Catholic Church

The Doctrine Of Discovery: Repudiate Is Not Revoke

April 1, 2023 Charmaine White Face, Popular Resistance. Educate! Catholic Church, Doctrine of Discovery, Indigenous Sovereignty, Pope

This morning, I had to call my cousin and tell her to stop doing the Snoopy Happy Dance. She was dancing because we had heard the Pope had revoked the Doctrines of Discovery. That was not true. He only ‘repudiated’ the Doctrines of Discovery, not “revoked” them. Then another cousin called and I had to tell him the same thing. There is a difference between ‘repudiate’ and ‘revoke’. The word “repudiate” according to the Mirriam-Webster Dictionary means “to cast off” or “to refuse to have anything to do with” or “to refuse to acknowledge.” We can all do that to those atrocious, horrible, abominable, appalling, and revolting Doctrines that were established by the Catholic Church.

Gracias A Dios: The People’s Church In Nicaragua

March 5, 2023 Becca Renk, LA Progressive. Educate! Catholic Church, Nicaragua, Religion, US coup

“We are not typical Catholics,” explains Yamil Ríos of the Saint Paul the Apostle Christian Base Community in Managua. “Because we don’t have a priest here, thanks be to God.” Around the room parishioners chuckle on their folding chairs which are set up in a half circle. At the front of the room, musicians shift their instruments, gearing up for another upbeat number. In today’s Nicaragua, there is a rupture between the Catholic hierarchy and its abandoned base. The politicized official church has long collaborated with U.S. imperialism and, as a consequence, is losing the community of faith comprised of the poor and working people of Nicaragua.

The Catholic Church Expelled Me For Supporting Women Joining The Priesthood

December 24, 2022 Chris Hedges, The Real News Network. Resistance Report Activism, Catholic Church, Chris Hedges, Religion

As a young man, Roy Bourgeois enlisted to fight in the Vietnam War. After being injured, he became a volunteer at a local orphanage and was inspired to become a priest upon his return to the US. Bourgeois became a priest in Bolivia during the dictatorship of General Hugo Banzer. He decided he could not be an apolitical priest. He spoke out against Banzer’s political repression, leading to his arrest and expulsion from Bolivia. Back in the US, Bourgeois organized protests outside Fort Benning, Georgia where the US was training Salvadorian soldiers to fight the leftist insurgency. He was imprisoned twice for illegally entering the base during planned direct actions against the war. In 2012, Bourgeois was excommunicated by the Catholic Church for supporting the ordination of women.v

Nicaragua’s Truth Commission Presents Its Third Report

February 12, 2019 Stephen Sefton, Tortillaconsal.com Educate! Catholic Church, Latin America, Nicaragua

On February 5 th the third report of the Truth, Justice and Peace Commission (CVJP) an entity created by the Nicaraguan legislature in order to “understand, analyze, and clarify the violent events and deaths that occurred in Nicaragua since April 18, 2018,” was issued. It includes many important new details, including an updated death count, the influence of social networks on the crisis and their psychological impact, and the role of the Catholic Church.

More Guardian Lies About Nicaragua

November 9, 2018 By Nora McCurdy and Nan McCurdy, Popular Resistance Educate! Catholic Church, Nicaragua, US Regime Change

“Cathedral protests highlight Ortega’s broken Alliance with Nicaragua’s church” an article in today’s Guardian by Toby Stirling has no true facts – this has become typical of The Guardian’s reporting on Nicaragua. Even the pictures used are full of lies. Nicaragua has been the victim of an attempted coup by the oligarchs, the Catholic church, US financed NGOs and the US and major media like The Guardian have helped them.

NicaNotes: Smoking Gun Shows Catholic Hierarchy Coup Involvement

November 2, 2018 Chuck Kaufman, Afgj.org Educate! Catholic Church, coup, Latin America, Nicaragua, US Imperialism

One of the “smoking guns,” proving the lie of the opposition and media story about the supposedly peaceful, spontaneous uprising against the “tyrant” Daniel Ortega, was revealed with the release on Oct. 23 of a clandestine recording of a Catholic bishop claiming credit for the failed coup. Members of the Christian Community of Saint John Paul the Apostle church in the 14th of September neighborhood of eastern Managua leaked an audio recording of a meeting Silvio Báez, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Managua, held with peasant leaders for the purpose of destabilizing the government of Nicaragua. The Community members said that Bishop Báez should not be dividing the flock—the people of Nicaragua.

Could Dozens Of Shuttered Catholic Churches Become Immigrant Sanctuaries?

August 24, 2017 Emma Whitford, www.gothamist.com Resist! Catholic Church, Immigration, Sanctuary Cities, Undocumented

By Emma Whitford for Gothamist - Roman Catholic activists are calling on the Archdiocese of New York to take a stronger stance against deportation. While dozens of churches, mosques and synagogues across the city are opening their doors to immigrants, providing everything from know-your-rights training to physical sanctuary from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, they say Cardinal Timothy Dolan isn't doing his share. Some are calling on Dolan to explicitly denounce deportation, while others see an opportunity in the dozens of empty churches across Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx: buildings that have stood empty since August 2015, when the Archdiocese consolidated parishes as part of a sweeping plan to save on maintenance costs, particularly in parishes with dwindling attendance. Roughly 40 NYC churches have been merged into a neighboring parish since the consolidations, according to the archdiocese; 24 of them are closed for worship. The archdiocese, which also includes counties north of the city, shrank by 20 percent in one year. Felix Cepeda, an advocate for immigration rights and church reform, told Gothamist that the recent uptick in immigration enforcement across the country has inspired him.

Protesters Occupy Cathedral Of Chilean Bishop

January 11, 2016 Inés San Martín, www.cruxnow.com Resist! Catholic Church, Child Abuse, Chile, Pope Francis

By Inés San Martín for Crux Now - ROME — Laypeople in Chile opposed to Pope Francis’ appointment of a bishop with ties to the country’s most notorious abuser priest have occupied the local cathedral, demanding the bishop’s resignation. The demonstration came on Saturday, the anniversary of the day Pope Francis announced the appointment one year ago. “We’re Catholics who oppose the pastoral exercise of Bishop [Juan de la Cruz] Barros,” the group, which calls itself the “Lay Men and Women of Osorno,” write in a statement issued Saturday night.

Pope Francis Seeks Forgiveness For Crimes Against ‘Native People’

July 11, 2015 Al Jazeera, www.america.aljazeera.com Resist! Bolivia, Catholic Church, Faith, Indigenous Peoples, Latin America, Pope Francis

By Al Jazeera - Pope Francis cast himself as the spiritual and political leader of the world's oppressed on Thursday evening with a remarkable mea culpa for the sins and crimes of the Catholic Church against the indigenous peoples during the colonial conquest of the Americas. Francis “humbly” begged forgiveness at a gathering of indigenous leaders in Bolivia in the presence of Bolivia's first-ever indigenous president, Evo Morales, the climactic high of Francis' weeklong South American tour. In the speech, Francis noted that Latin American church leaders in the past had acknowledged that “grave sins were committed against the native peoples of America in the name of God.” St. John Paul II, for his part, apologized to the continent's indigenous for the “pain and suffering” caused during the 500 years of the church's presence in the Americas during a 1992 visit to the Dominican Republic.

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