Wednesday, May 29, 2013
New tour for ‘nuns on the bus’ : News Headlines - Catholic Culture
Last summer, 14 religious sisters boarded a bus in Iowa and traveled to Washington to protest Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget plan. This year, the sisters will advocate for immigration reform.
The nuns will board a bus in New Haven, Connecticut, on May 28 and will conclude their tour in San Francisco on June 18.
Click on the following for more details: New tour for ‘nuns on the bus’ : News Headlines - Catholic Culture
St. James goes to City Planning for permission to double the size of existing church and use Annex as a rectory
The following is the legal notification sent to the 50 plus neighbors of St. James regarding zoning changes.
Click on the photocopy to enlarge:
The narrative from St. James’ project engineer, Arc Design. Note the large number of requested variances.
There are eight variances being requested.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Chicago Jesuits hid sex crimes - chicagotribune.com
By Manya BrachearTribune reporter
Internal church records released Tuesday show that Chicago Jesuits consciously concealed the crimes of convicted sex offender Donald McGuire for more than 40 years as the prominent Roman Catholic priest continued to sexually abuse dozens of children around the globe.
One letter written in 1970 by the Rev. John H. Reinke, then president of Loyola Academy in Wilmette, described McGuire's presence at the school as "positively destructive and corrosive." Instead of insisting he be removed from ministry or sent to treatment, Reinke suggested a transfer to Loyola University.
The documents contributed to a $19.6 million settlement between the Jesuits and six men from four states announced Tuesday….
lawyers have identified 28 men who have alleged abuse by McGuire from the 1960s until 2004. Eight have filed lawsuits.
Click on the following for more details: Chicago Jesuits hid sex crimes - chicagotribune.com
Note this story regarding Mother Teresa and Donald McGuire
Last month (Janu7ary 2012), SF Weekly published a cover story revealing that two candidates for Catholic sainthood -- including Mother Teresa, founder of the Missionaries of Charity order and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize -- had taken steps to protect convicted pedophile priest Donald McGuire after molestation allegations were lodged against him by a Bay Area family in 1993.
Mother Teresa's implication in the McGuire scandal comes through a typed 1994 letter, never before published, in which she appears to urge the priest's Jesuit superior to return him to active ministry despite the abuse allegation. (McGuire returned to ministry, and molested multiple additional boys before his arrest in 2003.) While the letter is unsigned, it bears a salutation in her characteristic handwriting, and contains strong clues indicating Mother Teresa as the author. For instance, the letter-writer refers by name to the nun's four top deputies, calling them "my assistants."
Read the Mother Thersa story by clicking on the following: http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2012/02/mother_teresa_pedophile_mary_j.php
Weekly Collections for the weekend of May 19, 2013
Apparently a correction to the pledge numbers. One less family total pledges did not change.
St. James’ New Plans
The following is taken from the May 26, 2013 bulletin which is available on line.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Judge drops charges against Bishop Finn, forces settlement | The Catholic Response to the Huffington Post
U.S. District Judge Gary Fenner dismissed the charge on the grounds that the law concerns accusations of aiding and abetting a perpetrator before or during the commission of the crime.
He said the diocese and the bishop did not know about the hundreds of lewd photos on Kansas City priest Father Shawn Ratigan’s laptop until after he committed the crime, the Associated Press reports.
Lawyers tentatively settled a lawsuit filed against the bishop and his diocese on behalf of a girl who was two years old when the priest took lewd photos of her in 2006.
The settlement was tentatively settled for $600,000, Gregg Meyers of the Minnesota law firm Jeff Anderson and Associates told the Associated Press before the deal was officially announced.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Judge dismisses one civil count against KC diocese, bishop - KansasCity.com
order issued Tuesday morning, U.S. District Judge Gary Fenner dismissed one of two civil counts facing the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and Bishop Robert Finn.
The victim, known in the litigation as Jane Doe 173, will not be able to present evidence that Finn and the diocese aided and abetted the Rev. Shawn Ratigan in his possession of lewd images of her….
Finn and the diocese still face a civil count alleging that they received, possessed or distributed pornographic images of Jane Doe 173. Jurors could be asked to determine if three images of the girl were pornographic and whether Finn and the diocese deliberately chose to ignore clear evidence that images found on Ratigan’s laptop constituted child pornography.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/05/14/4235519/judge-limits-porn-related-claims.html#storylink=cpy
Weekly Collections for the weekend of May 12, 2013
No change in number of families pledged; Total pledges increase $3,555.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Cardinal O’Brien scandal: No to new Scots bishops - Top stories - Scotsman.com
The Catholic Church of Scotland is facing fresh scrutiny after the Vatican ordered a halt to the appointment of new Scottish bishops until an investigation into Cardinal Keith O’Brien is complete.
• No new Scottish bishops are to be appointed until an investigation into Cardinal Keith O’Brien has been completed
• The Vatican order comes as Catholic Church comes to terms with Cardinal O’Brien’s resignation earlier this year amid allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour
also wants an inquiry into revelations made by a serving priest in Lanarkshire, Father Matthew Despard, of the existence of a “gay mafia”, sexual bullying and open sexual relationships in the Catholic Church.
Read the entire article by clicking on the following: Cardinal O’Brien scandal: No to new Scots bishops - Top stories - Scotsman.com
Rockford's search for Catholic priests hits a ‘materialist age’ - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
number of priests has remained relatively stable — 182 diocesan priests in 2012 versus 170 in 1965 — but the makeup of Rockford’s clergy has become dramatically grayer.
The number of active diocesan priests is down 20 percent since 1965, and the number of retired priests has increased sixfold to 53.
And the clergy work force does not reflect the diocese’s faithful, nearly half of whom are Hispanic. There are 24 priests of Hispanic descent in the diocese, just more than 13 percent of the total, although many parishes offer Mass in Spanish.
By the numbers
11 Counties covered by the Catholic Diocese of Rockford
390,476 Catholics
105 Parishes
68% Catholics of the diocese who live in Kane and McHenry counties
182* Priests
129 Active priests
53 Retired priests
49 Median age of Rockford’s priests
22 Seminarians
47% Hispanic Catholics
13% Hispanic priests*Does not include religious-order priests
Friday, May 10, 2013
Vatican says its congregations collaborate, including on LCWR decision
Two days after the head of the Vatican office overseeing religious life said he had not been consulted by the Vatican's doctrinal office about a controversial investigation of American nuns, the two bodies affirmed their "common commitment" to reform of the U.S.-based Leadership Conference of Women Religious.
the media's interpretation of the cardinal's remarks were "not justified."
"The prefects of these two congregations work closely together according to their specific responsibilities and have collaborated throughout the process of the doctrinal assessment of the LCWR," the statement said.
During their meeting, it said, Archbishop Muller and Cardinal Braz de Aviz "reaffirmed their common commitment to the renewal of religious life, and particularly to the doctrinal assessment of the LCWR and the program of reform it requires, in accordance with the wishes of the Holy Father."
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Monday, May 6, 2013
Vatican religious prefect: 'I was left out of LCWR finding' | National Catholic Reporter
The Vatican decision last year to place the main representative group of U.S. Catholic sisters under the control of bishops was made without consultation or knowledge of the Vatican office that normally deals with matters of religious life, the office's leader said Sunday.
That lack of discussion over whether to criticize the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), said Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, caused him "much pain."
"We have to change this way of doing things," said Braz de Aviz, head of the Vatican's Congregation for Religious….
"We will obey what the Holy Father wants and what will be decided through you," Braz de Aviz told the sisters he had said to Levada. "But we must say that this material which should be discussed together has not been discussed together."
"I obeyed," Braz de Aviz continued telling the sisters. "But I had so much pain within me."
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Does the church really need a second Fortnight for Freedom? | USCatholic.org
If at first they don't succeed, the U.S. bishops are determined to try, try again. And so this summer, the bishops have announced they will sponsor the second annual Fortnight for Freedom campaign, another two weeks devoted to trying to prove that Catholics' religious freedom in the United States is in grave danger
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Weekly Collection for the weekend of April 29, 2013
Four additional pledges however Total Pledges decreased by $13,589.
Also note the Letter from the Pastor in the May 5, 2013 bullentin.and the greatly decreased Diocesan Stewardship goals. (See below)
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