Protestors want Former KC Bishop to leave Lincoln NB convent

Read more by clicking on the following:  http://journalstar.com/news/local/protesters-call-for-embattled-catholic-bishop-to-be-removed/article_ca6e8279-2992-5718-b8b7-c44b3472dfc1.html

Seattle archdiocese publishes list of clergy accused of sexual abuse of minors

Dan Morris-Young  |  Jan. 27, 2016 NCR Today

 

The Seattle archdiocese published Jan. 15 a list of clergy and religious "accused of sexual abuse of a minor who have served or resided in Western Washington," according to an archdiocesan press release.

"The individuals named on the list posted to the archdiocesan website have allegations that are either admitted, established or determined to be credible," the release said.

According to the release, "Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain apologized for the actions of those who abused minors" and said publishing the list builds on the archdiocese's efforts at transparency, accountability and urging victims to come forward.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), however, issued a press release the same day, saying "every time a predator's name is publicized, kids are safer," but also charging it "suspects this is an incomplete list that was prompted by external pressure."

"Seattle Catholic officials should have disclosed and posted these clerics' names long ago. Now, they should put it in each parish bulletin, several times a year, and permanently on each parish website," Seattle SNAP officials said, adding, "About 30 U.S. bishops have taken this step, almost always belatedly, grudgingly, incompletely and only because parishioners, prosecutors or lawmakers prod them to do so."

The Seattle Archdiocese was embarrassed and harshly criticized in May 2014 when it came to light that a priest who had been removed from ministry a decade earlier had nonetheless continued to wear clerics, socialize with parishioners, and perform some baptisms, weddings and funerals.

Members of the archdiocesan review board for sex abuse cases had strongly recommended in 2004 that the name of Fr. Harold Quigg be made public. Now-retired Archbishop Alexander Brunett rebuffed the recommendation.

The U.S. bishops' conference website carries the names of archdiocese's Safe Environment Program coordinators.

The National Safe Environment and Victims Assistance Coordinators Leadership Conference is scheduled May 15-18 in Denver.

How well officials, notably bishops, are doing on addressing sex abuse within the church remains under criticism, including a request for Vatican investigation of the U.S. bishops' policies and actions, reports NCR's Brian Roewe.

One victim of priest sex abuse, Monica Collins, a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, has expressed both frustration and hope for the work of that Vatican body.

[Dan Morris-Young is NCR's West Coast correspondent. His email is dmyoung@ncronline.org.]

100 years ago, Americans talked about Catholics the way they talk about Muslims today

 

Updated by German Lopez on December 9, 2015, 3:00 p.m. ET @germanrlopez german.lopez@vox.com

 

About a century ago, millions of Americans feared that members of a religious group were amassing an arsenal of weapons for a secret, preplanned takeover of the United States.

The feared religious group was not Muslims. It was, as the Los Angeles Times's Matt Pearce wrote in a great new piece on Wednesday, Catholics:

Hatred had become big business in southwestern Missouri, and its name was the Menace, a weekly anti-Catholic newspaper whose headlines screamed to readers around the nation about predatory priests, women enslaved in convents and a dangerous Roman Catholic plot to take over America.…

America's deep and widespread skepticism of Catholics is a faint memory in today's post-Sept. 11 world. But as some conservative politicians call for limits on Muslim immigration and raise questions about whether Muslims are more loyal to Islamic law than American law, the story of Aurora's long-ago newspaper is a reminder of a long history of American religious intolerance.

Today, there are calls for federal surveillance of mosques in the name of preventing terrorist attacks; a century ago, it was state laws that allowed the warrantless search of convents and churches in search of supposedly trapped women and purported secret Catholic weapons caches.

This may seem absurd today, but there was a real fear among Protestant Americans back then that Catholics were planning to take over the country. As Pearce reported, the fears led to serious violence: Lynch mobs killed Catholic Italians, arsonists burned down Catholic churches, and there were anti-Catholic riots. It was a similar sentiment to the kind of Islamophobia today that's led many Americans to call for shutting down mosques, forcing Muslims to register in a national database, and even banning Islam.

The point of the comparison is not to say that the US faces the same problems today as it did a century ago, or that the discrimination toward Catholics back then and Muslims today is exactly the same. But when looking back at the history of the US, it's easy to see a pattern of consistent xenophobia and fears of outsiders.

Xenophobia makes a regular appearance in US history

In response to terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, much of the conversation has focused on refugees and immigration. This conversation has been tinged with xenophobia toward Muslims — with many Republican presidential candidates going as far as saying the US should ban Muslim refugees, people from Muslim-dominated countries, or Muslims altogether.

But this sort of rhetoric is not new to the US. As the Pew Research Center found, Americans have generally opposed taking in refugees even as they went through abhorrent, well-known crises. (Vox's Dara Lind noted that America even rejected some Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany.)

Pew Research Center

Xenophobia has fueled other policies, too. In the late 19th century, the US passed the Chinese Exclusion Act to stop the flow of Chinese laborers into the US. During World War II, the US put Japanese Americans in internment camps after the country declared war on Japan. Throughout the war on drugs, lawmakers have regularly tapped into xenophobic sentiments to prohibit certain drugs — such as when San Francisco banned opium smoking that was perceived as popular among Chinese immigrants, and when prohibitionists built up opposition to marijuana by fearmongering about its use among Mexican immigrants.

Throughout all of these periods and policies, the public and lawmakers cited genuine policy interests: national security, keeping American laborers competitive in the job market, and preventing drug abuse. But underlying such policy stances were obvious signs that Americans were simply scared of foreigners who weren't like them.

By and large, we tend to recognize the underlying xenophobia today, and that the policies it produced were wrong, bigoted, and self-destructive.

As Islamophobia rears its ugly head in the US again, it's worth thinking about how we now look back on those moments of American history — and whether we're making the same mistakes again.

Above is from:  http://www.vox.com/2015/12/9/9880942/islamophobia-catholics

Pope Changes Church Rules, Opens Foot-Washing Rite to Women

• By nicole winfield, associated press

VATICAN CITY — Jan 21, 2016, 3:24 PM ET

Pope Francis has changed church regulations to explicitly allow women and girls to participate in the Easter Week foot-washing ritual, after having shocked many Catholics by performing the rite on women and Muslims just weeks after he was elected.

Proponents of women's ordination hailed Francis' decree, while traditionalist Catholics warned that it would weaken the church and lead to questions about the inviolability of the all-male priesthood.

Vatican rules for the Holy Thursday rite had long called for only men to participate. Popes past and many priests traditionally performed the ritual on 12 Catholic men, recalling Jesus' 12 apostles and further cementing the doctrine of an all-male priesthood.

Shortly after he was elected, Francis raised conservative eyebrows by performing the rite on men and women, Catholics as well as Muslims, at a juvenile detention facility in Rome.

He has continued to include men and women, young and old, sick and healthy and people of different faiths, traveling each year to encounter them to show his willingness to serve. It was a tradition he began as archbishop in Buenos Aires.

On Thursday, the Vatican published a decree from the Vatican's liturgy office introducing an "innovation" to the church's rules that better corresponds to Francis' way of doing things.

The decree said the rite can now be performed on anyone "chosen from among the people of God." It specifies that the group can include "men and women, and ideally young and old, healthy and sick, clerical, consecrated and lay."

Priests must make sure that those participating are instructed beforehand as to the significance of the gesture, the decree said. While the phrase "people of God" generally refers to baptized Christians, the decree also said that pastors should instruct "both the chosen faithful and others so that they may participate in the rite consciously actively and fruitfully." That could suggest that the rite could be open to non-Catholics as well.

In an accompanying letter, dated Dec. 20, 2014 but released Thursday, Francis wrote to the head of the liturgy office saying he wanted to change the current rules "to fully express the significance of Jesus' gesture ... his giving of himself to the end for the salvation of the world and his unending charity."

The Women's Ordination Conference, a group that has long advocated for female priests, celebrated the decree as a sign that "change is possible." But it noted that Francis' wishes clearly met resistance within the Vatican, given his letter requesting the change was dated more than a year ago.

Cardinal Robert Sarah, head of the liturgy office, is a staunch conservative.

"Our prayer during this Year of Mercy is that the inclusion of women in the church not stop at our feet, but will be one of many signs to include women fully in the institutional church," the group said in a statement.

The traditionalist blog Rorate Caeli, meanwhile, warned that the accommodation could lead to questions about the inviolability of the all-male priesthood and bring the Catholic Church the way of the Anglican Communion, which has been badly divided over allowing female priests and bishops and blessing same-sex unions.

"What is most tragic is to see the very same impulses that imploded Anglicanism imposed on Latin Church decades later," Rorate Caeli said ——

Above is from:  http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/pope-church-law-gender-friendly-pre-easter-rite-36419672

Pro-lifers plow ahead with plans to march in D.C.

 

By Matthew Gambino

Students of Holy Innocents School in Philadelphia, along with students of John W. Hallahan Catholic Girls’ High School, place luminaries for life at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center along a wall facing 17th Street in Philadelphia. (Sarah Webb)

Despite the foot of snow expected to fall on Philadelphia Friday night into Saturday, and up to two feet anticipated for the Washington, D.C. area, the annual March for Life in the nation’s capital has not been postponed or cancelled.

“The March for Life will go on no matter the weather,” the march’s official website declared Thursday afternoon. “Despite the winter storm prediction, the March for Life will not be cancelled.”

The annual public protest observes the Jan. 22, 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States.

Marchers from across the country gather each year for a rally near the Washington Monument then march from there past the U.S. Capitol and on to the Supreme Court building.

Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia John J. McIntyre will lead the Philadelphia contingent traveling by bus, train and car to Washington. Hundreds of parishioners, clergy and religious from the Philadelphia Archdiocese normally travel each year for the march.

Dubbed Winter Storm Jonas, some 74 million Americans from Nebraska to New York City will be affected by blizzard conditions of the mammoth storm.

Some diocesan groups including Cincinnati, St. Louis and in Virginia, Indiana and Michigan have already cancelled their trips to Washington due to the storm. While the Philadelphia Archdiocese indicated no change in plans, as of Thursday several parish and school groups had cancelled their participation.

The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning (upgraded from a watch) for the Baltimore/Washington/Northern Virginia area beginning 3 p.m. Friday – about the time the March for Life usually ends.

The bulletin said heavy snow – 24 inches in Washington and 30 inches in the western suburbs — will develop late Friday afternoon and continue through Saturday night in that region, with “potential life threatening conditions expected Friday night through Saturday.”

The snow driven by sustained winds of 25 to 35 m.p.h., with gusts up to 50 m.p.h., “will cause dangerous conditions and will be a threat to life and property,” the weather service said. “Travel is expected to be severely limited if not impossible during the height of the storm Friday night and Saturday. Visibility will be reduced to near zero at times in whiteout conditions.”

Philadelphians and all participants are invited to a vigil Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington on Thursday night, Jan. 21, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., with New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan as celebrant.

Bishop McIntyre will celebrate Mass at the shrine Friday morning at 10 a.m. for the approximately 3,000 anticipated faithful from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia attending the march.

A rally preceding the march will begin at 12 noon with speeches on the grounds of the Washington Monument near the corner of 15th Street and Constitution Avenue. At 1 p.m. marchers will start out from Constitution Avenue between 15th and 17th Streets.

Participants from the Philadelphia Archdiocese will meet on the corner of Constitution Avenue and 15th Street. They are invited to walk behind the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s banner, carried by seminarians from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.

The march ends at approximately 3 p.m. at the Supreme Court, located about three blocks from Amtrak’s Union Station in Washington.

In addition to the rally and march, organizers will present their inaugural March for Life Achievement Award to Chester County Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, who is retiring after 20 years in Congress.

Yes, there is a parking problem at St. James

 

This article is from the parish bulletin, for January, 24, 2016

 

Weekly Contributions for the weekend of January 17, 2016

Two additional pledges;  $3,020. additional pledged.

What does the Pope’s synagogue visit mean for Jews and Christians?

 

Pope Francis’s visit to a synagogue in Rome comes amid questions about the shifting status of Jewish-Catholic relations.

By Ben Thompson January 17, 2016 2:29 PM

Pope Francis visited the Great Synagogue of Rome Sunday, becoming only the third Catholic leader in modern times to visit the Jewish house of prayer.

Francis spoke at the synagogue in an effort to demonstrate interfaith solidarity in the wake of recent religiously motivated violence around the world, and to condemn anti-Semitism. The Pope’s remarks were met with a generally positive response, according to the Associated Press.

"The hatred that comes from racism and bias or worse which uses God's name or words to kill deserves our contempt and our firm condemnation," said Ruth Dureghello, president of the Rome's Jewish community, according to the AP.

Francis’s visit followed previous Great Synagogue papal appearances by Pope John Paul II in 1986 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2010, both made in times of strained relations between the two religions.

Rome’s chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, hosted Francis’s visit and was also present when Benedict attended. Before the Sunday event, Rabbi Di Segni expressed hope that the visit could accentuate the friendship between Jews and Christians while also criticizing recent moves by the Vatican, saying they "cannot be so appreciated by the Jewish community."

While relations between Jews and Catholics are relatively calm now, some believe the Vatican has not acknowledged Israel properly while giving Palestine recognition.

In 2015, the Catholic Church signed a treaty recognizing a “State of Palestine.” And Francis had previously visited the West Bank prior to Israel when traveling through the region, as well as possibly having likened Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to an “angel of peace.”

Despite these tensions, the Vatican released an update on the status of Catholic-Jewish relations last month, 50 years after the Church’s first declaration on relations with non-Christian religions – the Nostra aetate – was published. The December reflection pertained to the “special” dialogue between Jews and Christians and where the Catholic Church hopes to take it.

The release also made new points that the Church should not actively try to convert Jews, and acknowledged that the two religions share a unique historical and theological connection.

"This document is very significant," Rabbi David Rosen of the American Jewish Committee told the AP.

The Pope’s Sunday visit also included an acknowledgment of Holocaust survivors and Francis’s repetition of John Paul’s assertion that Jews are Christians’ “elder brothers” in the family of God.

But the top Catholic’s main message was the condemnation of recent violence perpetrated by and directed at religious people.

"Violence of man against man is in contradiction to every religion that merits the name, in particular the three monotheistic religions," Francis said, according to the AP.

"Every human being, as a creature of God, is our brother regardless of his origins or religious belief,”  he said

Above is from:  http://news.yahoo.com/does-pope-synagogue-visit-mean-jews-christians-192928543.html

Bishop Finn’s new assignment

January 15, 2016 8:00 am  •  By Erin Andersen | Lincoln Journal Star

Erin Andersen | Lincoln Journal Star

 

For the first time in 13 years, Lincoln’s Catholic Diocese will participate in the next sex abuse audit conducted by the United States Confere…

A Catholic bishop who was the first American priest convicted of not notifying police of suspected child abuse in a timely manner is now the chaplain at a Lincoln convent.

But Lincoln's bishop said Robert Finn paid for his mistake by completing two years of probation and deserves mercy.

Finn became chaplain of Lincoln's School Sisters of Christ the King convent in December after serving as bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph for 10 years.

He cited personal reasons when he resigned as a bishop in April in the aftermath of a child pornography scandal involving one of his priests, Father Shawn Ratigan, and a subsequent Vatican investigation into Finn's effectiveness as a leader.

As chaplain for the School Sisters of Christ the King, Finn celebrates Mass, hears confessions and serves as spiritual adviser to the more than 30 nuns who live in the convent. He succeeds Monsignor Myron Pleskac, who died Jan. 2.

Bishop James D. Conley of the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln said Finn has been well received in Lincoln.

The School Sisters of Christ the King nuns serve as principals and teachers in seven Lincoln diocese schools.

Diocese spokesman JD Flynn noted that despite the controversy surrounding Finn's time in Kansas City, he never was accused or even suspected of any sexual impropriety. Rather, he said, Finn's offense was an administrative mistake, in that he failed to notify police immediately of Ratigan’s behavior and tried to handle matters within the diocese.

Finn was the first American priest to even be indicted for failing to report suspected child abuse to police “in a timely manner.”

He learned in December 2010 that Ratigan had child pornography on his computer involving children in the Kansas City diocese. According to reports, Finn immediately removed Ratigan from the school and ordered him not to have contact with children.

But the photos were not reported to police until five months later, and by that time, Ratigan had taken more photos of another young girl in the diocese. Ultimately, he was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Finn and the diocese were each indicted on two misdemeanor counts of failing to report the abuse. A judge found Finn guilty of one count and sentenced him to two years on probation. The diocese paid a $1.1 million civil fine for violating the terms of a 2008 civil settlement regarding the Kansas City diocese and a history of child sex abuse.

Finn declined a request for an interview.

Citing the Catholic Year of Mercy, as declared by Pope Francis, the Lincoln diocese sees Finn as a priest who should be allowed to move on.

“It is a grace to welcome Bishop Finn to our diocese, to continue his priestly ministry as chaplain to the School Sisters of Christ the King," Conley said in a written statement. "Priests and the faithful of our diocese have told me how glad they are to have him here. Bishop Finn has been a longtime friend to the School Sisters -- and in God’s mercy, he arrived just as their beloved chaplain passed away.

"Of course, Bishop Finn has faced legal issues related to administrative decisions, he’s addressed them appropriately, and they’ve been resolved. The faithful of our diocese can be confident that his ministry as a chaplain to the School Sisters of Christ will be a grace for all of us, and a witness to God’s enduring mercy."

Conley consulted with a number of ecclesiastical officials before assigning Finn to the convent, Flynn said. The appointment was announced in both the Lincoln and Kansas City diocese newspapers in December, and Finn had to pass a customary background check and complete child protection training before the Lincoln appointment.

“We have zero tolerance for crimes against children,” he added, noting that Conley has reversed former Lincoln Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz' longstanding refusal to take part in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' clergy sex abuse audit.

“It was not that he didn’t report it," Flynn said of Finn's involvement. "It was how and when … The way he reported it didn’t fulfill the requirements of the law.”

But in Kansas City, opinions are markedly divided.

Finn’s critics say he took part in a massive cover-up, perpetuating the victimization of Ratigan’s victims through drawn-out and extremely costly legal proceedings.

Supporters paint a picture of a leader whose conservative ideas ruffled feathers among the diocese’s entrenched bureaucracy from the start. Ratigan’s offenses exacerbated Finn’s status as the diocese’s “low-hanging fruit,” as Frank Kessler wrote in an article for Crisis Magazine in May.

Some accused Kansas City Prosecuting Attorney Jean Peters Baker of making Finn a political scapegoat, which she denied.

"No one is above the law, no matter our position or title,” Baker wrote in a letter to members of Christ the King Parish in Kansas City, Missouri.

All of that is in the past, Flynn said, questioning the motivation of those who continue to make an issue of Finn’s history.

“It doesn’t strike me as particularly Christian to search out a person who made a mistake and continue to hound him about it,” Flynn said

Above is from:  http://journalstar.com/news/local/embattled-k-c-bishop-starts-anew-in-lincoln-convent/article_1e73ef3e-f2fe-5e41-b3e0-2d90c9f1552f.html

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Letter, 1/17: Diocese deceiving flock over Bishop

2016-01-16T23:55:00Z Letter, 1/17: Diocese deceiving flock over Bishop JournalStar.com

14 hours ago

Nebraska Catholic officials are deceiving their flock about Bishop Robert Finn, the only prelate in the US to be criminally convicted for refusing to report child sex crimes to police. Finn now works in Nebraska ("Embattled K.C. bishop starts anew in Lincoln convent," Jan. 15).

It’s dreadfully disingenuous to claim, as Bishop James Conley and one of his spokesmen, JD Flynn, are doing, that Finn's offense was an administrative mistake. It was not. It was a crime. There was a trial. Finn was found guilty. He was penalized.

It’s also disingenuous to claim, as Conley and Flynn are doing, that Finn failed to notify police immediately of a now-convicted priest’s behavior. Finn never notified the police. Months later, one of Finn’s underlings called the police.

And, in fact, Finn kept information and suspicions about these heinous crimes from police for months.

Finn, in fact, did not “fail.” Time and time again, Finn made deliberate, self-serving decisions to protect himself, his reputation and his priest, instead of protecting his flock.

Failure suggests a good faith effort that went awry. Had Finn tried to call the police but misdialed, that would have been a failure. Had he mailed evidence to police but forgot to put a stamp on the envelope, that would have been a failure.

But Finn did not “fail” to call the police. He knowingly refused to do so, for months, and during those months, more child sex crimes were committed, more kids were hurt, more families were deceived and devastated.

We hope those who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups during Finn’s tenure in Kansas City will call police, expose wrongdoers and protect kids and we hope Nebraska Catholic employee and parishioners will denounce Lincoln’s bishop for this irresponsible move.

Barbara Dorris, Outreach Director for SNAP, Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests, St. Louis, MO

Ms. Dorris’ letter is from:  http://journalstar.com/news/opinion/mailbag/letter-diocese-deceiving-flock-over-bishop/article_cc0c80e6-d918-5653-a9d3-9e1203c96093.html

Former Bishop Finn now chaplain in K.C.

 

Read more by clicking on the following:  http://journalstar.com/news/local/disgraced-k-c-bishop-starts-anew-in-lincoln-convent/article_1e73ef3e-f2fe-5e41-b3e0-2d90c9f1552f.html

Weekly Collections for weekend of January 10, 2016

 

No new report this week.

Fraternite of Notre Dame sues McHenry County Board over Marengo permit rejection

 

 

 

 

Fraternite of Notre Dame sues McHenry County Board over Marengo permit rejection

Published: Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015 11:08 p.m. CST • Updated: Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015 11:09 p.m. CST

Matthew Apgar - mapgar@shawmedia.com Nuns with the Fraternite of Notre Dame sit silently inside a McHenry County Board meeting on Tuesday, September 15, 2015 at the McHenry County Administration Building. The congregation was hoping to pass a conditional use only or a variation only zoning petition for the building of a gift shop, a winery, and a nursing home, but was met with 20 votes for no with only three votes in favor. Neither motion passed, which resulted in a large eruption of applause from residents opposed to the petitions.

By KEVIN P. CRAVER - kcraver@shawmedia.com

MARENGO – A French Christian order denied a permit to expand operations on its rural McHenry County property has filed a federal lawsuit to get the County Board’s rejection overturned.

The Fraternite of Notre Dame earlier this month filed a six-count lawsuit alleging that the County Board discriminated against it as a religious institution when it voted in September against granting it a permit to add a boarding school, nursing home, winery, brewery and gift shop to its 95 acres at 10002 Harmony Hill Road, south of Marengo and Union.

The lawsuit alleges that the board’s decision, based in large part on the conclusion that the proposed use is an inappropriate fit for a rural agricultural area, is discriminatory because the board has granted permission to build for other uses. It singles out the nearby Marengo Ridge Golf Course, the county-owned Valley Hi Nursing Home west of Woodstock, as well as two public schools, a private Lutheran school, and several churches with gift shops.

“You can’t say no to [the Fraternite] when you’ve said yes to everyone else,” Fraternite attorney Jim Geoly said.

The County Board first granted the Fraternite a permit in 2005 to build a chapel, convent, monastery and bakery on the property. Neighbors have alleged the Fraternite has not been a good neighbor when it comes to work hours and construction, and have argued that adding a school, hospice and brewery would make the property a worse fit for the rural area.

More than 800 people signed a petition opposing the expansion, and the Coral Township Board opposed it as well.

The Fraternite’s request after months of testimony passed the Zoning Board of Appeals on a 4-3 vote, which was one vote shy of the five needed for a recommendation to approve. It then went on to the County Board, which soundly rejected the request on a 20-3 vote. While board members praised the Fraternite and its work helping the poor and downtrodden, they concluded the expansion request was inconsistent with the county’s land-use plan and development ordinances.

However, the lawsuit states the County Board had granted such permits for similar uses in similar areas, and alleges that the rejection of the Fraternite’s permit violates the equal protection clauses of the U.S. and Illinois Constitutions, as well as the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act and the state Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The lawsuit asks the federal court to rule that the Fraternite can build its requested expansion with the variances to size and height it had requested, and compensate it for attorney’s fees.

Bad blood between the Fraternite and the neighbors have simmered in the decade since the retreat was first built. Neighbors have chafed at allegations of religious and racial bigotry by the Fraternite and its supporters – most of the order’s works are done in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago. And the Fraternite has been the victim of vandalism in past years, most notably in 2005 when its statues of Jesus and Mary were defaced with spray paint.

Fraternite of Notre Dame was founded in 1977 by French Bishop Jean Marie, who claims he received divine inspiration from the Virgin Mary to help the disadvantaged. The order identifies as Catholic, but is not recognized by the Vatican.

ABOVE IS FROM:  http://www.nwherald.com/2015/12/22/fraternite-of-notre-dame-sues-mchenry-county-board-over-marengo-permit-rejection/a3ageqp/

Vatican OKs loan of relic for Anglican primate meeting

 

 

By NICOLE WINFIELD 5 hours ago

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican is loaning a deeply symbolic religious relic to a meeting in Britain discussing the future of the 80 million-strong Anglican Communion that has been badly divided over issues of female bishops and same-sex marriage.

The ivory top of the pastoral staff of St. Gregory the Great — the 6th-century pope who dispatched missionaries to England to spread Christianity — will be displayed in England's Canterbury Cathedral before and after the Jan. 11-16 meeting of Anglican primates.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has summoned the 37 primates to discuss how the Communion can keep working together after it has been splintering for years over issues such as the ordination of female and gay bishops and the blessings of same-sex marriage.

The Vatican has watched from afar but nevertheless with alarm as the rift has widened, fearing that schism within the Anglican Communion will only complicate its own efforts at promoting Christian unity.

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the Vatican's culture minister, authorized the loan of Gregory's pastoral staff last month, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. He wrote that it was a "highly symbolic" relic and a "mark of the bond that spiritually unites the Catholic and the Anglican churches."

Gregory, who was pope from 540-604, sent a mission to England in 597 to bring Christianity to the region. The mission leader, Augustine, became the first archbishop of Canterbury, and both Augustine and Gregory remain important figures to the Anglican Church.

View gallery

Father Guido Innocenzo Gargano, prior of the San Gregorio church, lifts the ivory top of the pastora …

The dean of Canterbury Cathedral, the Very Rev. Robert Willis, said the loan of Gregory's crozier was a sign of "ecumenical encouragement" during the primates' meeting, as well as a link to Gregory.

The Catholic and Anglican churches split in 1534 after English King Henry VIII was refused a marriage annulment. A half-millennium later, the two churches remain divided on a host of issues, including the same ones that are dividing the Communion itself: female bishops and gays.

The idea to send the relic came from the Rev. Robert McCulloch, the Australian procurator general of the St. Columban Catholic missionary order. McCulloch — who has been active in interfaith and ecumenical relations, most recently the round of cricket matches between the Vatican's cricket club and the Church of England's team — will personally take the relic to Britain on Friday.

In an interview, McCulloch said it was remarkable how quickly the loan was approved by the Vatican and the Italian governments, with support from the British.

"It's a gesture of support, of unity and harmony from the Catholic Church for the Anglican Church," he said.

The crozier is usually kept at the San Gregorio al Celio church in Rome. The church has long played a role in Anglican-Catholic affairs. Pope Benedict XVI and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams celebrated a vespers service at San Gregorio in 2012, and their predecessors, John Paul II and George Carey, celebrated vespers together there in 1996.

ABOVE IS FROM:   http://news.yahoo.com/vatican-oks-loan-relic-anglican-primate-meeting-150332341.html

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Illinois college moves to fire professor who said Muslims, Christians worship same God

Reuters) - Wheaton College, an evangelical Christian university outside of Chicago, said on Tuesday it was taking steps to fire a tenured political science professor after she wrote in a Facebook post that Muslims and Christians worship the same God.

 

Related Stories

1. College begins effort to fire professor for comment on Islam Associated Press
2. On Worshipping the Same God Huffington Post
3. To Dr. Larycia Hawkins, With Solidarity & Love: An Open Letter from Black Muslim Women Huffington Post
4. Christian professor wearing headscarf seeks reconciliation Associated Press
5. Dr. Larycia Hawkins and More Wheaton Woes Huffington Post

 

Dr. Larycia Hawkins wrote on the social media site on Dec. 10 that she was donning the hijab head scarf during the period of advent before Christmas as a sign of solidarity with Muslims. In her post she said "we worship the same God."

Hawkins was placed on administrative leave after the comment drew criticism, and on Tuesday the school said in a statement Wheaton's provost had delivered a notice to President Philip Ryken recommending her employment be terminated.

"This Notice follows the impasse reached by the parties," the statement said. "Dr. Hawkins declined to participate in further dialogue about the theological implications of her public statements," it said.

The school has said that Hawkins was not placed on leave because she wore a hijab, but because her "theological statements seem inconsistent with Wheaton College’s doctrinal convictions."

After a hearing with a faculty committee and other reviews, The Wheaton College Board of Trustees will make a final decision regarding Hawkins' employment.

Hawkins could not immediately be reached for comment about the notice to recommend her termination.

On her website, Hawkins said she received an emailed notification on Jan. 4 that her employment was up for review and she planned to address the issue at a Chicago-area church on Wednesday.

"Dr. Hawkins maintains Christian support for the Muslim community amidst the ongoing anti-Muslim climate," the site said.

On her Facebook page on Dec. 10, Hawkins said she would wear the hijab in solidarity with Muslim neighbors. "I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book."

The solidarity gesture comes as Muslims around the United States report worries of a backlash and growing Islamophobia after a couple who had pledged allegiance to the extremist group Islamic State killed 14 people in California in early December.

Hawkins, who has written on race, religion and American politics, said she had consulted with the local chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, an advocacy group, to make sure that it would not be seen as offensive for a non-Muslim woman to wear the headscarf.

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere in Los Angeles)

Above is from:  http://news.yahoo.com/illinois-college-moves-fire-professor-said-muslims-christians-055627127.html

Weekly Collections for the weekend of January 3, 2016

 

Since December 14, 2014 three additional pledges; a total of $19,672 addtional pledged.

Fr. Brennan retrial set for Oct. 24

 

Joe Slobodzian

Posted: Monday, January 4, 2016, 9:48 PM

After six postponements, former Roman Catholic priest James J. Brennan has a new retrial date – Oct. 24 – on the 2011 charges of attempted rape of a 14-year-old boy in 1996.

The new trial date was agreed on Monday by Assistant District Attorney Meghan Goddard and defense lawyer William J. Brennan [not related to his client], working with courtroom staff for Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright.

Some 3-1/2 years have passed since June 22, 2012, when a Philadelphia jury announced it could not reach a verdict in the case against the 52-year-old. This time, a seventh date may be the charm: Bright ordered Brennan – a busy, high-profile criminal defense lawyer -- and Goddard attached for trial. That means that the judge has dibs on Goddard’s and Brennan’s time for what is estimated will be a three-day jury trial.

Just to be sure, Bright has set a status hearing for March 4 and a “trial readiness conference” on Oct. 17.

Brennan, who is charged with attempted rape and child endangerment, was one of the five original people – a monsignor, three priests and a parochial schoolteacher -- charged in 2011 following a county grand jury investigation into how officials of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia handled child sex-abuse complaints against priests.

This was the same trial in which Msgr. William J. Lynn, an archdiocesan official, was convicted of child endangerment for his supervisory role investigating and recommending discipline against priests found to have sexually abused children.

Lynn, who turns 65 on Jan. 5, was the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004. He is serving a three- to six-year prison term in the state prison at Waymart in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

On Dec. 22, a Superior Court panel reversed Lynn’s conviction a second time and ordered a new trial. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s office has asked the full Superior Court to reconsider that decision, which is pending.

The other three charged with Lynn and Brennan were convicted and sentenced. Brennan remains free on $95,000 bail while awaiting retrial.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/crime_and_punishment/Fr-Brennan-retrial-set-for-Oct-24.html#aYaAjkJHRaWbFOJT.99