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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Deacon Keith Fournier

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

From the Pastor’s Desk January 19, 2014

 

Weekly Contributions for the weekend of January 12, 2014

No change in Stewardship.

No change in Total Pledges.

Vatican facing UN showdown on sex abuse record - Yahoo News

By NICOLE WINFIELD and JOHN HEILPRIN

 

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

 

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

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

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