I am off in the Rocky Mountains and I will check the comments when I can and moderate them.
The discussion of the Paracletes is very interesting. I have heard they destroyed all their records, so no one will be able to find out the truth of what went wrong there.
Leon, Not all the records were destroyed! I know a woman who worked for the Paracletes and she recovered some of the records. They have not been released to the public because they concern one of her children who was molested. The former Brother Augustine s.P. is now a famous Dallas attorney and he has a lot of the records that are missing! I also have my own diary and some papers I took when I left the Paracletes.
Not really Leon you should download “Son’s of Perdition” by Jay Nelson with your poster Oso Pious as contributer, on your Kindle to read during rest breaks while hiking. Guaranteed to put some fire in your step and a rush of rightous indignant bursts of adrenalin pumping through you arteries and veins!
It sure got my old heart pumping mad and pehaps cleared out some plaque ! Thanks Oso!
Leon, enjoy your vacation. Savor the clean air and beautiful scenery. You’ve had to deal with more than your share of muck in your life.
Of interest after escaping the scandal to Rome,now returning to retire
http://eponymousflower.blogspot.com/2012/07/cardinal-levada-set-to-retire-with.html
I told Jay Nelson that people are getting excited over reading his Sons of Perdition book. He might log in and comment. I don’t mind people knowing my real name, which is Brad Earlewine. I am 68 years old now and I am not afraid to come out my closet and face the fury of those pious Catholics who are upset at learning the truth. The decision to recycle pedophile and alcoholic priests was deliberate! I was there at the table when the decision was discussed by my fellow Paracletes. I admire Jay Nelson for having the courage to come forward and document the history of the sexual abuse scandal in New Mexico.
On this feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, I am reminded that the Servants of the Paraclete started out as a branch of the CARMELITE ORDER. I wonder what would have evolved if the Carmelites had been in charge.
As a Paraclete , I used to love the way we “swaggered around” in our crisp “Confederate Army style habits. We even had a holster in which we put our 15-decade lasso rosaries. We were feared like the Waffen SS, because every diocese knew that we worked directly for the Pope and anyone who the Pope wanted “punished” could be sent to us for extra discipline. Our Paraclete habits were modeled after the Confederate officers’ uniforms with the same gray color and cloth as the mills of Atlanta during the Civil War. Our “officers”, or priests had a red patch with the holy spirit dove going up. The “enlisted” or brothers had a blue patch with the holy spirit going downward. Each Paraclete had a rank , from General Gerald Fitzgerald on down to the lowly “private” Brother Ned, who maintained our vehicles. Father Gerald had been an Air Force chaplain and officer in World War II and he was fascinated with the military style of organization and dress.
Brad …….and to Jay for giving excellent examples from Aquinas as to why I have always objected to the study of his writings as the be all and end all of so called Catholic orthodox academia! Crysostom is so under rated by comparison!
God Bless both of you for stating your combined experiences in truths seen and lived.I hope you can open eyes and hearts.
Patrick Wall has some excellent articles on the continuing crisis.
http://patrickjwall.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/so-much-for-it-was-a-thing-of-the-past-active-clergy-criminal-cases/#comments
When I was at Via Coeli in Jemez Springs, NM with the Paracletes in 1965, there was a Cardinal or Archbishop staying there who was being disciplined or punished by the Pope. He drove his own Lincoln Continental Limo and stayed at the Villa Guadalupe away from the rest of us. We were told that he was being taught a lesson in Papal obedience and just to leave him alone. As far as my position went, my office was in a high tower above the main buildings and called the “Crow’s Nest”. From there I was supposed to sound the alarm if I saw anyone escaping so we could call the dogs and bring back the prisoner. One time a “guest” got to a bar in Albuquerque and we had to go retrieve him. We put him in the back of our station wagon and brought him home. We also used electric shock on some of the perverts to cure them of their sexual urges. It was called the “sangre treatment” and one of my friends who underwent that therapy was never the same again. Yes we were feared like the Gestapo or secret police and we worked for our “Godfather Gerald Fitzgerald” who demanded strict obedience!