Austen Ivereigh: "The Crisis of Clericalism"

Austen Ivereigh whose girlfriend had an abortion while he was an undergraduate at Oxford (which he says he attempted to waylay) and who impregnated another woman with whom he was unmarried during his work as a PR Man for Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, insists that the Catholic Church has little capacity for self reform. One could wonder whether or not he was actually talking about himself, since his previous behavior indicates a strong sign of reluctance to reform, as he writes:

Like all powerful institutions, the Church has little capacity to reform itself, but it can embrace purgation as an opportunity for change. As the crisis spreads from country to country, one after another the hierarchies will be bewildered by the onslaught and anger. Some will blame the media for its often crude and misleading reports, others will retreat more tightly into their bunkers, others will point out (correctly) that clerical abuse has nothing to do with celibacy or an all-male priesthood. Some will have the courage to recognise that it is, however, a consequence of a culture of clericalism which still prevails, an attitude that places concern for a priest's reputation above the welfare of a child, and a mindset that leads to dissident theologians being prosecuted more swiftly than abusers of children.

It wouldn't be for us to mention any of this about Mr. Ivereigh's poor moral character, except that he wanted to point out what he calls the Church's inabillity to reform itself, and his insistence that the scandal is a result of anything but what truly ails it, that it suffers from a "Clerical Culture". Perhaps a barb aimed at his former employer? But no, a man who could defend an organization as readily as he did while flaunting its moral teachings, is unlikely to find fault where it belongs. Like Noonan, Weigel and other ecclesiastical mouthpieces, either self-appointed or not, he struggles and fails in his own regard in his ability to self-reform, but he also fails in another regard, that he fails to appreciate the divine nature of the Institution he once defended and says he's continuing to defend by his written word.

It might be good that he feels enough sympathy to report the sufferings of the Church in the French Revolution and in the 20th Century at the hands of Revolutionaries of all kinds. He's wrong incidentally to underrate the persecution of the Church in Latin America in the 19th Century, but his condescending tone is reminiscent of other writers, wielding their pen and attempting to defend her with faint praise, while jumping on the bandwagon, either for motives of malice at their own personal moral failures and lack of integrity as Iveriegh does, or in terms of their deeper-seated philosophical impediments like Noonan and Weigel, who are so Hegelian, they will never be able to look beyond their poorly chosen allegiances to truly defend the Church; they will always be cynics who are too intelligent, really, for the "obscurantist" and "irreformable" leadership and culture of the Catholic Religion. Their barely concealed antagonism to the Catholic Faith nay see them in future, belonging to more palatable protestant sects.

Austen Ivereigh's, The Crisis of Clericalism....

h/t: wrigleys

Weigel Defends (Neocons) Pope

As Zoe Romanovsky reports, Weigel gets praise from America Magazine. If he gets praise, it might have to do with he fact that Weigel echoes the tired anti-clerical language of Liberal Catholics, but invokes it to praise the person of the Holy Father, if not the institution of the Papacy, how masonic...

Really, George Weigel is a Hegelian statist who likes the idea of religion, even if he does find its deeper claims and political aspirations distasteful.

Like Peggy Noonan, a careerist, "defending" the Catholic Church, perhaps, more like Grima Wormtoungue in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings: these flatterers leave much to be desired in the league of sincerity, but owe everything to their status as infighters and journalistic schemers:

To be sure, the Catholic Church ought to hold itself to a higher moral standard than other similarly situated institutions. But after too long a period of denial, the Catholic Church is now at the forefront of combating the sexual abuse of the young in the United States. And no one in the church has done more, over the last decade, to compel the sclerotic institutional culture [Wow, somebody's mad that he doesn't have the free access he enjoyed when John Paul II was in power] of the Vatican to face these problems than Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI.

These are the facts. [No, these are your impressions] Thus the concern naturally arises, on this Easter, that those who continue to portray Catholicism as a global conspiracy of sexual predators are indulging in the last acceptable prejudice, anti-Catholicism, while aiming at nothing less than the destruction of the Catholic Church's credibility as a global moral teacher.

From InsideCatholic:

Read the article already...

The Archbishop of Canterbury eats his words

With very interesting comments from Shane:

Like every other western country, the Church has been declining here, with ever increasing rapidity, since the 1960s. The impact of the abuse scandals is easily overblown; I think more people are worried about their jobs.

Almost all priestly abuse is historic. Only 2 priests in Ireland have been convicted for sexual abuse offences committed within the last 20 years.

I am the first to argue that the bishops have been scapegoated to an alarming degree and that Cardinal Brady’s actions have been much misrepresented. But that does not account for the lethargic incompetence the Irish episcopacy displays in the discharge of their duties. In the old days, in a mostly rural Ireland, it was common for priests to be personally well-acquainted with all, or most, of their parishioners. The old communal tribal ties which knitted society together have since become untangled, and with them, the very nature of how priests relate to their parishioners. In the early-to-mid 60s Archbishop McQuaid got very hurt when newspaper columnists, in the liberal fervour of the times, suddenly took it upon themselves to criticize him in often venomous language. This was a new experience for him, and he didn’t know quite how to react [previously anti-Catholicism was most forcefully expressed in the Irish Times, then the newspaper of the Protestant minority]. Often he would stir in his room for many hours in sullen dismay. The confusion that set in during this time, on the relationship between the church and the media, has never been conclusively settled.

Mc Quaid’s replacement, Dermot Ryan, epitomized the class of ‘new priests’ appointed to bishoprics in the 70s. Perceived as revolutionary at the time, they are now the Church Establishment. Everywhere you look in the Irish Church, you see them. McQuaid had previously dismissed Ryan from teaching at Clonliffe seminary because he was allegedly teaching modernism to the seminarians. Ryan’s appointment to the see of Dublin was seen as a political statement by the Vatican. Ryan had a powerful friend in the papal nuncio Gaetano Alibrandi, and under the influence of the two, and by the careful appointment of preferred bishops to dioceses, the Irish Church was reconstructed into what it is today. The chair of the Dublin Council of Priests was on a TV discussion panel a few months ago to discuss the contents of the Murphy Report. He expressed amusement at the audience’s media-imbibed tendency to protray bishops like Donal Murray as paragons of reaction, remarking that when he in the seminary these prelates were seen as the ‘new priests’, whose cool outgoing ‘pastoral’ nature contrasted with the relics of obscurantism they were supplanting. This was supposed to be a new dawn for the church, but the church disintegrated in the interim because clergy kept changing what the church meant.

As a recent editorial in Church & State noted:

So the Pope came [in 1979 - shane] and he was received with mindless adulation, lay and clerical, with only two noticeable expressions of dissent — this magazine and the Bishop of Cork, who is now taken to be a by-word for obscurantist reaction, Con Lucey.

The Taoiseach was Cork City politician Jack Lynch, who had won an overall majority in 1977 in an election campaign which was unusually Catholic clericalist for Fianna Fail. But, two years later, the Pope did not visit the second city in the state because the Bishop did not invite him. And, some time later, Lucey retired and went off to be a missionary in Africa. He did not ever explain his failure to invite the Pope to Cork, but it is not hard to see a reason for it.

Vatican 2 Catholicism undermined and trivialised the earnest Catholicism of Pius IX on which the Irish Church had formed itself, in association with the developing national movement, since the mid-19th century. That phase of development was not exhausted in Ireland when it was halted by Vatican 2. It was still filling itself out when it was ordered to stop. If the original impulse given by the triumph of Anti-Vetoism in the Veto Controversy was running out of momentum, there would have been evidence of this in the appearance of a sceptical intelligentsia to dispute certain areas of ground with the Hierarchy, and by so doing to provide for an evolutionary transition to a new relationship of Church and State.

What happened instead was that the new Church formed in Ireland in the mid-19th century—by O’Connell’s Roman colleague, Cardinal Cullen—was stopped in its tracks by the Vatican, while there was still no social development against it to take its place. The Vatican 2 changes had to be imposed on Ireland. And their imposition devalued the values to which the generations then in their prime had dedicated themselves.

Religious development in Ireland, with which social development was connected, was suddenly written off as an aberration. My Lord Bishop suddenly became Bishop Jack or Bishop Jim. Communion and Confirmation became occasions for display of fashion. Hell was abolished—and Heaven along with it, for all that was said to the contrary. And convents and monasteries were deprived of meaning.

The ersatz intelligentsia, which is now kicking the Church because it is down, did nothing to bring it down. It was the Vatican that undermined it. But that is an inadmissible thought in the fashion of the moment because the futile scepticism which is the outcome of Vatican 2 must have it that Vatican 2 was good thing. (The creature must love its creator.)

The Archbishop of Canterbury eats his words

Fr. Reginald Foster Honored by Notre Dame

Here is the full list of honorees.

Reggie, as many of you know, was for many years a senior Vatican Latinist. He is also a world-famous teacher of Latin. He has been miraculously recovering from a series of serious health problems. He’s doing much better now!

I studied with Reggie in his summer program, and it was a truly wonderful experience. He managed to create a community with an amazingly diverse group of students–secular grad students from Cambridge, Harvard, and Berkeley, and priests and religious in soutanes and habits. Students from all over the world. We worked at little desks in the auditorium of an elementary school across from his monastery. Reggie knew, just knew, how much you knew–and how much you didn’t. He unfailingly asked you to translate a sentence that was a little –but not too much–beyond your ability. And so it became part of your ability.

http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/?p=7685

Archbishop Rowan Angers Irish Bishops

No doubt, still smarting from +Benedict's Ecumenical Blitzkrieg, the Archbishop of Canterbury found time to vent some long internalized chagrin at men whose education and philosophical inclinations and integrity aren't that much different from his own.

Anglican%20leader%20angers%20Irish%20clergy

USCCB Head Honors Two Heretical Comrades

Rather than running, stumbling to honor heretical Communists who pose as champions of Justice and Truth, how about using this national podium you've created for yourself at the USCCB to do something constructive? Antonio Gramsci much?





Link to Flyer...

Catholic.net - Homosexuals Can Change, Research Says

Catholic.net - Homosexuals Can Change, Research Says

German archbishop calls to examine Church's 'dark aspects'

[Expatica] The leader of Germany's Roman Catholic bishops said in an Easter message on Saturday that "we must examine the Church's dark aspects" and called for a new beginning amid widening child abuse scandals.

"Today particularly we must set out together and examine inconceivable events, awful crimes, the Church's dark aspects as well as our shadowy sides," Archbishop Robert Zollitsch wrote in an Easter message on his diocese website.

"The Church must not be inactive: we need a new beginning," he wrote on the site of his own archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau, southwest Germany.

Germany's Catholic Church has been thrown into crisis in recent weeks as dozens of people have come forward alleging they were abused as minors by priests. Most cases date back many years.

Zollitsch called already on Good Friday for the day, when Christians commemorate the crucifixion of Christ, to "mark a new departure which we so badly need".

The child abuse scandal has engulfed much of Europe and the United States with new cases emerging almost daily, drawing in the Vatican for harsh criticism over its handling of the affairs.

Read further...

Man Attacks Bishop of Muenster

MUENSTER, Germany (AP) — Police say a man attacked the Roman Catholic Bishop of Muenster with a broom handle during an Easter service in the city's cathedral. Police said in a statement Sunday that 60-year-old bishop Felix Genn defended himself with an incense bowl and was unharmed. A police spokesman tells the German news agency DAPD that "courageous church officials and other service attendants restrained the attacker until police arrived." After the incident, the bishop continued celebrating the Easter service.

http://fratres.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/it-was-only-a-matter-of-when-not-if-german-bishop-attacked-during-easter-service/

An Opus Dei Replacement for Cardinal Mahony

Based on earlier reports that Cardinal Mahony is stepping down at 75, from American Papist, we have a report as to the identity of the man who will head the wealthiest and possibly most troulbed Archdiocese in the world.

According to Maximilian Hanlon, and other sources, the replacement for Cardinal Mahony should be the Opus Dei Archbishop from San Antonio, His Lordship, Jose Gomez.

Bishop Gomez was sent to the San Antonio See in 2004 and had been shepherding the Archdiocese of Denver as Auxiliary Bishop prior to that.

He was a lot more generous with the Immemorial Mass than Cardinal Mahony was and had this to say about the Motu Propio:

... pope's move will help Catholics "be able to clearly see the growth and progress we have realized since Vatican II, while at the same time preserving the rich heritage and legacy of the church." [1]

If he promises to be like his fellow Opus Dei Bishop, Archbishop Finn of Kansas City, this should be a real welcome to the auto-destructive regime of one of the most scandal ridden clerics in the history of the American Church. Archbishop Finn once reminded Catholics that we are in the Church militant and "in a war". Such triumphalist language shows well on Opus Dei.

We would also like to say that this posting is typical of the appointments by Pope Benedict. Earlier this year, he appointed the most conservative Bishop in Belgium to lead the country in Brussels, Archbishop Andre Joseph Leonard . Or the new Auxiliary Bishop of Linz, Father Wagner, who was shouted down by the liberals in that most challenging Austrian Diocese. Or Bishop Jose Munila of Spain in December.

Another not so surprising appointment was Archbishop Carlson, formerly of Sioux Falls and Saginaw, who had a legendary reputation for administration and conservatism.

Bishop Williamson is Back

There's another smear piece now too of someone telling the tale that there's anti-semitism at Winona Seminary at Fisheaters thanks to Gerard.

He's back. Holocaust-denying British Bishop Richard Williamson is giving interviews again, adding Israel-bashing to his opinion portfolio.


He gave a 15 minute interview with a minor French politician known for anti-Zionist views, Pierre Panet, that was, posted in various French media, just in time to compete for headlines with Pope Benedict XVI's synagogue visit this week.

Williamson is quoted saying there were "absolutely irreconcilable" differences between traditionalists and discussions at the Vatican "will end up as a dialog of the deaf."

Williamson is one of four bishops who were excommunicated decades ago for their refusal to accept the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Benedict made critical headlines last winter when he tried to envelop them back into the church -- if they let go of their discordant views and were rehabilitated.

Williamson continued to give Holocaust denial interviews so alarming even his own leader in the ultra-right Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) gagged him, and brought him back from his seminary post in Argentina to England, reports Reuters religion editor Tom Heneghan at FaithWorld.

Read further...

ACLU "Saddened" that Catholics are Catholics

This is really what it's all about, a fundamental hatred of Catholic doctrine and dogma. So when we report that Jeff Anderson, the famed attorney attacking the Catholic Church, is a member of the ACLU, it should account for what this whole thing is really about.

ACLU 'Stunned and Saddened' by Bishops’ Rejection of Domestic Partnership

The ACLU of New Mexico (ACLU-NM) released a statement today saying it's stunned and saddened by yesterday’s announcement that the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops will actively oppose the Domestic Partners Rights and Responsibilities Act. After indicating that they would consider a neutral stance on the bill if all reference to “marriage” was removed, the archdiocese now refuses to collaborate with equality advocates outright.

Throughout the State of New Mexico, thousands of committed couples—both same-sex and straight—live without the benefits and protections that married couples take for granted. Domestic partners and their families are denied basic and essential protections such as health insurance, disability benefits and the right to care for a partner with sick or paid leave. When tragedy strikes, domestic partners currently have no say in the medical, legal and financial decision making on behalf of their loved ones.

Disregarding the thousands of men, women and children this bill would protect, the Conference of Catholic Bishops chose to oppose this crucial legislation for fear it might be a “steppingstone to marriage.”

"We are deeply disappointed by the archdiocese's refusal to collaborate with us on this important legislation,” said ACLU-NM Executive Director Peter Simonson. “The ACLU and allied partners did everything humanly possible to satisfy their concerns about the language of the bill, and still the archdiocese would not budge. It is a shame that such a powerful voice has chosen to speak out against equality and fairness for New Mexican families.”

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Bishops of Venezuela Warn that Marxism Threatens the Church

Someone should tell the USCCB

Politics
Leaders of the Catholic Church in Venezuela on Thursday criticized President Hugo Chavez's attempt to turn the country into a Marxist State, and urged political opponents to resolve their differences peacefully.

The Venezuelan Bishops' Conference (CEV) issued a statement voicing concern about the growing anti-religious spirit spread by Marxism, AP reported.

Chavez often asks Venezuelans to adopt Marxism and socialism, but insists that it is also compatible with Christianity. Further, he has referred to Jesus as "the major socialist in history."

The Venezuelan ruler often has verbal clashes with Catholic Church leaders, and accuses them of siding with the opposition. Once he called the Church "a cancer." In response, several representatives of the Church have condemned what they describe as increasing authoritarianism under Chávez.

Link to original...

Do you know this Priest?

A frequent commenter, Don Altabelo, on Rod Dreher's Crunchy-Con site made this personal observation about a Catholic priest he knews. There is a sizeable chunk of them who have these significant character flaws, almost as if they were chosen based on their abillity to be "unseemly", annoying and disedifying.

There was once a priest very much like the one Don Altabello describes, who later turned out to be exposed as a homosexual, who was arrested for soliciting a prostitute in the bad neighborhood around the church where he said Mass and taught "theology" at the parish school. He kept a seperate house far away from the rectory in another town and sometimes came to Mass to "help out" in full biretta, baroque chasuble, amice, stole and maniple.

He was more of a caricature of a Miramax production villain than the good priest, often invoking unreasonable arguments against the students in the school, his students, whom he often referred to as "losers". Well, we get a lot of these types in seminary:

Don Altabello
April 23, 2008 2:21 PM
[chop]
Rod--I'll give a "common sense" anecdote of what I'm talking about (in addition to yours). A certain priest (recently ordained) frequents some of the same events I do. He is boorish, self-obsessed, and (though this word is much mis-used) rigid. He injects himself into conversations constantly, dominating the conversation to talk about theology. The man also seems to have control issues--likes to lord his authority and knowledge over others. Once in a discussion group that he visited, the leader asked him about his vocation story (as a courtesy), and he took about 25 minutes. There's other stuff I have personal knowledge of (nothing criminal or deeply immoral, just unseemly), but I won't disclose it here.

Every time he comes near a group I'm in, I'll just walk away. Now--many people will give this type of person deference because he is a priest. My contention is this--why in the world wasn't someone scratching their head or pulling him aside during seminary? I have no reason to believe he is abusive--but ordaining these types of people just influxes the priesthood with men who have all manner of character problems.

Clergy Sex Abuse Study: Time for Common Sense

April 1, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Here we go again. The skeletons of clergy sexual abuse are once again being resuscitated by ambitious lawyers and finding sensational new life in a secular media that is increasingly uninterested in reporting the facts.

Now don't get me wrong; the instances of abuse themselves are absolutely reprehensible; that much is indisputable. As Cardinal Ratzinger said of these terrible transgressions shortly before becoming pope, "How much filth there is in the church, even among those who, in the priesthood, should belong entirely to God."

Whenever the root cause of this "filth" is discussed, faithful Catholics need to pay close attention as those who are less interested in cleansing the Church than attacking her moral foundation make themselves known through their actions.

read further...

Peggy Noonan's Catastrophe

Responding to Father Amorth's statement, confirming the lamentation of Paul VI about the "smoke of Satan" and Father Malachi Martin's lengthy fiction and non-fiction treatement of this systemic and spiritual problem, some people who don't believe in the Devil suffer from the mistaken apprehension that to point out to his power and influence in the world amounts to an attempt to escapt responsibillity for what one has done.

But the Devil is indeed very influential with various ministers within the Catholic Church, some of whom don't believe in him, who make important decisions about how the Church presents her authoritative teaching.

Peggy Noonan, often celebrated as a defender of the Church, joins Her enemies today by insisting that the press has got the story right and has "forced" the Church to "reform".

She says:

In both the U.S. and Europe, the scandal was dug up and made famous by the press. This has aroused resentment among church leaders, who this week accused journalists of spreading "gossip," of going into "attack mode" and showing "bias."

But this is not true, or to the degree it is true, it is irrelevant. All sorts of people have all sorts of motives, but the fact is that the press—the journalistic establishment in the U.S. and Europe—has been the best friend of the Catholic Church on this issue. Let me repeat that: The press has been the best friend of the Catholic Church on the scandals because it exposed the story and made the church face it. The press forced the church to admit, confront and attempt to redress what had happened. The press forced them to confess. The press forced the church to change the old regime and begin to come to terms with the abusers. The church shouldn't be saying j'accuse but thank you.

No one in the press is talking aboout the rampant heresy which has plagued the Roman Church and is the source of this problem. No one is talking about the need for more strict Catholicity in the Colleges and Catholic Hospitals. They can't talk about it because their minds and hearts are not large enough to encompass the idea that the Catholic Faith is the one true Faith outside of which no one at all can be saved.

What we need to realize is that it has been a failure to live up to the Church's teachings on the part of the clergy and laity that have led to this artificial crisis, which is far worse outside of the Church than within.

Many Catholic Bishops and laity succumbed the line of argument posed by our enemies.

Cardinal George wants to silence Tom Roeser

Tom Roeser isn't going to stop.

Every Catholic who goes regularly to Sunday Mass knows that every so often after the priest reads the gospel and begins to shuffle through announcements there’ll be a letter from the boss.

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Let's not leave the Jews out of it

Well, perhaps it's because Jewish Rabbis are more likely to abuse children than Catholic priests, here, that we should not leave the Jews out of it. Cantalamessa has never been a particularly orthodox sermonizer and his offensive and less than masculine addresses are always an opportunity for disappointment and embarrassment.

That Jews are more likely to be abusers of children and others is born out by some of these revelations:

Rabbi Joel Meyers, executive vice president of the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly, reports that 30 percent of rabbis who changed positions in 2000 did so involuntarily, and that sexual abuse was a factor in many instances.[xxiv] The Awareness Center devotes an entire website to “Clergy Abuse: Rabbis, Cantors & Other Trusted Officials.” It is a detailed and frank look at the problem of sexual abuse by rabbis.[xxv] [here]

Whispers in the Loggia thinks that only "rightists" are rising in defense of Benedict, here. Actually, he underscores an important point, that those who foment the scandal and the enemies of the Church within who are largely responsible for the conditions which created the grist of the scandal, are one in the same. As it has been mentioned before, the chiefest accusers of Pope Benedict and the Church are themselves (or people in the coalitions they belong to) eager to legitimize the sexualization of children both under the law and in the culture at large. It seems to be the next brave step from legitimization of homosexuality.

Long list of Rabbinical offenders...

A Jewish organization reports on Rabbinical sexual abuse...

Jews have also hidden a sex abuser in Brazil, finally captured by Interpol, here.

One commenter here, complained that Jews weren't persecuted because they had:

What?! That is incredibly absurd. The Jews weren't persecuted for raping and molesting little boys. They were persecuted for being Jewish, wish is incredibly wrong.
What a sad, pathetic attempt at covering up a dirty deed; a SINFUL, MORALLY WRONG, SICKENING, dirty deed. Why don't people just own up to their mistakes anymore?

What he neglects to mention is that Jews were often accused of things like sexually abusing children, and murdering them.

Jews were also accused during the Middle Ages of sexual abuse as much as they were during the Nazi period.

That changed today when the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher of the papal household, delivered remarks in the traditional Good Friday prayer service in St. Peter's Basilica with Pope Benedict in attendance.

According to the New York Times account of the event, Father Cantalamessa noted that Easter and Passover were falling during the same week this year. "They (the Jews) know from experience what it means to be victims of collective violence and also because of this they are quick to recognize the recurring symptoms," he said.

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"Ethicist" Randy Cohen thinks Its Ok Not to Report Sex-Abuse

After attacking the Church on the National Public Radio program, Midmorning, hosted by Keri Miler, Randy Cohen launched on a brief explanation of how the Church should have intervened to protect those who were victimized by Catholic priests (who were overwhelmingly homosexual) and that their failure to protect children in these cases is the source of their liabillity.

This was a call-in show. The first caller was a man named Ted who explained his own ethical conundrum, that he had failed to report a sexual abuse that happend about 20 years ago. A child came into his school office, where he was counselor for GLBT students. The 16 year old said that he was having a relationship with an older man, but Ted didn't report the situation to the police and asked the 16 year old if he was practicing "safe-sex" instead. Ted felt bad about his failure to report the incident to the police as he was legally and ethically required to do, thus allowing a predator to go free and pursue another adolescent at another time.

Mr. Cohen tried to reassure Ted that it was ok, and that he should't be so hard on himself. When Ted pointed out that his situation was just like that of the Catholic Church, Mr. Cohen tried to pawn this out by suggesting that a 16 year old boy might be mature enough to handle the situation after all. Suddenly, there was hope for a GLBT guidance counsellor where before there had only been darkness and condemnation. Suddenly, Mr. Cohen's principled stand gave way to a special allowance.

When Ted failed to act to protect a 16 year old student from a homosexual predator, he was given a pass, but when Mr. Cohen views the Catholic Church doing the same thing, he is more than prepared to offer a condemnation. According to Mr. Cohen's own argument, Ted failed to protect a child who came to him for counsel, and Mr. Cohen excused him. We hope that Mr. Cohen could be more Solomonic when it comes to his judgement of the Catholic Church, because it is clear that he is operating from a double-standard.

Randy Cohen: Writer of "the Ethicist" column for the Sunday New York Times Magazine and author of "The Good, the Bad & the Difference: How to Tell Right From Wrong in Everyday Situations.

Link to Midmorning show...

ATTEMPTS TO CENSOR DONOHUE FAIL

April 1, 2010

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on recent attempts to censor him:

TV producers have been telling me for years that my critics have implored them never to invite me back on any program. But they always do. While the media are overwhelmingly liberal, they have an obligation to offer different points of view. [Yours being the official opposition view] Hence, their non-stop invitations asking me to speak.

The latest attempt to silence me comes from GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), Call to Action and the Interfaith Alliance. The three left-wing organizations have joined hands demanding that the media "ignore Bill Donohue." Their complaint? My telling the truth about the role homosexual priests have played in the abuse scandal. [Which is a welcome thing indeed]

The data collected by John Jay College of Criminal Justice show that between 1950 and 2002, 81 percent of the victims were male and 75 percent of them were post-pubescent. In other words, three out of every four victims have been abused by homosexuals. By the way, puberty, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, begins at age 10 for boys.

No problem can be remedied without an accurate diagnosis. And any accurate diagnosis that does not finger the role that homosexuals have played in molesting minors is intellectually dishonest. The cover-up must end. And so must attempts to muzzle my voice. Everything I am saying is what most people already know, but are afraid to say it. It's time for some straight talk.

link to original...

Imagined Injustices are Politically Valuable

He was guilty as hell.

Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters

By Louis Begley
Yale University Press £18, 272 pages

The 20th century dawned not on the first day of 1900 (or, for purists, 1901) but on a September evening in 1894, when a cleaner at the German embassy in Paris found a torn-up letter in the military attaché’s wastebasket. The cleaner was working for French intelligence, and the letter, once reassembled, was found to contain military secrets being offered by an unnamed French Army officer. After a cursory investigation, authorities arrested Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish artillery captain working at General Staff headquarters.

Thus began the Dreyfus Affair, in which an innocent man was unjustly convicted, amid rising xenophobia and anti-Semitism, and sent off to rot on a deserted island in South America. A vigorous public campaign against the howling injustice of the affair raged for more than a decade before the captain’s final vindication, which divided France into warring camps of Dreyfusards and anti-Dreyfusards, republicans and traditionalists.

Dreyfus’s ordeal was the first big test of a modern justice system, and it defined one of the central issues of democracy: should the rule of law be applied consistently, or are there cases in which it should be bent to fit a current crisis or pressing national concern? Even today, hardly a month passes without an alleged misstep of justice somewhere in the world being labelled a “new Dreyfus Affair”.

In France, the original case still incites debate. There are people who still believe that Dreyfus was guilty, or that national preservation excused his treatment. Those who celebrate his innocence fear that the kind of state-sponsored injustice he endured has not been eradicated, and that the clubby world of French officialdom continues to act arbitrarily, secretly and sometimes illegally without penalty. For both sides, the Dreyfus case was a watershed in modern French history. The divisions it created resurface periodically – in the debates over wartime collaboration, France’s struggles in Vietnam and Algeria, anti-Semitism, official corruption, immigration and other failures of governance.

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Faux Soviet Style Propaganda Organ Used to Defend Church: Why Not?

The report that Pravda was somehow behind the last amazing defense of the Church and the Holy Father was interesting but too much for the truth. It's really an amazing kind of hoax, like a piece of Soviet Era artwork, or military equipment put to good use after the apparent fall of its originators from political prominence in the early nineties. We found this from the Anglo-Catholic, here.

As a Russianist, I think I should probably point out that this website isn’t that of the Communist pravda (which still exists, is still communist, and has a website at www.gazeta-pravda.ru) but an on-line only publication with the same name, that isn’t communist (and doesnt’ really have any political orientation as such, beyond a taste for general sensationalism and love of conspiracy theories) that was set up in the late 1990s – I think by former staff of the paper. I can only presume that they chose the name (and logo) as an attempt at false representation (of a kind that was fairly common in the Russian media in the 1990s/early 2000s). It doesn’t have any print equivalent; and I sometimes wonder even if it is a professional publication, rather than a hobby of a Russian-speaker, an English-speaker and a Portuguese-speaker.

Which is, of course, not to say, that this sort of article isn’t welcome. Just that it’s not really from “Pravda”, not the “Pravda” that is actually read and sold in Russian news kiosks. (A quick search of THEIR online archive suggests that that publication has barely if at all touched the question of the abuse stories in the church).

Bishops are Asking the Laity to React to Malicious News Coverage

Arcbishop DiMarzio is asking his laity and priests to "besiege the NYTs" with letters and e-mails and Bishop Vlazny is asking Catholics to cancel their subscriptions to the Oregonian in his See. It should be interesting to see what this amounts to nationally. The New York Times might be especially hit. It's not the first time the New York Times has printed factually incorrect material,deliberately on behalf of an infernal agenda. Perhaps it's time the paper was put down like a rabid beast?

Link to Diocese of Brooklyn...

Link to oregon live...

Arrests after Muslim Prayer in Cathedral of Cordoba

Up to 118 Men forced their way into the Cathedral in order to pray a Muslim prayer. 2 Austrians were also arrrested.

Up to 118 Men forced their way into the Cathedral in order to pray a Muslim prayer. They resisted the police violently, reported the Spanish media on Thursday. The common use of the former Mosque and current Cathedral by Catholics and Muslims has been contested for a long time.

Recent reports about the most recent incident have been conflicting. Various media reports estimate up to 118 men came in the Catheddral in order to pray muslim prayers. They were asked by private security personal to stop. Then the ssecurity personell were threatened, and they called the police. They then reported that the police and some of the men grappled. Two Austrians were detained for reisting the civil authorities.

The worldfamous Catholic Cathedral of Cordoba was converted into a mosque in the 8th Century upon the Muslim conquest. Up until the 13th Century it was the largest Mosque in the West. First, toward the end of the Islamic predomiance in Spain the mosque was reconverted to a Catholic church. Above all, these local muslims maintained that the house of God can be used communally for prayer.

Link to original...

From the Guardian.

"They argue that canon law does not allow Muslims to pray there, though they have been happy to permit visiting Saudi princes and other dignitaries, including Saddam Hussein, to pray," he said.

"A new bishop was appointed recently and one of his first public statements was to say that Muslim prayers would not be allowed as this would create confusion," he said. "It seems the guards have instructions to prevent prayers with violence, if necessary."

Cathedral authorities reiterated their ban on prayers. "The shared use of the cathedral by Catholics and Muslims would not contribute to the peaceful coexistence of the two beliefs," the statement from the bishop's office said.

"This one-off incident does not represent the genuine attitude of Muslims, many of whom maintain an attitude of respect and dialogue with the Catholic church," it added. "We deplore the damage done to the image of our city and to the peaceful coexistence of visitors and citizens."

Church authorities also recalled that archeologists had shown that, prior to the construction of the mosque in the eighth century, a Christian temple had stood on the same spot.

The 23,400 sq metre mosque occupies an area equivalent to three football pitches and boasts 1,300 columns and more than 300 yellow and red horseshoe arches. There are only three larger mosques in the world – at the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the Turkish capital Istanbul, and the Moroccan port city of Casablanca.

Link to original...

Catholic Actor Fired for Refusing to do Sex Scenes

Here's a guy with guts.

No Sex Please, I'm Neal McDonough...

Socialism in Action!

Paul Krugman, a London School of Economics byproduct, wants a judicious panel to have the power of life over death. Now Democratic Bureaucrats can have the power of life over death when it comes to who gets treatment.

In case you get overwhelmed by thinking about it, just remember that the London School was founded by the Fabian Society in 1895 and everything is going according to plan.

Benedict XVI and Roman Polanski: liberals bay for the Pope's blood while genuflecting to a child abuser

Benedict XVI and Roman Polanski: liberals bay for the Pope's blood while genuflecting to a child abuser

Secularist Child Abuse Attorney on National Public Radio

St. Paul, Minn. — Perhaps the best known attorney in the clergy sex abuse cases, Jeff Anderson says the top hierarchy of the Catholic church should account for what he says was a cover up of sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy for decades. Meanwhile, cases in Florida and Kentucky attempt to link the Vatican to cases of sexual abuse.

Catholic church insiders will talk about how they are trying to reconcile with victims and change the way abuse is handled in a separate hour on Monday, April 5.

Guests
Jeff Anderson: Attorney with Jeff Anderson & Associates. He [says] represents people who say they've been sexually abused by clergy.

Vatican Plans to Squelch Ambulance Chasing ACLU Shill

Attorneys try to squelch U.S. suit seeking papal testimony on scandal

Wednesday, March 31, 2010 2:51 AM
By Nicole Winfield

VATICAN CITY -- Dragged deeper than ever into the clerical sex-abuse scandal, the Vatican is launching a legal defense that it hopes will shield the pope from a lawsuit in Kentucky seeking to have him answer questions under oath.

Court documents obtained yesterday by the Associated Press show that Vatican attorneys plan to argue that the pope has immunity as a head of state, that American bishops who oversaw abusive priests weren't employees of the Vatican, and that a 1962 document is not the "smoking gun" proving a cover-up.

The Holy See is trying to fend off the first U.S. case to reach the stage of determining whether victims have a claim against the Vatican itself for negligence for allegedly failing to alert police or the public about Roman Catholic priests who molested children.

Read further...

John Michael Talbot Inducts New Protestant Novice: Not a Catholic thing to Do

John Michael Talbot is strange, and that produces strange results, like having Novices who aren't Catholic, while claiming to be Catholic, that's not consistent with a pro-life ethic, that's consistent with the contorted spirit of self-aggrandizement which insists on strange personal attachments of a past life.

Monastic life changes retired minister » Local News » The Commercial-News, Danville, IL

COVINGTON, Ind. — People who want to simplify and quiet their lives are becoming associated with monasteries, but not joining them.

Pat Kuhs, a retired Presbyterian minister who lives outside Covington, is one of those people.

“There is a current general trend of people wanting to be associated with (but not join) a monastery,” she said. “It has drastically changed my own spirituality and amazingly deepened my relationship with God.”

In the last couple of years, Kuhs has become associated with the Brothers and Sisters of Charity, a community founded by musician and author John Michael Talbot.

Talbot will present an evening of music and meditation at 7 p.m. April 19 at First Presbyterian Church. There are no tickets, but a free-will offering will be taken.

Kuhs became a novice in November 2009, and wears the Tau Cross and tunic (white or brown, depending on the season) during special activities. The wooden cross is shaped like the Greek letter “T” and is associated with the Franciscans.

This fall, she intends to commit to a “temporary profession” in the Brothers and Sisters of Charity-Domestic, which is a three-year renewable commitment. At that time, she will exchange the Tau cross for a wooden heart Tau, which all members beyond novice wear.

Journey begins

People often ask Kuhs how a Presbyterian became involved with a Catholic Franciscan monastic community.

Her journey began by accident two years ago when she came across an old audiocassette tape of Talbot’s music. She has been listening to his music since the 1970s.

“God’s timing is always perfect, and I was ready to come out of my dry wilderness time with the church,” she said.

On the Internet, she learned more about Talbot and the monastic community he founded, as well as his books, not knowing he was an author. She bought nearly all of his 22 books and has at least 35 of his 52 CDs.

All of a sudden, she was bombarded with information about monasticism, and stumbled across articles and books on the subject, without trying.

She started to get the idea that God was telling her something.

She contacted the North Central Regional minister of the Brothers and Sisters of Charity, and received a lot of answers to her questions. She also began reading about Benedictine spirituality and considered visiting a nearby Benedictine monastery.

Instead, she went to a retreat at the Little Portion Retreat Center, a ministry of the BSC, in Arkansas. She went to Talbot’s “Lover and Beloved: A Franciscan Way of Prayer” retreat, met many interesting people, and was hooked.

A few weeks later, she went through the application process and was accepted as a postulant (a time of questioning) at the end of the summer of 2008 and later became a novice in the domestic (lay associates) section of the BSC.

The BSC, started by Talbot in 1982, is the most fully integrated monastic community in the United States, she said, and the first in America with canonical approval by the Catholic Church. Integrated means there are celibate men and women, singles, marrieds, families, lay and clergy, Catholic and non-Catholic Christians, contemplatives and charismatics.

It is predominately Franciscan in spirituality, but includes elements of Benedictine, Celtic and Eastern monasticism. There are about 40 people living at the monastery and about 500 “domestics,” such as Kuhs, living in their own homes.

Balance in life

The members take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They also commit to times of silence, solitude and study to simplify their lives, and continue to be involved in their own churches and usual activities.

“We try for a balance in life of work, study, prayer, meals, sleep and leisure,” she said. Family always takes priority.

Kuhs also keeps in touch with other “domestics” through phone, e-mail, Facebook, cell group meetings, semi-annual regional gatherings and an annual general gathering at the motherhouse.

“Being part of this community has been the best thing that has ever happened to me,” Kuhs said. “When you follow God’s lead and call, your life is truly blessed, and that call can come to anyone, anytime, to anything.”

Kuhs said she has no plans to convert to Catholicism, but encourages others to visit a monastery or retreat center. All welcome guests and inquirers from all religious backgrounds and states of life. Most monastic groups have some form of associate lay members.

Pravda Defends the Catholic Church

To Confuse the Wood with the Trees ...

30.03.2010 Source: Pravda.Ru URL: http://english.pravda.ru/society/sex/112790-to_confuse_wood_with_trees-0

Much of the news coming out, in the effort to disguise ideological propaganda, contains the fundamental error of mistaking the wood with the trees ... especially when the aim is to denigrate. That is, from an isolated case, preferably rough outlines, and generalized in order to induce the reader to think that the whole is of the same nature. This generalization obviously has ideological connotations and follows a political agenda that seeks to deconstruct traditional society and all its secular institutions and to impose a New World Order after the manner of the sinister interests of the international oligarchy, the same ones that handle the financial markets and through them, largely control the global economy. We refer to cases of pedophilia within the ranks of the Catholic Church recently publicized by international news agencies.

Indeed recent reports of pedophilia involving priests have the outlines of information that journalistic ethics require, regardless of their moral gravity. Such stories raise suspicion about their "goodness" even among non-Catholics like us. Although disagreeing with the doctrine of the Catholic Church, in some respects, but we recognize the importance of their role in our history to defend the ethical values that shape our Judeo-Christian culture and their social merit on behalf of those who have been victims of the usury and greed of the international oligarchy, which is after all more interested in destroying Catholicism and religion in general, as they constitute a serious obstacle to achieving its goal, which is to reduce mankind to the status of robotic slaves.

We emphasize, beforehand that it should not be confused with defending pedophilia, that by making the defense of the Catholic Church we are not justifying the actions of dishonorable men who have forgotten all of their most basic obligations as priests, respect for others, especially the weaker, as is the orphan child, lacking the affection of a true family.

One aspect that makes us suspicious of the "goodwill" of these stories is that they focus exclusively on cases of pedophilia of Catholic clergy, when we know that addiction cuts across all religions and organizations. We find it in all social strata and even within families. The pedophile is in principle very close to the victim and their confidence, that is not a stranger ... and may even be a father, uncle, etc.. When it is argued that priests are more prone to abuse because of the celibacy that is required, as they repeatedly try to justify the temptation toward sexual abuse, it seems to be forgotten that these buggers are not always single and are often seen as "good" heads of the family, so the person apparently seems normal.

Another detail that suggests that a campaign of demoralization of the Catholic Church is in motion, is that news of pedophilia within it appears like mushrooms born every morning, confusing the number of victims and the pedophiles, it seems they are as many as a hive of bees ... Almost all of the Catholic hierarchy ... Of course, this does not exonerate the perpetrators of sexual abuse.

In fact the victims are many, but the alleged abusers are only a tiny minority. Of the evil, better ... Even if we take into account the statistics in the USA, the number of victims in Catholic institutions compared with others, particularly in the school environment where it is much higher, there is a ratio of 157 to 1, within a time period 52 years, 1950 to 2002. Is it difficult work, no? On the other hand, this disproportion shows that in the U.S., as child abuse is an extensive social phenomenon, that is, that is not restricted to a specific sector of society.

The case of the Casa Pia de Lisboa is also illustrative as to the definition of a pedophile. The Portuguese government orphanage, founded in the late eighteenth century, by the Manager of Police, Pina Manique, a man in the confidence of the Marquis of Pombal, was a process of pedophilia in progress, and brings together more suspects accused of sexual abuse of minors than in all the cases mentioned recently in the media to tarnish the image of the Catholic Church.

Ten defendants were indicted by the public prosecution service, including an accomplice. Nevertheless some say that a "sexual binge" at the Institute involves many people and quite big, since it goes back over a decade ago in the 80's of the last century and many of the victims, now adults, are not willing to go through the torment of police investigations and still less the public shame that they have been the "rent boys" directly involved in the process.

There is a note in support of truth, that not all complaints are genuine. There are those who take advantage to extort money. It maybe difficult to ascertain how much is the truth and where does the lie begin ... either one side or the other. Moreover, it is noted that in issues of sexuality, such as sodomy and others, it always tends to occur in boarding schools, even among the confined, although they are severely repressed, it also leaves indelible marks for the rest of their lives.

The fury of the anti-clerical secular lobby goes so far as to revive old cases like that of Father Lawrence Murphy, back in 1975, to address the current Pope insidiously and in this way, the very Roman Catholic Church. On 25 March of this year, the prestigious New York Times published an article that allegedly accused Benedict XVI of covering up for the priest from Milwaukee in 1995 when the Pope was still Cardinal and responsible for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith It must be motivated by a very strong hatred of Catholicism to raise this issue 35 years afterwards...

The complaint is all the more insidious when it ignores all that this body has had is the specific function to monitor doctrinal deviations, heresies, so nothing to do with the Law, which deals with cases of indiscipline, as are the acts that violate the chastity of the clergy are required. It is ignored that this priest was acquitted by civil law, which did not find evidence of the practice of pedophilia on deaf boys who were protected. How aware are we made that the Catholic hierarchy kept him under surveillance and did so not so much for suspicion of sexual abuse of minors, but for doctrinal deviations. It was this and only for this reason that the then Cardinal Ratzinger, in 1995, sanctioned, and then limited his pastoral functions. Four months later Murphy died. We do not believe that the New York newspaper was absolutely unaware of these facts. From here, it follows that bad faith exists and a defamatory smear campaign has been articulated against the world Catholic hierarchy.

And it is understandable. The current pontiff, consistent with the principles of the Catholic Church, has developed a tenacious resistance against unnatural and divisive proposals, carried out by secular organizations seeking to impose a vision of a sexist, hedonistic society, reducing man to his animal nature to deny its spiritual dimension. These organizations obviously have not arisen by "spontaneous generation," or live on air ... they have been created and are supported by the cunning of said philanthropic foundations like the Rockefeller family. The financial interests of those are linked to a wide range of economic sectors ranging from banking, oil, pharmaceuticals, military industry, etc., to audio visual media, including the "media", which clearly meets an agenda dictated by the Global Elite to which they belong.

Besides, who is it that postulated that humankind has to be reduced to 1 / 3 of the current population and contributes to the misery of millions of human beings and cannot see the charitable activity, specifically in areas where poverty is most felt, sometimes coinciding with rich subsoils operated by the same Global Elite.

Therefore there is an intention in this kind of news that goes far beyond the desire to tell ... If the same phenomenon were not omitted in other similar institutions. Further, a balanced assessment of responsibility in Catholic Church pedophilia should refer to the canonical and civil cases that have been raised for clerics accused of sexual abuse of minors and their outcome, not just advertising complaints, which may not be genuine, as has knowledge in processes of this kind.

Artur Rosa Teixeira

Translated from the Portuguese version by:

Lisa KARPOVA

PRAVDA.Ru

h/t: FatherZ

Mexican cardinal says existence of devil must be taken seriously :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Mexico City, Mexico, Jul 16, 2009 / 02:26 pm (CNA).- The Archbishop of Mexico City, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, said yesterday that the existence of the devil must be taken as fact, without exaggerating or minimizing his actions out of skepticism or credulity taken to the extreme.

During a conference for exorcists in Mexico, the cardinal said skepticism leads many to deny the existence of the devil and dismiss his actions as psychological, socio-cultural or paranormal phenomena. Others, out of extreme gullibility, see the devil everywhere and grant him supernatural powers as if he were God, the cardinal stated.

According to the Archdiocese of Mexico City’s news service, Cardinal Rivera said that many people embrace esoteric and occult practices because of their estrangement from God.

Mexican cardinal says existence of devil must be taken seriously :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

How Lee Atwater became Catholic: Interview with John Hardon SJ

Lee Atwater, former head of the Republican National Committee and advisor to and political strategist for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, died a Catholic at age 40 on Good Friday, 1991. Shortly thereafter, Fidelity magazine, the predecessor to Culture Wars, interviewed John A. Hardon, S.J., concerning the circumstances of Mr. Atwater’s conversion. After receiving a transcription of the interview, Fr. Hardon asked that, in deference to Mr. Atwater’s family, it not be published so soon after Mr. Atwater’s death. Fr. Hardon died in December, 2000. The interview was conducted for Fidelity by James G. Bruen, Jr., and is here set forth for the first time.

Fidelity: Father Hardon, what can you tell us about Lee Atwater’s conversion?

h/t: romancatholic report

Link to culture wars...

MSNBC Apolgizes for Hit Piece on Vicar of Christ

March 30, 2010

NBC apologized today for an article on MSNBC’s website entitled, “Pope Describes Touching Boys: I Went Too Far.” The article that readers accessed after clicking on it actually had nothing to do with the pope.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue accepted the apology today:

NBC says the attributed quote was erroneous and they have corrected the error. An apology was also extended. The apology is accepted. We hope that whoever was responsible for this outrageous post is questioned about it and that appropriate measures are taken. We look forward to hearing the outcome.

Link to original...

The Pope, the judge, the paedophile priest and The New York Times

The Pope, the judge, the paedophile priest and The New York Times

The Goal is the Destruction of Religion

The former Italian president of the Senate, Marcello Pera, sees behind the campaigning critics of the Church and the conflict of secularization against Christendom -- by Marcello Pera / Die Tagespost

The issue of pedophilia or homosexual priests which was recently kicked off in Germany is aimed at the Pope. Given the enormity of thinking in this project, it would be a grave mistake that the shot could not hit the mark. And an even more serious error would be the assumption that the issue finally, soon - like so many others - would be off the table. No. Here there will be a struggle. Not necessarily against the person of the Pope, as this would be hardly possible in this area. Benedikt XVI is complete in his authority, his calm, his clarity, his determination and his education. No, the battle is between secularism and Christianity. The secularists know: If a splash of mud gets on the white cassock of the Pope, the Church is dirty. And if the church is spotted, Christianity is spotted. Therefore, the secularists their campaign garnish with questions like "Who will send his children still in the church?" Or "Who will let his children still attend a Catholic school?" And "Who will be his children in a Catholic hospital or even allow a Catholic clinic to treat?"

"The material changes, but the goal remains the same: Today as always the goal is to bring about the destruction of Religion."
For some days one secularist has touched on this actual intention. She wrote: "Most of the incidents of the sex abuse of children by priests is covered up by the legitimization of the Catholic Church as a garanteur of the education of the smallest." It is unimportant, that this opinion lacks evidence, because "most of the incidents" at all costs, must be silenced: what is the percentage of priestly pedophiles? 10 Percent? All? It is also unimportant, that the judgement of logic is done without: one only needs "priests" to be replaced by "teachers", "politician" or "journalist", in order for the "legimiation" of the public schools, the parliment or the press to "cover up". Most importantly - even the apparent inaccuracy of the arguments --, what is suggested: Preists are pedophiles, consequently the Church has no moral authority, consequently Catholic mores are dangerous and consequently Christianity is a cheat and a danger.

"The destruction of Religion has therefore the destruction of Reaon in tow. Today is not a triumph of secularist Reason, rather it will lead to greater barbarism."

It operates in a greatly spread combat of secularism against Christendom. One must look to National Socialism and Communism to see something similiar. The material changes, but the goal remains the same: today as always one wants to promote and fulfill the destruction of Religion. Then Europe will pay for this fury of destruction with its freedom. It is unthinkable, that Germany of all places, that considering its own position to this high price, for which Europe had paid, rises up to beat its breast, today, in a democratic land, forgets and does not recognize, that the democracy will be lost, if Christendom is once again blotted out.

The destruction of Religion always proceeds to the destruction of Reason. Today they will not lead to a triumph of secularist reason, rather to a greater barbarism. And on an ethical level of barbarism which, kills a fetus, because his life will damage the "pyschological health" of the mother. Who, will kill an old person, because he has no more family to care for him. Who, will bring the end of his own children more quickly, because he has no consciousness and can not be healed. Who, thinks, that "Parental party A" and "Parental Party B" are the same as "Father" and "mother". Who, intend, the belief of the cocyx is interchangeable, a body part, that has is no longer taking part in development, because the person doesn't need a tailbone any more and can stand alone. And so on...

If one observes the political side of the battle of the secularists against Christendom, whose victory would lead to barbarism, wich would end with the destruction of Europe. For after the overthrow of Christendom, Multiculturalism will remain, which means, ever group has the right to its own culture. It leaves relatvism, which thinks, one culture is as good as another, and pacifism, which denies the existence of evil. Or it remains as a rhretorical and irresponsible "Europism", which declares, Europa should not have a special identity, rather contain all identities. Except one changes his opinion and goes to the Cathedral of Strassburg, in order to say: "Now we need a Christian soul of Europe".

The battle against Christendom would not be so menacing, if the Christians understood. Rather, many of them are uncomprehending. It manifests itslef in a theologian, who is frustrated by the intellectual conviction of Benedict XVI. IN certain uncertain Bishops, who insist, on finding a compromise with the modern, are the best ways and means, for an "Aggiornamento" to fulfill the christian mission. In certain Cardinals in a circle of belief, who consider, the celibacy of priests is not a dogma and perhaps should be reconsidered [+Schoenborn]. In certain gelded catholic intellectuals, who think, there is a crisis of women in the Church between Christendom and sexuality constitutes an unsolved problem. In some Bishop's Conferences, which are in the grip of protocals and -- while they want the politics of open boarders for everyone -- don't have the courage, to challenge the attacks, which are made against Christians, as well as the piety, which suffers all, when they are indiscriminately led to the dock. Or in certain chancellors from the East, who seduce a fun homosexual Foreign Minister, while she attacks the Pope in every ethical theme, or those from the West, they think, the West must secularize, and be therefore anti-Christian.

"The battle of the secularists will continue, and even if only from grounds, because he receives sustenance from a Pope like Benedict."

The battle of the secularists will continue, and even if only from the grounds, that he receives sustenance from a Pope like Benedict, who smiles, but never flinches a single milimeter. Indeed, whoever understands, why he never yields, who takes in the situation and does not wait for the next blow. Whoever only hesitates, to profess with him in solidarity, is either someone, who sneaks into hiding after the Gethsemini, or he is someone who doesn't understand why he is there.

h/t: kath.net

Rwanda: Anglican Archbishop Says Approval of Second Gay US Bishop is Divisive

Kigali - Anglican Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda has warned that the approval of a second openly homosexual bishop in the U.S. Episcopal Church will further tear apart the 77-million- member worldwide Anglican Communion.

In an interview with Ecumenical News International in Kigali, Kolini said the ratification will make it harder for the grouping to heal the rift created by the debate on homosexuality over the years.

"It is clear that those on both sides of the issue are not of the same mind and are not going to work together," he told ENI in an interview on 24 March during which he accused Western churches of imposing homosexuality onto the South.

Link to original...

German bishop accused of beating orphaned girls and Compared the Holocaust to Abortion!

This is hardly a surprising comment from a senior Bishop, especially in German which has such a low birth rate. What's interesting in this article is the barely concealed malice it contains for the Catholic Church.

He compared abortion to the Holocaust – a particularly shocking statement when made by a senior cleric in Germany. He also accused Israel of racism in its treatment of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

German bishop accused of beating orphaned girls -Times Online#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797093

The Pattern of Priestly Sex Abuse - NYTimes Blog

It's not an original idea and our TFP friend Catholic Knight had already mentioned it, but this is good to see this article and the study indicate, quite clearly, that Holy Father has been taking decisive measures against this.

Reproduced below is a chart from the John Jay Report on sexual abuse in the Catholic priesthood, commissioned by the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops, showing the number of credible accusations of abuse across the last half-century. It’s part of the basis for my column’s claim that something in the moral/cultural/theological climate of the 1960s and 1970s encouraged a spike in sexual abuse, and also for my assertion that we’ve since seen the church come to grips with the problem, at least in the United States.

Link to original...

Celibacy rebels put under pressure

Celibacy rebels put under pressure

Profile on the Author of the Milwaukee Schmear Against Pope Benedict

What you have here is a man who has unseen loyalties to powers and principalities, to organizations that have the destruction of the Catholic Church as their fundamental aim. This is the motive force behind the current orchestrated scandal, perhaps it's a part of what Fr. Malachi Martin termed, the "Superforce".

Jeffry Anderson is described as a man, ironically, on a "Crusade" against the Catholic Church. It's not just Jeffrey Anderson who is liable to be described in this way. Certain individuals, indeed, entire nations and political movements in history, have enjoyed and benefitted from their enmity with the Catholic Church, entities like Stalin's Soviet Union and Hitler's Germany. Like the aforementioned regimes, Jeff Anderson has a certain affiliation and kinship to powers of such malevolence, that their hatred of Christ was the scene of mass starvation and some of the greatest untold crimes of the last two centuries. What shouldn't be so startling to anyone is the fact that Communists do use the tactics being employed by Jeff Anderson, here. The erstwhile graduate from the provincial William Mitchel School of Law,  has come to do battle with the Catholic Church, as a member of the American and Minnesota Civil Liberties Unions and also claims a certain spiritual connection with a vague and ambient spirituality reminiscent of Gnosticism, which is fitting since his claims must certainly rely and on occult knowledge of a diabolical nature.

Now, we've mentioned that he is a member of the culturally Marxist, ACLU and Minnesota Civil Liberties Union. Their hostility to Catholicism in particular and religion in general is well-established, so then it follows logically that Mr. Anderson is acting according to his principles in attacking the Catholic Church, since we can hopefully assume that he shares the views and tactics of those antagonists of Religion.

But what of the Pedophile Connection?

Well, Jeff claims to be attacking the Catholic Church on behalf of the victims. Perhaps they are more of a utility than a heartfelt aspiration on his part to see Justice done. Indeed, he had been taking these cases for 10 years prior to the event of his daughter's alleged molestation, which he maintains was what began his "Crusade" in earnest, at the hands of an ex-priest who was acting as a therapist to deal with emotional issues related to his divorce. Catholicism rejects divorce, but surely, he bears some responsibility for that and sending your daughter to an ex-priest: isn't that res ipse loquitur that the negligence belongs to the nature of the act of sending one's 8 year old daughter to an ex-priest as a result of one's own inability to hold together one's own family?

Lest you think we're being unfair, it has to be said that Mr. Anderson wasn't being terribly fair when he failed to contact any of the key figures in the case beforehand for their account, indeed, when you compare the two stories alongside, Mr. Anderson's suffers from a profound lack of coherence and, well, just plain old truth. Mr. Anderson maintains that the Catholic Church had covered up the abuse and had not done anything about it, and is clumsily attempting to portray Pope Benedict as engaging in a cover up, when the details of the case indicate plainly otherwise, that it was in fact the Vatican that stepped in and dealt with the case in 2005 as Father Thomas Brandage indicates, here calling Jeff Anderson's and the New York Times' work, "sloppy and inaccurate".

Is Archbishop Weakland a Good Source?

Well, he's been caught lying so many times that it's strange that the New York Times would rely on him as a source, as Father Raymond de Souza points out here as he lays out his own timeline of events related to the case, in defense of the Papacy, here.

Father de Souza maintains that +Weakland isn't a good source because he himself is an abuser who stole $450,000 to pay an extortionist, but what of our ACLU and MCLU member and "Crusder" Jeff Anderson whose supposed concern for the poor is far more interwoven with an international effort to discredit the Church, by any means necessary, even resorting to libel.

The Democratic Connection

We made a moment out of Jeff Anderson's supposed concern for the victims of clergy abuse, but what about the potential future victims of Democratic Party Politician abuse as the Democratic party intends on decriminalizing sex with children and wants to count pederasts as a protected class in Hate Crimes Legislation, here, and the vote count, here.

Never mind that, in a strange parallel, it is the German politician, Sabina Leuthesser, who is attacking the Catholic Church in Germany, like the Democratic Party in the United States, a party for the normalization of sex with children. Now you might not think that Jeff Anderson would have anything to do with this, but it was, after all, his party and co-religionists in Germany who are promoting the normalization of sex with children. We say this because Mr. Anderson has given a portion of the millions (according to Bill Donahue), to the various extremely liberal candidates and committees of the Democratic Party, here, as his contributions approach $60,000 in the year 2008.

Mr. Anderson professes a love for "spiritual" things and as a baptized Lutheran who was once married to a Catholic, indeed, he sits amidst what looks like a religious arts and furnishings shop (or pirate's trove) at his St. Paul office, it probably serves him well to soften his image by an appeal to the vague spiritual confessions held by so many people who'll be susceptible to his misleading and frankly mendacious account of the Pope Benedict's involvement in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee with Father Lawrence Murphy who was suspended from priestly duties in 1985 when he was dismissed from the St. John's School for the Deaf about which, he again wrongfully declares, that then Cardinal Ratzinger attempted to cover it up.

Unsatisfactory Results

If the quality of Mr. Anderson's efforts as a public relations man is any reflection on his legal abilities, it would be easy to see why he was outmaneuvered (deliberately?) at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota where he stage managed his confrontation with what he called centuries of "secrecy" and abuse of power.

We wonder why Mr. Anderson doesn't do more to chase the pederasts in the party he supports with the money he gains, but what of his effectiveness in dealing with pederasts in the past? Well, at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville where he began, the arrangement he helped forge there is no longer effectively in place and the very liberal Benedictines, who shares many of his political believes and those of the Democratic Party, are no longer in place. The 10 or so credibly accused pederasts at St. John's are free to roam the globe, despite the false claims of "restriction". One of the priests, Father Dunstan Morse, has even appeared in photographs with acclaimed author Kathleen Norris as a consultant to her book, Cloister Walk, here(pdf) and in her more recent book, Acedia and Me, here (pdf). It might be easy to see how those on the outside might view Mr. Anderson's legal work as uninspiring.

Well, the Mexican Government was certainly unimpressed with Mr. Anderson and David Clohessy's efforts, as they were barred for five years from entering Mexico when they attempted to serve the Archbishop of Mexico City.

If it weren't for all of the lawsuits he's filed against them over the years, considering the non-enforceable agreement he made with him and the fact that none of the perpetrators went to jail. It might be easy to see how they were in collusion together; perpetuating the problem, rather than adverse parties as we might suppose if we believed what was in the pages of Pinchy Sulzberger's New York Times.

MSNBC Deceitfully Attempts to Portray Holy Father as a Molester

We've long maintained that Bill Donahue is ineffective. He didn't identify the provinence of the New York Times schmear on Pope Benedict or its own perfidious source, but to his credit, he has identified another problem article. We would add that the press is getting increasingly desperate. Bill Donahue reports:

March 30, 2010

Catholic League president Bill Donohue accuses MSNBC of libeling Pope Benedict XVI:

Go to the home page of MSNBC and click on "World News." From there click on "Americas." Next click on the article, "Losing Their Religion? Catholicism in Turmoil." [Direct Link, here] Scroll down and in the "Click for Related Content" section there is an article entitled, "Pope Describes Touching Boys: I Went Too Far," here. [They've changed the title of the article since this came up, good show Bill Donahue] Clicking on this piece takes the reader to an article about a homosexual German priest who had sex with males in the 1980s. It says absolutely nothing about the pope. Yet MSNBC paints Pope Benedict XVI as a child molester in the tease to the article.

A retraction, and a sincere apology, are in order. They should also investigate how this happened and who is responsible.

Contact NBC news president Steve Capus: steve.capus@nbc.com

Liberals are to Blame for the Crisis

Suggested by the Devil: Gabriele Amorth on New York Times

The famous Rome Exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth is almost completely convinced, that the attacks on the Pope in combination with the sex abuse cases were suggested by the Devil. The Devil uses even Priests.

Rom (kath.net) The famous Roman Exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth is almost completely convinced, that the attacks on Pope Benedict in conjunction with the sex abuse cases were suggested by the Devil. "There can be no doubt", said the 85 year old Amorth to Italian TV News Service Mediaset as well as reported by ORF. Amorth refered above all to the attack by the left-liberal "New York Times", here and here. The famous Exorcist recalled then, that Benedict is a wonderful Pope and worthy successor to John Paul II. The Devil has used incidentally,  even Priests in order to strike the Church, he referred to the sex abuse cases: "He attacks the Church through the men of the Church," for even these live in the world and might be brought down by temptations.

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US Courts Allows Sex Abuse Cases Against Vatican to Proceed in Rare Legal Move

Since the Catholic clergy sexual abuse scandal exploded in the United States almost a decade ago, advocates have been trying to find a way to learn the role the Vatican played. Now they have gotten further than ever in their efforts to holding the Holy See accountable in a U.S. courtroom.

Two federal appeals courts in recent months have allowed sexual abuse lawsuits against the Vatican to proceed in Oregon and Kentucky. Vatican attorneys have asked the Supreme Court to hear an appeal of the Oregon case. Attorneys for both sides in the Oregon proceeding were in Washington two weeks ago making their arguments before a roomful of U.S. government officials, who could wind up weighing in if the Vatican -- considered a foreign country with immunity to lawsuits -- is found a liable party in an American case.

If the Supreme Court declines to take up the case this summer and lets the federal appeals ruling stand, attorneys could begin subpoenaing decades of documents and calling Vatican officials under oath.

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Troubles at Thieberville Continue

At Rorate-Coeli is the following:

The following is a quick translation of the Osservatore Vaticano article, courtesy of our friend Natasja Hoven of Katolsk Observator:

Everybody knows the very famous Thiberville case, in the diocese of Évreux. This diocese is one of the most ill-fated in France. After Mgr Gaillot and Mgr David, the not so genial Mgr Nourrichard administers the collapse of a land which in times past was Christian, a land where churches are closed one after the other, catechism is deserted, vocations discouraged and finances dried up.

In this desert, a priest, abbé Francis Michel, maintains the most flourishing of parishes, Thiberville. This parish priest, not coming from a traditionalist milieu but profoundly traditionalist, in anticipation had applied the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum since many years back. In his church the masses are celebrated according to the form in our days called “the extraordinary form” and also masses according to the “ordinary” form, but in a manner in conformity with the wishes of Pope Benedict XVI, that is, turned towards the Lord.

And what was the result? Thiberville and the 14 parishes which abbé Michel is serving formed the most living Catholic ensemble and the one with the greatest missionary zeal of the diocese of Évreux : the church of Thiberville is full at all the masses, assuring the service “in turn” for the other churches ( desserte « tournante » des autres églises), there we find sound catechism, active participation of the faithful, abundance of ministrants, confraternities, all the churches magnificently restored, funerals celebrated by the parish priest himself … Those parishes where the communion of all the Catholics are lived in an exemplary way are a model for the application of the pope’s wish.

This is exactly what the “spirit of Vatican II”, with 40 years of delay, is not able to stand. At the end of December of last year, Mgr Nourrichard informed the parish priest … that his parish was abolished and brought together with a “parish ensemble”. By this procedure, the parish of Thiberville would no more have a parish priest of its own, as he was “withdrawn”.

We all know what followed: On January 3rd the bishop went to Thiberville with his collaborators in order to announce “with distress” the decision “beyond recall”. However he met with the revolt of the whole canton, which refused the end of the Catholic faith in this corner of the Norman land. A church full to the brim, on the first row of which were present the mayor and the county councilor together with the whole municipal council, acclaimed their parish priest and hindered the bishop to announce that he was suppressing the parish and its parish priest.

An appeal was then (twice) presented within the prescribed delay, before the Congregation for the clergy. The case was overwhelming for the bishop. It is necessary to understand that such an appeal is a delaying appeal: things remain as they are as long as the Roman decision does not intervene. In similar cases the Roman decision usually comes very late, when emotions have calmed down.

On the other hand everybody knows that Rome strongly disapproves of parish regroupings that are legally indefinable, this being a problem which retains the keen interest of the Roman canonists. Since the Council the rights of the parish priest have diminished. The traditional principal of the irremovability of the parish priest remaining (as in the popular saying: “the parish priest is the pope of the parish”). But the bishops’ conferences of each country have received the faculty of disregarding this right. This is how it is in France: the parish priests are from now on nominated "ad tempus", which is something that notably puts off balance the structure of the traditional diocesan life: the post-conciliar French bishop actually has much more power over his priests through the nomination “game” than the traditional bishop had. Moreover, it frequently happens that bishops do not nominate parish priests but only “parish administrators”, which makes the priests even more dependent on the diocesan administration.

In this case there was thus now the situation where there was a slow process while the Congregation of the Clergy examined the case, and thus there was a recovering of calm and common sense told that the Catholic life would continue in the parishes of abbé Michel and that the unjust – legally – and disastrous – pastorally – decision of the bishop could be nothing but reversed.

And then it was exactly the opposite that happened! The appeal that was presented in the end of February received a reply less than a month later …: On March 26th abbé Michel was informed … that his appeal was turned down and purely and simply rejected! The decision is signed by Cardinal Hummes, Prefect of the Congregation for the clergy: the parish of Thiberville does not exist anymore and thus has no parish priest.

Even in Rome one is dumbfounded. But everybody understands that the pressure exercised by the French bishops’ conference has had an uncommon force. The most eminent French instances have made it a question of principle. And they have won.

At least as yet. This decision is certainly going to be subject to appeal, and other means may be used. There is a rumor already on this matter. I will tell you more about it as soon as possible …

However it remains that for the good people of God, the negative sign that has been given is catastrophic.

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2010/03/thiberville-saga-continues.html

Philosopher: Why we Should Ditch Religion

(CNN) -- For the world to tackle truly important problems, people have to stop looking to religion to guide their moral compasses, the philosopher Sam Harris told CNN.

"We should be talking about real problems, like nuclear proliferation and genocide and poverty and the crisis in education," Harris said in a recent interview at the TED Conference in Long Beach, California. TED is a nonprofit group dedicated to "ideas worth spreading."

"These are issues which tremendous swings in human well-being depend on. And it's not at the center of our moral concern."

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The Return of Doctor Stephen Hand

Couldn't find an actual picture of Doctor Hand, but this one should do.  You know you only kid the ones you love.  Stephen Hand has taken a lot of hits in his life and as a Catholic, but he returns continually to the fray with gusto.  He used to write for the Remnant for a time, but left there. Perhaps he'll be returning there.

His new blog is as follows, http://www.stephen-hand.blogspot.com/