California, U.S.A. — As more than 2000 Knights of Columbus and their family members gather for the organization’s 130th International Convention – together with more than 80 archbishops and bishops, including 12 cardinals, and scores of clergy – the Pope has praised the organization’s work for religious liberty in a letter to be released to attendees Tuesday.

The letter’s distribution will come just two days after the Knights of Columbus – along with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles – drew tens of thousands to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe in what was described as the largest celebration of the Virgin Mary in Southern California in a generation.

At a time when Catholics in the United States face unprecedented attempts by the federal government to limit First Amendment religious liberty, the Pope has applauded and encouraged the work of the Knights of Columbus to protect Americans’ religious freedom.

The letter, signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, offers Pope Benedict XVI’s encouragement of the organization’s work for religious liberty and expresses confidence that the Knights will take a leadership role in leading the laity “to counter reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about issues which are determining the future of American society.”

The Knights – led by Supreme Knight Carl Anderson – have been actively involved in the defense of religious freedom, speaking out publicly in the face of proposed limits to First Amendment rights including the HHS Mandate. That regulation seeks, with only the narrowest of exemptions, to force employers to cover medical interventions which are contrary to Catholic teaching – and the government’s arguments Hosanna Tabor, which sought to eliminate the exception from general employment law granted to religious ministers.

The letter expressing the Pope’s sentiments states: “At a time when concerted efforts are being made to redefine and restrict the exercise of the right to religious freedom, the Knights of Columbus have worked tirelessly to help the Catholic community recognize and respond to the unprecedented gravity of these new threats to the Church’s liberty and public moral witness.

By defending the right of all religious believers, as individual citizens and in their institutions, to work responsibly in shaping a democratic society inspired by their deepest beliefs, values and aspiration, your Order has proudly lived up to the high religious and patriotic principles which inspired its founding.”

It continues: “His Holiness is confident that the Supreme Convention will carry on this distinguished legacy by providing sound inspiration, guidance and direction to a new generation of faithful and dedicated Catholic laymen.

As he stated to the Bishops of the United States earlier this year, the demands of the new evangelization and the defense of the Church’s freedom in our day call for ‘an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-a-vis the dominant culture and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about issues which are determining the future of American society”

Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore – Supreme Chaplain of the Knights of Columbus and Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee for Religious Liberty – said: “The sentiments expressed by Pope Benedict XVI in the letter to the Knights of Columbus makes clear that our work on behalf of religious liberty is important not only to the Knights and to the Catholic Church in the United States, but also to the universal church.

United with our Holy Father, the Knights of Columbus will continue to actively take the lead among the Catholic laity in supporting the First Amendment rights of our Church and of all Americans in the face of the unprecedented threats to our freedom confronting us today.”

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson noted: “The message from the pope to the Knights of Columbus is clear. We must continue to stand up for our religious liberty and to point the way for our fellow Catholics to do the same. Defense of religious liberty has long been a part of the Knights of Columbus history – dating back to our defense of Catholic education from the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s.

We are honored by the pope’s encouragement and confidence in our work, and will continue to do all we can to protect the First Amendment rights of all Americans from laws and regulations that would encroach on the first freedom guaranteed in our bill of rights – the freedom to practice our religion.”

The Knights of Columbus is the world’s largest fraternal group, with more than 1.8 million members worldwide, the majority of whom live in the United States. One of the country’s most active charitable groups, last year the Knights of Columbus set records by giving more than $158 million and 70 million hours to charitable causes.

The Organization’s 130th convention in Anaheim, Calif. will run from August 7 – 9. It is the largest gathering of Catholic bishops and cardinals in the United States outside of the annual United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ annual meetings.

Image Courtesy of   Martin Ezequiel Gardeazabal / Shutterstock.com

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After a trial lasting three months, Monsignor William Lynn of Philadelphia has been found guilty on one count of child endangerment. He was acquitted of another charge of child endangerment and conspiring to protect a priest accused of abuse.

Monsignor William Lynn is the highest ranking church official to be charged and convicted of child endangerment for not reporting child abuse according to CNN. This is the first time in US criminal history that a church official has been charged in the cover up of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.

Lynn’s co-defendant was Reverend James Brennan who was charged with the attempted rape of a fourteen year old altar boy. Brennan left active duty in 2006 but admitted in 2008 that he had the boy sleep in his bed with him and watch pornography in 1996. The jury was unable to reach a verdict for Brennan.

Lynn and Brennan were supposed to have another co-defendant, Edward Avery, but Avery pled guilty to sexually assaulting a ten year old boy and has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Avery has also been defrocked from the Catholic Church.

This is a groundbreaking decision because it is the first time that someone has been convicted from the Catholic Church for covering up the sexual abuse crimes; it has set a precedent for other church officials to be charged for covering up these crimes. Terrence McKiernan, head of the advocacy website BishopAccountability.org said the conviction was a “watershed moment in the Catholic abuse crisis” because “[bishops and church officials] are no longer immune from judgment and punishment.”

Philadelphia District Attorney R. Seth Williams also called the conviction “historic” because it would prevent people from not reporting sex abuse. Williams stated, “many people of many generations have unclean hands when it comes to this silence.”

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia issued a statement after the verdict that said, “the lessons of the last year have made our Church a more vigilant guardian of our people’s safety.” In 2002 the Church did create new, stricter policies in regards to sexual abuse, but they are supposed to be enforced by the bishops and other church officials.

According to a study commissioned by the US bishops, around 16,000 claims of sexual abuse have been made against the clergy since 1950.

Some have opposed the ruling or called the prosecution a ‘witch hunt.’ Bill Donahue of the Catholic League was one such individual and celebrated the acquittal of Lynn on the count of conspiracy. Donahue stated, “the witch hunt has come to an end, and those who have been clamoring for blood lost big time. They wanted the big prize – they wanted to nail a high-ranking clergyman on conspiracy.”

Lynn’s sentencing trial will be in August 13 and he could serve up to seven years for his third-degree felony. Lynn was remanded to custody after his verdict was read because the judge revoked his bail. Jeffrey Lindy, Lynn’s attorney, said this was, “an unspeakable miscarriage of justice: a sixty-one year old man with no prior record and long-established ties to the community.” Lindy is appealing to the courts for Lynn to be held under house arrest until his sentencing in August.

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LOS ANGELES, US – Charity: Part III of A Mexican Trilogy is the third play (but the second produced) of the trilogy of the epic story of several generations of a Mexican-American family impacted by inspirational figures (FDR, JFK, John Paul II). Latino Theater Company’s Artistic Director, Jose Luis Valenzuela, and its playwright-in-residence, Evelina Fernandez re-teams for this story.

Mexico’s biggest star of stage, Ofelia Medina portrays the matriarch of the Garcia family, born at the end of the Nineteenth Century, before the Mexican Revolution. She steadfastly refuses to die, insisting that she goes on living to protect her family.

It’s 2005, and the family intermittently watches news reports of the death of Pope John Paul II. They have varied responses to the Catholic Church. They’re stricken with grief over the loss of young Emiliano in the War on Iraq. Actually, he’s not quite gone. His ghost frequently visits the family matriarch.

The Garcias’ routine is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of a cousin from Mexico, Juan Francisco (“Frankie”). His aunt Gina is not comfortable with his presence, but he soon gets a job from a gay family friend working in a salon. Frankie believes in what the U.S. represents, and he will make choices that will put him on the road to U.S. citizenship.

Other than Ofelia Medina—one of Mexico’s biggest stars of stage, screen and television — the moving story of the Garcia family stars Esperanza America Ibarra, lauded by the Los Angeles Times (1/4/12) as one of the city’s finest actresses; Rudy Ramos; Evelina Fernandez; Sal Lopez; Geoffrey Rivas; Lucy Rodriguez; Sam Golzari and Jonathan William Cruz.

Presented primarily in English, “Charity: Part III of a Mexican Trilogy” will make its world premier on May 11, 2012 at Los Angeles Theatre Center. The Garcia family is one that hopes, dreams, argues, bickers, but above all, loves each other. It’s a family much, perhaps, like your own.

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In the world of politics, there is nothing better than an opponent that shoots themselves in the foot. Hence, President Obama is having a much better time currently, than he should be.

Unemployment is still high and the debt is astronomical. Gas prices are high and rising and many of the President’s foreign policy accomplishments are footnotes because of Syria, Iran, and he’s continued throwing of Israel under the bus. But, none of that matters as much, because for the last three weeks the topic of choice has been the controversy regarding birth control and the President’s healthcare mandates.

If this is new to you, here are the bullet points. The Affordable Care Act that President Obama passed, mandates preventative medical care at no cost to anyone. No co-pays, no deductibles. Included in the preventive care list is coverage for birth control pills, the morning after pill, and elective sterilization procedures. Most company insurance plans already provide coverage for birth control, but now it must be covered for no co-pay.

The morning after pills and the sterilization surgeries would be at no cost as well. However, the Catholic Church does not believe in birth control and want waivers for having to provide coverage to employees of their schools and nonprofit organizations. The President refused, and the Republicans had an issue right up their wheelhouse.

So for the last two weeks, Republicans have been chopping at the bit regarding the infringement on religious rights by the President and the President has not been hurt by the debate because all that Americans hear are Republicans railing against birth control pills.  Except, that is not what they are upset about. The issue is that the government should not be trying to make religious organizations do things against their religious beliefs. The real problem however is that the Republicans have again allowed the Democrats to frame the issue.

Most women in the country, 98%, have used birth control pills. Though it is easy to make people who fight against the mandate sound as though they are against birth control, that is not the real issue. The real issue is one of personal responsibility. If you are a woman reading this, or a man that is discussing this with a woman, you need to ask yourself: “Why I should have to pay for your birth control pills?”

That is the real issue. No one disputes that women should be able to get birth control pills, if she wants them. But, why should they be free? Whether a woman uses them is a personal choice, but at what point did we start thinking that other people are required to pay for your choices?

Food is more important than sex, should others pay for your groceries as well? Sterilization surgeries are elective, so it makes equally little sense to not let the person electing to do it, pay for it. I believe there is no difference between that and a woman getting a breast implant. Should we pay for them as well?

This is not only the more effective line of attack, but it is also the more understandable. Not only should the religious employers not have to pay for a woman’s birth control, but also neither should anyone else.

Republicans have allowed themselves to again get distracted by a social issue that does not win the election or overall opinion polls.  If they focused on the personal responsibility aspect of this issue, they would be winning the debate. Because even women could disagree to pay for the decisions that other women make.

This is a classic case of what is right: arguing against the infringement on religious rights, versus being effective in arguing that it is wrong to make others pay for the elective decisions that individuals make in their own lives. If the Republicans continue to make this mistake, not only will they lose the election, but the U.S. will take an even closer step toward a society in which personal responsibility is absent from all areas of life.

Image Courtesy of    http://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/

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A leading ‘abuse case’ lawyer is challenging the Catholic Church to open its secret archives of documents for independent examination in order to discover the truth about child abuse by its priests.

Richard Scorer, a Partner and specialist in child abuse cases at Manchester law firm Pannone, says, “Every Catholic diocese has a secret archive which is kept locked and has in it secret documents. In the words of the Code of Canon Law, these documents are to be ‘protected most securely’ and contain, ‘matters of morals’ and ‘criminal cases’.

Only the bishop is allowed to possess the key and the archive is only to be opened in a case of ‘true necessity’. It is my feeling and that of many of my legal peers that this moment of necessity is here.” Says Mr Scorer, “It is like something from a Dan Brown novel, but this is not the Da Vinci Code, it is the Code of Canon Law and it has a bearing on the lives of hundreds probably even thousands of people.

In every one of those archives there will be evidence of past scandals, if the Catholic Church really wants to help those children its priest’s may have abused in the past, it should open up its secret archives to independent investigation now and cleanse itself of its culture of denial and cover-up. ”

Canon489 of the current code of Canon law provides:

‘There is also to be a secret archive, or at least in the ordinary archive there is to be a safe or cabinet, which is securely closed and bolted and which cannot be removed. In this archive documents which are to be kept under secrecy are to be most carefully guarded.’

Canon law forbids any documents to be removed from the secret archive under any circumstances and only the bishop is permitted to have the key thereto. Accordingly, as only the bishop will know what is in the secret archive, it is obviously unsatisfactory for anyone else to make the disclosure statement.

Among the documents which must be kept in the secret archive for varying periods of time are:

- Documents from historic criminal cases (i.e. within Canon law) concerning matters of a moral nature

- Documentary proof of canonical warnings or corrections when someone has been about to commit an offence, or is suspected of having         committed one, or has been guilty of scandalous behaviour

- Documents relating to preliminary investigations for a penal process that was closed without a formal trial

- Documents relating to any other matters the bishop considers secret.

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Pope Benedict XVI continued with his papal mass in Germany despite an earlier incident that day when a man fired an air gun at a security guard. The mass took place on Saturday, September 24, and the shooting occurred on the edge of the security zone in Erfurt, roughly two hours before the mass began.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said there was “no worry” for the papal entourage. The suspect was later identified by police as a 30-year-old Erfurt man from Berlin. German police said an air rifle and air pistol were found in his apartment, and that he was being held on suspicion of attempting to cause serious bodily harm.

At the mass, the pope defended traditional values saying religion must not be banished from public life, and that Christian churches are walking side by side in the battle. The pope also said, “Knowing, too, the value of family and marriage, we as Christians attach great importance to defending the integrity and the uniqueness of marriage between one man and one woman from any kind of misinterpretation.”

“Here the common engagement of Christians, including many Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians, makes a valuable contribution to building up a society equipped for the future,” he continued. After the Mass, the pope flew to the largely Catholic populated city of Freiburg in southern Germany, where roughly 25,000 people lined the streets, waving and cheering as he drove to the downtown cathedral.

At an evening prayer vigil in the outskirts of the city, he urged more than 20,000 youths to overcome “a tendency toward evil,” encompassing envy, aggression and selfishness. Speaking in Erfurt on Friday, the Pope spoke to other faiths, meeting Muslims in Berlin and, later, the leadership of the Protestant Church in Erfurt.

Later that day, in an unannounced meeting, the pope met for half an hour with victims who endured sexual abuse by priests. He met with the five victims for half an hour and expressed “deep compassion and regret.” The victims were two women and three men from across Germany and were said to have remained very calm during the meeting.

Victims’ groups have accused the pope of refusing to address the issue openly. Last year, hundreds of Germans revealed their stories of having been physically or sexually abused by members of the Catholic clergy.

The Vatican released a statement regarding the meeting with the victims stating in a that the pope was “moved and deeply shaken.” They said he expressed the hope that God “may heal the wounds of the victims and grant them inner peace.”

 
haak78 / Shutterstock.com

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For the first time in Italy next Sunday will be officially celebrated a gay marriage between two homosexual men.

Ciro Celsi, a forty-two years old architect, and Guido Lanza, a sixty-two former computer programmer, both Protestants, will get married in the Waldensian Evangelic Church of Milan. This is a Protestant Reformed Church based mostly in Northern Italy, which has active congregations also in Argentina, Uruguay, United States and other European countries, which were all founded by Italian immigrants.

Waldensians support the LGBT community and encourage the homosexual couples’ blessing. Their commitment for the gay issue and the struggle against homophobia has been always strong. Last year the Waldensian Synod also approved gay couples, making possible in this way the union between people of the same sex.

As other Protestants, the Waldensians don’t recognize the marriage as a sacrament, but only as an official blessing for couples who want to obtain the recognition of their love by their Church. “Waldensians don’t intend to consecrate homosexuality; we just take note of a mutual and reliable bond. It is a wonderful thing. I’m scandalized by the hypocrisy and by the sour spirit of those who use the Holy Scriptures to discriminate and offend,” said the Milan Minister Giuseppe Platone. “Ciro and Guido are not demanding their right to be respected, this would be the State’s duty, but to show their love’s gift,” he added.

And about the Italian law he said: “I’m indignant for the juridical lack on this matter, when for example in a Catholic country as Spain it is also possible the marriage between homosexual people. It’s shameful that a country as Italy is not able to respect the rights of all, of all the people who love each other. The Waldensian Church is not Las Vegas, it’s not a marriage bureau, it asks to God”. “Our choice doesn’t have any juridical value; it’s just an act of faith, a moral commitment”.

Besides the homosexuality issue, the Waldensian Church is involved also in debates regarding other issues as euthanasia, abortion, living will, and stem cell research. Waldensians strongly support the total and complete laity of the state, an objective difficult to achieve in a country as Italy, which is still heavily influenced by the Catholic Church also in its juridical decisions.

Next Sunday’s gay marriage won’t be official but a good sign of respect for people and their love. Why in the 21st century religion is still so strong to influence countries’ legislation and lay societies?

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