In October’s issue, Russ Ford’s article on prison apologetics was entitled “Never Give Up.” The words fit a struggle of another kind in which he is engaged.
His attorney has issued a press release that states:
“Russell Ford, an inmate incarcerated in the Bullock County Correctional Facility, Alabama Department of Corrections, filed a law suit through his Montgomery, Alabama, attorney, Sterling Frith, in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, alleging that his constitutional rights of freedom of religion as well as due process of law have been violated by the Alabama Board of Pardons and Parole.
“Mr. Ford, an active Roman Catholic, was reviewed for parole by the Board in October, 1995. During the hearing, Mr. Ford’s priest was questioned extensively by board member Judith O’Conner regarding Mr. Ford’s confessions to the priest.
“Fr. Michael Sreboth refused to answer Ms. O’Conner’s questions due to his vow of sealed confidentiality. Ms. O’Conner even suggested that Fr. Sreboth obtain a ‘release’ from Mr. Ford so that he could answer her questions. Fr. Sreboth again refused, informing Ms. O’Conner that the Act of Confession (Reconciliation) was a sacrament in the Catholic church which could not and would not be breached.
“Mr. Ford, who is in the ninth year of a 25-year sentence, was refused a parole by the Board based upon his priest’s refusal to breach his vows.
“After appeals to Governor Fob James as well as the Alabama Supreme Court, Mr. Ford is now seeking relief of these civil rights violations in the United States District Court.”
Russ’s case follows parallel incidents: a prosecutor’s secretly taping a suspect’s sacramental confession and the U.S. military’s forbidding chaplains to preach on partial birth abortion. As our secular culture becomes increasingly insensitive and even hostile to religious values, will we see more such open assaults on Catholics’ basic rights?
Fr. Sreboth points out that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that information obtained through sacramental confession is inadmissible as evidence. O’Conner, as the one attorney on the parole board, should have known that, he says. “This would lead me to believe she had other motives.”
According to Fr. Sreboth, O’Conner told him, “Unless you’re going to reveal this [the content of confessions], we’re not even going to consider [Ford’s] parole.” The parole hearing was postponed for two years.
We hold no affection for Tony Alamo (a.k.a. Bernie Lazar Hoffman). He has been a tireless detractor of the Catholic Church throughout his career. (You could say that anti-Catholicism has been his career.)
But in light of attacks on religious freedoms, one of Alamo’s recent tracts gives food for thought. His parole (he’s serving time for tax evasion) was denied last year, despite a favorable recommendation by the prison parole examiner-because, Alamo claims, of “two letters from former disgruntled church members allied with CAN [Cult Awareness Network].”
The Regional Parole Commission, backed by the National Parole Commission, refused Alamo parole, he says, for reasons that have nothing to do with either his tax conviction or his behavior while in prison — the charge that his church is a “cult” which preys on vulnerable people.
The tract quotes several mainstream religious leaders who deplore the boards’ decision, as well as sociology professor Stuart Wright of Lamar University: “Emotional reference to brainwashing and superhuman powers of mind control may satisfy fiction readers but are not subject to the rigors of scientific scrutiny.”
Alamo is not above a few emotional references of his own:
“Mr. Alamo was a successful businessman and music promoter who created the music compilation of the twenty original hits offered on TV, owns an original (unreleased) Beatles album, and worked with such superstars as Sonny (Congressman Sonny Bono, R-CA) and Cher, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles. He did not need socalled ‘destitute people’ and ‘unwed mothers’ to bring in money. But even ‘destitute people’ have the right as American citizens to join and contribute money to any church they desire, and to live where they choose.”
Mike Harrison, who is moderator of the Catholic Faith List on the Internet (jmh@io.org), recently cross-posted this update on the “We Are Church” petition drive from a “progressive” Catholic list [the speaker is a petition-supporter, not Mike]:
“I’ve returned from the Referendum Task Force meeting in Chicago and have a few things to report. This meeting piggybacked the Call to Action board meeting. CTA regional reps were present and reported on their referendum activities. There is a lot of activity, especially in the Midwest. A video has been produced (available from Catholics Speak Out) which we are encouraging people to use on the cable public access channels (free). Tshirts have also been produced.
“There will be an international meeting in November in Austria, where leaders of all the referendum campaigns will gather to plan. The goal is a 1997 meeting in Rome for all the groups.
“Our financial situation is stable especially due to several very generous grants-all from individuals. Maureen [Fiedler] is on the road monthly to speak to groups and muster support. A sign-on ad with cut-out coupon is being planned for USA Today.
“Ideas at the meeting for gathering signatures: (1) tailgate sign-up parties during the fall football season; (2) sign-up tables at fairs, craft shows, etc.; (3) where permitted by local authorities, sign-up tables in malls and shopping areas during the coming shopping season [presumably, the writer means Advent and Christmas]; (4) ads with sign-up coupons in local papers (cheaper than USA Today); (5) collection of signatures at any gathering.
“The Task Force will meet again at the CTA meeting in Detroit.”
Aside from the intriguing glimpse into the worldly mind-set of dissent (where are references to prayer, discernment, God’s will, the good of the Church, or even Jesus Christ?), this message offers an illuminating vision of the structure of the “New Church” movement.
Call to Action, We Are Church, Catholics Speak Out, and a dozen other tiny, marginal “Catholic” organizations are so intertwined as to be interchangeable. As Donna Steichen documented in Ungodly Rage, many such groups consist of one or two soreheads with a post-office box and an answering machine. Their visibility and influence are magnified by the kind of skillful manipulation of the secular media referred to here.
While we can’t advocate the dissidents’ duplicity, orthodox Catholics might well imitate their zeal for public relations. Tailgate parties in support of the magisterium, anyone?
David Young (now Brother Boniface) posted this provocative question on the Net: “Can one, in good conscience, continue to watch ABC (owned by Disney) and implicitly support its product?”
His misgivings arise from a TV Guide article which revealed that the title character on the sitcom Ellen (played by Ellen Degeneres) would disclose this season that she is a lesbian — and would date another woman on the show.
The moral poverty of the entertainment industry is reflected in the reaction of fellow TV thespian Lea Thompson (Caroline in the City) to the news of Ellen’s impending exit from the closet: “I think it’s daring, it’s so cool. . . besides, I want to play her girlfriend.”
With Southern Baptists and other denominations already promising a Disney boycott (and with Catholics still disturbed over the anti-Catholic film Priest), it’s hard to understand what Disney/ABC hopes to gain from further alienating the average folks who have always been their audience. What’s next, Goofy in drag?
Fortunately, Christians and others who value morality have reportedly besieged the Touchstone and Buena Vista Television Web site with complaints-so much so that gay and lesbian groups have called for a letter and e-mail counter-campaign voicing support for Ellen’s “major cultural milestone.”
Feel an urge to let Disney know your views? Write or call Dean Valentine, President of Network TV and Television Animation, Walt Disney and Touchstone Television, 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California 91521-0001, (818) 560-5000. Or go to Touchstone TV’s comment page on the at http://www.tvplex.com/Note. Copy your comments to ABC Television at abccaudr@ccabc.com.
A reader writes: “I have just recently returned from the National Pastoral Musicians (NPM) Conference in Stamford, Connecticut. NPM is a national organization in existence some twenty years, the brainchild of Rev. Virgil C. Funk, the current President of the Association.
“NPM provides seminars and training at conventions and in dioceses for those responsible for music ministries, directors of music ministries, Catholic music educators, choir directors, organists, ensemble musicians, clergy, cantors, campus ministers, seminary music educators, military musicians, youth ministries, children’s ministries and liturgies, and those working with African American and Hispanic parishes.
“I could write a book of questions regarding things I saw and heard last week, but I’ll stick to the one that bothered me the most. On Friday afternoon, before the ‘big evening Eucharistic celebration,’ there were several small meetings to ask participants what they thought was good or bad about their experience and how they could improve.
“These small meetings were broken down by area of responsibility such as directors of music ministries, Catholic music educators, organists, etc. I was in the group participants referred to as “cantors and everybody else.” Clergy were part of this group.
“As a Catholic going to a national convention of a Catholic organization, I was surprised that the schedule did not include daily Mass or any information regarding where we could go to attend a daily Mass. Nor was there an oratory anywhere in the hotel.
“The facilitator of the meeting, Fr. Funk, responded, ‘Well, first of all we’re over-eucharized.’
“My first thought was ‘We’re over what?’ How can we have too much Christ? Funk is an ordained Catholic priest! (Yes, I have been praying for him.)
“Another person in the meeting said that there was information regarding daily Mass in the schedule book. That person was a priest in lay clothing — like all the other clergy at the conference. We later found the mention of daily Mass in the section which covered checkout, first aid, and lost and found.
“Another person in the group disagreed — having daily Mass would be an opportunity to put into practice what we were learning about. Funk’s response included references to idolatry.
“The schedule did have daily morning prayer and midday prayer, but without the Blessed Sacrament. Since morning prayer began at 8:15 and we were in the ‘overflow’ hotel, we chose to go to daily Mass at nearby churches, eat breakfast, and miss morning prayer at the convention.
“By the time we found daily Mass we were desperate for it, as we felt a desperate need to ‘clean off’ some of the experiences of the convention.
“If you cannot help perhaps you could recommend someone involved with music and liturgy not associated with NPM — or perhaps NPM isn’t really as bad and as liberal and gay (I don’t mean happy either) as it seems.”
The Cardinal Newman Society for the Preservation of Catholic Higher Education just held its first annual conference for students, faculty, and alumni from Catholic colleges. They met to discuss means of restoring Catholic identity to Catholic institutions of higher learning.
The organization works with student and faculty groups by sponsoring and assisting with conferences, lectures, debates, and publications on the nature and value of true Catholic higher education. For more information, please write to the Cardinal Newman Society, 207 Park Ave., Suite B-2, Falls Church, VA 22046
For the past few years, apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary have allegedly been occurring on a farm near Conyers, Georgia. Now Archbishop John F. Donoghue has issued a pastoral letter on the phenomena. He has reaffirmed his predecessor’s prohibitions:
“Dear Brothers and Sisters,
“In March of 1992 my beloved predecessor, Archbishop James P. Lyke wrote to the Bishops of the United States with reference to the alleged apparitions at the farm of Nancy Fowler in Conyers, Georgia.
“While refraining from making a statement regarding the authenticity of these events, I do now wish to renew the two actions he took at that time.
“Accordingly: (i) Pilgrimages to Conyers should not be organized by priests or promoted from the pulpit. (ii) Priests are forbidden to offer the Holy Mass at the site, by my explicit directive, in accordance with the provisions of canon 838, section 3, C.I.C.
“Along with Archbishop Lyke’s statement of September 10, 1991, this letter is to be understood as stating my policy and, therefore, the policy of the Archdiocese of Atlanta on the matter of the alleged apparitions and activities at the site in Conyers.”
Unsolved Mysteries recently featured Laurie Cabot, a Salem witch, in a segment on her crime-solving talents. Five years ago she psychically “saw” a woman’s body on the ocean floor, where it later in fact was discovered. She presently “sees” another corpse in a ravine, but so far the body hasn’t been found.
Cabot says she gladly helps police because doing so improves the public image of witches. “We don’t eat babies or drink blood. Witches are finally coming out of the broom closet.”
Not long ago, some Catholics were ordered off the grounds of Boston’s Emmanuel College, where they were praying the rosary to protest a “liturgy” at the Women-Church convention on campus. The “bread-blessing prayer” was written by Starhawk, Matthew Fox’s witch friend.
Our advice: Always keep a bucket of water handy. You never know when you’ll have to imitate Dorothy.