My frequent readers know about my various articles regarding The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon church. You can start reading the series here, but the general idea is that I formally left the church in May of 2024, having been baptized into the Catholic Church.
My articles mostly concern a situation in the Albany 2nd Ward (parish) of the Albany New York Stake (diocese) where a convicted child molester, someone who actually committed sexual crimes against two teenage boys is welcome in their midst where as I, a writer, am banned from that building. It really doesn’t matter; I have no reason to want or need to be there.
Indeed, Dan Bolke, a Senior Civil Engineer for the town of Niskayuna, runs the ward. He is considered a bishop (priest). I wrote an article wherein I expressed a desire to slam a teenage girl’s face into a wall for her arrogant smirk, a smirk that she wore any time that she roamed the halls. I saw that smirk as she passed the library and if you saw it for yourself, you’d probably support me.
Should I have written that article last year, an article that is no longer available for no other reason than I caused a database failure and lost numerous articles? No, especially give that she was at the time and still is a minor, but what’s done is done.
Mind you, what I wrote was a desire. I was writing out of frustration and anger and, this is key, I did not act on it. I will never apologize for it. But would I write something like that again? No.
Bolke was alerted to my article by Dave Bernacki, a detective within in the Albany Police Department. Bernacki has quite the history in Albany, being called out for running to the media for something he claimed that he saw when he was a patrolman. He was apparently called out and he then backpedaled. His claims were dubious and his timing was suspicious, in my opinion.
Bernacki’s little stunt stripped him of any credibility that he never had, in my opinion. He should have been fired for that little stunt. He holds a high level of authority in the stake and how he got to that point is, to me, questionable. But then again, the Mormons support pedophiles, at least in that ward, so this should come as no surprise.
Yes, I’m calling Bernacki out for running to Bolke and crying like the little bitch that he is. Bernacki knew full well that I never meant any actual harm. And hey, even if I did act on the desire, which I never actually would, she wouldn’t have been truly harmed. A little slam into a wall and a little blood lost never hurt anyone. And again, if you saw that smirk, you’d likely at least understand what I originally wrote about.
But back to the point: Bolke seems to be okay with the ward’s history of welcoming a child molester, a man who acted on his desire to truly harm children, but a simple article where I expressed a desire that I’m sure several others share is the line in the sand? At least that’s what I get out of it. At no point would I actually have done any harm and he knew that.
I have gotten reports from multiple sources that, Bolke said certain things yesterday regarding me to a third party that I consider to be discriminatory and provocative. I have promised one source to not publish what he said. For now, anyway.
Thankfully, I have been given permission to go full blast on Bolke if he provokes me even further than he did this weekend with his hateful and unforgivable words. The nuclear silo doors have opened and the key is in the keyhole. One more hateful word out of Bolke’s mouth and the proverbial nuclear key gets turned to the right at just the right interval. Got it?
True, I can’t discuss what he said for now, but it is an almost certainty that Bolke will provoke me again and when that happens, someone’s pants will burn before we’re through it. What I will be discussing in this article, however, is observable to anyone who walks by that room, so it’s fair game.
While I was part of what was then the Albany 2nd Branch (like a ward, but smaller), I was in charge of the library, where all the teaching materials, supplies and so forth are stored. When I took over, the library was an absolute disaster. Over the course of time, I came in during the week to reorganize it all. It was that damn bad.
One of the many things that I did to fix the situation was create a database. I did other things to ensure that accessing materials would be organized and easy. I did a lot in that room. A lot more than previous librarians did.
I was happy to learn this weekend that the library has gone to hell. I have yet to be replaced and it’s quite obvious, based on what I’ve been told, that they need a new librarian. As a result, I am told, the library is more of a disaster than it was when I took over. Materials are all over the place and not organized, making it frustrating for people who need to access materials quickly.
The photocopier/printer is out of toner, to the point that nothing can be printed and believe me, lots of people need that machine. This may sound like a trivial thing, but under my stewardship, that never happened. I was always on top of things. I took pride in my work, even after I became Catholic. I only kept showing up after my baptism for family reasons, but I finally gave up and formally resigned.
Yes, I still showed up, working free of charge, just to keep a certain party happy. While I did that, I teased the congregants and they didn’t even know it. I wore my crucifix, loud and proud. That’s a big deal because Mormons don’t believe in the crucifix. I meant as a big middle finger to everyone in the building, but most people didn’t notice or care.
I have to say that it is comforting to see the ward’s library fall apart. I never thought it would become as bad as it apparently has, but here we are. I instituted a sign-out sheet system which helped hold people accountable and helped keep things organized. On the day that my assignment ended, someone gleefully tore the sign-out sheet to shreds. Well, who’s gleeful now? This guy!
It does my cold, black heart good to see that the ward needed me after all. It’s certainly not my fault that the ward has gone without a librarian for over a year. I like to think that I’m difficult to replace, and based on what I’ve been told, I would not be arrogant or wrong to say that. I look forward to hearing about the library getting worse and worse.
Oh, it doesn’t have anything to do with this topic, but it’s worth mentioning that the previous leader of the congregation in question told me that Bernacki, who is his son-in-law, phoned home often in tears from basic training. A big, bad city detective is reduced to tears by basic training when I went through it, albeit briefly, without a single tear? I weep for the department!
Anyway, to conclude, I will repeat: they should have appreciated a good thing when they had it. I will continue to enjoy the library’s destruction. I will continue to relish in the ward’s misery.
(This article has been updated for clarity and continuity after its initial publication.)