tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-200609697632494652024-02-28T15:43:11.779-08:00Faith and the Common GoodTalking about the global common good and religion's role in promoting it here and around the world.Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.comBlogger179125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-2128463515853336792013-09-12T20:10:00.003-07:002013-09-12T20:19:46.744-07:00What Putin Got (Exceptionally) RightI am no fan of Vladimir Putin and I have real questions about what is motivating his recent actions, but I have to say that these words from his<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html?ref=opinion"> major essay in today's <i>New York Times </i></a>are to me deeply true and resonate with what I felt when I heard Obama say his piece about American exceptionalism in his Tuesday night speech. (Kudos to <a href="http://marksilk.religionnews.com/2013/09/12/putin-v-american-exceptionalism/">Mark Silk</a> for making me aware of Putin's words.)<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; text-align: left;"> "I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is 'what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.' It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; text-align: left;"><br /></span>Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-6302232857462953692013-09-12T05:30:00.002-07:002013-09-12T05:30:23.159-07:00A New Way to Fight AIDS in AfricaThe <a href="http://crs.org/hiv-aids/?gclid=CMTU2ZDuxbkCFYpxOgod4woAfA">staggering numbers surrounding AIDS in Africa</a> can leave us numb and paralyzed to act, but a new program under development by my good friend Todd Thomas offers a clear way for us to get involved and make a positive difference. Todd, building on his years of service in Africa, has begun a new nonprofit called<a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/build-a-crowd"> Change Crowd</a>. As he describes it, "Change Crowd will be a nonprofit that purchases and delivers antiretrovirals to HIV infected people across the world, beginning on the African continent, by creating a donor base (crowd) of people giving only $10 a month!" <br />
<br />
More details on this important new work are available at the<a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/build-a-crowd"> indiegogo website</a> that Change Crowd has developed to raise the initial seed money for the project. I hope you will check it out!Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-61754670779472738212013-09-10T12:38:00.000-07:002013-09-10T12:38:03.221-07:00Russia’s—and U.S.A.’s—Dirty Hands on Chemical Weapons
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>389</o:Words>
<o:Characters>2220</o:Characters>
<o:Company>UC Irvine</o:Company>
<o:Lines>18</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>4</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>2726</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
News of Russia’s proposal to help eliminate Syria’s chemical
weapons naturally brings out American suspicions about how genuine Russia’s
efforts are. After all, the argument goes, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/04/putin-defends-arms-sales-syria">hasn’t Russia been a supplier ofweapons to Syria for years</a>? How can we trust their intentions?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The problem with that argument is that it assumes that a
country must have a pure heart and clean hands in order to contribute to a
diplomatic effort. If that were so, then the United States would hardly be in a
good position to be lecturing Syria and Russia about their attitudes towards
chemical weapons. After all, as recently released records, the United States
played a significant role in enabling the last great user of chemical weapons
in the Middle East, Saddam Hussein and Iraq. Check out the complete report, but
here is a portion of a story in the <i><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/08/26/satellite-imagery-can-be-used-to-violate-human-rights-or-to-protect-them/">WashingtonPost</a></i>:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .3in; margin-right: .3in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #212121;">Foreign
Policy published a disturbing <a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/08/25/secret_cia_files_prove_america_helped_saddam_as_he_gassed_iran"><span style="color: #212121;">article</span></a> over the weekend about U.S.
complicity in Iraq’s use of chemical weapons against Iran in the 1980s.
Recently declassified CIA documents uncovered by the magazine and interviews
with experts reveal that not only did the U.S. government know that Iraq was
using chemical weapons in the conflict earlier than disclosed, it gave
satellite intelligence to Iraqi forces that helped them plan future chemical
weapon offenses:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: .4in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #212121;">In 1988,
during the waning days of Iraq’s war with Iran, the United States learned
through satellite imagery that Iran was about to gain a major strategic
advantage by exploiting a hole in Iraqi defenses. U.S. intelligence officials
conveyed the location of the Iranian troops to Iraq, fully aware that [Saddam]
Hussein’s military would attack with chemical weapons, including sarin, a
lethal nerve agent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: .4in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #212121;">The intelligence included imagery and maps about Iranian troop
movements, as well as the locations of Iranian logistics facilities and details
about Iranian air defenses. The Iraqis used mustard gas and sarin prior to four
major offensives in early 1988 that relied on U.S. satellite imagery, maps, and
other intelligence.</span> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-845510655756077512013-09-09T13:51:00.003-07:002013-09-09T13:51:28.597-07:00Saudis Announce Support For US Strikes: What Does THAT Mean?
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>1264</o:Words>
<o:Characters>7206</o:Characters>
<o:Company>UC Irvine</o:Company>
<o:Lines>60</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>14</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>8849</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The front page of the <i><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/kerry-says-saudi-arabia-has-agreed-to-support-military-strike-against-syria/2013/09/08/e966e0b8-188c-11e3-8685-5021e0c41964_story_1.html">Washington Post</a></i> announced the news: “Kerry:
Saudis Support a Strike”, which elicited an instinctual response from me of “Is
this good news?” I suppose that for a Secretary of State stumbling to find any
international support for the course of action he has led the president
towards, any kind of Arab support will qualify as a victory. But having the support
of Saudi Arabia raises far more questions than it answers. While President
Obama has gone to lengths to describes his military plans as being unintended
to draw America into Syria’s civil war, Saudi Arabia has been an active
supplier of arms and has been a key part of a plan that has CIA operatives
actively training and supplying Syrian rebels. While Kerry sees Saudi support
as a good sign, I see it as a sign that this proposed attack is about much more
than just chemical weapons and that it is very much tied to an increasingly
active intervention by the United States into the heart of the Syrian civil
war. This perspective has been more fully developed by Adam Entous of <i>The Wall Street Journal</i>. Entous was
interviewed this past Friday on <i><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2013/9/6/iran_contra_redux_prince_bandar_heads">Democracy Now!</a></i> Here is an excerpt from that
eye-opening discussion.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">JUAN GONZÁLEZ:</span></b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Well, your article provides enormous detail—for instance, the
role of Jordan and the training, not only by the CIA, but by Saudi forces.
Could you talk about Jordan’s role now in the training of the rebels?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">ADAM ENTOUS:</span></b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Right. So, what happened was, is, initially, the Saudis, Qatar,
Turkey and, to a certain extent, the CIA in more of an observatory capacity,
had set up their operations for arming the rebels out of Turkey. And about a
year ago, a little over a year ago, you know, the Saudis were watching as these
arms were flowing in, and were concerned that they were going to what the
Saudis and what the Americans would consider to be the wrong rebels, and this
would include Islamist groups, Muslim Brotherhood-connected groups. And so they
decided to pull out of Turkey and move to Jordan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">They convinced the king of Jordan,
who was a little—a little bit reticent initially to accept this being done in
their territory, because they were worried about reprisals, where, for example,
there are large refugee camps for Palestinians just north of the Jordan-Syria
border, inside Syria, and the fear for the Jordanians was that the Syrians
would literally push those refugees into Jordan and further destabilize the
kingdom. What we found in our reporting is, is that Bandar spent many hours
with the king and with his military chiefs, reassuring them that the Saudis
would support the Jordanians through this. And then CIA Director David Petraeus
was involved, as well, in helping assure the Jordanians that the U.S. would
have Jordan’s back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And last summer they created this
operation center. And what would happen—what is happening now is you have
actually more CIA officers now there at that base than there are Saudi
personnel. They fly weapons in. The Saudis are the ones who are doing the bulk
of this. They buy the weapons in—largely in places like Eastern Europe, to a
certain extent Libya, and they bring them to this base, which has a landing
strip and storehouses for the weapons to be stored. The Saudis and the
Jordanians draw on defectors, largely, from the Syrian military, which already
have a good degree of military training. And they’re brought to this base,
where different intel agencies train them. And the Americans are there. The
Brits are there. The French are there. The Saudis, UAE is there. And they train
them, and then they send them into the fight. And this—but very, very slowly,
this process has been built up over the last couple months.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">JUAN GONZÁLEZ:</span></b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> And you report, as well, again in a replay of Afghanistan, that
the CIA is not only training some of these rebels, but actually has put key
figures of the Free Syrian Army on the payroll.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">ADAM ENTOUS:</span></b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Right. It’s a very interesting development, which we learned of
as part of the reporting, which is, you know, we are—you know, the United
States is not at war with Syria, so this is obviously being done covertly with
the CIA. The Saudis were instrumental in getting the CIA to agree to pay these
salaries. And the idea is, if these—if these FSA commanders receive American
money, the U.S. is building loyalty and building relationships that would last
into the future. And that’s the main rationale with these payments that are
being made.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And it’s part of, generally, an
effort by the Saudis to gradually increase the extent of the U.S. investment in
the war in Syria. And it’s been slow-going, as far as the Saudis are concerned,
because the CIA is—remains, you know, divided and skeptical about whether or
not this is—this has a chance of succeeding. And that’s why you see, for
example, the number of CIA-trained rebels entering Syria is incredibly small,
given the number of months that this has been going on. For example,
Congressman—excuse me, Senators McCain and Graham were told on Monday by Obama
that an initial group of 50 rebels trained by the CIA were getting ready to
enter, and this is after months of work at this base in Jordan, and the number
is incredibly small.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">AMY GOODMAN:</span></b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Can you talk about Saudi Arabia, Prince Bandar and the chemical
weapons story?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">ADAM ENTOUS:</span></b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Right. So, you know, as you know, the U.S. right now is poised
for military action in response to a very large alleged case of chemical
weapons use on August 21st. You know, over the course of the last year, there
have been these scattered reports of chemical weapons being used in much
smaller quantities. Generally speaking, the U.S. intelligence community has
been skeptical initially of those. The Saudis played an early and important
role in trying to bring evidence of chemical weapon use to the West for
analysis. And we were told, as part of the research for the story, that the
Saudis had a—were brought by members of the Free Syrian Army, which is the
Western-backed rebel group, a Syrian who had been exposed to an agent, a
chemical agent. The Saudis arranged for that Syrian to be flown to Britain for
treatment and to be tested. What the British found when they did the testing
was that this Syrian was exposed to sarin gas, which the U.S. and British and
French intelligence believe is only in the possession of the Syrian regime.
That was sort of the first case that was—offered credible evidence that
chemical weapons had been used.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And what you saw in the months that
followed was, first, Saudi intelligence, so Bandar’s intelligence agency,
concluded that chemical weapons were being used on a small scale by the regime.
Followed by that, the Brits and the French were convinced of the same
conclusion. It took U.S. intelligence agencies really until—until June to reach
that conclusion. And that’s what led the Obama administration, at least
publicly—it was cited by the Obama administration as the trigger for Obama’s
decision to instruct the CIA and authorize the CIA to start arming the rebels
at this Jordan base.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">JUAN GONZÁLEZ:</span></b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Now, you write not only about the role of Prince Bandar, but
also the current Saudi ambassador to the United States and his close
connections to Senators McCain and Lindsey Graham and also to the Obama
administration. Could you elaborate?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">ADAM ENTOUS:</span></b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Sure. So, Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir replaced Bandar as the
ambassador here, and he is—you know, has the kind of access to the circles of
power in Washington that few, if any, ambassadors have. He gets meetings with
the president. He meets constantly with the top White House advisers, as well
as members of Congress. And he sort of used the Saudi playbook from the 1980s
in Afghanistan…Well, in the case of Syria, the Saudis identified the core group
as being Senators McCain, Senator Graham and former—former Senator Lieberman.
That was the core group. And then Adel al-Jubeir, the ambassador—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 14.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">AMY GOODMAN:</span></b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> We have about five seconds, Adam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">ADAM ENTOUS:</span></b><span style="color: #343434; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> —worked to expand—sure—worked to expand that out to bring more
people in, and in the end built a great deal more support within Congress for
arming the rebels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-72675149608153132962013-09-07T19:48:00.000-07:002013-09-09T05:56:04.090-07:00Pope's Challenge: "Conquer Your Deadly Reasoning"<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>346</o:Words>
<o:Characters>1976</o:Characters>
<o:Company>UC Irvine</o:Company>
<o:Lines>16</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>3</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>2426</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #1c1c1c;">"We have
perfected our weapons, our conscience has fallen asleep, and we have sharpened
our ideas to justify ourselves. As if it were normal, we continue to sow
destruction, pain, death! Violence and war lead only to death, they speak of
death! Violence and war are the language of death!"</span></b><b><o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #1c1c1c;">Pope Francis, September 7.</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In an <a href="http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Blog/2553/pope_francis_vigil_for_peace_homily_full_text.aspx#.UivWqBZJAqY">extraordinary message</a>
delivered today at the Vatican’s 4-hour vigil for peace Pope Francis issued a
ringing call, deeply rooted in biblical humanism, for an interfaith peace
movement that will move humanity away from weapons and the logic of war. It is
a brilliant meditation, sure to last as one of the most timely papal statements on war and peace in modern times. Here are some of the most striking passages to me:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .3in; margin-right: .3in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1c1c1c;">God’s world is a world where everyone feels responsible for the
other, for the good of the other. This evening, in reflection, fasting and
prayer, each of us deep down should ask ourselves: Is this really the world
that I desire? Is this really the world that we all carry in our hearts? Is the
world that we want really a world of harmony and peace, in ourselves, in our
relations with others, in families, in cities, in and between nations? And does
not true freedom mean choosing ways in this world that lead to the good of all
and are guided by love?...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .3in; margin-right: .3in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .3in; margin-right: .3in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1c1c1c;">I would like for each one of us, from the least to the greatest,
including those called to govern nations, to respond: Yes, we want it! My
Christian faith urges me to look to the Cross. How I wish that all men and
women of good will would look to the Cross if only for a moment! There, we can
see God’s reply: violence is not answered with violence, death is not answered
with the language of death. In the silence of the Cross, the uproar of weapons
ceases and the language of reconciliation, forgiveness, dialogue, and peace is
spoken…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .3in; margin-right: .3in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .3in; margin-right: .3in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1c1c1c;">Let everyone be moved to look into the depths of his or her
conscience and listen to that word which says: Leave behind the self-interest
that hardens your heart, overcome the indifference that makes your heart
insensitive towards others, conquer your deadly reasoning, and open yourself to
dialogue and reconciliation. Look upon your brother’s sorrow and do not add to
it, stay your hand, rebuild the harmony that has been shattered; and all this
achieved not by conflict but by encounter!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-24830008059610222752013-09-07T16:34:00.000-07:002013-09-07T17:11:08.116-07:00The Bacevich Moment<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>284</o:Words>
<o:Characters>1620</o:Characters>
<o:Company>UC Irvine</o:Company>
<o:Lines>13</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>3</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>1989</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP1JEZggiUzpDangHI4S6RWPu7qiQOnEQnD_jqIF4nFGjjn9mgUZFFu-LMr9xMDqXpTc37kYIR40L7lzBC8VJJrD4E4jkrxpu0B355sU8nIv4DnOmeC8fUzsEHOf7NZW1n7A62uhdqF_k/s1600/9780674013759.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP1JEZggiUzpDangHI4S6RWPu7qiQOnEQnD_jqIF4nFGjjn9mgUZFFu-LMr9xMDqXpTc37kYIR40L7lzBC8VJJrD4E4jkrxpu0B355sU8nIv4DnOmeC8fUzsEHOf7NZW1n7A62uhdqF_k/s1600/9780674013759.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The book I had the opportunity to serve as research assistant for.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: justify;">When I studied under Andrew
Bacevich 15 years ago his was a voice in the wilderness. Now, sadly he would
say given all of the suffering that has happened in the years since, his voice
is the most credible representative of the vast majority of the American
people. Where the clear majority of the people in this country country is now—disgusted
by failed interventions, tired of continued fear-mongering and ready to reject
an imperial president’s wishes—is where Bacevich has been for two decades. <a href="http://billmoyers.com/segment/andrew-bacevich-on-taking-action-in-syria/">His
interview with Phil Dononhue for the PBS show </a></span><i style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://billmoyers.com/segment/andrew-bacevich-on-taking-action-in-syria/">Moyers & Company</a></i><span style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://billmoyers.com/segment/andrew-bacevich-on-taking-action-in-syria/"> </a>is the clearest, most historically grounded
and morally insightful expression I have heard in this debate. Be sure to see
it. This is a moment when perhaps the American people will begin to dig deeper into how we have arrived at this moment. Here is <a href="http://billmoyers.com/segment/andrew-bacevich-on-taking-action-in-syria/">a summary</a> of his appearance:</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .3in; margin-right: .4in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.4in 22pt 0.3in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;">With the probability of
American intervention, Syria is everywhere in the news. <b>Phil Donahue</b>,
filling in for Bill Moyers, speaks with historian and Vietnam veteran <b>Andrew
Bacevich</b> about America’s role in the world and the possible repercussions
of our actions in the Middle East. Given what we know about what’s going
on in Syria, is a U.S. response justified? And if we take action, where and
when does it stop? Is a military response justified and if we take action,
where does it stop?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.4in 0.0001pt 0.3in;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;">“If you think back to 1980,” Bacevich tells Donahue, “and just
sort of tick off the number of military enterprises that we have been engaged
in that part of the world, large and small, you know, Beirut, Afghanistan, Iraq,
Yemen, Somalia — and on and on, and ask yourself, ‘What have we got done? What
have we achieved? Is the region becoming more stable? Is it becoming more
Democratic? Are we enhancing America’s standing in the eyes of the people
of the Islamic world?’ ‘The answers are, ‘No, no, and no.’ So why, Mr.
President, do you think that initiating yet another war in this protracted
enterprise is going to produce a different outcome?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.4in 0.0001pt 0.3in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .3in; margin-right: .4in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-63978119275675764812013-06-08T19:00:00.001-07:002013-06-08T19:00:42.860-07:00Dowd on ObamaMaureen Dowd can be rude and crude, but she can also be right on target as she is in her latest column. She concludes with this:<div><br></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="text-align: left; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Back in 2007, Obama said he would not want to run an administration that was 'Bush-Cheney lite.' He doesn’t have to worry. With prisoners denied due process at Gitmo starving themselves, with the C.I.A. not always aware who it’s killing with drones, with an overzealous approach to leaks, and with the government’s secret domestic spy business swelling, there’s nothing lite about it."</span></div>Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-17349307450039916622013-06-06T10:04:00.002-07:002013-06-06T10:55:29.752-07:00The Deeper Issue with Spying on Verizon CallersThe explosive story, broke by <em>The Guardian</em>, detailing for the first time for the public the details of a seven year long court order forcing Verizon to turn over information on tens of millions of American customers phone calls reveals the extreme disconnect between what our government elites know about America's national security policy and what us commoners know about it. This disconnect was seen clearly today when Senators Feinstein and Chambliss reacted in shock to the commotion that <em>The Guardian</em> story has caused. To them, this is very old news and therefore very unsurprising. As Chambliss <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/administration-lawmakers-defend-nsa-program-to-collect-phone-records/2013/06/06/2a56d966-ceb9-11e2-8f6b-67f40e176f03_story.html">put it</a>, “This is nothing particularly new.... Every member of the United States Senate has been advised of this.” Of course, all this calls to mind the efforts of Senators who grasp the significance of this policy and believe it should not have been kept secret from the American people. As the <em>Washington Post</em> puts it: <br />
<br />
<strong>In a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. last year, Wyden and Udall said, “We believe most Americans would be stunned to learn the details of . . . these secret court opinions. As we see it, there is now a significant gap between what most Americans think the law allows and what the government secretly claim the law allows."</strong>Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-4655563376269753592013-06-05T19:44:00.002-07:002013-06-05T19:44:27.770-07:00Medgar Evers and “Christian America”
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>429</o:Words>
<o:Characters>2447</o:Characters>
<o:Company>UC Irvine</o:Company>
<o:Lines>20</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>4</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>3005</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.256</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDd32pos8h6FH6qFh451zXc9x5WnUXGbcyvQHfCoEEwv223yALZZUHT9jFC7IBssU_SmspXknfMbh1A0BTXKJyujk8cYe41-5SlgVNXEypvKIDdPKhbNDfkF0p5p7XVlFG00FDE1NRiI4/s1600/images-6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDd32pos8h6FH6qFh451zXc9x5WnUXGbcyvQHfCoEEwv223yALZZUHT9jFC7IBssU_SmspXknfMbh1A0BTXKJyujk8cYe41-5SlgVNXEypvKIDdPKhbNDfkF0p5p7XVlFG00FDE1NRiI4/s320/images-6.jpeg" width="237" /></a>I did <a href="http://debatingobama.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-nuclear-bomb-named-trinity.html">an earlier post</a> about my fresh concerns with the whole
concept of “Christian America”, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/06/05/medgar-evers-myrlie-evers-50th-anniversary-assassination-civil-rights/2390265/">we approach the 50th anniversary</a> of his assassination on June 12.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really do wonder if white Christians who speak so
passionately and certainly about how America’s Christian character is being
threatened by culture war events of the last thirty years really have any
conception of how deeply violent and profoundly anti-Christian America’s racial
history was in the hundreds of years prior to the cultural upheavals of the
1960s and 1970s. Evers’ assassination is particularly powerful reminder of that
history because it happened so very recently and was such a poignant example of
that terrorist mindset that so captivated vast sectors of White Christian
America for decades, even centuries.</div>
particularly as understood by my fellow
Christians who are deeply convinced that America has been forced from its
Christian roots over the last forty years. While my last post focused on how
America’s nuclear program, and its particularly idolatrous name “Trinity”,
should give pause to Christians convinced that America’s fall from Christianity
is a recent phenomena; now I want to ask how the assassination of Medgar Evers
in 1963 fits with the conception of a supposed Christian America. It is an
appropriate time to consider this as <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The realities of White Christian America’s racial violence
is spelled out powerfully in Amy Louise Wood’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lynching-Spectacle-Witnessing-1890-1940-Directions/dp/0807871974">Lynching and Spectacle: Witnessing Racial Violence in America, 1890-1940</a></i>. Particularly relevant is Wood’s chapter “A Hell of Fire on
Earth: Religion” where she spells out in vivid detail the ways that Christians
“defended…lynching…in spiritual terms” but also “infused the performance” of
racial violence “with Christian tropes and rituals.” (page 47) This was
Christian America at work in the decades before the sexual revolution and Roe
v. Wade and Barack Obama. Simplistic appeals to the virtues of that era should
not go unchallenged and the <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/06/bachmann-stands-by-claims-that-founding-fathers-ended-slavery/">historical amnesia that such appeals rely on </a>should
not be listened to.</div>
<!--EndFragment-->Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-9347652263864108112013-06-05T19:05:00.003-07:002013-06-05T19:05:25.314-07:00A Nuclear Bomb Named Trinity
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>334</o:Words>
<o:Characters>1904</o:Characters>
<o:Company>UC Irvine</o:Company>
<o:Lines>15</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>3</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>2338</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.256</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEWycbJGiUtX1kaxSW_-Ir9YZIptpVBg2IDiaaD9ak5lJZqOjm2Cm9QdKPeoCJKegpmZJuO4mapu2wt6vLFKLnB43fA8DEy_cMgJnhj0K8X5R1-bzhyQh-006B2NVqYJiYh_BL7we6zXQ/s1600/images-5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEWycbJGiUtX1kaxSW_-Ir9YZIptpVBg2IDiaaD9ak5lJZqOjm2Cm9QdKPeoCJKegpmZJuO4mapu2wt6vLFKLnB43fA8DEy_cMgJnhj0K8X5R1-bzhyQh-006B2NVqYJiYh_BL7we6zXQ/s320/images-5.jpeg" width="320" /></a>You learn something new everyday, and sometimes you learn
something deeply symbolic. Such was the case for me yesterday when I was reading the <i>Washington Post</i> and a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-visit-to-trinity-where-the-first-a-bomb-was-tested-in-1945-turns-up-radiation-still/2013/06/03/49ad5c0e-b104-11e2-baf7-5bc2a9dc6f44_story.html">story they had </a>about the first nuclear bomb
test. How many of us know that the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-visit-to-trinity-where-the-first-a-bomb-was-tested-in-1945-turns-up-radiation-still/2013/06/03/49ad5c0e-b104-11e2-baf7-5bc2a9dc6f44_story.html">code name for this test was “Trinity”</a>? How
unsettling is that? How deeply revolting that should be to any Christian. How
idolatrous that the Name we take as God’s deepest revelation of His character
should have been used as the name for a weapon of such enormous power to
destroy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I can’t leave this subject without drawing out a further
point. Often times in discussions with conservative Christian friends I feel
such a profound disconnect because of their sense that the Christian character
of America is under some sort of new, profound threat. Some might place that
threat as coming from the cultural upheavals of the 1960s, others might point
to the Roe v. Wade decision in 1972, still others will see the current Obama
Administration as taking America on a decidedly post-Christian path. When I
engage in these conversations, as I have often over the last thirty years, I
feel such frustration at the historical amnesia reflected in these concerns.
And so I ask “What kind of a ‘Christian America’ produces a mindset in which a
nuclear bomb could be named Trinity? What kind of a Christian America is worth
defending that could so willingly coexist with idolatry of that level? At what
point do Christians in America ever face the reality that we live in a nation
as rooted in sin and alienation from God as any other nation and that our call
is not to prop up the Christian identity of any nation, but rather to live as
salt and light in whatever nation it is that we live in?”</div>
<!--EndFragment-->Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-59003451582678714722013-05-16T19:17:00.001-07:002013-05-16T19:17:16.988-07:00Isikoff on AP Leak Story: National Security or Press Intimidation?
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>763</o:Words>
<o:Characters>4353</o:Characters>
<o:Company>UC Irvine</o:Company>
<o:Lines>36</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>8</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>5345</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.256</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the Brave New post-9/11 World “national security” has
become a mantra uttered to justify and sanctify countless Executive Branch
actions. Today, President Obama made official his willingness to use national
security as justification for even the most draconian of measures—the <a href="http://debatingobama.blogspot.com/2013/05/obamas-worst-scandal-seizure-of.html">unprecedented seizure of Associated Press records</a>. Anyone who had hoped
that yesterday’s announprecedented secret seizure of Associated Press recorduncement of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/15/reporter-shield-law-obama_n_3280025.html">Administration support for a federal “shield law”</a> designed to protect press freedoms was the precursor for an Obama apology
for the Justice Department’s actions was quickly disappointed by Obama’s
announcement today. Here is how <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/05/16/obama-no-apologies-for-leaks-investigation/">the Washington Post is reporting</a> Obama’s response to questions about the scandal:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #212121; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">President
Obama on Thursday strongly defended the Justice Department leaks investigation
that secretly gathered private phone records of Associated Press journalists,
suggesting that protecting U.S. personnel overseas outweighs press privileges
in this case.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #212121; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">“Leaks related to national security can put people at risk. They
can put men and women in uniform that I’ve sent into the battlefield at risk,”
Obama said <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-no-need-for-special-counsel-in-irs-probe/2013/05/16/04b2e234-be3f-11e2-9b09-1638acc3942e_story.html"><span style="color: #212121;">during a news conference</span></a> with visiting Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “And so I make no apologies, and I don’t
think the American people would expect me, as commander in chief, not to be
concerned about information that might compromise their missions or might get
them killed.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: .35in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times;">What is really going on
here? Was the Obama administration really going after the Associated Press’s
records in order to identify the leaker or is the scope of their actions
against the AP indicative of an effort to punish the news organization for its
handling of the story? The story is still developing, but the brilliant
investigative reporter <a href="http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/14/18259039-ap-doj-clash-over-seriousness-of-leak-that-prompted-phone-records-seizure?lite">Michael Isikoff has a story</a> now up that is filling in
the pieces:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Justice
Department and Associated Press officials clashed Tuesday over leaked
classified information that led the government to seize AP phone records, with
Attorney General Eric Holder saying it “put the American people at risk” and
the news organization’s chief executive insisting it delayed publishing its
story until it was assured “national security concerns had passed.”… Holder’s
comments and a letter from Deputy Attorney General James Cole defending the
seizure of the AP records – without notifying the news organization until last
week -- drew a stern response from AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt. He
blasted the action as "overbroad under the law," saying
that "more than 100 journalists work in the locations served by
those telephones."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">"Rather
than talk to us in advance, they seized these phone records in secret, saying
that notifying us would compromise their investigation," Pruitt said in a
statement late Tuesday. “They offer no explanation of this, however. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">"Instead
they captured the telephone numbers between scores of AP journalists and the
many people they talk to in the normal business of gathering news."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Pruitt
also defended the AP's decision to publish the story that apparently sparked
the leak investigation…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Pruitt on
Tuesday denied the article posed a threat to national security.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">"We
held that story until the government assured us that the national security
concerns had passed," he said. "Indeed, the White House was preparing
to publicly announce that the bomb plot had been foiled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">"The
White House had said there was no credible threat to the American people in May
of 2012. The AP story suggested otherwise, and we felt that was important
information and the public deserved to know it."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Pruitt's
statement came after he received <a href="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/NEWS/A_U.S.%20news/US-news-PDFs/DAG-letter-Pruitt.pdf"><span style="color: #28508b; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">a letter from
Cole</span></a>, the deputy attorney general, which said "there was
a basis to believe" the phone numbers subpoenaed "were associated
with AP personnel involved in the reporting of classified information." He
said the subpoenas were "limited to a reasonable period of time" and
were only taken after all "alternative investigative steps had been taken
… including conducting over 550 interviews and reviewing tens of thousands
of documents." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-57683982630147938062013-05-14T12:09:00.001-07:002013-05-14T12:09:34.525-07:00Obama's Worst Scandal--the Seizure of Associated Press Records<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 20px;">
<!--StartFragment-->
</span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: x-large;"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“An astonishing assault on core values of our society”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Steven
Aftergood, a government secrecy expert at the Federation of American Scientists,
on the Obama Administrations seizure of AP records.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times;">In what would seem to be the
worst two weeks of his entire time in office, President Obama is under scrutiny
with regards to three major issues: the IRS’s intentional focus on conservative
groups, the Benghazi tragedy and the seizing of massive amounts of Associated
Press (AP) records ostensibly to investigate a government leak concerning an
al-Quaeda plot. It is this final scandal, what the President of the AP has
called a </span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">“massive and unprecedented intrusion” into the
affairs of news organization by the federal government, that I find most
alarming. I say this not because I think the other two scandals are merely
political witch-hunts by Republicans, but because the AP story reflects actions
clearly and undeniably taken by people at the highest levels of the Executive
Branch in continuation of a policy of aggressive pursuing leaks. In other
words, the scandal of the AP story is not something that can be passed off on
to the actions of lower level officials (the defense so far for the IRS
scandal) or heat-of-the-moment responses to a security crisis (the Benghazi
story), but rather is an outgrowth of a major Obama Administration effort that
reaches to the highest levels of his Cabinet. This <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/holder-recused-himself-from-leak-investigation-justice-department-says/2013/05/14/acf24cf8-bcb6-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_story_1.html">excerpt from a </a><i><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/holder-recused-himself-from-leak-investigation-justice-department-says/2013/05/14/acf24cf8-bcb6-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_story_1.html">Washington
Post</a></i><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/holder-recused-himself-from-leak-investigation-justice-department-says/2013/05/14/acf24cf8-bcb6-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_story_1.html"> editorial</a> explains the story well:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 22.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">In a sweeping and unusual move, the Justice
Department secretly obtained two months’ worth of telephone records of
journalists working for the Associated Press as part of a year-long
investigation into the disclosure of classified information about a failed
al-Qaeda plot last year. The records listed outgoing calls from more than 20
work and personal phone lines in April and May 2012, the news agency said. It
said the number of journalists who used those lines during that period is
unknown but that more than 100 journalists work in the targeted offices.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 22.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Federal authorities obtained cellular,
office and home telephone records of individual reporters and an editor, as
well as records from AP general office numbers in Washington, New York and
Hartford, Conn., and the main number for AP reporters covering Congress, AP
President and Chief Executive Officer Gary B. Pruitt said Monday. He called the
Justice Department’s actions a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into
newsgathering activities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 22.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">The aggressive investigation into the
possible disclosure of classified information to the AP is part of a pattern in
which the Obama administration has pursued current and former government
officials suspected of releasing secret material. Six officials have been
prosecuted, more than under all previous administrations combined….In the AP
case, the news organization and its reporters and editors are not the likely
targets of the investigation. Rather, the inquiry is probably aimed at current
or former government officials who divulged classified information.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 22.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">But experts said the scope of the records
secretly seized from the AP and its reporters goes beyond the known scale of
previous leak probes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">“This
investigation is broader and less focused on an individual source or reporter
than any of the others we’ve seen,” said Steven Aftergood, a government secrecy
expert at the Federation of American Scientists. “They have swept up an entire
collection of press communications. It’s an astonishing assault on core values
of our society.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->
</span><br />
<!--EndFragment-->
Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-44327830416039179282013-05-13T15:19:00.001-07:002013-05-13T15:19:05.261-07:00Feminists for Life on Gosnell's Murder ConvictionThe landmark case against Doctor Kermit Gosnell has ended in <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/13/jury-split-on-2-counts-in-trial-abortion-doctor-kermit-gosnell/">a powerful verdict</a> by the jury finding Gosnell guilty of murder. The reverberations of this case will be felt for years to come, both in terms of the legal significance and the media coverage. I received these comments in an email from <a href="http://catholiceducation.org/articles/feminism/fe0026.html">Serrin Foster</a>, the President of <a href="http://www.feministsforlife.org/">Feminists for Life</a>:<br />
<br />
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Feminists for Life first alerted you to the
horrors at the Gosnell West Philadelphia clinic in 2009 after two women and
untold numbers of babies died. </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Today a jury of his peers found Kermit Gosnell
guilty on one count of involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death
of a woman undergoing an abortion at his clinic, three counts of
first-degree murder of premature infants forced into this world, as well as
several counts of performing abortions beyond the 24-week gestation limit under
Pennsylvania law. There were also other charges and convictions based on the
squalid conditions of his West Philadelphia clinic.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">Thanks to pro-lifers and a few courageous
reporters and columnists, these atrocities have been brought to the attention
of many more people who now have an inkling of the desperation faced by women
who seek abortions and the cruel truth behind abortion and infanticide.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">New technologies in fetal killing do nothing to
serve women or save their children.</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 21.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;">May the surviving victims find healing, knowing
that they are welcome in Feminists for Life and at post-abortion groups such as
Rachel's Vineyard and Project Rachel. </span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->
Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-88717458808964882052013-05-07T14:38:00.001-07:002013-05-07T14:45:34.568-07:00Spiritual Ecumenism: Fiber or Fluff?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>338</o:Words>
<o:Characters>1927</o:Characters>
<o:Company>UC Irvine</o:Company>
<o:Lines>16</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>3</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>2366</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.256</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0WHAO0SqAc0g-4atgwX52SeGU-JabAW-cMA-7FHXiwO1mhQ3iQaQ8BMFRHyyEQ-8KS-wZWId-x8B-9NZR0CGH-hYzjKDBpnS0Bxpx_KtvFE5YSQNwrJQzF_W42P1Evm-OQgocW7Rvk4s/s1600/images-4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0WHAO0SqAc0g-4atgwX52SeGU-JabAW-cMA-7FHXiwO1mhQ3iQaQ8BMFRHyyEQ-8KS-wZWId-x8B-9NZR0CGH-hYzjKDBpnS0Bxpx_KtvFE5YSQNwrJQzF_W42P1Evm-OQgocW7Rvk4s/s320/images-4.jpeg" width="244" /></a>A major focus of my life over the last couple months has been the
effort to build relationships among Christians in the Washington, DC area in
advance of this Saturday’s <a href="http://debatingobama.blogspot.com/2013/04/john-armstrong-in-dc-on-may-11.html">Unity Factor Forum</a> with <a href="http://johnharmstrong.com/">John Armstrong</a> (it is still
not too late to <a href="https://act3network.webconnex.com/uff2013washingtonind">register!</a>!). One of the dividends of that work has been getting
to know Fr. Tom Ryan and the work of the <a href="http://www.tomryancsp.org/index.html">Paulist Office for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations</a>. Fr. Tom is the head of the American office, located on
the campus of <a href="http://www.paulist.org/location/st-pauls-college">St. Paul’s Colle</a>ge in Washington, DC. The Unity Factor Forum will
be held at this site and Fr. Tom will be our host that day. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In preparation for the Forum, and as an outgrowth of my
growing friendship with Fr. Tom, I have been reading articles by him. He is <a href="http://www.tomryancsp.org/books.htm">a gifted writer</a> whose insights grow out of decades of work as a<a href="http://www.paulist.org/"> Paulist </a>priest focused in the area of
Christian unity. Here is <a href="http://www.tomryancsp.org/newsletter.htm">a taste of his work</a> from an article entitled “Spiritual
Ecumenism: Fiber of Fluff”:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Prayer is and will always hold the first
place in unity efforts because it is prayer that most changes our hearts, and
it is our hearts that most need to be changed.</span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The conversion implied begins with
ourselves, our ways of stereotyping others (“Orthodox always…”; “Anglicans do …”;
“Evangelicals say…;”), our smug sense of superiority, our lack of interest in
the changing understandings taking place between our church and another through
the dialogues…</span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Spiritual ecumenism is also an exchange of
spiritual gifts—contemplative and charismatic ways of praying, lectio divina,
devotional practices, the theology of icons, the tradition of spiritual
direction, effective approaches to youth and young adults, the practice of
annual retreats and monthly desert days, methods of singing, preaching, and
sharing the faith….</span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Spiritual
ecumenism must seek out and serve life. It must be concerned with everyday
human experiences as well as with the great questions of justice and peace and
the preservation of creation. Through the prayer and the sharing, our hearts
are turned more fully toward Christ, and the closer we come to him, the more we
discover ourselves in unity. And in the exchange of gifts, what is lacking in
each of our traditions finds its needed complement. The ecumenical endeavor
thus becomes a pilgrimage to the fullness of catholicity which Jesus Christ
intends for his Church.</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-5683508154992355082013-05-05T16:31:00.002-07:002013-05-07T14:45:58.772-07:00Francis: "How Do We Overcome the Evil One?"<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>201</o:Words>
<o:Characters>1146</o:Characters>
<o:Company>UC Irvine</o:Company>
<o:Lines>9</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>2</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>1407</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.256</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjapZZdJzWjI8BcY07_uD5yhbGDYIW6ZDmbh-RO1jNMfQAiTc8GNlUufRed1GOTweBBSufWKjLsOtqC2dblpe0_0e2aHKMal1KC-_fA1ie1GAwOLiHsomxHBhw5d9oOGQNJMCZG63sRb_I/s1600/Unknown-3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjapZZdJzWjI8BcY07_uD5yhbGDYIW6ZDmbh-RO1jNMfQAiTc8GNlUufRed1GOTweBBSufWKjLsOtqC2dblpe0_0e2aHKMal1KC-_fA1ie1GAwOLiHsomxHBhw5d9oOGQNJMCZG63sRb_I/s1600/Unknown-3.jpeg" /></a>Pope Francis, whose <a href="http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1301741.htm">regular emphasis on the devil</a> is
striking, has given another homily in which spiritual warfare plays a prominent
part. But unlike so much other Christian comment on this topic, Francis
emphasizes that spiritual victory comes through humility and meekness. Here is
a portion of his homily as reported at <a href="http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/05/04/pope_francis_at_mass:_fighting_evil_with_meekness_and_humility_/en1-689083">Vatican Radio</a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">‘Father, what is the
weapon to defend against these seductions, from these blandishments, these
enticements that the prince of this world offers?’. The weapon is the same
weapon of Jesus, the Word of God…and then humility and meekness. We think of
Jesus, when they give that slap: what humility! What meekness! He could have
insulted him, no? One question, meek and humble. We think of Jesus in His
Passion. His Prophet says: ‘As a sheep going to the slaughter.’ He does not cry
out, not at all: humility. Humility and meekness. These are the weapons that
the prince and spirit of this world does not tolerate, for his proposals are
proposals for worldly power, proposals of vanity, proposals for ill-gotten
riches.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-19841673572351815542013-04-22T11:09:00.001-07:002013-05-07T14:46:11.679-07:00John Armstrong in DC on May 11<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhil8YVCOxlOBbr2G4L27xOldp27OfayjH2Qc8ObsaVWxmhprHucGh4LCk6lbp-KsZAwgUq8PqEKbtv-wO9m4MDZKAqaEibbcI0kDySr7iH-GFUp19k9rHp1Kbv1hzHyttUEuqvNJupxtE/s1600/544114_10151343016081966_217576909_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhil8YVCOxlOBbr2G4L27xOldp27OfayjH2Qc8ObsaVWxmhprHucGh4LCk6lbp-KsZAwgUq8PqEKbtv-wO9m4MDZKAqaEibbcI0kDySr7iH-GFUp19k9rHp1Kbv1hzHyttUEuqvNJupxtE/s320/544114_10151343016081966_217576909_n.jpg" width="221" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s getting close! May 11 is now just a matter of <strike>weeks</strike> days away and I am so looking forward to it. On that day John Armstrong
will be in Washington, DC to lead a <a href="http://www.act3network.com/unityfactorforum">Unity Factor Forum</a>. I have been one of those
working to plan this event and I am so glad that the time is drawing near. As
regular readers of this blog know, John has had <a href="http://debatingobama.blogspot.com/2012/09/john-armstrong-gracious-presence.html">a great influence on me</a> and <a href="http://missionalecumenism.blogspot.com/2011/03/john-armstrong-reads-pope-benedict.html">I am a great </a>supporter of the ACT 3 Network he leads. I am also an avid reader of his<a href="http://johnharmstrong.com/"> blog</a> and his <a href="http://www.yourchurchistoosmall.com/">other types of writing</a>. He is a gift to the whole Church and I look forward to this
special day with great anticipation for what God might do to deepen friendship
and shared mission among Christians from a variety of backgrounds in the DC
area. I hope you will consider coming yourself if you live in the area--you can register <a href="http://www.act3network.com/unityfactorforum">here</a>--or
publicizing the event to others who you know that are in the area. I think it
will be a wonderful day of prayer, worship and thoughtful discussion. </div>
<!--EndFragment-->
Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-29213812662204929492013-03-22T08:15:00.002-07:002013-03-22T08:16:17.761-07:00Francis on Jonah, Japan and the Missional Church<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>762</o:Words>
<o:Characters>4344</o:Characters>
<o:Company>UC Irvine</o:Company>
<o:Lines>36</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>8</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>5334</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.256</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have begun a series of
posts digging into an <a href="http://www.30giorni.it/articoli_id_16457_l3.htm">amazing interview</a> that Bergoglio gave in 2007 to the
international magazine <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">30 Days</i>. In <a href="http://debatingobama.blogspot.com/2013/03/francis-and-mystery-of-reform.html">my first post</a> I drew on an excerpt that spoke to his understanding of change in
order to suggest that there are substantive reasons to believe that he will
indeed be a pope who brings not only reform of the Curial bureaucracy but
reform doctrinally as well. This is not to say that he will be some sort of
anti-Benedict, but that he will be dramatically different.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times;">In this respect I would
point to another section of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">30 Days</i>
interview where Bergoglio draws on two stories, one from the biblical Jonah and
another from the experience of the church in Japan, to pointedly question the
clericalist direction of both the laity and the hierarchy. His reasoning
suggests a missional pope completely willing to upend the status quo if it is
coming between the mercy of God and the needs of the world. (The words in bold
are the interviewers)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: .25in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">I have told my
priests…:«If you can, rent a garage and, if you find some willing layman, let
him go there! Let him be with those people a bit, do a little catechesis and
even give communion if they ask him». A parish priest said to me: «But Father,
if we do this the people then won’t come to church». «But why?» I asked him: «Do
they come to mass now?» «No», he answered. And so! Coming out of oneself is
also coming out from the fenced garden of one’s own convictions, considered
irremovable, if they risk becoming an obstacle, if they close the horizon that
is also of God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: .25in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">This is valid
also for lay people… </span></b><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: .25in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">BERGOGLIO:
Their clericalization is a problem. The priests clericalize the laity and the
laity beg us to be clericalized… It really is sinful abetment. And to think
that baptism alone could suffice. I’m thinking of those Christian communities
in Japan that remained without priests for more than two hundred years. When
the missionaries returned they found them all baptized, all validly married for
the Church and all their dead had had a Catholic funeral. The faith had
remained intact through the gifts of grace that had gladdened the life of a
laity who had received only baptism and had also lived their apostolic mission
in virtue of baptism alone. One must not be afraid of depending only on His
tenderness… Do you know the biblical episode of the prophet Jonah? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: .25in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">I don’t
remember it. Tell us. </span></b><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: .25in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">BERGOGLIO:
Jonah had everything clear. He had clear ideas about God, very clear ideas
about good and evil. On what God does and on what He wants, on who was faithful
to the Covenant and who instead was outside the Covenant. He had the recipe for
being a good prophet. God broke into his life like a torrent. He sent him to
Nineveh. Nineveh was the symbol of all the separated, the lost, of all the
peripheries of humanity. Of all those who are outside, forlorn. Jonah saw that
the task set on him was only to tell all those people that the arms of God were
still open, that the patience of God was there and waiting, to heal them with
His forgiveness and nourish them with His tenderness. Only for that had God
sent him. He sent him to Nineveh, but he instead ran off in the opposite
direction, toward Tarsis. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: .25in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Running away
from a difficult mission…</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: .25in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">BERGOGLIO: No.
What he was fleeing was not so much Nineveh as the boundless love of God for
those people. It was that that didn’t come into his plans. God had come once… “and
I’ll see to the rest”: that’s what Jonah told himself. He wanted to do things
his way, he wanted to steer it all. His stubbornness shut him in his own
structures of evaluation, in his pre-ordained methods, in his righteous
opinions. He had fenced his soul off with the barbed wire of those certainties
that instead of giving freedom with God and opening horizons of greater service
to others had finished by deafening his heart. How the isolated conscience
hardens the heart! Jonah no longer knew that God leads His people with the
heart of a Father. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: .25in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">A great many
of us can identify with Jonah. </span></b><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: .25in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">BERGOGLIO: Our
certainties can become a wall, a jail that imprisons the Holy Spirit. Those who
isolate their conscience from the path of the people of God don’t know the joy
of the Holy Spirit that sustains hope. That is the risk run by the isolated
conscience. Of those who from the closed world of their Tarsis complain about
everything or, feeling their identity threatened, launch themselves into
battles only in the end to be still more self-concerned and self-referential. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: .25in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">What should
one do? </span></b><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: .25in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">BERGOGLIO:
Look at our people not for what it should be but for what it is and see what is
necessary. Without preconceptions and recipes but with generous openness. For
the wounds and the frailty God spoke. Allowing the Lord to speak… In a world
that we can’t manage to interest with the words we say, only His presence that
loves us, saves us, can be of interest. The apostolic fervor renews itself in
order to testify to Him who has loved us from the beginning. </span><span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-75118198330728427702013-03-22T07:23:00.001-07:002013-03-22T08:33:42.205-07:00Francis and the Mystery of Reform<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>617</o:Words>
<o:Characters>3521</o:Characters>
<o:Company>UC Irvine</o:Company>
<o:Lines>29</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>7</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>4324</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.256</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>617</o:Words>
<o:Characters>3521</o:Characters>
<o:Company>UC Irvine</o:Company>
<o:Lines>29</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>7</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>4324</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.256</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After Benedict's resignation and before Francis’ election <a href="http://debatingobama.blogspot.com/2013/03/ratzingerbenedict-and-mystery-of-reform.html">I did a post</a> that I must admit at the time felt very much against the tide. In
that post I suggested that there is a deep mystery to the process of reform and
I dared to hope that a reformist pope could be elected from a conclave of
cardinals who had all been named by John Paul or Benedict. I don’t often write
much worth remembering, but I think these quotes are worth recall:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Those who are certain of the theological direction of the next
pope would do well to remember that even a cursory look at the life of
Ratzinger/Benedict (RB) shows the difficulty in predicting the future choices
and attitudes of leaders of the Church. Surprise and irony abound…All of which
is to say that Catholic people and institutions change and develop and reverse
course in ways that are hard to predict. Reformers can become consolidators,
and the men who they appoint can become reformers. It is the cycle of Church
History that those consumed with the present can sometimes forget, thereby
closing themselves off to the possibility of surprise and reform.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">We are of course only just into the
papacy of Francis and too much can be read into what everyone seems to agree
was an extraordinary opening week of ministry, but when it comes to Francis and
reform there is way more than just a week that can be pointed to as signs of
deep change coming. There are decades of service in Latin America that give
much reason to believe that what we have seen in the opening week of his papacy
is NOT stylistic but reflective of substantive change to come.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">There are many incidents that could
be pointed to from the ministry of Cardinal Bergoglio, but for now I want to
draw attention to <a href="http://www.30giorni.it/articoli_id_16457_l3.htm">a 2007 interview</a> that has received inadequate attention. I
would suggest that this interview displays a Cardinal bursting with reform
rooted in his Latin American context and grounded in his deep love for Christ.
I will do a series of posts from this interview and I hope that these words
will receive a wider hearing and will be considered by those like John Allen
who seem to want to <a href="http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/francis-vows-press-benedicts-fight-vs-dictatorship-relativism">tap down expectations</a> of change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">Here, then, is<a href="http://www.30giorni.it/articoli_id_16457_l3.htm"> Bergoglio </a>on what I
would call the mystery of true of reform:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Precisely if
one remains in the Lord one goes out of oneself. Paradoxically precisely
because one remains, precisely if one is faithful one changes. One does not
remain faithful, like the traditionalists or the fundamentalists, to the
letter. Fidelity is always a change, a blossoming, a growth. The Lord brings
about a change in those who are faithful to Him. That is Catholic doctrine.
Saint Vincent of Lerins makes the comparison between the biologic development
of the person, between the person who grows, and the Tradition which, in handing
on the <i>depositum fidei</i> from one age to another, grows and consolidates
with the passage of time…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">The early
theologians said: the soul is a kind of sailing boat, the Holy Spirit is the
wind that blows in the sail, to send it on its way, the impulses and the force
of the wind are the gifts of the Spirit. Without His drive, without His grace,
we don’t go ahead. The Holy Spirit lets us enter the mystery of God and saves
us from the danger of a gnostic Church and from the danger of a
self-referential Church, leading us to the mission.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<!--EndFragment-->Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-21763398682039505912013-03-19T11:17:00.002-07:002013-05-07T14:46:27.832-07:00Billy Graham, John Paul II and the Hope of Missional-EcumenismI have posted recently on Pope Francis' <a href="http://debatingobama.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-missional-pope.html">missional vision</a> and his <a href="http://debatingobama.blogspot.com/2013/03/francis-among-evangelicals.html">embrace by leading evangelicals</a>. These stories call to mind the extraordinary relationship between another recent pope and evangelicals. I refer to the relationship between John Paul II and Billy Graham, a relationship that began when John Paul was still Bishop Karol Wojtyla of Krakow, Poland. It is a story<a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/may/13.34.htmlhttp://debatingobama.blogspot.com/2013/03/francis-among-evangelicals.html"> told beautifully by David Scott</a>, beginning with this nugget:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="text" style="color: #231f20; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font: normal normal normal 0.95em/16pt Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 13pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 18px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; z-index: 1;">
When Karol Wojtyla stepped out on the Vatican balcony on October 16, 1978, as the new Pope John Paul II, waving to the crowds in St. Peter's Square on the first day of his auspicious papacy, the person preaching for him in his home pulpit back in Krakow, Poland, was none other than Billy Graham. Behind that fact is a surprising story of the late pope's personal involvement with American evangelicals. With his passing, it is time to tell that story.</div>
<div class="text" style="color: #231f20; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font: normal normal normal 0.95em/16pt Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 13pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 18px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; z-index: 1;">
In the mid-1970s, American mission organizations like the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association began taking the gospel behind the Iron Curtain to Eastern Europe. After Graham's first "communist" crusade in Hungary in 1977, he was invited to the predominately Catholic country of Poland by the tiny Protestant community there, which amounted to less than 1 percent of the population. Just as in his 1957 New York City crusade, Graham wanted to work with as many Catholics as possible.</div>
<div class="text" style="color: #231f20; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font: normal normal normal 0.95em/16pt Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 13pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 18px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; z-index: 1;">
Initially, the Polish Catholic church rebuffed him. Wojtyla was the exception, giving Graham the invitation he needed for his crusade in a country where evangelicalism was considered cultic. The two men made plans to meet for tea, but by the time Graham arrived, Wojtyla had been summoned to Rome. </div>
Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-63885169898934165842013-03-17T14:27:00.001-07:002013-03-19T15:16:30.119-07:00Francis and Liberation Theology (UPDATE) <!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
This post has been updated to include quotes from a<a href="http://hermanojuancito.blogspot.com/2013/03/jon-sobrino-on-pope-francis.html"> deeplythoughtful interview</a> with “<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13pt;">Father Jon Sobrino, the Spanish-born
Jesuit who has lived worked, and taught in El Salvador since the late 1960s.”
Below the interview is the original post containing key questions to be asked
while considering liberation theology and Pope Francis.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b>During these days, have you spoken
with people who know Bergoglio closely?</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
Yes, I’m not an expert on the life,
work, joys, and sufferings of Bergoglio. And so that I don’t fall into any type
of irresponsibility, I have tried to connect with persons in Argentina, whom I
will not quote, above all those who have had direct contact with him. I expect
understanding of the limits of what I am going to say and I apologize for any
errors I might commit. Bergoglio is a Jesuit who has held important posts in
the [Jesuit] Province of Argentina. He has been professor of theology, superior
and provincial. It is not difficult to talk about his external work. But of the
more internal, one can speak only delicately and now respectfully and
responsibly. Many companions have spoken of him as a person with deep
convictions and temperament, a resolute and relentless fighter. If they make
him pope, he will clean up the Curia, it has been said with humor.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b>His austerity has been highlighted.</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
Also, they remember him for
boundless interest to communicate with others his convictions about the Society
of Jesus, an interest which could become possessiveness, even to the point of
demanding loyalty to his person. Many recall his austerity of life, as Jesuit,
archbishop, and cardinal. Examples of this are his residence and his proverbial
travelling by bus. When he was bishop, many priests remember how he was close
to them and how he offered to stand in for them in their parish work when they
needed to go away for rest. His austerity was accompanied by a real interest in
the poor, the indigenous, trade union members who were attacked; this led him
to firmly defend them in the face of successive governments. Moral issues have
been very close to him, certainly abortion, which led him to directly confront
the president of his country.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b>They have recalled his option for
the poor.</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
In all that, one can assess his
specific way of making an option for the poor. Not in actively going out and
risking oneself in their defense in the time of repression of the criminal
military dictatorships. The complicity of the hierarchy with the dictators is
known. Bergoglio was superior of the Jesuits in Argentina from 1973 to 1979, in
the years of major repression of civil-military genocide.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b>Are you talking about complicity?</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
It doesn’t appear just to speak of
complicity, but it seems correct to say that in those circumstances Bergoglio
distanced himself from the Popular Church which was committed to the poor. We
wasn’t a Romero – celebrated for his defense of human rights and assassinated
while exercising his pastoral ministry. I don’t have enough knowledge, and I
say this with the fear of being mistaken, Bergoglio did not present himself
like Bishop Angelleli, Argentinian bishop assassinated by the military in 1976.
Very possibly this took place in his heart, but he was not accustomed to make
visible in public the living memory of [Bishop] Leonidas Proaño [of Ecuador],
Bishop Juan Gerardi [of Guatemala], Bishop Sergio Mendez [of Cuernevaca,
Mexico]…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<b>Nevertheless, he also has a
pronounced solidarity?</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .2in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
Yes. On the other hand, since 1998,
as archbishop of Buenos Aires, in various ways he accompanied the poorly
treated sector of that great city – and with concrete deeds. An eye witness
speaks of how, on the first anniversary of the tragedy of Cromagnon [when a
fire during a rock concert took the lives of 200 young people], Bergoglio was
present and forcibly demanded justice for the victims. At times he used
prophetic language. He denounced the evils which grind the flesh of the people
and he named them concretely: human trafficking, slave labor, prostitution,
drug-trafficking, and much more. For some, the major force to carry forward his
present ministry is his openness to dialogue with the marginalized and from
their suffering.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
The words of Sobrino are very helpful because it is quickly becoming received wisdom and unvarnished truth
that Pope Francis was, during his decades in Argentinia, “opposed to liberation
theology”, as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York Times</i> puts
it in an<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/world/europe/a-jesuit-pope-to-some-a-contradiction-in-terms.html"> article</a>. This characterization is quickly becoming accepted by
defenders of Francis on the Right and critics of him on the Left. It is a
dismaying sign of the need to box people into tight categories and safely
consign them to familiar stereotypes. But does it make sense of the fullness of
Bergoglio’s ministry to say, to again quote the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Times</i>, that <span style="font-family: Times;">“</span><span style="color: #434343; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">The future pope came down hard on Jesuits in his province who
were liberation theology proponents and left it badly divided”? </span>I have been
curious what Jesuits themselves think about this and even asked Fr. James
Martin on facebook this morning if <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">America
</i>magazine, the Jesuit weekly, had any plans for an article on this. Well,
sure enough, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">America’s</i> website is up
with <a href="http://americamagazine.org/content/all-things/living-la-vida-justicia-pope-francis-and-liberation-theology">a helpful examination of “Pope Francis and Liberation Theology”.</a> The
author, Fr. Daniel P. Horan, offers three questions that should be a part of
any thoughtful writing on Bergoglio and liberation theology:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">First, what do we mean when
we use a hegemonic and singular umbrella term like "liberation
theology?" Are we referring to the particular texts that arose in the
1960s and 1970s from the academic and professional theologians like Gustavo
Gutiérrez and Leonardo Boff? Both of whose work, by the way, varies in style, method,
and outcome. Do we mean the pastoral legacy of the slain Archbishop of San
Salvador, Oscar Romero? Do we mean the Jesuits and diocesan priests who took up
arms in El Salvador against the will of Romero who, according to the critiques
of now-Pope Francis, might also be labeled "opposed to liberation
theology" in this context? What exactly do we mean?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Second, how are judgements
made about what it means to "support," "oppose,"
"reject," or "be hostile toward," liberation theology in
its manifold iterations? Without a very clearly defined notion of what it is we
mean when we talk univocally about a broad (and continually growing) academic
and pastoral field of social-justice concerns and contextual theology, it is
nearly impossible to make an accurate statement about whether one is for or
against this or that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Third, what does someone's
lived experience say about the person we claim is for or against a given
theological or pastoral opinion?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->
Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-59811809319009748832013-03-16T21:02:00.000-07:002013-03-17T13:52:25.294-07:00Francis Among the Evangelicals<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAO-68LRe3cWudJoYcZ7lGLBVYoka8AuBtTICQGLsB5HyccqS23h-hlh7DK2JkyKMjpnIYNU9KqngUajx77uSIchPGPq3aCOvJpVMPKKAKgpD60SN9G93ehOzZpyfGhnjQo1u_iWi9XHI/s1600/images-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAO-68LRe3cWudJoYcZ7lGLBVYoka8AuBtTICQGLsB5HyccqS23h-hlh7DK2JkyKMjpnIYNU9KqngUajx77uSIchPGPq3aCOvJpVMPKKAKgpD60SN9G93ehOzZpyfGhnjQo1u_iWi9XHI/s1600/images-2.jpeg" /></a></div>
Among the developing stories surrounding the extraordinary
selection of Bergoglio is the glowing response his selection is receiving in
evangelical circles throughout the Americas. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Christianity Today</i> (CT), the flagship publication of evangelicalism
in America, has run three high-profile pieces detailing the reaction of leading
evangelicals who have worked with or are familiar with Bergoglio’s decades of
ministry in Latin America. The cumulative effect of these reports is nothing
short of historic given not only the historic enmity between evangelicals and
Catholics generally but also the deep divisions between the two groups in Latin
America. Here is a sampling of the response:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/march-web-only/luis-palau-pope-francis-drinks-mate-evangelicals-bergoglio.html">CT’s interview with evangelical statesman Luis Palau</a>:<b><span style="color: #626262; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-line-height-alt: 12.0pt; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">What was your reaction when you heard that Bergoglio had been selected as
pope?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">It was exciting because of Argentina, because of his personality, and
because of his openness toward evangelical Christians. I got kind of emotional,
simply having known him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">He came in second to Pope Benedict XVI in the last election and pulled
out of the vote voluntarily, because he thought, 'We shouldn't be doing this,
vote after vote.' I said to him when I saw him afterward, 'What a pity! I
thought I would be able to say I know the pope as my friend.' I said he'd
probably get elected the next time, but he said, 'No, I'm too old.'<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">It was a total surprise [yesterday], because I also thought he was past
the age. Since last time he didn't win, I figured he wouldn't win this time.
But here we go: He got elected. He's not too old.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">You count the pope as a personal friend. What can you tell me about his
character—as a man, and a Christian, not just as a Cardinal?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">You know he knew God the father personally. The way he prayed, the way he
talked to the Lord, was of a man who knows Jesus Christ and was very
spiritually intimate with the Lord. It's not an effort [for him] to pray. He
didn't do reading prayers; he just prayed to the Lord spontaneously. It is a
sign that good things will happen worldwide in the years of his papal work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">He's very warm and gentle and spiritual. He may not go around smiling all
the time—he's not a Hollywood actor—but he's a very warm person; you don't feel
cold and distant from him. He's always been warm. He likes to mingle with
people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">He's gentle in his conversation. He's always asking people for prayer.
It's surprising that he did it in public [at his first address], but anybody
who knows him, [knows that] he always would say, 'Please pray for me.' He
really meant it. He said it always.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">What can you tell me about Bergoglio's leadership style?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">He's a very Bible-centered man, a very Jesus Christ-centered man. He's
more spiritual than he is administrative, although he's going to have to
exercise his administrative skills now! But personally, he is more known for
his personal love for Christ. He's really centered on Jesus and the Gospel, the
pure Gospel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">We'll see what the effects will be for international relationships and
openness, because he's not a manipulator. He's a straightforward,
straight-shooting person. He says what he thinks and he does it sincerely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Although he's gentle, he has strong moral
convictions and he stands by them even if he has to confront the government.
And he's done it before. With the evangelical community, it was a very big day
when we realized that he really was open, that he has great respect for
Bible-believing Christians, and that he basically sides with them. … They work
together. That takes courage. That takes respect. It takes conviction. So the leaders
of the evangelical church in Argentina have a high regard for him, simply
because of his personal lifestyle, his respect, his reaching out and spending
time with them privately…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Not many
decades ago, there was a confrontational attitude [between Catholics and
evangelicals] and it was not pleasant…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">So,
tensions will be eased. There will be no confrontational style….He has proved
it over and over in his term as the cardinal of Argentina. There was more
building bridges and showing respect, knowing the differences, but majoring on
what we can agree on: on the divinity of Jesus, his virgin birth, his
resurrection, the second coming.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Do you
have any personal stories or memories of him that really exemplify his
relationship with evangelicals?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">One day I said to him, 'You seem to love the Bible a lot,' and
he said, 'You know, my financial manager [for the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires]
… is an evangelical Christian.' I said, 'Why would that be?' And he said,
'Well, I can trust him, and we spend hours reading the Bible and praying and
drinking maté [an Argentine green tea].' People do that with their friends,
share and pass the mate, and every day when he was in town, which was often,
after lunch he and his financial manager would sit together, read the Bible, pray,
and drink maté. To me, he was making a point [about his relationship with
evangelicals] by telling me that: trust and friendship.</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/march-web-only/argentine-evangelicals-say-bergoglio-as-pope-francis-is-ans.html">From CT’s Story Titled “</a></span><span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 29.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/march-web-only/argentine-evangelicals-say-bergoglio-as-pope-francis-is-ans.html">Argentine Evangelicals Say Bergoglio as Pope Francis Is 'Answer to Our Prayers”</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">In a move that Vatican newspaper
L'Osservatore Romano called "unprecedented and shocking," before
Francis offered the world the traditional papal blessing, he <a href="http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-his-first-words"><span style="color: #1a1718;">asked</span></a> those watching to first pray for <i>him</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Such a request is one of
Bergoglio's trademarks, said Juan Pablo Bongarrá, president of the Argentine
Bible Society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">"Whenever you talk to him, the
conversation ends with a request: 'Pastor, pray for me," said Bongarrá. He
recalls when Bergoglio once attended a weekly worship meeting organized by
Buenos Aires's charismatic pastors. "He mounted the platform and called
for pastors to pray for him," said Bongarrá. "He knelt in front of
nearly 6,000 people, and [Protestant leaders] laid hands and prayed."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Prayer came up frequently as
several of Argentina's leading evangelicals, known for their <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/june/25.38.html"><span style="color: #1a1718;">unity efforts</span></a> in Buenos Aires, described their
thoughts on the new pope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">"His election has been an
answer to our prayers," said Norberto Saracco, rector of Buenos Aires's
FIET seminary and co-leader of the capital city's Council of Pastors.
"Bergoglio is a man of God. He is passionate for the unity of the Church—but
not just at the institutional level. His priority is unity at the level of the
people."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Relations
between evangelicals and Catholics are much better in Argentina than in other
Latin American nations, said Saracco. Bergoglio has played a central role in
Argentina's CRECES (Renewal Communion of Catholics and Evangelicals in the Holy
Spirit) movement over the past 10 years, and has strongly supported the Bible
society. "He has very good and friendly relations with leaders of other
religions," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Bongarrá said Bergoglio respects
and promotes interfaith dialogue. The two men have worked regularly together
since 2001 when members of the National Evangelical Christian Council met with
members of the Bishops Conference and issued a joint statement on the eve of
the nation's financial crisis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Bongarrá last met with Bergoglio
before Christmas when he wanted Catholics to participate in the Protestant
churches' "Christmas Is Jesus" campaign. They shared lunch at Center
Baptist Church and discussed "how to fight against the <a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2013/03/13/the-pope-from-beyond-the-seas/"><span style="color: #1a1718;">secularization of society</span></a>," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">"We
evangelical leaders that know him are very happy with his election," said
Bongarrá. "Bergoglio is a great man of God. We [evangelicals] have had a
good relationship with him for many years. We think that a new time is coming
for the Catholic Church, because our brother wants to promote evangelism."</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/march-web-only/why-pope-francis-excites-most-evangelical-leaders-bergoglio.html">CT’s Interview with head of National Association of Evangelicals</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">Though the pope doesn't speak for
Protestant Christians, he holds an <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/april/pope-for-all-christians.html"><span style="color: #1a1718;">important role</span></a> as one of the most public faces
of Christianity, said Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of
Evangelicals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">"Around the world, there are
millions of people who don't grasp the differences between Protestants and
Catholics," he said. "To them, Christians are Christians and the pope
speaks for Christians."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">However, American evangelicals will
benefit from Francis's conservative stance on issues such as abortion and gay
marriage, said Anderson. Meanwhile, the new pope's focus on poverty and his
ascetic personal habits could also start a needed discussion about the global
poor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1a1718; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">"There's
been a lot of talk [in America] about the middle class and the rich, but little
about the poor," said Anderson. "Perhaps Pope Francis can bring us
back to the biblical and Christian care for the poor and vulnerable."</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->
Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-31457264633605901072013-03-14T20:37:00.003-07:002013-03-19T15:32:39.302-07:00Francis and the “Dirty War” (UPDATED)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>327</o:Words>
<o:Characters>1866</o:Characters>
<o:Company>UC Irvine</o:Company>
<o:Lines>15</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>3</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>2291</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.256</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times;">A whole lot of discussion
happening today over <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrique_Angelelli">Argentina’s “Dirty War”</a> and the level of involvement that
Bishop Bergoglio/Pope Francis had in resisting and/or collaborating with it.
Into the midst of this debate comes an <a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112656/pope-francis-and-argentinas-dirty-war-what-he-knew">extraordinary article at the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New Republic</i> </a>by Sam Ferguson, </span><span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Times;">a visiting fellow at the Schell Center for International Human
Rights at Yale Law School and a former Fulbright Scholar. </span><span style="font-family: Times;">Alone among the reports I have seen, Ferguson has
gained access to the transcript of Bergoglio’s testimony “</span><span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">as a witness in the criminal trial of eighteen officers who had
worked at the notorious Naval Mechanics School, where the country's military
junta detained political prisoners—including a pair of Jesuit priests who'd
been kidnapped shortly after the regime took power in a 1976 coup.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">Ferguson’s summary of Bergoglio’s
testimony is an important contribution to the story. He includes a quote from
Argentine Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel, who was jailed and
tortured by the Argentine dictatorship. Esquivil says Bergoglio "was not
an accomplice of the dictatorship. … There were bishops who were accomplices of
the Argentine dictatorship, but not Bergoglio." Others are not so
sure. Luis Zamora, the human rights lawyer who questioned Bergoglio during his
four hour testimony, believes Bergoglio “’completely failed’ in his explanation
of the past. He added that those who say Bergoglio was an insignificant figure
in the Church at the time are mistaken, as evidenced by his ability to arrange
meetings with…the country's two most powerful military men.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">These issues are not simple to
understand or to judge. As Eduardo Penalver said in a<a href="http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/?p=24173"> post at Commonweal</a>: “</span><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">we
can probably look forward to a steady stream of articles on this issue in the
coming weeks and months.” Hopefully they will be as informed and judicious as
<a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112656/pope-francis-and-argentinas-dirty-war-what-he-knew">Ferguson’s essay</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<br />
UPDATE:<br />
An a significant development to the story one of the two Jesuit priests who'd been kidnapped, Rev. Francisco Jalics, has spoken for the first time publicly about the incident and in a way that supports Bergoglio's testimony. From the <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/15/3287440/priest-kidnapped-by-junta-reconciled.html#storylink=cpy">Associated Press' moving story</a>:<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3 class="byline" style="color: #58595b; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 11px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">
BY DAVID RISING</h3>
<h3 class="credit_line" style="color: #58595b; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 11px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">
ASSOCIATED PRESS</h3>
<div class="entry-content" id="storyBodyContent" style="color: #1a2732; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="dateline" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">BERLIN -- </span>A Jesuit priest whose kidnapping by the Argentine military junta decades ago led to strong criticism of the newly elected pope said Friday that he and the pontiff have reconciled.</div>
<div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">
The Rev. Francisco Jalics, who now lives in a monastery in southern Germany, said in a statement that he had talked with the Rev. Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who was named Pope Francis on Wednesday, long after the 1976 kidnapping of himself and fellow slum priest Orlando Yorio.</div>
<div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">
Bergoglio has said he told the priests to give up their slum work for their own safety, and they refused. Yorio, who is now dead, later accused Bergoglio of effectively delivering them to the death squads by declining to publicly endorse their work.</div>
<div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">
"It was only years later that we had the opportunity to talk with Father Bergoglio ... to discuss the events," Jalics said Friday in his first known comments about the kidnapping, which occurred when the new pope was the leader of Argentina's Jesuits.</div>
<div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">
"Following that, we celebrated Mass publicly together and hugged solemnly. I am reconciled to the events and consider the matter to be closed," he said...</div>
<div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">
Jalics, in his mid-80s, is currently out of Germany and could not be reached for comment beyond the statement. But Thomas Busch, a spokesman for the Jesuits in Munich, said the conversation between Jalics and Bergoglio took place in the year 2000.</div>
<div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">
In his statement, which was posted on the German Jesuits' website, Jalics did not elaborate on what the two talked about regarding the kidnapping.</div>
<div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">
"I cannot comment on the role of Father Bergoglio in these events," he said.</div>
<div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">
But he added: "I wish Pope Francis God's rich blessings for his office."</div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; height: 1px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-transform: none; width: 1px;">
<br style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/15/3287440/priest-kidnapped-by-junta-reconciled.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy</div>
<div style="font-size: 12px;">
UPDATE: </div>
<div style="font-size: 12px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 12px;">
<a href="http://commonwealmagazine.org/pope-francis-junta">Commonweal has published a very helpful summary</a> of the story of the two priests, offering needed context and an informed judgment in Bergoglio's favor. Here is key excerpt:</div>
<div style="font-size: 12px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.45; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
The two Jesuits were doing more than just visiting—they were involved in activities that, from the Junta’s point of view, were clearly subversive.<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </strong>Bergoglio says he warned them that they were risking arrest, if not worse, and urged them to be more prudent. According to an AP report, “Bergoglio has said he told the priests to give up their slum work for their own safety, and they refused.” And they were kidnapped—or, if you prefer, extrajudicially arrested.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.45; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
What now seems<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </strong>clear is that both men were freed after Bergoglio took measures to protect them. On one occasion he persuaded Videla’s personal chaplain to call in sick so Bergoglio could say Mass in the president’s home, where he pleaded for the two priests, most likely saving their lives.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.45; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
It’s known as well that Bergoglio regularly hid people on church property and once gave his personal ID to a man with similar features, allowing him to slip across the border.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.45; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
Verbitsky’s telling seems to imagine some great power held by the Jesuits in that country. What has been too little noted in all the furor since Bergoglio’s election as pope is the relative impotence of the religious communities in Argentina during the dirty war, as compared with the vastly superior influence of the country’s ultra-conservative bishops. Mignone’s book names no fewer than twenty-five bishops and two cardinals whom he considers indifferent, if not hostile, to concerns for human rights. There are even bishops he terms "integrist." The "good" bishops he numbers at seven or eight. In that climate, the relatively young Jesuit provincial had his work cut out for him.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.45; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
And although Mignone doesn’t say so, Bergoglio, Pellegrini, Angelleli and other churchmen were fortunate to have as papal nuncio Archbishop Pio Laghi (1974-80), later nuncio to the United States. It was to Laghi’s office, not to that of the archbishop or of the bishops’ conference, that loved ones of the disappeared turned for information and help. (See “<a href="http://commonwealmagazine.org/tennis-tyrants" style="border: 0px; color: #1b4580; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">Tennis with Tyrants</a>,” <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Commonweal</em>, May 20, 2011.)</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.45; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
Bergoglio’s essential responsibility as provincial of the Jesuits, given the dramatic context of a murderous regime and bands of hardly nonviolent “subversives,” was to protect his men. When some of them courted confrontation with the regime, we have every reason to believe<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </strong>he did what he could to rein them in. With Jalics and Yorio he tried, failed, but finally succeeded in saving them. </div>
<br />
<div style="color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; height: 1px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-transform: none; width: 1px;">
<br style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" />
<div style="font-size: 10pt;">
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/15/3287440/priest-kidnapped-by-junta-reconciled.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy</div>
</div>
</div>
<br />
<!--EndFragment-->Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-43110851082468068992013-03-14T18:52:00.003-07:002013-03-14T19:01:03.575-07:00A Palestinian Gandhi<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>264</o:Words>
<o:Characters>1510</o:Characters>
<o:Company>UC Irvine</o:Company>
<o:Lines>12</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>3</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>1854</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.256</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw_bA_kWQOFgI_bBFegDZzSERVEZ4kn9u-i7yaV15lbUIrAH1Ofa_aSLyyGhlqSRQ-wmxlGg6kf3KXCh-t9-ZIUzRJqz7EwmXwnQZScdl7OA2QFtNKRJ47kRvEZdJBOZafrotOWMPHzr0/s1600/images-3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw_bA_kWQOFgI_bBFegDZzSERVEZ4kn9u-i7yaV15lbUIrAH1Ofa_aSLyyGhlqSRQ-wmxlGg6kf3KXCh-t9-ZIUzRJqz7EwmXwnQZScdl7OA2QFtNKRJ47kRvEZdJBOZafrotOWMPHzr0/s320/images-3.jpeg" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black; font-size: 20px;">As long-time readers and friends will remember, last September I had the
opportunity to participate in a marvelous gathering of <a href="http://debatingobama.blogspot.com/2012/09/on-three-marks-tooley-hatfield-and-malan.html">Evangelicals for Peace</a>.
Among the many blessings of that daylong meeting at Georgetown was the chance
to hear in person from Sami Awad of the <a href="http://www.holylandtrust.org/">amazing Holy Land Trust</a>. <a href="http://samiawad.wordpress.com/">Awad is a Palestinian Christian</a> and a genuine proponent of non-violent protest. He is a
singular figure in the Palestinian community and many refer to his as a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sami-awad/what-one-palestinian-lear_b_966053.html">modern day Gandhi</a>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">My friend <a href="http://www.middleeastexperience.com/author/aaron-taylor/">Aaron Taylor</a> and the good folks at <a href="http://www.middleeastexperience.com/">Middle East Experience</a> have will be featuring Sami in a live interview/call next Friday,
March 22nd. To register to participate in the call visit <a href="http://www.middleeastexperience.com/premium-subscription/">this link</a>. This
promises to be a great opportunity to interact with a genuine faith hero. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-52604459772109652982013-03-14T12:43:00.000-07:002013-03-14T19:01:39.909-07:00(UPDATE) Positive Reaction from Jewish Leaders to Pope Francis<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>795</o:Words>
<o:Characters>4536</o:Characters>
<o:Company>UC Irvine</o:Company>
<o:Lines>37</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>9</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>5570</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.256</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
Jewish reaction to the naming of Cardinal
Bergoglio as the new pope has been positive.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.jewishjournal.com/religion/article/new_pope_jorge_mario_bergogli_of_argentina_has_jewish_connections">JewishJournal.com reports</a> that he
is remembered fondly for his compassionate response to Jews in Argentina:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">As archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio
attended Rosh Hashanah services at the Benei Tikva Slijot synagogue in
September 2007.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Rabbi David Rosen, the director of
interfaith affairs for the American Jewish Committee, told JTA that the new
pope is a "warm and sweet and modest man" known in Buenos Aires for
doing his own cooking and personally answering his phone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">After the bombing of the AMIA Jewish
community center in 1994, he "showed solidarity with the Jewish
community," Rosen said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In 2005, Bergoglio was the first public
personality to sign a petition for justice in the AMIA bombing case. He also
was one of the signatories on a document called "85 victims, 85
signatures" as part of the bombing's 11th anniversary. In June 2010, he
visited the rebuilt AMIA building to talk with Jewish leaders.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">"Those who said Benedict was the last
pope who would be a pope that lived through the Shoah, or that said there would
not be another pope who had a personal connection to the Jewish people, they
were wrong," Rosen said…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Israel Singer, the former head of the World
Jewish Congress, said he spent time working with Bergoglio when the two were
distributing aid to the poor in Buenos Aires in the early 2000s, part of a
joint Jewish-Catholic program called Tzedaka.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“We went out to the barrios where Jews and
Catholics were suffering togeher,” Singer told JTA. “If everyone sat in chairs
with handles, he would sit in the one without. He was always looking to be more
modest. He's going to find it hard to wear all these uniforms.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Bergoglio also wrote the foreward of a book
by Rabbi Sergio Bergman and referred to him as “one of my teachers.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Last November, Bergoglio hosted a
Kristallnacht memorial event at the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral with
Rabbi Alejandro Avruj from the NCI-Emanuel World Masorti congregation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He also has worked with the Latin American
Jewish Congress and held meetings with Jewish youth who participate in its New
Generations program.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“The Latin American Jewish Congress has had
a close relationship with Jorge Bergoglio for several years," Claudio
Epelman, executive director of the Latin American Jewish Congress, told JTA.
"We know his values and strengths. We have no doubt he will do a great job
leading the Catholic Church."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In his visit to the Buenos Aires synagogue,
according to the Catholic Zenit news agency, Bergoglio told the congregation
that he was there to examine his heart "like a pilgrim, together with you,
my elder brothers."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">"Today, here in this synagogue, we are
made newly aware of the fact that we are a people on a journey and we place
ourselves in God’s presence," Zenit quoted the then-archbishop as saying.
"We must look at him and let him look at us, to examine our heart in his
presence and to ask ourselves if we are walking blamelessly."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Renzo Gattegna, the president of the Union
of Italian Jewish Communities, offered Italian Jewry's congratualations to the
new pope with the “most fervent wishes” that his pontificate could bring “peace
and brotherhood to all humanity.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In particular, Gattegna voiced the hope
that there would be a continuation “with reciprocal satisfaction” of “the
intense course of dialogue that the Jews have always hoped for and that has
been also realized through the work of the popes who have led the church in the
recent past."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
In<a href="http://www.jewishjournal.com/religion/article/jewish_leaders_groups_welcome_pope_francis"> a separate article</a>, JewishJournal.com
reports that international Jewish leaders are also hopeful that the new pope
will prove to be a friend of Jews around the world as we was a friend of Jews
in Argentina:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“In
the Jewish community in Buenos Aires, the widely shared impression is that he’s
very friendly, that the cardinal was determined to have a cordial relationship
with the Jewish community,” Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean and founder of the
Simon Wiesenthal Center, said…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">World Jewish Congress President Ronald S.
Lauder, who met Bergoglio in 2008, expressed optimism that Francis would
continue the work of building relationships between the Catholic Church and
world Jewry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“He always had an open ear for our
concerns,” Lauder said in a statement. “I am sure that Francis I will continue
to be a man of dialogue, a man who is able to build bridges with other faiths.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 11.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Bergoglio’s reputation in Argentina is not
that of a reformer. He is known to be socially conservative, upholding the
church’s traditionally held positions on gay rights and abortion. He has not
said much publicly about Israel in the past, but Hier said he is hopeful that
Francis will emerge as a supporter of the Jewish state.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: .35in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“We
very much see him as a pope in the tradition of John Paul II and John XXIII,”
Hier said. John Paul II established formal relations between the Vatican and
Israel; John XXIII is believed to have influenced the drafting of “Nostra
Aetate,” the 1965 declaration that stated Jews could not be held responsible
for the death of Jesus.</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">UPDATE:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://www.religionnews.com/2013/03/13/jews-worldwide-see-an-ally-in-pope-francis/">Religious News Service filed a report</a> highlighting the significance of the pontiff's age and memory of the Holocaust:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: OpenSansRegular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;"></span></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“We welcome Pope Francis I to his new role as leader of the Catholic Church,” B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs said in a statement. “Catholic-Jewish relations had remained a focus of Pope Benedict XVI and we look forward to continuing the solid foundation that already exists for interfaith dialogue.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Other Jewish leaders and scholars noted that Francis’ relatively advanced age — 76 — is important to the Jewish community, in that the Holocaust happened during his lifetime and can conjure memories for him of the horrors to which anti-Semitism can lead.</span></div>
</div>
<!--EndFragment-->Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20060969763249465.post-83965645331392308312013-03-14T08:10:00.001-07:002013-03-14T08:10:56.000-07:00Argentine Anglican Archbishop on Pope FrancisMany will be wondering the impact that Pope Francis will have on relations between Christians. A very positive reaction comes from Anglican Archbishop Gregory Venables who has known Cardinal Bergoglio for years. He posted the following last night from Buenos Aires: <br />
<br />
Many are asking me what Jorge Bergoglio is really like. He is much more of a Christian, Christ centered and Spirit filled, than a mere churchman. He believes the Bible as it is written. I have been with him on many occasions and he always makes me sit next to him and invariably makes me take part and often do what he as Cardinal should have done. He is consistently humble and wise, outstandingly gifted yet a common man. He is no fool and speaks out very quietly yet clearly when necessary. He called me to have breakfast with him one morning and told me very clearly that the Ordinariate was quite unnecessary and that the church needs us as Anglicans. I consider this to be an inspired appointment not because he is a close and personal friend but because of who he is In Christ. Pray for him.Greg Metzgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04965309388308485389noreply@blogger.com0