corporal punishment of adults in covenant community 1975
DESCRIPTION
In the early days of the Word of God (later the Sword of the Spirit) it appears that all options of pastoral "care" were on the table.TRANSCRIPT
Corporal
Punishment of
Adults
In Covenant Community
1975
In 1975 The Word of God Covenant Community (which was to be renamed “The Sword of
the Spirit” in 1980) was experiencing much internal and external growth. A friend and
supporter of the Community at that time was Fr William Sneck. Fr Sneck was a Jesuit
priest who worked at the University of Michigan counseling center.
Fr Sneck gave a homily on Pentecost Sunday 1975 directed at problems he was observing
in the growing Covenant Community. This was greeted –as Fr Sneck later states- with
much applause by “non-heads” (general members of the community in no positions of
pastoral authority) and general NON-approval by nearly all those known as “heads”, or
those in some position of pastoral authority in the Community.
These developing problems were never resolved and echo the same findings of Bishop
Ottenweller in Steubenville, Ohio some 15 years later. For this reason alone, Fr Sneck’s
homily and letter of clarification to George Martin are invaluable.
What makes them sensational is what he didn’t say publicly. In one brief paragraph to
George Martin, he describes members being threatened with corporeal punishments:
spanking and isolation in dark basements.
I wrote to Fr Sneck and received his permission to reprint the homily and letter to George
Martin. I found the documents in the Yoder Papers at the University of Michigan.
As a member of the Sword of the Spirit –under one name or another- for 13 years, I can
attest that bullying people in the pastoral care relationship was an approved and accepted
form of pastoral “care” in the SOS group of communities. When I discovered this, I went
immediately to my Senior Head Coordinator and reported the matter. Fr Michael Scanlan
TOR would explain to me that he did not pastor anyone in this way, but that it was an
accepted form of pastoral care in the Sword of the Spirit. I wrote my resignation letter
soon after that.
And I did hear a community secretary mention at one time that there was a cassette tape
in the library of our community that contained a teaching on “Corporeal Punishment for
Adults.” If anyone has such a tape, or even listened to it, I invite you to write me about
your recollections: [email protected].
John Flaherty ~ Grand Island, NE ~ September 9, 2012
In 1975 The Word of God Covenant Community (which was to be renamed “The Sword of
the Spirit” in 1980) was experiencing much internal and external growth. A friend and
supporter of the Community at that time was Fr William Sneck. Fr Sneck was a Jesuit
priest who worked at the University of Michigan counseling center.
Fr Sneck gave a homily on Pentecost Sunday 1975 directed at problems he was observing
in the growing Covenant Community. This was greeted –as Fr Sneck later states- with
much applause by “non-heads” (general members of the community in no positions of
pastoral authority) and general NON-approval by nearly all those known as “heads”, or
those in some position of pastoral authority in the Community.
These developing problems were never resolved and echo the same findings of Bishop
Ottenweller in Steubenville, Ohio some 15 years later. For this reason alone, Fr Sneck’s
homily and letter of clarification to George Martin are invaluable.
What makes them sensational is what he didn’t say publicly. In one brief paragraph to
George Martin, he describes members being threatened with corporeal punishments:
spanking and isolation in dark basements.
I wrote to Fr Sneck and received his permission to reprint the homily and letter to George
Martin. I found the documents in the Yoder Papers at the University of Michigan.
As a member of the Sword of the Spirit –under one name or another- for 13 years, I can
attest that bullying people in the pastoral care relationship was an approved and accepted
form of pastoral “care” in the SOS group of communities. When I discovered this, I went
immediately to my Senior Head Coordinator and reported the matter. Fr Michael Scanlan
TOR would explain to me that he did not pastor anyone in this way, but that it was an
accepted form of pastoral care in the Sword of the Spirit. I wrote my resignation letter
soon after that.
And I did hear a community secretary mention at one time that there was a cassette tape
in the library of our community that contained a teaching on “Corporeal Punishment for
Adults.” If anyone has such a tape, or even listened to it, I invite you to write me about
your recollections: [email protected].
John Flaherty ~ Grand Island, NE ~ September 9, 2012
