Posted by Suzanne Sadler on August 15, 2009 · 8 Comments
Suzanne Sadler has a mind and spirit that I would not want to venture into alone. It isn’t safe! It isn’t safe, at least, if by “safe” one means riding out a storm by hunkering down in the nearest protected harbor. No, that’s just not Suzanne. Living by the motto, “When the going gets tough, the tough launch a blog,” Suzanne responded to the perfect storm of bad press about Catholic priests by stepping right smack into the deluge.
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 Sadler, 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 Sadler 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 Sadler’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 Sadler 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 CatholicAnswers.com forum. It was a posting by Suzanne Sadler, 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.
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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Filed under Abuse Scandal · Tagged with catholic answers, Catholic Answers Forum, catholic priest, falsely accused, George Weigel, Gordon MacRae, Hope, john henry newman, Mary, priests in crisis, Richard John Neuhaus, Silenced, These Stone Walls, www.thesestonewalls.com
Posted by Suzanne Sadler on July 28, 2009 · 6 Comments
I thought you’d like to know that Father Gordon MacRae launched his new blog this morning:
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Filed under Abuse Scandal · Tagged with Abuse Scandal, due process, falsely accused, Falsely Accused Priest, Father Gordon MacRae, Fr Gordon MacRae, Gordon MacRae, persecuted priests, Rev Gordon MacRae, Reverend Gordon MacRae, These Stone Walls, www.gordonmacrae.net
