Augustinian Explains Plan for New Vocations

A new prior provincial of the Augustinian Recollects is describing the challenges his order faces in reaching out to China, drawing new vocations, and educating them well.

Father Francisco Javier Jimenez was elected prior of the Province of St. Nicholas of Tolentine, a press release on the order's Web site reported this week.

The priest worked in schools and parishes in Spain, as well as missions in Brazil, and served for many years as a formator for young religious.

In an interview, the new prior outlined several needs that he wants to focus on in his province, which extends throughout nine countries on three continents.

Among these, the priest said, are the need to "continue praying and working for vocations" and to "persevere in the effort on continuous formation."

One of the greatest challenges of the province, he noted, is working in China.

The country is "open to hope," Father Jimenez said, and vocations continue to arise from there.

As well, he added, "the greater contact and relationship that we have with them, the greater freedom" the people are feeling.

We will have to "begin to prepare some religious in the Chinese language," he noted, "so that the future will not catch us empty-handed."

New poverty

The prior explained that his province is also giving increased attention to ministry with migrants.

He continued: "It is one of the new poverties, where religious life has to be present. Our province cannot afford to be isolated or be indifferent in the face of this demanding reality.

"We want to attend it because God walks and lives among the poor."

In the recent provincial chapter that elected him, the prior reported, it was decided that they would contribute 0.7% of the order's income to the poor.

This aims to "highlight our commitment" and "option" for them, he added.

Father Jimenez affirmed that his religious communities face the same challenges as all other religious: "how to give today a valid, attractive, clear, courageous and determined witness of the following of Jesus."

He stated that "Spain has ceased to be a fertile ground" for vocations, and "obliges us to see the bigger picture in the medium and long term."

The majority of vocations, he reported, have come from Mexico (13), Costa Rica (5), Brazil (5), and China (4).

Religious education

The priest affirmed that they will be looking at the Augustinian Recollect formation program, to arrive at an agreement on the type of religious "we want to and need to form," and what educational experiences and locations are favorable to this.

Father Jimenez stated that sometimes the young people in discernment of the vocation are "burdened with the problems of today's youth: marked individualism, search for personal fulfillment over and above a shared and communitarian project, strong nationalistic tendencies that hamper the universality required in our communities and in our province."

However, he added, "they also have many qualities, personal virtues, a sincere desire to consecrate themselves to God in our family, a sincere affection for our religious, missionary and pastoral concerns."

"The art of formation consists in gradually and patiently decreasing the former and strengthening the latter," the prior explained.

Part of this formation, he said, is opening up to working more in collaboration with lay people.

"I believe now is the time to take the step forward," the priest affirmed. "We cannot afford or want to delay more."

"We want to add, multiply, share with the lay our spirit and our mission," he said.

"We need collaborators," Father Jimenez concluded, "we need to trust, confide, allow to act, support, give responsibility and leading role to the lay people who wish and are able to help us."
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SIC: Zenit

Logo Unveiled for Youth Day 2011

The logo for World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid was presented today: The image reflects youth of the world beneath the cross, united to form the crown of Our Lady, patron of Madrid.

The upcoming World Youth Day is scheduled for Aug. 16-21, 2011.

The logo designer, José Gil-Nogués, explained that the image symbolizes "youth of the whole world united to celebrate their faith together with the Pope, at the foot of the cross, and they form the crown of Our Lady of Almudena, patron of Madrid."

The crown, Gil-Nogués added, forms the "M" of Mary and of Madrid. And the cross, symbol of Christianity, presides over the event.

The message of the logo, the designer continued, is "a catechesis, an opportunity for evangelization: The quick and sure path to reach Christ is the Virgin Mary, Mother of God and of mankind. In Mary's faith, youth have the example and model for reaching Christ and fulfilling the primary goal of World Youth Day: to bring their message to the world."

"The logo has a firm and spontaneous stroke," Gil-Nogués suggested, "like youth of the 21st century. It is close, friendly, open. Joyful, carefree and positive."

"The use of a palette of warm colors -- red, orange and yellow -- transmits unmistakable warmth and friendliness, symbols of the identity of a city like Madrid, a nation like Spain. These colors also reflect the 'divine warmth' of Trinitarian Love."

The logo was selected after a competition among professional graphic designers.
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SIC: Zenit

Why did the Vatican veto the OSCE’s guidelines on teaching religion? (Contribution)

The Toledo Guiding Principles on Teaching about Religions and Beliefs in Public Schools drafted by a wide range of international experts of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were incomprehensibly rejected by one of its 56 member states: the Holy See.

This stalemate created by a state of a few square kilometres was unofficially discussed behind the scenes of the Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Freedom of Religion or Belief which was held in Vienna from July 8-10.

From the time the Spanish Chairmanship-in-Office of the OSCE first initiated the idea of developing guiding principles on teaching about religion, there was consensus that there would be symbolic resonances if the project could be launched in Toledo, a Spanish city laden with relevant history.

For that reason, the Advisory Council of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief of the OSCE/ODIHRii met with a number of leading experts in Toledo in March 2007 to commence work on the project. Why Toledo and not another “more prestigious” place like Paris or London?

Because in that Spanish city stands the 13th-Century Roman Catholic church of San Roman which was once a Visigothic Christian church and then a mosque. This symbolic choice in favor of Toledo suggests that our present is the result of a complex layering of civilisations and that it is vital to grasp the confluence rather than the clash of civilisations.

Fourteen members of the Advisory Council of Experts, four participating members of the ODIHR Panel of Experts, two UN experts, one expert of the Council of Europe and 15 external experts contributed to this breaking through project.

Interviewed by me for this article, the Permanent Representative of the Holy See to the OSCE, Mgr Michael W. Banach, declared “This is a complex issue that cannot be explained in a few minutes but we have some objections concerning the methodology and the contents.”

Mgr Banach first regretted that as a participating State the Holy See had not been consulted during the drafting process of the Toledo Guidelines. He then stressed that the main areas of concerns of the Holy See were: the danger that teaching about religions may replace the teaching of religions in some countries; the risk that religions are portrayed negatively, the non-differentiated treatment of historical religions with regard to small religious and belief groups by the OSCE/ODIHR in general, and parental rights in the religious education of their children.

Sounds of silence

I conducted discussions with a number of experts involved in the Toledo project and asked them to react to the objections of the Holy See.

It appears from these contacts that there was no obligation to consult the 56 participating States during the drafting process but that the Holy See was not discriminated against.

On the contrary, 50 percent of the experts were Catholic academics who know the sensitive issues of the Catholic Church and they never objected to the contents of the Toledo Guiding Principles at any stage of the drafting process.

The dissent expressed through diplomatic channels by the Holy See was addressed during two separate meetings between Advisory Panel members and representatives of the Holy See.

Several months ago, Ambassador Janez Lenarcic (Slovenia,) director of ODIHR, sent a letter to the Holy See to try to clarify the situation but never received an answer. The objections and the silence of the decision-makers of the Holy See are incomprehensible to the numerous experts who devoted so much time and energy to a project meant to fight prejudices, to promote tolerance and respect between religious and belief communities.

“There was never any anti-Catholic sentiment in the drafting committee of the Toledo principles. We have always been and we still are open to a meaningful dialogue with the decision-makers of the Holy See but there is no response,” said one expert.

And another one said “We have always been neutral in our work. The Toledo principles do not advocate the replacement of religious classes by classes about religions and beliefs.

More disreputable reasons and some fears may however be part of a hidden agenda of the Church: a form of resistance to the secularisation process, the gradual loss of control on religious education in public schools, the perceived risk of instrumentalisation of the Toledo principles by the Spanish Socialist government in its conflicting relations with the Catholic Church; the risk for the Catholic Church to be presented not only positively but also negatively (such as priests’ sexual abuses of children), and so on.

It seems there is no unanimity against the Toledo principles at the Holy See and that some of its high-level representatives are favorable to them.

Therefore, the right questions to be asked and solved behind the reasons of the Holy See’s veto might be “Who in the Holy See vetoes the Toledo guidelines?” and is the Pope aware of what is at stake in this stalemate?

Maybe the time has come for muffled diplomacy (diplomatie feutrée) to make room for public debate.
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SIC: NE

The Sacrament of Penance: merciful justice

After Vatican II, the Sacrament of Penance was changed to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Once again, a flowery ideology was used to replace the idea of sin.

In order to make way for the heretical changes that were to take place, it was necessary to deeply impress upon Catholics the “I’m okay, you’re okay” mentality. This has led to the overall focus on God’s mercy and near disbelief in hell or a just God.

Sedevacantists are criticized for their purported “doom and gloom” mentality. These judgments usually come from those who are quite comfortable being “cafeteria-style Catholics”—those who choose which Commandments to follow and which to ignore. This thought pattern is what has led to the increase in divorce, immorality, immodesty and sexual deviance.

I was one of those Catholics. Nearly twenty years ago—after having had no spiritual support system for thirty years—I filed for divorce from my twenty-year marriage and easily received an “annulment” from the Novus Ordo Church. I immediately began “dating.” I look back with horror—not only at my behavior—but at the realization that I never once thought about sin. It never occurred to me that I was offending God. After being raised in the pre-Vatican II church, how had I completely lost my way?

I was very fortunate, one day, to find a priest who was not afraid to be “politically incorrect” or hurt my feelings. He cared more for my soul than his own popularity. The day that I sat down in his office, I said to him, “So, I’m divorced. How does that work?” He prudently replied, “You are not divorced.”

My life literally flashed in front of me as I drove home that day. Suddenly I could see all the things I had done—the Commandments I had broken—out of sheer ignorance. I could not get Our Blessed Mother out of my mind. She is the model after whom all women should pattern themselves; what did she think of me?

It was that day in my life that I realized, “I’m not okay.” I have been offending God and seriously jeopardizing my soul. The question was, “What was I going to do about it?” I had to make a choice between my own pleasure and the Son of God who died for me.

The road since then has been rocky, the learning curve, painful. I have had to re-learn about humility and self-abandonment, often left with a putrid taste in my mouth. But I have also found peace and become strong. The blindness that shadowed my life—the excuses and rationalizations that once held me in bondage—are gone.

GOD’S MERCY

Yes, God is merciful. However, Vatican II has put all emphasis on that mercy and thrown out the baby with the bath water. St. Catherine of Siena was a mystic who lived in Italy in the 14th century. She began receiving inner locutions from God the Father at a very early age. These “discussions” were recorded by her and later translated into what is known as The Dialogue of Catherine of Siena. This is what God had to say to her about His mercy:

…They will say, “Why should you want to wear yourself out? Enjoy this life; you can admit your faults at the end and obtain mercy.” In this way the devil makes them lose the fear that had enabled them to begin.

For these and all sorts of other reasons they turn back and are not constant or persevering. All this happens to them because the root of selfishness has never been dug out of them. This is why they do not persevere. Rather, they accept my mercy and hope not as they ought, but foolishly and with great presumption. And presumptuous as they are, they put their trust in my mercy even while they are continually abusing it.

I have not given, nor do I give my mercy for people to abuse, but that they may use it to defend themselves against the devil’s malice and inordinate spiritual confusion. But they do precisely the opposite: They use my mercy as a weapon against me. And this happens to them because they fail to act on their first change of heart, when they were roused by fear of punishment and hurting from the thorns of so many troubles, from the wretchedness of deadly sin. So because they fail to change, they never attain love for virtue, and therefore they do not persevere (1980) Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue (S. Noffke, O.P., Trans). New York: Paulist Press, pp.101-2.

In Article 15 of his Apostolic Exhortation on Reconciliation and Penance, John Paul II says, “Wounded in this way, man almost inevitably causes damage to the fabric of his relationship with others and with the created world.” Sin is no longer personal (between the person and God) but has become social (against society).

LOVE

George M. Regan discusses the changes in morality in his book New Trends in Moral Theology. On page 14, he addresses “love.”

“Anything may be done, it would seem provided a man is careful that he does it out of true and unselfish love…Accordingly, proponents of this system would have us believe that a person, in certain circumstances, may even commit adultery or rape, have premarital sex, or publicly disown God provided he has the right intention. This “law of love” can even justify murder. For example, I can put to death a person in intense pain if I do it out of love, much as I would shoot a horse because I cannot stand to see it suffer!”

Vatican II, in an effort to “blend in” with the separated brethren, has taken all focus off the suffering of Christ for our sins. The Novus Order Church has become one of “celebration” rather than repentance. There is certainly joy and hope in the Resurrection and it is not something that should be forgotten. However, the guiding force for our salvation is a love for Almighty God and the desire to never offend Him. Humility is the key in this struggle, recognizing that we cannot persevere without the Sacraments—particularly the Eucharist and the Sacrament that absolves us of our sins: Penance. Our strength does not come from man or the “community.” It comes from God.
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SIC: Examiner.com

A Brazilian Archbishop is Vindicated-- Or Is He?

Earlier this month, after several weeks of heated debate and background maneuvering within the Vatican, L'Osservatore Romano published a statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), reaffirming the Church's absolute prohibition on direct abortion, and confirming that involvement in procured abortion merits the penalty of excommunication.

That CDF statement was a vindication for an embattled Brazilian archbishop, whose public stand against abortion had been criticized by-- of all people-- the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

But that vindication was long overdue, and the short, impersonal notice in the Vatican newspaper fell far short of the apology the archbishop deserved.

The details of this intramural Vatican intrigue remain murky, but the story is a remarkable one, illustrating the entrenched power of the Vatican bureaucracy-- specifically, the Secretariat of State-- and the immense difficulty that even an archbishop can face when his plea for justice runs counter to the interests of that bureaucracy.

The story began with a public controversy in Brazil, over the case of a 9-year-old girl who was pregnant with twins. Archbishop José Cardoso Sobrinho of Olinda and Recife drew heavy criticism in the Brazilian media when he insisted that the unborn children should not be aborted, and reminded everyone concerned that the Church stipulates the penalty of excommunication for anyone involved in direct abortion.

When the abortion was done despite those warnings, the archbishop reluctantly announced that the adults involved had brought that canonical penalty upon themselves.

Thus far the case was straightforward. Under extreme circumstances, Archbishop Cardozo had applied the clear and unswerving teaching of the Catholic Church. No doubt he realized that his stand would be politically unpopular, and he was prepared to take the inevitable criticism.

But Archbishop Cardozo could not have anticipated that some of that criticism would come from the Vatican. Rather than offering public support to the Brazilian prelate, the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life joined forces with the critics .

In an article for L'Osservatore Romano, Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella defended the Brazilian doctors who had made the "arduous decision" to proceed with the abortion, and suggested that Archbishop Cardoso had taken a harsh and inflexible stand that "unfortunately hurts the credibility of our teaching."

That article in L'Osservatore Romano gave many secular reporters the impression that the Vatican was shifting its position on abortion, suggesting that under some circumstances a direct abortion could be justified.

Archbishop Fisichella surely did not intend to convey that message, but as president of the Pontifical Academy for Life he is expected to handle such issues with clarity, and in this case he definitely did not.

To compound the problem, Archbishop Fisichella misstated the facts of the case. He suggested that the abortion was medically necessary in order to save the girl's life; it was not. He suggested that Archbishop Cardoso had failed to express sympathy and support for the young mother; he had. He suggested that the excommunications were announced in an unfeeling public statement; they were not.

Apparently this influential Vatican official had drawn his understanding of the case entirely from the sensationalistic Brazilian media accounts, which were written by critics of Archbishop Cardoso.

Naturally the Brazilian archbishop was upset. He asked for an opportunity to present his own side of the story in L'Osservatore Romano, to set the record straight. His plea was ignored. He hinted that he might file a canonical lawsuit to clear his reputation; that threat too was ignored.

Then on July 1 the Vatican announced that Archbishop Cardoso's resignation had been accepted by Pope Benedict XVI. It's true that he was 76 years old: a full year beyond the normative retirement age; his retirement was overdue. Still, in light of the controversy swirling around him, the timing of his announcement was certainly not helpful to the archbishop as he sought to defend his reputation.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Fisichella was coming under pressure, too. A solid majority of the members of the Pontifical Academy for Life-- 27 out of 46-- wrote to protest their president's public criticism of the Brazilian archbishop.

Still Archbishop Fisichella was unmoved. He replied that he would not issue an apology, and did not regret penning the column in L'Osservatore Romano, because he had been asked to write it by the Secretariat of State.

Imagine: the article in L'Osservatore had given an inaccurate presentation of the facts, a misleading perspective on an important Church teaching, and an unfavorable portrayal of a Church leader who was doing his job under difficult circumstances.

Yet all these faults were irrelevant, Archbishop Fisichella seemed to suggest, because the Secretariat of State wanted that message aired! The bureaucratic imperative trumped the demands of justice and charity.

Now, thanks to the new CDF statement, the record has been set straight. But the damage has been done. Scores of newspaper articles are in print, claiming that the Catholic Church will accept abortion under extreme circumstances.

Thousands of people have been led-- by the Vatican newspaper-- to believe that the penalty of excommunication is too severe. A brave archbishop's critics have been emboldened. And worst of all, even the "clarification" from the CDF fails to acknowledge the damage that has been done.

This case calls for more than a "clarification." What's needed is a clear, unequivocal apology and retraction.
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Vatican Statement on the Responsibility to Protect

Here is the statement given Tuesday by the Holy See Delegation to the United Nations at a General Assembly debate on the report "Implementing the Responsibility to Protect."

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Mr. President,

Four years ago the largest gathering of Heads of State took place at the United Nations in order to bring attention to the need to create a United Nations system more capable of responding to the needs of an ever changing world. There world leaders adopted the World Summit Outcome Document, which affirmed especially the responsibility of all nations and the international community to protect people from the threat of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

As outlined in the Document, the responsibility to protect is guided by three mutually reinforcing and supportive elements: first, the primary responsibility of every state to protect its population from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity; second, the responsibility of the international community to help states build the capacity to exercise their primary responsibility, and third, the responsibility of the international community to take effective action when a state has failed to exercise properly its authority.

The first priority is for national governances to exercise their authority in a way which protects individuals and populations from future mass atrocities. National and local authorities which fail to intervene to protect their civilians or actually work to help perpetuate the crime fail in their basic functions and should face legal responsibility for their action and inaction.

In this regard, a human centered approach to developing policies to protect populations from grave violations of human rights and developing humanitarian law and other internationally agreed legal standards present vital components to fulfilling the national responsibility.

Further, national policies which foster greater inclusion and protection of religious, racial and ethnic minorities remain key priorities for fostering greater dialogue and understanding between and amongst populations.

Under the second pillar is the role of the international community in building the capacity of States to protect their populations. The international community has a moral responsibility to fulfill its various commitments. Through providing financial and technical support, the international community can help create the means and mechanisms for responding quickly to evolving humanitarian crises.

In this regard, local organizations, including faith-based organizations, with a long-term knowledge and understanding of the region, provide vital support in building cultural and religious bridges between groups. In addition, greater financial support from developed countries to alleviate extreme poverty serves to help reduce long term economic and political divides and helps to ease some of the motivating factors behind violence.

Finally, promotion of the rule of law at the national and international level provides the framework for preventing ongoing injustices and provides the mechanism to ensuring that those responsible for perpetuating these crimes are held accountable in a way which promotes justice and lasting peace.

The third pillar of the responsibility of the international community to intervene when national authorities fail to act often draws the greatest scrutiny. Unfortunately this element has too often focused solely on the use of violence in order to prevent or stop violence rather than on the various ways in which intervention can be made in a non-violent manner.

Timely intervention which places emphasis upon mediation and dialogue has a greater ability to promote the responsibility to protect than military action. Binding mediation and arbitration present an opportunity for the international community to intervene in a manner which prevents violence.

Further, targeted actions, such as sanctions, which are carefully aimed at preventing the spread of violence instead of at civilian populations, are also means upon which the international community can agree to promote responsible sovereignty.

For the third pillar to gain momentum and efficacy, further efforts must be made to ensure that action taken pursuant to the powers of the Security Council is done in an open and inclusive manner and that the needs of the affected populations, rather than the whims of geopolitical power struggles, are placed in the forefront. By doing so, we are able to respond to our moral obligation to intervene on behalf of those whose human rights and very right to exist are placed in jeopardy. It is therefore imperative that those countries in position to exercise their authority within the Security Council do so in a manner which reflects the selflessness needed for taking an effective, timely and human centered approach to saving people from grave atrocities.

In addition to the role of national and international institutions, religious and community leaders have an important role in promoting the responsibility to protect. Too often in many regions of the world, ethnic, racial and religious intolerance have given rise to violence and killing of people.

The exploitation of faith in the furtherance of violence is a corruption of faith and of people, and religious leaders are called to challenge such thinking. Faith should be seen as a reason to come together rather than divide for it is through faith that communities and individuals are able to find the power to forgive so that true peace can emerge.

While it took the international community many years and many lost lives to come to the agreement as expressed in the World Summit Outcome Document, it is my delegation's hope that its implementation is done as fully as possible so that succeeding generations are spared the agony that genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity have caused the entire global community.

Thank you, Mr. President.
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Protestant intimidation in India holding back ‘flood’ of conversions to Catholicism, bishop says

A leading bishop from northeast India says violence and intimidation by some Protestant groups there are preventing thousands of people from converting to Catholicism.

Bishop of Kohima Jose Mukala told the Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that there has been an upsurge in attacks and propaganda against the Catholic Church in Kohima, a mainly Protestant region.

There have been thinly-veiled threats on his life, church buildings have been destroyed, and a ban on conversions has been imposed by some village elders.

While visiting ACN’s international headquarters in Germany, Bishop Mukala spoke out against some Baptist and Evangelical church groups in the region, charging that people are being denied freedom of religion.

"There is a big increase in the number of people in the diocese wanting to become Catholic but there is very strong opposition among some of the local Protestant leaders," the bishop told ACN. "These issues have got a lot worse recently… If this opposition stopped, there would be a flood of conversions to Catholicism."

He reported that some Evangelicals in local self-governing churches and a number of Baptists in Kohima were alarmed at the growth of Catholicism.

Catholicism arrived in the region as late as 1951, when the first Catholics were baptized. There are now 58,000 among the region’s 1.9 million people, most of whom are Evangelical Christians.

Describing a visit to Catholic families in a small village of the diocese, Bishop Mukala said he was suddenly called to a parish meeting where the elder warned of "something happening to him" if he returned.

"When he told me this, I replied that if something did happen to me, it would be the elder’s responsibility. So far, nothing has happened," the bishop told ACN.

In another village Christian fundamentalists are accused of destroying a Catholic church which could only be rebuilt under police protection.

The threat of further violence has forced the bishop to begin lawsuits against individuals accused of attacks on the Church.

Bishop Mukala said that religious leaders are not to blame for the anti-Catholic activity, but rather local fanatics and village leaders in specific villages.

"They say there should be one state, one tribe and one religion. We are trying to convince them that they must allow people to be free."

He said that Catholicism was growing in the area in part because diocesan schools have a better reputation than government alternatives. Sixteen of the 20 top-performing schools in the region are Catholic, while the diocese’s 150 Catholic schools serve more than 30,000 students.

The bishop credited the religious sisters running the schools.

"Discipline is good and the management of the school is effective. The Catholic Church has placed an emphasis on integrity and hard work and that attracts people… There is also a genuine desire among people wanting to become Catholic. People want to know what we believe and why."

Bishop Mukala also thanked ACN for its support and encouraged prayers for the charity.

The charity has helped with 37 projects in the diocese over the past decade, including aid for poor and persecuted priests, building new churches and presbyteries, and providing motorcycles and other transport for clergy in remote areas.

ACN is also printing and distributing catechetical programs the ACN Child’s Bible in the local languages of Lotha and Angami.
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St. Louis priest arrested in FBI sting

The FBI has arrested a Roman Catholic priest from St. Louis, accusing him of offering money to have sex with a teenage girl.

Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Reap said Thursday that 57-year-old James Patrick Grady answered an Internet ad placed by undercover police officers, indicating young girls were available.

Grady was arrested Wednesday after allegedly showing up at a St. Louis County home, believing he would meet a 16-year-old girl for sex.

Two other men also face federal charges as a result of the sting operation.

Grady is pastor of St. Raphael The Archangel in St. Louis city.

A woman answering phones at the church said Grady was unavailable.

Calls to the Archdiocese of St. Louis were not returned.
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SIC: F4KC

Bishop issues warning over 'copycat' church - Text Of Statement

Bishop Ceaser Mazzolari, the Catholic Bishop of Rumbek, in the Southern Sudan, has issued an urgent warning Christians in the region to avoid a breakaway church that is "confusing the minds and hearts of our Christian Faithful."

Bishop Rumbek writes: I am clearly and strongly alerting you, dear Christians, that people who call themselves 'The Reformed Catholic Church' in all truth, are no longer acceptable members of the Catholic Church and you should not follow them. Rather, you should avoid them and their influence on your lives as Christians. They will, indeed, lead you away from the truth and the true faith.

The members of the Reformed Catholic Church have, in fact, abandoned obedience not only to the Pope, but also obedience to the state of priestly celibacy and they are not paying obedience to all of the ten commandments of God, as the Catholic Church teaches them.

In appearance, these false teachers claim to follow the teachings of the Vatican II Council, but that also is not true. They have chosen a stray path away from the Catholic Church, and they are confusing people. These teachers are merely imitating the external ceremonies of the Church and some of its practices, but theirs is a false religion, not the Catholic faith that we know.

The followers of the Reformed Catholic Church are perfect 'copy cats'. Namely, they imitate the prayers, readings and external ceremonies of the Catholic services in such a way that simple people think that they are attending a Catholic Mass or Catholic prayer service. But these rituals are only empty external rites and confusing imitations. Be advised that these are false practices, not Catholic practices. Do not attend such services or you will only become confused.

Their teachings will often criticize the doctrine of the Catholic Church as old and out of date and they will put down the leaders of the church as unable to understand the changing times. That also is false, not the truth to be sought.

These Reformed Catholics will appeal to the struggle of the people as something which the traditional Catholic Church is not able to cope with or resolve. This idea also is entirely false, because the church has been very close to the people and its leaders to obtain peace (CPA) and the needed reconciliation.

In the end, they will try to make simple people become dissatisfied with their traditional Catholic church so that they will join their reformed church, which however is NOT the Catholic Church. In that imitation church any misled person will find him or herself alone and lost in total confusion. Therefore, seek the truth.

Let us be frank and make you aware that these Reformed Catholics are looking for dissatisfied church goers in order to make them victims of confusion and division by sharing their own personal dissatisfaction and emptiness as unfaithful members of their original Christian Church.

Avoid them and their harmful influence! They will misguide you to become bitter with your church as they are bitter, and to disobey the laws of the Church, which they already do, and to loose your precious gift of faith. Loosing your faith, you have lost the most valuable gift that God has ever given you.

My brothers and sisters, if you out of fear or weakness allow them to win you over to their side, you will soon find yourselves alone, empty and even more dissatisfied. They will have taught you not to listen to the truth, but only to falsehood and you will be in total darkness and confusion. We today call you to Seek the Truth and the Truth is only found in Christ and in the Church which He founded.

In all reality, the fake face and the falsehood of the members of the Reformed Catholic Church personifies them as the devil roaming around in our days, trying to lead people astray from the faith. In some way, they are also persecuting the Church and the Christian faithful. Today in 2009, the words of St Peter have to be listened to once again: 'the Devil, like a roaring lion, is moving about seeking someone to devour,? and so St. Peter says 'resist steadfastly in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world undergo the same suffering,' (2 Peter 5:8-9). Let us make our own the words of St. Peter in our days.

Once again, today, the words of St Paul to Timothy also are coming true, and I address them to you, the Christians of Southern Sudan, 'for the time will come (and it has indeed come) when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but, following their own desires and never-satisfied curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth, and will be diverted to false teaching,' (2 Timothy 4:3-5). And so St Paul cries out, and I repeat his words to you, 'but you be self-possessed in all circumstances. Put up with hardship. Perform the work of evangelists. Fulfill your ministry,' (2 Timothy 4: 3-5).
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SIC: ICN

Holy Name Cathedral comes back from fire

If Rev. Dan Mayall had his way, the calendar might just skip the month of February.

In February 2008, structural weakness caused a 10-pound piece of decorative wood to tumble from the ceiling at Holy Name Cathedral, where Mayall is the pastor.

The church — the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago — closed for six months.

In February 2008, structural weakness caused a 10-pound piece of decorative wood to tumble from the ceiling at Holy Name Cathedral, where Mayall is the pastor. The church — the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago — closed for six months.

In February 2009, the cathedral’s roof caught on fire, causing widespread damage throughout the sanctuary.

On Saturday, after another six months of repairs, the cathedral at 735 N. State reopens for Mass once again, with extensive work having been done to the damaged wood ceiling.

The ceiling, said Mayall, “has never looked this good. It’s spectacular and it’s meant to inspire.”

When the scaffolding fell in 2008, Mayall led a church-wide fund-raiser to pay for repairs.

After the 2009 fire, he pitched to the wider community, noting that two-thirds of Holy Name’s attendees at Sunday aren’t parishioners.

“We keep beating the drum that this is Chicago’s church,” Mayall said. “This is Chicago’s home. Chicago’s been coming here to pray for a long time.”

Two million dollars in pledged donations came in, from Chicago and beyond.

A Protestant church on the city’s South SIde contributed.

The Catholic cathedral in St. Paul, Minn., took up a collection.

More than 1,000 people, including Mayor Daley and Cardinal Francis George, attended a fund-raiser for Holy Name at the Palmer House Hilton, which donated its services.

Mayall estimated that damage from the two incidents cost about $14 million. He’s hoping fire insurance will cover $6 million. The fire’s cause still has not been determined.

While scaffolding outside the church will remain in place through November, the sanctuary will be open for this weekend’s Masses, five baptisms and two weddings.

Weekday Masses will continue to be said in the parish center due to construction noise for at least the next few weeks, he said.

Abigail Schmitt and fiancee Ryan Flanagan weren’t sure if the church would be open for most of their engagement. In April, she learned will be walking down Holy Name’s aisle on Aug. 29, just like her sister did in January 2008. Her sister was married in the short window when the church was open, between when the falling wood repairs were completed and the fire.

Schmitt said she’s excited that they both were able to marry in a “landmark of Chicago.” She said her parents have been listening for construction updates at Mass.

“We were trying to be easygoing about the situation,” Schmitt said, adding that, around the time of the fire, “We also had the caterer go bankrupt.”

Mayall said he’s looking forward to again reopening Holy Name.

“This is the first church built after the Chicago fire,” he said. “It should have fallen down the last two years, but it didn’t.”
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SIC: CST

Vatican diplomat calls for an end to witchcraft

The outgoing papal representative in Angola and Sao Tome & Principe, Archbishop Angelo Becciu, has called for an end to witchcraft accusations against children.

During a mass marking the 124th anniversary of the Santa Ana Church in Caxito, the Nuncio affirmed that, "the charges are a frequent practice on the African continent and they must be eliminated."

Reports say the although most Angolans say they are Catholic, belief in witchcraft is widespread in a country recovering from an almost three-decade long civil war and where an estimated two thirds of the population are poor.

Children are accused of witchcraft, resulting in their abuse, abandonment and, in some cases, death.

It appears more frequently among the Bakongo people, concentrated in the Uige, Zaire and Cabinda provinces in northern Angola. The situation is becoming of grave concern as atrocities against children increase by the year.

Last year 40 children were rescued from the premises of a group calling itself the Evangelical Church of Traditional Healing.

State media reported the children, some just babies, had been made to fast for 15 days, had been burned on their arms and had perfume poured in their eyes.

The Angolan government says it is taking the problem seriously and there has been much public discussion about these so-called sects which are often, according to state media reports, linked to Congolese immigrants.

During his visit to Angola earlier this year, Pope Benedict XVI called on Angola's Catholics to work to convert believers in witchcraft, in a country where traditional and new sects are proliferating. "So many of them are living in fear of spirits, of malign and threatening powers. In their bewilderment they end up even condemning street children and the elderly as alleged sorcerers," he said

The Hollywood movie "Girl Soldier" will portray the heroism of Sister Caroline, an Italian nun, who managed to rescue 109 girls captured by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda who were made soldiers and sex slaves.

While sojourning in the beautiful L'Aquila region of Italy, that was struck by earth tremors this year, an Australian journalism muses about the shake-up needed in Italy to jolt it out of the natural disaster of a demographic demise.

The Nuncio called on the Christians to follow the example of Santa Ana (Patron Saint of Caxito), promoting mutual respect within families and the preservation of moral values.

Archbishop Beccui is scheduled to leave his office in Angola in a month's time as he leaves for Cuba where the pope has stationed him.
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SIC: Spero

The troublesome priest of Medjugorje

The Vatican has achieved a significant victory over Tomislav Vlasic, the Franciscan at the centre of the Medjugorje cult.

In the end, he was pushed after he asked to jump.

And Pope Benedict won another small victory in his campaign to reconcile faith and reason.

It has emerged that the Vatican has agreed to a request for laicisation from Tomislav Vlasic, a Franciscan friar and seminal influence on the cult of Our Lady of Medjugorje.

A letter sent by the minister-general of the Franciscans to the heads of the order in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Italy informing them of the decision was posted on the internet this week.

It was dated 10 March, so we can assume this was not exactly news the Catholic church was keen to put about. And no wonder.

Vlasic was deputy parish priest of Medjugorje, a small town in Herzegovina, when in 1981 six children announced that they had been visited by the mother of Jesus. He became their unofficial spiritual adviser.

Since then, the so-called "visionaries" claim to have seen Mary around 40,000 times and been told some or all of the "Ten Secrets" at the heart of a cult that has inspired some 30 million pilgrimages.

Vlasic meanwhile has rarely been out of trouble with the church hierarchy. A few years after the purported miracle, he left Medjugorje following the disclosure that he had had an affair with a nun and fathered a child by her.

In Italy, he founded a new community of the "Queen of Peace". Last year Vlasic was confined to a Franciscan monastery in L'Aquila, after refusing to cooperate with a Vatican investigation into his activities.

Among the transgressions of which he was suspected were heresy, schism, the spreading of dubious doctrine, manipulation of consciences, and disobedience of legitimately issued orders.

Quite a collection.

While it is true that he left Medjugorje at an early stage, the Franciscan's personal dodginess is part and parcel of the broader dodginess of the cult itself.

The local bishop accused him of having invented the whole thing. And in 1985, when the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was prefect of the Vatican "ministry" that enforces doctrinal orthodoxy, he banned diocesan- and parish–sponsored pilgrimages to the shrine.

Individual Catholics are free to go to Medjugorje and be accompanied on their visit by a priest.

But the sort of miracle-seeking religiosity it inspires is precisely the kind this pope is keen to curb.
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SIC: GUK

Russian Patriarch goes green

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill expressed concern about the state of the environment, as well as mankind’s collective soul, saying the economic crisis has lessons to teach us.

The latest contributor to the ongoing verbal feud between the United States and Russia came from unusual quarters as the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church took a swipe at the United States for its “reckless consumption.”

Read more

“If society embarks on the road of such recklessness consumption, our earth will go under,” Kirill told an audience of students and lecturers at the Kiev Theological Academy. “It has already been proven that if the average level of consumption of the whole world matches that of the United States… the basic resources will run out in 40 to 50 years.”

“God has not given us resources to live like this,” he warned.

It seems the Russian Orthodox leader has done his homework.

Professor Jared Diamond from UCLA has demonstrated in a recent article that the Western world is using up resources 32 times faster than in the developing countries.

“The average rates at which people consume resources like oils and metals,” Diamond argues, “and produce wastes like plastics and greenhouse gases, are about 32 times higher in North America, Western Europe, Japan and Australia than they are in the developing world.”

Diamond’s conclusion may not be exactly what the economists and developers want to hear, but it correlates with what Patriarch Kirill said: “Whether we get there willingly or not, we will soon have lower consumption rates because our present rates are unsustainable.”

Patriarch Kirill’s comments show a marked tendency for religious leaders to speak out about the environmental problems now facing the planet. Earlier this month, Pope Benedict XVI warned an audience in Sydney, Australia about the evils associated with “insatiable consumption.”

“Reluctantly we come to acknowledge that there are… scars which mark the surface of our earth… in order to fuel an insatiable consumption,” Benedict warned.

No need to live in a cave

Patriarch Kirill then provided his personal insights on the present economic crisis that would never be heard in a school of economics.

“In this sense, the crisis may teach us much – restraint and rational use of our financial opportunities,” he said. “The most important thing is to learn Christian asceticism.”

But Russia’s top hierarch was quick to point out that practicing asceticism did not necessarily imply living the life of a hermit.

This does not mean “life in a cave or permanent fasting,” the Patriarch explained. “It’s the ability to regulate one’s consumption and the condition of one’s heart, and win a victory over passions and instincts. It is important that the rich and the poor alike possess these qualities.”

The Patriarch then expressed concern that members of the eastern Orthodox societies were being exposed to degenerating “western system of values.”

“The trinkets of modern life make one giddy, and inebriate the human consciousness,” Kirill said. “People believe in advertisement, fashion, stereotypes, and this virtual world as if it were reality.”

The Russian Orthodox leader also blasted same-sex marriages, a new social-political phenomenon occurring in the West that has sparked uproar of debate on both sides of the sensitive issue.

“Until recently, nobody could even have thought that same-sex marriages would receive legislative support and would be put on par with natural marriages,” he said. “In Liberalism, every person is autonomous, both from God and from other people. He creates his own system of values and this ultimately leads him to losing his inner control.”

In the United States, same-sex marriages have been legalized in 6 of the 50 states, whereas the Russian capital refuses to permit gay rights activists from organizing parades along its straight streets.

Despite the heavy criticism leveled against western lifestyles, Kirill held out hope on the possibility for an East-West dialogue, but the dialogue should not be between a “horse and rider” but rather between equal partners.

“Holy Russia is a huge civilizational project,” the Russian Orthodox leader said. “It is not meant to be guided, but it must generate ideas, and offer the choice of an outlook to which others must answer.”
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SIC: RT

Sweden refuses assistance in priest's Holocaust denial inquiry

Sweden has refused to summon a journalist for questioning in a possible German prosecution of Richard Williamson, the fundamentalist Catholic clergyman who caused a furor by questioning the scale of the Holocaust.

Prosecutors in the German city of Regensburg admitted Thursday the inquiry was effectively stalled.

Williamson, a British leader of the Society of St Pius X (SSPX), gave an interview last year to a Swedish TV journalist near the German city, where the SSPX, an advocate of old-style Catholicism, has a seminary.

A re-broadcast of the interview this year, just after Pope Benedict XVI ended the excommunication of Williamson and three other SSPX leaders, triggered a storm worldwide.

Regensburg prosecutors opened an inquiry to see if he could be charged with Holocaust denial, which is a crime under German law.

They asked their Swedish counterparts to summon the journalist for questioning. But Sweden replied there was no legal basis to interrogate the journalist as requested.

Prosecutor Guenther Ruckdaeschel said this was apparently because of journalistic privilege in Sweden, although he said, from a German point of view, the argument made no sense.

'Legally, we can't see why. It wouldn't be any problem here to question a journalist,' he said.

'If we don't get anything from Sweden, we'll just have to see how we can get on without this testimony.'

Population studies show that 5 million to 6 million European Jews were killed by all causes,including death camps, starvation, disease and battle, during the Nazi period.

In the interview, Williamson, 69, appeared to question that, contending there was no historical evidence of Nazi gas chambers and claiming 'only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews' had been killed in concentration camps.

Through his lawyer, he has told the German prosecutors he was assured his remarks were for broadcast in Sweden only, where there is no law against doubting the Holocaust.
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SIC: M&C

Pope will visit Viterbo, where papal conclaves were born

Pope Benedict XVI will interrupt his stay at the papal summer villa to make a one-day trip to the Italian city where the papal conclave was born.

In fact, he will visit the conclave room in the Palace of the Popes in Viterbo Sept. 6 before celebrating an outdoor Mass.

The town is about 65 miles north of Rome.

Between 1261 and 1281, five of the eight popes who reigned were elected in Viterbo: Pope Urban IV, elected in 1261; Pope Gregory X in 1271; Pope John XXI in 1276; Pope Nicolas III in 1277; and Pope Martin IV in 1281.

Until 1271, the gathering of cardinals for the election was not called a conclave -- the word means under lock and key.

After Pope Clement IV died in 1268, the cardinals meeting in Viterbo could not elect his successor.

The election dragged on, ultimately lasting 33 months. It was not until city officials locked all of the cardinals in the meeting room, reduced their diet to bread and water and took the roof off the meeting hall that the cardinals elected Pope Gregory.

It was Pope Gregory who made it church law that papal elections would take place in a conclave.

Pope Benedict will travel to Viterbo by helicopter from the papal summer villa at Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.

Before returning to Castel Gandolfo, the pope will transfer by helicopter from Viterbo to Bagnoregio, where St. Bonaventure was born in 1217.

Pope Benedict wrote his postdoctoral thesis on the doctrine of revelation in the works of St. Bonaventure, a doctor of the church.

The pope is scheduled to venerate the "holy arm" of the saint, which is kept in Bagnoregio's cathedral.

The rest of the saint's body is buried in France.
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SIC: CNS

Irish pilgrims not put off by Medjugorje defrocking

Irish fdevotees of Medjugorje have insisted that the defrocking of a controversial priest linked to the Marian shrine does not detract from their devotion.

It was announced this week that Pope Benedict XVI has defrocked Fr Tomislav Vlasic, who previously served as spiritual director to the six children who claimed to start receiving visions from the Mother of God in the early 1980s.

The six, now adults, claim that the messages are still ongoing.

Investigation

Fr Vlasic has been under investigation by the Vatican for the past years following allegations that he conducted an illicit affair with a nun and other serious claims that he was teaching false doctrine.

The investigation culminated with his dismissal from the clerical state and his expulsion from the Franciscan Order.

Paul Wallace, a spokesman for the National Medjugorje Council of Ireland told The Irish Catholic he was ''saddened'' to hear the news.

''It's disappointing because he did have some very nice sermons, during his days in the village and many people who were there in the earlier days will be very sad about this,'' he said.

However, Mr Wallace said that followers of Medjugorje were ''not surprised'' that the shrine is coming under attack.

Under attack

''We accept that Medjugorje is constantly under attack, and we view that as a sign of the authenticity of the visions and of the powerful graces that are flowing. If Satan wasn't attacking this great work, that would be surprising,'' he said.

It is estimated that upwards of 30,000 Irish pilgrims travel to the town in Bosnia-Herzegovina every year there are Medjugorje-inspired prayer groups in every county in Ireland.

While bishops are forbidden by the Vatican to lead pilgrimages to the shrine, there is no prohibition on Catholics visiting Medjugorje and the Vatican has insisted that the spiritual needs of pilgrims must be accommodated.

Speaking to The Irish Catholic last September, Milona Von Hapsburg who has worked as translator at Medjugorje since 1984 said the investigation into Fr Tomislav Vlasic was good because it meant the church was watching.
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SIC: IC

Ryan Report action plan just 'crocodile tears': Fr McVerry

The €25-million Government action plan to improve child protection in the State has been branded as ''hypocritical'' by Jesuit justice campaigner, Fr Peter McVerry.

As part of the plan - which implements all the recommendations of the Ryan Report - the Government has committed additional money to the National Counselling Service to help victims of abuse in industrial schools.

However, Fr McVerry, who works with homeless and vulnerable people in inner-city Dublin, said moves such as these amounted to ''crocodile tears'' as several destitute survivors of the schools were unable to access proper accommodation or rehabilitation services.

Homeless

''Some of those victims are now homeless, if they ring the Government for a bed; they are directed to a dormitory hospital, where they share a room with 15 to 20 others.

''Many of the victims have problems with drink and drugs and if they were to look for support in Waterford, for example, there would be three years of a waiting list.

''We are shedding crocodile tears, but we are doing sweet damn-all and are ignoring the risks to children today,'' he told The Irish Catholic, following publication of the plan this week.

Under the plan, by 2010, all State facilities for children will be independently inspected by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA).

However, Fr McVerry criticised the Government's stubborn resistance to include St Patrick's Institution for young offenders in such plans.

''None of the legislation to protect children in care applies to St Pat's where children live in dehumanising and destructive conditions, spending 18 and-a-half hours a day locked into a tiny cell on their own, watching television,'' he said.

Several groups have expressed disappointment that the plan only makes the reporting of child abuse a mandatory requirement for State-funded bodies, making those who fail to do report allegations liable for criminal prosecution.

A spokeswoman for the Irish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) said she was ''disappointed by the failure to place [State guidelines] Children First on a statutory footing beyond those that are employed by the State or who receive funding from the exchequer.

Accountable

''Failure to ensure that non State-funded bodies are held accountable will result in the same patchy and inconsistent implementation that has been highlighted over the last number of years,'' she said.

However, Minister for Children, Barry Andrews TD insisted that the issue of mandatory reporting had created problems in other jurisdictions.

''It has caused many thousands of referrals to the social work system, many unsubstantiated cases are brought to their attention so that social workers are forced to investigate circumstances that don't give rise to any concern, and that has actually put children at risk,'' Mr Andrews said.

Bishop Leo O'Reilly agreed with the Minister and insisted that that the Government ''had good reason for not making it mandatory''.

''Sometimes the issue of mandatory reporting can be a distraction. If all the other recommendations are carried out, it would be a huge benefit and this will be a better world,'' Dr O'Reilly said.

St Stan Kennedy, founder of the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) welcomed the move to include hostels where children were seeking asylum on the list for inspections.

PLAN OF ACTION

National Counselling Service will be exempted from public service moratorium on recruitment and additional therapists hired

All publicly-funded bodies will be obliged by law to comply with Children First guidelines

270 social work posts in the HSE will be filled

All State facilities for children including reception centres will be subject to an independent inspection

Study to be conducted to follow young people who leave care to map their transistion to adulthood

HSE will extend its out-of-hours service to GPs, acute hospitals and mental health services

Total Cost: €25 million.
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SIC: IC

Irish priest re-appointed to key Vatican committee

An influential Irish priest has been re-appointed to a high-profile Vatican committee that advises Pope Benedict XVI on sensitive issues in relation to theology and the Church's teaching.

Fr Tom Norris, a priest of the Ossory diocese who lectures in systematic theology at Maynooth has been re-appointed to serve a third consecutive term on the prestigious International Theological Commission (ITC).

Fr Norris, who worked closely with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger when the latter was head of the Church's Doctrinal Congregation before his election to the papacy in 2005, has made a key contribution to many recent rulings of the ITC.

Lectured extensively

Fr Norris, a keen-follower of Kilkenny hurling, studied and obtained his doctorate in theology in Rome and has lectured extensively across the globe. He was first appointed to serve on the Commission by Pope John Paul II in 1998 and was subsequently re-appointed for a second term in 2004.

The commission is responsible for offering the Pope expert advice on theological issues that arise or potential new insights in to the Church's teaching on a particular issue.

Most recently, Fr Norris was a prominent member of the group that in 2007 called limbo an ''unduly restricted view of salvation''.

While never formal Church teaching, for centuries many Catholics believed, and some theologians taught, that children who died without baptism, while spared the damnation of hell, nonetheless suffered eternal separation from God in a state of Limbo.

Fr Norris was also a member of the ITC that in 2002 advised the Church to keep the prospect of ordaining women as deacons open.

While the commission concluded that women deacons in the early Church performed a role that was different from that of the ordained male diaconate, Fr Norris said: ''You can't make a simple equivalence between what was called diaconate in relation to women in the ancient Church and the diaconate of men.''

However, he said the question of whether women deacons could or should be allowed in the modern Church was left open ''It will remain a matter for the Magisterium of the Church to decide,'' he said.
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SIC: IC

Michael Phelps to have audience with Pope Benedict

Swimming fans around the world recently saw Michael Phelps lose to Paul Biedermann in the 400-meter freestyle only to watch him come back and beat his own world record in the 200-meter butterfly.

On Saturday, Phelps will enter into an entirely different arena when he is received in an audience with Pope Benedict XVI.

CNA has learned that Michael Phelps will be present when Pope Benedict meets with 100 swimmers at Castel Gandolfo on Saturday.

The audience with the swimmers will be one of the first activities on the Pope’s schedule after his vacation in the Italian Alps.

Saverio Petrillo, Director of the Papal Villas, confirmed to CNA that the audience will take place at the papal summer residence on Saturday and that the Pope will also pray the Angelus there on Sunday.

The Angelus will be followed by a concert.
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SIC: CNA

Vatican publishes highlights for January to March 2009

As it does periodically, the Vatican released a list of highlights and summarizing the past few months.

Among the notable events are the World Meeting of Families, the Pope's encouragement of social networking tools, the publication of Benedict XVI's letter on the lifting of the Pius X Society bishops and his trip to Africa.

A list of the highlights from April to July will be published by the Vatican press office tomorrow.

The full list for January through March is given below.

JANUARY

1: In the Vatican Basilica, the Holy Father presides at Mass for the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God, which also marks the 42nd World Day of Peace the theme of which is "Fighting Poverty to Build Peace."

3: Publication of a Letter from the Pope, written in Latin and dated December 28, 2008, in which he appoints Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. as papal legate to the Sixth World Meeting of Families, to be celebrated in Mexico City from January 13 - 18.

11: Cardinal Pio Laghi, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Catholic Education and patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, dies at the age of 86.

14-18: Sixth World Meeting of Families celebrated in Mexico City on the theme: "The family, teacher of human and Christian values.” To all the faithful who participate devotedly in the event, the Holy Father grants Plenary Indulgence under the usual conditions: sacramental Confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer in keeping with the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff.

16: Benedict XVI receives prelates from the Episcopal Conference of Iran at the end of their "ad limina" visit. The conference is made up of ordinaries of the Armenian, Chaldean and Latin Churches.

18-25: Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the theme of which, taken from the Prophet Ezekiel, is: "That they may become one in your hand."

18: Benedict XVI announces that the Italian city of Milan will be the site of the next World Meeting of Families, due to take place in spring 2012 on the theme "The Family, Work and Feast."

20: Cardinal Stephanos II Ghattas, C.M., patriarch emeritus of Alexandria of the Copts, Egypt, dies at the age of 89.

23: Benedict XVI receives in audience Branko Crvenkovski, president of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

23: Benedict XVI receives bishops of the Syriac Catholic Church, led by His Beatitude Ignace Youssif III Younan, elected as patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians by the Synod of Bishops of the Syriac Catholic Church, meeting in Rome January 18 - 20.

23: Publication of the Holy Father's Message for the 43rd World Day of Social Communications, to be celebrated on May 24 on the theme: "New Technologies, New Relationships: Promoting a culture of Respect, Dialogue and Friendship."

24: Holy Father receives prelates from the Chaldean Church at the end of their "ad limina" visit. During the audience the bishops give the Pope a cape used by Archbishop Faraj Rahho of Mosul and a stole belonging to Fr. Ragheed Aziz Ganni, both killed in Iraq over recent months.

26: Benedict XVI receives the Letters of Credence of Stanislas Lefebvre de Laboulaye, the new French ambassador to the Holy See.

29: Holy Father receives prelates from the Conference of Catholic Bishops of the Russian Federation at the end of their "ad limina" visit.

FEBRUARY

2: Holy Father receives the Letters of Credence of Janos Balassa, the new ambassador of Hungary to the Holy See.

2: Pope receives bishops from the Episcopal Conference of Turkey at the end of their "ad limina" visit.

3: Presentation of the Holy Father's 2009 Lenten Message, on the theme: "He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry."

7: Publication of the Holy Father's Message for the seventeenth World Day of the Sick, which is celebrated every year on February 11, Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

9: Pope receives the Letters of Credence of Luiz Felipe de Seixas Correa, the new ambassador of Brazil to the Holy See.

12: Benedict XVI receives the Letters of Credence of Timothy Anthony Fischer, the new ambassador of Australia to the Holy See.

12: Benedict XVI attends a concert commemorating the 80^th anniversary of the foundation of Vatican City State. Our Lady's Choral Society and the RTE Concert Orchestra, both from Dublin, Ireland, play the "Messiah" by Georg Friedrich Handel.

14: Benedict XVI receives prelates from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria at the end of their "ad limina" visit.

16: Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, archbishop emeritus of Seoul, Korea, dies at the age of 86.

19: Benedict XVI receives in audience Gordon Brown, prime minister of the United Kingdom.

22: Cardinal Paul Joseph Pham Dinh Tung, archbishop emeritus of Hanoi, Vietnam, dies at the age of 89.

27: Holy Father receives in audience Masud Barazani, president of the Autonomous Kurdish Region in Iraq.

MARCH

1: Russian Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas in the Italian city of Bari is returned to the custody of the Patriarchate of Moscow in the course of solemn ceremony held there today. During the celebration, Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, archbishop emeritus of Palermo, Italy, reads out a Message from the Holy Father.

3-7: International conference on the theme: "Biological Evolution: Facts and Theories. A critical appraisal 150 years after 'The origin of species,'" is held at the Pontifical Gregorian University.

9: Benedict XVI visits Rome Town Hall, located on the city's Capitoline Hill, where he meets Mayor Gianni Alemanno and other civic leaders.

12: Publication of a Letter of Pope Benedict XVI to the bishops of the Catholic Church concerning the remission of the excommunication of the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre.

14: Benedict XVI receives a first group of prelates from the Argentinean Episcopal Conference at the conclusion of their "ad limina" visit.

14: Benedict XVI receives in audience Edward Fenech Adami, president of the Republic of Malta.

16: Announcement of the Year for Priests, to be held from June 19, 2009 to June 11, 2010 on the theme: "Faithfulness of Christ, faithfulness of priests." The year marks the 150th anniversary of the death of John Mary Vianney, the holy "Cure of Ars."

17-23: Benedict XVI's apostolic trip to Cameroon and Angola.

19: For the occasion of the Solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary and Patron of the Universal Church, the official website of the Holy See is enhanced by the addition of a new section in Chinese.

27: Benedict XVI receives in audience Demetris Christofias, president of the Republic of Cyprus.

29: On this fifth Sunday of Lent, the Pope visits the parish of the Holy Face of Jesus, located in the Magliana neighborhood in the western sector of the diocese of Rome.

31: Publication of Benedict XVI's Message for the 46th World Day of Prayer for Vocations, to be celebrated on May 3, on the theme: "Faith in the divine initiative - the human response."
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SIC: CNA

Material goods cannot be only goal for Christians, says Cardinal Rivera

The Archbishop of Mexico City, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, said this week Christians should not make material goods the “goal or the absolute end of our mission.”

During the celebration of Sunday Mass, the cardinal explained that “the temporal commitment should be the expression of human fraternity, born of divine sonship, the materialization of the commandment of Christian love.”

He called it “scandalous that in our great city thousands of tons of food are wasted, and a mass number of people wander hungry through our streets, because there is no one to give them those riches that God made for all and not just for the few.”

“Man’s hunger is also spiritual,” the cardinal continued, and therefore “one’s social commitment cannot be separated from the commitment to spiritual salvation because religion then becomes distorted and alienating. The unity of the faith cannot be professed if it is not linked to love, to real love. Christ is not the revolutionary that the people are dreaming of, but neither is he a mystic separated from the world in which others live. Christ is the incarnate Son of God,” the cardinal said.

“The Church and every Christian must make Jesus present first in the production and multiplication of material goods and also in their distribution to those most in need,” he added.

“As long as there is one person dying of hunger, and there are thousands around us, we cannot shrug our shoulders as if we have nothing to do with it,” Cardinal Rivera counseled.

“We must not fall into the temptation that distributing material goods is the task of ‘the U.N. summits,’ of governments or institutions. They all have a responsibility, but as individuals we must contribute to satiating the hunger of the world,” the cardinal stressed. “And not only the hunger for food, but for education, health care, and all of the fundamental rights and needs of the human being.”
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SIC: CNA

Unknown assailants rob Argentinean bishop and priests

Argentinean Bishop Fernando Carlos Maletti and seven other priests who were with him at the diocesan chancery, were robbed by two armed men on July 23.

According to media reports, the bishop told police that the two men entered and “told us they were going to rob us, and they told us to give them all the money we were carrying while they searched the offices for any valuables.”

The newspaper La Nacion reported that the two men made off with around $2000, a DVD player, a cell phone and a set of computer speakers.

Bishop Maletti said it was the first time in his eight years in San Carlos de Bariloche that he has been the victim of a crime.

“Nobody is immune,” he said.

“We all bear responsibility for the huge social debt that Argentina has, and the kids that assaulted us are victims of that debt,” the bishop said.
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SIC: CNA

Murdered Catholic Priest Body Found By Roadside

A Catholic priest was found murdered in a remote place by the side of a road in a village near Mangalore in southern Indian state of Karnataka on Thursday 30 July.

A Christian advocacy group is calling upon Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the "clear case of murder".

Father James Mukalel, 39, priests of Belthangady diocese in Karnataka, met with tragic death when he was returning to his parish, after attending a funeral of one of his earlier parishioners in Thottathady village, Daiji World local online news reported.

According to Fr Thomas Kannankal, the diocesan social work director, the death of the priest appears to be a clear case of murder, as his body was found to be lying away from the motor bike which he was riding, and there were no clothes on his body.

He added that the body did not bear any injury marks but there were telltale signs that point to the fact that he was suffocated to death by someone.

Father James was originally from the diocese of Tellichery and had opted to work in Belthangady diocese. Belthangady is a division within Dakshina Kannada, a western coastal district of Karnataka facing Arabian Sea and has Mangalore city as its headquarters and the biggest city in the region.

Father Jose Valiaparambil, the vicar general of the diocese, said that the entire diocese is shocked to learn about this gory incident that has occurred at a time when the Syro-Malabar diocese is preparing for its mission congress from 3 August.

Father Thomas told UCA News, that the priest serves in Kutrapady parish and had gone to Thottathady parish to attend a funeral. After the funeral, he visited some homes and had his dinner in a convent in the parish. He started back in his motor bike at around 9 p.m. on Wednesday.

Some parishioners noticed his naked body lying by the roadside, at around 7 a.m. on Thursday, 30 July morning.

Belthangady diocese in Dakshina Kannada had reported some violence against Christians in the past year and police are enquiring into them, the priest told UCA news.

Dakshina Kannada was in the news last year when the Bajrang Dal in Karnataka’s Mangalore state attacked over 30 prayer halls in September 2008. 53 Christians were injured in the Dakshina Kannada district and parts of Udupi district.

Bangalore-based Christian advocacy group Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) said Karnataka ruled by the Hindu nationalist party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recorded the second most number of attacks against Christians in 2008, it is "second to Orissa where many have lost their lives and homes."

"Karnataka recorded at least 112 anti-Christian attacks across 29 districts in 2008,” and at least 10 more such incidents have been reported this year," Dr. Sajan George, President of GCIC told Compass Direct News earlier.

GCIC has strongly condemned the murder, and is calling upon the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the case.

“We are shocked and dismayed in the brutal murder of Fr. James Mukalel . This is the 33rd incident of attacks against Christians in Karnataka in the year 2009."

"GCIC urges the Central Bureau of Investigation to institute a thorough investigation of the murder of Catholic Priest James Mukalel and all other attacks of Christians in Karnataka,” a statement on Thursday stated.
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SIC: CP

Obscene Bible comments reflect ‘failure’ of church

Obscene comments written into a Bible on display as part of an art exhibition reflect the failure of the church to demonstrate the message of God’s reconciliation with man through Jesus Christ, says the head of Wycliffe Bible Translators.

The Bible was put on display at the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow beside some pens and a notice by Metropolitan Community Church telling visitors: “Are there any gay people in the Bible? Out of the tens of thousands of people who appear in the Old and New Testaments, there must have been.

“Same-sex love, such as that between Ruth and Naomi, existed, but has been written out over time.

“If you feel you have been excluded from the Bible, please write your way back into it.”

Some visitors responded to the invitation by scribbling abuse onto the pages of the Bible, including “F*** the Bible” and “I don’t want a fascist God”. Exhibition organisers have since removed the most offensive pages.

Eddie Arthur, Executive Director of Wycliffe Bible Translators, said: "It's disappointing that people feel the need to deface a Bible when offered the opportunity.

“But it is understandable that people who feel excluded would react to that exclusion. However, it is not the Bible that has marginalised people.

“Sadly, it is a failure of the wider Christian church to adequately live and demonstrate the message of God's reconciliation which is the issue.”

Andrea Minichiello Williams, director of the Christian Legal Centre, was quoted by The Telegraph as saying: “We have got to a point where we call the desecration of the Bible modern art.

“The Bible stands for everything this art does not: for creation, beauty, hope and regeneration.”
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SIC: CT

On right path but sins of the Church not forgotten

THE Government's post-Ryan Commission child protection blueprint marks the most important step in a tortuous process of draining the murky landscape of abuse which has mired Church and State since the foundation of the Irish State in 1921.

On top of accepting the 20 recommendations made by the commission headed by Mr Justice Sean Ryan, the Government's 99-point plan pledges legislation making it obligatory for state agencies and voluntary bodies to report complaints of suspected child abuse.

Though stopping short of mandatory reporting, it would become a criminal offence not to report suspicions of child abuse, and failure to comply will make the agencies and bodies subject to criminal prosecution and the cutting of State funding.

Of immediate relevance in the current economic crisis is the announcement by the Minister for Children Barry Andrews that in spite of An Bord Snip he has Government backing for the recruitment by the HSE of 270 social workers at an estimated cost of €25m a year.

From next year, child residential centres will be inspected by the Independent Health Information and Quality Authority. Improved counselling and aftercare of children is to include those with disability.

Welcomed by child support groups as a positive step towards a national child protection policy, uniformity of application is to be made statutory throughout the country of the Children First guidelines introduced a decade ago, but found to be inconsistently implemented and inferior to child safeguard procedures pioneered by the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, and extended to other diocese by the Church's own protection watchdog.

On paper, this initiative moves in the right direction at long last, but tragically it has taken 80 years for an elected government to confront the evil of child abuse that first came to the attention of the Cumann na nGaedhael government led by WT Cosgrave in 1929.

A committee under William Carrigan, a lawyer, reported horrific evidence about spiralling sexual crimes against children which were confirmed by Garda Commissioner Eoin O'Duffy. It found that, "there was an alarming amount of sexual crime increasing yearly, a feature of which was the large number of cases of criminal interference with girls and boys from 16 years downwards, including many cases of children under 10".

This explosive report lay unpublished by Cosgrave when in 1932 Eamon de Valera came to power as head of the first Fianna Fail government -- and suppressed the report's findings as too horrendous to publish. Its contents remained secret until the son of WT Cosgrave, Liam Cosgrave, gave a copy to the social researcher Finola Kennedy, who published its murky secrets in 2000.

"If Carrigan had been debated in public would public awareness of the prevalence of child sexual abuse have ensured that the relevant authorities took appropriate action?" Dr Kennedy pointedly asked, just five years before the shocking Ferns Report and nine before the Ryan report's finding of systematic physical, sexual and emotional abuse of children in religious-run institutions.

The already shaken Irish Catholic Church is to be rocked to its faith foundations by the horrendous scale of clerical sexual abuse of children in the Dublin archdiocese and by revelations of equally systematic cover-ups by 19 bishops of serial priest rapists dating back to the 1940s.

Archbishop Martin has identified 450-500 children as possible victims of abuse by paedophile priests in Dublin -- and nationwide this could be thousands. He has warned that the Dublin Report "will shock us all".

Just how shocking Judge Yvonne Murphy's report is can be gauged by Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, who is in legal limbo by postponing its publication until he takes guidance from the Attorney General and possibly the High Court.

Three of 15 priests identified in the report face further criminal charges in court which may not be settled until next spring. By then, Judge Murphy should have completed her inquiry into Bishop John Magee's inadequate protection of children in the Diocese of Cloyne.

Since Ryan reported in May, gardai are investigating over 100 new complaints, and support groups want a delay in publication of the Dublin report to allow space for traumatised victims.

Public anger remains directed against the 18 religious orders who signed the €127m indemnity deal that falls short of the €1bn-plus bill facing the taxpayer. Disquiet has grown at their missing deadlines in producing an audit of their financial assets.

The horrible vista of 80 years of concealed abuse still needs to redress victims of Magdalene laundries and psychiatric institutes, as well as giving children constitutional recognition. The Catholic Church's future role in education is under review.

Mr Andrews is confident of cutting a just deal with the religious orders and of instituting an annual day of remembrance for victims. But he has years of hard labour before him to undo the sins of Church and State.
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SIC: II

Abuse inquiry criticised over costs

THE State spending watchdog has criticised the Child Abuse Inquiry for failing to monitor its costs as its final bill of €136 million looms for taxpayers.

Concern has also been raised that the abuse inquiry engaged barristers for administrative work when less expensive staff could have been used.

The Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG) has recommended information systems be established for future inquiries to count costs on an ongoing basis.

The C&AG report, released yesterday, looked at the timeliness and related costs of the ten-year Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.

The harrowing inquiry, chaired by Justice Ryan, found that sexual abuse was endemic in Church-run industrial schools and orphanages.

The commission was originally set to cost up to €2.5m and run for just two years. After several reviews and the resignation of its former chairwoman, Ms Justice Mary Laffoy, its scope was limited.

Nonetheless, the C&AG estimates its final cost will be between €126m and €136m, if it finishes its work by next year. Up to about half of this or €62m could be for third-party legal costs, including for complainants, respondents and discovery orders. The inquiry’s administration will cost €30m, while its own legal team have mounted up bills of nearly €16m. Other costs have been incurred for litigation (€2.2m) and expenses and costs for state bodies that gave evidence or featured during in the inquiry (€10.5).

The C&AG, John Buckley, added: "As with many inquiries legal challenges delayed the progress of the commission. Challenges also contributed to the cost of the commission."

Mr Buckley found that the inquiry’s progress was "extremely slow" in the beginning and real work did not begin until 2002, three years after its establishment, partly due to the delay in agreeing a legal expenses scheme.

Less expensive staff could have been used during the inquiry, added the C&AG.

"In the area of administration, some support work was done using counsel when less expensive staff could have been engaged, for example in the case of inquiry officers."

Less expensive paralegal or professional staff should be used for research in future inquiries, he recommended.

The inquiry only estimated its ongoing costs once during its 10 years, the report noted. "In general, estimation was hampered by a lack of adequate information systems," it added.

The inquiry had consisted of the chairman, six commissioners, 17 legal counsel and 31 administrative and non-civil servant staff at one stage.

The Government had extended the term of the commission on four occasions also, noted the report.

Despite the release of its report, the inquiry is still in operation, dealing with post publication issues like legal costs and handling queries.
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SIC: IE

Patriarch Kirill outraged with oppressions against Orthodox believers in Western Ukraine

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has lamented that authorities of the Western Ukraine don't let Orthodox believers build churches there.

"Is it right that Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate doesn't have a proper cathedral in Lvov! Is it right that it's impossible to build a church (in the Western Ukraine - IF) as land is not allotted!" The Patriarch said in his interview to the Vesti TV.

According to him, "it's not right at all. It can only increase hostility."

"Thus, I believe these questions need regulation. In this regard local authorities bear great responsibility. So that all communities living here feel themselves comfortable," the Russian Church Primate said.

Answering the question about relations between Orthodox and Greek-Catholics in Ukraine, Patriarch Kirill noted that this issue should be considered in the context of relations between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.

"As you know, the theological dialogue is developing. We hope that we will be able to clear out many questions in frames of this dialogue. Though only God knows when this dialogue will result in real positive changes in relations between Churches of East and West," he said.
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SIC: INTERFAX

Reflecting on the 35th anniversary of the ordination of women to the priesthood (Contribution)

Growing up in the 60s, I lived in a world with clearly defined roles for men and women.

Most of my friends' fathers worked and their mothers stayed home and took care of the children and the house.

The few women whom I knew worked were nurses, teachers, or secretaries.

At church, there were similarly defined gender-based roles: the priest was a man as was the bishop who confirmed me. The organist, the church secretary, and the Sunday school teachers were all women. The warden was a man and my memory is that women organized the coffee hour and ran the Nearly New, the church's thrift shop.

In 1974, one of these roles changed. On July 29, at the Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia, 11 women were ordained to the priesthood by three bishops of the Episcopal Church. At the time, this was a life-changing moment; one that rocked the church in ways similar to Gene Robinson's election and confirmation as bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in 2003.

In 1999, on the 25th anniversary, the then-Bishop of Pennsylvania, Robert DeWitt, remarked, "It is ironic that what happened 25 years ago here at the Advocate was for a time seen more as an issue of three misbehaving bishops than as a breakthrough created by 11 pioneering women. Make no mistake; the event was a creative action of, by, and for women. The bishops were only accessories."

Since learning that today is the 35th anniversary of the ordination of women, I have reflected on these ordinations and the many ways both the church and the world have changed and not changed since that time. How the world I grew up in, with its imposed limitations on what girls and women could do, is different in so many ways from the context my 27-year-old daughter grew up in, recognizing that there are still areas where women and girls are marginalized.

In 1974, the newly formed Episcopal Divinity School invited two of the newly ordained women, the Rev. I. Carter Heyward and the Rev. Suzanne R. Hiatt to join the faculty (sharing one position), with the understanding that they could exercise their priestly ministries in St. John's Memorial Chapel. This was significant as most in the church did not recognize these women's ordinations at this time.

Looking for contemporary voices, I contacted women priests and lay persons asking them to reflect on the impact women's ordination has had on their lives. While these women come from different contexts and range in age, their reflections were marked by similar experience.

"I would never take women's leadership as a 'given,'" said EDS faculty emerita, Dr. Fredrica Harris Thompsett. "Our number of women bishops, parish rectors, etc. has not grown to reflect our population, let alone among Latina women and women of African descent. As Sue Hiatt would say, 'Pharaoh's army has not been wiped out by the Red Sea.' [Presiding] Bishop Katharine is a plus to be sure, yet even she is badly treated and/or ignored by many members of the Anglican Communion's leadership."

The Rev. Jane Gould, a parish priest in the Diocese of Massachusetts, who was a college freshman in 1974 said, "In 1974 I did a paper on the theological reasons for and against the ordination of women in the Episcopal Church. In doing this research, I discovered that the Philadelphia Ordinations were on the 18th anniversary of my baptism.

"A year later I was privileged to attend the Washington ordinations and experience the coming together of my social activism and the life of the church. Vocation began to take shape because courageous women in Philadelphia and Washington created possibilities for me. Seven years later, when I arrived at EDS as a first year MDiv student with the pathway to ordination wide open, it awed me to meet Carter Heyward and Suzanne Hiatt as my professors and to have Alison Cheek in my first year Hebrew class. I could pursue my calling because they had forged the way.

"Thirty-five years later, my sons presume women deacons, priests, and bishops. And yet, as the data presented at the Episcopal Women's Caucus breakfast at the General Convention make clear, barriers continue to exist to equal access for ordained women in the leadership of the church," she said.

Former EDS Academic Dean the Rev. Dr. Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook recalled reading about the Philadelphia ordinations in Time magazine. A Roman Catholic high school senior at the time, she decided to do her term paper on women's ordination from her own denominational perspective.

"Within ten years of that eventful July, I was an Episcopalian, a seminary graduate, and looking forward to my own ordination," she said, noting that while she has experienced some pain due to discrimination, she knows of other women who have endured much more.

"When I graduated from seminary in the early 1980s, very few ordained women had yet to become rectors; most of us envisioned ministries as associate clergy indefinitely. Given these limitations, my own vocation took a different path into ministries with young people, teaching, and writing."

Kujawa-Holbrook continued, "Without a doubt, the events of July 1974 transformed my life. At the time, many believed that the church, too, would be transformed. I often wonder if we have lived into the promise of those days, and if not, where have we fallen short of that dream?"

"My heart is moved by this anniversary with deep and emerging understanding of what it means to be a woman standing in leadership in our great and not-always-great church," reflects the Rev. Eva Cavaleri. Ordained in 2004, Cavaleri often finds herself feeling extraordinarily grateful for the women and men on whose shoulders she stands. A mother of two young children, she discovered that her relationship within the church changed when she became pregnant, sensing less tolerance from leadership while at the same time hearing from people in the pews that "bringing my pregnancies and 'ripe' femininity along with me was a profoundly spiritual experience."

Recently, Cavaleri left her position in parish ministry and returned to Minnesota to become a chaplain at an Episcopal boarding school. She shares, "This move feels both hopeful since I believe it could be an authentic fit for me, given my background and care for young people, but honestly I imagined staying in parish ministry for the long haul (and honestly I may go back) but the choice to go felt a little less like a choice."

As these stories illustrate, women still have a way to go before full parity is reached. "The Philadelphia ordinations changed everything yet, like the work of redemption, the pivotal event launched a process of change that is still working its way to fruition," remarked the Very Rev. Dr. Katherine Ragsdale, EDS President and Dean. "When I applied to enter the ordination process almost a full decade later I found that my diocese had never ordained a woman, nor employed one ordained elsewhere. Even today, the numbers of women in leadership in the church are nowhere near commensurate with the numbers of women in the pews, the seminaries, or the pulpits. We tend to end up in smaller churches with fewer resources, smaller salaries, and fewer paths to wider leadership. The work begun centuries ago (in Christ there is neither male nor female) and raised to new heights in Philadelphia in 1974, is not yet complete."

For all except one of the women interviewed, the July 29, 1974 ordinations represented a door opening. Yet Cavaleri, for whom this door has always been open notes, "I was so naïve. I had no idea how hard these folks worked for me and others to stand in the places that I (we) have. These five plus years have taught me so much about the deep lethargy for change in our church institution along with signs of hopefulness around the edges."

For me, one question remains: What more can we, as faithful disciples of Christ, do to continue God's work in the world, to build together a vision of the church and the world, true to who God calls us to be?

A longer version of this article may be read here.

Nancy Davidge is director of communications and marketing at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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SIC: AKI

Zimbabwe's new Anglican leader urged to 'heal' Harare diocese

Zimbabwean Anglicans are urging the new leader of the Anglican church in their country to move to reconcile the strife-riven diocese of Harare which has been locked in a battle with excommunicated former bishop Nolbert Kunonga, a close supporter of Robert Mugabe, the country’s president.

The new bishop of the Anglican diocese of Harare, Chad Nicholas Gandiya, was consecrated on July 26 at a gathering of more than 10,000 people, Harare diocese information officer Precious Shumba told Ecumenical News International.

“The dean of the Anglican Province of Central Africa, Bishop Albert Chama, presided over the ordination and he urged the new bishop to heal and reconcile the diocese of Harare which was riven by division,” Ms. Shumba said.

Bishop Gandiya succeeds Sebastian Bakare, a retired cleric who served as the diocese’s interim bishop from December 2007 when Bishop Kunonga was deposed. The church said Bishop Kunonga had illegally separated from the Province of Central Africa by installing himself as archbishop of Zimbabwe. Bishop Kunonga said he believed the church that deposed him was too cozy with homosexuals.

As an avowed supporter of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party, many Anglicans say Bishop Kunonga has supported the intimidation and persecution of Anglicans in Zimbabwe who have opposed his leadership and that of Mr. Mugabe, in the devastated country.

Bishop Gandiya became Harare bishop despite a bid by Bishop Kunonga to block the consecration, claiming he is still the legitimate head of the Anglican church in Zimbabwe.

Bishop Kunonga approached the Zimbabwe High Court on July 24 seeking a ruling to stop Bishop Gandiya being made leader of Zimbabwe's Anglicans.

“The consecration can only be done in the case of the death of the incumbent bishop,” Kunonga was quoted as saying by the government-owned Sunday Mail newspaper in advance of the ceremony.

Bishop Gandiya, the former Africa regional desk officer for the Britain-based mission agency USPG: Anglicans in Mission, was on May 2 elected to serve as the bishop of Harare. At the time of his election, Bishop Gandiya said he might acquire a “crown of thorns” when he became leader of Zimbabwe’s Anglicans. Yet he said he could succeed if all Anglicans pray for him.

Since being deposed, Bishop Kunonga and a small group of followers claimed ownership of Anglican church buildings in Harare, denying access to the majority of the city's parishioners led by Bishop Bakare and calling in riot police to forcibly evict them during services.

In some incidents, parishioners were attacked by supporters of Bishop Kunonga, forcing them to hold church services in the open, or in buildings provided by other churches until the High Court ordered the two groups to share church facilities.

Bishop Gandiya was born in Manicaland, eastern Zimbabwe, in 1953, studied for the priesthood at St John’s College, Nottingham, and took higher degrees at the University of Zimbabwe and Michigan State University in the United States.
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SIC: AKI

Hanoi denies attacks on priests whilst the diocese of Vinh publishes photos

General Hoang Cong Tu, from the Ministry for Public Security has denied there has been any violence against priests from Dong Hoi, and the police have rejected as "false" criticism from the Diocese of Vinh, that accuses the police of having beaten priests and faithful.

In response, the diocese has circulated on the Internet pictures of priests and of the deep wounds caused by thugs in police employment.

Gen. Tu has also announced that seven faithful will be tried for "disorder", having built a tent to use it as a place of prayer in front of the ruins of the church of Tam Toa (Vinh diocese).

Two days ago AsiaNews broke the news of the beating of two priests admitted to the hospital in Dong Hoi (28/07/2009 see: Priest beaten into a coma by police. Catholics Protest throughout Vietnam). One was beaten by thugs in the street, under the gaze of at least 30 policemen and one – who went to visit his fellow priest in the hospital - was beaten and hurled from the second floor and is still in coma.

The doctors who treated Fr. Peter Nguyen The Binh (see photo), in a coma, said yesterday that he has escaped death, but his condition remains very serious. The other priest, Fr Paul Nguyen Dinh Phu, who sustained broken ribs and head injuries, is better, but needs further treatment in Xa Doai hospital.

The priests were violently attacked during the demonstrations of prayer and protest held in the diocese of Vinh (300 km south of Hanoi), following the arrest of 7 Catholics accused charged with a crime for having erected a tent to use as a chapel in front of the ruins of the Tam Toa church (see AsiaNews 21/07/09 - Beatings and arrests of priests and faithful in the historic church of Tam Toa). The police raid against the faithful gathered in Tam Toa left at least 100 people injured.

On July 28, at a press conference held in Hanoi in the office of the Ministry for Communications, Gen Tu, Deputy Director General of the Department of Homeland Security, announced that the seven Catholics will be prosecuted for having caused chaos in front of a monument.

Fr. Anthony Pham Dinh Phung, secretary of the diocese denounced the decision as unfair. The priest also revealed that the Vietnamese government had contacted the diocese demanding that it calm down the anger of the faithful against police violence. Fr. Pham said that "we will not call for calm until the 7 Catholics are released”.

The accusations against the seven police are endless: "counter-revolutionary activities" for violating the site of a memorial to Americans war crimes, public disorder, assault of public officials.

The police also published the news that the seven Catholics "have confessed their sins and begged to be pardoned”. They have also revealed the names of "several others" involved "in the illegal construction of a house in the historic site”. Among them is the name of the Parish Priest of Tam Toa, Fr. Le Hong Thanh.

The state media, which has begun a heavy propagandist campaign against the Catholics of Vinh, accuse Fr. Le Hong Thanh of encouraging the arrested Catholics and "deceiving others" in the "illegal construction".

Among the wounded and beaten by police last July 20, there is also a nun from the congregation of the Sisters of the Lovers of the Cross, Sister Maria Tan, who was beaten and almost arrested. Some faithful wrested her from the hands of the policemen who were about to load her onto a truck.

In the following days, the Diocese of Vinh condemned the police brutality, their use of tear gas, their baton charging and arrest of the faithful.

The police, in turn, have rejected as "totally false" the claims of the diocese.
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SIC: AN

(Posting 17,500 since 15/12/2006)

Year Of The Priest Prayer

PRAYER FOR THE YEAR OF THE PRIEST

Lord Jesus, that in St. John Mary Vianney

you wanted to donate to the Church

a moving image of your pastoral charity,

he,that, in his company and supported by his example,

may we live in fullness this Priestly life.

Pausing as he was before the Eucharist,

we can learn how simple,every day of your words that teaches us;

tender love to welcome repentant sinners;

consoling abandonment confidente your Immaculate Mother.

Lord Jesus, who, through the intercession of the Holy Curé d'Ars,

the Christian families to become "small churches"
in which all vocations and all the gifts,
donated by your Holy Spirit,

can be welcomed and valued.

Grant us, Lord Jesus,

you can repeat with the same fervor of the Holy Curé

the words with which he used to contact you:

"I love you, O my God,
and my only desire is to love you
till the last breath of my life.

I love you, infinitely loving God,
and I prefer to die a man

rather than live one moment without love.

I love you, Lord,

and the only grace that you wonder

is to love you forever.

My God, if my language can not tell you

at all times

that I love you,

I want my heart we'll repeat times as many times as breathing.

I love you,

O my Divine Savior,

because you have been crucified to me,

and keep me down here with you crucified.

My God, make me the grace to die a man and knowing that I love you."

Amen.

Prayer For Priests

O Jesus, our great High Priest,

Hear my humble prayers on behalf of your priest, Father [N].

Give him a deep faith a bright and firm hope
and a burning love
which will ever increase
in the course of his priestly life.

In his loneliness, comfort him

In his sorrows, strengthen him

In his frustrations,

point out to him that it is through suffering
that the soul is purified,

and show him that he is needed by the Church,

he is needed by souls,

he is needed for the work of redemption.

O loving Mother Mary, Mother of Priests,
take to your heart your son who is close to you

because of his priestly ordination,

and because of the power

which he has received

to carry on the work of Christ
in a world which needs him so much.

Be his comfort,
be his joy,
be his strength,

and especially help him

to live and to defend
the ideals of consecrated celibacy.

Amen.

Litany Of The Most Precious Blod Of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy

Christ, have mercy
Christ, have mercy

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy

Christ, hear us
Christ, hear us

Christ, graciously hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us

God the Father of Heaven,
have mercy on us

God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
have mercy on us

God, the Holy Spirit,
have mercy on us

Holy Trinity, One God,
have mercy on us

Blood of Christ, only-begotten Son of the eternal Father,
save us
Blood of Christ, Incarnate Word or God,
save us
Blood of Christ, of the New and Eternal Testament,
save us
Blood of Christ, falling upon the earth in Agony,
save us
Blood of Christ, shed profusely in the Scourging,
save us
Blood of Christ, flowing forth in the Crowning with Thorns,
save us
Blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross,
save us
Blood of Christ, price of our salvation,
save us
Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness,
save us
Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls,
save us
Blood of Christ, stream of mercy,
save us
Blood of Christ, victor over demons,
save us
Blood of Christ, courage of Martyrs,
save us
Blood of Christ, strength of Confessors,
save us
Blood of Christ, bringing forth Virgins,
save us
Blood of Christ, help of those in peril,
save us
Blood of Christ, relief of the burdened,
save us
Blood of Christ, solace in sorrow,
save us
Blood of Christ, hope of the penitent,
save us
Blood of Christ, consolation of the dying,
save us
Blood of Christ, peace and tenderness of hearts,
save us
Blood of Christ, pledge of eternal life,
save us
Blood of Christ, freeing souls from purgatory,
save us
Blood of Christ, most worthy of all glory and honor,
save us

Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world,
spare us, O Lord

Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world,
graciously hear us, O Lord

Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us, O Lord

V. Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, in Thy Blood.
R. And made us, for our God, a kingdom.

Almighty and eternal God,
Thou hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son
the Redeemer of the world and willed to be appeased by his blood.

Grant, we beg of Thee,
that we may worthily adore this price of our salvation
and through its power
be safeguarded from the evils of the present life
so that we may rejoice in its fruits forever in heaven.

Through the same Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Prayer During Recession

In this time of recession,
we remember all those who have financial problems
and are finding life difficult.

We hold before You, O Lord,
all those who are fearful for their jobs,
all those who are desperately looking for work
and all those who have become depressed and have given up looking.

May Your Holy Spirit
come among us to heal the tensions of this time
and calm the many fears.

And with Christ by our side,
make us aware of each other's troubles
so that we may
reach out our hands with His friendship

and give unstintingly of His love.

AMEN

A Prayer For Healing - Victims Of Abuse

God of endless love, ever caring, ever strong, always present, always just:You gave your only Son to save us by the blood of his cross.

Gentle Jesus, shepherd of peace, join to your own suffering the pain of all who have been hurt in body, mind, and spirit by those who betrayed the trust placed in them.

Hear our cries as we agonizeover the harm done to our brothers and sisters.

Breathe wisdom into our prayers, soothe restless hearts with hope, steady shaken spirits with faith.

Show us the way to justice and wholeness, enlightened by truth and enfolded in your mercy.

Holy Spirit, comforter of hearts, heal your people's wounds and transform our brokenness.

Grant us courage and wisdom, humility and grace so that we may act with justice and find peace in you.

We ask this through Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Prayer To St Mark the Evangelist

PRAYER
(traditional language)

Almighty God, who by the hand of Mark the evangelist hast given to thy Church the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God:
We thank thee for this witness, and pray that we may be firmly grounded in its truth; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

PRAYER
(contemporary language)

Almighty God, who by the hand of Mark the evangelist have given to your Church the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God:
We thank you for this witness, and pray that we may be firmly grounded in its truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Kirill is not the Kremlin's man

This week's visit by Russia's Orthodox patriarch, Kirill, to neighbouring Ukraine has been the subject of some controversy.

Many suspect that Kirill is the Kremlin's cleric, intent on advancing a pro-Russian agenda.

The accusation is that his presence will precipitate the looming schism among rival Ukrainian Orthodox churches.

However, one of the key priorities of Kirill's patriarchal reign is to improve relations among Orthodox churches weakened by divisions and conflict.

These divisions have a long history, but tensions flared up in the early 1990s when the Soviet Union collapsed and was replaced by newly independent states that sought to bolster their autocephalous national churches, with their own patriarchs and full jurisdictional authority.

Since then, Ukrainian Orthodoxy has been split between those who pledge loyalty to the Moscow patriarchate and those who seek to establish a fully independent body under the aegis of the Kiev patriarchate, which is considered schismatic by the Russian Orthodox church. Kirill's visit in the Ukraine seeks to avoid a full-blown schism.

The Ukrainian scenario encapsulates a wider problem across the Orthodox world – tensions between the Moscow patriarchate that accounts for almost half of around 270 million Orthodox faithful and the other national churches.

Some, like the Kiev patriarchate, refuse any links with the Russian church and lack any external recognition. Others look to Constantinople – the cradle of Orthodoxy – and its ecumenical patriarch who enjoys the status of "first among equals" (primus inter pares) within the Orthodox episcopate.

Yet others accept the Moscow patriarchate's traditional claim to pre-eminence over the other Orthodox churches. Since the demise of the Byzantine empire, Moscow has often arrogated to itself the dubious title of "Third Rome" – the sole legitimate successor to the legacy of Roman empire in the west and the Byzantine empire in the east.

Pointing to the proximity between the Moscow patriarch and the Kremlin in the post-Soviet era, critics say that this sort of messianic faith fuels both Russian religious supremacism and political imperialism.

The trouble is that in modern times most, if not all, Orthodox churches are predominantly national communities that support and serve the sovereign state – a marked difference with the transnational Roman Catholic church led by an independent pope who does not owe his authority to any secular power.

For complex historical reasons, the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople (now Istanbul) has to be a Turkish citizen resident in Turkey, giving the republic's strongly secular influence over internal church affairs.

By forging closer links with other Orthodox churches, Kirill is determined to reassert the trans-national character of Orthodoxy. On his first visit as patriarch in Constantinople at the beginning of this month, he appealed to the common theological tradition that binds together the Orthodox sister churches.

Crucially, he also described the ecumenical patriarchate of Constantinople as the new Rome that safeguards the unity of all local communities across the Orthodox world.

As the head of the single largest Orthodox church, Kirill's desire to defend the special contribution of the Moscow patriarchate "to the common Orthodox witness before the modern world which is losing its spiritual and moral guidelines" is not reactionary nostalgia.

Rather, it underscores his continued commitment to a shared supranational Orthodox identity.

Nor is it accurate to brand him as a Russian neo-imperialist dressed in the clothes of religious piety. Like his predecessor Patriarch Alexy II, under whom he served as metropolitan in charge of ecumenical relations, Kirill has already improved ties with other Orthodox churches.

Last summer, he opposed the creation of a new patriarchate in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, arguing that political independence is no reason for the South Ossetian Orthodox church to cut ties with the Georgian patriarchate.

(Both the Moscow and the Georgian patriarchs spoke out publicly against the military conflict).

Kirill's visit to the Ukraine is of a piece with the logic of Orthodox unity rather than an ill-conceived exercise in pro-Russian PR.

Key to a stronger pan-Orthodox identity is greater church autonomy from the state – Kirill's other key priority. In a sermon during his enthronement service attended by both President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin, he criticised the Russian government's response to the current economic downturn, enjoining the president to take bolder action and inveighing against the authorities for violating the standards of justice and righteousness.

Moreover, only a fortnight ago Kirill obtained guarantees from Russian politicians that the Moscow patriarchate would be allowed to preview all legislation considered in the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament.

This extraordinary agreement enables the church to examine proposed legislation and influence its outcome. Staunch secularists and atheists will be up in arms, but this is potentially a stunning reversal of the widely perceived subordination of the Orthodox church to the Russian state.

None of the patriarch's initiatives are uncontroversial, but the charge that he is the Kremlin's cleric simply doesn't wash. At 62, Kirill is relatively young and his patriarchal rule could last for a generation.

Together with the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople and others, he will seek to strengthen Orthodoxy against the forces of aggressive secularism and atheism and to affirm the autonomy of the church vis-à-vis the state without divorcing religion from politics.
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The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that we agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

SIC: GCUK

3 bishops named for Vietnam

POPE Benedict XVI has named three new bishops for Vietnam as the Vatican works to restore ties with the Asian nation's communist government.

A Vatican statement on Saturday said that the pontiff had selected Monsignor Joseph Vu Duy Thong to be bishop of Phan Thiet, Monsignor Pierre Nguyen Van De to be bishop of Thai Binh and the Rev. Joseph Nguyen Nang to head the diocese of Phat Diem.

In two of the dioceses, the appointments were made to fill the posts of retiring bishops.

Last month, Pope Benedict expressed hope for a 'healthy collaboration' between the Roman Catholic church and the Vietnamese government, which cut off ties with the Vatican after taking power in 1954.

Vietnam's Catholic community numbers some 6 million and is one of the largest in Asia.

Tensions have existed for years between faithful and the government, which closely monitors religious groups and insists on approving most church appointments.

It was unclear if the government had voiced any opinion on the latest appointments.

But relations have recently begun to improve, and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung became the highest official from his country to meet the pope when he came to the Vatican in 2007.

Earlier in the week, the Vatican-affiliated missionary news agency Asia News cited Vietnamese Cardinal Pham Minh Man as saying Vietnam's president would meet with the pontiff at the Vatican in December.

Prospects for such a visit are raising hopes among Vietnam's Catholics that the encounter could lead to diplomatic ties as well as yield an invitation for Benedict to make a pilgrimage to their country, Asia News said.

However, reports of thawing relations have sometimes been punctuated by a flare in violence. On Wednesday, clashes broke out in central Vietnam at a makeshift place of worship which had been erected by Catholics on the site where American bombs had destroyed a church during the Vietnam war.

The communist government confiscated much of the Catholic church's property after taking power from the French in 1954 in what was then North Vietnam.
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The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that we agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

SIC: TST

CW: Charity / Group Support

Invitation to all charities, support organisations and other community groups in Ireland

We here in CW wish to advise you all that we aim to begin a new feature on this site which will be part of an awareness programme for the many charitable organisations throughout this island.

It is our wish to have as many organisations get in touch and we will feature them every day for 7 - 14 days on CW.

The feature shall inform people and make them aware of the organisation itself and what it does as a charity/group and if you our visitors wish to support the charity / group, then we will link to your site and also add it to a side bar charity / group link list we shall also develop.

We sincerely ask all those charities / support groups who wish to avail of this service to get in touch with us providing a brief synopsis of themselves and a link to their website.

Thereafter, we shall be in touch and make the necessary arrangements to promote the charity / group for a maximum of no more than 14 calendar days in a 3 month period.

However, any special events or fundraisers that are to be brought to the attention of the general public we shall certainly support at any time.

Email : clericalwhispers@gmail.com

Subject: CW Charity / Group Support

Islam and Homosexuality

All the worlds’ major religions and spiritual traditions—from the majority view in Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism to Christianity and Islam—condemn and forbid homosexuality.

The great majority of rabbis hold the same position, as do the Pope and the Dalaï Lama.

The Islamic position on homosexuality has become one of the most sensitive issues facing Muslims living in the West, particularly in Europe. It is being held up as the key to any eventual “integration” of Muslims into Western culture, as if European culture and values could be reduced to the simple fact of accepting homosexuality.

The contours of this de facto European culture is in a state of constant flux, shifting according to the topic of the day.

Just as some insist, as do the Pope and certain intellectuals—often dogmatic and exclusivist defenders of the Enlightenment—that Europe’s roots are Greek and Christian (thus excluding Muslims), so several homosexual spokesman and the politicians who support them are now declaring (with an identical rejection of Muslims) that the “integration of Muslims” depends on their acceptance of homosexuality.

The contradiction is a serious one: does Christianity, which forms the root structure of European culture, and which purports to embody European values and identity, not condemn homosexuality? A curious marriage. Unless the contradiction is intended to stigmatize Islam and Muslims by presenting them as “the Other”… without fear of self-contradiction.

We must reiterate, as does Isabelle Levy in “Soins et croyances” [1] that all the worlds’ major religions and spiritual traditions—from the majority view in Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism to Christianity and Islam—condemn and forbid homosexuality.

The great majority of rabbis hold the same position, as do the Pope and the Dalaï Lama, who condemns homosexuality. For these traditions, as for Freud (who speaks of “perversion”), homosexuality is considered to be “against nature,” an “expression of disequilibrium” in the growth of a person.

The moral condemnation of homosexuality remains the majority opinion of all religions, and Islam is no exception. It would be senseless to wish to deny the facts, to contradict the textual sources and to force believers to perform intellectual contortions so that they can prove they are in tune with the times.

But the question is not whether one agrees with the religious texts, the beliefs and the convictions espoused by individuals. It is to determe what is appropriate behavior in the societies in which we live together. For more than twenty years I have been insisting—and drawing sharp criticism from some Muslim groups—that homosexuality is forbidden in Islam, but that we must avoid condemning or rejecting individuals.

It is quite possible to disagree with a person’s behavior (public or private), while respecting that person as an individual. This I have continued to affirm, and gone further still: a person who pronounces the attestation of Islamic faith becomes a Muslim; if that person engages in homosexual practices, no one has the right to drive him or her out of Islam.

Behavior considered reprehensible under the rules of morality cannot justify excommunication.

There is no ambiguity, and ample clarity: European Muslims have the right to express their convictions while at the same time respecting the humanity and rights of individuals. If we are to be consistent, we must respect this attitude of faith and openness.

Today we are witnessing an upsurge of unhealthy, ideology-driven movements. To affirm one’s convictions and respect others is no longer sufficient. Muslims are now being called upon to condemn the Qur’an, and to accept and promote homosexuality to gain entry into the modern world.

Not only is such an attitude doomed to fail (the majority trends in both traditional and reformist Islam, as in other religions, will never waver on this question) but it also reveals a new dogmatism—and a whiff of colonialism, not to mention xenophobia—at the heart of so-called modern, progressive thought.

Certain prominent intellectuals and lobbies have ordained a new form of political correctness; they would like to force everyone to be “open” or “liberal” in the same way. At first glance, this open, liberal thought would seem to warrant respect; but it reveals a troubling tendency to impose its own dogmas, leaving little or no room for the convictions of traditional philosophical, spiritual or religious world-views.

Betraying the ultimate goal of modernity, which should help us manage freedom and diversity, we are now told that there is only one way to be free and modern. Both dogmatic and dogmatizing, this trend, in the name of liberal thought, is a dangerous one, and should alarm all women and all men, whether atheists, agnostics, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Christians or Muslims.

It strikes at the very heart of our freedom of thought, of the most intimate aspects of our lives, of the ways we strive for social and intellectual emancipation.

Let us not delude ourselves. These developments, along with recent tensions surrounding the return of religion, its accompanying fears, and the social visibility of homosexual “believers” is directly related to the presence and new-found visibility of Muslims in our Western societies.

We, as societies, can choose to exacerbate these sensitive issues and to exploit the natural stresses created by the arrival of new immigrants to demonstrate the impossibility of integrating Muslims, and the danger they are said to represent. There are political parties that may win elections by playing on these themes.

The long term outcome will be to exacerbate social divisions, and will ultimately prove counterproductive. Social cohesion will become impossible, and daily life will be undermined by mistrust and insecurity. It is time to stop playing this harmful game, and return to a more just and reasonable approach.

The good news comes from the younger generation: cultures and religions cannot stop them from getting to know one another, from living together, and from sharing both spaces and hopes.

They are the future; there can be no doubt that they will leave our past fears far behind.
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SIC: MEO

Vatican Pope Skier: John Paul II

Pope Benedict recently broke his wrist in Italy while kicking back at his ski chalet. Ironically, it was not while skiing.

Apparently, Benedict does not take after his predecessor, John Paul II, who was a Lifelong skier as well as hiker and kayaker.

According to skiinghistory,org, Karol Wojtyla was skiing's most exalted devotee.

While Bishop and Cardinal in Poland, John Paul II spent many weeks each year at Poland's largest resort, Zakopane. While there he would stay at a local convent where, until this day, the sisters still have a pair of his leather ski boots.

Just seconds after his inauguration as the 264th successor to St. Peter and Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, John Paul II exclaimed, "I will ski again when they let me!"

Before he became Pope John Paul II, he scorned lifts and preferred to climb on his hickory skis. Once a Pope, John Paul II modernized with a pair of 195cm Head skis which he considered "his one luxury in life" and began taking to the lift in order to follow protocol.

According to his secretary, Pope John Paul II made more than 100 clandestine trips to ski or hike in the Italian mountains and was rarely recognized by others on the slopes.

Later in life, John Paul II expressed his love of skiing to a journalist by saying, "I wish I could be out there somewhere in the mountains, racing down into a valley. It's an extraordinary sensation."
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SIC: SCTN

Ukranian Catholic Eparch of St. Josaphat retires

Benedict XVI this morning accepted the resignation of Bishop Robert Mikhail Moskal, Eparch of St. Josaphat in Parma, Ohio and appointed an apostolic administrator to lead the eparchy—the Eastern Catholic equivalent of a diocese—until a new eparch is named.

Bishop John Bura, currently an auxiliary of the Archeparchy of Philadelphia of the Ukrainians was chosen by the Pope to become the new apostolic administrator “sede vacante” of St. Josaphat in Parma.

Bishop Bura will replace Bishop Robert Mikhail Moskal whose resignation was accepted by the Holy Father today.

Moskal was Philadelphia’s first eparch.

Born in 1944 in Wegeleben, Germany, Bishop Bura moved to New Jersey with his family in 1950. Nine years later, he entered Saint Basil the Minor Seminary in Stamford, Connecticut and studied there until 1963. He went on to study theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C and then at the St. Josaphat Ukrainian Seminary.

In 1971, he was ordained a priest for the Archeparchy of Philadelphia. After his ordination, he served in various pastoral and administrative ministries, taught religion classes in Ukrainian and served as vice-rector of Saint Basil Seminary in Stamford. He later went on to become the rector of St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Seminary in Washington, D.C. and served as a pastor before being named auxiliary bishop of the Archeparchy of Philadelphia in 2006.

The Eparchy of St. Josaphat consists of North and South Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, western Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Tennessee.
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SIC: CNA

Transsexual attacks priest during Mass in Italy

Police in Milan detained a Brazilian transsexual on Sunday after he stripped naked in front of the altar during Mass and began to attack the priest who was presiding over the Mass.

The incident occurred at the Church of St. Babila at the 8:30am Mass on Sunday.

According to ANSA news agency, the subject entered the church and approached the altar, where he stripped naked.

“Afterwards he took a pole used by the sacristan to close doors and approached the celebrating priest. Several people in congregation tried to stop him, and the man went to the baptismal chapel and began striking a commemorative plaque full of money, which he tried to steal.

Police arrested the Brazilian man and charged him with theft, property damage, public disruption and resisting arrest.
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SIC: CNA

Chinese evangelists flourish in Paris

Ensconced in an unassuming hotel behind the main drag of Paris' Belleville district, 100 or so Chinese believers sing and sway, eyes closed and arms out, in a display of worship frowned upon in their atheist home country.

With rules on immigration easing on mainland Chinese coming to study and work in France, many are seeking out churches in Paris to ward off their feelings of isolation in a foreign land.

"There are a lot of students coming over from mainland China who feel lonely due to the language barrier, and seem to be searching for something," said an assistant at Paris' Chinese Evangelical Church surnamed Lee.

"A lot come to us to see if they can accept religion into their lives," said Lee, who left Taiwan for France in the 1960s.

Last Sunday, on a stage amid the pink taffeta remnants of a just-finished wedding party, a man read passages from the New Testament to the congregation to throaty shouts, in Chinese, of "Hallelujah!," "Praise the Lord!" and "Amen."

"When you finally let Jesus into your heart, you'll find he brings great comfort to your life," said one woman, who came to Paris over a decade ago and works as a restauranteur.

Immigration from China to France rose more than fivefold between 1994 and 2004, according to the Paris-based National Institute of Demographic Studies.

France, which does not keep official statistics on the ethnic make-up of its population, has also relaxed visa restrictions on individual travelers from mainland China.

Around 400,000 Chinese live in France, of which 90 percent are in Paris, estimates the Chinese Overseas Christian Mission.

China, run by a Communist Party which regards unofficial religious groups as potential threats to its power, demands its faithful attend state-sanctioned churches and regularly detains pastors and priests.

Officially atheist, China has about 40 million active Christians, evenly divided between state-run and underground churches, according to expert estimates.

Paris boasts nearly 30 Chinese churches, almost all of which are Protestant. The Chinese Evangelical Church's Lee estimates that there are around 2,500 Chinese Christians in Paris, with churches typically having congregations 100-strong.

In Catholic France, a secular country with deep Christian roots, some three-quarters of the French are baptized but less than a tenth of them attend Mass by most estimates.

FLOURISHING FREE

During informal conversations, several Chinese churches said they saw new attendees every week from mainland China hoping to find a sense of community in their host country. Many students are drawn to youth group activities, church workers said.

Many new arrivals in Paris hail from the eastern coastal city of Wenzhou, renowned for its free-wheeling entrepreneurs and seen as a barometer of China's industrial economy. Services in Paris are conducted in the local dialect as well as Mandarin.

Wenzhou natives have set up shop around the world, including over 60 textile shops along Paris' Chemin Verts district.

Several were Christians before even leaving China.

"The first Christian missionaries entered China via port cities, so you find a lot of Chinese immigrants from those areas (Wenzhou and Fujian provinces) have actually been Christians for generations, but can only express it openly once they get here," said Zhang Jian, a Beijing native who became a pastor in France.

Wenzhou in particular has seen a blossoming of "house churches": Christians who refuse to register officially and so can only meet in private homes for fear of punishment.

Zhang left China after Beijing's suppression of student protests on Tiananmen Square in 1989. Zhang, who was shot in the leg and walks with a slight limp, said his world fell apart after witnessing the brutality of the event.

"We were taught our whole lives that the Communist party was our mother and father, that they were love itself. But if that's so, how could they have treated us that way?" he said.

Still, some see signs of change in China.

"There's more freedom to be Christian in China now as there's been so much international pressure, though you still have to register with the authorities," said one church member.

After singing pop-beat worship songs and pouring out personal stories, the mostly female, middle-aged congregation sits down again to pray. Some wipe tears from their eyes.

"The people here are all working people -- in restaurants, launderettes, clothes wholesalers. But here there is a whole other aspect of their lives not everyone sees," said Zhang.
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SIC: Reuters

Naples Jewish community rebuilds church

The Jewish community of Naples has raised funds to help rebuild the bell tower of a church damaged in an earthquake.

The Italian Catholic news agency SIR this week quoted Naples Rabbi Pierpaolo Pinhas Punturello as saying that he had been inspired to act on behalf of the church in the city of L'Aquila at the Passover seder, which took place shortly after last April's quake.

"I was struck by the words at the beginning of the seder, 'whoever is hungry, come and eat, whoever is needy come and celebrate the Passover with us,' " he said.

Punturello made contact with emergency rescue operations coordinating aid to the devastated area.

"Never before had I realized so strongly that as a Jew, and as a Jewish community, we had to do something for everyone who was hungry and in need," he said.

In addition to raising funds to help rebuild the church, the Naples initiative also included the dispatch of emergency aid to L'Aquila in the immediate aftermath of the quake.
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SIC: JTA

Death threats against believers in Dong Hoi

A Catholic from Dong Hoi was arrested yesterday by police and groups of thugs – in the service of law enforcement - shouted death threats against the faithful.

The city of Dong Hoi is located about 500 km south of Hanoi and the Local Government (found in Quang Binh) has declared there are "no Catholics" in the area, even if there are at least three thousand faithful.

Fr. Vo Thanh Tam, secretary of the College of Priests of Vinh Diocese (which belongs to Dong Hoi) confirmed that several Catholics were arrested a few days ago and that yesterday “Mr. Nguyen Cong Ly was arrested. His house is frequently used by the faithful for liturgical services”.

In fact there are no churches in the area, the only one being Tam Toa, which is in ruins and which the government wants to use as a "memorial" to the war against the United States. Other sources say that the area is being used to build a tourist village.

According to witnesses, the police and groups of thugs are roaming the streets and attacking those who visibly wear Catholic religious symbols.

In recent weeks a group of faithful tried to repair the ruins of Tam Toa, but were stopped by police, brutally beaten and arrested. To demand their release impressive demonstrations were held by Catholics in the diocese of Vinh, in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), in Hanoi and other cities.

Immediately after the episode in Tam Toa, hundreds of Catholic families fled Dong Hoi to find refuge in Ha Tinh and Nghe An (also in the diocese of Vinh).

Meanwhile more than 600 state media began a campaign of disinformation against the Catholics of Tam Toa, demanding they be charged and inciting hatred toward Catholics.
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SIC: AN

Reformed Catholic Church Response To Bishop Caeser Mazzolari

Earlier today, I had an opportunity to read the Sudan Tribune Article and Pastoral Letter of Bishop Caeser Mazzolari, the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Rumbek, Sudan concerning The Reformed Catholic Church and her missionary outreach to the good people of that country.

In reading the bishop’s statements, one would believe that we were living in the 15^th Century rather than the post modern era.

How terribly unfortunate and truly disappointing that a respected Roman church leader, installed to shepherd and teach the hurting people of God, would instead seek to denigrate and disparage the good work of another family of faith, simply because the church is not in union with the Roman Catholic Church. Of great concern to people of good will is the Bishop’s dismissal of The Reformed Catholic Church as “The devil roaming around in our day.”

Such language, beyond being dangerously inflammatory, does great harm to the dignity of the episcopacy, further wounds the people of God and clearly negates the ecumenical mission of The Roman Catholic Church. Such harsh and unwarranted criticism, as expressed by Bishop Mazzolari, is simply unkind, unacceptable and, most importantly, unChristlike.

The Reformed Catholic Church, in spite of heated, derogatory rhetoric and attempts to instill a sense of fear in the hearts of the faithful, will continue to honor our pastoral mission, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, and never engage in hostility towards any church, community or people.

To do otherwise would a terrible affront to the Gospel of Jesus the Christ, who commanded us to love one another.

May I urge my Roman Brothers to prayerfully remember the words of St. Augustine of Hippo: In matter of essentials, Unity; In matters of non-essentials, Liberty; in all matters, Charity.

I sincerely pray that we may embrace these words as ,together, we minister to God’s holy people.

May all we do be for the greater glory of God alone!

++Phillip

The Most Reverend Phillip Zimmerman, ThD RSJ

Metropolitan Archbishop

Presiding Bishop
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SIC: RCC

Churches battle in California courts

The California courts have handed the Episcopal Church and the ACNA a mixed bag of legal decisions this month in the battles over parish property.

While both sides have trumpeted the importance of their legal victories, neither ruling is likely to settle the property litigation.

On July 21 the Fresno County Superior Court affirmed its May 5 ruling granting summary judgment in favor of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin in its suit against the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin, while an Orange County Court on July 13 dismissed two motions filed by the Diocese of Los Angeles against St James Church in Newport Beach, that challenged the legal sufficiency of the parish’s cause of action in light of the California Supreme Court decision in favour of the Diocese.

The Fresno Court found in favour of the Episcopal Diocese granting a motion for summary adjudication of the first cause of action in its second amended complaint, finding in favour of the Episcopal Diocese on all counts.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori—-whose office has been allocated over $7 million by the General Convention to fund litigation against the breakaway groups—-issued a statement after the ruling noting the “court found that there is no question that the Episcopal Church is a hierarchical church, of which the diocese is an integral part.”

The Presiding Bishop noted the Fresno court held “the Episcopal Church’s rules did not permit the diocese to revoke its accession to the church’s constitution and canons or to join a different denomination” and that the “continuing Diocese of San Joaquin is ‘not a new organization’ created after former Bishop Schofield attempted to remove the diocese from the church, but that the diocese ‘is the older organization from which (Schofield and the other) defendants removed themselves’.”

The decision, she said is the “first involving a dispute over the property of a diocese of The Episcopal Church, and is expected to be helpful in cases involving other dioceses.”

The Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin noted the decision was “significant” but it did not “end the case at this juncture and many more issues remain to be resolved at the trial scheduled for February 1, 2010.”

The Anglican Diocese rejected the trial court’s legal reasoning, arguing it could not be “sustained under a true ‘neutral principles’ analysis that is now required by our state supreme court,” and an appeal will be forthcoming.

The legal significance of the Fresno Court’s ruling has also been questioned by legal commentators, who note that the current complaint before the court for consideration is the Episcopal Diocese’s fourth amended complaint.

Issuing a decision on a the second amended complaint has no legal significance, it is said, as it had been rendered moot by two further amended complaints.

In the Orange Country, the Diocese of Los Angeles and the Episcopal Church were handed a defeat by the trial court on July 13 after Judge Thierry Colaw rejected its motions to grant it a summary verdict.

Los Angeles had argued that California Supreme Court’s 2009 had ended the litigation and had awarded it the disputed property.

Lawyers for the diocese also argued that a 1991 letter written by the diocese to the parish waiving its interests in the parish property had already been decided by the Supreme Court.

Judge Colaw rejected both of the diocese’s arguments following oral argument on July 2.

On Aug 21 the court will take up a motion from the parish asking it to remove the parish vestry as defendants in the case.
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SIC: RI

Bishop Duffy welcomes first televised Mass from Lough Derg

The first ever live broadcast of Mass from Lough Derg will be aired by RTÉ television this coming Sunday, 2 August 2009.

Lough Derg lies four miles north of the village of Pettigo in County Donegal, in the Diocese of Clogher. Station Island, the location of the pilgrimage, is often referred to as St Patrick’s Purgatory.

Welcoming the televised Mass Bishop Joseph Duffy, Bishop of Clogher, said “Lough Derg is a special place of peace and personal challenge, renowned in Irish Christian tradition since the time of St Patrick.

In former times the emphasis of the Lough Derg pilgrimage was more on physical penance and hardship. Today pilgrims see it as a grace-filled opportunity away from the stress and busyness of modern life.

“Lough Derg identifies itself with the universal mission of the Church in our divided society, while remaining very much part of our society. The Lough Derg experience exemplifies the healing and liberating work of the Church which we all agree is very much needed at the present time. As a pilgrimage, Lough Derg reminds us that we are all members of a community, searching for peace and reconciliation in our lives.”

“Televising Mass from Lough Derg allows viewers to share in the spirituality of this sacred place. The hosting of this special broadcast is consistent with the World Communication Day messages of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, who has encouraged the use of new media technologies to promote the gospel.”

Bishop Duffy hopes to undertake a pastoral visit to the island in the two next weeks.

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SIC: IBC

Pope's message for 2010 World Peace Day will focus on environment

Pope Benedict XVI will focus on the connection between protecting the environment and working for peace in the message he will publish for World Peace Day in 2010, the Vatican said.

The theme the pope has chosen for the Jan. 1 celebration is "If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Safeguard Creation," the Vatican announced July 29.

The Vatican said the pope intends to discuss the fact that in a globalized world there is a strict connection between protecting the environment and promoting peace.

"The use of resources, climate change, the application and use of biotechnologies (and) demographic growth" are all issues that can have repercussions across national borders for generations to come, the statement said.

The papal message will underline the fact that protecting the natural environment is a challenge all people must face together, recognizing they have an obligation to respect a gift God created for all, it said.

Pope Benedict also wants to emphasize how the "current ecological crisis" is impacting the entire world and, therefore, requires international action to resolve, it said.

"If one wants to cultivate the good of peace, in fact, one must promote a renewed awareness of the interdependence that links the earth's inhabitants to one another," the Vatican statement said.

Together people must preserve and restore the natural environment, eliminating at least some of the causes of environmental disasters, it said.

The Vatican statement said Pope Benedict intends his World Peace Day message to be a further development of the four paragraphs on the environment included in his encyclical "Caritas in Veritate" ("Charity in Truth").

In his encyclical, published in early July, Pope Benedict said, "The environment is God's gift to everyone, and in our use of it we have a responsibility toward the poor, toward future generations and toward humanity as a whole."

While the encyclical focused on development, and therefore discussed the need to share natural resources equitably and not exploit those found in poor countries, it also insisted there is a connection between environmental protection and peace.

"The stockpiling of natural resources, which in many cases are found in the poor countries themselves, gives rise to exploitation and frequent conflicts between and within nations. These conflicts are often fought on the soil of those same countries, with a heavy toll of death, destruction and further decay," the encyclical said.

Pope Benedict's message for the World Day of Peace in 2008, which focused on the family and on the world's population as forming one human family, also included a section on the obligation to protect the environment.
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SIC: CNS

Bishop cautions Catholics against Reformed Church

On Sunday 26, Catholics and other Christians in Sothern Sudan have been cautioned against the Reformed Catholic Church, a breakaway sect that has commenced activities in the semi-autonomous region.

Addressing congregation in Abyei Roman catholic church on Sunday, Catechist Alor Kuol reminds believers that Bishop Ceaser Mazzolari of Rumbek wrote a pastoral letter early this month warning Christians against false teaching and misguiding of church leaders’ activities in the region. He said the sect leaders had abandoned priestly celibacy and obedience to the pope.

Alor referred to the letter the Bishop sent out to other Dioceses and centers urging them to stay away from Reformed Catholic Church citing that these individuals are no longer acceptable members of the Catholic Church and you should no longer follow them," the Bishop said.

Bishop Mazzolari of Rumbek Diocese in his letter referred to members of the new sect as copycats who imitate the prayers, readings and external ceremonies of Catholic services in such a way that simple people think they are attending a Catholic mass or prayer service, “In their teachings, they criticize the doctrine of the Catholic Church as old and out of date and disparage church leaders as being unable to understand the changing times," he said.

"These Reformed Catholics will appeal to the struggle of the people as something the traditional Catholic Church is not able to cope with or resolve. This idea is also entirely false because the church has been very close to the people and its leaders to obtain peace and the needed reconciliation," Bishop Mazzolari wrote.

He pointed out that the new sect is looking for discontented Catholics to confuse and divide them.

"They will misguide you to become bitter with your church as they are bitter, and to disobey the laws of the church, which they already do, and to lose you precious gift of faith.

The bishop described the Reformed Catholics as "the devil roaming around in our days, trying to lead people astray from the faith." They are also persecuting the church and the faithful.

The Reformed Catholic Church, is an independent Catholic denomination with historical ties to the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican and Old Catholic churches.

However, due to differences in theology and polity, the RCC is not affiliated nor it is in communion with the Roman Church.

The Reformed Catholics do not believe in the infallibility of the Pope as they believe that only Jesus Christ can be infallible.

They also do not believe that the Pope is the Supreme Pontiff of the Church, but they consider him as being the Bishop of Rome, a bishop first among equals.
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SIC: Sudan Tribune

Woman priest struggles for acceptance by Roman Catholic Church

She suffered public humiliation in front of her fellow Catholics - all because she wants to be a priest.

Still, Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger is persistent in trying to change the Roman Catholic Church’s ways.

For the past 7 years, Mayr-Lumetzberger has been something of a renegade.

In 2002, an independent bishop ordained her and six other women along the banks of the River Danube. The church did not recognize her holy orders and excommunicated her.

Undeterred, Christine was ordained as a bishop in a secret ceremony in 2003.
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SIC: RT

Church of England lands in controversy with tribes in Orissa mining project

Church of England has a new challenge now facing in India for its partnership with a multinational mining company which had set up an aluminium refinery in Orissa’s Niyamgiri hills.

The Hindus both in India and in abroad now accuse of the Church having double standards over the issue of environment.

Rajan Zed a famous Hindu statesman from Nevada (USA) said that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr.Rowan Williams should clarify where he and his Church stand on the issue of mining by a company in a remote tribal village in the state of Orissa in India.

Zed as the head of Universal Society of Hinduism stressed that the Church of England should practice what it preaches.

The Church is said to have financial stakes with the company that has set up the mine in the tribal region and which the environmentalists describe as devastating to the region.

The Chairman of the Vedanta Resources Anil Agarwal had announced the plans of his company to set up a bauxite mine in Niyamgiri hills of the Lanjigarh, Kalahandi District, in Orissa.

The Dongria Kondh tribe opposed the move saying that they consider the mountain sacred.

They also had concerns for the animals and the virgin wilderness in the hills. One of the environmentalists who opposed the move, Bianca Jagger said that the Church of England should disassociate from the company’s mining project in which, it seems, the church has a 4.1 million dollar share.

The British Broadcasting Company quoted her saying, “"I appeal to the Church of England to realize that this mining project not only endangers the culture and beliefs of the tribal community but is also extremely damaging to the environment."

Sitaram is of Kondh tribe and The Action Aid, an environmental organization, is sending him to London to talk to the British in person of the Kondh’s fears on the project so that the concerned people may reverse their decisions.

Before leaving to London Sitaram said,” We cannot live without our God Mountain and the forest and we will continue our peaceful struggle. It is a life and death battle and Kondh people are united on this."

Amnesty International has also got involved in the matter. They have asked the Indian Union Government to withdraw the permission granted to the Company to open the bauxite mine in the hills.

“For centuries the Dongria Kondh community has considered the Niyamgiri Hills sacred; central to their collective identity and religious beliefs. The hills are also essential to their economic and physical survival,The 8,000 strong Dongria Kondh now face an uncertain future,” said Mr.Madhu Malhotra, the deputy director of Amnesty International for Asia Pacefic.

The Church of England has an environmental policy which states, that “The whole creation belongs to God. As human beings we are part of the whole and have a responsibility to love and care for what God has entrusted to us as temporary tenants of the planet. We are called to conserve its complex and fragile ecology, while recognizing the need for responsible and sustainable development and the pursuit of social justice.”

The people, who struggle for a reversal of the decision to open up the mine, now point out this statement and ask the Church to practice what it preaches.
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SIC: IndCath

Royal remains are thorny religious subject

Denmark's Catholic and Lutheran Churches cannot reach agreement on the holy remains of King Canute.

King Canute IV may have died more than 900 years ago, but his legacy of division among the locals continues to this day.

The Danish national church, which is Evangelical Lutheran, and the Catholic Church have reached a stalemate over the kings’ remains.

The bones of the king and his brother are on display behind glass in the crypt of Odense’s Lutheran Cathedral. The king, whom Catholics consider the patron saint of Denmark, was placed in the crypt after he was slain in a nearby church by rebels in 1086.

When forensic scientists from the University of Southern Denmark examined his remains last year, the leading Danish representative of the Catholic Church requested that some of the bones be transferred to that church as relics.

Bishop Czeslaw Kozon requested that two of the bones be handed over in a gesture of good faith as the remains of saints are highly regarded by members of his church, who celebrate Canute’s death annually on 10 July.

However, the Lutheran bishop of the Funen diocese, Kresten Drejergaard, has ruled out the possibility of handing over any bones to the Catholic Church.

In a recent interview, Drejergaard pointed out one of the founding principles of the Evangelical Lutheran religion is that no person can be closer to God than another based on their merits.

‘If the national church gives some of Canute away with the goal that his bones will become relics in the Catholic church, then the Lutheran church will have contributed to a complete turnaround on the idea of the relationship between man and God’.

The parochial Lutheran church council of the cathedral initially reacted positively to the idea of giving the bones away, but Drejergaard quickly intervened. The bishop sought the advice of a theology professor, who recommended rejecting the request, and his fellow bishop and the royal chaplain, Erik Norman Svendsen, on the issue.

Svendsen said that after a discussion with the queen about the case, nothing should be handed over until the reigning Lutheran authority on Funen had been consulted. And that authority would be Drejergaard, who is firmly set against the idea and believes it would violate the decency and respect of a royal grave to distribute part of the remains.

Earlier this month, the Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs, Birthe Rønn Hornbech, was dragged into the debate. Following consultation with the Funen bishop, Hornbech agreed with his reasoning that the bones should remain where they are.

However, Catholic Bishop Kozon is hopeful that a resolution can be reached.

‘Naturally I respect the Lutheran views on relics and we have no rights to force them to deliver the bones, but I think that it is incomprehensible that the rejection is so categorical. It would have been a lovely gesture,’ said Kozon.

Odense Cathedral has offered an olive branch to their Catholic counterparts and said that they can hold a service in the Lutheran church that houses the bones of their beloved saint.
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SIC: TCP

Anglican leader's concern for unity reflects Vatican concerns

Vatican concerns about how some recent decisions of the U.S. Episcopal Church will impact the search for full Anglican-Roman Catholic unity are echoed in a reflection by Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, the head of the Anglican Communion.

Writing July 27 about the Episcopal Church's recent general convention, Archbishop Williams repeatedly referred to the need to keep in mind the ecumenical implications of local church decisions in addition to their impact on the unity of the Anglican Communion as a whole.

Archbishop Williams' reflection, titled "Communion, Covenant and Our Anglican Future," was published on the archbishop's Web site at http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2502.

In a statement July 29, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity noted Archbishop Williams' concern for maintaining the unity of the Anglican Communion through common faith and practice based on Scripture and tradition.

The Vatican office "supports the archbishop in his desire to strengthen these bonds of communion, and to articulate more fully the relationship between the local and the universal within the church," the statement said.

"It is our prayer that the Anglican Communion, even in this difficult situation, may find a way to maintain its unity and its witness to Christ as a worldwide communion," it added.

The Episcopal Church's general convention adopted two resolutions that may further strain relations within the Anglican Communion and with the Catholic Church: One affirmed that all ordained ministries, including the office of bishop, are open to all the baptized, including gays and lesbians; the other called for the collection and development of theological resources for the blessing of same-sex unions.

Last year the Lambeth Conference, a gathering of leaders from around the Anglican Communion, strongly urged all members of the communion to respect moratoriums on ordaining openly gay bishops and on blessing same-sex unions.

After their general convention, the leaders of the Episcopal Church wrote to Archbishop Williams, saying that their resolutions do not signal the end of the moratoriums, but rather describe the position of the U.S. church.

Pope Benedict XVI and his top ecumenical officer have said the Episcopal Church's position on homosexuality and its ordination of women as priests and bishops make full Anglican-Roman Catholic unity appear impossible.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told the Lambeth Conference last year that what is at stake "is nothing other than our faithfulness to Christ himself."

While recognizing the Episcopalians' desire to respond to what they see as a pastoral need, he said the Catholic Church is convinced that its teaching that homosexual activity is sinful "is well-founded in the Old and in the New Testament" as well as in Christian tradition.

And, the cardinal said, the Catholic Church also believes the fact that Christ chose only men to be his apostles means the church is not authorized to ordain women.

Responding to challenges posed by modern sensitivities requires solutions that are clearly in line with the teaching of the Gospel and of Christian tradition, recognized not only by Roman Catholics, but also by the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox, Cardinal Kasper had said.

In his reflection July 27, Archbishop Williams said the Anglican Communion clearly opposes prejudice against homosexual people and denounces any attempt to limit their civil liberties.

But, the archbishop said, "if society changes its attitudes, that change does not of itself count as a reason for the church to change its discipline."

"In the light of the way in which the church has consistently read the Bible for the last 2,000 years," he said, any major change in church practice must have "a strong level of consensus and solid theological grounding," as well as take into account "the teachings of ecumenical partners."

Recognizing the authority of and particular circumstances faced by local churches, the archbishop still insisted that a local church needs "some way of including in its discernment the judgment of the wider church. Without this, it risks becoming unrecognizable to other local churches, pressing ahead with changes that render it strange to Christian sisters and brothers across the globe."

Accepting major changes to church discipline and practice without the consensus of the entire communion, he said, "would be to re-conceive the Anglican Communion as essentially a loose federation of local bodies with a cultural history in common, rather than a theologically coherent 'community of Christian communities.'"

Archbishop Williams' reflection theorized that the future of the Anglican Communion may involve two styles of relationships: one that fully shares "a vision of how the church should be and behave," and another less formal style of associated churches that work together in areas of common agreement.

Anglican Communion representatives to ecumenical and interfaith dialogues would be drawn only from members who fully share the communion's vision and teachings so that the Anglicans' ecumenical partners would know who they are talking to at the dialogue meetings, he said.
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SIC: CNS

Two Vinh priests critical after police bashing

Protests have erupted across Vietnam after two Catholic priests were beaten brutally, allegedly by plain-clothed police and pro-government thugs.

The Bishop’s Office of the diocese of Vinh in a statement released on Monday night condemned the attacks on Fr Paul Nguyen Dinh Phu and Fr Peter Nguyen The Binh both of whom are still in critical condition, VietCatholic reports.

The statement also noted that plain-clothed police and pro-government thugs in Dong Hoi city had attacked anyone on the street wearing Catholic symbols.

In particular, a local woman, Mrs Nguyen Thi Yen, and her 9 year old son were punched and kicked brutally by the same gang. Some Catholic families reportedly have to flee the city in search of safety.

News of the assaults on the said priests and other attacks on Catholics at Dong Hoi city enraged Catholics throughout the country, VietCatholic says.

In Ho Chi Minh City, on Monday night, more than 2000 Catholics attended a Candlelight Vigil held at the Redemptorist Monastery of the city demanding Vietnam government to stop immediately the overt persecution against the Church and its innocent people.

Almost simultaneously with the Vigil in Saigon were special services at local churches and at Thai Ha Redemptorist Monastery in Hanoi drawing thousands of Catholics.

On Monday night, in Nghe An, Ha Tinh, and Quang Binh, thousands of Catholics marched on the streets praying Rosary. Peaceful protestors demanded the immediate release of seven Catholics who have been detained since the violent police raid at Tam Toa a week ago.

Fr Vo Thanh Tam, the secretary of the College of Priests of Vinh Diocese, while condemning the brutality of police in Quang Binh province, praised police in the Vinh city for their self-constraint and their help to make ways for thousands of Catholics marching peacefully on the streets on Monday.
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SIC: CATHAS

First Chinese bishop of Macau dies

Retired Bishop Domingos Lam Ka-tseung of Macau, the first Chinese bishop of the 433-year-old diocese, died on July 27. He was 81.

Bishop Lam fell ill in March and was later diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer. He had been hospitalized since May, according to Bishop Jose Lai Hung-seng, his successor.

Bishop Lam led the diocese, created in 1576 as the first Catholic diocese in the Far East, through Macau’s political transition from Portuguese to Chinese rule in 1999. Portugal administered the enclave for more than 400 years.

His funeral is scheduled for July 31.

Fr Joao Evangelista Lau Him-sang, cathedral parish priest, described the late bishop as ” a bridge between the Church and Chinese society” in Macau and other places.

Before and after the 1999 handover, Bishop Lam, who was fluent in Chinese and Portuguese, participated widely in civil affairs and helped the Chinese community in Macau deepen its understanding of the Catholic Church, the priest recalled.

He also served as a bridge with the Church in China and helped the Beijing government, which adopted an open-door policy in the late 1970s, understand more about the Church, Father Lau said.

Under the leadership of Bishop Lam, Macau diocese has served refugees from East Timor, also a former Portuguese colony, and Filipino workers as well as local Chinese Catholics, and also evangelized new migrants from mainland China.

Bishop Lam, ordained coadjutor bishop of Macau in 1987, succeeded Portuguese-born Bishop Arquiminio Rodrigues da Costa as the diocese’s 22nd bishop the next year.

That same year he was appointed a member of the Macau Basic Law Drafting Committee, which prepared the mini-constitution of the enclave that joined neighboring Hong Kong as a special administrative region of China on Dec. 20, 1999.

Pope John Paul II accepted Bishop Lam’s resignation in 2003, when he turned 75, the age at which canon law requires a bishop to request retirement. Bishop Lai, born in Macau, was appointed the diocese’s second Chinese bishop.

Bishop Lam, born in Hong Kong in 1928, moved to Macau when he was four years old. He graduated from St. Joseph’s Seminary here and was ordained a priest in 1953, after which he managed a parish and taught in a Catholic school and the seminary.
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SIC: CATHAS

Japan bishops tell priests not to act as ‘lay judges’

Japan’s Catholic Bishops’ Conference has advised bishops and priests to pay a fine rather than act as lay judges on the grounds that doing so would be a violation of canon law.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan advised its 7,600 bishops, priests and members of monasteries and convents to refuse to do lay judge duty, even if it means paying a fine of as much as 100,000 yen ($1,050), Bloomberg quotes Asahi as reporting.

The organization says taking part would conflict with canon law barring clerics from public offices that exercise civil power, the report said.

The religious body is hoping clergy members will be excused under provisions that exclude people from the duty, such as mental stress, the Asahi said.

Japan, which has approximately 440,000 Catholics among its population of 127 million, according to the report, introduced the lay judge system in May, where citizens sit alongside professional judges in serious criminal cases, including rape and murder. Germany and Italy exempt Catholic clergy from jury duty, the Asahi said.
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SIC: CTHAS

Pope, guardian angel 'let him fall'

Pope Benedict XVI said Wednesday his guardian angel failed to stop him falling and breaking his wrist recently because God wanted to make him humbler.

Taking his leave of this northern Italian mountain village where he has spent a summer break, the pope quipped to well-wishers: ''My guardian angel didn't prevent my mishap, certainly on orders from on high''.

''Perhaps the Lord wanted to teach me more patience and humility to give me more time for prayer and meditation,'' said the 82-year-old pope, who is expected to make a full recovery from his injury.

The pope posed with local authorities and police and thanked them for acting as ''guardian angels'' during his two-week stay.

Benedict leaves Les Combes Wednesday afternoon for his summer residence at Castelgandolfo south of Rome where he'll spend the rest of his holidays.
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SIC: ANSA

Rowan Williams suggests secondary role for U.S. Episcopal church

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has suggested that the U.S. Episcopal (Anglican) Church may have to accept a secondary role in the worldwide Anglican Communion after voting to allow gay bishops and blessings for same-sex unions.

Archbishop Williams, the spiritual leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans, said on July 27 that “very serious anxieties have already been expressed,” about the pro-gay resolutions approved in July by the Episcopal Church at its general convention in Anaheim, California.

While “there is no threat of being cast into outer darkness,” Archbishop Williams said, certain churches, including the Episcopal Church, may have to take a back seat in ecumenical and interfaith dialogue because their views on homosexuality do not represent the larger Anglican Communion.

Many of the world's Anglican churches oppose homosexuality as sinful and unbiblical, Religion News Service reported.

“It helps to be clear about these possible futures,” Archbishop Williams said, “however much we think them less than ideal, and to speak about them not in apocalyptic terms of schism and excommunication but plainly as what they are - two styles of being Anglican ...”

The Episcopal Church declined on July 27 to respond to Archbishop Williams statement.

As spiritual head of the Church of England, Archbishop Williams serves as guide of the Anglican Communion, a worldwide fellowship of churches that includes the 2.1 million-member Episcopal Church as its U.S. branch.

Before the Episcopal convention, Archbishop Williams had urged the U.S. church not to take steps that would exacerbate tensions in the communion, which has been brought to the breaking point by the consecration of an openly gay bishop in the U.S. state of New Hampshire in 2003.

Despite the warning, Episcopalians overwhelmingly voted to lift a de facto ban on consecrating other gay bishops and approved a broad local option for bishops who wish to allow gay and lesbian couples to receive nuptial blessings from the church.

Episcopal leaders later sought to cut off criticism with a letter to Archbishop Williams that described the measures as simply “descriptive” of a church ministering to a culture with rapidly changing understandings of homosexuality.

Archbishop Williams responded with a nuanced, five-page reflection that gently chided Episcopalians for overturning centuries of Christian understanding of marriage and homosexuality without wider consensus from other Anglicans.

“The doctrine that 'what affects the communion of all should be decided by all' is a venerable principle,” Archbishop Williams said.

Rev. Susan Russell, president of the pro-gay Episcopal group Integrity USA, said it is clear the steps her church took in Anaheim “were contrary to what the archbishop said he hoped would happen.”

But Ms. Russell said she does not expect Episcopalians to back off on consecrating gay bishops or blessing same-sex unions. In fact, she said, the diocese of Los Angeles, where Ms. Russell is a priest, is expected to consider electing a gay or lesbian candidate as suffragan (assistant) bishop later this year.

“I expect this church to move dramatically forward in the rest of the year,” Ms. Russell said, “and our deepest hope is that the rest of the communion, or at least large portions of it, continue to be at the table with us.”
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SIC: AJ

Pope ends alpine holiday and heads for summer residence

Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday ended his two-week holiday in the northern Italian alpine resort of Les Combes, in the Valle D'Aosta region.

Benedict was due to travel to the papal summer residence at Castelgandolfo, 30 kilometres south of Rome, where he will remain until the end of September.

At Castelgandolfo he will continue treatment of his right wrist, which he broke in a fall at the Salesian-owned chalet in Les Combes during his July holiday. Doctors have said the pope's wrist is healing well.

Benedict is scheduled on Saturday to receive around 100 athletes who are currently taking part in the world swimming championships in Rome.

On Sunday, the pontiff is due to deliver the Angelus prayer from the balcony overlooking the central courtyard of the Apostolic Palace of Castelgandolfo.

Weekly general audiences will resume from Wednesday 5 August.
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SIC: AKI

Laws banning sale of pre-signed Mass cards come into effect

LAWS banning the sale of pre-signed Mass cards have come into effect to end a multi-million euro commercial activity which some Church leaders said had no spiritual value.

From now on, Mass cards will have to be signed by a priest in the company of those who request them, or can be pre-sold only by a "recognised person" – either a Catholic bishop or provincial of a Catholic religious order.

Some bishops had raised concerns that Mass cards were being sold, for about €5 each, and pre-signed by priests who were either dead or not in good standing.

One example was cards on sale in shops in Cork signed "Fr Joe Carroll" who was in fact Mgr José Carolo, an Italian priest who worked in Quito, Ecuador, and died two years ago.

Some retailers argued that the sale of pre-signed Mass cards was helping communities in developing countries.

A Longford Mass card supplier, David Hughes, told a Sunday newspaper recently he had sent €200,000 and built three churches in the Philippines by selling cards signed by a Bishop there.

The new laws are contained in Section 99 of the Charities Act 2009, which the Government has agreed to commence.

The junior minister with responsibility for charities regulation John Curran said this will ensure the good faith of people cannot be taken advantage of.

"The sale of pre-signed Mass cards in shops, as opposed to directly from the Catholic Church, has been a matter of public concern for some time. The concerns are twofold: One, will a Mass will actually be offered in respect of the specific intentions offered? Two, is there an element of profit behind the sale of such cards?" he said.

"A Mass card is purchased in good faith, and often at times of great sorrow to demonstrate a person’s empathy and concern for others. It is an inherently decent act. I believe people in such circumstances should have no doubt whatsoever that a Mass will be offered for their intentions. This is what section 99 will achieve," said Mr Curran.
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SIC: IE

Bishop's tribute to hurling priest

Bishop of Killaloe Dr Willie Walsh has described one of Clare’s best known GAA figures, Fr Michael McNamara, as a miracle-worker who wasn’t fully recognised for his achievements.

A priest for 40 years and a former coach to the senior Clare hurling team in the 1980s, Fr McNamara (64) died suddenly on Saturday from natural causes.

Fr McNamara also served a long spell as Clare County Board chairman and vice- chairman between 1994 and 2003.

In those years, Clare’s hurlers won two senior All-Irelands and three Munster titles.

At a packed St Peter and St Paul Cathedral in Ennis yesterday afternoon for Fr McNamara’s funeral Mass, Dr Walsh led the tributes to his friend, who had served as parish priest to the parish of Doora-Barefield that covers urban and rural areas of Ennis.
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SIC: IT

Locals fear impact of Clonmacnoise heritage status

LANDOWNERS LIVING next to the ancient monastic site of Clonmacnoise in Co Offaly fear that if it is awarded world heritage site status their freedom to farm and build in the area will be severely restricted.

A public information meeting on the zoning of land in counties Roscommon, Offaly and Westmeath as part of the planned designation of Clonmacnoise takes place in Athlone this evening.

The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government announced early this year it was applying to Unesco for world heritage status for Clonmacnoise.

An extensive “buffer zone” around Clonmacnoise has been proposed as part of the department submission. This incorporates tracts of land in counties Offaly, Roscommon and Westmeath.

Offaly councillor Connie Hanniffy (FG) said residents living in the locality were very worried. The local community “have been the custodians of the place and they have co-operated and this has been foisted on them”.

She said: “The economic value of Clonmacnoise to the local community as of now hasn’t been that great because very few businesses around the bog have gained anything from it. I speak of this because I was in tourism myself.”

Ms Hanniffy wants the department to clarify the nature of any planned restrictions. “I am very worried for my constituents – they have to live when all this is over.”

Cllr Eamon Dooley (FF) agreed there was a lot of concern locally but he believed most of the concerns would be appropriately dealt with during consultation. If the cost was too high, the local community would not accept the proposals, he said. Shannonbridge native Cllr Sinead Moylan Ryan (FF) questioned the scale of the proposed buffer zone, claiming it would increase the original core protective zone ten-fold, from 200 hectares to more than 2,000 hectares.

In Co Westmeath, Irish Farmers’ Association chairman Paddy Donnelly said his members were meeting to discuss the issue.

He had received calls from farmers who fear there will be “widespread implications” if the draft measures are imposed. The farming community along the banks of the Shannon in Westmeath were worried there could be restrictions in cutting hay and allowing animals out after they have been dosed.

Roscommon-based TD Denis Naughten (FG) has urged local farmers to attend today’s public meeting, which is being hosted by the department at the Athlone Springs Hotel, and starts at 7.30pm. “Over the last number of years we have witnessed the department designate large tracts of land, placing serious restrictions on farming practices and development,” said Mr Naughten.

“The fear is that we may now see this blasé attitude from the Department of the Environment well and truly at work again with similar plans for the proposed designation of land within the buffer zone of the pending world heritage site at Clonmacnoise.”

To date there are two world heritage sites in the Republic: the Brú na Bóinne archaeological complex which was added to the Unesco list in 1993, and Skellig Michael which was added in 1996.

Apart from Clonmacnoise, the department has seven other sites on a “tentative” application list: Cashel, Céide Fields, Clara Bog, Killarney National Park, North West Mayo Boglands, the Burren and the Western Stone Forts.
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SIC: IT

Civil Partnership Bill will create second-class marriage - Amnesty

THE GOVERNMENT’S proposed Civil Partnership Bill will create “a second-class form of marriage for what the Government clearly feels is a second-class group of people”, according to Amnesty International.

The executive director of the organisation’s Irish section, Colm O’Gorman, said the failure of the Bill to legislate for the children of gay couples was “cowardly”.

Delivering the annual Amnesty International Pride Lecture in Belfast last night, he said the Government was “enshrining discrimination in Irish law” at a time when other countries were moving forward and ending inequalities.

“This is not about the right to marry; it is about the right not to be discriminated against because of who you love,” he said.

“Failure to provide full marriage equality means that same- sex couples will not have full protection under the law. In effect, it is creating a second-class form of marriage for what the Government clearly feels is a second-class group of people.”

Mr O’Gorman said the Bill’s most serious weakness was its failure to provide for the children of gay couples, creating insecurity for families. “A same-sex couple will not be allowed jointly adopt their children. Children raised by same-sex couples will be denied the same protection as other children because the Irish Government chooses not to acknowledge their existence and denies their rights.

“These children will be discriminated against because the Government has decided to discriminate against their parents.”

Mr O’Gorman said this undermined the rights of children “on the basis of ill-informed arguments rooted in a bigotry that still exists in a small and increasingly marginalised section of Irish society”.

Referring to scare stories in the media, Mr O’Gorman said: “This is the kind of thinking that sees gay people as something ‘other’, something to be afraid of and defended against, as a community that has no place in normal society.”

He added that there were positive aspects to the legislation and said he recognised that some people characterised it as a step towards equality for gay couples. “But in a way it shows us just how far short of equality we actually are that human-rights activists can be expected to settled for this.”

Mr O’Gorman’s address followed a decision by the Northern Ireland Parades Commission not to place any restrictions on Saturday’s Gay Pride parade through Belfast, the second year this decision has been made. Opposition to the march is expected from some religious groups, a likelihood anticipated by Parades Commission chairwoman Rena Shepherd.

“We respect the views of those who are organising the Pride parade and those who wish to express their opposition,” she said.

“Just as with any other parade where there is disagreement the commission believes it is paramount that all concerned treat each other with respect and show tolerance towards the view of wider society. We welcome the assurances we have received in regards to the stewarding of the parade and the general conduct of the participants.”
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SIC: IT

Keeping bodies in church 'shows no respect'

A BISHOP said that using a church as a funeral parlour was showing a "lack of respect" for the dead.

Bishop of Galway Martin Drennan said there was very little support for such a practice.

He made the comments in response to a letter from Clare Fianna Fail TD Timmy Dooley who urged him to reverse the move banning the use of Liscannor church as a funeral parlour.

Over the past couple of years parishioners of the north Clare village have brought the remains of deceased people to lie in repose in a coffin in the Catholic church the night before a funeral.

Earlier this month, Bishop Drennan wrote to the parishioners calling on them to stop the practice, prompting Mr Dooley to write his letter to the bishop.

However, in his response to the TD, Bishop Drennan stated: "There are parishes with much less resources than Liscannor that have built funeral homes. Other parishes use funeral homes in nearby parishes.

"For them, the current diocesan policy is accepted as good policy.

Alienate

"Of course, I have no desire to alienate people from the Church, but I believe that lowering standards is in fact a lack of respect for them.

Earlier in his letter, Dr Drennan stated: "The issue of this use of churches has not come on the agenda in my four years in the diocese.

"In the past week, there have been no calls to the office, no emails, no letters, so there seems to be very little support for the Liscannor practice.

"In your party, policies are there for the good of all the members. With us, policy is there to serve the unity of the diocese."

In a responding letter, Deputy Dooley pointed out that the church was part of the community and generally "the responsibility of local membership".

"Furthermore, in the neighbouring dioceses many churches are used as mortuary chapels and indeed, in some cases, to host special concerts.

"I suppose it is difficult for parishioners in Liscannor to understand why churches in other parts of the same county, following the same Catholic faith, can be used in a manner that is denied to them by elements within the hierarchy.

"I would again appeal to you to reconsider your decision and allow the current practice to continue," the TD added.
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SIC: II

Sinners have shamed land of saints and scholars

THE world no longer sees Ireland as the land of saints and scholars.

It was a simple summation of the impact of the Ryan report, and it stood out amid the angry outpourings from the victims of clerical abuse yesterday.

Their anger has not diminished since the report shone its light onto the litany of abuse they endured as children.

With quivering lips and breathless hoarseness, the victims yesterday gave the Government another honest and stark appraisal of the terrible wrongs which can never be amended.

Michael O'Brien, whose previous contribution on RTE's 'Questions and Answers' opened the dams of pent-up frustration and anguish, told of the television interviews he has conducted worldwide since that moment of catharsis.

We are no longer the island of saints and scholars in the eyes of the international community, he said. "I had to bare my soul on 'Questions and Answers'. The Taoiseach's office was opened immediately. Everything else is happening immediately. Let it be done and let us get it over with," he told the Children's Minister Barry Andrews in Government Buildings yesterday.

"The ball is in your court, minister. It's up to you to grab that ball. I want you to run with it and make sure that when you get to the goal posts, that you score."

Every speaker who took the microphone was equally emphatic. All had advice for the minister, solutions to the problems, and alternatives to the Government's proposals. Of primary concern to John Kelly, of Irish Survivors of Child Abuse, was the failure of the religious orders to dole out more money in compensation to victims and share the financial burden equally with the State.

"It would appear they are dragging their feet. We feel the Government needs to put more pressure on them to come up with a figure," he said. "There isn't any point in the Taoiseach being in office if he's not in power. He needs to have the power to say to the religious that criminal acts will go before the judicial system."

At times yesterday, however, an impatient friction between the various campaign groups erupted.

Some, such as Paddy Doyle, who wrote 'The God Squad', turned to accusing the others of having "no mandate" to speak on behalf of victims.

"Many people here are setting themselves up as spokespersons but they don't have a mandate...when you're meeting with them, minister, you need to be asking them: 'Who are you? Who are your members? When did you last hold a meeting?" he said.

Michael Waters told Mr Andrews that sometimes people listen but don't actually hear anything.

"There is no such thing as a bad child," he said to applause from fellow campaigners.

Each time he was invited to respond to their angry but yet measured contributions, Mr Andrews spoke in soft, solemn tones, agreeing with some of their points but still hammering home the Government's proposed direction, saying at the conclusion: "I believe we have come a long way. I think we have to accept there is a sea change ... .and the deference that was at the core of the problem is no longer there, the deference to the State, the deference to religious institutions. That undue deference is no longer there."
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SIC: II

Orders won't have to pay a penny towards Ryan plans

RELIGIOUS orders will not have to fork out any money on the Government's €25m plan for acting on the Ryan report into child abuse.

Instead, the Government will rely solely on making cutbacks and securing new funding to boost the number of social workers by 270, recruit more counsellors and inspectors and erect a memorial to the thousands of child abuse victims.

Any additional funds from religious orders will go to a trust for the victims.

With the 18 religious orders still in talks with the Government over increasing their financial contributions, the Cabinet last night appointed a three-person committee to scrutinise the accounts they have submitted.

The panel, chaired by former chairman of the Revenue Commissioners Frank Daly, will report to the Government as to the "adequacy" of the statements for assessing the resources of the congregations.

"The Government indicated that while the panel is carrying out its work, it expected the congregations to be working to produce an offer of a substantial contribution by way of reparation for the suffering of children in residential institutions," a Government statement said.

The other panel members are Catherine Treacy, chief executive of the Property Registration Authority, and John Donnelly, a former chairman of accountants Deloitte and Touche.

The additional €25m cost of implementing the recommendations is on top of the €1.3bn the Government has already paid in compensation -- a figure that is 10 times what the religious orders offered to contribute under the 2002 indemnity deal.

"The €25m will come from Exchequer funding. Any contributions from religious orders will go directly to the trust fund," said a spokeswoman for Children's Minister Barry Andrews.

CORI director general Sr Marianne O'Connor said it would be "good" if religious orders built on the funding they are already providing.

"I'm sure the congregations would consider anything that might be put forward. Everything is on the table. They have put in their statements," she told the Irish Independent.

Gesture

Asked if it would be an important gesture for the religious orders to contribute towards the €25m costs of the implementation plan, Sr O'Connor said: "The congregations are making a very substantial contribution at the moment.

"For example, they have maintained care homes for former residents, they are supporting them in educational initiatives and counselling initiatives and the helpline, which has cost something in the region of €16m."

The bulk of the €25m relates to the cost of employing additional social workers and inspection staff. Savings will be achieved through "rationalisation" in the HSE but the final figures on how much must be achieved through savings will only emerge over time and in the December Budget.

"It will be a combination of provision being made through the estimates process, as well as savings having to be made," Mr Andrews said. "I'm confident the funding we need will be provided."
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SIC: II

Pain and struggle of survivors palpable as questions remain

FINGERS were jabbed through the air, thick with recrimination and hurt – the only surprise is that for once the Government wasn’t the target.

Michael Waters, the grey-haired spokesman for Survivors of Child Abuse (Soca) UK, had spoken coherently and concisely about his experiences of social work and had questioned Children’s Minister Barry Andrews about plans to boost resources in the area.

Then, suddenly, he stood up and made his way onto the stage at the Government Press Centre.

He pointed first at the screens behind Mr Andrews and his two colleagues, and the words "Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse".

Then he turned his guns on John Kelly, sitting in the front row, the spokesman for SOCA Ireland.

"Mr Kelly, you boycotted this committee," Mr Waters said. "You called it a toothless tiger."

His ardour rising, he said if people had listened to Mr Kelly, little would have been achieved for survivors. "You should be ashamed of yourself," he said. "You are a coward." There is little doubt that Mr Kelly strongly disagrees.

Maybe it was no surprise that emotions ran high yesterday.

For the victims of institutional abuse any efforts to make up for the past, no matter how well-intentioned, is going to be too little, too late. Any pledges to ensure such horrific abuse cannot be perpetrated in future is likely to be met with scepticism, anger and frustration.

Having been ignored for so long, the survivors from various interest groups are determined to have their say. Among those listening to the minister’s promises yesterday was Michael O’Brien, the former mayor of Clonmel whose explosive performance on Questions and Answers burnt a hole in TV screens around the country in the aftermath of the Ryan Report’s publication.

"I feel ashamed as a citizen of this State that nothing was done years ago to protect children," he boomed. He said he had had to bare his soul on Questions and Answers, and that the ball was now in the minister’s court.

The Implementation Committee could not, he said, become a body that meets up "to have tea and coffee and run away".

Bernadette Fahy, of the Aislinn Centre, asked why some childcare settings were the subject of scheduled inspections, while another survivor, Victor Hackett, said the lack of aftercare for those in the care system now was "a major problem".

Other problems abound, despite the welcome afforded many of the measures announced yesterday.

The implementation plan does not mention those who suffered abuse in Magdalene Laundries, or those who were traumatised in psychiatric institutions and hospitals.

One speaker, Olive Wilson, said these facilities were often "dumping grounds" in the past. Abuse survivors who moved away to Britain and elsewhere are also seemingly outside its scope.

Paddy Doyle, whose eloquence and insight has been a feature of recent months, asked why those who engaged with the Redress Board were still subject to legal "gagging orders" preventing them from speaking about their experiences.

Unlike other speakers, his voice didn’t buckle under the strain, and he joked about not wanting to tell the minister how to do his job. However, he also questioned the mandate of some of those who are speaking on behalf of the thousands of victims.

"The first question that you might consider asking is, ‘who are you?’," he instructed Mr Andrews.

As ever, more questions than answers.
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SIC: IE

State will be judged on delivery of 99 measures

THE Government yesterday unveiled its long-awaited response to the recommendations of the Ryan report, with the roll-out of the plan likely to cost €25 million.

Children and Youth Affairs Minister, Barry Andrews, launched the blueprint for how children should be protected and cared for by the State, with survivors and children’s rights groups demanding the swift implementation of the measures.

It is a huge undertaking, but then it needs to be.

As Barry Andrews said yesterday, the horrific abuse catalogued in the Ryan report made headlines around the world, and the reaction of campaigners and survivors both here and abroad makes implementing the key recommendations a priority.

Mr Andrews said he believed it would cost some €25m to implement the recommendations over the next three to four years, and that Finance Minister Brian Lenihan is committed to the process. The money will have to be found from other places, in addition to achieving more with existing resources.

The announcement of an implementation plan was given a broad welcome by survivors and children’s rights groups, all of whom will closely monitor the pace at which the recommendations are acted upon.

Spread under 20 separate headings, the 99 headline-grabbing measures will be music to the ears of many working in the sector.

Chief among the recommendations is the filling of 270 social work vacancies. This will be complemented by steps to ease new recruits into the system by lessening caseloads in the first year.

Those entering the profession following graduation will also be provided with additional supervision and will not have to deal with complex cases immediately, a move designed to help prevent staff turnover and burn-out among those working with vulnerable children.

These vacancies will be exempt from the public service moratorium, as are staff at the National Counselling Service, which will now receive additional resources to deal with the surge in calls since the Ryan report was published and with the report into the handling of abuse cases in the Dublin Archdiocese also on the horizon.

Those social work positions are to be filled within the next 18 months, Mr Andrews said, although many in the Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW) will contend that serious damage was done to those in the system heretofore because of the shortage of staff on the ground.

However, Declan Coogan of the IASW yesterday said his organisation was delighted with the announcement, and with the fact that there was a timeframe for the appointments.

The system of inspections will now be extended, with HIQA (the Health Information Quality Authority) to be given powers to carry out checks of foster care placements, facilities caring for those with disabilities and young people seeking asylum, among others.

A senior manager with sole responsibility for children and families will be appointed within the HSE for the first time, and an out-of-hours scheme will be piloted in two areas ahead of a possible national roll-out.

Section 45 of the 1991 Children Act will also be altered to bolster the provision of aftercare to those who grew up in the care system and are turning 18.

The minister said that "the State is to take the role of the parent", although it is still unclear whether in practice this means mandatory aftercare – he said aftercare will be provided "when a need is identified".

The HSE will complete its audit of existing aftercare services, with Mr Andrews admitting that more gaps than duplication of service is likely.

The Children First guidelines will be placed on a statutory footing, and while there is no call for mandatory reporting, state agencies and voluntary bodies that do not report suspected cases of child support could, under new contract terms, be in breach of contract and face sanctions including possible withdrawal of funding or losing their jobs.

Finally, the minister said that a referendum on children’s rights was still on the agenda, although no timeframe was provided as to when the electorate will be given a chance to vote on the issue.

Mr Andrews will now form an implementation committee that will be required to report annually, but already some people have highlighted potential gaps.

What about those abuse survivors living in Britain, one campaigner asked.

Another questioned the continuing legal barrier to discussing the Redress Board, yet another asked about the high number of scheduled inspections and the possibility of survivors being included on visiting committees to institutions.

Even allowing for attempts to achieve more within existing resources, the €25m it will cost to implement the 99 actions over the next three years is considerable, particularly given the parlous state of the economy.

Mr Andrews admitted that some controversial measures included in the recent An Bord Snip Nua report, such as the merging of the Office of the Ombudsman for Children with that of the Ombudsman, will have to be considered.

In other words, child protection is being addressed after years of being overlooked or neglected, but it is likely it will lead to cuts elsewhere.

The Government may still have to wait for those positive newspaper headlines.
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SIC: IE

Report abuse or lose job, employees of State warned

TEACHERS, gardaí, nurses and other State employees could lose their jobs if they fail to report suspicions of abuse under a range of child protection measures which Minister for Children Barry Andrews said he will take personal responsibility for implementing.

Abuse survivors warned the Government it must ensure the €25m required is made available for new plans to safeguard children, with some describing the measures as too little too late.

But Mr Andrews personally guaranteed the implementation of the recommendations in the Ryan report into clerical abuse.

The Government last night reiterated its call on religious institutions to "produce an offer of a substantial contribution by way of reparation for the suffering of children in residential institutions".

One of the 18 orders involved in the redress scheme has still not produced a statement by the Government as agreed following the publication of the report.

The "adequacy" of the other 17 statements will be assessed by a three-man panel chaired by Frank Daly, former chairman of the Revenue Commissioners.

Under the 99-point plan to implement the Ryan report recommendations announced:

* 270 vacant social work positions will be filled in the HSE.

* All residential centres, including those for disabled children and those seeking asylum, will be independently inspected by 2010.

* A national monument will be constructed as areminder of neglect and abuse of children in institutional care, and an annual "day of atonement" will be established.

* Children First guidelines on identifying and reporting child abuse will be put on a statutory basis, meaningemployees of State-run or State-funded organisations will be legally obliged toreport abuse.

* Certificates will be provided to victims of abuse stating they do not have a criminal record arising from their referrals to institutions.

Child protection groups gave the plans a guarded welcome but said they do not go far enough and did nothing to improve vetting procedures for those working with children

Former mayor of Clonmel Michael O’Brien, who confronted the Government with an emotional outburst on RTÉ’s Questions and Answers after the Ryan report was published, told Mr Andrews: "I feel ashamed as a member of this State that something was not done years ago to protect the innocence of children."

Survivors also said the Church and State have done nothing to compensate women held in Magdalene laundries and children and teenagers detained in adult psychiatric institutions. Both of these groups were excluded from the report.
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SIC (IE)

Year Of The Priest Prayer

PRAYER FOR THE YEAR OF THE PRIEST

Lord Jesus, that in St. John Mary Vianney

you wanted to donate to the Church

a moving image of your pastoral charity,

he,that, in his company and supported by his example,

may we live in fullness this Priestly life.

Pausing as he was before the Eucharist,

we can learn how simple,every day of your words that teaches us;

tender love to welcome repentant sinners;

consoling abandonment confidente your Immaculate Mother.

Lord Jesus, who, through the intercession of the Holy Curé d'Ars,

the Christian families to become "small churches"
in which all vocations and all the gifts,
donated by your Holy Spirit,

can be welcomed and valued.

Grant us, Lord Jesus,

you can repeat with the same fervor of the Holy Curé

the words with which he used to contact you:

"I love you, O my God,
and my only desire is to love you
till the last breath of my life.

I love you, infinitely loving God,
and I prefer to die a man

rather than live one moment without love.

I love you, Lord,

and the only grace that you wonder

is to love you forever.

My God, if my language can not tell you

at all times

that I love you,

I want my heart we'll repeat times as many times as breathing.

I love you,

O my Divine Savior,

because you have been crucified to me,

and keep me down here with you crucified.

My God, make me the grace to die a man and knowing that I love you."

Amen.

Prayer For Priests

O Jesus, our great High Priest,

Hear my humble prayers on behalf of your priest, Father [N].

Give him a deep faith a bright and firm hope
and a burning love
which will ever increase
in the course of his priestly life.

In his loneliness, comfort him

In his sorrows, strengthen him

In his frustrations,

point out to him that it is through suffering
that the soul is purified,

and show him that he is needed by the Church,

he is needed by souls,

he is needed for the work of redemption.

O loving Mother Mary, Mother of Priests,
take to your heart your son who is close to you

because of his priestly ordination,

and because of the power

which he has received

to carry on the work of Christ
in a world which needs him so much.

Be his comfort,
be his joy,
be his strength,

and especially help him

to live and to defend
the ideals of consecrated celibacy.

Amen.

Litany Of The Most Precious Blood Of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy

Christ, have mercy
Christ, have mercy

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy

Christ, hear us
Christ, hear us

Christ, graciously hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us

God the Father of Heaven,
have mercy on us

God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
have mercy on us

God, the Holy Spirit,
have mercy on us

Holy Trinity, One God,
have mercy on us

Blood of Christ, only-begotten Son of the eternal Father,
save us
Blood of Christ, Incarnate Word or God,
save us
Blood of Christ, of the New and Eternal Testament,
save us
Blood of Christ, falling upon the earth in Agony,
save us
Blood of Christ, shed profusely in the Scourging,
save us
Blood of Christ, flowing forth in the Crowning with Thorns,
save us
Blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross,
save us
Blood of Christ, price of our salvation,
save us
Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness,
save us
Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls,
save us
Blood of Christ, stream of mercy,
save us
Blood of Christ, victor over demons,
save us
Blood of Christ, courage of Martyrs,
save us
Blood of Christ, strength of Confessors,
save us
Blood of Christ, bringing forth Virgins,
save us
Blood of Christ, help of those in peril,
save us
Blood of Christ, relief of the burdened,
save us
Blood of Christ, solace in sorrow,
save us
Blood of Christ, hope of the penitent,
save us
Blood of Christ, consolation of the dying,
save us
Blood of Christ, peace and tenderness of hearts,
save us
Blood of Christ, pledge of eternal life,
save us
Blood of Christ, freeing souls from purgatory,
save us
Blood of Christ, most worthy of all glory and honor,
save us

Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world,
spare us, O Lord

Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world,
graciously hear us, O Lord

Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us, O Lord

V. Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, in Thy Blood.
R. And made us, for our God, a kingdom.

Almighty and eternal God,
Thou hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son
the Redeemer of the world and willed to be appeased by his blood.

Grant, we beg of Thee,
that we may worthily adore this price of our salvation
and through its power
be safeguarded from the evils of the present life
so that we may rejoice in its fruits forever in heaven.

Through the same Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Prayer During Recession

In this time of recession,
we remember all those who have financial problems
and are finding life difficult.

We hold before You, O Lord,
all those who are fearful for their jobs,
all those who are desperately looking for work
and all those who have become depressed and have given up looking.

May Your Holy Spirit
come among us to heal the tensions of this time
and calm the many fears.

And with Christ by our side,
make us aware of each other's troubles
so that we may
reach out our hands with His friendship

and give unstintingly of His love.

AMEN

A Prayer For Healing - Victims Of Abuse

God of endless love, ever caring, ever strong, always present, always just:You gave your only Son to save us by the blood of his cross.

Gentle Jesus, shepherd of peace, join to your own suffering the pain of all who have been hurt in body, mind, and spirit by those who betrayed the trust placed in them.

Hear our cries as we agonizeover the harm done to our brothers and sisters.

Breathe wisdom into our prayers, soothe restless hearts with hope, steady shaken spirits with faith.

Show us the way to justice and wholeness, enlightened by truth and enfolded in your mercy.

Holy Spirit, comforter of hearts, heal your people's wounds and transform our brokenness.

Grant us courage and wisdom, humility and grace so that we may act with justice and find peace in you.

We ask this through Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Prayer To St Mark the Evangelist

PRAYER
(traditional language)

Almighty God, who by the hand of Mark the evangelist hast given to thy Church the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God:
We thank thee for this witness, and pray that we may be firmly grounded in its truth; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

PRAYER
(contemporary language)

Almighty God, who by the hand of Mark the evangelist have given to your Church the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God:
We thank you for this witness, and pray that we may be firmly grounded in its truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Archdiocese suspends priest after sexual misconduct allegations

The Archdiocese of Boston said today that it's suspending a priest from performing any public ministry after receiving allegations against him of adult sexual misconduct.

The Reverend Pedro Jose Damazio has been serving as parochial vicar of St. Anthony of Padua in Cambridge and has been serving the Brazilian community throughout the archdiocese.

The archdiocese said it was "cooperating fully" with a law enforcement probe into the matter and had also notified Reverend Damazio’s home diocese in Brazil.

The suspension prohibits Damazio from acting as a priest in any public setting, such as a public celebration of Mass.

The decision "represents the Archdiocese’s commitment to the safety of all parties and does not represent a determination of Fr. Damazio’s guilt or innocence as it pertains to these allegations," the archdiocese said in a statement.

The suspension of Damazio's "faculties" will remain in place until an investigation is complete.
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Source (MD)

SV (ED)

Bulgaria New Minister without Portfolio Spied on the Vatican

Bulgaria's new Minister without a portfolio, Bozhidar Dimitrov, who was sworn in on Monday as part of the government of Boyko Borisov and the GERB party, used to spy on the Vatican.

According to the declassified file of Dimitrov, back in the 1970s and 1980s he was recruited by the so called State Security - the secret police and intelligence service of the Bulgarian communist regime.

Dimitrov's having worked for the State Security cast a shadow on the support of the rightist Blue Coalition for the GERB government; the Blue Coalition claimed that his appointment to the government was unacceptable because of his involvement with the former State Security, whereas Bulgaria's new Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, has been firm in his decision to appoint Dimitrov stating he was well aware of his past, and valued Dimitrov as a professional.

According to the declassified file of Dimitrov, who is still the Director of Bulgaria's National History Museum, he was recruited as a State Security agent in 1973, and was prepared to infiltrate the library and the secret archive of the Vatican.

The First Directorate of the State Security decided to recruit him because of his successful performance as a history student at Sofia University. In order to complete his mission, Dimitrov started studying intensively French, Latin and Old Greek. He picked himself his agent's pseudonym - Kardam - after a 8th century Bulgarian Khan.

However, after spending some time in Paris as part of his training, he was involved in a gaffe as he smuggled several volumes of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's books and distributed them among his friends.

"Kardam has not executed the instructions to collect the materials he had distributed to his friends, and even caused scandals by accusing them that they had betrayed him to the Interior Ministry, thus showing once again that he is an undisciplined agent", reads a note from his file dated December 18, 1974.

Thus, a year after his recruitment, Dimitrov was expelled from the State Security; he was restored in 1976 under the pseudonym "Tervel" (another 8th century Bulgarian Khan); in 1987, he worked again as an agent under the pseudonym "Telerig" (still another 8th century Bulgarian Khan).

There is no information in Dimitrov's file about his later period as an agent but two cards indicate that he did manage to infiltrate into the library of the Vatican.

"I am proud of what I have done. Did you see in my file any secret reports against someone in Bulgaria written by me? I haven't even written a report against my own mother-in-law, and, honestly, I really wanted to", Dimitrov joked before the media last week.

Novinite.com has approached the Vatican Embassy in Sofia for a comment on the appointment of Dimitrov, and how it would affect Bulgaria's relations with the Vatican and the Catholic Church.

The Embassy provided no formal position as the Papal Nuncio is currently not in Bulgaria; the Chair of the Episcopal Conference of the Catholic Church in Bulgaria, Monseigneur Hristo Proykov has declined to comment on Dimitrov's appointment saying he was not authorized to do so.
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Source (SNA)

SV (ED)

Benedict XVI to travel to Turin for Shroud exposition in 2010

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi has confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI plans to attend the public exposition of the Shroud of Turin in 2010, although no exact date has been set.

Speaking on Vatican Radio, Father Lombardi said the Pope met with Cardinal Severino Poletto, Archbishop of Turin, for lunch in Aosta where he is vacationing.

The two discussed the public showing of the Shroud which will take place in the spring of 2010.

“Naturally, Cardinal Poletto informed the Pope about preparations for the event and once again invited him to attend. As he has mentioned in the past when speaking about the public showing, the Pope confirmed his intention to travel to Turin for the occasion, although the date still needs to be determined,” Father Lombardi stated.
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Source (CNA)

SV (ED)

Bishop Cautions Catholics Against Breakaway Sect

Catholics and other Christians in Sothern Sudan have been cautioned against the Reformed Catholic Church, a breakaway sect that has commenced activities in the semi-autonomous region.

Bishop Ceaser Mazzolari of Rumbek wrote a pastoral letter early this month warning Christians against “false teachers and misguiding church leaders” active in the region.

He said the sect leaders had abandoned priestly celibacy and obedience to the pope.

“I am clearly and strongly alerting you, dear Christians, that people who call themselves ‘The Reformed Catholic Church’, in all truth are no longer acceptable members of the Catholic Church and you should no longer follow them,” the bishop said.

Members of the new sect are copycats who imitate the prayers, readings and external ceremonies of Catholic services in such a way that simple people think they are attending a Catholic mass or prayer service, Bishop Mazzolari said.

In their teachings, they criticize the doctrine of the Catholic Church as old and out of date and disparage church leaders as being unable to understand the changing times.

“These Reformed Catholics will appeal to the struggle of the people as something the traditional Catholic Church is not able to cope with or resolve. This idea is also entirely false because the church has been very close to the people and its leaders to obtain peace and the needed reconciliation,” Bishop Mazzolari wrote.

He pointed out that the new sect is looking for dissatisfied Catholics to confuse and divide them.

“They will misguide you to become bitter with your church as they are bitter, and to disobey the laws of the church, which they already do, and to lose you precious gift of faith.”

The bishop described the Reformed Catholics as “the devil roaming around in our days, trying to lead people astray from the faith.”

They are also persecuting the church and the faithful.
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Source (CISA)

SV (ED)

Irish blasphemers, beware! New law befuddles nation, but fulfills Constitution

After decades of increasing secularization, Irish President Mary McAleese signed into law last week fresh penalties for the ancient crime of blasphemy, befuddling a general public that didn't see the need and infuriating free speech campaigners.

The Roman Catholic church, which once wielded great social power here, didn't seek the new law, nor was any other apparent constituency pushing for it.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, the law's strongest advocate, said that Ireland would be better off without it shortly after he introduced the bill to parliament.

"The optimal approach ... would be to abolish [the existing blasphemy law]," he said at the time, but added that the Irish Constitution demands that blasphemy be defined as a crime.

"As a republican, my personal position is that church and state should be separate. But I do not have the luxury of ignoring our constitution."

By his reckoning, Ireland has been violating its constitution for the past 48 years – since the passage of a 1961 law on defamation that mentioned blasphemy but was vague in its language and non-specific about potential penalties.

When the government decided to update defamation law, he argues, it was legally bound to include the new criminal charge of blasphemous libel, punishable by a fine of €25,000 ($35,000).

Irish legal scholars have generally agreed with his interpretation. "I don't like the idea of a crime of blasphemy, but the minister was right," says Eoin O'Dell, a senior lecturer at the School of Law, Trinity College Dublin. But atheists and free speech advocates have been irate.

Ann James, secretary of the Humanist Society of Ireland, concedes that the 1937 Constitution, which enshrines freedom of speech at the same time that it calls for blasphemy laws, contains many religious references that are out of the step with the times. All of them should be revised via a popular referendum, she argues. "Unfortunately, it's cheaper and easier for the government to introduce this flawed legislation," she says.

The last time someone sought to use Ireland's blasphemy law was connected to such a referendum. In 1995, Irish voters narrowly voted to overturn the constitutional ban on divorce against organized, vociferous opposition by the Catholic church.

Soon after, the Sunday Independent carried a cartoon depicting Irish politicians waving goodbye to a Catholic priest with the caption, "Hello progress, bye-bye father" that aped the antidivorce campaign's slogan of "Hello divorce, goodbye daddy."

A Dublin man found this blasphemous and brought suit. The case made its way to the Irish Supreme Court before being dismissed in 1999 on the grounds that "blasphemy" wasn't defined in Irish law.

The bonds between church and state in Ireland have been loosening for decades as Ireland has become a more pluralist society, and even opponents of the law don't expect that arc of change to be reversed.

In addition to legalizing divorce, Ireland has abandoned the practice of censorship to spare religious sensibilities. Monty Python's spoof on early Christianity, "Life of Brian," was banned in Ireland upon its release in 1979 and remained so until the late 1980s. By contrast, the far more controversial "The Passion of the Christ" faced no such obstacles when it was released in 2004.

But the bill has recharged the tension between freedom of expression and religion that can be found, not just in society, but in the Constitution. "In the long term, we should be amending our Constitution to remove these theistic references, not creating new crimes to enforce provisions that were written in the 1930s," says Michael Nugent, chairperson of Atheist Ireland.

In the past, issues like divorce, abortion, and citizenship have been amended through constitutional referenda.

Trinity College's O'Dell expects blasphemy and other anachronistic elements of the constitution will ultimately be dealt with by the same means.
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Source (CSM)

SV (ED)

Heavy Road for Hungarian Cardinal Tipped as Next Pope

Everyone is all excited about the news that some American magazine called Newsweek thinks Hungarian Cardinal Péter Erdő may be in line to succeed Pope Benedict XIV if the latter's recent wrist injury somehow kills him.

(That's Erdő above, apparently taking part in some colorful traditional Catholic ceremony.)

While the piece in question says Erdő's chances of being upgraded from "His Eminence" to "His Holiness" are buttressed by his reputation as a scholar who has authored hundred of research papers and articles, and well as the respected president of Europe's Catholic bishops, it points out that his weak English skills might be a problem. We can think of a couple more!

For one thing, many Catholics seem to believe that the time has finally come for the guy in the impeccable white robes running the Church to be non-white, to better reflect the, er, glorious mosaic of racial and geographic diversity the church now represents.

But even if the next Pope is as white as the current one, it's hard imagining the College of Cardinals picking one from a country where even the handful of actual practicing Catholics left think the Seven Deadly Sins are cardinal virtues.
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Source (PHU)

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Pope attacks Glasgow art gallery's invitation to vandalise a Bible

The Pope has condemned a ' disgusting' taxpayer-funded exhibition in which visitors are urged to deface the Bible.

Visitors were offered pens by gallery bosses so they could scrawl comments on the text - leading to a host of puerile and obscene remarks.

Pope Benedict XVI believes the stunt would not have been contemplated with a copy of the Koran.

His anger over the show, organised by council-funded arts body Culture
and Sport Glasgow, was expressed by a senior Vatican priest.

The adviser to the Pope said: 'It is disgusting and offensive. They would not think of doing it to the Koran.'

Public complaints about the exhibit at the prestigious Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow have forced organisers to put the vandalised Bible on show in a locked case, while still allowing visitors to write comments on blank sheets of paper.

The Made In God's Image exhibit is the work of Glasgow artist Anthony Schrag.

He wanted gays and transsexuals who felt left out of religion to 'write their way back in' to the holy text.

Mr Schrag worked with members of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) in Edinburgh on the project. But MCC minister Jane Clarke said: 'I had hoped people would show respect for the Bible.

I am saddened some have chosen to write offensive messages.'
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Source (DM)

SV (ED)

Papal power to boost German electricity grid

Solar panels are being installed this week on the private home in Germany of Pope Benedict XVI to generate electricity for the German power grid and raise money for a good cause.

Benedict okayed the project on condition that there was no expenditure of church funds.

He owns the house in a suburb of Regensburg and lived there till he began his climb through the church hierarchy.

Local plumbers donated 54 square metres of photovoltaic panels, and apprentices at a trades school provided the labour, organizers said Tuesday.

The power, estimated at 5,800 kilowatt hours per year, will be fed into the German national electricity grid.

The income earned, estimated at 2,500 euros (3,500 dollars) annually, will be donated to a society that offers scholarships and trade training to disadvantaged youths.

The organizers are linked to Comenius, a European Union fund to encourage school partnerships.

A caretaker looks after the 1960s-style house, furniture and garden.

Benedict last dropped into his home in the suburb of Pentling in 2006 while he was paying a papal visit to Germany.

Solar panels have been springing up all over Germany thanks to government subsidies and a minimum buy-in price for power which electricity companies must pay.

Plumbers said the house was good for solar power, but not ideal as its ridge runs north-south with slopes to east and west.

A south-facing sloped roof, which would get sun most of the day, could have generated 30 per cent more power.
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Source (M&C)

SV (ED)

Pope Benedict XVI names Catholic Bishop of British Forces

Pope Benedict XVI has announced that Monsignor Richard Moth, currently Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Southwark, England, will be the next Catholic Bishop of the British Forces.

Richard Moth served for five years as a Territorial Army chaplain attached to 217 General Hospital RAMC (V). Bishop-elect Richard will be ordained bishop on Tuesday 29 September 2009.

The Administrator of the Bishopric of the Forces, Monsignor John Walsh said: "We are delighted at the news that Monsignor Richard is to become our next bishop. On behalf of clergy, servicemen and women and their families, I bid him welcome. We are looking forward to his leadership and to working with him in the years to come. He has our congratulations, our very best wishes and most of all, our prayers".

Bishop Tom Burns, Bishop of Menevia who was the previous Bishop of the Forces said: "This is great news for the Bishopric. I wish Bishop-elect Richard every happiness as he takes on my former role. He is very experienced and his service as a Territorial Army chaplain will give him a good idea of what lies ahead. He has my best wishes and prayers".

The Bishopric of the Forces is a diocese without geographical boundaries, consisting of Service personnel and their dependants, served by over 40 full-time Catholic Chaplains and a number of TA and Officiating Chaplains.

The Chaplains are drawn from dioceses in England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Gibraltar and from religious orders.

They are seconded to the Bishopric during their military service.

Chaplains are currently serving in the UK including Northern Ireland, Germany, Cyprus as well as Afghanistan and Iraq. Chaplains are also serving at sea with the Royal Navy.

In addition to his responsibility for service chaplaincy, the Bishop-elect will also become Apostolic Visitor for the Prefecture of the Falkland Islands, which also includes St Helena, Tristan da Cunha, Ascension Island, and South Georgia.
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Source (MP)

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Archdiocese of Mexico City denies Cardinal Rivera has Facebook profile

The Archdiocese of Mexico City said this week that a Facebook page supposedly created by Cardinal Norberto Rivera is the work of an anonymous person who is claiming to be the cardinal.

“Someone with perverse and evil intentions has usurped his name for the sole purpose of harming his reputation and lashing out against the Catholic Church,” the archdiocese said.

It called on authorities to investigate the incident and in conformity with the law file charges against those responsible.

“As the Holy Father Benedict XVI has said repeatedly, the Catholic Church will always support social communications and these technologies that constitute useful tools for all humanity; however, she will condemn their use for evil ends that endanger or go against the dignity of the person,” the archdiocese stated.

“Likewise, we respectfully ask those who control the content on Facebook to erase this profile, as it is a violation of several of our laws,” it said.

The false profile of Cardinal Rivera portrays him as a friend of controversial celebrities and political groups.
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Cardinal Bertone offers encyclical as response to society's challenges

The Italian Senate took time on Tuesday to hear about a topic not usually on their agenda—a papal encyclical.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's Secretary of State, addressed the senators about "Caritas in Veritate" and how it can help them respond to the "ethical, cultural and social challenges of today."

The speech by Cardinal Bertone was delivered at the invitation of the president of the Italian Senate on Thursday morning.

Cardinal Bertone highlighted some of the anthropological and theological aspects of the Pope's latest encyclical, which is devoted to encouraging countries to promote the true development of man, a development that encompasses the material, spiritual and moral arenas.

The Secretary of State also recalled that in 2004 the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had given a "lectio magistralis" in the Senate library on the theme: "Europe. Its spiritual roots, yesterday, today and tomorrow."

On that occasion, he reminded, the future Pontiff had focused on certain themes that are now contained in his third Encyclical, such as "the affirmation of the profound reasons behind the dignity of individuals and their rights," and marriage and the family as elements that have forged European identity.

The cardinal said that he believes the representatives of the Italian people will find the Pope's words to be "an exalted and profound source of inspiration when carrying out their mission."

Hopefully, the encyclical will enable them to respond "adequately to the ethical, cultural and social challenges of today."
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Upcoming movie to portray heroic nun

An upcoming movie will portray the real life story of Ugandan schoolgirls kidnapped from their Catholic school in 1996 by the notoriously cruel Lord’s Resistance Army and the largely successful rescue attempt of their teacher, a heroic religious sister.

The independent feature "Girl Soldier" is a fictionalized story based upon the 2007 book "Stolen Angels" by the Ottawa author Kathy Cook.

The film will star actress Uma Thurman as Sister Caroline, who was born in Italy as Rachele Fassera.

In 1996 armed rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army kidnapped 139 young girls from St. Mary's College in Aboke to turn them into soldiers and sex slaves.

According to the Ottawa Herald, Sr. Caroline tracked down the rebels to their camp and fought for their release. She succeeded in rescuing 109 of them.

The sister then made it her mission to rescue captured youths in Africa with the assistance of their parents, the government, the U.N. and the Pope.

The violence of the Lord’s Resistance Army continues to the present day. In the weeks after Christmas 2008, LRA troops massacred 900 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They sacked and destroyed entire villages and killed entire families.

LRA leaders are wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

The movie "Girl Soldier" will begin shooting early next year in South Africa with a budget of under $20 million. According to Variety, it is being produced by Caspian Pictures, which was founded by Brian Bullock and Will Raee in order to make socially conscious, commercially viable films with mass appeal.

The film will be directed by Raee, who has worked as a producer on the television shows CSI and Criss Angel: Mindfreak.

Raee told the Ottawa Citizen that Thurman was "very upset" by the story of the crimes against the young women.

"She got very emotional and she grabbed me by the wrist and said, 'Will, this is a film that has to be made. You have all my support and my resources and I really want to help you to do this.' She was very passionate about it."

He said Thurman was touched by the story of Sister Caroline.

"Uma is a mother and I've never seen a more loving parent than her. She loves children, and for her to just imagine what these kids go through is really horrifying."

Thurman has spoken out about exploited children, saying in a published report "It's beyond me that in this day and age, the exploitation of child soldiers goes virtually unnoticed and unchecked by western media."

According to the Ottawa Citizen, Raee intends to recruit some real child soldiers to give a realistic tone to the movie. Pre-production and filming are expected to take up to five months.
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Now is not a time for depression, but for repentance and humility: Bishop

The auxiliary bishop of Down and Connor, Dr Donal McKeown, told young people gathered at the closing Mass of the the Knock Youth Festival on sunday that now was not a time for depression on the part of followers of the Church.

While there is a need for repentance and humility, the bishop said, it is “only in the service of making space for grace”.

“We here do not have to beat ourselves for the faults of others, to cease believing in love, hope and community just because others failed to live up to that dream in the past.”

Neither, Bishop McKeown went on, is now a time to seek to return to a model of Church that belonged to an earlier era.

It is important not to glamourise the present and demonise the past because for most people, the experience of growing up in Ireland was “not one that recognises the late Frank McCourt’s dismal view of a damp and heartless Ireland”.

The general experience of education in Ireland was not one of “unrelenting brutality and grimness” and parishes “ruled by cranky clergy and out of touch bachelors or spinsters”.

“There is a risk of rejecting a myth that glamourised the past and replacing it with an equally trite myth of a merely evil past and a glorious present.”

He said it was important, in these difficult times for people in the Church, not to go down the road of “presenting a mass-produced Messiah, a spiritual junk-food Jesus, the very sort of phoney saviour role that Jesus was tempted to play but which he refused to accept”.

The Scriptures read at Mass echo the challenges faced in Ireland today, said Bishop McKeown.

These include destitution on the streets of Dublin while we throw out about 30% of the food that we buy, the response to the credit crunch of cutting money on hospitals and education but not touching obscene expense on armed forces and aggressive wars.

Helen Toner of the Knock Youth Ministry said the weekend was about reaffirming Christian values and for young people to discover how suitable and approachable the Church is for them.

“Numbers may have fallen at Mass, but lots of people don’t understand Mass.” she remarked. “What we try to do is get people to understand it.”

Part of the focus of the weekend, said Ms Toner, was to show people how to be active Christians in everyday life.

“Not everyone can get up and go to Africa and work on a mission but you can behave in a Christian way with your friends and family.”
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Anger as youths seen urinating in holy well

A parish priest has personally witnessed three young men engaging in a disgusting act of desecration on a holy well in the grounds of his church in County Derry.

Father Frank O'Hagan said he was shocked to see the men urinate into the well at St Aidan's Church in Bellarena.

"The three young men drove into the car park at the church, they got out of the car and urinated straight into the well, he reported.

"They were watched by a number of young people tending graves in the graveyard, just above the well, Fr OHagan added.

He said the locals did not recognise the three lads so it was assumed they were not from the parish.

There is no indication who or what they were or why they were doing it."

Fr O'Hagan says that it was a disgusting and distasteful act, explaining that a lot of people come to the well to drink from it.

The PP emphasised that the parish immediately had the well flushed it out as a result of the incident.

"It's not something you would want to happen too often and it was not a very nice thing to do," he remarked.

We have taken no follow-up action other than to clean the well and the water quality is monitored by Limavady Borough Council because so many people drink from it."

Fr O'Hagan said that parishioners were advised of what happened in the weekly parish bulletin.

"Hopefully whoever did this will now realise that they were seen and that might put them off doing it again," he added.

Parishioner and local public representative Paddy Butcher said the entire parish was outraged. The well and the grave of St Aidan attract visitors from around the world, he remarked.

"My advice to the culprits is to call Fr O Hagan and make a full act of confession to receive forgiveness for their sin because this act of desecration will bring them nothing but misery in the life ahead of them."

A second councillor, Leslie Cubitt, said: the incident was "an absolute disgrace because tourists visit the well and a lot of people drink from it."

Tradition connects St Aidan with the area and the spring and well were dedicated to him in the seventh century.
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Divorce rate in Ireland hits 27 per cent, report indicates

Ireland 's marital breakdown rate has now hit 27.5 per cent, figures from the Courts Service Annual Report for 2008 indicate.

The report shows that there were 6,222 separations and divorces in 2008, an increase of 15.6 per cent from 2001, when there were 5,380 separations and divorces.

Of these, 4,257 were divorces, with 1,965 separations making up the difference.

This represents a 22 per cent increase in divorce since 2001, when there were 3,490 divorces.

Fifty-eight per cent of divorce proceedings are begun by women and 72 per cent of judicial separation figures are begun by women. This is in line with the international experience.

When compared to the 22,544 marriages which took place in 2007, the latest year for which such figures are available, the figures show a divorce rate of 18.8 per cent, with an overall marital breakdown rate of 27.5 per cent once separation figures are added in.

However, this is still likely to be an underestimate because many couples reach private separation agreements which are not recorded in the official figures.

The Court Report confirms a long term trend towards higher marital breakdown in Ireland. The 2006 Census showed that there had been a 500 per cent rise in marital breakdown since 1986 with over 200,000 people in Ireland now divorced or separated.

The 2006 figures showed that, calculated as a percentage of all the first marriages in the country, 13 per cent of people had experienced marital breakdown.

The 2008 figures also show that there were 857 custody and access orders made in the Circuit Court in respect of judicial separations and divorces. In the District Court, there were 1,243 such orders made.

There were 164 barring orders granted in the Circuit Court, with 1,251 granted in the District Court. There were 2,955 protection orders granted in the District Court, with 1,502 safety orders also granted in this court.

The District Court in 2008 also granted 445 interim barring orders.
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Anglican leader mulls two-track Communion

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has issued a lengthy response to the recent move by The Episcopal Church in the US to open its ordination process to all individuals, including practising homosexuals.

Dr Williams, spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, acknowledged the real possibility of the global body adopting a "two-track" model in which there would be "two styles of being Anglican".

Rather than a full-on schism, Anglicans in the 77 million-member body would try to work together while holding different theological convictions over such issues as homosexuality.

"It helps to be clear about these possible futures, however much we think them less than ideal, and to speak about them not in apocalyptic terms of schism and excommunication but plainly as what they are – two styles of being Anglican, whose mutual relation will certainly need working out but which would not exclude co-operation in mission and service of the kind now shared in the Communion," he wrote.

His reflections come nearly two weeks after The Episcopal Church approved two resolutions opening the ordination process to all baptised members, including practising homosexuals, and calling for the development of liturgical resources for the blessing of same-sex unions.

Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has insisted that the resolutions do not repudiate the Church's relationships with other members of the Anglican Communion – who agreed on moratoria on consecrating partnered gays and blessing same-sex unions.

But conservative Anglican leaders say the actions of The Episcopal Church – the US branch of Anglicanism – mark a clear break with the rest of the Communion.

While some conservatives argue that schism has already occurred within the third largest global Christian denomination, Dr Williams has continued to try and hold the global body together, particularly since 2003 when The Episcopal Church consecrated its first openly gay bishop.

He recognised that the US body's latest resolutions have again caused anxieties and conceded that the repeated request for moratoria "has clearly not found universal favour".

Anglicans have so far maintained a unified structure while containing diverse convictions, he said. But the present structures may need serious rethinking, he indicated.

Restructuring does not mean the end of the Anglican way, Dr Williams emphasised: "But the different needs and priorities identified by different parts of our family, and in the long run the different emphases in what we want to say theologically about the Church itself, are bound to have consequences."

He noted in his statement that any major changes, particularly in regards to views on homosexuality, require a strong level of consensus within the Anglican Communion and solid theological grounding considering the way "the Church has consistently read the Bible for the last 2,000 years".

Currently, the Communion has not agreed to any changes and most parts, particularly in the Global South, reject homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture.

"To accept without challenge the priority of local and pastoral factors in the case either of sexuality or of sacramental practice would be to abandon the possibility of a global consensus among the Anglican churches ... It would be to re-conceive the Anglican Communion as essentially a loose federation of local bodies with a cultural history in common, rather than a theologically coherent 'community of Christian communities,'" Dr Williams said.

Earlier this year, Dr Williams mentioned the possibility of the Anglican Communion turning into a federation considering the high levels of diversity. But he and other Anglican leaders are hoping to avoid that path with an Anglican Covenant – a document seeking to uphold the autonomy of the Communion’s 38 provinces while asking for their voluntary commitment to a process of joined-up deliberation to solve disputes over contentious issues.

The covenant, he explained, seeks "structures that will express the need for mutual recognisability, mutual consultation and some shared processes of decision-making." It is about mutual reasonability rather than centralisation, he stressed.

But taking into account those who may not sign on to the covenant, Dr Williams sees the "two-track" model as a possible future for Anglicans.

"It should not need to be said that a competitive hostility between the two would be one of the worst possible outcomes, and needs to be clearly repudiated," he said.

"The ideal is that both 'tracks' should be able to pursue what they believe God is calling them to be as Church, with greater integrity and consistency. It is right to hope for and work for the best kinds of shared networks and institutions of common interest that could be maintained as between different visions of the Anglican heritage."
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Vatican spokesman clarifies how pope fell

Pope Benedict XVI broke his wrist when he tripped in the dark looking for a light switch; he did not slip in the bathroom as reported earlier, the Vatican spokesman said.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, who was at the Vatican July 17 when the pope fell and underwent a surgical procedure to align the bones in the wrist, later joined the pope and his entourage at the Salesian-owned Alpine chalet in Les Combes, Italy, where the pope was staying July 13-29.

Father Lombardi, who initially had said the pope slipped in the bathroom, was asked July 27 for a fuller explanation of how the pope fell.

He told the Italian TV news channel Sky TG24: "It's very simple. The pope got up during the night in a dark room -- a room different from the one where he sleeps in Rome. He was moving around looking for the light switch, tripped on the leg of the bed, fell and hurt himself. That's all.

"The next day, it was swollen and still hurting. Nevertheless, the pope wanted to celebrate Mass. Then the doctors were called and they said it was best to go to the hospital," Father Lombardi said.

Just over a week later, X-rays showed the fracture was healing well.

The pope was expected to have his wrist in a cast until sometime during the week after the Aug. 15 feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
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Church to host rock festival in Lower Austria

The Lower Austrian Catholic Church will host the first "Key2life" rock festival from 28 to 30 August on Marchegg Palace grounds in Gänserndorf district.

"You" editor Michael Cech said today (Mon) the festival, to be held in cooperation with his magazine, would link religious belief and young people’s "feeling for life."

There will be prayers each morning and a religious service at midday each day during the festival, followed by concerts by 12 groups playing German rock and pop to hiphop and dance.

A three-day festival pass will cost 49 Euros, but day passes will also be available. Visitors can stay in a camp-ground near the festival site.

More information is available at www.key2life.at.
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Deference towards Church 'lost amid abuse scandals'

Children’s Minister Barry Andrews today insisted Irish people no longer have the deference towards the Catholic Church that allowed institutional child abuse to thrive for decades.

During emotional outbursts by abuse survivors at the launch of a Government plan to make sure the systemic torture can never again happen, Mr Andrews said there had been a sea change in society.

“I believe that we have come a long way,” he said.

“The deference that was at the core of the problem is no longer there.”

The Children’s Minister blamed an undue high regard for religious institutions and the State for allowing a decades-long cover-up of sickening abuse in church-run homes, schools and orphanages since the 1940s.

While victims generally welcomed the Government plan, some insisted it was too little too late.

Survivor Bernadette Fahy, who works with the Aislinn Centre for addicts, demanded to know why many inspections of children’s institutions are still announced in advance.

She called for abuse survivors to be put on inspection groups because they would know best the subtleties of how abused children are manipulated and silenced.

“When visits were announced we were left scrubbing and cleaning for weeks before the visit, put in a little dress for the day of the visit, the table set beautifully, and as soon as the inspectors left it was back to the grind,” she said.

Mr Andrews insisted announced visits are needed in some cases to make sure children and staff are available to be interviewed by inspectors.

Former Mayor of Clonmel Michael O’Brien, who revealed on national television how he was raped and beaten at St Joseph’s Industrial School in the Co Tipperary town, said the plan was no use unless officials listen to the abused.

“It’s too late to be doing something now, we should have been doing something years ago,” he blasted at the minister.

“I feel ashamed as a member of this state that something was not done years ago to protect the innocence of children.

“My God, we were known one time as saints and scholars – what are we known as now, I wonder?”

Christy Heaphy, who was repeatedly sexually abused at Greenmount Industrial School in Cork, run by the Presentation Brothers in the 1950s, called for the plan to be rigidly implemented.

“It has to be very, very strongly policed,” he urged.

“It really has to, because you can never, never be too careful where children are concerned.”

Paddy Doyle, who wrote the best-selling book 'The God Squad', which detailed his childhood experiences in a religiou