Well, this is the message board that doesn't die. Seems I'm the only one who checks in on it every few years or so. I want first update that I am finally in the last weeks before my final profession in my religious community. Just a little over two months to go. Not going to be easy after that, though! If I become the novice master, I'm going to implement some of the s
Forum: Destructive Churches

I guess nobody has written here for a while, as I see no response to my last post. It is just as well. I generally don’t like going on this site but when I come across new information that might be helpful to others I feel compelled. As I have previously written, I was a member of Cenacolo now about 10 years ago. What I did not know then, what I think many members and former members do no
Forum: Destructive Churches

Nibsy, Thank you for responding. On the subject of who should run the houses, you and I are not as much in disagreement as you might think. I know that when we had religious even just visiting, the atmosphere of the house changed. Everybody took things more seriously. I always thought it would be better to have religious priests run the houses. But the problem with that is simply the numb
Forum: Destructive Churches

A few more things I have thought to write about. First, in reference to any assault of a sexual nature, or really any kind of assault, that might happen in a religious community obviously needs to be dealt with. I should say this. There was a case of a man who quite possibly had the shortest time in Community that ever was when I was there. He was in it only two or three hours when he tou
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Wow, I never thought I would be posting to this thread again. But I was about to look at the Cenacolo website again, as I hadn't after a while, and on Yahoo I saw this site again so out of curiosity I checked it out as I hadn't been here in a while either. It's been a few years almost since I last posted and I have now been in another religious community, this one devoted to
Forum: Destructive Churches

I will soon be going into the postulancy phase of the religious order I am in, and that will require me to be off the Internet for a while. It is because of this that I decided to post the "prequel" story to my time in Cenacolo. Nobody else posting here has ever heard it, and while it certainly isn't more important in any way than anyone else's story--God goes through many d
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Just one more thing and then I'll let this be for now. I wish to address the issue of how difficult Cenacolo can be, as some people here think I am whitewashing it. I can't speak to the experience of others. I know of at least three members who lost loved ones while they were in Community. This undoubtedly is a great cross to bear. Each person has their own difficulties, brings in
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I should like to answer also another charge. Every time I have ever gone back I have given more in food and supplies than I have taken. And any time I have stayed at one of the houses, it has always been at the invitation of the Community. Half the time I have stayed either in a motel (as in the case when I came with my brother for his orientation) or, more commonly, with a house occupied by a
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Forgot also to mention the priest in Confession told me to start going to daily Mass. I just passed six months in the new community I am in. With their schedule the only time I can make a daily Mass is 6 AM, unless I want to go to a Vietnamese one and not understand what the heck is being said. The priest said this and right away I'm thinking "Holy smokes!" They have one at St.
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A couple of notes to add to the post I just wrote today. First, it was the idea of the priest in the Confessional for me to post at least the part of my doing the novena here. That way nobody can claim that I am publicly airing any good work. He wanted it to be known that I was doing this. Secondly, I noticed in an earlier post from a long time ago I posted (and I guess against the rules,
Forum: Destructive Churches

I am writing this on my iPad in the chapel of American Martyrs Catholic Church in Manhattan Beach, CA. This is a church I have spent many years of my adult life in, and this chapel has been a great place of healing in the past. I am writing this here after some long prayer, asking for the Lord to reveal to me what to write, rather than acting on my own. Please forgive me if there occur any
Forum: Destructive Churches

Testing
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testing
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testing
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Can see nobody has been on here for a while. Was with the guys at Mary Immaculate for 11 days last April. The longest of any trip back there I've ever had and I want to say I had a great time! The Festival of Life, Easter celebrations, and the osprey who decided to pay us a visit (not to mention the dolphin at the beach) made it all worthwhile. Started finally with a Catholic religio
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Well, I don't know if I am merely repeating myself here as I tried just a few moments ago to send a message in a more direct response to talon 556 but my message seemed to get wiped out, so here I go again (moderator--please elminate this message if the other one went through). I feel it is time to write about something I avoided commenting on because I didn't want to offend any of
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Just wanted to add an interesting article that appeared in a Grand Rapids, MI newspaper online. Here is the link: . It is about a Community graduate who recently made the list of the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce's top 10 outstanding Americans. The list's history touts three U.S. presidents and a number of other notable figures. The man is now poised to have a highly successful la
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Magik, OK, whoa here. First of all I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself thank you. As for my parents, God bless them but one of them has been dead since 1992 and the other spends too much time in anger and hatred towards people. I am sorry if you feel that I cast judgment on you but how else could your post be interpreted? I am very tempted to say a lot of things here ab
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Magik: I know this is a public message board and I don't mean to sound ugly after we've exchanged kinder words before but your comment seems to belittle the camaraderie that Mike was talking about and to be honest is taken as offensive here. I don't know if the leaders of Cenacolo would agree, but I like to compare the Community setting to one like being in a peactime milit
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OK, I know I said I would say no more, but I'm shocked as all get out to see Mike's postings here. I knew already that Mike had gone to Lourdes, but darn if I wish I had been on this board when he was writing! Mike, I know you are not going to see this in Lourdes, but if you did I'm sure you would know me. Man, we had some good memories together, didn't we? I still pro
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Dear magic314: I was there in 2007-08, so it's fairly recent. I should say that the idea of not accepting back into your home your drug addict son or daughter is not a cult philosophy but is a tough but mainstream idea that you can find echoed by many professionals. It certainly isn't Cenacolo's invention. I've seen the disaster it leads to in many families. It can
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Dear Magik314, I am appreciative of your response. Sorry if you had a negative experience with Community. It isn't for everyone. I will say that I know of a case where a guy was in a situation similar to yours except that he was informed of his wife's considering divorce. Of course, he left that day (who could blame him). I can't tell the details because it is someone e
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Coming on to this site I was amazed to see a few people posting after an absence of a few years. I saw this webpage before I entered Community and thought the original poster had been well enough refuted by parents and friends of Community members. But now that some former members who have had disagreements have responded, let me balance things out a bit. I spent nearly a year in Commu
Forum: Destructive Churches