Bøger af Peter Rosser

CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN No mother should have to listen to her child die in the rubble of a bombed-out building. No sexual abuse survivor should ever be called a liar. When people of power and influence stand before God, She will ask a single question: "How did you treat My children?" Woe to those who answer, "I was silent when they were sexually abused; I was vocally supportive when my country bombed them." Peter Rosser, former director of the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) of the Diocese of Hamilton, presents a vision of God as the ultimate conveyor of restorative justice in his thought-provoking drama, CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN. Sub-titled, Discord in the After-Life: A Bishop and an Atheist Deny Their Culpability for Abuse and War, Mr. Rosser uses his two central characters as vehicles of his own protests against the Catholic Church's ongoing sexual abuse scandal and the collateralization of civilians, especially children, in today's regional wars. How will the purveyors of war on children and 'did not know' bishops be treated by God at the gates of heaven? This day, Paul Noonan, a cover-up bishop from an abuse-plagued diocese, and AJ Forsythe, an atheist/scientist and supporter of the Iraq war, arrive at 'The Lobby' - the gateway to heaven. Unsettling for both are God's requirements for access to Her presence: a visceral confrontation with abuse survivors for the bishop; and the witnessing of the death of collateral damage victims for the scientist. Upon their arrival, both characters are greeted by designated handlers who will guide them through the intricacies of their entrance into heaven or hell. Noonan's guide is an everyman Muslim named Mohammed; Forsythe's escort is a stunning woman of colour, Gabriella, the archangel. After explaining to their charges that their end of life destinations are yet to be finalized - that heaven or hell is not a foregone conclusion, Mohammed and Gabriella prepare Noonan and Forsythe for the two key encounters required for all who arrive at The Lobby: a face-to-face meeting with all those they have wronged on earth; and a subsequent audience with God. This first meeting goes as predicted for the bishop; not so much for the scientist. Noonan's first witness is Theresa de Delores, a woman he interviewed when he was investigating one of his priests. At that time, Noonan wrongly concluded that Theresa was lying. Forsythe, expecting an esoteric discussion on the virtue of war against a dictator, is confronted by a young Muslim mother and her three children who were among the first victims of America's 'Shock & Awe' strategy - the unnamed collateral damage. Both men are devastated by this ordeal: Noonan because he feels angry and persecuted for the sins of his priests; Forsythe by the realization that intellectuals like him are rarely touched by the wars they support. Forsythe's subsequent meeting with God becomes a conversion experience. He is humbled by an intellect far greater than his own and then astonished by discovering the true nature of the divine as one of love, not power. Noonan's anger has hardened his heart for God. He feels unappreciated. All his devotion and lifelong commitment to his church seem to have been for naught. PRAISE FOR CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN"...a thoughtful dissertation and a (literally) fantastic invention that drives home some pretty big truths and challenges some pretty common conventions. It certainly makes the reader think - and have a little fun at the same time." Dermot Nolan "Wow! A hint of C S Lewis, a resemblance to Peter Kreeft and a lot to chew on after reading. I love your image of God and emphasis on hell as free choice. The inclusion of war crimes and the idea that all who support a war are implicated in its horrors were powerful."

'A Sister for Venus' is a climate fiction novel that seeks to explore, in an accessible way, one of the innumerable futures that could lie beyond our past and present failure to recognise that we are conducting a vast and unthinking experiment with our planet's biosphere. Initially, the story is set in the Midlands of twenty-first century England.Kirk is distracted by recent events in his private life but mysterious happenings near his house draw him to investigate. Suddenly, he knows far more than he ever wanted to know and in the social chaos that follows, he flees with his neighbour Rose, to what they believe will be the seclusion and relative security of the Somerset Levels. Unknown to them both, however, it will be from there that the future of what was once the United Kingdom will begin to unfold. Unwittingly, together with family and neighbours, they are drawn into a desperate battle to fight off an expeditionary force of armed invaders and to survive in the aftermath of a powerful storm.England continues to descend into both climate and social chaos such that Kirk's grandchildren find themselves living in a very different world from that envisaged by their grandparents. Not all knowledge of the past has been lost, though and it is the community's need for electricity that sends three young people on a dangerous mission into Cornwall and into contact with the perils of summer heat and the dark side of the County's sailing heritage. In the generation that follows, the diminished population supplements its farming with hunting but whilst the community continues to seek security in its seclusion, it is unaware that it has drawn the unwanted attention of people who have regressed to England's barbaric past. Finally, though, the fate of the community and its world is decided not by human events but by the tipping of Earth into a future that, at the outset, seemed beyond imagination...