Tag: Discontent

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Archbishop installation revives conversation of clergy sexual abuse scandal

Archbishop Richard Henning was installed as the seventh archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross while protesters outside the church called for transparency and settlement in clergy sexual abuse cases on Oct. 31, 2024

By Yogev Toby

Archbishop Richard Henning was installed as the seventh archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston on Thursday. It was a bittersweet ceremony, shadowed by the church’s dark past.

More than 1,400 people, including clergy, religious figures, and prominent Boston community members, gathered at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross to celebrate what some called a surprising appointment.

Henning obtained the role after serving only a little over a year as Providence bishop, to a significantly smaller laity.

The event started with Henning’s ceremonial three knocks on the cathedral door and the greeting of the exiting archbishop, Cardinal Seán O’Malley. The two embraced each other in a hug and entered the building.

O’Malley’s 21-year tenure as archbishop was riddled with challenges following the clergy sexual abuse scandal in which hundreds of children were sexually abused by priests in the Boston archdiocese. These assaults occurred under O’Malley’s predecessor, Cardinal Bernard Law, in early 2002. The case—brought to national attention by the Boston Globe’s Spotlight investigation—created hundreds of lawsuits against the Boston Roman Catholic Church and encouraged others across the country to come forward against sexual abuse in their churches.

More than 150 priests in Boston were accused of sexual abuse, Cardinal Law resigned, and the church paid more than $95 million in settlements to victims.

Archbishop Richard Henning talking with protesters gathered outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Oct. 31, 2024

Outside the festive entrance to the cathedral in South End, a group of about two dozen individuals stood with signs urging for transparency and the completion of ongoing settlements.

As Henning prepared to enter the cathedral, Robert Hoatson, a former priest and survivor of sex abuse, called out to the incoming archbishop. “What about the survivors? Are you going to talk with us?” he shouted.

Henning turned and slowly paced toward the protesters.

One of the survivors asked Henning if he would be honest, transparent, and open as an archbishop.

“I’m very sorry, I have to learn. I have to listen,” answered Henning.

In an interview with The Beacon, Hoatson said he was surprised Henning approached the group.

“Normally, bishops and cardinals completely ignore us,” he said. Hoatson was not moved by the brief conversation, and added that it was “more of a public relations thing than coming from a real concern.”

Two dozen protesters gather outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross urging for transparency and the completion of ongoing settlements in clergy sexual abuse cases ahead of the installation Archbishop Richard Henning on Oct. 31, 2024

Hoatson is the co-founder of Road to Recovery, a support and advocacy organization that helps victims of sexual abuse of all kinds. He said they have been advocating for transparency by the church, which he said O’Malley did not provide.

While O’Malley swiftly settled many of the lawsuits, Hoatson and other critics said he was still withholding information, including omitting names from a list of clergy accused of sexual abuse. 

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented more than 1,400 victims of sexual abuse and won the settlement against the Boston Roman Catholic Church, said Henning will “create a new layer of responsiveness.”

Garabedian told The Beacon that Henning “says the right things about clergy sexual abuse, but will not put into place any meaningful programs to protect children or to help victims heal.”

Behind the tall entrance of the cathedral, the crowd welcomed Henning in a roaring applause. French Cardinal Christophe Pierre thanked O’Malley for his service to the church and introduced Henning by reading the appointment letter, written by Pope Francis.

As part of an ancient ritual, members of the clergy inspected the letter for its authenticity. After their approval, Henning marched throughout the halls of the cathedral and joyfully presented the letter to the enthralled crowd. He was led to the “cathedra,” the seat of the archbishop, to officially assume the archbishop’s role.

Clergy members perform rituals for the installation of a new archbishop of the Archdiocese during a ceremony for Archbishop Richard Henning on Oct. 31, 2024

Henning addressed the church’s wrongdoings in his homily, his first speech as the archbishop.

“This church of Boston, it is, in a very real sense, a wounded church because of the failure to act with compassion and healing,” he said.

“We have seen over these decades a passionate effort to protect the vulnerable, but still we feel the weight of those wounds,” Henning added. “We owe a debt of gratitude to victims, survivors, who tell their story, for they have helped to protect new generations by their courage and by their prophetic truth-telling to us.”

Henning has confronted sexual abuse cases in his former role as an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island N.Y. The Diocese is in an ongoing legal battle with about 650 abuse survivors, which has reached $320 million in settlements after the diocese filed for bankruptcy.

Even though the Boston archdiocese is under scrutiny, it continues to see an increase in school enrollment, and ongoing ordainment of new priests.

“Kids are still being abused right now,” said Hoatson.

Hoatson said that new cases arrive at his office every week, many of them say they were abused over 30 years ago. He said he recognizes a pattern in which survivors sometimes take years or decades to report sexual abuse.

Garabedian said he is advocating to remove the civil statute of limitations on sexual abuse cases. The law states that civil cases have a three-year time limit per case, which limits ongoing sexual abuse settlements.

“We need to break the silence,” Hoatson added. “Silence is deadly.”

Archbishop Richard Henning was installed as the seventh archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Oct. 31, 2024
Archbishop Richard Henning speaking with a crowd outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Oct. 31, 2024

Complete Article ↪HERE↩!

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Women are a problem for the Catholic Church

— An institution with ingrained misogyny

Women comprise half of the Catholic Church but end up being a category.

Papal plámás is no substitute for an end to discrimination against women

By Soline Humbert

The Catholic Church is bedevilled by sex … the female sex. Church men, who claim a privileged insight into the mind of God, earnestly agonise over what women can be and do. Mostly, what they can’t be and can’t do. Obstat sexus: “her sex prevents her”. It is ubiquitous and overrides Christ’s great commandment “love one another as I have loved you”.

Three years ago the Catholic Church worldwide embarked on what it called a synodal journey, described as the largest consultation process ever, involving in theory at least, every church member. This led to two assemblies in Rome, one last year and the final one which just concluded last weekend.

A 52-page document is the fruit of that process. Each of the 155 paragraphs was voted on by the members, mostly bishops but with some “non–bishops” too, including 14 per cent of women. Women had campaigned long and hard to get these few votes.

All through his pontificate Pope Francis has reaffirmed: ‘That door is closed.’

In September an obituary for American Sr Teresa Kane reminded us how in 1979 she had made worldwide news when she publicly implored John Paul II: “The Church, in its struggle to be faithful to its call for reverence and dignity for all persons, must respond by providing the possibility of women as persons being included in all the ministries in our church.” Not only did this fall on deaf ears but the closed doors got even more tightly locked and woe to whoever dared raise the issue.

All through his pontificate Pope Francis has reaffirmed: “That door is closed.” Not just to the priesthood. Asked whether a young girl could dream of becoming a deacon his curt answer was “No”.

So it is hardly news when in 2024 the Synodal Document states: “By virtue of Baptism, women and men have equal dignity as members of the People of God. However, women continue to encounter obstacles in obtaining a fuller recognition of their charisms, vocation and roles in all the various areas of the Church’s life. This is to the detriment of serving the Church’s shared mission.”

Women deacons will continue being studied ‘ad infinitum’ in a Vatican commission

The issue of women’s second-class status generally, and their ordination to the diaconate and presbyterate, was raised in many countries during the earlier consultation phases, including here in Ireland, but was filtered out. Any mention of women priests was carefully excised. Out of sight, out of mind.

Women deacons will continue being studied “ad infinitum” in a Vatican commission. This is the 4th commission and the second one under Pope Francis; the first one set up in 2016 never published its findings, and this one, set up in 2020, still hasn’t produced an interim report. No hurry since in any case the female diaconate is deemed “not ripe”.

Women are half of the church but end up being a category, an issue, a problem in a patriarchal institution with ingrained misogyny.

In fact, this women’s issue was deemed too contentious to be on the table at last month’s synodal gathering. Pope Francis entrusted it to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) who will report, if possible, next June.

It doesn’t matter whether one has the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, one must have the same sex

The DDF is an all-male clerical body with 28 consultors, mostly Italian priest theologians and six women. They are studying women saints, mystics, doctors of the church. Dead women, safely canonised, are easier to deal with than live ones, especially those with a calling deemed impossible because “her sex prevents it”.

It doesn’t matter whether one has the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, one must have the same sex.

Coinciding with the opening of the Assembly last month, Pope Francis published a book on women: Sei Unica (You are unique), subtitled: A Hymn To The Feminine Genius. The seven special talents he lists are obviously not needed in the ordained ministries. It’s hard not to cringe at the stereotyping. All the papal plámás in the world are no substitute for equality, justice and an end to discrimination.

When I read in the document its recommendation for more women to be involved in training men for the priesthood, I thought of another woman who had also just died. As a Dominican Sister in South Africa, Patricia Fresen had courageously fought the apartheid regime.

To answer her call she was ordained in the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests and ministered as a priest and a bishop

Later when she trained seminarians to deliver homilies, she became aware that as a woman she could never preach at Mass and her eyes were opened to the gender apartheid in the church, which is no more godly than the racial one was. To answer her call she was ordained in the Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement and ministered as a priest and a bishop.

No more walking the synodal pathway hopelessly kicking cans down the road. That gender apartheid must be dismantled now. The Gospel requires it and the Spirit shows the way.

Soline Humbert is a spiritual director and the author of the forthcoming memoir God Calls, Rome Stalls

Complete Article ↪HERE↩!

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Melbourne Priest Greg Reynolds Defrocked And Excommunicated By The Vatican

File under:  Nice goin’ Francis!  You talk a good line, but when push comes to shove, you’re just like your predecessor.  SHAME!

By Anne Lu

Melbourne priest Greg Reynolds has not only been defrocked, but also excommunicated by the Catholic Church over his support for women priests and homosexuals. The order came directly from Vatican under the authority of Pope Francis, who just recently said that the Church focuses too much on gays and abortion.

Mr Reynolds resigned as a parish priest in 2011, and has founded Inclusive Catholics in 2012. He said that although he was expecting to be laicised or defrocked for his views on ordination of women and homosexuality, he didn’t know he was to be excommunicated as well.

Excommunication is a form of medicinal penalty for members of the Catholic Church. Those who are excommunicated are barred from receiving the Eucharist and other Sacraments of the church.

“In times past excommunication was a huge thing, but today the hierarchy have lost such truth and respect,” he was quoted by The Age as saying.

“I’ve come to this position because I’ve followed my conscience on women’s ordination and gay marriage.

The order, written in Latin, came from Vatican through the authority of Pope Francis, and gave no reason for the former priest’s excommunication.

The letter was dated May 31, months before the Pope told his subjects to go easy on how they deal with gays, abortion, and contraception. Mr Reynolds continued to The Age that he wants the same thing as the Pope, adding that he believes that the Church is in need of reform and renewal.

“My motivation is trying to encourage reform and clear need for renewal in the church,” he said. “I still love the church and am committed to it, I’m just trying to bring about in my own little way to help highlight some of the failing and limitations.”

Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart, who made headlines in May after appearing at a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into a child sex abuse case of another priest, apparently was not the one who requested the order, “but someone else unknown has gone over his head and contacted the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith,” Mr Reynolds said.

Archbishop Hart explained that Mr Reynolds was excommunicated because he continued to celebrate the Eucharist publicly after his priestly faculties were withdrawn. He was also preaching contrary to the teachings of the church.

As per its official Web site, Inclusive Catholics is an evolving movement/community in Melbourne that has recognises the hierarchical nature of the Catholic Church, but opposes its views on homosexuality and the ordination of women.

Mr Reynolds said that his being excommunicated would not make a different to his ministry.

He was offered $5000 as a payout for his 32 years of service in the church when he resigned, though he claimed he should have received $48,000 as the usual payout figure is about $1500 per year.

Complete Article HERE!

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Evangelizing the institutional church: an interview with Helmut Schüller

By Jamie Manson

Much has been written about Austrian priest and reformer Helmut Schüller since he opened his 15-city U.S. tour, called “The Catholic Tipping Point,” in New York last week.
Schüller has been making news in the Roman Catholic church reform movement since 2006, when he and a group of fellow priests organized the Austrian Priests’ Initiative. In 2011, they made global headlines when they launched the “Call for Disobedience,” an appeal to the Vatican to address the shortage of priests and other predicaments facing the institutional church.

The Austrian Priests’ Initiative is concerned that the dwindling number of clergy is impacting the quality of pastoral care offered to baptized Catholics. Their “Call for Disobedience” suggests reforms such as the ordination of women and married men to address this unfolding crisis.

What makes Schüller an intriguing figure among reformers is that he is not simply an upstart parish priest. He spent years as a hierarchical insider, filling the very public roles of president of Caritas Austria and vicar general under Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. He has the rare insight of one who has served both in the hierarchy and in the parish. Rarer still, he has risked his position and privilege to be in full, outspoken solidarity with lay Catholic reformers.

Hours before Schüller’s July 16 debut in New York City, he and I sat down for an interview. Since many of the goals and ideas we discussed — such as the plan for an international meeting of priests, the new evangelization, his thoughts about Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s barring him from speaking, and the institutional church’s treatment of same-sex couples — have not made it into most of the media coverage of his speaking engagements, I am offering the text of our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity.

There’s more to NCR than what you read online. Preview our Spirituality special section from the July 19 edition.
You are using your summer break to embark on a 15-city U.S. tour. What are you hoping to accomplish?

This tour is a way for reform organizations and reform-minded priests to connect with one another. Our goal is to build up an international network of reform movements. We want to make public our sorrows, questions, issues and desire for our church and make it clear that reform-minded Catholics can be found throughout Europe and the United States.

In the United States, there aren’t many priests who openly belong to church reform groups. How will you reach out to them?

As I travel city to city, I’ll be meeting with priests informally in closed sessions. I’m encouraging priests in the U.S. to stay together with the lay movements. The priests here are cautious because there is a lot of pressure from the American bishops. We must be advocates for the people of God, especially when their initiatives are sidelined. I’m not completely familiar with the situation in the U.S. I’m hoping that the next few weeks will enrich my point of view of the struggles here.

Are reform movements in Austria similarly sidelined?

In Austria, we are in somewhat of a different situation. It is clear to our bishops that reformers have a very large majority behind them. We estimate that, in Austria, 80 percent of the Catholic faithful and two-thirds of the priests agree with our platform. If there is pressure from the bishops, the media helped to make it public. The bishops can’t sideline us easily because of public pressure.

Is there a plan to gather reform-minded priests together for a meeting?

The Austrian Priests’ Initiative, which I helped to found, is calling 2013 “a year of internationalization.” In October of this year, we are planning an international meeting of priests from Austria, Germany, France, Ireland, Great Britain, the U.S. and other countries to try to enlarge our network and further discuss the “Call to Disobedience.”

What motivates the “Call to Disobedience”and all of this organization by priests in Austria?

The priests in Austria have realized that after we retire, our communities will be merged. The priest shortage is an urgent, desperate situation. The lay members of our communities are the ones who are building up the church. The more parishes merge, the more that priests are losing the chance to walk with members of their communities through their daily lives. This is about more than compassion. It is about companionship and solidarity with laypeople. Life is not going to get any easier, and we want to offer people the service of the church.

Our second motivation comes from the questions that have arisen out of our pastoral care of our parish communities. The church’s doctrines on divorced and remarried Catholics and same-sex couples have created a lot of pastoral problems. We need a new teaching model on sexual relations. Our teaching should concentrate on the quality of relationships, not the form. Rather than condemning remarried Catholics or same-sex couples, we should be asking: How are they living in relationship? Are they respecting one another’s dignity? We have to respect that people want to live together, that they feel responsible for one another, and that they care for one another.

How did you become the public face of the Austrian Priests’ Initiative?

I was president of Caritas Austria and also served as vicar general for Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. I am better known in Austria because of these public roles, so I became the speaker of group. It helps with the media because they tend to only respect individual persons rather than whole movements. But the initiative is not my movement. A group of priests founded it, and we work as a community. We have a board that meets regularly to reflect on our work, discuss problems and give assistance to parish priests who are alone.

Some have claimed that the Roman Catholic church in Europe is either dying or being replaced by secularism. How do you respond to those claims?

Because of the history of reformation in Europe, the church has had to seriously engage with modern society. This doesn’t mean the church is dying. It is simply struggling with the questions of modernity. Yes, some faith communities are small, but they are very active.

We are confronting the questions, not giving in to secularism. Some want a “contrast church” that is contrary to society. But that’s not the idea of Jesus or the Gospels. The church should go into society and share the daily lives of the people.

Early in his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of re-Christianizing Europe. Pope Francis appears passionate about the new evangelization. Do you think Europe needs to be evangelized?

If evangelization means that the Gospel has to be brought from “us” to “them” and that “they” have to accept that we [the hierarchy] have the wisdom, then I think there will not be success with the new evangelization. The first evangelization that is needed is the evangelization of the church.

Pope Francis seems to have started it now: to be simple, for the poor, to separate himself from wealth. Evangelization has to meet the people, to understand their questions, to understand changes in society, to respect that this modern society has realized a lot of originally Christian ideas, and to find again the origin of our Gospel.

If the new evangelization should become a monologue, there will be a problem. Yes, we have to preach the Gospel, but we must bring it in the language of our time. That’s not watering down the Gospel, but coming into dialogue with world about the Gospel.

What do you think of the claim that we are living in a “culture of death”?

The Second Vatican Council had an optimistic view of modern society. There was no talk of a culture of death. The bishops respected the successes of human society. Of course, Gaudium et Spes recognized that modern society has its darkness, chaos and conflict, but it also recognized that modern society developed the ideas about a fair and just society, about the equal participation of human beings, and the right to individual conscience. This really is the spirit of the [United Nations’] Declaration of Human Rights, and the council respected it.

Mater et Magistra made the point that the church’s position is not to look down on society and say it is dying, but rather to look at what is good in society and discuss what is problematic. The church should be a good companion to modern society. Of course, this is risky. It’s more comfortable to be in a fortress. But the way of Jesus is to go with the people wherever they are.

You were banned from speaking on Catholic grounds in Boston by Cardinal Sean O’Malley. Does it concern you that Cardinal O’Malley was one of eight cardinals Pope Francis chose for his “kitchen cabinet” of advisers?

Well, it’s not really a sign of hope, but let it be. These are the old-fashioned reflexes of an old-fashioned system of thinking. Rather than forbidding these discussions, the hierarchy could instead ask to be represented in these conversations. To forbid someone to speak is a sad thing, but the real sadness is forbidding people to listen.

For me, being banned from speaking is not dramatic — I’ll just go to another church. But for a bishop to say, “You must not listen”? That’s just not possible in our time. We live in an open society. People can get information wherever they want. But this vision of a church where the baptized are “protected” against getting information that the bishop doesn’t want them to have? It is a ridiculous point of view, I think. Maybe what we are seeing are the last reflexes of a dying system. I feel that these ways are fading out. Let’s forget it and be hopeful.

What about the hierarchy’s claim that you are creating disunity in the church?

In these conversations, we are gathering people here who are engaged in this church. They have discussions with me and one another, and then they return to their communities and continue their work for the church. We are not driving them out of the church; we are inspiring them to continue to ask for reform. It is their church. If the bishop could see who the people are who are gathering here, they would not be afraid that we are dividing the church. I think the contrary is happening. I have had people say to me: “I would have left, but after hearing you, I feel there is some hope in fighting for the church and its reform, so I will stay.”

What are the first steps you would like to see the pope and the bishops take in bringing about reform?

One of the important steps would be to encourage the bishops to be with the people, not to be against them in the name of the Vatican. A key move will be to decentralize papal authority and to call the bishops to collegiality and shared responsibilities. The bishops’ synod must function like a real synod. It’s the only way to give the bishops the possibility of filling the space with new ideas. Also, laypeople must be brought into the church’s decision-making. We must put pressure on church leaders to open dialogue and to use the gifts and charisms of the faithful.

What do you say to those who argue that your issues with the institutional church are unique to Europe and the U.S. and that the majority of the Roman Catholics who live in the global South and Asia do not share these concerns?

These societies will be confronted with same questions. Our Latin American and South American colleagues are already saying to us, “Don’t think we don’t have the same problems.” Globally, societies are changing very quickly. In 10 or 20 years, the global South will face the same questions we [face]. In mega-cities, they already are. Church leaders must not hope they can get around these questions. They will arise. Maybe the church in Europe and the U.S. should be thought of not as a dying church, but as a laboratory for the future, where the church engages with the modern society. We should not overestimate the numbers of people going to church, and we should not underestimate the problems the church is facing.

Complete Article HERE!

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Eleven Reasons Why I’m Leaving The Catholic Church

By Joseph Amodeo recently organized a vigil in front of New York City’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which led to the police threatening the arrest of anyone associated with the action. In this exclusive op-ed, Amodeo explains why he has decided to leave the Catholic Church.

 

A few hours after the events that became known as the “Dirty Hands Vigil” unfolded at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, I received the following message from a priest I know in Manhattan:

“so disappointing!!!!!!!”

Soon after, I found out that his disappointment was not due to the fact that ten Catholics were denied entry to the Cathedral, but rather with me because, in his view, I had attempted to cause scandal.

Well, I have a few disappointments of my own to share:

1. I am disappointed in bishops who have allowed financial interests to drive their response to the clerical sexual abuse crisis.

2. I am disappointed in a Church that has attempted to argue that same-sex couples and their families are somehow less able to live up to the Christian ideal than their heterosexual counterparts.

3. I am disappointed by a hierarchy that has attacked the dignity of women and LGBT people.

4. I am disappointed by a Church that feels it has the authority to silence academic voices like Sr. Elizabeth Johnston, Sr. Jeannine Grammick, or Fr. Robert Nugent.

5. I am disappointed by a Church that asserts free will and the supremacy of the conscience, but negates such teaching with a practical commandment to obedience and what it deems a “well-formed” conscience.

6. I am disappointed by a Church that has failed to meaningfully discern the inclusion of women in the diaconate or priesthood.

7. I am disappointed by the Church’s reliance on time. As we face progress, the Church has allowed its sluggish character to take hold of its conversations with the world.

8. I am disappointed by those who are afraid of the hierarchy.

9. I am disappointed by an institution that has used faith to bully public servants and has denied communion to those who have sought only to serve the common good.

10. I am disappointed by clergy who have used the pulpit as a means to proselytize a particular political agenda.

11. I am disappointed by the American bishops’ selfish claim of ownership of the principle of religious freedom.

In short, I am disappointed in the Church and its hierarchy. Standing in and looking around a Catholic Church, I not only feel as if I am no longer in my own home, but I also fail to recognize the Church itself. As a human being, I will not be a part of an institution that has allowed fear to drive its theology as is evident in nearly all of the issues that I cite above. For this reason, I have decided to leave the Catholic Church.

I am disappointed, frustrated, and saddened; yet amid my decision to leave the Roman Catholic Church, I am liberated. By this decision, I am following a conscience that leads me to believe that humanity has been created in the image of God. If we truly accept and believe this fundamental teaching, our world of judgment turns into a paradise of acceptance and compassion.

I am not leaving the Catholic Church because of any one particular issue or person, rather because I believe that the Church itself has lost sight of its meaning. A Church founded on hope and charity has become a tradition steeped in an approach that can best be described as “command and control.”

With this decision, some will argue that I should stay and continue efforts toward dialogue and the evolution of theology. On the other hand, some will say that I should have taken this step a long time ago, and still others will say “good riddance, so long.” The reality is that the journey of faith cannot be controlled by others, but rather is dependent only on one’s relationship with his/her Creator.
I now stand at new juncture in my faith journey. It is a place that can be described as both unfamiliar and yet eerily recognizable.

As I depart, I remain disappointed in the Roman Catholic Church and its hierarchy; however, I realize now that I am not joined by chains to the Church. In fact, it is the Church that taught me how to free myself from the bonds of oppression so as to constantly seek liberation. The question is when will the Church choose to loosen its own bonds so as to truly engage with the world around it?

Complete Article HERE!

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Protests mount over fast track for John Paul’s beatification

Sex abuse controversy refuses to go away as Catholics prepare for ceremony in Rome

 

By Tom Kington

A growing lobby of churchmen and religious experts are challenging the speed with which the Vatican is propelling Pope John Paul II towards sainthood, just six years after his death.

 

Hailed as the pope who helped bring down communism, who prayed alongside Jews and Muslims, and shrugged off an assassination attempt, John Paul will be beatified in St Peter’s Square next Sunday, a first step towards sainthood.

The Vatican is erecting tent cities and stocking up with millions of bottles of water. More than 300,000 people are expected to descend on Rome to honour the Polish pontiff whose charisma gave Catholicism a new lease of life.

But as the crowds begin to arrive, doubts are being expressed over the decision to begin beatification proceedings for John Paul immediately after his death in 2005, instead of observing the usual five-year waiting period.

Some experts are questioning whether John Paul is fit for sainthood at all, pointing to his poor record in handling the sex abuse allegations against priests that came to the fore during his 26-year papacy. “I oppose this beatification and predict history will look unkindly on John Paul, who was in denial as the worst crisis since the Reformation happened in the church,” said Father Richard McBrien, a theology professor at Notre Dame University in the US.

“My doubts are about John Paul being beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict,” said the Catholic historian Michael Walsh. “It appears incestuous and akin to the habit of deifying one’s ancestors.”

Even as Benedict faced the fallout from accusations that scores of priests abused children around the world, he has pulled out the stops to beatify John Paul. Sorting through hundreds of miraculous cures attributed to the pontiff, Vatican officials have selected the overnight recovery from Parkinson’s disease of a French nun as the miracle required for beatification. Experts believe canonisation could follow in two to three years.

“Years from now people may be saying, why the rush?” said Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author. “It takes a little bit away for future generations.” Tom Reese, a theologian and author, added: “What we need are fewer popes and priests beatified, and more real lives.”

The ramifications of the sex abuse scandal will continue as an internal Vatican report on predator priests in Ireland reportedly lands on Benedict’s desk, ahead of the publication next month of an Irish government report on the scandal. It is expected that the report will shed light on whether the abuse was ignored by Bishop John Magee of Cloyne, a former private secretary to John Paul.

John Paul’s unwavering support for Marcial Maciel Degollado, the Mexican priest and morphine addict who ran the powerful Legion of Christ movement, has also sparked concerns. Maciel has been accused of abusing seminarians, fathering up to six children and allegedly pacifying the Vatican through large donations, despite complaints about his behaviour dating back to the 1970s.

Supporters of the pope have argued that John Paul was wary of sex abuse accusations after seeing communist officials use fake charges to discredit priests in his native Poland. But Walsh said there was no excuse with the Legion. “John Paul clearly safeguarded Maciel,” he said. Benedict was quick to banish Maciel to a life of penitence in 2006 after his election as pope.

Those voicing reservations over John Paul’s beatification are very much in a minority. Martin said: “Among church insiders there is a sense of the perceived haste over the beatification, but it’s a small concern among ordinary believers. The Vatican is often criticised for not responding to the will of the people, but here you can argue it is doing just that.”

Visitors to his simple marble tomb are convinced John Paul is worthy of beatification. “He had courage, look at how he forgave the man who shot and wounded him in St Peter’s Square in 1981,” said Olivier de Pommery, a banker from Paris. “Through his own illness at the end of his life he taught us to live and suffer with love,” said Marie Louise Murebwayire, from Rwanda. “He made suffering become love and gave dignity to all people who suffer.”

Following his beatification, John Paul’s remains will be moved to a large, ornate chapel near the entrance to St Peter’s Basilica. The tomb of a 17th-century pope, Innocent XI, will be moved to make space.

Complete Article HERE!

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Gay Ambassador Nominee Sparks Controversy In The Dominican Republic

The country’s cardinal refers to Obama’s pick to lead the U.S. embassy in the Dominican Republic a “maricón,” which is usually translated as “faggot,” while others urged the country’s president to reject the appointment. Brewster is one of five out gay nominees for ambassadorships named in June.

 

By J. Lester Feder

When President Barack Obama nominated a gay man as the new ambassador to the Dominican Republic on June 21, he touched off a firestorm of debate in the Caribbean nation — which has devolved even to derogatory name-calling.

Catholic Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez referred to Brewster as a “maricón” — which is usually translated as “faggot” — during a press conference. At his side, Monseñor Pablo Cedano promised the nominee such an unpleasant stay in the country that he will have to return home.

“I hope he does not arrive in the country because I know if he comes he is going to suffer and will have to leave,” Cedano said. He called it “a lack of respect” that Obama “sent … a person of this kind as an ambassador,” adding, “[W]e don’t despise the person.”

The dust-up over the nomination shows the direct impact that full equality for gays and lesbians in the United States can have abroad. The nominee, James “Wally” Brewster, was a major Obama fundraiser and a national LGBT co-chair for the Democratic National Committee. His nomination, which still must be confirmed by the Senate, is the latest in a flurry of appointments of gay Americans for ambassadorships by the Obama administration. Five others were named just in the last month. Only three openly gay ambassadors have served before them.

While these nominations have raised few eyebrows in the other countries where they will be working — like Spain, Denmark, or Australia — Brewster’s appointment has caused a great deal of concern in the Dominican Republic. Conservative religious leaders and other opponents of LGBT rights have called on Dominican President Danilo Medina to refuse to accept him if he is confirmed.

LGBT activists said the Catholic leaders’ remarks incited violence.

Complete Article HERE!

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Philly Archdiocese grappling with pensions for clergy

File under: Say it ain’t so! Financial irregularities? In the Catholic Church? Can’t be!

 

By John P. Martin

A pension fund for priests cited as a priority in a $200 million fund-raising campaign by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has fallen precariously short of money, and church officials want parishes and retired clergy to help cover the shortfall.

In meetings this spring, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput told priests the plan had been underfunded, poorly managed, and was spent on rising health-care costs for clergy, according to three priests who attended or were briefed on the talks. Chaput said the fund needed $90 million to be solvent but had less than $4.5 million, they said.

Clergy living at the archdiocese’s Delaware County retirement villa and other church-owned facilities are expected to contribute 40 percent of their pensions to the archdiocese, the priests said. And parishes’ annual assessments to the pension fund will rise from $6,700 to about $9,300 per priest, they said.

The changes come two years after the archdiocese ended a fund-raising campaign that made shoring up the priests’ pension plan one of its goals.

Kenneth Gavin, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said the policy requiring priests in church-owned facilities to refund portions of their pensions started in April. He would not discuss other changes or aspects of the pension plan, including what the archbishop said in his private meetings with clergy.

Gavin said the archdiocese planned to release “detailed financial reports” about its spending and costs this summer.

Rumblings about the pension troubles started last year, catching some priests by surprise.

“I was certainly horrified to learn that our pension fund was not secure, as would be any person who works in any organization,” said the Rev. Christopher Walsh, pastor of St. Raymond of Penafort in Mount Airy.

Walsh, who helped organize a fledgling association for archdiocesan priests, did not attend the meetings but said he learned about them from others who did. He said he hoped Chaput and his staff would “quickly establish a secure pension fund as a matter of justice.”

Dioceses across the country have faced similar financial struggles in recent years, compounded by dwindling attendance, aging clergy, and the economic downturn. But the impact has been acute in Philadelphia, where more than a million Catholics and hundreds of priests are also grappling with the fallout from clergy sex-abuse allegations. “The caveat for priests was always that the diocese was going to take care of you,” said one Philadelphia pastor nearing retirement who asked not to be identified discussing his employer’s finances. “None of us knew when Chaput arrived here 20 months ago that the diocese was in this bad of shape.”

Chaput himself didn’t know it, he conceded in an interview with The Inquirer in the fall. Only after moving from Denver in 2011, he said, did he realize that his predecessors in Philadelphia had relied on deficit-spending budgets for 15 years.

His tenure since has included a drumbeat of grim financial decisions: shuttering schools, closing or merging parishes, and selling off assets, including the cardinal’s residence on City Avenue and an oceanfront home for clergy in Ventnor, N.J.

The archdiocese has 425 active priests, most living in rectories and other church-owned facilities across the region. It also counts 161 retired priests on its rolls, and cares for many of them. If they remain healthy, priests typically retire at age 75 and qualify for an annual pension worth half their final salary, usually about $12,000, clergy members said.

Some leave to live with relatives or on their own in private homes. Others live in parish rectories, or at Villa St. Joseph, a church-owned retirement complex in Darby. But some of the older archdiocesan priests never registered for Social Security, and they end up retiring without a guaranteed government check or medical benefits, priests said.

Adding to the pension fund was one of six goals highlighted during the “Heritage of Faith, Vision of Hope” fund-raising campaign launched in 2009.

“Established in the early 1990s, the priests’ pension plan currently has over $10 million in assets,” literature for the campaign said. “In order to meet the anticipated needs of our retired priests, the pension plan requires an additional $40 million.”

That campaign sought $12 million for the pension plan and $3 million for renovations at Villa St. Joseph.

When it ended in early 2011, the campaign had yielded pledges of more than $220 million, church officials said. Earlier this year, they publicly acknowledged that collections on those pledges had fallen short, and they downgraded their projected receipts to less than $180 million.

Gavin, the spokesman, said $4 million in Heritage of Faith donations were transferred into the priest pension fund on Jan. 31. But he declined to elaborate or discuss updated totals for the rest of the money collected and spent, a topic the archdiocese is expected to address in its report this summer.

One suburban pastor said the redemption rate on pledges “took a dive” soon after the campaign ended, about the same time a Philadelphia grand jury report led to the arrest of four current or former priests and the suspension of two dozen others accused of child sex abuse or misconduct.

In his meetings with clergy, the archbishop specifically denied that their pension funds had been used to cover costs related to the suspensions or ensuing investigations, some of which are still open, the priests said.

Last year, Chaput reported that the archdiocese had spent more than $11 million through June 2012 related to those cases.

The abuse and misconduct allegations have had at least an indirect impact, pushing more priests into early retirement. Priests who have agreed to leave public ministry and accept a life of “prayer and penance” after being accused of sexual abuse or misconduct are eligible to collect their pensions, according to information on the archdiocese’s website. At least 19 priests are now living under such restrictions, most on the same campus as Villa St. Joseph’s.

At least 25 other priests from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have been laicized or voluntarily left the priesthood in the last decade. Church officials have not disclosed how many of those defrocked priests, some of whom were in the clergy for decades, collect a pension.

Earlier this month, Gavin declined another request for that information.

One pastor who attended a meeting with Chaput said he believed the archbishop was doing everything possible to keep them informed and find solutions to the financial mess he inherited. “I have total confidence that we’ve been given a correct and honest appraisal of things,” the priest said. Rita Schwartz, union president for non-religious teachers in archdiocesan schools, said she had heard about the troubles with the priests’ pensions, but was confident that pensions for archdiocesan teachers, which are managed through a separate trust, were stable.

Clergy pension funds have plunged in Boston and other dioceses, according to Charles Zech, who directs the center for the study of church management at Villanova University. Zech said he had not examined the financial situation in Philadelphia but wasn’t surprised to hear about the pension-fund troubles.

This archdiocese, he said, seems to have been battered by “a perfect storm of bad things happening at once.”

Correction: This story was corrected to reflect that the $11 million cost to the Archdiocese stemming from the sexual abuse scandal was not covered by insurance.

Complete Article HERE!

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Cardinal O’Malley bars talk by priest over views

File under: We Don’t need no stinkin’ discussion on the topics.

 

by Lisa Wangsness

Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley is banning an Austrian priest from speaking at a Catholic parish in Dedham because the priest advocates ordaining women and making celibacy optional, stances that place him in opposition to church teachings.

The Rev. Helmut Schuller was invited to speak at St. Susanna Parish July 17 as part of a 15-city tour of the United States called “The Catholic Tipping Point: Conversations with Helmut Schuller,” sponsored by a coalition of reform-minded Catholic organizations, including Voice of the Faithful, based in Needham.

But O’Malley has declared he will not allow anyone to speak on church property who advocates beliefs in conflict with church doctrine.

As a result, the coalition that invited Schuller has moved its event to a nearby Unitarian Universalist church.

Schuller is the founder of the Austrian Priests’ Initiative, which advocates allowing women and married people to become priests and greater lay participation as ways of addressing a priest shortage. About 1 in 10 Austrian priests are members, the Austrian Independent newspaper reported; priests’ groups have sprung up in several countries, including Ireland and the United States, and Schuller has said he hopes the movement will spread worldwide.

Terrence C. Donilon, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said in a statement released to the Globe: “It is the policy of the Archdiocese of Boston, and the generally accepted practice in dioceses across the country, not to permit individuals to conduct speaking engagements in Catholic parishes or at church events when those individuals promote positions that are contrary to Catholic teachings.”

Leaders of the coalition that invited Schuller expressed dismay with O’Malley’s decision.

“Cardinal O’Malley is known to be a pastoral person and certainly as someone who is dealing with the ravages of the priest shortage in Boston, I would have hoped he would be more sympathetic” to Schuller’s message, said Sister Chris Schenk, executive director of Future Church, which advocates opening ordination to all baptized Catholics. “Laypeople have to be able to have a voice and a venue to talk about their honest concerns and questions, and to just refuse any Catholic venue for this conversation to take place sends a very, very sad message.”

Larry Bloom, a deacon and director of adult faith formation at St. Susanna, said his parish has a longstanding relationship with Voice of the Faithful, and when that group needed a venue for Schuller’s talk, he did some research. “I found out he was a priest, I found out he had a parish, I found out that he was in good standing with the Archdiocese of Vienna, and then I called them back and said sure,” he said.

When Auxiliary Bishop Walter J. Edyvean told him O’Malley would not allow Schuller to speak, Bloom said it was the first time in his 11 years at the parish that the archdiocese had taken such an action.

Bloom said he was not upset. “The archbishop has the right to have his own thoughts on the matter,” he said, “and he has a lot more to think about than we do at our own parish.”

Schuller’s group, the Austrian Priests’ Initiative, organized a “Call to Disobedience” that was signed by several hundred priests two years ago who pledged to begin serving communion to any Christian of goodwill, including non-Catholics and the divorced and remarried; to advocate for ordination of women and married people; to let trained laity preach, including women; and to oppose closing parishes.

“We will advocate that every parish has a presiding leader, man or woman, married or unmarried, full time or part time,” the manifesto says. “Rather than consolidating parishes, we call for a new image of the priest.”

A fledgling American priests’ organization is meeting in Seattle and discussing a series of reforms, but on the whole, US priests have been less willing to challenge the status quo so boldly.

“It seems to me there is much more of a willingness in Europe, even among the hierarchy, to discuss some of these issues,” said Francis Schussler Fiorenza, professor of Roman Catholic theological studies at Harvard Divinity School. “O’Malley tends to be very theologically conservative and seems to be disinclined to allow open discussion in church venues.”

A survey by the Oekonsult polling group conducted last year found that nearly 90 percent of Austrians supported Schuller’s plan to take the initiative global, according to the Austrian Independent.

The Vatican stripped Schuller of his title of monsignor in late 2012, although he remains an active priest. Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, archbishop of Vienna, said he was “shocked” when the call to disobedience went out. In May he told the Italian newspaper La Stampa that the priests involved could face discipline, the Independent reported.

Schuller, the former head of the aid agency Caritas Austria, served as vicar general of the Archdiocese of Vienna in the mid- to late 1990s under Schonborn, who fired him in 1999 for reasons that are unclear. He is now a parish priest in Probstdorf, just east of Vienna. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, a gay and lesbian Catholic advocacy group cosponsoring Schuller’s tour, said she was particularly upset about O’Malley’s decision because the cardinal had been tapped by Pope Francis to sit on a panel of prelates from around the world who will advise him on overhauling church governance.

“Here we are trying to bring a resource for conversation about church governance to the area, and we’re not allowed to have the conversation in Catholic space,” she said.

O’Malley has already offered his own answer to the priest shortage, a bold and risky effort, now in its pilot phase, to group Boston’s 288 parishes into 135 collaboratives, each of which will share a single team of priests, staff, and lay leaders. By using money and priests’ time more efficiently and then focusing on evangelization, parishes can become stronger and more vibrant, the cardinal has said, leading to more young men entering the priesthood. The Archdiocese of Boston has 285 active priests and projects that will decline to 200 by 2022, though it hopes the new plan will bolster those numbers.

Schenk said the only other city where Schuller is scheduled to speak at a Catholic parish is Detroit. Other appearances are slated for Protestant churches or other venues.

Complete Article HERE!

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Catholic School Teacher Fired Because Abusive Ex-Husband Posed Threat to Students

File under: Ya gotta admire those Gospel-Lovin’ Catholics!

By Neetzan Zimmerman
A domestic violence victim has come forward this week after being fired from her teaching job at a San Diego Catholic school because she was deemed a liability for having an abusive ex-husband.

Earlier this year, Carie Charlesworth and her four children were removed from Holy Trinity School after she gathered up the courage to disclosed her struggles with domestic violence to the school’s principal.

After what the second-grade teacher’s called “a very bad weekend with [her ex-husband],” the unidentified man arrived outside the school, prompting a lockdown.

She was subsequently put on “an indefinite leave,” and then formally terminated three months later.

Charlesworth’s letter of termination read, in part:

We know from the most recent incident involving you and Mrs. Wright (the principal) while you were still physically at Holy Trinity School, that the temporary restraining order in effect were not a deterrent to him. Although we understand he is current incarcerated, we have no way of knowing how long or short a time he will actually serve and we understand from court files that he may be released as early as next fall. In the interest of the safety of the students, faculty and parents at Holy Trinity School, we simply cannot allow you to return to work there, or, unfortunately, at any other school in the Diocese.

“I mean that’s why women of domestic violence don’t come forward, because they’re afraid of the way people are going to see them, view them, perceive them, treat them,” said Charlesworth after being informed that several parents were planning to pull their children out of school if she returned.

The San Diego Diocese Office for Schools has said it would not comment publicly “about personnel issues.”

Meanwhile, Charlesworth says the entire ordeal has caused her to lose her religion. “I have not been back to a Catholic church since this happened,” she said.

Her ex-husband, who was jailed on two felony charges back in January, is due to be released this month.

Complete Article HERE!