Channel 4 of the U.K. broadcasted an alternative to the Queens Speech - this one by Dr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran giving a short message of hope and prosperity for Christmas.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, delivered Channel 4's alternative Christmas address yesterday, sending a message of "happiness, prosperity, peace and brotherhood for humanity" which immediately ignited a furious row.
The speech by Mr Ahmadinejad, whose nuclear ambitions and views on Israel and homosexuality have strained relations between Iran and the West, was moderate, with none of the harsh rhetoric for which he has gained notoriety. God, he said, had created "every human being with the ability to reach the heights of perfection". He also urged Muslims and Christians to work together towards a world of "love, brotherhood and justice".
Speaking in Farsi with English subtitles, Mr Ahmadinejad sent his congratulations to "the followers of Abrahamic faiths, especially the followers of Jesus Christ, and the people of Britain".
He said the world's ills had come about through nations failing to follow the teachings of the Prophets, including Jesus. He also made a thinly-veiled attack on the US, claiming Christ would have been against "bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers" and would have opposed "warmongers, occupiers, terrorists and bullies the world over".
Israel called the message a "sick and twisted irony". Ron Prosor, the Israeli ambassador to Britain, said: "In Iran, converts to Christianity face the death penalty."
The full text of a Christmas message - Click Here!
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The fact of the matter is that this was the best Christmas Message i have ever heard - It was a religious message - much better than the usual message from the Queen which is probably written by 10 Downing street and is more political. I would be happy to hear more messages like this in future. As for the Israeli ambassador - he seems to stay silent on the plight of Palestinian Christians that have been forced out of Bethlehem, West Bank and those that continue to live there face oppression by the Israeli government. No mention of the wall dividing the Jews against Muslims & Christians, that is causing economic hardship, business to go bust, high unemployment rates between Muslim and Christian Arabs, checkpoints all over Palestine causing further hardships – no mention of the dwindling numbers of Christians in place where many believe Christianity began.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Ahmadinejad gives Christmas Speech
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Monks brawl at Jerusalem shrine
Monks brawl at Jerusalem shrine
Taken from BBC News, 09.11.08
Israeli police have had to restore order at one of Christianity's holiest sites after a mass brawl broke out between monks in Jerusalem's Old City.
Fighting erupted between Greek Orthodox and Armenian monks at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the traditional site of Christ's crucifixion.
Two monks from each side were detained as dozens of worshippers traded kicks and punches at the shrine, said police.
Trouble flared as Armenians prepared to mark the annual Feast of the Cross.
Tapestries toppled
Shocked pilgrims looked on as decorations and tapestries were toppled during Sunday's clash.
The Greeks blamed the Armenians for not recognising their rights inside the holy site, while the Armenians said the Greeks had violated one of their traditional ceremonies.
An Armenian clergyman said the Greek clergy had tried to place one of their monks inside the Edicule, an ancient structure which is said to encase the tomb of Jesus.
"What is happening here is a violation of status quo. The Greeks have tried so many times to put their monk inside the tomb but they don't have the right to when the Armenians are celebrating the feast," he said.
The Armenians had been preparing to commemorate the 4th Century discovery of the cross believed to have been used to crucify Jesus.
A Greek clergyman said: "We protested peacefully, we stood here in the middle and we claimed that we shall not leave the procession finished unless they leave our guardian be inside. This didn't happen and in that moment the police interfered."
Six Christian sects share control of the ancient church and the BBC's Wyre Davies in Jerusalem says confrontations between them are not uncommon, but rarely descend into violence.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Children removed from sect in Texas tell of girls forced into sex with older men
Taken from the Guardian, UK
Ed Pilkington, April 10 2008
Interviews with hundreds of children removed from a polygamist sect in Texas have revealed that several underage girls were forced into "spiritual marriage" with much older men as soon as they reached puberty and were then made pregnant, according to investigators.
A total of 416 children, mainly girls, have now been taken into state custody after five days of raids on the Yearn for Zion ranch in Eldorado, west Texas. Court documents reveal the children were removed for fear they were at risk of "emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse".
A further 139 women left the ranch voluntarily to accompany the girls, and are being held with them. A local court has granted state custody of all the children until a hearing later this month.
The 1,700-acre ranch is the retreat of a group from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a 10,000-strong splinter sect that broke with the main Mormon church when it denounced polygamy in the 1890s. The compound was built in 2004 in a remote location in the prairies by Warren Jeffs, the then "prophet" of the sect who is currently in jail in Arizona awaiting trial over charges relating to the arranged marriages of three teenage girls. He has already been sentenced to 10 years to life imprisonment in the state of Utah.
The raids were sparked by a telephone call from a 16-year-old girl inside the Yearn for Zion compound to a local family violence shelter on March 29. She said she had been forced to become the seventh "spiritual wife" of a man aged 50, who made her pregnant with a child, now aged eight months, and then made her pregnant for a second time. The girl said other girls, some as young as 13, had been forced to have sex with older men for procreation. She said she had been beaten by her "husband" so badly that on one occasion several of her ribs were broken. The beatings included hitting her on the chest and choking her, the affidavit says, while another woman held her baby.
The police are searching for the man, Dale Barlow. They are also continuing to search for the girl, whose identity has not been released and who has yet to be found among the 416 children taken into care.
The court papers give new details about the isolated life of the sect.
The compound is self-sufficient, in order to avoid contact with the "outsiders' world". In addition to a temple, the ranch includes a cement factory, a school, a cheese factory and medical centre.
Women wear home-sewn dresses and are not allowed to wear red, which Jeffs decreed was reserved for Jesus, or cut their hair. They live on a diet of dairy produce, vegetables, berries, nuts and honey.
Sect members were only allowed out of the compound for emergencies. The 16-year-old who sounded the alarm told the shelter that she had been warned that if she left the ranch, "outsiders will hurt her, force her to cut her hair, to wear makeup and to have sex with lots of men", the documents say.
Several of the teenage girls were found to have children or are pregnant. Many could not spell their last names or state their birth date.
The sect believes that polygamy for men is an essential religious practice. Underage girls were married to older men of the church's choosing, the affidavit says.
The leader of the ranch, Merrill Jessop, has called for a public outcry over the raids, saying the "hauling off of women and children matches anything in Russia or Germany".
Lawyers for the church have filed a court petition to quash the searches on the grounds they are unconstitutional as the authorities lack sufficient evidence to justify the intrusion.
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Latest Update - 25th May 08: Members of a polygamist sect in Texas were overjoyed after an appeal court ordered the state authorities to return 440 children taken from a church compound during a raid. The Third Court of Appeals in Austin said on Thursday that the state had failed to show that the children were in any immediate danger – the only justification under Texas law for taking children from their parents without a court order. Child-protection officials argued that five of the girls had become pregnant under the age of 16 and that the sect was essentially a paedophile ring. Warren Jeffs, the “prophet” of the church, is serving a ten-year sentence in Utah for rape. The decision to return the children was seen as an embarrassment for the child welfare authority and as vindication for members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), who claim that they are being subjected to religious persecution.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
A NOT so merry Christmas in occupied Bethlehem
Taken from Al-Jazeera news Agency, DECEMBER 25, 2007
A normally empty Manger Square was filled beyond capacity on Christmas day as thousands of Palestinians, dignitaries and foreigners descended on the little town of Bethlehem to welcome Michel Sabah the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.
The Patriarch's yearly visit was meant to kick off Christmas festivities but this year, as in others, the spirit of the festive season is uniquely intertwined with the fate of all Palestinians, who say the city has suffered from years of Israeli occupation.
And like previous years, despite a boost in tourism, celebrations in Bethlehem have been marred by a poor economic and security situation.
While Bethlehem is the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ atop a hill just 10km away from Jerusalem, the site of Christ's crucifixion, a 10-meter high concrete wall put up by Israel and several military checkpoints keep the two cities very much apart.
Fairy tale Christmas
It is such barriers and restrictions borne of Israeli occupation that has made Christmas bittersweet for Palestinians.
Maxim Sansour, founding board member of Open Bethlehem, an international campaign to address the state of emergency facing Bethlehem, said the city's greatest problems largely go unaddressed every Christmas.
He said: "Christmas comes and goes, but our problems remain."
Issues of growing Israeli settlements which lie immediately on the border of Bethlehem and demolitions of Palestinian homes on the outskirts of the city have made life difficult for Palestinians.
Sansour says Bethlehem will always continue to struggle as long as such Palestinian issues of statehood, economic viability and sustenance under occupation remain unaddressed.
Sansour also believes that visitors and pilgrims who do come show support but at the same time many are also in Bethlehem as part of "the fairy-tale story of Christmas".
Father Garret Edmonds, a Franciscan monk from California who works with pilgrim groups in Palestine and is spending his fifth Christmas in Bethlehem, said: "There are moments of hope but then everything returns to the status quo. It goes on and off like this all the time."
Father Edmonds also highlighted the increasing erosion of the Church and the increasing number of Christians choosing to emigrate from in Palestine.
"It's important to have a viable, living Church, but if things continue the way they are in 25 years there might not be a living church. Bethlehem could become one giant museum," he said.
Life under occupation
In 2006, Open Bethlehem released the results of a questionnaire which examined the reasons behind the high rate of Christian emigration from Bethlehem.
Of 2000 Palestinians surveyed in Bethlehem, 76 per cent said Israeli occupation was the main reason for leaving. Sixteen per cent of the Christians in the city said they are in the process of emigrating, compared to eight per cent of the Muslims.
Many Palestinians also said that foreigners and pilgrims coming to Bethlehem do not experience daily life under occupation.
Palestinians who have Israeli permission to travel between Bethlehem and the West Bank say they are subjected to fingerprint and document scanning, full body searches, and long waits before they are let through.
Some are not even allowed to visit friends and family simply because they live on the wrong side of the wall or in some cases the soldier manning a checkpoint might not feel like letting them through.
Brother Jack Curran, Vice President of Development for Bethlehem University, said: "I have colleagues who haven't been to Jerusalem in years and I can come and go as freely as I want. I feel ashamed of the privilege I have and it's easy to take for granted, I always have to remember that."
"But it is also a privilege that the Palestinians deserve."
Brother Curran, a member of the Lasallian order, felt that Christmas in Bethlehem is not truly reflected because of what he says are the injustices being heaped upon the Palestinians daily.
"The story can't be told without looking seriously at these things," he said.
"Without foreigners," Curran explained, "it would also be a lot worse. We must act as the witnesses and truth tellers, but not just once a year."
Sustain support
Christmas generates a great deal of positive media attention for both Bethlehem and Palestine every year. It is a chance for the world to show the Palestinians some sympathy and solidarity but Sansour said that it never carries on.
"We love good feelings and the Palestinian people deeply appreciate the show of support, but it must be a sustained kind of support."
Bethlehem is a small town; according to the Palestinian Central bureau of Statistics its population in 2006 stood just shy of 30000, and has a very small and localized economy which is dominated by the tourist industry.
According to Open Bethlehem, tourism accounts for 65 per cent of Bethlehem's economy. In November, 80,000 visitors arrived in the city. This was boosted by a further 20,000 in the days leading to Christmas.
Sansour said that while tourism represents a significant portion of Bethlehem's economy many of the tourist operators are Israeli which means that most of the tourists who do come stay for only a short time and promptly return to Jerusalem.
"They come here, take their Disneyland photos and drink some tea from a local shop and go back to Jerusalem," Sansour said.
"Maybe they'll stop by and buy some wood carvings from a shop where the Israeli operators get a commission, but that's about it," he added.
Christmas surge
Most of Bethlehem's local businessmen wait all year just for the Christmas season to come in hopes of boosting their incomes and providing for their families.
It's not surprising given that the poverty rate stands at 60 per cent while unemployment stands at 55 per cent, a slight increase from last year but not overly significant according to George Saadeh, Bethlehem's deputy mayor.
Abed Ibrahim, who works at a sweets shop, said: "Christmas [is] the only time of the year that anyone makes any money."
"It's good for now. But next year it will be bad again until the next Christmas. Nothing will change," he said
Ibrahim added: "Fast dollars won't solve our business problems."
Ameer Jaber, who operates a stall selling boiled corn and roasted peanuts, feels the Palestinians need the kind of media exposure they received for Christmas year-round and not just in Bethlehem, but all over Palestine.
He said: "You foreigners come and help us, but then you leave when you have your pictures and reports, but we're still here and you'll have the same story next year unless we get your help."
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People seem to think that it is only Palestinains Arabs (i.e Muslims) that are occupied and hence not give a second though, but the fact of the matter is that Arab Christians have been living in Palestine peacefully for centuries (well until it had been occupied illegally by Israel). Arab Muslims and Christians in occupied Palestine have been treated harshly, with boarder controls, illegal walls, controls of economic, social and religious activity by the Israelis, leading to many Arab Christians to leave their homes in Palestine and emigrate to another country. This has been happening for decades but you will not get a mention of their plight by the Pope or the archbishop of Canterbury. Maybe Arab Christians are not as important as European/ American Christians? Maybe Bethlehem is not important.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Argentina 'dirty war' priest jailed
Taken from Al-Jezeera News Agency,
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 09, 2007
The first Roman Catholic priest charged for crimes committed under Argentina's past military government has been sentenced to life in prison.
Christian von Wernich was convicted on Tuesday of involvement in torture, kidnapping and murder during a trial that focused attention on the church's role in the 1976-1983 "dirty war".
The former police chaplain was found to have been a "co-participant" with police in seven homicides, 31 torture cases and 42 kidnappings during the military rule that critics say the church did little to oppose.
One judge described the offences as crimes against humanity.
Prosecutors said he extracted information from prisoners during the Catholic practice of confession and took money from families of prisoners ostensibly to help send the detainees into exile when they had already been killed.
Verdict welcomed
Fireworks exploded outside the federal courthouse after Judge Carlos Rozanski announced the conviction and prison sentence handed down by a three-judge federal panel. Inside the court, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a human rights group still seeking "missing" sons and daughters from the period, cheered loudly.
"Justice has been done. This is a historic day we Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo never thought we'd live to see," Tati Almeyda, a member of the group said. Adriana Calvo, of the association of former detainees and the missing, said: "That a court has acknowledged that genocide exists in our country is an encouragement for us to carry on and justifies so many years of struggle."
Al Jazeera's Lucia Newman said von Wernich showed little emotion when the verdict was read out.
She added that in theory, von Wernich, 69, had the right to be moved to house arrest once he turned 70.
Earlier, using biblical language, the priest professed his innocence during mere minutes of final testimony after his defence spent hours in closing arguments.
"False testimony is of the devil because he is responsible for malice and is the father of evil and lies," he said, prompting murmurs in the courtroom packed with torture survivors and human rights activists.
Detention centres
Prosecutors said von Wernich had been linked by survivors to at least five clandestine detention camps in Buenos Aires province.
During the three-month trial, more than 70 witnesses testified and judges toured former torture centres at police stations with survivors.
The "dirty war" officially left some 13,000 dead or missing, although human rights groups have put the toll at nearly 30,000.
Juan Martin Cerolini, von Wernich's defence lawyer, argued that as part of his duties as a priest, the defendant was obliged to visit police detention centres but that did not mean he played any part in the state crackdown. He rejected survivor testimony suggesting von Wernich - who wore a bullet-proof vest over his clerical collar during the trial - conspired with police to help extract information from prisoners under the guise of giving them spiritual assistance.
Von Wernich said in his last words to the judges that he never violated the priestly prohibition against revealing information obtained in the Roman Catholic practice of confession.
"No priest of the Catholic church ... has ever violated this sacrament," he said.
Stricken with pain
The Catholic church, in a statement issued immediately after the verdict was announced, said it was stricken with pain at seeing "a priest participating in very serious crimes." "If any member of the church ... by recommendation or complicity, endorsed the violent repression, he did so under his own responsibility, straying from and sinning gravely against God, humanity and his own conscience," Jorge Bergoglio, Buenos Aires archbishop, said.
Rights organisations allege that the church turned its back to the atrocities committed during military rule and even covered up rights violations, which included the deaths and disappearances of priests and nuns.
The von Wernich case is the biggest human rights trial in Argentina since former police chief Miguel Etchecolatz was convicted in September 2006 in the same La Plata courthouse.
The trials came after the Supreme Court in 2005 annulled amnesty laws blocking prosecution of scores of former state security agents or their civilian allies.
Friday, September 28, 2007
The missionary danger
Current-day missionaries use friendly tactics, but are just as dangerous as before
Taken from Ynet News, Israel, 27.09.07
Ya'acov Margi
History is repeating itself. Then, as now, missionaries were operating under the guise of mercy and a "religion of love," in an effort to boost the number of converts in Israel based on Christian doctrine. In this way, some elements are attempting to realize their final objective: Exterminating the Jewish people through money and manipulations.
Then, history was filled with pogroms, crusades, the Inquisition, blood libels, mass killing, and genocide, which were all undertaken in the name of this same "love." If it wasn't done gently and mercifully, then it was done through the use of force, torture, destruction, fire, murder, and cruelty.
Toady, missionaries have been forced to change their modus operandi. For example: Acquiring souls through money, covering debts, making tempting proposals, immigration, and guaranteed employment. All of the above are the means of persuasion employed by profession missionaries.
Making others convert to Christianity is considered among missionary circles to be a profession where all means justify the end. They claim that their objective is "saving the soul" of the intended victim.
Most promises are not realized, yet the hurt, weak, and embarrassed victim is despaired and doesn't realize this. There are cases where he believes professional seducers and their smooth messages, and then it is too late. The humiliation, destruction, and poison introduced by the missionary into the victim's soul have already seeped into the depths of his lost soul.
Tempted by offers of help
Judaism has no interest in converting members of other religions. Freedom of religion is one thing, and there is no reason to prevent a member of any other religion from acting based on his faith. However, converting someone – even if this is done by a Jew enticing a Christian – while using money and other despicable means, is a wholly different matter.
At times of crisis, people could easily be tempted by offers of help that are proposed on behalf of missionary elements. Missionaries are very active in the grey area of helping the needy. Many cases of handing out food to the needy or extensive campaigns like handing out school bags to children are undertaken by missionaries as part of a strategic effort to gain the trust of the needy.
Based on accumulated data, we can clearly point to heightened missionary activity among communities of new immigrants, as well as submission to this activity. Many of the new immigrants arrive with a Jewish background that is not deep, do not understand Hebrew, miss home, and seek humane treatment. This, in addition to the difficult economic state faced by many of them, prepares the ground for missionary activity.
The Israeli government must boost enforcement and promote the bill I initiated, which would ban conversion efforts and set a jail term of one year for those who violate the law.
The writer, a Knesset member, is the Shas faction chairman
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Evangelical Christians are the single biggest reason why the state of Israel remains an Apartheid state and an aggressive state in the Middle East. It is why Israel is supported by the US financially and Militarily at the expense of it's taxpayers. Why would Evangelicals encourage and finance aliyah so that Jews who do not have any links to the state of Israel take over occupied land and homes that belong to Palestinians for the sake of Zionism. What kind of religion is this? What kind of agenda is this?
As Desmond Tuto said famously "When missionaries came to South Africa, we had the land, they had the Bible. Then they told us, 'Let's close our eyes and pray.' When we opened our eyes we saw that we have the Bible, they have the land."
Sunday, July 15, 2007
$660-Million Settlement In Priest Abuses
Taken from The LA Times, July 15, 2007
By Joe Mozingo and John Spano
L.A. Archdiocese's payout to 508 claimants is the largest in the sex scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed Saturday to a $660-million settlement with 508 people who have accused priests of sexual abuse, by far the biggest payout in the child molestation scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic Church nationwide.
"Some of the victims have waited more than five decades for a chance at reconciliation and resolution," said Raymond Boucher, the main attorney for the plaintiffs. "This is a down payment on that debt long overdue."
The agreement will end all of the pending abuse litigation against the most populous archdiocese in the U.S.
"It's been a long, hard slog," said church attorney J. Michael Hennigan. "I'm delighted to see it's come to a conclusion."
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony
Lawyers had been slated to go to court Monday for the first of 15 scheduled civil trials pitting alleged victims against the archdiocese and individual priests. Settling before the legal marathon was considered particularly urgent because the archdiocese faced potential punitive damages, as well as the prospect of Cardinal Roger M. Mahony having to testify.
Although the settlement will effectively end a chapter in the sad saga of clerical abuse that has spanned decades, the resolution will come at a huge cost to the church. More than $114 million has been promised in previous settlements, bringing the total liability for clergy misconduct in the Los Angeles Archdiocese to more than $774 million. The figure dwarfs the next largest settlements in the U.S., including those reached in Boston, at $157 million, and in Portland, Ore., at $129 million.
Hennigan said the archdiocese expected to pay $250 million in cash, with the balance coming from insurers and religious orders.
"Parish assets will not be touched, and the mission of the church will be impacted but not crippled," he said.
Mahony had previously fought victims, their attorneys and prosecutors demanding confidential personnel files that tracked the problems of accused priests and the church hierarchy's reaction to them. As part of the settlement, the archdiocese agreed it will no longer contest the release of files to the public, one of the attorneys in the lawsuits said. A private judge will mediate any objections from individual priests.
Some abuse victims expressed mixed feelings about the settlement, which will give the priests' accusers an average of about $1.3 million each. The agreement will spare plaintiffs the need to testify in court, but at an advocacy group's news conference outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels downtown, Mary Ferrell, 59, said it nevertheless stirred up old pain.
"That amount of money is impressive in that it shows tremendous guilt," she said. "But I didn't file [the suit] for the money…. I would give back the money if I could have my childhood back."
The settlement was welcomed by some national observers.
"The diocese has finally conceded the fact that everyone needs to move on," said Anne Burke, an Illinois Supreme Court justice and former chairwoman of the National Review Board, a panel of lay Catholics formed by U.S. bishops in 2002 in response to the scandal.
Burke said negotiations for the Los Angeles settlement were undoubtedly more complex than many in other dioceses, "but I also think it was prolonged longer than it should have been because the diocese proceeded to fight. Consequently, it's been a long, long time … and it prolonged the agony of it all."
The settlement will resolve the last of about 570 total claims of abuse against 221 priests, brothers, lay teachers and other church employees spanning the last 70 years. The pact will be presented for final approval Monday to L.A. County Superior Court Judge Haley Fromholz, who had been scheduled to try the first case.
With so many plaintiffs, so much money at stake and the archdiocese frequently at odds with its insurers, negotiations were especially tense over the last few days.
Two major insurance carriers would not stipulate to pay anything until Friday afternoon, when they suddenly agreed to the offer on the table, according to one attorney, who asked not to be named because he was speaking before the settlement was announced.
After the Associated Press first reported Saturday morning that a settlement had been reached, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests scheduled a news conference, canceled it and then scheduled another.
A church representative at one point confirmed a settlement, only to call back minutes later to say it was off.
The accusations of molestations in the archdiocese were part of a national scandal that had been simmering for decades.
However, it wasn't until 2000 that the silent epidemic of priestly abuse exploded into public view.
In Boston, Cardinal Bernard F. Law was swamped by media revelations that he routinely covered up allegations of abuse involving scores of priests, shuffling some of them from one parish to the next without penalty to the priests or notice to their new flocks. On Dec. 13, 2002, the cardinal resigned, asking forgiveness of "all those who have suffered from my shortcomings and mistakes."
In California, the Legislature responded to the national outcry by suspending a statute of limitations for one year, allowing childhood sexual-abuse lawsuits to be filed in 2003 regardless of when the incidents allegedly occurred. By year's end, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles had been hit with more than 500 suits.
"If Boston was the beginning and the cornerstone of the scandal, California is going to be the capstone of the crisis," predicted Richard Sipe, a former Benedictine monk and a consultant to plaintiffs' attorneys.
Thousands of emboldened victims stepped forward across the U.S., creating repercussions that have shaken almost every parish.
Facing huge payments to settle abuse litigation, five dioceses, including San Diego's, have filed for bankruptcy protection. At least 10 bishops and archbishops have resigned over their alleged involvement in sexual abuse or in covering up the abuse of others. Parishes have been terminated, schools shuttered and ministerial programs shut down.
In Orange County, the Diocese of Orange two years ago paid out $100 million to 90 alleged victims who had filed lawsuits. As part of the settlement, the diocese released thousands of documents indicating a high-level cover-up of priest abuses.
In San Diego, a bankruptcy judge has set an Aug. 13 deadline for a settlement between sexual-abuse claimants and the diocese. If the two sides cannot reach one, they face an Aug. 23 hearing that may result in the lawsuits going to trial.
In Los Angeles, some 75% of the archdiocese's 288 parishes were served at some time by a cleric accused of molesting, according to a Times study. As the scandal's details slowly emerged, it became clear that the church hierarchy knew about complaints against some priests and that at least a dozen were allowed to continue working in ministry after their conduct with children was questioned.
The archdiocese has issued a stream of mea culpas, acknowledging its responsibility for shielding some of the alleged abusers. At the same time, Mahony strenuously opposed giving prosecutors and plaintiffs' attorneys confidential personnel files that would detail accusations against priests and any actions taken — or not taken — by him and others in the hierarchy.
In February 2004, a lay panel convened by the U.S. bishops' organization ripped into Mahony for his intransigence, saying his refusal to turn over documents "did little to enhance the reputation of the church in the U.S. for transparency and cooperation."
The archdiocese said its resistance was a matter of principle. To disclose "the spiritual, pastoral and psychological counseling of the priests" would be to breach a sacred trust, the archdiocese contended in a 2004 report.
The archdiocese says it now takes all abuse allegations seriously, admitting that in the past a firm denial from an accused priest often used to end the matter. When complaints are made today, church officials say, they immediately notify police, pay for counseling for the victims and, if the complaint is deemed credible, remove the priest from active ministry.
Although Mahony has removed at least 17 priests from ministry over accusations of sexual abuse, his credibility has been called into question by cases like that of defrocked priest Michael Stephen Baker.
In 1986, Baker told Mahony that he had abused two or three boys several years before. Instead of calling police, Mahony sent the priest to New Mexico for treatment and over the years transferred him to nine different parishes, where he allegedly molested 23 boys and girls.
Baker faces 15 criminal charges. Mahony has acknowledged making serious errors in the case, calling it the one that troubles him the most.
The lawsuit that was to be heard Monday involved accusations against Father Clinton Hagenbach, a priest who died in 1987. He has been accused of molesting 18 boys from 1968 to 1986. The archdiocese settled one man's claim against him in 2002 for $1.5 million.
Outside the cathedral Saturday, Ferrell, a retired nurse, said she was 7 years old when Monsignor George Scott started abusing her. She said whatever money she gets from the settlement won't repay her for the hard times of her life, which included alcohol and drugs and her current bout with Parkinson's disease. But it will make her more comfortable and provide an inheritance for her three children and six grandchildren.
"This was 50 years ago," she said. "But it didn't end 50 years ago."
If It Isn’t Roman Catholic Then It’s Not A Proper Church, Pope Tells Christians
Taken from The Times, UK, July 11, 2007
By Richard Owen and Ruth Gledhill
The Vatican has described the Protestant and Orthodox faiths as “not proper Churches” in a document issued with the full authority of the Pope.
Anglican leaders reacted with dismay, accusing the Roman Catholic Church of paradoxical behaviour. They said that the new 16-page document outling the “defects” of non-Catholic churches constituted a major obstacle to ecumenism.
The document said that the Orthodox church suffered from a “wound” because it did not recognise the primacy of the Pope. The wound was “still more profound” in Protestant denominations, it added.
It was “difficult to see how the title of ‘Church’ could possibly be attributed to them”, said the statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Roman Catholicism was “the one true Church of Christ”.
The language echoes earlier statements by the same body, headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger until he became Pope. The statement appears to be at odds with attempts to soften Pope Benedict’s image as a doctrinal hardliner and to present him as a more human figure reaching out to other faiths. And it risks undermining his own efforts for Christian unity.
Protestants at the extreme evangelical end of the Anglican spectrum accused Rome of a “lust for power”, while welcoming the honesty of the document.
Lambeth Palace, the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, was more diplomatic. A spokesman issued a statement that lacked any formal welcome, describing the document as “significant”.
Vatican sources said that the document was an attempt to resolve “confusion” caused by the apparent conflict between the Pope’s assertion on his election two years ago that Christian unity was a priority and his insistence in “Dominus Iesus”, issued in 2000 when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – that Anglican, Protestant and Orthodox Christians did not belong to “proper” churches.
Father Augustine Di Noia, a senior doctrinal official at the Vatican, insisted that the Catholic Church was not “backtracking on ecumenical commitment. But it is fundamental to any kind of dialogue that the participants are clear about their own identity. That is, dialogue cannot be an occasion to accommodate or soften what you understand yourself to be.”
Vatican officials insist that the Pope’s attachment to bedrock traditional values is compatible with dialogue with other Christians. Yesterday’s document said that such dialogue remained “one of the priorities of the Catholic Church”.
The document said that the Second Vatican Council’s opening to other faiths – including “ecclesial communities originating with the Reformation” – had recognised there were “many elements of sanctification and truth” in other Christian denominations, but had also emphasised that only Catholicism was fully Christ’s Church.
The document said that other Christian faiths “lack elements considered essential to the Catholic Church”.
The disappointment of the Anglicans was evident in the response of Canon Gregory Cameron, Dr Williams’s former chaplain in Wales and a leading canonical lawyer and scholar who is now ecumenical officer of the Anglican Communion.
Canon Cameron said: “In the commentary of this document we are told that ‘Catholic ecumenism’ appears ‘somewhat paradoxical’. It is paradoxical for leaders of the Roman Catholic Church to indicate to its ecumenical partners that it no longer expects all other Christians merely to return to the true (Roman Catholic) Church, but then for Rome to say that it alone has ‘full identity’ with the Church of Christ, and that all others of us are lacking.”
He said Anglican bishops had indicated in 1997 that such a position constituted “a major ecumenical obstacle”.
The Rev David Phillips, General Secretary of the Church Society, said: “Nothing new is said, but it does clarify the way in which the Vatican has torn apart Christianity because of its lust for power. They remind us that in their view that to be a true church one has to accept the ludicrous idea that the Pope is in some special way the successor of the apostle Peter and the supreme earthly leader of the Church.
“These claims cannot be justified, biblically, or historically, yet they have been used not only to divide Christians but to persecute them and put them to death.
“We are grateful that the Vatican has once again been honest in declaring their view that the Church of England is not a proper Church. Too much dialogue proceeds without such honesty.
Therefore, we would wish to be equally open; unity will only be possible when the papacy renounces its errors and pretensions.”
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Pope Says Evolution Can't Be Proven
Taken from The Washington Post, 11/04/07
By By MELISSA EDDY, Associated Post
BERLIN - Benedict XVI, in his first extended reflections on evolution published as pope, says that Darwin's theory cannot be finally proven and that science has unnecessarily narrowed humanity's view of creation.
In a new book, "Creation and Evolution," published Wednesday in German, the pope praised progress gained by science, but cautioned that evolution raises philosophical questions science alone cannot answer.
"The question is not to either make a decision for a creationism that fundamentally excludes science, or for an evolutionary theory that covers over its own gaps and does not want to see the questions that reach beyond the methodological possibilities of natural science," the pope said.
He stopped short of endorsing intelligent design, but said scientific and philosophical reason must work together in a way that does not exclude faith.
"I find it important to underline that the theory of evolution implies questions that must be assigned to philosophy and which themselves lead beyond the realms of science," the pope was quoted as saying in the book, which records a meeting with fellow theologians the pope has known for years.
In the book, Benedict reflected on a 1996 comment of his predecessor, John Paul II, who said that Charles Darwin's theories on evolution were sound, as long as they took into account that creation was the work of God, and that Darwin's theory of evolution was "more than a hypothesis."
"The pope (John Paul) had his reasons for saying this," Benedict said. "But it is also true that the theory of evolution is not a complete, scientifically proven theory."
Benedict added that the immense time span that evolution covers made it impossible to conduct experiments in a controlled environment to finally verify or disprove the theory.
"We cannot haul 10,000 generations into the laboratory," he said.
Evolution has come under fire in recent years by proponents - mostly conservative Protestants - of "intelligent design," who believe that living organisms are so complex they must have been created by a higher force rather than evolving from more primitive forms.
The book, which was released by the Sankt Ulrich publishing house, includes reflections of the pope and others who attended a meeting of theological scholars at the papal summer estate in Castel Gandolfo in early September.
The pope's remarks were consistent with one of his most important themes, that faith and reason are interdependent.
"Science has opened up large dimensions of reason ... and thus brought us new insights," the pope wrote. "But in the joy at the extent of its discoveries, it tends to take away from us dimensions of reason that we still need.
"Its results lead to questions that go beyond its methodical canon and cannot be answered within it," he said.
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Latest news: (Also taken from from AP)
Pope Benedict XVI offers a personal meditation on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ in his first book as pontiff, criticizing the "cruelty" of capitalism's exploitation of the poor but also decrying the absence of God in Marxism. In "Jesus of Nazareth," released Friday, Benedict touches on themes that have begun to emerge in his 2-year-old papacy: the spiritual weaknesses of modern materialistic life, in which people seem to think they can do without God.
Benedict stresses that the book, which he began writing in 2003 when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, is an expression of his "personal search for the face of the Lord" and is by no means an official part of Roman Catholic Church doctrine. The 448-page book is due in bookstores in German, Italian and Polish on Monday, the pope's 80th birthday. The English-language edition is set for release May 15 and translations are planned for 16 other languages.
While "Jesus of Nazareth" is Benedict's first book as pope, he has written dozens of books on all aspects of theology and Catholic teaching.
Pope 'Did Not Help Girls Abused By Florence Priest'
This week, an Italian priest was sentenced to three and a half years in jail for possessing cocaine with the intention of selling it, according to local media. Father Stefano Ciacca, 44, was arrested last September in possession of half a kilogramme (about a pound) of cocaine with a street value of about half a million euros (675,000 dollars).
This is not the only controversial news hitting the Vatican...
Taken from The Independent, UK,
By Peter Popham
"How much suffering there is in the world!" Pope Benedict XVI lamented in his Easter sermon yesterday, naming Darfur, Iraq, Somalia, the Congo, Lebanon and other trouble spots around the globe.
But there was no space in his list for the abused women of the parish of Regina della Pace ("Queen of Peace") on the outskirts of Florence. For more than three years, these women have been trying to persuade the Church to take vigorous action against a parish priest whom they say persuaded them to have sex with him when they were minors, and continued to do so regularly for years.
Confronted by their testimony, the church authorities first transferred the priest to another parish, and then out of the diocese. But he remains a priest, and has received only token punishment. In the United States, failure to take firm action against abusive priests left the Church in Boston with a legacy of bitter mistrust and legal bills totalling more than $150m (£76m). In Italy, however, it would appear that the lessons have not been learnt.
Fr Lelio Cantini, now in his eighties, became the parish priest of Regina della Pace in the mid-Seventies. A self-styled "charismatic", he was accompanied by a clairvoyant woman who had visions of Jesus and drew up lists of those parishioners whom she said were the "elect of God".
Don Lelio ruled the parish with an iron hand, banishing dissidents from Mass and forbidding them absolution. But, in private, he showed a different side: in the church's presbytery he induced girls as young as 10 to have sex with him, explaining that this was a way of attaining "total unity with God".
A woman of 45, married with two children, said she had suppressed all memory of the abuse the priest inflicted on her until a couple of years ago. It started, she explained, when she was aged 10. "The Prior [as Cantini insisted on being called] would call me into his office or his bedroom, get me to undress and explain that, by doing what he asked, I would realise the most complete eucharistic communion," she said.
"He told me to think of the Madonna, who bore Jesus when she was only 12. He said I was the Beloved of the Song of Songs and that what happened between us was the same as what happened in the Garden of Eden." She said the relationship continued for 15 years, and that remembering it even now caused her vomiting attacks. "I was absolutely incapable," she said, "of making a free and aware choice."
Another woman, identified by the initials D A, now in her forties, said her sexual liaison with Fr Cantini "began when I was 17 and continued until I got married. He said I was in need of affection and that he would give it to me. Then he embraced me in the name of Jesus."
The victims kept their memories to themselves until chance reunions prompted them to share their stories and take them to the curia of Florence, the governing body of the church in the city, in January 2004.
They made written and oral submissions to the Archbishop of Florence and others - with the sole result that, in September 2005, Fr Cantini was transferred to another parish "for reasons of health".
Disgusted by the failure to take their complaints seriously, the victims wrote to Pope Benedict in March 2006 demanding more serious action. In response, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, then head of the Italian Bishops' Conference, informed them that Fr Cantini had left the diocese.
Further pressure led to disciplinary measures: Fr Cantini was banned from hearing confession or celebrating Mass for five years, "and every day for one year he must recite Psalm 51" - the one that begins, "Have mercy upon me, O God ... Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity." The victims say they regard the disciplinary measures "with astonishment and pain".
La Repubblica newspaper reports that Fr Cantini is living in a town on the Tuscan coast, still accompanied by his mysterious "clairvoyant" and with a troop of followers. Those who say he made their lives a misery say they will bring him to justice.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Pope An Anglican? Church Unity Plan
Taken from The The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 Feb 2007
By Barney Zwartz and Linda Morris
A RADICAL proposal to reunite Anglicans with the Catholic Church under the leadership of the Pope has been delivered by bishops from both churches.
Their 42-page statement suggests the churches could turn back the ecclesiastical clock, 450 years after Henry VIII separated from Rome in the Reformation.
Australian leaders from both churches dismissed the move as highly improbable last night, although the Australian who heads the Catholic side of the project, Brisbane's Archbishop John Bathersby, said it was a significant step forward in an attempt at unity that began 35 years ago.
Archbishop Bathersby, the co-chairman of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission, said the relationship between the churches was closer than ever.
The statement was leaked to The Times in London, but Archbishop Bathersby said a suggestion that an agreement was close was too strong.
Neither church had yet officially launched the report. It is being considered by the Vatican, where Catholic bishops are preparing a formal response.
Worldwide, there are about 78 million Anglicans compared with a billion Catholics. The commission was established in 2000 by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton, and Australia's Cardinal Edward Cassidy, then head of the Vatican's Council for Christian Unity. Its aim was to find a way of moving towards unity through "common life and mission".
Problem areas on the Anglican side include the Pope and on the Catholic side women bishops and the ordination of a practising gay as bishop in America. The world's Anglican leaders are meeting in Tanzania to discuss the crisis over sexuality that may lead to schism and Archbishop Bathersby says they will also consider the 42-page report.
It says: "We urge Anglicans and Roman Catholics to explore together how the ministry of the Bishop of Rome might be offered and received in order to assist our Communions to grow towards full, ecclesiastical communion."
Sydney's Catholic Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, said unity was "highly unlikely". The Anglican Bishop of North Sydney, Dr Glenn Davies, could not see his church submitting to the Pope's authority. "We believe Jesus Christ is the true leader of the church. If a Pope gives a directive, every parish priest follows it. If the Archbishop of Canterbury offers a directive, most ministers of a parish would think that a nice piece of advice. The very thought we would hand over our authority would be a romantic notion at the least."
However, Archbishop Bathersby, an "optimist", said: "Discussion about a universal primate has been going on since 1976. There is a fair degree of support within the Anglican Communion … Within that there would be freedom and diversity."
Rome has already accepted dozens of married priests from the Church of England into the Catholic priesthood when they left over women's ordination.
Romanian Priest Sentenced For Exorcism
Romanian Priest Sentenced To 14 Years In Prison For Nun's Death In Exorcism Ritual
Irina Maricica Cornici, 23, died in June 2005 at the secluded Holy Trinity convent in the northeast Romanian village of Tanacu.
She was tied up for several days without food or water and chained to a cross during an exorcism ritual led by Daniel Petru Corogeanu, 31, a monk who served as the convent's priest, and four other nuns.
The court in the northeast city of Vaslui convicted Corogeanu and the nuns of holding Cornici captive, resulting in her death, Rompres reported. One of the nuns — Nicoleta Arcalianu was sentenced to eight years in prison, and the other three — Adina Cepraga, Elena Otel and Simona Bardanas — received five-year sentences.
In 1999, when the Vatican issued its first new guidelines since 1614 for driving out devils, it urged priests to take modern psychiatry into account in deciding who should be exorcised.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Gay Evangelist 'Cured'
Taken from The Age, Australia, Feb 08 2007
By REUTERS
After undergoing three weeks of therapy, the disgraced American evangelist Ted Haggard has told followers he is convinced he is not gay.
Haggard, former senior pastor of the 14,000-member New Life Church, was a vocal opponent of gay marriage who fell from grace last November in a high-profile gay sex scandal.
In an email distributed to his parishioners and posted on the New Life website today, Haggard said: "Jesus is starting to put me back together."
Haggard also said he and his wife would leave Colorado and study psychology.
Referring to Haggard's treatment, the Reverend Tim Ralph, a member of the New Life oversight board, told the Denver Post newspaper: "He is completely heterosexual. That is something he discovered. It was the acting-out situations where things took place. It wasn't a constant thing."
The newspaper also reported that he had told the church oversight board that his homosexual activities had been limited to the male prostitute who went public with their liaisons.
Haggard resigned as president of the influential National Association of Evangelicals after the male escort made his accusation.
He also left his senior pastor position and said he was guilty of unspecified "sexual immorality".
Members of the oversight board and officials from New Life Church could not be immediately reached for comment.
In his email, Haggard discussed his recent therapy and outlined his future plans.
"As part of New Life's efforts to help me, they sent Gayle and me to Phoenix for a three-week psychological intensive that gave us three years worth of analysis and treatment," he said.
"Gayle and I have decided to move from Colorado Springs to go back to school. ... We are both planning on getting our master's in psychology so we can work together serving others the rest of our lives."
With his chiselled features, wide smile and five children, Haggard had been a poster boy for social conservative causes and the evangelical movement before the scandal.
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While Shaggard tries to re-start his career, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said it was removing from the clergy a gay minister who announced he has a partner. The Rev. Bradley Schmeling, who has led Atlanta's oldest Lutheran church since 2000, will be removed from the roster effective Aug. 15, according to a report from the ELCA's disciplinary committee. Schmeling, who was open about his sexuality when he took the job, announced last year he had found a lifelong companion. Bishop Ronald Warren asked the 44-year-old pastor to resign, but Schmeling refused.
