But rather than emerging out of Vatican II or in direct response to a particular crisis within the institutional church, Occupy Catholics might be the first progressive Catholic group to grow directly out of a popular movement, says National Catholic Reporter.

Occupy Catholics even has its own symbol, created by Mary Valle. The haloed bird sitting on a nest symbolizes the act of occupying a space for the sake of new life. Occupy Catholics wear patches with the image when attending any protests.

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Hoover was found guilty of a misdemeanor charge of obstructing a thoroughfare during a violent demonstration in January that resulted in the arrests of more than 300 protesters who attempted to take over the vacant Kaiser Convention Center near Lake Merritt.

Hoover, who is studying to be a priest at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, said he was arrested when he stopped in the street to protect a homeless man from being trampled by a line of police officers who were advancing on a group of protesters.

Hoover testified during his brief jury trial and said after his sentencing Monday that he did nothing wrong and obeyed all police orders but was still arrested.

Evidence in the trial, however, revealed that Hoover was an active participant in the protest and did not attend the Jan. 28 demonstration simply to observe.

While a jury found Hoover guilty of obstructing a thoroughfare it deadlocked on a charge against Hoover of resisting arrest, and the District Attorney's Office decided to drop the charge rather than seek another trial.

Hoover said Monday that he was proud of taking part in an Occupy event and said he has not ruled out doing so again.

"The cop was doing what he felt he had to do and I felt I did what I had to do," Hoover said. "I'm grateful to be part of the Occupy movement."

The stated purpose of Occupy Oakland, San Francisco, is to plan actions, mobilize real resistance, and for people to defend themselves from the economic and physical war that is being waged against our communities.

Sources

• Mercury News
• Occupy Oakland
• Image: CBS

Occupy Wellington protester Benjamin Easton said the occupation, which began at 3pm yesterday, was to encourage the Anglican Church to "actively and physically engage the established capitalist-based institutions of greed and corruption as they thrive in New Zealand society".

Police said one man was removed for trespassing on private property about 6pm.

Chris Glen claims he has slept in Aotea Square for 50 nights as part of the global Occupy protest. Glen is financially stable as an owner of two pubs and a cafe in Manchester in the UK and doesn't need to be working.

According to the statement, religious leaders around the country are "troubled by the moves to have these people forcibly evicted from the sites that they are occupying".

Rather than attempting to "silence and disperse" the Occupy movement supporters, the statement asks that New Zealanders "reflect on the issues they raise and consider the kind of society and community we want to create for our children and for future generations."

On Wednesday the Wellington City council delivered a letter to Occupy Wellington requesting a definite end date to the movement, following similar moves by the Auckland City Council earlier in the week.

New Zealand Christian Network National Director Glyn Carpenter says he supports calls by Occupy Wellington for a dialogue aimed at reducing inequality in our society.

Dunedin Police have refused to enforce a trespass order issued by the Dunedin City Council, out of concern that such a move may violate the occupiers' right to protest in a public place, protected under the Bill of Rights Act.

Source

• YahooNews
• Image: Scoop

The Occupy Wall St movement one of the events shaping our world right now. Amazingly, it has been given the tick of approval by the Vatican. Are we at last taking seriously the words of Scripture ‘Serve God or Mammon', and ‘the love of money is the root of all evil'?

Occupations have been happening all around the world, almost spontaneously it seems, in response to the collapse of finance companies and systems. These Occupations are being treated differently in different countries. The response of the city councils in Dunedin and Wellington is one of negotiating with a view to resolving the situation, rather than calling in the police to use force. The individuals camping on public space in the city are causing very little disruption or offence to anyone, and are being supported by restaurants and others in the city.

It is hoped that their peaceful presence and willingness to engage in dialogue will cause some reflection among the public. The group is not offering solutions; the powerful corporations caused the problem; they must find solutions.

Possible solutions are being suggested. One is a financial transaction charge on every transaction that would yield a substantial fund. It could be used to rescue banks, defaulting countries even, but more importantly, reimburse ordinary people whose life savings have vanished with the failure of the banking system.

On another plane, increasingly, individuals and communities are exploring other ways of exchanging goods and services - the transition town movement in New Zealand and elsewhere; Living Economies in the Wairarapa, the Wellington South Time Bank just launched in the suburb of Newtown for example. There are many co-operative initiatives springing up in response to the failure of the traditional financial model, that offer a much more human and caring approach - not all overtly motivated by the Christian spirit. All these give me hope for the resilience of the human spirit.

'Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream of the modern world' is a symposium that is being presented around New Zealand, offering a changed view of our world.

Tricia Kane is a retired librarian and grandmother

Image: I have no ideas