Charges reinstated against Philadelphia priest in landmark sex-abuse case | lehighvalleylive.com

 

The state's highest court on Monday reinstated the landmark child-endangerment conviction of a Roman Catholic monsignor who was the first U.S. church official ever prosecuted over his handling of sex abuse complaints.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the 2012 felony conviction of Monsignor William Lynn for endangering an altar boy abused by a priest who had been transferred to his parish despite earlier complaints.

Lynn's lawyers have long argued that Lynn, as secretary for clergy, was not responsible for the welfare of the victim under existing Pennsylvania law. However, the state Supreme Court in a 4-1 ruling disagreed, potentially sending the 64-year-old Lynn back to prison.

"(Lynn) was a person supervising the welfare of many children because, as a high-ranking official in the archdiocese of Philadelphia, he was specifically responsible for protecting children from sexually abusive priests," Justice Max Baer wrote.

Lynn had served half of a three-to-six-year sentence when a Superior Court opinion in late 2013 threw out his conviction and led to his release. He has remained on house arrest, in a northeast Philadelphia rectory, while prosecutors appealed.

Defense lawyer Thomas Bergstrom said Lynn may appeal the novel legal issues in the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"They're equating Lynn with being in charge of all of the children of the archdiocese, whether they were abused or not," Bergstrom said. "It's troubling to me that this broad approach would be approved by the court."

"He, Lynn, never even knew about this abuse until 2009 and never even knew the child existed, let alone that he was being abused by (the Rev. Edward) Avery," Bergstrom said.

Avery pleaded guilty to abusing the boy but later recanted his apparent admission during Lynn's trial. He was— sentenced to 2 1/2 to five years in prison.

Avery was one of several priests reassigned to unsuspecting parishes despite complaints that Lynn reviewed at the archdiocese, where he held the high-ranking post under two cardinals from 1992 to 2004.

"I did not intend any harm to come to (the boy). The fact is, my best was not good enough to stop that harm," Lynn said at his July 2012 sentencing. "I am a parish priest. I should have stayed (one)."

The same boy also accused another priest and a teacher at the same parish of abusing him. Both were convicted.

Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina told Lynn that he should have stood up to his bishops. Instead, she said, he enabled "monsters in clerical garb . to destroy the souls of children."

Lynn has 14 days to decide whether to appeal Monday's ruling.

"I don't think it's fair to assume anybody's going to pick him up tonight," Bergstrom said.

The Philadelphia district attorney's office, which prosecuted him, praised the Supreme Court's ruling.

"Today's announcement sends the clear message that if anyone - priest, layperson, citizen, police officer or elected official - knowingly puts children at risk of being sexually molested, they will be held accountable," District Attorney Seth Williams

Charges reinstated against Philadelphia priest in landmark sex-abuse case | lehighvalleylive.com

First Two Phila. Clergy Abuse Lawsuits Settle | The Legal Intelligencer

 

Two plaintiffs in civil cases alleging they had been abused by priests from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have settled their lawsuits against the church for an undisclosed amount, according to their attorney.

The settlements concluded the cases of John Doe 10 and John Doe 187, who claimed they were the victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by archdiocese clerics. Malvern-based attorney Daniel Monahan represents the plaintiffs and said the terms of the settlement remain confidential at the wishes of his clients.

According to the complaints, Doe 187, a former altar boy at the Incarnation of Our Lord Parish, alleged that Father William Ayres abused him in different areas of the church, while Doe 10 claimed he was sexually abused in the bathroom of the St. Aloysius Academy in Bryn Mawr as a student by former priest Martin Satchell. Both incidents were alleged to have occurred in the 1990s, while the plaintiffs were minors.

The plaintiffs alleged that the archdiocese knew about patterns of abuse committed by priests, but did nothing to safeguard those children who were at risk. According to Monahan, the settlement itself is between the plaintiffs and the archdiocese, as all other defendants, including Ayres and Satchell, had been dismissed.

Conrad O’Brien attorney Nicholas M. Centrella represents the archdiocese and did not return a call seeking comment. The archdiocese’s communications office did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

Monahan said the settlements were significant for the plaintiffs.

“One of the important things for these clients is a sense of empowerment, taking back some of the power they lost when they were children,” Monahan said.

According to Monahan, roughly 15 clergy abuse cases handled by his firm have been dismissed on statute of limitations issues, while an additional two are on appeal before the state Superior Court for similar issues. Doe 10 and Doe 187 are the first two to reach settlement.

First Two Phila. Clergy Abuse Lawsuits Settle | The Legal Intelligencer

Weekly Collection for week ending April 26, 2015

 

Three additional pledges. $1,789 less pledged.

Weekly Collection for the week ending April 19,2015

 

Six additional pledges.  $4,868 ADDITIONAL PLEDGED—Note decrease in April 26 collection.

Pope Francis Names Rabbi Arthur Schneier Papal Knight Cardinal Dolan Confers the Papal Knight of Saint Sylvester to Founder and President of The Appeal of Conscience Foundation and Senior Rabbi of Park East Synagogue

 

Rabbi Arthur Schneier has been conferred the title of Papal Knight of Saint Sylvester by Cardinal Timothy Dolan in the presence of top religious leaders and elected officials.

According to Archbishop Bernardito C. Auza, the Apostolic Nuncio, and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, who hosted the ceremony, “Pope Francis is bestowing the honor on Rabbi Arthur Schneier who has worked unceasingly to promote peace and mutual understanding, in the firm conviction that respect for fundamental human rights, including religious freedom, are indispensable values for all peoples of the world to enjoy peace, security and shared prosperity. A Holocaust survivor, Rabbi Schneier has always held this conviction in his heart and made it a principle of life.”

Born in Vienna in 1930, Rabbi Schneier survived the Holocaust in Budapest, Hungary in 1945 and arrived in the United States in 1947.  Rabbi Arthur Schneier has been the Senior Rabbi of the 125-year old Park East Synagogue, one of New York City’s historic landmark houses of worship since 1962; he founded the Appeal of Conscience Foundation in 1965.

“The rare honor bestowed upon me by Pope Francis as Knight of Saint Sylvester marks the 50th anniversary of my meetings in the Vatican and the beginning of the cooperation between the Holy See and the Appeal of Conscience Foundation in helping advance religious freedom and human rights,” said Rabbi Arthur Schneier. “It is also the year that we celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, a turning point in Catholic Jewish relations.”

According to Rabbi Schneier, “The visit of Saint Pope Paul John Paul II to the Rome synagogue, Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to synagogues in Europe as well as Park East Synagogue, the first papal visit to a synagogue in the United States, are historic events that have contributed to the evolving relationship between Catholic Church and the Jewish people. With great joy I helped welcome Pope Francis at the Wall in Jerusalem. I am greatly honored to be recognized by His Holiness, a voice of conscience who has embraced humanity with his outreach, compassion, love and mercy to all of God’s children.”

Rabbi Schneier also stated that, “As we remember the 70^th anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe, sadly, the hope for a new world order of peace has not materialized. We face once again a volatile world in conflict with radical extremist having hijacked religion to legitimize their barbarism inflicted on religious minorities particularly, Christian minorities who are in the front line of persecution being oppressed, uprooted and decapitated.”

Rabbi Arthur Schneier renewed his plea to stop those who abuse their role as religious leaders, “We clearly must rebut the preachers of hate who incite violence, demonize other faiths and help spread anti-Semitism, Christianophobia, Islamophobia. ‘A crime perpetrated in the name of religion, is the greatest crime against religion.’ Join me in awakening a public in the slumber of indifference and apathy to these heinous crimes. May God protect and shield us and help our joint efforts in pursuit of peace and security.”

Rabbi Arthur Schneier was awarded the U.S. Presidential Citizens Medal for “his service as an international envoy for four administrations, devoting a lifetime to overcoming the forces of hatred and intolerance by encouraging interfaith dialogue and intercultural understanding and promoting the cause of religious freedom around the world.” Rabbi Schneier has also received the U.S. Department of State Special Recognition Award and has been nominated for the Congressional Gold Medal.

Rabbi Arthur Schneier was named as one of the 100 most trustworthy people in the U.S. by the Readers’ Digest magazine poll and listed as one the most influential rabbis in the U.S. by Newsweek Magazine. He is the recipient of eleven honorary doctorates from U.S. and European universities and was awarded the Legion of Honor, high awards from Germany, Austria, Russia, Hungary, Croatia, Italy, Poland and Spain .

The ceremony was attended by former United States Secretary of State, Dr. Henry Kissinger. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D- NY). Former New York City Mayor, David Dinkins. Former New York City Police Commissioner, Ray Kelly. Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Archbishop Barsamian, of the Armenian Church of America. The Reverend Dr. Fred R. Anderson, of the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church-Trustees of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation-Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, The Executive Vice President of the New York Board of Rabbis and Imam al-Hajj Talib Abdur-Rashid, The Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood, Abraham Foxman, The National Director of the Anti-Defamation League and Rabbi Michael Miller, The Executive VP & CEO of The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York.

Pope Francis Names Rabbi Arthur Schneier Papal Knight Cardinal Dolan Confers the Papal Knight of Saint Sylvester to Founder and President of The Appeal of Conscience Foundation and Senior Rabbi of Park East Synagogue

Woman excommunicated because she was ordained | Local News - WISN Home

 

Milwaukee native is looking forward to seeing the leader of the Catholic church in September, despite being excommunicated by that same church.

• Janice Sevre-Duszynska left Milwaukee in 1985 and headed to Lexington, Kentucky. It was there that she begged for ordination to become a priest.

She told church officials, "Why don't you just let me go to the seminary? You can send me to Mexico, I'll brush up on my Spanish. Put me wherever you want me."

She was told that she could not become a priest because she isn't a man.

WISN 12 News anchor Joyce Garbaciak asked her why she didn't become a priest in a religion that accepts women priests.

"That just doesn't make sense to me at all," she answered. "I'm a daughter of the church, and I won't abandon my family."

Undeterred, she received ordination through the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests in 2008. To learn more, visit its website here.

A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee reiterated the church's stance that only a baptized man can validly receive sacred ordination.

Sevre-Duszynska has continued her activism for the cause. She invited Milwaukee Jesuit Bill Brennan to celebrate Mass with her in 2012.

He did, and he was stripped of many of his priestly duties because of it.

Brennan died in 2014 and never spoke publicly about the topic of woman ordination until a series of videos he had recorded on his deathbed were released after he died.

Sevre-Duszynska also suffered consequences advocating for women's ordination. She recently received a decree of ex-communication from the church.

She rejects the idea.

"We don't accept excommunication because you're part of a church community when you're baptized," she said. "You can't rescind your baptism."

Julie Wolf, of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, said the choice belonged to Sevre-Duszynska.

"It's sad when people deliberately separate themselves from their church," she said.

Sevre-Duszynska said her group will be in Philadelphia ordaining bishops at the same time Pope Francis is scheduled to visit. She is nominated to be one of many female priests elevated to bishop.

She hopes that the pope and other leaders of the church will someday be open to the idea of women priests.

"God has created us equally," she said. "We need these men to open up their hearts and take up the example of the gospels." 

 

Woman excommunicated because she was ordained | Local News - WISN Home

The paradoxes of Bishop Finn | USCatholic.org

 

Rejoicing over the recent resignation of Bishop Robert Finn as the bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph is unseemly. I take no joy in another person’s distress, and I wonder what the church will do with a bishop who is only 62 years old and has 13 years of active episcopal ministry left. What does the church do with a bishop without a diocese? 

Bernard Law, when he first stepped down from the See of Boston, was supposed to live a quiet life of prayer as chaplain for the Alma Mercy Sisters, but we all know how that worked out. A similar call to Finn for a cushy Roman job is out of the question. There is a different pope now.

This is but one of the paradoxes in Finn’s case. Another is: Why did he choose to ignore the Dallas Charter, the compact that he had with his fellow bishops, not to allow sexually abusive priests to remain in ministry? That was a promise that the entire body of American bishops made to the faithful in the United States. How could Finn think that he knew better than his fellow bishops? Did he ever consider the effects of his breach on the rest of the American church, namely the persistence of the doubt that if one bishop was breaking the Charter, others probably were as well, but were just better at not getting caught?

And another paradox: Why did his fellow bishops not call him out publicly for his dishonor? After all, it was their joint promise that he broke. Where was the fraternal correction from the American bishops?In Germany, when the Bishop of Bling, Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of the diocese of Limburg, spent $43 million dollars to renovate his palace, the outcry from the German bishops was public and immediate. Within four months, Tebartz-van Elst was gone.

In contrast, there was no public outcry by the American bishops when Finn was found to have harbored a sexually abusive priest. If there had been, the period between when Finn pleaded guilty to child endangerment and when he actually stepped down would certainly have been shorter than two years and seven months. It is no accident that, within a few months of Cardinal Sean O’Malley saying that Finn’s case had to be “urgently” addressed in his 60 Minutes interview, Finn was gone. And it is unfortunate that no other American bishop spoke up publicly sooner, or Finn might have been gone sooner. Why do our bishops lack the moral fortitude of the German bishops when it comes to criticizing one of their own?

And speaking of our bishops and their collective treatment of Bishop Finn, this recalls yet another paradox. In the news over Finn’s resignation after his conviction for failing to report suspected child abuse in Jackson County, Missouri, it has been forgotten that, in order to avoid prosecution on similar charges in Clay County, Missouri, Finn handed significant power over his diocese to the public prosecutor there. Pursuant to that agreement, Finn had to meet with the Clay County prosecutor once a month for five years to personally report to any charges of child sexual abuse involving diocesan clergy or staff. He also had to report what the diocese was doing to deal with these charges. In addition, Finn, together with the diocesan ombudsman and director of child protection, had to make presentations on child abuse to each of the nine parishes in Clay County.

At the same time Finn was avoiding prosecution in Clay County through this agreement, giving the public prosecutor unprecedented power over an American diocese, the rest of our bishops were gearing up their campaign to defend religious liberty, which they said was under attack in our country. Every diocese was to hold a “Fortnight for Freedom” prior to July 4, for Catholics “to study, pray and take public action to fight what they see as the government’s attempts to curtail religious freedom.”

Does anyone see an obvious contradiction here? Not one bishop mentioned, in their discussion of the assaults on religious freedom, the fact that one of their own had committed one of the greatest assaults on religious freedom in order to avoid his own criminal prosecution.

Right now, in Finn’s case, there are still more questions than answers. One thing is certain, however: We can never allow this situation to repeat itself. The safety of our children in the hands of our church can never again be placed in doubt. And no diocesan bishop who ignores this should remain in office for an extra minute.

Nicholas Cafardi, dean emeritus and professor of law at Duquesne University, is a former chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People.

The paradoxes of Bishop Finn | USCatholic.org

Pope Francis to Stop in Cuba Before US Trip - Yahoo News

 

Vatican has confirmed that Pope Francis will stop in Cuba before his visit to the United States this September.

The Holy See said earlier this month that a stopover was being considered. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi officially confirmed the stopover today but gave no further details.

Pope Francis is said to have helped speed up reconciliation between the U.S. and Cuba by encouraging leaders of both nations and hosting some of the final negotiations.

Some Vatican watchers have already questioned why the pope would chose to visit the United States and Cuba before Mexico, which has the second-largest Catholic population in the world.

Pope Francis to Stop in Cuba Before US Trip - Yahoo News

Robert Finn, Missouri Bishop Convicted of Shielding Pedophile Priest, Resigns - NYTimes.com

 

• ​​NYT Now

Robert Finn, Missouri Bishop Convicted of Shielding Pedophile Priest, Resigns

By LAURIE GOODSTEINAPRIL 21, 2015

Pope Francis accepted the resignation on Tuesday of Bishop Robert W. Finn as head of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri, heeding pleas from parishioners and priests that the bishop had lost the credibility to lead after being convicted three years ago of failing to report a priest who took pornographic pictures of girls.

It was the first time that Francis had taken action against an American bishop who neglected to protect children from pedophiles in the priesthood. Although the Vatican did not state why Bishop Finn resigned, the circumstances were clear-cut because Bishop Finn had received international notoriety as the first Roman Catholic prelate ever criminally convicted of shielding an accused priest.

 

Now Francis faces a much tougher call: whether he will take concrete steps to keep bishops worldwide accountable for protecting the children in their flocks from sexual abuse by clerics and church workers. In the long history of the abuse scandal, the Vatican says, it has defrocked more than 850 priests and penalized at least 2,500 more, but the matter of discipline for bishops has remained the great unfinished piece of business, and the pressure to act is only growing.

In the last month, Francis has faced bitter protests from Catholics in Chile over his decision to install Bishop Juan Barros in the Diocese of Osorno despite claims that the bishop witnessed abuse years ago and did nothing.

And on Tuesday, Marie Collins, a member of the Vatican’s special commission on clergy — which Francis appointed to advise him on handling sexual abuse — said that the group had presented him with a plan for instituting standards and procedures to keep those in the hierarchy accountable.

“The commission has put forward a proposal to the Holy Father to advance bishop accountability, not just of bishops, but of all church leadership,” Ms. Collins said.

A survivor of abuse from Ireland, she added that the proposal was supported by the entire commission, which includes priests and Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, who also serves on a separate cardinals’ advisory board to the pope. But she declined to provide details.

“It’s with the Holy Father, so it’s basically up to him now what he decides on that proposal,” she said, adding, “We await his response.”

She described the resignation of Bishop Finn as “good news” that “has taken too long, obviously, but is the way that anyone, I think, who is concerned about child protection wants to see things go.”

Parishioners and priests in Bishop Finn’s diocese had been petitioning the Vatican for three years to remove him. In September, the pope sent a Canadian archbishop to Missouri to investigate, and several local Catholics and priests said afterward that the archbishop had asked them whether they thought that Bishop Finn had lost the confidence of the faithful.

Speculation that Bishop Finn would be removed grew when he was absent last week for a confirmation, and was then spotted in Rome.

Such a resignation is extremely rare when a bishop is not ill or close to the retirement age, 75. Bishop Finn is 62 and has served in his diocese just short of 10 years.

The Vatican announced the resignation in a brief note in its daily news bulletin Tuesday and did not give a reason. But the Vatican cited a provision in church law under which a bishop is “earnestly requested” to resign because of ill health or “some other grave cause.”

In a statement released by the diocese, Bishop Finn said, “It has been an honor and joy for me to serve here among so many good people of faith.”

Francis appointed Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, who leads the archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, to administer Bishop Finn’s former diocese but did not name a successor.

Bishop Finn was convicted in 2012 on a misdemeanor charge involving the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, a charismatic parish priest who Bishop Finn had been warned was behaving inappropriately with children. When Father Ratigan took his laptop computer in for repairs in December 2010, a technician immediately told church officials that the laptop contained what appeared to be sexually explicit photographs of young girls.

After Father Ratigan attempted suicide, Bishop Finn reassigned him to live in a convent and ordered him to stay away from children. But Father Ratigan continued to attend church events and take lewd pictures of girls for five more months, until church officials reported him to the police in May 2011, without Bishop Finn’s approval.

The bishop was convicted after a bench trial, and sentenced to serve two years of court-supervised probation.

Jeff Weis, a parishioner who helped to lead the petition campaign pushing for Bishop Finn’s removal, said in a statement that with the resignation, “the prayers of this hurt community have been answered.” But he added, “The damage done is immeasurable.”

Bishop Finn is not the first to resign under a cloud for mishandling sexual abuse. Cardinal Bernard Law resigned the leadership of the Boston Archdiocese in 2002 after The Boston Globe revealed he had failed to remove priests accused of abuse and simply reassigned them to new parishes. The cardinal later received an appointment in Rome and continued to serve on influential Vatican committees. It is unclear where Bishop Finn will be assigned next, but he remains a bishop.

In September, Francis dismissed a Paraguayan bishop, Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano, who had been accused of giving a promotion to an Argentine priest accused of sexual abuse. But a Vatican spokesman said the dismissal had more to do with conflicts with his fellow bishops than with his handling of the accused priest.

The removal of Bishop Finn will now put pressure on Pope Francis to act against Bishop Barros in Chile, said Anne Barrett Doyle, a director of BishopAccountability.org, an advocacy group that maintains an online database of sexual abuse cases. She said that, as with Bishop Finn, no pope had ever confirmed that the reason for a bishop’s removal was negligence in handling child abuse cases.

“We urge Pope Francis to issue such a statement immediately,” Ms. Doyle said. “That would be unprecedented, and it would send a bracing message to bishops and religious superiors worldwide that a new era has begun.”

As for the commission’s proposal on accountability for bishops, the challenge for Francis is what standards he would adopt to determine when to discipline a bishop, said Kurt Martens, an associate professor of canon law at the Catholic University of America, in Washington.

“You might have busloads of European bishops you’re going to remove if you have very high standards,” Professor Martens said. “Where do you draw the line and what happens if the standards evolve?”

Robert Finn, Missouri Bishop Convicted of Shielding Pedophile Priest, Resigns - NYTimes.com

Cardinal Burke Responds to Recent Criticisms | Daily News | NCRegister.com

 

by RICCARDO CASCIOLI 04/17/2015 Comments (40)

Cardinal Raymond Burke

– Joaquín Peiró Pérez/CNA

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, 66, is troubled by the negative campaign that has been waged against him. Ordained a bishop by Pope John Paul II in 1995, the respected expert in canon law was called to Rome by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 as prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura before being appointed cardinal in 2010.

In recent months, critics have described him as an “ultraconservative fanatic,” “anti-Conciliar,” “in conspiracy against the Pope” and even ready for a schism should the upcoming family synod open up unwelcome changes.

The criticism has been so defamatory that in Italy several bishops have even refused to host his lectures in their dioceses. Where he has been allowed to give a conference — as recently in some cities in the north of Italy — there are invariably priests who oppose him and accuse him of spreading propaganda against the Pope.

“It’s total nonsense; I don’t understand this attitude. I have never said a single word against the Pope; I strive only to serve the truth, a task that we all have. I have always seen my talks and my activities as a support to the Petrine ministry. The people who know me well can witness to the fact I am not anti-papal. On the contrary, I have always been extremely loyal and wanted to serve the Holy Father, as I am doing now.”

Indeed, meeting him in his apartment, a stone’s throw from St. Peter’s Square, with his friendly manner and spontaneity, Cardinal Burke bears no resemblance to that hard defender of “cold doctrine” as he is described by mainstream media outlets.

Cardinal Burke, in the debate that preceded and followed the first synod on the family, some of your statements did sound like criticisms of the Pope, or at least that is how they were interpreted. For example, quite a stir was caused by your recent remark, “I will resist; I’ll resist,” as a response to a possible decision of the Pope to grant Communion to the divorced and remarried.

That comment was misrepresented, and there was no reference to Pope Francis. I believe that because I have always spoken very clearly on the issue of marriage and the family, there are people who want to undermine what I say by depicting me as an enemy of the Pope or even ready for a schism by using that answer I gave in an interview with a French television channel.

How should we interpret that answer?

Quite simply. The journalist asked me what I would do if, hypothetically, not referring to Pope Francis, a pontiff were to make decisions contrary to the Church’s doctrine and practice. I replied I should resist, because we are all in the service of the truth, starting with the Pope. The Church is not a political body, in the sense of power. The power is Jesus Christ and his Gospel. Therefore, I replied I would resist, and it would not be the first time that this has happened in the Church. There have been several moments in history where someone had to stand up to the pope, beginning with St. Paul against St. Peter, in the matter of Judaizers who wanted to impose circumcision on the converted Greeks. In my case, I am not resisting Pope Francis at all because he hasn’t done anything against the doctrine. Nor do I see myself in a fight against the Pope, as they try to depict me. I’m not pursuing the interests of a group or party. I am simply trying, as a cardinal, to be a teacher of the faith.

Another criticism made against you is your alleged passion for “lace,” a comment used in a demeaning way to criticize your preferred clerical and liturgical vestments as something that the Pope cannot endure.

The Pope has never made me aware that he disapproves of the way I dress, which, anyway, has always been within norms of the Church. I celebrate the liturgy also in the extraordinary form of the Roman rite, and there are vestments for this which do not exist for the celebration of the ordinary form, but I always wear what is required for the rite that I am celebrating. I am not making a political statement against the Pope’s way of dressing. It has to be said that every pope has his own style, but he does not impose this on all the other bishops. So I don’t understand why this should be a cause for controversy.

But newspapers often use a photo of you wearing a hat clearly out of date.

Yes, I know, but it’s just incredible. I can explain: That photo was spread around after Il Foglio published it alongside the interview I did at the time of the synod. The interview had been done well, but, unfortunately, they chose a photo that had nothing to do with it, which I regret, because, in this way, they gave the mistaken impression of a person who lives in the past. The truth is that, after being named cardinal, I was invited to a diocese in the south of Italy for a conference on the liturgy. For the occasion, the organizer decided to give me as a gift an old-fashioned cardinal’s hat. I have no idea where he got it from. I held it in my hand and obviously had no intention of wearing it regularly, but he asked me to put it on to take at least one photo. This was the only time I put that hat on my head, but, unfortunately, that picture has been published all over the world, and some use it to give the impression that I go around like that. But I’ve never worn it, not even for a ceremony.

You have also been named as the inspiration if not the promoter of the “Petition to Pope Francis for the Family,” which has been circulated to collect signatures by a number of traditionalist websites.

I did sign that petition, but it is not my initiative or my idea. Nor did I write or collaborate in drafting the text. Anyone who says otherwise is affirming something false. As far as I know, it is an initiative by laypeople. I was shown the text, and I signed it, as have many other cardinals.

Another of the charges against you is that you are against the Second Vatican Council.

These labels are easy to apply, but there is no basis in reality. All my theological education in the major seminary was based on the documents of Vatican II, and I am still trying to study these documents more deeply. I’m not at all opposed to the Council, and if one reads my writings, he will find that I quote the documents of Vatican II many times. What I don’t agree with is the so-called “spirit of the Council,” which is not faithful to the Council texts but purports to create something totally new, a new church that has nothing to do with all the so-called aberrations of the past. On this matter, I wholeheartedly follow Pope Benedict XVI’s enlightening presentation to the Roman Curia for Christmas 2005: It is the famous discourse in which he explains the correct hermeneutic, which is that of reform in continuity, as opposed to the hermeneutic of rupture in discontinuity that many sectors promote. Pope Benedict XVI’s presentation is brilliant and explains everything. Many things that happened after the Council and are attributed to the Council have nothing to do with the Council. This is the plain truth.

Did Pope Francis “punish” you by removing you from the Apostolic Signatura and entrusting you with the patronage of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta?

In an interview with the Argentine newspaper La Nacion, the Pope already answered this question by explaining the reasons for his decision. This already says everything, and it is not up to me to comment. I can only say, without revealing any confidential information, that the Pope has never told me or given me the impression that there was anything he wanted to punish me for.

Perhaps your “reputation” has to do with what Cardinal Walter Kasper called the “synod battle,” which also seems to grow in intensity as we get closer to the ordinary synod this coming October. At what stage are we now?

I would say that there is now a much more extensive discussion on the topics covered by the synod, and this is a good thing. There is a greater number of cardinals, bishops and laypeople who are intervening, and this is very positive. Therefore, I don’t understand all the fuss last year made over the book Remaining in the Truth of Christ, to which I contributed, along with four other cardinals and four specialists on marriage.

That was when the theory of a conspiracy against the Pope was born, a view echoed recently by the well-known Italian historian Alberto Melloni, co-author of a famous history of the Vatican Council II that pushes for a progressive interpretation of the Council. Melloni wrote an article for the most popular Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, blaming the five cardinals of a conspiracy against the Pope.

It is simply absurd. How can you possibly accuse of plotting against the Pope those who uphold what the Church has always taught and practiced on marriage and Communion? The book was certainly written as an aid for the synod to answer Cardinal Kasper’s thesis. But it is not polemical, it is a presentation completely faithful to the Tradition, and it is also of the highest scholarly quality possible. I am absolutely disposed to receive criticism on the content, but to say we conspired against the Pope is unacceptable.

Who is behind this witch hunt?

I do not have any direct information, but there is definitely a group that wants to impose on the Church not only Kasper’s thesis on Communion for the divorced and remarried, or for those in irregular situations, but also other positions related to the themes of the synod. I think, for instance, of the idea of identifying the positive aspects of extramarital or homosexual relationships. It is evident there are forces pushing in this direction, and this is the reason why they want to discredit those of us who are trying to defend the Church’s teaching. I have nothing personal against Cardinal Kasper; for me, the question is only to proclaim the Church’s teaching, which in this case is tied to words spoken by the Lord.

Looking at some of the themes that emerged strongly in the synod, there is talk again about a “gay lobby.”

I can’t precisely identify it, but I see more and more that there is a force moving in this direction. I can see people either consciously or subconsciously driving a homosexual agenda. How it’s organized, I don’t know, but it is evident there is a force of this nature. At the synod, we said that homosexuality had nothing to do with the family; rather, a synod should be convoked on the subject if we wanted to speak about this theme. And, instead, we found in the relatio post disceptationem this theme which had not been discussed by the fathers.

One of the theological arguments that is frequently repeated to justify Cardinal Kasper is that of the “development of doctrine.” It isn’t change, but a deeper understanding that can lead to new practice.

Here, there is a big misunderstanding. The development of doctrine, as, for example, Blessed Cardinal [John Henry] Newman put it or other good theologians, means a deepening in appreciation in the knowledge of a doctrine, not the change of doctrine. Development in no case leads to change. An example of this is Pope Benedict’s post-synodal exhortation on the Eucharist, Sacramentum Caritatis, where he presents the development of the knowledge of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, also expressed in Eucharistic adoration. There have in fact been some who were contrary to Eucharistic adoration, because the Eucharist is to be received within us. But Benedict XVI explained — also citing St. Augustine — that if it is true that the Lord gives us himself in the Eucharist to be consumed, it is also true that you cannot recognize this reality of Jesus’ presence under the Eucharistic species without worshipping these species. This is an example of the development of doctrine, but it is not the case that the doctrine on the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist changed.

One of the recurring themes in the controversy on the synod is the alleged opposition between doctrine and practice, doctrine and mercy. The Pope often insists on the pharisaic attitude of those who use doctrine to keep out love.

I think you have to distinguish between what the Pope says on certain occasions and those who affirm an opposition between doctrine and practice. The Church can never allow a contrast between doctrine and practice, because we live the truth that Christ communicates to us in his holy Church, and the truth is never something cold. It is the truth that opens to us a space for love; to love, really, you have to respect the truth of the person and of the person in the particular situations in which you find him or her. Thus, creating a kind of contrast between doctrine and practice does not reflect the reality of our faith. One who supports the thesis of Cardinal Kasper — a change of discipline that does not touch doctrine — should explain how this is possible. If the Church allows Communion for a person who is bound by marriage but who is living with another person in a matrimonial relationship, that is in a state of adultery: How can the Church allow this and maintain at the same time that marriage is indissoluble? The contrast between doctrine and practice is a false contrast that we must reject.

But it is also true that you can use doctrine without love.

Absolutely, and this is what the Pope is condemning, the use of doctrine or law to promote a personal agenda in order to dominate people. But this does not mean there is a problem with the doctrine and discipline; only there are people of ill will who commit abuses, for instance by interpreting the law in a way that harms people. Or they apply the law without love, insisting on the truth of a situation of a person but without love. Even when someone is in a state of grievous sin, we have to love that person and help him or her like Our Lord did with the adulteress and the Samaritan woman. He was very clear in announcing the state of their sin, but at the same time, he showed great love by inviting them to come out of this situation. This is not what the Pharisees did; instead, they showed cruel legalism: denouncing the violation of the law without offering any help to the person on how to turn away from sin so as to find peace again.

Riccardo Cascioli is editor of the popular Italian Catholic website Nuova Bussola Quotidiana,

where this interview originally appeared in Italian. Translated for the Register by Patricia Gooding Williams.

Cardinal Burke Responds to Recent Criticisms | Daily News | NCRegister.com

Pope Francis Accepts Resignation of Bishop Robert Finn | Daily News | NCRegister.com

 

The resignation of the bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., takes effect immediately.

by ELISE HARRIS/CNA/EWTN NEWS 04/21/2015 Comment

Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph

– CNA file photo

VATICAN CITY — Nearly two and a half years after being the first U.S. bishop convicted of a misdemeanor in failing to report suspected child abuse by a priest in his diocese, Kansas City-St. Joseph’s bishop has resigned.

The Vatican confirmed Pope Francis’ acceptance of Bishop Finn’s resignation according to Canon 104 Article 2 in the Code of Canon Law in an April 21 statement, released at noon local time.

Article 2 of Canon 104, according to the Vatican’s website, refers to a situation when “a diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.”

Bishop Finn’s resignation will take effect immediately, and although he will still be a bishop, he will no longer lead a diocese. It is up to Pope Francis to choose his successor.

The brief Vatican statement gave no word as to what Bishop Finn will do following his resignation.

Last September, two years after Bishop Finn’s trial and guilty verdict, an archbishop held a visitation on behalf of the Vatican and met with Bishop Finn.

The reasons for the visitation were not revealed, however some reports indicate that the visitation was intended to evaluate the bishop’s leadership of his diocese.

In September 2012, Bishop Finn, now 62, was convicted on a misdemeanor count of failure to report suspected child abuse after he and his diocese failed to report that lewd images of children had been found on a laptop belonging to Father. Shawn Ratigan a priest of the diocese, in December 2010.

The diocese’s vicar general had told Bishop Finn about one of the images, but the bishop did not see them himself.

Father Ratigan attempted suicide after the images were discovered and initially had not been expected to live. Diocesan officials told law enforcement officials about the images in May 2011, months after their discovery.

A diocese-commissioned independent investigation said diocesan officials conducted “a limited and improperly conceived investigation” into whether a single image, which the vicar general did not see, constituted child pornography. The diocese’s legal counsel also said that that single image did not constitute child pornography.

Further investigation revealed that the photos had been taken in and around churches where the priest had worked. In 2012, Father Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison on child pornography charges.

Bishop Finn was sentenced to two years’ probation for failing to report suspected abuse.

The diocese settled two lawsuits from the parents of two girls photographed by Fr. Ratigan for a total of $1.8 million in February 2014.

The Father Ratigan case has also triggered further legal action from an arbitrator who levied a $1.1 million penalty against the diocese, on the grounds that the diocese violated the terms of a 2008 abuse lawsuit settlement in which Bishop Finn and the diocese agreed to report suspected child abusers to law enforcement.

The diocese objected to the arbitrator’s penalty, but it was upheld in court and the diocese paid the fine

Pope Francis Accepts Resignation of Bishop Robert Finn | Daily News | NCRegister.com

Chicago Cardinal Francis George, the ‘American Ratzinger,’ dies | Crux

 

During an era under Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, when Catholicism was trying to swim against an increasingly secular tide in the Western world, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago was the American prelate trusted by those two popes, almost above all others, to spearhead that project in the United States.

George, who stepped down in November 2014, died at 10:45 a.m. Friday at his residence in Chicago of a cancer that originated in his bladder but spread to other parts of his body, rendering treatment ineffective. He was 78.

He had been on home care since April 3 after being hospitalized for hydration and pain management issues, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Widely acknowledged as the most intellectually gifted senior US prelate of his generation, George was once dubbed the “American Ratzinger.”

Like German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI, George’s clear and strongly stated positions on issues such as abortion, contraception, and the Catholic liturgy could be either celebrated or reviled — and he drew both reactions, repeatedly — but they could never be ignored.

George’s abiding passion was the relationship between faith and culture, and especially the urgency of a “New Evangelization,” meaning a new missionary zeal in Catholicism

Chicago Cardinal Francis George, the ‘American Ratzinger,’ dies | Crux

Vatican Ends Battle With U.S. Catholic Nuns’ Group - NYTimes.com

 

The Vatican has abruptly ended its takeover of the main leadership group of American nuns two years earlier than expected, allowing Pope Francis to put to rest a confrontation started by his predecessor that created an uproar among American Catholics who had rallied to the sisters’ defense.

Anticipating a visit by Francis to the United States in the fall, the Vatican and the American bishops were eager to resolve an episode that was seen by many Catholics as a vexing and unjust inquisition of the sisters who ran the church’s schools, hospitals and charities.

Under the previous pope, Benedict XVI, the Vatican’s doctrinal office had appointed three bishops in 2012 to overhaul the nuns’ group, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, out of concerns that it had hosted speakers and published materials that strayed from Catholic doctrine on such matters as the all-male priesthood, birth control and sexuality, and the centrality of Jesus to the faith.

But Francis has shown in his two-year papacy that he is less interested in having the church police doctrinal boundaries than in demonstrating mercy and love for the poor and vulnerable — the very work that most of the women’s religious orders under investigation have long been engaged in.

Ending the standoff with the nuns is one of several course corrections that Francis has set in motion. He has also worked on reforming the Vatican Curia, the Vatican’s central administration, instituting tighter oversight of Vatican finances, and has created a commission to deal with sexual abuse by clergy members.

He has made no changes in doctrine — on Wednesday, he reiterated the church’s teaching that marriage can be only between a man and a woman — but Catholics worldwide say he has done much to make the church’s tone more welcoming.

On Thursday, that included calling an unexpected meeting with four of the leaders of the Leadership Conference. The four women were photographed in his office and said afterward in a statement that they were “deeply heartened” by Francis’ “expression of appreciation” for the lives and ministry of Catholic sisters.

“He met with them himself for almost an hour, and that’s an extravagant amount of papal time,” said Eileen Burke-Sullivan, a theologian and consultant for women’s religious orders and vice provost for mission and ministry at Creighton University, a Jesuit school in Omaha. “It’s about as close to an apology, I would think, as the Catholic Church is officially going to render.”

Francis has never talked explicitly in public about the imbroglio with American nuns. But he has spoken about creating “broader opportunities” for women in the church, and the value of nuns and priests in religious orders. He is a member of the Jesuit order.

A clear signal that the Vatican under Francis was taking a more conciliatory approach to American sisters came in December with the announcement of the conclusion of another, separate investigation of American women’s orders, which was known as an apostolic visitation. That process involved sending questionnaires to 350 religious communities and teams of “visitors” to 90 of them, asking about everything from their prayer practices to living arrangements.

Continue reading the main story

Both of these investigations of American women’s religious orders began at the urging of American and some foreign prelates who accused the sisters of disobeying the bishops and departing from Catholic doctrine. It set off protests by Catholic laypeople across the country, who signed petitions and sent letters to the Vatican in defense of the sisters.

It even became a movement with its own anthem, “Love Cannot Be Silenced,” composed by a folk-singing sister in Chicago.

The news came in a brief report issued jointly by the Leadership Conference and the three American bishops who had been appointed by the Vatican three years ago to take over and overhaul the organization.

The report cast the process as one of collaboration, saying, “Our extensive conversations were marked by a spirit of prayer, love for the church, mutual respect and cooperation. We found our conversations to be mutually beneficial.”

It was a far cry from three years ago, when the Vatican’s doctrinal office, led by an American cardinal, William Levada, issued a report finding that the Leadership Conference had “serious doctrinal problems.” It said the sisters were promoting “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.” It also accused the nuns of spending more time working against poverty and social injustice than abortion and same-sex marriage.

The Vatican’s doctrinal office in 2012 appointed Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle, with assistance from Bishop Leonard Blair of Hartford and Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Ill., to spend as many as five years assessing and overhauling the Leadership Conference.

Leaders of the nuns’ group, which represents about 80 percent of Catholic sisters in the United States, insisted all along that the accusations were unfounded and that the Vatican simply did not understand the culture and process of American women’s religious orders, many of which emphasize open discussion and communal decision-making.

 

Vatican Ends Battle With U.S. Catholic Nuns’ Group - NYTimes.com

Boiler backstory on Chicago nuns left without heat | abc7chicago.com

Note the Marengo connection.

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

CHICAGO (WLS) --

In an exclusive report, the ABC7 I-Team looked into a small religious order in Chicago that has been all over the news lately after some nuns received public donations for a new heating system at their West Side church.
Nuns from a French religious order called Fraternite of Notre Dame last month were on Chicago TV - including ABC7 - describing how their heat broke down. The public has now contributed about a quarter of a million dollars to fix their boilers.
But since then, the I-Team has received questions about the order's standing in the Catholic Church and why it needs donations when it owns millions of dollars of property in McHenry County.
When word got out that these nuns who feed the poor were shivering through Chicago's record-cold February, they were invited onto TV and two internet funds were set up for contributions, now totaling more than $232,000. As the donations soared, the I-Team received viewer questions about 90-acres owned by the order behind an iron gate in Marengo.
"When they have millions of dollars in property here and now they are expanding and wanting to add a brewery and a winery and gift shop and school and all of those things and I couldn't understand why they couldn't afford to fix their church and why other people had to be responsible for that," said Judy Link, a Marengo resident.
A week before the boilers quit at the nuns' "motherhouse" on Chicago's West Side, the order filed this zoning permit request in McHenry County.
According to the request filed February 11, the order wants to build and operate a school with an attached dormitory; a nursing home with hospice, a commercial kitchen with facilities to brew beer and process grapes for wine; a gift shop and tasting area.
"When regular people want to build something they wait until they have a million dollars in the checking account, us we are different, by people see what we do," Sister Marie Valerie said with a heavy French accent during an interview with the I-Team. "We have some blue print people, an architect, doing their times, that gentleman wants to stay anonymous, he does a lot of work for us. This is how we start," said Sister Marie Valerie, who is the treasurer for Fraternite of Notre Dame.
It is the start of an ambitious construction project in rural Marengo on these 65 acres bought for about $2.5 million in 2003, and another 30 acres bought since then.
According to public records, the order has purchased land and homes worth more than $3 million in nearby Huntley, Harvard, southern Wisconsin and New York. An unknown amount was already spent on these grounds adorned by statues and a chapel that features an ornate altar.
"It took us two years and a half to build it. Most of the equipment and material was donated," Sister Marie Valerie said. "We built with our own hands."
Much of the work is documented in numerous videos on the order's website.
"A benefactor help us with down payment but every month we have to pay for our own mortgage so it's not easy," Sister Marie Valerie said.
The nuns - who say they receive no salary - insist that any new McHenry County project would be funded by donations, but not the money donated for the boilers in Chicago.
"All the money we got for the boiler, all the money we got from GoFundMe, all that money stay here to our feeding program in Chicago," Sister Marie Valerie said.
Residents who opposed the order's first expansion 10 years ago say they are mobilizing again to stop the new project.
"They're very secretive. We kept asking them where they got their money from because that was an expensive piece of property, it was $2 million I think, and they just said 'investments'," Link said.
The nuns call themselves a "traditional Catholic religious order" and some donors may believe that the organization is approved by the Vatican, but it isn't.
According to a spokesperson for the Chicago Archdiocese, the order's founder Bishop Jean Marie Roger Kozik "is not a legitimately ordained bishop in the Roman Catholic Church," and, Kozik says, is not a priest in good standing with the church. Because of that, the archdiocese says "Catholics should not attend mass" at the order's West Side church. And they say the nuns are not a religious order associated with the Roman Catholic Church.
"We are a new order. We want to be with the Vatican. We want to be with the Archdiocese. We are working on it and took some steps to be with the Vatican," Sister Marie Valerie said.
The Archdiocese does say that the nuns are "good people of faith who do important work for the poor."
Bishop Kozik began the order in 1977 in France after reporting the Virgin Mary spoke to him. Now he lives - at least part-time - in Marengo. Kozik did not reply to the I-Team's requests for an interview.
There are numerous organizations like his around the world that describe themselves as a "traditional Catholic order" that follow older Catholic practices, but are not recognized by the Vatican.
As for the zoning board hearing, the order of nuns asked that it be moved to April 9.

Boiler backstory on Chicago nuns left without heat | abc7chicago.com

Extraordinary Mass on April 28 at St James Belvidere

 

Weekly collection for the weekend of April 12, 2015

 

Four additional pledges;  $1,085 additional pledged..

Pope Francis trip to Bolivia, Ecuador and Paraguay set for July 6-12 | Star Tribune

ITO, Ecuador — Pope Francis' trip to Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay is set for July 6-12, though he will only spend six hours in Bolivia's capital due to the altitude, church officials say.

The 78-year-old pontiff is to arrive in Quito July 6 and meet that day with President Rafael Correa. He will say Mass the next day in Quito's Bicentennial Park, the Rev. Luis Cabrera, archbishop of Cuenca, told The Associated Press on Friday.

Francis will meet later on July 7 with educators and the public, Cabrera said, and will consult with priests and seminarians on July 8 at the Quinche shrine near Quito.

The pope is to fly that afternoon to La Paz, where Roman Catholic officials say he will spend just six hours due to the 13,100-foot (3,993-meter) altitude. He is to say Mass at the capital's sister city, El Alto.

  

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to offer details, said Francis would spend two days in the eastern lowlands city of Santa Cruz.

Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  Pope Francis trip to Bolivia, Ecuador and Paraguay set for July 6-12 | Star Tribune

Weekly collection for the weekend of April 5, 2015

Three additional pledges, no change in amount pledged.

Pope Francis’s new ‘Climate Change Encyclical’ sneak preview - MarketWatch

 

 Reuters

Here’s a sneak peak of Pope Francis’s historic “Climate Change Encyclical,” soon to be released, complete with talking points for his upcoming address to the joint session of Congress. We’ll analyze them:

The encyclical’s likely headline: “Safeguard Creation ... We are the custodians of Creation ... If we destroy Creation ... Creation will destroy us,” a public warning often repeated by the pontiff this past year, a message certain to intensify the anger of GOP climate-science deniers, Big Oil, Koch Bros, Exxon Mobil and most fossil-fuel firms, as well as their banks, investors owning their stocks and capitalists everywhere. Here’s why:

Pope Francis’s much-anticipated encyclical will be broadcast worldwide to billions, including 5,000 bishops, 400,000 priests and 1.2 billion members of the Roman Catholic Church. He will be encouraging his army of the faithful to take strong action, fight climate change and global warming threats to the environment.

The encyclical will also be translated into hundreds of languages and broadcast worldwide. At the same time, Pope Francis will be lobbying heads of state and religious leaders, and inspiring billions of people worldwide, encouraging them to join this revolution.

This historic encyclical will also set the stage for everything else Pope Francis has planned in 2015. He’s a man with a mission to save the world from the accelerating threats to the planet’s natural resources. More immediate, the encyclical will serve as major talking points for his address to the joint session of Congress in September, his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York and his December message to the historic UN Climate Conference in Paris. Many of his points on the environment are already well known.

When Pope Francis addresses the U.S. Congress he will confront a hostile caucus of 169 hard-line GOP climate-science deniers who dismiss the idea that global warming is human-caused, in part because collectively they have received more than $52 million in career contributions from Big Oil, coal and fossil-fuel interests, three times what the other members of the Congress, who agree climate change is a threat the survival of our civilization, received.

GOP climate-science deniers in Congress include Catholics like House Speaker John Boehner, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a likely 2016 presidential candidate, as well as former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Committee, all of whom will be listening to Pope Francis. Sitting with them will be Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe, chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, author of “The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future.”

Also listening to Pope Francis will be the GOP’s Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who recently tried to “undermine international negotiations aimed at combating climate change” by publicly “telling other countries not to trust President Obama’s promise to significantly reduce the United States carbon emissions.”

And in yet another desperate act, McConnell also sent a letter to the governors of all 50 states encouraging them to ignore federal laws enforcing the Environmental Protection Agency’s “clean air regulations designed to reduce carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.” His state is a big coal-mining state.

Key talking points in pope’s historic encyclical on climate change

The ever-smiling, upbeat Pope Francis, a former boxer, loves a good fight. But he’s laser-locked on his real target — encouraging action — inviting hundreds of millions of the Catholic faithful, in fact inviting all seven billion people worldwide, to join a global economic revolution.

Here are eight of the pope’s public warnings edited in the Catholic Climate Covenant, from his “Apostolic Exhortation,” from the Guardian and other news sources, warnings on the rapidly accelerating climate change and global warming risks to the environment, along with our individual responsibility to “safeguard Creation, for we are the custodians of Creation. If we destroy Creation, Creation will destroy us.” Listen to the pope’s warnings:

To continue reading click on the following:  Pope Francis’s new ‘Climate Change Encyclical’ sneak preview - MarketWatch

Official Vatican Text of Pope Francis' Easter Message - ABC News

 

VATICAN CITY — Apr 5, 2015, 7:05 AM ET

The following is the Vatican's official English-language translation of Pope Francis "Urbi et Orbi" Easter message, which he delivered Sunday in Italian from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica:

"Jesus Christ is risen! Love has triumphed over hatred, life has conquered death, light has dispelled the darkness!

Out of love for us, Jesus Christ stripped himself of his divine glory, emptied himself, took on the form of a slave and humbled himself even to death, death on a cross. For this reason God exalted him and made him Lord of the universe. Jesus is Lord! By his death and resurrection, Jesus shows everyone the way to life and happiness: this way is humility, which involves humiliation. This is the path which leads to glory. Only those who humble themselves can go towards the "things that are above", towards God (cf. Col 3:1-4). The proud look "down from above"; the humble look "up from below".

On Easter morning, alerted by the women, Peter and John ran to the tomb. They found it open and empty. Then they drew near and "bent down" in order to enter it. To enter into the mystery, we need to "bend down", to abase ourselves. Only those who abase themselves understand the glorification of Jesus and are able to follow him on his way.

The world proposes that we put ourselves forward at all costs, that we compete, that we prevail. But Christians, by the grace of Christ, dead and risen, are the seeds of another humanity, in which we seek to live in service to one another, not to be arrogant, but rather respectful and ready to help.

This is not weakness, but true strength! Those who bear within them God's power, his love and his justice, do not need to employ violence; they speak and act with the power of truth, beauty and love.

From the risen Lord we ask the grace not to succumb to the pride which fuels violence and war, but to have the humble courage of pardon and peace. We ask Jesus, the Victor over death, to lighten the sufferings of our many brothers and sisters who are persecuted for his name, and of all those who suffer injustice as a result of ongoing conflicts and violence.

We ask for peace, above all, for Syria and Iraq, that the roar of arms may cease and that peaceful relations may be restored among the various groups which make up those beloved countries. May the international community not stand by before the immense humanitarian tragedy unfolding in these countries and the drama of the numerous refugees.

We pray for peace for all the peoples of the Holy Land. May the culture of encounter grow between Israelis and Palestinians and the peace process be resumed, in order to end years of suffering and division.

We implore peace for Libya, that the present absurd bloodshed and all barbarous acts of violence may cease, and that all concerned for the future of the country may work to favor reconciliation and to build a fraternal society respectful of the dignity of the person. For Yemen too we express our hope for the growth of a common desire for peace, for the good of the entire people.

At the same time, in hope we entrust to the merciful Lord the framework recently agreed to in Lausanne, that it may be a definitive step toward a more secure and fraternal world.

We ask the risen Lord for the gift of peace for Nigeria, South Sudan and for the various areas of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. May constant prayer rise up from all people of goodwill for those who lost their lives - I think in particular of the young people who were killed last Thursday at Garissa University College in Kenya -, for all who have been kidnapped, and for those forced to abandon their homes and their dear ones.

May the Lord's resurrection bring light to beloved Ukraine, especially to those who have endured the violence of the conflict of recent months. May the country rediscover peace and hope thanks to the commitment of all interested parties.

We ask for peace and freedom for the many men and women subject to old and new forms of enslavement on the part of criminal individuals and groups. Peace and liberty for the victims of drug dealers, who are often allied with the powers who ought to defend peace and harmony in the human family. And we ask peace for this world subjected to arms dealers.

May the marginalized, the imprisoned, the poor and the migrants who are so often rejected, maltreated and discarded, the sick and the suffering, children, especially those who are victims of violence; all who today are in mourning, and all men and women of goodwill, hear the consoling voice of the Lord Jesus: "Peace to you!" (Lk 24:36). "Fear not, for I am risen and I shall always be with you" (cf. Roman Missal, Entrance Antiphon for Easter Day)."

Official Vatican Text of Pope Francis' Easter Message - ABC News

Pittsburgh diocese of the Roman Catholic Church eliminates fees for marriage annulments | TribLIVE#axzz3WI7IWDKQ

 

The process still may be lengthy and dredge up painful memories, but getting a marriage annulled by the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh will no longer cost a dime.

Bishop David Zubik announced Wednesday the Pittsburgh diocese eliminated all fees for annulments — a move lauded by church members and triggered by remarks from Pope Francis. The change is effective immediately.

“My staff and I have long dreamed of this move,” Zubik said. “Our dear Pope Francis inspired us to act now. He has called for marriage tribunals to ‘do justice freely, as we have freely been forgiven by Jesus Christ.' ”

Catholic annulments are declarations that a marriage was not spiritually binding, making it invalid according to church law. Annulments can only happen once a civil divorce is final. Annulments are unnecessary for divorcees who choose not to remarry, but Catholics who remarry without annulments are prohibited from the sacrament of Communion and from becoming godparents.

“You receive an annulment so you can get married in the church again,” said the Rev. Thomas Kunz, judicial vicar for the Pittsburgh diocese.

Across Pennsylvania, annulment fees range from $50 to $800. Churches say that offsets the actual cost — for things such as canon lawyers, auditors, judges, defenders of bond briefs, psychological assessments and appeals fees — which can exceed $1,000. Most dioceses offer financial aid for low-income petitioners.

Pittsburgh church officials had been collecting about $120,000 annually in annulment fees — but that's only about one-third the full cost, Kunz said. The average fee was $650, though it sometimes was as low as $50 for someone who had been married by a justice of the peace.

Moving forward, the Pittsburgh diocese will cover annulment costs through a combination of grants from a recent capital campaign and operating funds through its Parish Share program.

“Practically speaking, we do need money to function, but we don't want that to be the barrier,” Kunz said. “I don't want someone's spiritual life to suffer because of having to pay a few hundred dollars.”

By axing annulment fees, Pittsburgh joins the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, which hasn't charged its members for annulments since the late 1980s, spokesman Tony DeGol said.

“We are very happy and proud to continue this tradition,” DeGol said.

The Diocese of Greensburg, which includes Armstrong, Fayette, Indiana and Westmoreland counties, handles about 100 cases per year and charges a $275 fee, spokesman Jerry Zufelt said. Greensburg has received about $60,500 in annulment fees in the past four years, but the bulk of the fees pay for processing in Philadelphia.

Zufelt said the Greensburg diocese will review its annulment fee structure based on deliberations at the Synod of Families, a summit of world bishops that Pope Francis scheduled for this fall.

In Diocese of Erie, which spans 13 counties, petitioners pay $450, and the diocese picks up the rest of the $1,300 tab, spokeswoman Anne-Marie Welsh said.

“Our tribunal has always reduced or waived the fee for anyone who cannot afford an annulment, and we intend to continue this practice,” Welsh said.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia charges $800 per annulment, an amount that hasn't changed in more than 10 years, spokesman Kenneth Gavin said. It does not plan to eliminate the fees.

The pope proposed no-cost annulments Nov. 5. He said the processes can be “so long and weighty” that they discourage people from following through, and he pointed to “public scandals.” He revealed, for instance, that he had to dismiss a church official for allegedly expediting annulments in exchange for $10,000.

“When you attach economic interests to spiritual interests, it is not about God,” Francis said. “The mother church has so much generosity it could provide justice free of charge.”

U.S. annulments under the Catholic church are on the decline, from 60,691 in 1985 to 18,558 last year, according to data from Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.

But so are divorces and the number of people marrying in the first place, the center's researcher Mark Gray pointed out. He also observed increasing numbers of Catholics choosing to marry outside the church.

Both Pittsburgh and Erie report handling fewer than 200 annulments per year.

U.S. Catholics are still less likely to divorce than non-Catholics, data compiled by Gray show. In a 2012 survey, 28 percent of Catholics who had been married reported having a divorce, compared to 36 percent of all adults who had been married reporting a divorce, 39 percent of Protestants and 42 percent with no affiliation.

Pittsburgh diocese of the Roman Catholic Church eliminates fees for marriage annulments | TribLIVE#axzz3WI7IWDKQ

Weekly collection for the weekend of March 29, 2015