***They’re Baaack: V-Monologues at Catholic Colleges
How tone-deaf do you have to be to celebrate sex abuse at the same time the Vatican organizes a sex-abuse summit to protect minors from sex abuse? Ask a Jesuit! In case you’ve forgotten about the content of the monologues here’s a bit of what we posted on the blog in 2009: “Don't be deceived about the nature of this play. I've read sections of it and stopped because the level of filth is so great I did not want the ideas in my head. And yet this poison is sold as ‘empowerment of women.’ One monologue has a teen minor describe her lesbian seduction as her ‘salvation.’ (She was also raped by her father. No surprise - lesbians love to demonize men, particularly dads.) And yes...we all know that the way to heal rape by incest is to commit statutory lesbian rape.” Former bishop of Fort Wayne, John D’Arcy, wrote this in 2008 about Ensler’s evil and disgusting work: “The play depicts, exalts and endorses female masturbation, which is a sin. It depicts, exalts, and endorses a sexual relationship between an adult woman and a child, a minor, which is a sin and also a crime. It depicts and exalts the most base form of sexual relationship between a man and a woman. These illicit sexual actions are portrayed as paths to healing, and the implication is that the historic, positive understanding of heterosexual marriage as the norm is what we must recover from.” The Cardinal Newman Society confirmed at least eight Catholic college performances (five at Jesuit schools): Boston College, College of the Holy Cross, DePaul, Gonzaga, Holy Names U., Loyola MD, Regis, and Xavier. There were likely others, but these were confirmed. For more info, visit the society’s website.
***To give or not to give? The big question on the BLA! The annual push is on for the Bishop’s Lenten Appeal which generally brings impassioned sermons about supporting seminarians and all the other “good” works done by the diocese. Many faithful Catholics are skeptical as well they should be. Let’s address the BLA in Arlington. The Arlington Catholic Herald ran an article (2/21-2/27) with a large banner headline on page 4. “BLA does not fund clergy abuse settlements.” The article goes on to tell us that “no funds from parishes or the diocese have been used toward a settlement of sexual misconduct involving minors other than regular insurance premium fees” that amount to $110,00 over 45 years. Peanuts right? However, the article goes on to say that “approximately $3 million has been directed toward healing and assisting victims of sexual abuse” since 2002, abuse by anyone, not just clergy. But wouldn’t it be enlightening to know the percentage of cases of clergy sex abuse.
***The Money Picture from the 2018 Financial Report To understand what’s going on in a diocese it’s important to study the financial report. In Arlington, it’s on the diocesan website and reveals that The Office of Child Protection alone has a “staff of seven” with an budget of “roughly $780,000.” Diocesan offices are funded by the BLA and these are real costs resulting from the sex abuse scandal. But whether the funds come from the BLA, parish assessments, or some other source, in the long run it’s all about money collected from people in the pews. And then there are the millions in grants coming from the state and federal government. Those dollars have contributed to bishops in many dioceses funding leftist policies like open borders and perverting Catholic charities into cooperating with intrinsic evils like contraception and abortion. Most diocese now have lobby groups that support left-wing positions while throwing a bone to pro-life issues. That is certainly true at the Virginia Catholic Conference (funded by the BLA) where lobbying on debatable issues like climate change and energy regularly follow leftist political agendas.
It’s relevant to note that Bishop Burbidge firmly embraces the open borders immigration camp opposing many Trump policies. In 2017 he joined protesters at Dulles Airport against Trump’s temporary ban on refugees from seven middle Eastern countries associated with terrorism (a ban previously supported by Obama). The U.S. has always been a generous country welcoming legal immigrants who wait in line and respect U.S. laws. We also have procedures for refugees fleeing persecution. But no country can deal with an invasion of economic migrants who have no intention of assimilating, who carry the national flags from their home countries, and burn the American flag. Those who oppose open borders stand with St. Thomas Aquinas who emphasized that states have the right to control immigration to protect the common good. The only thing supported by open borders is one-world government.
***So, If I Decide Not to Give to the BLA, What Next? Youhave many alternatives. Want to support a seminary? The FSSP Guadalupe seminary in Lincoln, NE trains men to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass. The Norbertines of St. Michael’s Abbey in Silverado, CA train seminarians in both the monastic life and the active priesthood and currently have 30 in formation. Support a community like the Carmelites in Cody, WY or the Benedictine monks of Our Lady of Clear Creek in OK. And don’t forget the ladies. The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist are bringing nuns back into the classroom for a new generation. You can support a school directly. Check out the Cardinal Newman website for a solid college training young people to think with Catholic minds and hearts. If you want a social justice ministry, look at local crisis pregnancy centers, nursing homes run by the Little Sisters of the Poor, or free clinics. The world’s your oyster. Happy hunting!
***Final Thought on the BLA: TELL THE BISHOP!
Now, if you’ve decided not to support the BLA, send the bishop a letter outlining why. Church Militant TV has one on their website you can use as a template. It begins: I am writing to inform you that I am withholding all funds from the diocese until you address the serious evil of homosexuality within the ranks of not just the priesthood, but most importantly, the episcopate. No man with any degree of same-sex attraction should be ordained, much less a consecrated bishop. Those currently ordained need to be barred from any public ministry. A list of demands follows. If you disagree with the tone or some of the demands, you can amend the letter. Here’s the link. In addition to sending it to the bishop, mail a copy to your pastor. And if you’ve already made your BLA pledge, add a sentence saying you’ve reconsidered your donation and will not be sending any more. Many bishops care more about the “almighty” dollar than they do about Almighty God. It’s time they experienced a “come-to-meeting moment” with the Christ they claim to follow who had no coins in his pocket and nowhere to lay His head. Pray for bishops, but don’t financially enable them!
***Are Drag Queens coming to a library near you? Chances are they will be before long if not already. Drag queen story hours are proliferating around the country and it’s no accident. The American Library Association (ALA) promotes them and advises groups on strategies to deal with opposition. The ALA, founded in 1876 aims “to provide leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.” Today that means advancing “diversity” perversity and ensuring your pre-schooler will question his/her gender. And the ALA has entered the bathroom controversy with a pamphlet about the “benefits” to transgenders of “gender neutral restrooms.” The tone of the pamphlet is condescending saying community concerns “stem from a lack of knowledge about transgender and gender-variant people, so it can be valuable to provide some education to the complainant.” Yup, concern for the comfort and safety of your daughters is bigotry. We need to keep those transgender “women” safe.
***Are Concerns about Men in Ladies Rooms Crazy? No! Jonathan Van Maren recently reported on how female students feel about the increasing spread of gender neutral bathrooms in their schools. In the U.S., a teenage girl and her friends are suing their own high school over the new transgender bathroom policy. Alexis Lightcap, an African American student and 2018 graduate of the Boyertown Area High School in Pennsylvania, recently asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their student privacy lawsuit, and Alexis penned an editorial for USA Today explaining her decision to take her own school to court. “[The school] didn’t even bother to tell me or the other students that they changed school policy to allow students to choose their locker rooms and restrooms based not on their sex, but on their beliefs about their gender,” she wrote. Parents were not informed, either…. The Daily Mail reported earlier this month that “unisex toilets in schools are leaving girls ‘too afraid to use the loo over fears of period shaming, sexual harassment, and a lack of privacy.” Many girls are avoiding using the bathroom during school hours because of “cruel taunts from boys and a lack of privacy,” and a “growing number” of schools are ditching unisex bathrooms as “breeding ground[s] for bullying.” Some girls, they reported, even avoid drinking water while at school so they can avoid using the toilet. However, because unisex bathrooms are so fiercely demanded by trans activists, many parents and girls do not dare to speak up.
***Bathrooms aren’t the only transgender insanity! Biological women are increasingly losing out on awards and scholarships in sports to transgender men.Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood, two transitioning males, recently took 1st and 2nd place in the 55 meter dash at a high school indoor track and field event in New Haven, CT. Biological women can’t compete and know before the race begins who wins! Lesbian activist tennis star Martina Navratilova is facing a barrage of hate from the LGBT community for having the temerity to state the obvious: “The rules on trans athletes reward cheats and punish the innocent…. Letting men compete as women simply if they change their name and take hormones is unfair—no matter how those athletes may throw their weight around.”
Navratilova’s honesty isn’t winning her any friends. She was thrown off the board of an LGBT charity she chaired for years and is target with vicious attacks. Nevertheless, the seeds of truth are sprouting in some unlikely soil. Julia Beck, a radical Baltimore lesbian, was kicked off the city’s LGBTQ commission recently, because she insisted on the reality of biological sex. She appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight to describe her ordeal as the “most hated lesbian in Baltimore.” Here’s part of what she said: I believe in the truth. I believe that people should have these conversations and say things that matter without fear of punishment…. When we get down to it, women and girls all share a biological reality. We are all female. But if any man, if any male person can call himself a woman, or legally identify as female, then predatory men will do so in order to gain access to women's single-sex spaces, and this puts every woman and girl at risk…of male violence…. In many states, men can legally identify themselves as female and gain access to women's single-sex spaces, and sports is just one institution where men are taking titles, scholarships, and this is a problem.
To see these women speaking the truth despite their disordered lifestyles brings hope. Beck is a rape survivor which may have impacted her choices. She is also a truth-speaker, and if you are searching for the truth you are searching for God. Pray for Julia Beck, Martina Navratilova, and all truth-seekers that they meet the Lord who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!