New to the Blogroll: Letters to the "Catholic Blogosphere"
This one might not sit well with some people, as its proprietor is a man angry at the Church and angry with Catholics, especially of the blogging variety.
Regardless what you may think of this latest effort, or of my decision to include it in my blogroll, I consider the man a friend (to the extent someone you've never met can be a "friend"), and he has some things to say that bear listening to.
Between the lines of bitterness toward the Church (to which the proprietor of that blog once professed allegiance), you will also find some bitter pills that we Catholic bloggers should all swallow for our own good. He is right that there is much that ails St. Blog's.
And I have no doubt that some of his "letters" to the Catholic blogosphere are aimed squarely at me.
(Hat tip: Terry Nelson)
Labels: Blogging
posted by Pro Ecclesia 1:51 PM
13 comments
13 Comments:
Actually, not one is aimed at you, though there are points where we'd disagree. You, at least, have sense.
You have nothing to apologize for or explain. FWIW, I agree with the call.
I've been reading "Letters" compulsively, myself. The antipopes one was especially apt.
Thanks again for the Dunnotar material, Jeffrey. If you ever get up to the Grampians, make it a stop.
Thanks Jay!
Sometimes Mark Shea happens to good people.
I'm an abuse survivor and sadly Jeffrey's blog on the beautiful buildings in the church was one of the few ones that I regularly visited AND ENJOYED. I don't know what happened to him and I hope that it wasn't finding out that a loved one was abused, but every single thing that he has written is something that I have felt about the the blogosphere and their hostility toward clergy abuse victims and those who advocate for them.
Anonymous,
I apologize if this blog has ever come across as being hostile to abuse survivors.
Early on, the Catholic blogosphere was very much angry with those bishops and priests who perpetrated this evil upon their victims. Go read the early days of Amy Welborn's blog Open Book for a taste of the reaction from Catholic bloggers. I remember vividly Rod Dreher (he was still Catholic then) writing in Amy's comment boxes about wanting to kick the groin area of a diocesan chancellor who had been arrested for trying to pick up young boys in a park (after the boys had kicked the living crap out of the perv).
I think what you've seen more recently is a backlash against 3 things:
(1) the complete overreach by some of those who are using the scandal to institute "reforms" that have absolutely nothing to do with the scandal itself, but rather are a subterfuge for pushing a certain agenda (e.g., "womynpriestesses", married clergy, democratic rather than hierarchical governance, etc.);
(2) outrageously high damage awards (and settlements) that punish the laity way more than they punish the perpetrators of the crimes themselves - but I think most bloggers blame the bishops for these awards; and
(3) let's call it "Anderson's Law" - the sense that people use the scandal in an effort to undermine the Church's teaching authority on every other issue.
Again, if this blog has ever shown hostility to the victims of priest sexual abuse (as opposed to certain organizations that purport to represent those victims), I am sorry. I have 4 young children of my own, and I can only imagine how I would react if a person of trust such as our priest ever did anything like the monstrous behavior to which our bishops turned a blind eye for 30-40 years.
Have to disagree with you on this one Jay. I find little on Letters except bile, hatred and rank ignorance of English history. Primal scream therapy and blogging are a poor mix.
Always a pleasure to look in on a blog that has absolutely nothing to do with me and find billy, for no discernible reason, slamming me again. Is your perfume "Obsession", billy?
Sheesh!
Mark,
You have to admit that you have quite a "fan base".
;-)
Heh!
To return to the topic, FWIW, I offer my prayers for Mr. Smith in the midst of my own Perfect Storm of various calamities. I don't think cyberspace is particularly good as a vehicle of friendship or fellowship. All you can do is offer words, and they don't seem to help much in the face of the intense suffering he seems to be enduring. But, if it helps, we're closer together than he probably might think in terms of fellow-Christian-inflicted suffering, sundry disasters and so forth. I haven't discussed it on my blog much for largely the reasons he points out: cyberspace is not a safe place to expose your heart. But if it will help him feel a bit less alone and abandoned, I hope Mr. Smith will find a bit of solace in the midst of his rage to know that one person is weeping with him. Not much help, as I say, but it's about all I've got right now.
Ah, irony--Jeffrey wrote something recently about the disdain Christians have for each other.
There was no need for the anti-Mark feud to show up here. None whatsoever.
It's getting wearisome.
And it appears his new blog is down already.
Jay,
I thank you for the apology. What I think you may not have seen over the years is that when you criticize the advocates for abuse victims you really are criticizing the very few people who have stood up to perp priests and bishops.
You blame the advocates and lawyers for punishing the laity. I blame the perps, the bishops who covered for them, and the church's lawyers who (at least in Toledo) have made at least $1.5 million dollars in this mess defending common criminals.
Let me give you an example of what I went through. I disclosed my abuse to a therapist when I was in my 20s. I was employed and thankfully had health insurance. I went through 3 rounds of therapy (extensive and lengthy) over the course of the next ten years. Thank God. I had health insurance. When I finally went to the church (not to get them to pay for my therapy or to get a settlement) to let them know, they treated me like I was the criminal. And guess what they did. They let the guy stay in ministry for 5 more years.
I'm a lucky one.
I'm convinced that the church did this to protect their bottom line and the to coin another phrase ... "If you live by the checkbook. You die by the checkbook."
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