The Drive For the National Sunday Law

by

Vance Ferrell

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The Drive for

a National Sunday Law

DATE OF PUBLICATION: MARCH 2008

In this research report, we are going to pull

together a number of interconnected developments.

Some of this we have reported on earlier,

but we were not aware of a number of

other details.

Viewing them as a whole, as we will here

do, brings to light a remarkable chain of

events—and reveals, to a startling degree, the

key objectives with which the Vatican, under

the direction of Pope Benedict XVI (both before

and after he became pope), wishes to take

America as well as the rest of the world.

Three facts become clear: The papacy has

definite objectives. It is working slowly, but

surely, toward them. Pope Benedict is speeding

up work on one, so it will be fulfilled before

his death.

SINCE 1981: RATZINGER IN CHARGE

OF ALL THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who has always had

a remarkably rapid and brilliant mind, has, since

November 1981, been in charge of the initiation

and preparation of all Catholic theological

objectives, and all Vatican and papal documents.

“From 1962 to 1965 he made a notable contribution

to Vatican II as an ‘expert’; being present at

the Council as theological advisor of Cardinal Joseph

Frings, Archbishop of Cologne.

“His intense scientific activity led him to important

positions at the service of the German Bishops’

Conference and the International Theological Commission.

“John Paul II named him Prefect of the Congregation

for the Doctrine of the Faith and President

of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and of the

International Theological Commission on 25 Novem-

PART ONE OF THREE

ber 1981. On 15 February 1982 he resigned the pastoral

governance of the Archdiocese of Munich and

Freising. [At that time, he permanently moved to the

Vatican.]”—Official Vatican Bibliographical Statement.

1992: PREPARES THE CATECHISM

He directed the latest revision of the official Catholic Catechism, which was completed n 1992. This book emphasizes two facts: The doctrines of Rome are the only correct Christian teachings, and Sunday sacredness lies at the heart of Catholic teachings and worship. Ratzinger was in charge of preparing this latest revision which all faithful Catholics should own and read.

“He was President of the Preparatory Commission for the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which after six years of work (1986-1992) presented the new Catechism to the Holy Father.”—Ibid.

1990s: GAINS STILL MORE POWER

“In the Roman Curia he has been a member of the

Council of the Secretariat of State for Relations with

States [nations]; of the Congregations for the Oriental

Churches, for Divine Worship and the Discipline

of the Sacraments, for Bishops, for the Evangelization

of Peoples, for Catholic Education, for Clergy

and for the Causes of the Saints; of the Pontifical

Councils for Promoting Christian Unity, and for

Culture; of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic

Signatura, and of the Pontifical Commissions for Latin

America, “Ecclesia Dei,” for the Authentic Interpretation

of the Code of Canon Law, and for the Revision

of the Code of Canon Law of the Oriental

Churches.”—Ibid.

“Since 13 November 2000 he has been an Honorary

Academic of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.”—

Ibid. (It was Ratzinger who was in charge of

drafting the papal statement announcing that the entire evolutionary theory is acceptable as correct Catholic

doctrine (!), as long as man is said to have been

directly created by God.)

“His address to the Catholic Academy of Bavaria

on ‘Why I am still in the Church’ had a wide resonance;

in it he stated with his usual clarity: ‘One can

only be a Christian in the Church, not beside the

Church.’ ”—Ibid.

It is significant that the above sentence was the

only quotation from Ratzinger in his official Vatican

biographical summary. He is actually repeating the

age-old dictum, “Outside the Church of Rome, there

is no salvation.”

In addition, notice that, in the above biography,

he has, for years, been heavily involved in the Pontifical

Councils for Promoting Christian Unity. This

is the papal organization in charge of working

closely with the other churches and with ecumenical

organizations.

1998, 2002: BECOMES VATICAN

HEAD, SECOND ONLY TO THE POPE

In November 1998, Ratzinger became second

in command over the College of Cardinals. Four

years later, he was given sole authority.

“On 6 November 1998 the Holy Father approved

the election of Cardinal Ratzinger as Vice-Dean of the

College of Cardinals, submitted by the Cardinals of

the Order of Bishops. On 30 November 2002 he approved

his election as Dean of the College of Cardi-

nals.”—Ibid.

SPRING 1998:

THE SECRET SABBATH AGREEMENT

In this mailing, we will include a report I initially

mailed out in 1999 (Update on the Secret

Interchurch Planning Meeting).

In brief, in April 1999, I was told about a

secret agreement by our church leaders in the

spring of 1998, with representatives from other

major denominations, to “tone down” our public

presentations of the Sabbath truth and only

present them within the confines of our own

churches.

In order to provide further verification of this most

startling information, I asked another friend to

phone the General Conference leader who divulged

that information, and try to verify it and learn still

more.

When he called, he was told that several meetings

were held in Switzerland over a span of

five years, and that they culminated in the Sabbath

agreement which our church leaders entered

into, in the spring of 1998. (The World Council of

Churches headquarters, in Geneva, would be the

obvious place where those meetings were held; since

a very large number of denominations, including

our own, regularly sent representatives to attend

its various meetings.)

By the late 1990s, Pope John Paul II, who was

a great worshiper of the Virgin, in response to predictions

by apparitionists (their word for Catholic

prophets who supposedly receive messages from

the Virgin Mary), was eagerly expecting startling

events to occur in 2000 and 2001 (which, though

nebulously predicted, appeared to claim that Christ

would return to earth at that time and set up a

temporal millennium). (See our 112-page book, The

Marian Messages: Final Events as Predicted by

the Spirits to Faithful Roman Catholics. $5.50 +

$2.50.)

Ratzinger, who by the later 1990s was entirely

in charge of preparing and executing

Vatican objectives, apparently had a different

reason in mind for arranging for those secret

Sabbath meetings with the Adventists. Too levelheaded

to place much confidence in apparitionists

who were in communion with a spirit calling itself

the Virgin Mary, he had his sights on fulfilling

the age-old goal of Rome: to bring the nations

back into subjection to itself by exalting Sunday.

He shrewdly recognized that if he could

get the Adventists to “tone down” their Sabbath

message, it would be far easier for him to

get Sunday Laws enacted. Someone may question

whether Ratzinger could be that interested in

government enforcement of Sunday.

Significantly, another event also occurred

in the spring of 1998. Ratzinger’s carefully prepared

manuscript, issued by John Paul II as an

encyclical, called for governments throughout the

world to enact Sunday Laws.

MAY 1998: THE PAPAL

ENCYCLICAL CALLING ON NATIONS

TO ENACT NATIONAL SUNDAY LAWS

On May 31, 1998, the papal encyclical, Dies Domini,

which Ratzinger as head theologian drafted,

was issued by the Vatican. You can find the complete

text in our tract set, Pope John Paul II Calls

for National Sunday Laws, Parts 1-4 [WM–843846].

Ratzinger, already 72 at the time, was working

steadily toward the fulfillment of an objective,

which he wanted to accomplish before his

death.

SEPTEMBER 2000: THE ORGANIZATION

OF GLOBAL CHRISTIAN FORUM

Since national governments did not obey the papal encyclical in 1998 which told them to enact strict National Sunday Laws, Ratzinger decided he would work through the churches to get them to fulfill his objectives.

But Ratzinger had a problem. Ever since the early

20th century, when ecumenical organizations first

came into existence, Rome had steadfastly refused

to join them as an active member. This situation

would have to change if America was to pass that

Sunday Law.

Ratzinger decided that a new, worldwide ecumenical

organization was needed—which Rome

would join and carefully dominate.

So discussions were entered into, to set up such

an organization which, from the beginning, the

Catholic Church would enter as a full member and

exert a major control (because it has more members

than any other church in Christendom).

Although he knew nothing about the predictions

in Revelation 13 and Great Controversy, Ratzinger

recognized that the churches in America would

have to lead the way and get the U.S. Congress

to enact such a law, so it could lead out in influencing

the other nations of the world in doing

the same thing. Therefore, a similar organization

would have to be set up by Catholic leaders in the

U.S. Then he could use an international ecumenical

organization to help get the other governments

throughout the world to do likewise.

First proposed at a December 1998 international

ecumenical meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe,

Global Christian Forum (GCF) was brought

into existence in 2000 during an International

Consultation held at Fuller Theological Seminary

in Pasadena, in September of that year. Significantly,

this was the same place where, under Catholic direction,

most of the organizational planning for

Christian Churches Together would later occur.

Since then, GCF has steadily grown larger, all

the while without mentioning the need for Sunday

legislation. Ratzinger wisely recognized that the

push for such a law must begin in America.

JULY 2001: BEGINNINGS OF

CHRISTIAN CHURCHES TOGETHER

It began in the residence of Cardinal William

H. Keeler in Baltimore, Maryland. He, along

with another Catholic leader and two prominent

Protestant leaders, met and got it started.

The idea went through the churches like

wildfire. The Catholic Church was willing to

join this new organization! Church leaders everywhere

were thrilled. What about? The fact that,

with Rome’s massive number of church members,

the Protestants would have immense political strength in obtaining their objectives in the halls of Congress!

The years passed, and Christian Churches Together

(CCT) kept growing larger. In order to placate

the Catholics so they would remain in it, the

Catholics were given the largest single voting

block on its steering committee which makes all

the decisions and sets all the objectives for CCT.

It was decided that the organization must

include the widest possible denominational participation

before declaring itself to have actually

begun. For this reason, that inaugural event

did not occur until April 7, 2006.

“Thirty-four churches and national Christian organizations,

representing over 100 million Americans,

have formed the broadest, most inclusive fellowship

of Christian churches and traditions in the USA, in a

gathering at Simpsonwood Conference and Retreat

Center near Atlanta, Georgia, March 28–31, 2006.”—

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Office

of Media Relationships, press release, April 7, 2006.

At the following year’s annual meeting, held

February 6-9, 2007 in Pasadena, California, the

Ten-Point Objectives were presented and agreed

upon. Here are two of them:

“3. The Ten Commandments are to be subscribed

to by the nation.”

“7. Throughout all the land, a National Day of

Rest shall be honored by governments, industrial

manufacturers, and public shopping facilities.”

These objectives would require U.S. federal legislative

enactments and presidential approval,

before they could be implemented. Ratzinger was

moving closer to his objectives.

Three facts stand out: (1) The Catholic Church

has, for the first time, united with the Protestants,

Orthodox, Pentecostals, and Evangelicals

in America, in a single ecumenical organization

which (2) has become the largest in U.S.

history. (3) Its secret ten-point set of objectives,

drawn up by a small committee at the February

2007 meeting, calls for an eventual campaign

for Sunday sacredness and attendance in the

U.S. This will inevitably lead to a demand for a National

Sunday Law.

But, in order to get the member denominations

organized into unitedly promoting a single objective,

it was decided that “poverty” would be something

they could work on for a time.

MAY 29, 2007:

BENEDICT’S BARI, ITALY SPEECH

A little over three months later, at a mass

celebrating the closing of the 24th National Eucharistic

Congress on May 29, and in front of 200,000 people in the Italian city of Bari, Pope Benedict declared that the reinforcement of Sunday worship is fundamental to his mission at this time

in history. Here is part of his speech:

“Sunday, the day of the Lord, is the propitious

occasion to draw strength from him, who is the Lord

of life. The Sunday precept, therefore, is not a simple

duty imposed from outside. To participate in the

Sunday celebration and to be nourished with the

Eucharistic bread is a need of a Christian, who in

this way can find the necessary energy for the journey

[of life] to be undertaken . . We must rediscover

the joy of the Christian Sunday . . May today’s Christians

again become aware of the decisive importance

of the Sunday celebration.”—Zenit, May 29.

The intensity of the papal commitment for the

enforcing of Sunday worship in Europe was emphasized

in the pope’s statements, as reported by one of

Italy’s most popular conservative newspapers. It reported

his words as follows: “We cannot live without

Sunday . . The religious holiday of obligation

is a duty of the Christian” (Corriere Della Sera,

May 29).

In this May 29 papal address, and the one which

followed on September 9, the pope was sending a

signal to Catholics everywhere, that they should

become more earnest about Sunday sacredness

and ready to help the church take further actions in

its defense.

SEPTEMBER 9, 2007:

BENEDICT’S AUSTRIAN SPEECH

On Sunday, September 9, 2007, Pope Benedict

gave a speech at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, in Vienna,

Austria, in which he emphasized this concern

still more:

“Dear Brothers and Sisters, ‘Sine dominico non

possumus!’—Without the gift of the Lord, without

the Lord’s day, we cannot live . . The encounter

with the Lord is inscribed in time on a specific

day . . To do without or to betray this focus would

deprive life of its very foundation, would take away

its inner dignity and beauty . . All the world’s learning

profits us nothing unless we learn to live, unless

we discover what truly matters in life.

“ ‘Sine dominico non possumus!’ Without the Lord

and without the day that belongs to him, life does

not flourish. Sunday has been transformed in our

Western societies into the weekend, into leisure time.

Leisure time is certainly something good and necessary,

especially amid the mad rush of the modern

world . . My great predecessor in the see of Munich

and Freising, Cardinal Faulhaber, once put it like

this: ‘Give the soul its Sunday, give Sunday its soul.’

“Because Sunday is ultimately about encountering

the risen Christ in word and sacrament, its span

extends through the whole of reality. The early Christians

celebrated the first day of the week as the Lord’s

day, because it was the day of the resurrection. Yet

very soon, the Church also came to realize that the

first day of the week is the day of the dawning of

creation, the day on which God said: “Let there be

light” (Gen 1:3). Therefore Sunday is also the

Church’s weekly feast of creation—the feast of thanksgiving

and joy over God’s creation. At a time when

creation seems to be endangered in so many ways

through human activity, we should consciously

advert to this dimension of Sunday too. Then, for

the early Church, the first day increasingly assimilated

the traditional meaning of the seventh day, the

Sabbath. We participate in God’s rest, which embraces

all of humanity. Thus we sense on this day

something of the freedom and equality of all God’s

creatures . . Yes, Lord, may this inheritance [Sunday

worship] enter deep within our souls so that we come

to know the joy of being redeemed.”—Benedict XVI,

homilies 2007, documents, homily 20070909.

A news release, commenting on this speech,

said that Benedict wants a Sunday Law included

in the forthcoming European Constitution:

“ ‘Sine dominico non possumus!’ ‘Without Sunday

[worship] we cannot live!’ Pope Benedict XVI declared

during a mass on September 9 at St. Stephen’s Cathedral

in Vienna.

“Speaking on the final day of his three-day visit to

Austria, the German pope voiced a strong call for

Christians to revive Sunday keeping as an all-important

religious practice.

“Give the soul its Sunday, give Sunday its soul,”

he chanted before a rain-soaked crowd of 40,000

. . Sunday worship, he warned, was not just a “precept”

to be casually adhered to, but a “necessity”

for all people.

“In the opening greeting, the archbishop of Vienna

said a movement in Austria had been initiated to protect

‘Sunday from tendencies to empty [it] of its meaning.’

“In Austria, most businesses are restricted from

operating on Sunday. However, some business groups

are pressuring the government to be allowed to open,

a move Roman Catholic groups vehemently oppose.

“During Benedict’s trip to Austria, he called for

Europe to look to its Christian roots, to trust in God,

and to defend traditional values.

“The pope has been very vocal about Europe’s

Christian—or Catholic—roots, and is pushing to

have them included in the European Constitution.

Although laws concerning Sunday worship are cur-

rently determined by individual nations, look for

the European Union to eventually gain jurisdiction

over the work week—which is one big reason

the Catholic Church is so intimately involved with

the evolution of the EU.”—The Trumpet, September,

17, 2007.

AUGUST 2007

PREPARATION OF

THE ECUMENICAL BOOK BEGINS

In August, I was deeply impressed that, in view of

the increasing activity which I had been reporting

about Christian Churches Together, all of the information

about the ecumenical movement—including

Adventist connections with it—since

1995 should be gathered into one 8½ x 11 book.

(The last of my books on that subject had been completed

in the mid-1990s. See back page of this book

for a complete listing of all the books.)

After starting the project, I came across such a

great quantity of material that I questioned why I was

doing this; it was so immense. Yet I was convicted

that I must carry it through to completion.

In the providence of God, I discovered the

mirror image organization to CCT, Global Christian

Forum, which Rome had also organized for

the entire world field; plus a remarkable amount

of documentation on how deeply our denomination

is involved with the other churches.

This information was to prove invaluable, when

news came of the November Sunday Law meeting and

of all that has followed since then.

NOVEMBER 14, 2007

THE MEETING THAT WAS POSTPONED

In the week of November 5-9, 2007, a limited

number of people were told that a special meeting

would be held at the Pope John Paul Cultural

Center, in Washington, D.C., for the purpose of

exploring whether or not the Religious Right

should push for a National Sunday Law. The meeting

would convene in the morning of Wednesday,

November 14.

One individual who was notified happened to be

a faithful Adventist minister, now retired after a lifetime

of ministry as a pastor in the denomination. Over

a period of time, he had been able to work his way in

as an important member of a Christian Right organization,

based in Washington, D.C.

Upon receiving this startling information, he confided

it to at least three individuals (not including

me), and asked for their earnest prayers as he went

to this meeting—while cautioning them that they

must not mention this to anyone!

Unfortunately, one of those individuals, a medical

doctor living in the Northeast—while telling them

it was a secret—excitedly mentioned it to his Sabbath

School class on November 10. Of course, you

know what happened next. E-mails flew everywhere.

Rather quickly, one was handed to me on Saterday

night. It gave the name and location of that medical

doctor.

On Sunday morning, I phoned my friend (the

pastor mentioned above) and asked him about this.

He was utterly shocked and slowly said, something

like this: “That was confidential and was

not to be told.”

We both recognized what he had on his hands,

but even then did not realize what a massive problem

it would develop into.

Discussing it at some length, He told me that

two people were slated to give presentations at

this forthcoming November 14 meeting: a Roman

Catholic who would present the reasons for

beginning a campaign, to urge Congress to enact

a Sunday Law, and my friend (known by the others

to be a faithful Seventh-day Adventist) who would

give those in attendance reasons why it should

not be done. After praying together, and assuring

him that I consistently never divulge secrets until he

is ready for a specified amount to be told, we hung

up.

Then my heavenly Father gave me an idea, and I

quickly phoned him back. I told him I would prepare

a four-page research study on what the

Founding Fathers of our nation said about the

meaning of the Establishment Clause of the First

Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, that he could

use it in his presentation and give copies to all who

attended. This should have a powerful impact. Ex-

tremely happy with the idea, he told me I would need

to have it to him by the next day. He said he would

give copies of it to everyone who attended the meeting.

He added that he had an appointment that afternoon,

and would leave very early Wednesday morning

on a jet for Washington, D.C. To my inquiry, he

told me the trip cost would be covered by the Religious

Right organization he was working with.

Praying to my Father for guidance, I was able to

complete the four-page study and fax it to him on

Monday. In my final contact at that time with

him, he said that, due to all the excited phone

calls, the meeting had been hurriedly moved to

a hotel.

But, throughout the day and those that followed,

I was deeply concerned. I kept receiving phone calls

from friends who had heard there was to be a meeting.

But, to make the situation worse, I learned that

concerned Adventists had been excitedly phoning

the Pope John Paul Cultural Center, Christian

Coalition headquarters, and some other

Washington, D.C. area Christian organizations on

Monday and Tuesday. To compound the problem

greatly, the Religious Liberty Department at the General

Conference sent a man down, uninvited, to the

Cultural Center on the morning of Wednesday, the

14th, to attend the meeting!

My worst fears were realized when, on Friday,

I was unable to contact my friend. He had

told me that he would phone me that morning and

give me a report I could share with others.

No one else could contact him either. To make a

long story short, I would not speak to him again

until early February.

So, what had happened? You need to understand

that the Vatican always works undercover. On the

surface, its vast network appears to occupy itself with

such things as holding masses, marching in processions,

and talking about helping the poor. But, out

of sight, other objectives are steadily being carried

out. In Europe, where it has more power, the Church

openly leads out in demanding enactment of Sunday

Laws. But, in America, it works through Protestant

churches and organizations. “Romanism in the

Old World and apostate Protestantism in the New”

is the rule, not only in the persecution later to be

inflicted on Sabbathkeepers (4 Spirit of Prophecy

444:2-445:0; Great Controversy, 616:0) but, we are

discovering, for getting the Sunday Law enacted.

So when all these phone calls flooded into

the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, the leaders

there were understandably shocked. Not only

had the Cultural Center been exposed for what it

was: the Catholic headquarters for political action

at the Capital, but the planning for Sunday

legislation had prematurely been revealed.

So people were told that no meetings were planned

at the Center that day.

Because the last I was told was that the meeting

would be held at a nearby hotel that day, I reported

the information I had in a special report (The Sunday

Law Meeting [WM–1413]). I have repeatedly said

that, when more information which you need to know

surfaces, I will give it to you. We must help the Advent

people be prepared for what is coming! If I afterward

learn that there are flaws in the information, I will tell

you.

After this, a curtain of silence fell over everything.

Then in early February, my friend phoned

again. He had, at last, received permission to speak.

The February 14th meeting had not been

held. But the matter of enlisting other Christian

denominational and Christian Right organization

leaders in a campaign to push for a

National Sunday Law in America had remained

urgent. So much so, that three meetings were

held on Thursday and Friday, November 15 and

16.

Here is what I learned in early February:

THE FIRST NOVEMBER 15, 2007, MEETING

This, the first of two meetings held the day

after the canceled meeting, was attended by

Catholic cardinals and held at the Pope John Paul

Cultural Center on the morning of Thursday, November

15, 2007. We do not know what was discussed

at that gathering. But we can assume it must

have been heavily focused on the need to push

for a Sunday law—and for three reasons: First,

the previous day’s meeting (on the 14th) at the

Center, which they dared not hold because news had

leaked that they wanted to urge Sunday law enact-

ment—was solely to have been on that subject. Second,

because the canceled November 14th meeting

with Protestant leaders had been moved to the day

after this meeting of cardinals (on the 16th). Third,

that meeting on the 16th would be solely about

stopping the desecration of Sunday in America in order

to save America from further gross immorality—

and the only one permitted to speak from the front

would be a Catholic cardinal.

THE SECOND

NOVEMBER 15, 2007, MEETING

This meeting was also held the same day,

Thursday, November 15, as the above meeting of

cardinals. But this one was held in the afternoon

at a hotel which was only a block or two from the

Pope John Paul Cultural Center in Washington,

D.C. The Center could be seen from the hotel’s front

entrance. About 40 to 45 people were in attendance

at this gathering, which lasted about two-and-a-half

hours. Al Gore and David Crockett, along with a man

from Pennsylvania, were sitting at the end, when an

acquaintance of ours entered the room.

This second 15th meeting was obviously held

to prepare the Protestant leaders in attendance

for the following day’s meeting about the need to

stop Sunday desecration, to avoid the further wrath

of God from occurring in the ongoing natural disasters,—

a point brought out by the cardinal who presented

that Friday meeting!

Since the theme of this meeting was the terrible

violence of the storms and natural disasters which

are increasing,—it provided a good introduction to

the meeting on the 16th, which would be about how

we must appease God’s indignation about the increasing

crime and immorality in America—by

“guarding the Lord’s Day.”

At this second meeting on the 15th, Gore arose

and spoke to them, warning about the implications

of what climate change could bring to our planet. He

then showed them a DVD on the subject. Gore was

the principal speaker, but others in the audience also

made comments.

The lone Adventist there spoke four times at this

meeting. In one comment, he mentioned that the

Bible says that God is going to destroy those who

destroy the earth. Everyone was astonished, for they

do not know their Bibles as well as Adventists do.

Stunned, Al Gore asked him where that was found

in the Bible. When he replied that it was found in

Revelation 11:18, the audience buzzed with astonishment.

And several with pocket Bibles looked up

the text and were startled to see that it really was

there.

THE NOVEMBER 16, 2007, MEETING

The next day, November 16, another meeting

was held at this same hotel, close to the John

Paul Cultural Center. This meeting was also by invitation

only, and only a limited number (about 15

to 20 people) were in attendance. With the exception

of two Catholics, all present were influential Christian

leaders.

Arriving at about 11:30 a.m., once inside the hotel,

each person had to register to make sure he was

supposed to be at this meeting. He was then searched

in a separate room by security guards.

They first ate lunch in a hotel cafeteria. Al Gore

was at a different table, but left after lunch.

After the meal, they had to pass through double

doors, turn right, and go to a conference room with

theater-type chairs. Everyone was searched again before

entering it. No electronic recording equipment

was permitted.

At this afternoon meeting, which only lasted a little

over an hour, only one individual stood up front and

spoke. He was a Roman Catholic cardinal, dressed

in his red smock. The only other Catholic in the room

was a priest who sat in a corner in back. Unlike the

others who would nod in agreement and make comments,

although he listened carefully, he remained

totally silent.

The cardinal immediately came to the point,

which was the need to guard “the Lord’s Day.” It

is of interest that at no time throughout this meeting

was any mention made of “Sunday.” But everyone

knew what day he was referring to.

It is also highly significant that the cardinal

referred to the ten-point objectives which had

been approved the previous year at the annual

meeting of Christian Churches Together, held in

Pasadena in February 2007, where it had been approved

and signed by 37 leaders representing the various

churches and church organizations in attendance.

But this could be expected since the Catholics

started CCT and have the largest single voting

block on its steering committee which would have

been in charge of preparing that ten-point set of

goals.

It is also significant that only a leading Roman

Catholic delivered this, the only presentation

made at that meeting.

And, lastly, it is significant that there was

very hearty, general agreement by the audience

with all that he said and asked them to do.

At this November 16 meeting, this was the theme

of the cardinal’s presentation: “I’m all for those Ten

Objectives, but it is the seventh one we’re all

concerned about! The moral decay in America

will only continue, unless we do something to

stop it. This can only be done by guarding the

Lord’s Day.”

You will recall that the seventh of the CCT Ten

Objectives was about pushing for enactment of a National

Sunday Law. I will quote it again for you:

“7. Throughout all the land, a National Day of Rest

shall be honored by governments, industrial manufacturers,

and public shopping facilities.”

(See Christian Churches Together [WM–13861389]

for more on the Ten-Point Objectives. You will

find all of these recent Sunday Law reports in the

back of our new book, Adventist Ecumenism to

2008. See the back page of this present report for