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Catholic priests in Ireland are prepared to “strongly” resist a proposed law that would require them to disclose information learned in confession. “More than any other issue, it is probably the one that will unite both the liberal and conservative wings of the Church,” said Father Tony Flannery, a priest with the Association of Catholic Priests, in a July 18 e-mail to CNA. “If even one exception was made to the seal of Confession, then the whole Sacrament would collapse,” he stated. “The truth of faith that this Sacrament is meant to convey is central to Christian teaching.” The legislation,...

The Taoiseach, the Minister for Justice and the Minister for Children are all indicating that a proposed new law will require priests to break the seal of confession if someone confesses to them the crime of paedophilia. This would make us the one and only country in the Western world to have such a law. Even Revolutionary France in the days of its worst violence against the Church did not pass a law requiring the breaking of the seal of confession. The justification for the law is that the crime of paedophilia is so heinous that no one who hears...

<p>The French aren't exactly squeamish when it comes to sex. Nor do they typically bat an eye when it comes to racy content in advertising. Now, however, a controversy has erupted over an ad that some feel has gone a step too far: it doesn't just evoke oral sex but actually seems to depict it. Worse still, the salacious images are targeting young people in what would otherwise be a laudable campaign — trying to stop them from smoking.</p>

<p>Paul L. Williams, Ph.D.</p> <p>If you think Muslims and Christians share similar values and that Islam should be welcomed into the United States and Europe, you might want to catch the latest headlines from Yemen.</p> <p>A 12-year-old Yemeni girl, who was forced into marriage by her parents, died during a painful childbirth that also killed her baby, a children's rights group said Monday.</p>

CHICAGO — A prominent Chicago bishop is suggesting legal changes that would shield Roman Catholic institutions from paying excessive damages in sex-abuse lawsuits, which he says jeopardize the mission of the church. Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki, a civil and canon lawyer, recently suggested in a homily to Catholic lawyers and judges that decisions to award large sums to victims of clergy abuse place an excessive burden on the free exercise of religion for American Catholics. "This burden needs to be lifted," Paprocki said during a special Mass for judges and attorneys in Grand Rapids, Mich., last month. "The settlement or...

concerned dad notified the Archdiocese of Chicago in December 2002 that the Rev. Donald McGuire was sharing a bed with his son and "overwhelming" another teen with porn and sex talk. Letters sent by the dad to the archdiocese also mention a third teen. But the archdiocese appears to have done only a minimal inquiry, didn't tell civil authorities or immediately strip McGuire of his ability to perform priestly duties in the region, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. Rather, the matter was referred back to the priest's religious order -- the Chicago Province of Jesuits -- even though the dad...

PARENTS who smack their kids are putting them at risk of sexual abuse, a new book argues. Author and former police officer Amanda Robinson says smacked children are more vulnerable to pedophiles and less likely to tell their parents if they have been sexually abused. It's the latest argument in the heated smacking debate, which made headlines this month with the launch of a Federal Government-funded anti-smacking campaign. New Zealand parents have been marching against a smacking ban plan. Ms Robinson, author of The Silent Crisis: Simple Ways to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse, says smacking teaches children they are...

Can the computer expert Freepers explain how one can verify/authenticate the IM's attributed to Foley? Can it be done reliably and/or on the other side, is it possible for someone well-versed in computer technology to issue "phony" IM's, so it would appear as if Foley had sent them?

Help! I found an article that I cannot post because it's the DM register. But this is so hidden, there is nothing but one result for this man, "Abdel Mageed Fadl" 3 paragraphs at the bottom of the "dateline" page... here is link to link to this hidden news: http://tinyurl.com/p2nkt

"Scouts' Honor" tells the story that the Boy Scouts did not want you to read: How the Grand Teton Council leaders ignored multiple warnings and hired a pedophile to help lead a summer camp. The whistle-blower His first week of Boy Scout camp, 14-year-old junior counselor Adam Steed marched into the director's office and said: "Brad Stowell is molesting Scouts." Brad wouldn't do that, said the man behind the desk. Adam Steed "How can it be right that Brad goes into boys' tents alone, gives them massages and touches them where he shouldn't?" the Pocatello teenager asked. "We've talked to...

NEW YORK (AP) - A children's music video that conservatives charge is part of an effort to encourage acceptance of homosexuality is being distributed to more than 60,000 schools nationwide, producers said Thursday. The video features about 100 children's TV characters including SpongeBob SquarePants, Miss Piggy and Oscar the Grouch singing the 1979 disco hit "We Are Family." It will be accompanied by a teaching guide that promotes tolerance of diversity. "The opportunity to bring that message to children around the entire country is truly exciting," said Caryl Stern, senior associate national director of the Anti-Defamation League. "We know at...

During an emotional court session, Torrance mother Sheryl Graham is sentenced to five years of probation and must register as an offender for the rest of her life. By Denise Nix Daily Breeze A Torrance mother of five pleaded guilty Wednesday to engaging in a sex act with a West High School student and was sentenced to five years of felony probation, community service and counseling, and was ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life. While making her plea, Sheryl Graham, 42, cried hard enough to cause Torrance Superior Court Judge Mark S. Arnold...

Path Clear for Same-Sex Marriages in Mass. 04:04 AM EST - May 15, 2004 The Associated Press BOSTON With the U.S. Supreme Court refusing to step in and block gay marriages in Massachusetts, same-sex couples planning to marry could be confident that, beginning Monday, they could tie the knot.Couples have been "nervous wrecks about whether they could marry starting Monday," said Arline Isaacson, co-chair of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus. "Now they can all breathe a sigh of relief."Without comment, the justices declined Friday to block municipal clerks from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, clearing the way...

Massachusetts residents, by a solid margin, said they supported the Supreme Judicial Court's landmark decision legalizing gay marriage, according to a Boston Globe/WBZ-TV poll. The poll of 400 people, the first survey of Bay State residents since the court's historic ruling, indicated that 50 percent agreed with the justices' decision, and 38 percent opposed it. Eleven percent expressed no opinion. The poll also indicated that a majority opposed efforts by the Legislature, Governor Mitt Romney, and Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly to block same-sex marriages and allow civil unions instead. A majority, 53 percent, also opposed a proposed amendment to...

Priest tells of struggle with pedophilia in therapy journalMiller's comments indicate archdiocese officials knew decades ago about abuseBy Peter Smithpsmith@courier-journal.com The Courier-Journal    The Rev. Louis E. Miller said: ''To print any part of my medical and psychological records is a violation of my human rights and confidentiality.'' In a journal written during 12 years of therapy, the Rev. Louis E. Miller describes a decadeslong struggle with pedophilia and says that, in 1961, an archbishop reassigned him to another parish despite being told Miller was accused of abusing children. The journal is part of a 246page treatment file obtained...

QUESTION: Please help me uderstand what this means: DETAILS: I am considering joining jihad. I am confused about martyrdom, though. I know what service the virgins are to provide, but what of the beautiful young boys? Respected Brother-in-Islam Assalaamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullaahi Wa Barakaatuhu The second part of our question is not clear. Kindly elaborate. and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best Mufti Ebrahim Desai FATWA DEPT. Salaam I regret my poor clarity. It is written that the martyr wiil have either 70 virgins or 70 beautiful young boys waiting for him after his glorious departure from this life. Why would a...

Defense could pin hopes on insect life By Kristen Green UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERJune 30, 2002 In the first four weeks of David Westerfield's murder trial, jurors were schooled in scientific evidence such as blood and DNA, fingerprints and fibers. Now they'll get a crash course in the life cycle of flies. Westerfield's team of lawyers is expected to launch his defense this week, and lead attorney Steven Feldman has hinted that he will use insect biology to prove 7-year-old Danielle van Dam died after police and reporters began tracking his client's every move. That would mean Westerfield couldn't have killed...

It would be easy -- and true -- to say the Catholic bishops got themselves into their present predicament. They had no business covering up instances of pedophilia on the part of parish priests. In some cases, the bishops dealt with the problem by simply moving the guilty priest to another parish. Because child-molesting is a crime as well as a moral lapse, a case could be made for charging the bishops with misprision -- concealing knowledge of a felony -- or even complicity by the act of setting the priest up in a new location where his proclivities are...

The Boy Scouts are right. There is no calling to sacred to keep gay pedophiles from their obsession. The recent revelations about Catholic priests is just another chapter in a growing body of evidence that homosexuality is not a "normal" human activity, rather it is obsessive in its victimization and recruitment of the young. What all this means is that homophobes are justified in their fears. In fact, it is very likely that homophobia has its roots in molestation. How many young boys have had their faith in God, their trust in the scouts, their confidence in adults, shattered by...

<p>It has become the shorthand label for a sex abuse scandal that now haunts dioceses around the nation: the pedophile priest crisis. But the vast majority of priests who sexually abuse minors choose adolescent boys - not young children - as their targets, according to lawyers and academics who study clergy sexual abuse.</p>