Confessions of a heterosexual straight yet celibate Catholic priest on celibacy vows and homosexuality

I CONFESS: September 11, 2011 A.D.

There are all sorts of issues and questions and what not that the Catholic tradition is simply too caught up in.

The hottest controversy in my view as a celibate heterosexual priest is not the question of mandatory celibacy for the priesthood (many priests have spoken of this publicly in recent years and it is an important topic, yes).

What no one in the Church wants to tackle publicly is the question of gays and lesbians in the world and how they fit into the scheme of things.

Bishops are scared to death of this question especially because percentage wise, they've just got to know a number of their Sisters, priests, seminarians and so on are not straight/hetereosexual.

The insistence from Rome that homosexuals who are sexually expressive are automatically 'sinning', even in the context of committed and enduring relationships, is simply nonsense. I say this a 65 year old celibate heterosexual priest who has never inappropriately touched a woman in my office or classroom.

If I or anyone with much of a public profile said this out loud, our superiors would call us to the sidelines for a one to one in the wink of an eye.

The Catholic church's biggest problem in my view is that we operate authority wise with a framework that seemed okay enough in the first 14 or 15 centuries of the world, but which never took into serious consideration the educational level and various advances in self-understanding and so on, understanding of human nature, that now we all take for granted. We put way too much power at the top in the hands of far too few and insist on a view of 'truth' that is inaccurate, not in keeping with reality.

What is 'truth' may of course never be completely clear. I mean moral truth, the real stuff of goodness. The church in too many ways claims to have the handle on moral truth, and it's off, it's not that way.

A related problem of course is, "who is the church?" We're an extremely big family. The voice of the laity is almost never allowed however to really come out.

I am lucky in that I love my 'work' as a priest. But had I not become a missionary and not had the chance to enter a foreign and fascinating culture like Vietnam here, given the chance to study the language -- if I hadn't become a college instructor chap surrounded by all these interesting young people and hopefully being of some use to them - - would I have been able to hack it? I am honestly not sure.

I could so easly have wound up a 3 year priest, or a 7 or a 12 year and then out, man, out and married. I would have loved to be a dad.

I am by no means perfect. Somehow God has helped me keep my hands off huge numbers of female students and female office workers that affect me eomtionally and sexually strongly - and the fear of hurting someone, scandal and all the rest naturally have helped me toe the. line - and I do think for guys like me, celibacy is a positive statement to the world and our people . . . but only if the 'work' is very very fulfilling. As thank heavens, mine is.

Thanks for listening.


An American White Catholic Priest Working in Vietnam -- Born in Florida in 1945

丹布隆 - E.人物臉譜 : 哈上台灣 老外就愛「嘉」- ''Dan Bloom in Taiwan'', by Nora Lin

E.人物臉譜 : 哈上台灣　老外就愛



【記者林佳慧／中正大學報導】丹布隆 in Taiwan
by Nora Lin, Chung Cheng University
Communications Department
E-News website, CCU.edu.tw



http://enews.ccu.edu.tw/modules/news/article.php?storyid=8927



　　走進書局，一位戴著貝雷帽的老先生就靜靜地佇立在雜誌旁，紅通通的雙頰、發白的頭髮，以及時常掛在臉上的微笑，他就是 [丹布隆]  Dan Bloom，一位有如現代麥哲倫般的美國人，足跡遍布歐洲、亞洲，在偶然的機會下來到嘉義遊歷，卻徹徹底底地愛上嘉義，決定當一個道道地地的「台灣嘉義人」。

http://enews.ccu.edu.tw/uploads/img4d14059f9068f.jpg




Dan Bloom覺得中正大學就像台灣哈佛，與人互動零距離。


　　「中正大學與我去過的大學都不太一樣。」Dan Bloom仔細思考說道，當他走在校園裡面，常常會有學生願意主動跟他交朋友，或是遇到問題的時候也會有學生很熱情的伸出援手。在學校裡面，Dan Bloom覺得他就像走在他的國家，不會有隔閡，想去哪就去哪。「對我來說，中正大學就是台灣的哈佛也不為過。」Dan Bloom認真地說。

　　大學畢業就選擇四處遊歷的Dan Bloom，行腳的地方主要為歐美地區，在偶然的機會下，他遇到令他「一見鍾情」的日本女孩，年輕氣盛的他，拋棄一切飛到日本，最後雖然無疾而終，但也讓他在日本流浪了五年。當Dan Bloom收拾了行囊並思考下一步改怎麼走時，想到一位曾經來到他的家鄉當交換學生的友人，極力邀請他，如果到亞洲流浪，一定要來看看他的家鄉，那個地方就是台灣。初到台灣的Dan Bloom，從桃園搭火車到嘉義尋找朋友，當火車走過一個又一個城市、一個又一個鄉村，Dan Bloom漸漸地迷上台灣鄉村般的風景。從原本計畫的一個星期，到後來變成一個月、一年，十年過去了，Dan Bloom發現，他已經徹底的「哈」上台灣不想離開，只想做個「哈台族」。



　　在嘉義，Dan Bloom完全沒有感到語言隔閡的問題，「這裡的人都很和善，也很樂意跟我有眼神上的接觸。」Dan Bloom說道，嘉義人的熱情是他從未遇過的，即使語言無法相通，許多不會英文的鄉民還是願意與Dan Bloom比手畫腳一番，有英文基礎的人見到Dan Bloom有困難也會很樂意地去幫忙，讓他在嘉義零距離。「台北就不一樣了，雖然台北很便利，但台北人感覺很像機器人，也不喜歡跟你有眼神接觸。」Dan Bloom笑著說道，這也是他覺得嘉義可以如此吸引他的原因。

　　在台灣已經待了十年的Dan Bloom，每天早上起床總有新鮮事，「不得不說，台灣真的很有趣。人有趣、文化有趣、什麼都很有趣。」Dan Bloom比手畫腳的說。在台灣，他與許多外國人嘗試自己製作客家擂茶並拿到夜市販賣；曾經因為電影沒有播映完而去跟經理抗議，讓經理馬上為他將電影結尾播完；甚至被拉去當臨時演員，即使自己只出現短短幾秒鐘。對Dan Bloom來說，台灣是永遠冒險不完的「Wonderland」。

　　在台灣出版「就這樣哈上台灣」一書的Dan Bloom，聽從友人的建議，隻身走入文化路夜市，學起台灣人擺起路邊攤，販賣他的著作。「剛開始很害怕阿，中文只會幾個單字、台語也不太會說。」Dan Bloom大笑著說，第一次的擺攤，吹了8個小時的冷風只賣出一本書，最後甚至還要靠啤酒壯膽！後來Dan Bloom鼓起勇氣，說起朋友教他的簡單幾句台語，開始與嘉義鄉民親密接觸。雖然書賣出的不多，卻交了許多台灣朋友，也因為在文化路賣書的關係，一位中正大學的老師邀請他到學校教書，開啟他與中正大學的因緣。

http://enews.ccu.edu.tw/uploads/img4d1405f9c11be.jpg

　　留著美國血液、有著西方外表的Dan Bloom [丹布隆]，在旅行過無數的國家之後，卻選擇台灣當作他第2個家鄉，不是因為他做了「台灣女婿」，而是他對台灣一見鍾情。「我覺得我很幸運，要是當初我朋友不是台灣嘉義人，或許我就不會注意到台灣。」在台灣已經待了十年的Dan Bloom，他還要繼續待下去，也想讓更多外國人發現到台灣的美好，跟他一起「哈上台灣」。

A blog webswept by Danny H. Bloom

INTERVIEW: Joey Chung on his book about life at Harvard Business School

Interview with Joey Chung, author “The Lessons Towards Success That I
Learned at Harvard Business School” (Chinese edition); “An Education: The World through Harvard Business School Eyes" (working title for English edition)

[ webposted October 1, 2010]

BOOK COVER LINK
http://blog.eslite.com/ntu/archives/2572

Joey Chung works for a Japanese media company in Los Angeles. Born in Taiwan, he was raised in the USA from age 2 and spent the first 11 years of his life there, before moving back to Taipei with his parents in 1993. After attending National Taiwan University in Taipei, Chung did a two-year MBA program at the Harvard Business School in
Boston. After graduation, he decided to write a book about his experiences there, and the book is now available in a Chinese-language edition, with an English edition due out soon.

In a recent email interview, we asked him a few question about the genesis of the book, its reception so far in its Chinese-language edition and the possibility of a Hollywood movie coming later.

GENESIS

Mr Chung said the idea for the book was born during a long 25-hour flight from Boston to Taipei.

"It was early June 2009," he said, adding: "The original intention for the book was simple enough. Every year during winter or summer breaks,
Harvard Business School alumni chapters in each region often plan HBS Panel Seminars for the public. These forums are meant as a
more official way to introduce the Harvard brand to each corner of the world and to encourage
interested students from all backgrounds to learn more about the school and maybe even one day apply. In my own case, these forums
were were enormously helpful to me as a prospective student, too. So by the time I graduated
from Harvard Business School in 2009, I had attended four of these HBS panels, 2 of them as a
potential applicant and the other 2 as a student ambassador sitting on stage and answering questions.
After participating in HBS panels for four consecutive years, I gradually came to realize that
each year, most of the questions from the public about Harvard and its MBA program
were very similar.


One evening after my most recent HBS panel, as we were taking down the HSB school banners
and cleaning the conference room as the attendees walked out, a fellow HBS student casually
suggested that since I used to be a writer before business school, maybe I was in a good position to
write about the HBS experience and truly make available to the public what life within the Harvard walls was like.


At first, I casually waved her idea off. I was about to graduate in a few months and start my own career as
a business manager. Writing and possibly spending months refining and later knocking on doors
of agents and publishers seemed like another lifetime ago, and not a process I wanted to repeat
again. To me, it was “been there, done that” and time to move on.


Yet months later, as I sunk down into my seat and prepared myself for the long 25-hour
journey back to Taiwan see my family before my job in San Francisco started, I thought about the book idea again.


My classmate was right, her suggestion was a good one. To outsiders, almost everyone had the same questions about Harvard Business
School. What makes accepted HBS applicants stand out, what seemed to make Harvard unique,
and just what exactly went on in 2 years within Ivy League classrooms that made graduates
move on to seemingly envied careers and successful lifestyles? What were the myths and what were
the facts?


During my 3 weeks last summer in Taiwan, I pitched the idea to 3 major publishers and
eventually, Business Weekly Asia bought the rights right there based just on my pitch! Since I grew
up in the U.S.A. before moving back to Taiwan at the age of 12, my English writing is still better than my
Chinese writing skills so my book editor, Ms. Mei Huang, had someone translated it my English text into Mandarin for release in Asian
territories. The literal translation of the Mandarin title is: The Lessons Towards Success That I
Learned at Harvard Business School.

When asked what the goal of the book is, Chung replied: "From a technical standpoint, I aim to answer the very questions asked from those numerous
panels that gave birth to this very book. This is not a “how-to” manual on the secrets to getting
in and excelling in business school. Instead, by focusing more on the emotional journey, I
hoped to describe, as vividly as possible, the everyday life of 2 years at Harvard Business School,
and to a certain degree, similar MBA programs around the world.


From this angle, young
professionals, prospective students or even family members with relatives thinking of applying
or currently engaged in MBA programs can hopefully find useful descriptions of the lifestyle,
the mindset, and the day to day teachings that are ingrained in us that gradually play a pivotal
role in the kind of person we one day become. Though the current version released in Taiwan,
Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and in a few more weeks, China is more geared towards the
Asian audience with more analysis and comparisons between Asian culture, education systems
and student mindsets and that of other countries, this original intent is the same for all markets.
From a personal standpoint, the book was meant to be a diary of some sorts, chronicling the
two definitive years at Harvard and the impact it has had on me since. As one of the younger
students in my year and among those with substantially less work experience and business
exposure, I often felt that each HBS experience that was thrown at me was seen through more
observant, almost sentimental eyes. To me, my time at HBS was definitely a rite of passage and
even at this very moment as I type this word, a year after my graduation, and fully immersed in
the business world, I still often ponder exactly what the many encounters and lessons I learned at
HBS mean to me on a personal level."

There are plans for an English-language edition of the book, too, Chung said, adding: "Yes, at least that’s the plan. My publisher in Asia sent the original English manuscript to a
prominent US book agent, and to my surprise she saw potential in it, called me and after
a nice chat, flew me over to New York for another whole day-long meeting and then signed
me. She wanted it revised and lengthened for US and international audiences and then found
a professional editor for me and together we’ve been revising the book chapter by chapter.
The goal is to present it to major US publishers early next year. The current working title in English
is: “An Education: The World through Harvard Business School Eyes.” My guess is the English version will
be about 50 percent different from its Chinese-language edition, and will ahve more fleshed-out characters,
descriptions of the school environment and overall a much deeper and richer emotional narrative.



The Taiwan publicity and promotion for the Chinese-language edition of Chung's book involved interviews
with some magazines in Taipei and some radio interviews, too.
In addition, Business Weekly Magazine in Taiwan, a Chinese-language magazine, also excerpted several
chapters of the book, Chung said.

When asked how long it took the write the book, Chung said: "I started writing the book a few weeks after graduation, right after I had moved and settled down in San
Francisco. I write pretty fast, I enjoy writing, and I had 10 days between the time I was done moving
to California before work started at my job, so I would write for about five hours a day during the first few days and by
the time I started my job, I had written down about 60 percent of what would become, eventually, the 140 pages in Microsoft Word.


"All in all, what with work and then finding time to complete the book in my spare time, it took me about 3 months.

Since the subject of Chung's book is life at Harvard Business School, and since Hollywood is always looking for
good stories to tell about life in the Ivy League, from Legally Blonde to Paper Chase, there is a chance the book could
be turned into a Hollywood film. When asked about this, Chung said:
"You know, it's a funny thing, but about six months ago I was sent by my company, which is based in San Francisco, to a branch office in Los Angeles where I’ll be
for the next year or two, and one night I dared myself to send a letter introducing myself
and my book to a prominent Hollywood producer who happens to have offices
a few blocks from where I live. He’s Asian-American and coincidentally is also an HBS alumnus, so I thought my story might intrigue him. To my surprise, he replied back immediately and
said he would love to read the manuscript. We’ve been in touch since. At the current time, I can't say much, but its currently going
through people in his office to see what everyone else thinks, so I guess I'll just have to be patient and wait
and see. It's too early to tell what, if anything, will happen. Hollywood works slowly on things like this. But it’s been fun and a real learning
experience.



Who knows if a film will ever be deveoped from the book, but it's fun to think about it. I jokingly asked one of my office co-workers who he would want to play him, and he
immediately replied: Johnny Depp. Everyone loves Johnny Depp, he has such universal appeal.


But the real casting would be very interesting, if it ever gets to that. Since the story deliberately
introduces classmates from almost every country, we would get a very dynamic mix of young
faces from every race and continent. And I really think to make it more real and believable, and
for the audience to really immerse in following the characters journey, they should be relatively
unknowns. But again, I'm just wondering out loud here. Let's wait and see.

When asked what kind of feedback he's received so far from readers of the Chinese edition of the book, Chung said:

"I have, in fact, received some very feedback from readers, and you know, in this day and age of the Internet, the funniest and perhaps most initially alarming
thing is that some readers have simply found me and messaged me via Facebook! I’ve started
conversations with some readers this way. I would say the majority of the readers who can
relate most to the book and would actually go out and try to contact the author would be young
professionals around my age or college seniors or grad students who are still thinking about their
future. I am very interested in getting feedback from readers.
Chung is working for a Japanese media company now in Los
Angeles. When asked if he still keeps in touch with his HBS classmates, he replied: "Of course. One thing I learned during the first few months after graduation is that for Harvard
and to a certain extent, all private schools, the experience is an experience of a lifetime. In Los Angeles, where I am now, on average there
are 2 Harvard alumni events every month. There are things like the L.A. Charter Harvard Business School
mixer, the Harvard young alumni mixer, the monthly Asian-American Happy Hour, and even sign-up
trips for alumni to take trips to Napa for a weekend of wine tasting or a “Harvard evening at the
Opera," things like that.


I am in touch with those HBS classmates who became my good friends during those two years in Boston, of course. But if I ever need to get in some answers on something or someone at, say Apple, I can call up a HBS contact at Apple. In fact, many deals that I initiate for my
firm are done by first contacting HBS contacts.

We asked Mr Chung a final question, after thanking him taking the time to answer our questions and wishing him luck with
the English-languade edition and the possible Hollywood film, which was what was the most important thing that he learned at HBS.

"Humility," he said. "No matter how good you are, or how smart we might be, or how good our grades were
rin school, there will always be someone smarter, someone better. And yet if we take
a step back from this Harvard bubble, we’ll all see that all of us, the few that were fortunate
enough to be inheritors of its many traditions and resources, were extremely fortunate and
blessed. And therefore it is never too late to try and make a difference in the world, in whatever way we can, and give back to causes we
believe in or to help those less fortunate than us."

-- 30 -

post

Before the screen swallows us, let's smell the snailpapers

by Jules Quartly

THE CHINA DAILY

Beijing, China

[cartoon by Liu Jie]

copyright 2010

The likelihood is that if you are reading this column you are online. Though China has to some extent bucked the trend of declining newspaper circulation the bet is 20 years from now it will be the same story here as everywhere else. The daily snailpaper is on its way out.

“Snailpaper,” you say. “What’s that?”

Well, following on from the idea of calling post that is written on a piece of paper and physically carried from one destination to another, snailmail (as opposed to e-mail), we have arrived at a point in history that we must start talking about the newspaper in the past tense by giving it a new name … snailpaper.

Today, not coincidentally, is International Snailpapers Day. Since you probably don’t know what this involves, it’s the first ever after all, I will enlighten you. Right now, you should stop reading this article if you are online, log off and not get connected again for the rest of the day.

Instead, you are encouraged to pick up a newspaper, savor the feel of natural fibers, enjoy the rustling sound as you turn a page, press your nose to the newsprint and wallow in its inky tones. Savor this multi-sensory reading experience, as it fades away, like papers themselves.

International Snailpapers Day is the idea of a friend of mine, Dan Bloom, who has graduated from earning his living as a newspaperman to being a blogger and neologist. Based in sunny Chiayi, Taiwan, Bloom has been telling anyone who cares to listen (and he’s hard to ignore) that it’s time for a new term for
newspapers.

“Don’t get me wrong,” he says, “I love the old-fashioned newspaper and we must do all we can to preserve it. Calling it a snailpaper might serve some small purpose, even if it is as a small historical footnote to the slow death of what we all once loved and cherished."

Bloom’s timing is uncanny because the iPad was launched this weekend in the United States and it’s expected to revolutionize reading in much the same way that Apple transformed the phone into a multi-purpose communications device, able to do anything, from shopping to being a Star Trek Phaser app.

It all sounds wonderful, of course, but Bloom and others are right to wonder where this revolution is headed. We are already immersed in screens, connected 24-7 and at a loss for what to do without these devices.

Enter stage right, Hamlet’s Blackberry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age, by media critic William Powers. Set to be published later this year, the book will make an argument against “the sacred dogma of the digital age -- the more we connect through technology, the happier we are”.

According to advance publicity from the book’s publisher, Harper Collins: “Connectedness serves us best when it's offset by its opposite, disconnectedness. There are ways to strike a healthy balance between the two”.

International Snailpaper Day is an opportunity to pause for a moment and if not smell the roses, inhale a little newsprint, before it’s gone forever.

Betty Davis Eyes? Not in Taiwan...

Posters for YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN and MAMMA MIA! outside a first-run movie theater in Taiwan


Taiwan's hand-painted movie posters portray American actors with Asian eyes


Mamma Mia! The movie that is.

When movie theaters in Taiwan hang
handpainted advertising posters outside the theaters to attract
moviegoers, American and European actors and actresses are invariably
painted with Asian eyes. In a recent poster for Mamma Mia!, it was
hard to recognize the four actors in the original poster: Pierce Brosnan, Meryl Streep, Colin Firth,

When asked for an explanation of this apparent sleight of hand, er,
eye, Jessica Chen, 27, a staff member at a local movie theater in
southern Taiwan, said that she also noticed how the Western actors routinely got
Oriental eyes when the local poster painter did his magic. She added that she thought most Taiwanese were not aware of this slight changing of the eyes in such large-size, outdoor movie posters.

"I don't even think the painter is even aware of what he is doing," Chen
said. "I think he is using the Hollywood poster as the basis for his
handpainted banner, painted on canvass, but that he unconciously forms
the eyes of the characters in the only style he knows, which is the
Asian style for Taiwanese, Chinese or Japanese actors. I am sure he is
not aware that he has painted Meryl Streep with Asian eyes. It's
simply a cultural and visual thing, I am sure, and he means no harm to
anyone at all."


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