About this recording. John Flaherty spent twenty-two years inside a Sword of the Spirit covenant community, and the four decades since collecting the movement's own documents. This is his account of it, recorded in Columbus, Ohio on 12 August 2026.

The recollections, characterizations and judgments in this talk are his own, and he alone is responsible for their accuracy. Nothing he said has been cut. Where he makes a checkable claim about a named person, we have checked it against the public record; where the record differs from his recollection, we say so here rather than editing his words.

Three notes on the record:

17:26 — Fr. James J. LeBar (1936–2008). Mr. Flaherty describes him as "credibly accused of sexual abuse," and volunteers this about a source he otherwise relies on. Fr. LeBar does appear on the Archdiocese of New York's public list of 26 April 2019 — but in the subsection reserved for clergy who do not meet the archdiocese's criteria for a credible accusation, and whose claims the independent administrators of its Reconciliation and Compensation Program nonetheless found eligible for compensation. He was never removed from ministry, was never charged, and died eleven years before that list was published.

1:11:32 — the two leaders of the Duquesne Weekend. The co-organizer Mr. Flaherty cannot name was Ralph A. Keifer (d. 5 July 1987), later professor of liturgy at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago — not "Roger." The two men also stand differently as to what is publicly known: Dr. William Storey's published obituary records his partnership with Philip Howland Schatz from 1980 until his death in 2014, so that is a matter of public record. We have found no comparable record concerning Dr. Keifer. What is said here about Dr. Keifer, and about either man's motives in seeking the baptism in the Spirit, rests on Mr. Flaherty's recollection alone.

1:14:39 — Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Her association with the People of Praise was widely reported in 2020. The community used the title "handmaid" for women in a particular leadership and mentoring role and later discontinued it; reporting on whether Justice Barrett personally held that title has been contested, and the community has not confirmed it. The point being made — that the People of Praise is a covenant community with a pastoral-headship structure comparable to the Sword of the Spirit's — does not depend on the title.

The full transcript for this audio can be found at https://www.jeffreytiel.com/post/my-experience-in-a-covenant-community-transcript

With the recent nomination of a former Handmaid of a Covenant Community to the Supreme Court of the United States, many people are asking for the first time, “What is a Covenant Community?” The following description attempts to provide a deeper explanation using documentation from two major Covenant Communities as well as the experiences of former members who have exited, many after years of participation.

• The Shared Folder - Google Drive

This podcast documents and exposes an ongoing infiltration of a Catholic parish in Columbus Ohio by a charismatic ethnonationalistic, misogynistic, political insurgent leader of the men's-only group The Arena, connected to Christ the Cornerstone Covenant Community and St. Paul's Outreach.

The Church has taught from the beginning that there is only one baptism, namely that baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit that Jesus tasked his apostles with spreading to the four corners of the earth.

Imagine if you knew that Jesus was coming back to judge the world and bring in his kingdom in exactly 17 months.  What would you do?  You might quit your job and cash out your retirement.  No sense saving for what’ll never happen!  Some people have done that.  You might get all serious about your faith, thinking that maybe you need to make up for some missed masses and some gaps in your devotion!  Some people have done that, too.  You might join some sort of special religious group focused on spirituality, communal living, daily praise worship, and an overall sense of seriousness.  Some people have done that, also.  You might consider all the bloody reports about the Last Days and take the military route, prepping for Armageddon, fortressing yourself in the mountains or else preparing for an urban guerilla war.  Some people have done that, even.

The notion that there might be a sin or sins that are absolutely unforgivable, even by a bishop, is pretty terrifying.  Given what the Church teaches about the sacrament of confession and reconciliation, it’s hard to see how a priest or the bishop wouldn’t be in a position to provide some way back to God.  What’s more, isn’t baptism, the originating sacrament of faith, supposed to be able to cleanse all sins?  A clean slate?  A totally new beginning?

Many Catholics are puzzled by the embrace of incoherent ideas and straightforwardly bizarre practices advanced by the cultural elites in contemporary American society.  How can young men claiming to be women seriously expect to compete in women’s athletics?  But they do.  And they are competing.  How can women in their final weeks of pregnancy discredit the fact that they are carrying a human child and then murder it?  But they do.  And some of them celebrate with abortion parties.  How can state governments having convicted men of felonies incarcerate them in women’s prisons when those men start taking hormones?  But they do.  And the predictable results of sexual assault are now becoming apparent.  It seems to many that we aren’t living in the same world anymore.  And that sentiment isn’t far from the truth of the matter, so let’s look at how we got here, because radical rejection of human nature doesn’t just happen.

Let’s begin our exploration of the way in which human nature is essentially expressed through gender by taking a look at the current lay of the land on sex, sexual preference, and gender.  What, in other words, do our universities, entertainers, and cultural elites showcase as the truth of the matter on these issues?

Imagine entering a quiet church, looking about to ensure no one else is there, then walking up the center aisle toward the altar, bowing, and sitting in one of the first couple of pews on the right.  You drop the kneeler and take on the position of a supplicant to God, beginning your prayers.  But unlike the many times you have done this in the past, you suddenly feel a wave of heat to your left.  Opening your eyes, you behold what has to be an angel, a dazzling bright young man, wings outstretched behind him, and his feet not exactly standing on the cold stones of the sanctuary.  How would you react?