I have procrastinated long enough….
There are several matters which I must address, specifically (1) my health, (2) the status of Sylvia’s Site
First, from the bottom of my heart, thank you! Thank you each and every one for your prayers and your kind words regarding my medical “crisis” of last year.
A quick backgrounder…
In January of 2021 a CT scan indicated that I had a tumour on my left kidney. The long and short is that 10 long long months later I had a partial nephrectomy (part of the kidney was removed).
The surgery was successful. The tumour was malignant (grade 3). Two nights in the hospital and I was back home.
Prayers were most definitely heard! I was fortunate enough to have a skilled surgeon who operated using a robot! It truly is the most amazing thing. And, I must say, recovery was virtually a breeze. I had five small incisions in my belly – in other words, no massive incision running from back to front as was/is the norm for kidney surgery. Honest to goodness, I was up trotting around the Recovery Room about two hours after I ‘came to’ – unaided! Yes, of course I was sore and I did my share of moaning and groaning, but I am now a strong advocate for robotic surgery.
Anyway, pathology results showed that the growth was indeed malignant, and, as I said, Grade 3.
A few weeks ago I received results of a body CT Scan. No cancer!!!! It’s gone, and hasn’t spread. There will be another scan in six months.
So, thank you, thank you, thank you for you prayers. I am on the mend 😊
- The status of Sylvia’s Site
My goal when I first populated Sylvia’s Site with the names of Canadian priests charged, sued or accused, was twofold (a) to protect children by ensuring that, as far as was humanly possible, the names of clergy charged sued or accused were out in the public domain thus hopefully ensuring that Roman Catholics had the means to determine if the priest who shows up in their sanctuary, school or hospital has any known history of sexual ‘Indiscretions’, and (b) to hopefully pressure Church officials to keep such priests away from the unwitting faithful, and, ideally, to remove them from the priesthood.
I had concerns before I decided to go ahead with the launch of the site, the deepest that I might s that I might inadvertently do more harm than good. I resolved that if it ever seemed that things were going in that direction I would shut down the site. There were a few occasions over the years where I paused for a long and hard think and reassessment. Always, I prayed for your souls. I can not conceive anything which has greater import than the salvation of a soul. There is that old familiar biblical saying: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul.” I believe that. To the depth of my being, I believe that.
When I say my concern is that I may be doing more harm than good, my primary concern, as a practising Roman Catholic, was and is that victims and their families may, in their anger, turn against “the Church” to such a degree that justified anger turns to hatred, and that hatred fuels a desire to denounce every single priest, mock every single practising Roman Catholic, and in fact work actively to destroy the very institution of the Church and in the process deny themselves the healing which Christ offers through the Sacraments. I As many of you know, I am a convert. I truly believe that the Church provides all that is needed for each and every one of us to, if we so desire, attain salvation. That is not saying that there are those within the Church who are ‘bad’ people. There was, after all, a Judas amongst the apostles. We have had them, and continue to have them to this day, and will have them in the future. However, we must remember that every priest is not a Judas. Nor is every priest responsible for the actions of a Judas.
It pains me deeply to see diocese after diocese selling off churches to pay settlements. In most instances those churches were built with the love and sacrifice of countless hard working Roman Catholics, to house Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and to provide an appropriate venue for the administration of the Sacraments. In most if not all instances the sale of a Church means countless Roman Catholics must try to find elsewhere to attend Mass; and in some instances, that is extremely difficult. In short, countless good decent Roman Catholics are suffering because a diocese was sued for the sins and crimes of defiant deviant priests who, in pursuing their own perverted passions, betrayed the faithful entrusted to their care, their fellow priests, the Church, and God. If in the process of all of this I could see that victims were returning to the Sacraments in droves I believe I could perhaps live with it. Sadly, that just is not happening. To the contrary.
I will be out of contact for the next six weeks. After that I will sort out how to deal with the site , whether to remove it completely or to leave the names and some vital info up. I am inclined to lean toward the latter, but will give it some more thought. For now I am closing down the ability for everyone to post comments.
My prayers are with each and every one of you. I realize that many of you will not understand why I am taking this step and will be angry. I have never wanted to inflict further pain on any one of you. I love you as a mother loves her children. It is precisely for that reason however that I must take this step. I will continue to pray for you, for your healing, and most importantly, for the salvation of your immortal souls.
Sylvia