In Belgium, pope apologizes for clergy abuse; prime minister says words alone are insufficient

Seated between Belgium's Queen Mathilde and King Philippe, Pope Francis addresses government and civic leaders and members of the diplomatic corps in the Grand Gallery of the Castle of Laeken in Brussels Sept. 2. Francis will spend three days in Belgium. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

by Christopher White

Vatican Correspondent

Brussels — September 27, 2024

Pope Francis on Sept. 27 kicked off a three-day trip to Belgium by asking forgiveness for the church's shameful record on clergy abuse, but was met with a challenge by the country's prime minister that "words alone do not suffice."

"We also need concrete steps," said Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. "Victims need to be heard. They need to be at the center. They have a right to truth. Misdeeds need to be recognized."

The prime minister's unusually sharp remarks spotlighted an issue that has loomed large over the pope's visit here ever since it was first announced and where the local church is reeling from the fallout of a damning 2023 documentary on clergy abuse.

The documentary has prompted the Belgian Federal Parliament and the regional Flemish assembly to launch investigations into the church's handling of cases and to revisit how the country's law enforcement potentially botched an earlier abuse inquiry some 15 years ago.

'Victims need to be heard. They need to be at the center. They have a right to truth. Misdeeds need to be recognized.'

—Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo

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"When something goes wrong we cannot accept cover-ups," the prime minister told the pope, in front of an audience of the country's royal family and other government officials. "To be able to look into the future, the church needs to come clean on its past."

Also offering a sharp condemnation of the church's record on abuse was King Philippe, who said that it has taken "far too long" for the cries of victims to be heard and acknowledged by the church.

The church in Belgium, said the king, "must continue resolutely and relentlessly" to root out abuse and provide care for survivors.

🚩Pulpit Pimps Chose Fani Willis Over Truth & Righteousness #fultoncounty

Pope urges priests and nuns to delete porn from their phones

 

Pope Francis, shown here in July, says the temptation of porn “weakens the priestly heart.” (Cole Burston/Getty Images)

By Ellen Francis 

October 27, 2022 at 7:25 a.m. EDT

 
Pope Francis warned priests and nuns against watching pornography online and urged them to delete it from their phones to avoid falling into temptation.

The 85-year-old pontiff told a Vatican session that porn on the internet was “a vice that so many people have … even priests and nuns,” in response to questions about using digital and social media responsibly.

“The devil enters from there. … It weakens the priestly heart,” he told seminarians and priests studying in Rome this week in remarks published by the Vatican on Wednesday.

“Dear brothers, pay attention to this,” he said. “And if you can delete this from your mobile phone, delete it, so you won’t have the temptation in hand.”

Pope jokes he is ‘still alive’ despite some bishops wishing him dead

The head of the Roman Catholic Church recounted that he had once received a mobile phone when he became a bishop, which he used to make a single call to his sister and immediately returned.

“It is not my world, but you must use it,” Francis said in comments about the benefits and risks of the internet. He asked his listeners to excuse him for mentioning porn but described it as “a reality.”

“I will not say raise your hand if you have had at least one experience of this,” he added, asking them to reflect on it personally.

During his pontificate, Francis’s more outspoken — and at times less conservative — overtones than his predecessors, including his invitation of LGBT advocates to the Vatican, have drawn global attention and pushback from within the church.

Is Pope Francis nearing the end of his pontificate?

In his nine-year tenure, he has issued apologies at several points, notably for sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Among them was a 2018 letter to Chilean bishops, in which he apologized for what he described as his own errors in handling a sex-abuse scandal. That year, the church was shaken by accusations that Francis knew and covered up the alleged sexual misconduct of an American cardinal, The Washington Post reported.

Catholic cardinal accused in lawsuit of sexual assault

In 2020, the Vatican said it would look into how the pope’s official Instagram account appeared to have liked a Brazilian model’s photo, in an incident that she quipped would help get her into heaven. The pope’s Instagram account, managed by a team under the username franciscus, has 8.9 million followers.

While he has been healthy during much of his papacy, recent medical issues have raised questions about whether Francis could retire, and he has acknowledged that he could have to slow down his globe-trotting pace. In December, he will become the oldest sitting pope since the 1800s.


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Ban of gay clergy divides congregants of United Methodist Church

The vote last month by the church's General Conference has pitted some traditionalists against progressives, sparking fears that the denomination itself could splinter.

The Rev. Roy Grubbs at the Centerport United Methodist Church has heard a range of views from church members. He has had to persuade some to stay to see what comes of the debate. Photo Credit: Heather Walsh 

By Bart Jones bart.jones@newsday.com Updated March 16, 2019 6:00 AM



A new, tougher ban on gay clergy and same-sex marriage has divided the United Methodist Church so sharply that the denomination is in danger of splintering, something that could tear apart dozens of congregations across Long Island.

The vote by the General Conference is evoking strong feelings on both sides: Traditionalists argue the ban aligns with historical church teaching and values, while progressives see the policy as clearly out of step with the times.

On the Island, there are about 80 Methodist churches attended by several thousand members, the church's New York Conference estimates.

A sampling of local Methodists show they, too, are at odds: Some are sorely disappointed in the church, the nation's third largest with 7 million members, and are struggling with whether to join another denomination or to form a new one. Others are determined to stay and fight the policy, put in place nearly 50 years ago but strengthened just weeks ago by the church's international governing body. Still others support the ban.

“It’s almost like the American Civil War, where brother fought against brother,” said the Rev. Charles Ferrera of the United Methodist Church of Patchogue.

“If I didn’t abide by this, it would be like me going into Yankee Stadium in the Yankee dugout wearing a Boston Red Sox shirt," said Ferrera, who considers himself a traditionalist. “Having said that, I am also very much aware of people who are hurting as a result of that vote. Nobody is excluded in this congregation … regardless of who they are.”

Today, most mainline Protestant denominations such as the Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church allow gay ministers and same-sex marriage. And there are Methodist churches more liberal on social issues that defy what the church calls its "Traditional Plan." The policy states homosexuality is incompatible with Christianity.

At a special General Conference last month in St. Louis, progressives lobbied to replace the old policy with one that would have let pastors and regional conferences decide whether to allow gay ministers and same-sex marriage. Conservatives stood their ground, building a coalition of delegates from the southern United States and delegates from Africa, where homosexuality is illegal in many countries.

Fitzgerald: Anti-casino clergy are minding their business

Photo by: Jacob Belcher

MAKING THEIR VOICES HEARD: Father George Szal, S.M., foreground, pastor of Immaculate Conception church, and Pastor Nick Granitsas from First Congregational Church of Revere are opposed to a proposed casino in Revere.


Saturday, February 22, 2014


By: Joe Fitzgerald

This one’s for George Szal, who pastors Immaculate Conception Church, and for Rabbi Joseph Berman of Temple B’Nai Israel, and for Nick Granitsas, who shepherds The First Congregational Church, and for Imam Sherif Shabaka of the Egyptian Association, all Revere clergymen who have felt a moral imperative to oppose casino gambling in their city, warning of its toxic nature.

Bringing their ministries beyond the walls of the places they’ve been led to serve, they call gambling what it is, a disaster for many families.

They are indeed “noble souls,” a term that echoes from history.

In this month that celebrates black history, do you, too, wonder what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. might think if he could peek in on what’s happening to our society today?

Much would please him, and much would likely break his heart.

But the guessing here is that he’d have looked upon Szal, Berman, Granitsas and Shabaka with great favor.

A third-generation Baptist preacher, King bemoaned the passivity of the clergy who act as if the answer to empty pews is to play it safe at the pulpit.

“I have wept over the laxity of the church,” he said. “I felt the white ministers, priests and rabbis of the south would be some of our strongest allies; instead, all too many have been more cautious than courageous, and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows.

“I have heard so many ministers say, ‘Those are social issues with which the Gospel has no real concern.’ We are moving toward the exit of the twentieth century with a religious community largely adjusted to the status quo, standing as a taillight behind other community agencies, rather than a headlight.

“I have looked at beautiful churches with lofty spires pointing heavenward and found myself wondering, ‘What kind of people worship here?’ The contemporary church is often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent sanction of things as they are.”

Power structure? That sounds a lot like those carpet-bagging high-rollers now wishing the Revere clergy would mind its business, which is rather ironic. Do they not realize the business of the church is to be its brother’s keeper?

“I am thankful,” King went on, “that some noble souls have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity (and) left their secure congregations with the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.”

He’d have found such noble souls in Revere this morning.


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By these solemn warnings the people will be stirred.,

 

 Former Vatican Chief Prosecutor of Clerical Sexual Abuse Charles Scicluna, appearing at the U.N.'s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, on Thursday. 

 Martial Trezzini/EPA/Landov

Photo (Courtesy)  http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/01/16/263060258/vatican-comes-under-u-n-scrutiny-over-priest-abuse-scandal

The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty, for it is the point of truth especially controverted. When the final test shall be brought to bear upon men, then the line of distinction will be drawn between those who serve God and those who serve Him not. While the observance of the false sabbath in compliance with the law of the state, contrary to the fourth commandment, will be an avowal of allegiance to a power that is in opposition to God, the keeping of the true Sabbath, in obedience to God's law, is an evidence of loyalty to the Creator. While one class, by accepting the sign of submission to earthly powers, receive the mark of the beast, the other choosing the token of allegiance to divine authority, receive the seal of God.

Heretofore those who presented the truths of the third angel's message have often been regarded as mere alarmists. Their predictions that religious intolerance would gain control in the United States, that church and state would unite to persecute those who keep the commandments of God, have been pronounced groundless and absurd. It has been confidently declared that this land could never become other than what it has been--the defender of religious freedom. But as the question of enforcing Sunday observance is widely agitated, the event so long doubted and disbelieved is seen to be approaching, and the third message will produce an effect which it could not have had before.

In every generation God has sent His servants to rebuke sin, both in the world and in the church. But the people desire smooth things spoken to them, and the pure, unvarnished truth is not acceptable. Many reformers, in entering upon their work, determined to exercise great prudence in attacking the sins of the church and the nation. They hoped, by the example of a pure Christian life, to lead the people back to the doctrines of the Bible. But the Spirit of God came upon them as it came upon Elijah, moving him to rebuke the sins of a wicked king and an apostate people; they could not refrain from preaching the plain utterances of the Bible-- doctrines which they had been reluctant to present. They were impelled to zealously declare the truth and the danger which threatened souls. The words which the Lord gave them they uttered, fearless of consequences, and the people were compelled to hear the warning.

Thus the message of the third angel will be proclaimed. As the time comes for it to be given with greatest power, the Lord will work through humble instruments, leading the minds of those who consecrate themselves to His service. The laborers will be qualified rather by the unction of His Spirit than by the training of literary institutions. Men of faith and prayer will be constrained to go forth with holy zeal, declaring the words which God gives them. The sins of Babylon will be laid open. The fearful results of enforcing the observances of the church by civil authority, the inroads of spiritualism, the stealthy but rapid progress of the papal power--all will be unmasked. By these solemn warnings the people will be stirred. Thousands upon thousands will listen who have never heard words like these. In amazement they hear the testimony that Babylon is the church, fallen because of her errors and sins, because of her rejection of the truth sent to her from heaven. As the people go to their former teachers with the eager inquiry, Are these things so? the ministers present fables, prophesy smooth things, to soothe their fears and quiet the awakened conscience. But since many refuse to be satisfied with the mere authority of men and demand a plain "Thus saith the Lord," the popular ministry, like the Pharisees of old, filled with anger as their authority is questioned, will denounce the message as of Satan and stir up the sin-loving multitudes to revile and persecute those who proclaim it.

As the controversy extends into new fields and the minds of the people are called to God's downtrodden law, Satan is astir. The power attending the message will only madden those who oppose it. The clergy will put forth almost superhuman efforts to shut away the light lest it should shine upon their flocks. By every means at their command they will endeavor to suppress the discussion of these vital questions. The church appeals to the strong arm of civil power, and, in this work, papists and Protestants unite. As the movement for Sunday enforcement becomes more bold and decided, the law will be invoked against commandment keepers. They will be threatened with fines and imprisonment, and some will be offered positions of influence, and other rewards and advantages, as inducements to renounce their faith. But their steadfast answer is: "Show us from the word of God our error"--the same plea that was made by Luther under similar circumstances. Those who are arraigned before the courts make a strong vindication of the truth, and some who hear them are led to take their stand to keep all the commandments of God. Thus light will be brought before thousands who otherwise would know nothing of these truths.
 
The Great Controversy, pp.605-607
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Bankruptcy of Church and State: When Clergy Is Blind and Justice Isn’t

1:00PM EDT 5/30/2013 | Dan Cummins
Originally published at Charisma News




Dan Cummins is the pastor of Bridlewood Church in
Bullard, Texas.




America’s political and religious establishments are broken. Washington fails to provide the answers needed to solve the economic and political crises facing us at home and abroad. The church fails to exhibit the moral guidance necessary to hold a collapsing culture together. The nation is rapidly losing faith in both institutions, evidenced by declining approval ratings.

The political process in Washington is overheating in partisan gridlock while our churches are becoming increasingly ineffective and indifferently cold to the ongoing culture wars. Both institutions are insolvent to the fiscal and spiritual indebtedness they have incurred upon the nation. Neither can produce the economic capital or spiritual stimulus to jumpstart the economy or usher in revival.

Legislative issues are taking on greater moral ramifications. What were once considered moral issues discussed from the pulpit are now being politicized and aggressively commandeered by special interest groups with their radical social agendas. Civil rights are being sacrificed in the name of social justice upon the altar of special rights. Justice may be blind, but social justice has 20/20 vision. Equality before the law is becoming persecution under the law. The new persecution of the church will be in the form of prosecution of the church.

All the while, there seems to be little pushback from the clergy to preserve their institution’s voice as the spiritual leaders and moral guides for the nation. Complicity and compromise, on the other hand, seem to have replaced the spiritual backbone of America’s preachers. The clergy in America are, in most part, blind to the prophetic times in which we live and clueless to the spiritual solutions that will solve the troubles confronting a despondent nation. America’s sheep are being scattered due to the incompetence of hirelings who run at the first sign of political or cultural confrontation.

When government attempts to legislate morality apart from a spiritual relationship with God, moral rebellion will be the law of the land. When the church pontificates truth without exemplifying reality, her institutions will be rejected as charlatans. They both will soon be tossed aside, leaving the nation ripe for rebellion and anarchy. When the church loses its vision, where is the light to penetrate the moral and political abyss? When complicity robes the clergy, political leaders line their pockets in greed as the nation drifts aimlessly in a vacuum of ethical relativism.

This lesson is oft repeated but seldom learned. Unchecked principles by nature tend to run their own course. Thus history repeats itself. The first 11 chapters of 1 Samuel are but one of many such instances. Four hundred years out of Egyptian bondage, the nation of Israel faced a fundamental transformation in its government—from a godly theocracy overseen by holy priests to a humanistic monarchy dictated by a self-serving king, Saul.

Israel experienced redistribution of its wealth; there was a cry for globalism to become like all the other nations. A morally bankrupt but politically correct clergy produced a climate of judicial legislation. As the menorah slowly flickered out in the tabernacle, the Ark of God’s presence was whisked from the nation. The Ark of the Covenant that preceded the nation into the Promised Land—on the shoulders of holy anointed priests—was now suddenly snatched from her midst by the hands of uncircumcised Philistines. It was Israel’s darkest hour.

Inside the Ark were the Ten Commandments—the spiritual, civil and economic foundations of the nation. The Ten Commandments were no longer found in her schools, in her courthouses, in the town square or in her churches.

Sound familiar? How could the glory of God have departed the nation in this manner?

The glory of the Lord departed the nation because the priesthood was compromised. Eli, the high priest, became fat, lazy and blind. As he lost his vision, so went his usefulness to the nation. His uncircumcised (not in covenant) sons, Hophni (strong) and Phineas (mouth of a serpent), stole from the tabernacle offerings and committed adultery with the women who assembled at the outer gate. A complicit clergy cannot reproduce covenanted sons.

America has weak spiritual sons who cannot lead another awakening as our founding spiritual fathers once did because we’ve had a generation of complicity by the clergy with governmental intrusion into the church. Four hundred years ago, America’s forefathers left the political slavery and religious oppression of Europe for a new promised land—400 years ago! Now America, like Israel, has followed the same principled path to the same self-destructive destination. Will we make the same self-centered mistakes as they did or choose repentance over rebellion?

The Bankruptcy of America Begins

In July 1954, the spiritual bankruptcy of America’s clergy set in as the U.S. Senate passed an unconstitutional amendment to a tax overhaul bill. It was the Johnson Amendment, introduced by then Senator Lyndon B. Johnson who was angry at two wealthy Texas businessmen who used their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization to campaign against him.

Without a minute of senatorial debate regarding its constitutionality, a simple amendment that stated, “501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office,” opened the floodgates of hell upon an unsuspecting church whose organizations were delineated under the 501(c)(3) category by the IRS. Johnson’s legal aide later admitted the amendment was only intended to silence two wealthy businessmen not churches, but the damage was done.

The IRS soon picked up on it and began a 50-year Gestapo-style reign of intimidation and fear upon America’s churches and clergy. In exchange for their political silence in the pulpits, America’s clergy were sold a bill of goods labeled “tax emption” by the IRS—something already granted the church constitutionally.

Fortunately, under the leadership of Alan Sears, founder of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) in Scottsdale, Ariz., last year over 1650 pastors in all 50 states continued a five-year national campaign, called Pulpit Freedom Sunday, to overturn the Johnson Amendment, challenging its constitutionality by recording a politically motivated sermon and sending it to the IRS. So far, not one pastor has been audited. Thank God for these courageous pastors and the 2,200 allied attorneys of ADF.

With the clergy’s complicity and silence secured in 1954, Satan’s propaganda machine began running wide open and unchecked. In 1963, prayer and Bible reading were taken out of public schools. The pulpits remained silent—it was a political issue. In 1973, the Supreme Court decided that unborn Americans had no civil rights and upheld a woman’s special right to have an abortion. The pulpit remained silent—it was a political issue. Fifty-five million abortions later, in June the Supreme Court will decide if God knew what He was doing when He created the institution of marriage to be exclusively between one man and one woman. So far, the pulpit has remained silent—it’s a political issue. We will need more than 1650 pastors out of 300,000 churches in America if we are going to turn the tide and see revival.

What is America’s solution? The same as it was for Israel in Eli’s day: There was one barren woman who knew how to pray a prayer of desperation. Her name was Hannah—which means the grace of God. Not only did Hannah grab the horns of the altar, she touched the heart of God. Her prayer—one woman’s prayer—saved the nation and brought the greatest revival in Israel’s history. In the midst of all the political and spiritual unrest of Israel, God answered one woman’s prayer. He gave her a son, a man child, named Samuel who would later anoint David as king. As his first act as king of Israel, David restored the Ark to its rightful place and brought the greatest spiritual awakening in their history—the tabernacle of David.

Second Chronicles 7:14 says, “If my people,” not “if my preachers,” or “if my politicians”! It says, “If my people … will humble themselves and pray.” The answer to America’s problems is the same answer it has always been throughout history: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

I believe the greatest opportunity for America to experience another Great Awakening is here. But we must meet the four requirements for revival: humble ourselves, pray, seek the face of God and repent of our wicked ways.

Posted 11th August by America the Battlefield

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Beauty and beer: Monks' outreach is part of new evangelization

VATICAN LETTER Aug-21-2013 (970 words) Backgrounder. With photos. xxxi






Benedictine Brother Francis Davoren, left, head "brewmonk" or brewmaster, and Benedictine Father Benedict Nivakoff, director of Birra Nursia, toast with their blond brew at the brewery of St. Benedict's Monastery in Norcia, Italy. (CNS/Henry Daggett)


By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Even before retired Pope Benedict XVI set up a pontifical council for new evangelization and convoked a world Synod of Bishops on the theme, a new group of Benedictine monks was using Latin and liturgy to reach out to those whose faith was weak or nonexistent.

Now they've added beer to the blend, and people are flocking to the monastery in Norcia, the birthplace of St. Benedict, about 70 miles northeast of Rome in the Umbrian countryside.

But for the 18 members of St. Benedict's monastery, life is still about prayer.

"If the prayer doesn't come first, the beer is going to suffer," said Father Benedict Nivakoff, director of the Birra Nursia brewery and subprior of the monastery.

The monks in Norcia initially were known for their liturgical ministry, particularly sharing their chanted prayers in Latin online-- http://osbnorcia.org/blog -- with people around the world.

But following the Rule of St. Benedict means both prayer and manual labor, with a strong emphasis on the monks earning their own keep.

After just a year of brewing and selling their beer in the monastery gift shop and through restaurants in Norcia, financial self-sufficiency seems within reach, and the monks are talking expansion.

"We didn't expect it to be so enormously successful," said Father Cassian Folsom, the U.S. Benedictine who founded the community in 1998 and serves as its prior. "There's been a huge response, and our production can't keep up with the demand and the demand continues to grow."

But even with the talk of expanding the brewery, and perhaps exporting some of the brew to the United States, the Mass and the liturgical hours are still the centerpiece of the monks' lives.





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Rev. David Weekley, One Of First Transgender Methodist Clergyman, Shares His Story

HuffPost Live | Posted: 06/28/2013 2:19 pm EDT | Updated: 06/28/2013 11:39 pm EDT


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/28/david-weekley-transgender-clergy_n_3512590.html?1372443601&icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl19%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D337950

Rev. David Weekley hid his identity as a transgendered person for 28 years, until he finally revealed his secret in 2009, becoming one of the first openly transgender clergy serving the United Methodist Church. He shared his story on HuffPost Live.

The reaction from Weekley's parish after he came out reflected many of the challenges the transgender community faces. "I received real mixed feedback from people -- colleagues, parishioners, just friends of the community," he told host Mike Sacks. "While I had a lot of support, there was a lot of pushback. There were attempts made to bring charges against my ministry--to have my ordination revoked."

Weekley, who authored the book "In from the Wilderness: Sherman," transitioned from female to male in 1975, at the age of 24. "When I went to seminary in the '80s, it wasn't safe to be out, whether you were LGBTQ -- those topics weren't talked about, only in negative ways. And so I decided to enter the ordained ministry, serve congregations the best I could, and let them have a chance to know me, then share my story. I thought that would make a positive difference."

But though a number of churches have begun to accept transgender people in the clergy, widespread acceptance is still a challenge, Weekley explained.

"The problem is, so often, even if the policy is open, for transgender people to actually be called to a church or have an opportunity to serve is a different story. Transgender people are just newer on the radar, and for a lot of us who transitioned years ago, we were told by the folks we worked with not to share our story."

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Attorneys seek religious order files on accused priests, including 1 who served after jail

Published April 14, 2013

Associated Press


LOS ANGELES – The Rev. John Anthony Salazar served 11 years as a Roman Catholic priest in Texas despite a conviction for child molestation in Los Angeles.

Salazar has been accused of molesting four more teens and young men during his years in the Diocese of Amarillo.

Details of his past are contained in a personnel file made public this year after a legal battle with abuse victims that led to the release of 120 similar files.

But those records tell only part of the story.

On Tuesday, attorneys will argue over the release of records for about 80 priests, like Salazar, who belonged to religious orders that kept their own personnel files on accused clergymen. Plaintiff attorney Ray Boucher says the documents are critical to understanding the clergy abuse scandal.


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Archdiocese Of Milwaukee To Release Dolan Testimony, Other Documents In Child Sex Abuse Scandal

Updated 04/03/2013 11:47 PM


By: Mahsa Saeidi

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee will soon release thousands of pages of documents on the child sex abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church, including the deposition given by Cardinal Timothy Dolan in February. NY1's Mahsa Saeidi filed the following report.



Cardinal Timothy Dolan's handling of the child sex abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church will soon be public.

The cardinal's deposition is among 3,000 documents being released on July 1.

All of the documents relate to the alleged sexual abuse of children by clergy in Milwaukee.

"I think the Catholic Church has learned a very painful lesson on what not to do in terms of dealing with sexual abuse," said Joseph Zwilling, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of New York.

Prior to coming to the city, Dolan was Archbishop in Milwaukee from 2002 to 2009.

In February, the cardinal was deposed in connection with the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case involving the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

"The cardinal was very open with the lawyers, answered all of their questions, and said at that time that he wanted people to know what happened," Zwilling said.

The archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection two years after Dolan left, as it dealt with about 500 sex abuse claims.

The allegation is that large sums of money were kept hidden from victims seeking claims.

Victims' advocates have been seeking the release of the documents for several years.

The advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) released a statement that said, "We are grateful this deposition is being made public. It's a shame it takes civil litigation and brave victims to force Dolan to answer for his wrongdoing," the group said in a statement.

Zwilling said that Dolan's record as the Archbishop of Milwaukee is exemplary.

The sexual abuse of minors, Zwilling said, is a societal problem not just confined to the church.

The hope now is that the church can use the lessons its learned to be a model for other institutions.

"How to be compassionate towards the victims. How to handle those people who do these terrible crimes," Zwilling said.

Zwilling said that despite what may have been the case in the past, victim's who come forward now will be received warmly and lovingly.

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The Church of England can no longer continue as an arm of the state

By voting against women bishops, it has shown itself to be a discriminatory organisation that seeks to be above the law



Suzanne Moore


The Guardian, Wednesday 21 November 2012 15.00 EST


Vicar Rose Hudson-Wilkin was widely expected to become the CofE’s first woman bishop until the vote. Photograph: Carl Court


Up until now I cannot say I have been overly concerned with female vicars. That one in Dibley seems fun but mostly I am with Bill Hicks: "Women priests. Great, great. Now there's priests of both sexes I don't listen to." I don't believe or even pretend to believe in order to get my kids into the right schools.

Nor am I under illusion that the Church of England is some hippy-dippy hirsute cerebral force for good. Bits of it may well be. When I lived in London's King's Cross, the local vicar – "Trev the Rev", as he was known – let the prostitutes sleep in the church when they were under assault from vicious punters and the police. This seemed to me a fine Christian thing to do. But for every Trev the Rev there is some reactionary gittish vicar determined to keep up the fine traditions of homophobia and misogyny.

Unity in the church is a joke. When I asked my local vicar if I could use his church for a blessing ceremony using a female Baptist minister, he made clear his feelings about women vicars. But half a mile up the road the clergy were in the middle of a big gay picnic and had no problem with anyone using their building. For a donation. Which is fair enough.

One encounters these inner-city vicars who don't seem to mind what you believe – some will even say that the resurrection is but a metaphor – but don't be fooled. At the heart of the church is a steely core of evangelicals who have far more say than they should. The provisional wing of the CofE is as fundamentalist as they come: the one thing that all fundamentalisms share is the need to keep women in their place.

Thus we had the farce of the vote against women bishops when there have been women priests for 20 years, which the majority of the congregation accepts. To ban those women from promotion is discrimination that would not be acceptable in any other walk of life. The church, with its mystifying voting process, looks not only archaic but also impotent as the vast majority of the synod did not want this result. They are praying for resolution. Sometimes prayers are not enough.

As the conservative MP who speaks for the synod in parliament said: "I think the great danger for the church following the vote is that it will be seen increasingly as just like any other sect." Indeed, this is how many of us already regard it. The question then becomes how can the church continue to function as an arm of the state when it endorses such out-and-out prejudice?

Remember there are already 3,600 women priests in the church and 37 women Anglican bishops worldwide. Africa has just got its first woman bishop. So now we lag behind Swaziland.

The issue is not belief – people can believe in fairies as far as I am concerned – it is the relationship between church and state. In this crazy chess game, the head of the Church of England, the Queen, could not be a bishop. David Cameron has urged them to "get on with it" – ie, vote the right way for the church – but not conforming to equality legislation is untenable.

It is worth understanding what the objection to women as bishops is based on. Evangelicals believe that women cannot exercise authority over men. They use scripture (St Paul's letters) to justify this: "I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man." Thus a man could never swear a canonical oath to a woman bishop. Other objections rest on the fact that Jesus chose only male disciples. Was Jesus sexist? And that before The Fall, when it all went wrong, women existed to act only as helpers to men. I venture that the people, many of them women, who believe such things are unlikely to be swayed by new-fangled notions of equality. But why should they hold such sway in the church and why should the church hold such sway in our land?

Away from theological debate, other issues are at stake. Money, for instance. Reform, the group that represents the evangelicals, holds the rest of the church to ransom by constantly reminding the House of Bishops of its financial clout. In 2010 Reform wrote a letter mentioning the £38m that it had added to the CofE central coffers. The threat that these people withdraw completely from the CofE appears to paralyse the church – but surely the situation has become ridiculous.

The church, in seeking to be above the law, is now a discriminatory organisation, though it holds 26 seats in the House in Lords, from which women are barred. This effective debarring of women from the legislative process is more than an "embarrassment", it is profoundly undemocratic.

A secular country – and that is largely what we are – should have no truck with this. Why on earth should we respect this bizarre sect any longer? The separation of church and state is long overdue. An institution that allows the maintenance of a stained glass ceiling for its female clergy to bang their heads against should not only lose its moral authority. Let it also lose its unearned privileges.


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IRS Sued For Not Enforcing Ban On Political Endorsements By Churches

Posted by JacobSloan on November 18, 2012

Religious institutions should have had their tax-exempt status, which is contingent on not telling congregants how to vote, stripped a long time ago. This court case is largely symbolic, but hopefully it awakens discussion on this issue. The Freedom From Religion Foundation announces its legal action against the IRS:

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is taking the Internal Revenue Service to court over its failure to enforce electioneering restrictions against churches and religious organizations, calling it a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and of FFRF’s equal protection rights. FFRF filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.

A widely circulated Bloomberg news article quoted Russell Renwicks, with the IRS’ Tax-Exempt and Government Entities division, saying the IRS has suspended tax audits of churches. Other sources claim the IRS hasn’t been auditing churches since 2009.

As many as 1,500 clergy reportedly violated the electioneering restrictions on Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012, notes FFRF’s legal complaint. The complaint also references “blatantly political” full-page ads running in the three Sundays leading up to the presidential elections by the Billy Graham Evangelical Association.

FFRF is asking the the federal court to enjoin IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman from continuing “a policy of non-enforcement of the electioneering restrictions against churches and religious organizations.”

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SNAP Expels Victim from Abuse Conference

by Tom McGregor Sun, Jul 29, 2012, 07:32 PM

A man victimized by grievous sex abuse by a Jesuit priest decades ago in Chicago attempted to join a SNAP (Survivors’ Network of the Abused by Priests) conference in Rosemont, Illinois to confront a Jesuit priest, Tom Doyle, to demand an apology.

Unfortunately, SNAP administrator, Barbara Dorris, ordered the victim to depart from the premises of a hotel lobby. She even assigned hotel security to escort him out of the building.
The Dallas Blog received an email from the victim and requested we post his concerns about the dangerous alliance between the Jesuits and SNAP. Here’s a copy-and-paste of his email:

Yesterday, my plan was to meet up with Pat Wall and possibly Mr. Garabedian and Robert Hoatson at the Hilton in Rosemont, where S.N.A.P. is hosting their annual convention. I arranged to have Mary Pat Cashman, a woman lawyer I know from grade school, meet me there. She was interested in attending the convention for personal reasons. As I was waiting for Mary Pat to arrive, I did get the opportunity to talk with "Fr. Tom Doyle," (one of the speakers at the convention I know), however, Barbara Dorris and Peter Isely, officers of S.N.A.P., came up to me in the hotel lobby hallway and insisted that I leave and that I was not welcome in the hotel. The hotel security told the two of them that they could not make me leave unless I did something that would disrupt their convention, that I was within my rights to wait in the hotel to meet up with guests who were staying at the hotel. I waited until Mary Pat arrived, after I told her what these two did to me, she, (a lawyer), then approached Isely, and she was also told that she was not welcome either and that I knew why I wasn't welcome. This was the very 1st time I have ever spoke to Isely, he doesn't know me other than seeing me at McGuire's Wisconsin trial. I remained in the hotel lobby from 4:30 p.m. until Mary Pat arrive shortly before 7:00 p.m. and we decided to leave after she confronted Isely around 8:00 p.m. The Jesuits and S.N.A.P. are very similar, very selective, discriminating, demonstrates no compassion and both of them have "blackballed" me.

I never realized that just my presence could bother so many. This year, Friday was S.N.A.P.'s opening day of their convention. Two years ago, this Barbara Dorris did the same to me on the last day of their convention. Back then the hotel security did escort me out of the hotel.

Interesting to note, two years ago, Barbara Blaine had personally invited me to attend the convention, this time, I was invited to the hotel to meet up with several lawyers and meet up with some of the convention's speakers that I know. It appears all of these people are full of bull**** and are very well connected with each other.

I did notice Jeff Anderson arrive with his group consisting of 3 women and Barbara Dorris did observe my friendly conversation with Fr. Tom Doyle" before asking me to leave.

I am now in the process to reschedule the meeting with Mr. Garabedian and Robert Hoatson for tonight or tomorrow. They have now canceled meeting with me. Sounds very suspicious to me.

Mr. Garabedian is the lawyer representing about 20 of the Haiti kids that have filed sex abuse claims against the Jesuits and two weeks ago showed interest in representing me against the Jesuits and Gschwend. Robert Hoatson, runs a similar organization to S.N.A.P. in Boston and is close to Garabedian, he is the one who suggested that the three of us meet at the Hilton in Rosemont, IL, as they were going to attend the convention.

I just wonder how many clergy victims they have signed up today.

To learn more about the victim, link here:
Tmcgregordallas@yahoo.com

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Vatican crisis highlights pope failure to reform Curia

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor | Reuters – 1 hr 17 mins ago.

• 

  The Pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele …

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict in 2005, epithets like "God's Rottweiler" and "Panzerkardinal" suggested he would bring some German efficiency to the opaque Vatican bureaucracy, the Curia.

Instead, as the "Vatileaks" scandal has revealed, the head of the Roman Catholic Church can't even keep his own private mail secret. His hand-picked deputy, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, faces a "monsignors' mutiny" by prelates in the halls of power.

Benedict's papacy has been marked until now by controversies over things he has said and done, such as his criticism of Islam at Regensburg in 2006 or his 2009 decision to readmit four excommunicated ultra-traditionalist bishops to the Church.

Now a goal he has failed to achieve -- gain control over the Curia -- has come back to haunt him. Leaks of confidential documents on everything from Vatican finances to private papal audiences make his papacy look weak and disorganized.

"We've almost forgotten that reform of the Curia was part of Benedict's program at the start," recalled Isabelle de Gaulmyn, who was Vatican correspondent for the French Catholic daily La Croix at the time.

"Seven years later, the Curia has never seemed as opaque, ineffective, closed and badly governed as it is today."

The "Vatileaks" scandal has revealed, among other issues, the infighting behind the sacking of the Vatican bank president. The pope's own butler has been arrested on suspicion of stealing documents that have since been leaked to the media.

The target seems to be Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state (prime minister), whose critics accuse him of playing politics and blocking their efforts to stamp out corruption and cronyism in Vatican management.

THROWBACK TO RENAISSANCE MONARCHY

The Curia, a centuries-old bureaucracy dominated by Italian clerics, is essential to the success or failure of a papacy because it can effectively cancel or water down papal decisions if they go against long-standing interests or traditions.

Its name comes from the Latin word for a royal court and its jumble of overlapping departments, commissions and tribunals seems more suited to an intrigue-filled Renaissance monarchy than a modern and transparent democratic government.

The institution that gave the world the word "nepotism" is not always a model meritocracy either. Some officials are talented and dynamic while others are bureaucrats who seem to owe their posts more to connections than capabilities.

Each department has an advisory board of cardinals and bishops and those who sit on several boards can create powerful links that cut across department lines to influence policy.

Pressure for reform grew during the long reign of Pope John Paul. He announced changes in the 1980s to give local bishops more say in central policy-making, but focused more on his travel and preaching and did not really implement it.

Benedict was seen as the best man to reform it since he had been a Curia member since 1981 and reportedly knew it inside out. Now the task looks set to be handed on to his successor.

"I'm not sure anyone has ever really controlled it, or can control it," Thomas F.X. Noble, history professor at Notre Dame University in Indiana, said of the bureaucracy housed on the Vatican grounds and in office buildings nearby.

The Curia has held its own in Church power terms despite two non-Italian popes and the growing majority of Catholics from the developing world.

In February, the last time Benedict named new cardinals, 10 of the 18 who can vote for the next pope were Curia officials. That boosted their faction to 35 percent of the votes in the next conclave, meaning they will play an important role in the election and could try to win the papacy back for Italy.

Supporters of the tradition of Italian popes say only they know the culture well enough to control the Curia.

A SCHOLAR, NOT A SUPERVISOR

The crisis, which hurts Benedict's image as a leader just as he drives an increasingly conservative line in Church policy, is as much a result of the pope's diffident management style as of the institutional dysfunction of the Curia itself.

"He's a solitary scholar and he's not interested in the bureaucracy," said Chester Gillis, professor of theology at Georgetown University in Washington. "His real ambition seems to be to finish the third volume of his book."

Benedict, a leading Catholic theologian in his own right, has devoted considerable time in office to writing a major study entitled "Jesus of Nazareth" rather than administering the Church. The first two volumes appeared in 2007 and 2011.

His stern reputation stems from his long tenure as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), where he cracked down on liberal trends such as liberation theology.

But his CDF work focused on his own specialty, theology. "It was not about managing the Church," Gillis noted.

When he was elected pope, Benedict brought along several trusted CDF colleagues, including Bertone.

Bertone's critics call him an autocratic power-broker, a role the Curia lends itself to because its structure suits a Renaissance monarchy more than modern democratic governance.

There are no cabinet meetings among heads of departments, or dicasteries, and information circulates mostly on a need-to-know basis. Decisions with major implications for the Church are not always discussed with other departments that might be affected.

"A TIN EAR PAPACY"

Benedict did start reforming the Curia in early 2006, downgrading its department for interfaith dialogue into a sub-department of the culture ministry and sending its experienced head away to be nuncio (ambassador) in Cairo.

But he restored it as a full department the following year after his Regensburg speech in September 2006, which suggested Islam was violent and irrational, sparked protests by Muslims in several Islamic countries.

Some Curia officials had vetted the speech but not warned him of its diplomatic dangers. At Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland earlier that year, Benedict added the word Holocaust to his speech after journalists saw an advance text and told his aides Jews would be offended if he did not clearly mention it.

Benedict's aides apparently did not prepare him for the wave of sharp protests from Catholics, Jews and even German Chancellor Angela Merkel to his surprise decision in 2009 to readmit four rebel bishops to the Church after a 21-year schism.

The shocked pope had to write a long letter explaining the step and admit nobody in the Curia had done an Internet search for him and seen one bishop was a notorious Holocaust denier.

The Vatican has also reacted slowly and defensively to the clerical sexual abuse scandal shaking national churches around the world, giving the impression it puts its institutional interests ahead of the children molested by priests.

The cumulative effect of such incidents over the years and revelations of Vatican mismanagement now has been to cast Benedict's as "a tin ear papacy," said Christopher Bellitto, a Catholic Church historian at Kean University in New Jersey.

"This all seems to be a power game that matters only to the power players," he said. "It seems to be a Church hierarchy further distancing itself from the people in the pews."

(This story corrects name and university in second to last paragraph)

(Reporting By Tom Heneghan; Editing by Jon Boyle)

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Occupy Wall Street, The Golden Calf and the New Idolatry

Donna Schaper
Senior Minister, Judson Memorial Church, Judson.org


Posted: 10/11/11 01:19 PM ET

When the paper Mache golden calf arrived at the church, it looked ever so much like the Wall Street Bull. I am not secretly cursing. The calf animal looked like a bull animal. Our choir director and one of our ministers carried it on their shoulders, from its rented van up Thompson Street, from Houston Street, into Judson Memorial Church around 8 p.m. on Saturday night. What surprised these two religious soldiers was how many people in the open bars recognized it immediately, "Why, that is the golden calf. You know, from the bible."

James Salt of Catholics United, who was on a spiritual retreat the weekend before, made the calf. He built and designed it within three days. Why? He was inspired by the actions of Occupy Wall Street and wanted to lend spiritual and biblical support. "Faith and Public Life" rented the van and brought it into town. We put it on our altar, and then carried it down to Wall Street on Sunday to feature it in our multifaith worship service. We are in the process of reproducing the calf as I write. Why? The Calf has returned to D.C. for the weekend's protests there.

When the original calf arrived in our empty sanctuary on Saturday night, about a dozen of us gathered to greet it. The artist was there as well to humbly tell us how he built it. We were moved to pray, which I have to admit is not something we do that often on Saturday nights. We took turns reading Exodus 32, verse by verse. We knew where to find the original golden calf story but we had rarely heard it in the context of paper mache, built into fifty pounds of calf. We started with verse one, how the Exodus people were disappointed with the same Moses who had taken them out of the wilderness. Then Aaron was summoned to leadership. Aaron plotted an overthrow of Moses by building a new altar, a golden calf, made from the earrings of the people. (Some biblical scholars argue that the women refused their jewelry. Who knows?) The people had a big expensive party in front of their handmade idol. Then Moses came back and destroyed the calf, begged God to repent of God's wrath against the people for their idolatry. Then the people repented. And God promised not to destroy them. We remain in prayer, as the calf of Wall Street is not yet in mothballs.

On Sunday, four strong men carried the calf on their shoulders, looking more like pallbearers in a street funeral than anything else. It was hot. They had yellow sponges to cushion the calf's blow to their shoulders. How they walked the two miles with the 50-pound paper Mache calf aloft is a matter of physics. But why they did it is a matter of the spirit. They suited up so reporters would not dare call them hippies. (There is nothing wrong with hippies except that people use them to stay distant from the Occupation Wall Street's general and universal message.) The pallbearers wanted to look like the Wall Street they protested. They marched and carried because they know what idolatry is. It is the replacement of a false God for a better one. Note I did not say true one. We all know how much we have internalized capitalism. We all know our distance from the truth. The 99% don't have an enemy in the 1% so much as a need to bring money in line with human values. Our multifaith service wanted to be sure not to resemble the punishmentalists or those who are absurdly sure about the divine or who like to find someone to blame for what has gone wrong. We went for the basics of our many faiths, the golden rule which is so distanced from and by the golden calf. "Do unto those downstream from you what you would have those upstream from you do to you." This rule applies to hippies, Republicans, church members, ministers, and financiers.

We all know how little Sabbath we keep, how frequently we let other people tell us our value, our place, our position. We all know how much we have let Wall Street control the conversation, alerting us that the market is "up" today or the market is "down." We brought the calf to Wall Street to confess our allegiance to false Gods and to announce that something was dying for us. That death is our own belief in the sacred calf of the Wall Street picture of the universe. The "mike check" was just the beginning of a new conversation, between and among people, about what is really important. What is important is people owning our own times, our own tongues, our own labor, our own worth. What is dead is Wall Street's control of the conversation and us.





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Clergy To Join Forces With "Occupy Wall Street" Protesters

10:30 AM

By: NY1 News


NY1...Video...

The "Occupy Wall Street protestors" are remaining in Lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park, and members of the clergy are expected to join the effort later today.

Demonstrators organizing the day's events at a so-called "general assembly" today, and a large demonstration is scheduled for tomorrow.

Protestors held a peaceful march up to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village yesterday.

Police say there were no arrests yesterday, compared to the past two Saturdays, when hundreds of protesters were arrested.

Demonstrators told NY1 this morning that they remain part of the protest to keep sharing their message.

"For the most part, the only thing we all have in common is we want equality. We all come from very different backgrounds, very different economic strides, everything. It's not fair," said one protester. "There's so many people that don't have anything to eat and they're buying $200 lunches, and we're paying for it."

"Message is, you know, I was a business owner and lost my business because of the economy. My dad's house is in foreclosure because of the economy and being taken away from him right now, and there's just too much money in too little pockets," said another.

Protesters last night eventually headed back to Zuccotti Park after several hours at Washington Square Park, which closed to the public at midnight.


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