From Lazy Pluralism to Active Solidarity
by Seth Naicker
Sojourners
March 6, 2009

I guess that people are on a journey when it comes to faith. Some admit to being on a journey, while there are those who state they have arrived. In my journey of faith or to faith, the notion of arriving at a solid base is more a myth than a reality. Guiding principles remain constant, but even these platforms are not static, for they develop as one journeys on.

Slumdog Millionaire presents the journey of a central character, Jamal, who has his beginnings in the slums of Mumbai. One scene caught my attention, in which Hindus attacked Muslims, resulting in the death of Jamal’s mother. I mention this scene not to propel a villain and victim scenario, but to point out a religious rivalry resulting in human rights abuses. Jamal is interrogated because he is suspected of cheating on the show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? During the interrogation, he reflects on his mother’s death, and explains that if it were not for Rama and Allah, he would still have a mother.

We live in a world of battles fought in the cause of faith. The role of religion is clearly noted in the Crusades, slavery, colonialism, Nazism, Apartheid, and the Spanish conquests. Let me not fail to mention the ongoing strife between Israel and Palestine, or the militants of Sudan carrying out acts of genocide. Our world is plagued by numerous global religious-ethnic factions. The ministry of reconciliation must encourage people to see religious warring as a major contributor to violence and human rights violations.

On the Sunday morning of July 8th, 2007, I was ordained at my local church in Johannesburg, South Africa. Pastor Russel Abrahams, my local pastor since age 15, officiated the ordination service. My ordination confirmed the prayers of my grandmother who had fervently committed me to God. It also affirmed my parents’ and community’s support for me to bring the good news of Jesus Christ and God’s love to the world.

After the ordination prayer of commitment and commissioning, I delivered my ordination response, followed by a keynote address delivered by my friend and mentor Ismail Vadi. Ismail is a parliamentarian and comrade within the African National Congress. More especially, Ismail is a committed Muslim. I am grateful to God for an ordination service that brought one of Muslim faith to speak on behalf of one of Christian faith.

Family members and friends are sometimes critical of my inter-religious work. On this morning, however, one amongst many expressed that it was quite an experience to witness the presence of God through words from a religious other.

Consider the words of Chung Hyun Kyung, who reflects upon Asian women’s theology:

My third hope for the future of Asian women’s theology is that it go beyond accepting religious pluralism through interreligious dialogue toward religious solidarity and also toward revolutionary praxis in the people’s struggle for liberation. (Struggle to Be the Sun Again: Introducing Asian Women’s Theology)

Kyung recognizes that Asian women have to go beyond plurality toward solidarity if they are to join in the struggle for the liberation of all Asian women. Kyung accuses plurality of being lazy and irresponsible when it cannot mobilize women from diverse backgrounds toward common projects that will defy historical systems of injustice.

Drawing from the inspiring theology advocated by C.H. Kyung, I am convinced that the work and ministry of reconciliation, and the notion of a contextual reconciliation theology, calls people to consider moving from plurality to solidarity. In this movement, the I and the other enter into a sacred space of commonality. In the sacred space we understand that we are different, but our difference cannot divide us in pursuing the liberating message of the good news.


Seth Naicker with Ismail Vadi (currently a Member of Parliament, National Assembly) for the African National Congress (ANC) .
 
Seth Naicker is an activist, advocate, speaker, writer, artist, trainer, and  consultant for inclusivity, diversity, justice, and reconciliation. Born and raised South African, he is  working and studying at Bethel University as program and projects director in the Office of Reconciliation Studies.

http://revsethnaicker.blogspot.com/
 
http://blog.sojo.net/2009/03/06/from-lazy-pluralism-to-active-solidarity/

Time to Ratify Women's Treaty, Groups Urge
by Haider Rizvi
Inter Press Service
March 8, 2009

UNITED NATIONS - Rights activists in the United States are urging their newly-elected government to support global initiatives aimed at protecting women's rights.

"If Barack Obama wants one important thing to do for women, he will direct the U.S. Senate to ratify CEDAW," said Ritu Sharma, a leading women's rights activist.

CEDAW is the acronym for the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which has been endorsed by over 170 countries.

In the past three decades, U.S. policymakers rejected CEDAW by reasoning that women in the United States already enjoyed legal protections against violence and discrimination.

But rights activists counter that the U.S. refusal to ratify the treaty encourages repressive regimes to promote discriminatory practices against women.

"There is no reason for us to wait for the U.S. ratification of CEDAW," said Sharma, who leads the Women's Edge Coalition, which comprises hundreds rights groups worldwide.

Created about 30 years ago, CEDAW clearly defines what constitutes gender discrimination and sets an agenda for national action to end abuse of women's rights.

Many countries that are signatory to the treaty have improved their laws, but in most cases, have failed to protect women from everyday violence and abuse.

Numerous studies carried out by the U.N. and independent think tanks in recent years show that in many parts of the world millions of women continue to face discrimination of every description.

Researchers say every year hundreds of thousands of women are forced into prostitution, with many suffering beatings not only by pimps and customers, but also policemen.

And how many women repeatedly endure violence in the supposed safety of their own homes? No one really knows, not even those who specialize in this subject. In many countries, including those with high rate of education, domestic violence is still regarded as a "private" matter, which gives authorities a justification to look the other way.

Women's situation, according to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, is not going to change unless men, particularly those in power, are willing to change their behavior.

"Changing mindset and habits of generations is not easy," stated Ban on the eve of International Women's Day, which is observed all over the world on Sunday, Mar. 8.

"We must work together to state loud and clear, at the highest level, that violence against women will not be tolerated, in any form, in any context," he said.

Women's rights activists who work closely with the U.N. note that since the 1995 World Summit in Beijing, some progress has been made to protect women's rights. But many of them say there's still a long way to go for full recognition of women's rights as human rights.

As the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women convened its annual meeting last week, delegates said they were hopeful that the new U.S. leadership would act differently.

The past U.S. administration had imposed harsh conditions for funding to the U.N. agencies working to help improve women's life conditions in poor countries.

The George W. Bush administration refused to fund health programs in countries that recognized women's right to have abortion. As a result, hundreds of thousands of women died during pregnancy.

Ban was silent on the issue of the U.S. non-ratification of CEDAW. However, in a recent conversation with IPS, he said he appreciated the intentions of the new administration.

"I think it is going to be very positive," he said in response to a question about whether the Obama administration would be willing to sign U.N. treaties that the previous administration had either ignored or worked actively to undermine.

Last week, Ban ordered U.N. officials to organize special events all across the world in observance of International Women Day. The U.N.-sponsored events are supposed to include rallies, seminars, exhibits, film screening and concerts to create awareness about women's rights.

Women's rights activists say they are glad that the world community was consistent in trying to make progress on its agenda, but stress that in order to gain positive results a powerful country like the United States must be part of the movement.

Sharma hopes that the new U.S. secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, would play an important role in advancing the international agenda on women's rights.

Before taking charge of the State Department, Clinton stressed the importance of aiding women and girls, who are at greatest risk of being poor, and form seven in 10 of the world's hungry.

"Investing in our common humanity through social development is not marginal to our foreign policy but integral to accomplishing our goals," she said in a recent statement. In her view, "If half of the world's population remains vulnerable to economic, political, legal, and social marginalization, our hope of advancing democracy and prosperity will remain in serious jeopardy."

Though pleased with Clinton's position on women's rights, Sharma, like many other activists, said she would like to see the new administration take real and practical steps to cooperate more closely with the international community.

"Clinton's nomination as our third female secretary of state means that, once again, a woman will be the nation's chief diplomat and public face to the world, underscoring America's commitment to women's equality and empowerment worldwide," she said.

"But to take this commitment to the next level, this administration has to make U.S. international assistance a foreign policy priority and ensure that it benefits the world's women," she added. "Putting a real emphasis on investing in women would mean both women and men can contribute to lifting themselves from poverty."

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/03/08

ORIGINAL: Sophie

Vatican lipservice to women in Women's History Month
bu Aisha Taylor and Erin Saiz Hanna
National Catholic Reporter
March 11, 2009

In an infuriating combination of events, the Vatican rang in Women’s History Month by once again paying lip service to women’s equality while showing its true colors. The day before Pope Benedict XVI called for increased commitment to women’s dignity, a Vatican official announced his support for the excommunications of the mother and doctors of a nine-year-old girl who had an abortion after being raped by her stepfather.

In Brazil, abortion is illegal except in cases of rape or when a woman’s life is in danger, and both stipulations were fulfilled in this heartbreaking case.

The doctors determined that the girl, who weighed only eighty pounds, would not survive this pregnancy. The girl’s 23-year-old stepfather admitted to sexually abusing her for several years, and he is also suspected of abusing her physically disabled 14-year-old sister. He has since been arrested and placed in protective custody.


Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re

Last Saturday, Cardinal Giovanni Battista, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, defended the excommunications first announced by Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, the girl’s local archbishop. The very next day, on March 8—International Women’s Day—Pope Benedict stated, “Today's date invites us to reflect on … our commitment that always and everywhere every woman can live and fully manifest her particular abilities, obtaining complete respect for her dignity."

 
Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho

How can this egregious hypocrisy even be possible?

Excommunicating this child’s mother and doctors, who, in good conscience, saved this girl’s life is the exact opposite of displaying “complete respect for her dignity.” It is inexcusable and appalling. The church had the opportunity to show pastoral care to a family torn apart by violence. Instead, they intensified the pain, trauma and injustice in what can only be called spiritual violence.

This is a prime example of the devastating impact that the hierarchy’s cultural influence often has on women. When it comes to women’s issues, this type of hypocrisy – on a less horrific scale – is the norm in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church.

At a time when the pope endangered 40 years of Catholic-Jewish dialogue by lifting the excommunication of a bishop who is a Holocaust denier, and amid revelations that the founder of the Legion of Christ, Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, was not only a pedophile but also the father of at least one child, the Vatican decided to launch an “apostolic visitation” to investigate women’s religious communities in the US.


Father Marciel Maciel Dellogado

These recent developments are part of an all-too-familiar pattern. In the past year, women and men who publicly support increasing women’s roles in the church have been penalized and excommunicated, under the same automatic and self-imposed penalty that the mother and doctors in Brazil supposedly incurred.


Archbishop Raymond Burke second from left

Fr. Roy Bourgeois’ threat of excommunication is still pending for his participation in a woman’s ordination. Sr. Louise Lears, a Sister of Charity who has dedicated her life to serving the church, was penalized by Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis for attending the ordination of two Roman Catholic women.


Roy Bourgeois with Aisha S. Taylor and Erin Saiz Hanna

Last May, on the feast of Joan of Arc, the Vatican excommunicated over 60 Catholic women for prophetically obeying their calls to ordination and being ordained by bishops who claim apostolic succession. The hierarchy is using the Sacraments as a weapon, and it is not working.  
 
We have heard many of these brave people tell their story, and it is clear that their communities embrace them, and their message is coming across loud and clear: they cannot work for justice in society without also working for justice within their church.

While ordained men obliterate their only remaining shred of moral credibility, the Catholic women who run soup kitchens, schools, hospitals, homeless shelters, and numerous social justice ministries face investigation or excommunication. It is contrary to the gospel itself to excommunicate people who are doing good works and responding to injustice and the needs of their communities. While the hierarchy prattles on about excommunication, Catholic women are working for justice and making a positive difference in the world.

While the problems of the hierarchy are complex and there are numerous issues that need to be addressed, it is hard to imagine that the current situation would be possible if women were included in the decision making structures of the church. Because women are banned from ordination to the priesthood, they are excluded from most church governance positions.

If Catholic women were fully included in the leadership of the church at all levels, we truly believe the hierarchy would not be able to shield sexual predators in its own ranks, while shaming and condemning the victims of sexual abuse on the other side of the pulpit.

At a time when there is a specific and intentional focus on promoting women’s equality, with the International Women’s Day just last weekend and the 53rd United Nations Commission on the Status of Women taking place in New York right now, it would have been a welcome change to see the Vatican demonstrate the increased commitment to the dignity of women for which it called.

Unfortunately, in the case of the young girl in Brazil, even remaining silent would have been more decent than the chosen response of the local bishop and senior Vatican cleric. Going further, the girl, her mother and Catholic women everywhere should be able to count on their spiritual leaders to provide pastoral care and to work toward ending violence against women and sexual abuse of children in their communities.

If the Vatican put its considerable resources behind its statements about women—and modeled equality within its own structures—perhaps then the hierarchy would actually be able to contribute to promoting dignity for women. Until this happens, their inability to understand the realities of women’s lives will continue to shine a bright light on the fact that the hierarchy is much more versed in hypocrisy.

Aisha S. Taylor is the Executive Director and Erin Saiz Hanna is the Assistant Director of the Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC). For more information, visit the: Women's Ordination Website
 
http://ncronline.org/news/women/vatican-lipservice-women-womens-history-mont

Brazilian bishops back down over 9-year-old's abortion
Radio New Zealand
March 14, 2009

Brazilian bishops have cancelled the excommunication of the mother and doctors of a nine-year-old girl who had an abortion after being raped.
 
They said the decision to excommunicate was wrong and would not be applied.

The National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) decided on Thursday that the child's mother acted "under pressure from the doctors" who said the girl, pregnant with twins, would die if she carried the babies to term. CNBB secretary-general Dimas Lara Barbosa told reporters the mother therefore could not be excommunicated. "We must take the circumstances into consideration," he said.

As for the doctors, there was no clear case for expelling them from the church either, he said - contrary to the position taken by Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, who announced the excommunications earlier in March.

Mr Barbosa said that only doctors who "systematically" conduct abortions are thrown out of the Roman Catholic Church.

Girl said she'd been abused since age of six

The case of the young girl, allegedly raped by her stepfather in the state of Pernambuco, has been highly controversial in Brazil. Archbishop Sobrinho's position that the abortion was "more serious" than the rape prompted much public debate, with many denouncing his lack of compassion.

Officials said the girl told them she had been abused since the age of six by her stepfather, 23, who also allegedly sexually abused the girl's physically handicapped 14-year-old sister.

The man was arrested a week ago and is being kept in protective custody.

Archbishop 'misinterpreted'

In an effort to mitigate the archbishop's declarations, CNBB president Geraldo Lyra Rocha said his colleague had been misinterpreted.

"Archbishop Sobrinho did not excommunicate anyone," he said. "I am sure he did not mean to harm anyone but rather wanted to draw attention to a certain permissiveness (over abortions)."

Abortion is illegal in Brazil except in cases of rape or if the woman's health is in danger. But a million women still seek clandestine abortions in operations, and thousands die from them.
 
 http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/03/14/1245a40abd9e

Excommunication au Brésil: Réaction de Mgr Deniau, évêque de la Nièvre
« Il y avait autre chose à dire »

ROME, Jeudi 12 mars 2009 ( <http://www.zenit. org/> ZENIT.org) - Nous reprenons ci-dessous un communiqué de Mgr Francis Deniau, évêque pour la Nièvre, en France, qui réagit à la décision de l'archevêque de Recife au
Brésil, d'excommunier la mère d'une fille de neuf ans, enceinte, et de l'équipe médicale qui a procédé à l'avortement (cf.<http://catho58. cef.fr/diocese/ media/recife. htm> Diocèse de Nevers).

Il y avait autre chose à dire

J'ai appris comme tout le monde que la mère d'une fille de neuf ans, enceinte de son beau-père, avait été excommuniée par son évêque au Brésil, avec l'équipe médicale qui avait procédé à l'avortement de sa fille. Comme
évêque, je suis solidaire de tous les évêques du monde. La solidarité impose de dire ses désaccords, sinon elle ne serait que complicité. Je dois dire à mon frère l'évêque de Recife - et au cardinal qui l'a soutenu - que je ne
comprends pas leur intervention. Devant un tel drame, devant la blessure d'une enfant violée et incapable, même physiquement, de mener à terme une grossesse, il y avait autre chose à dire, et surtout des questions à se poser: comment accompagner, encourager, permettre de sortir de l'horreur, de retrouver sens et goût à la vie ? comment aider la fille et la mère à se reconstruire ? Nous balbutions, surtout nous les hommes, et devons compter
sur les femmes pour être là avec plus de présence que de paroles. Mais des paroles de condamnation, un rappel de la loi, aussi juste soit-elle: c'est ce qu'il ne faut pas faire.

Jésus aurait dit que la morale est faite pour l'homme et non l'homme pour la morale. Il a dénoncé l'hypocrisie de ceux qui lient de pesants fardeaux sur les épaules des autres.

Je confesse que j'ai accompagné des femmes avant et après une IVG. Je crois que l'Église catholique assume sa responsabilité sociale en insistant, à temps et à contre-temps, sur le respect de la vie humaine « depuis la
conception jusqu'à la mort naturelle ». Nous manquerions à notre responsabilité en taisant cet appel, qui relève de la défense des plus petits et des plus faibles. Après, il s'agit d'accompagner chaque personne, dans des situations où je ne voudrais pas être, et où chacun essaie de faire au mieux de ce qu'il ou elle peut. Dieu nous appelle à des décisions quipeuvent être exigeantes, mais d'abord il nous enveloppe de sa tendresse, et il nous accueille dans les obscurités et les drames de la vie. J'attends des hommes d'Église, mes frères, qu'ils n'utilisent pas son nom pour condamner des personnes ou les enfermer dans la culpabilité.

Francis Deniau, évêque pour la Nièvre

This commentary from Brasilian theologian Ivone Gebara was issued prior to the Brasilian Bishops backing down.  Translation courtesy of Simone Demers, member of Catholic Network for Women's Equality.
 
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 
The excommunication of the nine-year old girl, her mother and the medical team in Brazil is a prime example of the schism of the Catholic Hierarchy.
 
The bishops have lost their authority to govern in regards to the challenges of history and of the faith of the Christian community. The bishops consider themselves more faithful to the gospel of Jesus that the community of believers. They have distanced themselves from the many sufferings and sorrows of real persons, especially women. They are ultimately the defenders of abstract principles and uncertain furtive assumptions in their pretence of being defenders of God. This event of distancing themselves from the community is what Gebara defines as schismatic. The events surrounding the rape and abortion of the young girl is an indefensible example of the hierarchies schism.

the hierarchy of the Church, servant of the faithful, cannot distance itself from common sense and the pluralism of the life of faith. she cannot substitute herself for the personal conscience and the Christian duty of each person to respect their conscience. The church can state an opinion but cannot impose it as a truth of the faith. she can express herself but cannot force people to adopt her positions. The theological tradition based on prophetic and wisdom writings has never allowed an individual, even a bishop, to speak in the name of God.

The Mystery that inhabits all does not need dogmatic representatives to defend its rights. Our words are but approximate babbling and fragile ever-changing expressions to describe the eternal Mystery. That is why we can not oblige the hierarchical church to promote the legalization of abortion.
 
We only ask that she refrain from preventing a pluralist society from organizing itself to provide the necessities for its male and female citizens and allow them the right to make decisions according to their conscience.

It is urgent that Episcopal theology emerge from its hierarchical and dualistic conception of Christianity. It is in the vulnerability felt in the face of human suffering that we come close to actions of justice and love. Of course, we might make mistakes but that is the fate of the human condition.

I believe that our compassion must be extended first of all to allay the immediate sorrows and injustices caused to bodies faced with violence. In the face of these realities, we must intervene. The consternation and the commotion awakened by the suffering of a nine-year old girl have been immense. It is to the present time and actual life of this girl, now a raped woman subjected to continuous violence amongst us, that we now owe respect and assistance.

You might say that this is not the position of the RC Church. I do not identify the Church in the hierarchic church for it is a very small part of the Church.

The Church is the community of women and men scattered around the world, the community of those who are attentive to those who have fallen by the wayside of life, to the bearers of real daily suffering, to the cries of peoples and of the persons seeking justice and comfort from today's sorrows. The church is humanity helping each other to withstand the sufferings to comfort the sufferers and to celebrate their hopes.

Ivone Gebara finds herself taken "by the bowels" with a universal anger at the mistreatment of this family whose human dignity has not been respected. She states that an historical schism is building up and spreading to many countries. The distance between the faithful and a certain catholic hierarchy is strikingly painful. the mistreatment of the little girl from Pernambuco is only one of many authoritarian actions taken by the hierarchy in ignorance of the complexity of life today. It is another instance of the hierarchical church distancing itself from the soul of the people. the abyss will continue to widen between church institutions and the simple lives of the people confronted with life's complexity with its challenges, its sufferings and its little joys. The consequences of this schism are unpredictable. How simple it would be to learn the lessons of history
 
- Ivone Gebara
 
(Simone M. A. Demers (translation))

How immensely moving and brilliant are both Aisha Taylor of Women Ordination Conference and Brazilian theologian Ivone Gebara's response to the hierarchy's cruelty to the people of the world, the children and men and women of the Catholic community.
 
How wise and thoughtful and full of compassion of Christ and integrity are their defence of the Catholic laity.
 
I wept with sorrow over what the Catholic hierarchy is constantly doing to the Catholics. 
 
 It is so true what Ivone Gebara says,:
 
 that the small part of the Catholic Church, the hierarchy,  is in schism to the rest of the Catholic church and constantly does the Catholic church great harm.
 
God bless these great thinkers and women and men of action who resist the cruel, schismatic intolerance and behavior of the hierarchy who refuse to follow the Gospel, actions and teachings and traditions of God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
 
Again, I thank these women for their brave, and honest expression of the truth and call for reform and decency in the Catholic church.

Brasilian Ivone Gebara, theologian,  has shown the  Roman Catholic hierarchy,  as have countless other people, that their treatment of Catholics is deplorable. 
 
 The uproar in Brazil and internationally has caused the Catholic hierarchy to backtrack and reverse the evil they do once again. 
 
 Yet unless there is tremendous public outrage against the cruel tactics of the RC heirarchy, the Catholic clergy continues to abuse the Catholic community.

Editorial
Casting stones in Brazil
The Tablet
March 14, 2009

Sometimes the Catholic Church is admired for its commitment to absolute moral standards; sometimes it is condemned for it. Not much admiration has come the Church's way over a case reported from Brazil. The medical team and the mother of a nine-year-old girl have been excommunicated for their part in an abortion performed on the girl, who became pregnant with twins after being repeatedly raped by her stepfather. As a nightmare scenario this would take some beating. The obvious question is whether there was any way the Church, without betraying its principles, could have displayed a little more compassion, recognising the almost impossible dilemma that both doctor and mother - not to mention the girl herself - were facing. Even to those who oppose abortion, the strict and legalistic application of church law seems to have had a cruel and indeed scandalous outcome, scandalous in the sense that it will have driven people almost instinctively to question the Church's teaching. If it has that sort of result, they will say, it cannot be right. The outcome might have been a little more acceptable had the stepfather also been excommunicated. He was not, although he is serving a jail sentence.

Sensitive to the hostile reaction both in Brazil and internationally, leaders of the Brazilian hierarchy issued a statement from Rome, where they were this week, expressing "solidarity with this girl and with all children who are victims of such a brutal act". But they insisted that "the Lord's mandate, 'You shall not kill'", took priority. Yet had she carried the twins to full term, the girl was expected not to survive because she was too physically immature for childbirth. The excommunication was, in fact, automatic under canon law, but Archbishop José Cardoso Sobrinho of Olinda and Recife justified it on the grounds that abortion was "a silent holocaust". It is estimated that every year a million illegal abortions take place in Brazil, which permits abortion only in extreme cases, like rape. The Brazilian President Luiz Inácio da Silva said "as a Christian and a Catholic" he deeply regretted the excommunication, an opinion that seems to be widely shared in his country.

Hard cases make bad law. Such a thought may even have gone through the mind of Jesus when they brought before him a woman taken in adultery. Mosaic law required her execution by stoning; not to enforce it might be seen as condoning the sin and setting a bad example to others.

In the Brazilian case, furthermore, there were two innocent foetuses, which an abortion would kill. Nevertheless, Jesus' response displayed a profound compassion that seems absent in this case. He did not condone the woman's behaviour; he told her to sin no more. But the rest of his remarks ask searching questions of the Catholic Church in Brazil and elsewhere. Down the generations, has it allowed and condoned a misogynistic attitude on the part of men that has led to the widespread sexual exploitation of girls and women and resulted in tragedies like this? Is it entirely "without sin", and should it therefore be "casting the first stone"?

http://www.thetablet.co.uk/

ORIGINAL: Sophie

But they insisted that "the Lord's mandate, 'You shall not kill'", took priority.
 

Why don't they excommunicate every soldier who kills someone or every person who enlists in the army?
Why don't they excommunicate every person who performs an execution?
 
Is the raped girl's life less important than a gestating embryo with no brain or central nervous system or consciousness?
 

It is well pointed out that Jesus is wise, compassionate, just and merciful as he prevents the stoning death of the adultress. 
 
What  posible wisdom, mercy, compassion or justice is shown by the RC heirarchy in terms of the little 80 pound raped by step-father mother of twins little girl, who is incestuously, violently impregnated in a manner that never should be allowed or have happened in the first place? 
 
 The astounding lack of mercy, wisdom, judgement, justice or compassion of the male clerics of the hierarchy is terrible for the people of Brazil and the world.

For the Roman Catholic clerics to excommunicate and punish the child victim of rape and sodomy is to  actually encourage and give the pedophile predator the idea that what he did is okay as far as the male Catholic clergy think. 
 
 The heirarchy continues to show it is morally, ethically and theologically bankrupt and has no business
telling any one what to do, or excommunicating anyone. 
 
 Where in the NT does Jesus ever excommunicate?
 
  Instead Jesus gathers in the lost sheep, the needy, the poor, heals the diseased and has communion with the marginalized and the outcast, not excommunication and rejection and distancing from them like these male clerics do.

Jesus in the Book of Mark tells his disciples to bring the children and their mothers to him and NOT drive them away.
 
Instead these clerics reject both the mother and the child!  How awful of these male clerics to call themselves Catholic or a priest or bishop or archbishop.  They behave like tyrants, bullies and monsters, not like Jesus.

Why don't they excommunicate every soldier who kills someone or every person who enlists in the army?

 
I am not a supporter of the communion wafer wars that go on in the States.  But if the various Bishops want to play the game, why aren't they refusing communion to the government leaders and politicians who support the war?  or lead the country into war?  or violate the rights of prisoners at place like Abu Ghraib?  or use torture in interrogation?  or fail to ensure safe housing for the poor?

The Roman Catholic hierarchy is in schism with the Gospel values of Jesus and with the Catholic laity. 
 
 It is the Vatican hierarchy that is schismatic, not the laity and not the theologians (who the Vatican silences, just as it recently forced silencing on Ivone Gebara, amongst many other theologians too) .

ORIGINAL: Guest

Why don't they excommunicate every soldier who kills someone or every person who enlists in the army?

I am not a supporter of the communion wafer wars that go on in the States.  But if the various Bishops want to play the game, why aren't they refusing communion to the government leaders and politicians who support the war?  or lead the country into war?  or violate the rights of prisoners at place like Abu Ghraib?  or use torture in interrogation?  or fail to ensure safe housing for the poor?

 
 
or the clerics who destroy the spirits of the boys and girls through rape.

The hierarchy "wafer wars'  (excommunication) are hypocritical,  It is not reacting to "killing" just control, and power really, especially control and power over women and girls.

ORIGINAL: Guest

The hierarchy "wafer wars'  (excommunication) are hypocritical,  It is not reacting to "killing" just control, and power really, especially control and power over women and girls.

 
Women are an easy target. They are less likely to fight back.

ORIGINAL: Guest

For the Roman Catholic clerics to excommunicate and punish the child victim of rape and sodomy is to  actually encourage and give the pedophile predator the idea that what he did is okay as far as the male Catholic clergy think.

I agree whole-heartedly with this sentiment -- it's as though the stepfather committed only a minor sin or something, and that's one of my big issues with this whole situation.  Why does he get to stay in the Church while the people who had to make the difficult decision on behalf of a child are thrown out?  This was a nightmare situation already, and the Bishop's actions just made it worse.

One point I want to mention: it's my understanding that the Bishop did not actually excommunicate the 9-year-old girl herself, because 1) she didn't make the decision to have the abortion -- her mother, in consultation with the doctors, made it, and 2) the Church really can't excommunicate children because they aren't considered able to make the big moral choices yet.  (Granted, I could be wrong about this -- I'm not a Church lawyer -- but it's come up in some of the articles I've seen concerning this event.)

However, I would argue that by excommunicating the child's mother, the Bishop did effectively cut the girl off from the Church, since I doubt the mother would take her daughter to church and encourage her to participate under these circumstances.  And after seeing the Church's treatment of her mother and the doctors, this girl might decide she didn't want the Church's sacraments anyway. 

What I think the Church needs to do now is actively rally around this girl and her family.  Get the girl to counseling, help the mother find work if she doesn't have it, or otherwise get her the things she needs to raise her family.  Make sure these women have food on the table and a place to live and access to a sympathetic, supportive community over the coming months.  This situation can be overcome, but these women shouldn't have to do it alone.  If the Church's hierarchy wants us to follow Jesus Christ, who I've always seen as a believer in social justice and charitable works, then they should be leading by example.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

"Mercy" needed in Brazil abortion case: Fisichella
cathnews.com
March 16, 2009


Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President Pontifical Academy for Life

Writing in L'Osservatore Romano, Pontifical Academy for Life president, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, says that "mercy" should be applied in the case of Brazilian doctors who aborted twins being carried by a nine year old Brazilian girl.

Archbishop Fisichella wrote the doctors did not deserve excommunication for aborting the twin fetuses of the child who was allegedly raped by her stepfather because the doctors were saving her life, The International Herald Tribune reports.

The statement by Archbishop Fisichella argued for a sense of "mercy" in such cases and respect for the Catholic doctors' wrenching decision, and strongly criticised fellow churchmen who singled out the doctors and mother for public condemnation.

"Before thinking about excommunication, it was necessary and urgent to save (the girl's) innocent life and bring her back to a level of humanity of which we men of the Church should be expert and masters in proclaiming," Fisichella wrote.

The doctors, Archbishop Fisichella noted, had said the child's life was in danger if the pregnancy continued. "How should one act in these cases? An arduous decision for the doctor and for moral law itself," Fisichella wrote, urging respect for the inner "conflict" that the Catholic doctors must have suffered before deciding on the abortion.

Archbishop Fisichella criticised the public denunciation of the people involved in the case by Recife Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho.

Vatican Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re had also supported the archbishop.

The girl "should have been above all defended, embraced, treated with sweetness to make her feel that we were all on her side, all of us, without distinction," he wrote.

Archbishop Fisichella stressed that abortion is always "bad." But he said the quick proclamation of excommunication "unfortunately hurts the credibility of our teaching, which appears in the eyes of many as insensitive, incomprehensible and lacking mercy."

"Unfortunately the credibility of our teaching took a blow as it appeared, in the eyes of many, to be insensitive, incomprehensible and lacking mercy." 
The Vatican teaches that anyone performing or helping someone to have an abortion is automatically excommunicated from the church, and the Vatican prelate underlined that abortion is "always condemned by moral law as an intrinsically evil act."

"There wasn't any need, we contend, for so much urgency and publicity in declaring something that happens automatically," Fisichella wrote. "There are others who merit excommunication and our pardon, not those who have allowed you (the girl) to live and have helped you to regain hope and trust," Archbishop Fisichella wrote.

Doctors said the girl was 15 weeks pregnant when the abortion was performed. Health officials said the life of the girl, who weighs 80 pounds, was in danger.

The pregnancy was discovered when the girl fell ill and her mother took her to a clinic. The child then told officials she had been abused by her stepfather, who is in police custody.

SOURCE

• Vatican prelate defends abortion for 9-year-old (International Herald Tribune)
  
• Vatican backtracks on girl's abortion (Ottawa Citizen)
  
• Brazilian Bishops Deny Abortion Docs Were Excommunicated (Latin American Herald Tribune)

LINKS

• Archbishop Rino Fisichella (Wikipedia)

ARCHIVE

• Brazil Church condemns abortion of twins

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=12377

While I am not in favour of abortion,  I am left wondering whether in the Roman Catholic Institution church the only life that is protected and sacred is the life in utero ?
 
It certainly looks like that.
 
Do any of these boneheaded clerics have any knowledge of child development ? How can they hold this  little 66 pound girl responsible morally, spiritually, psychologically after having been sexually abused frequently since the age of 6, and forceably impregnated by her stepfather. This is a child that has been traumatized and victimized repeatedly by her stepfather
 
....and now yet again by the church fathers.
 
This is a child that has not even reached the stage of "reason". Well it is obvious that neither have the male church clerical hierarchy.
 
This is beyond outrageous and once again points out the problem of an all male, clerical hierarchical church. If Jesus showed his anger towards the money changers at the temple, I can just imagine the rage he would feel towards those clerics who so mismanaged this situation. Didn't Jesus say something about anyone who injures "these little ones" having a millstone tied around their necks and thrown into the deep ? That doesn't just refer to that 23 year old stepfather who repeatedly sexually abused this small girl, but to these highly educated men who lack the capacity to compassionately deal with an 8 year old in addition to discerning the "spirit" of the law and the "letter" of the law....among other things.
 
This is beyond tragic.
 
Mark my words.  They will be hoisted on their own petards.