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Philadelphia DA charges 3 priests, Catholic school teacher with rape of 2 boys

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Philadelphia DA charges three priests, Catholic school teacher with rape of two young boys; also charges monsignor with child endangerment; Cardinal Bevilacqua not charged

Philadelphia DA Charges Priests, Teacher In Sex Abuse Case

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Three priests and a Philadelphia Catholic school teacher have been charged with raping and assaulting two young boys over the course of several years.  A fifth man, a monsignor, has been charged with child endangerment for allegedly allowing the abuse to continue.

The three priests — 68-year-old Edward Avery, 64-year-old Charles Engelhardt, and 47-year-old James Brennan — and a parochial school teacher, 48-year-old Bernard Shero, were all charged with rape, indecent sexual assault and other criminal charges.

Sixty-year-old Monsignor William Lynn, the secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia under Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, has been charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the assaults.

The charges, which are the result of a grand jury investigation, were announced by the district attorney’s office on Thursday morning.

Avery and Engelhardt are charged with assaulting a 10-year-old boy at St. Jerome Parish in Northeast Philadelphia from 1998 to 1999.  Shero is charged with assaulting the same boy there in 2000.

Brennan is accused of assaulting a different boy, a 14-year-old, in 1996.

The grand jury found that Lynn, who was responsible for investigating reports that priests had sexually abused children, endangered children, including the victims, by knowingly allowing abusive priests to continue in the ministry in roles in which they had access to children.

“The grand jury believed that many priests—dozens of them—have remained in ministry despite solid, credible allegations of abuse.  It is time for the church to remove all credibly accused priests from ministry, and to put protection of children ahead of protection from scandal,” District Attorney Seth Williams said on Thursday.

Defense attorney Michael McGoven, a former supervisor in the DA’s office who now represents Father Engelhardt, says his client categorically denies the charges and maintains he is an innocent man.

“I think the allegations are completely false and preposterous,” McGovern toldKYW Newsradio on Thursday afternoon.  “First of all, the complainant is saying that three separate individuals — three pedophiles at the same school at the same time — abused him.  And I think his story is patently absurd, and I think it will be shown to be that in court.”

Avery, Engelhardt, Shero, and Brennan all face a maximum of 67 years in prison if convicted of all charges. Lynn is facing a maximum of 14 years in prison if convicted of all charges.

Bevilacqua was not charged, although the grand jury in its report talks of its “difficult dilemma” in whether to charge the former Archbishop of Philadelphia, who is now 87 and suffering from cancer and dementia, according to his attorney.

DA Williams, a Roman Catholic, said his task in bringing charges against clergy was not a happy one, but said he has a job to do.

“I love my church, but I detest the criminal behavior of priests who abuse or allow the abuse of children,” Williams said.  “I know ultimately they will be judged by a higher authority. For now, it is my responsibility as the elected district attorney of all the citizens of Philadelphia to hold them accountable.”

Williams added, “This is an indictment of bad men who did terrible things who have to be held accountable by secular society.”

A short time later, Cardinal Justin Rigali released a statement saying that the archdiocese had not yet had an opportunity to study the grand jury report but asked for prayer for all child victims of sex abuse.  The statement also said the archdiocese is cooperating fully with civil authorities in this and all related matters.

Speaking publicly for the archdiocese, Bishop Daniel Thomas, disputed findings in the grand jury report that more than 40 priests accused of inappropriate conduct involving minors in the past five years are still in active ministry.

“There are no archdiocesan priests currently in ministry who have an established or admitted allegation of sexual abuse of a minor,” Thomas said.

But the grand jury says its own review of some priest files found convincing and alarming evidence of abuse that had been dismissed as unsubstantiated by that archdiocese review board.

Eyewitness News cameras were there as Msgr. William Lynn turned himself in to the District Attorney’s office Thursday afternoon. His lawyers say he did nothing wrong and equated his role as Secretary of Clergy to that of a human resources manager.

“There’s a reason why he’s not accused of touching a hair on the head of any child,” said his defense attorney Jeff Lindy. “The DA’s office brought him into this case because they want to attack the policies of the archdiocese.”

Reported by Tony Hanson; Mark Abrams, KYW Newsradio 1060; Ben Simmoneau, CBS 3; Steve Beck, CBS Philly.



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Jesuits in Los Gatos, CA, shield perpetrator priests, survivors and advocates say

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Jesuits in Los Gatos, CA, shield perpetrator priests, survivors and advocates say

http://www.mercurynews.com/los-gatos/ci_17341935?nclick_check=1

Click on link above foe excellent slideshow.

Witness: Priest who injured in revenge beating on ‘list’ of alleged and convicted molesters

By Tracey Kaplan

tkaplan@mercurynews.com

In a surprising admission Wednesday, a Catholic Church employee testified that the Los Gatos priest attacked by a man who claimed the cleric sexually molested him as a child is indeed on a list the church keeps of alleged molesters.

The acknowledgment by Mary Margaret Eden won’t change the fact that Judge David A. Cena is likely Thursday to decide there is enough evidence to hold Will Lynch, 44, over for trial for what has been portrayed as a revenge beating. And it has long been known that the Sacred Heart retirement and medical center in Los Gatos where the Rev. Jerry Lindner resides has become a place for the church to house clerics suspected of abusing children.

But by quickly drawing out damaging information about the priest, Lynch’s attorney Pat Harris achieved several goals. Most important, he can use the fact that the church has classified the priest as an alleged molester to try to win sympathy for Lynch from jurors in the upcoming trial, potentially reducing the chances they’ll vote unanimously to convict him on the felony assault charge. It also lends credibility to Lynch’s molestation accusation.

That is especially significant because the judge Wednesday repeatedly blocked other attempts by the defense lawyer to introduce Lindner’s history in the church, ruling the matter was either irrelevant or unduly prejudicial. Lindner was removed from active ministry in Los Angeles in 1997 in response to a civil suit filed by Lynch that year, and the Jesuits paid Lynch and his brother, who were 7 and 5 at the time of the alleged abuse, a $625,000 settlement. Lindner also has been accused of abuse by nearly a dozen people, including his sister, brother and niece. Vocal protesters

If Lynch is convicted of felony assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury, he could face up to four years in state prison. Harris has argued that Lindner’s injuries were relatively minor and asked the judge to reduce the charge to misdemeanor assault, which carries a maximum sentence of one year in county jail. But legal experts say the judge is unlikely to grant the request because Lindner, who was 65 at the time, was badly bruised and required stitches for small cuts above his left eye and right ear.

Lynch’s attorney also subpoenaed the priest, who spent most of the day sequestered out of the public eye at the courthouse under the protection of armed bailiffs because of a protest against him in front of the courthouse. About 25 protesters, including some of his alleged victims, marched Wednesday, bearing signs that read, “Jail Father Jerry,” “Sacred Heart Jesuit Center: Pedophile Playground” and “Help Free Willy.” The protesters also attended the hearing.

But the judge refused to allow Harris to put the priest on the stand. Under California law, defense attorneys have extremely limited rights to compel victims to testify during the preliminary hearing.

The most dramatic moment of the hearing came when prosecutor Vicki Gemetti called Eden to the stand as an eyewitness who saw Lynch at the Sacred Heart center where the priest lives and her office is based on the day of the attack, May 10.

Surprise testimony

Eden, a health care administrator for the church, testified that she saw Lynch punch the elderly priest twice, contradicting information she gave in two interviews with Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies. In those interviews, she said she only saw him pacing and yelling that the priest had forced him to have sex with his own brother. She also identified him in court as the attacker.

The prosecutor also asked Eden why people were housed at the center, leaving an opening for Harris. Eden told Gemetti the center housed priests who were elderly or recovering from surgery.

On cross-examination, Harris said: “You gave two reasons why they are there. But there’s a third reason, isn’t there?”

“We do have Jesuits that have been sent to Sacred Heart for different reasons,” Eden said.

Harris said, “One of the reasons is they are accused of or convicted of molestation,” adding, “And you understand that about Father Lindner, is that correct?”

“Yes,” Eden said.

Later, Harris pursued the issue further, asking Eden if the east wing, rather than the infirmary wing, was where “they keep the molesters.”

“We have a Jesuit in the infirmary who is on the list,” Eden said.

“So there’s a list of molesters?” Harris asked, drawing an objection from Gemetti that the judge sustained.

Besides its legal value for the defense case, Eden’s testimony furthers the agenda of Lynch and other alleged victims of Lindner, who want to use the trial to “out” the priest.

Lindner cannot be prosecuted because the alleged molestation against Lynch and other alleged victims took place in the 1970s. By the time Lynch reported it about 20 years later, the six-year statute of limitations in effect at the time of the alleged abuse had elapsed.

Lynch and his brother have said they were raped and forced to have sex with each other during camping trips to Portola State Park while Lindner—a spiritual adviser at the Christian camp—looked on.

Contact Tracey Kaplan at 408-278-3482.



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Corrected: Catholic university hosts ‘queer week’ to promote equality of sexual ‘expressions’

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Corrected: Catholic university hosts ‘queer week’ to promote equality of sexual ‘expressions’

by Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

Correction: The Cardinal Newman Society, which broke this story, has informed LifeSiteNews.com that Xavier University has updated their event page for “Queer Week” to include the year of the event, which was 2009. The original version of the event page did not list the year, so CNS had assumed it was for 2011, which LifeSiteNews had reported. We apologize for the error.

February 10, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Xavier University, a Catholic and Jesuit institution of higher learning located in Cincinatti, Ohio, hosted what it calls “Queer Week” from March 30 to April 3 in 2009, according to the university’s website.

Xavier University

The university said that the purpose of the event was to “embrace and celebrate the use of queer as an inclusive, unifying socio-political term for people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, straight, transsexual, intersexual, gender queer, or anyone else who supports the equality of all identities and expressions.”

Events that were held during “Queer Week” included “Same-Sex Hand Holding Day/Solidarity,”  “Distribution of ‘Gay, Fine By Me’ T-Shirts,” a “Queer Awareness Display,” and “Showing of ‘Milk’ with panel discussion.”

The university says that the event was presented by the “Xavier Alliance,” a homosexualist organization that enjoys its own section on the school’s website.  The Alliance’s previous campus activities (http://www.xavier.edu/alliance/history.cfm) have included the showing of the documentary, “For the Bible tells me so”, which defends the contention that homosexual behavior is not immoral and that the Bible’s condemnations of sodomy should be reinterpreted.

The Xavier Alliance also lists as one of its accomplishments the distribution of a t-shirt on campus that says “Take pride in…coming out of the closet, coming up in the world, coming off a bad hangover, following your dream, following your heart, bumping into a hottie and landing digits, women’s rights, civil rights, gay rights…”

The Xavier Alliance advertises a “Safe Zone” program which “strives to erase homophobia and heterosexism on Xavier University’s campus.”  According to the school, “Safe Zone participants also offer a positive and affirmative message about sexual diversity in response to societal homophobia.”

According to the Xavier Alliance, the organization was granted university recognition after pressure was applied by Amnesty International, an international homosexualist organization that has also embraced the pro-abortion position in recent years. The university initially resisted the creation of such a group in the 1990s, and still maintains a policy statement that “draws to the attention of all its members the traditional and wise Catholic moral teaching that properly locates sexual activity within the relationship of a man and a woman united for life through marriage as husband and wife.”

Contact information:

Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr

Archdiocese of Cincinnati

100 E. Eighth Street

Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Phone: 513 421-3131

Fax: 513-421-6225

Email: archbishop@catholiccincinnati.org

XAVIER UNIVERSITY

President Rev. Michael J. Graham, S.J

3800 Victory Parkway, Cincinnati, Ohio 45207

President’s phone: (513) 745-3502

General phone: (513) 745-3000

E-mail: graham@xavier.edu





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Alleged revenge attack on Los Gatos priest headed to trial

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Alleged revenge attack on Los Gatos priest headed to trial

By Tracey Kaplan

tkaplan@mercurynews.com

Setting up a potential courtroom showdown with the priest he claims molested him as a child, a San Francisco man was ordered Thursday to stand trial on charges that he tracked down the cleric to a Los Gatos Jesuit center and attacked him.

The judge also refused to reduce the charge against Will Lynch, 43, from felony assault to misdemeanor assault, as Lynch's attorneys had requested.

"There is sufficient cause to believe Will Lynch is guilty and he is held to answer," Judge David A. Cena said.

The ruling brings the case closer to what is sure to be a highly publicized trial this summer in a San Jose courtroom. No date has been set, but celebrity attorney Mark Geragos said Thursday that Lynch welcomes the opportunity to call the Rev. Jerry Lindner to the stand during the trial to face a barrage of questions about his history of allegedly molesting children.

"I think the truth will come out," Geragos said. "I don't think this guy will ever take the stand. I don't think he's got the guts. He's a coward. He's just retreated into this church-sponsored anonymity "... and we plan on putting an end to that."

Indeed, in the first hour of the preliminary hearing Wednesday, a Catholic church employee who claimed she witnessed the attack acknowledged under questioning by Geragos' partner Pat Harris that Lindner is on a list the church keeps of molesters.

"They do have the wrong person on trial," Geragos said Thursday.

Lindner

has been accused of abuse by nearly a dozen people, including his own sister and brother. In 1997, Lynch and his brother sued and received a $625,000 settlement from the Jesuits. The Jesuits also paid a woman $1.8 million in 2007 for Lindner's alleged sexual assaults on her, which began when she was 8 and lasted until her confirmation at age 14.

Both the Lynch brothers and the woman were part of a group of devout Catholic families called the Christian Family Movement. Lindner held Masses in their homes and the group went camping twice a year to Big Basin State Park, Big Sur and other scenic spots, where some of the alleged abuse occurred.

Lindner cannot be prosecuted in Lynch's case because the alleged molestation took place in the 1970s. By the time Lynch reported it about 20 years later, the six-year statute of limitations in effect at the time of the alleged abuse had elapsed.

Contact Tracey Kaplan at 408-278-3482.

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Theology coloured by clergy sex abuse

Neil Ormerod Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gboL_9ZrTc&feature=player_embedded

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Theology coloured by clergy sex abuse

Peter Kirkwood

Neil Ormerod is symbolic of the deep and contested changes in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council. Prior to the Council it would have been almost unheard of for a lay person to be studying, let alone teaching Catholic theology. But this married lay man, this father and grandfather, pioneered the path, and is now one of the leading Catholic theologians in Australia.

Ormerod is a frequent contributor to Eureka Street, and this interview with him is part of a special series marking the 20th anniversary of the journal. He spoke to Eureka Street TV at the Strathfield campus of the Australian Catholic University where he is based, and he talks about developments and trends in theology since the foundation of Eureka Street.

Ormerod's career in theology had an unlikely academic start. His first undergraduate degree was in pure mathematics at the University of New South Wales, and at its completion he was honoured with the University Medal. Three years later he gained a PhD in mathematics.

He then radically changed direction and began studying theology, culminating with a doctorate in theology in 1997 from the Melbourne College of Divinity. His doctoral thesis was based on the work of great Canadian Jesuit theologian and philosopher, Bernard Lonergan.

Ormerod has lectured at many Australian Catholic institutions including St Paul's National Seminary, the Catholic College of Education Sydney, the Centre for Christian Spirituality Randwick, Pius XII Seminary Brisbane, the Catholic Institute of Sydney and most recently the Australian Catholic University where he is currently Professor of Theology.

His approach to theology was strongly coloured in the early 1990s by the clergy sexual abuse that began to be spoken about openly around that time. He and his wife Thea became activists on behalf of survivors of abuse, and they jointly wrote a book, When Ministers Sin: Sexual Abuse in the Churches, that was published in 1994.

Ormerod is much in demand as a speaker, and is a prolific author, not only of academic papers, but also of more popular articles. He has the knack of bringing a theological sensibility to bear on everyday life issues.

He has written several books including Grace and Disgrace: A Theology of Self-esteem; Society and History; Method, Meaning and Revelation; Trinity: Retrieving the Western Tradition; Creation, Grace and Redemption; and  Introducing Contemporary Theologies: the What and Who of Theology Today, his most popular book, which has been republished a number of times. 


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Three Philadelphia priests, teacher charged with sexually abusing boys

Amplify’d from religion.blogs.cnn.com
Three Philadelphia priests, teacher charged with sexually abusing boys
Left to right, from top: Edward Avery, James Brennan, Charles Engelhardt, William Lynn and Bernard Shero

By Sarah Hoye, CNN

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (CNN) - Three Philadelphia priests and a parochial school teacher were charged Thursday with raping and assaulting boys in their care, while a former official with the Philadelphia Archdiocese was accused of allowing the abusive priests to have access to children, the city's district attorney's office said.

CNN Senior Vatican analyst John Allen said the charges against the former church official appeared to be unprecedented and could have national implications.

"This is apparently the first time that a Catholic leader has been charged criminally for the cover-up as opposed to the abuse itself," he said. "It sends a shot across the bow for bishops and other diocesan officials in other parts of the country, who have to wonder now if they've got criminal exposure, too."

Edward Avery, 68, and Charles Engelhardt, 64, were charged with allegedly assaulting a 10-year-old boy at St. Jerome Parish from 1998 to 1999. Bernard Shero, 48, a teacher in the school, is charged with allegedly assaulting the same boy there in 2000, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said at a Thursday press conference.

James Brennan, another priest, is accused of assaulting a different boy, a 14 year old, in 1996.

Monsignor William Lynn, who served as the Secretary for Clergy for the under former Philadelphia Archbishop Anthony Bevilacqua, was charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the alleged assaults, Williams said.

From 1992 until 2004, Lynn was responsible for investigating reports that priests had sexually abused children, the district attorney's office said.

The grand jury found that Lynn, 60, endangered children, including the alleged victims of those charged Thursday, by knowingly allowing dangerous priests to continue in the ministry in roles in which they had access to kid

"This behavior will not be tolerated - ultimately they will be judged by a higher authority," Williams said. "We want to ensure that all victims of abuse can call us directly and don't have to filter their story with anyone else."

Avery, Engelhardt and Shero were charged with rape, indecent sexual assault and other criminal charges following the results of a new grand jury investigation of clergy sexual abuse, Williams said. The names of the alleged victims, who are now in their 20s, have not been publicly released.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia is fully cooperating with authorities regarding the charges, Cardinal Justin Rigali, the Archbishop of Philadelphia, said in a statement Thursday.

"It is my intention to consider carefully and take very seriously any observations and recommendations of this Grand Jury," Rigali said in the statement. "I also welcome the opportunity for ongoing collaboration with the Philadelphia district attorney's office in the vital work of protecting children."

"Victims of sexual abuse by clergy may find this news deeply painful," Rigali said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with them."

The grand jury believed that over 30 priests have remained in ministry in Pennsylvania despite solid, credible allegations of abuse, Williams said.

But Archbishop Rigali challenged that claim.

"The report states that there remain in ministry archdiocesan priests who have credible allegations of abuse against them," he said in a statement Thursday. "I assure all the faithful that there are no archdiocesan priests in ministry today who have an admitted or established allegation of sexual abuse of a minor against them."

Engelhardt, an Oblate priest, is accused of allegedly orally sodomizing and molesting a 10-year-old alter boy in 1998 in the sacristy at St. Jerome Parish in northeast Philadelphia, Williams said.

According to the grand jury report, Engelhardt allegedly showed the boy pornographic magazines before having him engage in oral intercourse in the sacristy.

Avery, an Archdiocesan priest who was defrocked in 2006 for alleged sexual abuse, is charged with the same alleged offenses against the same boy.

The priest allegedly "undressed the boy, told him God loved him and had him engage in oral intercourse," according to the grand jury report.

Shero, the boy's sixth grade teacher at St. Jerome School, is accused of allegedly orally and anally sodomizing the then 11-year-old in the back of his car, Williams said.

According to the grand jury report, Shero allegedly offered the boy a ride home and then stopped at a park. He told the boy they were "going to have fun," took off his clothes, orally and anally raped him, and then made him walk the rest of the way home.

The grand jury case began when that boy and another victim who are now in their 20s came forward.

"By no means do we believe that these are the only two parishioners who were abused during this period," Williams wrote in the grand jury report.

James Brennan, 47, is accused of allegedly assaulting a different 14-year-old boy in 1996, Williams said. Brennan, an Archdiocesan priest, is accused of allegedly "forcing his penis into the buttocks of a 14-year-old former parishioner when he was in the priest's bed," Williams said.

Brennan became a family friend who often visited the home, where the 14-year-old "was the subject of special attention from the priest, who persistently wrestled with the boy, rubbed his back and shoulders, and openly brought up sex talk," according to the grand jury report.

The boy told his parents, who confronted Brennan. The priest denied the allegations, according to the grand jury report.

The boy "suffered depression, dramatic weight loss, and drug and alcohol addiction," according to the grand jury report.

"Ultimately, he committed suicide," the report said.

At the time, Brennan was on leave from a Catholic high school. In 1997, he returned to active ministry and was assigned to St. Jerome Parish, Williams said.

"This isn't a witch hunt into the Catholic church, or an indictment into the teachings of the church," Williams said. "This is an indictment of bad men doing bad things."

Avery, Engelhardt and Brennan surrendered to the district attorney's office on Thursday, Williams said. Lynn and Shero were expected to surrender Thursday, he said.

If convicted, Avery, Engelhardt, Shero and Brennan face a maximum of 67 years in prison.

Lynn faces a maximum of 14 years in prison if convicted of all charges, according to the district attorney's office.

In addition to the charges, the grand jury also recommended that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia overhaul its procedures for assisting victims and for removing priests accused of molesting minors.

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Concerns voiced that Middle East Synod was misunderstood by Muslims

The Vatican’s 2010 meeting for the Middle East has been misunderstood by many in the region as calling for a “new crusade” against Islam.

Amplify’d from www.catholicnewsagency.com
Concerns voiced that Middle East Synod was misunderstood by Muslims
By Alan Holdren, Rome Correspondent

Vatican City, Feb 10, 2011 / 01:52 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican’s 2010 meeting for the Middle East has been misunderstood by many in the region as calling for a “new crusade”  against Islam.

As officials gathered in Rome recently to assess last October’s special Synod for Bishops, a veteran Vatican adviser on Christian-Muslim dialogue told CNA that many Muslims saw the Synod as “a new project against Islam.”

“Many people, many Muslims, who have no idea of Christianity at all are interpreting it ... as a new crusade,” Father Samir Khalil Samir, SJ, of the Pontifical Oriental Institute said in a late January interview.

Church leaders from the region and Vatican officials met Jan. 20-21 to assess reactions to the Synod, and to suggest themes for the document that Pope Benedict XVI is writing in response to the Synod, known as a “post-synodal apostolic exhortation.”

On Feb. 8, the Vatican issued a statement that concluded: the “socio-political situation in the various countries of the Middle East remains tense.”

Fr. Samir said that the Synod was widely interpreted in political, not religious terms. “When Muslims meet,” he said, “usually they meet on a political level.” As a result, many saw the bishops as meeting to discuss “how to attack Islam.”

“Fifty-seven Muslim countries meet yearly, usually invited by Saudi Arabia and they discuss as nations how to defend Islam,” he said. “In their mentality, the West is still seen as Christian nations. It is still Christianity against Islam – properly because they don’t make a difference between religion and state.”

In its statement, the Vatican reported that the Synod’s final message had been sent to “political figures” throughout the region. It also reported that an international congress had been held in Syria on the state of Muslim-Christian relations in Arab countries. In addition, a meeting of Christians and Jews has been held in Jerusalem to “promote more objective information about the synodal assembly.”

The Vatican insisted in its statement that “respect for Christian communities” is necessary “to eradicate any hotbeds of anti-Christian sentiment in the Middle East, to halt the emigration of Christians from that region, which is their native land, and to favor the common good.”

The Vatican’s press office said the meeting was held to prepare the council members for direct collaboration in the Pope’s eventual preparation of a final document, called an apostolic exhortation. The Pope will set forth his teaching to guide the future of the Church on pastoral and practical questions proposed at the conclusion of the Synod.

The next meeting of the Special Council for the Middle East of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, under the leadership of the Synod’s secretary general, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, will be held Mar. 30-31.

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Thousands of New Stars Emerge in Glowing Nebula

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Thousands of New Stars Emerge in Glowing Nebula

Thousands of young stars come to the fore in in this beautiful new image from the Spitzer Space Telescope.

The previously unseen stars were born around 1,800 light-years from Earth in a region called the North American Nebula. In images that capture the same range of light that human eyes can see, the nebula looks like the eastern seaboard of the United States, down to the Gulf of Mexico. But most of that light is reflected off clouds of dust that hide infant stars. Only about 200 young stars were known before.

This image breaks through the clouds to find more than 2,000 new objects that may be young stars. (More data processing will determine their nature.) Because Spitzer is sensitive to infrared wavelengths that can sense heat, it can see the glow of the dusty, buried stars.

“One of the things that makes me so excited about this image is how different it is from the visible image, and how much more we can see in the infrared than in the visible,” said Spitzer astronomer Luisa Rebull in a press release. “The Spitzer image reveals a wealth of detail about the dust and the young stars here.” A paper detailing the observations has been accepted in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series.

Stars are born inside collapsing balls of gas and dust, which flattens into a disk that spins together with the star like a record album. As the star ages, the disk is thought to congeal into planets. Most of the dust is expected to dissipate by the time the star is at the center of a mature solar system.

The new Spitzer image shows stars in all stages of development, from dust-blanketed infancy to early adulthood, when stars are new parents to a growing family of planets.

Despite the new views of its growing stellar family, the North American nebula is still shrouded in mystery. The group of massive stars that is thought to dominate the nebula is still unseen. The Spitzer image and images from other telescopes hint that the missing stars lurk behind the Gulf of Mexico portion of the nebula.

In this image, infrared light with a wavelength of 3.6 microns is colored blue; 8.0-micron light is green; and 24-micron light is red. Since taking this image, Spitzer ran out of the coolant needed to keep the two longest wavelength detectors working. Spitzer is still snapping photos in the two shorter wavelength bands.



Images: 1. NASA/JPL-Caltech 2. L. Rebull/SCC/Caltech


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Another vote on the mis-named Patriot Act could come as early as tomorrow

They’re up to their old tricks again. Despite the message that conservatives sent to both parties in November, they’re back to business as usual in Washington D.C.



House Leadership held an emergency meeting of the powerful Rules Committee to pass a special rule concerning the Patriot Act.



The rule would allow the mis-named Patriot Act to be brought up on again as early as tomorrow, without any amendment, limit debate to only one hour and require only a simple majority to pass.



This comes on the same day the Homeland Security Czar Janet Napolitano said that the threat of terrorism is at "its most heightened state" since the 9/11 attacks due to increased concerns over “domestic” terrorists.



That means she thinks “extremists” like you and me are as great a threat to America as our sworn enemies.



Your decisive action helped block the reauthorization of the Patriot Act on Tuesday. I need you to answer the call to action again.



Please call your Representative and demand that they oppose this blatant attempt to ram the Patriot Act through Congress.



Reauthorization of the mis-named Patriot Act gives government jackboots more and more tools in their war on gun owners and gun rights activists, who Obamacrats smear as “Radical Extremists” and even “Domestic Terrorists.”



Some of the very worst provisions of the Patriot Act include:



  • Roving, warrantless wiretaps of virtually EVERY form of electronic communication used by U.S. citizens.


  • Secret federal searches without warrants OR knowledge of the resident.


  • Blanket warrants for the search and seizure of all library records, without naming individual suspects or providing probable cause.


  • Judicial warrants replaced with “National Security Letters” signed by unaccountable Obama Administration bureaucrats and gag orders for those served with these letters which make it illegal to tell anyone about it -- including your spouse and your priest!


  • Drastic expansion of the definition of “domestic terrorism,” which is sure to include gun owners.


  • Expands asset seizure to permit the taking of assets from anyone “suspected” of terrorism, even if that person is NEVER charged or sent to trial.


  • Lone wolf provisions which allow the government to spy on ANYONE even if they’re not associated with a terrorist organization or foreign national, without due process or notification.








That's why you and I need to take action right now!



Please call your Representative and tell them to vote AGAINST reauthorization of the "Patriot" Act.



Your decisive action is imperative.



P.S. A vote is scheduled for TODAY on H.R. 514:



"To extend expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 and Intelligence Reform of Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004."



Please call your Representative and tell them to vote AGAINST reauthorizing the Patriot Act.
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/apuh6

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