Vatican's Screen

VATICAN CITY, Oct 31 — The Vatican issued new psychological screening guidelines for seminarians yesterday — the latest effort by the Roman Catholic Church to be more selective about its priesthood candidates following a series of sex abuse scandals.

The church said it issued the new guidelines to help church leaders weed out candidates with "psychopathic disturbances." The scandals have rocked the church in recent years, triggering lawsuits that have cost hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements.

"(The guidelines) became ever more urgent because of the sexual scandals," Monsignor Jean-Louis Brugues told reporters. He stressed, however, that psychological testing was used in some seminaries as far back as the 1960s — or at least a decade before the sexual abuse scandals exploded in public.

"In all too many cases, psychological defects, sometimes of a pathological kind, reveal themselves only after ordination to the priesthood," the guidelines said. "Detecting defects earlier would help avoid many tragic experiences."

The guidelines said problems like "confused or not yet well-defined" sexual identities need to be addressed. The church is struggling to provide enough priests for parishes in many parts of the West because of waning vocations. But Pope Benedict XVI has said it is more important to have good priests than a greater number of priests. More

Salute to the Pope! Though it might have taken them nearly 50 years to actually tackle this matter in a more practical way, late is better than never. How effective will this screening be, nobody knows yet. It's just so hard to read what's inside the heart of the people as most of them would cover it up really well.

This problem is really a serious "disease" that has affect the Roman Catholics. A lot of questions have pop out like "If they claimed to be the only true church, how could their priest be indulging in such acts?" What about other denominations like Baptist, Methodists, etc. Why aren't they facing the same problem like the RC do? Well, they do, just not as publicized! Maybe because RC is the biggest denomination in Christianity, hence the big publicity.

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church^{[note 1]} is the world's largest Christian Church representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world's population.^[5][6] It comprises 2,782 dioceses grouped into 23 particular rites - the Latin Rite and 22 smaller Eastern rites. The pope, currently Benedict XVI, is the Church's highest earthly authority in matters of faith, morality and Church governance.^[7] The community is made up of an ordained ministry and the laity; members of either group may belong to organized religious communities.^[8]

Big doesn't mean they are immune to attacks from exterior, in fact, they are going to get more attacks from exterior & interior. So, those who didn't get attacks, don't be too happy yet! Either you are not there yet or you are not worth the trouble of getting attacked.

We need to plan for the rainy days but sometimes the rain is more than what we can take. The dam might break! About 5 years ago, I've told one of the "elders" that we are going to face a really bad time where the church will "fall" because of the way things are run in the church: Lack of training for new leaders, weak bible teaching, dull sermons, members only know how to enjoy themselves, etc. Sadly, this is happening now. Some might asked, "Why you are doing nothing about it?". I can only say, I've done my part but the whole thing is beyond me. It's like the world economy these days, it's very very hard to stop the recession. Everything just headed South. The Feds tried, the EU tried but all in vain.

The question is, when will we see reversal? The world economy is predicting 2 years to recover, what about us?
I'm not pushing away my responsibilities as a member of the church but I'm not going to dwell in the mess either. I'm already on plan B, what about you?

p/s: We should really listen to what Pope has mentioned above (bold & italic)

Gentlemen, start your tash!

November is just around the corner, which also mean Movember is too! For most of us Asian kids, we don't know what is Movember. I only knew it about it a few weeks ago when my colleague asked to join it.

Let's see what's Movember:

Movember (the month formerly known as November) is an annual charity event held during November.
At the start of Movember guys register with a clean shaven face. The Movember participants, known as Mo Bros, have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their Mo, raising money along the way to benefit men's health - specifically prostate cancer and male depression.

I was quite reluctant to grow it at first as it's quite....disgusting..."er xin"....ewww. However, I promised them after much persuasion by them. It's for charity anyway so why not!

Let's see why those people are so wu liaw to think of Movember:

Men lack awareness about the very real health issues they face. There is an attitude that they have to be tough - "a real man" - and are reluctant to see a doctor about an illness or go for regular medical checks.

Movember aims to change these attitudes and make men's health fun by putting the Mo back on the face of fashion and in the process raise some serious funds for key men's health issues, including:
Prostate Cancer: because every year 2,900 Australian men die from prostate cancer and over 18,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. [ FIND OUT MORE ].

Depression in Men: because one in six men experience depression at any given time but most don't seek help.[ FIND OUT MORE ].

Prostate cancer is a disease in which cancer develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. It occurs when cells of the prostate mutate and begin to multiply out of control. These cells may spread (metastasize) from the prostate to other parts of the body, especially the bones and lymph nodes. Prostate cancer may cause pain, difficulty in urinating, erectile dysfunction and other symptoms.

Now, which style would suit me? My mustache grows very slowly, so I don't think i can be too picky in terms of styles! Just let it grow naturally! Haha! I think my style will just be "Major". So, don't be too surprised if you don't see me shaving for the next few weeks!

Also, please remember to donate for it! By the way, donations are tax deductible if over $2! So rich guys & girls, help minimize your tax by donating for charity!

You can donate on http://www.movember.com.au. If you do it online, you can pay via credit card or PayPal.
My ID is #1663391
First Name: Shawn
Last Name: Lu


By the way, let's look at the difference between Male & Female depression:

Female depression	Male depression
Blame themselves	Feel others are to blame
Feel sad, apathetic, and worthless	Feel angry, irritable, and ego inflated
Feel anxious and scared	Feel suspicious and guarded
Avoids conflicts at all costs	Creates conflicts
Always tries to be nice	Overtly or covertly hostile
Withdraws when feeling hurt	Attacks when feeling hurt
Has trouble with self respect	Demands respect from other
Feels they were born to fail	Feels the world set them up to fail
Slowed down and nervous	Restless and agitated
Chronic procrastinator	Compulsive time keeper
Sleeps too much	Sleeps too little
Trouble setting boundaries	Needs control at all costs
Feels guilty for what they do	Feels ashamed for who they are
Uncomfortable receiving praise	Frustrated if not praised enough
Finds it easy to talk about weaknesses and doubts	Terrified to talk about weaknesses and doubts
Strong fear of success	Strong fear of failure
Needs to "blend in" to feel safe	Needs to be "top dog" to feel safe
Uses food, friends, and "love" to self-medicate	Uses alcohol, TV, sports, and sex to self medicate
Believe their problems could be solved only if they could be a better (spouse, co-worker, parent, friend)	Believe their problems could be solved only if their (spouse, co-worker, parent, friend) would treat them better
Constantly wonder, "Am I loveable enough?"	Constantly wonder, "Am I being loved enough?"

Does some of the symptoms looks familiar on some people that we know? He He!

Red Alert III

It's back!! One of the best strategy games for PC!
One of the nice feature this time is you can play 2 players against computer A.I! Cool!

There's a lot to love in Red Alert 3. The campy videos and eclectic story that made the series so popular are alive and well -- this time, the Soviets have built a time machine to kill Einstein, which leads to the rise of the Japanese Empire of the Rising Sun, an Emperor-worshiping technological superpower. More

Might go & buy it soon!

Here are some screenshots from http://www.ea.com/redalert/index.jsp

Failed Delivery

First of all, my deep deep apology to Oliver Loo whom I "80%" promised to share my Korean experiences on Wednesday night prayer meeting. When I woke up, which is roughly "now" (8.15pm), it's already too late to go! Shouldn't have taken nap after work!

Oliver, so sorry!! Please forgive me!! I really was planning to go & share my experiences. Sorry if I made the night hard for you!

I've already prepared my sharing, so I'll posted it online.

Below is my sharing that failed to be delivered on Wed prayer meeting. Whoops! :S

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Last Sunday, Rev Justin Tan preached about the downfall of numbers for Chinese theological students and Chinese churches around the world, except China. During my Korea trip experience, we learned about why the Chinese churches are so lacking behind as well. He said they still do not understand why the interest level has dropped for theological students’ intake, however, he already has the answer, perhaps he didn’t realise it? For his 1st sermon point, that’s already one of the answers: there’re no good role models in the current church to learn from.

A lot of Chinese pastors are lacking behind in terms of theological knowledge, administration skills, desire for God, level of faith, experience of the Holy Spirit, etc. Young Chinese theological students these days are also not taking theological courses because it’s God’s calling, rather it’s more of a parents’ calling. I’ve heard some people say to their kids, “your studies are not good, hard to earn a living next time, go be a pastor. At least you can support yourself”. So, obviously, these types of theological students wouldn’t be very impressive pastors in the future hence causing other members to lose interest of becoming a pastor in the future.

Let’s look at the Korean churches. They have serious unemployment rate in the pastoral field. Each year, they have on average 500 graduates from theological college but only have about 100 vacancies to fill. So, that’s like 400 unemployed graduates from theological college each year alone! They have to study 3 or 4 years of degree in University first, then another 3 years of theological studies, then 2 years of internship (either establish a new church themselves or do missionary works for 2 years overseas), and then 2 years as a pastor before becoming a Reverend. It’s almost 11 years of proper training before being ordained as minister.

Korean pastors generally are more intellectuals, humble, always improving themselves, have experience the power of the Holy Spirit personally, has very consistent & strong prayer life, etc. Korean pastors have higher society status as well. They are almost as equal to lawyers or doctors in their society. Korean churches do not have pastor assignment system as CMCA. Each pastors are to “gain” a position in a church ministry by proving they are capable of bring glory to God in the highest level. With pastors with such attitudes, they are excellent role models in their church. Most members are encouraged to study theology by looking at their pastor. This is also relate to Rev Justin Tan’s 2nd sermon point (Pastors’ salary package is not as attractive to other professions). The Senior Pastor of Bu Pyeong Methodist Church, Rev Hung also told me that the respects from members need to be earned, not gained. It’s hard and it’ll take a long time to earn it.

Let’s now look at the individual side of things. We have heard news or legends that Korean Christians are prayer addicts! Their dawn prayer meeting at 5am is 365 days a year without a miss! Their dawn prayer meeting is a lot simpler compared to ours. They sing a hymn in the beginning, and then followed by 15 minutes sharing by a Reverend. After which, they sing a hymn, then shout “Lord, Lord, Lord!”, their prayer session starts with music in background. It lasts for 30 minutes. The strange thing is, nobody is there telling people what to pray about. The even stranger thing is, they can pray easily 30 minutes non stop! How long can we pray without being told of prayer items for the night? Maybe 5 minutes for most of us, maybe a bit longer for Rev Loi. Don’t forget, that’s once a week and we struggle to pray for things. They meet every single day and pray without being told of prayer items for 30 minutes each day. Now, that’s what I called the Holy Spirit intercedes and tells you what to pray. During the first day, I was waiting for prayer items to pray about but I get none. So I started to pray for Holy Spirit to come, and I can pray for 30 minutes non stop! Prayer items just flooded me! So, for the near 2 weeks there, I’ve been experiencing that power of Holy Spirit who guides me in prayer! I pray for church, Rev Loi, Uncle John, LCEC, church members, Sunday service, Melbourne, my parents, my wife, etc. For those who follow my blogs, you can also see how God answers my prayers in very short time as well. Thank God for that. By the way, their singings of hymns are also very energetic. They have more old people than us but their hymns are more energetic than us singing songs from SOP.

Now that we know Korean Christians are great prayer warriors, let’s see what made them great Christians. There’re a few reasons for it. One of them is because they have experience God personally. They are not like us who claims we experienced God but in reality, we are not sure whether we truly experience God or not. We experienced God when God help us pass our exams, get a job, etc. They experienced God when their lives are on the line, when they are living the day not knowing what will happen tomorrow, etc. Hence their grip on God is very strong. Their attitude towards God is like a song that we always sing, “When we see treasures, we hold it strong and not wanting to lose it”. For us, we took it for granted; it’s not as precious as it is to us when compared to what the world has to offer.

Second reason is they receive vision from God. God tells them what God wants them to do, either directly or via their pastors. For example, when Bu Pyeong Methodist Church was going to buy a new building, next to their old building, it was a school land. In other words, it’s impossible for the land to be sold even to a church. However, the whole church sees the vision that the land will be theirs, almost like the land of milk & honey (Canaan). So, they prayed earnestly, walk round the land, shaking the gates of the school (some get too carried away), etc. Finally, the school closed down and the land was sold to the church. I can’t remember how long it took but it wasn’t a very long time. At times when their church was lacking of fund to pay for the new buildings (costs about USD 15 million or 150 Million or USD 1.5 Billion, forgot), God speaks to every one of them, telling them what to do. Some are given specific tasks like donate USD 10,000 or USD 100,000, sell your land & donate everything, etc. They all just obey and submit before God. Their whole building was wholly funded within 3-5 years. They started with no money in the bank but a bank full of faith.

Third reason is they give faithfully. They practise great hospitality not only to us as special VIP guests but to the whole community. Their 1/10 offering is a minimum, not a maximum. Each time they come to church, they would be a minimum 1 cup of rice to be donated into a “ricebox”, where it’ll be distributed to the poor. Some even borrowed money from the banks to give offering because they don’t have cash on hand. They are willing to give it back because they experienced how God gave it to them when they are poor. In fact, most of them are only average Koreans, not too rich. Their great hospitality practise has enabled them to achieve a much higher “standard” of spiritual lives. They actually live out their beliefs, not just knowing in the mind but nothing in actions.

There’re many more reasons why we should learn from the Korean Christians however, due to time constraints, I can only share as much.

As a conclusion, let me share what Rev Hung has said. About 30 years ago, he saw a vision from God calling him to do spread the gospel to the Chinese. He saw God’s hand wrote “中国传教” (China, Mission). He has been praying for this for over 30 years. He said one of the reasons Korean Churches exists is to assist the Chinese Churches, not to be big brother of Chinese Churches though they are much stronger than us at the moment. He also urge strongly for Chinese Churches to wake up from their sleep and catch the gospel baton which is passed to us, Chinese people now.
So, what are you going to do about it? Satan is doing his thing at the moment, he’s trying to be more pro-active than us. He’s causing us to be “asleep”, to be greedy, to be selfish, etc. He’ll make us failed in not getting the gospel baton. Sit there & wait for others to run the race? Want to be a spectator? A “kay leh fei”? Or do you want to wake up & run the race?

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I guess Satan really succeeded in causing me to over slept on Wed evening! :P

打工皇帝

During the time of recession, what's the most important thing for most people? Money? Gold? Shares? Properties? I don't think so. I think it's a stable job that's what matters during the time of recession.

Money can easily be devalued (just look at AUD), Gold (prices have plunged), Shares (do i need to mention it anymore? ), etc. The best way to survive the recession is to keep your job!

At least a job keeps your income flow in. Try not to get into more debts during recession period. However, if you have "extra" pocket money, you can look for bargains to buy. I recently tried 3 new things as well: House, Forex & Shares. He he! Take it as a learning experience!

Keeping a job may not be as easy as it seems. A lot of companies are cutting costs by retrenching staffs, production plants shut down, etc. Australian working hours have also increased to increase productivity but in a costs cutting way.

Australians work some of the longest working hours in the developed world, a study has found. About one in five Australians, or two million people, work more than 50 hours a week, the University of Sydney study shows. The study tracked 8000 workers over five years, through to the first half of the year.

Full-time employees work an average of 44 hours per week and about one in three people want to work less. Despite the long hours, about 85% of workers have debts to pay, the report said. Employment standards have also deteriorated, and many workers are worried about job insecurity and work-life balance. Casual employees face job insecurity but many permanent employees work very long hours.

Paradoxically, many people enter self-employment in order to gain some control over their work but this is the group who are working the longest hours (50 hours a week on average)." More

So, what's the key to be able to last the long boring hours in the office? As Sam Hui would say, 最緊要好玩!

What about those unemployed people now? It's going to be a hard time out there. However, don't be so picky these days. Just get a job first and worry about tomorrow later. It's a matter of survival & gaining experience now.

Now we'll see how the Australian Governments handle the crisis and maintain the high living standards of Australians. We could learn a few things from them! Keep your eyes open people!

By the way, for Christians, make sure your offering do not drop during recession! Keep it up! I've channeled my offering towards the small group ministry previously, perhaps now it's time to move it into a different area. Been looking in sponsoring a child now. Maybe will choose World Vision. The money should be better spent than for our own pleasure yeah? In my opinion, the most important thing is to keep the offering level up, where you offer it is up to you! :D

Honestly, what have been done with the offering monies they received from us? I haven't seen anything yet? No mission, no sponsor, no outreach, nothing. What's more bewildering, we still need to raise funds or put in extra offerings if we are going to do something. For example, printing more flyers, buying multimedia projector, buy bibles, etc. Maybe someone should enlighten us?