Amplify’d from gawker.com

Jaycee Dugard Kidnappers Give Full Confessions

Max Read — Phillip and Nancy Garrido, the California couple accused of kidnapping an 11-year-old girl and imprisoning her in their backyard for 18 years, have both given full confessions, according to Nancy's defense lawyer Stephen Tapson. Not only that, but apparently Jaycee Dugard—their victim—was in the room with Nancy for at least one questioning session, which is, according to the AP, "the first time the women had been face-to-face since the couple was arrested in 2009." The Garridos' lawyers are negotiating possible plea deals for their clients—prosecutors are hoping for 440 years to life for Phillip and and 241 to life for Nancy. [AP] Read more at gawker.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/crjd

All Books Must Now Appeal to Cracker Barrel Patrons

Amplify’d from gawker.com

All Books Must Now Appeal to Cracker Barrel Patrons

Hamilton Nolan — Now that Borders is dying, book publishers are collectively asking themselves, "Huh, where do we sell all these stupid books, now?" I mean Barnes & Noble is okay and all, but it's gonna take more shelf space than that to show off all those fancy attractive book covers designed to make people forget they could be buying this copy much cheaper used, on Ebay. The solution? Placing books in every kind of store, anywhere, that sells anything at all.

A wide range of stores better known for their apparel, food and fishing reels have been adding books. The fashion designer Marc Jacobs opened Bookmarc in Manhattan in the fall. Anthropologie has increased the number of titles it carries to 125, up from 25 in 2003. Coldwater Creek, Lowe's, Bass Pro Shops and even Cracker Barrel are adding new books.

As long as you write about fashion, home improvement, fishing, or biscuits 'n gravy, you have a future in this business!

[NYT. Photo of typical American book buyer via Sam Pullara/Flickr] Read more at gawker.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/crjd

Amplify’d from www.npr.org

Driver Plows Through Pack Of Cyclists, Claims Self-Defense

by Bill Chappell

Brazilian police are questioning a man who drove his car through a crowd of dozens of bicyclists, injuring at least 16 riders who were taking part in a group ride to raise awareness of cyclists on city streets.

The driver of a black Volkswagen accelerated as he drove through the center of a pack of riders in the monthly Critical Mass bike ride Friday evening, in the southern city of Porto Alegre. More than 100 riders are believed to have been participating in the event.

Several participants and bystanders recorded the incident, in videos that have now made their way online. The graphic footage shows people being tossed aside, even as some riders lay across the hood of the car after being struck.

According to the blog The Urban Country, the driver, identified in several reports as Ricardo Neis, 47, told police Monday that he had acted in self defense.

Here's a video of the incident currently on YouTube — and a WARNING: it's a graphic, closeup view of an event going from peaceful to tragic in mere seconds, around the :50 mark:

Neis reportedly had his son, 15, in the car with him when he sped through the crowd of cyclists. Moments after their car ran through the pack of riders, the pair abandoned the vehicle.

On Monday, Neis, who works at a bank, and his son said that cyclists had begun hitting their car, a VW Golf, according to Zero Hora.

Five cyclists who were hit by the car disputed that claim when they spoke with police early Monday, saying they were only calling for calm on the street.

And Zero Hora reports that one rider said that it was actually fortunate that it rained on the day of the ride.

Eduardo Fernandez Iglesias, who required stitches in his head after being struck, said that if the weather had been better, more children — like his own daughter, 9 — would have come along for the ride, as well.

The incident has sparked outrage among activists and riders, who say that events like Critical Mass are meant to show that cyclists don't need a special dispensation from traffic officials to use the streets.

In recent years, there have been other conflicts between cyclists and motorists at Critical Mass events. Some of them are compiled on their own Wiki page. Read more at www.npr.org

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bs9ck

Disney World Is Extra Rapey Lately

Amplify’d from gawker.com

Disney World Is Extra Rapey Lately

Hamilton Nolan — Are you caught up on the most recent sex crimes somehow connected to Disney World? Well, you should be. First there was Disney reservations clerk Wilbert Brookins, arrested last week for trying to rape a woman in her Disney hotel room after he'd gotten her an "employee discount" and escorted her through the park. Although she was very specific: "she said at the time she would not exchange sex for this."

The next day, Edgar Arnold, who works as an electrician at Disney World, was arrested in nearby Haines City while "sitting in a green Jeep Liberty watching pornographic videos" and masturbating.

The week before, there was also a horrific sexual assault at Sea World. You can't blame Disney for that. You can blame Orlando, though. That place is hell.

[Photo via] Read more at gawker.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/crjd

Amplify’d from www.americamagazine.org

Laity Near the Top?

The Editors

W hile the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI has certainly enjoyed major successes, like the pope’s visit last fall to England to beatify Cardinal Newman, the crises that have led to empty pews in the Catholic parishes of England, Europe and the United States persist.

The fundamental criticism of the institutional church is that its clerical, all-male establishment has not made room for other voices. There is no need to list the number of recent policy decisions, from Rome to home, which would have been more prudent if only a variety of laypersons had been consulted.

Jesus told his disciples that they were servants, that they were to feed the hungry and share their wealth with the poor and that they should demonstrate their love for one another by offering their lives in service. Some in church leadership have done the opposite, creating a culture of clericalism that too often values loyalty over accountability. In these circumstances, a project of reform is essential to rejuvenate church leadership and give greater voice to the whole church. As Pope John Paul II wrote in “Novo Millennio Ineunte,” quoting St. Paulinus of Nola: “Let us listen to what all the faithful say, because in every one of them the Spirit of God breathes” (No. 45).

How to begin? No one should anticipate changes in the existing discipline on celibacy or in the teaching on women’s ordination, but there are other ways to reform church structures to allow women and married men to participate in church governance. One proposal is simply to change canon law to admit laypeople to the College of Cardinals. The church could thereby continue its all-male priesthood, yet transform the “men’s club” into a church with a face that more resembles the people of God described in the documents of the Second Vatican Council.

A more realistic proposal, however, would entail two steps: First, reorganize diocesan offices so that laypeople constitute at least half of the bishop’s principal advisers. (Increasing numbers of laity have already been hired as staff in many U.S. dioceses.) Second, create a new body, an international council of laypersons to share functions with the College of Cardinals. After attrition among the cardinals, each of the two bodies eventually could have 100 members. The lay members would be Catholics who love the church and are recognized for sound Christian judgment. They would come from a variety of occupations—education, health, religious life, law, the arts, business, science, government and labor. Church leadership would not be limited to elderly men but would be expanded to include men and women, married and unmarried, of different ages. Wisdom, after all, can be found from a multitude of sources, something that St. Benedict acknowledged when he urged an abbot at a monastery to solicit the opinion of even the youngest member of the community: “By the Lord’s inspiration, it is often a younger person who knows what is best.”

Some members of the council would direct Vatican offices; others would come to Rome for regular consultation. Membership could be proportionate to the Catholic populations throughout the world, chosen for a specified term on the recommendation of grass-roots representative caucuses of clergy and laity. The combined college and council would share three functions: administer the Vatican offices, advise the pope and select his successor.

These laypeople would offer much-needed perspective on the impact of the teachings and practices of the church, including such divisive subjects as contraception, the role of women in the church, the treatment of homosexuals and the failure of authorities to respond quickly and forcefully to the scandal of sexual abuse by members of the clergy. They would understand other pastoral failings, like the denial of the Eucharist to public persons because of their political positions, a too modest peace and justice agenda, lackluster liturgies with unprepared sermons and insensitive celebrants.

One may object that this initiative is a “pie in the sky” idea that the clerical establishment would never accept. Perhaps. Yet the implementation of specific alternatives like a lay council need not threaten the current leadership. For the authority of the church “is exercised in the service of truth and charity” (“Ut Unum Sint,” No. 3). Nor would a council undermine the pope’s authority. As Pope John Paul II wrote of the papacy: “The authority proper to this ministry is completely at the service of God’s merciful plan and it must always be seen in this perspective” (No. 92). Discerning that plan is a task that Catholics should take on together.

Following Pope John Paul’s example, we encourage our readers, clergy and lay, to evaluate this proposal and suggest other reforms that would achieve the same goals. The church has survived these 2,000 years because at key moments it chose the path of renewal. It may be that another such moment has arrived. Read more at www.americamagazine.org

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bs93p

Amplify’d from ncronline.org

America: Time for laity at the top

by Tom Roberts

NCR Today

Printer-friendly versionSend to friendPDF version "You say your grandmother's a cardinal?" "Your dad's meeting regularly with cardinals in Rome?" Maybe not so unrealistic as it sounds. A recent America magazine editorial advances daring proposals that the magazine itself had to admit might sound "pie in the sky." But they just may be ideas whose time is long overdue: change canon law and/or create structures within the church that place laity near the top decision makers. The Jesuit publication, in its Feb. 21 issue, editorialized that the "fundamental criticism of the institutional church" in the various crises that have jolted the church in the United States, England and Europe, "is that its clerical, all-male establishment has not made room for other voices. There is no need to list the number of recent policy decisions, from Rome to home, which would have been more prudent if only a variety of laypersons had been consulted." Read the full proposals here.

Tom Roberts's blog Read more at ncronline.org

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bs93l

Pax Christi USA moving national HQ to Washington

Amplify’d from cnsblog.wordpress.com

Pax Christi USA moving national HQ to Washington

by Dennis Sadowski

(CNS Photo/Nancy Wiechec)

Seeking to raise its profile on Capitol Hill and beyond, Pax Christi USA is moving its national headquarters from Erie, Pa., to Washington.

The move will allow the U.S. arm of Pax Christi International, the international Catholic peace organization, to more readily address issues related to global conflicts, nuclear disarmament, justice for the world’s most vulnerable people and environmental concerns.

“We’re at a point where our voice needs to be heard on a much more national scene,” said Sister Josie Chrosniak, a member of the Sisters of the Humility of Mary and chairwoman of the organization’s national council. “We need to be where it can have the most effect.

“We need to speak to people in positions that can create change in the government as well as in the church,” she told Catholic News Service from Cleveland. “As we grow and as we get stronger relationships with some of the other organizations speaking truth to power, in a sense we really need to be where they are and many are in Washington.”

Executive director Dave Robinson will continue in his position.

The organization has worked for nearly a decade to increase its Washington presence. It opened a Washington office in 2002 and more recently expanded that presence by moving to the Center of Concern and starting an internship program.

Ursuline Sister Dianna Ortiz coordinates the Washington office.

Pax Christi USA opened its national office in Erie in 1986 thanks to the support of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie. While Pax Christi eventually bought its own building and expanded staff and activities as its membership grew, the location proved to be less than ideal in working with government officials and other national and international organizations.

Sister Josie said the organization is grateful for the support the Erie Benedictines offered early on and over the years.

Expect Pax Christi USA to broaden its message to include environmental concerns as well.

“Somebody has to speak to the violence that is happening to the earth. We need to … speak on how to stop that violence,” Sister Josie said.

The move is scheduled to be completed this summer.

Latest Posts A lesson in U.S. black Catholic history Pax Christi USA moving national HQ to Washington Rooms still available for Blessed John Paul II weekend Forget this year’s red carpet hoopla: Consider yesteryear’s stars, films with Catholic connection Taking a shine to Martin Sheen Virtually there: Small Christian communities online in Africa Indian Catholic magazine makes impressive debut Confronting sex abuse rage: a priest’s story Home is where the heart is, even for Kenyan street kids Nairobi’s Catholic children talk about mission Read more at cnsblog.wordpress.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bs938

Will a bankruptcy case destroy the Jesuits once again?

Amplify’d from www.secularnewsdaily.com

Jesuit Bankruptcy Redux

Will a bankruptcy case destroy the Jesuits once again?

The Jesuits are bankrupt again. At least, some of them are. Is there any chance that the current bankruptcy will have as devastating a consequence for the entire order as the first time this happened, almost 250 years ago? A week ago, 37 lawsuits totaling about $3.1 million were filed in a Portland, Oregon bankruptcy court against organizations affiliated with the Jesuit province covering the northwestern United States. Two years earlier, that province had filed for bankruptcy, claiming assets of approximately $4.8 million and liabilities of nearly $62 million, after having paid out some $25 million in settlement of sex abuse lawsuits since 2001. The current round of lawsuits seeks to recover payments made by the province to various affiliated organizations shortly before the bankruptcy filing. The plaintiffs aren’t necessarily alleging that these payments were fraudulently hiding assets from creditors, but our laws do permit the recovery of even some above-board pre-bankruptcy payments, and the plaintiffs naturally want to leave no stone unturned. The critical issue here is “What exactly is ‘the Jesuits’?” Consider Spokane’s Gonzaga University, an asset-rich organization that is run by the Jesuits of the northwestern province. Its advertising for decades has proclaimed it to be a Jesuit institution; now that there’s money on the line, it quite vociferously asserts that it is not really “owned” by the Jesuits at all. As one plaintiff’s attorney put it: The Gonzaga argument about it’s not really part of the Oregon Province is like Pontiac arguing it’s not really part of General Motors. Yeah, it may be a separate corporation, but it functions as part and parcel of the same organization. Ultimately a court will decide just how separate Gonzaga University and a number of other Jesuit outfits (such as a $7 million retreat for priests at Hayden Lake, Idaho) really are from “the Jesuits” who have the $62 million liability. My completely uninformed guess is that the sharp lawyers who set up the intricate web of connected corporations will be found to have done their jobs competently, and that the losers will be the people who are owed the $62 million. They will end up with only a few cents on the dollar, and most of the Jesuit empire will roll along unscathed. But no matter how badly things turn out in this case, they won’t be as catastrophic as the first time the “Who are ‘the Jesuits’?” issue arose, in 1764 France.

Loyola: 'We must see black as white, if the Church says so.'

The “Company of Jesus” had been established by Ignatius Loyola in 1534 as an elite, ultra-disciplined corps of counter-revolutionaries with a single mission: support the Pope, God’s mouthpiece on earth, in his struggles against Protestant heretics. Education of the upper classes was an early mission; cementing relationships with the future rulers they tutored, Jesuits worked their way into the position of “confessors” – priests who heard the sins of kings, forgave them on God’s behalf, and whispered in their ears what God wanted them to do. They developed a reputation for laxity on matters of morality, overlooking the sexual foibles of the powerful who did their political bidding. Father Benzi, for example, wrote that “It is only a slight offense to feel the breasts of a nun.” Though Jesuits didn’t use “the end justifies the means” as a mantra, they may as well have. One Jesuit document noted that “Actions intrinsically evil, and directly contrary to the divine laws, may be innocently performed by those who have so much power over their own minds as to join, even ideally, a good end to the wicked action contemplated.” Loyola himself wrote that: “We must see black as white, if the Church says so.” Political assassination became a favorite Jesuit technique; the king of France and the Stadholder of Holland fell to Jesuit conspiracies, and the Queen of England nearly did as well. Jesuits were also encouraged to lie, whenever doing so would advance their cause. For example, “A man may lawfully say he did not kill Peter, meaning privately another man of that name, or that he did not do it before he was born.” Enterprising Spanish Jesuits busied themselves in fabricating ancient documents and relics to make Spain’s Catholic heritage appear far more embedded in its culture than it really was. When the Pope in 1680 ordered the Jesuits to stop teaching this doctrine, the Superior General chose not to communicate the Pope’s decree to his subordinates.

Jesuits made, then lost, a fortune in the slave trade

Loyola had prescribed vows of poverty for his followers, but after the Pope gave the Company the right to engage in banking and commerce it grew immensely wealthy, with its fingers in commercial enterprises around the globe. In 1760, a Jesuit slave-trading business on the island of Martinique became unable to pay its bills. Angry creditors back in Marseilles did not appreciate being offered satisfaction in the form of a Mass to be said on their behalf rather than cash; they filed a lawsuit against the Company itself, claiming it was a single entity, responsible for the bills of each of its subsidiaries – exactly the argument of today’s plaintiffs in Oregon. Though the Jesuits argued that their Martinique representative was acting beyond his authority, and that anyway they were doing God’s work and should be considered above petty commercial law, they lost. They then committed the colossal blunder of appealing the verdict to the Parliament of Paris, even though they knew it to be sympathetic to a Church faction that Jesuits had been persecuting for decades. The Parliament of Paris proceeded to launch a thorough investigation of the hitherto secret governing documents of the entire order, to determine just how independent the Martinique operation really was. Revelation after revelation piled up, not only about Jesuit business operations but about their disdain for government officials who did not carry out God’s will as they saw it. The ultimate outcome was a shocker: After Parliament confirmed every claim of the Marseilles merchants, a special council concluded that for promoting “a doctrine authorizing robbery, lying, perjury, impurity – all passions and crimes; inculcating homicide, parricide, and regicide; overturning religion, in order to substitute in her stead superstition; and thereby sanctioning magic, blasphemy, irreligion, and idolatry,” the Jesuit order must be banned from France. Its schools would be closed, its wealth nationalized.

Voltaire: 'Why, then, should the Jesuits make such an outcry?'

When their hearts resumed beating, French Jesuits assured themselves that the very Catholic king would never allow this order to stand. As indeed he would not have – but for the fact that precisely at this time, Voltaire was bombarding Paris with letters, pamphlets and books about the horrendous evil the clergy had committed in Toulouse in the Jean Calas case (about which I’ll be writing more in October), and getting the opinion-makers of Europe to join in his campaign. Although the Company actually had little or no direct involvement with the events in Toulouse, it drowned in the tsunami of Voltaire’s abuse, which proved that it was possible for common sense to prevail over even the most powerful of God experts. A visiting German princess wrote that “At Paris, among the clergy or laity, I do not believe there are a hundred persons who hold the true faith.” The king let the dissolution order stand. Voltaire expressed his views on the Jesuit plight in his Treatise on Tolerance: In like manner, if these latter have been found to teach the most reprehensible doctrines, and if their institution appears contrary to the laws of the kingdom, it becomes necessary to abolish their society, and of Jesuits to make them useful citizens; which, in fact, so far from being an oppression upon them, as has been pretended, is a real good done for them; for where is the great oppression of being obliged to wear a short coat instead of a long gown, or to be free instead of being slave? In time of peace whole regiments are broken without complaining. Why, then, should the Jesuits make such an outcry, when they are broken for the sake of peace? Other countries soon followed suit; in 1773, Pope Clement XIV dissolved the Company of Jesus altogether. It was only reconstituted in 1814, after the forces of reaction had dismantled revolutionary France.

The priest who brought down the Jesuits

So no matter what happens in Oregon, it won’t hold a candle to 1764. By a sublime irony, though, there is one more connection between the time when Toulouse brought down the entire order, and the current siege. Most of the $62 million in Jesuit liabilities arose from sex abuse verdicts and settlements, the chief villain of which was a Jesuit priest who began raping boys in 1950 and continued doing so until 1970, despite attention being drawn to his activities by a pistol-wielding parent. Instead of having him arrested, the Jesuits simply moved him from spot to spot; he wound up at Jesuit-run Seattle University, where after his death a lectureship in philosophy was established in his name. The name? Father Toulouse. Related articles: The Trial of the Catholic Church: A Tale of Moral and Financial Bankruptcy Head of Henri IV Returned The true face of faith healing ChristianChirp Founder's Fraud Complaint "ChristianChirp": Twitter for Self-Segregating Christians!

Latest News Freedom Bill ‘ideal vehicle to scrap law on compulsory worship in schools’ Was America Founded To Be A Christian Nation?: AU’s Oklahoma Chapter Welcomes Debate Top Secular Headlines February 28, 2011 Church of England’s opposition to gay marriage highlights need for disestablishment Jesuit Bankruptcy Redux Read more at www.secularnewsdaily.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bs92k

Sex abuse suits seek $3.1 million Jesuits sent to their ministries

Amplify’d from www.catholicsentinel.org

Suits seek money Jesuits sent to their ministries

Lawyers for those accusing Jesuit priests of sex abuse say an extra $3.1 million should be added to a Jesuit asset tally, which is being used to parcel out settlement amounts. The attorneys are not accusing the Oregon Province of Jesuits or any of its affiliated ministries of attempting to hide the funds, but say the money spent before the 2009 declaration of bankrupcty simply should be figured in. The declaration came in the form of 37 lawsuits seeking money from various payees and ministries of the Jesuits, including Jesuit High School. The suits were filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Portland Feb. 17. The lawsuits say the Jesuits sent money to many of its entities before the bankruptcy filing. Among those was Jesuit High, which received about $31,000. Gonzaga University in Spokane got $232,000. The Jesuit Volunteer Corps got a $17,000 payment that plaintiffs want included in the settlement amount.    This educational aid and other payments were made at a time when accusers were seeking settlements. "I don't think this is a hiding issue," plaintiffs' attorney James Stang told the Oregonian. "It's not illegal. This is what Jesuits do. They support education. That's a fine thing to do, when you're not insolvent." Other funds helped train Jesuit seminarians, care for elderly Jesuits, pay faculty and support tuition for students in need. Between 2001 and early 2009, the Jesuits settled more than 200 legal claims, paying out $25 million for abuse that occured decades ago and mostly in Alaska. The bankruptcy of two years ago was a way to save money for remaining and subsequent suits and make sure settlements are equitable. "Jesuit High School contends that those claims are completely without merit," says a statement from the school. "Jesuit High School's assets are not at risk in any way due to the Oregon Province's bankruptcy proceeding or this latest claim by the creditors' committee. We will remain a fiscally healthy institution committed to educating young men and women in the Jesuit, Catholic tradition." Jesuit Father Patrick Lee, provincial superior of the Oregon Province of Jesuits, said he could not comment on the lawsuits "out of respect for the judicial process and all involved." Read more at www.catholicsentinel.org

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bs91c

The Church and Its Abuse

Amplify’d from skinnersnotes.blogspot.com

The Church and Its Abuse

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but he whoso confesseth and forshaketh them shall have mercy.”  Proverbs 28:113

“The sins of the common, untutored people are nothing in comparison with the sins that are committed by great and high persons that are in spiritual and temporal offices.”

Luther, Table Talk

Stories about members of the Catholic clergy abusing children continue to appear in the press.  A Sunday’s New York Time Magazine article (February 13, 2011) featured a report by Russell Shorto, “The Irish Affliction,” detailing the sexual abuse (I believe more accurate terms are “sexual assault” and “rape.”) of children perpetrated by priests throughout Ireland.

Besides the thousands of cases in Ireland, which makes that country only second to the US in the number of cases, Shorto cites reports of clergy sexual abuse in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, Britain, Italy, Spain, France, Malta, Switzerland, Austria, Mexico, New Zealand, Canada, Kenya, the Philippines, and Australia.  Though this list might seem shockingly long, it does not report all the countries that have experienced abuse by Catholic clergy.

More tales of horror will, no doubt, surface in the future (See Washington Post, L.A. Cardinal’s legacy tainted by priest abuse.” Saturday, February 26, 2011).  But how many victims have remained silent over the years and how many victims from centuries past took the abuse they suffered silently to their graves?         One particularly disturbing story that has made its way into the news is that of Marie Collins.  Collins told the curate of her parish about a priest who sexually abused her when she was thirteen.  The curate listened to her ordeal and then informed her that she “may have tempted” the priest into “digitally raping” her.

Other depositions and news stories have revealed that the church would sometimes pay off victims and then convince them to sign nondisclosure agreements, prohibiting them from speaking about what they suffered.  In other cases, church authorities transferred abusive priests to different parishes when complaints against them became too clamorous to contain.

Worst of all, the Vatican frequently asserted it had legal jurisdiction over priests accused of abusing children in order to shield them from criminal prosecution. These tactics were part of a ubiquitous pattern of concealing the crimes being perpetrated by their priests.          Through its history, the church had been more interested in protecting its reputation and wealth than the lives of the young.  But now that the church is buried in an avalanche of public evidence, one would expect at least a trickle of mea culpa to emanate from the Vatican.  Nevertheless, Rome rejects responsibility for these crimes and dismisses the fact that it covered them up.  One wonders, what makes this self-proclaimed guardian of morals blind to its own culpability?         The mendacity of the Vatican has persuaded all but the most docile and dogmatic supporters (The Catholic League for one) to see the church for what it is: an accessory to numberless counts of sexual abuse, sexual assault and rape. Though it might attempt more subterfuge, it can no longer disguise its history of obstructing justice and helping perpetrators evade punishment.         To anyone with the most rudimentary moral sense, it’s astounding that an institution guilty of covering up thousands of sex crimes continues to censure society’s “immoral” culture and behavior.  Yet, as its own crimes pour out for everyone to see, the Vatican still tries to deceive the world about the rot circulating through its clergy body.  Rome’s duplicity reflects a controlling hierarchy trapped in an archaic system of beliefs, beliefs of an insular male culture that sees issues involving women, marriage, celibacy, sexuality and the contemporary world through a warped lens of a medieval theology and philosophy.         If the church is to purge itself of their foul crimes, it would first have to launch itself into the twenty-first century by modernizing all of its positions on the issues above.  But that is more than unlikely, since it would require jettisoning an all male hierarchy that will never surrender its control and power. Read more at skinnersnotes.blogspot.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bs8zv