Alleged unholy sex: Catholic bishops back Burke
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Commentary on the story below:
It is a shame that our Nigerian bishops can tell blatant lies. In the story below, the Archbishop Felix Alaba Job, the Archbishop of Ibadan, arranged a fax paux conference to attempt to cover-up a known fact regarding the circumstances that led to the recent resignation of Archbishop Richard Burke, SPS, as Archbishop of Benin City, and administrator of Warri diocese (which he relinguished at the end of March, 2010), with that diocese now having its own bishop.
Archbishop Job and his colleagues, most of whom, like the notorious sexual exploiter of Nigerian nuns, Archbishop John Olurunfenmi Onaiyekan, attempted to create the impression that the reasons that led to Archbishop Burke relinguishing his position is unsubstantiated. It smacks the imagination as to whom they are fooling. Christ, our Lord and Savior, told us to always tell the truth (Matthew 5: 37) and that the truth shall set us free (John 8:32).
Archbishop Burke, himself, has greatly acknowledged his sexual indiscretions and misconducts, though he continues to deny the charges of sexually abusing a minor against him made by one Delores Atwood, a Nigerian and now Canadian resident. Burke never denied his indiscretions, so why is Archbishop Job trying to do the dirty job of a devil's advocate, ending up become more filthy than the swine?
The reason here is simple. Archbishop Alaba Job and his coterie of Nigerian bishops are highly corrupt. Not only do they get funded by corrupt politicians, but the ilks of Archbishop Onaiyekan, has crafted a crafty theological reasons to justifying colluding with politicians in receiving their stolen and blood tainted money. These men are full of corrupt practices such as nepotism in the way they appoint bishops, and undue interferences in the operations of dioceses within their metropolitan jurisdiction or outside of it, in trying to place their favoured candidates, often one who will not expose their heavy corruption, especially unaccountable, wreckless, and irresponsible usage of church fundings. Therefore, it is not surprising that these folks who will suppress credible and meritorious candidates for their own preferences, often sadistic and egoistic, without regards to the fate of local churches, devoid of conscience and moral probity, can go to great length to cover up anything that is detrimental to their own images.
Their current efforts to burnish the image of Archbishop Richard Burke, is not because they really care for him. Rather, it is that if they sound loud enough, there would be saved from the palpable anger and possible scrutiny of themselves. Unfortunately, no matter how much they try, the die has been cast. In a free world with easily accessible information, we know that the church has its weak nodes, and the human imperfections are evidently apparent, and the blot and spots of its misconduct is evident. The happenings in America, Ireland, Europe, New Zealand, Australia, and elsewhere is not hidden from the human eyes.
True, we would go against media offensive that inordinately tries to taint the Holy Father and the teaching dogmatic and ethical authority of the Catholic faith, as has been pursued by some sections of the western press. But, we are courageous enough that the church does have her problematic issues that needs to be resolved appropriately. Denials and incessant attempts to dump the toxic bye products of these issues in a way that is truly insulting to the public imagination, to the teachings of Christ regarding the truth, and to arrogance that is rooted within a clerical culture of deceit and fraud, would not help the faith.
In this regard, in spite of having to pay the price, we want to appraise the fact that Archbishop Burke, owned up, even if partially and apologized for his misdeeds. Herein, even while paying the price for his own acceptable flawed actions, he showed he is capable of reform and hopefully entering into the grace of renewal, in seeking true reconciliation with God, the church, and the victim especially whom he so dearly pained and exploited. In fact, Archbishop Burke, though unfortunate, is the not the only bishop of late who has violated the public trust reposed in him, and lived lies and presented a false and hypocritical face to the people of God. Only God will ultimately judge him.
Here, Archbishop Burke is in the good company of the Zimbabwean Archbishop Pius Ncube, and even the former Nigerian bishop of Okigwe, Anthony Ilonu, who was accused of impropriety by a Nigerian nun, Sr. Paschaline Aligweke, and other bishops such as the Austrian Cardinal Groer, the two bishops of Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A., who molested young males.
It is instructive, therefore, that the Nigerian Catholic Church continues to live in utter falsehood, playing up one lies against another. The hierarchy of the Nigerian Catholic Church need to be thoroughly investigated. The Vatican can no longer continue to delude itself with reports that the Nigerian church is growing and that all is well. It is time for an apostolic visitation to take stock of some of the rubbish muddied under the carpet.
For instance, one of the way the Nigerian bishops intend to ensure a priest incardinated, and who by law is their corporate responsibility, is dealt with in the face of abuse, is to such send an irritant priest to his family. It is one of those most phony ways of dealing with issues of such significant, and it attests to the intellectual deftness that sometimes regretably defines the thinking of the Nigerian hierarchy- as a result of mediocre choices of episcopal candidates. Sad!
Sooner, than later, the church would pay for its shortcoming, if it refuses to deal with this issue now than later.
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From NWABUEZE OKONKWO, Onitsha
The Sun (Nigerian newspaper) Thursday, June 3, 2010
Catholic bishops in Nigeria , under the aegis of Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) have expressed their sympathy for Archbishop John Burke of the Benin Archdiocese over what they termed unsubstantiated sexual allegation levelled against him.
They said that such an unfounded allegation has created confusion not only among the lay faithful but also the entire people of Nigeria.
Addressing newsmen yesterday at the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, Onitsha , the President of CBCN, Archbishop Felix Alaba Job stated that Burke was still one of them because he only resigned from his administrative post as Archbishop of Benin and not as a priest or a bishop.
Flanked by Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja , Archbishop Valerian Okeke of Onitsha , Archbishop Ukpo of Calabar and Bishop Michael Okoro of Abakaliki, Job contended that the enemies were always out to destroy a house of God.
Okeke, in his own reaction, echoed Job’s response and advised Nigerians to shun rumour mongering and false information.
Meanwhile, the CBCN has condemned the kidnap of three students of the Catholic Veritas University, Abuja from a female hostel located in Obehia, Abia State.
Job said that four days after the kidnap of the female students on May 28, 2010 their whereabouts remained unknown, adding that the kidnappers were demanding N150 million from the university.
“We, the Catholic bishops of Nigeria, are saddened by this horrible incident. While we condemn it, we pray for a change of heart by those involved. We, therefore, appeal to the kidnappers to release the three innocent students unhurt and without conditions.
“We also use this medium to call on the Federal, State governments and the security agents to do more within their power to guarantee the security of lives and property of law abiding citizens of our great nation,” he stated.
Meanwhile, soldiers, policemen and other security agencies numbering over 500 have been drafted to the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity in the Onitsha Catholic Archdiocese to secure participants at the ongoing two-day event marking the national closing ceremonies of the special year for Nigerian priests.
The ceremony began on Wednesday with the arrival of the President of the CBCN and Archbishop of Ibadan Catholic Archdiocese, His Grace, Most Rev. Felix Alaba Job and the President of National Association of Diocesan Priests, Monsignor Cletus Gotan and the registration of other participants.
According to the programme of events released by the Onitsha Catholic Archdiocessan secretariat, bible enthronement and vespers/benediction commenced by 6 p.m. yesterday, followed by exposition/unveiling of the Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi and Gala Night.
At 7 p.m., Monsignor Gotan presented a paper on St. John Vianney, while Monsignor Nwosu presented a paper on Tansi, followed by a drama presentation by the Catholic Youths Organization of Nigeria (CYON), dances, songs and cultural displays.
It is expected that a eucharistic celebration, which is the main event of the ceremony, would commence at 10 a.m. today at the Basilica Square, after penitential rites and exposition of the Blessed Tansi between 6 and 9 a.m.
During the eucharistic celebration, 20 deacons drawn from different parts of the country would be ordained priests, after which the bishops would declare the Blessed Tansi as patron of Nigerian priests.
Also lined up are finals of football match between priests from Abuja and Okigwe dioceses, presentation of trophies and prizes to various winners and rosary pilgrimage to Aguleri, the home village of Tansi with a courtesy call on the traditional ruler of Aguleri, Eze Christopher Idigo.
Meanwhile, no fewer than 20 bishops and 50 priests arrived Onitsha as at yesterday afternoon for the occasion.
The Director of Communications in the Onitsha Catholic Archdiocese, Rev. Fr. Pius Ukor and the Press Secretary to Archbishop Valerian Okeke, Rev. Fr. George Adimike, who confirmed the arrival of the bishops and priests to Daily Sun yesterday afternoon, said the president of CBCN, Job would officiate at the con-celebrated pontifical high Mass.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Nuns shortage: Merger of Orders and the American Catholic Church
By PATRICK CONDON, Associated Press Writer Patrick Condon, Associated Press Writer – Wed Jun 2, 4:44 pm ET
ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Sister Mary David Olheiser and Sister Helenette Baltes professed their vows together in 1936 as two of the 21 new sisters to join the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict that year. At the time, their central Minnesota Roman Catholic monastery was overflowing with youth and energy.
Sixty-two years later, the classmates and old friends are together again. St. Benedict is taking St. Bede back into its fold. The smaller group is facing demographic realities by closing its Wisconsin monastery and moving 29 remaining sisters back to Minnesota.
"It's just a blessing," said Helenette, 94, of her reunion with the 92-year-old Mary David.
It also reflects the massive changes in the lives of nuns in their lifetimes, as once-flourishing orders merge or close. A 2009 Georgetown University study for the National Religious Vocation Conference found the median age in Catholic women's orders to be in the mid 70s, and that 34 percent of religious women's orders surveyed had no new candidates for the sisterhood. About half of those orders with new candidates had at most one or two in the pipeline.
When 83 nuns including Sister Helenette departed for Eau Claire in 1948, they left about 1,200 Benedictine nuns at the monastery in St. Joseph. Today there are about 250, a number that drops by about a hundred every 10 years. But it's enough to make it the biggest Benedictine women's order in the United States. The median age at St. Benedict is 77, the youngest nun there 39 years old.
"In the larger church, vocations to religious communities tend to rise and fall, and right now in most of the world there is a decline in young people entering religious life," said St. Benedict Prioress Nancy Bauer, 57. "I would say there's numerous factors. It's just how it is."
Helenette and Mary David are typical of the women once so common to sisterhood. Helenette was born in 1915, the seventh of 12 children in Sleepy Eye, where her father had recently moved the family after landing a job at a dairy.
A new Catholic Church had just opened there, and when the family couldn't find a house, the priest offered room in the old church. "So that's where I was born, right there in the church," Helenette said. By her teen years, various relatives were urging Helenette to join a convent.
Mary David was born in 1918 in Dickinson, N.D., the third of five children; her mother died when she was still a girl. "I was the middle child, with the middle child psychology — I was the assertive one," Mary David recalled. She devoured books and loved learning, and took strongly to the Benedictine nuns who taught her at school.
By the time she was 14, Mary David informed her father she wanted to attend the Benedectine-run boarding school next to the monastery in St. Joseph. By 17 she was a novice, after she convinced the nuns who ran the school to bend the rules that she was supposed to wait until she turned 18.
Mary David and Helenette took their vows together in 1936. Soon after, Mary David left to work in a Benedictine monastery in Washington state, where she would remain until 1950; she's spent most of the rest of her life in St. Joseph, where she was a dean at the College of St. Benedict and a canon lawyer for the nearby Diocese of St. Cloud. "Only because I was in a religious life could I have done all that," said Mary David, who at 92 is still fit and sharp.
Helenette spent the next dozen years in St. Joseph, teaching music and playing the organ, before she decided to join the group that was headed about 170 miles southeast to start a new monastery in Wisconsin.
"That was a very difficult decision, the attachment to the convent where I made my vows," Helenette said. "But the holy spirit led me there."
The group started from scratch, building first a monastery that won architectural awards, then a secondary school and a health care center. By the mid-1960s the monastery reached a high point of 115 sisters.
Then the numbers started to fall. The group closed its school in 1978 and converted it to a retreat and conference center that the sisters operated until earlier this year. Those facilities are now up for sale.
In recent years, leaders of St. Bede's began to discuss their options in the face of what Prioress Michaela Hedican called "some basic sociological shifting." The dwindling group last took on a new member in 1995.
The group approached several larger monasteries, but the historic connection to St. Benedict made it a good fit. The sisters of St. Benedict voted last August to absorb St. Bede. "We really felt it was a gift, to get that sort of infusion of new members all at once is something we haven't experienced for many years," said Sister Kara Hennes, 63, the St. Benedict treasurer.
Recent years have seen mergers by numerous religious orders around the country; Sister Michaela called it "the wave of the future." So far, six sisters of St. Bede, Helenette among them, moved to the Benedictine long-term care facility in St. Cloud; by August, most of the rest are scheduled to move into the monastery in St. Joseph, after which St. Bede will be formally "suppressed" in a mass at the St. Benedict Chapel.
The Washington, D.C.-based National Religious Retirement Office started tracking the merger of Catholic orders in 1989, and in that time reports that about 130 female orders have merged and are now operating as about 45 orders, director Sister Janice Bader said.
Mary David, who still lives at the monastery in St. Joseph, said she can't wait to spend more time with her old friend. "Pretty soon I'll probably be joining her there," she said.
Of the 29 returning St. Bede sisters, 11 were from the original group that moved to Wisconsin in 1948. Besides Helenette, another was Sister Therese Roth, who at 94 moved into the St. Scholastica care facility in Minnesota a few weeks ago.
There, in her new home, Sister Therese died on May 22, and the number of remaining St. Bede sisters dropped from 29 to 28.
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ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Sister Mary David Olheiser and Sister Helenette Baltes professed their vows together in 1936 as two of the 21 new sisters to join the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict that year. At the time, their central Minnesota Roman Catholic monastery was overflowing with youth and energy.
Sixty-two years later, the classmates and old friends are together again. St. Benedict is taking St. Bede back into its fold. The smaller group is facing demographic realities by closing its Wisconsin monastery and moving 29 remaining sisters back to Minnesota.
"It's just a blessing," said Helenette, 94, of her reunion with the 92-year-old Mary David.
It also reflects the massive changes in the lives of nuns in their lifetimes, as once-flourishing orders merge or close. A 2009 Georgetown University study for the National Religious Vocation Conference found the median age in Catholic women's orders to be in the mid 70s, and that 34 percent of religious women's orders surveyed had no new candidates for the sisterhood. About half of those orders with new candidates had at most one or two in the pipeline.
When 83 nuns including Sister Helenette departed for Eau Claire in 1948, they left about 1,200 Benedictine nuns at the monastery in St. Joseph. Today there are about 250, a number that drops by about a hundred every 10 years. But it's enough to make it the biggest Benedictine women's order in the United States. The median age at St. Benedict is 77, the youngest nun there 39 years old.
"In the larger church, vocations to religious communities tend to rise and fall, and right now in most of the world there is a decline in young people entering religious life," said St. Benedict Prioress Nancy Bauer, 57. "I would say there's numerous factors. It's just how it is."
Helenette and Mary David are typical of the women once so common to sisterhood. Helenette was born in 1915, the seventh of 12 children in Sleepy Eye, where her father had recently moved the family after landing a job at a dairy.
A new Catholic Church had just opened there, and when the family couldn't find a house, the priest offered room in the old church. "So that's where I was born, right there in the church," Helenette said. By her teen years, various relatives were urging Helenette to join a convent.
Mary David was born in 1918 in Dickinson, N.D., the third of five children; her mother died when she was still a girl. "I was the middle child, with the middle child psychology — I was the assertive one," Mary David recalled. She devoured books and loved learning, and took strongly to the Benedictine nuns who taught her at school.
By the time she was 14, Mary David informed her father she wanted to attend the Benedectine-run boarding school next to the monastery in St. Joseph. By 17 she was a novice, after she convinced the nuns who ran the school to bend the rules that she was supposed to wait until she turned 18.
Mary David and Helenette took their vows together in 1936. Soon after, Mary David left to work in a Benedictine monastery in Washington state, where she would remain until 1950; she's spent most of the rest of her life in St. Joseph, where she was a dean at the College of St. Benedict and a canon lawyer for the nearby Diocese of St. Cloud. "Only because I was in a religious life could I have done all that," said Mary David, who at 92 is still fit and sharp.
Helenette spent the next dozen years in St. Joseph, teaching music and playing the organ, before she decided to join the group that was headed about 170 miles southeast to start a new monastery in Wisconsin.
"That was a very difficult decision, the attachment to the convent where I made my vows," Helenette said. "But the holy spirit led me there."
The group started from scratch, building first a monastery that won architectural awards, then a secondary school and a health care center. By the mid-1960s the monastery reached a high point of 115 sisters.
Then the numbers started to fall. The group closed its school in 1978 and converted it to a retreat and conference center that the sisters operated until earlier this year. Those facilities are now up for sale.
In recent years, leaders of St. Bede's began to discuss their options in the face of what Prioress Michaela Hedican called "some basic sociological shifting." The dwindling group last took on a new member in 1995.
The group approached several larger monasteries, but the historic connection to St. Benedict made it a good fit. The sisters of St. Benedict voted last August to absorb St. Bede. "We really felt it was a gift, to get that sort of infusion of new members all at once is something we haven't experienced for many years," said Sister Kara Hennes, 63, the St. Benedict treasurer.
Recent years have seen mergers by numerous religious orders around the country; Sister Michaela called it "the wave of the future." So far, six sisters of St. Bede, Helenette among them, moved to the Benedictine long-term care facility in St. Cloud; by August, most of the rest are scheduled to move into the monastery in St. Joseph, after which St. Bede will be formally "suppressed" in a mass at the St. Benedict Chapel.
The Washington, D.C.-based National Religious Retirement Office started tracking the merger of Catholic orders in 1989, and in that time reports that about 130 female orders have merged and are now operating as about 45 orders, director Sister Janice Bader said.
Mary David, who still lives at the monastery in St. Joseph, said she can't wait to spend more time with her old friend. "Pretty soon I'll probably be joining her there," she said.
Of the 29 returning St. Bede sisters, 11 were from the original group that moved to Wisconsin in 1948. Besides Helenette, another was Sister Therese Roth, who at 94 moved into the St. Scholastica care facility in Minnesota a few weeks ago.
There, in her new home, Sister Therese died on May 22, and the number of remaining St. Bede sisters dropped from 29 to 28.
___
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Condom in Catholic Church: The Case of Disavowal, Poor Archdiocesan Governance, and Ethnic Victimization
CONDOM IN CHURCH, CATHOLIC PRIEST OPENS CAN OF WORMS
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We bring you this story, more like an interview of a priest, who sometimes ago, we posted herein was locked out of his church by some parishioners. It is just fair to present this side of his own story providing the reasons for that incidence and many more issues that patently continue to show the kind of politics and inordinate rule that has become the fate of the Nigerian Catholic Church. Increasingly, the Nigerian Catholic Church is becoming fraught with internal fragmentation, high level of dissension, and corrupt governance, involving bishops.
It is no longer a secret that Nigerian Catholic Bishops are increasiningly mimicking, if not worst off, in their corrupt practices than the Nigerian politicians, many of them rail against from their exalted pulpits. From issues ranging from nepotism and favoritism in the appointments of Bishops, not based upon Canonical precepts but more in terms of personal and ethnic loyalty, and even the practice of "Simony"- which priest favors the bishop through direct or indirect channeling of funds for the bishop's personal use or keep them in contact with rich business folks, and stained corrupt politicians.
It is long assumed that such prebendalism is a feature of the Nigerian church, in spite of some positive development like increasing vocations to the priesthood and religious life; one that one also need to be cautious about given that these routes are increasingly becoming markers of social affluence and wealth, for some of the poor candidates whom these offers an avenue to quick social relevance and inordinate wealth.
It is truly sad. However, the featuring of some of the priests, like Msgr. Matthew Kukah in the predicament of a fellow priest, because he comes from another part of Nigeria and not native to Kaduna archdiocese (though lived and spent over 33 years of his life as a priest there) shows that even those who claim to have a detribalized mindset when viewed from the outside, are in fact, when thoroughly examined outside the orbit of the persona they adopt for the public view, can be bigoted and thoroughly petit in the normal ways of acting.
Outside of the positive face that Msgr. Kukah wears within the coloration of the Nigerian media, who also refuse to acutely and accurately, examine the nature of his relationships with Nigerian rulers- and the ill-gotten wealth of which he is a beneficiary-we are now seeing who this celebrate Kukah really is. Is it any coincidence that the Ogoni people figured out who he truly is, and almost lynched him sometimes ago, for his dalliance with the rich and powerful that makes him subsume the truth in favor of his patrons, while wearing the cassock as a tool of deception?
Unfortunately, the Vatican does not care with issues that affect the life and mission of the African Catholic Church. They, to further, their own racism, today continue to dump very inferior and incompetent bishops in different dioceses, who are incapable of any productive management style and handling vital crises. They are happy to do this, so that when they compare African bishops to their European counterparts, many would stand in comparison in stark contrasts of inferiority of personality, talent, and vision, to the assumed superiority of the Euro-American bishops, given support to a doctrine of tokenism, that presupposes that African bishops and the church are just for the sake of convenience given their own clergy, who compared to the west are merely favored in a kind of affirmative action, and not because of merit. Too bad.
If this trend continues, one thing is sure; the church must stand ready to confront crises whose proportionality transcends any that they have yet experienced- including a bad inventory of the worst sexual abuses crimes within the Catholic Church, as would not as yet been detailed.
It is important that the Vatican, directly or through its Pro-Nuncio get involve in this escalating matter to help assuage this kind of development. More so, the faith of a people is at stake, and the priesthood of a worthy servant of the church, who gave over three decades of his entire life in service of the Church is also on the edge. Something urgent must be done to help bring about healing for all those involved.
Further, it is also time that Archbishop Matthew Ndagonso's highhanded and insultive tactics against a very seniour priest be redressed and if possible an apology offered. Msgr. Enuagha is actually seniour to the archbishop by years of his ordained ministry. His person and ministry should not in anyway vilified for the sake of personal or ethnic convenience.
Being an archbishop should not enable a predisposition to disrespect and insolence, even if there is a problem. The hitting of hands and the nature of arrogant talk displayed here by the archbishop is uncalled for. The archbishop is a shepherd to all, and more for his priests- who daily help him enrich his ministry of pastoral care, administration, and service. The priesthood of every priest comes from Christ and his church that involves, encompasses, but truly transcends the bishop, in fact, not hinging upon the priesthood of the bishop, even though the bisho.p has the fullness of the priesthood as a successor of the apostle. Even Peter was told by Paul to be wrong when he discriminated against the gentiles.
Further, it is time that the mask that continues to veil the Church from accurately seeing the person of Msgr. Matthew Hassan Kukah, needs to be properly unveiled. It is a shame that such a shaddy character continues to romp and act inordinately, when his moral convictions and actions, are often questionable. The charade that is Msgr. Hassan Kukah needs to be unmasked. It was such a monumental disgrace, when this same Msgr. Kukah, was invited to the last Second African Synod in Rome. He has a lot of taints that need to be investigated. If the church does not do it, hopefully, with the new media, the Church should be ready for its greatest shock in the mood of the former Zimbabwean Archbishop Pius Ncube.
We invite all Ndi Igbo Catholics worldwide to support their Catholic commitments including their priests, especially those in Northern Nigeria, where they do not only face persecution from non-Christians and Muslims, but now unfortunately from among those they serve and those who should be their brother's keepers in the Catholic Church's top echelon.
Pray brothers and sisters pray, the evil one is right on track with his staff to wreck havoc. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Mother of the Church, and Mother of Priests, pray for us and those who are recoursed to thee!!!
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CONDOM IN CHURCH, CATHOLIC PRIEST OPENS CAN OF WORMS
Written by Prince Religion and Spiritual Apr 4, 2010 Condom in church
Catholic priest opens can of worms
• I’m being punished for removing Blessed Sacrament –Fr Enuagha
From Kenny Ashaka, Abuja
Sunday, April 04, 2010
•Fr Enuagha
The Catholic Archdiocese of Kaduna is in the news again. Nearly one year after the priest of St. Dominic’s Catholic Church, Ungwan Pama in Kaduna State, Monsignor Gabriel Veron Enuagha (aka ThankGod), was locked out by parishioners, a silent war of words capable of dividing the archdiocese along ethnic lines is brewing. At the centre of the crisis is also a renowned priest and social commentator, Monsignor Mathew Hassan Kukah.
Last week, when Sunday Sun spoke with Monsignor ThankGod, it was clear he was at pains understanding the rationale behind Archbishop Mathew Man’oso Ndagoso’s resolve to post him back to St. Dominic’s Catholic Church few months after the violence that culminated in the closure of the church.
Monsignor ThankGod reveals the sizzling story of how he was reportedly pushed down by the parishioners, an account of alleged stolen church funds by those he says pride themselves as owners of the church. Now he is threatening to remove his cassock if the Archbishop makes good his resolve to return him to the same church, in what he describes as an ethnic battle meant to humiliate him.
The priest also speaks on why he removed a blessed sacrament from its position to another location, saying the canonical provisions do not support the Blessed Sacrament being littered with condoms. “Condoms were picked here and there in the church and I removed the Blessed Sacrament,” he says.
How it started
I see it as a premeditated action because of the way they even received me when I came. I suspected that Father Kure told them not to allow me access to any of their money because he established one big church without foundation. This church was so massive. When I got there, first of all, they seized the harvest money for that year. What I suspected was that they told them to seize the money and they kept the money to themselves, and as long as I didn’t bother them about the money, there was peace. Then I had to go for check-up of my surgery.
The money was meant for church development; it was harvest money of over N5 million for 2008 and 2009. When I came back from the surgery, I told them they have to give account of the N5 million because that N5 million got lost and there was nothing on the ground to show for it. The new church we were building there was a massive church and they said they were going to do something. I approved N2.5 million for them to do the German floor out of the N5 million. But before I came back, they squandered the whole thing.
Stealing church fund
They have the cheque book. I’m the authority to checkmate them. Under normal circumstances, I have to keep the cheque book. But I demanded for the cheque book and they refused to give it to me. They said it was what Father Kure told them. That is why I mentioned in my write-up that they stole N800,000 with a single signature. I’m supposed to countersign whatever money I approve for them. But this time around, they didn’t refer to me. They went and stole about N800,000, apart from all the money they stole there. That was what sparked off the problem because I told them that they must account for the N5 million.
Another harvest was to hold in September 2009 and I told them that they have to tell the church what they did with the N5 million. The following Sunday, because my health was better, I told them that I would swap the masses. The 8 o’clock mass, which they don’t come on time, should go to 10 o’ clock so that the Hausa Mass should have enough time. Whenever they come after the 8 o’clock mass, then we will start and they will have enough time…But they used that as a springboard to start the trouble. The actual trouble is not because of the swapping of the mass. It’s simply because I said I will be more involved in the church business than the previous year when I was having my treatment. When I said I will take over the counting of the money and be more involved and that they should give account of how they spent the money the previous year, they used the swapping of the mass as springboard to start the problem. But my suspicion is that the swapping of the mass was not actually the problem.
Authority to review mass hours
The Parish Priest is the Chief Shepherd and as the Chief Shepherd, you take decisions that will be of spiritual benefit to your flock and I have done this job for 33 years. I have never been locked outside my church for the past 33 years, except in Ungwan Pama where I suspect it is because I’m not one of their own. If I were one of their own, they wouldn’t do that. They cannot lock Kukah out of his church. Anytime he comes in, he tells them what to do and gets off. How many times have you seen him in his parish? He’s either in Abuja, in Ogoni or in Germany, going to see George Bush or the United Nation. He is all over the place. The basic thing is that it is an ethnic thing.
Why I was locked out
As I stated in my Interim Report, before October 4, this money was missing actually and there was nothing to show for it when I came back. The bank statement showed that the money was gone. Even the last one they withdrew was N800,000 with single signature. When I was leaving, I signed about 10 cheques because we are supposed to be two signing and they have the custody of the cheque. But I didn’t know I was countersigning for crooks actually. I told them that they cannot bring out N2.5 million and keep in the house. For that reason, let me countersign about 15 cheques, but let them not withdraw more than N2.5 million.
But, they have the cheque book, since I didn’t want to fight with them over who should be in custody of it and they bring it for my signature. This doesn’t happen in any other parish. I couldn’t seize it because I’m not a thief. The chairman signs and I countersign.
Prior to my leaving, they said the job they are going to do requires about N2.1 million. I asked them if this will be all for the external work apart from roofing and they said yes. I said let me countersign the cheque for you so that within the month I will leave, you will be able to do the job the way you want. But along the line, I told them that I don’t want them to withdraw N2.1 million and keep in their houses because it is dangerous. For that reason, I signed 15 cheque leaves for them to draw it bit by bit, paying for building materials, paying the workers from the N5 million. But before I came back, they signed all the money, more than the N2.5 million we agreed on, using the cheque leaves I countersigned. There was one that my signature was not there. The chairman, because he has the custody of the cheque book, went and withdrew N800,000 with single signature. That was how it came about and the bank manager was nearly sacked in Zenith Bank as well as the cash officer. They were pleading and begging when I came back. But I said why wash our dirty linens in public; they have eaten the money and later we sorted that one out because I could not have recovered it.
But what sparked trouble was when I told them that they have to explain to the church, because another harvest was to hold in that September 2009 and this thing happened in October. They had started collecting another money and wanted to be dipping hands into the harvest money of 2009/2010. But I said no. So, because I told the council to give account of that money and announced the swapping of the Hausa Mass and 10 o’clock English Mass, they used that as a spring board to start trouble. The weekend to 11th of October (2009), they locked the church in the night, saying that I wouldn’t say mass there. Somebody told me on Saturday night that they locked the church but I said they wouldn’t be serious. Then I went there early on Sunday morning and I found that the church was actually locked. They brought all the Southern Zaria women to sleep in the church; to make sure that I didn’t send anybody to break the keys. They kept vigil there with the men and women – all the members of the council who were from Southern Zaria extraction. In fact, if you look at the constitution of the council and the church bulletin, you will see them there. All of them are from Southern Zaria. You have Gbagyi there, you have Atyap, you have Kagoma, you have Kagoro, Koro, you have Manchok. You have all these tribes lined up because the constitution of the church council says bring five people from every tribe. They listed about 20 tribes from Southern Zaria. So, when they submit five people from each tribe, then Idoma will submit five and Igbo will submit five and by the time they come, they overwhelm the rest of the people. When you see the bulletin, you will see that they submitted the names of each tribe starting from Kwoi, Kubacha, Dogon Kurmi, Kachia, Manchok and Kafanchan. Every village has representation in Ungwan Pama. So, when you are constituting the church council, if it is a problem of election, be sure that no other tribe will be there except them because the council is supposed to be a maximum of 30 and minimum of 25. By the time other tribes come, you will see only one person or they may not even have representation. That is how they manipulated the church council. The council I met there was what my predecessor left for me and that was my handicap. When they heard the hint that I was coming, Father Kure mounted that council and educated them on what to do and that they should resist me, in order to frustrate whatever I want to do there.
My problem with Father Kure
The problem I have with them is that any church I go to, they say I built church and do this and that. So they should seize the money and let them know where I will get the money to do whatever I want to do. This was why when I told them that we should reduce the size of the church, they said I should leave their church for them and that Rome was not built in a day. I said that the way I do my own work, I like to finish the church before the next transfer. They told me to leave it for them like that. I guess that they are profiting from building the church for over 20 years. They continued using the money to pay their children’s school fees, not minding if the project lasts 20 years.
Changes
I never made any changes, both in the council and mass schedule. I left everything as it were to study it for one year. It was exactly after a year that I tried to introduce changes.
When I came there in September 2008, according to precedent, it was only one priest that stays there. But because of my health condition, the Archbishop gave me an assistant. So, we became two in the Parish. The Sunday collection they were giving us for three masses was N15,000, N20,000, for our 6 o’clock mass, 8 o’ clock mass and 10 o’clock mass. The parishioners were not more than 800 or 1,000. But, from the time of my arrival more people came and the estimate should be about 3,500 or 5,000 parishioners.
The truth is that they were actually stealing the money. So, in my first appearance in the church, I changed those who were counting and from N15,000, the money shot up to N50,000 and 60,000, then N70,000, N80,000 and N90,000. From there we started getting N150,000 and N200,000 from the N15,000 they used to collect. So, they were stealing this money. Even the Assistant Priest that was there during the investigation of this riot, because he is one of their own from Southern Zaria, they were stealing part of the money to contribute money to buy him a car and I didn’t know. It was during the investigation that people were saying to me that even the car they purported that somebody bought for him from their village was part of the church money from Sunday collection. When they take what they will use to bank for car and the one with which they will settle themselves, they bring the balance to me. That was how the money came to N15,000. But when I got the St. Jude Igbo women to count the money for me, supervised by one man that I appointed, that was when the money shot up.
When I noticed all these discrepancies in the Sunday collection, I said we cannot survive with two priests here and I’m too old to be running to the Archbishop to give us money for feeding, and how can we survive this way? I suspect that money was the issue really. They don’t want anybody to interfere or tell them not to count money because when they agitated, I told them that it is not a paid job. Some priests count the money themselves too if they want to. In all the places I’ve worked, I don’t count money. I appoint those who count money. In the Cathedral, Charismatic counted, CWO counted and St. Anthony counted. I don’t see why the Ungwan Pama, Southern Zaria people should think that it’s their prerogative.
When I got to the church on the 11th of October and found out that the church was locked, it was still dark. Those bulletin sellers were there but the church was locked. The choir was outside but their instruments were inside. I saw an awful lot of the church members that came for 6 o’clock mass outside. I attempted opening the church through the window because it was not a very strong door. Then those that laid ambush pounced on me. They were those that I earlier told you slept in the church to keep vigil to make sure that nobody opened the church that Saturday night. One even insulted me by pushing me down. Seeing the condition of my chest, I told the other church members not to fight back. Then I prepared the altar at the bonnet of my car and the church members surrounded me. As they were singing, I was dressing from my car. I brought the things I use to say mass in the mass box and we said mass under a tree. During the mass, they were making caricature of us but I never mentioned anything about the locking of the church. The only thing I mentioned was that we are praying that God will touch the heart of those who locked us outside to open the church for us by next Sunday. That was when they sparked off. Even my Assistant Priest who is of Southern Zaria extraction, Father Joseph Daudu, joined these people because he stood with those making jest of us. He didn’t join me in the mass and afterwards I rebuked him.
My relationship with him was that he came to work there as an Assistant Priest. Maybe he had the hint of this lockup and that’s why he didn’t join me. I’m sure he didn’t join me in the mass outside because he had an ulterior motive, whether it’s in solidarity with his people or out of fear. That’s what I said in my interim report that his posture for not joining me in the mass is yet to be determined. He didn’t join me in the mass and when they locked my house, he fled…The person that led them to my house was the mother of one Father Jude, a newly ordained priest who is working in Kontagora diocese. She led over 20 Zumunta women to go and barricade the Father’s house. When the police came, they saw that their young boys and girls were carrying fuel. If the Igbos had retaliated, they would have burnt the whole place. That was why I was handicapped to call in the police. Even the other church members who wanted to open the church by force or fight them back to open the father’s house, I told them not to do that because the Bishop was not in. Monsignor Kukah was also not in. If I brought in the police, who will bail the people? The only thing I did was to slam the church closed until the Bishop comes back and the church remained closed. Many people begged them for over five hours to allow us entrance into the father’s house and they refused. The police came with two pickups as well as all the neighbours. The Muslims came. The Chief of Ungwan Pama, who is a Gwari man, even came and called them too. This is why I rejected the report that Monsignor Kukah hijacked.
Paid for report
I have seen the report because I paid for it. Anybody could pay any amount of money to get information. The United States pays a lot for information. So, I got the report. But don’t ask me how I got it because it’s not important. The report was one-sided. I thought they were trying to carry out investigation, not knowing that they abandoned the mandate of the Archbishop because when the Bishop came, he slammed the churches closed and reduced the church to an outstation in his declaration, which he published in The Cross Newspaper and read in all the churches. When Father Marcus’ committee failed, the Bishop set up the Father Mark Monahan-led committee and Kukah happened to be part of the committee.
The Marcus Committee failed because Marcus does not want to probe his people. He knows the council because they went to him. When you read my initial submission, you will see that they wrote to him saying that they are going to foment trouble if I don’t reverse the Hausa Mass that I pushed to 10 o’clock and bring it back to 8 o’clock. He came to the scene of violence that very day. So, in order not to name his people, he said he doesn’t want to do the investigation. He told the Bishop that he cannot do the investigation. But the Bishop told him that whether you find something positive or negative, you have to give me a report. That is why he brought a one-page report, which he presented to the Bishop that he cannot do the investigation and that he doesn’t know the people. But when he came to the scene of violence that 11th of October, he was the person that led his people, after we spent a long period begging for almost four hours. Some of the people were drunk, but he yielded them back to the church premises and he knows those that opened the church where he went and said Hausa Mass for them that very day in their drunkenness. He knew those that opened the church for them about noon. So, how can he say he doesn’t know them?
Condoms in the church
Many things happened there. Condoms were picked here and there in the church and I had to remove the Blessed Sacrament. This was one of their grievances that I attempted to remove the Blessed Sacrament from the church. If you know the location of this St. Dominic in Ungwan Pama, there has never been light there for almost two or three years. Even now, there is no steady light there and at night, young boys and girls use that place as hideout to smoke weed and commit all sorts of immorality. There is evidence. Parishioners have come to me with condoms, which they picked in the church where we keep the Blessed Sacrament. I reported this to the Bishop. But Kukah said in that report that no matter what happens, the Blessed Sacrament should remain there. After crying like a lone voice in the wilderness like John the Baptist, I kept my mouth shut. Let them keep the Blessed Sacrament there, desecrating it every day. Even as I speak with you, the Blessed Sacrament is there and no priest lives there. The canonical provision is that wherever the Blessed Sacrament is kept, a priest must reside there. But in the Ungwan Pama church, it is in the midst of people and the priest lives about three kilometers away. There is no fence, no light and no security.
I’m not going back to Ungwan Pama
The Bishop is the sole authority of the Archdiocese. If he wants to work on the report, that is his business and his own conscience. If the Bishop wants to open the church based on that report, he can do that as the chief shepherd of the diocese. I’m not questioning his authority or his jurisdiction. But to me, I’m not going back to that place. I’m not going back to Ungwan Pama because all what I asked them to do, they have not done any one. I asked them to remove the Blessed Sacrament, they didn’t do it. I asked them to reduce the size of the church, they didn’t do it. I told them I want to bring down the 10am English Mass to 8am and the Hausa Mass to 10am, they rejected it. All what I suggested to them since one year that I was transferred there, they rejected everything. The Archbishop, based on the report that Kukah wrote, told them that all the things that caused the locking up of the church should be restored. So, if I go there, it means they will start fighting and kill somebody and maybe burn the whole place before the Bishop will send another person. I think it is better he sends somebody who is one of their own and who they will accommodate because I don’t think they will accommodate me.
I’ll retire or resign
I have put my refusal in writing to the Archbishop. I told him that if he has no other job for me to do except in Ungwan Pama, I opt for retirement or resignation. When I was speaking verbally with him, he said he will not retire me. I said you must retire me because of my health condition and if it is only in Ungwan Pama that is an option left for me to work. He said I must go there dead or alive. Who is he to tell me that I must go there dead or alive? For me to go and die there or for me to go and kill somebody there? There are canonical provisions for retirement and resignation and let him follow this. For myself, after 33 years in the priesthood and having worked in so many parishes, I consider myself a failed priest in Ungwan Pama because I’m not from Southern Zaria. I worked in the Cathedral for six years and I was not locked out, probably because the people I met there were one of our own and mostly people from my tribe. I worked in Queen of Apostle and I was never locked out, maybe because people I met there were mostly from my tribe or other tribes. I worked in St. Andrew’s and I was never locked out, even though I had my own problem with those in St. Andrews. I worked in Tudun Wada and I was never locked out. I worked in ABU (Ahmadu Bello University) Zaria and I was never locked out. It was only in Ungwan Pama after one year, out of my 33 years in the priesthood, because I’m not of Southern Zaria extraction and that was why I was locked out. So, I consider myself a failed priest there. For that reason and taking into consideration my heart condition – I had quadruple cardiovascular surgery – I would like to retire before I’m consigned to the heap of forgotten priests in our graveyard.
Archbishop’s reaction
He is still gambling with my request. As far as I’m concerned, because it’s a straightforward request that if he wants peace, he should find another job for me to do and transfer somebody who will be amenable to Ungwan Pama people for the good of the church and let him send somebody so that they wouldn’t have a mayhem there.
Whether this amounts to disobedience to the Archbishop considering my vow of obedience is an interesting part too. But I think obedience is a universal norm. It is not one-way, rather obedience is two-way traffic. St. Paul said all authority comes from God and obedience is a universal principle, be it religious or natural obedience. If the Bishop demands obedience from me, I think as the Chief Shepherd of Ungwan Pama, I demand obedience from my parishioners in the things that pertain to God. I was sent there because they thought I would decide properly for them in the best interest of their soul and my own soul, just as we thought the Bishop would be deciding for the faithful in the best interest of the church and his own soul. If it is in the best interest of their soul I take decision, check all the things I tried to do in Ungwan Pama which they rejected. I told them that let me help them build the church and they said no that I should leave them to do it their own way. I changed those who are counting money and they said no, that they must count the money. I changed time for mass and they said that they will dictate the time for mass. I changed so many things and they said no. If they said no, don’t you think that I demand obedience from my parishioners as the Bishop demands obedience from me? Does it mean the Bishop is telling me to go and kill myself so that I become a martyr? You should listen to the voice of reason if you are given command. Supposing Yar’Adua comes now and says nobody should urinate by 12 o’clock everyday in Kaduna, if you don’t obey, is it disobedience? So I don’t think I can go back to Ungwan Pama against what they have done and then I start stretching out my hands to bless them.
A dangerous precedence?
Supposing I say I’m not doing or that I’m tired because of my health, will he handcuff me? Do you still regard my not going to Ungwan Pama as disobedience after all I have said and done? The Bishop told some people who said it to my ears that dead or alive, I must go back to Ungwan Pama. He said I will see his reaction. He hit his hand on the table for me. I said why are you hitting your hand on the table for me that I must go back to Ungwan Pama dead or alive? He said I will see his reaction. I said you better start reacting. Don’t wait till on the 19th. After 33 years in the priesthood, I never disobeyed anybody.
Stalemate
He went to St. Dominic’s and told lies that I wasn’t there. I told him categorically that I was not going there. Why should you go and tell lies that I’m not available? Has he ever asked me of the money I used to treat myself? That is none of his business. The only thing for me to do is to go and die there and then he will say Requiem Mass. One day he will be locked up in Kaduna and if they want to kill him, let him balance there in obedience to the Pope so that it will be a martyr. I don’t think it amounts to disobedience if you listen to the voice of reason. Don’t you think it would have augured well for the church and for the people for him to send some other person in the interest of the church or do you think I will change my style of leadership after 33 years? Supposing I went there and impregnated some girls, will he send me back there? If I had killed two or three people before he came back from Germany, will he send me back there? But now he is telling me to go back there so that we will kill ourselves. He wants a repeat of what happened in Jos. At your age, can your landlord lock you out of your house and tell you not go in even if your rent has expired when your baby and your drugs are inside. Won’t you jail them? Do you think that as a lawyer of 20 years standing, somebody will come and lock my accommodation and I will leave him?
Archbishop doesn’t care
I wrote him a letter on the 16th of February and he went there on the 19th. But he was supposed to have replied my letter. If you are a gentleman, when you write somebody a letter, whether positive or negative, the person is supposed to reply. But he has not replied. He has not spoken to me. I have not spoken to him because he still maintains his position that dead or alive, I must go to Ungwan Pama. Even though I’m diabetic, with all my medication, I’m still eating food in the hotel and he doesn’t ask me how I feed. They deprived me of my parish. I go about saying masses for kids after 33 years in the priesthood. The proper parish I inherited was Command Secondary School. Let him come there to chase me away. Then I will tell him there is no money there. He has not talked to me. He doesn’t care whether I die or not. If I’m his senior brother or his junior brother, will he not ask me how I’m faring? He doesn’t know what I suffer at night. Does he know what I do at night when he is snoring? He has not called me because he is satisfied with the situation. So, let me wait. The first letter I wrote him on 26th of December (2009), he replied on 16th of February. Maybe I’m expecting his reply in June. Because he is the Bishop, he replies at his own time. Maybe before he will reply I will die and it will be a posthumous reply.
No going back
My position is very clear and I’m not mincing words about it. If I say no to the Archbishop, who is supposed to be my immediate superior and the things I wrote to him in my letter where I carefully chose my wording. He asked me to withdraw the first letter and I said no. Why should I withdraw it? I knew what I wrote and I maintain my position that after 33 years, I have tried my best. If it is civil service, won’t you retire me so that the younger ones will take up or you want me to hang on to power even if I’m dead? Let him better retire me so that he can move the diocese forward with the younger ones. Let him forget about my dying because if God doesn’t say I will die now, I will not die. I think the voice of reason should prevail on him to give me better treatment. I have done my best for this diocese during my youthful days.
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We bring you this story, more like an interview of a priest, who sometimes ago, we posted herein was locked out of his church by some parishioners. It is just fair to present this side of his own story providing the reasons for that incidence and many more issues that patently continue to show the kind of politics and inordinate rule that has become the fate of the Nigerian Catholic Church. Increasingly, the Nigerian Catholic Church is becoming fraught with internal fragmentation, high level of dissension, and corrupt governance, involving bishops.
It is no longer a secret that Nigerian Catholic Bishops are increasiningly mimicking, if not worst off, in their corrupt practices than the Nigerian politicians, many of them rail against from their exalted pulpits. From issues ranging from nepotism and favoritism in the appointments of Bishops, not based upon Canonical precepts but more in terms of personal and ethnic loyalty, and even the practice of "Simony"- which priest favors the bishop through direct or indirect channeling of funds for the bishop's personal use or keep them in contact with rich business folks, and stained corrupt politicians.
It is long assumed that such prebendalism is a feature of the Nigerian church, in spite of some positive development like increasing vocations to the priesthood and religious life; one that one also need to be cautious about given that these routes are increasingly becoming markers of social affluence and wealth, for some of the poor candidates whom these offers an avenue to quick social relevance and inordinate wealth.
It is truly sad. However, the featuring of some of the priests, like Msgr. Matthew Kukah in the predicament of a fellow priest, because he comes from another part of Nigeria and not native to Kaduna archdiocese (though lived and spent over 33 years of his life as a priest there) shows that even those who claim to have a detribalized mindset when viewed from the outside, are in fact, when thoroughly examined outside the orbit of the persona they adopt for the public view, can be bigoted and thoroughly petit in the normal ways of acting.
Outside of the positive face that Msgr. Kukah wears within the coloration of the Nigerian media, who also refuse to acutely and accurately, examine the nature of his relationships with Nigerian rulers- and the ill-gotten wealth of which he is a beneficiary-we are now seeing who this celebrate Kukah really is. Is it any coincidence that the Ogoni people figured out who he truly is, and almost lynched him sometimes ago, for his dalliance with the rich and powerful that makes him subsume the truth in favor of his patrons, while wearing the cassock as a tool of deception?
Unfortunately, the Vatican does not care with issues that affect the life and mission of the African Catholic Church. They, to further, their own racism, today continue to dump very inferior and incompetent bishops in different dioceses, who are incapable of any productive management style and handling vital crises. They are happy to do this, so that when they compare African bishops to their European counterparts, many would stand in comparison in stark contrasts of inferiority of personality, talent, and vision, to the assumed superiority of the Euro-American bishops, given support to a doctrine of tokenism, that presupposes that African bishops and the church are just for the sake of convenience given their own clergy, who compared to the west are merely favored in a kind of affirmative action, and not because of merit. Too bad.
If this trend continues, one thing is sure; the church must stand ready to confront crises whose proportionality transcends any that they have yet experienced- including a bad inventory of the worst sexual abuses crimes within the Catholic Church, as would not as yet been detailed.
It is important that the Vatican, directly or through its Pro-Nuncio get involve in this escalating matter to help assuage this kind of development. More so, the faith of a people is at stake, and the priesthood of a worthy servant of the church, who gave over three decades of his entire life in service of the Church is also on the edge. Something urgent must be done to help bring about healing for all those involved.
Further, it is also time that Archbishop Matthew Ndagonso's highhanded and insultive tactics against a very seniour priest be redressed and if possible an apology offered. Msgr. Enuagha is actually seniour to the archbishop by years of his ordained ministry. His person and ministry should not in anyway vilified for the sake of personal or ethnic convenience.
Being an archbishop should not enable a predisposition to disrespect and insolence, even if there is a problem. The hitting of hands and the nature of arrogant talk displayed here by the archbishop is uncalled for. The archbishop is a shepherd to all, and more for his priests- who daily help him enrich his ministry of pastoral care, administration, and service. The priesthood of every priest comes from Christ and his church that involves, encompasses, but truly transcends the bishop, in fact, not hinging upon the priesthood of the bishop, even though the bisho.p has the fullness of the priesthood as a successor of the apostle. Even Peter was told by Paul to be wrong when he discriminated against the gentiles.
Further, it is time that the mask that continues to veil the Church from accurately seeing the person of Msgr. Matthew Hassan Kukah, needs to be properly unveiled. It is a shame that such a shaddy character continues to romp and act inordinately, when his moral convictions and actions, are often questionable. The charade that is Msgr. Hassan Kukah needs to be unmasked. It was such a monumental disgrace, when this same Msgr. Kukah, was invited to the last Second African Synod in Rome. He has a lot of taints that need to be investigated. If the church does not do it, hopefully, with the new media, the Church should be ready for its greatest shock in the mood of the former Zimbabwean Archbishop Pius Ncube.
We invite all Ndi Igbo Catholics worldwide to support their Catholic commitments including their priests, especially those in Northern Nigeria, where they do not only face persecution from non-Christians and Muslims, but now unfortunately from among those they serve and those who should be their brother's keepers in the Catholic Church's top echelon.
Pray brothers and sisters pray, the evil one is right on track with his staff to wreck havoc. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Mother of the Church, and Mother of Priests, pray for us and those who are recoursed to thee!!!
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CONDOM IN CHURCH, CATHOLIC PRIEST OPENS CAN OF WORMS
Written by Prince Religion and Spiritual Apr 4, 2010 Condom in church
Catholic priest opens can of worms
• I’m being punished for removing Blessed Sacrament –Fr Enuagha
From Kenny Ashaka, Abuja
Sunday, April 04, 2010
•Fr Enuagha
The Catholic Archdiocese of Kaduna is in the news again. Nearly one year after the priest of St. Dominic’s Catholic Church, Ungwan Pama in Kaduna State, Monsignor Gabriel Veron Enuagha (aka ThankGod), was locked out by parishioners, a silent war of words capable of dividing the archdiocese along ethnic lines is brewing. At the centre of the crisis is also a renowned priest and social commentator, Monsignor Mathew Hassan Kukah.
Last week, when Sunday Sun spoke with Monsignor ThankGod, it was clear he was at pains understanding the rationale behind Archbishop Mathew Man’oso Ndagoso’s resolve to post him back to St. Dominic’s Catholic Church few months after the violence that culminated in the closure of the church.
Monsignor ThankGod reveals the sizzling story of how he was reportedly pushed down by the parishioners, an account of alleged stolen church funds by those he says pride themselves as owners of the church. Now he is threatening to remove his cassock if the Archbishop makes good his resolve to return him to the same church, in what he describes as an ethnic battle meant to humiliate him.
The priest also speaks on why he removed a blessed sacrament from its position to another location, saying the canonical provisions do not support the Blessed Sacrament being littered with condoms. “Condoms were picked here and there in the church and I removed the Blessed Sacrament,” he says.
How it started
I see it as a premeditated action because of the way they even received me when I came. I suspected that Father Kure told them not to allow me access to any of their money because he established one big church without foundation. This church was so massive. When I got there, first of all, they seized the harvest money for that year. What I suspected was that they told them to seize the money and they kept the money to themselves, and as long as I didn’t bother them about the money, there was peace. Then I had to go for check-up of my surgery.
The money was meant for church development; it was harvest money of over N5 million for 2008 and 2009. When I came back from the surgery, I told them they have to give account of the N5 million because that N5 million got lost and there was nothing on the ground to show for it. The new church we were building there was a massive church and they said they were going to do something. I approved N2.5 million for them to do the German floor out of the N5 million. But before I came back, they squandered the whole thing.
Stealing church fund
They have the cheque book. I’m the authority to checkmate them. Under normal circumstances, I have to keep the cheque book. But I demanded for the cheque book and they refused to give it to me. They said it was what Father Kure told them. That is why I mentioned in my write-up that they stole N800,000 with a single signature. I’m supposed to countersign whatever money I approve for them. But this time around, they didn’t refer to me. They went and stole about N800,000, apart from all the money they stole there. That was what sparked off the problem because I told them that they must account for the N5 million.
Another harvest was to hold in September 2009 and I told them that they have to tell the church what they did with the N5 million. The following Sunday, because my health was better, I told them that I would swap the masses. The 8 o’clock mass, which they don’t come on time, should go to 10 o’ clock so that the Hausa Mass should have enough time. Whenever they come after the 8 o’clock mass, then we will start and they will have enough time…But they used that as a springboard to start the trouble. The actual trouble is not because of the swapping of the mass. It’s simply because I said I will be more involved in the church business than the previous year when I was having my treatment. When I said I will take over the counting of the money and be more involved and that they should give account of how they spent the money the previous year, they used the swapping of the mass as springboard to start the problem. But my suspicion is that the swapping of the mass was not actually the problem.
Authority to review mass hours
The Parish Priest is the Chief Shepherd and as the Chief Shepherd, you take decisions that will be of spiritual benefit to your flock and I have done this job for 33 years. I have never been locked outside my church for the past 33 years, except in Ungwan Pama where I suspect it is because I’m not one of their own. If I were one of their own, they wouldn’t do that. They cannot lock Kukah out of his church. Anytime he comes in, he tells them what to do and gets off. How many times have you seen him in his parish? He’s either in Abuja, in Ogoni or in Germany, going to see George Bush or the United Nation. He is all over the place. The basic thing is that it is an ethnic thing.
Why I was locked out
As I stated in my Interim Report, before October 4, this money was missing actually and there was nothing to show for it when I came back. The bank statement showed that the money was gone. Even the last one they withdrew was N800,000 with single signature. When I was leaving, I signed about 10 cheques because we are supposed to be two signing and they have the custody of the cheque. But I didn’t know I was countersigning for crooks actually. I told them that they cannot bring out N2.5 million and keep in the house. For that reason, let me countersign about 15 cheques, but let them not withdraw more than N2.5 million.
But, they have the cheque book, since I didn’t want to fight with them over who should be in custody of it and they bring it for my signature. This doesn’t happen in any other parish. I couldn’t seize it because I’m not a thief. The chairman signs and I countersign.
Prior to my leaving, they said the job they are going to do requires about N2.1 million. I asked them if this will be all for the external work apart from roofing and they said yes. I said let me countersign the cheque for you so that within the month I will leave, you will be able to do the job the way you want. But along the line, I told them that I don’t want them to withdraw N2.1 million and keep in their houses because it is dangerous. For that reason, I signed 15 cheque leaves for them to draw it bit by bit, paying for building materials, paying the workers from the N5 million. But before I came back, they signed all the money, more than the N2.5 million we agreed on, using the cheque leaves I countersigned. There was one that my signature was not there. The chairman, because he has the custody of the cheque book, went and withdrew N800,000 with single signature. That was how it came about and the bank manager was nearly sacked in Zenith Bank as well as the cash officer. They were pleading and begging when I came back. But I said why wash our dirty linens in public; they have eaten the money and later we sorted that one out because I could not have recovered it.
But what sparked trouble was when I told them that they have to explain to the church, because another harvest was to hold in that September 2009 and this thing happened in October. They had started collecting another money and wanted to be dipping hands into the harvest money of 2009/2010. But I said no. So, because I told the council to give account of that money and announced the swapping of the Hausa Mass and 10 o’clock English Mass, they used that as a spring board to start trouble. The weekend to 11th of October (2009), they locked the church in the night, saying that I wouldn’t say mass there. Somebody told me on Saturday night that they locked the church but I said they wouldn’t be serious. Then I went there early on Sunday morning and I found that the church was actually locked. They brought all the Southern Zaria women to sleep in the church; to make sure that I didn’t send anybody to break the keys. They kept vigil there with the men and women – all the members of the council who were from Southern Zaria extraction. In fact, if you look at the constitution of the council and the church bulletin, you will see them there. All of them are from Southern Zaria. You have Gbagyi there, you have Atyap, you have Kagoma, you have Kagoro, Koro, you have Manchok. You have all these tribes lined up because the constitution of the church council says bring five people from every tribe. They listed about 20 tribes from Southern Zaria. So, when they submit five people from each tribe, then Idoma will submit five and Igbo will submit five and by the time they come, they overwhelm the rest of the people. When you see the bulletin, you will see that they submitted the names of each tribe starting from Kwoi, Kubacha, Dogon Kurmi, Kachia, Manchok and Kafanchan. Every village has representation in Ungwan Pama. So, when you are constituting the church council, if it is a problem of election, be sure that no other tribe will be there except them because the council is supposed to be a maximum of 30 and minimum of 25. By the time other tribes come, you will see only one person or they may not even have representation. That is how they manipulated the church council. The council I met there was what my predecessor left for me and that was my handicap. When they heard the hint that I was coming, Father Kure mounted that council and educated them on what to do and that they should resist me, in order to frustrate whatever I want to do there.
My problem with Father Kure
The problem I have with them is that any church I go to, they say I built church and do this and that. So they should seize the money and let them know where I will get the money to do whatever I want to do. This was why when I told them that we should reduce the size of the church, they said I should leave their church for them and that Rome was not built in a day. I said that the way I do my own work, I like to finish the church before the next transfer. They told me to leave it for them like that. I guess that they are profiting from building the church for over 20 years. They continued using the money to pay their children’s school fees, not minding if the project lasts 20 years.
Changes
I never made any changes, both in the council and mass schedule. I left everything as it were to study it for one year. It was exactly after a year that I tried to introduce changes.
When I came there in September 2008, according to precedent, it was only one priest that stays there. But because of my health condition, the Archbishop gave me an assistant. So, we became two in the Parish. The Sunday collection they were giving us for three masses was N15,000, N20,000, for our 6 o’clock mass, 8 o’ clock mass and 10 o’clock mass. The parishioners were not more than 800 or 1,000. But, from the time of my arrival more people came and the estimate should be about 3,500 or 5,000 parishioners.
The truth is that they were actually stealing the money. So, in my first appearance in the church, I changed those who were counting and from N15,000, the money shot up to N50,000 and 60,000, then N70,000, N80,000 and N90,000. From there we started getting N150,000 and N200,000 from the N15,000 they used to collect. So, they were stealing this money. Even the Assistant Priest that was there during the investigation of this riot, because he is one of their own from Southern Zaria, they were stealing part of the money to contribute money to buy him a car and I didn’t know. It was during the investigation that people were saying to me that even the car they purported that somebody bought for him from their village was part of the church money from Sunday collection. When they take what they will use to bank for car and the one with which they will settle themselves, they bring the balance to me. That was how the money came to N15,000. But when I got the St. Jude Igbo women to count the money for me, supervised by one man that I appointed, that was when the money shot up.
When I noticed all these discrepancies in the Sunday collection, I said we cannot survive with two priests here and I’m too old to be running to the Archbishop to give us money for feeding, and how can we survive this way? I suspect that money was the issue really. They don’t want anybody to interfere or tell them not to count money because when they agitated, I told them that it is not a paid job. Some priests count the money themselves too if they want to. In all the places I’ve worked, I don’t count money. I appoint those who count money. In the Cathedral, Charismatic counted, CWO counted and St. Anthony counted. I don’t see why the Ungwan Pama, Southern Zaria people should think that it’s their prerogative.
When I got to the church on the 11th of October and found out that the church was locked, it was still dark. Those bulletin sellers were there but the church was locked. The choir was outside but their instruments were inside. I saw an awful lot of the church members that came for 6 o’clock mass outside. I attempted opening the church through the window because it was not a very strong door. Then those that laid ambush pounced on me. They were those that I earlier told you slept in the church to keep vigil to make sure that nobody opened the church that Saturday night. One even insulted me by pushing me down. Seeing the condition of my chest, I told the other church members not to fight back. Then I prepared the altar at the bonnet of my car and the church members surrounded me. As they were singing, I was dressing from my car. I brought the things I use to say mass in the mass box and we said mass under a tree. During the mass, they were making caricature of us but I never mentioned anything about the locking of the church. The only thing I mentioned was that we are praying that God will touch the heart of those who locked us outside to open the church for us by next Sunday. That was when they sparked off. Even my Assistant Priest who is of Southern Zaria extraction, Father Joseph Daudu, joined these people because he stood with those making jest of us. He didn’t join me in the mass and afterwards I rebuked him.
My relationship with him was that he came to work there as an Assistant Priest. Maybe he had the hint of this lockup and that’s why he didn’t join me. I’m sure he didn’t join me in the mass outside because he had an ulterior motive, whether it’s in solidarity with his people or out of fear. That’s what I said in my interim report that his posture for not joining me in the mass is yet to be determined. He didn’t join me in the mass and when they locked my house, he fled…The person that led them to my house was the mother of one Father Jude, a newly ordained priest who is working in Kontagora diocese. She led over 20 Zumunta women to go and barricade the Father’s house. When the police came, they saw that their young boys and girls were carrying fuel. If the Igbos had retaliated, they would have burnt the whole place. That was why I was handicapped to call in the police. Even the other church members who wanted to open the church by force or fight them back to open the father’s house, I told them not to do that because the Bishop was not in. Monsignor Kukah was also not in. If I brought in the police, who will bail the people? The only thing I did was to slam the church closed until the Bishop comes back and the church remained closed. Many people begged them for over five hours to allow us entrance into the father’s house and they refused. The police came with two pickups as well as all the neighbours. The Muslims came. The Chief of Ungwan Pama, who is a Gwari man, even came and called them too. This is why I rejected the report that Monsignor Kukah hijacked.
Paid for report
I have seen the report because I paid for it. Anybody could pay any amount of money to get information. The United States pays a lot for information. So, I got the report. But don’t ask me how I got it because it’s not important. The report was one-sided. I thought they were trying to carry out investigation, not knowing that they abandoned the mandate of the Archbishop because when the Bishop came, he slammed the churches closed and reduced the church to an outstation in his declaration, which he published in The Cross Newspaper and read in all the churches. When Father Marcus’ committee failed, the Bishop set up the Father Mark Monahan-led committee and Kukah happened to be part of the committee.
The Marcus Committee failed because Marcus does not want to probe his people. He knows the council because they went to him. When you read my initial submission, you will see that they wrote to him saying that they are going to foment trouble if I don’t reverse the Hausa Mass that I pushed to 10 o’clock and bring it back to 8 o’clock. He came to the scene of violence that very day. So, in order not to name his people, he said he doesn’t want to do the investigation. He told the Bishop that he cannot do the investigation. But the Bishop told him that whether you find something positive or negative, you have to give me a report. That is why he brought a one-page report, which he presented to the Bishop that he cannot do the investigation and that he doesn’t know the people. But when he came to the scene of violence that 11th of October, he was the person that led his people, after we spent a long period begging for almost four hours. Some of the people were drunk, but he yielded them back to the church premises and he knows those that opened the church where he went and said Hausa Mass for them that very day in their drunkenness. He knew those that opened the church for them about noon. So, how can he say he doesn’t know them?
Condoms in the church
Many things happened there. Condoms were picked here and there in the church and I had to remove the Blessed Sacrament. This was one of their grievances that I attempted to remove the Blessed Sacrament from the church. If you know the location of this St. Dominic in Ungwan Pama, there has never been light there for almost two or three years. Even now, there is no steady light there and at night, young boys and girls use that place as hideout to smoke weed and commit all sorts of immorality. There is evidence. Parishioners have come to me with condoms, which they picked in the church where we keep the Blessed Sacrament. I reported this to the Bishop. But Kukah said in that report that no matter what happens, the Blessed Sacrament should remain there. After crying like a lone voice in the wilderness like John the Baptist, I kept my mouth shut. Let them keep the Blessed Sacrament there, desecrating it every day. Even as I speak with you, the Blessed Sacrament is there and no priest lives there. The canonical provision is that wherever the Blessed Sacrament is kept, a priest must reside there. But in the Ungwan Pama church, it is in the midst of people and the priest lives about three kilometers away. There is no fence, no light and no security.
I’m not going back to Ungwan Pama
The Bishop is the sole authority of the Archdiocese. If he wants to work on the report, that is his business and his own conscience. If the Bishop wants to open the church based on that report, he can do that as the chief shepherd of the diocese. I’m not questioning his authority or his jurisdiction. But to me, I’m not going back to that place. I’m not going back to Ungwan Pama because all what I asked them to do, they have not done any one. I asked them to remove the Blessed Sacrament, they didn’t do it. I asked them to reduce the size of the church, they didn’t do it. I told them I want to bring down the 10am English Mass to 8am and the Hausa Mass to 10am, they rejected it. All what I suggested to them since one year that I was transferred there, they rejected everything. The Archbishop, based on the report that Kukah wrote, told them that all the things that caused the locking up of the church should be restored. So, if I go there, it means they will start fighting and kill somebody and maybe burn the whole place before the Bishop will send another person. I think it is better he sends somebody who is one of their own and who they will accommodate because I don’t think they will accommodate me.
I’ll retire or resign
I have put my refusal in writing to the Archbishop. I told him that if he has no other job for me to do except in Ungwan Pama, I opt for retirement or resignation. When I was speaking verbally with him, he said he will not retire me. I said you must retire me because of my health condition and if it is only in Ungwan Pama that is an option left for me to work. He said I must go there dead or alive. Who is he to tell me that I must go there dead or alive? For me to go and die there or for me to go and kill somebody there? There are canonical provisions for retirement and resignation and let him follow this. For myself, after 33 years in the priesthood and having worked in so many parishes, I consider myself a failed priest in Ungwan Pama because I’m not from Southern Zaria. I worked in the Cathedral for six years and I was not locked out, probably because the people I met there were one of our own and mostly people from my tribe. I worked in Queen of Apostle and I was never locked out, maybe because people I met there were mostly from my tribe or other tribes. I worked in St. Andrew’s and I was never locked out, even though I had my own problem with those in St. Andrews. I worked in Tudun Wada and I was never locked out. I worked in ABU (Ahmadu Bello University) Zaria and I was never locked out. It was only in Ungwan Pama after one year, out of my 33 years in the priesthood, because I’m not of Southern Zaria extraction and that was why I was locked out. So, I consider myself a failed priest there. For that reason and taking into consideration my heart condition – I had quadruple cardiovascular surgery – I would like to retire before I’m consigned to the heap of forgotten priests in our graveyard.
Archbishop’s reaction
He is still gambling with my request. As far as I’m concerned, because it’s a straightforward request that if he wants peace, he should find another job for me to do and transfer somebody who will be amenable to Ungwan Pama people for the good of the church and let him send somebody so that they wouldn’t have a mayhem there.
Whether this amounts to disobedience to the Archbishop considering my vow of obedience is an interesting part too. But I think obedience is a universal norm. It is not one-way, rather obedience is two-way traffic. St. Paul said all authority comes from God and obedience is a universal principle, be it religious or natural obedience. If the Bishop demands obedience from me, I think as the Chief Shepherd of Ungwan Pama, I demand obedience from my parishioners in the things that pertain to God. I was sent there because they thought I would decide properly for them in the best interest of their soul and my own soul, just as we thought the Bishop would be deciding for the faithful in the best interest of the church and his own soul. If it is in the best interest of their soul I take decision, check all the things I tried to do in Ungwan Pama which they rejected. I told them that let me help them build the church and they said no that I should leave them to do it their own way. I changed those who are counting money and they said no, that they must count the money. I changed time for mass and they said that they will dictate the time for mass. I changed so many things and they said no. If they said no, don’t you think that I demand obedience from my parishioners as the Bishop demands obedience from me? Does it mean the Bishop is telling me to go and kill myself so that I become a martyr? You should listen to the voice of reason if you are given command. Supposing Yar’Adua comes now and says nobody should urinate by 12 o’clock everyday in Kaduna, if you don’t obey, is it disobedience? So I don’t think I can go back to Ungwan Pama against what they have done and then I start stretching out my hands to bless them.
A dangerous precedence?
Supposing I say I’m not doing or that I’m tired because of my health, will he handcuff me? Do you still regard my not going to Ungwan Pama as disobedience after all I have said and done? The Bishop told some people who said it to my ears that dead or alive, I must go back to Ungwan Pama. He said I will see his reaction. He hit his hand on the table for me. I said why are you hitting your hand on the table for me that I must go back to Ungwan Pama dead or alive? He said I will see his reaction. I said you better start reacting. Don’t wait till on the 19th. After 33 years in the priesthood, I never disobeyed anybody.
Stalemate
He went to St. Dominic’s and told lies that I wasn’t there. I told him categorically that I was not going there. Why should you go and tell lies that I’m not available? Has he ever asked me of the money I used to treat myself? That is none of his business. The only thing for me to do is to go and die there and then he will say Requiem Mass. One day he will be locked up in Kaduna and if they want to kill him, let him balance there in obedience to the Pope so that it will be a martyr. I don’t think it amounts to disobedience if you listen to the voice of reason. Don’t you think it would have augured well for the church and for the people for him to send some other person in the interest of the church or do you think I will change my style of leadership after 33 years? Supposing I went there and impregnated some girls, will he send me back there? If I had killed two or three people before he came back from Germany, will he send me back there? But now he is telling me to go back there so that we will kill ourselves. He wants a repeat of what happened in Jos. At your age, can your landlord lock you out of your house and tell you not go in even if your rent has expired when your baby and your drugs are inside. Won’t you jail them? Do you think that as a lawyer of 20 years standing, somebody will come and lock my accommodation and I will leave him?
Archbishop doesn’t care
I wrote him a letter on the 16th of February and he went there on the 19th. But he was supposed to have replied my letter. If you are a gentleman, when you write somebody a letter, whether positive or negative, the person is supposed to reply. But he has not replied. He has not spoken to me. I have not spoken to him because he still maintains his position that dead or alive, I must go to Ungwan Pama. Even though I’m diabetic, with all my medication, I’m still eating food in the hotel and he doesn’t ask me how I feed. They deprived me of my parish. I go about saying masses for kids after 33 years in the priesthood. The proper parish I inherited was Command Secondary School. Let him come there to chase me away. Then I will tell him there is no money there. He has not talked to me. He doesn’t care whether I die or not. If I’m his senior brother or his junior brother, will he not ask me how I’m faring? He doesn’t know what I suffer at night. Does he know what I do at night when he is snoring? He has not called me because he is satisfied with the situation. So, let me wait. The first letter I wrote him on 26th of December (2009), he replied on 16th of February. Maybe I’m expecting his reply in June. Because he is the Bishop, he replies at his own time. Maybe before he will reply I will die and it will be a posthumous reply.
No going back
My position is very clear and I’m not mincing words about it. If I say no to the Archbishop, who is supposed to be my immediate superior and the things I wrote to him in my letter where I carefully chose my wording. He asked me to withdraw the first letter and I said no. Why should I withdraw it? I knew what I wrote and I maintain my position that after 33 years, I have tried my best. If it is civil service, won’t you retire me so that the younger ones will take up or you want me to hang on to power even if I’m dead? Let him better retire me so that he can move the diocese forward with the younger ones. Let him forget about my dying because if God doesn’t say I will die now, I will not die. I think the voice of reason should prevail on him to give me better treatment. I have done my best for this diocese during my youthful days.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Cardinals Defend Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI
The Church of Christ no matter the assault against her by denomic, satanic, and forces of evil will ultimately stand. It shall withstand these wittingly intentional assaults against her mission and integrity. The promise of Christ that "the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail it" (Matthew 16:18. The Holy Father with the power of the Key (Matthew 16:18), together with the solidarity and prayers of the entire universal Church, would surmount these oddious attack. The media beguiling cleverly masking its attack at the moral authority of the Church would be exposed for what it is, just some fumbled onslaughts against any institution that stand opposed to the moral laissez a faire, relativism that holds sway today.
The Vicar of Christ will not fail, or fall to his face. Jesus, our Lord and saviour fell three times on the cross. He was accused falsely, and the powers and authorities of the pejorative majority attested against him, lashing against the ideal of truth that He exposed, and was brutally killed through the stampeding of human mob justice. The media mob and the crowds that they draw today is not different from the atmosphere of Jesus' time. Even forces of power- Pilate and Herod- previously antagonistic toward one another would settle their score based upon falsehood and scuttle Jesus to ill-fated scurried death, that he did not deserve. These uncanny mob would even permeate his ranks, using caustic and cajoling strategies to helm and ensure Jesus's demise, because he greatly disturbed their evil conscience. He made them felt bad. He punched right on their hypocrisy and evil deeds- their work, which Jesus and the Church continues to testify against, is evil (John 7;7)
. The logic of Jesus steer this powerful elites in the face, and stirs their conscience so badly, that using their evil works was natural, in deploying mobbing tactics to dust him, and mop his innocent blood, using their audacity to use power to daze the vulnerable and those who confront their evil deed, using their natural recourse to abuse power to decimate and ground the weak and less powerful. Violence, a surely evil act, become all too obvious a convenient tool in the hands of the power estate; hateful, spiteful, and gullible in their manifest manipulations.
Yet, it seem that the truth paved way to nefarious evil. It seemed God allowed evil to triumph and trump over good. For once, even the truth seemed to have been eclipsed, as it seemed that they had succeeded in killing an innocent one; with falsehood accented as "political correctness", and lies massed and masqueraded as into creating mass or crowd hysteria, hyping the crecendo of popular culture.
Jesus' opponents seemed to have had their field day; relishing the success of their brutal extermination of an assumed opponent. But it was joys on bloodied conscience, tormented eternally even by the sane judgement of history as brutal and despicable icons of humanity. The pavement of false joys seemed all too smooth; yet their problems inevitably began evidently as their moments of piloted lynching submerged their emotions blinding and erasing their memories from the sphere of the justifiable moral good.
Jesus outlives them all. Jesus is known all throughout the earth, but who remembers the faces and name of evil? It has all sunk into oblivion. The acts against Jesus are remembered and a face given to his person and realities, but where today are these faceless voices and forces of evil? Herod, Pilate, just these two existing in sentiments of humanity as callous personalities, eternally repressed and aligned with the most crude of personalities? Jesus lives on forever, after 2,000 years, meaningfully, and on the lips of all- "children and babes!"
But Jesus knew all of this. He had forwarned: "If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, the world hates you...If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me... Whoever hates me also hates my Father" (John 15: 18-21, 23).
In deed, the reason is simple, as Jesus himself states, "it hates me, because I testify to it that its works are evil" (John 7:7).
Also, he says, "...in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you" (John 16: 1-4).
"I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth" (John 17: 14-19).
Even Jesus tells us too that the world cannot accept the Holy Spirit- "the spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept because it neither sees nor knows it (John 14:17). But he offers us great hope, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me" (John 14:1).Further, he states, "Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid" (John 14: 27).
Dear Brothers and sisters, be strong in your faith. Be resilient. Pray, pray, pray!!! Pray for the Pope, the Vicar of Christ. Pray ceaselessly for your priests and religious leaders, religious nuns and brothers, and for one another as Christ's faithful. You are the church. It is on your minds, bodies, and soul that the Church takes shape and relevance. Our bodies mirrors the body of Christ, who bore all indignities, injustices, maligning, and abuses, but assured of God's eternal presence, God's neon protrusion through the spaces of darkness and the ambience of distrust, falsehood, and attempts to fragment, scatter, and torment the flock of Christ, our saviour.
May the Holy Father following in the footstep of the promise of Peter to the Lord Jesus, continue to be empowered to seek to feed, tend, and feed the flock that belongs to Christ. In this mission of tending, may the popular opinion of easy "labeling" and "pejorative coloration" not hinder him from pursuing the lost sheep and bring them to the graces of renewal both for priests, religious, and all the faithful. Even the sinful priest is redeemable through the inestimable gift of God's renewing grace, and trust in the word of Christ our saviour, our master, and our redeemer.
Some priests may have failed, faltered, or deviated, but bringing them before the grace of Christ for their renewal and sanctifcation, regardless of their sins, crimes, or deviances, is the mission of the Church. The Church in every situation may not restore them to the public arena of public worship and positions of trust, but it cannot afford to use the barometer of the media and the parameter of an unjust or self-arrogant society, to steer these sons and daughters of the church from the fountain of grace and redemption. A sinful or wayward priest is a child of God no less.
Many of these men, including women, did immense God in the name of Christ and the Church, in public liturgy and other ecclesial arena, even when faltering in their personal lives. Acting in the public name of the church, they were agents of sanctification and redemption for many, even when wayward in their most personal and intimate lives, or even criminal dispositions. We must continue to hear the voice of Christ and his assumed action in seeking the lost sheep- of course probably with the intent to first save and then apportion blame afterwards.
The church constituted as a divine and human institution, would be tainted and stained with the imperfection that is natural within its human aspect, though not an excuse to act improperly. The Church in its human dimensions would be gullible, fail, and even make mistakes at times. However, the divine reality of the church would ever be eternal, and when the church within its core mission, liturgy, and public life, attests to the things of God and moral, these would remain forever untainted. Even, when the church is conscious of sin, she cannot yield or surrender to its overpowering influence, and must confront its effects and sources, as they morally and mortally damage the image and stain the effective mission of the Church.
However, name calling, targetting, arrogances are not the veritable stripes by which these trends can be effectively surmounted and appropriately redressed.
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Cardinals defend pope on church sex abuse scandal
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Facebook Twitter Delicious Digg Fark Newsvine Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print AP – Pope Benedict XVI holds up the Holy Gospel as he celebrates a Chrism Mass, in St. Peter's Basilica, at … By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer Victor L. Simpson, Associated Press Writer – 21 mins ago
VATICAN CITY – Cardinals across Europe used their Holy Thursday sermons to defend Pope Benedict XVI from accusations he played a role in covering up sex abuse scandals, and an increasingly angry Vatican sought to deflect any criticism in the Western media.
The relationship between the church and the media has become increasingly bitter as the scandal buffeting the 1 billion-member church has touched the pontiff himself. On Wednesday, the church singled out The New York Times for criticism in an unusually harsh attack.
Western news organizations, including The Associated Press, have reported extensively on the burgeoning scandal, and new details have emerged on an almost daily basis.
On Holy Thursday, Benedict first celebrated a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica dedicated to the union between the pope and the world's priests. In the late afternoon, he washed the feet of 12 priests in a ceremony symbolizing humility and commemorating Christ's Last Supper with his 12 apostles on the evening before his Good Friday crucifixion.
Although there were expectations by some that the pope would address the crisis, Benedict made no reference to the scandal at either ceremony.
Venice's Cardinal Angelo Scola expressed solidarity with Benedict in his Holy Thursday homily in the lagoon city, describing him as a victim of "deceitful accusations." He praised the pope as seeking to remove all "dirt" from the priesthood.
Warsaw Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz said the church should take notice of individual tragedies and treat sex abuse cases very seriously, but at the same time, he criticized the media for "targeting the whole church, targeting the pope, and to that we must say `no' in the name of truth and in the name of justice."
And Vienna's Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, speaking of Benedict's long years as head of a Vatican office that investigates abuse, said the future pope "had a very clear line of not covering up but clearing up."
He had also reflected on the issue at a Wednesday evening service:
"I admit that I often feel a sense of injustice these days. Why is the church being excoriated? Isn't there also abuse elsewhere? ... And then I'm tempted to say: 'Yes, the media just don't like the church! Maybe there's even a conspiracy against the church?' But then I feel in my heart that no, that's not it."
The church on Wednesday presented its highest-level official response yet to one of the most explosive recent revelations regarding sex abuse — a story in the Times on the church's decision in the 1990s not to defrock a Wisconsin priest accused of molesting deaf boys.
It was the latest in a series of attacks on the press. Last week, L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's daily newspaperdenounced what it said was a "clear and despicable intention" by the media to strike at Benedict "at any cost."
On Thursday, the newspaper carried a story on its front page on German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcoming efforts to stem sex abuse, headlining "German chancellor praises the Catholic church."
In the article posted Wednesday on the Vatican's Web site, Cardinal William Levada, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote: "I am not proud of America's newspaper of record, The New York Times, as a paragon of fairness."
Levada, an American, said the newspaper wrongly used the case of the Rev. Lawrence Murphy to find fault in Benedict's handling of abuse cases.
A Times spokeswoman defended the articles and said no one has cast doubt on the reported facts.
"The allegations of abuse within the Catholic church are a serious subject, as the Vatican has acknowledged on many occasions," said Diane McNulty. "Any role the current pope may have played in responding to those allegations over the years is a significant aspect of this story."
The Vatican newspaper also carried a front-page commentary to mark the fifth anniversary of the death of Benedict's predecessor, the much beloved Pope John Paul II.
The article said John Paul wanted Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to work by his side from the early years of his papacy. John Paul brought the archbishop of Munich to Rome to head the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the powerful office that among other things investigates clerical sex abuse.
The Vicar of Christ will not fail, or fall to his face. Jesus, our Lord and saviour fell three times on the cross. He was accused falsely, and the powers and authorities of the pejorative majority attested against him, lashing against the ideal of truth that He exposed, and was brutally killed through the stampeding of human mob justice. The media mob and the crowds that they draw today is not different from the atmosphere of Jesus' time. Even forces of power- Pilate and Herod- previously antagonistic toward one another would settle their score based upon falsehood and scuttle Jesus to ill-fated scurried death, that he did not deserve. These uncanny mob would even permeate his ranks, using caustic and cajoling strategies to helm and ensure Jesus's demise, because he greatly disturbed their evil conscience. He made them felt bad. He punched right on their hypocrisy and evil deeds- their work, which Jesus and the Church continues to testify against, is evil (John 7;7)
. The logic of Jesus steer this powerful elites in the face, and stirs their conscience so badly, that using their evil works was natural, in deploying mobbing tactics to dust him, and mop his innocent blood, using their audacity to use power to daze the vulnerable and those who confront their evil deed, using their natural recourse to abuse power to decimate and ground the weak and less powerful. Violence, a surely evil act, become all too obvious a convenient tool in the hands of the power estate; hateful, spiteful, and gullible in their manifest manipulations.
Yet, it seem that the truth paved way to nefarious evil. It seemed God allowed evil to triumph and trump over good. For once, even the truth seemed to have been eclipsed, as it seemed that they had succeeded in killing an innocent one; with falsehood accented as "political correctness", and lies massed and masqueraded as into creating mass or crowd hysteria, hyping the crecendo of popular culture.
Jesus' opponents seemed to have had their field day; relishing the success of their brutal extermination of an assumed opponent. But it was joys on bloodied conscience, tormented eternally even by the sane judgement of history as brutal and despicable icons of humanity. The pavement of false joys seemed all too smooth; yet their problems inevitably began evidently as their moments of piloted lynching submerged their emotions blinding and erasing their memories from the sphere of the justifiable moral good.
Jesus outlives them all. Jesus is known all throughout the earth, but who remembers the faces and name of evil? It has all sunk into oblivion. The acts against Jesus are remembered and a face given to his person and realities, but where today are these faceless voices and forces of evil? Herod, Pilate, just these two existing in sentiments of humanity as callous personalities, eternally repressed and aligned with the most crude of personalities? Jesus lives on forever, after 2,000 years, meaningfully, and on the lips of all- "children and babes!"
But Jesus knew all of this. He had forwarned: "If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, the world hates you...If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me... Whoever hates me also hates my Father" (John 15: 18-21, 23).
In deed, the reason is simple, as Jesus himself states, "it hates me, because I testify to it that its works are evil" (John 7:7).
Also, he says, "...in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you" (John 16: 1-4).
"I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth" (John 17: 14-19).
Even Jesus tells us too that the world cannot accept the Holy Spirit- "the spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept because it neither sees nor knows it (John 14:17). But he offers us great hope, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me" (John 14:1).Further, he states, "Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid" (John 14: 27).
Dear Brothers and sisters, be strong in your faith. Be resilient. Pray, pray, pray!!! Pray for the Pope, the Vicar of Christ. Pray ceaselessly for your priests and religious leaders, religious nuns and brothers, and for one another as Christ's faithful. You are the church. It is on your minds, bodies, and soul that the Church takes shape and relevance. Our bodies mirrors the body of Christ, who bore all indignities, injustices, maligning, and abuses, but assured of God's eternal presence, God's neon protrusion through the spaces of darkness and the ambience of distrust, falsehood, and attempts to fragment, scatter, and torment the flock of Christ, our saviour.
May the Holy Father following in the footstep of the promise of Peter to the Lord Jesus, continue to be empowered to seek to feed, tend, and feed the flock that belongs to Christ. In this mission of tending, may the popular opinion of easy "labeling" and "pejorative coloration" not hinder him from pursuing the lost sheep and bring them to the graces of renewal both for priests, religious, and all the faithful. Even the sinful priest is redeemable through the inestimable gift of God's renewing grace, and trust in the word of Christ our saviour, our master, and our redeemer.
Some priests may have failed, faltered, or deviated, but bringing them before the grace of Christ for their renewal and sanctifcation, regardless of their sins, crimes, or deviances, is the mission of the Church. The Church in every situation may not restore them to the public arena of public worship and positions of trust, but it cannot afford to use the barometer of the media and the parameter of an unjust or self-arrogant society, to steer these sons and daughters of the church from the fountain of grace and redemption. A sinful or wayward priest is a child of God no less.
Many of these men, including women, did immense God in the name of Christ and the Church, in public liturgy and other ecclesial arena, even when faltering in their personal lives. Acting in the public name of the church, they were agents of sanctification and redemption for many, even when wayward in their most personal and intimate lives, or even criminal dispositions. We must continue to hear the voice of Christ and his assumed action in seeking the lost sheep- of course probably with the intent to first save and then apportion blame afterwards.
The church constituted as a divine and human institution, would be tainted and stained with the imperfection that is natural within its human aspect, though not an excuse to act improperly. The Church in its human dimensions would be gullible, fail, and even make mistakes at times. However, the divine reality of the church would ever be eternal, and when the church within its core mission, liturgy, and public life, attests to the things of God and moral, these would remain forever untainted. Even, when the church is conscious of sin, she cannot yield or surrender to its overpowering influence, and must confront its effects and sources, as they morally and mortally damage the image and stain the effective mission of the Church.
However, name calling, targetting, arrogances are not the veritable stripes by which these trends can be effectively surmounted and appropriately redressed.
*******
Cardinals defend pope on church sex abuse scandal
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Facebook Twitter Delicious Digg Fark Newsvine Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print AP – Pope Benedict XVI holds up the Holy Gospel as he celebrates a Chrism Mass, in St. Peter's Basilica, at … By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer Victor L. Simpson, Associated Press Writer – 21 mins ago
VATICAN CITY – Cardinals across Europe used their Holy Thursday sermons to defend Pope Benedict XVI from accusations he played a role in covering up sex abuse scandals, and an increasingly angry Vatican sought to deflect any criticism in the Western media.
The relationship between the church and the media has become increasingly bitter as the scandal buffeting the 1 billion-member church has touched the pontiff himself. On Wednesday, the church singled out The New York Times for criticism in an unusually harsh attack.
Western news organizations, including The Associated Press, have reported extensively on the burgeoning scandal, and new details have emerged on an almost daily basis.
On Holy Thursday, Benedict first celebrated a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica dedicated to the union between the pope and the world's priests. In the late afternoon, he washed the feet of 12 priests in a ceremony symbolizing humility and commemorating Christ's Last Supper with his 12 apostles on the evening before his Good Friday crucifixion.
Although there were expectations by some that the pope would address the crisis, Benedict made no reference to the scandal at either ceremony.
Venice's Cardinal Angelo Scola expressed solidarity with Benedict in his Holy Thursday homily in the lagoon city, describing him as a victim of "deceitful accusations." He praised the pope as seeking to remove all "dirt" from the priesthood.
Warsaw Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz said the church should take notice of individual tragedies and treat sex abuse cases very seriously, but at the same time, he criticized the media for "targeting the whole church, targeting the pope, and to that we must say `no' in the name of truth and in the name of justice."
And Vienna's Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, speaking of Benedict's long years as head of a Vatican office that investigates abuse, said the future pope "had a very clear line of not covering up but clearing up."
He had also reflected on the issue at a Wednesday evening service:
"I admit that I often feel a sense of injustice these days. Why is the church being excoriated? Isn't there also abuse elsewhere? ... And then I'm tempted to say: 'Yes, the media just don't like the church! Maybe there's even a conspiracy against the church?' But then I feel in my heart that no, that's not it."
The church on Wednesday presented its highest-level official response yet to one of the most explosive recent revelations regarding sex abuse — a story in the Times on the church's decision in the 1990s not to defrock a Wisconsin priest accused of molesting deaf boys.
It was the latest in a series of attacks on the press. Last week, L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's daily newspaperdenounced what it said was a "clear and despicable intention" by the media to strike at Benedict "at any cost."
On Thursday, the newspaper carried a story on its front page on German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcoming efforts to stem sex abuse, headlining "German chancellor praises the Catholic church."
In the article posted Wednesday on the Vatican's Web site, Cardinal William Levada, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote: "I am not proud of America's newspaper of record, The New York Times, as a paragon of fairness."
Levada, an American, said the newspaper wrongly used the case of the Rev. Lawrence Murphy to find fault in Benedict's handling of abuse cases.
A Times spokeswoman defended the articles and said no one has cast doubt on the reported facts.
"The allegations of abuse within the Catholic church are a serious subject, as the Vatican has acknowledged on many occasions," said Diane McNulty. "Any role the current pope may have played in responding to those allegations over the years is a significant aspect of this story."
The Vatican newspaper also carried a front-page commentary to mark the fifth anniversary of the death of Benedict's predecessor, the much beloved Pope John Paul II.
The article said John Paul wanted Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to work by his side from the early years of his papacy. John Paul brought the archbishop of Munich to Rome to head the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the powerful office that among other things investigates clerical sex abuse.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Germany Sex Abuse and Pope Benedict XVI
The current sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Church is spreading like wide fire. It continues to gather momentum and now it is in Germany, the Pope's homeland. Recent news attempts seeming are looking for ways to implicate the Pope, Benedict XVI. The new global plot is to use singular or a few incidence to dent an entire institution, and the heat against the Catholic church enjoys media hit. We will continue to pray for the Vicar of Christ, Pope Benedict XVI, while urging the German church to come clean and be responsibly transparent. As damaging and as insinuating these plots and media-casts seem to be, we want a church that can own up to her mistake and use her faith as a citadel of response to these kind of incidence, rather than seeking public relations and legal outlets. The Church is human. Priests, are humans too, even, if criminal actions against the weak and vulnerable are not to be condoned and celebrated. Even, Peter the Prince of the Apostle, being a human being, though he had been opportuned to identify the Christ appropriately, ended up betraying his master, our saviour Jesus Christ. The same Peter would try to prevaricate in the incidence involving Cornelius, because he was an uncircumcised gentile (Acts 10-11),and also discriminated against the Gentiles in the presence of the Jews, with Paul having to rebuke him unto righteousness (Galatians 2). In spite of these Paul and Barnabas did not "yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you" (Gal. 2:5). The Church must not yield from the truth. Anything but the truth comes from the evil one; a liar and murderer from the beginning (John 8: 44).
The Church must incessantly and persistent reflect Christ- "I am the light of the world, He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life" (John 8:12). We have nothing to lose but a whole lot to gain, for the sake of the eternal redemption and salvation is the core mission of the Church of Christ. Untainted, in spite of the present humiliation, the church shall be purified by the precious blood of her divine master and saviour. Unmolested it shall remain the assured sign and hope for the salvation of All humanity and the redemption of the world.
Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, may your faith be strengthened, so that you can lead and nurture- feed, tend, and feed Christ's flock- your brothers and sisters to the fountain of life eternal in Christ Jesus (cf. John 21).
*****************
Pope under fire for transfer, letter on sex abuse
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Play Video Video:Pope's brother: I ignored physical abuse reports AP Reuters – Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, head of Germany's bishops conference, is seen before the beginning of … By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer Nicole Winfield, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 58 mins ago
VATICAN CITY – Germany's sex abuse scandal has now reached Pope Benedict XVI: His former archdiocese acknowledged it transferred a suspected pedophile priest while Benedict was in charge and criticism is mounting over a 2001 Vatican directive he penned instructing bishops to keep abuse cases secret.
The revelations have put the spotlight on Benedict's handling of abuse claims both when he was archbishop of Munich from 1977-1982 and then the prefect of the Vatican office that deals with such crimes — a position he held until his 2005 election as pope.
Benedict got a firsthand readout of the scope of the scandal Friday in his native land from the head of the German Bishop's Conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, who reported that the pontiff had expressed "great dismay and deep shock" over the scandal, but encouraged bishops to continue searching for the truth.
Hours later, the Munich archdiocese admitted that it had allowed a priest suspected of having abused a child to return to pastoral work in the 1980s, while Benedict was archbishop. It stressed that the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger didn't know about the transfer and that it had been decided by a lower-ranking official.
The archdiocese said there were no accusations against the chaplain, identified only as H., during his 1980-1982 spell in Munich, where he underwent therapy for suspected "sexual relations with boys." But he then moved to nearby Grafing, where he was suspended in early 1985 following new accusations of sexual abuse. The following year, he was convicted of sexually abusing minors.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, issued a statement late Friday noting that the Munich vicar-general who approved the priest's transfer had taken "full responsibility" for the decision, seeking to remove any question about the pontiff's potential responsibility as archbishop at the time.
Victims advocates weren't persuaded.
"We find it extraordinarily hard to believe that Ratzinger didn't reassign the predator, or know about the reassignment," said Barbara Blaine, president and founder of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
The pope, meanwhile, continues to be under fire for a 2001 Vatican letter he sent to all bishops advising them that all cases of sexual abuse of minors must be forwarded to his then-office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and that the cases were to be subject to pontifical secret.
Germany's justice minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, has cited the document as evidence that the Vatican created a "wall of silence" around abuse cases that prevented prosecution. Irish bishops have said the document had been "widely misunderstood" by the bishops themselves to mean they shouldn't go to police. And lawyers for abuse victims in the United States have cited the document in arguing that the Catholic Church tried to obstruct justice.
But canon lawyers insisted Friday that there was nothing in the document that would preclude bishops from fulfilling their moral and civic duties of going to police when confronted with a case of child abuse.
They stressed that the document merely concerned procedures for handling the church trial of an accused priest, and that the secrecy required by Rome for that hearing by no means extended to a ban on reporting such crimes to civil authorities.
"Canon law concerning grave crimes ... doesn't in any way interfere with or diminish the obligations of the faithful to civil laws," said Monsignor Davide Cito, a professor of canon law at Rome's Santa Croce University.
The letter doesn't tell bishops to also report the crimes to police.
But the Rev. John Coughlin, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame Law School, said it didn't need to. A general principle of moral theology to which every bishop should adhere is that church officials are obliged to follow civil laws where they live, he said.
Yet Bishop John McAreavey of Dromore in Northern Ireland, told a news conference this week that Irish bishops "widely misinterpreted" the directive and couldn't get a clear reading from Rome on how to proceed.
"One of the difficulties that bishops expressed was the fact that at times it wasn't always possible to get clear guidance from the Holy See and there wasn't always a consistent approach within the different Vatican departments," he said.
"Obviously, Rome is aware of this misinterpretation and the harm that this has done, or could potentially do, to the trust that the people have in how the church deals with these matters," he said.
An Irish government-authorized investigation into the scandal and cover up harshly criticized the Vatican for its mixed messages and insistence on secrecy in the 2001 directive and previous Vatican documents on the topic.
"An obligation to secrecy/confidentialtiy on the part of participants in a canonical process could undoubtedly constitute an inhibition on reporting child sexual abuse to the civil authorities or others," it concluded.
In the United States, Dan Shea, an attorney for several victims, has introduced the Ratzinger letter in court as evidence that the church was trying to obstruct justice. He has argued that the church impeded civil reporting by keeping the cases secret and "reserving" them for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
"This is an international criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice," Shea told The Associated Press.
___
Associated Press reporters Geir Moulson and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin and Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin contributed to this report.
The Church must incessantly and persistent reflect Christ- "I am the light of the world, He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life" (John 8:12). We have nothing to lose but a whole lot to gain, for the sake of the eternal redemption and salvation is the core mission of the Church of Christ. Untainted, in spite of the present humiliation, the church shall be purified by the precious blood of her divine master and saviour. Unmolested it shall remain the assured sign and hope for the salvation of All humanity and the redemption of the world.
Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, may your faith be strengthened, so that you can lead and nurture- feed, tend, and feed Christ's flock- your brothers and sisters to the fountain of life eternal in Christ Jesus (cf. John 21).
*****************
Pope under fire for transfer, letter on sex abuse
Buzz up!135 votes Send
Email IM Share
Facebook Twitter Delicious Digg Fark Newsvine Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print Play Video Reuters – Sex abuse allegations vex Vatican
Play Video Video:Pope's brother: I ignored physical abuse reports AP Reuters – Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, head of Germany's bishops conference, is seen before the beginning of … By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer Nicole Winfield, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 58 mins ago
VATICAN CITY – Germany's sex abuse scandal has now reached Pope Benedict XVI: His former archdiocese acknowledged it transferred a suspected pedophile priest while Benedict was in charge and criticism is mounting over a 2001 Vatican directive he penned instructing bishops to keep abuse cases secret.
The revelations have put the spotlight on Benedict's handling of abuse claims both when he was archbishop of Munich from 1977-1982 and then the prefect of the Vatican office that deals with such crimes — a position he held until his 2005 election as pope.
Benedict got a firsthand readout of the scope of the scandal Friday in his native land from the head of the German Bishop's Conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, who reported that the pontiff had expressed "great dismay and deep shock" over the scandal, but encouraged bishops to continue searching for the truth.
Hours later, the Munich archdiocese admitted that it had allowed a priest suspected of having abused a child to return to pastoral work in the 1980s, while Benedict was archbishop. It stressed that the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger didn't know about the transfer and that it had been decided by a lower-ranking official.
The archdiocese said there were no accusations against the chaplain, identified only as H., during his 1980-1982 spell in Munich, where he underwent therapy for suspected "sexual relations with boys." But he then moved to nearby Grafing, where he was suspended in early 1985 following new accusations of sexual abuse. The following year, he was convicted of sexually abusing minors.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, issued a statement late Friday noting that the Munich vicar-general who approved the priest's transfer had taken "full responsibility" for the decision, seeking to remove any question about the pontiff's potential responsibility as archbishop at the time.
Victims advocates weren't persuaded.
"We find it extraordinarily hard to believe that Ratzinger didn't reassign the predator, or know about the reassignment," said Barbara Blaine, president and founder of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
The pope, meanwhile, continues to be under fire for a 2001 Vatican letter he sent to all bishops advising them that all cases of sexual abuse of minors must be forwarded to his then-office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and that the cases were to be subject to pontifical secret.
Germany's justice minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, has cited the document as evidence that the Vatican created a "wall of silence" around abuse cases that prevented prosecution. Irish bishops have said the document had been "widely misunderstood" by the bishops themselves to mean they shouldn't go to police. And lawyers for abuse victims in the United States have cited the document in arguing that the Catholic Church tried to obstruct justice.
But canon lawyers insisted Friday that there was nothing in the document that would preclude bishops from fulfilling their moral and civic duties of going to police when confronted with a case of child abuse.
They stressed that the document merely concerned procedures for handling the church trial of an accused priest, and that the secrecy required by Rome for that hearing by no means extended to a ban on reporting such crimes to civil authorities.
"Canon law concerning grave crimes ... doesn't in any way interfere with or diminish the obligations of the faithful to civil laws," said Monsignor Davide Cito, a professor of canon law at Rome's Santa Croce University.
The letter doesn't tell bishops to also report the crimes to police.
But the Rev. John Coughlin, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame Law School, said it didn't need to. A general principle of moral theology to which every bishop should adhere is that church officials are obliged to follow civil laws where they live, he said.
Yet Bishop John McAreavey of Dromore in Northern Ireland, told a news conference this week that Irish bishops "widely misinterpreted" the directive and couldn't get a clear reading from Rome on how to proceed.
"One of the difficulties that bishops expressed was the fact that at times it wasn't always possible to get clear guidance from the Holy See and there wasn't always a consistent approach within the different Vatican departments," he said.
"Obviously, Rome is aware of this misinterpretation and the harm that this has done, or could potentially do, to the trust that the people have in how the church deals with these matters," he said.
An Irish government-authorized investigation into the scandal and cover up harshly criticized the Vatican for its mixed messages and insistence on secrecy in the 2001 directive and previous Vatican documents on the topic.
"An obligation to secrecy/confidentialtiy on the part of participants in a canonical process could undoubtedly constitute an inhibition on reporting child sexual abuse to the civil authorities or others," it concluded.
In the United States, Dan Shea, an attorney for several victims, has introduced the Ratzinger letter in court as evidence that the church was trying to obstruct justice. He has argued that the church impeded civil reporting by keeping the cases secret and "reserving" them for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
"This is an international criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice," Shea told The Associated Press.
___
Associated Press reporters Geir Moulson and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin and Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin contributed to this report.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Dead Haitian Archbishop Eulogized
With Archbishop's Death, Catholic Church is Hard-Pressed to Heal Haiti
http://www.time.com/.
By BOBBY GHOSH/PORT-AU-PRINCE Bobby Ghosh/port-au-prince – Sun Jan 24, 4:00 pm ET
The loss of Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, mourned on Saturday in a moving ceremony in front of Port-au-Prince's ruined cathedral, has hurt the Catholic Church's ability to respond to Haiti's devastating earthquake. The Cardinal and his Vicar General, Charles Benoit, were among the quakes victims now numbering in excess of 111,000. Dozens of churches, seminaries and other Church-run institutions have been flattened, and perhaps scores of priests killed or badly injured.
But for the mourners gathered at the forecourt of the Cathedrale Notre-Dame de l'Assumption for the funeral service, it is the death of Miot and Benoit that hurt the most. Many said that the Archbishop, regarded as a humble priest who sought to bridge the divide between the nation's Catholic clergy and Voodo priesthood, was exactly the kind of unifying figure Haiti needs in this crisis. "He could have brought us together," says Carrel Raphael, a bus driver. "He could have inspired us to work together. He had everybody's respect, and you need a leader like that." (See pictures of dramatic rescues.)
Roman Catholicism, once the country's principal religion, has lost a great deal of influence in the past few decades; these days, three in five Haitians call themselves Catholics, compared to 90% years ago. Miot is credited with reorganizing the Church after years of poor management by predecessors who strayed from their religious responsibilities and into Haitian politics. That, say admirers, would have allowed him to work closely with the beleaguered government of President Rene Preval, which could have used the help.
"He would have been able to guide the government in its response to the earthquake, and they would not have been suspicious of his intentions because they knew he was not interested in politics," said a senior priest who asked not to be named for fear of antagonizing the Preval administration. (Preval was at the funeral mass, but did not speak; he was booed by a handful of angry worshippers as his motorcade left the Cathedral.) (See TIME's exclusive photos of Haiti earthquake destruction.)
Catholic institutions, ranging from schools to Mother Theresa's Missionaries of Charity, are offering a range of relief services, including first-aid to food distribution and the protection of children orphaned by the quake. But the Church's efforts have been fitful, and poorly coordinated. Some at the funeral mass said their neighborhoods had not yet seen a priest or nun. "I haven't received any help from the Church, says Nicole Metier, who lives right by the Cathedral. "If the Archbishop had been alive, he would have taken care of us."
Bishop Chibley Langlois of the Fort-Liberte diocese agreed that Moit's loss was a terrible blow, but added that it showed that the Church was suffering along with the people. (Watch a video of pain and hunger at one of Haiti's hospitals.)
That was little comfort to worshippers like Bernard Bouche, a carpenter, who said the loss of so many priests could not have come at a worse time. "We need them now, like never before," he said, tears streaming down his face. "Why did God give us this disaster and at the same time take away the people who could have helped us to survive it?"
http://www.time.com/.
By BOBBY GHOSH/PORT-AU-PRINCE Bobby Ghosh/port-au-prince – Sun Jan 24, 4:00 pm ET
The loss of Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, mourned on Saturday in a moving ceremony in front of Port-au-Prince's ruined cathedral, has hurt the Catholic Church's ability to respond to Haiti's devastating earthquake. The Cardinal and his Vicar General, Charles Benoit, were among the quakes victims now numbering in excess of 111,000. Dozens of churches, seminaries and other Church-run institutions have been flattened, and perhaps scores of priests killed or badly injured.
But for the mourners gathered at the forecourt of the Cathedrale Notre-Dame de l'Assumption for the funeral service, it is the death of Miot and Benoit that hurt the most. Many said that the Archbishop, regarded as a humble priest who sought to bridge the divide between the nation's Catholic clergy and Voodo priesthood, was exactly the kind of unifying figure Haiti needs in this crisis. "He could have brought us together," says Carrel Raphael, a bus driver. "He could have inspired us to work together. He had everybody's respect, and you need a leader like that." (See pictures of dramatic rescues.)
Roman Catholicism, once the country's principal religion, has lost a great deal of influence in the past few decades; these days, three in five Haitians call themselves Catholics, compared to 90% years ago. Miot is credited with reorganizing the Church after years of poor management by predecessors who strayed from their religious responsibilities and into Haitian politics. That, say admirers, would have allowed him to work closely with the beleaguered government of President Rene Preval, which could have used the help.
"He would have been able to guide the government in its response to the earthquake, and they would not have been suspicious of his intentions because they knew he was not interested in politics," said a senior priest who asked not to be named for fear of antagonizing the Preval administration. (Preval was at the funeral mass, but did not speak; he was booed by a handful of angry worshippers as his motorcade left the Cathedral.) (See TIME's exclusive photos of Haiti earthquake destruction.)
Catholic institutions, ranging from schools to Mother Theresa's Missionaries of Charity, are offering a range of relief services, including first-aid to food distribution and the protection of children orphaned by the quake. But the Church's efforts have been fitful, and poorly coordinated. Some at the funeral mass said their neighborhoods had not yet seen a priest or nun. "I haven't received any help from the Church, says Nicole Metier, who lives right by the Cathedral. "If the Archbishop had been alive, he would have taken care of us."
Bishop Chibley Langlois of the Fort-Liberte diocese agreed that Moit's loss was a terrible blow, but added that it showed that the Church was suffering along with the people. (Watch a video of pain and hunger at one of Haiti's hospitals.)
That was little comfort to worshippers like Bernard Bouche, a carpenter, who said the loss of so many priests could not have come at a worse time. "We need them now, like never before," he said, tears streaming down his face. "Why did God give us this disaster and at the same time take away the people who could have helped us to survive it?"
Africa's Anglicans and the Invitation of the Catholic Church
CSMonitor.com
Will Vatican lure Africa's Anglican anti-gay bishops to Catholic church?
Despite fierce opposition to homosexuality, African bishops say the Vatican's effort to bring more Anglicans to the Catholic church will falter, largely because of the autonomy that they enjoy.
By Scott Baldauf Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor / October 21, 2009
Johannesburg, South Africa
Since the Vatican launched its bold bid Tuesday to make it easier for Anglicans to join the Roman Catholic Church, the question on everyone's mind has been: How many will convert?
Will the much ballyhooed Anglican divide over the Church's moves to accept openly gay and female clerics now cause hundreds of thousands of conservative Anglicans – mostly in Africa and parts of the US – to flock to Catholicism?
Early indications from African bishops are that most Anglicans, despite their fierce opposition to homosexuality, will be saying "thanks but no thanks" to Rome's new offer, largely because of the autonomy that they enjoy within the Anglican church.
"I don't think that priests in Uganda are going to leave and join the Roman Catholic church," says Bishop Stanley Ntagali, head of an Anglican diocese in the east African country of Uganda. "Uganda is [already] a separate region from the Church in Canterbury. They are able to do things their way, and we have to do things our way."
Homosexuality: A non-starter in the African church
"Homosexuality is a big issue in Africa," says Bishop Ntagali. "The Bible says that only men of good standing, following the word of Christ can be leaders of the Church. We disagree with our counterparts in England and America, who ordain homosexuals as priests. But we have to interpret the Bible on our own context, and the English must interpret the Bible in their context."
Ntagali says he has had hard feelings toward leaders of his own denomination since 2003, when the Church of England formally ordained the first openly gay Anglican bishop, Gene Robinson.
The move prompted a number of conservative Anglicans to leave the church and embrace Roman Catholicism, and also led some of North America's more conservative churches to form their own separate region under the church.
Nowhere is this issue more intense than in Africa, where many see homosexuality as an affront to the community as a whole. In South Africa, for instance, it is not uncommon for women thought to be lesbians to be gang-raped in the belief that they will be "cured" of homosexuality. In Uganda, where homosexuality is already illegal, a parliamentarian this week put forward a bill that would make "aggravated" homosexuality – gay sex with disabled people, minors, or when the accused is HIV-positive – punishable by death.
Why African bishops oppose gay clerics
Most church leaders repudiate hatred or cruelty toward homosexuals. But while they say that gay Africans deserve God's love as much as any one else, they draw the line at allowing gay people to become priests.
"This is a problem that we have been fighting, even within the Anglican church itself," says Bishop Julius Kalu, a conservative Anglican church leader in Mombasa, Kenya. "We say that homosexuality is unacceptable, and the ordination of homosexuals as priests is against Biblical beliefs. But it is a personal problem, a vice. As a church we have a duty to reach out to those whose lifestyle is homosexual, but at the same time, we feel it is a vice that the church needs to address."
Despite frustration over the Anglican church's move to allow gay priests, Bishop Kalu agrees with Ntagali that few Anglicans will now choose to become Catholic over the issue.
Autonomy to deviate from Canterbury
Bishops Ntagali and Kalu say that local church leaders need to reserve the right to interpret the Bible in a local context, because social practices that might be acceptable in a European or American parish may not be acceptable in an African parish.
"The Bible says that a husband must have one wife," says Bishop Ntagali. "It does not say that a husband must have one man." Homosexuals, he adds, "are all capable, all eligible of God's saving grace, but we only disagree that they cannot be church leaders."
The fact that they are allowed to disagree with Canterbury, he says, is why there will be little demand to convert to Catholicism.
Not all African clerics are against gays
Defining just what is "African" about local values in Africa – a continent with 53 countries, hundreds of languages, and thousands of tribes and clans – is not always easy.
The Rev. Cynthia Botha, an Anglican priest at the St. Francis Anglican Church in the Parkview suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, says that her parish has always been "very liberal and open" with a church-based outreach group for Anglicans who are gay and lesbian.
"We do have members who are conservative, but I think we need to have a dialog, to listen, we need to find ways to work together," says Rev. Botha. "The gospel tells us that Jesus was open, he was talking to people no matter who they were. We've got to be as open as he was."
----
Will Vatican lure Africa's Anglican anti-gay bishops to Catholic church?
Despite fierce opposition to homosexuality, African bishops say the Vatican's effort to bring more Anglicans to the Catholic church will falter, largely because of the autonomy that they enjoy.
By Scott Baldauf Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor / October 21, 2009
Johannesburg, South Africa
Since the Vatican launched its bold bid Tuesday to make it easier for Anglicans to join the Roman Catholic Church, the question on everyone's mind has been: How many will convert?
Will the much ballyhooed Anglican divide over the Church's moves to accept openly gay and female clerics now cause hundreds of thousands of conservative Anglicans – mostly in Africa and parts of the US – to flock to Catholicism?
Early indications from African bishops are that most Anglicans, despite their fierce opposition to homosexuality, will be saying "thanks but no thanks" to Rome's new offer, largely because of the autonomy that they enjoy within the Anglican church.
"I don't think that priests in Uganda are going to leave and join the Roman Catholic church," says Bishop Stanley Ntagali, head of an Anglican diocese in the east African country of Uganda. "Uganda is [already] a separate region from the Church in Canterbury. They are able to do things their way, and we have to do things our way."
Homosexuality: A non-starter in the African church
"Homosexuality is a big issue in Africa," says Bishop Ntagali. "The Bible says that only men of good standing, following the word of Christ can be leaders of the Church. We disagree with our counterparts in England and America, who ordain homosexuals as priests. But we have to interpret the Bible on our own context, and the English must interpret the Bible in their context."
Ntagali says he has had hard feelings toward leaders of his own denomination since 2003, when the Church of England formally ordained the first openly gay Anglican bishop, Gene Robinson.
The move prompted a number of conservative Anglicans to leave the church and embrace Roman Catholicism, and also led some of North America's more conservative churches to form their own separate region under the church.
Nowhere is this issue more intense than in Africa, where many see homosexuality as an affront to the community as a whole. In South Africa, for instance, it is not uncommon for women thought to be lesbians to be gang-raped in the belief that they will be "cured" of homosexuality. In Uganda, where homosexuality is already illegal, a parliamentarian this week put forward a bill that would make "aggravated" homosexuality – gay sex with disabled people, minors, or when the accused is HIV-positive – punishable by death.
Why African bishops oppose gay clerics
Most church leaders repudiate hatred or cruelty toward homosexuals. But while they say that gay Africans deserve God's love as much as any one else, they draw the line at allowing gay people to become priests.
"This is a problem that we have been fighting, even within the Anglican church itself," says Bishop Julius Kalu, a conservative Anglican church leader in Mombasa, Kenya. "We say that homosexuality is unacceptable, and the ordination of homosexuals as priests is against Biblical beliefs. But it is a personal problem, a vice. As a church we have a duty to reach out to those whose lifestyle is homosexual, but at the same time, we feel it is a vice that the church needs to address."
Despite frustration over the Anglican church's move to allow gay priests, Bishop Kalu agrees with Ntagali that few Anglicans will now choose to become Catholic over the issue.
Autonomy to deviate from Canterbury
Bishops Ntagali and Kalu say that local church leaders need to reserve the right to interpret the Bible in a local context, because social practices that might be acceptable in a European or American parish may not be acceptable in an African parish.
"The Bible says that a husband must have one wife," says Bishop Ntagali. "It does not say that a husband must have one man." Homosexuals, he adds, "are all capable, all eligible of God's saving grace, but we only disagree that they cannot be church leaders."
The fact that they are allowed to disagree with Canterbury, he says, is why there will be little demand to convert to Catholicism.
Not all African clerics are against gays
Defining just what is "African" about local values in Africa – a continent with 53 countries, hundreds of languages, and thousands of tribes and clans – is not always easy.
The Rev. Cynthia Botha, an Anglican priest at the St. Francis Anglican Church in the Parkview suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, says that her parish has always been "very liberal and open" with a church-based outreach group for Anglicans who are gay and lesbian.
"We do have members who are conservative, but I think we need to have a dialog, to listen, we need to find ways to work together," says Rev. Botha. "The gospel tells us that Jesus was open, he was talking to people no matter who they were. We've got to be as open as he was."
----
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Haitians turn to God, Religion in the face of Hard situation
Nation
Haitians in the US Turn to Religion for AnswersUpdated: 23 minutes ago
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Dana Chivvis
Contributor
(Jan. 23) – Since last week's earthquake, the Rev. Donelson Thevenin, a priest at the Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn, where many of New York's Haitians live, has been helping his congregation deal with the tragedy. He has prayed with them, listened to their stories and tried to answer their questions.
One woman came to him in tears, asking him to help a cousin who had lost his leg. Another woman told him she lost 36 family members to the earthquake.
"And what do you say to that?" Thevenin asked. "At times there is no way to help a person cope. Even the death of one loved one, one person traumatizes you, but to imagine five, 10, 36 all at once."
Dana Chivvis for AOL
The Rev. Donelson Thevenin says many members of his congregation at the Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn, N.Y., are struggling to make sense of the tragedy in Haiti. Here, he talks to an Australian radio show from a church office on Thursday.
After last week's disaster, many of New York's Haitians are turning to religion for answers. But spiritual leaders have few to offer in the aftermath of a tragedy so overwhelming and incomprehensible. They can do little more than pray, hold memorial services and reaffirm the resilience of the Haitian people and their faith.
In Haiti, 80 percent of the population belongs to the Roman Catholic Church and 16 percent to various Protestant churches. Many Haitians practice voodoo along with Christianity – roughly half, according to the CIA World Factbook, and far more, according to some Haitians.
"It's a symbiosis, it's parallel," said Nicole Miller, a voodoo priestess or mambo of the Temple of Yehwe, in Plainview, N.Y. "As they say in Haiti, it's 100 percent Catholic and 90 percent voodoo."
Miller, 65, has been a mambo for 18 years. She was last in Haiti in December.
"It was sunny, it was calm, it was beautiful. It was Haiti," she said. "And now it is upside down."
Since the earthquake, Miller has been taking phone calls from people asking for strength and courage. She has prayed with them to God and to the spirits, which are fundamental to the religion.
"It gets to a point when it affects you, you feel so hopeless," Miller said. "Because it's our land, it's our country, it's part of us."
The Rev. Luc Pierre, the minister at the New Jerusalem Church of the Nazarene, an Evangelical church down the street from Holy Cross, said the condition of Haiti now is "depressing." Every major institution has crumbled, churches have collapsed. In his congregation alone, 26 families had lost loved ones as of Sunday. He expects there to be more.
One of the questions so often repeated in the last 10 days is why this catastrophe struck a country already struggling under the burden of natural and man-made disasters, from hurricanes and floods to military coups and a string of unstable governments.
"Frankly, you know, even leaders, even myself, I would ask why," Pierre said. "I don't have any good answer for them, and I don't have any good answer for myself."
He tells his congregation that God is there for them. He will hold a second memorial service tonight, and he is providing psychological counselors for people to talk to.
Thevenin is fielding similar questions. He tells people they cannot ask why the earthquake struck Haiti because to do so implies that it should have struck somewhere else, that it should have caused some other country the pain and suffering that Haitians feel now.
And then there are the people questioning their religion altogether.
"The question that people ask, 'Where was God when my brother was suffering, where was God when my mom or my loved one was struggling to breathe air when these rubbles were falling on top of them. Where was God?' " Thevenin said.
Dana Chivvis for AOL
A list of earthquake victims' names sits on a table next to the altar at Holy Cross Church. The first name on the list is the archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Serge Miot, who was killed in the earthquake.
His answer is that God is always there for people who are suffering. He says the response from the international community is an example of God's love. He quotes scripture, particularly the story of Martha and Lazarus, which includes the passage, "He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."
But when the woman asked him for help with her cousin who lost his leg, he didn't know what to do.
"I felt powerless. I felt embarrassed. I didn't know how to help," Thevenin said. "At this time we are all in a tunnel, in a dark tunnel, but the light is out there. All we can do is walk through the tunnel, and ask God and ask each other to help us."
Pierre's church has begun taking donations of food, medical supplies and clothes. Already there are several boxes stacked in the basement of the church. At Holy Cross, near the altar, there is a book of names of victims and a Haitian flag. And Miller is planning on holding a burial ceremony in February, to ensure that the dead make it to the afterlife.
"It's the worst thing that could ever happen to us," Miller said. "But we will survive."
Filed under: Nation, World, Only On Sphere
Haitians in the US Turn to Religion for AnswersUpdated: 23 minutes ago
Print Text Size E-mail More
Dana Chivvis
Contributor
(Jan. 23) – Since last week's earthquake, the Rev. Donelson Thevenin, a priest at the Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn, where many of New York's Haitians live, has been helping his congregation deal with the tragedy. He has prayed with them, listened to their stories and tried to answer their questions.
One woman came to him in tears, asking him to help a cousin who had lost his leg. Another woman told him she lost 36 family members to the earthquake.
"And what do you say to that?" Thevenin asked. "At times there is no way to help a person cope. Even the death of one loved one, one person traumatizes you, but to imagine five, 10, 36 all at once."
Dana Chivvis for AOL
The Rev. Donelson Thevenin says many members of his congregation at the Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn, N.Y., are struggling to make sense of the tragedy in Haiti. Here, he talks to an Australian radio show from a church office on Thursday.
After last week's disaster, many of New York's Haitians are turning to religion for answers. But spiritual leaders have few to offer in the aftermath of a tragedy so overwhelming and incomprehensible. They can do little more than pray, hold memorial services and reaffirm the resilience of the Haitian people and their faith.
In Haiti, 80 percent of the population belongs to the Roman Catholic Church and 16 percent to various Protestant churches. Many Haitians practice voodoo along with Christianity – roughly half, according to the CIA World Factbook, and far more, according to some Haitians.
"It's a symbiosis, it's parallel," said Nicole Miller, a voodoo priestess or mambo of the Temple of Yehwe, in Plainview, N.Y. "As they say in Haiti, it's 100 percent Catholic and 90 percent voodoo."
Miller, 65, has been a mambo for 18 years. She was last in Haiti in December.
"It was sunny, it was calm, it was beautiful. It was Haiti," she said. "And now it is upside down."
Since the earthquake, Miller has been taking phone calls from people asking for strength and courage. She has prayed with them to God and to the spirits, which are fundamental to the religion.
"It gets to a point when it affects you, you feel so hopeless," Miller said. "Because it's our land, it's our country, it's part of us."
The Rev. Luc Pierre, the minister at the New Jerusalem Church of the Nazarene, an Evangelical church down the street from Holy Cross, said the condition of Haiti now is "depressing." Every major institution has crumbled, churches have collapsed. In his congregation alone, 26 families had lost loved ones as of Sunday. He expects there to be more.
One of the questions so often repeated in the last 10 days is why this catastrophe struck a country already struggling under the burden of natural and man-made disasters, from hurricanes and floods to military coups and a string of unstable governments.
"Frankly, you know, even leaders, even myself, I would ask why," Pierre said. "I don't have any good answer for them, and I don't have any good answer for myself."
He tells his congregation that God is there for them. He will hold a second memorial service tonight, and he is providing psychological counselors for people to talk to.
Thevenin is fielding similar questions. He tells people they cannot ask why the earthquake struck Haiti because to do so implies that it should have struck somewhere else, that it should have caused some other country the pain and suffering that Haitians feel now.
And then there are the people questioning their religion altogether.
"The question that people ask, 'Where was God when my brother was suffering, where was God when my mom or my loved one was struggling to breathe air when these rubbles were falling on top of them. Where was God?' " Thevenin said.
Dana Chivvis for AOL
A list of earthquake victims' names sits on a table next to the altar at Holy Cross Church. The first name on the list is the archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Serge Miot, who was killed in the earthquake.
His answer is that God is always there for people who are suffering. He says the response from the international community is an example of God's love. He quotes scripture, particularly the story of Martha and Lazarus, which includes the passage, "He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."
But when the woman asked him for help with her cousin who lost his leg, he didn't know what to do.
"I felt powerless. I felt embarrassed. I didn't know how to help," Thevenin said. "At this time we are all in a tunnel, in a dark tunnel, but the light is out there. All we can do is walk through the tunnel, and ask God and ask each other to help us."
Pierre's church has begun taking donations of food, medical supplies and clothes. Already there are several boxes stacked in the basement of the church. At Holy Cross, near the altar, there is a book of names of victims and a Haitian flag. And Miller is planning on holding a burial ceremony in February, to ensure that the dead make it to the afterlife.
"It's the worst thing that could ever happen to us," Miller said. "But we will survive."
Filed under: Nation, World, Only On Sphere
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Obituary: Madagascar's Cardinal Armand Gaetan Razafindratandra has died
Obituary: Madagascar Cardinal Armand Gaetan Razafindratandra, Pope condoles Madagascar church
Madagascar: Cardinal Razafindratandra has died
Posted: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 3:29 pm
Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his condolences for the death of Cardinal Armand Gaetan Razafindratandra, archbishop emeritus of Antananarivo, Madagascar, who died on Saturday, January 9, at the age of 84.
In a telegram made public yesterday afternoon, addressed to Archbishop Odon Marie Arsene Razanakolona of Antananarivo, the Holy Father noted how the late cardinal "dedicated his entire life to helping Madagascans, as a diocesan priest and later as archbishop of Antananarivo, giving the best of himself that Christ might be announced".
The Pope prays that: "by the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary, Queen of Africa, the Lord may welcome His faithful servant into His Kingdom of peace and light".
With the death of Cardinal Razafindratandra, the College of Cardinals now has 182 members, of whom 112 are electors.
Paying tribute to the Cardinal, Salesian Fr Cosimo Alvati, who has worked for many years in Madagascar (where he founded Radio Don Bosco), said: "Cardinal Razafindratandra always had a special care and sensitivity for the poor. His moral authority also stemmed from his lifestyle and the example it offered. On several occasions I got to meet him when he was Archbishop of the capital, Antananarivo, and have always been impressed by his simple and sober lifestyle: a study with adjoining bedroom, a simple cassock, frugal meals. The Cardinal was a prince who lived like most of his compatriots, in simplicity and frugality."
"The moral authority of the Cardinal that stemmed from his lifestyle, rather than by its noble origin, was recognized by everyone, including the Heads of State who ruled the island, which is why for years he was Chairman of the Board of Christian Churches, a body comprising all the main Christian denominations of Madagascar," recalled Fr Cosimo.
"The Cardinal's great charity and pastoral sensitivity was already famous when he was Bishop of Mahajanga. He was famous for exploring the farthest and forgotten points of his diocese, often in long wanderings on foot and by canoe, a journey which lasted for days, because of the lack of roads. Even in the last years of life, after having left the leadership of the Archdiocese of Antananarivo, he showed his particular sensitivity to the most humble. The Cardinal decided to live in Besalampy, one of the poorest areas of Madagascar, where he continued his pastoral and human development until the end."
At Besalampy, the Cardinal set up a holiday camp for poor children, Fr Cosimo said. He also established a network of Catholic radio stations throughout Madagascar.
The funeral of Cardinal Razafindratandra will be held on 15 January.
Source: Fides
Madagascar: Cardinal Razafindratandra has died
Posted: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 3:29 pm
Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his condolences for the death of Cardinal Armand Gaetan Razafindratandra, archbishop emeritus of Antananarivo, Madagascar, who died on Saturday, January 9, at the age of 84.
In a telegram made public yesterday afternoon, addressed to Archbishop Odon Marie Arsene Razanakolona of Antananarivo, the Holy Father noted how the late cardinal "dedicated his entire life to helping Madagascans, as a diocesan priest and later as archbishop of Antananarivo, giving the best of himself that Christ might be announced".
The Pope prays that: "by the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary, Queen of Africa, the Lord may welcome His faithful servant into His Kingdom of peace and light".
With the death of Cardinal Razafindratandra, the College of Cardinals now has 182 members, of whom 112 are electors.
Paying tribute to the Cardinal, Salesian Fr Cosimo Alvati, who has worked for many years in Madagascar (where he founded Radio Don Bosco), said: "Cardinal Razafindratandra always had a special care and sensitivity for the poor. His moral authority also stemmed from his lifestyle and the example it offered. On several occasions I got to meet him when he was Archbishop of the capital, Antananarivo, and have always been impressed by his simple and sober lifestyle: a study with adjoining bedroom, a simple cassock, frugal meals. The Cardinal was a prince who lived like most of his compatriots, in simplicity and frugality."
"The moral authority of the Cardinal that stemmed from his lifestyle, rather than by its noble origin, was recognized by everyone, including the Heads of State who ruled the island, which is why for years he was Chairman of the Board of Christian Churches, a body comprising all the main Christian denominations of Madagascar," recalled Fr Cosimo.
"The Cardinal's great charity and pastoral sensitivity was already famous when he was Bishop of Mahajanga. He was famous for exploring the farthest and forgotten points of his diocese, often in long wanderings on foot and by canoe, a journey which lasted for days, because of the lack of roads. Even in the last years of life, after having left the leadership of the Archdiocese of Antananarivo, he showed his particular sensitivity to the most humble. The Cardinal decided to live in Besalampy, one of the poorest areas of Madagascar, where he continued his pastoral and human development until the end."
At Besalampy, the Cardinal set up a holiday camp for poor children, Fr Cosimo said. He also established a network of Catholic radio stations throughout Madagascar.
The funeral of Cardinal Razafindratandra will be held on 15 January.
Source: Fides
Obituary: Bishop Anthony Saliu Sanusi- Nigeria’s oldest Catholic bishop has died
Obituary: Bishop Anthony Saliu Sanusi- Nigeria’s oldest Catholic bishop has died
The passing away of the first bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, South Western Nigeria has been announced.
Most Revd Dr. Anthony Saliu Sanusi, Bishop Emeritus of Ijebu Ode died on Monday 7 December 2009, about four weeks from his 99th birthday. He was the 6th oldest bishop in the entire Catholic Church and the oldest Nigerian Catholic Bishop.
He was ordained a priest on 17 December 1944 in Lagos, Nigeria. When Ijebu Ode Diocese was created from the Archdiocese of Lagos on 29 May 1969, Fr Sanusi was appointed its first bishop by Pope Paul VI.
His Episcopal Consecration took place on 1 August 1969 in Kampala, Uganda by Pope Paul VI. In 1972 after the death of Archbishop JK Aggey, he was appointed Apostolic Administrator of Lagos Archdiocese. He was the only bishop of Ijebu Ode Diocese at that time, covering an area of 5,000 square kilometres (1,931 square miles) with six parishes, three diocesan priests and eight missionary priests. After 21 years of active service as diocesan bishop, he retired on 14 August 1990, at the age of 79. He was succeeded by Bishop Albert A Fasina.
During Bishops Sanusi’s time in office, the diocese had six secondary schools and 46 primary schools owned by the Church, however, they were all taken over by the government without any compensation. At present, the diocese has four Private Nursery Primary Schools and two Secondary Schools. The Diocese has two Hospitals and a Maternity Centre. The diocese remains undaunted in her mission of evangelisation with 23 parishes and over 60 priests.
Bishop Sanusi was instrumental to the opening of the Missionary Seminary of St Paul on 23 October 1977 at Iperu Remo, Ogun State. Thereupon, Bishop Anthony Sanusi was appointed the first Ordinary of the Seminary and of the Missionary Society of St. Paul (MSP).
His funeral arrangements are as follows:
Wednesday 16 December, 2009:
10am - Requiem Mass at St John Vianney Catholic Church, Iperu.
12noon – Office of the Dead at Seminary of St. Paul, Iperu
2.30pm - Lying in State at St Sebastian’s’ Catholic Cathedral, Ijebu-Ode
6pm - Vigil Mass
Thursday 17th, 2009
10am – Burial Mass at Gateway International Stadium, Ijebu-Ode.
12.30pm – Interment at St Sebastian Catholic Cathedral, Ijebu-Ode. Entertainment follows immediately after Mass.
Baba (as he is fondly called) was a priest for 64 years and a bishop for 40 years. May the Lord grant him eternal rest and let his perpetual light shine on him. May he rest in peace. Amen.
There will be a memorial service for Baba, here in the UK, in the New Year. Time and venue will be made known as soon as it is finalised.
The passing away of the first bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, South Western Nigeria has been announced.
Most Revd Dr. Anthony Saliu Sanusi, Bishop Emeritus of Ijebu Ode died on Monday 7 December 2009, about four weeks from his 99th birthday. He was the 6th oldest bishop in the entire Catholic Church and the oldest Nigerian Catholic Bishop.
He was ordained a priest on 17 December 1944 in Lagos, Nigeria. When Ijebu Ode Diocese was created from the Archdiocese of Lagos on 29 May 1969, Fr Sanusi was appointed its first bishop by Pope Paul VI.
His Episcopal Consecration took place on 1 August 1969 in Kampala, Uganda by Pope Paul VI. In 1972 after the death of Archbishop JK Aggey, he was appointed Apostolic Administrator of Lagos Archdiocese. He was the only bishop of Ijebu Ode Diocese at that time, covering an area of 5,000 square kilometres (1,931 square miles) with six parishes, three diocesan priests and eight missionary priests. After 21 years of active service as diocesan bishop, he retired on 14 August 1990, at the age of 79. He was succeeded by Bishop Albert A Fasina.
During Bishops Sanusi’s time in office, the diocese had six secondary schools and 46 primary schools owned by the Church, however, they were all taken over by the government without any compensation. At present, the diocese has four Private Nursery Primary Schools and two Secondary Schools. The Diocese has two Hospitals and a Maternity Centre. The diocese remains undaunted in her mission of evangelisation with 23 parishes and over 60 priests.
Bishop Sanusi was instrumental to the opening of the Missionary Seminary of St Paul on 23 October 1977 at Iperu Remo, Ogun State. Thereupon, Bishop Anthony Sanusi was appointed the first Ordinary of the Seminary and of the Missionary Society of St. Paul (MSP).
His funeral arrangements are as follows:
Wednesday 16 December, 2009:
10am - Requiem Mass at St John Vianney Catholic Church, Iperu.
12noon – Office of the Dead at Seminary of St. Paul, Iperu
2.30pm - Lying in State at St Sebastian’s’ Catholic Cathedral, Ijebu-Ode
6pm - Vigil Mass
Thursday 17th, 2009
10am – Burial Mass at Gateway International Stadium, Ijebu-Ode.
12.30pm – Interment at St Sebastian Catholic Cathedral, Ijebu-Ode. Entertainment follows immediately after Mass.
Baba (as he is fondly called) was a priest for 64 years and a bishop for 40 years. May the Lord grant him eternal rest and let his perpetual light shine on him. May he rest in peace. Amen.
There will be a memorial service for Baba, here in the UK, in the New Year. Time and venue will be made known as soon as it is finalised.
Obituary: Edward Schillebeeckx, A Great inspirational and profound Catholic Theologian
Obituary of Edward Schillebeeckx: A Great Inspirational and in depth Catholic Theologican:
Posted: Monday, January 4, 2010 6:04 pm
The internationally renowned theologian Edward Schillebeeckx died on the 23rd of December 2009. Dr Schillebeeckx was Professor of Dogmatics and History of Theology at Nijmegen University from 1957 to 1983. Edward Schillebeeckx has been of major importance to twentieth century and contemporary theology. Many recognize him as a pioneer who connected faith, church and theology with modern humanity in a secular society. He has been an iconic figure for Radboud University Nijmegen.
Edward Cornelius Florentius Schillebeeckx was born into a Flemish family in Antwerp on 12 November 1914, the sixth of 14 children. His father, who was a chartered accountant and an intellectual, influenced him greatly; although dismissive of the clergy, he was a devout Roman Catholic who took his family to Mass every day at 6.30am and made the sign of the cross on their foreheads before they went to sleep at night.
Along with his eight brothers, Edward attended a Jesuit school, but decided, in 1934, to enter the Dominican Order. He served his novitiate at Ghent, then spent three years – which he always described as the best in his life – studying Philosophy at the University of Louvain. In 1941 he was ordained as a priest. Late in 1957, Schillebeeckx was appointed Professor of Dogmatics and History of Theology at the Catholic University of Nijmegen, now known as Radboud University Nijmegen.
Second Vatican Council
Schillebeeckx accompanied the Dutch bishops as their advisor during the Second Vatican Council (1962 – 1965). In 1960 he wrote a pastoral letter for the bishops informing the faithful about the Council. This letter attracted international attention because of the way in which Schillebeeckx described the relationship between the faithful and the hierarchy of the Church: he believed it is the task of the bishops and the Pope to express the live of the faithful, rather than the other way around.
Faith can change the world
In 1974, Schillebeeckx published Jezus, het verhaal van een levende, (translated in 1979 as Jesus: an experiment in Christology), and in 1977 Gerechtigheid en liefde, genade en bevrijding translated in 1980 as Christ: the Christian experience in the modern world). In these books, Schillebeeckx presented Christian faith as a source of inspiration for those who wish to stand up for the poor and oppressed and change the world for good. These books have broken new ground for twentieth-century theology and are still widely read and studied.
Church authorities
Schillebeeckx continued to be involved in the internal affairs of the church after the Second Vatican Council. In addition to his earlier works on the sacraments of the Church (De sacramentele heilseconomie, 1953), his later publications deal with priesthood and the role of the faithful in the Church (Kerkelijk ambt, 1980 and Pleidooi voor mensen in de kerk, 1985, translated as The Church with a human face: a new and expanded theology of ministry). As a result of the innovative character of his works, Schillebeeckx was asked to justify himself to the Church authorities on three occasions. Shortly before his retirement in 1983, he received the prestigious European Erasmus prize. Schillebeeckx’ work is still widely studied, particularly in the United States and Great Britain.
Source: Radboud University/VIS/Edward Schillebeeckx Foundation
Posted: Monday, January 4, 2010 6:04 pm
The internationally renowned theologian Edward Schillebeeckx died on the 23rd of December 2009. Dr Schillebeeckx was Professor of Dogmatics and History of Theology at Nijmegen University from 1957 to 1983. Edward Schillebeeckx has been of major importance to twentieth century and contemporary theology. Many recognize him as a pioneer who connected faith, church and theology with modern humanity in a secular society. He has been an iconic figure for Radboud University Nijmegen.
Edward Cornelius Florentius Schillebeeckx was born into a Flemish family in Antwerp on 12 November 1914, the sixth of 14 children. His father, who was a chartered accountant and an intellectual, influenced him greatly; although dismissive of the clergy, he was a devout Roman Catholic who took his family to Mass every day at 6.30am and made the sign of the cross on their foreheads before they went to sleep at night.
Along with his eight brothers, Edward attended a Jesuit school, but decided, in 1934, to enter the Dominican Order. He served his novitiate at Ghent, then spent three years – which he always described as the best in his life – studying Philosophy at the University of Louvain. In 1941 he was ordained as a priest. Late in 1957, Schillebeeckx was appointed Professor of Dogmatics and History of Theology at the Catholic University of Nijmegen, now known as Radboud University Nijmegen.
Second Vatican Council
Schillebeeckx accompanied the Dutch bishops as their advisor during the Second Vatican Council (1962 – 1965). In 1960 he wrote a pastoral letter for the bishops informing the faithful about the Council. This letter attracted international attention because of the way in which Schillebeeckx described the relationship between the faithful and the hierarchy of the Church: he believed it is the task of the bishops and the Pope to express the live of the faithful, rather than the other way around.
Faith can change the world
In 1974, Schillebeeckx published Jezus, het verhaal van een levende, (translated in 1979 as Jesus: an experiment in Christology), and in 1977 Gerechtigheid en liefde, genade en bevrijding translated in 1980 as Christ: the Christian experience in the modern world). In these books, Schillebeeckx presented Christian faith as a source of inspiration for those who wish to stand up for the poor and oppressed and change the world for good. These books have broken new ground for twentieth-century theology and are still widely read and studied.
Church authorities
Schillebeeckx continued to be involved in the internal affairs of the church after the Second Vatican Council. In addition to his earlier works on the sacraments of the Church (De sacramentele heilseconomie, 1953), his later publications deal with priesthood and the role of the faithful in the Church (Kerkelijk ambt, 1980 and Pleidooi voor mensen in de kerk, 1985, translated as The Church with a human face: a new and expanded theology of ministry). As a result of the innovative character of his works, Schillebeeckx was asked to justify himself to the Church authorities on three occasions. Shortly before his retirement in 1983, he received the prestigious European Erasmus prize. Schillebeeckx’ work is still widely studied, particularly in the United States and Great Britain.
Source: Radboud University/VIS/Edward Schillebeeckx Foundation
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