From Crisis to Hope
He is clothed in both his Franciscan habit and his prison uniform. It is difficult to see in the image, but he is holding a book with Japanese characters symbolic of his ministry to the people of Japan before his return to Poland to face imprisonment at Auschwitz. The Japanese characters are pronounced, “seibo no Kishi,” and the literal meaning is “the knights belong to the Blessed Mother.”
From Crisis to Hope by Fr. Gordon MacRae
It was one year ago this week on the solemnity of the Assumption that Suzanne published her first blog post launching Priests in Crisis. It was one day after the Church honors the martyrdom of St. Maximilian Kolbe. It came as no surprise to me that Suzanne is a member of the Militia of the Immaculata, a movement founded by Fr. Maximilian before he was imprisoned at Auschwitz. He pointed everyone he met to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is no mystery why Priests in Crisis entrusts wounded priests “to Mary their Mother.”
I don’t think most people can readily grasp how important the apostolate of Priests in Crisis has been for me.
The most difficult aspect of being a priest in prison is that I am virtually silenced. The shouts of the mob vilifying me and others who have been accused have long since stifled our efforts to speak truth. From my prison cell over the years, I have written thousands of letters to hundreds of priests, bishops and Catholic lay leaders. Earning but $2 a day in prison labor, everything I had went to postage, paper and typing ribbons. I was relentless in my writing for years. Ninety-five percent of those I wrote to never responded. I wrote pleading for fairness for accused priests, but it mostly fell upon deaf ears. One priest sent my letter back to me with a terse note instructing me never to write to him again.
Those who did answer over the years, however, stand out as people who speak and write with the authority of truth. Among these were two very special men who became my lifeline for communication with our Church. They were Cardinal Avery Dulles and Fr. Richard John Neuhaus. They encouraged me to write and to never stop writing. Then, suddenly, within months of each other in 2008, they were gone. I have read many tributes to them both, and I know that many miss them. I believe that I miss them most of all for without them, I was silenced again.
A few months ago, at the end of a particularly difficult day in prison, I offered the day in prayer for Fr. Neuhaus. I asked him to please remember me in the Presence of our Lord. Days later, I was contacted by Suzanne, seemingly out of the blue. She asked that I post a comment for Pentecost on Priests in Crisis.
My first post, “Kill the Priest!” made the rounds in the Catholic blog-o-sphere, and led down a short but winding path to the launching of my own blog, These Stone Walls: Musings from Prison of a Priest Falsely Accused.
Just months ago, I could never have envisioned this. Suzanne and the readers of Priests in Crisis made this happen by giving me a voice again. Actually, Fr. Neuhaus and Cardinal Dulles made it happen. They were dear friends to each other on earth, and now they conspire together. I know that they would both approve of Priests in Crisis.
George Weigel was also a dear friend of Fr. Neuhaus. In his challenging book, “The Courage to be Catholic,” Mr. Weigel wrote,
“The path from crisis to reform is the path along which the entire Church rediscovers the great adventure of fidelity and Catholic orthodoxy.” (The Courage to be Catholic, Basic Books, 2002, p. 230).
Fr. Neuhaus called the priesthood crisis “the long Lent of 2002,” and once wrote to me that the path from this crisis is marked by three signposts:
“Fidelity, fidelity and fidelity.”
This is precisely why Suzanne’s apostolate along with the readers of Priests in Crisis is so important. While the voices of some of the self-described “faithful,” are using the crisis to foment dissent Suzanne and her readers practice a quiet but dignified fidelity to the Church. This is, in fact, the path to reform. It is also the path to hope.
Fr. Maximilian Kolbe would also approve of Priests in Crisis. In my first blog post on These Stone Walls (St. Maximilian Kolbe and the Man in the Mirror), I described an image of Fr. Maximilian that is now on the shaving mirror of my prison cell. He is clothed in both his Franciscan habit and his prison uniform.
It is difficult to see in the image, but he is holding a book with Japanese characters symbolic of his ministry to the people of Japan before his return to Poland to face imprisonment at Auschwitz. The Japanese characters are pronounced, “seibo no Kishi,” and the literal meaning is “the knights belong to the Blessed Mother.”
The mission of Priests in Crisis – to entrust priests to Mary, Our Mother – is inspired and deeply meaningful. It is a road map to hope. In the August/September issue of Homiletic and Pastoral Review, Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J. has an excellent article, “The Sacred Heart and the Catholic Priest.” Fr. Baker writes (quoting Pope Pius XII in Menti Nostrae),
“Priests can be called by a very special title, ‘sons of Mary.’ “Fr. Baker added, “Our Blessed Mother is also the mother of all priests.“
St. Maximilian and Suzanne are on the same page here. They know that despite all of the dents in our armor, we seek refuge in the Mother of our Lord. A few days ago, Charlene Duline, mailed me a page printed from the Catholic Answers forum. It was a posting by Suzanne, and there was a wonderful quote from the Venerable John Henry Newman:
“And the truth is passed on by the small, fervent band of the few. Not by the many, but by the dauntless, resolute, dedicated few.”
Psychiatrist and author, Viktor Frankl named Fr. Maximilian Kolbe as his model of sacrifice at Auschwitz (Man’s Search for Meaning, p. 179). Dr. Frankl added,
“At times of great crisis, decent people form a minority. More than that, they will always be a minority. And yet I see therein the very challenge to join the minority.”
Thank you, Suzanne, and the readers and contributors of Priests in Crisis. Thank you for being the very decent people the Church needs, the dauntless, resolute and dedicated voice of the faithful who show us who are broken the way to hope.
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Persecuted Priests: A Growing Problem in US by Mary Ann Kreitzer
Persecuted priests: A growing problem in US
by Mary Ann Kreitzer
Catholic Media Coalition
During the civil war many soldiers suffered such severe wounds that surgeons had to remove limbs to save lives. Eye witnesses describe piles of arms and legs outside makeshift hospitals near the battlefield. Doctors mutilated men to save their lives.
But what if the surgeons wouldn’t cut? Suppose they ignored infections because they feared the attitudes of those who saw men disfigured by the knife? Even worse, what if they were quacks selling snake oil cures with no concern for their patients at all? The men would die, of course, victims of lethal bacteria.
That’s our plight in the Church in the United States. The patient is the bride of Christ, and her diseased limbs are the many dioceses infected with the corruption of dissent and homosexuality. The doctors are bishops and clergy. Those who cover up the rot are the quacks. They apply false remedies like touching programs and mandatory fingerprinting while covering up and enabling corruption. The true doctors are faithful priests who love the Church and want to purify her. Instead of thanking their loyal sons, bad bishops persecute and vilify them. Meanwhile the quacks and charlatans flourish.
How many ways do bad bishops punish good priests?
Take your pick: exile, silencing, mandatory evaluation at pseudo-psychiatric facilities like St. Luke’s, frequent reassignment, making them permanent parochial vicars with no hope of becoming pastors, marginalization, driving them out (to other dioceses or the military vicariate), whispering campaigns that designate them “mentally unstable” or “unfit for ministry,” etc. The ultimate punishment, the bishop’s sword of Damocles, so to speak, is suspension. It hangs over the head of a good priest who knows his “spiritual father” will use it. How many orthodox priests hear variations of the threat, “You have no idea what I can do to you!” But the good priests do know. They’ve seen the sword fall on their brothers.
Many orthodox priests live in fear that their bishops will remove their priestly faculties.
Why? Because they are having an affair with a parishioner’s wife? Because they’re hoarding porno flicks in the closet? Because they’re letting a homosexual buddy live in the rectory? No! Because they defend the faith vigorously against the evils of modernism and the homosexual subculture.
Follow Fr. John Zuhlsdorf’s commentary and discussion on the abuse of psychological screening by the Lavender Mafia to keep REAL MEN out of the Catholic priesthood:
Fr John Zuhlsdorf: Holy See on use of psychology in priestly formation
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Catholic Therapists: A New Direction for Psychology
By now we’ve all heard the stories of whistle blower priests being bullied into checking into the diocesan-approved treatment center for “evaluation.” Or perhaps the seminarian or diocesan priest branded a sexual deviant, by the shrinks hired to screen him, for opposing women’s ordination or the Lavender Mafia. More recently, priests who have been falsely accused of misconduct and removed from ministry without due process find themselves bullied into the diocesan gulag for evaluation.
Here’s an entry from the Opus Bono Sacerdotii FAQ:
22. I have a priest friend who is looking for some counseling help, but he is scared to death to go to the bishop or any other brother priest, especially any one associated with the diocese. He, and I agree, is afraid that the minute you let the bishop or diocese in, he’ll/they’ll, remove the priest and his name will be disseminated all over the media and elsewhere. Furthermore, treatment centers are just as bad since they report to the bishop and are paid for by the diocese and I’ve heard some real sad stories about these places. Do you have any advice on him seeking counsel? Are there any good priest psychologists that can be trusted and are loyal to the teachings of the Church and the Holy Father?
There are very few priest psychologists/psychiatrists available. Many qualified Catholic mental health professionals help priests in this country. To find a Catholic therapist in your area who share your convictions in integrating the truths of the Catholic faith into their practice we highly recommend visiting www.catholictherapists.com.
Residential treatment is rarely indicated unless a priest is suicidal or severely incapacitated. We have priests go to psychologists from other parts of the country, take hospitality near a counselor’s center and participate in intensive 4 day per week outpatient psychotherapy. Also many priests are treated on the phone from different parts of the country and this has been very succesful. The most common conflicts in priests are those of loneliness, low male confidence, anxiety and mistrust. I’d recommend priests read the article our advisor Dr. Rick Fitzgibbons wrote in The Priest on resolving loneliness in priestly life which can be found at www.maritalhealing.com/ResolvingLoneliness.pdf.
It’s no wonder that many priests in crisis are apprehensive about seeking help for depression or anxiety triggered by the intense trauma of being falsely accused. Some commit suicide.
Follow Fr. John Zuhlsdorf’s commentary and discussion on the abuse of psychological screening by the Lavender Mafia to keep REAL MEN out of the Catholic priesthood:
Fr John Zuhlsdorf: Holy See on use of psychology in priestly formation
As Joe Maher mentioned in his FAQ at Opus Bono Sacerdotii (read about them here), the most common conflicts in priests are:
- Loneliness
- Low Male Confidence
- Anxiety
- Mistrust
joemaher(at)opusbono(dot)org
Fr. Joe’s Blog featured a great post referencing the gulags:
Retrospective on Clergy Child Abuse
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My Attempt to Help Priests in Crisis is Thirteen Years Late
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
In the winter of 1995, I was speaking with a very saintly priest about a story that made the front page of The Washington Post that morning. News broke out that four priests were arrested for abusing their young victims. One of them officiated at my friend’s wedding the year prior.
Back then before the media barrage of similar stories, I was capable of being stunned. This faithful priest then went on to tell me that the biggest scandal in the priesthood is its suicide rate. He didn’t elaborate.
Suicide rate? This did not compute. No doubt, I was clearly influenced by the clericalism then prevalent among the laity of our “we have it good here” diocese. Sure, I’ve heard of priests having a crisis of faith — hey what Hollywood movie or novel hasn’t depicted a priest undergoing a crisis of faith. I figured these guys just needed to step up their devotions, pick up their breviaries more often, and foster a devotion to our Lady — then their suicide rate would go down. So I tucked away the information.
Fast forward 13 years. Now I’m married having just moved to Sydney Australia seven months ago. Previously, the media coverage of anything Catholic came across to me as the usual ongoing pathetic drivel — until recently. The local media’s coverage of the Holy Father’s visit for World Youth Day 08 was nothing short of demonic.
The incessant demonic shrieks of so-called victims advocacy groups paraded around by The Sydney Morning Herald abated just in time for me to learn of the trend of public desecrations of the Blessed Sacrament by Prof. P.Z. Myers and others back home.
One could read headlines clamoring for a papal apology alongside headlines denouncing a papal apology for not having any merit. Words are not enough, the so-called advocacy groups spew.
It’s no wonder a few bishops (I do mean a FEW. Many bishops care deeply for their priests) in North America were spooked into embracing a zero-tolerance policy. Now they had an out. They could deliver something — anything — to appease the mobs. At no other time could “uneasy lies the head that wears the crown” ring more true.
Now under these new conditions, an accusation of misconduct made against a priest = fact until proven otherwise over a period of years. Oh, and no need to bother with due process or basic civil rights for the accused priest. The accused may have hours to vacate the rectory/presbytery. ”Invitations” of voluntary laicizations are offered. There is of course canonical due process for the accused priest. It may not be mentioned to the accused, however, at the diocesan level in many cases.
You can read the accounts and comments submitted by these priests and others under the What It’s Like tab.
Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ has been very critical of the Dallas Charter drafted by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops because it leaves the accused priest vulnerable without due process. Those removed from ministry without due process are referred to as “chartered” priests in their ranks. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference anticipated this potential harm and decreed in December 2000:
“All persons are presumed innocent unless and until guilt is either admitted or determined by due process. If church personnel accused of abuse are asked to step aside from the office they hold while the matter is pending, it is to be clearly understood that they are on leave and that no admissions or guilt are implied by this fact. Unless and until guilt has been admitted or proved, those accused should not be referred to as offenders or in any way treated as offenders.”
Didn’t like that Father insisted on the Church’s magisterial teaching during his homily last Sunday? Did that really piss you off? Feeling a repressed memory coming on? Don’t worry. Report it anonymously. Your report will be held in the strictest confidence. Your name will never be revealed.
So now the webmaster of a Catholic clergy sexual offender database collects the names of accused priests and throws them in with the convicted offenders. The names of the accused priests were released by the diocese and subsequently publicized all over the syndicated media worldwide. Now the accused priest has to explain to his Mom why he’s on some international pervert list. Or worse, his mom has to explain why her son is on some international pervert list.
I remember when the Virginia State Police published the names of CONVICTED sexual predators on an online database, and the ACLU went ballistic.
Some accused priests get to keep their stipend, but many do not during this ordeal. The accused priest cannot get a job of course. Work references from his bishop?
I learned of this crisis in the priesthood very recently. Scratch that . . . 13 years ago. Priests and seminarians cannot speak about it publicly for obvious reasons. So members of the laity rose to the occasion to provide emergency assistance to these priests thrown into personal crisis.
Opus Bono Sacerdotii was founded by Joe Maher and other Catholic business men in Detroit in response to this current crisis. They have formed a network of professionals to help priests. These professionals include therapists, canon lawyers, civil and criminal attorneys, financial consultants, career trainers, among others. Oftentimes the priest is despondent contemplating suicide. OBS arranges for a suicide watch in these cases.
Donations allow OBS to pay for these services and emergency funding at no cost to the priest. Guilt or innocence never enters into it. Any priest in trouble gets help.
Please spend time reading these accounts of suffering priests.
Related posts
About
“The highest form of resistance is to give hope to those who have none.” ~ Adam Stephan Cardinal Sapieha to then Seminarian Karol Jozef Wojtyla
The Priests in Crisis blog site is a gateway to emergency resources for faithful Catholic priests in personal crisis.
A Catholic priest in the United States does not consistently enjoy due process nor civil rights when accused of wrong doing. In a matter of days or hours, a diocesan priest may find himself without his reputation, his home, his family, his livelihood, his liberty, and his hope.
“I know now that people are being a lot more careful about what they say. They [the bishops] are realising that the blogosphere and the internet, with the way the media is today, they know that they are going to be called to account for what they say or do.” ~ Catholic Herald Interview with Fr. John Zuhlsdorf
After reading From Scandal to Hope and listening to Our Lady and This Present Darkness by Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, I realized the role of the Catholic laity in helping its priests through this wintertime of the Church.
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Get Help Here
Suzanne, a priest contacted me after seeing your site. Thank you again, and may Our Lady of Priests be your health and protection! ~ Joe
Opus Bono Sacerdotii (work for the good of the priesthood) is an initiative of the Catholic laity to help priests in crisis throughout the world by providing these emergency services at no cost to the *priest.
For this emergency aid to continue, it is imperative that anyone reading this make OBS known to people who may offer them monetary assistance.
If you are contemplating exposing corruption in your diocese to your bishop, contact OBS first to ensure you have access to a canon lawyer’s counsel. Doing the moral thing can turn out badly for the whistleblower otherwise.
Confidential Email Request for Assistance:
joemaher(at)opusbono(dot)org
If you have been removed from ministry and would like to talk
to brother priests confidentially for moral and spiritual support,
contact: priestnetwork(at)opusbono(dot)org
“It is edifying to see such lay people willing to risk everything to help so many in the ministerial priesthood. It is a privilege for me to be here, thank you.” ~ Jose Cardinal Sanchez, Former prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy - member of the Holy See upon his visit from Rome in October 2007 - offering Holy Mass in Our Lady of Priests Chapel located in Opus Bono Sacerdotii’s offices.
*All validly ordained Catholic priests who are not ministering in a schismatic situation and who desire to be in union with the Supreme Pontiff are eligible for support.
