Catholics Revolt Against The Sword of the Spirit: 1990

A group of 27 members of the Servants of Christ the King wrote a letter to the leaders of their SOS community in 1989 explaining how their rights as Catholics had been violated by SOS teachings and pastoral methods. They met with their leaders in the Sword of the Spirit who dismissed their concerns, telling them they were out of order and rebellious.

Having been rejected by their own leaders (no longer loyal to the men and women they pastored on a daily basis but now loyal to the Sword of the Spirit) the letter was taken to the local Catholic Bishop -Albert Ottenweller- who had a far different view of the complaints against the Sword of the Spirit. His response was to launch an investigation into the teachings and practices of the Sword of the Spirit. The outcome to that investigation was published on June 21, 1991 in the local Catholic newspaper, the Steubenville Register. To sum up his experience of the Sword of the Spirit on Catholics in his Diocese, the Bishop wrote: There needs to be therefore a program of re-education to return members to a sense of Church important for those who call themselves Catholic. The following letter contains four primary areas of concern that all 27 signees many of them members for 10 years or more- agreed were harmful. 1. The Pastoral System of the Sword of the Spirit was deeply flawed. 2. The Sword of the Spirit operates as a closed system. (This is a major characteristic of a cult.) 3. The Sword of the Spirits theology was heavily Evangelistic (Protestant) in nature and ignored centuries of wisdom, teaching and tradition from the Catholic Church. 4. A lack of compassion for those who struggled, showed weakness or didnt display macho character. Each of these areas is explained in detail by the authors, several of which held advanced degrees in theology from major Catholic Universities.

The Sword of the Spirit has never acknowledged this investigation. They have issued no public statements about reform of their teachings. They have never repented to nor made restitution to the trail of abused and damaged Catholics they have left in the wake of, building the bulwark. In the Sword of the Spirit, it was always the mission -not the personthat mattered. People were expendable in the name of the mission. Jesus didnt think that way, didnt teach that way, and as an example to all of us, layed down his life for sinful man and woman. Would Jesus have been a member of the Sword of the Spirit?