Saturday, August 6, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Vatican officials encouraging push to stop communion for pro-abort pols
by John-Henry Westen
ROME, August 4, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Top officials at the Vatican are throwing their support behind pro-life Catholic leaders campaigning against dioceses allowing pro-abortion politicians receive Holy Communion, says one such leader.
American Life League President Judie Brown spoke with LifeSiteNews yesterday about her recent trip to Rome, where she spoke with Vatican officials about Communion for pro-abortion politicians and the changing pro-life landscape in America.
Cardinal Raymond Burke told Brown to be “persistent” in her campaign to have Canon 915 enforced, she said.
Canon 915 states: “Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to holy communion.”
Brown also noted that Burke encouraged her to make use of the numerous articles he himself has written on the subject.
“He encouraged us to be persistent, to use his articles and not to back down from our position which is the same as his,” she said. “It’s not arbitrary it’s a matter of the law of the church which needs to be enforced.”
Cardinal Burke, she noted, spoke of applying the sanction called for in canon 915 as “therapeutic” in terms of helping people come back in line with the church.
The fact that many bishops are “not comfortable” about it, said Brown, doesn’t matter.
Brown also addressed at the meeting how intentional distortions of official Church statements have confused Catholics on the abortion issue.
“In America, conception is defined as implantation, so when the Church makes a statement - Dignitas Personae is the most recent example - our enemies turn around and say even the Church doesn’t believe there’s life before implantation,” Brown explained to Zenit news.
“Church officials must be clear that when the word conception is used, it means the ‘biological beginning of a person.’”
While in Rome, Brown covered a wide range of topics including America’s growing pro-life youth movement, ad hominem attacks on pro-life Catholics, and the ramifications of a “culture-of-death president.”
“Cardinal Burke is the primary example of being targeted by the media,” she told LifeSiteNews.com. “The reason for that is that he won’t back down. He tells Catholics all the time, including me, to continue to persist in the faith, and he does it.”
“We have every reason to be optimistic. But, all Catholics must stand up and be Catholic even when it’s uncomfortable,” she concluded.
ROME, August 4, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Top officials at the Vatican are throwing their support behind pro-life Catholic leaders campaigning against dioceses allowing pro-abortion politicians receive Holy Communion, says one such leader.American Life League President Judie Brown spoke with LifeSiteNews yesterday about her recent trip to Rome, where she spoke with Vatican officials about Communion for pro-abortion politicians and the changing pro-life landscape in America.
Cardinal Raymond Burke told Brown to be “persistent” in her campaign to have Canon 915 enforced, she said.
Canon 915 states: “Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to holy communion.”
Brown also noted that Burke encouraged her to make use of the numerous articles he himself has written on the subject.
“He encouraged us to be persistent, to use his articles and not to back down from our position which is the same as his,” she said. “It’s not arbitrary it’s a matter of the law of the church which needs to be enforced.”
Cardinal Burke, she noted, spoke of applying the sanction called for in canon 915 as “therapeutic” in terms of helping people come back in line with the church.
The fact that many bishops are “not comfortable” about it, said Brown, doesn’t matter.
Brown also addressed at the meeting how intentional distortions of official Church statements have confused Catholics on the abortion issue.
“In America, conception is defined as implantation, so when the Church makes a statement - Dignitas Personae is the most recent example - our enemies turn around and say even the Church doesn’t believe there’s life before implantation,” Brown explained to Zenit news.
“Church officials must be clear that when the word conception is used, it means the ‘biological beginning of a person.’”
While in Rome, Brown covered a wide range of topics including America’s growing pro-life youth movement, ad hominem attacks on pro-life Catholics, and the ramifications of a “culture-of-death president.”
“Cardinal Burke is the primary example of being targeted by the media,” she told LifeSiteNews.com. “The reason for that is that he won’t back down. He tells Catholics all the time, including me, to continue to persist in the faith, and he does it.”
“We have every reason to be optimistic. But, all Catholics must stand up and be Catholic even when it’s uncomfortable,” she concluded.
Double standards in the English Catholic Church
By Damian Thompson
(The Telegraph) Honestly, there’s such a double standard in the Catholic Church in England and Wales. If, say, a group of enthusiasts for the traditional liturgy were to ask Westminster Cathedral for a Low Mass there every Sunday – a request which according to the Vatican’s own rules the cathedral should grant – then all hell would break loose (and freeze over before the Mass actually materialised, I bet).
But if a diocese of England and Wales wants to mark the 50th anniversary of Vatican II with a lecture by a passionate opponent of Benedict XVI’s policies – well, that’s just fine and dandy because attacks on papal policies from the Left count as debate whereas the invocation of conservative papal documents counts as troublemaking.
The diocese in question is right-on Clifton, run by “go-ahead” Bishop Declan Lang, where Magic Circle favourite Professor Tina Beattie will be lecturing on Lumen Gentium in the cathedral. That’s according to a leaflet sent to me by a fed-up Clifton priest; there’s no mention I can find of the lecture on the diocesan website, which seems to be aimed mainly at Guardian readers.
Prof Beattie is well established in Clifton and has even been roped in to help with priestly formation. Which would be fine, if we were talking about priests of the Metropolitan Community Church. Here’s Tina on one of Benedict XVI’s encyclicals:
Meanwhile, I see that Clifton is wrapping up its Vatican II lectures with one by Cardinal Godfried Danneels, former leader of the Catholic Church in Belgium. Here’s a New York Times article from August 2010:
Voice of the Left: the ubiquitous Tina Beattie
(The Telegraph) Honestly, there’s such a double standard in the Catholic Church in England and Wales. If, say, a group of enthusiasts for the traditional liturgy were to ask Westminster Cathedral for a Low Mass there every Sunday – a request which according to the Vatican’s own rules the cathedral should grant – then all hell would break loose (and freeze over before the Mass actually materialised, I bet).
But if a diocese of England and Wales wants to mark the 50th anniversary of Vatican II with a lecture by a passionate opponent of Benedict XVI’s policies – well, that’s just fine and dandy because attacks on papal policies from the Left count as debate whereas the invocation of conservative papal documents counts as troublemaking.
The diocese in question is right-on Clifton, run by “go-ahead” Bishop Declan Lang, where Magic Circle favourite Professor Tina Beattie will be lecturing on Lumen Gentium in the cathedral. That’s according to a leaflet sent to me by a fed-up Clifton priest; there’s no mention I can find of the lecture on the diocesan website, which seems to be aimed mainly at Guardian readers.
Prof Beattie is well established in Clifton and has even been roped in to help with priestly formation. Which would be fine, if we were talking about priests of the Metropolitan Community Church. Here’s Tina on one of Benedict XVI’s encyclicals:
Caritas in Veritate promotes the primacy of the family over and against the abuses and powers of the state and the economic order, and it is has in my view a culpably naive approach to the problem of over-population. Referring to ‘the problems associated with population growth’, the encyclical points out that ‘This is a very important aspect of authentic development, since it concerns the inalienable values of life and the family.’ However, it immediately goes on to discuss the problems created by declining birth rates, and it insists that the solution to population problems lies in ‘the primary competence of the family in the area of sexuality’. When I read that, I thought, ‘try telling that to Josef Fritzl’s daughter’, who happened to live in one of Europe’s few remaining bastions of conservative Catholicism.Charming. And her views on the Ordinariate? “I must admit I feel an overwhelming sense of sadness about this ordinariate and what it means for both the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches.” Why? Among other reasons, it’s “a monumental rebuff to Catholic women campaigning for greater visibility and influence in the Church”.
Meanwhile, I see that Clifton is wrapping up its Vatican II lectures with one by Cardinal Godfried Danneels, former leader of the Catholic Church in Belgium. Here’s a New York Times article from August 2010:
The former head of Belgium’s Roman Catholic Church said Monday that he should not have suggested to a victim of serial sexual abuse that he say nothing publicly about the episode until after the retirement of the offending bishop, who is the victim’s uncle. Cardinal Godfried Danneels, left, who retired in January, was secretly taped making that suggestion by the victim on April 8, when they both met with the bishop, Roger Vangheluwe, who retired within two weeks of the meeting. Excerpts of the tape were published in two Belgian newspapers over the weekend. Cardinal Danneels’s spokesman, Toon Osaer, said Monday that the cardinal “realizes that the whole approach, as it was, was not the right one,” and that he was unprepared for the April meeting, calling his conduct there “an improvisation.” But the cardinal also said he regretted that the confidential meeting had been made public by the victim, who is now 42 years old.Hmm. if Danneels were a conservative with a record like that, do you think he’d be allowed anywhere near Clifton Cathedral? But he’s an ultra-liberal, by the standards of the college of cardinals, so I expect I’m just being massively insensitive by raising the matter.
Why are prominent pro-lifers swimming the Tiber?
Bryan Kemper, Lila Rose and Abby Johnson have followed different paths into the Catholic Church
By Kevin Birnbaum - OSV Newsweekly, 8/14/2011(Our Sunday Visitor) When Bryan Kemper was getting started in pro-life activism about 20 years ago, he "was kind of paranoid at first" about working with Catholics, he said, having been taught by other Protestants that the Catholic Church was the whore of Babylon. "I was hellbent on saving all the Catholics," he recalled recently.
Kemper's younger self would likely be shocked to learn that he is part of a recent string of prominent pro-life activists — including Lila Rose, undercover videographer of Planned Parenthood, and former abortion clinic director Abby Johnson — who have decided to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church.
'One truth'
Kemper, now 44, had been baptized Catholic as a kid to appease his great-grandmother, but the faith was never practiced at home.
He spent his teen years doing and dealing drugs, getting kicked out of the military, and periodically living on the streets. His life began to change when he overdosed at a Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan concert in 1987 and a doctor "shared the hope of Christ" with him, he told Our Sunday Visitor.
Former abortion advocates also converted
The ranks of Catholic converts include at least two people who played a key role in the legalization of abortion in America.
Norma McCorvey was the "Jane Roe" of the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion in the United States. She later renounced the pro-choice position, and on Aug. 17, 1998, she was received into the Catholic Church and confirmed by Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life.
Dr. Bernard Nathanson, who died Feb. 21, helped found the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (NARAL) in 1969. An obstetrician-gynecologist, he performed 5,000 abortions and oversaw tens of thousands more. In the late 1970s, as a Jewish atheist, he came to oppose abortion; he was received into the Church in 1996.
He soon "gave his life over to Christ" and immersed himself in pro-life work. In 1993 he started Rock For Life, which led to spots on MTV and the Lollapalooza music tour. Later on, he started Stand True Ministries, which challenges young people to take a stand against abortion.
Kemper eventually came to realize that his Catholic colleagues "loved Jesus, too," he said, but that didn't keep him from trying to convert them. But his efforts didn't turn out quite the way he expected.
"Twenty-three years of debating my Catholic friends caused me to study the Catholic Church," he said. And although Kemper "fought it so hard" for the past few years, his study led him this past spring to return to the Catholic Church.
Historical facts, such as St. Ignatius of Antioch's early-second-century writings on the Eucharist, confirmed Kemper's sense that holy Communion was more than just a symbol. And he came to believe that "there's no possible way that God can be pleased with 40,000 denominations, and there had to be one truth," he said..
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Communist Party Endorses Barack Obama For Four More Years
By Aaron Klein
It may be early in the campaign season, but the Communist Party USA already has seen fit to endorse Barack Obama for the 2012 election.
While noting he is disappointed with "some aspects" of the Obama administration's domestic and foreign policy, Sam Webb, chairman of the Communist Party USA, threw his support behind Obama's re-election bid....
It may be early in the campaign season, but the Communist Party USA already has seen fit to endorse Barack Obama for the 2012 election.
While noting he is disappointed with "some aspects" of the Obama administration's domestic and foreign policy, Sam Webb, chairman of the Communist Party USA, threw his support behind Obama's re-election bid....
Cartoonist Targeted With Criminal Probe For Mocking Police
Chris Halsne
KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Investigative Reporter
RENTON, Wash. -- The Renton City Prosecutor wants to send a cartoonist to jail for mocking the police department in a series of animated Internet videos.
The "South-Park"-style animations parody everything from officers having sex on duty to certain personnel getting promoted without necessary qualifications. While the city wants to criminalize the cartoons, First Amendment rights advocates say the move is an "extreme abuse of power."Only KIRO Team 7 Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne holds a key document that really lays bare the city’s intent. The document was quietly filed in King County Superior Court last week. It’s a search warrant accusing an anonymous cartoon creator, going by the name of Mr. Fiddlesticks, of cyberstalking (RCW 9.61.260). The Renton Police Department and the local prosecutor got a judge to sign off as a way to uncover the name of whoever is behind the parodies.
Halsne talked with three nationally respected legal experts who believe the use of the cyberstalking statute is likely stomping on the constitution.The series of web-based short cartoons feature a mustachioed street cop and a short-haired female bureaucrat. The dry, at times, witty banter between the two touches on some embarrassing insider secrets, some of which seem to match up with internal affairs investigations on file within Renton PD...
KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Investigative Reporter
RENTON, Wash. -- The Renton City Prosecutor wants to send a cartoonist to jail for mocking the police department in a series of animated Internet videos.
The "South-Park"-style animations parody everything from officers having sex on duty to certain personnel getting promoted without necessary qualifications. While the city wants to criminalize the cartoons, First Amendment rights advocates say the move is an "extreme abuse of power."Only KIRO Team 7 Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne holds a key document that really lays bare the city’s intent. The document was quietly filed in King County Superior Court last week. It’s a search warrant accusing an anonymous cartoon creator, going by the name of Mr. Fiddlesticks, of cyberstalking (RCW 9.61.260). The Renton Police Department and the local prosecutor got a judge to sign off as a way to uncover the name of whoever is behind the parodies.
Halsne talked with three nationally respected legal experts who believe the use of the cyberstalking statute is likely stomping on the constitution.The series of web-based short cartoons feature a mustachioed street cop and a short-haired female bureaucrat. The dry, at times, witty banter between the two touches on some embarrassing insider secrets, some of which seem to match up with internal affairs investigations on file within Renton PD...
The Knights, Redux - The Vortex With Michael Voris of RealCatholicTV
The article mentioned by Michael Voris:
Related:
Catholic college prof blogging for abortion, live sex demonstrations
by Jeremy Kryn
RIVERDALE, New York, August 2, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – While blogging for a top pro-abortion website, an adjunct teacher at a Catholic college supports abortion and even live sex demonstrations in the classroom - while frequently mentioning her work at a Catholic institution.
Bianca Laureano, an adjunct professor at the Sisters of Charity-founded College of Mount Saint Vincent, is a regular contributor at RHRealityCheck.com and creator of the explicit “sex positive” site LatinoSexuality.com.
The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) blog reported last week that in a recent post, Laureano promoted a vitriolic tirade against the ‘Women Deserve Better’ campaign sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In the video posted by Laureano, Sonya Renee Taylor passionately recites a poem against the campaign, fuming that “balding middle-aged white men tell us what to do with our bodies.”
“The Vatican won’t prosecute pedophile priests, but I decide I’m not ready for motherhood and it’s condemnation for me?” Taylor shouts. “Get the f*** out of our decisions!”
This is not the first time that Laureano’s blogging habits have been questioned. In March, CNS identified a blog post in which Laureano vouched for masturbation and prostitution, and also supported a Northwestern University psychology professor who made headlines after it was revealed he offered live sex demonstrations in the classroom.
“The students who chose to attend class were consenting adults. And don’t we, as sexual health professionals, educators, activist, focus on consent?” she asked. “I think so.”
In April, Laureano described how she incorporated a pornographic image of the Virgin Mary entitled “The Liberation of Mary” to explore a greater “sex-positivity” among Latinas during a presentation at the University of Maryland.
The professor reminds her readers in several posts that she teaches at a Catholic college; in addition, CNS observed that Laureano taught classes on human sexuality at the College of Mount Saint Vincent this summer, and is scheduled to teach two sociology courses next semester.
When the Cardinal Newman Society asked Mount Saint Vincent College President Charles Flynn to resolve the problem two months ago, said CNS’s Patrick Reilly, the president “replied but did not indicate any clear resolution.”
Reilly said CNS was later “shocked” to learn that Laureano has been slated for a class at the College in the Fall. “We will keep watch and hope that students are not led astray or put into danger because of false teachings,” he said.
Although Laureano’s posts appear to have slowed down, said Reilly, the scandal wouldn’t end with the blog.
“It would be great if she would stop posting for this website all together, but there are larger issues regarding what she has posted and what she teaches,” Reilly continued. “It would be a great relief to Catholic families if the College of Mount Saint Vincent would take appropriate action and demonstrate its commitment to a strong Catholic identity.”
LifeSiteNews did not hear back from the College of Mount Saint Vincent or from Laureano by press time.
LSN writer/editor Kathleen Gilbert contributed to this story.
College of Mount Saint Vincent:
6301 Riverdale Avenue
Riverdale, NY 10471
(718) 405-3267
(800) 665-2678
Charles Flynn, President
charles.flynn@mountsaintvincent.edu
RIVERDALE, New York, August 2, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – While blogging for a top pro-abortion website, an adjunct teacher at a Catholic college supports abortion and even live sex demonstrations in the classroom - while frequently mentioning her work at a Catholic institution.Bianca Laureano, an adjunct professor at the Sisters of Charity-founded College of Mount Saint Vincent, is a regular contributor at RHRealityCheck.com and creator of the explicit “sex positive” site LatinoSexuality.com.
The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) blog reported last week that in a recent post, Laureano promoted a vitriolic tirade against the ‘Women Deserve Better’ campaign sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In the video posted by Laureano, Sonya Renee Taylor passionately recites a poem against the campaign, fuming that “balding middle-aged white men tell us what to do with our bodies.”
“The Vatican won’t prosecute pedophile priests, but I decide I’m not ready for motherhood and it’s condemnation for me?” Taylor shouts. “Get the f*** out of our decisions!”
This is not the first time that Laureano’s blogging habits have been questioned. In March, CNS identified a blog post in which Laureano vouched for masturbation and prostitution, and also supported a Northwestern University psychology professor who made headlines after it was revealed he offered live sex demonstrations in the classroom.
“The students who chose to attend class were consenting adults. And don’t we, as sexual health professionals, educators, activist, focus on consent?” she asked. “I think so.”
In April, Laureano described how she incorporated a pornographic image of the Virgin Mary entitled “The Liberation of Mary” to explore a greater “sex-positivity” among Latinas during a presentation at the University of Maryland.
The professor reminds her readers in several posts that she teaches at a Catholic college; in addition, CNS observed that Laureano taught classes on human sexuality at the College of Mount Saint Vincent this summer, and is scheduled to teach two sociology courses next semester.
When the Cardinal Newman Society asked Mount Saint Vincent College President Charles Flynn to resolve the problem two months ago, said CNS’s Patrick Reilly, the president “replied but did not indicate any clear resolution.”
Reilly said CNS was later “shocked” to learn that Laureano has been slated for a class at the College in the Fall. “We will keep watch and hope that students are not led astray or put into danger because of false teachings,” he said.
Although Laureano’s posts appear to have slowed down, said Reilly, the scandal wouldn’t end with the blog.
“It would be great if she would stop posting for this website all together, but there are larger issues regarding what she has posted and what she teaches,” Reilly continued. “It would be a great relief to Catholic families if the College of Mount Saint Vincent would take appropriate action and demonstrate its commitment to a strong Catholic identity.”
LifeSiteNews did not hear back from the College of Mount Saint Vincent or from Laureano by press time.
LSN writer/editor Kathleen Gilbert contributed to this story.
College of Mount Saint Vincent:
6301 Riverdale Avenue
Riverdale, NY 10471
(718) 405-3267
(800) 665-2678
Charles Flynn, President
charles.flynn@mountsaintvincent.edu
Trial by Therapists
By Ryan A. MacDonald
Therapists should be held professionally and civilly liable when they promote junk science to help convict innocent men.
On September 23, 1994, Rev. Gordon MacRae, a New Hampshire Catholic priest, was convicted of raping a male counseling client more than a decade earlier. At the time of Fr. MacRae’s trial, accuser Thomas Grover was 28 years old. His core testimony was simple. Grover stated that, in 1983, he sought MacRae out for counseling for his drug addiction in the months preceding his 16th birthday. He claimed that during each session he was berated, made to cry, and then forced to submit to oral sex in a Church rectory office. His claim that these events occurred during counseling sessions enhanced the charges to five counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault. When asked by defense counsel why Grover, at almost age 16 – being 5’ 11 and weighing in excess of 180 pounds – would return from week to week after having been raped, Grover answered, “I don’t know – I repressed it.” When the defense pressed for an explanation, Grover said, “I had out of body experiences; I don’t remember how I got there.”
During this remarkable testimony, a woman in the spectator section of the court was taking copious notes. She wasn’t with reporters in the press section. When defense counsel approached her during a break, she identified herself as “a student interested in the trial.”
Following Thomas Grover’s testimony, the prosecution was permitted to call to the stand an expert witness, Leonard Fleischer, Ed.D., whose role was purportedly to “educate” the jury about Child Abuse Accommodation Syndromee, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and “delayed reporting.” His description of PTSD included a reference to “out of body experiences” even though, as a witness, he was not present during Thomas Grover’s testimony. During the trial, however, Dr. Fleischer was seen in a restaurant with the “student” who had been taking notes during Grover’s testimony.
Thomas Grover also testified that between ages 15 and 27, he was treated in six drug abuse treatment centers, the first being Beech Hill Hospital in New Hampshire. Dr. Fleischer then testified that he had once been a therapist at Beech Hill Hospital, and “in my experience 70% to 80% of the males who had been treated at Beech Hill Hospital were sexually abused.”
On appeal, the State conceded that this uncorroborated statistical testimony by Dr. Fleischer should not have been allowed. The state appellate court agreed, but determined that it was “harmless error beyond a reasonable doubt.” In post-trial interviews with jurors, several stated that their verdict was swayed solely by Dr. Fleischer’s testimony. One juror said she voted for guilty because she watched the defendant carefully during the trial, “and he did not look remorseful.” The jury never heard that this trial came after MacRae’s rejection of the State’s plea offer of a sentence of one to three years. He rejected this offer twice before trial and again following Thomas Grover’s testimony. After the trial, he was sentenced by Judge Arthur Brennan to a term of up to 67 years – more than 20 times the maximum of the State’s proffered deal.
PAULINE GOUPIL, M.A.
Far more troubling was the role played in this trial and its aftermath by psychotherapist Pauline Goupil (now working under the name of Pauline Vachon), M.A. As defense counsel Ron Koch (pronounced “Coke”) stood at the defense table to cross-examine Thomas Grover, Mr. Grover turned in protest to the judge. This 28-year-old, 220 lb. man complained that he did not want to see the defendant during the trial and therefore could not answer Mr. Koch’s questions if he stood in the middle aisle by the defense table. In apparent disregard of the Constitutional right of defendants to confront an accuser at trial, Judge Brennan ordered defense counsel to cross-examine Thomas Grover from a position in the court as far from the defendant as possible.
Later, during a break in the trial, an observer approached the defense attorney. The issue, she said, had nothing to do with the lawyer standing near the defendant. The observer pointed out the presence of a woman seated with spectators on the center aisle. The observer reported seeing that woman influence Thomas Grover’s testimony using hand signals. The observer pointed out that defense counsel had been blocking Grover’s view of her when he was standing near Father MacRae during cross examination.
The observer claimed that when defense counsel asked Mr. Grover to explain to whom he first brought his sexual abuse claims, the police or a contingency lawyer, Thomas Grover looked directly at the woman seated at the center aisle at which point she gestured with her index finger over her eye and down her cheek. Grover, the observer said, then began to sob uncontrollably causing the judge to declare a recess. The observer pointed the woman out, and defense counsel approached her.
The woman identified herself as Pauline Goupil, M.A., Thomas Grover’s therapist. The defense approached the bench, the jury was dismissed for the day, and Pauline Goupil was ordered to the stand. Ms. Goupil testified that she had been retained by Thomas Grover’s contingency lawyer, Robert Upton, to counsel Grover throughout the trial and keep him “clean and sober.” Ms. Goupil stated that she had a practice specialization in treating victims of sexual abuse and assault.
For an entire afternoon, Pauline Goupil, M.A. testified about her role, and vehemently protested defense attempts to obtain her file. Pre-trial, the defense moved for copies of all of Thomas Grover’s treatment records, but few were available and the defense was never told of Grover’s on-going treatment with Pauline Goupil.
In the end, the judge ruled that he would conduct an in-camera review of Ms. Goupil’s treatment file which she was ordered to produce the next day. She was then barred from the court for the remainder of trial. The presence of Ms. Goupil, and the matter of her giving Grover hand signals during his testimony, was never heard by the jury and the defense counsel did not move for a mistrial.
Pauline Goupil’s file was submitted that day for in-camera review. In it was a letter from Ms. Goupil to Thomas Grover in which she chastised him for not showing up for her sessions, and assured him:
“I have good news. Jim [Keene, NH sex crimes detective James F. McLaughlin] told me that MacRae is being offered a plea deal he will have to accept. So there will be no trial. We can just move on with the settlement phase.”
Neither the letter, nor Pauline Goupil’s coaching of Thomas Grover’s testimony ever became known to the jury.
Once Pauline Goupil’s role in the case was known, however, Thomas Grover was put back on the stand. He testified that Ms. Goupil arranged for him to be drugged before his testimony, and that was why he could not remember specifics. Thomas Grover claimed that part of the residual effect of the abuse he suffered was chronic unemployment due to his emotional state. He was asked by defense counsel how – since he could not hold a job – could he afford weekly therapy with Ms. Goupil. Grover stated, “She worked something out with my lawyer. She’ll be paid after the settlement.” Earlier in his testimony, Grover denied having any awareness of plans to sue the Catholic Church... (continued)
Therapists should be held professionally and civilly liable when they promote junk science to help convict innocent men.
On September 23, 1994, Rev. Gordon MacRae, a New Hampshire Catholic priest, was convicted of raping a male counseling client more than a decade earlier. At the time of Fr. MacRae’s trial, accuser Thomas Grover was 28 years old. His core testimony was simple. Grover stated that, in 1983, he sought MacRae out for counseling for his drug addiction in the months preceding his 16th birthday. He claimed that during each session he was berated, made to cry, and then forced to submit to oral sex in a Church rectory office. His claim that these events occurred during counseling sessions enhanced the charges to five counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault. When asked by defense counsel why Grover, at almost age 16 – being 5’ 11 and weighing in excess of 180 pounds – would return from week to week after having been raped, Grover answered, “I don’t know – I repressed it.” When the defense pressed for an explanation, Grover said, “I had out of body experiences; I don’t remember how I got there.”
During this remarkable testimony, a woman in the spectator section of the court was taking copious notes. She wasn’t with reporters in the press section. When defense counsel approached her during a break, she identified herself as “a student interested in the trial.”
Following Thomas Grover’s testimony, the prosecution was permitted to call to the stand an expert witness, Leonard Fleischer, Ed.D., whose role was purportedly to “educate” the jury about Child Abuse Accommodation Syndromee, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and “delayed reporting.” His description of PTSD included a reference to “out of body experiences” even though, as a witness, he was not present during Thomas Grover’s testimony. During the trial, however, Dr. Fleischer was seen in a restaurant with the “student” who had been taking notes during Grover’s testimony.
Thomas Grover also testified that between ages 15 and 27, he was treated in six drug abuse treatment centers, the first being Beech Hill Hospital in New Hampshire. Dr. Fleischer then testified that he had once been a therapist at Beech Hill Hospital, and “in my experience 70% to 80% of the males who had been treated at Beech Hill Hospital were sexually abused.”
On appeal, the State conceded that this uncorroborated statistical testimony by Dr. Fleischer should not have been allowed. The state appellate court agreed, but determined that it was “harmless error beyond a reasonable doubt.” In post-trial interviews with jurors, several stated that their verdict was swayed solely by Dr. Fleischer’s testimony. One juror said she voted for guilty because she watched the defendant carefully during the trial, “and he did not look remorseful.” The jury never heard that this trial came after MacRae’s rejection of the State’s plea offer of a sentence of one to three years. He rejected this offer twice before trial and again following Thomas Grover’s testimony. After the trial, he was sentenced by Judge Arthur Brennan to a term of up to 67 years – more than 20 times the maximum of the State’s proffered deal.
PAULINE GOUPIL, M.A.
Far more troubling was the role played in this trial and its aftermath by psychotherapist Pauline Goupil (now working under the name of Pauline Vachon), M.A. As defense counsel Ron Koch (pronounced “Coke”) stood at the defense table to cross-examine Thomas Grover, Mr. Grover turned in protest to the judge. This 28-year-old, 220 lb. man complained that he did not want to see the defendant during the trial and therefore could not answer Mr. Koch’s questions if he stood in the middle aisle by the defense table. In apparent disregard of the Constitutional right of defendants to confront an accuser at trial, Judge Brennan ordered defense counsel to cross-examine Thomas Grover from a position in the court as far from the defendant as possible.
Later, during a break in the trial, an observer approached the defense attorney. The issue, she said, had nothing to do with the lawyer standing near the defendant. The observer pointed out the presence of a woman seated with spectators on the center aisle. The observer reported seeing that woman influence Thomas Grover’s testimony using hand signals. The observer pointed out that defense counsel had been blocking Grover’s view of her when he was standing near Father MacRae during cross examination.
The observer claimed that when defense counsel asked Mr. Grover to explain to whom he first brought his sexual abuse claims, the police or a contingency lawyer, Thomas Grover looked directly at the woman seated at the center aisle at which point she gestured with her index finger over her eye and down her cheek. Grover, the observer said, then began to sob uncontrollably causing the judge to declare a recess. The observer pointed the woman out, and defense counsel approached her.
The woman identified herself as Pauline Goupil, M.A., Thomas Grover’s therapist. The defense approached the bench, the jury was dismissed for the day, and Pauline Goupil was ordered to the stand. Ms. Goupil testified that she had been retained by Thomas Grover’s contingency lawyer, Robert Upton, to counsel Grover throughout the trial and keep him “clean and sober.” Ms. Goupil stated that she had a practice specialization in treating victims of sexual abuse and assault.
For an entire afternoon, Pauline Goupil, M.A. testified about her role, and vehemently protested defense attempts to obtain her file. Pre-trial, the defense moved for copies of all of Thomas Grover’s treatment records, but few were available and the defense was never told of Grover’s on-going treatment with Pauline Goupil.
In the end, the judge ruled that he would conduct an in-camera review of Ms. Goupil’s treatment file which she was ordered to produce the next day. She was then barred from the court for the remainder of trial. The presence of Ms. Goupil, and the matter of her giving Grover hand signals during his testimony, was never heard by the jury and the defense counsel did not move for a mistrial.
Pauline Goupil’s file was submitted that day for in-camera review. In it was a letter from Ms. Goupil to Thomas Grover in which she chastised him for not showing up for her sessions, and assured him:
“I have good news. Jim [Keene, NH sex crimes detective James F. McLaughlin] told me that MacRae is being offered a plea deal he will have to accept. So there will be no trial. We can just move on with the settlement phase.”
Neither the letter, nor Pauline Goupil’s coaching of Thomas Grover’s testimony ever became known to the jury.
Once Pauline Goupil’s role in the case was known, however, Thomas Grover was put back on the stand. He testified that Ms. Goupil arranged for him to be drugged before his testimony, and that was why he could not remember specifics. Thomas Grover claimed that part of the residual effect of the abuse he suffered was chronic unemployment due to his emotional state. He was asked by defense counsel how – since he could not hold a job – could he afford weekly therapy with Ms. Goupil. Grover stated, “She worked something out with my lawyer. She’ll be paid after the settlement.” Earlier in his testimony, Grover denied having any awareness of plans to sue the Catholic Church... (continued)
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Armed Agents Bust Raw Milk & Cheese Sellers
From InfoWars.com:
"UPDATE: We have learned that in addition to James Stewart, two other people have been arrested in this raid and are being charged with conspiracy to sell unpasteurized raw milk products. Sharon Palmer of Healthy Family Farms is currently in jail, with bond set at $120,000. Palmer was featured in the documentary Farmageddon. Victoria Bloch, an L.A. county liaison for the Weston A. Price Foundation has also been arrested.
Activists are planning a protest tomorrow morning outside the L.A. county courthouse (details pending) to send a strong message that we have a right to healthy, natural foods. Help rally people to this cause, tell people about this outrageous and backwards persecution and fight for our natural rights. Check back at Infowars.com and Natural News.com for further updates."
"UPDATE: We have learned that in addition to James Stewart, two other people have been arrested in this raid and are being charged with conspiracy to sell unpasteurized raw milk products. Sharon Palmer of Healthy Family Farms is currently in jail, with bond set at $120,000. Palmer was featured in the documentary Farmageddon. Victoria Bloch, an L.A. county liaison for the Weston A. Price Foundation has also been arrested.Activists are planning a protest tomorrow morning outside the L.A. county courthouse (details pending) to send a strong message that we have a right to healthy, natural foods. Help rally people to this cause, tell people about this outrageous and backwards persecution and fight for our natural rights. Check back at Infowars.com and Natural News.com for further updates."
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Empty Chairs at Empty Tables
by
"..I served in Father Moe’s parish during my year as a transitional deacon, and it was Father Moe whom I chose to present me with my stole and vestments at priesthood ordination. I was the sole candidate for ordination in the Diocese of Manchester in 1982. I have a vivid memory of standing at attention as Father Moe solemnly placed the stole of priesthood upon my shoulders. He whispered something that no one else could hear: “This is not for you,” he said, nodding to the congregation. “It’s for them. Never forget that.” I never did. I never saw priesthood as something that elevated me, but rather as something the Lord brought about despite me, and into which I could only hope by grace to ascend. I was never worthy of it. I’m still not..."
"..I served in Father Moe’s parish during my year as a transitional deacon, and it was Father Moe whom I chose to present me with my stole and vestments at priesthood ordination. I was the sole candidate for ordination in the Diocese of Manchester in 1982. I have a vivid memory of standing at attention as Father Moe solemnly placed the stole of priesthood upon my shoulders. He whispered something that no one else could hear: “This is not for you,” he said, nodding to the congregation. “It’s for them. Never forget that.” I never did. I never saw priesthood as something that elevated me, but rather as something the Lord brought about despite me, and into which I could only hope by grace to ascend. I was never worthy of it. I’m still not..."
A Vatican II Moment: Lord's Supper to be Celebrated by Protestant, Priests to Concelebrate
From New Catholic at RORATE CÆLI:
Father Marcel Gravet will celebrate his 85th birthday and the 60th anniversary of his priestly ordination tomorrow at Rochefort (Namur, Wallonia, Belgium) with a very touching ceremony, which will take place in his own Parish church of Buissonville (Saint-Laurent/Diocese of Namur); in his own words:
"Out of concern for the unity of Christians, the Lord's Supper will be celebrated by Annette Ruby, who is a Protestant pastor in Alsace [France]. The priests who so desire will be able to concelebrate. It is an event which will not fail to provoke reactions which I expect to be numerous. I hope to obtain, afterwards, numerous responses to questions such as: what did you feel about the celebration of the Supper by a married woman, and mother of several children? What do you expect from a priest or a pastor? What questions do you wish to pose to the highest authorities of the Church? By gathering all these testimonies, we expect to establish a deep reflection on these matters and to assemble a document to be made public somewhere in the next year or two in the most appropriate way."
[Source: L'avenir; tip: Le Salon Beige. That's Father in a restaurant - that is not Madame Annette's supper. Yes, Father really is a priest in the Namur diocese; yes, Mme. Staub-Ruby really is a minister of the Union of Protestant 'Churches' of Alsace and Lorraine.]
Monday, August 1, 2011
A Woman and a Dragon
From MarkMallett.com:
They were one of the bloodiest cultures on earth. It is estimated that the Aztec Indians, in what is known as Mexico today, sacrificed, along with the rest of Mezzo-america, as many as 250,000 lives each year.1 The bloody rituals sometimes included removing the victim’s heart while he was still alive. They worshipped the Serpent-god Quetzalcoatl whom they believed would eventually render all other god’s useless. As you’ll see, this belief was pivotal in the eventual conversion of those peoples.
Perhaps most remarkable was the discovery, through digital technology, of human figures in her pupils that no artist could have possibly painted, particularly on such rough fibers. The same scene is reflected in each eye revealing what appears to be the instant that the image appeared on the tilma.
IT is one of the most remarkable ongoing miracles in modern times, and the majority of Catholics are likely unaware of it. Chapter Six in my book, The Final Confrontation, deals with the incredible miracle of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and how it relates to Chapter 12 in the Book of Revelation. Due to widespread myths that have been accepted as facts, however, my original version has been revised to reflect the verified scientific realities surrounding the tilma upon which the image remains as in inexplicable phenomenon. The miracle of the tilma needs no embellishment; it stands on its own as a great "sign of the times."
I have published Chapter Six below for those who already have my book. The Third Printing is now available for those who would like to order additional copies, which includes the information below and any typographical corrections found.
Note: the footnotes below are numbered differently than the printed copy.
CHAPTER SIX: A WOMAN AND A DRAGON
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth. Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems. Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth. (Rev 12:1-4)
IT BEGINS
They were one of the bloodiest cultures on earth. It is estimated that the Aztec Indians, in what is known as Mexico today, sacrificed, along with the rest of Mezzo-america, as many as 250,000 lives each year.1 The bloody rituals sometimes included removing the victim’s heart while he was still alive. They worshipped the Serpent-god Quetzalcoatl whom they believed would eventually render all other god’s useless. As you’ll see, this belief was pivotal in the eventual conversion of those peoples.It was in the midst of this blood-soaked culture of death, in 1531 A.D.,
that “the Woman” appeared to a commoner there in what marks the beginning of a great confrontation with the serpent. How and when she appeared is what makes her apparition most significant…
that “the Woman” appeared to a commoner there in what marks the beginning of a great confrontation with the serpent. How and when she appeared is what makes her apparition most significant… It was at dawn when Our Lady first came to St. Juan Diego as he walked along the countryside. She requested that a church be built on the hill where the apparitions were taking place. St. Juan approached the Bishop with her request, but was asked to return to the Virgin and appeal for a miraculous sign as proof of her appearances. So she
instructed St. Juan to collect flowers from the Hill of Tepeyac and bring them to the Bishop. Even though it was winter, and the ground was rough terrain, he found flowers of every kind blooming there, including Castilian roses, which were native to the Bishop’s homeland in Spain—but not Tepeyac. St. Juan gathered the flowers into his tilma.2 The Blessed Virgin re-arranged them and then sent him on his way. When he unfolded the tilma before the Bishop, the flowers fell to the ground, and suddenly a miraculous image of Our Lady appeared on the cloth.
instructed St. Juan to collect flowers from the Hill of Tepeyac and bring them to the Bishop. Even though it was winter, and the ground was rough terrain, he found flowers of every kind blooming there, including Castilian roses, which were native to the Bishop’s homeland in Spain—but not Tepeyac. St. Juan gathered the flowers into his tilma.2 The Blessed Virgin re-arranged them and then sent him on his way. When he unfolded the tilma before the Bishop, the flowers fell to the ground, and suddenly a miraculous image of Our Lady appeared on the cloth. OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE: A LIVING IMAGE
The actual miracle was so overwhelming that the bishop never contested it. For centuries, it remained the only uncontested miracle by the Church (though in 1666, an investigation was conducted primarily for historical reference.) It is important to pause for a moment to consider the nature of this miraculous event, for it underscores the great significance of this apparition.
This cloth is among the most exceptional ongoing miracles in modern times. What I am about to explain below has been scientifically verified, and amazingly, is known by relatively few in the Church. The fact that technology is only now able, in our times, to discover some of the tilma’s miraculous elements is also significant, as I will explain.
In August of 1954, Dr. Rafael Torija Lavoignet discovered that her eyes demonstrated the Purkinje-Sanson law. That is, they contained three mirror reflections of the same image on the inner and outer cornea and outer lens surface—characteristics belonging to a human eye. This was confirmed again in 1974-75 by Dr. Enrique Graue. In 1985, hair-like images of blood vessels were discovered in the upper eyelids (which were not circulating blood, according to some rumors).
Perhaps most remarkable was the discovery, through digital technology, of human figures in her pupils that no artist could have possibly painted, particularly on such rough fibers. The same scene is reflected in each eye revealing what appears to be the instant that the image appeared on the tilma. It is possible to discern a seated Indian, who is looking up to the heavens; the profile of a balding, elderly man with a white beard, much like the portrait of Bishop Zumárraga, painted by Miguel Cabrera, to depict the miracle; and a younger man, in all probability interpreter Juan González. Also present is an Indian, likely Juan Diego, of striking features, with a beard and mustache, who unfolds his own tilma before the bishop; a woman of dark complexion, possibly a Negro slave who was in the bishop’s service; and a man with Spanish features who looks on pensively, stroking his beard with his hand. —Zenit.Org, January 14th, 2001
The figures are located exactly where they are supposed to be in both eyes, with distortion in the images agreeing with the curvature of a human cornea. It’s as though Our Lady had her picture taken with the tilma acting as a photographic plate, her eyes bearing the scene of
what occurred at the moment the image appeared in front of the Bishop.
what occurred at the moment the image appeared in front of the Bishop.Further digital enhancements have found an image, independent of the other, situated in the center of her eyes. It is that of an Indian family made up of a woman, a man and several children. I will discuss the significance of this later on.
The tilma is made of ayate, a coarse fabric woven from ixtle plant fibers. Richard Kuhn, a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, has found that the original image does not have natural, animal, or mineral colorings. Given that there were no synthetic colorings in 1531, the source of the pigments is inexplicable. Zenit News Agency reports that in 1979, Americans Philip Callahan and Jody B. Smith studied the image using infrared rays and also discovered, to their surprise, that there was no trace of paint or brush strokes, and that the fabric had not been treated with any kind of technique. There is no thickness to the pigmentation, so there is not the usual aspect that we are used to seeing in, say, an oil painting where colors “melt” together. The ixtle fibers are also visible through parts of the image; that is, the holes of the fabric are visible through the pigmentation giving the sense that the image “hovers,” though it is indeed touching the fabric.
Presenting these facts at a Pontifical conference in Rome, a Peruvian environmental systems engineer asked:
[How] it is possible to explain this image and its consistency in time without colors, on a fabric that has not been treated? [How] is it possible that, despite the fact there is no paint, the colors maintain their luminosity and brilliance? —José Aste Tonsmann, Mexican Center of Guadalupan Studies; Rome, January 14th, 2001; Zenit.org
Indeed, the tilma appears to be somewhat indestructible. Ayate cloth has a normal lifespan of no more than 20-50 years. In 1787, Dr. Jose Ignacio Bartolache made two copies of the image, trying to recreate the original as accurately as possible. He placed two of these copies in Tepeyac; one in a building called El Pocito, and the other in the sanctuary of St. Mary of Guadalupe. Neither lasted even ten years, underscoring the astonishing incorruptibility of the original image: it has been over 470 years since Our Lady appeared on St. Juan’s tilma.Furthermore, when consideration is given to the fact that there is no under-drawing, sizing, or over-varnish, and that the weave of the fabric is itself utilized to give the portrait depth, no explanation of the portrait is possible by infrared techniques. It is remarkable that, in over four centuries, there is no fading or cracking of the original figure on any portion of the ayate tilma, which being unsized, should have deteriorated centuries ago. —Dr. Philip C. Callahan, Mary of the Americas, by Christopher Rengers, OFM Cap., New York, St. Pauls, Alba House, 1989, p. 92f.
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