ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Patterson Disciple Stelljes Holds Carnival in Lent
Pastor John Stelljes is quite busy these days -- busy building a church.
Stelljes has attracted nearly 50 people in the Greenwood area to become members of his new Light of Life Lutheran Church -- even with construction of a building still about two years in the future.
The church is the only one on the Southside of Indianapolis associated with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, he said.
Stelljes -- who came from Orlando, Fla., in July to begin developing a congregation -- has been holding semimonthly Sunday services in the Greenwood Community Center, 100 Surina Way, since January.
Now, services will be at 9:30 a.m. weekly in the community center, and anyone interested in joining is welcome, he said.
The church offices are in its Ministry Center, 360 S. Madison Ave., Greenwood.
At 1 p.m. Friday, the Greater Greenwood Chamber of Commerce will hold a ceremony welcoming the church at a 7-acre field on the southeast edge of Greenwood where the church eventually will be built. The site is on the southwest corner of Sheek and Worthsville roads.
On Saturday, a free carnival will be held at Clark-Pleasant Intermediate School to introduce the church to the public.
Stelljes said the Wisconsin synod has some more theologically conservative teachings than other affiliations, such as the more populous Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The Wisconsin synod has 1,290 congregations and nearly 400,000 baptized members in the United States.
"Our church body asked me if I was interested in starting a mission in Greenwood," Stelljes said.
He doesn't regret saying "yes."
"Since we moved here, we've found Greenwood an absolutely fabulous community," said Stelljes. He and his wife, Angela, and 3-year-old son, Jonah, have a home near the church site.
Founding members of Light of Life, he said, are "people who have been looking for a church and didn't have one."
A native of Minnesota, Stelljes grew up in Texas and graduated from Black Hills State University in South Dakota and the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary.
***
GJ - Two people sent me this link. People are watching Church/Change and the odious Patterson Network. The Doctrinal Pussycats are not watching anything. This strikes everyone as crass and inappropriate. Once an LCA member brought up "having a carnival." A local business leader said, "You don't want those people in town. Their reputations are earned."
WELS is earning a reputation, too.
---
New Greenwood Lutheran church to sponsor free carnival
Published March 18th, 2010
A new Greenwood church is introducing itself to the community with a carnival of free food, games, live music, puppet show and prizes.
The big event will be in the Clark-Pleasant Intermediate School from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. The school, near where the church will be built, is at Sheek and Worthsville roads on Greenwood’s southeast side.
Three-year-old Jonah sleeps on the shoulder of his father, Pastor John Stelljes, near mother, Angela (right), while committee member Angela Meister looks on. Photo by Mike Alexander/Southside Times
Light of Life Lutheran Church is host for the family fun carnival that also will include indoor bounce houses, face painters, an artist who makes characters out of balloons, fishing, bowling, ring toss and corn bag-in-the-hole contest.
Highest scorer in the basketball free-throw contest will win tickets to an Indiana Pacers game. Highest scorer in birdie golf will win an Otte Golf of Greenwood package.
“It’s our way of letting people know that we (as a church) are here for them,” said 34-year-old Pastor John Stelljes.
He and his wife, Angela, 30, are overseeing a dozen-member committee in promoting the community attraction.
Stelljes said the church will be built in about two years on a 7-acre site in the southwest sector of Worthsville and Sheek roads. Mayor Charles Henderson will cut the ribbon as part of the official grand opening of the church at the site at 1 p.m. Friday. Source
Warning to Bethany, MLC, and WLC: Another One Bites the Dust
for future ministers among the Happy Danes,
has been sold to a for-profit education firm.
"In 1884 Danish Lutheran pioneers established Trinity Seminary at Blair, Nebraska, for the purpose of training men for the parish ministry. Reverend A. M. Andersen, founder of the institution, began teaching seminary courses in his home. Two years later, the first permanent building on the campus was completed. The main emphasis during those early days was on theology and, although some academic courses were offered, they were taught primarily as a background for theological study. The need for additional academic courses was recognized but not fulfilled until 1899 when the Danish College at Elk Horn, Iowa, was merged with the Blair school. The result was the establishment of Dana College as a separate educational institution." Source
From Wikipedia:
The institution faced economic troubles in the 2000s. In 2010 it was sold to a group investors who formed the Dana Education Corporation. This group intends to transform the institution into a for-profit institution with a focus on "doubling enrollment, aggressively marketing the school and building Dana's study abroad program."
ELCA put a smiley face on the Happy Danes in their news release.
Some are asking, "Howzacome you are covering Blair, Nebraska in your position as self-appointed journalist for apostasy?"
I stayed overnight at Dana College when the Augustana College concert band toured the Great Plains. The Happy Danes were a tiny contingent of the LCA, often overlooked in the 1960s merger. The Happy Danes of the LCA were Grundtvigians, contrasted with the Gloomy Danes (Pietists) who joined The ALC.
Grundtvig wrote two very famous hymns: "Built on a Rock," and "God's Word is our great heritage."
Dana's room, board, and tuition were running at $27,000 a year when the school was sold to a for-profit, much like tiny Waldorf College in Iowa. Notre Dame and Yale are costing about $50,000 a year now.
The tiny colleges are failing because their fixed costs are extremely high while their appeal is rather limited. Strange how these little schools survived in the days before federal loans plumped up their finances.
How do they become for-profits? If I may share a few insights from Grand Canyon University, the process works this way:
1. The school is bought for a fraction of the cost of building a new campus.
2. Tenure ends and the over-paid and under-worked faculty may be fired.
3. Online students are added from all over the country.
The key is going online. People feel better about an actual campus location rather than getting a diploma from a server farm. I used to kid online students about logging onto their computers on graduation day for their jpg diploma. I get little in-house training certificates that way, but online graduation is normal, with robes and certificates and speeches.
Not long ago, online schools were a shock. Now everyone takes them for granted. The Ivy Leagues offer online courses. But Mrs. Ichabod and I went to college the old way, which comprises 16% of all college students today. Few can afford the luxury of living at school and taking classes. I commuted.
One college had to limit the number of online courses the students could take, because they were in the dorms and taking all online classes.
The itty-bitty WELS/ELS colleges will have to merge or sell themselves to a for-profit concern. They are not going to survive the next crunch.
Mary Lou College collects a huge fee for the paltry education offered.
Your Costs, 2009-2010
Tuition - $10,660
Room & Board - $4,140
Total = $14,800
For that they often get faculty whose education is little more than a bachelor's degree, in academic standing. Larry Olson has unaccredited MDiv and a Fuller DMin. With that he runs the "Staff Ministry" program, the foundation for women pastors in WELS. Most colleges would laugh at his qualifications to teach. In the Assemblies of God, or the CLC (sic), he would be among the intellectual giants.
Jobs are few in New Ulm. Anyone could stay home, work full-time, and earn an online degree with that amount of money. The teacher candidates are not going to teach. The future ministers will need to have picked the right parents to get a call. If they attend Chicanery conferences, they may get two calls.
---
Apostates Have the Same DNA
and excused for their behavior, says Luther.
Luther says this about false teachers:
False Doctrine Tolerated
"And such false teachers have the good fortune that all their folly is tolerated, even though the people realize how these act the fool, and rather rudely at that. They have success with it all, and people bear with them. But no patience is to be exercised toward true teachers! Their words and their works are watched with the intent of entrapping them, as complained of in Psalm 17:9 and elsewhere. When only apparently a mote is found, it is exaggerated to a very great beam. No toleration is granted. There is only judgment, condemnation and scorn. Hence the office of preaching is a grievous one. He who has not for his sole motive the benefit of his neighbor and the glory of God cannot continue therein. The true teacher must labor, and permit others to have the honor and profit of his efforts, while he receives injury and derision for his reward."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 110f. Second Sunday in Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9. Psalm 17:9.
God Punishes Ingratitude by Allowing False Teachers
"In the second place such teachers are disposed to bring the people into downright bondage and to bind their conscience by forcing laws upon them and teaching works-righteousness. The effect is that fear impels them to do what has been pounded into them, as if they were bondslaves, while their teachers command fear and attention. But the true teachers, they who give us freedom of conscience and create us lords, we soon forget, even despise. The dominion of false teachers is willingly tolerated and patiently endured; indeed, it is given high repute. All those conditions are punishments sent by God upon them who do not receive the Gospel with love and gratitude."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 111. Second Sunday in Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9. John 5:43.
False Teachers Flay Disciples to Bone
"In the third place, false teachers flay their disciples to the bone, and cut them out of house and home, but even this is taken and endured. Such, I opine, has been our experience under the Papacy. But true preachers are even denied their bread. Yet this all perfectly squares with justice! For, since men fail to give unto those from whom they receive the Word of God, and permit the latter to serve them at their own expense, it is but fair they should give the more unto preachers of lies, whose instruction redounds to their injury. What is withheld from Christ must be given in tenfold proportion to the devil. They who refuse to give the servant of truth a single thread, must be oppressed by liars."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 111f. Second Sunday in Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9.
Avarice in False Teachers
"Fourth, false apostles forcibly take more than is given them. They seize whatever and whenever they can, thus enhancing their insatiable avarice. This, too, is excused in them."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 112. Second Sunday in Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9.
They Lord It Over Us
"Fifth, these deceitful teachers, not satisfied with having acquired our property, must exalt themselves above us and lord it over us...We bow our knees before them, worship them and kiss their feet. And we suffer it all, yes, with fearful reverence regard it as just and right. And it is just and right, for why did we not honor the Gospel by accepting and preserving it?"
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 112. Second Sunday in Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9.
We Are Dogs and Foot-Rags
"Sixth, our false apostles justly reward us by smiting us in the face. That is, they consider us inferior to dogs; they abuse us, and treat us as foot-rags."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 112. Second Sunday in Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9.
False Doctrine Tolerated
"And such false teachers have the good fortune that all their folly is tolerated, even though the people realize how these act the fool, and rather rudely at that. They have success with it all, and people bear with them. But no patience is to be exercised toward true teachers! Their words and their works are watched with the intent of entrapping them, as complained of in Psalm 17:9 and elsewhere. When only apparently a mote is found, it is exaggerated to a very great beam. No toleration is granted. There is only judgment, condemnation and scorn. Hence the office of preaching is a grievous one. He who has not for his sole motive the benefit of his neighbor and the glory of God cannot continue therein. The true teacher must labor, and permit others to have the honor and profit of his efforts, while he receives injury and derision for his reward."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 110f. Second Sunday in Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9. Psalm 17:9.
God Punishes Ingratitude by Allowing False Teachers
"In the second place such teachers are disposed to bring the people into downright bondage and to bind their conscience by forcing laws upon them and teaching works-righteousness. The effect is that fear impels them to do what has been pounded into them, as if they were bondslaves, while their teachers command fear and attention. But the true teachers, they who give us freedom of conscience and create us lords, we soon forget, even despise. The dominion of false teachers is willingly tolerated and patiently endured; indeed, it is given high repute. All those conditions are punishments sent by God upon them who do not receive the Gospel with love and gratitude."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 111. Second Sunday in Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9. John 5:43.
False Teachers Flay Disciples to Bone
"In the third place, false teachers flay their disciples to the bone, and cut them out of house and home, but even this is taken and endured. Such, I opine, has been our experience under the Papacy. But true preachers are even denied their bread. Yet this all perfectly squares with justice! For, since men fail to give unto those from whom they receive the Word of God, and permit the latter to serve them at their own expense, it is but fair they should give the more unto preachers of lies, whose instruction redounds to their injury. What is withheld from Christ must be given in tenfold proportion to the devil. They who refuse to give the servant of truth a single thread, must be oppressed by liars."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 111f. Second Sunday in Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9.
Avarice in False Teachers
"Fourth, false apostles forcibly take more than is given them. They seize whatever and whenever they can, thus enhancing their insatiable avarice. This, too, is excused in them."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 112. Second Sunday in Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9.
They Lord It Over Us
"Fifth, these deceitful teachers, not satisfied with having acquired our property, must exalt themselves above us and lord it over us...We bow our knees before them, worship them and kiss their feet. And we suffer it all, yes, with fearful reverence regard it as just and right. And it is just and right, for why did we not honor the Gospel by accepting and preserving it?"
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 112. Second Sunday in Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9.
We Are Dogs and Foot-Rags
"Sixth, our false apostles justly reward us by smiting us in the face. That is, they consider us inferior to dogs; they abuse us, and treat us as foot-rags."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VII, p. 112. Second Sunday in Lent. 2 Corinthians 11:19-33; 12:1-9.
***
GJ - Nothing Luther wrote 500 years ago is wrong about the apostates of today. They have the same DNA, generation after generation. Their reward is peace and security on earth, followed by an eternity of turmoil. Meanwhile, the faithful face a brief period of turmoil before they find eternal rest.
The midwives of apostasy should be anxious about their future. They are the ones who pose as confessionals or conservatives while gently and diplomatically excusing the doctrine, behavior, and wreckage of the apostates.
In WELS alone, it is easy to track millions of dollars wasted by these junkyard dogs, whose only spiritual gift is their protection of their money and perks. The Chicaneries spent all of the Schwan money, liquidated the rotating gift fund, and hired one another for the cushy positions at the Love Shack, the Sausage Factory, and Mary Lou College. Meanwhile, they published lavish praise for themselves in FIC (nee The Northwestern Lutheran).
Multiply this in the larger groups. ELCA is delighted to have only two retired bishops fighting them over gay ordination while the active bishops place their consecrated and consecrating hands on the lavender mob formerly roped off from the Holy of Holies. Who helped achieve this triumph? Answer - The two retired bishops, who acted as midwives for ELCA and now sound like fishwives to the progressives who run the show.
I knew retired bishop Ken Sauer back in 1973, when I was just ordained and he was newly enthroned as Ohio Synod, LCA, bishop. In God's time, it is a short transformation from the midwife of apostasy to the fishwife of the retrosexuals.
It will take a lot of money, trust me.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
ELCA-Episcopal Merger the Sears-KMart of Protestantism, Done in Lavender
Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church
KJS: One of the more effective evangelical tools right now does just that - it goes into the places where people spend time, at work and at leisure, and it gathers people who want to ask significant spiritual questions. Asking questions is actually something that sets Episcopalians apart from a lot of other traditions, particularly the ones who say there's only one right answer and doubt is a sin. Remember that bumper sticker, "Question Authority"? I've never been sure whether it's a description of somebody who's good at asking questions or a challenge to keep asking difficult questions of the powers that be. But asking questions is a central part of our tradition. We don't insist that doubt is a sin; we see doubt as necessary to growth.
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you (Woo, woo, woo)
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson
Joltin' Joe has left and gone away
(Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey)
VOL: Yep, question authority. And if you do question the authority of KJS and The Episcopal Church, you will hear from her attorney David Booth Beers and it won't be pleasant. Just ask Bishops Bob Duncan, Henry Scriven, Keith Ackerman, Jack Iker, John-David Schofield, Mark Lawrence, to name just a few. Four dioceses have questioned her authority. They are now spending millions of mission dollars questioning HER authority over property ownership. Virtue Online
"Does this robe make me look...
Lutheran?"
The T-Bird I Never Had
I used to walk by one just like this on the way to grade school.
Comments made in the year 1955!
That's only 55 years ago!
'I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it's going to be impossible to buy a week's groceries for $10.00.
'Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long before $1,000.00 will only buy a used one.
'If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. 20 cents a pack is ridiculous.
'Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging 7 cents just to mail a letter.
'If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.
'When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 25 cents a gallon. Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage. [RA: I can remember when it was only 18¢]
'I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century. They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas .
'Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $50,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the President.
'I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now.
'It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women have to work to make ends meet.
'It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work.
'I'm afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business.
'Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to government.
Sent by Linda Pearson
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Henry Eyster Jacobs
"Even then, while God was reconciled to all men in Christ, He was redeemed to none outside of Christ. All were forgiven in Christ; none were forgiven outside of Christ. That redemption should be realized, those for whom it was intended had to be brought to such relation to Christ, that they could be said to be 'in Christ.' A series of agencies for applying Redemption, or bringing Christ to men, and men to Christ, is, therefore, also devised. The gift of the Holy Spirit, the efficiency of the Holy Spirit in the means of grace, the various stages of His applying work, until Redemption would reach its goal in life eternal, all were comprehended in the plan."
Henry Eyster Jacobs, The Elements of Religion, p. 76.
***
GJ - I was interviewed for a position on that faculty. The interviews were called HEW interviews, because the candidate was already chosen. Asking people in for interviews proved the school was being fair and balanced, diverse. Nevertheless, the experience was great.
Some of the names listed below were my introduction to the traditional theologians of the Muhlenberg (General Synod, General Council, ULCA, LCA, ELCA) tradition. How many seminaries in America today could boast of such theologians?
+ Charles Frederick Schaeffer, D.D.
+ William Julius Mann, D.D., LL.D.
+ Charles Porterfield Krauth, D.D., LL.D.
+ Charles William Schaeffer, D.D., LL.D.
+ Gottlob Frederick Krotel, D.D., LL.D.
+ Adolph Spaeth, D.D., LL.D.
Henry Eyester Jacobs, D.D., S.T.D., LL.D.
+ Jacob Fry, D.D., L.H.D., LL.D.
+ George Frederick Spieker, D.D., LL.D.
Henry Offermann, D.D.
+ Theodore Emanuel Schmauk, D.D., LL.D.
+ Edward Traill Horn, D.D., LL.D.
Luther Dotterer Reed, D.D.
Charles Michael Jacobs, D.D.
Charles Theodore Benze, D.D.
Emil Eisenhardt Fischer, D.D.
John Conrad Seegers, D.D.
Charles Peter Wiles, D.D.
Mid-Week Lenten Service, Because We Are Not an Emerging Church, 7 PM Central Daylight
Mid-Week Lenten Vespers
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship
Bethany Lutheran Worship, 7 PM Central Daylight Time
The Hymn #167 O Darkest Woe 3:66
The Order of Vespers p. 41
The Psalmody Psalm 23 p. 128
The Lection The Passion History
The Sermon Hymn #387 Dear Christians 3:41
The Sermon – Bearing the Sins of the World
The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer
The Collect for Grace p. 45
The Hymn #36 Now Thank We 3:40
Bearing the Sins of the World
The reading for tonight has a great contrast in it, the three-fold denial of Peter and the steadfastness of Jesus during His trial. In a sense it was a dual trial. Peter was accused outside of being a follower of Jesus. He denied it three times, as Jesus had predicted.
Jesus’ trial was a farce because He committed no sin and was no threat against the Roman Empire. Nevertheless, there was a constant effort to make sure He was guilty of something, even when He answered quietly.
During the time that Jesus was on trial for His life, Peter was disassociating himself from Jesus.
Peter’s real trial was an emotional one. He was afraid and he answered out of fear. Even though he clearly marked himself as a Galilean by his accent, he was not arrested or hurt in any way. Not at that time.
Jesus trial was emotional and physical, because the attacks were directly against Him and it included a slug in the face.
When people complain about bearing the cross, as we all do, we should remember that it includes being slugged in the face, as Luther said. He meant, I am sure, there is nothing too low to use against an individual for adhering to the pure Word.
That is the contrast we have to live with. On the one hand, wolf-preaching is rewarded in every possible way. The more someone slays the souls of his followers—with false doctrine and various forms of predation—the more that person is praised, supported, honored by society.
One minister reported how his children offered to give him money from their piggy-banks when he was short. He mentioned that to a church member and the story became one where he was stealing money from his children’s piggy banks. That is being slugged in the mouth.
In the book and movie, One Foot in Heaven, people wanted to get rid of the minister, so they told people that a girl left town after the minister’s son got her in a family way, as they said in those days. That was a slug in the mouth. The minister tracked down the rumor-mongers and straightened them out. Next someone gave large donation to a church college so they would hire the minister away. What seemed like an honor turned out to be an insult, so the happiness first created was turned into a very bitter feeling. Unlike many clergy, the minister was against using money to dissolve his conscience.
The examples are given because our first reaction to that sort of effort, by seeming members of the church, is shock. Why should a believer get slugged in the mouth by another believer? The answer is – bearing the cross means that and more, because Jesus Himself accepted humiliation, torture, and death on our behalf.
Whenever we share a tiny bit of Jesus’ experience of the cross, we understand a little more about the Passion of Christ. And we have a little more empathy for those who are being persecuted, tortured and killed for their Christian faith – all across the world right now.
The extensive Passion narrative tells us that Jesus suffered every single horrible, human experience – the silence, fear, and escape of His disciples, the physical pain of His beating and crucifixion, the humiliating taunts of the soldiers and the crowd. He was taunted to prove His power, which we would have used ourselves. But He withheld that power, to fulfill the Scriptures and take away our sins.
Nothing we experience is alien to what Jesus already has done for us, and He suffered without being a sinner. This contrast has always been the strength of Christian martyrs, who knew that anything they did paled in comparison with what Christ suffered, including death.
The Christian experience of the cross helps us understand the Atoning death of Christ and trust in its power.
Redemption means that Christ has already paid the price for our sins with His innocent blood. That knowledge, revealed by the Holy Spirit through the Word, fills us trust in the love and mercy of God.
WELS Bra-Burners and the Spineless Leaders Who Enable Them
Yellow highlights are for known Shrinkers.
Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "WELS Follows ELCA and Pentecostals in Women's Libe...":
If you can wade through this tripe without laughing you just might be WELS
http://www.charis.wlc.edu/publications/charis_summer04/wendland.pdf
Does the title scream Confessional Lutheran? No.
202a.... WELS “Women Leaders–No Longer an Oxymoron”–Kathie Wendland
(http://www.churchandchange.org/home/2384/2384/CanCprogram.Web.pdf) page 8.
WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE TO BE HELD JULY 7, 2007
All WELS women are invited to attend the 2007 National WELS Women’s Leadership Conference, to be held July 7 at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, in Mequon, Wis. The conference will encourage and edify WELS women through discussions, skits, worship, and the introduction of a new Bible study, “Heirs Together—Serving Together.” The keynote discussion titled “A leader . . . Who? Me?” will be led by Kathie Wendland, women's Bible study writer and leader.
Other conference speakers include
- Bruce Becker, Board for Parish Services;
- Richard Gurgel, Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary;
- Dave Kehl, Commission on Adult Discipleship;
- Sarah Owens, Wisconsin Lutheran Institutional Ministries; and
- Jane Schlenvogt, Westside Christian School.
For more information or to register, contact 800-567-8669 or visit www.wels.net/jump/womenconf.
(http://www.wels.net/cgibin/
site.pl?2617&collectionID=1499&contentID=70941)
***
GJ - I kept telling people that WELS would have women pastors before Missouri. Now SP Quiche-nik is working hard to catch up.
Women's lib and gay lib go hoof-in-claw, so start picking your pink tutu for future graduation ceremonies.
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KJV 1 Timothy 2:12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
NIV 1 Timothy 2:12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.
NIB 1 Timothy 2:12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.
RSV 1 Timothy 2:12 I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent.
NRS 1 Timothy 2:12 I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.
NKJ 1 Timothy 2:12 And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.
YLT 1 Timothy 2:12 and a woman I do not suffer to teach, nor to rule a husband, but to be in quietness,
VUL 1 Timothy 2:12 docere autem mulieri non permitto neque dominari in virum sed esse in silentio
ELB 1 Timothy 2:12 Ich erlaube aber einer Frau nicht zu lehren, auch nicht über den Mann zu herrschen, sondern ich will, daß sie sich in der Stille halte,
LUO 1 Timothy 2:12 Einem Weibe aber gestatte ich nicht, daß sie lehre, auch nicht, daß sie des Mannes Herr sei, sondern stille sei.
SCH 1 Timothy 2:12 Einer Frau aber gestatte ich das Lehren nicht, auch nicht daß sie über den Mann herrsche, sondern sie soll sich still verhalten.
NLT 1 Timothy 2:12 I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly.
***
GJ - The Greek has a clear "but" as an explanation and additional emphasis. This was not Paul's personal opinion, but an application of God's Word. WELS' long history of mocking the Word, as shown by yet another First VP (Wayne Mueller before, now James Huebner) is bearing fruit in the feminist/Chicanery leadership at Mequon.
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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "WELS Bra-Burners and the Spineless Leaders Who Ena...":
Note how the NIV changed God's Word to make teach and usurp authority mean they can't teach a man or usurp authority over a man. The KJV uses the word 'nor' (neither or) to mean they can't teach in the church. (period) They can't usurp authority over the man in the church. (period)
1 Timothy 2:11-12 (KJV)
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
1 Timothy 2:11-12 (NIV)
A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man: she must be silent.
Here are some quotes from Luther which speak to the subject of women's roles in the church.
"As St. Paul says in Gal. 3:28, you must pay no attention to distinctions when you want to look at Christians. You must not say: “This is a man or a woman; this is a servant or a master; this person is old or young.” They are all alike and only a spiritual people. Therefore they are all priests. All may proclaim God’s Word, except that, as St. Paul teaches in 1 Cor. 14:34, women should not speak in the congregation. They should let the men preach, because God commands them to be obedient to their husbands. God does not interfere with the arrangement. But he makes no distinction in the matter of authority." Page 8, first full paragraph
"But in the New Testament the Holy Spirit, speaking through St. Paul, ordained that women
should be silent in the churches and assemblies [I Cor. 14:34], and said that this is the Lord’s commandment. Yet he knew that previously Joel [2:28 f.] had proclaimed that God would pour out his Spirit also on handmaidens. Furthermore, the four daughters of Philip prophesied (Acts 21[:9]). But in the congregations or churches where there is a ministry women are to be silent and not preach [I Tim. 2:12]. Otherwise they may pray, sing, praise, and say “Amen,” and read at home, teach one another, exhort, comfort, and interpret the Scriptures as best they can." Page 15, first paragraph
http://www.angelfire.com/ny4/djw/LutherGenderMinistry.pdf
WELS teaches now that God's Word doesn't teach until it's read by a duly appointed man, "...we believe that antiphonal worship is a proclamation or reading of God's inspired word and is not considered to be 'teaching' the congregation. Reading of scripture as a congregation is an activity to be encouraged in worship. Teaching of scripture is an activity that the Lord in His Word has clearly reserved for the Pastor or other duly appointed official man of the congregation."
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, WELS
WELS Follows ELCA and Pentecostals in Women's Liberation: Feminists Defeat the Feminine
Registration is now open for the second National WELS Women's Leadership Conference. Held at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis., the 2010 conference is scheduled for July 16-18. Early registration, which costs $110, runs through May 15. From May 16 to June 15, the registration cost is $130. No on-site registration is available.
The conference theme, "Leading with a Christ-like attitude," is based on Philippians 2:1-16. Three breakout sessions allow time for practical lessons in women's ministry. Topics include "Reaching women in the church," "Defining your leadership style," and "Overcoming conflict in service." The conference also includes general sessions, worship, and fellowship.
The leadership conference is sponsored by WELS Women's Ministry Committee, which has served under WELS Adult Discipleship since 2003. The conference theme reflects the group's mission to assist WELS congregations in "nurturing, encouraging, and equipping women to faithfully and fully use their God-given gifts to glorify God."
For more information or for online conference registration and how to get a buzzcut, visit www.wels.net/women or contact Adult Discipleship at 414-256-3278.
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GJ - It looks like the palace revolution has hit a sandbar. The Sausage Factory and Wisconsin Lutheran College are firmly in the hands of Fuller/ELCA wannabees.
Church and Changer Heads Seminary Continuing Education
The Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Governing Board appointed Rev. Richard Gurgel, a seminary professor, as the director of continuing education at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, on Mar. 8.
This appointment is part of a larger synodical initiative to encourage continuing education among called workers, as directed by the 2009 synod convention. The Conference of Presidents has reestablished the Committee for Continuing Education for Called Workers—consisting of representatives from the seminary, Martin Luther College, Ministerial Education, Home Missions, the Conference of Presidents, and the Congregation and Ministry Support Group—to coordinate a comprehensive, yet flexible, program.
"The goal for us as a seminary would be that called workers see our continuing education program as fitting beautifully with what they need to do day by day," says Gurgel. "They won't see a disconnect between the seminary and the parish."
Gurgel says one of his first tasks will be to put together a group of called workers as a think tank that would keep the seminary informed about current continuing education needs throughout the synod. He's also exploring ways to make online resources and courses available and reexamining existing continuing education offerings at the seminary.
The seminary has received two grants that will provide for the additional manpower and technology resources needed for the program to succeed. The seminary will be calling a new professor, which will allow Gurgel to devote half of his time to coordinating the continuing education program as well as give other seminary professors time to prepare or teach online continuing education courses during the year.
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GJ - Richard Gurgle, brother of failed SP Gurgle, is the one who blew up on the Church and Chicanery list about the lack of funds for CG projects.
This appointment will guarantee that Reformed doctrine will continue to be promoted at all levels at The Sausage Factory.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Video about ELCA Apostasy
Paul McCain and Al Barry were happy to have Missouri work with ELCA for nine years.
Ex-SP Gurgle was also happy to work with ELCA.
Notice how the video mentions ELCA teaching universal salvation, another form of the UOJ message.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
We Saw Sandra Bullock, Jesse James at a Local Meeting on Saturday
I went to a meeting with LI and saw Sandra Bullock and her husband. Mrs. Ichabod had to tell everyone, although she did not attend.
Our waitress today said, "Go on! Here? Bentonville?"
In fact, most of the biggest celebrities and best known politicians come through town to speak at Wal-Mart meetings.
Sandra and Jesse even helped lead the Wal-Mart cheer, doing the squiggle in the middle.
Bullock talked up her now famous movie, "The Blind Side."
Jesse spoke a little, kidding about everyone here being barefooted and playing banjos. The crowd loved that.
The country and western singers often show up at the monthly meetings and sing some of their music. Lady Antebellum was one of many.
Laetare - The Fourth Sunday in Lent
Laetare Sunday, The Fourth Sunday in Lent
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship
Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Daylight Savings Time
The Hymn # 151 Christ the Life 2:78
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #429 Lord Thee I Love 2:54
Three Responses to a Crisis
The Communion Hymn #508 Thou Whose 2:72
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 45 Now the Hour 2:95
KJV Galatians 4:21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? 22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
KJV John 6:1 After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. 2 And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. 3 And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. 4 And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. 5 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, 9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? 10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. 12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. 13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. 14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. 15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.
Fourth Sunday In Lent
Lord God, heavenly Father, who by Thy Son didst feed five thousand men in the desert with five loaves and two fishes: We beseech Thee to abide graciously also with us in the fullness of Thy blessing. Preserve us from avarice and the cares of this life, that we may seek first Thy kingdom and Thy righteousness, and in all things perceive Thy fatherly goodness, through Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God world without end. Amen.
Three Responses to a Crisis
This miracle story teaches us about how God provides and also about the Real Presence in Holy Communion.
First we need to recognize that Jesus was already answering the needs of the multitude before they arrived. He looked at them as they arrived and was answering their needs before they thought to ask. In fact, who would even ask for what Jesus provided?
In many cases, Jesus asked questions and performed acts so that people could see the power of God and remember the lessons being taught. The Gospel of John is careful to connect the miracles with the Word. Jesus performed miracles to authenticate the power of His teaching. No one else could perform such miracles and His divine status could not be denied.
Some people think the power revealed should have converted everyone. Even with such examples as a Grade Point Average, the assumed result is often the opposite of the actual result. I have many students who begin by declaring they want to graduate with a 4.0 GPA, an A in every single class. That is almost impossible, as I point out, but it is also annoying to everyone with less than a perfect average. By definition, going around bragging about that would irritate about 99% of all graduates (including me).
When Jesus performed miracles, He impressed everyone. Some followed Him to hear the Word. Others followed to see even more miracles. Still others were jealous and resentful, their hatred fired by His basic teaching – true righteousness comes from faith in Him, not from inside of them.
This lesson alone should teach us that the Word of God has the power to consecrate the elements and provide an infinite supply, but this very teaching of God’s grace and forgiveness, the Visible Word, annoys and irritates people so they write vast numbers of books and essays trying to disprove it.
First Response
Jesus asked questions of His disciples so they would remember and teach others how they misunderstood the Savior at many level. As the multitude approached, He asked them about getting them food.
He saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
Jesus asked, already knowing what He would do.
Philip was expressing the kind of response that comes from experience and human reason. Even if they had enough money, it would not be enough to provide for so vast a group. Of course, where would one find a supply so great in a dessert area.
Most people have had the experience of being on a highway where basic facilities were few and far between. Route 66 in Arizona can seem like a B movie where the passengers despair of finding a gas station or the humblest food place. We rejoiced on one stretch when we finally reached Oatman and found the burros on the road, begging for food. On another trip we watched the needle at E as we approached a town, hoping that E was an exaggeration.
Feeding a multitude in the desert is impossible. Everyone knows that.
Churches always agree – there is not enough money. One look at Third World churches will show that they get by on a lot less. One congregation refused to believe that a photo of a church was a church. It looked like a bad chicken house. For a tiny amount of money they built a decent but modest building – in India.
No one would know from church meetings that “God will provide,” and that He Himself knew what He would do.
Second Response
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, 9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
Andrew responded, using human reason again. They had a tiny amount of food, but it was not enough. Anyone could see that. No one thought to ask what Jesus would do.
Jesus’ Answer
Jesus had the men sit down in the grassy area. That had to be an oasis, since grass would not grow in the baking desert heat with no little rain falling.
Jesus blessed the bread and fish and had them distributed. Every single person had all he could eat, and there were more leftovers than they began with. This was the clearest possible sign that Jesus provided far more than anyone could have imagined, and He was planning this before He questioned His disciples.
Real Presence
This miracle reminds us of how God provides for our material needs.
But it also teaches us about consecration and the Real Presence. This miracle happened because of the Word. When God speaks, God’s will is accomplished. This has been true since the Word created at the beginning of time. Strangely, Lutherans will state their faith in Creation by the Word but ignore the obvious applications in all areas of the Christian faith.
When Jesus said, “This is My Body,” did He not mean those exact words? Why do people want to say, “This is only a symbol of My Body” and “This will be My Body when you receive it”?
Only a symbol – that is the Calvinistic revolt against the Real Presence, against the efficacy of the Word.
When you receive it – that is the Receptionist view, very similar to the Calvinistic view above, because it separates the work of the Holy Spirit from the Word. In the Receptionist view, a human act is required (receiving it) in order to make it the Body and Blood of Christ.
Understanding God’s Word as belonging to God alone, we can see that this weekly miracle is exactly what Jesus teaches us in the Last Supper. It is the Body and Blood of Christ and it does take away our sin.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Pietists Turn Into Tree-Huggers Like These
Sure, some of you are saying, "There he goes again." Even Beavis and Butthead laughed at them.
Pietistic movements always turn into Unitarian feel-good projects, finally into freaky replacements for worshiping the Holy Trinity.
Here is ELCA's latest eructation.
I rest my case.
The Roman Catholic Difference
to promote anti-Lutheran doctrine.
I went to school with Roman Catholic priests, nuns, and brothers (as in Christian Brothers, the teaching bunch). They are never as ardent as the converts. In fact, many of the Roman religious are secret Lutherans.
However, when people want to know about religion, the Catholic Church uses a vast network of apologists, recruiters, websites, and books to immerse people in the alleged truth of Roman Catholicism. They also have professors, at such seminaries as Concordia Ft. Wayne and Concordia St. Louis, who will start people on the road to Rome, even if they have to take a bypass through Constantinople.
The so-called conservative synods (LCMS, ELS, WELS) imagine that evangelism means learning from Fuller, Trinity, Mars Hill, Willow Creek, Saddleback, Granger, Groeschel, and Stanley. So these synods teach that:
- Lutheran doctrine, worship, and practice are dead wrong.
- Pietistic cell groups are essential.
- Women should be pastors, teach men, and usurp authority.
Given those facts, which no one can refute, what will the results be?
The results will be exactly what we see today:
- Conservative Lutheran clergy are joining Rome.
- Lutheran laity are leaving the visible Lutheran church.
- Roman Catholicism is growing and thriving.
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rhs (http://rhs.myopenid.com) has left a new comment on your post "The Roman Catholic Difference":
All of the so-called conservative synods (LCMS, ELS, WELS) have their bad apples and renegade pastors like Jeske. That does not mean they deserve to be painted with the same broad brush, nor ascribed the same bad practices.
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GJ - I toss bad apples out.
A little leaven, to change the metaphor, leaveneth the whole lump.
In the Arizona-California-Nevada district of WELS, six pastors were yanked by the previous DP.
And yet, Jeff Gunn has been promoted to the board at Wisconsin
But Gunn has not been disciplined at all, because he is the darling of Church and Change. Rich pals have subsidized his folly, just as Arizona Lutheran Academy (WELS) has provided a home.
The best way to judge a denomination is not from its documents but from its actual practices, which reveal its heart-felt doctrine.
ELCA's latest plunge into gay lib is a perfect example.
Another Ichabod Convert - To Romanism!
One reader who fought against Church Growth in WELS began talking about joining the Roman Catholic Church. I hope I talked her out of it.
Another reader loved all the quotations I provided. He had long discussions and debates with various UOJ advocates. He loved Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant - and he phoned to tell me he joined the Catholic Church as the "one true church."
Third Case
I saw this posting on the Internet and recognized the author, Jerry Parker, as a Lutheran who went to the Kokomo conference, held at the farm where one family received the Left Foot of Fellowship for denying the Kokomo Statements. The other family was also there.
Jerry Parker is a retired librarian. We exchanged many emails over the years, but none for quite a long time.
I was just thinking today that many people are being driven away from the Lutheran Church by UOJ, Receptionism (Calvinism in disguise), and Church Growthism. This is another case.
This is one more case, in my opinion. The ELS, LCMS, and WELS no longer have a Lutheran voice, but they will not admit it. The leaders have not tried Lutheran doctrine and found it wanting. They have hardly tried it at all.
And they have proven hundreds of times that someone is promoted for studying at Fuller Seminary, defenestrated for questioning Fuller. The results are exactly what anyone would expect.
But the denial continues. The Lutheran Church leaders of this era have much to answer for the souls they have destroyed, the marriages they have broken up with their adultery, and the children they have abused.
Holy Mother Church in Trouble: Catholic Child Abuse Stories Across Europe
ought to be wearing these clerical robes.
DUBLIN – It often starts as a voice in the wilderness, but can swell into an entire nation's demand for truth. From Ireland to Germany, Europe's many victims of child abuse in the Roman Catholic church are finally breaking social taboos and confronting the clergy to face its demons.
Ireland was the first in Europe to confront the church's worldwide custom of shielding pedophile priests from the law and public scandal. Now that legacy of suppressed childhood horror is being confronted in other parts of the Continent — nowhere more poignantly than in Germany, the homeland of Pope Benedict XVI.
The recent spread of claims into the Netherlands, Austria and Italy has analysts and churchmen wondering how deep the scandal runs, which nation will be touched next, and whether a tide of lawsuits will force European dioceses to declare bankruptcy like their American cousins.
"You have to presume that the cover-up of abuse exists everywhere, to one extent or another. A new case could appear in a new country tomorrow," said David Quinn, director of a Christian think tank, the Iona Institute, that seeks to promote family values in an Ireland increasingly cool to Catholicism.
Quinn noted that stories of systemic physical, sexual and emotional abuse circulated privately in Irish society for decades, but only moved above ground in the mid-1990s when former altar boy Andrew Madden and orphanage survivor Christine Buckley went public with lawsuits and exposes of how priests and nuns tormented them with impunity.
Floodgates opened for Irish complaints that have topped 15,000 in this country of 4 million. Three government-ordered investigations have shocked and disgusted the nation, which has footed most of the bill to settle legal claims topping euro1 billion (nearly $1.5 billion).
"A lot comes down to: When does that first victim gather the courage to come forward into the spotlight?" Quinn said. "It seems to take that trigger event, the lone voice who says what so many kept silent so long. That's basically happening now in Germany. It could happen next in Spain, Poland, anywhere."
In January, an elite Jesuit school in Berlin declared it was aware of seven child-abuse cases in its past and appointed an outside investigator, Ursula Raue, to seek testimony. Within weeks, she had gathered stories of long-suppressed woe from more than 100 ex-students abused by their Jesuit masters, and from 60 molested by parish priests.
"I always thought that at some point the wave would reach us," said Petra Dorsch-Jungsberger, a commentator on Catholic affairs and retired University of Munich communications professor.
She credited heavy German media coverage of the latest Irish abuse scandal — a November report into decades of cover-up in the Dublin Archdiocese involving approximately 170 priests — with inspiring similar soul-searching in Germany.
"Once the door had been opened, then many others felt they were able to step up and say: That happened to us too," she said.
In recent weeks, new German abuse claims have surfaced on a near-daily basis and spread to Pope Benedict's Bavarian heartland and the Regensberg boys' choir long directed by the pope's brother. Benedict was Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger of Munich from 1977 to 1982, and questions now focus on what role, if any, the pontiff, played in handing pedophile priests to new parishes rather than to the law.
A Swiss abbot said in an interview published Saturday that 60 people have reported being victims of abuse by Catholic priests in Switzerland.
Abbot Martin Werlen of the Benedictine Abbey of Einsiedeln told Swiss daily Aargauer Zeitung that the allegations were reported to the Swiss Bishops Conference, which is investigating them.
The Vatican on Saturday denounced what it called aggressive attempts to drag Pope Benedict XVI into the spreading scandals of pedophile priests in his German homeland, and contended he has long confronted abuse cases with courage.
In separate interviews, both the Holy See's spokesman and its prosecutor for sex abuse of minors by clergy sought to defend the pope.
"It's rather clear that in the last days, there have been those who have tried, with a certain aggressive persistence, in Regensburg and Munich, to look for elements to personally involve the Holy Father in the matter of abuses," Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi told Vatican Radio.
It's inevitable that all bishops of the day, including Ratzinger, handled abuse complaints against priests in-house, said the Rev. Fergus O'Donoghue, editor of the Irish Jesuit journal Studies.
"The pope was no different to any other bishop at time. The church policy was to keep it all quiet — to help people, but to avoid scandal. Avoiding scandal was a huge issue for the church," he said. "Of course there was cover-up," he added. But worse was "the systematic lack of concern for the victims."
In the Netherlands, a former Catholic boarding-school abuse victim is leading a campaign for accountability. Bert Smeets, 58, has formed Mea Culpa, a victims group that has collected testimony from hundreds of abuse victims and is mulling a class-action lawsuit against the Dutch church.
The church has apologized to the victims and set up an inquiry headed by a former government minister, a Protestant. Smeets dismisses that effort as "a typical Vatican cover-up." He said the pressure on the church came from aggressive investigations into abuse in Ireland and the U.S.
In other predominantly Catholic areas of Europe, child-abuse scandals have tarnished individual priests and even a Polish archbishop, but have not mushroomed into a mass movement. In Spain, more than a dozen priests have been convicted of child abuse in recent decades and two potentially larger-scale cases are attracting attention.
Ireland was until relatively recently the most enthusiastically Catholic country in Europe. Its half-dozen seminaries exported priests worldwide. All but one of those seminaries is closed now, illustrating the rapid falloff in Mass attendance as the economy has advanced and secularism has spread.
Quinn, the Dublin think-tank director, noted that a few Irish dioceses are openly warning that they're struggling to pay bills stemming from abuse claims. In the southeast diocese of Kells, the archbishop's house has had to be remortgaged.
"The church is asset-rich but cash-poor," Quinn said, noting that it's the biggest property owner in Ireland but has comparatively little cash in the bank. He said the Vatican, too, has less money on tap than resides in the endowment fund of a typical top-tier U.S. university.
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GJ - The Roman Catholic Church is getting the press coverage because they are so large and the victims' groups are well organized. People like to blame the celibacy rule, which has always been winked at in the past.
Lutherans have no celibacy requirement but all the synods have the same stories and the same criminal cover-ups. When Gaylin Schmeling was a mere parish pastor (Bethany Seminary president now), he said he did not like these things coming out, because "It hurts the face of the church."
I was in the audience, so that was Schmeling's way of denouncing me in front of others. I previously gave him the documentation about what was happening in Columbus, thanks to the criminal cover-up of WELS and the supine attitude of the Michigan District pastors.
The odd thing about Schmeling's comment in his so-called adult class was that he said the opposite privately: "If half of this is true, we are in real trouble." I replied, "All of it is true."
No one ever got promoted in WELS or the ELS by dealing honestly with problems. The more severe the scandal, the greater the reaction in denying all of the facts.
The ELS chose to remain silent and even took over the WELS scandal on their own, adopting Floyd Luther Stolzenburg and his Masonic congregation as their own love-child, as long as he sent money their way. Jay Webber, John Shep, and Roger Kovaciny were happy to work with Floyd and Floyd bragged about his world missionary work.
I used to send Floyd's boasts around, so people could read the story in his own words. Someone was sending me Floyd's church newsletter, and the church website told the same story, with photos provided.
The ELS hushed it up and the newsletters went silent. The website pages disappeared. Like the Roman Catholic Church, they could say, "What problem?"
The lawsuits are starting to catch up with these dignitaries. Perhaps the prosecutors will also catch up with the facts.
Picking Out Hims
The Vatican has been thrown into chaos by reports that one of the Pope's ceremonial ushers, as well as a member of the elite Vatican choir, were involved in a homosexual prostitution ring.
The allegations came to light after Italian newspapers published transcripts of phone calls recorded by police, who had been conducting an unrelated corruption investigation.
The tapes appear to record Angelo Balducci, a Gentleman of His Holiness, negotiating with Thomas Chinedu Ehiem, a 29-year-old Nigerian Vatican chorister, about men he wanted brought to him for sexual purposes. Balducci was allegedly paying 2,000 euros ($2,714) for each man he met, according to the Irish Times.
Balducci is recorded describing precise physical details of the men he wanted. The transcripts record that during five months in 2008, Ehiem procured for Balducci at least 10 contacts with, among others, "two black Cuban lads," a former male model from Naples, and a rugby player from Rome.
A report by the Italian Carabinieri on the case said: "In order to organize casual encounters of a sexual nature, he availed himself of the intercession of two individuals who, it is maintained, may form part of an organized network, especially active in [Rome], of exploiters or at least facilitators of male prostitution."
The police probe into corruption resulted in Balducci and 4 others being arrested. Allegations of prostitution were only revealed later, and have resulted in Ehiem's dismissal from the Vatican choir.
Balducci held a high position within the Vatican and carried the coffin of Pope John Paul at his 2005 funeral. He has now lost his position as a Gentleman of the Holiness. His trial for corruption is still pending.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Pope Benedict Finds the Abuse Scandal at His Front Door Now
VATICAN CITY – Germany's sex abuse scandal has now reached Pope Benedict XVI: His former archdiocese disclosed that while he was archbishop a suspected pedophile priest was transferred to a job where he later abused children.
The pontiff is also under increasing fire for a 2001 Vatican document he later penned instructing bishops to keep such cases secret.
The revelations have put the spotlight on Benedict's handling of abuse claims both when he was archbishop of Munich from 1977-1982 and then the prefect of the Vatican office that deals with such crimes — a position he held until his 2005 election as pope.
And they may lead to further questions about what the pontiff knew about the scope of abuse in his native Germany, when he knew it and what he did about it during his tenure in Munich and quarter-century term at the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Benedict got a firsthand readout of the scandal Friday from the head of the German Bishop's Conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, who reported that the pontiff had expressed "great dismay and deep shock" over the scandal, but encouraged bishops to continue searching for the truth.
Hours later, the Munich archdiocese admitted that it had allowed a priest suspected of having abused a child to return to pastoral work in the 1980s, while Benedict was archbishop. It stressed that the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger didn't know about the transfer and that it had been decided by a lower-ranking official.
The archdiocese said there were no accusations against the chaplain, identified only as H., during his 1980-1982 spell in Munich, where he underwent therapy for suspected "sexual relations with boys." But he then moved to nearby Grafing, where he was suspended in early 1985 following new accusations of sexual abuse. The following year, he was convicted of sexually abusing minors.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, issued a statement late Friday noting that the Munich vicar-general who approved the priest's transfer had taken "full responsibility" for the decision, seeking to remove any question about the pontiff's potential responsibility as archbishop at the time.
Victims' advocates weren't persuaded.
"We find it extraordinarily hard to believe that Ratzinger didn't reassign the predator, or know about the reassignment," said Barbara Blaine, president and founder of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
Already, the scandal was inching closer to Benedict after allegations of abuse surfaced at the prestigious choir that was led by his brother, Georg Ratzinger, from 1964 until 1994. Ratzinger has repeatedly said the sexual abuse allegations date from before his tenure as choir director and that he never heard of them, although he acknowledged slapping pupils as punishment.
The pope, meanwhile, continues to be under fire for a 2001 Vatican letter he sent to all bishops advising them that all cases of sexual abuse of minors must be forwarded to his then-office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and that the cases were to be subject to pontifical secret.
Germany's justice minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, has cited the document as evidence that the Vatican created a "wall of silence" around abuse cases that prevented prosecution. Irish bishops have said the document had been "widely misunderstood" by the bishops themselves to mean they shouldn't go to police. And lawyers for abuse victims in the United States have cited the document in arguing that the Catholic Church tried to obstruct justice.
But canon lawyers insisted Friday that there was nothing in the document that would preclude bishops from fulfilling their moral and civic duties of going to police when confronted with a case of child abuse.
They stressed that the document merely concerned procedures for handling the church trial of an accused priest, and that the secrecy required by Rome for that hearing by no means extended to a ban on reporting such crimes to civil authorities.
"Canon law concerning grave crimes ... doesn't in any way interfere with or diminish the obligations of the faithful to civil laws," said Monsignor Davide Cito, a professor of canon law at Rome's Santa Croce University.
The letter doesn't tell bishops to also report the crimes to police.
But the Rev. John Coughlin, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame Law School, said it didn't need to. A general principle of moral theology to which every bishop should adhere is that church officials are obliged to follow civil laws where they live, he said. [GJ - Except in WELS/ELS]
Yet Bishop John McAreavey of Dromore in Northern Ireland, told a news conference this week that Irish bishops "widely misinterpreted" the directive and couldn't get a clear reading from Rome on how to proceed.
"One of the difficulties that bishops expressed was the fact that at times it wasn't always possible to get clear guidance from the Holy See and there wasn't always a consistent approach within the different Vatican departments," he said.
"Obviously, Rome is aware of this misinterpretation and the harm that this has done, or could potentially do, to the trust that the people have in how the church deals with these matters," he said.
An Irish government-authorized investigation into the scandal and cover up harshly criticized the Vatican for its mixed messages and insistence on secrecy in the 2001 directive and previous Vatican documents on the topic.
"An obligation to secrecy/confidentialtiy (sic) on the part of participants in a canonical process could undoubtedly constitute an inhibition on reporting child sexual abuse to the civil authorities or others," it concluded.
In the United States, Dan Shea, an attorney for several victims, has introduced the Ratzinger letter in court as evidence that the church was trying to obstruct justice. He has argued that the church impeded civil reporting by keeping the cases secret and "reserving" them for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
"This is an international criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice," Shea told The Associated Press.
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GJ - Church officials think they are above the law because of their special status. DP Robert Mueller complained of the burden of checking out pastoral candidates for abuse. If he and Paul Kuske had done their jobs or told the truth, the Columbus situation would not have happened. The ELS knew all about it because I informed Gaylin Schmeling, Jay Webber and others, providing the documents. What did they do, those pious condemners of WELSian laxity? The ELS adopted Floyd Luther Stolzenburg for their very own, with Archbishop John Shep's approval.
The free vacations and expensive trips they got were very impressive, just another way these leaders
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By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Writer Frances D'emilio, Associated Press Writer – 5 mins ago
Update
VATICAN CITY – The Vatican on Saturday denounced what it called aggressive attempts to drag Pope Benedict XVI into the spreading scandals of pedophile priests in his German homeland.
It also insisted that church confidentiality doesn't prevent bishops from reporting abuse to police.
The Vatican's campaign to defend the pope's reputation and resolve in combatting clergy abuse of minors followed acknowledgment by the Munich archdiocese that it had transferred a suspected pedophile priest to community work while Benedict was archbishop there.
Benedict is also under fire for a 2001 church directive he wrote while a Vatican cardinal, instructing bishops to keep abuse cases confidential.
Germany's justice minister has blamed the directive for what she called a "wall of silence" preventing prosecution.
Skeptical about the Vatican's handling of abuse, a U.S.-based advocacy group for abuse victims, Survivors Network of those Abused for Priests, urged faithful to bring candles and childhood photos to vigils outside churches, cathedrals and German consulates across the U.S. this weekend to remind people to "call police, not bishops" in cases of suspected abuse.
ELCA Bishops Mention Traditional Marriage To Keep Their Congregations
He would have learned more on a dairy farm.
ELCA NEWS SERVICE
March 11, 2010
ELCA Conference of Bishops Comments on Ministry Policy Revisions
10-088-JB
ITASCA, Ill. (ELCA) -- The Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) offered its counsel on revisions to churchwide ministry policy documents before they are sent to the ELCA Church Council, which is expected to consider them for adoption next month.
The ELCA Conference of Bishops is an advisory body of the church, consisting of the ELCA's 65 synod bishops plus the presiding bishop and ELCA secretary. It met here March 4-9.
The bishops commented on and offered a few amendments to four documents:
+ "ELCA Candidacy Manual," used by synod committees to help guide ministry candidates on behalf of the ELCA from the time they consider a call to the ministry through their seminary years
+ "Vision and Expectations: Ordained Ministers," a document that outlines the ELCA's expectations of its clergy
+ "Vision and Expectations: Associates in Ministry, Deaconesses and Diaconal Ministers," a similar document for professional lay workers
+ "Definitions and Guidelines for Discipline," which explains grounds for discipline of professional leaders.
Revised drafts of each document, incorporating the bishops' suggestions, will be posted by March 16 at http://www.ELCA.org/ministrypolicies on the ELCA Web site, said the Rev. Stanley N. Olson, executive director, ELCA Vocation and Education.
Revisions to each document are needed as the result of decisions made by the 2009 Churchwide Assembly. The assembly approved proposals that would create the possibility for Lutherans in committed, publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationships to serve as ELCA clergy and professional lay leaders. The revised documents are intended to spell out policies consistent with the assembly's action. Several unrelated updates are also being proposed.
Bishops suggested some specific amendments to Vision and Expectations (V&E). The Rev. James F. Mauney, bishop, ELCA Virginia Synod, Salem, asked that a line be inserted in the text that stated: "This church is committed to the sanctity of marriage." The document uses the term marriage to refer to marriage between a man and a woman.
"I would find that as an extremely helpful tool in going back to my synod. Using that phrase allows many in the life of our church to walk with us and stay with us," he said.
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GJ - Sure, bishop, if you say so. A nod to traditional marriage will bind those congregations to ELCA, after 23 solid years of lobbying for an alternative clergy and wearing those rainbow stoles at the August 2009 convention.
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bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "ELCA Bishops Mention Traditional Marriage To Keep ...":
Does the document actually spell out marriage as being "between a man and woman," or is that just the media's and bishops' take on the document? I'd say if it's not explicit, the bishops are just trying to pull a fast one.
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"The document uses the term marriage to refer to marriage between a man and a woman."
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Norman Teigen has left a new comment on your post "ELCA Bishops Mention Traditional Marriage To Keep ...":
Good job, GJ, on the proofreading. Don't you just love those typos? Dairy, diary.
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GJ - As Norman knows from this blog, we all make mistakes. But I am struck by ELCA not noticing that howler for a long time. They canned 47 staffers recently. Perhaps one was the proof-reader.
Norman edits my work for free. The Shrinkers used to jibber and shout when I posted a typo, but now they refrain from posting altogether, once I switched to OpenID.
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