Thursday, June 20, 2013

Supreme Court Cruelly Tricks a Nation into Briefly Reading About “Class-Action Arbitration”


11:53 AM, JUNE 20 2013


by Juli Weiner





BY 350Z33/WIKIPEDIA.


The Supreme Court was quite the tease this morning, issuing several decisions but none pertaining to affirmative action, gay marriage, or the Voting Rights Act. Jurisprudence diehards will argue that this morning’s three B-side rulings—that “the court can’t require that civil society groups affirm their opposition to prostitution and sex trafficking to receive funding,” something with class-action arbitration, and another thing about prior convictions influencing the severity of sentencing for later crimes—are important, too. These nerds are not wrong, but the decisions that brought 50,000 people to SCOTUSblog this morning will come next Monday at the earliest. Boo! Hiss!

Meanwhile, according to a CNN poll conducted last week, 48 percent of respondents “approve of the job the Supreme Court’s doing, with an equal amount saying they disapprove.” Will the protracted dramatic tension cause those figures to become more lopsided? Or will America forgive the Supreme Court for tricking an attention-deficit nation into learning about “class-action arbitration”?

Tune back next week as the highest court in the land issues . . . Anthony Kennedy’s screenplay. No, it’s not what you were hoping to read, but you’re on SCOTUSblog anyway, so let him know what you think of the well-endowed, crime-fighting “Andrew Kentucky” character. Believable?


Source

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You're kidding me, right?



With all the scandals on Capitol Hill? Why this bunkum now?


Jimmy Hoffa disappeared July 30, 1975, declared legally dead July 30, 1982.

- And we're still looking for him 38 years later; speculating where he might be?  He's dead!

TWA Flight 800 was a scheduled international passenger flight from New York to Rome (with a stopover in Paris) on July 17, 1996, at about 20:31 EDT.

- NTSB investigation found that the probable cause of the crash was a fuel explosion.

The folks that speculated about a missile strike were considered Conspiracy Theorists...  Now, they want to reopen the investigation? Now?

FBI using Drones for domestic surveillance.

- After all the denial we have heard in the last few weeks?

Eric Holder; Journalists targeted and surveilled; Conservatives scrutinized by the IRS;  NSA - PRISM, etc.

No, you mean were are using drones here?


To add to the all the outlandish media propaganda:


The Three Clintons reared their ugly heads last week -


  1. Bill Clinton came out six days ago to criticize the administration: Obama Risks Looking Like a "Wuss" and "Total Fool" on Syria.  The day after Clinton's comments, Obama decides we are going to arm the rebels fighting Assad in Syria. 
  2.  Hillary Rodham Clinton made the headlines revealing her plans, she intends to work in the nonprofit world on issues like improving early childhood education, promoting the rights of women and girls, and finding ways to improve the economy.  Wow, that sounds like admirable values a Beauty Pageant Contestant would express when asked what she would do if she were the winner of the crown.  What is she up to now?  So soon after her  Benghazi Hearings "What difference - at this time - does it make" statement?
  3. Chelsea Clinton-Mezvinsky showed up during the weekend to endorse her mother as the next president of the U.S.; She said, 'We need women at the head of the White House'.  Oh yeah?  Why that woman?  Why her mother on Father's day?

Three people that had their 15 minutes of fame, show up unwarranted to give their two cents.

Why?  Why now?

Are they being used as WMD's?  Weapons of Mass Distraction?  While there are bigger fish to fry?


Arsenio
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Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org

www.cbsnews.com

www.npr.org

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/06/13/bill_clinton_on_syria_obama_risks_looking_like_a_fool_and_a_wuss.html


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Obama defends domestic spying, drones in Berlin







BERLIN, GERMANY – Five years ago when a couple of hundred thousand people showed up to hear then-candidate Barack Obama declare himself a citizen of the world.

A smaller crowed showed up this time at the Brandenburg Gate, mostly invited guests.



Read more: http://newsfixnow.com/2013/06/19/obama-defends-domestic-spying-drones-in-berlin/#ixzz2Wj2IxEkq


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Obama Urges LGBT Acceptance at Brandenburg Gate



Wednesday Jun 19, 2013





President Barrack Obama returned to the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin today nearly 50 years to the day after John F. Kennedy’s famous "ich bin ein Berliner" speech at the height of the Cold War. In an address with topics ranging from U.S. and Russian nuclear disarmament to closing Guantanamo Bay, Obama drew cheers from the crowd of thousands when speaking of the need to fight intolerance, specifically mentioning anti-LGBT discrimination.

"I’d suggest that peace with justice begins with the example we set here at home, for we know from our own histories that intolerance breeds injustice. Whether it’s based on race, or religion, gender or sexual orientation, we are stronger when all our people -- no matter who they are or what they look like -- are granted opportunity, and when our wives and our daughters have the same opportunities as our husbands and our sons.

"We are more free when all people can pursue their own happiness."
President Barrack Obama


When we respect the faiths practiced in our churches and synagogues, our mosques and our temples, we’re more secure. When we welcome the immigrant with his talents or her dreams, we are renewed. When we stand up for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters and treat their love and their rights equally under the law, we defend our own liberty as well. We are more free when all people can pursue their own happiness. And as long as walls exist in our hearts to separate us from those who don’t look like us, or think like us, or worship as we do, then we’re going to have to work harder, together, to bring those walls of division down."

Obama’s Berlin visit is the final leg of a three-day European visit that included a G-8 summit meeting in Ireland.

For a full transcript of todays speech, visit WhiteHouse.gov


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....
Related:


Obama's Turbulent European Vacation

With vague pledges and backtalk from Merkel and Putin, the president shows how far America's standing with Europe has fallen.


By Michael Hirsh
Updated: June 19, 2013 | 5:11 p.m.
June 19, 2013 | 3:40 p.m.




President Obama delivers a speech in front of Brandenburg Gate, unseen, in Berlin Wednesday. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)


President Obama's honeymoon with the world is over.

What was it, exactly, about Obama's controversy-marred trip to Germany and the G8 Summit in Northern Ireland that fell so flat? Ummm, how about … everything?

There were the snarky words from Vladimir Putin, who expressed an almost Soviet-esque distance from Washington in his views about Syria. "Of course our opinions do not coincide," the Russian leader said bluntly. There was the coded warning from Chancellor Angela Merkel about spying on friends, and her and Obama's continuing frostiness over the issue of economic stimulus versus austerity. Above all, there was Obama's vague attempt at the Brandenburg Gate to capture some wisp of his past glory by pledging vague plans to cut nuclear arms and an even vaguer concept of "peace with justice."

The "peace with justice" line was a quote from John F. Kennedy, Obama's attempt to steal just a little of JFK's thunder from 50 years before. He didn't come away with much, winning just a smattering of applause from a crowd that was one one-hundredth the size of JFK's. A crowd that, at about 4,500, was also much, much smaller than Obama drew as a candidate in 2008.

Not only is the honeymoon long over, folks. The marriage is becoming deeply troubled and, increasingly, loveless.

On June 26, 1963, you may recall from your history books, Kennedy flew to West Berlin, which was isolated behind the Iron Curtain, and declared "Ich bin ein Berliner" to delirious roars from a crowd of 450,000 Germans who immediately understood that he was telling them that "all free men, wherever they may live," stood behind them.

Some linguists later quibbled that Kennedy should have said "Ich bin Berliner," and that by adding the "ein" he was really saying, "I'm a jelly doughnut," since "Berliner" was the name of a pastry in some parts of Germany. In truth, the Germans didn't misunderstand JFK for a moment, and his speech instantly became one of the most famous and inspiring in modern history.

In contrast to JFK, and Ronald Reagan's almost-as-famous line 24 years later -- "Mr, Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" -- Obama came across as more of a jelly doughnut, a little soft and perhaps too sweet inside, especially compared to the hard-edged Putin. After their meeting, it was clear that Putin, right or wrong, was pursuing a set course on Syria and other issues, frankly backing the regime of Bashar al-Assad, while Obama was continuing to temporize over how much and what kind of aid he would give to the Syrian rebels.

"We cannot dictate the pace of change in places like the Arab world, but we must reject the excuse that we can do nothing to support it," the president declared in his Brandenburg Gate speech. It wasn't much of an applause line. Even after announcing that his "red line" had been crossed in Syria, Obama rejected air strikes and then told Charlie Rose that aid will be delivered "in a careful, calibrated way" because "it is very easy to slip slide your way into deeper and deeper commitments."

Compare that to Putin's active military support of Assad, which has helped the Syrian dictator regain the advantage against the rebels, and Putin's harsher words. After his meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron, in opposition to arming the rebels, Putin declared: "You will not deny that one does not really need to support the people who not only kill their enemies, but open up their bodies, eat their intestines in front of the public and cameras. Are these the people you want to support? Is it them who you want to supply with weapons? Then this probably has little relation to humanitarian values that have been preached in Europe for hundreds of years."

And even as he quoted Kennedy in his Brandenburg Gate speech Obama appeared to hop lightly from topic to topic, much as his foreign policy has. "The Russians know what they want. I think we've in a situation of strategic drift for several years," says John Arquilla of the Naval Postgraduate School.

Indeed, as I have previously written, to a degree that the administration has not really acknowledged, Russia under Putin has become the chief countervailing force to U.S. power and influence around the world, even more so than China, which often follows Moscow's lead in the U.N. Security Council.

So now, instead of the Americans, it's the Russians who are delivering up the challenging quotes, and drawing the hard lines, in Europe. History may well still be on Obama's side, as he suggested by touting Berlin's "lesson of the ages" in his speech. The audiences, perhaps not so much.


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Muslim Persecution of Christians: March, 2013


U.S. Defends "Human Rights" of Persecutors of Christians


by Raymond Ibrahim
Gatestone Institute
June 12, 2013


The Islamic jihad against Christians in Nigeria is proving to be the most barbaric. A new report states that 70% of Christians killed around the world in 2012 were killed in the African nation. Among some of the atrocities committed in March alone, at least 41 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack at a bus station in a predominantly Christian neighborhood. According to the Christian Association ofNigeria, these attacks "were a signpost of the intended extermination of Christians and Christianity from northern Nigeria."

According to the Rev. Jerome Ituah, "Out of the 52 Catholic churches in Maiduguri diocese, 50 of them have been destroyed by Boko Haram. When two Christian brothers were returning home after Sunday church service, jihadis opened fire on them with machine guns, killing the brothers, as well as three others, and injuring several more Christians.

Another 13 Christian factory workers in Kano were "gruesomely" slain. Said the local bishop: "Reports of the attack reaching us disclosed that on that fateful Saturday at about 7 p.m, Muslim faithful were conducting their prayer close to the affected compound occupied by Christian families, when two taxi cabs stopped in front of the compound and the occupants, who all concealed their arms dashed into the complex and demanded to know why the residents were not part of the 7 p.m. Muslim prayer. They responded by telling the visitors they were Christians and so could not be part of the Muslim gathering. At that point, they separated the men from their wives and children and shot them dead on the spot after ordering the women and children into their homes" to be enslaved.

The bishop added that, "government should show more concern, like it has always done when Muslims are affected; I have not seen that in the case of Christians—that 13 Christians were killed in one straight attack and nothing is heard from the government reflects selective justice because we are aware of compensation paid to Muslim families in situations of this nature."

However, the Nigeria government recently did go on the offensive to try to contain the jihadis in northern Nigeria—only to be chastised by the Obama administration, in the person of John Kerry, who recently warned the Nigerian government not to violate the "human rights" of the jihadi mass murderers.

Categorized by theme, the rest of March's Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed by theme and in country alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity:

Church Attacks

Egypt: According to El Watan News, three Christian brothers were shot dead at their home by automatic weapons a few weeks before two were set to have their weddings. The victims' family was earlier accused of trying to build a church on land they owned because they purchased building material to build a house on that land. The rumors about the building of a church spread during the Friday sermon at the mosque, following which 2,000 Muslims stormed the land and tried to destroy the house, car and tractor, resulting in the murder of the three Christian brothers.

Indonesia: Authorities demolished a church building with a bulldozer in West Java, even as Muslim bystanders cheered and denounced Christians as "infidels." According to Pastor Leonard Nababan, the government is "criminalising our religion." The congregation had gathered around the church in an effort to save it; so did Muslims, shouting, "They're infidels and they've built their church without permission," "Knock the church down now" and "Allahu Akbar."

Iraq: According to Fox News, before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, there were more than 300 Christian churches. Today, a decade after the jihad was unleashed on Christians and their churches, only 57 Christian churches remain in the nation. And "The churches that remain are frequent targets of Islamic extremists, who have driven nearly a million Christians out of the land…" An Iraqi-based human rights organization said that "The last 10 years have been the worst for Iraqi Christians because they bore witness to the biggest exodus and migration in the history of Iraq…. More than two-thirds [of Christians] have emigrated." One of the most dramatic cases of Christian persecution came in late October of 2010, when Al Qaeda members laid siege to Our Lady of Deliverance Church in Baghdad, killing 58 and wounding 78. According to an AP report "Iraq's Catholic Christians flocked to churches to celebrate Easter Sunday [in March], praying, singing and rejoicing in the resurrection of Christ behind high blast walls and tight security cordons… [emphasis added]."

Libya: A Coptic Christian church located in Benghazi was attacked by armed Muslims. The jihadis severely beat and shaved the beard and mustache of Father Paul, the priest of the church, as a sign of humiliation. They also beat the deacon and nine attendees. Meanwhile, because Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood-led government had done little regarding the systematic abuse of Egyptian citizens in Libya, including the murder of one under torture, Copts demonstrated in front of the Libyan embassy in Cairo—prompting yet another attack on the Benghazi church, which was set on fire.

Pakistan: In response to one Christian man accused of blaspheming Islam's prophet thousands of Muslims attacked the Christian Joseph Colony of Lahore, burning two churches, one Catholic, the other a Seventh Day Adventist, as often happens in Pakistan in the context of collectively punishing Christians.

Sudan: According to Morning Star News, Khartoum's jihad continues to "rid the area of non-Arabs and Christianity": the Evangelical Church in the Nuba was "reduced … to ashes" after an aerial bombardment. Days later, another bombing campaign left two dead and twelve injured, in the Christian-majority region. "These bombardments are major sources of fear among the people in South Kordofan," said a church leader.

Turkey: The 5th century Studios Monastery, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is set to go from being a branch of the Hagia Sophia—Christianity's grandest cathedral, which was transformed into a mosque, after the Islamic conquest and is currently a museum—to being an active mosque. Many Turkish Muslims continue calling for the return of the Hagia Sophia itself to a mosque.

Apostasy, Blasphemy, Proselytism

Holland: A 43-year-old Iranian Muslim convert to Christianity was found murdered. According to the Farsi Christian News Network, the victim went to church the afternoon he was killed: "The shocking news of this senseless murder has brought grief and sorrow to the local Christians, Iranian-Christian community, and asylum seekers across the country." Christians constitute a large percentage of the Iranians seeking asylum in Holland. (Islamic Sharia law calls for the killing of apostates, and converts to Christianity are regularly targeted in the Islamic world.)

Iran: During a major conference, a Shi'ite leader claimed that Islam was under attack by Christianity in Iran: "Christian booklets and brochures are being sent to people's doors for free in many areas… Christianity is being preached in many shops in the Islamic city of Mashhad. Also Christian booklets are sent to people's addresses without restrictions." But a Mohabat News spokesperson said "Of course, the Islamic cleric did not provide any supporting evidence for his claim. However, it seems their sole purpose in bringing up and repeating these claims is to provoke security authorities against, and provide the means for increased pressure on Iranian Christians converts."

Kazakhstan: Vyacheslav Cherkasov , a Christian street evangelist, was detained for offering Christian literature to passersby and fined the equivalent of one month's wages on charges of "violating the rules" regarding "importing, publishing and distribution of religious literature" which came into force in 2011. The court ordered the destruction of his 121 pieces of Christian literature, including Bibles and children's Bibles, in the first such ruling since the nation gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Local Council of Churches Baptists said in published remarks: "We were shocked—this is sacrilege and illegality."

Pakistan: The blasphemy case against Rimsha Masih, the 14-year-old Christian girl who was earlier arrested for "blasphemy" when a Muslim cleric falsely claimed that she burned a Koran, has been reopened. According to a BosNewsLife report, "A police investigator asked the Supreme Court in Islamabad to reopen the case" against the Christian girl, "saying he was pressured by the government to drop charges against her after an international outcry." She and her family are currently in hiding. A court is also considering a death sentence against 47-year-old Martha Bibi, a Christian and mother, due to alleged "derogatory remarks" about Muslim prophet Muhammad. Another Christian man was arrested after a Muslim accused him of blasphemy. But his arrest was not enough to appease the 3000 strong mob that went on to collectively punish the nation's Christians, burning two churches, some 200 Christian homes, and stealing their property.

Somalia: Muslim militants murdered yet another Christian. Ahmed Ali Jimale, 42, was killed by two men as he stood outside his house, near a police station. Among other things, the man was accused of apostasy—on the widespread assumption that all Somalis are born Muslims—and, because he worked as a teacher, of "introducing the children to foreign Christian religion"; Muslim militants had warned him that "we shall come for your head." A friend of the slain said "Jimale was a good man who helped our community. His widow is very scared and afraid, not knowing what will happen." He also leaves behind four children, ages 10, 8, 6, and 4.

Dhimmitude

[General Abuse and Suppression of Non-Muslims as "Tolerated" Citizens]

Egypt: Muslim rioters in town of Kom Ombo threw firebombs and rocks at police after Friday mosque prayers in an effort to storm a church where they claimed a Muslim woman who converted to Christianity was hiding. Violence began when a 36 year-old Muslim woman, who had been missing for five days, was allegedly seen outside the church with a female Christian friend. Days later, hundreds of Muslims marched in the town of al-Wasta, to protest the disappearance of another young Muslim girl and accuse the priest of St. George's Church of using "black magic" to lure her to Christianity. They hurled stones at the church; Coptic shops were forced to close down; Salfis threatened to kidnap a Christian girl if their Muslim girl did not return. However, Watani newspaper had already reported that the Muslim girl sent an open letter to her family, posted on the Internet, saying that she ran away because she was sexually abused by her uncles, was forced to marry a man she did not want, and that she had left Egypt and was married to a Muslim man. Unrelatedly a Fox News report states that "Islamic hard-liners stormed a mosque in suburban Cairo, turning it into [a] torture chamber for Christians who had been demonstrating against the ruling Muslim Brotherhood in the latest case of violent persecution that experts fear will only get worse." And according to a Voice of Russia report, "up to 100,000 Christians have left Egypt since the Muslim Brotherhood came to power. Some of those have arrived in Moscow."

Iran: According to Fox News, a UN report indicates that "Iran's hard-line regime has intensified its violent crackdown on Christians and other religious minorities, even imprisoning nursing mothers for practicing their faith…" The March report provides a "rare, detailed view into the shocking treatment of Christians in Iran, where American Pastor Saeed Abedini is serving an eight-year sentence for his alleged work with Christians." According to a UN expert on human rights in Iran, "The persecution of Christians has increased. It seems to target new converts and those who run house churches…. more than 300 Christians have been arrested since June 2010, according to the report." Most recently, Five members of the Church of Iran denomination appeared before a judge and "charged with disturbing public order, evangelizing, action against national security and an internet activity against the system."

Pakistan: After 3,000 Muslims attacked a Christian village—burning two churches and some 200 homes—the government punished Christians for protesting. According to the Daily Times, "Christians around the country are incensed by the recurring theme of blasphemy allegation followed by attacks and burning down of their vulnerable communities. They have held protests across the country in a concerted effort to vent their disgust at the recent incident and to show solidarity with the victims… Lahore police used the opportunity to beat the innocent Christian protesters. They shot tear gas shells at them and beat them with sticks. Yet when the Muslim attack took place they stood back and watched till the town had been razed to the ground…Muslims of Jhelum city have threatened to burn Christians home in response to the protests. Now the community is living in fear of reprisals for their simple act of condemning violence and the blasphemy laws of Pakistan."

Sweden: According to Charisma News, "Christians in Iran face arrest, torture, even death. But that doesn't seem to matter to Swedish immigration officials. Sweden wants to send Iranian Christian asylum seekers, who left Islam, back to Iran where they could be killed. Iran is one of the most dangerous places in the world for Christians. As apostates from Islam, they face grave danger in this country. But their requests for asylum status that could save their lives have been denied."

Syria: According to a Catholic leader, up to 30,000 Christians have fled the city of Aleppo, and two priests were abducted and held for a ransom of 15 million Syrian pounds each. Christians are regularly kidnapped and beheaded by jihadi rebels. Also, a short English-language video appeared where Fr. Fadi al-Hamzi told of how his uncle was recently murdered: "They killed him because he is Christian, they refuse to have any Christians in Syria. … I'm not afraid; my uncle died, he's immortal now. I can be like him." When asked if he was worried if Christians would be massacred if the U.S.-supported jihadis overthrew the government, the priest said , "Yes, yes, this will be… they don't want us here." Christians were in Syria 600 years before Islam conquered the nation.

About this Series

Because the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to reaching pandemic proportions, "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes:

1) Intrinsically, to document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, increasingly chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians.

2) Instrumentally, to show that such persecution is not "random," but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia.

Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; apostasy and blasphemy laws; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (tribute); overall expectations for Christians to behave like cowed "dhimmis" (barely tolerated citizens); and simple violence and murder. Oftentimes it is a combination thereof.

Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from Morocco in the west, to India in the east, and throughout the West, wherever there are Muslims—it should be clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.


Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Sourcehttp://www.meforum.org/3532/muslim-persecution-of-christians-march-2013

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Newly ordained priests across country hail from variety of backgrounds




Newly ordained priests offer their first blessing over Chicago Cardinal Francis George on May 18 at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. (CNS/Catholic News World/Natalie Battaglia)


Catholic News Service | Jun. 19, 2013


WASHINGTON

After he ordained six new priests for the archdiocese of Washington on Saturday, Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl encouraged them to take up the call of the new evangelization and help transform the world.

"This is the age of the new evangelization," the cardinal said during an ordination Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, describing the call for Catholics to renew their faith, grow more confident in its truth, and share the good news of Christ with others. "This is the opportunity of our age. This is the call of our moment."

At the Mass, Wuerl ordained Fathers Francisco Aguirre, Rafael Barbieri, Mark Cusick, Shaun Foggo, Scott Holmer and Samuel Plummer.

The cardinal noted that many in today's culture feel no need for God. "Living the faith and sharing the excitement of our experience of the Lord brings us into conflict and even contrast with the mentality and culture of our day," he said, encouraging the new priests to bring Christ's truth to their people, and not yield to the temptation of seeking popular approval through political correctness.

"These are the challenges you will face as the heralds of the new evangelization and agents of the Holy Spirit, working to transform this world so it really is a manifestation of God's kingdom," Wuerl said.

At end of the two and one-half hour Mass, the new priests stood together before the altar and offered their first blessings to the thousands of people there, and then applause cascaded through the shrine as they processed down the center aisle. The cardinal thanked the new priests' family members, friends, and the priests who mentored them, and noted that, "No one comes to ordination alone."

In the archdiocese of New Orleans, five men were ordained June 1 at St. Louis Cathedral. The newly ordained were prompted to "be on fire for the Lord."

As newly ordained Fathers Colin Braud, Travis Clark, Gary Copping, Daniel Green and Jonathan Hemelt joined New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond around the altar for the eucharistic prayer, the cathedral's smoke alarm, triggered by the thick cloud of incense, blared.

Undaunted, the archbishop continued with the preface, and the sound stopped after about 30 seconds and a few hastily opened doors. But before the final blessing, Aymond told the standing-room-only congregation that the smoke alarm was a teachable moment.

"I think this was the first time we've ever had a fire drill during an ordination," he said, eliciting laughter from the congregation. "Some of you may think it was because of the incense, but I think it's because the newly ordained are just on fire for the Lord. In fact, I think we should have a fire drill at every ordination."

Calling it "a joyful and glorious day in the life of the church," Aymond said the five new priests each had become aware of his priestly vocation in a different way, but each had discerned over the previous year of service as a deacon that God was calling him in a profound way.

"From the depths of their hearts, they have heard God's call, 'Come, follow me,'" the archbishop said, noting that the vocational call, in many ways, is "a mystery." He added that it took the love and support of family and friends to nurture that call.

The rite of ordination configures the newly ordained to "Christ the priest," Aymond said. "You will become Christ the priest," he said. "You will act and you will speak in the name of Christ. You will preside over the Eucharist, and through prayer the bread and wine will become Christ, and you will say: 'This is my body; this is my blood.'"

The new priests said they were awestruck by their ordination.

"It's really just an amazing experience," Hemelt said. "I'm so thankful for all of the people who have been there and supported us over these years. It's just really indescribable. I'm so happy to have been called by the Lord and so humbled by that call, and I look forward to getting to work, as the archbishop said.

"I want to save souls. That's it. If I can do that, a couple of times, I'll be happy," he told the Clarion Herald, archdiocesan newspaper of New Orleans.

Approximately 500 men were ordained Catholic priests this year in the United States. They were all ages and from all backgrounds. Many were born in the United States; others were from Columbia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Poland, Germany, Cuba, Haiti, El Salvador and Mexico.

In the diocese of Raleigh, N.C., Bishop Michael Burbidge ordained Fathers Nicholas Cottrill, Thomas Duggan and Ryan Elder June 1 at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Cary.

"What a blessed day for the church and our diocese," Burbidge said at the beginning of his homily, "as these three men, your sons, brothers, family members and friends, are about to be ordained priests."

In the archdiocese of Seattle, 58-year-old Fr. Mark Kiszelewski was ordained June 8 by Archbishop J. Peter Sartain at St. James Cathedral. The new priest, who has two grown sons from a marriage that was annulled in 2001, said he felt "a continued desire ... to serve God and to serve his church as much as I could."

His sons, Alex and Andrew, now 24 and 21, respectively, are supportive and excited about their dad being a priest.

And Kiszelewski believes his personal history, while unusual for a priest, will be a great asset in his priesthood, helping him relate to the experiences and struggles of his parishioners.

"I've been there," he told The Progress, archdiocesan newspaper of Seattle. "I know what it's like to be struggling with a teenager who's rebellious ... I've experienced a lot of the good and a lot of the tough things, but you get through it. ...

"All those experiences give me at least a way of letting people know that I understand what's going on, and that's a good thing," he added.

Elsewhere, seven men were ordained by Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila May 18 at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception; Chicago Cardinal Francis George also May 18 ordained 10 men hailing from Mexico, Poland, Uganda, Indiana and the Chicago area; and seven priests were ordained at St. Theresa Church in Trumbull, Conn., May 25 for the diocese of Bridgeport by retired Archbishop Daniel Cronin of Hartford, Conn.

One of the newly ordained priests for the Bridgeport diocese is Fr. Joseph Gill, who grew up in Frederick, Md. When people ask him why he wanted to be a priest, he said the short answer is that he "fell madly in love with God."

"As a teen, I had a profound and personal encounter with Jesus Christ, who changed my life and gave me a joy and a peace that surpasses all understanding. I want to give my life to him and to make him known and loved, so that he may set souls ablaze with a passion for holiness. In a word, I am striving to become a saint and help others become saints as well," he said.

In the diocese of Green Bay, Wis., Bishop David Ricken ordained two men to the priesthood June 1 at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Green Bay. In the same liturgy, he also ordained two men to the transitional diaconate. This was the first time in recent years that both ordinations occurred at the same Mass, which was described by the diocese as an opportunity to highlight the calling to the celibate life the four men chose.

The Josephites ordained seven priests from Nigeria June 1 at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. The priests will be assigned to one of 40 Josephite parishes nationwide.

The Jesuit order ordained 16 priests in June in ceremonies in New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Chicago. Before entering the Society of Jesus, the ordinands worked in nonprofit community service, higher education, state government, documentary film production and biomedical research, and several taught in high schools and colleges.

Jesuit Father Thomas Smolich, outgoing president of the Jesuit Conference of the United States, said the new Jesuit priests experienced a call to the priesthood "as varied as their hometowns and former occupations, but they have one thing in common: a desire to dedicate themselves to the Jesuit mission of serving the church where the need is greatest."

[Contributing to this story were Mark Zimmermann in Washington, Peter Finney Jr. in New Orleans and Kevin Birnbaum in Seattle.]

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Notice the Knights of Columbus with the chapeau feather headgear with their backs to camera, facing the priests on the rostrum.

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Diocese plans pilgrimage to DC Shrine



POSTED 7 HOURS AGO BY THE LONG ISLAND CATHOLIC STAFF





Photo: Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington (CNS photo/Nancy Phelan Wiechec)

In celebration of the Year of Faith, the Diocese of Rockville Centre will host a pilgrimage to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C., on Saturday, September 28. The pilgrimage will be a day-long journey of faith to honor Mary, to seek her help and protection and to ask God to shower upon us His spirit for our earthly life here on Long Island.

All Catholics across the Diocese are invited to join Bishop William Murphy and his brother bishops for an experience filled with opportunities for prayer, reflection, reconciliation and fellowship. This pilgrimage is a unique opportunity for fostering faith, conversion and reconciliation. The talented voices of the Diocesan Choir will provide the music for the liturgies.

The pilgrimage will include praying the Angelus at Noon in the Upper Church; a presentation by John Garvey, president of Catholic University of America; tours, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; Sacrament of Reconciliation; Rosary in Word and Song; and celebration of the Eucharist for the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Buses will then depart for Long Island at 5:30 p.m.

For the Christian, pilgrimage is a way of life. Our life on earth is a continuing journey towards complete union with God in the kingdom. From earliest times, Christians have journeyed to defined spaces and places to practice pilgrimage as a spiritual exercise for growth in faith. Pilgrimage is a transforming practice which opens us to the gift of the indulgence for ourselves and for others. It gives renewed meaning to the rites and rituals which are gifts of our faith and which serve to deepen our connection to God through Christ and one another.

Through prayer, personal sacrifice, reflection and service, the pilgrim embarks on his or her spiritual quest. Celebrating sacramental reconciliation and participating in the Eucharist are integral to the pilgrim’s journey. Also, acts of charity and penance are performed to express the true conversion of heart brought about by communion with Christ.

Pilgrimage calls for actions which express in a practical and generous way the penitential spirit which the heart of jubilee. Such actions might include fasting, abstaining from smoking or alcohol, donating time and or money to benefit abandoned children, youth in trouble, lonely elderly people or other similar forms of personal sacrifice.

Many parishes will charter bus transportation. For more information contact your parish coordinator or Suzanne Lynn of the Office of Worship at 516-678-5800, ext. 207 or slynn@drvc.org.


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Morristown Church Joins Hunger Strike to Protest Deportations


Awareness


There wil be a vigil this week as well

By Kim Tran

12:51 pm





St. Margaret’s Church of Scotland on Speedwell Avenue is joining a national campaign to stop deportation of undocumented people by hosting a vigil and hunger strike this week.

The fast began on Monday and will end Friday with a special vigil for the children ( “vigilio de los Ninos”) recognizing the number of children separated from their parents by deportation.

"We need to stop these deportations and protect our families and keep them together. So many people are suffering, especially the children. A nation like ours should provide a better example for future generations when it comes to family values,” “ said Diana Mejia, co-founder of  Wind of the Spirit, a Morristown based immigrant rights group that helped organize the event.

About 30 participants start the day with an 8 a.m. mass at the church and come together at 7 p.m. for prayer and Bible reading led by Maria Eugenia Vargas. On Wednesday, Salvador Reza, a national spokesman for NDLON (National Day Labor Organizing Network) will speak on at WotS headquarters in Morristown.

The chain fast began May 1 in Mountainview, CA and has been taken up on a weekly basis in states as far flung as Texas, Georgia and Virginia. Next week, for instance, there will be a vigil in Culmore, Va. The first week in July one is scheduled for the Pueblo sin Fronteras in Dallas and the week after that on Long Island, according to a list provided by Vargas.

“Families are being separated,” said Omar Henriquez, an NDLON official in New York. “You have to do something about it.”

In New Jersey, stories of ankle bracelets and deportations continue to spread fear in the immigrant community, according to the church. Those stories are being told at the vigils and fasts this week.

In four years, Mr. Obama’s administration has deported as many illegal immigrants as the administration of George W. Bush did in his two terms, largely by embracing, expanding and refining Bush-era programs to find people and send them home. By the end of this year, deportations under Mr. Obama are on track to reach two million, or nearly the same number of deportations in the United States from 1892 to 1997“,” according to the New York Times (Feb. 22, 2013). “Since 2010, the government has deported more than 200,000 parents of children who are United States citizens, according to a recent report."


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National Day of Prayer Observed at Gordon Hospital




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Gordon Hospital website


More than 550 Christians circled Gordon Hospital on Thursday, May 2, in unified prayer.

In observance of the National Day of Prayer, the Gordon Hospital Christian Service Committee organized an event called “Circle the Hospital in Prayer” to bring together believers in prayer for the community as well as for the hospital’s mission of extending the healing ministry of Christ to all they serve.

“What an amazing experience of Christian unity that was displayed on our hospital campus,” said Dave Smith, Gordon Hospital chaplain. “We extended the invitations to all believers, and we had a wonderful turnout.”

More than 42 congregations were represented at the event, and more than 550 participants and employees prayed the simultaneous prayer.

“A human chain of prayers reached all around the hospital building!” Smith said. “I wish to thank all participants for calling down Heaven’s strength for our community and our hospital.”

Upon arrival, participants were instructed to pray from their hearts or pray the prayer from the card provided by the chaplain. The prayer in its entirety said:



Almighty Father of All Mankind,

Our petitions ascend to You from the combined faith of all Gordon County. We all need You! Our churches, our commissioners and mayor, our judges, sheriff, and law enforcement officers need You. Our service men and women and their families, our firemen, emergency medical technicians, ambulances, and medical flight team, all need You. Our teachers and principals, dads and moms, singles and newly-marrieds, elderly, young adults, teens, children and infants need You! Pastors and counselors, physicians and health professionals, business leaders and craftsmen, bankers and mechanics, maintenance pros and construction teams, and the victims of violence from Sandy Hook to Boston! All of us need You! So, Lord God, send down Heaven's power for good on Gordon County, the ministry of Gordon Hospital, and the United States of America! Amen.



Written by Karen Shaw, Gordon Hospital Marketing coordinator


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Dr. Ben Carson (for president?) makes stop at conservative event in Wisconsin


June 01, 2013 8:00 am • JESSICA VANEGEREN | The Capital Times | jvanegeren@madison.com




Dr. Ben Carson




Jessica VanEgeren joined The Capital Times in 2008, primarily covering Capitol politics and law enforcement. She previously covered business in the Madison area and state government and politics in South Carolina.



Dr. Ben Carson, a well-respected neurosurgeon and best-selling author, made a name for himself in the political arena several months ago by delivering a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast that delighted conservatives and criticized President Barack Obama.

After Carson’s February speech, a Wall Street Journal editorial proclaimed "Ben Carson for President," and The Atlantic described him as "the New American Folk Hero."

Like Obama, Carson, 61, is black, was raised by a single mother, worked hard in school and found professional success early in life.

On Thursday, Carson brought his message calling for smaller government and a “flat, fair tax” to more than 2,500 activists at an event hosted by Americans for Prosperity Foundation-Wisconsin at the Waukesha County Fairgrounds Expo Center.

Other well-known conservatives in attendance included U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and national Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips.

According to the MacIver Institute's account of the speech, Carson drew a comparison between government and a morbidly obese individual who continues to take in far more calories than are necessary.

He said if such people would reduce their caloric intake, they could get fit and then "start to run."

"There is 10 percent of fat in everything." Carson said. "If we cut 10 percent of fat out of every governmental department, we would still survive."

Like he did at the National Prayer Breakfast, Carson advocated for what he describes as a flat tax system.

"You make 10 billion dollars, you pay $1 billion. You make $10 you pay $1. What could be more fair than that?" Carson told the Waukesha crowd Thursday night.

Carson went on to say the top 1 percent of earners pay one-third of the taxes, according to MacIver.

"I don't think they pay their fair share, I think they pay more than their fair share," Carson said.

MacIver also posted a short video of the Thursday night event.

Several of those in attendance, including Luke Hilgemann, state director of Wisconsin Americans for Prosperity, enthusiastically tweeted about Carson's appearance.

Some of Hilgemann’s tweets from Thursday included:

"Dr. Carson was truly spectacular! @AFPWI blew it out of the park tonight. So proud of my team."

"Dr. Carson speaks to 3,000+ WI patriots @AFPWI economic freedom town hall! Truly inspiring."

"Finally. Welcoming this incredible man to Wisconsin tonight along with 3,000 of my fellow patriots."

Carson is the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He gained international recognition in the late 1980s after separating conjoined twins.

A book he wrote on his life up until that point was turned in a movie with the same name, “Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story.” Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. starred as Carson.

Following the speech in February that brought him political notoriety, Carson told Christian Politics in an interview that his comments were meant “to please God.”

Carson, who is retiring from performing surgery in June, also referred to God when asked by ABCNews if he would ever consider a presidential bid.

"That's not my intention, but I always say, 'I'll leave that up to God,'” he said.



Source: http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/jessica_vanegeren/dr-ben-carson-for-president-makes-stop-at-conservative-event/article_cc3e45ce-ca28-11e2-8856-0019bb2963f4.html#ixzz2WiX6Zxci

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Evangelical Hispanics hold annual prayer breakfast



Charlie Butts (OneNewsNow.com) Tuesday, June 18, 2013



Evangelical Hispanics are convening in Washington, DC, this week for a time of prayer and worship.

The National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast and Conference is June 18-20. At the bi-annual event, Hispanics "join together, we pray and then we hear from political leaders on issues of the day," Pastor Luis Cortes of Esperanza Ministries tells OneNewsNow.

"We also have other Christian leaders come and address us as to things they want to challenge us to consider and do," he adds.


Cortes

Musicians include Latin Grammy Awards nominee Daniel Calveti and Christine D'Clario, a 2012 Dove Award nominee. Marcos Witt, a five-time Latin Grammy Award winner, will emcee.

The chair of the Republican National Committee and the chair of the Democratic National Committee are also confirmed as speakers.

The prayer breakfast began in 2002 and featured then-President George W. Bush as speaker. President Obama has been invited to speak this year.

One issue that has caused a lively debate is immigration, but another issue for Hispanics is STEM - an acronym for science, technology, engineering and science.

"One of our concerns is for the future of this country," says Cortes. "We need to find ways to educate better our young people and get them involved and more productive in the areas of math and science."

Afterwards, participants in the conference will spend time with their congressional representatives discussing issues important to Hispanics.



Source: http://www.onenewsnow.com/culture/2013/06/18/evangelical-hispanics-hold-prayer-breakfast#.UcJd7_n2Zgk

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Wednesday, June 19, 2013

The Image of the Beast



"When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the state to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result."

The Great Controversy, p. 445.

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FBI director tells Congress agency uses drones for surveillance on U.S. soil


By Michael O’Brien , Political Reporter, NBC News



FBI director Robert Mueller said Wednesday that the nation's top law enforcement bureau uses drones to conduct surveillance on U.S. soil, though only on a "very, very minimal basis."

Mueller, the FBI director since 2001 who is set to retire this year, acknowledged that his agency uses drones in its investigative and law enforcement practices, and is further working to establish better guidelines for the use of drones.

"We are in the early stages of doing that, and I will tell you that our footprint is very small, we have very few, and have limited use. And we're exploring not only the use, but the necessary guidelines for that use," Mueller told senators at a hearing this morning when asked about the use of drones.


FBI Director Robert Mueller testifies about the domestic use of drones during a hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

The government's use of drones on U.S. soil has been well-documented. The Department of Homeland Security, for instance, employs aerial drones to help police the United States border with Mexico.

Mueller said that drones are used for surveillance, though, only on a "seldom" basis.

The FBI director's words come amid a simmering national debate in recent months about what limits should be placed on the government in its law enforcement and anti-terrorism activities.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., for instance, waged a filibuster challenging President Barack Obama's use of drones in pursuing terrorist suspects. Paul won an affirmation from the administration that it was their thought that it would be illegal for the government to use a drone strike against a U.S. citizen on American soil.

The drones that have come into practice in the United States, though, are different from the armed, militarized drones used in military operations.

Still, the exchange reflects broader concerns about the scope of government power, represented most recently and most vividly by revelations about the National Security Agency's collection of phone and internet "meta-data" for analysis.

Mueller, like virtually every other administration official and senior lawmaker who has spoken about the NSA practices in recent weeks, defended the NSA's activities as an invaluable tool in the government's pursuit of terrorist suspects.

"If we're going to prevent terrorist attacks, we have to be on their communications," Mueller said during his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee. "You never know which dot will be critical. You need as many as you can get. Let there be no mistake, there would be fewer dots to connect if you don't have a data base that retains those records."

As to the prosecution of Edward Snowden, the self-admitted leaker of information about NSA monitoring, Mueller said the leak had done legitimate harm to U.S. safety, and vowed to pursue Snowden.

"As to the person who has admitted to making these disclosures, he is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation," Mueller said. "These disclosures have caused significant harm to our nation and to our safety, and we are taking all necessary steps to hold accountable that person for these disclosures."

NBC's Pete Williams contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Wed Jun 19, 2013 12:41 PM EDT

Source
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Afghanistan Rejects Talks With Taliban and the U.S.


BREAKING NEWS 

Wednesday, June 19, 2013 9:18 AM EDT



Less than 24 hours after the Taliban opened an office for peace talks in the Gulf emirate of Qatar, the Afghan government backed away on Wednesdayfrom even starting discussions with its adversaries and broke off talks on future military cooperation with the United States.

In one statement, signaling his anger at how the Americans had negotiated the opening of the Taliban office, President Hamid Karzai suspended talks on a bilateral security agreement with the United States which would allow American troops to stay after 2014.

It was at best a rocky prelude to peace talks with the Taliban, which have collapsed repeatedly in the past. American officials have long pushed for such negotiations, believing that they are crucial to stabilizing Afghanistan after the withdrawal of Western forces next year.


READ MORE

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Mark of the Beast Explained


Mark of the Beast Explained from cregen on Vimeo.
Satan has used the same attack for eons! He is about to use it again!


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Corruption is Directly Proportional to The Level of Control that is Available



Monday, April 12, 2010 by persifler


“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”


This arose as a quotation by John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834–1902). The historian and moralist, who was otherwise known simply as Lord Acton, expressed this opinion in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887: (1)

Lord Acton took a great interest in America, considering its Federal structure the perfect guarantor of individual liberties. During the American Civil War, his sympathies lay entirely with the Confederacy, for their defense of States’ Rights against a centralized government that, by all historical precedent, would inevitably turn tyrannical. His notes to Gladstone on the subject helped sway many in the British government to sympathize with the South. After the South’s surrender, he wrote to Robert E. Lee that “I mourn for the stake which was lost at Richmond more deeply than I rejoice over that which was saved at Waterloo.” (2)

In 1870 came the great crisis in Roman Catholicism over Pope Pius IX’s promulgation of the doctrine of papal infallibility. Lord Acton, who was in complete sympathy on this subject with Döllinger, went to Rome in order to throw all his influence against it, but the step he so much dreaded was not to be averted. The Old Catholic separation followed, but Acton did not personally join the seceders, and the authorities prudently refrained from forcing the hands of so competent and influential an English layman. It was in this context that, in a letter he wrote to scholar and ecclesiastic Mandell Creighton, dated April 1887, Acton made his most famous pronouncement:

“I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men with a favourable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way, against the holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or certainty of corruption by full authority. There is no worse heresy than the fact that the office sanctifies the holder of it.” (3)


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Related:


  PERMANENT LINK | FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Lord Acton on "Power Corrupts"

David Henderson



I'm sure that most of you know the famous saying, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." I'm also pretty sure that a large percent of you who know the saying also know that it was the famous 19th century liberal (we would nowadays call him a classical liberal or a libertarian), Lord Acton, who said it.

What I found striking, when I went and looked for the quote, is the line that comes directly after. In fact, it's so striking that, when it's relevant, I use it in speeches and in interviews. The immediate next line is this: "Great men are almost always bad men."

Here's the whole paragraph, from a letter that Acton wrote to Bishop Creighton, and I found it, appropriately enough, on Liberty Fund's On-Line Library of Liberty:

I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favourable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption it is the other way, against the holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority, still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.

When I read that, I immediately think of the question Hayek addressed in a chapter of The Road to Serfdom titled "Why the Worst Get on Top." Surely, this moral blank check is one of the reasons. If people think "the office sanctifies the holder"--I think of Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel, for example, who often talks about how he respects the office of the Presidency no matter who is President--then it's easier for the office-holder to get away with bad things. Who is attracted to the Presidency? All other things equal, people who want to get away with bad things.
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THE INQUISITION: A Study in Absolute Catholic Power



Arthur Maricle, Ph.D.


"And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration." {Revelation 17:6}

Those who classify themselves as Christians can be divided into 2 broad groups: those who have chosen to allow the Bible to be their final authority and those who have chosen to allow men to be their final authority. For sake of simplicity, I shall refer to the first group as "Bible believing Christians." The latter group has always been best represented by Roman Catholicism, by far its largest, most powerful, and most influential component. The Roman Catholic hierarchy has always boldly stated that it is not dependent upon Scripture alone, but also accepts tradition as another pillar of truth -- and where a conflict exists, tradition receives the greater acceptance. Being its own arbiter of what is to be accepted as truth, it accepts no authority as being higher than itself. This explains why the Catholic belief system has been constantly evolving over the centuries.

This also explains why a fierce antagonism has always existed between Bible believing Christianity and Roman Catholicism. Rome's frequent spiritual innovations excites the passions of Bible believers, who react adversely to religious modifications that are at odds with the eternal, changeless Word of God. Harboring a supreme confidence in the Book, a trust which reflects their trust in the Holy Spirit who authored the Scriptures, the Bible believers boldly challenge the suppositions of the Catholic hierarchy. In the course of this spiritual warfare, Catholic people are frequently converted from trust in Rome's complex religious system to a childlike faith in the Saviour and a simple reliance on His Word. Many such converts ultimately leave the Church of Rome to join local, New Testament churches. Frequently in history, the trickle of individuals who were making this remarkable transformation turned into a flood. Such ruptures cannot go unchecked by the Catholic hierarchy. As with any bureaucracy, its primary interest is its own protection and propagation.

The nature of its response to the inroads made by spiritual challengers is dictated by its cultural surroundings. The more Catholic the culture, the more severe the response. In past centuries, when Rome's ecclesiastical power was virtually absolute throughout Europe, the intensity of the attacks by the papists upon their spiritual enemies could be equally absolute. Ignoring the injunction of II Corinthians 10:4 ("For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal..."), Catholicism built its own philosophical system to justify the use of carnal (fleshly, human, physical) means to achieve spiritual ends.

Having divorced herself from Biblical absolutes, Catholicism adopted a theology in which she sees herself as the church founded upon the Apostle Peter by Jesus Christ, and alone empowered to bring salvation to the world. Further, she believes herself assigned the daunting task of bringing Christ's kingdom to fruition on earth. With those dogmas forming her philosophical foundation, she seeks her power in the political sphere as well as the religious realm. To whatever degree she achieves political power, to that degree she feels compelled to use her secular influence as a weapon against her spiritual adversaries. Thus, down through the centuries, we see that in those countries in which Catholicism had achieved absolute power, the pope's followers have not hesitated to brutally subdue the enemies of "the Church". Although Jews, Moslems, pagans, and others have felt the wrath of Rome, her special fury has always been reserved for her bitterest and most effective challengers -- Bible believing Christians. Only as the political climate changed in recent centuries did the Catholic hierarchy see it expedient to change tactics and appear to be more tolerant. Yet, to this day we see persecution continuing in those places on the globe dominated by Catholicism. The degree of the persecution is determined by the degree of control.

To what lengths is the Catholic hierarchy prepared to go in its drive to repress opposition and achieve its goal of instituting the kingdom of Christ on earth? To find the answer, one must look to the pages of history.

When the Roman Catholic Church was founded by the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., it immediately achieved expansive influence at all levels of the imperial government. As Bible believing Christians separated themselves from the Church of Rome, which they saw as apostate, they represented a formidable potential threat to the official new imperial religion. Persecution in varying degrees of severity was instituted over the centuries following.

By the 11th century, in their zeal to establish Christ's kingdom, the Roman popes ("pope" is an ecclesiastical office that is the very antithesis of the New Testament ideal of a local church pastor) began utilizing a new tool -- the Crusades. At first, the Crusades had as their object the conquering of Jerusalem and the "Holy Land". Along the crusaders' paths, thousands of innocent civilians (especially Jews) were raped, robbed, and slaughtered. In time, however, the crusade concept was altered to crush spiritual opposition within Europe itself. In other words, armies were raised with the intent of massacring whole communities of Bible believing Christians. One such group of Bible believing Christians were known as the Albigenses.

[Pope] Innocent III believed that Bible believing dissidents were worse than infidels (Saracens, Moslems, and Turks), for they threatened the unity of ... Europe. So Innocent III sponsored 4 "crusades" to exterminate the Albigenses. Innocent (what a name!) called upon Louis VII to do his killing for him, and he also enjoined Raymond VI to assist him.

The Cistercian order of Catholic monks were then commissioned to preach all over France, Flanders, and Germany for the purpose of raising an army sufficient to kill the Bible believers. All who volunteered to take part in these mass murders were promised that they would receive the same reward as those who had sallied forth against the Moslems (i.e., forgiveness of sins and eternal life).

The Albigenses were referred to in Pope Innocent's Sunday morning messages as "servants of the old serpent". Innocent promised the killers a heavenly kingdom if they took up their swords against unarmed populaces.

In July of 1209 A.D. an army of orthodox Catholics attacked Beziers and murdered 60,000 unarmed civilians, killing men, women, and children. The whole city was sacked, and when someone complained that Catholics were being killed as well as "heretics", the papal legates told them to go on killing and not to worry about it for "the Lord knows His own."

At Minerve, 14,000 Christians were put to death in the flames, and ears, noses, and lips of the "heretics" were cut off by the "faithful."A

This is but one example from the long and sordid history of Catholic atrocities committed against their bitter enemies, the Bible believing Christians. Much worse treatment of Bible believers was forthcoming during that stage of bloody Catholic history known as the Inquisition.

It is vital, though, that we here define what is meant by the term "heretic". According to Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary, this is a heretic: "One who holds or advocates controversial opinions, esp. one who publicly opposes the officially accepted dogma of the Roman Catholic, Church." Or, as one author has put it, "Heresy, to a Catholic, is anti-Catholic truth found in the Bible."B Another summarized the official stance as this: "Every citizen in the empire was required to be a Roman Catholic. Failure to give wholehearted allegiance to the pope was considered treason against the state punishable by death."C

From 1200 to 1500 the long series of Papal ordinances on the Inquisition, ever increasing in severity and cruelty, and their whole policy towards heresy, runs on without a break. It is a rigidly consistent system of legislation: every Pope confirms and improves upon the devices of his predecessor. All is directed to the one end, of completely uprooting every difference of belief... The Inquisition ... contradicted the simplest principles of Christian justice and love to our neighbor, and would have been rejected with universal horror in the ancient Church.D

Pope Alexander IV established the Office of the Inquisition within Italy in 1254. The first inquisitor was Dominic, a Spaniard who was the founder of the Dominican order of monks.

The Inquisition was purely and uniquely a Catholic institution; it was founded far the express purpose of exterminating every human being in Europe who differed from Roman Catholic beliefs and practices. It spread out from France, Milan, Geneva, Aragon, and Sardinia to Poland (14th century) and then to Bohemia and Rome (1543). It was not abolished in Spain until 1820.E

The Inquisition was a terrifying fact of life to those who lived in areas where it was in force. That domain would eventually include not only much of Europe, but also the far-flung colonies of Europe's Catholic powers.

The Inquisition, led by the Dominicans and the Jesuits, was usually early on the scene following each territorial acquisition of the Spanish and Portuguese empires in the 16th and 17th centuries. The methods used, which all too often were similar to those used by Serra in California or the Nazi-backed Ustashis in Croatia, sowed the seeds of reaction and aversion that have proved to be a barrier for true missionaries ever since.

Albert Close writes of the Jesuit mission to Indonesia in 1559 that "conversion was wonderfully shortened by the cooperation of the colonial governors whose militia offered' the natives the choice of the musket ball or of baptism."

Everywhere it existed, the "Holy Office" of the Inquisition spread its tentacles of fear.

When an inquisitor arrived in an area he called for reports of anyone suspected of heresy, sometimes offering rewards to spies who would report suspected heretics. Those suspected were imprisoned to await trials. The trials were held in secret and the inquisitor acted as judge, prosecutor, and jury. The accused had no lawyer. It was often simpler to confess to heresy than to defend oneself, especially since torture was often employed until the accused was ready to confess.

Because church and state had not been kept separate, the church powers could call upon the government to use its power against the convicted heretics. Anyone who fell back into heresy after repentance was turned over by the Inquisition to the regular government to be put to death. Most of those condemned to death were burned at the stake, but some were beaten to death or drowned.

The Inquisition was called the sanctum officium (Holy Office) because the church considered its work so praiseworthy.F

Even after the death of a victim, his punishment was not ended. The property of condemned heretics was confiscated, leaving his family in poverty.

It is important here to emphasize Rome's role in the brutality of the Inquisition. Roman Catholic apologists are quick to point out that it was the state that put heretics to death. This is an alibi meant to excuse the Vatican's role in the atrocities. However, Dollinger, the leading 19th century Catholic historian, stated: "The binding force of the laws against heretics lay not in the authority of secular princes, but in the sovereign dominion of life and death over all Christians claimed by the Popes as God's representatives on earth, as [Pope] Innocent III expressly states it."G

In other words, the secular arm of the state acted only as it was pressured to do so by the popes. Even kings who hesitated to commit genocide on their own populaces were spurred into action by their fear of papal excommunication or subversive Catholic activities within their kingdoms.

Dollinger continues: "It was the Popes who compelled bishops and priests to condemn the heterodox to torture, confiscation of their goods, imprisonment, and death, and to enforce the execution of this sentence on the civil authorities, under pain of excommunication,"H

Will Durant informs us that in 1521 Leo X issued the bull Honestis which "ordered the excommunication of any officials, and the suspension of religious services in any community, that refused to execute, without examination or revision, the sentences of the inquisitors." Consider Clement V's rebuke of King Edward II: "We hear that you forbid torture as contrary to the laws of your land. But no state law can override canon law, our law. Therefore I command you at once to submit those men to torture.I

The methods used by the Inquisition ranged from the barbaric to the bizarre.

When the inquisitors swept into a town an "Edict of Faith" was issued requiring everyone to reveal any heresy of which they had knowledge. Those who concealed a heretic came under the curse of the Church and the inquisitors' wrath. Informants would approach the inquisitors' lodgings under cover of night and were rewarded for information. No one arrested was ever acquitted.

Torture was considered to be essential because the church felt duty-bound to identify from the lips of the victims themselves any deviance from sound doctrine. Presumably, the more excruciating the torture, the more likely that the truth could be wrung from reluctant lips. The inquisitors were determined that it was "better for a hundred innocent people to die than for one heretic to go free".

"Heretics" were committed to the flames because the popes believed the Bible forbade Christians to shed blood. The victims of the Inquisition exceeded by hundreds of thousands the number of Christians and Jews who had suffered under pagan Roman emperors.J

This wanton slaughter of innocent people was justified by Catholic theologians such as "Saint". Thomas Aquinas, who said, "If forgers and other malefactors are put to death by the secular power, there is much more reason for putting to death one convicted of heresy." In 1815, Comte Le Maistre defended the Inquisition by advocating: "The Inquisition is, in its very nature, good, mild, and preservative. It is the universal, indelible character of every ecclesiastical institution; you see it in Rome, and you can see it wherever the true Church has power."K Such a viewpoint could only be expressed by one so brainwashed as to think that the cruel, torturous deaths of dissidents to Catholicism is preferable to the survival and propagation of those who would challenge the Vatican's authority.

Yet, not all Romanists have been comfortable with the totalitarian nature of their "church". Even Jean Antoine Llorente, secretary to the Spanish Inquisition from 1790-92, was to admit: "The horrid conduct of this Holy Office weakened the power and diminished the population of Spain by arresting the progress of arts, sciences, industry, and commerce, and by compelling multitudes of families to abandon the kingdom; by instigating the expulsion of the Jews and the Moors, and by immolating on its flaming shambles more than 300,000 victims."L Historian Will Durant stated, "Compared with the persecution of heresy in Europe from 1227 to 1492, the persecution of Christians by Romans in the first 3 centuries after Christ was a mild and humane procedure. Making every allowance required by an historian and permitted to a Christian, we must rank the Inquisition, along with the wars and persecutions of our time, as among the darkest blots on the record of mankind, revealing a ferocity unknown in any beast."M

Catholic apologists attempt to downplay the significance of the Inquisition, saying that relatively few people were ever directly affected. While controversy rages around the number of victims that can be claimed by the Inquisition, conservative estimates easily place the count in the millions. This does not include the equally vast numbers of human beings slaughtered in the various wars and other conflicts instigated over the centuries by Vatican political intrigues. Nor does it take it account the Holocaust wrought upon the Jews by the Nazis, led by Roman Catholics who used their own religious history to justify their modern excesses. As one secular history explains, "As the Germans instituted a bureaucracy of organized murder, so too did Torquemada, the first Grand Inquisitor, a worthy of predecessor of Heydrich and Eichmann."N

Because her basic doctrinal premises remain in place, Rome can yet again rise up against her spiritual enemies at some future date when she again wields exclusive ecclesiastical control of a region. In fact, the "Holy Office" of the Inquisition still exists within the Vatican (known today as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), awaiting the day in which it can stamp out "heresy". As recently as 1938, a popular Catholic weekly declared:

Heresy is an awful crime against God, and those who start a heresy are more guilty than they who are traitors to the civil government. If the state has a right to punish treason with death, the principle is the same that concedes to the spiritual authority the power of life and death over the archtraitor.O

The Inquisition proved how Catholicism will react when it has possession of absolute power. Is it any wonder that in the 1880s, Dr. H. Grattan Guinness preached the following:

I see the great Apostasy, I see the desolation of Christendom, I see the smoking ruins, I see the reign of monsters; I see those vice-gods, that Gregory VII, that Innocent III, that Boniface Vlll, that Alexander Vl, that Gregory XIII, that Pius IX; I see their long succession, I hear their insufferable blasphemies, I see their abominable lives; I see them worshipped by blinded generations, bestowing hollow benedictions, bartering away worthless promises of heaven; I see their liveried slaves, their shaven priests, their celibate confessors; I see the infamous confessional, the ruined women, the murdered innocents; I hear the lying absolutions, the dying groans; I hear the cries of the victims; I hear the anathemas, the curses, the thunders of the interdicts; I see the racks, the dungeons, the stakes; I see that inhuman Inquisition, those fires of Smithfield, those butcheries of St. Bartholomew, that Spanish Armada, those unspeakable dragonnades, that endless train of wars, that dreadful multitude of massacres. I see it all, and in the name of the ruin it has brought in the Church and in the world, in the name of the truth it has denied, the temple it has defiled, the God it has blasphemed, the souls it has destroyed; in the name of the millions it has deluded, the millions it has slaughtered, the millions it has damned; with holy confessors, with noble reformers, with innumerable martyrs, with the saints of ages, I denounce it as the masterpiece of Satan, as the body and soul and essence of antichrist."P



The challenge I give to Bible believing Christians is to respect the heritage we have been given by those who suffered for Biblical truth, that we may be prepared to suffer ourselves. Ours is the generation that may yet again be afflicted for the faith once delivered to the saints. If such is to be our privilege, let us face our trials with this promise of our Lord fresh upon our hearts: "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." {Matthew 5:10}

The challenge I give to Roman Catholics is to take up the New Testament of the Bible and allow the Holy Spirit of God to speak to your hearts. If a Catholic remains skeptical about this brief treatise on the Inquisition, he is certainly welcome to examine for himself the record of history. If he remains unmoved by my conclusions, he is welcome to draw his own. But of far greater import is his need to examine the teachings of his church in the light of God's Word. Jesus leaves you with this warning: "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." {John 12:48} You to whom the Bible was so accessible will not be able to plead ignorance in that terrible day of judgment.


Footnotes:
A Peter S. Ruckman, Ph.D.; The History of the New Testament Church (Bible Believers Bookstore; Pensacola, Florida; 1989)
B Ibid.
C Dave Hunt; A Woman Rides the Beast (Harvest House Publishers; Eugene, Oregon; 1994)
D J.H. Ignaz von Dollinger; The Pope and the Council (London, 1869); as cited in Dave Hunt, A Woman Rides the Beast
E Peter S. Ruckman, Ph.D.; op cit.
F Laura l-licks, editor; The Modern Age: The History of the World in Christian Perspective, Vol. 11 (A Beka Books Publications; Pensacola, Florida; 1981)
G J.H. Ignaz von Dollinger; op cit.
H Ibid.
I Dave Hunt; op cit.; quotations from Will Durant; The Story of Civilization, Vol. V (Simon and Schuster, 1950); and ibid., Vol. 4
J Dave Hunt; op cit.
K Comte Le Maistre, letters on the Spanish Inquisition, as cited in R.W. Thompson, The Papacy and the Civil Power (New York, 1876); as cited in Dave Hunt, A Woman Rides the Beast
L Jean Antoine Llorentine, History of the Inquistion; as cited in R.W. Thompson, The Papacy and the Civil Power (New York, 1876); as cited in Dave Hunt, A Woman Rides the Beast
M Will Durant; The Story of Civilization, Vol. IV (Simon and Schuster, 1950); as cited in Dave Hunt, A Woman Rides the Beast
N Ward Rutherford; Genocide: The Jews in Europe 1939-45 (Ballantyne Books, Inc.; New York, New York; 1973)
O The Tablet, November 5, 1938; as cited in Dave Hunt, A Woman Rides the Beast
P H. Grattan Guinness, D.D., Romanism and the Reformation; Focus Christian Ministries; Lewes, Sussex; as cited in Michael de Semlyen, All Roads Lead to Rome?


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