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 These Last Days News - October 17, 2011

Lutheran Minister: Anti-Catholic SNAP is No Fit Advocate for Sexual Abuse Victims...

"All who continue in the battle ahead must accept martyrdom. it does not, My child, necessarily mean death of your body, but it will mean persecution. Stand fast in the faith. Keep the faith in the hearts of those you love. Extend your charity of heart to all of your brother and sisters throughout the world. Pray a constant vigilance of prayer." - Our Lady of the Roses, October 2, 1974

First Things reported on October 13, 2011:

By Russell E. Saltzman

I no longer believe the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is in any way primarily an advocacy organization for sexual abuse victims. Instead, I think it is more a noisy little group that hates the Roman Catholic Church and has discovered a way of making a living off the victimization others have suffered. My poor opinion of SNAP was formed some time ago, but the organization returned to my attention as I’ve followed the most recent scandal unfolding in the Kansas City–St. Joseph diocese.

As regular readers know, I am a Lutheran with no axe to grind against the Roman Catholic Church, not even on the subject of priestly sex abuse involving adolescent boys. We Lutherans have our own sex scandals though they rarely make the press because they usually involve a male pastor and a female parishioner. Ho-hum, some might say. Even the rare incidents involving young boys get passed over because headlines about Lutheran pastors aren’t nearly as invitingly lurid as “pedophile priests.” 

This doesn’t mean I have any sympathy for abusers or church officials who mishandle such cases. A now-deceased parishioner of mine experienced egregious sexual abuse committed by her father’s brother in a “secret room.” It began when she was small and continued on into young adolescence. Those who should have protected and loved her best abandoned her to predation. 

I am certain it ruined her life. I think I was the only person she ever told about the abuse, and it took me five years to tease it all out. Despite the many times I told her she wasn’t to blame and was not at fault, she died, I believe, despairing of God’s love. What I think should happen to people violating positions of trust with children cannot be repeated in an On the Square column. 

All of this has brought to mind my own past experience with SNAP. In early 2004 I was gathering information on an abuse case involving a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) for a report in Forum Letter, an independent Lutheran publication I then edited. This pastor had already been convicted in a Texas criminal trial and sentenced to three hundred and ninety-some years in prison on top of a federal conviction. The victims were suing the ELCA, the synod and bishop, and the seminary and its officials.

The judge hearing the case imposed a gag order at the request of the ELCA defendants, but with a little dodging here and a phone call there I soon had all the major portions of the sealed depositions in hand. They were pretty damning, and my possession of them earned me a subpoena—served during a church potluck by a Texas Ranger who came with ten dollars cash provided by the State of Texas for travel expenses. I pocketed the ten and ignored the subpoena. 

SNAP initially was very helpful in aiding me in obtaining these materials and others. But I quickly learned they did not want my help. The background material contained numerous errors and half-truths I knew to be factually inaccurate. I thought SNAP might like to correct them and brought the errors to their attention. But SNAP had no interest in fixing the record. 

The case was found in favor of the plaintiffs in a $32 million award. Deserved, no doubt. What struck me as peculiar, though, was a demand in the original claim by the plaintiffs for a $100,000 ELCA “donation” to SNAP. I tried to question the plaintiff’s attorney about the requested “donation,” with no response. I also tried to ask SNAP about the money, but they had already broken off contact with me. (I have not made any attempt to contact SNAP for this article.)

SNAP gives every appearance of having a relationship with a number of lawyers involved in this kind of litigation. When a lawsuit was announced in Kansas City last week in front of the diocesan chancery, SNAP made the announcement. While the organization has a relatively small budget, there is no question some portion of it is provided by attorney donations. There is nothing illegal about it. Still, lawyerly coziness with organizations in a position to send them referrals, I have read elsewhere, is an “ethically complicated” question. 

SNAP did as of 2009 meet all the IRS requirements for a charitable organization, but it fails examination by the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance. The BBB allows board-member compensation for no more than one individual or ten percent of the board (whichever is greater). Two of eight SNAP board members receive payment for their work. Nor does SNAP provide the BBB with “effectiveness assessments” on its work or adequate information on the allocation of fund raising expenses. In the 2009 IRS filing SNAP reported $419,607 in income; $396,661 of that received in donations. Salaries, other compensation, and employee benefits were reported at $342,599. 

But iffy bookkeeping is not my major problem with SNAP. Despite that one small foray into one Lutheran scandal, SNAP focuses almost exclusively on Catholic clergy, as a brief excursion through nine years of SNAP press release archives will show. The 2004 archive doesn’t even mention the lone Lutheran from Texas. 

SNAP has never to my knowledge examined scandals among mental health professionals. It never says anything of public school districts, where reports say children are at far greater risk of abuse. Nor has it said anything of volunteer youth organizations. The simple fact is SNAP targets Roman Catholics. If SNAP routinely seeks “donations” from settlements, well, Catholic pockets are easier to reach, for a lot of reasons starting with media bias.

Whatever genuine aid SNAP may provide victims of priestly sex abuse is well matched by the harm SNAP does by mounting little less than an anti-Catholic smear campaign and wantonly portraying every priest as a sexual predator waiting to happen and every bishop an enabler. 

Do not mistake what I am saying. Victims of clergy sexual abuse, victims of any sexual abuse by any trusted adult, do need ready and generous listeners. They also need openhanded charitable support from the institutions that employed their abusers. Victims most assuredly also need independent advocates to speak and even raise a loud clamor on their behalf. 

But SNAP is not the outfit to do it.

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The awesome Bayside Prophecies...  https://www.tldm.org/Bayside/default.htm  
These prophecies came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995:

PREPARE FOR GREAT PERSECUTION
"My child and My children, My heart is very sad that I must bring you this urgent but final Message from Heaven. The Eternal Father has sent Me as a Mediatrix from God to man all about your world, the earth, crying out warnings from Heaven to mankind, warnings that only a few have heeded. And now the hour is approaching, the hour of darkness and sadness. Many parents shall have tears of anguish brought into their homes by the coming events.
     "My children, please, as your Mother I ask you in all charity to go forward and warn your brothers and sisters to prepare for great persecution. There will be many catastrophes now befalling your earth until the great Warning, and then the final Chastisement. O My children, will you not listen to Me!” – Our Lady, November 20, 1978

TO REMOVE CHRISTIANITY
"My dear parents, please! Listen to your Mother. Listen to what I have to say to you, for I tell you the truth. The Eternal Father sees all, and makes us knowledgeable as to what is happening upon earth that will bring its eventual destruction. Your children are being educated in the schools to take all Christianity from their lives, and believe not in the supernatural things of God, but the diabolical processes of satan, in cults.” - Our Lady, June 18, 1987

PRAYER OUTLAWED
"My child and My children, prayer has not become a way of life for many. That is why communism has got such a foothold in your country and in other countries of the world. The prayers given to you in your childhood will be remembered always, I know, My children; but there are those who have not received these prayers in their schools, for prayer has been outlawed in many areas of your country and the world. It took but a few without faith to bring down the flag, for even your country's flag is being defiled, My children.” - Our Lady, October 2, 1987

OUR LADY KNEW PERSECUTION
"I was honored by the Father in your years of twelve. My young years, My child, were spent in seclusion. I, too, was not without persecution when I carried on the apostleship of My Son.
     "You must never slacken or give in to your human weakness, for you will be given the strength to finish your mission.
     "It is sad to look into the future, My child, and know that already the enemies of your God are planning to dispose of a godly leader. The righteous man shall be met with much scorn and persecution. It is the sign of your times.” – Our Lady, August 14, 1974 

JACINTA’S MESSAGE
"Yes, I tried to warn everyone of what was going to happen to the world of the future. Our Lady said that the little Father in Rome would suffer great persecution, but much of this persecution would come from his very own, those that he trusted. That is why the picture was given to you, to send the message throughout the world.
     "It is true that I gave a final message, but I, too, could not give the date--only to warn the world that a great Warning would come to mankind. It would be a great cataclysm Warning, and then there would be a great Miracle, and after that, if nothing changes and man continues to offend the Father, He would have to start this terrible, terrible trial. For there will be a great War and there will be a great, terrible Chastisement." – St. Jacinta, June 8, 1974 

PERSECUTION WILL REIGN IN THE CHURCH
“Michael is the guardian of My Son's House. Michael will be entered into My Son's House, or your country will fall. The doors will shut. Persecution will reign in the House of My Son, and all that is rotten will fall.
     "Pray much, My child. Pray a constant vigilance of prayer, Rosaries of prayer throughout the world--link to link, bead to bead, soul to soul across your nation and the world. You are living now in the days of trial, and you will all be tested and receive your just reward from the Father." – Our Lady, May 22, 1974 

THE PERSECUTION WILL BE GREAT
"The persecution to all those who follow and defend My Son in truth, in the light, the persecution will be great. The masters of deceit, they are gathering like vultures to send into motion a conspiracy of evil that has been brought about because mankind has given himself to all manner of evil.
     "The time given by your prophets of old, the time of times is here. You will all, My children, wear your sacramentals in the battle, the days ahead. What was to happen in the future shall be now. Your world will be baptized by fire. Many will die in the great flame of the Ball of Redemption.” – Our Lady, May 26, 1976 

MANY SHALL REJECT OUR LADY’S MESSAGE
"We know the trial ahead for all who seek to bring the truth to mankind for My Mother. Many shall reject Her message, and many of Our children of the light will receive great persecution as they seek to bring the Message from Heaven to their brothers and sisters.
     "There will be many thorns among the roses, but at the end of your road, My children, there is a special crown waiting for you." – Jesus, June 5, 1975 

MANY GREAT SAINTS SHALL RISE
"Awaken now from your slumber and seek your return from your course of destruction by getting down upon your knees and praying in heartfelt, sincere prayer to the Eternal Father, to guide you back from your present road of destruction.
     "Your countrymen have sought to silence the voice of My Mother throughout your world. You will not continue to silence the voice-boxes throughout the world, for you are sowing the seeds of your own destruction!
     "Amen, amen, I say to you: unless mankind returns God the Eternal Father to his life, he will not have the years of two hands to count upon!
     "The present generation, My child, shall pass through this crucible of suffering. Many great saints shall rise from this persecution.” – Jesus, June 5, 1975 

THE CANDLES UPON EARTH
"As it was in the time of Noe, as it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrha, so shall it be upon your earth. Man shall be permitted to fall fast into the abyss. Why? Because he has hardened his heart and closed his ears to the truth. He has given himself to all manners of pleasures of the flesh. Sin has become a way of life in your country and in the countries throughout your earth.
     "The children of God, the candles upon earth, My child, shall suffer much persecution from the agents of darkness.” – Jesus, December 31, 1975 

“YOU CANNOT BESTOW GRACES UPON A CLOSED HEART”
“You must expect, My child, to receive great persecution.  Graces are given in abundance, but they are for the asking. You cannot bestow graces upon a closed heart.” – Our Lady, February 1, 1975 

FORCES OF EVIL WILL NOT SLACKEN
"The forces of evil will not slacken in their fight against you, My child. You must expect much persecution, for the agents of darkness are set with hardened hearts. And the light--My child, it is difficult to pierce with the light the hearts that are hardened.
     "Your major weapon will be prayers and penance. Many can only be retrieved, My child, by prayers and sacrifice.” – Jesus, June 18, 1975 

A HEAVY CROSS
"I have prepared you in the past, My child, for much persecution. I have not directed you falsely. All who follow My Son will carry a heavy cross. It is through suffering that you will gain a measure of perfection.
     "Every moment of your life is not wasted if you will learn a lesson, a very simple lesson, on the road to sanctity. You will use every moment of your life and give up your hardships as a sacrifice, as a penance for your soul or the salvation of other souls. Think, My child, throughout the hours of your day, how many graces you may accumulate for the waiting souls in purgatory, especially those who have been abandoned by their loved ones, forgotten. For when you are out of sight, you are slowly out of mind.” – Our Lady, September 28, 1974  

“THE PERSECUTION WITHIN THE HOUSE OF GOD WILL BE HEAVY”
"Before this battle is over, many who remain to stand forth to protect the honor of My Son will be subjected to torments from their own. Many martyrs will enter into the Kingdom. The persecution within the House of God will be heavy. The agents of hell seek to destroy My Son's House on earth. Many of the dedicated will grow weak and fall in with the plan of satan, preferring to accept a life without suffering on earth, refusing and casting from their minds the reality of the eternal life of the Kingdom.” – Our Lady, February 1, 1973 

Directives from Heaven... https://www.tldm.org/directives/directives.htm

D266 - Persecution  PDF

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Students barred from wearing Christian chastity symbol in UK school
https://www.tldm.org/News9/PersecutionUK.htm

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