CONCILIO CONSTANTINOPOLITANO I APOSTOLIC LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH FOR THE 1600TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST COUNCIL OFCONSTANTINOPLE AND THE 1550TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE COUNCIL OF EPHESUS
My dear brothers in the Episcopate, I. 1. I am impelled to write you this letter-which is both a theological reflection and a pastoral invitation coming from the depths of my heart-first of all, by the Sixteenth Centenary of the First Council of Constantinople, which was held in the year 381. As I pointed out […]
Wicca’s World: Looking Into the Pagan Phenomenon
Witchcraft is moving into the mainstream in the Netherlands. A Dutch court has ruled that the costs of witchcraft lessons can be tax-deductible, the Associated Press reported Oct. 31, 2005. The previous month, the Leeuwarden District Court confirmed the legal right to write off the costs of schooling — including in witchcraft — against tax […]
Cults: The Threat is Real
MARY KOCHANE Jeannie Mills seemed to have beaten the odds when she defected from Jim Jones’ Peoples’ Temple cult before the 1978 mass murder/suicides of 911 adults and children in Jonestown, Guyana. She had the chance to reflect upon her involvement in the group. Easy to Get In “When you meet the friendliest people you […]
Cults, Movements, World Religions
MARY KOCHANE To many of us, the modern religious landscape appears increasingly confusing, even strange or frightening. No matter how strong in faith and regular in religious practice our families may be, we are not insulated from contact with a bewildering variety of religious expressions, a Babel of “prophetic” voices and a dizzying array of […]
Coming Out of the Cults
Margaret T. Singer, PhD Clinical research has identified specific cult-related emotional problems with which ex-members must cope during their reentry into society. Among them: indecisiveness, uncritical passivity–and fear of the cult itself. The recent upsurge of cults in the United States began in the late 60s and became a highly visible social phenomenon by the […]
Cults, Movements, World Religions
MARY KOCHANE To many of us, the modern religious landscape appears increasingly confusing, even strange or frightening. No matter how strong in faith and regular in religious practice our families may be, we are not insulated from contact with a bewildering variety of religious expressions, a Babel of “prophetic” voices and a dizzying array of […]
Cults: The Threat is Real
MARY KOCHANE Jeannie Mills seemed to have beaten the odds when she defected from Jim Jones’ Peoples’ Temple cult before the 1978 mass murder/suicides of 911 adults and children in Jonestown, Guyana. She had the chance to reflect upon her involvement in the group. Easy to Get In “When you meet the friendliest people you […]