Sunday, July 31, 2011

August 1st - Feast of St. Alphonsus Liguori (Post #151)

Excerpt from Catholic News Agency: St. Alphonsus Liguori, founder of the Redemptorists, celebrated August 1

On August 1, the Catholic Church celebrates St. Alphonsus Liguori, the eighteenth-century bishop who is honored as a Doctor of the Church for his missionary zeal and his accomplishments as a moral theologian.

Alphonsus Liguori was born in Naples, Italy in 1696, the son of a naval officer and his Spanish-Italian wife. He was the first of his parents' seven children, and known in the family for his stubbornness. However, he was also extremely bright and became a virtuoso harpsichordist by the age of 13. Alphonsus loved music, especially opera, and would go on to compose numerous classical works.

As a boy, he did not attend school, but received private tutoring that allowed him to make incredibly rapid progress. By the age of 16, Alphonsus had earned his degree in law. He passed the bar examination and became a practicing lawyer before he had even turned 20. By the age of 26 he had gained a formidable reputation in the courts.

By that time, however, he had also begun to neglect prayer in favor of social functions and a more luxurious lifestyle. He later wrote that these “pleasures of the world” were truly “pleasures which are filled with the bitterness of gall and sharp thorns.”

The turning point of Alphonsus' life came in 1723, when he was part of a lawsuit between a nobleman of Naples and the Grand Duke of Tuscany involving a substantial amount of money. Alphonsus misunderstood a critical piece of documentary evidence, and suffered a humiliating defeat in the courtroom. He left the courthouse, never to return, so upset that he did not eat for three days.

On August 28, 1723, while visiting the sick at a local hospital, the young man had a life-changing experience of God. He saw a mysterious light, felt the building shake, and heard the voice of God asking him to “leave the world” and place himself totally in his service.

Alphonsus' father, already dismayed by his son's abandonment of the legal profession, opposed his plan to become a priest. But his stubborn son would not be dissuaded, and he eventually received ordination in 1726 at age 30.

In 1729, Alphonsus met an older priest, Father Thomas Falcoia, who envisioned the founding of a new religious congregation with the aim of imitating Christ's virtues more perfectly. In 1731, a religious sister had a vision in which Christ himself indicated that he had chosen Alphonsus to lead the new congregation.

In 1732, the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer – better known as the Redemptorists – had its formal beginning. During the early years Alphonsus struggled to keep the order from fragmenting, while continuing to travel, write, preach, and above all, to pray. In 1749 the Redemptorists' statutes and rule of life received the approval of Pope Benedict XIV.

Despite this approval, the Redemptorists met with hostility from the Prime Minister of Naples, Bernardo Tanucci, who sought to eliminate the privileges of the Church and secularize the kingdom. Tanucci refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the congregation, which was consequently in danger of state suppression for decades.

Against his own will, Alphonsus was forced to become the bishop of Naples' small Diocese of St. Agatha in 1762. He spent 13 years serving the poor and effectively reforming Church institutions that had fallen into serious disorder, though he felt disappointed with his own work and asked a series of Popes to accept his resignation.

Alphonsus also struggled with poor health, and received the Annointing of the Sick eight times prior to his last reception at death. He was partially paralyzed for the last two decades of his life. In 1775, Pope Pius VI finally allowed him to resign from his diocese. Alphonsus expected his death to come soon, and prepared accordingly.

He would, however, survive for more than a decade after his resignation. His last years were similarly filled with trials, including a split in the Redemptorist congregation that would not find its full remedy until after his death. Three years before he died, despite his strong faith and devotion, Alphonsus experienced a spiritual crisis involving extreme anxiety and temptations to despair.

On August 1, 1787, St. Alphonsus Liguori died at mid-day, his death coinciding with the bells that were calling the faithful to pray the Angelus. The saint gave the Church more than 100 books – including “The Glories of Mary,” “Preparation for Death,” and “The Passion and the Death of Jesus Christ” – and led a religious congregation that survives into the present day.

The Catholic Church canonized St. Alphonsus in 1839, and declared him to be a Doctor of the Church in 1871.

Sources include
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/st.-alphonsus-liguori-founder-of-the-redemptorists-celebrated-august-1/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+catholicnewsagency%2Fdailynews+%28CNA+Daily+News%29
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01334a.htm
http://www.cssr.com/english/
http://www.redemptorists.ca/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_the_Church
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naples
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Tuscany
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XIV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernardo_Tanucci
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_VI

Thursday, July 28, 2011

California diocese wants $50 million cathedral (Post #150)

Excerpt from Catholic News Service: Diocese bids $50 million for Crystal Cathedral

ORANGE, Calif. (CNS) -- The Diocese of Orange has made a formal bid of $50 million to buy the Crystal Cathedral complex in Garden Grove, once the home church of the Rev. Robert Schuller, a noted television preacher. The cathedral property was put up for auction earlier this year as part of the cathedral ministries bankruptcy proceedings.   Crystal Cathedral Ministries founded by Rev. Schuller, who is now retired, filed for bankruptcy last October. It was facing debt amounting to more than $50 million.

Opening in 1980, the 2,900-seat Crystal Cathedral was one of the nation's first megachurches. It is made up of more than 10,000 panes of glass. The cathedral "underscores the vitality of faith in our modern society and with our offer we will enable this beacon of faith to continue to influence others as an important place of worship," Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown said in a statement. The diocese's bid, announced July 22, has been presented to the Crystal Cathedral Ministries board of directors and the organization's counsel. Under the terms of the cash offer, the diocese would make an immediate deposit of $250,000, followed by a second payment of $750,000.

The diocese said that if Crystal Cathedral Ministries decides it needs to use some of the campus facilities for a period of time, it could lease back an area "at below-market rates." The diocese added that once that arrangement came to an end, it would help the organization relocate some of its ministries to other diocesan property.

The Orange Diocese does not currently have a cathedral to serve its 1.2 million Catholics. Based on the size of its Catholic population, Orange is the 11th largest diocese in the nation. The diocese covers all of Orange County, which has a total population of 3 million. Bishop Brown said in his statement that after consulting a number of lay advisers, the diocese made the formal bid, one "that respects the legacy Rev. Schuller worked so hard to establish. Our offer also clearly accommodates future diocesan needs for a cathedral and modern administrative campus."

Once its bid is reviewed by the Crystal Cathedral Ministries board of directors, the diocese said, it would be presented to the creditors committee, which is part of any bankruptcy proceeding, and to the bankruptcy court itself. If accepted by all parties, Bishop Brown said, purchase of the cathedral complex could be finalized by the end of the year. The diocese will have to consecrate the buildings and property for use as a Catholic cathedral and worship site.

News reports have put cost estimates for building a new cathedral for the Orange Diocese at $100 million. "When I first heard of their financial difficulties, I was distressed," Bishop Brown said in his statement. "Crystal Cathedral Ministries has been a valued religious resource for many, many years in Orange County and, through the 'Hour of Power,' around the globe. "Like our own Mission San Juan Capistrano, its historic and cultural links are important to Orange County. Under this plan, we hope that that ministry can continue."

Sources includehttp://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/diocese-bids-50-million-crystal-cathedral
http://www.rcbo.org/news-and-events/diocesan-news/436-springs-at-bethsaida.html
http://www.crystalcathedral.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Schuller
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tod_David_Brown

Monday, July 25, 2011

Vatican recalls ambassador to Ireland (Post #149)

Excerpt from BBC Online: Vatican recalls Irish papal envoy after Cloyne report

Papal Nuncio Giuseppe Leanza has been called back to Rome to discuss the impact of the recent Cloyne Report. The report led to angry condemnation of the Vatican by Prime Minister Enda Kenny in the Irish Parliament. It showed how allegations of sex abuse by priests in Cork had been covered up. Mr Kenny accused the church of putting its reputation ahead of child rape victims.

The Vice-director of the Vatican press office Father Ciro Benedettini said the nuncio's recall "should be interpreted as an expression of the desire of the Holy See for serious and effective collaboration with the (Irish) government". He added that it "denotes the seriousness of the situation and the Holy See's desire to face it objectively and determinately. Nor does it exclude some degree of surprise and disappointment at certain excessive reactions."

Irish Deputy Minister Eamon Gilmore said the decision to recall the nuncio was a matter for the Holy See. "The government is awaiting the response of the Holy See to the recent report into the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne and it is to be expected that the Vatican would wish to consult in depth with the Nuncio on its response."

Messages of support

Last week, Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the Irish parliament that the report into how allegations of sex abuse by priests in Cork had been covered up showed change was urgently needed. "The rape and torture of children were downplayed or 'managed' to uphold instead the primacy of the institution, its power, standing and 'reputation'," the taoiseach said last Wednesday.

At the weekend, the prime minister said he had received thousands of messages of support from around the world - many were from the clergy, he said. He said this reflected the way people felt about the Catholic Church's role on clerical child abuse. Mr Kenny said he was "astounded" at the number of clergy who contacted him after his speech on the Cloyne Report.
Sources include
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14272988
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Leanza
http://www.thejournal.ie/full-text-of-taoiseach-enda-kennys-statement-on-cloyne-report/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enda_Kenny
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_Ireland
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/07/25/uk-pope-ireland-ambassador-idUKTRE76O19X20110725?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
http://press.catholica.va/news_services/bulletin/news/27852.php?index=27852&lang=en
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/rome-told-priests-to-keep-quiet-about-abuse-2314026.html
http://www.cloynediocese.ie/

The cracking rock - Part II (Post #148)

Reprinted with permission from ViewPoint2010 (http://2010viewpoint.blogspot.com/)

Part II

On July 20, 2001, the Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny made a statement in the Irish Parliament in which he condemned the Vatican’s attempts to circumvent justice in the sexual abuse scandals that have ripped asunder the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland.
In his statement, Prime Minister Kenny said this: “[f]or the first time in Ireland, a report into child sexual-abuse exposes an attempt by the Holy See, to frustrate an Inquiry in a sovereign, democratic republic as little as three years ago, not three decades ago. And in doing so, the Cloyne Report excavates the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism, the narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day.”

Kenny went on to talk about how clericalism had so infected the Roman Catholic Church that it left many of its leaders nearly useless, “Clericalism has rendered some of Ireland's brightest, most privileged and powerful men, either unwilling or unable to address the horrors.”
Kenny’s comments match my experience of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. I lived in Ireland thirty years ago and I came away with two distinct impressions of the Roman Catholic Church.

The first impression was one of clerical hypocrisy. To me, there was no better example than to see a priest in the Sunday pulpit, railing against the evils of television and drink and to find that same priest two hours later, sitting in front of the television with a glass of liquor in his hand. That was the most blatant example, but there were many others. While many people in smaller Irish communities felt lucky to be able to have a meal of old mutton now and then, the local priests might be having expensive fine roast beef dinners. The further up the clerical ladder you went, the more luxury you found. There was a serious disconnect between the life of the clergy and the life of the faithful who provided the means for the life of the clergy.

The second impression was the absolute power held by the clergy. The deference paid to the clergy was almost embarrassing to this liberation-theology-formed-Canadian Roman Catholic. I saw Irish Roman Catholics kneeling in front of a priest on the street to ask for a blessing. In many ways, it felt surreal, like stepping back in time. Seeing the standing-room-only crowds for Novenas and the like made me wonder what we North Americans were missing. For one thing, we had missed a Church in persecution. Sitting quietly beside a “Mass rock” or visiting Oliver Plunkett’s remains in Drogheda give you a visceral understanding of why Roman Catholicism is so intense in Ireland.

Having experienced the quiet revolution in Quebec, I also wondered how long it would last. The clericalism that permeated the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec is what led generations to abandon the Church.

It is this power that still dominates the mentality of those who work within the Vatican hierarchy. They are ambitious men who want to climb higher up the ladder and reportedly will do whatever it takes to achieve that power. For many of them, the red cap of the Cardinal is the goal for which they strive. Being able to tell their friends that they attended Mass with the Pope gives them a rush that is not 100% spiritual. Such ambition should seem out of place in the Roman Catholic HQ; instead, it’s right at home.

I remember an old priest telling me one time that “the further you are from the Vatican, the less it matters.” It’s very important to remember that while there is evil within the walls of the Vatican, it is not a universal truth for all Roman Catholic clergy. There are many excellent priests, deacons, brothers and bishops who labour long and hard in the spiritual fields without any scandal or any acknowledgement.

The Irish Prime Minister spoke of these men in his statement, “This Roman Clericalism must be devastating for good priests, some of them old, others struggling to keep their humanity, even their sanity, as they work so hard to be the keepers of the Church's light and goodness within their parishes, communities, the human heart.”

Prime Minister Kenny makes an important ecclesiological distinction when he separates the governing structure of the Roman Catholic Church from the Church itself in speaking of the “light and goodness”.

This understanding of Church was perhaps best explained by the Jesuit theologian Avery Dulles in his four basic models of Church: as institution, as mystical communion, as herald, and as servant. In any such discussion, it is important to keep those models in mind because one, in this case the institution, cannot cancel out the others, regardless of how dysfunctional the institution may be. Just as disease can infect any living organism, the disease of clericalism, rampant in the Church hierarchy, does not mean that the entire Church is diseased.

The Dominican theologian Yves Congar said that the ultimate reality of the Church is a fellowship of persons. The challenge arises when the clericalism meets the fellowship. 

Ireland is experiencing the same spasms now that another island nation, Newfoundland went through thirty plus years ago in the wake of similar sexual abuse scandals. As in Ireland, there were official reports in Newfoundland which detailed the abuse in the Mount Cashel orphanage and in the province generally. The similarities are common throughout the Roman Catholic world – the widespread clericalism, combined with the absolute power of the clergy allowed the abuse to happen and go unreported for a long time. When the abuse scandal finally did become public, it was like a sledgehammer striking Congar’s “fellowship of persons”.

In Part III of this essay, some consideration of the conditions that provide fertile ground for the scandals.
© ViewPoint2010

The cracking rock - Part I (Post #147)

Reprinted with permission from ViewPoint2010 (http://2010viewpoint.blogspot.com/)

Part 1

Faith is a strange thing. It can sustain us in time of need and be something we run from when it’s not going our way or we feel that we’re in control. For more than a billion people on this planet, their faith in Jesus Christ is channelled through the Roman Catholic Church, the world's largest Christian church.

For those of us who are “cradle Catholics” (raised as such from birth) we have been taught that the Roman Catholic Church is the “one, holy and apostolic Church” with all of the others apparently being lesser lights. For many of us, this dogma meant we believed that Jesus Christ somehow CHOSE the Roman Catholic Church as the embodiment of the Holy Trinity on earth.

That belief has been taking a serious beating as we’ve come to understand just how “human” the Roman Catholic Church, and more specifically the Vatican, really is. It’s not new, by any stretch – consider the popes in the 15th century. “The Borgias” is a current historical fiction television series based on the reign of Pope Alexander VI and his family; it shows their struggles to maintain their grip on power in ways that would alarm even the present day Mafia. One has to wonder if much has changed.

While the better known sexual abuse scandals of the last sixty years in the Roman Catholic Church have held center stage in much of the secular media, the list of other suspected crimes is very long – everything from clerical pilfering from the collection plate to money laundering to suspected murder in the case of Pope John Paul I. Taken in its full context, it truly is frightening.

And yet the Vatican officials, including the present pope Joseph Ratzinger, ask the “faithful” to be patient, penitent and pray for forgiveness as if it was the faithful who had committed these horrendous crimes instead of corrupt priests and bishops, possibly going right to the top of the clerical ladder.

While apologies are offered, there is still a river of denial as wide as a Mexican river coming from the Vatican. And with that denial is often an attempt to circumvent secular law while hiding behind “canon law” using the argument that Church law supersedes civilian law. Nothing could be further from the truth, but like a skip on a record, we hear it over and over again. In reality, it amounts to the obstruction of justice.

I recently read an article on how many Roman Catholics are leaving the Church. I don’t recall the exact numbers but in the United States alone, it is staggering. The flood of immigrants may appear to be compensating for the loss, but it is a far larger problem than simple numbers. People are so thoroughly disgusted with the Church that they no longer want to be associated with it. They have heard so many stories of the abuse and misuse of power that it has sickened them.

Those who have dared to speak up have been silenced by Church officials. Think of the number of leading Roman Catholic theologians who have been censured and threatened with excommunication if they continue to teach their beliefs. Think of the extraordinary number of Roman Catholic liberation theologians who were condemned by the Vatican because they dared to suggest that perhaps Jesus really was preaching a social gospel, a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions. To the swishing soutanes of the Vatican, that was outrageous.

There are far larger problems in the Roman Catholic Church than the sexual abuse scandals, but the sexual abuse scandals focus our attention on much that is wrong within the Church. We can see through the prism of a multitude of reports and investigations by police and other authorities how the corruption is endemic to the Church hierarchical structure. The motto would seem to be “protect the Vatican at all costs”. What is really being protected is a group of power-hungry, ambitious men who want to climb the hierarchical ladder in the Vatican. They create their own rules and play by those rules. Like a modern-day cult, anyone who challenges them is subject to shunning in the most dramatic sense.

There have been three recent reports in Ireland dealing with the sexual abuse scandals which have laid bare the operating methodology of the Vatican as it has attempted at every turn to circumvent the investigations. Those reports have created an uproar among the Irish people and may have put the dagger into the heart of the legendary Irish Catholicism.

In this past week, the Irish Prime Minister made a statement to the Irish Parliament in which he condemned the actions of the Vatican, “The Irish people, including the very many faithful Catholics who - like me - have been shocked and dismayed by the repeated failings of Church authorities to face up to what is required, deserve and require confirmation from the Vatican.”

In Part II of this essay, we’ll explore some of those Church failings.
© ViewPoint2010

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Irish Prime Minister challenges the Vatican (Post #146)

Excerpt from The National Catholic Reporter: Irish prime minister challenges the Vatican -- and us

by Fr. Thomas P. Doyle
July 21, 2011

Enda Kenny, the Prime Minister, of Ireland, addressed the Irish Parliament about judicial report released last week on how the Cloyne diocese responded to the clergy sex abuse crisis. That report found that the church's own guidelines were "not fully or consistently implemented" in the diocese as recently as 2008. It also accused the Vatican of being "entirely unhelpful" in the crisis, charging in fact that the Vatican "effectively gave individual Irish bishops the freedom to ignore [those] procedures."

Prime Minister Kenny told the Parliament "the Cloyne Report excavates the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism … the narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day."

These or similar sentiments have been repeated time and time again by critics of the Vatican's consistently inadequate response to the clergy sexual abuse nightmare over the past two decades.

What is utterly remarkable and undoubtedly an historic bombshell is the fact that they were spoken by the Prime Minister of Ireland before the Irish Parliament. Read the full text.

These were not the words of just any head of government. These words began an incredibly direct, realistic and challenging address by the head of the government of Ireland, long considered to be the most Catholic country on the planet. They are the words of a man who has risen far above politics and above the mute deference to the hierarchy of the Catholic church to speak for the victims of sexual abuse by clergy, for their mothers and fathers and for the countless others who have been betrayed by the church to which they have given unconditional trust and obedience.

This speech is historic for many reasons one of which is the fact that a senior political figure, a government leader, has taken the risk of speaking directly and bluntly about a critical problem that plagues many other countries. In no other country has an elected or appointed leader by-passed the often-hypocritical subtleties of political discourse to stand tall in support of not just any class of vulnerable, abused and the rejected persons, but the victims of the Roman Catholic church, which in Ireland is without question the largest, most powerful and most deeply entrenched pillar of society.

The Cloyne Report has moved beyond the stark exposure of decades of abuse and cover-up as did the Ryan and Murphy reports and indeed the several grand jury reports in the United States. It clearly named the Vatican's response as "unhelpful." The Taoiseach went even further and completely rejected the Vatican's actions and attitude, expressing the Irish peoples' "abhorrence of same."

These are strong words but within the context of what prompted them, they are entirely justified. The report also dissolved the erroneous appeal to a "pastoral approach" as a substitute for treating a crime as a crime and not simply as a sin that can be absolved and forgotten along with the devastating impact of the sin on the victims.

The third explosive but realistic aspect of the report was the explicit acknowledgement that the bishops could not be relied upon to follow through with their own guidelines much less Irish law and therefore clear, effective and enforced measures must be taken to see that children are protected whether the Church likes it or not.

The opening words, quoted above, point to a cause of this overall problem that hits right at the heart of the matter: the profound difference and distance between the heavily narcissistic clerical culture especially at the level of the Vatican, and the abhorrence in the real world of the Irish society and of any civilized society, of the rape and ruination of innocent children by anyone much less the most trusted members of society.

The Vatican and various elements of the hierarchy have flooded the Catholic world with countless words, all very carefully nuanced and wordsmithed, to express their regret and to their promise to change. Mr. Kenny no doubt was as fed up with the meaninglessness of words without relevant action as the people of Ireland and every other country plagued by clergy abuse. He by-passed the seemingly endless and often convoluted rhetoric of the Vatican by getting right to the heart of the matter, the culture of arrogant neglect of children and some of key underlying causes. One target is clericalism, the virus that continues to corrupt the church to the point that the People of God are buried in anachronistic monarchism.

This groundbreaking address buries the destructive myth that the institutional Catholic church with its monarchical governing structure is some sort of superior or exalted political entity with self-created rights to subvert the civic order of any society that calls it to accountability for the behavior of its privileged class.

Charlie Flanagan, chairman of Fine Gael, the single largest party in Ireland and lead party in the ruling coalition, framed this in a stark and eye-opening way in his call for the expulsion of the Papal Nuncio: "If any foreign government conspired with Irish citizens to break the law here, their ambassadors would be expelled."

The Taoiseach repeated this sentiment by reminding the Irish lawmakers and indeed everyone that Ireland is not Rome.  "Nor is it an industrial-school or Magdalene Ireland where the swish of a soutane smothered conscience and humanity and the swing of a thurible ruled the Irish Catholic world. This is the Republic of Ireland 2011. A Republic of laws, of rights and responsibilities…of proper civic order…where the delinquency and arrogance of a particular version…of a particular kind of morality…will no longer be tolerated or ignored."

This is much more than a stirring address to the Irish parliament. It is the voice of a long awaited and sorely needed liberation from the chains of a clericalist control that sacrificed the very ones Jesus spoke out so passionately in defense of. This liberation is essential not only in Ireland but in any state or country where the Catholic church hopes to regain its relevance not as a gilded institution but as a Christian way of life. One can only hope that this momentous breakthrough and long-awaited challenge will be taken up in every other country where children have been violated by the Catholic clergy or religious.

Sources include
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/irish-prime-minister-challenges-vatican-and-us
http://www.richardsipe.com/Doyle/doyle-bio.html
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/0723/1224301201157.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enda_Kenny
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/0716/1224300819359.html
http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/text-irish-prime-ministers-address-cloyne-report

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

More sex scandal hierarchy fall out in Philadelphia (Post 145)

Excerpt from BBC News: Philadelphia Cardinal Rigali resigns after abuse probe
The archbishop of the US city of Philadelphia has resigned, months after renewed accusations that the Catholic Church covered up child sex abuse.  Cardinal Justin Rigali had submitted his resignation in April 2010 upon turning 75, but Pope Benedict XVI did not act on it until nowArchbishop Charles Chaput of the US city of Denver is to replace him.

US grand juries in 2005 and 2011 said the church protected abuser priests and left some in contact with children.
Time limits

Cardinal Rigali has been Philadelphia archbishop since 2003 and his retirement was expected this year, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.  In 2005, a Philadelphia grand jury said Cardinal Rigali's predecessor, Cardinal Joseph Bevilacqua, and his predecessor, Cardinal John Krol, knew priests were sexually abusing children but transferred the priests among parishes.

Time limits prevented that panel from bringing charges, however.  The archdiocese reacted by saying the grand jury's report was "discriminatory" and "sensationalised" and accused investigators of "bullying" Cardinal Bevilacqua during his testimony sessions.  Cardinal Bevilacqua, however, repeated "my heartfelt and sincere apologies" to abuse victims.

Priests suspended

Then, in February 2011 a second grand jury report said at least 37 priests were kept in assignments that exposed them to children despite "substantial evidence of abuse".  Cardinal Rigali responded by suspending more than 20 priests.

His successor, Cardinal Chaput, 66, is known as a staunch conservative and a vigorous opponent of abortion rights.  Last year he defended the decision by a Catholic school in Denver, Colorado to expel two children of a lesbian couple.

Sources include
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14205877
http://archphila.org/rigali/biorigali.htm
http://www.wbir.com/news/article/176734/2/Embattled-Catholic-Cardinal-retiring-to-East-Tennessee
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/americas/pope-accepts-philadelphia-archbishops-resignation/article2101793/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%FAtom&utm_source=Americas&utm_content=2101793   
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_J._Chaput
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2011/07/philadelphia-archbishop-chaput-catholic-rigali/1?csp=34
http://archphila.org/home.php
http://www.phila.gov/districtattorney/grandJury/grandJury.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Bevilacqua
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Krol
http://www.phila.gov/districtattorney/grandJury_clergyAbuse2.html
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/denver_archbishop_explains_why_lesbian_couples_child_not_admitted_to_school

Sunday, July 17, 2011

New doubts about 2012 Pope visit to Ireland (Post #144)

Excerpt from the Irish Herald: Papal visit now looks doomed after Cloyne backlash hits Church

DUBLIN - Proposals for a Papal visit to Ireland next summer are likely to be shelved in the wake of the Cloyne report.  (You can read the complete report here.)

The State and the Catholic Church remained on a collision course after the chairman of Fine Gael called for the Pope's representative in Ireland to be expelled. It was also suggested that the Government could close our embassy to the Holy See as public anger grows over the failure of Bishop John Magee to publicly apologise for the scandal. 

Asked for his reaction to calls for the Papal Nuncio to be expelled, Justice Minister Alan Shatter said the direct interference by another state in preventing the application in Ireland of child protection guidelines is unacceptable. However, he stopped short of saying the Papal Nuncio should be expelled in light of the findings of the Cloyne Report. "I very much understand the view expressed by Charlie Flanagan. I think there are a number of people who would have a great deal of sympathy with that view," Mr Shatter told Newstalk. "I believe the first step is that the Papal Nuncio provides to the Tanaiste the answers that are being sought. My central concern in this is that we truly protect children," he added.   The minister said there was a great deal of shock and outrage in Government, and right across all political parties

Government plans to jail priests for up to five years if they fail to report information on child sex abuse, even if it was obtained in the confession box, put it in direct conflict with the traditional teachings of the Church. A Catholic Bishops spokesman said the seal of confession "places an onerous responsibility on the confessor/priest, and a breach of it would be a serious offence to the rights of penitents". Separately, Fr PJ Madden of the Association of Catholic Priests, said the seal was "above and beyond all else" and could not be broken, even if a penitent confessed to a crime.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny backed the tough new laws to compel priests to report paedophiles to gardai. "The law of the land should not be stopped by a crozier or a collar," Mr Kenny said. He was replying to a question from journalists as to whether the traditional Catholic seal of the confessional would be exempted from the law. He described as "absolutely disgraceful" the attitude of the Vatican to complaints of child sex abuse in the Cloyne diocese.

Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald will publish new guidance on child protection rules today, along with a HSE plan to implement the rules consistently across the State.

Papal Nuncio Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza was yesterday summoned to the Department of Foreign Affairs and told to get answers from the Vatican on damning revelations in the report that it allowed priests to ignore the law. Tanaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore said he warned the Archbishop about the new law of five years jail for anyone who does not alert authorities about crimes against a child. "I told him I believed that a response was required and I look forward to receiving it."

The hardline Government stance followed revelations in the Cloyne report that Bishop John Magee and the Vatican encouraged the concealment of child abuse allegations.

Pressure continued to mount today for Bishop Magee to come out of hiding and answer questions publicly about the Cloyne report. Some sources suggested he was visiting the southern states of the US. He has not been seen at his home in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, in several weeks.

Sources include
http://www.herald.ie/national-news/papal-visit-now-looks-doomed-after-cloyne-backlash-hits-church-2822824.html  
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/0716/1224300819359.html
http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0714/cloyne.html
http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Cloyne_Rpt.pdf/Files/Cloyne_Rpt.pdf
http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2011/07/the-cloyne-report-tony-flannery/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine_Gael
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Magee_(bishop)#Clerical_child_sex_abuse_inquiry
http://www.vatican.va/phome_en.htm
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Huge-Facebook-campaign-mounted-to-expel-Papal-Nuncio-in-wake-of-Cloyne-report-125710313.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Shatter
http://www.catholicbishops.ie/
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102822.htm
http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/
http://www.smh.com.au/world/irish-child-abuse-report-attacks-vatican-and-powerful-bishop-20110714-1hfzy.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enda_Kenny
http://www.cloynediocese.ie/
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0716/1224300820666.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Leanza
http://www.dfa.ie/home/index.aspx?id=8596
http://www.dfa.ie/home/index.aspx?id=57
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/longdelayed-report-to-destroy-the-bishop-who-failed-so-many-2819900.html
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/anger-mounts-at-vatican-silence-on-cloyne-sex-abuse-report-16023582.html

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Philippine Bishops accused of soliciting birthday gifts from government (Post # 143)

Excerpt from The Associated Press: Philippine Senate probes illegal donations to Catholic bishops

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine lawmakers began investigating allegations Wednesday that some Roman Catholic bishops may have illegally received donations from the government's lotto operator in exchange for political favours.
The chairman of the state-run Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Margie Juico, told senators in a hearing that an audit showed that at least 6.9 million pesos ($158,600) in charity funds were used to buy five vehicles upon the request of several bishops.  Juico said one bishop asked former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for a brand new car on his 66th birthday in 2009 and received a 1.7 million pesos ($39,000) sports utility vehicle.  Such donations would violate a law prohibiting the use of state funds for religious purposes.

Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos of southern Butuan city wrote Arroyo saying he won't organize a birthday party in consideration of the "existing (economic) crisis." Instead, he asked her for "a brand new car, possibly a 4 x 4," to help him reach remote areas to promote peace on the main southern island of Mindanao, which is wracked by insurgency.  "I hope you will never fail to give a brand new car, which would serve as your birthday gift to me," he said.

In a followup letter, he said the vehicle was for "spiritual and social services programs."  His letters were addressed to both Arroyo and the charity agency, which indicated that he expected the money for the car will come from the government's lotto operator.  The lotto operator raises funds for health care and other social services. The agency routinely donates ambulances to poor municipalities around the country.

Repeated calls to Pueblos' office went unanswered Wednesday.

Pueblos was among the staunchest supporters of Arroyo, who faced down several coup attempts by disgruntled young military officers and survived impeachment charges of election cheating, corruption and human rights violations during her nine-year rule, which ended last year. She has denied any wrongdoing.

Pueblos has earlier called for the resignation of President Benigno Aquino III, who succeeded Arroyo on a promise to investigate corruption.

Arroyo, who rarely directly responds to allegations against her, was elected a member of the House of Representatives after she stepped down. She was travelling out of the country and her spokeswoman made no comment.

In a letter to the Senate, Archbishop Nereo Odchimar, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said any donation to a bishop goes to the diocese and it is not the clergy's personal property.  "Whatever benefit the Catholic Church may draw from the gift is purely incidental," he said, adding they were willing to "face the consequences" of receiving financial aid from government because he said it is channeled to the needy.  "Our conscience is clear," Odchimar said.

Sources include
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/philippine-senate-probes-illegal-donations-catholic-bishops-friendly-053017853.html
http://www.pcso.gov.ph/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Macapagal-Arroyo
http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bpue.html
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/225442/nation/bishop-who-got-gmas-suv-gift-later-told-pnoy-to-resign
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benigno_Aquino_III
http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bodchimar.html
http://cbcponline.net/v2/

Saturday, July 2, 2011

California Bishop resigns in wake of sex scandal (Post #142)

Excerpt from The Press Democrat: Bishop Daniel Walsh ends 11-year tenure

By Martin Espinoza
Thursday, June 30
Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop Daniel Walsh, who in his 11-year tenure brought stability to the Santa Rosa Diocese after years of financial and sex scandals only to see a troubled priest flee and money woes return in recent years. Walsh, 73, took over as bishop in April 2000. Walsh had been asking the Vatican to let him retire since 2008. “I felt that I had accomplished everything that I could in the diocese,” he said. “We put in place, in a very strong way, the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, and stabilized the finances with accountability and transparency.”

Walsh came to the Santa Rosa Diocese to clean house a year after former Bishop G. Patrick Ziemann resigned in disgrace, admitting his sexual relationship with another priest and leaving the diocese $16 million in debt. But Walsh's work in stabilizing the diocese took a step backward in 2006 when his office failed to immediately report alleged sexual misconduct by former Sonoma priest Francisco Xavier Ochoa. Ochoa fled to Mexico before being charged with sex abuse of several children from different Sonoma County families.

After an investigation by the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office, Walsh accepted diversion to a counseling program in lieu of facing misdemeanor charges for the delay. A lawsuit by Ochoa's victims cost the diocese $5 million in a subsequent settlement and became a public relations black eye for Walsh. “It was very disappointing that people read my motives very falsely,” he said. “Being accused of harboring a child pedophile is not a happy thing to come at you.” Walsh said he hopes that Ochoa's death in 2009, which was confirmed by local authorities earlier this year, “brings peace of mind to his victims.”

Walsh said he first asked the Vatican to allow him to retire in 2008, saying he was “exhausted” and that he thought Santa Rosa should have a younger bishop. Rome declined at the time, but Walsh said his request remained on file. “I was very tired and I wrote to the Holy Father asking if I could retire early, which is not unusual,” he said. “I felt the diocese needed a younger bishop who could travel and make the trips throughout the diocese.” The diocese of more than 150,000 Catholics stretches from Sonoma County to the Oregon border.

Sources include
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20110630/ARTICLES/110639962?p=all&tc=pgall
http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bwalsh.html
http://santarosacatholic.org/index.html
http://santarosacatholic.org/protectingchildren.html
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news/2003_03_19_Russell_BishopBad.htm
http://www.rickross.com/reference/clergy/clergy501.html
http://da.sonoma-county.org/

Vatican goes online in struggle against child abuse (Post #141)

Excerpt from Agence France Press: Vatican goes online in struggle against child abuse.

The Vatican is turning to the Internet in its struggle against child abuse with a new website allowing clergy around the world to share information on eradicating the problem.

A key figure behind the initiative is German psychologist priest Hans Zollner from the Vatican's Gregorian University, who spoke to AFP about the need for fundamental changes in how the Catholic Church handles abuse cases. "Bishops have to give priority to victims," said Zollner, a member of the order of Jesuits. "People working inside dioceses and religious orders should be taught to listen to them. All complaints have to be taken seriously," he said.

Zollner's university will host a conference next February at which the new e-learning centre is expected to be launched, with some 200 experts, diocesan officials and representatives of congregations attending. It will be "a step ... on a long and painful path," Zollner said, adding the website would bring together the latest research on child abuse and Church laws, while allowing churches in different countries to have their say. The website will be in five languages -- English, French, German, Italian and Spanish -- and the project is funded to last three years.

The Church is struggling to deal with rising anger and a string of lawsuits following thousands of abuse claims in Europe and the United States. But many in the Church are concerned that the cases uncovered so far may only be the tip of the iceberg since abuses in much of the developing world -- including in Africa and Latin America -- have so far received little attention. Pope Benedict XVI's ever stronger denunciations of abuse are bringing some changes, however, and national bishops conferences around the world are set to come up with common guidelines against paedophiles by May 2012.

Zollner explained the process is slow and complex because of wide variations in national laws and the need for international coordination. "The general sensitivity to the problem has clearly increased," he said. "But the Church is not a monolithic block. Sensitivities are very different. A critical point appears to have been reached," he added. "Many bishops are now saying: 'We have to act'. There needs to be a more consistent and coordinated response as wanted by the Holy Father."

The common agreement in the Church is that those responsible "must receive their punishment according to Church law and criminal law," he said. Among the changes Zollner has been working on, is stricter psychological tests for would-be priests to identify possible abusers. The e-learning centre will make use of research from the child and adolescent psychiatry department at Ulm university in Germany, he said.

Abuse victims groups have accused the Vatican of failing to take the problem of paedophilia seriously early on, of not cooperating with police and allowing priests and bishops who covered up for abusers to go unpunished. "For almost all victims, the most important thing is to be heard by a representative of the institution whose members have hurt them," Zollner said. Victims "should have the chance to express all their pain, anger, depression and fears to an official representative of the Church," he added.

Sources include
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/vatican-goes-online-struggle-against-child-abuse-181600247.html
http://www.unigre.it/Prof/scheda_docente_it.php?air_id=1491
http://www.unigre.it/home_page_en.php#