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<\/a>by Suzanne Titkemeyer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nThis morning as I was drinking my first reviving and refreshing cup of coffee and scrolling through Facebook a post by another Patheos author came up on my feed that pulled me in. Actually, it was quite triggering, raising my blood pressure more than any coffee could. It was by the Catholic Channel author Father Longenecker from several years ago and involves a subject dear to my heart that forms the core of why No Longer Quivering exists in the first place \u2013 Spiritual Abuse.<\/p>\n
Longenecker\u00a0 \u2013 does not come out and name any specific groups or persons that he\u2019s calling a Post-Christian Crybaby Bully<\/a> in his article, but as you read on, clicking through the multi-page clickbait posting you get an immediate impression who he has in mind. That would be any individual or group that isn\u2019t poor, starving, refugees, aborted babies or persecuted Christians in the Middle East that says they have been abused. Everyone else can just go suck it, suck it up and stop whining, stop organizing, stop demanding that the abuse stop according to him.<\/p>\n He even goes so far as to claim that those that expose abuse and speak against it are somehow in it for financial reasons or other motives that have nothing to do with helping others.<\/p>\n Father Dwight Longenecker is a Catholic priest, speaking from a place of church authority telling others to be quiet about what\u2019s happened to them. Sadly enough this seems to be the typical response by anyone in church leadership no matter what the denomination when abuse is brought to light \u2013 silencing the victim, bullying them until they shut down.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not going to debate what is and isn\u2019t abuse, but let me just state baldly \u2013 if your theology has a body count then you might want to rethink what it is you are actually believing in. I\u2019m not even talking about the ancient body counts connected to religions, like the many murdered during the Spanish Inquisition by the Catholic church. The abuse is real, it\u2019s ongoing and it needs to stop.<\/p>\n Reading his denigration of those actively involved in making sure no one else is abused makes me remember the recent movie \u2018Spotlight\u2019<\/a>. You remember \u2018Spotlight\u2019<\/a>,\u00a0 which won last year\u2019s Academy Award for best picture for its depiction of the sexual abuse problem endemic in the Catholic church of children by priests. The researchers and journalists uncovered a pattern of abuse by priests of children and the involvement of the local court system and law enforcement to help the church cover it up, to silence those harmed.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not going to shut up about the abuse in Quiverfull either. We have a body count too, plus those that seek to do the same thing Longenecker does, silence those harmed. Here\u2019s just a few victims that we will not be silent about:<\/p>\n The last thing someone who has suffered and survived at the hands of abusive theology needs is someone telling them that they are whiners. Part of healing is expression of what it is you\u2019ve been through.<\/p>\n Father Longenecker doesn\u2019t care about the actual people he\u2019s sworn to be the spiritual father of, he only care about protecting his organization.<\/p>\n Rant over, I\u2019m going to go sit in the sunshine, have a beer and ponder why silencing others is something Father Longenecker is so actively engaged in. Perhaps he\u2019s merely been standing on his head so long that it\u2019s done something to his brain where his theology is not so much about Jesus as it is protecting those doing the abusing.<\/p>\n We will not shut up.<\/p>\n We should not even consider it.<\/p>\n Peaceful Resistance<\/em> <\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n ~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n Suzanne Titkemeyer is the admin at No Longer Quivering. She was raised Catholic, has been out of the Quiverfull Evangelical world for ten years now and lives in the beautiful Piedmont section of Virginia with her retired husband and assorted creatures. She\u2019s moving to Costa Rica in May 2017. She blogs at Every Breaking Wave<\/a> and True Love Doesn\u2019t Rape<\/a><\/p>\n Stay in touch! Like No Longer Quivering on Facebook:<\/em><\/p>\n No Longer Quivering<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n If this is your first time visiting NLQ please read our Welcome page<\/a> and our Comment Policy<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n Copyright notice: If you use any content from NLQ, including any of our research or Quoting Quiverfull quotes, please give us credit and a link back to this site. All original content is owned by No Longer Quivering and Patheos.com<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Read our hate mail at Jerks 4 Jesus<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Check out today\u2019s NLQ News at NLQ Newspaper<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Contact NLQ at SuzanneNLQ@gmail.com<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
<\/a>Read more by Suzanne Titkemeyer:<\/em><\/p>\n
\nComments open below<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
NLQ Recommended Reading \u2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n
Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement<\/a> by Kathryn Joyce<\/strong><\/h4>\n
13:24 \u2013 A Story of Faith and Obsession<\/a> by M Dolon Hickmon<\/strong><\/h4>\n