Shimon Peres to Spain to celebrate 25th year of ties

It is anticipated that the president’s visit will contribute greatly to the strengthening of strategic, political and economic ties between the 2 countries.  

President Shimon Peres leaves for Spain Monday on a four-day state visit as the guest of King Juan Carlos.

The visit is timed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of diplomatic ties with Spain following an almost 500-year disconnect between Spain and the Jewish people in the aftermath of the Spanish Inquisition.

Diplomatic relations were established on January 17, 1986.

When Trinidad Jimenez, Spain’s current foreign minister, visited Israel at the beginning of this month, she told Peres that Spain was eagerly awaiting his arrival.

Peres will be accompanied by a 40-member delegation of top executives from Israel’s major hi-tech and defense companies, among them Israel Military Industries, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries and RAD Data Communications.

It is anticipated that the president’s visit will contribute greatly to the strengthening and expansion of strategic, political and economic ties between the two countries.

Soon after his arrival, Peres will conduct a briefing with editors of Spain’s leading electronic and print media outlets.

He has reserved the evening for Madrid’s Jewish community at the Central Synagogue.

During the course of his visit Peres, in addition to his meetings with the king, whose titles include king of Jerusalem, will meet with Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero and opposition leader Mariano Rajoy. He will also address a plenary session of the Spanish Congress of Deputies, and will open a bilateral business forum that will be attended by Minister for Industry and Trade Miguel Sebastian.

The forum will include 300 representatives of prominent companies from both Spain and Israel.

At the invitation of and under the auspices of the prestigious Europa Press news agency, Peres will present a political overview of the Middle East in general and Israel in particular to some 300 senior Spanish politicians and opinion- makers who are curious to hear the president’s views on scenarios that could ensue in the wake of the wave of protest rolling through the region.

Other meetings will be with Spanish intellectuals and with journalists.

Peres hopes to persuade some of Spain’s top soccer stars to come to Israel as guests of the Peres Peace Center, which inter alia promotes peace through sport, and has Israelis and Palestinians playing on the same team.

In addition to the usual gifts that are given to heads of state on such visits, Peres will come away with the key to the city of Madrid.

Before leaving for Spain, Peres attended the opening on Sunday evening of the 25th Jerusalem International Book Fair at the the capital’s International Convention Center

Proverbs Chapter 1 (King James Version)

1The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;

2To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;

3To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;

4To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.

5A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

6To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

8My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

9For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

10My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

11If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:

12Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:

13We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:

14Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:

15My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:

16For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

17Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

18And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.

19So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

20Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:

21She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,

22How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

23Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

24Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

25But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:

26I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

27When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

28Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

29For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:

30They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

31Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

32For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

33But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

NRC: Data insufficient for firm conclusion in anthrax case

Robert Roos  News Editor


Report Casts Doubts on Findings in Anthrax Attacks
It disputes a key scientific finding in the FBI's case against



Feb 15, 2011 (CIDRAP News) – After a review of scientific methods that the FBI used in probing the 2001 anthrax mailings, a committee of the National Research Council (NRC) announced today that the available scientific evidence by itself is not adequate to reach a definitive conclusion about the source of the anthrax spores used in the attacks.

The anthrax mailings to three media offices and two US senators in the fall of 2001 led to 22 anthrax cases, including 5 deaths. After 7 years of investigation, the FBI concluded in 2008 that government microbiologist Bruce Ivins had perpetrated the attacks. Ivins committed suicide in July 2008 as the FBI was preparing to file charges.

After the FBI announced its conclusions in August 2008, a number of experts expressed doubt about the findings and called for an independent review. In September 2008 FBI Director Robert Mueller announced that the bureau would ask the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct such a review.

The NRC, part of the NAS, released the 190-page report on its findings at a news conference today. The NRC committee focused on the biological, physical, and chemical methods, especially the "microbial forensics," used in studying and identifying the anthrax in the letters; it did not cover more traditional forensic areas such as analyses of hair, fibers, and fingerprints.

The FBI hung its case primarily on genetic evidence that it said linked the mailed anthrax to anthrax that was in Ivins' custody at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Frederick, Md. The anthrax spores were stored in a flask called RMR-1029.

The NRC committee's key finding was that the link between the attack anthrax and the anthrax in Ivins' custody was not definitive.

"Spores in the mailed letters and in RMR-1029 . . . share a number of genetic similarities consistent with the FBI finding that the spores in the letters were derived from RMR-1029," the NAS said in a press release. "However, the committee found that other possible explanations for the similarities—such as independent, parallel evolution—were not definitively explored during the investigation."

Further, the panel determined that the FBI's data provided "leads as to the origin of the anthrax spores in the letters," but the data did not rule out other possible sources, the NAS said. Committee members said today they could not quantify the probability that the letter samples actually trace back to the USAMRIID flask.

The NRC also emphasized the FBI's own finding that the anthrax in RMR-1029 was not the immediate source of the mailed anthrax, because one or more "intermediate growth steps would have been required to produce the anthrax in the attack letters." The FBI described the RMR-1029 anthrax as the "parent material" to what was mailed.

The panel also determined that silicon was present in the mailed anthrax, but it agreed with the FBI's conclusion that there was no evidence that the substance had been added to "weaponize" the anthrax by aiding its airborne dispersal.

In releasing their report today, committee members said completion of the work was delayed when in November 2010 the FBI notified the panel about additional relevant materials, even though the panel had repeatedly asked for all materials. "The additional material provided new insights and new information about overseas samples and resulted in a new section of the report," said Alice P. Gast, chair of the panel and president of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.

The committee also learned last fall about the existence of classified information about the investigation. But because of the lateness of the revelation, the need for timely release of the report, and an understanding with the FBI that all materials the NRC reviewed would be made public, the committee decided not to review the classified material, the report says.

One of the committee's two recommendations is that the classified materials should be reviewed. A second recommendation is that investigative bodies should take great pains to educate the public and policymakers about the goals of forensic science and its limitations when used to investigate a biological attack.

Beyond its overall finding that the scientific evidence permits no definitive conclusion about the origins of the mailed anthrax, the committee makes nine main points in its report. The first is that the FBI correctly identified the letter anthrax as the Ames strain of Bacillus anthracis and also had good reason to conclude it had not been genetically engineered.

A second point is that the letter anthrax, when cultured, produced several different types of colonies, or morphotypes, and specific genetic sequences associated with these types provided a way to assess relationships among different anthrax samples studied. However, the development and testing of the assays for these different strains took a long time and slowed the investigation.

The FBI created a repository of Ames strain anthrax samples gathered from labs around the world and then compared them with the attack anthrax in an attempt to find the source, the report explains. The genetic analyses of the repository samples were consistent with the finding that the letter spores were derived from RMR-1029, but, as noted above, did not prove such a relationship, the committee found.

When pressed by a reporter to describe in simple terms the extent to which the panel agreed or disagreed with the FBI conclusion in the case, Gast said, "We do say the results are consistent with a link between the letter samples and RMR-1029, but they're not definitive because there are other possible explanations. We can't quantify that for you, unfortunately."

Gast said further, "What we're saying in a practical sense is that you can't rely solely on the science, and any statements that rely on the science as a foundation for a definitive conclusion can't be made because there are uncertainties, particularly in this field of microbial forensics."

David A. Relman, vice chair of the NRC panel, said the FBI found four specific mutations in the mailed anthrax and designated them as the genetic signature of the material. Among 947 repository samples that were tested, 8 were positive for all four mutations, he said. Seven of these were said to have come from RMR-1029, and the other one came from another lab but was said to have originated from RMR-1029, he explained. Relman is a professor at Stanford University School of Medicine.

In a statement today, the FBI said that the NRC committee "concluded that it is not possible to reach a definitive conclusion about the origins of the B. anthracis in the mailings based on the available scientific evidence alone. The FBI has long maintained that while science played a significant role, it was the totality of the investigative process that determined the outcome of the anthrax case."

The agency added, "The FBI believes that today's report will increase the public's understanding of the exhaustive effort that resolved one of the most extensive investigations in the history of the FBI."

In other findings, the NRC committee said:

• It is difficult to draw conclusions about the amount of time needed to prepare the anthrax used in the attacks or the "skill set" the perpetrator required.
• "There was inconsistent evidence of B. anthracis Ames DNA in environmental samples that were collected from an overseas site." The data on these samples deserve a more thorough scientific review.
• There are other tools, methods, and approaches available today for a scientific investigation like this one, including the use of high-throughput DNA sequencing. The use of these tools might clarify the inferred association between the RMR-1029 and the attack anthrax.
• The FBI built an appropriate organization structure to accommodate the complexity of the anthrax investigation and received the advice of prominent experts.

See also:

Feb 15 NAS news release

NAS press conference Webcast link

Full NAS report

Feb 15 FBI statement

Sep 16, 2008, CIDRAP News story on FBI's request for the IOM review

Washington in the lap of Rome (1888) E-Book

Author: Fulton, Justin Dewey, 1828-1901

Read Here

PDF Format

From the archive, 12 February 1929: Fascism and the Vatican

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 12 February 1929

Benito Mussolini reads his credentials prior to signing the Lateran Treaty on behalf of King Victor Emmanuel III.
 Cardinal Gasparri (seated), signed on behalf of Pope Pius XI.

The concordat between the Quirinal and the Vatican signed in Rome yesterday is an event of such profound significance that no one can tell what its ultimate consequences will be.

One thing seems to be sure – Mussolini has achieved a great diplomatic success, perhaps the greatest of his career. On this there is general agreement. His gain is absolute. Whether the Vatican's gain is so absolute, seems a little uncertain. There is evidently much Italian nationalist sentiment in the Vatican itself. In other words, the Vatican has considerable Fascist sympathies. Pope Pius XI is credited with much admiration for Mussolini. That the Italian clergy as a whole are pro-Fascist is easy to understand, seeing that Fascism is a nationalist, authoritarian, anti-liberal, and anti-Socialist force.

Will the concordat mean closer cooperation between clerical reaction and the various forms of political reaction (such as Fascism) all over Europe? It is impossible to tell as yet, but the question is one that gives Continental Liberals some uneasiness, and there must be some misgivings even amongst progressive Roman Catholics. To many the Pope's spiritual sovereignty is a mystical conception that is violated by any temporal sovereignty, however small the realm over which it is exercised. That this temporal sovereignty should include membership of the League of Nations is a dangerous thought.

Happily there is a clause in the concordat by which the Vatican State expresses its wish to "remain extraneous to the temporal competitions between other States, as well as international congresses convened for this purpose." Presumably the League is such an "international congress." It does indeed seem improbable that either the Roman Catholic hierarchy or the Roman Catholic world would wish to see the Vicar of Christ dragged into the very temporal battles that are fought in the public arena at Geneva. It is reported from Rome that the care of the Roman Catholic missions in the Near East shall be conferred upon Italians. If that is so, Italian influence in the Near East will be reinforced at France's expense, for until now the missions have been in French hands. And yet another question may have to be answered, not yet, but some time. The Fascist dictatorship is strong. But the day will surely come when it will go the way of all tyrannies. What will be the attitude of a free Italy towards a Vatican State so intimately bound up with the Fascist dictatorship?

Priest Guilty of Child Rape, Faces Life in Prison

Watch Video

Conor Berry, Berkshire Eagle

Posted: 02/13/2011 10:53:34 AM EST

PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Thursday was judgment day for Gary Mercure, the former New York Catholic priest who could spend the rest of his life in prison for raping two altar boys in the Berkshires.

It took less than two hours for a Berkshire Superior Court jury to convict the 62-year-old priest on three counts of forcible child rape and one count of indecent assault and battery on a child younger than 14.

The charges stem from separate crimes committed by Mercure in 1986 and 1989, when he raped altar boys from his former Catholic church in Queensbury, N.Y., during day trips to the Berkshires.

Mercure didn't flinch as Superior Court Clerk Deborah S. Capeless read aloud each of the four guilty verdicts, one after the next. Court Officer Paul Duma placed handcuffs on the fallen priest and took him into custody.

Judge John A. Agostini ordered the Troy, N.Y., clergyman to be held without bail at the Berkshire County Jail & House of Correction until he is sentenced Wednesday at 2 p.m.

Mercure, a small, dapper man with graying hair, smiled at his crying sister as he was led away in handcuffs.

Defense Attorney Michael O. Jennings, of Springfield, had little to say about his client or the case while exiting the courtroom with co-counsel Robert DeLong, of Monson.

Mercure, who was permanently removed from ministry in New York in 2008 but technically remains a priest, plans to challenge the conviction. "There will be an appeal," Jennings said.

The trial began smoothly on Jan. 31, but was delayed by winter weather and the dismissal of a juror for posting a comment on Twitter that the judge said violated juror silence in the case.

Several of the priest's victims were present when Thursday's guilty verdicts were handed down. Afterward, one victim wiped tears from his eyes while making a call on his cell phone, while others embraced Berkshire First Assistant District Attorney Paul J. Caccaviello and Assistant District Attorney Marianne Shelvey, the prosecutors who tried the case.

The victims were escorted from the Pittsfield courthouse by plainclothes Massachusetts State Police troopers and court officers, who prevented members of the media from approaching them. Caccaviello said the victims didn't wish to speak with the reporters who crowded the courthouse hallway with television cameras and microphones. "They're still processing this," he said.

Caccaviello said Mercure's conviction should bring some closure to the victims, who remained mum about the abuse for more than 20 years. "We're very gratified for that verdict," he said, calling the victims "heroes" for coming forward.

Asked how the victims were faring, Caccaviello replied, "Right now, there's a whole range of emotions."

The Berkshire District Attorney's Office hasn't yet formulated its sentencing recommendation, but Mercure could spend the rest of his life behind bars. "He's been convicted of life felonies," Caccaviello said.

So much of the trial's testimony focused on individuals and events from New York, with only a fraction of the testimony pertaining to the Berkshire County assaults. "It presented difficult challenges," Caccaviello admitted.

"Father Satan"

However, the jury ultimately believed the testimony of the five altar boys who accused Mercure of long-term sexual abuse in New York during the 1980s.

Two of those men also testified that Mercure raped them during car trips to the Berkshires, including a 1986 outing to a hiking area bordering Great Barrington and Monterey and a 1989 trip to the former Brodie Mountain Ski Area in New Ashford. "I think that the jury could tell that our two victims were credible," Caccaviello said.

All of the former altar boys hail from New York and are now in their 30s, including one who's the father of an infant child. State police investigators who handled the probe said one altar boy, now 35, was forcibly raped twice by Mercure during that single 1986 trip to South County. The other victim, now 34, was raped once by Mercure during the 1989 trip to New Ashford, police said.

The 1986 incident occurred between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31 of that year, while the 1989 incident happened between Feb. 1 and Feb. 28 of that year, according to police and prosecutors. Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany referred to Mercure's crimes as "sinful, criminal and reprehensible." "Our hearts today are with the children who were abused, all now adults. We admire the strength and courage they demonstrated by coming forward. As devastating as their experiences must have been, they have shown by example that they are survivors -- strong, resilient and powerful," the diocese said in a statement issued after the verdicts came down.

After receiving an abuse allegation against Mercure in early 2008, the diocese contacted the Warren County (N.Y.) District Attorney's Office, which was unable to prosecute Mercure due to the vintage of the claims. Massachusetts has a statute of limitations that's more favorable to these sorts of prosecutions, however, and was able to hold Mercure criminally responsible for his decades-old crimes.

In Massachusetts, the countdown for the statute of limitations didn't begin running until 2008, when Berkshire County authorities first learned of the abuse.

The Albany Diocese permanently banned Mercure from ministry in August 2008, which meant that Mercure could no longer function as or present himself as a priest, according to diocesan spokesman Ken Goldfarb.

Church officials in Albany said they're hopeful the Mercure case might encourage other clergy abuse victims "to report the abuse immediately and seek assistance."

After the verdict, a member of the jury that convicted Mercure spoke briefly to reporters outside the courthouse. "I'm glad I served," said the woman, who declined to give her name or address, but plans to attend next week's sentencing. "Whatever the sentencing is, 100 times that wouldn't even scratch the surface for what he deserves," she said.

Video: Grand Jury Shows Audacity of Philadelphia Archdiocese

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEPvvyio1Rk


http://spirituallysmart.blogspot.com/2011/02/grand-jury-shows-audacity-of.html

The Truth About Valentine's day (Video)

Switzerland rejects tighter gun controls

Sport shooting is very popular in Switzerland

13 February 2011 Last updated at 13:32
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12441834


Swiss voters have rejected proposed tighter controls on gun ownership, near-complete results show.

It means that the voters decided during the referendum to retain the current system, which allows army-issued weapons to be kept at home.

Supporters of the tighter curbs wanted to have weapons kept in armouries and demanded stricter checks on gun owners.

Opponents said the move would undermine trust in the army. The final result of the vote is expected soon.

Near-complete results show at least 14 out of 26 Swiss cantons rejected the proposal in Sunday's vote.
National institution

For the proposal to succeed, it required the support of the majority of Swiss citizens and the cantons.

Overall, about 57% of the Swiss voters rejected the plan, while 43% backed it.

Geneva and Basel both bucked the trend by approving it, according to the Swissinfo website.

The result is a blow to gun-control groups in Switzerland, the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva reports.

There are an estimated two to three million guns circulating in Switzerland.

No-one knows the exact number because there is no national firearms register, our correspondent adds.

In addition to the semi-automatic assault rifle that all those serving in the army store at home, there are thousands of hunting rifles and pistols.

Serving and former soldiers have been allowed to keep their weapons at home since World War II.

The proposal to end that custom was backed by a coalition of doctors, women's groups and police associations.

Although Switzerland's overall crime rate is low by European standards, the country has the highest rate of gun suicide in Europe.

The proposal's backers had argued that keeping soldiers' firearms locked up in armouries would reduce the suicide rate.

A number of high-profile killings in recent years - such as the shooting of ski star Corinne Rey-Bellet by her estranged husband in 2006 - have also boosted support for greater gun control.

But the Swiss army is a national institution, and changing anything about it is controversial, says our correspondent.

Opponents of the proposals say taking soldiers' guns away would undermine the military and could open the door to abolishing Switzerland's citizen army all together.

"If the 'Yes' goes through, it really risks destroying the country," Xavier Schwitzguebel, an army reservist officer, was earlier quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

"If we take away the weapon, which represents this trust, that means that we are breaking the sacred union between democracy and citizen."

The Vatican Wages tremendous Immoral Attack on humanity

That should be the name of my blog. Just look at these few stories and look at the picture that is being painted in my mind. Let me see if I can describe to you what I see. These are all recent stories which have broke within the last month.

1. Vatican has defrocked three Boston-based priests for abuse

2. Local priest accused of sexual misconduct will return to church

3. Minnesota church won't investigate priest

4. Grand jury shows audacity of archdiocese - Probe of how the church investigates allegations against priests found it focuses mostly on its reputation and assets.

Now let's sort these stories out a bit. In article "2." we read, "A team of five investigators -- including a psychologist, social worker, attorney, and members of several law enforcement agencies -- interviewed both the accuser and the priest and found no wrongdoing, Muench said."

But in Article "4" we read, "Victims who muster the courage to report their torment then must endure an investigatory process biased against them." and, "On July 24, 2008," the grand jury wrote, an archdiocesan staffer told 36-year-old victim "Ben" that the Review Board "could not substantiate his allegation. Less than a year later, Ben committed suicide."

So was the "team of five investigators" mentioned in article "2." similar or even the same as "the review board" mentioned in article "4."? The same review board which lead to someone's suicide?

Speaking of suicide, this leads me to another suicide that just occurred in Kentucky which ties into article "3." The case of David Jarboe who had just written a note on his facebook account saying he was molested by priests. Right after he wrote the note he then went and killed himself in the parking lot of the catholic church where his family attended and where his funeral was held. And even though he was a well liked young man, had a good job, pretty girlfriend, was a former college football player and sports enthusiast. Sounds normal right? But what did the archdiocese say about him to the newspaper? Answer: "The "poor bedeviled young man, for him to mention (Father Baer) in the same context with whatever may have happened to him is so unfortunate and so unfair,"

So this leads me finally to article "1." And it wasn't so much the fact that of what the article says, but what is said in the comment area. "The Vatican should remove Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, Archpriest of the Papal Liberian Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, from his prestigious position. This man facilitated the shuffling of pedophiles from parish to parish and then committed perjury by staing that he knew knothing of the problem.He should have been indicted, prosecuted, and if convicted, put in jail. Cardinal Law became the first individual shown to have actively participated in the cover-up of child molestation; for this distinction, he was rewarded with his present day position." (sic)

I myself am a former Catholic who was proud to have "RC" stamped on my dog tags when I was in the military during the Persian Gulf War. Not knowing that solidified my part of the papal crusade I was part of. This I did in ignorance not yet knowing what I was part of. That was from 1990-94. In 1997 I left the church for good when I read the bible for the first time in my life and I saw that the bible and the Catholic Church were worlds apart. And that was even before I knew of any child molestation cases.

What we see above in the articles I have referenced is a struggle of  those abused against the immoral attack waged upon us by powerful Roman Catholic entities who make sure they mingle with all the heads of many government agencies. Holding award ceremonies, dinners where government and state officials are awarded all kinds of plaques, knighthoods and other honors for standing by the Catholic Church. This mix of Roman Catholicism and politics has to stop now. This is why it was illegal for Roman Catholics to hold government office in America in the earlier years. It wasn't religious persecution against Catholics. But righteous prosecution against corruption. Again, I was raised going to Catholic Church. I went myself to the church at age 8 out of a desire to be closer to God and I was baptized for the first time at 8 years old. I was then confirmed after I attended catechism classes with all my catholic buddies. I clutched rosary beads while praying to God while in the military asking Him to reveal His Son to me in a dream. Which dream I had on the third night of praying that prayer. Although it had nothing to do with rosary beads or the Catholic Church. We need to understand that God is attainable to us directly and freely and not through any rites or ceremonies in the catholic Church. This I have experienced first hand. If we could understand this as human beings we will see that the Catholic Church is actually useless in our relationship with God. Not only is it absolutely useless but as we see by just the four articles I listed above, the "Church" can cripple us spiritually, psychologically and do harm even to physical death of some.

Please, break away from the lie that we need to be in "good grace" with the "church" to be in good grace with God. All we need to be in good grace with God is His Son Christ Jesus who is free to us and isn't confined to any building. Jesus set me free in 1997, since then my eyes have been opened to what the Roman Catholic Church really is. The assault on family and children is the tip of the iceberg. Wars have been waged in her name, genocides and much much more. They have their people on every side of  every position to steer all things to their favor in society. I am saying this after years of careful study.

 But please know, Jesus is there, waiting for you to come to Him. His hands are outstretched. He promises to give us power and peace and comfort. This is real and the offer is to you now, today. No matter who you are and what you have done, the blood of Jesus can cleanse away the sin that is weighing you down. And He can give you real power to go and sin no more. Guilt on your soul may be the thing that stops you from reporting pedophile priests. This is a false guilt. The true guilt you may feel isn't from the priest but from other sins you may have committed in your life. Your separation from God and your guilt is real if you haven't truly come to Christ directly and repenting of your sins.

When I went to the Catholic Priest after I was seeing all these things in the bible and I was questioning him he lied and told me, "well, the Romans wrote the bible". But It wasn't the Romans who wrote the bible. It was the Jews. The priest then began to try and get me to confess to him. His face became red and inflamed with lust as he asked me if I committed the sin of "masturbation". I could tell he was totally corrupt. And I'm sure a huge part of it is the fact that these single men who have no wives are listening to all kinds of secret sins. From pedophilia to homosexuality to whatever they are exposed to in confessionals. This is just another sign that the catholic church is all wrong. Mankind wasn't meant to be confessed to. Especially confession to Roman Catholic "priests". Confession is meant to be to God only.

"If we confess our sins, he (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9

The Bible does say to "Confess your FAULTS one to another..." (James 5:16 KJV) "Another" in that verse is plural and so it's not supposed to be one person who receives all the confessions. And of course James is talking to people who are saved, born again, who have been cleansed of sin and given the real power of God that comes directly from God and not through any church hierarchy. And those types of people aren't going to be committing any of the filthy types of sins unregenerated sinners commit and confess to the Priests in Roman Catholicism.

Even the Geneva Bible which predates the King James Version also rightly states, "Acknowledge your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. For the prayer of a righteous man availeth much, if it be fervent."

Before I went to see that priest I was sharing what I was learning in the Bible with the secretary and the conflictions it has to the catholic church and in our conversation she confided in me that it is better not to know too much sometimes. As I left the priest that final time there was a man coming in who looked foreign and he was dressed in a purple and black robe, he looked like a real life Dracula. I have never even seen any figure like that in regards to the Catholic church since that time or before. I have no idea who that was. Maybe the priest secretly called for him while I was in the Priests office. Back then I didn't think much of it although it seemed odd I don't know but I don't think it was a coincidence. This was maybe the third time I had come visiting this Priest in Long Beach NY and trying to discuss the doctrinal discrepancies I saw in the church when reading the Bible.

Many people may just cast my story aside for whatever reason. Perhaps calling me a traitor to Roman Catholicism. But I truly and sincerely care for Roman catholics. You are the people I grew up with my whole life. All I know is that God has used people's stories here and there to help me. Maybe he can somehow use mine to help you.

But please, whoever you are, don't give up. If you've been abused or sexually assaulted by priests or anyone, Contact your local Police Dept. If they don't help you contact the DA's office in your area. Or you can contact groups like SNAP  You can also contact me here if you wish to share any concerns with me directly.

Thomas Richards (spirituallysmart.com)

Grand jury shows audacity of archdiocese

Probe of how the church investigates allegations against priests found it focuses mostly on its reputation and assets

By Monica Yant Kinney

If Catholic churches across the region took up a collection this Sunday and used it to hire lawyers to mislead victims of clergy sex abuse, would anyone give?

If a parish priest confessed that your tithing paid rapists to retire and funded interrogations that push innocents to suicide, would you demand a refund?

And knowing that dozens of area priests accused of abuse remain on the job in good standing with access to children, should you think twice about signing up your son for altar service?

The latest 124-page grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse makes abundantly clear that when it comes to predator priests, the Philadelphia Archdiocese blew its last chance to be believed.

Six years after another grand jury report forced contrition and so-called reforms, the archdiocese remains focused on protecting its assets and reputation above all else.

Victims who muster the courage to report their torment then must endure an investigatory process biased against them.

One young man was hounded into giving an in-person statement with a church staffer who immediately relayed the details to lawyers fearing litigation. Another victim was guilted into reliving his trauma while hospitalized after a suicide attempt, only to learn later that the archdiocese had used his confidences against him in the defense of his priestly abuser.

District Attorney Seth Williams, a proud Catholic, admitted that he had lost faith in his church's ability to do right by those it wronged. He now urges abuse victims to call or e-mail his office (215-686-8783, da.victimservices@phila.gov) rather than risk being wounded all over again.

"You do not need to go to the archdiocese first," Williams said.

Even the grand jurors - regular citizens honorably answering the call to seek justice - noted the audacity of the archdiocese's overseeing sex-abuse investigations:

"There is no other class of crimes where we expect the victims to rely on their assailants for a resolution."

Mistakes and intentions

Five years and five months ago, a different panel of grand jurors released the first report on sex abuse in the archdiocese. They found that church leaders had allowed dozens of priests to abuse hundreds of children for decades and harbored at least 63 known criminals.

Cardinal Justin Rigali condemned that report, especially the assertion that church officials knew exactly what they were doing when they protected pedophile priests over children.

"Mistakes are one thing," Rigali insisted. "Intentions are another."

That was 2005, and though the report did not lead to arrests, it forced the archdiocese to hire a respected victim advocate, establish a Review Board, and - significantly - begin reporting new allegations to law enforcement.

The church touted the "reforms," but made sure the new process was as sick and twisted as the old.

Turns out the archdiocese refused to adopt any of the victim advocate's recommendations. And that much-hyped Review Board - chosen by the cardinal himself - regularly deems accusations "unsubstantiated" even when priests flunk polygraph tests and the evidence against them is overwhelming.

In one fondling case reported by two victims, the Review Board sided with the priest even after hearing convincing corroborating testimony by several other former altar boys with clear memory of the cleric's obsession with sex.

"On July 24, 2008," the grand jury wrote, an archdiocesan staffer told 36-year-old victim "Ben" that the Review Board "could not substantiate his allegation. Less than a year later, Ben committed suicide."

Second time's a charm?

Last week, another group of truth-seeking strangers released a second sordid grand jury report on clergy sex abuse. This one led to the arrest of a Catholic schoolteacher and three archdiocesan priests on rape charges and a once-omnipotent monsignor charged with endangering the welfare of children.

Within hours, Rigali fired off another denial, this time of the stunning revelation that the archdiocese still refuses to pull priests from parishes after they are accused of sexually assaulting minors.

"I assure all the faithful," Rigali wrote, "that there are no archdiocesan priests in ministry today who have an admitted or established allegation of sexual abuse of a minor against them."

Parse that sentence with me, will you? It's a work of lawyerly art designed to lull Catholics into thinking their children are safe.

No active priest could have an admitted allegation, we now know, because as part of those "reforms," the archdiocese no longer bothers to question priests accused of sexual misconduct.

"The policy is not to even ask the abuser to speak," wrote the astonished jurors. "The explanation we were given for this policy is that it might 'put the priest in a position of admitting' his guilt."

The second part of Rigali's wiggle concerns established allegations. See above, then weep.

If two grand jury reports, failed lie-detector tests, repeat accusations, earnest witnesses, and victim suicides aren't enough to convince the archdiocese of priestly culpability in 2011, what is?