Sat Feb 06, 2010 8:06 pm (GMT -5)
Afro-Centric Mass celebrates Black History Month, culture

By TRACIE SIMER
Jackson Sun
February 6, 2010
http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20100206/LIFESTYLE/2060303

Created as a way of welcoming Catholics of every persuasion, the Afro-Centric Mass at St. Mary's Catholic Church also has become a celebration of Black History Month.

Patsy Turner, who chairs the Multi-Cultural Committee at St. Mary's, said this is the 17th year for the Afro-Centric Mass, which will be held at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. A short performance by the St. Augustine Gospel Choir will precede the service, shortly after 10 a.m.

Jackson originally had two Catholic parishes, St. Mary's and St. Joseph's Catholic Church, a mostly African-American parish, Turner said. The bishop of the Memphis diocese closed St. Joseph's in the 1960s and expected those congregants to attend St. Mary's, Turner said.

"But they didn't feel welcome," she said. "In the early '90s, I began to look around and noticed virtually none from St. Joseph's were at Mass. So we decided to bring them back in a welcoming way with an Afro-Centric Mass."

The St. Augustine Gospel Choir from Memphis has performed at each Afro-Centric Mass at St. Mary's since the beginning. Nubian drummers will provide the procession and recession music for the service, and Father Anthony Clark will lead the service, Turner said.

Clark is from the same order as St. Mary's Bishop J. Terry Steid and is the director of Multicultural Ministries for the Memphis diocese.

The event is an opportunity for the Catholic church to celebrate the African culture within, Turner said.

"It's an exuberant, lively Mass," she said. "African worship is about using all the senses, hearing and feeling. This is also our way to honor Black History Month, and Feb. 7 honors the National Day of Prayer for African-Americans and the African family."

Sean Bledsoe, a member of St. Mary's and the multicultural committee, said the Afro-Centric Mass has become a tradition for the local parish.

"It's really enhanced the African-American culture, not only within the church but in the entire community of Jackson," he said. "It's amazing how closely related our worship in the Catholic faith is with the origin of the church."

Many Africans attend St. Mary's and add to the cultural experience, Bledsoe said.

"It's educational," he said. "It's a traditional Mass that has African culture encompassed in that as well, with Nubian drummers and the music that is played. The gospel choir brings a different spiritual experience based around the African-American culture of gospel music."

Bledsoe, a convert, married into a Catholic family who attended St. Joseph's. Today, Jackson's local parish has been brought together, he said.

Turner said the diversity of St. Mary's has grown since the early years of the Afro-Centric Mass.

"We do have members who come regularly," she said. "As I look out at our parish now, I see a really nice amount of African-American worshippers there. We have regained many of our African-American Catholics in our liturgy. We've found our African-American Catholic brothers and sisters very pleased with what we were doing."

The reaction has been favorable from the start, she said.

"There was a real enthusiasm about what was done," she said. "We even have some come from the community to the Mass who aren't Catholic - like Sheriff (David) Woolfork, who always comes for the day."

Fri Feb 05, 2010 8:59 pm (GMT -5)
Bishop Yao Liang of Xiwanzi, Hebei has died
and
Three underground priests in Xuenhua have disappeared
Press Release – January 4, 2010

http://www.cardinalkungfoundation.org/press/100104.htm


Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A. — Underground Catholic Bishop Leon Yao Liang 姚良主教, the auxiliary bishop of Xiwanzi 西灣子 in Hebei 河北, died on December 30, 2009. He was 87. We have not yet learned of any funeral arrangements for his burial because the news of his death appears to have been tightly controlled by the Chinese authority..

Bishop Yao was born in 1923 in Gonghui Village 公會村, Zhangbei County 張北縣 . He was ordained a priest in 1946. After ordination, he was assigned to various churches as assistant pastor. He was restricted in the region of Xiwanzi for his priestly duty by the Communist regime in the early 1950's, earning his livelihood from vegetable farming and from selling fire wood. In 1956, he was forced to enter labor camp, and in 1958, was sentenced to life imprisonment. His "crime" was to be in communion with the Pope and with the universal Catholic Church. He was finally released from the prison in 1984 after 28 years in labor camps and prison. He was ordained a bishop on February 19, 2002 under a mandate from the Vatican.

In the meantime, we learned that three underground Catholic priests from Xuanhua 宣化, Hebei, Fathers Zhang Cunhui 張存惠 age 46, Zhang Zhanglin 張章林 age 45, and Liu 劉 (??) age 32 disappeared in June 2009. They are believed by the local Catholic community to have been kidnapped by the Government's agent and are now detained in an unknown location. Underground bishop of Xuanhua, Bishop Zhao Kexun 趙克勛, is now hiding under a government arrest warrant. Other priests are under intense pressure form the government to join the Catholic Patriotic Association, which is an independent government sponsored religious agent independent from the Vatican.
_________________
TRADIDI QUOD ET ACCEPI

Thu Feb 04, 2010 12:42 am (GMT -5)

British government retreats after Pope's critique of Equality Bill

London, England, Feb 3, 2010 / 06:16 pm (CNA).-


Pope Benedict XVI

After criticism from national religious leaders and Pope Benedict XVI, The British Government has retreated from plans to implement an Equality Bill many saw as oppressive of religious freedom.

The rules of the failed anti-discrimination proposal could have barred groups from requiring Christian sexual ethics from youth leaders. Some warned it could have also made the male-only priesthood of the Catholic Church illegal.

On Monday Pope Benedict said the proposed laws imposed “unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs.”

A source at 10 Downing Street, Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s residence, told The Telegraph, “We are clear that these parts of the Equality Bill should not go forward. The Pope's intervention has been noted.”

Many Catholic Labour Ministers of Parliament are reportedly upset that the new bill has provoked such strong reaction from Rome.

Naomi Phillips, head of Public Affairs at the British Humanist Association, characterized the pope’s remarks as an attack on “modern, liberal values” and said they further motivated her group’s opposition to the Pope’s state visit to the United Kingdom.

Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols told BBC Radio 4 that the Pope was “certainly not” getting involved in party politics but was trying to give his “reasoned voice” a hearing in the public debate.

The archbishop thought Pope Benedict’s words will find an echo among many in Britain who are “uneasy” that an unintended consequence of recent legislation would “drive religious belief and practice into the sphere of the private only.”

Tue Feb 02, 2010 1:28 am (GMT -5)


Turning abortion into an online game show



By Kathleen Parker
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Link to orginal

At first glance, bump-the-show sounds like a reasonable response to "Bump," the show -- a new, faux-reality Web-based docudrama featuring actors trying to decide whether to have an abortion.

Think Jerry Springer meets Oprah meets "American Idol" meets Dr. Oz meets . . . America's conscience. For the decision to abort or not to abort is up to you, dear audience.

Has the shark just jumped the shark?

The idea for the "show," which launches Monday, was inspired, of all things, by Barack Obama's commencement address at Notre Dame University last year. When the president said he wanted "to find ways to communicate about a workable solution to the problem of unintended pregnancies," executive producer Dominic Iocco conceived "Bump."

He and co-executive producer Christopher Riley want to see whether stories can succeed where four decades of rhetoric and politics have failed. They fashioned their experiment in a way that would be most appealing to the wired, reality-show generation.

Beginning Feb. 1, episodes will appear each week on Mondays and Thursdays, both on the Web site (BumptheShow.com) and on YouTube, and spectators are invited to comment. A pilot, which appeared on the eve of the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, already had drawn 147 comments by Friday, ranging from criticism of the acting and the doctor's make-up to heartfelt accounts of personal experiences with abortion.

Comments are being carefully monitored to ensure civility, Iocco told me in a telephone interview. The fear is that the conversation could devolve into the usual rants. He worries that once foot soldiers on each side of the debate get wind of "Bump," they'll mobilize their troops and try to firebomb the theater, as it were. A few of the most vitriolic posts already have been removed.

There are so many unappealing facets wrapped into this one package, it's difficult to identify the core offense. That's not so much the fault of the producers -- who get some credit for seeking creative ways to advance rational debate -- as it is a function of the culture. Media critic Marshall McLuhan was surely right when he declared that the medium is the message and that our media eventually form us. Thus, we find ourselves sitting before computers, inputting opinions about whether fictional characters should terminate a developing human life.

Although the idea is to humanize the debate, none of the characters is especially sympathetic. Each of the three women ostensibly selected from a "pool" of 300 is pregnant under varying circumstances with which viewers are expected to relate. To be clear, no one is really pregnant. The actors are all young and white, despite the fact that blacks have abortions at five times the rate of whites. The doctor, however, is African American -- a man who combines the reassuring manner of Marcus Welby with the ethereal wisdom of Bagger Vance.

Katie, who is married, is the most appealing by virtue of what seems to be a genuine moral conflict. "Once I make it, I can't go back," she says. Her dilemma is further complicated by the fact that her pregnancy is more recent than her husband's departure for Iraq.

Denise is a ditzy child-woman who loves red candies and picks all the red Starbursts from the bowl at the doctor's office. Already the mother of two, she is also a victim of domestic violence. A "whatever" kind of gal, she's mostly interested in the financial help promised by the show.

Finally, the loathsome Hailey and her icky boyfriend, Jason, just want to get on the reality show. They're the party crashers at the abortion clinic. Yippee.

We're not supposed to judge anyone, of course, but to feel their pain and offer thoughts. Regardless of one's position on abortion, one thought is inescapable: The babies deserve better. Perhaps there will be an adoption sequel?

At this point, the stories are only partly sketched and will be fleshed out based on what Internet denizens proffer. In the end, self-selecting strangers will become as a thousand Caesars, offering a thumbs up or down on the unborn. That some might struggle with their decision on behalf of the voiceless is some consolation. Otherwise, even in the faux world of a not-quite reality show, presenting such a profoundly personal and literally life-altering conflict as interactive entertainment is disturbing and slightly creepy.

Perhaps, ultimately, this is the moral of the story. You can't get there from here.

kathleenparker@washpost.com

Thu Jan 28, 2010 11:15 am (GMT -5)
SOURCE: Deutsche Welle

27.01.2010
Holocaust-denying bishop to face charges in German court

Catholic bishop Richard Williamson has been charged with inciting racial hatred, after downplaying the extent of the Holocaust in an interview on German soil.

A Regensburg court on Wednesday summoned Catholic bishop Richard Williamson to face trial for inciting racial hatred. The charge was sufficiently minor that the Briton would not be obliged to attend the hearing, which is set for April 16.

Initially the court fined Williamson 12,000 euros ($16,900) for an interview he gave to a Swedish television station - filmed near Regensburg in Bavaria - in which he said he believed between 200,000 and 300,000 Jews were killed in Nazi concentration camps, and none of them in gas chambers.

Williamson appealed against the fine, which is why the case will come to trial.

Denying the Holocaust is a criminal offence in Germany.

"The trial will begin at 0900 on April 16 here in Regensburg and should last one day," court spokesman Robert Frick told Deutsche Welle. "Three witnesses, journalists from Sweden who interviewed Bishop Williamson, have been asked to take the stand."

The fine already issued against Williamson could be changed at trial, or he could be acquitted, but a jail sentence was not expected.

Williamson's lawyer, Matthias Lossmann, told Deutsche Welle that the bishop had appealed the fine, because he had tried to ensure that his comments would never be seen or heard in Germany.

"In the online version of the video, you can see him tell the interviewer he is aware that his statements would contravene German law and asks him to make sure the video is not published in Germany," Lossmann said.

'No gas chambers'

In the controversial interview, Williamson said: "I believe that the historical evidence is hugely against six million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler."

"I believe there were no gas chambers. As far as I have studied the evidence, I think the most serious 'revisionists' conclude that between 200,000 and 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, but not one of them in gas chambers," he added.

Williamson claimed that the Nazi concentration camps were not technologically advanced enough to safely carry out mass extermination with cyanide gas.

The case prompted a rare reaction on religious affairs from Chancellor Angela Merkel last year, when she called on Pope Benedikt XVI to clarify that "there can be no denial" the Nazis killed six million Jews during their reign.

Williamson is a member of the conservative Saint Pius X Society of Catholics and was excommunicated by Pope Jean Paul II. His successor, Pope Benedikt XVI, was criticized for reinstating Williamson and three other bishops from the Saint Pius X Society last year.
_________________
IN CORDIBUS JESU ET MARIÆ

SECRETMAN

Tue Jan 19, 2010 12:47 pm (GMT -5)


U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes

Pentagon Supplier for Rifle Sights Says It Has 'Always' Added New Testament References
By JOSEPH RHEE, TAHMAN BRADLEY and BRIAN ROSS
Jan. 18, 2010

Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.

The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.

U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious "Crusade" in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.

One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

Other references include citations from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as "the light of the world." John 8:12, referred to on the gun sights as JN8:12, reads, "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Trijicon confirmed to ABCNews.com that it adds the biblical codes to the sights sold to the U.S. military. Tom Munson, director of sales and marketing for Trijicon, which is based in Wixom, Michigan, said the inscriptions "have always been there" and said there was nothing wrong or illegal with adding them. Munson said the issue was being raised by a group that is "not Christian." The company has said the practice began under its founder, Glyn Bindon, a devout Christian from South Africa who was killed in a 2003 plane crash.

Rest of story

Mon Jan 18, 2010 11:41 am (GMT -5)
Source: Herald Scotland

Antiquity confers solemnity in shape of Latin mass
Cate Devine

Published on 17 Jan 2010

Attending a traditional Latin mass in Glasgow yesterday was a chilling experience.


Father Stephen Dunn, left, says mass in Latin, above, at the Sacred Heart RC church in Bridgeton, Glasgow

There was no heating in the Sacred Heart RC church in Bridgeton, a vast 100-year-old building in the bosom of a parish first established in 1873.

Perhaps that was because there were only 31 of us in the congregation, but being freezing cold certainly helped focus the mind. After all, they do say austerity is good for the soul.

I was curious to remind myself what mass used to be like, following a debate about how the liturgy is celebrated. This was revealed in the Herald on Saturday, and has been sparked by Pope Benedict XVI’s imminent visit to Scotland.

It was the first time I’d been at Latin mass since I was a child in the 1960s, pre-Vatican Council II, and boy did I have to concentrate. Hard.

Although I attended a convent school, have a Latin O-Grade and studied French at University, the rhythmic delivery of our affable celebrant was difficult to follow. Yet the church was in total silence: this being low mass, there was no singing or any participation in the liturgy, apart from responding to Mgr Hugh Boyle’s familiar repetitions of “Dominus Vobiscum”.

Traditional Latin Mass is said with the priest facing the altar rather than the congregation. This is to help us focus on the altar, the symbol of Christ’s perfect sacrifice to his Father’s will. Thus is the mass depersonalised. As Father genuflects and kisses the altar more frequently than usual, the sense of reverence is palpable.

By the term “Latin mass”, I mean traditional mass said in the Extraordinary Form – that is, the old rite, according to the Roman Missal of l962, before Vatican Council II. It is better known as Tridentine Mass. The version that most modern Catholics are familiar with is the Ordinary Form, or new mass, issued by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

In Scotland there has been a resurgence of interest in, and the practice of, the Latin mass, yet traditional Latin mass was effectively re-instated by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007. In his apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum the Holy Father said that there were two forms of expression of the Roman Rite of the Mass, effectively decreeing that all priests were now free to choose whether to offer the Tridentine Mass or the new mass.

However, the majority of parishes in Scotland don’t offer Latin mass, and some Scottish bishops are not in favour of it. This, say traditionalists, contradicts not only Benedict but even the late Pope John Paul II, who in 1988 asked bishops to actively support those who felt “attached to the Latin liturgical tradition”.

The anticipated visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Scotland in September therefore highlights a problem. If as expected the Holy Father will want to celebrate mass, could it be in the Extraordinary Form?

The majority of his concelebrants, and therefore their congregations, do not know the liturgy in Latin. Unlike 73-year-old Mgr Boyle, who has celebrated Latin mass throughout his ministry, if not always in public, younger priests will not have learned liturgical Latin.

Father Stephen Dunn, the 48-year-old parish priest at Sacred Heart in Bridgeton, started saying mass in Latin only last May, having made what he calls a “concerted effort” to learn it since 2007. Ordained in 1994, he says he feels “bullied and suppressed” by the Glasgow Archdiocese’s “reluctance to accept” the Pope’s 2007 decree, as shown in Archbishop Conti’s response to it in a letter to Glasgow’s priests on August 10, 2007, in which he questioned the need for it.

Yet as I was about to rediscover yesterday, it’s not just the fact that it’s said in Latin that makes the Extraordinary Form so different. The entire structure of the Mass is almost recognisable from what it is today.

The first thing I noticed on entering Sacred Heart were the altar railings. These are a rarity in Catholic churches, because most were removed post-Vatican II to facilitate the taking of the Host from the priest at Holy Communion and self-administering it. The traditional mass, by contrast, encourages us to kneel and be given Communion as we did in the old days because it helps engender a greater sense of reverence for the sacrament, and humility to God.

We’re reminded that only baptised Catholics, and those in the state of grace, are invited to receive Holy Communion. This is to remind us that we are sinners and to encourage us to attend Confession.

Nobody recites the Creed except the priest, and he says most of the Offertory quietly to himself. The Canon – the very heart of the mass, as it leads to the Consecration – is also silent. There is only one form of the Canon, though there are four options in the new mass.

There are no tambourines or guitars, and no lay church members stepping on to the altar.

Everything is in the priest’s gift, which leaves us free to take from mass what we’re meant to.

It does at first feel stern and authoritarian, but in the end I was humbled by Latin mass, and felt awed by its solemn simplicity. It forced me turn in on myself and to examine my conscience in a way that, for better or for worse, reminded me what being a Catholic is really all about. As soon as I returned home, I felt compelled to look out my childhood Catechism and to re-learn the fundamentals of my faith.

Yes, I could warm to it. If they turned up the heating a bit.

Forms of mass

Tridentine Mass was used in the Catholic Church until 1970 when its public use was restricted by most bishops after the introduction of the “new” Mass of Pope Paul VI following the Second Vatican Council.

Pope Pius V said in 1570 that priests could use the Tridentine rite forever “without scruple of conscience or fear of penalty”.

Pope John Paul II in 1988 encouraged bishops to support those who wanted Latin Mass.

In 2007 Pope Benedict XVI allowed priests to celebrate it if they wished.

In a Tridentine Mass, everything is in Latin, the priest conducts the liturgy facing the altar and the congregation follows in private prayer and doesn’t play an active part.
_________________
IN CORDIBUS JESU ET MARIÆ

SECRETMAN

Sat Jan 16, 2010 5:03 pm (GMT -5)
Ousted deacon resurfaces here

Two other bishops rejected him

In 2007, one diocese refused to ordain him

Two clerics he supervised were sued for abuse

The group he headed also faced financial allegations

It may cost church “several million dollars,” PA bishop says

Still, Oregon prelate now lets him quietly work at Bend parish

SNAP discloses an e mail from local bishop defending his actions

Support group asks Vasa to reconsider and warn church members about him

http://www.snapnetwork.org/snap_press_releases/2010_press_releases/011510_ousted_deacon_resurfaces_here.htm

A Catholic deacon who was refused ordination two years ago by a New Jersey bishop and was ousted by a Pennsylvania bishop now works at a parish in Oregon. A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging an Oregon bishop to publicly explain why he’s given a job to the controversial deacon and to reconsider that decision.

Deacon Joseph Levine is the former head of a troubled group called the Society of St. John, which was shut down by Scranton’s bishop in 2004 after charges of financial misdealing and after two of the group’s priests were sued for alleged child sexual abuse. Levine was accused by Jeffrey Bond, Ph.D., of concealing clergy sex crimes.

In 2007, Levine was within a week of becoming a priest in the Paterson NJ diocese. But the diocese suddenly announced that it was refusing to ordain him and admit it had received “questions about Levine's suitability for the priesthood,” according to the Scranton Times-Leader.

He now works at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in the Baker Diocese, and is listed on the parish website as a "pastoral year seminarian/deacon." The church is at 2450 NE 27th Street in Bend (541-382-3631). The pastor is Fr. Joe Reinig (jreinig@stfrancisbend.org) and the associate pastor is Fr. Daniel Maxwell (dmaxwell@stfrancisbend.org)

“Levine’s never been charged or convicted in any criminal, civil or church proceeding,” admits David Clohessy, national director of a self help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “But two bishops have rejected Levine, both of whom no doubt know him better than Oregon church officials do. And the public and parishioners in Oregon have been told little, if anything, about the disturbing allegations that he concealed child sex crimes and that his group essentially committed financial fraud.”

“At worse, Baker Catholic officials are being reckless and at best, they’re being secretive,” said Barbara Dorris of St. Louis. She’s SNAP’s outreach director.

“We see no evidence that the Oregon church hierarchy has warned anyone about Levine’s troubling past,” Dorris said. “We hope that’s been done, but it sure doesn’t look like it. And that kind of honesty is what bishops have repeatedly promised since 2002 regarding clergy sex crimes and cover ups. It’s the kind of honesty that Catholics deserve and families need.”

SNAP is sending a letter today by fax and e mail to Baker Bishop Robert Vasa with their concerns about Levine.

But in a Jan. 7 email to a local Catholic obtained by SNAP, Vasa defends his actions, referring to Levine’s “good reputation.”

Levine “was aware of (one accused predator priest’s) eccentricities but whether he was in fact an abuser of teenagers has never been proven though (we) certainly have our grave suspicions,” Vasa wrote. “Levine was never implicated in the abuse matters. . .and even now (the priest) has not been charged with any crimes. Levine was caught up in a scandal, not of his making, which he was quite ill-equipped to deal with and he now admits that he did not deal with it well.”

“Corresponding with an accused wrong-doer isn’t the best way to get accurate information,” countered Dorris.

According to one Pennsylvania news account, in 2002,“Levine became (head) of the Society of St. John, the same year a former student filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against two society priests, Carlos Urrutigoity and Eric Ensey, and the Scranton Diocese.” A second, similar lawsuit was also filed later.

According to the Catholic News Service, “three other former students (gave depositions in 2004) testifying that Father Urrutigoity sexually fondled them or slept with them when they were minors.”

In 2005, one of the suits was settled for $455,000.

A former member of the SSJ told Internet columnist Matt C. Abbott (mattcabbott@hotmail.com) that Levine “actively sought to protect those in the SSJ who engaged in these perverse deeds.”

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2005_07_12/2005_09_17_Abbott_ControversialDeacon.htm
There were also allegations of financial irregularities leveled at the Society, leading Scranton Bishop Joseph Martino to say it caused "grievous financial burdens for the diocese" that could amount to several million dollars, according to the Catholic News Service.

In 2002, a separate lawsuit filed against the society claiming that it raised $5 million from donors to build a Catholic college. But little money was spent on that project, the suit said, which has since been abandoned.

In 2006, another Pennsylvania newspaper reports that the controversial group “has reestablished itself in Paraguay.” Urrutigoity and Ensey are reportedly there too. Two years earlier, in 2004, Ensey filed for personal bankruptcy.

According to the Wilkes-Barre daily newspaper, some 25 Scranton diocesan priests have been accused of molesting children.

“We must caution against ‘guilt by association,’ but at the same time, it’s hard to believe that Levine was in the midst of all these alleged clergy sex crimes and cover ups and financial misdeeds but knew nothing or responded perfectly,” said Clohessy.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news/2006_07_09_TimesLeader_CrimesAnd.htm#Urrutigoity
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2006/03_04/2006_03_09_Kane_SuppressedSociety.htm
http://www.riverreporter.com/issues/06-03-09/head2-priests.html
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0406581.htm
http://www.saintjustinmartyr.org/News/TheWandererArticle.html

A copy of SNAP’s letter to Vasa is below.



Dear Bishop Vasa:

For years, Catholic bishops have

-- accepted ordination candidates rejected by other bishops,
-- believed accused clerics when those clerics professed their innocence,
-- quietly moved alleged, proven, and admitted wrong-doers to new dioceses, and
-- warned no one (or few people) about their troublesome pasts.

Supposedly, in 2002, all that stopped. America’s bishops pledged to put the safety of kids first and to be “open and transparent” with their flocks.

So then why have you quietly accepted Deacon Joseph Levine into your diocese, and apparently warned no one or few people of his past? That past includes allegations

- that he helped conceal those abuse accusations involving priests he supervised, and
- that his group engaged in serious financial improprieties, and
- that his group didn’t cooperate with their local bishop.

Beyond these accusations, there are a number of disturbing and undisputed facts:

- a New Jersey bishop suddenly refused to ordain Levine as a priest,
- a Pennsylvania bishop ousted Levine’s group from his diocese,
- that two members of his group, whom he alleged supervised, were sued for child sex abuse,
- at least one child sex abuse lawsuit involving two priests under his supervision was settled,
- that settlement was substantial (which enhances the credibility of the accusers),
- both accused predator priests have now left the country, and
- Levine’s group has also left the US.

All of this is very worrisome to us, especially in light of your similar secrecy and recklessness in other recent situations:

-Fr. Jose Joaquin Estrada Arango, who pled guilty to molesting a teenager. (As you know, you hid his entire criminal process – being charged, admitting guilt and being deported – from your flock.)
http://snapnetwork.org/snap_press_releases/2008_press_releases/041008_oregon_bishop_hiding.htm
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2008/03_04/2008_04_11_Gargas_DidBishop.htm

-Fr. Richard Edelin, who was accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl in Texas in the 1980s. (As you know, church officials there paid her a settlement and gave her an apology.)
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2006/03_04/2006_04_01_Green_CatholicPriests.htm

-Last year, you were one of only two US bishops (out of nearly 200) to refuse to “participate in a nationwide audit of child safety practices” (according to the Bend Bulletin).
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2009/03_04/2009_03_14_Powers_LocalDiocese.htm

-In 2003, a Portland attorney accused you of a “calculated, transparent, unlawful and devious" transfer of church property so clergy sex victims would get smaller settlements.

Given these facts and charges, you can surely understand our dismay about your honesty and our doubts about the Levine matter. In a nutshell, we are worried about the well-being of your flock and of eastern Oregon citizens.

Here’s something to ponder: if Levine did, in fact, conceal child sex crimes, and yet is welcomed into your diocese, there’s certainly a chance that he’ll do it again. And if he, in fact, was involved in any financial impropriety, there’s a chance that he’ll do that again as well.

Frankly, we’re not comforted by your claim that you’ve written several letters over the past few months to two individuals about Levine, one of whom is Levine himself, the alleged wrong-doer. That doesn’t seem like a very thorough investigation.

In light of all this, we have three simple requests, Bishop.

First, we ask you to publicly explain why you’ve given a job to this controversial deacon.

Second, we ask you to reconsider your decision. (Ministry is a privilege, not a right.)

Third, we ask you to hold an open public meeting at Levine’s parish, and give citizens and Catholics a chance to directly ask you questions about your troubling move.

These actions would be small steps toward the caution, compassion and openness that you and your colleagues have promised your flock and toward a more prudent stewardship.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Fri Jan 15, 2010 1:08 pm (GMT -5)
Refugees in the shadow of Medjugorje
Simon Cole talks to an Irish nun serving in a refugee camp just 20 minutes from the famous Bosnian town

Catholic Herald
15 January 2010
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/features/f0000515.shtml

Refugees make their way across river Neretva in Bosnia-Herzegovina on a rubber dinghy in 1992 in Capljina (AP Photo/Hrvoje Knez)
This Christmas, 69-year-old Sister Josephine Walsh once again left Britain on a journey to the celebrated location in the former Yugoslavia where locals say Our Lady appeared in 1981. Following the religious tourist trail from Dubrovnik, her coach will cross the border from Croatia into the Federation of Bosnia-Hercegovina (BiH), arriving at the busy strip of Irish-themed bars and cafes that is Medjugorje. But unlike the other pilgrims, her journey will continue beyond this prospering town, to the nearby village of Capljina and the refugee camp she has been visiting for 15 years.

Originally from Limerick, and 50 years with the Daughters of the Holy Spirit, Sister Josephine started coming to Medjugorje in 1984. She brought bigger and bigger tour groups to the hill where the teenagers allegedly saw their vision and was preparing to bring her largest-ever in 1991. But the vicious civil war meant it was four years before she could return. Chasing down a lost woman from the 1995 tour party led to a chance encounter - and the start of a long relationship with the refugees of Tasovcici Camp.

"She was with some soldiers and a taxi driver," remembers Sister Josephine. "We had a drink with them and chatted, then the taxi driver grew more serious and asked if I would help him bring food to a camp 20 minutes down the road. He said people were living in wagons and train carriages and they were starving. I asked my group if anyone wanted to come, and in the end about seven of us went the next day.

I bought four huge boxes of bananas. On the way he told us his wife and two children were there."

She was shocked when she arrived. "There was a crowd of people gathered all around and they dived on these bananas, they were so hungry. It was a terrible experience." The camp held about 300 men, women and children, she says; displaced from places further north. A woman invited her inside a carriage. "There was nothing but army beds - no furniture, no toilets." But it was the children that really affected her. "There was a carriage with 'Nobody's Children' written on it [a US-based charity]. I said: 'That's a terrible crime, Lord, I'm going to adopt these children from now on and look after this camp.' And I've been doing that for 15 years."

A local man says he thinks he remembers these Bosnian Croat (Catholic) refugees arriving by truck as far back as 1993. When the railways were being rebuilt in 2000 they needed the carriages back and the refugees were relocated to the ex-army camp where they are today. Sister Josephine had brought presents when she discovered the move. "I asked my interpreter to take me to the mayor because I wanted to know what he was doing for these people. He said he was doing his best, but the country was poor. How could they go from one camp to another? There was just no future in it."

So Sister Josephine founded the Housing Aid Bosnia charity, the mayor sold them cheap land and they started to build houses. "The houses were made in Holland and we used builders from Medjugorje. It was extraordinary because we had no idea how to do it, but it was the only way forward for these people. Sister Helen and I prayed - we begged God for houses for these poor families - and within two weeks somebody sent us a large donation anonymously." She remembers the reaction of the first families to move. "One woman was shaking so much she couldn't believe it. She had to put a thumbprint for her signature. The first house was up within 20 days and we moved four families with children."

To date, the charity has built over 60 houses there, complete with a church. "Now we've got the know-how, we just need the money," says Sister Josephine. "We've got 92 tin huts still being occupied, and there are no toilets. Some 90 or so families live in 16ft x 12ft Nissan huts with asbestos roofs. It's not healthy for them." There are also 40 children, down from a high of 159. "People might say 'why don't they help themselves'? But 40 per cent of them have no jobs and without jobs, you can't get moving. It used to be a farming area, but the Serb farmers all left. When they do get paid, they might get €20 (£18) for working from 6am till midnight."

Sister Josephine wants more Medjugorje pilgrims to visit the camp. "It's only 20 minutes away, and it's such a privilege to visit the refugees - they can teach you so much. You get back more than you give." Some churches, schools and even individuals across Britain and Ireland have raised funds to build houses and she is keen for more to get involved: "It'd be great if people could sponsor a kitchen or a cooker, or even a family." Some children are sponsored already, as are five students at university. Donors can form a relationship, visiting the refugees to see the results of their gift.

Sister Josephine feels Medjugorje should also play its part. "It'd be a different kettle of fish if it helped them. It's a very rich village, they get a lot of money from the Irish." The Tasovcici residents, displaced from places like the Bosniak (Muslim)-dominated Konjic, are indeed an unlucky minority among Bosnian Croats. The UN's refugee agency UNHCR confirms they make up only 12 per cent of the 50,500 "internally displaced persons" in the Federation of BiH; an overwhelming 85 per cent are Bosniak. Next door in Republika Srpska, the other main "entity" which comprises Bosnia, 66,000 Serbs are in the same boat.

Some of the displaced Bosniaks would have come from Mostar. 40 minutes away, Bosnia's most divided city. In 1993 the Bosnian Croat army (HVO) famously destroyed the 427-year-old bridge that symbolically united the city, turning on their former Muslim allies after they had repulsed the Serbs together. The Dayton Agreement ended the war in 1995, but the enmity lingers and an unofficial "front line" is still in effect. Mirroring Medjugorje's success, the Bosnian Croat side of town is noticeably more affluent.

But at a school run by a British headmaster right on the dividing line, Croats, Bosniaks and Serbs study together. This is the only place in the country where this happens. Teenagers from 32 countries are taking the International Baccalaureate at the Mostar branch of United World Colleges (UWC). As well as conflict resolution, a key part of this NGO's philosophy is community service. Laura Milchmeyer, an 18-year-old pupil from Germany, works with the Tasovcici children once a fortnight.

"I see them as an 'in-between' generation," she says, "directly influenced by the war, yet they have never experienced the conflict and perhaps do not even understand why they live excluded and isolated from society. We are trying to give them a picture of the world outside their camp." The UWC students work on the children's self-confidence, but "sometimes all they need is a hug, love and some hope".

The UNHCR says 7,500 refugees still live in "temporary" communal accommodation across Bosnia. It urges the quarrelling government to end this "unfinished business" in line with the Dayton accords. At Christmas, Sister Josephine watched as the children of Tasovcici deliver the gifts she and other volunteers had brought. Each adult got a sack, filled not with luxuries but the most basic foodstuffs like bread and flour. The UN calls this sort of existence "undignified". Housing Aid Bosnia's new houses, says Sister Josephine, restore exactly this dignity - one that eludes those still waiting in huts, too scared to return "home". She recalls the words of an Irish visitor from Gweedore: "She said: 'Our cattle in County Donegal have better homes than these.' Nobody should live like this."

Fri Jan 15, 2010 12:27 pm (GMT -5)
Coakley Excludes Devout Catholics From Emergency Rooms

by Deal W. Hudson
InsideCatholic.com
1/15/10
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7509&Itemid=80#jreactions

If you wonder if there is any limit to the anti-Catholicism of pro-abortion "Catholic" politicians, you should try to get your arms around this story.

Yesterday, Martha Coakley, the Democratic candidate for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat, was asked in a radio interview whether doctors and nurses working in a hospital emergency room have religious freedom. Coakley replied, " You can have religious freedom, but you probably shouldn't work in the emergency room."

No, I didn't make this up. The radio host, Ken Pittman, was asking her about her perspective as a "Catholic" on issues like birth control. Coakley immediately went with her dissenting, reflex reaction of insisting on a "separation of Church and State." The conversation descended from there into the pit of puerile anti-Catholicism.

If politicians like Coakley are put in charge of "health care reform," the day may come when orthodox Catholics will be excluded from any medical services where they might decide not to provide an abortion, prescribe contraception, or euthanize a suffering patient.

Our country needs to wake up and realize the centrality of attitudes like Coakley to the entire health care debate! Coakley's attitude is representative of dissenting Catholics in Congress from Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) to Senator Mikulski (D-MD) to Rep. DeLauro (D-CT).

It was only a short while ago Pelosi was lecturing us, in good ninth-grade fashion, on how the Church's teaching on abortion was a denial -- yes, I said a "denial," of free will.

Please, please realize it's as bad as it appears to be -- there are no excuses for this kind of ignorant comments. After all, Martha Coakley is the attorney general -- imagine that! -- of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Doesn't that position require some modicum of detachment from one's own personal prejudices?

Coakley's willingness to use her political power against orthodox Catholics serving in the medical profession should be a wake-up call.