Monday, February 25, 2013

Roman Catholic Officials Destroyed Evidence?
So Do WELS and Missouri

Before - Cardinal Bevilacqua

After.

In 2003 and 2004, Bevilacqua testified 10 times before grand juries regarded accusations that he had protected and shielded priests accused of molesting children. A final grand jury report said it had no doubt that the cardinal knew about the danger posed by the accused priests and that his actions endangered thousands of children in the archdiocese.

In 2012, a document was discovered showing that Cardinal Bevilacqua had ordered Monsignor James Molloy, now deceased, who served in the Office of the Vicar to Cardinal Bevilacqua until 1994, to destroy a list of 35 abusive priests. Monsignor William Lynn was accused of covering up cases of abuse by archdiocesan priests, having at the time been the highest U.S. Catholic Church official to face criminal charges.^[9]^[10]

During the trial of Monsignor Lynn, on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (), it was revealed that Monsignor Michael Picard, a local Pastor (St. Andrew Church, Newtown, Pennsylvania), was punished by Cardinal Bevilacqua, who did not tolerate even the appearance of dissent from his priests. [GJ - Does that sound familiar to WELSians, Missourians, and Little Sectians?]

***

GJ -

Evidence in the murder of Pastor Tabor's wife "disappeared" from the files at the Love Shack.

LCMS SP Harrison ordered Steadfast Lutherans, a holy-owned subsidiary of the Purple Palace, to erase the thread on twice-convicted sex offender Darwin Schauer.

The Michigan District's Church Growth expert, kicked out of the LCMS ministry, for cause, had a "Scriptural divorce," they told everyone.

DP Seifert, following in the hoof-steps of Robert Mueller, did not tell his own ministerium that they had a married vicar who had an affair with a minor girl in the congregation.

Top British Cardinal Resigns After Accusations of Committing ‘Inappropriate Acts’ - NYTimes.com

Cardinal Mahoney.

Top British Cardinal Resigns After Accusations of Committing ‘Inappropriate Acts’ - NYTimes.com:

"“Everybody’s been struck by how quickly Rome responded,” said Austen Ivereigh, director of the British church advocacy group Catholic Voices. “Clearly Rome saw that there was sufficient substance to the allegations. They would not have told him to stand down unless they thought there was something worth investigating.”

The move leaves Britain without a voting cardinal in the conclave, and is bound to raise questions about other cardinals. It comes amid a campaign by some critics to urge Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles not to attend the conclave because of his role in moving priests accused of abuse to other parishes."

'via Blog this'

---

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2013/02/roger_mahony_letter_jose_gomez_priest_sex_abuse.php

Despite being stripped of public and administrative duties, Mahony, who lives at a North Hollywood parish, remained "in good standing in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, with full rights to celebrate the Holy Sacraments of the Church and to minister to the faithful without restriction," Gomez said today.

A statement by David Clohessy, director of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) said the the rebuke was not enough for Mahony:

Hand-slapping Mahony is a nearly meaningless gesture. When he had real power, and abused it horribly, he should have been demoted or disciplined by the church hierarchy, in Rome and in the US. But not a single Catholic cleric anywhere had the courage to even denounce him.

SNAP leader Esther Hatfield:

In truth, LA church officials - including Cardinal Roger Mahony, Archbishop Jose Gomez, Bishop Thomas Curry and others - have relentlessly and expensively and successfully fought for years to keep these horrific secrets secret.

It's ludicrous for Mahony, Gomez and Curry to claim to be "forthcoming" with records they've successfully kept hidden for decades, using millions of dollars from generous parishioners to pay high prices lawyers to obstruct disclosures.

We hope citizens and Catholics will read these records.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

---

http://americablog.com/2013/02/disgraced-la-cardinal-mahony-believes-hes-kinda-like-jesus-on-the-cross.html

Last week, Mahony caused a stir by asking God to “forgive” his accusers, who by implication have done Mahony wrong.

This week, Mahony is comparing himself to Jesus on the cross. I’m hardly the authority on Christianity, but I’m pretty sure that Jesus never shielded and protected child-rapist pritests.

Catholic priest scandal via Shutterstock

Cardinal Mahony’s blog post last week:

To be honest with you, I have not reached the point where I can actually pray for more humiliation. I’m only at the stage of asking for the grace to endure the level of humiliation at the moment.

In the past several days, I have experienced many examples of being humiliated. In recent days, I have been confronted in various places by very unhappy people. I could understand the depth of their anger and outrage–at me, at the Church, at about injustices that swirl around us.

Thanks to God’s special grace, I simply stood there, asking God to bless and forgive them.

***

GJ - The Martin Luther College students, who made the gay-style music video, publicly forgave me for posting a WELS member's objections to their prancing and crotch grabbing.

Now they are sorry they did it - and the video will live forever.

Scandal threatens to overshadow pope's final days - CNN.com

Everyone knew Obrien was gay when he said,
"This new outfit looks hideous."

Scandal threatens to overshadow pope's final days - CNN.com:

Archbishop's resignation

The Vatican confirmed Monday that Benedict had accelerated the resignation of Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the archbishop of Scotland.

O'Brien told the pope in November that he would resign effective with his 75th birthday, on March 17. But Benedict decided to make the resignation effective immediately in light of the pope's imminent resignation, the Scottish Catholic Media Office said.

'via Blog this'

WELS and Missouri Are Not Alone. VirtueOnline - News.
Roman Catholic Leadership Scandals

Ex-Cardinal Keith O'Brien

VirtueOnline - News:

The Scandal of the Cardinals. The Disgrace of Episcopal Bishops
The Episcopal Church embraces what Rome calls "intrinsically disordered"

News Analysis

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
February 25, 2013 lesbigay flag

Leading Episcopal gay and lesbian clergy and laity are publicly gloating over revelations that more leading Roman Catholic leaders have been quietly practicing what they themselves openly practice and preach.

In the name of transparency, integrity, openness, inclusion and diversity, the Episcopal Church has rolled over to the zeitgeist and embraced pansexuality, even as leading Catholic prelates have been exposed for their sexual behavior paralleling a number of Episcopal bishops. Four of them have publicly outed themselves including Gene Robinson, Mary Glasspool, Otis Charles and Tom Shaw, while other Episcopal bishops clandestinely practice sodomy but have chosen not to "come out" preferring to remain closeted with their sexual practices.

Who is surprised to learn that there are gay priests in the Vatican, asked Jim Naughton in a headline at his liberal blog Episcopal Café? "It is common knowledge that punitive attitudes about sexuality and the pressure to keep one's identity hidden can lead to unhealthy behavior. People who hide their identities and engage in these behaviors are open to blackmail. So this news is less shocking than it is predictable. The church's repressive teaching and the subterfuge it engenders--from officials of all sexual orientations--is what is undermining the church."

Or this:

"Perhaps we need to add to the list of known knowns and unknown unknowns, the "known but not acknowledged." One of the principal facts of scandal is that there is a fact, a reality that is revealed publicly. So I would not automatically dismiss this as a possibility. After all, in addition to being Bishop of Rome, one might well observe that the pontiff is to some extent Prisoner of the Vatican... and many are the secrets held in pectore..."

Not surprisingly Britain's leading homosexual rights advocate, Peter Tatchell called Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Britain's most senior Roman Catholic a hypocrite following revelations of accusations of inappropriate behavior with male priests. "He appears to have preached one thing in public while doing something different in private." Cardinal O'Brien has condemned homosexuality as "a grave sin". He has now apologized to those he had offended for "failures" during his ministry and announced in a statement that he will be standing down as leader of the Scottish Catholic Church. Resigning Monday from the College of Cardinals, he will not take part in electing a new pope, even though he is only 74, thus leaving Britain unrepresented. leaving Britain unrepresented.

An ignominious end not unlike that of Bernard Francis Cardinal Law of Boston who resigned as Archbishop of Boston in 2002, in response to the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal after church documents were revealed suggesting he had covered up sexual abuse committed by priests in his archdiocese. Many believe he fled to Rome to escape prosecution in 2004. Pope John Paul II appointed Law as Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome. Cardinal Mahony

Cardinal Roger Mahony, who retired as head of the L.A. Archdiocese last year, was stripped of his remaining diocesan duties last month over his handling of priest sex abuse cases. He has repeatedly apologized for past mistakes. No criminal charges have been filed against him and he is still expected to participate in the upcoming Conclave despite a growing ground swell clamoring for him to recuse himself from helping to elect the next pope.

Ireland's Sean Brady, Belgium's Godfried Danneels, and Philadelphia's late Cardinal Justin Rigali have all been pilloried in the press over allegations they failed to protect children from pedophiles. Both Brady and Danneels are, by age, eligible to enter into the conclave. The Irish cardinal is 73 and Danneels will turn 80 in June.

Recent revelations in Italy have alleged the existence of a gay mafia within the Vatican, including senior Cardinals and other Vatican officials, and their alleged participation in gay bars, clubs, saunas, chat rooms and escort services.

Several press reports now suggest that Pope Benedict's stepping down might be over the tension of his knowing about the widespread, deeply entrenched "gay mafia" in the Vatican that only a new pope can root out.

Catholic theologian Larry Chapp noted in Benedict's statement that the reason why the Church needs someone with more physical strength at the helm is because the faith of the Church is facing what he calls a "grave crisis." I think he is saying there is something uniquely dangerous in the current situation of the Church and that unique thing is the de facto apostasy of so many within the Church, up to, and perhaps especially including, many members of the clergy and religious. Pope Benedict

In his book "Light of the World" Benedict says, "The greatest persecution of the Church comes not from her enemies without, but arises from sin within the Church." The retiring pontiff seems to have found this out through sad experience.

That homosexuality has become the lightning rod issue of our times for nearly all the major Christian denominations is a horrific story which is still unfolding and to which we may now only be seeing the tip of the iceberg.

Charges of hypocrisy notwithstanding, the Roman Catholic Church has stood by its claim that while its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained, based on Sacred Scripture which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. Peter Tatchell

Even if Tatchell's claim that around 40% of Catholic priests in Britain are gay and nearly half of all Cardinals worldwide are thought to be gay, (an unprovable assertion) this will not change the church's teaching nor does it negate Scripture's clear prohibition against any sort of sexual behavior outside marriage between a man and a woman.

The Roman Catholic Church will hold firm to Scripture, history and tradition to maintain its position regardless of how many priests, bishops and cardinals are living double lives and broken the moral law.

The Episcopal Church on the other hand, has embraced the entire panoply of sexualities - LGBTQI - with devastating consequences to its future. The Roman Catholic Church can still claim a billion souls, even as the West broadly continues its decline away from organized (or even disorganized) religion.

Sociologist and culture analyst Dr. Os Guinness is on record as stating that inclusivity is indifference to truth which he calls "profoundly dangerous". In a conversation with a Roman Catholic cardinal, he noted that while the Borgia popes, one of whom fathered children with his own daughter, never denied a single issue of the creed, Episcopal leaders in The Episcopal Church deny much of the creed and remain in post.

Guinness argues that the Church has always made distinctions because truth matters. "Inclusivity is indifference to truth. There is respectful tolerance (based on freedom of conscience) and sloppy tolerance, which is muddle headed, ethically folly and a slipway to real evil."

Hypocrisy over sexuality issues, including gay marriage, may well drive many out of the Roman Catholic Church, but still and all, that branch of Christendom survives and in some geographical instances still thrives. The rise of Catholicism and, of course, Anglicanism in Africa gives the lie that the Hawkins and Dawkins of this world are winning the God no-God debate. Post modernism is running its course to nowhere. Ghanaian Cardinal

Interestingly enough, even as the Roman Catholic Church searches about for a new leader, one possible candidate is Ghana Cardinal Peter Turkson, tipped to become first black pope in modern times. He publicly blames gay priests for abuse scandals facing the Catholic Church and said sex scandals would not happen in African churches. He has faced a predictable backlash after blaming gay priests for the clerical abuse crisis. He said that similar sex scandals would never convulse churches in Africa because the culture was inimical to homosexuality.

The Roman Catholic Church will survive, even though Evangelical Anglicans, who number in the tens of millions, will never bow the knee to Rome and liberal Protestant Christianity will continue its gadarene slide to oblivion.

END

'via Blog this'

Extra Nos: UOJ - the source of antinomianism

Extra Nos: UOJ - the source of antinomianism:

Monday, February 25, 2013

UOJ - the source of antinomianism

UPDATED:
I have Evangelical friends in USA. I felt their shock when I told them I have become Lutheran.
What I know horrified them was the thought I have become antinomian. These friends of mine seeing Lutherans in their midst and how they behave, believe that Lutherans are antinomians.

To them, they are "anything goes" Christians. Well of course, anything will go. For if you have been taught that God has ALREADY forgiven you before you were born, before you even believe and before even the Sacraments got applied to you, why won't anything go? Why won't anything go if you are forgiven even before you could repent and even believe? What sin is there that would make you uneasy when that sin has already been forgiven even before you commit it? Nothing.

UOJ does not produce trust, or Biblical faith. Rather it produces assent similar to what the Devil has, an agreement. Notice how UOJers malign faith. Sometimes, I sense their real hatred for the concept.

Since UOJ does not produce faith and since it is to them believing already what is there, it does not bring a change in the one who has "faith". So by Biblical teaching, the faith they speak of does not justify and since there is no justification and there is no consequent sanctification. Hence antinomianism.

If there are American Lutherans who are bothered by the antinomianism in their camp, they should look at the tree, and examine its fruit.

UPDATE:
Let me categorically say that lest you think antinomianism is my MAJOR objection to UOJ, then you are absolutely wrong about me. My MAJOR objection to UOJ is simple - it isCONTRARY to the Scripture and the Confessions. Antinomianism is just one of the fruits of a MAJOR error. For as can be expected false doctrine leads to false behavior.

'via Blog this'

The Lawsuits And Arrests Will Continue Until Something Changes

The excuse for priests is that they do not marry,
but what is the excuse for married, "conservative" Lutheran pastors?

Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "As Seen on Ichabod - Beware WELS and LCMS. Top Bri...":

Physical abuse, and in the case of the Lutheran Synods and Antichrist's Roman Catholic Church - sexual abuse, of the laity swiftly follows the Spiritual abuse that they have so willingly lavished upon the church.

Most recently (W)ELS subjected young boys to their communications director Hochmuth's appetite for man/boy rape as LCMS did with their staff minister and his penchant for pedophilia. What fruit should the (W)ELS expect from the homoerotic Party In The MLC video (fashioned after the sodomite Party In The Fire Island Pines)? How many men, women and children will suffer because of their defense of that offensive product of the New Age Emergent takeover of the (W)ELS education system.

As I told "Intrepid" Pastor Spencer who confessed that the controversy between the Lutheran Synod's gospel of Objective Justification and Christ's chief doctrine of Justification solely By Faith was a dead horse which was not worth the time - the ongoing spiritual abuse of the Laity due to UOJ can, and should, be likened to Hochmuth's physical abuse. The spiritual abuse, and certainly that regarding the Chief Article of Christian Faith, Justification, does much more harm than the heinous physical abuse.

The Lutheran Synods will continue to reap what they so willingly sowed - at the expense of Christ and His Church.

As Seen on Ichabod - Beware WELS and LCMS.
Top British Cardinal Resigns After Accusations of ‘Inappropriate Acts’ - NYTimes.com

Did he grab himself in a children's park, videotaped and published on YouTube,
still on Facebook?
That would brand him and his co-stars as registered sex offenders.

Top British Cardinal Resigns After Accusations of ‘Inappropriate Acts’ - NYTimes.com:

Top British Cardinal Resigns After Accusations of ‘Inappropriate Acts’

By ALAN COWELL and JOHN F. BURNS

Published: February 25, 2013

FACEBOOK
TWITTER
GOOGLE+
SAVE
E-MAIL
SHARE
PRINT
REPRINTS

LONDON — A day after a newspaper accused him of committing “inappropriate acts” in his relations with three priests and one former priest, Cardinal Keith O’Brien said on Monday that he had resigned as Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic cleric.

Connect With Us on Twitter

Follow@nytimesworldfor international breaking news and headlines.

Twitter List: Reporters and Editors

But he made no specific public comment on the account in The Observer newspaper on Sunday, which said accusations dating back to the 1980s had been forwarded to theVatican. Cardinal O’Brien also said he would not attend the deliberations at the Vatican over the selection of a new pope to replace Pope Benedict XVI, who stunned the Catholic world by announcing his own resignation on Feb. 11.

The cardinal’s dramatic move only days before Benedict’s formal departure on Thursday seemed likely to darken the shadow over the final days of a troubled papacy and the delicate transition to a new pope, evoking some of the most vexing issues of Benedict’s almost eight-year-reign.

A statement issued by the media office of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland said Cardinal O’Brien had informed the pope some time ago of his intention to resign as archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh as his 75th birthday approached on March 17 but no date had been set.

The pope has accepted that the resignation take effect on Monday, Cardinal O’Brien said - [a day after the Ichabod posting, blogger Gregory L. Jackson warned WELS and LCMS.]

'via Blog this'

Homosexual Archbishop R. Weakland was the featured speaker
at Wisconsin Lutheran College.

The Reminiscere Gospel Lesson - What Americanized Christianity Is Not

rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Reminiscere - The Second Sunday in Lent. Matthew 1...":

This lesson shows us what Americanized Christianity is not. When you carefully read what is supposed to be Bible studies, authored by non-theologians, you cannot help but notice that it is mostly based upon the notion that we have a vending machine God. We are supposed to say the right prayers, pull strings like a puppet master and we shall get what we want. The trust which flows from our faith understands that we receive our blessings according to the Lord's good measure. We are admonished to ask for whatever we want, but always trusting in His will.

***

GJ - The LCMS, WELS, and ELS are behind the movement to put popcorn in every nave, after removing the pipe organ and hymnals.

The vending machine god comes from Napoleon Hill, Paul Y. Cho,
and Robert Bankrupt Schuller, the true flounder of the Church Growth Movement.

This escapee from dreamland is the philosophical founder of success via positive thinking,
but he was obviously influenced by Asian occult religion, like Cho the Assemblies of God preacher.

UOJ Breeds Antinomian Excess, and the Price Will Be Paid.
WELS DPs and the SP Refuse To Deal with Reality

This ferocious puppy reminds me of DP Seifert and the rest
of the doctrinal cowards, who snarl at something good
and cover up whatever is evil and criminal.

Quote:

At the pastor/teacher conference last week, WELS Michigan District President John Seifert warned everyone specifically to get off the Intrepid Lutherans so they are not associated with Rydecki and his false doctrine.

I have also heard three reports of WELS pastors in that district going to laity to tell them to leave the Intrepids, with the same reason given as above.

Like SP Mark Schroeder, Seifert is a passionate opponent of justification by faith, an ardent exponent of universal forgiveness without faith (UOJ).

UOJ makes everything possible, everything justified. The DPs turn away from the true Law of God and base their rants on man-made law, Pharisaical legalism, invented tradition, and hatred of the Law (Antinomianism).

When Church and Change began, using synod funds, to promote Fuller Seminary dogma and later Emergent Church Unitarianism, where was Seifert?

When he was a Circuit Pastor, and Columbus started a Church Growth Agency with a divorced LCMS ex-pastor in charge (Floyd Luther Stolzenburg - for cause), where was Seifert?

When Stolzenburg and VP Kuske started a stealth Emergent Church congregation, Pilgrim Community, where Lutherans were told not to attend, where was Seifert?

When Church and Change--under Mark Jeske, Paul Kelm, Bruce Becker, Steve Witte, Don Patterson--grew and morphed into many sub-groups, where was Seifert?

But when a blog began to discuss Christian doctrine, a topic studiously avoided in WELS, Seifert and the DPs formed a chorus for selectively excommunicating justification by faith "heretics." Even while DP Buchholz told the congregation that they were still studying the issue, Jon-Boy kicked the pastor out of WELS. So - the DPs, previously motionless and inert, helpless and befuddled, roused themselves to sweep WELS clean of any Intrepids, who were in blog fellowship with R_________.

Meanwhile, Mark and Avoid Jeske has risen to new heights. He got himself appointed to the Thrivent Board, so he is now a paymaster for three synod presidents. He got himself a new gig at ABC-Disney as well, so many more people can hear his jumble of Napoleon Hill, Fuller Seminary, and Pietism.

Jeske is a vine of poison berries bearing much fruit. Proverbs 24:16 For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

Jeske had one of his cell group meetings, Men of His Word, in Fox Valley, at Bethany, where the pastor plagiarized Chuck Swindoll for his "devotion" in the church newsletter.

The floozy in her onesie is Katy Perry,
famous promoter of soft-core porn music videos.
Glende and Ski featured these photos on their Facebook pages.

Jeske planted his former employees, Ski and Bishop Katie, at a fake church called The CORE, which is only the evening service for St. Peter Cares in Freedom. No one will admit how much money Ski and Tim Glende have burned through in the name of The CORE, but an initial early figure was $250,000, as published by Rich Techlin. That was before it really got started. Recently, Ski bragged that they bought a stinky old bar in downtown Appleton for over $500,000 - with a generous grant from WELS.

How appropriate for the sect known for its alcoholic and adulterous clergy - to turn a bar into a church, since they turn their churches into bars, 24/7. Why not keep a keg-o-beer in the fridge at all times?

We know from the Tweets of Katie, Ski, and Glende that the trio went to countless Schwaermer sessions to train for the awesomeness of The CORE. They were not alone. Eight WELSian church workers (the kind featured at Martin Luther College Evangelism days) joined them at worship sessions of Andy Stanley, who recently outted himself as a gay activist. Did any DP object? No - DP wannabee Don Patterson took people to one, Exponential, and helped hired Ed Stetzer, another Babtist, to speak to WELS.

Did anyone with clout object to Ski and Glende plagiarizing Craig Groeschel, down to the graphics used for the canned sermons? A circuit pastor did - he was replaced. The DP - Deputy Doug Englebrecht - approved of the plagiarism, since so many WELS clergy do the same.