THEIST_WATCH Msg : 70 Written : 08/11/94 06:12pm From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : To :

THEIST_WATCH Msg : 70 Written : 08/11/94 06:12pm From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : To : ALL Subj : Clinton and the RCC Clinton and the R.C.C. Everyone is turning eyes to the Clinton/Roman Catholic confrontation which has been developing rapidly since the first of the year. The Roman Catholic church, with 60 million members in the United States, is adamant that abortion will not be included in the proposed Health Care Plan. Cardinal John O'Connor of New York City has put Clinton on notice that he will, himself, engage in civil disobedience if his archdiocese is forced to pay for abortions and he is backed by every Roman Catholic bishop in the United States. It has been O'Connor who has fought so desperately to keep condom distribution out of public schools in New York. Now, the force of the Roman Catholic attack in New York especially goes to Dr. Joycelyn Elders, the Surgeon General of the United States. Just one of her sentences from a June speech in New York is being recited throughout the Roman Catholic fiefdoms in the nation: "I tell every girl when she goes out on a date -- put a condom in your purse." The Roman Catholic hierarchy will have none of it. THEIST_WATCH Msg : 91 Written : 08/27/94 06:52pm From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : To : ALL Subj : Africa Bishops for Sex AFRICA NOT CROWDED ENOUGH, BISHOPS SAY On Saturday, August 27, Roman Catholic bishops in the Central African Republic announced their opposition to the proposed U.N. guidelines for population control. The Central African Republic is a landlocked nation of 3 million persons in 240,00 square miles. The average population growth rate there is 2.7 percent. The economic growth rate is 0.1 percent. Currently agricultural production is not meeting the population growth rate. And the solution for that, say the bishops, is to breed. In a position paper, the Episcopal Commission of Central African Bishops stated that "What this country needs is capital and people to till the land in order to realise its enormous potential. The insufficient population is actually slowing our development, particularly with the phenomenon of AIDS." The commission is opposed to birth control and abortion. THEIST_WATCH Msg : 93 Written : 09/04/94 07:28pm From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : To : ALL Subj : Marketing the Pope The pope is coming to New York City and Newark this fall -- and the American wing of the Robin Catholic church is looking forward to making from money from the event. The Archidiocese of Newark plans to sell special souvenir T-shirts, sweatshirts and rosary beads made by an East Orange, New Jersey, company. The archdiocese anticipates spending over $1 million dollars for the pope's one-day visit to its fair city. THEIST_WATCH Msg : 95 Written : 09/08/94 04:58pm From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : To : ALL Subj : School Sued for Abuse CATHOLIC REFORM SCHOOL SUED St. John's Training School for Boys, an Ontario Catholic reform school, has been sued for emotional, physical, and sexual damages by 28 men who claim that they were raped and beaten while they were children there. On Tuesday, September 6, a spokesperson for the men announced that they had sued the Toronto Christian Brothers for $1.4 million Canadian each. The lawsuits name 40 Christian Brothers and 24 staff members. The abuse is alleged to have occurred between 1944 and 1979. The suits state that the children "lived in an environment of constant terror," with "fear, sodomy, beatings." St. John's Training School has been under investigation by the police for four years. The police have filed 240 charges against 30 brothers and staff members at the school and at a sister school in Ottawa. Five persons have been convicted. One of the officers investigating police calls this "the largest case of institutional physical and sexual abuse in Canadian history." The Christian Brothers is a lay teaching order. THEIST_WATCH Msg : 101 Written : 09/23/94 03:20pm From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : RcA To : ALL Subj : Women's REAL Problem VATICAN DENOUNCES PORNOGRAPHY So what is the most horrible problem facing women worldwide? Inequality? Discrimination? Laws limiting their rights to education, property, birth control? Perhaps genital mutilation or selective abortion and infantcide of female children? Nope. None of the above --- at least according to the Roman Catholic church. On Friday, September 23, the RCC attacked pornography and the sexual portrayal of women in advertising. In a document being prepared for the U.N. Conference on Women in Beijing next year, the church claims that "the manipulation of the image of women in the media . . . has a profoundly negative effect on behavior towards women" and was the cause of violence against women. THEIST_WATCH Msg : 104 Written : 09/27/94 07:10pm From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : RcA To : ALL Subj : Trouble in the Ranks of the RCC? Could there is trouble brewing in the ranks of the Roman Catholic church? On Friday, September 23, Rembert Weakland, the archbishop of Milwaukee, called for a mandatory retirement age for the pope., saying that incapacitated leadership at the Vatican could weaken the church as a whole. What? God can't take care of the "vicar of Christ"? Is the archbishop afraid that the pope will become senile? THEIST_WATCH Msg : 113 Written : 10/04/94 10:32pm From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : RcA To : ALL Subj : Roman Catholic Church too Liberal On Monday, October 3, during the opening day of a synod on the role of priests and nuns in the Roman Catholic Church one man had a complaint. Cardinal Basil Hume of England said that the church was too liberal. Specifically, he stated, nuns and priests should be made to live in religious communities, wear traditional clothing, and not dissent publicly from official church teachings. THEIST_WATCH Msg : 116 Written : 10/06/94 06:56pm From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : To : ALL Subj : O'Conner Speaks for American Women CARDINAL O'CONNER SPEAKS FOR AMERICAN WOMEN On Thursday, October 6, Cardinal John O'Connor on Thursday, October 6, stated boldly, "I think the overwhelming majority of religious women in the United States support the church's stand on abortion." The statement was made during a news conference in Vatican City. He further commented, "If my life depended on having to name one, I couldn't" name one woman in his diocese who supported the right to abortion. O'Connor, who is archbishop of New York City, was in Rome attending a month-long synod on the life of priests, nuns, and friars. * WCE 2.0/[NR-1167] * American Atheists, P O Box 2117, Austin, TX 78768 THEIST_WATCH Msg : 121 Written : 10/07/94 06:37pm From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : To : ALL Subj : Roman Catholic Church & Politics ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE TO DISTRIBUTE VOTER GUIDE The Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester plans to distribute a voter's guide in churches. In preparation, the diocese has sent a 23-question survey to candidates in local and statewide races. The questionnaire includes questions on paying for education through property taxes, health care, abortion, gun control, and casion gamlbing. The voters' guide will include the results of the survey and the church's position on each each. The guides will be distributed in churches on the weekend before the November 8 election. --Robin Murray-O'Hair, Sysop, American Atheists Online * WCE 2.0/[NR-1167] * One Nation under God -- Iran! THEIST_WATCH Msg : 127 Written : 10/10/94 04:18pm From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : To : ALL Subj : The Pope's Family Rally They Never Stop Depending on what news source you want to accept either 60,000 (or 70,000 or 150,000) persons gathered in St. Peter's Square on October 7 to celebrate an "international rally for families." But, what's 10,000 to 90,000 persons in statistics between suckers-for-religious news. Representatives from either 100 or 130 (again depending on the news source) countries took part in the demonstration. The pope, addressing the crowd affirmed that only "the family is a guarantee of prevention (to social decay, violence, drugs and organized crime) and redemption" (in Christ). All could be achieved by parents holding "open dialogue" with their children to express their "vitality, joy, and enthusiasm." Pardon your Sysop while she pokes her head out the door of the American Atheist GHQ here and has open dialogue with the drive-by shooting teen-agers who are expressing their "vitality, joy, and en- thusiasm." In Rome, the pope had Mother Teresa at his side to recite a prayer. From the American Atheist BBS we have only logic on our side. * WCE 2.0/[NR-1167] * Atheism: There's no substitute for being right. THEIST_WATCH Msg : 137 Written : 10/14/94 10:23pm From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : RcA To : ALL Subj : Vatican on Divorce VATICAN SAYS DIVORCE STILL A SIN Teddy Kennedy, watch out! You are in trouble with the church for more than saying women should be allowed to be priests! On Friday, October 14, a nine-page letter by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was issued to all the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church. Approved by Pope John Paul II, the document stated that any remarried divorcees or couples "living in sin" should not be given Holy Communion. Noting that some individual Roman Catholic churches had struck a more tolerant attitude, the document stated that "The church affirms that a new union cannot be recognized as valid if the preceding marriage was valid." That is, if there is no annulment under church law of a preceding marriage, then the second marriage is against the Roman Catholic god's law. Making a fine point, the document also maintained that remarried divorcees who remained together for "serious motives" such as bringing up children could only receive communion if they abstain from sex. Or as the Vatican puts it, they must "take upon themseles the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married couples." Unmarried couples may participate in the life of the church -- whatever that means -- "in so far as is compatible with the dispositions of divine law, over which the church has no power of dispensation." To make the point, second spouses will be excluded from the beatification ceremony for Jesuit preist Alberto Hurtado on Sunday, October, 15. Among those exluded will be the wife of Chilean Christian Democrat lawmaker Juan Carlos Latorre. Apparently, the statement was partially in response to statements by German bishops that the church should respect the "good faith decision" of some Cathlics that their first marriages were invalid, even though they are unable to prove thus before a church tribunal. THEIST_WATCH Msg : 159 Written : 10/30/94 04:30pm From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : To : ALL Subj : 30 New Cardinals Appointed 30 NEW CARDINALS APPOINTED On Sunday, October 30, just in time for Halloween, Pope John Paul II selected 30 men as "cardinal electors" in the Roman Catholic church. The men will be installed in a "consistory" at the Vatican on November 26. The announcement was made during the midday Angelus prayers in St. Peter's Square. The pope noted that he hoped that the new cardinals would "reflect in a significant way the universality of the church and the multiplicity of its ministries." The new cardinals hail from 24 countries. These are Cuba, Vietnam, Albania, the Czech Republic, Bosnia, Belarus, Italy, the United States, Switzerland, Canada, Lebanon, Japan, Chile, Scotland, Mexico, Indonesia, Belgium, France, Uganda, Peru, Spain, Madagascar, Ecuador, and Germany. It is the first time that there have been cardinals from Albania, Balarus, Bosnia, or Cuba. Twenty-four of them are under the age of 80; the youngest is 49. Included is a new 92-year-old Albanian, Mikel Koliqi, archbishop of Scutari, Albania. Cardinals, who are the ones who get to wear the red hats, are the highest-ranking members of the church under the pope (the guy who gets to wear the white dress) and serve as his advisors and aids. In the case of a death of a pope, the cardinals form a secret conclave to elect a new pope from their ranks. Only cardinals under the age of 80 may enter the conclave, so it is significant that John Paul selected a batch of younger men to fill the ranks. Currently, 100 of the 120 cardinal eligible to form a conclave are appointees of John Paul II, who has appointed a total of 107 cardinals. The others were appointed by Pope Paul VI, who was somewhat more "liberal." There are an additional 47 cardinals too old to be included in a conclave. Some of the appointees are: Augusto Vargas Alzamora, archbishop of Lima, Peru Carlos Oviedo Cavada, archbishop of Santiago, Chile Yves Congar, a French theologian Julius Riyadi Darmaatmadja, archbishop of Semarang, Indonesia Pierre Eyt, archbishop of Bordeaux, France Ricardo Maria Carles Gordo, archbishop of Barcelona, Spain Alois Grillmeier, a German theologian William Keeler, archbishop of Baltimore Archbishop Adam Maida of Detroit Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, archbishop of San Cristobal de La Habana, Cuba Vinko Puljic, archbishop of Sarajevo Adolfo Antonio Suarez Rivera, archbishop of Monterry, Mexico Bernardino Echeverria Ruiz, archbishop emeritus of Guayaquil, Ecuador Jan Schotte, a Belgian who head the bishops synod Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir, Lebanese Maronite patriarch Peter Seiichi Shirayanagi, Toyko archbishop Kazimierz Swiatek, archbishop of Minsk, Belarus Jean-Claude Turcotte, archbishop of Montreal Paul Joseph Pham Dinh Tung, archbishop of Hanoi Miloslav Vlk, archbishop of Prague Thomas Winning, archbishop of Glasgow, Scotland The cardinals are all conservative, so that it seems likely that the next pope elected will be one who will carry on John Paul II's conservative agenda. SOURCES: Reuter, 10/30/94; UPI, 10/30/94; AP, 10/30/94. * WCE 2.0/2394 * Dial-THE-Atheist (512) 458-5731 *********************************************************************** * * * American Atheists website: http://www.atheists.org * * PO Box 140195 FTP: ftp://ftp.atheists.org * * Austin, TX 78714-0195 * * Voice: (512) 458-1244 Dial-THE-ATHEIST: * * FAX: (512) 467-9525 (512) 458-5731 * * * * Atheist Viewpoint TV: avtv@atheists.org * * Info on American Atheists: info@atheists.org, * * & American Atheist Press include your name and mailing address * * AANEWS -Free subscription: aanews-request@listserv.atheists.org * * and put "info aanews" in message body * * * * This text may be freely downloaded, reprinted, and/other * * otherwise redistributed, provided appropriate point of * * origin credit is given to American Atheists. * * * ***********************************************************************