Easter is the day Christians celebrate the salvation of the world through the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Easter is the day Christians celebrate the salvation of the world through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a day of great celebration. On that Sunday, it is traditional for pastors and priests to greet the congregation by proclaiming “Christ is risen!” To which the congregation responds, “He is risen indeed!” Some years ago, someone told me the following story. I do not know if it is true. I hope it is.

Back during the dark days of the Soviet Union, a small rural village far from Moscow committed a cardinal sin, at least a cardinal sin the eyes of the Communist state. They refused to give up their Russian Orthodox faith. They refused to stop attending worship on Sunday. Their “crime” called for re-education in order to wean the village off the “opiate of the people.” Therefore, the whole village — every man, woman and child — was ordered by the authorities to the village’s central square. In a chilling cold, they were forced to stand for hours and listen to speaker after speaker, denounce religion, Russian Orthodoxy, their priests and their faith. Finally, in order to be “fair,” the re-educators asked the village priest to come to the podium. He was very old and nearly bent double with age. He did not appear to be any threat to the people’s re-education.

The KGB agent in charge said to him, “You have exactly 10 minutes to challenge our arguments.”The old priest looked up and said, “I will not need that much time.”He moved slowly, almost painfully, to the microphone and then something remarkable, miraculous, occurred. He stood up straight. The years of age melted away; his eyes became clear and bright. He looked out over the crowd and in a strong, loud voice proclaimed the traditional Easter greeting: “Christ is risen!”

And the crowd roared back, “He is risen indeed!”

Then the crowd went nuts, cheering, hugging and crying, as the old priest, smiled kindly at the KGB agent, slowly bent back to nearly double, and shuffled off the podium.

There can be little doubt that over the centuries the arguments between different “brands” of Christianity have made a real mess of things: Catholic versus Protestant, conservative Christian versus liberal Christian, evangelicals versus mainline denominations. Tragically, people, such as during the Reformation or more recently in Northern Ireland, have even died over these arguments and disagreements. (Add to this, the wars that have raged over conflicts between religions and one has to wonder how anyone in their right mind can keep faith!) Nevertheless, despite all of these tragic disagreements, Christians all over the world for centuries have joined together on Easter Sunday, just as they will tomorrow, to confess in unity and unison, “Christ is risen!” This confession is the glue that holds Christian people together!

I cannot help but ask, in the light of the rancorous and sometimes violent debates that have raged recently in our nation’s Capitol: “What is the glue that holds us, the American people, together?” Have we become so fragmented, angry, arrogant or disillusioned that we can no longer debate the great issues of our time with civility? Have we lost the understanding that not only are we all unique creations of God, but also that our “uniqueness” means we may not always see the world in the same way; that what seems obvious to one is obscure to another, that what seems right to one is not so right to another? Like the “brands” of Christianity, can we not find a confession around which we can unify; a song we can sing in unison? I hope and pray we can. For without a glue to hold us together, we will become tattered and frayed. Our life as a nation will slowly, but surely, ebb away.

Easter, for those of us who are Christian, is not only a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, but an acknowledgement that there is always the possibility of new life. No matter how dark and dreary the days may be, spring is always just around the corner. It is in this hope, an Easter hope, that perhaps all of us, regardless of our creed or religion, can agree to put aside our rancor and anger, strive for civility, and work and pray together for new life for our nation and our world. Perhaps we might join hands and sing together in hope and unison the prayer written by Irving Berlin in the dark days prior to World War II:

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, my home sweet home.

Easter is the day Christians celebrate the salvation of the world through the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Easter is the day Christians celebrate the salvation of the world through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a day of great celebration. On that Sunday, it is traditional for pastors and priests to greet the congregation by proclaiming “Christ is risen!” To which the congregation responds, “He is risen indeed!” Some years ago, someone told me the following story. I do not know if it is true. I hope it is.

Back during the dark days of the Soviet Union, a small rural village far from Moscow committed a cardinal sin, at least a cardinal sin the eyes of the Communist state. They refused to give up their Russian Orthodox faith. They refused to stop attending worship on Sunday. Their “crime” called for re-education in order to wean the village off the “opiate of the people.” Therefore, the whole village — every man, woman and child — was ordered by the authorities to the village’s central square. In a chilling cold, they were forced to stand for hours and listen to speaker after speaker, denounce religion, Russian Orthodoxy, their priests and their faith. Finally, in order to be “fair,” the re-educators asked the village priest to come to the podium. He was very old and nearly bent double with age. He did not appear to be any threat to the people’s re-education.

The KGB agent in charge said to him, “You have exactly 10 minutes to challenge our arguments.”The old priest looked up and said, “I will not need that much time.”He moved slowly, almost painfully, to the microphone and then something remarkable, miraculous, occurred. He stood up straight. The years of age melted away; his eyes became clear and bright. He looked out over the crowd and in a strong, loud voice proclaimed the traditional Easter greeting: “Christ is risen!”

And the crowd roared back, “He is risen indeed!”

Then the crowd went nuts, cheering, hugging and crying, as the old priest, smiled kindly at the KGB agent, slowly bent back to nearly double, and shuffled off the podium.

There can be little doubt that over the centuries the arguments between different “brands” of Christianity have made a real mess of things: Catholic versus Protestant, conservative Christian versus liberal Christian, evangelicals versus mainline denominations. Tragically, people, such as during the Reformation or more recently in Northern Ireland, have even died over these arguments and disagreements. (Add to this, the wars that have raged over conflicts between religions and one has to wonder how anyone in their right mind can keep faith!) Nevertheless, despite all of these tragic disagreements, Christians all over the world for centuries have joined together on Easter Sunday, just as they will tomorrow, to confess in unity and unison, “Christ is risen!” This confession is the glue that holds Christian people together!

I cannot help but ask, in the light of the rancorous and sometimes violent debates that have raged recently in our nation’s Capitol: “What is the glue that holds us, the American people, together?” Have we become so fragmented, angry, arrogant or disillusioned that we can no longer debate the great issues of our time with civility? Have we lost the understanding that not only are we all unique creations of God, but also that our “uniqueness” means we may not always see the world in the same way; that what seems obvious to one is obscure to another, that what seems right to one is not so right to another? Like the “brands” of Christianity, can we not find a confession around which we can unify; a song we can sing in unison? I hope and pray we can. For without a glue to hold us together, we will become tattered and frayed. Our life as a nation will slowly, but surely, ebb away.

Easter, for those of us who are Christian, is not only a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, but an acknowledgement that there is always the possibility of new life. No matter how dark and dreary the days may be, spring is always just around the corner. It is in this hope, an Easter hope, that perhaps all of us, regardless of our creed or religion, can agree to put aside our rancor and anger, strive for civility, and work and pray together for new life for our nation and our world. Perhaps we might join hands and sing together in hope and unison the prayer written by Irving Berlin in the dark days prior to World War II:

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, my home sweet home.

JAKARTA,Indonesians bury popular former President Wahid

President Abdurrahman Wahid, center

JAKARTA, Indonesia Thousands of mourners thronged roads Thursday in Indonesia to say farewell to late President Abdurrahman Wahid, a beloved, one-eyed cleric who reached out to religious minorities in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.Wahid, who ruled for nearly two years of tumult as Indonesia embarked on a path to democracy in 1999 after three decades of dictatorship, died in a hospital Wednesday. He was 69.A memorial service was led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono before the burial in Wahid’s East Java hometown of Jombang, where about 10,000 supporters prayed over his remains, which were wrapped in white sheets.The televised service began a week of national mourning during which flags will be flown at half-staff. Some official New Year’s Eve celebrations were canceled.There was a massive outpouring of sentiment for a man whose open style, impromptu joke telling and naps during his own speeches endeared him to the masses. Weeping admirers lit candles and incense and said prayers at vigils held at mosques, churches, temples, schools and landmarks.Wahid, known fondly by his nickname Gus Dur, was a democratic reformer and proponent of moderate Islam who ultimately was unable to implement his ambitious ideas amid the financial and political chaos that dominated the vast island state of 235 million people during his presidency.

A White House statement said Wahid was “a pivotal figure” in Indonesia’s transition to free government who “will be remembered for his commitment to democratic principles, inclusive politics, and religious tolerance.”During his short term, from October 1999 to July 2001, Wahid led a broad coalition of unity but was eventually impeached after firing Yudhoyono, then a Cabinet minister, for refusing to declare a state of emergency when the army positioned tanks facing the Presidential Palace.

Wahid had been in the intensive care unit of Ciptomangunkusumo Hospital in Jakarta for the past week.The former president died during surgery to remove a blood clot in his heart, said professor Yusuf Misbach, head of his medical team. Wahid’s condition had deteriorated because of complications with diabetes and kidney failure, he said.

Wahid had struggled with illness for years and was confined to a wheelchair. Nearly blind, he also suffered serious kidney problems and diabetes.Presidential spokesman Julian Pasha noted Wahid’s widespread popularity, saying “we lost one of our greatest figures, who was very much loved by people from all walks of life.”

Abdurrahman Wahid, a long-serving head of the Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Islamic group, pushed for interfaith dialogue and accepted an invitation to visit Israel in October 1994.In 1997, he traveled to Tel Aviv where he jointly signed a peace charter promoted by the Simon Perez Institute, a courageous effort at diplomacy in a country that still has no formal diplomatic ties with the Jewish state.

“We have lost a true friend and a warrior for peace and mutual respect,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “As a devout Muslim with a following of tens of millions, Mr. Wahid was unafraid to condemn unambiguously terrorism in all its forms.””He was a very open person. … All minorities, underdogs or those suffering always felt secure with him. That was very extraordinary,” said Franz Magnis-Suseno, a Catholic priest. “He was a humanist. … For people like me, he emitted a friendly Islam that made us feel safe.”

Wahid was an opponent of Suharto in the dictator’s final years in power. Wahid attempted to establish a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate political killings, disappearances and massacres during Suharto’s 32-year rule, but political opposition was too great.Wahid was elected Indonesia’s third president on Oct. 20, 1999. While in office, he worked for peaceful solutions to secessionist movements in restive provinces such as Aceh and Papua.He visited East Timor after it became a new nation and apologized for human rights abuses committed by Indonesian forces during its brutal 24-year occupation.(AP)

2nd Irish bishop quitting over Dublin report abuse

Bishop Donal Murray

DUBLIN  A second Roman Catholic bishop in Ireland announced Wednesday he will resign in the wake of a damning investigation into decades of church cover-up of child abuse in the Dublin archdiocese.Bishop Jim Moriarty revealed his decision to priests and other church officials in his diocese of Kildare and Leithlin, southwest of Dublin. Church officials said Moriarty planned to travel soon to Rome to tender his resignation directly to Pope Benedict XVI, who has sole power to hire and fire bishops.Moriarty said he accepted the investigators’ finding that he failed to react properly when told about abuse cases, particularly of one priest convicted of molesting girls in 1997. But he insisted that his own inaction reflected his colleagues’ poor communication and secrecy.”It does not serve the truth to overstate my responsibility and authority within the archdiocese. Nor does it serve the truth to overlook the fact that the system of management and communications was seriously flawed,” Moriarty said in a prepared statement.

“However, with the benefit of hindsight, I accept that, from the time I became an auxiliary bishop, I should have challenged the prevailing culture.”Last week Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick resigned, becoming the first high-profile casualty of a government-ordered probe into the church’s failure to tell authorities about more than 170 suspected child abusers in the Dublin priesthood.

That 720-page report, published Nov. 26, examined the cases of 46 pedophile priests in detail. It found that church leaders in Dublin chronically shielded these priests from the law for decades until 1995, when growing public anger over the practice forced the church to begin handing its files on some cases to police.

Abuse victims welcomed Wednesday’s resignation announcement – but emphasized that they believe three other serving bishops named in the report must quit too.”It is immensely distressing and insulting to survivors of sexual abuse to be forced to listen as one bishop after another justifies his position and attempts to hold on to power until he is shamed into resigning,” said Maeve Lewis, director of an abuse-victims support group called One in Four.

“The bishops do not seem to understand the depravity of the culture that prevailed, and the horror inflicted on countless children,” she said. “Ultimately, the resignations of all the auxiliary bishops named in the report are inevitable.”Moriarty, who served as a Dublin auxiliary bishop from 1991 to 2002, initially insisted he’d done nothing wrong. “I do not consider that there are any grounds there upon which I should resign from office,” he said Dec. 10.

But Moriarty changed that line after senior church figures met Benedict in Rome that same day, and Murray announced his resignation.The report found Moriarty guilty of inaction in the face of abuse complaints, particularly involving the Rev. Paul McGennis.The investigators’ search of Dublin church records discovered that the church began keeping internal records of McGennis’ pedophilia as early as 1960, when he was caught taking pictures of naked girls.

The report found that Moriarty received renewed abuse reports against McGennis in 1993 but did nothing. McGennis was convicted in 1997 of abusing two girls and served half of an 18-month prison sentence.The investigators determined that church leaders, including Moriarty, made no attempt to check its own past files on McGennis. “Bishop Moriarty pointed out to the commission that he did not have access to the archives, but he could have asked the archbishop to conduct a search,” the report said.Moriarty is 73, two years short of the church’s mandatory retirement age. Five other past Dublin bishops identified in the report have already retired, while several others are dead.

BAGHDAD A bomb targeting a church in northern Iraq killed two men

Shiite Muslim men

BAGHDAD  A bomb targeting a church in northern Iraq killed two men and damaged the historic building Wednesday, a day before Christmas Eve services that will be heavily guarded for fear of more attacks on the country’s Christian minority.The bomb in the city of Mosul was hidden under sacks of baking flour in a handcart left 15 yards (meters) from the Mar Toma Church, or the Church of St. Thomas, a police officer said.

The officer said the two men killed were Muslims and that five other people were injured. A hospital official confirmed the casualties.Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information to news media.

“Instead of performing Christmas Mass in this church, we will be busy removing rubble and debris,” Hazim Ragheed, a priest at the church, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.The blast damaged the wooden doors, windows, some furniture and one of the walls of the church, which is more than 1,200 years old, Ragheed said. Services will be moved out of the church, but Ragheed did not say where they would be held.

“We demand that the government put an end to these repeated attacks,” Ragheed said.The blast occurred in an area where streets have been closed to cars and trucks to protect Mosul’s dwindling Christian population.

Iraqi defense officials warned earlier in the week that intelligence reports pointed to attacks during Christmas, leading the government to step up security near churches and Christian neighborhoods.Most of the increased security will be in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk, said Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari.

Christians have frequently been targeted since turmoil swept the country after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, although the attacks have ebbed with an overall drop in violence. Still, tens of thousands of Christians have fled; many who stayed were isolated in neighborhoods protected by barricades and checkpoints.A coordinated bombing campaign in 2004 targeted churches in the Iraqi capital and anti-Christian violence also flared in September 2007 after Pope Benedict XVI made comments perceived to be against Islam.

Churches, priests and businesses have been attacked by militants who denounce Christians as pro-American “crusaders.” Paulos Rahho, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul, was found dead in March 2008 after being abducted by gunmen after a Mass.

Also Wednesday, Iraqi forces increased security around the Shiite religious observance of Ashoura, which coincides with Christmas.Insurgents have routinely targeted pilgrims on their way to the southern holy city of Karbala during Ashoura, which marks the seventh-century death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hussein.More than 25,000 Iraqi police and soldiers have been assigned to protect pilgrims, said Karbala police Capt. Alaa Abbas Jaafar, a media spokesman.

Elsewhere, gunmen stormed a checkpoint Wednesday in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, killing four Iraqi police officers, two police officials said.

A bomb planted on a minibus killed two people and injured five in a Shiite neighborhood in north Baghdad, police and hospital officials said. Another bomb in Fallujah targeted an Anbar University professor but missed and killed the man’s brother, police said.

priest wins $100,000 for church in poker game

poker tournament

COLUMBIA, S.C.  A South Carolina priest missed the $1 million top prize in a poker tournament to be televised this weekend but he won $100,000 for his church and he hopes his participation gives viewers a “fun twist” on their perceptions of the priesthood.The Rev. Andrew Trapp said he entered the PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge in hopes of putting St. Michael Catholic Church “super close” to its $5.5 million fundraising goal to build a new facility. He also wanted to strike a public relations blow for priests.”At the very least, even if I didn’t win any prize money, I was hoping it would help people to see that priests can have fun and be normal people and hopefully get a little bit of a fun twist on the image of the priesthood,” the assistant pastor said Tuesday.

The top prize went to retired New York Police detective Mike Kosowski. But Trapp won $100,000, untaxed, in a semifinal round in October for the coastal church’s building fund, which has amassed $4 million after four years of fundraising.

For the final episode, a camera crew filmed a Sunday Mass at the church, about 10 miles southwest of Myrtle Beach, and taped Trapp talking about the need for a new building.

“It’s really old. It’s too small for our needs, and it’s really vulnerable if a hurricane comes,” he says in a segment on PokerStars.net.He adds, “God gave me a gift of playing cards – that interest, that hobby – and I could put it to use to help build our church. That just was really exciting for me.”Congregants will gather Sunday afternoon at the church to watch the final televised round.

The 28-year-old Aiken native said he started playing poker in middle school at family gatherings. But it was in seminary in Columbus, Ohio, that he learned Texas Hold ‘Em.

“We just played for fun,” he said. “It was just a way to hang out with each other and to enjoy each other’s company.”Ordained in July 2007, Trapp is the youngest Catholic priest in the statewide diocese.”A lot of young people out there, young Catholics, have never seen a young priest,” he said, adding that maybe the show will lead others to consider the profession.

Before playing, Trapp got permission from his pastor, who told him to “go for it.” The Charleston bishop later gave him permission to be on TV, he said.Joseph Ohens, executive assistant to the bishop, confirmed Trapp had the bishop’s permission. “He wanted to show the world that priests are human beings like every one of us. … He wanted to demystify priesthood.”

To earn a spot on the poker finals, Trapp had to place among the top 10 in a free Internet tournament involving 10,000 contestants, then submit a two-minute audition video.Trapp said he knew he would be chosen if he could just earn the right to audition: A poker-playing priest would attract attention and viewers. He played in his priestly attire. Since that’s what he’s used to wearing, it would’ve felt weird not to, he said.

PokerStars.net notes Trapp’s profession in promoting the show, calling it “a story of biblical proportions.” Officials from PokerStars.net did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Trapp calls it a game show where, instead of answering trivia questions, he plays cards. “This isn’t even gambling, so to speak,” he said, since everything, including the trips to Los Angeles, was cost-free to him and the church.

Trapp said the Catholic church doesn’t see a moral problem with playing cards or games of chance, within reason.”It’s a question of moderation – just like anything else,” he said. “We believe it’s fine to enjoy a beer or glass of wine, but not to abuse it to get drunk.”