Set-decorator Catholicism: clericalism thrives in a new phase of the sex abuse crisis

Part One of Two

Decoration: (2) That which decorates or adorns, an ornament, esp. an ornament temporarily put up on a special location; used ... of scenery on the stage.
-- Oxford English Dictionary

Set-decorator: The person responsible for dressing a motion picture set with appropriate decorative furnishings -- furniture, rugs, lamps, draperies, wall paintings, books, etc.
-- The Film Encyclopedia, Third Edition

Chicago, November 1986: One final scene remains to be filmed as director Brian DePalma's version of "The Untouchables" wraps its location shooting just before Thanksgiving. Robert DeNiro, starring as Al Capone, waits impassively to walk down the main stairway of the Lexington Hotel, the gangster's Chicago headquarters during the Prohibition beer wars. The Lexington's lobby, including a putting green for the amusement of his gang, has been meticulously re-created by the celebrated production designer Patrizia Von Brandenstein in the soaring entrance hall of Roosevelt University, a massive Buddha of a building designed by Louis Sullivan almost a century before. Outside in the pale November sunlight, vintage cars line Michigan Avenue and twine tied bundles of facsimile newspapers lay on the sidewalk as if tossed off a delivery truck that has just turned the corner and disappeared back into the Depression.

This satisfies DePalma's artistic demand for accurate period detail as well as DeNiro's acting ground rules that no hints of present reality violate his "sight lines" and break his time-warp spell of inhabiting both razzmatazz Chicago and Al Capone at the same time. Visitors are ordered to leave the set or to hide behind the furniture so that DeNiro descending will see only a trompe-l'oeil of the lost and gone hotel. After DeNiro swaggers down the stairs and DePalma yells cut, the spinning top of movie illusion that has been shimmying like a Twenties dancer, wobbles and tumbles to rest ...

Vatican II Deniers in American Catholicism

American Catholicism should be preparing for 2020 when a large increase in the Catholic population, mostly Hispanic, will present Church leaders with the challenge to open rather than close new churches and schools. Instead of preparing for the future, bishops and priests now in key administrative and pastoral positions, led by Pope Benedict XVI, are dressing the set of Catholic life with props from the past in an effort to take the church back to 1920.

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That era of simplistically captioned silent movies is now re-created through the awkwardly translated liturgical readings soon to be expensively imposed on what these self-styled "reformers" hope to be passive and silent parishioners. Americans are not, however, alone in experiencing this phenomenon. In May the bishops of England and Wales restored meatless Fridays year round for Catholics. In the same month a nun held up a silver reliquary carrying the blood of the newly beatified Pope John Paul II, to applause by a large crowd in St. Peter's Square. Besides alerting Pope Benedict to beware of doctors holding syringes, this reveals the Transylvanian caste of some of the clerics now decorating the set of Catholicism throughout the world.

As demanding and sometimes as narcissistic as great actors, these set-dresser clerics are tantrum ready if they pick up any symbol or practice of Vatican II in their sight lines. While the makers of "The Untouchables" knew that they had emptied a warehouse of dusty props to create a temporary illusion of Prohibition era Chicago, these "New Men," as they sometimes style themselves, believe that placing pre-Vatican II artifacts everywhere in contemporary Catholicism actually restores the high times of the hierarchical Church.

Clericalism redux energizes this spreading movement to reinstate that Neverland age of Catholicism when priests controlled the church, lay people knew their place, the Mass was in Latin, God was in His heaven and all was right with the world.

All they need are church parking lots filled with Twenties era Pierce-Arrows and Model T's to match the retro-fitted customs, such as recruiting people to keep vigil with a supposedly lonely Jesus in overnight adoration of the Blessed Sacrament

The examined life is not, however, the focus of set-decorators who promote an unexamined return to Flapper-era Faith. Nothing better symbolizes these efforts than their fussy revival of that liturgical species once thought extinct, the Solemn High Mass that keeps lay people well away from the altar as, by deploying a deacon and sub-deacon to assist the priest celebrant, reinforces the concept of the hierarchically layered priesthood and church. In short, the church before, as one set-decorator said in my hearing, the "morally evil" Vatican II occurred.

Through this movement, clericalism, whose exclusive country club culture has finally been identified as one of the breeding grounds and hiding places for priest sex abusers, has vaulted back onto center stage or, better, the center sanctuary of ecclesiastical life. These new zealots assault Vatican II's formal collegial theology of the church as a People and Catholicism's informal sense of itself as a big family.

I recently witnessed a set-decorator priest just in from bureaucratic duty in Rome as a first-time pastor. Moving swiftly to deconstruct the Vatican II parish that he apparently now viewed as his property, he dismissed the extraordinary eucharistic ministers, claiming that only a priest or deacon is permitted by canon law to take the Eucharist to the sick. He also ended the practice of receiving the Eucharist under both species, claiming that the chalices needed "re-plating." They have not been seen since. He then preached something that everybody in the church already knew, that they receive the Body and Blood of the Lord even if they only receive the host. His real objective, of course, was to remove from his sight lines a practice that he identified as a bad outcome of Vatican II.

Angle of Repose

Set-decorators settle into what novelist Wallace Stegner called an "angle of repose" that defines the way they perceive themselves and the people around them. These clergymen look up to their superiors and down on their people whom they judge to be in need of rehabilitation or conversion. They want to de-program their people of their memories of Vatican II and purge their churches of any influence of that council by constantly correcting and re-educating their flocks in a strict constructionist interpretation of basic Catholic beliefs and practices. One new pastor of this old stripe introduced himself to his people in his first sermon as the herald "sent to make Catholics out of you."

I made notes as a quintessential set-decorator rambled through a Corpus Christi sermon, haranguing the parishioners about something they knew to be untrue: "You do not fulfill your Sunday obligation if you arrive after the Gospel or leave before the priest gives his last blessing. Remember what happened to the one who left the Last Supper early."

He then launched an attack as amazing as it was revealing, "We've been through an era where anything is good enough for Jesus so I want to remind you of some things. In the Eucharist Jesus is the bridegroom and you are members of the bride so that receiving the Eucharist is that moment at which the bridegroom and the bride complete their union. As members of the bride, how do you prepare? How do you dress? Do you arrive on time? Do you keep the fast? Do you chew gum? Do you take mints? Avoid these as penance for your sins."

"Reverence over Preference every time ..."

"I want to remind you," he continued, "that it is a moral evil for non-Catholics to receive Communion. Don't violate their consciences by inviting them. Who can go to Communion? Baptized Catholics who have made their First Communion and who are in a state of grace. And the preferred way to receive Communion is on the tongue. Studies show that this is not only theologically correct but the most efficient way to receive. Receiving Communion in the hand is permitted only by a papal indult that the Holy Father could change at any time.

"You should bow when the person ahead of you bows. That is the fastest, most efficient way to do it. Bowing at the right time and receiving Communion on the tongue follows the principle of 'Reverence over Preference every time.'" He added more remarkable Mass etiquette, "You should only give the kiss of peace to the person next to you, not to anybody else and no moving around the church to give it to others."

He returned breathily to his extraordinary metaphor of the marital bed for receiving the Eucharist, "Communion defines who you are as spouses. The bridegroom has given himself to the bride. The priest receives first as the bridegroom in fulfillment of the wedding promises. So the bridegroom is within you. The priest then blesses the bride in the name of the Holy Trinity."

Parishioners gazed around uneasily, does he really mean that, does he know what he's saying? Yes to the first, No to the second, but he had already shifted subjects. "You should not hold hands," he commanded, "during the Our Father because the priest has his hands separated at the time and because the Our Father isn't about us." He gazed down dismissively, "You can hold hands any time outside church."

The parishioners handled all this as healthy experienced Catholics always do, letting the rant run its course and, when the moment arrived, passing the kiss of peace to everybody within reach. Set-decorators do not realize the danger in condescending to men and women whose maturity and theological sophistication regularly equal and many times surpass their own.

The New Virtual Phase of the Sex Abuse Crisis

Set-decorators know more about their props than they do about their people or themselves. They experience the unconscious rewards that arise from demeaning and humiliating other people. Hidden even to them is the primitive component depicted in a stark scene in David Lean's celebrated movie, "Lawrence of Arabia." Lawrence is subjected to a lashing in the presence of a military official whose slightly twitching cheek muscle is the only signal of the inner gratification he takes in this spectacle devised by and staged only for him. These clerics do not admit, much less try to identify, the rewards they pick up from putting other people down. That they seal these feelings off so that they do not attend to them does not lessen the impact of their behavior on their people. It is not difficult to observe the intensity and self-righteousness with which they claim to be correct in all matters or the unforgiving and exaggerated tone of their condemnations. You can sense the disparity between the smallness of the proposed infraction, "You miss Mass by leaving before the priest does," and the sarcastic severity of the condemnation, "Remember what happened to the one who left the Last Supper early."

Other signals include making claims, usually invoking non-existent "documents," that contradict accepted theology, such as insisting that Catholicism is based on the crucifixion rather than the resurrection in tones that belittle even the possibility of raising a question. It is instructive to note how many of their interventions in parish life, as in dismissing Parish Councils, represent the triumph of one man over another man or group of men. These include, of course, the taken-for-granted denigration of women and goes along with their overall sense of superiority to others expressed in the piously masked aspects of their put you down at all costs style that rewards them at unconscious levels of their personalities.

We Have Power and You Do Not ...

One can also observe the exaggerated, not to say operatic, gestures that these supercilious clergy employ in celebrating Mass. Descending beneath the altar for several seconds before elevating the Host, for example, is one of their embarrassingly histrionic ways of making themselves rather than the sacrament the center of attention, Look at me, I am the celebrant here. Members of the congregation are not so much swept up in this faux piety as they are put off by its studied, staged, and ready-for-my-close-up character. In all these attitudes and gestures, set-decorators telegraph their overarching, sexually triumphant message: We have power and you do not and we enjoy using it over you.

This patronizing style recapitulates the symbolic dynamics of the Sex Abuse Crisis in which clerics with power use it over those without power in order to satisfy immature and unresolved needs within themselves. Set-dresser clerics are the agents of a new, more subtle if no less perverse phase of the Sex Abuse Crisis.

Set-decorating provides these priests with a justifying vehicle for their triumphalist style and a pious filter through which they express their own uncertain personal development. The elaborate re-creation of the surfaces and practices of a by-gone age provides a massive and complex defense for the manipulation of the spiritual and psychological lives of others by clerics who either do not understand or cannot admit the secret agenda beneath their unhealthy exercise of power over their people.

Sex abuse occurs whenever one person uses others, debasing them for motives that are hidden or disguised from one or both and that are seasoned with low-level gratifications. This can be done overtly through direct physical abuse, or covertly through the psychological abuse of other persons. This small but insidious fraction of the clergy thereby reveal a need to punish what is healthy in others in order to reward what is unhealthy in themselves. That is virtual sex abuse, impure, un-simple, and undeniable.

Abused by the Hierarchical Model

This tragic signature of sex abuse may be observed in the reactions of good Catholics whose feelings of being treated like children are the same as those of the children victims of the first phase of the Sex Abuse Crisis. The set-decorator clerics who extend the sex abuse crisis in their demeaning treatment of their parishioners are not, however, monsters but men who deserve more understanding than condemnation. They are themselves victims of the hierarchical system that drew them in with its appeal to their romantic pre-adolescent idealism. The hierarchical model fixated them at that level by rewarding them for passively accepting its growth-inhibiting discipline. The healthiest of men pay a price for the unqualified loyalty that living by the rules and customs of hierarchy demands of them. Men who are not fully grown when they enter the hierarchical system are flash frozen in psychological place by its inter-related demands and rewards. Such candidates are, we might say, abused by their long, slow years of socialization into hierarchy's clerical ranks.

While some may glory in its patriarchal ethos, the majority of America's bishops are fundamentally healthy men who sacrifice more of themselves than we might suspect to meet the expectations made on them to maintain the hierarchical model of the church. Under siege from all sides, it is hardly surprising that they accept seminary candidates whose superficial strengths appeal to them and whose unfinished internal growth is either not immediately apparent or is written off at steep discount. Bishops who may be consciously committed to a hierarchical mode that challenges their strengths accept candidates who are unconsciously attracted to a hierarchical mode that meets their needs. From the latter ranks arise the present generation of set-decorator clerics. In what they call a time of vocational crisis, the bishops settle for these psychologically under-developed men for the same reason people climb mountains: they are there, in place, untroubled by celibacy, un-dissenting with the church's teachings on sexuality, and, suppose their style is a little fey, keeping the store open in hard times.

Such men yearn to complete their own growth but they are severely limited in their psychological ability to do so. They tell us their unhappy stories in their efforts to return to the past, to resurrect and re-live their own childhoods, making up for what was missing in their own mothering by finding it from the Virgin who seemed to reign so sweetly and smoothly in a thousand novenas, family rosaries, and May crownings in that Proustian projection of a time lost that they are struggling to regain. A church, however, does not exist solely to make up for the emotional deficits of its clergy. Nor can it take on the challenges of the 21st century by returning by way of magical thinking to the imagined set-decorator dominated nirvana of the early 20th century.

[Eugene Cullen Kennedy is emeritus professor of psychology at Loyola University, Chicago.]

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Apropos. but a bit over the

Apropos. but a bit over the top in spots.

Excellent article. And

Excellent article. And frighteningly true.

Eugene Kennedy’s style and

Eugene Kennedy’s style and content of his article are a perfect example of what is undoing the Church in North America and Western Europe.

He confuses paradigms, hence twists and turns the meaning of words and images at will, leaving the reader at the mercy of his personal jungle of emotions. He confuses and switches between the world of polemics and the world of theological reasoning, between passive-aggressive cynicism and critique, and between slogans and theological insights. His writing is more like a Freudian dream analysis, and has very little to do with reasoned theological, social or investigation of the issues involving the Christian community. Perhaps, as a retired professor of psychology, he is very good at first, but he certainly is not very good at the latter. I am sure, he would be disapproving if I would want to publish articles

Lack of clarity in interpersonal and inter-communal communication is a recipe for disaster for such communications and underlying relationships. A confusion of paradigms (willingly or unwillingly) in the course of such communications will lead to a lack of clarity. In other words, Kennedy in writing such an article is greatly contributing to the deepening of distrust, animosity and division within the church. Reading the article I do not see concern for the church. The concern I see expressed is for his personal feelings about the church. The concern is not about fin ding out, preserving and handing down the basic Christian paradigm that can form us into God’s image and likeness, rather it is about how Kennedy could form the church into his image and likeness.

This inevitable will lead to conflicts with other personal opinions about how the church should be formed, to someone else’s image and likeness: hence the infighting, the mocking, the belittling, the distrust, the division.

While I wish to respect your

While I wish to respect your anonymity, is there some way Anonymous
bloggers could modify their anonymity with another anonymous character
or name ex. "Anonymous Tom" or "Anonymous 123" or "Anomymous iou"?
I very ofen agree with Anonymous bloggers, but I can never tell them a part,I find it difficult to to folow their thinking. I almost never agree with
"palte" but there are times I think "big bear" has it all together"

I could not be happier to see

I could not be happier to see the return of reverence and respect at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. For forty years we have endured the clown Masses and folk Masses, the guitars and tambourines, the chewing gum, the receiving Communion on filthy hands, the short shorts and tank-tops. Enough is enough.

God bless these priests who have the courage to challenge us, to call us, to be better than that; who have the courage to call us to confess our sins, to fast before Mass, to avoid sin and to do good. May the Lord raise more of these fine men to minister at His Holy Altar.

We have tried it Kennedy's way for forty years. The result? Decline in numbers of men in the seminary and priesthood, decline in women religious, decline in numbers of faithful who attend Mass, decline everywhere. And this is reform? This is good? Please.

These priests that Mr. Kennedy denigrate and dismiss are the men who will help return the Church to the path of Jesus Christ. May God bless them all!

Well, certainly, if you are

Well, certainly, if you are happy, then we should all be happy. If we don't care to go back to the mass of the middle ages, then shame on us. Just as long as you are ok with it, then we need to accept it.

God Bless the priest who challenge us, and themselves, as well. Those are the priest that I remember and revere, not those who claim to know and understand God better than we do. We are all members in Christ, not some more than others. The writer makes many good points. I don't agree with every word, but then I don't agree with a lot of things on both sides of the aisle in our Churches. Let's others reach God in their own way, not in the vision of someone else's salvation.

"These priests that Mr.

"These priests that Mr. Kennedy denigrates and dismiss are the men who will help return the Church to the path of Jesus Christ."

Not if the empirical work of sociologists of religion James Davidson and Dean Hoge is any indication.

See their "Mind the gap: the return of the lay-clerical divide", originally published in COMMONWEAL and now available (free) at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1252/is_20_134/ai_n25436496/

We just finished a decade of

We just finished a decade of doing it Bp Vasa's way in the Baker Diocese with the strictist adherence to the rubrics and the most orthotoxic priests I've ever seen in a diocese. The result: Over half of the current priests are foreign, and half of those are African, mostly from Nigeria. As of this moment in time, he left us with ONE native born son in the seminary.

You want to know why there is a dearth in seminarians? It's twofold:
1)One out of 3 people born Catholic who are 30 and older have left the church, in large part due to Humanae Vitae. These people now have kids old enough to be seminarians, but have no interest in it whatsoever.
2)Due to the bishops' serial enabling that caused the pedophile scandal to blossom like spring flowers on an Eastern Oregon mountainside, many men are turning away from a vocation where non Catholics (and more than a few Catholics) look at you as a potential pedophile until proven otherwise.

Meanwhile we turn away married Deacons and non Deacons as well as women who are knocking at the doors of our seminaries.

CGW: How many "clown" Masses

CGW:
How many "clown" Masses have you actually seen in person. I have never seen one myself and doubt they are all over the place. It would be in the papers. If you HAVE seen a clown Mass - how many have you seen lately? And when?

ALL music can be bad if badly done. This includes Gregorian chant, Mozart, and Beethovan. The guitar and tambourine Masses can be well done if you have a good and educated director of music with good taste. From the fifties I can remember some really awful music droned out with poor timing - often sounded like we were singing dirges. Personally I like the music at our church which includes a truly Catholic choice of songs, chosen for their relation to the readings of the day, well done, and includes Spanish songs from time to time as well as the occasional Gregorian chant. IMO not everything has to be either/or.

I'm with you on chewing gum, tank tops, and short shorts. But the pastor needs to be educating on this subject. And he REALLY needs to be educating on the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Not many people are in parochial schools anymore so there is a need for catechesis on this subject and from a positive viewpoint.

Not sure if "filthy" hands are common. Not sure if the hands of the apostles at the last supper (who used their hands by the way) or the Greeks were all that clean either. How often have you seen this - and were they laborers coming home from work?

I think really calling people to sanctity works better than demanding it - it's not true sanctity if people are forced.

Fasting before Mass would be a good thing to do if you felt called to that. Obviously it was never a point of doctrine per se. You seem to want to make people do things your way only.

IMO the decline in numbers in the Church were caused in great part by the Curia which has fought VAT II tooth and nail from the time the bishops left - and then threatened or cajoled them if they did not do what the Curia wanted. So those who tried to instruct in the Council were not encouraged long in some areas. So we had a house divided. Still have one, unfortunately.

I'm done with the references

I'm done with the references to clown masses. Really. The masses CWG describes are completely alien to me, and I barely remember the Tridentine rite because I was too young. I don't know what CWG is talking about. Not one person yet has cited the date and event at which a clown mass was held. If it impressed everyone so much, SOMEONE should remember where it was, who was there, and what happened.

When I was a teen (in the 70's) we had guitar masses. Yep -- we were not so good. We were, however, enthusiastic. In our parish, there would have been nothing there if we had not been there with guitars. Some people liked it and some didn't, but we were always respectful and in tune with what was going on. Music was not the strong point of our parish. A friend of mine had a full band in her parish, and they were GOOD. Even the folks who didn't usually like guitar masses liked them. By the way... This was NOT in the U.S.

In the Catholic parishes where I have been in the past few years (for special events since I am now Episcopalian), I have only heard organs (electric) played by someone who probably should have been playing a proper pipe organ, or a piano, and a soprano (usually not a good one) singing very unfortunate songs (from a musical perspective). Many of the attendees like it and love the songs so who am I to judge? Who am I to say they are wrong? I'm there to support whatever is going on (wedding, funeral, whatever) and support the family. I'm not invited as a music critic.

I DO have to agree on the clothing, though. I went to services once in Columbus, OH (because the RC church was the nearest one), and saw a woman and her children dressed in -- of all things -- pajama bottoms and jackets. That one did me in. I'd never seen that before.

Still, No clowns. No puppets... No dancing (that's the other one that gets mentioned a lot).

I think someone here is just yanking our chain.

--Andy Jo--

"We have tried it Kennedy's

"We have tried it Kennedy's way for forty years. The result? Decline in numbers of men in the seminary and priesthood, decline in women religious, decline in numbers of faithful who attend Mass, decline everywhere."

Have you considered that the declines could be the result of people having other options as a result of expanded education opportunities? Many more young people attend college or continue technical schooling today than in the 50s. We can now have jobs that challenge us and still allow us time to serve others either through religious or civic organizations. We can also have spouses and families. Life in the church isn't the only way to "get ahead" as it once was for many people. The church has failed to adapt.

We haven't tried it for forty

We haven't tried it for forty years. VII was derailed right from the get go. Paul VI killed discussion of celibacy and then issued Humanae Vitae. One sent a huge message to the clergy, and half of them left. The other sent a huge message to laity, and they began leaving in droves right after. Add the JPII/Benedict restoration agenda to the mix, and VII was the baby thrown out and the dirty bath water was put in recycle mode.

The Problem is we did not try

The Problem is we did not try it Kennedy's way... You yourself, "jp"
reversed in 1978 (13 ears afer Vatican II)

I just love giving Communion

I just love giving Communion on the tongue. There are so many different styles. A gaping mouth, mucous hanging down from roof of mouth to tongue... An extended tongue and the person backs away, forcing me to follow... A "snapper," that is, in priestly parlance, a person who clomps down on both Host and priest's fingers... The person who casts himself/herself on knees, looking up, mouth gaping, face beatific at the sense of superiority... And, more often than not, there is the saliva that clings to my fingers. I can either wash my hand at that point or hand the saliva on. And, of course, because I am old and have arthritis, it is actually quite difficult to put the Host on someoneone's tongue.

Jesus didn't seem to object

Jesus didn't seem to object to being in the presence of clowns, fools, and sinners wearing a whole lot less than short shorts and tank tops, nor should CWG. It's the clowns in the episcopate I worry about not some priest in a costume at the altar with children standing around him.

Decline is a long time coming

Decline is a long time coming as is reform.
The economic steps taken by Bush I showed results during Clinton's presidency which Clinton took the credit for.
The men in the seminaries during the 1950's were not formed by the Reforms of Vat II but dropped out when they realized they were not prepared to lead people in the world. They, like the Nuns and Brothers, were trained to live in a make believe past era. It did not work then and it has no chance to work today.
Do you realize that the Roman Way was allowed to develope because the early leaders in the Church allowed for change (and the Roman Liturgy ws always developing). The Eastern Churches developed their own forms of expression thanks to the common sense and imitation of the example of Jesus (sho spoke the local language--not even the holy language of the Old Testament).
The mind set that imposed some one else's language and cultural expresssion on other people has done the damage you deplore and is duplicating itself in the English speaking Churches now.

Yes, lots of objective, clear

Yes, lots of objective, clear thinking here. No sour grapes, no lingering bitterness by Gene Kennedy. Just a lot of generalized wet dreams about how everyone who remained in the church is wrong and only he is right.

Thanks, Eugene, for another

Thanks, Eugene, for another thought provoking piece.
I thank God that I am old enough and will be gone when more of these strange individuals take over.
Catholics better learn to speak out soon, or suffer the consequences. They will get the clergy they deserve.

Is it true that Catholics in England and Wales are once again being sent to hell for eating a Big Mac on Friday?
I think it a good thing that God doesn't always do what Catholic bishops tell Her to do.

An English priest was invited

An English priest was invited to reside at out cathedral. Since he came 6 large candles have been installed on the altar (don't know if it's a coincidence) which obscure the action of the priest and remind me of some old cathedral in England. He brought other attitudes of condemnation of "polluting" the faith. Our bishop must have invited him for a reason. I believe that English bishops are at the forefront of erasing Vatican II and that many of our bishops believe in clericalism and hierarchical set decorating.

If the "majority of

If the "majority of American's bishops are fundamentally healthy men" how is it possible that so few stood up to do what is right whether it is speaking up for the victims of sexual abuse......or for having the courage to speak out against the attempt of taking the church back further than pre-Vatican II. Just reading about some of the priests/bishops who are called "set decorators" brings back all the awful memories of my Catholic childhood days worrying about going to hell if I didn't follow all the rules and regulations. There is no way that I could possibly go back to that time, since I've worked too hard to leave all of that behind.

Much as I do like a good

Much as I do like a good liturgy and splendor,vestments,candles,music,etc, I have to admit some of these guys who are getting ordained seem to be interested in playing church and enjoying power games. On the other hand, I remember a lot of priests, who thought they were the sole possessors of the Holy Spirit, and that were just waiting for the Pope,whoever, he might be, to catch up with them. I hope some middle ground can be found between the equally dangerous pastoral and ecclesiological attitudes.

I don't know. Kennedy says

I don't know. Kennedy says that many times the adult catholics sit in the assembly and "let the rant run its course..." Rather, I suggest, we should stand up and shout the errors down or, at least, see the celebrant after Mass and engage him or set up an appointment for a discussion. When we don't do one of the above, these errors just continue to grow and the assembly, as they should, silently leaves, never to return."

I agree--we should stand up

I agree--we should stand up and shout them down...in church. WE are the CHURCH, all of us, men, women and children. The sickness in the church is clericalism. Clericalism is what produced infantile sexual predators; diminished, demeaned, and banished women from significant roles, and focused the narrow, narcissistic spotlight on male clerics.
Until the pope and bishops recognize the sickness of the system, we will not have healing but denial. The rest of us would be too willing to forgive if true culpability were admitted and effort made to banish clericalism.
Shoulder to shoulder, we would be CHURCH.

Thanks Gene for a life

Thanks Gene for a life devoted passionately to uncovering the real Jesus Christ in our Catholic Church.

Superb - the language, the

Superb - the language, the images, the depth, the vision. Eugene, I read you back in novitiate in the west of Ireland in the mid-1960s. Keep the flame of Vatican II flickering!

This is a brilliant piece by

This is a brilliant piece by a most perceptive man who lived the experience and speaks of it with sympathy, sadness and quite amazing frankness. The reform, the renewal that the church needs and longs for is being obstructed by the clerical culture, and a Vatican that would preserve it at all costs. But as Hans Kung recently said, the world moves on, things have already changed. The laity has been educated and encouraged to take part. The gospel is more powerful than the statis quo, and there is no turning back.

This immaturity of character

This immaturity of character development is evident here in Baker Diocese. It is as if the priesthood and hierarchy have become safe havens for Axis II Mental Disorders who would not have such power in the "material" world. May those who are emotionally and spiritually healthy be strong and Christ prevail.

"May those who are

"May those who are emotionally and spiritually healthy be strong and Christ prevail."

Such celibate men who applied to the seminary or to transfer as priests into the our Baker Diocese during Bp Vasa's decade of Error and Terror were turned away, judging from the looks of what we have been given and those who were run off.

Glad to see someone else has

Glad to see someone else has made the same observations. I have seen the same immaturity of character development in the various diocese where I have lived. I have thought the same about the clerical hierarchy becoming safe havens for Axis II Mental Disorders but I also feel many politicians and many corporate CEO's can fall into that category as well, so I don't exactly agree that they would not have had such power in the "material world".

wow -- c'mon, Gene,tell us

wow -- c'mon, Gene,tell us what you really think! I agree with you, but... WOW

And did anyone complain the

And did anyone complain the the chancery that this priest is heretical? I don't think I would have been quiet.

Your use of the word

Your use of the word 'heretical' reminds me of the boy who cried "Wolf!" too many times.

Please, when a word is repeatedly misused, it loses its power.

Bravo Kennedy! JR

Bravo Kennedy!
JR

Unfortunately, you are

Unfortunately, you are absolutely correct in this article. You might want to make explicit what you are suggesting, however, namely that this "new" group of priests will almost certainly recreate the sexual abuse crisis again. We have all the right ingredients: narcissm, ignorance of one's self, over-emphasis on externals, psychologically under-developed priests, clericalism run riot, contempt for the ordinary person (whom we are supposed to serve), priests who would have trouble holding a "real" job, etc. In addition, does anyone think any of these "set decorators" would report (especially to non-priests) a fellow decorator for any type of indiscretion or abuse?
by the way, I love the term "set decorator." It is really (and unfortunately) a very apt description of far too many younger priests today.

a bit wordy, lengthy......

a bit wordy, lengthy...... but BRAVO ! well said , and appreciated.

Great column, Eugene. You

Great column, Eugene. You have hit all the right nails on all the right heads. Our pre-adolescent clergy are trying to bring back the pre-Vatican II church. Of course they will fail, but what destruction they are wrecking in the mean time.

Their reaction to the child sex abuse crisis is a perfect illustration of their childish behavior. They blame the press, lawyers, the 1960's and, of course, the victims for the scandal. Blaming others for one's own crimes is the quintessential characteristic of the immature mind.

What can I say? Me oh my!

What can I say? Me oh my! To me, what is said is so. It is beyond sad for the Church which I loved, and probably can no longer. No, not true, I loved, but can not cut out such a piece of my soul for the sake of what is now supposedly the community of the church - the "people of God". They are destroying the minds of the faithful and I shake my head.

I've so often heard the

I've so often heard the comment about how the gates of Hell will not prevail against Holy mother church. One naturally imagines an attack by an evil,and relentless external force. The sadly observable reality is that it appears that this house of cards is on the brink of total collapse, not by petard, but by the whisper of His Holy Spirit.

Ric, The devil doesn't worry

Ric, The devil doesn't worry about gates or who stands guard at them. He and his army of demons rely upon their own cleverness and won't be deterred or thwarted by blustering buffoons claiming they can keep his forces at bay.

We save ourselves and we damn ourselves. The devil knows that all too well. Even if the bishops refuse to admit their priestcraft and pontifical ministrations have limited effect and are really designed to justify their existence. Typical of most bureaucrats.

Perfectly put. Proliferate

Perfectly put.
Proliferate this knowledge, I am feeling activist. Earthly urges for retribution are not all bad. Vengeance is HIS, but being a pest about a perv and perversion(many) is distinctly human.
The men in black, crimson and gold are turning into the
Emperors New clothes before the laughing eyes of the damn devil and regular folk.
Our lord Jesus Christ deserves our fidelity.

This fine article brought to

This fine article brought to mind a priest who was assigned to my parish, at which I was an altar boy, c. 1973. Long deceased, "Fr. Near" was his name, and he "creeped out" just about everyone. It was not surprised he was assigned there. He was one of a long string of super-clerical eccentrics from various corners of the world, presumably sent there by Bp. Floyd Begin because they'd either not notice or turn a blind eye towards the pastor's persistent diddling of every adolescent girl he could get near.

In any case, Near's favorite affectation was when, as the Confetior loomed near, was to extort us to (thing of M*A*S*H's Charles Emerson Winchestor's inflection) "tryyyyy and be sorry for your sins..."

In retrospect he must have been a man in terrible torment and internal turmoil. Manifestly unsuited to take care of others, as he couldn't hardly stand to be in his own skin.

Let the Church say, AMEN!

Let the Church say, AMEN!

I've never read such a

I've never read such a well-done analysis of the underdeveloped and twisted mindset of those members of the laity, those members of the clergy, and so many of the hierarchs of the clergy, who all want to reverse Vatican II and make people suffer.
I will save this great column.
And I await reading the comments, especially from those who reproach, reject and otherwise condemn you, Professor Cullen. You speak the truth too well to be ignored by the flamers of ancient righteousness.
Thank you again.
Vincent vjwesq at comcast dot net

The only one living in the

The only one living in the past seems to be you, Dr. Kennedy. You keep hanging on to the good old days when Cardinal Bernardin was around and you were somehow relevant. Now you pen long-winded drivel for old people who want to believe they're still relevant, too, and NCR is the only place left that makes them think so. You're like the bald old man driving the corvette, hoping that someone notices him and thinks he's still young and cool, whenever everyone is thinking the same thing: he's pathetic.

Gee what happened to this:

Gee what happened to this: "Be respectful. Do not attack the writer. Take on the idea, not the messenger."

Your comment is withering.

Your comment is withering. What's the point in being so rude? Why the name calling? If you claim to defend Jesus, then act like him.

Thank you, Professor

Thank you, Professor Kennedy.

As always, tellin' it like it is from a psychological-metaphorical perspective.

These clerical prima donnas are arrogant and narcissistic.

Until the fearful and the indifferent among the laity tell these guys off, the clerical crap will continue.

The sad legacy of Pope John Paul the Great Enabler "of Blessed Memory".

Your story of the priest

Your story of the priest set-decorator is happening throughout the country. The saddest scene for me in my 70s as I attend funerals of so many of my old friends is a similar scene. The priest invites "only practicing Catholics" to receive communion at the funeral Mass, often adding comment that seems to say to everyone that only practicing Catholics are moral and religious people.

I certainly know the deceased well, his or her children, and often the grandchildren. Maybe the little great-grand children I don't know. It is a typical scene. Few of the children are practicing Catholics now, virtually none of the grandchildren. At communion time, they all defy the priest and go to communion as a family.

I just grow more angry as I realize the priest has turned them into hypocrites because they are showing respect and unity for their deceased loved one. I suspect they go away from the funeral angry, too, at the Catholic Church.

So who should receive

So who should receive communion? Lutherans? Jews? Muslims? Atheists? I guess belief and actually being in communion are not as important as making someone feel good about their lives.

Anon wrote, "So who should

Anon wrote, "So who should receive communion? Lutherans? Jews? Muslims? Atheists? I guess belief and actually being in communion are not as important as making someone feel good about their lives."

Yes, all of the above. If they make the journey from the pew to the ciboriam they are demonstrating a desire to be "in communion" with Our Lord. And didn't he invite all? You do not know what is in their hearts, what is their relationship with God, the state of their souls. Your labels imply that by classifying someone you actually know something about them, when actually you reduce a complex human being to a single dimension. Think of the meaning of the name our church has chosen for itself, "Catholic". All are invited, and God can certainly sort it out regarding our worthiness now and at the hour of our death. St Paul warns about receiving Jesus' body and blood unworthily, and each believer should heed those words. However, Paul does not ask YOU to be the decider as to who is worthy and who is not.

Canon Law is replete with putrid and dead injunctions. Because a zealous priest uncritically follows it in a literal way and requests "only practicing Catholics" to come to the table does nothing to protect Christ from the contempt we humans are so ready to direct to Him. Do you really believe that practicing Catholics are in any way morally, spiritually or religiously superior to any other group of humans? Please love your neighbor more. Please love God enough that you bring to God's table all the passersby from the highways and byways, those whom God loves so deeply and with whom God wishes a deeper communion. It is not the healthy who need the Physician. - - Gary

Anon wrote, "So who should

Anon wrote, "So who should receive communion? Lutherans? Jews? Muslims? Atheists? I guess belief and actually being in communion are not as important as making someone feel good about their lives."

Yes, all of the above. If they make the journey from the pew to the ciboriam they are demonstrating a desire to be "in communion" with Our Lord. And didn't he invite all? You do not know what is in their hearts, what is their relationship with God, the state of their souls. Your labels imply that by classifying someone you actually know something about them, when actually you reduce a complex human being to a single dimension. Think of the meaning of the name our church has chosen for itself, "Catholic". All are invited, and God can certainly sort it out regarding our worthiness now and at the hour of our death. St Paul warns about receiving Jesus' body and blood unworthily, and each believer should heed those words. However, Paul does not ask YOU to be the decider as to who is worthy and who is not.

Canon Law is replete with putrid and dead injunctions. Because a zealous priest uncritically follows it in a literal way and requests "only practicing Catholics" to come to the table does nothing to protect Christ from the contempt we humans are so ready to direct to Him. Do you really believe that practicing Catholics are in any way morally, spiritually or religiously superior to any other group of humans? Please love your neighbor more. Please love God enough that you bring to God's table all the passersby from the highways and byways, those whom God loves so deeply and with whom God wishes a deeper communion. It is not the healthy who need the Physician. - - Gary

I guess it depends on your

I guess it depends on your point of view. I happen to believe, like Jesus seemed to, that the Gift is it's own power and belief was not required.

Jesus so believed in himself and his power of love that he offered himself to everyone without much qualification. Even a thief on the cross next to him, his own betrayer Judas was there at the first Eucharist along with Peter--oh yea, Peter betrayed him too--- and Thomas doubted him, and all the other original first communicants left him to die alone, except John, and then there was the Roman centurion who asked on behalf of his personal boy slave, and Jesus obliged, and then there were various prostitutes, women who wouldn't stay in their assigned places, and all the other Tom, Dick, and Harry's Jesus literally fed multiple times in their multiple thousands.

Too bad Jesus cared so much about whether people felt good about themselves, other wise He could have had a field day standing in front of an altar on a pedestal denying people by the thousands. But instead He stood on a mount pleading with them to treat each other with love and compassion because that was The Way he was. It's a hard road, but that's the Way he said it would be.

"I guess it depends on your

"I guess it depends on your point of view. I happen to believe, like Jesus seemed to, that the Gift is it's own power and belief was not required."

It SEEMS as if you know nothing about Jesus because it SEEMS as if by that comment you have never really paid attention to the Gospels. Can you not recall, "Go, for your faith has saved you."?

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." ~Saint Jerome of Jerusalem

there will be something in

there will be something in this article of interest to you

You tried to be a cleric, but

You tried to be a cleric, but you failed. Now you're a bitter man who has nothing good to say about anyone, and you don't realize you're making a fool of yourself.

This is how the ones who want

This is how the ones who want to keep on the wrong track obfuscate. They try to completely demonize the messenger.
No one is all wrong about everything . Besides we Catholics know it is true.

"They try to completely

"They try to completely demonize the messenger."

And this article is not clearly demonizing anyone?

Dr. Kennedy, You have touched

Dr. Kennedy, You have touched on a deep and undeniable truth. Those with the least inner lives seem to desire a control of others so deadly to faith that it is frightening. Have the words of God come true - that devils will go around in the guise of angels? Vatican !! was so enlightening, so freeing, so joyous. The children making Communion were aware of the great gift given them by God as compared to our fear that we were not in the state of grace and God would smite us. I recall the boy who unthinkingly took a sip of water as we came out of the bathrooms before marching to church on our Communion day. He was yelled at and castigated before all of us. He was traumatized. I don't blame the sisters - I am sure they were well brainwashed by the priests. Our pastor used to lock the doors in the back of the church so no one could leave until the final blessing. I guess it was his way of saving us from sin. This whole return to what I consider to be the bad old days makes me cry out to the Lord for his intervention.

I'm reminded of what my

I'm reminded of what my husband says so often about what we confront as members of our church and our parishes; "I go to work and it is expected and required to I use my brain to think all week long in the process doing my job and in living my life as a father and husband and when I go to church one day a week I'm required to suspend that process. I can understand how priests and nuns so readily follow the rules because they are trained and educated to be obedient to their vows or to the orders to which they belong. But how is that we so readily suspend our own thinking process and do not speak up or intercede on behalf of a child who is being traumatized as described in the anecdote shared above.

Right on Dr. Kennedy. I hope

Right on Dr. Kennedy. I hope every Catholic who isn't brain dead will read this.

Set decorator priests are

Set decorator priests are unfortunately becoming more prevalent. The usual reaction in the parish is bewilderment, a feeling of disconnect from their familiar parish community and from the Church, followed by fewer people in the pews and less money in the collection basket. Jesus told the disciples who would evangelize the world that they must be servants to all. Jesus himself, although he had the power and authority of God, demonstrated the meaning of what he taught about humility and service, right up to the moment of his crucifixion.

Today, priests and bishops are taking on (again) the symbols and trappings of power and dominance, which is totally contrary to the Gospels. Why does Rome think that returning to a bygone era will work in today's Church and today's world?

Eugene Kennedy at his

Eugene Kennedy at his absolute best! Such tremendous insight. If only the clergy were as mentally healthy we wouldn't be subjected to the horrors masquerading as spiritual guidance.

What is sad is that, of

What is sad is that, of course, none of these young "set decorator" priests was even alive during the pre-Vatican II era. At least Proust, who Dr. Kennedy mentions at the end of his piece, was trying to recapture what he had actually lived. But to these boys (I used this word deliberately, regardless of their actual age) pre-Vatican II times is a completely imaginary, cartoon world. And just like their political favorites in the Republican Party, they want to bring back the world of "Ozzie and Harriet" and "Father Knows Best" (which they don't seem to understand were fictions in the first place)at precisely the time that America is being transformed, physically and culturally, into a browner, more bilingual, and more inclusive nation. But, of course, such transformations inevitably lead to political and theological reaction.

Dr. Kennedy has done the

Dr. Kennedy has done the Church a great service by illustrating how essential it is for the historic Roman Church to be thoroughly purified from the very top of this growing trash heap over which Benedict presides to the smallest parish. The seminary system itself and the career priesthood have deteriorated into sanctuaries for sociopaths and the sexually underdeveloped and maladjusted. Unanswerable to no one other than their equally decadent directors and overseers.

As a first step for American Church,close the Pontifical North American College in Rome. A cesspool fostering an outmoded clerical culture built upon the worst model for priestly careerism. Like a mushroom bed, it grows future priests and bishops in an atmosphere of silence, secrecy, a quietly perverse atmosphere part and parcel of a dying clericalist culture playing to trumpeting misfits prepared to prop up Benedict XVI's fading dream of the New Church Triumphant. With His Holiness as High Priest-in-Charge.

The new Catholic architecture would have no priest or bishop serve more than 12 years. They MUST be elected directly by all the people of their parish/diocese after exhaustive psychological and academic testing. Duty in the Lord's vineyard would include at least 5 years in foreign missions and amongst the poorest of the poor without exception.

The USCCB should call for a Plenary Council to establish a National Synod to replace any further direct allegiance to the See of Rome's increasingly absurd and inefficient apparatus for universal overseership. Benedict himself would be invited to join a new framework centering on diakonia--a Universal Apostolic Council and Pentarchy. It would replace the crumbling comedy of errors; namely, the showboat theatrical productions constituting today's Vatican-centered liturgies. Most important would be the replacement of the Pope as Rock Star celebrity--to which the papacy has descended in recent decades-- and replace the medieval Vatican autocracy now in the hands of obeisant, pontificating buffoons out of touch with the real world who comprise the College of Cardinals.

There is absolutely no reason why the bishop of Rome cannot be elected by the people and clergy of Rome. Just as any other bishop. With his election confirmed by the historic suburbicarian bishops occupying the sees in and around Rome.

For once, open wide the floodgates of the Church to permit pulpit and altar sharing. Start admitting Protestants to the Holy Eucharist and other Sacraments.Bishops should be ordaining any protestant clergyperson who seeks ordination and who meets St. Paul's own standards for a worthy presbyter and bishop. With shared charitable and other outreach facilities, seminaries, colleges and universities.

It makes no sense to have a Lutheran hospital, church, or college on one block while the Presbyterians and Catholics have their institutions several blocks away. All churches should pool their resources to make a common Christian presence.

"Members of the congregation

"Members of the congregation are not so much swept up in this faux piety as they are put off by its studied, staged, and ready-for-my-close-up character."
Ya think?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZopRuh_dw-o&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViGw2vMb1DY&feature=relmfu
http://www.fssp.org/en/liturgie1962.htm
http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/
Even more frightening are those members of the congregation who ARE swept up in this faux piety and are NOT put off by its studied, staged, and ready-for-my-closeup character!

What a wonderful analysis!

What a wonderful analysis!

I sometimes wonder if we are

I sometimes wonder if we are heading toward another schism, after which there would be the Church envisioned by Pope John XXIII and the one imposed by those who destroy the progress of Vatican II by taking us back to the hierarchical model you describe here.

Actually, a major schism

Actually, a major schism already occurred. The SSPX crowd...and B16 and the Curia have courted this crowed from Day One. Interesting that the same crowd that screams for the excommunication of "heretics" of the Left are the only ones who have actually gone into schism.

Here is a poem I just wrote.

Here is a poem I just wrote. I shall let it speak for itself (I am an abuse survivor trying to stop my life and that of my family now from imploding. Have lost almost everything since breaking down and while I have received a little help from the church, I am now realising how easily and cheaply they got off considering what it has cost me in every way, and what CSA costs the country every day. The poem's not brilliant but it is me.

"Meltdown"

I am going to have to stop writing:
This just isn’t good for me (or is it?)
Might just jump in the car and take off.

Yes. Drive.
Go on, dare you.
Ah! See! Coward!

You want to know something,
(should I tell them?):
When I write
I am imagining and hoping
that my audience
is actually the princedom of the church.

Isn't that silly
and isn't that funny
and aren’t I just a silly little gay prick?

There, that should make
a few people happy
(those that have been waiting in the wings
for this very moment),
and confirm their needed prejudices
and therefore, relieve them now
of any moral requirement
to do anything,
and allow them instead to…..
(“thank God” I hear them sigh)
….settle into smug, snuggee comforting self-righteousness
and sniggling choruses of …

……"I told you so, didn't I? Didn't I tell you?”

(“Hmm. I can feel a poem coming on John:
I think I shall call it "Meltdown".
Is that a good name, John?
Yes, I like that: A meltdown inside a poem”).

And the Great Lord proclaimed from the balcony of enstoned authority:

“But the modern world has,
for the most part,
denied the spiritual definition
or understanding of man”.

What’s that?
The modern world has…..

Oh no. No, no, no, no, no.
You're not getting away with that.
That's were you get it sooo wrong
my aeon-leaping lord.
No, you bastard,
it is you that denies so much more
than a mere definition:
you ‘deny’ my very essence.
You fucked up
the man within me who could have been,
the boy that was me and is now a has been
the life that should’ve been mine, and aye, to the full:
My whole world in short,
and you still refuse to lift
any of your ring-encrusted,
lily-white fingers
to undo the wrongs,
once and for all.

No,
Oh no.
You
and your Roman-souled,
monolithic, empire minded,
modern-world mauling church
are not going to have the pleasure
of getting it right,
well,
not here, at least,
in my poem and my life,
the now, emasculated, abused by you
insignificant me,
at least.

I am my church….
….me,
and I am ‘il papa’ here.

No,
you shall not have the pleasure
Of being the ex-cathedra speaker here;
you are now in my church,
my world.

So when you say:

“But the modern world has,
for the most part,
denied the spiritual definition
or understanding of man”,

then I shall say this again:

It is you
that has made a religion
of sexing then desexing,
then denying
the very essence of ‘man’,
his bodily, evolutionary existence.
It is you who have truly ‘denied’, man
by ‘killing’ Him,

You taught me
that my body is evil
and 'mere'
and 'doomed'
and to be negated
and therefore,
split off,
resulting in only a half-life
one which still,
but only just,
sees the old joy
of undefiled childhood
so deep within
like seeing a holy grail,
a golden chalice
sunken at the deepest part of a pool,
unable to be retrieved.

So, now, it is too late.

How did you
corrupt my mind
against my body
and teach me to despise it?

Either way,
now, it is too late, to have it 'to the full'.

So, now, further more
I accuse you
of killing the Spirit as well:

You are a Spirit-killer.
And oh what a killer you are,
Why?
Because you are an apparition showing
a heart that loves
and a mind that teaches
and hands that lead
and a God that nurtures
the whole soul:
A complete existence.

But it has been all froth and bubble,
bells and smells,
incense and oils
....‘arsenic’ and old lace
and I,
fool that I was,
have regretfully uncovered the truth
and feel I have been now,
left standing naked
in the middle of an ever-spreading field,
my mind atrophying to corky clouds
and, with all of your churched princes’ piercing eyes
peering and laughing me
down into the earth,
into the mud
like a peg being driven, driven,
and they, mocking:

“Oh, what a fool you were, Stephen,
you sad, stupid, bloody idiot
to actually believe what we told you”.

And oh what effective surgeons you had
to dismember me from my soul self,
surgeons who just so knew
how to worm their way in
and find
that entry point of vulnerability,
inside my brain,
my heart,
my childhood,
my sexuality,
my livelihood
and penetrate it
like a pathetically powerful virus,
feigning love
but ejaculating poison.

It has all been pure evil
in the name of the Lord.

Yes, darkling, I do indeed...
...listen.

And how I know you now.

Is there still
an actual Christ
who can and will toll me back
from all this,
can and wills to toll me back
to my sole, soul self?

I used to believe
And it was so sweet,
so sweet.

But...
....fled is that plainsong now.

Will I sink or swim?

30th June, 2011

Dear, dear "Oh Yet We Trust":

Dear, dear "Oh Yet We Trust": Your magnificant, heart rending poem adds blood-pulsing heart to Mr. Kennedy's awesome intellectual insight(s) into the mind "sets" of the nouveau-old. You are the real Jesus, you are also the untold number of "one"s whom Jesus came to "save", to nurture, to nourish. Yet this cabal which you have encountered and of which Kennedy so ably writes are as fierce tides intent on washing the fragile beginnings of the real Christ from the hard won beach.

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