Bishops deny pushing school agenda

THE CATHOLIC bishops have rejected a contention that the programme to teach religion to pupils in community national schools was proposed and designed by the Catholic Church.

A report on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme last Thursday said new details had emerged about commitments given by the Department of Education to the Catholic Church about the teaching of religion in the new schools.

Based on documents released under the Freedom of Information Act, the report said the church was given guarantees that Catholic children in the schools would receive a full separate Catholic religious education, even though it was clear they would be in a minority.

Community national schools are multidenominational and are run by Vocational Education Committees. 

The first such schools opened in 2008.

In a statement responding to the RTÉ report, the Council for Education of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference said its representatives were invited to meet Department of Education officials on April 27th, 2007 as part of a consultation process concerning the new community schools.

At that meeting the church representation proposed “that teachers delivering religious instruction to Catholic students be duly qualified,” the bishops’ statement said.

The church had also proposed “that the curriculum dealing specifically with the religious instruction of Catholic children be in accordance with the provisions approved by the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference”. 

The actual programme in religious education was not discussed, the statement added.

The bishops recalled that the announcement of the new community national schools was welcomed by Bishop Leo O’Reilly, then chairman of the Bishops’ Commission for Education. 

He said: “We believe that it is important to accommodate the rights and needs of people of different faith backgrounds, and of none, to an education which reflects, as far as possible, their sincerely held convictions and values.”

Former general secretary of the Catholic Primary School Management Association Msgr Dan O’Connor told The Irish Times its policy was that “the minimum non-negotiable requirement” for new VEC-run multi-denominational primary schools would be “religious instruction and formation of the Catholic children by a qualified teacher”.

This was a recommendation by the association to the bishops in 2004, he said, and was repeated at a meeting with Department of Education officials on April 2nd, 2007.

Minutes of that meeting were among hundreds of documents released by the department and upon which the Morning Ireland report was based. 

They record that in November 2008, then minister for education Batt O’Keeffe “reaffirmed his commitment to provide a faith-specific religious education programme for Catholic pupils of the new community national schools whose parents opt for such a programme”.

Quinn backs school model despite religious concerns

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has backed the new type of state-run primary school despite concerns about religious teaching.

Community national schools will operate under the patronage of vocational education committees once the necessary law is passed.

But five are currently managed on a pilot basis by the VECs in counties Dublin, Kildare and Meath.

Mr Quinn announced this month that four of the 14 new primary schools to open this year and in 2013 will be community national schools.

But multi-denominational schools group Educate Together said the new model should not be expanded until concerns are addressed.

Its chief executive, Paul Rowe, said the design of the model was fundamentally flawed by the requirement for faith formation during school hours.

He said it is impossible to treat children equally as long as they are separated for religion classes or faith formation according to their beliefs. Mr Rowe called for the publication of evaluation reports that were to have been produced within the first five years of the pilot scheme.

His comments followed publication of Department of Education files, released to RTÉ News under the Freedom of Information Act. 

They show a commitment was made in 2008 by then education minister Batt O’Keeffe to Catholic bishops’ representatives, that a faith-specific religions education programme would be provided for Catholic pupils of the new school model if parents wanted it.

However, they also show that after concerns about segregation were raised, a different system was adopted in practice.

In community national schools, faith-specific classes are provided for Catholic, Muslim and Hindu pupils, if chosen by parents. 

But all children in the schools participate together in a multi-faith religion programme.

"While the minister was not in government when the model was approved, he is satisfied it is operating in an inclusive fashion which will allow it to grow and develop in accordance with the wishes of parents and communities," a spokesperson for Mr Quinn said.

When Fidel "interviewed" Benedict XVI

The much awaited and controversial face to face meeting between Benedict XVI and Fidel Castro  (who was wearing a dark coat, his neck covered and supported by his wife and children) did take place in the end. 

These two contemporaries - one nearly 86 and the other about to reach the age of 85 in three weeks – are worlds apart in terms of their personal life stories. 

“Now that I no longer have the responsibilities that come with governing, I spend a lot of time reading and reflecting. How do you still manage to carry out your service?” the Commander asked Joseph Ratzinger point-blank. 

The Pope replied: “I am old but I still manage to carry out my duty.” 

A sharp answer which reduced all rumours about his resignation to nothing.

 

The meeting will do nothing to fuel pro-Castro propaganda and neither will it weaken the dissidents’ battle as the Financial Times feared. 

Before returning to Rome, Joseph Ratzinger received Fidel Castro in the Apostolic Nunciature in Havana, in a gesture of humility and dialogue, in the interests of the Cuban Catholic Church which has been persecuted for half a century. 

A sign of respect to oppressed Catholics not a tribute to a declining despot. 

On the one hand was the “Maximum Leader” of the Cuban Revolution who remained in power for almost 50 years, from 1959 to 2008, before illness led him to hand over power definitively to his brother. 

On the other was the former Theology Professor who, in 1959, had just begun a teaching career in Bonn and who seven years later was to become the leader of the universal Church. 

Reaching the end of his life, the revolutionary atheist showed a keen interest in religious questions, “interrogating” Peter’s successor. 

He followed Benedict XVI’s apostolic visit on the television and noticed some variations in the liturgy since his younger days. So the Pope explained how mass had changed.

 

Fidel then showed enthusiasm at the prospect of Wojtyla and Mother Teresa’s (“benefactress of Cuba whom I worship”) beatification. Fidel asked the Pope for some books on faith and received three papal commemorative medals and the promise of future advice on reading material.

 

He was then informed about the Pope’s “field of work” and on the aim of papal trips, at which point the conversation turned to more general issues: the crisis, the role of science and the environment. 

The handshake between Benedict XVI and Cuba’s “Maximum Leader” marked the emotional and symbolic culmination of Benedict XVI’s papal mission to Latin America.

 

Right up until the last moment there had been some uncertainty as to whether the encounter was going to take place and on Tuesday it was postponed so as not to overshadow the Pope’s meeting with the current President Raúl Castro.

After this journey, the rumour about the Pope’s resignation is silenced (?)

“I am old but can still do my job”. 

The pope uttered these words during the meeting with Fidel in front of the cameras and this statement will put to rest the rumours which have been spreading for months about his possible resignation when he turns 85 (which will be soon) or at the end of the Year of The Faith in 2013. 

But the truth is that he means to carry on despite old age.

In the book length interview “Light of the World” two years ago the pope himself had mentioned the possibility of stepping down, which is allowed by Canon Law. 

“When a pope becomes clearly aware of not being able to physically, mentally and spiritually fulfil his role then he has the right and in some cases the duty to step down”. 

Pope Ratzinger wanted to share with these words his favourable opinion towards resignation in certain circumstances.

Last September however a rumour started going around in and out of the Vatican concerning a possible planned resignation, not connected with any debilitating disease. 

In the last weeks the theory has been rehashed by the director of Foglio, Giuliano Ferrara. 

“A pope who decides to step down” wrote Ferrara “because he believes he has a spiritual duty to support renewal and a fresh approach that does not invalidate his mandate, but actually adds worth to it, has indirectly the power to influence with more mettle and determination his succession”. 

Basically to resign can be a way for the pope to take centre stage and  re-launch the papacy as an institution which today is considered “weak and too “penitent” even by some important supporters”

Benedict XVI did consider resigning. To believe he will step down to renew the papacy as an institution and maybe influence his succession is far from pope Benedict’s sensitivity and from the Church tradition.

 
A pope, who about to turn 85, has the strength to spend a week visiting Mexico and Cuba, can still fulfil his role. Many believe that through vulnerability and calling for more humility the “penitent” pope Benedict XVI is manifesting his prophetic strength in today’s world.

Vatican Leaks Raise Questions Over Finances

The Vatican has launched a rare criminal investigation to uncover who is behind leaks of highly sensitive documents that allege corruption and financial mismanagement in Vatican City.

The documents also shed light on purported infighting over the Vatican Bank's compliance with international money-laundering regulations.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, 70, is the new papal nuncio, or ambassador, to the United States. He complained of corruption in the Vatican before he was assigned to his new post. 

A television show in late January on an independent network first revealed letters addressed last year to Pope Benedict XVI from the then-deputy governor of Vatican City, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano.

Vigano complained of corruption within the church and protested orders to remove him from his post and send him to be the papal nuncio, or ambassador, to Washington.

Under Vigano's watch, the Holy See balance sheet went from $10 million in the red to almost $45 million in the black in just 12 months.

By being kicked upstairs, Vigano wrote, his efforts to clean up the Vatican would be stopped and would also tarnish the pontiff's image by bringing into question his resolve to establish transparency inside the Vatican.

The TV program later broadcast an interview with a man it said was a Vatican insider who had leaked some of the documents.

The man, whose face and voice were disguised, said he was motivated by anger "because there is a complicity of silence in the Vatican to prevent the truth from coming out."

A second round of leaked documents focused on financial mismanagement.

A Previous Banking Scandal

The Vatican Bank was enmeshed in scandals 30 years ago involving allegations of money-

laundering and mafia connections.

Today, it wants to join the list of countries that share financial information. That would help rid the Holy See of its reputation for shady transactions and as a tax haven.

The U.S. State Department has put the Vatican on a list of countries of concern for money laundering or other financial crimes.

Robert Mickens, correspondent for the Catholic weekly The Tablet, says the Vatican Bank is run with great secrecy.

"You know, like a Swiss bank account, hiding funds," Mickens says. "It's suspicion, but many of the regulators think it is well-founded suspicion."

Italian authorities are investigating the origin of $33 million in Vatican funds deposited in Italian banks. 

The Italian media have reported that JP Morgan Chase is closing the Vatican Bank's account with its Milan branch because it felt the Holy See had failed to provide sufficient data on money transfers.

Updating Vatican Laws

Last year, under orders from the pope, the Vatican passed internal legislation to bring it in line with international standards to prevent money laundering.

But one of the leaked documents claims the Vatican Bank is sidestepping full compliance with international regulations concerning past transactions.

The Vatican has never denied the authenticity of the various leaked documents.

But Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi reacted angrily on Vatican Radio.

"The U.S. government had Wikileaks, the Vatican now has its leaks," Lombardi said. "They create confusion and bewilderment, showing the Vatican and the Catholic Church in a bad light. Reporters should use reason — something not everyone in the media tends to do."

Veteran Vatican analyst Marco Politi says, "These Vatileaks are the sign of a deep crisis within the government of the pope."

He says the leaks do not reflect a dispute between liberals and conservatives within the Church, but rather a deep malaise over Benedict's governance.

"He has not the sense of the government, of the leadership, he has no geopolitical vision, there have been so many crises in his papacy like it never happened in the last 100 years of other popes," Politi says.

The Vatican has opened three separate investigations into the leaks, including a criminal probe. 

But it's unclear what punishment those responsible would face.

And a public trial could pose a severe challenge for a 2,000-year-old institution accustomed to secrecy.

Vatican Cancels Stem-Cell Conference After Scientists Refuse to Be Censored

The church has canceled a stem-cell conference after scientists refuse to censor themselves. 

The Catholic Church has never had a particularly easy relationship with science.  

After all, this is the institution that sentenced Galileo Galilei as a heretic for his theories on the universe during the Roman Inquisition. 

Two thousand years later, the church forgave Galileo and called the whole misunderstanding a “tragic mutual incomprehension” but it remains safe to say the Vatican doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to empirical open-mindedness.

So onlookers were surprised when the Vatican announced it would be hosting a global conference on the highly controversial issue of stem-cell research in Rome over four days in late April.

The church held a similar conference in 2010 and 2011, which focused on its recommendation that stem-cell research should be limited to adult cells that can be harvested from live donors, not embryonic cells that destroy the source.

But this year’s conference schedule featured some of the world’s foremost experts in embryonic research as keynote speakers - leading some scientists to think that the Vatican might actually be looking for enlightenment on the topic.

That was not exactly the case.

Instead, the Vatican seems to have hoped that by including embryonic researchers in the program, it would appear that these scientists actually endorsed the Vatican’s stance.

It might have worked to some extent, but after some of the speakers declined to censor their speeches, the Vatican abruptly canceled the conference altogether.

According to the conference website, the event was canceled due to “serious economic and logistic-organizational reasons that have completely jeopardized the success of the 3rd International Congress on Responsible Stem Cell Research.”

The scientists who were planning to attend say they are being stifled instead. “I think the only interpretation is that we are being censored,” Alan Trounson, president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine in San Francisco, said in a statement.

“It is very disappointing that they are unwilling to hear the truth.”

Just what was the Vatican thinking?

Inviting embryonic stem-cell researchers to a conference and then denying them the right to talk about their field of expertise was a major gamble.

Had the speakers agreed to avoid reference to embryonic research, it would have given the disingenuous impression that they endorse the Holy See’s recommendation on adult stem-cell research only.

Did the Vatican really think they could control the scientific community?

Apparently so.

Father Scott Borgman of the Pontifical Academy for Life, which co-organized the conference, had reportedly asked the speakers to limit their discussions to adult stem-cell research only.

George Daly, a leading embryonic researcher with the Children’s Hospital in Boston, says he was actually told not to make embryonic research - his field of expertise - a focal point of his talk. 

When he told Borgman that he would still be touching on the topic in a historical context, higher-ups in the Vatican reportedly panicked.

“I had been encouraged to think that the Congress would be a forum for discussion of many areas of common interest to the Vatican and stem cell scientists, regardless of the disagreements over embryonic stem cells,” Daly told The Daily Beast.

“We should all agree that clinical trials of new medical treatments based on stem cells should proceed according to rigorous principles to ensure patients are kept as safe as possible and free from exploitation. And we should all agree that premature claims of therapeutic efficacy and direct marketing of unproven interventions to vulnerable patients is a threat to legitimate attempts to develop experimental stem cell medicines.”

With the cancelation of the event, discourse between the two diverse entities will not have a venue.

One Vatican official told the Catholic News Service that many of the Vatican’s leaders were secretly glad the conference failed.

“I am infinitely relieved that the church has avoided a major blunder which would have confused the faithful for decades to come,” the unnamed source said.

 “The Holy Spirit has certainly shown to be present through those faithful members who drew attention to the ambiguity of the choice of speakers. I hope and pray that a review will be affected of the basis on which these congresses are planned.”

Some stem-cell researchers are also relieved the conference won’t go on.

“I personally am very uncomfortable with a scientific meeting run by a church, and one at which only certain types of science and scientists are allowed to attend,” blogged Paul Knoepfler, an associate professor of Cell Biology and Human Anatomy at UC Davis School of Medicine who blogs about stem cell research at IPCell.com.

“Also I can’t help but wonder, what would be the reaction if someone like Daley spent a few minutes of his talk discussing his embryonic cell research in a very nonconfrontational way? Would he be tasered or drop through some trap door straight to Hell?”

Still, Knoepfler was hopeful. “I view the canceled Vatican stem-cell meeting as a missed opportunity for a very much needed, open dialogue about stem cells,” he told The Daily Beast.

“More specifically, I believe the reasons for the cancellation reflect an anti-scientific attitude by the highest level of Vatican leaders. More simply put, the attitude might be summed up by the phrase ‘If you do not think like us, you are not welcome at our meeting, and we’ll go so far as to cancel the whole thing to avoid your presence.’”

The Vatican stands by its decision to cancel the controversial conference as having a purely business motive.

But at the last conference, the Catholic Church didn’t seem to have the same worries.

They even donated $1 million to the conservative American research firm Neostem, which promised to use only adult stem cells for projects funded by the Vatican’s scientific partnership.

“The Vatican wants Catholics to know that not all stem cell research is a sin,” they said at the time in a joint statement with Neostem.

But it seems clear that not all those inside the Vatican agree on just what is sinful research. Canceling the conference may actually underscore an obvious divide within the church itself on the topic.

“It is not surprising that there is a diversity of opinions on embryonic stem cells in the Vatican because the same is true of different peoples around the world, including here in the U.S. where Americans, including Catholics, in most polls are narrowly in favor of embryonic stem-cell research, Knoepfler told The Daily Beast.

“Its more significant consequence will be the Vatican having a greatly reduced potential influence in the stem-cell field with no one to blame but itself.”

Peacemaker - No peace without Fr Reid

There would have been no peace deal in the North without the heroic efforts of Redemptorist priest Fr Alec Reid. 

The powerful assessment of his role in the peace process was revealed in a new documentary to be screened by RTÉ this past weekend.

 

Fr Reid, who has consistently played down his vital role, was described by Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams as the ‘midwife’ of the peace process while Clonard Monastery in West Belfast served as the ‘cradle’ of peace.

Dr Martin Mansergh, who served as a key link between the Government and the paramilitaries, gave his view that “Fr Reid was the most important person in the entire peace process”.

The revealing documentary, entitled The Secret Peacemaker, shed new light on Fr Reid’s role in convincing the Provisional IRA to give up their armed campaign and enter negotiations as well as his role in supervising the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons.

Now 80 and in declining health, Fr Reid also revealed the story behind one of the most devastatingly horrific images of the conflict when two soldiers were beaten and murdered in West Belfast in 1988.

Fr Reid recalled how he was threatened to be shot dead as he huddled beside the soldiers to protect them and later anointed their bodies after they had been murdered.

"I simply say, ‘I represent the next person to be killed. That’s who I represent,” he says of his role in ending violence. The peace we have now is the Lord’s answer. It’s a miracle what we have."

US welcomes pope visit, defends Cuba embargo

The United States on Thursday welcomed Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Cuba as a way to promote human rights but defended its half-century embargo against the island from the pontiff's criticism.

"We obviously welcome his visit to Cuba," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters after the 84-year-old leader of the Roman Catholic Church ended his visit to the Communist island and longtime US nemesis.

"It was a good opportunity for him to deliver a message of religious freedom and human rights to the Cuban government and we believe those messages were obviously conveyed in his conversations with Cuban leaders," Toner said.

The pope called for respect for "basic freedoms" during his visit to Cuba, in which he led an open-air mass in Havana's Revolution Square and met revolutionary icon Fidel Castro.

The pope also criticized the US economic embargo, saying that such "restrictive economic measures imposed from outside the country unfairly burden its people."

Toner said that the United States has been "quite clear why we have the embargo in place."

"Our Cuba policy is focused on improving relations between the American people and the Cuban people. We've taken steps to that end to prove that kind of... cooperation," Toner said.

The United States kept its embargo on Cuba since 1962, three years after Fidel Castro's revolution overthrew a US-backed government. The embargo enjoys strong support from many Cuban Americans.

President Barack Obama has eased some measures, including by making it easier for Cuban Americans to visit relatives on the island, and said he would be ready to change the policy if he sees evidence of reform.

The Vatican is a ‘cold house’ for liberal Catholics (Comment)

It has been ironically said that the three greatest lies in human history are “the cheque is in the post”, “of course I’ll still love you in the morning”, and “we’re from head office, we are here to help you”.

So the Irish Catholic hierarchy must have felt some trepidation akin to that felt by teachers when a whole-school evaluation is in the offing, after Pope Benedict announced in March 2010 that he was sending apostolic visitors to Ireland to examine church institutions.

The announcement came in the wake of the publication of the Murphy Report in December 2009 after which the Pope had summoned the bishops to Rome to account for their stewardship.

The report was a devastating indictment of the archdiocese of Dublin. 

It revealed the horrifying extent of the sexual abuse of children by clerics in the diocese and multiple cover-ups by successive superiors.

The report was a culmination of over a decade of similar revelations that indicated there was something rotten at the heart of Irish Catholicism.

By 2009 the bishops were shell-shocked, beleaguered and divided. 

The impenetrable façade of public episcopal unanimity that had characterised the Irish hierarchy since the late 19th century had shattered like the scramble for life boats on the ‘Titanic’. 

It was every man for himself. 

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, the church leader most trusted by abuse victims because of his passionate understanding of their pain seemed isolated from his colleagues.

In the leisurely manner that prevails in the Vatican it took a year for a team of apostolic visitors to be assembled and come to Ireland. 

They spent several weeks here last year, visiting church institutions and talking to individuals and groups.

Last Tuesday week their report was published. 

Well, not really. 

It is disappointing that all we got is a seven-page summary.

It is as if the report of the Mahon Tribunal was confined to an executive summary.

The most positive thing the apostolic visitors have to say is their commendation of the stringent guidelines that now govern the protection of children in the Irish Catholic Church. 

There is however, no acknowledgment of the Vatican’s own role in previous failures. 

The visitors praise especially the work of the “National Board for safeguarding children in the Catholic Church” and advises that “it should continue to receive sufficient personnel and funding.”

For the church in Ireland this has been a steep learning curve whose summit has not yet been fully reached. 

There are still some clerics who claim privately that the crisis in the main is a creation of the liberal media.

There has however, been significant progress since the 1990s. 

Then the church’s response to sexual abuse cases was shrouded in secrecy and dominated by the paramount desire to protect the good name of the church. 

Anyone criticising this approach was seen as a disloyal fomenter of low morale among the clergy.

The visitors proposals for reform in the Irish church are couched in conservative terms, a return to the spiritual and theological cartography of the past. 

This is not surprising. 

Pope Benedict has a jaundiced view of the insights of the Second Vatican Council which pronounced an open and dialogical church. 

The visitors were chosen on the basis of orthodoxy rather than imagination.

They propose a return to the rigid and enclosed model of seminary training that existed up to the Second Vatican Council. 

Contact with the outside world is seen as a kind of contamination.
 

I believe that this is a retrograde step. 

Students for the priesthood in Ireland are now few in number. 

They are usually rigidly pious and theologically conservative. 

I reckon they require regular exposure to secular reality rather than incarceration in a spiritual ghetto even if that is where they prefer to be. 

Should these students be eventually ordained they will have to minister in a complex world, not an incense-filled cocoon.

The visitors have a cut at liberal Irish catholics for holding ”theological opinions at variance with the teaching of the Magisterium”. 

According to them we are not following the “authentic path” of church renewal.

How can they know that? 

I think it an arrogant assumption. 

Liberal catholics, like myself, hope for a church that opens the priesthood to married men and women, that revises the position of contraception in “Humanae Vitae” and that reverses the harsh insensitivity of its teaching on homosexuality. 

Many of us have come to our views as a result of honest and honourable reflection. 

The Vatican is a “cold house” for us but we do expect respect for our freedom of conscience.

Sometimes it seems to me that the Vatican’s vision of an ideal Catholic community is an assembly of Rick Santurom lookalikes.

Polish community in Britain appeals against exhumation of Divine Mercy priest

A BID to block plans to exhume the remains of a Catholic priest in Henley is being heard by the Court of Appeal.

Father Jozef Jarzebowski’s remains are interred at Fawley Court, which used to be owned the Marian Fathers, an order of Polish priests to which he belonged. 

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke granted a licence for the bones to be moved to a cemetery after a clause in the mansion’s sale said the order would lose up to £3.5 million off the agreed price if the remains were not removed. But members of the Polish community claim that Father Jozef, a former teacher and now candidate for beatification, should be left undisturbed in his chosen resting place. 

The appeal is being brought by Elzbieta Rudewicz, a distant relative of the priest.

Her lawyers, led by Michael Fordham QC, argued that Mr Clarke’s decision is an unjustified violation of her human rights and those of supporters in the Polish emigré community. Mr Fordham said legal authority meant there was a “presumption” that a body buried in the Christian tradition would stay where it was laid to rest.

The Justice Secretary’s decision to grant the exhumation licence was challenged unsuccessfully in the High Court last year.

Lady Justice Hallett dismissed the accusation that the application to move the remains was for “mercenary” reasons, related to the terms of sale of the property.

She said the decision would allow the remains to be reunited with other members of his order in death and the public could have access to his grave.

Mr Fordham argued it was wrong for Mr Clarke to rely on the issue of ease of public access to visit the grave as a reason justifying the remains being moved.

He said: “While it is true that there were letters expressing a desire to visit the grave at Fawley Court, none was in favour of exhumation in order that access could be improved. Had they been, objectors to the licence would instead have been supporters."

“It was unjustified and unreasonable for the Secretary of State to rely on public views which resisted relocation to a publicly-accessible cemetery as though they supported it.

“The question was whether to grant a licence and allow relocation of the priest’s remains in the interests of public access. The objectors favoured public access, but not at the cost of relocation."

Lawyers for Mr Clarke argued that the relocation of the remains was supported by senior members of the Marian Fathers in Poland and Rome and the Bishop of Nottingham, Peter Doyle.

They said Mr Clarke had taken account of the objections and was entitled to make his own decision about whether to allow the exhumation.

The court will give a decision later.

Scottish churches move to combat metal theft

Increasing numbers of Scotland's churches are being robbed of thousands of pounds worth of metal.

More than 30 metal thefts have been reported at Church of Scotland properties across the country since last September - a rate of more than one a week.

With organised metal thieves turning to churches at an alarming rate, congregations are being urged to take action to prevent their buildings from being targeted.

To help them, the Church of Scotland Insurance Company (COSIC) is providing risk management support for congregations through a new agreement with SmartWater Technology Ltd.

Under the agreement, Church Scheme Insurance policy holders will receive a free SmartWater starter kit containing a supply of SmartWater forensic solution and deterrent signage.

Smartwater marks metals with a forensic signature that glows under UV light, allowing police to link a thief or handler of stolen goods to a particular crime.

So far nearly 500 churches have signed up to take advantage of this offer.

David Robertson, Secretary to the General Trustees of the Church of Scotland, said the incidents of metal theft are occurring primarily in the central belt, as well as Dundee and Aberdeen.

“In the last few years we have seen a steep rise in the number of churches being targeted by metal thieves," he said.

“It is not a victimless crime and the impact and cost of metal theft is not limited to replacing what has been stolen. Removing material from a church roof, for example, can lead to further damage to the structure and leave it more vulnerable to problems such as flooding.”

COSIC has traditionally not offered cover for metal theft, but changed its policy after the rise in incidents.

As of 2013, non-ferrous metals will be included in the Church Scheme Policy, covering churches up to a maximum of £25,000.

Kevin Roberts, Chief Executive of COSIC, said an integrated approach was needed to mitigate the risk. SmartWater, a proven deterrent against metal theft, forms an important element in this.

He advised congregations to keep an eye out for unknown vehicles, ask neighbours to watch out for suspicious activity, limit vehicle access out-of-hours, ensure scaffolding and other items to access the property are secured, and work closely with the local police.

"It is apparent that as a crime metal theft is becoming more systematic and the perpetrators more organised," he said.

“Congregations should be vigilant at all times."

High Court defers decision on Christian radio case

The High Court in London has deferred a decision on a Christian advert blocked by a radio regulatory body.

The Radio Advertising Clearance Centre (RACC) refused to give the go ahead for a radio advert by Premier Christian Radio that invited Christians to report their experiences of marginalisation in the workplace.

The advert quoted from surveys showing that 60% of Christians felt marginalised in the workplace.

Premier had intended to air the advert in the run-up to the General Election but the RACC objected on the grounds that it had a political motive and it was prohibited by the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport.

The owners of the radio station, London Christian Radio and Christian Communications Partnership, challenged the decision and were granted a judicial review at the end of last year.

Responding to Tuesday’s High Court decision, Premier chief executive Peter Kerridge said: “The case raises important issues of fundamental rights of freedom of expression for Christians to report to us their experiences in the workplace. We are pleased with the way in which the case is progressing. His Honour Judge Silber listened carefully to the legal arguments put forward by Premier Christian Radio and will now consider his decision in the full knowledge that this is a very important case for Premier, RACC and the UK Government.”

Archbishop warns against welfare dependency

The Archbishop of Canterbury has warned that communities are not helped by a dependency on welfare.

Addressing the Welsh Assembly, Dr Rowan Williams said that the challenge was to find a balance between statutory provision and local initiative.

He said that society should not assume that all problems can be solved “top down from the state, because that is no more faithful or helpful to community than anything else”.

The Archbishop suggested that a mutual taking of responsibility “pushes back at a passive welfarism”.

“That is, an assumption that the state is a provider of solutions and solver of all problems,” he said.

While the achievements of public welfare in Britain have been “enormous”, the Archbishop said there was “some substance” to suspicions about welfarism.

“There is a problem about dependency, there is a problem about assuming somebody else resolves the problems, and there is certainly a problem about centralised state provision as the solution to everything," he said.

“And those who have recently, from both left and right, pointed out that welfarism is not good news for those who want a mutually responsible, active and creative community, have not been wrong.”

 

Instead, the Archbishop suggested a model for community in which people take responsibility for each other. This, he said, represented a community “in the fullest sense”.

Bishops deny Community National Schools’ programme designed by Church

The Bishops’ Council for Education has rejected claims made in a report on the teaching of religion in Community National Schools on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland radio programme, which suggested that the education programme was proposed and designed by the Catholic Church.

The report broadcast on RTÉ Radio on Thursday morning said details had emerged in documents released under the Freedom of Information Act concerning commitments given by the Department of Education to the Catholic Church about the teaching of religion in the new, multi-denominational schools.

In 2007, the then Minister for Education Mary Hanafin announced a new kind of primary school called the Community National Schools.  

These schools would be run by Vocational Education Committees and would educate children from all religious backgrounds in their individual faiths as well as catering for children of no faith.

This novel approach to catering to diversity in religious education required negotiations from all the relevant faith stakeholders, as well as the Department of Education and parents.  

For Catholic children it meant they would be prepared for Communion and Confirmation during school hours.

The first two of these schools opened in Dublin in 2008.  

There are now five such schools in Dublin and its commuter-belt. More are planned in the future. 

The RTÉ report claimed the Bishops’ representatives were given guarantees that Catholic children in the schools would receive separate Catholic religious education.

In their statement issued on Thursday evening, the Bishops’ Council for Education said its representatives were invited to meet Department of Education officials on April 27 2007 as part of a consultation process concerning the new community schools.  

Officials from the Department indicated that the Community National Schools would serve the whole community.

The schools would serve parents who wish to have their children receive religious instruction and parents who do not wish their children to receive such.  

“Provision for religious instruction would be made during the school day,” the Bishops' representatives recalled.

The Bishops’ Commission proposed that teachers delivering religious instruction to Catholic students be duly qualified and that the curriculum dealing specifically with the religious instruction of Catholic children be in accordance with the provisions approved by the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

They say the actual programme in religious education was not discussed.

According to RTÉ, the Department of Education went ahead with the plan to separate children according to their religion despite a warning from its own curriculum development agency, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) that such a move, “ran counter to research on how children settled and built a foundation for success at school.”

The NCCA also told the then Minister for Education, Batt O'Keeffe, “Integration is vital for a child's well-being and successful learning.”

However, the Department signalled the need for draft proposals to make provision for the preparation for Communion and Confirmation of Catholic children during the school day and indicated that this would necessitate separation of Catholic children in order to provide for this.

According to RTÉ, the Department told the NCCA that aspects of its draft programme could, “unsettle some of the key players.”

The Marino Institute in Dublin was then brought in by the Department to develop a draft programme and it is this programme that is currently being used in the five Community National Schools.  

When the new Community National Schools were finally announced by the Department of Education and Skills in December 2007, it was welcomed by the Catholic Bishops.

Bishop Leo O’Reilly, who was then Chairman of the Commission for Education, said the Church welcomed, "choice and diversity within the national education system.”

He added, "We believe that it is important to accommodate the rights and needs of people of different faith backgrounds, and of none, to an education which reflects, as far as possible, their sincerely held convictions and values.”

Bishops to remain in House of Lords

Bishops should keep their seats in the House of Lords, a committee of MPs and peers recommends.

According to the BBC, the Joint Committee on House of Lords Reform also recommends that the number of bishops in the House of Lords should be reduced from 26 to 12.

If the recommendation is accepted by the Government, it will continue a tradition in British politics going back 700 years.

Secularists are campaigning for the removal of bishops from the Lords on the basis that they do not reflect British society and are undemocratic.

At the Church of England’s General Synod in February, the Bishop of Leicester defended bishops in the House of Lords, saying that they were a “key voice” for social justice and the poor.

The Rt Rev Tim Stevens said that beyond the Lords spiritual, the voices speaking up for the poor in Parliament were “few and far between”.

 

Plans to reform the House of Lords into a largely elected second chamber are due to be published by the Government in May.

Vanderbilt University policy forces Catholic group off campus

A Catholic student group says it will leave the Vanderbilt University campus at the end of the year over  a controversial school policy which bars the group from requiring its leaders to be Catholic.

“The discriminatory non-discrimination policy at Vanderbilt University has forced our hand,” Vanderbilt Catholic chaplain Father John Sims Baker said in a March 26 statement.

“Our purpose has always been to share the Gospel and proudly to proclaim our Catholic faith. What other reason could there be for a Catholic organization at Vanderbilt?” he asked. “How can we say it is not important that a Catholic lead a Catholic organization?”

Student groups cannot require their leaders to have specific religious beliefs under the university’s non-discrimination policy, The Nashville Tennesean reported. Groups must be open to all students and must allow every student member to run for office.

Leaders of Vanderbilt Catholic said that cannot comply with the rule and have decided to become an independent off-campus ministry.

“We are a faith-based organization,” five leaders from the group’s student board said in a March 25 letter, arguing that affirming the policy would be “to lie” to the university.

“A Catholic student organization led by someone who neither professes the Catholic faith nor strives to live it out would not be able to serve its members as an authentically Catholic organization.”

Beth Fortune, vice chancellor for public affairs at Vanderbilt, said in a statement to The Tennessean that school officials “regret, but respect, their decision.” 

Fortune said the university believes the “vast majority” of its over 400 registered student groups will comply with the policy “easily.”

Vanderbilt Catholic is one of the largest student religious groups at the university. It allows non-Catholics to be members, though not leaders.

“It has become quite clear to the Vanderbilt Catholic students that we either stand for something or fall for anything,” Fr. Baker said. “We choose to stand for Jesus Christ, and we expect that our leadership to do the same.”

He pledged that the organization will “make a greater effort to reach out to all Vanderbilt students and all college students in Nashville.”

Registered campus student organizations receive many benefits. 

They may use the Vanderbilt University name and may use university meeting rooms and facilities for free or reduced rate. 

They also receive free organizational consulting and training from administrators, the university’s website reports.

They are eligible to apply for funding from various campus sources. Registered organizations have access to free publicity in publications and may use campus bulletin boards and kiosks to promote organizational activities.

The Christian Legal Society and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes have also opposed the university’s policy.

Trish Harrison, campus minister for the Graduate Christian Fellowship, said her group can’t sign the non-discrimination policy “in good conscience,” The Tennessean reports.

The group’s leadership has not decided whether to try to register without signing the policy.

The Vanderbilt Baptist Collegiate Fellowship, affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention, will apply for registered status as it allows anyone to be a member or apply for a leadership position.

Twenty-three members of Congress signed an Oct. 6 letter in opposition to the policy, saying it is “common sense” for a student group to select leaders that best represent its mission.

Vanderbilt University reexamined adherence to its policy after a November 2010 incident in which the Christian fraternity Beta Upsilon Chi asked an openly homosexual member to resign. 

The member filed a discrimination complaint against the group, prompting the university to investigate.

Eucharistic Congress 2012 - Prayer

 

 

Lord Jesus,
You were sent by the Father
to gather together those who are scattered.

You came among us, doing good and bringing healing,
announcing the Word of salvation
and giving the Bread which lasts forever.

Be our companion on life’s pilgrim way.

May your Holy Spirit inflame our hearts,
enliven our hope and open our minds,
so that together with our sisters and brothers in faith
we may recognise you in the Scriptures
and in the breaking of bread.

May your Holy Spirit transform us into one body
and lead us to walk humbly on the earth,
in justice and love,
as witnesses of your resurrection.

In communion with Mary,
whom you gave to us as our Mother
at the foot of the cross,
through you
may all praise, honour and blessing be to the Father
in the Holy Spirit and in the Church,
Now and forever.

Amen