Isn’t it exciting to hear there may be earth-like planets, namely those that orbit suns similar to our own, perhaps even in abundance ‘out there’ in the universe?! Yes, but let’s take a step back and analyze ‘why’ its exciting for a moment.
Could it be that our human emotions are based on hope? What I mean is this; based on human history, (I refer to written history and not speculative pre-history), there have been many technological accomplishments, however, sociologically not so much, or to put it simply, human relations have, for the most part, been an abysmal failure.
Arguably, history has recorded that modern man is pretty much a failure in human relations. For instance when has there ever been an extended period in at least 2000 years that hasn’t included wars, genocides, oppression, atrocities, ad infinitum!
In my humble opinion failures throughout history have engendered a present day ‘faint hope’ that somewhere, somehow, mankind will find relief, or to put it another way, ‘salvation’, from his earthly experience. (I would also submit this is the very basis of the ‘theory’ of evolution.) In other words an attempt to absolve humanity from our blood stained past, and even more so, its present!
Its no secret that the dramatic increase in world population has brought about the prospect of mass-extinction, despite enormous potential for increase… why? In a nutshell; the answer is clearly human mismanagement, be it environmentally, politically, or economically!
But I digress; returning to the aforementioned planetary discoveries; what is it that really excites us about them? Isn’t it all about finding relief from our human failures? The vain hope that if there is life on other planets it may somehow point the way to discover or make human life somehow successful, an existence that has eluded us on earth?
For example, remember the classic Sci-Fi movie “The Day The Earth Stood Still”? An alien galactic envoy arrives to warn that robots were authorized to arbitrarily enforce galactic peace. They were said to be programmed to obliterate any planet who threatened a galactic peace protocol by the misuse of atomic power! (A very human approach no doubt!)
In conclusion, I submit that mankind as a whole is missing the ‘woods for the trees’. What I mean by that is the greatest human to ever live provided us with the way out of our failed human condition, the way to achieve what many are now seeking in the stars.
He told us what to seek, how and where to find it, and the result would be nothing less than everlasting life on a paradise earth! Therefore shouldn’t that be our primary focus? Because whether we seek it or not, earth is scheduled for exactly that ideal future by its eternal Creator! Indeed, have faith: it really will happen, with, or without, our personal benefit, and right here on planet earth!
Here is a slightly edited version and PLEASE NOTE: HORRIFIC DOCUMENTED CASES OF CHILD ABUSE IN THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THIS REPRINT.
By secular standards, the Catholic Church is a corrupt organization and Federal authorities should treat it like one! Neil Macdonald · CBC News · Posted: Aug 26, 2018 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: August 26, 2018
WARNING: This column contains disturbing details
Imagine for a moment that a big, admired multinational corporation, one selling a beloved product, was employing large numbers of male pedophiles and rapists, operating in rings all over the world, and that their crimes had been uncovered in Australia, Ireland, Canada, the Philippines, Belgium, France, Austria, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, Britain, Germany and the United States, and, further, that senior executives had systematically covered up and suppressed evidence, transferring and enabling hundreds of predators, betraying thousands of victims. What would happen to the company is not terribly difficult to imagine. At a minimum, the U.S. government would likely use its Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law to go after not only the rapists and molesters, but also the company’s executives, up to and including its CEO if possible, seizing the company’s assets and seeking the harshest possible prison terms. That’s the sort of thing RICO was invented for. The company would almost certainly collapse. But of course no company’s warranty guarantees everlasting life, and no company maintains that its CEO is chosen by God.
Grand jury report: (continued) The Roman Catholic church does, which is the only explanation for why, after the release of a grand jury report that detailed more than 1,000 cases of sexual abuse in Pennsylvania over several decades by more than 300 predators in clerical collars, many of whom are still alive, millions of American Catholics continued to attend mass.
(DISGUSTING GRAPHIC DOCUMENTED CASES ARE DELETED FROM THIS REPRINTING HERE)
‘We showed no care for the little ones’: Pope’s letter vows to end sex abuse, coverups Pennsylvania’s attorney general, Josh Shapiro, told reporters last week that high church officials “routinely and purposefully described the abuse as ‘horseplay’ and ‘wrestling,'” choosing to transfer the pedophiles to other congregations (where they’d have a whole new selection of horseplay partners), or send them away for prayerful reflection before returning to duty.
Unfortunately, though, Shapiro said, the statute of limitations has run out in most of the cases, or the priests involved had died. Pity, Shapiro was implying, because if they could, authorities would vigorously pursue and prosecute and imprison not only the perpetrators, but their enablers and protectors. Or not. Actually, probably not. Inevitably, that scale of prosecution – we are talking about inflicting severe damage to the Catholic Church in the United States – would require steadfast political will, and seriously, what politician seeking re-election wants to alienate 24 per cent of Americans, many of whom, despite clear evidence of the church’s moral rot, insist on believing it is infallible? Pope Francis released an open letter to the world’s Catholics after the Pennsylvania revelations, basically repeating the company line. (Alessandra Tarantino/Associated Press)
The same goes elsewhere. Revelations of horrors in all the above-mentioned Western countries (here in Canada, there was documented abuse in Quebec, British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, where the church’s Mount Cashel orphanage was operated as sort of a prison for child sex slavesresulted in dismissals of some church officials, some lawsuits and a handful of criminal convictions, but not much more than that.)
Each time, the Pope or one of his high subalterns would lament human frailty, and drone on about the sacred duty to protect the most vulnerable, while privately fighting to thwart civil suits or conspiring to keep facts from investigating authorities.
Pope Francis, who enjoys the most saintly reputation of any recent pope (except for John Paul II, who was actually made a saint, despite all the ugly revelations on his watch) released an open letter to the world’s Catholics after the Pennsylvania revelations, basically repeating the company line: gosh, sorry, that was terrible, we must do better, God bless you all, go in peace.
Noting first that “most of these cases belong to the past,” (don’t all cases belong to the past?) the Pope banged on for 2,000 words about feeling the pain of the vulnerable, and the necessity of ensuring it doesn’t happen again (and again and again and again), but his central theme was expressed right off the top in a line from Corinthians: “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it.”
Yes. Of course. Let’s compare the spiritual suffering the Pope claims the revelations have caused him to that of a child being sodomized by an adult stalker in a clerical collar, a monster the boy probably doesn’t think he’s even allowed to complain about.
Resisting change The right thing for the Pope to do would be to waive his sovereign privilege (he is a sitting head of state), and invite criminal authorities to freely and fully access church records worldwide, and drain the holy swamp. He might also consider at this stage ordaining women, because women are God’s creatures too, perfectly able to spiritually guide the faithful, and, umm, don’t tend to rape children.
But the privileged old men who run the church aren’t going to allow any of that. They’re a bit like gun control opponents, opposing an obvious solution on doctrinaire grounds. There actually have been a few attempts to use the RICO statute against priests, notably in Cleveland, but jurors did not convict
When former Oklahoma governor and former federal prosecutor Frank Keating, a practicing Catholic, compared the church’s obsession with secrecy to the Mafia’s, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles demanded his ouster from a church board examining clerical abuse. Keating resigned from the panel. Mahony, who covered up sexual abuse by priests in California, according to church records, retired peacefully at age 75. Only after a court order compelled the Los Angeles archdiocese to open its files on abuse was Mahony gently rebuked by the church.
The National (news cast) Pope Francis condemns priestly sexual abuse. Pope Francis condemned priestly sexual abuse and its cover-up by the Catholic Church, in a public letter. In addition to demanding accountability, Francis begged forgiveness for the pain suffered by victims and said Catholics must be involved in any effort to root out abuse.
By any secular standard, the Catholic Church is a corrupt organization. It in fact sets the standard for impunity. Cardinal Bernard Law, who presided over the coverup of the church’s famous Boston sex abuse scandals, was plucked and brought to Rome by Pope John Paul II, where he resided until he died at the Vatican, beyond the reach of American prosecutors.
Earlier this year, after Bishop Juan Barros of Chile was accused of covering up clerical abuse, Pope Francis denounced the accusers’ “calumny.” When it turned out that there was merit to the accusations, and that the Vatican had been informed of the problem, Francis claimed he’d been misinformed. A few weeks later, all 34 of Chile’s bishops tendered their resignations. Francis eventually accepted three of them. And now, Catholic activist Susan Reynolds has gathered thousands of signatures on a letter demanding the resignation of all American bishops. It would be the right thing to do, but at a guess, the very notion amuses America’s bishopry, comfortable in their armour of piety.
RICO, aggressively deployed by federal prosecutors using wiretaps, search warrants and informants, would be far more effective. They can’t all flee to Rome.
This column is part of CBC’s Opinion section. For more information about this section, please read this editor’s blog and our FAQ. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Neil Macdonald Opinion Columnist Neil Macdonald is an opinion columnist for CBC News, based in Ottawa. Prior to that he was the CBC’s Washington correspondent for 12 years, and before that he spent five years reporting from the Middle East. He also had a previous career in newspapers, and speaks English and French fluently, and some Arabic. More by Neil Macdonald CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices|About CBC News RELATED STORIES More than 1,000 children abused by Pennsylvania priests, report says THE NATIONAL TODAY Pope condemns sex abuse by priests: What we know about number of victims, scope of settlements ‘There’s no room for forgiveness’: Pope’s sexual abuse letter meaningless to survivor Southdown Institute: A ‘shield’ for the Church or a place to provide ‘meaningful’ help for pedophile priests? ‘It wasn’t me’: Disgraced Catholic priest denies touching boy in 1970s.
I’ve touched on this subject before but am compelled to add to it because of ongoing observations. As a senior citizen, I feel very blessed to have been able to observe ‘some’ of nature throughout many years now, without being a back-woods hermit or luddite*.
Though I cannot claim to have been on African Safari’s, or an explorer in deep sea quests, yet from my viewpoint and experience it is utterly obvious that we have only begun to appreciate the complexity and diversity of life on planet earth.
That complexity and diversity of life on earth speaks volumes to me. It says that there is a power and intelligence far beyond human capability, yet still within our capacity to appreciate… if we are humble enough.
Humility is sadly lacking in most of humankind. Philosophers throughout the ages prefer to theorize, even that somehow we may only exist in a dream world. Descortes famously said ‘I think therefore I am!” A complex belief that internal thought and doubt are the only things we can trust. Even today’s science suggests by sheer accidental means we have developed into the ultimate life-form on earth. Even worse, that we are capable of managing our own affairs, and even all other life-forms of the earth wisely. Clearly real facts have proven otherwise!
These assumptions, supported by never-ending, conflicting and unsupported fanciful theories, strikes me as the greatest weakness of our kind, otherwise known as absolute arrogance!
Countless generations of mankind. even those of first nations peoples, has proven beyond a doubt we desperately need superior guidance to manage our affairs and care for all life on earth, including the environment. This may well be the simple, primary purpose of human life.
Its becoming more obvious to thinking people every day; this unique and beautiful planet was never intended to be managed in isolation from its designer and builder. Isn’t it about time we humbly and respectfully acknowledge that basic truth?**
*luditte: a person opposed to new technology or ways of working.
** He is “the Creator of the heavens, . . . the Former of the earth and the Maker of it.” (Isa 45:18) He is “the Former of the mountains and the Creator of the wind” (Am 4:13) and is “the One who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the things in them.”
Tonight there was CBC news about the ‘demise’ of bowling alleys.
As a young teen I worked as a ‘pin setter’ in a Vancouver East side Kingsway Bowling Alley on weekends. It was possible to earn a fair wage, for a teen, if you were called upon. You had to patiently wait in a lounge area until business dictated the need, I think that’s where I began smoking cigarettes unfortunately. Of course this was in the 50’s, well before automated setting machines came into use.
Eventually, with experience, I was able to quickly reset ‘two’ lanes of 10 pins at once, competing with other pin-setters when there was intense bowling team competitions, no easy feat, I had just enough hand-span to pickup four pins per time! Of course 5 pins were much easier. It was actually quite dangerous sitting feet up between two lanes of flying pins which sometimes struck you. But the rewards seemed to make it worth the risk.
One night a couple of late gambling bowlers just wouldn’t quit, the only ones bowling. I was their pinsetter and exhausted. My older brother Jim came by since it was getting late. When he saw my situation he demanded an end, but Wally the manager, wouldn’t interrupt paying customers. Anyway I survived. Overall the pin-setting experience was, perhaps, a worthwhile youth learning lesson of some kind. Maybe my grandchildren can learn from that experience.?
Some time ago a friend, who believes, just as I do, that so-called ‘organic evolution’ has no facts to support it, but is really a false ‘doctrine’ adopted by its strongest believers.
And yet the actual use of the term “evolution” is defended by that same friend as applied to ‘inorganic’ matter, such as the amazing ongoing creation of stars!
I wish to fully condemn use of that word description because it has a misleading inference, even an possibly unintended corrupting influence.
Surely terms like ‘progression, expansion, or growth’ to name a few, are much more appropriate and apt adjectives or adverbs, than ‘evolution‘ to describe changes to inanimate objects!?
I simply don’t believe its ‘splitting hairs’ to condemn use of that term, in ‘any’ context whatsoever! To me its a misleading word, a pure invention of pseudo science! At best it may mislead an uninformed general public, possibly even undermining belief in ‘factual’ creation.
So in my humble opinion its simply inappropriate, the ‘thin edge of the wedge’, because by association it may subtly contribute to acceptance of a gross lie, namely ‘organic’ evolution.
All that said; of course I cannot determine anyone’s choice of words, but only kindly ask that common use of this word be rejected.
As said in my intro page; I will try to be honest about revealing my experiences both good and bad. So here is a shameful one.
Around 9 years old I admitted a few local kids into my secret summer place; namely the attic of our family garage. I had constructed a wall ladder to gain access to an ‘inviting’ trap door I’d spotted. Of course it was a very dirty, dusty space, but definitely my secret place when dad took his dodge to work.
Determining we needed to celebrate but having no money to do so, I shamefully set out a plan to ‘steal’ a cake from a very small family store on Fraser Street a couple of blocks away that only sold bakery products, probably made in house.
Indeed there was splendid cake located on a table close to the door. So one or two of the ‘gang’ were instructed to distract the owner at the rear counter. It was a highly ‘successful’ operation, possibly because of our perceived innocence!
Back at the secret place we more or less gorged ourselves, hand to mouth, having no cutlery. Yes it was shameful, no doubt about it. And I did pay a price! While building a dam along side the road in front of our house, an extremely irate European immigrant single parent approached me with her daughter in hand, one of the ‘gang’ no less!
Her daughter had confessed her sin, and her mother, rightly, acted like I was the evil boy responsible for this stain. She had actually gone and compensated the store owner beforehand.
After her tongue lashing my conscience did kick in. So I knocked on her door and apologized Only reluctantly did she accept, ordering me to have no contact with her (cherished) daughter. It was a good lesson I’ve never forgotten.
Not often, but occasionally I see an article that I believe is worth sharing with those who may have similar likes as me. The following is reproduced from a Nice News (nicenews.com) subscription for non-commercial information purposes. Imho empathy is as essential to human life as the air we breath and hope you will find it as positive as I do…
Babies Begin Developing Empathy Around 18 Months, Study Says
Past research has shown that the human brain is hardwired for empathy and forming relationships, but at what point in our development do those characteristics emerge? A new study, published in the spring edition of the journal Cognitive Development, says it’s earlier than you may think — at about 18 months of age.
Around the same time that babies are learning words beyond “mama” and “dada,” walking on their own, and starting to feed themselves, they’re also developing the first inklings of “empathic concern,” the scientists say. They reached this conclusion by analyzing 127 mother-child pairs, bringing them in for behavioral experiments when the children were 6, 10, 14, and 18 months old, per a press release from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
The researchers tracked the children’s response to another person’s “simulated pain,” finding that their concern in reaction to the strangers’ “distress” was most pronounced by the 18 month point. They also discovered that a mother’s emotional intelligence affects the child’s.
“The more sensitively mothers responded to the needs of their infants, the greater the capacity of the children was in their second year of life to show empathic concern for a stranger,” the release reads, with study author Markus Paulus adding, “Children learn from [caregivers] how to deal with negative emotions. As a result, they are subsequently able to apply these lessons themselves.” (italics added)
Please Note the comment: ‘Children learn from caregivers!’
Its more than 60 years since the Air Canada flight 831 crash after taking off from Montreal… all 118 passengers and crew were killed.
I was booked to be on that flight weeks ahead, following an honorable discharge from the RCN. At that time there was no direct flights from Halifax to Vancouver, so a connecting flight at Montreal was a necessary intermediate flight.
The day I was scheduled to leave, I had an unexpectedly met a girl on a Halifax street I had once dated. She was in a graduating group of Victorian Order of Nurses in beautiful blue capes, perhaps waiting to get pictures done.
Recognizing one another, even though my flight itinerary was scheduled for later that same evening I impulsively asked her to meet me for a farewell drink at a recently opened mixed gender * bar, to my surprise she agreed.
While waiting at the bar for her to arrive, I realized it was going to be a close call to make it to the Air Canada desk in time. So I phoned to ask if I could take a later flight and was told I could do so if I wanted to come there for transportation to the airport at 5 a.m. So I made a last minute decision to delay my flight and corresponding connecting flight #831!
After a brief social evening at the bar, I took the nursing graduate home in a cab to the outskirts of Halifax. Snow was falling quite heavily, and I returned to a motel room for a short rest.
After a quick shower and brisk morning walk in light snow in semi-darkness, I arrived at the Air Canada desk. Staff had just opened up their Nova Scotian hotel lobby desk. I was puzzled why they appeared to be nervously whispering to each other while glancing at me as I waited for ground transportation to the airport.
Apparently they had already learned of the connecting flight DC-8 Trans Canada Airlines disaster between Quebec and Ontario, no doubt realizing I had been booked to be on it many days in advance! More than 100 passengers and crew were killed, likely due to a pilot pre-flight error.
Indeed, as Solomon so well said it “…time and unforeseen events overtake them all.” (Eccl. 9:11) Our lives are so limited by circumstances we have little or no control over, I most truly sympathize with those who lost family members on flight #831. Thankfully we all have hope to see loved ones again in the future provided we exercise faith in the loving ransom of Christ Jesus… while that opportunity still exits. (please visit JW.org for more information on our resurrection hope!
*mixed gender bars were a ‘first’ for Nova Scotia at that time!
