Upon seeing the cover of “Deliver Us From Evil” and reading the back of the DVD case, I thought to myself, “Oh, not another piece about abuse in the Catholic Church. Isn’t that whole controversy over and done? Didn’t all the victims get their money and the Catholic Church do an overhaul of their treatment of abuse allegations?”

After seeing this movie, I conclude the following: the Catholic Church, as an institution, is still very much involved with the cover-up of sexual abuse perpetuated by clergymen. Here’s what’s missing: transparency. Piles of documents, paperwork, letters, and testimonies have been made inaccessible to the criminal justice system in this country. When allegations of abuse surface, it is the responsibility of bishops and hierarchy within the church to respond by reporting these allegations to the proper authorities. Instead, allegations are handled in-house and dismissed. The public has been fooled into thinking that this problem is solved. It is not.

Case in point: Father Oliver O’Grady. Admittedly, he is an extreme case. His abuse of hundreds of young children, as was described throughout “Deliver Us From Evil,” is a rare and tragic characterization. But what is most tragic, is that at the time of this movie, he was living in Ireland…even living with a family at the time. And they new nothing of his past. And it was the Catholic Church who put him in Ireland in exchange for not testifying against the hierarchy of the church.

Do I think it is a good thing to dwell on a person’s evil past? Not necessarily, but when the safety of children is at stake, their knowledge of his past is of the utmost importance. He was compelled to abuse in the past and he will be compelled to abuse in the future; he’s sick. Not because he’s chosen to be an evil man, but because he was abused as a child…because he continued to abuse even after allegations of his abusing children continued to come forward. And the church did nothing.

This movie does not rail against Catholics, rather it empowers them to take back their church. And all of us, Catholic and non-Catholic, must celebrate the Mother Theresa’s, Oscar Romero’s, and Dorothea Day’s of this world. They are witnesses to God’s love on Earth. And it is our love for the church that should propel us to seek the truth…and the utmost transparency about what has yet been uncovered concerning sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.

Here are positive reviews of “Deliver Us From Evil. And here are negative reviews of “Deliver Us From Evil.” Read both…they are very interesting.

Here’s the first paragraph of an article by David Hilfiker: The High Price of American Inequality. It is an excellent analysis of growing income inequalities in the United States…and what these inequalities mean the future of our society.

The High Price of American Inequality
And What Might Be Done About It

In the March 17, 2008, Washington Post were two articles on toll roads. The first concerned the ongoing attempt by the current US Department of Transportation to get the federal government out of the business of funding road building, thereby “encouraging” states to move toward toll roads where the users pay for construction and maintenance. And the second article was about a report from a Metropolitan Washington regionwide council that in order to relieve the disabling traffic congestion in the area such toll roads are now an absolute necessity precisely because both state and federal governments are pulling back from the costs of roads. The council is recommending that most of the existing area highways, the bridges into the District and even major District thoroughfares be at least partially converted to toll roads. Those able and willing to pay would zip by on their toll roads while the rest would stay stuck in traffic. The impact of toll roads will be to give the affluent a further advantage over others. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. (more)

A few weeks ago my friend, Bob Ekblad, called to get a copy of my Swords into Plowshares CD. Excited to hear from him, I immediately asked about his ministry and told him how much I enjoyed his last book “Reading the Bible with the Damned.” He told me he wrote a new book that was soon to come out.

I told him I was anxious to read it, so he sent me an electronic copy and I started reading it right away. When I finished it, I felt completely overwhelmed…almost disturbed. Why? Well, let’s say this much: though I’m totally into Jesus’ ministry and the power of what he teaches—and I am riveted by Jesus’ unwavering commandment that we love one another, I never quite got into the healing stuff.

Yes, I confess, my belief in all praying for this and that all the time, non-stop, Jesus do this, Holy Spirit do that is rather dim. Which is why “A New Christian Manifesto” rattled me. From my encounters with Bob in the past, I’ve not known him to be particularly into the charismatic stuff. When I first met him, he was solidly in the Liberation Theology / Theology of the Cross camps. (Whether or not he was truly in either of those camps is only for him to say; I’m only offering my past impressions.)

Well, folks, let’s say this much: Bob is into healing now. And a lot of it. The stories in this book blew me away. I read it weeks ago and they still blow me away. Not just because the idea of healing like Jesus sounds preposterous to me, but because it’s Bob; an academic, skeptical, critical thinker…who is devoted to Justice and the power of Jesus’ love…but not a charismatic healer. Um, but he is now. And after several rather riveting personal experiences, his life has changed forever…in ways that I could never explain in this short blog entry.

Yes, the book is about more than Bob’s tanglings with the Holy Spirit; it is also about “Pledging Allegiance to the Kingdom of God.” It is about Bob’s ministry; his work with undocumented immigrants, with prisoners, with drug addicts, and all those who find themselves on the margins of society. It is about Jesus’ total ministry, which is a ministry of presence, of healing, of protection, deliverance and WHOLE LOT of Holy Spirit. Story after story in this book hammers home something very clear in my head. God is doing a new thing. Wow. Am I still as skeptical as ever? Well, yeah, kinda, but I now have hope that God is at work in ways that are far beyond my limited rational understandings of Divine power.

“A New Christian Manifesto” is a dense read; it is packed with enough material for a thousand Bible studies. (Okay, I’m prone to hyperbole, but you get the point.) And now that I actually have a copy of his book, I’m going to read it again. There’s something about these stories that never let my mind rest…or that never let me get complacent about what the Holy Spirit can actually do here on Earth, right now, today. I leave you with these two words: read it. To learn more about Bob Ekblad’s ministry follow this link.