Friday 16 September 2005

Santorum Backs Vatican On Hunt For Gay Priests

Says Church Can Lead Return To Family Values; Suggests Boston As First To Be Cleaned Up

Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) announced yesterday that he "fully supports" the new Vatican initiative of rooting out gay seminarians and priests.

The Vatican has assigned investigators for each of the 229 Roman Catholic seminaries in the United States for "evidence of homosexuality" and for faculty members who dissent from church teaching. The review, called an apostolic visitation, will interview over 4,500 students. The last such review began about 25 years ago and took six years to complete.

The Vatican's action is a response to the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church in 2002. A study commissioned by the church found last year that about 80 percent of the young people victimized by priests were boys.

Santorum, back in 2002, wrote an essay, 'Fishers of Men', for Catholic On-Line and in it, made the charge tying Boston's "liberalism" with the Roman Catholic Church pedophile scandal.

Earlier this year, when given the opportunity to retract of clarify his position, Santorum stood by his remarks and added to them, blaming, in part the Boston Red Sox winning the 2004 Word Series as evidence of the problem.

"This is a city that has believed in a curse for 85-years", stated the junior senator, who is chairman of the Senate Republican Conference. "It's probable that they cursed themselves into the that type of sexuality"

A 12-page document with instructions for the review and distributed to seminarians and faculty members was obtained by the New York Times. Among the questions are;

"Do the seminarians or faculty members have concerns about the moral life of those living in the institution? (This question must be answered)."

"Is there evidence of homosexuality in the seminary? (This question must be answered)."

The questionnaire also asks whether faculty members "watch out for signs of particular friendships."

Santorum believes this is a "good first step" in returning morality to the country and, in turn, family values.

"I think once we clean-up the church", said Santorum, "There's some other institutions we can apply this to. That could mean we look at the Congress as well."

Santorum indicated that he is in preliminary talks with Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council and James Dobson, head of the Focus On Family group, about having a 'No Gay Priests Sunday' rally in the near future.

"Let me say Senator, I believe that, with a runner on third, two outs and your clean-up natter coming to the plate, in my opinion, I would let him hit away ,,,"








President's Speech Lets Millions See St. Louis Cathedral For First Time

On-Line Maps Jammed; Help Lines Flooded With Searches For Landmark On Bourbon Street

As President Bush spoke to the nation last evening in primetime, from Jackson Square in New Orleans, millions of viewers who had visited New Orleans in the past, saw St. Louis Cathedral for the first time - including the President himself.

On-Line maps, such as Google Maps and MapQuest, where jammed most of the evening for searches of 'Bourbon Street' and 'Cathedral on Bourbon Street'. Help lines were bombarded with frustrated users, unable to find St. Louis Cathedral on Bourbon Street, or believing there was an error when it showed up in Jackson Square.

Sources close to the President said he was 'confused' when driving to the location of the speech, and his SUV glided past Bourbon Street. It is reported that he interrupted his conversation to ask the driver if "he knew where he was going".

St. Louis Cathedral, built in the 1720's as a tribute to France's King Louis IX, is located on 615 Pere Antoine Alley, approximately two-blocks from Bourbon Street. Andrew Jackson, for whom there is a statue in front of the cathedral, supposedly laid down his sword on the altar in thanks for his victory in the battle of New Orleans.

In more recent times, St. Louis Cathedral was the location of the marriages of local resident and jazz pianist Harry Connick Jr, as well as former mayor, Marc Morial.

An informal survey by the on-line map help lines show that over 87% didn't know the name or location of St, Louis Cathedral and over 73% never heard of Jackson Square. Of those calling the help lines, 100% knew of Bourbon Street.