Friday, September 16, 2011
Tim Murphy (Class of 1974) probes Solyndra scandal
9/14/11 - Congressman Tim Murphy (Wheeling College Class of 1974) seeks Solyndra truth by aggressively interrogating an Obama administration official -- hear Tim here on video (3:12 minutes) of Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations grilling of Department of Energy's Jonathan Silver.
"Who's fault is it? ... What do you do for a living? ... Stop throwing your staff under the bus." Excellent hard-hitting examination.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
A new Jesuit foothold in Vietnam
Please read the article. CLICK HERE.
There were and are dysfunctional board members and mentally disturbed Jesuits who wanted to blame the college's decades long problems on him. We all know now those accusations were proven rancid and without substance. Fr. Julio's resilience is incredible!
- as published at the National Catholic Reporter
There were and are dysfunctional board members and mentally disturbed Jesuits who wanted to blame the college's decades long problems on him. We all know now those accusations were proven rancid and without substance. Fr. Julio's resilience is incredible!
- as published at the National Catholic Reporter
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Easter Season
The Easter Season continues for some weeks so it’s fitting to recall some of the struggles of the players involved in the weeks following the Passion of Christ and his return to his Father. (I went to a Jesuit high school so I know about these things.) First there is Peter who betrayer his best friend, Jesus. For days Peter stayed hold up out of fear for the local Jewish religious authorities who had Jesus tried and condemned and insisted on his murderous execution. Jesus meets him by the water’s edge. I imagine they had a lot to talk about. Can you imagine Peter’s tears? His words?
Then there are those religious authorities who were gloating over their success in having that dangerous man Jesus wiped out. After all, Jesus’ way of seeing the world, his preaching and actions seemed so alien to their compulsion to maintain the status quo. Their fear of anything new and different frightened and threatened their religious purity. They needed at least to silence him but better to have him executed. And at no time did those religious authorities allow Jesus to speak, to defend himself.
At no time was Fr. Julio ever able to speak and to defend himself in front of modern local and provincial religious authorities. When some board members, never happy with his or any Jesuit’s appointment as president, could not silence him legally, they turned in the dead of night to religious authorities to carry out their nasty act. Such an action is what thinking people expect from Iran and North Korea. It is that narrow and dysfunctional mindset and behavior that troubles so many alumni and friends of the college. Do these religious authorities or new administrators think we are so foolish as to believe their actions helped the college? Or helped to model for students and neighbors an honest, legal, ethical – need I say moral – behavior?
Without tears shed as Peter shed tears, the religious authorities keep the college shackled. Without those tears Wheeling College will remain under populated, unable to attract alumni dollars and will ultimately surface to be the first of the 28 Jesuit colleges to be cut loose.
Larry Catraro
Then there are those religious authorities who were gloating over their success in having that dangerous man Jesus wiped out. After all, Jesus’ way of seeing the world, his preaching and actions seemed so alien to their compulsion to maintain the status quo. Their fear of anything new and different frightened and threatened their religious purity. They needed at least to silence him but better to have him executed. And at no time did those religious authorities allow Jesus to speak, to defend himself.
At no time was Fr. Julio ever able to speak and to defend himself in front of modern local and provincial religious authorities. When some board members, never happy with his or any Jesuit’s appointment as president, could not silence him legally, they turned in the dead of night to religious authorities to carry out their nasty act. Such an action is what thinking people expect from Iran and North Korea. It is that narrow and dysfunctional mindset and behavior that troubles so many alumni and friends of the college. Do these religious authorities or new administrators think we are so foolish as to believe their actions helped the college? Or helped to model for students and neighbors an honest, legal, ethical – need I say moral – behavior?
Without tears shed as Peter shed tears, the religious authorities keep the college shackled. Without those tears Wheeling College will remain under populated, unable to attract alumni dollars and will ultimately surface to be the first of the 28 Jesuit colleges to be cut loose.
Larry Catraro
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Gleeson SJ in Philadelphia: inquiring student minds at work
CLICK HERE to see the full article at Blithe Spirit the Blog.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
WJU Board Member in Trouble Again
CLICK HERE to see details on St. Joseph's University Student Newspaper.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
WJU Professor Gets Sabbatical in the Pen
FAIRFAX, Va. (2/18/11) -- Rev. Felix Owino, WJU Associate Professor of Philosophy, was sentenced today to five years in a Virginia penitentiary after which he may be deported to Kenya.
The professor-priest-pedophile has been incarcerated without bond since his 7/8/10 arrest. On 9/29/10 he was convicted of aggravated sexual battery of an eleven-year-old girl.
His five-year sentence was suspended except for nine months, so he will remain in prison for two more months. Judge Michael F. Devine said the suspended sentence is required by Virginia sentencing guidelines.
After he is released, Owino will be on probation for five years. He will also be required to undergo alcohol counseling and sex offender treatment. Owino was also ordered to remain abstinent from alcohol, to register as a sex offender, and have no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18.
Owino is not a U.S. citizen, so he faces likely deportation to Kenya for the sex felony conviction. He has hired a separate immigration attorney to fight his deportation. Owino was ordained in 1992. He joined the faculty of Wheeling Jesuit University in the fall of 2008 and taught there until his incarceration prevented him from teaching last semester.
Owino did not exactly apologize when given the opportunity to speak before sentencing by Judge Michael F. Devine. Instead he quoted scripture, and called out, "Father, I have sinned against Heaven, treat me like you do your highest servant.... Rescue me, God, my helper."
His attorney, Joshua Wilson, told the judge that Owino has a problem with alcoholism which began when Owino taught in Uganda, and continued during his two years at Wheeling Jesuit University. Judge Michael Devine responded that Owino’s problems extended beyond alcoholism and told Owino, “There is something terribly wrong with you that you need to get fixed, if it can be fixed.”
Wheeling Jesuit University has never issued a statement that Professor Owino has been fired, saying only that he “was on summer break” when arrested for the felony which WJU euphemistically called his “alleged behavior.” Could not WJU have at least referred to Owino’s grotesque felony as misbehavior rather than behavior? WJU’s attitude toward this sexual abuse felony has been severely assessed by David Clohessy’s 9/7/10 posting criticizing WJU’s “shamelessly self-serving news release” and WJU’s “herculean efforts to duck and dodge and distance themselves from a credibly accused predator.”
Credibly accused homosexual predator Thomas F. Gleeson, S.J., the WJU Trustee who cast the decisive vote to fire WJU’s last Catholic President, is still at large.
Mike Fahy
Quartus
The professor-priest-pedophile has been incarcerated without bond since his 7/8/10 arrest. On 9/29/10 he was convicted of aggravated sexual battery of an eleven-year-old girl.
His five-year sentence was suspended except for nine months, so he will remain in prison for two more months. Judge Michael F. Devine said the suspended sentence is required by Virginia sentencing guidelines.
After he is released, Owino will be on probation for five years. He will also be required to undergo alcohol counseling and sex offender treatment. Owino was also ordered to remain abstinent from alcohol, to register as a sex offender, and have no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18.
Owino is not a U.S. citizen, so he faces likely deportation to Kenya for the sex felony conviction. He has hired a separate immigration attorney to fight his deportation. Owino was ordained in 1992. He joined the faculty of Wheeling Jesuit University in the fall of 2008 and taught there until his incarceration prevented him from teaching last semester.
Owino did not exactly apologize when given the opportunity to speak before sentencing by Judge Michael F. Devine. Instead he quoted scripture, and called out, "Father, I have sinned against Heaven, treat me like you do your highest servant.... Rescue me, God, my helper."
His attorney, Joshua Wilson, told the judge that Owino has a problem with alcoholism which began when Owino taught in Uganda, and continued during his two years at Wheeling Jesuit University. Judge Michael Devine responded that Owino’s problems extended beyond alcoholism and told Owino, “There is something terribly wrong with you that you need to get fixed, if it can be fixed.”
Wheeling Jesuit University has never issued a statement that Professor Owino has been fired, saying only that he “was on summer break” when arrested for the felony which WJU euphemistically called his “alleged behavior.” Could not WJU have at least referred to Owino’s grotesque felony as misbehavior rather than behavior? WJU’s attitude toward this sexual abuse felony has been severely assessed by David Clohessy’s 9/7/10 posting criticizing WJU’s “shamelessly self-serving news release” and WJU’s “herculean efforts to duck and dodge and distance themselves from a credibly accused predator.”
Credibly accused homosexual predator Thomas F. Gleeson, S.J., the WJU Trustee who cast the decisive vote to fire WJU’s last Catholic President, is still at large.
Mike Fahy
Quartus
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Reconciliation: Admitting our Past Mistakes to Help Us Move Forward for a Better Future
In his January letter to alumni and the campus community Wheeling College’s most recent president, Richard Beyer, alights on the enthusiasm and energy he sees on campus. This news is meant to stir up alumni enthusiasm and commitment to their school. Doesn’t anyone tell Mr. Beyer that Wheeling College has never been on its alumni radar screen for significant giving since its inception? Do not “seasoned” board members tell him that alumni who gave $10 ten years ago still give $10 now, if they give at all?
Mr. Beyer seems not to know that the past history is never dead. It is either reconciled or it lurks in the memory or under the skin. It’s especially true when history is not dealt with in a civil manner and, not to belabor the point, a Christian manner. Mr. Beyer does not yet recognize the effect of the college’s painful history over the last two years: the dark “assassination” of a good man, Fr. Giulietti. I use the term “assassination” because of its specific historical meaning. It refers to the unjust killing of a human being without and due process or public discourse about crimes allegedly committed. Even Roman law, which dealt quickly and efficiently with criminals, respected the tradition of due process. In the college’s history, the “assassination” was emotional: the spirit of the school, the alumni and the city itself was “killed”. Men and women of good character do not forget such history.
As a “jesuit” school one would expect justice and truth to be at the core of what it is about. The mistake the school’s “leadership” made, and continues to make, is the decision to “assassinate” a good man without any chance of self-defense, or even to know the reason for his demise. History again: dysfunctional board members who tried to “kill” him could not even pull the trigger on their own. The jesuit Trustees – itself an outdated form of control and manipulation - needed the silence of the darkness of night to do so. And two of the three have already been publicly disgraced. What about the bishop and the provincial?
What a helpful step it would be if Mr. Beyer courageously invited Fr. Giulietti to campus (or at least off campus) to start a dialogue of reconciliation that would lead to forgiveness. (I do not mean Fr. Giulietti’s forgiveness. Knowing him, that was done long ago.) I refer to the forgiveness still needed by alumni and many staff. Only then could honest and successful fundraising be possible. What would Mr. Beyer’s jesuit counselors say about that?
Fr. Giulietti could talk with alumni about the truth of the college’s financial situation and inspire them to want to help build a sustaining base of safety and hope. Now without alumni reconciliation and forgiveness, there is no hope. With no hope, UPMC, we are all yours!
-Larry Catraro
Mr. Beyer seems not to know that the past history is never dead. It is either reconciled or it lurks in the memory or under the skin. It’s especially true when history is not dealt with in a civil manner and, not to belabor the point, a Christian manner. Mr. Beyer does not yet recognize the effect of the college’s painful history over the last two years: the dark “assassination” of a good man, Fr. Giulietti. I use the term “assassination” because of its specific historical meaning. It refers to the unjust killing of a human being without and due process or public discourse about crimes allegedly committed. Even Roman law, which dealt quickly and efficiently with criminals, respected the tradition of due process. In the college’s history, the “assassination” was emotional: the spirit of the school, the alumni and the city itself was “killed”. Men and women of good character do not forget such history.
As a “jesuit” school one would expect justice and truth to be at the core of what it is about. The mistake the school’s “leadership” made, and continues to make, is the decision to “assassinate” a good man without any chance of self-defense, or even to know the reason for his demise. History again: dysfunctional board members who tried to “kill” him could not even pull the trigger on their own. The jesuit Trustees – itself an outdated form of control and manipulation - needed the silence of the darkness of night to do so. And two of the three have already been publicly disgraced. What about the bishop and the provincial?
What a helpful step it would be if Mr. Beyer courageously invited Fr. Giulietti to campus (or at least off campus) to start a dialogue of reconciliation that would lead to forgiveness. (I do not mean Fr. Giulietti’s forgiveness. Knowing him, that was done long ago.) I refer to the forgiveness still needed by alumni and many staff. Only then could honest and successful fundraising be possible. What would Mr. Beyer’s jesuit counselors say about that?
Fr. Giulietti could talk with alumni about the truth of the college’s financial situation and inspire them to want to help build a sustaining base of safety and hope. Now without alumni reconciliation and forgiveness, there is no hope. With no hope, UPMC, we are all yours!
-Larry Catraro
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Will the NEA Organize WJU Employees?
Catholic schools have always been protected from union organizers, but In re Manhattan College (1/10/11), NLRB Region 2, Case 2-RC-23543, a 26-page NLRB decision, holds that that protective religious exemption does not apply to a CINO (Catholic-In-Name-Only) college, i.e., a secular institution with religious roots.
The NLRB found that the religious exemption is inapplicable where a religious order does not exercise control over hiring, firing, and day-to-day operations; where the school's stated purpose does not involve the propagation of the Faith; where teachers are not required to adhere to or promote Catholic tenets; and where teachers are given academic freedom. The union successfully argued that that college "does not meet the test of a religious institution." The NLRB decision dismissed the college's purported "commitment to social justice" as so vague that it is equally applicable to a government school.
Ask yourself: Is WJU a Catholic school or a CINO school? Is not President Beyer the first unread Protestant President in 477 years of Jesuit history? Does Beyer have a graduate degree? Has Beyer ever taught a college course? Does Beyer have a background in Jesuit values? Does Beyer have a baptismal certificate? Does Beyer promote the propagation of Catholicism? Does Beyer look the other way when pro-abortion literature is distributed on campus?
Provincial Shea, say hello to the NEA.
The NLRB found that the religious exemption is inapplicable where a religious order does not exercise control over hiring, firing, and day-to-day operations; where the school's stated purpose does not involve the propagation of the Faith; where teachers are not required to adhere to or promote Catholic tenets; and where teachers are given academic freedom. The union successfully argued that that college "does not meet the test of a religious institution." The NLRB decision dismissed the college's purported "commitment to social justice" as so vague that it is equally applicable to a government school.
Ask yourself: Is WJU a Catholic school or a CINO school? Is not President Beyer the first unread Protestant President in 477 years of Jesuit history? Does Beyer have a graduate degree? Has Beyer ever taught a college course? Does Beyer have a background in Jesuit values? Does Beyer have a baptismal certificate? Does Beyer promote the propagation of Catholicism? Does Beyer look the other way when pro-abortion literature is distributed on campus?
Provincial Shea, say hello to the NEA.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Larry Unmasked
"I returned from business in London to read that some wonder about my existence. Funny, US Immigration had no problem with my existence. At Dulles International, they passed me right through back into the United States. But alas, someone has caught me red handed.... They have blown my cover..... I confess..... I am not Larry. I am Lorenzo. Lorenzo Catraro as noted in my passport.
And rest assured. I am very much alive. My wife and children would be shocked to know otherwise. The accusation of my non-existence is telling but not surprising. What annoys some are the facts I bring to the debate about WJU. And what annoys the most is that the facts are true."
Lorenzo
And rest assured. I am very much alive. My wife and children would be shocked to know otherwise. The accusation of my non-existence is telling but not surprising. What annoys some are the facts I bring to the debate about WJU. And what annoys the most is that the facts are true."
Lorenzo
Saturday, November 6, 2010
A Word to the Wise
I am a banker in Pittsburgh. The hiring of Mr. Richard Beyer, the fifth president at Wheeling Jesuit University in 10 years, deeply troubles me. Besides the unresolved issue of the sacking of Jesuit Fr. Giulietti, there is the longstanding issue of the coming bankruptcy of this institution. Does Mr. Beyer know that he was hired actually to close the school? The banking community in this banking city is waiting for the opportunity to arrange the sale of the institution. The loss of students and faculty, the disappearance of alumni support and crushing debt cannot go one much longer. There are scientific and other research institutions in this city that need to grow and expand and have the resources to do so. But land is tight here. Wheeling is a bedroom community to Pittsburgh. It is time to act.
A word to the wise.
- Leo Cleary
A word to the wise.
- Leo Cleary
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