From The Daily Dish, a blog by Andrew Sullivan.

* * *

Breaking News: The Vatican Is Super-Gay

28 Jul 2010 10:43 am

I haven’t commented on this dog-bites-man story of the Vatican being crammed to the gills with homosexual priests who have long since abandoned the increasingly frantic anti-gay ideology of Ratzinger. And most of the commentary has rightly focused on the extreme response of the Vatican – defrock them now for consensual adult sex! – compared with the long tolerance of child rape and abuse. But it is worth noting, once again, how utterly hollow the Vatican is on the subject of homosexuality. It is an institution so embedded with homosexuality it makes Broadway look straight. The stories I’ve heard! The network of gay priests is vast in Rome, and is, in my mind, as unhealthy for those who get away with it – the hypocrisy must hollow out the soul in the end – as for those who impose it. Instead of grappling with this fact, owning it, and seeking to diversify the priesthood by ending the celibacy requirement and men-only anachronism, the Vatican clings on to denial and repression. And as society and the actual church evolves – as both must – the denial and repression must increase in proportion – until the sheer ridiculousness of the whole thing becomes apparent even to the most devout.

Increasingly, on these issues of modernity, the Vatican of the new millennium seems like the Soviet Politburo of the 1980s. They pretend to believe what they preach while we pretend to obey them. One day, this surreality will pop like a bubble. One day.

I received the following via e-mail from my Minnesota friend Bob Schwiderski today.

* * *

The following Fox 9 Investigative Report is the finest video journalism about clergy sexual abuse I have ever seen in Minnesota !  This is a must view for every survivor and supporter !

http://www.myfoxtwi ncities.com/ dpp/news/ investigators- saint-johns- monks-restricted -really-july- 28-2010

http://www.myfoxtwi ncities.com/ dpp/news/ investigators- saint-johns- monks-restricted -really-july- 28-2010

Investigators: Saint John’s Monks: Restricted, Really?

Updated: Wednesday, 28 Jul 2010, 6:59 PM CDT
Published : Wednesday, 28 Jul 2010, 9:20 PM CDT

Bob Schwiderski

952-471-3422

new address skibrs@q.com

http://mnsnap. wordpress. com

http://www.youtube. com/mnsnap

If you agree with the three messages below, become a member of the 20,000 Pennies Coalition. Membership is free—no charge, no obligation. Just send an email with your first and last names and your city and state to Frank Douglas at frankdouglas62@yahoo.com

I need this information within the next few hours, so I can include it in a press release about our Coalition gathering in Chicago, Saturday, July 31.

* * *

Thanks.

Send the Bishops a Me$$age

20,000 pennies and 3 messages

To Chicago Cardinal Francis George and all U.S. Bishops

The gospel story of the Good Samaritan—the good neighbor parable—obliges all Catholics to care for the needs of clergy sexual abuse victims. Today, July 31, we are delivering to you, Cardinal George, 20,000 pennies—one for each person in the U.S. who experienced as a child sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests, deacons, and religious brothers and sisters. The 20,000 pennies are a starter donation for a fund to be set aside to care for the needs of victims who still suffer the debilitating effects of abuse.

To all U.S. Catholics

Through purposeful stewardship of their monetary donations, Catholics have the power to effect real change in their church.  If you feel that the bishops and the pope have done everything humanly possible to protect children from known and credibly accused sexual predators employed by the church, fine, but, if not, we urge you to send church officials a message of disapproval by dropping a penny in the collection plate each time it is passed in front of you. Your penny will shout two messages: (1) we need accountability; (2) we need the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Every penny counts!

To all Catholics worldwide

After Catholics place money in the collection plate they have no further claim on it. The clergy owns that money. The Golden Rule applies here: she/he who has the gold rules. Today the clergy—priests, bishops, and the pope—are not accountable to the people for their financial decisions. Bishops can at their sole discretion and without transparency close churches, declare bankruptcy, and live high on the hog in accommodations that most Catholics can only dream about. We must separate money from ministry. The Catholic laity, the engine that provides the fuel (money) that pulls the long church train behind it, must ultimately control how church monies are managed. Let the people decide how church monies are spent!

Contact: Frank Douglas, (520) 404-2489, (520) 579-9575, frankdouglas62@yahoo.com www.sendthebishopsamessage.com

When it comes to the inner workings of the Vatican, a.k.a. the Holy See, John L. Allen Jr has no peer.

Mr. Allen has published a Vatican Literacy Quiz, in the National Catholic Reporter (see below). Mr. Allen’s introduction says in not-so-coded language that he’s is neither ignorant nor uncertain about All Things Vatican (Mr. Allen’s All Things Catholic column should  be re-named All Things Vatican.)

Mr. Allen’s Vatican Literacy Quiz, has moved me to ask the Voice from the Desert’s knowledgeable readers to come up with questions—accompanied by the correct answer and three incorrect but plausible answers for each question–for a Vatican Clergy Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Quiz.

All proposed questions and answers must be fully vetted and documented. All proposed questions and answers must be based on facts about the Holy See’s performance, or non-performance, on widespread clergy sex abuse and cover up.

Only knowledgable and certain folks should submit entries.

In your submissions I strongly encourage you to include references to newspaper articles (with checked-out URL addresses, please), historical information, and the Bible. Send your questions and answers to frankdouglas62@yahoo.com or type them as a comment below. I’ll pick the 10 best submissions and publish them as a “Counter Quiz” here.

* * *

A Vatican literacy quiz

by John L Allen Jr on Jul. 23, 2010 All Things Catholic

I happen to be a baseball guy, but fans of any sport will readily recognize two points: One, the pleasure that comes from talking about the game with someone who really knows their stuff; two, the agony of being trapped with a blowhard who doesn’t know the infield fly rule from the designated hitter, but who nevertheless feels compelled to broadcast his or her opinions — why the Yankees’ payroll is unjust, why Manny Ramirez is overrated, and so on.

The insufferable part isn’t whatever conclusion the person advocates (I can see the case for both of the above, though I demur on each point), but the blend of ignorance and certitude in which they usually come wrapped. In such moments, one yearns for somebody to enforce the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s dictum: “Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion, but nobody’s entitled to their own facts.”

More or less the same observation, in my experience, applies to debates about the Vatican. In recent weeks, the air has been filled with competing opinions on various Vatican matters: Whether or not it was appropriate for the Vatican to treat the sexual abuse of minors and the attempted ordination of women in the same legal document, for example, or whether Pope Benedict XVI’s record on handling sex abuse cases while he was at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith passes muster. People who’ve done their homework can reach very different conclusions on such subjects, and informed perspectives are always worth hearing.

What’s tougher to take, however, are polemics (whether intended to praise the Vatican or to bury it) from commentators who obviously don’t know a motu proprio from a miter, or a dicastery from a deacon.

Herewith, therefore, my summer contribution to the ecclesiastical version of barroom arguments: A ten-point Vatican literacy test, designed to establish someone’s bona fides. These questions test entry-level material, the kind of stuff that people paying attention would know, as opposed to being arcane points that only real devotees could summon.

If you can imagine yourself being sucked into an unwanted debate about papal policy, I suggest you clip this column and shove it in your wallet, so you can produce it at the just-right moment. Faced with someone who insists on voicing strong opinions, but who can’t go at least eight-for-ten off the top of their head, you might suggest they take a pledge of abstinence for a year from posting blog entries, writing letters to the editor or op/ed pieces, or otherwise holding forth on any Vatican subject, while they go on retreat and bone up.

VATICAN LITERACY QUIZ

1) Which of the following is not the last name of a 20th century pope?
A. Roncalli
B. Sodano
C. Montini
D. Luciani

2) Which of the following is not a traditional term for a Vatican department?
A. Congregation
B. Committee
C. Council
D. Commission

3) Roughly how many bishops participate in a Synod of Bishops?
A. 10
B. 100
C. 250
D. 2,000

4) What’s the term for the central government of the Catholic Church as a sovereign entity in international law?
A. Apostolic Camera
B. Holy See
C. Vatican City-State
D. Sala Stampa

5) Which Vatican department oversees foreign relations?
A. Congregation for Bishops
B. Secretariat of State
C. Council for Justice and Peace
D. Prefecture of the Papal Household

6) What’s the name of the Vatican newspaper?

7) Which of the following is not a kind of papal document?
A. Apostolic summons
B. Apostolic exhortation
C. Apostolic constitution
D. Apostolic letter

Which Pontifical Council is the youngest?
A. Laity
B. Family
C. Migrants and Refugees
D. New Evangelization

9) True or False: There is no provision in church law for a pope to resign.

10) Which of the following is not presently headed by an American?
A. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
B. Basilica of St. Mary Major
C. Council for Justice and Peace
D. Prefecture of the Papal Household

(Answers)
1. B, Sodano. Cardinal Angelo Sodano was Secretary of State from 1990 to 2006 and is still the Dean of the College of Cardinals. Angelo Roncalli was the given name of Pope John XXIII, Giovanni Battista Montini was Paul VI, and Albino Luciani was John Paul I.

2. B, Committee. There are no bodies which are formally called “committees” in the Vatican, but there are Congregations, Pontifical Councils, and Pontifical Commissions.

3. C, 250. The majority are elected by bishops’ conferences around the world, while a few are directly appointed by the pope. Heads of Vatican departments automatically participate on an ex officio basis.

4. The “Holy See” is the term for the papacy as the seat of government for the worldwide Catholic church, so it is the “Holy See,” not the “Vatican,” which exchanges ambassadors with foreign nations. Currently the Holy See enjoys diplomatic relations with 178 countries as well as the European Union and the Order of Malta, plus a special mission to the Palestinian Liberation Organization. It also has observer status at the United Nations.

5. B, Secretariat of State. Often regarded as a sort of “super-dicastery” that coordinates the work of the other Vatican offices, the Secretariat of State has two sections: the First Section, which deals with internal church matters, and the Second Section, which handles relations with states.

6. L’Osservatore Romano, founded in 1861.

7. A, Apostolic summons. An “apostolic constitution” is a legal document on a matter of high importance, such as the constitution issuing the Catechism of the Catholic Church. An “apostolic exhortation” is a reflection on a specific topic, usually issued after a Synod of Bishops, and an “apostolic letter” is a reflection on points of doctrine.

8. D, New Evangelization. A “Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization,” dedicated to revising the faith in the West, was announced earlier this month by Pope Benedict XVI though it hasn’t yet been formally created. The Pontifical Council for the Laity was founded in 1967, while the Pontifical Council for the Family came in 1981 and the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People in 1988.

9. False. Canon 332§2 of the Code of Canon Law states: “If it happens that the Roman Pontiff resigns his office, it is required for validity that the resignation is made freely and properly manifested but not that it is accepted by anyone.”

10. C, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which is presently led by Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana. All the rest have Americans at the top: The Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is Cardinal William Levada, the Archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major is Cardinal Bernard Law, and the Prefect of the Papal Household is Archbishop James Harvey.

[John L. Allen Jr. is NCR senior correspondent. His e-mail address is jallen@ncronline.org.]

John L Allen Jr’s

I received this notice from my Phoenix pal Kaiser today.

* * *

For 23 straight years, veteran journalist John Cooney of the Irish Independent has been producing a mid-summer jamboree of ideas that draws members of the Irish parliament and the EU parliament, along with a large crowd of priests, politicians, scholars and the media, to County Mayo, where they discuss and debate the issues of the day.

This year, they are discussing the so-far-inadequate response of the Irish bishops to the Ryan and Murphy reports, and, in consequence of that non-action, what they can do to make the Irish Church more accountable.
 In that connection, Cooney and his organizers have invited me to give the keynote address (“No More Thrones”) as the conference begins on the evening of August 19.

I am preparing a challenge to Irish Catholics, that, inspired by their own best revolutionary traditions, they start pushing for a Church in Ireland where the people will start relying on themselves and the Holy Spirit to seize citizenship in their Church.

Cooney calls his annual conference “The Humbert Summer School.” This is in honor of the French General Jean Joseph Amable Humbert who brought troops to help the Irish fight the English for Irish independence in 1798. (In a marvelously written novel, Thomas Flanagan celebrates that romantic escapade. It is called The Year of the French.) The fact that the English vanquished Humbert and his French troops doesn’t seem to bother the Irish. They are still fighting for independence.

I am going to call on the Catholics among them to start fighting for a new kind of independence — from Rome — as a home grown, enculturated Irish Church, still in communion with Rome, but relying on its own Irish “sensus fidelium” and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The idea may sound Quixotic, but recent happenings in the Church tell me it is less Quixotic than we thought as little as a year ago. I will tell my audience why they, like General Humbert, have to give this revolution a go — and how they can. (The journalists among you might like to be there to chronicle the story.)
In case any of you, my friends, (or your friends) might be close enough to County Mayo to drop in on the beginnings of this revolution in Ireland (where Catholic public opinion may have already reached a critical mass), I am passing on the program for Thursday 19 August to Sunday 22 August 2010, 24th Annual Humbert Summer School 
at Castlebar and Killala, County Mayo, Ireland.

Under the patronage of Nobel Peace Laureate, John Hume

And the direction of Journalist and Author, John Cooney.

* * *

Keynote Address: Harlequin Hotel, Castlebar, 7 p.m. 19 August ‘Catholic Church Reform: No more thrones’
by Robert Blair Kaiser

Response: Michael Kelly – Deputy Editor, The Irish Catholic.
 Chair: John Cooney – Religion Correspondent,
The Irish Independent & Director HSS.

Reception

* * *

Friday August 21st

Session 2: Harlequin Hotel, Castlebar, 10am

Reflections on reaction of Pope Benedict & Irish Hierarchy to abuse crisis

Speakers:

Fr Iggy O’Donovan – OSA, Church Historian.

Bridget Mary Meehan

- Ordained Bishop of Roman Catholic Women Priests organisation in U.S.A

- Brendan Butler – Lay Catholic Activist & chairperson of the El Salvador Support Committee.

Chair: Patsy McGarry – Religious Affairs Correspondent, The Irish Times.

Coffee Break: 11:30a.m

Session 3: Harlequin Hotel, Castlebar, 12 Noon

Victims’ perspectives.

Speakers:

Marie Collins – Advocate of reform in the Catholic Church.

Andrew Madden – Author of “Altar Boy, A Story of Life After Abuse”.

Michael O’Brien – Former Mayor of Clonmel & Chairman of the Right to Peace Group.

Chair: Joe Little – RTE Religious Affairs Correspondent.

Session 4: Humbert Room, TF Royal Hotel & Theatre, Castlebar, 1.30pm

John Healy Luncheon Debate

Speaker: Patrick J Wall M.Div, LLM 
(Wall, a former Benedictine priest, is an associate in the law firm of Manly and Stewart of Newport Beach, California. Wall and Manly appeared in recent one-hour-long TV report on the lying U.S. bishops-in-bankruptcy who tried, unsuccessfully, to lie to the courts about the assets of their dioceses.)

Chair: Mike Burns – Broadcaster.

* At end of Session 4 there will be a presentation of Humbert School 2010

Outstanding Merit Awards to Marie Collins and Andrew Madden.

Session 5: Harlequin Hotel, Castlebar, 8pm

Humbert Book Club

Readings by Robert Blair Kaiser from his book “Cardinal Mahony, A Novel”.

Saturday August 22nd

Session 6: Harlequin Hotel, Castlebar, 10am

A Constitution for 21st Century Ireland

Speakers: Noel Coghlan – Politics Expert& former EU Deputy Chef de Cabinet.,Eugene Regan, S.C. – Fine Gael Senator.

Chair: Maurice Regan – Humbert School Adviser.

Coffee Break: 11:30a.m.

Session 7: Harlequin Hotel, Castlebar, 12 noon

Humbert Foreign Policy Debate: Can the EU Survive the Euro Crisis?

Joan Burton T. D. – Deputy Leader of the Labour Party & Finance Spokesperson.

Jim Higgins – M.E.P for North West & Former Government Chief Whip.

Ed Kelly – East European Expert.

Chair: Dr Paul Gillespie – Former Foreign Desk Editor, The Irish Times.

Session 8: Harlequin Hotel, Castlebar, 9pm

Humbert Book Club

Reading by author Sean Boyd from his book “Behind the Horseshoe Bar at

Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel”.

Housekeeping details:

€200 for full attendance or €50 per day ticket

Luncheon Debates will be charged separately

(prices to come)

Two Pay options:

1. Bank Transfer

Humbert School

Ulster Bank, Terenure

Sort Code: 98-50-70

Account No: 11294300

International Transfers:

IBAN: IE45ULSB98507011294300

IBANBIC: ULSBIE2D

.:

2. Send check to:

Humbert School

34 Eaton Square

Terenure

Dublin 6W

Other queries please contact: humbertschool@gmail.com

Accommodation

Humbert Summer School cannot arrange accommodation for attendees however you may contact:

HARLEQUIN HOTEL

Lannagh Road, Castlebar Co. Mayo

Tel: 094 928 6200 Fax: 094 928 6201

Email: info@harlequin.ie

Web: www.harlequin.ie

or their sister Hotel TF ROYAL:

Tel/Fax: 094 9023111

Web: www.tfroyalcastlebar.com

Email: info@tfroyalhotel.com

If there is no availability at the Harlequin or TF Royal Hotels they may be able to provide contact details of alternative local accommodations.

Other useful links:

:

Discover Ireland: www.discoverireland.ie

Failte Ireland: www.failteireland.ie

Mayo on the move: www.mayo-ireland.ie

Mayo is Magic: www.mayo.ie

Ireland Hotels (Hotels and Guesthouses Guide): www.irelandhotels.com

Town and Country Homes Bed and Breakfast Ireland: www.townandcountry.ie

Family Homes of Ireland Bed and Breakfast Accommodation Guide: www.familyhomes.ie

–

Robert Blair Kaiser

14249 North Third Avenue

Phoenix, AZ 85023

(602) 358-7274

(602) 300-5773 – cell

(602) 801-3320 – fax

rbkaiser@justgoodcompany.com

Sample or purchase an eBook version of

Cardinal Mahony: A Novel here

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/7027

(Read the first 40% of it for free.)

Buy an autographed copy of the print version here:

http://www.robertblairkaiser.com