Paul Lennon Getting a Life After the Legion of Christ

St Brigid's Day, Feb 1, Beginning of Celtic Spring

2012-02-01T07:59:00.000-08:00

My heritage

Biderman's Stages of Coercion with High Demand Groups & Gurus [from ReFOCUS, recovery page by Carol Giambalvo

2012-01-12T21:35:00.000-08:00

Paul, Aura, Carmen y Jose in Geneva -free from coercion-

at the International Cultic Studies Association

Annual Conference

Biderman’s Stages of Coercion

Biderman's stages of coercion	Abuser's actions	Victim's response
Isolation	Befriends the newcomer. Introduces to others with high praise. Monopolizes until other staff begin to reject. Warns of the perils of associating with other members of staff.	Deprived of developing social support with colleagues. Initiates total dependence on abuser. Acquires a false feeling of security. Confuses reality.
Monopolization of perception	Informs victim through stories about power alliances. Outlines superior knowledge and skills. Intimates that victim does not possess necessary knowledge and skill but may be able to acquire it through association with abuser.	Loses self-esteem. Doubts ability to perform. Self-blames for accepting a position because unworthy. Consumed completely by introspective thoughts.
Induced physical and mental exhaustion	Overburdens victim with time consuming and/or physically demanding tasks. Places unrealistic standards of acceptance on these tasks.	Becomes physically and emotionally too weak to resist or challenge. Loses ability to reason rationally.
Threats	Reminds of power over victim's workload, promotional opportunities, and acceptance in the hierarchy of the company. Warns with stories of the demise of predecessors who did not reach the acceptable standard.	Complies with demands to escape retribution. Displays anxiety about every action performed. Despairs of any change in the situation. Shows symptoms of depression.
Occasional indulgences	Praises victim's work in a public forum.	Believes they have finally reached the accepted standard and pattern of abuse will stop. Doubts that the abuse really happened because everything seems all right for the moment. Becomes reliant on the abuser for further praise.
Demonstrating 'omnipotence'	Demonstrates: Complete control over the victim who is taken for granted. 'Read my mind' expectations. Martyrdom for the company. Affects of being indispensable to the company. Claims victimization by those who challenge any behavior.	Accepts powerlessness. Accepts the pattern of behavior as normal.
Degradation	Perpetrates derogatory stories about the victim on work and personal topics.	Feels disgraced and humiliated. Loses all will to resist.
Enforcing trivial demands	Continues to remind victim through innuendo, suggestion, and stories that demands will be complied with.	Accepts habit of compliance.

Developed from Biderman's Chart of Coercion in Amnesty International (1975) Report on Torture, London, Gerald Duckworth & Co.

A Poem for Christmas [Patrick Kavanagh]

2011-12-25T13:50:00.000-08:00

'Twas lovely to find this poem today from one of our poets, a poem simple, profound and heart felt like our people

Patrick Kavanagh poem - 'A Christmas Childhood' in Ireland

Patrick Kavanagh's poem for the ages

My father played the melodion

Outside at our gate;

There were stars in the morning east;

And they danced to his music.

Across the wild bogs his melodion called

To Lennons and Callans.

As I pulled on my trousers in a hurry

I knew some strange thing had happened.

Outside in the cow-house my mother

Made the music of milking;

The light of her stable-lamp was a star

And the frost of Bethlehem made it twinkle.

A water-hen screeched in the bog,

Mass-going feet

Crunched the wafer-ice on the pot-holes,

Somebody wistfully twisted the bellows wheel.

My child poet picked out the letters

On the grey stone,

In silver the wonder of a Christmas townland,

The winking glitter of a frosty dawn.

Cassiopeia was over

Cassidy's hanging hill,

I looked and three whin bushes rode across

The horizon - the Three Wise Kings.

An old man passing said:

"Can't he make it talk" -

The melodion, I hid in the doorway

And tightened the belt of my box-pleated coat.

I nicked six nicks on the door-post

With my penknife's big blade -

There was a little one for cutting tobacco.

And I was six Christmases of age.

My father played the melodion,

My mother milked the cows,

And I had a prayer like a white rose pinned

On the Virgin Mary's blouse.

"We wanna wish you a Merry Christmas"

2011-12-14T10:42:00.000-08:00

It took us some time to prepare for our Christmas Greeting, hours of dancing and singing lessons, voice and language trainers in English and Spanish. "Ireland and Guatemala have talent"

Aura' Birthday 2011 - JohnPaul Lennon - Picasa Web Albums

2011-12-03T16:34:00.000-08:00

Aura' Birthday 2011 - JohnPaul Lennon - Picasa Web Albums:

'via Blog this'

Aura Lamboglia-Lennon, with her son, Eduardo and his wife, Cristy, their two children, Bianca and Lauren, and her other son, Leo with wife, Winie at the Italian restaurant in Shirlington, Arlington, VA

"Nothin' could be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning!"

2011-11-10T13:48:00.001-08:00

Charleston, S.C.
everyone says the food is delicious and that is something to look forward to. What about that beautiful city, the history, the culture, the reconstruction, the architecture, the weather...?

We're off on Friday 11th for this gorgeous city; to relax, to enjoy, to heal, to share, to enrich

Let Mother Nature Heal us

2011-10-31T12:03:00.000-07:00

And carry on with John Williams and Julian Bream with some Telemann to relax and delight

Spent the week end in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley...
We ran into a snow storm on the way out but next day, yesterday, Sunday, was wonderfully bright and not cold. Visited the Shenandoah Caverns and delved into the depths to admire the stalagmites and stalactites formed during centuries and millennial; emptied the mind of needless clutter. The best restaurant in New Market, VA....where the twang is still strong, was Jalisco, a Mexican Restaurant; the rice and beans tasted so good, as well as the fajitas, the tacos, the burrito and the quesadilla...
But the highlight was the drive through the forests of browns, reds, yellows, oranges...against the clear blue sky...
Ya'll want to see that!

Guitar Music, La Vida Breve by Falla

2011-10-14T16:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I must admit that I learned to enjoy classical music in the Legion of Christ; maybe it was a "fugue" from the boring routine of "community life"
Of course we heard the Concierto de Aranjuez a lot....
Later, though, on my own I took a real liking for Spanish guitar music, the classical, the popular, and flamenco

Here is my favorite guitarist, Australian John Williams, playing with that British bloke, Julian Bream.

[Video] Vatican Intervention of the Legion of Christ

2011-09-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

Interview with Steve Hassan of "Freedom of Mind" fame;
in July 2011, after the International Cultic Studies Association's annual international conference in Barcelona, Spain

What is the Legion?
What are its Problems?
The Founder a Pedophile
How did he found and order?
How did he go undetected for so long?
How does the the Catholic Leadership work?
What has the Pope done with the Legion?
Can it be reformed?
What is the present status?

Cajun Longevity

2011-09-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

Swamp Critters

Boudreaux, an 80-year-old South Louisiana Cajun, goes to the doctor for his every year check-up.

The doctor is amazed at what good shape he is in and asks, "How do you stay in such great physical condition, Boudreaux?"

“I stay in the swamp and I hunt and fish every day", said the old Cajun. "Dat's why I'm in such good shape. I'm up well before daylight and out hunting or fishing all day. I have a beer for breakfast and at lunch and wid my supper. And, I have a shot of hooch before bed time. And, I say my prayers every night. And all is well wid me."

Well", says the doctor, "I'm sure the prayers help, but there's got to be more to it. How old was your father when he died?"

"Who said Pop is dead?"

The doctor is amazed. "You mean you are 80 years old and your father is still alive? How old he is?"

"Pop be 100 next month," replied Boudreaux. "In fact, he hunted with me dis mornin', and den we went to a beer joint for a while and had a few beers and dat's why he's still alive. He is a tough Cajun man and he hunts and fishes everyday, too.”

"Well, the doctor says, that's great! But, I'm sure there's more to it than that. How about your father's father? How old was he when he died?"

"Who said my Paw Paw's dead?"

Stunned, the doctor asks, "You mean you are 80 years old, your father is 100 and your grandfather is still living? Incredible! How old he is?"

"We tink 'bout 118." says the old Cajun. He likes his beer, too, but he won't touch the hard stuff."

The doctor is getting frustrated at this point, "So, I guess your grandfather went hunting and fishing with you and your father this morning, too?"

"No, Paw Paw couldn't go dis time. He's gettin' married today."

At this point the doctor is close to losing it. "Getting married! Why would a 118-year-old man want to get married?"

Boudreaux looked down at the floor and mumbled "Who said he wanted to?"

SPAIN, JULY 2011, Barza, Valencia, Granada, Cordoba, Sevilla, Barza, Paris at night is dark

2011-08-02T20:57:00.000-07:00

Nightfall in Valencia

Plaza de Espania, Seville

at the Mosque-Cathedral in Cordoba

I wanted to attended the International Cultic Studies Association Annual Conference in Barcelona, July 5-7;
I also wanted to have a vacation with Aura; so we flew to Barza and took off directly by train to Valencia; we were deligthed by the city which has a lot to offer, climate, culture, city, sea... after 2 night we made for Granada the great, the Alhambra, the Cathedral...
I had a special spot for Cordoba and Aura joined my enthusiasm; he had the best hotel in town, from out window, we looked accross the Guadalquivir and the Roman Bridge to the Mosque Cathedral...pity we had planned only one night... what an enjoyable city;
Sevilla was hot but so was El Arenal, the 'tablao' which a friend had recommended... Beautiftul cathedral, the Golden Tower, the Giralda...the cafes accross the street from the cathedral where we sat until the early hours...
The link

First American Legionaries of Christ gather in Philadelphia

2011-07-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

'Plotting against the Legion?"
Just reminiscing and being supportive to each other, normalizing that experience, our past and our present

The "boys" and Keith's Family

Sevilla

2011-07-08T14:44:00.000-07:00

[we were there last Monday and Tuesday and caught the Ave fast train to Barcelona on Wed.; behind on my reporting!]

Yes, a marvellous sight; my theory is that the Weather Vane that whirls around with the wind direction [girar, in Spanish] is why it is called La Giralda, the turning woman, and it the three meter bronze statue that looks so small from ground level;
we spend a couple of lovely evening sitting at an outdoor cafe across Constitution Ave from the marvellous cathedral sipping our "Tinto de verano"

Cordoba, a flying journey

2011-07-03T15:48:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not we have this view from our hotel, the Hesperia

they did charge us an extra 20 euros for a room with a view; despite our vow of poverty taken with the 2nd Grade, 3 Nuance Regnum Christi Movement -just kidding! we decided to go whole hog and splurge...
But we are crying our eyes out, the Mosque is closed tomorrow and we cant stay another day; we have to press on to Sevilla.

Yes, We were able to visit the Alhambra in Granada, Andalusia, Spain

2011-07-03T01:03:00.000-07:00

Yes we were able to visit the Alhambra!

Greetings from Valencia, Spain

2011-06-30T14:40:00.000-07:00

Beautiful city with Mediterranean climate and the culture and history of prechristian, roman, chistian, moorih, middle ages, renaissance, baroque, industrial age -
expo Valencia- and modern Oceanique aquarium, etc

Tomorrow by coach ALSA to Granada, a 9 hour trip

Leadership Lessons from Living in a Cult

2011-06-08T15:43:00.000-07:00

[article forwared by infoculte our Canadian friends]

Leadership Lessons from Living in a Cult

A management consultant draws wisdom from his youthful misadventures as a member of a doomsday cult

Business Week

By John P. Schuster

I am 99 percent over my embarrassment at choosing to live in a cult when I was in my late 20s. Of course, I still cringe when I hear end-of-world predictions like last month's doomsday forecast by Harold Camping of Family Radio Worldwide, but there is often something we can learn from even the most bizarre experiences.

I joined the cult because I was disillusioned with, and poorly connected to, the world. Located in the farmlands of the Midwest, the cult fascinated me, for a time. And it was intense. I was vulnerable, and the extreme views in the cult acted as an elixir. The followers believed that the axis of the earth would shift in 27 years due to planetary alignment. The world would collapse, and those living in the cult, and about 144,000 others, according to their interpretation of a passage from Revelation, would survive. I needed a new world view and settled on this ridiculous one in my immaturity.

The group of 200 was a rich amalgam of ex-hippies, young families, construction workers, artists, and a federal executive. Most were college educated, and they came from all over North America to the flat farmland. The men and single women would go off to work in the morning. I did an 85-mile commute to my office job in downtown Chicago with another cult member who was a salesman for IBM (IBM). Mothers saw their children off to school. It was a weird combination of Leave it to Beaver tradition while preparing for the end of the world.

I abandoned the cult within a year because I started to do my own thinking. I may not have known where I was going next after my brush with this pseudo-reality, but I knew it was not there. Despite the weirdness, the cult provided a hothouse of ingredients for several life-long leadership lessons. The ingredients: big mission, strong personalities, lots at stake, and dysfunctional leadership.

Lesson One: Take risks and make mistakes, lots of them.

The first thing I learned, of course, is that you can take useful knowledge away from just about any experience, even mistakes. The best leaders I have worked with know this and encourage experimentation and taking reasonable risks. The biggest enemy of any enterprise is complacency and conformity, not risk-taking and mistakes. As long as risks and mistakes are not horrendously stupid, they will advance the enterprise in some way even if things don't work out as planned.

Lesson Two: Don't soft-pedal the truth.

There are endless times in the busy, often conflicted life of a chief executive when it would be so convenient to gloss over the truth—or worse, to ignore it and explain it away. Bubbles, busts, and various disasters get built around our natural tendency for soft-pedaling. Think the mortgage meltdown, for example.

I learned this at the cult. When our efforts were stagnant, falling far behind the stated goals, the leader "reinterpreted" the results. One glaring example was that the cult stayed the same size for years—about 200 members—instead of growing to the big number initially predicted. Its membership was more a revolving door than an accumulation. We would look at the data of nongrowth and swallow the leaders' explanations for staying tribal-size. He facilitated a comfortable group rationalization so members would stop questioning themselves.

The best leaders don't gloss over mistakes or make excuses. When something doesn't work, they admit it, try to learn from it, and move on. "We made a mistake" and "I made a mistake" are power-engendering words. Candor multiplied by honesty is a huge source of leadership power. It builds the platform on which the foundation for the future can take shape.

Former General Electric (GE) CEO Jack Welch has said the best thing he learned from his mother about leadership was to see reality and call it so. Alan Mulally, head of Ford (F), thinks the same way. He stopped the fiction of recording revenue when the automaker shipped a car and instead mandated that revenue be counted after the dealer sold the vehicle. At first, this gave Ford and its shareholders a sour dose of reality, but it also helped the country's second-largest car manufacturer recover and build a better future.

Lesson Three: Always keep your humanity.

Leaders have to know what to do with the huge amount of "stuff" that followers project onto them. They know when to accept it, reject it, or play along with it. At our little cult, we were obsessed with the leader and his traits—right up until the time he got thrown out for sexual indiscretions.

This overwhelming tendency to project an almost unlimited quantity of positive or negative attributes on leaders—things like good and evil motives, character flaws, heroism, sexual prowess, whatever—affords them far more power than they deserve. Along with many others, I attributed a kind of humility to our leader, brought on by his mild manner, among other things. This positive attribution allowed us to project that the outlandish story of his life had to be true—he really did have these fantastical run-ins with secret brotherhoods that had chosen him as a leader. His soft-spoken metaphysical balderdash became, for us, the eager-to-be-duped, a story of an unassuming man just doing what he was called to do.

The best thing leaders can do to lessen this projection tendency is to puncture the pretense that comes with the role. Leaders need to be multidimensional. To do that, talk about such things as your family instead of always fixating on the organization's mission. Admit your limitations on the job and discuss how and why you changed your mind on an issue.

To be sure, I made a handful of good, life-long friends who, like me, left the cult weirdness behind and can now joke about it. Perhaps that's the final leadership lesson: Don't take yourself too seriously and make sure you can always have a good laugh at your own expense. I know I can and do.

John P. Schuster is an executive coach specializing in leadership. He is also an author. His latest book is The Power of Your Past: The Art of Recalling, Reclaiming and Recasting (Berrett-Koelher, 2011).

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/jun2011/ca2011066_631138.htm

We prepare for Barcelona!

2011-06-04T17:54:00.000-07:00

We are not going to play against them but we will visit their beautiful city

Proximate Preparations are underway for our visit to Barcelona for the International Cultic Studies Association Conference July 7-9

After we land in Barcelona on June 29 we will leave immediately via train for Valencia here we will spend two night

Placido at the Kennedy Center in Iphigenie en Tuaride -Limited Appearance

2011-05-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

See Placido and die!

Let's not get carried away!; but I had to see/hear Placido before his career comes to an end
5/20/11 at 7:30
At the final curtain he playfully told the audience he was not retiring yet. And how old is Placido...? a career spanning 50 years

Iphigénie, high priestess of Taurus, is tormented by dreams of her family’s bloody past and intimations of violence in the future. Will she accede to the barbaric King Thoas’ demands and murder her own brother? Can she survive in this world of bloodshed and fear? Gluck’s masterpiece, Iphigénie en Tauride, with its sweeping score and dramatic story is enjoying a renaissance at major opera houses around the world.

This company premiere features an outstanding cast led by soprano Patricia Racette, “the consummate singing actress” (Chicago Tribune). Hailed as the “greatest operatic artist of modern time” (The Guardian), world-renowned tenor Plácido Domingo sings Oreste, Iphigénie’s long-lost brother who is condemned to death. William Lacey returns to the podium to lead this powerful production from Oviedo, Spain by Emilio Sagi.

Invited to Trinity College Dublin in March 2012

2011-05-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

very honored to have received an invite to deliver a talk on the Legion of Christ and the dangers of abuse of power in religious organizations to the School of Theology.

Dogwood, Virginia's flower, el Cornejo

2011-04-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

the American dogwood [Cornus florida]
has sprung up almost overnight to bring joy to the eye - para alegrar la vista

It particularly pleases me when the branches begin close to the ground and streach out almost horizontally in tiers

American Cherry Tree Blossom

2011-04-09T08:12:00.000-07:00

What with the sudden seasonal changes from spring to winter to summer to spring to winter to summer to spring the trees are just sorting themselves out and trying to bring some order to their appearance in spring:
Washington's Japanese Cherry Blossoms around the Tidal Basin have come and gone, the bradford pear has asserted itself, and some American Cherries [isn't that the one George Washington was trying to cut down?] are resisting the wind and the rains

Bradford Pear

2011-04-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

been feeling like the flowers and the trees; with all the weather changes, dont know whether I am coming [into spring] or going [back to winter]
The weather has settled a bit and now the Bradford Pears that were suddenly eclipsed by Cherry Blossoms can be seen again, their white spherical shape lining streets...

Forsythia's Yellow Bloomers

2011-03-19T15:28:00.000-07:00

I knew I was back in Virginia [after my three-week trip to Guatemala] when I caught sight of Forsythia’s bright yellow bloomers driving to work this morning.

Purple Crocus had slipped away while dazzly Daffodil was sneaking in to outshine Forsythia.
----

Sabia que estaba de vuelta en Virginia cuando divise las enaguas color amarillo brillante de Forsitia camino al trabajo esta maniana

El azafran habia huido mientras que el narciso entraba de puntillas

Message for St Patricks Day [image and music]

2011-03-17T15:24:00.000-07:00

A good Mexican friend of mine, rather a Yucatan woman, sent me an audiovisual today -unrelated to my inclusive picture above.

Relax and Enjoy images, music, prayer [Coulter and Downey]

Guatemala City

2011-03-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

Got here Friday 11th at 8 am after traveling all night from Flores, Peten, northern Guatemala which we left the previous night at 10 pm in a rainstorm.

Flores is a small and beautiful island which is the stepping stone for the Peten Rainforest and the Mayan ruines of Tikal with its impressive pyramids...[the Jaguar is one of the highest in the Mayan world]

Aura's friend, Thelma, has been our gracious host; although we spurned her offer for lodgings and checked into the Strofella [Best Western] in the fasionable Zona 10

Guatemala is a bustling metropolis of 4 million people which dispenses with car lanes -but less hectic and aggessive than Mexico City -or Rome for that matter!

Rio Dulce, Guatemala

2011-03-12T17:36:00.000-08:00

San Felipe Fort, Rio Dulce, Guate

from the Pacific coast's Monterrico to the Caribbean coast's Rio Dulce, Livingston, and later to Flores, the Peten rainforest and Tikal
From Tuesday through Thursday; leaving Flores in a rainstorm at 9:30 for Guatemala City.

Rio Dulce, "Sweet River" runs from the top of lake Izabal through a stretch of water teeming with pelicans, cormorants and white egrets...

Getting to Rio Dulce and sleeping there make a good story to tell later on; we took off in a launch for 15 people at 9 am on Wed the 9th the pilot took us by San Felipe Fort which the Spanish built to defend against English pirates in the 17th century
Ciao

Monterrico, Pacific Coast, Guatemala

2011-03-07T11:46:00.000-08:00

and we have been to Panajachel and Chichicastenango in the Highlands,
back to Antigua,
then to Jocotenango and San Felipe
Sunday morning left Antigua for this remore village on the Guate's Pacific coast

Panajachel, Guatemala

2011-03-03T20:27:00.000-08:00

Wed 2 and Thurs 3
from Antigua to the north to the beginning of the Highlands
Pana, gateway to Lake Atitlan, a real paradise of nature
surrounded by hills, mountains, volcanoes and picturesque viallages

Ruins of Santa Clara Convent and Church, Antigua, Guatemala

2011-03-01T21:34:00.000-08:00

Tues 1 March 2011
Today we prepared for our short trip to Panajachel and Lake Atitlan
We had to do our washing at one of the local coin laundries, traveling by tuc-tuc and searching around; two small bags washed and folded cost us Q85
Then we had to take out cases from Soleil to Lo de Bernal, highly recommended by Travelocity -turned out to be a small but recently remodeled hotel near the La Merced Parish on the Calle 1 Poniente
We started rambling to visit the Hospital of Brother Pedro which we stopped by -Aura planned to have her father taken care of here before he passed away suddenly...
Not far away we found a neglected buy once beatiful public garden where a number of indigenous people were relaxing in, at the end of which where what used to be the public clothes washing pool, and behind that the magnificent ruins of Santa Clara

Saint Brother Pedro Bethancourt and Stunning Ermita [Hermitage ruins] Sta Cruz, Antigua

2011-02-27T20:39:00.000-08:00

spotted it in the travel broChyurchure; Balet Hispanico performance against the backdrop of this stunning 17th century facade.

we started off the day waking up with Adolfo and Thelma sleeping in our sitting room; we shared our meager breakfast with them before heading for more abundant fare in La Chimenea restaurant at Soleil; their sons had been having breakfast; we were late but somehow the four of us, together with Tita and Alfonso were able to have a real breakfast brunch there.
After that when other members of our party arrived late and made for La Cabania I had enough of eating and looking at food and made it back to the room to write...
After saying goodbye to Thelma and Adolfo who went back to Guatemala City, Aura and I stepped out to go for tickets at the Hermitage; there was a box office, and price was steeped by local standards, Q270 a head for platea general admission.
We them serendipitously came across the church of San Francisco Grande where Saint Brother Pedro -Guatermala's only canonized saint -he was lost from Vatican attention for over 200 years until JP II got him canonized in the 1980s; seems like a person who really deserved the veneration of the poor and indigenous to whom he dedicated his life...
My wife, Aura, is very proud of the fact that her last name is the same, Bethancourt; Brother Pedro was from Tenerife, Canary Islands.

Wedding of Carinio and Gerardo at San Bartolome de Becerra, Antigua, Guate

2011-02-27T11:30:00.000-08:00

Wedding Sat 26th at 4:30 p.b.

naturally, they did not take out the statue of Christ, as this was not Holy Week
but rather a very happy occasion
The reception was held at Antigua Finca Santa Isabel

In Beautiful Antigua, Guatemala

2011-02-25T16:40:00.000-08:00

a Tuc-Tuc

Thursday 24 Feb

up at the crack of dawn, 10am

Had to find a safe place for our valuables; it was the first time in my life i had ever deposited anything in a safe deposit box! We did this here at Soleil La Antigua, impressed as i was with the two key song and dance...
Late we took a trip on the Tuc Tuc into the city center
Breakfast in the wonderful setting of La Condesa accross from the Central Park main square; there were too many Americanos there! But they did not order the huevos rancheros.
Later we began taking care of the essentials, going to the Farmacia Don Miguelito to buy aspirin and a couple of creams; Aura chatted with the owner, a cousin of the original owners whom she had known in Ciudad Vieja "a few years ago" when she was a girl and was staying with her aunt who lived across the street from Don Miguelito; she remembers spending Christmas at his home and with his children. That was a nice coincidence...
We visited the rather disappointing "Museo del libro" [book museum and they charged us 30 Quetzals, $4.50; Aura went back and got her money back because she is a native of Antigua! ]" in the square and optained good views of the plaza from the Town Hall balcony. Up there I spotted an unusual green bird in the trees below; a local told me it was a "clarin" and I took note of that; he said it was greenish blue. There were a fair amount of armed guards around but they are young and friendly; this area also has special tourist security police; we felt completely at ease as we walking around. Knowing the lingo, of course, is a big advantage. People smiling and friendly; i like to notice the local nuances and customs which i always delight in. In Guatemala, instead of "Have a nice day" they say "Have happy day" Que tenga Ud.un dia feliz!
Around 5pm we had a rather heavy rain shower; the guide we chatted with explained that February is the crazy month when the weather changes quickly during the day. "Just like Ireland" I remarked to Aura but she reminded me of that cold wind that was hard for her to take. In the cool evenings here a sweater or light jacket is enough.
Only the facade of the Cathedral can bee seen from the square; the cathedral has collapsed so many times because of seismic activity and floods that this is like the third reconstruction. We took the street on the right side of the cathedral and strolled north; I noticed a fine building across the street; the plaque read "This is the building that housed the University of San Carlos founded in 1675; from here culture spread throughout the kingdom of Goethemala." I was enchanted by this building, one of the few to have survived floods and earthquakes; covered in white stucco with pink decorations of Spanish baroque and Moorish influence; of particular note are the scalloped arches of the main square, adorned with a beautiful fountain in the center.
Here we bumped into an Irish American from Chicago, Tim, with whom I shared my excitement for this building; across the street we visited the ruins of the cathedral and paid a guide Q50 -$6.00 for a tour; he was very knowledgeable and a bit uppity about his qualifications as a tour guide; he had an ample knowledge of the history of the cathedral and Antigua as well as native traditions and beliefs -the Mayan underworld - and Tikal.
Tim had plans to take a bus to Tikal later that evening and wanted to grab a bit to eat; he was yearning for local fair and we were able to oblige as we had been following a tip for a very good Guatemala cuisine restaurant; so off we went to La Cuevita de los Urquizu; the food is displayed at the entrance and you pick your dish and they lead you to your table. Tim was delighted with the ambiance and the food and we three chatted away amicably until it was time to go and he took off for the main square and Aura and I just walked the streets; she was keen on me seeing the magnificent Santo Domingo Hotel; night was falling as we entered the main door and strolled around the gardens strewn with ruins; she took me as far as an impressive canopy covered auditorium which was being readied for a performance -men were lighting candles around the grounds to [be continued]

Arrived in Guatemala City

2011-02-23T15:03:00.000-08:00

Municipal Palace, Guatemala City

picked up at the Guatemala airport by the bride and groom, Gerardo and Carinio, we adjourned to the Garcia home where we partook of sumptious local cooking and finished off with a drop of Bailey's Irish Cream...; The airport is in the middle of the city and the city is surrounded by mountains; the old colonial acqueduct immediately jumpt into view surrounded by building old and modern.

Brunch at Cedar Knoll Restaurant, Alexandria, VA

2011-02-20T19:40:00.000-08:00

Sybil, Theo, Aura, and Eugene, August, 2010

Sally being Sally showing off one of her presents

My small group of English speaking birthday celebrating friends got together at midday on this glorious Spring day at a restaurant over-looking the Potomac River 3 miles from Mount Vernon, home of G. Washington, the revolutionary general.
After a very short while Theo, our Swiss friend, botanist, hiker and nature lover, noticed a mocking bird outside the window - the first one I had seen this year. The mb looked healthy as it bobbed on the bow briefly before bouncing off.
Theo and Sybil -from Shropshire - is one couple, Aura and I are another, Sally our full-blooded American from Denver, CO, who also loves to hike and has just been to the Himalayas, is single; and Eugene is our Portuguese friend who lost his dear Esmeralda two years ago, is retired and living in DC close to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
It had been a few months since we were together so there were lots of presents to exchange; we were getting to gether to celebrate my November and Aura's December birthdays! We also brought along our Christmas presents. The presents were wonderfully wrapped and appropriate for each one. The fare was good and the conversation lively and good natured.
As I drove home later with Aura I could not help feeling very moved: How I love to be surrounded by my friends, to see them happy and enjoying themselves. "How good and joyful it is for [brothers] friends to be together as one", as Scripture says

Planning Guatemala Trip

2011-02-16T09:58:00.000-08:00

I am planning a trip to Guatemala on February 23, Deo Volente.
I already have some background but will be learning more before I go.
Will start off in Antigua where my wife is from and where a friend's daughter's Catholic wedding is taking place -World Heritage Site colonial city.
I also plan to write during the trip -at least this is my intention; it would be fun to write a simple travelogue in Spanish and English
Geograhically this little country of 13 million people seem to have it all:
a variety of warm tropical microclimates
mountains, valleys, two coastes, plenty of volcanoes -some active
beautiful lakes,
Maya ruins, Tikal the highest pyramid
Colonial Cities

Let's take a Short Trip to Charlottesville, VA

2011-01-15T18:19:00.000-08:00

this was in Annapolis at that nice Irish Hotel...

If we can just get away from our numerous obligations!!! and take off tomorrow for that historic city...visit Monticello and the University of Virginia.
Work has been hard in the new year, kids and families feeling the stress of back to school...and needing support, an attentive ear, and guidance.
Let's go!

Vatican could learn from Israel to Rehab Children and Women Cult Victims

2011-01-12T09:38:00.000-08:00

Authorities handling fallout of breaking up polygamist cult

Jerusalem Post

By RUTH EGLASH

01/12/2011

A year after police raided TA headquarters of suspected cult that involved some 40 children 20 women, welfare authorities say they are still dealing with rehabilitation process of cult members .

One year after police raided the Tel Aviv headquarters of a suspected polygamist cult that involved some 40 children and 20 women, welfare authorities say they are still dealing intensely with the fallout and rehabilitation process of the cult members as they return to live a normative life.

According to information published Tuesday by the Welfare and Social Services Ministry, the 20 wives and 40 children of the yet-to-be convicted cult leader Goel Ratzon continue to receive a wide range of welfare services, including constant psychological monitoring.
“The Goel Ratzon affair is a clear sign that we have a policy of zero tolerance to cults and other groups that prey on vulnerable women and children,” Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog said in a statement Tuesday.

“It also raises awareness to the dangers of belonging to such cults.”
The minister said that in the coming months a specially formed committee to look into the phenomenon of cults and their long-term effects on members would present its findings and hopefully improve the rehabilitation process for those involved.

A spokeswoman for the ministry told The Jerusalem Post that the prosecution is still gathering evidence on Ratzon, who could be convicted of sexual abuse and rape of a minor.

The information released Tuesday regarding the fallout of this unique case showed that in addition to standard social welfare assistance, the women and their children are being given help in finding public housing and employment, access to legal aid and intensive therapy to reconnect with their extended families.
Former cult members have also received financial support to repay debts accrued while in the cult and funds to pay for the removal of the cult’s signature tattoo, which depicts their grey-haired leader and was inked in very visible places on most of the women’s bodies.
Social workers have also helped the children to acclimatize to the mainstream education system and financed psychological treatments for them.
“The role of the social services did not end with the rescue operation last year, but rather, that is when the hard work began,” stated the information published by the ministry, which described the work of a special team of social workers who have been continually examining the needs of each woman and following their progress in order to provide them with proper treatment and solutions for their complicated situation.

“We will continue to assist and rehabilitate the women and children for as long as they need and provide financial and professional resources for them,” said ministry director-general Nahum Itzkowitz.

In an interview last year with the Post, the ministry’s deputy director-general Menachem Wagshal, who worked for six months before the raid to make sure that breaking up the cult would not have an adverse effect on those involved, said that nothing like this had ever happened before in Israel.

“We looked at other similar cases from around the world,” said Wagshal in that interview. “We prepared for all the possible outcomes because there was a fear that the mothers could hurt their children the minute we entered their homes.”

At the time, there was also a concern that Ratzon had dictated a suicide pact to the women. The ministry assembled a team of 150 professionals to deal with the immediate fallout.
In Tuesday’s statement, the ministry said that most of the women and children had started to re-integrate into the community and had improved relations with their families.
“Most of the women have already left battered women’s shelters and are in various stages of integration in the community; some women have received grants for permanent housing and others have already purchased apartments,” said the ministry’s spokeswoman. “All women and children who need psychological treatment continue to receive it.”

http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=203191

A Year New in Deep Peace of Soul

2010-12-29T11:13:00.000-08:00

is what I wish for all my family and friends -and even for a few who migh consider me their enemy...
For my part I will continue to seek truth and justice. May the Holy Spirit help me to see myself as I am and not how I would like to see myself.

Peace and Wellbeing!, Pace e Bene, Paz y Bien. Paix et ...

as St. Francis would say

2nd Sunday of Advent

2010-12-05T15:38:00.000-08:00

at St Peter's Rome July 2009

Aura is more of a Mass goer than me, I admit to my shame -not really!. We live in a very conservative Catholic Diocese, Arlington, northern Virginia, USA. The gospel today was on John the Baptist, whom the homilist insisted on calling "Saint John the Baptist", in case we did not know or had missed the point. "Brood of vipers" was the leitmotif of the homily, and this was applied to all of us who do not obey the laws of the Church and God...in any way
My own interpretation of that passage was that John reserved that juicy comparison for the Scribes and Pharisees, who, according to Jesus, "thought themselves better than others"...My biblical studies tell me that the Pharisees were actually very observant of the law and commandments. Behavior was not their problem; it was the thinking themselves above others. They rejected Jesus as a friend of sinners....
I prefer to be one of the latter.
How I would like to be able to preach the word of God!
But no, with my dispensation from priestly celibacy and "reduction to the lay state" come the conditions and the loss of such "privileges and rights", I am forbidden from using my priestly "faculties"...
Still think I could do a better job than many others!
Ah, that pride of mine!

Update!

2010-11-27T23:17:00.000-08:00

Hello, faithful followers,
Life has been happenning:
Thanksgiving with Aura and some friends at our new home: invited friends and my old young friend, Marita LaPalm...

10 days ago down in Williamsburg, VA, where the first pilgrims arrived in the early 1600, looking for religious freedom and prosperity; at that time those white folks did not consider the Indians of much importance save to hand over their lands, and those black people were brought in to cultivate tobacco...Catholics were hardly welcome as they could be seditious...It was our old original sin, love and peace but not towards all...
Maciel did get it right when he taught "Delicate and Universal Charity...-but then kind of screwed up when he added - towards members and outsiders"...
We keep discriminating, being biased and prejudiced, something in the name of the God who created us all.. equal...
The place that gives a more balanced view of how it was back in the day is the Virginia State park at Jamestown which describes the plight of the Indians and the Blacks, the two non entities of the day...the story also says that Catholics were frowned upon and seen with suspicion...

Halloween, Samhain, New Year for the Ancient Celts

2010-10-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

a bit of the auld leprechaun in me!

[from Irish Abroad]

Samhain - Happy New Year!

By Solange Ni Morain

Seems a bit odd this time of year, as we gather together costumes, carve pumpkins, collect tinder for bonfires, and hang images of goblins, ghouls and witches about our surroundings, doesn’t it? Yet if you had lived in Ireland many centuries ago, this would have been your New Year celebration!

The Celts considered time to be cyclical or circular rather than linear, with eight ‘stations’ of the year marking the passing seasons. These important dates were marked with specific rituals and customs, among them fire-festivals. The two most important fire festivals were Beltane, on May 1st, marking the beginning of summer, and Samhain, on Novermber 1st, signifying the arrival of winter. Several lesser festivals marked the passage of time in between these two calendrical polarities.

Like many autumn festivals around the world, Samhain has its origins in the harvest season. To the Celts, an agricultural people, paying homage to the cycles of the earth and the spirits they believed inhabited the land was particularly important. With the harvest completed and the days shortening into winter, this ritual marked the beginning of a ‘still’ time, when warfare, crop cultivation, and the bustle of summer activity came to a halt. It was logical to associate this transition with symbolic ‘death’ – the death of the land’s fertility, the usual busy activity of the clan, and most importantly, the ‘death’ of the sun. It is important to consider that in the context of the Celt’s belief in time as a cyclical entity, death was not an ending to be feared; rather, it was the pathway to regeneration. Unlike many other cultures, to the Celts the origin of life was to be found in darkness, the moon, and night.
At this time of year, the crops would have been harvested and provisions made for the long, dark winter months ahead. Once Samhain came, all fruit still left upon the trees was considered taboo for humans, as it now belonged to the spirit world. Animals not kept as breeding stock were slaughtered as sacrifices and then made into food to sustain the clans through the dark period of the year. It was a time for taking stock of the past year, honoring the great cycle of life that sustained the race, and welcoming in the New Year. Tara, the seat of Irish kingship, was the site of great celebrations, markets, and fairs on Samhain.

On these significant days – Beltane and in – it was believed that the forces of chaos reigned and the barriers between the spirit world and human world were considerably thinned and navigable, allowing for intermingling between the living and the dead. The Celts prepared for the return of the dead, often setting out food and wine to greet the spirits that might come to visit.

They also thought this the most advantageous time to practice divination of their own, since the world of the unseen was exceptionally more ‘open’ to their communications. The Celts did not fear or abhor death the way the modern world does, and so the presence of the dead was welcomed rather than dreaded. However, along with the spirits of the ancestors, it was also thought that mischievous or malevolent ghosts were present as well, so caution was to be taken. It was for these forces that food and wine was also set out, though the intent was placatory rather than hospitable. Bonfires were also lit at this time to appease the spirits of the dead, make offerings and sacrifices, and cast spells, giving rise to the modern Irish practice of lighting large bonfires on Halloween night.

As the influence of Christianity came to Ireland and blended with Celtic culture, familiar Samhain imagery and tradition blended with Christian influence to create a hybrid holiday. Centuries later, Irish emigrants to the New World brought many of these customs with them, creating the widely-known secular holiday, Halloween, that we know so well!

Got Counselor License, Will Travel!

2010-10-09T13:10:00.000-07:00

I have learned to be a person of Deep Faith; I hope some of that appears in my memoir and in the pages of REGAIN -especially a couple of travel notes regarding our conferences- I have accepted God's plan over me, after all the twists and turns, crises and unexpected happenings. I have accepted that my life is backwards compared to others, who often begin in the world, getting a job, finding love, getting married, having children, and building a career.
I have all of the above -except children- but almost in reverse order, or late in life.

Case in question, just got my professional counselor's license at the age of 66, more as a confirmation and badge of honor than as a door opener.

I accept that back to front ness and that upside down-ness in my life; and maybe I would not have chosen otherwise; because I am a stubborn and individualistic kind of person, and love to do things my way. It's weird, drole, that my stubbornness and God's plan kind of coincided. But the bottom line was that I had to learn to trust Him.

Now, its very simple: What do You want me to do with this license, Lord?

Pray for Leroy

2010-09-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

surviving the Legion of Christ, getting a life, holding a job, and having a wife can be a pretty tall order. So we must be mindful of prayer, and keep at it. A friend sent me this edifying story.

Pray for Leroy

A preacher said, "Anyone with
'special needs' who wants to be
prayed over, please come forward
to the front by the altar."
With that, Leroy got in line, and
when it was his turn, the Preacher
asked, "Leroy, what do you want
me to pray about for you?"
Leroy replied, "Preacher, I need
you to pray for help with my hearing."
The preacher put one finger of one
hand in Leroy's ear, placed his other
hand on top of Leroy's head, and then
prayed and prayed and prayed. He
prayed a "blue streak" for Leroy,
and the whole congregation joined in
with great enthusiasm.

After a few minutes, the preacher
removed his hands, stood back and asked,
"Leroy, how is your hearing now?"
Leroy answered, "I don't know. It ain't
'til next week."

Nags Head, NC, and a visit from Juan Jose Vaca and Family

2010-08-31T11:19:00.000-07:00

two different things, of course.
Upcoming, as soon as I upload photos

Off to the Outerbanks

2010-08-17T12:27:00.000-07:00

I am being a real East Coast Americano and taking to the beach before the summer is over. Everybody is in the Outer Banks of North Carolina this week, and so am I and the missus. Trying to take a break after the tension of sitting for the LPC exam -successfully!- the pressures of work, and my other 'hobbies'
Take care

Lennon nails LPC Exam in Wash DC, Sat August 7, 2010

2010-08-08T21:15:00.000-07:00

and did it my way............

And let me tell you me boyos that took a lot of you know what....

Left the Legion in 1985
Left Priesthood in 1989; thanks to the kindness of the Arch of Washington DC and a student loan from CUA I had almost finished my MA Counseling. And I was in counseling, for the second time, faced with the tremendous decision of leaving the active ministry.
Got my first job in 1989, $13 an hour, 8 hours a week
Then nailed another part time
First paying job in 1990
Circa 1995 Post MA Marriage and Family Therapy.
Home Based Counselor
2000 Out patient Mental Health Counselor with benefits!!!
Time, money, more studies and 200 hours of supervision for Licensed Professional Counselor...
God is Good! or Great!

How to bring about Change in High Control Groups such as the Legion of Christ

2010-07-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

Last year at International Cultic Studies Association's Annual Conference in Geneva, Switzerland with Mrs Lennon, Carmen Almendros Madrid representative, and Jose Barba, Maciel Survivor and Mexico representative of REGAIN, INC.

Sorry for being behind
Will post my presentation soon.
Thank you for your patience.

Lennon to Present on Legion at International Cultic Studies Conference, July 2-3, in New Jersey

2010-07-01T22:07:00.000-07:00

Greetings from ICSA International Conference in NJ where Paul will participate in panel presentation Friday at 11am "How to bring about change in high control groups?' [see info on International Cultic Studies Association...conference info on Internet]

He will refer to the Legionaries of Christ, accompanied by JJ Vaca and Javier Leger
Will summarize how external pressures have brought about some [major or minor?] changes in the Legion of Christ

Legion of Christ studied at New York International Conference on Cults, July 1-3, 2010

2010-06-29T15:19:00.000-07:00

From conference in Geneva last year, with Spanish and Mexican leaders in the Cultic Studies Field

Officially opening on Friday July 1st, 2010
International Cultic Studies Association's International Conference

Who should attend?

Anyone interested in cults, psychological manipulation, and related groups

former group members

people born or raised in cultic groups

families of group-involved persons

helping professionals

researchers

When

July 1-3, 2010
Thursday, July 1, there will be four workshops, as well as sessions in the evening. The workshops (10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.) are:

Workshop for Former Members of Cultic Groups

Workshop for Families and Others: Understanding and Responding to Cultic Involvements

Workshop for Mental Health Professionals

Workshop for Researchers
==============================
Friday, July 2nd - see detailed draft agenda

Saturday, July 3- see detailed draft agenda

Sunday, July 4, there will be a special social event.

Thanks to Philly and Former Legionaries

2010-06-10T16:37:00.000-07:00

Aura and I liked Philly so much we went back for a second visit and did the Museum, the wonderful boulevard of the nations, and took in Fiddler on the Roof at the Walnut St, the oldest theater in the USA

THE SPIRIT'S GIFTS

2010-05-21T16:56:00.000-07:00

The Spirit's Gifts
AMERICA
The Editors
MAY 31, 2010

I n the great crises of poetry, what matters is not to denounce bad poets, nor worse still to hang them, but to write beautiful verses, to reopen the sacred sources.” So wrote Georges Bernanos, reflecting on what the church needed to do in the time of Martin Luther. Today, as the church faces a worldwide crisis over the abuse of minors by clergy compounded by failures of hierarchical leadership, and even corruption, Catholics are turning once more to the lifesprings of faith to write beautiful verse. The “living source,” fons vivus, of the Christian life, as the chanting of the Veni Creator Spiritus reminds us each Pentecost, is God the Spirit dwelling in us and flowing out from us to fill the whole earth. It is the indwelling Spirit who prays with unutterable groaning when we do not know how to pray. It is the Spirit who pours out joy into our hearts and provides us with words of witness when the faith is under attack—from without and within. It is the same Spirit who will enable Catholics, especially in these cloud-dark days, to sing new verses.

The first Pentecost is often described, poetically and theologically, as the birthday of the church. Almost 50 years ago, Pope John XXIII heralded the Second Vatican Council as a new Pentecost, and the council fathers and later theologians looked on it as a unique work of the Spirit in our times. Pentecost, however, is an ongoing event; God’s Spirit gives the church a new birth in every generation. With the Spirit working in us, we can be sure God will write new verses for the church to deliver. Pentecost is a time for the church to take note of the varieties of gifts through which the Spirit is already rebuilding the church following the failures of decades. Among those we would note are: the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management, the retrieval by religious congregations of their founding charisms, lay pastoral associates, lay people ministering in hospitals and prisons, novel education programs for the poor and service by young people and seniors.

The council reminded us that the Spirit bestows gifts on each of us for the good of all. The council celebrated these charisms as building up the church in conjunction with the gifts of office. In intervening years, however, the very idea of a variety of charisms given for the good of the whole church has been depreciated. With the exception of a few notable movements, many charisms bestowed on the faithful have suffocated under the weight of office and been neglected or even dismissed as unwarranted in the established order of church life. Charism and office should be complementary gifts, as they have been in the Catholic tradition.

For his part, Pope Benedict XVI has been steady in his teaching that charisms bring vitality to the church. Addressing the clergy of Rome in 2007, he reminded his listeners that “new forms of life are being born in the church, just as they were born down the ages.” With pastoral sensitivity, he understood the necessity of a multiplicity of charisms to enable the church to thrive in surprising ways. He also had the wisdom to anticipate how necessarily disruptive and challenging God’s gifts can be, especially for administrators. So he counseled his audience to gentleness and patience in exercising their pastoral responsibility for coordinating gifts in the local community. “The first rule,” he told them, “is: do not extinguish Christian charisms; be grateful even if they are inconvenient.”

For the church to flourish anew, there needs to be a reciprocity of gifts among believers and between believers and pastors. Gratitude for the gifts others bring to church life ought not be given reluctantly, but should come as a spontaneous and active response, the better to strengthen the bonds that unite the community. Men and women of faith, as the council taught, “have a right and a duty” to exercise their specific gifts in the bonds of charity for the good of the whole church, and when they do so, they ought to “enjoy the freedom of the Holy Spirit.” In this ongoing Pentecost, there should be neither passivity nor domination, but mutual appreciation in pastoral relationships. The church suffers both from acquiescent parishioners and heavy-handed pastors, bishops and other church officials. Neither a passive faith, nor a domineering one manifests the Spirit or truly does the Spirit’s work. Only in reverent attention to and acceptance of the gifts of all is the Spirit not quenched (1 Thes 4:19).

In the church’s new birth, a birth by fire, some things must die. The heavy, static architecture of the overly hierarchical, pyramidal image of the church inherited from Rome and Byzantium is at the point of giving way to the more airy, light-filled style of the church as a community of disciples on mission, with the Spirit infusing and guiding the church at all levels—faithful, clergy and hierarchy. This Pentecost the Spirit is at work bringing new life to the church—if only we listen and do not quench the Spirit.

"And I'm off to Philadelphia in the morning!"

2010-05-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

Remembering that Irish-American song of yesteryear "And I'm off to Tipperary in the morning!"

Well, meself and the missus will be off to Philadelphia tomorrow to see the sights and visit with some of the first American Legionaries...Keith Keller & Co.

We will try to keep the focus off the Legion but that is going to be hard because of all the recent scandals...but we will do our best so as not to burden our wives with all the 'shop talk'

It takes a long time to recover from the Legion, even for folks who have been in for a relatively short time

Blessings

The Way of Maciel, or the Way of Romero [Spiritual Reflection]

2010-04-23T23:02:00.000-07:00

Fr. John Kavanaugh, SJ, at America online is struck by the contrast of two priests that come to his mind after Lent. Lessons to be learned.

Text Size: A A | Print | Email |

Deeds, Not Words

John F. Kavanaugh | MAY 3, 2010

W as it a sign, a warning to us Catholics, that the continuing child-abuse scandal flared once again, this time during Holy Week? We saw a parade of articles, attacks and defenses—all, by my reading, beside the fundamental point. Some of the defenses were embarrassing, ranging from self-serving claims that Catholic clergy members are no more abusive than any other group, that the criticisms amounted to gossip and media bias against the church, that everything was to blame but ourselves. Even Pope Benedict’s heartfelt but stern letter to the church in Ireland seemed not to register in any meaningful way. Words failed.
Among the scribes of culture and church, allusions were made to Holy Week itself. But no one asked why Jesus himself was rejected and executed.

We are at a crossroads: the way of Maciel or the way of Romero.

The Gospel reading for the eve of Passion/Palm Sunday makes it quite clear that Jesus was a threat to vested national and religious interests. “If people believe in him, we will lose our land and our nation.” The reigning powers saw that he was a danger to their property, privilege and power. Even his apostles, arguing over who would be first in the kingdom, have to be rebuked by Jesus. In Luke’s account Jesus says: “Among pagans, it is the kings who lord it over them.... This must not happen with you.” The Christ-formed leader must never “lord” it over others. And any Christian leadership rejecting that command is destined not only to failure, but to being a countersign to the Gospels. Such leaders might muster sympathy for their own caste, but precious little for any other. This is the worm at the core of many believers’ discontent.
If there are priests and bishops who think they are better than other followers of Christ, or presume that they are to be served and honored, or who think their privileges and interests are more important than the people of God, they are destined to failure as ministers of the Gospel and will bring scandal on the church.
At the end of Lent 2010, two other prominent Catholics resurfaced in the news. The first is Marcial Maciel, of the Legionaries of Christ, who was sadly but honestly repudiated as “a model of Christian or priestly life” by the community he had founded. In addition to his sexual abuse of seminarians, this priest exercised tight control over the lives and monies of his followers while he garnered friendships among the powerful and privileged. Despite his exploitation of people in matters of money, sex and power, he was merely invited to end his life in quiet reflection and repose.
The second name to surface was that of Archbishop Oscar Romero, whose assassination occurred 30 years ago. This was a priest-bishop who lost all his allies in the Salvadoran oligarchy, and most of his fellow bishops as well, because of his choice to identify with Christ’s poor and oppressed. He was murdered, so appropriately, while celebrating Mass. There is no doubt that he died for being faithful to Jesus’ model of leadership. One hopes that neglect of his cause for canonization has not been influenced by interests of power, property and privilege.

More Children for Maciel, Visitation and Communique

2010-03-30T18:19:00.000-07:00

Hard to have a life when so much is happening with the Legion and Regnum!

As more of Fr Maciel's children appear on the scene in Mexico City, claiming their rights and their inheritance and accusing him of sexually abusing them as the UberPedophile, the Apostolic Visitators hand in their reports on March 15; on March 25 the Legion upstaged the Vatican by publishing their Communique which is one long Forgive Us

Meanwhile the blogger has to continue working, buy a new house -for almost the same price as his old one as he does not have any benefactors- and accompany his friends in the loss of a dear one...

Got house, will move!

2010-03-18T14:50:00.000-07:00

No, no, no, something more modest. Not so far to move. Will not reveal new address to prevent Legion of Christ coming after me again with another lawsuit. Bless their souls, they acted just like Scientology. Funny how this "embittered old man" bears no resentment. They are not in my system, dear friends.

As I get my slightly bigger place to live in I remind myself and others to continue to remember the homeless and those living in inadequate housing, and to contribute to good causes such as HABITAT FOR HUMANITY, Catholic Relief Services, etc.

Chercher la Maison!

2010-02-16T14:40:00.000-08:00

I may have to settle for something less with my budget and no severance pay from the Legion of Christ

We have a snow storm in the Washington DC Metro Area

2010-02-10T13:31:00.000-08:00

Licensed Professional Counselor Application Approved!

2010-02-01T21:51:00.000-08:00

I feel like the Duomo of Florence

Today the letter from the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Health Professions arrived by snail mail.

"The Board of Counseling has approved your application for licensure as a professional counselor in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and we are pleased to notify you that you have been approved to sit for the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination...."

A huge achievement for this little guy! The final stamp of approval to a change of career and profession that I started in 1985 when I left the Legion of Christ at the age of 41 and moved to the diocese of Washington, DC. Once I had a stable assignment I was able to devote a certain amount of time and money to continuing education in the area of Counseling. When I decided to leave the active ministry four years later [1989] I got my Masters in Counseling; but with no professional counseling experience and needing to find a job to pay the rent and survive I had to take what I got. Stabilizing my move to fending for myself financially I gradually moved toward a professional career in Counseling. I suppose it is an Introvert's patient pace towards his goals...

Prayer for Haiti Mothers

2010-01-26T07:45:00.000-08:00

This beautiful text is from a from a friend of mine from REGAIN INC.

Lord, I just want to say THANK YOU, because this morning I woke up and knew

where my children were.
Because this morning my home was still standing,
because this morning I am not crying because my husband, my child, my
brother or sister needs to be buried out from underneath a pile of concrete,
because this morning I was able to drink a glass of water, because this
morning I was able to turn on the light,
because this morning I was able to
take a shower, because this morning I was not planning a funeral, but most
of all I thank you this morning
because I still have life and a voice to
cry out for the people of Haiti.
Lord I cry out to you, the one that makes
the impossible, possible, the one that turns darkness in to light,
I cry outthat you give those mothers strength, that you give them
peace that surpasses all understanding,
that you may open the streets so
that help can come, that you may provide doctors, nurses, food, water, and
all that they need in a blink of an eye.
For all those that have lost family
members, give them peace, give them hope, give them courage to continue to
go on!
Protect the children and shield them with your power.
I pray all this in the name of Jesus!!!
To all my friends please continue to forward this so that we can pray
together for the people in Haiti.
We here are truly blessed!!!!!

Music's Healing Pleasure on my Post Legion of Christ Joyful Journey

2010-01-19T14:57:00.001-08:00

It has now been 25 years since I left the Legion of Christ; much has happened in my life and much healing has occured.
As I explained in one of the Regain Activity Updates on the REGAIN
webpage, I had to start my spiritual life all over again and learn to Trust God in a practical way in my daily activities
I found wonderful things began happening to me.
Like this music I found last Saturday.
I had been given the Christmas gift of a CD that I already had and went to Borders to exchange. I began searching for John Williams on Guitar and stumbled upon some Trumpet music in the section next to it. I was thinking of Winton Marsalis -as well as Christ Botti from WETA performances. I happened upon a woman playing the classical trumpet. I had never heard of her and bought the CD in an "act of faith"
Here is part of what I found

Happy New Year from St. Teresa's, Clarendon St., Dublin

2010-01-13T18:14:00.000-08:00

My wife ecstatic outside St Teresa's, Clarendon St., Dublin, where my dad used to go to the Sodality of Our Lady of Mount Carmel every month. He initiated me into that devotion where he would go to confession and piously receive Holy Communion once a month -he did not feel worthy to go more frequently. Read more in my memoir, Our Father, who art in bed, A Naive and Sentimental Dubliner in the Legion of Christ.

Happy New Year to y'all!

2009-12-30T17:41:00.000-08:00

Pullin' yer leg for Christmas [at Clontarf Castle, Dublin]

2009-12-16T16:32:00.000-08:00

Together against the wind at Clontarf Castle, Dublin, Ireland

Now this auld castle was probably an English castle -it even has the bloody British lions beside the main entrance...But let us not forget that centuries before, in 1014, Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, and his army drove the Vikings out of Ireland at the Battle of Contarf, a stone's throw away. Poor Brian was killed by Vikings [Danes?] fleeing the battle. Dublin "slaggers" have it that he was kneeling down praying the Rosary in front of the Blessed Sacrament when they fell upon him in his tent and dispatched him to the Happy Hunting Ground.

Spanish Steps, Trinita dei Monti, Rome, Italy

2009-12-06T19:50:00.000-08:00

The Spanish Steps never ceases to please and to enchant the visitor

Greetings at THANKSGIVING!

2009-11-25T16:26:00.000-08:00

George Winston piano meditation

is the Legion/Regnum Christi in danger of crumbling?

2009-11-13T12:06:00.000-08:00

Overlooking the ruins of Imperial Rome

Is the Legion/Regnum - the Empire that Maciel built - in Danger of Crumbling?

That, my dear Horatio, is the question

At the Pantheon

2009-11-02T17:42:00.000-08:00

The House Agrippa built

Three Coins in a Fountain

2009-10-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

when in rome, roam

Got my big mug in front of the St. Peter's Basilica, with that exotic woman again

2009-10-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

Hey, but exiting Legionaries, I just didn't jump into the sack with this lady the day after I left! Or the day before I left!

Got my Photo taken with St. Peter

2009-10-07T08:18:00.000-07:00

Hanging out at the Colonna Hotel, Rome

2009-10-01T13:29:00.001-07:00

Yes, and that is Gina Lollobrigida!

But soon I was back dancing in St Peter's Square at Midnight

2009-09-28T17:52:00.001-07:00

Dr Barba and Aura hid me at the Castel Sant'Angelo on the Tiber

2009-09-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

there is always that lingering fear of being sued again by the Legion...when the ferret is cornered it might attack

My Colliseum was an Alexandria City civil court where I was thrown to Legion Lawyers

2009-09-10T09:31:00.001-07:00

Every time I pass by that courthouse, there I am, like a Ist Century Christian, passing by the scene of my martydom

[maybe that is a bit melodramatic]

Duomo Complex, Florence, Italy, July, 2009

2009-09-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

Cara bella

2009-09-02T17:41:00.001-07:00

At the Duomo, Florence

2009-08-31T11:51:00.000-07:00

Benvenuto Cellini, Pontevecchio, Florence

2009-08-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

------
[edit] Youth
Benvenuto Cellini was born in Florence, Italy, where his family had been landowners in the Val d'Ambra for three generations. His parents were Giovanni Cellini, a musician and builder of musical instruments, and Maria Lisabetta Granacci. They were married for eighteen years before the birth of their first child. Benvenuto was the second child of the family[1]

Giovanni initially wished Benvenuto to join him in instrument making, and endeavoured to thwart his inclination for metalwork. When he was fifteen, his father reluctantly agreed to apprentice him to a goldsmith, Antonio di Sandro, nicknamed Marcone. At the age of sixteen, Benvenuto had already attracted attention in Florence by taking part in an affray with youthful companions. He escaped punishment by fleeing for six months to Siena, where he worked for a goldsmith named Fracastoro (unrelated to the Veronese polymath). From Siena he moved to Bologna, where he became a more accomplished flute-player and made progress as a goldsmith. After a visit to Pisa and two periods of living in Florence (where he was visited by the sculptor Torrigiano), he moved to Rome, age nineteen[2].

WIKIPEDIA

Etruscan Fiesole outside Florence

2009-08-20T16:52:00.000-07:00

The Charm of Florence

2009-08-20T16:50:00.000-07:00

and my terrible Florence hay fever

Train of Cars in Switzerland

2009-08-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

Dr Jose Barba eating ice cream in Geneva

2009-08-20T10:10:00.001-07:00

"Disgruntled old men" Enjoying Geneva, Early July 2009, with the International Cultic Studies Association

2009-08-03T19:59:00.001-07:00

----------------------------------
[Aura and Paul, Jose Barba & friend, aboard cruise on Lake Leman, Sunday, July 5, 2009. Both Jose Barba, a professor at the ITAM in Mexico City, and Paul, a psychotherapist in Virginia, USA, were among those critics labelled "disgruntled & bitter old men" by Legionary spokespersons]

ICSA fellowship Cruise, Geneva, 5 July 2009

2009-07-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

-------

[Some ICSA members from Spain, Mexico, US and Guatemala; Arthur Buchman, American in Denmark, with Aura Lennon; Mike Kropfeld, Canada cooordinator, ICSA]

Networking in Geneva, July 4, 2009

2009-07-28T09:09:00.000-07:00

--------
Paul & Aura Lennon [Wash DC area], Carmen Almendros, Psychologist and Spain ICSA Coordinator [Madrid], Jose Barba, PhD,[Mexico City], spearheaded Maciel's survivors' complaint against Fr. Maciel lodged at Vatican, 1998-2008

Cultic Studies Conference, Day 3, Geneva

2009-07-06T02:20:00.000-07:00

Comenting on Saturday, July 4th,
must say I did not have time to remembers much our national independence, but I suppose I can be excused for devoting my energies to those who have been and are still enslaved and subservient to cults and their leaders.

At dinner with my wife, Aura, Jose Barba -Maciel's accuser, a psychologist friend and her husband, after a long ranging conversation about our Legionary of Christ experience, I was moved almost to tears when remembering my encounter with Felix Alarcon in Galicia, a few years ago. He also had signed the petition requesting the Vatican take action against Fr Maciel for his abuse of seminarians. In a private moment Fr. Felix confided: "If it had not been for Jose Barba asking me about the abuse, that is something I would have carried to the grave!"

So we must always be sensitive and aware of the presence of sexual abuse; with our sensitivity, acceptance, understanding and tact we can free others from their chains

The same skills are needed for dialog with past and present members of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi members.

Paul

Cultic Studies Conference, Day 2, Geneva

2009-07-06T02:03:00.000-07:00

Commenting on Friday July 3rd,
We were joined by more local people, "walk-ins" and session got underway from 9am covering the areas the ICSA considers important in its information, healing, study of cult like groups:
Workshops for exmembers and family members
Exmembers divided into two categories; those not born in cults, and those born in cults, called Second Generation Adults, SGAs
Psychological and sociological studies on High Demand Groups
Therapy with exmembers of both categories
Networking
Reviewing last years work and planning for the future.
Next International Conference to be in the NY, USA area

Personally, I was lamenting the absence of one of the most knowledgeable and healing presences in the area of RECOVERY, Carol Giambalvo, who was home taking care of her husband Noel

Another person sadly missed was Paul X, the director of the only residential treatment center in the USA for transitioning former members.

From Geneva avec amour, International Cultic Studies Association Conference

2009-07-03T22:23:00.000-07:00

---------------
Thurday July 2, 2009 [Pre-Conference Day]

Not that the Genevans[?] would be so effusive; but they are kind and efficient. We arrived without luggage due to a lock down at National Airport on June 30 that delayed our flight out of DCA about 6 hours; the reason given was that there were storm over Newark. We, Aura and I, lost our connections there and they sent us through Madrid; there was made a long trip from terminal A to D or whatever; it seemed like we were going to Santiago...

Once safely in Geneva 8 hours behind schedule, we could not find our bags and went to the complaints office. The lady person behind the desk took painstaking notes and sent us on our way with "Sorry for your trouble; usually the luggage arrives a day later and we deliver it to you." What a relief as we made our way out of the airport to be greeted by Gustavo our Mexican [Jalapa] friend who came to pick us up and bring us to his home and get us installd before taking off for the night shift at WHO. By this time we had been on our feet 24 hours and were feeling jet lagged. That was Wednesday, July 1.

On Thursday we made our way to the Uni-Mail, one of the campuses of the Universite de Geneve, where I was glad to start seening familiar faces such as that of Michael Langone, Arthur, Patrick Ryan -who told us about his recent trip to County Tipperary to find his ancestors' place and his humble origins. They all gave Aura a warm welcome. It was good to be back with this "support group" which has been part of REGAIN's and my personal story for about a decade. Today, the focus was on support for exmembers, research and information on cultlike groups all over the world. Conferences were in English, French and Italian reflecting on the diversity of presenters.

Kudos to the Maciel survivors who first put us in touch with this organization. I can't remember right now the story of our alliance with them. Juan Jose Vaca has been an important liaison through the last several years until family obligations took him away. I remember the Conference in Enfield CT where the Legion came and tried to prevent him and me from presenting our testimonies as ex Legionaries for the firt time at ICSA. This time I was looking for Jose Barba, Maciel's nemesis, who was arriving from Mexico City via Paris. Saw Jose after the first session and we continued our networking. Jose had not missed the opportunity to tell of REGAIN's legal battle with the Legion. To people here, familiar with cult tactics and Modus Operandi this sounds like more the same, very Scientology like.
Au Revoir,
Paul and Aura from Geneva.

The Gastro PUB

2009-06-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

[Written May 29th, Dublin, 5th day of Paul's visit to Ireland]

Today Friday, my sister Carmel took the day off work at the nearby court offices to spend it with me; we have had a late and leisurely breakfast and getting ready to go out. Today I plan to visit my god daughter, niece Noelle, and her new baby, Louis, which is pronounce Louie, because the new bus system is called Luas, a Gaelic word meaning 'fast' which sounds just like Louis...
Lastnight had dinner with Carmel's daughter, Ruth, and her English boyfriend, Pete, at the Bull & Castle restaurant pub near Christchurch; the waitresses were from Spain and Poland and sitting next to us was an large Italian family. The weather was sunny all day and people were out in their summer clothes making the most of it. Pete came over from Rugby, England, to look for a job here. Not easy as the economic downturn hit here very hard too.
I am trying to promote my book with an Dublin journalist who also wrote a memoir about growing up in my old neighborhood and he is will to take a look at the book.
Take care,
Paul

On the banks of the River Liffey, Dublin

2009-06-25T10:07:00.001-07:00

[photo of the Legendary Brendan Behan, rebellious and ground breaking inner city Dublin playright, 1940-60s]
----
Dublin, Thursday, May 28, 2009

Jason,
thanks for that message from a couple weeks ago; all is speculation re Vat
just a greeting from the banks of the River Liffey in Dublin city centre, from my sister's little pad over-looking the river, a landmark and a heartmark for all Dubliners. Here a few days to check up on another sister, Patty, who lives an hour north of here. Sunny and breezy, around 60, people are saying summer is here. It is relaxing to be away from work, away from REGAIN, away from routine...
I'm a tourist in my own land for a couple of days, and then back home
Greetings
Paul
-----------
Dear Jose,
saludos desde la orilla del Rio Liffey en el corazon de Dublin; mi hermana, Patty, esta mas o menos bien, y me alegro que haya hecho este viaje relampago a visitarla. Aqui descansando de turista en mi propia ciudad y disfrutando de la amabilidad y carinio de mis 4 hermanas y numerosa prole
Prayers,
Paul

From Usher's Quay, Dublin 8, Ireland

2009-05-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

Painting of the River Liffey, Dublin, view of the quays with Queen's Street Bridge -where my sister's apartment is-

Writing from Usher's Quay, Dublin, my sister Carmel's pad, 3rd floor apartment overlooking the brown River Liffey, a great sensation, as this murky river has been the life blood of the city forever, since before the Viking incursions in the 6th century or whenever, but that was centuries after it had been Christianized

Ancient Irish Legend, the 'Tain...

2009-05-27T02:45:00.000-07:00

As my brother in law, Tommy, stood chatting with neighbors near the bridge at Annagassen, County Louth, on Sunday evening last, a road sign behind him caught my attention and I took a photo; it held the Gaelic word "Tain" which I connected to the Cooley Mountains in the background, fantasy flashing to the legend of The Cattle Raid of Cooley, featuring Queen Maeve of Connaught [Province] and the Ulster [Province] hero, Cuchulainn -koo kulling- in an epic battle that arose over a prize bull. A tale about a tail?

Balbriggan, County Dublin, Ireland

2009-05-26T05:42:00.000-07:00

Although Americans keep insisting in, or on, "Dublin County" and upsetting us native born.
This is where my sister, Mary, lives and it is around this East Coast where most of my relatives live, in towns like Rush, Co.Dublin, and further north around Drogheda [accent on the first syllable, please! it is from the Gaelic meaning 'bridge'; the river Boyne, I think is nearby, history 'Battle of the Boyne' way back in 1590? where William III -of Orange- defeated English Catholic King James II and thus ushered in Protestant Rule to the North of Ireland; well, history, recent and remote, peeps out at you from every corner!]

Internet access courtesy of Balbriggan Public Library, Fingal, Ireland

Introducing Peter Stanford, British writer

2009-05-22T16:54:00.000-07:00

LINK

Peter Stanford is a writer, journalist and broadcaster. His books include biographies of the Labour Cabinet minister, Lord Longford; the Poet Laureate, C Day-Lewis; Bronwen Astor; and Cardinal Basil Hume. His writings on religion range from The Devil: A Biography, Heaven: A Traveller’s Guide, The She-Pope: The Legend of Pope Joan to Catholics and Sex. His books have been translated into ten languages.

A former editor of the Catholic Herald (1988-1992), he writes for papers including The Independent on Sunday, Observer and Daily Telegraph. He presents television and radio documentaries including the award-winning Channel 4 series, Catholics and Sex, BBC 1’s The She Pope, Channel 5’s The Mission and has appeared as a regular panelist on the BBC's The Moral Maze, Vice or Virtue? and FutureWatch. His biography of Lord Longford was the basis for Channel 4's 2006 multi-award winning drama, Longford.

Born in 1961 and raised in Birkenhead, he is chairman of the spinal injuries charity, Aspire, and director of the Longford Trust for penal reform. He lives in London with his wife, Siobhan Cross, and their two children. He is currently working on an illustrated Life of Jesus and a book about Britain's sacred places.

He writes a monthly column in the Tablet, the Catholic weekly, about home life which is reproduced here on the website.

April 25, 2009

The school curriculum is packed full of excursions and trips that take children, as the phrase goes, out of their comfort zone. Whether it be nine-year-old Orla going off, next month, on a week-long school visit to York – she’s packing and unpacking her suitcase already - or her older brother, booked in for a trip to Prague with the school choir and unlikely to think about what to take with him until five minutes before, they have opportunities a-plenty to experience other places without parents guiding them and telling them what to think. Which is, of course, an important part of growing up and walking away.

What about seeing another side of religion, though? Where are the opportunities to develop their own independent view of faith, points of contrast to their daily diet of bedtime prayers, Sunday mass in the parish, RE lessons and the regular visits of the school chaplain? As I list them, they sound enough in themselves. As I had assumed they were until – for the entirely practical reason of a clash of school holiday dates and a consequent childcare crisis – I took my 12-year-old son with me on a work trip to Holy Island.

I’m halfway through researching and writing a book on sacred places in Britain. The idea is to visit these holy sites when others are there so as to see what sort of spiritual exploration is going on today. I had therefore timed my visit to Lindisfarne to coincide with the annual pilgrimage by the ecumenical Northern Cross organisation. Five separate groups walk, carrying a cross, from various points in the north of England and southern Scotland and congregate on Beal Sands, on the mainland, facing Holy Island, on the morning of Good Friday. Together they then wait until low tide allows them all to set out across exposed mud flats to Lindisfarne, following the wooden poles that have for centuries marked the safe route across quick sands for pilgrims on their way to the island of Saint Cuthbert.

My son and I were allowed to join Northern Cross for this last leg. It felt a bit like coming on as substitutes and not really deserving our cup winner’s medal. We really ought to have done the whole of the previous week’s walking to get the true flavour of the pilgrimage, as more than one of the group pointed out. They said it, I should add, not in the spirit that we were shirkers – though seven days of sleeping on the floor of church halls and washing in cold water is certainly well outside my personal comfort zone – but rather from concern that we were short-changing ourselves of a unique and sustaining spiritual experience. The pilgrimage is about putting worldly concerns to one side and, because we all seem nowadays to carry so many worries and responsibilities about family, home and finance, it requires a good few days walking to banish them from our thoughts.

The other thing this particular pilgrimage is about, of course, is witness. People carrying a cross through the English and Scottish countryside is not an everyday sight. Those who do it are marking themselves out in a society that treats people of faith, in Tony Blair’s phrase, as ‘nutters’.

Joining the party of around 75, young and old, Anglican, Catholic, and even one Moslem from Turkey - ‘I have been in England for two years,’ she explained, ‘and I haven’t seen any sign of your faith until now’ - to walk the three or so miles across the sands that morning was a new experience of public witness for my son – and a long overdue refresher for me.

There were a few people gathered at Beal Sands to watch us set off, barefooted and singing hymns, in what was still hazy light, but most were photographers who managed to get a suitably moody pictures of the five crosses and their bearers into the next day’s national newspapers. Once we arrived in Lindisfarne, though, the day-trippers, who come there via a road which takes a different route across the sands and is only open at low tide, stood around and stared unabashed. One or two of the teenagers looking on even sniggered. I remembered at that moment the 50 plus per cent in a recent poll who had no idea of the Easter story. In their shoes, at their age, I could imagine sniggering at the sight of hymn-singing, bare-footed adults carrying crosses whose significance was utterly lost on me. It only made me feel more certain that this was something worth doing – a sign of contradiction, as John Paul II was fond of remarking.

But what of my son? 12-year-olds are particularly prone to peer-group judgements. Was he feeling okay, I asked as casually as I could as we walked up the main street of Holy Island. ‘Fine,’ he replied, breaking off from a chat with some of the teenage children of parents who had been doing Northern Cross for years. I mentioned the odd looks we were getting. ‘But did you see that woman at the hotel?” he asked. As we had passed a small B and B on the island, he’d seen a cleaner hurry out and stand as we passed, hands joined in prayer, lips moving with the hymns we were singing. We had touched her, and she in her turn had touched my son.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

© Peter Stanford 2007. All rights reserved.
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Family Leave

2009-05-19T14:54:00.001-07:00

-----------
Off to Ireland, Co. Louth, Annagassen
to visit with my sister who has not been well
Employer obliged with sick leave and Continental with frequent flyer miles. I continue to practice my vow of poverty...more so than I ever did when I was a religious with the Legion of Christ. But they did not let me go home for family gatherings, much less "compassionate leave". Glad I can be a bit pro-active about this visit.
The plane trip is like a curtain closing on a life stage, a letting go of heavy luggage - image of heavy luggage falling into the a
Atlantic, pleasant instead of dreadful- , and a new beginning.
I hope to read on the flight, relax with family and friends, and enjoy the places and the people

Healing the Past in the Present

2009-05-11T19:32:00.000-07:00

LINK

Dear AML,
as heavy raindrops beat noisily against the large office windows on this Monday evening, I finish my "progress notes" to meet "performance measurements'.
I open the attachment of the wonderful audio visual of the Vatican Museums [not available here unfortunately], see the beautiful images and hear gentle music creating a long interlude of relaxation and comtemplation. I have been at the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel during my Roman sojourn - 1963-70 -, and only God knows how much or how little I enjoyed those visits in my former life: surrounded by a large "community", closely supervised by superiors, and enlightened by Brother 'Cicerone'. But now, from this vantage point of mental, emotional and spiritual freedom, I revisit and recover those previous visits and savor them richly in the present moment.
Hopefully I will return to Rome after almost 40 years with my dear friend, Jose Barba, during the 2nd week of July, 2009. This time I plan to relax among the wonderful fountains and the piazze and practice my Romanaccio as I mingle with the locals, admire their cultural treasures, and partake of their food and wine.
Bravo!,
Paolo

Lennon Book Presentation May 7 in Kensington, MD

2009-05-05T13:18:00.001-07:00

J. Paul Lennon author of
Our Father Maciel, Who Art in Bed
A Naive and Sentimental Dubliner in the Legion of Christ

LINK

Thursday, May 7
7:30pm

The author was one of the first Irish recruits of the Legion of Christ, a very successful religious order founded by Father Maciel and approved by the Vatican.

What Paul observed as he struggled with an austere and rigorous training system was the lavish life-style Fr Maciel, “Nuestro Padre”, enjoyed, justified apparently by his multiple illnesses. Years after leaving, the author learned about credible accusations of Maciel sexually abusing his seminarians, from bed; thence the title.

Fr. Maciel and the order’s leaders vigorously denied those allegations up to the founder’s death in January 2008. Mr. Lennon was sued by the Legion in August 2007 for “scurrilously criticizing” the Legion and “stealing personal and proprietary material”; subsequently Legion lawyers made him take down a discussion board where ex-members aired the order’s dirty laundry. Now, two years later, Legion leaders have revealed that Fr. Maciel fathered a now twenty-year-old daughter. The public is demanding more information and reform from the Legion, while the order and its lay branch, Regnum Christi (Kingdom of Christ) maintain they are, nevertheless, divinely inspired.

This honest testimony of one who has been on the inside pretends to shed some light on the controversial phenomenon of the Legion of Christ religious order and its lay branch, Regnum Christi. The intimate narrative is enlivened with quotes from Siddhartha and with the lyrics of songs that accompanied the author growing up in Dublin, traveling to Spain and Italy, working in Mexico, and finally "landing" on the shores of the Potomac in 1985 to recover from his ordeal.

Though a cautionary tale, the story exudes healing and hope as the author comes to terms with himself, God and the Catholic Church.

They tried to stop her at the Border

2009-05-04T15:28:00.000-07:00

They tried to stop her at the border

by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés on Apr. 28, 2009 El Rio Debajo Del Rio

LINK

They tried to stop her at the border
No visa for her kind, you know...
undocumented, some were certain.
Border guards, La migra, didn’t like the looks of
her. No one cared that
her many, many relatives were waiting for her
back home in Santa Fe USA, and
in surrounding little villages with names like
La Cienega, over near Chupadero, and Española.

Her so many relatives, holding babies in their arms,
were praying daily, nightly, for her safe travel and especially
for her clear passage at the border.

Her familia already had all their kisses ready on their lips,
just to give to her.
They had prepared the special water to ritually cleanse her
for having made the perilous journey successfully.

But fate would not have it, their prayers were not answered.
Stopped at the border; the frontier guards swarmed the truck,
their reasons now seeming so clear,
for her girth alone, was so great...
a peasant woman, not a svelte city woman,
she was just a campesina girl grown up ...
and now pregnant, so far bigger than usual.

And just trying to make her way over the border...
carrying, as las parteras, the midwives, say, ‘way out front.’
She could hardly be expected, being with child and all,
To fold herself into a woman
The size of a gnat.

So, no, she stood out, that belly in certain lights, you know,
looking quite suspicious and all.
Clearly she was from one of the oldest villages.
One could tell by her odd clothes and bare feet.
Why would such as she be wanting to come to the US?

So Immigration and Customs nabbed her.
And the truck driver who was bringing her,
slipped away.
And Customs interrogated, wanting to see papers:
Papers and papers and more papers yet. And money too.
But she was not carrying even la retícula, a small purse,
and did not have even coinage, so she could only answer
with the priceless look in her beautiful eyes.

They took her then, to where all suspicious people are taken,
to warehouse in holding cells; and there alone on the cold floor
she laid her head.
And they put their hands inside her maternity clothes,
certain she was carrying contraband.
‘What about that belly, real or fake?
Maybe filled with cocaine probably...
Ah these people will try any trick to bring in drugs.’
And so they forced her to be x-rayed, just to make sure.

And after, she just looked through the fence of the cage
they’d put her in.
Would someone, anyone, come
and free her?

No one came.

The next day.

No one came.

The next day.

She was lost.

But not forgotten.

Despair back in the villages in the USA.
How lonesome they all were for their jailed relative, for since forever in what was once Mexico, now the US, la familia had grown to thousands -- blood, not blood -- thousands of aunts, uncles, comadres, compadres, cousins -- especially cousins -- mamis, papis, aubuelos, abuelitas, neighbors, everyone who traded tomato plants with each other, friends, everyone who cultivated gardens amidst the chamisa and scrub piñon across the Santa Fe hills, all had become family by virtue of food and Faith.

Now this huge group of “families within a Family,” prayed and prayed hoping to hear word of her whereabouts, praying to see maybe even an old Mexican truck with the little religious flags and red chenille berries waving across the truck’s headliner ... how such would come chugging across the border, tilting sideways with the effort, carrying her home to her people up north....

Everyone there waited.
Many wept for her being lost.

And the pregnant mother waited in jail.
And waited...
having committed the crime of trying to come
across a line
that someone claimed was holy ...
a line drawn in the sand
along the banks of the Rio Grande
by less than ten men, long ago.

The pregnant mother waited in her jail.
And waited.

Meanwhile, at the border, men and women swarmed, waved papers around, phone calls flew through the magic wires. A holy man was called in to do the things holy men do, to negotiate the young mother’s release from the holding tank. To bring her home to her people.

And it was done. Somehow the grim blood and the prayer sent out over the Sangre de Cristo and the Sandia mountains, the appearance of gentle yet fierce souls at the border, led to her release.

And now, allowed to go free, she was brought the rest of the way, in a big red truck from the US, fittingly called by its manufacturer, El ariete, The Ram. And you have rarely seen such rejoicing, teenagers holding camera phones high, elders weeping, those scarred by life, weeping and laughing, children bedecking with flowers...

As she came from the truck, she was gentled and soothed and
Kissed and touched as though souls had at last met Soulmate; singing broke out, the old hymns...

as la familia extraordinaire, were reunited once again...
From dream to reality, she had made it across the border...
on the same trail that all ancestors journeyed upon long ago...
La Nuestra Señora Guadalupe, with our Cristocito in her belly,
Had made it to her people, to all souls who hold a place for her

And her little Son, “the radiant contraband Baby” that is invisible only to those who have not yet the eyes to see,
the ears to hear ... invisible even to x-ray machines ... at last He and she were here, safe in the arms and eyes and hearts who love, those who have always loved La Conquista, Mother of the Conquered, Mother of the Americas who ever comes bearing her Precious Cargo.

And to at least one old pilgrim in Santa Fe who could hear La Señora Guadalupe’s words without her saying them aloud, she whispered that she was touched by the people’s fears and their great love, but she was never really lost. Just had work to do ... at the border ... in the warehouse

... maybe with one of the poor old men who swept the floors, maybe with one of the young who came to graffiti a wall, maybe with an official who remembered the generous heart again, maybe with a young mother who didn’t know if she could make it, but seeing our Lady behind the fence, felt filled with bold grace and knew she could make it after all. A momentary pause. Not a lifetime peril. Our Lady, on the way home, stopped for a bit, for she had business at the border.

CODA
Several years ago, the padrecito of Our Lady of Guadalupe parish [Shrine] in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, Father Tien-Tri Nguyen, along with deacons, parishioners and many people on both sides of the border, began seeking an artist to fulfill a vision... to create a living statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The comadres and compadres were literally overjoyed to find the sculptor La Señora Georgina Farias in Mexico, a tiny woman about five feet tall, and in her 60s, who would create the heroic-sized statue of bronze. The beautiful statue is twelve feet tall and weighs about two tons.

The statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe was indeed confiscated at the border on its way from Mexico to the US, but not allowed the usual Customs detainment of a day or two, but rather she, seeming suspicious somehow -- at least to authorities -- was carried off the truck, all 4000+/- pounds of her, and taken to a warehouse, and her whereabouts were unknown for many days. She was indeed x-rayed to make sure she was not carrying contraband.

For several days, the people of faith waiting for her in the US, having already rented buses to drive to the border to greet her, to stay with her, and to bring her home in triumphant procession, were so frightened that they had ‘lost’ her for good... like many other families on both sides of the border who do not know where their loved ones are, they kept a heart-rending vigil.

Yet, no authority seemed to know where she was. The “right hand at U.S. Customs” said one thing, and the “left hand at U.S. Customs” said something different ... as though she had become desaparecido, a missing person.

Yet, anyone knowing the border as we do, knows it sometimes seems the Tower of Babel must have been built right on the banks of the Rio Grande, and it seems to come startlingly alive again with disinformation, misinterpretation and downright lack of conveying facts that ought normally be available to any rational being.

So, in order to find Our Lady of Guadalupe and free her, along with his posse of devotees to Our Lady, Fr. Tri, as he is called by his parishioners, journeyed from Santa Fe to the border.

There he and the determined posse (In Latin, posse, means to ‘be able’) found persons in Customs who helped, a warehouse door-opener rather than a foot-dragger, and no doubt by the padrecito’s purity of purpose that was poured into him by all the longing and gentleness and fierceness of the parishioners, deacons, candidate deacons, old people, young hearts, middle-aged soulful people, and others who loved Our Lady, they were able to secure her release.

Thus, she was lifted to a great flatbed trailer, secured safely and with the red Ram truck pulling with its strong engine, she came finally along the ancient road into Santa Fe -- literally with police motorcycle escort, and horns blaring from the long lines of cars and trucks in the processional that had formed to bring her home to Agua Fria Street, at last.

And too, just as I said, the people literally wept in joy and gratitude, and most of all, in love, in immaculate love for her, as they touched her, kissed her, sang to her and for her, as the blessed workmen raised her up to her perfect outdoor room they’d prepared for her.... one that lets the clouds, the sun, the moon, and the stars peek in cycles through her open rayos, those rays around her body. This last, a nightly and daily shower of her esteemed symbols over and through her bronze body.

To bring her home...
Let this be the prayer, then, in every heart this May,
the month of La Nuestra Madre, Our Mother.
And let there be a little procession to crown Our Mother,
as in times of eld, let that processioncito be in our hearts
as we celebrate the time of all mothers,
no matter what appearance they take, no matter what form...
let us honor all who carry in their own hearts that which,
no matter whatever else,
remains immaculate in Love for all.

Let her, let us, let all of us be found,
Be freed to be brought home
to a place of Love for one another,
on all sides of every kind of border, at last.
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“They Tried To Stop Her At the Border” ©2009, by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, director of La Sociedad de Guadalupe, for works in her name. All Rights Reserved. permissions: projectscreener@aol.com

Special gratitude to heart of Miss Deanne Newman, for calling my attention to Our Lady of Guadalupe parish and statue, where I went to Mass last Sunday late... a place of true refugio, refuge, after having driven four-hundred miles, and in 4-wheel drive through two snowstorms and over a high mountain pass, to fulfill a teaching commitment in Santa Fe. Y mil gracias to mi Estimada Delores Romero at Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine for so generously speaking to me, a stranger, as though I were family tambien.

Too, I hope you will click here to see the photos of Guadalupe’s journey from Mexico to Santa Fe, U.S.A., especially the faces of those who came to accompany her, bless and be blessed by her.... both in Mexico and the US. There were many stops at villages and churches along the way. The photos were taken by Joshua Trujillo, son of the deacon at the parish in Santa Fe. Joshua is a fine photographer. You will also see there’s a book, Our Lady of Guadalupe, A Journey.

Voyage to Joy!

2009-04-06T22:17:00.000-07:00

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"It all began in 1985", or so goes the story, fully developed in my memoir "Our Father" (Maciel), who art in bed, a Naive and Sentimental Dubliner in the Legion of Christ. The memoir helps to bring the reader up to date on some aspects of my life. In the book I speak of my support network, former Legionaries and "new" friends made in the Washington DC area.