I arrived yesterday afternoon to the Hyatt in Crystal City for the SNAP 2009 Conference. The theme is "Coming of Age! Prevention, Healing and Justice" This is the 21 anniversary of the founding of SNAP, so the "Coming of Age" theme is prevalent as the group declares a maturity and expansion beyond just the universe… Continue reading The SNAP Conference in Washington DC
Author: Michael
Heading to the SNAP Conference
I am leaving in the morning for Crystal City, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.. The SNAP Conference starts tomorrow evening. I will be at the conference all weekend. If you read this blog and are heading to the conference, please seek me out. I would love to put faces with names. I am… Continue reading Heading to the SNAP Conference
New York Child Victims Act Support Event for 1 August 2009
Sorry for the really short notice on this. If you are in New York and can help support the Child Victims Act proponents in getting the legislators in the NY State Assembly to do the right thing, they are working on a post card campaign to get the members of the State Assembly motivated to… Continue reading New York Child Victims Act Support Event for 1 August 2009
A few thoughts on the Diocese of Scranton’s Annual Appeal and the Collection for the Care and Education of Priests
Rachel, who contributed the only guest post on this blog to date, made an interesting observation on the failure of the Bishop of Scranton to meet the goals for the Diocese Annual Appeal. This year, for the first time, the Diocese came up $274G short of this year's goal of $5.3M. Since the Diocese usually… Continue reading A few thoughts on the Diocese of Scranton’s Annual Appeal and the Collection for the Care and Education of Priests
Father Edward J. Shoback Defrocked!
Articles appearing in Northeastern Pennsylvania newspapers over the past few days as well as an announcement on the Diocese of Scranton web site confirm that the Vatican has defrocked Father Edward J. Shoback. Read the stories at: The Scranton Times Tribune The Citizens Voice The Times Leader Abuse Tracker (where all the coverage is documented)… Continue reading Father Edward J. Shoback Defrocked!
Notre Dame Junior/Senior High School
The business model is reflective of the Catholic Hierarchy, but it is not very Christian in its practice
There is not enough traction
"The Message" is not getting out. The SNAP Conference will be held in Washington next month so I thought I would gather my thoughts on how I see the current landscape in order to help me determine how I will spend my time at plenary sessions and breakout sessions. In the two years (almost to… Continue reading There is not enough traction
Threats and intimidation
Over time, Gibson became much more controlling and aggressive. He was less likely to "soften" me up with alcohol and much more forward when he had the opportunity to get me alone. His initial caring words and expressions of god's love and understanding that what we were doing was good and right and part of… Continue reading Threats and intimidation
First descent into hell
I knew something was wrong. I was supposed to spend the night at the rectory. The reason for the stay has long ago left my mind. Instead of getting on the East Stroudsburg School District bus in front of Notre Dame that would take me to East Stroudsburg High School to allow me to transfer to… Continue reading First descent into hell
The tyranny of distance and the curse of the Internet
I am frustrated. Admittedly, some of the frustration comes from a tyranny of distance. I am in southern Virginia and the diocese that I have an issue with is 400 miles worth of driving north of here. I would love to have a face to face conversation with the Bishop's advocate so I could look… Continue reading The tyranny of distance and the curse of the Internet
Off My Knees - A Blog by Michael Baumann 