Catholics Revolt

Against

The Sword of the

Spirit: 1990

A group of 27 members of the Servants of Christ the King wrote a letter to the

leaders of their SOS community in 1989 explaining how their rights as

Catholics had been violated by SOS teachings and pastoral methods. They

met with their leaders in the Sword of the Spirit who dismissed their concerns,

telling them they were “out of order” and rebellious.

Having been rejected by their own leaders (no longer loyal to the men and women they pastored

on a daily basis but now loyal to the Sword of the Spirit) the letter was taken to the local Catholic

Bishop -Albert Ottenweller- who had a far different view of the complaints against the Sword of

the Spirit. His response was to launch an investigation into the teachings and practices of the

Sword of the Spirit. The outcome to that investigation was published on June 21, 1991 in the

local Catholic newspaper, the Steubenville Register. To sum up his experience of the Sword of

the Spirit on Catholics in his Diocese, the Bishop wrote:

“There needs to be therefore a program of re-education to return members to a sense

of Church important for those who call themselves Catholic.”

The following letter contains four primary areas of concern that all 27 signees –many of them

members for 10 years or more- agreed were harmful.

1. The Pastoral System of the Sword of the Spirit was deeply flawed.

2. The Sword of the Spirit operates as a “closed system.” (This is a major characteristic of

a “cult.”)

3. The Sword of the Spirit’s theology was heavily “Evangelistic” (Protestant) in nature and

ignored centuries of wisdom, teaching and tradition from the Catholic Church.

4. A lack of compassion for those who struggled, showed weakness or didn’t display

“macho” character.

Each of these areas is explained in detail by the authors, several of which held advanced degrees

in theology from major Catholic Universities.

The Sword of the Spirit has never acknowledged this investigation.

They have issued no public statements about reform of their teachings.

They have never repented to nor made restitution to the trail of abused

and damaged Catholics they have left in the wake of, “building the

bulwark.”

In the Sword of the Spirit, it was always the “mission” -not the person-

that mattered. People were expendable in the name of the mission.

Jesus didn’t think that way, didn’t teach that way, and as an example to

all of us, layed down his life for sinful man and woman.

Would Jesus have been a member of the Sword of the Spirit?