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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (14458)	3/8/2000 9:20:00 AM
From: gao seng	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Pope Plans Apology for Church's Sins Associated Press Online - March 07, 2000 13:46 Jump to first matched term By VICTOR L. SIMPSON Associated Press Writer VATICAN CITY (AP) - Fulfilling a major goal of his papacy, Pope John Paul II plans to deliver a historic, sweeping apology for the sins of Roman Catholics over the centuries, Vatican officials said Tuesday. It was unclear how specific the pope would be, although the very idea has drawn opposition from some cardinals and others in the church. The pope's homily for the Day of Pardon Mass on Sunday in St. Peter's Basilica is apparently still being written. But a document prepared by an international group of theologians that was released in Paris last week, and statements by officials Tuesday suggested the pope will at least allude to responsibility by the Catholics in the Holocaust, the Inquisition, the Crusades and acts against other Christians in wars of religions. Lapses by present-day Catholics, including sins against women, the poor and failure to defend against abortion, could also be included. "The reference to errors and sins in a liturgy must be frank and capable of specifying guilt; yet given the number of sins committed in the course of 20 centuries, it must necessarily be rather summary," said Bishop Piero Marini, who is in charge of papal ceremonies. The officials, briefing reporters on the event, also appeared to be setting limits on how such an apology should be viewed. "It cannot assume the aspect of a spectacular self-flagellation," said Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, president of the Vatican's 2000 Jubilee Committee. The pope has campaigned for a collective examination of conscience as the church begins its third millennium. No pope has ever gone to such lengths to seek forgiveness for past sins, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said. The idea for an apology has been on the pope's mind for some time. "What is interesting is that it is always the pope and the Catholic church who asked forgiveness while others remained silent," John Paul told reporters while flying to Brazil in 1997. "Maybe that is as it should be." When the pope was planning celebrations for 2000, the Vatican acknowledged that some cardinals wanted him to look ahead and not backward through the church's history. The theological commission document also spoke of reservations raised by those worried that an admission of fault by Catholics "may look like acquiescence in the face of accusations made by those prejudicially hostile to the church." During the ceremony Sunday, the pope is expected to drop to his knees in prayer. The theological document released last week broke little new ground and was instead intended to provide the context for the pope's call for a "purification" of the church. On the Holocaust, the document said it was important to keep a "moral and religious memory" of the injury inflicted on Jews. "In this area, much has already been done, but this should be confirmed and deepened," the document said. Some Jews were upset that the Vatican's landmark 1998 document on the Holocaust did not condemn the church hierarchy for any failures to save Jews. The Vatican and John Paul have consistently defended Pope Pius XII, who served during World War II and is a candidate for beatification. Israeli Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau said the latest reference to the Holocaust was "quite disappointing." "It adds nothing to the low-key statements made in the past," he said. "It is impossible to correct a crime of the past without any mention, for example, of Pius XII when he stood on the blood of the victims and did not say a word." And an Italian gay rights group complained that the document failed to ask forgiveness for the treatment of homosexuals, calling them "the most numerous victims of theocratic violence, in the past as today." The church condemns homosexual acts. marketwatch.newsalert.com

To: jlallen who wrote (14458)	3/8/2000 9:20:00 AM
From: Zoltan!	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769667

Remember, AlGore met in secret with the leading light of the Dem Party, Reverend AlSharpton, and then lied about doing so. I wonder what AlGore promised when he kissed Reverend AlSharpton's ring?

To: jlallen who wrote (14458)	3/8/2000 9:58:00 AM
From: Bill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Religion is nothing but a political tool for the dems. Read this. Dems' double standard on religion by Don Feder Wednesday, March 8, 2000 When do Democrats care about anti-Catholicism? When they can use it to bash Republicans. Last week, congressional Democrats pushed a resolution condemning anti-Catholic Bob Jones University and the public officials who've spoken there. At a press conference unveiling the resolution, Michigan Democratic Rep. John Conyers confessed, ``Had not Gov. George Bush gone to Bob Jones University, I doubt we would be standing here.' No doubt about it. Prior to Bush's blunder, Conyers' party never showed the slightest indication that it cared about the numerous attacks on the Catholic Church that contaminate our culture. ``It was the Democrats who gave us Dr. Jocelyn Elders in 1993 as surgeon general, and it was the Democrats who gave us James Hormel as the ambassador to Luxembourg in 1999,' says William Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. When Clinton's first surgeon general was up for confirmation, New York's John Cardinal O'Connor charged her anti-Catholic comments made Elders' ``unfit for public office.' Among other gems, in 1992 Elders told a pro-abortion audience, ``Look at who's fighting the pro-choice movement: a celibate, male-dominated church.' The Democratic Party showed scant concern about anti-Catholicism then. Of the 34 senators who voted against confirming Elders, only four were Democrats. There was no Democratic outrage over James Hormel, Clinton's choice for the Luxembourg posting. The wealthy donor to Democratic and gay causes is reportedly a fan of ``The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,' a group of homosexual men who dress as nuns and mock Catholic rituals. Senate Republicans are unable to reverse Clinton's interim appointment of Hormel, due to his Democratic support. Then there was Geoffrey Fieger, Jack Kevorkian's mouthpiece and Democratic candidate for Michigan governor in 1998, who ridiculed the Catholic Church and described Jesus as ``some goofball that got nailed to a cross.' On another front, Democrats defend government funding of anti-Catholic polemics vaguely disguised as art. Last fall, Senate candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton savaged New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for attempting to withdraw city support from the Brooklyn Museum of Art over its ``Sensation' show. The exhibit included ``The Holy Virgin Mary,' a work adorned with elephant dung and pornographic photos. Where were the Democratic resolutions censuring Andres Serrano's ``Piss Christ,' ``Corpus Christi' (a play that shows Jesus having sex with his disciples) or ``The Complete Millennium' (staged at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts last June and described by the U.S. Catholic Conference as containing ``intolerable, mean-spirited stereotyping' of the church)? The foregoing was subsidized by the National Endowment for the Arts or other federal programs. Democrats are unmoved by all of the movies and TV shows, produced by their Hollywood friends, that slam the church. Harvey Weinstein, a major contributor to the campaign of Vice President Al Gore, is the head of Miramax, which gave us ``Priest' (with its ugly depictions of Catholic clergy) and last year's ``Dogma.' As congressional Democrats abuse Bush for an appearance he says he regrets, candidates for their party's presidential nomination court racist demagogue Al Sharpton. In 1995, Sharpton marched besides picketers protesting a Jewish-owned business in Harlem as they shouted ``blood-sucking Jews' and ``Jew bastards.' That little exercise in brotherhood resulted in eight deaths, when a protester rushed into the store and started shooting employees. Unlike Bush, who can plausibly maintain that he had no prior knowledge of Bob Jones' fulminations, Al Gore and Bill Bradley - who shared a stage with Sharpton at Harlem's Apollo Theater on Feb. 21 - are fully aware of the minister's bigotry. If Bob Jones University made Al Sharpton its president, Democrats would be clamoring to speak there. If it took its anti-Catholicism and turned it into performance art with feminist and homosexual overtones, not only would the Democrats defend it as artistic expression - it would probably qualify for an NEA grant. bostonherald.com