Lay, lady, lay down a story about a Jesuit priest and Bob Dylan

In researching my biography of Father Louis J. Twomey, SJ, I've discovered a fascinating connection between that great Southern Jesuit (who was the first Catholic ally of Martin Luther King Jr.) and Bob Dylan. I invite you to read all about it on my Substack, Matters Twomey.

Defamed by the "Global Catholic Network"

Screenshot of reporter Mark Irons's interview with me on "EWTN News In Depth"

On August 30, 2024, EWTN News reporter Mark Irons wrote me asking for an interview, which I granted. But when Irons edited the interview for airing, he added a statement that defamed me, attacking my reputation as a Catholic theologian. I have tried to get the network to run a retraction and apology, but it has refused. I also asked Bishop Steven J. Raica of the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama, where the network is located, to mediate and he refused. Please read and share my story about the defamation, published today by Where Peter Is. Thank you and God bless you.

Find me on Substack

A screenshot showing the beginning of my latest Matters Twomey post

Thanks for looking for me on The Dawn Patrol! These days, although I continue to maintain a page here with news of my speaking appearances, you can find my latest news on my Substack, Matters Twomey, where I post updates on my biography-in-progress of Father Louis J. Twomey, SJ. A blessed Advent to you and yours!

Matters Twomey matters to me—and I hope it does to you too!

A screenshot of the beginning of my latest Matters Twomey post

Just a quick, happy note to say thanks to you who check in on The Dawn Patrol, and to let you know that I'm continuing to post regular updates on my work on my next book, A Priest in Good Trouble, on my Substack, Matters Twomey. 

Here at The Dawn Patrol, the page that is updated most frequently is the list of my upcoming (and past) speaking appearances. I continue to give talks on Father Ed: The Story of Bill W.'s Spiritual Sponsor and am eager to speak about it everywhere, and I mean everywhere. So, if you would like to host me for a talk in your part of the world, please don't hesitate to contact me at the email address at the bottom of my Biography/Contact page. Thank you and God bless you.

My Father Twomey biography is now fully "Kickstarted"!

Last Sunday—which coincidentally was the birthday of my previous biographical subject, Father Edward Dowling, S.J.—I awoke to the wonderful news that my Kickstarter for my next biography was fully funded. Thanks to nearly ninety backers who believe in the project, I now have the means to devote myself fully for the next five months to writing the life story that I have been researching for more than a year: A Priest in Good Trouble: Father Louis J. Twomey, S.J.’s Battle for Human Dignity with MLK in the Deep South.

If you haven't backed the Kickstarter, there is still time to chip in to help fulfill my stretch goal, which will fund my hiring a professional to create the index for A Priest in Good Trouble (as my publisher, like most publishers today, requires the author to provide the index). But, in any case, I'm grateful and relieved to have my living expenses covered as I tell the story of the Jesuit priest who was the first Catholic ally of Martin Luther King Jr.

 

This week also brought several new media items related to my Father Twomey research: 

— My video interview on Father Twomey and my own journey for Thomas Howes and James McGill Patterson's podcast Why Postliberalism Failed (above). It was a great pleasure speaking with Dr. Howes and Dr. Patterson, whose work promoting democratic principles and countering harmful ideologies is in many ways a modern-day continuation of Father Twomey's mission. They not only gave me the opportunity to speak about Twomey's work but also asked me about my personal journey. Because I felt comfortable with them and appreciated their own openness, I ended up sharing more of my inner life than I normally share in interviews. So, even if you've heard me speak about my life and views before, I don't think you've ever heard the exact things I share in this interview. 

— In the Vital Center journal (edited by Howes), a preview of my Father Twomey research: "Mater Si, Buckley No: The Jesuit Who Took on National Review's 'Compartmentalized Catholics." The article gives a good idea of how, in A Priest of Good Trouble, I'll be tracing Father Twomey's participation in the public discussions of his time, many of which are echoed in today's discourse. 

— My video interview with Tom Neal for his "Sharing the Faith" podcast. This too was a warm and highly enjoyable conversation. Tom and I have known each other for many years, and I greatly admire his work as a layman who has dedicated much of his life to the formation of candidates for the priesthood. In the interview, I appreciated his asking me about my Father Dowling biography as well as my Father Twomey research. 

My friend Stefan Gigacz of Cardijn Research, who was passing through Washington on his way to the Peter Maurin Conference in Chicago, snapped this photo of me last Tuesday, on my 56th birthday. Earlier that day, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament and my spiritual director, I renewed my dedication of my celibacy to the Sacred Heart, which is like a renewal of marriage vows, only to God. All of my Kickstarter backers were in my prayers, as well as all my family, friends, spiritual family, and readers of my writings. I enter my 57th year full of hope and gratitude for being able to tell the story of Father Twomey's life and achievements. Thank you for your part in that. God bless you! 

The next two weeks will determine whether I can write my next book

In my Kickstarter video, I explain why I want to tell Father Twomey's story. Watch on Kickstarter.

My Kickstarter for A Priest in Good Trouble, the biography I am writing of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Jesuit ally Father Louis J. Twomey, has now been running for twenty-four days, with sixteen days to go. It is currently just under 50 percent funded, which means that, unless a significant number of new people choose to back it, it will fail. Kickstarter is all or nothing, because it's about enabling creative people to complete projects, and I can only complete my Father Twomey biography if it's fully funded.

I am grateful to the fifty-eight backers thus far who have shown me that they agree that Father Twomey's story is worth telling. If you would like to see me continue my work as a biographer of Jesuits who are models for the priesthood and for pastoral engagement with the modern world, I hope you'll visit my Kickstarter, pray for its success, and support it if you are able. Thank you and God bless you.

Preview my Kickstarter for my next book

Screenshot showing how my Kickstarter will look on launch day

On Monday, August 5, I'm launching the Kickstarter for my next book, a biography of the most amazing Jesuit you've never heard of. Father Louis J. Twomey, S.J., was a labor priest, the first Catholic ally of Martin Luther King Jr., and a major force in bringing the U.S. Jesuits to make a definitive break from racially discriminatory practices. His faith coupled with his courage in putting Catholic social teaching into action make him an inspiring model for the priesthood and for everyone seeking to be a positive force for change. Please visit my pre-launch page, sign up to be notified when it goes live, and spread the word!

Why I Refused to Endorse Bob Schuchts’s Be Healed

"Bad Theology Hurts" t-shirt from Apologia Studios

I was glad to read Sister Josephine Garrett, C.S.F.N.’s recent observation to reporters at the Eucharistic Congress that it is against the Gospel to attribute people’s psychological wounds to their spiritual failures. Her words put me in mind of problems that concern me about the "inner healing" approach as promoted by Catholic therapist and author Bob Schuchts, founder of the John Paul II Healing Center. For that reason, I am sharing a email I sent eleven years ago to an editor at Ave Maria Press citing serious theological issues that I found in Catholic therapist Bob Schuchts’s Be Healed.

The editor to whom I addressed my concerns was my own editor, who had shepherded the publication of my book on healing from childhood sexual abuse, My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints. She had sent me an advance copy of Be Healed in the hope that I would endorse it. In my reply, below, I explained why I could not do so in good conscience.

At the time that I wrote the letter below, I had an ecclesiastical licentiate in sacred theology from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies and was completing my doctoral studies. I now hold a doctorate in sacred theology, specializing in systematic theology, from the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, a terminal degree that is licensed by the Holy See. In addition, I have a license in canon law from the Catholic University of America.

I recently read Schuchts’s 2022 retreat book Do You Want to Be Healed? and was disappointed to discover that the author continues to perpetuate the dangerous errors that I noted in my letter to his editor. For further reading, I recommend Chris Damian’s critique of Schuchts.

Here is the email I sent to Schuchts's editor on July 21, 2013:

Dear K_____,


I wish very much that I could give you a blurb for Dr. Schuchts' book, because I would like to support your work at Ave Maria Press in any way I can. Unfortunately, having read Be Healed, I am unable to endorse the book. Although parts of it are good, I find that major aspects of its message are contrary to Catholic teaching. Moreover, certain aspects of his message are extremely dangerous. Considering that he is targeting readers who are already vulnerable, Schuchts has the potential with this book to inflict profound psychological damage.

I am particularly distressed by Schuchts's repeated attribution of physical illness to personal sin. For example, he writes on page 57, "The primary root of our suffering and sickness is separation from God, resulting in the fragmentation of our bodies and souls, and thus manifesting in broken relationships with other people and nature."

On page 61, Schuchts favorably quotes the following passage from J. Brennan Mullaney's Authentic Love: “The avoidance, rejection, or deprivation of love is the source of all functional (physical, psychological, and spiritual), illness." And on page 128, in concluding the book, Schuchts writes, "Behind most of our physical and psychological ailments, are spiritual root issues."

Schuchts quotes Pope Benedict XVI and other popes selectively in an effort to reinforce his points, but he takes them out of context. When Benedict and others speak of Jesus' healing, they are speaking of the healing that begins in this life and is not completed until the general resurrection.

What's more, nowhere does John Paul II, Benedict, Francis, or any pope say that Jesus' redemption brings mankind back to the original rectitude of Eden, which is what Schuchts is implying on pages 57-58. Just the opposite! The Catechism is very clear that, while original sin is taken away by baptism, its physical effects will remain until the Last Day:

CCC 405 Although it is proper to each individual, original sin does not have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam's descendants. It is a deprivation of original holiness and justice, but human nature has not been totally corrupted: it is wounded in the natural powers proper to it, subject to ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death, and inclined to sin - an inclination to evil that is called "concupiscence". Baptism, by imparting the life of Christ's grace, erases original sin and turns a man back towards God, but the consequences for nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man and summon him to spiritual battle.

Moreover, in Salvifici doloris 11, John Paul II strongly refutes the idea that most physical suffering is due to spiritual root issues: "While it is true that suffering has a meaning as punishment, when it is connected with a fault, it is not true that all suffering is a consequence of a fault and has the nature of a punishment. The figure of the just man Job is a special proof of this in the Old Testament. ...And if the Lord consents to test Job with suffering, he does it to demonstrate the latter's righteousness. The suffering has the nature of a test."

Related to Schuchts' attribution of physical suffering to personal sin is his attribution of physical injuries from childhood trauma to the demonic stronghold of unforgiveness. I have in mind the story he tells, beginning on page 69, of Ana, who, as a 6-year-old child, was injured in a car crash so that one of her legs was eight inches shorter than the other. He says that he urged Ana to release her unforgiveness towards the driver of the offending car (and, by extension, to be released from the demon that held her within such unforgiveness)--and her leg was immediately healed.

Please understand that I am not doubting the healing itself. I am willing to believe that God, for whatever reason, answered Ana's prayer and healed her. But Schuchts's conclusion—that Ana, at age six, was so angry at the driver that her leg refused to heal—is simply irresponsible.

Think of someone you know who retains physical, mental, and spiritual wounds from being harmed at a very young age. I have in mind my own readers, some of whom recall being abused as toddlers. They now suffer from flashbacks and other PTSD symptoms; some have physical illness. One reader told me that all four of her daughters, now adults, have endometriosis--because every one of them as a child was sexually abused by their grandfather. Three of them are infertile. Would it be helpful to tell these adult women that they are personally at fault for their inability to have children? Would that be a healing realization for them? Or would it put them at increased risk of depression, suicide, hatred of God, and hatred of the insensitive people in the Church who blame them for the effects of the evils they suffered?

On a personal note, a young woman came up to me after a talk to tell me that she suffered serious damage after being told by a priest who read Neal Lozano's Unbound (a book Schuchts recommends) that her PTSD from childhood abuse was caused by demonic strongholds. The priest prayed Lozano's "unbinding" prayers over her, which, far from healing her, actually made her worse than before. Prior to the "unbinding," she only suffered flashbacks. Afterwards, every time she felt a flashback, she feared that the demons were out to get her.

My other problems with Be Healed have mostly to do with Schuchts' misunderstandings of sacramental theology. Although he quotes Raniero Cantalamessa saying that "sacraments are not magic rites," he places such emphasis on miraculous physical healings through the Eucharist and Baptism that he obscures the true nature of those sacraments. Most disturbingly, he calls the communion rites of non-Catholic ecclesial communities "Holy Communion" and implies that Jesus is present in them in the same way he is in the Eucharist (page 95).

Schuchts also misunderstands the nature of the Sacrament of Matrimony, saying that his parents had the graces of a sacramental marriage until the marriage was "annulled" (page 96). In fact, if the marriage was declared null (not "annulled"), it was never a sacrament to begin with.

I am very sorry to disappoint you by being unable to support this book. While I respect his good intentions, Schuchts unfortunately has the potential with Be Healed to do a lot more harm than good.

Grace and peace,

Dawn