In a true spirit of soothsaying it is high time we had another post pointing at the ridiculous danger in the world which is the RC Church's attitude to, well, just about everything. I will never look on a particular dilemma in the same light after I have discovered the phrase is frequently used euphemistically in abusive priests' records by their superiors :
' Rather than any direct reference to sex or sexual behavior, even when it is clear that sexual behavior was involved, records of priest abusers often use some of the following code words:
' Rather than any direct reference to sex or sexual behavior, even when it is clear that sexual behavior was involved, records of priest abusers often use some of the following code words:
· MORAL IMPEDIMENT
· DUBIOUS PERSONALITY,
· INDISCRETION, IMPRUDENCE,
· TROUBLESOME INVOLVEMENTS,
· PARTICULAR DILEMMA,
· UNFORTUNATE INCIDENTS,
· UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATION,
· EXCESSIVE STRESS,
· MISUNDERSTANDINGS,
· PROBLEM,
· EFFEMINATE,
· MISTAKES,
· CHARACTER FLAW. (2008)'
' Nicknames of seminarians, priests, and bishops bandied around within clerical circles often offer an insight into problems and the sexual tone of the person in question and the institution. “Peaches” (Bishop Larocque) “Bubbles”=(Cardinal Spellman) “Mother” & “Lola”= (specific superiors) and “Lady Wakefield”=(Cardinal Baum) “Uncle Ted” =(Cardinal McCarrick) are all monikers that have been recorded within the clerical culture about superiors who priests cited as gay, sexually active, or permissive. Sometimes nicknames filter into the seminary records and are flags for deviant behaviors.'
In fact Cardinal Spellman is one of my favourite Catholic clerics:
'[Monsignor Eugene Clark of St Patrick's Cathedral in New York] dutifully worked as secretary for one of the most notorious, powerful and sexually voracious homosexuals in the American Catholic Church's history: the politically connected Francis Cardinal Spellman, known as "Franny" to assorted Broadway chorus boys and others, who was New York's cardinal from 1939 until his death in 1967.
' In the original bound galleys of former Wall Street Journal reporter John Cooney's Spellman biography, The American Pope?published in 1984 by Times Books, which was then owned by the New York Times Co.?Spellman's gay life was recounted in four pages that included interviews with several notable individuals who knew Spellman as a closeted homosexual. Among Cooney's interview subjects was C.A. Tripp, the noted researcher affiliated with Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey of the Institute for Sex Research, who shared information that he had on Spellman regarding the prelate's homosexuality. In a telephone interview with Tripp last week, he told me that his information came from a Broadway dancer in the show One Touch of Venus who had a relationship with Spellman back in the 1940s; the prelate would have his limousine pick up the dancer several nights a week and bring him back to his place. When the dancer once asked Spellman how he could get away with this, Tripp says Spellman answered, "Who would believe that?" The anecdote is also recounted in John Loughery's history of gay life in the 20th century, The Other Side of Silence.'
Sources: http://www.awrsipe.com/Click_and_Learn/2010-03-05-code_words_rev.html and http://www.nypress.com/cardinal-spellmans-dark-legacy/
Picture of Bubbles credit: http://cbrowder.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/136-francis-j-spellman-controversial.html
· DUBIOUS PERSONALITY,
· INDISCRETION, IMPRUDENCE,
· TROUBLESOME INVOLVEMENTS,
· PARTICULAR DILEMMA,
· UNFORTUNATE INCIDENTS,
· UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATION,
· EXCESSIVE STRESS,
· MISUNDERSTANDINGS,
· PROBLEM,
· EFFEMINATE,
· MISTAKES,
· CHARACTER FLAW. (2008)'
' Nicknames of seminarians, priests, and bishops bandied around within clerical circles often offer an insight into problems and the sexual tone of the person in question and the institution. “Peaches” (Bishop Larocque) “Bubbles”=(Cardinal Spellman) “Mother” & “Lola”= (specific superiors) and “Lady Wakefield”=(Cardinal Baum) “Uncle Ted” =(Cardinal McCarrick) are all monikers that have been recorded within the clerical culture about superiors who priests cited as gay, sexually active, or permissive. Sometimes nicknames filter into the seminary records and are flags for deviant behaviors.'
In fact Cardinal Spellman is one of my favourite Catholic clerics:
'[Monsignor Eugene Clark of St Patrick's Cathedral in New York] dutifully worked as secretary for one of the most notorious, powerful and sexually voracious homosexuals in the American Catholic Church's history: the politically connected Francis Cardinal Spellman, known as "Franny" to assorted Broadway chorus boys and others, who was New York's cardinal from 1939 until his death in 1967.
' In the original bound galleys of former Wall Street Journal reporter John Cooney's Spellman biography, The American Pope?published in 1984 by Times Books, which was then owned by the New York Times Co.?Spellman's gay life was recounted in four pages that included interviews with several notable individuals who knew Spellman as a closeted homosexual. Among Cooney's interview subjects was C.A. Tripp, the noted researcher affiliated with Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey of the Institute for Sex Research, who shared information that he had on Spellman regarding the prelate's homosexuality. In a telephone interview with Tripp last week, he told me that his information came from a Broadway dancer in the show One Touch of Venus who had a relationship with Spellman back in the 1940s; the prelate would have his limousine pick up the dancer several nights a week and bring him back to his place. When the dancer once asked Spellman how he could get away with this, Tripp says Spellman answered, "Who would believe that?" The anecdote is also recounted in John Loughery's history of gay life in the 20th century, The Other Side of Silence.'
Sources: http://www.awrsipe.com/Click_and_Learn/2010-03-05-code_words_rev.html and http://www.nypress.com/cardinal-spellmans-dark-legacy/
Picture of Bubbles credit: http://cbrowder.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/136-francis-j-spellman-controversial.html
Ms Scarlet could probably whip up a lovely set of gilded calligraphed cards with these code words!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful idea! 'With sympathy on your moral impediment'!
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