion that Jesus would be appalled at such bigotry.” |
yeah but any way that the Penn State connection might be why no one took reports of Sandusky being seen raping a young boy was taken seriously?
This part has been put in previous posts but is worth repeating:
Throughout interviews with both conservatives and diocese officials, the Penn State incidents crop up again and again.
In October 2000, a ceremony titled “A Service of Affirmation of the Human Dignity of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People” was held in Eisenhower Chapel.
The Rev. Joseph Hlubik, Penn State Catholic Community campus minister, said that although some Bible passages speak negatively of homosexuality, there are positive images as well.
Later that month he wrote an essay saying, “Fortunately, with a few positive thought-provoking image of gays portrayed on television and movies and maybe even encounters with gays in our own lives, it is becoming common enough to be a topic of discussion.”
Conservative Catholics, including a priest, were outraged and wrote a response, saying Hlubik’s statements were contrary to the faith. In an ad in a State College newspaper, they said, “If they assert their homosexuality, neither the Church nor society at large should be surprised when irrational and violent acts increase.”
That ad elicited a response from diocese spokeswoman Parks, who said it was “highly inappropriate” for a priest to criticize another.
Brown criticized the ad for its “homophobic negativity,” and the ad also was criticized by Mary McClanahan, a Penn State staff psychologist.
She said, “The American Psychiatric Association has recognized for more than a quarter of a century that being lesbian, gay or bisexual indicates no disorder.”
Foster and his conservative colleagues today point to new studies they say give Rose’s book credibility and discredit more liberal thinking.
News reports last week described research by Judith Reisman, who used numbers from 1992 U.S. Statistic Abstracts. She found that the gay population has a large subset that “commits multiple, repeated sex offenses.”
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