Below you will find excerpts of a letter from an ex-parishioner of SGG, written to someone who apparently has some kind of misgivings about the Ode to Reality and/or the content thereof. The deletions have been made mostly to keep the recipient of the email as anonymous as possible:
Dear N____,
My name is Jim Gebel. I don't know if you remember me or not. I was (but am no longer) a member of "SGG" (the St. Gertrude the Great Church congregation); I was a member there for over 20 years...
But my reason for writing to you is not to relate old "anecdotes" but to comment on Eamon Shea's "Ode to Reality" e-mail...
....please "hear me out" before you make any judgement on what I have to say...
I know for a fact that Bp. Dolan and Fr. Cekada are not "kind and devoted." I can easily see how you may have that impression of them...
Both of them can be (and have been) very condescending and vindictive -- Fr. Cekada especially. During the "Terri Schiavo" affair (which, I'm sure, even made the news in ____), Fr. Cekada tried to justify not only her being starved to death but being deprived of water as well. My son, who is a neurologist (and not only renowned in the U.S. but internationally as well) wrote a medical opinion on the case, whereupon Cekada wrote a rebuttal to him. The rebuttal was sarcastic, condescending, and amateurish; and it was inserted as an "attachment" in the SGG church bulletin one Sunday back then, to publicly defame my son to all our parishioners (and, of course, published on the SGG website for all the world to see).
My son did not reply to Fr. Cekada, but an independent traditional Catholic website did. They totally refuted Fr. Cekada's arguments, proving him wrong on every one of his points. And, except for everyone within the SGG sphere and people like Jack Kevorkian, virtually no one agrees with Cekada's position. I also replied to Cekada, and I left SGG at that time. Unfortunately, I returned some time later. But this past Palm Sunday, I left "for good." This time, my reason for leaving was due to some information that I found out after reading (in early Spring, 2009) a copy of an e-mail that Eamon sent on Christmas Eve, 2008.
His e-mail "alluded" to certain things that were alleged to have happened at SGG and its school. Some of the allegations that he made in his e-mail, I had heard from other people at SGG; so I decided to investigate. I talked with more than a dozen parishioners, and they not only corroborated what he said, but they mentioned even more bad/immoral things going on there. This led me to leave SGG this second and last time on Palm Sunday. When I left, I sent Fr. Cekada (I didn't have Bp. Dolan's address at the time) a short e-mail message stating that I was no longer a member there, and I would give my reasons (for leaving) in a later e-mail. The next Sunday (Easter Sunday), the SGG church bulletin stated (in the "Bishop's Corner" column) that I had left for "doctrinal reasons." This is simply untrue.
I have since written an e-mail to Bp. Dolan, stating my real reasons for leaving. With it, I also included two attachments. The first contained some pertinent correspondence on the Schiavo case; the second was an article written by Fr. Cekada in 1990, in which he stated positions that he and Bp. Dolan no longer hold -- an article, by the way, which is no longer to be found on the SGG website.
And what are my reasons for leaving? Mainly, they are non-doctrinal: first, I left because of the way people have been mistreated either by them or by school personnel. People have actually been physically threatened and bodily pushed around -- both adults and children -- by members of the N_____ family; and much immoral activity has been going on at the school -- mostly by the N____ boys (if you don't believe me, I can give you the names of the people involved; and you can ask them). Dolan and Cekada not only knew about all of this activity, but they condoned and/or supported it as well! Lastly, I left because of the extravagant lifestyle that Dolan and Cekada live. Their extravagance is legendary, and it is well-known throughout traditional circles.
Since I have written my letter (which you may see if you like; I'll send it to you if you request it), I have received much "feedback," the vast majority of it being favorable/supportive. Of course, I've also received some negative feedback -- from three people so far, who are all SGG members. But the negative feedback was not fact-based, but rather was only baseless accusations and name-calling. I applaud their zeal in defending those whom they support, but I deplore their use of bad logic and their lack of professionalism.
Now, in your case -- as you pointed out -- you have no reason to be partial or prejudiced... Now I cannot comment on Eamon Shea's mental state with regard to... but I can assure you that what he says can be corroborated by many other individuals, all of whom are good, decent, honest people. They can't all be mentally ill.
Since I wrote my letter, I have also found out more information -- from more than twenty former SGG parishioners so far -- about what has been going on there; and they all corroborate what I say (most of it, they do not have to corroborate; it's common knowledge). More importantly, many of them also corroborate Eamon's allegations. I am sure that, by now, I am also considered a "pariah" by Dolan and Cekada, and by many of their obedient followers who blindly defend everything that those two say or do. Perhaps even you have heard of my "defection" from SGG, and have even been "warned" not to believe anything that I say. I hope not.
I am sure that these two men will do everything they can to damage my credibility. But they can't call me "mentally ill." There have been dozens of people who have been victimized by them and who have left SGG in disgust. And, like I said before, they're not mentally ill. Nor are they evil, vindictive "trouble-makers." One might "write off" Eamon Shea as "mentally ill," but one cannot write off all the rest of us.
You may ask, "Why, then, haven't all these people "spoken up"? Why only Eamon and I so far? Well, in some cases, they have spoken up. But they have done so only to Dolan or Cekada -- and, out of "respect" for the clergy, only in a polite way. In every case, they have been dismissed/ignored by these two, who -- leveraging this "clerical immunity" -- rely on these people not mentioning anything to others for fear of "detraction." In many cases, too, people are intimidated into submission for fear of retaliation -- especially folks whose children are in the SGG school and who are afraid what these two and/or the N_____s will do if they "talk."
And there is one last reason: in this country, people are sued for anything and everything; people are afraid to admit anything these days. They're afraid they'll get sued -- especially for such serious charges as Eamon implies in his "ode." It's ironic: if they remain silent, they're accused of not providing any "proof." But if they come forward and speak out, they're either sued; or they're condemned for "detraction." It's a "lose-lose" situation.
The other problem is that, in this country ... things like ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖity are not "crimes." Even if a person proves someone to be ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ, nothing will be done about it. And, even worse, the accuser may be sued for "defamation of character." Who is going to risk that?
Let me just say this: what Eamon implies in his "Ode" has been corroborated by many, many people. It's common knowledge in several circles. So, whether you believe that Eamon is "mentally ill" for saying what he does, you cannot say that about the whole multitude of people who share the same view. To date, there is a mountain of circuмstantial evidence to support his/their claims; and, in time, Dolan and Cekada will get careless -- and the concrete evidence will surface.
I understand why you feel the way that you do now, but I urge you to read and consider what I have said here. With each passing day, more and more people who have kept silent in the past are coming forward to speak out. I think that it is only a matter of time that the trickle of information that has started to flow will become an avalanche of truth that will put an end to all the wrongdoing of these men. My hope is that it persuades them to "clean up their act" ; but, as someone in Las Vegas once said, "I wouldn't bet on it."
Jim Gebel
Topic: Letter to a doubter... (Read 7621 times)