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A collection of brief but interesting articles on a great variety of subjects relating to the Roman Catholic Church |
"From island to island, small and large, throughout the Caribbean, wherever he went, Columbus reported that he planted a cross, "making the required declarations, " and claiming ownership of the land for his royal patrons back in Spain. Despite the fact that Columbus noted in his own journal of the voyage that "the people of these lands do not understand me nor I them," it seems to have been of particular satisfaction to him that never once did any of the onlooking Arawak-speaking islanders object to his repeated proclamations in Spanish that he was taking control of their lands away from them. Ludicrous though this scene may appear to us in retrospect, at the time it was a deadly serious ritual similar in ways equally ludicrous and deadly to the other famous ritual the Spanish bestowed upon the non-Spanish-speaking people of the Americas, the requerimiento ( a sort of "Miranda Rights Statement" in reverse, made by the criminal to their victims).
"They built a long gibbet, low enough for the toes to touch the ground and prevent strangling, and hanged thirteen [natives] at a time in honor of Christ Our Saviour and the twelve Apostles. When the Indians were thus still alive and hanging, the Spaniards tested their strength and their blades against them, ripping chests open with one blow and exposing entrails, and there were those who did worse. Then, straw was wrapped around their torn bodies and they were burned alive."
Following Columbus, each time the Spanish encountered a native individual or group in the course of their travels, it was a "requirement" that they read to the Indians a statement informing them of the truth of Christianity and the necessity to swear immediate allegiance to the Pope and to the Spanish crown. After this, if the Indians refused or even delayed in their acceptance (or, more likely, their understanding) of the requerimiento, the statement continued: )
"We certify to you that, with the help of God, we shall powerfully enter into your country and shall make war against you in all ways and manners that we can, and shall subject you to the yoke and obedience of the Church and of Their Highnesses. We shall take you and your wives and your children, and shall make slaves of them, and as such shall sell and dispose of them as Their Highnesses may command. And we shall take your goods, and shall do you all the mischief and damage that we can, as to vassals who do not obey and refuse to receive their lord and resist and contradict him."
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| Ireland's government agencies colluded in reign of terror. ( Reading articles in Irish Times archives require subscription.) | ||||
- July 15, 2004 : "The full truth about one of Britain's favourite historical fatties has been tracked down by a three-year study of overweight medieval monks. Robin Hood's companion Friar Tuck had hundreds of real-life counterparts, according to a newly published analysis of skeletons in three monastic burial sites in London. Suet, lard and butter were wolfed down in 'startling quantities' by the closed communities, whose abbots often depended on arranging large and regular helpings to keep their flocks under control. 'The way to a man's heart is through his stomach and this seems specially to have been the case with monks,' said Philippa Patrick, of the Institute of Archaeology, at University College, London. 'They were taking in about 6,000 calories a day, and 4,500 even when they were fasting.' Arthritis in knees, hips and fingertips showed that the often under-employed monks were seriously obese. Ms Patrick, whose findings were revealed to the International Medieval Congress, meeting in Leeds, said: 'Their meals were full of saturated fats. They were five times more likely to suffer from obesity than their secular contemporaries, including wealthy merchants or courtiers.' The reckless scoffing was in clear breach of St Benedict's austere rules laid down probably in 530, which warned: 'There must be no danger of overeating, so that no monk is overtaken by indigestion, for there is nothing so opposed to Christian life as overeating.' Critics, such as Peter the Venerable, who slated monks for 'wearing furs and eating fat', were advised however that Benedict had also warned about grumbling: 'Brethren would indeed grumble if deprived of the food to which they are accustomed.' The skeletal data, from 300 sets of bones found at Tower Hill, Bermondsey, and Merton abbeys, includes information on a medical condition known now as Dish (diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis) triggered by overeating and a rich diet. 'The marks of Dish keep appearing on their skeletons. It forms a coating on the spine like candlewax dripping down the side,' said Ms Patrick. . . A 13th century Cluniac friar's possible daily intake based on Ms. Patrick's studies: | ||
This is a great article about the unusual religiosity of Americans " Today marks the Roman Catholics' Feast of the Assumption, honoring the moment that they believe God brought the Virgin Mary into Heaven. So here's a fact appropriate for the day: Americans are three times as likely to believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus (83 percent) as in evolution (28 percent). ex=1061956996&ei;=1&en;=ac8d7a6978c28365 ]
Was George W. Bush "the first (orthodox) Catholic U.S. president? |
According to Mexican Bishop Ramon Godinez, donations from drug traffickers to the Catholic Church in Mexico are not unusual and it's not the church's responsibility to investigate. He argued that the money is "purified'' once it enters the church. See
Religion News blog. |
Bishop fights calls for his resignation from www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/07/13/ catholic_diocese_in_austria_stung_by_porn_found_at_seminary/ |
| U S states with the most Roman Catholics : |
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| State | Number | Percent |
| Rhode Island | 633,427 | 63.12 |
| Massachusetts | 2,961,359 | 49.22 |
| Connecticut | 1,374,747 | 41.82 |
| New Jersey | 3,189,315 | 41.26 |
| New York | 7,280,488 | 40.47 |
| Louisiana | 1,369,154 | 32.44 |
| Wisconsin | 1,554,278 | 31.77 |
| Illinois | 3,611,033 | 31.59 |
| Pennsylvania | 3,375,250 | 30.93 |
| New Mexico | 467,356 | 30.85 |
| [ from http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_romcath.html ] | ||
by William V. D'Antonio and Jacqueline Scherer ( Special to the highly regarded National Catholic Reporter )
The Republican Party's "Catholic Task Force" has made a far-reaching claim: that of all political parties, the Republican Party's agenda best reflects Catholic teaching. Specifically, in a mission statement revised in January, 2000 the task force said, "We have studied the political record of all major political parties and we believe that the Republican Party is closest to the teachings of the Catholic church." or view the entire article at Research challenges bold GOP boast | |
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Overall Summary :
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Breakdown by Year & by Legislative Body :
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See much more demographic research relating to ALL religious groups in America. and Why the G.O.P. is not GOD's Party and read a sermon on behalf of the people in the pews addressed TO the Roman Catholic Hierarchy |
| Links to Liberal Catholic Sites : |
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Catholic Sites:
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of interest to Liberals :
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Former police chaplain went on trial on Thursday, the first Roman Catholic cleric to be prosecuted on charges of complicity in deaths and disappearances during Argentina's 1976 to 1983 military dictatorship. Christian Von Wernich, 69, wore a bulletproof vest and a priest's collar as he appeared behind a reinforced glass shield in a federal courthouse in La Plata, the capital of Buenos Aires province. The shouts of "assassin!" from some 200 activists protesting outside could be heard in the chamber as a clerk read charges accusing Von Wernich of collaborating with state security agents and covering up crimes in seven deaths, 31 cases of torture and 42 cases of illegal imprisonment. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/arch...7/07/2003368494 Summary: For more than three decades the Catholic Church through its Legion of Decency controlled the content of Hollywood films. Studios submitted their films to the Legion for a rating, which varied from general approval to condemnation. Documenting the inner workings of the Legion, The Catholic Crusade Against the Movies examines how the Church acquired such control and how the changes in the movie industry and American society at large in the post-World War II era eventually conspired against that institution's power and led to its demise. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...ss_world/europe The Vatican has sought the intervention of the U.S. State Department to declare Pope Benedict XVI immune from a sexual abuse lawsuit filed here, according to court documents. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/m...politan/3201751 According to The Other Christ: Padre Pio and 19th Century Italy, by the historian Sergio Luzzatto, Padre Pio, to whom Italian Catholics pray more often than they do to Mary, or Jesus, was a life-long fraud. It reveals the testimony of the saints own cousin, a pharmacist who said that the young Padre Pio bought four grams of carbolic acid in 1919. "I was an admirer of Padre Pio and I met him for the first time on 31 July 1919," wrote Maria De Vito. She claimed to have spent a month with the priest in the southern town of San Giovanni Rotondo, seeing him often. "Padre Pio called me to him in complete secrecy and telling me not to tell his fellow brothers, he gave me personally an empty bottle, and asked if I would act as a chauffeur to transport it back from Foggia to San Giovanni Rotondo with four grams of pure carbolic acid. "He explained that the acid was for disinfecting syringes for injections. " The Vatican says there is no investigation under way of allegations that the Mexican founder of a conservative religious order sexually abused seminarians http://www.winktv.com/x466.xml?URL=http://...D/d8a8vi600.xml Vaca, a former priest, is one of at least eight men in Mexico and the United States who have accused the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado of molesting them when they were teenage seminary students in the 1940s, '50s and '60s. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...ss_world/europe Despite the horrific drumbeat of child molestation revelations, however, sensible Catholics hoping for a more transparent and less sexually repressed church shouldn't hold their breath. The new pope is not only a longtime leader of vicious church attacks on "evil" gays, he also has shamefully blamed the molestation scandal on the media. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&...606scheer0524_1 Many survivor's of abuse have not sued: Survivors Network says the overwhelming majority of its members have never sued and are too traumatized to do so. They say they adopted their tactics after bishops promised for years to take action against guilty clergy, then never did. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7463011/page/2 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051121/ap_on_...HBhBHNlYwM5NjQ- Archbishop William Levada, the San Francisco prelate who earlier this year became the Vatican's guardian of doctrinal orthodoxy, has agreed to be questioned during a Jan. 9 deposition about his tenure as archbishop of Portland from 1986 to 1995. Attorneys for the victims want to ask Levada whether he would rely on the so-called doctrine of "mental reservation" when answering questions at the deposition in San Francisco. http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1415...TC-RSSFeeds0312. A woman has filed a claim that she was sexually abused more than 40 years ago by Bishop William Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops and leader of the Spokane Diocese. Skylstad, 70, was a student at Gonzaga University from 1962-1966 and taught mathematics to students at Mater Cleri Seminary at Colbert, north of Spokane. The diocese is one of three in the nation that filed for bankruptcy protection to deal with claims of sexual abuse by clergy. Skylstad last month offered to settle with 75 victims for $45.7 million. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060309/ap_on_...DltBHNlYwM3MTY- A day before Easter in 1980, Sister Margaret Ann Pahl was found strangled and stabbed in a hospital chapel, the wounds on the nun's chest and neck forming what investigators say resembled a cross. An altar cloth covered part of her body. The trail soon went cold and stayed that way for more than 20 years , until investigators circled back to the priest who presided at her funeral Mass. Father Gerald Robinson, 68, was found guilty of murder in a case swirling with allegations of an official cover-up, rumors of sexual abuse rites among priests, and suspicions that the killing was some kind of ritual slaying. sp; www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/11/national/main1610624.shtml?source=RSS&attr;=U.S._1610624 A good preview of an interesting book about to be published on the Catholic Church in Massachusetts and the sex scandal climate there at the turn of the century: "the diocese ( of Arkansas) has adopted the policy for the organization for three reasons, the primary reason being that some Komen affiliates have given money to Planned Parenthood. While no affiliates in Arkansas have provided funding to the organization, she said, 25 percent of the money raised in Arkansas goes out of state and could potentially find its way to affiliates that do give to Planned Parenthood. The second reason is that Komen endorses embryonic stem cell research on its Web site, Linane said. Whether any money has found its way into grants is not certain, but the organization does endorse it, she said. She said the final reason is that Komen denies the link between breast cancer and abortion." [ http://www.nwarktimes.com/nwat/News/62592 ] Here was Jon Stewart's take on theVatican's way of handling the pedophilia scandal : The Daily Show April 7, 2010. A City of Angels blog by an advocate for those abused by priests shows why it has taken so long for the truth to emerge: �You wouldn't believe the calls I get as Northern California director of SNAP. I�d say 90 percent of the victims don�t follow up with lawsuits or contacting the archdiocese. A lot of them don�t make it past the first phone call.� I know what he means. Since starting this blog several people have spent time with me and told me horrendous stories about their rapes by priests. Then they never come back. I try to call them to find out more, or just to talk. They've put their nightmare story in my head and now I need to do SOMETHING with it, but instead these persons disappear. They stop answering emails, they don�t return phone calls. This keeps happening to me. Joey says it happens to him all the time too. Victims come forward and tell a small part of their story, then FREAK, and disappear. I say, please call back. [ http://cityofangels4.blogspot.com/ ] |
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