Crystal

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Posts by Crystal

• 
  9

  Toll free number for sex offenders.

  by Bleep in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  call 1 - 800 - try - pray.. if that line is busy call 911.

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  Crystal

  Main Entry: 1bleep
  Pronunciation: 'blEp
  Function: noun
  Etymology: imitative
  Date: 1953
  : a short high-pitched sound (as from electronic equipment
• 
  5

  Will the JW demand answers, like the Catholics?

  by Crystal in

  1. social
  2. current

  religion.

  catholics seek a voice in church's response to scandals.

  meeting: lay members gather to demand greater openness from leaders and more decision-making power.. .

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  Crystal

  RELIGION
  Catholics Seek a Voice in Church's Response to Scandals
  Meeting: Lay members gather to demand greater openness from leaders and more decision-making power.

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  By CAROL EISENBERG, NEWSDAY

  Carol Bongiorno and her husband, Joseph, had planned a Vermont vacation this month. But the retired couple from Williston Park, N.Y., recently postponed those plans to join thousands of Roman Catholics who are gathering in Boston today to take back their church.

  "I'm very disappointed in how the hierarchy has handled this pedophilia scandal," said Carol Bongiorno, 65, a devout Catholic who sent her four children to Catholic grade schools and who has helped lead a parish prayer group for 25 years. "I don't want to leave the church. But now that I know what I know, I have to take responsibility and do something about it."

  Though some Catholics have looked to Rome and to the recent bishops meeting in Dallas for a panacea to the scandals bedeviling the church, more than 4,000 of the faithful are headed to a daylong meeting in the Hynes Convention Center in Boston to chart their own path by claiming a voice in the church they love. They are mainstream Catholics for the most part, many of whom like the Bongiornos are pillars of their parishes. And now, as part of a fledgling but fast-growing group, Voice of the Faithful, they are coming together to demand greater openness and accountability from church leaders, as well as a greater decision-making role for the laity.

  "This is very significant because this is a moderate group at this point, trying to work with the institutional church, but also demanding accountability and collaboration," said R. Scott Appleby, director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame. "The people who are participating are very respectable, very mainstream. These are not extremists or radicals or people pushing a special cause. They're concerned about the general lack of accountability of the leadership, and they're calling their church to higher standards."

  Established just five months ago in a church basement in a suburb of Boston, Voice of the Faithful has caught on across the country in a climate of disenchantment and distrust among the laity. The group, whose motto is "Keep the faith, change the church," now claims 19,000 members in 40 states and 21 countries. With mostly word-of-mouth promotion, organizers say that they expect a sold-out crowd for all 5,000 spots in the Hynes Convention Center, at $20 per ticket.

  Today's meeting will be a critical moment for the group. Though Pope John Paul II spoke about sex abuse in his meeting with the American cardinals in Rome, and the bishops had their say in Dallas, "this is the laity's turn," said Jim Post, newly elected president of Voice of the Faithful and a professor of management at Boston University. "This is the first opportunity for us to speak in a national forum since this great scandal broke six months ago."

  For the first time, too, Catholics of divergent backgrounds -- many of whom signed onto Voice of the Faithful via its Internet site (www.votf.org)--will come together to discuss how to build a national framework for the group, as well as developing strategies for change. At the top of that list is expected to be an alternative fund-raising mechanism that would enable Catholics to support Catholic charities while bypassing bishops' appeals.

  But the group's challenges are formidable, from maintaining momentum as the media drumbeat diminishes, to unifying a diverse membership, to translating the rhetoric of change into reality in a hierarchical and cleric-driven church.

  "It's one thing to say, 'I love the faith, and I'm angry at the church,' "said David O'Brien, director of the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., who will speak today. "It's another thing to make a sustained effort over a long period of time to bring about change."

  Many of those going to Boston say they are ready to roll up their sleeves and do just that.

  "There's a feeling among many cradle Catholics that we're sort of childlike in our faith," said Melissa Gradel of New York City, 36, a mother of two who has served on her parish council at St. Boniface Church and who is one of 10 people from the parish going to the meeting in Boston.

  "We let the priests take care of us, and we listen to what they tell us.... I think that part of the message of the mess we're in now is that we have to grow up in our faith and act like adults."
• 
  3

  Prosecuting for aiding and abetting/Bill O'Reilly

  by Crystal in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,58101,00.html.

  notice the interesting comment about the federal gov.

  and about the catholics and how the people involved should be prosecuted.. .

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  Crystal

  http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,58101,00.html

  Notice the interesting comment about the federal gov. and about the Catholics and how the people involved should be prosecuted.

  By Bill O'Reilly

  To watch "The Memo" click here.

  Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thanks for watching us tonight.

  Once in a while a story comes along that is so painful to report that I wish I didn't have to do it. That is the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo.

  Little Samantha Runnion is dead, 5-years-old, kidnapped, killed by an evil person who deserves to be locked away, isolated from other inmates, and made to do hard labor for the rest of his life.

  It is inconceivable that a person could do this to an innocent child. And the killer's level of evil rivals that of Osama bin Laden.

  Each year in the United States, about 100 children are abducted by strangers, according to the Justice Department. Most of the kids are recovered alive. We hope that's the case with Elizabeth Smart, but things look dim.

  Approximately 725,000 are reported missing each year, and many of those cases are not solved. That's a bit under what we reported yesterday, and we're sorry for the error.

  The no spin truth is that children are being threatened in America, and our federal government must intervene.

  Every day in the USA, law enforcement gets more than 2,000 calls about vanishing kids.

  My solution is, for Congress to pass the Violence Against Children Act of 2002. And we are looking for some sponsors, congresspeople. Just contact us.

  Now, that law would hand over the prosecution of people charged with harming anyone under the age of 16 to the federal authorities. Separate courts would be set up, and the prosecutions would be fast tracked, no delays, no frivolous defense tactics in the courtroom. Upon conviction, the child offender would be sentenced to a separate federal penitentiary located in an isolated region. There the criminal would be placed by himself in a cell and mandated to do hard labor six days a week.

  Federal sentencing guidelines would be strict. No parole would be possible.

  Under the Violence Against Children Act would be crimes of murder, rape, kidnapping, sexual molestation, and felony abuse of children. And that would include the sale of narcotics to a child.

  Now, many Americans distrust the federal government. I understand that. But the feds have the power in our system. State of Florida cannot control the child abuse problem down there. Another terrible crime happened this week. We'll report on it in a few moments.

  And poor little Rilya Wilson might not ever be found.

  It's clear that Florida and many other states simply cannot protect children at risk.

  In any case, American children must be protected from evil, and the feds are best equipped to do that. We applaud the authorities in San Diego that fast-tracked the murder case of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. But the state judge took a vacation right in the middle of the trial. Could you believe it?

  Too often, crimes against children are not prosecuted effectively. The scandal within the Catholic Church is another good example, as local authorities are simply frightened of powerful people like Cardinals Law and Mahony.

  As Talking Points has stated, these men should be prosecuted for aiding and abetting the rape of children.

  So once again, we are calling for the federal government to pass the Violence Against Children Act. And let's see who steps up.

  That's
• 
  9

  Toll free number for sex offenders.

  by Bleep in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  call 1 - 800 - try - pray.. if that line is busy call 911.

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  Crystal

  And the ones that helped cover up the crime and the ones that sent them to other cong. without warning parents.And the ones that "choose" to be blind by the facts,they will all be "weeded out"

  One thing you guys are saying is true "god will take care of it" Looks like he is takeing care of it by exposing this sick cult. What filthy house cleaning he has to do!!Most of us here want to help him.How about you Bleep...ready to finally roll up your sleaves?
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  4

  Blood vs. Pedophilia

  by DanTheMan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  let's say suzy witness told the elders in her jw congregation that her jw father had been secretly forcing blood transfusions on her when they were alone.

  what would happen?

  how differently the matter would be treated than if she went to them and told them she had been being molested?.

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  Crystal

  .....and a blood transfusion is not even against the law!! They have really great priorities!
• 
  9

  Toll free number for sex offenders.

  by Bleep in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  call 1 - 800 - try - pray.. if that line is busy call 911.

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• 

  Crystal

  "It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his
  neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones."Luke - ch.17 vs.2:

  call 1-800-Jump-in the ocean!!!!
• 
  18

  Will Bill Bowen Be Disfellowshipped Wednesday

  by Kenneson in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the watchtower just doesn't get it.

  they won't be satified until they disfellowship bill.

  another hearing is scheduled for wednesday.

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  Crystal

  If they do disfellowship him it will prove our point!When the media gets wind of this everybody is going to know just how corrupt the org. is.

  If they had any sense they would just leave it alone,but they dont,and they will be the ones responsible for their own demise ...its a beautiful thing!
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  40

  PLEASE be nice to the newbies!

  by Mulan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  on thursday evening, i received a phone call from a young woman, i have been helping by talking and emailing.

  i have never met her.

  bill bowen put her in touch with me nearly a year ago.

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  Crystal

  http://groups.msn.com/SurvivorsofJW/_homepage.msnw?pgmarket=en-us

  She will find people here that are supportive.I did.
• 
  60

  Romance status

  by Crystal in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  just curious as to who is single and who is not on this board.i have been with my boyfriend going on 3 years now.

  we just moved in together in feb.for the most part we get along great but he has some weird habits.he also thinks i spend too much time on this site(which i do...but heck i finally belong!!

  )so its hard to relate to him on the subject.he thinks i should just forget about it.sometimes i think i might be better off with someone who has more or less been where i have.

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  Crystal

  Just curious as to who is single and who is not on this board.I have been with my boyfriend going on 3 years now. We just moved in together in Feb.For the most part we get along great but he has some weird habits.He also thinks i spend too much time on this site(which I do...but heck I finally belong!!)So its hard to relate to him on the subject.He thinks I should just forget about it.Sometimes i think i might be better off with someone who has more or less been where i have.(Maybe not,they might be as screwed up as i am)
• 
  16

  Notice to GB - She became our little Girl!

  by Amazing in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  notice to the governing body: today, as the arrest was discussed in the news media by officer corona, the sherrif of orange, county, california, speaking of samantha runion, he said to the accused, "mr. avila, she became our little girl!

  " ... yes, the police, public and media joined forces to find the girl and the perpetrator ... as though she was their own daughter.

  that is what we call community committment, love, and concern.

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  Crystal

  Im with Francois !!All THE WAY
  http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-me-kidnap20jul20.story