A Jewish woman who survived the concentration camps tells the story of the train ride to Auschwitz. She was with her little brother…and she looked down at him on the train and noticed that he didn’t have any shoes on. And she screamed at him, “What is WRONG with you? Can’t you keep you things …
Category Archive: forgiveness
Jan
14
Conversations with My Molester…a New Play
Michael Mack, a victim of sexual abuse by a priest has written a play based on his visit to the priest who molested him after finding out that he lived a mere hour away. Mack showed up on his doorstep. The NY Times has more. The result is “Conversations With My Molester: A Journey of …
Sep
11
11 Years Later…Can We Forgive?
I watched much of the memorial ceremony of that hateful day of 11 years ago this morning. A somber day to be sure, for me. I lost two good friends that day and my wife lost her cousin. Friends who worked downtown didn’t know when the funerals would stop as so many of their colleagues …
Sep
08
Apologize, Resign and Forgive
On Thursday, Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas-City/St Joseph was found guilty of failing to tell police about Shawn Ratigan, a priest suspected of sexually exploiting children after Bishop Finn has full knowledge of pornographic pictures found on Fr. Ratigan’s computer, some which he had taken himself. What’s next for Bishop Finn? I would suggest an …
Aug
31
Can We Forgive Fr. Groeschel? And Can He Reach to Reconcile?
So Fr. Groeschel and the CFR’s issued two statements of apology yesterday. They essentially both say the same thing and Fr. Groeschel’s seems like a shorter version of the CFR’s. Essentially, everyone was on message: We apologize, the abused are not victims, Fr. Groeschel’s mind is failing, Fr. Groeschel has a great record of helping …
Aug
15
Young People in the Church Today: No Time for Infighting
John Allen is always insightful and we’ve been talking over here about the need for peace within the Church, moving away from the divisiveness that often comes with differences of opinions. Some of Allen’s thoughts seem like good ideas to me. Sometimes we need to surprise those with whom we disagree by taking up a …
Aug
12
This is Awful
This is horrendous. A few comments. Can’t we all surround ourselves with people who are different from us without the hateful venom? When we stop allowing one another to speak or simply shout uncontrollably so that the other can’t be heard or that they feel so uncomfortable that they want to leave or are removed …
Aug
12
Facebook Forgivers
So I’ll be honest, some days the factions in the Catholic Church drive me up the wall. For instance my colleague Jim Martin, SJ posted a picture of Sr. Pat Farrell, the head of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious on Facebook and immediately people talked about her being a “bad Catholic.” Fr. Jim then …
Jul
24
Needed: The Fortitude to Stand Up Against Injustice
So Philadelphia’s Msgr. Lynn received nearly the maximum sentence for harboring at least one pedophile priest through reassignment. His lawyers maintain that Lynn is the “fall guy” for a systematic failure by the Archdiocese in which they routinely reassigned predator priests to unsuspecting parishes and agencies. So is Lynn really as blameworthy as say, Cardinal …
Jul
12
They Knew
From today’s NYT…the results of an major investigation by Louis Freeh, the former director of the FBI: Freeh’s investigation — which took seven months and involved more than 400 interviews and the review of more than 3.5 million documents — accuses Paterno, the university’s former president and others of deliberately hiding facts about Sandusky’s sexually …
About the Blogger
Mike Hayes is an author, commentator, Campus Minister and Spiritual Director. He founded the award winning BustedHalo.com in 2001 and wrote the book Googling God with Paulist Press in 2007. Mike is currently a Campus Minister at The University at Buffalo where he serves on the staff of St Joseph University Church. He is available for speaking engagements, retreats and personal spiritual direction.
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