This site belongs to Jay Nelson, a writer and artist, as well as Christian mystic and semi-pro hermit. I’m a retired priest of an Independent Catholic church, an amateur historian and gnostic theologian. Oh, and I’m a survivor of childhood sexual and ritualistic abuse by a Roman Catholic Church priest, too, which made me a long-time activist for survivor issues, not to mention pretty weird, too.
Due to my intensely-conflicted upbringing in the Catholic Church, I fled the dogmatic black iron prison of the Church of Rome as a young adult long before my memories came back. But the “calling” would not go away. For several decades thereafter, I played a leading local religious persona in a local medieval recreation society. So I’ve not only administered the sacraments “for real”, I’ve had a lot of experience anointing and cursing kings, creating relics, and selling a few indulgences, too.
This provided an invaluable hands-on education in how religion actually works in social contexts, but just playing at being a priest was never enough for me. My prayers to find a liberal yet sacramental church where I could I pursue my deeper spiritual interests without sacrificing intellectual freedom were ultimately answered. I “went legit” on August 24, 1991, when I was ordained in the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch. For years, along with religious services, I provided artwork, newsletters, and even ran their website. In appreciation, I attained the rank of Archpriest — the equivalent of Monsignor — before I retired.
Less than a year after my ordination, on April 17, 1992 (Good Friday no less, while visiting my old parish church), I first realized I had been a spectacularly “unlucky” altar boy who had been repeatedly abused by a parish priest over several years.
Recovery proved a lengthy, tearful, lonely and indeed heart-breaking struggle. In some ways, it is a difficult and never-ending task, for some damage is impossible to repair. Not only just mine, but hurtful things I have done to others in turn. Survival was initially due to good therapists, the unwavering support of my family, friends, and Bishop Richard Gundrey of the Church of Antioch. To this day, I humbly cherish the inspiration and companionship of countless other victims and survivors.
The discovery of abuse completely overturned my life, making a mockery of my efforts to establish a church. The focus of my life turned to outspoken clergy abuse activism instead. I participated in local protests and even led the sole group of victims to demonstrate in Denver against Pope John Paul II at World Youth Day in 1993 – five of us challenging five hundred thousand.
Shortly after that, I started to publish both the newsletter and later the website for The Survivors of Clergy Abuse Linkup, and continued for over a decade. Sadly long gone, “the Linkup” as it was known, was at that time the leading national clergy abuse victim support and advocacy organizations in the US. Many of the articles I wrote then, based on current news reports, historical “smoking gun” documents, nineteenth century academic histories, Church decrees, and much else — formed the basis of my self-published exposé, Sons of Perdition: New Mexico in the History of the Catholic Sex Scandals.
As a result of my discoveries, I asked for and was granted a full and complete excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church. However, my spiritual adventures have certainly not ended there. I have been blessed with a few mystical experiences as well even a few UFO sightings. By the merciful grace of God, I even received a truly miraculous spiritual healing. This, along with a substantial and completely unexpected financial settlement for my ordeal when the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe went bankrupt, re-invigorated and empowered this ongoing experiment in interpreting the Scriptures.
Despite being an admittedly mediocre artist, I enjoyed a long career as a graphic designer in the mundane world. My writing career has been little more successful. For nearly twenty years, I earned my bread writing on technical internet topics for general users. But as an independent historical researcher, I’ve made several important discoveries – including the very early and ongoing involvement of the Holy Inquisition in the clergy abuse crisis and the late Pope Benedict XVI’s surprising role in it all.
Devoting many years to seeking out the secrets of the Bible, I have collected an immense number of spiritual and allegorical meanings for Biblical terms taken from the Bible, the Early Fathers of the Church, and modern scholars and preachers. These I distilled into my spiritual dictionary, The Word Unveiled, from which this site gets its name and purpose.
In the meantime, as my patron saint did when the empire fell in his day, I continue to wait in the desert for the Trump of Doom (pun sadly intended) with my best and final kitty, watching for signs in the heavens. Which, judging from the ever-increasing drumbeat of the terminal madness of the End Times, could be any day now.
Go in peace, and keep looking up.
+ Jay Nelson
Contact
Email me at revjay@word-unveiled.com.