The Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore will mark the 10th anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, with a vespers service at the Baltimore Basilica.

Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien will preside over the evening prayer service at 6 p.m. Sunday at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary to mark the anniversary and to honor the sacrifices and service of area police, fire and emergency personnel and other first responders.

A vespers service consists of hymns, psalms and canticles, a scripture reading, a series of prayers and the benediction. Unlike a Mass, it does not include communion.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien has been chosen to head a Catholic order of knights based in Rome, the Vatican announced Monday, an appointment likely to move O'Brien closer to becoming a cardinal, but also will make him the first of Baltimore's archbishops not to finish his career here.

Pope Benedict XVI named O'Brien to lead the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, a 1,000-year-old group charged with supporting the Christian community and sacred sites of the Holy Land.

O'Brien, the spiritual leader of the Baltimore area's half-million Catholics, will continue administering the archdiocese until his successor is named until his own successor is named, the Baltimore archdiocese said in a news release early Monday.

The archdiocese has scheduled a news conference for 10 a.m.

Read more on O'Brien's new assignment at baltimore sun.com.

The press release follows, after the jump.

Continue reading "O'Brien to lead order of knights in Rome" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 7:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (24)
        

Pope Benedict XVI is set to name Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien to a Rome-based order of knights charged with protecting the Christian community and sacred sites of the Holy Land, a prominent Catholic blogger is reporting.

Blogger Rocco Palmo writes that O’Brien, 72, could be named pro-grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem as early as Monday.

The Baltimore Sun has been unable to confirm the report independently. Messages left for the archdiocese have not been returned.

By tradition, Palmo writes on his Whispers in the Loggia blog, the “pro-” designation indicates that the individual is next in line to be named a cardinal, at which point the prefix disappears.

O’Brien arrived in Baltimore in 2007, succeeding Cardinal William Keeler as archbishop of Baltimore and spiritual leader of the area’s 500,000 Catholics.

He presided over the restructuring of the archdiocesan school system last year, closing 13 of 64 schools, consolidating those that remained and introducing new programs in the hope of attracting more families.

More recently, he urged Gov. Martin O’Malley last month against supporting same-sex marriage, which he described in a letter as “a goal that so deeply conflicts with your faith.”

O’Brien joined Benedict in 2008 to concelebrate a Mass at Nationals Park in Washington during the pope’s visit to the United States.

Continue reading "Report: Archbishop to leave Baltimore for Rome" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 4:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

The Archdiocese of Baltimore has closed St. Patrick Catholic Church indefinitely after engineers deemed the historic Fells Point church unsafe following Tuesday’s earthquake.

Founded in 1792, the parish is the oldest in Baltimore. The current church building was completed in 1898.

The archdiocese said Wednesday that the church’s badly damaged steeple will be “selectively deconstructed and stabilized,” a process it expects to take several weeks.

When the work is complete, the archdiocese said, the church will be reopened for use.

In the meantime, the archdiocese is encouraging parishioners to attend Mass at nearby Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Highlandtown, and offering shuttles for those who need transportation.

St. Patrick celebrates two Masses each week. Shuttles will leave the St. Patrick parking lot at 7:15 p.m. Wednesdays and 8:15 a.m. Sundays.

Archbishop Edwin O’Brien reviewed the damage with the Rev. Father Robert Wojtek, the Sacred Heart pastor who administers St. Patrick. Engineers determined that the parish hall, where the archdiocese had hoped to celebrate Mass temporarily, is structurally unsafe.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

The Archdiocese of Baltimore closed Historic St. Patrick Catholic Church in Fells Point indefinitely Tuesday after its steeple and bell tower were badly damaged in the 5.8-magnitude earthquake that shook Maryland Tuesday afternoon.

Archbishop Edwin O’Brien is scheduled to survey the damage to the113-year-old church on Wednesday morning. The archdiocese said it expects to determine then whether the parish hall can be used for Mass until the church is reopened.

If the hall is also deemed unsafe, the archdiocese said, parishioners will be encouraged to attend Mass at nearby Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Highlandtown.

O’Brien offered prayers for the parishioners of St. Patrick.

The church was founded in 1792; the current church was completed in 1898. The Rev. Robert Wojtek, Pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus, oversees its operation.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

In the days before Gov. Martin O’Malley came out in support of same-sex marriage, Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien privately urged him against “promoting a goal that so deeply conflicts with your faith.”

“Preserving the central role of the natural family unit has always been — and should continue to be — the reason why our government recognizes marriage as existing between one man and one woman,” the archbishop wrote to the governor in a letter dated July 20.

Two days later, O’Malley said he would introduce legislation next year to allow gay couples to marry.

“As a free and diverse people of many faiths, we choose to be governed under the law by certain fundamental principles or beliefs, among them ‘equal protection of the law’ for every individual and the ‘free exercise’ of religion without government intervention,” O’Malley said. “Other states have found a way to protect both these rights. So should Maryland.”

A same-sex marriage bill cleared the state Senate this year, but it was pulled from the House floor after vote-counters determined they were a few delegates shy of a majority. With O’Malley’s active support, backers are hopeful of success next year.

O’Malley, who is Catholic, opposed same-sex marriage when he first ran for governor in 2006. He said at the time that he had been “raised to believe that marriage is between a man and a woman.”

His announcement last month came weeks after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation that made New York the sixth state to allow gay couples to marry — and enjoyed a boost in his national profile.

“I am well aware that the recent events in New York have intensified pressure on you to lend your active support to legislation to redefine marriage,” O’Brien wrote, in a letter released Monday by the governor’s office.

Continue reading "O'Brien urged O'Malley against backing gay marriage" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 9:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

Associated Press correspondent Nicole Winfield reports:

The Vatican told bishops around the world Monday that it is important to cooperate with police in reporting priests who rape and molest children and said they should develop guidelines for preventing sex abuse by next year.

But the suggestions in the letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are vague and nonbinding, and they contain no enforcement mechanisms to ensure bishops actually draft the guidelines or follow them.

That is a significant omission given that the latest scandal in the United States involves allegations Philadelphia's archbishop left accused priests in ministry despite purportedly tough U.S. guidelines, and evidence that Irish bishops were stonewalling an independent board overseeing compliance with the guidelines of the church in Ireland.

The document marks the latest effort by the Vatican to show it's serious about rooting out priestly pedophiles and preventing abuse following the eruption on a global scale of the abuse scandal last year with thousands of victims coming forward.

But it failed to impress advocates for victims who have long blamed the power of bishops bent on protecting the church and its priests for fueling the scandal. Without fear of punishment themselves, bishops frequently moved pedophile priests from parish to parish rather than reporting them to police or punishing them under church law.

"There's nothing that will make a child safer today or tomorrow or next month or next year," said Barbara Dorris, outreach director for the main U.S. victims group Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests.

Critically, the letter reinforces bishops' exclusive authority in dealing with abuse cases. It says independent lay review boards that have been created in some countries to oversee the church's child protection policies and ensure compliance "cannot substitute" for bishops' judgment and power.

Recently, such lay review committees in the U.S. and Ireland have reported that some bishops "failed miserably" in following their own guidelines and had thwarted the boards' work by withholding information and by enacting legal hurdles that made ensuring compliance impossible.

"Our central concern is that bishops and religious leaders retain enormous discretionary powers to decide if an allegation is credible," said Maeve Lewis, executive director of the Irish victims group One in Four.

Continue reading "Vatican suggests bishops report abuse to police" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

The Associated Press reports:

An Australian bishop who was fired by Pope Benedict XVI after suggesting the church consider ordaining women and married men says the Vatican is becoming increasingly authoritarian.

The Vatican said Monday that Bishop William Morris of the Toowoomba diocese, west of Brisbane, had been "removed from pastoral care."

Morris says he was removed because of a letter he wrote to his parish in 2006 that suggested the church consider ordaining women and married men to help solve priest shortages. Currently, only celibate men can be ordained in the Roman Catholic church.

On Tuesday, Morris told Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the Vatican has become increasingly authoritarian and dismissive of local bishops.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

The Associated Press reports:

Peruvian President Alan Garcia says Pope John Paul II should get credit for the death of Osama bin Laden.

The late pope was beatified on Sunday and Garcia says: "His first miracle was to remove from the world the incarnation of evil, the demonic incarnation of crime and hatred, giving us the news that the person who blew up towers and buildings is no longer."

Garcia made the comment Monday as he inaugurated a hydroelectric power station.

Garcia also says bin Laden's death also vindicates President George W. Bush's decision "to punish Bin Laden and patiently continue this work that has born fruit."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (140)
        

Associated Press correspondent Victor L. Simpson reports:

A visit to Rome's main synagogue. Diplomatic relations with Israel. A handwritten plea asking forgiveness for Christian persecution left at Judaism's holiest site in Jerusalem.

With his landmark actions, Pope John Paul II strove throughout his 27-year papacy to overcome the tortured two-millennia history of Catholic-Jewish relations.

In a sign of appreciation for those efforts, some in the crowd at his beatification Sunday in St. Peters's Square will be Jews, including an Israeli Cabinet minister who lost most of his family in the Holocaust but was hidden by a Belgium family who raised him as a Christian.

"We have a high respect, a unique respect for John Paul," Yossi Peled, a retired Israeli general, said Friday. "He is not just another pope for us."

The preparations for the beatification — the last formal step before possible sainthood — got under way in an official capacity Friday morning when John Paul's tomb was opened and his sealed casket removed for public viewing starting Sunday in St. Peter's Basilica.

The simple white marble tombstone that had marked John Paul's resting place in the grottoes underneath the basilica will be sent to a new church dedicated to him in Krakow, the Vatican said.

Eighty-seven official delegations have confirmed their presence at the ceremony, including 16 heads of state, six heads of government and members of five royal houses, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said.

Peled, a minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, said the participation of an Israeli Cabinet member at what is a religious event — the U.S. delegation is limited to its ambassador to the Holy See and two former envoys — is a sign of the importance given to John Paul's accomplishments.

Continue reading "On eve of beatification, Jews praise John Paul II" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 7:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The Archdiocese of Baltimore is hosting several events this weekend to celebrate the beatification on Sunday of Pope John Paul II.

The pontiff came to the archdiocese in October 1995, visiting the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the Our Daily Bread soup kitchen and St. Mary’s Seminary & University.

The pope also visited the Baltimore Basilica in 1976, as Cardinal Karol Wojtyla. The archdiocese has commemorated his visits with the Pope John Paul II Prayer Garden at Charles and Franklin streets, dedicated in October 2008.

His beatification Sunday in Rome will move him a step away from sainthood. The Baltimore archdiocese will celebrate the event with a succession of events Sunday and Monday. They include:

Sunday, May 1
10:45 a.m. Mass at the Baltimore Basilica

11:45 a.m. Eucharistic Procession from the Basilica to the Pope John Paul II Prayer Garden
Praying of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, Prayer Garden

4:30 p.m. Mass for young adults, Basilica

5:30 p.m. Eucharistic Procession following from Basilica to Pope John Paul II Prayer Garden
Praying of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, Prayer Garden

Monday, May 2
Students in all Catholic schools will recite special beatification prayer, and learn about life of Pope John Paul II and making of saints.

Continue reading "Baltimore archdiocese to celebrate JPII beatification" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The Associated Press reports:

A Roman Catholic priest in Connecticut has been sentenced to three years in prison after pleading no contest to stealing more than $1 million in church money and spending it on male escorts and a lavish lifestyle.

The Rev. Kevin Gray, former pastor at Sacred Heart/Sagrado Corazon Parish in Waterbury, was also sentenced Wednesday to three years of probation.

The Republican-American reports that a plea of no contest was entered on Gray's behalf, which means he didn't admit guilt, but a conviction for first-degree larceny was entered on his record.

Prosecutors say the 65-year-old Gray won't have to pay back the money because the Diocese of Hartford did not ask for restitution.

Gray's attorney called many of the charges against his client overblown.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien has issued a statement on former Baltimore Mayor and Maryland Gov. William Donald Schaefer, who died Monday at age 89:

"The prayers of the more than half-million Catholics of the Archdiocese of Baltimore are with the former Governor's family and with their fellow citizens of Baltimore and Maryland at the loss of one of the greatest civic leaders we have known. As mayor and governor, William Donald Schaefer was a partner and friend to my predecessors, championing the needs of others throughout his many years of service. As we celebrate this Holy Week, we encourage prayers for the repose of the soul of our late Governor, and give thanks to God for his selfless service."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 10:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Sun colleague Tricia Bishop reports:

Advocates for victims of clergy abuse called Thursday for an investigation into its allegations that the Catholic Church purposely funneled problem priests into the chaplain corps of the U.S. military.

Meeting with reporters outside the Downtown headquarters of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called for congressional hearings to determine “how frequently and why Catholic officials dumped predator priests on military bases.”

And they distributed documents that they said showed that Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien ignored sexual misconduct by chaplains when he headed the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services.

O’Brien’s spokesman called the allegations absurd, groundless and unsupported.

“Archbishop O'Brien is deeply committed to protecting youth in the care of the Church,” spokesman Sean Caine said in a lengthy statement e-mailed to The Baltimore Sun in response to the group’s allegations.

“The Archbishop’s history of providing outreach to victims (he met with victims of clergy sexual abuse beginning with his first day as Archbishop of Baltimore), his removal of priests credibly accused of abuse — even if not charged criminally, and his diligence in enforcing and strengthening the policies that protect children in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, should be the measure of his approach to the scourge of sexual abuse,” Caine wrote.

The Archdiocese for Military Services, which is based in Washington, did not return a message seeking comment Thursday.

The victims’ group, known as SNAP, released a list online Thursday of roughly 100 priests who worked as chaplains in the military or in Veterans Affairs hospitals during the past 50 years and were accused of sexual misconduct either before, during or after their service.

Continue reading "SNAP says problem priests sent to military" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 6:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (49)
        

The Vatican has accepted the resignation of Bishop John H. Ricard, who served 13 years in the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore and chaired Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services for five.

Ricard, 71, suffered a stroke in December 2009 and has undergone several surgeries since. He submitted his resignation to the Vatican last month.

Bishops ordinarily serve until they turn 75, but are asked to resign if they are unable to function effectively.

Ricard was a popular auxiliary bishop in Baltimore from 1984 until 1997, when he was tapped by Pope John Paul II to head the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee in Florida. The Baton Rouge, La., native was ordained a Josephite father in 1968.

Catholic Relief Services President Ken Hackett said the organization will be praying for his health and happiness.”

“Bishop Ricard was a visionary leader for CRS at a time when the agency was going through expansion and many changes,” Hackett said in a statement. “I was privileged to visit CRS programs on many occasions with Bishop Ricard and witness firsthand his understanding and compassion for people in some of the poorest places in our world.”

Continue reading "Vatican accepts resignation of former Balto. bishop" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Associated Press correspondent Nicole Winfield reports:

Pope Benedict XVI rejects the idea of Jesus as a political revolutionary and insists that violent revolution must never be carried out in God's name in a new book being released Thursday amid great fanfare at the start of Lent.

"Jesus of Nazareth - Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection," is the second installment of Benedict's planned trilogy on Jesus. Part I, which covered Jesus' early ministry, shot to the top of the best-seller lists in Italy when it was published in 2007.

Already, 1.2 million copies of Part II have been printed in seven languages, and reprints of 100,000 more are planned for the Italian editions and 50,000 in German.

In the book, Benedict exonerates the Jews as a people for Christ's death. He also insists that Jesus never advocated violent revolution, as some liberation theologians have suggested, saying violence was not His way no matter how valid the motivation.

Benedict has spoken out frequently to denounce religiously motivated violence against Christians in the Middle East, Pakistan and elsewhere. "The cruel consequences of religiously motivated violence are only too evident to us all," he noted in the book.

"Violence does not build up the kingdom of God, the kingdom of humanity. On the contrary, it is a favorite instrument of the Antichrist, however idealistic its religious motivation may be," Benedict wrote. "It serves, not humanity, but inhumanity."

Continue reading "Pope's new book: Never violence in God's name" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Associated Press correspondent Joann Loviglio reports:

The Philadelphia archdiocese suspended 21 Roman Catholic priests Tuesday who were named as child molestation suspects in a scathing grand jury report released last month. The priests have been removed from ministry while their cases are reviewed, Cardinal Justin Rigali said. The names of the priests were not being released, a spokesman for the archdiocese said.

"These have been difficult weeks since the release of the grand jury report," Rigali said in a statement. "Difficult most of all for victims of sexual abuse but also for all Catholics and for everyone in our community."

The two-year grand jury investigation into priest abuse in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia resulted in charges against two priests, a former priest and a Catholic school teacher who are accused of raping young boys. And in an unprecedented move in the U.S., a former high-ranking church official was accused of transferring problem priests to new parishes without warning anyone of prior sex-abuse complaints.

Since 2002, when the national abuse crisis erupted in the Archdiocese of Boston, American dioceses have barred hundreds of accused clergy from public church work or removed the men permanently from the priesthood. The actions of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia stand out because they come more than eight years after the U.S. bishops reformed their national child protection policies and pledged swift action to keep potential abusers away from young people.

The grand jury named 37 priests who remained in active ministry despite credible allegations of sexual abuse. After the release of the report, the second such investigation in the city in six years, Rigali vowed to take its calls for further reforms seriously.

In addition to the 21 priests placed on leave Tuesday, three others named by the grand jury were suspended a week after the report's release in February. There were five other priests who would have been suspended: one who was already on leave, two who are "incapacitated and have not been in active ministry," and two who no longer are priests in the archdiocese but are now members of another religious order that was not identified.

"The archdiocese has notified the superiors of their religious orders and the bishops of the dioceses where they are residing," the cardinal said.

Continue reading "21 Pa. priests named in abuse report are suspended" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Associated Press correspondents Gillian Flaccus and John Mone report:

VENTURA, Calif. – Carl Sutphin was a problem priest who left ministry in the Roman Catholic church just before being charged nearly a decade ago with 14 counts of molestation for sexually abusing six children.

He was never convicted of the charges, and he now lives in a doublewide mobile home in a quiet neighborhood within two miles of a youth sports complex, a library, two day care centers and at least two elementary schools. Sutphin admits he molested children as a priest, but his name doesn't show up in a sex offender database because the charges were dismissed because too much time had elapsed.

"I don't remember the numbers. I won't say I deny it. I do not deny it, no," Sutphin, who has been accused of abuse by 18 people, told The Associated Press. "The church could have acted quicker, I think, and sometimes reports were not made right away. In my case, some of the cases didn't come forward until 15 or 20 years later. ... So the church didn't do anything about it, they couldn't do anything about it."

Sutphin is one of dozens of former and current priests and religious brothers accused of childhood sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles who now live unmonitored by civil authorities in communities across the state and nation. For many, the statute of limitations had expired by the time the abuse was reported, making it impossible for prosecutors to land convictions and subject the priests to sex offender databases and monitoring.

Plaintiffs' attorneys have worked with private investigators since October to compile a list of the priests' addresses, the most comprehensive accounting of the whereabouts of the 233 clergy accused of abuse in civil lawsuits in the Los Angeles archdiocese. They hope to use it Thursday to persuade a judge to recommend the release of all church files for every priest or religious brother ever accused of sexual abuse in the sweeping litigation.

Those confidential files are at the center of a heated dispute between the church and plaintiffs' lawyers since the nation's largest archdiocese reached a record-breaking $660 million settlement nearly four years ago. Plaintiffs want the files — which could include internal correspondence, previous complaints and therapy records — released, saying it's a matter of public safety. The church is pushing for a more limited release of information.

The list of addresses, obtained by The Associated Press, contains nearly 50 former priests who live unmonitored in California, and another 15 in cities and towns from Maryland to Texas to Montana. More than 80 more cannot be located despite an exhaustive search by plaintiffs' attorneys. Four are believed to have fled to Mexico or South America. About 80 are dead.

Continue reading "AP: Abusive priests live unmonitored" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien is urging Catholics to contact the lawmakers following a committee vote in Annapolis Friday to send same-sex marriage legislation to the full House of Delegates.

O'Brien's statement:

"The Judiciary Committee's disputed decision to advance legislation that would redefine marriage in Maryland is both regrettable and irresponsible. Instead of strengthening and protecting marriage, our State has moved one step closer to dismantling it altogether, a move that would threaten the stability of society and families for current and future generations.

"It is only the relationship of a man to a woman, a father to a mother that can bring a child into the world, and it is this relationship that government, people of faith and all of society should be encouraging. Every child has the right to be loved and nurtured by his true father and mother, not only for his benefit but the benefit of our wider human family. How can this possibly be lost on people of good will today?

"I encourage every Catholic in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and all who value marriage and family, to immediately contact their elected officials in the House of Delegates to ensure that the voices of reason, faith and love of family are not lost in the ensuing debate."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (103)
        

Associated Press correspondent Nicole Winfield reports:

Pope Benedict XVI has made a sweeping exoneration of the Jewish people for the death of Jesus Christ, tackling one of the most controversial issues in Christianity in a new book.

In "Jesus of Nazareth-Part II" excerpts released Wednesday, Benedict explains biblically and theologically why there is no basis in Scripture for the argument that the Jewish people as a whole were responsible for Jesus' death.

Interpretations to the contrary have been used for centuries to justify the persecution of Jews.

While the Catholic Church has for five decades taught that Jews weren't collectively responsible, Jewish scholars said Wednesday the argument laid out by the German-born pontiff, who has had his share of mishaps with Jews, was a landmark statement from a pope that would help fight anti-Semitism today.

"Holocaust survivors know only too well how the centuries-long charge of 'Christ killer' against the Jews created a poisonous climate of hate that was the foundation of anti-Semitic persecution whose ultimate expression was realized in the Holocaust," said Elan Steinberg of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants.

The pope's book, he said, not only confirms church teaching refuting the deicide charge "but seals it for a new generation of Catholics."

Continue reading "Pope: Jews as whole not responsible for Jesus' death" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 2:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Associated Press correspondent Michael Gormley reports:

A consultant for the Vatican's high court says he believes New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo shouldn't receive the Catholic sacrament of Holy Communion because he is not married to his live-in girlfriend, Food Network star Sandra Lee.

Edward Peters, who's also a conservative Catholic blogger and seminary professor in Detroit, called the living arrangement "public concubinage" and said that Cuomo taking Communion would be sacrilegious.

But Catholic bishops don't agree. Bishops and priests have allowed the Catholic Democrat to receive Communion for years, including at Christmas last year and at a Mass last month marking his inauguration. The practice appears to conform to church law.

"My religion is a private matter, and that is not something I discuss in the political arena," Cuomo said Wednesday.

The bishop in Albany agreed, saying to pass judgment on others, even those in public life, is inappropriate.

"There are norms of the church governing the sacraments which Catholics are expected to observe," said Albany Diocese Bishop Howard J. Hubbard. "However, it is unfair and imprudent to make a pastoral judgment about a particular situation without knowing all the facts. As a matter of pastoral practice, we should not comment publicly on anything which should be addressed privately, regardless if the person is a public figure or a private citizen."

Continue reading "Vatican consultant: No communion for Cuomo" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Associated Press correspondent Kirsten Grieshaber reports:

In a rare move that needed the pope's approval, a Lutheran convert was ordained Tuesday as a Catholic priest in Germany and is being allowed to remain married to his wife — who has already become a nun.

Harm Klueting, 61, was ordained by Archbishop Joachim Cardinal Meisner in a private ceremony at the city's seminary, the Cologne archdiocese said.

Pope Benedict XVI gave Klueting a special permission to remain married to his wife Edeltraut Klueting, who became a Catholic Carmelite nun in 2004.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican's chief spokesman, said the exception is rare but there have been similar cases.

"It doesn't happen every day," he said.

Klueting and his wife were Lutherans when they married in 1977 and both served as Lutheran clerics before converting to Catholicism several years ago. They have two grown children.

The Cologne archdiocese said in a statement that the couple would not have to take the traditional vow of celibacy as long as they remain married — a highly unusual move since celibacy is normally a key requirement for Catholic priests.

Klueting and his family could not be reached for comment, and it was not clear whether they still lived together as a couple.

Lombardi said he didn't have any specific information about the Kluetings, including what the pope said about the case.

Continue reading "Pope approves ordination of married father of two" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)
        

The Associated Press reports:

The Vatican has named a tiny shrine in a small northeast Wisconsin town as a holy site.

The Catholic Church has recognized the chapel in Champion, near Green Bay, as the location of an official sighting of the Virgin Mary. Milwaukee radio station WTMJ-AM says it is the only site in the country with that distinction.

Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay says the Virgin Mary appeared there three times to Belgium immigrant Adele Brise in 1859. Devotees have since visited the site to pray for miracles.

Ricken started investigating the events and three theological experts soon picked up the work. After two years of poring over letters and documents, experts decided her claims were true. The Vatican validated those results in December.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (39)
        

Associated Press writer Victor L. Simpson reports:

Pope Benedict XVI has long championed organ transplants, but don't expect an organ donation from him. The Vatican says his body belongs to the whole church.

While the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has possessed an organ donor card since the 1970s when he lived in Germany, it was rendered void when he became pope in 2005, his secretary said.

Monsignor Georg Gaenswein addressed the issue in a letter to a German doctor who has been using the fact that Benedict possessed a donor card to recruit other donors. Vatican Radio reported on the letter in a German language broadcast this week.

Gaenswein sought to put the matter to rest, saying any references to the now invalid document are mistaken.

Polish Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, head of the Vatican's health office, told La Repubblica newspaper that it was understandable that a pope's body remains intact because it belongs to the entire church.

"It is also understandable in view of possible future veneration," he said, referring to future sainthood. "This doesn't take anything away from the validity and the beauty of the gift of organ donation."

Continue reading "Vatican: Pope Benedict no longer an organ donor" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

The Associated Press reports:

Pope Benedict XVI says public officials today would do well to model themselves on Joan of Arc, the French saint who was tried for heresy and burned at the stake for her convictions.

Benedict highlighted the life of the 15th century mystic in his Wednesday audience, which over the past several months he has used to highlight important women in the church's history.

Joan of Arc led the French to several victories over the English during the Hundred Years War. She was tried for heresy and witchcraft and burned at the stake in 1431. Her conviction was later annulled and she was canonized in 1920.

Benedict says: "Hers is a beautiful example of holiness for lay people working in public life, particularly during the most difficult situations."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Associated Press correspondent Nicole Winfield reports:

Pope Benedict XVI told priests over the weekend to do a better job counseling would-be spouses to ensure their marriages last and said no one has an absolute right to a wedding.

Benedict made the comments Saturday in his annual speech to the Roman Rota, the Vatican tribunal that decides marriage annulments. An annulment is the process by which the church effectively declares that a marriage never took place.

Benedict acknowledged that the problems that would allow for a marriage to be annulled cannot always be identified beforehand. But he said better pre-marriage counseling, which the Catholic Church requires of the faithful, could help avoid a "vicious circle" of invalid marriages.

He said the right to a church wedding requires that the bride and groom intend to celebrate and live the marriage truthfully and authentically.

"No one can make a claim to the right to a nuptial ceremony," he said.

Continue reading "Pope: No one has absolute right to marriage" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)
Categories: Catholicism, Faith Practices, International, People, Sexuality
        

Associated Press correspondent Nicole Winfield reports:

Pope Benedict XVI has signed off on the miracle needed to beatify Pope John Paul II and set May 1 as the date to honor one of the most beloved popes of all times as a model of saintliness for the church.

Benedict said in a decree Friday that a French nun's recovery from Parkinson's disease was miraculous, the last step needed for beatification. A second miracle is needed for the Polish-born John Paul to be made a saint.

The May 1 ceremony, which Benedict himself will celebrate, is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to Rome — a major morale boost for a church reeling from a wave of violence against Christians and fallout from the clerical sex abuse scandal.

"This is a huge and important cause of joy," Warsaw Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz told reporters at his residence in the Polish capital.

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, John Paul's longtime secretary and friend, expressed "huge thanks" to Benedict for the decree. "We are happy today," he said.

Benedict put John Paul on the fast track to possible sainthood just weeks after he died in 2005, responding to the chants of "Santo Subito!" or "Sainthood immediately!" that erupted during his funeral.

Benedict waived the typical five-year waiting period before the process could begin, but he insisted that the investigation into John Paul's life be thorough so as to not leave any doubts about his virtues.

John Paul's beatification will nevertheless be the fastest on record, coming just over six years after his death and beating out Mother Teresa's then-record beatification in 2003 by a few days.

Continue reading "Pope John Paul II set for beatification May 1" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (57)
        

Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien has entered into a friendly wager with the Catholic bishop of Pittsburgh over Saturday’s Ravens-Steelers game.

If the Ravens win, Bishop David A. Zubik of Pittsburgh will make a donation to Our Daily Bread, the Catholic Charities program that serves more than 250,000 hot meals in Baltimore each year.

If the Steelers win, O’Brien will make a donation to the Catholic charity of Zubik’s choice.

“I am looking forward to delivering Bishop Zupik’s check to Our Daily Bread after the Ravens beat the Steelers,” Archbishop O’Brien taunted Thursday. “I have great faith that Coach Harbaugh, a product of Catholic schools, will have his team well-prepared for the game and the Ravens will move one step closer to the Super Bowl!”

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
        

Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien will celebrate Mass at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, the first anniversary of the earthquake that leveled Haiti.

O'Brien is inviting Catholics and others in the Archdiocese to "stand in prayerful solidarity" with the people of Haiti.

The archdiocese, which has a long-established Haiti Outreach Project, raised more than $730,000 last year for earthquake relief efforts.

Through a sister relationship with the Catholic Diocese of Gonaives, the archdiocese sponsors three schools, including the Cardinal William H. Keeler Trade School, and feeds 15,000 children each day. Eighteen parishes in the archdiocese have partnerships with parishes in Haiti, funding feeding programs and improving teacher salaries in schools.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has called on Catholics to participate in a novena — nine days of prayer — for the people of Haiti beginning on Wednesday. More information is availablet at the conference website.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

In spite of the slow economic recovery, and a national downturn in charitable giving, the Archdiocese of Baltimore raised a record amount for ministries and programs in 2010, the archdiocese said Tuesday.

More than 40,000 people donated more than $8.7 million to the Archbishop's Annual Appeal, up more than 67 percent since 2006.

“Ironically, the Appeal has seen its greatest growth since the downturn in the economy -- a clear indication not only of the efforts of the Archbishop and pastors and pastoral life directors who promoted the appeal as a way of helping people in need, but also the extraordinary generosity of Catholics and others in the Archdiocese of Baltimore,” said Patrick Madden, the archdiocesan director of development.

According to the archdiocese, 46 percent of the money raised in 2010 was returned to parishes to fund church operations and programs, 23 percent went to Catholic Charities, and 31 percent is funding ministries and outreach programs such as AIDS ministry, prison ministry and the Interfaith Housing Alliance in Western Maryland.

“The reach of the Appeal is enormous," Madden said. "In fact, many of the programs the Appeal supports could not continue to operate without funding from the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal."

Continue reading "Archbishop's appeal nets record haul" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Associated Press correspondent Maggie Michael reports:

CAIRO – In the weeks before the New Year's Day suicide bombing of an Egyptian church, al-Qaida-linked websites carried a how-to manual on "destroying the cross," complete with videos on how to build a bomb and the locations of churches to target — including the one that was attacked.

They may have found a receptive audience in Alexandria, where increasingly radicalized Islamic hard-liners have been holding weekly anti-Christian demonstrations, filled with venomous slogans against the minority community.

The blast, which struck Saturday as worshippers were leaving midnight Mass at the Mediterranean city's Saints Church, killed 21 people.

President Hosni Mubarak has accused foreign groups of being behind the attack, which has sparked a wave of angry protests by Christians in Egypt.

But on the ground, investigators are searching in a different direction — scrutinizing homegrown hard-liners, known as Salafis, and the possibility they were inspired by al-Qaida.

Continue reading "Anti-Christian drumbeat grew before Egypt attack" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 7:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The Associated Press reports:

The Legionaries of Christ is ordering images of its disgraced founder removed from its buildings worldwide as part of Vatican-mandated reforms.

The conservative order says photographs showing the late Rev. Marciel Maciel alone or with the pope must be removed from its installations.

Maciel founded the influential Legion in Mexico in 1941. He was dogged for years by allegations that he abused seminarians. But it was only after his 2008 death that the order admitted the allegations were true and that Maciel had fathered three children.

The Legion also announced on its website Monday that it was prohibiting the celebration of Maciel's birthday. It also banned the sale of Maciel's writings inside Legion centers.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)
        

The Associated Press reports:

The Roman Catholic Church this week designated a Wisconsin spot where an apparition of the Virgin Mary allegedly appeared three times to a Belgian-born nun in 1859 as the only of its kind in the United States.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help at Champion, just east of Green Bay near Lake Michigan, has long been a popular destination for the faithful. But it was only in the last two years that the Diocese of Green Bay undertook the official process to earn the distinction that now puts it in company with renowned holy apparition sites including Lourdes, France; Guadalupe, Mexico; and Fatima, Portugal.

Green Bay Bishop David Ricken approved the sightings as legitimate apparitions after a two-year study by a commission he appointed. Ricken announced the distinction at a special Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception at the shrine, where he read from a decree that stated the apparitions witnessed by Sister Adele Brise in 1859 "do exhibit the substance of supernatural character, and I do hereby approve these apparitions as worthy of belief (although not obligatory) by the Christian faithful."

Brise was 28 at the time of the visions, and had emigrated to Wisconsin from Belgium with her family about four years earlier. Brise would recount that a lady dressed in dazzling white appeared to her and claimed to be the "Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners," according to information provided by the Green Bay diocese. The apparition asked Brise to do the same, and to gather children and teach them what they should know for salvation.

Continue reading "Church recognizes site of reported Mary apparition" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Associated Press correspondent Nicole Winfield reports:

The Vatican on Thursday released documentation showing Pope Benedict XVI sought as early as 1988 to find quicker ways to permanently remove priests who raped and molested children but was rebuffed.

A 1988 letter from then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger could serve as the Vatican's best defense to date that the future pope wanted to quickly remove pedophile priests but found himself stymied by church law.

In the letter, republished in Thursday's Vatican newspaper, Ratzinger complained that church law made it exceedingly difficult to remove abusers if they didn't request to be laicized voluntarily. He asked to get around the problem by finding "a quicker and simpler procedure" than a cumbersome church trial to punish those priests who "during their ministry were found guilty of grave and scandalous behavior."

He was turned down on the grounds that the priests' ability to defend themselves would be compromised.

The documentation was included in an article in L'Osservatore Romano explaining an upcoming revision of church law, which was last updated in 1983.

The article, penned by the No. 2 in the Vatican's legal office, highlighted some of the problems and loopholes of the 1983 Code of Canon Law's penal section that presumably will be addressed in the revision.

The Vatican has long sought to portray Benedict as having done more than anyone else at the Vatican to crack down on pedophile priests. But it has usually cited as his starting point a 2001 decision to have all abuse cases sent to his then-office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Continue reading "Benedict sought to remove abusive priests sooner" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)
        

Associated Press correspondent Will Weisset reports:

A Roman Catholic priest has been arrested on charges that he solicited a hit man to kill a teenager who had accused him of sexual abuse. Authorities said John Fiala first offered the job to a neighbor, who blew the whistle and helped police arrange a sting. They said Fiala got as far as negotiating a $5,000 price for the slaying before investigators moved in.

The 52-year-old clergyman was arrested Nov. 18 at his suburban Dallas home and jailed on $700,000 bond. In April, he was named in a lawsuit filed by the boy's family, who accused Fiala of molesting the youth, including twice forcing him to have sex at gunpoint.

The abuse allegedly took place in 2007 and 2008, when Fiala was a priest at the Sacred Heart of Mary Parish in the West Texas community of Rocksprings, a rural enclave known for sheep and goat herding.

The family's lawsuit also named the Archdiocese of San Antonio and Archbishop Jose Gomez, alleging that church leadership should have known Fiala was abusive.

The suit was filed just a month before Gomez was introduced as the new incoming leader of the Los Angeles Archdiocese. He is currently serving as an assistant to Cardinal Roger Mahony, who will retire next year. Gomez then automatically becomes archbishop.

When he learned of the murder-for-hire investigation, the boy "was terrified and rightly so," said San Antonio attorney Tom Rhodes, who represents the family. As far back as 2008, Fiala threatened the teen, and repeatedly brandished a pistol, Rhodes said.

Fiala "began saying, 'If you tell anyone, I'll hurt you. I'll hurt your family, your girlfriend,'" Rhodes said. "It was more than once he threatened him with a gun."

Continue reading "Priest accused of trying to hire hit man" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (23)
        

Associated Press correspondent Nicole Winfield reports:

Pope Benedict XVI says in a new book that condoms can be justified for male prostitutes seeking to stop the spread of HIV, a stunning comment for a church criticized for its opposition to condoms and for a pontiff who has blamed them for making the AIDS crisis worse.

The pope made the comments in a book-length interview with a German journalist, "Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times," which is being released Tuesday. The Vatican newspaper ran excerpts on Saturday.

Church teaching has long opposed condoms because they are a form of artificial contraception, although it has never released an explicit policy about condoms and HIV. The Vatican has been harshly criticized for its opposition.

Benedict said that condoms are not a moral solution. But he said in some cases, such as for male prostitutes, they could be justified "in the intention of reducing the risk of infection."

Benedict called it "a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way of living sexuality."

He used as an example male prostitutes, for whom contraception is not an issue, as opposed to married couples where one spouse is infected. The Vatican has come under pressure from even some church officials in Africa to condone condom use for monogamous married couples to protect the uninfected spouse from getting infected.

Benedict drew the wrath of the United Nations, European governments and AIDS activisits when he told reporters en route to Africa in 2009 that the AIDS problem on the continent couldn't be resolved by distributing condoms.

"On the contrary, it increases the problem," he said then.

Journalist Peter Seewald, who interviewed Benedict over the course of six days this summer, raised the Africa condom comments and asked Benedict if it wasn't "madness" for the Vatican to forbid a high-risk population to use condoms.

"There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility," Benedict said.

But he stressed that it wasn't the way to deal with the evil of HIV, and elsewhere in the book reaffirmed church teaching on contraception and abortion, saying: "How many children are killed who might one day have been geniuses, who could have given humanity something new, who could have given us a new Mozart or some new technical discovery?"

He reiterated the church's position that abstinence and marital fidelity is the only sure way to prevent HIV.

Continue reading "Pope: Condoms may be justified in some cases" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

The Associated Press reports:

Editorials in a Catholic prep school's student newspaper about same-sex marriage and gay teenagers are sparking debate about free speech in Minnesota.

Student-written opinion pieces in the newspaper at Benilde-St. Margaret in St. Louis Park, Minn., defended gay teenagers and criticized a DVD by Minnesota's Catholic bishops that denounced same-sex marriage.

The editorials and the nearly 100 comments they generated were deleted from the newspaper's website over the weekend. The principal says they created confusion about church teaching and an intensity that made an unsafe environment for students.

Some comments praised a gay student's courage for writing about his experience. Others said the editorials shouldn't have been published at a Catholic school.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)
        

The Associated Press reports.

Pope Benedict XVI has told Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of the discrimination and violence Catholics suffer in the Mideast and said he hopes relations between the local churches and authorities can improve.

The Vatican released the text of a letter Benedict wrote Ahmadinejad after receiving a letter from the Iranian leader last month. Ahmadinejad had thanked the pontiff for opposing a Florida pastor's threat to burn the Quran on the Sept. 11 anniversary.

In his letter, dated Nov. 3 but released only Thursday, Benedict noted that a recent meeting of Mideast bishops had decried the discrimination many Catholics face in the region. He said he hoped a bilateral commission would help address the legal status of the Catholic Church in Iran.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The Associated Press reports:

Parishioners have posted bail for a Roman Catholic priest charged with felony sex crimes against a 12-year-old California boy.

The Rev. Alejandro Jose Castillo was arrested Oct. 25 at his home in Ontario, Calif., and was charged with seven counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under age 14 and one count of forcible lewd and lascivious acts with a child under age 14.

Hundreds of people affiliated with the parishioners group Coalition to Exonerate Fr. Alex raised the $24,000 in bail money. Coalition director Ted Campos says they believe in his innocence.

As a condition for release, Castillo can have no contact with minors.

He was removed as pastor of Ontario's Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in June.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Associated Press correspondent Jill Lawless reports:

Five Church of England bishops announced Monday they are converting to Catholicism following an invitation to disaffected Anglicans from Pope Benedict XVI — the highest-profile defectors among conservatives opposed to gay bishops and female clergy.

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales said Bishop of Ebbsfleet Andrew Burnham, Bishop of Richborough Keith Newton, Bishop of Fulham John Broadhurst — as well as retired bishops Edwin Barnes and David Silk — have decided "to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church."

Burnham and Newton are "flying bishops," who minister to Church of England parishes where congregations have voted not to allow a woman priest to preside at services.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans, said he had accepted the resignations of Burnham and Newton, "with regret."

"We wish them well in this next stage of their service to the Church," he said.

Broadhurst, leader of the traditionalist group Forward in Faith, announced his intention to leave the Church of England last month, accusing the Anglican church of being "fascist in its behavior" and marginalizing those opposed to the ordination of women.

Continue reading "Five Anglican bishops to join Catholic Church" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Associated Press correspondent Nicole Winfield reports:

Pope Benedict XVI strongly defended traditional families and the rights of the unborn Sunday, directly attacking Spanish laws that allow gay marriage, fast-track divorce and easier abortions as he dedicated Barcelona's iconic church, the Sagrada Familia.

It was the second time in as many days that Benedict had criticized the policies of Spain's Socialist government and called for Europe as a whole to rediscover Christian teachings and apply them to everyday life.

As he headed to the church named for the sacred family, about 200 gays and lesbians staged a 'kiss-in' to protest his visit and church policies on homosexuals, condom use and a host of other issues. Church teaching holds that gays should be treated with dignity and respect but that homosexual acts are "intrinsically disordered."

Benedict has focused much of his pontificate on trying to fight secular trends in the West such as the legal recognition of same-sex unions. Benedict has visited Spain twice so far and has a third trip planned next year, an indication he sees this once staunchly Roman Catholic country as a battleground for the future of the faithful in Europe.

During his homily Sunday, Benedict noted that the Sagrada Familia church, a soaring, Art Nouveau marvel begun over a century ago, was initially conceived of as a temple to the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

As he inaugurated the church's main altar, he railed against same-sex marriage and divorce, saying families are built on the "indissoluble love of a man and a woman" who should be provided with financial and social benefits from governments. The pontiff also consecrated the building for use as a church in a colorful ceremony seldom seen performed by a pope.

Continue reading "Gay protesters stage 'kiss-in' as pope drives by" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Associated Press correspondent Mark Stevenson reports:

A chapel where Roman Catholic priests celebrate Mass every Sunday bears a plaque thanking the donor who built it — the leader of one of Mexico's most violent drug cartels.

The revelation has the church distancing itself from the property in central Mexico, while admitting it knows of other donations from drug traffickers.

"We know that the narcos ... look for a way to redeem themselves in religious terms, by doing some good work. Obviously, sins cannot be washed away by a donation or a collection," said the Rev. Hugo Valdemar, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Mexico, the country's largest.

"We have examples of five or six cases of projects, generally in rural communities, where they don't just build churches, they build roads and bridges and clinics," he said.

On a wall of the brightly painted chapel in the village of Tezontle, a plaque says it was donated by the leader of the violent Zetas cartel.

"Donated by Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, Lord, hear my prayer," reads the bronze-colored marker, which says the chapel was built in honor of Pope John Paul II.

Continue reading "Mass held in Mexico chapel built by drug lord" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Associated Press correspondent Robert Wielaard reports

The spokesman for Andre Leonard, Belgium's ultraconservative archbishop, quit Tuesday, saying he can no longer speak for a "loose canon," who has shocked Catholics by sympathizing with priests accused of pedophilia and condemning homosexuals.

The resignation of spokesman Juergen Mettepenningen reflected turmoil in Belgium's Catholic Church that began with a June 24 police raid on church offices, part of an investigation into hundreds of cases of sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests.

Aggravating matters — at a time when the church needed public support — Leonard has aired conservative views, calling AIDS "immanent justice" for homosexuals and saying that prosecuting retired priests for child abuse cases would be "vengeful."

Mettepenningen said Leonard is out of touch with Belgium's Catholic base.

"At times, he behaved like a loose cannon who thinks everybody else is wrong," Mettepenningen said at a news conference. "I was his GPS for three months. But it is the driver who has his hands on the wheel and sets the course."

In recent weeks, mainstream Catholic organizations have publicly spoken out against Leonard's conservative views.

On Tuesday, socialist legislator Jean-Marie de Meester filed a complaint against him with Belgium's anti-racism center for his "homophobic" viewpoints.

Continue reading "Spokesman for 'loose canon' archbishop quits" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Associated Press correspondents Barbara Surk and Hamid Ahmed report:

Iraq's dwindling Christian community was grieving and afraid on Monday after militants seized a Baghdad church during evening Mass, held the congregation hostage and triggered a raid by Iraqi security forces. The bloodbath left at least 52 people killed and 67 wounded — nearly everyone inside.

The attack, claimed by an al-Qaida-linked organization, was believed to be the dealiest ever recorded against Iraq's Christians, whose numbers have plummeted since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion as the community has fled to other countries.

Outside Our Lady of Deliverance church, Raed Hadi leaned against the car carrying his cousin's coffin, waiting for the police to let him bury him on church grounds.

"It was a massacre in there and now they are cleaning it up," he said Monday morning. "We Christians don't have enough protection ... What shall I do now? Leave and ask for asylum?"

"Now they make a show," said Jamal Jaju, who watched as Iraqi forces set up a chain link fence around the church and pushed back observers. "What can I say? I lost at least 20 friends in there."

Pope Benedict XVI denounced the assault as "ferocious" and called for renewed international efforts to broker peace in the region. Catholics made up 2.89 percent of Iraq's population in 1980; by 2008 they were merely 0.89 percent.

Continue reading "Iraqi Christians mourn after church siege kills 52" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The Associated Press reports:

Pope Benedict XVI says all countries have the right to regulate immigration flows and protect their borders, and immigrants must respect the laws and national identity of their host nations.

The pontiff said in a message that every person has a right to migrate in search of better living conditions.

The Vatican on Tuesday issued the pope's message for the church's World Day for Migrants and Refugees, which is celebrated Jan. 16.

Benedict said that, as the word's societies become more multiethnic and intercultural, people should seek dialogue and respect each other's differences. States must respect the dignity of all migrants and share their resources, while immigrants "have the duty to integrate into the host country."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Pope Benedict XVI is elevating Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington to cardinal, the Vatican announced Wednesday.

Wuerl, 69, was one of 24 men named by Benedict to the College of Cardinals at the conclusion of his weekly general audience. Following the ceremony, known as a consistory, next month at the Vatican to elevate the new cardinals, Wuerl will serve as an advisor to the pope and be eligible to vote in papal elections until his 80th birthday.

The Archdiocese of Washington includes the capital and five Maryland counties: Montgomery, Prince George’s, Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s.

“This truly is an honor for the Archdiocese of Washington, the Church in the nation’s capital, and for all of the clergy, religious and parishioners of this local Church who every day live out their faith in commitment and deep love for Christ,” Wuehrl said in a statement. “I am humbled by our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI’s trust in me as shepherd of this flock and pledge to him my renewed fidelity, affection and loyalty."

Wuerl is the fifth Archbishop of Washington elevated to cardinal since the archdiocese was created out of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The others were Patrick A. O’Boyle, William W. Baum, James A. Hickey and Theodore E. McCarrick.

Continue reading "Washington Archbishop Wuerl to become Cardinal" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (52)
        

The Associated Press reports:

The Vatican on Monday released a letter from the pope to seminarians again expressing "profound shame and regret" for the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the global Roman Catholic church.

He said that "thank God, all of us know exemplary priests" who have chosen a life of celibacy.

Some have questioned whether celibacy is in part to blame, but the Vatican insists celibacy isn't responsible.

Recently two bishops from the scandal-hit Belgian church openly questioned the celibacy requirement.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 2:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

A Church of England assistant bishop and a parish church have announced that they intend to become Roman Catholics within a new structure set up by Pope Benedict XVI.

John Broadhurst, the bishop of Fulham in London, and St. Peter's Church in Folkestone, southeastern England, both oppose moves in the Church of England to allow women to serve as bishops.

Broadhurst, the first serving Church of England bishop to say he will accept the pope's invitation, is leader of Forward in Faith, a group representing traditionalists within the Church of England. He announced his decision on Friday at the group's national assembly.

St. Peter's Church, which is affiliated with Forward in Faith, announced its decision on Saturday.

Benedict has created a structure called an ordinariate, in which Church of England defectors could continue to use some of their traditional liturgy and be served by their married priests.

"I intend to resign as bishop of Fulham before the end of the year," Broadhurst told the Forward in Faith meeting.

"I am not retiring, I am resigning," he added. "Secondly, I expect that I will enter the ordinariate when it is established."

The parochial church council of St. Peter's said it had resolved to join the ordinariate and "is anxious that this should be made as easy as possible."

Continue reading "Anglican bishop plans Catholic conversion" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Associated Press writer Ben Evans reports:

Suddenly, Christine O'Donnell doesn't want to talk about values and religion. The Republican Senate nominee from Delaware, who said four years ago that she heard the "audible voice of God" encouraging her to run for office, is shying away from publicly stating the evangelical views that built her career as a television pundit and conservative activist.

Trailing badly in the polls, O'Donnell has bobbed and weaved recently on previously bold and provocative positions that risk alienating the all-important centrist voting bloc in politically moderate Delaware.

"What I believe is irrelevant," she said under the bright lights of a nationally televised debate Wednesday when asked if she still believes evolution is a myth and schools should be teaching creationism as science.

The tea party favorite is walking a delicate line, trying to avoid a third straight losing Senate campaign by maintaining the enthusiasm of her evangelical base while not scaring off the centrists who could see such views as extreme.

On gays in the military, she said Wednesday that the decision should be left to the Pentagon — declining to state her personal view but making clear that "I don't think that Congress should be forcing a social agenda onto our military."

Similarly, she characterized her opposition to embryonic stem cell research as more of a scientific objection than a religious one, arguing that adult stem cells are more valuable for research, a view not held by the many scientists who say embryonic stem cells are the most versatile and promising. She also gave an indirect answer about her opposition to abortion even in the case of rape or incest, calling it a "scare tactic" and saying rape and incest account for less than 1 percent of abortions.

O'Donnell hasn't always been so quiet.

Continue reading "O'Donnell dodges religion in Senate race" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Associated Press correspondent Nicole Winfield reports:

Pope Benedict XVI formally created a new Vatican office Tuesday to revive Christianity in Europe, his latest attempt to counter secular trends in traditionally Christian countries.

In a decree, Benedict said the new office would promote church doctrine, use the media to get the church's message out and mobilize missionary-type activities.

But even on its first day of existence, the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization ran into an all-too-typical Vatican snag: The four-page decree instituting the office was issued in only Latin and Italian.

Asked how the pope expected to bring the church's message to the world in such relatively unknown languages, the head of the new office, Monsignor Rino Fisichella said he hadn't been in charge until Tuesday and wasn't responsible for how the decree was issued.

He stressed that he planned to have language sections in his department to deal with the faithful in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, German and Slavic languages.

Continue reading "Pope outlines new effort to revive Christianity" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (42)
        

The president of Catholic Relief Services is stepping down at the beginning of 2012, the Baltimore-based humanitarian agency announced Wednesday.

Ken Hackett, 63, has headed CRS since 1993, leading the agency through Hurricane Mitch in Central America, multiple famines in Africa, the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and the Haiti earthquake earlier this year.

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York, the chairman of the CRS board of directors, said a board committee would conduct a nationwide search for a successor to Hackett with a goal of installing the next president by January 2012.

Hackett has agreed to continue serving as president for six months beyond the expiration of his current five-year term in June 2011, and to continue on as a consultant until July 2012 to assist in the transition.

“Over two years ago, Ken Hackett, our esteemed president, challenged the Board to become robustly intentional in our strategy for future leadership transition, including his own office as CEO,” Dolan wrote in a note to CRS staff.

“Ken’s challenge to the board was characteristic of his nearly four decades of devotion to CRS—he only wants to be a servant to Jesus Christ, His Church, His poor,” Dolan wrote. “We took him seriously. The good news is that we can do this patiently and carefully, because we are able to approach any leadership changes from a position of strength, success and stability.”

Continue reading "Catholic Relief Services president stepping down" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Roman Catholic leaders in Iowa are urging voters to back a constitutional convention, saying the rare gathering would be the quickest way to overturn the court ruling that legalized gay marriage in the state, the Associated Press reports.

The Iowa Catholic Conference, which represents the state's four Roman Catholic dioceses, issued the statement Monday in favor of a yes vote on a Nov. 2 ballot question that would require a constitutional convention.

Gay marriage has been legal in Iowa since 2009, when the state Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decision that found a same-sex marriage ban approved by lawmakers violated the Iowa Constitution. Since then, about 1,800 same-sex weddings have been held in Iowa, most by couples who live in other states.

Tom Chapman, executive director of the Catholic Conference, said the group was part of a larger effort to encourage Iowa's roughly 500,000 Catholics to vote their conscience on a number of issues.

Continue reading "Catholics strategizing to reverse gay marriage" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 1:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Nicole Winfield of the Associated Press reports:

The Vatican declared Pope Benedict XVI's four-day visit to Britain a "great success" Sunday, saying the pontiff was able to reach out to a nation wary of his message and angry at his church's sex abuse scandal.

On his final day, Benedict praised British heroics against the Nazis to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and moved an Englishman a step closer to possible sainthood.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said the important thing wasn't so much the turnout — crowds were much smaller than when Pope John Paul II visited in 1982 — but that Benedict's warning about the dangers of an increasingly secularized society had been received "with profound interest" from Britons as a whole.

Indeed, the British media coverage was remarkable in the seriousness with which newspapers and television took Benedict's message, and TV stations ran virtually all of the pope's speeches, Masses and other events live.

"Everyone is agreed about the great success, not so much from the point of view of the numbers, but ... by the fact that the message of the pope was received with respect and joy by the faithful," Lombardi told reporters.

Prime Minister David Cameron, in his farewell speech before Benedict's departure ceremony, said the pope had "challenged the whole country to sit up and think, and that can only be a good thing."

Continue reading "Vatican: Pope's UK visit a 'great success'" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday he was ashamed of the "unspeakable" sexual abuse of children by priests, telling the British faithful during Mass in Westminster Cathedral that he was deeply sorry and hoped the church's humiliation would help victims heal, the Associated Press reports.

Benedict also said he hoped the church would be able to use its contrition to purify itself of the "sins" of its ministers and renew its commitment to educating the young.

Benedict addressed the abuse scandal head-on during his homily, which was broadcast live on British television, a day after six people were arrested in an alleged terrorist plot against him. They remained in custody Saturday.

The sex abuse scandal has clouded Benedict's four-day state visit to this deeply secular nation with a centuries-old history of anti-Catholic sentiment. Polls have indicated widespread dissatisfaction in Britain with the way Benedict has handled the crisis, with Catholics nearly as critical of him as the rest of the population.

Anger over the abuse scandal runs high in Britain in part because of the enormous scale of the abuse in neighboring Ireland, where government reports have detailed systematic abuse of children at church-run schools and cover-up on the part of church authorities.

The pontiff issued his comments in the seat of English Catholicism amid indications he would meet with British abuse victims, and as abuse survivors and others opposed to his visit prepared a march Saturday afternoon in London's Hyde Park to demand more accountability.

"I express my deep sorrow to the innocent victims of these unspeakable crimes, along with my hope that the power of Christ's grace, his sacrifice of reconciliation, will bring deep healing and peace to their lives," Benedict said.

Continue reading "Pope says he's ashamed of abuse by priests" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

British police arrested five London street cleaners over an alleged threat to Pope Benedict XVI on Friday, the second day of a papal trip to Britain that has brought both a warm welcome from Catholics and renewed anger over the clerical sex abuse scandal, the Associated Press reports.

The Vatican said the pope was calm despite the pre-dawn arrests and planned no changes to his schedule.

Acting on a tip, police detained the men, aged 26 to 50, under the Terrorism Act at a cleaning depot in central London after receiving information about a possible threat. The men are being questioned at a London police station and have not been charged. Police said an initial search of that business and other related properties has not uncovered any hazardous items.

The pope's visit has divided opinion in officially Protestant, highly secular Britain. The trip has been overshadowed by disgust over the Catholic Church's clerical abuse scandal and opposition from secularists and those opposed to the church's stances against homosexuality and using condoms to fight AIDS.

The detained suspects worked for a contractor on behalf of Westminster Council, the authority responsible for much of central London. The pope will still address British politicians, businessmen and cultural leaders in Westminster Hall, part of the Houses of Parliament, later Friday.

Continue reading "British police arrest five in alleged plot against pope" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Pope Benedict XVI began a controversial visit to Britain on Thursday by acknowledging that the Catholic Church had not acted decisively or quickly enough against priests who molested children, the Associated Press reports. He said the church's top priority now was to help abuse victims heal.

The pope's comments to reporters traveling with him from Rome marked his most thorough admission to date of church failures to stop pedophile priests, but they again failed to satisfy victims' groups. The issue has reignited with recent revelations of hundreds of victims in Belgium, including at least 13 of whom committed suicide.

Benedict's four-day state visit has been overshadowed by disgust over the abuse scandal and indifference in highly secular Britain, where Catholics are a minority at 10 percent and endured centuries of bloody persecution until the early 1800s.

The pope's first meeting was with Queen Elizabeth II, both head of state and head of the Church of England, at The Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Benedict was warmly welcomed by the queen, who wore a blue-gray knee-length coat and matching hat and gloves, as tartan-wearing bagpipers marched and thousands of people watched under blustery, cloud-streaked blue skies. The pontiff himself donned a green tartan scarf as he rode through Edinburgh in the Popemobile.

Later, he enjoyed a very Scottish treat: a lunch of haggis — sheep heart, liver and lungs simmered in sheep stomach — at the home of Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien.

The queen told Benedict that his visit reminded all Britons of their common Christian heritage and said she hoped relations between the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church would be deepened as a result.

Continue reading "Pope acknowledges church failings in abuse response" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Britain's advertising watchdog has banned an Italian ice cream ad featuring a pregnant nun, saying it causes offense to Catholics, the Associated Press reports.

The magazine ad for ice cream maker Antonio Federici showed the nun eating a tub of ice cream, with text that read: "Immaculately conceived ... Ice cream is our religion."

The Advertising Standards Authority said Wednesday it has received 10 complaints from magazine readers who said the ad was offensive to Christians. The agency said imagery used to illustrate immaculate conception was likely to be seen as mocking the beliefs of Roman Catholics.

The Italian company said the idea of conception represented the development of their ice cream and the ad aimed to gently satirize religion.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

Pope Benedict XVI will break his own rule this weekend when he beatifies Cardinal John Henry Newman, the renowned 19th Century Anglican convert who greatly influenced the Roman Catholic Church, the Associated Press reports.

Newman remains a complicated figure within the Anglican church he abandoned, and the pope's glorification of him during a state visit to Britain could unleash new tensions between churches already divided over issues like the ordination of women and gay bishops, AP correspondent Nicole Winfield writes.

Benedict will move Newman a step closer to possible sainthood when he presides over his beatification on Sunday, the main reason for his four-day trip. It's the first time Benedict will celebrate a beatification; under his own rules popes don't beatify, only canonize.

For the German-born, by-the-book professor, such an exception to his own rule is significant. It's a calculated gesture that underscores Benedict's view that Newman is a crucial model for all Christians at a time when Christianity is on the wane in an increasingly secularized Europe.

"His personality and teachings could be a source of inspiration for ecumenism in our times from which all of us can draw," Benedict said on the eve of his trip. "It is my hope and prayer that more and more people will benefit from his gentle wisdom and be inspired by his example of integrity and holiness of life."

For many Anglicans, the sight of the pope traveling to Britain with the express aim of beatifying a figure who turned his back on their church will be a bitter one.

And Benedict has a history of causing offense while on foreign trips — notably outraging Muslims in a speech in Germany by appearing to suggest the prophet Muhammad spread a message of violence, or suggesting while traveling to Africa that condoms hindered the fight against AIDS.

Continue reading "Pope risks controversy in beatifying convert" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

A Muslim stonemason who spent nearly four decades helping to restore a Roman Catholic cathedral in France has been immortalized as a winged gargoyle peering out from its facade — with the inscription "God is great" written in French and Arabic.

It was conceived as a symbol of inter-religious friendship that reflects the city of Lyon's links to its large Muslim population, the Associated Press reports. But a widely publicized outcry from a small extreme-right group has forced the Archdiocese of Lyon into damage control.

"This has nothing to do with religion. It's a sculptor who wants to pay homage to a construction site chief," said the Rev. Michel Cacaud, rector of the cathedral. "That's all."

In France, where Islam is the country's second religion, the government has worked to integrate Muslims into French culture, while at the same time confronting cases of Islamophobia, from the desecration of Muslim graves to attacks on mosques.

Ahmed Benzizine, who was born in Algeria, a former French colony, sees the gargoyle in his image as "a message of peace and tolerance."

"When I started to work in churches ... exactly 37 years ago, it was considered a sin that a Muslim enter a place of worship other than a mosque," he said.

He has worked off and on since 1973 at St. Jean Cathedral, which dominates the old city of Lyon and has been honored as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Benzizine is tickled to see his likeness on the facade of the cathedral, which dates to the 12th to 14th centuries and combines both Gothic and Roman architecture.

"It looks like me except for the ears," the 59-year-old told The Associated Press. "They're pointed like the devil. But the sculptor told me that angels have pointed ears, too."

Continue reading "Catholic church honors Muslim worker" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

A Roman Catholic diocese in Pennsylvania has begun the process to defrock a priest whose dalliances with a teenager were videotaped by her parents, the Associated Press reports. She later gave birth to a daughter.

But Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams says his office won't press charges against the Rev. Luis A. Bonilla Margarito because the relationship started when the girl was 18.

A spokesman says the Diocese of Allentown began putting paperwork together over the weekend for the process known as removal from the clerical state — popularly known as defrocking. The diocesan spokesman, Matt Kerr, says the final decision is up to the Vatican.

Last week, the girl's parents filed a lawsuit saying Bonilla carried on a sexual relationship with the girl while he was the chaplain of Reading Central Catholic High School and she was a senior there.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Britons planning to attend open-air services by Pope Benedict XVI next month have been told it's OK to bring a picnic — but leave the wine at home, the Associated Press reports.

Organizers of the pontiff's visit released a detailed list Monday of what is allowed and barred from two large-scale gatherings.

Sunscreen, banners, flags, cushions and folding chairs are all permitted, and people are encouraged to bring a "pilgrim picnic."

But barbecues, candles, musical instruments, pets and alcohol are banned because they "could pose a threat to yourself or others."

Some 80,000 people are expected to attend a Sept. 18 prayer meeting in London's Hyde Park, and 65,000 a Mass in Birmingham's Cofton Park the next day.

The four-day trip is the first papal visit to Britain since 1982.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

It's a plain wooden cross almost austere in its simplicity.

But as Associated Press writer Vanessa Gera reports from Warsaw, it is stirring passions in heavily Roman Catholic Poland that expose bitter divisions which make it seem like two separate nations sharing the same land and language.

The pale wood cross about four meters (13 feet) high was erected in front of the presidential palace by Boy and Girl Scouts days after the April plane crash in Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and 94 others.

It quickly became a spot for mourners to light candles, place flowers and pray.

Now, with a new president installed and the country returning to normal, the question of whether the cross should stay or go has set off wider disputes that underscore the deep divisions between traditional and modern Poles, conservatives and liberals, and even rich and poor.

"The cross is a catalyst that has mobilized people who are fed up with the clericalization of Polish public life," said Jacek Kucharczyk, president of the Institute of Public Affairs, a Warsaw think tank.

On one side are deeply nationalistic and religious supporters of the late president who want the cross to stay until a fitting memorial is built to the victims, among whom were top military brass and church leaders. Some of them cling to a conspiracy theory suggesting that Kaczynski's domestic political rivals and Russians conspired to kill him.

On the other is an increasingly self-confident secular society that dismisses the conspiracy theory as lunacy and believes the religious symbol does not belong in front of such an important public building. This group argues that despite the country's Catholic influence, the constitution guarantees a separation of church and state, and that the cross should move to a church.

Continue reading "Battle over cross reveals cultural divide in Poland" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 3:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Mexico City's leftist mayor said Tuesday he will take legal action if a Roman Catholic cardinal doesn't apologize for suggesting he bribed the Supreme Court to uphold a city law allowing adoptions by same-sex couples, the Associated Press reports.

Mayor Marcelo Ebrard says that if Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez does not apologize by midnight, he is going to file a slander complaint.

The church opposes the Mexico City law, but the Supreme Court has ruled it constitutional.

Over the weekend, the cardinal suggested the justices may have been paid to uphold the law, using a slang word for corruption that refers to giving feed to livestock.

The court has denied and condemned the accusation.

In a statement, the Mexican Council of Bishops expressed its "solidarity and regards" for Sandoval Iniguez.

Continue reading "Mayor threatens suit if cardinal doesn't apologize" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

An attorney suing the Vatican on behalf of a clergy abuse victim in Oregon says the withdrawal of a similar lawsuit in Kentucky won't jeopardize other cases taking aim at Rome, the Associated Press reports.

The 6-year-old Kentucky suit that named the Holy See as a defendant virtually ended this week when the plaintiff's attorney filed a motion to dismiss his own case.

Jeff Anderson, the attorney in the lawsuit filed in Portland, noted the difficulty in taking on the head of the Roman Catholic Church. He says "it's not for the faint of heart (or) the weak of pocketbook."

And a legal expert says that the Oregon case has a tough road ahead in proving that American priests should be considered employees of the Vatican.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (36)
        

A name like Maria or Jose isn't a solid clue anymore that the person who answers to it will worship in a Catholic church on Sunday, the Associated Press reports.

An Associated Press-Univision poll finds that younger Latinos, as well as those who speak more English than Spanish, are much less likely to identify as Catholics than older, Hispanics who mostly speak Spanish.

The poll of 1,500 Latino adults also found significant divisions on social issues such as same-sex unions and abortion, along lines of age, language and whether one is Catholic or Protestant.

It's been more than a year since Melissa Solis went to Mass. An executive assistant at a New York financial firm, she was raised by a pious Catholic mother but calls herself "nonpracticing."

"There is peace in the house of God for me, but there is also inner peace," said Solis, 35. "I do believe there is a God, and that has helped me through tough times. But you can practice your religion in your home, and it doesn't necessarily have to be in a building labeled the house of God."

Overall, 62 percent of Hispanics identify as Catholic, but that includes only 55 percent of young adults 18 to 29, compared with 80 percent of elders 65 and over.

Continue reading "Poll: Young Latinos less likely to be Catholic" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Three men who sued the Vatican over sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in Kentucky have asked a court to dismiss their case, the Associated Press reports.

Plaintiff's attorney William McMurry told the AP that the case is ending because of an earlier ruling that the Vatican is a foreign nation and can't be held liable for policies the suit contended shielded abusive priests. He said most U.S. victims have reached settlements with a diocese and can't go after the Vatican now.

McMurry said a months-long search for victims who haven't settled and could pursue the lawsuit failed to find any willing to come forward.

The dismissal motion was filed Monday in federal court in Louisville.

Vatican lawyer Jeffrey Lena says the case showed "absolutely no evidence of Holy See involvement in the abuses."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (30)
        

Cardinal Norberto Rivera sharply criticized Mexico's Supreme Court on Sunday for upholding a law allowing homosexuals to marry in the capital, calling the ruling "aberrant" and "immoral," the Associated Press reports.

The Roman Catholic archbishop said it was wrong to go against Christian doctrine that recognizes only marriages between a man and a woman.

"The church cannot fail to call evil evil," Rivera said in a statement.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court on an 8-2 vote upheld the constitutionality of gay marriages in Mexico City under a law passed by the state legislature. The federal government had sought to nullify the law.

The Federal District is the only part of Mexico that allows gay marriages. The city government said last week that since 320 same-sex couples had married since March, 173 of them male and 147 female.

Rivera said homosexuals have suffered abuses from the broader society, but argued that allowing same-sex marriages is not the way to try to atone for such injustices.

Continue reading "Cardinal calls gay marriage 'inherently immoral'" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)
        

In Arizona, the shooting death of a rancher blew the lid off simmering anger over border security and helped solidify support for a tough new immigration law. Now a similar eruption threatens in Virginia, the Associated Press reports, following the death of a Catholic nun in a car accident involving a man in the country illegally and accused of drunken driving.

The Benedictine Sisters of Virginia tried to discourage using the death of Sister Denise Mosier as a "forum of the illegal immigration agenda" and pleaded for a focus on "Christ's command to forgive."

"The sisters' mission is peace and love," said Corey Stewart, chairman of Prince William County's Board of Supervisors. "My mission is law enforcement and the protection of public safety."

Prince William County, about 25 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., stepped up its immigration enforcement in 2007 amid explosive growth of its Hispanic and immigrant populations. Under Stewart's leadership, the county implemented a local policy requiring police to determine the immigration status of all people arrested on suspicion of violating state or local laws.

Stewart rushed back into the immigration debate after the Aug. 1 accident, firing off a statement that President Barack Obama, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and members of Congress "all have blood on their hands."

"What I'm hoping is that this situation, which because it involves a nun has drawn the nation's attention, can serve as a catalyst for change and force the administration to come clean about its catch-and-release policies," Stewart said. He also says that the tragedy illustrates the need for Virginia to toughen its drunken driving laws.

Continue reading "Va. nun's death rallies anti-immigration forces" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

Groups representing victims of clergy sex abuse in the U.S. are urging Pope Benedict XVI to remove Cardinal Bernard Law as head of a Rome basilica, issuing their appeal shortly before the former Boston archbishop leads an annual high-profile ceremony in the church, the Associated Press reports.

Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, named Law as archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica after his 2002 resignation as Boston archbishop. Law quit to quell an outcry over handling of sex abuse cases in his diocese, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. church official to fall in the scandal that rocked the American church.

The traditional ceremony Thursday includes the release of white petals from the basilica's ceiling to recall a legendary August snowfall in Rome in 352.

Kristine Ward of the National Survivors Advocates Coalition called the ceremony a "bread and circuses" approach in the church at a time of crisis over sex abuse.

Since the crisis in the United States, the clergy abuse scandal has spread across Europe, with new accusations this year hitting the church in Germany, Italy, Belgium and elsewhere.

Victims groups have been lobbying for years to get Law removed, accusing the Vatican of giving a major culprit in the crisis a soft landing. The 78-year-old prelate also sits on a number of Vatican congregations and councils.

Law did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Continue reading "Groups call for Cardinal Law's removal" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Abuse, Catholicism, International, People
        

Protesters shouting "Defend the cross!" scuffled with police Tuesday but managed to prevent Polish officials from moving a cross erected outside the presidential palace in memory of the late President Lech Kaczynski, the Associated Press reports.

About 20 demonstrators stood in front of the wooden cross, pleading with priests who were supposed to move it to the nearby St. Anne's Church. They were supported by a cheering crowd of hundreds gathered behind a police barrier across the street.

Security officials dragged away a few of the chanting, praying protesters — including a woman who tried to tie herself to the cross. But officials decided not to immediately press ahead with the plan, which is opposed by some Kaczynski supporters.

"The cross will not be moved to the church today," said Jacek Michalowski, a presidential palace official. "The level of aggression is too high ... the cross should not be used for political games."

It wasn't immediately clear whether officials would make another attempt to move it.

Amid deep national mourning, scouts groups put up the cross five days after the April 10 plane crash in Russia that killed Kaczynski, his wife Maria, and 94 others, including top military leaders.

Some members of the main opposition party — which is led by the late president's twin brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski — have said the cross should remain put until a permanent monument is built at the site, a call backed by their conservative Roman Catholic supporters.

But President-elect Bronislaw Komorowski and Warsaw city officials want the cross moved to the church and worked out an agreement with church leaders to do so.

Continue reading "Protesters prevent cross from being moved" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 1:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Darcy Bisset is a member of New Hope Community Church in Pikesville.

I spent the better part of last fall reading through Anne Rice's Christ the Lord books with a group of friends (reluctantly at first -- when our discussion group voted, my pick lost). I found myself captured by the beauty of Rice's writing and impressed by the theological and historical care she took with her subject matter.

And so when I heard the news last week that Rice had announced she was leaving Christianity and was no longer Christian, I felt a twist of emotions. I was sad, because I thought the Christ the Lord books were brilliant and I wanted more from that voice.

I was sympathetic, because I've been in that boat, where some one or some group, purportedly speaking for Christianity, is saying something you think is SO WRONG and you want to wear a big button proclaiming "I am not with them!"

I was also incredulous because, well, did she not know about the Roman Catholic Church's stance on homosexuality and birth control when she joined up?

It kind of reminds me of when people get divorced after a few years of marriage, citing as "irreconcilable differences" a bunch of personality quirks about which they were fully informed when they decided to get married.

I decided that if Anne Rice can make silly over-reaching statements, then so can I. Therefore, on behalf of Christianity and Christians, I refuse to accept her resignation.

Continue reading "Guest Post: Memo to Anne: Resignation declined" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

Pilgrims will have to pay as much as 25 pounds ($39) to attend one of the two public events in England to be led by Pope Benedict XVI during his visit in September, the Associated Press reports.

The charges — believed to be a first for a papal event — are for a prayer vigil in London's Hyde Park on Sept. 18 and the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman in Birmingham on Sept. 19.

Benedict's four-day visit to England and Scotland has been controversial almost from the start, with thousands of Britons signing a petition earlier this year against the pope's presence in the wake of outrage over sex crimes against children committed by Catholic priests.

Critics have also complained about the cost. Chris Patten, the official coordinating the event, has said the taxpayers' tab for the visit to Britain could be as much as 12 million pounds, not counting extra policing costs.

The previous government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown invited the pope — a decision the austerity-minded new coalition government has not sought to change, despite some public unease.

Continue reading "In apparent first, faithful must pay to see pope" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 2:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Novelist Anne Rice remains committed to Christ. But she is quitting Christianity.

The “Interview With The Vampire” author, who in recent years has spoken publicly about her faith and written a series of novels tracing the life of Jesus, wrote on her Facebook page Wednesday that she was finished with organized Christianity.

For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a Christian. I'm out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being "Christian" or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to "belong" to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outside. My conscience will allow nothing else.

She followed that post a few minutes later with more details:

As I said below, I quit being a Christian. I'm out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.

On Thursday, Rice posted a series of passages from the New Testament:

Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.

Continue reading "Anne Rice quits Christianity -- but not Christ" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (71)
        

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday ordered authorities to expel gypsy illegal immigrants and dismantle their camps, amid accusations that his government is acting racist in its treatment of the group known as Roma, the Associated Press reports.

Sarkozy called a government meeting Wednesday after Roma clashed with police this month after the shooting death of a gypsy youth fleeing officers in the Loire Valley.

Sarkozy said those responsible for the clashes would be "severely punished" and ordered the government to expel all illegal Roma immigrants, almost all of whom have come from eastern Europe.

He pushed for a change in France's immigration law to make such expulsion easier "for reasons of public order." He said illegal gypsy camps "will be systematically evacuated," calling them sources of trafficking, exploitation of children and prostitution.

French Roma representatives were not invited to Wednesday's presidential meeting, which included the interior, justice and immigration ministers and top police officials.

Community leaders contend the very principle of the meeting — which singled out an ethnic group in a country that is officially blind to ethnic origins — is racist and warn of grave consequences if their side isn't heard. France's government does not count how many of its citizens are of a certain ethnicity; everyone is simply considered French.

"Today ... I am afraid we're preparing to open a blighted page in the history of France, which could sadly lead to acts of reprisal in the days ahead," said lawyer Henri Braun said at a Wednesday news conference by French Roma leaders. "There is a huge problem of racism in France towards this population, there is enormous discrimination."

Continue reading "France expels illegal Roma immigrants" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

An Owings Mills contractor who has offered the Archdiocese of Baltimore $700,000 to help pay transportation costs for children displaced by the closing of 12 Catholic elementary schools has taken to the airwaves, encouraging families to take advantage of his offer.

Area radio listeners are growing familiar with the voice of Danny Schuster, Baltimore Sun colleague Mary Gail Hare reports: Schuster, who owns a concrete company, took to the airwiaves earlier this year to protest the school closings.

He has taken a different tack this time, hoping to boost enrollment by helping students get to schools, including Holy Angels, an elementary the archdiocese is opening this fall on the campus of Seton Keough High School. There had been some concern that there would not be enough transferring students to fill the school.

"The archbishop and I have worked out a transportation plan," Schuster tells Hare. "Our goal is to get as many of these kids to take advantage of the offer and to continue their Catholic education."

Read more about Danny Schuster's help for Catholic School students at baltimoresun.com.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
        

The Catholic Church in Italy, still reeling from the clerical sex abuse scandal, lashed out Friday at gay priests who are leading a double life, urging them to come out of the closet and leave the priesthood, the Associated Press reports.

The Diocese of Rome issued the strongly worded statement after the conservative Panorama newsweekly said in a cover story and accompanying video that it had interviewed three gay priests in Rome and accompanied them to gay clubs and bars and to sexual encounters with strangers, including one in a church building.

One of the priests, a Frenchman identified only as Paul, celebrated Mass in the morning before driving the two escorts he had hired to attend a party the night before to the airport, Panorama said.

In a statement Friday, the Rome diocese denounced those priests who were leading a "double life," said they shouldn't have been ordained and promised that the church would rigorously pursue anyone who is behaving in a way that wasn't dignified for a priest.

It insisted that the vast majority of Rome's 1,300 priests were truthful to their vocations and were "models of morality for all."

Those who aren't faithful to their vows "know that no one is forcing them to remain priests, taking advantage of only the benefits," the diocese said. "Coherency would demand that they come forward. We don't wish any ill-will against them, but we cannot accept that because of their behavior the honor of all the others is sullied."

Continue reading "Vatican urges gay clergy out of closet, priesthood" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (51)
        

Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien presided over the closing session of the diocesan inquiry into the cause for sainthood of the Rev. Patrick Peyton on Tuesday during Mass at the Baltimore Basilica.

The Irish-born Holy Cross priest is credited with coining the phrase “the family that prays together, stays together.” He was a fixture on American radio and television in the 1940s and ’50s, a platform from which he promoted the prayer movement called the Family Rosary Crusade.

The Vatican asked the Archdiocese of Baltimore to investigate the cause for sainthood in 2008. Copies of the documents the archdiocese has generated are to be sent to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome, which will decide whether the matter merits further investigation.

The process of canonization in the Catholic Church involves three major steps: declaration of a candidate’s heroic virtues, beatification and canonization. During the process, the church considers evidence of miracles attributable to the intercession of the candidate. In general, two miracles need to be accepted by the church for a sainthood cause to advance.

According to the archdiocese, Peyton arrived in the United States in 1928 when he was 19. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1941 and founded Family Rosary in Albany, N.Y., the following year.

Continue reading "Archdiocese concludes Peyton sainthood probe" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

President Hugo Chavez says Venezuela will rethink its relations with the Vatican as tensions rise between his government and Catholic Church representatives who accuse the socialist leader of becoming increasingly authoritarian, the Associated Press reports.

During a televised speech, Chavez instructed his foreign minister to "examine" relations with the Vatican. Without elaborating, he questioned the validity of an agreement giving the Catholic Church privileges that are not extended to other religious organizations in Venezuela.

Chavez also challenged the authority of Pope Benedict XVI, saying the pope "isn't God's emissary on Earth."

There was no immediately reaction from the papal nuncio in Caracas.

Chavez and Venezuela's Catholic Church are clashing like never before.

In recent weeks, Chavez has said that Christ would whip church leaders for suggesting that he's steering Venezuela toward a Cuban-style Marxist dictatorship. He also accused Cardinal Jorge Urosa of misleading the Vatican with warnings that Venezuela is drifting toward dictatorship.

Continue reading "Venezuela rethinking ties to Vatican" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 4:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (122)
        

The Vatican issued a revised set of in-house rules Thursday to respond to clerical sex abuse, targeting priests who molest the mentally disabled as well as children and priests who use child pornography, but making few substantive changes to existing practice, the Associated Press reports.

The new rules make no mention of the need for bishops to report clerical sex abuse to police, provide no canonical sanctions for bishops who cover up for abusers and do not include any "one-strike and you're out" policy for pedophile priests as demanded by some victims.

As a result, they failed to satisfy victims' advocates, who said the revised rules amounted to little more than "administrative housekeeping" of existing practice when what was needed were bold new rules threatening bishops who fail to report molester priests.

The rules cover the canonical penalties and procedures used for the most grave crimes in the church, both sacramental and moral, and double the statute of limitations applied to them. One new element included lists the attempted ordination of women as a "grave crime" subject to the same set of procedures and punishments meted out for sex abuse.

That drew immediate criticism from women's ordination groups, who said making a moral equivalent between women priests and child rapists was offensive.

The Vatican's sex crimes prosecutor acknowledged it was "only a document," and didn't solve the problem of clerical abuse. He defended the lack of any mention of the need to report abuse to police, saying all Christians were required to obey civil laws that would already demand sex crimes be reported.

"If civil law requires you report, you must obey civil law," Monsignor Charles Scicluna told reporters. But "it's not for canonical legislation to get itself involved with civil law."

Continue reading "Vatican issues revised rules on sex abuse" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

The pope's delegate for the scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ has told its members they must examine their consciences and reform following allegations that their founder sexually abused seminarians and fathered children, the Associated Press reports.

Archbishop Velasio De Paolis met with the order's top leaders for the first time Saturday and celebrated Mass with them at their Roman headquarters, explaining his job to them and assuring them of the pope's support, the order said Wednesday.

Pope Benedict XVI announced May 1 that he was naming a delegate to take charge of and overhaul the Legionaries after a Vatican investigation determined that their founder, the Rev. Marciel Maciel, had led a secret double life devoid of any scruples or religious sentiment.

The pope said the order must be purified of the abuses that allowed Maciel's misdeeds to go unchecked, including the authority structure that demanded obedience of its members, forbade questioning of superiors and made the order's growth a priority at all costs.

The Legionaries, which Maciel started in Mexico in 1941, had long been favored at the Vatican for their success bringing in new priests and money. The order was discredited by its long refusal to admit that Maciel had sexually abused seminarians, although it now admits such accusations were true and that he had fathered at least three children.

Benedict last week tapped De Paolis, a 75-year-old Italian canon law expert who heads the Holy See's financial office, to take over the order and reform it.

Continue reading "Papal delegate: Legionaries must probe consciences" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Police battled Irish nationalists for control of a Belfast road Monday as a day dominated by peaceful Protestant parades across Northern Ireland turned violent when night fell, the Associated Press reports.

Riot police in helmets and body armor dragged kicking, flailing protesters from the pavement of Crumlin Road even as other protesters packed into side streets pelted police with rocks, bricks and Molotov cocktails.

Many of the approximately 100 road-blocking protesters wore white T-shirts bearing the message "PEACEFUL PROTEST," while the rioters nearby wore balaclava masks, hoods or scarves to conceal their faces. Police deployed a massive mobile water cannon to blast the rioters while a helicopter overhead monitored the mob. Police also fired several snub-nosed plastic bullets to wallop or knock down rioters.

An Associated Press reporter saw one teenage rioter holding a brick get knocked off his feet as he prepared to throw it. Blood streamed from his face as he scrambled from the pavement. Other rioters stood further back and threw empty beer bottles blindly over rooftops into police lines.

The violence — beside a traditional Irish Republican Army power base called Ardoyne — underscores how socially divided Northern Ireland remains despite nearly two decades of peacemaking that has delivered paramilitary cease-fires and a fragile Catholic-Protestant government.

Continue reading "NI police, Catholics battle over Protestant parade" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 7:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

President Hugo Chavez and leaders of the Venezuelan Catholic Church are tangling like never before, angering parishioners who feel the president and his clerical detractors aren't following Jesus Christ's creed of brotherly love, the Associated Press reports.

Over the past week, Chavez has said that Christ would whip church leaders for lying. Cardinal Jorge Urosa, speaking from Rome, countered he was right to warn the Vatican that Chavez is curbing freedoms.

Some parishioners are concerned over the tensions between Chavez and conservative priests, who are speaking out against what they see as the socialist leader's increasing authoritarianism. Venezuela is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic. Polls consistently show the church, which wields significant influence, is among the nation's most respected institutions.

"I don't like the insults that Chavez hurled against the cardinal, but I don't like seeing the Church getting involved in politics either," said Amanda Ortiz, 47, after attending Sunday Mass at a church in downtown Caracas. "Both sides are losing respect for each other."

During one recent speech, Chavez accused Urosa of misleading the Vatican with warnings that Venezuela is drifting toward dictatorship. During another public address, he urged the Vatican to replace Urosa, while heaping praise on a government-friendly priest he thinks should be appointed cardinal.

"May God forgive him, because he knows that he's lying. The cardinal who accuses me of running roughshod over the constitution knows that he's lying," Chavez said. "If Christ were to physically appear, what would he do with them? I have no doubt that he'd whip them."

In a newspaper column published on Sunday, the president denied he's steering Venezuela toward a dictatorship.

Continue reading "Chavez: Christ would whip church leaders" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

Pope Benedict XVI will soon issue a document outlining the church's procedures for handling clerical sex abuse cases that will gather the norms now in use and make them permanent and legally binding, a Vatican official and canon lawyer said Tuesday.

The "instruction" from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has been in the works for some time, the Associated Press reports. But its impending publication has taken on new relevance amid the abuse scandal that has roiled the Vatican for months, with hundreds of new cases coming to light of priests who raped and sodomized children, bishops who covered up for them and Vatican officials who turned a blind eye.

The norms concern the canonical procedures for dealing with abusive priests, with penalties as severe as being dismissed from the clerical state. Separately, the Vatican issued informal guidelines earlier this year saying bishops should follow civil reporting laws in terms of reporting abuse to police.

It's unclear whether the new set of norms will include any reference to civil reporting requirements. Since such requirements vary from country to country, it would be difficult to make reference to them in a document that is canonically binding on the church around the globe, noted the Rev. Davide Cito, a canon lawyer and consultant at the Congregation.

The norms now in place have been modified and updated from a 2001 Vatican document and set of procedures issued by Pope John Paul II outlining how the church should handle the abuse of minors by priests.

The 2001 documents require bishops to report credible accusations of abusive priests to the Congregation, which then decides how to proceed, including through a full canonical trial. In 2003 — a year after the U.S. abuse scandal exploded — the norms were amended to speed up administrative penalties against abusive clerics where the evidence them is overwhelming, among other things.

But those 2003 modifications were ad hoc and temporary in nature and had to be reconfirmed, for example, by Benedict after John Paul died in 2005. By gathering them together and including them now in an official, binding document, they become permanent church law.

As a result, the new instruction is expected to contain little that goes beyond what is currently the practice of the Congregation, Cito said. The instruction, for example, is expected to formally extend the 10-year statute of limitations for abuse cases that was imposed for the first time in the 2001 procedures. But those limits have been waived on a case-by-case basis already since 2002 since the 10-year limit was deemed too short.

Continue reading "Vatican to issue sex abuse case procedures" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (30)
        

The Roman Catholic Church is petitioning Chile's government for prisoner pardons that would include people responsible for crimes against humanity, angering rights activists and some conservatives, the Associated Press reports.

The church is asking for the pardons as part of the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Chile's independence on Sept. 18. The church proposes pardons for those older than 70, any with a terminal decease and women who are mothers.

The controversy centers on the inclusion of some convicted of committing crimes during the 1973-90 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. According to official statistics, 3,065 opponents of Pinochet's regime were killed and 1,200 more disappeared.

"There shouldn't be any pardons under any circumstances for those guilty of crimes against humanity," Mireya Garcia, vice president of the Group of Families of Detainees and Missing People, told The Associated Press on Monday.

Last week, Garcia's group asked President Sebastian Pinera not to pardon anyone accused of committing such crimes during Pinochet's dictatorship.

Continue reading "Church seeks pardons for crimes against humanity" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (26)
        

Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday that "for all our weaknesses" priests have an important role in the world, the Associated Press reports.

Benedict did not directly mention the clergy abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic church for months. But during a daylong visit to a central Italian town, he received a round of applause and words of support by local youths greeting him "in this time of harsh attacks and media provocation."

Minutes later, Benedict told the youths that "for all our weaknesses, still priests are a precious presence in life."

The trip to Sulmona was dedicated to honoring Celestine V, the 13th-century hermit who resigned the papacy saying that he was not up to the task.

Benedict said his simple and humble lifestyle can serve as an example for modern men and women. The pontiff praised his predecessor for his detachment from material things such as money and clothes.

"We, too, who live in an epoch of greater comfort and possibilities, are called upon to appreciate a sober lifestyle," the pope said.

Celestine V resigned just months after becoming pope in 1294 at age 85. He was later put under guard for fear he would become the rallying point for a schism. Celestine died in 1296 and was declared a saint in 1313.

Continue reading "Benedict praises pope who quit" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

Carrying U.S. and Hungarian flags, parishioners ended a 16-hour sit-in at a Cleveland Catholic church that is closing after police told them Thursday they would be trespassing if they did not leave, the Associated Press reports.

The protesters staged a vigil at midnight Wednesday at the 106-year-old St. Emeric Church near downtown Cleveland, then remained through about 4 p.m.

The historic Hungarian church is the last of 50 parishes to be closed by the local diocese. Bishop Richard Lennon has agreed to meet with protesters, police and protesters said. No date had been set.

The protest ended after police had entered the church several times and spoken with parishioners by cell phone. Police Commander Keith Sulzer said six protesters were inside the church. No one was arrested.

The protesters had locked themselves inside and declared that they were well-stocked with food and ready to stay "for a long time" in order to save their church.

John Yuhasz, a parish member and protest leader, emerged from the church and said it was important to challenge the closings.

"Somewhere along the way, someone had to take a stand in opposition for justice for all the parishioners, for all those broken souls who were thrown out of those parishes to have a chance at reconciliation," he said.

Continue reading "Parishioners end sit-in at church slated to close" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

The pope has named a Swiss bishop with experience dealing with Orthodox and Lutheran churches to head the Vatican office responsible for relations with other Christians and Jews, the Associated Press reports.

Archbishop Kurt Koch replaces Cardinal Walter Kasper as head of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. Kasper, 77, is retiring.

Koch, 60, has been Basel's bishop for nearly 15 years, and has served as a member of the pontifical council since 2002. In a statement Thursday, he said a "credible and sincere" ecumenical dialogue had long been close to his heart.

Kasper had headed the office since 2001, and was often put in the position of defusing Vatican standoffs with Jews such as when the pope lifted the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Several members of the last of 50 Cleveland-area Roman Catholic parishes shuttered in a downsizing locked themselves inside Thursday, declaring they were well-stocked with food and ready to stay "for a long time" in order to save their church, the Associated Press reports.

Meanwhile, police and officials of St. Emeric Church near downtown Cleveland gathered in front of the historic Hungarian church, where the parishioners had staged a midnight vigil — and never left.

Parishioner Marta Fordos said that when she left the vigil at 8 a.m. for personal reasons there were at least seven people still inside. The pastor gave parishioners the key to the church on Wednesday with the understanding that they could stay until midnight, and they locked the door from the inside, Fordos said.

The group has plenty of food, one of the protesters, John Juhasz, told The Associated Press by phone.

"We're going to hang out here for a long time," Juhasz said. The goal, he said, was to force Bishop Richard Lennon into a dialogue toward saving the 106-year-old church.

Continue reading "Parishioners lock themselves inside closing church" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The pope on Thursday told a German bishop who resigned amid accusations of physical abuse, sexual harassment and alcoholism that he must take time for silent prayer, treatment and reconciliation if he wants to return to pastoral work, the Associated Press reports.

Pope Benedict XVI laid out the terms for Bishop Walter Mixa's rehabilitation during a private audience with the 69-year-old prelate, during which Mixa again apologized for his mistakes, the Vatican said.

Benedict, for his part, "expressed the hope that his (Mixa's) request for forgiveness finds open ears and hearts" among the German faithful, the Vatican said.

Mixa's case marked an unusually public controversy that came to light at the height of the abuse scandal that rocked the church in Germany and elsewhere in the first half of the year.

Mixa, who served as bishop of the Augsburg diocese from 2005 to 2010, offered his resignation on April 22 after accusations surfaced that he had hit children decades ago as a priest and amid allegations of financial misconduct.

The pope accepted Mixa's resignation on May 8, but last month the bishop said members of the Augsburg diocese and two German bishops had forced him to resign against his will, and that he had written to the pope seeking to rescind the resignation. Fresh allegations later surfaced in the German media, including that Mixa was an alcoholic and had made sexual advances toward two priests.

Continue reading "Pope lays out conditions for bishop's return" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

A European ruling banning crucifixes in Italian schools should be overturned, nine European governments said in an appeal Wednesday, the Associated Press reports.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that crucifixes in Italian public schools violate religious and education freedoms last November. The case, part of a larger debate over the role of religious symbols in public places, has sharpened divisions between secular and religious advocacy groups.

Italian courts have previously ruled that the display of crucifixes is part of Italian national identity and not an attempt at conversion, an argument expanded by New York University legal scholar Joseph Weiler on behalf of the governments of Italy, Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, San Marino, Romania and Russia, who are appealing the ruling.

The decisions of the court — an arm of the Council of Europe, the continent's premier human rights watchdog — are binding on the council's 47 member states and therefore have an impact far beyond Italy.

"The democratic cohesion of society is dependent on the ability to uphold national symbols around which all society can coalesce," Weiler said. "It would be a strange (if Italy) had to abandon national symbols, and strip from its cultural identikit, any symbol which also had a religious significance."

Continue reading "Ban on crucifixes in Italian schools appealed" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
        

A reliquary containing the blood of Blessed Mother Teresa, along with her crucifix, rosary and sandals, will be put on display at Baltimore area churches this week, the Archdiocese of Baltimore announced.

On Friday, Bishop Denis Madden will celebrate a Mass at 12:10 p.m. at the Baltimore Basilica, which was visited by the candidate for sainthood in May 1996, a year before her death.

The relics are coming to Baltimore as part of a tour of North America organized by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in honor of the 100th anniversary of her birth. The missionaries operate Gift of Hope, a hospice center for AIDS patients in the former convent of St. Wenceslaus Church in East Baltimore.

The relics will be received at Gift of Hope at 4 p.m. Wednesday and may be venerated by visitors until 8:30 p.m. Mass will be celebrated at 8 a.m. Thursday at St. Wenceslaus, followed by a holy hour and veneration of relics until noon.

Thursday evening, the relics are to be transported to Our Lady of Pompei in Highlandtown where a Mass will be celebrated in Spanish at 5:30 p.m., followed by a holy hour, rosary and veneration until 8:30 p.m.

Mass will be celebrated at 8 a.m. at St. Leo in Little Italy on Friday, followed by a holy hour, rosary and veneration until 11 a.m.

Mother Teresa first visited Baltimore in 1992 to celebrate the opening of the AIDS hospice, according to the archdiocese.

“Any man, woman or child feeling unloved with nowhere to go is welcome to come here," she said. "I have no gold or silver to give you but I’m giving you my sisters.”

Mother Teresa died in 1997 at the age of 87. She was beatified -- a step toward sainthood -- in 2003 by Pope John Paul II.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (66)
        

Pope Benedict XVI is creating a new Vatican office to fight secularization and "re-evangelize" the West — a tacit acknowledgment that his attempts to reinvigorate Christianity in Europe haven't succeeded and need a new boost, the Associated Press reports.

Benedict announced the new office during a vespers' service Monday, confirming reports in the Italian media of a handful of new Vatican appointments expected to be announced before the pope goes on summer holiday and the Vatican bureaucracy slows down.

Benedict said parts of the world are still missionary territory, where the Catholic Church is still relatively unknown. But in other parts of the world like Europe, Christianity has existed for centuries yet "the process of secularization has produced a serious crisis of the sense of the Christian faith and role of the Church."

The new pontifical council, he said, would "promote a renewed evangelization" in countries where the Church has long existed "but which are living a progressive secularization of society and a sort of 'eclipse of the sense of God.'"

The pontiff's announcement came as he marked the feasts of Saints Peter and Paul, a major feast day in Europe that is traditionally celebrated with representatives of the Orthodox church. While ties with some Orthodox remain strained, both churches have found a common ground in their fight against secularization.

Benedict didn't say who would head the new office, but Italian media have said he would tap Monsignor Rino Fisichella, who as head of the Pontifical Academy for Life is the Vatican's top bioethics official.

Fisichella created a minor uproar last year when he defended Brazilian doctors who aborted the twin fetuses of a 9-year-old child who was raped by her stepfather. His call for mercy sparked heated criticism from some hardline conservative members of the Pontifical Academy who questioned his suitability to lead the institution.

Continue reading "Pope creating office to 're-evangelize' the West" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (29)
        

Belgium insisted Monday in a dispute with the Vatican over credibility that Belgian law enforcement authorities — not the potentially biased Catholic Church — will investigate sexual abuse cases involving clergy, the Associated Press reports.

A panel created by Belgian bishops 12 years ago to look into abuse cases disbanded on Monday, saying last week's seizure of its 500 case files rendered its existence pointless. Its chief, Peter Adriaenssens, accused authorities of betraying the trust of hundreds of victims and using his group to tap into information and testimony from abuse victims.

"We were bait," said Adriaenssens, a child psychiatrist. He urged Belgian authorities to clarify to abuse victims — many of whom talked after being promised anonymity — "what is going to happen" to the allegations they made to his church-appointed commission.

Belgium's government doesn't appear to be concerned about having pushed the panel to the sidelines, despite an outburst from the Vatican that Thursday's police raid was an unprecedented intrusion into church affairs.

"I respect Peter Adriaenssens, but his commission was created by the Church," Glenn Audenaert, head of Belgium's judiciary police, said after last week's police raids. "That commission cannot start a prosecution. Only the justice department can."

In Belgium, it has been doing that with unusual force.

Continue reading "Belgium: Police, not church, will investigate abuse" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 4:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
        

The Vatican issued an unprecedented public rebuke Monday of a leading cardinal who had questioned the church's policy of celibacy and openly criticized the retired Vatican No. 2 for his handling of clerical sex abuse cases, the Associated Press reports.

In a statement, the Vatican said only the pope can make such accusations against a cardinal, not another so-called prince of the church.

In April, Vienna's archbishop, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, accused the former Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, of blocking a probe into a sex abuse scandal that rocked Austria's church 15 years ago.

Schoenborn also accused Sodano of causing "massive harm" to victims when he dismissed claims of clerical abuse as "petty gossip" on Easter Sunday.

Schoenborn has been a leading figure in the abuse crisis, forcefully denouncing abuse, presiding over service of reparations for victims and openly calling for an honest examination of issues like celibacy.

Schoenborn's comments about Sodano were remarkable in that they were directed at Pope John Paul II's No. 2, who has already come under fire for his alleged stonewalling of a Vatican investigation into the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, who was found to have abused seminarians and fathered at least three children.

Sodano still wields enormous influence in Vati