Scottish bishops in public spat

THE leaders of the Catholic Church in Scotland have descended into an extraordinary public spat over claims by a "rogue bishop" that they do not speak out enough against homosexuality.
In an unprecedented move, the Church's two most senior clerics, Cardinal Keith O'Brien and Archbishop Mario Conti, have moved publicly to rebuff a third bishop, Joseph Devine of Motherwell, after he claimed the Church was embarking on "a policy of appeasement".

Devine wrote in a letter last week that he condemned the actions of a senior Church aide who, he claimed, had failed to express opposition to plans to allow gay couples to adopt.
The new laws mean that homosexual men and women who have entered a civil partnership can now adopt as a couple. Previously, they were only allowed to adopt on their own.

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O'Brien urges Muslims to say sorry for 9/11

From Scotland on Sunday
THE leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, has called for Muslims to apologise for the 9/11 and 7/7 bomb attacks, declaring that the public should not have to live "in fear of attack" from believers of the Islamic faith.

In a move that has provoked a storm of outrage, the cardinal claims that, as the Pope apologised for the offence caused last month by his comments on the Islamic faith, so Muslims should now step up and say sorry for the attacks carried out in the name of their faith.

O'Brien said: "There have been no apologies for the shooting of the nun [in Somalia after the Pope made his remarks], let alone for 9/11 or the London bombings. I would like to see some reciprocal moves from the Islamic side. We shouldn't have to live in fear of attack from Muslims."

The cardinal's comments were made in the same interview in which, as was revealed last week, he backed Scottish independence, praising the benefits autonomy could bring. A fuller version of the interview appears in this weekend's Catholic Herald newspaper.

O'Brien expands on his views on the British constitution. He declares that he "would be only too happy to continue to undermine the British State" if it goes on espousing sectarianism in the form of the Act of Settlement - the law which bars Catholics from marrying the heir to the throne.

Last night, the cardinal's views on Islam had stirred up a new controversy, with Muslim leaders furious at the comment. They claimed that as the terrorist attacks were carried out by extremists, mainstream Muslims who had already condemned the actions had nothing to apologise for.

O'Brien's comments came after he was asked which trend in society posed the greater threat in Europe: secularisation of Islamicisation.

He replied: "Secularisation is the greatest threat. Muslims are firm in their faith and in their views. They believe in one God. That is a point of identification; though it can also produce tensions. Muslims coming here are free to build mosques, but Christians in Muslim countries are often oppressed."

He then raised the issue of the Pope's apology, made after he had quoted a 14th-century Christian emperor who had declared the Prophet Muhammad brought the world only evil and inhuman things, and made his comments on no reciprocal apology from Islam for the US attacks or London bombings last year.

...............

O'Brien's comments came after he was asked which trend in society posed the greater threat in Europe: secularisation or Islamicisation.
He replied: "Secularisation is the greatest threat. Muslims are firm in their faith and in their views. They believe in one God. That is a point of identification; though it can also produce tensions. Muslims coming here are free to build mosques, but Christians in Muslim countries are often oppressed."

British Airways: Veil/Turban Yes but Cross No

from Fox News - A British Airways employee was suspended from work for refusing to remove a necklace bearing a Christian cross, a British newspaper reported Saturday. Nadia Eweida, a check-in worker at Heathrow Airport, told the Daily Mail she was suing the airline for religious discrimination after being sent home for breaching BA's dress code. "British Airways permits Muslims to wear a headscarf, Sikhs to wear a turban and other faiths religious apparel. Only Christians are forbidden to express their faith," Eweida was quoted as saying. British Airways said company policy said employees must wear jewelry, including religious symbols, under their uniforms. "This rule applies for all jewelry and religious symbols on chains and is not specific to the cross," the airline said in a statement. "Other items such as turbans, hijabs and bangles can be worn as it is not practical for staff to conceal them beneath their uniforms." Liberal Democrat lawmaker Vincent Cable, who represents Eweida's home area of Twickenham in west London, said it was "absolutely mind-boggling that Britain's flag-carrying airline could treat its employees in such a disgraceful and petty manner." "Nadia is a devout Christian who was displaying her faith, but in a modest and totally unprovocative manner," he said. "It is absolutely right that other religious minorities be allowed exemption from the dress code, but why can't a Christian be treated in the same way?" Religious symbols and dress have been a hot topic of debate in Britain since former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw sparked controversy last week by saying he asks veiled Muslim women to uncover their faces when he meets with them.

Cardinal's odds

Speaking after his first private audience with Pope Benedict XVI, the Cardinal – who, according to Canon Law, must offer his resignation to the Pontiff when he turns 75 – said that he did not know if his time as spiritual leader of Catholics in England and Wales was nearing its end.
He said: “I will offer my resignation when I reach the age of 75 and after that I will wait for the response of the Holy Father. I leave it all in his hands, and I am quite open to whatever decision he makes then.”The Cardinal’s comments may surprise PaddyPower, the bookmakers which was so convinced that he would step down next year that it opened a book entitled “Who will be the next Archbishop of Westminster?”
Some Catholic commentators have even suggested that the Cardinal’s resignation might happen this year, following reports of his ill-health and rumours that Rome was unhappy with the leadership of the Church in England and Wales.

But the Cardinal – reportedly looking well after a busy week in which he had travelled to Russia for an important ecumenical meeting with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II – insisted that relations with the Vatican were better than ever. “The fact of the matter is that they have never been so good,” he said, “and I speak from 30 years experience as a bishop.

Here are the odds:-
7-2 Kevin McDonald (Southwark)
9-2 Alan Hopes (Aux, Westminster)
9-2 Aidan Nichols OP
5-1 Vincent Nichols (Birmingham)
7-1 Michael Fitzgerald
8-1 Patrick Kelly (Liverpool)
8-1 Arthur Roche (Leeds)
10-1 Peter Smith (Cardiff)
12-1 Bernard Longley (Aux, Westminster)
14-1 Michael Evans (East Anglia)
14-1 Timothy Radcliffe OP
16-1 Patrick O'Donoghue (Lancaster)
20-1 John Rawsthorne (Hallam)
25-1 John Crowley (Middlesborough)

Decapitated Syrian-Orthodox priest laid to rest in Mosul

Mosul (AsiaNews) – Fr Paulos Eskandar was laid to rest in Mosul today. The decapitated body of the Syrian-Orthodox priest was found in an eastern district of this Iraqi city yesterday. He was abducted last Monday by an unknown Islamic group which posted a hefty ransom of US$250-350,000, the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) reported. The group also demanded that signs be posted on his church apologising for the Pope's Regensburg remarks as a pre-condition for negotiations.
AINA also published a letter from an Iraqi priest who fled to Sweden, describing what amounts to a full blown campaign of terror against Christians in Iraq.
Based on accounts from Christians still living in the country, Fr Adris Hanna warns that “Christians are living a terrified life in Mosul and Baghdad. Several priests have been kidnapped, girls are being raped and murdered, and a couple of days ago a fourteen-year-old boy was crucified in the Christian neighbourhood of Albasra.”
Father P. Hanna also reported that he spoke “to a group of nuns who were robbed and treated brutally on their way between Baghdad to Amman in Jordan.”
He ended his letter with a plea: “We must do what we can to stop [the massacre] . . . . We must do something.”

Christians Facing Prosecution for Comments on Homosexuality

I have ben growing increasingly worried by police ( and other government organisations) involvement in outlawing peaceful public debate about several issues, especially their intervention in discussion about the place of homosexuality in society. It smacks of facism or totalitarianism to me. and seems to spring from our government's deliberate attempt to impose its own liberal agenda on society.

Zenit.org part an article by Father John Flynn
In many countries speaking out publicly against homosexuality leads to serious legal problems. And in the battle under way to protect freedom of speech for Christians to express their beliefs, the future is far from clear. A recent victory in Britain saw legal charges against Stephen Green dropped, the Telegraph newspaper reported Sept. 29. Green was arrested by police in early September after handing out pamphlets at a "Mardi Gras" homosexual festival in Cardiff, Wales. The pamphlet contained Bible verses about homosexuality. During a hearing before a magistrate's court last week, the Crown Prosecution Service announced it would not proceed with charges.
A Sept. 6 report in the Daily Mail newspaper quoted police as saying Green had not been violent or aggressive. His only offense was distributing the pamphlet. The article noted it was the latest in a series of police actions regarding opposition to homosexuality.
Writer Lynette Burrows was warned about a "homophobic incident" after she suggested on a BBC Radio Five Live program that homosexuals did not make ideal adoptive parents. A Christian couple in Lancashire were warned after they complained about their local council's policies in favor of homosexual rights. And police in London investigated Sir Iqbal Sacranie, a former leader of the Muslim Council of Britain, after he said in an interview that homosexuality was harmful. Police behavior regarding homosexuality was questioned by the Christian Institute in a press release dated Sept. 22. While action against Green was pending, the group noted that the Gay Police Association will not be prosecuted for publishing an advertisement that accused Christians of violent assaults on homosexuals. More than 40,000 complaints by the public were made about the advertisement, according to the Christian Institute.

EU pressure

The Green case could soon be followed by many others, if pending regulations proposed by the British government are approved. The Sexual Orientation Regulations would, among other provisions, make discrimination against homosexuals illegal. In a commentary published Oct. 2 in the Telegraph, Philip Johnston noted that the regulations were being introduced at the insistence of the European Union. After a process of consultation, which saw strong opposition from religious groups, the government will now consider whether to modify the proposed regulations. One of the problems involved, observed Johnston, is the conflict of rights.
Christians argue for their right to express views based on their religious beliefs, while homosexual groups want any opposition silenced on the grounds of prohibiting discrimination. "These are the murky waters that we enter when we seek to enshrine more and more 'rights' in legislation," Johnston concluded. The proposed regulations came under strong fire from Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien. In a homily to parliamentarians delivered June 14, he warned that the rules are "a threat to freedom of conscience" and "to religious freedom." The cardinal's words were delivered right at the heart of the British Parliament, in a crypt at the House of Commons. "Laws which are passed by any human authority must always respect the dignity of the human person and each person's integrity of conscience, whether that is a conscience formed by Christian principles or any other belief system," Cardinal O'Brien insisted. "The role of the state is overreached when it tramples legitimate moral freedoms and when it imposes values which are without rational and sociological merit." This lack of freedom was illustrated by a recent case in Scotland.
Nine firefighters from Strathclyde were disciplined after refusing to hand out safety leaflets at a "gay pride" march, the Guardian reported Sept. 1. The march took place in June. As punishment, the firefighters were ordered to undergo intensive "diversity training." One of the men was reduced in rank, consequently losing around 5,000 pounds ($9,400) in salary. Writing in the Sunday Herald on Sept. 3, Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow explained that while homosexuals, along with all other groups, should be given fire-safety advice, the place to do this is not at a carnival-type festival. The firefighters, he noted, were aware that by going to the event they "would be subjected to cat-calls, inappropriate comments and, for some of them, gross insults to their religious beliefs." The archbishop said that the real reason for handing out the material at the march "was not to offer life-saving advice to the individuals present -- it was to enable the brigade as an institution to be seen as tolerant, 'embracing diversity' and politically correct." The tolerance, however, did not extend to the firefighters' beliefs.

Buddhist becomes Catholic

One of the very good things at the Catholic Women of the Year Lunch was the keynote speaker Professor Paul Williams who lectures in Buddhist studies at Bristol University.

Brighton seems to be full of shops selling statues of Buddha, and although 4 out 10 people in our city claim to be atheists, many people I meet claim to be Buddhist too, in the cafeteria sense.

"ANYONE WHO teaches at a secular university knows that today's students are far more likely to know the name of a Hindu god or to practice some form of Buddhist meditation than to recognize the name of the mother of Jesus or to pray in an explicitly Christian way. For decades, converting from nominal Christianity or plain Western secularism to Buddhism and other Eastern religions has been in, while talking about Christianity has decidedly been out. This is especially true in Europe where the influence of secularism is far stronger than it is in the Americas.
Therefore a book like The Unexpected Way comes as a complete surprise. Paul Williams is an internationally known and well-respected scholar of Buddhism who, before his conversion to Catholicism, had been a devout Buddhist for at least 30 years. A professor of religious studies at England's University of Bristol, Williams writes in a highly readable style. He crafts his arguments around three themes: issues related to the existence of God, morality and the nature of human community; the evidence for Christ's resurrection; and why he became a Roman Catholic rather than another type of Christian. Two appendices, one on rebirth and the other on how to become a Catholic, and an extended discussion of basic works on Buddhism, Christianity and related topics conclude the book.
My favorite chapter in this remarkably intelligent and well-informed work is "Can Wensleydale be saved?," in which Williams addresses his children's concerns about the eternal fate of a pet--an issue that children often raise but few adults take seriously. Williams's desire to deal with real issues--however trivial they may seem to some--with compassion, solid scholarship and carefully reasoned arguments is impressive. Protestants may wish he had written in a more ecumenical style, more like C. S. Lewis's and G. K. Chesterton's. Though his total commitment to Roman Catholicism will jar some readers, it challenges us all to think through the implications of our faith and to take differences within the Christian tradition seriously.

This book ought to be in every theological school library and on the reading list of all who are concerned with the fate of Christianity in an increasingly multicultural and multireligious society. Its apologetic rings tree because it addresses questions about religion that trouble many. That it is also extremely entertaining makes it a rare treat. "

Reviewed by Irving Hexham, professor of religious studies at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.

Amazon £14.95

Harvard committee recommends returning religion to curriculum

Fr. John Zuhlsdorf on his splendid site has this interesting piece, if you go there read: iii nonas octobres

There is an interesting CNN article you could glance at:
BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP)—Harvard University, founded 370 years ago to train Puritan ministers, should again require all undergraduates to study religion, along with U.S. history and ethics, a faculty committee is recommending.The surprisingly bold recommendations come after years of rancorous internal debate over what courses should be required of all Harvard students. The current core curriculum has been criticized for focusing on narrow academic questions rather than real-world issues students would likely confront beyond the wrought-iron gates of Harvard Square.The report calls for Harvard to require students to take a course in "reason and faith," which could include classes on topics such as religion and democracy, Charles Darwin or a current course called "Why Americans Love God and Europeans Don’t.""Harvard is no longer an institution with a religious mission, but religion is a fact that Harvard’s graduates will confront in their lives," the report says, noting 94 percent of incoming students report discussing religion and 71 percent attend services."As academics in a university we don’t have to confront religion if we’re not religious, but in the world, they will have to," Alison Simmons, a philosophy professor who co-chaired the committee, said in a telephone interview Wednesday....I think this is very interesting in light of what Pope Benedict XVI was arguing for during his amazing Regensburg Address. He argued for reintegration of theology in the university, which grew as an institution from Christian Europe.

5th Child Buried

Mourners walk down Mine Road in Georgetown, Pa. on Friday, Oct. 6, 2006, on the way to funeral services for Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12, the fifth of the schoolgirls slain in an Amish school shooting in the nearby community of Nickel

This Archbishop excommunicated himself

Milingo's excommunication declared; Episcopal ordinations not recognized
Essential excerpt of the Holy See Press Office's communiqué:

For this public act, both Archbishop Milingo and the four ordained [bishops] incur in a latae sententiae excommunication, envisioned by Canon 1382 of the Code of Canon Law. Moreover, the Church does not recognize and does not intend to recognize in the future these ordinations and all ordinations derived from them, and retains that the canonical status of the four supposed bishops remains that in which they found themselves before the ordination.

Back story: Archbishop Milingo was deposed because of the wild charismatic/tribal excorcisms he performed, he was called to live in Rome, he then disappeared and was married to a Korean lady by the founder of the Moonies. He then returned to Communion with the Catholic Church and went back to Rome renouncing his marriage. A few months ago he disappeared and resurfaced in the USA with a schimatic group of former Catholics.

Jimmy Atkins has a rather frightening piece on the implications of this action, have a look.

WAR PORN: U.S. Military’s Other Problem in Iraq

by PATRICK NOVECOSKY
National Catholic Register

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Pornography in the military has been a problem for decades. But not like today.
During World War II, GIs carried decks of cards illustrated with naked women and posted photos of “pin-up gals” Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth.
The Iraq War at its most extreme had Abu Ghraib and its photos of naked Iraqi prisoners.
Catholic author Patrick Madrid said his first thought on seeing the photos was that Americans shouldn’t be surprised: “The pornography chickens are coming home to roost.”
Today, pornography is sold at most base exchanges (BXs) in the United States. It’s part of a $57-billion-a-year worldwide industry. Porn revenue is larger than the combined revenues of all professional football, baseball and basketball franchises, according to the Internet Filter Review. In the United States, revenue from pornography ($12 billion a year) far exceeds the combined revenues of the three major television networks — ABC, CBS and NBC ($6.2 billion).
In Iraq, alcohol and pornography — including Internet porn — are banned for enlisted personnel out of sensitivity to adherents of the country’s dominant religion, Islam. But despite the prohibitions and blocking software on military computers, Father Mark Reilly, who served as a marine chaplain in Iraq this year, said increasing numbers of both men and women serving in Iraq have access to porn, and have become addicted.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been confronted as much face-to-face with men and women — in and out of the confessional — saying, ‘I’m addicted to porn and I don’t know how to get out of it,’” Father Reilly said. “They’re looking for a life preserver. It’s wrecking their marriages. Like any addiction, they lose control.”
British historian Joanna Bourke said that at their worst, pornography causes imitative behavior like the Abu Ghraib photos — made by and for porn addicts. “The abuse is performed for the camera,” she wrote in the Guardian. “These obscene images have a counterpart in the worst, non-consensual sadomasochistic pornography.
Rochelle Gurstein in The New Republic said that the Abu Ghraib photos “speak to the coercive and brutalizing nature of the pornographic imagination so prevalent in our world today.”
The conditions soldiers must endure make them more susceptible to porn addiction, said Steve Wood, president of the Family Life Center in Port Charlotte, Fla.
Wood, a convert who has written about breaking addiction to porn, said the worst conditions to fuel an addiction are stress, isolation from family and sleep deprivation.
“If some Marine was out there on the front lines and got wounded, vast resources of the United States would be mobilized to bring him to health,” he said. “Here, he’s in mortal sin, which endangers not the body, but the soul for eternity, and he’s suffering in silence. These guys are hurting — good guys who want to be good Catholic men and husbands and fathers — but get hooked on this and can’t find their way out.”
Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, who leads the U.S. military archdiocese, told the Register that chaplains’ guidance in and out of the confessional is invaluable.
“They can counsel — whether it’s one-on-one or whether it’s in the sacramental realm,” he said. “But chaplains have the added opportunity to speak publicly about it and form policy. They have access to the commander, who sets regulations, and I think most commanders are leery of the spread of pornography.”
Chaplains can help influence “what is sold in the BX, what’s allowed in a public space, an office or a barracks, and I think a chaplain can have great leverage here,” the archbishop said.
Wood, who served in the Navy during the late ’60s, said most pornography addicts have internal scars — usually from childhood.
“High numbers of people — both men and women — involved in pornography have been sexually abused as children,” he explained. “It could be an oppressive, cruel father or abuse when they were young, a breakup of parents’ marriage — the type of thing that could cause depression and/or internal struggles in any average person.
“When you start dabbling in pornography, it becomes like an aspirin relieving that internal pain,” he said. But a stronger dose of pornography will be necessary to “medicate” the next time.
The key to breaking the addiction, he said, is to first go to confession, then seek professional counseling for the internal pain and the addiction.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that any association with pornography is a grave sin. “It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense” (No. 2354).
Barry Marteson is so ashamed of his own pornography use that he didn’t want his real name used for this story.
“It’s humiliating and certainly one of the seven deadly sins,” said the Catholic former Marine.
Marteson was a child when he began looking at discarded magazines his father owned. Being a Marine in the 1970s didn’t help.
“Some of the guys just got back from Guantanamo Bay and were talking about ‘how great the chicks were’ down there,” he said. “All these guys were 18 and I’m 23. I knew better, but I like to be one of the boys, so we would get drunk and go out to the X-rated film parlors” and strip clubs.
Now Marteson’s son is serving in Iraq and is also dealing with pornography addiction. Marteson finally reached a point where he knew he needed help.
“It became really obvious five years ago that it’s bigger than me,” he said. “I was getting it in the house over the Internet and it was truly addictive to the point where I’m panicked. I’m screaming and I’m crying.”
After years of going to confession and spiritual counseling, he says he’s having some success. After a recent trip to the airport, he had some time to kill in an area where he used to frequent strip clubs. When he made it home without stopping, he said he knew he was on the right path.
“It was hardly worth writing home about, but I put a note in my book about it,” he said. “It’s grace. There was an incredible amount of grace. I don’t know that I want to cry, but I just feel giddy!”

Good News: St Janarius' blood liquified

At the annual ceremony which took place today in Naples presided over, for the first time, by Cardinal Sepe, St Janarius' blood liquified. If it stays solid it is bad news for the city.

Audible sighs of relief filled the city.

from Valle Adurni

"I'm in deep do at the school gate……'Do tell us why, dear Father' I hear you cry. Well, I've been very unreasonable, apparently. The application forms have just gone out for First Holy Communion 2007, and I have not just said that the children must attend the preparation sessions, but, (shock! horror!) they must come to Sunday Mass too!!!Reminds me of a woman I met long ago. She didn't practise her faith either, but she gave her reasons. 'Yeah, well, when I was young, religion was crammed down me froat. It didn't matter how ill I felt, or how tired; I had to get up and go to Mass every %&^^%* Christmas!'"

"Valle Adurni" s new blogdom and I expect will become very interesting, erudite and amusing.

Miraculous Icon stolen: roads blocked

Greek police stage masive hunt for stolen 'miracle' item Police today set up roadblocks and launched helicopter searches for thieves who scaled a cliff and stole a 700-year-old religious icon from a monastery in southern Greece.The Icon of The Virgin Mary, which is credited with miracles, was reported missing yesterday at the Orthodox Christian monastery of Elona, near the town of Leonidio, about 300km (185 miles) south-west of Athens.“This is the worst thing that could happen to us, our church and our religion,” said Metropolitan Bishop Alexandros of Mantineia and Kynouria.Describing the icon, which measures 40x50cm (16 by 20in), as “priceless,” Bishop Alexandros said he believed the thieves had used climbing equipment to reach the monastery, built into a cliff-face.He said they may have been hiding in the grounds of the building before it closed for the evening on Thursday.Father Nikolaos Sarantis, a local priest, said he believed the theft was well planned.

“It is very difficult to climb down from there. But they clung to the rock like Satans,” he said.Three nuns are currently staying at the monastery and reported the theft to police.Police today extended the search and roadblocks to 100km (60 miles) from the monastery. They also found ropes used by the thieves to guide their way across the roof of a monastery building.The deputy head of the Greek Police, a former senior anti-terrorism officer, is heading the investigation.Thousands of worshippers visit the icon each year, most around August 15, an Orthodox Christian religious holiday in honour of the Virgin Mary.The stolen artwork was one of several famous religious icons in Greece, where offerings or votive gifts are left by worshippers who pray for recovery from illness or successful conception, or make other prayers.