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Showing posts with label Development & Peace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Development & Peace. Show all posts

Wednesday 2 September 2015

More on the scandalous sabotage of Canadian Catholics and the Pro-Life cause by Canada's Bishops Conference

Yesterday's post, "Former employee reports, "Catholic Bishops complicit in Scandalous Sabotage of the Pro-Life Cause in Canada," links back to the genesis of this scandal. I originally posted my thoughts about our current election in Canada and an opinion on the Pro-Life movements record, not bound in all the facts. Steve Jalsevac of LifeSiteNews wrote me about my words and gave permission to publish his letter. That letter from Steve has been an incredibly valuable document. The blogpost by former CCCB employee Lea Z. Singh shines even more light on the scandal that the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has committed - a scandal that began with the Winnipeg Statement dissenting from Humanae Vitae so many years ago. 

We, as Catholics in Canada are responsible too. We have been to easy to "go along to get along" and we have let our bishops off the hook. We have hidden behind their own weakness to excuse our sinful actions and our "choice" mentality.  

Steve has written to me again with some further information that was too long for the combox. I am posting it here with a few comments in brackets and italics for clarity for those who may not be familiar with the Canadian situation:



* * *


Dear David,

Thanks for the gracious apology and the comments from others. Many have asked John-Henry and I to do a book, but we are stretched to the maximum all the time so I don’t know if that will be possible. However, we shall see. 
Steve Jalsevac

Former St Bonaventure's pastor Friar Rick also actively campaigned for openly homosexual United Church pastor Roy Oliphant  who was elected as Liberal MP for the parish riding of Don Valley West. (Friar Richard Riccioli was born in Montreal and is now in the Diocese of Syracuse. Long ago he silenced comments on his blog because Catholics in Toronto were taking him to task for his many of his statements in the Toronto press and his blog. The NDP is a Socialist Party and is aggressively pro-abortion, no candidates may hold a Pro-Life position. )

And of course your readers may be well aware of the huge efforts by Campaign Life Coalition, LifeSiteNews and others for many years to encourage the Catholic bishops to stop funding pro-abortion, pro-contraception and pro-homosexual, leftist groups through Development and Peace. While pro-life and pro-family groups have been working heroically across Canada and internationally, these groups, using hundreds of millions of dollars in donations directed to them from the aid organizations of the CCCB and other nations’ bishops conferences, have been actively undermining, all the work that we and others have been doing in Canada and around the world. In Catholic schools and parishes in Canada, Development and Peace has been indoctrinating generations of children and parishioners with its liberal Catholic (anti-Catholic), secularist, leftist world views. And it is still fighting back very hard against its faithful Catholic critics.

It is beyond any comprehension that this can still be going on. The latest word is that the CCCB is developing a new strategy to undermine and neutralize the Development and Peace critics. That is, to destroy the good name and reputation of the critics instead of dealing with the enormous amount of evidence that was given to them about serious problems with the decision making flaws of D&P funding decisions. (see this link for D & P's campaign to silence its critics:

Another scandal has been the total lack of cooperation of the Ontario Bishops (with one known exception) with the faithful laity attempting to stop the implementation of the Ontario government's sex ed curriculum. CLC, LifeSite, REAL Women and numerous other groups of various cultural and religious backgrounds have undertaken historically unprecedented cooperative actions to try to stop the curriculum. However, the bishops insisted on taking the quiet, behind the scenes direct negotiations with the government route which was predictably a total failure, as such a strategy has always been on these kinds of issues. (The same failed approach I should add that allowed "Gay Straight Alliances" into our Catholic schools. More than one Toronto priest has told me that they were "forbidden" to speak on the issue from the pulpit!)

The bishops forbade all agencies and persons under their direct authority from publicly opposing the curriculum, or at least that is what happened in the Toronto diocese. They took for themselves the authority over the sex education of Catholic children while leaving those of other or no faiths in public schools abandoned to the certain harm of the curriculum. This was in direct violation of Catholic teaching where it is clearly stated that parents, not bishops, are the first educators of their children and have the main responsibility for that education and that bishops have a responsibility to assist them and persons of all faiths on such major and serious moral matters. 

All appeals for a meeting and other cooperation with the bishops from those publicly opposing the curriculum were ignored by the bishops and in some cases the parents and groups were told to stop being so vocal because it was interfering with the bishops' own unilaterally decided strategy. You can imagine the dismay and puzzlement of not just the Catholics, but also all others opposed to the curriculum in reaction to this Catholic institutional indifference and even hostility towards their efforts. Had the bishops instead decided to use their moral authority and roused the parishioners throughout the province to actively demand that the government withdraw the immoral curriculum, together with all the other opposing groups, I have no doubt whatever that it would have been withdrawn. But Church authorities decided completely against that, relying as usual on professional Catholic and well-connected and wealthy advisors and lawyers, etc. who cannot be trusted to have the protection of the faith as a high priority.

As was discovered, various Catholic agencies actually quietly, unknown to the Catholic population, took part in the development of the curriculum and completely supported it. Many also learned the that current Catholic Fully Alive program already incorporates many, but not all, of the elements in the government program and has done so for years. So no wonder the opposition to the program was so weak as to be almost non-existent. 

As the grassroots parents movement against the curriculum is growing and thousands show up to participate in the various events, one thing is becoming more disturbingly obvious every day. The Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus, Chinese Christians, Russian and other Orthodox, Coptics, Evangelicals, Pentecostals and many other cultural and religious group leaders are visibly present, but there are rarely ever any representatives of the Catholic Church at the events. It is a great embarrassment and shame for the individual Catholics who are taking part in this movement. Where is the Catholic Church all are saying - the largest religious denomination in the province, with the very best documented and presented teachings in the world in these issues? The one religious denomination with by far the most potential influence in the province.

Not only are they not there, they are actively opposing this parents’ movement and supporting the curriculum behind the scenes and sometimes in public. This is yet another great scandal.

One thing that the pro-life has been very grateful for is that a large number of Catholic bishops has been participating in a meaningful way in the March for Life for the past several years. We always want to give credit where credit is due and LifeSite is happy to report such positive, helpful actions assisting the laity on the great moral struggles of our time.

And I have never meant any of these comments to reflect badly on all the bishops. Here and there some bishops have done good things and there are some bishops much more faithful than others. Archbishop Prendergast has been faithful in so many ways as was now retired bishop Nicholas Di Angeles of Peterborough, a wonderful man who did the best that he could in many situations and was a faithful supporter of both CLC and LifeSiteNews. 

Also, the Catholic laity is not remotely aware of the intense pressure that is often put on outspokenly faithful bishops by the bishops conferences and other persons in in the Church to not "rock the boat." This really does happen and has often happened. The stories I have heard would curl your hair. (Put it in a book!) The dissident, worldly and especially the homosexual bishops, have been ruthless against their brother bishops who "step out of line” from the CCCB, Ontario Bishops or other provincial bishops' conferences unity of mediocrity or worse. They see these good bishops are being dangerous to their agendas.

But again, not all is negative, and LifeSite is always very happy to be able to report any good news regarding the Catholic Church in Canada.

Steve Jalsevac
LifeSiteNews

See the following LifeSiteNews Reports for some insight into this situation:










Tuesday 1 September 2015

Former employee reports: "Catholic bishops complicit in scandalous sabotage of the pro-life cause in Canada!"

A few weeks ago, I posted an article about the Canadian election and the Pro-Life movement. Steve Jalsevac of LifeSiteNews wrote a letter to me challenging my thinking. With Steve's permission, I reprinted that letter.

Steve articulated a history of manipulation by the Bishops' Conference and literal thuggery by politicians on the issue. His letter is must read.

Lea Z. Singh is a freelance writer, activist, lawyer and mother. She was born behind the Iron Curtain in the days of Communism and raised in Edmonton. She is a graduate of the United World College of the Atlantic, Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School. Lea blogs at Culture Witness.

She also worked for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In her most recent blog post. Lea writes about the letter which Steve sent to me and that I posted on the blog. She adds to the facts from her own experiences at the CCCB. It is chilling and revealing of a scandal of proportions not seen since the Winnipeg Statement.

This story has legs and it must be told. 


http://www.culturewitness.com/2015/09/catholic-bishops-complicit-in.html#more

Is Jalsevac right? My experience at the CCCB
Jalsevac makes some very serious allegations about the Catholic Church's destructive role in the battle against abortion in Canada. Is he right?
As someone who worked at the CCCB headquarters for five years from 2005-2009, and had an inside view of the CCCB as Assistant Director of the Catholic Organization for Life and Family, I suspect that Jalsevac is shedding light on a real and scandalous problem with the Canadian Catholic Church.
...
The permanent sulk
Most people are not aware that the CCCB holds a petty adolescent grudge against Campaign Life Coalition and its news organization, LifeSiteNews - Steve Jalsevac's employer.
This grudge was one of the first things that I noticed when I first joined COLF in the summer of 2005. For instance, I was (unofficially) discouraged from circulating LifeSiteNews stories by email to the Bishops and Secretariat, or referencing LifeSiteNews as a source in internal documents. LifeSiteNews was considered extreme and lacking in credibility, and there was distrust towards the leadership of Campaign Life.
...
It's all about the money
The Catholic Church in Canada lives in fear. Not of the culture of death, but of Canadian tax laws.
The Canadian Income Tax specifies that charities must cap their involvement in political activity at 10% of their total activity. The Catholic Church is a registered charity, and it makes a lot of money with that status. Many parishioners all across Canada donate to their local parishes each Sunday with the understanding that they will receive tax deductions for their donations. How many people would stop donating, or would donate substantially less, if the Church was no longer able to provide them with tax receipts?

This is a damning condemnation, the second in the last week, of the manipulation, the deceit and the betrayal of Catholics in Canada by their own bishops and the minions that surround them in their Conference.

Nothing less than a complete house-cleaning at the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and a public acknowledgement before God and Canadian Catholics of their failure to teach and sanctify whilst undermining the work of the laity for Life!

Not one penny. Not for CCCB, not for Development & Peace and not for Pastoral Campaigns with flashy names. Give funds to your priest directly or the "building fund" of your parish. The only way to teach these men because "It's all about money" is with money and lack thereof.




Monday 31 August 2015

Are Canadian Bishops and Development & Peace manipulating Catholics for the Liberal Party and the NDP Socialists?

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued its advisory on the Canadian election. As referenced previously, there is a little and not so subtle reminder about voting for a "Just Society" a phrase coined by Pierre Elliot Trudeau. Perhaps it is Canada's bishops desire to see Catholics vote Liberal.

Now, we have Development and Peace (not one penny to them) getting into the subliminal act.

A blatant logo of the Maple Leaf and Parliament in Liberal red and NDP orange and not a hint of Conservative Party blue.

Do you idiots at D&P and the CCCB think we're stupid?

Go ahead, ruin Canada and the lives of your children and your own when you grow old. Go ahead and ruin the best place to live on the face of the earth. Go ahead and vote for pro-baby killing and pro-euthanasia parties. Go ahead and you'll stand in line right behind these trying to explain why you knowingly voted to elect politicians who believe that killing babies in the womb and the elderly and infirm is acceptable.

Good luck to you on that day.


As for D&P, not one penny. Not one!

http://www.devp.org/en/articles/lets-make-sure-international-development-and-climate-change-are-election-issues



Tuesday 4 August 2015

Canada's Development & Peace and Canadian Bishops feel "attacked"

It seems that when the going gets tough, hire a consultant. 

That is the case with the social justice arm of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops caught funding groups in other countries who were engaged in abortion. They actually blame bloggers and online journalists (must be LifeSiteNews) for for knocking them off their game. It seems that they are adopting the plan of CRS. Well, birds of a feather flock together. CRS, the social justice arm of the USCCB that was exposed by the Lepanto Insitute for its support of abortion services and other activiies not in conformity with the Church. CRS whose President earns $400,000.00 and whose Vice-President was paid out to leave because he "married" a man.

They'll give Canadians real good advice, I am sure. Good for bloggers and LifeSiteNews, I say. Let them have their protocols. If they think for a moment that we are going to stop fighting for the truth of Christ and His Church and the evil of abortion in all its gore, they are quite wrong.


The good folks at D&P seem not to care what happens when their social justice obsession goes awry. Perhaps they should mediate at this picture of a baby torn apart from its mother's womb for a while. Mething that the juxtaposition with the vultures and their carrion is quite apt. Yet, all we hear from Rome is that we speak too much on abortion and we're right-wingers if we don't buy into the unproven science of man-made climate change. The world is burning, babies are murdered, Christians are persecuted and the Bishop of Rome lectures us on science which is beyond his scope of understanding and authority. 

These folks never learn. They keep repeating the same thing and expect a different result. 

The CRS, D&P and the rest need to realise that we're not going away.

Not one penny friend, Not one penny to any of these.


Image result for catholic registerD&P, bishops developing protocol to deal with social media attacks

BY  
  • July 31, 2015
The Canadian Catholic Organizations for Development and Peace will model its statement of principles on the “CRS Guiding Principles” developed by the American Catholic aid agency Catholic Relief Services.
The idea for a Canadian version of the statement of principles came up at a joint meeting of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops standing committee on Development and Peace and Development and Peace’s own standing liaison committee for relations with the bishops.
Like Development and Peace, the CRS has been criticized by online journalists and bloggers accusing it of working with organizations that support abortion and contraception. In 2010 LifeSite News questioned Development and Peace’s funding of a Jesuit-founded human rights organization because the Mexican organization had been cited along with organizations that advocated for legal access to abortion in a joint NGO report to the United Nations. Despite denials of any involvement in pro-abortion activities or any formal relationship with pro-abortion organizations, the accusations spurred a formal investigation by the CCCB and caused a crisis for Development and Peace’s public image and its fundraising efforts.
Read the rest at The Catholic Register