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Catholic
Church did not know how to respond to Reformation
Guatemala, July 4th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
A
Catholic historian in Guatemala, Santiago Otero, says his church did
not know how to respond to change at the time of the Protestant
Reformation when many religious thinkers suggested key changes
to Catholic life. “All those riches were ignored by the Counter-Reformation.”>
Otero
says the Catholic Church must shoulder much blame for what happened
when it reached Central and South America, though not all of it, as it did not have the institutional solidity which
is often supposed. In fact, he says, it was a structure with
a weak inside. In the mid 19th century, there were only 60 Catholic
priests in Guatemala,
too few to attend the parish churches, and this caused a division
between those who were looked after pastorally, and the vast
majority who were not.
Otero
spoke on the subject of “What every Guatemalan evangelical
should know about the Catholic Church and Catholics”, at the
First Conference of the Evangelical Society for Socio-Religious
Studies, organised by academic evangelicals and theological
institutions, and held in Guatemala on June 16th. He looked back to the
‘Liberal’ government of 1870 when ‘evangelicalism’ put down
roots and many properties of the Catholic Church were confiscated.
Most of them had been donated to the clergy by people in order
‘to get to heaven’.
Otero
believes this confiscation “was a blessing” as it allowed
people to draw closer to God. “Many people thought the bigger
your present to the church, the easier it was to get into
heaven.” Otero, a Spanish Catholic priest who has lived in
Guatemala for 20 years, discovered that there
was greater interest in what the Bible actually says than
in tradition in Guatemala, unlike what he had experienced in
Europe. Catholic Guatemalans are more interested
in the catechism, while evangelicals there prefer reading
the Bible and strengthening their faith from it.
Source:
ALC. Editing: Acpress.netPro-homosexual
Anglicans thrown out of Council
Nottingham, July 7th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
The
Anglican Consultative Council has decided to suspend the U.S.
Episcopalian Church and the Canadian branch of the Anglican
Church, because of their actions in appointing openly homosexual
clergy.>
Official
church policy is that homosexual sexual relations are “incompatible
with the Scriptures” and it opposes the ordination of homosexuals
and the blessing of same-sex couples. Yet the reality is that
there is great division on the issue. The vote to ban the
two Churches was passed by 30 votes for to 28 votes against,
with 4 abstentions. In the USA a homosexual bishop was appointed,
while in Canada gay couples have been ‘blessed’.
Leaders of 38 national
branches asked their American and Canadian counterparts not
to attend the recent meeting of the Consultative Council,
an international body comprising of bishops, priests and lay
members which meets every 3 years. In effect, the ban lasts
until the next Lambeth Conference in 2008. The Council has
also asked the two recalcitrant Churches to explain their
actions.
The vote, though close,
was won on the back of strong support for biblical teaching
in the Asian, African and Latin American delegations. The
Council also agreed to increase its membership from 78 to
115, with the inclusion of the 37 Primate Bishops.
Source:
Associated Press, Rapidísimas. Editing: ACPress.net
Five
arrested in connection with monastery crucifixion killing
Vaslui, July
7th, 2005
(ACPress.net).
Rumanian
authorities in the north-eastern town of Vaslui have begun
interrogating the four Orthodox nuns and one priest suspected
of crucifying and killing a colleague, Maricica Cornici, in
an exorcism.>
The priest involved, Daniel Corogeanu,
29, has since been excommunicated by the Orthodox Church on
the ground of heresy, and all five accused were heckled by
a crowd. However, supporters of the priest shouted encouragement
and prayed for him. If found guilty, the clerics face a 20-year
prison sentence. The priest claims Cornici “died because it
was God’s will”, adding that “the fight against the devil
is very hard.” He told journalists that they did not have
faith so could not understand what had happened.
He
decided on June 10th that Cornici was demon-possessed, whereas
doctors at Vaslui Hospital had earlier diagnosed schizophrenia.
The victim was tied by her hands and feet, gagged with a towel,
denied food and water, shut in a cellar and exposed to the
cold, then roped to a makeshift cross for three days. The
23-year-old died from asphyxia and dehydration after 6 days
of torture.
The
Rumanian Orthodox Church condemned the priest’s action as
“abominable”, and suspended the monastery. Corogeanu, with
his medieval appearance, black cassock, long hair and amazing
red beard, breathes religious fervour and exercises great
influence over Tanacu, a village in the poorest and most backward
region of Rumania. Monastic life has revived since the
fall of communism, and attracts many young people of both
sexes as an alternative to emigration in search of work.
Source:
AGENCIAS. Editing: ACPress.netA.C.Press:
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