Invitation to Week One: “Black-Pilling Week One—Satanic Masterpiece On Both Sides of the Spectrum”

 

Honored Clergy and My Brothers All,

I want to invite you to the first gathering in a four-week class on a difficult but deeply important topic: what happens when people begin to lose faith in religion because of the sins, failures, scandals, hypocrisy, or abuses of religious leadership.

This first week is working under the title “Black-Pilling Week One—Satanic Masterpiece On Both Sides of the Spectrum.” The title is intentionally stark, because the experience itself can feel stark: a person sees real evil, real betrayal, or real corruption among those who claim to speak for God, and the temptation is to conclude that the whole thing is rotten. Some react by hardening into cynicism. Others react by defending the institution so fiercely that they can no longer hear the wounded. Both responses can pull us away from truth, charity, repentance, and hope.   If you have not watched it yet, the video at https://www.youtube.com/live/DhAZZGECvtc is what led me to tackle the concept, we will also have copies of Bishop Barron’s https://media.wordonfire.org/ebooks/Letter-to-a-Suffering-Church.pdf available as our Knights of Columbus Council purchased several a number of years ago.

Some scriptural resources we can also look at and discuss:

·         1 Kings 19:1-8 — Elijah under the broom tree, wanting to die, fed and strengthened by an angel

·         Psalm 88 — the darkest psalm; despair laid honestly before God with no resolution offered (I will be reading the Douay-Rheims version of this as part of our opening prayer)

·         Matthew 26:36-39 — Christ's agony in the garden, naming his own sorrow before the Father

My hope for this class is not to excuse sin, minimize scandal, or pressure anyone into easy answers. Instead, I hope we can pray, speak honestly, listen carefully, and ask how faith can remain rooted in Christ even when religious leaders fail badly. We will make room for grief, anger, confusion, and hard questions, while also asking what the Church, Scripture, and Christian tradition offer us when trust has been wounded.  ACTS River Rule will apply- this will be a frank discussion about hard topics and what is said in the room, will stay in the room.

This is the first week- but in future weeks we will explore in the spirit of “All this has happened before, and all this will happen again” a historical view of previous times of scandal, and how other saints reacted to it.

The class will follow a simple format: about 15 minutes of prayer and introduction, 60 minutes of guided discussion, and 15 minutes of wrap-up. You do not need to arrive with polished thoughts or settled conclusions. Come prepared to pray, to listen, and to speak with humility and courage.  Please come in the Mary’s Garden door to the Office, I will have it open by 8:45am.  The meeting will be 9am-10:30, in the ACTS/Clare Room, and yes, I’ll have coffee available.

If this topic touches your own story, or the story of someone you love, I especially want you to know that you are welcome. We will try to hold the conversation with seriousness, compassion, and reverence.

Come ready to talk about:

• Where you personally feel the pull toward cynicism or despair
• What in Bishop Barron's letter or the Eric Sammons Video landed with you (or didn't)
• What "wheat" among the “weeds” you've actually seen with your own eyes lately — in your parish, your family, your own life

See you soon. Bring a friend if it's helpful — this isn't a conversation any of us should have alone.

Grace and peace in Christ, and may the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace,

Ted Seeber