Vatican Sexual Abuse Survivor/Advocate All Stars Lineup for Vatican-All Stars Super Bowl (Monday, Feb 7)

Amplify’d from reform-network.net

Survivor/Advocate All Stars Lineup for Vatican-All Stars Super Bowl (Monday, Feb 7)

RIO DE JANEIRO

FEBRUARY 6, 2011

Super Bowl XLV is history.

Vincent Thomas Lombardi must be smiling.

The Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers for their 13th N.F.L. championship to win the Vince Lombardi trophy.

We have seen the creative/excessive Super Bowl commercials.

The Black Eyed Peas were the centerpiece of the halftime spectacle, without a breast being bared.

Yes, the nation’s wonderfully wacky Super Bowl Sunday party is over.

BUT, football fans, do not despair.

There is another Super Bowl to be played within 24 hours. This lesser known championship game will be played on February 7, 2011, the Monday after Super Bowl Sunday.

This cyberspace epic will be played in Rio de Janeiro in the Maracanã Soccer Stadium and pit the mighty Vatican team against the upstart Survivor/Advocate All-Stars in Clergy Sex Abuse Super Bowl I.

The Voice from the Desert International Sports Information Network (ISPIN) is pleased to announce the starting lineup for the Survivor/Advocate All-Stars in this battle.

Voice from the Desert will publish the starting lineup for the Vatican in a separate post.

* * * POSITION NAME COMMENT OFFENSE WIDE RECEIVER Steve Sheehan Publishes NSAC News; tireless survivor supporter; retired Army officer; vintner of considerable renown in Boston area; caught 17 touchdown passes in 2010-2011; all-pro ten straight years LEFT TACKLE Sister Maureen Paul Turlish Tireless Delaware SOL reform advocate; writes great letters to the editor; arts teacher; excellent pass protector; named “Consummate Professional” by teammates; all-pro past six years LEFT GUARD Jim Jenkins Psychotherapist; father of two teen-age boys; excellent op-ed writer in support of abuse victims/survivors; fierce blocker; has remarkable record recovering fumbles; all-pro eight years CENTER David Clohessy SNAP national director and media guru; father of two teen-age boys; master of the press release; tireless worker; on the national stage; excellent public speaker; all-pro 12 straight years RIGHT GUARD Bob Schwiderski SNAP Minnesota director who “gets ‘er done”; a source of technology expertise for survivor advocates; superior run blocker and pass protector; all-pro 15 straight years RIGHT TACKLE Jason Berry Author of Vows of Silence and Lead Us Not Into Temptation; his latest book Render Unto Rome: The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church will be published 6.7.2011; excellent blocker; all-pro 16 years TIGHT END Joelle Casteix SNAP West Coast director with strong media presence; named rookie of year in 2009 and all-pro for second straight year; caught 9 touchdown passes in 2010-2011 season QUARTERBACK Peter Isely SNAP Midwest director; excellent media skills; psychotherapist who helps victims/survivors heal; league MVP; pinpoint passing might pick weak Vatican pass defense apart; all-pro 12 years in a row RUNNING BACK Joey Piscitelli SNAP director in Bay Area; excellent writer; strong media presence; gained 1265 yards rushing in 2010-2011; all-pro 7 straight years SPLIT END Ruth Moore Director of Boston-area survivor advocate organization STOPP;  one of the unofficial photographers of the survivor movement; caught 11 touchdown passes in 2010-2011; all-pro last 11 years FULLBACK John Pilmaier SNAP Wisconsin director, works closely with Peter Isely in Milwaukee and throughout Wisconsin; ran for 1236 yards in 2010-2011; provides excellent pass protection; all-pro last four years DEFENSE DEFENSIVE END Paul Livinston “Mr. Survivor Supporter” in San Diego; scuba diver; former professional football player with imposing presence; led league with 12 quarterback sacks; recovered six fumbles in 2010-2011 season; all-pro for seven years DEFENSIVE TACKLE Therese Albrecht SNAP leader in Chicago; works closely with Rick Springer; former NYC police officer; fearless and tireless worker in support of survivors; the word is out: “Don’t Mess With Therese” DEFENSIVE TACKLE Gary BergeronCo-founder Co-founder of Survivor’s Voice; organized 2010 march on Vatican; author of Don’t Call Me a Victim; all-pro for six years DEFENSIVE END Anne Barrett Doyle Co-director of BishopAccountability.org;; sweet demeanor belies a fierce advocate; loves to blitz the quarterback; all-pro six years in a row OLB Bob Hoatson Founder and president of Road to Recovery which works directly with survivors to address problems in daily living; lead league in quarterback sacks; all pro for nine years MLB Dick Regan Works with Bob Hoatson to help clergy abuse victims/survivors in NY, NJ, CT area; award-winning NYPD detective, now retired; calls defensive signals OLB Rick Springer Go-to guy for clergy abuse survivors in Chicago; one of the “godfathers” of the survivor movement; recovered 5 fumbles in past season; fierce tackler CORNERBACK Sam Cordova Member of Send the Bishops a Message Advisory Board; ex-marine who saw combat in Korea; author of The Altar and the Crown CORNERBACK Marci Hamilton Law professor; author of God vs. Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law; SAFETY Barbara Dorris SNAP national outreach director; grandmother; Don’t mess with her—she has a Sicilian blood in her veins; led league with six interceptions; 12-year all-pro SAFETY Richard Sipe Co-author of Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes; author of Celibacy in Crisis: A Secret World Revisited; maintains important website, richardsipe.com; bone-jarring tackler; all-pro 12 straight years SPECIAL TEAMS PLACE KICKER Kristine Ward Chair of the National Survivor Advocate Coalition (NSAC); served as vice president of Voice of the Faithful; has made 67 consecutive extra points and 27 field goals in 2010-2011 season HOLDER Lisa Kendzior Hard-working survivor advocate from Dallas, area; mother of daughter in U.S. Naval Academy and young son Matt; marketing professional; back-up quarterback RETURN SPECIALIST Dom Tomasso Tireless Tucson survivor advocate; retired United States Postal Service executive; at 88 is oldest player on the field; ran back three kickoffs and four punts for touchdowns in 2010-2011 PUNTER CJ Cammino Author of Cell Out, a novel about a victim of clergy sexual abuse; mother of daughter in college and son in high school; averages 43 yards per punt; all-pro in 2011 COACHES HEAD COACH Tom Doyle Dominican priest; internationally known for his advocacy for clergy sex abuse victims/survivors; scuba diver; expert on clergy sex abuse; canon lawyer; lead author of Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR Barbara Blaine Founder and president of SNAP—Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests; internationally known for her advocacy for victims and survivors; holds degrees in law, social work, and religious studies OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR Jeff Anderson Successful trial lawyer from St. Paul, MN; internationally known for his advocacy for clergy sex abuse victims/survivors; a major leader of the survivor and children’s civil rights movements SPECIAL TEAMS COACH Mary-Gail Frawley O’Dea Psychotherapist; only mental health professional to address bishops in Dallas in 2002; author of Perversion of Power: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church Read more at reform-network.net

 

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Vatican elevates the perception that the Pope isn’t human Pope’s organs are too holy to donate to mortals

Amplify’d from thumpandwhip.com

Vatican elevates the perception that the Pope isn’t human

Why are Catholics obsessed with this man? I don’t know. Someone who leads a church, I understand, may be hailed as especially righteous. But the faithful seem to need to make the guy an accessory god, supreme in his own right.

Pope’s organs are too holy to donate to mortals, says Church By Michael Day | 5 February 2011 | The Independent

. . as recently as 2008, three years after being elected pontiff, Benedict attended an international congress on donor transplantation where he repeated his support for organ donors. “It’s a special way of showing charity,” he said, though he added that donations had to be “free, voluntary [and] respectful of the health and dignity of the donor”.

Mgr Gaenswein did not specify why the Pope is not able to donate his organs. But Archbishop Zymunt Zimowski, a member of the Vatican health council, said it was because the body of the Pope effectively belonged to the entire Catholic Church. “It’s understandable that the body of the Pontiff should rest intact because, in his role as successor to Saint Paul and universal pastor of the Catholic Church, he belongs entirely to the Church in spirit and body,” he told La Repubblica.

Why must the guy be extra-mortal? If he’s seen as a regular person, does that make God less real? Less likely? Less exciting? More remote? If anything, having an ersatz God On Earth makes the possibility of God suspect. You say your Supreme Being and the Supreme Morals Guy, who intervened to retain a child molester in The Church, are para-worldly fluent in righteousness? Say, brother, might God’s return invoke a Boy Scout brothel? Can you tell me why so many Popes have been extremely human human beings?

Stephen VII (Pope from 896 – 897) Stephen’s sworn enemy was his predecessor to the Fisherman’s Ring, Formosus. Whatever Formosus had done to so enrage his successor isn’t completely clear, but dear Pope Stephen had his dead body dug up and put on trial for “coveting the papal throne.” Being found guilty (of course), the deceased was stripped, had its 3 fingers, used for bestowing blessings, cut off, and the body dumped in the Tiber River. Stephen got his, though. He was later imprisoned and strangled to death.

And yet Papal Infallibility is still Church doctrine. Ignore his shitty life, have faith in his cryptic relationship with a bold God. Whatever he pronounces on dogma, it’s perfection.

Alexander VI (Pope from 1492 – 1503) He bribed his way to St. Peter’s – appointing anyone he could get in his pocket to cardinal to vote for him. Continuing on the family tradition, he also appointed his son and the teenage brother of his mistress as cardinals (strength in numbers you know). While enjoying the office of pope he also enjoyed an active sex life, was suspected of arranging murders of his rivals and indulging in orgies (hey, when in Rome…) and managed to father seven children. Being a model father of the times, his poor daughter, Lucrezia, got married off three times to help build alliances and when one of those marriage alliances went sour (to a guy she really liked), the pope/daddy/evil father-in-law had him stabbed to death.

So, at best, they’re only occasionally in touch with the godhead. The no-transplant rule prevents a particularly Earthly snafu, I’m betting. If some surgeon puts His Liver in a guy who goes on to be a rapist or murderer, it spells the end of The Pope as a magical being. Which, of course, he isn’t. But the global illusion is too important. Read more at thumpandwhip.com

 

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Amplify’d from www.nydailynews.com

Sect of Brooklyn 'nun' who falsely cried rape has bizarre history, mysterious members

Gabel for News The Apostles of Infinite Love's house in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.

www.magnificat.ca The Apostles of Infinite Love's Quebec compound.

A Brooklyn nun's confession in a bogus rape case has opened a window on a shadowy sect that broke from the Catholic Church decades ago and has been called a cult.

The Quebec-based Apostles of Infinite Love has run the East Flatbush convent since 1984 - and the nuns strike an odd presence in the neighborhood as they periodically emerge to walk the streets single file in their blue habits.

"We are a begging order. We go door to door for donations," said Sister Lydwina, the order's mother superior. "It's a hard life, but providence has managed to help us."

The group - which has no affiliation with the Catholic Church - has up to 500 members in Canada, the U.S. and South and Central America. There are just seven or eight in the Brooklyn home.

Among them was a 26-year-old French Canadian novice, Mary Turcotte, who had been working as a cook for about a month when she made the shocking claim that a towering black man raped her in a snow bank.

She later admitted she'd made up the story as cover for a consensual romp that also might have been fiction, sources said. She was not charged.

"She was a troubled girl," Lydwina said. "We sent her back to her family in Quebec."

The Turcottes are one of several large families that live in the Apostles' sprawling rural compound in the mountains north of Montreal, former members of the order said.

"[She] grew up in the order. Her parents still live in the compound," said a woman who has fled the group. "My guess is that she, the same as I, figured out that she wants more than this life."

The ex-member, like others who spoke with the Daily News, demanded anonymity out of fear she would be cut off from relatives still in the sect.

The group has its origins in France, where a Catholic priest named Michel Collin declared himself Pope Clement in 1950 and was defrocked.

In 1961, he joined forces with a French Canadian named Jean-Gaston Tremblay, who had founded a monastery in Quebec. When Collin died, Tremblay became leader, calling himself Pope Gregory.

Preaching an isolationist and apocalyptic vision, Tremblay attracted a small following among Catholics unhappy with Vatican II reforms.

"They were saying the end of the world was coming and true days of darkness were coming and we had so many hours and days to join," said Joseph Daeges, 43, who fled in 1998 after 30 years of Apostles membership.

"This group was targeting people who didn't like the changes going on around them," said another former member. "What's the easiest thing to do at a time of change? Go back to tradition."

At its peak, the group had as many as 900 followers. Members cut themselves off from the outside world and focused on farming and publishing religious texts.

"No phones, no TV, magazines, nothing," the former member said. "People gave up their worldly possessions to the Apostles, so that's where their properties and some money came from."

Children were separated from their parents and boys and girls lived apart.

"The boys became priests; the girls nuns," the former member said. "They thought they had a choice but it was really brainwashing."

Some who fled complained of physical and sexual abuse. That led Canadian authorities to raid the compound and arrest Tremblay and other church leaders in the late 1990s. The charges were later dropped.

Experts say the Apostles bear all the hallmarks of a cult.

"In my opinion, it is a very destructive cult," said Rick Ross, a well-known cult deprogammer who has interviewed several former members. "It runs the whole gamut - physical abuse, psychological coercion, financial control."

Officials at the monastery declined to discuss the order. "The subject you wish to write about cannot be dealt with in a few lines or paragraphs," it said in a statement.

As its members have died off, the group has dwindled in numbers. Tremblay, now 82, is in poor health and no longer runs day-to-day operations, the former members said.

lalpert@nydailynews.com Read more at www.nydailynews.com

 

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Amplify’d from www.heraldsun.com.au

Pope Benedict wanted priests to have sex

When he was younger, Pope Benedict believed that relaxing celibacy rules would attract more men to the priesthood / AP Source: AP

DOCUMENTS reveal that as a young priest, the Pope signed a memorandum suggesting celibacy rules be relaxed to attract priests.

Father Brian Lucas, general secretary of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, said there was a range of opinions on the matter, AdelaideNow reports.

He said the present mind of the Vatican was to keep the current practice, despite a perceived shortage of priests.

"Shortage is a relative term," Father Lucas said.

"The discipline and practice of celibacy would be an obstacle for some. Others see it as important," he said.

Father Dean Marin, director of vocations for the Adelaide Archdiocese, said the priesthood was a way of life.

Father Marin said priests were a living sign of the presence of God and of God's kingdom: "By remaining celibate, the priest witnesses to the possibility of living totally for God," he said. Read more at www.heraldsun.com.au

 

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Amplify’d from www.guardian.co.uk

Is this secretive Christian group a threat to US church/state division?

The Family, which has links with senior politicians including Barack Obama, has been dogged by controversy in recent years

Becky Garrison

George W Bush and Bono at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2008. Photograph: Rex Features

More than 3,000 religious leaders, US politicians and representatives from foreign governments will convene in Washington DC today for the annual National Prayer Breakfast. This event, which began in 1953, marks the only publicised function for The Family [or The Fellowship], a private Christian organisation that has been described by religion scholar Jeff Sharlet in his book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power as one of the most powerful Christian fundamentalist movements in the United States.

Keynote speakers who have addressed this breakfast include Tony Blair, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Bono. Beneath this public display of civil religion, Sharlet reported that internal documents describe this as a gathering "where anything could happen … The Koran could be read, but JESUS is there. He is infiltrating the world."

Unlike populist Christian conservative organisations whose members make frequent appearances on the cable news networks, The Family prefers to function mostly under the radar, away from the glare of the national spotlight. Sharlet wrote: "The Family maintains a closely guarded database of its associates, but it issues no cards, collects no official dues. Members are asked not to speak about the group or its activities."

Most people were unaware of The Family until 2009, when the news broke that high-ranking US politicians including a senator, John Ensign, a governor, Mark Sanford, and a representative, Charles Pickering Jr, conducted extramarital affairs while living in a town house called C Street that was owned by The Family. Further controversy followed when news reports connected The Family to David Bahati and the anti-gay legislative efforts in Uganda. The Family denied playing an active role in supporting this legislation and rescinded Bahati's invitation to attend the 2010 National Prayer Breakfast. However, when Bahati came to the United States in December 2010, Rachel Maddow's interview with him on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show demonstrated a clear link between The Family and Uganda's anti-gay legislation.

In light of these scandals, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a government watchdog organisation, penned a letter asking President Obama and members of Congress to skip the 2010 National Prayer Breakfast and will issue a similar letter this year. Melanie Sloan, the executive director of CREW, said: "While the president has pledged his commitment to transparency, The Family engages in statecraft in secret. The Family leverages its connections with members of congress and its ability to persuade the president to appear at its breakfast to buttress its power and influence." Also, a group of religious leaders launched an alternative American Prayer Hour in 2010 in a public move to condemn The Family's role in the anti-gay bill that was pending in the Ugandan parliament.

Furthermore, organisations such as the Freedom from Religion Foundation and the American Atheists argue that the National Prayer Breakfast represents a blatant disregard for the separation of church and state as outlined in the first amendment to the US constitution. Despite the fact that this breakfast is sponsored by a private Christian organisation, invitations are issued on congressional letterhead and members of the press respond to them via the White House. Each year, the US president addresses this group with members of congress and other government officials in attendance. David Silverman, the president of the American Atheists, said: "The fact that so many representatives, who are supposed to represent all of America's diverse citizenry, are involved with this organisation should worry every American, be they Christian or otherwise. It is our position that every elected official should proudly look to the US Constitution as their top law – otherwise they are just proxies for preachers and agents of intolerance."

Some media outlets such as the New Yorker and Newsweek, take a more benign view of The Family – but even Newsweek admits that Sharlet has levelled certain substantive charges against The Family that demand answers. To date, The Family continues to operate in a code of silence as they once again prepare to pray.

Comment is free Cif belief Read more at www.guardian.co.uk

 

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Amplify’d from www.couriermail.com.au

Police called in over baggage fee fight on Ryanair flight

AP

MORE than 100 passengers onboard a Ryanair flight from the Canary Islands had to be removed by police after a large scuffle broke out over baggage fees.

Spanish newspaper La Provincia said the disruption happened when low-cost Ryanair tried to charge one passenger extra for carry-on baggage and his friends aboard the plane "mutinied".

An Interior Ministry spokesman said the pilot was preparing for takeoff at Guacimeta airport on the Lanzarote island resort for Charleroi, Belgium, when she radioed for police assistance.

He said that, of the 168 passengers, only 64 were allowed to re-board the flight. The rest had to find other carriers and some spent the night on Lanzarote. He spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with ministry rules.

Ryanair confirmed the passengers "became disruptive and refused to comply with crew instructions" after a requirement to pay a gate bag fee "for outsized luggage".

The airline said in a statement that police had required the entire aircraft be offloaded and each passenger identified.

"Following further disruptive behaviour, the police required for security reasons that this entire group be refused travel," the statement said. Read more at www.couriermail.com.au

 

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Delaware diocese settles priest abuse claims for $77M

Amplify’d from spirituallysmart.blogspot.com

Delaware diocese settles priest abuse claims for $77M

By Associated Press Lawyers involved with the Delaware Catholic Diocese of Wilmington's $77 million settlement with nearly 150 alleged victims of sexual abuse said the church's agreement to release unredacted documents is a historic step toward making sure it doesn't happen again. And lawyers for the alleged victims said they will post the documents on the Internet. "When people see the documents, they will be able to judge for themselves" how the church dealt with pedophile priests, attorney John Manly said. The diocese agreed Wednesday to settle the lawsuits, which claimed child sexual abuse by dozens of diocesan and religious order priests dating to the early 1960s. Attorney Thomas Neuberger, who represented 99 of the 146 alleged victims, said they would each receive $530,000 on average. Diocese attorney Anthony Flynn said church officials were pleased with the settlement. "It's been a long struggle, but we've finally reached agreement," he said. Delaware law created a two–year "lookback" window that allowed claims of abuse to be brought regardless of whether the statute of limitations had expired. The abuse cases created a potential liability that drove the diocese to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2009. At the time, it was the seventh U.S. diocese to file for bankruptcy since allegations erupted years earlier against Catholic clergy in Boston. Numerous multimillion dollar settlements between alleged victims and dioceses across the country have been reached in the aftermath. The Wilmington Diocese covers Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland and serves about 230,000 Catholics. The bankruptcy filing had delayed some trials, but Judge Christopher Sontchi ruled in August that lawsuits against several parishes could go forward. On Dec. 1, a Delaware jury awarded $30 million in damages to a man who claimed he was abused by a priest — a verdict that was exceptional for both the amount and for finding the local parish liable, not just the diocese. The lawsuit by John Vai claimed that he was abused repeatedly as a boy in the 1960s by Francis DeLuca when the former priest was a teacher at St. Elizabeth's parish in Wilmington. Advocates for victims of clergy abuse said the value of the compensatory damages was the largest ever awarded in such a lawsuit in the United States and that a parish had never before been found liable for abuse. Manly said he thought December's verdict played a role in the settlement. "The verdict made it very clear to diocese that things were going to get a lot worse," he said. The Associated Press typically does not name victims of sexual abuse, but Vai has spoken publicly about the allegations and testified at trial. Neuberger told the Wilmington News Journal that each victim also would benefit in the future from any settlement or judgment from lawsuits filed against religious orders including the Oblates, Capucians and Norbertines. He expects that will produce another $80 million for the victim trust. The settlement still needs approval from the bankruptcy judge. Read more at spirituallysmart.blogspot.com

 

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Knight of Columbus Attacks Alberto Rivera while defending Pedophile Priests

Amplify’d from spirituallysmart.blogspot.com

Knight of Columbus Attacks Alberto Rivera while defending Pedophile Priests

Open Letter to "a Catholic Texan" from Thomas Richards Kenneth, I left off supporting Tony Alamo as soon as it was verified he was a criminal child abuser. Why haven't you stopped supporting the Catholic "church" after the verified thousands of cases of child molestation have come to light? Instead I have noticed a lot of activity online by you continuing to justify predatory pedo priests and make excuses for them. Link And then here you are at the same time having blogs attacking Alberto Rivera. Was it ever alleged that Alberto abused children? You're obviously way off in your balancing of judgment and justice. I've seen also your comparison of priests who sexually molest children vs Public School teachers. That is the worst comparison someone can make. First of all there are thousands more public schools with public school teachers than priests who have access to children (Link to data that proves you wrong). This comparison you make links directly to your agenda to smear the deceased Alberto Rivera and totally destroys your credibility as an honest and neutral reporter. Because you show yourself to be a person who defends the Catholic "church" no matter what. So it has nothing to do with Alberto's legitamacy because you would make him your enemy simply because he exposes the Vatican. Not to mention that you are also a Knight of Columbus which swear upon an Oath to serve the Pope rather than the U.S. Constitution which are forever and inevitably at odds. you are the perfect example of why there were laws against Catholics serving in Politics. All this does is strengthen me in my position that is expressed on my web site @ spirituallysmart.com Screen Shots showing "a catholic Texan" is a Knight of Columbus: My info verifying Alberto Rivera's Authenticity Expose' on another attacker of Alberto Rivera Read more at spirituallysmart.blogspot.com

 

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Depression and the Christian

Amplify’d from www.spectrummagazine.org

Depression and the Christian

Bruce Anderson

“I tried to kill myself yesterday.”  The words tumbled from the mouth of the young woman seated in front of me.  I noticed skin staples and a reddened wound under the soiled dressing she removed from her left wrist.  She continued tearfully,  “I cut my wrist without thinking.  I didn't want to live anymore.    My father found out I was not paying the car insurance and was spending on marijuana and cigarettes and sodas. I was tired of being yelled at and didn't want to face my dad's disappointment with me.”  She was hospitalized under 5150, the California law which provides emergency seventy-two hour hospitalization for mentally ill persons who are a danger to themselves or others, or who are unable to care for their basic needs.

Gentle questioning revealed that a month earlier she had made another attempt to end her life.  That time she had tried to poison herself with CO, positioning one end of a garden hose in the tail pipe of her car, and deploying the other end in the car window.  “My boyfriend messed with my head.  He told me he was having a kid with someone else.”  She admitted she was “stoned on marijuana” at the time, and stated her suicidal plan “wasn't working out” because the hose kinked.  She drove home and never told her family what she had done.

Finally she mentioned that when she was fifteen she had attempted to hang herself.   Living with a depressed and abusive alcoholic mother, she was smoking pot and failing her high school classes.  She started to hang herself, but the thought that her two younger siblings might find her stopped her.  When she told her mother what she had planned to do, she was told to stop seeking attention with such behavior.

I completed taking the history and performed a mental examination, determining that she had never hallucinated, was not delusional and that she was of normal if underused intelligence.  She was inactive physically, and embarrassed that her weight was 215 pounds even though her height was 5' 1''.  I formulated a diagnosis: major depression, recurrent, severe and non-psychotic. I dictated a psychiatric examination and treatment plan, then ordered close nursing observation, laboratory studies, and a commonly used antidepressant.

The story I have synthesized is composed from common elements of stories heard on a hospital mental health unit. Such stories are so familiar that they garner no surprise for anyone who cares for troubled  people.  They may seem far removed from one's normal life, but they are not.  As suggested by the title of this week's SS topic, “Hope Against Depression,” depression is an ancient and common scourge of humanity.  It has been called “the common cold of mental illness.”  The term melancholia, coined by Hippocrates of Cos, means “black bile” suggesting a humoral cause of depression.  The term still lives, and is used to describe certain severe forms of depressive illness.  Reading the familiar laments of David in Ps. 32, 39, 42, and 51 suggests extremes of despair and hopeless despondency very close to the symptoms of persons suffering from depressive illness today.

A graphic example is the depressed dialogue of David with God contained in Psalm 42.

My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”  vs. 3. I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me?  Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”  Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  vs. 9-11 NIV

The term depression is expressive if imprecise.  Its meanings range from economic troubles to sadness to severe mental illness.  It is a term used in common parlance to suggest conditions ranging from mild unhappiness like a “bad hair day” to true mental illness.  Even within categories of mental disorders there is a range of conditions included with differing symptoms and prognosis.  Among these categories are dysthymic disorder, major depression, bipolar depression, and schizoaffective disorder. It may be worth defining two of the most important of these conditions.

Major depression is a condition lasting at least two weeks and requiring either depressed mood or diminished interest or pleasure in almost all activities, most of the time, nearly every day.  A variety of other symptoms may also be present, including marked weight loss or gain, severe sleep disturbance, fatigue or loss of energy, agitation or psychomotor retardation (being slowed down markedly), feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt, diminished ability to think or concentrate, and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.  Five of these nine elements are required to diagnose major depression which can occur with or without psychotic features.

Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder featuring at least one episode of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood lasting at least a week.  However, bipolar patients suffer mostly from depression, accounting for as much as two thirds of their mood disturbance.  The stereotype of the happy manic person having a good time and doing only fun things is far from the unpleasant, disturbed reality such people experience.

Although untreated depression is the cause of untold misery as well as impaired productivity and economic loss, the greatest risk is that of suicide.  Death by suicide is a major health hazard, the cause of more than thirty thousand unnecessary deaths in our country annually.  It is a greater hazard by far than murder which accounts for about twenty thousand deaths in the U.S. each year.  During the Viet Nam war years suicide deaths far exceeded combat deaths.  Although a major cause of death among the young, suicide rates advance with age, and are greatest among elderly males.  Suicide rates are increased related to all major psychiatric conditions, especially disorders of mood and schizophrenia.  More than sixty percent of people who take their lives have major depression.

Chemical dependencies are common among depressed and bipolar patients increasing the already substantial risk of suicide.  Suicide is a growing hazard among American military personnel and may be related at least in part to the stresses on family life caused by frequent deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.  It is well known that although women are about four times more likely to attempt suicide, men are nearly four times more likely to complete a suicidal act.  Past history of suicidal behavior confers a nearly forty-fold increased risk of suicide.

What can be done to treat this group of illnesses we call depression?  A great deal.  Although the most severely depressed persons such as my patient quoted at the outset require hospitalization for self-protection and the initiation of treatment, most people do not require such intervention.  For most, outpatient treatment is needed, and for most severely depressed people antidepressant treatment is likely to be necessary.  Effective antidepressant and mood-stabilizing medication is of recent origin.  For example, lithium, first used in Australia in 1949, is recognized as the gold standard of treatment for bipolar disorder though many newer medications are now used.  FDA approved in 1970, lithium revolutionized the treatment of bipolar disorder.  It has the rare ability to decrease the incidence of suicide as much as ten-fold.

As recently as 1988 fluoxetine or Prozac was introduced, a vast improvement on the tricyclic medications then available because of increased safety and diminished risk of overdose death.  Creative combinations of antidepressants and newer “atypical” agents can offer hope to many who fail to respond to single agents.  Today we expect chemical miracles to be the rule rather than the exception.  Unfortunately such hopes may be disappointed, and we often need to seek non-medical alternative treatments.

Psychotherapy or talking therapy is still very useful, and is often most effective when used with medication.  The combination of psychotherapy and medication may work better than either one alone.  Bright light therapy may be very effective especially for seasonal or winter depression.  Regular exercise may function as antidepressant treatment or as enhancement to other treatments being used.  An antidepressant exercise program might consist of vigorous walking for forty-five minutes five days per week.  Doing so in early morning light may enhance its benefit.  TMS, or transcranial magnetic stimulation, is a newer treatment which has now been used on about 3000 patients in the United States.  This FDA-approved treatment is generally very safe, with minimal discomfort and does not require anesthesia as does ECT or electroconvulsive treatment.  The latter is still dramatically effective for certain forms of very severe depression as described by Kitty Dukakis in her recent book Shock: The Healing power of Electroconvulsive Therapy.

Are there any advantages to being an Adventist Christian when it comes to preventing or treating depression and other illness?  There are many.   The practice of a healthy lifestyle is one of the most important benefits even though many of us fall short of the ideal of health advocated by Ellen White.  These benefits are confirmed by the Adventist Health Study and include increased longevity and lower incidence of many diseases.  In addition to the benefits to health,  Christian faith offers a satisfying explanation of the human condition and the human need for redemption and forgiveness.  It offers relationship with a benign deity who offers Himself as the answer to human alienation from God and each other which is the result of sin.  Belief in a forgiving God who united Himself with humanity, and who accepts and forgives failing mortals changes people and gives meaning to our lives.  This transforming interaction between man and God does not confer immunity to accident or disease, but it does place man at the center of divine concern, and for the Christian union with the divine is the hope and ultimate glory of human existence.

A specific disadvantage to some depressed believers is the conviction that a committed Christian life should inoculate one against illness, particularly any mental illness.  Why should anyone who believes in God and practices a life of Christian virtue become depressed?  Does such depression not suggest a lack of faith or an absent prayer life?  Or it is assumed that unconfessed sin must be the source of depression.   At one extreme severely depressed Christians may become delusional, convinced that they have committed “the unpardonable sin” also known as “sin against the Holy Spirit.”   Reasoning with such a person that if they had truly committed this sin they would be unconcerned rather than guilty and pointing out God's forgiving grace will not be persuasive.

Distinguishing between guilt which is irrational and guilt which represents a violation of the patient's own moral code requires the judgement of experienced therapists who are mature in their own moral and spiritual growth.  Such recognition of sin as a human reality will never justify an attitude of criticism or condemnation.  Rather it recalls the therapeutic intervention of our master who in  a similar situation said “Neither do I condemn you,”  then furnished the injunction “Go now and leave your life of sin.”  John 8:11, NIV

Conscientious patients may suffer the double sting of depressive illness with the added guilty burden of believing that this illness is a reliable sign that they are unconverted.  Well-meaning friends who recommend confession instead of effective treatment are likely to add to the suffering of a depressed Christian.  Such “Job's comforters” should be kept away from sick people.  Instead of offering the comfort of faith, they needlessly add to the stigma and self-loathing many severely depressed people feel.

Finally I suggest we return to the extraordinary prayers of David, a warrior-chief and poet of dramatic mood variations including what appear to be deep troughs of despondency and depression.  Although his moods are expressed poetically, the extremes of sadness and hopelessness which contrast with devoted faith and commitment seem spontaneous and unedited.  One could imagine  these psalms as the free associations of a patient on the couch instructed to say whatever comes to mind.  The intimacy and freedom of his prayers demonstrate a full range of human emotion and also suggest a remarkable relationship with the God he knew well.  It is also clear from this poetry that David perceived a link between his sin and his mood.  Whether he suffered from diagnosable depressive illness or not his graphic expression of mood may be a model of uninhibited prayer.

“When I kept silent my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”-- And you forgave the guilt of my sin.  Ps.32: 3-5 NIV Read more at www.spectrummagazine.org

 

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