John Paul II & St? Josemaria October anniversary and Mother Teresa

The gigantic statue of Josemaria Escriva at St. Peter's Square with the pose of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.
(http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html)



Why is it that Enron's responsible leaders are in jail, Martha Stewart went to jail, Conrad Black was brought to trial, was found guilty and is awaiting his sentencing...but Cardinal Bernard Law is an Archpriest in Rome, Cardinal Mahony lives in his palace in Los Angeles, and Bishop Brom and all the other Bishops guilty of cover-up of the worst crime in church history are not in jail but rather living as Princes of the Church in their Bishops' Palaces? Why are the priests guilty of clergy sexual abuse not in jail (except for a few handful)? Why are none of these pedophile priests excommunicated or "notified" like Jesuit Jon Sobrino.
( http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html) Does this mean that those pedophile priests got their doctrines on the divinity of Jesus Christ correctly exactly the way John Paul II said it and wanted it, and therefore they could sodomize and sexually abuse thousands of children as they said Mass daily? Therefore doctrines and dogmas are more important than charity and justice?
(http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html ) All these can be answered with two words - Opus Dei! The Opus Dei controls the Vatican and the Church and state governments.

If we have any sense of justice left in the separation between Church and State in America -- Cardinals Law, Mahony, Bishop Brom et al should all be arrested, brought to trial immediately and jailed like any other citizen. Why are none of them in jail? Are they not citizens of the land like everybody else, like those leaders of Enron, Martha Stewart and Conrad Black? The Opus Dei's Midas touch seems to be working (for now) because so far people adulate the Pope as "THE Holy Father", Cardinals and Bishops as "Good Shepherds" or "reincarnations" of Christ the Shepherd (like the Dalai Lama is a reincarnation of the Buddha!)

The Opus Dei Midas Touch is very cunning as a laywer crime investigator said:
"On behalf of the church, Opus Dei subverts all secular government, Bar and Bench, Civil Service, Police, Hospitals, and most importantly, schools."
"The portrait of Opus Dei as a gang of guitar-strumming flower-people hanging around a university campus, is for the birds. Why do they want to recruit professional students in such numbers? What happens to the weak-minded and the inadequate who join to fulfill some social need that they cannot otherwise fulfill? And when they are promoted as Party Leaders, Judges , Bankers, Lawyers, Engineers, what is it that Opus Dei expects of them?"
(http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007/10/john-paul-ii-da-vinci-code-opus-dei.html)

"From its origins, Opus Dei has worked in academic circles, nurturing a highly educated elite. Spurred on by the organisation’s message of sanctification through work, members aspire to the highest positions in society. The professions in which Opus Dei is strongest, particularly in Europe and South America,(and North America) are the media, medicine, the judiciary, education (especially at the university level), and, above all, high finance and politics." (http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/pubs/publications/1997opusdeithepopesrightarm.asp)

Today the Opus Dei celebrate worldwide the canonization of their founder Josemaria Escriba. The speed of his canonization and the fast growing number of 85,000 members Josemaria has attracted in Opus Dei's short lifespan until now may be bewildering, but not really. If Josemaria attracted 300,000 people at St. Peter's Square for his canonization, and John Paul II had 4 million people for his funeral, well, Ayatollah Khoumeni attracted 6 million people for his funeral. So the Muslims still "beat" them in numbers. And the Apostleship of Prayer that the Jesuits started and were mandated by Jesus himself when he appeared to a nun in Paray has 4 millions members worldwide.

MOTHER TERESA

But is there really a competition of numbers going on? Or is there a competition at all. Looks like it. And it is the Opus Dei who wants to outnumber everyone. WORLD DOMINATION is the Opus Dei's mantra. Every member's "apostolate" is to recruit another rich professional member; no,it isn't to help the poor like the JRS Jesuit Refugee Service does. Helping the poor is not a priority with the Opus Dei - that is why they placed Mother Teresa's website in their main OD webpage -- to give the illusion they care for her and the poor. But if we look at Mother Teresa's history, it is the Jesuits who have (and still does) helped her at the onset when she was discerning to leave the convent, it was a Jesuit Archbishop who approved her departure and new order, and it was a Jesuit who helped find her first house (convent). But these are not mentioned in Mother Teresa's website - because to the Opus Dei, the Jesuits must not be in the same place where they are. In their quest for WORLD DOMINATION, they seek to suppress the Jesuits and repeat the Jesuit Suppression in their cunning Octopus Dei style.

As the Opus Dei celebrate the speediest canonization of Josemaria Escriba, some poor nuns in Los Angeles are being evicted from their house to pay for Mahony's sins. Go figure "the sins of the Holy Fathers John Paul II and Josemaria Escriba have been visited upon the Sisters"! It is easy for Opus Dei to preach about Mother Teresa because she is famous and Opus Dei wants to piggyback ride on her fame but they really don't do anything for her and her nuns on a firsthand basis - it is the Jesuits who have been saying Mass daily and serving as spiritual directors for her nuns for so many years. By the way, the letters in her new book (that was at the cover of Time magazine) were written to her Jesuit spiritual director. The Jesuit are so humble they don't even post this in any of their websites. Fr. James Martin mentioned it for a split second in his appearance at the Colbert Report.
(http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/67899/detail/)

So it's a big deal that the Opus Dei handpick Moher Teresa for their website but it's no big deal that some 3 poor nuns (not famous as Mother Teresa) in Los Angeles will soon lose their humble property to be sold to pay for Mahony's $660 million sin. And Opus Dei doesn't give a hoot about them because they are not Mother Teresa's nuns.

"Yet Opus Dei admits at most only to providing spiritual support, for example, by posting chaplains to work at educational institutions or nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) run by Opus Dei members." (Catholics for Choice, op. cit.)

The Saint? Josemaria cunning and deception rules again the day and is being paid for by these poor nuns. Opus Dei pride themselves to have "women members" that the Jesuit do not have. But the Jesuits serve all women nun congregations and millions of lay women in their retreat houses, universities and schools. The JRS Jesuit Refugee Sesrvice alone serves countless of refugee women. So what if the Opus Dei have wealthy women members but they don't care about these poor nuns? What a timing on the 5th anniversary of the canonization of Escriba, while the wealthy Opus Dei members feast and party in their million dollar mansions with the Pope, Cardinals Law, Mahony, Brom et al, these nuns and the poor people they serve are being evicted. Go figure!

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AP SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles is selling a convent that has housed an order of nuns for more than four decades to help pay for a record-breaking sex abuse settlement.
Three nuns from the Sisters of Bethany order have until Dec. 31 to move out, though an earlier departure ''would be acceptable as well,'' the archdiocese's vicar general said in a letter to the nuns.


'We all have to share'. ''We're just so hurt by this,'' said Sister Angela Escalera, the order's local superior. ''And what hurts the most is what the money will be used for, to help pay for the pedophile priests. We have to sacrifice our home for that?''
In July, the archdiocese announced a record $660 million settlement with clergy abuse victims. Of that, as much as $373 million will be paid by the archdiocese, with the rest coming from insurers and various religious orders.

To help cover the bill, the archdiocese plans to sell up to 50 non-parish properties, including its administrative headquarters. The convent is the first property outside of those central offices to be identified as among those to be sold.

The decision to sell the convent was difficult but necessary, said Tod M. Tamberg, an archdiocese spokesman.

''The pain is being spread around,'' Tamberg said. ''We're losing our headquarters here, and none of the employees got a pay raise this year. This is just part of making it right with the victims, and we all have to share in the process even though none of us -- the nuns, myself -- harmed anybody.''

The Santa Barbara County assessor's office lists the convent property's value at $97,746, though it will likely sell for more. Smaller, older homes nearby start at about $700,000, according to local real estate Web sites.

Escalera said the sisters have been overwhelmed by offers of help, including temporary housing.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-nuns7sept07_pg,1,1432730.photogallery



Gonzalez, left, and Escalera read the letter from the archdiocese telling them they were being evicted. "We're just so hurt by this," said Escalera, who has lived in the convent since 1964.
(Spencer Weiner / LAT)


Escalera, 69, who is retired and partly disabled, had hoped to live out her days in the convent in east Santa Barbara -- until the archdiocese decided to sell it.
(Spencer Weiner / LAT)




Alfredo Rodriguez thanks Sister Angela Escalera for helping with the paperwork to allow his wife in Mexico to join him in the U.S. Escalera and the two other nuns at the Sisters of Bethany convent help poor, mostly immigrant residents is east Santa Barbara.
(Spencer Weiner / LAT)



Gonzalez, left, helps Escalera, 69, up a flight of stairs at the convent, which was built by Sisters of Bethany in 1952. The archdiocese gave the nuns four months to move out before the building is sold. ( And Benedict XVI whose portrait is by the stairs couldn't care less for the nuns!)
(Spencer Weiner / LAT)


Sister Consuelo Cardenas, left, and Gonzalez attend evening Mass in the chapel at the Sisters of Bethany convent. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has said it will sell up to 50 non-parish properties to help pay the priest sexual abuse settlement.
(Spencer Weiner / LAT)


Escalera says the most hurtful part of the proposed sale of her convent is that the proceeds will be used to pay for the misdeeds of pedophile priests.(Spencer Weiner / LAT)


The Sisters of Bethany convent is next to Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Santa Barbara.
(Spencer Weiner / LAT)


Opus Dei New York Palace






http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2007/07/benedict-xvi-latin-mass-and-opus-dei.html

"Why should [the nuns] pay for the sins of the morons who did this? Why can't they sell something else?"

L.A. Archdiocese plans to sell the Santa Barbara site to help pay its priest abuse settlement. The nuns will likely have to leave the city where they've served the poor.

By Rebecca Trounson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 7, 2007

SANTA BARBARA -- For 43 years, Sister Angela Escalera has lived and often worked out of her order's small convent on this city's east side, helping the area's many poor and undocumented residents with translation, counseling and other needs.

Now retired and partly disabled at 69, the nun thought she would live out her days here, in the community where she is still an active volunteer and in the dwelling that was built for the order in 1952.

Nuns Evicted

But she and the other two nuns at the Sisters of Bethany house recently received word that their convent, which is owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, will be sold to help pay the bill for the church's recent, multimillion-dollar priest sex abuse settlement.

The nuns have four months to move out, according to a letter from the archdiocese. The notice, which was dated June 28 but not received until the end of August, asked the women to vacate the property no later than Dec. 31 -- and noted that an earlier departure "would be acceptable as well." Signed by Msgr. Royale M. Vadakin, the archdiocese's vicar general, the letter offers the nuns no recourse but thanks them for their understanding and cooperation during a difficult time.

"We're just so hurt by this," Escalera, the order's local superior, said this week. "And what hurts the most is what the money will be used for, to help pay for the pedophile priests. We have to sacrifice our home for that?"

Tod M. Tamberg, spokesman for the archdiocese, said Thursday that the decision to sell the Santa Barbara property was difficult but necessary.

In July, the archdiocese announced a record, $660-million settlement with the victims of hundreds of clergy abuse cases. At least $250 million and up to $373 million of the total will be paid directly by the archdiocese, with the rest coming from insurers and various religious orders.

The archdiocese has said it will sell up to 50 non-parish properties, including its administrative headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, to cover the bill. Apart from those central offices, the Santa Barbara convent is the first property to be publicly identified as among those to be sold.

"The pain is being spread around," Tamberg said. "We're losing our headquarters here, and none of the employees got a pay raise this year. This is just part of making it right with the victims, and we all have to share in the process even though none of us -- the nuns, myself -- harmed anybody. All of us as a church have to pay for the sins of a few people."

But in Santa Barbara, where the beige stucco convent and its veiled nuns in navy blue habits have long been fixtures of the east-side landscape, the news was trickling through the community this week, sparking concern and some anger.

On Wednesday morning, as Escalera spoke with several visitors, a woman knocked at the door. Carmen F. Torres, who lives nearby and attends the Catholic church adjacent to the convent, said she had just heard the news.

"I didn't want you to feel abandoned," Torres told the nun in Spanish, adding that she was hoping to raise money for the sisters by renting a small home she owns in Texas.

"We need to see what we can do to help you."

Torres called the decision to sell the convent unjust, given the nuns' long history of care and service to their low-income community. Other supporters spoke even more strongly.

"It's outrageous," said Sally Sanchez, a community activist who added that she had known Escalera since 1964, when each had just arrived in Santa Barbara from the Los Angeles area. "Why should [the nuns] pay for the sins of the morons who did this? Why can't they sell something else?"

Tamberg said the nuns had lived rent-free in the archdiocesan-owned building, which he said was a fairly unusual arrangement, with most religious orders nowadays owning their own houses. He -- and the nuns -- said that if they had to leave Santa Barbara, they would probably move into their order's convent in Los Angeles, which is not owned by the archdiocese.

Although they do not pay rent, the three women have largely supported themselves, using the money they earn from outside jobs and disability income to pay for their utilities, for maintenance on their home and for their food and other needs. They and other sisters of their order were honored for their years of service to the community at a June luncheon that was attended by Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum.

Escalera, whose energy belies her years, is a former notary public and social worker who retired from Catholic Charities in 2003 but still works as a volunteer each afternoon, mainly assisting residents with immigration and translation problems. A diabetic who has developed balance and other health problems in recent years, she uses a walker and receives a state disability stipend.

Sister Consuelo Cardenas, 55, is a native of Colombia who works full time as a religious education coordinator for a nearby parish, Our Lady of Sorrows, in Santa Barbara. She has lived at the convent about 25 years, a span broken briefly by a return to Colombia.

The third nun, Sister Margarita Antonia Gonzalez, 49, was born in El Salvador and has lived at the Santa Barbara facility about four years. She is the sisters' housekeeper and cook and assists with Mass at the adjacent church, Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The convent, which looks much like an ordinary house from the outside, has a warren of small rooms and sits on about a quarter of an acre. It includes a living room, dining area and chapel. Its bedrooms each have room enough for a single bed, a desk and a wash basin. The front garden, with an avocado tree and a stone fountain, was a surprise gift to the sisters from community members many years ago.

The Santa Barbara County assessor's office lists the property's value at $97,746, although it seems likely to sell for more, if a sale goes through. Even the small, older homes near the convent start at about $700,000, according to the Zillow real estate appraisal website.

As she sat this week in the convent's simple living room, where paintings of biblical scenes and framed photographs of the order's founders line the walls, Escalera said she was still wrestling with her feelings about the letter, shifting between pain, anger and resignation. She said she remained upset that the archdiocese had not contacted the nuns directly but had chosen instead to send a letter to the convent in Los Angeles, which then notified the Santa Barbara sisters. "We're not even worth a phone call," she said. "That's one of the things that hurts so much."

She and the other sisters said that they were grateful for the support from many in the community, but that they knew they could not afford to pay for a rental in Santa Barbara on their own, making it likely that they would be forced to leave the area.

Escalera, looking weary after a stream of visitors, said, however, that she could not consider the future yet.

"I'm not ready right now," she said. "I'm still trying to think it through. I do trust in God and I will accept his will. . . . But if something happens to change this, that would be wonderful."



Links: http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html