Weekly Contribution for the weekend of August 24, 2014

 

No change in Parish Pledges.

Letter calls upon Pope Francis to investigate Kansas City bishop

Brian Roewe | Aug. 25, 2014

A judge's recent affirmation that the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese pay $1.1 million for breaching abuse settlement terms has led a retired Milwaukee priest to again request that the pope initiate a penal process investigating Bishop Robert Finn for violations of church law.

In a letter dated Aug. 21, Fr. James Connell, a canon lawyer, wrote to Pope Francis to inform him of recent developments that "solidify the need for a penal process in this matter."

"It just struck me that it would be wise to get it documented that further court actions confirmed Finn being wrong with the way he handled things and the church really ought to be doing something about that," Connell told NCR.

On Aug. 14, Jackson County Circuit Judge Bryan E. Round upheld an arbitrator's March decision that the diocese violated five of 19 nonmonetary terms included as part of a 2008 settlement with 47 clergy abuse survivors. Both Round and arbitrator Hollis Hanover ordered the diocese to pay $1.1 million in damages. Spokesman Jack Smith confirmed to NCR the diocese would not appeal the decision.

The plaintiffs who brought the case to arbitration specifically pointed to Finn's and the diocese's failure to report former priest Shawn Ratigan when it first learned he possessed child pornography. In September 2012, Finn was convicted of a misdemeanor for failing to report suspected child abuse. Ratigan, who is serving a 50-year prison sentence, was laicized in January.

 

"The Arbitrator's Order, now confirmed by Judge Round," Connell wrote in the letter, "establishes that not only did Bishop Finn not report an allegation of sexual abuse of minors by one of his priests to civil authorities as required by Missouri law and for which Bishop Finn was found guilty of a crime ... in so doing Bishop Finn also violated the 2008 settlement agreement and has demonstrated that Bishop Finn and the Diocesan leadership have placed the importance of protecting clergy from criminal prosecution over that of protecting children from sexual abuse."

In early February, Connell sent a first letter and additional documents to Rome on behalf of a group of Kansas City Catholics asking for a canonical review of Finn. He based the request on two canons -- 1389 and 1399 -- and said "this lack of action by the Catholic Church to do justice and repair scandal contributes to the ongoing scandal among the faithful that is a result of the Catholic clergy sexual abuse crisis."

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the U.S., confirmed Feb. 15 he received the letter and passed it on to Rome. Connell also mailed copies to Finn and St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson. Connell said he wrote Viganò a few months later asking for an update but received no reply.

In the latest four-page letter, the Milwaukee priest reiterated that while secular courts have found Finn in violation of civil law and breach of a settlement, the church has yet to act on possible violations of church law. He contends that by not reporting Ratigan to civil authorities, Finn in fact violated ecclesiastical law in addition to Missouri law.

Read more by clicking on the following:  http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/letter-calls-upon-pope-francis-investigate-kansas-city-bishop

New Obama birth control fixes for religious groups

Effective immediately, the U.S. will start allowing faith-affiliated charities, colleges and hospitals to notify the government — rather than their insurers — that they object to birth control on religious grounds.

A previous accommodation offered by the Obama administration allowed those nonprofits to avoid paying for birth control by sending their insurers a document called Form 700, which transfers responsibility for paying for birth control from the employer to the insurer. But Roman Catholic bishops and other religious plaintiffs argued just submitting that form was like signing a permission slip to engage in evil.

In a related move, the administration announced plans to allow for-profit corporations like Hobby Lobby Inc. to start using Form 700. The Supreme Court ruled in June that the government can't force companies like Hobby Lobby to pay for birth control, sending the administration scrambling for a way to ensure their employees can still get birth control one way or another at no added cost.

The dual decisions mark the Obama administration's latest effort to address a long-running conflict that has pitted the White House against churches and other religious groups.

Read more by clicking on the following:  http://news.yahoo.com/obama-offers-accommodations-birth-control-172442035--finance.html

Weekly Contribution for the weekend of August 17, 2014

No change in number of pledges but Total Parish Pledges decreased by $290.  Total Paid appears in error (collections were not added to total paid)

Pope Confirms Hopes For 3-City US Trip In 2015

Aboard the papal plane as it made its way back to Italy from a trip to Asia, the Pope spoke briefly about visiting Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families Conference.

He said he would like to come to Philadelphia for the encounter of families, and he was also invited by the President to speak to Congress in Washington, and by the secretary general of the United Nations in New York.

Read more by clicking on the following:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/08/18/pope-confirms-hopes-for-3-city-us-trip-in-2015/

Pope Francis Sends Message to China in Telegram From Papal Plane

By

Deborah Ball

This time, Beijing allowed Pope Francis to fly over China. The gesture is significant, particularly in light of the especially poor state of relations, which have hit a low in recent years after Chinese authorities placed a Catholic bishop under house arrest.

The Vatican has long been anxious to repair relations with Beijing. In its quest to spread the faith in Asia, where Catholicism today represents a tiny slice of the population, China is the big kahuna. Its huge population and the spiritual vacuum left by eroding Communist ideology are a dream for Vatican evangelists.

As a result, the dog-whistle message sent from the papal plane will surely perk up the antennae of Vatican- and China-watchers alike.

Read more by clicking on the following:  http://online.wsj.com/articles/pope-francis-sends-message-to-china-in-telegram-from-papal-plane-1407981654

Weekly Contribution for the weekend of August 10, 2014

 

One additional family pledged however Total Parish Pledges decreased by $4965.

Pope Francis Heads To South Korea To Kick Off Year Of Evangelization In Asia

 

By Nicole Winfield

 

VATICAN CITY (AP) - When Pope Francis was a young Jesuit, he wanted to follow in the great Jesuit tradition and become a missionary in Asia. Health problems kept him home, but he is finally getting his chance, travelling to Asia as the world's most visible and popular Catholic missionary.

During his visit to South Korea this week, he'll bring a message of peace and reconciliation to the divided Korean peninsula and a call for young Catholics to take up the missionary charge themselves, spreading the faith on a continent where the Catholic Church is small but growing. Asia's Christians have endured dramatic persecutions over history that echo attacks against Christians today in parts of the Middle East and Africa.

While the pope is expected to reach out to Pyonyang during the visit, no North Koreans are expected to attend. The archdiocese of Seoul invited a delegation of Northern Christians, but Pyongyang authorities informed organizers last week t hat they wouldn't come, the Vatican said.

The Aug. 13-18 trip marks the first time a pope has been on the Korean peninsula in a quarter-century and the trip kicks off what is expected to be a very Asian-focused year for the 77-year-old pontiff: He will travel to Sri Lanka and the Philippines in January and there are rumors of a trip to Japan next year as well

Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/11/pope-francis-south-korea_n_5668228.html

Companies prepare to give Pope Francis a truly 'made in Korea' experience

He will be driven around not in a grand limo or a special pope mobile, but a humble compact car created by Kia Motors.
During the papal mass he will don robes hand-made by Korean nuns and drink a brand of Korean wine used in most Korean cathedrals.
Two Korean mineral water brands will keep the pope and his team hydrated throughout his stay.
But none of the brand names used by the pope will be publicized, as a show of the companies' devotion to the pope's humble approach to his ministry.

Read more by clicking on the following:  http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=166559

Buy old bricks to pay for the new

 

 

Weekly Contribution for the weekend of August 3, 2014

No figures available.

Church Addition Awaited As Parish Celebrates 150

This youngster was among several children and adults who had a hand or face painted by Dave Worrel during the St. James Parish picnic on July 26.  Worrel also designed a medallion that will be given to participants of the 150th anniversary year events.

The exterior of an addition to St. James Church in Belvidere is well under way. It is expected to be finished during the parish’s 150th year.

By Amanda Hudson, News Editor

August 1, 2014

BELVIDERE—“I’m just really thrilled about how many are showing up,” said Cathy Vendemia as a steady flow of people continued to come across the lawn to the St. James Church picnic on Saturday, July 26.

Along with Mass the night before on the feast of St. James, the picnic helped kick-off the parish’s 150th anniversary year.

Held at Spencer Park, here,  the afternoon featured brats, hot dogs and plenty of potluck salads, desserts, chips and more. The line stretching through the pavilion had people of all ages relaxing and visiting on their way to the food.

Kids and adults got their faces or hands painted by parishioner Dave Worrell, who is the town’s fire chief.

Worrell also designed a medallion for the anniversary, which will be cast and given to first communicants, at weddings and other special events during the year, Vendemia said.

Games for the children and a tug-of-war were planned for after the picnic meal, she added.

For several members of the parish building committee, the success of the parish family picnic was extra sweet. The picnic, Vendemia said, “is a way to bring people back together — we’re calling it a family reunion. We’re trying to unify and bring our parish (back) together.”

St. James Parish is emerging from a challenging time. After many months of sometime-sharp disagreement on whether to build a new church in a new location or remodel the old, most St. James parishioners are now happily in favor of the addition being built onto the old church in downtown Belvidere. Walls are up and hopes are high for a December completion.

It was “such a tough beginning,” said Josette DeBruyne, a building committee member who has been a parishioner at St. James for 10 years. The timing of the 150th anniversary is good, she added, noting that “the history (of the old church) is going to be there, and we’ll still have a new, bigger and better space.”

The addition will greatly expand the church capacity.

“We can have one Mass instead of two,” Vendemia said of the closing Mass planned for the parish patron’s feast on July 25, 2015. On the weekends, she adds, “We can have four Masses instead of eight.”

The list of events for the 150th year includes several that are happening soon: an Aug. 15 bus trip to the Marian shrine in LaCrosse, Wisconsin; an Aug. 16 bus trip to Milwaukee for the Irish Fest; a Sept. 13 golf outing; a Sept. 20 dinner; and an Oct. 24 Chili Cook-off and Trunk-or-Treat event.

“It’s an exciting time,” Vendemia concludes. “It’s going to be a wonderful year.”

Above taken from:  http://observer.rockforddiocese.org/article?id=458

Milwaukee church bankruptcy headed to mediation

M.L. JOHNSON, Associated Press

A reorganization plan proposed by the archdiocese earlier this year would give 128 victims roughly half of an $8 million insurance settlement. Others who have filed claims would receive nothing. Meanwhile, attorneys' fees are now estimated at $13.7 million, and victims have been outraged by the idea that attorneys would receive more money than them.

Bankruptcy Judge Susan Kelley said during a morning hearing that she would likely issue a written order later in the day for mediation to take place in early September.

"The point of this is to try to negotiate a resolution quickly and stop the legal fees," she said.

A mediation attempt in 2012 failed, in part because the archdiocese maintained there were too many issues to hash out. A sticking point this time could be whether the archdiocese's former insurers participate.

Read the rest of the article by clicking on the following:  http://www.marshfieldnewsherald.com/story/news/local/2014/07/30/milwaukee-archdiocese-owes-millions-in-legal-fees/13358039/

Rev. Pfleger wants guns banned from all archdiocese buildings

BY MICHAEL SNEED July 31, 2014 9:28PM

Pfleger, the firebrand pastor of one of the largest African-American Catholic congregations in Chicago, now wants guns banned from all buildings belonging to the archdiocese.

“Guns shouldn’t be in our churches,” said Pfleger, the combative pastor of St. Sabina who describes himself “as the only priest in the archdiocese to be suspended twice!”

“How can we be role models and a witness in the world if guns are in our buildings and offices — especially when gang crime is destroying our neighborhoods and when the CEO of a Loop company was shot in his office today by an employee, who then killed himself,” he tells Sneed.

Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  http://www.suntimes.com/news/sneed/28984488-452/sneed-exclusive-rev-pfleger-wants-guns-banned-from-all-archdiocese-buildings.html#.U9zOU410zIV

In latest interview, Pope Francis reveals top 10 secrets to happiness

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Slowing down, being generous and fighting for peace are part of Pope Francis' secret recipe for happiness.
In an interview published in part in the Argentine weekly "Viva" July 27, the pope listed his Top 10 tips for bringing greater joy to one's life:
1. "Live and let live." Everyone should be guided by this principle, he said, which has a similar expression in Rome with the saying, "Move forward and let others do the same."

Pope Francis greets the crowd as he arrives to lead a general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican last month. (CNS/Paul Haring)

2. "Be giving of yourself to others." People need to be open and generous toward others, he said, because "if you withdraw into yourself, you run the risk of becoming egocentric. And stagnant water becomes putrid."
3. "Proceed calmly" in life. The pope, who used to teach high school literature, used an image from an Argentine novel by Ricardo Guiraldes, in which the protagonist -- gaucho Don Segundo Sombra -- looks back on how he lived his life.
"He says that in his youth he was a stream full of rocks that he carried with him; as an adult, a rushing river; and in old age, he was still moving, but slowly, like a pool" of water, the pope said. He said he likes this latter image of a pool of water -- to have "the ability to move with kindness and humility, a calmness in life."
4. "A healthy sense of leisure." The pleasures of art, literature and playing together with children have been lost, he said.
"Consumerism has brought us anxiety" and stress, causing people to lose a "healthy culture of leisure." Their time is "swallowed up" so people can't share it with anyone.
Even though many parents work long hours, they must set aside time to play with their children; work schedules make it "complicated, but you must do it," he said.
Families must also turn off the TV when they sit down to eat because, even though television is useful for keeping up with the news, having it on during mealtime "doesn't let you communicate" with each other, the pope said.
5. Sundays should be holidays. Workers should have Sundays off because "Sunday is for family," he said.
6. Find innovative ways to create dignified jobs for young people. "We need to be creative with young people. If they have no opportunities they will get into drugs" and be more vulnerable to suicide, he said.
"It's not enough to give them food," he said. "Dignity is given to you when you can bring food home" from one's own labor.
7. Respect and take care of nature. Environmental degradation "is one of the biggest challenges we have," he said. "I think a question that we're not asking ourselves is: 'Isn't humanity committing suicide with this indiscriminate and tyrannical use of nature?'"
8. Stop being negative. "Needing to talk badly about others indicates low self-esteem. That means, 'I feel so low that instead of picking myself up I have to cut others down,'" the pope said. "Letting go of negative things quickly is healthy."
9. Don't proselytize; respect others' beliefs. "We can inspire others through witness so that one grows together in communicating. But the worst thing of all is religious proselytism, which paralyzes: 'I am talking with you in order to persuade you,' No. Each person dialogues, starting with his and her own identity. The church grows by attraction, not proselytizing," the pope said.
10. Work for peace. "We are living in a time of many wars," he said, and "the call for peace must be shouted. Peace sometimes gives the impression of being quiet, but it is never quiet, peace is always proactive" and dynamic

Read more by clicking on the following:   http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1403144.htm