Notable reverberations include the string of resignations coming in the wake of Nassar's convictions. Among those who have resigned so far include Michigan State's athletic director and president; the entire board of USA Gymnastics; and earlier today, the CEO of the United States Olympic Committee, Scott Blackmun. All resigned under fire. There is a movement afoot to spin up a Congressional investigation, and some civil lawsuits already have been filed, with many more almost certain to follow.
The parallels with the Catholic church's clergy scandals are evident enough - except for the resignations part.
The officials who have stepped down in the wake of the Nassar trials haven't been able to withstand the withering barrage of public pressure. How is it that church officials have demonstrated more staying power?
Undoubtedly, part of it is that the Nassar scandal is a truly national story, while most of the long string of Catholic clergy scandals have been treated as local stories, supplemented by some coverage in a Catholic media that doesn't often register on the American secular public's radar (or even the radars of many Catholics in the pews). Perhaps some of it has to do with the nature of the victims: many of Nassar's victims were elite teen gymnasts, who practice a sport with a periodically high profile and a positive public image. Intensive Summer Olympics coverage over the last 40+ years has cemented in the public's mind who women gymnasts are. By contrast, most of the victims of clergy abuse are anonymous, and most of them presumably wish to stay that way. There is no firmly fixed image in the popular imagination of what a victim of clergy abuse looks like or sounds like.
What I am describing in discussing resignations is accountability. To resign from a public post for dereliction of leadership is to take at least some small measure of accountability for one's actions. These resignations seem to acknowledge that the abuse of children is a social phenomenon; it is not just a private act of abuse between two participants with no wider social consequences. All of us, especially those of us in positions of leadership and authority, have a responsibility to protect minors under our care, especially when allegations of abuse have been reported, and when there are lapses in protection, the consequences also should be social in nature. The consequences seem to be continuing to reverberate through the layers of leadership of those who were responsible for protecting the gymnasts and others under Nassar's care. For the good of the church, it would be fitting for leaders at the various layers of responsibility for the abuse of children in the Catholic church to acknowledge similar responsibility, and to accept the consequences accordingly.
As a member of a diocese that lost two bishops due to the scandal, I've probably seen more accountability than the average Catholic. Our parish developed a pretty good informal Liturgy for Sudden Departure of a Bishop by the time if the second one. We'll be ready if there is a third.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that the first bishop was removed. The second, who had a gift for community, announced his resignation at a meeting with priests and press coverage before they could fire him. Everyone has personal tales of his with and repartee; he was a good man. The first bishop was last seen in an apartment in Dublin, Ireland. The second died at a Trappist Monastery in Georgia. Few would have known that's where he went except that a reporter saw him while the reporter was making a retreat there. (A scoop by the non-Godless media.)
The Church has a problem the USAOC, USAGymnastics, the courts and the media don't have: The Church believes in repentance, forgiveness and redemption. Three, four or five lifetime sentences for Larry Nasser will have to do for those bodies in the absence of drawing and quartering (but Attorney General Sessions is not finished), but it doesn't really cut it in a religious body that proclaims a God of mercy. To move it off a Catholic center: "Earnestly, tenderly Jesus is calling, Calling O sinner, come home."
We have never found a good way to model that in the case of a public sin of scandalous proportions. I don't know how you handle it. But if we mean it when we say, "Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future," consignment to oblivion sends the wrong message.
I'm not saying we've found the answer. We haven't. I am saying that we won't find it in how USA Gymnastics, the Boy Scouts, school boards and media outlets handle their pubic sinners.
Tom - I would say that repentance, forgiveness and redemption are as possible for a private citizen or a prisoner behind bars as they are for a prominent public official. If these officials truly are committed to the well-being of the institution (and its mission) they ostensibly serve, and if they have a certain mass of culpability for the abuse, then for the good of the institution, they should step down.
DeleteJim, Remember what Karl Jaspers said in 1947(?) when everyone in the world was blaming every German for everything that happened in Germany and occupied Europe: "If everyone is guilty, then no one is guilty."
DeleteAs the Allied occupation forces learned, somebody has to be left to clean the streets, repair the sewers and make the buses run.
Tom - I don't buy collective guilt when it comes to sex abuse. That would be like saying that all Michigan State faculty and students are collectively guilty for Larry Nassar's crimes. I don't believe that to be the case, any more than I think all the Catholics in a parish or a diocese are collectively guilty because the associate pastor abused altar servers. I do think that leaders of the university and the gymnastics organization who looked the other way or sought to minimize the impact on their careers, at the expense of the well-being of the victims, almost all of whom were minors, are culpable and shouldn't be let off the hook.
DeleteSome musings about why Nassar and priest abuse have had different outcomes:
ReplyDeletePriest abuse is seen by the larger community as a "Catholic problem": Celibacy is weird and unnatural. What else do Catholics expect when they insist on celibate clegy? Why don't they find another church?
MSU was able to duck accountability for some years, but the way Judge Aguilar allowed the victim statements to go on for days piled on the outrage among taxpayers and the legislature. MSU ultimately had to make sure some heads rolled as students and others busted into board meetings and held rallies on campus. People aren't afraid to raise hell in the public square, but marching on the bishop's residence might be a whole other deal.
Many priest abuse victims are now middle aged men to whom crimes happed decades ago. The optics are less compelling than pretty, petite, mostly white young women in tears. Not criticizing the victims, just sayin' ...
Coaches Izzo and Dantonio could hardly wait to get their "survivor" support ribbons and bracelets on and talking up supporting and believing the girls (I will refrain from being cynical about why.) They have tremendous influence. It would be like the K of C and the Catholic League marching with priest abuse victims instead of trying to deflect attention away from the victims and instead turning the abuse into a gay problem.
Nassar was the worst part of a larger gymnastics program that was toxic. I know parents who yanked their girls out of the program at young ages because of bullying and pressure by coaches. They supported Nassar's victims because they felt the gymnastics program had victimized their kids to a lesser extent.
During the trial, it was clear there was a web of collusion by other doctors and athletics staff to defend Nassar despite complaints. There were arrogance and dereliction of duty on the part of cops and administrators. Some really bone-headed comments by university officials seemed to try to be minimizing the problem. Heads are rolling because this is all out in the open. The dysfunction that allowed priest abuse to continue comes out in dribbles after some of the principle players are dead. I don't think it is well known who, exactly, is complicit in these cases, and the Church has paid a lot of money to keep it that way.
Jean - some excellent points. I might add that this scandal happened to coincide and dovetail with the #MeToo social phenomenon: that these victims are young women, whereas, as you note, many/most of the victims of clergy abuse are men, probably has helped this Nassar story ride the wave of publicity and activism on behalf of women abused in the workplace.
DeleteFollowing up on what I said to Jim earlier about collective guilt, it seems obvious to me that there is such a thing as collective complicity. The parents and athletes became complicit, to some extent, when they stayed with the abuse and -- maybe unconsciously -- accepted that they would get heavenly trophies in the end for undergoing mistreatment today. (Not an un-religious mistake. "Tempted and tried, we're oft made to wonder.") That does not excuse the victimizer; he has criminally sinned. But it does not leave his victims Scot free, either. They were part of the system, like it or hate it, that allowed and covered up the criminals and their sins. There is no equality of guilt there at all (see Jasper) but there is a measure of complicity. Our legal system is a clumsy way for dealing with it. I mean, what does 300 years mean to Larry Nasser? Couldn't you get exactly the same effect with 50?
ReplyDeleteReally, Tom? The victims are complicit? The gymnastics system bullied girls from the time they were little, on one hand shaming them when they complained about anything from pain to exhaustion to Nassar's treatment, and then telling parents how their kids were stars and not to stand in their way. In this way the children's and parent's experiences were very different.
DeleteGirls were told their abuse was all part of medical treatment until they believed it. When girls did go to the cops, Nassar said they were "uncomfortable about their bodies" and gave a slide show demonstrating how his procedures were legit. Guess whom the cops believed?
Clearly other doctors and admin didn't buy Nassar's presentation, and they told Nassar not to treat anyone without someone present in the room. He managed to position himself so he could continue to abuse. In front of their very mothers.
I am not wholly moved by some of the victim hysterics I have seen. I think these things get a life of their own. And calling them "survivors" ramps up an already emotional situation.
But to call the victims complicit puts you way out of line in my book.
Tom - I agree with your point regarding the kludginess of the criminal justice system to bring about true and complete justice for a crime of this nature. This is one of the reasons that I don't agree with clergy-abuse advocates who advise victims to not report abuse to the church authorities, but instead rely solely on the police and prosecutors. My advice is to do both: report abuse to the police and to children-service agencies, and also to diocesan child-protection departments. The church has a role in protecting children under its care and punishing its clergy who abuse. (And also, as you've noted, in seeking the repentance and even forgiveness of its abusers.) Those paths of accountability are complementary, not substitutes for one another.
DeleteI guess I'd add that, if civil justice is kludgy, it's the best we've got, it's still mostly aligned with the ends of justice, and pursuing justice through our courts is preferable to not doing so.
Jean, I am not blaming the victims. But the way the system worked, Nasser (and other) bullied the kids to make them strong and criminally abused them. In return, the kids got shots at gold medals. The kids and their parents knew about the bulling, if not the abuse, and accepted it as part of the system that could lead to medals they wanted.
DeleteHewlett Packard has a perfectly lousy customer support system. Last week I told them so and pitched their printer. As a result, I need a Canon. I could have accepted their lousy service and wasted hours periodically doing what should take five minutes. That would have been being complicit, but not guilty of running a lousy system. That is the distinction I am trying to make here. The girls could have avoided the bullying by taking up swimming, which would have gotten them away from the sexual abuse as well.
Tom as someone who has had a Hewlett Packard printer, I feel your pain. You will like the Canon.
DeleteI think you have to understand that a lot of ga-ga parents pushed little girls into this programs from the time they were in kindergarten because of hard sell by the coaches. "Your kid is a natural, gold medals, discipline, cheerleading opportunities, scholarships, thousands of dollars ..." It reaches a point where, even if the kid wants to quit, the parent is invested and pressures her to stay in.
This wasn't always a choice for the girls.
If you want to make the point that commodifying children into status symbols is a problem that helps people like Larry Nassar and abusive coaches survive, I agree.
Jean, I agree with you about the ga-ga parents, and people commodifying children into status symbols. We can make idols of gold medals and 15 minutes in the limelight. Children need a balanced life. I wouldn't have made a good olympic mom. Not that my kids were remotely interested in anything like that. It would have taken too much time away from hanging out with their friends and watching tv and playing video games.
DeleteIt's frightening how many only one of these predators can victimize. They're like psychological WMD's. They have high levels of emotional intelligence like Trump and are able to manipulate parents as well as victims. I'm sure extended study of his methods would show he knew how to generate complicity and guilt. These critters know how to exploit the vulnerabilities of the system they are embedded in, as they did those of the Church. The system has to develop an immune system, detect these critters and encyst them. Forgive them as much as you want, but identify and encyst them.
ReplyDeleteStanley - I agree with your description. Our archdiocese requires any and all ministry professionals and volunteers whose ministry brings them into contact with children (and there aren't many ministries that don't) to go through an awareness training program called "Protecting God's Children". Your description of these serial abusers as being effectively manipulative and utilizing "social engineering" to groom their victims and not be reported accords very much with what is presented in the training program. I'm curious whether you've sat through similar training?
DeleteNo, Jim. In my profession, there was zero contact with children, except for the occasional high school tour. But, working as an employee of DoD and a consultant, I've had to go through endless hours of training wrt correct behaviour and security. Any sexual harrassment that takes place in the Army isn't for lack of training. It's amazing we have any time left to kill, maim and destroy. I'm reminded of that Peter Sellers line in "Dr. Strangelove", paraphrasing, "Gentlemen, there'll be no fighting in the War Room".
DeleteHeads are rolling because this is all out in the open. The dysfunction that allowed priest abuse to continue comes out in dribbles after some of the principle players are dead. I don't think it is well known who, exactly, is complicit in these cases, and the Church has paid a lot of money to keep it that way.
ReplyDeleteYup.
Tom is also right about the complicity of others:
They were part of the system, like it or hate it, that allowed and covered up the criminals and their sins. There is no equality of guilt ...but there is a measure of complicity
The complicity of church officials in enabling child molesters is one of the major reasons I took a leave of absence from the RCC. But the final shove out the door was the result of the complicity of the Catholic laity in not DEMANDING accountability with the only voice they have - money - closing the checkbooks. Hiding behind the weak excuse that the church allows sinners to repent simply diverts attention away from the reality that child abuse is not only a sin, it is a crime and the bishops, all the way up to the Bishop of Rome, protected, and continue to protect, those who concealed these crimes.
For a few years I naively expected that bishops would do the right thing and resign. If they didn't, then surely the Vatican would order the complicit bishops (all too many) to resign. But it became increasingly clear that bishops would not hold themselves accountable, and that Rome would not hold them accountable either. The criminal justice system could do little as the statutes of limitations had run out as far as criminal action on most cases (the PTB are still fighting tooth and nail the efforts to extend the statutes). Worst of all, the laity rolled over and continued to support this – after all, the church teaches that “docility” in the laity is a “virtue”.
Rome is still refusing to hold enabling bishops accountable in spite of occasional PR farces like establishing commissions that do nothing. I belatedly realized that millions of lay Catholics were also complicit (including myself) by refusing to stop writing checks to their parishes and dioceses and explaining why. So I walked. The bishops' and Rome's bet paid off - "good", trained-to-be docile Catholics mostly continued to show up on Sunday with checkbooks in hand.
I did not want to be complicit in enabling the sickness in the church. I knew I could do nothing to change things without tens of millions of Catholics working together to demand accountability, so I left.
Tom Blackburn points out that many in the gymnastics world, including parents, were complicit in allowing the crimes against these young gymnasts to continue without pulling their daughters out and without raising sheer hell with the Olympic Committee.
The Catholics in the pews have done the same thing. If they had a real desire to NOT “cooperate with (this ongoing) evil" in the church -the protection of bishops by Rome- but were unwilling to walk, they could have at least closed their checkbooks.
Someday, the guilty bishops will die. The people who remember what happened will also. Will the 'protections" put into place at the parish level be enough to protect kids in the future if the people in the pews now refuse to hold the "leaders" accountable? Or will people forget, and allow the same evil to occur again?
It’s easy to point the finger at the parents of the gymnasts, but how many Catholics are willing to examine their own consciences? Are willing to look at their own complicity in supporting Rome's protection of bishops who protected child molesters in the RCC?
Hiding behind the weak excuse that the church allows sinners to repent simply diverts attention away from the reality ...
ReplyDeleteAnne, I agree with the rest of that sentence, but repentance is hardly a "weak excuse." It's what John the Baptist and Jesus preached. No repentance, no church. Certainly no church that could accept me. That "Father Predator might repent" would be a weak (and for some people criminal) excuse for not calling the cops. But repentance is a doctrine that we have to somehow deal with. We can't scrap it with the rules on length of lace on monsignorial surplices. Again: It is not an excuse for inaction.
I have wrestled myself with your starve-the-beast approach to church financial support. I have even made passes at it. But I guess where I really come down is here: During Medieval sieges, the fighting soldiers got all the provisions and the women and children starved. I am afraid that starving the beast would have no effect on the quality of incense or floral arrangements in the cathedral but terrible effects on what Catholic Charities does for people in need.
Tom, I give money to charities that are not under the direct control of bishops. If they are run by a Catholic organization, I investigate the chain of command? Is this group under the thumb of a bishop? If so, the donations go elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteMore than 75% of the money used by Catholic Charities comes from US taxpayers. CC, like Methodists and other religious organizations, compete for social service contracts funded by governments. If the Catholic church closes down an agency (such as the adoption agencies that refused gay placements), other groups take over the service. The women and children will not starve.
Is there repentance among the bishops who protected the child molesters? Not that I have seen.
Churches, like my country, fall far short of what they're supposed to be. At the moment, there've been no scandals at the parish level except for the money lady who siphoned off $500k from the parish collections (that's one way to starve the beast). The pastor forgave her and she's not doing any time. But there's been no abuse scandals in my parish. So I give. I guess the bishop still gets a cut. I could give to Oxfam. I hear they have good third world sex parties. No matter where you go, there we are.
ReplyDeleteAnne and Stanley, We live in a country that has resumed torture (if it ever stopped after 2008),where 44 MS-13 suspects were recently "disappeared," where 7-year-old children are separated by the distance from Chicago to San Diego while awaiting action on an asylum claim officials hope to make them drop, where the parents of American citizens are deported willy-nilly, and seven-year-olds see their fathers picked up as they are dropping them off from school and have to spend the day wondering if anyone will come for them at 3 p.m., where habeas corpus no longer exists for whole classes of people who have been administratively declared to be offensive in some way, from where the sole caregiver of a 6-year-old paraplegic boy was deported... and it goes on. We could also go into people with access to Top Secret material who are possibly under the control of foreign governments, first class travel by officials who are too obnoxious to travel in coach and a $31,000 dining table for a Secretary of Housing, but where's the outrage?
ReplyDeleteYeah, the Church is pretty bad. Too.
I have started giving again after several years of abstaining. What caused my resuming were two incidents in my diocese last year, where priests accused of sexual abuse were immediately suspended by the bishop. I was already tempted because of the involvement of laity in the accounting books of my parish, and the availability of the diocesan accounts (upon request), and those instances showing that currently my diocese is reactive to instances of possible sex abuse, convinced me. (On the other hand sex abuse prevention is woefully inadequate, and lay people seem oblivious to the risk, as if it was still considered unthinkable for priests.)
ReplyDeleteStanley: But there's been no abuse scandals in my parish. So I give. I guess the bishop still gets a cut. I could give to Oxfam. I hear they have good third world sex parties. No matter where you go, there we are
ReplyDeleteThat is exactly what people told me over and over again - "No kids in MY parish were molested. MY kids were OK. I didn't know any kids who were molested. I like my parish, so I'm staying and paying and the others in our church are on their own Not MY problem".
Isn't the RCC supposed to be a "universal" church? Aren't we supposed to care about those who aren't in our own parishes, families, neighborhoods, towns, countries?
I guess not since so many can continue to support an institution that has protected the enablers and continues to do so.
Oxfam's Deputy CEO resigned. Penn State's "leaders" eventually resigned. The Michigan Pres. finally resigned.
Once the news is out, those responsible for enabling the abuse were forced to resign. They may be subject to legal action. Their actions and inactions are already the subjects of government inquiries (including Oxfam).
These "leaders" who also ignored child abuse for the "good" of the institutions they were protecting weren't noble enough to do anything as soon as they learned about it, but at least they resigned once the scandals were public. Not so in the RCC with the lone exception of Law. And most think his resignation was due to the double realities that the money take had fallen by 50% in both the pews and in the Cardinal's Appeal, and, even more scary to Rome, he was still within the jurisdiction of US Federal Justice system. There was concern he might again be required to testify UNDER OATH. So he was whisked off to Rome with diplomatic immunity, given several prestigious appointments, a very cushy apartment, car and driver, access and funds for lavish dining at Rome's very finest restaurants, a domestic staff of three nuns (of course - women are meant to serve men in this church), and a "royal" funeral, all paid for by the docile people in the pews. Isn't it Jimmy Mac who coined the word "sheeple"?.
Tom, the critical difference between being a citizen of the US and a member of the church is that as citizens of the US we can vote. Sometimes our votes don't prevent evil and corruption in government, but we have a chance at least. I am praying that the Parkdale students' voices - and they can't even vote yet - will awake the sleeping tiger of the American voters who are sitting out elections our of both inertia and despair. Maybe an awakened American populace at some point will be able to rid the country of many of those in power who do the bad things you cite. There is at least some hope.
Catholics in the pew do not have a vote. They can't even select their own parish priests, much less bishops, cardinals and popes - those with real power over the lives of a billion Catholics (nominally anyway). The only way lay Catholics can vote is with their wallets.
.
No, Law wasn't the sole exception. Symonds in Palm Beach was bounced, and O'Connell -- a really good bishop -- resigned. As I said way up on top. All kinds of priests have been swept into non-existence. Like the U.S. government, the Church has learned how to disappear people.
DeleteWe may be able to vote in this country, but all of the horrors I mentioned are done in the name of the voters who voted against them. Catholics in the pew -- most places in this county -- can vote simply by aiming their car at a different parish. It is not by accident that one church in the central deanery has more than its share of funerals here.
And already Parkland has been disappeared in the Senate, where Addison Mitchell McConnell will have to go to DEFCON 2 to stop the steel tariffs that will result in trade discrimination against bourbon. Gotta take care of business in a Democracy..
DeleteYes we believe in repentance. But in the early church that meant for very serious sin, kneeling for ten or twenty years or even the rest of your life in a special section with absolution and communion only at the end of your penance. I think that priests who abuse children should not only lose their office but also do public penance like in the early church. Likewise for bishops who protected them.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to money, I give to the local SVDP and Food bank run by the parish. On the eight Sundays when I put their checks in the collection I also write a check for the parish for $20 as their "administrative fee" As a regular collection the bishop will get his 10% if that but not from the special collections.
Now some will say that I am punishing the church employees. However I believe in a mostly volunteer church, including priests and lay people as well as deacons. We are getting lots of deacons on a mostly unpaid basis.
Right now, changing churches is a low priority. Besides, if I take my 93yo mother to another denomination, I imagine the 2nd heart attack will be her last. If I ever do vote against the hierarchy with my feet, I'll feel obligated to also actively oppose some all american things that'll land me in jail. Maybe when I get my life back.
ReplyDeleteStanley, you can continue to take your mother to church. You can continue to take yourself to church. But you might want to think about how to redirect your money, as Jack has already done. I closed the checkbook long before I walked. I left partly out of self-preservation. I could sit in church on Sunday and put my check in the basket without feeling angry, or feeling guilty for supporting the institution that was making me so angry. Not a good frame of mind for Sunday worship. But, this tactic only works if enough people do it. My small contributions aren't noticed much, but the absence of millions of small contributions would be noticed. I have long advocated for setting up a non-profit to which the people of the parish could direct their donations. This non-profit set up for an individual parish would have one purpose - to pay the bills of the parish - salaries, operating costs for the plant, etc, etc. This would keep the money safe from the bishop's tithe. I have also heard that some make their parish checks to a specific project - writing "roof replacement" or whatever - on the check. Apparently dedicated to a project checks aren't shared with the bishop. But who knows, he could tax those little pots of money too if he wants.
ReplyDeleteAbout punishing the church by withholding donations; if the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I don't think there are any of us here who "don't care" about the abuse scandals in other locations. But, as well as being universal, the church is also local. Withholding one's donation at the parish level is much more likely to punish our neighbors who are our fellow parishioners than those farther up the food chain. If we feel that any situations are being handled improperly at the diocese level, one is certainly justified in declining to participate in diocesan fund drives. This action should be accompanied by a letter to the relevant members of management explaining why we are doing it. For that matter, the same goes at the local level. We do have some opportunities to influence things locally; most parishes have parish councils and finance committees, and school boards if there is a school. Sometimes it is hard to get anyone willing to fill these positions. And if a parish and diocese are doing a decent job of being transparent and following their polices on possible abuse, they deserve to be supported in that. I don't see any point in excommunicating myself for other people's sins.
ReplyDeleteWe need to get tough about money.
ReplyDeleteLike Francis I want a poor church for the poor. In the 1980s I was a member of a mostly voluntary pastoral staff in a parish. It was the best parish ever. I had hoped it was the wave of the future. However priests found out they have more control by turning their most loyal volunteers into paid employees.
The current church strategy appears to be to give more and more services to fewer and fewer active members at a greater cost per active member. If the staff needs more money they need to attract more people to church to supply the additional money.
I am quite willing to give my time and talent to the parish and even the diocese, but they don't want it on my terms. In my 20 years in the public mental health system my CEO's generally let Jack be Jack with great results. They knew I would deploy my talents as best for the organization. Outside the parish in the 1980s that has not happened in the church. Pastors and pastoral staff think they know best what the parish needs, and I think they are often wrong. Why should I give them any money when they are not interested in my time and talent?
"Why should I give them any money when they are not interested in my time and talent?"
DeleteJack, I know the feeling. I have lived in 13 other parishes besides the one I am now happy in. But in terms of service, the dolts who are not interested in your talent are probably the ones who most need it. Once some parishioners convinced the priests we needed a 7 a.m. Mass in Lent. I knew one of the priests hated the early rising time, so I made it a point to show up on his days, smiling big smiles I didn't feel and talking happy talk that was hard because I wasn't awake. I was able to sustain my Lenten daily Mass schedule because I knew it was making the priest more miserable than it was making me while he was performing a service he knew damn well he should be performing. Probably it didn't do anything to raise my eventual place in heaven, but it may have done him and the parish some good.
Hahaha! Thinking about this will entertain me for at least an hour while I do the housework. It sounds like a J.F. Powers story. You should write it up. Seriously. I would read anything you wrote.
DeleteI asked our "quilting ministry" (I am beginning to get real curmudgeonly about tacking "ministry" onto every effort to make it look more holy--the donut ministry, the fish fry ministry, the birthday card ministry, the yell at the CCD kids ministry) if they would like to include knitters. They said no, flat out. Maybe the idea of me sitting amongst them with sharp needles put them off. Too bad.
I say a prayer, sprinkle my knitwear with holy water, and give it to a happy clappy bunch of Guatemalan evangelicals over in Flint. They put it on their "free stuff" table, and it was gone in one Sunday.
Someone always needs you. You just have to figure out who.
Ha ha! Can there be a curmudgeon ministry? Can I join? When's our first meeting?
DeleteYes! My cousin Ian, who continues to work for Trump's version of NOAA well beyond his retirement years because he clearly enjoys being pissed off 80 percent of the time, is president. With you, we now have three members.
DeleteRaber and I have never had a joint account. He pledges to the diocese every year and gives a weekly amount to the parish, and I don't really want to know how much. I send mine to Catholic Charities or whatever outfit seems to actually be helping people.
ReplyDelete