Month: October 2020

Into the Deep

Holy Fire

It’s easy to aggregate links on Travis Clark and Pat Wattigny without getting into any of the larger issues at hand. But it’s worth spending some time considering (at least some of) the issues present. May as well be healthy about things.

Sexuality, chastity, lifestyle, public persona, and arrogance, integrity, are some of the immediate issues that come to mind. And they’re worth taking some time to parse out.

Sexuality

Sexuality involves who you’re attracted to and what you do about it. As our friends at Merriam-Webster put it, sexuality is the “expression of sexual receptivity or interest especially when excessive.”

In Catholic teaching, sexuality is derived from natural law. But the Church itself is confused about sexuality these days, and the natural law itself is seen as a subject of current debate.

From LifeSite News, regarding a new teaching that goes against the natural law: 

Pope’s change to Catechism contradicts natural law and the deposit of Faith – LifeSite

This is Pope Francis’s boldest and most reckless move to date.

“Lest there be any doubts on this matter, Edward Feser and Joseph Bessette published a comprehensive overview of the subject: By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2017). In this hard-hitting book, Feser and Bessette present the natural law arguments in favor of capital punishment, furnish a veritable catalogue of citations from Scripture, Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and Popes that uphold its legitimacy, and mount a critique of the logical fallacies and doctrinal contradictions—be they those of American bishops, or even of the Bishop of Rome—who attempt to wiggle out of this unanimous witness of faith and reason.“

And, from the Catholic World Report, who argue also for the natural law, noting its demise in the public sphere in favor of what they call preference satisfaction. Preference satisfaction is a subjective thing and allows for gender choice, sexuality options, etc.  

But how can that be done, when our governing institutions have staked their authority on the rejection of natural law in favor of preference satisfaction, and all respectable public authorities—and indeed the current understanding of public rationality—back them up? Any answer will have to be very general, but we need to begin somewhere. …

It seems evident that the situation requires us to raise the most basic questions. What is natural for human beings? Not natural in the sense of modern physics, where whatever actually occurs is seen as natural, but in a sense more like that of biology or medicine, where what is considered natural is the normal healthy functioning of living systems.

In the Church, many times we’re not open to discussions about sexuality and lifestyle. A lot of priests openly support gay marriage and gay lifestyles over and above what the church teaches and anxiously await the redefining of the natural law. If that’s what they want – why can’t we acknowledge it and talk about it. The priesthood isn’t a place to hide out – we ran into that problem with pedophiles, which no doubt helped attract Pat Wattigny.

We see priests having gay relationships that are fully supported by the heirarchy even while heterosexual relationships are vividly frowned upon. In such a confusing environment, if a younger priest – or any priest – is not able to communicate in a healthy way, he is no doubt then easily led astray, questioning why he is not allowed some type of variance in his choice for a celibate life while others are.

Who knows the reality of the situation for Travis, but it’s worth having the conversations if it helps priests in the future.

Chastity

Chastity doesn’t matter to some priests, and to many faithful. Basically, as in any area of life today, there are those who have sex and those who don’t. Pat Wattigny and Travis Clark clearly fall into the category of men who have sex. 

Any sexual relations outside of marriage are contrary to Catholic teaching, even sex with one’s self, or masturbation. All of that stems again from the natural law (and of course supernatural revelation, the case of marriage,) and to that end you see adherents of the natural law (whether they realize it or not) coming to the same conclusions as the Church in their views against abortion (pro-life pagans), masturbation (the rise and prominence of no-religion-involved “no-fap” groups), etc. (See such articles as “According to Science, It’s Time to Stop Masturbating So Much“).

Hormonally speaking, chastity helps keep a healthier hormonal balance in the body. The sex Travis is alleged to have been having is not the type that would produce oxytocin, which is what is so reassuring and healing, the love hormone. It would be a dopamine rush and other associated pleasures such as can be associated with pornography and masturbation, and that can leave you feeling irritated and depressed for up to two weeks as there is no oxytocin being produced. Oxytocin is what he feel when we feel loved, accepted, around warm and loving family and friends. It is also produced when a man and a women make love naturally, slowly, pleasurably. 

Power

Beyond the issues of prudence and discretion, there is the overarching issue of power. To even consider having sex with a minor is to display no concept of the power one is wielding over that person’s young life. To actually do that, as a leader in faith, is to simply destroy their life. You can have sex with them as long as they go to the March for Life, don’t have abortions, don’t lead a gay lifestyle, and confess their sins? How does that justification even work in the rational centers of the mind? The mind is living a lie.

For Travis, the issue of power would not be present with a dominatrix, (or dominatrices as the English have been so fond of saying.) He’s no doubt aware of other priests acting out sexually, or is aware of them. Many get a free pass because they’re given a wink and a nod, or are simply prudent. But how would he be free to act out if he knows no women who aren’t under his spiritual authority? The wise and obvious answer is to simply not have sex and to find some other outlet for frustrations, also looking for some type of healthy community support.

Lifestyle

Most people give their priests a wide berth and a lot of understanding. But there’s also the issue of integrity, as noted below. One can only lead a false life so much of the time if that’s the route one chooses. No one’s perfect, and no priest wants to call out a brother priest on his imperfections as every priest has them. It all leads to our lifestyle choices.

Celibate lifestyles of the poor and lowly is not an attractive lifestyle choice, but it’s one every priest makes to some degree. Imperfections that lead to the front page and scandalize the faithful are something we should be challenged on by our brother priests and by those with our best interests at heart. Being challenged all the time is no doubt irritating, but appreciated.

Public Persona

The public persona of anyone is something that’s easily manipulated. A diocese can start cranking out propaganda either in favor of or against any given priest according to the whimsies of the current hierarchy at a moment’s notice, coating any given situation in pre or post-dated agitprop in the twinkling of any eye. 

In both cases, Travis and Pat, the public persona was evidently more important than the person at the heart of the persona. Who is at the center of what the public perceives in any of us? It has to be Jesus Christ at the center of our lives. It can be challenging, amidst the busy lives that priests lead, to remain truly prayerful and Christ-centered amidst not only the busyness, but also public perceptions of what we should be doing, how we should be acting, and what we actually need to do.  

Why really should a priest be overly concerned about his public image? Most people will hate them anyway or simply look at them objectively. “Oh, he’s a priest.” They often don’t see the man who’s going through life in all its sublime glories and agonies, just the man who shows up for Mass, Confessions, the Wedding, Baptism, Funeral, etc. At many points in a priests life, he’s called to be amazingly unpopular. As Charlton Heston said in Planet of the Apes (for no other reaosn that the quote is apropos), “It’s a fact … buy it, you’ll sleep better.” 

Maybe a sense of apathy regarding public perception helped to motivate both of them. People will hate them no matter what they do – so does it matter? (Yes, it does.) 

Arrogance

Merriam-Webster defines arrogance as “an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions.” 

In the isolation that can happen in the priesthood, as in any way of life, arrogance can be an easy thing to happen under the cover of privacy and given that one is in authority over so many people who want things to go smoothly and to go well. What’s done in private should remain in private when it’s done amongst mutually consenting adults. But what about when it gets into sex with minors? 

The Archdiocese was a bit heavy-handed in dealing with Fr. Pat Wattigny’s case of texting as it said that texting a minor about his 18th birthday isn’t a sexually related issue. Perhaps not, if the texts were about arranging a party with the youth group and included another adult in the text. But that wasn’t the case.

The texts were in the context of ongoing inappropriate texting with a minor involving gifts, private meetings, and were completely out of context with anything remotely appropriate. Any person of reason would question why it’s OK for a 53-year-old, overweight and graying man to be texting their minor son about his coming of age. Abuse from the clergy and within the Archdiocese is about more than covering one’s backside legally. 

Integrity 

“But you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matt 5:48 

Again according to Merriam-Webster, a definition of “perfect” is complete, and a definition of integrity is also “complete” – the quality or state of being complete and undivided. 

How do we maintain integrity as followers of Jesus Christ, when it’s literally impossible to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect? 

In the Septuagint we see the word “hamartia” being used to describe the concept of sin. It means. “missing the mark”, as when a field goal kicker misses that field goal, especially in the last minute or two of the game (for our football oriented society.) Hamartia is also descended from Greek usage to mean, in literature, a “tragic flaw”. Both terms apply to Travis and Pat – they have a tragic flaw and they missed the mark.

In some sense, we’re all, always, going to be missing the mark.  But we have to be prudent and caring in our actions so that “missing the mark” doesn’t become our “tragic flaw” and destroy the Faith of either ourselves or either the faith or lives of others. 

A Culture of Personality verses a Culture of Virtue 

In her book Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, Susan Cain writes and documents US society’s progression from a culture of virtue to a culture of personality. That has a bearing on what we’re seeing in the Church today. It’s completely impossible for anyone to fulfill the needs and role of a priest perfectly, and no man should ever be expected to. In fact, the role of Priest, Bishop, Pope, should all be diminished in the public eye away from personality and back into the alter christus, speaking from a simple life relatively unnoticed in the world. 

The culture of personality is especially noticed when referencing the Holy Father – it’s all about who the Pope appears to be, not really whether what he’s teaching makes sense in light of Catholic teaching, which is all debatable now anyway. It’s no offense to our current Holy Father as the same has been happening for a while now. The roles of the priest and bishop follow similarly, with approval numbers often dictating what’s right and what’s wrong, instead of being the rock around which the ever-changing whimsy  of human thought is forced to flow. 

And so it goes

In a state of grace, the soul is like a well of limpid water, from which flow only streams of clearest crystal. Its works are pleasing both to God and man, rising from the River of Life, beside which it is rooted like a tree.” 

St. Teresa of Avila

It takes daily sacrifice, and the lowering of one’s own ambitions, desires, and wants, to remain in a state of grace. It can be like taming a wild lion, a bucking stallion, or like training a puppy dog – but it has to be done. It’s how we choose to do it that determines the adventure at hand. 

The Church in the world today is many things, most importantly it is the Body of Christ, Jesus Christ who is the Beginning and the End – ever ancient and unchanging, ever new, vital, and present.

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Saint Callistus I

Saint Callistus

What a saint! What a life! And oh my goodness, what a story.

Catholic.org paints Callistus as being maligned and slandered by a jealous rival in a tale fraught with drama and intrigue. “Callistus came to power during a crucial time of the Church. Was it going to hang on to the rigid rules of previous years and limit itself to those who were already saints or was it going to embrace sinners as Christ commanded? Was its mission only to a few holy ones or to the whole world, to the healthy or to the sick? We can understand Hippolytus’ fear — that hypocritical penitents would use the Church and weaken it in the time when they faced persecution. But Callistus chose to trust God’s mercy and love and opened the doors. By choosing Christ’s mission, he chose to spread the Gospel to all.”

St. Callistus I – Saints & Angels – Catholic Online

Imagine that your biography was written by an enemy of yours. And that its information was all anyone would have not only for the rest of your life but for centuries to come. You would never be able to refute it — and even if you couldno one would believe you because your accuser was a saint.

The only story of his life we have is from someone who hated him and what he stood for, an author identified as Saint Hippolytus, a rival candidate for the chair of Peter. What had made Hippolytus so angry?

Hippolytus was very strict and rigid in his adherence to rules and regulations. The early Church had been very rough on those who committed sins of adultery, murder, and fornication. Hippolytus was enraged by the mercy that Callistus showed to these repentant sinners, allowing them back into communion of the Church after they had performed public penance.

Callistus’ mercy was also matched by his desire for equality among Church members, manifested by his acceptance of marriages between free people and slaves. Hippolytus saw all of this as a degradation of the Church, a submission to lust and licentiousness that reflected not mercy and holiness in Callistus but perversion and fraud.

Trying to weed out the venom to find the facts of Callistus’ life in Hippolytus’ account, we learn that Callistus himself was a slave (something that probably did not endear him to class-conscious Hippolytus). His master, Carporphorus made him manager of a bank in the Publica Piscina sector of Rome where Callistus took in the money of other Christians. The bank failed — according to Hippolytus because Callistus spent the money on his own pleasure-seeking. It seems unlikely that Carporphorus would trust his good name and his fellow Christians’ savings to someone that unreliable.

Whatever the reason, Callistus fled the city by ship in order to escape punishment. When his master caught up with him, Callistus jumped into the sea (according to Hippolytus, in order to commit suicide). After Callistus was rescued he was brought back to Rome, put on trial, and sentenced to a cruel punishment — forced labor on the treadmill.

Carporphorus took pity on his former slave and manager and Callistus won his release by convincing him he could get some of the money back from investors. (This seems to indicate, in spite of Hippolytus’ statements, that the money was not squandered but lent or invested unwisely.) Callistus’ methods had not improved with desperation and when he disrupted a synagogue by shouting for money, he was arrested and sentenced again.

About nine or ten years later, the new pope Zephyrinus recalled Callistus to Rome. Zephyrinus was good-hearted and well-meaning but had no understanding of theology. This was disastrous in a time when heretical beliefs were springing up everywhere.

One minute Zephyrinus would endorse a belief he thought orthodox and the next he would embrace the opposite statement. Callistus soon made his value known, guiding Zephyrinus through theology to what he saw as orthodoxy. (Needless to say it was not what Hippolytus felt was orthodox enough.) To a certain extent, according to Hippolytus, Callistus was the power behind the Church before he even assumed the bishopric of Rome.

When Zephyrinus died in 219, Callistus was proclaimed pope over the protests of his rival candidate Hippolytus. He seemed to have as strong a hatred of heresy as Hippolytus, however, because he banished one of the heretics named Sabellius.

When you think you’ve had enough of Church drama in the 21st Century, it’s always helpful to simply look back into centuries past and see they had it just as bad.

And just as good.

We live in an imperfect world, and we always have to work at correcting injustices and imperfections. With grace, we look deeper into ourselves and our own lives, because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand if we have eyes to see, and ears to hear.

St. Callistus, pray for us!

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St. Edward the Confessor

Once England had fallen to the Protestants we stopped thinking of the saintly men and women who hail from the fascinating little island across the ocean. (What must it be like to grow up in a small town with a city like London a few hours away, and access to the best of everything – the best practices in music, literature, arts, theater?)

O God, Who crowned blessed King Edward with the glory of eternity, grant us, we beseech You, so to venerate him on earth that we may be worthy to reign with him in heaven.

Collect from the Mass of the Day

Edward’s a fascinating man. We’re on a first name basis, too, in case you wondered.

Edward the Confessor: England’s holy hardman

Edward the Confessor has widely been cast as a saintly but feeble king – a dreary bit-part player in the great crisis of 1066.

Think of Edward the Confessor, and you’ll probably imagine an old, grey king, approaching death. This is how we see him depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry, in iconography inspired by his saint’s cult, and in TV dramatisations of the Norman conquest. We think of Edward the saint, preparing his soul for heaven, and we regard his reign as a prelude to the more exciting events of 1066. Like Charles Dickens, in his A Child’s History of England, we quickly pass over “the dreary old Confessor” to get to “the brave Harold”. Edward has become linked in our minds with the decline of Anglo-Saxon England, Harold to its final defence. Yet Edward’s reign is the key to many mysteries, including how England came to be conquered.

Reputations can be misleading. It can take centuries for historians to rewrite them. It was Edward himself, or his courtiers, who planted the idea that he was a holy king who worked miracles. This boosted his mystique. Later, his image was reshaped by medieval monks who wanted to portray him as one of their own. Reinventing him as a ‘Confessor’ (a saint who ‘confessed’ the faith by virtuous living), they created a cipher who was revered by pious monarchs, notably Henry III. Edward came to be seen as an otherworldly king, more interested in preparing his soul for heaven than in governing England. The idea soon grew that Edward left the business of ruling the kingdom to his earls, chiefly Godwine and Godwine’s son Harold.

But Edward is far more than the man behind the reputation built for him by monks of later centuries.

Edward now began driving home the message that he was a saviour, sent by God to resurrect the ancient line of kings and usher in a golden age. He proclaimed these ideas by the original means of including the word ‘PEACE’ on his inaugural coinage and by delaying his coronation by almost a year, to hold it on Easter Day 1043.

The Christ-like symbolism was striking. Returning from the grave of exile (which was often likened to death), Edward came to redeem his people from Danish captivity. Peace was a manifesto that he intended to implement. According to his contemporary biographer, one of the first things Edward did was to arrange peace treaties with the lesser kings or princes of the British Isles, and with the neighbouring powers who shared Britain’s seaways. Meanwhile, he rewarded the agents who had helped him, including Earl Godwine, and punished those who had not, such as his mother, Emma. Harthacnut was dead of course, but Edward punished him for presuming to occupy the throne by ensuring he was given a bad write-up in the chronicles.

A courtly writer observing Edward at the beginning of the reign in 1042 remarked that he was a good man and a perceptive one too. Nearing 40, the king was no longer a youth. His biographer, writing at the end of the reign in 1065, described him as a man of vigorous action. Another contemporary, at the abbey of Bury St Edmunds, regarded Edward as an energetic man, always busy for the benefit of present and future generations. Barlow, who saw Edward as a king “who never searched for work”, appears to have overlooked this evidence, which contradicts his thesis that Edward was lethargic and uncommitted.

The Vita Ædwardi Regis – a manuscript dating to 1100 and now residing in the British Library – writes of him:

“He was a very proper figure of a man – of outstanding height, and distinguished by his milky white hair and beard, full face and rosy cheeks, thin white hands, and long translucent fingers; in all the rest of his body he was an unblemished royal person. Pleasant, but always dignified, he walked with eyes downcast, most graciously affable to one and all. If some cause aroused his temper, he seemed as terrible as a lion, but he never revealed his anger by railing.” This, as the historian Richard Mortimer notes, ‘contains obvious elements of the ideal king, expressed in flattering terms – tall and distinguished, affable, dignified and just.’

He was tall and pale, also distinguished, affable, dignified, and just. I can relate – he’ll make a perfect study for my sabbatical theme of composure.

His tomb is located in Westminster Abbey and is a well-worn place that was, and still is, the center of pilgrimages throughout the centuries. A beautiful place to visit, and I was able to do that once.

Thoughts on Edward the Confessors shrine

I have always been mystified by Edward the Confessors shrine. It is unlike any other I have seen (keep in mind that I’m no expert on shrines). The coffin is raised high up on a platform. There are six niches, three on each side, so that people could kneel in each niche and pray to…

Some thoughts on the tomb of Edward

He lived with his wife Edith in Westminster Abbey, which he also built. The Abbey was later and famously rebuilt starting in 1245, in the form it still has, and finished in 1269.

The 13th of October marks the day his remains were translated – transported, or moved and reinterred from their original location – to the present Abbey.

The Abbey itself has an impressive article on Edward and his lovely wife Edith.

Edward the Confessor and Edith | Westminster Abbey

Edward the Confessor was King from 1042 to 1066. He founded a monastery to St Peter, known as Westminster Abbey. His body still lies in his Shrine.

They were both Catholic of course. Here’s a link for information on a Requiem Mass done for Edith a few years ago at the Shrine of St. Edward, in the Abbey.

St. Edward, ora pro nobis.

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Travis’ Fall from Grace

Deacon Travis Clark

It’s impossible to know what was going on in Travis’ mind. We’re all being asked about him. It’s easy to focus on the negatives, but for the record, I’m more than willing to hear his Confession if he’d like to go, and he does have many good qualities – aside from his appalling and breathtaking association with the production of diabolically oriented sex videos.

It started so horrifically, and so simply as most awful things do, when the news broke on October 1, and word spread like wildfire as to what had happened. Clearly diabolic in nature, what the heck was he thinking? What happened? (Don’t look too far or too diligently, if you do, but “priest porn” is evidently a thing.)

When asked about him by various people, I only had a few things to say:

Sure, I knew him tho not that well. He seemed like a nice guy, tho quiet, which isn’t uncommon for a priest. What’s going around is that his nickname in seminary was Lurch, in an oddball way. Evidently, some in the seminary thought there were always problems with him, and aren’t overly surprised, tho I can’t see how anyone is not extremely surprised with the news.

He did a Mass as a Deacon at one of my assignments. And was later assigned nearby in the same Deanery for several years. We were on the Priestly Life and Ministry Committee together though he was unable to attend any of the meetings due to Deanery Meeting conflicts. His last assignment was at a neighboring Parish, tho it’s not that close as we’re such a large parish, territorially speaking.

He’s a kind guy and he seemed like a good man. He did a lot of work trying to reorganize the Serra Club on the Northshore. His former parishioners say he stayed up all night playing video games and was often tired for Masses in the morning. That’s unsurprising given his recent diabolic escapade. They were in the church at 11 pm and after, on September 30, with a scheduled Mass at 8:00 am on October 1. 🤢

The area is riddled with drugs, as is every area these days. Some consider he may have gotten into substance use issues based on his appearance in his mug shot. The area is also home to satanic activity, and there’s said to be much that goes on in the area in which he was pastor. Clearly, there is a diabolic element at play. Whether he was under the influence of some substance use doesn’t really matter, because the fact is it only gave him license to do something he was capable of thinking about rationally when he wasn’t under the influence.

Mindy Dixon did say she was on the way to town to defile a house of God, so he must have had a clue. I’m guessing they were videoing for a porn site, though I really did not want to spend a lot of time investigating that. Priest porn is evidently a thing, and perhaps someone should investigate that phenomon, as it no doubt involves other priests as well.

My thinking is that he got into something he wasn’t prepared to deal with, went with it without thinking of the consequences, and made international news. But the fact remains that he went with it. It’s too far out there to simply explain away, so he has no excuse in that regard.

The traumatizing tale was was picked up by the New York Post and others:

Priest arrested for having threesome with corset-wearing dominatrices on church altar

Have mercy on us, oh Lord! A Louisiana priest was arrested for allegedly filming himself having sex with two dominatrices on the altar at his Catholic church, a report said Thursday. The priest, id…

And by the Daily Mail.

Priest arrested for threesome with dominatrices on church altar

Louisiana priest, Rev Travis Clark was arrested for allegedly recording himself having sex with dominatrices, Mindy Dixon, 41, and Melissa Cheng, 23, on the altar of his church.

And by the Mirror because clearly the Uk was fascinated:

Priest ‘filmed himself having sex with dominatrix porn stars on church altar’

Rev Travis Clark was allegedly caught having sex with adult film actress Mindy Dixon, 41, and 23-year-old Melissa Cheng at a church by a passer-by who noticed the lights were on after hours

On to Australia.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/lifestyle/priest-allegedly-filmed-sm-porn-with-two-women-in-church/news-story/8dd4a9adcf52a33a06771ed33ed5b01c

Back home, Archbishop Aymond sensibly burned the altar, though the UK remained glued to the story.

Altar burned after ‘priest filmed himself having sex with porn stars there’

After finding out of the allegations, Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans has said that the ‘desecrated’ altar was removed from the church and set on fire.

The burning of the altar met with mixed reactions. Some thought the church should be bulldozed and the earth salted.

Mixed reaction after new altar consecrated following pastor’s obscenity charges with dominatrices

Saints Peter and Paul catholic church became Steve Fecke’s spiritual home after Katrina, and worked closely with former pastor Travis Clark to help record masses for the congregation during covid.

Saints Peter and Paul catholic church became Steve Fecke’s spiritual home after Katrina and worked closely with former pastor Travis Clark to help record masses for the congregation during COVID.

Other parishioners described their former pastor as respectful, courteous, and humble.

“It’s very difficult to read and hear some of the things that transpired on an altar so to me it’s a welcome change it’s a sign of maybe renewal for our church,” Fecke said.

Clark was arrested in October on obscenity charges with Mindy Dixon and Melissa Cheng for having sex with the women on the church’s altar. Both identify as dominatrices on their social media pages. Fecke says hearing that news, betrayal was only the start.

“I ask people to keep our parish and our faith our catholic church in their prayers,” Fecke said.

After burning the old altar, Archbishop Gregory Aymond gifted a new altar to the church from the archdiocese.

“His behavior was obscene his desecration of the altar is demonic,” Aymond said.

via Fox8Live

The women involved have spoken out, especially vocal is Mindy Dixon, who goes by the name Lady Vi, and also goes as the Satanatrix.

Dominatrices ‘innocent’ after sex with Catholic priest on church altar

Mindy Dixon, 41, (left) and Melissa Cheng, 23, (right) were arrested with Reverend Travis Clark, 37 (inset) after they were caught filming themselves in church. Their attorney insists there was no crime.

Mindy Dixon, 41, and 23-year-old Melissa Cheng traveled to Pearl River, Louisiana, for the session with Reverend Travis Clark, 37, at the Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church after hours on September 30.

The dominatrices, both dressed in corsets and high-heeled boots at the time, were arrested alongside the priest, and the trio were charged with obscenity. Following the arrest, Clark, who was ordained in 2013, was suspended from the archdiocese….

Cheng and Dixon insist that they were innocent because all parties were adults, and the incident took place behind closed doors on private property – and that it was the passerby who looked in who was to blame.

Dixon, based in Seattle, reacted to the news by posting on Twitter a gif of a horned red devil dancing in a sexually suggestive manner, captioned: ‘This is my official f***ing statement.’

On her website Dixon, who lives with her husband and their pug, Lily, goes by the name Lady Vi.

She describes herself as ‘the embodiment of sin exquisitely crafted into flesh and bone’ and promotes her dungeon and S&M catalogue, emphasizing that she does not have sex with her clients, and nor will her clients be allowed to touch her. 

The IBT has a good story on both of them, thought the DailyMail is pretty specific.

Who are Mindy Dixon and Melissa Cheng? Dominatrices Caught Having Sex With Church Priest at Altar

The church has burnt the altar where the sex act took place between the priest and hookers.

Heavy helps fill in the story on Melissa Cheng.

Melissa Cheng aka Empress Ming Named as One of the Dominatrixes in Rev. Travis Clark Priest Sex Scandal

Melissa Cheng aka Empress Ming is the dominatrix who is accused of having sex in view of the public with Rev. Travis Clark in Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in Pearl River, Louisiana.

Cheng tweeted on October 5 that she was going on vacation to Mexico. Cheng said that she needs “a proper vacation after being so traumatized.” On October 7, Cheng tweeted that she had “been through a lot these past few days.”

According to various posts on the dominatrix news website HogSpy, Cheng frequently tours around the United States. Over the past 12 months, Cheng has offered her dominatrix services in Detroit, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles.

As well as more – if you can imagine – on Mindy Dixon.

Mindy Dixon aka Lady Vi Named as One of the Dominatrixes in Rev. Travis Clark Priest Sex Scandal

Mindy Dixon aka Lady Vi who along with Melissa Cheng aka Empress Ming who is accused of having sex with Rev. Travis Clark in Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in Pearl River, Louisana.

Dixon describes herself as a “Sadistic, sin-seeking, corruption Domme who craves authenticity in scene and service” on her website. One review of Dixon’s work says, “Lady Vi, and the Church of Satanatrix, are perfection. I put myself into her hands and was treated to an experience like nothing else.” The website lists prices of $300 for a one-hour session.

Dixon writes in another section of her website that she is a satanist and established a church known as Satanatrix. Dixon says the church “a way to combine my religious ideology (Satanist) with my personal and professional calling (Dominatrix).” In that section, Dixon says that “Religious role-play scenes are incredibly hot. I love exploiting shame and playing with deep-rooted religious guilt.”

Ms. Dixon has a Facebook Page, a Website, as well as her Twitter. Melissa Cheng has an Empress Ming Facebook Page, and currently has a GoFundMe to help with her legal expenses.

No one knows where Travis is. 🤷🏼‍♂️

But the lawyers are ready to go. Ms. Dixon posted her attorney’s statement on her Twitter.

Mindy’s appalled, but could it actually be classified as a hate crime? She’s an avowed satanist, and did intend to defile a house of God.

One wonders what happened with Travis.

But one can quite clearly only spend so much time researching a thing, especially when it’s so heavy.

The works of satan invaded the Church through one of its Priests, and that’s serious. Something went wrong in an extremely major way.

It can only be a big picture thing. Notre Dame Seminary is having a Mass of Reparation this Wednesday, October 14 at 4:00 pm.

The Kingdom of God is the victor in the battle against evil. As Jesus pointed out to satan, “It is written”, “Have you not read?” The Lord has already spoken. It doesn’t mean we’re safe from the attacks and wiles of the enemy – far be it from remaining so easy a thing.

Still, it’s simple. Because those who seek the Kingdom of Heaven will find what they are looking for. And the Lord provides for our needs, our safe shelter – we can become hidden in Christ until He who is our life appears in glory.

There’s an old German proverb having to do with an elderly man coming downstairs in the middle of the night, after hearing some sound or other, and seeing satan himself seated in the living room before the fire. “Oh, it’s just you,” he says, and returns to sleep. He knew he had more power and all protection.

St. Benedict of Nursia is also a great intercessor, with beautiful prayers. It’s difficult sometimes, putting yourself out there for Jesus Christ, especially if you’re sensitive to spiritual phenomena and don’t care to invite more attention than you already do as a Christ lover. But now’s the time for it.

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Jesus Christ is Lord.

🙏🏻

The Art of Composure

Finding myself on sabbatical, and in need of a theme, a place, arrangements, etc, was certainly not what I was planning on doing for the end of 2020. I’m working on a book about the experience, because I’m sure there are many spiritual lessons to be learned that will be valuable. And I have to write something.

With all of that in mind, I landed on the theme of composure.

What exactly, you might ask, is composure?

Composure Defined

Merriam-Webster defines composure as “a calmness or repose especially of mind, bearing, or appearance.”

Some of the many, many, many weblogs devoted to the subject define composure further as “Self-possession in a time of anger and gaslighting.”

I like that.

Covid and Composure

Scripture is filled with examples of composure. Jesus before Pilate, carrying the Cross, undergoing Crucifixion, for instance. Or look briefly at Esther. Or almost anyone in Scripture for that matter.

We can look at the saints too – St. Denis last Friday, the patron saint of Paris, was beheaded in the city, picked up his head and walked back to the then village of St. Denis. Now that’s composure.

This time of covid have found many, and I was saying this back in April, looking for someone on whom they can take out their anger. Just when we think we’ve found the culprit, the story changes, and there’s someone else. Then a news story breaks, and it’s someone else all over again. It’s a study in non-composure.

Composure and Web Presence

I’ll also decide what to do with my site here – it was a repository for photos back in the day, but as my spiritual director says about things in general right now, it’s the end of an era. Maybe I’ll find a seminar during my sabbatical that can help with that decision.

The soul is an image of heaven because God dwells in it. ~ St. Basil the Great (Office of Readings for St. Seraphin of Montegranaro, OFM Cap.)

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The Rev. Kenneth Allen