“POPE JOHN PAUL II IS THE REAL DEAL"

Leader CEO Michael McKibben talks about his friend

Contributing Writers | Opinion | AMERICANS FOR INNOVATION  | Apr. 26, 2014, Updated May 7, 2014 | PDF

Fig. 1—Aug. 13, 1980, Living Sound Vatican concert and audience with Pope John Paul II (formerly Cardinal Karol Woytła). Pictured L/R Pope John Paul II, Mike McKibben (behind His Holiness), Joel Vesanen (Team III Road Manager), Baby Carrie McKibben (four months old), Nancy McKibben, Living Sound Team III (in background). This photo was captured at the foot of the steps of St. Peter’s Bascilica.

Fig. 2—Aug. 13, 1980, Living Sound Vatican concert and audience with Pope John Paul II. (L/R) Joel Vesanen, Baby Anja Vesanen, Nancy McKibben, Baby Carrie McKibben, Terry Law (foreground), Michael McKibben, U.S. TV videographer, Pam Faye (singer), Pope John Paul II.

Photos: L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO CITTA’ DEL VATICANO -
SERVIZIO FOTOGRAPHICO - Tel. 698 47 97 -ARTURIO MARI

(Apr. 26, 2014) —A cool YouTube video titled We Can’t Live Without Each Other appeared about a year ago. It was produced by Leader Technologies’ CEO, Michael McKibben, and some former colleagues. It chronicled the work of a spunky Gospel group named “Living Sound.” Comprised of four different music "teams," they performed around the world, including the former Soviet Union. That's right, back when militant atheism was communist government policy. Remarkably, this Christian group even performed on Soviet TV and on the official 1980 Moscow Summer Olympic film. McKibben was their European Director between 1997 and 1982.

Full citation: We Can't Live Without Each Other (Hам не жить друг без д руга) music video, A. Pakhmutova (А. Пахмутова), N. Dobronravov (Н. Добронравов) , N. McKibben, Living Sound, 1980, Melodiya Records / Mosfilm / Evgeny Ginzburg-CT USSR.

Living Sound achieved many firsts, including organizing the first integrated concert tour in Apartheid South Africa with Andrea Crouch and the Disciples. They were also the first (and probably only) American Gospel group to perform on national Soviet TV during the height of the Cold War.

Saint Pope John Paul II and Michael McKibben

On the eve of Pope John Paul II’s canonization, we thought readers would appreciate knowing a bit more about Michael McKibben, the real inventor of social networking. It appears he has a saint in his camp—the man who helped bring down communism behind the Iron Curtain.

Living Sound was close to Polish Cardinal Karol Woytła. They collaborated during the decade of the 70’s when Cardinals Wyszynski and Woytła, and the People of Poland with them, were standing strong against communist ideological aggression.

Fig. 4—Living Sound, ca. Aug. 15, 1974, sang to a gathering of 300,000 pilgrims at the Festival of the Black Madonna at Jasna Góra Monastery, Częstochowa, Poland. Cardinals Wyszynski and Woytła sat about where the photographer is standing in this photo. Pictured (L/R) are translator Ryszard Pruskowski, Carol Tedder (One Republic Ryan Tedder's aunt), and Tim Hoover. Michael McKibben is playing trombone in the band to the left of this shot.

Photo: Sacrosong

Fig 3--Lech Walesa was the man who led Solidarity, the first free trade union in the Communist block. He led his followers in a non-violent opposition to the state and its police and was inspirational in creating the climate that finally enabled Poland to free itself from the power of the Communist party. Gdansk, Poland, ca., late 1980.

Cover: Wolfhound Press

In their youthful exuberance, Living Sound appears to have served the Polish Church as some sort of Fifth Column statement that Christians would not be cowed by persecution and abuse. Living Sound toured in Poland a dozen times. They even toured with Lech Walesa and Solidarity during Solidarity’s tense first year of existence. McKibben smiles, “My booking manager, Englishman Brian Kille, gave Lech his first Casio digital watch during a Living Sound concert tour planning meeting at Solidarity's new makeshift headquarters in Gdansk in late 1980.”

[Editor: I just noticed something quite interesting. Lech Walesa scaled the shipyard fence in Gdansk, Poland, on Aug. 14, 1980, the day after Living Sound's audience in Rome with Pope John Paul II. It was also during the time when the remarkable Living Sound events surrounding the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics and Soviet TV were unfolding.]

The Measure of the Man

We asked McKibben about his friendship with Pope John Paul II. He shared several photos (posted here) and several stories he thought helped give a measure of the man. He started the conversation by saying “In my experience, John Paul II is the real deal.”

Fig. 5—Michael T. McKibben, Living Sound trombonist, ca. 1975.

Photo: Ruth Vesanen

McKibben said, “In the summer of 1975, I was the trombonist on our Team II. We had just finished concerts in Nova Huta at a very special venue. With the encouragement of Cardinal Woytła, the people of Nowa Huta (pronounced Nova in English) were building their cathedral one brick at a time. Nova Huta was to be a communist city untainted by religion. However, the faithful had other ideas. We sang in the midst of construction scaffolds in the partially built sanctuary of 'The Lord's Ark' church to packed congregations standing shoulder to shoulder. We sang the prohibited Polish national religious anthem "May God Bless Poland" at every concert. That always brought us singers and audiences alike to tears, and especially those nights.”

Fig. 5—Cardinal Karol Woytla, ca. Oct. 28, 1972, speaking at Nova Huta cathedral while under construction. Three years later, Living Sound sang on this very stage, still under construction by the people of Nova Huta. The town was being built by the Communists to be free of religion. Cardinal Woytła and the parishioners had other ideas. The Cardinal and his parishioners won.

Photo: Sacrosong

“The next day, we traveled to Krakow to meet with Cardinal Woytła at his residence. My wife, Nancy, had asked him for an interview for an article she was writing about our Polish tours.  Back then, few Americans knew much about the plight of the Polish Church, so we wanted to tell them.  We asked Cardinal Woytła for a letter of recommendation to the American Church. I will never forget his reaction. Nonplussed, he asked in slight amusement, “Who cares about the opinion of an out-of-the-way Polish cardinal?” He was not pretentious.  

Cardinal Woytla the Person

Fig. 6—Cardinal Karol Woytla (Right) ca. Sep. 30, 1975, meeting at his residence in Krakow, Poland with members of Living Sound. R-L: Cardinal Karol Woytła, Nancy McKibben, Michael McKibben, Joel Vesanen, Ryszard Pruskowski, Fr. Jan Palusinski (Sacrosong).

Photo: Ruth Vesanen

Cardinal Woytła gave us the letter. It did open the doors of the American Catholic Church to us. Most of us were from other Christian denominations other than Roman Catholic, but our differences did not seem to matter to him. That’s when this 20-something decided not to let differences stand in the way of human kindness and brotherhood. That’s probably when Trinitarian faith dawned on me—that all men and women are made in the image and after the likeness of God, and deserving of my respect; not just those who think like me!”

Cardinal Woytla elected Pope on October 16, 1978

McKibben continued, “I’ll never forget hearing the BBC radio news of his election to Pope. The next day, I received a number of calls from the British press. They had no pictures of Cardinal Woytła. They’d heard from London-based Buzz Magazine that we might have some. I shared one of him clutching one of our albums. See Fig. 5 below. Our road manager, Joel Vesanen, had given it to him after our concert to almost 300,000 pilgrims in Częstochowa, Poland at Jasna Góra Monastery.” Recently, someone discovered a Galway, Ireland, article containing that very photo. It’s one of my favorites.“

John Paul II invited Living Sound to Rome

Fig. 7—Cardinal Karol Woytla (Right), ca. Sep. 30, 1975, wrote this letter of recommendation for Living Sound:

"Their repertoire as well as the visible emotional involvement in the Gospel, their artistic expression during the Sacrosong, and the various concerts have made a positive impression on the Polish Catholic listeners. Their attitude awakens courage among the Polish youth to proclaim the Word of God... also proves that the salvation of every man is our common task... for the furthering of their Godly work and this mission, I bless from my heart, the Living Sound."

Sacrosong Patron

Karol Cardinal Woytła
ca. Sep. 30, 1975,
elected Pope John Paul II three years later, on Oct. 17, 1978

Photo: Sacrosong

"In 1980, His Holiness invited us to Rome for an audience. On August 13, 1980 we sang to 60,000 in Vatican Square for an hour before the Pope’s regular Wednesday audience. We have a photo of him greeting Living Sound, and blessing our four-month old daughter, Carrie." See Fig. 1 above.

"The Vatican Curia said they’d never seen anything like it. We were a fully electrified jazz-rock/pop style group pumping out toe-tapping Gospel music through the Vatican public address system. The Pope let us park our bus at the steps of St. Peter’s. We ran a 1-inch power cord out the front door of St. Peter’s and down the long steps to our gear set up next to his podium."

"Several weeks earlier, I had traveled to Rome with Randy Innes (now a Superintendent of the United Methodist Church in North Carolina) to make the final arrangements with the Vatican. Our host was Monsignor Ivan Dias, who is now a cardinal in India. Monsignor Dias told us a humorous story about the tone John Paul II set quickly for his leadership."

"At the end of the Pope’s first press conference, he started to walk down the steps to greet the journalists. A Curia official stopped him and said it was not protocol for the Pope to mingle with the press after a speech. John Paul II turned to the official and asked, “Who’s Pope here, you or me?” He then walked down and greeted the gathered journalists and photographers. From my vantage point, he was a principled man for whom the stewardship of his life’s calling was his most important priority. He was intelligent, courageous, compassionate and big-hearted. You also knew he had your back and was no pushover. He knew how to stand firm and fight for what he thought was right.”

McKibben concluded, “With Cardinal Woytła’s election as Pope, a bright light from Poland had entered the world stage, and he was our friend and collaborator in matters of faith.”

Social Networks & The Prayers of a Saint

Fig. 8—Cardinal Karol Woytla, ca. Aug. 14, 1974, holds the Living Sound LP "The Great Praise Meeting" just after Living Sound had sung before a crowd of 300,000 gathered for the Festival of the Black Madonna at Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa, Poland. This photo was one of the few available in the West following Cardinal Woytla's election to the papacy on Oct. 16, 1978. Michael McKibben, Living Sound's European Director, says it was used widely in the British press to carry the first news of his election.

Photo: Ruth Vesanen

Turning to Leader’s battle with Facebook, we asked McKibben if he thought his association with Saint John Paul might make a difference in finding justice.

McKibben said, “We watched Cardinal Woytła and the Polish people fight injustice up close and personal. Despite the odds, they persevered. We saw that same determination from our friends in the former Soviet Union. That seems to be the lesson of faith for every generation. I spoke on this subject just recently by Estonia Daily. We had asked Cardinal Woytła, later Pope John Paul II, to pray for us numerous times. He blessed my daughter, and blessed our music groups many times. We will continue that relationship.“

“How Saint John Paul’s prayers will affect the unconscionable conduct of Facebook is in God’s hands. In the end, they'll answer to Him, just like us. Our job is to do what’s right, every day. We'll also ask Saint John Paul, and other saints who have faithfully run the race before us, for their prayers. Then, we'll leave the results to God."

"A great philanthropist Rose Totino (of frozen pizza fame) was once criticized for being too generous. She responded: 'I’ve never seen a U-Haul behind a hearse.' In the end, we all will stand before God with only our lives and conduct to answer for. My prayer is that my shareholders receive their just rewards, here and now. We already know what God thinks about what Facebook has done: Thou shalt not steal; Thou shalt not bear false witness. Our U.S. laws are based on these timeless commandments. Now we just need a government and legal system that protect them, here and now.” McKibben concluded.

Who cares about the opinion of an out-of-the-way Polish cardinal? Maybe no one, but what about the prayers of a saint?

Pray for us, Saint John Paul.

+ + +

For the Record:
More Michael McKibben Photos

Fig. 9—Living Sound Vatican Audience and Concert Aug. 13, 1980, L/R: Terry Law, Randy Faye, Team III (background), Pope John Paul II, Joel Vesanen, John Paul II, Duane Nichols, Dave Berry, Baby Carrie McKibben, Nancy McKibben, Jan Law (foreground).

Photo: L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO CITTA’ DEL VATICANO -
SERVIZIO FOTOGRAPHICO - Tel. 698 47 97 -ARTURIO MARI

Fig. 10— Living Sound II Horn Section singing to ~300,000 pilgrims at the shrine of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, Poland ca. Aug. 27, 1975. Living Sound Team II, L/R: Larry Kaemmerer (trumpet & flugelhorn), Michael McKibben (trombone), Dan Murdock (woodwinds). Living Sound was invited and hosted by Cardinals Stefan Wyszynski and Karol Woytła.

Photo: Ruth Vesanen

Fig. 11—Living Sound Team II Sacrosong Concert Crowd, Przemyśl, Poland, Sep. 22, 1975. According to Michael McKibben, an estimated 20,000 people jammed the streets to hear Living Sound, They set up their musical gear on a specially built stage from which this picture was captured. Cardinal Karol Woytła was the patron of Sacrosong; Fr. Jan Palusinski was the director. McKibben said he was approached by a known Polish secret policeman during this concert before the sponsoring parish priest told the man to leave Living Sound alone.

Photo: Ruth Vesanen

Fig. 12—Pope John Paul II's Easter (Paschal) Blessing, 1980. Given to Michael & Nancy McKibben after Living Sound's August 13, 1980 audience and concert in St. Peter's Square.

Credit: Pope John Paul II

Corruption Alert: White House CTO Todd Y. Park's Castlight Health filed S-1 On Feb. 10, 2014

(May 7, 2014)—Castlight Health filed an S-1 Registration indicating it plans to go public. What's wrong with this story? First, the company's owner and founder, Todd Y. Park, is the current U.S. Chief Technology Officer who embedded Castlight software in Healthcare.gov / Obamacare when he was HHS CTO. Second, the Facebook Cartel is running the show. It's the same cast of characters that stole Leader Technologies' invention, corrupted our federal courts and corrupted our agencies: Fenwick & West LLP (Leader's former attorney), Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. Will Obama's regulators at the S.E.C., Commerce Dept. and Justice Dept. stop this evident double-dealing and corruption?

The S-1 confirms the overwhelming presence of the Facebook Cartel at Castlight: See page 91, 92, 112. David Ebersman (Facebook CFO), Robert Kocher MD (architect of Obamacare; Venrock) and Ann H. Lamont (Nat. Venture Cap. Assoc., Meritech [large Facebook shareholder], Oak Investments), Fidelity. Founder Todd Y. Park's holdings are not disclosed. Nondisclosure of a material party, especially the United States Chief Technology Officer, is fraudulent misrepresentation.

Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker holds up to $23.4 million in Goldman, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan, the underwriters, she is clealy feathering her own nest. Attorney General Eric G. Holder holds 11 Fidelity Fund investments which makes him a beneficiary of the Castlight offering. Bottom line, our securities regulators are living in the Castlight nest with the underwriters. This entire offering is the definition of corruption.

May 7, 2014 Update: Dear Readers, this has been a busy week for AFI investigators while you hopefully enjoyed the Saint John Paul post. Much more proof of the endemic corruption surrounding Leader v. Facebook and the administration has emerged. AFI researchers are verifying it. Pay attention to Theodore B. Olson, Gibson Dunn LLP. He was interviewed on 60 Minutes Sunday. He represents BP against the Gulf Coast oil spill victims. Olson is a close, long time collaborator of Facebook's attorney in Leader v. Facebook, Thomas G. Hungar, and Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.

We believe the Leader v. Facebook judicial corruption scandal, the Benghazi cover-up and the IRS scandal, will all point to the same conspirators in the administration. One thing is for sure, the scandals are all driven by corrupt lawyers. A Brit pointed out the other day that half of the members of the Senate these days are attorneys, as compared to a fraction of that proportion in other Western democracies. We feel an attorney joke hairball coming up, so we'll stop for now. Stay tuned. AFI Contributing Writers.