About
This blog/website is provided as a service to survivors/victims of childhood and adult sexual abuse by Catholic priests, nuns, brothers, and bishops, The service is provided by the blog’s owner and editor, Frank Douglas of Tucson, AZ.
WHAT WE DO
We provide news–from various sources–and opinion–my own and those of friends and partners–on issues of interest.
OUR VALUES
We ground ourselves on three major values: justice (especially the passion for social justice of the Old Testament prophets), compassion (especially the compassion of Jesus of Nazareth), and democratic principles.
REFORM
Since 2002 we have witnessed widespread clerical abuse of children and the moral and pastoral failures of Catholic bishops in response to abuse survivors and their families. The present Church governing structure is rife with injustice. It needs to be radically changed–as in radical surgery.
The Roman Catholic Church is in crisis and needs major reform today, now more than ever.
OUR AUDIENCE
Our blog speaks to victims/survivors of clergy sexual abuse, Catholics, and their friends.
JUSTICE
We align ourselves with the legacy of the Old Testament prophets in our striving for social justice for all oppressed people. The oppressed include the survivors of those abused by priests and by others in authority in our Church; women and married men who are excluded from priestly ministry; women; the poor; priests who have left the Institutional Clerical Church to marry; the powerless laity; gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and trans-gender people; theologians who are not accorded appropriate freedom of inquiry and due process in Church proceedings; and whistle blowers who strive to tell us the truth about unchristian behavior of church officials.
COMPASSION
We strive to be compassionate as God is compassionate–as Jesus of Nazareth taught.
DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES
We value the self-evident truths in the Declaration of Independence, as updated by the civil rights and women’s movements of the twentieth century: that all men, and women, are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. And that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men and Women, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, which the current Government of the Roman Catholic Church has become, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
We value the principles in the Bill of Rights: freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press; the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
WHAT WE WANT
Peace and healinf for all who have been abused. A just, compassionate church community, founded on democratic principles–in short, a church of the people, by the people, and for the people.
BLOG
A blog (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are written in chronological order and displayed in reverse chronological order.
A typical blog entry, or post, combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of this and many blogs and we strongly encourage readers to provide their comments.
There’s an easy two-step way to ensure you receive at your desktop all Voice from the Desert blog entries. First, set up a personal home page on Google or Yahoo. Second, click on the orange icon on this page at the upper right under the desert landscape image, and follow directions from Google or Yahoo.
The Voice from the Desert is a two-column blog, with entries on the left and reference information on the right.
Recent Posts provides links to the six most recent blog entries.
Pages provide links to blog pages, which are parts of the blog separate from the entries.
Categories are used to classify blog entries. Categories include Abuse and Cover Up, Church Culture, Finances and Ownership, Friends and Partners, Must Read, Reform, Restructuring, Spirituality, and Uncategorized. A blog entry may belong to more than one category. Clicking a category link displays all blog entries in that category.
Links are provided to the websites of leading survivor support and church reform organizations.
The links under Archives provide links to all blog entries for that month
Clicking on a day in the Calendar provides the blog entries posted on that date.
The Google Internet search button at the very top of the website’s homepage is provided for convenience. We strongly suggest that you use it.
Meta is used only for site administration.
Donate. There are no fees to subscribe to the blog or to the newsletter, which is delivered by e-mail. Click here to subscribe to the newsletter. However, there are expenses associated with blog and newsletter development and maintenance. These include website design services, web hosting services, and database maintenance. If you would care to donate a small fee to help with these costs, it would be much appreciated.
CONTACT INFORMATION
To contact us by e-mail, send a message to frankdouglas62@yahoo.com.
Our mailing address and phone number are:
8064 W. Greensleeves Way
Tucson, AZ 85743
(520) 579-9575 (home)