Zeker op het vasteland wordt er zo veel in de vergeetput gestopt. Men ziet in België praktisch geen gehandicapten op straat of in de openbare gebouwen zoals zwembaden, sportcentra en andere.

De media houden er aan om alles zo mooi rooskleurig voor te stellen en de vele tijdschriften dringen de mensen een luxueus beeld op met allerlei prachtige woonomgevingen en culinaire escapades.

Politiek hart niet bij de zaak

Meerdere Belgen voelen zich op straat gezet - Foto GvA

Sommige politici krijgen wel de job toegewezen om de minder bedeelden in dit land onder ogen te houden, maar laten duidelijk voelen dat hun hart niet bij die zaak ligt. Sommige zaken worden zelfs makkelijk gebagatelliseerd. Velen willen ons doen geloven dat de Belgische regering zich geen zorgen moet maken, vooral omdat er, in tegenstelling tot een overschrijding van de begrotingsnormen, er geen sancties zijn verbonden aan het missen van de armoededoelstelling. anders zou men wel anders kraaien.

Decennium doelen uitgesteld tot 2020

In de zogenaamde Europa 2020-strategie beloofden alle 27 lidstaten om het aantal armen te verminderen met 20 miljoen. Die doelstelling lijkt ver af.

GM opgedoekt na veel palaver en vele loze beloften

Als wij enkel België bekijken zien wij daar al een aangroei van het aantal mensen met een risico op armoede of sociale uitsluiting van 20,2 tot 20,8 procent. Dat brengt het totaal op 2,23 miljoen. In 2008 moesten reeds 110.000 Belgen een beroep doen op voedselbanken. In de speciale voorzieningshuizen is het nu soms aanschuiven om met tweedehands spullen en voedselpakketten het leven te verzachten. Op het vlak van werkvoorziening heeft België ook niet echt iets om trots op te zijn. Het mag zelfs ongelofelijk zijn dat deze regering nog steeds cadeautjes uitdeelt aan bedrijven zonder er zekerheden voor in de plaats te willen.  Philips, Renault, GM, Arcelor Mittal en andere mochten op staatssteun rekenen maar konden met gemak de vele arbeiders in reorganisatie de laan uitsturen of op vervroegd en brugpensioen sturen, om zo de gehele bevolking hiervoor te alten opdraaien, terwijl zij de winsten wel konden verzilveren. Met 13 procent is België samen met Groot-Brittannië koploper van het aantal mensen dat in een gezin woont waar bijna niemand een job heeft. Deze mensen zullen extra hard getroffen worden door de besparingen in de werkloosheidsuitkeringen. Ook dat verscheidene mensen verplicht uit het werkcircuit zijn genomen en niet veel mogen bijverdienen duwt meerdere mensen in een hoekje waar het niet makkelijk is om een heel gezin van de nodige middelen te voorzien. Ook al vroegen die ouderen niet om op pensioen gesteld te worden, worden nu hun kansen ontnomen om een redelijk inkomen te hebben of te behouden.

Cijfers

Winteropvang met warme maaltijd

Met een vertraging van twee jaar komen cijfers boven water. Als wij dus nu de statistieken van Eurostat inkijken moeten wij goed beseffen dat er nog geen rekening is gehouden met de gevolgen van de eurocrisis in landen als Griekenland, Spanje en Portugal.

Eurostat hanteert drie criteria om te onderzoeken hoeveel armen er zijn in Europa. Ze tellen het aantal mensen dat een lager inkomen heeft dan 60 procent van de inkomensmediaan, het aantal mensen dat dingen als de huur, facturen en andere standaardproducten niet kan betalen en het aantal mensen dat in een huishouden leeft waarvan alle leden minstens deeltijds werkloos zijn.

In Europa zijn er 115.479.000 mensen die onder één of meerdere van die criteria vallen. Dat is 23,5 procent van de bevolking, een stijging met 0,3 procent ten opzichte van 2009.

Image via Wikipedia

Ook al is het in België nog niet zo erg als in de Oost Europese landen zullen wij er toch hard moeten op toekijken dat het niet gaat escaleren.

Voor 2010 zijn het die landen die eigenlijk beter nog niet in de gemeenschap waren opgenomen wegens hun achterstand, zoals Bulgarije (42%) en Roemenië (41%). Maar ook Letland (38%), Litouwen (33%) en Hongarije (30%) valt de beurt om minder goed geplaatst te zijn. Duidelijk vindt men er nog een veel te groot aantal personen die in risico van armoede of sociale uitsluiting werden geregistreerd. Verwonderlijk mag  Tsjechië (14%), Zweden en Nederland (beide 15%) vervoegen, terwijl Oostenrijk, Finland en Luxemburg (elk 17%) ook niet zo slecht boeren.

Armoededrempels

Armoede barometer

In 2008 lag de armoededrempel voor een alleenstaande op 860 euro, terwijl het leefloon 20% lager lag (698 euro). In België behoorde in 2009 14,6 % van de Belgische bevolking tot de groep die een verhoogd armoederisico loopt. De armoededrempel bedroeg toen 966 euro per maand, welk een stijging was tegenover de voorgaande 899 euro van  7,5 % . Die armoedenorm bedraagt voor dit jaar voor een alleenstaande 1.013 euro per maand.  Voor een koppel moet je er volgens Europese normen 50% bijtellen, zodat 1.520 euro nodig is per maand.  Per kind (beneden de 14 jaar) moet nog 304 euro bij geteld worden.

Velen moeten het echter met veel, veel minder stellen. De minimumwerkloosheidsuitkering voor een alleenstaande bedraagt binnenkort 898,3 euro per maand.  Dat is 11,3% te weinig om geen armoede te riskeren. Iemand met een leefloon gaat naar 770,2 euro per maand als hij of zij alleenstaande is.  Dat is 24% te weinig.  Voor een koppel zonder kinderen stelt het OCMW 1.026,9 euro ter beschikking. Dat is 32,4 % onder de norm.

Armoederisico in Vlaanderen

1 op 10 Vlamingen loopt een verhoogd armoederisico. Bij ouderen is dat percentage dubbel zo hoog. Zij hebben 19,4% kans om in armoede terecht te komen. 213 438 vijfenzestigplussers moeten het stellen met een inkomen dat onder de armoededrempel ligt. België heeft één van de laagste pensioenen van Europa. Geen wonder dat heel wat ouderen moeilijk rondkomen. Vooral de oudste ouderen en alleenstaande oudere vrouwen lopen een hoger armoederisico. 41% van de 65-plussers kan de uitgaven voor gezondheidszorgen moeilijk betalen en 9% van de 65-plussers moet het gebruik van gezondheidsdiensten uitstellen.

Eén van de meerdere arme straatjes die België rijk is

In België hebben toch nog 5.9% inwoners veel te veel materieel te kort en riskeert 14.6% nog ernstige armoede na sociale voorzieningen. Met 2 235 000 had men in 2010 reeds 20.8% van de bevolking die zich genoegen moest nemen met te korten welke een sociale uitsluiting teweeg konden brengen. Dit terwijl Europa zo een 115 479 000 armen onder haar 27 Eurolanden mag rekenen.

Armoederisico in Nederland

In Nederland heeft men 2 483 000 personen die een risico lopen voor armoede of sociale uitsluiting, of 15.1% van de bevolking. Het Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau (SCP) en het Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS) is zich wel bewust dat het  aantal mensen dat in Nederland onder de armoedegrens leeft, de komende jaren nog zal toenemen. In een gezamenlijk rapport Armoedesignalement 2011 (.pdf) wijzen ze op het koopkrachtverlies en het toenemend aantal werklozen die de hoofdoorzaak van de stijging zullen zijn.

In 2010 moesten er daar een miljoen mensen rondkomen van 998 euro of minder per maand. Daar zijn zo’n 70.000 mensen bij gekomen in 2011. Voor 2012 raamt het SCP een stijging van 55.000 mensen. Het aantal mensen dat onder de armoedegrens leeft, zal volgens het SCP eind 2012 1.134.000 miljoen bedragen.

Getroffenen

Hetzelfde als in andere landen komt in België en Nederland vooral veel armoede voor bij eenoudergezinnen, uitkeringsgerechtigden, alleenstaanden jonger dan 65 jaar en kleine zelfstandigen. In België vindt men ook een enorme toename bij de gepensioneerden.

Voedselbank

Dat in België 23.2% onder de 17 jaar arm is,  beloofd niet veel goeds voor de toekomst als de regering er niet snel genoeg werk van maakt om deze kinderen op te vangen en degelijke middelen aan te bieden om zich te kunnen opwerken in de maatschappij.

Hervorming sociale zekerheid

Het is ontoelaatbaar voor een geciviliseerde maatschappij, die naam waardig, om de vele daklozen en in povere omstandigheden wonenden niet meer ter hulp te komen.
Het constant maar blijven roepen dat er bespaart moet worden en dat proberen af te wentelen op de kleine burger terwijl grote bedrijven geen belasting moeten betalen is ongehoord. Het constant besparen op kap van de gewone burger en het afremmen van de economische evolutie zal de levensstandaard verder ondergraven. Dat komt neer op het creëren van nog meer armoede.  Een hervorming van de sociale zekerheid door meer mensen op het minimum te zetten even zeer. Wat geheel in strijd is  met de Europese objectieven inzake armoedebestrijding (20 miljoen minder mensen met risico op armoede of uitsluiting tegen 2020 in Europa) én met het deel van die doelstelling dat België op zich heeft genomen (380.000 minder mensen met risico op armoede of uitsluiting tegen 2020).

Het ABVV berekende dat, door de beperking in de tijd van een wachtuitkering, zo’n 24.000 van de jongeren hun uitkering zouden verliezen. Maar men kan zich afvragen of zij wel voor de juiste jobrichting hebben gekozen met hun studies of de voldoende kwalificaties hebben. Indien nodig moet een afgestudeerde misschien eerst een andere job verrichten vooraleer hij in zijn vak iets vindt, maar het gaat niet op dat indien hij nog nooit gewerkt heeft voor maanden, en zeker niet voor drie jaar zo maar zonder iets te doen geld van de  maatschappij zou krijgen. Ook gaat het niet op om deze mensen dan door te sturen naar de gemeentelijke hulpverleningscentra. Het is daarenboven lang niet zeker dat al deze mensen hun weg naar het OMCW zullen vinden, alsook kan men die centra niet opzadelen met al die betalingen zonder dat die jongeren of steuntrekkenden er iets voor zouden moeten doen. Indien zij bereid zijn sociaal of gemeenschapswerk te verrichten kan men hier wel goedkeurend op in gaan. Maar geen werk zou moeten betekenen geen brood op tafel. Voor wat hoort wat.

Men zou moeten eisen dat die mensen die geld krijgen van het OCMW, de RVA, VDAB, of Hulpkas voor Werklozen, voor dat gekregen geld wel moeten aantonen dat zij effectief werk zoeken, alsook dat zij hiervoor sociaal dienstbetoon moeten leveren of zich moeten  herscholen.

Dienstverlening - Foto ACV-dienstencentrum

Niet zomaar voor niets uitkering

Er is genoeg werk in de gemeenschap te doen. (Openbare gebouwen en plantsoenen, hulpverleninggscentra, kinder-, ouder- en gehandicapten opvangtehuizen, enz.) Hieromtrent is ook de verscherpte degressiviteit van de werkloosheidsuitkeringen een noodzakelijk kwaad, dat niet zo negatief moet bekeken worden als het kan ingedijkt worden door het vernoemde sociaal werk of een herscholingsprogramma, zodat de persoon in een andere sector werk zal kunnen gaan zoeken.
Wij mogen namelijk de gemakzuchtige oplossing die sommige voor ogen houden niet in stand houden. Geen enkele maatschappij kan zich een “Zit neer geld” of “Sit down money” permitteren. In Australië zien wij de slechte gevolgen van zulk een systeem maar al te goed. Er moet een sociale werkvoorziening zijn maar het principe moet ook zijn dat wie niet gewerkt heeft of niet werkwillig is ook geen aanspraak kan maken op een vergoeding. En diegene die een vergoeding wil krijgen zal er iets tegenover in de plaats moeten stellen. Geen werk = geen vergoeding. In de maatschappij is er voldoende te doen. Men komt er nu handen te kort, zo diegenen die op werklozensteun zitten kunnen daar een handje bijsteken.

De wijziging van regels voor de beschikbaarheid op de arbeidsmarkt, kan men wel in vraag stellen. Want hoe ver mag of moet men zich verplaatsen om een werk te vinden. Nu is er een verruiming voorzien van de definitie van passend werk waardoor mensen sneller als werkweigeraar zullen worden gecatalogeerd. Ongeacht de duur van de verplaatsing zal bijvoorbeeld een geografische afstand van 60 km als benchmark worden gehanteerd; voorheen was dat 25 km. Veel zal echter afhangen van hoe deze maatregel concreet zal worden geïnterpreteerd. Komt er bijvoorbeeld begrip voor de specifieke moeilijkheden van alleenstaande ouders? Wil men ook rekening houden met de werkplaats van de partner? Trouwwens moet er wel een uitkering voorzien worden als een van de partners full time werk heeft? Dat gaat zeker niet op als men dan nog verlangt dat de gemeenschap zou gaan betalen voor kinderopvang. Kan men voor alle soorten jobs een dergelijke afstand rechtvaardigen? Wanneer een werkzoekende gedwongen wordt een ‘passende betrekking’ te aanvaarden op grote afstand, zullen de bevoegde diensten er dan ook voor waken dat de noodzakelijke randvoorwaarden (kinderopvang, openbaar vervoer) vervuld zullen zijn?

Uitgesloten en zwakkere groepen

Ook mogen wij niet uit het oog verliezen dat er in onze maatschappij steeds bepaalde sociale gevallen zullen zijn die eigenlijk nooit op de werkmarkt degelijk zullen kunnen functioneren. Daar zal de maatschappij haar sociale rol moeten uitoefenen en het solidariteitsprincipe moeten hanteren.
We mogen zeker niet vergeten dat het risico op werkloosheid, en al zeker langdurige werkloosheid, niet iedereen in gelijke mate treft maar geconcentreerd is bij de zwakste groepen die het moeilijkst te (her)integreren zijn in de arbeidsmarkt.

Eveneens zal men moeten rekening houden met de oudere werknemers in België, die maar al te gemakkelijk worden verbannen uit de bedrijven en bureaus. Zo lang er geen verandering komt in de houding naar deze generatie zullen zij slechts  een geringe kans hebben om terug een passende job te vinden. Vooral zal men daar ook meer rekening moeten gaan houden met hun lichamelijke en geestelijke mogelijkheden. Voor hen zou er een aangepaste werktijdvermindering moeten toegestaan worden zodat zij toch nog makkelijker op de arbeidsmarkt iets kunnen vinden waar zij zich ten nutte kunnen maken en als werknemer aanvaard worden.

Ruim 40.000 zelfstandigen leven in armoede - Foto © John Moussiaux

Zelfstandigen ook getroffen

Men mag ook niet over het hoofd zien dat het niet enkel arbeiders en bedienden zijn die getroffen worden door de armoede. Volgens een in februari vorig jaar gepubliceerde wetenschappelijke studie, die werd uitgevoerd door de professoren Johan Lambrechts en Wouter Broekaert van de Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel, blijkt duidelijk dat het bestaan van echte en vaak verborgen armoede bij zelfstandigen dramatisch blijft stijgen.

Vooral zelfstandigenorganisatie Unizo klaagt aan dat het Steunpunt Armoedebestrijding naar eigen zeggen weinig of zelfs geen rekening heeft gehouden met de studie die in haar opdracht werd uitgevoerd.

Van diegenen die in 2006 minstens zeven opeenvolgende jaren een hoofdinkomen als zelfstandige hadden, bevond zich 15 procent na minstens zes jaar onder de armoedegrens. In het Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest kwamen zo 17 procent en in Antwerpen en Gent 16 procent te leven in armoede terwijl bij actieve werknemers slechts 2 procent in armoede leeft. Dat zijn ruim 40.000 zelfstandigen in ons land, aldus de studie.

Een grote oorzaak voor de hoge cijfers is onder meer het feit dat zelfstandigen niet zomaar kunnen terugvallen op een minimumloon of vervangingsinkomen in geval van wisselend inkomen. Daardoor moeten ze vaak verregaande financiële risico’s nemen en hier speelt de noodzaak van een grote financiële discipline welke niet iedereen aangeboren heeft. Probleem is ook dat sommige jongeren eerst het makkelijk zien binnen komen, maar geen rekening houden met de kosten die daar rond zijn geleverd en er nog moeten van af getrokken worden. Het bruto inkomen wordt soms als een netto te besteden som genomen, waardoor die jongere ondernemers al snel hun boekje te buiten gaan in hun pronkzucht naar anderen.

Bij langdurige lage verkoopresultaten kunnen heel wat zelfstandigen niet sparen voor het aanleggen van reserves voor het opvangen van ziekte, tegenslag of pensioen omdat ze al hun financiële middelen moeten aanwenden om het hoofd boven water te houden. Uiteindelijk lopen zij het gevaar door al of niet uit te breiden weg te glijden in een schuldenberg.

Kinderen dupe

België heeft de grens van één op vijf kinderen dat opgroeit in armoede overschreden. Dit is totaal onaanvaardbaar en er moet iets aan gedaan worden. Indien men ook naar de toekomst een veilige omgeving wil behouden zal men die armen op de juiste manier moeten benaderen en helpen. Armoede raakt kinderen in alle aspecten van hun leven. Enkele jaren leven in armoede, in een onveilige woning, met een zwakke gezondheid, en met beperkte onderwijskansen, laat blijvend littekens na. Die littekens zullen bij hen ook een bepaald beeld van de maatschappij geven waar zij op volwassen leeftijd zullen naar reageren. Als men laat gedijen zal men moeten gaan beseffen dat men met vuur speelt en hierop olie giet.
Op een bepaald moment zal de verarmende maatschappij het niet meer nemen dat de ‘groten’ en ‘rijken’ (met 0,5% van de bevolking super rijken) alsmaar rijker worden terwijl zij maar steeds verarmen. Ook zij die verder gepluimd worden zullen het niet meer gaan nemen dat bepaalde bedrijven belastingen kunnen ontlopen terwijl zij door de gulzige staat gepluimd worden. Deze steeds meer belaste maatschappij zal zien hoe de armen alsmaar blijven vermeerderen en zullen er zeker niet willen toe gaan behoren. Ook zij zullen het geweer van schouder gaan veranderen en op een bepaalde tijd in actie komen.
Persoonlijk hoop ik tijdig genoeg, want hoe langer zij protest uitstellen, hoe groter de gevolgen en harder hun acties zullen zijn, en dan zal het veel erger zijn dan de crisis die de regeringsleden nu onder ogen moeten zien.

Verantwoordelijkheid gemeenschap

De gemeenschappen in dit land zullen er alles moeten aan doen om hun kosten te drukken en elke eurocent nuttig te gebruiken. Elke verspilling moet tegen gegaan worden. Alsook kan men niet verlangen dat de burgers langs alle kanten moeten bezuinigen terwijl de regering dit niet doet, en dat parlementariërs maar 20 moeten zetelen om een vol pensioen te krijgen terwijl de gewone burger 45 moet ‘afdokken’. Als zij zelfs nog geen vermindering voor zware beroepen zoals brandweerlui, bouwvakkers, of onderwijzend personeel willen inlassen, moeten zij dat zeker niet voor hun eigen reeds meer dan voldoende potje doen.

Het sociaal engagement moet langs alle fronten komen, en zij die het meest hebben zouden eerder het meest moeten bijdragen uit solidariteit met hen die minder hebben.

Wil men tegen 2020 een werkzaamheidsgraad van 73,2% bereiken, een stijging met 5,4 procentpunt ten opzichte van het huidige niveau zal er nog hard gesleuteld moeten worden om zowel werkgevers als werknemers te motiveren en kansen te geven.

De bijdragebasis van de sociale zekerheid verbreden door meer mensen langer aan het werk te houden lijkt geen slechte oplossing, maar verscheidene beroepen houden bepaalde risico’s  en beperkingen in. De sterk gewijzigde verhouding tussen het aantal actieve werknemers die bijdragen voor de sociale zekerheid en het aantal mensen afhankelijk van deze bijdrage zal nog in het negatieve toenemen. Maar daar zou men verandering in kunnen brengen door mensen die beperktheden hebben of op rust gesteld zijn toch voor die uren te laten werken die zij zelf voor mogelijk achten. Hierdoor zullen zij als deeltijds actieve passieven verder mee kunnen bijdragen aan de Rijkskas voor Invaliditeit, Ziekten en Pensioenen, alsook meer belastingen binnen brengen op de extra vergaarde centen. Doordat zij wat kunnen bijverdienen kunnen zij het te lage pensioengeld tot een leefbaar bedrag optrekken en weer meer gaan consumeren, wat de tewerkstelling bevordert en met BTW en inkomensbelastingen weer eens de staatskas extra kan spijzen.

De verhouding uitkeringsafhankelijk/bijdragebetalers veranderde van 40/100 in de jaren 1970 naar ongeveer 100/100 heden ten dage en zal onder invloed van de vergrijzing nog verslechteren. Door mensen toe te laten langer te mogen werken zonder vermindering van hun rechten zullen meerdere partijen er wel bij varen.

Een loopbaanspreiding zal de levensuur van de mogelijke werkperiode kunnen verlengen en kwalitatiever kunnen maken, doordat er minder druk op de werknemer en het gezin zullen zijn en zo een aangenamere loopbaan zal kunnen verwezenlijkt worden. Zo zal men ook minder burn-out krijgen en meer interesse en vernieuwing in het werk kunnen behouden.

Het verhogen van uitkeringen tot tenminste de armoedegrens zou een reële impact hebben op de levenskwaliteit van de zwaksten in onze samenleving en leidt volgens onderzoek ook tot een betere (!) doorstroming naar werk. Alle uitkeringen zullen adequaat genoeg moeten zijn om de kosten voor een menswaardig leven te dekken. Wanneer men op basis van de huidige prijzen de kosten samentelt van wat levensnoodzakelijk is (voeding, huur, verwarming etc.), dan blijken de bedragen van bijvoorbeeld het leefloon niet te volstaan om dat te bekostigen. Ook zal men voor de uitkeringsbeperking naar werkzoekenden moeten rekening houden dat men vandaag bijna niet kan overleven zonder twee inkomens. De werkafstanden voor de partners te ver van het woonhuis leggen zou een te grote stress teweeg brengen plus een te korte tijd toelaten om met de kinderen bezig te zijn, die in hoofdzaak door de ouders horen opgevoed te worden. Om die reden moet men ook nog mogelijkheden laten om deeltijds te kunnen werken en deeltijds voor de kinderen te zorgen, zonder dat dit een al te negatieve weerslag zal hebben op de later pensioenregeling.

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Vindt de statistieken:

• Raadpleeg alle gegevens van de SILC-enquête van 2004 tot 2009

Zal de bevolking reageren en hoe?

Gerelateerd kan u lezen in het Engels / Please do find also in English:

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   +
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10. EAPN’s Input to 2012 Commission Recommendation on Child Poverty – SPC Adhoc group questionnaire

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• FW: Realiseren NIMBY zorgvoorzieningen (anaconda15.wordpress.com)
  “Als een vrije samenleving de vele armen niet kan helpen, kan zij niet instaan voor de weinige rijken.”
  Engels: “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.””Onze nationale vooruitgang kan niet sneller zijn dan onze vooruitgang in ontwikkeling.
  +
  Hoe is het mogelijk dat een directeurtje van de WRZV sporthallen met zijn PvdA kliek erin slaagt de gemeentelijke begroting van Zwolle op te lichten vanaf 1988 door creatief boekhouden,huurschulden en exploitatietekorten te veroorzaken en is nu supervisor over de Herberg in de Nijverheidstraat in Zwolle alhoewel  het gemeentebestuur Zwolle anders beweert.
  Nooit gewerkt heeft en er een louche handelsonderneming erop na houd en de belastingen oplicht en daklozen onbetaald voor zich laat werken en waar RIBW bewakers daklozen mishandelen binnen die Herberg en die niet in staat zijn om aangifte te doen bij de politie Zwolle-IJsselland om dat die de opdracht heeft geen onderzoek te plegen en aanhoudingen te verrichten.
  Hoe verrot en corrupt is Nederland geworden en waar het afschuiven van verantwoordelijkheden en zorgplichten van boven af in de regering doorwerkt naar de samenleving en de werkvloer en daar de beschaving is weg gevallen want zelfs het personeel van die opvanginstellingen denken alleen maar om hun maatschappelijke status en volgen precies de orders op van de graaiende managements en bestuursculturen op en hou alstublieft op over die “christelijke naastenliefde” want dat is een illusie.
• Working towards a strong Social Dimension of Europe 2020 (fidest.wordpress.com)
  At a time of financial and economic crisis and increasing austerity measures, the Europe 2020 commitment to Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth is in danger. The social dimension of the Europe 2020 strategy is being weakened by the continuing emphasis on growth and austerity as the only way out of the crisis. All stakeholders’ efforts and involvement are needed to overcome this ongoing crisis.
• Greece on shaky ground as coalition party rejects troika loan deal (guardian.co.uk)
  The Greek government appeared increasingly shaky on Friday night as its junior partner, the populist Laos party, said it would not support a controversial €130bn (£108bn) loan agreement for the crisis-hit country and several senior ministers resigned.
  +
  Several leading parliamentarians questioned whether, in good conscience, they could endorse the rescue package. “If we accept them we’ll be setting in motion the bankruptcy of our country,” said Odysseus Boudouris, an MP with the socialist Pasok. “Bankruptcy will be bad for Greece but it will also be bad for Europe, too.”

  Austerity measures over the past two years, including a barrage of tax rises and wage and pension cuts, have plunged Greece into its worst recession since the second world war. Unemployment exceeded one million this week, hitting a record 20.9%. Manufacturing has all but collapsed with many companies moving across the border into Albania and Bulgaria.

• Greece’s Choices: Deep Cuts or Default (time.com)
  Why would Greece accept more pain when unemployment is at 21 percent, the economy is enduring its fifth year of recession and rioters are hurling gasoline bombs in the streets of Athens?

  Because the alternative might be worse.
  +

  Exiting the euro would throw Greece’s banking system into chaos. Lenders would panic over the prospect of being repaid not in euros but in drachmas of dubious value. Adopting a suddenly much weaker currency could also ignite Greek inflation because prices of imported goods would soar.

  International investors would be reluctant to lend to Greece’s government, its companies or its banks. The freeze-up in credit could cause a depression, worse than what Greece is suffering now. Economists at UBS estimate that Greece’s economy would shrink by up to 50 percent if it left the eurozone.

• Greek deal helps RBA justify its rate freeze (smh.com.au)
  With continuing European doubts over Greece’s ability to fulfil the deal, Greece will open an escrow – or third-party – account to ensure the €130 billion in loans designed to repay government creditors is used only for that purpose.
  +

  Greece strikes rescue deal, but bleak times ahead

  22 Feb A huge eurozone rescue package saves Greece from default, keeps it in the single currency bloc under strict controls but markets are sceptical and Greek unions are calling fresh protests.

  

  Iedereen verstaat dat dit het moment van de waarheid was - Steven Vanackere. Photo: Reuters

• A Hard Look At Greece’s Grim Choices (businessinsider.com)
  Greek leaders are gritting their teeth as they move forward with a plan to further slash spending in return for a bailout of about $172 billion (€130 billion) from other countries in Europe and around the world.
  +
  Even with the austerity plan in place, the International Monetary Fund estimates it will be 2020 by the time Greece can shrink its debt load to a sustainable level.
• European CAP (Common Agricultural Policy): We Need Food Sovereignty (freegankolektiva.wordpress.com)
  Food Waste

  There is increasing awareness about the issue of food waste. A recent FAO report showed that 1/3 of the food for human consumption is being thrown away. In developed countries it is a result of overconsumption, broad assortments etc.

  Food Prices’ Volatility

  Food prices are not stable so are rural livelihoods. As proven in 2008 higher food prices can lead to food crisis, driving large parts of the population to extreme poverty and chronic hunger.

  Hunger and poverty

  Rural livelihoods suffer from minimal returns; poverty in turn diminishes livelihood options and human potential while chronic hunger is an unbearable toil and a vicious cycle. 925.000.000 people suffer from chronic hunger while another two billions suffer from inadequate food.

• Greece is a smokescreen to hide the mother of all bank bailouts (leftfootforward.org)
  the economic policies pushed on Latin America in the early 1980s were an excellent way of helping US banks out of crisis, but an appalling way of resolving Latin America’s debt crisis, instead creating two decades of more debt, poverty and inequality.
• Tibor Navracsics, Dr. Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Public Administration and Justice – Government – Ministry of Public Administration and Justice – News (worldwright.wordpress.com)
  Twenty years after the political transition of 1989/ 90, Hungarian society is face with the need for effective treatment of problems coming from poverty, or causing poverty. Statistics and studies prove that the situation of groups living on the edge of society in most extreme destitution is becoming permanent. Extreme situations and social differences and the development of social stereotypes,  and failure and disadvantage coming from all these and inherited through generations threaten the stability, sustainability and security of society as a whole. The lack of social cohesion, disintegration and segregation processes seen in specific areas – related to age, ethnicity, region, etc – also inhibit economic development.

The number of poor people in Europe had increased from 38 million in 1975 to 44 million in 1985. {Interim report on the 2° European Poverty Programme – EU Commission 1989} But soon this figure went up in 1985 having already 50 million people living in not acceptable poverty. {Eurostat 1990} and mounting up to 57 million with incomes below the poverty line in 1993. {Eurostat 1997}

Belgium had 729 000 persons or 7,5% living in poverty in the 1980s, Holland 706 000 persons or 4,8%. The United Kingdom (14,8%) was just under Ireland 15,7%) but had to find a solution for 8 436 000 people. {Hagenaars a.o.}

At that time there was already too much inequality? Afterwards the rich continued to get more rich, the poor ones stayed poor, but the middle class got pressed in more and more in the corner and saw their savings diminishing and got poorer.
More people got pushed to the edge of society, which limited their access to resources and opportunities, curtailed their participation in normal social and cultural life leaving them feeling marginalised, powerless and discriminated against.
In Europe more and more people had to go living from day to day with no savings or reserves for times of crisis such as losing a job or falling ill and thus falling into debt.

Minimum European income to fight poverty?

In 2008 the rate of poverty varied between 10% and 23% in the countries of the European Union. In 2010, 115 million people, or 23.4% of the population, in the EU27 were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This means that they were at least in one of the following three conditions: at-risk-of-poverty, severely materially deprived or living in households with very low work intensity. The reduction of the number of persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU is one of the key targets of the Europe 2020 strategy2.

As in 2008 the Scandinavian were able to keep their healthy position. Sweden got with the Netherlands about 15% people at risk. Low levels of poverty characterize also the so-called Corporatist countries (Austria, Germany) with Austria, Finland and Luxembourg (all 17%), and the Czech Republic (14%), Slovakia and Slovenia among the ex-Socialist countries.

European Union (Photo credit: ana branca)

In 2008 the risk of poverty tended to be relatively high in the Mediterranean and the Baltic states.  In spite of the overall wealth of the European Union (EU), poverty in the EU kept at a relatively high level.  Nearly 1 in 7 people are at risk of poverty.  In the EU27 in 2010, 27% of children aged below 18 were affected by at least one of the three forms of poverty or social exclusion, compared with 23% of the working age population (aged 18-64) and 20% of the elderly (aged 65 and over). Children were most affected in 20 Member States, while the elderly were the most touched in Bulgaria, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden. In Denmark, it was the working age population which was the most affected. In 2010, the highest shares of persons being at risk of poverty or social exclusion were recorded in Bulgaria (42%), Romania (41%), Latvia (38%), Lithuania (33%) and Hungary (30%).

Europe facing Combating Year 2010

Demographic balance, 2010 (1 000 persons) - Source: Eurostat

The European Union was one of the richest areas in the world, but in 2010 17% of EU citizens had such limited resources that they could not afford the basics.

Though one of the most prosperous regions in the world poverty remained a huge and even became a bigger problem, affecting 75 million people in the EU were „at risk of poverty“ in 2008 and an estimated 84 million people in 2009. Altogether around  in 2010 this went up to 85 million.

It sound crazy for such a welfare state that some 7 million people in 2010 had to survive on less than €5 a day. A similar proportion suffers what is known as ‘material deprivation’: money is so tight that they cannot keep their homes warm enough or meet unforeseen expenses, for example. Roughly one person out of ten across the EU lives in a household where no-one has work.

Some groups in society are more vulnerable than others, and they include women,  children, disabled, unemployed and older people, migrants and single parents. For example, one child in five in the EU lives at risk of poverty. Furthermore, while having a job normally makes people better off , 8% of workers do not earn enough to rise above the poverty line: they are the working poor.

Countries with the highest poor population included then France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK. In 2010 Latvia got 1° place with 21.3%, Romania 21.1%, Spain 20.7, Bulgaria 20.7%, Greece 20.1%, United Kingdom 17.1%, Belgium 14.6%, Netherlands 10.3%.

A close-knit family in Bucharest - when it comes to space | In the poorest countries the poor communities have less problems with social exclusion, called ‘integrated poverty’ if we listen to sociologist Serge Pauman

Obligated to take action

In 2010 Europe had already no choice but to take action against the rise of unemployment and poverty. The way governments managed and co-ordinated their exit from the crisis then did not bring a solution or gave incense to fertilise the markets and fix the financial system.

Greece (20.1%) and Portugal (17.9% Persons at-risk-of-poverty after social transfers) are like in a whirl pool pulled downward into a economic spiral. Spain (20.7%)  and Italy (18.2%)  as well see the lesser growth and investment which is being sacrificed, creating an alarming increase in  unemployment. Economic analysts agree that the wage cuts, longer working hours, cancellation of several public holidays and tax hikes have led people in Portugal to spend less and save more, not to create a solid foundation for stability, but to sink further into poverty. For the Greek masses, the word ‘austerity’ has meant the demise of labour, economic and human rights and the dismantling of an inefficient yet crucial social welfare system. Greece once a country with universal healthcare has now many of the people who show up in public hospitals who can’t even afford the five-euro general admission fee introduced two years ago. Ten percent of patients don’t even have insurance. ‘Doctors of the World’, a volunteer team in the remote Athenian district of Perama, which has weathered unemployment rates of nearly 50 percent since the collapse of the local vessel reconstruction port, provides free treatment, medical supplies and foodstuffs to people lacking social insurance. The health of Portugal’s public finances has begun to improve, but the economy is showing worrying signs of weakening. The population is suffering from the austerity measures, and it is estimated that the middle class will lose 20 percent of its purchasing power in 2012. More bad news for the economy next year is that unemployment is set to rise from the current 12.6 percent to 13.6 percent, while inflation is expected to reach three percent.

Fertile ground for unrest

With cuts in consumption and public spending, as well as slower growth in Germany, the Netherlands, France and Belgium this does not promise some positive evolution, certainly when governments are going to look fro cutting in wages or taking away the safety belt for consumerism like in Belgium, wanting to get rid of the index. The governments first should try to stop the acceleration of the recession and should do everything to get back the consumer credibility so that the private consumption can go up again.

People coming on the streets in Greece can be the beginning of more social unrest in Europe if nothing is done against the negative spiral of the economical crisis.
In case the politicians do not take care we are not only going to face a further recession, accompanied by more social unrest. The danger luring around the corner is political radicalisation and institutional fragmentation, with some countries leaving the eurozone and even the EU itself.

16% of the population in the EU27 at risk of income poverty in 2010

Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union provided some figures in a report3  based on data from the EU-SILC survey4 for 2012 with details on 2010.

Population, EU-27, 1960-2011 (1) (at 1 January, million persons) - Source: Eurostat

The own citizens do not have it easy and could find nearly 25 % more asylum applicants in the EU-27 during the second quarter of 2011, compared with the second quarter of 2010. Nearly 69 000 asylum seekers applied for asylum in the EU-27. This represents an increase of about 12 800, or 23 per cent more compared with the second quarter of 2010.
On 1 January 2011 the population of the EU-27 was estimated at 502.5 million; this was 1.4 million people more than the year before and therefore continued a pattern of uninterrupted EU-27 population growth that has been apparent since 1960. The number of inhabitants in the EU-27 grew from 402.6 million in 1960, rising by almost 100 million persons through to 2011.

Homeless and hungry - Photo HippyKitty

With 16% of the population in the EU27 at risk of income poverty in 2010 we do know that with the economical crisis this figure went up sky high. So Europe is not facing a nice future. On e of the big problems in Europe is that the public does not want to know that there could be problems of lesser wellness around them. The extent and seriousness of the problem is often not well understood because not enough institutions and politicians want to tackle the problem publicly. Policy makers are more interested in the things they can score high marks with and be popular by the general public. Poverty is not exact the interesting subject to score with. On the other site there is also the problem of immigration and the homeless people. The increasing street people are considered a pestilence which every winter causes a lot of annoyance and disturbance in political landscape. In Belgium, as in many European countries, issues relating to homelessness are not loved to be discussed in the media, except around Christmas. Yet deaths among rough sleepers have taken place all year, having in England and Belgium always enough rain to soak the cardboards where people sleep on. It is also strange that many people do think the homeless chose to be like that and prefer to live free on the streets.

Without prospects near the stairs going down Brussels Euro Capital

The population should become more aware that people do not choose to be homeless, they find themselves in that situation. There are studies that suggest that those people without a roof above their head really would prefer to have shelter. There is not enough affordable social housing in Belgium. It really is a problem. Efforts to address homelessness have been hampered for years, by the fragmented nature in which the country is governed.
Politically it is also a matter of discussion about whom to allow entering the country and who to allow to stay in the country. Sufficient urgency is not given to its eradication.  Often this is because people only think of poverty as being something which is so extreme that it threatens people’s very existence and they associate this mainly with developing countries.  However, the reality is that poverty in the EU is a very real problem which brings misery to the lives of many people.

2012

Working poor (Image: ©zeynep'arkok/ Flickr)

Now with the economical crisis it has become worse. More and more, families and individuals got in a precarious situation because of losing their savings, work or having to face an income which is too low to get the necessary things to live decently. Because of their low income many encounter difficulties in having proper accommodation. The question regularly comes down to what you do when rent exceeds half of a family’s income. Everyone with a low income is especially vulnerable to financial problems when faced with unexpected costs such as a higher energy costs, social arrangements or a medical bill. It is not only Greece were we can see people being strangled by the many family costs which are accumulating debts. More and more people start not seeing the end of the tunnel and even choose to make an end to their life, but leaving the others with even more problems.

Looking at each of the three elements defining at risk of poverty or social exclusion, 16% of the population in the EU27 in 2010 were at-risk-of-poverty after social transfers, meaning that their disposable income was below their national at-risk-of-poverty threshold1. The highest at-risk-of-poverty rates were observed in Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria and Spain (all 21%), and the lowest in the Czech Republic (9%), the Netherlands (10%), Slovakia, Austria and Hungary (all 12%).

8% severely materially deprived

In the EU27, 8% of the population were severely materially deprived, meaning that they had living conditions constrained by a lack of resources such as not being able to afford to pay their bills, keep their home adequately warm, or take a one week holiday away from home1. The share of those severely materially deprived varied significantly among Member States, ranging from 1% in Luxembourg and Sweden to 35% in Bulgaria and 31% in Romania.

Severely materially deprived persons have living conditions constrained by a lack of resources and experience at least 4 out of the 9 following deprivation items: cannot afford 1) to pay rent/mortgage or utility bills on time, 2) to keep home adequately warm, 3) to face unexpected expenses, 4) to eat meat, fish or a protein equivalent every second day, 5) a one week holiday away from home, 6) a car, 7) a washing machine, 8) a colour TV, or 9) a telephone (including mobile phone). Not that a television and telephone are necessary things, we can do without that. Fish and meat are also not necessary, but natural biological food to make up a healthy vegetarian meal is much more expensive than the more common meat-meal.

10% living in households with very low work intensity

Having a job does not guarantee social inclusion if it is poor quality and low paid. Some 8% of working adults live below the poverty threshold; their income may not be enough to protect their children from poverty. About a quarter of working Europeans are still in jobs
of relatively low quality, and because of the strong link between poor-quality work, social exclusion and poverty, the ESF devotes more than half of its budget to helping workers to upgrade their skills, and businesses to improve their organisation.

Poverty barometer

Regarding the indicator on low work intensity, 10% of the population aged 0-59 in the EU27 lived in households where the adults worked less than 20% of their total work potential during the past year. The United Kingdom and Belgium (both 13%) had the largest proportions of those living in very low work intensity households, and Luxembourg, Sweden and the Czech Republic (all 6%) the lowest. In Trebišov, Slovakia, the 3 500 Roma residents suffer almost 100% unemployment.

Latvia has the largest proportion of its population at risk of poverty in Europe. Although women’s employment is above the EU average, the country suffers from high rates of joblessness among 15 to 24-year-olds, and of long-term unemployment. ESF co-funding in Latvia is specifically targeted at fighting poverty and social exclusion, by developing an inclusive labour market and drawing in disadvantaged groups such as released prisoners, recovering addicts, homeless people and returning migrants. Initial results showed that 20% of social rehabilitation beneficiaries obtained work or started training or further rehabilitation.{The European Social Fund: a cornerstone in the fight against poverty and social exclusion}

Portugal’s 20 largest companies invested 23 percent less in 2011 than in 2010, which severely affected economic growth and produced drastic job losses. The National Institute of Statistics (INE) said unemployment in the fourth quarter of 2011 reached 14 percent for Portugal, the highest jobless rate since records began to be kept. Youth unemployment is even worse, at 35.4 percent. But the situation is much worse than the official figures suggest, as INE recognises only 770,000 unemployed persons within an economically active population of nearly 5.6 million – a figure that only includes unemployed persons who were available for work, and actively seeking work, during the survey period.

Measures taken

All measures taken after 2010 did not seem to bring the right turn in the avalanche. As two years ago we still need to act on the various factors that contribute to social exclusion and have to recognise that not enough help has been given to get people from the life on the streets. Instead of continuing the programs to develop their skills and have better jobs, those schemes seem to be reduced in many countries, also in Belgium.
Instead of demanding securities when governments gave money to factories or the industry, they got lured by the companies, who misused the money of every citizen in that community, without any blush on their face when they throw out all the workers. Therefore the countries in the EU should not only have to shape labour markets in a way to create more opportunities for people living with disabilities or belonging to vulnerable minorities, they also should take care that funds or state intervention in businesses shall be properly used and give enough opportunities to the workforce. Instead of weakening the endurances and social services we have to improve them, and help men and women to reconcile family and work. We have to share experience and make our social welfare systems more efficient. And, most importantly, we have to start acting now if we want to see poverty and social exclusion significantly reduced by 2020.

It is a shameful indictment of our society that we are not able to give all the people living in our society a reasonable life, and that we do not find a solution to get homeless people off the streets and provide them with some good accommodation. Not only the physical survival has to be taken care of, we should make sure that everybody living in Europe shall not be risking to be excluded from full participation in their society.

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Please do find:

1. At risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU27
   In 2010, 23% of the population were at risk of poverty or social exclusion
   …and 27% of children aged less than 18
   > Eurostat STAT/12/21
2. Poverty and Inequality in the European Union
3. A European Union economic forecast for 2012 indicates Portugal is the EU country that will grow the least. > Side Effects of IMF Medicine
4. 
5.  Greeks Discover the Politics of Poverty
   By Apostolis Fotiadis
   According to European mainstream economists and politicians, the solution to the Greek debt crisis, and the only option for returning the country to a path of progress, is ‘fiscal consolidation’. MORE >>
6. Poverty Across Europe: A Comparison Between Countries
7. The Cost of Disabilities Could Reach 77.2% of Household Income
   A team of researchers have for the first time estimated the cost and impact of disabilities on the finances of disabled people. According to data, 90% of the population with a serious disability in Spain is in a state of moderate poverty and 56% lives in a state of extreme poverty.
8. Platform against poverty
   The fight against poverty is at the heart of the Europe 2020 strategy. Some 116 million people (or almost a quarter of the EU population) are at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU, falling under at least under one of the following criteria: 1) being at-risk-of poverty after social transfers (81 million); 2) being materially deprived (42 million); or 3) living in workless households (34 million). The impact of the economic crisis has hit the most vulnerable and disadvantaged the hardest. Combating social exclusion and promoting social justice and fundamental rights have long been core objectives of the EU, which is founded on the values of respect for human dignity and solidarity. A prosperous Union must ensure that its benefits accrue to all segments of society, bringing growth and social cohesion together. Economic growth with more and better jobs is a key factor to fight poverty and must be part of a coherent policy approach which balances economic, financial and social measures within the 2020 Strategy.
   +EESC opinion: European platform against poverty and social exclusion
   

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Related you may read as well:

1. Homeless in the Heart of EU
   On a wet afternoon in Brussels, a dishevelled man shelters from the elements in a side entrance to the city’s main railway station. Beside his feet a green canvas bag carries all his worldly possessions. He has been homeless for a decade now; he has asked several times to be given accommodation by the Belgian authorities, but his request has never been granted. Often he sleeps rough.
2. Anti-Crisis anger calling out
   At last, in many countries there seem to be people who want to let hear their voice, making it clear they had quite enough of this system where certain folks can keep enjoying good life at the cost of others. … continue reading →
3. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #3 Right to Human dignity
   Universality – the idea that human rights apply to all people, in all places, at all times – was the basic principle underlying the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. From the … cont →
4. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #4 The Family pact
   The Family pact Family and poverty: there is a narrow mutual connection between both terms. Poverty makes humans vulnerable and can destroy families. Sometimes the poverty goes so far that they take away the revenue … cont →
5. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #5 Housing
   Housing Just over 84 million persons or 17 % of the EU-27‘s population were at-risk-of-poverty in 2007, while a similar proportion (17 %) of the total EU-27 population suffered from material deprivation. There was a … cont →
6. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #8 Work
   Work Work-related factors were the principal explanations given as to why people were poor or excluded from society, the three main reasons being long-term unemployment (35 % of respondents giving it as one of up … cont →
7. Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #9 Consumption
   Consumption People with higher incomes are likely to consume more goods and services, and to attribute a far higher proportion of their expenditure to ‘non-essentials’ such as holidays, visits to restaurants, or other leisure activities. … continue reading →
8. Word on the Street Is…
   People have lost their jobs as companies have down-sized, leaving families to suffer. Parents have had to make the difficult decisions whether to pay the rent or buy groceries each week.
   +
   As homelessness increases, the stereotypes and prejudices increase as well. However these stereotypes are not typically true. It is the stereotype that everyone on the streets has a history of drug and alcohol addiction and brought the situation upon themselves.
9. 

   Homelessness - Photo Homeless, Not Hopeless Blog

   Homeless, Not Hopeless
   Homelessness has been a major issue worldwide and it is only getting worse. More children are running away from abused homes, which have caused them to be homeless and hungry.
   +
   There are homeless shelters and soup kitchens that can provide food for those who can not afford a meal, however it is not right for someone to constantly be dependent on others for a free meal. People do not understand the way that someone sitting on the streets is treated.
   +
   Many people especially parents complain that they don’t want their children  growing up where the percentages of homelessness are increasing dramatically, however these are the first ones who turn their back to the homeless who ask for help.  This goes to prove that the majority of the people who complain about the homeless taking over the streets are the same ones who never pitch in money or their time to help the homeless.

10. Getting a count of homeless youth
    Youth Services joined forces with homeless shelters across the nation counting everyone who slept in their beds that night; volunteers canvassing homeless camps and gathering areas to determine who slept in abandoned buildings, cars, camping grounds or other outdoor settings. We did our part by surveying youth and families we served through our free counseling, Homeless Youth Walk-in and our Juvenile Receiving Center services.
11. Beyond the Homeless Myth
    If the problem was a lack of shelters for the homeless why aren’t all the homeless shelter always full? During winter they are more busy but more shelters won’t solve the problem.
12. Befriend a Homeless : It’s Easy to Help a Friend
    Maybe not everybody needs a friend (though most of us actually do), but no one should have to struggle alone. Yet, our homeless professional survivors often have nobody to turn to. Outside of their environment, they have no one to talk to, no one to lean on, no one to give them advice, no one to just give them a hug. As much as they need a friend the most, not many ever thought to befriend a homeless person.
13. The scandal of child poverty in Europe
    Across Europe, whole families – children, parents and grandparents – find it hard to escape poverty as it is passed on from one generation to another.
14. Bailout ‘helps stabilise Greece and Europe’
    In Brussels, the mood was one of congratulation that the marathon to agree Greece’s second major rescue – in principle – was finally at an end. Much of the multi-billion euro deal comes from strong arming private investors, forcing them to take heavy losses on their existing bonds.
15. Minimum European income to fight poverty?
    Given persistent shortcomings of minimum wage policies, legislators and organisations instead debate the merits of ‘minimum income’ to combat poverty in Europe. But it remains to be seen whether the EU parliament will force continent-wide reforms
    +
    Rebeka Smith of Businesseurope (the confederation of European business) affirms that while ‘employment has to be viewed as one of the prerequisites for combating poverty,’ unemployment is only one of the principal issues. Given the proliferation of precarious jobs and low wages, 8% of workers still approach poverty despite earning salaries.
    +
    the Brussels-based European anti-poverty network (EAPN), founded in 1990, recently launched a campaign in favour of minimum income. On the website of their initiative there is support from people such as the Danish president of the European socialists group Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, and the French vice-president of the committee of the regions (CoR, a European institution), Michel Delebarre. Members of the greens have also rallied in favour of the initiative. Échos d’euro-écolos (‘Echoes from European ecology party members’) is one blog run by two young MEPs of the party, Karima Delli and Pascal Canfin, defends not just a minimum, but also a maximum income.
    +
    Ensure an Adequate Minimum Income for all!
    +
    Vers un revenu minimum européen?
    +Join the EAPN campaign for Adequate Minimum Income schemes!
16. Europe makes 2010 its year for fighting poverty and social exclusion
    When the ‘Lisbon strategy’ was launched in March 2000, EU member state leaders said that they wanted to take decisive steps towards eliminating poverty. Ten years later, during the worst economic crisis since 1929, the EU has named 2010 its year for fighting poverty and social exclusion. It’s about time, too
    +
    French sociologist Serge Paugam expands on this definition of poverty, explaining that poverty creates a state of dependence. What it is like to live in this state of dependence, he says, varies according to the type of society you happen to live in. He therefore divides poverty into three different types: ‘standard poverty’ (found mainly in poor countries, where poverty is common), ‘marginalised poverty’ (in countries where there are fewer poor people) and ‘exclusion poverty’ (the most striking type, becoming more and more common in wealthy countries undergoing an economic crisis). In other words, 79 million people in Europe are experiencing poverty in quite different ways.

17. EAPN’s Input to 2012 Commission Recommendation on Child Poverty – SPC Adhoc group questionnaire

18. EAPN calls on President Barroso to demonstrate that solidarity with people and not markets is the basis for the financial aid packages
    In the wake of the new “bail out’’ package for Greece by the “Troika’’, EAPN has sent a letter to President Barroso, copied to the Heads of the IMF and ECB, setting out 5 key actions, consistent with the agreed Europe 2020 strategy, that should be taken in all countries in receipt of such economic support. These actions are aimed at reversing the attacks on social rights that has been a key feature of these “bail out’ packages to date.

19. Europeans ageing faster, but are more diverse
    Sixty years ago the number of births rose sharply and remained high for about 20 to 30 years. Now the first of those baby-boomers, have reached the age of 60 and have started retiring. This marks a turning point in the demographic development of the European Union and makes it all the more important to consider the policy responses that are required by this major change. The EU is facing challenges on issues like sustainable public finances, increasing productivity and improving support for families. Major reforms and decisive action are necessary to meet these challenges.

    
    

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The Gen Xers  for  a time were also called the “baby bust” generation, because of the declining birth rate that started in 1964, officially ending the post-war baby boom.

Generation Tales The Cover Page of Generation X - 5th Edition Print - Image via Wikipedia

The Y generation is also known as the Millennial Generation (or Millennials) which would best describe those born around the turn of the century after the 2° World War.

For the Babyboomers  “Generation X” was the best undefined name to be put on the label for those who did not seem to have a real goal and own idea. For them it  were a a group of young people, seemingly without identity, who faced an uncertain, ill-defined (and perhaps hostile) future. The 1991 novel, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Canadian author Douglas Coupland, concerning young adults during the late 1980s and their lifestyles, confirmed the tagging. Though in the US Generation X was originally referred to as the “baby bust” generation because of the drop in the birth rate following the baby boom. Was it not that it also could imply that it was a ruined generation it certainly was not penniless. The world could see a Spoiled Generation with many different groups like the Millet Generation. Generation X is also called  the “13th Generation” (In the 1991 book Generations, by William Strauss and Neil Howe)  and considered the group of those born between 1961 and 1981. 1970, the approximate mid-point of the “13th Generation”, had the lowest birth rate of this period.

While in most of the developed world, a person born in 1985 and a person born in 1990 are considered the same generation; in China, those born in the ’70s are called the “post-70s” generation, those born in the 80s the “post-80s” generation, and those born in the 90s the “post-90s generation”*
In China and Japan you could really find a  workaholics generation, while here in the West the parents of those kids born in 1970ies were perhaps workaholics, but the children did not become that because they found everything to come to them just like that, not having to do too much. Often they were spoiled by their parents who wanted to give them the best they could.

China’s post-1980s generation is proving to be passionately entrepreneurial as the economy prospers, a new survey shows. More than 54 percent of the adults younger than 30 surveyed are planning to launch their own businesses. That compares with 44 percent of people born in the 1960s and 70s. The figure for people born in the 1950s is about 39 percent. (The findings are part of the Kelly Global Workforce Index, which is conducted by Kelly Services, an international human resources company.)**

Peter Pan a mischievous boy who can fly and who never ages

Those born after 1981 where ‘pampered’ by their parents and could enjoy many videos and were babysit by the gogglebox. On the tube they could watch the Walt-Disney Dreams and go in the air with Peter Pan. Elwood Carlson, locates the American generation, which he calls “New Boomers,” between 1983 and 2001, because of the upswing in births after 1983, finishing with the “political and social challenges” that occurred after the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001, and the “persistent economic difficulties” of the time.***

Those Millennials evidently belonged to the Hero category, having heroes everywhere and putting pictures or posters on the walls of their most precious examples. While the babyboomers protested against the establishment did they feature a deep trust in authority and institutions; being somewhat conventional, but still powerful. They grew up during an Unraveling cycle with more protections than the previous generation (Gen X). Having all those examples of heroes they themselves wanted to become such heroes like their favourite film-stars and sportsmen. Their parents followed in that they also wanted to flaunt with their kids who had to display all their treasures of trophies on the mantelpiece. Some of them therefore you could call the “Trophy Generation”, or “Trophy Kids“. In some countries it even became as bad that the ‘would like to be first’ candidates did everything to knock out every person standing in the way to get the goblet. Anything to cut out a competitor seemed to be acceptable. (In certain instances even accidents were caused and a murder done.) The “eighties babies” generation was not as innocent as the increasing narcissism brought forward with the white, affluent teenagers. The Peter Pan Generation loved to left alone in their “emerging adulthood” which would keep them at home by the parents, preferably until their 30ies. Some acted more as Captain Hook than Tinker Bellor than the one who  teaches the Darling children to fly using a combination of “lovely wonderful thoughts” (which became “happy thoughts” in Disney’s film) and fairy dust.

Most of them do not find the name “Peter Pan Generation” given to them particularly flattering sobriquet, meant to reflect the perception that they are having trouble “growing up” in a traditional sense. In their heart they loved to enjoy their childhood as long as they could, but in their mind they wanted to belong by the grown ups. In puberty lots of children are very much attracted to foul language and think they shall be great by using it. Using the vile language gives them a feeling to belong to that adult world. Mostly children grow out of it, but many of that generation did not and kept using those words. For those who got children when they were still using this foul language they made it more difficult for their children who did have to exaggerate their use of words to  have the feeling to be a grown up. To belong to the adult world they sought to be noticed either by their foul language, smoking, burping or belching, or farting, depending on what got most attention or negative reaction at home. That what did not chock or did not get enough attention was aborted soon.  That what they thought got most attention got embraced to continue doing, though they never questioned the positive and/or negative side effects.  At first they could get some attention, but they mostly did not notice that what was accepted first to laugh did not last long and became more annoying and took away more credit from them. Some of them could not get rid of their attitude and took it up into their thirties, where it is considered by the business-folks not done, so they lost also credibility at work and made less opportunities to climb up the ladder.

Peter Pan did not remain attached to his childhood because he had trouble picking up work or because his parents lived in separate houses. Rather, he chose to remain a child, and symbolizes both the idealization of our youth and our fear of adulthood. So that is not a bad quality. It is a good virtue to be able to dream and to go for adventure without being cocksure. Because today we encounter an other very conceited generation who come over very priggish and think they have invented the wheel.

Peter Pan the hero for those who stubbornly refused to completely grow up

As Peter Pan, the representer of the beauty of youth and of the beauty of a responsibility-free life, the generation called after him could also have the mindset and philosophy of the youth. To a child the world is full of endless opportunity, but for the baby boomer the world seemed to clash and everything they had learned about values seemed not workable any more. Many born the first centuries after the 2° World War had become slave of their jobs and not being respected for it by the newer generations. Like many they started to follow the same tired old routine, loosing more and more interest and noticing how governments also fooled them. But the children of those baby boomers  wanted to keep looking with the childish eye and see the world as place where adventures are always waiting to be had. Adventures that fill our life with hope and joy and purpose. Who could ever argue with wanting to maintain such a mindset through our 20’s and throughout our entire life?

The baby boomer at least could now see an optimistic generation which enjoyed life. Perhaps their children were optimistic because they did not expect to be given anything easily, according Jason Oberholtzer who came in defence of his generation. “The event that welcomed us to the adult world taught us that evil is real, justice is complicated and institutions are fallible. However, we aren’t angry and we will stay optimistic, because we’ve been planning on being the ones to clean all this up for years.” he writes. But he thinks think it is fair to suggest that a generally mistrustful view of adulthood has become more common for them, “and for defensible reasons”. “One can make a case-by-case argument that every institution we have been taught to hold in esteem has, in the last decade, given us ample reason to question their integrity”. ****

The 1950 generation got to see the first televisions, transistor-radios, cassette recorders, compact-disk-recorders and personal computers who entered the homes. Their children found it very easy to work with this new electronic devices which seemed to bring the world at the doorstep. Many of them got so involved with the internet they are often referred to as the Net-Generation.

Facebook engancha - Photo Olga Palma

Generation Y grew up with technology and rely on it to perform their jobs better. Armed with  laptops, i-pads, i-pods, BlackBerrys, cellphones, i-phones, smartphones and other gadgets, Generation Y is plugged-in 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This generation prefers to communicate through e-mail and text messaging rather than face-to-face contact and prefers webinars and online technology to traditional lecture-based presentations.

The Generation Y got thrown from one side to the other and had it not so easy to find her own path, so also many sub groups could be found in it. though the world wanted more and more some labels put on everything and there became a bigger emphasis on the relationship of the youngsters. Scientists also went into study the different groups and evolutions of the developing gangs and generations. They focussed more on such topics as meaning changes through time and interrelationship of language structure, behaviour, thought and meaning.

For the coming generations sometimes there was an awareness that they could be labelled, but than they should be careful how to behave because that was going to determine to which group they would belong or placed under, which could also determine their changes in the community. That awareness is a good sign, and I am happy that we can see more people wondering under which label they do want to belong. At first it will not be easy for them and perhaps they will laugh at it or would like to say it should not be taken to serious.

But at the end they should know that it is a very serious matter which is going to have a not to ignore importance on their development in the community and stipulate a lot of their chances in the society.

Generation Next, Net Generation, could find that they can become the reverberation of the baby-boom generation and as such be called the Echo Boomers.

Blood Brother by Elliott Arnold (New York, 1947) made into the American film Broken Arrow (1950) had become known as the first Western in which red Indians were depicted as normal men and not as a set bloodthirsty savages.  Several people form the 1950ies were interested in the many sorts of people, cultures, who looked precious for them and which had to be nourished. The generation after them did not want to get a deeper insight in the soul of men.

Flower Power

The 1960ies era could find a fundamental core in the spirit of sacrifice, honesty and dignity, professional pride for the growth of society. The Flower Power Movement may have seemed very loose for some but got together people who valued the human person and his environment. Egoism was not in its dictionary, and they considered everything for and from every one.

Strange enough got many of their children, and grandchildren more an attitude like it did not bother them how the world around them is going as long as they can have it good and survive in the nicest conditions. The newer generations seem to have replaced the love for mother earth with the love for themselves. The credo ‘minimum engagement for a maximum of results’ seems to have become the set standard. It’s an egoism which puts ‘me, myself and I’ above everything and everyone. Success at any price to exercise power over others.

The generations of the 1980ies and later consider the previous generations responsible for what is going to face them now. For today’s youth it is clear that they aren’t responsible for the situation today, but yesterday’s youth are. That’s a generation who betrayed themselves as they became adults.

Superhero Alter-Ego

The Peter Pan Generation with its  heroes as Superman, Spiderman, Knight Rider and many figures of the lovely series Sesame Street seem to have been the last generation who played in the streets with flippos, pogs from crisp bags and spinning tops, and also the first who had fun with video games. They got an avalanche of information in front of them on the screen of the home computer but drowned in the huge amount of information which came over them. Having been kids who were full of information, with higher education and languages, who could handle new technologies at their whim and who knew how to travel with backpacks better than the next person, they also were the first generation which was not allowed to be really a small kid. after them it even got worse. The parents wanted to see in their kids copies of the adult world. The small children got even dressed as big adult. Lots of them were not allowed to play the games of the Y generation because they were considered to childish. Part of the Peter Pan Generation suddenly had seemed to be taken out of their dream and have clashed with reality of the grown up world, which had passed them and betrayed many people who had expected so much after the terrible damage the 2nd World War had done.

Though the 1980ies generation could be considered to have been young of spirit at first, sportive and supportive, able to absorb the positive from different people, they got it more difficult to face the society who betrayed their parents.  They became a generation who have it tough to be stable professionally and be able to plan a dignified future.

Among Douglas Coupland's voluminous archives is a Generation-X comic strip from Vista Magazine, circa 1987

While the Generation X thought to be able to conquer the world and was willing to fight for everything in which it believed, the Generation Y saw many dreams chattered. Today’s generation projects itself into the future but doesn’t dare to enough. The older ones from today’s generation focus on perfection while the newer ones in business do think they know everything (better) and get positions over the Generation Y group who is looked at by the youngsters as the dummies.

Today the world seems to have rolled out the red carpet for the 1990 generation which is  young, educated, and thought of to be with professional experience, though they still look green behind their ears. But what the bay boomer and X generations did not have enough was the hair on their teeth, being  communicative, multilingual, having several social competences. That is what companies are looking for today. But such high demands inevitably provoke the fear of failure. The pressure which was put on the children of the after war period is now put on the grandchildren in a later stadium in their life.  While the Baby boomer and Generation X were stimulated by the high requirements of their parents, the newer generation has now come under more pressure in adult life. After they got the idea to be the prince of the world and able to tackle everything they get introduced to the question “Am I good enough? What other qualifications do I need?” in a time were they should be able to start building up new things. Instead their tower they had build in their childhood is stone by stone taken down. In such a decisive phase of their life they are confronted with their own private ambitions, the aspirations and expectations at work, as well as having children and a family.

The baby boomer and Generation X did not seem to have any fear, but now fear seems to creep in by Generation Y and Generation Z.

Generation change > First things first

The Baby boom Generation is put aside, made redundant, not considered to be useful for the future and the business.  All their savings are lost by the bank crisis, and their children understand that their parents were lured in mischievous projects and deals by corrupt business managers. The median age of retirement declined 3,7 years between 1940 and 1980 and most of the decline occurred in the 1970s as before.  (“A generation of change: a profile of America’s older population” by Jacob S. Siegel,Murray Gendell,Sally L. Hoover) But we can hear that several people were put on early retirement in schemes which were created to save the industry a lot of money not having to pay out the labourers they did not want to have any more, because considered to old and to expensive. By taking the Baby Boom Generation from the labour market they throw away the people with experience and they put on a financial burden on the younger generations.

This makes the following generations also wonder which way to take and whom to believe. Values they had learned from their grandparents and parents seem not to be of any value in this world today.  Nobody seems to respect credibility any more. Enormous level of pressure is making today’s generation lose creativity and spontaneity. If we are not careful we shall soon face a generation who shall not try out new things. This was always youth’s privilege but it has become to dangerous ground, bringing luxury and  family stability in danger.

The Beat Generation (1950s) are considered the mad ones or the loonies (the “Noops”). They had enjoyed the roller skates and got to see the surfing craze in full swing, realizing skateboarding could recreate the feeling of riding a wave. (By 1959 the first Roller Derby Skateboard was for sale.) After Larry Stevenson invented the kicktail the first generation of skateboarders laid down the foundation of tricks and style. However, they were still largely limited by equipment, the gadget of “flying freedom” was used in ballets and shows, creating a dream-world. The children had taken a drive in the clouds, but fell down on their face before the turn of the century.
They are now pushed aside by those born in the mid-1980′s and later, Generation Y  professionals are in their 20s and are just entering the workforce. With numbers estimated as high as 70 million, Generation Y is the fastest growing segment of today’s workforce. As firms compete for available talent, employers cannot ignore the needs, desires and attitudes of this vast generation.

Gen Yers who have gotten a lot of their information in pictures, audio clips, video clips

Several of the Y Generations did love a lot of variation. They were not the type of people who wanted to settle in jobs, relationships, and when they did “settle down” they often  understood this on a deep subtextual level that there is always a possibility of divorce if it doesn’t work out. for them it is important to be able to make any change if necessary to make their life better. Whatever changes they need they would take to in order to make the situation better. They do not want to be tied to a position, either a job, a wife or a family. They were the start of generations who found that they should be liberated from any boundary. With the Generation X it started already what we see today’s 20 and 30 some things working at one place for 40-50 years like their grandparents did. Some even  don’t see themselves making it to 10 years. Change, and changing up, is so deeply embedded in their psyche that they don’t know how to grin and bear it. “Why should we have to if there is a possibility of something better somewhere else?” they say.
Innovation has become a competitive edge and today everything goes around and about change and renewal.

'We're Gen Y and we are in fact virtual' by Debe Maxwell, Charlotte NC Real Estate

But they do not feel so secure, as they see the ground taken under the feet of their parents. While their grandparents and parents did not have the need to crave attention in the forms of feedback and guidance they urge for recognition. They look up to the fashion magazines who put everybody in the floodlight.  While the baby boomers preferred to have work and family life totally separated, the Y generation throws out any family history to come into the picture. Tittle-tattle has become important for the contemporary generation. They do not know any more the difference between being known and being well known, being renowned and being famous or being famed. What is important for them is also to being  kept in the loop. They seek frequent praise and reassurance and do hope to find or use people whom may give them opportunities and help them to get higher up and develop their young careers.

Generation X was the first group of young people to challenge the long-held belief that each generation is destined to be better off than the one preceding it. Generation Y sees that everything seems to becoming worse for their future: they shall have to work longer and harder, and the climate is changing on all levels (work possibilities, weather, etc.)

If the 15 year old Michelle could see her now, she would probably want to jump into the future and slap her. She took the faux fur off and she doesn't own Uggs. She owns a TNA parka

Michelle***** (Kearnel), a student at a small, bilingual university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, position as a “field marketing director” on a short contract with a local event company, realizes that she is not a revolutionary by pointing out that sometimes people her age are ridiculous, but according to her that is no surprise because it’s 2012 and all the original ideas have been used. She says “Don’t grow up. You will lose all your friends, have a mid-life crisis where you think buying a reliable compact Japanese SUV is the coolest thing you could do, and will let corporations pay you money to sell out your old dreams and ideas. You will supplement your misery by occasionally skipping work  and desperately trying to re-create the spontaneous adventure of your youth, but all alone.”
For her “Life’s too short to overanalyze.” For her “Pulp Fiction may mock it” but she is  “just waiting for IcelandAir” to offer her a good deal. “TTYL, Ketchup-fiends!”

Basically, she’d be committing to spending two months sleeping in a tent without internet access (le gasp!) or even 3G. Even any phone service, for that matter, is obsolete. She spent 3 weeks in a cable-less, phone service-less house in PEI last summer. Even then she had her 13″ laptop and some Harry Potter DVDs.

Social Networks and Generation Y

Because she gave up buying video games and not having her i-pod as loud that people still can hear it 50 meters further, she feels she could be the stranger in the group, but she forgets a lot of the Generation Y did not buy the games but downloaded them illegally. In her writing we can feel the underneath frustration as well about the too fast evolving systems which make is impossible to use certain games if the person has not the required new gadget. Their generation saw many versions of Windows and when they wanted to use certain Microsoft Word files they had to be updated to be able to pen them.

Some of the Y Generation got so much frustrated they started getting eating disorders and the Z Generation is following in their footsteps, but exaggerating everything even more. the foul language can not be hard enough for them and letters in postings, sms got multiplied to add emphasis but those extra letters and four letter words do not ad anything, except taking away credibility for that person. Others got their body designed with tattoos, but got as such branded for ever.

Though everybody had the chance now to study, we see that they are throwing their chances away to get in some good positions. Today they have the choice either to be popular with their slang and dirty words, and be part of the plebs, like in the Roman times of bread and circuses, enjoying the reality shows and soaps on tv; or becoming part of a new growing elite of scholars and more serious thinkers and writers. The coin is thrown in their basket. They can choose for head and tales but it is always only one which is going to get a better position in life, and providing the necessary money to be able to keep the wolf from the door.

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* Post 80s and 90s: What’s With the Ultra Short Generation Gaps in China?

** Post-80s Get Businesslike

*** Carlson, Elwood (June 30, 2008). The Lucky Few: Between the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boom. Springer. p. 29. ISBN 978-1-4020-8540-6.

**** In Defense of My Generation
So let’s please do away with the following seductive assertions: we have no regard for sacred institutions or hard work and we prefer our mother’s basement and the blogosphere to paying rent and heading into the office; we are self-absorbed, or rather self-obsessed and we must be treated like adolescents characterized by that self-obsession; our goldfish memories can only remember sound bytes, slogans and Mortal Kombat cheat codes; and finally, that we are slovenly couch-dwellers who idolize Seth Rogan characters and are pulling a fast one on the productive, hard-working adults who keep the world running.

***** Sometimes My Own Generation Confuses Me + My English Class Supplement: Ferris Bueller’s New Ad + Tree Planting?

Peter Pan, the character in all of his various media depictions, represents the beauty of youth. Somewhat he represents the beauty of a responsibility-free life, yes, but he mostly represents the beauty of the mindset and philosophy of the youth. To a child the world is full of endless opportunity. While our parents slave away at their jobs, following the same tired old routine, a child sees the world as place where adventures are always waiting to be had. Adventures that fill your life with hope and joy and purpose. Who could ever argue with wanting to maintain such a mindset through your 20’s and throughout your entire life?

Appendix: Some thought 2011 would become the new May’ 68. The year passed with a lot of tribulation but it could not reach the tip of May  ’68. I do believe we are facing a total different interest and engagement. The Occupy Movement is much more varied and not everywhere is such a feeling of togetherness and respect.  today we are also facing more famine in Europe and there is a big need for jobs and respect for the labour force. In Greece, the youth unemployment amounts to 45%.  In Spain also.  But the problem is not limited to the  southern  countries.  Also in cities as Brussels stands the counter already on 40%.  Whole Europe could do with more jobs and better prospects for younger people!  The unrest under these younger people grows yet each day.  The dissatisfaction is not limited however to unemployment. The younger ones have to face the greying population for whom they also have to take care and have to pay the debt of their government. On the streets you can see many youngsters running with their buttocks partly naked. The bare bottoms show the Y of the generation.
Authenticity has become super important for younger people.  The internet is so transparent that incredible promises finally always become pricked.  They want that a fair politician must say not what they want to hear, but what they must know.  Especially when it is not popular.   They demand political courage, and  in this way we can see a connection to what was been requested in 1968 as well.  As such the X and Y Generation have come home again and perhaps are ready now to split in the reality group who knows some things have to be done , though they can be not so nice, in able to survive in a better way and look for a future which shall be acceptable for all.

Read also:

1. 20-Somethings: No, I Won’t Grow Up
2. The Peter Pan Generation
3. Peter Pan Syndrome 
4. Generation Change
5. Cafe Babel Editors parents speak: Generations 1950 and 1960 on Generation 1980
6. The space of two decades allows our parents an affectionate but criticial vision on our generation, born in the eighties. From video games and unemployment to travel and money, time for one last pan-European lecture.
7. Managing Multiple Generations
8. Baby Boomers – Traits and Values
9. Generation X – What is Generation X?
10. Generation X – Traits and Values
11. How to Sell to Generation X
    The typical owner of a newly built home is changing. It’s no longer the baby boomers dominating the new-home market. Instead, it’s the up-and-coming Generation X population that is now beginning to purchase second and even third homes.
    +
    The Frost & Sullivan study found that due to Gen-Xers’ appreciation for advanced technology, along with their growing income, “the increase in percent of young people buying new construction has not only triggered the new-construction activity, but also increased the growth of home automation systems sales.”
12. A Generation-X pack-rat gives away his treasures
13. Generation YBy Sally Kane,
14. Millennial Women – What Millennial Women Think
15. Millennial – What is a Millennial and How Are Millennials Changing the Work…
16. Generation Y Characteristics
    Baby boomers were raising hell in the 60s against the Vietnam War, burning draft cards, drugs, sex and rock and roll. Many of that generation “dropped out.” Generation Y has a much closer relationship with their parents. I’m not sure why that is though. One thing this generation has in common with my baby boomer generation is their interest in politics.
    +
    Generation Y is considered much more liberal than Gen X, baby boomers and especially “the greatest generation” of WWII. They are much more supportive of abortion, same sex marriages, and so forth. But, this does not mean that Generation Y as a whole is liberal minded.
17. Generation Y at work
18. 

    Generation Y Leaders of tomorow

    Generation Y and their role!

19. Generation X vs. Generation Y on the financial recruitment circuit
    According to Robert Half CFO Confidence Index over two-thirds of financial heads want the best of our country’s Generation Y to be the next batch of financial head honchos.
    +
    Gen Y are younger they’ll be more adaptable to changing markets, so will therefore be more commercially susceptible, which is something the financial sector is crying out for after the mess we’ve been left in.
    +
    Gen Y has had a rough time of late. Up against hundreds of other applicants, where competition is stiff. CVs and cover letters get swallowed up in the sea of ‘unsuccessful’ submissions just because of the sheer volume, which means they have to be nothing short of excellent to get through the first stage.
20. How To Attract and Retain Generation Y Employees
    • 74% of employers say Gen Y workers expect to be paid more
    • 61% say Gen Y workers expect to have flexible work schedules
    • 56% say Gen Y workers expect to be promoted within a year
    • 50% say Gen Y workers expect to have more vacation or personal time
    • 37% say Gen Y workers expect to have access to state-of-the-art technology
      +
    • Understanding & Managing Generation Y
21. Generation Y female consumer decision-making styles
22. How well do you know Generation Y?
23. 

    Generation Y-Z and the 2008 Gap

    Generation Y – Z
    Generation Y fastest growing segment of today’s workforce, willing to trade high pay for fewer billable hours, flexible schedules and a better work/life balance. While older generations may view this attitude as narcissistic or lacking commitment, discipline and drive, Generation Y legal professionals have a different vision of workplace expectations and prioritize family over work.
    +
    Generation Y craves attention in the forms of feedback and guidance. They appreciate being kept in the loop and seek frequent praise and reassurance. Generation Y may benefit greatly from mentors who can help guide and develop their young careers.
    +

    Generation Z 
    Generation Z is the latest generation which will be leading the world in a couple of decades from now. Is the generation responsible enough is a big question and are they being prepared in the right way for days to come? The current recession and financial strife has no bearing in shaping the future of the generation Z and they do not feel it either.
    +
    They are the children of the modern world and are also called the digital generation.
    +
    They are less oriented than the generation Y but have strong opinions and do not take suggestions well. Psychologists are noticing a drastic behavior change from generation Y to Generation Z.  For the generation Y, the emphasis has always been career and studies whereas the generation Z does not believe in career and formal studies either. Their personal lives can lack communication and this lack of communication may not be very effective for bringing up future generations by them. Also by the time the Generation Z starts working there might be severe shortage of professionals like doctors and scientists. Also, such professions may not hold any value for the generation Z.
24. Hacking Work on Gen Y
25. Training Gen Y Teachers for Maximum Effectiveness
    If inquiry means deep thinking, then the Gen Ys can already run circles around us veteran educators when it comes to collecting data, finding resources, thinking deeply, problem-solving, reflecting, and inquiring.
    +
    The Generation Y can be described in four positive ways:
    1. A generation that is confident, self-sufficient, and achievement-oriented
    2. A generation that is the most education-minded in history
    3. A generation paving the way to a more open, tolerant society
    4. A socially conscious generation leading a new wave of volunteerism
    +
    Surround Gen Y teachers with a community of creative thinkers and the solutions will abound everywhere.  They are great team players.
    +
    Millennials like structure and will want schools to give them clear rules and procedures to follow.  They need to clearly see the value of their work.  They want their work to be relevant, have impact, and offer them a diversity of experiences.
26. The Revolution of Generation Y’s Evolution
    
    To put it plain and simple, without their cell phones, computers, laptops, Tablets, GPS etc the majority of Generation Y would be lost however according to studies, they would be in a much better state physically and mentally. Studies have shown that while Generation Y are becoming more and more technology dependent, they may also be becoming more susceptible to the deterioration of mental and physical health. “Generation Y is a stressed out generation … Many college campuses have seen increases in the numbers diagnosed with depression and other mental health disorders.” (Jayson, 2007)

+++

Related articles

• Generation Y and Branding on the Fly (smallbusinessbranding.com)
  Gen Y-er’s perspective on their world has been shaped by their immersion in technology, almost since birth. The New York Times describes Generation Y as “post-emotional, entrepreneurial” and replacing the Generation X commune concept with the more mainstream social aspects of small business.
  +
  Generation Y appears to be emerging as an entrepreneurial group.
• Study finds Gen X Still Angry After All These Years (jenx67.com)
  the new report urges employers to engage Gen Xers who, compared to all other age groups, are most disappointed with how their careers have unfolded thus far.
  +
  Generation Xers’ expectations are not being met with regard to aspects such as pay, career advancement, and training and development.
  +
  Gen Xers also are caught between boomers and millennials, both of which are more culturally influential.
  +
  The perception among Gen Xers that they’ve had it tougher than those who came before and after them could be part of what makes them a grumpy generation, Lyons said.
• Marketing to boomers: some facts (buzzbooster.com)
  Today in America, the average car buyer is 56- a boomer, the average head of the household is 52- boomer, MAC user 54- boomer, American Express credit card holder 57, 57 is also the age of the average business owner.
  Real money is in the hand of boomers and so is decision making.
  +
  One feature of Boomers was that they tended to think of themselves as a special generation, very different from those that had come before.
• Impact of Boomers Working Past Retirement Years (drdianehamilton.wordpress.com)
  As people are living longer and the age for receiving social security payments is extended, baby boomers have found that they are working well into what used to be considered retirement years.  USA Today reported, “The Associated Press-LifeGoesStrong.com poll found a baby boom generation planning to work into retirement years — with 73% planning to work past retirement, up from 67% this spring. The poll involved online interviews with 1,095 baby boomers.” According to the Examiner, “boomers are likely going to work five to 10 years longer before retiring.”There are currently 77 million baby boomers.  This group has found it difficult to retire because “41% of boomers said they are expecting to have to scale back their lifestyle in some way in retirement and 31% believe they will struggle financially.”
• Millennials are Happier with their Bosses than Boomers (drdianehamilton.wordpress.com)
• Baby Boomers Are Putting The Smackdown On Gen Y At Work (businessinsider.com)
  “A large majority of my interviewers were baby boomers well into their careers, some at the edge of retirement,” says Robertson. “Many of the interviewers did not understand my windy path through employment, which is, of course, a characteristic of my generation. They didn’t understand I wasn’t looking for one job for the rest of my life and that I wasn’t looking for money and status.”
• baby boomers in soup (butterflypen.wordpress.com)
  In the business environment, these are people who are affecting our economy as they retire, make purchase decision and take up new business. For those in developed countries, these baby boomers are the force behind a lot of decisions that their government make.
  +Those whose birth year fall from 1925- 1942 are mostly our matured citizens of the world who witnessed World War II. And they are the ones who are upholding culture and tradition of so many nations. They can be called the traditionalists because of this.
• The Millennial Generation (employeehelpsource.wordpress.com)
• Generation Now: Surviving and Thriving With Multiple Generations in the Workplace (slideshare.net)
• Recruiting the Facebook Generation (todmaffin.com)
• Leading the Facebook Generation: How to Manage, Inspire, and Retain the Generation-Y Millennials (todmaffin.com)
  In this follow-up to Tod’s massively popular presentation Recruiting the Facebook Generation, Tod will show your delegates the eight key ways your business must change if you want to engage and retain this new, young, and energetic workforce.
• What’s in a name… (iamgenerationjones.com)
  The term ‘Generation Jones’ was coined in 1997 by Jonathan Pontell to describe the group of people born between 1954 and 1965.  It’s been used by marketers of products and politicans to help them understand us and our impact on the world.The term Generation Jones describes a generational ‘cohort’ – a group of people that live in a certain time and place and therefore have similar shared experiences.
  +
  are the large, awakening generation between the Boomers and Generation X
  +
  children in the idealistic, childlike ‘60s, lost their innocence as they searched for identity in the ‘70s with Watergate and in early adulthood scrambled for the cash with everyone else in the ‘80s.
  +
  filled with the highest hopes and then confronted with the most dramatically different reality.
  +
  are not always considered a stand-alone generation, but are called “Late Boomers” or “Late Bloomers”.
  +
  overlap with another demographic group called the ‘Baby Busters’ (born 1958 through 1968).  This group was defined by Marvin Harris in his 1981 book ‘American Now (which was later re-released under the title Why Nothing Works:  The Anthropology of Daily Life). They are called this due to a decline in birthrate as the U.S. birth rate fell for eleven consecutive years after 1957 – the longest decline in American history.
  +
  For Boomers, the legacy of the 1960s was ideology.  For Jonesers it is idealism.  The spirit of the 60s is far from dead; its seeds were plants in us as children and are flowering now.  We’re not late Boomers; we’re late bloomers.”
• Generation-We (Warning: This Video May Give You Hope) (notesalongthepath.com)
  Millennials are the largest generation in American history. Born between 1978 and 2000, they are 95 million strong, compared to  78 million Baby Boomers. They are independent—politically,  socially, and philosophically—and they are spearheading a  period of sweeping change in America and around the world.
• Vile language and behaviour plus little secrets (marcusampe.wordpress.com)
  I wonder why this generation don’t hold anything like curse words back. How is it possible that certain people think it makes their entries more enjoyable and that it would give more of a sense of legit connecting communication? They really think they can show off with their so called ‘liberated speech’.
  +
  Those gone adrift do not find themselves gone astray and demand from others to accept their way of life. They even demand that we should teach others their way of talking and living and decided that we should start teaching our sons and daughters to accept being belittled, disrespected and abused as endearing treatment.
• Y: Generation Of Entitlement? (definingwonderland.wordpress.com)
  I have done a lot of reading about the characteristics of the last few generations and can sum of what I’ve gathered as such:

The problem comes from the many American series where swearing seems to be a normal thing and a lot of people think they are more important. For others it is a way to hide their weakness because they did not have a proper or higher education, it shows then their lower standard of eduction.

Many times the many vile words used by a person are also a way to hide several difficulties that person underwent. We often can find it by persons in social distress and having difficulties in sexual relations, being divorced, living in difficult circumstances, poverty and too much pressure. for them it seems a way to cope with it or to give themselves a feeling of more power. What they feel they are missing they want to put in exaggeration by words which can shock or have other people reacting and giving ‘more attention’. those who use a lot of such verbal mistreats should wonder why they like it so much to use those words which give not any more information than they can give with the normal words they can use. What is it adding to their story?

I wonder why this generation don’t hold anything like curse words back. How is it possible that certain people think it makes their entries more enjoyable and that it would give more of a sense of legit connecting communication? They really think they can show off with their so called ‘liberated speech’.

Do they not have enough vocabulary to give their words power?

A ‘queen of the couch’ brought a post filled with just an amount of vitriol though she could  make her point better without the foul language, because she really has something to tell about the attitude of trying to turn around the situation of the pest or bully and the one bullied.

Bullying the plague of today

Today we do have to see too much pestering and some do not seem to see any harm in the needling. But what often starts of as a little bit of teasing, becomes taking the mickey out of some one to place yourself on a more important or more liked position. As many use the dirty words to make them more important or more liked, because they think or feel themselves more important, they also start to think they can get some power over situations and over certain persons.

Often the teasing becomes, like the foul language, vexatious. They mostly think the others do have to take it teasing and foul language like a sport. They delight in their foul language as they take a delight in teasing, but forget that their language and actions can be offensive and hurting the feelings of others. It becomes bantering.

For the language it was mostly teenagers who thought when they used such ‘naughty’ words they would be considered bigger, though they forget that it is just the opposite. Worse is it when they grow up and have to make the use of such words even more bigger, because other-while they would not have such an effect any more. More and more they will loose all credibility and shall end up in a little corner of a bunch of people who enjoy themselves in bathing in such language play.

For certain posts on the net it is a pity, because the subject could otherwise earn more credit. So perhaps you may also feel uncomfortable with the message of the Couch Girl and be astonished that this could be a mother, who should be an example for her children, which would not be very promising for the future of those children and their generation.

Therefore I would like to ask you to not let you be distracted from the issue by the language use of the female writer, who wants to sound like a street-worker.

On a “Views from the couch” the female writer sitting on her couch had  a conversation the other day and is sure every girl can recall, at least once as a child, coming home and telling their parents, uncle, aunt or grandparent about a boy who had pulled her hair, hit her, teased her, pushed her or committed some other playground crime.

Years ago we did not hear so much about it, but today it has become a serious problem. I can agree with her that when some teasing took place often it was said that it meant the other person liked you.

As I mentioned above, the user of those few letter-words we better not use is also some one who has a daughter of her own. She finds it appalling that “this line of bullshit is still being fed to young children.”

She argues correctly that such way of tackling bullying is not the right way to get rid of the problem.

The teasing easily shall become harassment which shall turn out in a wide range of annoying behaviours of an offensive nature. A big problem is that the offender sometimes is not aware at first of the damage he or she is causing. Others who are around the instigator understand the behaviour is intended to disturb or upset but do themselves not want to come into focus, and find it better to join the for them most stronger one.

Lots of them do not want to know that their behaviour, which sometimes start off as a joke, becomes annoying, a bother, trouble and grows into a repetitive disorderly behaviour. Several studies have proven that the language used at home, with the environment people grow up, plus peer abuse can also have a lasting impact on victims and/or create abusers.

The figures in the picture do say already enough and do let us understand why they use such a language and how they behave - which is really an unacceptable behaviour, but being presented as normal and good fun

The media seem to bombard their viewers with programs were it seems the normal way of behaviour, like in series as in the American television program “Operation Repo“  that depicts the world of car repossession with a team that portrays fictionalized tales of repossessions from California’s San Fernando Valley, and other similar ‘truTV’ shows filmed in a cinema verité style. In some teenager shows or series about school life the bullying is presented as something that happens everywhere and is something we just have to take as it comes. It is all presented as the most normal thing.

Today’s generation of teens and twens finds it normal to us a lot of four letter words which asks in a vulgar way to have sexual intercourse, or refer to excrements, or to play around, and that is also what they do like to do a lot, and enjoy watching and talking about. It even seems to be a sport to boast with the amount of girls they could take in their bed. The sport to brag has taken on such form that it seems to show a very unhealthy community, where we do find lots of divorced and unhappy people. Some men switch partner as they change daily their pants.

Worse is now that some, who could be called “perverts” like to present such annoying behaviour and language as the most normal thing of the world. Some try to tell the parents and the children that being verbally and/or physically abused is an acceptable sign of affection. Also in offices they do want to let believe the others that it is a sign of affection. Perhaps, yes it is a sign that they missed a lot of affection in their life, but the ‘avances’ they want to make they certainly do it in the wrong way.
They create an unpleasant or hostile situation for especially by uninvited and unwelcome verbal or physical conduct, and are enlightened whit their position to be able to be in charge. Clearly it is a matter of wanting to be in control and to have power.

The environment should recognise such signals and should not let go. They should react appropriate on it, because in the other case it escalates and becomes worse.

The posters and certain articles in youngster magazines and in the adolescent and adult media belittling the current attitude are creating the possibility of a bigger deformation of a required social attitude for a liveable community.

The writer of the article Thank Me For Punching You in the Face has good reasons to urge her readers and those who bring out such flyers and posters not to go mad at those bullies, to rethink their parenting strategy.
She writes “If you try and feed MY daughter that crap, you better bring protective gear because I am going to shower you with the brand of “affection” you are endorsing.”Clearly she seems only to be concerned about “Her” daughter, but she forget that such an attitude of “laisser fair” has come of the slack pose the community is taking to how people speak to each other and how they treat each other. It is all connected with each other, the way of speaking and they way of showing respect to others.

Taking as elder a disrespect attitude and using taboo words as if common words takes away all boundaries and sets open all gates. The loose behaviour, mouth and body language, the going adrift made that several humans break from the moorings and got in the for them unrestricted world of pleasure and materialism, not having to worry about others.

Those gone adrift do not find themselves gone astray and demand from others to accept their way of life. They even demand that we should teach others their way of talking and living and decided that we should start teaching our sons and daughters to accept being belittled, disrespected and abused as endearing treatment.

“And we have the audacity to wonder why women stay in abusive relationships?”

“How did society become so oblivious to the fact that we were conditioning our daughters to endure abusive treatment, much less view it as romantic overtures?”

Above I gave already some answers and de want to point out that it is also a matter of education and upbringing as well by the parents as by the teachers or educational personal.

Having free sex and free drug use, as well as free use of time, money and noise (music), creates environments where people are confronted with all sorts of violence (noise, vocal violence, intimidation, battering, etc.) Being confronted with ‘gratuit’ violence on the screen, often more words and actions get in the house than we would tolerate from our real life visitors in the house.

Lots of people would love to keep them away from their kids until they decide to teach them respect and boundaries, but do not want to be a good example themselves for their own or for other kids and other adults. How can you demand respect if you are not giving it yourself?

Harassment Unsolicited Unwelcome Humiliating Threatening Actions

We should give clear signals to the community in which we want to live: that teasing or harassment by a male or female classmate or not just okay. We should let the community know that disrespect is never acceptable. that also includes dis-respective language as well as dis-respective behaviour.

It is of no use to start learning your kids words like ass-hole though ass-holes are at the moment a big nuisance. Many actions of dull people wanting to be more important by use of their language or by making certain movements (sign-language) and actions should not be any longer tolerated in our community.

Unpleasant actions should be cut of from the root, and elders should be in charge to control it and to quieten it from the start.

Those in charge should try to help others to see what is an accepted behaviour in contemporary society, and should learn them how to deal with those “assholes” they will encounter throughout their life.

It is no use to use yourself verbal incorrect words trying to tell your daughter to know that if someone is verbally harassing her, she should tell the teacher and if the teacher does nothing, she should tell you, when she herself gets the impression you are using the same weapons as her offender. Children should not be expected to handle bullies on their own. Kids need to be taught that bullying is unacceptable. And because bullying often happens in peer environments, this message has to be reinforced and supported on all levels – at home and in school.

Parents, teachers, and even paediatricians must become more adept and sensitive at identifying possible victims and bullies. The adults who are in a position to intervene on behalf of the victims must band together to take power away from the bully. An important step is identifying and stripping the bully of his or her power because bullies themselves are skilful at avoiding apprehension or punishment. Thus once a bullying situation is revealed and identified, adults must: act immediately and show that such a asocial behaviour is not tolerated in a civilised community. They should trust the victim and give it also the feeling that it can trust them. Furthermore they have to take a strong stand and be consequent in their reaction and in their own behaviour. In case parents do not monitor their own behaviour and aggression they loose all credibility by the victim, and by other persons around. Parents should have the first and last word about acceptable behaviour and present themselves also an acceptable behaviour.

Youngsters should receive clear signs, and it are the adults who should give The example. If they can not keep to certain borders, how should they themselves and the youngsters around them?

In any case, for sure, everybody should know that if someone physically touches a person in the wrong way they have to tell the teacher or other higher placed persons. But we may not underestimate the psychological harassment as well. With words people can do a lot of damage, and this has to be finished as well.

The idea still gets around that boys should have the only right to defend themselves and “if  sons came home crying because another male classmate was pushing them, pulling their hair, hitting them or calling them names,” some  “would bet dollars to donuts they would tell him to defend themselves and kick the kid’s ass, if necessary. They sure as shit wouldn’t say, “he probably just wants a play date”.”

Boys or girls can be victim of harassment and none of them should be allowed to  sit quite in a corner to deteriorate under the psychological and physical damage. We all have to teach our sons and daughters to accept nothing less than respect.  But we ourselves should in every instance show that we ourselves also do have that respect and should earn that respect.

As the writer correctly mentions: “I can’t teach my daughter to respect herself if I am teaching her that no one else has to respect her. I can’t raise sons that respect women, if I teach them that bullying is a valid expression of affection.”

So we do have to be careful to come up with certain little “secrets” but also be very careful how we handle things when something went wrong.

We may never forget that we have to be the example for the next generation so that they on their term can be again a worthy example for their next generation.

The world around us gets always younger and younger. The babies from yesterday are pushed aside by the class of today. Our behaviour and our language shall determine how they are going to speak and going to treat others.

Like getting older is an experience only to be discovered in relation to others, we are able to give some direction in the cause of the future generations, and we should take it conscientious and not trifle with it.

The abandoned life of the materialists now should get to see that there are more important values that all those gadgets around us. Respecting the more important values of life they shall enjoy more the value of having respectful people around them.

Let us never loose sight to forget nothing venture, nothing grain, as you saw , so shall you reap.

Related articles

• Jeremy Clarkson’s Top Gear criticised for foul language (telegraph.co.uk)
  Most of the bad language related to a sketch in the show in which hosts Clarkson and Richard Hammond attempted to choreograph a car chase in the style of 1970s police drama The Sweeney.
  +
  there was no need of the language, and some of the attempts to ‘bleep’ were pathetic.
  +
  If this isn’t a family show, then get it on after the watershed, put in whatever sex, violence and swearing that you feel is appropriate, and stop the marketing of products clearly aimed at children. The BBC can’t have it both ways.
• Foul Language (dailymusingdotcom.wordpress.com)
  Is it an age thing? I cant stand bad language and disassociate myself from people who use it because it makes me cringe. I think that it’s not only a sign of ignorance, it’s also a sign of showing off.  If someone starts swearing during a conversation, I’ve already lost a lot of respect for them.  If someone occasionally says something out of frustration, I’m a tiny bit more tolerant to that, but I dont  tolerate useless swearinggenerally.
  +
  The corruption of language in public culture is just one aspect of the general coarsening of life which is taking us down into the pits.  Television, in particular, has now reached such depths it is hard to imagine where it can go next.
  
• Foul Language is Not Rude in The Company of Friends (socyberty.com)
  Maybe your friend needs to use foul language to drive home to you just how bad it is!
• Your Language is Offensive (viewsfromthecouch.com)
  If you want to read about puppies and angels, you hit the wrong f*****g link.
  +
  “here are a list of swear words that will appear in past and future posts on MY blog: hell, shit, damn, ass, asshole, fuck, fucking, mother fucker, mother fucking (lots of variations of the word FUCK), bitch, dick—-well, pretty much, if you can think of it, there is high potential it will appear on this blog.  If you have a problem with that, fuck off.”
  (This just shows off the mentality of a lot of people today. They may use any word they like and do anything they wish, but do not dare other persons use something of these words or actions against them or their daughter. ….)
• Bullying and the Special Needs Child (education.com)
  Emerging research indicates that a child with a disability is more likely to be physically or verbally bullied than his typically developing peers. As a special needs teacher with over twenty years under my belt, I can attest to this data. However, by teaching children to understand that not everyone sees the world the same way, parents can facilitate understanding and healthy interaction between all kinds of children.
  +
  Teach children about body language.
  +
  A bully will most likely demonstrate cocky movements, loud voice, and mocking facial expressions.
  +
  Use appropriate social language.
  +
  Children should be ready to take safe action such as leaving the situation or telling an adult.
  +
  Bullying in this case may also be the result of misreading social cues or lacking the communication skills to ask for something appropriately. Developing skills in social confidence can reduce the tendency to bully.
  + Cognitive Development Intervention + Character Development and Your Child + Major Depression in Children and Adolescents + Intelligence and Learning
• Bullies: More Than Sticks, Stones and Name-Calling (education.com)
  The search for the roots of violence has included a closer look at interactions once thought innocent.
  +
  when the teasing turns to taunting and the child is afraid that any attempt to stop the aggressor will cause harm, the situation is more serious and possibly crosses the line into bullying.
  +
  Current definitions of bullying behavior stem from the original research conducted with Norwegian and Swedish students by Dan Olweus, who stated, “a student is being bullied or victimized when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions by one or more other students. Negative actions can include physical contact, words, making faces or dirty gestures, and intentional exclusion from a group. An additional criterion of bullying is an imbalance in strength (an asymmetric power relationship).
  +
  Bullying is a pervasive problem for school children in the U.S. as well as internationally. Studies of incidence range from a high of 80%, where “only 20% reported no bullying behavior” in a 30 day period (Bosworth et al 1999) to studies showing a conservative 10% of kindergarten through high school students being bullied (Hodges and Perry, 1996). Some groups of children are also at greater risk, for example, Garrity & Barris (1996) reported on a study finding “that 33% of mainstreamed, special-needs children had been targets of bullying, compared to 8% of their normal classmates” (p. 97).
  +
  Coercive parenting. Parents who use power assertive techniques, especially physical punishment, yelling, and name calling, often generate fear about punishment in their children. These children also tend to identify with and model such aggressive authority figures.
• RCASA Friday Facts: The Truth About Bullying (rcasa.wordpress.com)
  Every day thousands of teens wake up afraid to go to school. Bullying is a problem that affects millions of students, and it has everyone worried, not just the kids on its receiving end. Yet because parents, teachers, and other adults don’t always see it, they may not understand how extreme bullying can get.
  +
  Verbal bullying can also involve sending cruel instant or email messages or even posting insults about a person on a website — practices that are known as cyberbullying.
  +
  Although most bullies think they’re hot stuff and have the right to push people around, others are actually insecure. They put other people down to make themselves feel more interesting or powerful. And some bullies act the way they do because they’ve been hurt by bullies in the past — maybe even a bullying figure in their own family, like a parent or other adult.
  +
  Most people hesitate to speak out because it can be hard. It takes confidence to stand up to a bully — especially if he or she is one of the established group leaders. But chances are the other students witnessing the bullying behavior feel as uncomfortable as you do. They may just not be speaking up. Perhaps they feel that they’re not popular enough to take a stand or worry that they’re vulnerable and the bully will turn on them. Staying quiet (even though they don’t like the bully’s behavior) is a way to distance themselves from the person who is the target.
• bully, be yourself! + school’s out (pasupatidasi.wordpress.com)
  ever notice how dismissive adults are of children?
  +
  i’ve seen parents, who love their children, simply not hear them when they try to convey something to them. even very important things.like gender identification. like bullying.
  +
  feeling the sexism of our society in which females are picked on just for being females.
  +
  so fearful of being who they are that they attack others for being mirrors that show them their self? or should i tell them to check their makeup, as it were. should i say “hey bully, be yourself!”
• Shucksy darn oh pooh! (lettersfromalostsoul.wordpress.com)
  In an effort to improve the “atmosphere” at work, we used the above mentioned book to create our own version of foul language.  This allows our team to swear at random while not offending other co-workers or customers.
  What, you may ask is the most commonly used word?  I am so glad you asked!
  Shucksy darn oh pooh!
  Try using this alternative in place of a foul word, and see just how many quizzical looks and even smiles appear.  I guarantee it will be a conversation starter or at least an ice breaker!
• Can We Stop the Gay Bullying Epidemic? (education.com)
  We’ve all heard the expression: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” But what happens when hateful words build and multiply until they’re too much for one teenager to bear? No longer an issue of harmless playground teasing, bullying can mean the difference between life and death—and it has for a number of gay teens whose suicides have made headlines in the past month.
  +
  Laura Kauffman, Ph.D. says that anti-gay vernacular runs rampant throughout today’s everyday speech, too. “Many students—and adults—can still be heard saying, ‘That’s so gay.’”
  +
  Indirect Aggression Amongst Teenage Girls and How Parents Can Help + Talking To Teens About Violence + Risky Behaviors and Bullying Toolkit + Childhood Victims and Bullies and Their Parents + Poverty and Equality
• Are You Being Bullied or Teased Because of Your Weight? (education.com)
• Apologies with curse words. (simplifiedstories.wordpress.com)
  I’m sorry for all of the curse words too.
• Explicit Language (For Adults Only, I Guess)(ringingtrue.net) proves how many people do find certain language today pretty tame response to the problems we do have to encounterWe finished evaluating the songs on Last Past the Post (the new Acoustic Disturbance CD) for foul language and found that iTunes definitions require us to classify seven of the twelve songs as “explicit.” Since one is an instrumental, that means only four songs are allegedly suitable for children’s ears.
• Where SHIfT Happens… (imuslims.wordpress.com)
  Anas bin Malik said: “The Prophet was not one who would abuse (others) or say obscene words, or curse (others)…” (Bukhaari)And Abdullah bin ‘Amr said: “The Prophet never used bad languageneither a ‘Faahish nor a Mutafaahish. He used to say ‘The best amongst you are those who have the best manners and character.’ (Bukhaari)
  +
  The Prophet said: “O ‘Aaishah! Have you ever seen me speaking a bad and dirty language? (Remember that) the worst people in Allah’s sight on the Day of Resurrection will be those whom the people desert or leave in order to save themselves from their dirty language or from their transgression.” (Bukhaari)
  +
  Bad words show disrespect to those being spoken to and a total lack of self-respect. The one who stays away from filthy language is not being a prude or old-fashioned; rather he /she is a Mu’min and a follower of the one with the best manners ever…that is, the Prophet.
• You Didn’t Thank Me For Punching You in the Face (pinkatenchanted.wordpress.com)
  Never ever give false impressions to young children, because we are actually distorting the shape of their future.
• Parenting Solutions: Teased (education.com)
  Can’t handle it when friends poke fun, is overly sensitive to verbal teasing, often overreacts to playful banter, feels picked on
• Right, Wing-Nut! (jerseynut.blogspot.com)
  There has never in the history of the world been a people better mannered and less inclined to insulting acts of prejudice than today’s Americans, yet we’re supposed to believe that the nation is seething with “harassment” and “discrimination,” women being groped in every business office and crosses burning on every lawn.
  +
  Isn’t denial of the existence of sexual harassment now harassment in and of itself?
• Tips for Parents: Teasing, Bullying, and the Role of Friendships (education.com)
  Often, I think we expect really bright kids to act their intellectual age and forget that deep inside they really are kids. This becomes even more of an issue when we grade accelerate.” Children who had problems with friendships prior to being accelerated may be at increased risk for them after acceleration.
  +
  Boys engage in bullying about three times as much as girls and usually bully in groups. If the victim is an unpopular child, bullying groups are joined temporarily by others. I list steps to detect bullying in my Good Friends book that involve getting the school involved. Girls have a subtler form of bullying called “relational aggression” defined as girls who: (1) exclude others from their group out of anger, (2) tell children they will stop liking them unless they do what they say, and (3) ignore people when mad at them.
  +
  If rejection has been a recurrent problem among same-age same-sex peers. This may indicate that there is something the child is doing that is violating “the golden rule” making him\her little fun to play with. Rejected children are viewed by peers as domineering, bossy, intrusive, or critical.
• It’s not cute. It’s abuse. (bluejaysway.wordpress.com)
• You Didn’t Thank Me For Punching You in the Face (denaliwinter.com)
  Being mean to someone because you like them is unacceptable and a poor excuse for being an asshole. We need to teach children this from day one, not drill this bullshit into their little heads and expect them to grow up and magically learn to respect each other and themselves.
• Curse Words (socyberty.com)
  When a person chooses to eliminate curse words from their vocabulary, they do so because of the meaning of those words.  However, I am a bit baffled by why some of these people choose to use substitutes for these words.  Do these words not have the same connotations as the curse words that you try so hard to avoid?  For example, many people may say “darn” instead of damn.  I see absolutely no difference when you simply replace the curse word with darn.

Darcey Bussell and Carlos Acosta during the curtain call for the ballet Theme and Variations.

Premieres Plus combines Carlos Acosta his outstanding classical technique, which could recently also be wondered by 45000 spectators at the O2 where he gave a marvelous performance of McMillans Romeo and Julia, with some of the most celebrated works of recent years. The night includes Russell Maliphant’s masterpiece “Two”, originally created for Sylvie Guillem.

Will Tuckett’s “On Before”, originally created for the Ballet Boyz’s Billy Trevett and Royal Ballet principal Zenaida Yanowsky, and now performed for the first time by Carlos and Zenaida to John Adams’s masterwork “Christian Zeal & Activity”.

Those who did not have had the chance to see him perform should perhaps hurry. Because Acosta has pain in his hips and has had repeated surgeries on his right ankle. He also uttered already that it could be that his time to retire has been looking around the corner. Now aged 38 and living in London, he feels he has “maybe three more years” before he will retire.

“I still think I have what it takes, but sometimes it’s difficult to know when it’s the right time, I think I still have the quality people like – but it’s not very far away now.”

“Ballet has been like being married for 30 years, and then for some reason life takes you on different paths, but you still have the memories of the woman you love – that’s me and ballet.”

This morning he also said he was really “out” after he had done his manage at the O2 on June the 17^th. The stage being so huge and demanding so much of the body to cover it all. “you have five scenes and you dance almost until you drop dead.”

The crippling physical effort of becoming a ballet dancer, the slog, the agony of injuries, the rivalries and bitchiness are vividly evoked in Acosta’s fascinating story “No Way Home” which is published by Harper Collins. Despite terrible home-sickness, loneliness and low self-esteem, Acosta won every possible student medal and award. Snapped up by various ballet companies, he travelled to Europe.

Cover via Amazon

The Book will be available for order via the website at a reduced price of £17.99 (including standard UK first class delivery). They shall have 50 signed copies of the book for those who get their orders in early (first come first served basis). (Please check at Carlos’ site)

If you wish to see Carlos in person, he will be signing copies of his autobiography – No Way Home – at Hatchards Bookshop, 187 Piccadilly, London W1 between 1 and 2pm on Tuesday 9th October, and at the Royal Opera House Shop in Covent Garden, London WC2 between 3.30 and 4.30 on Saturday 13th October.

For those out of London, Carlos will also be appearing at the Cheltenham Literary Festival on Sunday 14th October in conversation with A C Grayling at 4pm and will be signing copies of his Book afterwards. For full details of the Cheltenham Literary Festival go to http://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/whats_on/literature_festival.html

On top of many prices he can write Cuba’s National Dance Prize on his palmares, in recognition of his fruitful career, and for being “a genuine example of an artist who loves the revolution” – in the words of the president of the jury which awarded the prize.

When he retires he and his British fiancée plan to move to Cuba, and he may start his own dance company. The choreographic parts he did himself , which I saw, looked borrowed from other contemporary choreographers, but he made nice choices.

Written 2011 July 12

Related articles

• Carlos Acosta: I don’t go out thinking, ‘Here I come, the Cuban Sex Missile’ (independent.co.uk)
  I used to do 40 to 50 shows a year and I’ve had plenty of body traumas and surgeries, but it’s been worth it. Nothing compares to the feeling of being on stage and connecting with an audience.
• 12,000 pack in to see Royal Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet debut at the O2 (telegraph.co.uk)
  Covent Garden it ain’t. The crowd is six times the size and a good half of them of them will be munching hot dogs throughout but the Royal Ballet’s debut run at London’s O2 this weekend is a great success nonetheless.
  Carlos Acosta, who was on superb form (not always the case this late in his 20-year career).
• Carlos Acosta: those tights are getting harder to wear! (telegraph.co.uk)
  Carlos Acosta, who was on superb form (not always the case this late in his 20-year career).
• Ballet star admits O2 challenges (bbc.co.uk)
  Acosta bellieves the huge London arena is “not ideal”, saying: “You lose the intimacy that Romeo and Juliet needs, you have to rely on cameras.”But the Cuban dancer, who plays Romeo, said it was something The Royal Ballet “needs to do”.
• A new arena for dance: Will 50,000 people flock to the O2 for Romeo and Juliet? (independent.co.uk)
• Romeo and Juliet, Royal Opera House, Seven magazine review (telegraph.co.uk)
• The Dream/Song of the Earth – review (guardian.co.uk)

'Now, how shall I end chapter 3?' … Acosta has been writing between performances, here in Requiem at the Royal Opera House. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian

2012 February update

• Carlos Acosta: from the ballet to the galley proof (guardian.co.uk)
  Carlos Acosta is more accustomed to en pointe than penpoint, but the world-renowned Cuban ballet dancer has written his first novel in between performances around the world.
• Romeo and Juliet, Royal Opera House, Seven magazine review (telegraph.co.uk)
  Tamara Rojo and Carlos Acosta have been cast together as Shakespeare’s lovers for six years now, and while the fit is as perfect as ever, there’s something slightly ‘‘married’’ about the great pas de deux, which offered none of the grabby desperation one sees in the thrilling early days of a partnership.
  +
  Acosta partnered beautifully but his playing only really caught fire during the fight scenes. And although he leaps as softly as ever, his dancing has a slightly energy-efficient look to it.
• The Dream/Song of the Earth – review (guardian.co.uk)
  MacMillan’s genius in Song of the Earth is to choreograph on a grand, tragic scale and in small, human detail alike. On Wednesday night, the opening male ensemble was unforgivably ragged, suggesting momentarily that the Royal had lost this ballet. But then an alchemical reaction took place on stage: the dancing found a heart-stopping clarity, from the pin-wheeling lifts and playful Chinoiserie of the third song, to the austere geometric logic of the large ensembles. The two male leads developed a harrowing dramatic opposition: Rupert Pennefather as the sweet hopeful lover, Carlos Acosta a half benign but implacable Messenger of Death. And caught between them, Tamara Rojo carried the entire ballet in her body, moving from delicate girlishness to fierce anguish, and finally to a totemic image of resignation.

Wie het nog niet wist of geloofde kan het nu in de media vinden.

In Amerika is een soort Quote 500 van de bestbetaalde voorgangers gepubliceerd. Een modaal salaris van 30-40.000 dollar, waar de meeste katholieke priesters en protestantse voorgangers het mee doen, is voor losers, volgens Goed Gelovig.

De gegevens laten ook wel zien dat die predikers die het meest geïnteresseerd zijn de dollars te laten rollen ook wel niet altijd met een zuiver leitje zitten. Velen er van blijken ook handige fraudeurs te zijn.

Zulk een nieuwtje valt dan ook lekker in de smaak van Goedgelovig Nederland dat een initiatief is van een groep bekende, minder bekende en anonieme columnisten van breed-kerkelijke huize die zich het Dwaze Zaken Collectief noemt, naar het bekende Amsterdamse kunst-eetcafé ‘Dwaze Zaken’, waar we bij tijd en wijle graag een schuimend biertje nuttigen, terwijl ze het ‘gristelijke’ wereldje satirisch beschouwen.

De Belgische voorgangers noch de katholieke priesters zullen hun portemonnee zo gevuld kunnen zien. Voor hen, die het goed menen, mag er wel hard werk in de la liggen, terwijl de beter betaalden lekker knus in hun gouden paleis mogen zitten en de geruchten in één oor binnen laten om het in het andere buiten te laten.

Goedgelovig Nederland bekijkt de petitie die overhandigd is geworden aan de Vlaamse bisschoppen als een haast wanhopige daad, en waarschijnlijk tegen beter weten in, een gepleit voor een kerkhervorming.

Maar hun lezers halen ook aan dat een nieuwe hervorming voor Evangelisch Nederland, waar erg veel mis is, ook geen overbodige luxe zou zijn . Al zijn daar de problemen van andere aard.

Flipsonius denkt dat de vliegenmeppers uit zijn op een dialoog.
Hij herinnert zich een sociologische theorie, die er op neer komt dat mensen gaan radicaliseren (en in opstand komen) op het moment dat ze gefrustreerd worden na een periode van verbetering van hun aanvankelijk beroerde situatie en zegt: “In dit geval zie je dat de RKK net een stabiele conservatieve koers aan het varen was na roerige decennia vol controverses. De nieuwlichters en oproerkraaiers waren buitengewipt (op z’n Vlaams gezegd) of hadden zelf de kerk verlaten. De conservatieven hadden de wind in de zeilen. Tja, en dan krijg je die onthullingen over pedopriesters en machtsmisbruik, loopt de kerk nog verder leeg en komen er weer discussies en petities en roep om verandering. Het is echt griezelig en vermakelijk tegelijk om te zien hoe ze zich bezighouden met het afstoffen van allerlei archaïsche artikelen uit het Kerkelijk Recht om die ontwikkelingen de kop in te drukken.”

Of die betaalde dominees en priesters echt wel tijd kunnen, willen maken, hangt te bezien. Spottend laten zij een gesprek lezen tussen dominee Pietersma en hun redactie waarbij de dominee aan geeft dat hij een goed gevulde agenda heeft. Daardoor kregen zij op hun eerder gebel telkens geen gehoor.

“Maandag vergadering over het Manifest van Eenheid zonder verlies van Eigenheid, dinsdag denktank van het bijbelgenootschap en overleg met collega-predikanten. Oh…!”

- “Ja?”

“Dat was ik alweer vergeten. Die woensdag word ik voor de krant geïnterviewd over het feit dat ik hier alweer 18 jaar dominee ben. Mooi hè? 18 jaar alweer. Ik weet nog goed hoe ik hier begon. Wel een beetje een jonge hond, hoor. Maar vol enthousiasme. Ja, het is ook zo’n mooi beroep!”

- “Ja? En wat vindt u er zo mooi aan?”

“Nou ja… het contact met mensen, hè, en de kansen die je krijgt om het evangelie door te geven. Prachtig! Maar ik zie dat ik nu toch echt moet gaan, dus weet u wat? Ik bel u volgende week even terug en dan kijken we eens rustig of we een afspraak kunnen maken. Goed? Nou, dag hoor.”

- “Ja… dag…”

De vraag bij dat artikel is dan of we de kerken moeten ont-managen? Minder synodes, dominees moeten geen stukken meer schrijven, geen spreekbeurten meer houden? Alleen nog maar bezig gaan met de eigen gemeente. Of is de boodschap dat dominee zijn een ontzettend zware taak is en dat een beetje gemeente eigenlijk behoefte heeft aan minimaal twee betaalde full-time krachten?

Of dat je als gemeentelid voor een pastoraal gesprek misschien maar het beste naar een ouderling kan gaan? Of gaat het juist over de dominee die zo enthousiast begon in een gemeente en na 18 jaar zich vooral met andere dingen bezig houdt, en is het dus een pleidooi en oproep aan dominees om na maximaal 10 jaar van gemeente te switchen?

In ieder geval zijn er te weinig kandidaten voor ambtsdragers en in het katholieke front zo wel als het protestantse moet er op toe gezien worden dat diegenen die zich actief willen inzetten dat ook daadwerkelijk zullen kunnen doen.

> Een afspraak met de dominee

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Aanverwant kan u vinden:

1. Een Manifest voor Gelovigen
2. Publieke overdracht van Manifest Gelovigen nemen het woord
3. Manifestanten Protestant of Katholiek
4. Manifest tot protestantse kerk
5. manifest “Gelovigen nemen het woord”
6. Manifests for believers #1 Sex abuse setting fire to the powder (christadelphians.wordpress.com)
7. Manifests for believers #2 Changing celibacy requirement (christadelphians.wordpress.com)
8. Manifests for believers #3 Catholic versus Protestant (christadelphians.wordpress.com)
9. Manifests for believers #4 Eucharist (christadelphians.wordpress.com)

Een eerste opgemerkte petitie was die ‘voor een geloofwaardige en bevrijdende kerk’. Deze kreeg ook weerstand van de conservatieve Katholieken die vroegen niet in te gaan op de contestatie tegen de traditionele geloofsverkondiging en het ondergraven van het pauselijk gezag. De samenstellers beoogden binnen de huidige kerkcrisis, een bescheiden bijdrage te leveren aan het elkaar vinden van kerkbetrokken christenen. Hen was het opgevallen dat de met het geloof begane mensen zich stilaan eenzaten begonnen te voelen en dat het daarom belangrijk was om hen te laten aanvoelen dat ze niet alleen staan in hun christen zijn, in hun verlangen naar een geloofwaardige en bevrijdende kerk,  en dat het er op aan kwam om de krachten te bundelen. Eveneens wilden zij  een taal geven aan de oorspronkelijke motivatie van de kerkgemeenschap die we telkens opnieuw moeten integreren en beleven. Zij overhandigden de petitie op kerstavond aan de Vlaamse bisschoppen met een tweevoudige bedoeling: (1) bemoediging: zoveel mensen willen een evangelisch geïnspireerde kerkgemeenschap, een meer authentieke kerk en (2)  aansporing: om werk te maken van de beloofde denkoefening rond macht in de kerkgemeenschap. Eind 2010 ondertekenden 6.800 gelovigen dat signaal ter bemoediging in volle pedofiliecrisis. Vele feiten die naar boven kwamen, zijn vreselijk en de kerk onwaardig.*

Meer recentelijk waren er petities ‘tegen de seculiere dictatuur’ met zo’n 3.000 handtekeningen, tegen de onttrekking aan de eredienst van de Brusselse Sint-Kathelijnekerk met ruim 6.100 ondertekenaars en op het manifest “Gelovigen nemen het woord” ** volgde de tegenactie “Gelovigen aanvaarden het woord” met een 200 ondertekenaars en “[On]gelovigen nemen het woord”***. Ook in Nederland konden enkele manifesten niet uitblijven. ****

Eindelijk kwam het deze week zo ver dat het reeds veel besproken en ophefmakende manifest “Gelovigen nemen het woord” door een delegatie van de Werkgroep Kerkenwerk donderdag 9 februari, in Mechelen werd overhandigd aan de Vlaamse bisschoppen.

Het Manifest “Gelovigen nemen het woord” met een namenlijst van de ondertekenaars wil aan de kerkelijke gezagdragers in België een duidelijk signaal geven en doet een oproep aan de Vlaamse bisschoppen om door hervormingen de impasse te doorbreken waarin de Kerk in Vlaanderen is terechtgekomen.

Opmerkelijk is dat van de 8235 gelovigen die het manifest onderschreven, hoofdzakelijk via het internet, sommigen ook schriftelijk, vele, maar niet alle ondertekenaars hebben aangegeven op welke manier zij bij de Kerk betrokken zijn. Daaruit kan worden afgeleid dat ten minste 304 priesters, 41 diakens, 184 pastores, pastoraal werk(sters) en parochieassistenten, en 89 religieuzen het Manifest ondertekend hebben, naast honderden mensen uit de onderwijs- en universitaire wereld en tientallen verantwoordelijken van christelijke geïnspireerde bewegingen en organisaties. Bovenal hebben een paar duizend ondertekenaars aangegeven dat zij op een of andere manier actief zijn in een parochie of een christelijke beweging of organisatie.

Ik vind het mooi zo te zien dat er toch nog veel Belgen blijken begaan te zijn met het Woord van God. Natuurlijk gaat het hier enkel om de bekommerdheid van het Rooms Katholieke Geloof terwijl er een algemene malaise in het Christelijk Geloof is. Maar het is niet slecht dat de onderschrijvers van het manifest ook eens hun oor te luisteren hebben gelegd bij de andere gemeenschappen van het Christendom. Hiervoor worden zij echter wel hard op de vingers geslagen door de conservatieve achterban van de Rooms Katholieke Kerk (RKK)

In mijn discours in mijn ecclesia (= kerkgemeenschap) ga ik op vele punten van het manifest dieper in, en verwijs u daarom ook graag naar die uiteenzettingen (in het Engels)

St. Romboutskathedraal (Mechelen)

Na de overhandiging van het Manifest en de namenlijst van de ondertekenaars, konden de delegatieleden het initiatief ruim toelichten. Ze wezen erop dat het uiting geeft van een oprechte bezorgdheid voor de toekomst van de Kerk in Vlaanderen — en Kerk die nodig is en blijft om het Evangelie en de christelijke boodschap te verkondigen, te beleven en in concrete daden van zielzorg en mensenzorg om te zetten. Die grote bezorgdheid wordt spijtig genoeg onvoldoende begrepen door bepaalde conservatieve Rooms Katholieke groeperingen, terwijl de Charismatische Katholieken (waartoe het koningshuis behoort) zich opmerkelijk stil houden.

De grote respons en, vooral, de kwaliteit van de ondertekenaars tonen aan dat vele kerkbetrokken en kerkactieve gelovigen die bezorgdheid delen en de noodzaak van kerkelijke hervormingen onderschrijven. Alsook geeft het aan dat het hoog tijd werd dat er actie wordt ondernomen en over de gehele zaak met alle betrokkenen wordt gedebatteerd.

De vertegenwoordigers van de Werkgroep beklemtoonden dat centralisatie (door vorming van parochiefederaties en/of pastorale eenheden) geen structurele oplossing biedt, maar de kwantitatieve achteruitgang veeleer in de hand zal werken. Zoals ik reeds eerder in sommige van mijn teksten op verscheidene websites aanhaalde heeft die federatievorming de kerk eerder verzwakt dan nieuw leven in geblazen. Het centraliseren heeft niet voor meer stevigheid gezorgd maar heeft de parochianen nog verder doen afhaken door het minder verbonden zijn met een ware geloofsgemeenschap die voldoende in de noden van de gemeente kon voorzien. In sommige dorpen is er bijvoorbeeld nog maar één eucharistieviering per maand in het eigen dorp. Indien de mensen meer naar de communie moeten gaan dan moeten zij naar een andere kerk gaan is de huidige gedachte van de RKK.

Zij vergeten echter dat er in hun gemeenschap niet zulks een geloof heerst als in bepaalde andere Christelijke groepen. In mijn geloofsgemeenschap is een verplaatsing geen abnormale zaak, om samen het geloof met elkaar in gemeenschap te delen als broeders en zusters in Christus. De kerkgemeenschap die ik leid heeft zo haar regelmatige diensten in Heverlee, Mons, Brussel stad en elke drie maanden een dienst in Parijs stad. Onze gelovigen verplaatsen zich dus soms meer dan 600 km om een dienst bij te wonen, maar dat zie ik niet zo vlug Katholieke Belgen of Nederlanders doen. In België zijn er ook zeer veel naam Katholieken waaronder heel veel mensen die eigenlijk niet echt geloven maar wel hun kinderen laten dopen, hun eerste en plechtige communie laten doen, trouwen voor die Katholiek Kerk en een rouwdienst laten doen. Dus enkel voor hun ‘grote gebeurtenissen’ in hun leven hebben zij die kerk nodig uit traditie. Indien een bepaalde priester hen niet aanstaat gaan zij niet bepaald een dorp verder of zich nog verder verplaatsen om een dienst te vinden die hen bevalt.

In België heerst een heel ander mentaliteit, daar moet de kerk naar de gelovigen komen en zijn het niet de gelovigen die naar de kerk komen.

Duitse Katholieke priester en theoloog Peter Knauer die een mis opdraagt in het Esperanto in de kapel van de Foyer Catholique Européen in Brussel

Namens de bisschoppen dankte aartsbisschop Léonard de Werkgroep voor het “weliswaar kritisch maar toch kerkelijk initiatief”. Uit de gedachtewisseling die daarop volgde, bleek een gedeelde zorg voor de lokale kerkgemeenschappen in Vlaanderen. De bisschoppen toonden zich bereid het gesprek hierover voort te zetten.

Het verlangen naar verandering dat uit de tekst spreekt, laat de bisschoppen niet onberoerd. Volgens hen zoeken zij ook naar vernieuwing en grotere authenticiteit, in trouw aan de Schrift en aan de geloofstraditie van de kerk. Maar de burgers konden tot nu toe daar nog maar weinig van merken. Alsook leek de laatste maanden de kerk ook totaal vervreemd van de wereld en leek hun reactie op de vele seksschandalen helemaal wereldvreemd en een Christen onwaardig.

Christadelphian Ecclesia bijeenkomst te Heverlee

De Belgische machtshebbers van de RKK beseffen dat de situatie die we vandaag als kerk meemaken niet comfortabel is. Van pastorale verantwoordelijken wordt heel veel gevraagd. Zij vragen zich wel niet af hoe het komt dat zij niet meer de maatschappelijke positie noch de impact hebben die ze vroeger wel hebben gehad. Vreemd genoeg mag hun kerk op financieel vlak nog het meest comfortabel begunstigd zijn. Zij met de erkende protestantse en islamieten krijgen een maandelijkse wedde uitbetaald door het ministerie van justitie. Andere godsdienstbewegingen, zoals de Christadelphians bijvoorbeeld moeten het stellen van onbetaalde kerkleiders en predikers die hun inkomen moeten verzorgen door in de burgerlijke wereld een job te voorzien, al was het voor enkele dagen.  Vele van die predikers moeten zich volledig ontdoen van hechting aan materie en volledig bereid zijn om zich over te geven aan de verspreiding van het Woord van God. Het gehele predikingswerk van de Getuigen van Jehovah berust zo ook uit de volledige overgave van de geloofsgenoten voor hun geloofsgemeenschap. Zulk een overgave vind men niet makkelijk bij de Rooms Katholiek Kerk. Maar er zijn toch nog enkele gepassioneerde mensen daar te vinden, die eigenlijk veel te weinig kansen krijgen om mee hun kerk op te bouwen en het geloof verder te verspreiden.

De bisschoppen hebben de idee dat zij heel veel inspanningen doen  om het evangelie dicht bij het leven van de mensen te laten aansluiten. Hiervan zien wij echter heel weinig van.  Ofwel houdt dat in dat zij dat enkel doen voor de eigen geloofsgemeenschap, maar dan kunnen deze enkel demografisch gevormd worden en zullen zij vlug verminderen doordat er meer sterven dan geboren worden. Wij horen of zien weinig katholieken getuigen, en nog minder priesters of hoger geplaatste geestelijken dat doen. En indien zij in de media komen is het steeds om eerst misstappen te ontkennen om ze daarna schoorvoetend toe te geven en toch nog trachten te verdoezelen.

Vast staat wel dat het in een samenleving waar het seculier levensgevoel steeds groter wordt het zeker niet gemakkelijk is om mensen tot het evangelie te brengen. Het is eveneens niet eenvoudig om de mensen in het geloofsleven te motiveren en hun ook actie te laten ondernemen.

Zij zeggen: “We begrijpen de pijn en de onmacht bij velen. Hoe kunnen we het evangelie zo verkondigen dat het hart van de mens van deze tijd erdoor geraakt wordt? Dat is de vraag die bij ons allen leeft en die onze grootste uitdaging blijft. Structurele hervormingen of aanpassingen zullen daar niets aan veranderen. Toch kunnen ze ons helpen. Daarom begrijpen we dat de geleidelijkheid van deze hervormingen het geduld op de proef stelt. Maar de evoluties in onze maatschappij zijn zo fundamenteel dat ze tijd en onderscheiding vragen om te zien wat in deze kan en moet gebeuren.”

Daarop zou ik hen graag waarschuwen dat zij best niet te lang wachten en zeker niet te veel tijd nemen, want volgens mij is hun kerk in Vlaanderen aan het dood bloeden. Zelfs op voor hen hoogdagen zoals Kerstmis kan men kerken vinden waar niet veel gelovigen aanwezig zijn in de middernachtmis (als die er nog bestaat) of in de kerkdienst op die feestdag.

De Belgische kerkelijke macht zou blij moeten zijn met de uitlatingen van die bekommerde gelovigen. Het manifest geeft hen ook de gelegenheid de positie van de Rooms Katholieke Kerkgemeenschap te verhelderen.

Doordat sommige elementen, zoals de kwestie van woorddienst op zondag, een diocesane aangelegenheid zijn zou men kunnen vermoeden dat het juist heel makkelijk moet zijn om tot een aanvaardbare oplossing te komen om meerdere geïnteresseerde gelovigen aan te spreken en te motiveren om er echt iets van te maken.

Natuurlijk zijn er ook aangehaalde zaken welke op hoger hiërarchisch vlak moeten bedisseld worden. Het kerkelijk ambt en het priesterschap, zijn een aangelegenheid van de wereldkerk en daar kan men niet zomaar een Belgische oplossing naar voor schuiven. Wij zijn wel het land van het surrealisme en de politiek kent van zulke wanten, maar op kerkelijk vlak hangt men hier vast aan het Vaticaanse conservatisme en super heerschappij.

Grote Kerk - Katholieke Kerk te Vilvoorde (Vlaams Brabant)

De bisschoppen beweren in kwesties die raken aan het persoonlijke leven van mensen, dat zij een respectvolle, pastorale houding bepleiten. Nochtans kan men op het vlak van de erkenning van het vrouwelijk geslacht niet zien dat de RKK deze gelijkwaardig aan de man opstelt. alsook hebben zij in hun systeem ook een hele machtsstructuur waarbij de één boven de ander staat, terwijl in de Kerk van Christus iedereen gelijk zou moeten zijn. Meer nog, diegenen die werkelijk een volgeling van Christus Jezus willen zijn zouden zich onderdanig moeten opstellen en ten dienste van de gemeenschap moeten staan. Jezus rade iedereen aan elkaar aan te moedigen en vertelde ook zijn apostelen dat geen een hoger in rang was dan de ander en zij allen in eenheid met elkaar moesten leven.

Toch geven de bisschoppen toe: “Al is niet elke levensstaat gelijk, toch is niemand minderwaardig, want een mens is altijd meer dan zijn daden en dan de situaties waarin hij verkeert. De kerkgemeenschap ten slotte, opgebouwd rond Christus en zijn evangelie, wordt gezonden naar alle mensen. Ze neemt die missie op vanuit een vitale kern die leeft vanuit de eucharistie. Want daar gebeurt de verbinding van de ranken met de wijnstok (Johannes 15, 5).” En zeggen zij verder: “God heeft alle gelovigen, elke gedoopte, broodnodig om zijn liefde aan de wereld kenbaar te maken.”  Daarom roepen zij ook hun gelovigen op om samen werk te maken van een kerkgemeenschap die zorg draagt voor haar identiteit, trouw aan de zending die ze heeft ontvangen, een kerk die open en toegankelijk is voor iedereen, met een ruim hart voor alle mensen.

Indien de RKK in België nog iets wenst te betekenen over enkele jaren zal zij hoogdringend er werk van moeten maken om goed te luisteren naar haar achterban, naar diegenen die het dichts bij het volk staan en zij die de basis van de Katholieke Kerk vormen.

Mark Deweerdt wijst er namens de Werkgroep Kerkenwerk op dat er met dit manifest “een breed platform tot stand kwam van kerkbezorgde – zowel gewijde als niet-gewijde – gelovigen die de impasse waarin de kerk in Vlaanderen is terechtgekomen niet langer lijdelijk willen ondergaan en op hervormingen aandringen”.
Het initiatief vertrok vanuit een oprechte bezorgdheid over de toekomst van de kerk in Vlaanderen. Het treft Deweerdt dat naast bekende gelovigen vooral veel mensen ondertekenden die “week in week uit aan ‘kerkwerk’ doen in hun parochie”. Daarom ziet hij het manifest als een “schreeuw uit het hart van veel geëngageerde gelovigen”. Hij waagt het de vraag te stellen: “Hoe zou het zonder hen met de kerk in Vlaanderen gesteld zijn?”

“Priesters raken overspannen door het vele werk en plaatselijke gemeenschappen worden losgelaten, maar als er levende gemeenschappen zijn en voldoende mensen die daarvoor willen instaan, waarom talmt het beleid dan om die te mandateren?” zegt Jan Coppens, pastoor in Erpe-Mere. Maar hij is niet alleen die zich die vraag stelt waarom het beleid niet ingaat op de bereidwilligheid van die vele gewone burgers die zich willen inspannen voor hun geloofsgemeenschap. Zij moesten blij zijn dat er zo veel mensen kerkelijk werk willen doen.

Het blijven vasthouden aan menselijke regels en dogma’s die zijn ingevoerd op in vroegere tijden bepaalde orde op zaken te stellen zijn niet meer toepasselijk voor vandaag.  Daar zal de RKK moeten leren om nu ook met de tijd mee te gaan zoals er toen in de vorige eeuwen bepaalde begrenzende stappen waren ondernomen, zullen zij nu open makende stappen moeten ondernemen.

Het Rooms Katholieke blad Tertio zocht ook naar een reactie bij de ondertekenaars van de tegenactie Gelovigen aanvaarden het woord. De opgebelde paters wensten niet met naam en toenaam te reageren. Een van hen gaf als commentaar: “Als gelovige kan ik dit niet ondertekenen en ik veronderstel dat priesters, diakens, godsdienstleerkrachten, theologen en pastores die minstens 3 jaar daarvoor studeerden, weten waarom sommige zaken in de kerk niet kunnen. Als ze het niet weten, dan is het onze taak het hen – opnieuw – uit te leggen. Dat is het gepaste antwoord op dit manifest, dat trouwens aantoont hoe erg het gesteld is met de kerk en de priesters in Vlaanderen die al decennia lang een koers varen, los van Rome. Voor mij is dit manifest een radicale aanval op het Tweede Vaticaans Concilie dat de kerk ziet in eenheid met de paus van Rome. We verkeren in een crisis omdat de priesters zelf niet meer trouw zijn aan Rome en het Concilie. De uitweg uit de crisis ligt daarom in meer trouw aan de kerk.”

Kerk van Maria te Damme met kerkhof, de laatste beschikking voor de katholiek

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* Lees meer over de aanzet tot nog groter terugval in de Rooms Katholieke Kerk in Manifests for believers #1 Sex abuse setting fire to the powder « Christadelphians : Belgian Ecclesia Brussel – Leuven

** Een Manifest voor Gelovigen + Manifest Gelovigen nemen het woord

*** Manifest: [On-]Gelovigen nemen het woord + Gelovigen aanvaarden het Woord naar aanleiding van de petitie “(on)gelovigen nemen het woord”
Wat Katholiek is, wordt niet bepaald door persoonlijke voorkeuren. Wat Katholiek is, is wat God, voornamelijk in Christus, geopenbaard heeft en wat de Kerk sindsdien trouw doorgeeft. >  Gelovigen ‘nemen’ het woord niet… Gelovigen ‘AANVAARDEN’ het Woord
+ Is de ketterse petitie ‘Gelovigen nemen het woord’ een complot van CD&V en NVA???
Mark Deweerdt begon zijn loopbaan als manusje-van-alles bij de Leuvense politicoloog Wilfried Dewachter. Een goeie leerschool, maar zijn echte roeping lag toch bij de journalistiek. Na een tussenstop bij Elsevier stapte hij over naar De Standaard. Het was de start van een klim naar de top, want in 1989 bracht hij het er tot hoofdredacteur. Daarna was Mark Deweerdt redacteur binnenlandse politiek bij de Financieel-Economische Tijd. Daarnaast was hij ook een tijd betrokken bij ‘Braambos’. Hij is ook lid van ACW-Herent en voorzitter van het Davidsfonds Herent.

**** Manifest tot protestantse kerk + Manifestanten Protestant of Katholiek+  Manifests for believers #3 Catholic versus Protestant « Christadelphians : Belgian Ecclesia Brussel – Leuven

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Petitie 24com: Gelovigen aanvaarden het Woord + Voor een Katholiek Vlaanderen! AVVVVK

Petitie: “Voor een geloofwaardige en bevrijdende kerk” = anti-katholiek en anti-clericaal
De eenheid van de Kerk komt tot uiting in het herderschap van de bisschop van Rome, de Paus, over de gehele Kerk. Hij is immers de opvolger van Petrus tot wie Christus had gezegd: ‘Gij zijt Petrus en op deze steenrots zal Ik mijn Kerk bouwen’ (Mt 16,18). En bij Johannes horen Jezus tot Petrus zeggen: ‘Weid mijn lammeren, hoed mijn schapen’ (Joh 19, 16-17).
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De katholiciteit of universaliteit van de Kerk houdt niet alleen in dat het geloof van de Kerk overal verspreid is, maar betekent vooral dat men overal hetzelfde geloof aantreft. Of het nu de oude kerken van Europa zijn, of de jonge kerken in de ontwikelingslanden, overal treft met één en hetzelfde katholieke geloof aan. En dat is een soort garantiebewijs: als ik merk dat mijn geloof overeenstemt met het geloof van de wereldkerk, dan kan ik er van op aan dat ik me op het juiste spoor bevindt en het rechte geloof aanhang.

Petitie ‘Voor een geloofwaardige en bevrijdende kerk’
Vele leden en symphatisanten van Pax Christi Vlaanderen vinden in de persoon van Jezus van Nazareth kracht en inspiratie.  De problemen en de schandalen die de voorbije maanden in de katholieke kerk aan het licht kwamen, leiden vaak tot ontmoediging bij velen die zich inzetten in de geloofsgemeenschap of van hen die er lid van zijn. Maar dat hoeft niet zo te blijven.

Tertio Debat: Gelovigen nemen het woord

Ketterlijst met 8200+ katholieken op internet gezet
De Vlaamse ketterlijst is een reactie op de petitie ‘Gelovigen nemen het woord’ van vernieuwingsgezinde katholieken in Vlaanderen. De lijst is een resultaat van ‘een groep verontwaardigde Rooms-Katholieke vliegenmeppers, strijdend tegen modernistische vliegen in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk’.

Brief van Anne Vandenhoeck aan de kerstster
Brief aan de luisteraars van het Braambos, uitgezonden in het Braambos, Radio 1 op 12 december 2010
Anne Vandenhoeck superviseert aan het Academisch Centrum voor Praktische Theologie in Leuven en ze is stafmedewerker van het vicariaat Caritas in Brugge. Tot eind juni heeft ze d’er nog een benoeming bij. Die van Braambos-briefschrijver.

Bedenking ten aanzien van de petitie “Gelovigen nemen het woord”
In onze parochie en omliggende waren er priesters en gelovigen die meenden ‘met de tijd te moeten meegaan’ en zo sijpelde druppelsgewijs het vergift binnen in al die parochies. Mensen haakten af. Parochieteams werden gevormd en catechisten die niet in hun pas liepen werden buitengewerkt. (zij gaven ‘oubollige catechese’, waren ‘extreem rechts’(?) en ook ‘fundamentalist’…!)

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Aanverwante artikelen:

1. Een Manifest voor Gelovigen
2. Publieke overdracht van Manifest Gelovigen nemen het woord
3. Manifestanten Protestant of Katholiek
4. Manifest tot protestantse kerk
5. manifest “Gelovigen nemen het woord”

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• Manifests for believers #2 Changing celibacy requirement (christadelphians.wordpress.com)
• Manifests for believers #3 Catholic versus Protestant (christadelphians.wordpress.com)
• Manifests for believers #4 Eucharist (christadelphians.wordpress.com)

Over the past few months we could not discard the fact that many white people were attacked or were brutally murdered, some even had nothing stolen as black armed gangs target white people in South Africa.

The government does nothing against those people from the “young communist league” who shout “kill the boer, kill the farmer” (in their own language) outside Free State Voortrekker Afrikaans High School. This blatant racism continues in South Africa and some racism goes under the guise of “transformation” and the politicians do let it happen if it is nothing.

The weaker ones are in the most danger. Mostly elderly people are tortured to death with hot irons. People are strangled with their own telephone cords and there is a total onslaught against Afrikaans culture and the Afrikaans people of South Africa.

Several people are convinced that there is a active war in South Africa charged by the ANC and people like Julius Malema. A war against all white people, especially Afrikaans white people namely the boers.

Julius Malema loves saying he has beaten the “colonialists and he will beat their children’s children”. He uses the tactics of degrading. The point of dehumanization is to make the human beings worth less, like animals where their life becomes worth less than the rest of society. While Julius Malema has his shows against what he calls the “white colonialists” the white people are not having so much fun. Instead they are being murdered out one by one and the government is not doing anything about it.

While several nations spend millions of dollars to root out terrorism in South Africa they have some terrorists and corrupt people ruling the country. the problem with certain people in high functions on the political front is that they also misuse their power to get things done for them and to put less educated people under pressure.

To stop the racism, torturing and killing the Afrikaners call for help, because they see the country which they love so much deteriorating and they find themselves and compatriots in danger.

The Renaissance Vanguard issues an invitation to all Nationalists, Third Positionists, South African ex-pats, concerned members of the public of sound and decent conscience, etc. to stage a one-day “occupation” of South African embassies against the ongoing genocide of the South African Boervolk.

They ask the public to consider staging “occupation” protests at all South African embassies in Western countries on March 15, 2012.

The RV is limited to proposing and requesting this action/occupation; in the business world this would be called a “proposal for consideration. If their proposal and request result in acknowledgment and significant turn-outs on the suggested target date is out of their hands they say. They anticipate at the Center of “Left” and “Right.” The Gathering at the Vesica Piscis is latent. As such, the first business to be resolved on the dedicated Facebook page is if a six-week timeline is too tight for an undertaking of this scope and needs to be extended.

The RV’s proposed Occupy South African Embassies action focuses specifically on the plight of the Boervolk for two reasons: 1. it is the Boervolk who directly represent the 4,000 farm murders in South Africa since the coming to power of the African National Congress in 1994 and who have been forced into state-engineered poverty; 2. as part of the RV’s overall Mission Statement, we unconditionally support the creation of a fully autonomous Boer Republic, and request that this propaganda be included on the day of occupation/protest. (Note: The political and legal difficulties of “Jus Sanguinis, Right of Return to Europe” for African White Refugees are outside the scope of this action.)

> White Genocide Project: Occupy South African Embassies, March 15, 2012

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Please do read:

1. A genocide in South Africa By David Hamilton
   There is racial genocide of the South African Boers taking place as I write and the Western media know all about it because they have agents and reporters there, but keep it from the outside world, presumably to allow it to go on.It follows on from what was done to French Algerians, the Belgians of Congo, and the Portuguese of Angola and Mozambique, and what is happening in Zimbabwe.  All these peoples were violently forced off lands which their ancestors had occupied for centuries. It was done with the encouragement of the US and British governments and made possible by finance taken from their own taxpayers for the purpose.  What is behind this?  It is what is now called Globalisation, which is a euphemism for the attempt to create a New World Order.
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   At the beginning of the decade there were 40,000 White farmers in South Africa and there have been is 3,037 murdered in racial genocide and more than 20,000 armed attacks perpetrated by groups of militant, young Black racists on commercial farmers, since the ANC came to power in 1994. This is certainly higher as the South African government and police, with the world’s press keep it covered up. Boers are often tortured or raped first, by boiling water forced down their throats, tendons cut, burnings,  personal humiliations – most perpetrators are protected by Blacks within government and the police and not tried.  Now ask yourselves, gentle readers, when did you see this on television news or read about it in your quality newspaper?

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   In 1991 the White population of South Africa was 5.1 million however, as of 2007 the official White population of South Africa was its lowest of 4.2 million, even though millions of White refugees from other parts of Africa added to South Africa’s White population in recent years. Whites are persecuted and dispossessed for being White leaving them unable to afford council tax so they end up living in shanty huts in Black neighbourhoods which hate them because of their race.
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   In 2006 there were 55,000 reported rapes in South Africa but official estimates are that another 450,000 rapes were not reported.  Therefore, about 1,300 women can be expected to be raped every day. A study by Interpol, the international police agency, revealed that South Africa has the most rapes in the world -  a women being raped every 17 seconds and this does not include the number of child rape victims.
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   More than 67,000 cases of rape and sexual assaults against children were reported last year, compared with 37,500 in 1998. Some of the victims were only six- months-old.

2. The war against white South Africans
3. Is there a silent Genocide in South Africa?
   The tide has turned for the worse and usually where we would see a few cases of murders, tortures and brutal killings of especially Afrikaans white people living in South Africa the numbers have now gone up drastically. Even leaders of not only political parties but of the government itself is guilty of covering up this genocide that would even make those that mention the thought of genocide labeled as racist.
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   Whites are often called “colonialists”, “racists” among other things.
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   Mbeki’s famous words where he said all white people are rich and only that black people can be poor still rings in the ears of many of the 800 000 poor South Africans that live in shacks, they are not qualified for housing because they are white.
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   The planned genocide of white people in South Africa has been proven and can be proved again. There is a clear organization of hatred against the white people of South Africa.
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   “Whites will be threatened with a revolution by black people if the racial quotas are not met”- Jimmy Manji
   ” I will warn them (whites)- that this will be a revolution by all black people- if you want to unite the people- this is the way to go”- Dept. Minister of Labor Membhathisi Mdladlana
   ” Unfortunately there are some people you have to drag to heaven because they are heading for danger”- Jimmy Manji on white farmers that refuse to give-up their farms for land grabs
   “Whites must watch-out- we will take action and make the country un-governable if they do not get in line quickly”- Gwede Mantasha
   ” The time has come to take the war to the White areas”- ANC Manifesto
   ” Bring me my Machine Gun ( Umshini Whami)- Jacob Zuma at his rallies
   ” Kill them- Kill the Amaburu”- Famous song by the ANC and Mandela” Kill the Boer- Kill the Farmer” – Famous slogan by Peter Mokaba
   ” Let me tell you my friend- I have triumphed over your apartheid regime,- and I will triumph over you again- once and for all”- Julius Malema
   ” I have beaten the Colonials – and I am going to beat the children of the children of the Colonials”- Julius Malema
4. If you would like to see the real situation and “cloak and dagger” operations of the ANC under which normal citizens have to “prosper.” You can find what the ANC regime does not reveal to the outside world. The newspaper clips, and replies- are original too. > South  African Circus- The White Genocide And Death Of A Country.
5. This is what the ANC-orientated cops are up to
   Johannesburg – “It’s time you whites packed your bags and fucked off.”With these words a black police inspector from Tembisa on the East Rand allegedly scolded the victims of an armed robbery and hijacking attempt in Kempton Park on Monday night.This officer, whose name is known to Beeld, apparently refused to arrest a black suspect on the scene.
6. The old article: The genocide of white South Africans is heating up.
   The international media focused on Terreblanche’s white supremacism, showing his followers giving the Nazi salute at his funeral. No account of his murder or funeral spoke about Malema, “Kill the Boer,” or black supremacism — yet that is the really important story in South Africa today.
   Whites in South Africa are keenly aware of the plans to kill them. They expect mass killings to begin very soon after the death of Mandela, but to tell this to the world is a waste of energy. More than three thousand white farmers have already been murdered, and Genocide Watch lists the Boer farmers in South Africa as victims of genocide — but the media couldn’t care less. Malema has praised Zimbabwe’s murderous seizure of white-owned farms as “courageous and militant.” White South Africans know what’s coming.

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  Before Julius Malema entered the political scene, there was very little public discourse on the acute socio-economic issues faced by a growing number of young South Africans today. After 18 years of political freedom, more than half of South Africans under the age of 25 remain unemployed — among the highest jobless rates in the world.
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  Free State University  rector Prof Jonathan Jansen: “ I do not trust a system that makes it possible for a child to pass Grade 12 with 30% in some subjects and 40% in others. I would be filled with fear when I discover that you can get 32% in mathematics and 27% in physical science – and still get an official document that says you can continue to study towards a bachelor’s degree at university…’
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  In the year 2000 about 1,035,192 pupils started school in Grade 1. But only 496,090 showed up to write the finals in the Grade 12 class of 2011. In other words, 539,102 students disappeared from the system. What the Department of Basic Education will not tell us is where exactly more than half a million pupils disappeared to, given this grossly inefficient school system.”
• Brutal hammer attack on Afrikaner couple: no arrests 2 yrs later… (nolstuijt.wordpress.com)
  
• Suspended SAfrican youth leader gets 2nd chance (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
  A South African youth leader who has stirred furious debate over race relations and economic policy is guilty of serious discipline violations, but will get a chance to argue against a possibly career-ending suspension from the country’s governing party, party officials said Saturday.
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  Malema and others say “Shoot the Boer” is a call to resist oppression. “Boer” means farmer in Afrikaans, and is sometimes used to refer to whites. Malema and his supporters have continued to sing the song despite a court order banning it.
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  In a statement read by its chairman Cyril Ramaphosa, a prominent ANC leader and businessman, the appeals committee said Saturday that “discipline is one of the pillars that has helped sustain the ANC over the past 100 years and will be fundamental in determining the future of the ANC and South Africa.”
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Lots of those soldiers are also Christians of many different churches. They have fought against tyranny and disorder. Instead of finding peace at home they now find their country fighting another ‘religious war’ and that there is much disorder in their home-country.

The Democratic president above the (elephant) Repbublicans - Obama 's State of the Union 2012

In January there was a lot for the faith community in President Obama’s State of the Union speech on the 24th, a lot that spoke to their values.

For decades, economic security for the middle class has been unraveling. Jobs that were once the source of stable livelihoods were shipped overseas and now placed families in doubt. Despite unemployment and pre-existant illnesses the American should be able to get help on all fronts. The health care reform law, have helped connect them to affordable, quality health care coverage. All Americans should  learn that they are eligible for affordable health care coverage that will cover all of their medical needs. 2.5 million more young adults now have health insurance coverage thanks to health reform.   In September 2010, an Affordable Care Act policy went into effect allowing young adults to stay on their parents’ insurance plans through age 26.

Last December, after a disappointing vote on the DREAM Act, President Obama stated, “I am persistent.  If I believe in something strongly, I stay on it.  And I believe strongly in this.” A year later, his commitment to the DREAM Act still stands.  For this reason, the American Administration continues to work with faith and community leaders, students, and advocacy groups to spread awareness on the importance of the DREAM Act and continue the conversation on fixing their broken immigration system.

One of the many groups working to advance immigration reform has been the Interfaith Immigration Coalition.  Through an initiative titled the DREAM Sabbath, interfaith groups held events all over the country, highlighting stories of DREAM students and facilitating conversations between communities on the importance of the DREAM Act.

In their DREAM Sabbath Scrapbook, a report highlighting all the DREAM Sabbath events, media clips, and pictures, the initiative is described as, “a time when faith and action came together…”

But there are a lot of Americans who do not like it when people of different churches come together and have a jolly good time together. Some Americans do find it inappropriate that people of different beliefs mix with each other.

Trying to mobilize people to build up their country President Obama supports organizations that assists young Americans to enact reforms and community programs on issues that matter most to them. In American society a way of life has been introduced the president does not like so much either, but he is aware that certain people make other choices to build up their lives than he ever would do or want his children to do. For him people do have to make their own choice, but sometimes they could find out they made the wrong choice or let the wrong thing happen, as well are there people who came in a bad situation not according to their will. Also ‘Accidents’ happen. And people get in despair sitting with a pregnancy they do not want. And they should be helped, no matter a religious believe would not agree with such help.

Several American Christians went up high on their legs because they find that “the President Barack Hussein Obama White House, like hitting a bald face hornets nest during the daytime when it ought to know better, “declared war” on not only the Roman Catholic bishops in the United States, but also the Roman Catholic Church in the United States of America.“*

Meagermind - Newt Gingrich Caricature - DonkeyHotey

IMHO, President Obama supports all religions and their churches and temples, synagogues and mosques, etc.  However, it is not fair that when churches go into secular business ventures that benefit from federal dollars, that they should get special exemptions because of their religion. Business is business.  We all believe in “separation of church and state.”

At a campaign event in Florida on Monday Januari the 30, Gingrich seized on letters read at Catholic Churches across the U.S. that condemned the Obama administration for making birth control more available to women.

“Callista and I were at mass last night, and I believe at every Catholic Church, they are reading a letter about the Obama administration’s attack on Christianity,” Gingrich explained. “This is a fundamental assault on the freedom of religion. … If you help me win the nomination and then you help me win the election, on the very first day I’m inaugurated, I will sign an executive order repealing every Obama attack on religion across the entire government.”

“I think we need to have a government that respects our religions,” he added. “I’m a little bit tired of being lectured about respecting every other religion on the planet. I’d like him to respect our religion.”

It is strange that the man who is “fed up with politicians in either party dividing Americans against each other” is often bringing so much hate speech and bringing division himself. He with many republicans showed that he even does not show respect for political believers of his own republican camp and for sure does not show respect for certain religions in Christianity but also out the Christian faith. How can he ask anyone else to respect his religion when he refuses to accept certain other religions. Giving respect creates the situation where respect is returned. the other strange thing is that he himself does not keep all the time to his own religion neither. The news goes that he cheated on his wife when she had cancer, so at the moment when a person did need him most he bought treason to her.

Mitt Romney

Also Congressman Michael Grimm went after President Barack Obama today for his administration’s mandate that businesses like hospitals and schools, including religious ones, offer health insurance covering contraceptives to their employees. The Catholic Church, which opposes contraception, is strongly protesting the decision.

“As a Roman Catholic, I strongly believe in preserving the sanctity of human life, and this mandate completely violates that belief,” Mr. Grimm said in a statement. His Staten Island-based district contains a heavy percentage of Catholic voters.

The Politicker reached out to Mr. Grimm’s main Democratic opponent, Mark Murphy, who disagreed with the Congressman’s explanation of the controversy.

“The fundamental issue here is whether women who work in hospitals, schools and other similar institutions that have some affiliation with religious institutions should simply have access to all reasonable medical options. There is no requirement that individuals do anything with this coverage that contradicts their personal beliefs. I believe that option should be left to the individual, not her employer.”

Once more we can see that it is all about money and popularity. Those opposing Obama want to be recognised as crusaders for the real good faith by making it look like a war on Christianity. Gingrich wants to twist it around that Obama is going against the Constitution, which respects his religion and every other religion the same, just by separating it from government what the American President wants to safeguard. For some it is still difficult to accept that some spiritual minds realized that they could not possibly agree on a single religion, so they decided to choose no religion as America’s State Religion, but that this had consequences that everybody should be equally treated no matter of which religion.

The United States may not give in to one dominate religion, not making America the nation of God, but making it the nation of the Roman Papal Catholic Church. The conservative religious Americans should get to know that religious freedom is only possible if the government is free from religion, and that nobody has the right to impose his or her religion (unwillingly) to others. Faith has to be taken voluntary and can and may not be forced onto others.

They also may not forget that it is thanks to the  First Amendment, complete with the freedom clause and the establishment clause, that every American has so much freedom and can choose in a manifold of churches. The First Amendment provision that prohibits the federal and state governments from establishing an official religion, or from favouring or disfavouring one view of religion over another makes it that not one Church would go to dictate the rules of living or the laws. As soon as you get in decission-makers on that point you also shall come into the danger of loosing the true faith because guaranteed that power security rules shall (and did) creep in the Church. Human factors will take over and Biblical guidelines would be avoided dictating some doctrinal laws. (What happened in many churches over the centuries.)

Current Republican frontrunner, Mitt Romney, got also his share of the cake and was accused of also waging his own war on religion.

“Gov. Romney imposed on the Catholic hospitals in Massachusetts, a position against their conscious,” he said, possibly referring to the misleading claim that Romney supported government-subsidized abortions. He could have also been referencing a decision the former Massachusetts governor made to provide the Plan B birth control pill under Medicaid.

“Gov. Romney cut off Kosher meals for Jewish senior citizens who were on Medicaid to save $5 a day,” Gingrich continued.

The New York Post reported last week that that Romney had used his veto in 2003 to reject $600,000 in funds that would have allowed poor Jewish nursing homes to get Kosher meals.
The  letters read around the country of milk and honey, to the Catholic parishioners, were written by church leadership railing against an Obama administration ruling that requires employers to provide health insurance plans that include contraceptive coverage.

Churches and other houses of worship are exempt from the guidelines but Catholic hospitals, colleges, and social services fall under the umbrella of institutions covered by the decision.
One letter from the Archdiocese of Washington says, “Catholic moral teachings will be placed in the untenable position of having to choose between violating the law and violating their conscience.”

The Catholic Church calls for civil disobedience because they cannot — “we will not” — comply with this unjust law. “People of faith cannot be made second class citizens.”

On Jan. 19, Pope Benedict XVI told the American Roman Catholic Church they needed to understand “grave threats” posed by what he called radical secularism in politics and culture.The pontiff specifically mentioned the U.S. church struggling to be permitted conscientious objection to “intrinsically evil practices.”

President Barack Obama's signature on the health insurance reform bill at the White House, March 23, 2010.

The Obama Administration issued a statement re-iterating the “contraceptive mandate” requiring all insurance providers cover the full range of FDA-approved drugs and devices would remain intact. This mandate, originally proposed in August, includes drugs that work after conception to destroy life rather than prevent it. The statement included a postponement of one year for religious groups that do not already carry contraceptives and additionally would not be exempted under last year’s narrow definition of “religious employer.”

Even if the policy is aimed at only a section of the church, Catholic leaders say Obama’s insurance plan is an attempt to take down the church by infiltrating it with God-less ideals on their religion, and according to some, they won’t go down without a fight. While the law will not include entities with solely religious purposes, such as churches, it will extend to church-affiliated companies that do not exclusively support a religious-minded agenda.

“Every time you turn around secular government is closing in on and shrinking the rights of religious America,” said Gingrich, who converted to Catholicism in 2009. At a separate speaking engagement last month, he specifically called out the president for launching a “war on the Catholic Church.”

“It’s not about contraception. It’s about the right of conscience,” Archbishop Timothy Dolan tells reporters. “The government doesn’t have the right to butt into the internal governance and teachings of the church,” he insists.

“Never before has the federal government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience,” adds Dolan. “This shouldn’t happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the Bill of Rights.”

The government does not ask any individual person to go out in the marketplace to buy a product that violates their conscience, but people in care should put the priorities of the one looking for care on the first place. Also when a group of people wants to get government money to run a hospital, care-centre or anything like that it should comply with the laws of the one who provides financial support. In other instance they can be a private unit, delivering services to others at own costs.

Churches who take on commercial actions should comply with the requirements of that business and should also pay the appropriate taxes.

Some churches want to have their say about and in everything and take care that they can have power in as much as they can. Some also want to have their financial advantage being in a certain business, but do not  like to keep to the general policies which are expected from such a business. In such instances they better keep their hands off.
But on the other hand we can see in certain actions of Churches their greed for many things.

The “Occupy Wall Street” protests around the world condemn greed. So theoretically, religious leaders should find common ground with the rallies denouncing the inequalities of capitalism. Obama demanding a fair share of the Roman Catholic Church in providing its administration and taxation duties should be welcomed by those who do find the poor should be protected and everybody should build up a fair community.

Some imams have joined the protests to speak about the advantages of Islamic finance, which bans interest and focuses on investing in the real economy. But the movement has not been a central issue for most large Muslim organizations.**

Katherine Clark, from the Interfaith Center of New York, said people from many faiths supported the Occupy movement but “the denominations most active with the interfaith service we have been organizing are progressive Protestants.”

An activist rabbi, who asked not to be named, said Jewish groups were mostly silent because the movement was undefined and had no detailed program. “It is too inchoate,” he said.

The diffuse nature of the protests, which have no central leadership or agreed list of demands, make them a difficult partner for established religion even if they seem to share some basic values.

The Church of England found that out the hard way when Occupy protesters camped in front of St Paul’s Cathedral when they could not pitch tents closer to the London Stock Exchange.

The cathedral, closely linked to the financial community, shut its doors and considered clearing out the protesters.

The debate led two leading clerics to quit and prompted several Anglican bishops and other Christian denominations to criticize the cathedral for not showing more support.

“Church denominations very rarely criticize another church at all, let alone publicly,” said Jonathan Bartley, co-director of the theological think tank Ekklesia in London.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, head of the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion, stepped in on the protesters’ side and said Vatican proposals for sweeping reforms to the world economic system offered possible options.

After that, a think tank linked to St Paul’s published a poll of London City workers showing most felt the gap between rich and poor was too wide in Britain and pay in the financial industry too high.

Despite this unusual support, Church leaders do not tend to be as anti-capitalist as the protesters, said Bartley. The majority think “capitalism is not just neutral but good because it generates wealth, but we need a nicer version of it,” he added.

One of the few other churches to side with the protests was the Episcopal Church, the main Anglican denomination in the United States. Its Executive Council said on Oct 23 that the protest movement “bears faithful witness in the tradition of Jesus to the sinful inequities in society.”**

The people living in the United States of America should be careful who they want to choose for president to give the country direction in these very difficult times. They should think hard if it would be appropriate to choose a person who is totally against freedom of religion ever to be President of their State where so many people did everything to not fall in the trap of the European continent with interwoven political-religious powers. The President of the United States must respect all people, all religions, all sexual orientation, women, children— everyone.  The problem for many Americans is that now they are confronted with a guy who does not mind to kick some legs to get respect and help for poor and lesser advantaged persons. Obama does take care that the rights of everybody, no matter which colour, culture, personal feelings or religion he or she may have. Not one of the Republican candidates falls into that description. Apparently Republicans, who even do not respect their own kind, seem to have the most likes for those who can show commercialism, remunerative management and those who are rich.

The Americans should try to have faith in every person who wants to be part of the community, even when he has an other religious faith, he can have the same faith in the country and be willing to get the best for the society.

Over the past year, faith-based and community organizations have been on the move ramping up their efforts to make their communities healthier through First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Faith and Communities challenges issued in November 2010.  Over the year they hosted an additional 1,100 summer food service sites, where they served meals to low-income kids who otherwise wouldn’t have received those meals once school let out.  Their communities collectively walked 2.85 million miles. They brought produce close to home, contributing to more than 8,500 gardens, farmers markets, and food pantries, where folks could access fresh fruits and vegetables. And they joined communities across the country in earning 1.7 million Presidential Active Lifestyle Awards (PALA) through the PALA Challenge.

To celebrate the year’s accomplishments and look ahead to 2012, the Office of the First Lady and the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships hosted a group of faith and community leaders for a Let’s Move Faith and Communities consultation in December. They wanted to learn from each other’s experiences and brainstorm how they can work together in the coming year to build wellness into communities for the long term.

That is what a lot of Roman Catholics and certain Protestant churches should do as well. they also should learn to have respect for people who are of an other religious faith and should accept that those are allowed certain things they would not agree with.

Physical and spiritual health are tied together in a very dynamic way. In case a country can make it that everybody can live in good condition, is nurtured and can feel safe because those who do wrong to society get punished, a lot of damage to persons would be able to be avoided and lots of things, like ‘the day after pill’ and abortion would not be so much needed. Lots of problems would be solved because there would be a better society living according decent ethic rules.

Catholic health institutions want to avoid prescribing birth control. They frame it as an infringement of their faith. But this isn’t an issue of regulating religion, but rather of general health care. ***

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* Unholy War (annem040359.wordpress.com)

** Reuters

*** “Ruling on Contraception Draws Battle Lines at Catholic Colleges” (“Political Science” series, New York Times front page, Jan. 30) highlights the controversy over Catholics and contraception laws.

A reaction in the New York Times:

Traditional Catholic teaching rests on a tripod, including the hierarchy, the theologians and the sensus fidelium, the experience-fed wisdom of the laity. These three sources of teaching are, as Cardinal Avery Dulles said, “complementary and mutually corrective.” An accurate look at Catholic teaching on contraception today shows strong support for the position that contraception is not only permissible but even mandatory in many cases.

The American bishops are at odds with other bishops in the Catholic world, with the vast majority of Catholic theologians and with 98 percent of the Catholic laity who have used contraceptives. They are even at odds with Pope Benedict XVI, who has approved the use of condoms “in the intention of reducing the risk of infection.” That concession logically ended the taboo on condoms since it said health care concerns can require the use of condoms.

The bishops’ claim that their religious freedom is threatened is bogus. The threat is to the religious freedom of their employees and to the conscientious freedom of the diverse public they serve in their tax-supported institutions.

DANIEL C. MAGUIRE
Milwaukee, Jan. 30, 2012

The writer is a professor of theology at Marquette University.

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To say the government will afford religious liberty only to the most insular of religious institutions but not to those that serve, or employ, people of other faiths is a troubling view of faith and what role it should play in America.

NATHAN J. DIAMENT
Washington, Jan. 30, 2012

The writer is executive director of public policy, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.

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• The Church and the Birth Control Ruling2 days ago … Readers on both sides respond to a front-page article and an editorial.February 6, 2012
• Romney Attacks Obama on Birth Control Rule1 day ago … Mitt Romney waded into the debate over the regulations backed by the Obama administration that require some religious groups that provide …February 6, 2012 – The Caucus
• Birth Control and Reproductive RightsThe administration’s commitment to affordable birth control is welcome at a moment when women’s access to reproductive health care is under …January 30, 2012
• Religious Groups Get Delay in Birth Control Insurance Requirement …The Obama administration said it would give religious organizations one additional year to comply with a new policy requiring employers to …January 20, 2012 – The Caucus
• More Protestants Oppose Birth Control
• Fifty years ago, large families were unusual in evangelical Protestantism, but there has been a shift.January 21, 2012 – By MARK OPPENHEIMER
• Battling Over Birth ControlThe White House should not wobble on requiring free contraceptive coverage in health insurance plans.November 25, 2011 – Opinion
• Democrats Urge Obama to Defend Birth Control RulesRoman Catholic bishops, charities, schools and universities are seeking a broad exemption for employers who object to covering free birth …November 20, 2011 – By ROBERT PEAR – U.S. / Politics
• The Birth Control Solution
  Family planning is crucial to solving poverty, climate change and other issues. And don’t worry: contraceptives don’t cause sex.November 3, 2011 – By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF – Opinion

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Articles to Read: (Updated 2012 February 11)

1. Separation of Church and State, Plain and Simple (goodolewoody.wordpress.com)
2. There Is No “War on Religion!” (goodolewoody.wordpress.com)
3. Did Catholic League President threaten violence in the streets (examiner.com)
4. Gingrich to Obama: ‘Respect our religion,’ not ‘every other religion’ (kaystreet.wordpress.com)
   The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.

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Related articles

• “Should Catholic Employers Be Exempted From Paying For Health Insurance Covering Contraception?” My Debate with Mary C. Young, Part 1 (freethoughtblogs.com)
  when the Catholic Church employs or serves non-Catholics and performs non-religious functions, it needs to offer all the same rights and protections that non-religious institutions are required to provide. Some Catholics, including some left-leaning ones, are up in arms alleging that this is tantamount to a violation of their rights to free exercise of religion.
  +
  There is nothing inherently religious about teaching or practicing medicine or arranging adoptions.These are strictly speaking religiously neutral activities except in the case of specifically theological teaching—and even that is only religious in character when approached a certain way. The Catholic Church fully understands this in practice otherwise they would not regularly hire non-Catholics to perform these functions. If they are religious functions, they would require Catholics to perform them—just as catechism classes and funerals and masses need to be presided over by Catholics.
  +
  Also Churches want to claim a secular function that legitimizes government subsidies for their charity work. If there is no separation in principle from a church’s secular and religious functions then the government is funding religion by giving grants or other advantages to putatively public (not religious) services done by churches.
• U.S. Catholics urged to write Congress on birth control rule(theprovince.com)
  

  American Catholic clergy called on the faithful to write Congress to protest new birth control rules from President Barack Obama's administration, stepping up a campaign that began a week ago with denunciations from the pulpit at Masses across the country.

  Asked if the contraceptives issue would rebound on Obama in the election, Gingrich said, “I think there are millions of people who are very disturbed by it.”

  Conservative columnist Peggy Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal this week that the contraception ruling could cost Obama the November election because the Catholic vote is concentrated in battleground states.

  The White House defended the policy, saying that only institutions such as hospitals that service a large non-Catholic community would have to offer free birth control. The administration also said the availability of birth control would reduce the number of abortions.

• Bishop David Zubik: ‘To Hell With You’(thedaleygator.wordpress.com)A million things are wrong with this: equating pregnancy with disease; mandating that every employer pay for contraception procedures, including alleged contraceptives that are actually abortion-inducing drugs; forcing American citizens to choose between violating their consciences or providing health care services; mandating such coverage on every individual woman without allowing her to even choose not to have it; and forcing every person to pay for that coverage no matter the dictates of their conscience.
  +
  For our church this mandate would apply in virtually every instance where the Catholic Church serves as an employer. The mandate would require the Catholic Church as an employer to violate its fundamental beliefs concerning human life and human dignity by forcing Catholic entities to provide contraceptive, sterilization coverage and even pharmaceuticals that result in abortion.
• Obama Picks Fight With Catholic Church in an Election Year: Game On (w/videos) (nicedeb.wordpress.com)
  Why is the Obama administration picking a fight with the Catholic church during an election year? It doesn’t make any sense. He’s got the bishops all riled up, and those guys are hard to rile up.He’s ticked off the Catholic church like no other President has ever done before. If Obama and Co think their assault on our religious liberties can be compared to the war in Iraq because the Catholic church opposed that, too, they’ve got another thing coming.
  +
  This discussion between Glenn Beck & Bill Donohue on the  Obama Admin’s attack on the  Catholic Church is worth watching in full.
  +Cliff Kincaid, New Zeal: Catholic Church Rejects Surrender Terms from Obama:

  My Catholic priest, Father Larry Swink, delivered a homily on Sunday that I told him would make headlines. In the toughest sermon I have ever heard from a pulpit, he attacked the Obama Administration as evil, even demonic, and warned of religious persecution ahead. What was also newsworthy about the sermon was that he cited The Washington Post in agreement—not on the subject of the Obama Administration being evil, but on the matter of its abridgment of the constitutional right to freedom of religion.

  What is happening is extraordinary and unprecedented. The Catholic Church is in open revolt against the Obama Administration, with Fr. Swink noting from the pulpit that priests across the archdiocese were joining the call on Sunday to rally Catholics to resistance against the U.S. Government. He said we are entering a time of religious persecution and that Catholics and others will have to make a final decision about which side they are on.

  The issue is what the Catholic Bishops have called a “literally unconscionable” edict by the Obama Administration demanding that sterilization, abortifacients and contraception be included in virtually all health plans.

• Catholic Church ready to declare war on Obama (promoteliberty.wordpress.com)
  Bill Donohue of the Catholic League says the move is a milestone in terms of taking on the Church, and tells CBS News that it is “unprecedented in American history …for the federal government to line up against the Roman Catholic Church.”“This is going to be fought out with lawsuits, with court decisions and, dare I say it, maybe even in the streets,” adds Donohue.
• Catholic Church ready to declare war on Obama (rt.com)
  Other Catholics are coming out to go after Obama, and the impact could be detrimental to his re-election bid. While Obama won the majority of the votes from American Catholics in 2008, his stance on offering contraception has already attracted mini critics from the church. A grassroots campaign waged against the policy started last year by Archbishop Dolan yielded 57,000 complaints over the plan.
• The Catholic Church (theobamacrat.com)
  We crucify people for abusing and molesting children, and we lynch those who know of this abuse and molestation and do nothing, but we turn our heads when it involves the catholic priest & the catholic church. This disgrace has gone on for long enough. Now, we have this same religious organization trying to write government policy on birth control and abortion, stepping out from it’s religious facade into becoming a political power.
  +
  Recently, the catholic leadership came out in opposition to the mandate in our new healthcare law that all health insurance providers offer coverage for prescribed birth control, even for employees in some catholic institutions. But, let’s be clear about what the real issue is here. It is not about government controls, and it is not about infringement of our religious beliefs. It is about a church that has lost touch with reality. The leadership of the catholic church either is ignoring or is unaware of the disconnect between catholic teaching and catholic reality.Back to the billions of dollars the catholic church’s financial records hide from the United States government….
• The Catholic Church Really Doesn’t Want to Pay for Your Magdalene Pills [Pill Baby Pill] (jezebel.com)
  The Catholic Church responded Friday to the White House’s defense of new rules that will force many religious employers to provide contraception to their workers in government-mandated health plans with the grace and dignity you’d expect from an organization that used to sell raffle tickets for Heaven, that is, with very little grace and dignity.
  +
  The new regulations announced last month by the Department of Health and Human Services require employers to provide women with “preventive” health care services such as cervical cancer screenings and — whisper it — contraception by August. The regulations have sparked outrage among evangelical Christians and Orthodox Jews, but no group has been more vociferous than the Catholic Church, which employs far more people than either of the other two groups.
  +
  Perhaps the best solution would be for the Church to disabuse itself of the notion that women’s health services exist solely to destroy precious, potentially-Catholic life. The progestin-only pill, for instance, is prescribed to women to help treat a whole host of non-whore related ailments.
  

  The Catholic Church Really Doesn’t Want to Pay for Your Magdalene Pills

• Catholic Colleges Refuse to Pay for Whore Pills (jezebel.com)
  A group of hopping mad bishops is filing suit against the administration to prevent the provision from going into effect, and some colleges compelled by state law to provide slut lozenges to their befouled female students are just ignoring the law entirely.
  +
  What is actually best for the public— women who use birth control are healthier and less likely to have an unsafe unplanned pregnancy— and what religious leaders think is best for the public— chastity, or married production of dozens of tiny impoverished future members of the religion— have never been in line, but looming battle over free birth control illustrates just how starkly religious restrictions on health care and actual scientific ideas of health care diverge. No one is forcing anyone to take birth control; the Obama administration is just requiring an organization to provide it as an option. Women who attend Catholic college who believe birth control is morally wrong will still be free to believe that birth control is morally wrong but abstain from using it themselves.
• Relax, Everyone: President Obama’s Not Going to Cave on Birth Control Requirement (jezebel.com)
  people seem to like the idea of accessible birth control for all women who are interested in taking it, and about 98% of women will use birth control at some point in their lives. According to a recent USA Today poll, 58% of Catholics support requiring employers to cover the cost of birth control for their employees. A full 61% of religiously unaffiliated Americans think covering birth control should be required, and 62% of women agree.
• Pope calls for ‘profound renewal’ of Roman Catholic Church(telegraph.co.uk)

  Benedict XVI said he hoped the conference would “promote throughout the Church a vigorous culture of effective safeguarding and victim support”.

  He said: “Healing for victims must be of paramount concern in the Christian community and it must go hand in hand with a profound renewal of the Church at every level.”

  A Vatican statement said that Benedict “supports and encourages every effort to respond with evangelical charity to the challenge of providing children and vulnerable adults with an ecclesiastical environment conducive to their human and spiritual growth.”

• Separation of Church and State, Plain and Simple (goodolewoody.wordpress.com)
  President Obama is NOT infringing on anyone’s religion. Catholics are free to worship freely “as their parents and grandparents did.”   Worship is worship and business is business is business.
• When a phony president produces phony numbers, you get phony results. GIGO (conservativetickler.wordpress.com)
  The Roman Catholic Church can either ignore Obama’s rules about contraceptives and abortion or they can shut down their institutions. Obama would have them shut down their institutions.  This is a direct attack on religious freedom and we cannot allow it to stand.  We have to  fight this guy and take back our country.
• A War Against Us All (thecampofthesaints.org)
  if The Administration is allowed to get away with this move, then none of our rights are safe.  With the simple publishing of a regulation, the right to bear arms, the right to freedom of the press, the right to be safe and secure in one’s home, can be abolished [first, they came for The Roman Catholic Church].
  +
  (Marcus’s note: I do not see why Obama “and his minions” are accused to be “determined to destroy some of the best and most advanced hospitals and clinics in America, ones which provide much-needed services to the poor and downtrodden. “)
• Religious Freedom Under Attack – AOI Observer (palamas.info)
  Three cheers to Fr. Peter Michael-Preble and Chris Banescu, the first Orthodox Christians to criticize Pres. Obama’s arbitrary ruling forcing all Americans to comply with the anti-life agenda of the cultural left. The Catholics have been front and center on this threat to religious freedom. Orthodox leaders have been silent except for Fr. Preble and Banescu who recognize the dangers inherent in the policy change.
• CNBNEWS Op-Ed: To Hell With You’(gloucestercitynews.net)”It is really hard to believe that it happened. It comes like a slap in the face. The Obama administration has just told the Catholics of the United States, “To Hell with you!” There is no other way to put it.” says Bishop David A. Zubik of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.
• Bishops don’t speak for most Catholics on contraception (cnn.com)
  Recently, the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Religious Liberty argued that the Obama administration’s requirement that most health insurance plans cover contraception goes against “the mandate of Jesus Christ.”But Jesus said nothing about contraception coverage, of course, or most any other issues related to sexuality. So, what is the issue?The current mandate would require that Catholic institutions like universities and hospitals include coverage for contraception and sterilization, although it exempts Catholic parishes. Official Catholic teaching is against contraception and sterilization. But this issue goes beyond internal Catholic Church concerns and moves into the public arena. The U.S. Catholic bishops and other conservative Christian groups have argued that the Obama administration’s requirement wars with religious liberty and the role of conscience.
  +
  The Catholic Church argues that human life must be protected from the moment of conception. Therefore, contraception that works after conception to prevent implantation (around six to 10 days after conception), such as with the IUD, would be considered as a category of abortion.So, while the Obama legislation does not require abortion coverage, that “abortion language” has also been a part of the Catholic argument. This seems fair enough to those who would argue that a pre-implanted fertilized egg should be protected from the time of conception. But would the majority of Catholics oppose contraceptive coverage that works before conception? And shouldn’t women be allowed to make that decision? Would most Catholics and Christians deny health care coverage for women because of this?
  

  The 2009 installation of Archbishop Timothy Dolan. He says requiring that employers cover contraception is "un-American." - CNN

• Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches move towards unity (deaconjohnspace.wordpress.com)
• Bp. Zubik (D. Pittsburgh) on Obama to Catholic Church: “To Hell with You.” (deaconjohnspace.wordpress.com)
• Archbishop Dolan defines human dignity as ‘primary doctrine’ of church (mumbailaity.wordpress.com)
• Hitchens’ “god is not Great”: An Assessment: IV: Religion and Health (choiceindying.com)
  There are two articles in the National Post that I think I should be discussing before going on with the Hitchens assessment, but this chapter is so important, I have decided to forego the pleasure and simply dive into Hitchens’ wonderfully restrained dismemberment of religion. (The two articles, just to mention them, before continuing, are: “My right to live trumps your right to die,” and “Euthanasia’s foes, out of arguments, settle for fear-mongering.” You will not doubt where I stand. Derek Medeima is, you will not be surprised to hear, a research hack at the Roman Catholic “Institute for Marriage and the Family.” Of course, as usual, the “institute” does not wear its heart on its sleeve, and pretends to be a “secular” organisation, thus exemplifying the typical bad faith of the religions.)
• Obama’s Assault on Religious Liberty – AOI Observer (palamas.info)
  Archbishop Dolan and the Catholic Church understand the seriousness and severity of this latest attack on all faith-based organizations. Obama’s mandate sets a dangerous precedent for our democracy and undermines our Constitution. It is a wholesale assault on the specific protections of religious liberties afforded to all Americans by the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” If this obamination is allowed to stand, then the religious liberties of all Americans will be endangered, not just Christians and Catholics. Such an unconstitutional and tyrannical policy must be opposed and defeated if liberty is to survive in the “land of the free and home of the brave.” Silence is not an option, now more than ever.
• An Early Holiday Hangover – New York Times (nytimes.com)
• Abortion Not (Just) A Religious Issue – It’s Terry O’Neill Who Is “Poppycock” (neosecularist.com)
• Op-Ed Columnist: Separation of Newt and State (nytimes.com)
• LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report 12/2/11(deaconforlife.blogspot.com)Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is pro-life on the issue of abortion and frequently voted pro-life during his days in Congress. However, in a new interview, the former Speaker shows he needs to be educated on the scientific understanding that life begins at conception.In a new interview with Jake Tapper of ABC News, Gingrich said human life begins at implantation rather than conception, which science has established as the starting point for human life.
• Obamacare: An End to Religious Freedom in Health Care? (deaconjohnspace.wordpress.com)
  When President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010, his health care reform included a religious exemption. To read the exemption is enough to realize it hardly qualifies as a serious attempt to respect the conscience rights of those who morally object to abortion, artificial contraception and sterilization. According to the law, the only exemption on religious grounds would be for those who serve only members of their faith community, exclude those of other faiths from their employment, and focus on teaching their religious beliefs.In reality, this narrowly defined religious exemption clause would apply only to a Catholic institution hiring only Catholics and providing health care services only to Catholics. Thus, no Catholic hospital would ever qualify for this exemption! As Richard Doerflinger has astutely noted, “Jesus himself, who helped and healed people of various faiths, would not be ‘religious enough’ to qualify for this bizarrely narrow exception” (Richard Doerflinger, Sept. 16, 2011).
• Supreme Court Upholds Religious Exemption To Employment Discrimination Laws (outsidethebeltway.com)
  the Supreme Court on Wednesday for the first time recognized a “ministerial exception” to employment discrimination laws, saying that churches and other religious groups must be free to choose and dismiss their leaders without government interference.
  +
  it may well have been the Government’s insistence on a hardline no-exemptions position that pushed the Court to not only decide this case unanimously but to come to the position that it did. The logical extension of the government’s position, for example, would have been that a woman would have theoretically had a cause of action under applicable to civil rights laws to sue the Roman Catholic Church for refusing to ordain her has a Priest, and it would have actually lent undue merit to the fears of some opponents of same-sex marriage who claim that legalizing the institution would be a threat to religious liberty.
• LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report 12/2/11 (deaconjohnspace.wordpress.com)
• Political Science | Women and Faith: Law Fuels Contraception Controversy on Catholic Campuses (nytimes.com)
  As a result, students have had to go to Planned Parenthood or private doctors to get prescriptions . Some, unable to afford the doctor visits, gave up birth control pills entirely.
• Newt a shrine unto himself (mysanantonio.com)
• What Do You Actually Like About The GOP Candidates? (minx.cc)
• LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report 2/6/12 #5329 (deaconjohnspace.wordpress.com)
• LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report 2/6/12 #5329 (deaconforlife.blogspot.com)
• Pelosi Declares She’ll Join Her Fellow Catholics In Their Near-Unanimous Support of Obama’s Insurance Mandate (minx.cc)
• Childrens Crusade and Food Truck Catering Service (tbogg.firedoglake.com)
• There Is No “War on Religion!” (goodolewoody.wordpress.com)
  Newt Gingrich appeared on “Meet the Press,” yesterday and was not his bombastic self.  He still gave statistics and statements without attribution, though, which is typical. This time he did not insult the host, David Gregory, with his arrogance.
• It’s been only a matter of time…Birth control and Obamacare (onemorecup.wordpress.com)
  Catholic leaders are furious and determined to harness the voting power of the nation’s 70 million Catholic voters to stop a provision of President Barack Obama’s new heath care reform bill that will force Catholic schools, hospitals and charities to buy birth control pills, abortion-producing drugs and sterilization coverage for their employees.“Never before, unprecedented in American history, for the federal government to line up against the Roman Catholic Church,” said Catholic League head Bill Donohue.
• Obama, Contraceptives, And The Catholic Vote (outsidethebeltway.com)
• The President, the Pill, and Religious Liberty in Peril (liveeternally.wordpress.com)
• Top Obama adviser defends divisive birth control rule (ctv.ca)
• Obamacare Awakens Sleeping Giant (gloucestercitynews.net)
• Religious Privilege and Grievance-Based Catholic Identity Politics on Full Display (freethoughtblogs.com)
• Grimm And Murphy Spar Over Obama Contraception Plan (timesunion.com)
• Abortion, Birth Control Grab Political Spotlight (washington.cbslocal.com)
• In Ohio, Gingrich hits Romney on contraception (sfgate.com)
• Gingrich Campaigns in Ohio (myfoxny.com)
• Gingrich Campaigns in Ohio (myfoxphoenix.com)
• Gingrich to Obama: ‘Respect our religion,’ not ‘every other religion’ (kaystreet.wordpress.com)
• Catholics Want to Force Non-Catholics to Do as They Do -  (friendfeed.com)
  the Rude Pundit could understand why Catholics and other religious groups (and opportunistic politicians) would be upset about the Obama administration’s HHS decision, which require that all employers who provide health insurance ensure that the policy covers women’s contraception, if, say, it required all women working at a Catholic Church-affiliated business or institution to take birth control pills.
• Contraception, Spilling One’s “Seed” and the Obama Health Care Ruling (woodgatesview.com)
  Ahh Catholicism.  What fond memories I have about my first Communion, Confirmation, serving my first Mass as an alter boy and best of all, my awareness of sin.  Without sin in our lives there is chaos.
  +

  We learned all about sin in our weekly catechism classes under the tutelage of Father Vogel.  You might not make it into heaven if you die with mere venial sins on your soul.  There’s a place called Purgatory reserved for such tainted people.  But if your sins were “mortal” in nature as you lay dying then hell was your only destiny, unless there was a priest handy who could administer the last rites of atonement and the eucharist.

  We were expected not to eat anything before receiving communion and confessional with the parish priest was requisite beforehand in order that your soul was pure enough to accept the body and blood of Jesus.
  +

  I understand the need for restraints and consequences for socially destructive behavior but there has to be a point where attempts to dominate every aspect of our lives has to have more adverse effects than positive outcomes for our personal sanity.  Keep in mind that most of the Church’s rulings on many things they govern their flock by were evaluated by people who isolated themselves centuries ago in monasteries and convents; avoiding the realities of the human experience in this world in the hope that they would be drawn closer to God

  
  +
  Was God mad about the spilled semen or was he mad that Onan refused to obey his father and follow a custom that was part of “an ancient Eastern brotherhood law called the law of the Levirate” described in Deuteronomy 25:5?  Orthodox Catholics lean towards the “spilled semen” scenario where an outsider might view it as an incomprehensible response from a vengeful God.

• Barack Obama Giving some respect to the ROMAN Catholic church (current.com)
  Obama did claim to have done some missionary work for the roman catholic church in Chicago, thus making him a better christian
• Unholy War (annem040359.wordpress.com)
  This UNHOLY WAR against the Roman Catholic Church in the United States of America has been joined by the leadership of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, a number of Protestant Churches leaders, Orthodox Jewish organizations have weighted in as well in protest. Even both American Muslims and GOP/Republican USA Presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he is very much opposed to this ruling by both President Obama and Health and Human Services head Catherine Sibelius.
• Birth Control Battle Has Gotten Even Hotter,Even Capital Hill Has Weighed In (annem040359.wordpress.com)
  Now even members of both political parties up on United States of America‘s Washington D.C.‘s Capital hill had gone out of their way to weigh-in on the very heated birth control mandatory plan of President Barack Hussein Obama‘s healthcare bill.
• Roman Catholic Church battle over birth control coverage was well planned (mercurynews.com)
  The speed and passion behind the bishops’ response reflects their sense of siege, and their belief that the space the Catholic Church once occupied in American society and the deference it was given are being curtailed by an increasingly secular culture.
• Hugh Hewitt: E.J. Dionne and Senator Pat Toomey on President Obama’s Attack on the Roman Catholic Church (hughhewitt.com)
  Santorum and Toomey do agree, however, on the absolute nature of the constitutional violation inherent in the president’s attack on the Roman Catholic Church.  In fact, I haven’t found one Republican yet who agrees this is other than an astonishing, offensive and unacceptable assault on religious freedom.
• An Interesting Compromise (annem040359.wordpress.com)
  After a couple of weeks facing an angry backlash coming from the American Roman Catholic faith community, as well as from Americans of other faith, and even those Americans who do not have a faith background, President Barack Hussein Obama decided to back down and to offer a “compromise” on the mandatory birth control aspect of President Obama health care policy or “Obamacare.”
  +
  “The past three weeks have witnessed a remarkable unity of Americans from all religions, or none at all, worried about the erosion of religious freedom and government intrusion into issues of faith and morals,” said Dolan, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.”

Katholieke Kerk terug in opbouw

In 2007 verscheen er reeds een Manifest voor gelovigen dat de wereld wenste te laten zien dat alhoewel er enorme verdeeldheid in de kerken mag lijken de Nederlandstalige gelovigen van de Benelux toch willen gaan voor een gezamenlijke leuze: ‘Wij kiezen voor eenheid’.

Hun “Manifest voor eenheid” verkreeg eigenlijk niet zo een gekendheid en positieve opvolging, zeker niet als men de magere cijfers van de ondertekenaars ziet. Het “Manifest voor gelovigen” of Manifest “Gelovigen nemen het woord”, dat met de jaaruitwisseling uit kwam daarentegen sloeg in de Belgische geloofsgemeenschap in als een bom. Het kon op de bijval rekenen van 8233 gelovigen die dit manifest tekenden maar op nog meer tegenkantingen. Zodanig hevig was de reactie in de maand januari dat de initiatiefnemers tegen het einde van de maand, of begin deze maand hun website met verdere omschrijving, van het internet haalden en zo hun stem onterecht versmoorden. (Het manifest zelf is nog wel te vinden.)

De intenties van het Manifest voor gelovigen was integer bedoeld om de Rooms Katholieke Kerk in Vlaanderen een hart onder de riem te steken en weer nieuw leven in te blazen. Leven in de brouwerij bleken zij wel gebracht te hebben. Maar dan niet van het type dat zij verhoopt hadden.

Al snel kwamen vergelijkingen met “ongelovigen” en werd hen verweten de protestantse taal overgenomen te hebben en al zo verraad gepleegd te hebben aan de Rooms Katholieke Kerk.

Bij de gelovigen die missen volgden van de onderschrijvers van het manifest werd nu nog meer verwarring gezaaid en vertwijfeling gecreëerd. Die enthousiaste priesters die opriepen om de gewone man in de straat mee de kerk te laten opbouwen werden nu verguisd en aanschouwd door het Katholieke establishment als “Ketters“

Verbanning van zogenaamde "Ketters" - Katharen worden verbannen uit Carcassonne in 1209

Ook al weten wij dat Ketterij of heresie of heterodoxie duidt op een welbewuste en opzettelijke afwijking van wat in een bepaalde geloofsgemeenschap of geloof- of kerkleer wordt beschouwd als behorend tot de fundamentele geloofsleer, kunnen wij moeilijk aannemen dat deze welgemeende priesters tot ketters, laat staan tot tegensprekers van het Katholieke geloof kunnen beschouwd worden.

De ondertekenaars van het “Manifest voor gelovigen” hadden ook zeker niet de bedoeling om de reeds erg uitgedunde groep gelovige mensen in het kleine land België nog meer uit te dunnen door hen zich van anderen te laten afscheiden om eigen leringen te gaan volgen. Zij stonden zelfs geen eigen leringen voor. Zij wensten gewoon terug te grijpen naar leringen die er in de vroegere tijden reeds waren geweest maar in de geschiedenis om allerlei redenen, waaronder financiële, opzij waren geschoven.

De ondertekenaars van het manifest toonden juist aan dat zij zich in het Woord van God, de Bijbel hadden verdiept en juist wensten terug te grijpen naar de kerkopbouw uit de eerste eeuwen. In de tijd van Jezus waren het mannen en vrouwen die Jezus wensten te volgen en zijn leer aan anderen wensten door te geven. Ook vrouwen deden in die tijd enorm belangrijk werk waardoor het Christelijk geloof zich zo snel heeft kunnen verspreiden. De vrouw het recht van spreken in de kerk ontzeggen is eerder het ontkennen van die eerste voorname rol van die vrouwelijke gelovigen die Jezus ook steeds ter harte heeft genomen.

Maria Magdalena - 1525 Lucas Cranach de oudere

In het Nieuwe Testament vinden wij ook hoe vrouwen anderen het Woord van God leerden kennen door dat zij uit de Heilige Schrift voorlazen en ook uitleg gaven bij deze teksten en gebeurtenissen, die sommigen ook van dichtbij hadden beleefd.

De vrouwen van nu het recht ontzeggen om uit de Bijbel voor te lezen in het openbaar, of om hun bedenkingen te mogen laten uiten, leek voor de onderschrijvers van het ‘Manifest voor gelovigen’ de kansen weg te nemen om gemotiveerde mensen nieuwe mensen te doen aantrekken tot de geloofsgemeenschap en wat erger is het niet de mogelijkheid geven dat de kleine gemeenschappen elkaar gemeenschappelijk zouden kunnen voeden met spirituele inzichten.

Dat laatste is voor de conservatieve achterban echter een stap te ver. Zij verwerpen ten zeerste al de volgens hen protestantse nomenclatuur van de manifest schrijvers en voor hen is het onmogelijk dat vrouwen een rol zouden mogen krijgen in de Kerk, want dat zou enkel mogen toegestaan zijn aan tot priester gewijde geestelijken.

Mannen en Vrouwen spelen een rol rond het leven en werk van Jezus Christus - 1629 loodglas - Abraham van Linge - Hampton Court, Herefordshire

Vijf jaren geleden werd er ook opgeroepen om als broers en zusters elkaar de hand te geven en als gelijken samen voor Christus te gaan.

“Wij Kiezen Voor Eenheid” moest aan de buitenwereld laten zien dat de Kerkleden met elkaar wensten om te gaan in eenheid omdat Christus niet gedeeld is. Christus heeft de muren afgebroken die mensen gescheiden houden. Volgens de onderschrijvers van dat manifest mogen wij geen muren van verdeeldheid gaan oprichten, als Christus muren heeft afgebroken. Zij kiezen voor eenheid omdat Christus heeft gebeden: ‘opdat zij één zijn’ in Christus (Joh. 17:22).

“En de glorie, die Gij Mij hebt gegeven, heb ook Ik aan hen gegeven, opdat ze één zouden zijn, gelijk Wij één zijn:” (Johannes 17:22 Canis)

Vandaag zien wij nu echter dat in de Rooms Katholieke Kerk er nog meer verdeeldheid dreigt te komen doordat de conservatieve vleugel aan doofpot operaties wenst te doen en hun mensen die ondeugdelijke feiten hebben gepleegd trachten te blijven beschermen, alsook doordat die conservatieven niet mee willen gaan met hun tijd maar eerder wensen vast te houden aan vroegere menselijke regels of doctrines die niets met Bijbelse waarheden hebben te maken, maar door mensen ander mensen aan banden legden om zo de Kerkelijke Macht ten toon te spreiden.

Image via Wikipedia

Terwijl de Vlaamse manifestanten juist de Katholieke Kerk in Vlaanderen nieuw leven wensen in te blazen willen de conservatieven terug naar de Roomse dictatuur gaan. Aan de ene zijde zijn er nu diegenen die vinden dat het een gezamenlijke opdracht is om het evangelie te verkondigen en een levende kerk te zijn voor mensen van vandaag, terwijl aan de andere kant een Alles voor Vlaanderen, Vlaanderen voor Christus beweging is die vindt dat de taken van onderricht en verkondiging enkel door theologen kan verricht worden.

De manifest opstellers van 2007, 2011 en 2012 geloven dat elk mens Jezus Christus nodig heeft en dat wij in een situatie zijn beland waarbij veel mensen van het evangelie van Jezus Christus vervreemd zijn geraakt. Voor velen is God de grote onbekende. Velen hebben geen enkele binding meer met de geloofsgemeenschap rond Jezus. De ontkerstening van ons land gaat door en de ontkerkelijking neemt nog steeds toe. Mede daardoor verkeert onze samenleving in een crisis. Er treedt verharding op door individualisme en groepsbelang. De samenhang ontbreekt door een tekort aan medemenselijkheid en sociale bewogenheid.

Terecht gaan de manifestanten aan de noodklok hangen en willen zij er op wijzen dat het tonen van eenheid in het geloof zeer belangrijk is en dat men respect moet opbrengen voor allen in die geloofsgemeenschap die voor Christus willen gaan.

We zijn geroepen geestelijk waakzaam te zijn en te strijden tegen de machten die mensen en samenlevingsverbanden kapot maken. Zij geloven, zoals ik en andere Christadelphians geloven, dat Christus mensen en bevolkingsgroepen bij elkaar brengt. Ook al zeggen vele mensen dat geloof en godsdiensten verdeeldheid brengen en lijden. Ja, vele godsdiensten hebben verdeeldheid gezaaid en hebben veel mensen onterecht leed bezorgt. Maar dat waren die mensen die het geloof misbruikten en de woorden van de heilige boeken verdraaiden. Dat is gebeurt hij de hindoes, christenen zo wel als bij de islamieten en gebeurt nog steeds.

Het zijn juist diegenen die het geloof ernstig willen belijden die zich aan de juistheid van de geloofsleer zouden moeten houden en zich zouden moeten richtten op de leerstellingen van de stichter van hun geloof en daarbij na gaan in welke mate deze nu nog door de zogenaamde volgelingen wordt opgevolgd of in welke mate hun kerk deze getrouw is gebleven.

Mits iedereen een verschillend karakter heeft en in een verschillende cultuur is grootgebracht gat men een verscheidenheid van mensen, maar ook een verscheidenheid van levenshouding, levenswijze en geloofsbeleving hebben.

Alle Christenen zouden elkaar de hand moeten rijken en zich in eenheid met Christus Jezus verbonden moeten voelen

Zij die zich Christen willen noemen zouden als navolgers van Jezus Christus zijn leer van vrede moeten opvolgen en kiezen voor eenheid, in de verscheidenheid. Zij zouden moeten onderkennen dat ook al zijn er verschillen in hun leerstellingen en in hun uitwerking van hun geloof zij toch één gemene schakel hebben en zij christenen zijn die tot verschillende kerken behoren. Door onze verschillende achtergronden van cultuur en geschiedenis is het gerust mogelijk dat wij het niet in alles met elkaar eens zijn. In onze leer en ons leven maken we niet altijd dezelfde keuzes. We behoren tot kerken met verschillen geloofsuitingen. We willen dat niet ontkennen. Maar dat hoeft geen reden te zijn om elkaar uit te sluiten of elkaar dingen te verwijten die onterecht zouden zijn.

Als Christenen horen wij te kiezen tegen onverschilligheid of minachting voor elkaar. Al de Christelijke geloofsgemeenschappen zouden moeten durven inzien waar zij tot nu toe zijn naartoe gegroeid op welke manier en moeten erkennen dat ze in dat opzicht niet altijd naar de geest van Christus hebben gehandeld. Hij heeft opgedragen dat de één de ander hoger acht dan zichzelf. We hebben maar al te vaak het omgekeerde gedaan. We zijn vaak arrogant geweest en zelfingenomen. Daarmee hebben we de naam van God niet geëerd. Daarmee hebben we onze opdracht om te getuigen van Gods liefde verwaarloosd. Daarmee zijn wij ook zelf de oorzaak van de ontkerstening van België en Nederland.

Wij zouden moeten beseffen dat wij als volgelingen van Jezus we aan elkaar zijn gegeven en elkaar niet mogen en kunnen missen. De conservatieven willen niet inzien dat gevestigde kerken vandaag de dag geen kerk kunnen zijn zonder de nieuwe impulsen die van buiten komen en verder gevoed moeten worden door álle mensen die samen de geloofsgemeenschap uit maken.

Toen in 2007 de Pinksterbeweging in Nederland haar honderdjarig bestaan vierde werd op het eeuwfeest in het Olympisch Stadion door de toenmalige scriba van de Protestantse Kerk Nederland (PKN) Bas Plaisier het volgende gezegd: ‘Wat is er in het verleden soms met minachting over u gesproken. Er werd nogal eens over u gepraat alsof u niet meer geestelijk gezond was. De enthousiaste uitingen van de vreugde van het geloof, de tekenen van de Geest in tongentaal, profetie en genezing werden soms bestempeld als werk van de Boze. Wat een dedain, wat een verachting. Alsof emotie behoort tot een primitieve vorm van geloven. Net als de moslims nu, werd u daarbij door verlichtingsdenkers veracht en achterlijk gevonden. Broeders en zusters, ik wil u zeggen, dat ik me hiervoor schaam. Zo mogen wij elkaars diepste geloofskeuzes niet minachten – voor zo’n houding hebben we vergeving nodig.’

Dit zouden vandaag woorden moeten zijn die zouden moeten doordringen tot de Belgische conservatieve Katholieke achterban.

In november van hetzelfde jaar sprak Peter Sleebos de synode van de PKN toe: ‘We hebben als Pinksterbeweging vanuit pijn gereageerd op de aantijgingen uit de kerk. Onze houding is u niet te verwijten. Daarvoor zijn we uiteindelijk zelf verantwoordelijk. We waren in het verleden vaak op zoek naar een duidelijke identiteit en hebben ons daarin arrogant en exclusief gedragen naar andere kerken of geloofgemeenschappen toe, menend dat God dit van ons vroeg. In onze passie voor God de Vader, Jezus Christus de Zoon en de Heilige Geest, én vanwege de opdracht om het Evangelie te verkondigen, hebben we medegelovigen in andere kerken regelmatig pijn gedaan door triomfantelijke en diskwalificerende uitingen, alsof de Geest alleen nog maar in de Pinksterbeweging zou werken. We hebben daarbij door onze gedrevenheid vaak te weinig Bijbels-theologische uitleg gegeven zodat er geen goede dialoog mogelijk was. Ook wij hebben daar vergeving voor nodig.’ Daarop werd de pinksterleider door PKN-voorzitter De Fijter innig omhelsd.

In Vlaanderen heeft de Rooms Katholieke Kerk altijd haar macht volledig uitgespeeld en er op toe gezien dat zij als enige ware Kerk zou worden erkend. Enige verschuiving of vernieuwingsbeweging heeft die kerk steeds in de kiem willen smoren. Vandaag is de Katholieke Kerk in Vlaanderen echter volledig ondermijnd en als zij niet oplet zullen de conservatieve leiders met hen het hele schip doen zinken.

Het zijn misschien niet de hoogste of belangrijkste personen van de Belgische kerknomenclatuur die nu een oproep doen tot inzicht en vernieuwing, maar het zijn wel diegenen die orde willen houden en rust willen brengen  in de paniek die uitgebroken is op het op de klippen geslagen schip. Zij beseffen waar er voldoende sloepen zijn om de passagiers te redden, maar ook om de geloofwaardigheid te behouden en om zo samen met al de geredden verder te leven en een grotere gemeenschap op te bouwen.

De Belgen spraken niet over samen een kerk te zijn met de anderen. Zij dachten nog maar alleen aan zichzelf en gelijk gezinden. Voor hen kwamen de nu nog aanwezige Katholieken ter sprake. Voor hen was het belangrijk om deze nog te redden van de ondergang en om hen te motiveren samen te willen werken aan de restauratie en opbouw van een zeer oude Kerk.

Dit wordt hen door de conservatieve Katholieken niet in dank afgenomen. Zij verwijten de manifestanten ketters te zijn.

“Om het verhaal van Jezus en de christelijke boodschap te kunnen doorvertellen en te kunnen beleven, is een georganiseerde kerkelijke gemeenschap onmisbaar.” schrijven de manifestanten, maar daar gaat klaarblijkelijk nu een hele groep niet mee akkoord dat hierbij ook vrouwen zouden moeten betrokken worden.

Volgens Staf de Wilde staat de katholieke kerk voor een onwrikbaar dogmatisme en voor een piramidale, zeg maar dictatoriale structuur waarin de basiskerk weinig of niets te piepen heeft. Hem blijft het verwonderen dat kritische gelovigen binnen dit instituut actief wensen te blijven: een georganiseerde geloofsgemeenschap hoeft toch geen kerk te zijn met de eigenschappen van de kerk van Rome? En als je deze eigenschappen wegneemt, dan hou je iets anders over: iets wat gelijkt op het oorspronkelijke christendom misschien, maar toen had je nog geen onfeilbare paus en nog geen dogmatiek.

Hiermee slaat hij de spijker op de kop. Daar ook schuilt het grote probleem van wat er in de Kerk mis is gegaan. De Kerk is met de jaren ontspoort doordat zij toegegeven heeft aan de machtshebbers. Zo is er in de vierde eeuw het Trinitarisme in het Christendom binnengetreden waardoor allerlei dogmas in het leven moesten geroepen worden om de heidense leerstellingen in het Christelijk geloof te kunnen staven.

Het grote probleem van de Romaans Katholieke Kerk vandaag is dat zij vastgeroest zit in die dogma’s en in het geloof van de onfeilbaarheid van de Paus tot wie ook alle macht in de Kerk behoort. Dat Kerkelijk instituut bestuurd uit de kleine staat Vaticaan wil zijn ‘oude gewaden’ niet afleggen terwijl anderen (ondergeschikten) roepen om het levenskansen te geven en het zichzelf te laten transformeren in een eigentijdse, moderne geloofsgemeenschap, gekenmerkt door een basisdemocratie.

Zoals de 2007 manifestanten willen zij een verbond sluiten met elkaar door elkaar de broeder- en zusterhand te reiken. Voor hen was er enkel sprake van de eigen gemeenschap, maar zulke uitspraak wordt aanzien als een verloochening van de Katholieke eigenheid. De oproep om samen Kerk te maken met alle gelovigen van de geloofsgemeenschap en iedereen daarbij te laten helpen om elk afzonderlijk en met elkaar een levende gemeenschap te zijn van broeders en zusters, die leven door de Geest van God, wordt als een typisch protestantse denkwijze aanschouwd. Aldus worden zij dan ook als ketters met de vinger gewezen.

De manifestanten van 2007 riepen wel te kiezen voor het geloof met elkaar te delen, elkaar te bemoedigen en elkaar te stimuleren en wij kunnen slechts hopen dat die oproep uitgaande van een protestantse kerkbeweging ook gemeend was en open stond naar alle Christenen. Want volgens mij knelt daar toch een schoentje omdat velen van die oproepers juist uit kerkgemeenschappen komen die zeer gekant zijn tegen de niet-trinitarische Christenen en tegen hen zelfs onchristelijke dingen durfden te doen, in de plaats van ervoor te  kiezen met elkaar leerlingen van Jezus Christus te zijn, die de mensen die op onze weg komen, uitnodigen ook leerlingen van Jezus te worden.

De Vlaamse gelovigen die hun bisschoppen vragen om de impasse waarin ze
terechtgekomen zijn te doorbreken deden dit ten goede van de Katholieke Gemeenschap in verbondenheid met medegelovigen in Oostenrijk, Ierland en vele andere landen, die eveneens aandringen op hervormingen die voor de kerk levensnoodzakelijk zijn.

Volgens mij hielden zij vast aan de Katholieke waarden en moeten aldus ook aanschouwd worden als getrouwen aan die Katholieke Kerk.

De conservatieven vragen zich af waarom er moet hervormd worden. Voor hen is het duidelijk dat Vlaanderen weer gelovig moet worden zonder te ‘hervormen’. Voor hen is het misschien aanvaardbaar dat een leek mee zou helpen in wat parochiaal administratief werk. Maar ‘leiden’ staat eigenlijk buiten kijf. Voor hen kan er slechts één ‘herder’ zijn en dat is de gewijde priester. Men mag er niet toe over gaan wereldlijke en geestelijke dingen met elkaar te gaan vermengen. en dat doen volgens hen de manifestanten maar al te graag, zeker door hun oproep om ook gewone burgers gewijde taken te laten uitvoeren.

Zij wijzen ook op de verwerpelijke taal van het Manifest voor gelovigen. “‘voorgaan in de zondagsvieringen’ en ‘liturgische voorgangers‘… Wat betekenen die begrippen? Een ‘zondagsviering’ is niet per se een Heilige Mis of Eucharistieviering!” zeggen de conservatieven. De oproep dat leken ook de communie zouden mogen uitdelen doet de conservatieven er op wijzen dat het inderdaad goed zou zijn, dat enkel priesters en diakens de ‘Heilige Communie’ zouden uitdelen! Voor hen moet dat “gegraai van leken in het tabernakel, dat we nu steeds meer zien” ten einde gebracht worden want voor hen is het “een ware pest! Leken moeten met hun handen uit het tabernakel blijven!”

Leken horen volgens de conservatieven, waaronder ‘Katholieke Actie Vlaanderen‘ niet te preken. Zij gaan wel akkoord dat een preek niet ‘het woord Gods’ is , maar “een toelichting bij het Heilig Evangelie” zeggen zij dat om die reden ook enkel door gewijde personen zou mogen gegeven worden. In de protestantse Kerk kan men daar wel mensen vinden die ook getrouwd zijn of voorgangers die ook gewone burger zijn en geen gewijd persoon, maar dat kan totaal niet voor de Katholieke Kerk.

De conservatieven hebben de indruk dat de manifestanten van dit jaar ook voor vrouwelijke priesters oproepen maar dat zo niet bedoelen.

Het gehele Manifest voor gelovigen is voor de conservatieve Katholieke Vlamingen een manifest van theologische en dogmatische nonsens, waarbij zij de indruk hebben dat de opstellers dat toch serieus menen.

16° eeuwse voorstelling van Chrisut met de Eucharistie - Joan de Joanes (1523–1579)

Voor de conservatieve Katholieken in Vlaanderen is het daarom duidelijk.

Eén van de vele afgodsbeelden in de Katholieke Kerk: Het Heilig Sacrament - Foto: Villamor klm

De opstellers van het Manifest ‘Gelovigen nemen het woord’ geloven niet meer in het Sacrament van het Priesterschap!

De opstellers van het Manifest ‘Gelovigen nemen het woord’ geloven niet meer in het Sacrament van het Huwelijk!

Om die redenen is het duidelijk dat met hun protestantse woordgebruik dat zij zich onttrokken hebben aan de Rooms Katholieke Kerk en zich vervoegd hebben bij de vele ketterse protestanten met hun verschillende afgescheurde (zondige) kerken.

Volgens enkele Katholieken zijn de opstellers van het Manifest ‘Gelovigen nemen het woord’ lui die ofwel enorme aanstellers zijn die opzettelijk een avant-garde taalgebruik hanteren, ofwel zijn het duivelaanbidders. Hierbij valt vooral op dat het verzoek tot  “liturgische voorgangers” een enorm struikelblok lijkt te zijn.

De conservatieven vinden dat de ‘Modernisten’ niet geloven in de Openbaring. De laatsten knutselen zelf een werkje bijeen, “vanuit de basis” zeggen zij. “En dat dringen ze God op. Dwaas en hoogmoedig.” Kostelijk is wel dat onder de beschuldigingen staat: “Sommige modernisten zijn te goeder trouw omdat hen niemand het Geloof heeft bijgebracht. Dat is de taak van de bisschoppen en priesters. Maar dan moeten ze zelf ook nederig zijn en geloven wat God heeft geopenbaard.” Maar de opstellers van het manifest en vele ondertekenaars hebben juist theologie gestudeerd aan die theologische instituten of Katholieke universiteiten die door de “Heilige Kerk” worden aanvaard, trouwens kan niemand van een andere formatie in de gemeenschap van de Katholieke Kerk priester worden tenzij zij reeds lange jaren kerkelijk werk hebben gedaan in hun voorgaand geloof dat zij dan volledig moeten verwerpen. (Zoals de Anglicanen die wegens de vrouwenkwestie overgestapt zijn naar de Katholieke Kerk.)

Ignace D’Hert, dominicaan en docent theologie aan het Hoger Instituut voor Godsdienstwetenschappen in Antwerpen; Marc Van Tente oblaat en vroeger docent theologie aan het Centrum voor Kerkelijke Studies in Leuven en het Hoger Instituut voor Godsdienstwetenschappen in Ganshoren; Eddy Van Waelderen, priester van het bisdom Antwerpen en jarenlang als theoloog werkzaam op het Theologisch en Pastoraal Centrum in Antwerpen, waren bij de eerste theologen die het manifest Gelovigen nemen het woord ondertekenden.  Indien deze Katholieke theologen geen inbreng mogen brengen in de denkwereld van het Katholicisme in Vlaanderen, mag men zich afvragen wie dat wel mag doen. Ware orthodoxie is voor hen trouw blijven zoeken naar de steeds nieuwe zin die vanuit het Jezusgebeuren oplicht in de wisselende omstandigheden van het leven. Volgens mij houdt dat niet in dat zij daarom dat Katholieke Geloof verwerpen.

Datgene wat bedoeld was als signaal, een oproep om samen te zoeken hoe onze kerk ook vandaag het ‘goede nieuws’ van en over Jezus geloofwaardig zou kunnen uitdragen, is nu uitgegroeid tot een waar debat over hoe de Katholieke Kerk kan, mag of moet uitgebouwd worden en zich al of niet mag, moet aanpassen aan de tijd.

Deze ondertekenaars van het manifest geven toe dat het niet eenvoudig is met die verschillen die opduiken op een nuchtere én evangelische manier om te gaan. Pluraliteit wordt vlug verdeeldheid. Die maakt het moeilijk in onze chaotische wereld het visioen van een andere, menselijke en vredevolle toekomst voor te houden en te beleven.
“Is Christus dan verdeeld?”, vroeg Paulus al aan de verscheurde gemeente van Korinthe (1 Korinthiërs 1,13). Allen zouden we de moed moeten opbrengen met elkaar over deze fundamenteel verschillende visies te dialogeren. Met een open geest en zonder angst voor wederzijdse bevraging.

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Voorgaande artikelen: Een Manifest voor Gelovigen + Manifest tot protestantse kerk

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Lees ook:

1. Het eigenlijke Manifest waar alles om draait: ‘Gelovigen nemen het woord‘
2. Manifest ‘Gelovigen nemen het woord’ – Wat willen die lui eigenlijk?
3. Manifest ‘Wij kiezen voor eenheid’
4. Debat Gelovigen nemen het woord
   Klopt het wel dat de essentie van het christendom erin bestaat dat de
   sacramenten, en bij uitstek de eucharistie, te allen tijde kunnen worden
   beleefd als de rituele uitdrukking van wat Jezus voor ons heeft gedaan?
   Ja, maar. Ja, de kerk is sacrament, dat wil zeggen: het teken en
   instrument van de innige vereniging met God en van de eenheid van heel
   het mensengeslacht. Maar dan moet in de kerk het Woord worden
   verkondigd, gevierd én beleefd in de onvoorwaardelijke en onbaatzuchtige
   liefde, de diaconie of de caritas. En hier bevindt zich de blinde vlek
   in de discussie over het manifest. Het vieren krijgt de centrale
   aandacht, de verkondiging en vooral de diaconie – de onvoorwaardelijke
   en onbaatzuchtige liefde – zitten op de zijbanken. Ik lees nauwelijks
   iets over de navolging van Jezus die al weldoende rondging.
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   Het label ‘katholiek’ daarentegen betekent ‘universeel’ en roept de
   verbondenheid op met een wereldomspannende geloofsgemeenschap van meer
   dan een miljard mensen. Mensen die zich door Jezus laten inspireren, hem
   als God belijden en waar de ambtelijke kerkleiding een noodzakelijk,
   maar beperkt en even menselijk onderdeel van vormt.
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   De petitie zwengelt alvast de discussie aan over de reorganisatie van
   het parochielandschap: is het voor gemeenschappen en voorgangers nog
   allemaal haalbaar op deze schaal? Niemand ontkent nog dat de huidige
   parochiestructuren op een voorbije situatie zijn toegesneden: die van de
   (bijna) overlapping van kerk en samenleving.
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   Uit de reacties in de kranten en uit het lijstje ondertekenaars die tot
   de basisbewegingen behoren, blijkt dat dit niet alleen slaat op het
   uitreiken van communie aan hertrouwde echtgescheidenen of op leken die
   preken. Het gaat ook over niet-gewijden die voorgaan in de eucharistie.
   Ook zulke plaatsen bestaan en dat is geweten.
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   Waar leken aan het roer staan van een parochie of een federatie van
   parochies, wordt het de beschikbare (gepensioneerde) priesters niet
   zelden verboden om voor te gaan, wat ingaat tegen elk redelijk verlangen
   van de gemeenschap naar een eucharistieviering. We kunnen hier spreken
   van een autoritair ‘lekenklerikalisme’. En het argument dat we ons op
   deze manier moeten voorbereiden op een kerk zonder priesters, is
   lachwekkend.
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   De banalisering van liturgie en verkondiging is een van de factoren die
   de kerken reeds veel te veel hebben doen leeglopen. En van de
   weeromstuit is het niet mogelijk om goede liturgie te brengen in een
   lege kerk.
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   De vraag rijst hoe flexibel de kerkgemeenschap is om die oplopende
   spanning te kunnen blijven weerstaan? De uitdaging bestaat erin de
   ontwikkeling van de lokale kerken ruimte te geven zonder de
   universaliteit te verliezen. Er is eenheid mogelijk in verscheidenheid.
5. Een zekere nuancering van dit pamflet door Jona Kortrijk dat zich, ten dele, solidair verklaart met het manifest “Gelovigen nemen het woord”!
   Dat een priester binnen het parochiemodel een bepaalde functie
   heeft is evident. En dat er leiderschap ontbreekt is duidelijk. Maar, zo
   hebben de voorbije twee jaar ons toch aangetoond, mogen we de rol van
   de priester niet overschatten.
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   Diaconie dus, dienstbaarheid, maar daar daarover lezen we niks.
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   Wij zijn ervan overtuigd dat je Kerk enkel vanuit de basis, vanuit het gewone volk,
   terug een relevante plaats kan doen verwerven in de samenleving. Daarom
   is de toon van het pamflet te éénzijdig. Het perspectief is de
   voorganger. Een gemiste kans dus om terug aandacht te vragen voor
   uitgesloten groepen, die het vertrekpunt moeten zijn voor kerkopbouw.
6. De voorstellen van het ‘Manifest Gelovigen nemen het woord’ heb ik in mijn kerkgemeenschap verder besproken en mijn discours kan u op mijn ecclesia website vinden in de reeks: Manifests for believers

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English articles about the Flemish Manifest ‘Gelovigen nemen het woord‘ or ‘Believers take the word’:

1. Manifests for believers #1 sex-abuse setting fire to the powder
2. Manifests for believers #2 Changing celibacy requirement
3. Manifests for believers #3 Catholic versus Protestant
4. Manifests for believers #4 Eucharist