schism in word of god - fidelity magazine addendum

8/3/2019 Schism in Word of God - Fidelity Magazine ADDENDUM

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This 4 page addendum includes comments from Steven B

Clark, James Hitchcock and the author; an update on the

outcome of Ottenweller investigation in Steubenville, OH.

UPDATED


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LETTERS

I know little about the internallife of the various charismaticcommunities 1,nthe United States.Assume for the sake of argumentthat there are serious problems inneed of correction.Nevertheless. it is troubling to

read in Thomas Nash's .June ar-ticle'. "Schism in Ann Arbor."about various corrective measuresbeing imposed by ecclesiasticalauthorities. As most readers of FI-delity know. the term "funda-mentalist" is now tossed about tolibel any Catholic who is sincerelytrying to be orthodox in the fullestsense. While we wish it were oth-erwise. local church authoritiesare more likely to tolerate evenblatant abuses corning from the"left" than minor ones from the"right."A particular community is ac-cused of being overly "pessimis-tic."which in practice often meanstaking sin seriously and daring todoubt that everything done in thename of renewal is truly of God.

They are accused of "demeaningattitudes towards women." whichhas become a stock feministcharge against the clergy in gen-eral. and particularly the ortho-dox clergy.One community was formally

commanded to cease its recruit-ment program. Has anyone heardof such a restriction being trn-2

posed on even the most ultra-femi-nist order of nuns? Thecommunity's leaders have beenrequired to submit to "formal. re-ligious training." Who is going toadminister such training. and inaccordance with what criteria ofauthenticity?Mr. Nash discusses the con-

flicts between the People of Hopecommunity and Archbishop PeterL. Gerety. formerly of Newark. Ihave no direct acquaintance withthe People of Hope. However. attile time of the conflict I did studythe documentation of the' case.Among Archhishop Gerety'scharges against the communitywere that they accepted the Scrip-tures literally and' that they didnot incorporate a feminist per-spective.Whatever may be the deflcien-cies of some of these communi-ties, we ought realistically to fear

that often the cure will be worsethan the disease.James HitchcockSt. Louis. Missouri

S ign ific an t E rrorDespite the excellent researchin Tom Nash's article about thecurrent situaUon in some of thecovenanted communiUes in our

I do not therefore understandthe claim in the letter of Mr. Galic to Fr. Schneider which MNash cites.Thank you for letting mclarify this point.

Most Rev.Theodore E. McCarricArchbishop ofNewark. NeJerse

'M r. N ash R eplies:I thank Archbishop McCarrifor his complimentary commentHowever. I regret not having callthe Archdiocese of Newark pri

to publication to verify the assetions Bob Gallic made in his lettto Father Herb Schneider. S.Upon request from ArchbishoMcCarrick. I have since FAXehim a copy of the Gallic lettwhich Steve Clark gave to meevidence of a Catholic covenacommunity remaining in thSword of the Sp1r1tand enjoyinggood relationship with its bishoThe letter was also distributedSOS leaders and members. ( ( )V

Fidelity (September, 199


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, .: ' ,I '.: '. . '. ,- ,- :; " . '.- , . '. . '. . ,LETTEJ{S

Readers of Fidelity may won-der why you devoted' as manypages in your magazine as youdid. It's easy to believe that this isa problem affecting only a fewthousand people in the Charis-matic Renewal. In reality theSword of the Spirit has influencebeyond its numbers in theChurch. business community.and even with governments inwhose countries communitiesexist [e.g . Nicaragua and thePhilippines]. A model of evange-lism was adopted that targetedleaders in these areas throughvarious "outreaches" of the com-munities. These outreaches in-cluded UniversIty Christian Out-reach (to evangelize students andfuture leaders). businessmen's bllunches. Couples for Christ. Pu ic C ritiquesF.I.R.E . etc. All of these activities I di d th thwas smaye at e ar-spread SOS influence throughout ti I b t Th S d f th S iritsociety c e a ou e wor 0 e p. appeared the way it did. I do notLocally we have seen how the lbelieve it proper. for Christians to

Franciscan University has been engage in such public critiques of.affected by the Sword of the Spirit. one another.Fr.Michael Scanlan. the Presidentof the UnIversIty. also served inthe top leadership of the SOS.SOS leaders served on the Boardof Trustees of the UniversIty andspoke at the numerous summerconferences held there. Commu-nity members were hired as fac-ulty members. served as advisorsto student households. and hold ha number of other pOSitiOnS' M r. Nas Replies:throughout the UnIversity.

Man ipu latio n an d C on tro lI want to commend you forthe fine article Mr. Nash wrote re-garding the split in Ann Arbor. Asa former member of the Sword of

the SpirIt branch here inSteubenville. Ohio. Iwould like tooffer a few comments.

Mr. Nash quotes a number ofcurrent members of the Word ofGod on the spiritual benefits ofcovenant community. Icouldn'thelp wonder how Francme McIn-tosh and other former membersSurvived the coercion and abuseFidelity (September, 1991)

they received at the hands of theleadership. Here in Steubenvillewe have witnessed the devastlngresults of this same manipulationand control. Individuals are strug-gling to salvage their faith in God,and/ or the Church as a result.There is one final observation

I would like to make. The leadersof the Word of God have begun toadmit their past faults. This is thebeginning but not the end of re-pentance. Are the leaders "bear-ing fruit that befits repentance"(Luke 3:8)? In what concrete waysare they helping those who havebeen hurt by their misdeeds? Ibelieve this will be the true test oftheir repentance.

Kevin B. FlynnSteubenville. Ohio

I also do not believe the re-porter accurately presented myviews.9 Stephen B. Clark7t' Gnadenthal, Germany

$w fPr4llfil,Atl . ?

When Mr. Clark decided onbeing interviewed. he knew therewould be an article published. andhe knew others were being inter-viewed who disagreed with himccncerrung issues involving theWord of God (WOG) and theSword of the Spirit (SOS). Mr.

Clark also freely made crttlcalcomments about parties inter-viewed for the article.From a journalistic point ofview. to ignore the split and theongoing disagreements between

WOG and SOS offlctals would beto miss the story. Public discus-sions or critiques of problemsamong Christians are not neces-sarily bad. particularly withinCatholic forums. because theyprovide an opportunity for all par-ties concerned to gain educationand. one hopes. edification. Themanner in which the public cri-tiques are engaged in ultimatelyrest not on the journalist inter-viewing but on the interviewees-on how they decide to make theirpoints and respond to those withwhom they disagree.Had there been a climate re-

ceptive to crtticism Inside theWOG and SOS from the organiza-tions' origins. whether that criti-cism came from those outside theorganizations, the members orfrom within the organizations'leaders. I'm confident the seriousproblems that developed wouldhave been minimized.Mr. Clark also states that he

does "not believe the reporter ac-curately presented my views." Iconducted about four hours of in-terviews with Mr. Clark. which Itaped with his approval and me-ticulously transcribed. Iaccu-rately quoted Mr. Clark from theinterviews and in citations takenfrom his books. correspondenceand notes made during college. Ihave the evidence in hand. If Mr.Clark would like to specify how Iinaccurately presented his views.Iwould be happy to respond.whether in the pages of Fidelity orin some other forum. Ihink sucha charitable exchange would ben-efit all members of the SOS andWOG, as well as other concernedCatholics. (ovt4.)

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An Update on "Schism in Ann Arbor"On June 18, Bishop Albert H.Ottenweller of Steubenville "re-ported that allegations of wrong-doing within the Servants of Christthe King Community have provedvalid, and that spiritual and emo-

tional harm has been suffered by. some of its members."The bishop directed that the

abuses, some of which came fromSword of the Spirit (SOS) teach-ings. be corrected. He promisedthat professional help will be bf-fered to lead the Servants througha healing process" (SteubenvilleRegister; June 21. 1991).Bishop Ottenweller reportedon the findings of a canonical visi-tation committee. which affirmed

these allegations ofmisconduct inthe Servants of Christ the King:-Control ofmembers' lives;-Elitism:-Secrecy and privacy con-

cerningCommunity affairs:-Intrusion into familylife:-Fundamentalism, inwhich the Community"lookedto

Sword of the Spirit rather thanto theMagtstertumof theCatho-licChurch for its teaching."-Lack ofcompassion:-Financial disclosures to

the Diocese of Steubenville;"while there were no financialimproprieties as such, the fi-nances only of the Servants ofChrist the KJngFellowshipPar-ish, and not of the larger Com-munity. were revealed to the di-ocesan authorities.""Sword of the Spirit played asubstantial role in the pastoralvisitation," the newspaper re-ported. Ottenweller said that threethings have become clear to him:

1. The Community muststay free of the Sword of the

Spirit (the bishop directed the "exit counsell1ng" and also a con-'commuruty to leave in January tnbuting author to Cults. Sectsand the community complied): . and the New Age.

2. The pastoral care systemused in the Servants of Christthe King Community must bereformed; .3; Theremust be a stronger

connection with the CatholicChurch through the localbishopsince he Is responsible for thewell-beingand the orthodoxy ofthe parish."Sword of the Spirit teachingsand programs have made a deepimpression on the membership."Bishop Ottenweller told the newlyelected interim covenant commu-nity leadership in June. "There

needs to be. therefore. a programof reeducation of the members toreturn them to a sense of Churchthat is important for. those whocall themselves Catholic."According to the SteubenuilleRegister. Bishop Otlenweller notedthat while there is a need to re-form harmful structures and for-

mation practises. there is also aneed to help those hurt via thosestructures and practises. Thenewspaper said the bishop offeredassistance for spiritual and emo-tional healing for present and pastCommunity members, many of.who are presently in counseling.The canonical visitation com-mittee include Father JamesLeBar. author of Cults. Sects andthe New Age and director of theOffice of Cult Awareness in theArchdiocese of New York; FatherWalter Debold. professor of worldreligions at Seton Hall Universityand a contributing author toCults. Sects and the New Age; andKent Burtner of the Archdiocese

of San Francisco. an expert in

MDr. Margaret Singer. a psy-chologist from Berkeley. Calif.,and internationally known experton cults. is coming to work withmental health professionals andpeychologtsts," the SteubenvtlleRegister reported in its June 21edition. "to share her expertise Inovercoming shame. going througha grieving process. growing inwholeness. and coming to ahealthy outlook on self. fam1lyandChurch."Dr. Singer and Fathers LeBar.Debold and Burtner were amongthe professionals who carne toAnn Arbor July 16-17 at the Word

of God's (WOG) request. Accord-ing to WOG historian and formerCommunity member Tern Yoderthey were part of a team that onJuly 16 "gave a presentation . ,on the problems that members oIntense, closed groups sometimesface. and some aspects of recov-ery."About 300 people attended thepresentation. said Yoder. includ-tng Ralph Martin. Also Included

were members and former mem-bers alike from Sword of theSpirit-Washtenaw (official SOSbranch based in Ann Arbor);WOG; the Work of Christ Fellowship of Ann Arbor (afilllated withthe WOG); and the Servants othe Word (an SOS apostolic groupof celibate men).Audio tapes of the presenta-tion are available from the WOGoffice in Ann Arbor. Yoder said. Asimilar presentation on "recoveryissues" is expected to take placin Ann Arbor in the fall.

Thomas J, Nash

4 F id eli ty (S ep tem ber, 1 99 1

schism in word of god - fidelity magazine addendum

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