Still Running Off at the Keyboard

CHANNELING

I thought it would be a simple matter to blog the various New Agers who channel, but the attempt has proven to be enervating. I have made so many false starts in the last several days, gathering up bits and pieces of information about an explosion of channelers and their spooks, but it refuses to come together into a solid blog, and is becoming increasingly frustrating.

At one point I had planned next to delve into the activities of Benjamin Creme. The amount of material on him that turns up on the web would take me a year to read through. I considered next looking at historical channelers such as Bailey, Blavatsky, Besant, Leadbeater, Soloviev, Roerich, Aurobindo and discovering a reliable source for the name of their spirit. This, too, refused to come together even though in most cases their ascended master is known by name to most researches of New Age. I attempted to approach it from the other end, Googling the spirits to see what mortal name turned up. Once again the flood of information was daunting.

I think it's time to abandon the project. For whatever reason, apparently I'm not supposed to continue with it, at least not at this particular time. God must have other plans.

If nothing else, it has been an eye-opener. The growing channeling business with its attendant books, CDs, workshops, conferences, presentations, TV appearances, and celebrity groupies is greater than I had realized, and seems to still be gaining momentum. This is definitely a highway to riches if your spook cooperates. At the very least, with a little luck you can make a jet-set life for yourself, seeing the world on someone else's nickel.

There has been no email from Fr. Euteneuer this week, so there won't be his usual Sunday letter posted here. Since a channeling blog is hardly a topic for Sunday morning, I'm posting it tonight and tomorrow will let the blog rest.

LEE PENN'S ARTICLE ON NEW AGE RELIGION

which appeared in total in the SCP Journal has been posted in part on the SCP website.

WOMEN RELIGIOUS OF THE FAITHFUL KIND

If you have a desire to support women religious in the Catholic Church but don't want to lend economic assistance to women's ordination, and don't know of an order that isn't behind that and other liberal movements, consider supporting an order described in a Wall Street Journal article sent in by a reader:

The same weekend as the "ordinations," I joined 30 fellow lay Catholics gathered in Birmingham, Ala., for a sold-out retreat at the Casa Maria convent. The retreat is run by a group of Dominican-Franciscan (they follow both saintly models) religious sisters. Now in their 18th year as an order, the Sister Servants of the Eternal Word are as far away as one can imagine from that scene in Boston.

"As an active woman religious working in the field of retreats and catechesis in the Bible Belt South, I have to say that I am far too busy . . . to feel slighted by the fact that the priesthood is not open to women," insists Sister Louise Marie, a member of the order. She suggests that if Catholics and non-Catholics understood what a "powerful role women religious have," they would never "feel sorry for [us]."

The Sister Servants, like many relatively new orders, are filled with young, orthodox enthusiasts. The nearby cloistered Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration, seen on the Catholic Eternal Word Television Network, have a waiting list of young women wanting to join. Whenever they get more space, "there's always someone right around the corner waiting to move in," says Sister Marie St. John, speaking for the group. Most of the new orders are members not of the notoriously liberal Leadership Conference of Women Religious but of the newer, more strict Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious. Their energy appears a personification of "the New Pentecost" that Pope Benedict XVI talks about, calling on faithful Catholics to be apostles in the modern world.

BIDEN IS A PRO-CHOICE CATHOLIC

At the Dallas Morning News website, this is the headline:

Biden, the Democrats' vice presidential nominee, is a pro-choice Catholic

A link in the blog leads to a Steven Waldman article at the Huffington Post which claims:

choosing a pro-choice Catholic could backfire because the Bishops and others will attack him or her for being a bad Catholic. Choosing a full-blown pro-life Catholic would alienate pro-choice, independent women and Hillary voters. Biden is pro-choice but got a low rating from abortion rights groups (60% in 2007, 39% in 2003). In other words, he's Catholic enough to appeal to Catholics, pro-life enough to avoid some Church attacks, and pro-choice enough to satisfy Hillary voters.

FINDING SERIAL PATHS TO "PEACE"

The title of this story is "A heart divided finds a new path to peace". How there could be any sort of peace in this tale boggles the mind!

Married 23 years.
Mother of three.
Roman Catholic.

Discovers she's a lesbian 3 years into the marriage.
Waits until her children are 17 and 23 to make the announcement.
Divorces husband (presumably) and joins a nunnery in the Reformed Catholic Church.

Takes the Benedictine vows of silence and charity but refuses to take chastity vow.
Founds an Anglican Mission parish in Australia.
Finds a lesbian lover who says, "You're the pastor. I'm just the pastor's wife."

Discovers she's a novelist.
Writes book about bushranger and his prostitute.
Contemplates abandoning her nunnery (presumably only if her writing career takes off).

Calls this "a time of prayer and discernment".

I call this the sordid story of a selfish woman who can't make up her mind or keep a commitment, and doesn't care a fig for the damage left in her wake.

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY DENIED IN CALIFORNIA

A California Supreme Court decision upholding the rights of a lesbian to be artificially inseminated despite the religious objections of her physician violates the physician's rights of religious freedom and freedom of speech, according to officials of the California Catholic Conference.

"No one has the right to demand a nonemergency medical procedure from someone who finds that procedure morally unacceptable -- or religiously objectionable," said Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Curry of Los Angeles following the court's Aug. 18 ruling in North Coast Women's Care Medical Group v. Guadalupe T. Benitez.

"This case did not involve a life-and-death situation but only a possible inconvenience -- one which required the patient to 'walk across the office,'" added Bishop Curry, who chairs the conference's Religious Liberty Committee.

James F. Sweeney, legal counsel for the California Catholic Conference, agreed.

"To even suggest that a physician's religious and moral conscience must yield to the directives of a patient regarding a nonemergency procedure is so clearly contrary to traditional notions of individual liberty and religious freedom that there should have been no question that the court would defer to the constitutional rights of the involved doctors," he said.

In the case, Benitez and her partner, Joanne Clark, met with Dr. Christine Brody at North Coast Women's Care Medical Group in August 1999 in Vista, Calif., to discuss Benitez's desire to become pregnant. Brody told Benitez her religious beliefs would preclude her from performing a procedure called intrauterine insemination, but others in her medical practice could perform it.

Brody said her objections were based on the fact that Benitez was unmarried; Benitez and Clark contend that it was because they were lesbians.

Read the rest...

UNIVERSITY DOES THE RIGHT THING

University of San Diego administrators rejected faculty efforts Thursday to restore a prestigious teaching position to a theologian who is a prominent figure in an abortion rights organization.

The Catholic school withdrew its appointment of Rosemary Radford Ruether in July because she serves on the board of Catholics for Choice.

Administrators reaffirmed that decision Thursday despite a petition with more than 2,000 signatures, including 54 faculty members, organizers said. The petition asked the school to restore the offer or allow Ruether to visit campus for a week and give a lecture on academic freedom.

"We are deeply concerned by this turn of events both because it is insulting to Professor Rosemary Radford Ruether and because of what it portends for academic freedom in a Catholic institution," the petition reads.

The 7,000-student university defended its decision to withdraw its offer for the Monsignor John R. Portman Chair in Roman Catholic Theology for the upcoming fall semester.

Reuther comments:

Ruether said the dispute reflects a larger debate in Catholic institutions about how to treat hot-button issues, including gay and lesbian rights and ordination of women priests.

"There's just a huge conflict going on between whether people can discuss controversial issues or whether you can only give the official position," she said.

Not quite. Paying customers who sign up for a Catholic education for their children expect the university to produce what it advertises--a Catholic education.

Controversial topics can certainly be discussed as long as the Catholic position is clearly and confidently stated. We don't want our kids to be ignorant. We want them to know why they believe what they believe and be prepared to defend their beliefs. That is what Catholic education is about. We don't want them educated by professors who believe what the Catholic Church opposes.

It's called truth in advertising, and San Diego has just taken steps to fulfill its end of the contract.

Read all of the article

CHAPUT IS SMART

If you believe babies should not be ripped apart in the womb, you are not welcome at the Democratic Convention, but Archbishop Chaput is not going to be staying home during the convention. He has plans of his own:

The Democratic Party is refusing to invite the highest ranking Catholic official to its national convention that begins next week. Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput is the leader of the largest religious denomination in Colorado but he won't take part in the convention.

Democratic officials have invited other Catholics to the convention -- most of whom walk on the liberal side of the political spectrum. The party is going as far as flying in Greek Orthodox Archbishop Demetrios from New York.

But Chaput isn't getting an invitation -- and it likely stems from his comments saying faithful Catholics should obey the Church's pro-life teachings and not support candidates, like Obama, who support abortion.

Chaput took the decision in stride and told the Washington Times he did not take it personally.

"I'm happy to see they are having prayer at their sessions," he said, "and they have a right to choose whom they want to do that."

Instead of participating in the Democratic convention, Chaput will join a pro-life rally that will feature several pro-life African-American leaders.

Ya gotta smile about that!

Chaput - 1, Obama - 0

HE SAID, SHE SAID

Seventeen Gloucster, Mass. high school students turn up pregnant.

Principal, Joseph, says there was a pregnancy pact.

Gloucester Mayor, Carolyn, questions principal's integrity and intelligence.

Principal steps down and is hired by St. Joseph Catholic elementary school in Wakefield six days later.

MORE LAWSUITS

It seems to be inevitable. Where there is money, there are lawsuits, and in the case of the Vatican there are both.

Yesterday we were told by L'Osservatore Romano that there would be no claim for restoration of the property taken from the Knights Templar--that the lawsuit concerned only the restoration of the good name of the order.

NPR tells a different story:

A group of people claiming to be the heirs of the legendary Knights Templar are suing Pope Benedict XVI, seeking more than $150 billion for assets seized by the Catholic Church seven centuries ago.

They also want to restore the order's good name....

a group called the Association of the Sovereign Order of the Temple of Christ has filed suit in a Spanish court, asking for an apology from the pope and recognition that land and property worth about $150 billion today was seized from the Templars.

The Vatican will never reimburse the group, Govan says, because its members cannot prove that they are descendants of the Knights Templar.

Restoration of the good name of the Templars, if history shows that should be done, is an honorable thing. Going after money you have only a spurious claim to and did nothing to earn is a horse of a different color and would seem to prove that there is no honor among the present day Knights Templar, but only greed and a heart for vengence. We know the source of those motives, don't we?

ANOTHER BISHOP ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY

Statement of the Most Reverend Robert W. Finn Bishop of Kansas City ~ St. Joseph:

"We apologize for the fully unacceptable behavior that prompted these lawsuits to be brought against the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. With compassion for the victims of this behavior and with sadness over any failure by the diocese to serve as a proper steward of safety and security for our young people and our parishioners, I am here as an individual leader of the diocese to demonstrate institutional accountability for these sad events. I pray that with the settlement of this matter, the healing for all may truly begin.

In reaching a settlement with lawyers representing the families involved in this case, we took painstaking steps to fully vet all issues enabling thoroughness to be the hallmark of this process. Assured that we have met that standard, we have agreed to fund $10 million in payments to the victims and to adhere to a number of nonmonetary stipulations that should assure our community, our congregation and these families that the diocese will continue in its exercise of vigilance and in its devotion to training and education so that we may be confident there will never, ever be a repeat of the behaviors, the offenses, or the claims that have been associated with this matter.

A priest is ordained with the privilege of celebrating the Church's sacraments by nothing less than a holy order. The behaviors attributable to certain priests involved in this matter not only betray those holy orders, but diminish the stature of the faithful and responsible priests who dispatch their ministry effectively and faithfully day in, day out. For that reason, although the statute of limitations prevents man's law from moving forward with any criminal proceedings here, I-as bishop of this diocese-will present to the Diocesan Tribunal and ultimately to the Vatican the recommendation that these priests see their holy orders removed from them. In the church's vernacular, this is called laicization.

Read the rest

KNIGHTS TEMPLAR VINDICATED

The Vatican has for the first time published the prayer the Knights Templar composed when "unjustly imprisoned", in which they appealed to the Virgin Mary to persuade "our enemies" to abandon "calumnies and lies" and revert to "truth and charity".

L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, said the prayer was further proof that the order, which was dissolved in the fourteenth century, was not heretical. The knights were innocent of the charges against them, which included the accusation that they worshipped idols such as a "monstrous statue, half man and half goat".

The L'Osservatore Romano article, by Barbara Frale, the Vatican Secret Archives scholar who has made a special study of the knights, said it was untrue that the knights were guilty of "decadence, heresy and immoral practices".

The move follows legal action by the alleged heirs of Knights Templar to force the Vatican to restore the reputation of the disgraced order and acknowledge that assets worth some 80 million pounds were confiscated.

Read more...

Given the source of the article, I think this must be legitimate.

THE WISDOM OF CHRIST AND ANGLICAN STRUGGLES

In watching the Anglican Church's attempt to hold itself together in the face of elected women bishops, gay bishops, and women priests, it becomes ever more clear the wisdom of Christ in establishing the role played by the pope in holding the Roman Catholic Church together. An article at the Catholic Leader website points this out:

the Catholic participants at Lambeth were encouraged by the "strong support" shown for the call for moratoriums on blessing same-sex unions, on ordaining openly gay bishops and on violating the structure of the Anglican Communion by naming bishops outside one's own jurisdiction.

The practice has occurred when conservative Anglican provinces have named bishops for traditionalist Anglicans in the United States, where the US Episcopal Church has shown greater openness to homosexuals and has ordained women priests and bishops.

Because the Anglican Communion has no strong central authority like the Pope, because the Lambeth Conference does not have legislative powers and because the jurisdictional authority of the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury is limited, "at best the conference indicates a direction," Msgr Bolen said.

SOME CLARIFICATION ON THE "YAHWEH" DIRECTIVE

Can be read at the Zenit website.

Could this change reflect a reaction to the explosion in the use of the tetragrammaton for magical purposes?

CATECHISM CHANGE

In a just discovered Catholic News Service Brief from August 12, the U.S. bishops have proposed a change to CCC 839. The change, subject to Vatican approval, "would remove from the catechism a sentence that reads: "Thus the covenant that God made with the Jewish people through Moses remains eternally valid for them."

The replacement would read: "To the Jewish people, whom God first chose to hear his word, 'belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ".

The USCCB website addressing this change tells the faithful:

"Talking points" distributed to the bishops...said the proposed revision "is not a change in the church's teaching."

"Catholics understand that all previous covenants that God made with the Jewish people have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ through the new covenant established through his sacrificial death on the cross," the talking points say.

"The prior version of the text," they continue, "might be understood to imply that one of the former covenants imparts salvation without the mediation of Christ, whom Christians believe to be the universal savior of all people."

This must be a change from a more recent version of the CCC than the one I have, since that sentence--"Thus the covenant that God made with the Jewish people through Moses remains eternally valid for them."--does not appear in the text of mine which reads:

"Those who have not yet received the Gospel are related to the People of God in various ways.

The relationship of the Church with the Jewish People. When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish People, "the first to hear the Word of God." The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God's revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews "belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises, to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ"; "for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable."

The change in wording appears to signal a rejection of dual covenant theology that has been the subject of such hot debate on the part of Robert Sungenis and his opponents. It, to me, is a very big deal, yet this change in wording has been slipped through with very little fanfare. Interesting.

CHANNELING - Kevin Ryerson/Ahtun-Re

According to Ryerson's website:

Kevin Ryerson is an acclaimed author, award winning consultant, expert intuitive, futurist and trance channel in the tradition of Edgar Cayce and Jane Roberts. He has been lecturing and teaching in the field or (sic) parapsychology and spirituality for over 30 years.

He is closely associated with Shirley MacLaine and consulted for her miniseries "Out on a Limb". He has also

served on the faculty at the Association for Research and Enlightenment, Omega Institute, Findhorn Foundation, Interface, Lily Dale Assembly, Philosophical Research Society, Learning Annex, and the Whole Life Expos.

He conducts a consulting practice which seems to consist of "Tele-Readings"--delivering channeled messages over the phone.

The Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center calls him "world renowned" and defines Ahtun-Re as an Egyptian priest. They also claim that he channels John the Divine an Essene priest. Ryerson presented, together with Essene Rebbe Gabriel Cousens, M.D., a "4-day in-depth exploration of the Way of the Essenes". According to the website this was a:

mystical journey of awakening that opens the door to the Heart of God. Kevin Ryerson, who began channeling about the Essenes in the 1970s, will channel each day on Essene-Kabbalah topics with Gabriel and then address individual questions from participants. Connect with the core Truths of the ancient Essene-Kabbalistic spiritual path from individual practices to full awakening.

The website describes his co-presenter:

Gabriel Cousens, MD, MD(H), Dip. Ayurveda, Founder/Director of the Tree of Life, is an internationally celebrated spiritual teacher with devoted students world-wide including the US and Israel. A student of Ecstatic Kabbalah since 1975, Gabriel has received rabbinical initiation by Rabbi Gerson Winkler. Gabriel has been recognized by the Indian Saint and Liberated Being, Swami Prakashananda, as “a Yogi of real spiritual attainment who has realized the innate perfection.” Gabriel delights in sharing the archetypical Essene Way as an authentic vehicle for Enlightenment, and yet his teachings go beyond the limits of any paradigm.

The Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center website describes the center's purpose and those who make it happen. They have adopted the "Culture of Life/Culture of Death" phrasing. The center tells us:

It is time to choose between the Culture of Life and Liberation and the "Culture of Death" Civilization is living within a startline high level of unconsciousnessness and chaos which manifests as spiritual confusion....

The Tree of Life Human School of Living Arts students are bringing about an awakened normality to bring light and love and consciousness to the situation.

Among the courses of study being offered is one called the "Essene Priesthood program." Programs include training in food preparation and farming.

Nestled there in the same paragraph is a reference to "awakening of human consciousness", "spiritual awakening". These phrases would seem to mean channeling, given Ryerson's inclusion in the list of faculty. The website reviews Ryerson's credentials:

Ryerson studied the historical Essene Way of Life as lived at the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Foundation. As an original board member he has worked with Gabriel for many years, researching and teaching the Essene Way of Life.

Ryerson is an Essene Priest Elder and Teacher with Gabriel Cousens on the Essene Way Workshops led in the United States, Egypt, and Israel.

Gabriel Cousens, M.D., the founder of the center, is listed as a Senior Essene Teacher, pastoral Rebbe, and Knight of the Order of the Knights Hospitaler. He is the author of AWAKENING OF KUNDALINI, among other books. He "serves as a spiritual teacher of the living Jewish way, including teaching and guiding the whole cycle of Jewish holidays at the Tree of Life". He is director of the Essene Order of Light whose purpose is to "train and certify Essene Priests and Priestesses for the healing of self and the planet. The way of life of the Essenes reflects a meeting place of the Jewish and early Christian traditions."

We are also told:

He has been leading peace meditations around the world since 1985. He established the Peace 21 meditation where people meditate for peace four times per year on each equinox and solstice. In 1996, he established this quarterly Peace 21 meditation at the United Nations in New York City. This is all part of an overall process to create peace and healing of the planet on the physical, mental and spiritual levels. In 2003, he initiated the worldwide 'Peace Everyday Initiative" to encourage all traditions to work together for peace. This peace initiative has the endorsement of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, the grandfather of the Jewish Renewal Movement; Reverend Michael Beckwish; and Ahmed Costas, Head of the Islamic Affairs of the Kingdom of Morocco. The Dalai Lama and many others have given their blessings to the project.

A bit further along in the website we are told about "Gabriel's deep personal experience in the Jewish, Essene, Kabbalistic, Native American, and Yogic traditions."

Another instructor with the same last name as Gabriel Cousens teaches hatha yoga at the center.

The 2008 IISIS Conference will feature the reincarnation of John Adams, Hans Christian Anderson, Anne Frank, Paul Gauguin, Edvard Grieg, Laurel & Hardy, Michaelangelo, Nostradamus, Nicholas Roerich, and King Devanamplya. Kevin Ryerson will be a special guest at the conference.

Another webpage describing the IISIS Conference provides the following passages:

Another set of reincarnation cases featured in my books have been solved through Kevin Ryerson, the trance medium who has worked with Shirley MacLaine for over twenty years and who is featured in three of her books, including Out on a Limb. Kevin channels a spirit guide named Ahtun Re, who has demonstrated the ability to make accurate past life matches. Cases solved through Ahtun Re, which demonstrate this ability, include those of Ralph Nader, Carl Sagan and Neale Donald Walsch. These cases are found in my books and can also be reviewed at my web site: www.johnadams.net

The case of Neale Donald Walsch, the author of the Conversations with God book series, provides an especially dramatic example of Ahtun Re’s ability to make past life matches, as it involves a very obscure past life for Mr. Walsch. Ahtun Re identified Neale as a little known minister in Revolutionary Boston, Reverend William Walter, who is not found in any history books. We located information and a portrait of Reverend Walter through historical and genealogical societies. Personality traits, talents and facial features match and Mr. Walsch agreed to be featured as a reincarnation case in my books. I have now worked with Kevin for over seven years and have had over 100 sessions with him. It is my extensive experience with Kevin and his spirit guide, Ahtun Re, which gives me confidence that reincarnation information provided by Ahtun Re is accurate. I utilize Ahtun Re to assess independently researched reincarnation cases and to derive new reincarnation cases.

Ahtun-Re is a busy spook. He has also been working with Dr. Adrian Finkelstein on a little project of his--the reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe. He tells us about it here. This one, unlike all the others, is said to be the real reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe in the person of Sherrie Lea Laird.

From his bio, Finkelstein looks legitimate. He graduated M.D. from Hadassah Medical Schol, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. He is Board Certified in Psychiatry, and has been on the Medical Teaching Staff at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, among other things. Yet he believes he has discovered the reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe. Very strange.

In a weblog Brian Stalin (well as near as I can tell it was him) claims to have worked with Ryerson/Ahtun-Re as well; and Ahtun-Re has enabled him to find the reincarnation of Rabelais:

In studying Rabelais, I had the spontaneous intuitive hit that Rabelais has reincarnated in contemporary times as another physician and author, who also writes futuristic fiction. My hypothesis that Rabelais has reincarnated as Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park, was subsequently confirmed by Ahtun Re.

There is a sort of catch, however. Adrian Finkelstein claims that Brianstalin "constantly mislead(s)" and presents "mostly inaccurate Akashic Records "confirmations".

As they say, you can't make this stuff up!

PARAGUAY'S NEW PRESIDENT

Paraguay's new president, a former Roman Catholic bishop who resigned his office in order to run for the presidency, has been in the press a lot lately. Democracy Now! interviews President Lugo at this website.

CATHOLIC VOTING GUIDELINES

The Arizona Star reports:

A high-ranking official with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will be in Tucson this weekend to talk about the election season, voting and the Catholic conscience.

John Carr, secretary of the department of justice, peace and human development for the national bishops' conference, has titled his talk, "Faithful Citizenship: Dangers and Directions for the Catholic Voter."

Read more

KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS OPPOSE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IN CALIFORNIA

A Roman Catholic men's group has donated 1 million dollars to support a November ballot measure that would constitutionally ban same-sex marriage in California.

That makes the Knights of Columbus the biggest financial backer of proposition eight, which would negate the California Supreme Court decision requiring recognition of same-sex marriages.

Read it here

MEXICAN PRIEST CONDEMNS MINISKIRTS

"A Catholic priest's condemnation of miniskirts on an official church Web site is causing outrage among some Mexican women, who say the Roman Catholic Church is making it easier to justify sexual violence against women.

The Rev. Sergio G. Roman sounded the alarm against miniskirts in an online publication to prepare Catholics for a church family-values forum next year in Mexico City.

'When we show our body without prudence, without modesty, we are prostituting ourselves,' wrote Roman, a Mexico City priest.'" Quotation from Associated Press/Mary Cuddehe.

Read the rest... including the News Blaze reporter's opinion of the Church, which sure sounds odd coming from a so-called Catholic country.

My sympathy is with the priest on this one.

WEARING AN UNFAMILIAR HAT

Tomorrow I'm going to be wearing my grandmother hat all day. How that is going to impact blogging I can't say for sure; but if nothing new appears here, you'll know the reason. This may actually be the situation on Tuesdays for the next several weeks.

CHANNELING - David Brown/Kryon

Lee Carroll is not the only channeler of Kryon. In this website we meet David Brown who presents his Kryon channelings.

Kryon here speaks in much the same way as Kryon speaks through Carroll. If it's not the same spook, they have at least collaborated. Here too we get the "dear ones" language that is so reminiscent of the Medjugorje messages.

In the channeling "The Energy of Wealth" Kryon states:

Energy is sensual, it is passionate, it is love, allow yourselves to feel this kind of energy.

Sometimes when you are seduced you love to be seduced, sometimes you dream so hard, so long that somebody has to actually seduce you to give you what you really dream of. So allow this energy of seduction of wealth to enter your bodies, to flow into your bodies.

He should be speaking to the followers of Ayn Rand. They would surely tune into his message. They also are promoting the seduction of wealth.

As the list of David Brown/Kryon teachings indicates, this particular version of the Kryon entity is coming out of Africa. Perhaps this should not be surprising given Kryon's description of the future growth of Africa as channeled through Lee Carroll in the 2007 channeling at the U.N.:

I want to talk about the AU, which probably will not be seen for 50 years. . . two generations: The African Union. You met the doctor today, The Twist Master, I call him [Dr. Todd Ovokaitys]. He is one who will help cure the continent of Africa in this generation. For when the citizens of that great continent have health, they will then have the need for normal economies. And what you do not know and the underlying support is that there are literally trillions of what you would call dollars that are sitting and waiting to be invested in their health! There are those on Earth who also see this clearly.

These are the grand cities of the future, in the African Union. It will be a conglomeration of African states much like you see in the European Union, only bigger and more powerful, with their own securities exchanges that will rival anything the earth has ever seen, even the Chinese. Because the future resources that the world will need are in Africa, including some you have not realized yet. It is the next great frontier. And in this new energy, that continent must be cured. This is in progress, and indeed, it will be.

Perhaps that should come as no surprise given some of the spiritualities on the African continent. For example, a reader sent in an article titled "Voodooists Take Over Political Offices" in Nigeria from which the following passage is taken:

When the Okija saga hit the nation like a thunderbolt, most Nigerians were repulsed to find out that occultism has a major stake in the lives of most of our politicians - to the extent that men, who during their inauguration into office would prefer to swear with the Bible or Quoran, still go, in the cover of night, to shrines to swear allegiance, not to their state or country but to the devil, their godfathers and occult groups.
Nigerians have been inundated with stories of how ritual murders and practices have become the order of the day. While the motive for some of these human rituals has not been made official, not a few Nigerians believe that they are perpetrated by men and women who are either seeking political office or in desperate search for big business. Unfortunately, most cases of ritual murder go unresolved just as most persons who are declared missing in our country are never found.

AIDS is devastating Africa. What if that was a man-made devastation, as Boyd Graves and Rabbi Marvin Antelman propose that it was. Are we witnessing Chaos Magick on the continent of Africa?

JOHN ALLEN INTERVIEWS BISHOP GEOFFREY ROBINSON

NCR's John L. Allen, Jr. has interviewed Australia's retired Bishop Geoffrey Robinson for the magazine Foreign Policy on the subject of his recent book asking controversial questions. The interview begins:

Foreign Policy: Without fundamental changes, what do you believe is the future of the Catholic Church?

Geoffrey Robinson: I see this whole question of sexual abuse and the response to it as crippling much of the work of the church. When the local church speaks out on some other question, I’m afraid nobody is listening. Until this is confronted, I’m afraid that loss of credibility will continue and get worse. The same problem exists internally. Authorities within the church have lost credibility with their own members. One similarity between [the United States and Australia] is that what’s keeping the church strong, numerically speaking, is the great migrant factor. Take that away, and you have a quite steep decline.

Yesterday at Mass, when Father said we should listen to our bishops when they speak about how to apply our faith to our political decisions, my reaction was that the bishops, with a few exceptions, are no longer credible. Why should I listen? My next thought was that I've probably got one foot out the door already with such an attitude, and it needs to change if I'm going to remain Catholic in anything but name only. But I need a reason to change, and I'm not seeing any. When my husband voiced similar thoughts in the car going home, I concluded that I was not alone in my thinking.

In this interview, Bishop Robinson says much the same thing:

FP: After your American swing, you wrote that you “came away with the clear conviction that the American church has some massive problems before it.” Can you explain what you meant?

GR: I sensed that the American church was more different from Australia than I ever anticipated. I met a significant number of people who seem to have lost all faith in their bishops over this issue of abuse, with all the legal cases and so on … I found it hard to find anyone who trusted a bishop.

In any case, the attempt to silence Bishop Robinson is coordinated from Rome in Bishop Robinson's opinion:

FP: Before you traveled to the United States to promote your book, 13 American bishops wrote asking you—in fact, ordering you—not to come to their dioceses. Were you surprised?

GR: I concluded that this had all been organized from Rome. I couldn’t otherwise have believed that so many letters would all arrive at the same time. It was disappointing, but I can’t really say it was unexpected. I wrote to each of them to say that I would meet with them if they so wished, but there was no contact at all.

Yet I reflect that among those who attempted to keep him from speaking was Cardinal Mahony, an outstanding opponent of most things Catholic for decades. Mahony's opposition made me curious enough about what Robinson had to say to buy the book. In the book I found ideas that I agree with and ideas that I disagree with. What I didn't find was a reason to silence him, since he is not proposing solutions, but rather asking questions--in some cases the same questions I'm asking; and yesterday's homily just brought that fact home to roost once again.

TODAY'S HOMILY

The subject was living the Catholic faith. The spin was how to do it politically. Priest didn't say "vote pro-life" but he left little doubt in my mind that was what he had in mind, among other things.

He talked about making voting decisions not based on what is best for the person doing the voting, but rather based on what is best for all of the people involved. He didn't offer any suggestions about what to do when the inevitable conflicts arise out of the varying opinions as to what is best, arising sometimes out of the different religions of the people involved, or the economic differences that inevitably influence how we vote. He made this choice sound easy. It isn't.

He also talked about the Catholic Church being universal. The word Catholic means universal, he said; and that is what I believe. My husband came out of church annoyed because he said he was given the One World Religion homily in a Catholic church. I agreed with him, but reminded him that the religion of choice in this case is Catholic, or at least Christian. He wasn't buying it, and concluded that the product being offered in the church is the reason why half of the church was empty this morning.

During the homily I took note of the people in our section who were seated next to and in front of us. Fourteen women. Five men. No children. This encompassed several rows of pews, each of which will seat ten. We were sitting near the middle of the church. A glance around the rest of the church confirmed that my section was not unusual. The young men are mostly gone. The old men and the women, young and old, are what's left, at least at this parish.

The parish is located in an older suburban neighborhood. The church will seat 6 to 7 hundred depending upon how much we squeeze together. There are four Sunday Masses and one Saturday vigil Mass. The parish has a flourishing school. When the current pastor took over, the parish had no debt. We are now in deficit in the hundred thousand range. That number is based upon the "needed Sunday collection" vs. the actual Sunday collection. Neither my husband nor I know whether these are actual or funny numbers. Money is still being spent for things. It must be coming from somewhere. The pastor announces the "needed collection" each Sunday in the bulletin. It is now up to $18,000 per Sunday. Husband believes this is totally unrealistic for the economics and demographics of the congregation. Sunday collections average $12 to $13,000. The request for increased funds is falling either on deaf ears or empty pocketbooks.

FROM THE EMAILBOX

Spirit & Life®
"The words I spoke to you are spirit and life." (Jn 6:63)

Human Life International e-Newsletter
Volume 03, Number 32 | Friday, August 15, 2008
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www.hli.org

Abortion Extremists in Ecuador Send Death Threats to Bishop and HLI Director

This is a special and urgent call to arms to you and the people of life around the world:

We must take action NOW to aid the pro-life resistance movement in Ecuador ... and all of Latin America! Click here to send your much-needed support!

On September 28 the people of Ecuador will vote on whether or not to amend its Constitution so as to make abortion a legal right. If it passes it will inevitably lead to a domino effect that will topple the pro-life laws of all the countries in this Catholic continent. That is no exaggeration.

Knowing this, the pro-abortion forces have resorted to sending death-threats to some who most effectively oppose them.

Amparo Medina, the head of HLI's affiliate in Ecuador, recently received a shoebox with a dead rat and the following warning inside:

"We who make the Citizenship Revolution ... WILL NEVER ALLOW infiltrated agents from the extreme right, like yourself, to block our path. Remember that accidents happen, remember that accidental deaths occur daily in our country. DO NOT CONTINUE YOUR ANTI-WOMAN AND HOMOPHOBIC CAMPAIGN ... death to traitors, death to those who oppose the nation, DEATH OR REVOLUTION." (Emphasis was in the original death threat.)

In a related incident, the severed head of a dog with a Eucharistic Host in its mouth was found in a Catholic chapel as a warning to clergy who dare to speak out. This is the direct result of the president of Ecuador calling on his thugs to insult and harass priests who dare to speak out against the upcoming abortion referendum. Profane acts have been committed against six churches ... including the trampling of the Sacred Host and the painting of satanic symbols on church walls. It is shocking to learn that such things can happen in a so-called "democratic" country!

But these threats just confirm what we have always known about the promoters of abortion - they are violent and they are deadly!

In spite of all this, Amparo, the bishops, the priests and the other leaders of Ecuador's pro-life resistance movement remain committed to the fight. In fact, Amparo sent me a copy of the impassioned letter she sent out to her fellow Ecuadorans. It is filled with faith and confidence. She relates all that is happening to her and other resistance leaders, and then closes with these words:

We simply will not be silent. We will continue to speak out, to support our shepherds, our priests, and we will not allow our Mother the Church to be insulted. We are the majority, we cannot be quiet. ... CHRISTIANS OF ECUADOR, LET US DEFEND OUR FAITH, LET US NOT BE SILENT, LET US SUPPORT OUR HOLY MOTHER CHURCH AND HER REPRESENTATIVES!! BE NOT AFRAID!!!

The bottom line is this:

The people of Ecuador need our help ... and they need it NOW!!!

Pro-life champions like Amparo and Archbishop Antonio Arregui Yarza, President of the Ecuadoran Bishops Conference, are literally risking their lives in order to beat back the abortion demon who threatens not just Ecuador, but all of Latin America. They are crying out to the people of life around the world to come to their aid.

That's why I've sent you this special and urgent Spirit & Life Newsletter.

Please click here to make an emergency contribution that HLI can use to send Amparo the materials and help she needs to lead Ecuador's pro-life resistance and rally the people to vote "NO" to abortion this September 28!

Your immediate help is required because that all-important referendum is just a few short weeks away.

I have already dispatched Adolfo Castañeda, the Director of Educational Programs for HLI's Hispanic Division (Vida Humana Internacional), to return to Ecuador after his missionary trip there last November. He is helping Amparo organize the pro-life resistance forces there and he is taking reams of pro-life materials with him ... materials that HLI pro-life missionaries in other Latin American countries have used successfully to keep the abortion juggernaut at bay.

We also plan to help cover the cost for Amparo to publish and distribute a compelling book throughout Ecuador. The book is entitled: "TESTIMONIOS DE VIDA" ("Life Testimonies") and tells the story of the lives of courageous women and men who tell what it meant for them and their families to say "YES" to life despite the many trials and difficulties of everyday life.

All of this is going to cost HLI many thousands of dollars ... dollars that were earmarked to fight other battles around the world. But the situation in Ecuador is so dire that I've been forced to divert those funds to this all-important fight now raging in Ecuador.

I'm counting on you to click here and rush HLI the largest gift you can so we can help the people of Ecuador ... and keep legalized abortion out of Latin America!

The vile actions of the abortion zealots demand that we stand with Amparo and the valiant priests and bishops in Ecuador who are bravely defending the right to life against systematic campaigns and intrusion from foreign influences trying to impose western pro-abortion values on Latin America.

Thank you for your immediate attention to this vital matter. God bless you.

Sincerely Yours in Christ,

Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International