"Why So Many Idlers?" - Maranatha - April 25th

Betrayal in High Places: Sunday law and religious liberty

Stephen Bohr, SDA Leaders, SDA Ministries Cancelled Dr.Conrad Vine. SDA ...

Remnant, Respectable or Regime Church | Conrad Vine

Note: Conrad Vine's sermon begins @ approximately 29:00 mins.

The Seven Deacons

Audio:

Acts of the Apostles, pp. 87–96.

This chapter is based on Acts 6:1-7.

 

The deacons were given the responsibility of caring for the physical needs of the people.

Illustration © Review and Herald Publ. Assoc.



"In those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration."

The early church was made up of many classes of people, of various nationalities. At the time of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, "there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven." Acts 2:5. Among those of the Hebrew faith who were gathered at Jerusalem were some commonly known as Grecians, between whom and the Jews of Palestine there had long existed distrust and even antagonism.

The hearts of those who had been converted under the labors of the apostles, were softened and united by Christian love. Despite former prejudices, all were in harmony with one another. Satan knew that so long as this union continued [88] to exist, he would be powerless to check the progress of gospel truth; and he sought to take advantage of former habits of thought, in the hope that thereby he might be able to introduce into the church elements of disunion.

Thus it came to pass that as disciples were multiplied, the enemy succeeded in arousing the suspicions of some who had formerly been in the habit of looking with jealousy on their brethren in the faith and of finding fault with their spiritual leaders, and so "there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews." The cause of complaint was an alleged neglect of the Greek widows in the daily distribution of assistance. Any inequality would have been contrary to the spirit of the gospel, yet Satan had succeeded in arousing suspicion. Prompt measures must now be taken to remove all occasion for dissatisfaction, lest the enemy triumph in his effort to bring about a division among the believers.

The disciples of Jesus had reached a crisis in their experience. Under the wise leadership of the apostles, who labored unitedly in the power of the Holy Spirit, the work committed to the gospel messengers was developing rapidly. The church was continually enlarging, and this growth in membership brought increasingly heavy burdens upon those in charge. No one man, or even one set of men, could continue to bear these burdens alone, without imperiling the future prosperity of the church. There was necessity for a further distribution of the responsibilities which had been borne so faithfully by a few during the earlier days of the church. The apostles must now take an important step in [89] the perfecting of gospel order in the church by laying upon others some of the burdens thus far borne by themselves.

Summoning a meeting of the believers, the apostles were led by the Holy Spirit to outline a plan for the better organization of all the working forces of the church. The time had come, the apostles stated, when the spiritual leaders having the oversight of the church should be relieved from the task of distributing to the poor and from similar burdens, so that they might be free to carry forward the work of preaching the gospel. "Wherefore, brethren," they said, "look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word." This advice was followed, and by prayer and the laying on of hands, seven chosen men were solemnly set apart for their duties as deacons.

The appointment of the seven to take the oversight of special lines of work, proved a great blessing to the church. These officers gave careful consideration to individual needs as well as to the general financial interests of the church, and by their prudent management and their godly example they were an important aid to their fellow officers in binding together the various interests of the church into a united whole. 

Diocese of Harrisburg IDs 71 alleged sex abusers, cites bishops’ failure

 

Diocese of Harrisburg IDs 71 alleged sex abusers, cites bishops’ failure

August 1, 2018 timesleader 

By Mark Scolforo - Associated Press

Diocese of Harrisburg Bishop Ronald Gainer on Wednesday discusses child sexual abuse by clergy and a decision by the Roman Catholic diocese to remove names of bishops going back to the 1940s from churches after concluding they did not respond adequately to abuse allegations. - AP Photo | Mark Scolforo 

HARRISBURG — The Roman Catholic diocese of Harrisburg has put out a list of 71 priests and others in the church accused of sexually abusing children in cases going back decades.

Bishop Ron Gainer issued a public apology Wednesday for the abuse and said the church’s bishops shared the blame, having responded inadequately to all the allegations.

As a result, the name of every bishop since 1947 will be removed from church facilities in the diocese.

The Harrisburg Diocese issued its findings just days after the state Supreme Court said a nearly 900-page grand jury report on sex abuse in six dioceses, including Harrisburg, can be made public later this month.

Harrisburg is now the second diocese to get ahead of the grand jury report. The Erie Diocese in April identified more than 50 priests and lay people accused of child sexual abuse.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office issued a statement in response to the news conference in Harrisburg.

“It is long past due for the Diocese of Harrisburg to make public the names of predator priests within the Catholic Church,” said Joe Grace, spokesman for Shapiro. “Their proclamations today only come after intense public pressure and in the face of the imminent release of the Grand Jury report exposing decades of child abuse and cover up.”

Grace said per last week’s Supreme Court Order, this month the Office of Attorney General will publish “an honest and comprehensive accounting” of widespread sexual abuse by more than 300 priests in six Pennsylvania dioceses.

Grace said to this point, the Diocese of Harrisburg has been adverse to transparency and has not been cooperative.

“And now public opinion by the judge supervising the Grand Jury last year made it clear they sought to end the investigation entirely,” Grace said. “The true test of the Diocese’s commitment to victims of abuse and reforms within the Church will be their actions following the release of the report. Attorney General Shapiro has consistently called for the elimination of the criminal statute of limitations and reforms to the civil statute to give all victims the opportunity to obtain justice in a court of law.”

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The people of God are not to vote to place such men in office

We cannot labour to please men who will use their influence to repress religious liberty and to set in operation oppressive measures to lead or compel their fellow men to keep Sunday as the Sabbath. The first day of the week is not a day to be reverenced. It is a spurious sabbath, and the members of the Lord's family cannot participate with the men who exalt this day and violate the law of God by trampling upon His Sabbath. The people of God are not to vote to place such men in office, for when they do this they are partakers with them of the sins which they commit while in office.

Fundamentals of Christian Education, p.475 (1899).

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Christ's healing

When the Saviour said, "Go, . . . teach all nations," He said also, "These signs shall follow them that believe; In My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." The promise is as far-reaching as the commission. Not that all the gifts are imparted to each believer. The Spirit divides "to every man severally as He will." 1 Cor. 12:11. But the gifts of the Spirit are promised to every believer according to his need for the Lord's work. The promise is just as strong and trustworthy now as in the days of the apostles. "These signs shall follow them that believe." This is the privilege of God's children, and faith should lay hold on all that it is possible to have as an indorsement of faith.

"They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." This world is a vast lazar house, but Christ came to heal the sick, to proclaim deliverance to the captives of Satan. He was in Himself health and strength. He imparted His life to the sick, the afflicted, those possessed of demons. He turned away none who came to receive His healing power. He knew that those who petitioned Him for help had brought disease upon themselves; yet He did not refuse to heal them. And when virtue from Christ entered into these poor souls, they were convicted of sin, and many were healed of their spiritual disease, as well as of their physical maladies. The gospel still possesses the same power, and why should we not today witness the same results?

Christ feels the woes of every sufferer. When evil spirits rend a human frame, Christ feels the curse. When fever is burning up the life current, He feels the agony. And He is just as willing to heal the sick now as when He was personally on earth. Christ's servants are His representatives, the channels for His working. He desires through them to exercise His healing power.

In the Saviour's manner of healing there were lessons for His disciples. On one occasion He anointed the eyes of a blind man with clay, and bade him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. . . . He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing." John 9:7. The cure could be wrought only by the power of the Great Healer, yet Christ made use of the simple agencies of nature. While He did not give countenance to drug medication, He sanctioned the use of simple and natural remedies.

To many of the afflicted ones who received healing, Christ said, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." John 5:14. Thus He taught that disease is the result of violating God's laws, both natural and spiritual. The great misery in the world would not exist did men but live in harmony with the Creator's plan.

Christ had been the guide and teacher of ancient Israel, and He taught them that health is the reward of obedience to the laws of God. The Great Physician who healed the sick in Palestine had spoken to His people from the pillar of cloud, telling them what they must do, and what God would do for them. "If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God," He said, "and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee." Ex. 15:26. Christ gave to Israel definite instruction in regard to their habits of life, and He assured them, "The Lord will take away from thee all sickness." Deut. 7:15. When they fulfilled the conditions, the promise was verified to them. "There was not one feeble person among their tribes." Ps. 105:37.

These lessons are for us. There are conditions to be observed by all who would preserve health. All should learn what these conditions are. The Lord is not pleased with ignorance in regard to His laws, either natural or spiritual. We are to be workers together with God for the restoration of health to the body as well as to the soul.

And we should teach others how to preserve and to recover health. For the sick we should use the remedies which God has provided in nature, and we should point them to Him who alone can restore. It is our work to present the sick and suffering to Christ in the arms of our faith. We should teach them to believe in the Great Healer. We should lay hold on His promise, and pray for the manifestation of His power. The very essence of the gospel is restoration, and the Saviour would have us bid the sick, the hopeless, and the afflicted take hold upon His strength.

The power of love was in all Christ's healing, and only by partaking of that love, through faith, can we be instruments for His work. If we neglect to link ourselves in divine connection with Christ, the current of life-giving energy cannot flow in rich streams from us to the people. There were places where the Saviour Himself could not do many mighty works because of their unbelief. So now unbelief separates the church from her divine Helper. Her hold upon eternal realities is weak. By her lack of faith, God is disappointed, and robbed of His glory.

It is in doing Christ's work that the church has the promise of His presence. Go teach all nations, He said; "and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." To take His yoke is one of the first conditions of receiving His power. The very life of the church depends upon her faithfulness in fulfilling the Lord's commission. To neglect this work is surely to invite spiritual feebleness and decay. Where there is no active labor for others, love wanes, and faith grows dim.

The Desire of Ages, pp.823-825.

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No excuses for priestly child abuse

Photo (Courtesy) http://www.expressnews.com/news/religion/article/U-N-report-accuses-Vatican-of-protecting-priests-5209266.php


By James Carroll | Globe Columnist


February 10, 2014


ON THE QUESTION of how far papal authority extends, the canon law of the Catholic Church could not be clearer: “The vicar of Christ. . . possesses full, immediate, and universal ordinary power in the Church, which he is always able to exercise freely.” (Can. 331) Note that canon law does not say, “except in cases of priestly sex abuse of children.” Canon law does not say that priests and bishops are independent contractors. Canon law does not say that what happens in Catholic parishes and dioceses around the world has nothing to do with Rome. In fact, another canon reads, “By virtue of his office, the Roman pontiff not only possesses power over the universal church, but also obtains the primacy of ordinary power over all particular churches and groups of them.” (Can. 333)

How to square that sweeping papal power with the shameless dodge put forward by the Holy See in this era of church disgrace — the claim that, when it comes to protecting children from abuse, the Roman Catholic Church is legally responsible only to safeguard those living in the confines of Vatican City, a tiny city-state that would fit inside New York’s Central Park eight times? Washing the Vatican’s hands of broader responsibility for the staggering transnational accumulation of rapes by priests, and systematic enabling of those rapes by bishops, a Vatican spokesman said, “When individual institutions of national churches are implicated, that does not regard the competence of the Holy See . . . The competence of the Holy See is at the level of the Holy See.”

Last week, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child mocked that claim by issuing a scathing indictment of Catholic child abuse, laying full responsibility at the feet of the pope himself. The committee, investigating priestly abuse under the authority of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which the Vatican is a signatory, reminded the Holy See that “by ratifying the convention it has committed itself to implementing the convention not only on the territory of the Vatican City state, but also as the supreme power of the Catholic Church through individuals and institutions placed under its authority.” The UN committee, that is, upholds canon law better than the Vatican does.

The pope’s men, including squads of lawyers who deny that offending priests and bishops are “employees” and insist that the pope as a sovereign head of state is immune from lawsuits, are obviously seeking to fend off the threat of multinational litigation that could saddle the Vatican with billions of dollars in liabilities. So far, courts have mostly sided with the Holy See.

But the Vatican strategy has come at a terrible moral cost. Once again, protection of church power and possessions is trumping the profound moral obligation to reckon with the truth of what is still happening in the Catholic Church. And now comes this next lie — the ridiculous assertion that the pope does not exercise full and complete authority over priests and bishops. When parishioners fight the closure of beloved churches, they appeal to Rome. When English-speaking Catholics are directed to say at Mass that Jesus died for “many” instead of for “all,” the fiat comes from Rome. “The competence of the Holy See” is exercised at every level of church life everywhere.

Protection of church power is trumping the obligation to reckon with the truth of what is still happening.

The UN report is so blistering because the committee clearly concludes that, despite a Vatican official’s assertion that the church “gets it,” the hierarchy still does not understand the urgency of protecting children. The Holy See hides behind reporting law loopholes that exist in many nations. It still does not hold to account the abuse-enabling bishops, a failure permanently on display in the honors accorded to cover-up icon Cardinal Bernard Law. And the UN commission, surprisingly impolitic, properly calls attention to the broader culture of Catholic sexual repressiveness — “barriers and taboos” — because it is the source of what endangers children. Vatican push-back in the name of “religious freedom” misses the point, and deflects the core UN indictment.

Pope Francis has appointed a Commission for the Protection of Minors, and the UN urges that it be independently empowered and fully transparent. Francis has generated enormous hope for a new day in the Catholic Church, but on the abuse question he has miles to go. The message from the United Nations is that the world is more appalled by Catholic crimes than defensive church officials are. If the church does not address those crimes, others will. James Carroll writes regularly for the Globe.


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National Apostasy Will Be Followed by National Ruin

Headlines from (Tuesday) January 21, 2014: 

Obama to meet Pope Francis at Vatican for inequality summit

• White House says encounter to focus on global poverty
• President to also meet Italian president on four-day Europe trip

 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/21/obama-pope-francis-vatican-inequality-summit

When our nation, in its legislative councils, shall enact laws to bind the consciences of men in regard to their religious privileges, enforcing Sunday observance, and bringing oppressive power to bear against those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath, the law of God will, to all intents and purposes, be made void in our land, and national apostasy will be followed by national ruin.—The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 7:977 (1888).

It is at the time of the national apostasy when, acting on the policy of Satan, the rulers of the land will rank themselves on the side of the man of sin. It is then the measure of guilt is full. The national apostasy is the signal for national ruin.—Selected Messages 2:373 (1891).

Roman Catholic principles will be taken under the care and protection of the state. This national apostasy will speedily be followed by national ruin.—The Review and Herald, June 15, 1897.

When Protestant churches shall unite with the secular power to sustain a false religion, for opposing which their ancestors endured the fiercest persecution, then will the papal sabbath be enforced by the combined authority of church and state. There will be a national apostasy, which will end only in national ruin.—Evangelism, 235 (1899).

When the state shall use its power to enforce the decrees and sustain the institutions of the church—then will Protestant America have formed an image to the papacy, and there will be a national apostasy which will end only in national ruin.—The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 7:976 (1910).



- Last Day Events, pp. 133,1334.
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Poland's Church Will Not Pay Child Sex Victims

WARSAW, Poland October 4, 2013 (AP)


A spokesman for Poland's Catholic Church says it will not pay compensation to victims of priests who sexually abused children.

The Rev. Jozef  Kloch said in comments aired by Polish Radio 1 on Friday that the responsibility for compensation lies with the perpetrator.

Kloch was reacting to a 200,000 zlotys ($64,000) claim made by a 25-year-old victim against his parish and local church authorities after they failed to reach a settlement.

Kloch says "the Church will not pay compensation to victims of pedophile priests. The wrongdoer should do it."

Some 27 priests have been convicted in Poland of abusing children. Authorities in the Dominican Republic are investigating allegations that two Polish priests there, including a Vatican envoy, abused boys.


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White House blames Congress for Gitmo prison staying open

Tue Apr 16, 2013 2:34PM




The White House on Monday blamed Congress for preventing the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention prison amid a hunger strike and riots at the camp.

President Obama “remains committed” to closing Guantanamo Bay, something he said he would do in his first week in office in 2009, White House press secretary Jay Carney insisted.

“It is the president’s view that facility ought to be closed”, Carney said. “We have taken steps processing detainees, transferring them to third countries, but the obstacles to closing Guantanamo Bay have been raised by Congress”.

Violent riots broke out at one of the prison's camps this weekend after military authorities decided to end communal housing, instead moving prisoners to individual cells.

The Pentagon said the decision was made after detainees covered windows and surveillance cameras, a move that coincided with a hunger strike being staged by dozens of prisoners. At least one prisoner was injured by a rubber bullet in the clash with guards on Saturday.

Saturday's violence has refocused attention on the administration’s failed attempt to close the prison in Cuba. The Hill




FACTS & FIGURES

The Center for Constitutional Rights lists a few basic facts about Guantanamo, which are worth recalling:


779 men have been brought to and held in Guantanamo since January 2002, all of whom were Muslim.

604 men have been transferred from Guantanamo.

166 men remain imprisoned at Guantanamo.

92 percent of the men ever held in Guantanamo, according to the U.S. government, are not “al-Qaeda fighters”.

86 men have been cleared for release from Guantanamo but remain in detention, including 56 men from Yemen.

46 men are slated for indefinite detention without charge or trial. The U.S. government says they will not be prosecuted or released.

22 or more prisoners were under 18 when captured.

12 or more men fear torture or persecution in their countries of nationality. These men will remain in detention until other countries offer them safe havens and a chance to rebuild their lives.

10 years or more is the length of time most men have been held at Guantanamo without charge or trial.

9 men have died in Guantanamo.

0 senior government officials, including former President Bush and former Vice President Cheney, have been held accountable for the wrongful detention and torture at Guantanamo. Common Dreams



AGB/DB

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Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of god

Mea Maxima Culpa Promo

Affliction and Distress: The time of Jacob's trouble

By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near.

As the approach of the Roman armies was a sign to the disciples of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, so may this apostasy be a sign to us that the limit of God's forbearance is reached, that the measure of our nation's iniquity is full, and that the angel of mercy is about to take her flight, never to return. The people of God will then be plunged into those scenes of affliction and distress which prophets have described as the time of Jacob's trouble. The cries of the faithful, persecuted ones ascend to heaven. And as the blood of Abel cried from the ground, there are voices also crying to God from martyrs' graves, from the sepulchers of the sea, from mountain caverns, from convent vaults: "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" 


Testimonies for the Church, Vol. V, p. 451

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Child abuse: U.S. court rules priests are not Holy See employees

08/21/2012

The U.S. District Court in Portland clears the Vatican of any responsibility for a priest who was pronounced guilty of acts of paedophilia during the 1960s

ANDREA TORNIELLI
vatican city

On Monday, 20 August in Portland (Oregon), U.S. District Court judge, Michael Mosman, ruled that the Holy See “cannot be considered an employer” of members of the clergy and consequently cannot be held responsible in civil proceedings for sexual abuse committed by priests. Therefore each case should be judged individually and being a priest does not automatically mean the person in question should be treated in the same way as a company employee. In this specific case, the judge ruled that there was a total absence of any “employment relationship” between the Holy See and the priest who committed the abuse.

Legal proceedings ended with a “no jurisdiction” ruling. Attorney Jeff Anderson, who represents a number of sexual abuse victims in the United States, has nevertheless announced that there will be an appeal which the Holy See’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lena, described as “very hard to win”.

The case reached court ten years ago, in 2002, when the Holy See was charged with responsibility for the acts of Fr. Andrew Ronan, a priest belonging to the Servite Order (OSM), who in 1965 abused a 17-year-old boy. Archive documents revealed that Fr. Ronan abused other children in Chicago and Benburg, Ireland over a period of 15 years but that these episodes were kept secret by the Order and that the Holy See had been informed of all this only when Ronan asked to be defrocked. Ronan’s superiors had decided to transfer him – first from Benburg to Chicago and then from there to Portland – without notifying either the Order’s local representative or the Bishop of Portland of what had happened previously.

The U.S. District Court attempted to establish whether the Holy See had employed Fr. Ronan, whether it had been involved in the decision to transfer him from one place to another and whether it was aware that the priest was sexually abusing children. Last of all, it attempted to establish whether Fr. Ronan was an employee of the Holy See. Had the judge decided that these allegations were well-founded, the case would have gone to court and the trial would have begun. Otherwise the case was to be dismissed and no further action could be taken. The court’s final decision was in fact this.

It established that the Vatican was not involved in the affair until 1966, when the Bishop of Portland asked the Vatican’s Congregation responsible for members of the clergy to laicise Ronan after having established that the allegations against him were well-founded. Ronan was immediately laicised and the process took all of five weeks.

Attorney Jeffrey Lena told Vatican Insider: “This is an important case because it demonstrates, once again, the difference between certain allegations and the actual facts that emerge from the documents. After examining hundreds of pages, the judge found no grounds for the plaintiff’s theory that wished to depict the Holy See as Ronan’s employer, or for the claims that it was involved in what happened. As a result, he established that there was no basis to continue with the trial. The court dismissed the theory that considers priests as employees of the Holy See only because they are members of the clergy subject to the general rules of Canon Law. For the first time, the basis of allegations that would have the Holy See involved in transferring paedophile priests and priests considered as employees of the Holy See were examined in minute detail and the judge has ruled that both these allegations are false.”

A final consideration involves dates: why did the Vatican decide to laicise the priest so quickly, following procedures similar to those set up by John Paul II and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – and then with even greater vigour by Benedict XVI – after the scandal of paedophile priests exploded in the USA, Ireland and Germany? And why in the years that followed, up to 2001, was action not taken with the same promptness? We should take into account the fact that up until the end of Paul VI’s papacy, dispensations for laicisation were granted much more freely to priests who wished to leave the clergy to marry, as well as to priests involved in abuse cases. It was with the papacy of Karol Wojtyla that these procedures were discouraged due to the crisis in vocations: laicisation became rarer and was granted after a long-drawn-out trial. Less generous rules and procedures granting laicisation ended up causing greater delays in the issue of a decision on the punishment which is considered to be the most serious for priests, including those guilty of child abuse. This trend is something Pope Benedict XVI has personally made efforts to reverse by introducing “emergency legislation” to tackle these terrible cases.

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Corporate Social Responsibility and the tradition of Catholic Social Thought

#147 - March 2012

The recent report of the European Commission on Corporate Social Responsibility resonates with the innovative postulates of ‘Caritas in Veritate’.

For the Christian identity in the Modern World the emergence of Christian Social Thought has been of crucial importance. Its innovative character, which is largely forgotten today can be remembered with a quick glance on the first Papal Encyclical ‘Rerum Novarum’ of Pope Leo XIII. 1891 or even the reminiscence of it in the second Social Encyclical ‘Quadragesimo Anno’ 1931. Industrialization was the most radical socio-economic transformation in the history of mankind. Philosophers like Nietzsche and Marx questioned the role of Christian values in an unprecedented way. In this situation the Christian Social movement essentially extended Christian ethics beyond a mere individual virtue based doctrine into a ‘social teaching’ - calling for adequate rules and regulations within a ‘just’ social order.

In a way, we live in a very similar situation today. With Globalization and the emergence of the ‘post-national constellation’ (J. Habermas) the cultural samples and institutional solutions of the 20^th century are again at stake. Will today’s Christians show the same cultural creativity and learn to express the Western Christian tradition in an up-to-date way? The recent social Encyclical ‘of Pope Benedict XVI (2009) pushes us into this direction. ‘Caritas in Veritate’ criticizes a widespread ideological dualism between market and state and calls for a new culture of Civic responsibility. Therefore, the document also addresses business leaders, costumers and investors. Like in the 19^th century, when Entrepreneurs like Léon Harmel from France and Franz Brandts from Germany played an important role for the emergence of Catholic Social Thought, business practise will again be crucial.

The recent report of the European Commission on Corporate Social Responsibility resonates with the innovative postulates of ‘Caritas in Veritate’. It is not the commission’s first report on CSR but rather extends a number of trailblazing documents from 2001 as well as 2006. These reports – like a series of international activities including the Foundation of the Global Compact 1999/ 2000, the proclamation of the Millennium Development Goals etc. – are based on the assumption that Governments alone will no longer be able to secure basic public goods on a global scale. Based on recent Scientific literature the commission pledges for a advanced concept of CSR: this is not only orientated towards operational savings but calls for a ‘strategic implementation’ by the development of innovative goods, services and business models creating values for costumers, employees and shareholders. The reflection on cooperatives and mutual trusts seems to represent an explicit allusion to ‘Caritas in veritate’, here. This holds also true for the paper’s foundation in a subsidiary structure, which perceives it as the main task of political entities not to substitute or dominate but to support and nurture the Social Responsibility of Companies. According to the report, not Government but companies as well as unions and civil society should find new ways to walk the talk on Corporate Responsibility; consumers and investors are called to reward these activities, media to report on them.

What becomes obvious here is a really innovative concept of the modern social fabric. In many ways this can be perceived as a continuation of Catholic Social Thought, which impacted the Western market economies in the 20^th centuries. The EU commission announces a series of instruments and procedures to strengthen the awareness and the role of Corporate Reponsibility in the interplay of the social actors and groups: Multi-Stakeholder-Forums, a code of conduct for self-regulation and co-regulatory arrangements, integration of Social and environmental criteria into public procurement, the obligation for banks to inform about their social and ecologic criteria etc. Transparency of information, competence-building in companies and social environment as well as hand-outs and platforms are the most important instruments of the commission to spread the word of CSR. Christian managers and associations – like the the global entrepreneurial associationUNIAPAC, which published their own paper on CSR already some years ago, the Papal commission ‘Justice and Peace’ etc. - should actively observe this process bringing in a genuine Christian perspective.

Prof. Dr. André Habisch

Scientific consultant of the Bund Katholischer Unternehmer in Germany and teaches business ethics at the Catholic University Eichstaett-Ingolstadt (Germany)

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Perp Walk for the Pope

FROM THE ISSUE FALL 2011
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By Bill Frogameni

Barbara Blaine wants the pope to be accountable. In September, the indefatigable founder and president of the Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) teamed with a leading human rights organization in order to persuade the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to investigate the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI for crimes against humanity.

SNAP and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) say that the Vatican—the world’s smallest
nation-state, geographically speaking—has for years used its enormous power to facilitate the systematic sexual abuse of children by clerics. On SNAP’s behalf, the CCR filed a detailed complaint with the ICC, along with thousands of pages of supporting documents.

Blaine, who founded SNAP in 1988, well before the church’s world-wide pedophilia epidemic was exposed, says that the battle to protect kids in the face of the Vatican’s long-standing intransigence led her to the ICC. Nearly a decade after the Boston Globe’s exposé on church predators set off chain reactions in dioceses across the world—and a decade after U.S. bishops supposedly adopted a “zero tolerance” policy for sex abuse—the crimes continue. Priests rape kids, bishops cover for them, and the Vatican still stands behind it all.

“We’ve tried everything we could think of, but nothing worked to stop the abuse. So we…are asking prosecutors of the ICC to investigate them,” Blaine says.

In addition to investigating the Vatican as an institution, SNAP asked the ICC to specifically investigate four top church officials, including the pope and Cardinal William Levada.

Formerly head of the dioceses in Portland, Ore., and San Francisco, Levada has been accused of protecting pedophile priests. Nonetheless, Pope Benedict in 2005 made him head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the powerful Vatican office that enforces doctrinal purity and, shockingly enough, oversees sex-abuse cases.

Before giving Levada this major promotion, Benedict himself headed the CDF.
SNAP’s complaint alleges that, as head, then-Cardinal Ratzinger “continued to implement the long-standing policy of the church, which prioritized secrecy and concealment even at the risk of exposing others to harm.”

While the pope and the Vatican may not be perpetrating war crimes— the sort commonly prosecuted at The Hague—sexual violence can be judged a “crime against humanity” if it occurs in (or is committed by a citizen of) a nation that has ratified the ICC, according to Pam Spees, a CCR attorney. She says this case meets both standards, since the “crimes are occurring virtually everywhere the church has a presence.”

The Vatican embassy in Washington, D.C., declined comment.

Spees admits that the church’s vast influence poses a significant political challenge to the court opening an investigation. And that’s unfortunate considering that the systematic abuse endures and children remain at risk, says Blaine. Just this year, for instance, a grand jury determined that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia still had 37 priests working despite credible abuse allegations against them. This happened long after another scathing grand jury report in 2005 that resulted in the defrocking of dozens of other Philadelphia priests.

Left alone, church leaders will not protect children first, laments Blaine.
“They only change under external pressure, they never do it just because it’s the right thing to do.”

Excerpted from the Fall 2011 issue of Ms. To have this issue delivered straight to your door, join the Ms. community.

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Photo from Flickr user aeneastudio under Creative Commons 2.0.

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Former San Francisco archbishop named in sex abuse complaint

By: Ari Burack
09/15/11 10:29 PM

Examiner Staff Writer

Cardinal William Levada, who was San Francisco archbishop from 1995-2005, has been named in a sex abuse complaint, along with the pope and others. (AP file photo)

Former San Francisco Archbishop William Levada is one of a group of top Vatican officials named in a sex abuse complaint filed this week with the International Criminal Court.

Representatives of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and the Center for Constitutional Rights on Tuesday called for an inquiry by the court, based in The Hague, Netherlands, into charges that the church hierarchy tolerated widespread sexual abuse on a global scale.

The complaint names Pope Benedict XVI, the now-Cardinal Levada and two other cardinals. Levada was archbishop of San Francisco from 1995 to 2005, and now heads the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is responsible for overseeing abuse cases.


Levada has also been accused of suppressing clergy abuse cases while in San Francisco.


A statement from SNAP on Wednesday urged “investigation and prosecution of high-level Vatican officials for their roles in the on-going protection of perpetrators, hiding of crimes and the enabling of rape, sexual assault and torture of thousands of individuals around the world.”


The group also urged victims of clergy sexual abuse, as well as church employees with information about such crimes or attempts to cover them up, to come forward.


An attorney for the Vatican, in a statement to The Associated Press, denounced this week’s complaint as a “ludicrous publicity stunt and a misuse of international judicial processes.”

According to the AP, an investigation by the International Criminal Court would be highly unlikely, as the court has received nearly 9,000 independent proposals for inquiries since its creation in 2002, and has never opened a formal investigation based solely on such a request.


Pam Spees, an attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, conceded she was “not hopeful” an investigation would be launched by the court.

The prosecutor’s office said in a statement that it would study the evidence presented, but would first have to determine whether the alleged crimes fall under its jurisdiction.

aburack@sfexaminer.com


The Associated Press contributed to this report.



Source:  http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/crime/2011/09/former-sf-archbishop-named-sex-abuse-complaint#ixzz1Y9HSBgtE

Vatican rejects Irish criticism over sex abuse

Pier Paolo Cito /ASSOCIATED PRESS

Father Federico Lombardi addresses the media Saturday at the Holy See in Vatican City over claims that the Vatican sabotaged Irish bishops' efforts to report sex abuse by priests to police.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

VATICAN CITY — In a rebuke to Ireland, the Vatican said Saturday that it had never discouraged Irish bishops from reporting sexual abuse to the police and dismissed claims that it had undermined efforts to investigate such abuse as "unfounded."

The Vatican's statement was the latest salvo in a diplomatic standoff with Ireland since the release in July of the latest in a series of scathing Irish government reports into sex abuse by priests and evidence of a widespread cover-up.

The report said the Vatican had encouraged bishops to ignore child-protection guidelines adopted by Irish bishops, including mandatory reporting of abuse to the civil authorities.

The July report found that clergy members in the rural diocese of Cloyne hadn't acted on complaints against 19 priests from 1996 to as recently as 2009, long after Irish bishops had issued guidelines in 1996 to protect children.

The Vatican also dismissed as "unfounded" a statement by the Irish parliament that Vatican intervention "contributed to the undermining of the child protection framework and guidelines of the Irish state and Irish bishops."

The Vatican said Saturday that claim was unsubstantiated and the result of a misinterpretation of a confidential 1997 letter to the bishops of Ireland by a former Vatican ambassador. The ambassador wrote that he had serious reservations about the child-protection policies adopted by the bishops under intense public pressure in 1996, saying that they violated the due process of canon law.

The report on the Cloyne case said that letter "effectively gave individual Irish bishops the freedom to ignore the procedures."

In its response Saturday, the Vatican noted that Irish bishops defined the policies as an advisory document and had never asked the Vatican to incorporate them into canon law.

It added that bishops had "never been impeded under canon law from reporting cases of abuse to the civil authorities."

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A Failed Presidency -- The American Problem

Photos: A Failed Presidency -- The American Problem


By John Mariotti Forbes – 18 hrs ago


Few Americans needed Standard & Poor to confirm the mismanagement of the United States government and its finances. The downgrading of American credit will raise interest rates on America’s huge debt and ultimately on all Americans. Popular polls say that most Americans blame Congress—but that’s too simplistic. As much as Barack Obama would like to shift that blame onto Congress, the fault lies squarely on the shoulders of President. It is first and foremost a leadership problem that is crippling America—and the leader is President Barack Obama—not the many members of Congress.

No matter how many speeches he makes, the conclusion is clear: Obama’s greatest failure is spending America into enormous deficits, and being clueless about how to get the economy to recover. His speeches, riddled with “I” and “We” are mostly serving to indict him for his failings. Appearing on TV more than any other sitting president, Barack Obama is constantly “explaining” why things aren’t working, when he should be working on what to do different and better.

Instead he is “campaigning,” which is the only thing he knows how to do reasonable well. But he can’t fix the economy; he has neither the experience nor the knowhow to do it. His failed, misguided policies have only exacerbated the size of his mistakes and shortcomings. ----------------------------------------------------

“I didn’t say ‘Change we can believe in tomorrow.,.’ I didn’t say, ‘Change we can believe in next week…’ “We knew this was going to take time.” —Barack Obama, Aug. 4, 2011.

Obama has surrounded himself with academics, theoreticians and politicians and all of their solutions are wrong, flawed and ineffective. Don’t take my word for it. Look at the evidence. Nobody in his inner circle has meaningful business experience. He not only doesn’t understand business, he dislikes businesses; they are only useful as a way to collect taxes to redistribute.

For Barack Obama’s first 18 months, and occasionally even today, he and his loyalists try to place the lion’s share of the blame for America’s problems with George W. Bush. There is little doubt that Bush erred seriously on several counts: he initiated two expensive wars and then saw the Iraq war mismanaged for at least 2-3 years.

Then Bush failed, along with the (then) GOP led Congress to rein in spending to compensate for the cost of these wars. Finally, he reduced tax rates and created the Medicare prescription drug program (which turned out to work better and cost far less than was feared). Coincidentally, the much-maligned TARP initiated by Bush actually staved off a financial collapse and is largely being paid back by the banks and insurance companies involved. In perhaps his greatest mistake, Bush failed to veto a single spending bill sent to him by Congress.

Bush’s mistakes were clearly serious errors, but they pale in comparison with Obama’s failures since he took office. The Democratically controlled Congress was complicit with Obama’s failures. They have not submitted, and Obama has not submitted a realistic budget for the country in over 800 days—a clear failure to meet their responsibilities. (Exception: Obama’s irresponsible Feb. budget, which was voted down 97-0 by a Democratically controlled Senate.)

To chronicle Obama’s failures and his shortcomings is impossible within the length of a simple blog post. A few of them are most notable. Obama aided and abetted by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid rammed the new health care legislation down the throat of America—and Obamacare was created. Parts of it are well-intentioned, but much of it is feared by Americans and especially small businesses. Arguably some of Obama’s greatest damage to the economy has been done by his appointees in the EPA, NLRB, CPSC, et. al., and the Justice Department. American business is oppressed by regulation. Sadly, Obama barely realizes this.

Next came the $840 billion “stimulus” package, (mostly pork and patronage), which worked poorly or not at all—unless you consider creating jobs at $275,000 each to be a good solution. Not enough “shovel-ready” projects were really “shovel-ready” Obama admitted recently, chuckling awkwardly at his naiveté. Obama and his experts (now mostly gone back to finance or academia) predicted a drop of unemployment to under 8% when the number of jobless went the other way—upward. Now, more Americans have been out of work, for longer, than any time in the past half-century.

Obamacare not only violated many of his eloquent campaign promises; e.g., Taxes on Americans earning less than $200/$250,000 per year will no increase one penny—except for the new Obamacare tax to 3.8% applied to investment income—which will hit millions of Americans. When faced with his party’s impending losses in 2008 elections, Obama dispatched Rahm Emmanuel to attempt buying-off candidates in the 2008 primaries with a promise of high-level jobs, a legally questionable practice at best, and unethical one at worst.

During Obama’s term in office the deficit has grown astronomically as he continues, even to this day, to insist on more spending and more taxes (especially those on “millionaires and billionaires” a category that most Americans earning $200-250,000 per year hardly imagine including them.)

Those who point to his achievements name “bailing out” GM & Chrysler—but many experts feel that was done by using executive power for further illegal actions, denying legal bondholders their rightful returns. There is also a strong belief that ordinary bankruptcy could well have accomplished the same result at a cost of almost $20 billion less of taxpayers’ money. But then spending too much of taxpayers money has never bothered this White House.

To make Obamacare’s outrageous financial claims, Obama & his Democratic Congressional minions desperately needed to cut its cost. Thus, buried in the 2000+-page bill, Obama and his accomplices Reid and Pelosi cut $500 billion out of Medicare. Now he pretends to worry about seniors while ignoring Medicare’s impending insolvency. After all, even if Obama could win a second term, he will be gone before Medicare fails, and be able to blame it on his successor.

Barack Obama was going to close Gitmo—until he realized that it was as unrealistic as much of his campaign rhetoric. Obama has violated the law, which requires the president to act within 15 days after the Medicare commission advises him of a financing problem. His Democratic allies gave him a waiver in his first year, but this year—he simply ignored the law.

Obama followed Bush’s foreign policy and even left most Bush appointees in charge, until recently. Obama’s vanquished primary opponent Hillary Clinton has precluded him from making as big a debacle of foreign policy as he has on domestic policy. He tried, early in his career, kowtowing to foreign dictators and despots, apologizing for America instead of protecting and defending it.

The ultimate failure of President Barack Obama is that he is unable or unwilling to lead; to define anything more than vague generalities as a solution to America’s daunting problems. Even his own allies in the GAO state, “we can’t value a speech.” In his desperation to run for reelection, Obama continues to abdicate his responsibilities. The debt ceiling was a showcase of his failings as he periodically jumped in and out of negotiations until he literally neutralized himself.

The president made himself an outsider in the decision, even as he tried to sound like a voice of reason, making speech after speech, saying less in each successive one. Senator Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner finally fought through massive partisan problems to reach a compromise agreement—but it was clearly too little, too late. Kicking the hard work down to a twelve person “super-committee” was not enough to settle financial markets.

While Barack Obama campaigned, making still more speeches at his 50th birthday celebrations, the Wall Street voted with its money and the Dow-Jones average dropped over 500 points and the S. & P. dropped even more—5%+. 117,000 jobs created in July don’t even approach the number needed to offset new entries to the workforce. The drop in unemployment from 9.2% to 9.1% signals more unemployed Americans giving up, not more of them being hired.

Happy Birthday Mr. President. You have accomplished something no other president has done. You’ve spent America into a hole that will take a decade to fix, and kept more Americans out of work longer than anyone in recent history, and you’ve accomplished all this in record time, only 2-1/2 years. Who knows how much harm you can do given still more time.

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John Mariotti is an internationally known executive, consultant and an award-winning author. His book, The Complexity Crisis was named one of 2008’s Best Business Books. In a recent novel, The Chinese Conspiracy, he merges an exciting fictional thriller with the factual reality of America’s risk from Cyber-Attacks. (www.thechinesecomspiracy.com). Mariotti does Keynote speeches, serves on corporate boards and is a consultant/advisor to companies. He can be reached at www.mariotti.net .

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Note: Highlights added by EndrTimes Blogger.
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