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Vatican announces pope will attend reconciliation events in Colombia
Posted on 06/23/2017 19:30 PM (CNS Top Stories)
IMAGE: CNS photo/Leonardo Munoz, EPA
By Rhina Guidos
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Days after rebels in Colombia announced turning in the last of their cache of weapons over to international observers, the Vatican announced June 23 details of Pope Francis' September trip to the war-torn South American country.
The pope is scheduled to visit four cities, starting his trip in the Colombian capital of Bogota Sept. 6, followed by day trips to Villavicencio and Medellin Sept. 8 and 9, respectively, and heading back to Rome from Cartagena after Mass Sept. 10.
Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos had said the pontiff had promised him he would visit Colombia if the government and the rebel group known as FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias) signed a peace agreement. Though Colombian voters last year rejected a referendum on the peace agreement between the government and FARC, Santos later negotiated a modified deal with Colombian opposition leader and former President Alvaro Uribe. The process came with help from the Vatican, including the pope, who met with the two men in late 2016.
The rebels began turning in their weapons to United Nations observers in early June and all were expected to be turned in by June 20, bringing 52 years of war to an end.
The pope is expected to take part Sept. 8 in several acts of reconciliation, including a Mass and prayer, in Villavicencio, according to a schedule released by the Vatican.
Colombian Vice President Oscar Naranjo said in an interview published June 23 in El Tiempo newspaper that that pope's trip comes at a time in the country "when the discussion stops being about how to win the war, but how to achieve peace." The pope's trip cannot be "just another episode" in the national discourse about peace, said Naranjo.
According to some estimates, more than 220,000 have died in the decades-long conflict, tens of thousands have been injured, and more than 7 million were displaced. Concerns about the end of the conflict were reawakened when a bomb exploded inside a mall bathroom in Bogota June 17, killing three and injuring nine people. Some blamed another rebel group, the National Liberation Army, or ELN (Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional). The group, however, denied involvement and said it doesn't target civilians.
While in Colombia, the pope also is set to meet in Bogota Sept. 7 with the directive committee of the Latin American bishops' council, known as CELAM for its Spanish acronym.
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Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Bishop: 'Fundamental defects' persist in Senate's version of health bill
Posted on 06/23/2017 17:50 PM (CNS Top Stories)
IMAGE: CNS photo/Shawn Thew, EPA
By Mark Pattison
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Senate's Better Care Reconciliation Act contains "many of the fundamental defects" that appeared in the House-passed American Health Care Act "and even further compounds them," said the bishop who heads the U.S. bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.
The Senate released its health care reform bill in "discussion draft" form June 22.
"As is, the discussion draft stands to cause disturbing damage to the human beings served by the social safety net," Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, said in a statement released late June 22. "It is precisely the detrimental impact on the poor and vulnerable that makes the Senate draft unacceptable as written."
Bishop Dewane criticized the "per-capita cap" on Medicaid funding, which would no longer be an entitlement but have its own budget line item under the Better Care Reconciliation Act. The effect, he said, "would provide even less to those in need than the House bill. These changes will wreak havoc on low-income families and struggling communities, and must not be supported."
"An acceptable health care system provides access to all, regardless of their means, and at all stages of life," Bishop Dewane said. "Such a health care system must protect conscience rights, as well as extend to immigrant families."
He indicated the Better Care Reconciliation Act at least partially succeeds on conscience rights by "fully applying the long-standing and widely supported Hyde Amendment protections. Full Hyde protections are essential and must be included in the final bill."
However, the bishops "also stressed the need to improve real access for immigrants in health care policy, and this bill does not move the nation toward this goal," Bishop Dewane said. "It fails, as well, to put in place conscience protections for all those involved in the health care system, protections which are needed more than ever in our country's health policy."
Other first-day reaction to the bill was negative.
The Senate's 142-page draft "is not the faithful way forward," said a June 22 statement from Sister Simone Campbell, a Sister of Social Service who heads the Network Catholic social justice lobby.
"My faith challenges me to heal the sick and care for the widow and the orphan. This Republican bill does the opposite," she said, adding, "We urge a no vote on the Better Care Reconciliation Act."
"Learning about the proposed deep cuts in Medicaid passed by the House of Representatives, the American people looked to the Senate. Sadly, the Senate plan proposes even deeper cuts in Medicaid," said a statement from Larry Couch, director of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd's National Advocacy Center.
"This wanton disregard for human life must be stopped. Millions of children living in poverty, people with disabilities, and older people in nursing homes will be denied life-saving medicine and care," Couch added. "Stop this vicious attack on the most vulnerable people in our communities."
Sister Campbell criticized the Republican-only drafting of the bill, and the announced intent of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, to have a vote on the bill before the Fourth of July recess, which could severely limit debate on the bill or any amendments.
"This bill is a crass political calculation carried out by 13 white, male senators who are out of touch with the realities of millions of ordinary families in every state," she said. "Democracy works best when there are hearings, debate, and discussion to craft a bill that works for everyone, not just a few senators."
"Ending the Medicaid expansion at a slower rate still means that millions of Americans will have their health care coverage taken away. Senators who support this bill will be voting to take away health insurance from the elderly, the disabled, and children," said a June 22 statement from the Rev. David Beckmann, a Lutheran minister who is president of Bread for the World, a Christian anti-hunger lobby.
"Medical bills often drive families, especially those who struggle to make ends meet, into hunger and poverty," Rev. Beckmann added. "Instead of making our health care system worse, Congress should strive to improve the system so that all Americans have the health care coverage they need."
Network, Bread for the World and the Sisters of the Good Shepherd are part of the Interfaith Healthcare Coalition, which also includes as members the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness; the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism; the Ecumenical Poverty Initiative; the United Church of Christ Justice & Witness Ministries; and the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
The American Psychological Association also came out in opposition to the bill, citing the Medicaid cuts and permission to states to waive certain health benefits.
"This so-called Better Care Reconciliation Act is actually worse than the bill passed by the House, because it would undermine Medicaid even more severely, if a little more slowly," said a June 2 statement by Antonio E. Puente, APA president. "Medicaid is a critical backstop of coverage for mental health treatment, and for millions of older Americans, children and individuals with disabilities. If the goal is to cover more people, why slash Medicaid when it is already much more cost-effective than private sector plans?"
One part of the bill cuts the federal government's share of funding for Medicaid to 57 percent of its cost over the next seven years. States have picked up the balance of the funding to date.
Under the Affordable Care Act, the government had guaranteed that its funding for adults newly eligible for Medicaid would fall to no lower than 90 percent of their costs. Many states expanded Medicaid coverage for all adults ages 18-65 with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level.
The bill would reduce tax credits to help people buy insurance and would defund Planned Parenthood for one year under the bill. It is expected the Senate will take up the measure on the floor during the week of June 26.
According to an Associated Press analysis, the Republicans' health bill "cuts taxes by nearly $1 trillion over the next decade, mostly for corporations and the richest families in America."
The Better Care Reconciliation Act which would repeal taxes in the Affordable Care Act -- popularly known as Obamacare -- and structure subsidies for insurance policy-holders based on their incomes. It also would continue for at least two years to offer reimbursements to health insurance companies for subsidies that reduce out-of-pocket costs for low-income customers of Obamacare plans.
The bill would allow children to stay on their parents' health plans to age 26. It also would fund $62 billion over eight years to a state innovation fund, which can be used for coverage of high-risk patients, reinsurance and other expenses.
The Congressional Budget Office is expected to issue its "score" of the Senate bill before the end of June.
The CBO's score of the first House GOP-led Obamacare "repeal and replace" bill, which never came to a vote, estimated that 24 million Americans would lose health insurance over the next decade. Its score on the second bill, which squeaked to a 217-213 victory, estimated that 23 million Americans would lose their health care.
"America deserves better than its failing status quo," McConnell said June 22 on the Senate floor when introducing the Better Care Reconciliation Act.
But calling it "mean and heartless legislation," Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, said the bill is "going to gut Medicaid. It's going to take away care for our seniors" and "from millions of people across the country," to "give another massive tax cut for the wealthy and well-connected."
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Follow Pattison on Twitter: @MeMarkPattison.
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Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Venezuela risks becoming Caribbean 'North Korea,' former leaders say
Posted on 06/23/2017 17:15 PM (CNS Top Stories)
IMAGE: CNS photo/Miguel Gutierrez, EPA
By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Two former Latin American presidents said the world is running out of time to find a solution to the crisis in Venezuela as President Nicolas Maduro aims to consolidate power over the country.
Despite widespread protests, Maduro's push to "put a group of his friends in what is called a 'constituent assembly,' would be the end of democracy and the annihilation of the Republic of Venezuela," said Jorge Quiroga, former president of Bolivia.
That election "will install a Soviet state in Venezuela, liquidate democracy, end the Congress, cancel elections and turn Venezuela into a sort of Caribbean 'North Korea,'" he said.
Joined by former Colombian President Andres Pastrana, Quiroga spoke to journalists at the Vatican June 23 on the deteriorating situation in Venezuela and attempts to diffuse the crisis following their meeting with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.
Protests began after March 29, when the Venezuelan Supreme Court ruled to dissolve the country's parliament, in which the opposition had a two-thirds majority following the 2015 elections. The unprecedented ruling transferred legislative powers to the Supreme Court, which is comprised of judges nominated by Maduro.
Quiroga said he was grateful for Cardinal Parolin's call for humanitarian aid, free elections and the release of political prisoners. He also hoped the international community would "insist and persist" on the Vatican's recommendations.
"The Vatican has enormous moral and political weight and its position -- in the name of Cardinal Parolin and the Holy Father -- would be a determining factor to reel Venezuela back in toward the path of democracy," he said.
However, Quiroga added, Maduro's push for a constituent assembly June 30, comprised mainly of his supporters and aimed at changing the country's constitution, would "finish off Venezuela and destroy the country."
Both men also denounced former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero and Ernesto Samper, former Colombian president and current secretary general of the Union of South American Nations, for their indirect support for Maduro despite their roles as impartial negotiators between the government and the opposition.
At a June 21 meeting on immigration in Cochabamba, Bolivian President Evo Morales -- flanked by Zapatero, Samper and former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa -- expressed his support for the Venezuelan government's actions against protestors.
"Dale duro, Maduro" ("Hit them harder, Maduro"), Morales said as he, Samper and others raised their fists in solidarity. Correa and Zapatero, however, did not raise their fists.
"What meaning does this have when former presidents ask a dictatorship like the one in Venezuela to 'hit them harder?' Do they mean 'keep killing, continue slaughtering youth who are raising their voices in Venezuela?'" Pastrana asked.
The former Colombian president condemned the indirect support of two negotiators following the release of images showing government forces shooting and killing a 22-year-old protester, saying that their support decreases the likelihood of a peaceful solution.
"I think dialogue has ended in Venezuela, that word has been stricken from the Venezuelan dictionary. There is no dialogue, there is no possibility for dialogue and less, when Zapatero, Samper and Correa are holding hands with Evo Morales and shouting, 'Hit them harder, Maduro,'" he said.
Quiroga added that he was "profoundly saddened" by Morales' support for Maduro who continues "repressing and killing young people in the streets of Venezuela; continues detaining and judging civilians in military courts; continues to disband the Congress and muzzle the press."
He also accused Zapatero as acting as "a foreign operative of the Maduro government," claiming the former Spanish prime minister tried to act on Maduro's behalf to "scare" opposition members before the parliamentary election that saw them win a two-thirds majority.
"We know his position and that he's pretending to be a negotiator," Quiroga said of Zapatero.
Describing the current situation in Venezuela as a "surrealist dystopia," Quiroga said that calls made by the Vatican supporting democracy must prevail. However, he said, time is running out.
"The risk is that on June 30, Maduro has decided to deliver the final blow of his coup, calling it a vote for a constituent assembly, but in reality, is a final blow for Venezuelan democracy," he said.
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Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju.
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Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at email@example.com.
Under the radar: South Sudan needs media attention, immediate action
Posted on 06/22/2017 17:30 PM (CNS Top Stories)
IMAGE: CNS photo/Carol Glatz
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis is first of all a shepherd who makes seeking out the lost and forgotten his top priority. But he also knows that wherever he goes, the cameras and news coverage will follow.
He leveraged his pull on the media spotlight early in his papacy when he went to Lampedusa for his very first trip as pope, tossing a funeral wreath onto the vast, unmarked cemetery known as the Mediterranean Sea -- where thousands of migrants die each year escaping from economic distress, political crises or persecution.
His visits to the Central African Republic, refugee centers, prisons, homes for the elderly and ill have all been key stops in his mission to reach out to the neglected peripheries, encourage those who are suffering and the hidden heroes helping them, and wake up the world to their presence and plight.
South Sudan was meant to be next on that list, to red-flag the disastrous effects of civil war -- millions of people facing violence, displacement, chronic hunger and mass starvation -- and to nudge conflicting parties toward peace.
However, mounting doubts over security and how ready those parties may be for negotiation have put a boots-on-the-ground papal visit on hold. And now some Catholic aid and development agencies are wondering, with no pope, how does this tragedy get on the world radar now?
"With Donald Trump, Brexit and terrorist attacks happening in the news," outlets that are usually very receptive to covering humanitarian crises and efforts "don't have the space to cover them," Patrick Nicholson, director of communications at Caritas Internationalis, told Catholic News Service.
Despite the immensity of the tragedy, "it's really off the radar in terms of the world caring," he said, which is why "the pope raising awareness is absolutely crucial." Everybody's efforts to get the word out is still key, and Nicholson and his Caritas colleagues created southsudan.caritas.org after a recent visit to South Sudan to better show the human stories and lives at stake.
Sister Yudith Pereira-Rico, associate executive director of Solidarity with South Sudan, told CNS in Rome that her organization is promoting the hashtag #SouthSudanWeCare on social media to show the South Sudanese people that they will not be overlooked.
"The people there feel they are forgotten. There is no media attention and they always tell us, 'Please, don't forget to speak about us.'"
A member of the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary, Sister Pereira-Rico said she has spent the past two decades working in the poorest parts of West Africa "and yet I've never see the poverty like there is in South Sudan."
"My first time in South Sudan, in Malakal, I wasn't able to sing 'Hallelujah' in church" having seen the situation of the people. "Now, more and more, I can see that God is here."
Sometimes she and her colleagues can feel so powerless when faced with so many people in need, "but just being there" can offer comfort, she said. "A challenge we have as Christians is believing in the resurrection in these situations, knowing that there is a good end for human history."
Solidarity with South Sudan is an international network of religious congregations that was formed to train primary school teachers, health care workers, pastoral agents and sustainable farmers from all ethnic groups, learning tolerance and reconciliation along the way.
The NGOs do the emergency relief, "and we do development, teach values," Sister Pereira-Rico said.
The 28 nuns, priests and brothers from 20 different congregations and 20 nations living and working together in four different communities across South Sudan are a living witness of what harmony in diversity and collaboration look like, she said.
"We're like the United Nations," she smiled, and "we show people a new model of living."
The local church also provides the credibility, networks and infrastructure that relief agencies need to reach the most vulnerable, said Jerry Farrell, country representative in South Sudan for Catholic Relief Services.
"The church has an incredible reputation. It is battered and weary," like its people, but it never shuts down, it always sticks by its people, which is partly why it's so respected, he told CNS by Skype from Juba.
By working directly with parishes and religious orders, like the Comboni sisters, CRS can get food to 5,000 to 6,000 families in places where no one else has access, he said.
No matter how bad things get, the Catholic Church still is operating its schools, hospitals, clinics and programs all over South Sudan; the facilities may not look as nice as those in the West, "but they work."
"Peacebuilding is quiet, but relentless," he said, and it often does not make for an exciting or visual story.
Media often like to cover things such as the highly complex emergency airdrops to those who are stranded, but Farrell said reporters should be looking at the Catholic schools, like the ones run by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart.
"It's not visually catchy, but that's the real story. That's where the future of South Sudan lies" as these schools provide basic care, nutrition and even vegetable gardens for the mothers to grow healthy food.
The other real story that should get coverage, he said, are the survivors. "The people here are incredibly resilient and one of the main reasons for that is they go to church" and are deeply spiritual people.
With aid from partner agencies, the church becomes a place people go to find basic supplies, safety, sanctuary and "spiritual nourishment because without that, aid is just a pat on the back," Farrell said.
"Things will be better. It will just take time because peacebuilding is meant to help South Sudan heal itself," he said.
As the Catholic, Episcopalian and Presbyterian churches work for peace from the bottom up and the role of political leaders is to help from the top down, he added, someday they will all meet in the middle.
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Follow Glatz on Twitter: @CarolGlatz.
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Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at email@example.com.
Scorsese says a boyhood of church and movies continues to inspire him
Posted on 06/22/2017 15:38 PM (CNS Top Stories)
IMAGE: CNS photo/Sam Lucero, The Compass
By Cindy Wooden
QUEBEC CITY (CNS) -- Faith and films have been lifelong obsessions for director Martin Scorsese, obsessions that he said have given him moments of peace amid turmoil, but also challenges and frustrations that, in hindsight, he will accept as lessons in humility.
"For me, the stories have always been about how we should live who we are, and have a lot to do with love, trust and betrayal," he said, explaining that those themes have been with him since his boyhood spent in the rambunctious tenements of New York and in the peace of the city's St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, where he was an altar server.
Scorsese spoke June 21 in Quebec City at a joint session of the Catholic Press Association's Catholic Media Conference and the world congress of Signis, the international association of Catholic media professionals. That evening, both groups presented him with a lifetime achievement award for excellence in filmmaking.
Before Scorsese answered questions posed by author Paul Elie, conference participants watched his film "Silence," which is based on the novel by Shusaku Endo. The book and film are a fictionalized account of the persecution of Christians in 17th-century Japan; the central figures are Jesuit missionaries, who are ordered to deny the faith or face death after witnessing the death of their parishioners.
Although "Silence" was not nearly as controversial as his 1988 film, "The Last Temptation of Christ," Scorsese said the two films are connected and not just because an Episcopalian bishop gave him Endo's book after seeing the 1988 film.
Even before filming began on "The Last Temptation of Christ," which is based on a novel by Nikos Kazantzakis and explores the human side of Jesus, people were writing letters to the studio and producers complaining about plans to bring it to the big screen.
Recounting the story, Scorsese said a studio executive asked him why he wanted so badly to make the film.
"To get to know Jesus better," Scorsese said he blurted out. "That was the answer that came to mind. I didn't know what else to say."
If one affirms that Jesus is fully divine and fully human, he said, people should be able to look at his humanity.
But Scorsese told his Quebec City audience that his explorations of who Jesus is and what faith really means were by no means exhausted by "The Last Temptation of Christ."
"The journey is much more involved," Scorsese said. "It's just not finished."
In reading Endo's novel, working on and off for two decades to make the film and in finally bringing it to completion, Scorsese said he was "looking for the core of faith."
The climax of the film is when one of the Jesuits gives in and, in order to save his faithful who are being tortured, he tramples a religious image. However, the character believes that act of official apostasy is, in reality, a higher form of faith because, by sacrificing his own soul, he is saving the lives of others.
"It's almost like a special gift to be called on to face that challenge, because he is given an opportunity to really go beyond and to really get to the core of faith and Christianity," Scorsese said.
In the end, the priest "has nothing left to be proud of" -- not his faith or his courage -- and "it's just pure selflessness," the director said. "It's like a gift for him."
"I think there is no doubt it is a believer's movie," he said. "At least for me."
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Follow Wooden on Twitter: @Cindy_Wooden.
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In lieu of visit, pope makes major donation to South Sudan charities
Posted on 06/21/2017 15:55 PM (CNS Top Stories)
IMAGE: CNS photo/Carol Glatz
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With a trip to South Sudan postponed indefinitely, Pope Francis is sending close to a half-million dollars to help two church-run hospitals, a teacher training center and farming projects for families as a way to show the people there his solidarity and support.
Because a planned trip with Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury couldn't happen this year as hoped, Pope Francis "wants to make tangible the presence and closeness of the church with the suffering people through this initiative 'The Pope for South Sudan,'" Cardinal Peter Turkson told reporters at a Vatican news conference June 21.
"He fervently hopes to be able to go there as soon as possible on an official visit to the nation; the church does not shut hope out of such an afflicted area," said the cardinal, who is prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
An official visit was meant to draw the world's attention to a silent tragedy, give voice to those suffering, and encourage conflicting parties to make renewed and greater efforts in finding a peaceful solution to the conflict, the cardinal said.
Already in March, Pope Francis had expressed doubts about the possibility of making the trip, saying in an interview with Germany's Die Zeit newspaper, that visiting South Sudan would be "important," but that "I don't believe that it is possible." The pope approved the project funding in April, a month before the Vatican announced the trip's delay.
The initiative is meant to supplement, support and encourage the ongoing work of religious congregations, Catholic organizations and international aid groups on the ground that "generously and tirelessly" help the people and promote peace and development, the cardinal said.
South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011 after decades of war. But just two years after independence, political tensions erupted into violence and abuses. The fighting, displacement, insecurity and drought have led to large-scale hunger and malnutrition across the country. It's estimated that 3.8 million people have been displaced and at least 28 million are in need of food aid.
A papal donation of about $200,000 will support a program run by Caritas South Sudan, providing fast-growing seeds and farming tools for 2,500 families in areas where it is still possible to grow food.
Some $112,000 will go to fund Solidarity With South Sudan -- an international Catholic network, supporting 16 scholarships and a training program for primary school teachers. The teacher training center takes in students from every ethnic group so they can learn and later teach values of tolerance and reconciliation along with basic education.
A contribution of $150,000 will go to fund two hospitals run by the Comboni Missionary Sisters. Comboni Sister Laura Gemignani told reporters that they have extremely few resources to support their small staff and numerous patients.
For example, she said their hospital in Wau sees 300 patients a day -- 40,000 a year -- but there is only one doctor, who comes in every day and responds to every emergency.
"It's hard to pay his salary," she said, but he, the nurses and other staff stay on despite the insecurity and danger.
When they were told to evacuate because of intensified fighting, she said the staff said that as long as they had even just one patient to attend to, they would never leave.
Cardinal Turkson said, "The Holy Father does not
forget the unheard and silent victims of this bloody and inhumane conflict,
does not forget all those people who are forced to flee from their homes
because of abuses of power, injustice and war. He holds all of them in his
prayers and his heart."
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Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at email@example.com.
Holiness means being open to God, pope says
Posted on 06/21/2017 14:56 PM (CNS Top Stories)
IMAGE: CNS photo/Tony Gentile, Reuters
By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Being a saint doesn't require spending long hours in prayer, but rather living life open to God in good times and in bad, Pope Francis said.
Christians should live with the "hope of becoming saints" and with the desire that "work, even in sickness and suffering, even in difficulties, is open to God," the pope said June 21 during his weekly general audience.
"We think that it is something difficult, that it is easier to be delinquents than saints. No! We can become saints because the Lord helps us. It is he who helps us," he told the estimated 12,000 pilgrims in St. Peter's Square.
Pope Francis rode around in his popemobile, stopping along the way to greet pilgrims and kiss babies. One child casually waved goodbye to the pope as he was handed back to his parents.
In his talk, the pope reflected on the intercession of the saints, who are "older brothers and sisters who have gone along our same path, (gone through) our same struggles and live forever in God's embrace."
"Their existence tells us above all that Christian life isn't an unattainable ideal. And together, they comfort us: We are not alone, the church is made up of innumerable brothers and sisters, often anonymous, who have preceded us and who, through the action of the Holy Spirit, are involved in the affairs of those who still live here," he said.
Just as their intercession is invoked in Baptism, the pope continued, the church asks for their help in the sacrament of marriage so couples "can have the courage to say 'forever.'"
"To live married life forever; not like some who say, 'as long as love lasts.' No, it is forever. On the contrary, it is better you don't get married. It's either forever or nothing. That is why their presence is invoked in the nuptial liturgy," he said.
The lives of the saints, he continued, served as a reminder that "God never abandons us" and in times of trial and suffering, he "sends one of his angels to comfort us and fill us with consolation."
There are "angels, sometimes with a face and a human heart because God's saints are always here, hidden among us," the pope said.
Another sacrament in which the saints are invoked is Holy Orders, in which candidates for the priesthood lay prostrate on the ground while the bishop and the entire assembly pray the litany of the saints, he said.
"A man would be crushed under the weight of the mission entrusted to him but, in feeling that all of paradise is behind him, that the grace of God will not fail because Jesus is always faithful, he can go forward serenely and refreshed. We are not alone," the pope said.
Pope Francis told the pilgrims that Christians need saints who lived their lives "aspiring to charity and brotherhood" because without them, the world would not have hope."
"May the Lord give us the grace to believe so profoundly in him that we become images of Christ for this world," he said.
Before the general audience, Pope Francis met with members of the U.S. Pro Football Hall of Fame, including Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who will be inducted into the prestigious association Aug. 5.
"As many of you know, I am an avid follower of 'football,' but where I come from, the game is played very differently!" the pope said, referring to the fact that "football" refers to the game of soccer in most parts of the world.
The pope said the values of "teamwork, fair play and the pursuit of personal excellence" aren't just important on the field, but are "urgently needed off the field, on all levels of our life as a community."
"Our world, and especially our young people, need models, people who show us how to bring out the best in ourselves, to use our God-given gifts and talents and, in doing so, to point the way to a better future for our communities," he said.
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Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju.
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Pope accepts early resignation of Vatican's first independent auditor
Posted on 06/20/2017 18:08 PM (CNS Top Stories)
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Just two years after being hired to help with the Vatican's efforts in finance reform, Libero Milone -- the Vatican's first independent auditor who answered only to the pope -- handed a request for his resignation to Pope Francis.
The pope accepted Milone's request, the Vatican announced June 20, after Milone personally presented it to the pope a day earlier.
"While wishing Milone the best in his future endeavors, the Holy See wishes to inform (everyone) that the process of naming a new director of the auditor-general's office will be underway as soon as possible," the Vatican's written statement said.
Pope Francis named Milone to fill the new position of auditor general in June 2015, more than a year after establishing special structures to oversee the Vatican's finances -- the Council for the Economy and the Secretariat for the Economy.
The auditor general has the power to audit the books of any Vatican office and reports directly to the pope. The auditing office currently has 12 people on staff.
Milone, 68, an Italian accountant and expert in corporate risk management, was born in Holland and educated in London. He was chairman and managing partner of Milone Associates and had worked for Falck Renewables, Wind Telecom and Fiat. Until 2007, he was chairman of Deloitte Italy and served three years as a member of the audit committee of the United Nations' World Food Program.
An independent auditor was a key part of the "separation of powers" necessary for reforming the Vatican's economic activity, Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, wrote in 2015.
"These reforms are designed to make all Vatican financial agencies boringly successful, so that they do not merit much press attention," the cardinal wrote.
No reason was given for Milone's request to step down.
In an interview in March with the Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, Milone said the previous 18 months had been very busy because he had to learn the way things had worked and then oversee 120 offices and foundations that make up the Roman Curia or are associated with the Holy See.
The office had just been completing preliminary studies of all the major assets, finances and economic data of 2015 and 2016. "The next step is auditing the balance sheet up to Dec. 31, 2017, so as to be able to get ready for auditing the whole budget ending Dec. 31, 2018," he said.
He felt their efforts had paid off by bringing in "a new model of managing the budget and introducing the best international standards," adding that the real work in reform was, "first of all, cultural."
When asked if he had met with any resistance, he said, "more than real or actual resistance, often it was about being unaware" of more modern, integrated and transparent accounting standards. They did a lot of training to help people "overcome foreseeable difficulties," he said.
He said he never regretted accepting the job, which had been offered to him by an international headhunting agency, he said. "On the contrary, I will go all the way with great enthusiasm."
He said, "I am very motivated by the privilege of being at the service of the pope ... and to be able to do my small part of a decisive reform for the Vatican ... A reform whose full extent has perhaps still not been well understood."
Back in September 2015, an employee of the auditor general's office notified Vatican police that Milone's computer had been tampered with, the investigation into that tampering led to the second VatiLeaks investigation and trial, according to Vatican Radio.
That trial found Msgr. Lucio Vallejo Balda, secretary of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, and Francesca Chaouqui, a member of the former Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See, guilty of having roles in the leaking of confidential documents about Vatican finances and acquitted an associate and two journalists.
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Pope: Don't pretend to be teens; help youths see blessings of adulthood
Posted on 06/20/2017 16:51 PM (CNS Top Stories)
IMAGE: CNS photo/Giorgio Onorati, EPA
By Junno Arocho Esteves
ROME (CNS) -- Instead of "pretending to be adolescents," parents must help young people see the blessing of growing into adulthood, Pope Francis told priests, religious, catechists and parish council members from the Diocese of Rome.
The belief that youthfulness is a model of success "is one of the most dangerous 'unwitting' menaces in the education of our adolescents" that hinders their personal growth because "adults have taken their place," the pope said June 19, opening the Rome Diocese's annual convention.
This "can increase a natural tendency young people have to isolate themselves or to curb their process of growth" because they have no role models, the pope said.
In his nearly 45-minute talk, Pope Francis reflected on the convention's theme, "Do not leave them alone! Accompanying parents in educating adolescent children."
The pope said the first step in reaching out to young people in Rome is to "speak in the Roman dialect, that is, concretely" rather than in general or abstract terms that do not speak to teens' problems.
Families in big cities such as Rome face different problems than those in rural areas. For this reason, the pope said, parents must educate their adolescent children "within the context of a big city" and speak to them concretely with "healthy and stimulating realism."
Families, the pope continued, also must confront the challenge of educating their children in an "uprooted society" where people are disconnecting from their roots and feel no sense of belonging.
"An uprooted culture, an uprooted family is a family without a history and without memory," he said.
Although social networking has allowed more people to connect and feel part of a group, its virtual nature can also create a certain alienation where people "feel that they do not have roots, that they belong to no one," the pope said.
"If we want our children to be formed and prepared for tomorrow, it is not just by learning languages, for example, that they will succeed in doing so. They need to connect, to know their roots. Only then can they fly high," he said.
Departing from his prepared speech, Pope Francis said parents "should make room for their children to speak with their grandparents," who have the gift of passing on "faith, history and belonging with wisdom."
Often disregarded and cast aside, grandparents must be given the opportunity to "give young people the sense of belonging that they need."
Pope Francis said parents, catechists and pastors must understand that adolescence is a challenging time in young people's lives where "they are neither children (and do not want to be treated as such) and are not adults (but want to be treated as such, especially on the level of privileges.)"
He also said he was worried about the current trend in society to view adolescence as a "pathology that must be fought" and that leads some parents to "prematurely medicate our youths."
"It seems that everything is solved by medicating or controlling everything with the slogan 'making the most of time' and in the end, the young people's schedules are worse than that of a high-level executive," he said.
Instead, schools, parishes and youth movements can take a pivotal role in helping young men and women want to feel challenged so they can achieve their goals.
In this way, "they can discover that all the potential they have is a bridge, a passage toward a vocation (in the broadest and most beautiful sense of the word)," he said.
However, he warned parents about people who may wield influence over their children, including aunts and uncles, and especially those who "have no children or who are not married."
"I learned my first bad words from a bachelor uncle," the pope recalled. "Aunts and uncles often don't do good things to get their nephews and nieces to like them. There was an uncle who would secretly give us cigarettes... things of that sort. And now, I am not saying they are evil but you must beware."
Young people, Pope Francis added, need educators that help grow within them "the life of the spirit of Jesus" and help them see that "to become Christians requires courage and it is a beautiful thing."
"I think it is important to live the education of children starting from the perspective as a calling that the Lord has made to us as a family, to make this step a step of growth, to learn to enjoy the life that he has given us," Pope Francis said.
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Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju.
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New priests follow many paths to answering call to serve God's people
Posted on 06/20/2017 15:53 PM (CNS Top Stories)
IMAGE: CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn
By Josephine von Dohlen
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- After almost 12 years as an Episcopal priest, Deacon Jonathan Erdman entered into full communion with the Catholic Church along with his family in 2016 and a year later, he is becoming a Catholic priest.
He will be ordained a priest of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter June 29.
This spring, 590 men entered the priesthood in dioceses throughout the United States, according to a report released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington. The report is based on an annual study that the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate conducted for the USCCB.
Leading to his joining the Catholic Church, Deacon Erdman felt something in the background repeatedly calling him to the church, but he said he continually found new ways to distract himself.
"I think often when one hears God calling, a response can be thinking of an excuse," Deacon Erdman said in a phone interview with Catholic News Service June 14. "Moses said he didn't have the ability to speak, Jeremiah claimed he was too young, and even Peter asked Jesus to depart because he felt unworthy. I distracted myself with my work in ministry. I told myself that I was needed where I was."
He recalls teaching a yearly presentation on "What Is the Episcopal Church?" at St. Meinrad Archabbey and Seminary in Indiana. "One of my students joked that it seemed I wanted to be a bit more Catholic with each passing year," Deacon Erdman said.
Events such as the election of Pope Francis allowed Deacon Erdman to see the unity of the Catholic Church through devotion and prayer, gradually leading him to the doors of the Catholic faith.
The first time Deacon Erdman attended Mass while beginning the discernment process, it happened to be on the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, the namesake feast of the ordinariate of which he will soon become a part.
Based in Houston, the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter is similar to a diocese, but national in scope. It was established in 2012 by the Vatican earlier this year to facilitate and shepherd communities of former Anglicans wishing to join the Catholic faith while retaining elements of their Anglican heritage and traditions.
"I'm very grateful to Anglicanism for teaching me what to long for, for teaching me to long for Scripture, to long for the sacraments, to long for a faith rooted in tradition and reason, to long for Incarnated faith, and to long for true unity," Deacon Erdman told CNS. "I believe these desires pointed me in the direction that God has called me to go. I found these desires satisfied in the Catholic faith."
After his priestly ordination, he will serve the Community of Our Lady and St. John in Louisville, Kentucky.
Six months after Father Andrew Dawson entered the Catholic Church at Easter 2006, people began to ask him if he had thought about joining the priesthood.
According to the USCCB report on the ordinand class of 2017, 87 percent of men were encouraged by an average of four people to enter the priesthood.
"I remember very vividly sitting up in bed one night, bolt upright, thinking to myself, 'All these people have said these things and not one time have I ever said no,'" Father Dawson said to CNS June 14. "All I've done is make a joke of it, and just dismiss it. I realized that the reason that I hadn't been able to say no to anyone is because I was asking myself the same question."
The priesthood eventually became all that Father Dawson would think of in his free time.
Before entering the seminary, Father Dawson worked as an associate director at a Catholic youth camp, Sancta Maria, in Gaylord, Michigan. His experience working at the camp drastically influenced his faith life, as the camp began his intellectual conversion to the Catholic Church.
It was in the chapel at Sancta Maria that he truly came to experience the reality of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. "I didn't know what was happening, but I knew that what I was looking at was not what I had believed it to be previously," Father Dawson said. "I needed to go and investigate that'it was so powerful to me."
Father Andrew said he relates to St. Peter because of how St. Peter is both bold and terrified, both understands and doesn't understand, how St. Peter puts all his weaknesses out there and still the Lord uses him in a powerful way because of his openness.
Being in the Archdiocese of Detroit also has brought Father Dawson close to the late Capuchin Father Solanus Casey, who will be beatified in Detroit in 2017. Father Dawson wore a relic of Father Casey during his ordination and will serve at St. Fabian Parish in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Father Steven Oetjen's parents, along with those of 80 percent of the new ordinands, were both Catholic.
They raised Father Oetjen and his siblings in the church, sending them to Catholic schools and Mass every Sunday. But it wasn't until Father Oetjen went off to study engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh that he began to feel the call to the priesthood.
"Basically, I found myself thrown into this really competitive environment and a very demanding environment, with all the work of engineering it was very busy, very hard to find time for prayer," Father Oetjen said. "It was also the first time that I was on my own without my family and I knew that I needed to really start to make the faith my own and if I wanted to take the faith seriously, my parents weren't going to be there anymore to make me."
Desiring to make his faith his own, Father Oetjen became involved actively with the Newman Center at Carnegie Mellon and he saw in his friends a joy in living a life of virtue that he, too, wanted for himself. It was in the chapel at the Newman Center that he encountered the Blessed Sacrament.
"I found that there in the chapel with the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the altar in the monstrance, it was the perfect place for me to go every day to encounter our Lord Jesus Christ and to just spend time with him in silence and to pray to him, telling him about all my struggles and challenges, asking him for grace," Father Oetjen said. "That helped me immensely."
This devotion to the Blessed Sacrament eventually revealed a little tug on his heart that Father Oetjen felt and discovered to be God calling him to the priesthood.
"Seeking the Lord out in silence and in prayer really filled a gap that was much needed in my life at the time, and it is always there, I always need to pray," Father Oetjen said. "But I also think it's a joy that is always going to be growing and it's a joy that doesn't mean that everything is always happy go lucky, all the time but even through ups and downs, its an underlying joy, it's a peace."
Like 43 percent of those ordained this year, Father Oejten finished his undergraduate degree before entering the seminary.
"I've really been in awe now that I'm able to celebrate Mass every day," Father Oejten said. "I'm looking forward to every day for the rest of my life, God willing, to being able to celebrate the holy sacrifice of the Mass, to preach and teach God people to help them receive the sacraments as fruitfully as they can so that all the grace that God wants to give them can flourish in their lives."
Father Oejten was ordained June 10 in the Diocese of Arlington, and he will serve at St. James Catholic Church in Falls Church, Virginia.
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text:
GPs who hit the 111 jackpot: It's the helpline that's meant to save patients like baby Axel. But as this devastating dossier reveals, the biggest beneficiaries are the fat cat doctors who made millions from a firm that runs it
- Harmoni, Britain's largest urgent care provider, has been sold for £25 million
- The GPs' co-operative was formed in Harrow, North London in 1996
- All of the five doctors who founded it are now millionaires
- Firm is expanding massively despite claims it is stretched to breaking point
- Last year, it was sent out 'Mayday' texts to doctors, begging them to work
One holidays in a beautiful villa in the South of France, another has a stable of race- horses. They have millions of pounds in the bank, luxurious homes and enjoy boats, fast cars and all the trappings of wealth.
Who are these moneyed individuals? Are they City bankers receiving multi-million pound bonuses? No, these men and women are family GPs. But they are no ordinary clinicians — instead, these are the lucky doctors who have made a mint from out-of-hours healthcare.
Welcome to the new face of the NHS: the doctors who have made some £25 million from the sale of Harmoni, Britain's largest urgent care provider, to a financial conglomerate.
Fatal wait: Baby Axel died of pneumonia last November after repeated callsto out of hours GP service Harmoni
For, as we shall see, at the end of last year, the London-based GPs who founded Harmoni in 1996 cashed in their chips and became the happy beneficiaries of what amounts to a part-privatisation of the NHS.
The money dropped into their bank accounts in February, sparking quiet celebration in the leafy avenues of prime property hot-spots in North London.
So what is Harmoni? And how have ordinary GPs managed to pocket so much money, at the same time as horror stories about out-of-hours care have spiralled out-of-control?
In order to answer those questions, we must go back to 1996, when a group of doctors founded a GPs' co-operative in Harrow, North London.
When, in 2004, the New Labour government negotiated controversial new contracts with GPs, allowing them to opt out of evening and weekend care for a pay cut of just £6,000, this co-operative stepped into the gap.
Harmoni became a pioneer in what is termed 'telehealth' — an umbrella term used to describe treating patients with the help of telecommunications technology. The company acquired private equity backing, and went from strength to strength.
Devastated: Axel's mother Linda Peanberg was placed in a queue with her dying son in her arms
In particular it has won the lucrative contracts for more than a quarter of the nation's new 111 non-emergency medical call-lines, which are the centre of a growing scandal over the quality of patient care.
As we shall see, however, this is not just an issue of service: it is also about the huge profits these changes to the NHS are generating for certain individuals.
Some of Harmoni's 111 contracts have already begun, others are being rolled out. One contract alone — for providing 111 cover for Sussex, Kent and Medway — is worth £28 million. This contract was awarded to Harmoni in partnership with the South-East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb).
In total, Harmoni makes £100 million a year from NHS contracts, and will soon care for 15 million patients outside opening hours.
Yet although Harmoni is being paid huge amounts to provide this service, it does not seem to translate to a high standard of care. A whistleblower who had worked as a Harmoni GP recently revealed that the company was using one nurse to cover 250,000 patients.
The whistleblower also said that doctors are being paid £1,350 a shift — £150 an hour — to plug gaps in the service, and European locums with poor English were flying in on easyJet to cover shifts.
In Saturday's Mail, another whistleblower who works for the 111 helpline revealed that call-centre workers were being told to keep patients in the dark about how long they would have to wait to see a doctor, saying that 'a doctor will be with you as soon as he can' when they know it won't be for up to 14 hours.
Last year, it emerged that Harmoni was regularly critically understaffed to the point of being unsafe, and was sending out 'Mayday' texts to doctors, begging them to work.
Little wonder the whistleblowing GP said that working for Harmoni was like sitting with a loaded gun about to go off, adding: 'Everything is secondary to meeting budget.'
For some patients, this catastrophe has already happened.
Patients like Axel Peanberg King — a seven-week-old baby with pneumonia — whose case was downgraded from 'urgent' to 'routine' after a telephone consultation with an out-of-hours GP unit run by Harmoni. He was made to wait for four hours at home before an appointment at a clinic was arranged.
When his mother finally arrived at the emergency clinic with her dying son in her arms, she was placed in a queue, and her desperate pleas for help ignored.
Axel's deteriorating condition was eventually spotted by an off-duty paediatric nurse — but it was too late to save him.
The coroner said he died as a result of 'wholly inadequate' decisions made by the out-of-hours doctor, but added that it was impossible to say whether earlier intervention would have averted the family's tragedy.
The fact that blame was not laid squarely at the door of Harmoni in this case is legally important, of course — but of little consequence to the grieving family left feeling that their baby was let down.
Despite accusations that Harmoni is already stretched to breaking point, the organisation continues to expand at a rate of knots.
Last November — just after Axel died — Harmoni was sold to a company called Care UK for £48 million. It was at this point that the GPs who founded the company involved cashed in.
Harmoni's finances are complex, but the Mail has established that the five doctors who founded the company in 1996 are all now millionaires, after a deal with a private equity company saw turn-over increase from £3 million in 2004 to £100 million last year.
As a result of the sale to Care UK, one Harmoni founder, Harrow-based Dr David Lloyd, is estimated to have made at least £2.8 million. A father of three, he still works at the Ridgeway GP practice in Harrow, yet seems to enjoy the fruits of his labour.
On a break in Arles, France, he enthusiastically tweeted about the beautiful 'light' and exclaimed 'What a nice villa!'
Another Harmoni founder, Kenyan-born Dr Nizar Merali, also received an estimated £2.8 million from the deal.
He lives in a £2 million detached house in North London. Tellingly, when asked why he decided to sell the company, Dr Merali cites the case of a German locum, working for a provider taken over by Harmoni, who gave a pensioner a fatally high dose of morphine in 2008.
Dr Merali, 60, told the Mail: 'Just like that incident, any out-of-hours provider at any time, in any part of the world can be unlucky, and incidents can occur such as those.
'There was a degree of responsibility resting with me at the top end, as the only clinical doctor on the board. And really, the responsibility was too much.'
Pointedly, he added: 'I have not regretted it; all those things you hear in the news are absolutely valid.' However, Dr Merali insisted that he and his fellow founders did not make outlandish sums of money.
'There are lots of costs involved before the money is in your pocket,' he said.
Nor are the Harmoni founders the only ones to benefit from the company's sale.
In addition, some 500 GPs working as out-of-hours doctors for Harmoni gained £25,000 each, received in February. As Dr Merali joked: 'Hopefully, they will all be able to buy BMWs for their spouses.'
course, some may question whether the health budget should end up
lining the pockets of individuals wealthy enough to splash out on luxury
It doesn't seem to be something which troubles former directors of Harmoni, such as Drs Adrian Richardson and Thomas Davies, who were reported to have earned £1 million each from the sale.
Richardson still works as a GP in Willesden, North-West London. He
lives in fashionable Hampstead Garden Suburb, on a leafy street of
houses worth £2-3 million apiece, with his wife, Alison, and their two
teenage children.
Dr Davies now lives in an attractive £2 million property set in extensive grounds in Northamptonshire. The five-bedroom farmhouse has commanding views of the countryside and a bespoke gym. Dr Davies also owns a stable of racehorses.
On a website for his GP practice in Hillingdon, he says: 'Away from the practice, hobbies include breeding thoroughbred horses, gardening and messing about on boats.'
Harmoni's website boasts of the firms 15 years experience in delivering out of hours service
Obviously not short of a few pennies, in 2006 Davies and his racing partner turned down an offer of £1 million for Speciosa, their winning thoroughbred — which they had bought for just £30,000.
Another Harmoni director, Dr Ian Goodman, is also believed to have made more than £2 million from the sale, and now lives in a £1 million home in Stanmore, Middlesex, with his wife, Elizabeth, and their teenage son.
Dr Goodman chairs the Hillingdon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which is responsible for buying health services for local people using public funding, and was recently accused by an MP of trying to put so many NHS operations out to tender to private companies that it 'would have destabilised the whole hospital'.
But this is not simply about Dr Goodman and a few other doctors who, like him, got 'lucky' selling Harmoni.
It reflects the murky connections and conflicts of interest which define in this new Wild West landscape of privatised medical care.
The British Medical Journal has revealed that more than a third of GPs on the boards of Clinical Commissioning Groups in England have a conflict of interest resulting from directorships or shares held in private companies such as Harmoni.
Andy Slaughter, Labour MP for Hammersmith, says: 'The people who are making decisions on closing A&E units are the same people who, in many cases, have shares in the possible eventual providers for the services they are replacing.
'This is the bulk of NHS spending they have in their hands. It is either a touching naivety in the system, or worse.'
Private equity firms 'see it as a massive opportunity', he adds. He says he believes some of the figures reported after the Harmoni sale were 'low estimates' of the profits made by individual GPs, and the situation was 'very opaque'.
Nor is that the only murky issue. The former chairman of Care UK, which owns Harmoni, is venture capitalist and Conservative Party donor John Nash, who donated £21,000 to the personal office of Health Secretary Andrew Lansley in 2009.
It's certainly a booming business. The operating profits of Care UK soared by several millions of pounds last year, which fed back to the firm's ultimate owners, a private equity firm called Bridgepoint Capital.
Expanding: In total, Harmoni makes £100 million a year from NHS contracts, and will soon care for 15 million patients outside opening hours
And who is the chairman of the advisory committee at Bridgepoint? Why, none other than former Health Secretary Alan Milburn — the same man who was at the helm up to 2003 when negotiations were going on with GPs prior to their contracts being changed so they no longer had to work at nights and weekends, effectively ushering in the era of private firms operating the NHS's out-of-hours services.
His secretary confirmed his role at the equity company, though a spokesperson for Harmoni insisted that 'Alan Milburn does not work with Harmoni'. No, he just advises the company that owns it.
There are further intriguing links which are only now emerging.
A man named Jim Easton was on the NHS Commissioning Board, which oversees England's NHS budget (£95.6 billion for 2013-14).
It was responsible for the procurement process for the new NHS 111 services, in which Harmoni was so very successful.
In October last year — after enjoying an exotic holiday in Egypt, which he documented on his Twitter page — Easton resigned from the NHS Commissioning Board to become the healthcare managing director of . . . Care UK, the company that took over Harmoni just a month later.
He said the new role was an opportunity 'too good to miss'. Little wonder, given Care UK's turnover is projected to hit £700 million.
Yet the company makes so much money by keeping its costs terrifyingly low. Its subsidiary, Harmoni, is recruiting call operators in the London area, offering a rate of £9 an hour. Alarmingly, candidates for the post of 'health adviser' — working on the 111 lines — do not need prior medical knowledge, and are given basic four-week training.
Harmoni protests that it provides a robust system, yet the company's stock response will offer little consolation to those who believe their loved ones have died as a result of the chaotic out-of-hours system.
A spokesman for the firm says: 'We would like to express our deepest sympathy to those families who lose a loved one in any circumstances.
'Sadly, any large health care provider like Harmoni will be involved over time in the care of some patients who then die, making it essential to understand the causes of death and any lessons for the service.
Harmoni always undertakes a detailed review of the circumstances surrounding such deaths to see what, if any, lessons can be learned. 'However, we firmly believe we have the right underlying systems, policies and procedures to ensure a safe and robust out-of-hours service.'
As we have seen, many families who have used their services take a very different view. The mother of little Axel Peanberg King, who died of pneumonia, says: 'It all feels very sinister when you begin piecing it together — there are so many vested interests in healthcare now.
'A lot of decisions are made with financial interests in mind.
'I am not surprised there is a whole fracas over 111. You speak to call handlers who are not medically trained. I don't understand how they think they can get untrained people to tick boxes — that is not medicine.'
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subset: commoncrawl


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Senior Infrastructure Specialist jobs
There are 1,579 Senior Infrastructure Specialist-related jobs on neuvoo.co.uk. Apply now and land the job of your dreams.
Job Descriptions and Categories Including this search
Examples of corresponding jobs are Senior infrastructure specialist, Senior infrastructure system, Senior specialist, Senior infrastructure engineer, Senior cisco network or Infrastructure architect. These vacancies are often linked to categories like IT, Management, Services, Sales, Travel or Engineering.
Employment statistics
Counties with the largest quantity of jobs related to 'Senior Infrastructure Specialist' are England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Cities with the highest number of search are London, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds or Glasgow.
Top Employers Offering Senior Infrastructure Specialist Jobs
Companies offering the most Senior Infrastructure Specialist-related jobs are Manchester Commercial, Unitemps, Tempest Resourcing Limited, THE ARCH LONDON HOTEL, JobG8 or Shelter.
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neuvoo.co.uk is the largest job search website in the UK with over 734698 jobs available, 1,579 of which are Senior Infrastructure Specialist-related.Show more...
Hays |
Reading, England
- 4h ago
Infrastructure Engineer (Microsoft Specialist). 40,000. 48,000. Benefits. Reading, Berkshire UK... As a senior member of out technical team you'll be renowned as the 'go to' Engineer for Microsoft...
Nigel Frank International |
London, England
- 2h ago
Job Description. Senior Infrastructure Engineer,. 68K, LondonSee yourself as a Microsoft specialist in... Exposure to ITIL. A specialist in Microsoft Infrastructure services including but not limited to...
Nigel Frank International |
London, England
- 2h ago
Job Description. Senior Infrastructure Engineer,. 68K, LondonSee yourself as a Microsoft specialist in... Exposure to ITIL. A specialist in Microsoft Infrastructure services within Hyper V including but not...
Hays |
(Unspecified city)
- 1d ago
Global level organisation seeking an experienced Infrastructure Engineer to work with public cloud... You'll have an intermediate senior level of experience in managing an enterprise AD, Exchange or VMware...
Hays |
London, England
- 4h ago
Your new role. As Senior It Infrastructure and Systems Engineer, you will be responsible for the... Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited acts as an employment agency for permanent recruitment and...
CPS Group |
- 4d ago
Senior Infrastructure Specialist. Due to their continued expansion plans our client is looking to hire... This is a great opportunity for an ambitious candidate who is passionate about infrastructure technology...
Cadence Resourcing |
London, England
- 4d ago
Senior Infrastructure Specialist. Projects. 4th Line Support. Hyper V. SharePoint. Storage. Active... Active Directory. Networking. SQL. My client require a skilled and competent infrastructure engineer to...
Cadence Resourcing |
London, England
- 3d ago
Senior Infrastructure Specialist. Projects. 4th Line Support. Hyper V. SharePoint. Storage. Active... Active Directory. Networking. SQL. My client require a skilled and competent infrastructure engineer to...
Mott MacDonald |
Croydon, England
- 10d ago
Job Profile. The highways & infrastructure team provides services from initial appraisal & master... Senior Engineers (Utilities) are responsible for. Utilities coordination & specialist advice. Taking a...
CPS Group |
(Unspecified city), England
- 4d ago
Senior Infrastructure Specialist. Technical Lead. Microsoft, AD, Exchange, Server 2008 2012, VMWare... Due to sustained and continuous growth they are looking to recruit an experienced Senior Infrastructure...
London, England
- 5d ago
AutoReq ID 123482BR Job Title M&A Tax Senior Manager (Infrastructure) Country United Kingdom Location... Display technical strength in our specialist markets above. Builds the reputation of KMPG through the...
Nigel Frank International |
London, England
- 7d ago
Senior Infrastructure Engineer,. 68K, London. See yourself as a Microsoft specialist in the energy... A leading firm are looking for a senior infrastructure and delivery engineer to join their team...
Arup |
Sheffield, England
- 1d ago
At Arup, we design and deliver ground breaking icons through our work in infrastructure, building design... Role As a Senior Digital Consultant you will be involved in a range of projects from minor renovation...
Mattinson Partnership |
Glasgow, Scotland
- 1d ago
Is seeking to appoint an ambitious Senior Highways or Infrastructure Engineer to assist in a diverse... Through our knowledge of the industry, we are able to provide a unique and specialist service...
Mattinson Partnership |
(Unspecified city), Scotland
- 1d ago
They are currently looking to recruit a Senior Civil Technician to their dedicated project team in... The ideal candidate will have experience of local roads and drainage infrastructure design and will have...
Hays Specialist Recruitment Ltd |
London, England
- 4h ago
Your new role Working as part of the Infrastructure team and reporting to the Senior Infrastructure... please contact us for a confidential discussion on your career.Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited acts...
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I visited this place as i am on a mission of triyin out different restaurants in my town.I loved the food,i had Chicken mayo sandwich and salad with a smoothie.I loved the food tasted very delicious.I love the decor and upstairs is a better plqce to sit.Located at thw middle of town so the view is not any interesting.But the food and drinks are good.I won't ralk about the service because its normal.I will definitely come back. PS:just like another reviewer talked abour this its somesort of an expats hangour place.
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How Much Turmeric to Take
The information on this amazing site isn't intended to change aone-onone connection using a certified health care professional and it is not designed as medical advice. The product showing on the site is for educational use. We are a person an affiliate promotion program designed to give a method for sites to earn marketing charges by connecting and advertising to Amazon.com while in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Software.
Mission behind " Turmeric for Health" would be to spread awareness to people across the globe about its rewards and turmeric Turmeric for Health participates within the Amazon Services LLC Adsense and Acquaintances program to offer charges related to operating this portal to be covered by means. This ensues that everybody is remained free for by the portal often. In case you wish to get in effect please email me at at turmericforhealth com immediately.
Ok so currently there has been lot of frustration the way often you need to go on it and how much per day can be taken in by turmeric one. The principal reason for the confusion on how much arises from the truth that it's possible to consider turmeric and thus its active ingredient in a lot of ways Currently the critical difference in all of them will be the level of curcumin. Just how a lot of these one can ingest aday?
I likewise discovered that people have various view around the serving of turmeric. Therefore I have relied upon some sources limited to the investigation here. Both Tinctures and fluid components aren't popular and so I can focus on the remainder of the three and the things they suggest The very first two are associated with usual turmeric powder along with the next one BCM -95 Arjuna Ingredients using a 95% standard dust.
You can take three times a-day to 400mg 600 mg supercritical extracts. This obviously he's discussing supplements consistent dust. WebMd Weil are categorized as the product range chosen by College of Maryland Clinic therefore levels byUniversity of Maryland Medical Center signify all the three. I would want to mention that you could take-1 teaspoon of powder on the daily schedule without any issues in case you are employing powder.
In terms of gms the numbers are stated below Although exploring doses I came across a really fascinating point over and seeking back and considering it I am simply questioning why me did not hit against! where can i buy turmeric powder supplement While I researched over levels I came across studies where experts gave dosages as superior as 8 g each day to individuals. This I seen in many studies. But then why University of Maryland Clinic and others suggest this type of dose that is modest? where can i buy turmeric supplement
The solution might lie in the fact that the amounts are substantial when we need them i.e. when we aren't effectively. For example if you have back-pain obtain properly and you might want to take a substantial quantity for a day. But once you do you come to the standard preventive dose. So when you are enduring for claim arthritis discomfort and you take substantial amounts it serves just like a painkiller that is powerful and can help you.
This could carry on for thenone and a while should make contact with preventive serving when the body is back in form. Turmeric has been utilized in India for a large number of decades. Huge numbers of people consider milk with turmeric over a daily basis which is included in virtually every curry vegetable we create.
Therefore knowledge shows that taking actually 1 tsp turmeric per day will not have any concerns. Ofcourse if you should be new-to it begin small perhaps 14 teaspoon and then improve that is . Thus 1 tsp top quality turmeric powder look for recommended brands below shouldn't have any concerns at-all. There's no unwanted side effects when you use turmeric why?
Since the dose is definitely limited. But points could possibly be different once you take considerable or supplements amounts of powder to get a lengthy time period. It's very important to realize that the medial side effects arise when you consider them for extended period of time rather than quickly. Therefore we can constantly take dosages that are preventive once we require and change to preventive types when great.
Additionally when the serving limit that is preventive suggests 3.0 g every day I'm really positive nothing wrong is going to happen for 6-8 h per day. A lot of the moments the levels described are on the part that is significantly better. Standard unwanted effects are associated with gastrointestinal system stomach upset sores diarrhea. The side effects might also vary from one individual to another also.
I was incapable of discover any very considerable sideeffects though except sores. Again I would nothing like to produce a stress below and so want to highlight that turmeric is hardly very dangerous solely its quite high dose for lengthy time period is known to trigger dilemmas. Goodday.
I am able to get fresh turmeric root easily in the area where I live. May I please ask for a formula applying freah root that is turmeric. Your support would be greatly appreciated by me. Many thanks.
1 is said by fresh turmeric -3g could be contained in diet everyday in salads and juices. A superb menu is pickle that is turmeric Httpwww.turmericforhealth.comturmeric- dishes -pickle-formula-remarkable-flavor-with-fantastic-gains I have disease in both kidneys and also internal organs that are other. I also provide arthritis inside the right lower spine a synovial cyst along with f my spine within the lower-left part.


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Table Decorations Christmas Ornaments
Not all of the best holiday decorations are ornaments! I love our personalized table decorations that are too heavy to hang on a Christmas tree, but are perfect for a shelf or table and make a colorful holiday display. Over the years I have found favorite gifts for grandparents that have room for personalization on families up to 25! Choose from bears, reindeer, snowmen, Christmas trees and fireplace scenes.
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Filter Results:
- Full text PDF available (46)
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- Jonathan Starck, Gregor Miller, Adrian Hilton
- 2006
This paper presents a novel volumetric reconstruction technique that combines shape-from-silhouette with stereo photo-consistency in a global op-timisation that enforces feature constraints across multiple views. Human shape reconstruction is considered where extended regions of uniform appearance , complex self-occlusions and sparse feature cues represent… (More)
- F. Ferreira, Marcio Cabral, +7 authors Sidney Fels
- SIGGRAPH Posters
- 2014
We constructed a personal, spherical, multi-projector perspective-corrected rear-projected display called <i>Spheree.</i> Spheree uses multiple calibrated pico-projectors inside a spherical display with content rendered from a user-centric viewpoint. Spheree uses optical tracking for head-coupled rendering, providing parallax-based 3D depth cues. Spheree is… (More)
- Gregor Miller, Adrian Hilton
- 2006
The visual hull is widely used to produce three dimensional models from multiple views, due to the reliability of the resulting surface. This paper presents a novel method for efficiently evaluating the exact view-dependent visual hull without using approximations. Methods for selecting intersections and ordering them via the cross ratio are presented.… (More)
- P Husbands, I Harvey, D Cliff, G Miller
- Brain and cognition
- 1997
Recently there have been a number of proposals for the use of artificial evolution as a radically new approach to the development of control systems for autonomous robots. This paper explains the artificial evolution approach, using work at Sussex to illustrate it. The paper revolves around a case study on the concurrent evolution of control networks and… (More)
- Jonathan Starck, Gregor Miller, Adrian Hilton
- Symposium on Computer Animation
- 2005
In this paper we introduce a video-based representation for free viewpoint visualization and motion control of 3D character models created from multiple view video sequences of real people. Previous approaches to video-based rendering provide no control of scene dynamics to manipulate, retarget, and create new 3D content from captured scenes. Here we… (More)
- O. Grau, A. Hilton, +7 authors Tim Sargeant
- 2006
This contribution introduces a new approach of using multi-camera images of an event to provide a free-viewpoint video visualisation of sport scenes. This allows a virtual camera to be moved freely around and to view the action from any angle. The system is based on 3D reconstruction techniques previously developed for studio use. A number of different 3D… (More)
- Amir Afrah, Gregor Miller, Donovan H. Parks, Matthias Finke, Sidney Fels
- 2008 Second ACM/IEEE International Conference on…
- 2008
We have built a novel vision processing system architecture called Hive. Hive fills a gap in the vision middleware by providing mechanisms for simple setup and configuration of distributed vision computation. Hive facilitates communication between independent cross-platform modules via an extensible protocol, allowing these distributed modules to form a… (More)
- Gregor Miller
- 2005
This paper introduces a representation for multiple view video to support high-quality interactive free-viewpoint rendering of moving people. Multiple wide baseline views are integrated into a view-dependent representation based on pair wise refinement of the visual-hull. An exact view-dependent visual-hull (VDVH) algorithm is presented to compute an… (More)
- Abir Al Hajri, Sidney Fels, Gregor Miller, Michael Ilich
- 2011
Target selection is a fundamental aspect of interaction and is particularly challenging when targets are moving. We address this problem by introducing a novel selection technique we call Hold which temporarily pauses the content while selection is in progress to provide a static target. By studying users, we evaluate our method against two others for… (More)
- Stefanie Müller, Gregor Miller, Sidney Fels
- 2010
Video is a complex information space that requires advanced navigational aids for effective browsing. The increasing number of temporal video annotations offers new opportunities to provide video navigation according to a user's needs. We present a novel video browsing interface called TAV (Temporal Annotation Viewing) that provides the user with a visual… (More)


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Patrick Frost Photography
A very brief behind the scenes look at the Dorset Opera Festival from 2012. This years productions were Suor Angelica, Il Trovatore and Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement.
Production includes: Julia Melinek, Gerard Quinn, Lynsey Docherty, Graeme Danby, Marcin Gesla, Phillip Rhodes, John Hudson, Anne-Marie Owens, Josephine Thorpe, Jeffrey Stewart, Nicolas Mansfield, Paul Carr, Jeremy Carnall, Catherine Bouchier.
Artistic Director: Roderick Kennedy
Chairman: Alan Frost
For more information about the festival please visit DorsetOpera.com


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Hi Advisors! We will be spending a week in London this winter (our first trip), have our housing narrowed to 3 choices and were hoping for some expert opinions about each neighborhood. We know the pros/cons of the specific properties, but not the neighborhoods--tube access, grocery stores, safety, etc. Choices are:
2) Flat on Tachbrook Street
3) Flat in York Buildings zip code WC2N 6LS
Primary concern is safety. We expect to be in room by 9-11PM. We are leaning toward Novotel. We know that it is the business district, will it be safe to ride the tube to Tower Hill at 9PM? Will we be the only people at the station? Will standing at a bus stop after dark be safe?
The other properties seem to be more centrally located, but we are not sure if the areas are as safe as the area around the Novotel. Thanks in advance!


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Mirahannele Virtanen
Muita ideoita: Mirahannele
Successful women know how important starting the day right is. Check out these 9 secrets to help achieve your goals!
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