January 1988 Print

 

 

CATHOLIC DIOCESE PUBLICATION CONDEMNS CREATIONISM AS 'NONSENSE'

By Alan Gill RNS Correspondent SYDNEY, Australia (RNS) — A booklet that ridicules scientific creationism as "pseudo-science and utter nonsense" has been published by Australia's Catholic Education Office and is being sent to parochial schools throughout the Archdiocese of Sydney.

Titled "The Bumbling, Stumbling, Crumbling Theory of Creation Science," it was written by Barry Price, a CEO officer with training in physics. The booklet says that creationists "have yet to learn that minds, like parachutes, only work when they are open, and says the biblical account of the world's origins is not meant to be taken at face value.

The booklet asks how Noah could have carried pairs of dinosaurs weighing up to 70 tons each in the ark, maintains that creationist calculations would mean light must have traveled 200,000 million times faster at the time of creation than today, and says it "must be close to blasphemy" to claim, as do some creationists, that Aborigines have not been in Australia for 40,000 years, as archeological evidence suggests.

(Reminder of St. Paul: "O man, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it: Why hast thou made me thus?" "For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor?" Nothing is impossible with God.)

(Remember, this is the "Catholic" diocese putting this booklet out.)

Brian Schaeffer, director of the anti-evolution John XXIII Fellowship Cooperative in Melbourne, said that people like Mr. Price "take a line every bit as dogmatic as that of the creationists they condemn." Michael Gilchrist, lecturer in history at the Institute of Catholic Education in Ballarat, said, "People who condemn creationists and creationism as narrow and rigid are themselves infallible believers in their own creed."

The Rev. Brian Lucas, spokesman for the Catholic Church in New South Wales, said the terms "creationism" and "creation science' may be used in three different ways. He explained that "Creationism 1 says the world was made by God according to the timetable set out in the Book of Genesis, Creationism 2 says that there was creation, but not necessarily in the literal way described in Genesis, but without any process of evolution, and Creationism 3 says that there was creation in that God made the world, but this may have happened through some process of evolution."

According to Father Lucas, Creationism 1 is "unacceptable for Catholics." (Ed. note: It is not)

The priest added that issues raised by Creationism 2 and 3 "are questions for science, not theology." He said the church "has no definitive view" on these questions, "except to insist, firstly, that the whole of existence is dependent on the creative work of God, and secondly, that the human soul is uniquely created by God."

"FEARS 'MARK OF BEAST' IN REFUSAL TO GIVE SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER"

(RNS) — A federal appeals court says a former resident of Washington, D.C., was within his rights for refusing to provide a Social Security number on an application for a driver's license because he thought he might be damned if he did so.

John C. Leahy, Jr., who now lives in Maryland, was refused a District of Columbia license when he declined to give a Social Security number. He provided a birth certificate and passport as identification, but said he refused to use the number except for matters relating directly to Social Security because it might be the "mark of the beast" mentioned in the biblical book of Revelation.

In a lawsuit filed against the District in 1983, Mr. Leahy said the 14th chapter of Revelation prophesies that those who receive the mark of the beast will be eternally damned. He said he believes that "Social Security numbers have come to share many of the characteristics of the mark of the beast...and may therefore be the mark of the beast."

The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Dec. 1 that the District's requirement doesn't meet legal standards for impeding First Amendment guarantees of religious freedom. Although Mr. Leahy's application for a District driver's license is moot because he has obtained one in Maryland, the appeals panel said a U.S. district court must address his claims for monetary damages.

CARDINAL ALFRINK, MEDIATOR IN DUTCH CHURCH, DEAD AT 87

Retired Netherlands Cardinal Bernard Alfrink, who mediated theological disputes between liberal Dutch Catholics and the Vatican during the late 1960s and 1970s, died in Nieuwegein Dec. 17 at the age of 87. A native of Nijkerk, he was ordained in 1924, earned a doctorate at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Jerusalem and taught at the University of Nijmegan before becoming archbishop of Utrecht in 1955. He was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope John XXIII in 1960 and served on the preparatory commission for the Second Vatican Council. During Vatican II, Cardinal Alfrink became known for representing the liberal views of the Dutch Catholic Church, including proposals that birth control be a matter for individual choice and ending the requirement of priestly celibacy. When Pope Paul VI issued his encyclical reaffirming the church's ban on artificial contraception in 1968, Dutch Catholics drafted an outspoken rejection of the statement. Cardinal Alfrink urged the church not to "say anything that cuts off the dialogue and persuaded an assembly to substitute a less harsh draft. He then found himself criticized by young Catholics for being too conservative (hardly) and by supporters of the pope for being too liberal. Cardinal Alfrink submitted his resignation in 1975, when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 75. He was succeeded as primate of the Netherlands by Cardinal Jan Willebrands.

Cardinal Bernard Jan Alfrink was an important voice for change at Vatican Council II.

U.S. TO SEND FRANCE $8M ON SCHOOLS FOR JEWS IN FRANCE

NEW YORK — Ozar Hatorah, a New York-based organization that establishes and maintains schools for Jewish youth around the world, will receive $8 million from the U.S. government to build schools for North African Jews living in France. As Associated Press report published in the Washington Post Dec. 29 said the grant was attached to a $600 billion appropriations bill signed into law by President Reagan and had been promoted by Sen. Daniel K. Inouye CD-Hawaii). According to the AP report, the bill classified North African Jews in France as refugees even though they are not considered such by the U.S. State Department, the French government or the U.N. High Commission for Refugees. Neither Sen. Inouye's office or Ozar Hatorah had any comment on the matter when contacted by Religious News Service. The AP report quoted Berel Wines, a member of the board of Ozar Hatorah, as saying the money will be used to build schools to serve more than 3,000 students from kindergarten through the 12th grade.

Ed. Note—Can you believe this? Is this a joke? The Senate keeps crying, "cut spending", and now we have a Senator proposing to spend $8 million on schools; not in the U.S., but in France; not for Americans, but for North African Jews! This simply doesn't make sense. What happened to separation of Church and State? I guess our government considers it doesn't apply for the Jews.

BRITISH OFFICIALS ASK ANGLICAN PRIEST TO EXORCISE FISHING VESSEL

By Austin Carley

BOURNE, England —At the request of British government officials, an Anglican priest has exorcized what was believed by some to be a ghost that had taken over a 60-foot fishing vessel off the Yorkshire coast. In September, Social Security officials investigated repeated claims for unemployment benefits from the six-man crew of the Pickering, which had not put to sea from its North Sea port for months. Investigator William Buckley was told by skipper Derek Gates that as soon as the Pickering left harbor the ghost took over the steering mechanism, causing the ship to go round in circles. Coast Guard officers confirmed Captain Gates' story, and Michael Laws, the previous captain, told investigators that "Lights would flicker on and off and cabins remained freezing even when the heating was on maximum." A crewman said he frequently saw a red-bearded stranger with a strange look on his face roaming the deck. Captain Laws said he had sensed someone using the bunk above his own, although it was always empty and he never saw anyone. "My three months on the Pickering was my worst time at sea in over 17 years," Captain Laws said. "I didn't earn a penny because things were always going wrong." Social Security officers concluded that the fears expressed by the men were sufficient grounds for their receiving unemployment pay. A bureaucrat was then dispatched to the palace of the Archbishop of York to explain the problem and seek help. The Rev. Tom Willis, the diocesan exorcist, visited the anchored trawler. After researching the ship's history he discovered that a man with a red beard had been washed overboard some years ago while the trawler was fishing off the Irish coast. The priest requested permission from the archbishop to carry out the rare service of exorcism. Watched by the ship's owner and crew and a handful of onlookers, Father Willis sprinkled holy water from stem to stern, above and below deck, and recited the service from the old Book of Common Prayer, calling on the spirit to depart. "Since then we have (had) no problems," Captain Gates told RNS. " We go out most nights and have been taking excellent catches." Father Willis thanked the ship's Owners and crew for being "most helpful and proclaimed the "the spirit is now at peace." Mr. Buckley, the Social Security investigator, said he wished "all suspect claims for unemployment benefits had such a happy outcome."

(Ed. note—Since Anglicans do not have valid orders, they cannot perform exorcisms. Due probably to the genuine faith of the sailors and of the "priest", God helped them.)

 

The following story is probably one of the saddest stories we have ever read…

CULT TURNS GOOD BOY INTO KILLER

by Tom Strong, Associated Press

NEWARK, NJ (A.P.) — In November, Thomas Sullivan Jr.'s Catholic school teacher assigned students to research other religions. The studious 14-year-old did his paper on Hinduism but police say he became more interested in the subject that earned friends an A: satanism.

Within weeks, the all-American neighborhood paperboy became a defiant, hostile teen buried in library books on the occult and listening to heavy metal rock music. 

His teachers noticed the transformation and warned his mother last Thursday. By Saturday night, mother and son were dead.

Police say Sullivan was entranced by the occult as he stabbed his mother at least 12 times and tried to kill his father and 10-year-old brother by setting fire to their Jefferson Township house. Then he slit his throat and wrists with a Boy Scout knife, slumping dead on bloody snow in a neighbor's back yard.

Word of the murder-suicide and the hint of cult worship among other youngsters left the rural 45-square-mile township in northwestern New Jersey searching for answers to questions few ever imagined asking.

"I'm willing to bet there's got to be more involved," Mayor Fran Slayton said. "There's just something that's bothering me about this situation. It bothers me that a good kid like that can go in two weeks."

Counselors are working with Sullivan's classmates at the Rev. George A. Brown Memorial School in nearby Sparta and the mayor said a town meeting has been scheduled for next week to help concerned parents.

"I want fathers and mothers to come and even children to make sure something like this never happens again. Not in Jefferson Township or anywhere. It doesn't hit home until it happens in your backyard," she said.  

Thomas Sullivan Sr. is burying his wife and son in private. But he has spoken to some reporters, recalling how his namesake's obsession turned from model airplanes to the occult and urging parents to heed such changes in their children. 

Sullivan told the New York Daily News that all last week his son had been singing a song "about blood and killing your mother."

He said his son had told a friend of a vision in which Satan came to him, wearing his face, and urged him to kill his family and preach satanism.

"The rest, I think, is history," Sullivan told the New Jersey Nightly News. "I'm surprised I'm still here."

Investigators said the boy indicated in a suicide note that the murder and suicide were planned and influenced by his interest in the occult. They also said the teenager argued with his mother before the attack.

Last week, Sullivan was caught passing a classmate a note that had to be reversed and held up to the light to be read, police Chief George Stamer said.

The note's message seemed to be in Latin and had to do with the occult, he said. Now, Stamer is trying to determine if other area youngsters are involved.

"This is a whole new area for me. I spent most of last night trying to read up on what I could get my hands on," Stamer said. "I made a couple of calls to psychologists, who briefed me a little bit to help me get a better understanding."