McCarrick abused youth during confession, lawyer charges

New York City, N.Y., Dec 28, 2018 / 03:55 pm (CNA).- A man who says he was serially sexually abused by Archbishop Theodore McCarrick testified Thursday as part of a Vatican investigation regarding the archbishop’s history of sexual abuse and misconduct.

James Grein testified Dec. 27 in a canonical deposition conducted by officials of the Archdiocese of New York, the Associated Press has reported.

Grein’s attorney, Patrick Noaker, told CNA that the New York officials were acting as “auditors,” or delegates of the Holy See, adding that Grein was told that his testimony was part of an administrative process at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office charged with investigating and adjudicating charges of clerical sexual abuse.

Grein claims that McCarrick, who was a family friend, began abusing him in the late 1970s, when he was 11 years old and McCarrick was in his late 30s and a priest of the Archdiocese of New York.

In July, Grein told the New York Times that the abuse continued for the next 18 years, he said, during which time McCarrick was consecrated a bishop and served as auxiliary bishop of New York, and diocesan bishop of Metuchen and then Newark.

Grein’s testimony this week alleged that McCarrick repeatedly groped and assualted him during confession, his lawyer said. Grein also testified that McCarrick sexually assualted him in a car, later telling the boy’s mother that Grein had spilled a soda, in order to explain a mess in the car.

In November 2000, McCarrick was appointed Archbishop of Washington, where he served until his 2006 retirement. In 2001, he was elevated to the College of Cardinals. About a week after Grein’s allegation was published in the New York Times, McCarrick resigned from the College of Cardinals.

Noaker told CNA that the Archdiocese of New York invited Grein to make a statement for the Vatican about one month ago. The lawyer said he got a call last week asking that Grein testify as soon possible.
The lawyer said that he was told the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is considering trying McCarrick for three canonical crimes the archbishop could have committed while abusing Grein: the broad prohibition in canon 1395 §1 prohibiting “persisting with scandal in..[an] external sin against the sixth commandment;” the specific prohibition in canon 1395 §2 prohibiting sexual abuse against a minor; and the crime of solicitation of a penitent in the confessional, established in canon 1387.
A trial or administrative penal process pertaining to those crimes could lead to McCarrick’s laicization. Noaker said he was told that that the “Vatican wants this finalized by the second week of February- the entire case” against McCarrick.
In June, it was announced that a New York review board had found charges that McCarrick had abused another youth to be “credible and substantiated.” While additional allegations of coercive and abusive sexual behavior were subsequently made against the archbishop, he was until now expected to face canonical charges only in the initial case of abuse.
Grein’s testimony suggests that the archbishop could now be canonically tried for abusing multiple victims.
A spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York told CNA that he was unable to provide details on how Grein’s testimony might fit into Vatican procedures against McCarrick. This was “not an archdiocese of New York process,” Joe Zwilling told CNA. “This is a Vatican process.”

Noaker told CNA the abuse McCarrick is alleged to have committed during the sacrament of confession has had profound effect on Grein.

“McCarrick integrated the abuse into the sacrament,” Noaker said, alleging that McCarrick would molest Grein’s genitals while discussing the virtue of chastity. “That really hurt James.”
“This case illuminated for me how damaging it is for someone to be as vulnerable as they are when they come into confession and then to be sexually manipulated during that sacrament.”
The lawyer said that testifying against McCarrick has been difficult for Grein. When Grein recounted a particularly troubling incident, Noaker said, “he closed his eyes, and you could see him going back to that moment, and it was especially gruesome sexual assault, and it was upsetting just to be there.”
“He came out pretty worn out.”
“He has been so courageous, to go back to these moments,” Noaker said.
While many victims take pains to avoid addressing their sexual abuse, he said, Grein has approached the matter head on.
“Turning around and running at it is not without its pains.” Noaker added. “He did it knowingly and willingly, but not happily.”

Grein has filed a claim in a victims’ assistance program, the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program of the Archdiocese of New York, Noaker said, but has not yet received indication of whether he will be offered a financial settlement. Noaker said he expects notification to be forthcoming.
The lawyer said that Grein is most interested in healing from his abuse.
“He really wants his Church back. He just wants to be able to go to Church again, and find peace again, and, you know sure, I’m not sure we’re going to get that for him,” Noaker said.
“He said probably ten times yesterday, ‘I just want my Church back. I would like to have Jesus in my life again.’”


Related:

McCarrick reportedly lived on IVE seminary property during retirement

Bergoglio chose as 'Cardinal' the accomplice of the homosexual predator McCarrick abuser of seminarians

Homosexual predator McCarrick a key U.S. lobbyist for Bergoglio’ invalid election

Viganò points out that Bergoglio favored the network of homosexual bishops led by the serial predator McCarrick

O’Malley Welcomed McCarrick to Boston Fundraiser After Letter Detailing Sex Abuse

Former nunciature official backs Vigano: He ‘said the truth’ about Pope’s cover-up 

NJ Bishop John Myers Protects Predator Priests, Retires in Luxury

Francis Denying Immaculate Conception: “Mary Not Born A Saint”

en.news In his Christmas greetings to the employees of the Holy See on December 21, Pope Francis spoke about Our Lady and Saint Joseph in the Nativity scene being full of holiness and joy.

He continued: “And you will tell me: of course! They are Our Lady and Saint Joseph! Yes, but let us not think it was easy for them: saints are not born, they become thus, and this is true for them too.”

According to Catholic doctrine Our Lady was conceived without original sin and therefore born a saint. Francis is know for often speaking without thinking.

Revelation 13: ⁶ It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven.

Christ is born! Let us rejoice!

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant! 
O come, let us adore Him.

from the Raccolta, 1878
http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/

I adore Thee, Incarnate Word true, Son of God from all eternity, and true son of the Virgin Mary in the fulness of time! Adoring Thy divine person, and the humanity which is united to it, I feel moved, moreover to venerate the poor crib which welcomed thee, an infant, and was truly the first throne of thy love. Would that I could prostrate myself before it with the simplicity of the shepherds, with the faith of Joseph, with the love of Mary! Would that I could bend in adoration of so precious a memorial of our salvation, with the spirit of mortification, of poverty, of humility, with which Thou, the Lord of heaven and of earth, didst choose a manger to receive and shelter Thy trembling limbs!

Do Thou, O Lord! who, while yet a babe, didst deign to rest in this crib, vouchsafe also to pour into my heart a little of the joy excited in those who beheld Thy lovely childhood, and the wonders which accompanied Thy birth; through which I beseech Thee to give to the whole world peace and good will, and, in the name of all mankind, to render all thanksgiving and glory to the Father, and to the Holy Ghost, who, with Thee, liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen 

Merry Christmas 

Italian Priest: Jesus Christ was Like Asia Bibi, Not an Illegal Migrant

Breitbart By Chris Tomlinson 21 Dec 2018

Italian priest Father Alfredo Morselli has hit back against those who compare Jesus Christ to an illegal migrant, saying he was more akin to the persecuted Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi.

Many progressive and left-wing figures, including head of the Roman Catholic church Pope Francis, have compared the events surrounding the birth of Christ to those of illegal migrants entering Europe today.

But Father Morselli said he rejected the idea, explaining that “Christ was a persecuted person, more like Asia Bibi or Catholics betrayed and sold off to the Chinese government,” Il Giornale reports.

When asked about nativity scenes that featured migrant boats being set up around Italy, Father Morselli said: “For the anti-Christian creed, religion no longer concerns Jesus in himself, as it is, the Son of God, since the Gospels of his childhood are now considered a myth and we cannot know the historical Jesus.”

The Italian priest referred to Ms Bibi again in regards to persecuted Christians around the world during Christmas, saying: “I would say that as there was no place for Jesus in the hotel, there is no place for Asia Bibi in the Vatican.”

Bibi, who was acquitted of blasphemy charges in Pakistan earlier this year, has been under constant threat of death along with her family and has attempted to apply for asylum.
While populist leaders like Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and French National Rally leader Marine Le Pen have both expressed support for granting her asylum, the United Kingdom under Prime Minister Theresa May allegedly rejected her application claiming it could stoke tensions within the Muslim community.
Some priests in Italy have been critical — if not outwardly hostile — to Deputy Prime Minister Salvini. Father Morselli said that indications of the church forming its own political party to fight populism reminded him more of sharia than of the doctrines of the church.

On their opposition to Salvini he said: “The reactions… are emotional and without a shred of an argument.”

Related:

«Pope Francis is ‘not so fixed,’ he’s open to discussing sexual morality »– Apostate Cardinal Marx

As Father Paul Kramer said:“The antipope and his apostate collaborators will be as sister Lucy said, supporters of the devil, those who work for evil without being afraid of anything.”

en.news 
Pope Francis is open to "discussing" the Catholic moral teaching on sexuality, according to the anti-Catholic Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, Germany.

He told journalists on December 20 that Francis is not "fixed" regarding Catholic morals.

Marx - whose archdiocese is considered a hotbed of homosexuality - worries about those who see the root cause of the sexual abuses in homosexuality and believes that homosexual priests are “not more at risk” than normal ones - although statistics prove the contrary.

On the whole, for Marx Catholic moral theology is something invented according to the whim of whatever pope is in charge while in reality it is solidly founded in Scripture, Tradition and nature, independent from a pope's private beliefs.

Cdl. Marx: Pope Francis is ‘not so fixed,’ he’s open to discussing sexual morality 

Empty seats for Bergoglio's address and Christmas greetings to the Roman Curia

"Pope Francis Has Broken With Apostolic Tradition" – Cardinal Burke

Apostate Leonardo Boff: "He now is the pope and he can do whatever he wants. Many will be surprised with what Francis will do. In order to do this, a rupture with traditions will be needed, to leave behind the corrupt Vatican curia to give way to a universal church," Boff said in an interview published by German magazine Der Spiegel.

Daniel 11:36 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

36 “The king shall act as he pleases. He shall exalt himself and consider himself greater than any god, and shall speak horrendous things against the God of gods. He shall prosper until the period of wrath is completed, for what is determined shall be done. 

en.news If Chinese regime bishops, reconciled by the Vatican have concubines and children, the Church [i.e. Pope Francis] has "broken with apostolic tradition" which has never allowed bishops to be married, Cardinal Raymond Burke told the NcRegister.com (December 21),

Burke doubts the canonical validity of the lifting of the excommunication of these bishops.

In September the Vatican reconciled seven regime bishops.

According to Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen, two of them, Paul Lei Shiyin and Joseph Liu Xinhong, are widely known to have children, “That is for certain, for a long time it is public knowledge.”

Francis Accepts Chinese State Bishop Openly Living in Concubinage

Three Bishops Are Members of Chinese National People’s Congress

Communist Censors to Jesuit: “Your Pope Gave Us Authority”

en.news A Jesuit who worked in China for 25 years as a publisher, had an entire print run of books seized and shredded last week because the books contained six footnotes referring to Catholic Social Teaching.

Communist officials explained to the Jesuit, “Your pope says we get to decide if this is in accordance with Chinese values”. The incident was reported by Deacon Stephen Morgan (Twitter, December 17).

Morgan is the dean of the Faculty of Religious Studies at the University of Macau, an autonomous territory near Hong Kong, and a friend of the unnamed Jesuit.

Related: 

Opposition grows to Francis’ push for change to the Our Father

ROME, December 19, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A number of theologians and biblical experts have spoken against Pope Francis’s wish to change the Italian translation of the Our Father.

One of these theologians, Monsignor Nicola Bux, has said the Italian bishops’ recent decision to replace the traditional translation of the petition “and lead us not into temptation” with a new version is tantamount to surrendering to the “feel-good conception of God” that is so “widespread among Catholics today.”

The “eagerness for change,” the former consultor to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope Benedict XVI has said, is an expression of the “paradigm shift” or “cultural revolution” currently being promoted in the Church.

Read More at LifeSiteNews

"A Vatican appeals panel has sharply reduced penalties for priests convicted of sexual abuse in more than a third of the cases that have come before it " WSJ

The Wall Street Journal

Vatican Panel Faces Criticism Over Leniency for Priests Guilty of Abuse

In more than a third of cases, appeals panel has sharply reduced penalties on priests convicted of sexual abuse.

Spokane diocese was told 7 accused priests lived at Gonzaga

Spokane, Wash., Dec 20, 2018 / 03:24 pm (CNA).- The Diocese of Spokane said Thursday it was unacceptable that Jesuit priests credibly accused of sexual abuse were unsupervised on the campus of Gonzaga University. While Spokane’s current bishop had no knowledge the priests had been living at the university, the diocese said its prior bishop was informed of their presence in 2011.

“The Diocese of Spokane shares the concern of those who are angry and saddened to learn that the Oregon Province of Jesuits—now part of the Jesuits West Province—placed Jesuits credibly accused of sexual abuse at the Cardinal Bea House on Gonzaga University’s campus without informing the Gonzaga community,” a Dec. 20 statement from the diocese read.

In June 2011, “the Jesuit Provincial, Father Patrick Lee, informed then-Bishop Blase Cupich that seven priests with safety plans in place were living at Bea House,” the diocesan statement added.

“Bishop Thomas Daly—who was installed in 2015—was not informed by the Jesuits or Gonzaga University that these men were living at Cardinal Bea House.”

While the Jesuit province informed the diocese that the accused priests “were living on campus with safety plans requiring such things as chaperones for any trips out of Cardinal Bea House and restricting their public ministry,” recent media reporting “indicates that these credibly accused Jesuits were free to come and go on campus,” the statement read.

“This was an unacceptable situation.”

Since at least 2003, several Jesuit priests accused of sexual abuse were housed at the Cardinal Bea House on the campus of Spokane’s Gonzaga University, according to a series of investigative reports published this week by Northwest News Network, and Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting.

The sexual abuse accusations against the priests living on Gonzaga’s campus were not made known publicly by the university, the Jesuit province, or the diocese. Most of the accused priests were reported to be living at the Gonzaga residence in retirement or due to their declining health.

The house is a residence owned by the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, and not overseen by the university. The credibly accused priests living there were reportedly subject to “safety plans” which forbade them from engaging with students.

According to the media reports, at least some credibly accused priests had regular unsupervised access to the university campus and unsupervised visits with students, and were permitted to lead prayer services in other settings, including Native American reservations.

No priests known to have been accused of abuse are now living in the campus house. The last priest known to have been accused of abuse was moved from the facility in 2016.

A diocesan spokesman told CNA that the diocese believes the priests were permitted by the Jesuits only to perform ministry “within the Regis Community of Jesuits at the Bea House,” and therefore they did not request permission from the diocese for permission to celebrate Mass or other sacraments in other contexts.

“Priests residing in the diocese but not involved in active ministry would not be granted faculties unless they requested faculties. Credibly accused Jesuit priests such as James Poole were restricted by the province.”

However, a policy change approved last month by Spokane’s current head, Bishop Thomas Daly requires any priest to undergo a background check before being permitted even to reside in the diocese, regardless of whether or not the priest intends to perform ministry.

The spokesman that the diocese is “in the process of implementing the new policies and requirements for all extern priests resident in the diocese.”

Among the priests accused of sexual abuse who lived on the Gonzaga campus was Fr. James Poole, SJ.

In 2005, an Anchorage woman, Elsie Boudreau, settled for $1 million a lawsuit against Poole, his Jesuit province, and the Diocese of Fairbanks.

Boudreau’s lawsuit claimed that she was molested by Poole, who was stationed in her home of Nome, Alaska, from the time she was 10 years old until she was 19, when she told him she would never be alone with him again.

The Fairbanks diocese paid half of the settlement, and the Oregon province paid the other half, according to a 2005 report in the Spokesman Review.

At the time of the settlement, Jesuit provincial Fr. John Whitney told the Spokane Spokesman Review that Poole had admitted the abuse, and was moved to Gonzaga campus in 2003, after his admission.

Poole would not be permitted to leave his residence on the Gonzaga campus unaccompanied, nor would he be permitted to be alone with visitors, Whitney said.

Whitney also told the Spokesman Review in 2005 that until Boudreau came forward, the Jesuit province had no idea that Poole had committed sexual abuse.

The Spokesman-Review, however, reported that Jesuit authorities knew since at least 1960 Poole had acted inappropriately in conversations with children about sex. Jesuit authorities said at that time that Poole had “a fixation on sex; an obsession.”

And, despite Whitney’s 2005 remarks, Jesuit officials were informed in 1997 by Bishop Michael Kaniecki, SJ, of Fairbanks that Poole had a history of sexual misconduct and abuse allegations; a fact that had been known to Kaniecki, himself a Jesuit, since 1986.

Whitney did not inform Gonzaga administrators or Spokane police that Poole and other residents were accused of sexually abuse. Despite the restrictions Whitney imposed on him, Poole regularly went to Gonzaga basketball games and its library, and met alone with a female student at least once.

On Dec. 18 Gonzaga University President Thayne McCulloh said he had not notified of that priests credibly accused of abuse were living on the university’s campus until 2016, although he had learned “in the years following” 2011 that priests with safety plans had previously lived there.

McCulloh said that he was wounded to learn that “the Society of Jesus had knowingly sent a man with Poole’s record of sexual abuse to live in their facility within the parameters of our campus — which serves not only as the home of college students, but regularly hosts grade-school children and visitors of all ages — without notification by the Province to the University.”

“I have asked that we be guaranteed that no Jesuit against whom credible allegations of sexual misconduct or abuse have been made ever be assigned to Gonzaga or the Jesuit communities here,” McCulloh added.

A spokesman for the Jesuits West Province, which was formed by a 2017 merger of the Oregon and California provinces of the order, said Dec. 18 that "Jesuits West guarantees that no Jesuit with a credible allegation of sexual abuse of a minor is currently or will ever be knowingly assigned to Gonzaga University or the Jesuit community on its campus."

Such priests will instead live in a health care facility in California, the province said.

Related:

Gonzaga University blocks Ben Shapiro speech, citing ‘Jesuit’ values 

Barron theology fails once again

In 2015 Bergoglio appoints apostate priest Barron, who denies Adam and Eve & holds Hell may be empty, ‘Bishop’ of Los Angeles

Now the heretic Robert Barron deceived Jewish Ben Shapiro: No need to become Catholic, Jesus is only the “Privileged” Way

the Vortex December 21, 2018
Well, he's at it again, the "reasonable" Bp. Robert Barron, the quintessential modern bishop who can speak in educated-sounding tones and look all smart and, above all, sound reasonable and unobjectionable to the modern world, but in the end falls flat.
In a recent interview on Ben Shapiro's show, Barron was asked by Shapiro, a well-known conservative commentator who is unabashedly an Orthodox Jew, the essential question — which he termed as "awkward" — could he be saved, since he's Jewish?
[Transcript unavailable]
There is so much deceptively wrong with that answer, it's hard to know where to begin. But the sneaky part of it is, there's some stuff in it that is right. But the part that is right is shrouded in such obscurity that someone with little understanding would hear that and I think, "Got it. I'm good then. Thanks, Padre."
Barron brings up quickly and then passes over just as quickly the question of relativism in relation to looking to Christ as the path to salvation. He spends so much time tap-dancing around the question, the heart of the answer, that anyone listening to that could be easily forgiven for not really understanding what the final answer is.
Does Barron relegate Our Lord to just one of many paths? Well, no, not exactly. But does he insist and lay out the explicit case for Christ? Well, no, not really. And that is precisely where he fails. If the Apostles, of which he is a successor, spoke in these guarded, halting terms, we wouldn't be here today.
Barron, in typical post-Vatican II language, puts the emphasis on conscience to such a degree that he completely blots out the obligation that a person has to inform his conscience. To leave a discussion about the salvation of a soul on the doorstep of the person's own subjective conscience and not go deeper into what that means is a horrible thing to do.
You've served up an appetizer and treated it as the entree. Bishop Barron, you are so busy quoting St. Paul so much that you fail to quote his divine master sufficiently. Jesus said of Himself, not, "I am the privileged way," but, "I am the way."
To refer to the Incarnate Son of God as "the privileged way" is to damn Christ with faint praise. It's true, all by itself, as a statement just floating out there in the cosmos completely devoid of day-to-day reality. But that's not how life is lived.
That was not the heart of Shapiro's question. Shapiro asked you, flat out, as a Jew: can he be saved? The proper response, which is the complete response, is where the rubber hits the road. And in the case of Barron theology, the rubber definitely does not hit the road.
For example, when saying even an atheist of good will can be saved but then not saying what constitutes good will, that is disingenuous, not to mention uncharitable.
Given the reality of natural law, it's not even entirely clear that one could be an atheist and possess good will at the same time or, if that were somehow possible, it would be a situation that could not long endure, for, in short order, a person would, in the depth of his being, either commit to God or his atheism.
What is good will? It is a willingness to be open to truth. Every man, baptized and unbaptized, has the capacity for truth. Natural Law, as Vatican I states, teaches us that man can, through just his unassisted intellect, arrive at the truth that there is a God, as recorded history has shown since the dawn of man.
God can and does operate through the natural law — He made it, after all. And even the unbaptized must conform themselves to the natural law, at a minimum.
The willingness to proceed down that road, to understand there is something greater than myself and, through an act of the will determine to learn it and follow it where it goes, that is goodwill. My will is good because it is orienting to the truth — not because I'm a nice guy who is polite and has a friendly disposition and personality.

In fact, adhering to natural law must be done — baptized or not. Without that underlying good will, the willingness, again, to be open to and embrace truth, even on a natural level, without that, there is no salvation possible.
The way Barron presents all this is something far short of that. The entire hierarchy, to almost a man it seems, constantly places an enormous overemphasis on conscience and is almost dismissive of the requirement, the demand for good will, the hardcore reality that the conscience must strive for the truth.
Conscience must be properly informed, and the person must be willing to reach out for the truth, to pursue the truth, which as a reminder, Your Excellency, is Jesus Christ, or he has no hope of salvation.
Recall the almost cosmic scene of Pilate and Our Lord at His second trial. Jesus says to him, "Anyone who hears the truth, hears my voice." Of course, meaning that He is truth.
Pilate's answer is modern man's response: what is truth? It was really Pilate who was on trial there before the eternal king, not the other way around. And standing before the divine court, he convicted himself.
Good will, words we will hear in these coming days as the angel says to the shepherds over the skies of Bethlehem, peace on earth to men of good will, those words are the conditional words, the boundaries of conscience. And they are conditional because, whereas God's love is unconditional, salvation is not.
A man doesn't get to decide truth. His freedom is granted to him as a gift with the sole purpose being so that he can discover truth, and having discovered it, then he must conform himself to it.
And truth is Jesus Christ, and the Catholic Church is His visible presence here on earth. Her teachings are, at the end of the day, not her teachings, but His. So a rejection of the Church, active or passive, is a rejection of Christ.
There is a unity between the words of St. Paul: There is no other name under Heaven by which man can be saved, and the Church's constant teaching, outside the Church there is no salvation. The Church is Christ on earth, even to the absolute sense and reality of His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity present in all the tabernacles of the world.
Helpful here might be to consider something actually written before Vatican II, and, by the way, for the vast majority of Catholics out there, there were 19 centuries of the Church's visible existence before Vatican II, and those saints had something to say on all this.
In 1863, 100 years before the Second Vatican Council and echoing centuries of understanding and teaching, Pope Pius IX said the following on this very topic, the very heart of Shapiro's question to Barron, on which Barron whiffed:

It is known to Us and to you that they who labor in invincible ignorance of our most holy religion and who, zealously keeping the natural law and its precepts engraved in the hearts of all by God, and being ready to obey God, live an honest and upright life, can, by the operating power of divine light and grace, attain eternal life, since God … will by no means suffer anyone to be punished with eternal torment who has not the guilt of deliberate sin. But, the Catholic dogma that no one can be saved outside the Catholic Church is well known; and also that those who are obstinate toward the authority and definitions of the same Church, and who persistently separate themselves from the unity of the Church, and from the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter, to whom "the guardianship of the vine has been entrusted by the Savior," cannot obtain eternal salvation.

People have a right — a right — to the unvarnished truths of the Church when they ask. And that right imposes a duty, an obligation, on the person who is being asked to tell them.
A person who either doesn't understand the Church or disagrees with the Church should be disturbed in their soul, their mind, their conscience when they hear the answer. That their conscience bothers them is a good thing. It is God working in them for their salvation.
But Barron, like so many other namby-pamby clergy these days when it comes to these hard questions, refuses to disturb a person's conscience.
They take the effeminate approach of leaving the person untroubled. Maybe they had a nice exchange — notice the word "nice" — but no true evangelization, no authentic announcement of the Good News occurred — no matter how dressed up it was in platitudes and educated terms.
Jesus Christ was not rejected by the Jewish leaders and executed by the Roman authorities because He refused to disturb consciences. When Ben Shapiro, who is greatly admired for his intellect and usually well-reasoned arguments, asks, "Can I be saved?" he deserves the straight up truth of how salvation is conditioned.
Barron did not tell him.


Related: 

Gonzaga University blocks Ben Shapiro speech, citing ‘Jesuit’ values 

Lesbian Choir to Perform at Catholic Shrine’s Christmas Festival

“The abomination shall be seen in holy places, in convents, and then the demon shall make himself the king of hearts.” Our Lady of La Salette

by David Nussman  •  ChurchMilitant.com  •  December 20, 2018    

Christmas choral festival at shrine of Our Lady to include the Portland Lesbian Choir

PORTLAND, Ore. (ChurchMilitant.com) - A Catholic shrine in Oregon will feature a lesbian choir at a caroling event.
Located in Portland, Oregon is the National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother, known simply as "The Grotto." Every year, this shrine puts on a Christmas Festival of Lights that lasts from late November through late December. The 62 acres of green space are decorated in Christmas lights, and there are indoor choral performances almost every night. There are also hot beverages, a petting zoo and other forms of entertainment set up inside large tents. Purportedly, the Grotto's month-long event is the largest Christmas choir festival in the world.
Some local Catholics were upset to learn that one of the choirs performing at the shrine's Christmas festival this year is the Portland Lesbian Choir. One Catholic from Washington state was interested in seeing a parish choir perform at the Festival of Lights. Asking to remain anonymous, he told Church Militant that when he saw the lesbian group listed on the schedule, "I was in shock. My heart fell to the ground."
Another Catholic from the Portland area expressed a similar sentiment, writing to Church Militant on Wednesday:

Several years ago, I was told by a member of the Grotto Servite order that the Christmas Festival of Lights is their primary way of evangelizing to non-Catholics. This is due to the fact that this event draws thousands of people from Oregon and Washington, which have large agnostic, atheist and non-practicing populations. It is surprising then that the Servites would allow a lesbian choir to sing on the very spot where the altar is normally located, where the body and blood of Christ is consecrated. How can we expect visitors, who may never set foot into a Catholic Church again, to understand what Jesus taught about sin and our need to seek forgiveness? The presence of this choir is a scandal and will certainly lead to even more confusion in a time of moral ambiguity.  

The performance schedule on the Grotto's website states that the Portland Lesbian Choir will be performing on Thursday, Dec. 27 at 7 p.m. (local time). On Tuesday, a post on the Portland Lesbian Choir's Facebook page mentioned the group's upcoming performance "at the Grotto Festival of Lights, Thursday, Dec. 27th at 7pm."


The Marian shrine is maintained by the Servite Friars — a religious order of priests officially named the Friar Servants of Mary.
Church Militant contacted the shrine on Wednesday with a request for comment. No response was provided by time of publishing.

Church Militant reached out to the archdiocese of Portland about the Portland Lesbian Choir's scheduled performance. A spokesman replied that the archdiocese does not run the shrine and recommended contacting the Servites. But he also said he would bring this to the archbishop's attention, as Church Militant requested.
The head of the archdiocese of Portland is Abp. Alexander Sample, who has a reputation of defending Catholic teaching. In May 2017, Abp. Sample issued a set of guidelines affirming the Church's perennial teaching that those culpable of grave sin are committing sacrilege if they receive Holy Communion without first repenting and making a good confession.

Earlier at this year's Grotto Festival of Lights, one of the groups performing was an a cappella group called Without Apology.
One photograph of their performance at the Grotto can be found on Facebook. In the photo, the group sings inside the sanctuary of the Grotto's chapel and one of the members is dressed as a woman.

Without Apology performs at the Grotto's Festival of
Lights, in the chapel's sanctuary. One performer
(right) is dressed like a woman. (Facebook)

A further review of the group's history suggests some strong ties with the LGBT community.
For example, a post on the ensemble's Facebook page back in July referred to Without Apology as "our rad queer TTBB a cappella group" (italics added).
"TTBB" refers to a four-part men's chorus with two tenor parts and two bass parts. It can be just four people — like a barbershop quartet — or a much larger ensemble. Without Apology apparently had eight vocalists in its performance at the Grotto.
Without Apology performed at a gay bar in February 2012 in connection to a drag show.
It was also on the list of performers for the 2014 Gay Fair on the Square — an annual LGBT event in Portland.
In 2015, local public schools stopped sending choral groups to perform at the Catholic shrine's choral festival, owing to pressure from atheist activist group Freedom From Religion Foundation.

The atheist organization threatened legal action, arguing that taxpayer-funded schools should not be officially involved in an event that has religious undertones and takes place at a house of worship

Bergoglio confirms his "dear brother", the Marxist heretic, ex-priest, Leonardo Boff in his apostasy

In 1992, the heresiarch Leonardo Boff formally abandoned the Franciscan Order to which he had belonged and also publicly abandoned the Catholic priesthood. He joined in concubinage with the divorced and mother of six children, Marcia Maria Monteiro de Miranda, a Marxist militant teacher.
The heresiarch Bergoglio confirms in his rebellion his heretical brother Leonardo Boff:

 "Dear brother, thank you for your letter sent by Fr. Fabian. I was happy to receive it and I appreciate the generosity of your comments. I remember our first meeting, in San Miguel, at a meeting of CLAR, back in the years 72-75. And then I kept on reading some of your works.

These days you will be celebrating 80 years. I send you my best wishes. And, please, do not forget to pray for me. I do it for you and your Lady. May Jesus bless you and the blessed Virgin take care of you. Fraternally Francis"

“Francis is One of Us”.

Related:  

You have reason to believe that Bergoglio is more liberal?

Boff: Yes. For example, a few months ago he explicitly permitted a homosexual couple to adopt a child. He kept in touch with priests who were expelled from the official church because they had gotten married.

Vatican Christmas concert includes Tango dance, forbidden by Pope St. Pius X and blasphemous song

Bergoglio Buenos Aires Argentina Tango Mass.