Monday, December 31, 2018
Armed man arrested on way to Texas church to fulfill a 'prophecy'
He was carrying the loaded weapon, extra ammunition and a face shield, according to police.
Dec. 31, 2018 / 4:23 AM ET
By Associated Press
SEGUIN, Texas — An armed man wearing police tactical-style clothing who said he was on his way to a church to fulfill "a prophecy" was arrested in suburban San Antonio on Sunday.
Seguin police say a passer-by who saw the man carrying a handgun notified authorities.
An off-duty officer responded to the call and found the man carrying the loaded weapon, extra ammunition and a face shield.
Tony Albert, 33, was arrested on a drug charge and also a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Police said he was taken to the Guadalupe County jail but online records didn't indicate he was being held there.
It's not clear if Albert has an attorney.
Sunday, December 30, 2018
“Jamaica Moves” Program Secures Backing of Adventist Church
27 December 2018 | The Adventist Church in Jamaica has announced plans to formally endorse the government’s “Jamaica Moves” wellness program on January 8, 2019.
Pastor Everett Brown, president of the denomination in the country, framed the decision to support the government by saying that the denomination’s mission is to help people spiritually by doing “whatever we can to benefit mankind.”
The church will support the government by organizing a number of countrywide events in 2019, all promoting healthy habits.
The president of the General Conference of the Adventist Church, Ted Wilson, will attend some of the key wellness events planned by the denomination in early February 2019.
“We want our members to use their resources to address people’s needs within the community. We believe that a healthy person will be a more productive individual, and we want to encourage healthy lifestyles. [As such], we fully endorse [Jamaica Moves] and want to use our resources to support this process,” Brown stated, according to the Jamaica Observer.
According to the Adventist denomination’s Office of Archives Statistics and Research, there were 304,021 members and 683 churches in Jamaica as of June 30, 2017.
A Holiday Mystery: Why Did John Roberts Intervene in the Mueller Probe?
Brendan Smialowski/Pool via AP
We’re about to find out why the chief justice of the Supreme Court decided to get involved in the special counsel’s investigation.
By NELSON W. CUNNINGHAM
December 30, 2018
A mysterious grand jury subpoena case has been working itself through the D.C. courts since August. Doughty reporting by Politico linked the grand jury case to special counsel Robert Mueller. Some of us, connecting the dots, wondered whether Mueller’s antagonist in this secret subpoena battle might be President Donald Trump himself. Speculation heightened two weeks ago when the D.C. Circuit cleared an entire floor of reporters assembled for the oral argument, in order to protect the identity of the litigants.
Four days later, the D.C. Circuit judges burst the speculative bubble with a decision that halfway revealed the identity of the party litigating against the government: not Trump, but an unnamed corporation (“the Corporation”) owned by an unnamed foreign state (“Country A”). Although the case is still plenty mysterious (What foreign state? What records of what transactions? Why the hard-fought litigation?), the evident fact that Trump was not directly involved in the litigation seemingly drained further proceedings of direct suspense. Mueller watchers headed off for the holidays.
The Great Controversy: Chapter (12) The French Reformation.
Throughout Christendom, Protestantism was menaced by formidable foes. The first triumphs of the Reformation past, Rome summoned new forces, hoping to accomplish its destruction. At this time, the order of the Jesuits was created, the most cruel, unscrupulous, and powerful of all the champions of popery. Cut off from every earthly tie and human interest, dead to the claims of natural affection, reason and conscience wholly silenced, they knew no rule, no tie, but that of their order, and no duty but to extend its power. The gospel of Christ had enabled its adherents to meet danger and endure suffering, undismayed by cold, hunger, toil, and poverty, to uphold the banner of truth in face of the rack, the dungeon, and the stake. To combat these forces, Jesuitism inspired its followers with a fanaticism that enabled them to endure like dangers, and to oppose to the power of truth all the weapons of deception. There was no crime too great for them to commit, no deception too base for them to practice, no disguise too difficult for them to assume. Vowed to perpetual poverty and humility, it was their studied aim to secure wealth and power, to be devoted to the overthrow of Protestantism, and the re-establishment of the papal supremacy.
When appearing as members of their order, they wore a garb of sanctity, visiting prisons and hospitals, ministering to the sick and the poor, professing to have renounced the world, and bearing the sacred name of Jesus, who went about doing good. But under this blameless exterior the most criminal and deadly purposes were concealed. It was a fundamental principle of the order that the end justifies the means. By this code, lying, theft, perjury, assassination, were not only pardonable but commendable, when they served the interests of the church. Under various disguises the Jesuits worked their way into offices of State, climbing up to be the counselors of kings, and shaping the policy of nations. They became servants, to act as spies upon their masters. They established colleges for the sons of princes and nobles, and schools for the common people; and the children of Protestant parents were drawn into an observance of popish rites. All the outward pomp and display of the Romish worship was brought to bear to confuse the mind, and dazzle and captivate the imagination; and thus the liberty for which the fathers had toiled and bled was betrayed by the sons. The Jesuits rapidly spread themselves over Europe, and wherever they went, there followed a revival of popery.
The Great Controversy (1888), p.234.
Jackson Lee Introduces Bill Requiring Mexico to Pay for Border Wall
Earl Gibson III/Getty Images
PENNY STARR 28 Dec 2018
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) introduced a bill without much fanfare in December that would block taxpayer funding for a border wall on the U.S./Mexico border and instead would require Mexico to foot the bill.
H.R.7332, or the Protect American Taxpayers and Secure Border Act, does nothing specific to secure the border.
The bill states:
No taxpayer funds may be obligated or expended to build a wall or barrier intended to impede travel between Mexico and the United States.
Any wall or barrier described in subsection (a) that is proposed to be built shall be paid for using funds provided by the Government of Mexico.
Securing The Southern Border —The Secretary of Homeland Security shall take such actions as may be necessary to secure the southern border by making maximum effective utilization of technology and improved training of U.S. Custom and Border Protection agents and officers.
Increase In Immigration Judges—The Attorney General may appoint 100 additional immigration judges in addition to immigration judges currently serving as of the date of the enactment of this Act.
Humanitarian Assistance —The Secretary of Homeland Security shall take such actions as may be necessary to ensure that humanitarian assistance is provided to immigrants, refugees, and other displaced persons who are in need of medical assistance and aid to sustain health and life.”
“If enacted, the law would prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars to construct the border wall,” Jackson Lee said in remarks about her bill published in Houston Style Magazine. She continued:
Moreover, it is a comprehensive piece of legislation that ensures that any wall that is built is paid for by Mexico; directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to make occur certain procedures that improve training of agents of the United States Custom and Border Patrol; increases the number of immigration judges; and, it directs the Secretary of DHS to take all such measures to ensure that refugees at the southern border are given humanitarian assistance.
No taxpayer funds may be obligated or expended to build a wall or barrier intended to impede travel between Mexico and the United States.
Any wall or barrier described in subsection (a) that is proposed to be built shall be paid for using funds provided by the Government of Mexico.
Securing The Southern Border —The Secretary of Homeland Security shall take such actions as may be necessary to secure the southern border by making maximum effective utilization of technology and improved training of U.S. Custom and Border Protection agents and officers.
Increase In Immigration Judges—The Attorney General may appoint 100 additional immigration judges in addition to immigration judges currently serving as of the date of the enactment of this Act.
Humanitarian Assistance —The Secretary of Homeland Security shall take such actions as may be necessary to ensure that humanitarian assistance is provided to immigrants, refugees, and other displaced persons who are in need of medical assistance and aid to sustain health and life.”
“If enacted, the law would prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars to construct the border wall,” Jackson Lee said in remarks about her bill published in Houston Style Magazine. She continued:
Moreover, it is a comprehensive piece of legislation that ensures that any wall that is built is paid for by Mexico; directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to make occur certain procedures that improve training of agents of the United States Custom and Border Patrol; increases the number of immigration judges; and, it directs the Secretary of DHS to take all such measures to ensure that refugees at the southern border are given humanitarian assistance.
Duterte Steps Up Attacks on Catholic Church, Priests
Cecilia Yap
December 29, 2018, 6:55 AM EST
Philippine leader escalates rhetoric against Christian tenets
Calling God stupid in June, he now questions Trinity doctrine
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte stepped up his attacks against the Roman Catholic Church on Saturday, telling its leaders to clean up their ranks instead of meddling in how he runs the country as he cast doubt on Jesus and the Holy Trinity.
“To the priests, don’t meddle too much,” Duterte said in the southern Philippine province of Cotabato where he gave out land titles to farmers. The Catholic Church “has to correct itself before it can” criticize. “If not, I will really be their enemy and I will continue to attack them.”
Rodrigo Duterte
Photographer: Ted Aljibe/AFP via Getty Images
In June, the firebrand leader called God “stupid” and questioned the Bible’s story of creation as he attacked bishops who have been critical of his anti-drug campaign, which has led to the deaths of thousands. The president’s popularity fell to a record low after the comments.
On Saturday, Duterte said that if he was Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is God and part of the Holy Trinity, he wouldn’t let himself be crucified and instead would order lightning to strike to free him from the cross. There is only one God and that is the Father, Duterte said.
The comment risks undermining his popularity in a nation where Catholics make up 80 percent of the population.
— With assistance by Andreo Calonzo
Pelosi announces former DOJ official as new House general counsel
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), who is slated to take over as Speaker next month, announced Friday that former Justice Department official Douglas Letter will succeed Thomas Hungar as general counsel of the House of Representatives come January.
The House general counsel is responsible for providing nonpartisan legal advice and assistance to lawmakers, committees and staffers. They also provide legal representation for the lower chamber in the case of litigation.
"Douglas Letter has an outstanding and highly decorated record of achievement in service of America," Pelosi said in a statement. "He will bring deep experience and legal expertise to the House, as he counsels and represents our institution, Members and staff as House General Counsel."
Letter - who graduated from the University of California, Berkeley Law School - currently serves as a senior litigator at the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he also teaches law. Prior to that, he served as the director of the Civil Division appellate staff at the Department of Justice.
"I look forward to serving the interests of the House of Representatives and its Members," Letter said in a statement Friday. "I am eager to apply my litigation experience as I take on the challenges and opportunities that come with the important position of House General Counsel."
Female theologians publish 'women's bible'
Female theologians publish 'women's bible' to counter claims the Holy Book is sexist in the age of #MeToo
'Feminist values and reading the Bible are not incompatible,' said Lauriane Savoy, right, who produced the book with fellow Geneva theology professor Elisabeth Parmentier
CREDIT: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP
Henry Samuel, paris 30 DECEMBER 2018 • 8:00AM
A group of Protestant and Catholic feminist theologians have released A Woman’s Bible arguing that the Holy Book is not misogynistic but a tool for female emancipation.
Sparked by the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the #MeToo movement has sent shockwaves around the world about sexual abuse around the world at home and in the workplace.
Many feminists have accused The Bible, Christianity and religion in general of bolstering a sexist view of society that casts women as subservient. They argue that the female figures in translations and interpretations of Bible texts are all prostitutes servants or saints, whose most positive roles are seducing a monarch or kissing Jesus' feet.
But authors of Une bible des femmes ("A women's bible"), published in October, say that view is often down to a misinterpretation of the Holy Book by patriarchs and sexists.
The book, they write in the introduction, aims to "scrutinise shifts in the Christiantradition, things that have remained concealed, tendentious translations, partial interpretations."
In particular, they sought to counter "the lingering patriarchal readings that have justified numerous restrictions and bans on women”.
"Feminist values and reading the Bible are not incompatible," said Lauriane Savoy, one of two Geneva theology professors behind the book.
Henry Samuel, paris 30 DECEMBER 2018 • 8:00AM
A group of Protestant and Catholic feminist theologians have released A Woman’s Bible arguing that the Holy Book is not misogynistic but a tool for female emancipation.
Sparked by the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the #MeToo movement has sent shockwaves around the world about sexual abuse around the world at home and in the workplace.
Many feminists have accused The Bible, Christianity and religion in general of bolstering a sexist view of society that casts women as subservient. They argue that the female figures in translations and interpretations of Bible texts are all prostitutes servants or saints, whose most positive roles are seducing a monarch or kissing Jesus' feet.
But authors of Une bible des femmes ("A women's bible"), published in October, say that view is often down to a misinterpretation of the Holy Book by patriarchs and sexists.
The book, they write in the introduction, aims to "scrutinise shifts in the Christiantradition, things that have remained concealed, tendentious translations, partial interpretations."
In particular, they sought to counter "the lingering patriarchal readings that have justified numerous restrictions and bans on women”.
"Feminist values and reading the Bible are not incompatible," said Lauriane Savoy, one of two Geneva theology professors behind the book.
Saturday, December 29, 2018
We Are Objects of Infinite Love
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. Ephesians 2:4, 5.
The heart surrendered to God's wise discipline will trust every working out of His providence.... Temptation will come to discourage, but what is gained by yielding to any such temptations? Is the soul made any better by murmuring and complaining of its only source of strength? Is the anchor cast within the vail? Will it hold in sickness? Will it be the testimony borne in the last closing scenes of life when the lips are becoming palsied with death? The anchor holds! I know that my Redeemer liveth....
O Precious, loving, long-suffering, long-forbearing Jesus, how my soul adores Thee! That a poor, unworthy, sin-polluted soul can stand before the Holy God, complete in the righteousness of our Substitute and Surety! Wonder, O Heavens, and be astonished, O earth, that fallen man is the object of His infinite love and delight. He rejoices over them with celestial songs, and man defiled with sin, having become cleansed through the righteousness of Christ, is presented to the Father free from every spot and stain of sin, “not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing” (Ephesians 5:27). “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth” (Romans 8:33).
Let every weak, tempest-tossed soul find anchorage in Jesus Christ and not become so self-centered that he can think only of his little disappointments and the interruption of his plans and hopes. Is not the subject of the plan of salvation all-absorbing? If the infinite God justifies me, “who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died” (Verse 34). He has in His dying for man revealed how much He loves man—enough to die for Him! The law condemns the sinner and drives him to Christ. It is God that justifies and pardons.
Satan will accuse and seek permission to destroy, but it is God that opens the door of refuge. It is God that justifieth him that entereth that door. Then if God be for us, who can be against us? Oh, the bright glorious truth. Why do not men discern it? Why not walk in its bright beams? Why do not all who believe talk of Christ's matchless love? ...
God lives and reigns. All who are saved must fight manfully as soldiers of Jesus Christ; then they will be registered in heaven's books as true and faithful. They are to work the works of Jesus Christ, fight the good fight of faith.—Letter 2, December 29, 1889, to W.C. White's first wife, Mary White, who was dying of tuberculosis.
The Upward Look, p.377.
The Dollar Store Backlash Has Begun
A Dollar General store in Chicago. Jim Young/Reuters
Dec 20, 2018
It has become an increasingly common story: A dollar store opens up in an economically depressed area with scarce healthy and affordable food options, sometimes with the help of local tax incentives. It advertises hard-to-beat low prices but it offers little in terms of fresh produce and nutritious items—further trapping residents in a cycle of poverty and ill-health.
A recent research brief by the Institute of Local Self Reliance (ILSR), a nonprofit supporting local economies, sheds light on the massive growth of this budget enterprise. Since 2001, outlets of Dollar General and Dollar Tree (which bought Family Dollar in 2015) have grown from 20,000 to 30,000 in number. Though these “small-box” retailers carry only a limited stock of prepared foods, they’re now feeding more people than grocery chains like Whole Foods, which has around 400-plus outlets in the country. In fact, the number of dollar-store outlets nationwide exceeds that of Walmart and McDonalds put together—and they’re still growing at a breakneck pace. That, ILSR says, is bad news.
“While dollar stores sometimes fill a need in cash-strapped communities, growing evidence suggests these stores are not merely a byproduct of economic distress,” the authors of the brief write. “They’re a cause of it.”
Dollar stores have succeeded in part by capitalizing on a series of powerful economic and social forces—white flight, the recent recession, the so-called “retail apocalypse”—all of which have opened up gaping holes in food access. But while dollar store might not be causing these inequalities per se, they appear to be perpetuating them. The savings they claim to offer shoppers in the communities they move to makes them, in some ways, a little poorer.
Using code made public by Jerry Shannon, a geographer at University of Georgia, CityLab made a map showing the spread of dollar stores since the recession.
How 2018 became the Catholic Church's year from hell
By Daniel Burke, CNN Religion Editor
Updated 12:40 AM ET, Sat December 29, 2018
(CNN)A prominent cardinal resigned in disgrace. Grand jurors accused hundreds of Catholic clerics of secretly abusing children. A former Vatican ambassador urged the Pope himself to step down.
It was enough for New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan to call it the Catholic Church's "summer of hell."
The cardinal may have been overly optimistic.
In fact, the church's hellish year began in January, when Pope Francis forcefully defended a Chilean bishop he had promoted. He later had to apologize and accept the bishop's resignation.
But the clergy sex abuse scandal shows no signs of abating, with a federal investigation and probes in 12 states and the District of Columbia in the works.
The Pope has convened a meeting of bishops from around the world in Rome next February 21-24, saying he wants the church to tackle the scandal together. But lay Catholics and law enforcement officials appear to be losing patience with the church's hierarchy.
"The Catholic Church cannot police itself," said Lisa Madigan, Illinois' attorney general, in announcing that Catholic leaders had withheld the names of 500 clergy members accused of abuse.
The church's institutional crisis was mirrored by individual soul-searching, as American Catholics questioned whether to stay in the church. 2018 saw parents challenging priests at Mass, prominent Catholics urging the faithful to withhold donations and parents worrying whether their children are safe in the sacristy.
One Catholic historian called it the church's greatest crisis since the Reformation in 1517.
Ben Carson Battles the NIMBYs
Ben Carson Battles the NIMBYs: New at Reason
Reason Staff
Dec. 28, 2018 9:00 am
Public domain
Progressive urbanists and Ben Carson, President Donald Trump's conservative Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), hardly seem like bosom buddies. That makes Carson's embrace of a core item on the progressives' wish list all the more surprising.
In August, Carson announced that he would be revising Obama-era HUD regulations that required local governments to perform extensive (and expensive) studies of how concentrated their neighborhoods were along class and racial lines, and then come up with plans to remedy the housing segregation they found. In their place, Carson wanted HUD to issue new rules that would put the emphasis not on integrating housing but on building new housing, period. For Carson, that means cracking down on byzantine local zoning codes, writes Christian Britschgi.
In August, Carson announced that he would be revising Obama-era HUD regulations that required local governments to perform extensive (and expensive) studies of how concentrated their neighborhoods were along class and racial lines, and then come up with plans to remedy the housing segregation they found. In their place, Carson wanted HUD to issue new rules that would put the emphasis not on integrating housing but on building new housing, period. For Carson, that means cracking down on byzantine local zoning codes, writes Christian Britschgi.
Rep. Jackson Lee: Christmas ‘Is a Holy Time’
Rep. Jackson Lee: Christmas ‘Is a Holy Time’ When ‘We Must Ensure Our Government Is Provided For’
By CNSNews.com Staff | December 27, 2018 | 5:02 PM EST
(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D.-Texas) took to the House floor on Dec. 12 to explain why, especially in the Christmas season, a shutdown of the federal government should be avoided.
“This is a season where many in our Nation draw together with families and worship and celebrate,” Jackson Lee said.
“It is a very honored time,” she said. “People of the Christian faith are engaged in the recognition and acknowledgment of the birth of baby Jesus. It is a holy time. It is a time when families need resources. Government workers need to ensure that their families are provided for, but also we must ensure that our government is provided for.
“I thank the Speaker-elect and the Democratic leader in the Senate, the other body, for recognizing that we do not want a shutdown,” said Jackson Lee.
Jackson Lee also expressed her opposition to a border wall.
“I will say to the American people: There is no foreign war or attack at the southern border,” she said.
“To juxtapose a stagnant wall to the lives of those fleeing political persecution is untenable,” Jackson Lee said.
Here is the complete text of Jackson Lee’s speech as reported in the Congressional Record:
Friday, December 28, 2018
Thursday, December 27, 2018
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
An Australian court’s gag order is no match for the Internet, as word gets out about prominent cardinal’s conviction
By Paul Farhi
December 13, 2018 at 7:26 PM
Cardinal George Pell, who faces prosecution for child sexual offenses, walks to a car in Melbourne on Dec. 11, 2018 (William West/AFP/Getty Images)
An Australian court’s gag order and the forces of the Information Age collided on Thursday in a largely futile effort to keep news about the conviction of a high-ranking Vatican official from reaching readers.
While some U.S. and British news organizations, including the New York Times, did not report on the conviction of Australian Cardinal George Pell on the judge’s order, social media and other news outlets defied it.
Pell, 77, was convicted Tuesday on five counts of child sexual abuse in Melbourne, becoming the most senior official ever found guilty in the Catholic Church’s long-running child sexual-abuse scandals. The judge in the case, Peter Kidd, immediately subjected news of Pell’s conviction to a suppression order, the Australian equivalent of a gag order on press coverage.
Australian courts impose such orders to shield defendants from negative publicity that could prejudice future jurors in upcoming trials. Pell faces another trial next year on a separate set of abuse charges dating to the 1970s.
Kidd’s order prevented Australian media outlets from reporting the news about Pell. But news organizations based outside the country also complied with it, apparently out of concern that their Australian operations could be subjected to contempt of court penalties.
In a court session on Thursday, Kidd told defense and prosecution attorneys that some members of the news media are facing “the prospect of imprisonment and indeed substantial imprisonment” if found guilty of breaching his gag order. He did not name names.
The New York Times withheld any mention of Pell’s conviction on its website, despite having given substantial coverage to the allegations against him in the months leading up to his trial. The Times’s most recent story on the matter, dated Wednesday, reported that the Vatican had removed Pell and another cardinal from a council of advisers selected by Pope Francis and that Pell had been “implicated” in a sexual-abuse case. But it didn’t report the outcome of that case, except in its U.S. print editions.
Priest Who Was Still Saying Mass After Abuse Settlements Is Suspended
The Rev. Donald G. Timone during Mass at St. Joseph’s Church in Middletown, N.Y., in early December.
Dana Ullman for The New York Times
By Sharon Otterman
Dec. 23, 2018
The Archdiocese of New York has suspended a priest who had continued his clerical duties despite two settlements paid for allegations of sexual abuse of teenage boys.
The Rev. Donald G. Timone, 84, is the subject of an internal investigation by the archdiocese, but had continued to celebrate Mass in New York and California, more than a year and a half after an archdiocesan compensation program paid settlements to the two men, as detailed last week by The New York Times.
A spokesman for the archdiocese, Joseph Zwilling, said on Friday that the archdiocese would no longer allow Father Timone to remain in ministry while it weighed permanently removing him.
One of the men who came forward with claims of abuse by Father Timone committed suicide in 2015 after what his widow said was a decades-long struggle to come to terms with the abuse.
Father Timone, who formally retired in 2009, is a priest in residence at St. Joseph’s Church in Middletown, N.Y., and had celebrated Mass there as recently as Dec. 2.
But Father Timone, Mr. Zwilling said in an email, has “been instructed that he is not to exercise his ministry at all until the review board has again examined his case and the matter has been resolved.”
The two settlements were awarded in the spring of 2017 by the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, founded by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the archbishop of New York, to compensate victims of clergy abuse, provided they release the archdiocese from future legal claims.
By Sharon Otterman
Dec. 23, 2018
The Archdiocese of New York has suspended a priest who had continued his clerical duties despite two settlements paid for allegations of sexual abuse of teenage boys.
The Rev. Donald G. Timone, 84, is the subject of an internal investigation by the archdiocese, but had continued to celebrate Mass in New York and California, more than a year and a half after an archdiocesan compensation program paid settlements to the two men, as detailed last week by The New York Times.
A spokesman for the archdiocese, Joseph Zwilling, said on Friday that the archdiocese would no longer allow Father Timone to remain in ministry while it weighed permanently removing him.
One of the men who came forward with claims of abuse by Father Timone committed suicide in 2015 after what his widow said was a decades-long struggle to come to terms with the abuse.
Father Timone, who formally retired in 2009, is a priest in residence at St. Joseph’s Church in Middletown, N.Y., and had celebrated Mass there as recently as Dec. 2.
But Father Timone, Mr. Zwilling said in an email, has “been instructed that he is not to exercise his ministry at all until the review board has again examined his case and the matter has been resolved.”
The two settlements were awarded in the spring of 2017 by the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, founded by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the archbishop of New York, to compensate victims of clergy abuse, provided they release the archdiocese from future legal claims.
No Sunday shopping at the American Dream mega-mall, whenever it opens
NJ.COM
By Allison Pries | Posted December 23, 2018 at 01:00 AM | Updated December 23, 2018 at 09:07 AM
Blue Laws will keep closed retailers at the gigantic mall taking shape in the Meadowlands. But that doesn't mean the entire complex will be closed on Sundays.
Nearly half of American Dream will be comprised of entertainment -- roller coasters, a ski slope, restaurants and more. Those elements of the development are not impacted by the Bergen County laws that forbid buying non-essential items on Sundays.
Here's a look at the laws and what it means for American Dream:
file photo
What are Blue Laws?
Blue Laws restrict commerce on Sundays. These laws once existed throughout the state. But in 1959, the state gave counties control over them. Bergen County is the only one in the state that hasn't repealed it.
file photo
Pope assails greed, pilgrims celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem
Clothilde Mraffko
24 December 2018, 7:55 PM EST
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Thousands attended mass at the Vatican's Saint Peter's Basilica, where Pope Francis, the head of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics, offered his Christmas homily
Pope Francis assailed the "insatiable greed" of today's consumerism at the Vatican and pilgrims crowded into the church at the traditional site of Jesus's birth in Bethlehem on Tuesday as Christmas celebrations began worldwide.
Thousands attended mass on Monday night at the Vatican's Saint Peter's Basilica, where Pope Francis, the head of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics, offered his Christmas homily.
"An insatiable greed marks all human history, even today, when, paradoxically, a few dine luxuriantly while all too many go without the daily bread needed to survive," the 82-year-old pope said.
Pope Francis will deliver his sixth "Urbi et Orbi" address on Tuesday, Christmas Day -- when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ -- to pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter's Square.
Thousands attended mass at the Vatican's Saint Peter's Basilica, where Pope Francis, the head of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics, offered his Christmas homily
Pope Francis assailed the "insatiable greed" of today's consumerism at the Vatican and pilgrims crowded into the church at the traditional site of Jesus's birth in Bethlehem on Tuesday as Christmas celebrations began worldwide.
Thousands attended mass on Monday night at the Vatican's Saint Peter's Basilica, where Pope Francis, the head of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics, offered his Christmas homily.
"An insatiable greed marks all human history, even today, when, paradoxically, a few dine luxuriantly while all too many go without the daily bread needed to survive," the 82-year-old pope said.
Pope Francis will deliver his sixth "Urbi et Orbi" address on Tuesday, Christmas Day -- when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ -- to pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter's Square.
As the Old Faiths Collapse, the Greens, Social Justice Warriors, and Techno-Futurists Aim to Fill the Void
‘RELIGIOUS FEELINGS’
As the Old Faiths Collapse, the Greens, Social Justice Warriors, and Techno-Futurists Aim to Fill the Void
Joel Kotkin,
Alicia Kurimska
Photo Illustration by Lyne Lucien/The Daily Beast
The pews are emptying virtually everywhere in the higher-income world. The Catholic Church is divided and enmeshed in scandal, unable to prevent even historically cleric-dominated Ireland from liberalizing abortion. The once vibrant evangelical movement is losing momentum in the developed world while the more established Protestant and Jewish congregations are shrinking, some at a rapid rate.
Yet rather than an end to faith, this fading of religion may presage the radical re-invention of spiritualism. Just as Christianity replaced paganism at the end of the Roman Empire, rising new faiths—built around notions of social justice, the environment, and technology to extend life or even achieve immortality—may supplant the old ones.
The decline of organized religion is clear. In 24 of 42 traditionally Christian countries, many of them in Europe, the Christian population is already shrinking, deaths among Christians already exceed births—a trend that Pew predicts (PDF) will accelerate. Only in Africa, where faith has tended towards fundamentalism, do Christian births seem likely to continue outnumber births. The Jewish population in Europe, meanwhile, is less than half of what it was in 1960.
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Monday, December 24, 2018
Sunday, December 23, 2018
Jesus doesn't fit your political narrative
by Nicole Russell
| December 23, 2018 08:00 AM
Since the migrant crisis in Europe began in 2015, it has become a common occurrence to see religious figures and publications combine incorrect theology with the political narrative of the day. For example, Pope Francis recently tweeted this:
Pope Francis
✔ @Pontifex
Jesus knows well the pain of not being welcomed. May our hearts not be closed as were the houses in Bethlehem. #Internationalmigrantsday
34.9K
5:30 AM - Dec 18, 2018
Others have said similar things in recent months:
The Christian Post @ChristianPost
'Away in a Manger' remix focuses on Jesus' refugee experience https://www.christianpost.com/news/away-in-a-manger-remix-focuses-on-jesus-refugee-experience.html …
5
9:05 PM - Dec 18, 2018
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'Away in a Manger' remix focuses on Jesus' refugee experience
Christian singer Liz Vice has released a remix of the Christmas carol “Away in a Manger” that focuses on Jesus’ childhood experience as a refugee fleeing King Herod.
christianpost.com
US Catholic magazine @USCatholic
He was born Jesus the migrant, Jesus the refugee. Remember also “you were once strangers in the land” (Lev. 19:34). https://bit.ly/2Lu3B71
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Remember the migrant at Christmas
An old Irish custom—at least my mother told me it was Irish and old—was to put an extra potato in the pot for supper for “the people on the road.” In the 19th century as landlords put tenants off
uscatholic.org
Whether evangelical or Catholic, many denominations try to encourage Americans to be friendlier toward migrants or refugees by insinuating that they should be like Jesus — and after all, Jesus himself was a refugee. This is entirely false and not only that, but this bizarre focus on Jesus as a “refugee” misses the entire point of the Gospel. Pope Francis
✔ @Pontifex
Jesus knows well the pain of not being welcomed. May our hearts not be closed as were the houses in Bethlehem. #Internationalmigrantsday
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Others have said similar things in recent months:
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'Away in a Manger' remix focuses on Jesus' refugee experience https://www.christianpost.com/news/away-in-a-manger-remix-focuses-on-jesus-refugee-experience.html …
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'Away in a Manger' remix focuses on Jesus' refugee experience
Christian singer Liz Vice has released a remix of the Christmas carol “Away in a Manger” that focuses on Jesus’ childhood experience as a refugee fleeing King Herod.
christianpost.com
US Catholic magazine @USCatholic
He was born Jesus the migrant, Jesus the refugee. Remember also “you were once strangers in the land” (Lev. 19:34). https://bit.ly/2Lu3B71
15
1:36 PM - Dec 20, 2018
Twitter Ads info and privacy
Remember the migrant at Christmas
An old Irish custom—at least my mother told me it was Irish and old—was to put an extra potato in the pot for supper for “the people on the road.” In the 19th century as landlords put tenants off
uscatholic.org
First, the concept that Jesus might have been a refugee comes from the fact that He was born in a stable after His parents, Joseph and Mary, could not find any room in the inn, following a lengthy journey from Nazareth, via donkey, to Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph were not going to Bethlehem because they had no home, nor did Joseph lack relatives in Bethlehem. The reason he went, and that there was no place to stay, is because the Caesar was a greedy, demanding ruler who demanded everyone return to their hometowns to participate in the census: “All went to be registered, each to his own town” (Luke 2:3).
I’m not saying the journey was pleasant and not without peril, and indeed, following Jesus’ birth, Mary and Joseph feared for Jesus’ life because King Herod wanted to kill him. This wasn’t as much a political agenda as a personal one: Herod didn’t want another king to take his spot. The family fled to Egypt until Herod died. But even this did not make Jesus a refugee in the sense that he was seeking respite from political persecution, although I can sometimes see where people might interpret it that way. The Bible says in Matthew 2:15: “[Jesus] remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.'"
Mary, Joseph, and Jesus did not travel to Bethlehem or ultimately flee to Egypt fearing persecution or seeking asylum status. They originally went to Bethlehem because Rome demanded it and they fled because they wanted to evade Herod’s thumb — this also fulfilled prophecy.
The larger and more important picture is that Jesus was not some kind of victim, wandering in utero with his parents all over the Middle East just searching for a place to be born. Christians believe God is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, sovereignly in control of all world events: from the donkey Mary rode to Bethlehem on to the fact that there was no room in the inn.
This is not a political statement but a spiritual truth to the Jews and the Gentiles of the world: A savior has been born. He has come from humble beginnings, but He will save His people from their sins. Without the simple humility of the idea that even the savior had no place to rest His head, His incredible sacrifice later on the cross would be difficult to accept. Still, because He was God in the flesh and was willing to become fully human — without which atonement for sins could not have occurred because a perfect deity cannot atone for sins — the gift of salvation is that much more a picture of grace.
This does not mean Jesus does not care about refugees or Middle Easterners more than he cares about Americans or atheists. It just means that the story of salvation is far bigger and more incredible than any political narrative, on the Left or on the Right.
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.
Source
Sydney Catholic leader warns against secularism and threats to religious freedoms
Archbishop Anthony Fisher uses Christmas message to chastise government for going ‘backwards’ in preventing ‘discrimination against people of faith’
Paul Karp and Australian Associated Press
@Paul_Karp
Sat 22 Dec 2018 18.30 EST First published on Sat 22 Dec 2018 17.12 EST
Catholic archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher used his annual message to warn against people who want Jesus ‘put away with our Christmas decorations’. Photograph: Jeremy Ng/AAP
The Catholic archbishop of Sydney has used his annual Christmas message to condemn the perceived erosion of religious freedoms in Australia.
Archbishop Anthony Fisher took aim at “hard-edged secularism” which excludes faith from the public domain.
While Christmas is a time for coming together and celebrating the birth of Jesus, the archbishop said, the holiday season is becoming “one of the few occasions when the public expression of religious faith is tolerated”.
Religious freedom and LGBT kids: Coalition kicks can down the road with yet another review
“A year ago there were promises of new measures to ensure religious freedom is protected in this country,” Fisher said in his Christmas message, released on Saturday.
“A year later and governments have done nothing about this. Indeed, we’ve gone backwards, and discrimination against people of faith has become more acceptable in some quarters.”
Earlier this month, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, announced plans to establish a religious discrimination act.
The act would make it unlawful to discriminate against a person on the basis of their religious belief, in the same way that race, sex and sexuality are protected attributes in federal discrimination law.
However, the government stopped short of agreeing to the Catholics’ demand for a religious freedom act, which would create a positive right for religious institutions to discriminate in employment where such conduct is consistent with their “doctrines, tenets, beliefs or teachings”.
The archbishop warned against people who want Jesus “put away with our Christmas decorations, with no claim on the year ahead”.
“A hard-edged secularism would exclude faith, and the faithful, from public life. Root out Judeo-Christian heritage from law and culture, and confine faith to an ever-narrowing field of private life,” he said.
“We’ve witnessed moves to make the celebration of the sacrament of confession illegal, to defund church schools, to charge an archbishop with discrimination for teaching about marriage, and to deny faith-based institutions the right to choose what kind of community they will be.
“The Christmas message of hope and healing is religious freedom writ large, not for exclusion or power, but for love and service.”
Catholic leaders have refused to adopt a recommendation by the child abuse royal commission to break the seal of confession to reveal child sexual abuse, even if priests face the prospect of criminal charges.
After the recommendations of the Ruddock religious freedom review leaked, Morrison promised to remove exemptions that allow religious schools to expel LGBT students.
Labor rejected a Coalition plan to insert a new clause to legalise both indirect and direct discrimination against students based on gender and sexuality through a schools’ “teaching activities”. The breakdown in bipartisanship meant the changes were not made in 2018.
Vatican Panel Faces Criticism Over Leniency for Priests Guilty of Abuse
In more than a third of cases, appeals panel has sharply reduced penalties on priests convicted of sexual abuse
Pope Francis has promised a policy of zero tolerance against sex abuse.
PHOTO: FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
By
Francis X. Rocca
By
Francis X. Rocca
Dec. 21, 2018 3:21 p.m. ET
VATICAN CITY—A little-known Vatican appeals panel established by Pope Francis has sharply reduced penalties meted out to priests convicted of sexual abuse under church law in more than a third of the cases that have come before it, drawing criticism from some bishops who favor a harder line.
The pontiff has promised a policy of zero tolerance against sex abuse, and critics say the decisions of the panel, composed of eight cardinals and bishops, undermine that message. In some instances, the panel has reinstated clerics expelled...
VATICAN CITY—A little-known Vatican appeals panel established by Pope Francis has sharply reduced penalties meted out to priests convicted of sexual abuse under church law in more than a third of the cases that have come before it, drawing criticism from some bishops who favor a harder line.
The pontiff has promised a policy of zero tolerance against sex abuse, and critics say the decisions of the panel, composed of eight cardinals and bishops, undermine that message. In some instances, the panel has reinstated clerics expelled...
Saturday, December 22, 2018
Call for a world parliament during week of action
Petter Ölmunger
13. December 2018
Around United Nations Day on 24th October 2018, a global week of a action was celebrated for the fifth time with activities across the world in support of the establishment of a democratic world parliament.
The week of action’s declaration points out that “in order to create global solutions we need a global political body that can facilitate global democratic discussions and take global decisions.” According to the document, such a body has to be elected by the world’s citizens. “The world’s citizens should vote for their world representatives,” it says.
A democratically elected body is needed
In Tel Aviv, Israel, there was a public event organized by One World: Movement for Global Democracy. The event, that was hosted by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Tel-Aviv office, was titled ‘The day after the nation-state? Thoughts on democracy, federalism and the world.’
Picture from the Tel Aviv event. From left: Roy Dia, Asher Levi and Oded Gilad.
The two speakers, Roy Dayan and Oded Gilad, presented the idea that since so many of the forces that shape our lives are global, it is unrealistic to expect nation-states to regulate them effectively. To check and balance the powers of the global market, they argued, it is necessary to create federal state mechanisms at the global level, whose power and legitimacy will be anchored in the will of the world’s citizens. At the heart of this idea is the concept of a world parliament, and at the end of the event, after a very engaging discussion, most of the participants joined for a group photo holding the week of action’s slogan, ‘World Parliament Now!’. At the conference on supranational democracy in Lecce in April, Oded Gildad held a speech on a similar subject that can be watched here .
In Stockholm, Sweden, Democracy Without Borders Sweden, and other co-hosting organizations arranged a presentation of the book A World Parliament: Governance and Democracy in the 21st Century , written by Jo Leinen and Andreas Bummel. In his presentation the latter focused on the need of a transformation from international law to world law and stressed that a UN Parliamentary Assembly would be a first viable step. A video of the talk is available at Youtube .
Oklahoma pastor emphasizes message of inclusion
By JAMES NEAL Enid News & Eagle
Dec 2, 2018
ENID, Okla. (AP) — "There is a commonality in our faith, in something beyond ourselves and beyond our particular perspective."
The Rev. Jerry Galbreath, former pastor at University Place Christian Church, said that was one of the key messages he wanted to bring back to Enid from the seventh Parliament of the World's Religions, which convened Nov. 1-7 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Galbreath was one of more than 8,000 attendees, representing about 200 faith traditions from 80 countries, in what is billed as the world's largest and most inclusive interfaith event. The first Parliament of the World's Religions met in Chicago, Illinois in 1893, then again in 1993, then at irregular intervals leading up to this month's meeting in Toronto.
The gathering featured more than 500 workshops and events aimed at promoting interfaith approaches to issues such as war, famine, genocide, climate change and challenges facing indigenous peoples and women.
A long-time pastor in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Galbreath said he was drawn to the parliament's 2018 theme, "The Promise of Inclusion, The Power of Love: Pursuing Global Understanding, Reconciliation and Change," and wanted to bring that message back to Enid.
"We don't really choose our particular stance by looking at the intellectual layout of things and saying 'I'll choose that,'" Galbreath told the Enid News & Eagle . "We are born into a religion, a geography and a race, and that pretty well sets how we think. To get out of that and try to see the perspective of someone who is Baha'i, or Hindu or Buddhist ... helps us break out of the eggshell we're born into, to see there's another world out there.
"To experience something of that diversity, and then bring back that experience to others, helps to communicate to the larger public that such diversity exists," Galbreath said, "and that the environment of today is a multi-faith environment."
According to a Parliament of the World's Religions press release, the objective of the parliament is to promote interfaith understanding and harmony, rather than unity.
"The problem with seeking unity among religions is the risk of loss of the unique and precious character of each individual religious and spiritual tradition," according to the press release. "We live in a world of difference. Yet, we are interdependent ... Too often, religion is misused as an instrument for division and injustice, betraying the very ideals and teachings that lie at the heart of each of the world's great traditions."
Parliament of the World's Religions Executive Director Larry Greenfield said the 2018 event was "an extraordinary opportunity for people of the globe to engage the crucial issues of our world, such as climate change, poverty, and violence."
Bulgarian Christians are taking a win with a heedful mind
On its last work day of 2018, the Bulgarian Parliament voted amendments in the nation’s Religious Denominations Act. A number of problematic provisions were pulled out of draft following local protests and international pressure.
AUTHOR Vlady Raichinov SOFIA 21 DECEMBER 2018 22:16 h GMT+1
On their eight day of street rallies, Evangelical Christians crowded up in front of Bulgaria's Parliament praying for God's interference in the legislative process, December 21, in Sofia. / Vlady Raichinov
On its last work day of 2018, the National Assembly of Bulgaria voted amendments in the nation’s Religious Denominations Act. This became fact after five hours of deliberations on Friday, December 21.
A number of problematic provisions were pulled out of the draft following local protests and international pressure. Local Evangelicals experience a mix of enthusiasm and premonition of new issues round the corner.
DRAFTED RESTRICTIONS THREATENED BASIC FREEDOMS
The original form of the amendments pushed at first reading in early October, included a number of restrictions that alarmed all faith groups in the country and triggered statements of protest from various international institutions. Initially, the lawmakers planned installing provisions that allowed the government to interfere in heavy ways into church affairs.
The problematic articles included a number of disconcerting restrictions, including impeding clergy training; strict filtering of international donations to churches; limitations on sermon content; restraining liturgy to designated buildings; obstructing non-Bulgarians’ ministry; membership of 3,000 for legal registration; allowing special privileges to religious groups over one percent of the population.
Evangelical pastors spoke and prayed in front of Bulgaria's Parliament on December 21. / Vlady Raichinov
The parliamentarian initiative triggered a massive outcry among Evangelical Christians. Every faith group in Bulgaria issued a statement of objection. The Bulgarian Evangelical Alliance (BEA) and communities like Catholics, Seventh-Day Adventists and many Evangelical denominations mobilized church members for seven public protests in November and December. The vigils were called “prayer rallies” and were held in various towns. Many faith groups also underlined that it was not appropriate to try to address national security issues by rewriting a law on religions.
The Inestimable Gift
October 22, 1908
The Inestimable Gift
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him, . . . that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, . . . the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”
Such are the words in which “Paul the aged,” “the prisoner of Jesus Christ,” writing from his prison-house at Rome, endeavored to set before his brethren that which he found language inadequate to express in its fulness,-“the unsearchable riches of Christ,”-the treasure of grace freely offered to the fallen sons of men. The plan of redemption was laid by a sacrifice, a gift. Says the apostle: “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.” Christ “gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity.” And as the crowning blessing of redemption, “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”
Christ, by his sacrifice paying the penalty of sin, would not only redeem man, but recover the dominion which man had forfeited. All that was lost by the first Adam will be restored by the second. The prophet says, “O Tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, to thee shall it come, even the first dominion.” And Paul points forward to the “redemption of the purchased possession.” God created the earth to be the abode of holy, happy beings. That purpose will be fulfilled when, renewed by the power of God, and freed from sin and sorrow, it shall become the eternal home of the redeemed.
A fear of making the future inheritance seem too material has led many to spiritualize away the very truths which lead us to look upon it as our home. Christ assured his disciples that he went to prepare mansions for them in the Father’s house. Those who accept the teachings of God’s Word will not be wholly ignorant concerning the heavenly abode. And yet “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” Human language is inadequate to describe the reward of the righteous. It will be known only to those who behold it. No finite mind can comprehend the glory of the paradise of God.
In the Bible the inheritance of the saved is called a country. There the heavenly Shepherd leads his flock to fountains of living waters. The tree of life yields its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree are for the service of the nations, There are ever-flowing streams, clear as crystal, and beside them waving trees cast their shadows upon the paths prepared for the ransomed of the Lord. There the widespreading plains swell into hills of beauty, and the mountains of God rear their lofty summits. On those peaceful plains, beside those living streams, God’s people, so long pilgrims and wanderers, shall find a home.
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” What love, what matchless love, that, sinners and aliens as we are, we may be brought back to God, and adopted into his family! We may address him by the endearing name, “Our Father,” which is a sign of our affection for him, and a pledge of his tender regard and relationship to us. And the Son of God, beholding the heirs of grace, “is not ashamed to call them brethren.” They have even a more sacred relationship to God than have the angels who have never fallen.
All the paternal love which has come down from generation to generation through the channel of human hearts, all the springs of tenderness which have opened in the souls of men, are but as a tiny rill to the boundless ocean, when compared with the infinite, exhaustless love of God. Tongue can not utter it; pen can not portray it. You may meditate upon it every day of your life; you may search the Scriptures diligently in order to understand it; you may summon every power and capability that God has given you, in the endeavor to comprehend the love and compassion of the Heavenly Father; and yet there is an infinity beyond. You may study that love for ages; yet you can never fully comprehend the length and the breadth, the depth and the height, of the love of God in giving his Son to die for the world. Eternity itself can never fully reveal it. Yet as we study the Bible, and meditate upon the life of Christ and the plan of redemption, these great themes will open to our understanding more and more. And it will be ours to realize the blessing which Paul desired for the Ephesian church, when he prayed “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe.”
Christ’s redeemed ones are his jewels, his precious and peculiar treasure. “They shall be as the stones of a crown,”-“the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.” In them “he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” Christ looks upon his people in their purity and perfection as the reward of all his sufferings, his humiliation, and his love, and the supplement of his glory,
-Christ the great center, from whom radiates all glory.
The Review and Herald, October 22, 1908.
Anglican liaison at Vatican out after sex misconduct charge
Pope Francis greets Anglican Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi, director of the Anglican Center in Rome and the archbishop of Canterbury's personal representative to the Holy See, during his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Nov. 8, 2017. (Credit: Paul Haring/CNS.)
ROME - The Anglican Church’s representative to the Holy See has resigned following an allegation of sexual misconduct.
A statement from the Anglican Centre in Rome, an ecumenical study center and headquarters for the Archbishop of Canterbury’s envoy to the Holy See, announced the resignation Friday.
Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi, former Anglican primate of Burundi, was appointed in 2017. He didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Details of the alleged misconduct weren’t released. A brief statement issued by the center said Ntahoturi was suspended last week and that the governors of the center had accepted his resignation.
Anglicans split from Catholicism in 1534, after England’s King Henry VIII was denied a marriage annulment. The two churches have forged closer ties in the last few decades.
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What is the Catholic response to immigration?
December 21, 2018
Most Reverend Gustavo García-Siller, Archbishop of San Antonio, delivered remarks on immigration at an event co-hosted by America Media and the Mexican American Catholic College in San Antonio, Tex., on Tuesday, Dec. 11.
“We live in a very difficult time in our country. Some elected officials are using migrants and refugees as scapegoats for the nation’s social problems. In doing so they dehumanize our sisters and brothers subjecting them to harsh and even cruel, draconian public policies,” he said.
Outlining a solution forward he remarked, “the church’s answer to a border wall is sustainable economic development in developing countries. Since this is a long-term solution which will require global cooperation and commitment it is not considered politically realistic by many in Washington, nevertheless it is possible.”
“Every person is created in the image and likeness of God, and the Lord calls on us to stand by our brothers and sisters and to act on their behalf—to welcome the stranger and to do unto others as we would want them to do to us. Let us apply the Gospel message faithfully and boldly to the human problem of immigration.”
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P.S.
Garcia-Siller was ordained to the priesthood on June 22, 1984,[4] and then served as an associate pastor at St. Joseph Church in Selma until 1988.[2] He furthered his studies at the Western Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESO) in Guadalajara, earning a M.A. in Psychology; and at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.[5]
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