Priest Found Hanged

Nando Times ^ | 05/16/02 | Stephen Manning

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Accused priest apparently takes own life at Maryland hospital
Copyright © 2002 AP Online

By STEPHEN MANNING, Associated Press

SILVER SPRING, Md. (May 16, 2002 7:57 p.m. EDT) - A 64-year-old priest who resigned from his parish in Connecticut amid allegations of sexual misconduct apparently killed himself Thursday at a Catholic psychiatric hospital, church officials said. The Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., identified the priest as the Rev. Alfred J. Bietighofer, who was stripped last month of his priestly powers and ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation.

Two men told diocesan officials Bietighofer abused them when they were boys in the late 1970s and early 1980s, church officials said.

Bietighofer was found hanged in his room Thursday at St. Luke Institute, according to Prince George's County police and hospital officials.

"I am profoundly saddened by the tragic death of Father Alfred Bietighofer," Bridgeport Bishop William Lori said in a statement. "To parishioners and to all those whom Father Bietighofer assisted during the course of his priestly ministry, I extend my sincere sympathy and prayers."

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[Slyfox]

Curious coincidences, right?

Yes. When I saw that documentary on Akita and heard Sister speak the passages I posted I couldn't help but think of the present crisis. If you think about it, what could possibly be worse for the priesthood than to lose the trust of the people? What better way for the devil to seriously injure the priesthood, that which Christ Himself founded, than to bring on the spectre of sexual abuse?

[Slyfox]

when a priest goes to hell, his thumbs and forefingers burn brighter than any other part of his body.

I wouldn't know where to find that info now. I read it during a five year period where I wasn't watching tv and I read everything I could get my hands on that was Catholic, written before 1967 and had an Imprimatur on it.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

I think that reasoned debates and even some ridiculously absurd overblown arguments with lots of stereotyped fallacies, ad hominem attacks, cheap shots, and historical falsehoodscan, under certain circumstances, assist the overall learning process. And they can be fun. But within some limits of sanity and ontological integrity. The European political philosopher Professor Eric Voegelin claimed that his rhetorical skills were improved by having Communists in some of his classes in pre-war Austria.

[streetpreacher]

Yes. When I saw that documentary on Akita and heard Sister speak the passages I posted I couldn't help but think of the present crisis.(Emphasis mine)

I hope this isn't taken as an attack, but hasn't this been an ongoing problem within the Catholic church?

[streetpreacher]

No, it's not. Next to the Scientologists, the Zonpower/Neo-Tech loonies were some of the most troublesome Usenet spammers ever. I've run into them before in other forums.

And their entire following of 10-12?

[HiTech RedNeck]

1 John 4:10-11 "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and set his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another."

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

I take the position (which I think can be argued for rather soundly) that the new homosexual subculture became more aggressive and more open in the 1970s. My father claims no knowledge of ANY homosexuality of any kind before, say, the 1960s. What changed was that the stigma of sexual misbehavior was reduced immensely by the sexual revolution. We are seeing the results of the homosexual wing of that as it affected Catholic institutions which were also liberalized during that period. The stigma against this was much stronger before the new sexual counter-culture. That's my call on this. Most older Catholic scholars agree that the post-1960s homosexual movement which entered the Church created a VERY different atmosphere among the Catholic clergy. That is an underlying theme of the book Goodbye! Good Men about homosexuals in American seminaries.

[Slyfox]

I hope this isn't taken as an attack, but hasn't this been an ongoing problem within the Catholic church?

Ongoing? No. It was not encouraged and endorsed by those in charge of the seminaries until after Vatican II when the homosexual movement made it priority number one to infiltrate all of the mainstream religious seminaries, not just Roman Catholic.

[Zon]

I am forced to pull rank here, sadly.

Nobody is forcing you to reply. Darn mysticism has you say that you're forced, right?

What rank? You are the self-proclaimed authority and your intent is to prove that by talking over my head? And then you can proclaim that it is my fault that I don't comprehend what you wrote. It is the author's job to be clear and unambiguous and talk at a level that the audience/reader can be expected to understand.

Most of your diatribe was over my head or just nonsensical and I doesn't matter one iota to me which it is. If it is the former you may puff your chest in awe of your command of the English language. You still have zero proof that there is a supernatural God. You have faith that there is a supernatural God, but not evidence.

The rhetorical maneuver of referring to theism as "mysticism" does not really do sound philosophical justice to the perennial matters at issue.

Then why do you refer to theism as mysticism? I never did and if that is what you assert then back up your claim by quoting me in context where I stated or implied that. Or was that just your way of constructing a straw man "argument"?

As for linking suicide with theism, that's quite ridiculously absurd.

The why do you do it? Because I surely never did. Why another straw-man "argument"? If you assert that I linked suicide with theism you had better back up that claim or admit that you are in error. Suicide is one effect of mysticism.

(JFYI, I'm not going to respond to any additional rhetorical attacks on theism or Christianity). Find somewhere else to play, please.

What rhetorical attack? I merely pointed out a few (there's many more) rather obvious analogies and used rhetoric to get the point across. Not to mention that I mixed religious analogies referring to not just Christianity but also the Qur'an. See for yourself...

 

To: HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity

Liberal culture is weird. It's like a cult because it is based on irrational emotions, delusional fantasies, an eccentric belief system built on guilt and desire for acceptance by "superiors."

Irrational emotions? Is that like feeling afraid of burning in hell or perhaps feeling joy about going to heaven to be met by seventy-one sole-eyed virgins?

Delusional fantasies? Is that like a person praying all their life and never having their prayers fulfilled yet believing that after their own death their prayers will be fulfilled by what they imagine heaven to be?

an eccentric belief system built on guilt and desire for acceptance by "superiors."

You must be talking about the innocent victims of priestly pedophilia that had a desire to be accepted by their superiors and thus permitted pedophile-priests to violate them... and then racked with guilt they couldn't come forth to press charges... least wise not until decades later.  Yep, that liberal culture sure is weird, isn't it?

130 posted on 5/17/02 1:07 AM Eastern by Zon

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

There has been a lot of chatter in Marian circles (Fatima, Akita, Fr. Gobbi) over the years about some terrible calamity hitting the clergy in the Church whether that was theorized as apostasy or something else. My understanding is that Sr. Lucia's statements along these lines go back to the 1940s. Malachi Martin, I believe, also talked about this going back quite a few years (and it was not as apparent then oddly enough). I don't know what to make of this other than that they are very fascinating and possibly prognostic insights on what may be happening now (perhaps). Obviously, I have no direct knowledge on prophecies or apparitions (he said cautiously - IRONY).

[Zon]

Your sophistry deserves an answer of ... stony silence.

That's the ticket, when you can't win the debate, run away little redneck.

[HiTech RedNeck]

You want a hint about car 'accidents' not being accidental: the back of your local phone book probably has it. Nobody would be suing anybody if 'accidents' were accidental.

(I know I'm arguing with a joke anyhow.)

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Zon, I wish you well. I know a little too much about the history of fallacies and the inherent contradiction of presenting metaphysical assertions about the ultimate nature of reality via some type of empirical science to assist in these digressions. This thread is about the Catholic crisis here in America anno Domini 2002, the 16th of May. There are plenty of sites, bulletin boards, and chat rooms which debate theism, Christianity, or Deism vs. a variety of neurotically oppositional-defiant atheist ideologies. I'm a Catholic who has had spiritual experiences which are valid for me. You are free to dislike that. And I wish you well in your philosophical quest. All of the forms of scientism, positivism, and materialism (which make claims about the ultimate nature, limits, and boundaries of reality)are based on ontological categories and presuppositions which cannot be demonstrated empirically. That's a well-known fact which professors of philosophy joked about in the 1930s. Check out Von Hayek's critical analysis of scientism. He's not a Catholic and he finds it GOOFY.

[Zon]

Is that a Vulcan document? I swear I see Spock's fingerprints all over it.

Actually it was written by a very accomplished PhD. senior research scientists that retired from Dupont in 1972 -- Frank R. Wallace. For the past thirty years he has been advancing Neo-Tech/Zonpower. IMO, the man is a genius even though he has firmly stated that the only remarkable thing about him is that he is not remarkable -- go figure.

The Neo-Tech Discovery is easy reading yet does tend to cause one to think vertically and horizontally with great depth.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

OK. That was fun.