Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Monday, October 29, 2018
Who is feeding the thousands of Central American migrants in caravan that Trump wants to stop?
DANIEL GONZÁLEZ | ARIZONA REPUBLIC | 4 hours ago
The migrant caravan has crossed the border from Chiapas into Oaxaca Mexico and is gathering for the night in the town of Tapanatepec.
NICK OZA, THE REPUBLIC | AZCENTRAL.COM
SAN PEDRO TAPANATEPEC, Mexico – Social media has filled with speculation that political organizations trying to influence the midterm elections are financing the caravan of Central American migrants walking to the United States.
Volunteers with the bi-national group Pueblo Sin Fronteras, which has stepped in to help coordinate the caravan after migrants crossed into Mexico from Guatemala, insist no political agenda or hidden hand is guiding the caravan.
Gina Garibo, one of the coordinators of the migrant caravan with Pueblo Sin Fronteras works on details for the Oct. 29, 2018 leg of the journey. The thousands of migrants from Honduras and other Central American countries traveling in a huge caravan toward the United States took a day off Oct. 28, 2018, to rest.
NICK OZA, FOR USA TODAY
Local residents, church groups and municipal officials in the towns where the caravan stops are feeding the migrants, many of whom are families traveling with children and babies and fleeing poverty and violence in Central America, coordinators say.
That appears to be the case.
► Oct. 29: Watch migrant caravan stream through immigration checkpoints in Mexico
► Oct. 29: Pentagon to deploy 5,200 active duty troops to U.S.-Mexico border
► Oct. 29: Central American migrant caravan: What we know
On Sunday, the caravan paused to rest after a week of walking in oppressive heat through the state of Chiapas and reaching the town of San Pedro Tapanatepec in Oaxaca state.
Throughout the day migrants lined up for plates of tortillas, beans and meat stew that parishioners of the town’s main church, Parroquia San Pedro Apostol, dished out. Women who identified themselves as volunteers from the office of the local municipal president distributed bottles of water from the back of a pickup truck as it inched through the streets, drawing crowds of parched migrants.
NICK OZA, FOR USA TODAY
Local residents, church groups and municipal officials in the towns where the caravan stops are feeding the migrants, many of whom are families traveling with children and babies and fleeing poverty and violence in Central America, coordinators say.
That appears to be the case.
► Oct. 29: Watch migrant caravan stream through immigration checkpoints in Mexico
► Oct. 29: Pentagon to deploy 5,200 active duty troops to U.S.-Mexico border
► Oct. 29: Central American migrant caravan: What we know
On Sunday, the caravan paused to rest after a week of walking in oppressive heat through the state of Chiapas and reaching the town of San Pedro Tapanatepec in Oaxaca state.
Throughout the day migrants lined up for plates of tortillas, beans and meat stew that parishioners of the town’s main church, Parroquia San Pedro Apostol, dished out. Women who identified themselves as volunteers from the office of the local municipal president distributed bottles of water from the back of a pickup truck as it inched through the streets, drawing crowds of parched migrants.
Sunday, October 28, 2018
Pope Francis urges action against people who try to taint the whole Catholic church
Protect the church from the 'great accuser': Pope Francis urges action against people who try to taint the whole Catholic church with abuse allegations
By Danyal Hussain For Mailonline
15:50 EDT 28 Oct 2018, updated 17:01 EDT 28 Oct 2018
Pope Francis claimed people are using sex abuse scandals to attack the Church
He called on Church members to defend the 'mother' against the 'great accuser'
Pope was speaking to bishops from around the world at the Synod of Bishops
Pope Francis told a gathering of bishops that the Church needs to be protected from the 'great accuser' - in an apparent reference to criticism the Vatican has received over child sex abuse scandals.
He was speaking at the end of the Synod of Bishops on Saturday and claimed that that the 'mother' Church is being persecuted through accusations from people 'seeking to destroy it'.
His comments, made at the Vatican, seem to be aimed at those critical of the Church because of a number of clerical sex abuse scandals recently.
Pope Francis claimed people are using sex abuse scandals to attack the Church
He called on Church members to defend the 'mother' against the 'great accuser'
Pope was speaking to bishops from around the world at the Synod of Bishops
Pope Francis told a gathering of bishops that the Church needs to be protected from the 'great accuser' - in an apparent reference to criticism the Vatican has received over child sex abuse scandals.
He was speaking at the end of the Synod of Bishops on Saturday and claimed that that the 'mother' Church is being persecuted through accusations from people 'seeking to destroy it'.
His comments, made at the Vatican, seem to be aimed at those critical of the Church because of a number of clerical sex abuse scandals recently.
Pope Francis told a meeting of bishops from all over the world that some people were trying to destroy the Church with accusations of sexual abuse
Pope Francis told assembled bishops that the actions of Church members fuel the so-called great accuser.
According to the Catholic Herald, he said: 'Through us, the great accuser wants to attack. Our Mother (the Church) is holy but because of our sins, the great accuser always takes advantage.'
Pope Francis told assembled bishops that the actions of Church members fuel the so-called great accuser.
According to the Catholic Herald, he said: 'Through us, the great accuser wants to attack. Our Mother (the Church) is holy but because of our sins, the great accuser always takes advantage.'
Sessions to speak in Boston about religious liberty
CQ Roll Call via AP Images
BOSTON —
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is scheduled to appear in Boston for a speech on religious liberty.
The nation's top lawyer is expected to give remarks Monday at an event organized by the Boston Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society.
It's being billed as a discussion on "the future of religious liberty" at the Omni Parker House hotel in the city's downtown.
Sessions will be joined by U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling of the District of Massachusetts and Jordan Lorence, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom.
Before being sworn in as attorney general in 2017, Sessions served as a Republican U.S. senator for Alabama for two decades.
He was previously in Boston in July to announce arrests in a federal operation meant to crack down on identity theft and federal benefits.
Saturday, October 27, 2018
Church worldwide calls for ambitious and urgent climate action
Content: Press Release, 26/10/2018
In the context of a recent UN report on the urgent need to develop policies that limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, Mgr. Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ, President of COMECE, together with all the other presidents of continental Bishops’ Conferences, calls politicians to work towards an ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement. They ask for COP24 to prove a milestone in the path set out in 2015 in Paris.
Promoting the messages carried out by the Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, Church leaders from all around the world call for ambitious and immediate actions to be taken to tackle and overcome the devastating effects of the climate crisis.
In their statement, Bishops’ Conferences from all continents urge world leaders to resist the temptation to look for short-term solutions without addressing the root causes and the long-term consequences.
The call is based on the principles of urgency, intergenerational justice, human dignity and human rights, ands demands policies that include the following elements:
- keeping global warming below 1.5°C;
- shifting towards sustainable lifestyles;
- respecting the knowledge of indigenous communities;
- implementing a financial paradigm shift in line with global climate accords;
- transforming the energy sector by putting an end to the fossil fuel era and transitioning to renewable energy;
- and rethinking the agriculture sector to ensure it provides healthy and accessible food for everyone, with a special emphasis on promoting agroecology.
Media
Statement
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"Strive Not About Words"
"Strive Not About Words"
Ellen G. White
Ellen G. White
"Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers." 1
The ministers of Christ are in constant danger. They are to put their brethren in mind of the things which they already know. "Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance."2 Satan is constantly at work to divert the mind with earthly things, that the truth may lose its force upon the heart; and then there will be no progress, no advancement from light and knowledge, to greater light and knowledge.
Unless the followers of Christ are constantly stirred up to practice the truth, they will not be sanctified through it. Questions, speculations, and matters of no vital importance will occupy the mind, and become the subject of conversation, and then there will be caviling and striving about words, and presenting of different opinions, concerning points that are not vital or essential.
Those who listened to the present truth in the days of Paul did as do the men of today. They would get up questions, presenting various ideas and opinions of men, and bring the mind of the minister from the important work of preaching the main truths of the gospel, to settle their disputes. The laborer for God must be wise enough to see the design of the enemy, and to refuse to be misled and diverted. The conversion of the souls of his hearers must be the burden of his work, and he must keep out of controversy, and preach the word of God.
"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness."3 The special, deceptive work of Satan has been to provoke controversies, that there might be strivings about words to no profit. He well knows that this will occupy the mind and the time. It raises the combativeness, and quenches the spirit of conviction, in the minds of many, drawing them into diversity of opinions, accusation, and prejudice, which closes the door to the truth. This was the effect in the days of Paul, and we see that it has been the same in our own time. It shakes the confidence of those already partially convinced, and it turns away others who are waiting for some excuse for rejecting the truth.
The less the preacher shall multiply words of his own, the more distinct and clear will be the living utterances of God. Let your words be few. Let God speak. Let the plain "Thus saith the Lord" settle all controversies. If we allow the mind to take its own course, there will be countless points of difference which may be debated by men who make Christ their hope, and who love the truth in sincerity, and yet who hold opposite opinions upon subjects that are not of real importance. These unsettled questions should not be brought to the front, and urged publicly, but should, if held by any, be done quietly and without controversy.
Men of ability have devoted a lifetime of study and prayer to the searching of the Scriptures, and yet not one half of the Bible has been fully explored ; and all parts of it will never be fully comprehended until Christ shall open its wonderful mysteries in the future life. There is much to be unraveled, much that human minds can never harmonize. There are many themes that might seem of special importance to the minds of one class, that to another class would appear in an altogether different light. Satan will seek to create argument upon different points that might better remain unmentioned.
A noble, devoted, spiritual worker will see in the great testing truths that constitute the solemn message to be given to the world, sufficient reason for keeping all minor differences concealed, rather than to bring them forth to become subjects of contention. Let the mind dwell upon the great work of redemption, the soon coming of Christ, and the commandments of God; and it will be found that there is enough food for thought in these subjects to take up the entire attention.
Review and Herald, Sept. 17, 1888.
2 2 Peter 1:12-13
2300 versus 2520
SAC (Society of Adventist Communicators) 2018 Keynote
SAC 2018 Keynote from NAD Adventist on Vimeo.
SAC 2018 Keynote
4 days ago
The keynote presentation for the 2018 Society of Adventist Communicators Convention with Kaleb Eisele (Humans of Adventism), Erica Jones (Gorgeous2God), Justin Khoe (ThatChristianVlogger), and Emily Long (71.5 Magazine) on Friday, October 19, 2018
Seventh-day Adventist seeks to bridge gap between church, society
CHRISTOPHER HUFF T&D Staff Writer
Sep 27, 2018
Orangeburg resident Kaleb Eisele is the editor of the Humans of Adventism Facebook page and recently published a special magazine issue.CHRISTOPHER HUFF, T&D
Orangeburg resident and Seventh-day Adventist Kaleb Eisele said there’s mistrust and misconception of his church by many people outside of it.
“Being sort of a more of minority religion, we tend to be distrusted by society. And that distrust fuels fear by Adventists of other people,” he said.
“So there’s this cycle where we have this parallel existences almost, but we’re not talking to each other.”
A member of Orangeburg Seventh-day Adventist Church, Eisele is seeking to bridge the gap as editor of the Facebook page, Humans of Adventism. Inspired by Humans of New York and similar pages, Humans of Adventism posts photos and short profiles of Adventists from all walks of life, in their own words.
“Humans of Adventism is specifically focused on my faith, my denomination,” Eisele said.
The posts are meant to show others that Adventists aren’t that different than anybody else and to spur interaction with non-Adventists. Adventists have the same concerns, the same hopes and fears, the same struggles and triumphs as anybody else.
“It’s just people talking about their life. I talk to people – it’s a different person every day, just ask them specific questions about how they view the world and their experience. And we share them, and we share a picture of them.”
The 25-year-old said he attended a public college, the College of Charleston, rather than an Adventist-affiliated institution, and it has given him insights that he might not have otherwise received in a more insular situation.
“Relationships with anyone, Adventist or not, are very important. So what I wanted to do is go the very opposite route, make us as public as possible,” he said.
Building up the body of Christ through ecumenism
Posted October 26, 2018
Ecumenism, or the movement to develop unity among various Christian denominations, has its historical roots in the early twentieth century. Its theological roots extend much further back, as St. Paul noted in his Letter to the Ephesians: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one Baptism” (Eph 4:4-5).
The Second Vatican Council summarized the case for Christian unity, a call taken up by St. John Paul II, Pope Francis and countless Christians who have labored in service of the Holy Spirit.
In this set of articles from our partner Catholic News Service, we survey ecumenism over the past century, and look at pastoral strategies for gathering the body of Christ into one.
The long, steady journey to Christian unity
Many Catholics and Protestants may be surprised at how far ecumenical relations have developed, and over how many decades. The search for unity among Christian denominations began decades before the Second Vatican Council, and has gained new momentum in recent years.
Ecumenism puts the body of Christ to work for the world
Catholics are not alone in responding to the divine call of building up the kingdom of God, and working with other Christians to serve those in need provides a powerful witness to the love of God.
Matthew Shepard remembered at National Cathedral
(26 Oct 2018) The ashes of Matthew Shepard, whose brutal murder in the 1990s became a rallying cry for the gay rights movement, were laid to rest Friday in the Washington National Cathedral. (Oct. 26)
Buffalo Catholic Diocese whistleblower to appear on 60 Minutes this Sunday
Posted: Oct 25, 2018 07:17 PM EDT Updated: Oct 26, 2018 06:16 PM EDT
(WIVB) - The woman who claims to have copied hundreds of incriminating documents from Bishop Malone's secret archives is coming forward.
Siobhan O'Connor, Malone's former executive assistant, will speak to 60 Minutes this Sunday night at 7 p.m.
60 Minutes will reveal what the documents she copied show.
According to CBSNEWS.com, O'Connor accuses him of withholding the names of dozens of priests with sex abuse accusations against them from a report released last March.
"Hundreds of documents O'Connor secretly copied from the confidential files of the Diocese of Buffalo offer an extraordinary window into Bishop Malone's decisions about priests accused of abuse. The devout O'Connor professes love for her church and her bishop. But she says she left the diocese last summer after three years because the documents she discovered indicated the bishop had allowed the accused priests to continue in ministry. "The reality of what I saw left me with no other option because at the end of my life, I'm not going to answer to Bishop Malone, I am going to answer to God," she tells Whitaker."
"I did betray [Bishop Malone], and yet I can't apologize for that, because there was a greater good to consider," says O'Connor.
Whitaker also interviews Deacon Paul Snyder of the Buffalo Diocese. He is the first clergyman of the diocese to call for Bishop Malone's resignation. The information exposed by O'Connor enraged him. "[Bishop Malone] is behaving in a way that you would typically think a CEO in a corporation that's being accused of corrupt practices might act, hiding behind attorneys," he says. Some of the documents O'Connor found were prepared by the dioceses' attorneys.
Since calling for Bishop Malone to step down, he has received 400 notes and emails. "They want to be part of the solution but they think this bishop is preventing that," says Deacon Synder.
60 Minutes has learned that the Buffalo diocese is under investigation by federal authorities. Bishop Malone declined to be interviewed by 60 Minutes.
You can catch 60 Minutes on Channel 4.
Friday, October 26, 2018
"And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it"
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Genesis 2:1-3.
‘My life was ruined’: A Catholic Church sexual abuse protest that has lasted 20 years
By Petula Dvorak
October 25, 2018 at 3:00 PM
John Wojnowski, 75, has protested outside the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See for more than 20 years. He says he was molested by a priest when he was 15. (Petula Dvorak/The Washington Post)
There’s a honk. And then a thumbs-up.
A wave, another thumbs-up. A flash-flash of headlights. Honk! Honk!
“This is a good day,” declared protester John Wojnowski, who has been a fixture outside the Vatican’s U.S. mission in Northwest Washington for more than two decades.
When he began trying to tell the world about sex abuse in the Catholic Church — and about what he says a priest did to him when he was 15 — there were a lot of bad days. There was silence. And stares.
“And they give me the finger,” said Wojnowski, who is now 75. And many years ago in his 20-year pilgrimage toward redemption, someone walked out of the Holy See’s diplomatic outpost on Massachusetts Avenue and spit in Wojnowski’s face, he said.
Since 1997, Wojnowski has stood outside the Apostolic Nunciature during rush hour explaining his lifetime of pain, depression, anger in a series of giant signs:
There’s a honk. And then a thumbs-up.
A wave, another thumbs-up. A flash-flash of headlights. Honk! Honk!
“This is a good day,” declared protester John Wojnowski, who has been a fixture outside the Vatican’s U.S. mission in Northwest Washington for more than two decades.
When he began trying to tell the world about sex abuse in the Catholic Church — and about what he says a priest did to him when he was 15 — there were a lot of bad days. There was silence. And stares.
“And they give me the finger,” said Wojnowski, who is now 75. And many years ago in his 20-year pilgrimage toward redemption, someone walked out of the Holy See’s diplomatic outpost on Massachusetts Avenue and spit in Wojnowski’s face, he said.
Since 1997, Wojnowski has stood outside the Apostolic Nunciature during rush hour explaining his lifetime of pain, depression, anger in a series of giant signs:
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Adventists Join Call for More Action to Protect Migrant and Refugee Children
A group of migrant families work their way west. A recent event in Rome, Italy, supported by, among others, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, focused on the plight of immigrant and refugee children. [Photo: Mamadou Traore, Pixabay]
OCTOBER 24, 2018
Multi-faith event aimed to mobilize new partnerships to help children in distress.
By: Bettina Krause, Public Affairs and Religious Liberty
Heartrending accounts of violence against refugee and migrant children set the tone for a unique gathering this month in Rome, Italy, which brought together representatives of more than 80 international faith groups and non-governmental organizations.
The three-day summit, called “Faith Action for Children on the Move,” began October 16, 2018, and drew some 200 attendees. Its goal was to forge new partnerships to help protect the estimated 28 million vulnerable young people and children worldwide who are currently displaced from their homes by conflict, poverty, natural disasters, or migration.
“It was a truly moving experience to be part of this gathering,” said Ganoune Diop, director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty for the Seventh-day Adventist Church and one of the planners of the event. “So many different organizations and religious traditions came together for one simple reason: because we are moved to the core of our being by the suffering and inhumane treatment of children and, in particular, of children on the move.”
The global surge in the numbers of refugees and migrants in recent years has meant a corresponding increase in the exploitation of children, who often find themselves prey to trafficking, forced labor, pornography, forced marriages, and other physical abuses.
The sheer numbers of children on the move has caught the attention of global entities. According to the United Nations International Children’s Fund, one in every 80 children worldwide is displaced from their home. From 2005 to 2015, the number of child refugees more than doubled from 4 million to 9 million, with an estimated 300,000 children crossing borders during 2015 and 2016 as unaccompanied minors.
Vatican Cardinal: Pope Francis Has ‘Natural Sympathy’ For Communists
"Francis may have natural sympathy for Communists"
Vatican Pool / Contributor / Getty Images
ByPAUL BOIS
@PAULBOIS39
October 25, 2018
7.2k views
If the acceptance of a hammer/sickle crucifix was not enough to convince people that Pope Francis has a soft place in his heart for communists, then perhaps his recent deal with the Chinese government will.
In a recent move seen by many as a capitulation, the Vatican under Pope Francis gave the communist, anti-Christian Chinese government a prominent role in selecting bishops, even though only the Pope can select bishops. The move hearkens back to the late-Middle Ages and the Renaissance, where political figures in certain countries played prominent roles in the selection of the Church hierarchy. At least then, however, the motives were nationalistic and not all appointees complied with the state (see St. Thomas Becket); in China, the motives are purely for political control.
Writing in The New York Times, Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong says flatly that "The Pope Doesn’t Understand China" and that he capitulates to the oppressive government due to a "natural sympathy" for communists because he views them as a persecuted class.
"Francis may have natural sympathy for Communists because for him, they are the persecuted," Zen writes. "He doesn’t know them as the persecutors they become once in power, like the Communists in China."
Zen makes no concessions to the deal inked by Pope Francis and declares it a colossal misstep. Given Pope Francis' track record of showing sympathy toward communist priests (he celebrated one in Bolivia) while dishing out flippant statements like "the communists stole our flag," Cardinal Zen makes a fair point when he accuses the Holy Father of "not understanding communism."
ByPAUL BOIS
@PAULBOIS39
October 25, 2018
7.2k views
If the acceptance of a hammer/sickle crucifix was not enough to convince people that Pope Francis has a soft place in his heart for communists, then perhaps his recent deal with the Chinese government will.
In a recent move seen by many as a capitulation, the Vatican under Pope Francis gave the communist, anti-Christian Chinese government a prominent role in selecting bishops, even though only the Pope can select bishops. The move hearkens back to the late-Middle Ages and the Renaissance, where political figures in certain countries played prominent roles in the selection of the Church hierarchy. At least then, however, the motives were nationalistic and not all appointees complied with the state (see St. Thomas Becket); in China, the motives are purely for political control.
Writing in The New York Times, Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong says flatly that "The Pope Doesn’t Understand China" and that he capitulates to the oppressive government due to a "natural sympathy" for communists because he views them as a persecuted class.
"Francis may have natural sympathy for Communists because for him, they are the persecuted," Zen writes. "He doesn’t know them as the persecutors they become once in power, like the Communists in China."
Zen makes no concessions to the deal inked by Pope Francis and declares it a colossal misstep. Given Pope Francis' track record of showing sympathy toward communist priests (he celebrated one in Bolivia) while dishing out flippant statements like "the communists stole our flag," Cardinal Zen makes a fair point when he accuses the Holy Father of "not understanding communism."
The Caravan to Nowhere
The march from Honduras echoes the 1980 Mariel boatlift.
By
The Editorial Board
Oct. 22, 2018 7:27 p.m. ET
Honduran migrants take part in a new caravan heading to the U.S. with Honduran and Guatemalan national flags in Quezaltepeque, Chiquimula, Guatemala, Oct. 22.PHOTO: ORLANDO ESTRADA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
These columns favor generous immigration and asylum for refugees. But when migration becomes a political weapon to foment border chaos, leaders have no choice other than to step in and protect national security. Exhibit A are the 4,000 or so Central Americans moving on foot through Mexico to the U.S.
Waves of humanity marching in lock step don’t materialize spontaneously and neither has this “caravan.” This march is organized and not necessarily for the benefit of the migrants. Mr. Trump has good reason to turn it back.
Not since the 1980 Mariel boatlift from Cuba has there been a similar attempt to overwhelm U.S. immigration law on the pretext of celebrating American freedom. Thousands of Cubans made their way to Florida when Fidel Castro temporarily lifted his Havana Curtain, and American boats of every shape and size sailed into the Caribbean to collect them.
But the sheer magnitude made it impossible to process the newcomers in an orderly fashion. Castro saw to it that criminals and the mentally ill also climbed aboard the boats. No one doubted the Cuban hunger to escape, but the unintended consequences of the mayhem were costly.
THE IMMIGRATION WAR
NOTR - THE IMMIGRATION WAR - 10.22.18
MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2018 AT 8:30AM
Today's Show: THE IMMIGRATION WAR - 10.22.2018
Chris discusses the current situation with a migrant caravan of 4-5 thousand people attempting to invade the United States from Honduras through the country of Mexico. The mass migration of illegals is reportedly the work of the United Nations and their suggested plan for “REPLACEMENT MIGRATION” (as they call it) in response to their claims of population decline in countries like the United States. Is this part of a greater plan to subvert America through immigration warfare? Some are reporting that the U.N. plan intends to bring some “600 million” migrants into the United States by the year 2050.
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
'City of surveillance': privacy expert quits Toronto's smart-city project
Wired neighborhood planned by Google sister company has raised questions over data protection
Gabrielle Canon
@GabrielleCanon
Tue 23 Oct 2018 17.36 EDT First published on Tue 23 Oct 2018 16.40 EDT
Google’s sister company Sidewalk Labs has promised a ‘thriving hub for innovation’. Photograph: Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images
When it was announced last year that a district in Toronto would be handed over to a company hoping to build a model for new tech-driven smart city, critics were quick to voice concerns.
Despite Justin Trudeau’s exclamation that, through a partnership with Google’s sister company Sidewalk Labs, the waterfront neighborhood could help turn the area into a “thriving hub for innovation”, questions immediately arose over how the new wired town would collect and protect data.
A year into the project, those questions have resurfaced following the resignation of a privacy expert, Dr Ann Cavoukian, who claimed she left her consulting role on the initiative to “send a strong statement” about the data privacy issues the project still faces.
“I imagined us creating a Smart City of Privacy, as opposed to a Smart City of Surveillance,” she wrote in her resignation letter.
After initially being told that the data collected would be wiped and unidentifiable, Cavoukian told reporters she learned during a meeting last week that third parties could access identifiable information gathered in the district.
“When I heard that, I said: ‘I’m sorry. I can’t support this,’” she told the Global News. “I have to resign because you committed to embedding privacy by design into every aspect of your operation.”
THE ADVENTIST CHURCH IS LED BY OLD WHITE MEN
Written by:
Simone Samuels
Am I the only one kind of unfazed by the pronouncements and decisions made at Annual Council last week? Or maybe I'm just jaded? I don't know.
We have a church that is, in my opinion, almost too organized and very hierarchical, with a bunch of old White men in leadership positions and not enough representation of POC (people of color) and women making decisions that will affect the 20 million Seventh-day Adventists worldwide. I know that there were ethnic delegates. I know that the resistance against women’s ordination comes mostly from our Latin and African brethren. However, the senior administration of the church is very homogeneous, at least in terms of age and gender and thinking. And I do not have stats, but I'm sure that if we are talking about voting members and delegates, it's not representative of at least the gender diversity in our church.
I love my brothers and sisters in Christ — regardless of gender, race, nationality, or differences in opinion. But representation matters, and when it comes to GC leadership and conference leadership and division leadership and union leadership, the representation is not there. Leadership — I'm not talking delegates, but there are problems there, too — is not reflective of our diversity. And it's a shame because we are one of the most diverse denominations in the world.
Our church is steeped in patriarchy and colonialism; for example, the idea that quiet, less exuberant forms of worship is the only right way to worship, and the tacit discrimination against female clergy members that ensures that administrative and senior leadership positions remain inaccessible to them.
DC attorney general to investigate alleged sexual abuse by Catholic clergy
October 23, 2018 - 11:26 AM EDT
GETTY IMAGESBY JUSTIN WISE
The Washington, D.C., Attorney General's office is opening an investigation into alleged sexual abuse by the Catholic clergy in the district's archdiocese.
Attorney General Karl A. Racine made the announcement at a breakfast for the District's elected officials on Tuesday, according to The Washington Post.
The Hill has reached out to the attorney general's office for additional comment.
The Post notes that Racine has limited power to prosecute crimes. But it adds that the attorney general is probing the Catholic clergy as part of his authorization to enforce city law governing nonprofit groups.
The investigation comes as the Catholic church falls under increasing scrutiny over its handling of sexual abuse complaints.
Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl resigned earlier this month over his role in the cover-up of multiple sexual abuse scandals. Wuerl had faced heavy pressure after a 900-page report released by a Pennsylvania grand jury detailed sexual abuse by priests while Wuerl served as bishop of Pittsburgh.
GETTY IMAGESBY JUSTIN WISE
The Washington, D.C., Attorney General's office is opening an investigation into alleged sexual abuse by the Catholic clergy in the district's archdiocese.
Attorney General Karl A. Racine made the announcement at a breakfast for the District's elected officials on Tuesday, according to The Washington Post.
The Hill has reached out to the attorney general's office for additional comment.
The Post notes that Racine has limited power to prosecute crimes. But it adds that the attorney general is probing the Catholic clergy as part of his authorization to enforce city law governing nonprofit groups.
The investigation comes as the Catholic church falls under increasing scrutiny over its handling of sexual abuse complaints.
Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl resigned earlier this month over his role in the cover-up of multiple sexual abuse scandals. Wuerl had faced heavy pressure after a 900-page report released by a Pennsylvania grand jury detailed sexual abuse by priests while Wuerl served as bishop of Pittsburgh.
You can cut your cancer risk by eating organic, a new study says
By Susan Scutti, CNN
Posted at 11:00 AM ET, Mon October 22, 2018
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
More than 68,000 French adults took part in the study
Those who ate the most organic food were 25% less likely to develop cancer
(CNN) — You can protect yourself from cancer by eating organic, a new study suggests. Those who frequently eat organic foods lowered their overall risk of developing cancer, a study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine finds. Specifically, those who primarily eat organic foods were more likely to ward off non-Hodgkin lymphoma and postmenopausal breast cancer compared to those who rarely or never ate organic foods.
Led by Julia Baudry, an epidemiologist at Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale in France, a team of researchers looked at the diets of 68,946 French adults. More than three-quarters of the volunteers were women, in their mid-40s on average. These volunteers were categorized into four groups depending on how often they reported eating 16 organic products, including fruits and vegetables, meat and fish, ready-to-eat meals, vegetable oils and condiments, dietary supplements and other products.
Related Article: Are there too many antibiotics in your fast food meat?
Follow-up time varied for each participant but lasted slightly more than four and a half years on average, and during that time, the study volunteers developed a total of 1,340 cancers. The most prevalent was breast cancer (459) followed by prostate cancer (180), skin cancer (135), colorectal cancer (99), and non-Hodgkin lymphomas (47).
The authors calculated cancer risk
Comparing the participants' organic food scores with cancer cases, the researchers calculated a negative relationship between high scores (eating the most organic food) and overall cancer risk. Those who ate the most organic food were 25% less likely to develop cancer. Specifically, they were 73% less likely to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma and 21% less likely to develop post-menopausal breast cancer.
Even participants who ate low-to-medium quality diets yet stuck with organic food experienced a reduced risk of cancer, the authors found.
Monday, October 22, 2018
‘The Creepy Line’ Documentary Shows Tech Giants Influencing Voters
(The Creepy Line)
US FEATURES
Film by M.A. Taylor features Jordan Peterson and Peter Schweizer
September 26, 2018 17:25, Last Updated: September 30, 2018 16:46
By Jan Jekielek and Nathan Su
When considering election interference, news of state actors such as Russia and China engaging in “fake news” campaigns on social media has dominated the headlines.
Largely missing from the discussion, until recently, has been the power available to tech giants—specifically Google and Facebook—to influence the behaviors of their users, including voting behavior, in ways that are extremely difficult to track or even perceive.
That’s a power with the potential to subvert democracy, and one that must be kept in check, according to “The Creepy Line,” the latest film by M.A. Taylor and Peter Schweizer, which premiered Sept. 17 in New York and Sept. 19 in Washington. The premiere coincides with President Donald Trump’s recent drafting of an executive order tasking federal agencies with examining online platforms for bias and antitrust issues.
The film gets its title from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s now-infamous 2010 declaration, shown in the film: “There’s what I call the creepy line, and the Google policy about a lot of these things is to get right up to the creepy line, but not cross it.”
Religious freedom advocate Charles Haynes retires, praises Utah law balancing LGBT, faith rights
MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2018
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(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Then-apostle L. Tom Perry, left, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, shakes hands with Executive Director of Equality Utah Troy Williams after a news conference at the Utah Capitol to announce the nondiscrimination bill SB296.
· Published: 2 days ago
Updated: 2 days ago
Washington • Charles Haynes, a First Amendment scholar, has spent more than two decades helping schools walk the line between religion and state and advocating for the rights of people of a range of faiths and no faith.
Over the past year, Haynes, 69, has been in the process of retiring from the Freedom Forum Institute’s Religious Freedom Center, continuing to serve as an adviser as he makes plans to write and volunteer in the future. The author and speaker says it “lifts his heart” when he can gather representatives of groups ranging from People For the American Way to the National Association of Evangelicals — along with Hindus and humanists — around the same table.
He will be honored Wednesday at a ceremony at the Newseum in Wasington.
Haynes talked to Religion News Service about the state of religious freedom in the nation, his hopes and worries about its future, and his little-spoken-of personal faith. (The interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
Sunday, October 21, 2018
Trump administration may end legal recognition of transgender Americans, NYT reports
Roger Severino, director of the Office for Civil Rights, poses for a portrait, Feb. 1, 2018, at the office of Health and Human Services in Washington.
JACQUELYN MARTIN, AP
WILLIAM CUMMINGS | USA TODAY| 5 hours ago
The Trump administration may move to rigidly define gender as a fixed status determined biologically by the genitalia a person is born with, reversing Obama-era policies that granted federal recognition to transgender individuals, according to a Sunday report from The New York Times.
The paper said it obtained a memo detailing how the Department of Health and Human Services plans to create a legal definition of gender. The definition would be implemented under the Title IX law, which bans discrimination based on sex in federally funded education programs, the Times reported.
The HHS memo said that gender should be defined "on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable," the Times said. A person's gender would be strictly male or female and it would be unchanging.
According to a 2016 study from the Williams Institute, a UCLA Law-based think tank focused on sexual orientation research, about 1.4 million American adults identify as transgender.
JACQUELYN MARTIN, AP
WILLIAM CUMMINGS | USA TODAY| 5 hours ago
The Trump administration may move to rigidly define gender as a fixed status determined biologically by the genitalia a person is born with, reversing Obama-era policies that granted federal recognition to transgender individuals, according to a Sunday report from The New York Times.
The paper said it obtained a memo detailing how the Department of Health and Human Services plans to create a legal definition of gender. The definition would be implemented under the Title IX law, which bans discrimination based on sex in federally funded education programs, the Times reported.
The HHS memo said that gender should be defined "on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable," the Times said. A person's gender would be strictly male or female and it would be unchanging.
According to a 2016 study from the Williams Institute, a UCLA Law-based think tank focused on sexual orientation research, about 1.4 million American adults identify as transgender.
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Ex-papal envoy denounces ‘scourge of homosexuality’ in abuse crisis
Oct 19, 2018
FAITH AND CULTURE CORRESPONDENT
(Left) Former papal nuncio to the United States, Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, and (Right) Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops. (Credit: CNS.)
ROME - In a new and now third public letter, a former Vatican envoy to the United States said the Vatican’s top official for overseeing bishops confirmed many of his accusations of negligence in the handling of an infamous ex-cardinal charged with sexual abuse and once again pointed to homosexuality as the cause of the abuse crisis facing the Catholic Church.
“Cardinal [Marc] Ouellet concedes the important claims that I did and do make, and disputes claims I don’t make and never made,” said Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò in a letter published on the blog of Italian conservative journalist Marco Tosatti Oct. 19.
Earlier this month, Ouellet, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops, published a letter accusing Viganò of a political “frame job” and a “deplorable and incomprehensible attack” on Pope Francis, after Viganò accused the pontiff of knowing about sexual misconduct concerns regarding ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick in 2013 and taking no action. In his original letter released Aug. 26, Viganò called on Francis to resign.
Ouellet also stated that there were no formal “sanctions” against McCarrick imposed by Pope emeritus Benedict XVI that Francis ignored, contrary to Viganò’s allegation.
In what has become a Vatican “he said-he said” scenario, Viganò answered Ouellet’s letter by stating that his rebuke has reinforced him in his decision and, furthermore, serves to “vindicate” his claims.
The former U.S. ambassador said that Ouellet’s letter confirms they both spoke about the McCarrick situation, that they corresponded about the “conditions and restrictions” imposed against the ex-cardinal by Benedict, which “forbade McCarrick to travel or to make public appearances.”
Ouellet acknowledged that McCarrick was “strongly encouraged” to keep a low public profile and was urged to live a “private life” of silence “with the rigor of canonical penalties,” though he claims these were not actual sanctions since there was not enough proof.
While Viganò admits in his latest letter they “were not technically ‘sanctions’ but provisions,” he also added that to “quibble” over the distinction is a matter of “pure legalism” and that “from a pastoral point of view they are exactly the same thing.”
Regarding Ouellet’s observation that it would have been impossible for Francis to properly assess the information given to him on McCarrick while he was meeting numerous nuncios, Viganò stated that the question was fully addressed in private when he told the pope that the ex-cardinal had “sexually corrupted his own seminarians and priests.”
“No pope could forget that,” he added.
Ambassador Nikki Haley: ‘It Would Be Tragic’ If Abuse Scandal Blinds People to Catholic Church’s ‘Good Works’
Ambassador Nikki Haley: ‘It Would Be Tragic’ If Abuse Scandal Blinds People to Catholic Church’s ‘Good Works’
By Melanie Arter | October 19, 2018 | 4:46 PM EDT
UN Ambassador Nikki Haley (Screenshot)
(CNSNews.com) - During her keynote speech at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner on Thursday, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said that while the Catholic Church is taking action to address the “moral failing” of the sexual abuse scandal, the church itself is performing miracles each day in places overseas that Haley has seen firsthand.
Haley said the issue of sexual abuse is one that affects not just the Catholic family, but the American family.
“Additionally, gathered here tonight are great leaders of the Catholic Church. I would be remiss if I failed to mention the serious difficulties facing the church. The issue of sexual assault is not limited to the Catholic family. It deeply touches the American family. The horrendous crimes that have been committed are harmful. There’s the devastation of the sexual abuse itself, and there’s the fact that the perpetrators of these crimes were people in a position of faith and trust,” she said.
“The church’s place must be with the victims that carry the pain with them. I know the church leaders recognize its deep responsibility to address this moral failing, and it is taking action, but there’s another point I want to emphasize. It would be tragic to allow the abuse scandal to blind anyone to the amazing good works the Catholic church does every single day,” Haley said.
The ambassador said while the Al Smith dinner raises millions of dollars for needy people in New York, “it goes way beyond that.”
“In the last two years, I’ve been to some very dark places where human suffering is on a level that’s hard for most Americans to imagine. I’ve been to the border between Colombia and Venezuela, where people walk 3 hours each way in the blazing sun to get the only meal that they will have that day. Who’s giving that meal? The Catholic Church,” she said.
“I’ve been to refugee camps in Central Africa where young boys are kidnapped and forced to become child soldiers and young girls are raped as a matter of routine. Who was in the forefront of changing this culture of corruption and violence? The Catholic Church,” Haley added.
Haley said she’s come across the Catholic Church “doing incredible work” to uplift “millions of desperate people” almost everywhere she’s been on humanitarian missions.
“It is serving God’s will. There are real problems, yes, but we must not lose sight of the miracles that are performed everyday. Those miracles are the way of the church. And as the proud daughter of Indian immigrants, who got the honor of representing my state as governor and our country as United Nations ambassador, I will say those miracles are the way of America,” she concluded.
Source
At (Catholic) 73rd annual Al Smith Dinner - Nikki Haley jokes about Trump, Sen. Warren in speech
Nikki Haley jokes about Trump, Sen. Warren in speech
By KARMA ALLEN
Evan Vucci/AP, FILE
WATCH Outgoing UN Ambassador Haley pokes fun at Trump
Outgoing U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley poked fun at President Donald Trump, his longtime rival Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other high-profile politicians in a lighthearted speech on Thursday.
Haley showed off her aptitude for keeping a secret last week with a shocking resignation announcement, but she displayed a brand new talent during her speech in New York City on Thursday as she assumed the role of a comedian for the night.
"Two years ago Trump was here and made some waves with his remarks, so last year you went with Paul Ryan, who’s a Boy Scout and that’s fine, but a little boring. So this year, you wanted to spice things up again,” she quipped after being introduced as the “next president of the United States.”
Interested in Trump Administration?Add Trump Administration as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Trump Administration news, video, and analysis from ABC News.
WATCH Outgoing UN Ambassador Haley pokes fun at Trump
Outgoing U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley poked fun at President Donald Trump, his longtime rival Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other high-profile politicians in a lighthearted speech on Thursday.
Haley showed off her aptitude for keeping a secret last week with a shocking resignation announcement, but she displayed a brand new talent during her speech in New York City on Thursday as she assumed the role of a comedian for the night.
"Two years ago Trump was here and made some waves with his remarks, so last year you went with Paul Ryan, who’s a Boy Scout and that’s fine, but a little boring. So this year, you wanted to spice things up again,” she quipped after being introduced as the “next president of the United States.”
Interested in Trump Administration?Add Trump Administration as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Trump Administration news, video, and analysis from ABC News.
The Associated Press
Keynote speaker Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, center, shares a light moment as she attends the 73rd Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018, in New York. Center left is Archbishop of New York Cardinal more +
Friday, October 19, 2018
Former Speaker of the House John Boehner to Host First-Ever National Cannabis Event
The American Cannabis Summit: Countdown to Legalization will go live on Tuesday, October 23 at 1:00PM EST from Washington DC at ACS2018.com
NEWS PROVIDED BY
National Institute for Cannabis Investing
08:49 ET
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 2018/PRNewswire/ -- Marijuana has unleashed a "green gold rush" across our nation, creating $10.8 billion in new wealth a year. Every day it's transforming more and more Americans into millionaires and now, John Boehner and a team of experts are bringing the invaluable information and resources to the masses.
08:49 ET
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 2018/PRNewswire/ -- Marijuana has unleashed a "green gold rush" across our nation, creating $10.8 billion in new wealth a year. Every day it's transforming more and more Americans into millionaires and now, John Boehner and a team of experts are bringing the invaluable information and resources to the masses.
John Boehner, Former Speaker of the House
In an historic free event, hosted by the National Institute for Cannabis Investing, former Speaker of the House John Boehner, and leaders in the cannabis business Danny Brody and Mike Ward, will present the first online event to introduce THE authoritative source for cannabis investing - Cannabis Investors Network.
Mr. Boehner shares, "The next generation of billion-dollar cannabis companies are ripe for the picking, you just have to make smart moves. Don't go blindly investing in this sector because it's exciting and you don't want to miss the boat. Cannabis is here to stay, the industry is only getting bigger, and I am all in. With the information we are sharing on Tuesday, one can stake a claim for fractions of what they could be worth weeks or months from now."
In an historic free event, hosted by the National Institute for Cannabis Investing, former Speaker of the House John Boehner, and leaders in the cannabis business Danny Brody and Mike Ward, will present the first online event to introduce THE authoritative source for cannabis investing - Cannabis Investors Network.
Mr. Boehner shares, "The next generation of billion-dollar cannabis companies are ripe for the picking, you just have to make smart moves. Don't go blindly investing in this sector because it's exciting and you don't want to miss the boat. Cannabis is here to stay, the industry is only getting bigger, and I am all in. With the information we are sharing on Tuesday, one can stake a claim for fractions of what they could be worth weeks or months from now."
Thursday, October 18, 2018
US Justice Department investigating Catholic Church in Pennsylvania
By Daniel Burke and Rosa Flores, CNN
Updated at 5:41 PM ET, Thu October 18, 2018
(CNN) — The Department of Justice has subpoenaed at least seven of the eight Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania as part of an investigation into abuse by priests.
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and the dioceses of Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton acknowledged on Thursday they had received federal subpoenas.
"The Diocese of Pittsburgh has received the subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice and will cooperate fully with any and all investigations of the sexual abuse of minors by clergy in Pennsylvania," said spokesman the Rev. Nicholas S. Vaskov.
Several groups that represent abuse survivors said this appears to be the first federal probe of this size and scope into sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in the United States. A spokesperson for the Department of Justice in Washington declined to comment.
The federal probe comes on the heels of a damning grand jury report in Pennsylvania that found credible evidence that 301 "predator priests" abused more than 1,000 children in six dioceses since 1947.
Because the statute of limitations had run out on most of the crimes, only two priests have been charged as a result of the two-year-long investigation.
But the Pennsylvania report has prompted officials in several other states to open inquiries into allegations of sexual misconduct by Catholic clergy.
The Survivors Network of those Abuse by Priests has been asking for a federal investigation into the Catholic Church since 2003, during the church's last widespread scandal of clergy sex abuse.
David Clohessy, SNAP's former national director, said "as best we can tell" this is the first such federal probe into the Catholic Church in the United States targeting clergy sexual abuse. "And it is long overdue."
REPUBLICANS, SCOTUS & THE DICTATOR POPE - 10.9.2018
NOTR - REPUBLICANS, SCOTUS & THE DICTATOR POPE - 10.9.18
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018 AT 6:45PM
Chris discusses some of the history of the Supreme Court of the United States and the historic influence of the Republican Party. For years, the Evangelical and Conservative communities have long believed that by achieving a Republican majority on the Nation’s highest court, the Roe v. Wade decision could be finally overturned. But is this really the case? Also discussed is a new book about the administration of Pope Francis, who has now been called “the dictator Pope” by a Jesuit trained Catholic author, because of the climate of fear and intimidation that is said to exist in the Vatican.
Perceived threat: Long, tangled history put Khashoggi in crosshairs
This image taken from CCTV video obtained by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet and made available on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2018 claims to show Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018. Turkey said Tuesday ...
Ties to Saudi intelligence, Muslim Brotherhood and political activism may have led to journalist's disappearance
By Guy Taylor - The Washington Times - Wednesday, October 17, 2018
The prevailing narrative about the bizarre case of U.S.-based Saudijournalist Jamal Khashoggi is that Saudi Arabia’s hard-charging young crown prince ordered him kidnapped and perhaps killed in order to silence a particularly effective critic who wrote widely read, disparaging columns about the royal family and the crown prince’s own ambitious reform agenda.
But Middle East insiders say some deeper subplots played into Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance — stemming from his long career of political activism, ties to Saudi intelligence and Mr. Khashoggi’s past relationship with the Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood.
Mr. Khashoggi, who was 59 when he disappeared at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, is said to have withdrawn years ago from any formal affiliation with the Brotherhood, but his past ties to the transnational Islamist group are believed to have been a source of distrust for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The 33-year-old prince branded the Brotherhood a terrorist organization, and one of his signature moves as heir to the Saudi throne was to cut off all ties with the rival Gulf nation of Qatar. The prince blames Doha for financing the Muslim Brotherhood to foment unrest against the powers that be across the Arab world, in particular Saudi Arabia.
Catholic Activists Demand Women’s Voting Rights At Major Vatican Meeting
Catholic women want to know why female leaders can’t vote alongside male peers at the Vatican’s Synod of Bishops.
Members of the Women’s Ordination Conference, a progressive Catholic group, stage a ‘singing’ protest during the opening of a global meeting of bishops at the Vatican, on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
An array of Roman Catholic women are questioning whether Vatican rules barring women from voting at an important global meeting are fundamentally discriminatory ― arguing that the right to vote has already been granted to lay Catholic men.
Liberal and conservative Catholic women are calling on the church to allow female religious superiors ― nuns who lead women’s religious orders ― to vote alongside male religious superiors at the Synod of Bishops, an annual Vatican assembly that advises the pope. The final document produced by the month-long meeting, which began on Oct. 3, has the potential to become official church teaching if approved by the pope.
The debate over whether women can vote at the Synod of Bishops has become a flashpoint for those seeking proof the centuries-old, male-dominated Catholic church is finally willing to listen to women’s voices.
More than 5,000 people have signed an online petition calling for female religious superiors to be allowed to vote at the synod. The day the synod opened, 20 men and women gathered to protest at the Vatican, according to the National Catholic Reporter. The protestors read out the names of Catholic cardinals and chanted, “Knock, knock. Who’s there? More than half the church!”
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
“Migrants are Not Criminals” Says Jesuit Network Responding Caravan
“MIGRANTS ARE NOT CRIMINALS” SAYS JESUIT NETWORK RESPONDING TO CARAVAN
BY ISN STAFF | October 16, 2018
“Migrants are not criminals,” sums up the message of the Jesuit Migration Network of Central America (Red Jesuita Con Migrantes Centroamérica) and other Catholic partners in Central America whom issued a statement today regarding the caravan of at least 1,500 people who left San Pedro Sula, Honduras, seeking refuge from violence and economic poverty in their home country with an end goal of seeking asylum in the United States.
Yolanda González, a coordinator of the Jesuit Migration Network of Central and North America, welcomes delegates from across the region as the network meeting began earlier this week.
The Jesuit Migration Network of Central America issued the statement in the midst of an annual meeting with migration partners from the United States and Canada, taking place in San Salvador, El Salvador. They called on governments in the region to fulfill “their responsibility to guarantee the fundamental rights of migrants in transit and provide a comprehensive and humanitarian solution.
In the U.S., President Donald Trump responded with harsh words for the caravan and Honduras via Twitter, saying that he would cut foreign aid to the country if the caravan was not stopped and brought back to Honduras. He followed up later in the day with an additional tweet where he also threatened El Salvador and Guatemala, saying that all payments to the countries [including Honduras] would be stopped if their citizens participated in the caravan or if they allowed the caravan to traverse through their countries. If both instances, he suggested that the caravanm members would be entering the U.S. illegally, but reports suggest that the migrants will seek asylum if they make it to the U.S.-Mexico border, a legal claim that can be made at any formal U.S. immigration control point.
The Jesuit Migration Network of Central America is part of a larger network that serves all of Latin America and the Caribbean, seeking to provide effective, coordinated, and comprehensive assistance to migrants, displaced persons, and refugees from very diverse areas: pastoral, educational, social, research, etc. In the United States, participation comes from Jesuit universities, high schools, parishes, and social ministries.
ROME & THE ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN
NOTR - ROME & THE ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN - 10.11.18
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2018 AT 3:34PM
Today's Show: ROME & THE ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN - 10.11.2018
Chris discusses the ongoing debate about who was really behind the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in the 19th century. It has been well documented that at least two Catholic priests (Charles Chiniquy, Emmett McLoughlin) wrote books in which they blamed the murder of Lincoln on the Vatican and her Jesuit priests. But now another work has surfaced that was written by one of the generals who sat on the Military Commission that investigated the crime, and also presided over the trial of the conspirators who were convicted and put to death. In 1897, General Thomas M. Harris published the book titled, “Rome’s Responsibility for the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.” General Harris wrote that "a crisis is even now upon us; a crisis in which the world-old contest between freedom and despotism is to be definitely and finally settled."
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Monday, October 15, 2018
Migration, addressing its root causes while protecting migrants
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LATEST PRESS RELEASES
Content:
Webnews, 09/10/2018
During the international conference on “Religious freedom and development cooperation to reduce the causes for migration” on 17 September 2018, COMECE stressed the primary right of every human person to live in dignity in his home country without being forced to move.
Participants debated the ways to address the root causes of migration through the European development cooperation, which, emphasised COMECE, “should neither be based on ideological approaches, nor instrumentalising peoples and countries but benefitting persons in all their aspects, including spiritual and moral welfare”.
COMECE also highlighted the importance of a greater access to education to enhance the human integral development of persons, families and peoples in their home countries.
Article 13.2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognises the right of everyone to leave any country, including his own. As stated by Pope Francis in his last message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, when people migrate, they should be welcomed, protected, promoted and integrated in a responsible manner, according to the hosting society’s capacity.
This message was conveyed by COMECE during the Seminar “Three years after the migration and security agendas - Where does the public sector stand?”, together with the principle that security should aim at protecting persons, families and communities including migrants and refugees.
COMECE also reaffirmed that the asylum legislation grants international protection in case of religious persecution as discussed in a recent joint COMECE-CEC meeting on religious conversion in asylum procedures. Migration current developments will be at the agenda of the next COMECE Working Group on Migration and Asylum next 22 November 2018.
Media
Photo Gallery
Photo: Reuters/Marko Djurica
LATEST PRESS RELEASES
Content:
Webnews, 09/10/2018
During the international conference on “Religious freedom and development cooperation to reduce the causes for migration” on 17 September 2018, COMECE stressed the primary right of every human person to live in dignity in his home country without being forced to move.
Participants debated the ways to address the root causes of migration through the European development cooperation, which, emphasised COMECE, “should neither be based on ideological approaches, nor instrumentalising peoples and countries but benefitting persons in all their aspects, including spiritual and moral welfare”.
COMECE also highlighted the importance of a greater access to education to enhance the human integral development of persons, families and peoples in their home countries.
Article 13.2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognises the right of everyone to leave any country, including his own. As stated by Pope Francis in his last message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, when people migrate, they should be welcomed, protected, promoted and integrated in a responsible manner, according to the hosting society’s capacity.
This message was conveyed by COMECE during the Seminar “Three years after the migration and security agendas - Where does the public sector stand?”, together with the principle that security should aim at protecting persons, families and communities including migrants and refugees.
COMECE also reaffirmed that the asylum legislation grants international protection in case of religious persecution as discussed in a recent joint COMECE-CEC meeting on religious conversion in asylum procedures. Migration current developments will be at the agenda of the next COMECE Working Group on Migration and Asylum next 22 November 2018.
Media
Photo Gallery
Photo: Reuters/Marko Djurica
WCC general secretary: “we have to think and act ‘green’ in everything we do”
WCC general secretary: “we have to think and act ‘green’ in everything we do”
Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit. Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC
12 October 2018
World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit responded to the recently released report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on the impacts of global warming.
“Use of fossil fuels, unsustainable production of food, and deforestation, among other human economic activities, have raised greenhouse gases to a level that already has an unambiguous impact on the climate,” Tveit said. “The report states that the consequences of temperatures rising will be more severe than what was predicted earlier.”
As people of faith we must always have the impoverished and vulnerable in the midst of our prayers and actions, Tveit continued. “We cannot be silent and stay passive,” he said. “We all need to do what we can do.”
Governments, businesses, churches and individuals all have a part, he added.
“We have to think and act ‘green’ in everything we do. As general secretary of the World Council of Churches, I am just now leading a process towards a full-scale project of changing the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, and of plans for building several new buildings there (the “Green Village” project).”
Tveit pledged to use his influence to convince investors, as a condition of becoming owners in the Green Village, to commit to attain a high quality ecological certification not only in energy efficiency, water management and biodiversity in the construction of the new buildings and park, but also in the ongoing operation of the Green Village as a community.
“What you and I do in response to perhaps the biggest global challenge humanity has ever confronted may be seen as a mere drop in the ocean,”he concluded. “But this can turn into a wave of change.”
Read the full statement of the WCC general secretary
"Climate justice: time to ramp up efforts" - a statement from Rev. Martin Junge, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation
Read the statement of the European Christian Environmental Network
Learn more about the WCC's work on Care for Creation and Climate Change
To Protect the Environment, Buddhist Monks Are Ordaining Trees
Shutterstock
By August Rick 10-11-2018
Traveling from several provinces across the heavily logged Cambodian landscape, two dozen Buddhist monks met at a local pagoda last October to attend a workshop held by The Alliance of Religions and Conservation. For Cambodia’s emerging network of “ecology monks” working in an increasingly authoritarian climate, the meeting was a critical and rare opportunity to discuss best practices for local conservation projects. And then two cops showed up and shut it down.
“They’re very wary of the monks getting together,” Chantal Elkin, a program manager for The Alliance of Religions and Conservation, told Sojourners. “Forest activism is [seen as] a threat to the government.”
Several of the monks were visibly upset, Elkin said.
Though traditionally revered in Cambodia’s majority-Buddhist society, monks today are not immune to the government’s crackdown on civil society actors. But where efforts at civic organization meet rebuke, Cambodia has seen the rise of one act of conservation — the holy ordination of trees — which originally emerged in Thailand and has risen in practice under the auspices of the Buddhist faith.
The most venerable of the group took the two officers, local cops not antagonistic to the meeting but seemingly following orders, up the hill where the group ordained a tree into the Buddhist faith, and then dispersed.
Beginning in the late 1980s, venerable Thai monks began to ordain trees as they would induct a new monk to the faith. Often choosing the oldest and largest trees, which hold domain over the forest, the monks would recite the appropriate scripture, often from the Pali Canon, garb the tree in traditional monk’s robes, and read from sections of Buddhist scripture that coalesce faith, ecology, and conservation. Though the practice varied, it was understood across the board as an effort to alleviate suffering, a core commandment of Buddhist faith.
The ordained tree, garbed in orange for a monk or white for a maechi (one of several titles given to women who have dedicated their lives to the Buddhist faith), serves various conservation roles. Most immediately, the human trace left in the forest dissuades illegal loggers. To harm an ordained monk is a religious taboo and legal offense. An ordination extends this sacred status to the tree. Communities that ordain trees often patrol the forest, taking photos of illegal activity and reporting wrongdoers.Buddhist practitioners bear moral authority in society. Many have found the need to adapt that morality to the modern world.
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