"Young minister takes hold of his calling; At 11, boy says God told him to preach to poor" by Hamil R. Harris | Washington Post, July 01, 2012
WASHINGTON — Ezekiel Stoddard, 11, is part of a centuries-long tradition, one that spans the globe. Even as the world becomes more modern and sophisticated, child preachers remain a subject of fascination and debate. Skeptics have suggested that they are more motivated by attention and pushy parents than God. How, after all, can a child understand the Gospel or the intricacies of ministry?
Others, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, who started preaching in the Church of God in Christ when he was 4, believe that God can, indeed, speak through children.
The charlatan Sharpton is speaking the word of God, huh? MSNBC must be God's network.
‘‘God can use anybody; why not a child?’’ said David Warren, a member of the choir at Ezekiel’s ordination at Fullness of Time Church, which worships in a former warehouse and is headed by Ezekiel’s stepfather.
Everyone agrees: Ezekiel is committed, caring, and mature beyond his years. He writes his own sermons, although his mother sometimes types them.
‘‘Ezekiel really studies the Bible,’’ said Adrienne Smith, his mother, who is also a minister. ‘‘He will cross-reference, and he will go deep into the Scriptures.’’
I'm sorry; I'm too busy reading (or not reading) the pos BG.
He also likes to ride go-carts. He loves basketball, the NBA’s Lakers in particular, and isn’t above showing off when he steals the ball or nails a tough shot.
Ezekiel says God spoke to him in a dream when he was 8....
Uh-oh.
Self-assured and articulate, Ezekiel is on point....
Smith works as a grant writer. While homeless and living in a shelter years ago, she went to the University of the District of Columbia. Today, she home-schools Ezekiel and her three other children because she thinks they were not learning enough in public school.
She runs a tight ship. Sitting at the kitchen table one morning, the children wore uniforms of khaki pants and white shirts. After doing their schoolwork, they rehearse music routines. Ezekiel, on his own initiative, studies the Bible for 13 or 14 hours a week.
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Time to change the channel:
"Famed Crystal Cathedral to become Catholic church" by Gillian Flaccus | Associated Press, July 01, 2012
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. — Rev. Robert H. Schuller tapped into California’s blossoming car culture and the optimism of a post-World War II generation when he began preaching in 1955 from the roof of a snack bar at a drive-in movie theater in suburban Orange County. He exhorted worshippers to ‘‘come as you are in the family car.’’ By 1970, he was airing the ‘‘Hour of Power’’ and in 1980, he dedicated the Crystal Cathedral....
Schuller built the church — an architectural marvel with 10,000 windows and room for nearly 3,000 worshippers and 1,000 musicians — in 1980, a decade after he began broadcasting his sermons on the ‘‘power of possibility thinking’’ into the homes of millions of evangelical Christians each Sunday.
Reaction to the church’s sale was at first bitter: The children of one prominent philanthropist publicly threatened to disinter their father from its cemetery and another congregant sued for $30 billion, saying the transfer to Catholic hands had ‘‘permanently desecrated, defamed, polluted, and cursed’’ the church.
It's the centuries-old legacy of pooper-pumping, isn't it?
On behalf of my church, sorry.
Of course, I now believe God wants me right here on Sunday mornings (unless there is basketball to be played).
Tempers have since cooled, but the recently announced timeline for the transfer to Catholic hands has revived questions about the fate of Schuller’s ministry once it leaves behind the iconic building that gave it its name....
Some, however, wonder whether the ministry will fizzle out — or shrink dramatically — without the building that gave it its name. Broadcasts of the ‘‘Hour of Power’’ were recently cut back to 30 minutes on Lifetime and Discovery channels and Schuller, now 85, no longer appears on the program and hasn’t attended church since last fall.
I haven't been since.... oh, gee.
Hey, I'm one of the good Catholics; I never bother with it.
His son and daughter, who each failed to assume their father’s mantle, are no longer involved in the ministry. Sheila Schuller Coleman formed a new church after a falling-out last year.
The congregation, which now numbers up to 1,700 people each Sunday, will also change its name once it moves....
Retired schoolteacher Dolores Rommel has resigned herself to being entombed in a Catholic cemetery so she can be near her husband, but not without plenty of soul-searching....
See: Catholic Caritas Makes Deal With the Devil
It's a private (equity) matter.
The upcoming transition has been an emotional one for many longtime congregants like Rommel, who watched Schuller’s blockbuster dynasty struggle to survive in recent years amid declining donations, a disastrous leadership transition, and an endless family squabble that split the congregation....
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Think I'll head over to the church anyway:
"Monsignor seeks release from prison
Lawyers for an imprisoned Roman Catholic official will push to have him released to await sentencing, arguing that he has a good chance of having his conviction thrown out on appeal. Monsignor William Lynn has been in prison since a jury found him guilty June 22 of felony child endangerment. A judge has suggested that she might release Lynn to house arrest at a hearing Thursday if she is persuaded he could not seek refuge at the Vatican or elsewhere. Lynn, 61, faces 3½ to seven years in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 13."
Related: Finally, a Verdict in Philly Priest Trial
"Beach home for priests set to be sold" June 29, 2012
PHILADELPHIA — The Archdiocese of Philadelphia is putting a massive beachfront home on the New Jersey shore up for sale as it faces a $17 million budget deficit and millions in legal bills associated with child sex abuse litigation.
Oh, the horror chamber that place must have been for some kids.
The home used by vacationing retired priests will be shuttered Saturday, a spokesman for the archdiocese said this week. It isn’t yet listed with a broker but that will change soon.
The nine-bedroom property, called Villa St. Joseph by the Sea, occupies a full block along the Ventnor, N.J., boardwalk. Retired priests have used the home, which is assessed at $6.2 million, as a getaway since the archdiocese acquired it in 1963.
Neighbor Charles Fischer told The Philadelphia Inquirer he would miss the priests, calling them ‘‘the most wonderful neighbors you could have.’’
Just ignore what is going on behind those walls.
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Time for a public relations offensive:
"Vatican bank opens doors to the press" June 29, 2012
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican bank, one of the most secretive institutions in the secrecy-obsessed Vatican, opened its doors to journalists Thursday in a bid to show it is serious about fighting money-laundering and being more financially transparent.
During a near three-hour PowerPoint presentation, the bank’s director, Paolo Cipriani, outlined the peculiar nature of the Institute for Religious Works, the bank’s official name, and sought to rebut media allegations that it has been less than cooperative with requests for financial information from Italian authorities.
The bank has long been the subject of rumor and scandal — earned in part because of its role two decades ago in one of the most spectacular banking collapses in Italy.
Cipriani said that his aim was to ‘‘remove the veil and shadow of the past and do the utmost to respect the needs of the Holy See.’’
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Well, that piece told me a whole lot of nothing.
Also see: Sunday Globe Special: Vatican Mystery Solved
Pope seeks advice from cardinals on leak scandal
And what is this about JPMorgan being involved?
That explains the vagueness of the newspaper report.
"Israel memorial softens view of WWII pope" July 02, 2012
JERUSALEM — Israel’s national Holocaust memorial has toned down its account of Pope Pius XII’s conduct toward the massacre of Jews during of World War II, after a long diplomatic dispute with the Vatican.
Critics have long contended that Pius, who was pope from 1939 to 1958, could have done more to stop the Holocaust, when 6 million Jews were killed.
That's not exactly how I remember it, but....
Before his election as pope, he also served as the Vatican’s number two official and before that as the papal envoy to Germany.
Given his deep involvement in the Vatican’s diplomatic affairs with the Nazis, what Pius did or did not do during the war has become the single most divisive issue in Vatican-Jewish relations.
Why must everyone bow down before the Jews?
Is the Church going around fawning on Muslims over the Crusades?
A wall panel at the Yad Vashem memorial installed on Sunday still lists occasions when the wartime pontiff did not protest the slaughter of Europe’s Jews. But it also offers the views of defenders who say the church’s ‘‘neutrality’’ helped to save lives.
‘‘This is an update to reflect research that has been done in the recent years and presents a more complex picture than previously presented,’’ Yad Vashem said in a statement.
Oh, I SEE! Some HISTORICAL REVISION is OKAY!!!
The papal envoy in Israel, Antonio Franco, welcomed the change. ‘‘It’s a step forward in the sense that it evolves from the straight condemnation to the evaluation,’’ including the position of the pontiff’s backers, he said.
In 2007, Franco threatened to skip that year’s annual Holocaust remembrance day ceremony at Yad Vashem to protest the panel’s old text. He eventually relented, but the dispute frayed delicate ties between the Vatican and Israel, as well as the Vatican’s image among Jews the world over, many of whom are similarly critical of Pius.
What is interesting is the world's view of the image of Jews right now is down about dog shit level. Can thank little old Israhell for that.
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