Israeli naval commandos stormed a flotilla of ships carrying aid and hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists to the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday, killing at least 10 passengers in a predawn raid that set off worldwide condemnation and a diplomatic crisis, the Associated Press reports.

Israel said its commandos were attacked by knives, clubs and live fire from two pistols wrested from soldiers after they rappelled from a helicopter to board one of the vessels.

Dozens of activists and at least 10 Israeli soldiers were wounded in the bloody confrontation in international waters.

Reaction was swift and harsh, with a massive protest breaking out in Turkey, Israel's longtime Muslim ally, which unofficially supported the mission. Ankara announced it would recall its ambassador and call off military exercises with the Jewish state.

The bloody showdown came at a sensitive time in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to meet Tuesday with President Barack Obama to discuss the next round in U.S.-led indirect negotiations. From Toronto, Netanyahu spoke by telephone with top Israeli officials and expressed his "full backing" for the military, according to a statement from the army.

The White House said in a written statement that the United States "deeply regrets" the loss of life and injuries and was working to understand the circumstances surrounding this "tragedy."

The activists were headed to Gaza on a mission meant to draw attention to the blockade, which Israel and Egypt imposed after the militant Hamas group seized the territory of 1.5 million Palestinians in 2007.

There were conflicting accounts of what happened early Monday, with activists claiming the Israelis fired first and Israel insisting its forces fired in self defense. Communications to the ships were cut off shortly after the raid began.

An Israeli commando who spoke to reporters on a naval vessel off the coast, and who was identified only by the first letter of his name, "A," said he and his comrades were surprised by a group of Arabic-speaking men when they rapelled onto the deck.

He said some of the soldiers, taken off guard, were stripped of their helmets and equipment and thrown from the top deck to the lower deck, and that some had even jumped overboard to save themselves. At one point one of the passengers seized one of the soldiers' weapons and opened fire.

A high-ranking naval official displayed a box confiscated from the boat containing switchblades, slingshots, metal balls and metal bats. "We prepared (the soldiers) to deal with peace activists, not to fight," he said. Most of the 10 dead were Turkish, he added.

A Turkish website showed video of pandemonium on board one of the ships, with activists in orange life jackets running around as some tried to help an activist apparently unconscious on the deck. The site also showed video of an Israeli helicopter flying overhead and Israeli warships nearby.

Turkey's NTV showed activists beating one Israeli soldier with sticks as he rappelled from a helicopter onto one of the boats.

Activists said Israeli naval commandos stormed the ships after ordering them to stop in international waters, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) from Gaza's coast.

An Al-Jazeera reporter on one of the Turkish ships said the Israelis fired at the vessel before boarding it. The pan-Arab satellite channel reported by telephone from the Turkish ship leading the flotilla that Israeli navy forces fired at the ship and boarded it, wounding the captain.

"These savages are killing people here, please help," a Turkish television reporter said.

The broadcast ended with a voice shouting in Hebrew, "Everybody shut up!"

In a news conference in Tel Aviv, Israel's military chief of staff and navy commander said the troops were able to take over the five other boats without incident and all of the violence was centered on the boat carrying most of the flotilla's passengers, the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara.

Troops were attacked, said Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, and an unspecified number of troops were helicoptered to hospital suffering from gunshots, knife wounds and blows.

"To me it is clear without a doubt, judging by what I saw and what I heard in the first reports from the soldiers, that in light of the danger to human life this violence required the use of weapons, and in my opinion the soldiers acted as they should have in this situation," Ashkenazi said.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak expressed regret for the loss of life, but called IHH, a Turkish group organizing the sea convoy, a violent organization "operating under cover of humanitarian activity."

The ships were being towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod, and wounded were evacuated by helicopter to Israeli hospitals, officials said. Two ships had reached port by midday.

Many of the passengers were from European countries.

The European Union deplored what it called excessive use of force and demanded an investigation by Israel. The EU said the blockade of Gaza, now in its fourth year, is "politically unacceptable," and called for an immediate, sustained opening of crossings into the Hamas-controlled territory, according to a statement by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Turkey called on the U.N. Security Council to convene in an emergency session about Israel.

Thousands marched in protest in Istanbul, some setting Israeli flags on fire after trying to storm the Israeli consulate. Israel quickly advised to its citizens to avoid travel to Turkey. In neighboring Jordan, hundreds demonstrated in the capital Amman to protest the Israeli action and demand that their government breaks diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

Israeli security forces were on alert across the country for possible protests.

There were no details on the identities of the casualties, or on the conditions of some of the more prominent people on board, including 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland, European legislators and Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, 85.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the Israeli "aggression," declared three days of mourning across the West Bank and called on the U.N. Security Council and Arab League to hold emergency sessions on the incident.

Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the rival Hamas government in Gaza, condemned the "brutal" Israeli attack and called on U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to intervene.

In Uganda, Ban condemned the deaths of the activists and called for a "thorough" investigation. "Israel must provide an explanation," he said.

The activists were headed to Gaza on a mission meant to draw attention to a 3-year-old Israeli blockade of the coastal territory. Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade after Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group, violently seized the territory. Critics say the blockade has unfairly hurt Gaza's 1.5 million people.

Before the ships set sail from waters off the east Mediterranean island of Cyprus on Sunday, Israel had urged the flotilla not to try to breach the blockade and offered to transfer some of the cargo to Gaza from an Israeli port, following a security inspection.

The violent takeover threatened to deal yet another blow to Israel's international image, already tarnished by war crimes accusations in Gaza and its blockade of the impoverished Palestinian territory.

Organizers included people affiliated with the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian group that often sends international activists into battle zones, and the IHH.

The Turkish group is an Islamic humanitarian group that is based in Istanbul but operates in several other countries. Israel recently arrested the IHH's West Bank operative, but said his arrest was not related to the planned aid mission.

Hasan Naiboglu, the Turkish maritime affairs undersecretary, told the Anatolia news agency that Israel had jammed communications with the ships. He accused Israel of violating international law by carrying out the raid in international waters.

Turkey had unofficially supported the aid mission and has been vocally critical of Israeli military operations against Palestinians in Gaza.

The flotilla of three cargo ships and three passenger ships carrying 10,000 tons of aid and 700 activists was carrying items that Israel bars from reaching Gaza, like cement and other building materials.

This is the ninth time that the Free Gaza movement has tried to ship in humanitarian aid to Gaza since August 2008.

Israel has allowed ships through five times, but has blocked them from entering Gaza waters since a three-week military offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers in January 2009.

The latest flotilla was the largest to date.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 9:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Although this year's homicide totals continue to be on a slower pace a year ago, Earl El-Amin said he and his faith-based brethren have grown tired of the violence, Baltimore Sun colleague Brent Jones reports.

"We're called to be keepers of peace," said El-Amin, of the Muslim's Community Central of Baltimore and a member of Baltimore's Interfaith Coalition. "That is essentially our mission. When you study history, all the great sages that came, they came to establish peace in environments that were out of sync."

El-Amin and about 50 other religious leaders, along with representatives from the city state's attorney office, announced an anti-violence initiative Thursday that will use money collected from religious services to fund activities for children.

Organizers of the program, called "Fifth Sunday: Violence to Virtue," are asking the more than 1,200 churches, mosques and synagogues in Baltimore to take up an offering every fifth weekend and donate the money to a local nonprofit, which in turn would disburse the funds to individuals or organizations that work with kids.

It is the first major program under the newly organized Baltimore Interfaith Coalition, which formed last spring after several religious leaders met with police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, who called upon the faith-based community to help curb violence.

"We've challenged ourselves to break down barriers among ourselves and work for the greater good of the people in Baltimore," said BIC co-chairman Bishop Douglas I. Miles, pastor of Koinonia Baptist Church in Northeast Baltimore. "This is a means of funding small operations that may not have [nonprofit] status but are doing great things in our community — like people who work with marching bands, people who do mentoring on the weekends — something so they have means of getting funding to help advance their work."

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
        

In politics, as elsewhere, it's a sport that's almost as popular as people-watching: Guest-list watching.

And this week, Associated Press national writer Jocelyn Noveck reports, it's the Jewish community in Washington and beyond that's buzzing over who'll be on the list when Barack and Michelle Obama host the first-ever White House reception marking Jewish Heritage Month.

The White House won't divulge the guest list for Thursday afternoon's event in the East Room. But those with knowledge of the list say it's an eclectic and interesting one — and markedly different from past Jewish-themed events like the president's annual Hanukkah party.

Where that event brings established Jewish community leaders to the White House, Thursday's reception is meant to honor American Jews who have made contributions in the arts, music, sports, the space program and other fields.

The most prominent guest on the list, according to several people familiar with it: former baseball great Sandy Koufax, the left-handed Hall of Fame pitcher for the Dodgers who famously refused to pitch in a World Series game on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism. (Koufax, now 74, could not be reached to confirm his plans.)

Names also mentioned by members of the Jewish community: Olympic swimmer Dara Torres, author Judy Blume, and a young woman who was wounded in a 1999 shooting at a Los Angeles Jewish center, Mindy Finkelstein.

But the list also includes a number of younger Jewish activists involved in interesting initiatives. One of them, Shawn Landres, heads Jumpstart, which he calls a "thinkubator for sustainable Jewish innovation." He's traveling to Washington from Los Angeles.

"There's been excitement about this, people posting on Facebook and talking about who's coming," says Landres.

"In the past," he adds, "when there were Jewish events at the White House, they tended to go to the same well of people — big Jewish organizations, the usual suspects. What I've noticed here is a commitment to go beyond that. The administration is trying to engage the Jewish community in different ways."

Of course, it's no secret that tensions have surfaced between the administration and some elements of the Jewish community over its policy toward Israel, particularly regarding construction of Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem.

So it's tempting to see this week's reception as another step in what many have called Obama's current "charm offensive" toward American Jewish leaders, including: a meeting last week between the president and Jewish congressional leaders; gatherings of top White House officials and rabbis; addresses by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and National Security Adviser James L. Jones to major Jewish groups; and a private lunch early this month between the president and Noble laureate Eli Wiesel.

But though Thursday's event certainly can't hurt, officials point out that plans have been under way for several months. And the pressure actually began years ago.

"Listen, I've been trying to get the White House to put on this event for five years," says Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, the congresswoman who spearheaded the campaign to establish Jewish Heritage Month in the first place. "I really don't think it has anything to do with the current outreach efforts."

"I'm really excited about the event," adds Schultz, who will attend along with many other Jewish members of Congress. "This is a way to demonstrate that President Obama is committed to the Jewish community. But also it's a way to educate Americans about the contributions of American Jews, to breed tolerance and understanding."

To illustrate her point, Schultz says that when she was in college in 1984, a fellow student came up to her and asked if she was Jewish. "I've never seen a real one," she says the student told her.

Washington Jewish leader William Daroff adds that it wasn't so long ago that Jews in the United States were restricted in many ways: where they could live, what colleges they could attend, and what professions they could aspire to.

"We've come a long way, and Jewish Heritage Month is there to celebrate that progress," says Daroff, director of the Washington Office of the Jewish Federations of North America.

But while May was declared Jewish Heritage Month in 2006, set into law by President George W. Bush, this is the first time the White House has agreed to hold a reception to mark it.

"I don't ascribe a motive," Schultz says. "Presidents are very busy."

Asked why Obama had decided to hold the reception, White House spokesman Matt Lehrich told The Associated Press that the Obamas wanted to celebrate Jewish Americans' contributions to the nation's history and culture. "The reception also offers a chance to foster partnership, collaboration, and education in the spirit of Jewish American Heritage Month," Lehrich said.

Daroff himself isn't on the guest list, and he says that's logical. "This event is less about those of us in the Beltway," he says, "and more about the folks out there living the Jewish experience, and breaking down barriers."

So who else is invited? "This could be interesting, seeing what the mix looks like," says Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, who said he's not on the list.

Or, put another way: "Adam Sandler could write a whole new Hanukkah song after this party," quips Steve Rabinowitz, a Washington public relations executive, referring to the popular song pointing out famous Jewish Americans.

Someone who probably wouldn't make the song is Rabbi Marc Schneier of New York. He leads two Orthodox congregations and spoke at the 2008 Democratic convention.

But he believes he was invited because of his outreach work to the Muslim community, as president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding. He's also has been active in furthering ties with the black community.

"Our work is very much in concert with President Obama's agenda," says Schneier.

A past guest at the White House Hanukkah party, Schneier says this event has a whole different feel to it.

"This is quite unique," he says. "It's more exotic than the usual White House event."

Daroff agrees.

"Listen, anytime there's a first in Washington, it's a big deal," he says.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (37)
        

The questions on the ads aren't subtle: Leaving Islam? Fatwa on your head? Is your family threatening you?

A conservative activist and the organizations she leads have paid several thousand dollars for the ads to run on at least 30 New York City buses for a month, the Associated Press reports. The ads point to a website called RefugefromIslam.com, which offers information to those wishing to leave Islam, but some Muslims are calling the ads a smoke screen for an anti-Muslim agenda.

Pamela Geller, who leads an organization called Stop Islamization of America, said the ads were meant to help provide resources for Muslims who are fearful of leaving the faith.

"It's not offensive to Muslims, it's religious freedom," she said. "It's not targeted at practicing Muslims. It doesn't say 'leave,' it says 'leaving' with a question mark."

Geller said the ad buy cost about $8,000, contributed by the readers of her blog, Atlas Shrugs, and other websites. Similar ads have run on buses in Miami, and she said ad buys were planned for other cities.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said Geller's ad was reviewed and did not violate the agency's guidelines.

"The religion in question would not change the determination that the language in the ad does not violate guidelines," MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said Wednesday.

All ads are screened, MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said. Most are reviewed by the company that handles the MTA's advertising opportunities, but some are sent to the MTA for ultimate approval.

The agency had received no complaints since the ads went up on May 14, MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said. The 30 or so buses with the ads pass through all five boroughs of the city.

Faiza Ali, of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the ads were based on a false premise that people face coercion to remain with Islam. She said Muslims believe faith that is forced is not true belief.

"Geller is free to say what she likes just as concerned community members are free to criticize her motives," Ali said.

Geller has a history of speaking out against Muslims, and the ads are "a smoke screen to advance her long-standing history of anti-Muslim bigotry," Ali said.

Geller said she had no problem with Muslims, but was working to "maintain the separation of mosque and state." She is also among those speaking out against the building of a mosque and cultural center near ground zero.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (21)
        

Italy's bishops' conference provided the first ever statistics of clerical sex abuse in the country Tuesday, saying there had been about 100 cases over the past 10 years that warranted church trials or other canonical procedures, the Associated Press reports.

Monsignor Mariano Crociata, the No. 2 official in the Italian bishops' conference, gave the estimate during a press conference on the sidelines of the bishops' general assembly, the ANSA and Apcom news agencies reported.

He declined to say how many of the cases resulted in condemnation or defrocking of the priest, or how many were reported to police. While saying the church officials cooperated with police, he insisted that Italian law doesn't require bishops to report suspected abuse.

Some lawyers for victims say bishops are required to report abuse since they are public officials. Vatican norms say bishops should follow civil laws in reporting abuse.

Crociata's comments came a day after the head of the bishops' conference, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, opened the bishops' annual meeting by asking families to trust the Catholic Church despite the scandal, insisting that it had never intended to underestimate the problem.

The meeting came as more cases are coming to light in the Vatican's backyard: On Tuesday, the ANSA news agency reported that a 73-year-old priest well known in Milan's gay community had been arrested on charges he had sex with a 13-year-old boy, who is now 16. A day earlier, a priest in Savona went on trial for alleged sexual violence against a 12-year-old girl, ANSA said.

And last week, a Rome bishop testified in the case of another accused priest, the Rev. Ruggero Conti, that he knew about rumors of abuse two years before Conti was arrested yet didn't alert police or the Vatican or proceed with any canonical trial against him.

Mario Staderini, a member of Italy's Radical party who is a civil party in the Conti case, said it was unconscionable that a canonical trial hadn't proceeded against Conti, given the evidence provided to his bishop, Monsignor Gino Reali.

Reali testified that he had spoken to 20-25 people, including two boys who said they had been abused by Conti, yet didn't find their accusations credible. He said he convened a tribunal after receiving a written complaint from one of the boys, but it never got under way because the victim didn't show up.

Conti is charged with sexual violence and other charges. In police interrogations, the boys — some as young as 13 at the time of the alleged abuse — said Conti would masturbate them and force them to perform oral sex on him in his home, where he frequently invited them to eat dinner and watch movies.

"How is it possible that only in Italy no bishop has felt the need to resign or make a mea culpa for failing to be vigilant?" Staderini asked in a statement.

He said if the Italian bishops' conference wanted to be transparent and care for victims it should put some of the money that Italians earmark to the Catholic Church on their income taxes toward a fund for victims.

The main U.S. victims group, SNAP, Survivors' Network for Those Abused by Priests, denounced Crociata for his defense of not reporting abuse to police, saying "it's tragic and telling that most Catholic officials still insist on keeping clergy sex crimes secret."

The group's Midwest director Peter Isely said he doubted that there had only been 100 cases. "For decades, Catholic officials have underestimated and underreported the shocking extent of clergy sex crimes. We believe most of them still do."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
        

A Nebraska man has been sentenced to a year in federal prison for his role in a cyber attack on the Church of Scientology's websites two years ago, the Associated Press reports.

Brian Thomas Mettenbrink, of Grand Island, Neb., was also ordered Monday to pay $20,000 in restitution and serve a year on supervised release after he gets out of prison.

The cyber attack was orchestrated by an underground group that calls itself "Anonymous" and protests the Church of Scientology, accusing it of Internet censorship.

Mettenbrink admitted being a member and pleaded guilty in February to a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized access of a protected computer.

U.S. District Judge Gary Feess says the cyber attack had "a sense of hate crime."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

A rural Mississippi school district that was sued by a lesbian student who wanted to bring a same-sex date to the high school prom is denying accusations it routed her to a "sham prom" at a country club while most of her schoolmates partied elsewhere, the Associated Press reports.

The Itawamba County School District addressed the claims made by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Constance McMillen in papers filed Friday with the U.S. District Court in Aberdeen.

It's been nearly two months since McMillen attended a prom at the Fulton Country Club that drew fewer than 10 other students from Itawamba Agricultural High School. Most of her classmates attended a separate event at the nearby Evergreen Community Center, to which McMillen was not invited, and later posted pictures from the dance on Internet sites.

At the time, McMillen had already sued the district over its policy banning same-sex prom dates and for canceling an April 2 school-sponsored prom after the teenager pressed to bring her girlfriend to the event and wear a tuxedo.

U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson ruled in March that the district had violated McMillen's rights, but he didn't force the district to reinstate the prom. District officials had told the judge that McMillen was free to attend a parent-sponsored prom.

School District Superintendent Teresa McNeece and Attorney Michele Floyd have said little publicly about the issue despite numerous calls seeking comment.

The ACLU alleged that McNeece and Floyd attended a meeting March 29 with parent organizers, where the decision was made to hold separate proms. In court documents, the school district said McNeece and Floyd did attend a meeting, but officials "deny that the parents decided instead to hold two proms, one for the plaintiff and one for her classmates."

The ACLU submitted to the court photographs the organization said were of the Evergreen dance. The district admitted some of the photographs from an event at Evergreen circulated on the Internet, but said some of the ACLU's images were of students at a function in Memphis, Tenn.

McMillen has since transferred to a school in Jackson, and will graduate June 2.

No date has been set for the lawsuit to go to trial, but the case has led other school districts to reconsider their prom policies.

The Alcorn County School Board voted May 18 to allow parents to take over sponsorship of proms. Superintendent Stacy Suggs said the decision was partially tied to Itawamba County.

"Principals don't want to police proms anyway," Suggs said Monday. "It just gave us an opportunity to bring it up from a liability standpoint."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (40)
        

Writer, public health professional and attorney J. Samia Mair of Baltimore is the author of the children’s books Amira’s Totally Chocolate World and The Perfect Gift.

Muslims are required to pray 5 times a day at specific times. For 4 of those prayers, there is a relatively lengthy period (hour or more) in which they can be done. For example, Muslims pray Fajr anywhere between dawn and just before sunrise. Maghrib, however, must be prayed shortly after sunset. During any given day, chances are that a Muslim living in the United States will not be at home or near a masjid (mosque) for all 5 prayers and therefore will be required to find a suitable alternative.

In Muslim-populated countries finding a place to pray is not an issue. There are abundant masajid (mosques) and no one would find it odd to see someone pull out a rug and pray in public. When I was in Saudi Arabia for the Hajj several years ago, people prayed everywhere—on sidewalks, in stores, and along hallways.

It’s not so easy in the United States. Every day, I need to review my schedule and decide where I am going to pray that day. Fortunately, the Baltimore area is rich in cultural and religious diversity; and in my experience, most people are respectful of others’ beliefs. There are places in the United States where I literally would be physically afraid to pray in public. Until recently, I have never had a problem in this regard. I have prayed in parks, parking lots, museums, restaurants, mall dressing rooms, and in storage areas. Most businesses have been extremely accommodating. Granted, there are some businesses where I felt uncomfortable asking to pray. But overall, finding a place to pray has not been too challenging here. It just requires planning.

Not long ago, I had my first hostile reaction. I needed to pray during a movie. Without asking, I found a quiet spot down a dark hallway and off to the side. No one was around when I started. During my prayers, I noticed a man’s shoes in front of me and slightly to the left. His presence was intrusive and intimidating. When I finished my prayer, he told me that I had “offended another customer” and company policy did not allow religious displays on the premises. He also refused to accommodate my request to find an alternative spot. Not at all satisfied with the interaction, I wrote several higher ups, including the president of the company, which is a national chain. I was informed that company policy did not prohibit me from praying and that if I ever needed to be accommodated at that theater again, all I needed to do was ask. As an extra conciliatory gesture, headquarters sent me eight complimentary movie tickets. Ultimately, I was more than satisfied with the outcome. But the experience made me think.

Should businesses allow Muslims to pray? The short answer is ‘of course’ if the request can be reasonably accommodated. Prayers only take between 5 and 10 minutes and can be done quietly and unobtrusively. Admittedly, some people may be “offended” by the sight of someone praying. But should others pander to their questionable sensitivities? Absolutely not. If someone finds prayer offensive, surely they can look away for a few minutes.

Providing temporary space for a Muslim to pray is not only a nice thing to do, but also sends a beautiful message about this area. We may not share the same beliefs and practices—indeed, we may strongly disagree with each other—but we respect each other and peacefully co-exist.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (51)
        

The Roman Catholic Church's culture of discretion and focus on "sin and forgiveness rather than crime and punishment" were among ingrained factors that ultimately led to the child sex abuse scandal and cover-up surrounding the church today, a pre-eminent Australian bishop said Monday.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge, whose archdiocese is based in the national capital of Canberra, took the unusual step of writing an open letter attempting to explain the culture that led the church to turn a blind eye to priests accused of molesting children, the Associated Press reports.

Factors include a determination to protect the church's reputation, a culture of discretion, "institutionalized immaturity" of priests fostered by seminary training, and an outlook of "sin and forgiveness rather than crime and punishment," Coleridge wrote.

Clerical celibacy was not itself a factor but it "has its perils," he wrote. "The discipline of celibacy may also have been attractive to men in whom there were paedophile tendencies which may not have been explicitly recognised by the men themselves when they entered the seminary."

Coleridge said as a young priest in the 1970s, he regarded pedophilia cases as "tragic and isolated." Coleridge's view shifted when he was called to serve at the Vatican as chaplain to Pope John Paul II during a five-year period that ended in 2002. While there, Coleridge came to regard child abuse in the church as "cultural."

"There is no one factor that makes abuse of the young by Catholic clergy in some sense cultural," Coleridge wrote. "It seems to me a rather complex combination of factors which I do not claim to understand fully."

Coleridge, a priest for 36 years, said no one could now deny the scale of the pedophilia problem in the church.

"All can see that this is a time of crisis for the Catholic Church ... there will be no quick fix to this problem, the roots of which go deep and wide."

Coleridge said Monday that Pope Benedict XVI was the right church leader for the challenge. Before he became pope in 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger held a key Vatican role in dealing with sex abuse.

"As cardinal and as pope, he has acted as vigorously as I think he can without claiming that he's got a magic wand or that the pope can just speak a word from on high and it all happens," Coleridge told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio Monday.

Canberra-based church historian Paul Collins said Coleridge's letter was unprecedented in Australia in that it openly admits the scale of the child abuse problem.

"Certainly Coleridge is the first bishop to have tackled it head on in this way in Australia," said Collins, an author and former priest.

Broken Rites Australia, a support group for victims of clergy sex abuse, said the church's failing as outlined by Coleridge was unforgivable.

"The archbishop's comments show how the Catholic Church hierarchy have covered up sex abuse and dealt very badly with the victims," group president Chris MacIsacc said. "But there is no excuse for not understanding that rape, sodomy and child sex abuse is a crime. To be more concerned for the perpetrator of crime than the victim is unforgivable."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Police in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki say they have arrested a Swiss national and a Greek Orthodox deacon for trafficking in what they said were holy relics, the Associated Press reports.

The Swiss man was arrested Sunday afternoon at Thessaloniki airport when he declared that he was carrying saints' remains. Police seized 197 bone fragments and 3 skulls, sprayed with fragrance and carrying stickers labeling them with names of well-known saints. The deacon who had given the Swiss man the supposed relics was arrested early Monday.

"This is an unprecedented case. ... We are investigating the provenance of these relics," Nikos Dimitriadis, head of Thessaloniki police's Financial Crimes division, said.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

Tea party organizers will not drop a speaker from a Tennessee convention this weekend despite calls from a national Muslim rights group that considers her anti-Islamic, the Associated Press reports.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations had urged that Pamela Geller be cut from the Tennessee Tea Party Convention in Gatlinburg over her views on Muslims. Washington-based CAIR said in a release Thursday that it objects to Pamela Geller's presentation titled "The Threat of Islam."

Convention organizer Anthony Shreeve said in an e-mail Friday that Geller will speak despite those concerns.

"We will not follow any request from CAIR," Shreeve said. "We also believe in the right to freedom of speech as given to us by our U.S. Constitution."

Geller heads a group called Stop Islamization of America.

"CAIR is trying to get good, decent Americans in the Tennessee Tea Party to crush free speech by dropping me," Geller wrote on her blog.

The Gatlinburg meeting has been organized by a coalition of more than 30 tea party groups around the state that chafed at the goals and price tag of a national tea party convention held in Nashville in February.

The registration fee for the Gatlinburg event is $30, while the Nashville event that featured a speech by former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin cost $549.

Grass roots activists have criticized Nashville event organizer Judson Phillips' leadership of the Tea Party Nation for being too closely tied with the Republican Party and for designating the group a for-profit organization.

Phillips' group has scheduled a "National Tea Party Unity Convention" in Las Vegas in July.

The Gatlinburg meeting features a keynote speech from U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, and a debate among Tennessee gubernatorial candidates.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 1:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (35)
        

Cuba's Roman Catholic cardinal called for the liberation of some of the island's 200 political prisoners on Thursday after a rare sit-down with President Raul Castro, and said he thought his encounter with the Cuban leader was a "magnificent start" to serious dialogue, the Associated Press reports.

"The church is interested in an alleviation of the situation (of the political prisoners) — the liberation of some of them, for example," Cardinal Jaime Ortega said, a day after he and another church leader, Archbishop Dionisio Garcia, held a four-hour discussion with Raul Castro at the Palace of the Revolution, the seat of Cuba's government.

The church has called previously for freedom for the island's prisoners of conscience, but doing so right after such a high profile meeting was unusual.

Ortega said in a news conference that he had also brought up the government's decision to bar the dissident Ladies in White from holding weekly marches. The group — comprised of the wives and mothers of jailed political prisoners — were stopped from protesting for three straight weekends in April and pro-government counter-protesters were brought in to shout abuse at them.

The standoff ended after Ortega's mediation, when the government agreed to allow the quiet protests to resume in return for assurances the women would not expand their activities.

The cardinal made clear that no deal on any prisoner releases or easing of measures against the opposition had been struck.

"We are not talking about any commitments. We are talking about conversations with the government, conversations that had a magnificent start yesterday (Wednesday) and that ought to continue in the near future," Ortega said.

The meeting was a sign of the church's growing influence on the island.

Garcia, who is archbishop of Santiago and leader of the Conference of Bishops of Cuba, said it was the first time the head of the bishops' group has met with the country's leader in five years, when Fidel Castro was still in charge. Fidel stepped down formally in 2008, turning power over to his brother.

"It was a very positive meeting," he told The Associated Press.

Garcia said that he thought "that there was good will" on the part of the government on the issue of dissidents.

A photo of a beaming Raul Castro with the two church leaders was printed on the front page of Thursday's Communist-party daily Granma, but the caption said little about what was discussed and made no mention of dissidents or political prisoners.

The government denies it holds political prisoners, and says dissidents are paid mercenaries of Washington, which has been at odds with Cuba since shortly after Fidel Castro overthrew dictator Fulgencia Batista in 1959.

Ortega has waded into politics several times in recent months, telling a church magazine in April that Cuba was in its worst crisis in years and that its citizens were clamoring for political and social change sooner rather than later.

The meeting between Castro and the church leaders comes a month before Vatican Foreign Minister Dominique Mamberti is scheduled to visit Cuba for talks on the island's economic challenges and the effects of emigration and the families torn apart by it.

Mamberti is the first top Vatican official to come since Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, secretary of state to Pope Benedict XVI, visited Cuba in February 2008.

Relations between the church and Cuba's government have often been strained. Tensions eased in the early 1990s when the government removed references to atheism in the constitution and allowed believers of all faiths to join the Communist Party. They warmed more when Pope John Paul II visited Cuba in 1998.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Pakistan blocked YouTube and many other Internet sites Thursday in a widening crackdown on online content deemed offensive to Islam, reflecting the secular government's sensitivities to an issue that has ignited protests in the Muslim country, the Associated Press reports.

The move came a day after the government obeyed a court order to block Facebook over a page called "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" that encourages users to post images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Most Muslims regard depictions of the prophet, even favorable ones, as blasphemous.

Supporters of an Islamist political party protested against Facebook in at least three cities in small and peaceful rallies. The government, which is unpopular among many Islamists for siding with the United States in the war against the Taliban and al-Qaida, is hoping that the website bans will lessen anger in the days ahead.

"We are ready to die protecting the honor of our beloved Prophet Muhammad," said Aysha Hameed, one of 1,000 female protesters in Multan city.

Others — mostly members of the more secular, educated elite — accused the government of blocking freedom of expression and hurting small businesses that use Facebook for marketing. Many questioned need for the entire Facebook and YouTube sites to be blocked, instead of individual pages on them.

About 20 million of Pakistan's 180 million people are Internet users and social networking sites are among the most popular, especially among those younger than 25. Pakistan's Internet service providers' association said usage had dropped by about 25 percent since Wednesday.

The offending Facebook page encourages users to post images of the prophet on May 20 to protest threats made by a radical Muslim group against the creators of the American TV series "South Park" for depicting Muhammad in a bear suit during an episode earlier this year.

"Such malicious and insulting attacks hurt the sentiments of Muslims around the world and cannot be accepted under the garb of freedom of expression," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said.

Pakistan and other Muslim nations saw large and sometimes violent protests in 2006 when a Danish newspaper published cartoons of Muhammad, and again in 2008 when they were reprinted. Later the same year, a suspected al-Qaida suicide bomber attacked the Danish Embassy in Islamabad, killing six people.

The telecommunications authority did not say what material on YouTube prompted it to block the site and more than 450 other unidentified pages, only citing "growing sacrilegious contents." Wahajus Siraj, the head of the Internet service providers' association, said the ban was because images of the Prophet Muhammad were also cropping up on the video-sharing site.

Blackberry service was halted for around 10 hours as efforts were made to stop mobile access to Facebook.

The government acted against Facebook and YouTube after it failed to persuade the websites to remove the offensive material, the telecommunications authority said. It said representatives from the two websites were welcome to contact the Pakistani government to resolve the dispute.

Facebook said the page was not a violation of its terms, but suggested it may be prepared to take it down.

"In cases like this, the approach is sometimes to restrict certain content from being shown in specific countries," it said in a statement.

Pakistan is governed by a secular political party that has little time for Islamic issues. But arguing against the court order would leave it open to accusations by its political opponents of siding with those blaspheming the prophet.

"The Islamist parties have been on the back foot for a while, this is a nice little issue for them to campaign about," said Cyril Almeida, a liberal media columnist. "There is no way you can have a rational debate in Pakistan about freedom of speech when one side is talking about blasphemy."

The five customers in the Dandy Net Cafe in Islamabad late Thursday afternoon agreed with the ban.

"We are very happy our government and our court has taken these actions," said Mohammad Aamir Chohan, a 28-year-old engineer. "I know blocking these sites is not a solution to the problem, but we have sent a message to the world not to hurt the feelings of Muslims."

Feelings were just as intense among those opposed to the ban.

"Sad and embarrassing day in the history of Pakistan," one user posted on the microblogging site Twitter.

Reba Shahid, the editor of Spider, a monthly print magazine about the Internet, said the government "might as well take away cell phones and shut off electricity, do the whole thing."

"You're stemming the flow of information, you're stemming my growth as an intellectual, you're stemming my access to the rest of the world. I might as well go home and sleep," she said.

Pakistan blocked access to YouTube for two days in 2008 because of what it said was unIslamic content. Turkey, Thailand, Indonesia and Morocco have all blocked access to YouTube in the past for various reasons, while China routinely bans Facebook and YouTube.

It remains to be seen how successful the government will be at keeping Internet users away from the blocked sites. Citizens often have little trouble working around a ban by using proxy servers and other means.

"What's common to Facebook and Lashkar-e-Taiba?" one user on Twitter wrote, referring to a Pakistani militant group that is banned but has an alleged front group that operates openly. "They are both banned in Pakistan, but Pakistanis can still find them if they want to."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley on Wednesday defended a priest who denied admission to a parish school to a gay couple's child, calling it a pastoral decision and saying the priest had his "full confidence and support," the Associated Press reports.

O'Malley's comments on his blog were his first public remarks about the decision earlier this month by St. Paul Elementary School in Hingham to rescind the boy's acceptance because his parents are lesbians.

A parent of the boy said the Rev. James Rafferty, the parish priest at St. Paul's, said her relationship was "in discord" with church teachings, which sees marriage as only between a man and a woman. She said the principal told her teachers wouldn't be prepared to handle the boy's questions when he realized the church's view of family conflicted with what he saw at home. The parent spoke to The Associated Press but asked not to be named to protect the welfare of the child.

The decision prompted calls for O'Malley to intervene. The Catholic Schools Foundation, which O'Malley chairs, said the decision was at odds with Gospel teaching, and it wouldn't fund schools that made similar decisions.

The archdiocese's head of education later called the parent, apologized and offered to help the 8-year-old enroll in another Catholic school.

O'Malley said Rafferty had come under "undue criticism" for the decision.

"He made a decision about the admission of the child to St. Paul School based on his pastoral concern for the child," O'Malley wrote. "I can attest personally that Father Rafferty would never exclude a child to sanction the child's parents."

The archdiocese said it is creating a policy to clarify its schools don't bar children with same-sex parents.

"It is true that we welcome people from all walks of life," O'Malley wrote. "But we recognize that, regardless of the circumstances involved, we maintain our responsibility to teach the truths of our faith, including those concerning sexual morality and marriage."

O'Malley began his post with a recollection about meeting the young daughter of a murdered woman who had run a brothel while he was bishop in the West Indies. He said the woman's daughter had left public school because she was being badly taunted, and he immediately directed that the girl be admitted to the local Catholic school.

"Catholic schools exist for the good of the children and our admission standards must reflect that," he wrote. "We have never had categories of people who were excluded."

The Hingham case was similar to a situation in Boulder, Colo., in which a Catholic school said two children of lesbian parents could not re-enroll because of their parents' sexual orientation, and the Denver Archdiocese backed the decision.

"It is clear that all of their school policies (in Denver) are intended to foster the welfare of the children and fidelity to the mission of the Church," O'Malley wrote. "Their positions and rationale must be seriously considered."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Religious leaders gathered Wednesday morning to ask the Baltimore City Council to support a controversial package of taxes proposed by Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake to help plug a $121 million budget gap, Baltimore Sun colleague Julie Scharper reports.

Her story continues:

The brief news conference organized by the BUILD interfaith coalition marked the first public event supporting Rawlings-Blake's tax package, which has drawn fierce opposition from retailers, beverage distributors, hotel owners and a host of business groups.

"Nobody likes an increase in taxes and fees, but it's a necessity given the economic climate," said Bishop Douglas Miles, co-chair of BUILD. "What's the alternative?"

BUILD members have championed the city's recreation centers, which would have been decimated by a doomsday spending plan that closed the budget shortfall through cutting services.

Rawlings-Blake, who spoke briefly at the news conference, has pledged to keep all the rec centers open through the summer if the council approves her revenue-generating measures, including a bed tax on nonprofit hospitals and universities; a 4-cent tax on bottled beverages; and hikes to energy, telecommunications and income tax rates.

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Pakistan's government ordered Internet service providers to block Facebook on Wednesday amid anger over a page that encourages users to post images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, the Associated Press reports.

The page on the social networking site has generated criticism in Pakistan and elsewhere because Islam prohibits any images of the prophet. The government took action after a group of Islamic lawyers won a court order Wednesday requiring officials to block Facebook until May 31.

By Wednesday evening, access to the site was sporadic, apparently because Internet providers were implementing the order.

The Facebook page at the center of the dispute — "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" — encourages users to post images of the prophet on May 20 to protest threats made by a radical Muslim group against the creators of "South Park" for depicting Muhammad in a bear suit during an episode earlier this year.

In the southern city of Karachi, about 2,000 female students rallied demanding that Facebook be banned for tolerating the page. Several dozen male students held a rally nearby, with some holding signs urging Islamic holy war against those who blaspheme the prophet.

"We are not trying to slander the average Muslim," said the information section of the Facebook page, which was still accessible Wednesday morning. "We simply want to show the extremists that threaten to harm people because of their Mohammad depictions that we're not afraid of them. That they can't take away our right to freedom of speech by trying to scare us into silence."

A series of cartoons of the prophet published in a Danish newspaper in 2005 sparked violent protests by Muslims around the world, including Pakistan, and death threats against the cartoonists.

Facebook said Wednesday it is investigating.

"While the content does not violate our terms, we do understand it may not be legal in some countries," the company said in a statement. "In cases like this, the approach is sometimes to restrict certain content from being shown in specific countries."

It remains to be seen how successful the move will be at keeping people in Pakistan from accessing the site. Some countries, such as China, permanently ban Facebook. But citizens often have little trouble working their way around the ban using proxy servers and other means.

In an attempt to respond to public anger over the Facebook controversy, the Pakistani government ordered Internet service providers in the country to block the page Tuesday, said Khurram Ali, a spokesman for the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority.

But the Islamic Lawyers' Forum asked the Lahore High Court on Wednesday to order the government to fully block Facebook because it allowed the page to be posted in the first place, said the deputy attorney general of Punjab province, Naveed Inayat Malik.

The court complied with the request and ordered the government to block the site until the end of May, Malik said.

Lawyers outside the courtroom hailed the ruling, chanting "Down with Facebook."

Later in the day, the telecommunications authority ordered all Internet service providers to block Facebook, it said in a statement.

Pakistan's minister of religious affairs, Hamid Saeed Kazmi, said the country's ban was only a temporary solution and suggested the government organize a conference of Muslim countries to figure out ways to prevent the publication of images of the prophet, which have caused backlashes among Muslim populations.

On Tuesday, an alleged al-Qaida militant detained in Iraq said he had talked to friends about attacking Danish and Dutch teams at the World Cup in South Africa next month.

"We discussed the possibility of taking revenge for the insults of the prophet by attacking Denmark and Holland," Abdullah Azam Saleh al-Qahtani told The Associated Press in an interview arranged by Iraqi authorities. "The goal was to attack the Danish and the Dutch teams and their fans."

In the Netherlands, an anti-Islam party has become the country's fastest growing political movement. Its leader, Geert Wilders, calls the Quran a "fascist book" and wants it banned in the Netherlands. His 2008 short film offended many Muslims by juxtaposing Quranic verses with images of terrorism by Islamic radicals.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 2:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (29)
        

One runs her own company, another is a housewife and a third, a divorcee, raises her children by herself. Like nearly 2,000 other Muslim women who freely wear face-covering veils anywhere in France, the Associated Press reports, their lives will soon change and they are worried.

On Wednesday, French Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie presented a draft law to the Cabinet banning Muslim veils that cover the face, the first formal step in a process to forbid such attire in all public places in France, AP correspondent Elaine Ganley writes. It calls for euro150 ($185) fines and, in some cases, citizenship classes for women who run afoul of the law.

"Citizenship should be experienced with an uncovered face," President Nicolas Sarkozy told the Cabinet meeting, in remarks released by his office. "There can be no other solution but a ban in all public places."

Although the Interior Ministry estimates there are only 1,900 women who cover their faces with veils, the planned law would be another defining moment for Islam in France as the nation tries to bring its Muslim population — at least 5 million, the largest in western Europe — into the mainstream, even by force of law.

The bill is to go before parliament in July, and despite the acrimonious debate that is sure to come, there is little doubt the measure will become law. Sarkozy, who says such veils oppress women, wants a law banning them on the books as soon as possible.

Sarkozy welcomed the bill, saying the government is embarking on "a just path" and urging parliament to take its "moral responsibility" and approve it.

The measure notably creates a new offense, "inciting to hide the face," and anyone convicted of forcing a woman to wear such a veil risks a year in prison and a euro15,000 ($18,555) fine, according to a copy of the text.

"If the law is voted, I won't take off my veil ... No one will dictate my way of life" but God, said Najat, a divorcee, who gave her age as "45 plus." She was one of a half-dozen women who, in a rare move, met with reporters on Tuesday to express their worries about changes they say will impact their lives to the core.

Like others, she refused to give her full name. All said they fear for their safety in an increasingly tense climate. Najat was among those who said she has been increasingly harassed since debate over the planned law began nearly a year ago.

The text, which could be amended once it reaches parliament, foresees a six-month delay in its application to explain the law and mediate with recalcitrant women who cover their faces, which means it wouldn't take effect until early in 2011.

A similar veil ban is in the works in neighboring Belgium. France has already walked this road, banning Muslim headscarves, and other "ostentatious" religious symbols, from classrooms in 2004.

The bespectacled Najat, with a French mother and Moroccan father, said she has covered her face with a veil for 10 years. Najat said that because she is divorced and raising her children alone no one "can say this is imposed on me."

"I won't leave" France if the veil is outlawed. "Why should I leave?" Najat said, waving her French passport.

The women predicted that their "sisters," other women who veil themselves, would hide out in their homes so as not to get caught breaking the law. Several said they would take their case to the European Court of Human Rights if arrested.

With the law, "They are giving people the right to attack us," said Kenza Drider, of Avignon in the south, who is married with four children. She was the only fully veiled woman to be interviewed by a parliamentary panel during a six-month inquiry.

"To tell a sister you can't wear this veil is to say you can't practice your religion," said a woman identifying herself as Oum Al Khyr, of Montreuil, on the edge of eastern Paris.

The bill turns on the "dignity of the person" rather than security issues, as had been widely speculated. It was unclear if that would make it more vulnerable to constitutional attacks.

The French government decided to risk running up against the constitution despite a warning from the Council of State, France's highest administrative body, which said March 30 that a full ban would likely not pass constitutional muster. It confirmed its "unfavorable opinion" on a general ban in a final report last week, according to the daily Le Figaro.

France's Muslim leaders have said the face-covering veil is not required by Islam, but have also warned that a ban on the full veil risks stigmatizing all Muslims.

In a country where fashion counts, and is often revealing, there is a visceral reaction among some French to veils that cover women from head to toe and conceal the face, sometimes including the eyes.

Critics of the garb say such dress is an affront to gender equality and undermines the nation's secular foundations by bringing religion into the streets. Others say the face-covering veil is the gateway to radical Islam.

The six women speaking Tuesday tackled such arguments, saying that their dignity cannot be dictated by the state, that they do not represent a terrorist threat and that secularism should give them the right to practice their religion as they see fit. They correctly note that women make up less than 20 percent of the 577 lawmakers in the French National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.

"They say they are going to free us," said Drider. But "it's the state who will force us into cloisters. We will have to sue for sequestration."

Karima, 31, who runs an import-export company, said she has been wearing a burqa-like veil for 16 years — more than half her life, she notes — and "I don't even know how to take it off."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

A Dutch sex shop says it will give away 2,000 "pope condoms" this weekend in a dig at the Roman Catholic Church, Reuters reports.

De Condoomfabriek, which translates as The Condom Factory, said it wanted to make a point about sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies and the Vatican's opposition to contraceptives, according to the British news agency.

The condom wrapper includes a image of a papal figure with the words "I SAID NO! We say YES!" Reuters reports.

Read the rest of the story.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (74)
        

Shaukat Malik emigrated from Pakistan in 1972 and arrived in the United States in 1980. He was moved to write by the arrest of Faisal Shahzad, the alleged author of the failed bombing of Times Square.

Recession and hard times provide the catalysts for racism to flourish. If that were to happen now, it would indeed be a sad day in American history.

America reigns supreme as a country that offers equal opportunity to all its citizens. Only in America could a black man with the name of Barrack Hussein Obama be elected president. We must celebrate this fact.

I emigrated from Pakistan to the United Kingdom in 1972. However, having experienced racism firsthand in 1972, when I was chased down Kensington High street London by white supremacists, and having travelled many times on British Railways with an empty seat as my constant companion, I can confirm for you that the worst form of prejudice is indeed racism.

I attended a July 4th party at the U.S. Embassy in London in 1976 and was so moved by the ambassador’s speech on the U.S. Constitution and its recognition of inherent human rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness that I decided I would move to the land of the free.

U.S. citizenship is cherished and celebrated by all Pakistanis who have been fortunate enough to acquire it. Our children were born here and we love the Unites States like any other U.S. citizen. Just because one man who happens to be an M.B.A. and is clean-shaven has gone raving mad does not mean we should condemn all U.S. citizens of Pakistani origin.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
        

The Vatican on Monday will make its most detailed argument yet for why it is not liable for bishops who allowed priests to molest children in the U.S., in a motion that could affect other efforts to sue the Holy See in American courts, The Associated Press has learned.

In a motion to dismiss a lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds, the Holy See is expected to argue that a key Vatican document calling for secrecy in church trials for sex abuse cases was not, as victims' lawyers say, proof of a Vatican-orchestrated cover up. The Vatican's U.S. attorney, Jeffrey Lena, said Sunday there was no evidence the document was even known to the archdiocese in question — much less used.

In addition, the Holy See is expected to assert that bishops aren't Vatican employees because they aren't paid by Rome, don't act on Rome's behalf and aren't controlled day-to-day by the pope — factors courts use to determine whether employers are liable for the actions of their workers, Lena told the AP.

He said he would suggest to the court that it should avoid using the religious nature of the relationship between bishops and the pope altogether as a basis for civil liability, because it entangles the court in an analysis of complicated religious doctrine that dates back to the apostles.

The Holy See is trying to fend off the first U.S. case to reach the stage of determining whether victims actually have a claim against the Vatican itself for negligence for the failure of bishops to alert police or the public about Roman Catholic priests who molested children.

The case was filed in 2004 in district court in Louisville, Kentucky, by three men who claim they were abused by priests decades ago and claim negligence by the Vatican. Their attorney, William McMurry, is seeking class-action status for the case, saying there are thousands of victims across the country.

The Vatican's motion is being closely watched as the clerical abuse scandal swirls around the Holy See, since the court's eventual decision could have implications for a new lawsuit naming top Vatican officials that was recently filed in Wisconsin and another one in Oregon is pending before the Supreme Court.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (29)
        

A nun and administrator at a Catholic hospital in Phoenix has been reassigned and rebuked by the local bishop for agreeing that a severely ill woman needed an abortion to survive, the Associated Press reports.

Sister Margaret McBride was on an ethics committee that included doctors that consulted with a young woman who was 11 weeks pregnant late last year, The Arizona Republic newspaper reported on its website Saturday. The woman was suffering from a life-threatening condition that likely would have caused her death if she hadn't had the abortion at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center.

Hospital officials defended McBride's actions but confirmed that she has been reassigned from her job as vice president of mission integration at the hospital. They said in a statement that saving the mother required that the fetus be aborted.

"In this tragic case, the treatment necessary to save the mother's life required the termination of an 11-week pregnancy," hospital vice president Susan Pfister said in an e-mail to the newspaper. She said the facility owned by Catholic Healthcare West adheres to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services but that the directives do not answer all questions.

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, head of the Phoenix Diocese, indicated in a statement that the Roman Catholic involved was "automatically excommunicated" because of the action. The Catholic Church allows the termination of a pregnancy only as a secondary effect of other treatments, such as radiation of a cancerous uterus.

"I am gravely concerned by the fact that an abortion was performed several months ago in a Catholic hospital in this diocese," Olmsted said in a statement sent to The Arizona Republic. "I am further concerned by the hospital's statement that the termination of a human life was necessary to treat the mother's underlying medical condition.

"An unborn child is not a disease. While medical professionals should certainly try to save a pregnant mother's life, the means by which they do it can never be by directly killing her unborn child. The end does not justify the means."

Olmsted added that if a Catholic "formally cooperates" in an abortion, he or she is automatically excommunicated.

Neither the hospital nor the bishop's office would say if Olmsted had a direct role in her demotion. He does not have control of the hospital as a business but is the voice of moral authority over any Catholic institution operating in the diocese.

The patient, who hasn't been identified, was seriously ill with pulmonary hypertension. The condition limits the ability of the heart and lungs to function and is made worse, possibly even fatal, by pregnancy.

"This decision was made after consultation with the patient, her family, her physicians, and in consultation with the Ethics Committee, of which Sr. Margaret McBride is a member," the hospital said in a statement issued Friday.

A letter sent to Olmsted Monday by the board chairwoman and the president and CEO of CHW asks Olmsted to provide further clarification about the directives. The pregnancy, the letter says, carried a nearly certain risk of death for the mother.

"If there had been a way to save the pregnancy and still prevent the death of the mother, we would have done it," the letter says. "We are convinced there was not."

McBride declined to comment.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

Seven years after the Episcopal Church caused an uproar by consecrating its first openly gay bishop, it has done the same thing again — only this time with a woman, the Associated Press reports.

The Rev. Canon Mary Glasspool, of Baltimore, was ordained and consecrated on Saturday, making her the second openly gay bishop in church history and one of the first two female bishops in the Diocese of Los Angeles' 114-year history.

She was installed at Long Beach Arena before 3,000 people, who burst into applause at the end, church spokesman Bob Williams said.

Just before the ceremony began, a man stood, shouted about the need to repent and held up a sign that read "Do not be deceived, homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God."

After he was escorted out, a young boy in the same section rose holding a Bible and shouted similar slogans. Security guards also led him out.

The Rev. Canon Diane M. Jardine Bruce, of San Clemente, Calif., was also ordained Saturday.

The two women were elected last December to serve as assistant bishops in the diocese's six-county territory but conservative Episcopalians had urged the church not to ordain Glasspool. The decision to do so highlights a continued Episcopal commitment to accepting same-sex relationships despite enormous pressure from other Anglicans.

Bishop Jon Bruno, who gave a sermon at the ceremony, said he once opposed ordaining women, but now would be happily serving alongside two.

Bruno defended the church's inclusive policies.

"The world's transformed only if we turn to each and every one of our brothers and sisters and see the face of Christ superimposed on them," he told the audience. "The ones we disagree with most are the ones we're obligated to share our lives and teach the most."

The Episcopal Church, which is the Anglican body in the United States, caused turmoil in the church in 2003 by consecrating the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

Breakaway Episcopal conservatives have formed a rival church, the Anglican Church in North America.

Several overseas Anglicans have been pressuring Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, to officially recognize the new conservative entity.

In 2004, Anglican leaders asked the Episcopal Church for a moratorium on electing another gay bishop while they tried to prevent a permanent break in the fellowship.

Since the request was made, some Episcopal gay priests have been nominated for bishop, but none was elected before Glasspool. In July 2009, the Episcopal General Convention, the U.S. church's top policy making body, affirmed that gay and lesbian priests were eligible to become bishops.

Glasspool and Bruce, who leaves her post as pastor of St. Clement's Episcopal Church in San Clemente, will also be the 16th and 17th women to be elected bishops since the first, Barbara Harris, was selected for such a post in Massachusetts in 1988.

Harris was one of seven bishops who helped consecrate Glasspool at Saturday's ceremony.

Glasspool, 56, an adviser, or canon, for eight years to the Diocese of Maryland's bishop, said in an essay on the Los Angeles diocese Web site that she had an "intense struggle" while in college with her sexuality and the call to become a priest.

She did not speak Saturday, but told a gathering of media Friday that the church's willingness to ordain women and gays shows a commitment that goes beyond mere inclusive language.

"We are being the church we say we are," Glasspool said. "We're not just saying it, we're doing it and there's something very powerful about that."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 1:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

On Saturday, the Rev. Mary Douglas Glasspool, the Annapolis priest who has served the last nine years as canon to the bishops of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, is to be consecrated a bishop herself in the Diocese of Los Angeles.

She will be the second openly gay bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the first since the 2003 ordination of V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire strained relations both within the Episcopal Church and between the Episcopal Church and the communion.

Baltimore Sun colleague Arthur Hirsch has produced a profile of Glasspool. It begins:

The Maryland priest at the center of a seismic tumult in the worldwide international Anglican Communion is slim and stands just over 5 feet, wears her gray hair cut short and greets visitors with a strong two-handed grasp. She's known to former parishioners and colleagues for emotional and insightful sermons, administrative skill, high energy — and for occasionally wearing a giant foam wedge of cheese on her head to honor her favorite NFL team.

The Rev. Canon Mary Douglas Glasspool, due to be consecrated today as bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, is known to the rest of the world by a phrase that would fit on a bumper sticker: "first openly lesbian bishop."

If the label seems handy, Glasspool said she hopes it soon outlives its usefulness.

"People who know me, the label will disappear. All I'm asking is an opportunity to get to know me," Glasspool, 56, said recently in an interview at the Baltimore headquarters of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. As canon to the bishops for the past nine years, she has served there as principal adviser to the leaders of the church.

She'll have more than enough meeting and greeting to do as she begins shuttling in the next few weeks between her home in Annapolis and Los Angeles, where she assumes her new post July 1. She'll work as bishop suffragan, or assistant, to Bishop J. Jon Bruno in a multilingual diocese of some 70,000 members in six counties, known for some of the most progressive parishes in the Episcopal Church.

"The Diocese of Los Angeles is tremendously exciting to me," said Glasspool, who spoke of the "very creative ways in which the church there does its mission and ministry," and the fact that on any given Sunday across the diocese, the liturgy is being celebrated in some 40 languages.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

The head of education for the Boston Archdiocese offered Thursday to help find a different Catholic school for a boy denied acceptance at a Hingham Catholic school because his parents are gay, the Associated Press reports.

In a statement, superintendent Mary Grassa O'Neill said she spoke with a parent of the 8-year-old boy and "offered to help enroll her child in another Catholic school in the archdiocese."

"We believe that every parent who wishes to send their child to a Catholic school should have the opportunity to pursue that dream," O'Neill said.

The parent, who has remained anonymous to protect her child from publicity, called the archdiocese's response "compassionate" and said O'Neill apologized. But the woman said she was uncertain she would enroll her son in another Catholic school because she needed to learn more about their educational programs.

She added: "I will be a little bit more guarded in my questioning so I'll be able to have a real clear picture where they stand."

The boy was to enter third grade at St. Paul Elementary School in the fall. But the woman said the parish priest, the Rev. James Rafferty, began asking questions about her relationship during a meeting last week.

On Monday, she learned her son's acceptance had been rescinded during a conference call with Rafferty and the school's principal, Cynthia Duggan. She said Rafferty said that her relationship was "in discord" with church teachings. The Catholic church believes marriage is only between a man and a woman.

Rafferty and Duggan did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.

The Boston archdiocese said it learned of St. Paul's decision late Tuesday. In her statement, O'Neill said the archdiocese doesn't bar children of same-sex parents from attending Catholic schools, and that it will develop a policy in the coming weeks to make that clear. Terry Donilon, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said local pastors have autonomy to run their parishes within basic church rules, but the archdiocese can set new policy when something needs to be clarified — as in this case — and pastors are expected to follow it.

O'Neill also said the schools expect parents to understand "that the teachings of the Church are an important component of the curriculum and are part of the students' educational experience."

O'Neill's statement came as some Catholic groups criticized St. Paul's decision.

On Thursday, the Washington-based group Catholics United said it had collected 2,500 signatures on a petition asking Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley to ensure the archdiocese's schools would allow all children access to a Catholic education. Executive Director Chris Korzen said he welcomed O'Neill's statement and looked forward to the release of the archdiocese's promised new policy.

The Catholic Foundation, which is chaired by O'Malley and raises money for Catholic education, called St. Paul's decision "at odds with our values as a foundation, the intentions of our donors, and ultimately with Gospel teaching." The foundation said it would not fund any school that treats students and families in such a manner.

The foundation's executive director, Michael Reardon, said the foundation did not give money to St. Paul's.

The Massachusetts case is similar to a decision by a Catholic school in Boulder, Colo., the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which said two children of lesbian parents could not re-enroll because of their parents' sexual orientation. The Denver Archdiocese backed the school's decision.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

A U.S. missionary should spend six months in prison for her failed attempt to remove 33 children from Haiti following the Jan. 12 earthquake, a prosecutor said Thursday on the first day of her trial, the Associated Press reports.

Prosecutor Sonel Jean-Francois told the court that Laura Silsby knew she was breaking the law by trying to take the children without proper documents to an orphanage she was starting in the neighboring Dominican Republic.

"Laura recognized she violated the law," Jean-Francois said as lawyers and a small group of spectators crowded into a a stiflingly hot tent in the parking lot of the quake-damaged courthouse.

He spoke after the Idaho woman testified. Silsby, who was leader of a group of Baptists detained by authorities, was the only person to testify on the first day of the trial. She spent much of the rest of the session reading the Bible.

The 40-year-old businesswoman told the court she thought the children were orphans whose homes were destroyed in the earthquake. An Associated Press investigation later revealed all the children had at least one living parent, who had turned their children over to the group in hopes of securing better lives for them.

"One week after the earthquake I left my family and my home to help children that had been orphaned in the earthquake," Silsby said. "We came here with a heart to help."

Silsby was originally charged with kidnapping and criminal association. She now faces one count of arranging illegal travel under a 1980 statute restricting travel out of Haiti signed by then-dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier.

A six-month sentence is the minimum jail time recommended under the law. She would receive credit for time served if convicted and sentenced to prison, prosecutors told the AP.

Silsby has been in custody since Jan. 29, when she and nine other Americans were detained at the Dominican border. The other missionaries have all been released and charges against them dismissed.

A defense request for her to be released immediately was denied.

Prosecutors also asked for six months in prison for Jean Sainvil, an Atlanta-based pastor born in Haiti who allegedly helped find the children for the missionaries. He is not in Haiti and is being tried in absentia.

The next session of the trial is expected next week.

The Americans' arrest came as the Haitian government was trying to control adoptions to prevent the trafficking of children after the earthquake, which killed a government-estimated 230,000 to 300,000 people and left some 1.3 million homeless.

Silsby sat quietly through Thursday's proceedings, dressed in a black shirt and denim skirt, while her Haitian lawyers argued with the prosecution. Hers was the only foreign face in the room other than AP journalists. Three men arrested for other crimes sat behind her in handcuffs.

The argument came down to a simple point on both sides:

Prosecutors said she knowingly took children to the border without papers.

"If the United States had an earthquake, that would not give you the right to take children," Jean-Francois said.

The defense responded in an often rambling address that Silsby was trying to help earthquake survivors under societal breakdown, with bodies in the street and government ministries destroyed.

"Why take the chance away from Haitian kids to have an opportunity for a better life?" asked lawyer Jean-Rene Tesir.

Silsby's testimony came early in the trial, given as she stood beside the desk of Judge Denis Cyprien. She spoke calmly in a low voice, choking back tears when she talked about the children she tried to transport, as a clerk rang a tin bell for order.

She identified her occupation as "manager of an orphanage," referring to the institution she had hoped to create in the northern Dominican Republic. There are no kids there; the children she tried to transport have been returned to their parents.

Sometimes Silsby spoke so quietly that the translator couldn't hear her. After she muttered her address twice, he shrugged and said in Creole to the clerk transcribing proceedings by hand, "somewhere in the United States."

In another strange moment he translated a judge's question as "Did you appreciate being arrested?"

The missionary told the judge that she met the children for the first time in front of a flattened building and described being turned away from closed government ministries in her attempt to get them documents.

"They said there was nobody there to help me," Silsby said.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)
        

In his most thorough admission of the church's guilt in the clerical sex abuse scandal, Pope Benedict XVI said Tuesday the greatest persecution of the institution "is born from the sins within the church," and not from a campaign by outsiders, the Associated Press reports.

The pontiff said the Catholic church has always been tormented by problems of its own making — a tendency that is being witnessed today "in a truly terrifying way."

"The church needs to profoundly relearn penitence, accept purification, learn forgiveness but also justice," he said.

"Forgiveness cannot substitute justice," he said.

Benedict was responding to journalists' questions, submitted in advance, aboard the papal plane as he flew to Portugal for a four-day visit.

In a shift from the Vatican's initial claim that the church was the victim of a campaign by the media and abortion rights and pro-gay marriage groups, Benedict said: "The greatest persecution of the church doesn't come from enemies on the outside but is born from the sins within the church."

Previously, he has taken to task the abusers themselves and, in the case of Ireland, the bishops who failed to stop them.

Benedict has promised that the church would take action to protect children and make abusive priests face justice. He has started cleaning house, accepting the resignations of a few bishops who either admitted they molested youngsters or covered up for priests who did.

Critics are demanding more. They recall that while Benedict has scolded his church and accepted some bishops' resignations, none of them has been actively punished or defrocked, even those who admitted molesting children.

"Many are tiring of hearing about his 'strong comments.' They want to see strong action," said David Clohessy, director of the main U.S. victims' group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Portugal has reported no cases of abuse, and the pontiff was expected to address other issues during his appearances here, especially the neglect of Christian values.

After staying in the capital, the 83-year-old pope was due to go to the shrine at Fatima, in central Portugal, on Wednesday and to Porto, the second-largest city, on Friday.

At least 500,000 people are expected to attend his Mass in Fatima on Thursday, the anniversary of the day in 1917 when three Portuguese shepherd children reported visions of the Virgin Mary.

Church bells rang out in Lisbon as the pontiff proceeded through the Atlantic port city in his popemobile. Several thousand people lined the streets on a showery day, many shouting, "Viva o Papa!" Some stretches of the route were thinly attended, however.

Portugal is nearly 90 percent Catholic, but only around 2 million of its 10.6 million people describe themselves as practicing Catholics. In recent years, Portugal has drifted away from the church's teachings.

Its center-left Socialist government passed a law in 2007 allowing abortion. The following year, it introduced a law allowing divorce even if one of the spouses is opposed. It said the legislation was part of Portugal's "modernization."

Benedict, who has expressed concern about the forfeiture of traditional values in Europe, sharply criticized Portugal's abortion law in remarks at Lisbon airport. He also decried the failure of public officials to uphold the sanctity of life.

"The point at issue is not an ethical confrontation between a secular and religious system, so much as a question about the meaning that we give to our freedom," he said.

The pontiff's visit coincides with another tense moment between the elected authorities and the church.

Conservative President Anibal Cavaco Silva has to decide by next week whether to veto or ratify a bill passed by Parliament that would make Portugal the sixth country in Europe allowing same-sex couples to marry.

Benedict did not comment on that development, but he returned to his criticism of the financial and economic crisis which, he said, demonstrated the need for "an ethical component" in running the global financial system. His 2009 encyclical, "Charity in Truth," outlined his vision for greater moral responsibility in the economy.

Portugal is western Europe's poorest country and many have suffered acute hardship after the global downturn. Portuguese bishops last year drew attention to what they called "scandalous levels of misery" in the country.

Cavaco Silva said the pontiff had arrived at a time of uncertainty that was testing Portugal's strength as a community.

"In these times, men require someone bearing a message of hope to meet their thirst for justice and solidarity," he told the pope.

Benedict attended a welcome ceremony at the 16th-century Jeronimos monastery and church in the Lisbon suburb of Belem, which means Bethlehem in Portuguese.

Inside the vaulted Jeronimos church, the pope stood and watched a children's choir sing, giving a nod of appreciation. The pontiff knelt and crossed his hands on a gold and crimson cushion to pray in the silent church.

Jeronimos was built to celebrate the feats of Portuguese maritime explorers who were the first Europeans to set foot in parts of Africa, India and Latin America. The Crown was allied with the Catholic church on those voyages which, as well as endowing Portugal with huge wealth, also sought to convert natives they encountered.

"Portugal has gained a glorious place among the nations for service rendered to the spreading of the faith: in all five continents there are local churches that owe their origin to the Portuguese missionary activity," the pope said at an evening open-air Mass in Lisbon's main riverside square, Terreiro do Paco. Officials said 150,000-200,000 people attended the celebration.

Some 10,000 children from the civic movement Eu Acredito ("I Believe") stood next to a special altar for the pope.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (23)
        

As a White House adviser in 1997, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan urged then-President Bill Clinton to support a ban on late-term abortions, a political compromise that put the administration at odds with abortion rights groups, the Associated Press reports.

Documents reviewed Monday by The Associated Press show Kagan encouraging Clinton to support a bill that would have banned all abortions of viable fetuses except when the physical health of the mother was at risk. The documents from Clinton's presidential library are among the first to surface in which Kagan weighs in the thorny issue of abortion.

The abortion proposal was a compromise by Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle. Clinton supported it, but the proposal failed and Clinton vetoed a stricter Republican ban.

In a May 13, 1997, memo from the White House domestic policy office, Kagan and her boss, Bruce Reed, told Clinton that abortion rights groups opposed Daschle's compromise. But they urged the president to support it, saying he otherwise risked seeing a Republican-led Congress override his veto on the stricter bill.

Clinton generally supported banning late-term abortions but insisted there be an exception when the mother's health was at risk.

Because Kagan spent little time in court and never sat as a judge, she does not have the typical long history of court opinions and legal briefs. That has made it difficult to assess her legal acumen or ideology. President Barack Obama announced Kagan's nomination to the high court on Monday.

The memo is more of a political calculation than a legal brief, but Kagan and Reed urged Clinton to support the compromise despite noting that the Justice Department believed the proposal was unconstitutional.

"We recommend that you endorse the Daschle amendment in order to sustain your credibility on HR 1122 and prevent Congress from overriding your veto," they wrote.

The memo noted that another White House adviser, Rahm Emmanuel, also supported the idea. Emmanuel is now Obama's chief of staff.

Proposals such as late-term abortion bans are seen as key battlegrounds in the legal fight over abortion. Though the debate often focuses on whether the Supreme Court will someday overturn Roe v Wade, the high court more frequently takes cases that carve out the exceptions that make it easier or harder for women to obtain abortions.

The memos were contained in Reed's files. They do not include Kagan's papers from her time as domestic policy adviser and associate White House counsel. Those records, a several-thousand page collection that could provide the most revealing look at Kagan's legal work, are expected to be released this summer.

The library released more than 5,000 papers from Justice Sonia Sotomayor before she was confirmed last year.

Kagan also recommended that Clinton support legislation banning human cloning in May 1997. At the time, the scientific and religious communities were abuzz about news that scientists had cloned a sheep, Dolly. The news raised questions about the legal and ethical boundaries of such research.

Kagan and White House science adviser Jack Gibbons urged the president to support a congressional ban on human cloning. Clinton followed that advice but the bill died in Congress.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Tough U.S. norms about dealing with clerical sex abuse that have been hailed as a model by the Vatican aren't appropriate for Belgium, even as it deals with dozens of new reports of priests molesting children, a leading archbishop told reporters on Friday.

Brussels Archbishop Andre-Mutien Leonard said the context in which the U.S. norms were created — amid a major scandal in 2002 — required a much tougher response than what Belgium or Europe requires, the Associated Press reports. But he said the Belgian church nevertheless was taking a firm stance against pedophile priests, albeit a more measured one than in the U.S.

"In Belgium, we are truly determined to be firm, transparent and rigorous on this question, but perhaps the European context, the Belgian context is not the same as the American context," he said. "In Belgium, we always like to speak in a language that can be very firm but one might say 'velvety' — a bit soft. But firm."

Leonard spoke to reporters Friday after a week of previously scheduled meetings with Vatican officials that followed the April announcement that the country's longest-serving bishop, Roger Vangheluwe, had resigned after admitting he sexually abused a boy.

The revelation has shaken the Belgian church, sparking what Leonard has said was a "crisis in confidence" in an institution that has already seen a sharp decline in the number of priests in recent years.

The pope addresses the Belgian clergymen Saturday.

Cardinal Joseph Levada, the American who heads the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is in charge of clerical abuse cases, has said the U.S. norms could be a model for bishops around the world — as well as for Boy Scouts, public schools and other institutions catering to children.

"I do think that the United States can rightly offer a model and I will look forward to helping my brother bishops around the world see what can be done if you take good concrete steps," to screen and educate priests and establish safe environment programs for children, Levada told U.S. public broadcaster PBS last month.

The U.S. norms, which the Vatican accepted as church law in the U.S., bar credibly accused priests from any public church work while claims against them are under investigation. Diocesan review boards, comprised mostly of lay people, help bishops oversee cases. Clergy found guilty are permanently barred from public ministry and, in some cases, ousted from the priesthood.

The U.S. policy does not specifically order all bishops to notify civil authorities when claims are made. Instead it instructs bishops to comply with state laws for reporting abuse, and to cooperate with authorities. All dioceses were also instructed to advise victims of their right to contact authorities themselves.

The Belgian church in 2000 created an independent panel of experts to look into abuse complaints, but it quickly clashed with the church leadership. The panel has accused the church of tardiness in compensating victims.

Leonard recently posted an appeal on the website of the Belgian church's news agency urging victims and the abusive priests themselves to report abuse to civil authorities, or to the panel of experts at the very least if the statute of limitations has expired.

He didn't mention the duty of bishops to report abuse. Recently the Vatican posted a policy on its website saying bishops should report abuse to law enforcement where civil laws require it.

Hasselt Bishop Patrick Hoogmortens said Friday that clergymen aren't required by law to report such abuse in Belgium. But he said they do so when there is an "urgent" need to remove an abusive priest.

He said that since the sex scandal erupted in Europe nearly two months ago, Belgium's panel had received reports from more than 150 alleged victims.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Evangelist Franklin Graham prayed on a sidewalk outside the Pentagon Thursday after his invitation to a prayer service inside was withdrawn because of comments that insulted Muslims, the Associated Press reports.

"It looks like Islam has gotten a pass," he told reporters. "They are able to have their services, but just because I disagree ... I'm excluded."

In 2001, Graham, the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, described Islam as evil. More recently, he said he finds Islam offensive and wants Muslims to know that Jesus Christ died for their sins. The Pentagon's chaplain office called those comments inappropriate and, at the request of the Army, withdrew Graham's invitation to attend a multi-denominational "National Day of Prayer" service that was held in the Defense Department auditorium.

He came anyway, arriving in the Pentagon parking lot just before 8 a.m. EDT — his party of a half dozen people forming a circle on the sidewalk and praying.

They stood there for about five minutes, heads bowed, as people arriving for work passed by — a man with a briefcase, one on a bike, a woman carrying breakfast pastry in a bag and another man carrying a skateboard.

Then the group walked to the Pentagon's Sept. 11 memorial roughly a couple of hundred feet away, where media had gathered because it's one of the few places were cameras are allowed on the Pentagon property. There, Graham held a news conference that lasted nearly twice as long as the prayer.

Asked why he had come, Graham said it was to pray for the men and women serving at the warfront, including his son, who he said had already been wounded in Iraq and now serves in Afghanistan.

He said he doesn't believe "all religions are equal" and that there is only "one way to God" — and that is through Jesus.

Asked if he still believes Islam is evil, he said: "I believe the way they treat women is evil, yes I do." And, can he understand how some of his comments would be offensive to Muslims? "Oh, I'm sure," he said. "But I find what they teach and what they preach and what's on the Internet — I find that to be offensive, too."

Another moment in the news conference, he said people shouldn't be offended because it's simply a disagreement in what people believe.

Graham said many American Christians "feel we are losing our freedoms while people of other faiths are gaining their freedom. It's a perception, whether it's right or wrong."

While Graham spoke outside, some 80 people attended a service inside the Pentagon that included Roman Catholic, Jewish, Muslim and Protestant chaplains.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (37)
        

Having already caused a fuss this spring with the depiction of the prophet Muhammad on "South Park," Comedy Central said Thursday that it has a cartoon series about Jesus Christ in the works, the Associated Press reports.

"JC" is one of 23 potential series the network said it has in development. It depicts Christ as a "regular guy" who moves to New York to "escape his father's enormous shadow."

His father is presented as an apathetic man who would rather play video games than listen to his son talk about his new life, according to Comedy Central's thumbnail sketch of the idea. Reveille, the production company behind "The Office," "Ugly Betty" and "The Biggest Loser," is making "JC."

It wouldn't be the first time Jesus Christ has been on a Comedy Central cartoon; he's a recurring character on the long-running "South Park."

Comedy Central was the target last month of an Internet threat for a "South Park" episode that supposedly showed Islam's prophet in a bear costume.

Whenever "South Park" features Muhammad in an episode, Comedy Central obscures the character with a black box; Muslims consider any physical representation of their prophet to be blasphemous. Following the Internet threat, Comedy Central angered "South Park" producers by editing out a character's speech about intimidation in a subsequent episode.

"It's not certain what is more despicable: the nonstop Christian bashing featured on the network, or Comedy Central's decision to censor all depictions of Muhammad," said William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights.

Comedy Central wouldn't comment on Donohue's statement, said network spokesman Tony Fox, who declined to give further details about "JC."

A development deal is a couple of steps ahead of a series making it to air and, in fact, most such deals don't result in series. The network would have to like the scripts enough to produce a test episode, then like that enough to put it on the air.

Other series in the works are "Intercourse with Whitney Cummings," about the comedienne's adventures in dating, and "Live Sex Show," a late-night panel discussion about sex.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (153)
        

Pastor Marcus Johnson of New Harvest Ministries stood outside Baltimore's City Hall on Friday and asked a crowd of about 100 to pray aloud and unrestrained.

A federal judge's ruling last month that the law that directs the president to proclaim a National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional did not diminish the enthusiasm of the faithful, who held Bibles, waved American flags and raised their hands to the heavens, Baltimore Sun colleague Mary Gail Hare reports.

"I have been called to pray," Johnson said. "If I am standing in line at the supermarket or the bank, I can pray. Prayer is who I am and what I do. It is my Christian duty. It is not just for Sundays within the walls of a church."

Similar gatherings were scheduled at government buildings around the nation, including those on the grounds of the Virginia state Capitol and on the lawn outside City Hall in Coral Springs, Fla.

In Annapolis, an evening prayer service with the theme "becoming better stewards" was set for Lawyer's Mall.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb of Wisconsin ruled last month the day violates the First Amendment's establishment clause, which prohibits Congress from creating a "law respecting an establishment of religion."

She said the government should not use its influence to decide when people should pray. The ruling does not cancel the National Day of Prayer until appeals are exhausted, she wrote.

Read the story at baltimoresun.com.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled last month that the law that directs the president to proclaim a National Day of Prayer in unconstitutional, and for the second year, President Barack Obama has declined to host an event marking the day, as President George W. Bush and others did.

Still, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb stayed her ruling, pending appeals, including one by the Obama administration. And last week, the president issued a proclamation marking the day:

THE WHITE HOUSE

NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER, 2010

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

Throughout our history, whether in times of great joy and thanksgiving, or in times of great challenge and uncertainty, Americans have turned to prayer. In prayer, we have expressed gratitude and humility, sought guidance and forgiveness, and received inspiration and assistance, both in good times and in bad.

On this day, let us give thanks for the many blessings God has bestowed upon our Nation. Let us rejoice for the blessing of freedom both to believe and to live our beliefs, and for the many other freedoms and opportunities that bring us together as one Nation. Let us ask for wisdom, compassion, and discernment of justice as we address the great challenges of our time.

We are blessed to live in a Nation that counts freedom of conscience and free exercise of religion among its most fundamental principles, thereby ensuring that all people of goodwill may hold and practice their beliefs according to the dictates of their consciences. Prayer has been a sustaining way for many Americans of diverse faiths to express their most cherished beliefs, and thus we have long deemed it fitting and proper to publicly recognize the importance of prayer on this day across the Nation.

Let us remember in our thoughts and prayers those suffering from natural disasters in Haiti, Chile, and elsewhere, and the people from those countries and from around the world who have worked tirelessly and selflessly to render aid. Let us pray for the families of the West Virginia miners, and the people of Poland who so recently and unexpectedly lost many of their beloved leaders. Let us pray for the safety and success of those who have left home to serve in our Armed Forces, putting their lives at risk in order to make the world a safer place. As we remember them, let us not forget their families and the substantial sacrifices that they make every day. Let us remember the unsung heroes who struggle to build their communities, raise their families, and help their neighbors, for they are the wellspring of our greatness. Finally, let us remember in our thoughts and prayers those people everywhere who join us in the aspiration for a world that is just, peaceful, free, and respectful of the dignity of every human being.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 6, 2010, as a National Day of Prayer. I call upon the citizens of our Nation to pray, or otherwise give thanks, in accordance with their own faiths and consciences, for our many freedoms and blessings, and I invite all people of faith to join me in asking for God’s continued guidance, grace, and protection as we meet the challenges before us.

Today

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.

BARACK OBAMA

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (29)
        

An agreement signed by the two main Iranian-backed Shiite blocs seeking to govern Iraq gives the final decision on all their political disputes to top Shiite clerics, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday.

If the alliance succeeds in forming the next government, the provision could increase the role of senior clergy in politics, the AP reports. The provision would likely further alienate Iraq's Sunni minority, which had been hoping the March election would boost their say in the country.

The newly announced alliance between the Shiite blocs practically ensures they will form the core of any new government and squeeze out the top vote getter, Ayad Allawi's Iraqiya list, which received heavy Sunni support. But the terms of the alliance show the deep distrust between the two Shiite partners and seek to limit the powers of the prime minister.

A leading member of the prime minister's coalition who signed the agreement on Tuesday confirmed it gives a small group of clerics led by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani the last word on any disputes between the two allied blocs. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

"The marjaiyah has the final say in solving all the disputes between the two sides and its directives and guidance are binding," the agreement said, referring to the religious Shiite leadership based in the holy city of Najaf.

The provision only applies to the alliance, not officially to any new government. But if the Shiite alliance dominates the next government, clerics would potentially have a direct say in policy.

In the past, Shiite politicians have often turned informally to al-Sistani for advice and to resolve disputes and the agreement would enshrine that role in writing.

Al-Sistani's office declined to comment on the agreement.

The Iranian-born cleric, who is in his 80s, is the most revered religious figure among Shiites in Iraq — and many abroad. He offers his counsel behind the scenes to senior politicians who privately seek his guidance and support. But he has shunned a public role and opposes a Shiite philosophy governing Iran that gives direct rule to clerics.

Al-Sistani has played a major role in keeping stability while ensuring the unity and domination of the Shiites. But his inability to stop the brutal Shiite-Sunni violence of 2006 and 2007 has shown the limitations of his authority.

The deal is between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition and the conservative Shiite Iraqi National Alliance, which comprises the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and followers of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Neighboring Iran, a Shiite theocracy where clerics have the final word on all matters of state, carries great influence with both groups and has long pushed for such an alliance.

Iraq's Sunnis have been sidelined since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein. The community threw its weight behind Iraqiya, which won 91 seats in the election — more than any other bloc but far short of the majority needed to govern.

Sunnis already were warning that excluding them from government could fuel new sectarian violence.

Abdul-Ilah Kazim, a Sunni lawmaker with the Iraqiya list, rejected the political influence of the Shiite clerics. "There is a sectarian flavor to this one-sect agreement from start to finish and certainly all the world and Iraqi people will get his message," he said.

In an interview Wednesday, before the details of the agreement were revealed, U.S. ambassador Christopher Hill said, "Sunnis have to be a part of the political process."

"You cannot run Iraq without having significant Sunni participation," he told The AP.

Marina Ottaway, the director of the Middle East program at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. pointed out that in the past al-Sistani has pushed for greater inclusiveness in the Iraqi government.

"I would not be surprised if al-Sistani puts pressure on the Shiite alliance to reach out to other groups," she said.

One dispute that could potentially fall to al-Sistani is the question of who would be prime minister in a government led by the new Shiite coalition.

Most of the provisions in the agreement between the Shiite blocs appear designed to limit the power of the prime minister. The provisions also reflect the deep distrust with which various factions in the alliance regard each other, underlining the possibly tenuous nature of their agreement.

Those familiar with the meetings said many of these conditions came from the Sadrist trend, which was deeply unhappy with al-Maliki, who ordered a U.S.-Iraqi crackdown on Shiite militias in 2008.

The provisions require the prime minister to consult on all decisions with members of the alliance and prohibit him from trying to form his own electoral list. Policy issues are also to be determined by committees from each of the Shiite blocs, further limiting the premier's role.

By putting in writing the role of the marjaiyah, the agreement also sets up a higher authority to the prime minister.

Iraqi political factions have been squabbling for weeks after the inconclusive March 7 vote for a new 325-seat parliament.

The latest developments are likely to further alienate the Sunnis, though by sheer numbers, the new Shiite alliance would not need their support to form a government.

It is only four seats shy of a majority in parliament and one of the points in the agreement signed Tuesday night said the pan-Shiite alliance intends to form an alliance with the powerful Kurdish coalition, which has 43 seats.

The Kurds, however, indicated they would seek a broader coalition.

"We are close to the Shiite blocs and we have a historical alliance with them, but we as a Kurdish coalition we are leaning toward forming a national unity government that includes all the main four winning blocs," said Fadhil Miran, an aide to Kurdish President Massoud Barzani. "We do not want a sectarian government and we do not want Iraqiya list to be excluded."

Another Sunni lawmaker with Iraqiya, Hamid al-Mutlaq, expressed hope the Shiite alliance would extend a hand to other parties if it gains power.

"We hope they give the winning bloc, the Iraqiya list, their due and at the very least not frustrate the will of the Iraqi people in the elections," he said.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 3:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Rabbi David Forman, founder of Rabbis for Human Rights, a prominent group defending Palestinians, has died, the Associated Press reports.

Forman was 65. He died Monday in a hospital in Dallas, Texas, where he was undergoing treatment, said Rabbi Arik Ascherman, current leader of the human rights group.

Forman founded Rabbis for Human Rights in 1988 and led it until 1992. He served as its chairman again from 2002-2003.

A Reform Jewish rabbi, he was director of the Israel office of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the Reform umbrella group. He moved to Israel in 1972.

"Rabbi Forman was a mentor and a moral compass for several generations of rabbis and Jews around the world" through his work in human rights, Ascherman told The Associated Press.

Rabbis for Human Rights leads regular protests against the demolition of Palestinian homes and uprooting of olive trees in the West Bank.

Forman is survived by his wife and four children. His funeral is set for Thursday in Israel.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 3:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

A company that denied a Baltimore woman the chance to become a foster mother after discovering she doesn't allow pork in her home defended its decision in a state-ordered corrective action plan, saying the woman lacks the flexibility needed to work with children, Baltimore Sun colleague Brent Jones reports.

Hyattsville-based Contemporary Family Services, which is authorized by the state to place foster children with families, said Tashima Crudup — a practicing Muslim — was unyielding in her stance, which in turn, could make her intractable in other issues involving children. Crudup initially had cleared a screening process and completed hours of training before her application was denied after a home visit from a CFS worker in August 2009.

Crudup took her case to the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a complaint on her behalf with the Baltimore City Community Relations Commission, claiming religious discrimination. The commission is investigating the case and will set a hearing date.

Maryland's Office of Licensing and Monitoring, meanwhile, sent a letter to CFS outlining state discrimination laws and ordering the company to comply. The department also asked CFS to file a corrective action plan within 10 days.

CFS said in its response that it did not discriminate against Crudup. The company said it will now provide documentation of its nondiscriminatory policy to all parents and prospective parents.

Corey Pierce, chief operating officer for CFS, said his agency has never discriminated against potential foster parents and has clients of all religions and races.

"Why would we discriminate against her? Our issues with her are legitimate. It's not about religion, and really, it's not about pork," Pierce said.

Read the story at baltimoresun.com.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)
        

The Rev. Jason Poling is Pastor of New Hope Community Church in Pikesville.

If memory serves, Oriole Park and the Light Rail opened the same year. Every morning that summer of ‘92 I took it from Lutherville to catch the MARC train down to my summer internship in D.C. When work or socializing (OK, usually socializing) put me on the night’s last train back to Baltimore, I often trudged up the hill to the Mount Royal stop only to find myself having to squeeze into a train full of suburbanites going home from that night’s game.

Times have changed.

Yesterday I pulled into the parking lot at the Falls Road stop and was afraid I had the wrong day printed on my ticket. Not an hour before game time, I hopped onto a half-empty train that still had open seats by the time we got to the ballpark. After the game, I pushed my way through a throng of despondent Red Sox fans waiting for the southbound train to take them to their airport hotels, and hopped onto the northbound train just as it was pulling out. Again, half-empty. Which was a relief, since a 10-inning game on a sweltering day makes for ripe-smelling fans you really don’t want standing next to you holding the overhead bar.

But, boy, was it depressing.

That first summer my friends and I would get to the ballpark 2 hours early to score standing-room tickets, and we were glad to have them. Camden Yards was the hottest ticket in town, and even after the novelty of a new ballpark wore off they were still packing them in during the last years of the Ripken era. Now, less than a month into what will likely be the O’s 13th losing season in a row, an overwhelming number of those officially in attendance are disguised convincingly as empty seats.

At a fundraiser this weekend I spoke with a local media personality whose career in Baltimore stretches back decades. He told me he was done. He’d still support the team and get down to the Yard once in a while, but he just couldn’t muster the emotional energy to care about the O’s any more. Not long after Cal Ripken retired I asked a guy who’s well connected at the highest levels of Major League Baseball what he thought of the prospects for turning the team around. He just shook his head and said, “There’s no vision, and as long as that’s true of the club’s leadership the Orioles will be a losing team.”

That was eight years ago.

But this post really isn’t about the Orioles. (This is, after all, the religion blog.) Tufts University recently did a study on clergy who have lost their faith but remain in the pulpit. The miniscule sample size and the strong anti-religion bias of study author Daniel Dennett should give pause to anyone looking to extrapolate too much from what the researchers conclude. Surely there are clergy whose doubts have led them to conclude that they cannot stand by the convictions of their faith tradition even as their mortgage statements have led them to conclude that they can’t afford to just walk away.

Yet for every pastor or rabbi who has turned conclusively to atheism there are hundreds if not thousands who have slid into a sort of theological agnosticism (however firmly they still hold to their convictions about needing to draw a paycheck). And so our landscape is littered with the shells of churches once strong and vibrant. Denominational officials play the role of emergency room surgeons, triaging congregations as they try desperately to stanch the bleeding. Seminaries merge, and merge again, to the point that they carry more names than an English nobleman.

An oft-quoted verse from Proverbs reads in the old King James translation, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Years of vision-less leadership in the Warehouse have gotten the O’s to a point where two wins in a row is celebrated as a streak, and sweeping a series as an epic event. Tom Landry used to tell his players not to showboat after touchdowns, saying, “You’re a Dallas Cowboy. You need to act like you’ve been in the end zone before.” But the O’s of the teens are not the Cowboys of the ‘70s, and you can’t fault a young team for being giddy after a big win when they’re so rare. But it’s hard to ride a half-empty train on a Sunday afternoon and not fear for the future of baseball in Baltimore.

In the 400 years since the King James translation, scholars have gotten a better handle on the original languages and now say that Prov. 29:18 should read not “the people perish” but “the people cast off restraint.” Many commentators ascribe the woes of today’s O’s to the loss of “The Oriole Way,” an attitude toward the game that stresses disciplined execution of baseball fundamentals. In much the same way, many churches have cast off the restraints of maintaining orthodox theology, respecting the traditions of our predecessors, practicing the spiritual disciplines that have nurtured the faithful over the centuries, and treating the Bible as inspired and authoritative, not in need of some serious editing.

Time and again the history of the Church has demonstrated that when you abandon the Oriole Way, when you cast off restraint, you get chaos. Whether it’s the corruption in a Catholic order or the demise of a once-strong denomination, the surest path to destruction (however eventual) is the abandonment of discipline. That doesn’t mean perfection -- far from it. It means the willingness to confess imperfection -- sin, we call it in less polite circles -- and receive forgiveness and grace to move forward. If we confess our sins, John tells us in his first letter, God is faithful and just and will forgive us. But if we say we haven’t sinned, he also says, we make him out to be a liar, and his truth is not in us.

And as much as we may insist that we’re rebuilding, those empty seats year after year get tougher to explain away.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Christianity, Culture, Evangelicalsm, Jason Poling, People
        

Moshe Hirsch, an American-born anti-Zionist rabbi and close associate of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, has died in Jerusalem, the Associated Press reports. He was 86.

Hirsch was a leading figure in Neturei Karta, a tiny ultra-Orthodox sect that opposes Israel's existence as a Jewish state and has embraced its enemies. He was born in New York and attended a rabbinical academy in New Jersey.

Arafat, who died in 2004, appointed Hirsch his adviser on Jewish affairs.

The group is known for its members' 2006 trip to Iran, where they embraced the President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a Holocaust-denying conference. It also supports Gaza's Hamas rulers and the Lebanese Hezbollah militants.

These alliances have drawn criticism even from other anti-Zionist Jewish groups, which believe that only the Messiah can establish a Jewish state.

Neturei Karta, which is Aramaic for "Guardians of the City," was founded some 70 years ago in Jerusalem by Jews who opposed the drive to establish the state of Israel. Estimates of the group's size range from a few hundred to a few thousand. Hirsch was the son-in-law of the group's founder, Rabbi Aharon Katzenelbogen.

Eida Haredit, an umbrella group of anti-Zionist Jewish sects, confirmed Hirsch died on Sunday.

Hatem Abdel Qader, an adviser on Jerusalem affairs to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said he would take part in a Palestinian delegation to pay respects to the late rabbi.

"We consider Rabbi Hirsch a part of the Palestinian people," said Abdel Qader. "He is one of the Palestinian Jews whom we give all respect and this is to confirm that our problem is not with the Jews as a religion, it's with Zionism."

Hirsch, who was buried Sunday, is survived by three children and a brother.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

Pope Benedict XVI all but gave an outright endorsement of the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin on Sunday, calling the cloth that some believe is Christ's burial shroud an icon "written with the blood" of a crucified man, the Associated Press reports.

During a visit to the Shroud in the northern Italian city of Turin, Benedict didn't raise the scientific questions that surround the linen and whether it might be a medieval forgery. Instead, he delivered a powerful meditation on the faith that holds that the Shroud is indeed Christ's burial cloth.

"This is a burial cloth that wrapped the remains of a crucified man in full correspondence with what the Gospels tell us of Jesus," Benedict said. He said the relic — one of the most important in Christianity — should be seen as a photographic document of the "darkest mystery of faith" — that of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.

The 14-foot-long, 3.5-foot-wide (4.3-meter-long, 1 meter-wide) cloth has gone on public display for the first time since the 2000 Millennium celebrations and a subsequent 2002 restoration. Kept in a bulletproof, climate-controlled case in Turin's cathedral, it has drawn nearly 2 million reservations from pilgrims and tourists eager to spend three to five minutes viewing it.

The Shroud bears the figure of a crucified man, complete with blood seeping from his hands and feet, and believers say Christ's image was recorded on the linen's fibers at the time of his resurrection.

Benedict focused in his meditation on the message that the blood stains conveyed, saying the Shroud was "an icon written in blood; the blood of a man who was whipped, crowned with thorns, crucified and injured on his right side.

"The image on the Shroud is that of a dead man, but the blood speaks of his life. Each trace of blood speaks of love and life," Benedict said.

The Vatican to date had tiptoed around the issue of just what the Shroud of Turin is, calling it a powerful symbol of Christ's suffering while making no claim to its authenticity.

Benedict's meditation — delivered after he prayed as if in a trance before the shroud — appeared to imply that in the end it doesn't matter what science says about its authenticity.

"The Shroud of Turin offers us the image of how his body lay in the tomb during that time (of death); time that was brief chronologically — about a day and a half — but was immense, infinite in its value and significance," Benedict said.

A Vatican researcher said late last year that faint writing on the linen, which she studied through computer-enhanced images, proves the cloth was used to wrap Jesus' body after his crucifixion.

But experts stand by carbon-dating of scraps of the cloth that determine the linen was made in the 13th or 14th century in a kind of medieval forgery. That testing didn't explain how the image on the Shroud — of a man with wounds similar to those suffered by Christ — was formed.

However, some have suggested the dating results might have been skewed by contamination and called for a larger sample to be analyzed.

When Pope John Paul II visited the Shroud during a 1998 public display, he said its mystery forces questions about faith and science and whether it really was Christ's burial shroud. But he said the church had "no specific competence to pronounce on these questions" and urged continuous study.

Benedict, who has made the interplay of faith and science a hallmark of his papacy, did not mention the role of science and reason in his remarks Sunday.

Benedict's visit to the holy relic marked a bit of a respite from the clerical sex abuse scandal that has convulsed the Vatican in recent weeks. In the past week, he has met with several bishops to discuss resignations from inside their ranks over sex abuse by priests of children and the bishops' failure to report it to civil authorities, and more meetings are planned.

He also met with five Vatican investigators who reported on an eight-month probe into the Legionaries of Christ; the Vatican announced Saturday that Benedict would appoint a personal delegate to lead the discredited order and reform it after revelations that its founder sexually abused seminarians and fathered at least one child.

On Sunday, a few hundred anti-Vatican demonstrators gathered in Turin to protest the pope's visit, the Vatican's handling of sex abuse cases and it's role in society in general. Demonstration organizer Maria Matteo said Vatican documents detailing how clerical abuse cases should be processed insisted on secrecy.

When the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "he clearly said that these problems shouldn't be spoken about. What more does there need to be (to blame him)?" she told Associated Press Television News.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
        

The Vatican denounced the "immoral" double life led by the late founder of the Legionaries of Christ on Saturday and said a papal envoy and special commission would be named to overhaul the conservative order following revelations its founder sexually abused seminarians and fathered at least one child, the Associated Press reports.

In a statement, the Vatican excoriated the Rev. Marciel Maciel for creating a "system of power" built on silence and obedience that enabled him to lead a double life "devoid of any scruples and authentic sense of religion" and allowed him to abuse young boys for decades unchecked.

"By pushing away and casting doubt upon all those who questioned his behavior, and the false belief that he wasn't doing harm to the good of the Legion, he created around him a defense mechanism that made him unassailable for a long period, making it difficult to know his true life," the Vatican said.

The Vatican assured the Legion's current members that it would help them "purify" what good remains in the order and would not be left alone as they undergo the "profound revision" necessary to carry on.

The Vatican issued the statement after Pope Benedict XVI met with five bishops who investigated the Legion for the past eight months, met with over 1,000 members around the world to determine its future after its founder, around whom the Legion had built a cult of personality, was so thoroughly discredited.

The pope's response is being closely watched because the Vatican is facing mounting pressure to aggressively confront abuse and provide pastoral care to victims. The Maciel case has long been seen as emblematic of Vatican inaction on abuse complaints, since Maciel's victims had tried in the 1990s to bring a canonical trial against him but were shut down by his supporters at the Vatican.

In the end, it was only in 2006 — a year into Pope Benedict XVI's papacy — that the Vatican ordered Maciel to lead a "reserved life of penance and prayer," making him a priest in name only. He died in 2008 at age 87.

The Vatican statement was remarkable in its tough denunciation of Maciel's crimes and deception. It said the system of power, obedience and silence he created had kept "a large part" of the Legionaries in the dark about his double life. That raised questions about what would become of the current Legionaries leadership since many have questioned how they couldn't have known of his misdeeds.

The Vatican ordered an investigation into the order in 2009 after the Legionaries acknowledged that Maciel had fathered a daughter who is now in her 20s and lives in Spain. But it was only in March of this year that the Legionaries acknowledged that Maciel had also sexually abused seminarians and that two men are claiming to be his sons.

The late Pope John Paul II had long championed the Legionaries for their orthodoxy and ability to bring in vocations and money. Recent news reports in the U.S. Catholic publication National Catholic Reporter told of how the late pope's secretary and No. 2 intervened to protect Maciel and accept donations on his behalf.

But the Vatican on Saturday was unsparing in its criticism of him, although it didn't acknowledge the Vatican or its officials bore any blame in allowing his deception to continue.

"The extremely grave and objectively immoral behavior of P. Maciel, confirmed by incontrovertible testimony, represent at times real crimes and show a life devoid of any scruples and any authentic sense of religion," it said.

The Vatican praised the missionary zeal of Legionaries priests and lay members, but said that same zeal blinded them to Maciel's misdeeds and led them to believe that the sex abuse accusations "even as they became more insistent and widespread, could not be but slander."

The Vatican set out an initial course of action: the pope would name a personal envoy and a commission of study to review the order's founding constitutions. In addition, the Vatican said the pope would name a special investigator to look into the order's lay arm, Regnum Christi, at the lay members' request.

Maciel founded the Legion in his native Mexico in 1941 and the order's culture was built around Maciel. His photo adorned every Legion building, his biography and writings were studied, and his birthday was celebrated as a feast day. Until recently, Legion members took a vow not to criticize their superiors, including Maciel.

The order now claims a membership of more than 800 priests and 2,500 seminarians in 22 countries, along with 70,000 members in Regnum Christi. It runs schools, charities, Catholic news outlets, seminaries for young boys, and universities in Mexico, Italy, Spain and elsewhere. Its U.S. headquarters are in Orange, Connecticut.

The revelations of Maciel's double life caused enormous turmoil inside the Legionaries and Regnum Christie, with priests leaving the order and Legion officials steadily announcing changes meant to demonstrate the movement was already reforming on its own.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)