Same-Sex Marriage Bill Seen as Long Shot

By David Brensilver
Madison CT Shore Publishing
Published on 2/25/2005

When it comes to the same-sex marriage debate and a pair of bills in the legislature's Judiciary Committee, legislators are echoing their constituents' sentiments. Earlier this month, S.B. 963 and H.B. 6601 brought the same-sex marriage debate to the state level. And while same-sex marriage advocates are lobbying hard for nothing less than the big prize, legislators are talking about civil unions.

Both state Sen. Andrea Stillman (D-20) and state Rep. Ed Jutila (D-37) talked in terms of civil unions, based in large part on their charges of representing the voices of their constituents. Neither sits on the Judiciary Committee. Jutila said he'd support legislation that would afford same-sex couples the same legal rights as heterosexual couples. Specifically, Jutila said he'd be inclined to support civil unions.

But advocates for same-sex marriage equality won't be satisfied with civil unions. Asked about the Senate bill that would recognize same-sex marriages, Jutila said, "I'm not there." Jutila would not support any federal legislation that would essentially ban gay marriage. "It's not a national issue," Jutila said. "Marriage is an issue that states should be deciding on their own." Jutila believes same-sex marriage advocates would be better served lobbying for civil unions.

Stillman said she too, supports civil unions, though the majority of people she hears from either support same-sex marriages or not, without mention of civil unions. She did say she would keep an open mind to the idea of same-sex marriage. Stillman too, said, "I would never support a Defense of Marriage Act," but thinks same-sex marriage advocates are making a mistake in bypassing civil unions in favor of the big prize -- especially since there seems to be what she called overwhelming support for civil unions in Connecticut.

State Rep. Lenny Winkler (R-41), who does sit on the Judiciary Committee, agrees that same-sex marriage advocates are shooting for the moon. "I think they are reaching for the stars," she said, adding she doesn't believe there are the necessary votes to get a marriage equality bill out of committee. Winkler does think a civil unions bill could find its way out. From a personal perspective, Winkler said, "To me, marriage has always traditionally been between a man and a woman," though she does support the idea of civil unions.

State Rep. Betsy Ritter (D-38) lands in the same place, albeit from another direction. In an ideal world, she said, "I'm not sure we'd be having this discussion. "I have no personal opposition to the idea of same-sex marriage," Ritter said, calling it a civil rights issue. Still, she said she thinks civil unions are the way to go for the legislature, adding she's not ready to offend those impassioned on the other side of the debate.

State Rep. Marilyn Giuliano (R-23) said her constituency represents that impassioned other side. Overwhelmingly, Giuliano said, her constituency opposes same-sex marriages and that she's not received much feedback about civil unions. She said she thinks it's safe to say if people are not in favor of same-sex marriages, they're likely not in favor of civil unions.

The heavyweight lobbyists in this debate are Brian Brown and Anne Stanback. Brown, the executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut, said civil unions are the same thing as same-sex marriage under a different name. To him, it's largely about the children. "Same-sex marriage requires that children will never have the chance to have a mom and a dad. Just on that level, it is a catastrophic public policy decision," Brown said. "What is at stake is the fact that the model, the ideal of Western civilization for thousands of years, will be essentially replaced," Brown said.

For him, the issue has nothing to do with civil rights. Brown said nobody is being denied his or her rights. "There is no right to construct marriage any way we see fit," he said. He said if that were the case, polygamy would be acceptable. Brown called the same-sex marriage debate a social experiment, and said children are the guinea pigs. "Kids will have to be taught that it is the same thing, and it is not the same thing," Brown said. He said his position is based on altruism.

Brown's foil is Stanback, president of Love Makes a Family. Stanback talked about marriage, as opposed to civil unions. She said civil unions would create a separate and unequal class of people in Connecticut, and in fact, went as far as to say her organization is opposed to any civil union legislation. "Civil unions are a step backwards," Stanback said, adding that there is no reason for the state to take an incremental step. She said, "We believe it won't be a stepping stone to marriage, it will be a stopping point." Stanback did say that expectations are that a civil unions bill could come up as a compromise, one she's not interested in.

With regard to same-sex marriage opponents, Stanback said, "For most opponents, it's not about marriage, it's about homosexuality." She challenged those legislators talking in terms of civil unions. "What reason do legislators have to withhold the full equality of marriage, and why do they feel they have to stop at civil unions?" she asked rhetorically. "They can lead one of the key civil liberty fights of our time, or be reluctant followers," Stanback said.

Same sex marriage progress or defeat

This post will be continuously under construction
news search

Same sex marriage is legal in:

Massachusetts- Conservatives go on witch hunt to oust "gay activist" judges and overturn marriages. story

Civil Union is legal in:

Connecticut- The Governor signed into law civil unions on April 20th. The senate approved on April 20 by 26-8. The house approved on April 13 by 85-63. votes

Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell revealed on Tuesday that she supports the concept of allowing gay and lesbian couples to enter into civil unions, putting an end to questions about where she stood on the issue. 3/1/2005

Currently being acted on: Senate bill 963 which calls for recognition of same sex marriages and House bill 6601 which calls for recognition of out of state marriages, unions by CT . 2/25/2005
story

Vermont-

Domestic Partnership is legal in:

California-

Connecticut-

Hawaii-

Maine

Massachusetts

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

Oregon

Rhode Island

Vermont

Washington

Same sex marriage is illegal in:

Alabama- The Senate approved its version of a constitutional amendment that would bar recognition of same-sex marriages with a 37-1 vote Wednesday. (4/14) votes

The Alabama Senate passed an amendment to ban same-sex marriage by a vote of 30-0, two days after the House passed it 85-7. (3/10) votes

Alaska-

Arizona- The house passed bill, HCM2005, titled, A CONCURRENT MEMORIAL URGING THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES TO PROPOSE AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES TO ACKNOWLEDGE MARRIAGE AS BETWEEN ONE MAN AND ONE WOMAN by a vote of 40-19.

The Democratic response:
“What we did…was the epitome of prejudice and bigotry.”, Arizona State Rep. David Lujan, D-15

“It was wrong to deny people civil rights then and it’s wrong now,” , “Once again, members, we are taking the wrong side, and we must await the day history renders its judgment.”, Arizonia State Rep Phil Lopes, D-27

“I want my grandchildren in that relationship [her gay brother’s] to grow up in a healthy home…just like my grandchildren in my son’s home,” Linda Lopez. D-29

“We’re simply people like everyone else who want and deserve respect,” admitted bisexual, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-15
story 2/21/2005

Arkansas

Colorado

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana- The Indiana House of Representatives has passed a bill on March 22 that would lead to a ban on same-sex marriage . The Senate did the same on February 21. votes

Iowa- The Iowa house has passed a constitutional ban on same sex marriage. Fourty one Democrats and three Republicans voted against the bill that passed by a vote of 54-44. Last year the state Senate was tied 25-25 on a constitutional ban. 3/17 votes

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Michigan

Minnesota- The Minnesota State House banned same sex marriage yesterday by a vote of 77-56 in favor. (4/1) votes

Republican house leaders are working to establish a house committee hearing on a constitutional amendment which would ban same sex marriage. The bill calls for the matter to go to voters on the November 2006 general election ballot.

Rep. Loren Solberg, D said that it is nothing more than a diversion tactic from the more important issues that face the Legislature this session. “We should be talking about jobs, education and transportation instead of diverting attention,” said Solberg. “This is a diversion from the real issues.”

Sen. Tom Saxhaug, D has repeatedly said that he does not believe that an amendment is necessary because same sex marriage already is prohibited under state law. He also said the hearing is a move to divert attention. “We have so many issues to deal with - to run up to Grand Rapids (not the capital) on a workday is unconscionable,” said Saxhaug. 2/27/2005

Montana

Nebraska

New Mexico- The New Mexico senate passed a ban (senate bill 597) on same sex marriage by a vote of 25-12. votes

North Carolina

North Dakota

Oklahoma

Pennsylvania

South Carolina- The house is working on a constitutional ban of same sex marriage that would prevent the state from recognizing out of state same sex marriages. A law against same sex marriage was adopted in 1996. The constitutional ammendment will go to the voters in November 2006. A constitutional ammendment has been led by Republicans.

Rep. James Smith, D-Richland, was the lone opponent of the measure in the House committee.“Personally, I’m opposed to gay marriage,” he said. “Marriage is between a man and a woman. But I don’t believe it ought to be written into our constitution.” Smith, the former Democratic leader in the House, called the amendment a political ploy to benefit Republicans.“It’s largely a get-out-the-vote effort designed to play on people’s fears and biases for the purpose of political gain. I’m not going to participate in it.” 2/27/2005

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas- The Texas Senate bans same sex marriage by a vote of 21-9 on May 21. votes

The Texas House voted to amend the constitution to ban same sex marriage by a vote of 101-29 on April 25. votes

Foster care banned for gays. April 19

Utah

Virginia-The House of Delegates voted 79-17 and the Senate voted 30-10 to pass the final version of the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, which must be approved again by the legislature next year and ratified by voters in the November 2006 general election before it becomes part of the Virginia Constitution. A constitutional ammendment has been led by Republicans.

Democrats; Delegate Albert Pollard does not support same sex marriage but has said the issue "needs to be viewed like McCarthyism, ...We are not threatened by gay marriage. We are threatened by our overreaction to it", Senator Mary Margaret Whipple has said, "It's my belief that this does not belong in our Constitution, and I intend to vote against it." 2/26/2005

Washington

West Virginia

lambda legal resource

Anglican - Episcopal Civil War

The whole of America's Episcopal faith is opposed by the similar faith abroad , the Anglican church. Liberal minded Episcopalians support the ordination of women and openly practising homosexuals, same sex blessings and diverse theological, secular beliefs. Conservative minded Episcopalians and Anglicans abroad support traditional ordination of men only, celibacy for homosexuals only and traditional theological, secular beliefs.

The civil war as been rumbling since the ordination of woman in the seventies and has come to a crises in the past few years because of homosexual issues. The liberal Episcopal church ordained an openly homosexual bishop, Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire in 2003 and some parishes have granted same sex blessings.

The resolution of the war will probably result in a liberal Episcopal church in America possibly seperate from the world wide Anglican communion and a conservative Anglican church in America as well.

Anglican articles:
The Anglican Communion Primates’ Meeting Communiqué, February 2005
Anglican Church Asks U.S., Canada to Leave

Episcopal articles:
Abuse by Episcopal priests
Bishop Gibb lectures on unity or unanimity
Bishop Payne lectures on fulfilling the scripture
Bishop Sauls lectures on the Windsor report
Thank you Christ church

Bishop Spong
Bishop Spong lectures on God and belief
A Call for a New Reformation

American Civil Wars of Today

Americans are perpetually in a state of civil war. The civil war of this 21st century is over morality, rights, and power same as the 19th century civil war. Curiousily many of the descendents of the 19th century civil war continue to fight on the same side as their ancestors. The south (with the center) continues to be the fighter for the status quo and the north (with the east and west) for change. The issues:

Morals:

Religious belief-Conservative religion of Anglicans, Catholics, Fundamentalists versus liberal religion of Episcopal, Protestent, non religious. I will be focusing on the Anglican-Episcopal civil war.

Homosexuality- Homosexuals and sympathizers versus the whole of the world. I will be focusing on the fight over homosexuality issues ( same sex marriage) in politics and religion.

Rights:

Affirmative Action- In November of 2006 voters in Michigan will get their chance to possible end 40 years of positive change thanks to the efforts of Ward Connerly. Liberal United for Michigan versus conservative Ward Connerly

Immigration- Several states desire to tighten their borders against Mexican aliens.

Power:
Every promise fulfilled or unfulfilled, rhetorical comment, political strategy said by any group is soley intended to obtain power for the group. Democrats versus Republicans, third parties begging to get in the game.

A Call for a New Reformation

by John S. Spong

In the 16th century the Christian Church, which had been the source of much of the stability of the western world, entered a period of internal and violent upheaval. In time this upheaval came to be called the Protestant Reformation, but during the violence itself, it was referred to by many less attractive adjectives. The institution that called itself the body of Christ broke first into debate, then acrimony, then violence and counter-violence and finally into open warfare between Protestant Christians and Catholic Christians. It produced the Hundred Years War and the conflict between England and Spain that came to a climax in the destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588. That destruction was widely interpreted as a defeat for the Catholic God of Spain at the hands of the Protestant God of England.

Yet, when looking at that ecclesiastical conflict from the vantage point of more than four hundred years, there is surprise at how insignificant were the theological issues dividing the two sides. Neither side was debating such core teachings of Christianity as the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, Jesus as the incarnate son of God, the reality of heaven and hell, the place of the cross in the plan of salvation or the role of such sacraments as Baptism and Communion. These rather were faith assertions held in common.

Of course this conflict was not without theological issues, though they seem quite trivial in retrospect. Protestant Christians and Catholic Christians disagreed, for example, about whether salvation was achieved by faith alone, as Luther contended, or whether faith without works was dead as the Vatican, quoting the Epistle of James, argued. There was also debate over the proper use of scripture and the role of ordination. Despite the hostile appellations of "heretic" hurled at Protestants and "anti-Christ" hurled at Catholics, anyone viewing this debate from the vantage point of this century would see that, while an acrimonious and unpleasant fight, it was nonetheless a fight that pitted Christian believers against Christian believers. The Reformation was not an attempt to reformulate the Christian faith for a new era. It was rather a battle over issues of Church order. The time had not arrived in which Christians would be required to rethink the basic and identifying marks of Christianity itself.

It is my conviction that such a moment is facing the Christian world today. The very heart and soul of Christianity will be the content of this reformation. The debate which has been building for centuries has now erupted into public view. All the past ecclesiastical efforts to keep it at bay or deny its reality have surely failed and will continue to do so. The need for a new theological reformation began when Copernicus and Galileo removed this planet from its previous supposed location at the center of the universe, where human life was thought to bask under the constant attention of a humanly defined parental deity. That revolution in thought produced an angle of vision radically different from the one in which the Bible was written and through which the primary theological tenets of the Christian faith were formed.

Before that opening salvo of revolution had been absorbed, Sir Isaac Newton, who charted the mathematically fixed physical laws of the universe, weighed into the debate. After Newton the Church found itself in a world in which the concepts of magic, miracle, and divine intervention as explanations of anything, could no longer be offered with intellectual integrity. Once more people were forced to enter into and to embrace a reality vastly different from the one employed in the traditional language of their faith tradition.

Next came Charles Darwin who related human life to the world of biology more significantly than anyone had heretofore imagined. He also confronted the human consciousness with concepts diametrically opposed to the traditional Christian world view. The Bible began with the assumption that God had created a finished and perfect world from which human beings had fallen away in an act of cosmic rebellion. Original sin was the reality in which all life was presumed to live. Darwin postulated instead an unfinished and thus imperfect creation out of which human life was still evolving. Human beings did not fall from perfection into sin as the Church had taught for centuries; we were evolving, and indeed are still evolving, into higher levels of consciousness. Thus the basic myth of Christianity that interpreted Jesus as a divine emissary who came to rescue the victims of the fall from the results of their original sin became inoperative. So did the interpretation of the cross of Calvary as the moment of divine sacrifice when the ransom for sin was paid. Established Christianity clearly wobbled under the impact of Darwin's insights, but Christian leaders pretended that if Darwin could not be defeated, he could at least be ignored. It was a vain hope.

Darwin was followed by Sigmund Freud who analyzed the symbols of Christianity and found in them manifestations of a deep-seated infantile neurosis. The God understood as a father figure, who guided ultimate personal decisions, answered our prayers, and promised rewards and punishment based upon our behavior was not designed to call anyone into maturity. This view of God issued rather into either a religious mentality of passive dependency or an aggressive secular rejection of all things religious. After Freud, it was not surprising to see Christianity degenerate into an increasingly shrill biblical fundamentalism where thinking was not encouraged and preconceived pious answers were readily given, but where neither genuine questions nor maturity were allowed or encouraged. As Christianity moved more and more in this direction, contemporary people, who think with modern minds, began to be repelled and to drop out of their faith commitments into the Church Alumni Association. Between these two poles of mindless fundamentalism and empty secularism are found the mainline churches of Christendom, both Catholic and Protestant. They are declining numerically, seem lost theologically, are concerned more about unity than truth, and are wondering why boredom is what people experience inside church walls. The renewal of Christianity will not come from fundamentalism, secularism or the irrelevant mainline tradition. If there is nothing more than this on the horizon then I see no future for the enterprise we call the Christian faith.

My sense is that history has come to a point where only one thing will save this venerable faith tradition at this critical time in Christian history, and that is a new Reformation far more radical than Christianity has ever before known and that this Reformation must deal with the very substance of that faith. This Reformation will recognize that the pre-modern concepts in which Christianity has traditionally been carried will never again speak to the post-modern world we now inhabit. This Reformation will be about the very life and death of Christianity. Because it goes to the heart of how Christianity is to be understood, it will dwarf in intensity the Reformation of the 16th century. It will not be concerned about authority, ecclesiastical polity, valid ordinations and valid sacraments. It will be rather a Reformation that will examine the very nature of the Christian faith itself. It will ask whether or not this ancient religious system can be refocused and re-articulated so as to continue living in this increasingly non-religious world.

Martin Luther ignited the Reformation of the 16th century by nailing to the door of the church in Wittenberg in 1517 the 95 Theses that he wished to debate. I will publish this challenge to Christianity in The Voice. I will post my theses on the Internet and send copies with invitations to debate them to the recognized Christian leaders of the world. My theses are far smaller in number than were those of Martin Luther, but they are far more threatening theologically. The issues to which I now call the Christians of the world to debate are these:

1. Theism, as a way of defining God, is dead. So most theological God-talk is today meaningless. A new way to speak of God must be found.
2. Since God can no longer be conceived in theistic terms, it becomes nonsensical to seek to understand Jesus as the incarnation of the theistic deity. So the Christology of the ages is bankrupt.
3. The biblical story of the perfect and finished creation from which human beings fell into sin is pre-Darwinian mythology and post-Darwinian nonsense.
4. The virgin birth, understood as literal biology, makes Christ's divinity, as traditionally understood, impossible.
5. The miracle stories of the New Testament can no longer be interpreted in a post-Newtonian world as supernatural events performed by an incarnate deity.
6. The view of the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the world is a barbarian idea based on primitive concepts of God and must be dismissed.
7. Resurrection is an action of God. Jesus was raised into the meaning of God. It therefore cannot be a physical resuscitation occurring inside human history.
8. The story of the Ascension assumed a three-tiered universe and is therefore not capable of being translated into the concepts of a post-Copernican space age.
9. There is no external, objective, revealed standard writ in scripture or on tablets of stone that will govern our ethical behavior for all time.
10. Prayer cannot be a request made to a theistic deity to act in human history in a particular way.
11. The hope for life after death must be separated forever from the behavior control mentality of reward and punishment. The Church must abandon, therefore, its reliance on guilt as a motivator of behavior.
12. All human beings bear God's image and must be respected for what each person is. Therefore, no external description of one's being, whether based on race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, can properly be used as the basis for either rejection or discrimination.

So I set these theses today before the Christian world and I stand ready to debate each of them as we prepare to enter the third millennium.

Sister Margaret update

Article published Saturday, February 26, 2005

Nun death probe data to be released
Group urges scrutiny of diocese files

By ROBIN ERB
BLADE STAFF WRITER

Documents supporting two police searches of the Toledo Catholic Diocese in the murder investigation of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl most likely will be released Monday.

The Lucas County Prosecutor's Office yesterday decided not to fight a decision by Common Pleas Judge Thomas Osowik Thursday to release the records, said Dean Mandross, a senior assistant prosecutor.

That means search warrant affidavits, possibly outlining why police felt they needed a court order to search the downtown church office on Sept. 15 and 17, may be released at 9 a.m. Monday.

Prosecutors were looking for any church records about the Rev. Gerald Robinson, who was charged in the slaying of the nun in the Mercy Hospital chapel 24 years ago.

Mr. Mandross said prosecutors originally fought The Blade's request to make the records public because they felt the newspaper made a procedural error in asking for them. But whether an appeals court agreed with the prosecutors' argument, the records most likely would have been released eventually, he said.

The Blade's attorney, Fritz Byers, argued for the documents based on federal public records law.

Detectives reopened the murder case in 2003 after they learned a 41-year-old woman, in unrelated allegations, claimed she had been sexually aswsaulted by several priests.

As part of her complaint, she accused Father Robinson of assaulting her once. Cold-case detectives - recognizing Father Robinson's name as a suspect from the 1980 homicide - decided to reopen the old murder case.

The priest's lawyer, Alan Konop, has declined to comment on the allegation, citing a gag order in the murder case. Father Robinson is scheduled for trial on Oct. 17.

During the first search of the downtown church headquarters, investigators took more than 100 documents bearing Father Robinson's name, but would not disclose the contents.

In the second search two days later, they did not find records about Father Robinson, but they found a file stamped "privileged" containing cases of child abuse allegations, said Thomas Pletz, a lawyer for the diocese. The records were not removed.

An advocacy group for victims of sexual abuse is now demanding that county prosecutors seize the file.

Toledo SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, sent a letter yesterday to prosecutors asking them to return to the diocese with a subpoena.

"We think the information contained in the files that were not seized could possibly unearth the magnitude of cover-up, concealment, and secrecy this diocese continues to operate under," said Claudia Vercellotti, coordinator of Toledo SNAP.

Prosecutor Julia Bates could not be reached, but John Weglian, chief of the prosecutor's special units division, said she had been informed of the SNAP's letter and not yet made a decision.

When the national sexual abuse crisis was unfolding in 2002, then-Bishop James R. Hoffman and Mrs. Bates signed an agreement the diocese "will provide the prosecutor with information regarding allegations involving a priest, deacon, member of a religious community, volunteer, or other authorized representative of the diocese."

Father Michael Billian, the Episcopal vicar and the diocese's top administrator, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

But Sally Oberski, diocese spokesman, said he informed her that prosecutors spent three days at the church offices searching through diocese documents as a result of the agreement.

"They literally went through every single file," she said.

Bishop John Shelby Spong

Bio:


Articles:
A call for a new reformation.
Bishop Spong lectures on God and belief.
Recent News

Anglican Communiqué

The Anglican Communion Primates’ Meeting Communiqué, February 2005

1. As Primates of the Anglican Communion and Moderators of the United Churches, we gathered at the Dromantine Retreat and Conference Centre, Newry, in Northern Ireland, between 20th and 25th February, 2005, at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. Thirty-five of us were present at this meeting (i). We are extremely grateful for the warmth of the welcome to Dromantine that we have received from members of the Roman Catholic Society of African Missions who run the Retreat Centre, and from the Church of Ireland, and especially the Primate of All Ireland, the Most Revd Robin Eames and Lady Eames, who have been our hosts.

2. Our meeting was held within the context of common prayer and worship, including Evensong at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, when we were formally welcomed to the Church of Ireland. On the Monday and Tuesday mornings, we spent time in Bible Study, prayer and silent retreat, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury on the Lenten theme of the Three Temptations of Christ. He reminded us that it was our duty as Christian leaders to begin by listening to God, before going on to listen to one another. We thank God that our meeting has been characterised by generosity of spirit, and a readiness to respect one another’s integrity, with Christian charity and abundant goodwill.

3. The meeting opened with reports from the Provinces most affected by the recent tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean and the works of relief undertaken by Anglican churches. We offered prayers for the victims, and for the ongoing work of reconstruction and relief being undertaken across the entire rim of the Indian Ocean, particularly in the Province of South East Asia, East Africa, the Indian Ocean, and South India and in the Church of Ceylon.

4. The most pressing business facing the Primates’ Meeting was consideration of the Windsor Report 2004, in which the Lambeth Commission on Communion (ii) had offered its recommendations on the future life of the Anglican Communion in the light of developments in Anglican life in North America (iii).

5. We reflected for many hours on the recommendations of the Windsor Report; listening first to Archbishop Robin Eames, who introduced the work of the Lambeth Commission, which he had chaired, and then to Primus Bruce Cameron of the Scottish Episcopal Church, who took up the work that Archbishop Peter Kwong had begun with the Reception Reference Group (iv). We considered a careful analysis of the 322 responses which this group had received from around the Anglican Communion, and which offered a high measure of general support for the recommendations of the Windsor Report, despite some expressions of concern in relation to matters of detail (v).

6. We then proceeded to our own reflections on these responses. There are a number of things which are quite clear. Many primates have been deeply alarmed that the standard of Christian teaching on matters of human sexuality expressed in the 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10, which should command respect as the position overwhelmingly adopted by the bishops of the Anglican Communion, has been seriously undermined by the recent developments in North America. At the same time, it is acknowledged that these developments within the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada have proceeded entirely in accordance with their constitutional processes and requirements (vi). We also wish to make it quite clear that in our discussion and assessment of the moral appropriateness of specific human behaviours, we continue unreservedly to be committed to the pastoral support and care of homosexual people. The victimisation or diminishment of human beings whose affections happen to be ordered towards people of the same sex is anathema to us. We assure homosexual people that they are children of God, loved and valued by him, and deserving of the best we can give of pastoral care and friendship (vii).

7. We welcome the general thrust of the Windsor Report as offering a way forward for the mutual life of our Communion, and commend the following conclusions for dealing with the differences of opinion which have opened up amongst us.

8. We believe that the Windsor Report offers in its Sections A & B an authentic description of the life of the Anglican Communion, and the principles by which its life is governed and sustained. While we believe that many elements of this account offer a picture of what is ideal, rather than what is currently actually experienced, we accept the description offered in Sections A & B of the Windsor Report as the way in which we would like to see the life of the Anglican Communion developed, as we respond in faithful discipleship to Christ. These sections speak of the central place Anglicans accord to the authority of scripture, and of “autonomy-in-communion” as the balanced exercise of the inter-dependence between the thirty-eight Provinces and their legitimate provincial autonomy. We therefore request all provinces to consider whether they are willing to be committed to the inter-dependent life of the Anglican Communion understood in the terms set out in these sections of the report.

9. We welcome the proposals in Section C for the future development of the Instruments of Unity (viii), although we recognise that serious questions about the content of the proposal for an Anglican Covenant (ix) and the practicalities of its implementation mean that this is a longer term process. We were glad to be reminded of the extensive precedents for covenants that many Anglican churches have established with ecumenical partners, and that even within our Communion the Chicago/Lambeth Quadrilateral has already been effectively operating as a form of covenant that secures our basic commitment to scripture, the Nicene Creed, the two Sacraments of the Gospel and the Historic Episcopate. We therefore commend this proposal as a project that should be given further consideration in the Provinces of the Communion between now and the Lambeth Conference 2008. In addition, we ask the Archbishop of Canterbury to explore ways of implementing this.

10. We also have further questions concerning the development of the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and of a Council of Advice (x). While we welcome the ministry of the Archbishop of Canterbury as that of one who can speak to us as primus inter pares about the realities we face as a Communion, we are cautious of any development which would seem to imply the creation of an international jurisdiction which could override our proper provincial autonomy. We ask the Archbishop of Canterbury to explore ways of consulting further on these matters.

11. We accept the principle articulated in Section D of the Windsor Report concerning the universal nature of the ministry of a bishop within Anglican polity (xi). Although formidable practical problems would attend any formal process of wider consultation in the election and confirmation of bishops, we request that Provinces should themselves find an appropriate place for the proper consideration of the principle of inter-dependence in any process of election or confirmation.

12. We as a body continue to address the situations which have arisen in North America with the utmost seriousness. Whilst there remains a very real question about whether the North American churches are willing to accept the same teaching on matters of sexual morality as is generally accepted elsewhere in the Communion, the underlying reality of our communion in God the Holy Trinity is obscured, and the effectiveness of our common mission severely hindered.

13. We are persuaded however that in order for the recommendations of the Windsor Report to be properly addressed, time needs to be given to the Episcopal Church (USA) and to the Anglican Church of Canada for consideration of these recommendations according to their constitutional processes.

14. Within the ambit of the issues discussed in the Windsor Report and in order to recognise the integrity of all parties, we request that the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada voluntarily withdraw their members from the Anglican Consultative Council for the period leading up to the next Lambeth Conference. During that same period we request that both churches respond through their relevant constitutional bodies to the questions specifically addressed to them in the Windsor Report as they consider their place within the Anglican Communion. (cf. paragraph 8)

15. In order to protect the integrity and legitimate needs of groups in serious theological dispute with their diocesan bishop, or dioceses in dispute with their Provinces, we recommend that the Archbishop of Canterbury appoint, as a matter of urgency, a panel of reference to supervise the adequacy of pastoral provisions made by any churches for such members in line with the recommendation in the Primates’ Statement of October 2003 (xii). Equally, during this period we commit ourselves neither to encourage nor to initiate cross-boundary interventions.

16. Notwithstanding the request of paragraph 14 of this communiqué, we encourage the Anglican Consultative Council to organise a hearing at its meeting in Nottingham, England, in June 2005 at which representatives of the Episcopal Church (USA) and the Anglican Church of Canada, invited for that specific purpose, may have an opportunity to set out the thinking behind the recent actions of their Provinces, in accordance with paragraph 141 of the Windsor Report.

17. In reaffirming the 1998 Lambeth Conference Resolution 1.10 as the present position of the Anglican Communion, we pledge ourselves afresh to that resolution in its entirety, and request the Anglican Consultative Council in June 2005 to take positive steps to initiate the listening and study process which has been the subject of resolutions not only at the Lambeth Conference in 1998, but in earlier Conferences as well.

18. In the meantime, we ask our fellow primates to use their best influence to persuade their brothers and sisters to exercise a moratorium on public Rites of Blessing for Same-sex unions and on the consecration of any bishop living in a sexual relationship outside Christian marriage.

19. These strategies are intended to restore the full trust of our bonds of affection across the Communion.

20. In the second half of our meeting we addressed some issues of practical ministry which have been on our agenda now for the last couple of years. We received a report of the present situation in relation to the ministry of African churches in particular amongst people living with HIV/AIDS; the dying, the bereaved, and orphaned children. We noted that this serious challenge is faced by all of our churches. We now accept, however, that our concerns must be broadened to include those suffering from TB and malaria. We know that this year 3 million people will die of AIDS, 2 million of TB, and 1 million of malaria. We have also been called to support the General Secretary of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, and world leaders in developing effective strategies for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 (xiii). In addition to the commitment to combat HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, these MDGs include reducing absolute poverty by half and reducing hunger by half by 2015. In the longer term we must eradicate both. Other MDGs include lowering child mortality and improving maternal health, universal primary education, access to clear drinking water, and the building of sustainable development partnerships between rich and poor. Accordingly we call upon the people of God in all the Provinces of our Communion to encourage leaders of government to pursue these goals with vigour, and to pray for the strengthening of their resolve to achieve the MDGs by 2015.

21. Two whole sessions of our meeting were devoted to the important work of the discernment of theological truth and the development and improvement of theological education through the sharing of resources across the Communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury has identified this as a priority concern during the period of his leadership. The work of TEAC (Theological Education for the Anglican Communion) which was established at our meeting in Kanuga in 2001 was reviewed, including the four separate Target Groups which are now engaged with the development of specific education and training programmes for bishops; for priests and transitional deacons; for vocational deacons, catechists and licensed lay readers; and for the laity. In all this particular attention is being paid to the distinctively Anglican component in theological education. This mandate is of concern because some theological education across the Communion needs to take more account of Anglican history, formularies or spirituality. The discernment and definition of the “Anglican Way” is being intentionally pursued by a dedicated Target Group. It is planned to hold a Consultation for theological educators later this year in Canterbury, and it is anticipated that this work will be a significant item of consideration at the Lambeth Conference in 2008.

22. Our common commitment to the pursuit of projects such as these, together with our recent very positive experience of close practical co-operation in response to the tsunami disaster, convince us of the enormous importance of our shared work together as Provinces of the Anglican Communion. Indeed, in the course of our meeting, we have become even more mindful of the indissoluble link between Christian unity and Christian mission, as this is expressed in Jesus’ own prayer that his disciples should be one that the world may believe (John 17.21). Accordingly, we pray for the continuing blessing of God’s unity and peace as we recommit ourselves to the mission of the Anglican Communion, which we share with the whole people of God, in the transformation of our troubled world.

“Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12.2)
“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5.18)

i) Absent from the meeting were the primate of Burundi, following a family bereavement, of Hong Kong, following health problems, and the Moderator of United Church of North India, because of unavoidable business.
ii) This Commission was established by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the request of the Primates at their meeting in Lambeth Palace in October 2003.
iii) Namely, the authorisation of a Public Rite of Blessing for Same-sex Unions within a diocese of the Anglican Church of Canada in May 2003, and the Consecration of a Bishop in a committed same-sex relationship in the Episcopal Church (USA) in November later that year.
iv) This group had been established by the Primates’ Standing Committee on publication of the Windsor Report in October 2004 to receive and review responses and reactions to the Windsor Report from within the Anglican Communion and from our ecumenical partners.
v) The presentations by Archbishop Robin and Primus Bruce, together with the submissions to the Reception Reference Group may be found at www.aco.org/windsor2004/presentation.cfm [for the Eames presentation] and www.aco.org/commission/reception/report.cfm [for the Cameron presentation] and associated documents.
vi) In the statement of October 2003, we wrote “The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church (USA) has explained to us the constitutional framework within which the election and confirmation of a new bishop in the Episcopal Church (USA) takes place. As Primates, it is not for us to pass judgement on the constitutional processes of another province. We recognise the sensitive balance between provincial autonomy and the expression of critical opinion by others on the internal actions of a province.”
vii) See the Windsor Report, paragraph 146.
viii) The Windsor Report, paragraphs 105 – 107.
ix) The Windsor Report, paragraphs 113 – 120.
x) The Windsor Report, paragraphs 108 – 112.
xi) The Windsor Report, paragraphs 124 – 132.
xii) “ … we call on the provinces concerned to make adequate provision for episcopal oversight of dissenting minorities within their own area of pastoral care in consultation with the Archbishop of Canterbury on behalf of the Primates.”
xiii) These Millennium Development Goals may be found at www.developmentgoals.org

Sister Margaret update

Article published Friday, February 25, 2005

Judge keeps documents sealed for now in probe of nun's killing

The Rev. Gerald Robinson speaks with his attorney during the court hearing. ( THE BLADE/MADALYN RUGGiERO ) Zoom

By ROBIN ERB
BLADE STAFF WRITER

Documents supporting an unprecedented police search of Toledo Catholic Diocese files during the investigation into the 1980 murder of an elderly nun will remain temporarily sealed, despite the approval by the defendant in the case that they be released.

Dressed in his clerical collar, the Rev. Gerald Robinson, who is accused of strangling and stabbing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, appeared briefly late yesterday before Lucas County Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas Osowik, who was to decide whether The Blade would be allowed access to search warrant affidavits signed by homicide investigators.

In soft-spoken, one-word answers, the 66-year-old priest said he had no objections to the release of the papers.

His appearance came after several hours of behind-closed-door arguments in the judge's chambers among prosecutors, Blade attorney Fritz Byers, and Thomas Pletz, attorney for the diocese.

The search of the downtown church headquarters in September marked one of the first times in the country a law enforcement agency has used a court order to search diocesan files.

Judge Osowik initially ruled The Blade could have the records under federal law, despite arguments from prosecutors that the documents should be shielded from public inspection and that their release could hinder the defendant's right to a fair trial.

"The government must show a compelling state interest" to keep the records sealed, Judge Osowik said. "I'm unable to find the government has met that threshold."

John Weglian, seated, and Brenda Majdalani, both of the Lucas County prosecutor's office, attend a hearing on The Blade's request for documents related to the murder investigation. ( THE BLADE/MADALYN RUGGIERO ) Zoom

As reporters, photographers, and cameramen looked on from the jury box, the judge added that staff in the court clerk's office were trying to locate the original documents to make copies of them.

But in a last-minute argument, assistant county prosecutor John Weglian said the papers were "investigatory work product" and protected by state law. He asked that prosecutors be given time to decide whether to appeal Judge Osowik's decision.

"Once they are released, there is no remedy to the state," he said.

Noting the time - it was about 4:15 p.m. - and the fact that the documents had not yet arrived in court, Judge Osowik agreed to hold the papers at least until Monday morning.

The decision came four days after a Blade story revealed the Sept. 15 and 17 searches of the Toledo Diocese offices as part of the investigation into Sister Margaret Ann Pahl's murder.

The unsolved case was reopened in 2003 after a 41-year-old woman asked the diocese to pay more than $50,000 for counseling she received after claiming she had been sexually assaulted by several priests.

Perhaps most startling in her allegations was that she said much of the abuse happened in ritualistic ceremonies attended by several priests, including Chet Warren, a former Oblates of St. Francis de Sales priest ousted from his order in 1993 after five other women accused him of sexual misconduct.

She also accused Father Robinson of assaulting her once. The priest's lawyer, Alan Konop, has declined to comment on the allegation, citing a gag order in the murder case.

The woman's accusations eventually reached the prosecutor's office, where cold case detectives recognized Father Robinson's name as that of a suspect from the unsolved murder of Sister Margaret Ann, 71, in the Mercy Hospital chapel 24 years earlier.

The police inquiry into the old murder case took a bizarre twist last year after detectives interviewed at least three other women who alleged ritual sex abuse by other priests.

Prosecutors said they decided to seek a judge's order for a search warrant in the murder investigation after they requested church records on Father Robinson, a longtime cleric, from the diocese, but received only a few personnel reports.

Armed with a search warrant, police and representatives from the Lucas County prosecutor's office walked into the diocese headquarters on Spielbusch Avenue on Sept. 15.

They were handed more than 100 documents bearing Father Robinson's name.

Two days later, they returned with another warrant - this time demanding access to the office of Father Michael Billian, the Episcopal vicar and the diocese's top administrator.

Though they didn't find more documents about Father Robinson, they found a file stamped "privileged" containing cases of child abuse, Mr. Pletz told The Blade recently. Prosecutors have said they didn't find any references to ritual abuse but would not reveal the contents of the records or why they did not seize them.

Mr. Pletz has said the diocese tried to cooperate with the prosecutor's office in turning over paperwork about abuse allegations.

Claudia Vercellotti, head of the Toledo chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said she was frustrated by yesterday's hearing in light of a pledge by Father Billian in 2002 to turn over clerical sexual abuse files to prosecutors and "do business in a very transparent way."

"If this is … transparent, I can't even imagine what a cover up would look like," she said.

The SNAP organization is expected to deliver a letter today to the prosecutor's office demanding that officials return to the diocese to seize the child-abuse records in Father Billian's office.

She said they could hold the key to whether the diocese engaged in a pattern of cover-up of sex abuse crimes by priests as alleged in more than a dozen lawsuits pending in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.

Anglican Church Asks U.S., Canada to Leave

LONDON - Leaders of the global Anglican Communion declared Thursday that they want the U.S. Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada to withdraw from the communion's councils temporarily, and to explain their attitudes toward gays which have split the church.

The statement was issued by primates a day earlier than planned, following their meetings this week at a Roman Catholic retreat in Northern Ireland.

The U.S. church precipitated the most serious rift in the communion's history when it affirmed the election of V. Gene Robinson, who openly lives with a male partner, as bishop of New Hampshire. Both churches have been criticized by conservatives for sanctioning blessings of gay unions.

The statement emerged a day earlier than planned from a meeting of church primates in Northern Ireland. It called for the U.S. and Canadian churches to explain their thinking at a meeting in Nottingham, England in June.

"In the meantime, we ask our fellow primates to use their best influence to persuade their brothers and sisters to exercise a moratorium on public rites of blessing for same-sex unions and on the consecration of any bishop living in a sexual relationship outside Christian marriage," the statement said.

---

NO W.A.S.P.
IS GOING
TO TELL
THIS W.A.S.P.
TO LEAVE

Maybe a moratorium on these crisis issues should be instituted or why don't we stick up for ourselves and tell them we're not leaving, infact we're going to get cozier with them.

Republican secessionists in Washington State

The Washington state Senator Bob Morton (R) and nine other senators have taken action to secede the eastern half of the state from the western half creating the 51st state. An idealogical wall between the Eastern half of the Cascade mountains and the Western half was built after the contested state governors race.

Contested vote recounts, court cases, and feuding have given the governorship to the Democratic candidate, Christine Gregoire. A new court case launched by the Republicans attests that felons with no legal right to vote have voted (Democrat coincidently) making their ballots void.

The feud is over much more then the governorship. The predominantly Republican Eastern half argues that the Western half bleeds the Eastern half economically. The moral mix of the Western half, gay friendly, liberal, diverse is seen to be immoral by the conservative Eastern half.

Recent Addition to the Republican Agenda:

• If you cant stand your neighbors then separation from them is the best answer.
• Lie your way to power.
• Pit one neighbor against another.
• Distract the voter with issues you know they'll vote on but accomplish nothing beneficial while you pursue the secret agenda.
• Convince yourself that your destructive idea is a constructive idea.
  

Bishop Gibbs lectures on unity or unanimity

Christ Church-Grosse Pointe’s lecture series continued with the Bishop of the Diocese of Michigan, Bishop Wendell Gibbs. Attendance was smaller at this lecture then at Bishop Spong’s lecture. Bishop Gibbs’ was invited to lecture and had to take some time to consider what he would lecture about. The bishop reflectively began the lecture by reading I Corinthians 12, which speaks of the Apostle Paul’s understanding of the spirit’s composition of many members but one body.

A passion of Bishop Gibbs’ is his preference for unity rather then for unanimity. Unity and unanimity are defined similarly in that a consensus can be a characteristic of both. Bishop Gibbs’ however focuses on the differences of definition between unity and unanimity. The dictionary defines the differences as follows

• Unity- The state of being a complete or harmonious combination of elements.
• Unanimity- The state of being in a consensus or undivided opinion.
  

In unity, Bishop Gibbs’ argues, the individual can retain his individuality while at the same time become part of a whole, the church. In unanimity, the individual might lose his individuality when becoming part of a whole. Bishop Gibbs’ preference for unity over unanimity has relevance to the religious practice and belief of the individual faithful.

Religious practices/ beliefs that seek unity are considerate of the faithful’s desire to define for themselves their practices and beliefs. Respect of an individual’s covenant with God is upheld. Religious practice/ belief that seeks unanimity on the other hand imposes an order of the institution’s design upon the individual potentionally resulting in a lack of respect of the faithful's covenant with God. One size fits all religion is the order of the day in a unanimous religion and Bishop Gibbs regards this pursuit as “boring”.

Bishop Gibbs’ preference provides a significant benefit to the institution of the church, as well as the individual’s of the institution in that converts from other faiths may find acceptance and continued practice of their previous faith. The Bishop provided an example of his continued Catholic practice of the rosary and how his individuality is preserved while becoming a part of the whole of the church. The bishop did not sacrifice his previous beliefs and practices and he feels that diversity of practice/belief benefits the church and the individual.

Diversity of practice / belief has the potential to cause a conflict with the Book of Common Prayer however which the bishop refers to as an “outline” for the church. If we are to accept persons of other faiths and permit them to continue practicing their habit then the “outline” is seen in a laissez faire manner. The benefit of a laissez faire attitude to the individual is that he is accommodated and his personal covenant with God is respected as he defines it. The detriment of a laissez faire attitude to the institution is the loss of integrity of practice/ belief within the institution. However there is a benefit to the institution that fosters a laissez faire attitude as well and that is a body of more members, practices and beliefs acting as a whole with acknowledgment of God’s omnipresence and diversity of creation, belief as the rule not the exception in God’s design.

Many of the comments made are my own and not the bishop’s.

Sunday Scripture Reading

I was looking for a reading for today and this passage found me I did not find it.

Jude 1:4
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

This advice sounds appropriate considering the recent report of more abuse by Catholic priests and continued talk of heretics in the Episcopal Church.

Sister Margaret update

Article published Sunday, February 20, 2005

SPECIAL REPORT
Dark allegations arise amid probe of nun's slaying
Authorities expand investigation to claims of ritualistic sex abuse

By MICHAEL D. SALLAH and MITCH WEISS
BLADE STAFF WRITERS

For Toledo police, it was a rare assignment: Search an abandoned house on the edge of a cornfield in western Lucas County where people reportedly took part in ritual abuse ceremonies.

The Rev. Gerald Robinson was charged last year in the 1980 killing of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl. ( THE BLADE ) Zoom

The detectives combed the bedrooms, kitchen, and even the dark basement for evidence of cult gatherings.

The search of the decrepit, wood structure last year was a sign the investigation of the Rev. Gerald Robinson was moving beyond a murder case.

No longer was the probe focusing solely on the man accused of killing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, but was expanding into a new direction: accusations that children were molested and raped by priests in ritual services.

For the past year, police have embarked on one of the most unusual investigations in the department's history, spurred by leads emerging after the priest's arrest in April for the killing in the Mercy Hospital chapel more than 24 years ago.

They have looked for evidence in church attics and basements and have consulted with religious experts on subversive groups and church history. They have even interviewed the founder of a secret fraternity whose members dressed in nuns' clothing.

"The police are going into areas they've never gone before," said David Davidson, one of the first police officers to respond to the slaying in 1980. "They don't have a choice."

The investigation started with the details of the crime scene: an aging nun found strangled and repeatedly stabbed in the sacristy of the hospital chapel, her body posed to look like she was sexually assaulted.

But now, deeper issues have surfaced over accusations of sexual abuse of children in churches and schools by priests and lay members beginning in the late 1960s.

A hallway to the Mercy Hospital chapel, the 1980 crime scene, was taped off shortly after Father Robinson's arrest in April. ( ASSOCIATED PRESS ) Zoom

Prosecutors and defense lawyers refuse to answer questions about the investigation, citing a judge's gag order.

The priest's trial is set for Oct. 17 in Lucas County Common Pleas Court in what's expected to be one of the most watched trials in local history. The 66-year-old cleric has pleaded not guilty, with supporters and relatives pledging their homes to help post a $400,000 bond.

An investigation by The Blade based on hundreds of police and diocese records, as well as interviews, shows that prosecutors are still examining details of the slaying - including a pattern of stab wounds resembling a cross - while interviewing people about the abuse allegations in an expanded probe.

Investigators have talked to numerous priests and former students at local Catholic grade schools to determine if they knew anything about children being molested in bizarre ceremonies involving a small ring of clerics, according to several people interviewed by police.

Four women told detectives about being abused between the late 1960s and 1986 during cult-like ceremonies involving altars and men dressed in robes, the accusers told The Blade. "I've had nightmares about this since I was a child," said one woman, who asked not to be named. "I didn't think anyone would believe me."

Diocese examines ritual abuse claims
The reopening of the Sister Pahl homicide investigation didn't start with DNA findings or even a tip. It began with a secret hearing in the downtown headquarters of the Toledo Catholic diocese unrelated to the nun's death.

A 41-year-old woman appeared before a church review board in June, 2003, with a simple request: She wanted the diocese to pay for more than $50,000 in counseling costs she incurred as an alleged victim of clerical sex abuse.

But her story wasn't like dozens of others exploding in the diocese over the last decade. She said she had been a victim of ritualistic sexual abuse by a group of priests.

She claimed they gathered in church basements and rectories in "cult-like ceremonies" where children were molested and ordered to watch other youngsters being abused. She named four clerics, including Chet Warren, a former Oblates of St. Francis de Sales priest ousted from his order in 1993 after five other women accused him of sexual misconduct.

She claimed Father Warren had orchestrated her repeated abuse, including arranging one encounter with the man now facing murder charges: Father Robinson.

The diocese hired two retired police officers, John Connors, 65, and Lawrence Knannlein, 63, to look into the woman's accusations in an unprecedented church investigation. Over the course of nine months, they interviewed more than 45 people, including priests, nuns, and lay members.

They spent more than 17 hours with the woman, who described her allegations in detail, claiming the sexual assaults began during her preschool years in the 1960s, usually at night with altars, candles, and chanting.

Her most persistent abuser, she said, was Father Warren, a family friend who was counseling her mother for depression. Mr. Warren did not respond to requests for an interview, and his lawyer, Martin Mohler, declined to comment.

The accuser said her only sexual encounter with Father Robinson took place when she was 14 in a room near the chapel of St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center but without any of the rituals that occurred in other sessions.

The priest's lawyer, Alan Konop, said Father Robinson would not comment on the allegation.

Mr. Connors said he initially was stunned by the accusations. "I had conducted a lot of different investigations for the diocese going back a lot of years, but this was the first time I had ever heard these kinds of stories," he recalled.

At the diocese headquarters, the review board debated what to do with the case in what became a growing controversy in the church. The review panel was created to evaluate abuse claims and make recommendations to the bishop.

One board member, psychologist Robert Cooley, argued the woman's story should be reported immediately to police. But church lawyer Thomas Pletz wrote a letter to diocese case manager Frank DiLallo on June 12, 2003, saying board members were not required to do so. After further debate, Mr. Pletz wrote a letter on June 27 to Frank Link, chairman of the review board, saying the woman's allegations had been forwarded to the Lucas County prosecutor's office.

For the next six months, the case languished, but behind the scene, a local clerical abuse support group pressed the Ohio attorney general's office to look into the complaint. State agents in turn urged the Lucas County prosecutor's office to investigate.

By the end of the year, Prosecutor Julia Bates agreed, assigning investigators to meet with the woman. While evaluating her complaint, they recognized one name - Father Robinson - from an unsolved slaying in 1980.

Then the chaplain at Mercy Hospital, Father Robinson was questioned several times in 1980 about Sister Pahl's death. But police said at the time no one was charged because there wasn't enough evidence.

Questions linger after priest's arrest
In early 2004, prosecutors began to take another look at one of Toledo's most high-profile unsolved homicides.

They hired experts to conduct a battery of scientific tests on the original evidence, including a letter opener that police believe was used in the slaying of Sister Pahl. The shiny, long opener with a medallion at the top had been in police storage since it was taken from Father Robinson's room in the hospital after the killing.

Police went to experts to study the blood patterns on an altar cloth and other objects from the crime scene. They also listened to the priest's taped interviews with detectives in 1980.

On April 23, 2004, prosecutors said there was enough evidence to charge Father Robinson with murder, and shortly after taking him into custody, investigators added one more detail in interviews with reporters: The death appeared to be a "ritual" slaying.

The disclosure triggered a media frenzy, with reporters descending on Toledo from the national networks and tabloids.

But even after the arrest, police weren't finished. There were still unresolved questions surrounding the sex-abuse accusations against other clerics. The more pressing question: Was Father Robinson involved?

Police launched their own investigation into the woman's dark accusations. They looked at a remote, abandoned home on Raab Road in western Lucas County that matched the description of a house where the woman said she was raped in group sessions in the late 1970s but were unable to find any evidence the house was used for ritual sex sessions.

Detectives tracked down another woman who said she was ritually abused by the same clerics in similar scenarios, though the accusers did not know each other.

Teresa Bombrys, 43, said she was taken to a farm house in the late 1960s by Chet Warren and forced to watch "these rituals."

She told The Blade in a recent interview: "I know it's hard for people to really understand this, but it was real. It happened, and I've lived with it for most of my life." She said she believed her abusers wanted to scare her and other children and to create an atmosphere so bizarre no one would believe them.

She filed a lawsuit against Mr. Warren, the diocese, and the Oblates in April, 2002, in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, alleging years of sexual abuse by the priest. The monetary portion of the case has been settled for an undisclosed sum, but other terms are being negotiated, said her lawyer, Catherine Hoolahan.

Another woman, 52, told police she was taken to a house in the 1960s where ritual sex ceremonies took place. And a fourth woman, 24, told a detective she was a young grade-school student when she was carried into a local church at night by several adults who abused her during a ceremony by an altar. She said she could not identify the men.

Both women asked not to be identified.

Ms. Hoolahan, who has filed more than a dozen complaints against the diocese in sex-abuse cases, said police should continue focusing on the ritual-abuse accusations. "When you have that many people offering corroborating statements, it makes you wonder," she said. "You have to take this seriously."

Diocese ends its probe; police detectives press on
After Father Robinson was arrested in April, the church's own investigation was winding down.

The two diocese investigators wrote separate reports - totaling 39 pages - and met with the diocese case manager in May in what turned into a heated exchange between the two investigators.

Mr. Connors found the woman who appeared before the review board credible while Mr. Knannlein doubted her story. "There was a lot of shouting back and forth," Mr. Connors recalled. "I just felt that if we had kept going, we could have corroborated at least some of her story."

Despite their differences, they agreed on one thing: The investigation should continue.

A key interview was set up with Mr. Warren, now 77, at the diocese headquarters to allow him to respond to the allegations. But on the day the interview was to take place, church officials canceled the session, Mr. Connors said. "I showed up at the diocese, but I was told it was over. There would be no interview," he said. "They were shutting it down."

Church records obtained by The Blade show the diocese closed the case in May when the woman at the center of the ritual abuse case rejected a request to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

In an interview with The Blade, in which she asked not to be identified, the woman said she was upset at the church's request. "My question back to them was why don't they tell the priest who abused me to undergo psychiatric tests," she said. "Do hospitals ask rape victims to have psychiatric evaluations?"

She said she allowed church investigators to talk to her therapist and family members. "I tried to comply with everything they asked."

Mr. Pletz, the lawyer for the diocese, said recently he would not comment on the church investigation. Mr. Knannlein, who pressed for the woman to be evaluated, declined to comment. But in his report to the diocese, he concluded that "much more research and investigation should be done before people are accused of these crimes."

While the woman's refusal to be tested prompted the diocese to drop its case, police pressed ahead with their own probe.

They looked into allegations that some of the ritual abuse took place in local churches, including the basement of Holy Trinity Church in Richfield Center, Ohio, and an Oblate residence on Parkwood Avenue, according to church records and interviews. They did not find any evidence to support the claims.

They spent several days last month trying to determine if there were any connections between the women's allegations and a loose-knit group of church lay members who gathered on church properties while dressed in nuns' clothes.

Police interviewed Jerry Mazuchowski, 53, a church lay minister and retired Toledo public school teacher who founded the group known as Sisters of Assumed Mary, or SAM. He said he told police detectives that his group did not break church laws.

"We did nun drag," he told The Blade. "We gave each other nuns' names. It was nothing but absolute fun. Camp. Foolishness."

He said a dispute broke out between him and Father Paul Kwiatkowski, the former pastor of St. Hedwig's Church, over allegations the group was responsible for vandalizing the church and holding secret ceremonies - events that led to the pastor to hold a prayer service to cleanse the church. But Mr. Mazuchowski denied vandalizing the church, pointing out he was cleared of any wrongdoing in a special diocese Court of Equity hearing in 1993.

Mr. Mazuchowski said he told police detectives that Father Robinson was not a member of SAM, describing the priest instead as a longtime friend.

Since the priest's arrest, Mr. Mazuchowski has appeared on a local news station to proclaim Father Robinson's innocence and penned an article for a neighborhood newsletter saying the priest is innocent until proven guilty.

Substantiating claims of abuse proves difficult
Prosecutors say they will continue to investigate the ritual abuse allegations, but trying to substantiate claims from three decades ago is difficult. While some of the stories were similar, none of the accusers could pinpoint precise times of their alleged abuse. While they described similar locations, they were unable to recall being in the same room.

Three of the four women interviewed by police said they did not have vivid memories of their experiences until adulthood.

Prosecutors said police have not linked any ritual abuse to Father Robinson. So far, the murder case revolves around the physical evidence from the crime scene and anything new they discover about the priest.

At times, getting details about Father Robinson has been difficult. When police asked the diocese for personnel and other records about the priest, they received three pages showing his church assignments, prosecutors said.

On Sept. 15, prosecutors walked into diocese headquarters with a search warrant - one of the few ever served on a U.S. diocese in a murder case, according to legal experts.

During the search, prosecutors were handed more than 100 documents bearing Father Robinson's name but declined to elaborate on the contents. Two days later, they returned with another warrant - this time demanding access to the office of Father Michael Billian, the Episcopal vicar and the diocese's top administrator.

Though they didn't find more documents about Father Robinson, they found a file stamped "privileged" containing cases of child abuse, Mr. Pletz said.

Prosecutors said they didn't find any references to ritual abuse but declined to say what was in the records or why they did not seize them.

One leading sex-abuse expert questioned why investigators did not take the records. "That surprises me that they didn't go back with another warrant," said Jeff Anderson, a Minneapolis attorney who has filed more than 400 clerical abuse lawsuits around the country.

Mr. Pletz, the diocese lawyer, said the church has tried to cooperate with police and prosecutors, but he wouldn't comment on the need for search warrants. Father Billian did not return repeated phone calls from The Blade. Bishop Leonard Blair would not comment for the story, a spokesman said.

With the murder trial in nine months, police are trying to find out more about Father Robinson, a Toledo native ordained in 1964.

He was the hospital chaplain for six years and worked with Sister Pahl in preparing the chapel, though at times, they didn't get along, according to police. "It seemed like so many people were telling us the same thing: They didn't like each other," recalled Mr. Davidson, the police officer who interviewed numerous hospital employees about the slaying.

The priest's supporters say they're standing by the cleric, who has been temporarily removed from ministry while his case is in court. "Because they didn't get along doesn't mean he was a murderer," said Father Kwiatkowski, who has known the defendant 35 years. "It's just not in him. I don't see him as violent at all."

In an interview with police two weeks ago, Father Kwiatkowski said he defended the priest, but that wasn't the reason for their visit. He said the police spent most of the interview asking him about SAM, ritual abuse, and old crosses. "They asked me what kind of template would be used to make patterns on stab wounds," he said. "I said I didn't know."

1,092 New Catholic Church Sex Abuse Claims

More evidence below for the truth that organized religion has the potential to act in a malevolent manner. I see pervasive malevolence whithin the Catholic Church, I'm a victim of sorts of the Catholic Church myself. Don't try to do the church a favor that it cares not to receive. I'll post my ugly experience with the church on my Underground Railroad blog when I'm ready to re-live it.

Theologically, I believe this malevolence is a consequence of an emphasis on the glorification of God and not the witnessing of God's reconciling love. A stricking difference in personal psychology is noticable in people who believe in one of these concepts and not the other.

The recent news:

By Deborah Zabarenko

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Roman Catholic Church received 1,092 new claims of priest sexual abuse last year and paid more than $157 million to deal with them, according to an audit of the pedophile scandal released on Friday.

"The crisis of sexual abuse of minors within the Catholic Church is not over," Kathleen McChesney, head of the U.S. church's Office of Child and Youth Protection, told reporters.

"What is over is the denial that this problem exists, and what is over is the reluctance of the church to deal openly with the public about the nature and extent of the problem."

This audit, the second report on the church response to the pedophile scandal that erupted in 2002, was made public four days after one of the most notorious pedophile offenders, defrocked priest Paul Shanley, was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison for raping a boy in the 1980s.

The audit tallied the number of new complaints, the amount spent on them and the percentage of American dioceses that are complying with 2002 charter aimed at ending priest sexual abuse.

David Clohessy of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, criticized the report for failing to measure how effectively the church has helped victims and prevented offenses.

"We owe it to innocent children and vulnerable adults to insist on hard evidence and solid data before determining progress is being made," Clohessy said in a statement outside the news conference where the audit was released.

Of the 1,092 allegations reported in 2004, most involved incidents between 1965 and 1974, McChesney said.

The charges involved at least 756 priests and deacons, and the vast majority of victims -- 78 percent -- were male. Most were between the ages of 10 and 14 when the abuse began.

Twenty-two allegations were made last year by children under the age of 18 and all of these were reported to law enforcement, she said.

Of the 194 dioceses audited last year, 74 percent were in already in compliance with the church charter and most of the remaining 26 percent complied by the end of 2004, said William Gavin of the Gavin Group, which conducted the audit.

Gavin said the most common deficiencies were in parts of the charter that called for training to create safe environments and for background evaluations of parish personnel.



The Nature and Scope of the Problem of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States & other reports

Howard Dean's plan for the party

Dean's first message to Democrats

You run this party.

On Saturday, I was honored when your representatives on the Democratic National Committee elected me Chairman. And I can't wait to get started. But when they voted, it wasn't about me -- they were voting for a plan for the future of our party.

That plan came from people like you -- from conversations I had with ordinary Democrats across the country. When those 447 people voted in Washington this weekend, they united around that plan.

Now I'm asking you to do the same. Those 447 people were a good start, but make no mistake -- I know that this is also your party. And our plan to reform the party can only become a reality with your endorsement.

Please read our plan -- and commit to making it a reality:

http://www.democrats.org/plan

Your representatives in the DNC mandated bottom-up reform -- growing the Democratic Party in your neighborhood and every other community in America. They voted to compete in every state for every level of office. And they demanded a Democratic Party that stands up for itself and for an agenda that reflects our values.

They didn't elect me because they think I can accomplish these things. They elected me because I believe that only you can.

Every single one of us must take responsibility for building our party. It's not enough to simply vote for Democrats -- in order to win, every one of us must deliver our message and values into our own community.

That means changing the way we do business, and that's what this plan is about:

http://www.democrats.org/plan

The Republicans' biggest victory has been to convince many Democrats that we can only win by abandoning our values and doing what they say.

It's one of their favorite tactics -- just watch how right-wing pundits talk endlessly about the internal politics of our party. They try to divide Democrats by ideology just as they divide all Americans by race or gender or faith.

But there is no crisis of ideology in the Democratic Party, only a crisis of confidence. Bill Clinton once described the Democratic Party's problems in the era of George W. Bush, saying that in uncertain times people would rather have a leader who is strong and wrong than weak and right.

He's exactly right. And we become both weak and wrong when we abandon our core values for short-term political gain. But when we Democrats talk straight and stand up for ourselves, we have a huge advantage: We are both strong and right.

We will only turn that advantage into victory if we make a concrete plan and work hard to execute it. Declare your support and offer feedback now on the plan to build an organization that will help us win everywhere, and win with pride:

http://www.democrats.org/plan

Millions of Americans became Democrats last year. They sensed that they live in a society where ordinary people's problems and interests don't matter to our government. They chose the Democratic Party because we represent commonsense reform.

And millions more will become Democrats this year as we protect the Democratic Party's greatest achievement. We will not allow George Bush to phase out Social Security -- a Democratic policy that cured an epidemic of poverty among seniors and provides the guarantee of retirement with dignity.

Most importantly, millions of Democrats have become true stakeholders in our party. With grassroots action and small-dollar donations, you have taken our party's future into your own hands.

The stakes are too high to wait for others to lead. Every one of us has a personal responsibility for the future of our party -- and the future of our country.

This isn't my chairmanship -- it is ours. So let's get to work together.

Governor Howard Dean, M.D.
Chairman, Democratic National Committee

Bishop Spong lectures on God and belief

Tucked away in the financially exhibitionist community of Grosse Pointe Farms, MI is the liberal minded Christ Church-Episcopal. Every Tuesday during lent lectures will be given by notable Episcopal bishops. This week the controversial Bishop Spong shared his views on the nature of God, our perspective/practice of religion and the need for change in Christian belief. Much of his lecture was composed of arguments raised in his book, Why Christianity must change or die-A bishop speaks to believers in exile. Much has been said of Bishop Spong; a heretic, healer, atheist, secularist, religious, these charges are for him to answer. Non Episcopalians should out of courtesy avoid attacking the Episcopal method of religious investigation. Episcopalians should take comfort in knowing that diversity of belief is tolerated in the church.

His lecture began as his book begins on the nature of God and our corruption of God. Jesus on the cross hung over the bishop while he spoke, a symbol seldom seen in Episcopal churches. He did not mention Jesus a great deal but focused instead on the Old Testament God personality and our embracement of it. God of the Old Testament is to be questioned, challenged and in some cases denied or ignored. Bishop Spong unfortunately did not get the point across that we Christians witness the New Testament/ new covenant of Jesus the Christ and should place emphasis on it rather then the Old Testament. Respect of the Old Testament should still be observed however.

Bishop Spong finds fault with how the secular world defines God and uses God for corruptible reasons. His examples are: sports teams that invoke God in order to win victory in sport, politicians that invoke God to support partisanship, nations that invoke God to bless endeavors of the state. These invocations corrupt God because they place God into a context of our design.

Placing God into a context should be questioned and challenged because the context deludes the eternal nature of God. God should not be humanized. God should not be tribalized. God is not limited to our practices, geography, institutions, and time as we are. God is eternal and unknowable as a Jewish tradition dictates.

We mistakenly tribalize God, we believe he shows favoritism to our group and opposes other groups whom we oppose. God is reduced to a tribal deity. The origin of this tribalism is the Old Testament, the Jewish perception of God. God supported the Jews and opposed the Egyptians, etc. God had a special relationship with Jewish figures, Abraham, Moses, Noah, etc and a contemptuous relationship with others. The special relations expressed by the Jews has been adopted by today’s Christians, every Christian faith believes that they are special to God. Our act to confine and define God is contrary to God’s true nature, indefinable, not limited to a context. We dwell on what God is not and it becomes our truth.

Spong continued to reveal how science has broken our definitions of God. Astronomers, astronaughts have discovered new worlds beyond the historically defined realm of God, just above the clouds. Biologists have discovered evidence of our origin not defined in our sacred books. God, no, our definition of God has changed and is apt to change further. Spong believes that religious tradition is dying and he illustrates that point by mentioning that the largest growing segment of the Christian world is Christians leaving Christianity.

After listening to Spong for an hour one might believe that he is a critic of everything and an advocate of little. But he does advocate, he sees hope in the voice of the minority contained in the bible. He advocates that we should not look for God but for his footprint. When we look for God we see him as designed by us. When we look for God’s footprint we see evidence of God but not God directly and so God’s integrity is preserved.

After the lecture he welcomed questions. Time only permitted for two questioners. He insisted that a woman shall ask first and then a man. The first question was about prayer and how we should pray correctly, earlier in the lecture he commented that we are doing it wrong. It is wrong to ask for special consideration from God. It is wrong to limit God who is truly limitless. Spong mentioned briefly how to pray while maintaining God’s integrity but the subject of prayer is too extensive to be debated in the time given.

The second question was on same-sex marriage, Spong is in favor. The bishop never suggested that there is a biblical argument for gay marriage he admitted that the bible provides no argument for it. Spong did not go outside the canon to suggest an argument for gay marriage and so he did not migrate into the heretical. His arguments for it came predominantly from secular belief; medicine’s inability to cure or determine a medical explanation, psychology’s reassessment from abnormal psychology to normal psychology, etc.

My assessment of Bishop Spong is that he is a religious man but influenced by secular belief. He did not appear to me to be heretical; he never suggested that Jesus was gay for example. His presentation of ideas can be seen as shocking, blasphemous, and incorrect. He needs to make his intentions clearer and define for his audience better where the faults lay, with Christianity or belief. He needs to argue from a theological perspective first and secular second. He should continue to point out the faults of Christianity but make it very clear that his intentions are to heal and not to attack as will be perceived.

Bishop Spong believes that a church should empower people to be all that they can be. A church should liberate the soul. Unfortunately he did not explain himself but only offered this viewpoint in closing. If heresy is defined by considering secular beliefs then Bishop Spong might be guilty of heresy. If publicly discussing the wrongs of Christianity is an attempt to heal then he might be guilty of healing. Bishop Spong should more clearly reveal his intentions out of consideration to Episcopal laity. Episcopalians should investigate his ideas further, read his books, listen to opposing views and reach a conclusion independently because the eternal covenant between an individual and God matters more then the temporal relationship between an individual and the church.