A woman was gossiping with her friend about a man whom they hardly knew - I know none of you have ever done this. That night, she had a dream: a great hand appeared over her and pointed down on her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day she went to confession. She got the old parish priest, Father O' Rourke, and she told him the whole thing. 'Is gossiping a sin?' she asked the old man. 'Was that God All Mighty's hand pointing down at me? Should I ask for your absolution? Father, have I done something wrong?' 'Yes,' Father O' Rourke answered her. 'Yes, you ignorant, badly-brought-up female. You have blamed false witness on your neighbor. You played fast and loose with his reputation, and you should be heartily ashamed.' So, the woman said she was sorry, and asked for forgiveness. 'Not so fast,' says O' Rourke. 'I want you to go home, take a pillow upon your roof, cut it open with a knife, and return here to me.' So, the woman went home: took a pillow off her bed, a knife from the drawer, went up the fire escape to her roof, and stabbed the pillow. Then she went back to the old parish priest as instructed. 'Did you cut the pillow with a knife?' he says. 'Yes, Father.' 'And what were the results?' 'Feathers,' she said. 'Feathers?' he repeated. 'Feathers; everywhere, Father.' 'Now I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out onto the wind,' 'Well,' she said, 'it can't be done. I don't know where they went. The wind took them all over.' 'And that,' said Father O' Rourke, 'is gossip!'
...AND THAT is the most powerful weapon of the molestor...to manipulate those who are victimized, and those who are calling them to account. At the end of this film, which you should see if you haven't already, Sister Alyoicious says to Sister James that "I have doubts". Most would assume that her doubts are concerning Father O'Rourke's guilt...but that's not what she doubts...she doubts that the Organized Religion that she has pledged her life to is nothing more than a sham...not the "God First", faith and truth filled vision she signed up for...she doubts a Church that would reward a man who is suspected of at least "grooming" a young boy, by placing him into a more powerful position than the one he held, in order to move him out of the watchful eye of the Sister, who may not have direct evidence, but has her God given instinct ,which we are taught to ignore, in favour of a CSI investigation! If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...it's a duck. Unfortunately it's easier to exclude a duck from your house than a person! This is also what predators do. They presnt themselves in a friendly manner, with an affect of golden charms and then the battle is on to see how far they can push the limit, until you call them out on your suspicions. The circumstances are skillfully played so that there will always be a question of guilt or complicity...they count on that to hold you at bay...because, it seems, in our world, the slimy perpetration of seduction is not punished by law...It is not enough...never enough. As Jesus said ...(Mark 9.42-48; Luke 17.1,2
It will be terrible for people who cause even one of my little followers to sin. Those people would be better off thrown into the deepest part of the ocean with a heavy stone tied around their necks!
....and I would dearly love to be there to hang the rock!
I know that sounds really harsh, but it is so hard to be in a world that generally sets such low standards, and yet truth is a dirty word.
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