Concerned Catholics of Boone County: August 2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

Cardinal Dolan’s prayer at Republican National Convention: full text : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Following presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s speech at the Republican National Convention, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, delivered the closing benediction

Click on the following: Cardinal Dolan’s prayer at Republican National Convention: full text : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

National Catholic Reporter has very favorable opinion of LCWR

Aug. 30, 2012

By Thomas C. Fox

OPINION

We need to remind ourselves that while our bishops and women religious share the same faith and best wishes for our church, it could take months, or longer, to work out their differences, which involve varied understandings of authority and conscience, gender issues, and the meaning of religious life today.

It was April 18, after a four-year study, that the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith mandated a U.S. archbishop to provide "review, guidance and approval, where necessary," of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an umbrella organization representing 80 percent of our nation's 57,000 women religious.

An eight-page "doctrinal assessment" found LCWR to be dissenting on women priests, homosexuality and abortion. It charged that LCWR had allowed dangerous, faith-undermining "radical feminist themes" to slip into its programs.

LCWR was caught off-guard by the abruptness of the announcement, which followed only by minutes a meeting the LCWR leadership team had had with Vatican officials.

The assessment -- both the content and means by which it became public -- sent shock waves through women religious congregations, communities still licking wounds from a four-year apostolic investigation into virtually every aspect of their lives.

For the tens of thousands of U.S. women religious who have given their entire adult lives to the church, the Vatican investigations have been, at the very least, discouraging. Some see them as harmful to the future of religious life itself.

Seeds of division date back some 50 years. Today's U.S. women religious are one of the most visible outgrowths of the church reforms spawned by the Second Vatican Council in the mid-1960s, reforms mandated by the council. On the other hand, many of today's most influential bishops appear dedicated to denying that council -- or those reform directives -- ever took place.

Ironically, Vatican II was intended to bring Catholicism into the modern world just as that world was entering a postmodern era. The second half of the 20th century witnessed huge upheavals in the human imagination. Mind-altering photos of Earth from space and others of distant galaxies sparked thoughts of a planet without boundaries and a solar system suspended in endless space.

Science forced seemingly endless questions, vying anew for control of the human mind. Where was God? Where was faith?

To live in the 20th and 21st centuries has meant nothing less than to question old understandings. Premodern ideas, including exclusive male authority structures, came under attack. Many were to give way before newly educated women.

After decades of such worldwide cultural upheavals, not to see the dysfunctional nature of an all-male investigation of an all-female organization and that investigation's equally dysfunctional findings is to be shockingly disconnected with reality. Add to this the order that three men guide and approve, where necessary, a national women's organization and you end up in tears or laughter.

Fortunately, the women are likely to be kind.

The journey from the April mandate to August assembly was notable.

Inside the communities there was at first disbelief and anger. For weeks, the women mixed prayer, contemplation and discussions. As one religious said, "The anger eventually dissipated. Out of the gatherings came better self-identity and greater purpose."

What the women would learn as they gathered in St. Louis Aug. 7-9 for the annual LCWR meeting is that they had arrived with common convictions. Like the characters in the 1977 Steven Spielberg classic, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," they came with outlines etched in their collective imaginations.

During executive sessions, they shared thoughts, concluded the assessment had not been truthful to their experiences as women religious. This was a big step. They further went on to agree to dialogue with the Vatican-appointed bishops, headed by Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain -- the first priority to explain religious life today.

The dialogue will continue as long as LCWR is not forced "to compromise the integrity of its mission."

As they saw it, they had been liberated and imprisoned by the Gospels they had attempted to live for decades. They had come to realize they cannot be other than the women they had come to be, products of community life shaped by service.

The women who gathered in St. Louis had an air of competence and confidence as they moved from meeting room to assembly hall, from quick lunches in the hallway to a banquet the final night. After all, they were quite possibly the most educated, experienced, multicultural, theologically and politically versed Catholic women to assemble in history.

Departing St. Louis they exuded a solidarity of purpose and vision few might have dared to imagine just weeks earlier. They had not asked for the spotlight. Once in it, they decided it was time to preach to the gathered media from throughout the country their distinctly feminine and hopeful view of church: a pastoral, inclusive, forward-looking vision, responsive to the needs of the time.

How some bishops will receive this vision will determine where these women go next.

[Thomas C. Fox is NCR publisher. His email address is tfox@ncronline.org. At the latest LWCR annual convention, he spoke on a panel titled "Religious Life in the Future: What Might It Look Like?"]

KC diocese employee disavows testimony about bishop in sex case | McClatchy

Judy L. Thomas and Mark Morris | The Kansas City Star

In testimony made public Thursday, an employee of Kansas City's Roman Catholic diocese reported that Bishop Robert Finn said that "boys will be
Creech's testimony was included in a court filing Thursday morning in a civil case against Ratigan, Finn and the diocese.
Creech's written statement Thursday evening did not contest that she made the comment under oath. It said only that she was mistaken.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/08/31/164479/kc-diocese-employee-disavows-testimony.html#storylink=cpy

Father Benedict Groeschel, American Friar, Claims Teens Seduce Priests In Some Sex Abuse Cases

The Huffington Post | By Meredith Bennett-Smith

Groeschel is an influential voice in the American Dioceses and continues to maintain a high-profile in the church, writing several books and appearing weekly on a religious television network.

The priest received a doctorate in psychology from Columbia University in 1971 and now lives in Larchment, N.Y., where he assists with Trinity Retreat, a center for prayer and study for the clergy he founded.

Trinity House stirred controversy in 2006 when the press learned that New York priests credibly accused of sexually abusing children, but not legally convicted, had the option of a life-long close supervision program that began with a stay at the retreat. In the wake of community objections, the Archdiocese later removed Trinity House from the list of program's offered facilities, according to the Larchmont Gazette.

Groeschel is also a professor of pastoral psychology at St. Joseph’s Seminary of the Archdiocese of New York.

Clarification: Information has been added to the article to indicate that the Legion of Christ is no longer an owner of the publication.

Update: National Catholic Register has taken down the interview and Groeschel has offered this statement:

I apologize for my comments. I did not intend to blame the victim. A priest (or anyone else) who abuses a minor is always wrong and is always responsible. My mind and my way of expressing myself are not as clear as they used to be. I have spent my life trying to help others the best that I could. I deeply regret any harm I have caused to anyone.

Read the entire article by clicking on the following: Father Benedict Groeschel, American Friar, Claims Teens Seduce Priests In Some Sex Abuse Cases

Cardinal Dolan, Political Peacemaker?

The Cardinal also said that both President Obama and Mitt Romney will lay down their verbal swords for at least one night to break bread at the Al Smith Dinner on Oct. 18.
Both men have accepted the invitation Dolan extended in August, sparking criticism from some conservative Catholic leaders who are angry with Obama.
Dolan said he knows for “a fact” that the Democrats weren’t motivated to invite him simply because the Republicans already had done so, reiterating that he had placed a courtesy call to an unnamed Democratic leader to give the party a heads-up about his participation tonight in Tampa and subsequently got an ask for Charlotte, too.
Although Dolan has waded deep into the political thicket in recent months, most notably clashing with the Obama administration over a contraception coverage mandate (wearing his hat as president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops). But he stressed that his appearance at the conventions will be decidedly nonpartisan.
In fact, Dolan said, he’ll be giving the same prayer “in substance” at both events

Cardinal Dolan, Political Peacemaker?

Brennan's retrial scheduled for March

A Philadelphia judge on Wednesday set March 6 for the retrial of the Rev. James J. Brennan, the Roman Catholic priest charged with the attempted rape of a 14-year-old boy in 1996.
Common Pleas Court Judge Robert P. Coleman met briefly with city prosecutors and Brennan and his lawyers before setting the trial date and a March 4 pretrial hearing. Brennan, 49, was tried earlier this year with Msgr. William J. Lynn, 61, former secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
On June 22, a Common Pleas Court jury said it could not reach a verdict on the counts of attempted rape and child-endangerment lodged against Brennan and a mistrial was declared. -

Brennan's retrial scheduled for March

Cardinal Dolan to pray with Democrats and Republicans: Well played, your eminence - She The People - The Washington Post

Now Dolan will be closing both conventions, delivering the benediction here this week and in Charlotte in a matter of days;
Cardinal Timothy Dolan greets Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, right, of Washington before Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York on Feb. 25, 2012. (Allison Joyce - Reuters) somewhere, Al Smith is smiling.
A decade ago, when I was living in Rome and covering the Vatican, I was regularly asked whether I missed covering politics, and I always said there was no chance of that, since the Catholic Church practically invented the game that ain’t beanbag; wasn’t that incense in the original smoke-filled rooms

Click on the following to read all of the story:Cardinal Dolan to pray with Democrats and Republicans: Well played, your eminence - She The People - The Washington Post

Weekly Contributions for the weekend ending August 26, 2013

Increase in DSP pledges of $7,960.

August 26, 2012

August 21, 2012

No additional families however total pledges increased $11,215.

Two additional pledges, Total pledges increase $3,872. $314,046 from the $3,000,000 requirement.* SEE FOOTNOTE

. Total pledged increased by $41,522.. $317,919 from the $3,000,000 requirement * Appears that totals below are for August 14.

One additional family pledged. $62,145.10 additional pledged. $359,400 from the $3,000,000 requirement.

This fiscal year’s Sunday Collections

7/3/2011 $14,605 7/1/2012 $15,592

7/10/2011 $12,914 7/8/2012 $14306

7/17/2011 $11,891 7/15/2012 $12,730

7/24/2011 $11,319 7/22/2012 $13,032

7/31/2011 $15,422 7/29/2012 $12,223

8/6/2011 $12,902 8/6/2012 $14,049

8/14/2011 $14,168 8/13/2012 $12,376

8/21/2011 $11,553 8/19/201 $11,880

8/28/2011 $11,806 8-26-2012 $12,226

For more information concerning collections for the past fiscal year go to: http://boonecountycatholics.blogspot.com/2012/06/6-30-2011-financials-1.html

* The $3,000,000 requirement and all other requirements are all now subject to changed based upon the Bishop’s taking control of the project. SEE: tp://www.boonecountycatholics.blogspot.com/2012/08/st-james-will-not-be-breaking-ground.html

Saginaw's top Catholic bishop -- called 'kingpin' by lawyer -- to be named in Philadelphia clergy sex abuse lawsuit, reports indicate | MLive.com

Lawyers claim Bevilacqua in 1994 ordered the destruction of documents naming 35 priests suspected of child molestation.
Cistone witnessed the shredding while serving as a church official in the Philadelphia area and later lied to a grand jury when he did not acknowledge the documents or their destruction during a previous testimony, attorneys claim

Click on the following for more details: Saginaw's top Catholic bishop -- called 'kingpin' by lawyer -- to be named in Philadelphia clergy sex abuse lawsuit, reports indicate | MLive.com

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Milwaukee priest starts new church, risks excommunication : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has announced that a renegade priest faces “immediate excommunication” if he does not promptly renounce his plans to establish a new church.
Father David Verhasselt has announced that he has left the Roman Catholic Church, to set up a parish under the jurisdiction of the Evangelical Catholic Church, a Chicago-based sect.
The renegade priest had been disciplined earlier this year for a violation of the confessional seal

Click on the following for more details: Milwaukee priest starts new church, risks excommunication : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Archdiocesan embezzler gets 2 to 7 years - Philly.com

former chief financial officer for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was sentenced this morning to 2 to 7 years in prison for her admitted embezzlement of more than $906,000 from the church treasury…..

was caused by her gambling addiction that in turn was triggered by her feelings of betrayal in 2005 when the District Attorney's office announced its first grand jury report about the sexual abuse of children by some Catholic priests in the region.

Click on the following for more details: Archdiocesan embezzler gets 2 to 7 years - Philly.com

Sex Abuse Victim To Sue 2 Bishops With Philadelphia Ties « CBS Philly

With the second clergy sex abuse trial in Philadelphia set to begin in early September, lawyers for the abuse victim in that case are preparing civil litigation.
This week the attorneys told the court they intend to amend their lawsuit and also go after two bishops with Philadelphia ties.
intends to name Bishop Joseph Cistone, the current Bishop of Saginaw, Michigan and Bishop Edward Cullen, the former Bishop of Allentown, as he proceeds in a civil case, on behalf of a former altar boy who was sexually abused in 1992.

Click on the following for more details: Sex Abuse Victim To Sue 2 Bishops With Philadelphia Ties « CBS Philly

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Erie nuns minister on despite Vatican rebuke | GoErie.com/Erie Times-News

There's no question it's our church, and we're not going away," said Sister JoAnne Courneen, a member of the Sisters of Mercy. "We're not going to let this distract us from our ministries."
Disappointed, angry, sad, surprised, hurt, shocked and confused were how local nuns said they felt earlier this year when a Vatican report criticized the conference. The LCWR says it has nearly 1,500 members who are elected leaders of their religious orders and represent more than 80 percent of the 57,000 Catholic nuns in the United States.
Those members include leaders of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Sisters of St. Joseph of Northwestern Pennsylvania and local Sisters of Mercy. Erie-area sisters were among 900 at an LCWR assembly this month that planned a response to the Vatican document. The sisters will start with dialogue.
"It does need to be addressed," said Sister Mary Herrmann, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Northwestern Pennsylvania leadership team. "But we can't stop what we're all about while this is all going on."

Erie nuns minister on despite Vatican rebuke | GoErie.com/Erie Times-News

Friday, August 24, 2012

Northwest Herald | Forget the Mormon moment; it's about Catholics

By RACHEL ZOLL - The Associated Press
With little over two months until the election, both Romney and Obama are working to court these traditional swing voters given that polls show the race is tight and anything can tip the balance, particularly in competitive states like Ohio and Pennsylvania that have sizable Catholic communities.
It's unclear how this week's focus on abortion rights — sparked by Missouri Rep. Todd Akin's comment about women's bodies preventing pregnancies in the case of "legitimate rape" — will play with these voters.

Click on the following for more of the story: Northwest Herald | Forget the Mormon moment; it's about Catholics

BCJ: Parishioner speaks in support of Father Geary

BCJ: New St. James Church will not rise this Fall.

The following is taken from the Boone County Journal, Page 2, August 24, 2012. It is available free of charge at merchants across Boone County and on the internet at: http://www.boonecountyjournal.com/news/2012/Boone-County-News-08-24-12.pdf#page=2

Click on the photocopy to enlarge:

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Cardinal Dolan to give benediction for RNC

Read the entire article by clicking on the following: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/nyregion/new-york-archbishop-will-give-closing-prayer-at-gop-meeting.html?_r=1

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Vatican Attacks Nuns!? |Blogs | NCRegister.com

National Catholic Register purports that LCRW represents a dwindling number of supporters.

While the LCWR membership continues its dramatic decline, thousands of new nuns and sisters are giving their lives to vibrant, faithful orders, as they put into action their dedicated and loving service to the Church and the world.

The untold story is that these faithful nuns and sisters are often not supported by the work of those who make up the LCWR. We are aware of many who are suppressed by their very own leaders (those nice sounding ladies you see at the press conferences who speak in soft, gentle and peaceful tones of “dialogue” and "contemplation"). You heard me right. The surface claim that these women live in democratically ordered communities and that these communities are perfectly represented by the LCWR is, in fact, often not the case. These suppressed nuns and sisters cling to the charisms that moved their hearts to give their lives to God. They cling to the Church, the holy Mother that gave birth to the love of their devotion. In response, they are often denied representation in their own orders. Their desires are supplanted by those who are politically motived and claim the mantle of their charisms, but who have long abandoned any semblance of their founders’ visions.
The Register has worked diligently to report on this issue accurately and with charity. Here's a breakdown of the majority of our coverage of the news and commentary:

Doctrinal Assessment of the LCWR: Safeguarding the Integrity of Consecrated Life — Mother Assumpta Long, April 2012
Call to Obedience — Editors, April 2012
When Reverend Mothers Cease Being Motherly – Is the Vatican Attacking Nuns? – Tim Drake, May 2012
What's Going On With the LCWR? — Donna Bethell, June 2012
The LCWR, CDF and the Doctrinal Assessment — Bishop Leonard Blair, June 2012
LCWR Leader Given National Platform to Uphold Church Teaching. What Did She Say? — Donna Bethell, July 2012
Bishop Leonard Blair Takes on the LCWR — Donna Bethell, Aug. 2, 2012
LCWR Prepares to Discuss Response to Vatican Mandate to Reform — Ann Carey, Aug. 3, 2012
Futurist (Read New Age Guru) Addresses LCWR Assembly — Ann Carey, Aug. 8, 2012
Day 2 of the LCWR Assembly: Contemplating a Response to the Vatican — Ann Carey, Aug. 9, 2012
LCWR Assembly Day 3: High Expectations — Ann Carey, Aug. 10, 2012
Reflections on the LCWR Assembly — Ann Carey, Aug. 11, 2012
Register Radio: New Age Influence at the LCWR

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/dan-burke/vatican-attacks-nuns-again#ixzz24KQeoLEBAssembly — Fr. Mitch Pacwa/Ann Carey, Aug. 17, 2012

Cardinal Dolan lauds Paul Ryan as ‘great public servant’ : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Speaking on Sirius Catholic Channel radio, Cardinal Timothy Dolan lauded vice presidential contender Paul Ryan as a “great public servant.”

came to know and admire him immensely,” Cardinal Dolan added. “And I would consider him a friend. He and his wife Janna and their three kids have been guests in my house; I’ve been a guest at their house. They’re remarkably upright, refreshing people. And he’s a great public servant.”
Stating he was “speaking personally and not from a partisan point of view” and “not trying to be an apologist” for Ryan, Cardinal Dolan praised Ryan’s “call for financial accountability and restraint and a balanced budget” as well as his “obvious solicitude for the poor.”
Noting that there may be differences in “prudential judgment” over how to assist the poor, Cardinal Dolan added that “I admire him. He’s honest. He’s refreshing. Do I agree with everything? No, but . . . I’m anxious to see him in action.”

Click on the following for more details: Cardinal Dolan lauds Paul Ryan as ‘great public servant’ : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Lawyers for bishop, KC diocese want some evidence kept out of trial

In their pre-trial motion, attorneys for Finn and the diocese ask a judge to exclude eight pieces of evidence they believe prosecutors intend to introduce at trial, including the contents of Ratigan’s computer hard drive that were turned over to the diocese in December 2010 and to police in May 2011.

The defense maintains that neither Finn nor another high diocesan official saw or reviewed the hard drive’s contents.

They also seek the exclusion of images found in Ratigan’s possession about the time of his arrest. Again, they maintain that those items were never seen by the bishop or other diocesan officials.

Weekly Collection for weekend of August 19, 2012

No change in DSP Total Pledged

Two additional pledges, Total pledges increase $3,872. $314,046 from the $3,000,000 requirement.* SEE FOOTNOTE

. Total pledged increased by $41,522.. $317,919 from the $3,000,000 requirement * Appears that totals below are for August 14.

One additional family pledged. $62,145.10 additional pledged. $359,400 from the $3,000,000 requirement.

This fiscal year’s Sunday Collections

7/3/2011 $14,605 7/1/2012 $15,592

7/10/2011 $12,914 7/8/2012 $14306

7/17/2011 $11,891 7/15/2012 $12,730

7/24/2011 $11,319 7/22/2012 $13,032

7/31/2011 $15,422 7/29/2012 $12,223

8/6/2011 $12,902 8/6/2012 $14,049

8/14/2011 $14,168 8/13/2012 $12,376

8/21/2011 $11,553 8/19/201 $11,880

8/28/2011 $11,806

For more information concerning collections for the past fiscal year go to: http://boonecountycatholics.blogspot.com/2012/06/6-30-2011-financials-1.html

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Local nuns look forward to dialogue with bishops - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register

By STEVEN SPEARIE

The State Journal-Register

Sister Barbara Blesse said Sartain asked to know more about LCWR, which represents more than 80 percent of the nation’s nearly 56,000 women religious. He wanted to know particularly how women religious live out their vows after Vatican II, the ecumenical conference nearly 50 years ago that is credited with modernizing the church, she said.
She said Sartain also gave the LCWR a set of questions it must address, although she didn't know what form of response it might take….
The local nuns said there continue to be misperceptions about LCWR and about presentations from LCWR assemblies that were taken out of context. The CDF assessment particularly cited a 2007 speech by Sister Laurie Brink, a Sinsinawa Dominican, who talked about some religious “moving beyond the church or even beyond Jesus.”
The LCWR "isn't meant to be a teaching organization," said Riley, but rather to help women religious focus on leading in a more collaborative manner.

Read the entire story by clicking on the following: Local nuns look forward to dialogue with bishops - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register

The free exercise of religion and the fortnight that fizzled | NJ.com

By Linda Stamato/NJ VoicesThe Star-Ledger

what the fortnight for freedom was all about was the effort of the bishops to rally “the faithful” to support the imposition of its rules, its beliefs, its righteousness on those who choose not to adhere to those beliefs, on those who believe they should not be denied the freedom to make their own decisions about their healthcare--and that neither should anyone else.

….Employees of religious and religious-affiliated institutions who do not share their employers’ beliefs would have those beliefs imposed upon them. This is an exercise of freedom? Constitutional protections should not be available to those employees who work for religious and religious-affiliated institutions of religion and the fortnight that fizzled

Click on the following for more details: http://blog.nj.com/njv_linda_stamato/2012/08/the_free_exercise_of_religion.html

How much did St. James’ new parking lot cost?

The building permit information for the parking lot (below) appeared in Sunday, 8-19-2012, Rockford Register Star, page E-6-- $245,152…..And that does not include the price of the house and vacant lot—the demolition of the house—cost of the demolition and construction permits—cost of landscaping.

The house and lot purchase prices are known and were posted in November at: http://boonecountycatholics.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-much-did-st-james-pay-for-two.html For your conveniences they are also shown below.

Adding the purchase prices to the permit estimates, $317,889 is the cost obtained. Back months ago an estimate of $12,000 for demolition was supplied by the civil engineer. The $10,000 Guess ($605.00 building permit plus my estimate of landscaping cost). Based on these estimates the Grand Total is $339,889 or $3,008 per parking space.

Construction Costs $245,152

548 Caswell--------------------------------------------------------------------------62,737

402 Laurel Court-------------------------------------------------------------------10,000

Demolition estimate ……………………………..………..….…….12,000

Guess of building permits and landscaping……………………..10,000

Grand Total: $339,889

Per parking space cost $339,889/113 -----------------------------------$3008

Click on the photocopy to enlarge

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Vacant Lot

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Cardinal George diagnosed with cancer - chicagotribune.com

by Jennifer Delgado, Chicago Tribune reporters
August 18, 2012
Cardinal Francis George, who battled bladder cancer six years ago, learned Friday that the disease has returned to his kidney and liver, according to the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Read the entire article by clicking on the following: Cardinal George diagnosed with cancer - chicagotribune.com

Marching for the LCWR « Campus Notes

It’s easy for ivory-tower leaders — all of whom are men — to discount the hard decisions people face in their day-to-day lives, Gundrum said. “The nuns see the complexity. Morality is not black-and-white, no matter what somebody says.”
The same tensions have always been present in the Catholic Church, Gundrum added. Church leaders denounced Galileo for claiming the Earth revolves around the sun. They finally admitted he was right — nearly 400 years later.
“Our group hopes to shorten the amount of time it takes for them to come around,” Gundrum said.

Marching for the LCWR « Campus Notes

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Cardinal Francis George diagnosed with cancer - WGN

Cardinal Francis George will undergo treatment for cancer, the Chicago Archdiocese announced Friday.
According to a statement from the Archdiocese, the Cardinal underwent a procedure on Wednesday at Loyola University Medical Center.

Today the Cardinal met with his doctors who reviewed test results with him which indicated cancerous cells in his kidney and in a nodule that was removed from his liver, the statement said.
Doctors will work with Cardinal George to plan a course of treatment. He will be resting at home this weekend and will be on retreat next week, according to the statement.
This evening, parishioners prayed for his health during services at Holy Name Cathedral.
Cardinal George, 75, has a history of health problems. He underwent surgery for a rare form of bladder cancer six years ago. Doctors said at the time the cancer had not spread to other organs.

Click on the following for more details: Cardinal Francis George diagnosed with cancer - WGN

Friday, August 17, 2012

St. Joseph’s University Poised To Purchase Archbishop’s Residence « CBS Philly

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s financial troubles have forced the auction and sale of some of its prime properties.
Eyewitness News has learned exclusively that St. Joseph’s University has a hand-shake agreement on the table to buy the Archbishop’s Residence at 5700 City Avenue for an estimated $10 million

St. Joseph’s University Poised To Purchase Archbishop’s Residence « CBS Philly

Milwaukee Archdiocese's plan for 2020 features clusters, collaboration

From 2010 to 2020, the number of priest retirements will exceed ordinations, resulting in a projected 40 percent reduction in the number of priests serving in parish ministry; the costs of operating parishes and funding ministries are escalating rapidly and parishes can gain economies of scale by collaborating with other parishes

Read the story by clicking on the following: Milwaukee Archdiocese's plan for 2020 features clusters, collaboration

Boone County Journal: Two letters to editor on St. James

The following are taken from this week’s Boone County Journal which

Thursday, August 16, 2012

St. James will NOT be breaking ground for a new church this year

The following is an insert which will be in this week’s bulletin(8-19-2012) :

Click on the photocopy to enlarge:

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

LCWR, women religious congregations: same corpus | National Catholic Reporter

by Thomas C. Fox on Aug. 15, 2012

An episcopal technique I have come to notice in recent months involves placing heaps of praise at the feet of our women religious congregations while blasting the Leadership Conference of Women Religious for having led them astray by “radical feminist” thought…..
This “good sisters,” “bad LCWR,” back flip deserves some attention
And for the record, this note is not a lead up to the hot topic of women’s ordination. LCWR’s vision is larger. It involves treating each person, male or female, with equal respect and dignity and valuing each person’s contributions upon an equal and inclusive playing field. It involves finding new ways for lost credibility within our church to be restored. It involves finding ways to reach out to the young by witnessing authentically to the Word….

Read the entire opinion piece by clicking on e following: LCWR, women religious congregations: same corpus | National Catholic Reporter

An Ayn Rand Catholic?

Mitt Romney has chosen Paul Ryan as his running mate on the Republican presidential ticket. Paul Ryan, of course, is the author of a budget passed by the US House of Representatives in March that would have cut Medicaid and other health programs by $770 billion and other programs, including welfare, food stamps, agriculture subsidies and transportation by nearly $2 trillion. You also may have heard that Ryan is a Roman Catholic.

What you may not know is that the great inspiration of Ryan’s career in politics is Ayn Rand, the 20th century Russian emigre novelist, and political ideologue. Ryan announced this himself at a meeting of the Ayn Rand Society in 2009, that is to say, three years ago. Rand was adamantly opposed to any connection between the government and the economy. She had her reasons: she’d grown up under Soviet communism and believed that Stalinist repression of free enterprise

She despised the New Deal, and hated Eisenhower for not eviscerating it….. This radical economic individualism is what Ryan’s budget embodies and what Romney has endorsed by choosing Ryan as his running mate.

The other thing worth knowing about Rand, however, is that she was an absolute atheist

Click on the following to read all of this story: Fortnight of Freedom « Marian Ronan

Two men claim now-defrocked priest abused them - Chicago Sun-Times

The lawsuits were filed in Cook County Circuit Court against the Archdiocese and Cardinal Francis George, and list the plaintiffs only as John Doe.
Both men, now in their early 20s, claim they first met McCormack at St. Agatha Catholic Church where he was a pastor and coach starting in September 2000, according to the suits.
One of the plaintiffs claims he was in seventh grade when McCormack first began inappropriately hugging and touching him. The boy, who worked in the parish’s after-school daycare program, claims the then-pastor began sexually abusing him two years later, in 2003.

Click on the following for more details: Two men claim now-defrocked priest abused them - Chicago Sun-Times

It’s an insult to destroy St. James Church in Belvidere - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

Letter: It’s an insult to destroy St. James Church in Belvidere

Shame on 88 members of Belvidere’s St James congregation who were squeezed at Giovanni’s for another $250,000. These funds will contribute to the destruction of the 1886 immigrant-built historical St. James Church.
The wealthy elite aspire for recognition like the pioneers, Malone, Sullivan, McGonical, O’Brien, Moan, Kennedy and the Rev. McGuire, whose names were inscribed in stained glass windows 125 years ago.
The enduring difference, all donors will be remembered not for what they built but for what they destroyed. Shame on those who are silent and let a few be their voice of opposition. Don’t be afraid, speak up. Cancel your pledge. Such an insult to destroy this beloved church for an insignificant 20-space parking lot.
Shame on the Rockford Diocese, for ignoring hundreds of communications, never responding to anyone’s question of “why?” Shame on those who relaxed Diocesan funding rules, enabling the “Building on our Faith” campaign to press forward with minimum pledges. Millions borrowed will be a crushing future debt!
When the 19th century bell is silenced, and the Irish Celtic cross is lowered, the city of Belvidere, St James parishioners, and many across the Rockford Dioceses will remorse the destruction and desecration of this sacred ground.
— Robert A Casey, Belvidere