A Catholic Monsignor Is Defrocked for Sexually Abusing a Student

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A Monsignor Is Defrocked for Abusing a Student

By PAUL VITELLO

A once-influential Roman Catholic monsignor who oversaw fund-raising for the Archdiocese of New York, running the annual Alfred E. Smith political dinner during the tenure of Cardinal John J. O’Connor, has been removed from the priesthood after an eight-year church review of sexual abuse accusations against him, the archdiocese announced on Friday.

Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

Msgr. Charles M. Kavanagh, in a 2003 photo, was defrocked by a Roman Catholic church tribunal that reviewed allegations that he sexually abused a seminarian in the 1980s. He was one of the highest-ranking priests in New York to face accusations of sexual misconduct.

The monsignor, Charles M. Kavanagh, 73, has denied the charges, which were brought against him by a former student at the former Cathedral Preparatory Seminary in Manhattan. The monsignor contested an archdiocesan review board’s finding of guilt in 2003, then asked the Vatican to authorize a formal trial by a tribunal of priests from another diocese. When that body also found him guilty, he sought an appeal from a second tribunal.

On Wednesday, the second tribunal concluded its review, ruling that Monsignor Kavanagh should be defrocked, said Joseph Zwilling, the spokesman for the New York archdiocese. The announcement was made after two days, late on a Friday afternoon, because “we have not dealt with this kind of situation before,” Mr. Zwilling said.

Nineteen priests in the archdiocese have been discharged from the priesthood since 2002, when a sexual abuse scandal shook the church nationwide, but Monsignor Kavanagh is the only one who has pursued the full complement of appeals available to him, Mr. Zwilling said. He is also one of the highest-ranking local priests to have been caught up in the accusations.

Daniel Donohue, 46, the former seminarian who accused Monsignor Kavanagh of making unwanted advances and touching him inappropriately in the 1980s, said, “I’m glad for the validation of my credibility.” But he criticized the slowness and opacity of the church’s judicial process. “For eight years, I never knew where the process was,” he said by phone from Portland, Ore., where he lives with his wife and four children. “I have classmates who are going through similar processes. I just hope it doesn’t take eight years for them, too.”

Mr. Donohue first took his accusations to the archdiocese and the Manhattan district attorney’s office in 2002. Within months, following initial investigations by both authorities, the archdiocese ordered the monsignor to halt his active ministry. Throughout the process of review, trial and appeal, the archdiocese released no information about the case except to confirm that it was continuing.

In a statement on Friday, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, a successor to Cardinal O’Connor, said: “Although all of this took place before my arrival as archbishop, I am well aware of the seriousness of the charges involved in this case, and I am grateful for the careful way that it has been handled by my predecessor, Cardinal Egan, and by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. I would like to take this occasion to renew our apologies to all those who have been harmed by the sin and crime of sexual abuse, and in particular to apologize to the gentleman who was the victim in this case.”

Monsignor Kavanagh was rector at Cathedral Prep at the time of the sexually charged events described by Mr. Donohue. He was later a much-admired pastor at St. Raymond’s Church in the Bronx, and in 1994 Cardinal O’Connor appointed him the archdiocese’s vicar of development. His stature in the church hierarchy was further cemented when he was asked to organize the cardinal’s funeral in 2000.

Supporters flocked to defend Monsignor Kavanagh after the accusations were made. He was defiant at a dinner in his honor in 2003, telling a banquet hall filled with 300 friends that he had never abused anybody. “My integrity is in place,” he said. “I will be vindicated.”

A family spokesman said Friday that the former monsignor would not comment. In a statement, Ann Mandt, who identified herself as former Monsignor Kavanagh’s sister and lawyer, said he remained adamant that he had never abused Mr. Donohue or anyone else. But, she added, he is now disillusioned with the church.

“After more than eight years,” she wrote, “he and his family now know that the church, in reaction to its own mistakes and as a way of ‘cleaning up a mess’ it created, has decided that ‘the good of the church’ must come before a person’s rights and any sense of due process.”

The statement concluded: “He is an innocent man, and he will never give up his fight for justice. We pray that people will stand with him in this struggle.” Read more at www.nytimes.com

 

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WikiLeaks exposes Pope as supporter of GMOs

by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

(NaturalNews) Though the Vatican refuses to issue a public stance on genetically-modified organisms (GMO), several leaked cables have revealed that Pope Benedict XVI secretly favors GMOs and believes more should be done to encourage their spread around the world. Both a leaked cable from June and one from November confirm the Pope's endorsement of biotechnology and the Vatican push to promote its use. The June 2009 report, which was recently confirmed by a Vatican spokesperson, explains that the Pope believes "further infrastructure development" is necessary to increase "food security." And the November 2009 report elucidates even further, proclaiming that "[t]he Vatican's own scientific academy has stated that there is no evidence GMOs are harmful, and that they could indeed be part of addressing global food security." Apparently the Vatican "scientific academy" overlooked key data highlighting the link between GMOs and a host of serious health problems, including sterility, organ damage, diabetes, obesity and severe allergic reactions. And pesticides like Monsanto's Roundup (glyphosate) that are used on GMO crops are causing birth defects, miscarriages and cancer in humans, not to mention a mass die-off of nature's important pollinators like bees, bats and butterflies. The leaked reports coincide with others that exposed the U.S. State Department's agenda of forcing GMOs upon the nations of the world. This U.S. effort on behalf of biotechnology includes the Obama Administration's "Evergreen Revolution," a program designed to spread GMOs to Africa just like the first "Green Revolution" did in India (http://www.naturalnews.com/030695_G...). The State Department is also pushing the Vatican to increase its vocal support for GMOs "in the hope that a louder voice in Rome will encourage individual church leaders elsewhere to reconsider their critical views."

Sources for this story include:

http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/20... http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2009/11/0...

Articles Related to This Article: • Monsanto: The world's poster child for corporate manipulation and deceit • Codex Designates GMOs as Contaminants in Food • Genetically Modified Organisms are Unfit for Consumption • Top Five Ways to Avoid GMOs in Your Food • Why You Should Say No to GMOs (Opinion) • Take Action to Get GMOs Out of the Food Supply Read more at www.naturalnews.com

 

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WikiLeaks: Vatican backed out of Holocaust Task Force

URL:  http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.asp...

US cable reveals Vatican officials reneged due to concerns about pressure to declassify records from WWII-era pontificate of Pope Pius XII.



The Vatican backed out of a prior written agreement to become an observer on the International Task Force on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research (ITF), a US diplomatic cable from October 2009 leaked to the Guardian revealed.



US diplomatic officials said the move "complicated Vatican foreign relations" but may have been made "due to concerns about ITF pressure to declassify records from the WWII-era pontificate of Pope Pius XII.



According to the cable three members of the ITF visited Rome to finalize arrangements with the Holy See to become an ITF observer but the plan "had fallen apart completely...due to Vatican back-pedaling."



"Team members -- Austrian Ambassador Ferdinand Trauttsmandorff, US Professor Steve Katz of the Elie Wiesel Center at Boston University, and Dina Porat, the Israeli academic advisor to the ITF -- expressed considerable disappointment about the unexpected set-back," the cable reported.



The cable was critical of the Vatican's new foreign relations team who had been changed since the original agreement to join the ITF had been made.



The members of the ITF delegation believed reluctance to uncover archived documents was behind the decision, rejecting the notion that the Vatican backed out of the agreement in order to pressure Israel on a deal to normalize relations with the Holy See.



"The ITF team did not believe the Vatican was sending - via the decision to slow progress on the ITF observer status -- a subtle message to Israel about the need for progress in the Fundamental Agreement talks. Time will tell."

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European court ruling on abortion

Madam, – I would like firstly to ask Cardinal Seán Brady a question regarding his expressed thoughts on last week’s European Court of Human Rights’ ruling on the right to life of Irish mothers when their life is truly threatened by pregnancy. I hope he cares enough to reply – and not through his secretary. Does he realise how disturbing it is to see him attempt to insert himself into a relationship of any sort with Irish civil law when he is Irish CEO of an organisation which never bothered with civil law when it should have. And whose so-called “norms” of July 2010 still say only to co-operate with civil authorities “where local laws require it”? The norms document very clearly does not say to “contact civil authorities” and in the small print it states that priests will have “benefit of clergy” which means they will not be given over to civil authorities by the church. So what’s the deal? Is the church in or out of Irish civil law? And if it’s in, does that mean it’s really in, or only when it suits it? Also, this week’s remark by Pope Benedict on paedophilia that “In the 1970s paedophilia was theorised as something fully in conformity with man and even with children” (World News, December 21st) are absolutely warped and display the paedophilic mentality which tries to make the children complicit. Who theorised such a thing? Children were never in conformity with paedophilia. When did such theorising cease? Why were we never told that it had been the theory? And why was this said in a situation where the general public can’t ask the burning questions? Any other head of state making such a remark would be asked to stand down. This is a clear insight into the mind of the man who oversaw the Vatican response to child rape allegations for the past 30 years and who is now running the church. Can we please now stand up and say we will not go any further with this man as pope. He must stand down immediately and hand the church over to the people. – Yours, etc, SINEAD O’CONNOR, Strand Road, Bray, Co Wicklow. Madam, – It perplexes me that any rational person can support the view that a woman who has threatened suicide should be entitled to an abortion. How can it be argued that pregnancy is the primary issue which ought to be addressed, and not any other underlying issue such as a history of depression, mental illness, or other personal circumstances? To my knowledge, medical science has not discovered any inherent link between pregnancy and the sudden onset of suicidal thoughts. Unpreventable medical or obstetrical problems can of course arise during a pregnancy which threaten the life of the mother. In such circumstances it is entirely appropriate that medical intervention should take place in an attempt to save her life, even if it is at the expense of the life of her unborn child. However, the suicide of a pregnant woman is an entirely preventable outcome. Pregnancy is a transient condition lasting only nine months, which is more than enough time for the appropriate counselling and treatment to be given to the mother to prevent her self-harm. Surely this is preferable to resorting to the most drastic course of action possible, namely the abortion of an unborn child? It is universally agreed that there is rarely one single factor which causes a person to contemplate suicide, nor are there any quick-fix solutions for such feelings. So why should our legal system accept that pregnancy is the primary catalyst for the suicidal thoughts of a mother, or allow an abortion to be presented as a quick-fix solution? – Yours, etc, BARRY WALSH, Brooklawn, Clontarf, Dublin 3. Madam, – I fail to see what all the fuss over the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling is about, especially on the part of pro-abortion campaigners. While it does indeed call for legislation on abortion on the basis of the 1992 X-case, in the real world the X case does not allow for abortion. The ruling in X determined that a pregnant woman, (or child) was entitled to an abortion if there was an imminent threat to her life and that could only be avoided by abortion. As medical and psychiatric evidence points out, there is never any medical necessity for abortion. There may be cases where pregnancies need to terminated early, (as in my case when I suffered from severe pre-eclampsia) but in those instances when a very pre-mature baby is delivered, every effort should be made to save the baby’s life, even if in the end it proves fruitless. Similarly, no pregnant woman is denied life-saving treatment, even if as a consequence, the baby dies. Pro-abortion campaigners are being dangerously disingenuous by trying to convince us that abortion is a cure for cancer, depression or any other ill. – Yours, etc, MARIA Mhic MHEANMAIN, Elizabeth Street, Dublin 3. Read more at www.irishtimes.com

 

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What Terrorizes India? Secret Vatican plot to take over India

Amplify’d from www.wallstreetjournal.com

What Terrorizes India?

By SADANAND DHUME

Is Hindu radicalism a bigger threat to India than the Lashkar-e-Taiba? Yes, if you are to believe Rahul Gandhi, the ruling Congress Party's 40-year-old general secretary, widely regarded as India's prime minister in waiting. According to a cable released last week by WikiLeaks, Mr. Gandhi had this to say last year in response to a question U.S. Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer posed about the Pakistan-based transnational terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba—responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks: "The bigger threat may be the growth of radicalized Hindu groups, which create religious tensions and political confrontations with the Muslim community."

Predictably enough, Mr. Gandhi's comment has ignited a firestorm of protest. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, a man not best known for his subtlety, accused Mr. Gandhi of giving "inspiration" to the United States's alleged pro-Pakistan tilt. To his credit, departing from his party's initial instinct to dismiss the leaked cable as part of a conspiracy, Mr. Gandhi did not disavow his comments. Instead, his party issued a clarification stating that in Mr. Gandhi's view "terrorism and communalism of all types are a threat to India."

This anodyne formulation does little to reassure those who believe that when it comes to radical Islam, Mr. Gandhi and his party are at best dangerously naïve and at worst calculatingly cynical. Taken together with earlier remarks by Mr. Gandhi and senior Congress Party leaders, the comment to Mr. Roemer is part of a disturbing pattern. In October, Mr. Gandhi likened another terrorist group, the banned Students Islamic Movement of India, to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Corps), a grassroots Hindu-nationalist organization that provides the opposition BJP with many of its foot soldiers, and much of its ideology and leadership.

Another senior Congress leader, Digvijay Singh, has repeatedly pandered to the most conspiracy-minded elements of India's 140-million strong Muslim population. Earlier this month, Mr. Singh hinted that Hemant Karkare, a top policeman shot by Lashkar-e-Taiba militants during the Mumbai attacks, may have been killed by militant Hindus upset by his investigation into bomb blasts ascribed to them. Mr. Singh has also questioned the official account of a 2008 terrorist shootout in New Delhi that claimed the life of a highly decorated policeman.

Two years ago, he backed the assertion of another Congress leader, Abdul Rehman Antulay, that terrorists "had no reason to kill Karkare." Another leaked U.S. embassy cable from the time described Mr. Antulay's statement as "outlandish": evidence that the Congress "will readily stoop to the old caste/religious-based politics if it feels it is in its interest."

A fanatical mob, yes, but not terrorists.

To concur with this view is not to sympathize with Hindu nationalism. Indeed, at a superficial level radical Islam and Hindu nationalism have much in common. Both represent a kind of religious tribalism marked by a sense of victimhood and deep suspicion of outsiders. Both radical Islamists and Hindu nationalists are prone to wild conspiracy theories—that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were planned by the U.S. government, or that Mr. Gandhi, whose mother, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, is Italian by birth, represents a secret Vatican plot to take over India. Both share a deep fascination with Western technology, and an aversion to Western culture. Both place group identity above individual rights.

But the similarities end there. Simply put, the notion that the radical Hindu threat to India is comparable to that posed by radical Islam is ludicrous. First there's the question of scale. Alleged Hindu terrorists—not one of whom has been convicted—are accused of bomb blasts in 2007 and 2008 in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra that killed 17 people. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, the toll in India from about two dozen radical Islamic terrorist attacks since 9/11 stands at more than 950 dead and many hundreds more injured.

The principal Hindu groups accused of the bombings—Abhinav Bharat and the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti—are ramshackle outfits with few members and scant popular support. The Lashkar-e-Taiba, by contrast, is part of a powerful international network and has close links with both al Qaeda and Pakistan's notorious military intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence. Despite international pressure following the group's 2001 assault on India's parliament and the Mumbai attacks, Islamabad has been loath to move against Lashkar-e-Taiba. In part this is because the group enjoys popular backing in Pakistan's religion-drenched society.

Nor can radical Hinduism—such as it is—claim anything approaching the ambition or ideological rigor of radical Islam. From Morocco to Mindanao, radical Islamists are motivated by the desire to replace man's law with God's law by ordering every aspect of society and the state by the medieval dictates of Shariah law. In ideologues such as the Egyptian Sayyid Qutb (1906-66) and the Pakistani Abul Ala Maududi (1903-79), they find religious justification for terrorism. In Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, they see the possibility of making their dream a reality. In the oil rich kingdoms of the Middle East, they find deep pockets to tap. None of these is true of Hindu groups. The nature of Hindu society—diffuse, lacking a binding tradition and largely comfortable with modernity—makes the emergence of a Hindu equivalent of the Lashkar-e-Taiba difficult to imagine.

In the end, Mr. Gandhi deserves to be criticized not merely because he's wrong, but because his apparent naiveté hurts India. His comment to Mr. Roemer directly undercut one of New Delhi's main foreign policy objectives—to get the international community to take the threat from Pakistan-based terrorist groups more seriously. More broadly, Mr. Gandhi and his party encourage precisely the kind of conspiratorial mindset and culture of grievance among a section of Indian Muslims that they ought to be working to end.

Finally, they raise the uncomfortable prospect of India being led by a man out of touch with the dominant ethos of the country he seeks to lead, one that may be flawed but remains essentially liberal, humane and resistant to any kind of radicalism. In the long run, it's this ignorance, not a handful of Hindu zealots, that poses the greater threat to India.

Mr. Dhume, a columnist for WSJ.com, is writing a book about the new Indian middle class. Follow him on Twitter @dhume01 Read more at www.wallstreetjournal.com

 

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US embassy cables: Vatican retreats from agreement to join Holocaust education taskforce

Friday, 16 October 2009, 14:39 C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 VATICAN 000106 SIPDIS EO 12958 DECL: 10/16/2034 TAGS PREL, SCUL, VT, IS SUBJECT: (C) VATICAN BACKS AWAY FROM DEAL WITH INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST TASK FORCE REF: A. VATICAN 25 B. VATICAN 99 VATICAN 00000106 001.2 OF 002 CLASSIFIED BY: Julieta Valls Noyes, DCM, EXEC, State. REASON: 1.4 (b) 1. (C) Summary: On October 13, the Holy See walked back from a prior written agreement to become an observer on the International Task Force on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research (ITF). The decision may been taken by the Vatican's relatively inexperienced new deputy foreign minister, and if so, would not be the first time he has complicated Vatican foreign relations. But the Vatican may also be pulling back due to concerns about ITF pressure to declassify records from the WWII-era pontificate of Pope Pius XII. Regardless of the cause, the ITF will continue to pursue closer ties with the Holy See in the months ahead. End Summary.

High Hopes Dashed

-----------------

2. (C) Three members of the International Task Force on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research (ITF) visited Rome this week to finalize arrangements with the Holy See to become an ITF observer. However, over lunch on October 13, the team members told the Austrian Ambassador and UK and U.S. DCM's that the plan had fallen apart completely that morning due to Vatican back-pedaling. Team members -- Austrian Ambassador Ferdinand Trauttsmandorff, U.S. Professor Steve Katz of the Elie Wiesel Center at Boston University, and Dina Porat, the Israeli academic advisor to the ITF -- expressed considerable disappointment about the unexpected set-back.

3. (C) They were especially chagrined, Trauttsmandorff said, because the Vatican had first offered more than the ITF asked then rescinded its commitment. Specifically, the ITF had suggested during a February visit to Rome that the Vatican enter into a "special arrangement" with the body. The February talks and follow up discussions went very well (ref a). Subsequently, the then-Deputy Foreign Minister-equivalent at the Holy See, Monsignor Pietro Parolin, wrote to the ITF to indicate that the Vatican wanted more than a "special arrangement" and was prepared to become an ITF observer. (Note: It's unclear whether Parolin suggested permanent observer or observer country status for the Vatican. End Note)

New Vatican Team Disappoints

----------------------------

4. (C) On arrival in Rome in October, though, the ITF had to deal with a new team, as the highly-regarded Parolin had been promoted and sent as Nuncio to Venezuela. Parolin's successor, Msgr. Ettore Balestrero, saw the ITF group instead, at what the ITF team expected to be the final meeting before signing an observer agreement. Surprising the ITF, Balestrero also invited a representative from the Vatican Archives, Msgr. Chappin, and the Holy See's chief negotiator for the long-delayed Vatican-Israel Fundamental Agreement, Father David Jaeger.

5. (C) All three men, Trauttsmandorff said, evinced considerable discomfort with the idea of ITF observer status. Balestrero argued that the Vatican needed to study the implications of the status further before committing, focusing on legalistic impediments that Parolin had already dismissed. Jaeger was hostile overall to the ITF, Porat said. She fiercely criticized his inclusion, saying he had no role to play in a discussion of the ITF's relationship with the Vatican. XXXXXXXXXXXX Porat said that if Jaeger was so rigid about closer ties with the ITF while Austria held its rotating chair, no progress would be possible next year when Israel chairs the body. Trauttsmandorff was less harsh than his colleague but allowed the Jaeger's involvement in the meeting was not constructive. XXXXXXXXXXXX

Connection to the Papal Archives?

---------------------------------

6. (C) The three ITF visitors agreed that Chappin, who had previously been more open to dialogue with them, was very defensive at the October 13 meeting. He believed that the ITF would ask the Archives to release ahead of schedule the documents from the papacy of Pius XII, the World War II-era Pope. (Note: The Vatican releases the documents from each pontificate as a whole. End Note) DCM said that Father Norbert Hofmann, Secretary of the Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with Jews, had told her the preceding week that the files from the entire papacy would be ready for declassification in about five years. Katz thought this was far too rosy a

VATICAN 00000106 002.2 OF 002

scenario given that only six-eight researchers are now reviewing the documents. Although this number is up from the one-two working on them a year ago, he thought it was insufficient to catalog and review the 16 million documents from the Pius XII Papacy.

7. (C) The ITF members acknowledged their wish to gain access to the Pius XII files as soon as possible. Nevertheless, they also accepted the Vatican's arguments, shared by DCM, that ordained clergy must review them first given the possibility that the files contain confessional documents from individual Catholics. Trauttsmandorff insisted, however, that the ITF sought a relationship with the Vatican not only to get access to the Vatican Archives, but also to work jointly with Catholic Church leaders in many countries on anti-racism and remembrance education.

Now What?

---------

8. (C) Despite the disappointment, the ITF members were determined to find a way to move ahead with the Vatican. They concluded that they must now educate new Deputy Foreign Minister Balestrero about the ITF and its role, just as they had done with his predecessor, Parolin. They would also reach out to friends in the Vatican, such as Cardinal Kasper, to exert influence on their behalf. UK DCM indicated that HMG would also express support for ITF goals in discussions with Vatican officials, as did U.S. DCM. The team members left discouraged but committed to keep their eyes on the long-term goal.

Comment

-------

9. (C) Unfortunately, the ITF is only the latest group to run into problems caused by the recent change of personnel at the Vatican Foreign Ministry - others, including this embassy (ref B), have experienced similar problems on other issues. What remains to be seen is whether the ITF's problems are the results of Msgr. Balestrero's growing pains or caused by deeper Vatican uneasiness related to declassification of their Archives. The ITF team did not believe the Vatican was sending - via the decision to slow progress on the ITF observer status -- a subtle message to Israel about the need for progress in the Fundamental Agreement talks. Time will tell. DIAZ Read more at www.guardian.co.uk

 

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WikiLeaks cables: Vatican vetoed Holocaust memorial over Pius XII row

Moves to beatify controversial wartime pope reveal tension between conservatives and liberals in Catholic church

Andrew Brown

Pius XII has long been a controversial figure for his failure publicly to denounce the Holocaust in 1941 or 1942. Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis

The Vatican has withdrawn from a written agreement to join an international Holocaust memorial organisation because of tensions over the activity of Pope Pius XII, the pope during the second world war, American diplomatic cables show.

Relations have become so frosty that the Vatican "rowed back on a prior written agreement" to take up observer status on an international organisation dedicated to remembering the Holocaust and transmitting its lessons to the future, according to Julieta Valls Noyes, the number two at the American embassy to the Holy See.

In October 2009, she reported that the plans for the Vatican to take up observer status at the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research "had fallen apart completely … due to Vatican back-pedalling".

She was unclear whether this was attributable to the newly-appointed deputy foreign minister of the Vatican, Mgr Ettore Balestrero, whom she described as "relatively inexperienced", adding that "this would not be the first time he has complicated Vatican foreign relations".

But she thought it might also indicate that the Vatican "may ... be pulling back due to concerns about ITF pressure to declassify records from the WWII-era pontificate of Pope Pius XII".

Pius XII has long been a controversial figure for his failure publicly to denounce the Holocaust in 1941 or 1942, when the Vatican was first informed of what was going on.

Before becoming pope, he had served as the Vatican ambassador in Berlin. Some Jewish groups have accused him of anti-semitic attitudes; his defenders, among them many other Jews, have argued that any more overt resistance to the Nazis would have been counter-productive, citing the example of the church in the Netherlands, where savage repression and the deportation of many more Jews followed a denunciation of Nazi policies from the pulpit.

Both sides believe they will be proved right by papers in the Vatican archives, but their release has been extremely slow. The American diplomatic cables show a long and increasingly futile effort on behalf of the embassy to mediate between the Vatican archivists and outside historians, bedevilled by mutual mistrust.

The story starts in 2001, when the first attempt to negotiate a solution had already broken down. Father Peter Gumpel, a German Jesuit priest and admirer of Pius XII, who was keeper of the archives, threatened to sue a journalist who suggested that he or his family had been Nazis, the cables show.

"Gumpel also expressed concern about references in the media and in other comments to him as the 'German Jesuit'. Gumpel [said] his family had been victims of Nazi persecution and several had been killed by the Nazis.

He himself had to flee Nazi Germany as a refugee, first to France and then later to Holland. He recalled that at one point a reporter had planned to print an assertion that Gumpel was a Nazi himself – something Gumpel said was libellous, and which he was more than willing to go to court to fight."

The next year, Cardinal Walter Kasper, another German, attempted to restart the dialogue over the papers. The-then American ambassador, Jim Nicholson, reported a conversation with him on December 18 2001. "[Kasper] said that Father Gumpel was the Vatican's best informed living expert on the papacy of Pius XII."

Two months later, partly responding to American pressure, Pope John Paul II, who also wanted his predecessor canonised, authorised the early release of documents relating to Pius XII's earlier career as the Vatican's ambassador to Germany.

Nicholson reported: "The decision … appears to be an attempt by the pope to silence accusations of anti-semitism levelled against his predecessor Pius XII. It may also herald renewed Vatican interest in beatifying Pius XII – free from the pall of scandal and derision.

The decision by Pope John Paul II to dispense with standard operating procedures in this case comes after years of Vatican protestations that this material could not be released because it was not yet properly catalogued. The decision shows that whatever the pope wants, does in fact happen."

But this would not be true for very much longer. As John Paul II sank into the Parkinsonian condition that would eventually kill him in 2005, the Vatican drifted. There is reference to the shortage of researchers, and by the time the subject resurfaces in 2009 all hope of compromise seems gone.

Noyes reported that only six or eight researchers were working on the 16m documents, stored in hundreds of crates, that are left over from Pius XII's papacy. It had earlier taken a team of four Jesuits, working full time, 17 years to produce 12 volumes of his diplomatic correspondence.

One well-informed Jewish observer remarked that the desire to canonise Pius XII stems almost entirely from internal Catholic dynamics.

What really mattered in the struggle between liberals and conservatives was the interpretation of the reforming Second Vatican Council, called by his successor, John XXIII.

Was this a break with the past, as liberals believe, or merely a development, as conservatives see it?

So long as John XXIII is on the road to sainthood, and Pius is blocked, it is harder to maintain that the two men pursued that same policy.

In this context, the Holocaust is not the most important fact about Pius's pontificate, as for Jews it must be. This kind of disagreement could not be solved even if the archives were entirely open, and all the facts were known, and agreed. Read more at www.guardian.co.uk

 

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Indian woman discovers her husband is actually female

Police have launched an investigation after an Indian bride discovered that her husband was in fact a woman.

Image 1 of 2 The marriage certificate of Minati Khatua and Sitakant Routray    Image 1 of 2 Bride Minati Khatua who discovered her husband was a woman

For six months, Minati Khatua, 27, from Rourkela, Orissa, India, was told by her husband, who gave the name Sitakant Routray, that they could not consumate their marriage because "he" was observing a religious ritual. She allegedly discovered her husband's secret when walking in on her spouse in the bath. "I thought he was devout and respectful of me. But when I walked into the bathroom there was no mistaking that my husband was 100 per cent a woman," she told police, who have launched a fraud investigation. The husband has since disappeared. Police believe the groom may have posed as a man to take advantage of the dowry that is traditionally presented upon marriage. The dowry reportedly included a car, gold ornaments and some £350 in cash. Related Articles US ambassador to London Louis Susman 'won't be a lame duck' 22 Dec 2010 Long-term care: get the best deal now 22 Dec 2010 Seven ways to master the long-term care system 22 Dec 2010 Long-term care: how to beat the meanest of means tests 22 Dec 2010 How to pay for long-term care 22 Dec 2010 Allegra Hicks: my stylish Christmas 22 Dec 2010 Read more at www.telegraph.co.uk

 

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Most Catholics in US Congress voted to repeal "don't ask, don't tell"

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Most Catholics in US Congress voted to repeal "don't ask, don't tell"

Of the 160 Catholics serving in the current US Congress (135 in the House of Representatives, 25 in the Senate), 117 voted to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that had barred homosexuals from serving openly in the military.

Thus 73% of the Catholics in Congress approved the new policy-- signed into law by President Obama-- which will allow avowed homosexuals to enlist in the armed services.

Fewer than one-fourth of the Catholic legislators (a total of 39, or 24.4%) voted to retain the "don't ask, don't tell policy. Four Catholic legislators did not cast a ballot on the measure. Read more at www.catholicculture.org

 

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Angels Applying the Seal

by Sabbath Sermons

By John Thiel

This study is a point of detail in the sealing work.

Revelation 7:1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. 2And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea. Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. The angels are saying hurt not the earth till WE have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. This angel is saying to the other angels, holding the 4 winds, don’t let them go till we have sealed. The angels are doing the sealing. What can angels do to seal us? First, what are the angels? Hebrews 1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. Hebrews 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? God makes them flames of fire. They are ministers of God, ministering spirits. The work of the angels is ministering to us. Everything that God communicates to us is at the hand of angels. Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John. Whatever God communicates is signified and sent by angels. Angels have an integrated part in everything God does for us. Zechariah 4:1 And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, 4:2 And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all [of] gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which [are] upon the top thereof: 4:3 And two olive trees by it, one upon the right [side] of the bowl, and the other upon the left [side] thereof. 4:4 So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What [are] these, my lord? Zechariah 4:11 Then answered I, and said unto him, What [are] these two olive trees upon the right [side] of the candlestick and upon the left [side] thereof? 4:12 And I answered again, and said unto him, What [be these] two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden [oil] out of themselves? 4:13 And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these [be]? And I said, No, my lord. 4:14 Then said he, These [are] the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. What was described? What did he see? What were they pouring? The Holy Spirit. The oil is running down the pipes to make the candle stick glow. The two angels receive of the Holy Spirit and pass it on to the pipes into the candlestick. Ministering angels pouring out the Holy Spirit from themselves into the candle stick. What is the candlestick? Revelation 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. The Church Revelation was written by John who received at the hand of the angel. The Holy Spirit came through the angel into John and passed through John into the candlesticks. This is how the church glows, by the Holy Spirit passing on from one to the other. The angels are the ministering spirits that bring the Holy Spirit to us. The pipes are channels. The seven stars are the seven angels which are the ministers in the churches. Ministering angels and beings are all channels. It’s a wonderful revelation of how the Holy Spirit works. He doesn’t work of his own accord, he works through channels. We are vessels as well. The story of the ten Virgins signifies this. The prophets and apostles who receive the word are channels. The people are the church. As they pour out the Holy Spirit from themselves to the church, what do the angels and the holy spirit have to do with the sealing work? The Holy Spirit is what the angels are ministering from. Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. What is the Holy Spirit for? We are sealed by the Holy Spirit. He is not the only one that exercises himself, there is more than one angel. These are the reapers that are doing their work. As they seal, they are exercising the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the avenue of the sealing work. What does the Holy Spirit seal among us? Isaiah 8:16. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. Seal the law! The law is to be sealed among his disciples. It’s a continuing chain of bible communication. Hold back the winds of strife. 2 Corinthians 3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. The angels are ministering to us Jesus Christ writing the law in our hearts. The candle stick is the church and the stars are the ministering spirits. 2 Corinthians 4:6 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. An experience with Jesus is what the angels are ministering. We are epistles of Christ written in the heart, this is referred to in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. Ezekiel 36:25-27 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. Jesus will illuminate our heart. Isaiah 59:21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever. The law is going to be placed into your mouth as well as in your heart. Proverbs 22:17 Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. 22:18 For [it is] a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. Bow down thine ear and hear the words of the wise and apply thine heart unto my knowledge, the knowledge of Jesus in our heart. What is put into the heart is put into the lips. Deuteronomy 30:11-14 For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. 12It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? 13Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? 14But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. The sealing of Gods law in our hearts is powerfully expressed. Its not far away, its going to be placed very close to us. Romans 10:6-9 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above 7Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) 8But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. The word will be in our hearts through the gospel. It will be proclaimed to us through the ministry. People who claim to believe in Jesus and don’t believe in the Ten Commandments need to be sealed. The angels have to seal these people in their foreheads, but it also talks about lips, Isaiah 6:5-8 5Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. The person with unclean lips had to be cleansed and it was the coal from off the altar. Its burning, it’s alive. It touches the lips and purifies the person. The law and the lips. It’s through the work of the angel taking the coal. God is in the temple, he is sending out the man (angel) to slaughter those that aren’t sealed. But what else is this man to do? Ezekiel 9:4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. This is the angel with the writers ink horn by his side. He is to put the seal in their forehead. Ezekiel 10:1-2 Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne. 2And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight. He takes coals from the altar. Those coals of fire are the Holy Spirits energy. What is he to do with these coals? Ezekiel 10:6-7 6And it came to pass, that when he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels. 7And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out. What is the angels work? To scatter the coals over the city. Seal those that are sighing and crying for the abominations, at the same time, he’s to touch their lips with coal. The coal is the Holy Spirit, the oil is the Holy Spirit and so are the flames. The altar of incense represents the prayers of people going up to God. It has to come through the angel, through the ministry, to me. The work of fitting in the lips and heart takes place when he is calling the people out of Babylon. Ezekiel 11:13-20 And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel? 14Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 15Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession. 16Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come. 17Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. 18And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. 19And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: 20That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. All these chapters are telling of the sealing, and gathering the people out of the nations. Ezekiel 34:11-13 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. 12As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 13And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. Everything that we have been studying is the exact picture we see in Revelation 14:12. If anyone who will partake of the beast and his image he will be destroyed by the plagues. Revelation 18:1-4 it says come out of her people, in Ezekiel it says gather the people. I will be there and then the end will come. The angels are holding back the winds of strife, the angel with the writers inkhorn is saying hold off. The Holy Spirit will seal them. They will be rooted in the heart… The whole full and final display will be the people sealed with Jesus in their hearts. What is the seal of the living that is placed in the foreheads of his people? It is the mark that angels, not man can see. The intelligent mind has seen the sign of the cross of Calvary in the Lords adopted sons and daughters. They have on the wedding garment and are obedient and faithful to all the commandments of God. BC Vol 7 page 963. It is not any seal or mark that can been seen, but a settling into the truth both intellectually and spiritually so that they cannot be moved. BC Vol 4 page1161. That is the sealing. Amen. Read more at sabbathsermons.com

 

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