Thanks for the update.

I'm glad to hear the Pontiff is feeling better.

Does anyone know what the Vatican is doing about this local situation? I learned about it in today's Buffalo News, which printed this letter today. Maybe the Pope should appoint someone to deal with the problem until he is healthy enough to find and punish the child molesters in the Church.

//




Time has come for bishops to be held accountable

3/7/2005




As a member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), I am confused as to Bishop Edward Kmiec's position on abuse. In a Feb. 19 News article, he said that 93 complaints were received between 1950 and 2002. Did I not hear Bishop Henry Mansell say that the Buffalo Diocese never had a problem?

Kmiec said he believes victims aren't interested in having priests named publicly. "It just open ups wounds and everything else." If this is his belief, why would the diocese send victims for therapy? Does he not know that a wound to the soul will fester until the poison is removed? Putting a Band-Aid on the problem only traps that poison.

The diocese reported it spent $670,000 on counseling and associated costs related to accusations against clergy between 1950 and 2002. Who was this money spent on, the victims or the abuser priests? Officials said they did not have a dollar figure for what was spent on settlements, lawyers and therapy in 2004. Does the diocese not keep books?

The only valid quotes came from SNAP spokesman David Clohessy, who advised bishops to visit parishes where abusing clergy worked and to implore any abused parishioners or witnesses of abuse to contact police. Police have to file a report. Kathleen McChesney, a child advocate, says the child abuse crisis "is not over."

The time has come for the bishops to be held accountable. They don't seem to understand that a crime is a crime, whether committed by a lay person or clergy. Why would victims turn to the bishops when the bishops have been so much a part of the problem?

Judith Burns-Quinn

Hamburg

JP2 on gay rights:

"It is legitimate and necessary to ask oneself if this is not perhaps part of a new ideology of evil, perhaps more insidious and hidden, which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man,"

JP2 on women:

“May the Virgin Mary, who is the Mother of the Church, also be the Mother in “the Church of the home.” Thanks to her motherly aid, may each Christian family really become a “little Church” in which the mystery of the Church of Christ is mirrored and given new life. May she, the Handmaid of the Lord, be an example of the humble and generous acceptance of the will of God. May she, the Sorrowful Mother at the foot of the Cross, comfort the sufferings and dry the tears in distress because of the difficulties of the families.”

(Translation: shut-up, have as many kids as God sends you, do as you're told)

JP2, unless you didn't get it the first time:

I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful.

JP2 on Catholic Church and Pius XII complicity in the Holocaust:

"During and after the war, Jewish communities and Jewish leaders expressed their thanks for all that had been done for them, including what Pope Plus XII did personally or through his representatives to save hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives,"

God Speed, JP2.

 

 

Dear Mr. Hufnagel:

Of all times to place your venomous post about the Pope, I for one find it VERY inappropriate. Yes, I DO have issues with you and this is a prime example of why! Do you need to hate people you don't even know?

What sort of Pagan celebration or orgy will you participate in when the Pope dies?

If you don't agree with Catholics, why pay attention...UNLESS, you fall into one of the categories that you have listed. The Jehovah's Witness' don't dance. So what? Just for the record, would you tell us what your religious beliefs are? Are you an Atheist? Baptist? Agnostic? Buddhist? Nudist? Which is it so we at least have the benefit of knowing with whom we are dealing, besides someone who takes medications, has had thoughts of dousing himself with gasoline and someone who admittedly is undergoing mental therapy?

You seem too cold and harsh to be of any Christian faith. Many of your stated values seem to indicate this also. That, or you are just of poor character without any feeling toward Catholics that may populate this board.

Yours truly in humanism,

The Toxic Proctologist

Louis Ricciuti

Need a probe?

When the Pope and his Church stop influencing public policy worldwide by lobbying governments against basic human rights, then I will gladly fall to my knees and pay homage to whatever god strikes your fancy. Just make sure he has a sufficient number of arms.

The Pope calls to you, Lou. Go to him.

Hey, Kramer,

In response to the email you sent me last week: No, I don't remember you from Lockport high school.

Of course, I didn't ride the short bus, that could be why...

So Hufnagel:

It isn't just me. Look at these other comments. You really are a jerk!

This area was set up to get away from your mean spirited and assinine commentary.

Not everyone wants to be hounded by YOUR rhetoric. Why did you come over here? Just to start ****. Yeah, I said it and it can be removed if Scott likes. I am just about sick and tired of you and your provocative comments. Stay out of this area! You have no business coming over here UNLESS IT IS TO START Trouble. Do you want trouble Jim? You are certainly cruising for a lot of people to be done with you.

What say we do that boxing match over at the Y. What do you think? Are you tough enough to REALLY stand up for what you say you believe in? I believe that you should create a topic ALL YOUR OWN and stay away from well intentioned people in other areas. That's my message to you . Please take this message strongly and to heart.

Thanks,

Louis Ricciuti

I am glad the world does not have the same views as JH.
 
  MSNBC.com

In Holy Land, pontiff saluted by different faiths
Jews, Muslims, Christians hail pope’s quest for reconciliation

The Associated Press
Updated: 5:19 p.m. ET April 3, 2005

JERUSALEM - In the Holy Land where Jesus walked, Jews, Muslims and Christians paid homage Sunday to Pope John Paul II’s tireless efforts to embrace people of different faiths.

Though his record was not without controversy, the pope used his frequent homilies and travels to pursue religious reconciliation. His visits to a synagogue in Rome and a mosque in Damascus, Syria, were the first by a pontiff to Jewish and Muslim houses of worship.

John Paul frequently called for a peaceful end to the Arab-Israeli conflict, and during the recent 4½ years of fighting, urged leaders on both sides to marshal the courage to find peace.

“He wanted peace for everyone,” said Mohammad Ahmed, 22, a Palestinian Muslim computer science student who lives in Jerusalem’s Old City. “He wanted people of different religions to be like brothers, not like Jews and Muslims have been.”

When the pope was in the Holy Land in March 2000, he urged Muslims and Jews to coexist peacefully in this lifetime, Ahmed recalled. “He’s right, there’s only one chance.”

Peres: Pontiff ‘embodied the best’
Representatives from both sides of the conflict remembered the pope fondly.

Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said the pope “embodied the best that is within all mankind as well as the commonness of humanity. ... His actions and statements transformed relations between the Catholic and Jewish faiths, and made a fundamental impact on the struggle against anti-Semitism.”

“We will miss him as a distinguished religious figure, who devoted his life to defending the values of peace, freedom and equality,” Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said.

About 150 worshippers, most of them Palestinians, joined by a few pilgrims, gathered at the Church of the Nativity in Jesus’ birthplace, the West Bank town of Bethlehem, to celebrate a special Mass for John Paul, hours before he died.

The Rev. Amjad Sabbara recalled the pope’s support for a new housing development for parishioners. “He always kept Bethlehem in his heart,” he said.

Sister Mira Kasabreh, a young nun from Beit Jalla near Bethlehem, said, “We feel a kind of sadness, but at the same time, we know that God is with our pope.”

'Loved by so many'
At the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, which marks the place where tradition holds Jesus was crucified, people from the world over praised John Paul’s contributions to religious tolerance and coexistence.

“He’s been loved by so many and helpful to so many,” said pilgrim Omer Jackson, preacher of the Christian Extended Hand church in Los Angeles. “I hope his successor will be as good a man.”

John Paul, who grew up in a heavily Jewish town in Poland, often condemned anti-Jewish prejudice as sinful. In 1986, he made papal history with a visit to Rome’s main synagogue. He established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1993, and in 2000 became the first pontiff to visit Israel in 36 years, praying at Judaism’s holiest site, the Western Wall.

Israel’s chief rabbis had a first Vatican audience just last year.

Pope hailed for diplomatic ties
Yossi Beilin, a left-wing Israeli lawmaker, was closely involved in the negotiations that led to the establishment of diplomatic ties between Israel and the Vatican.

“I think he was very, very courageous in his moves toward Israel, both in the establishment of diplomatic ties, in his statements on Jews and in his 2000 visit,” said Beilin, who was deputy foreign minister at the time.

“The fact that he was ready to establish diplomatic ties before a final status agreement (between Israel and the Palestinians) was reached confounded all the experts’ expectations,” he said.

Israel’s chief rabbis were not available for comment because of the Jewish Sabbath.

Still, there were sore points between Israel and the Vatican, the papacy of Pius XII among them. Although John Paul expressed remorse for the failure of some Christians to protect Jews during World War II, he beatified wartime pontiff Pius XII, who some Jews say didn’t act forcefully enough against the Holocaust.

A Vatican document asserting the primacy of the Roman Catholic faith also strained relations.

‘Bridges, not walls’
So, too, did the pope’s assertion that Israel created a new “obstacle” to peace by building a barrier to separate it from the West Bank. Israel says it needs the barrier to keep out Palestinian attackers. Palestinians say the barrier, which incorporates about 8 percent of the West Bank on the “Israeli” side, is a land grab.

Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Nasser, a Catholic who met with the pope on various occasions, recalled the pontiff saying, “We need bridges, not walls.”

The most-traveled pope of all times visited many Muslim countries, and, with an unprecedented papal visit to the Omayyad mosque in Syria in 2001, earned respect for his efforts at dialogue with Islam.

During his millennium year visit to the Holy Land, John Paul kissed Palestinian soil and held hands with the late Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, in an affirmation of the Palestinians’ right to a homeland.

The Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad also expressed their sorrow.

“We remember the statements of His Holiness the pope on the rights of the Palestinians, and we hope that the Vatican leadership will stick to his position against the occupation,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zohari said.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7374468/

Old Pope

New Pope

Long live the Pope

Pope Story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7523254/

He turned 78 on Saturday. He is considered to be a "transitional" pope. Until they find a good long-term one.

Truly James... it must be a hell of a burden to walk among mere mortals, fallible and so misguided in our beliefs as we all are. Then again, maybe it isn't all that hard for you - as is proven by your unwillingness or inability to tolerate (let alone feign respect) for anyone or anything that does not fit within the unquestionable perfection of understanding that your superior intellect and all-encompassing knowledge has revealed to you as the only undeniable truth.

MW

Very well put A and Rev@