Bishop Finn’s Story in Broader Context: John Paul II and the Demise of Pastoral Bishops
Ex-Greenwich pastor reports to prison
The former pastor of a Greenwich church sentenced in July for federal obstruction of justice has reported to a Brooklyn, N.Y., prison, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Michael Moynihan, 59, who was sentenced to five months in jail followed by two years of supervised release, is now at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
Located near the Gowanus Bay, the prison is classified as an administrative facility, a type of institution intended for the detention of pretrial offenders, dangerous or escape-prone inmates, or for treatment of inmates with medical problems, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
The Brooklyn facility is capable of holding male and female inmates in all security categories.
Moynihan was to report to prison Sept. 3; a prison employee on Thursday would not confirm when he reported.
Moynihan resigned from St. Michael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church in 2007 amid allegations he diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars in church funds to pay for personal expenses.
He pleaded guilty in December 2011 to the obstruction charge, which stemmed from lies he told federal officials investigating the possible misappropriation of funds.
He met with FBI agents to provide information about how the funds were spent and, in a December 2010 interview, told agents he had not forged a signature on a letter, although he knew he signed another person’s name without the authority to do so, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
An investigation by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport found in 2008 that Moynihan could not account for church money he kept in secret accounts and engaged in a pattern of deception when confronted.
Moynihan also provided false and misleading information to accountants retained by the diocese, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Though most of approximately $2 million in expenditures from two accounts went toward documented legitimate expenses or expenses that appeared to be appropriate, Moynihan used about $300,000 in church funds to pay his credit card bills, authorities said.
Attorney Audrey Felsen, who represents Moynihan with attorney Mark Sherman, said after Moynihan’s sentencing that about $300,000 has not been accounted for to the diocese’s satisfaction.
Moynihan must pay over $400,000 in restitution to the diocese and must complete 120 hours of community service as part of his sentence.
Complete Article HERE!
U.S. Roman Catholics outraged over child sex abuse scandal; call for bishop’s resignation
Calls for Bishop Robert Finn’s resignation intensified the day after he became the highest-ranking U.S. church official to be convicted of a crime related to a child sexual abuse scandal.
Soon after a Missouri judge found Bishop Finn guilty Thursday of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse to the state, unhappy Roman Catholics began discussing ways to get the bishop out of office on a Facebook page titled “Bishop Finn Must Go.”
Among the posts was one that listed contact information for the Vatican and urged parishioners to voice their displeasure with Bishop Finn at the highest levels. Pope Benedict XVI alone has authority over bishops. Through the decades-long abuse scandal, only one U.S. bishop has stepped down over his failures to stop abusive clergy: Cardinal Bernard Law – who, in 2002, resigned as head of the Archdiocese of Boston.
Jackson County Judge John M. Torrence sentenced Bishop Finn to two years of supervised probation. If the bishop abides by a set of stipulations from the judge, the conviction will be wiped from his record in 2014.
“Now that our justice system says he’s guilty, he has lost his ability to lead our diocese,” Patricia Rotert, a Catholic church member in Kansas City, said Friday. “He’s lost his credibility. There is turmoil and angst around him and I don’t think he can bring people together.”
Bishop Finn’s attorneys would not comment on the bishop’s future in the church, saying it was a legal matter.
However, Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph spokesman Jack Smith indicated that Bishop Finn wasn’t going anywhere.
“The bishop looks forward to continuing to perform his duties, including carrying out the important obligations placed on him by the court,” Mr. Smith said in an emailed statement Friday.
Bishop Finn’s conviction comes four years after the church paid $10 million to settle 47 pending sexual abuse claims against the diocese and 12 of its priests. When announcing that deal in 2008, Bishop Finn apologized for the abuse that occurred at the hands of current and former clergy members, and promised that steps were being taken to make sure such abuse never happened again.
The diocese posted an update about the 2008 settlement on its website in June 2011 stating that Bishop Finn had written 118 letters of apology to plaintiffs or their families. That same month, Bishop Finn apologized for not responding to warnings the diocese received a year earlier from a parish principal detailing suspicious behavior by the Reverand Shawn Ratigan around children.
Instead of reading the memo and looking into the claims, Bishop Finn left it up to subordinates to handle the matter. He later admitted it was a year before he finally read a five-page document that a parish elementary school principal wrote detailing suspicious activities by Rev. Ratigan around children.
Bishop Finn also was informed of nude photos of children found on Rev. Ratigan’s laptop computer in December 2010, but instead of turning them over to police, Bishop Finn sent Rev. Ratigan to live at a convent in Independence, Mo.
Monsignor Robert Murphy turned the photos over to police in May 2011 — against Bishop Finn’s wishes, according to court documents — after Rev. Ratigan continued to violate Bishop Finn’s orders to stay away from children and not take any pictures of them.
Rev. Ratigan pleaded guilty last month to five child pornography counts, but hasn’t been sentenced. Prosecutors have requested he spend the rest of his life in prison.
Bishop Finn apologized again Thursday in court for the pain caused by his failure to report Rev. Ratigan.
The bishop has avoided facing charges in Missouri’s Clay County, where Rev. Ratigan was charged, after reaching a settlement in November 2011. For five years, Bishop Finn must report to the Clay County prosecutor directly each month about any suspected child abuse in the diocese’s facilities in the county.
“I said for years that we wouldn’t be in the mess we were in today if about 30 bishops had said `I made a mistake, I’m sorry, I take full responsibility and I resign,“’ said the Reverand Thomas J. Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. “I think we’re at a state in the life of the church when a bishop is convicted of a misdemeanor, found guilty of not doing what he was supposed to do, I think he should resign for the good of the diocese and the good of the church.”
Support for Bishop Finn’s resignation is far from unanimous. Some say they agree he made a mistake, but it’s not one that should force him out, especially with even more stringent safeguards in place to protect children.
“There’s always been fights in the church, and there will continue to be fights in the church,” said Kansas City parishioner Bruce Burkhart, a member of the Serra Club, which supports and promotes priests.
“I think people may walk away, but that’s their business,” he said. “If they think their children are any more safe in public schools, or in another church setting where people are working with youth, the data indicate they’re not. The Catholic Church in America is probably now today the safest place for children.”
While Bishop Finn is the highest-ranking Catholic official to be charged in the U.S. with shielding an abusive priest, Albany Law School professor Timothy Lytton said the June conviction of Monsignor William Lynn in Philadelphia broke the ice on criminal convictions against members of the Catholic hierarchy.
Monsignor Lynn, who supervised other clergy as an aide to the cardinal, was convicted of felony child endangerment and became the first U.S. church official sent to prison for his handling of abuse complaints. He is appealing his three- to six-year sentence.
Still, Bishop Finn’s conviction is significant because it proves Monsignor Lynn’s criminal prosecution was not an isolated event, but instead something that is likely to embolden prosecutors to go after church leaders who fail to protect children.
“Kansas City might mark a trend,” Mr. Lytton said. “It’s no longer good enough to just file civil suits; criminal justice may be much quicker to get involved. Kansas City normalizes this kind of reaction to the scandal.”
Complete Article HERE!
Catholic priest donated $1000 to gay ‘marriage,’ diocese mum
A Catholic priest’s donation to support redefining marriage in Minnesota has been revealed, deepening a rift between a conservative Catholic hierarchy and more liberal subordinates in the blue state over gay ‘marriage.’
The Duluth News Tribune reported Sunday that Rev. Peter Lambert of St. Louis Catholic Church in Floodwood had donated $1,000 to Minnesotans United for Families, the group fighting a constitutional marriage amendment, in March.
The Diocese of Duluth, where Lambert is stationed, has donated $50,000 to support the traditional marriage amendment. Duluth Diocese spokesman Kyle Eller told the Tribune that Lambert didn’t intend the donation to be a public statement.
“It was my understanding that Father Lambert wasn’t aware that the contribution would be made public, and it wasn’t intended to be a public statement,” said Eller, who declined further comment.
The diocese didn’t immediately respond to an email from LifeSiteNews.com requesting comment Tuesday.
The bishops in Minnesota have ranked among the most outspoken Catholic defenders of traditional marriage in the country in recent years. In 2010, the prelates backed a comprehensive six-week campaign to re-catechize their flock on the Church’s moral teaching on marriage and sexuality.
In January, Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis emphasized to clergy under his purview, which includes the Duluth diocese, the importance of their adherence to Church doctrine on the marriage question.
“The gravity of this struggle, and the radical consequences of inaction propels me to place a solemn charge upon you all,” he said. “On your ordination day, you made a promise to promote and defend all that the Church teaches. I call upon that promise in this effort to defend marriage. There ought not be open dissension on this issue.”
Nienstedt again urged the Catholic faithful this Sunday to support the proposed marriage amendment that will appear on the general election ballot this November.
Supporters of redefining marriage have meanwhile been targeting Catholics with their own message.
An openly homosexual religious priest from St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minn. told a crowd of 200 in June that Catholics are permitted to vote against the amendment as a matter of freedom of conscience.
“I believe this amendment violates an important principle of Catholic teaching, and that as Catholics, we can vote no,” Rev. Bob Pearson said.
Complete Article HERE!
Rev. Stan Sloan has dedicated his life to serving his fellow men
Stan Sloan is not your ordinary Reverend. As a former priest of the Diocese, he has dedicated his life to serving his fellow men, fallen in love, was out during his priesthood, stood up and since departed from the Roman Catholic Church, and even scarier assimilated back into the dating scene after his priesthood. What matters to Sloan is service and perspective – both, which are for and from the people he has helped and continues to help throughout his career.
Currently, as Chicago House and Social Service Agency’s CEO, Sloan has taken his passion for service and his perspective from his days at St. Leonard’s House where he aided former prisoners and homeless people and instilled it back into the community. With exciting, new endeavors with Sweet Miss Givings Bakery, the development of a TransLife Center, as well as events that include Dance for Life, an all-out dance party, at the Park West on September 15 and the charity’s annual speaker series featuring fashion designer Kenneth Cole in November, Sloan has made Chicago House his new Diocese.
TC: (Terrence Chappell) As the longest running CEO of Chicago House and Social Service Agency, it could be argued that you are Chicago House. Who were you before Chicago House?
SS: (The Rev. Stan Sloan) I was a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma up until 1995. In 95′ I just decided that I couldn’t do that anymore. I liked what I was doing and I liked the people I was working with, but I couldn’t stand working for the Roman Catholic institution or the hierarchy.
TC: What was the turning point that moved you to transition out of the Roman Catholic Church?
SS: As gay men we under sell this a lot; being gay is so much more about whom you have sex with. I mean even if you’re a celibate gay man, your gay friendships are still important to you. So, if I had a Friday night off, I would go out with my gay friends – not to gay bars because I knew that was crossing the line, but I would go out to dinner with them. Again, I was not breaking any vows. So, the bishop of Tulsa called me in and said that you’re fixing with the gay community. I said yes, but I’m being celibate and that we’re all God’s people. He said it’s one thing to minister to them but it’s another to be friends with them.
TC: Wow. How did that make you feel?
SS: Yea. It’s horrible. It’s okay to minister to them but to not befriend them? You don’t befriend people when you’re actually contributing to the cause let alone their [Roman Catholic Church] stance on birth control. If it sounds like I’m bitter and angry, it’s because I am.
TC: What do you do with all that bitterness and anger?
SS: I exercise like a mad man. I love my work. I’ve got good friends.
TC: However, you didn’t always feel this way. What was it that attracted you to the priesthood?
SS: I always had a natural prayer life growing up as a child. My parents were devout Catholics, and I enjoyed going to daily mass. It was always just a natural fit for me. I actually came out and had a boyfriend before I was a priest.
TC: Oh really? How did that work out?
SS: When I was in seminary I was celibate. So, as I went through the boards to start going into seminary, they asked me if I was gay and I said yes. At the time it was much more permissive than it is now. The church has gone backwards. However, I said if I do this I’ll be celibate.
TC: How did your boyfriend at the time react to you deciding to become a priest?
SS: I told him at the time, Jimmy this is something I have to try and that chances are that I won’t like it and I will be back. We were both kids at the time – we were like 23. He told me if I do this, you do this and when you come back, I won’t be here. So, we broke up, and I went.
TC: But then you quit the Catholic Church.
SS: Yup and never once did I think that I made the wrong decision. It was hard. You grieve it like you grieve a divorce. But, I was lucky that I happen to pick the Episcopal Church as my next step. We just okayed doing gay marriages, so the Episcopal Church is already ahead. I just feel like in the idea world, the Churches or religion in general should lead the rest of the world on social justice issues. However, instead you have ridiculous groups who do just the opposite. I’m very proud to be a part of denomination that is at the forefront of equality, sexual equality, and gender nonconforming issues.
TC: And then you transitioned over to serving and helping homeless people.
SS: Yes. Serving homeless people really puts perspective around your life and whatever is getting you down. You get to see people who have every reason to not have any hope but they do and they are excited about moving forward with their lives. Every day I get to make a difference.
TC: What kind of perspective did that give you at the time?
SS: I was just this naïve, white kid who grew up in Texas in middle-class America. I remember my first day at St. Leonard’s. I was working with all ex-offenders who just got out of prison. I was afraid of these guys. I’ve never been around a population like this. So, I went in and I had to talk to these guys. I started talking to them and I’m thinking to myself I’ve got two master’s degrees and so on. But then I realized that they were way more afraid of me then I was of them. For instance, I’m a part of the world they want to break into – mainstream society.
TC: How did this perspective help you at Chicago House?
SS: Well one of the things Chicago House gets to do on a daily basis is that we get to take our donors and show them the lives of our residents. I invite people all the time to come. It’s great because different people from different factions of our society can meet. We’re not as different as we think we are.
TC: Is there a story of a particular resident or someone that you have helped that stands out?
SS: One of my first days at St. Leonard’s House, I met a guy who I was working one on one with – helping him with his resume and stuff like that. It was like a light bolt when I was working with this guy; this guy’s IQ is off the charts. This guy is way smarter than I am. We stayed in touch and he did a good job while he was at St. Leonard’s House. He wanted to start up his own computer business. I gave him some money to help him get it started. Now, he owns his own computer business and has a home in Lake Forest. Mind you at the time he was just out of prison and would’ve been homeless if he wasn’t staying at St. Leonard’s House.
TC: When you started at Chicago House, you were still a priest in good standing but no longer a part of the Diocese. So, that means you could start dating. How was that?
SS: I didn’t remember from being 23 of how horrible dating was but I learned very quickly it’s a horrible process (laughs). I remember I had this over-the-top romantic idea that I would fall in love with the right one and wouldn’t have to date very much. Of course that’s not true, that’s not how life works.
TC: How was your “first” date?
SS: I signed up with The Smelts for no other reason because I decided that I wanted to date and that I need to find a husband. There was an adorable guy named Seth Hoff, who is still here in town, and I saw him and I thought he was so hot. So, I just found out his name and I just cold called him. I told him I was at swim practice today and that I saw him and asked him out to dinner. He said that I was the guy with no body fat. He said yes and we went on a few dates. I mean I was insane, so it must have been crazy for him. For instance, we would have fun on the date and instead of saying, “Hey, let’s talk soon,” I’d just say, “Can we get another date down?”
It was a very good, funny introduction into the dating world. (Laughs)
TC: What are some exciting, new developments for Chicago House?
SS: I’m excited to announce that Little Miss Muffet will take on Sweet Miss Giving’s product line. They have licensed our brand name and the internship program will operate out of their factory. Little Miss Muffet will give us a dime off every cookie, off every cupcake, and biscotti they will sell. Right now, we are trying to see how we are going to position ourselves with places like Costco and stuff since they are a national baker and they are already in all those places.
Our other big development is our TransLife Center. It will be in a gracious, old mansion where the first floor will be an emergency drop-in center for trans adults who just need to get off the streets for a day. The upstairs rooms will be built as well. There will be nine bedrooms for transgender men and women who are homeless and who need to get their life together. We will be hiring a full-time career counselor who will be transgender himself or herself who will be helping people with employment. We will have a doctor from Children’s Memorial Hospital who will be putting in weekly hours at the TransLife Center connecting people with care, since there is a huge instance of abuse of transgender people by medical professionals. So, as far as I know it will be the most comprehensive service offered to transgender people. We’re very excited about this.
TC: What do you want the LGBT community as a whole to take from Chicago House’s move in the direction of helping and aiding the trans community?
SS: We’ve made good progress as an LGB community and it’s time to start embracing our transgender brothers and sisters.
TC: What are some upcoming events Chicago House has coming up in the future?
SS: We will be having our One Night Stand event at the Park West on September 15. It will be a dance party. We’ve got all sorts of performers. Keith Elliott, who started Dance for Life and who started the burlesque show for TPAN will be a part of the event, so you know it’s going to be brilliant.
November 2 we’ve got Kenneth Cole coming for our speaker series. Kenneth Cole is the national head of the American Foundation of AIDS Research. So, he’s incredibly knowledgeable and will be a fantastic speaker.
TC: What do you want your legacy to be?
SS: That people’s lives are better because you existed.
To find more information about Chicago House visit www.ChicagoHouse.org.
Complete Article HERE!
Bishop Finn found guilty of one of two counts of failure to report suspected child abuse
BREAKING NEWS!
A Jackson County judge found Bishop Robert Finn guilty on Thursday on one count of failing to report suspected child abuse. He was found not guilty on the other count. The state asked the judge to put Finn on probation, according to court reports.
A judge granted the state’s request for court-supervised probation. The conditions include mandated reporter training, institute training for clergy and a $10,000 fund for victims of abuse.
After the verdict was read, Finn spoke to the court, saying he regretted what happened and was sorry for the hurt the events caused, according to court reports.
After the ruling, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker dropped all charges against the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.
Finn was charged with the misdemeanors for not reporting suspected child abuse from Dec. 2012 to May 2011 in connection with allegations against Rev. Shawn Ratigan.
Ratigan pleaded guilty to four counts of producing child pornography and one count of attempting to produce child pornography in August.
According to court documents, after being informed of pornographic photographs of young girls found on Ratigan’s computer, Finn sent the priest to a hospital for psychiatric care instead of reporting him to authorities.
The diocese didn’t turn over evidence to law enforcement until May 2011, after Finn found out Ratigan had violated orders to stay away from children.
Complete Article HERE!
Catholic bishop says church’s credibility on sexual abuse is ‘shredded’
The U.S. Catholic bishops’ point man on sexual abuse has said that the hierarchy’s credibility on fixing the problem is “shredded” and that the situation is comparable to the Reformation, when “the episcopacy, the regular clergy, even the papacy were discredited.”
Bishop R. Daniel Conlon of Joliet, Ill., last month told a conference of staffers who oversee child safety programs in American dioceses that he had always assumed that consistently implementing the bishops’ policies on child protection, “coupled with some decent publicity, would turn public opinion around.”
“I now know this was an illusion,” Conlon, chairman of the bishops’ Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, said in an address on Aug. 13 to the National Safe Environment and Victim Assistance Coordinators Leadership Conference in Omaha, Neb.
His talk was published in the Aug. 30 edition of Origins, an affiliate of Catholic News Service.
Conlon said that the conviction of a high-ranking church official in Philadelphia for covering up clergy abuse and the upcoming trial of a bishop in Missouri on charges of failing to report a priest on suspicions of child abuse have contributed to a widespread impression that the bishops “have failed to keep their commitments.”
The bishop disputed that view, but said even close friends “turned almost hostile” over dinner recently when he said the hierarchy has adopted “an entirely different spirit of openness and accountability.”
Conlon told the conference that the bishops still needed to clarify emerging questions about how to deal with issues like child pornography and “boundary violations” in which church personnel might engage in inappropriate interactions with children that don’t yet cross the line into physical abuse.
But he said that the bottom line is that the bishops “are gravely weakened and in need of assistance” in developing policies and changing public perceptions. He told the child safety workers to think of themselves “as an extension of your bishop.”
“Our credibility on the subject of child abuse is shredded,” Conlon said. “You may have a better chance. People — in the church, outside the church, and hanging on the edge — need to know that real progress is being made.”
Complete Article HERE!
Cardinal Carlo Martini says Church ‘200 years behind’
Italian Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini has described the Roman Catholic Church as being “200 years behind” the times.
The cardinal died on Friday, aged 85.
Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera has published his last interview, recorded in August, in which he said: “The Church is tired… our prayer rooms are empty.”
Martini, once tipped as a future pope, urged the Church to recognise its errors and to embark on a radical path of change, beginning with the Pope.
Cardinal Martini
Thousands of people have been filing past his coffin at Milan’s cathedral, where he was archbishop for more than 20 years.
The cardinal, who had retired from the post in 2002, suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, is to be buried on Monday.
‘Old culture’
Martini, a popular figure with liberal stances on many issues, commanded great respect from both Pope John Paul II and his successor Pope Benedict XVI.
The cardinal – a member of the Jesuit religious order – was often critical in his writings and comments on Church teaching, says the BBC’s David Willey in Rome.
He was a courageous and outspoken figure during the years he headed Europe’s largest Catholic diocese, our correspondent says.
Cardinal Martini gave his last interview to a fellow Jesuit priest, Georg Sporschill, and to a journalist at the beginning of August when he knew his death was approaching.
The cardinal had returned to Italy from Jerusalem, where he had settled on retirement in 2002 to continue his biblical studies.
Catholics lacked confidence in the Church, he said in the interview. “Our culture has grown old, our churches are big and empty and the church bureaucracy rises up, our religious rites and the vestments we wear are pompous.”
Unless the Church adopted a more generous attitude towards divorced persons, it will lose the allegiance of future generations, the cardinal added. The question, he said, is not whether divorced couples can receive holy communion, but how the Church can help complex family situations.
And the advice he leaves behind to conquer the tiredness of the Church was a “radical transformation, beginning with the Pope and his bishops”.
“The child sex scandals oblige us to undertake a journey of transformation,” Cardinal Martini says, referring to the child sex abuse that has rocked the Catholic Church in the past few years.
He was not afraid, our correspondent adds, to speak his mind on matters that the Vatican sometimes considered taboo, including the use of condoms to fight Aids and the role of women in the Church.
In 2008, for example, he criticised the Church’s prohibition of birth control, saying the stance had likely driven many faithful away, and publicly stated in 2006 that condoms could “in some situations, be a lesser evil”.
Complete Article HERE!
Archbishop Nienstedt’s latest marriage-amendment letter adds to Catholic turmoil
On Sunday, priests in a number of Twin Cities Roman Catholic parishes read a letter from Archbishop John Nienstedt re-stating the church’s support for the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
On Monday, Michael Bayly, the director of Catholics for Marriage Equality, noticed a spike in requests for the group’s lawn signs, which read, “Another Catholic Voting No.”
Some of the people who stopped by his south Minneapolis office to pick them up told him people had walked out of their churches during the reading. A parishioner at the nearby Church of the Annunciation said half a dozen left her service.
On Thursday, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’s official publication, the Catholic Spirit, carried the text of the letter.
Meanwhile, the Facebook site “I am Catholic. I am Voting NO!” acquired a list of parishes where the letter was not read. The most prominent of the 17 churches listed: Minneapolis’ Basilica of St. Mary.
In the letter, Nienstedt asserts that the purpose of the ballot initiative has been misconstrued. “Our effort to support God’s unchanging plan for marriage is not a campaign against anyone, but rather a positive effort to promote the truth about marriage as a union between one man and one woman,” he writes.
“But the reality is that marriage is not ours to redefine, just as another human life is not ours to take,” the archbishop continues. “God is both the author of life and the author of marriage. It is this most fundamental understanding of the natural order that animates who we are as Catholics. … It is also why we fight to defend God’s plan for marriage, because his providence is as clear for what marriage is as it is for the dignity of each human life. …
“Now, Minnesota for Marriage needs your help to get the message out. We must ensure that Minnesotans know what is at stake and have the correct information about why they should vote ‘Yes’ for the marriage amendment. (Remember that if you leave the ballot box blank, the government votes ‘No’ for you!).”
The Archdiocese did not return calls seeking comment Thursday.
Bayly hears something different. “He seems to have softened his language about gay people,” he said, referring to Nienstedt. “They must have realized they’ve alienated people.”
“We know that some who are seeking to redefine marriage experience same-sex attractions,” the letter reads. “Our brothers and sisters living with same-sex attraction are beloved children of God who must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity.
“Every sign of unjust discrimination in this regard must be avoided. People with same-sex attractions, like others in society, are productive citizens, community servants, good friends and our beloved family members.
“At the same time, however, it is important to know that the effort to ensure that the definition of marriage remains as between one man and one woman does not take away anyone’s existing rights or legal protections. As Catholics, we believe that all people should be able to visit loved ones in the hospital, pass on their property to whomever they choose and have access to employment, housing and the basic necessities of life. Saying ‘yes’ to God’s plan for marriage will not change any of this.”
In recent months, Catholics who either plainly disagree with the church’s stance on marriage rights for gays and lesbians or who are wrestling with their consciences have been increasingly visible. The conflicted parishioners have organized everything from informational meetings in borrowed, non-Catholic churches to vigils outside the Chancery.
Many were offended by Nienstedt’s decision to take a very active role in the campaign for the amendment. To date, Minnesota Catholic churches and groups have given $1 million to the vote-yes effort.
Others have been unhappy with statements that put their love for their church in opposition to their love for LGBT relatives and friends. One example: A letter Nienstedt penned for the Catholic Spirit soon after his 2007 ascension in which he warned that those “who actively encourage or promote homosexual acts … formally cooperate in a grave evil, and … are guilty of mortal sin.”
Still others were upset that in the run-up to the 2010 gubernatorial contest, Nienstedt distributed 400,000 DVDs, paid for by an anonymous donor and by the Knights of Columbus, urging Catholics to vote for the only candidate in the race opposed to same-sex marriage, Tom Emmer.
“That language and that approach has clearly been ditched,” said Bayly. Still, he added, “The fact that they can’t bring themselves to talk about gay people or lesbian people is offensive.”
The divide has put the church in the headlines numerous times in recent months. In late July, newspapers reported that Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, himself the topic of amendment-related news stories, had been invited to speak at St. Joan of Arc Church in Minneapolis. Later stories reported that he was subsequently uninvited and then that his appearance had been postponed.
At the same time, some members of a group of 102 former priests that signed on to a statement opposing the amendment have disagreed publicly with the church’s depiction of its teachings.
“That conscience must rule is consistent with what all of us former priests learned in seminary,” Ed Kohler wrote in a letter published earlier this month in the Pioneer Press. “That conscience must rule is also consistent with the current Pope Benedict XVI — who taught, while still Father Joseph Ratzinger, that ‘Over the pope as the expression of the binding claim of ecclesiastical authority, there still stands one’s own conscience, which must be obeyed before all else, even if necessary against the requirements of ecclesiastical authority.’”
One active priest, Bob Pierson, told some 200 Catholics at an event in Edina that they can vote against a proposal to amend the Minnesota Constitution to ban gay marriage. Bayly and several other members of Catholics for Marriage Equality say they have been told the Archdiocese has ordered Pierson to stay silent on the issue from now on.
“There are groups of Catholics who are hungry for alternative perspectives on this,” Bayly said. “I’ve got a pretty well-full September of speaking engagements around the state.”
Complete Article HERE!
Rev. James Nowak, Montini Catholic High School board member, former west suburban pastor, on leave after sex abuse allegation
A member of Montini Catholic High School’s board of directors is on leave from the Diocese of Joliet amid allegations that he sexually abused a minor more than 25 years ago.
The Rev. James Nowak, a retired Roman Catholic priest who served in parishes in Lombard, Romeoville, Westmont and most recently Naperville over a 40-year career, is no longer allowed to celebrate a public Mass or to administer other sacraments, diocese officials said, as he is on temporary administrative leave.
In a statement the diocese has dated Aug. 28, Bishop Daniel Conlon, head of the Diocese of Joliet, said he has “determined that abuse likely occurred,” and that the case has been forwarded to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome for further review.
The statement also says parishioners where Nowak was assigned are being notified of the allegations against him through their local parish.
James Segredo, president of Montini Catholic High School in Lombard, confirmed he was aware of the allegations against Nowak, but directed all other questions to the diocese.
Doug Delaney, a spokesman for the Diocese of Joliet, said the diocese does not know when the alleged sexual abuse occurred or what church Nowak was serving at the time of the alleged incident. The Diocese declined to say on what basis it made its decision to place Nowak on leave.
Nowak, 75, retired in 2007 after serving five years as pastor at Saints Peter and Paul in Naperville, Delaney said.
Prior to that tenure, he was assistant pastor at Sacred Heart Church in Lombard, St. Mary Nativity in Joliet and St. Andrew in Romeoville from 1971 to 1974, according to information from the Diocese of Joliet.
After studying church law in Rome and an eight-year tenure in the Diocese of Joliet’s offices — where he worked with marriage annulments, according to the diocese — Nowak was named pastor of St. Anthony in Joliet in 1988.
He went on to serve as pastor at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Westmont from 1993 to 2002 and Saints Peter and Paul in Naperville from 2002 to 2007, when he retired.
The diocese statement asks that individuals with relevant information to the allegations should contact Judith Speckman, Dioecesan Victim Assistance Coordinator, at (815) 263-6467, as well as law enforcement authorities.
Complete Article HERE!