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SCIENTOLOGY: NICHT GUT
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Actor John Travolta told a rally of Scientologists, gathered in Berlin to protest Germany’s tough stance on the group, that there was no excuse for governments to discriminate against religious bodies. Singing and chanting, Scientologists from Germany, the United States, and across Europe joined the U.S.-based organization’s largest demonstration in Germany against what it said was official discrimination against religious minorities. Police said there were up to 3,000 at the protest; Scientology organizers, who had hoped for a crowd of 10,000, put the figure at 6,500.
"Scientology is our religion," Travolta said in a video message taped in Los Angeles. "It has helped us a lot, as it has helped so many others around the world. Actress Anne Archer and singer Isaac Hayes, both of whom are Scientologists, joined the protest march through Berlin to the Brandenburg Gate.
Germany rejects the claim that Scientology is a religion and considers it a business that exploits its members for financial gain, a charge denied by the movement. German authorities also accuse Scientology of depriving its members of freedoms guaranteed under the German Constitution and of using threats to hinder members from leaving—charges the group denies. Scientology was founded in 1954 by the late American science fiction novelist L. Ron Hubbard. Followers are recruited through personality tests and offered expensive courses of "treatment" to solve problems diagnosed in the tests.
Seminarian Mario Derksen writes: "On the site ‘Jesus is Lord,’ located at www.jesus-is-lord.com, there is a hotlink to an essay that claims the Catholic Code of Canon Law says it is okay to kill Protestants. "I haven’t had such a good laugh in years!"
The London Sunday Times reports that leading Anglican bishops want their church to end its centuries-old prohibition on "living in sin" and allow priests to bless couples who are unmarried but living together.
The Times article said: "A majority of the forty-four diocesan bishops of the Church of England revealed last week that they no longer believe cohabiting couples are necessarily committing a sin. They are convinced the quality of the relationship is more important than its legal status. ‘We should not condemn those who cohabit,’ said John Oliver, Bishop of Hereford. ‘Christian people should recognize the realities of social change.’"
Christopher Mayfield, Bishop of Manchester, deemed the phrase "living in sin" unhelpful: "If an unmarried couple came to me privately I would be prepared to pray with them and give them a blessing." He said he would, however, ask them why they did not want to marry and counsel them about the advantages. Church experts said the church’s "excessive" concentration on marriage dated from the Victorian era. In medieval times people could live together in advance of the marriage ceremony after having taken an oath of betrothal.
George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury, restated his belief that for Christians sexual activity should be confined to marriage. This tough line is now taken only by David Hope, Archbishop of York, and a few other bishops. One of them, Nigel McCulloch, Bishop of Wakefield, said: "Marriage does makes a difference because it is the basic cell for society."
Jim Thompson, Bishop of Bath and Wells, ventured that the quality of individual relationships was more fundamental than the legal arrangements. "Most clergy have children who cohabit," he said. "They know their children are not wicked or sinful."
The Hillsborough, New Jersey, school board took the "hallow" out of Halloween this year, scared by the holiday’s religious origins. Under a new policy it is forbidden to celebrate any holidays with religious overtones, and the board agreed that "Halloween" was derived from All Hallows’ Eve, which is the day before the Christian feast of All Saints’ Day. The board did allow the annual costume parade, although the traditional Halloween party at the Woodfern School is now a "fall festival celebration." Further, St. Valentine’s Day will now replaced by "Special Person Day," the board said.
"This is ridiculous," said Brian Farese, whose son attends elementary school in Hillsborough. "Why do our children have to suffer and do without their parties because they are told to be tolerant? Who is being tolerant of all of us who like Halloween parties?"
School board members defended their actions. "We are not banning Halloween," said Amy Duff, a board member. "We are not saying teachers cannot talk about Halloween. All we are doing is banning the traditional parties."
A community-based task force recommended the action, which the board narrowly passed in December 1996. Board member Mike Nee said he had "never considered Halloween a religious holiday, but there are some people who do" and that it was clear some children had stayed away from the Halloween parties for that reason. The board said it was instead opting for "curriculum driven" activities and that Christmas and Hanukkah would be replaced by a generic celebration of the season.
Maria Grazia Siliato, a Swiss archeologist, announced October 30 that she has proven beyond all doubt that the Shroud of Turin, one of Christianity’s most mysterious and controversial relics, did in fact wrap the dead body of Christ and is not a medieval fake. New research has shown that what appear to be the words "Jesus Nazareth" were written on the cloth shortly after the body was wrapped in it. "This is the only document on earth that proves the material presence of Christ 2,000 years ago," the researcher told a news conference in Rome. Her complete findings of over sixteen years of painstaking research are published in her book, Shroud.
The decapitated body of Fr. A. K. Thomas was found in dense jungle near Hazaribagh, India, two days after he had gone missing. Fr. Thomas, forty-six, an Indian-born Jesuit priest, was the third Catholic clergyman to be killed in the area in the past two years. Two priests were killed in Gumla district in 1996, their skulls crushed, and a third was assaulted in Dumka district this month. The killings have resulted in a call for protection for the Christian community. In New Delhi, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India called for the "urgent intervention" of Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral and other federal officials. The bishops noted a growing insecurity in the Christian community in Bihar. Christians have come under increasing persecution in parts of India in recent years.
Just when we thought Sinead O’Connor was back in the fold: Catholic leaders in London are urging a worldwide boycott of the Irish singer’s new movie The Butcher Boy. The New York Post reports that "O’Connor plays the Virgin Mary as a foul-mouthed troublemaker." The scenes are part of visions imagined by a teenager. The R-rated film is directed by Neil Jordan, whose previous successes include The Crying Game and Interview with the Vampire.
Music video channel MTV joined in the pro-abortion effort last month with a series of slickly-produced promotional spots. The Pro-Choice Education Project, sponsored by a band of abortion-promoting groups, ran out two advertisements on the youth-oriented cable station. The thirty-second ads, which cost about $275,000 to produce, push abortion for teenagers.
Angela Bonavoglia, the campaign’s director, said the ads were meant to counter the efforts of Operation Rescue and effects of abstinence-only programs. The steering committee behind the project includes the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, The Feminist Majority, and the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.
In one ad, a father with two young daughters at a soccer match says, "My daughters aren’t teenagers—yet. I want them to have every opportunity. That’s why I get angry when politicians limit their choices, voting against sex education and abortion, making it harder to get birth control."
In the other, a young girl with a worried look paces around a dormitory room next to an opened pregnancy kit, as a clock ticks in the background. The ad ends with the line, "It’s your choice. Make it the right one for you."
For the first time, in the summer of 1998, the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College will offer six weeks of classes (June 21 to July 31) at the Front Royal, Virginia, campus as well as the Alexandria, Virginia, campus. Having classes at the Front Royal campus will allow students to take courses and enjoy housing and meals on campus. There also will be a resident chaplain with Mass, confession, rosary and Eucharistic adoration offered daily. "The beautiful Shenandoah Valley is a great place for priests, religious, and laity to relax, learn, and grow spiritually," says Admmissions Director Paul Heisler.
Classes for spring and fall will continue to be held at the Alexandria campus. For more information on the Master of Arts in Theological Studies or Apostolic Catechetical Diploma offered by Notre Dame Graduate School, contact the Admissions office at (800) 877-5456 or write to 134 Christendom Drive, Front Royal, VA 22630.
Canon lawyer Edward N. Peters, who frequently contributes "Quick Questions," has published 100 Answers to Your Questions on Annulments, featured in the new Catholic Answers catalogue. A veteran of five years with the San Diego Diocese’s tribunal, the book addresses problems and concerns about the annulment process—including the question, "Why so many?"
The Anglican Diocese of Sydney, Australia, has said that, in order to protect potential victims, priests will no longer be bound by the seal of the confessional when penitents confess criminal acts. The diocesan synod voted to change the rule as a result of an official report on child sexual abuse in August, which found that the crime is widespread in New South Wales. That report criticized churches for protecting members who have engaged in pedophilia by treating to them as moral problems rather than criminal acts.
"The intention is to put potential victims ahead of clergy concerns about things like the obligation to protect a person in the confessional or defamation," said a diocesan spokesman.
Critics said the change could drive people away from seeking spiritual help if they think their deepest confidences are not safe. "Who now will seek solace in clergy in whom they are unsure they can trust?" asked Garth Blake before the vote. "Surely we risk alienating people in a spiritual sense."
When John Mallon (past editor of the Sooner Catholic and This Rock contributor) wrote an incisive analysis of Thomas Reeves’ The Empty Church: The Suicide of Liberal Christianity for the Daily Oklahoman, he rattled a cage or two. Rev. Don Alexander, pastor of First Christian Church in Oklahoma City (and a self-described "theological liberal") responded with his own op-ed piece which criticized Reeves’ thesis that the only hope for religion is a return to personal holiness and orthodoxy, as embodied in the creeds. "It is only the superstitious attachment to a fifth-century worldview and approach to biblical interpretations that necessitates God’s ‘supernatural’ activity. A return to the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds as doctrinal (rather than devotional) guidelines is stumbling backward into a darkened room peopled with demons and goblins."
Mallon observes that stumbling backwards theologically into the fifth century is "not a bad idea."
Mel Damewood writes: "The Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (C.A.R.M.) seems to be stepping up its intensity here in Oregon against the Roman Catholic Church. "Matthew Slick, founder of this ministry, has set up a web page that targets mostly cults, but has also included a Roman Catholicism section and is starting to build the list of "Catholic errors." The address is www.carm.org.
"Slick is also a guest-host of a radio show that broadcasts over the entire western half of Oregon. He airs once or twice a week during rush hour, and lately has dedicated a good portion of his show to debunking Catholicism. I have taken him on live on the radio and over the Internet. Leads me to my question and suggestion: Since call-in shows on Christian radio tend to be anti-Catholic, is there an effective way for encouraging lay people to interject the Catholic truth on these shows? How about a crash training course on speaking over the radio effectively?"
Sounds like an ideal project for Jerry Usher, the host of our upcoming live call-in show, "Catholic Answers Live" (see January schedule elsewhere in this issue).
During October and November, when headlines everywhere blared the news about French bishops in Drancy, France, apologizing for doing too little to save Jews during World War II and about the Vatican’s commission to study the roots of anti-Semitism, few news outlets carried a similar story: The International Red Cross admitted the organization’s "moral failure" in not responding aggressively to the Holocaust. Red Cross archivist George Willemin said the organization "kept silent with regard to the Holocaust. And I would say that this is the heart of the moral failure." USA Today reported that Red Cross officials acknowledged the relief group could have done more to save Jews who were murdered and imprisoned by the Nazis. Despite evidence of Nazi crimes against Jews, the Red Cross remained silent because officials feared Nazi reprisals and a German invasion of Switzerland. The Red Cross is based in Geneva.
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