Posted on 04/19/2010 6:25:15 AM PDT by NYer
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has long let cardinals or its official spokesmen do its talking when scandal hits.
But as the Vatican reels from a swirling clerical sex abuse crisis, the Holy See has turned to an unusual advocate: a tennis-loving, Saab-driving solo practitioner from Berkeley, Calif., whose obscure interest in sovereign immunity law and fluency in Italian landed him the job of the pope's U.S. lawyer.
Jeffrey Lena's studied yet creative approach to defending the Vatican in U.S. abuse lawsuits has influenced the Vatican's new public message as he is increasingly called on to act as Rome's unofficial U.S. spokesman and strategist.
In an exclusive interview Saturday with The Associated Press, Lena conceded he never thought he'd be the Vatican's lawyer much less it's very public messenger.
"Two weeks ago I was a lawyer minding my own cases. That's not what's happening now," Lena said.
Still, the 51-year-old former history professor avoids the limelight. He declined to be photographed for this profile, citing security and privacy concerns for his wife and son. He says he has received threats because of his advocacy for the Holy See and has moved his three-person law office to an undisclosed location in Berkeley.
The threats stem from the controversial nature of the cases brought against the Vatican in the U.S. over the past 10 years: before the clerical abuse lawsuits targeting the Holy See, Lena defended cases in which the Vatican bank was accused of stashing Nazi loot.
Lena recalls that when looking for co-counsel to represent the Vatican bank, several large firms declined because they didn't want to defend a Holocaust claims suit.
"It deepened in me a sense of the importance of defense work when you could have effectively prominent law firms refuse to serve a client because they thought it was too controversial for their bottom line
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
It's ludicrous to think that speaking out against hysteria equals support of child molestation.
But of course that's part of the hysteria. Somebody wrote an article awhile back talking about "moral panic" -- I'll have to see if I can find it. It's a documented phenomenon, with lots of examples. If the government or media is able to whip up enough of a frenzy, otherwise normal people take leave of their senses and begin accusing everyone who doesn't toe the party line of horrible things.
The story is a report of a translation of an interview the Cardinal gave in Italian. (You realize that the NYT, another paper of record for FReepers (not), used Google to 'translate' a bunch of letters and reports for their big story on this issue -- and got it all wrong?) "Pedophilia" is not a quote from the cardinal but the gloss from the WaPo.
And even if the cardinal did say that (although we have no idea from the story), that doesn't make the seduction of pubescent boys "pedophilia". Words have meanings, especially terms of art.
It is not wise to use a third-hand report from a source that is normally considered untrustworthy, just because it supports your position.
Great thread, excellent posts. Yesterday, I started a thread called “Nifonging the Catholic Church” and last night and this morning the usual suspects turned up on it. I said much of the same as what you said, adding the fact that homosexual teens are adept at exploiting middle aged men for drugs, money, and power, and that some middle aged men have found a way to make the Church provide them a sinecure. You would have thought I harmed the Easter Bunny. Very few intelligent comments.
And by the way, the usual suspects asked me, for defending the priests, if I were a member of NAMBLA. So I hope you have your asbestos underwear on.
As my dear old dad (also a lawyer) says, "If somebody can't tell me to pack my toothbrush and go with the sheriff, I don't care what they think!"
I think the comparison with Nifong is a very good one. It's the same sort of fashionable piling-on in response to a trope put out by the media -- in that case, every female black rape complainant is a virtuous accuser and every male white accused is a vicious sex-crazed monster.
I hadn't even thought about the exploitative aspect. I think that might be true of some of the older kids, but I doubt it's true of many of the boys in the 11-14 age range. My experience is that those are the streetwise older teenagers in the 17 and up range.
This is not only a Catholic problem.
For instance, we see similar conduct and gay activist religious leaders in various Protestant organizations.
Such persons obviously do not take God seriously for if they believed God, if they knew Him, if they loved Him they could in no way willfully do things which God has declared an abomination.
And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, [concerning] him that hath so done this deed, In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Your glorying [is] not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened.
For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened [bread] of sincerity and truth. - I Cor 5:1-8
But if they believe on authority of the religious hierarchy that they cannot or should not leave, it seems to me that the guilt accrues to the higher authorities in the same way they will no doubt be held accountable by God for every responsibility they have been assigned or have assumed.
God's Name is I AM.
Well said! Thanks for your posts.
There was a period there in the 60s and 70s when some seminaries became extremely lax in their admissions standards. They let in people who should never have become priests, people who weren't serious about their vows, and flagrant homosexuals. The homosexuals got a clique going and started excluding straight, orthodox candidates as "too rigid". They were in hourly expectation of the abolition of the celibacy rule, divorce on demand, acceptance of homosexuality, etc.
Of course it didn't happen. Some left, some were vengeful and stayed to try to destroy the Church.
It's the same old story - sinful man messes up a good thing. It's been going on for quite awhile - there's an old story in Boccaccio of a man who converts because any religion that survives despite the corrupt clergy MUST be approved by God.
Fortunately Christ has promised us that the gates of Hell won't prevail against His Church . . . and that's a good thing.
ROTFL!
Makes me think about a book hubby read called, "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds". Very interesting book about how folks can be whipped into a frenzy by the media, or financial markets, etc.
The biggest delusion is that the Catholic Church is rife with pedophiles. Most folks find it hard to believe, after all the ink that has been spilled, and electrons destroyed to create electronic images, that there were only ever about 2% of all priests involved in this horrid abuse. Because of media reports, folks just assumed it must be at least half of all priests who were abusing young boys and teenagers. Why else would there be SO much in the news about them?
Dear Sister in Christ, this applies as well to those of us in our various non-Catholic and Protestant denominations, a fact you have already pointed out.
A-G, I deeply appreciate your wisdom and faithfulness here. At the same time, I am among those who remain within a mainline denomination that regularly must deal with liberalism's inroads into Christian morality.
I do not find "packing up an leaving" to fully address the heart-rending choices confronting a sincere Christian who is trying to deal with a denomination that has gone wayward in one or more areas.
First, many of us do believe "that the Church is of God and will be 'til the end of time." Jesus said of her, "the gates of hell shall not prevail..." and He said that "whatsoever they loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
Therefore, leaving any particular church is not something that should be lightly decided. It should only be done on biblical authority, and on authority that is clearly referring to departure from a church.
In short, I see every indication that Christians should "remove" those who are grossly wayward from their midst, but I see little that directly speaks to Christians leaving a particular church. Verses about unequal yoking do not seem to be about a Christian's relationship with his/her church.
The closest I get is the threat toward Ephesus in Revelation in which the Lord Himself told that church that had "lost its first love," that if they did not repent He would "remove their candlestick." By that, He meant removing their position as one of His congregations of Light.
In short, if the Lord shuts the door, then it is over. The Christians associated with such a body would have to move on to a different body.
Yet, even to terribly backslidden Pergamum and Thyatira the Lord counseled continued faithfulness to Him, perseverence, and struggle against the darkness in their midst. He didn't counsel departure.
However, when the Lord removes the candlestick and the light goes out, then I think all true believers in that group will be fully informed by the indwelling Holy Spirit.
In short, dear Sister, those of us in denominations that have wayward elements sincerely covet your prayer on behalf of all those souls who daily fight against the dying of the light.
And yes, I firmly believe in agreement with you that packing-up-and-leaving is a last resort! When that happens, the assembly that remains is a false Christianity and therefore a continuing problem to the church.
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. – Revelation 2:1-5
This is the first and great commandment. – Matthew 22:37-38
Dear brother in Christ, this is evidently what all Christians must deal with and witness to, whether "churched" or "unchurched." I know some Biblical Christians of the latter category who live the faith more fully than some of the former category.
But I suspect this doesn't go to your question. If I'm hearing it correctly, you are saying that the institutional church is under attack from members of its own body. Clearly, this seems quite evident: the Spirit of the Age has invaded both Protestant and Orthodox church institutions; there is a demand to "liberalize," "progress," and align the churches to be more in synch with the "climate of opinion" that prevails in the secular world.
I note with a certain bemusement that the Protestant confessions, which are democratic institutions that are largely self-governing and can remove unfit ministers in a lawful way, have seemed to fare no better than the Catholic Church, which is hierarchical and authoritarian — regarding this penchant for Christian "renewal" (supposedly) to be achieved, ultimately, by undermining the core tenets of the faith, particularly as they relate to the moral sphere.
I myself am an unchurched person; all I have to go on is the Holy Bible, the Catechism of the Roman Church, the papal encyclicals, and the indwelling Holy Spirit. Where I live (Massachusetts) an "orthodox" person like me cannot find an orthodox Catholic Church within reasonable driving distance. The Church has been infested with clergy who are all too often politically on the Left. Though two Popes by now have been valiantly striving to stamp out "liberation theology" — in my view, the ersatz theological justification for universal socialism, and the very inversion of the Word — it continues to breed like rats. Or termites. Or as a metastasizing cancer. Depends on how you look at it, I guess....
Not to mention the scandal of child sex abuse by consecrated priests, which is not only a criminal offense, but a total breach of the vow of chastity which all priests take.
Anyhoot, it seems to me these problems are to be found in all the denominations: Catholics do not have a monopoly on ugly, corrupt behavior.
But what's at the root of these devastating problems? What's driving the "culture change" within the Christians churches? I am reminded of an observation of Pope Paul VI, back in the '70s. He said something to the effect that the sulfurous stench of Satan was emanating from within the Church. He also said that the tragedy of modernity was that human beings had stopped thinking.
We are no longer taught how to think; we are taught what to think. We have a "climate of opinion" being constantly fed by self-appointed, domineering elites with an "annointed vision" of the world that is utterly hostile to God and His Creation. What better place to do damage to God than in His own houses of worship, among secularly indoctrinated fools who quite certainly have lost their "First Love?"
Indeed, how could they keep it, if its under full scale assault by a determined "vision of the annointed" who see God as perfectly dispensable and ultimately unworthy of our love — compared to their own "better ideas" about the "perfection" of the world?
"Be there or be square, man."
May God be with you and with your flock; may His Spirit resonate in your hearts and souls. May you ever keep faith and trust in the First Love, and preach the message of Christian Hope, the Lord's Good News for His children.
No matter what happens in or to the world, the First Love is our salvation.
God's Name is I AM.
Thank you, dearest sister in Christ, for your splendid essay-post!
It seems we’ve found a venue in which the Right Reverend Wrong is finally right: Christian “chickens coming home . . . to roost!”
“Though two Popes by now have been valiantly striving to stamp out "liberation theology" — in my view, the ersatz theological justification for universal socialism, and the very inversion of the Word — it continues to breed like rats. Or termites. Or as a metastasizing cancer.”
For all their efforts, they don’t seem to have done very well. Guess, like many, they’ve forgotten that evil cannot be tolerated or compromised with.
Thanks for the beep boop. Always appreciate the info you forward.
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