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#

Bishop's child porn sentencing delayed (Post #140)

Excerpt from the Ottawa Citizen: Bishop's child porn sentencing delayed

by Andrew Seymour
June 22, 2011

A sentencing hearing for a Catholic bishop who possessed child pornography has been delayed until August.  Bishop Raymond Lahey was scheduled to be in court on Friday for a daylong hearing for submissions on the length of his sentence.  On Tuesday, the hearing was pushed back to Aug. 4 and 5 because the Crown had yet to receive Lahey's clinical file from Dr. John Bradford, the psychiatrist who examined Lahey at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre.  Prosecutors want time to examine the clinical records to properly cross-examine Bradford about his findings in a sexual behaviours assessment.

Bishop Lahey, who voluntarily went to jail after pleading guilty in May to possessing child pornography for the purpose of importation, faces a one-year mandatory minimum sentence.  The 71-year-old was bishop of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, when he was caught with child pornography on his laptop computer when he was passing through the Ottawa airport in summer 2009 after a trip abroad.

He retains his rank in the Catholic Church until a canonical disciplinary process concludes.  Lahey had been a central figure in settling a lawsuit against his diocese over the sexual abuse of children by priests in Nova Scotia. The diocese agreed to pay $15 million.  The material he was caught with in Ottawa, about five weeks later, included photographs and stories featuring the humiliation and degradation of young boys.

Sources include
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Bishop+child+porn+sentencing+delayed/4984555/story.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Lahey
http://www.taginc.com/workplace-violence-experts/dr-john-bradford/
http://www.rohcg.on.ca/programs-and-services/romhc-e.cfm

Prep underway for new Missal at Advent (Post #139)

Excerpt from The Catholic Register: Musicians prepare for new missal

TORONTO — Some 500 parish musicians from across Southern Ontario came together May 28 for a crash course to prepare them for the implementation of the third edition of the Roman Missal.  The new missal, which will be used in English-speaking churches around the globe beginning on the first Sunday of Advent, contains changes in almost all parts of the Mass — changes especially important to musicians, said event organizer Bill Targett.  "The musicians are on the front line," said Targett, director of the Toronto Archdiocese's Office of Formation for Discipleship.

Parish musicians need to know the changes and their reasons as leaders of the congregation, Targett added. Parishioners will come to them with questions before they go to the priest.  "The challenge is moving beyond something we've been working with for 40 years."

These changes include alterations to almost every part of the Mass, from the greeting to the closing, and are the culmination of an 11-year effort since 2000, when Pope John Paul II issued the third edition of the Roman Missal.

MORE FORMAL MISSAL

The new, more formal missal fixes errors from the second edition and is a more accurate translation of the Latin.  Msgr. Murray Kroetsch, the moderator of the Diocese of Hamilton's pastoral offices, explained the changes in the Mass to the musicians.  The response to "The Lord be with you" is no longer, "And also with you." Instead, Kroetsch explained, it is more loyal to the Latin, "And with your spirit." Meanwhile, the Apostle's Creed is currently nine sentences. In the new missal, it's only three.

Similar changes can be found throughout the Mass — and for musicians, most notably in parts that are traditionally sung, such as the Gloria. These modifications called for new music to accommodate the third edition translations, which the musicians began to learn after Kroetsch's workshop.

English-speaking parish musicians will have about six months to become familiar with the new music before Nov. 27, when the switch takes place.
Sources include
http://wcr.ab.ca/WCRThisWeek/Stories/tabid/61/entryid/1095/Default.aspx
http://www.archtoronto.org/arch_offices/discipleship.html
http://www.cccb.ca/site/eng/media-room/archives/media-releases/2010/2776-roman-missal-definitive-text-is-approved
http://hamiltondiocese.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=22&Itemid=98

Danger clouds for Catholics in Zimbabwe (Post #138)

Excerpt from The Zimbabwe Mail: Mugabe blasts Catholic Bishops

KUTAMA, Zvimba - The increasingly insecure Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has savaged Catholic bishops for what he said continued criticism of his tyranny through their pastoral letters and accused them of peddling the MDC agenda. 

A Catholic himself, President Mugabe says he has done a lot to support his church and the general populace of Zimbabwe and was the author of the upgrading of Kutama Mission, his former school and birthplace.  Last month, Mugabe went to the Vatican, in Rome, Italy for the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II.  An EU travel ban forbids him from visiting member states but the Vatican, where the ceremony took place, is a sovereign state and not in the EU.  A Vatican spokesman said Mr Mugabe had not been personally invited but as the head of a state with which the Vatican has relations he was entitled to attend.

Mugabe [said] that while other churches where he is not a member, are grateful and appreciate his contribution to various communities and the country as a whole, his own church through the Catholic bishops pastoral letter takes every opportunity to criticise him.

In one of the pastoral letters, the Catholic bishops have called on Mugabe and his party Zanu PF to fully implement the GPA including the issue of the appointment of RBZ Governor and Attorney-General Johannes Tomana, and he has categorically denied that these issues were part of the GPA and that they will never be implemented.  He said by peddling the MDC agenda, the Catholic bishops are dabbling in politics and siding with the MDC which was created by the British to effect regime change in Zimbabwe.
He said Zimbabwean nationalists, including himself, sacrificed their all in the struggle for independence, to ensure the total freedom of the people and not for money, adding that he remains committed and dedicated to preserving that freedom and independence.

Sources include
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/zimbabwe/8297-mugabe-blasts-catholic-bishops-calls-them-mdc-people.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mugabe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwe
http://www.mdc.co.zw/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1382567/Mugabe-Vatican-Dictator-beats-EU-travel-ban-1-5m-watching-Pope-beatify-predecessor.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13248101
http://www.swradioafrica.com/news290411/mugsonvat290411.htm
http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/Pastoral%20letter%202011pdf.pdf
http://www.zcbc.co.zw/
http://www.zimbabwesituation.org/?p=19327

Vatican fears increasingly unstable Arab world (Post # 137)

Excerpt from Agence France Press:  Vatican fears increasingly unstable Arab world

by Jean-Louis de la Vaissiere

VATICAN CITY: A Vatican expression of concern over the violence in Syria this week was the latest sign of deep misgivings in Catholic circles about Arab uprisings seen as a threat for Christian minorities.

“The pope has been rather silent on the Arab revolutions,” said Marco Politi, a Vatican specialist for Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano. “On the one hand the Holy See shares in the hope of a democratization of society. On the other, it is afraid of a strengthening of Islamism,” he said. He added that protecting Christian rights was “fundamental” for Pope Benedict XVI, who has made the issue one of the main features of his papacy.

Speaking Thursday to Syria’s new ambassador to the Holy See, Hussan Edin Aala, Benedict called on Damascus to “take into account the aspirations of civil society” and to recognize “the inalienable dignity of all people. Every nation’s path to unity and stability lies in recognizing the inalienable dignity of all people. This recognition should be at the heart of institutions, laws and societies,” the pope said at the audience.

The pontiff said the recent mass demonstrations against the government in Damascus “show the urgent need for real reforms” but called for “respect for truth and human rights” instead of “intolerance, discrimination or conflict.” Benedict said that Syria – where there has been a Christian presence for 2,000 years – had traditionally been “an example of tolerance, of conviviality and of harmonious relations between Christians and Muslims.”

Some 7.5 percent of Syria’s 20 million inhabitants are Christians and the community is well integrated. Many are afraid of a scenario similar to the one in Iraq that followed the fall of Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime. The instability that exploded in Iraq following US-led military action in 2003 favored the rise of Islamist currents and the Christian community quickly shrank from around 800,000 in 2003 to only some 450,000 now. Al-Qaeda militants have branded Christians “crusaders” and pushed them out.

Syria and Iraq are not the only headaches for the Holy See, which is concerned more generally about the 50 million Christians including five million Catholics out of the Middle East’s 356 million inhabitants.

The Vatican has repeatedly called for a negotiated solution to the conflict in Libya, afraid that NATO-led intervention could be seen as aggression by the Christian world against Muslims and could fuel Islamism. The Vatican’s envoy to Libya, Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, who has remained in Tripoli, has been a vehement critic of NATO and of the West’s refusal to dialogue with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

There are also fears that a destabilization in Syria could affect Lebanon, where Christians represent around 40 percent of the population. In a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier this month, Benedict stressed the “irreplaceable contribution” of Christian minorities living in the Palestinian Territories and the Middle East as a whole.

Christians living in Israel and the Palestinian Territories represented around 25 percent of the population in the 19th century. Now they are just 1.5 percent, often fleeing due to insecurity, Israeli settlement and Islamist threats. The Vatican is also worried about the rights of Christians in Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey and Egypt – where Christian Copts represent between six and 10 percent of the population and have been singled out in recent attacks.

Sources include
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2011/Jun-10/Vatican-fears-increasingly-unstable-Arab-world.ashx#axzz1Os6I5QiS
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2011/Jun-10/Vatican-fears-increasingly-unstable-Arab-world.ashx#ixzz1Oscl1iDr
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaticanology
http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/edizione-locale/emiliaromagna/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamism
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102281.htm

Father of nine preparing to be ordained Catholic priest (Post #136)

Excerpt from Catholic News Agency: Married father of nine preparing to be ordained Catholic priest

There can’t be many Catholic priests who have a wife and nine children present at their ordination. But that’s exactly what awaits Deacon Ian Hellyer next week. “I’m currently experiencing a funny combination of peace and excitement – with just an occasional moment of fear,” says the 44-year-old from Devon in England who, until a few months ago, was the Anglican vicar of five rural parishes. “Over the past 10 years, though, I’d increasingly felt uncomfortable in the Church of England and found myself questioning more and more of its decisions and the direction it’s going in,” he told CNA June 9.

Just before Lent this year, Hellyer made an announcement to his Anglican parishioners – he was leaving to become a Catholic. “They were somewhat shocked, not least because my Anglican bishop wouldn’t let me warn people about the announcement beforehand.”

Hellyer is just one of 68 former Anglican clergymen being ordained thi month into the Catholic Church’s Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. It was established by Pope Benedict XVI earlier this year as a “Roman home” for Anglican converts within the Catholic Church. “I was amazed when the personal ordinariate was announced, amazed at its generosity and the respect it gave to the authentic traditions of Anglicans. It came out the blue. So I said to myself, ‘How could I not respond to that?’”

For Hellyer, though, that decision has meant more than simply a change of religion. It also means giving up a salary, a house and a pension plan. The sacrifice of the move is made all the more obvious by the size of his family: he has a 3-month-old baby girl, four other daughters and four sons. “My wife Margaret has supported me all the way. She’s always said that if this is what God wants, then we’ll be looked after. It’s an attitude that’s amazed many of her friends. They tell her that they simply couldn’t be that brave. But Margaret is a great woman of great faith.”

Recent media reports in the U.K. have suggested that some English Catholic bishops are giving a rather grudging welcome to the Ordinariate clergy. Hellyer, however, says he’s only met with generosity from both his Catholic bishop and even his former Anglican superiors.  “The Church of England is allowing us to stay in our vicarage until the end of August. At present, we’re also looking at moving to a Catholic presbytery in Plymouth. Hopefully it can be adapted for our use - most presbyteries weren’t built with nine children in mind.”

Interestingly, all of Hellyer’s children are already being raised Catholic since his wife is a cradle Catholic. “So, at domestic level I longed for unity because I longed for unity with my children, so that we could be around the same altar each Sunday,” says Hellyer whose family, in various ways, seemed to have helped him to make up his mind. “I remember a few months ago over Sunday lunch, it had just dawned on my second daughter, Theresa, that there were some married priests in the Catholic Church. So she turned to me in an instant and said, ‘Well dad, why aren’t you doing that?’”

Pope Benedict’s visit to England last September also played its part in Hellyer’s story of conversion, in particularly the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman. “Myself and Margaret went to the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman in Birmingham on the Sunday morning. We both really got a sense that the journey Blessed John Henry made was also the way that God was leading us.”
Friday, June 17, Hellyer will be ordained a Catholic priest at Plymouth’s cathedral. He says he doesn’t know quite how he’ll be put to use after his ordination but mostly likely he’ll end up splitting his time between Ordinariate duties and helping the local diocese, perhaps in chaplaincy work at a school or hospital.

“I think that the new Ordinariate is very much part of the ‘new evangelization’ of the western world that Blessed Pope John Paul II outlined. And I think the Catholic Church is waking up to the need to reach out to people and re-evangelize in a way that’s most appropriate in our age.”

Sources include
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/father-of-nine-preparing-to-be-ordained-catholic-priest/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+catholicnewsagency%2Fdailynews+%28CNA+Daily+News%29
http://www.patheos.com/community/deaconsbench/2011/04/26/one-anglican-priests-leap-of-faith/
http://www.churchofengland.org/
http://www.osservatoreromano.va/portal/dt?JSPTabContainer.setSelected=JSPTabContainer%2FDetail&last=false=&path=/news/vaticano/2011/012q11-Istituito-l-Ordinariato-personale---di-Nost.html&title=%20%20%20The%20Personal%20Ordinariate%20of%20Our%20Lady%20of%20Walsingham%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&locale=en
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Ordinariate_of_Our_Lady_of_Walsingham
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canonization_of_John_Henry_Newman

Bishops and the Pope (Post #135)

Excerpt from the National Catholic Reporter: Bishops and the Pope

by Fr. Richard McBrien
June 06, 2011
The sacking of [Bishop] William Morris as bishop of the Australian diocese of Toowoomba raises more than a few theological questions about the relationship between bishops and the Bishop of Rome. Many Catholics believe, and so apparently does Benedict XVI, that the Bishop of Rome is free, by the will of Christ, not only to appoint all bishops in the Roman Catholic church, but to dismiss them as well. This is an incorrect assumption, and the firing of Bishop Morris provides us with a teachable moment in ecclesiology.

From the very beginning of church history, bishops were elected by the laity and clergy of the various local churches, or dioceses. And this included the Bishop of Rome, known more popularly as the pope. One of the most important bishop-saints of the third century, Cyprian of Carthage in North Africa, offered explicit testimony about the election of bishops in the early church. "It comes from divine authority," Cyprian wrote, "that a bishop be chosen in the presence of the people before the eyes of all and that he be approved worthy and fit by public judgment and testimony."

Indeed, when Cornelius was elected pope in 251, Cyprian described the process in a letter to a contemporary: "Cornelius was made bishop by the judgment of God and His Christ, by the testimony of almost all the clergy, by the vote of the people who were then present, by the assembly of venerable bishops and good men."  By the time of the first ecumenical council of Nicaea in 325, differences began to surface between the practices of the church in the West and in the East. In the West, the will and voice of the clergy and laity remained normative, but there was greater input now from bishops of neighboring dioceses. In the East, particularly after the Emperor moved the imperial headquarters from Rome to Constantinople, power gradually shifted away from the clergy and laity to the bishops of the province and to the metropolitan bishop.

We do know that the faith communities of these early centuries were relatively small by today's standards, so we can assume that those who had an evident charism for pastoral leadership were easily recognized, as in the famous case of St. Ambrose, who was proclaimed by the crowd bishop of Milan in 374. It was Pope Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome in the middle of the fifth century, who gave us the classic principle: "He who is to preside over all must be elected by all." For political reasons, however, the role of the local clergy and laity in the election of their bishops became practically non-existent by the end of the first Christian millennium. 

One of the unintended consequences of the Gregorian Reform of the 11th century was the centralization of authority in the papacy. Despite efforts to restore the ancient practice where the clergy and laity as well as the neighboring bishops played a key part in the election of bishops, power passed to the pope and the king or local prince.

It was at the beginning of the 19th century, with the concordat between the French emperor Napoleon and Pope Pius VII, that the pope alone was vested with the power to appoint and remove bishops anywhere in the Roman Catholic church. That system has remained in place ever since. It was given formal legal status in 1917 with the promulgation of the new Code of Canon Law (canon 329, n. 2).

With few exceptions, bishops are recommended by the bishops of a province. Three names are forwarded by the nuncio, who makes his own recommendation, to the Congregation for Bishops, which submits a final recommendation to the pope, who makes the final decision. The present system of appointment and dismissal of bishops by the pope in the Roman Catholic church is simply taken for granted as the divinely-ordained method, something that the Lord himself mandated. But this is not the case. What happened to Bishop Morris is the product, in large part, of the concordat of 1801 between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII. Jesus had nothing to do with it.


Sources include
http://ncronline.org/blogs/essays-theology/bishops-and-pope
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/bishop-of-toowoomba-william-morris-claims-unfair-dismissal-by-pope/story-e6frg6nf-1226048036161
http://www.twb.catholic.org.au/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Cornelius
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01383c.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09154b.htm
http://universalium.academic.ru/270041/Gregorian_Reform
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concordat_of_1801
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_law_(Catholic_Church)

Pope Benedict in Croatia (Post #134)

Excerpt from the BBC Online: Pope Benedict in Croatia

Pope Benedict XVI has celebrated Mass, focusing on family values, before tens of thousands of people in the Croatian capital, Zagreb. He spoke of the "disintegration" of the family, and urged couples not to give in to a "secularised mentality" of living together instead of marrying.

This is Pope Benedict's first visit to the staunchly Catholic nation and he has received a warm welcome. Upon his arrival on Saturday, the Pope gave his backing to Croatia's bid to join the European Union. He said he understood fears of a loss of cultural identity by joining the EU, but said Europe needed reminding of its Christian roots. "From its beginning, your nation has belonged to Europe," he said as he arrived at the airport.
'Real humanism'
As many as 400,000 people from across Croatia and neighbouring countries were thought to have attended Sunday's open-air Mass at Zagreb's hippodrome.

The Pope, whose visit was timed to mark Croatia's Family Day, spoke out against practices such as abortion and called on citizens to back legislation that supports families in "the task of giving birth to children and educating them". At the start of his visit, the Pope met Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, before addressing a gathering of academics, cultural, business and diplomatic leaders.

On Saturday evening, he led a prayer vigil for some 25,000 young Croats in Zagreb's main square.

Sources include
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13659733
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/05/us-pope-croatia-idUSTRE7540QI20110605
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zagreb

Nova Scotia, Canada Dioceses to merge (Post #133)

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Excerpt from the Halifax Chronicle Herald: Yarmouth’s Roman Catholic diocese to join Halifax

1 June 2011

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Yarmouth will merge with its Halifax counterpart sometime this year.

"Yarmouth is a small diocese and does not have a lot of growth," Marilyn Sweet, spokeswoman for the dioceses, said Tuesday.  "There are expenses involved with being a separate diocese and it’s not always reasonable to remain (separate)."  The two districts have grown closer since 2002, when Yarmouth came under the purview of the Archbishop of Halifax, Sweet said.  "There have been shared consultations and the financial people have talked together," she said. "But we’re not sharing financial resources at this time."

Things get more complicated when it comes to sex abuse lawsuits faced by the Diocese of Yarmouth. Archbishop Anthony Mancini handles the lawsuits and all other issues as the apostolic administrator for Yarmouth. But the diocese bears the financial and legal responsibility on its own, unless the Diocese of Halifax is directly mentioned in the lawsuit, Sweet said.  The Diocese of Yarmouth has faced 22 cases of sexual abuse involving clergy. About 14 cases have been resolved, with settlement amounts of more than $2.6 million being paid out.   But the move to merge Yarmouth with Halifax isn’t directly linked to financial pressure from the lawsuits, Sweet said.  "The decisions around need-ing to make the two dioceses one has been growing through the years," she said.

The Yarmouth diocese encompasses Kings, Annapolis, Digby, Yarmouth and Shelburne counties. It was created in 1953, detaching from the Halifax archdiocese.   "That’s often what happens, as the population in the church waxes and wanes, administration of the church also has to be efficient," Sweet said.  "There were good reasons in the 1950s to establish the Diocese of Yarmouth and there are good reasons now to bring these two dioceses together. And at the heart of it all is to make sure that we have adequate resources to carry out the work of the church."

She said there are no plans at this point to extend the union to include the Antigonish diocese, which has also been rocked by the priest sex abuse scandal.  "Antigonish diocese is alive and has faced (a) really tough time and it’s growing again."

Sources include
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1246328.html
http://www.dioceseyarmouth.org/
http://www.catholichalifax.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=88&Itemid=94
http://www.catholichalifax.org/new/index.php
http://www.antigonishdiocese.com/title.htm

Catholic Register Editorial: Act now on Lahey (Post 132)

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An Editorial from The Catholic Register: Act now on Lahey

Catholic Register Editorial Tuesday, 10 May 2011

When Bishop Raymond Lahey pleaded guilty to importing child pornography, admitting in court to owning 588 images and 60 videos of boys as young as eight being abused by adults, his case went from a strictly criminal proceeding to an ecclesiastical matter to be adjudicated in the Vatican.

Speedy pronouncements are not a Vatican hallmark but the case of the disgraced bishop, now locked in jail at his own request pending a sentencing hearing, calls out to be an exception. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith should act without delay to defrock Lahey and impose any other sanctions allowed under canon law.

The most consistent criticism of the Vatican throughout the clergy sexual abuse scandals is that for many years Church leaders failed to acknowledge the gravity of crimes against children and subsequently failed to protect them. As the scandals unfolded, the Church offered heartfelt apologies, meetings with victims, financial settlements, reforms to Church procedures and repeated condemnation of abuse crimes. But the Vatican is still perceived as reluctant to severely punish abuser priests and bishops who cover up these crimes. For that reason, Lahey’s case has garnered international attention.

In many eyes, his guilty plea has become a test of the Vatican’s resolve to genuinely get tough on child abuse. Within hours of Lahey’s guilty plea, a Vatican statement reasserted its abhorrence of “sexual exploitation in all its forms, especially when perpetrated against minors.” But that has been said before. It’s what comes next that matters.
A bishop has never been laicized for sexual crimes involving children. Given his admission of guilt, the gravity of his crimes and the undisputed evidence, Lahey deserves to be the first. That’s not guaranteed, however. The Vatican could assign Lahey, 70, to a life of isolation, prayer and penance and let him remain a priest. But that would be an unfortunate outcome because, even if imposed with the best intentions of compassion and mercy, the decision would be widely interpreted inside and outside the Church as proof that the Vatican still does not take seriously the scourge of child abuse.

A year ago, several months after Lahey’s arrest, canon law was amended to make it a grave offence punishable by laicization to acquire, possess or distribute child pornography. Church leaders now have an opportunity to demonstrate by their actions that they are sincere about reform and intend to deal swiftly and harshly when children are violated.

Based on Lahey’s guilty plea, he should be defrocked immediately to give justice to his victims, to encourage the priesthood, to reassure Catholics whose faith is tested by Lahey and other clerical abusers, and as a small step towards restoring the moral authority of the Church in the eyes of world opinion.

Source: http://www.catholicregister.org/editorial/act-now-on-lahey

Bishop admits failure in priest's child pornography case (Post #131)

Excerpt from the National Catholic Reporter: Bishop admits failure in priest's child pornography case

May. 23, 2011

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- One day after newspapers across the nation featured front page articles about a U.S. bishops' sponsored study on the causes of the clergy sex abuse scandal, which blamed much of the crisis on the sexual revolution of the 1960s, another clergy abuse news story was on the front page of The Kansas City Star: A local priest had been arrested for possession of child pornography

To many, the most disturbing revelation in the story of Fr. Shawn Ratigan, 45, a priest in the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese since 2004, was that diocesan officials knew his personal computer had been found last December to contain many photographs of young children, including at least one of a nude girl.

But they did not share the information with members of the diocese or its review board. Instead, Bishop Robert W. Finn moved the priest to a local home for religious sisters. Even after the priest attempted suicide, the diocese kept the information surrounding his transfer secret. The diocese went public about Ratigan's computer photographs last week after the priest was arrested by local police May 19 and charged with three counts of possessing child pornography.

At a May 20 session at the parish where Ratigan served as pastor for a year, Finn fielded questions from distraught parishioners. He revealed during the session that he had considered placing the priest, after learning of his troubles, at the diocesan archives so he could do work that "wouldn't put him in contact with children." According to guidelines established by the U.S. bishops in their 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, independent review boards in each diocese are to help the bishop "in his assessment of allegations of sexual abuse of minors." But a member of the review board in the Kansas City diocese told NCR the group had never been notified of the Ratigan matter.

The process followed by officials in the Kansas City case appears to mirror in some ways that followed in Philadelphia, where a Feb. 10 grand jury report cited 37 priests as continuing in ministry in that archdiocese despite what were considered to be credible allegations of abuse. Following that report, the former secretary of clergy in the archdiocese was arrested for failing to protect children from dangerous priests. Cardinal Justin Rigali also placed 21 other priests on administrative leave March 8 pending review of allegations of abuse. The head of the Philadelphia review board has said that archdiocesan officials held back pertinent information from that board regarding the cases against priests in the archdiocese.

The Kansas City case, while involving only one priest, seems to reveal a pattern long associated with the clergy sex abuse scandal: Local bishops make the final decision regarding whom to notify when priests are accused of abuse or, as in the case of Ratigan, suspected of possessing child pornography. According to a letter released from the Kansas City diocese late Friday afternoon, Finn said he first learned that a laptop computer owned by Ratigan contained "many images of female children," including one of an "unclothed child," in December. The bishop said that he described one of the images to a police officer and was told it "did not constitute child pornography."

Officers arrested Ratigan May 19. The priest is being held on $200,000 bond, with arraignment expected Monday.   [Eds note: Ratigan pleaded not guilty during his court appearance]

Sources include
http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/bishop-admits-failure-priests-child-pornography-case
http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/bishops-center-abuse-scandal-and-potential-reform
http://childprotectionnews.com/st-joseph-possesses-child-pornography-for-5-months-before-giving-to-police/fr-shawn-ratigan-3/
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=10418
http://www.diocese-kcsj.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Finn_(bishop)
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/05/20/2890783/bishop-finns-statement.html
http://www.nccbuscc.org/ocyp/charter.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Francis_Rigali