Catholic Church caught in legal deception

The San Diego Archdiocese was recently caught falsifying records in order to hide assets from lawyers trying to get a big judgment for the youngsters who were sexually abused by priests in that area. That Archdiocese is one of the richest ones involved in the lawsuits (so far), but it perjured itself when it lied about its net worth before the court. Nevertheless, it is likely no one will go to jail for the crime, just as few if any priests will see the inside of a jail for the abuse/ rapes they committed. Most the victims seem more interested in the money from the church rather than the actual perpetrators being punished. Like they say, "money talks, justice walks!"

Exorcism Claims Life

Police were called to the scene of a exorcism, and shot a grandfather who was choking his three-year-old grand daughter because she was said to be possessed with demons. The grandfather later died. No word yet on the fate of the demons. See Chick's Crusader Series, THE FORCE and EXORCISTS.

Tammy Faye Messner (Bakker) dies

Tammy Faye Messner, who was once married to PTL televangelist Jim Bakker, died at age 65 from cancer. She was married to Jim Bakker for 30 years and was instrumental in founding the PTL Club and Heritage USA. She divorced Bakker where he served time in prison for fraud (overselling the Lifetime Partnerships to PTL donors). She married Jim's best friend, Roe Messner, a general contractor who helped build PTL and Heritage USA in North and South Carolina. The PTL scandal was revealed in 1987 when it was exposed by the Charlotte Observer newspaper that Jim Bakker had a tryst with Jessica Hahn, a church secretary from Long Island, New York. Tammy Faye stayed by Jim until he went to prison after his federal conviction in 1989, due in part by efforts of Jerry Falwell after he accused the Bakkers of greed and avarice. At least she outlived Jerry Falwell! Jack Chick warned of the Bakkers' compromise of the Gospel over their PTL network when Jim and Tammy Faye invited nuns and priests on their television program. See "Smokescreens" by JTC

Religious Conserivipedia launched

Responding to the left wing swing of Wikipedia entries, religious and right wing net users launch the Conserivipedia at http://www.aboutus.org/ConserviPedia.com
There's no word yet on if it will compete with the popular net based site.

New Chick Tract arrives in Mail

July's new Chick Tract, GUILTY?, arrived in the mail yesterday. It's drawn by Chick himself and tells how a kid saved by a judge from being run over, grows up to become a murderer. Then what happens when he appears before the same judge! See it on-line at Chick.com. GUILTY? is Chick's 199th original tract story. We're having a very special exclusive tract published to celebrate Chick's 200th tract when it comes out in September. It will be a reprint of a tract that NO ONE acknowledged having until A SINGLE COPY was found cut up and rescued from the trash. Check back later for details of this long lost tract and it's reissue here!

More details on the Sex Settlement

More details emerge on the Catholic Sex Abuse settlement in Los Angeles. The average settlement was $1.4 million dollars per person. Insurance and other agencies will pay over half the $660 million. The LA archdiocese will pay about $250 million. Over 120 priests were involved in extracting sexual favors from the youngsters and teens. Most of the victims were teenaged males, making it a homosexual scandal (not a pedophile scandal as promoted by the press). Over 500 seperate claims were paid out. As lawyers see the amount made off this settlement, they will almost certainly look to other states to find other victims (and business). What makes this type of case so attractive to them is the fact the accused has countless millions, is generally assumed to be guilty, and will pay millions of dollars without making the lawyers try the case. (They are afraid of the details of each case being made public.) Expect many more shoes (and drawers) to drop before this controversy is fully exposed.

L.A. Archdiocese settles for $660 million!

Los Angeles, the nation's largest Catholic archdiocese, headed by Cardinal Roger Mahoney, has settled its abuse cases for $660 million. This is by far the largest payout in the church's sexual abuse scandal, The Associated Press has learned.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the plaintiffs reached the deal Saturday, said Ray Boucher, the lead plaintiff's attorney. The archdiocese and the plaintiffs will release a statement Sunday morning and hold a news conference Monday, he said.
The amount, which would average a little more than $1.3 million per plaintiff, exceeded earlier reports that the settlement would be between $600 million and $650 million.
The settlement is the largest ever by a Roman Catholic diocese since the clergy sexual abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002. The largest payout so far has been by the Diocese of Orange, Calif., in 2004, for $100 million.
Facing a flood of abuse claims, five dioceses _ Tucson, Ariz.; Spokane, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Davenport, Iowa, and San Diego _ sought bankruptcy protection.
According to Chick Tract Fan Club President Richard Lee, the Catholic archdiocese in his hometown of Spokane, Washington has emerged out of bankruptcy. Chick has for decades made allegations about coverups in the Roman Catholic Church, but almost no one believed him. See "Alberto"

Pope Benedict: "Catholic Church is only true church"

The Vatican has affirmed that the Roman Catholic Church is the one and only, true church of Jesus Christ to the exclusion of all others in a new doctrinal document released today.
The new document, released from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, will address questions about the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, in Lumen Gentium, that the Church founded by Christ "subsists in the Catholic Church." The document repeats and reinforces the fundamental message of "Dominus Iesus" that the Church founded by Jesus Christ exists fully in the Catholic Church alone, which Pope Benedict XVI approved back when he was just Cardinal Ratzinger, and when John Paul II was pope. The document will critique the notion that other religious bodies may also represent the Church founded by Christ, and caution against the "ecclesial relativism" that Pope Benedict has criticized in the past. This contradicts the holding under Pope John XXIII during Vatican II that Protestants are "separated brethren" along with the ecumenical double talk of other previous popes calling Protestants fellow Christians.
See Chick's "Are Roman Catholics Christian?" http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=52225

The Vatican took a step to the right today as Pope Benedict allows local churches to celebrate the old Latin Mass. Liberals see it a threat that the leadership is undoing the sweeping lunge to The Left that Vatican II accomplished when it removed the mass in the 1960s. Reactionary Jewish groups (i.e., the Anti-Defamation League) are also upset, since the mass includes a prayer on Good Friday for the conversion of the Jews. (Relax guys, if God if Jewish, he probably won't grant the prayer. Then again, if he ISN'T Jewish...) See Chick's ARE ROMAN CATHOLICS CHRISTIAN?