Under siege but vicar of Baghdad is still spreading the word; Malaria fight ‘badly compromised; Orthodox patriarch hits at “unacceptable” attacks on ecumenism; $30,000 Watch Vanishes Up Russian Church Leader’s Sleeve; Chuck Colson in Critical Condition after Surgery, Recovering Slowly; Canadian Government minister rebukes bishops on Catholic sexual teaching
Robert Fisk: Under siege but vicar of Baghdad is still spreading the word
Independent – Andrew White got his blue Iraqi badge on Wednesday – the pass that allows him to move around Baghdad. The Anglican Chaplain to Iraq supported the US invasion – he still thinks Saddam shipped his weapons of mass destruction off to Syria before the Anglo-American armies arrived – and as someone who used an American pass to get about, the end of the occupation must have contained a special irony. “From the day the Americans left, their passes didn’t work any more. I couldn’t do anything. But now I’ve got the new Iraqi badge. It’s fine.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-under-siege-but-vicar-of-baghdad-is-still-spreading-the-word-7624763.html
Malaria fight ‘badly compromised’
BBC – Scientists find new evidence that resistance to the front-line treatments for malaria is increasing.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17628172
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/apr/05/malaria-drug-artemisinin-lose-potency
Orthodox patriarch hits at “unacceptable” attacks on ecumenism
ENI – The spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians has written to Greece’s Orthodox state church, deploring anti-ecumenical statements by its leaders. “Critical voices about ecumenism, long heard in the bosom of the church of Greece, have hitherto been limited in scope – but what has occurred recently has reached unacceptable levels,” said Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople.
“Such opinions evoke anguish and sorrow by running counter to the Orthodox ethos. They risk unforeseen consequences for church unity in general, and the unity of our holy Orthodox church in particular,” he wrote.
http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=5581
$30,000 Watch Vanishes Up Russian Church Leader’s Sleeve
New York Times – Facing a scandal over photographs of its leader wearing an enormously expensive watch, the Russian Orthodox Church worked a little miracle: It made the offending timepiece disappear. Editors doctored a photograph on the church’s Web site of the leader, Patriarch Kirill I, extending a black sleeve where there once appeared to be a Breguet timepiece worth at least $30,000. The church might have gotten away with the ruse if it had not failed to also erase the watch’s reflection, which appeared in the photo on the highly glossed table where the patriarch was seated.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/world/europe/in-russia-a-watch-vanishes-up-orthodox-leaders-sleeve.html
Chuck Colson in Critical Condition after Surgery, Recovering Slowly
Christianity Today – The Prison Fellowship founder fell ill at a conference after having an intracerebral hemorrhage.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/aprilweb-only/colson-critical-condition.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+christianitytoday%2Fctmag+%28Christianity+Today+Magazine%29
Canadian Gvmt minister rebukes bishops on Catholic sexual teaching: ‘You’re not allowed to do that anymore!’
LifeSite News – Catholic schools will no longer be allowed to teach the Catechism’s doctrine that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered,” says a cabinet minister in Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’s government.
As politicians debated a bill that would force Catholic schools to launch gay clubs on March 29th, Member of Provincial Parliament Glen Murray (Toronto Centre) lashed out against Ontario’s bishops over Catholic teaching on homosexuality.
“I have to say to the bishops: ‘You’re not allowed to do that anymore,’” said Murray, an open homosexual who serves as McGuinty’s Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, according to the Hansard transcript.
“I’m not allowed to say to the Catholics—nor should I—or to other Christians or Muslims or Jews, that because of your faith you’re intrinsically disordered,” he continued.
“I would never say to you that anything that goes on in your family with the person you love—can you imagine me describing a husband-and-wife relationship as inherently depraved?” he added.
Suresh Dominic of Campaign Life Catholics said Murray’s comments “amount to a declaration of war against the Catholic Church and all people who support traditional moral values.”
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/gvmt-minister-rebukes-bishops-on-catholic-sexual-teaching-youre-not-allowed