Update 17:37 09/01/10 – Reports indicate that police have shot and killed James Lee, and released the hostages.

SILVER SPRING, Maryland, September 1, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Chaos erupted after at least one hostage was taken at the Silver Spring headquarters of the Discovery Channel by what appears to be a crazed radical environmentalist.

The armed man has reportedly demanded that Discovery Channel executives run programming geared toward stopping the propagation of “parasitic human infants” in order to save the planet from global warming and pollution.

In a document apparently authored by James J. Lee, identified by law enforcement as the gunman, Lee expresses his intention to force the network to discourage overpopulation and the “human filth” of new children, particularly among immigrant populations.

Discovery Channel employees first noticed Lee in February 2008, when he was arrested during a protest at the Discovery building. For his involvement in that protest he served two weeks in jail. 

Lee, a San Diego resident according to some reports, has said he experienced an ‘‘awakening” when he watched former Vice President Al Gore’s environmental documentary ‘‘An Inconvenient Truth,” reports MSNBC. 

Police Wednesday afternoon were engaged in negotiating the release of what has been reported to be as little as one and as many as three hostages by Lee, who was seen with a possible explosive device strapped to himself. No injuries have yet been reported.

A list of demands published on savetheplanetprotest.com, signed as “the demands and sayings of Lee,” seeks programming from the TV station showing “how people can live WITHOUT giving birth to more filthy human children since those new additions continue pollution and are pollution.”

“Saving the Planet means saving what’s left of the non-human Wildlife,” it states. “That means stopping the human race from breeding any more disgusting human babies! … It is the responsiblity of everyone to preserve the planet they live on by not breeding any more children who will continue their filthy practices.”

The manifesto emphasizes that immigrant populations and their “anchor baby filth” must also be stopped, and that Darwin’s theory of evolution and the Malthusian theory of overpopulation must be reiterated “until it sinks into the stupid people’s brains until they get it.”

In addition, the document insists that the channel must “stop all shows glorifying human birthing” and “the false heroics behind those actions.”

“In those programs’ places, programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility must be pushed. All former pro-birth programs must now push in the direction of stopping human birth, not encouraging it,” it says, adding that civilization and “all its disgusting religious-cultural roots and greed” “must be exposed for the filth it is.”

In January a Roane County grand jury indicted Fr. Robet F. Poandl, 68, on charges of molesting the alleged victim at the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Spencer, West Virginia, the Charleston Gazette reports.

The charges were dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning he cannot be prosecuted on the same charges in the future.

Judge David W. Nibert had ordered the accuser to disclose certain records, but the accuser never made a complete disclosure.

Anita H. Ashley, one of the priest’s two defense attorneys, said the judge decided that missing medical records “may well have been exculpatory.” In her view, the judge “basically said that the accuser had manipulated the evidence, basically that he could not trust him based on his history. He had no trust in his ability to make a fair and honest disclosure.”

“From the beginning it was clear to me that this man was innocent,” Ashley continued. “I commend the judge for making this ruling, which is clearly the right ruling.”

In a letter Fr. Poandl said he knew the accuser was “not trustworthy” and that “I had not hurt him in any way, let alone committed that terrible crime against him.”

He said that “lying” makes it harder for true crime victims to come forward and that his own honesty was strongly questioned because of “some very sad history” in the Catholic Church.

Judy Jones, Midwest associate director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said her organization hoped the case would be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

“(I)t’s important that suspected child predators not walk free because of legal technicalities,” she said in a Monday statement, according to the Charleston Gazette.

Jones said that the victim and his family are “very credible and caring.” She also called on Catholic bishops in dioceses where Poandl has served to investigate accusations against him.

Glenmary Home Missioners issued a statement on Friday saying that the priest has “never” had any other allegation against him in his 40 years as a missionary priest.

Fr. Dan Dorsey, president of Glenmary, said that the accused priest maintained his innocence since the accusation was made.

“From the outset, I and the entire Glenmary community have prayed for a just resolution. After reading Judge Nibert’s decision to dismiss, I believe a just resolution has been rendered.”

Fr. Poandl has been on administrative leave since June 9, 2009, when the initial allegation was first brought to Fr. Dorsey’s attention. He has not functioned publicly as a Catholic priest since that date.

The Glenmary Review Board will now review all the information gathered ruing the past 14 months of investigation and report to the Glenmary Executive Council. The council will then determine Fr. Poandl’s future.

“This has been a long, painful experience for everyone involved,” Father Dorsey said. “I pray that God’s love and compassion will help heal the wounds of all those who have been affected by this situation over the last 14 months.”

Archbishop Koch told L’Osservatore Romano (LOR) on Wednesday that the meeting of the Pope’s former theology students was “a concrete, lively and positive experience.” He said that the participants’ conclusion after examining the reform of the Second Vatican Council over the weekend was that “(l)oyalty to tradition, openness to the future: is the most correct interpretation of Vatican II, which remains the magna carta of the Church also in the third millennium.”

As a result of the “interesting and rich” debate, he explained to LOR, the members were able to see “how the spiritual dimension is fundamental in every aspect of Christian life. “And this is true,” said the archbishop, “from my point of view, also in the ecumenical dialogue that constitutes the field of work most directly before me.”

At the end of June, Archbishop Koch received the call from Rome to move from his place as auxiliary bishop of Basel, Switzerland to lead the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Although he shared few details of his audience with Benedict XVI on Monday morning, the archbishop did tell LOR that he and the Pope spoke about his “new ecumenical challenge because the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity is not independent (from the Pontiff) but it has a mandate from the Pope to see how dialogue may develop in the future.”

Exiting the presidency of the council earlier this summer, Cardinal Walter Kasper said looked to the future of dialogue “with hope, which is not human optimism, but Christian hope. The “torch” of unity, he added, passes on to a new generation that “will surely look at the dialogues undertaken with new eyes.”

The unidentified man and his wife were escorting their daughter into the abortion clinic when the wife and daughter walked over to the pro-life women to discuss alternatives to abortion. The man became angry and ushered his family members toward the clinic.

“When we come out, I’m going to put a bullet in your head if you talk to her,” the man told the pro-life women, whose identities are being withheld for their security.

Witnesses said that the man then lifted his shirt to show the women a dark object that was partially tucked into his trousers. The women recognized the object as a gun and called the police.

“The police responded appropriately and took him away in handcuffs,” said former Operation Rescue intern Bud Shaver, who arrived on the scene in time to witness the arrest and the clearing of the clinic by police.

“They cleared Boyd’s clinic to search for the gun SWAT style. Everyone, including staff, had to come out with their hands up.”

The area was cordoned off and the clinic was closed to patients for nearly two hours while police conducted their investigation.

It is currently unknown if a gun was recovered by police or what charges were brought against the man.

Death threats against pro-lifers have been viewed with greater concern in the wake of the shooting death of activist Jim Pouillon of Owosso, Michigan, who was gunned down last year as he held a pro-life sign outside a local high school. The killer admitted that he murdered Pouillon because he did not agree with his public abortion protests.

Shaver told Operation Rescue that he has been threatened a number of times since he has been in Albuquerque, but the police never responded in the way they did on Saturday.

“We are thankful that no one was injured and that the police took appropriate action,” said Newman. “Violence against pro-lifers has become something that we have to guard against every day. Those who reach out to women in front of abortion clinics should not be afraid to continue to do so, but should always have security and an awareness of their surroundings in mind.”

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About Operation Rescue®
Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation and has become a strong voice for the pro-life movement in America. Operation Rescue is now headquartered in a former abortion clinic that it bought and closed in 2006. From there, Operation Rescue launches its innovative new strategies across the nation, exposing and closing abortion clinics through peaceful, legal means. Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to stop abortion and ultimately restore legal personhood to the pre-born in obedience to biblical mandates.

CIRM was established by voter initiative in California due in large part to proponents’ promises of cures for all Californians resulting from HESCR. To date, CIRM, or for that matter any HESCR research, has produced no cures or therapies while over 70 therapies for various diseases have been the result of non-controversial and life-affirming cord blood and adult stem cell research — stemcellresearch.org/facts/treatments.htm.

In spite of the absolute failure of HESCR and a Rasmussen Poll released on Friday, August 27, 2010, that revealed “only 33% of U.S. voters believe that taxpayer money should be spent on embryonic stem cell research” and 57% of those polled OPPOSE taxpayer funding for controversial stem cell research that requires destruction of human embryos, it looks like Congress will consider legislation to approve taxpayer funding for embryo-destructive research when the House reconvenes in September.

H.R. 4808, the legislation most recently introduced by Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), has broader consequences than legislation passed by the House in prior Congresses. Pro-Life leaders oppose H.R. 4808 because it directs federal funds to embryo-destructive research and unlike prior bills passed by Congress, provides a basis for taxpayer funding for research on stem cells taken from cloned embryos and embryos created solely for the purpose of destruction.

Perhaps Americans who oppose federal funding of embryo-destructive research have watched the waste of taxpayer funds in California appropriated to CIRM. CIRM funding has been used largely for kingdom building among HESCR proponents. Funds have also been used to advance HESCR rhetoric by characterizing it as science education in government schools and colleges. An analysis of how CIRM has spent millions of dollars of the California taxpayers’ hard-earned cash under the guise of “cures for all” that proponents promised would result from embryo destructive research is available at lldf.org/articles/stemcell.

Life Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a non-profit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens, committed to the sanctity of human life. For more information, call Dana Cody at 707.337.6889.

Before focusing on the saint the Pope turned his attention John Paul II’s 1988 Apostolic Letter “Mulieris dignitatem”, which examined “the precious role women have played and continue to play in the life of the Church”. The Church, that text states, “gives thanks for all the manifestations of the feminine ‘genius’ which have appeared in the course of history”.

“During the centuries we customarily call the Middle Ages”, said Benedict XVI, “certain female figures also stood out for the sanctity of their lives and the richness of their teachings”. One of these was Hildegard of Bingen, born to a noble family who chose to dedicate her to the service of God.

Having received an appropriate human and Christian formation at the hands of her teacher Jutta of Spanheim, Hildegard entered the Benedictine convent of St. Disibod where she received the veil from Bishop Otto of Bamberg. In 1136 she was elected as mother superior, a role she carried out using “her gifts as a cultured and spiritually elevated woman, capable of dealing with the organisational aspects of life in the cloister”, said the Pope.

Soon afterwards, due to the large number of vocations, Hildegard founded another community, located in Bingen and dedicated to St. Rupert, where she spent the rest of her life. “The manner in which she exercised the ministry of authority remains exemplary for all religious communities”, noted the Holy Father. “She aroused saintly emulation in the practice of good works”.

While still superior of the convent of St. Disibod the saint began to dictate her mystical visions to her spiritual advisor, the monk Volmar, and to her own secretary, Richardis of Strade. “As is always the case in the lives of true mystics, Hildegard wished to place herself under the authority of the wise, in order to discern the origin of her visions, which she was afraid could be the fruit of illusions and not from God”.

To this end she spoke with St. Bernard of Clairvaux who calmed her fears and encouraged her. In 1147, moreover, she received the crucial approbation of Pope Eugene III who, in the Synod of Trier, read out one of the texts dictated by Hildegard which had been presented to him by Archbishop Henry of Mainz.

“The Pope authorised the mystic to write her visions and to speak in public. From that moment Hildegard’s spiritual prestige grew to the point that her contemporaries gave her the title of the ‘Teutonic prophetess’”, said Benedict XVI.

“The sign of an authentic experience of the Holy Spirit, the source of all charisms”, the Pope concluded, “is that the individual possessing supernatural gifts never boasts of them, never shows them off and, above all, demonstrates complete obedience to ecclesiastical authority. All gifts distributed by the Holy Spirit are, in fact, intended for the edification of the Church and it is the Church, through her pastors, who recognises their authenticity”.

This is Mother Teresa’s true story revealed for the first time, kept hidden for more than 60 years — to help others live extraordinarily, like she did, through their own ordinary lives.

Mother Teresa’s Secret Fire: The Encounter That Changed Her Life, and How It Can Transform Your Own (Our Sunday Visitor — by Fr. Joseph Langford, MC) contains the inspiration behind Mother Teresa’s work. Her lifelong desire to help others grew out of a mystical encounter with Christ in 1946. On Sept. 10 that year, while riding a train from Calcutta to Darjeeling in the Himalayas, she experienced God in a vision, about which she hesitated to speak for almost 40 years — until 1984 with Fr. Langford.

“I waited in silence for an answer. She looked up and said, ‘Yes, it is true.’ Then after a pause, she added, ‘And one day you must tell the others….’” says Fr. Langford about the mandate Mother Teresa gave him, some 24 years prior to publishing Secret Fire. In this book, Fr. Langford details Mother Teresa’s response to a direct petition from God — as given her in the vision. The fullness of her response to what He asked is what brought the world’s attention to her.

At 48, Mother Teresa stepped away from the security of her life as a middle school principal, and with only five rupees to her name, she immersed herself in the slums of Calcutta. Within her own lifetime, her Missionaries of Charity had spread her work of love to more than 120 countries, and touched millions of lives.

“How we respond to what God asks will define our lives and our world,” says Fr. Langford. “The choice is ours.”

To try and capture the essence of Mother Teresa from splash-stories in TIME Magazine or carefully edited TV documentaries can only provide a shallow view. “Mother Teresa lived with her heart in the heavens and her hands buried in the worst this world can offer,” says Fr. Langford.

And then a few years ago, when world media attempted to portray Mother Teresa’s last days as spent doubting the existence of God, Fr. Langford clarifies what really transpired.

“Contrary to press reports, Mother Teresa did not suffer a crisis of faith … but rather, a loss of feeling of faith. What had been her usual consolation in prayer abruptly ended,” said Langford in a recent interview with Zenit News Service. “Though she would not understand it until later, she was being asked to share the same inner darkness, the same trial of belief suffered by the poor and destitute — and to endure it for their sake and for the love of her Lord.”

“Never did her lack of feeling become lack of faith,” Fr. Langford emphasizes.

And like the destitution that Christ must have felt, but which didn’t keep Him from pressing forward with His mission, “Mother Teresa would encourage us all to do the same in our own Calcutta,” says Langford. “Instead of allowing our trials and pain to become a prison, we can, as she did, make our pain a bridge into the pain of others, a bond of solidarity, a catalyst for charity.”

Our Sunday Visitor also publishes three additional books about Blessed Mother Teresa:

• Mother Teresa: In The Shadow of Our Lady (Fr. Joseph Langford, MC)
• Mother Teresa’s Lessons on Love & Secrets of Sanctity (Susan Conroy)
• Listening to God with Mother Teresa (Woodeene Koenig-Bricker)

About Father Langford
Joseph Langford, M.C., began his relationship with Mother Teresa while studying theology in Rome. In 1983 she invited him to be the co-founder of her priestly community, the Missionaries of Charity Fathers. He has led retreats on Mother Teresa’s spirituality around the world and currently resides at the community’s motherhouse in Tijuana, Mexico.

Our Sunday Visitor serves millions of Catholics worldwide through its publishing, offertory, and communication services. Established in 1912 by a local parish priest, Our Sunday Visitor has grown into the nation’s largest supplier of offering envelopes, parish and diocesan mailings, books, periodicals, curriculum, address management, and stewardship services. Our Sunday Visitor is a not-for-profit organization, returning a portion of net earnings back to the Catholic community through the Our Sunday Visitor Institute. For more information, visit www.osv.com.

A 42-year-old nephew of the former Bishop of Bruges Roger Vangheluwe accused his uncle of sexually abusing him. The nephew made a recording of his April 8 meeting with the cardinal, transcripts of which were published in two Belgian newspapers on Saturday.

According to Reuters, the tapes feature the former head of the Belgian Catholic Church urging the alleged victim to accept a private apology or to wait a year until Bishop Vangheluwe’s retirement before making his accusations public.

“The bishop will resign next year, so actually it would be better for you to wait,” the cardinal said, according to the meeting transcript. “I don’t think you’d do yourself or him a favor by shouting this from the rooftops.”

In the transcript the cardinal said he cannot discipline the bishop or inform higher authorities, including Pope Benedict. He said the bishop should turn himself in, but also warned the victim about trying to blackmail the Church.

The victim denied he wanted to blackmail anyone and said in the meeting that his uncle “dragged my whole life through the mud, from 5 until 18 years old.”

“Why do you feel so sorry for him and not for me?” the victim asked.

A second tape records the cardinal and Bishop Vangheluwe meeting with the victim and a relative of his. In that tape the bishop apologized and said he has searched for a way to make up for his misdeeds.

According to Reuters, the victim decided to publish the tapes to counter allegations he had tried to blackmail the bishop.

Bishop Vangheluwe resigned on April 23, admitting he had sexually abused a boy about 20 years earlier.

In a Sunday statement Cardinal Danneels’ interim spokesman Toon Osaer said that it was never the cardinal’s intention in his conversation with the victim to “hush up” the abuses committed.

“The cardinal granted the request of the family to be a mediator within the family circle after these abuses. In the confidential context of a family meeting, different approaches were examined in search of a reconciliation,” the statement continued.

“In no moment was pressure exerted, neither on the family nor on the victim, to keep the facts secret …  Cardinal Danneels repeats that he condemns the abuses committed by the bishop emeritus and he deeply regrets them.”

According to the spokesman, the prelate is also disappointed that a confidential conversation was recorded and released without the knowledge of both parties.

While the Belgian media is focusing on the cardinal’s failure to tell journalists about his attempt to persuade the victim to remain silent, Danneels’ spokesman claimed this showed his willingness not to break the confidentiality of the meeting and expose a victim who had not yet gone public.

Osaer told the Associated Press on Monday that the cardinal realizes “that the whole approach, as it was, was not the right one.” The cardinal was unprepared for the meeting and improvised his comments.

The spokesman added said that the transcript of the meeting was not in doubt, but he said it was not complete enough to give a more nuanced understanding of the meeting. “It is not correct to say that Danneels implied — let’s give forgiveness and that’s it,” Osaer said

The prelate lamented that Argentina is becoming a culture of “promoting abortion.” “The shocking word ‘murder’ will not be used.  It will be said that it is only a ‘pregnancy termination,’ but lives will be definitively interrupted,” the bishop explained.

“Another ploy is to present the issue not as one of life or death, … but rather as a mere bureaucratic procedure” that would allow for the most liberal access to abortion, he added.

The bishop also denounced the discrimination against children who are denied the right to a father and a mother. “Today, the activists who promote the culture of abortion in Argentina are the same ones … who promote homosexual marriage and aim to extend its effects to all of society at the educational and cultural level,” Bishop Lona warned.

“This is a global effort whose central nucleus is undoubtedly bound to some sectors of the United Nations. In the name of the struggle against discrimination, they unleash the most active and unjust discrimination against those who believe that God is ‘the source of all reason and justice,’ and who live sustained by that faith,” the bishop said