Saturday, September 18, 2004
RAMBLING...
The sun came out today, after an Ivan-soaked Friday, while the evening news showed pictures of underwater places in Pennsylvania, and ruined lives in Florida. My heart breaks for these people. May God comfort all who have lost so much.
A regular reader and link contributor of this blog who lives in Alabama was happy to report yesterday that she still had electricity. Today there is only silence from her e-mail address. I expect her good fortune ran out.
Last weekend at Mass the choir sang after their summer rest. I was struck by how much they add to the liturgy, to rescue it from banality. Mass with the choir is a much more uplifting experience. Sure, I know it's not supposed to be that way. It just is, for me at least.
This weekend I went to the vigil Mass earlier tonight. No choir. But worse was the particular choice of hymns. It was my first full experience with our new Gather hymnals. "We are the light of the world..." S...I...G...H I guess someone forgot to turn me on. If anyone is looking to me to be their light, they had better just pay the light bill. Consider instead the words of the Easter Vigil--"Christ our Light..."
Then there was another hymn about us..."They will know we are Christians by our love..." I think it was. But maybe not. All this singing the praises of us sort of blends into a bland monotone. One that I tend not to sing and try not to remember.
The really galling aspect of this new hymnal, though, is the gender inclusive language. It is so clumsy to say or sing or even listen to. Even more so when you learned the hymn with "He" in the lyrics back in the dark ages of the new age parish already abandoned in disgust. I think we need some of that potion the wicked witch used on the spinning wheel to put in the coffee of the feminists. Let them sleep for 100 years and give us some peace. All their lyric-contortions accomplish is making me grouchy.
JOHN ALLEN TALKS ABOUT AFRICA
in his column this week, after last week's visit to the continent. At one point he recounts his visit with Archbishop Mdingi Mwana a'Nzeki in Nairobi, when he asked some interesting questions including this one together with the bishop's answer:
What is the relationship with Islam?
We worked together until a debate arose over the new constitution. The Muslims wanted Islamic religious practices inserted, and there we differed. They wanted their Islamic legal system, the shariah, their courts, to not only be recognized but financially supported. We wanted a clause that would recognize all religions and their rules, for example canon law, provided that religious law does not work in conflict with the national constitution. They walked out of the meeting, but we are trying to get them to come back. … Really, apart from areas where there is a heavy Muslim population, in Kenya we have no fight.
That's a confirmation on the nature of Islam and its intentions for the future of any country it inhabits.
Friday, September 17, 2004
RACINE DOMINICANS OFFER COURSE IN SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE
Application fee - $50-$65
Enrollment fee - $250
Tuition - $4,600
Books are extra
Duration - 2-year program
Program held at the Sienna Center in Racine, Wisconsin
Content of the program includes The Universe Story, Jesus' Story and the Cosmic Christ, Dreams, Global Vision and Justice, and Enneagram, among more traditional-sounding classes.
On the staff is an ordained Methodist clergywoman. The program brochure features the spiral-shaped shell so popular in New Age groups. It lacks all Catholic imagery.
The Enneagram is an occult device brought to the west by George Gurdjieff.
There was a time when Catholics were not permitted to enter Protestant churches. Now Protestant female clergy are teaching spirituality to Catholics.
Meanwhile, references to heresy have been excised from the Code of Canon Law.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
MADONNA IN ISRAEL
seems to have a small problem. The tabloid photographers are there as well, and they want their captive moment. Madonna's bodyguards intend to prevent them from getting it, and they're serious enough to get physical. The police were not amused.
As I read the article, I thought about Madonna's new calling. Michael Berg, editor of her Kabbalah Centre's 22-volume translation of the Zohar, says there is one small secret that unlocks the source of joy and fulfillment. The secret is this - "The only way to achieve true joy and fulfillment is by becoming a being of sharing." How does one apply that to the scene in Israel that ended with the bodyguards being hauled off in custody? Perhaps Madonna should send her bodyguards to Rav. Berg for transformation, but perhaps Madonna doesn't believe joy and fulfillment are meant for lowly bodyguards and photographers.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD'S NEW STRATEGY
The Interntional Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) recently released its ten-year blue-print to establish sweeping new reproductive rights including a worldwide right to abortion on demand and a right to "have access to safe abortion." The blueprint, called "IPPF's Strategic Framework 2005-2015" is meant to guide the institution in its pursuit of what it calls the "unfinished business of sexual and reproductive health."
Blogger credit to a reader for this one.
NEWS FROM PLANET ZIRCON
sometimes known as England, where sanity seems to be on holiday...
A reader sent in the link to this story from the Telegraph:
A new animal welfare law that will offer slugs and snails the same protection as cats and dogs was condemned by gardeners yesterday.
Legislation to be announced by the Government this week will give courts the power to impose fines of up to £20,000 and 12 months in jail on people found guilty of mistreating animals. Anyone under the age of 16 will be banned from owning a pet and goldfish will no longer be allowed to be given as prizes at fairgrounds.
The legislation could lead to gardeners being fined for killing insects, worms, caterpillars, slugs and snails, if scientific evidence proves they have suffered pain and distress. Ministers say the law, which updates existing legislation, is needed to protect animals from abuse. Horticulturalists rejected the idea that they could be guilty of cruelty.
Bunny Guinness, The Telegraph gardening columnist and six-times winner of the gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show, said gardeners should not be liable to fines for protecting their gardens. "Hundreds of slugs and snails are being slaughtered in gardens up and down the country. It would be quite ridiculous to call that cruelty. Almost all gardeners use slug pellets or salt to keep the pests at bay," she said.
John Cushnie, a regular panellist on Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time, said some aspects of the legislation were nonsensical. "To give worms and slugs protection under the law is ludicrous. If I have an infestation of slugs or snails or cabbage white butterflies then I will get rid of them in whatever way I choose. No one is going to tell me that the things are suffering. If I want to boil them alive, stamp on them or treat them to a slow drawn-out death by poison then I will - and would like to see the Government that would try to interfere with a man and his garden."
Meanwhile the Independent reports:
My heart sank when I read that abortion appeared to be the theme of the Venice Film Festival this year. I imagined a parade of dancing foetuses, huge-eyed blobs with tiny fingers and tiny toes, all tugging away at our heartstrings.
But it turns out that the two films that have captured the headlines are, according to the people who've seen them, both pro-choice - the euphemistic phrase that means "pro-abortion". Mike Leigh's Vera Drake, which won the Golden Lion prize for best film, tells how easy it was for a rich girl to get an abortion in the Fifties, compared with how dangerous and dirty it was when performed by the well-meaning housewife Vera, an archetypal back-street abortionist. And Todd Solondz's Palindromes tells of a 12-year-old girl who becomes pregnant and whose mother wants her to have an abortion. But the child runs away and ends up being looked after by a woman with a home for handicapped children, who is so opposed to abortion that she is prepared to kill to achieve her ends.
These films are timely, because the climate at the moment is becoming dangerously anti-abortion.
How does that go again? Save the unborn baby snails, torture and kill the unborn baby humans? Yeah, that makes sense. Contempt only for our own kind.
Are we seeing evidence here of a clash of religious values? Pantheists believe everything is God, and therefore we cannot kill anything except perhaps our own kind when it is taking up a disproportionate amount of the space and resources that by right belongs to all species, not just to humans. Christians see man as made in the image of God, and as sovereign over creation.
MILLENNIUM CHAPEL IN MALTA
The Augustinian Fathers on the Isle of Malta have sponsored a Millennium Chapel in the heart of Malta's night life. (Scroll down to see a picture of the interior.) The chapel focuses on counseling. According to Fr. Hilary Tagliaferro, the priest behind the concept of the chapel, it has been particularly successful in reaching out to area youth.
There is also a support group for parents of children who have committed suicide.
Another endeavor is the outreach to homosexuals. The group is being launched tonight at the Chapel according to Malta Media. This group appears not to uphold the teaching of the Catholic Church on homosexuality, judging by this article in The Times, Malta. It's interesting to note that although Malta is considered to be a Catholic country, the age of consent there is 12 years according to some sources, though other sources indicate the age of consent may be 16 or 18.
Caritas also provides volunteer counseling for two hours a week at the Chapel.
Fr. Tagliaferro resigned from his post of member of the Executive Committee of the Malta Football Association due to his commitment at the Millennium Chapel. He retained his chairmanship of the Youth Football Association according to maltafootball.com February 2001, Latest News.
The Chapel is interdenominational but offers perpetual adoration, a concept that seems on the surface to be oxy-moronic.
Fr. Tagliaferro is the Justice and Peace coordinator for the Augustinians in Malta--a lay organization.
There is a bookshop located at the Millennium Chapel, pictures of which can be seen here, offering the Society of Christian Doctrine books. The Society promotes the Mysteries of Light which are similar to the new Mysteries of the Rosary promulgated by John Paul II.
The Society's redecorated chapel can be seen here. The founder, George Preca (1880-1962), was beatified on May 9, 2001. Some of the founder's books are described here.
PLAY "THE ANSWER" INAPPROPRIATE FOR PRODUCTION IN A CATHOLIC CHURCH
according to Bishop Frances Kane, who has told the pastor of St. Gertrude Parish to abandon plans for its staging there.
The play was pulled for content, and not for the fact that it was to be staged in an inappropriate setting, i.e. the church.
Thanks to a reader for the link.
Thursday, September 16, 2004
CARDINAL MARTINO URGES GOVERNMENTS TO MONITOR THE UN AGENCIES
specifically in the area of the illegal promotion of abortion.
SATAN'S STRATEGY OF CONFUSION
is the subject of an article at Zenit. The article consists of an interview with Fr. Mendoza Pantoja of the Archdiocese of Mexico and concerns the recent conference of exorcists held there. The following question and answer is from the article:
Q: If I am not mistaken, this was Mexico's first meeting of exorcists and one of the first of these characteristics in the world. It seems that in the last 40 years the figure of the exorcist was disappearing. Is this an impression that corresponds with reality?
Father Mendoza Pantoja: Indeed, it is. The causes are varied, but we could say that they are included in the great challenge that the second half of the last century presented to the Church in her task of evangelization.
In the first half, Satan attacked humanity in the field of ideas and thought: rationalism, materialism, Gnosticism, Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, sectarianism, Socialism, Marxism-Leninism, etc., which separate man from God. On one hand, the negation of a personal God and also the negation of the existence of Satan as a personal being, exchanging the true God for an impersonal god that identifies itself with this material world and reducing Satan to a mere symbol.
Such an influence also infected our theologians, who in recent times no longer spoke of the devil or the angels.
But as a counterbalance, man felt nostalgia for God. His search for the supernatural, as a solution to the problems afflicting him because of his separation from God, made him fall into the clutches of the New Age, which with its deceitful spiritualities and fictitious magical and esoteric solutions has opened the doors to the manifestations of the devil in many persons who have fallen into New Age esoteric and magical practices.
For this reason, in the permanent mission of the New Evangelization the Church has found it necessary to revive something that she felt was of the past, but which is urgent in our times: to proclaim to those who have fallen away the redemption of Christ who came to liberate us from Satan's threats.
Thanks to a reader for the link.
E-MAIL FROM LEE PENN
Interest!ALERT: Quality Content
The Plan moves forward. And this amendment is being proposed by ... a Republican - as occurred last year. (Did you think the Republicans are conservative? Think again.)
I can just imagine the race in 2008: Madame Clinton, versus the Terminator.
Kyrie eleison.
Lee
=======================================================
Amendment to let foreign-born be president
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- A measure has been proposed to the U.S. House of Representatives that would allow foreign-born people to be president of the United States.
Rep. Dana Rohrbacher, R-Calif., introduced the proposed constitutional amendment Wednesday, suggesting foreign-born people who have been U.S. citizens for at least 20 years be eligible to run for president. The measure is similar to one proposed last year by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
[Go to the website to read the rest of the story. - ct]
1917 CODE OF CANON LAW
Take a look at some of the providions in the 1917 Code of Canon Law. It's no longer in effect, obviously. Talk about changes in tradition...!
I've spent the last hour or so trying to find something in Canon Law that addresses heresy. It doesn't seem to be there. The old Code did address heresy very specifically and extensively. Why was it eliminated entirely? Or have I somehow missed it?
Provision 2316 in the 1917 Code is what I was looking for in the new code. Just doesn't seem to be there.
KOFI ANNAN - "WAR IN IRAQ WAS ILLEGAL"
From the Guardian Unlimited:
The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, declared explicitly for the first time last night that the US-led war on Iraq was illegal.
Mr Annan said that the invasion was not sanctioned by the UN security council or in accordance with the UN's founding charter. In an interview with the BBC World Service broadcast last night, he was asked outright if the war was illegal. He replied: "Yes, if you wish."
He then added unequivocally: "I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN charter. From our point of view and from the charter point of view it was illegal."
Mr Annan has until now kept a tactful silence and his intervention at this point undermines the argument pushed by Tony Blair that the war was legitimised by security council resolutions.
Should we expect repercussions?
THE CATCH-22 OF OSTPOLITIK
is the subject of Sandro Magister's commentary.
The dilemma was whether to resist, or negotiate - with the risks and sacrifices that each of these could bring.
One of the sacrifices involved in negotiation - also called dialogue - was silence regarding the persecuted Churches, and regarding their persecutors.
Paul VI was painfully aware of this. On September 12, 1965, precisely one year after the first accord signed in Budapest by his foreign minister, Casaroli, he went to the catacombs of Domitilla, a place symbolizing the first Christian martyrs, and spoke grief-stricken words for "those parts of the Church that still live in the catacombs today," that "Church that now toils, suffers, and barely survives in countries with atheist and totalitarian regimes." But then he added:
"The Holy See abstains from raising its voice more frequently and vehemently in legitimate protest and disapproval, not because it ignores or overlooks the reality of the situation, but for the sake of a mind inspired by Christian patience, and in order not to provoke worse evils."
"Dialogue" renamed "negotiation" casts a whole different light on interreligious activities, making them political rather than theological; and in the transition, removing the shadow of heresy and syncretism. If all interreligious dialogue were merely an effort to foster side-by-side peaceful co-existence, without the threat of synthesizing beliefs, it would get a much more favorable review in traditional-orthodox circles. What happens in actuality, however, is better defined as "syncretism" than as "bargaining."
The article reviews a book written in Italian composed of the memoirs of Cardinal Casaroli. Sounds like an interesting read if it is ever translated into English.
THIS PICTURE DOESN'T LOOK LIKE HIM AT ALL
There is a picture of the Pope here. The face is too long and rectangular. His forehead is too high. The Pope's face is more round. Very odd camera angle, I guess.
Blogger credit to Spirit Daily.
DA VINCI CODE BANNED
A link at Crux News leads to the Aljazeera story on the book:
The Lebanese general security has banned the world best-seller The Da Vinci Code after complaints by Christian authorities over references to the private life of Jesus Christ.
"We were asked by the general security to give our opinion on the book about 10 days ago and after our answer, the book was banned," Father Abdu Abu Kasm, president of the Catholic Information Centre, said on Tuesday.
"Our answer was that the book harmed Christian beliefs. It said that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and sired a bloodline," he said.
Abu Kasm said: "We denounce such attempts to harm Christian beliefs, and any other religious beliefs under the cover of culture."
"It may be allowed in other countries, but in Lebanon, the law forbids the harming of religious beliefs," he added.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS TAKING DONATIONS FOR THE FLORIDA HURRICANE CRISIS
are listed at Naples Daily News. Catholic Relief Services is among them.
ABORTION AND RATIONALIZATIONS
If we can give it a nice spin, does the sin factor go away?
From WorldNetDaily, courtesy of a reader:
The news was a real bummer. A reporter named Tom Szyszkiewicz, who writes for the Catholic publications, Our Sunday Visitor and the National Catholic Register, was calling to tell me he had discovered two Catholic hospital systems were committing the induced-labor abortion procedure – live-birth abortion – on handicapped babies.
The bad news warped to bizarre when Szyszkiewicz said these hospitals were waiting until babies were 23 to 26 weeks gestation before aborting them – i.e., until they were of viable age – so they could say these weren't abortions at all, but simply labor inductions and, thus, sanctioned by the Catholic Church.
Someone needs to tell these people that murder is not sanctioned by the Catholic Church. What kind of warped thinking came up with this defense, anyway?
IS IT ALIVE ? DOES IT SPEAK ? SHOULD WE BE AFRAID OF IT ?
All those eyes...
Oh, it's a tabernacle. I thought it was a UFO.
Blogger credit to Novus Ordo Watch.
THE JADCZYKS AND BORIS MOURAVIEFF
They talk about him at their Cassiopaea website, in an article titled "Commentary on Boris Mouravieff's Gnosis."
Mouravieff has written a three volume set entitled "The Esoteric Traditions of Eastern Orthodoxy - Exoteric Cycle, Mesoteric Cycle, and Esoteric Cycle." These books also are being sold at the Gurdjieff website.
He is mentioned in an article about the life of George I. Gurdjieff from "Gnosis #20":
Boris Mouravieff believed that we are on the threshold of the Era of the Holy Spirit, which will open up enormous possibilities for human evolution, but if we do not successfully pass over into this epoch, we will be subject to the deluge of fire mentioned by the Apostle Peter.28
An extravagant statement; but to view it another way, Mouravieff is simply stating what we all know: if we don't come to our senses, we will blow ourselves up.
Here, in an article from The Gurdjieff Journal, an article titled "The Mouravieff 'Phenomenon'" describes Mouravieff's relationship with Gurdjieff and Ouspansky, and his attempt to Christianize Gurdjieff's teaching so as to make it compatible with Eastern Orthodoxy.
I've also found the website of Vincent Bridges, who challenges the material presented by the Jadczyks. I confess, I haven't waded through it. If you scroll down to the Update 11/15/02 and read the thoughts presented there, you will get a flavor of what, I suspect, might be contained in the rest of the website. This is typical of occult material.
THE RATZINGER FIASCO
Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life, reports on the distortion of Cdl. Ratzinger's statement on Catholic voting with a clear conscience where abortion is concerned.
PRESIDENT MAN OF FAITH
Spero Forum reports:
BAPTIST PRESS - In response to Michael Moore's controversial documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11," Grizzly Adams Productions is releasing a 70-minute investigative piece called "George W. Bush: Faith in the White House."
"[The documentary] reveals a positive side of President Bush never reported by the news media through interviews with people who have encountered Bush in a faith-based way," David W. Balsiger, the film's producer, said in a news release. "Our documentary reveals this is the most faith-based presidency since Abraham Lincoln."
GRENADA AFTER IVAN
Catholic News Service reports on the condition of the Catholic Diocese of Grenada:
The bishop of the Caribbean island of Grenada said the entire diocese will have to be completely rebuilt after being devastated by a powerful hurricane churning its way toward the United States.
Bishop Vincent Darius of St. George's in Grenada said all church structures there had been damaged following the passage of Hurricane Ivan, the most powerful storm to hit the region in a decade.
"Like all the other buildings here, our churches, presbyteries, convents and schools have received structural damage," he said. ...
,br> Speaking to Catholic News Service on a borrowed cell phone Sept. 12, Bishop Darius said the roof of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in St. George's had caved in. The eye of "Ivan the Terrible" -- as the hurricane has been dubbed by locals -- passed directly over the capital Sept. 7.
Bishop Darius said few parishes celebrated Mass Sept. 11-12 because of the damage, but many hoped to resume services the weekend of Sept. 18-19. He said his residence lost its roof, windows and doors.
He described the situation as "chaotic" because electricity, water and communications had not yet been restored.
"I think people are still in a state of shock," he said. "Many are concerned about what will happen tomorrow in terms of their survival. Many are now waking up to the seriousness of the situation."
Most interesting of all of the priest's comments is this one: "Life has changed, and people are now talking about living as one in community," he said.
Blogger credit to Spirit Daily.
AUSTIN RUSE COMMENTS
on the death of the USCCB Questionnnaire at National Review Online: The Presidential Questionnaire from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is dead. But do not mourn. Its death is a good thing, and is important not just for Catholics but for all who were concerned that candidate Kerry was about to get official Church cover for his pro-abortion position.
The questionnaire is presented every four years by the USCCB to the major party candidates. It is supposed to help Catholic voters determine which candidate best reflects the teachings of the Church. What has happened is that, through it, some candidates have been able to show that even though they support abortion they still merit the votes of faithful Catholics because they happen to be good — that is to say liberal — on gun control, the environment, immigration, and the minimum wage.
The problems with the questionnaire are many. First, the document is almost guaranteed to confuse the typical pew sitter as to the teachings of the Catholic Church.
One question asks whether the candidate supports or opposes child-safety locks on handguns. Well, what is the Catholic position on that? Is it the Catholic position that you want to ensure that kids do not accidentally blow away their playmates? Or it is the Catholic position that the householder should have quick access to draw down on an intruder that is threatening said youngster?
Another question asks whether the candidate supports or opposes increasing the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.00 per hour. Certainly, the Church supports workers being paid justly for their work. But why does that translate into this increase in the minimum wage to $7.00. Why not $6.99? Another question asks if the candidates support cutting government subsidies to "corporate farms" and redirecting the money to low-income "new farmers and ranchers." Does the Church really teach a preference for new farmers and ranchers and not old farmers and ranchers? Does the Church teach a preference for small farms over big farms? How small? How big?
Of course, we know the "correct" answers to these questions, at least according the politically liberal laymen at the USCCB. Yes to gun control, yes to a higher minimum wage, yes to government subsidies for small farms. But, really, who cares?
Before I proceed, I want to make something crystal clear. I am not criticizing the bishops. The bishops did not create this questionnaire. The bishops did not edit it. It is likely that hardly any bishops even saw it before or after the fact. Why the bishops have allowed this to happen is an open question. But the fact remains that a cabal of mostly left-wing laymen — who staff the government-relations office of the USCCB — created it.
But Catholics are free to disagree with the USCCB staff on each of these issues. Catholics may licitly favor even a lower minimum wage than the current $5.15. Catholics may support an ever-widening availability of handguns. And Catholics may heartily support federal funds going only to "corporate farms." To suggest otherwise, as the questionnaire does, is to confuse the ordinary Catholic about official teachings of the Church. But that seems to be part of the project, somehow to equate these judgment calls with things that Catholics have to believe.
There is a difference between teachings that a Catholic must believe, called doctrinal, and those issues which are up for debate, called prudential. It is doctrinal that Catholics must serve the poor. But it is prudential and therefore debatable which policies serve them best. Tax cuts or raising the minimum wage? Catholics are free to decide. But tax cuts are not part of this questionnaire. What is reflected in this questionnaire are policy choices favored mostly by Democrats.
The lay staff says that these questions reflect the legislative priorities of the bishops and that these grow out of Catholic teaching. But if a few good conservatives ever got hired by the USCCB, these questions would be different — yet still reflect Catholic social teaching.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
TANTRA
It's a religious ritual out of Hinduism. A kind of Yoga. I decided to see what our culture was making of it as evidenced by recent news clips.
This article from the Times Leader is about online dating services. The article describes in humorous terms what a middle-aged gentlemen is looking for in a middle-aged lady when he reads the profiles. The last line is supposed to represent what passes for middle-aged sophistication in some circles, I suppose:
"I know Tantra." Translation: This does not mean she is chummy with the guy who rode with the Lone Ranger. This is a good thing, maybe even worth a couple of cats. Smile, fellow tomato. You just won a pair of ruby slippers and a weekend in Oz.
So it appears that the grown-up hippie hasn't managed to progress much beyond thinking with his...ah...you know.
The Santa Cruz Sentinel wants us to know that the Santa Cruz Community Center has added Lesbian Tantra to their adult education schedule. From 10 a.m. to noon every second and fourth Saturday of the Month, you can "integrate your sexuality and spirituality" for just $10. "Gentlemen not welcome," I presume.
The Chicago Sun Times reports that tantra is the solution to not having enough time for sex. Learn to "live your orgasm" courtesy of the School of Tantra. (Why does this sound like a 21st century version of Marriage Encounter?)
A child abuser found tantra a convenient ploy to seduce a 13-year-old girl according to this story in The Oregonian:
HILLSBORO -- A former Aloha Little League coach and umpire was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison on sex-related charges. ...
Charlie Bailey, deputy district attorney, said Harrison abused the girl under the guise of teaching her Tantra, a mystical Hindu principle that involves the use of sex for spiritual enlightenment.
"It wasn't about Tantra teachings at all," Bailey told Circuit Judge Marco A. Hernandez. "It was about him and his sexuality, and him taking advantage of a young, impressionable girl."
In London, Tantra is the name of a hip club. (I wonder how they define "hip"?)
You could have studied Tantra 50 years ago at Esalen when it opened.
In Boulder you can live at the Tantra Lake Apartments. (Just make sure you have an alternate return address for the Christmas cards to the family!)
Last, and most nauseating, is tantra for the kiddies:
The big brands flooding the market range from Rough, Weekender, Stop Kids, Freelook and Little Kangaroo to Tantra T-shirts, Ginny & Johnny, Disney and Warner collections.
ROLLO TOMASSI COMMENTS ON THE JADCZYKS
at this website titled "Sex, Lies and Ouiji Boards. He is not much impressed with the claims made by these two unusual people, and tells here some of the background to their websites.
BULGARIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH SCHISM
The schism has resulted because the official Patriarch Maxim is considered to be a "communist stooge Red Patriarch." Not surprisingly, the government has gotten involved.
LEGITIMATE RESPONSE TO TERRORISM OR CHAOS MAGICK ?
A reader sent in this article from the Washington Post
MOSCOW, Sept. 13 -- President Vladimir Putin announced plans Monday for a "radically restructured" political system that would bolster his power by ending the popular election of governors and independent lawmakers, moves he portrayed as a response to this month's deadly seizure of a Russian school.
Under his plan, Putin would appoint all governors to create a "single chain of command" and allow Russians to vote only for political parties rather than specific candidates in parliamentary elections. Putin characterized the changes as enhancing national cohesion in the face of a terrorist threat, while critics called them another step toward restoring the tyranny of the state 13 years after the fall of the Soviet Union.
"Under current conditions, the system of executive power in the country should not just be adapted to operating in crisis situations, but should be radically restructured in order to strengthen the unity of the country and prevent further crises," Putin said during a televised meeting with cabinet ministers and governors. "Those who inspire, organize and carry out terrorist acts seek to bring about a disintegration of the country, to break up the state, to ruin Russia."
UFO OR DEMONIC SPIRIT ?
Ian Levy linked this website in a coments box, where you will find an article on the topic by Orthodox priest Fr. Thomas Kulp, which concludes with the following:
What does seem clear, from a spiritual perspective, is that the ultimate purpose of the UFO phenomenon is to help prepare the collective consciousness of the human race for the coming of Antichrist as foretold in the Bible.
All signs point to the fact that the end of human history is at hand. The final stage is to be the universal reign of the Antichrist, who will create a new world order and a false one- world religion. Those who through demonic deception will worship the Antichrist will be lost, while all others will be persecuted.
A prophetic leader, Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov, wrotte in the last century, "*The miracles of Antichrist will be chiefly manifested in the aerial real* where Satan chiefly has his dominion*. The signs will act most of all on the sense of sight, charming and deceiving. Again, the Antichrist will even make fire to come down out of Heaven upon the Earth in the sight of men."
I submit that the demonic explanation for the UFO phenomenon is inherently no less likely than any other explanation that has been offered so far.
If we are open-minded enough to at least accept the possibility of demons, then a great deal that is presently obscure becomes understandable.
There is no lack of evidence and testimony regarding the reality of demons in Christian spiritual literature during the past two millenia. We should be most foolish to discard it all as mere antiquated relics of the past, while accepting as gospel the myriad New Age teachings that have permeated our society over recent decades.
Now, more than ever, it is imperative that we be wise and sober, discerning the spirits to make sure that they are truly of God, refusing to be led astray by the deceptive illusions of the Evil One.
WEAK LEADER, WEAK MESSAGE
Joseph D'Hippolito's Opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post:
Given the state of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury's remarks commemorating the third anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks are not surprising.
Nauseating, but not surprising.
"When the Christian, the Muslim, or the Jew sees his neighbor of another faith following the ways of this world instead of the peaceful will of God, he must remind his neighbor of the nature of the one God we look to," the Most Rev. Rowan Williams told Muslim scholars gathered at Al-Azhar in Cairo, Islam's most prestigious seminary.
This from a religious figure who personally witnessed the World Trade Center towers collapse.
Go to the website to read the rest...
WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THIS ?
If it appeared on some fringe website, we'd know what to do with it. But this article appears in Pravda, and I got no sense of "tongue-in-cheek" from reading it. Diana Kuntseva takes this story seriously. "UFO Clouds Abduct Humans."
Thanks to a reader for sending this one in.
THE LIBERAL PERSPECTIVE
A reader sent in this link to a Kennebec Journal article giving the spin from the left:
Miller and Heath's poison, along with that of Pat Robinson and Jerry Falwell, whether whispered or bellowed, represents the common thought of a dark swelling tide of fundamentalist religious thinking that exists in every community in this country.
Make no mistake, the rabidly religious right is the greatest threat to freedom and liberty this country has known since McCarthyism.
When the time comes that a Southern Baptist woman in Decatur, Ga., can tell a Jewish girl in Chicago what she can do with her body, the sky darkens.
When an Evangelical Catholic in Oklahoma can tell gay men and women in Portland, Maine, that they have no rights or freedoms, and when a "chosen by God" president of these United States can suggest altering the Constitution to deny a citizen his or her sexual identity, we will have fallen into an abyss from which there is no ladder out. Such an abyss yawns.
They make no secret of their plans. The platform of this administration for the next four years has been set in stone for all to see. Dissenters in their ranks are swept aside. In the next four years, a radically altered Supreme Court is inevitable, and an emboldened fundamentalist right wing will herald the coming of a theocracy.
Can I say "rabidly liberal press room" now?
Believers are the new enemy of the secular left.
POPE'S MESSAAGE TO NEW ZEALAND BISHOPS
"Your own reports indeed unequivocally indicate the pressing need for Christ's liberating message in a society experiencing the tragic consequences of the eclipse of the sense of God," the Pope continued.
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STATUE OF BVM REMAINS STANDING IN MIDST OF RUBBLE
A Ukranian Catholic church explosion caused by a propane leak leveled the church, toppled chairs in houses nearby, and was heard for ten miles, but the statue of the Blessed Virgin remained standing, and no one was injured. People are calling it a miracle.
Blogger Credit to Spirit Daily for these stories.
Sunday, September 12, 2004
9-11 - WAS THERE A PLANE?
The website of Laura Knight-Jadczyk claims there was no plane at the site of the Pentagon damage, presenting similar information to that of the Slakdaddy.org video which contained a link to their website. Accompanying the following passage is a picture of a plane, showing where the wings should have penetrated the Pentagon. The damaged building, however, shows no such penetration. The famous video of bin Laden's "confessions" claiming responsibility for the crash on the Pentagon, confirms the Abbé de Nantes' intuitions according to which Bush was in communication with bin Laden. They have spared one another by virtue of an agreement to wage a "phoney war"; everything passes off as if the two protagonists were bound by a pact of non-aggression preventing them from directly attacking one another (Resurrection no 11, November 2001, p. 3).
A radically different perspective is presented in "Getting the Facts Straight" at Alex Jones' Prison Planet.com Jones presents eye witness accounts of seeing the plane hit the Pentagon.
Someone is not telling the truth.
Thanks to a reader for sending in the article.
911 QUESTIONS
Not sure what to make of this website sent in by a reader, so you be the judge. They claim, among other things, that cell phones which can be used from a plane will not be available until 2006. I brought this up to a friend who said that on her last flight there were phones in the plane at every passenger seat which could be used to call someone on the ground. People don't use them much because they are too expensive, but in an emergency situation like a hijacking they would be used.
MENTAL-HEALTH SCREENING FOR CHILDREN
A reader sent in this link at WorldNetDaily:
An amendment offered by Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, in the House of Representatives yesterday that would have remove from an appropriations bill a new mandatory mental-health screening program for America's children failed by a vote of 95-315.
Paul's amendment would have removed the program from the Labor, HHS and Education Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2005. Ninety-four Republicans and one Democrat sided with Paul, while 118 Republicans, 196 Democrats and one Independent voted against the amendment.
Screening is one thing. Will mandatory treatment also be imposed? The article seems to imply that it will.
E-MAIL FROM LEE PENN
First, this story from an antiwar, libertarian writer:
Hate and Delusion Have the Bit in Their Teeth - by Paul Craig Roberts
Quote:
"Delusion has such a powerful hold on the Bush administration that despite being stalemated in Iraq, high ranking administration officials are agitating to invade Iran and Syria.
No such undertaking is conceivable without reinstating the military draft. It would mean generalized war in the Middle East and, likely, a world war.
What has become of the bravery that John Kerry demonstrated in Vietnam? If Kerry fails in his duty to force a debate on real issues, Americans will reelect an administration that will squander our treasure and the blood of our sons in the Middle East.
The conservative movement in America is dead. There is no conservatism in Bush's budget and trade deficits, none in his domestic policies, and none in his diplomacy. There is no longer a conservative press; only a Jacobin one.
Hate and delusion have the bit in their teeth."
Indeed they have.
And here is an instance of such hate, manifested by the Nobel prize winnng writer VS Naipul .... whose prior work has been sober and thoughtful. Now, he seems to have caught Spiritual Bird Flu (Highly Pathogenic strain):
The Hindu News Update Service
Destroy countries inciting jihad: Naipaul
London, Sept 12. (PTI): Raking up a controversy, Nobel prize winning author Sir Vidia Naipaul has said countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran which foment religious war must be destroyed.
The 72-year-old India-born author, in an interview published in 'The Observer' today, however had a word of advise to the people: "hate oppression, but fear the oppressed."
Naipaul said the thing he saw in the current terrorism was the exulting in other people's death. "We are told the people who killed the children in Russia were smiling. The liberal voices were ready to explain the reasons for their actions. But this has no good side. It is as bad as it appears," he said.
Asked about a proper response of the West, Naipaul said: "Well, clearly Iraq is not the place to have gone. But religious war is so threatening to the rest of us that it cannot be avoided. "It will have to be fought... there are certain countries which foment it, and they probably should be destroyed, actually."
What about Saudi Arabia? Naipaul said: "I would like to think so, yes", adding that "I think Iran has to be dealt with, too." Naipaul believes that the world is yet to confront the implications of the rise of Islamic states.
"The blowing up of the twin towers; people could deal with it as an act of terror, but the idea of religious war is too frightening for people to manage. The word used is jihad. We like to translate it as holy war, but really it is religious war," he said."
The epidemic spread of hatred is not restricted to one political party or another, nor to specific countries. The hate and fear are rising, everywhere.
My commentary on this - a graf from my forthcoming book False Dawn:
Such vituperation - and the attitude toward enemies that it manifests - will not bring victory for the cause of Christ. Instead, those who engage in it are fulfilling an apocalyptic prophecy of Christ: "And because wickedness is multiplied, most men's love will grow cold." (Mt. 24:12). They are also acting as predicted in the Didache: "the sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love shall change to hate. For as lawlessness increaseth they shall hate one another and persecute and betray …"
Kyrie eleison.
Lee
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Lee says: "Hate and fear are rising everywhere."
That has been on my own mind recently, too, though at a level much closer to home. I've asked a couple people who work in jobs that deal with the public, if people are getting meaner. I got unqualified agreement in response.
But what is the source? A shortage of time and too much to do? A belief that we are right and the other guy is simply wrong and making life difficult for us? A "Do what thou wilt" philosophy of life? An inability to recognize the basic humanity of our fellow man which leaves us thinking that while we would be offended by our words, the person to whom we direct them will not be offended? Or are we becoming mean to each other just because we have discovered that we can, and there is no real motivation beyond that fact?
Maybe the society that we have constructed causes all of us to get damaged so much on a daily basis that we are no longer able to care about anyone else. A kind of negative emotional overload that robs us of the possibility of compassion.
Will little skirmishes engaged in on a daily basis prepare us for bigger skirmishes that we will take up with relish if we don't watch out?
I don't think an all-out technological war on planet earth in 2004 is winnable. By anyone. But we are going to lose everything we have deemed valuable in the process of fighting it. And it just might not take very long to accomplish the destruction.
The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved . . . "
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
Carrie
A THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY TAKES ON LEE PENN...SORT OF
Lee Penn, a member from the parish of the Russian Catholic Church, writing in the New Oxford Review, (“Tyranny in the Name of Tolerance,” June 2000), blames Theosophy for the New Age Movement (NAM). His subtitle, “Beware! The New Age Movement Is More Than Self-Indulgent Silliness,” is probably right! It is. It is much more. Penn says, “For the last 125 years, New Age leaders worldwide have followed the false light of Theosophy…” And, “Helena Petrovna Blavatsky blended Eastern religion with Western occultism, establishing the Theosophical movement in 1875 in New York City. Theosophy has influenced occult, spiritualist, ‘New Thought.’ And New Age movements around the world ever since.” “The influence of Theosophy continues to grow a half-century after her death.” It does.
And down at the bottom the article mentions George Soros, and concludes thus:
Almost as bad, there are influential people involved with the New Age Movement. This includes the World Economic Forum (WEF). Those that meet include “President Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bill Gates, Kofi Annan (UN Secretary General), The CEO of General Motors, the Chairman of Goldman Sachs, the Chairman of Daewoo Corporation, the Chairman of Daimler-Benz, and George Soros.” A motley New Age group.
So the Theosophical Movement set a lot in motion. It was first done, according to Lee Penn, in 1875. The real culprit? Again, according to Lee Penn, it was a woman by the name of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. What really is incredible is that most of Mr. Penn’s charges have some validity. It is contended, here, that a listing of these charges, in many ways, defines the present Theosophical Movement. We might offer this list – directly from Penn’s charges:
Theosophists actually attest to Universal Brotherhood. This could even include “sharing” with our fellow human beings (The First Object: To form the nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or color).
Theosophy presents the proposition that all religions do have the same source. Religions which pronounce that it has to be their way and no other way are “separatists” (The Second Object: The Study of ancient and modern religions, philosophies and sciences, and the demonstration of the importance of such study).
Theosophists are environmentalists. There really is concern for Nature and the Planet Earth (The Third Object: The investigation of the unexplained laws of nature and the psychical powers latent in man).
Theosophy sets the tone for self responsibility through Karma and Reincarnation. We are responsible for our sins as well as our growth on the path (“Karma thus is simply action, a concatenation of causes and effects. That which adjusts each effect to its direct cause; that which guides invisibly and unerringly these effects…” H. P. Blavatsky, Lucifer, April 1889).
Theosophy does point to divinity within. The belief in outside God(s) who can intervene is a belief destructive to the human condition (“Our Father is within us 'in Secret,' our 7th principle, in the 'inner chamber' of our Soul perception.” The Secret Doctrine, Vol. I, H. P. Blavatsky 1888).The symbolism of the Fall is of man’s ascent into matter along with the responsibility of transformation to greater consciousness. (“The Secret Doctrine shows that the Manasa Putras or incarnating Egos have taken upon themselves, voluntarily and knowingly, the burden of all the future sins of their future personalities.” Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge 1889).
These principles, according to Penn, so strongly in the world today, may not be so bad. With the several of the world’s religions almost poised for mass destruction, could it be that the seeds planted in 1875 may be our only hope?
LAURA KNIGHT-JADCZYK ON PROPHECY
Specifically, the prophecy that concerns the present pope - De Labore Solis - according to St. Malachy.
Then there is her article on The Beast and His Empire in which she identifies the United States as "the Beast Empire" and fundamentalist Christians as being in league with the Beast. The anti-Semitism comes out a little further into the article.
The article links this anti-Semitic website. The Table of Contents outlines what the website contains. The symbolic Star of David imposed on the American flag at the top of the website makes the intent of the article clear.
Their anti-Semitism comes out in this article which is also part of the Cassiopaea Jadczyk website. Here the Muslims are linked to Christianity along with the Jews.
An article by Rolo Tomassi titled "Moving with Mossad: White Ops, Ouiji Aliens and the Marginalization of Dissent" attempts to offer some background on the Cassiopaeans. Unfortunately it's not entirely clear from the article what is fiction and what is fact. What is interesting is the name that appears in the article--George Soros. The money is coming from somewhere, because the "school" this outfit runs in France doesn't appear to be cheap. From the article:
"But those rascally Cassiopaeans were insistent, and amazingly enough, a series of very strange events lead directly to Dr. Ark's arrival in February of 1997. These strange events, as chronicled in Adventures with the Cassiopaeans, volume two of Laura's autobiography, include a quick visit to the Central European University in Budapest, a George Soros front organization for the political development of the former Soviet satellites, and an astounding about face concerning his status at the University of Wroclaw along with the offer of a job connected to the University of Florida at Gainesville. To the casual observer this suggests that perhaps the Cassiopaeans have a few political connections. Or that someone who had those connections had become very interested in the Cassiopaeans."
That someone was obviously connected to George Soros, and the European intelligence community. Dr. Ark apparently already had such connections, he wouldn't have been chosen for the job otherwise, and those connections continued, as a stream of oddly miscast Europeans flitted through the Cassiopaean saga. In the end, once the transformation from channelling cult to white ops organization was completed, it was Dr. Ark's friends on the fringes of the European intelligence community who paid for their re-location to France. This move was apparently made one step ahead of the various lawsuits and prosecutions from folks they had libelled, defrauded and conned. Once in France, a new version of the Cassiopaean websites went up and the white ops went into full gear. ...
"With Dr. Ark's skilful guidance, what once was a simple tea and trances con game became a worldwide conspiracy movement. The changes were implemented slowly and in stages, but the end result was unmistakable. As even Dr. Sauder, whom the Cassiopaeans love to quote, commented, they appear to be a very clever and sophisticated, "insidious and devious," intelligence operation. With even a little awareness of Dr. Ark's background, and it is all on the website in various places, it becomes apparent that the Cassiopaeans may have started out harmless, but they have been hi-jacked and co-opted by some very complex intelligence operation."
Knight-Jadczyk's website also mentions Soros: In a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission, the RNC also charged that the groups are illegally coordinating their advertising attacking Bush with the campaign of presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry. The Kerry campaign is named as a respondent in the complaint, along with the anti-Bush groups, their leaders and some of their large donors, including billionaire financier George Soros and Hollywood producer Steven Bing. [...]
This webpage includes an article from the Guardian written by George Soros.
He is mentioned here as well: The Central European University was established in 1989, funded by George Soros, a philanthropist billionaire with very forward looking ideas. Much of his philanthropy is aimed at improving networking between those countries formerly behind the Iron Curtain, and the West. As it happens, Central European University is also chartered in the State of New York, and has the status of Publicly-Supported Educational Institution Granted by the IRS - 501 (c) (3), the most favorable tax-exempt status, that of a publicly-supported educational institution.
In fact, searching their website turned up numerous places where Soros appears. Is there a connection? There is little doubt the website opposes Christian fundamentalism. So does Soros, I believe. Very curious.
The Golden Dawn is mentioned in 12 separate places in the website. Here is one of them: Among all of these systems, perhaps one of the more insidious of them is the "art and science" of magick. The spelling of magick used here was made popular by Aleister Crowley. The k on the end signifies its essential difference from stage magic, though its spiritual tricks of sleight of hand are no less spectacular and deceptive. This essay refers specifically to the system of magick labeled "High Magick" as taught by The Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley.
Here is another: From A.H. Before encountering the work of Laura, Ark, and the QFS, I had been a student of Golden Dawn type magick for at least a decade. I was well read in that material and felt that I understood the "true" meaning behind magick. I embraced it with all my being, or so I thought.
Then I ran into cassiopaea.org and my perspective was strangely validated on many points, but very strongly challenged on others, which, of course, caused quite a bit of friction in myself. "How in the world can this material validate so many parts of the philosophy I thought I knew and yet challenge its most fundamental aspects?" I asked myself. Before applying a second time to the QFS, I set about finding an answer.
And another:
Nevertheless, the adoption of this precession idea by the H B of L, later taken up by the occultists Papus, Barlet, Guenon, Reuss, Kellner and Steiner, ensured that it would become a foundational philosophy among groups such as the Ordo Templi Orientalis, the Theosophical Society, the Golden Dawn, and so on. Most of their ideas are founded on this uniformitarian, cosmic clock of precession and slow, spiraling movement of the earth's pole in a grand, shifting circle that reverses the polar directions every two million years or so.
