Jesus said,
 "If you bring forth what
 is within you, what you
bring forth will save you. 
If you do not bring forth 
what is within you, what
you do not bring forth
will destroy you"
Gospel of Thomas
______________________
We honour the memory
of the martyrs who 
suffered at the hand of
the Anti-Christ.

We pray for their
perfect souls.

We pray for a unified
Church purged of its
corruption and steered
safely again by good
Christians.
______________________

______________________
 

GOD bless you and bring you to a good End...

VERITAS ANCILLA LIBERTATIS
(Truth in the Service of Freedom)

From the Webmanager

(current news follows this message)

Fall  2006
GOD bless you,

As our long term visitors appreciate, for the 10 years our site has been active, many are aware we have been persistently hacked, and that we have gone from a high of some 4,000 pages to currently under 40.  Currently, we are reviewing some 6,000 pages and documents  for errors, hack codes, viruses and so on to add the original 4,000 plus 2,000 more, within the framework of the mandate from the Council of Elders and the Annual General Meeting  to fully restore by  early 2009, subject to ongoing evaluation.

This page provides general updates to both members and outsiders alike - with certain restrictions .

Returning in this fall will be the Online Publications,  Ministry Guide, Reflections and Daily Meditations plus changes to the international format. There will be separate  access  pages for spiritual content versus secular  updates. Many will be available in PDF.  We will resume an active mailing list function and bots to allow for automatic page updates...

We must never forget that our primary objective is to seek the union of the inner with our one GOD of goodness. To restore us to our true spiritual home. Along the way we battle many faces of evil, controlled by one source. 

These obstacles must be overcome, and he who is the Prince of this world must be exposed, the web of deceit spawning ignorance revealed.

Our primary focus is spiritual and pastoral.  While we were amongst the first to be on the Internet, this website is frankly, at the bottom of our priorities at present. We are busy attending to other matters, When these are resolved, and the laurel green again...

In the meantime....this is a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) website...patience is a virtue.....

Thank you.

May GOD bless you and bring you to a good End.


Darryn Dyck, Webmanager

2005 News click here

21 Sep 06  GCCC in Canada to press end to tax exempt schemes for churches

Early next week, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Treasury Board President John Baird will announce the results of the full-scale review designed to ferret out programs and operations that waste taxpayer dollars and are outmoded or inconsistent with government priorities.

Conservatives are following through on an election pledge to reduce federal spending in its $188 billion budget, promising to identify savings of $1 billion this year and another $1 billion for next year.

20 Sep 06  AGC promotes Endura as religious freedom at Right to Die meeting

At last week’s Toronto conference of the International Right to Die movement, AGC and other speakers laid out the course  for legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide around the world,  with special emphasis on the right to be starved and dehydrated to death in accordance with the practice of the Endura. Steve Hopcraft, the political organizer for the recent California campaign to legalize assisted suicide, said that the movement must work to ban the word “suicide” from its lexicon.

15 Sep 06  Veggies sliced but not cut on NBC(USA)

The popular Christian-themed VeggieTales cartoons, which feature loveable talking vegetables Larry the Cucumber, Bob the Tomato, and other "veggies," are now being broadcast on Saturday mornings on NBC. Fans will notice some changes, however, as the network has insisted any biblical or evangelical messages in the animated shows be edited out.

According to an Associated Press report, VeggieTales creator and consultant Phil Vischer is, at NBC's insistence, retooling the popular cartoons for network television. The cartoon still presents Bible stories, he notes, but the network has said they cannot preach to kids or show Scriptures at the end of each episode, so "we have had to make some edits."

12 Sep 06  Three days to ICMS deadline

3 days until the deadline (September 15, 2006) for the submission of paper proposals for the 42nd ICMS.

01 Aug 06    Church spokespersons speak on 'escalating futility' in Middle East

The violence in the Middle East is escalating into heartbreaking futility, and spokespersons for the National Council of Churches USA have called upon Israel and Hezbollah to immediately cease hostilities.

"All sides in this conflagration are showing appalling indifference to the deaths and injuries of hundreds of innocents on both sides of the border and in Gaza," said the Rev. Dr. Shanta Premawardhana, Associate General Secretary of the NCC for Interfaith Relations. "The stated goals of each belligerent to eliminate the other is solidifying a hatred that will last for generations."



10 Jul 06  Church of the  Brethren Echos AGC and Calls for End to Iraq War

A resolution calling for an end to the war in Iraq was adopted by the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference, meeting in Des Moines, Iowa, July 1-5. The Conference is the annual meeting of delegates from congregations and districts in the United States and Puerto Rico, and is the highest authority in the Church of the Brethren.

The resolution petitions for the troops to be brought home from Iraq, and calls on the global community to implement a nonviolent plan to bring peace and security there.

The AGC approved a similar motion two years ago at its Annual General Meeting and welcomes the inclusion of fellow peace churches.

10 Jul 06  Bishop Riordan Repeats Release Request for Israeli Soldier

The AGC Guardian of the Faithful, Bishop John Patrick Riordan again denounced the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit near Gaza by followers of Hamas leader Khaled Meshal and called for his unconditional release. Riordan said he would press the Council of Elders to consider divestment from the Palestinian Authority if the AGC receives a negative report from an Apostolic Delegate who is enroute to make an evaluation. At the same time, he repeated his request to the Israeli government to review on a case by case  basis, their continued detention of women and children.


09 Jul 06  New Zealand Conference Update

We are pleased to report that the 1st ever anarchism and Christianity conference held in New Zealand went well. Photos and some papers presented are available, including papers by Dave Andrews, such as "Subversive Spirituality."

Peace Tree Community in Perth & Waiters Union in Brisbane, Australia have offered to host a conference in 2007. so stay tuned!

09 Jul 06  NY Court of Appeals Denies  Same-Sex Marriage

The New York Court of Appeals, the  state's highest court, has failed to ensure same-gender couples can enjoy full  legal recognition. In today's 4-2 decision, the Court of Appeals ruled New York  can deny civil marriage licenses to same-gender couples.

12 Jun 06  Vatican Loses Bid For Immunity In Sex Abuse Lawsuit

A federal judge in Oregon allowed a sexual abuse lawsuit against the Catholic Church to move forward, rejecting the Vatican's bid to dismiss the suit for lack of jurisdiction. The ruling allows a Seattle-area man to continue with his claim that the Holy See is liable for transferring the Rev. Andrew Ronan from Ireland to Chicago to Portland, even though the church knew Ronan had a history of sexual abuse. The lawsuit, filed in 2002 in the US District Court for the District of Oregon, alleges the Vatican, the Archdiocese of Portland and the archbishop of Chicago conspired to protect Ronan by transferring him from city to city. No one has successfully sued the Vatican over allegations of sexual abuse by priests, although individual dioceses have been sued and agreed to large settlements.


01 Jun 06  Web based mail problem resolved and a new web based address

Details  to follow. cathar.net mail servers have continued problem (12 June)

17 May 06  Da Vinci Code versus Free Will

People have asked us about this. It is a work of fiction. Enjoy the film on that basis. Boycotts deny human free will and should be rejected.  If the People of GOD have been properly instructed in the  Faith, there is nothing to worry about.

16 May 06  Important Advisory on the CW matter

Please do not independently distribute or post any material via electronic or print media concerning the CW matter.  This matter is being addressed by Legal Affairs and the Office of the Faithful. We appreciate your consideration of this  issue.


23 Mar 06  Christian Peacemakers freed by UK forces in Iraq

A coalition force on Thursday freed three Christian peace activists taken hostage in Iraq, ending a four-month hostage drama in which an American among the group was shot to death and dumped on a Baghdad street.

The Iraqi Interior Ministry said the captives were rescued in the joint U.S.-British operation in rural area northwest of Baghdad, between the towns of Mishahda, 20 miles north of Baghdad, and the western suburb of Abu Ghraib, 12 miles from downtown.

British officials in Baghdad said those freed were Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32; and Briton Norman Kember, 74. The men - members of the Chicago-based Christian Peacemakers Teams - were kidnapped on Nov. 26 along with their American colleague, Tom Fox, 54, whose body was found earlier this month.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's office said he was "delighted by the news" of the trio's release. "He is particularly pleased for those released and their families. He congratulates everyone involved in the operation to rescue the hostages," Downing Street said in a statement.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he had spoken to Kember's wife Pat, who was "elated at this news."

Straw also said Kember was in "reasonable condition" in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. The two Canadians required hospital treatment, he said, but gave no further details. Visit the website of Christian Peacemaker Teams.

22 Mar  06 SF  officials  slam Vatican on adoptions Resolution calls edict on gays 'insulting, callous'

San Francisco elected officials, who have tangled with the Catholic Church before, issued a blistering statement Tuesday that calls on the Vatican to overturn its edict that children waiting to be adopted should not be placed with gays and lesbians.

The Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a nonbinding resolution that takes aim at a statement issued two weeks ago by Cardinal-elect William Levada, the former archbishop for San Francisco who now serves as second-in-command at the Vatican. Levada said Catholic agencies "should not place children for adoption in homosexual households.''

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors wasted little time chiming in, and challenged local church officials to defy the Vatican.

"It is an insult to all San Franciscans when a foreign country, like the Vatican, meddles with and attempts to negatively influence this great city's existing and established customs and traditions, such as the right of same-sex couples to adopt and care for children in need,'' the resolution stated.

On Monday, Maurice Healy, spokesman for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, told The Chronicle that adoptions into gay and lesbian households "are not in sync with church teaching, and we've committed ourselves to being in sync with church teaching.''

Healy did not reply to requests for comment Tuesday on the action by the Board of Supervisors. An assistant referred The Chronicle to a statement posted on the archdiocese Web site that said the church is reviewing its adoption programs.

The controversy has put the local Catholic Charities agency, which since 2000 has placed five children with known gay and lesbian parents, in a tight spot.

Brian Cahill, executive director of Catholic Charities, asserted Monday and again Tuesday that the agency has not decided to change course and prohibit the placement of children with gays and lesbians.

"Our policies and procedures have not changed,'' Cahill said.

In 2003, the Vatican issued a statement on same-sex unions that read, in part, "Allowing children to be adopted by persons living in such unions would actually mean doing violence to these children.''

That statement, in particular, drew the scorn of the supervisors who in their resolution called it "hateful and discriminatory rhetoric (that) is both insulting and callous, and shows a level of insensitivity and ignorance which has seldom been encountered by this Board of Supervisors.''

The supervisors also singled out Levada: He "is a decidedly unqualified representative of his former home city and of the people of San Francisco and the values they hold dear,'' the resolution stated. The supervisors called on new San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer to defy Levada's directive.

This is not the first time that the local Catholic Charities branch has been tested trying to balance church teachings with gay rights. In 1996, San Francisco adopted landmark legislation requiring city contractors to provide their employees in domestic partnerships with the same benefits extended to their married co-workers.

The Archdiocese of San Francisco, which holds a variety of city contracts to provide social services through its Catholic Charities arm, balked at that requirement because of its disapproval of homosexual relationships. After much hand-wringing, closed-door negotiations and public debate, a compromise was reached that appeased city officials and allowed the church to keep within its doctrine.

Under the compromise, employees of city contractors could pick any one other person in their household to receive benefits, whether a domestic partner, a spouse, blood relative or roommate.

It appears that Catholic Charities is trying to find a creative solution such as that one when it comes to adoptions, said Supervisor Tom Ammiano, a gay Catholic, parent and grandparent who wrote the resolution adopted Tuesday.

"This is about finding a good home for kids who need one,'' he said.

Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, a married Catholic who represents the conservative neighborhoods west of Twin Peaks, said that voting for the resolution was the right thing to do.

"It's not like Cardinal Levada is sitting at the Vatican waiting with bated breath to find out what the Board of Supervisors did,'' Elsbernd said. "That being said, I think it's important the board stands up and makes a statement. I believe the church made a mistake on its part.''

Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, a married father who was raised Catholic but doesn't attend church much anymore, said he wasn't surprised by Levada's statement -- "just disappointed. It's very sad there's been a rejection of Christian love in all its forms."

Mayor Gavin Newsom, a divorced Catholic, also has weighed in and canceled a planned trip to Rome to attend the elevation of Levada at a ceremony Friday because of the Vatican's position on gay and lesbian adoptions.

Newsom has been at odds with the Catholic Church before, most notably two years ago when he challenged state law and sanctioned same-sex marriage in San Francisco before a court ordered him to stop.

 06 Mar  06  COE  Archbishop denounces Guantanamo Bay camp

The Church of England's senior clergyman said in comments broadcast yesterday that he worried that the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has set a dangerous precedent in international law. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said in a televised interview that the camp went against existing legal norms. He said Guantanamo created a new category of custody, with prisoners held without proper legal assistance and without being found guilty of specific crimes. ''Any message given, that any state can just override some of the basic habeas corpus-type provisions, is going to be very welcome to tyrants elsewhere in the world, now and in the future," Williams told the British Broadcasting Corp. in the interview recorded Tuesday.


18 Feb 06  France Bishop Wants Pope Benedict to Allow Contraception


RCC Bishop Francis Deniau of Nevers, in eastern France, wants the Vatican to lift the RCC’s ban on artificial birth control methods.

The bishop has joined his voice to a group of Christian intellectuals in France who are campaigning for Church acceptance of birth control.

Vaticanists Pope Benedict XVI’s new encyclical on love, “Deus Caritas Est” (God is Love) appears to be fueling demands for change in the Church. Bishop Deniau said the encyclical was “a hopeful sign for possible change“ in an interview with Le Pelerin magazine earlier this week.


16 Feb 06   Moderator had weekend stroke doctors confirm

The AGC moderator is receiving ongoing medical treatment following a minor stroke last weekend. This follows two weeks of  precursor ailments.  The moderator is maintaining a reduced schedule.


15 Feb 06 Italian Judges Rule Crucifix Can Remain in Public Schools

Judges from Italy’s highest court have thrown out a suit aimed at eliminating crucifixes from the country’s public schools, arguing they are symbolic of the Christian values that underpin all principles held dear by secular society.

In addition to its religious significance for the overwhelmingly Catholic country, the Council of State also said the crucifix signified “the values which underlie and inspire our constitution, our way of living together peacefully,” as reported by ANSA. The judges pointed out that most of the values held dear by society such as tolerance and respect had their origins in Christianity. “In this sense the crucifix can have a highly educational symbolic function, regardless of the religion of the pupils,” they wrote in their 19-page decision.

In early February, Italian judge Luigi Tosti was handed a seven-month suspended sentence for failing to perform his duties as a judge after he refused to work in courtrooms that display the crucifix.

Meanwhile, the Union of Italian Muslims (UMI), described by ANSA as a militant Islamic group, has also waged a campaign to have crosses removed from hospitals and schools. UMI leader Adel Smith won a court order in 2003 on the issue, which was later reversed after public outrage at the maneuver.


14 Jan 06 Moderator hospitalized for tests

AGC moderator has entered hospital for several tests following a health-related event.

08 Feb 06  U.S. serves legal papers to  Witness Against Torture that Marched to Guantánamo
 
"Seven individuals from Witness Against Torture, a group protesting the denial of rights to prisoners at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, were served papers by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) last week. The group of twenty-four U.S. Christians marched over 60 miles to the Naval Base in an attempt to practice the Christian act of prisoner visitation."


22 Jan 06  Canadian election sees minority  Conservative government


We hope this result leads to a serene path to governance in  Canada.


18 Jan 06  Spanish president: Faith has no place in public square

During a visit to a school in the southern city of Jaen, Spanish President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said that in a non-sectarian state like Spain, “no morality, no religion can be imposed on the law” and that faith should be restricted to private life.

While conversing with a group of students from the school, Zapatero said faith has no rights in the public square and that it belongs strictly in the private sphere.  “You cannot legislate faith, faith is something inside of each person, and we legislate in a way which, I believe, in a democracy must broaden individual rights as much as possible and recognize as much as possible the plurality that society has,” he stated.

While he acknowledged that Spain has an important relationship with the Catholic Church and that the Constitution establishes that special relationship, Zapatero rejected what he called the “imposition” of religious and moral values on laws.


04 Jan 06

We are taking a brief hiatus until Monday, 30 January. Emergency updates may appear.

04 Jan 06  Extremist RCC priests accuses Senate Democrats of Anti-RCC Bigotry

"Religion should never be used as a weapon of discrimination."

The Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, has accused Senate Democrats of the "Catholic bashing" of Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito.  "The unrelenting campaign waged by many Senate Democrats, some who claim to be Catholics themselves, against Catholic judicial nominees who embrace and practice their Catholic faith is disgraceful at best and at worst is a blatant form of religious bigotry reminiscent of a less civil period of history," said Rev. Euteneuer.

The HLI leader warns that such tactics will serve to "alienate Roman Catholics who are increasingly frustrated over attacks on those beliefs they hold most dear."

"Religion should never be used as a weapon of discrimination. Democrats and their anti-Catholic allies such as People for the American Way, Moveon.org and Alliance for Justice must abandon their Catholic bashing strategy," said Fr. Euteneuer.  "It is time for these Senators-led by the likes of Sen. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)-to put an end to this shameful behavior."

Lest we forget that noble time... "the Inquisition marks a substantial advance in the contemporary administration of justice, and therefore in the general civilization of mankind...The large numbers of burnings detailed in various histories are completely unauthenticated, and are deliberate inventions of phampleteers..." The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1917, III pg. 34. Read the Catholic League statement here. (external)

01 Jan 06

We wish all a happy and blessed 2006.