Pope praying for terminally ill in October

Pope Benedict XVI is offered his prayers in October for those who are terminally ill and for the success of World Mission Day, which will be held Oct. 23.

The Pope's general prayer intention for October is: “That the terminally ill may be supported by their faith in God and the love of their brothers and sisters.”

His mission intention is: “That the celebration of World Mission Day may foster in the People of God a passion for evangelization with the willingness to support the missions with prayer and economic aid for the poorest Churches.”

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Spanish political party seeks to revise abortion law

The spokesperson for the congressional caucus of the People’s Party in Spain, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, has said the party is focused on changing parts of country’s new law on abortion.

During a Sept. 29 press conference at the offices of the newspaper La Razon, Saenz de Santamaria was asked about overturning the law on abortion, which many leaders of the People's Party have pledged to pursue. She offered no comment but instead emphasized the need to make changes to the law.

She said the party has already voiced its rejection of the abortion law passed by the government and that it has appealed it before Spain’s Constitutional Court.

Morning-after pill

 

Saenz de Santamaria said the law needs to be revised in specific areas, such as parental consent for minors who wish to obtain an abortion. “The reasonable and normal thing would be that minors are accompanied and supported by their parents at that moment,” she said.

Regarding the morning-after pill, she said the party opposes the government’s policy of making it available without a prescription. In a health care system like that of Spain, in which people have the option to seek emergency care, the argument that the pill needs to be available quickly without a prescription does not hold water, she added.

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Vatican: Pope did not intervene in Mexican Supreme Court decision on abortion

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi has dismissed claims that Pope Benedict XVI intervened in Mexico's recent Supreme Court ruling on abortion.

“According to the statement issued today by the Holy See through its spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, His Holiness Benedict XVI did not make any phone calls to our country to influence the debate carried out by the justices of the Supreme Court on the issue of the right to life,” a statement from Mexican Bishops’ Conference explained on Sept. 30.

Bishop Isidro Guerrero Macias of Mexicali had previously claimed that Benedict XVI intervened in the pro-life victory. 

“Yesterday we almost lost, but a call from the Pope, I don’t know to who, don’t ask me, changed everything,” the bishop said.

However, statement from the Mexican bishops' conference clarified: “As the Vatican spokesman himself has stated, the opinion of Bishop Isidro Guerrero Macias of Mexicali ‘was unfounded.'”

“We know that it is not the practice of the Holy Father, who always respects the internal affairs of nations, to take such action, and in this particular case, he did not intervene in the decision of the Supreme Court justices,” they underscored.

Sources at the Mexican bishops’ conference told CNA that the statements of the Mexicali bishop were only “an unfortunate opinion.”

“The Supreme Court categorically denies having received a call from Church officials or of any other kind,” the statement said.

A ruling being considered by the Supreme Court this week to declare pro-life reforms enacted in Baja California unconstitutional failed to receive the eight votes needed to be adopted.

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Insults against Peruvian cardinal offend the entire Church, says journalist

Peruvian journalist Daniel Brousek published a Sept. 29 article calling the insults leveled against Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani of Lima, Peru “a blow to the entire Church.”
 
“I’d like to know what many Catholics and even bishops and priests do when a pastor of the Catholic Church is attacked or insulted. Do they pray? Do they smile sarcastically? Or are they indifferent? Do they show solidarity with that person via email, telephone or in a quiet way? Do they realize that hurting a religious person is a blow to the entire Catholic Church?” Brousek asked.
 
His comments were in reference to a incident outside the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru on Sept. 23. On that day, the university assembly rejected a request by the Vatican to modify its statutes in accord with the apostolic constitution on Catholic universities, “Ex Corde Ecclesiae.”
 
“In recent days Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani has been the target of an media offensive to undermine him and destroy his image as a pastor” by students from the university, its rector Marcial Rubio, “many professors” and some left-wing journalists, agnostics and atheists,” Brousek continued.
 
“They act triumphantly because a Catholic university has been kidnapped by relativism, and its captors cynically claim to be Catholic.  They offend the cardinal, the Church hierarchy and the Pope. They slam the door on the apostolic visitor sent by Benedict XVI,” he said.
 
True Catholics understand what it means “to appreciate and respect their priests, bishops, cardinals and the Pope. They have left everything, they have given up their lives to serve God and guide men toward salvation,” Brousek continued.
 
He also criticized the lack of voices defending Cardinal Cipriani from attacks against him. “Where are all the truly committed Catholics?” he asked.  “I don’t see any expressions of solidarity.  What negligence on the part of these Catholics in name only, these lukewarm bishops (a press release is not enough) and lukewarm priests,” Brousek said.

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New Orleans mourns loss of Archbishop Hannan

Retired Archbishop Philip M. Hannan of New Orleans died in the early morning hours of Sept. 29. 

The archbishop, age 98, is being remembered for his tireless work for the poor and for being a “wonderful soldier of Christ.”

“Archbishop Hannan will be greatly missed,” said Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans.
   
“He was a man of the church, a man who loved God and certainly a man who loved God's people,” he said. “He was a great shepherd for us, and he also was a true New Orleanian.”
   
Archbishop Aymond recalled the “determination” and “great love for the poor” that Archbishop Hannan displayed throughout his life.

“People knew him and recognized him as THE archbishop of New Orleans,” he said. “I think that was a testament to the love, admiration and affection that people have for him.”

Kent Bossier, Archbishop Hannan’s former caregiver, recalled the archbishop as being someone who “loved humankind” and “could walk with the kings and the common men.”

“The archbishop was a pro-life warrior his whole life,” he told CNA on Sept. 29. “He was a wonderful soldier of Christ.”

Bossier cared for Archbishop Hannan from April 2007 until June 2011, when the archbishop was moved to a nursing facility designed to provide care for seniors in the archdiocese. 

Archbishop Hannan had envisioned and dedicated the facility several decades earlier.

In recent months, Archbishop Hannan has suffered from health problems including a series of strokes.

Bossier visited the archbishop for three hours on the afternoon before his death. He described it as a “wonderful visit.”

The archbishop, he said, was “somewhat responsive” and “not in any distress or pain.”

“He always loved everyone he met, and he never lost his touch,” Bossier said. “He was an amazing person.”

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a statement recalling Archbishop Hannan’s “visionary leadership” and his creation of new ways “to provide help to those in need in the Archdiocese of New Orleans.”

Among the Catholic Charities programs founded or supported by Archbishop Hannan are food distribution services, pregnancy centers, early childhood education centers, and services for refugees and victims of domestic violence.

Born in Washington, D.C. on May 20, 1913, Archbishop Hannan was the fifth of eight children.

He studied at St. Charles College in Cantonville, Md., the Sulpician Seminary in Washington, D.C. and the North American College in Rome. He also received a master’s degree and a doctoral degree from Catholic University of America.

Archbishop Hannan was ordained a priest in Rome on Dec. 8, 1939. He served at parishes in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. and worked as the editor-in-chief of the Washington, D.C. archdiocesan newspaper, the Catholic Standard, for 14 years.

He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Washington on June 16, 1956.

At the Second Vatican Council, he addressed the council fathers on nuclear warfare and on the role of the laity.

It was while he was attending the final session of Vatican II that Pope Paul VI appointed him Archbishop of New Orleans on Sept. 29, 1965.

He served as Archbishop of New Orleans until his retirement in 1988.

Archbishop Hannan’s memoirs, “The Archbishop Wore Combat Boots,” were published in 2010. In them, he described his time as a paratroop chaplain in World War II, as well as his close friendship with President John F. Kennedy, for whom he delivered a funeral eulogy. 

Archbishop Aymond will celebrate a funeral Mass for Archbishop Hannan on Oct. 6 at 2 p.m. in New Orleans' St. Louis Cathedral.

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New Bishop of Durham sets sights on growth

The next Bishop of Durham has spoken of his desire for growth in all areas of the church in his future diocese, but it is growth in numbers that he wants to see most especially.

Justin Welby, Dean of Liverpool, has outlined his vision ahead of the last service to be delivered by him in his current role on October 2.

Whilst spiritual growth is important, Mr Welby feels that government cuts have created a real need for more people to join in what the church is doing in communities.

“‘The business of growth encompasses growth in depth of spirituality, growth in engagement with communities and many other things, but in this context I mean growing numbers,” he said.

“If the church is to meet the challenges of today - not least those that are posed by government funding cuts - we have to have more people on the ground. Jesus spoke of praying for people to go out into the harvest.

“The fields are white for harvest and we haven’t got enough people to get out there.”

As he prepares for the move to the Diocese of Durham, a diocese with some of the lowest rates of church attendance in the country, Mr Welby sees the mixed economy of church as a vital part of growth.

“I think partly because historically the church has always operated mixed economy when it was at its best,” he explains.

“If you go back to the Middle Ages the great growth of the monastic movement was essentially a mixed economy, Benedict was a fresh expression in his day.

“So there’s nothing new about the mixed economy idea. Mixed economy is essential because it gives the balance between what Benedict called stability – a location in place and nature – with the catalyst of an openness to the Spirit of God doing new things. And we need both.

“Without stability you end up just following fashion, Benedict knew that very well, and without the catalyst of the Spirit you end up just becoming utterly embedded and unable to move in what you’ve always done.”

He acknowledges that fresh expressions are important but warns against the notion that a fresh expression can be a “cure for all”.

Rather, he takes a cautious approach, saying that fresh expressions of church need to be “calibrated and thought through rather than just done ad hoc, as a sort of knee jerk reaction when we need to have a fresh expression”.

He learned that cautious approach in the Diocese of Liverpool.

“One of the good things about Liverpool is that they haven’t thought, ‘OK we’ll plug fresh expressions in and then everything will be solved.’ Because it isn’t. But, on the other hand, they haven’t said, ‘Well because it’s not a black box which would solve all our problems we won’t do it.’”

What Mr Welby will be looking for when he takes up his new role as bishop is whether or not a fresh expression is “genuinely” a fresh expression, what it is trying to achieve, and in what way it adds to the work of the church and the Kingdom of God.

“Fresh expressions is increasingly a technical phrase and it’s a misused one. It’s one that’s being used so widely that it often becomes meaningless. You end up … where everything is a fresh expression of something and therefore nothing is.”

With brutal honesty, he adds: “If fresh expressions is not at its heart involving an encounter with Christ then I’m not remotely interested.”

 

Mr Welby’s consecration takes place on October 28 at York Minster. 

His enthronement is on November 26 at Durham Cathedral.

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Patriarch encourages pilgrimages to bolster Jerusalem's Christians

The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem says the dwindling population of Christians in his city needs to be bolstered by the support of Christians around the world and by their visits as pilgrims.

In an interview Sept. 20 at the suburban Washington offices of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation, Patriarch Fouad Twal said that the Christian population in Jerusalem is about 10,000 -- Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox Christians combined. 

There are about 240,000 Muslims and 455,000 Jews.

He said the small number of Christians "reminds us about the words of the Lord, 'You will be the salt of the earth,' and salt is the small quantity."

Just as only a small amount of salt is needed to flavor food, he said, "I hope we can do our work as a small, small group, to be an example of witness, of charity, to be a bridge between these people, to be an element of peace, an element of tolerance."

A significant portion of his work as patriarch of Jerusalem -- the equivalent of an archbishop for a patriarchate that includes all Latin-rite Catholics in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Cyprus -- includes traveling the world to visit the displaced Christians of the region.

He noted that last year's Synod for Bishops on the Middle East included a focus on the diaspora "and our obligation to visit them and their obligation to come back or to help with a project as much as possible."

In response, Patriarch Twal has visited Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Honduras in the last year. His trip to the United States in September brought him around the country -- his message, in part, encouraging Christians who have left Jerusalem to come back.

He recognizes that the key to making that possible is peace, he said. But until that day comes, he said he asked people to help with various efforts "and to not forget those who are still there."

Pope Benedict XVI, as well as King Abdullah of Jordan and Israeli President Shimon Peres, are among the leaders who encourage him to keep up that effort. "They have often told me, please keep your people in the Holy Land, don't lose them."

"We don't need only all the beautiful buildings, all the antiquities," Patriarch Twal said. "We want this living community, these living stones. That's why we are doing our best to give them hope."

He said one thing that gives Christians in Jerusalem hope is when pilgrims come. For now, it's easier for pilgrims to visit Jerusalem from the United States, Europe or Asia than it is for those nearby.

"We need any parish priest to come with his parish group, from all Palestine, Jordan and the Arab countries, to visit the Holy Land, to visit Bethlehem and Jerusalem," he said. But the threat of violence and the unsettled political situation make it very difficult for nearby Christians to visit, the patriarch said.

"When we see pilgrims in the Holy Land, it says 'you are not alone, we are with you,'" he said.

Among the projects he hopes will help bolster the Christian presence in the Holy Land for the long term is the new American University of Madaba, set to open in October in Patriarch Twal's home city in Jordan, not far from Jerusalem. The Catholic university has an enrollment so far of about 200 and eventually will accommodate up to 8,000 students, said the patriarch.

Pope Benedict blessed the cornerstone of the university in May 2009. Programs available include engineering, science, health sciences, information technology, business and finance, art and design and languages and communications.

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Madrid profits over $200 million from WYD

The Spanish capital city of Madrid came away with over $200 million in profits after World Youth Day 2011 held this past August, officials said.

The WYD Madrid press office reported Sept. 26 that the Confederation of Businessmen of Madrid calculated that the capital took in some $216 million during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI.

The Community of Madrid estimated that WYD produced an increase of $199 million in the region’s Gross Interior Product. 

The contribution made by WYD was also recognized by the Madrid Consistory, which awarded the event with the Tourism Prize of the City of Madrid for promoting the city internationally.

It also classified WYD as a National Patrimony.

Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela of Madrid, who received the prize, said, “The hospitality of Madrid was crucial to the success of World Youth Day. The kindness and friendliness with which the pilgrims were welcomed shows the human reflection of the city, which is what surprised WYD attendees the most,” he said.

After WYD, Madrid experienced an historic increase of 42 percent in the number of foreign visitors compared to August of 2010, according to government statistics.

The Commerce Confederation of Madrid said this has helped boost the city’s image as one of great “hospitality and capacity to host large events.”

Attendees of WYD said their experience in the Spanish capital was very positive.  

A poll carried out by GAD3 revealed that the level of satisfaction towards the city was very high. 

Around 80 percent of those surveyed said gave high marks to the streets and monuments of Madrid.  

Over 75 percent said they would recommend to their friends a trip to Spain and 47 percent said the event improved their image of the country.

WYD Madrid 2011 also stood out for its impact in the media. 

More than 12 million followed the specials broadcast on the Spanish television networks.  

Some 5,000 journalists were given credentials for covering the event.

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Observers see gay agenda threatening religious freedom

Legalizing “gay marriage” is having major repercussions for religious freedom, according to observers of the latest developments.

Princeton law professor Robert P. George cited the words of American Jewish Committee lawyer Marc Stern, who in 2006 said the conflict between religious liberty and same-sex marriage would be “a train wreck.”

“That train wreck has now arrived in states that have redefined marriage or have created schemes of legal recognition for same-sex partnerships as the equivalent of marriage,” George told CNA.

He cited incidents of religious adoption and foster care agencies being pushed out of work, and small business owners being fined or sued for not accommodating same-sex couples. Education is another “critical area.”

“Once a state recognizes same-sex partnerships as marriages or the equivalent, then naturally the argument is made that in family life classes in schools this has to be taught to be a valid partnership.”

Religious parents who do not want their children to be “indoctrinated in beliefs contrary to their own” are “out of luck,” said George, who founded the Manhattan Declaration project to defend religious liberty.

Town clerks and other officials with objections to participating in same-sex union ceremonies or to the granting of same-sex marriage licenses are already being told to find another job, George said.

For Catholics, Evangelical Christians, Orthodox Jews or others who cannot in conscience participate in such ceremonies, he explained, “you are not eligible to be a town clerk, because that’s one of the things that town clerks are required to do” in states that recognize the unions.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who pushed through the state’s new “gay marriage” law in June, has said that those who cannot follow the new law should not hold the position of town clerk. A July 13 memo from the New York State Department of Health said it is a misdemeanor for a clerk to refuse to provide a marriage license to eligible applicants.

The major Manhattan law firm Proskauer Rose is presently seeking the resignation of Rose Marie Belforti, a Ledyard, New York town clerk, who cannot provide the licenses on account of her religious objections.

Maggie Gallagher, former chair of the National Organization for Marriage, said that the Nassau County district attorney has threatened clerks with criminal prosecution if they tried to refer a same-sex couple to another employee.

“Kudos to those who have refused to bow to Caesar’s demands. And even more kudos to those who've decided not to resign but to stay and fight for their own, and all our rights,” Gallagher said to CNA.

She characterized town clerks as “canaries in the coal mine” because they are among the first to be affected by the ideas embedded in the recognition of same-sex “marriage.”

“If we start speaking out, rising up together, this kind of persecution would not, cannot continue. Their hope is that we give up, give in, acknowledge their sovereignty over God’s,” she said.

“This we cannot do. We have to find the unshakeable 10 percent who will stand, who will speak truth in love to the new power, and make it clear we cannot be bribed or coerced into muting or disappearing.”

Gallagher said Gov. Cuomo should apologize to 65-year-old Ruth Sheldon, a Granby town clerk who resigned because she could not in good conscience sign same-sex marriage licenses.

“There is no cost to protecting religious liberty--failing to do so is simply mean-spirited and pointless.”

Assurances of religious freedom protections appear not to have helped Catholic Charities agencies in Illinois, where the state government is now refusing to renew its contracts for foster care and adoption services after the passage of a civil unions bill last December.

“They believe we’re in violation of the law and are refusing to contract with us because of our religious beliefs, that children are best raised in a home with a mother and a father,” Robert Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois, told CNA.

The conference believes the state is interpreting the law in an incorrect manner. Gilligan noted that the civil unions bill included religious freedom protection in its title and the Illinois Human Rights Act “clearly allows a religious adoption agency to discriminate.” 

An exchange on the Senate floor also established that it was not the intention of the bill to impede Catholic Charities’ or other faith-based organizations’ religious practice.

Nevertheless, Catholic child placement agencies may lose their funding and face closure.

“It’s really a tragedy if the state decides it can’t embrace different organizations of different faiths to perform social services and health care,” Gilligan said. 

He characterized the action as an impediment to religious liberties of both organizations and individuals.

“There are Catholic foster parents out there that only wish to perform foster care with Catholic Charities agencies,” he said.

Gilligan believes the actions in Illinois signal a major change in the place of Catholic institutions in the public square.

Scholars like Chai Feldblum, a Georgetown Law Center professor and lesbian activist who was appointed to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, foresaw many conflicts coming between gay rights and religious liberty.

“She had trouble thinking of any cases where she believed the rights of religious liberty should triumph over gay rights,” George said.

He insisted that “(p)eople are bound to follow their consciences, especially in matters of religion, and the state should, to the extent possible, accommodate the religious consciences of its citizens.”

But instead of allowing religious freedom, marriage laws and anti-discrimination laws are being used as “instruments to whip dissenters from the laws into line” in order to change people’s views and to advance an agenda, George charged.

The laws are being used to “brand and label as bigots and the equivalent of racists people who have the temerity to say that marriage is a union of a man and a woman and to say that sex belongs in marriage and not outside of it.”

“It’s a great way to change the culture, by depicting your opponents as bigots and haters, and imposing on them civil disabilities by using the weapons of anti-discrimination law.

“It’s a brilliant strategy. I have to applaud them for the brilliance of the strategy as much as I loathe its bad faith and consequences,” George said.

Gallagher encouraged those who object to the legal recognition of same-sex unions.

“I think Christians and other people from traditional faith communities are being called in a new way to courage,” she said. 

“Are we going to volunteer to live in a world where the idea that marriage is the union of husband and wife because children need their mom and dad can be treated as the moral equivalent of racism?”

Proponents of same-sex “marriage” cannot win “unless they get us to agree to our own inferiority. Otherwise we are too many to stigmatize.”

 

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Who is the new ‘Pope’ of the Palmarians?

Not from the Roman Catholic church mind, but from a somewhat surreptitious sect originating from an obscure village in a sleepy backwater of Sevilla province.

Little is known about this new pope – name Sergio Maria – but, as we shall find out, this is no surprise.

His Christian Palmarian Church of the Carmelites of the Holy Face – or more simply the Palmarian Church – sits inside its own compound near the village of Palmar de Troya, 15 kms south of Utrera.

In fact, its basilica – which looks like a cross between Rome and the film Lord of the Rings – completely dominates the semi-desert landscape around it.

But oddly, what stands out more is the fact that the 50 hectare compound is entirely ringed by a five-metre high Berlin-style wall. And with CCTV cameras dotted along it at regular intervals, it sends a clear ‘keep out’ message to anyone tempted to get too close.

The order – which has thousands of followers in Ireland, England and the US – has also deliberately broken any relationship with nearby Palmar de Troya which has a population of just 2,423.

Furthermore, devotees are cut off from society by strict rules that forbid communication with non-Palmarians, which, in part, explains how the cult has maintained such a low profile.

But, it is anything but small.

Indeed, the well established sect claims to have 60 bishops, 70 nuns and thousands of followers around the world.

It counts chapels as far and wide as the UK and New Zealand and controversially counts both
the dictator General Francisco Franco and Christopher Columbus as saints.

Yet surprisingly little is known about the Palmarians, and even less is known about its newly appointed leader Pope Gregory XVIII.

There is incredibly limited information on the internet and, cryptically, nearly all of the references (and external links) from its Wikipedia entry have been recently removed.

It was for this reason that last week, the Olive Press helped an Irish TV station pull together a documentary on the sect.

Spending a few days in the village of Palmar de Troya, we tried to get into the compound and speak to its disciples… but with remarkable difficulty.

When one Irish journalist – a woman – tried to enter the Basilica to take mass, she was turned away for ‘not having socks’.

She returned after putting socks on but they still refused to let her in and this time would not give her a reason.

What we did establish however, was that its doctrines appear to be based on revelations from the founder and first Pope, Clemente Dominguez y Gomez, an insurance broker from Sevilla, who reportedly had visions of Jesus on an almost daily basis.

It all started after four schoolgirls saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary above a tree on a finca called La Alcaparrosa near Palmar de Troya, in 1968.

The word soon spread and pilgrims started to make the journey from around Spain to see for themselves.

One of these was Dominguez, who in a scene reminiscent of the Life of Brian, claimed that the Virgin had given him strict instructions to rid the Church of heresy, progressivism and Communism and he had soon recruited a following.

The fact that he ‘staged ecstasies’ and supposedly received the stigmata helped his quest.

On August 15, 1970, as many as 40,000 pilgrims converged on the dusty plains of Palmar de Troya to hear him speak at an open-air Mass.

By 1975, he had formed a new religious order, claiming to be ‘faithful to the holy Pope Paul VI.’

A year later the elderly Vietnamese Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc, believing the apparitions were genuine, travelled to Spain and raised Dominguez – and a lawyer sidekick Manuel Alonso Corral – to the rank of bishop.

Despite Dominguez being blinded in a car accident in 1976 the pair went on to set up their own holy see, claiming that Dominguez had been mystically crowned pope by Jesus Christ in a vision.

Dominguez took the name Gregory XVII and appointed Corral, said to be the real brains behind the operation, his Secretary of State, Friar Isidore.

The pair travelled extensively in the earlier years spreading the word and courting new believers in a bid to secure donations.

Their trips proved lucrative with many people leaving the church vast sums of money in wills allowing the Palmarians to build their impressive basilica.

But Dominguez – a rather profligate Pope, who enjoyed wine, was fond of lavish robes, and came under criticism in the 1990s for ‘sexual immorality’ with several nuns – died in March 2005.

This proved a major turning point in the life of the church, when he was succeeded by his right-hand man, Corral.

Under the watchful eye of the new ‘Pope Peter II’ the Palmarians’ rules became stricter.

“It is not so much that the rules were changed but after the first Pope died they had to be followed to the letter,” explains local journalist Jose Manuel Brazo.

Among a litany of rules – which are said to number over 100 – women are not to be permitted to wear trousers, men are forbidden short sleeves and playing sport ‘in shorts’ is frowned upon.

In addition, listening to popular music is banned, as are TV programs that have actors outside the Palmarian dress code.

So not much TV then.

So strict are the rules, that one former member posted anonymously on a so-called ‘Palmar de Troya Support Group’: “Now I’m totally away from all things Palmarian, the feeling of freedom it brought was in equal measure to the feeling of loss at never being able to see my family again.”

It is of course this last point that has caused the most controversy.

Sinister tales are emerging from ex-members who maintain the ‘cult’ is tearing families’ apart, cutting devotees off from those who love them and even calling on them to die for the Church.

Another former member using the name ‘Amelia26’ recently posted on the site: “There have been no good memories of the faith, just bad.

“I come from a large family and none of them are Palmars except my father. He is very devout … and I doubt he will ever leave because he is brainwashed so badly.

“When all the rules became very strict, he stopped seeing my mother.

“I wish someone could just do something about the cult because it has caused so much pain and loneliness between families, none of us can take it anymore!”

In an ominous final par she added: “I don’t know how many crazy things they are going to come up with, for all I know they might make everyone kill themselves.”

Terrifyingly, this suggestion is not a million miles away from the rhetoric used in speeches given by Corral.

In a five page document called ‘Palmarian Holy Week 2005’ – Dominguez’s last official document before he died, written by Corral, the word ‘martyr’ or ‘martyrdom’ is mentioned 11 times in the first page alone.

Another frequent message reiterated many times is that ‘the non-Palmarian family you are linked to by blood is often the greatest enemy.’

But most ominously of all is the reference to warfare, when it was written: “The use of weapons in defence of God and his Church is a just War.”

Now, many fear that Sergio Maria, who became the third Pope, Gregory XVIII, after Peter II died on July 15 this year, will be even stricter and will take this militant vein further.

Little is known about Maria, except that he is one of the few Palmarians trusted to do business outside of the sect, for example dealing with the local bank.

“He is ex Spanish military and his papal seal shows the image of Christ in the Shroud of Turin,” explains journalist Brazo. “But not much else is known about him apart from that he has a fierce reputation.”

This is backed up by the opposition group ‘apostate activists’ who have posted numerous videos about the Church on YouTube.

“Sergio is a power hungry tyrant who is only too ready to take the reigns. More hard-line than Clemente ever was. This man will make the others look like children playing house,” insists one.

However, others more optimistic, believe that the arrival of Maria, although ominous, is actually the beginning of the end for this strange cult.

Unlike his two predecessors – who crucially were also the founding members – Maria has no claim to visions and is lacking the mystical character that enticed so many of the earlier believers.

Indeed, since 2005 there has been a gradual exodus of members and the money is apparently fast drying up say sources.

All that is left is the ostentatious basilica, referred to by Brazo as ‘the last stronghold of a crumbling sectarian congregation’ and a lot of secrecy.

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Illinois Catholic Charities' foster care faces shutdown

Illinois Catholic Charities' foster care services may eventually cease to exist after a local judge refused to change his ruling that the state has the right to stop referring children to charities in four dioceses.

“If you don't have new referrals, the system basically just atrophies,” Robert Gilligan, executive director of the Illinois Catholic Conference, told CNA on Sept. 27.

“We can't continue to fight this in court if there are no children in the system.”

On Sept. 26, Illinois Circuit Court Judge John Schmidt reiterated his Aug. 18 ruling, which held that “no citizen has a recognized legal right to a contract with the government.”

Because of this, he explained, the state had no obligation to renew a long-standing arrangement with Catholic Charities in the dioceses, as it had annually for over 40 years.

Although the four dioceses are now seeking to appeal the decision in an appellate court and even the Illinois Supreme Court if necessary, Gilligan said that state departments are moving quickly to find other agencies to replace Catholic Charities' foster care services.

“I think it's pretty clear to all of us who are really close to this issue” that the state “is moving on,” Gilligan said.

“They are actively recruiting other child welfare agencies to provide care for children who are currently being provided care by Catholic Charities.”

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services previously told Catholic Charities that it was ending the contract over Catholic Charities' alleged refusal to obey the 2011 Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act, which established legal privileges for same-sex and opposite-sex couples in civil unions.

Because of the recent court decisions, faith based agencies “are now basically barred from contracting with the state because they believe that children are best with a mother and a father,” Gilligan said.

Not only are foster parents going to “suffer” the effects of this, he added, but the “children who are currently receiving care will experience another disruption to their already fragile lives.”

Catholic Charities in the four dioceses of Belleville, Springfield, Peoria, and Joliet are now seeking a stay in court that would allow children who need foster homes to still be referred to them.

“If we can't get a court to stay these decisions in order to continue receiving children, I don't think we're going to be able to continue in a legal process,” he said.

Gilligan recalled that the state of Illinois has a history of dependence on faith-based organizations. 

He noted how Catholic, Jewish and Lutheran agencies helped the state's once severely disorganized child and family services department go from having 46,000 children in the foster care system in 1997 to only 16,000 today.

But, ironically, Gilligan added, the same religious values that led these agencies to help in such a drastic way are now being penalized by the state.

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Catholic & Anglican bishops in 'Big Bible Study' at Worcester Cathedral

Archbishop Bernard Longley, the Archbishop of Birmingham, joined Bishop John Inge, Anglican Bishop of Worcester, in a joint 'Big Bible Study', in Worcester Cathedral on 24 September, as part of the celebrations to mark the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible.

Catholics from parishes in the Archdiocese of Birmingham joined with members of Anglican parishes from across Worcestershire and Dudley as well as Christians from other traditions.

More than 200 people looked together at four versions of the chosen scripture reading - "On the Road to Emmaus" - taken from the Jerusalem Bible, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, and the Authorised Version or King James Bible.

Dean Peter Atkinson of Worcester introduced the Archbishop of Birmingham and the Bishop of Worcester at the start of a dialogue between them on the impact of scripture on our culture and the life of our churches.

During his Introductory Address, Archbishop Bernard Longley said: "Today, I am delighted to be sharing the platform with Bishop John here in Worcester and I am grateful for the hospitality of the Dean and Chapter to all of us. Once again we use the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible as the starting point for our study, reflection and prayer together.

"One of the principles of ecumenical commitment is that we try to offer and receive from each other the gifts that are particular to our traditions. One of the gifts that we receive as Roman Catholics from Anglicans is the long experience of liturgical prayer making use of the Scriptures in the vernacular.

"For over four hundred years the Church of England has used a liturgy where the Scriptures have been read aloud in English and where English prayers have reflected biblical themes and incorporated biblical phrases so that they imbue the liturgical life of the people and clergy together.

"Today’s generation of Catholics is also used to a pattern of worship where the Scriptures are read in our own tongue and where the prayers reflect biblical themes which run through the liturgical seasons. But we remember that it is only comparatively recently that this became a regular and central part of our worship and devotional life."

Archbishop Bernard Longley concluded: "Today’s reflection on the Road to Emmaus is like a joint pilgrimage for us as Christians studying, praying and witnessing together.

"As Bishop John and I offer different but complementary approaches to this moment of encounter with the risen Lord we are also drawn closer to him and therefore to each other. I hope and pray that, as we try to witness together as bishops, so we may all be drawn one step closer to the unity of the Church for which our Lord prayed."

After coffee, Archbishop Longley gave his Bible study on the theme 'The Road to Emmaus - an Ignatian Approach' during which he spoke about some of the characteristics of Ignatian Spirituality.

After the two bishops had spoken those attending were then split into small groups to study the bible passage using a prayerful approach known as Lectio Divina.

Following the Bible study there was a period of reflective worship after which many of those taking part shared in a picnic lunch together in the Chapter House and outside on College Green.

Asked for his thought about the joint Bible study day, Archbishop Bernard Longley said: "It has been a great experience to gather, pray and reflect together on the Word of God in the uplifting and historic setting of Worcester Cathedral."

The Archbishop of Birmingham added: "I am grateful that this occasion drew wide support from within the Catholic and Anglican parishes of Worcestershire and from many other Christian traditions. It is important for us to demonstrate as bishops that we value the real though partial communion we already enjoy.”

Bishop John Inge of Worcester said: “It was great to see people coming together to rediscover or discover what an amazing book the Bible is, with so much to offer to today’s society. The techniques we used were new to most people and really enabled those present to discover the riches of the scriptures in an imaginative fashion."

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Shrewsbury Cathedral appeal to maintain opening hours

Priests at Shrewsbury's Catholic Cathedral have said it may have to reduce opening hours, unless more volunteer stewards can be found. 

The building on Town Walls is open at weekends and weekday afternoons from Easter until the end of October.

However a shortage of volunteers could mean opening hours are restricted.

Father Chris Matthews said: We're really desperate for help... I'm really hoping we won't have to lock the doors."

Shrewsbury Cathedral is the mother church for the Catholic Shrewsbury Diocese, which covers a wide area, including Cheshire, Shropshire and parts of Merseyside and Greater Manchester.

 

'Cracking team'

According to Father Matthews the cathedral had 2,000 visitors this summer, although he admitted that many people in Shrewsbury do not know where the cathedral is.

Father Matthews came to Shrewsbury in September 2007 when the building was only open for services.

He said they had subsequently decided the cathedral should be open for longer.

Volunteer stewards are on hand whenever the building is open to the public for security and hospitality reasons.

"We have a really good cracking team of volunteers, but they're small in number," he said.

Commenting on the prospect of reducing opening times the priest said: "It'd be very sad if we do, after three or four years of keeping the place open so often."

Shrewsbury Cathedral opened in 1856 and includes stained glass windows by Margaret Rope, which attract visitors from around the world.

 

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Can the pope recapture Europe? (Contribution)

On 21 September 2010, Benedict XVI officially declared that the west needed a "new evangelisation". 

This was news in itself. 

It was viewed as an admission of the weakness of the Catholic church, and not a temporary one; and the acknowledgement that today's Catholicism represents a minority in western countries, and a shrinking one. 

But in a more general perspective, this was a major "geo-religious" step for the pontiff.

The pope is convinced of the strategic relation between Christianity and Europe as its natural geographic and cultural ground for proselytism. And he wants this relation to be reasserted and improved. 

When, in June 2010, he announced his plans for a new ministry to revive religion, no details were given of its structure, content and goals. 

There was no secret: the Vatican knew it had to deal urgently with that problem, but hadn't yet figured out how to accomplish this mission. Benedict XVI just felt something very radical had to be done.

Now, a year after its establishment, the pontifical council for the promotion of the new evangelisation represents a significant benchmark to measure the Vatican's capability to regain some influence in what was once "its" Europe. 

Things are moving on in terms of the organisation and mobilisation of Catholicism in Europe. 

Under the guidance of a dynamic bishop, Rino Fisichella, former chancellor of the Vatican's Lateranense University in Rome, a network of meetings and initiatives has been planned. 

But the major challenge is to elaborate a map of western Catholicism, identify its difficulties and check the strategy put in place to succeed. In fact, what the Catholic church is facing is mainly a cultural difficulty, not a religious one.

It has to fight against the slippery enemy of what the Vatican perceives as "the supremacy of the fragments": a cultural approach which tends to isolate and disperse western societies, and by consequence also Catholics: a sort of "grassroots relativism". 

The first task Fisichella has given to himself and his ministry has been to recall that "do-it-yourself Catholicism" is not a solution to the crisis of the faith. 

On the contrary, it represents a major danger. It is viewed as the wrong answer to confronting modern times and to adapting to them. 

The Catholic recipe is to follow the pope's teachings and those of the bishops' conferences; and to reunite a Catholic "army" disoriented and eroded by secularism, painfully hit by sex abuse scandals and the competition both from evangelical Christianity and Islam.

But how? 

The controversy that greeted Benedict XVI on his visit to Germany is another danger sign. The visit was preceded by a book on the de-Christianization of Germany: Gesellschaft ohne Gott, (A Society Without God)by sociologist Andreas Puttman. 

"The religious implosion will have epochal dimensions in the long run", he writes.

Furthermore, the Vatican daily Osservatore Romano remarked on 20 September that there are currently more practising Muslims than Catholics in France. Geopolitics and religion don't seem to walk arm-in-arm in Europe. 

The Vatican's assumption that without Catholicism the west is destined to decline is not as widely shared as might appear.

A further source of misunderstanding is the disconnection between the Vatican and a number of European governments on the handling of sex abuse scandals. 

The building of a Catholic network and the "Mission Metropolis" project due to organise a unifying religious date in 12 large European cities in 2012, seems aimed at showing that the strength is still there: forces must just be recollected and reoriented.

"Identity" is the key word. 

But which identity?

Today's Europe seems the motherland not of a united Catholicism, but of Catholics belonging to different national tribes. 

This may be a great opportunity, or a persistent handicap.

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Catholic Syrian Bank installs biometric ATM

The Catholic Syrian Bank installed its first biometric ATM in the Malappuram district of Kerala.

The ATM has been installed at Ozhur village in the district with an aim to expand the outreach of banking facilities to under-banked areas in a secure and cost-effective manner.

It has been developed by Vortex Engineering Private Ltd. in collaboration with IIT Madras.

In addition to the normal functions of conventional ATMs, features such as weather information, commodity price and stock prices can be integrated into the Vortex Gramateller ATM with the help of an additional interface to the switch.

It has a built-in UPS and battery back-up of four hours and works without air-conditioning in temperatures ranging from zero degree to 50 degree Celsius.

It also has optional solar operation that can be deployed in locations of acute power shortages.

The bank will give normal ATM cards to the account holders, which can be used on biometric mode at the Vortex ATM and also on PIN mode at other ATMs.

“This would provide better flexibility to the customers and also act as a standby in case the biometric ATM becomes dysfunctional due to some reason,” said Jiz Kottukappally, Assistant General Manager of the bank.

He said that the bank is planning to install 50 biometric ATMs at various centres in the current financial year.

For providing banking services in the village, the bank has appointed Organisation for Women Empowerment and Rural Development as business correspondent, who will educate the residents to open accounts and transact banking business.

 

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Cori regrets not being asked for response

REACTION: THE DIRECTOR general of Cori, the Conference of Religious of Ireland, has expressed regret it had not been invited to contribute an essay to accompany the In Plain Sight report.

“In the interest of academic rigour and balance,” Sr Marianne O’Connor said, “I believe we should have been asked for a response, it would have been in order.

“It was possible that they may have contacted one of the [18] congregations” involved in running the residential institutions investigated by the Ryan commission “and got no response”, she said.

She was not aware that this had happened.

Had she been invited, Sr O’Connor added, she would have addressed in more detail data-protection difficulties faced by the congregations and referred to in the report’s chapter on The Catholic Church and Child Protection.

In general she thought the report was “excellent” and she welcomed the idea that it was “the beginnings of a process”.

Essays in the report are by academic and commentator Elaine Byrne, canon lawyer Fr Tom Doyle, Prof Gerard Quinn of NUI Galway, Colin Gordon of Food and Drinks Industry Ireland, consultant in strategy Dr Eddie Molloy, abuse victim Andrew Madden, Rosaleen McDonagh of Pavee Point, Kevin Rafter of DCU and Deirdre Kenny of the One in Four victim support group.

Others who contributed essays included Martina Deasy of Arklow Springboard Family Support Service, Norah Gibbons of Barnardos, Lisa Collins of the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Jackie Murphy of Wales’s Tros Gynnal Plant services, Ombudsman for Children Emily Logan, Seán Cottrell of the Irish Primary Principals’ Network, solicitor Pearse Mehigan and James Smith of the Justice for Magdalenes Campaign.

Among the large attendance at the publication of the report in Dublin were abuse victims Marie Collins, Andrew Madden, councillor Mannix Flynn, Michael O’Brien and Christine Buckley; the Ombudsman for Children Emily Logan, Senator Jillian Von Turnhout of the Children’s Rights Alliance, Maeve Lewis of the One in Four group, Ellen O’Malley Dunlop of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin, and Sr O’Connor of Cori.

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