Friday, January 31, 2014

Notre Dame leaders meet with Pope Francis // News // Notre Dame News // University of Notre Dame

 

After his remarks, the Holy Father shook hands with each person in the Notre Dame group and left them delighted with his personal touch and humor. When Father Jenkins accidentally went to sit for a photo in a chair meant for a cardinal, Pope Francis joked, “Oh, you’re very ambitious.”

Then Pope Francis noticed that his own white chair had been placed slightly in front of the row of Notre Dame leaders. He immediately pushed it back himself so that he was at the same level with everyone else, drawing an appreciative laugh from the Notre Dame delegation.

Click on the following for more details:  Notre Dame leaders meet with Pope Francis // News // Notre Dame News // University of Notre Dame

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Philly DA appeals to restore landmark church case

By Maryclaire Dale, Associated Press

Philadelphia prosecutors have appealed to the state’s highest court to restore the endangerment conviction of a Roman Catholic church official.

Monsignor William Lynn is on house arrest at a rectory after a mid-level appeals court threw out his case.

…..

Prosecutors appealed Monday to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

They say the trial judge correctly handled the case, and say Lynn could have been convicted as an accomplice.

Read the entire story by clicking on the following:  Philly DA appeals to restore landmark church case

Weekly Contributions for the weekend of January 26, 2014

 

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Monday, January 27, 2014

Archdiocese sues former insurance company : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

 

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has filed suit against its former insurance company in an attempt to recover $2.6 million in legal fees related to allegations of clerical sexual abuse.

“OneBeacon has an obligation to pay for these costs under the insurance policies and … the archdiocese is committed to pursuing the monies it has coming to help pay the cost of the bankruptcy proceeding,” an archdiocesan spokesman said.

Read the rest of the story by clicking on the following:  Archdiocese sues former insurance company : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Religion shouldn’t make people miserable. Association of Catholic Priests

 

Religion shouldn’t make people miserable

Why can’t we get it?

Religious people often give the impression of over-seriousness. It’s as if
the weight of the worries of world is hanging from our shoulders giving us a
droopy, hand-dog appearance. Making us more than a tad miserable. The kind
of people, maybe, that you’d cross the street to avoid. The kind of people
who sigh their way through the day, expecting the worst. Waiting for some
inevitable disaster to occur. Or possibly, with a bit of luck, the end of
the world.
There are exceptions, of course. Pope Francis for one seems to sing from a
different hymn-sheet. Now there’s a 78 year-old man with huge
responsibilities, difficult decisions, an impossible job and yet he seems,
well, happy. Usually religious people don’t seem to be happy. Priests don’t
seem to be that happy anymore. Happy bishops seem to be fairly thin on the
ground. But the pope is happy.
What’s different about the happiness Francis exudes is that it’s based on
the very essence of the Christian faith, that God loves us beyond all our
imagining. And he loves us regardless of what we do or what we fail to do.
For some inexplicable reason some ‘religious’ people tend to want us to
believe the opposite, that we’ll get to heaven only if we succeed in
building up enough brownie points by negotiating successfully a series of
jumps on a complex and difficult circuit. A kind of snakes and ladders
version of religion where despite the ladders we might have successfully
negotiated there’s always a snake waiting to send us to ground zero again.
To such a degree indeed that it’s almost impossible to envisage anyone
getting to heaven at all apart from a few miserable saints.
I suspect that Francis believes that God loves us so much that we’re all
going to end up in heaven anyway. Why else is he so happy to say he’s a
sinner? He wants us to believe that it’s no big deal because to be human is
to fail (and to sin) but the unimaginable, inexpressible, incredible love
God has for us will conquer all our limitations and our sinfulness.

  • Isn’t it extraordinary that after 1500 years of Christianity in Ireland, so many of us still haven’t got our heads around the essence of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ – God so loved the world that he sent his Son to tell us about it? Isn’t it extraordinary that so many of us still don’t get it?
  • Isn’t it extraordinary that people who have said their prayers, met their responsibilities and lived admirably can arrive at the end of their lives worrying if they’ll get to heaven when the dogs in the street know that they have to be a shoo-in?
  • Isn’t it extraordinary that the inevitable failures and peccadillos of the human condition have been promoted into huge sins by misery-inducing Christians who don’t seem to understand the central message of the Gospel?
  • Isn’t it extraordinary that we’ve found it easier to believe that, despite everything Jesus Christ said and suffered, that we still find it easier to believe in a God who doesn’t love us rather than in God who does?

A priest who spent much of the pre-Christmas days sitting long hours in the
Confessional told me that though he heard hundreds of Confessions ‘there was
hardly a sin among them’. He’s on the ball because most of the sins
confessed in Confession aren’t really sins at all, just obvious examples of
human failure.
It can be difficult, especially for those of us old enough to remember the
hell-fire denunciations of sin in the past, to get our heads around the fact
that the religion presented to us (and the image of a judgemental God that
was used to sustain it) seemed to have more to say about sin than about
love. I once heard the priest-philosopher, the late John O’Donohue, talk
compellingly about growing up in rural Ireland at a time when almost
everything seemed to be a sin: ‘You could hardly stir at all’, he said in
his booming voice, ‘without committing some kind of sin!’
It has taken us a long time to realise that such an understanding of the
Christian faith is fundamentally skewed. Younger people, who have no memory
of the fears, worries and scruples that damaged our belief in a loving God,
wonder what all the fuss was about. Sadly some older people still worry,
even after a lifetime of living decent and moral lives, about whether God
will turn them away from him when they die.
Here’s a question to ponder: what can we do to bring the central truth of
the Christian faith – that God loves each one of us individually, uniquely
and personally beyond what any of us deserve or could ever expect – into the
very heart of our religious experience?
Part of the answer may be making Confession simpler. Getting it out into the
open, away from the often-dreaded and dreary Confessional Box. Dare I say
it, making it a bit easier for us to recognise and acknowledge our
sinfulness, without the tortuous and scrupulous detailing of every possible
sin, as if God would refuse to give us the benefit of the doubt if we failed
to include every possible peccadillo for the Great Accountant in the Sky?
Part of the answer too may be to domesticate sexual sin, to place it in due
context rather than at the centre of life’s stage with a great spotlight
emphasising the grand obsession. As Pope Francis seems to be suggesting.
Some priests, of course, don’t want Confession to be easy. For some
inexplicable and probably heretical reason they prefer to retain Confession
as a harrowing experience, as if the forgiveness of God can only be mediated
by making us feel miserable. Some priests talk dismissively about people
today ‘losing their sense of sin’ when what’s really happening is that
despite the guilt we have poured for centuries over the natural compulsions
of people’s lives, so many (to their credit) have retained a natural and
human understanding of what makes sense, sin-wise, and what doesn’t.
So, if religion is making you miserable, give your face a holiday and smile.
Because God loves you. He really does. That’s what it’s all about

Above is from:  Religion shouldn’t make people miserable. Association of Catholic Priests

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Weekly Contributions for the weekend of January 19, 2014

 

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No change in Stewardship.

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One additional family pledged.  Total pledges increase $30.oo.

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Pope: Women should play expanded role in Church - Yahoo News

By FRANCES D'EMILIO

    Francis made clear back in November, in an extensive document laying out his priorities as head of the 1.2-billion-member Catholic church, that the ban against women's ordination would stand. Then, and in his speech on Saturday, he did go out of his way to urge a greater role for women in making decisions and holding responsibilities in the church.

    Referring to that document, Francis told his audience that he had stressed "the indispensable contribution of women in society, in particular with their sensitivity and intuition toward the other, the weak and the unprotected." He said he has been heartened that "many women share some pastoral responsibilities with priests in looking after persons, families and groups" and he said he had hoped that "the spaces for a more diffuse and incisive presence in the church be expanded."

    Read the entire story by clicking on the following:  Pope: Women should play expanded role in Church - Yahoo News

    Pope drafting encyclical on man and environment

     

    The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the document was still very much in its early stages and that no publication date has been set. He said it would be about ecology and more specifically the "ecology of man."

    Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, dubbed the "green pope" for his environmental concerns, used the term "ecology of man" to describe not only how people must defend and respect nature but how the nature of the person _ masculine and feminine as created by God _ must also be defended.

    Francis, for his part, has frequently lamented today's wasteful culture. In his homily at his March 19 installation, he called for the faithful to protect creation and "God's plan inscribed in nature."

    Pope drafting encyclical on man and environment

    Monday, January 20, 2014

    Jewish praise Pope Francis for plans to investigate Pius XII - UPI.com

     

    VATICAN CITY, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Jewish groups said Sunday that they are thankful Pope Francis will open the Vatican archives and investigate the actions of Pius XII during the Holocaust.

    Jewish organizations have criticized Pius, who is being considered for canonization, for failing to speak out against the persecution of Jews during World War II.

    Abraham Skorka, a close friend of Francis, told the Sunday Times that the pope would fulfill his promise.

    Pope Francis wrote about the issue in his book, "On Heaven and Earth."

    "Opening the archives of the Shoah [Holocaust] seems reasonable," he wrote. "Let them be opened up and let everything be cleared up. Let it be seen if they could have done something [to help] and until what point they could have helped."

    Click on the following for more details:  Jewish praise Pope Francis for plans to investigate Pius XII - UPI.com

    Saturday, January 18, 2014

    In Stunning Homily Pope Francis Ties Abuse Scandal to Clergy who have No Relationship with God - International - Catholic Online

    By Deacon Keith Fournier

    Thursday morning, January 16, 2014, during his homily at daily Mass at the Chapel of St. Martha.
    Like a good parish priest, Father Francis used the readings from the Holy Mass for his homily. He broke them open as food for the faithful. The Catechism, citing the wonderful Vatican II document on the Word of God (Dei Verbum) reminds us, the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord\'s Body. She never ceases to present to the faithful the bread of life, taken from the one table of God\'s Word and Christ\'s Body. (CCC#103)
    Francis gives us a regular example of letting the scriptures come alive and feeding upon them as bread. In fact, his daily homilies are not only inspiring, they can be of assistance to anyone ordained to preach.
    The first reading was taken from the Old Testament Book of Samuel (1 Sam.4:1-11) which tells the story of the people of Israel going down to utter defeat by the Philistines even though, in their arrogance, they thought they were doing some of the right things. It was because they had fallen away from their first love, their relationship with the Lord. Their leaders had become corrupted as a result of sin, which is separation from God.
    The Holy Father used the biblical account to get to the heart of the sexual abuse crisis the Church is suffering through. Its root cause is sin. Its remedy requires conversion. Vatican Radio gave a summary of the homily entitled Pope Francis: scandals happen when there is no true relationship with God.

    Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  In Stunning Homily Pope Francis Ties Abuse Scandal to Clergy who have No Relationship with God - International - Catholic Online

    Friday, January 17, 2014

    Milwaukee Archdiocese's bankruptcy filing now three years old - News - WTAQ News Talk 97.5FM and 1360AM

     

    All sides have spent around $11 million in legal fees in what the Journal Sentinel calls one of the most contentious among nine Catholic bankruptcy cases in the country.  

    The Milwaukee Archdiocese and its creditors have battled in court over the sale of church to pay the abuse victims -- and which victims are eligible to be compensated.  Legal experts say those battles may continue for years.  

    Pamela Foohey of the University of Illinois College of Law predicts, "multiple objections on multiple bases." 

    Milwaukee Archdiocese's bankruptcy filing now three years old - News - WTAQ News Talk 97.5FM and 1360AM

    New York's cardinal, new mayor discuss shared wish for pope to visit - Catholic Sentinel - Portland, OR

     

    Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York paid an afternoon visit to New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan at his residence Jan. 13 and both leaders promised to work together on a number of issues including the shared desire to have Pope Francis visit New York City.
    "If the pope would come, it would be extraordinary for our city. We'll work together for that goal," said the mayor as he and the cardinal spoke to reporters after their 45-minute meeting.
    The mayor said social services and affordable housing are two issues the city and the archdiocese are concerned about and he promised to work toward a "deep and constant relationship" with the cardinal and the archdiocese.

    For the entire story click on the following:  New York's cardinal, new mayor discuss shared wish for pope to visit - Catholic Sentinel - Portland, OR

    Wednesday, January 15, 2014

    Vatican facing UN showdown on sex abuse record - Yahoo News

    By NICOLE WINFIELD and JOHN HEILPRIN

     

      The Vatican is gearing up for a bruising showdown over the global priest sex abuse scandal, forced for the first time to defend itself at length and in public against allegations it enabled the rape of thousands of children by protecting pedophile priests and its own reputation at the expense of victims.

       

      The Holy See on Thursday will be grilled by a U.N. committee in Geneva on its implementation of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. Among other things, the treaty calls for signatories to take all appropriate measures to protect children from harm and to put children's interests above all else.

      The Holy See ratified the convention in 1990 and submitted a first implementation report in 1994. But it didn't provide progress reports for nearly a decade, and only submitted one in 2012 after coming under criticism following the 2010 explosion of child sex abuse cases in Europe and beyond.

      Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  Vatican facing UN showdown on sex abuse record - Yahoo News

      Pope cleans house at bank with new cardinals - Yahoo News

       

      By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press

       

        >> >VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis made another move to clean house at the troubled Vatican bank on Wednesday, naming a new roster of cardinal advisers to replace the ones who were in place during its latest brushes with scandal. >Only one cardinal from the previous commission overseeing the bank's operations, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, survived the cut.

        Read the entire story by clicking on the following:  Pope cleans house at bank with new cardinals - Yahoo News

        Stockton Catholic Diocese to file for Chapter 11 protection | Local News | Modesto Bee

        By Sue Nowicki

        snowicki@modbee.comJanuary 13, 2014

         

        The Stockton Diocese announced Monday afternoon it will file Wednesday for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The move affects only the diocesan budget and property and will not have an impact on the individually incorporated parishes or ministries, Bishop Stephen Blaire said. The creditors, mostly victims of sexual abuse by priests, are expected to challenge that statement.

        The Stockton Diocese becomes the 10th in the country and the second in the state to move under the protection of the bankruptcy court. The action was taken to reduce the amount of money the diocese must pay in civil cases involving priests and sexual-abuse victims. It also will put a time limit on filing any new lawsuits concerning past sexual abuse. But in an interview with The Bee on Monday afternoon, Blaire said he wasn’t trying to hide assets or blame the legal action on the abuse victims, some of whom have received multimillion-dollar awards.

        “Very simply, we are in this situation because of those priests in our diocese who perpetrated grave, evil acts of child sexual abuse,” he said. “We can never forget that these evil acts, not the victims of the abuse, are responsible

        Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/2014/01/13/3132755/stockton-catholic-diocese-to-file.html#storylink=cpy

        Milwaukee Archdiocese's bankruptcy plan is in the works

        By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

        Three years after it declared bankruptcy as a way to deal with its mounting sex abuse claims, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is poised to file the reorganization plan that will detail how it compensates abuse victims and operates as an institution into the future.

        The archdiocese is preparing that plan, but it has offered few hints about its content or when it might be filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Milwaukee….

        With 575 sex abuse claims and legal fees topping $11 million, it is one of the largest and most contentious bankruptcies filed by Catholic dioceses around the country, say observers and lawyers who've worked on those cases.
        Read more from Journal Sentinel: http://www.jsonline.com/mainheadlines/news/milwaukee-archdiocese-is-ready-to-file-bankruptcy-plan-b99180350z1-240195521.html#ixzz2qUXh0j

        St. Louis archdiocese wins delay in abuse case | KMOV.com St. Louis

         

        ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The Missouri Supreme Court is giving the Archdiocese of St. Louis additional time to release the names of more than 100 employees accused of child sexual abuse since 1986.

        The high court’s ruling on Monday afternoon came after the archdiocese sought more time to comply with a lower court order to provide the names of 115 to lawyers for a woman who is suing the archdiocese.

        The woman was 19 when the lawsuit was filed in 2011. She claims the abuse began when she was 5 years old and attended St. Cronan’s parish in the city. The now-defrocked priest had been convicted of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy at a University City parish decades earlier.

        The state Supreme Court order delays release “until further notice from the court.”

        Read the entire story by clicking on the following:  St. Louis archdiocese wins delay in abuse case | KMOV.com St. Louis

        Thursday, January 9, 2014

        Philadelphia Archdiocese prolongs its own suffering - Philly.com

        By Karen Heller, Inquirer Columnist

        Monsignor William Lynn descended five stories Monday from the courtroom to freedom, only to be met by a scrum of cameras and foul-mouthed hecklers. But he is also 80 pounds lighter from 18 months of exercise and prison grub, so perhaps incarceration wasn't all bad.

        The day after Christmas, a three-judge appeals panel overturned the former archdiocese secretary's conviction of child endangerment in protecting pedophile and defrocked priest Edward Avery. The laws then on the books, the court ruled, applied only to direct supervisors of children, not people supervising those supervisors.

        Read the entire story by clicking on the following:  Philadelphia Archdiocese prolongs its own suffering - Philly.com

        Wednesday, January 8, 2014

        Pope Francis set to name new cardinals to reflect his vision of the Catholic Church | FaithWorld

        By Philip Pullella

        Pope Francis is set to make the most important decisions of his young papacy in the next few weeks by naming new cardinals – the “princes of the Church” who will help him set its future course and one day elect his successor from their number….

        “He will feel very free to choose the people he thinks should be in those positions, regardless of what was done before,” said Father Antonio Spadaro, the editor of the Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica who interviewed the pope last summer.

        “Certainly it will help us further understand where he wants the Church to go.”

        Pope Francis set to name new cardinals to reflect his vision of the Catholic Church | FaithWorld

        Pope Francis eliminates 'monsignor' honorific for most priests | kens5.com San Antonio

         

        The Vatican's Secretary of State sent a letter to its embassies asking them to inform bishops' conferences of the change. From now on, the Vatican reported Tuesday, only diocesan priests who are "chaplains of the Holy Father," can use the honorific, and then only after they turn 65.

        Bishops, vicars and archbishops still get to be called "monsignor" and Holy See officials will have the title if their office warrants it.

        The Vatican noted that Pope Paul VI reduced the number of ecclesiastic honorifics in 1968 and that Francis' decision "should be taken in this vein, as a further simplification."

        Read the entire store by clicking on the following:  Pope Francis eliminates 'monsignor' honorific for most priests | kens5.com San Antonio

        Weekly Contributions for the weekend of January 5, 2014

        It appears that the “Christmas Collection” is actually New year’s.

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        No change in stewardship.

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        Two additional Families pledged.Total Parish Pledges decreased by $455.  Overpayments increased by nearly $3,000.

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        Tuesday, January 7, 2014

        Chicago Catholics to See Letter on Abuse This Sunday | NBC Chicago

         

        By Mary Ann Ahern

        Next week the Chicago Archdiocese will release the names and details of 30 priests involved in sexual misconduct, and the information will grace the bulletins for thousands of Catholics this weekend. The disclosures are part of a settlement agreement ongoing for years. The church notes that most of these cases are from 20 years ago.

        Cardinal Francis George has written a letter to all priests under his supervision, and requested that his letter be published in this Sunday’s parish bulletins, hoping to get in front of what he explains will be the “the actual records of these crimes.”

        “It will be helpful, we pray, for some," George said. "But painful for many.”

        Click on the following for more details:  Chicago Catholics to See Letter on Abuse This Sunday | NBC Chicago

        Sunday, January 5, 2014

        The Pope Francis effect: numbers of Mass-goers in Ireland leaps | Irish News | IrishCentral

         

        The popularity of Pope Francis continues to grow within the Catholic Church in Ireland and in America.
        A survey conducted by The Irish Catholic this week found that the overwhelming majority of dioceses reported huge increases in the numbers of massgoers over Christmas as the faithful returned.
        Similarly, CNN recently reported that the new Pope is hugely popular in the United States.
        This increase in congregations in Ireland has been credited to the people-friendly new pope,

        Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  The Pope Francis effect: numbers of Mass-goers in Ireland leaps | Irish News | IrishCentral

        Saturday, January 4, 2014

        Monsignor William Lynn's attorney calls Phila DA Seth Williams unprofessional for remarks about case. - Morning Call

         

        The lawyer representing the Catholic church official whose child-endangerment conviction was overturned last week by the state Superior Court said Thursday that District Attorney Seth Williams was "unprofessional" for criticizing the ruling and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's decision to pay his client's bail.

        Thomas Bergstrom said he will send letters to the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania detailing Williams' misconduct in response to Monsignor William Lynn's case.

        "I think Williams is way out of line. He's a lawyer, he's a public servant, an officer of the court. He is denigrating the court and denigrating the archdiocese for assisting in the posting of bail for what is — at the moment — an innocent man," Bergstrom told the Daily News.

        Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  Monsignor William Lynn's attorney calls Phila DA Seth Williams unprofessional for remarks about case. - Morning Call

        Convicted Monsignor Free From Prison | NBC 10 Philadelphia

         

        Lynn left the prison in Waymart in northeastern Pennsylvania around 10 a.m. Thursday, prison spokeswoman Terri Fazio said, and was taken by the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office to Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Philadelphia where he spent the night.

        Related Stories Friday morning Lynn was released to an undisclosed location in the city after being fitted with an electronic monitoring device.

        The attorney, Thomas Bergstrom, declined to say where in Philadelphia his client will live while prosecutors appeal the Superior Court ruling. He did however confirm that Lynn will be back in court for a hearing Monday.

        Click on the following for more details:  Convicted Monsignor Free From Prison | NBC 10 Philadelphia

        Thursday, January 2, 2014

        Weekly Contributions for the weekend of December 29, 2013

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        No change in Stewardship.

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        This are last week’s numbers.

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        D.A. blasts archdiocese for helping Lynn make bail - Philly.com

         

        PHILADELPHIA District Attorney Seth Williams blasted the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on Tuesday for helping Msgr. William J. Lynn post bail after an appeals court overturned his conviction for crimes related to sex abuse in the church.

        Lynn needed to post 10 percent of the $250,000 bail set by Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina.

        Williams said the archdiocese posted the $25,000. The archdiocese, through a spokesman, would only confirm that it assisted with Lynn's bail. The state Department of Corrections website showed that Lynn remained in custody…http://robertelena.ourwedding.com/view/6650626613951721/27657913.

         

        Read the entire story by clicking on the following:  D.A. blasts archdiocese for helping Lynn make bail - Philly.com