From The Season Of Healing Department - Bathhouse Romper Functioning As Priest In DC

Is the following account typical of what we might expect in Cardinal Wuerl's "season of healing"?  George Neumayr smoked this out. 

Seven years ago in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, a Carmelite priest was arrested after he touched the buttocks of an 18-year old man.  The perp-priest's name is Father Emmanuel Betasso (legally Patrick Anthony Betasso).  He admitted to doing so for a "cheap thrill".  He was 45 years old at the time and had just been named pastor of a parish - and was teaching a workshop for new pastors.  I shudder to think of what that workshop syllabus contained, but I digress.  The archbishop revoked his priestly faculties and the Discalced Carmelites suspended him.

Fast forward to the present.  How in the name of heaven is Betasso on a "priest prayer list" for the DC province of the Discalced Carmelites?  His name is number 10 in the "October" column.  Given his history, how was he deemed fit by the Archdiocese of Washington to be granted faculties here?  According to Cardinal Wuerl, all this abuse happened "decades and decades ago".  Newflash!  Seven years is NOT "decades and decades ago".  Any adult male who gets a "cheap thrill" out of touching the private areas of anybody is a pervert.  For the sake of his own soul, let alone the welfare of potential victims, he should not be in a position of trust that could allow him opportunities for abuse.

This "season of healing" promises to be quite the trial.

Yippieee! We're Having A "Season Of Healing"!

In the wake of the Labor Day event at Little Flower this past Monday, Cardinal Wuerl announced that he was instituting a brand new band-aid for the gaping wound that both he and ex-Cardinal McCarrick caused and allowed to fester in this archdiocese.  It is worth noting that after the meeting on Monday, he didn't stick around for the picnic; he scooted away quite quickly.  Here is the letter, dated today, that announces this "season of healing".

Notice the focus of this letter; it's the same as was the focus of our parish "listening session" (the one that focused on feelings as opposed to opinions).  It's strictly on the victims.  Certainly it is important to minister to their needs, but that cannot be the sole focus so much that other facets of the mess are pushed from our minds.  I frankly suspect that we are hearing all about the victims precisely because the chancery doesn't want us to raise other questions or worse (for them), to propose solutions uncomfortable for them.

I am hearing from various sources that a goodly percentage of archdiocesan priests have called for Cardinal Wuerl to resign, owing to his sheltering of McCarrick during his time as Archbishop of Washington.  From the letter I get the impression that he has no intention whatsoever of resigning.  This is one instance where I hope to be proven incorrect.

Anyone in the healing professions will tell you that in order for proper healing to occur, there must be removal of the harmful agent that is causing the distress.  In the Church's present situation, that means that the removal of errant clergy - both the actual perpetrators and their enablers - must be removed.  They must be removed from their positions of power and they must be laicized.  I can think of three positive effects of such a move.

1. Their removal will help prevent further abuse from happening.  Some of the situations of which we are learning are rather recent - within the past five or ten years.
2. Their removal will assure the victims that there still remains in the Church a sense of justice.  That will have healing effects that will far exceed that of any "listening sessions" or "accompaniment".
3. The removal will have salutatory effects for the perpetrators themselves.  They will see that their crimes will not go unpunished in this life; perhaps that will cause them to repent and make good confessions before they die and go to their judgments.

As I said, this bogus focus in the victims is a trick to keep us from deliberating about how real healing and justice will happen.  It is designed from contemplating actions of our own since this archdiocesan chancery clearly isn't going to remove the perpetrators and the homosexualist elements from its midst.  Here are some humble suggestions from me.

• Obviously prayer and penance must be undertaken by each of us.  That certainly means the daily Rosary and remaining in a state of grace.
• Discuss this matter among your fellow Catholics.  Many are still quite oblivious to the current state of affairs.  Educate them.  That is one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy.
• If your priest strays from liturgical rubrics or preaches heresy, call them out on it.  Be respectful, but by no means be demure about it.
• If your diocese has a problem with pervert clergy and they still retain their positions, cut off all funding to your chanceries.  At the very least, that means boycotting any diocesan collections.  If your diocese assesses parish collections, explore ways to contribute to your parish in ways that don't benefit the chancery (assuming your parish is orthodox).  Don't be discouraged by talk of your boycotting hurting other charities; you can always contribute to the charities directly.

Let's get real.  This situation will most likely get worse before it gets better.  In fact, it is worse than it appears at present; we'll just have to face the ugly truth.  But sunlight is the best disinfectant.  We simply have to "man up" and "woman up" and deal with it.  The suggestions are, I hope, ways we can bring about real cleansing and healing.  Any other suggestions?

Homosexualists Attempt To Shut Us Up

From the attempt to control our conversations at my parish last week to Cardinal Wuerl's failed attempt to spin his yarn at Annunciation last week, we see attempts to stifle the voices of faithful Catholics who are tired of debauchery in the highest levels of the Church.  I just mentioned local instances.

At his Mass on Monday, the pope tried to get us to resign ourselves to "silence and prayer".  The entire homily is here.  Notice the none-too-subtle swipes he takes against faithful Catholics: "people who do not have good will", "people who seek only scandal", etc.  I suppose these could be added to the Little Book Of Insults.  But if he's truly convinced that "silence is golden", might I suggest a little leadership by example?  For starters, he can stop uttering bloopers about "the emergency of plastics littering the oceans".  He also tossed in some shilling for open borders.

Good ole' Cardinal Cupich certainly got his talking points right, didn't he?  In his "rabbit hole" interview, he flat out said that the environment and immigration was more important than the victimization of countless boys at the hands of perverted clergy.

But somewhere along progressive communications lines, the talking points became a bit garbled.  A few days ago, a USCCB official informed Catholics everywhere of the latest update to Christ's Great Commission.  He said that "the struggle of working people...is the Gospel, pure and simple"!  Of course that's rank heresy, as the Church's first mission, given by Christ, is the salvation of souls.  But isn't it telling, though, how the progressives are throwing out every worn-out canard to distract us from the moral rot in the Church, starting at the papacy?  They might have a fleeting chance at being believable if they could coordinate among themselves what heresy they're going to promote this week.

So such are their pathetic attempts to get us to shut up.  For the most part, they are almost comical.  Almost, I said, for the latest attempt aimed at Archbishop Vigano is nothing short of sinister.  The pope is consulting with Cardinal Coccopalmerio (aka Cocaine Cocco) and canon lawyers to explore canonical penalties against Vigano.  Cocaine Cocco is one of the prelates implicated in Vigano's testimony, so I wouldn't be surprised if he has some axes to grind.  I'm looking at the Rorate Caeli account of this and its analysis.  Canon law cannot be wielded at whim against anyone without canonical crimes being committed, and these would entail the commission of sin.  Of what sin could they accuse Vigano?  The fact that the pope et al are even trying is telling both of their fear of discovery and their vindictiveness against those who shine the light on their evil.

I saw a comment on another site that pointed out that if the pope actually does sanction Vigano, then he'll just further enrage faithful Catholics who have already had enough.  Is he foolish enough to try it?  Your guess is as good as mine.

Cupich's Rabbit Hole Is A Qucksand Pit

Remember how a few days ago, when asked about the pope and Cardinal McCarrick, he said the pope wasn't "going down that rabbit hole"?  Refresh your memory here.

Well, it seems that Cupich has found himself trapped in quicksand, and it's both his own doing and following along the lines of his buddy McCarrick.  Two Chicago-area priests were in Miami (why did they go there?) in a car near a public beach performing oral sex on each other.  In other words, they were engaged in perversion.  The car's windows were not tinted and everyone - children included - could see what was transpiring in that car.  The priests were arrested.  One of the two, Fr. Diego Berrio, was a tribunal judge for the Archdiocese of Chicago and was involved in "youth ministry".  I say "was" for Cupich stripped him of his faculties.  I might suggest a thorough review of that "youth ministry".

I will have more to say about Cupich's inane interview later.

Wuerl's Appearance At Little Flower Today

Yesterday I suggested that concerned Catholics gather outside Little Flower Church this evening to pray a Rosary and to let the cardinal know that we won't let this matter of him harboring a criminal be forgotten.  I realize it was short notice, but unfortunately I was the only one there - well, not entirely.

At The Mass Ave entrance

I arrived at the Massachusetts Avenue entrance about 4:30, hoping to greet the cardinal with my bullhorn.  At the top of the driveway I saw a Montgomery County police cruiser (see photo).  This officer was looking into each and every car that pulled in.  One might have thought they were pulling into a military base containing secret weapons, the way that the cars were being scrutinized.

I too watched the cars for Cardinal Wuerl; later I found out that he had already scurried in.  I was praying the Rosary when a woman walked down from the parish grounds to chat with me.  Apparently she is a registered parishioner and tried to stop inside the Church to visit the Blessed Sacrament.  She was told she couldn't do so, as there was a "private function" occurring.  I don't recall whether or not she was aware of Wuerl's presence.  Regardless, does Canon Law permit the barring of Catholics from praying in their own Church?

At Chesterbrook

As we were talking, several men came over to us.  They had heard that George Neumayr was there and were trying to locate them.  They mentioned that they saw police at every entrance to the parish grounds.  They and the lady went off to find Neumayr.

At about 5:15 I headed to my car and drove to the other entrances.  Both were towards the back, away from Mass Ave.  I took pictures.  Here's one to the west of the church,   Yes, you are looking at three county cruisers.

The bottom picture is the last entrance to the east of the church, at Kirkwood and Jordan.  Two cruisers block that entrance.

At Kirkwood and Jordan

So there you have it - six cruisers in total!  I didn't know that Montgomery County was so crime-free that they could spare six or more officers to basically sit in the parking lot of Little Flower and twiddle their thumbs.  I certainly hope no real crimes (you know, things like rape and murder and theft, etc) happened with these cops just sitting there.

Of what was the chancery and/or parish afraid?  Were they afraid that Neumayr or I or someone else might have dared to (gasp!) ask the cardinal a question?  Neumayr asked one of them who called them there.  The officer said their lieutenant ordered them there.  That makes sense; those officers really had no say; they were dispatched to Little Flower so off they went.  The question is, who requested their presence, and why?  We Montgomery County citizens have a right to know for that was paid by our tax dollars.

So what happened inside that meeting?  Were the priests allowed to voice their concerns?  Or did they have the pope's sanctimonious demands for "silence" (see here and here) cast into their teeth?

Possible Reasons For Pope Benedict's Resignation

Dr Taylor Marshall reviews some situations in the Vatican that may have contributed to the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI from the papacy.

Dissident Hymnast David Haas Coming To Maryland

I just received word that David Haas is scheduled to give a concert at St. Ignatius of Loyola in Ijamsville, MD.  It will happen Friday November 9 at 8pm.  See here why David Haas and his "works" have no place whatsoever in Catholic worship.  Here is the announcement from the church's facebook page.  Let's contact them to cancel.  If they won't, we'll consider a picket..

Prayer And Protests - Cardinal Wuerl

A few days ago some of us wondered whether or not Cardinal Wuerl took flight.  Well, he is back in town and offered Mass at Annunciation Church this morning.   He tried a verbal tap dance around the mess.  He then asked the parishioners in attendance to remain loyal to Pope Francis as "increasingly it is clear that he is the object of considerable animosity".

One parishioner just wasn't having any of that.  He shouted "shame on you!" as he walked out of Mass.  Another parishioner in the choir loft stood up, turned her back and folded her arms as Wuerl continued his spiel.  Usually I'm not a fan of disburbances at Mass, but neither am I a fan of dissident clergy carrying on at Mass as though the congregation was their captive audience.  That itself is its own disburbance.

I don't think these clergy should feel comfortable as they prattle on like that.  They need to be made most decidedly uncomfortable if they continue to play faithful Catholics like patsies.  Tomorrow lends to us another opportunity to do just that.

I have become aware of a gathering of priests tomorrow, Monday Sept 3, 5pm, at the Church of the Little Flower on Massachusetts Avenue in Bethesda MD.  I am suggesting that Catholics congregate on the public sidewalk in front of the church along Massachutsetts Avenue to pray and offer reparation.  If any do bring signs that ask for his resignation, please use language befitting Catholics - no profanity, imprecation, etc.

Revisiting The 2010 Gonzaga Debacle

In his now-famous testimony, Archbishop Vigano stated that Pope Benedict XVI had forbidden then-Cardinal McCarrick from offering public Masses, and this prohibition occurred between 2009 and 2010.  I could be incorrect, but I think it safe to assume that if it was later, then it had to have happened in the early part of 2010, certainly before June.

Let's take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?  Long-time readers of this blog will recall that we picketed the 2010 commencement exercises of Gonzaga High because Sr Carol Keehan, who was so instrumental in foisting Obamacare on this country, was giving the commencement address.  Our account of it is here.  Please note that the video includes a very direct rebuke to then-Cardinal McCarrick, who presided at the Mass.

Now keep in mind that this Gonzaga even happened June 6, 2010.  Also consider from the first paragraph that he had been sanctioned by Benedict, probably before that commencement happened.  McCarrick was most likely offering that Mass in direct disobedience to Pope Benedict XVI.  Moreover, it is very likely he did so with Wuerl's full approval.  At the time, we had no way of knowing or even suspecting that.  We can assume the same ignorance of the Gonzaga administration and Sr Carol; I'm not sure they would have cared, but that's beside the point.

My account of the 2010 episode garnered many comments, some allegedly from parents.  We had some irate parents confront us, not caring that a dissident was addressing their sons.  We wonder now what they would say, knowing that a serial rapist of young men was in such close proximity to their sons.

Archdiocese Of Washington Lends Little Support To Grassroots Pro-Life Activists

I have been involved in pro-life efforts for approximately 30 years.  As a Catholic, much of my earlier activism has been within the contexts of parish and diocesan structures and other affiliated organizations.  I was a founding member of our parish pro-life committee.  At the same time, I was also praying along with many other Catholics outside a Gaithersburg abortuary.  Many of us in several parishes shared frustration that the support we received from several parishes was tepid at best.  This included the Archdiocese of Washington.  However, as tepid as that support was, the archdiocese did not try to squelch any actvism on our part, provided that it wasn't carried out as a specifically Catholic endeavor.  McCarrick didn't bother about us, one way or the other.  If others have different experiences, please advise via com boxes.

But that was at the grass roots level.  Cardinal Hickey had created a pro-life office staffed by good pro-lifers.  After he retired and McCarrick took over, I noticed disturbing things.  The parish pro-life groups simply weren't receiving much in the way of leadership from that pro-life office.  The latter's time was being gobbled up by what I can only call busy-work.  Much of it centered around the archdiocesan "youth rally" that they conducted right before the national March for Life.  There were talks, concerts, and a Mass that were all scheduled to end immediately before the march began.  In other words, the archdiocesan Catholics did not participate in Nellie Gray's rally beforehand and thus weren't included in the counts conducted by the Park Police.  That bothered me greatly.  I recall asking one official (don't remember who) why they did that.  I told him quite frankly that we could do with a simple Mass without all that other "dog and pony show" stuff.  He responded (I kid you not), that some of Nellie's speakers weren't suitable for Catholic audiences.  He mentioned one of the speakers as being the now-deceased Jesse Helms.  I was aghast.  From then on I didn't attend those rallies.  Since my parish did, with the buses dropping off at the rallies, I started going separately via Metrorail and made sure that I was at the entire rally conducted by Nellie Gray.

When I saw things going horribly awry within the leadership of the Catholic Church, I started the website and this blog.  I knew they weren't compatable with my membership in the Church-affiliated groups so I resigned my affiliations with the latter.  By that time I had also become involved in sidewalk counseling and protests using the abortion victim pictures.  Both of these activities the archdiocesan pro-life office (under different leadership) were loathe to support.  I began to see the wisdom of conducting pro-life work outside the context and restrictions of parish and diocesan affiliations.  When McCarrick retired and Wuerl came in, things became quite strange.

Several years ago I and other sidewalk counselors came across an announcement from the archdiocesan pro-life office that they were holding sidewalk-counseling training sessions, assisted by the Helphers of God's Precious Infants.  On one hand, I was quite pleased that the archdiocese was finally seeing the wisdom of offering help to women before  they did the deed and slaughtered their babies to their everlasting regret.  On the other hand, I was rather puzzled that they didn't ask those of us who had been in front of mills every week for the past twenty years and who have saved hundreds to attend, let alone offer the benefit of our own experiences.  We were being excluded and, I think, marginalized.  I don't think much ever came of their efforts.  A few counselors who I think were trained by the Helpers still remain, but I believe they are not operating under diocesan direction.

The archdiocese also thumbed their noses at the idea of associating with those who took leadership roles in dealing with Leroy Carhart when he first came to Germantown.  When "Pray For Germantown" held rallies and protests on Wisteria Drive, the archdiocese did not send official representation.  We are grateful for the individual priests who lent their support over those several years, but regret that the archdiocese did not join the other churches and grass-roots prolifers.  I learned why when archdiocesan emails were mistakenly forwarded to me.  They eschewed any affiliation with Troy Newman and Operation Rescue, claiming that OR's "reputation" (whatever that meant) was the reason.  I also know that the archdiocese is very squeemish about the usage of pictures of abortion victims.  To be clear, the archdiocese did conduct their own candlelight vigils, etc  along Wisteria Drive.  Still, their standoffishness was lamentable.  I understand that now that Carhart has moved to Bethesda, the archdiocese still lends no support.

We noticed something else in relation to crisis pregancy centers.  There are a number of them in Montgomery County - some run by Catholics, others by protestants under the Carenet network.  Generally we tried to utilize the Catholic ones when we had the opportunity to take women there, owing to their understanding  of the inherent evils of contraception.  When they weren't available, we would resort to the carenet cpcs, as time was of the essense in securing assistance for the women.

When we started counseling at Spring Street, two Catholic cpcs were nearby.  Centro Tepeyak at the time was located on Apple Avenue, within walking distance of the (now closed) Spring Street Planned Parenthood.  We walked at least two women to that cpc, where they received immediate assistance.  We also took women to Wheaton Birthright, located on Grandview Avenue.

A few years ago, however, very strange decisions were made.  First, Birthright moved away from Wheaton further north into Glenmont.  They moved into an archdiocese-owned building dubbed the McCarrick Center (I pray that they will rename that place, given recent revelations).  A short while later, we learned that Centro Tepeyak also moved there.  In other words, the location of both Catholic centers became less convenient to us.  Moreover, we found that their hours were cut back.  We couldn't depend on them being open when most of the area's abortions occur.

It certainly seemed odd to have two pregnancy centers located in the same building.  That situation didn't last, as Birthright was moved to Olney.  Frankly, I am not aware of any abortuary in Olney that would warrant such a move.  If in fact there is such an abortuary, please advise.  Well, at least the two protestant centers were open and (usually) available.  But they are further away than the other two were.

So there you have it.  In the space of a few years we see:

• the archdiocesan pro-life office cutting loose the individual parish pro-life groups and not dealing with real issues of the day.  Did they ever do anything to prevent the passage of Obamacare, for instance?
• the de facto marginalization of veteran sidewalk counselors during the archdiocesan efforts to institute their own program (that seems to have fizzled)
• the archdiocese not joining with other churches in the efforts against Carhart in Germantown and Bethesda
• coaxing two crisis pregnancy centers away from sidewalk counseling sites 

I had debated over the years whether or not to bring all this in the open.  Given recent revelations over the past few days, I must admit the possibility of a desire to hamstring the local pro-life movement.  I'm sure certain donors would have wished that very much.