Search the Community

But academia only held the fervent Catholic's interest for a couple of years. . ....... http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37565570

In the second century, the Church faced its first great heresy: Gnosticism. This confusing and eclectic system of beliefs threatened to destroy the Church in its infancy. Among Gnosticism’s tenets was the conviction that the material world is contemptible, unworthy of redemption. Unlike the Christian view that the material world was originally created good but then fell through sin, Gnostics believed that the world we live in was created as the result of some tragic accident. Only the spiritual world mattered; anything physical was to be left behind. Against this heresy rose the great Church Father St. Irenaeus, who in The Scandal of the Incarnation explained that the key doctrine of Christianity is the Incarnation: the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The physical world is not to be held in contempt; on the contrary, it provides the means of our salvation. Although eventually Gnosticism was conquered, its material/spiritual dualism has reared its ugly head throughout Church history. Many heresies borrowed it, including Manichaeism, the heresy embraced for a time by St. Augustine. And although Protestantism does not fully endorse a material/spiritual dualism, there are aspects of this flawed worldview in its belief system—for example, in its rejection of a visible Church. In the most common Protestant view (since there are always competing views within Protestantism), the Church is an invisible entity made up of all Christian believers (how a “believer” is defined also varies among Protestants). Any visible manifestations, such as leaders or physical sacraments or buildings, are merely tools Christians use for practical reasons. None are essential to the Church, and all can be discarded if need be. In contrast, the Catholic faith teaches that there is a visible Church here on earth, founded by Christ himself. It includes a visible membership—the baptized—and a visible leadership structure: the hierarchy of bishops and the service of ordained priests and deacons. These visible aspects are fundamental to the Church and cannot be discarded. Throughout history, many Christians have been scandalized at the visible quality of the Church, usually because of the un-Christian behavior of its members. Scandals within the Church emphasize the scandal of the Church. There is a certain attractive neatness to the idea of a purely invisible Church. If a leader commits some egregious sin, then one can simply claim he wasnÂ’t really part of the true, invisible Church (which contains only the pure and holy). Since the ChurchÂ’s membership is invisible, this can never be disproven. We can even understand why this notion of an invisible Church gained so much traction in the sixteenth century; after all, this was a time of great moral crisis in the visible institution of the Catholic Church. Many priests were immoral and many bishops were corrupt, and some popes were both. How could these men be part of ChristÂ’s Church? So the simple answer—theyÂ’re not—proliferated. Yet in spite of all the scandalous sins among its clergy and hierarchy, Catholics continued to insist that Christ founded a visible Church, and that we can know with certainty who are the members and who are the leaders. Why this insistence? Because visibility is essential to each of the four marks of the Church: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. One: Visibility is perhaps most important to the oneness—the unity—of the Church. We see this clearly by the opposite example: the disunity of Protestantism, which teaches a purely invisible Church. If the universal Church is invisible, it doesnÂ’t matter if you belong to the Presbyterians or Methodists or Lutherans. It also doesnÂ’t matter, then, if your beliefs are unified. An emphasis on invisibility ultimately leads to tens of thousands of visible denominations teaching conflicting belief systems. Holy: Although the visible Church has always had sinners in its midst, it has also always possessed the means of holiness. And the primary means of holiness are the very visible sacraments. Through material things such as water, bread, wine, and oil, Christ dispenses his graces upon his followers. With the sacraments, we can know with certainty that holiness is attainable; without the sacraments, we can only guess. Catholic: To be catholic is to be universal. A purely invisible Church can claim universality, but only a visible Church can prove it. What we see in denominations claiming to be part of an invisible Church is constant breakups, with one faction claiming that another isnÂ’t truly Christian. But in a visible Church, the Catholic Church, we can see with our own eyes the same faith practiced from America to Africa to Asia. Apostolic: Christ himself picked twelve men to lead his Church. He wanted them to be the visible leaders so that all men would know that communion with the apostles meant communion with him. The apostles understood how important a visible leadership was, and so they appointed successors—the bishops—to take up their mantle after their deaths. The hierarchy of the Church is a visible sign of the continuity of the Church—in teaching and in practice—from the time of the apostles to today. Even during a time of many scandals within the Church, there is nothing more scandalous than the Church itself. It reflects the reality that God has taken this broken material world—and its equally broken inhabitants—and uses it to bring us to him. It is a constant sign to the world that the material, physical world matters. We are each a body/soul composite, and so we need physical as well as spiritual signs to direct us to God. Just as God came into this world as a visible man, he gave us a visible Church to lead us into the next world. https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/the-scandal-of-the-church

via .ORGWorld News

December 15, 20172:52 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition In a far-reaching report on child sex abuse in Australia, a government commission is recommending that the country's Catholic Church lift its celibacy requirement for diocesan clergy and be required to report evidence of abuse revealed in confession. Those are among the 400 recommendations contained in the 17-volume final report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse, which is wrapping up a five-year investigation – the longest in Australia's history. "We have concluded that there were catastrophic failures of leadership of Catholic Church authorities over many decades," the report said. The Australian reports: "More than 15,000 people contacted the commission to share their experiences of abuse, more than 8,000 of them spoke personally with the commissioner about the trauma it caused, and approximately 2,500 cases have now been referred to police." The commission said the church failed to properly address allegations and concerns of victims, calling the Church's response to them "remarkably and disturbingly similar." The report also detailed abuse in churches of other denominations and at such institutions as schools and sports clubs. However, it concluded that the greatest number of alleged abuse perpetrators were found in Catholic institutions. The commission has concluded that 7 percent of priests who worked in Australia between 1950 and 2009 had been accused of child sex abuse.   Among the report's recommendations: — A national strategy to prevent child abuse, with a national office of child safety. — Making failure to protect a child from risk of abuse within an institution a criminal offense on the state and territory level. — Implementing preventative training for children in schools and early childhood center. — A requirement that candidates for religious ministry undergo external psychological testing. — Any person in a religious ministry subject to a substantiated child sex abuse complaint should be permanently removed from the ministry. Currently, Australian law exempts confessional evidence from the rules that apply to other kinds of evidence in court, according to The National Catholic Register. THE TWO-WAY Vatican Cardinal Charged With 'Historic Sexual Offenses' In Australia THE TWO-WAY Prominent Cardinal Returns To Australia To Face Sex Abuse Charges "We recommend that canon law be amended so that the 'pontifical secret' does not apply to any aspect of allegations or canonical disciplinary processes relating to child sexual abuse," the report said. It said that "Religious ministers, out-of-home care workers, childcare workers, registered psychologists and school [counselors] should be brought into line with police, doctors and nurses who are all obliged by law to report sexual abuse," according to The Sydney Morning Herald reports. "Without a legal obligation to tell police about abuses, many staff and volunteers failed to let anyone outside the institution know, the commission found," the Heraldreported. The commission called for the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference to ask the Vatican to introduce voluntary celibacy for clergy. The commission found that clerical celibacy was not a direct cause of abuse, but that it increased the risk of abuse when celibate male clergy had privileged access to children. In an official statement, Archbishop Denis Hart of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, apologized for past abuse, calling it a "shameful past" and said the commission's report "will be taken very seriously." However, speaking to reporters later, Hart said the commission's report "hasn't damaged the credibility of the church" and called the recommendations on the confessional "a distraction." "The seal of the confessional, or the relationship with God that's carried through the priest and with the person, is inviolable. It can't be broken," Hart told reporters. "I think everyone understands that this Catholic and orthodox practice of confession is always confidential," he said. Hart also pushed back on the subject of celibacy: "We know very well that institutions who have celibate clergy and institutions that don't have celibate clergy both face these problems. We know very well that this happens in families that are certainly not observing celibacy." The commission's findings follow numerous allegations of sex abuse by Catholic priests in Australia in recent years. In June, Police in Victoria charged Cardinal George Pell, now a high-ranking Vatican official, with sex abuse dating to his time as a priest in Australia in the 1970s and 80s. Pell has denied the allegations. The report concluded: "Tens of thousands of children have been sexually abused in many Australian institutions. We will never know the true number." the report concluded. "It is not a case of a few 'rotten apples.' Society's major institutions have seriously failed," it said.

Rules that the American Catholic sect is giving to their parishioners to get rid of Jehovah's witnesses. Would you be able to rebut these almost military standards? ________________________________ Interaction with a Jehovah's witness Answer the door. This may seem counter-intuitive to get rid of someone, but the fact is, if you don't answer the door, it's likely to mark you as "no house" and come back in the near future. If you really want to get rid of them, you'll have to answer the door and let them know. Interrupt. Sounds rude, but it doesn't have to be. It is likely to deepen your command sequence and it will only be more difficult to get a word Polly interrupt to take control of the conversation. When a Jehovah's witness begins to speak, interrupt with an educated gesture: "excuse me" to draw your attention. Try to raise your hand and keep it between the two at the chest level with the palm of your hand to the other person and start your interjection with "wait". If you wait until the Jehovah's witness asks a question, you can simply reply with: "I would rather not have this conversation". Be honest. If you make up a reason not to want to talk to them, you can see this as an invitation to come back another time. This also starts a conversation. Be honest and direct with your answer to get your point through and avoid one of your starters of the conversation. Avoid making excuses. They are trained to respond to specific protests and may consider coming back in the future if they are too busy right now. We politely. Choose very few words to reject your invitation to speak. It's unnecessary to be rude, and arguing will only stimulate the conversation. A simple and polite decline will do the trick. Once I get a chance to talk, try a simple, "No, thank you". It can also be direct saying, " I'm not interested, thank you." Close the door. Don't hit him in the face, but I understand you've been trained to keep the conversation. Once I have rejected, close the door gently. This is important, because, like the caretakers or any lawyer, they are not likely to accept the first, "no" and will do everything possible to return to you. Closing the door may be the only way to end the conversation. If this feels rude to you, try to say, "I'm sorry" when you close the door.

http://www.neonnettle.com/features/891-pedophile-priest-with-hiv-who-raped-30-children-forgiven-by-church Pedophile Priest With HIV who Raped 30 Children Forgiven by Church Catholic Church absolved priest after who faces no criminal charges for raping young girls under 10 A Catholic Priest has been acquitted by the church after he admitted to raping almost 30 young girls aged between 5 and 10-years-old. The priest, Jose Garcia Ataulfo, was cleared of any wrong-doing and won't face any criminal charges, despite the fact that he knew he was infected with HIV when he sexually abused all the children he admitted to raping. The mother of one of the priest's victims wrote a letter to The Pope asking to meet with him in Rome to discuss the case, but was shunned by the Vatican who declared that "the matter is closed". Ataulfo admitted to sexually assaulting well over two dozen children, many of whom were indigenous young girls from Oaxaca, a state in southern Mexico known for its large indigenous population. Due to the significant influence that the Catholic Church wields in Mexico, the priest won't face any criminal charges, particularly for his crimes in areas populated by indigenous ethnic groups. The report which first appeared on the Spanish-language news site Urgente24.com, says the priest, was absolved of any wrongdoing by the Archdiocese of Mexico. According to Urgente24.com, only two out of the thirty rape victims have come forward to denounce the acquittal.

Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart said yesterday the sanctity of what was mentioned to a priest during the sacrament of confession was ‘inviolate in the Catholic Church throughout the world’. Picture: Josie Haden The child abuse royal commission will collide with the Catholic Church over the confidentiality of the confessional when it holds a public inquiry into the disproportionately high numbers of abusive priests. With evidence before the commission suggesting that as many as 13 per cent of those in some Catholic orders may be perpetrators, the commission will hold a three-week hearing in February to investigate what has led to this level of abuse and ­governed its cover-up. Evidence gathered in case studies, submissions and private hearings to date has led the commission to target several pillars of the church during the hearing, including the role of the Vatican, canon law, celibacy and the use of secrecy. It is the confessional, where an individual privately reveals his sins to a priest in return for absolution, that is likely to prove the most contentious. While church leaders have conceded celibacy and an organisational structure that provided priests with unquestioned authority may have led to child abuse, they are expected to hold the line on the sanctity of the confessional during February’s hearing. This will likely place them at odds with the commission, which this week published a ­report criticising the Jehovah’s Witnesses for using Christian doctrine to avoid reporting ­admissions of abuse to police. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/royal-commission/catholic-row-over-probe-into-confession/news-story/ae5fe6a872c5c5b28d4dc47da262a23f

The FRANCISCO POPE PRAISES GOD’S WITNESSES WORLDWIDE Moving – Pascom Porto Feliz: Catholic Conference discusses increasing Witnesses … What drives so many people to become Jehovah’s Witnesses? This was the question asked by some clerics, as shown by the following quotations. For example, in Bologna, Italy, the ecclesiastical authorities, with the approval of the pope, held a conference to discuss ways to combat the success of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Catholic Church raised a “cry of alarm”, the newspaper La Republica, because every year ten thousand Catholics become Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Jesuit Giuseppe De Rosa said that “the religious point of view the most dangerous are Jehovah’s Witnesses. They come fully trained, and always have the Bible in hand.” In an article that deals specifically with Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica said: “The first reason for the spread of this movement are the propaganda techniques [ie, in preaching]. On the one hand, the work is thorough, carried from house to house by people who are strictly trained in this work, and are deeply convinced [ …] ” “The second reason for the success of TJs is the force of attraction of Jehovah’s message, because it can meet the needs, demands and expectations of the people of our time. First, answers the need for certainty, which is much appreciated at a time where everything is uncertain and unstable. […] Above all, it is an absolutely safe revelation of the future and, therefore, all who accepted, experience freedom from fear and anxiety and can face the future with joy, with ensuring that survive the destruction that will come the great day of God’s judgment on a wicked world, to live in eternal happiness on earth. Second, Jehovah’s message helps to overcome the concern of the individual against the woes of this world, announces that soon will end the unbearable situation of today, and soon, so there will be a new era will be born a new world in which all the wicked will be removed now triumph. […] ” “The third reason for the success of TJs is that this movement gives its members a precise identity and strong, and is a place where they were greeted with warmth and a sense of brotherhood and solidarity.” The Vatican document analyzed the needs of people today, and the quote above the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica showed that the message of Jehovah’s Witnesses meet those needs. This also showed Vittorio Messori Catholic writer in his recent book Scommesse sulla morte (a bet on death), who writes: “It makes us think that Jehovah’s Witnesses, is one of the religious denominations of the fastest growing in the world. It is among the religions that are practiced in many countries and perhaps […] is first in terms of fervor, zeal, activism, the ability to make proselytes. ” “And his presence, increasingly pronounced, is not limited to Christian tradition countries, but reaching the whole world, where in the name of Jehovah, and before long, they get results that are superior to those of Catholic missionaries, Protestants and Orthodox, who have worked for centuries. ” “This stunning expansive force is incomprehensible only to those who simply do not want to admit that […] course in how to understand the Bible, Jehovah’s Witnesses meet the real needs that other theologies do not meet.” “You can not get around the issue suggesting that the growth of witnesses is because they scare people is precisely the opposite:. Unlike the churches” official “, deny the existence of hell and preach the destruction, disappearance after death to the wicked and unbelieving. This may be an unpleasant prospect, but certainly less frightening than the threat of a terrible pain for all eternity. “Yes, the God of Jehovah’s Witnesses is a loving God, and not one that terrorizes the people . The following quote is the Catholic magazine Mondo ERRE March 1986: “It must be said that Jehovah’s Witnesses are the first to live the faith they preach: Do not IRAM, do not smoke, do not accumulate wealth, remain outside the political discussions […] pay taxes. They live a virtuous and honest life, they are happy and helpful. All this has made people appreciate the ” I’m glad to know that they have had success in evangelizing them my family is Catholic more from small learn to admire their work in all the earth …. source

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/catholic.hospital.refuses.hysterectomy.for.transgender.due.to.religious.beliefs/94796.htm http://www.kcra.com/news/local-news/news-sacramento/man-claims-carmichael-hospital-canceled-surgery-because-he-is-transgender/41428916

A Catholic priest has confessed he sexually abused around 20 boys decades ago on the U.S. island of Guam - but was never prosecuted. Other Church members were aware of the situation, but only suggested the priest pray and repent for his sins.

The recent passing of music icon Prince has motivated many people to look at a once little-known fact about his life: his faith. Though he was baptized a Seventh-day Adventist, Prince became a Jehovah’s Witness. He regularly attended services and even knocked on doors, as this CNN.com story illustrates: On one occasion Prince knocked on a door in a middle class suburb of Minneapolis. A woman answered and stared at the instantly recognizable singer, easily the Twin Cities’ biggest celebrity, Lundstrom recalled. “In the middle of Prince’s very nice Bible presentation, the woman says, ‘Excuse me, but has anyone told you that you look a lot like Prince?’ He looks at her and says, ‘It's been said.’ Then goes back to his presentation. When the woman asked Prince for his name, Prince said, ‘Rogers Nelson,’” his middle and last name. One problem in stories like these and other commentary on Prince is that he is often described as a “conservative Christian,” even though Jehovah’s Witnesses are not Christians. Now, before I explain why Jehovah’s Witnesses are not Christians, I need to head off some objections, specifically: “How dare you question someone else’s faith!” and “Don’t you have any respect for the recently departed?” First, when I say Prince was not a Christian, I’m not saying he was a bad person. “Christian” and “good person” are not synonymous. Bad people can be Christians—indeed, all Christians are sinners—and there are good people who happen to be non-Christians. The term Christianrefers instead to people who believe certain truths about God and have received certain sacraments, namely baptism, in accordance with those truths. Second, I’m not questioning what Prince believed or judging the contents of his heart and soul. I’m assuming that Prince was a faithful Jehovah’s Witness until death. What I am saying is that if someone believes Jehovah’s Witnesses theology, he is not a Christian. Of course, the critic will reply, “Who gave you the right to say who is and isn’t a Christian?” But even the critic will admit that some people, like Jews or atheists, are not Christians. His criteria for being a Christian is probably “anyone who says he is a Christian,” which makes sense in a world where one’s personal sense of self-identity is allowed to override almost any objective measure of reality. However, if Jesus rose from the dead and left us an authoritative church to guide believers to salvation, then I’m going to go with the definition of Christianity Christ’s Church gives us. Tangling with the Trinity The key difference between Christians and non-Christians such as Jehovah’s Witnesses is the doctrine of the Trinity. According to theCatechism of the Catholic Church: Christians are baptized ‘in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ Before receiving the sacrament, they respond to a three-part question when asked to confess the Father, the Son and the Spirit: “I do.” “The faith of all Christians rests on the Trinity” (CCC 232). But Jehovah’s Witnesses emphatically deny the doctrine of the Trinity. They say the Trinity is “the lie that made God a mystery”[1] and is simply “not a Bible teaching.”[2] Many of their objections to the Trinity can be answered by explaining what it actually is. For example, when Jesus was tempted to worship the devil, he refused and responded by quoting the Old Testament’s command to “worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve” (Luke 4:8). The Watchtower, the official magazine of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, says of this passage, “Jesus made it clear that there is just one God who must be worshipped when he said ‘him alone,’ not ‘us,’ which hewould have said if he were part of a Trinity.”[3] But the Trinity doesteach that there is just one God to be worshiped, and this God is a unity that can be referred to as “him.” God is not a collection to be referred to as “us” but three persons united in one being, each of whom fully possess the divine nature. Other Jehovah’s Witnesses criticisms of the Trinity try to prove that the doctrine is unintelligible or is a pagan belief that was assimilated by Christian doctrine and is not biblical. For example, one Watchtowerarticle says: The Trinity, explain Catholic scholars Karl Rahner and Herbert Vorgrimler, "could not be known without revelation, and even after revelation cannot become wholly intelligible." Can you really love someone who is impossible to know or understand? The doctrine of the Trinity, therefore, is a barrier to knowing and loving God.[4] But this objection confuses being incomprehensible with beingunintelligible. Yes, the Trinity cannot be fully comprehended, or understood, in every respect. But just because something is not “wholly intelligible,” it does not follow that it is unintelligible, or nonsense. Jehovah’s Witnesses even admit that their God Jehovah is not completely understandable. According to their training manualReasoning from the Scriptures, “Should we really expect to understand everything about a Person who is so great that he could bring into existence the universe, with all its intricate design and stupendous size?[5] Since there is nothing else in the universe like the Trinity, we can expect that there would be things we don’t understand about this doctrine, even though on the whole the doctrine is not a logical contradiction. The Trinity is a mystery, but that does not mean it is some unknowable “black hole.” Rather, a theological mystery refers to truths that we would not know if God had not revealed them to us. It is, like other mysteries of the faith, “not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:13). Jehovah’s Witnesses also claim the term Trinity is a pagan one derived from ancient mythology and is not found in the Bible. It is true that the word does not appear in Scripture, but neither do the wordsGoverning Body, generation of 1914, kingdom hall, or other words associated with many important Witnesses doctrines. This shows that a doctrine does not have to appear in the Bible in order for one to believe it to be true. Furthermore, the claim that the Trinity is based on mythological “triads” of gods such as Osiris, Isis, and Horus in Egypt is false. These pagan triads are nothing like the Trinity, because they represent three different and competing gods, while the Trinity is one God who is three co-equal, co-eternal persons, or, as Tertullian wrote in A.D. 216, “The unity is distributed in a Trinity. Placed in order, the three are the Father, Son, and Spirit.”[6] The bottom line All people, no matter what their beliefs, will eventually stand before God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That’s why Catholics evangelize, or share the good news about God: so that all people can have a relationship with God before death. This is especially true when it comes to evangelizing groups like Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons who claim Jesus as their savior but deny the deity of Christ. These groups don’t even feel it is appropriate to pray to Jesus, so it is an act of kindness, not arrogance, to correct their mistaken Christology. This is done out of love so that the person can come to know the God who not only became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14) but stands ready with the Father to dwell within our very being (John 14:23). Join me in praying for the soul of Prince and for all those who die with mistaken beliefs about God. In this Year of Mercy especially we have hope of their eternal salvation. If you want to learn more about how to answer the arguments of Jehovah’s Witnesses, see my booklet 20 Answers: Jehovah’s Witnesses. [1] “The Lie That Made God A Mystery,” The Watchtower, November, 1 2013, 5. http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/wp20131101/lie-made-god-a-mystery-trinity/. ? [2] Reasoning From the Scriptures (Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1989), 405. ? [3] “Is the Trinity a Bible teaching?” The Watchtower, March 1, 2012, 23. http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2012173. ? [4] “The Lie That Made God A Mystery,” The Watchtower, November, 1 2013, 5. http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/wp20131101/lie-made-god-a-mystery-trinity/. ? [5] Reasoning From the Scriptures (Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1989), 149. ? [6] Against Praxeas, 2. ? After his conversion to the Catholic Faith, Trent Horn earned a bachelor's degree in history from Arizona State University and a master's degree in theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville. He is currently pursuing a graduate degree in philosophy from Holy Apostles College. Trent is a... more... Source:the Catholic Faith

AN UNHOLY row has broken out after the Protestant owner of a Christian bookshop refused to sell a bible to a woman - because she is CATHOLIC. Muriel Swan, 61, was told she should “get the Pope to open a few bookshops for her” after she was turned away from The Mustard Seed Christian Bookshop. She went to the shop to look for a gift for her eight-year-old grandson Cameron for his first Holy Communion. But she was left cross when, she claims, staff told her they didn't stock Catholic literature and goods - despite advertising themselves as a Christian bookshop. Mrs Swan blasted the owner of shop in Gedling, Nottingham, for being "anti-Catholic". The gran-of-six, a carer from Redhill, Nottingham, said: "We asked the lady in the shop if she had anything for first communion and the reaction we received left us reeling. "In this day and age I was left speechless when she said the shop was anti-Catholic. "She went almost into a rage, my grandson and daughter in law were upset by this, it was truly awful. "I bought two bibles previously from there but when I mentioned buying one for Holy Communion she said we don't stock Catholic items. "But a bible is a bible surely. "That's not what really upset me though. It was the fact she said the words 'we are anti-Catholic.' "It is like saying she is anti-Christ. It was verging on racism. "I said 'well you do Confirmation gifts' and she said 'they are Church of England not Catholic.' "I couldn't believe my ears, we just left the shop empty-handed and feeling dumbfounded. "I've since found out although they are a Protestant shop but they also stock Jewish things too. "I have come up against discrimination before but all the time I have lived in England this is the first time anti-Catholicism has reared its ugly head. "There were other people in the shop and that made it worse. "We just wanted to buy a special Bible." The Mustard Seed, which has been running for more than 30 years, describes itself as "Nottingham's only Christian bookshop". Defiant owner Chris Stala defended her store and said Muriel should "get the Pope to open a few bookshops for her". She added: "We are Protestant, not Catholic. "The bottom line is that if you want Catholic things go to a Catholic shop. "The complaint is ridiculous and its just logical you won't get Catholic things here. "If you want Catholic goods you go to a Catholic store. "We are not anti-Catholic anyway. I am a Christian and she is too but we are part of different sects. "You would not get Jehovah's Witnesses coming here either. "We don't advertise as a Protestant shop but people who come here just know. "She should get the Pope to open a few bookshops for her because he has plenty of money." The Equality and Human Rights Commission refused to comment on the case as it is a private matter and said it was up to the shop what they sell. Source: http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/675827/Protestant-bookshop-owner-refused-sell-bible-Catholic-customer

In 2001, while he was a cardinal, the pope issued a secret Vatican edict to Catholic bishops all over the world, instructing them to put the Church's interests ahead of child safety. The document recommended that rather than reporting sexual abuse to the relevant legal authorities, bishops should encourage the victim, witnesses and perpetrator not to talk about it. And, to keep victims quiet, it threatened that if they repeat the allegations they would be excommunicated. The main problem here is that the roman catholic "church" is one of the only organizations that has offered peverts of every stripe and pedophiles in particular a career, protection and access to children. Over time this has led to more and more perverts being attracted to the Church. "The real problem the Catholic Church faces," explains Father Donald B. Cozzens, author of "The Changing Face of the Priesthood," is the "disproportionate number of gay men that populate our seminaries." "I think we have to ask the question: Why are 90 to 95 – and some estimates say as high as 98 – percent of the victims of clergy acting out against teen-agers, boys? Why isn't there ... a higher percentage of teen-age girls?" Cozzens declared on NBC's Meet the Press recently. January 31, 2000 | CNN KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) -- Roman Catholic priests in the United States are dying from AIDS-related illnesses at a rate four times higher than the general population and the cause is often concealed on their death certificates, The Kansas City Star reported in a series of stories that started Sunday. WE ARE NOT TALKING NUMBERS, BUT ORDERS FROM THE CATHOLIC ORGANISATION TO COVER UP AND HIDE THEM!

Over the years, nearly 30 Roman Catholic dioceses around the country have publicly disclosed a list naming priests accused of sexually abusing children. The names of all those 6,427 clergy are not publicly known, but through court documents, diocese lists and news reports,BishopAccountability.org has aggregated the names of 4,129 accused priests. This means there are at least 2,298 accused priests that have not yet been identified.