Ave Maria Radio celebrates 15th year in Catholic broadcasting

Defying the odds against success, the world's largest producer of original English-language Catholic radio programming, Ave Maria Radio, is celebrating its 15th anniversary.
 
“Our Lady is surely pleased to lend her name to such a great mission!” EWTN Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Doug Keck said in light of the anniversary.

Keck said he and everyone at EWTN want to congratulate the “faith-filled professionals” of Ave Maria Radio for their “'Fiat' to the work of Catholic media evangelization.

In 1997, Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza and former owner of the Detroit Tigers, took up an offer of free radio programming from EWTN founder Mother Angelica for any Catholic radio station.

“At that time, the landscape of Catholic radio was like a barren desert,” Ave Maria said in an Aug. 22 statement.

Since then, Ave Maria Radio has grown to the 20 different titles, including three live programs that air weekly on EWTN's global Catholic radio network's nearly 200 stations.

Additionally, the radio programmer now offers streaming internet audio as well as Android and iPhone apps.

Hard times struck the broadcasting company in the winter of 2002 when manager Al Kresta was attacked by a flesh-eating virus.

Though the virus was life-threatening and required the amputation of his left leg, Kresta offered up his illness for Ave Maria Radio and said the experience brought him closer to God.

After a six-month recovery period, he returned as President and CEO of Ave Maria Radio, where he now hosts the nationally syndicated “Kresta in the Afternoon” show.

Essayist sees new Vatican drive to enforce Ex Corde Ecclesiae

Last month’s Vatican decree that the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru has lost the right to call itself pontifical or Catholic has resonance for Catholic colleges and universities in the United States. 

While Vatican representatives say they have spent years trying to persuade the University of Peru to comply with Church guidelines for Catholic universities, most American Catholic colleges and universities have devoted several decades to ignoring them.

Refusing to comply with Ex Corde Ecclesiae (From the Heart of the Church), the 1990 papal document requiring all Catholic colleges to teach “in communion” with Church doctrine, the University of Peru—like Catholic colleges here—has long claimed independence from Catholic authority. 

This independence was codified in a symbolic manifesto issued in 1967 at a meeting of U.S. Catholic academic leaders in Land O’ Lakes, Wisconsin, led by Notre Dame’s longtime president, the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh. What became known as the Land O’ Lakes Statement declared: “To perform its teaching and research function effectively, the Catholic university must have a true autonomy and academic freedom in the face of authority of whatever kind, lay or clerical, external to the academic community itself.”

Defiant from the earliest days of the release of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, many Catholic college presidents have refused to implement it. Notre Dame’s then-president Fr. Edward Malloy, along with Fr. Donald Monan, chancellor of Boston College, responded to the release of the document by publishing an article in America calling the document “positively dangerous.” 

Warning of “havoc” if it were adopted, the faculty senate at Notre Dame voted unanimously for the guidelines to be ignored.

The National Catholic Register has reported that the most recent Vatican concerns about the University of Peru stemmed from the granting of honorary degrees to Gianni Vattimo, a gay supporter of same-sex marriage, and to Gregorio Peces-Barba, one of the writers of the Spanish constitution whom the Register described as “anti-Catholic.” 

Catholic colleges in the United States have been doing this for years—most recently at Georgetown, which honored Kathleen Sebelius, the pro-choice Secretary of Health and Human Services and the creator of the controversial contraception mandate that has been denounced by bishops throughout the country because of the threat it poses to religious liberty.

For decades, many Catholic colleges and universities have operated as if Catholic doctrine were a social construct contingent on the specific historical, cultural, and institutional contexts in which it emerges. 

Yale sociologist Michele Dillon points out in her book Catholic Identity: Balancing Reason, Faith and Power that for progressive Catholics—like those teaching on Catholic campuses—authority is diffuse: “It is not located solely in the official hierarchical power structure, but it is dispersed, seen in the everyday interpretive activities of ordinary Catholics.”

While most Catholic colleges continue to ignore Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Pope Benedict has quietly continued his commitment to revitalizing Catholic higher education here and abroad. 

In a speech to Catholic college presidents at Catholic University a few years ago, Pope Benedict warned those gathered that any appeal to the principle of academic freedom to justify positions that contradict the faith and teaching of the Church betray the university’s identity and mission. 

Unfortunately, the subtlety was missed by many of those in attendance. 

The congratulatory headline in The Chronicle of Higher Education claimed that “Pope Benedict Thanks Educators and Addresses Academic Freedom in Talk.” In a published interview in The Chronicle, Mary Lyons, president of the University of San Diego, called the Pope’s speech “affirming and generous” and pronounced the controversies surrounding Ex Corde “so 90s.”

Well, maybe not. Georgetown alum William Peter Blatty, author of The Exorcist, announced in May that he is leading an effort to file a canon lawsuit against his alma mater for failing to live up to the demands of the school’s Catholic identity. 

Motivated by the honors given to Sebelius by Georgetown, Blatty is joined by alumni, students, and members of the university community in the lawsuit because they agree with his conclusion that “21 years of ignoring Ex Corde Ecclesiae makes a mockery of our Church and of Christ Himself.”

In an open letter explaining his decision, Blatty said that he was sad to see that “Georgetown University today almost seems to take pride in insulting the Church and offending the faithful.” 

Calling Georgetown a “Potemkin village” in an interview, Blatty complained that the university “points to its chaplains, its Masses, its Knights of Columbus Chapter. At alumni dinners, they will make sure there is a Jesuit in a collar at every table, like the floral arrangement.” 

For Blatty, Georgetown is the “leader of a pack” of schools that fail to fulfill their Catholic identity, and the lawsuit may be “the only thing that can stop Georgetown in its path.”

Blatty is right about that. 

The Presidents of these colleges will never implement the tenets of Ex Corde Ecclesiae unless they are forced. 

The goal of Blatty’s lawsuit is to revoke Georgetown’s right to call itself Catholic. 

The pronouncement by the Vatican that the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru is neither Catholic nor pontifical may be just the start.

Pope among donors to restoration of Algeria's Basilica of St. Augustine

With a personal donation, Pope Benedict XVI - a longtime scholar of the works of St. Augustine - has contributed to the restoration of the Basilica of St. Augustine in Annaba, Algeria, near the site where the fourth-century saint served as bishop of Hippo.

Bishop Paul Desfarges of Constantine, Algeria, told the Vatican newspaper that Pope Benedict's personal donation, as well as a contribution from the U.S.-based Papal Foundation, demonstrates the importance of the project. 

The Algerian government also has given its support.

"We all know how St. Augustine is dear to the heart of the pope," the bishop said in the interview published Aug. 24 in L'Osservatore Romano.

"We also know that the basilica of Annaba, in Algeria, isn't just a house of worship. The whole Hippo hill, with the basilica at the summit, is a symbolic place. It is a strong symbol of coexistence and human and spiritual brotherhood," the bishop said.

St. Augustine's life story, his culture and education, his search for God and to do God's will prompt both Christians and Muslims, as well as nonbelievers, to examine what is most essential in life, he said.

The Basilica of St. Augustine, completed in 1900, stands a few hundred yards from the archaeological site of the ancient town of Hippo Regius. The ruins include the remains of the ancient basilica where St. Augustine served as bishop from 395 to 430.

The basilica is staffed by three Augustinian priests, the bishop said. They would like to have more priests there for pastoral work and welcoming pilgrims and tourists, but getting visas for priests and religious is a challenge.

Bishop Desfarges said the visitors include many Muslims who want to get to know St. Augustine better or are just looking for a quiet place.

"When you step over the threshold into the basilica, you understand you did not enter a museum, but a place where silence and peace capture you," he said.

Vatican statistics report about 12 million people living within the geographical boundaries of the Diocese of Constantine; only about 1,000 of those people are Catholic.

Bishop Desfarges said the Catholic community in Algeria is made up mostly of Catholic students from sub-Saharan Africa and Filipinos working for international companies.

"For some, integration isn't always easy, but with time relationships deepen and are transformed into friendships, and that is part of the mission of our church," he said.

A very few members of the church are Algerian; "they are not numerous; some people call them 'friends of St. Augustine,'" he said. "They are people who, in their own way, have undergone the same experience St. Augustine had of discovering the presence of God in the intimacy of their hearts and today invoke Jesus. They are a sign of God's desire to live among his people."

Bishop Desfarges said the rights of Christians are not always respected: "The cross is not absent from our journey, but here we also experience the beauty of deep spiritual and human encounters," knowing that "the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of all believers."

While too many Christians think of Islam as a predominantly political and ideological religion, he said, Catholics in Algeria have had "important and profound encounters with the spirituality of Islam."

Argentinean bishops call for civil code changes to protect the family

The Bishops' Conference of Argentina has called on congress to modify a proposed revision of the country's civil code to prevent harm to the family and protect the life of the unborn.
Argentina needs a society “in which stable bonds are fostered and priority is given to the protection of children and the most defenseless,” the bishops said in an Aug. 23 statement.   

“We need to recognize and grant legal protection to all human life from the moment of conception, and we need to remember that not everything that is scientifically possible is ethically acceptable.”

The new civil code being debated in the Argentinean Congress would allow abortion, euthanasia and fast-track divorce. Under the new code, unborn babies before a certain stage would not be considered persons, the freezing of embryos for commercial purposes or scientific research would be allowed, and surrogate motherhood would be legitimized, the bishops said.  

The emotional bonds of marriage would also be weakened and devalued, they argued.

Every legislative reform has an impact on the culture and daily life of a nation, the bishops noted, warning that the proposed new code embraces a model of the family that is individualistic.

The code is also opposed to gospel and fundamental social values, they added, “such as stability, commitment to others, the sincere gift of self, fidelity, respect for one’s life and those of others, the duties of parents and the rights of children.”

Archbishop Jose Maria Arancedo, president of the Bishops' Conference of Argentina, is slated to participate in an upcoming joint congressional committee debate on the civil code.

Denver archbishop: city wrong to snub company in religious freedom fight

Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila has criticized a Denver city councilwoman for withdrawing a proclamation that praised a Catholic-run company, after she learned that the owners filed a religious freedom lawsuit against the federal government.
 
“Choosing to marginalize the owners of Hercules for their religiosity is an insult to the founding values of our nation,” the Denver archbishop said in an Aug. 23 opinion piece in the Denver Post.

“When religious people are marginalized from the public square all of us lose,” he said. “Religious values (like those of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., for example) have served as forces for great public good in America. Public shame of the religiously convicted undermines the American ideal.”

His comments come in response to the actions of Denver City Councilwoman Robin Kniech, who had initially intended to recognized the Denver-based HVAC manufacturer Hercules Industries’ 50th anniversary.

The business’ Catholic owners are suing the Obama administration over a Department of Health and Human Services mandate requiring employers to provide no co-pay insurance coverage for sterilization and contraception, including some abortion-causing drugs. They say the mandate violates their religious freedom.

A federal court has granted the company an injunction against the mandate until the case is resolved.

Kniech withdrew the proposed proclamation before its passage, saying she hoped to avoid a “partisan food fight” in an election year.

Archbishop Aquila said the resolution’s withdrawal is “unsurprising” but “disappointing.”

“By all appearances, Kniech discovered that Hercules had religious convictions, and she sought distance,” he said.

He said that the company’s religious values compel it to offer “generous health care coverage and benefits” and to support its unionized workforce.

“The same religious values compel them to protect their right to a clear conscience -- to observe the norms of religious morality in their public life,” he wrote.

While the Archbishop Aquila said that governments can legitimately protect the public when religious conscience threatens “essential human freedom or dignity,” he rejected any contention that the mandate is in this category.

He also noted that there are “increasing threats” to religious institutions and practices, citing a recent report that showed an increase in hostility to religion.

“The HHS mandate is designed to fund private sexual expression -- and even abortion -- from the coffers of American businesses,” he charged. “Trading free access to contraception for our foundational reverence for religious liberty is a betrayal of our history -- and a short-sighted plan for America.”

In response to Kniech’s decision to withdraw the commendation for Hercules Industries, Colorado House Speaker Frank McNulty issued a commendation for the company on behalf of the Colorado House of Representatives. The Denver Post also editorialized against the councilwoman’s action.

Archbishop Aquila said Speaker McNulty “rightly commended” the company.

“I pray the Denver City Council will do the same,” he said.

Retired Orange County Priest Sentenced in Molestation Case

A retired Orange County Catholic priest was sentenced on Friday to a year in jail and five years probation for molesting an altar boy in the 1990s.

At his sentencing hearing, Denis Lyons, 78, was also sentenced to serve 400 hours of community service.

Lyons pleaded guilty March 23 to four felony counts of lewd acts on a child under 14. Had he gone to trial, he could have faced up to 14 years in prison, officials said.

Deputy District Attorney Heather Brown, who prosecuted the case, said the victim asked prosecutors to resolve the case without it having to go to trial, so as not to relive the pain from so many years ago.

"(Lyons) should probably spend the rest of his life in prison for the crimes he has committed over the past 20, 30 years," she said. "But we have to take into consideration the victim's wishes and we did that."

Lyons was arrested July 20, 2009, while playing cards at a community center near his home in Leisure World in Seal Beach.

Lyons is accused of sexually assaulting a boy on two occasions in the rectory and two different occasions in the sacristy at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Costa Mesa between 1992 and 1995, officials said. He left the priesthood in 2004.

"Today is the day I finally have closure," read a statement from the District Attorney's Office on behalf of John Doe. "I have spent the last 16 years living in pain, living in shame. He took away my innocence as a child. This man has ruined my life and many others besides me."

Police were tipped off about Lyons when a 23-year-old man came forward in 2008 to report that Lyons molested him between 1992 and 1995, when he was between 7 and 9 years old, prosecutors said.

In 2003, the DA’s office charged Lyons in connection with molestation of a boy between 1978 and 1981, in a case that was dismissed due to the statute of limitations.

The victim sued Lyons in 2008 and the diocese settled the case for an undisclosed sum.

USCCB spokeswoman blasts Economist article on Church finances

The is strongly criticizing a recent Economist article on Church finances. 

“The article is filled with errors, such as its guess that church giving dropped by 20 percent because of the sex abuse scandal heralded in the media in 2002 and henceforth,” writes Sister Mary Ann Walsh. 

 “Real data from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) indicate, however, that church giving increased significantly in recent years.”

“Most annoying is [The Economist’s] blithe statement that local and federal government ‘bankroll’ Catholic schools,” she adds. 

On the contrary, she writes, “the government gets huge help from the Catholic Church, to the tune of about $23 billion dollars a year. That is what the government does not have to pay because Catholic schools educate about two million US students annually.”

Los Angeles-area priest stole from elderly widow, lawsuit alleges

An elderly widow has filed suit in Los Angeles against a Catholic priest she said befriended her after her husband’s death and used his influence to steal $284,000 from her.

Michalena Jones, 79, said in the lawsuit that she met Father Peter Valdez at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Palmdale after her husband died in 2003. 

The priest persuaded Jones to give him a cashier’s check for $150,000 to buy a home in Downey and added his name to her checking account, which he used to make mortgage payments, the lawsuit said.

“Jones was a a devout Catholic. She developed a great admiration, trust, reverance and respect for and obedience to Roman Catholic clergy, who occupied great influence and persuasion as holy men and authority figures,” Jones' lawsuit says. This caused her to “respect and obey Catholic priests, including Defendant Valdez.”

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, also seeks damages from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which it accuses of failing to intervene after it learned of the situation.

Archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg said in an email: “The archdiocese had no knowledge of the alleged financial transactions between Father Valdez and the plaintiff. Beyond this, archdiocesan policy precludes comment on pending litigation.”

Valdez was placed on administrative leave Friday "and will be living privately," Tamberg said. 

Valdez, 46, had served as priest since 1998 and was at St. Mary's from 2003 to 2005, 
Tamberg said. 

Valdez could not be reached for comment.

Jones’ attorney, William McMillan, said he has had numerous discussions with the archdiocese but has been unable to resolve the matter out of court.

According to the lawsuit, the thefts were not discovered until November 2011, when Jones’ son took over her finances because she was in a convalescent home.

The son discovered that Valdez had been stealing from Jones from 2003 until 2010, the lawsuit said. Valdez has made promises of returning the money but has failed to do so, McMillan said.

Los Angeles County property records show that a person named Peter Valdez bought a home on Brock Avenue in Downey -- the home mentioned in the lawsuit -- for $620,000 in 2006, taking a mortgage for $480,000. 

He sold the home in 2010 for $330,000, the records show.

The lawsuit accuses Valdez and the archdiocese of elder abuse and fraud and seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Sisters provide 'dignity and respect' at end of life

The Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm in Massachusetts continue the mission of care for the elderly, as the cause of their foundress, Mother Mary Angeline Teresa McCrory, hit a milestone in June.

As part of their mission the sisters oppose threats to the sanctity of human life, including the Massachusetts vote on Ballot Question 2 in November, an attempt to legalize physician assisted suicide that the sisters recognize publicly as a threat to that sanctity.

Superior General Mother Mark Louis Randall, O Carm., asked who better to pray to for intercession than the foundress whom Pope Benedict XVI declared venerable on June 28.

"Mother loved older people. She dedicated her whole life to the care of the elderly, and she wanted to treat them with dignity and respect, and I think sometimes that is lacking in this day and age," Mother Mark said.

Mother Mark said respect for the life of the elderly is diminished because some people "fear old age and they don't quite know what to do with aging and with older people. They don't see them as individuals, but mother did see them as individuals."

Venerable Mother Mary Angeline Teresa began her calling with the Little Sisters of The Poor in 1912. In 1926 the sisters appointed her superior at a home in the Bronx, but she found the mission to help only needy elderly limiting.

In a move to extend her ministry to all elderly without respect to means, Mother Mary Angeline Teresa started a new order in 1929. In 1931 the new community associated with the Order of Carmel.

The Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm supported their foundress as she extended care for old people of all classes -- not just the poor.

"She wanted to be Christ to them, treat the older person as though they were Christ and, on the flip side, have the older person feel like they have been visited by Christ or that Christ is tending to them," Mother Mark said.

Here in the Archdiocese of Boston the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm operate St. Patrick's Manor in Framingham and Marian Manor in South Boston.

Sisters at St. Patrick Manor in Framingham said solidarity with the leadership of Mother Mark and the mother house in Germantown, New York, and with the entire community of 19 facilities -- 18 in the United States, and one in Ireland -- bolsters their resolve in fighting to protect the sanctity of life.

"Their leadership provides an excellent concern for the sisters physically, mentally and spiritually. They are always there in the good times and the difficult times," said Sister Shawn Bernadette Flynn, O Carm., prioress at St. Patrick's.

At St. Patrick's Manor a community of 30 sisters -- six of whom are retired and receiving care at the facility -- and 4 postulants provide residents and guests with short-term rehabilitation programs, long-term skilled nursing care, and a respite program that provides a temporary living space for elderly who live with family or other care-givers.

Sister Shawn and administrator Sister Maureen McDonough gave The Pilot a tour of the building, which is connected to the sisters' Carmel Terrace assisted-living facility.

Sister Maureen said the breezeway that allows access between the two buildings helps support elderly people as their marriages continue throughout their old age.

"Some of them have been married 70 years, 60 years and they have lived with each other all those years. They do not want to leave their spouse, but they know they cannot care for them on the outside," Sister Maureen said.

St. Patrick's also provides care for 27 women religious of other orders, as well as the six retired Carmelite sisters who call the facility home.

"We call this 'the nunnery,'" Sister Maureen said upon entering one floor of the nursing-home area of St. Patrick's.

Sister Maureen included a stop in a courtyard of St. Patrick's to visit the resident tortoise Rambo, who demonstrated his eagerness to provide pet therapy by walking toward the borders of his enclosure as the administrator approached so she could pick him up.

"The residents like him. They come out to visit him all the time and feed him," she said.

Throughout the tour, the sisters emphasized their role of supporting the active lives of residents at the manor.

"They do not come here to die; they come here to live," Sister Maureen said.

Sister Shawn said physician assisted suicide laws could disrupt lives otherwise on course to continue with dignity at places like St. Patrick's, but also could permanently disrupt peace in families that help a person end their own life.

"There is never peace in that family again. If you do that to grandma, can you turn around and do it to me in a couple of months? What about if I woke up and had a terminal illness tomorrow?" she said.

Sister Philip Ann Bowden, the administrator at Marian Manor in South Boston, also opened the facilities under her leadership for a similar tour.

Sister Philip and her assistant Sister Teresa Stephen --who goes by Sister Stephen-- invited the director of nursing Mary Miller and nurse practitioner Laura McNamara, both registered nurses, to answer questions about the care offered at the facility in Dorchester Heights that was once Carney Hospital.

Caring for nearly 300 residents, the staff of Marian Manor work to provide comfort and palliative care throughout patient transitions to end of life, and focus on maintaining best-practices.

"We try to make this a home-like environment for them," Miller said.

"My role is really to lead nursing as far as the art of nursing is concerned and also the science, make sure that we are doing things in a way that is evidence based," she said.

McNamara said she is available for communication 24-hours a day to help staff maintain high standards and continuity in the treatment that the residents receive at Marian Manor.

"Sister Philip and Sister Stephen's worldview is that there should be somebody on staff who can offer the more advanced nursing skills, diagnosing, taking care of people, and plans of care that encompass a more holistic view of the person," she said.

She said her position working with nurses and doctors allows a continuous presence of advanced training and experience at the facility bolstering the work of doctors who cannot be available at all times.

"They are here, they have their office practices, they see residents in hospitals, but I'm just here and I work in close collaboration with our medical director as well. So, I have a lot of support, but I am also here every day," Mcnamara said.

She said the mission at the facility and the vision of Mother Mary Angeline Teresa "is to care for our elders and to walk with them in this final stage of their life so they don't feel alone and they don't feel desperate, and they feel that people take care of them and are there to love and support them, and know that they are not a burden to society."

Sister Philip said even if physician assisted suicide becomes legal, the sisters will continue to walk with the elderly in respect for their lives following the teachings of the Church.

"That is why we have assembled such a good staff, so that we can meet all of their needs and their fears," she said.

At both facilities, sisters expressed the importance of standing up on behalf of those in their care, but also all the elderly and infirm threatened by the proposition of legalizing physician assisted suicide.

The order's superior, Mother Mark, expressed solidarity with the Little Sisters of the Poor when she confirmed that the sisters will never abandon the elderly or accept the notion of elderly as expendable elements of society.

"Somebody has to advocate for the elderly, and I guess that's up to people like the Little Sisters and the Carmelite sisters," she said.

August - Month of the Assumption

Almighty and everlasting God,
You have taken up body and soul
into the heavenly glory the Immaculate Virgin Mary,
Mother of Your Son: Grant, we beseech You,
that, ever intent upon heavenly things,
we may be worthy to be partakers of her glory.

Through Jesus Christ Your Son, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
One God, forever and ever. 

 Amen.

Father Benedict Groeschel, American Friar, Claims Teens Seduce Priests In Some Sex Abuse Cases

In a recent interview with the National Catholic Register, Father Benedict Groeschel, of the conservative Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, said that teens act as seducers in some sexual abuse cases involving priests. 

It's been close to a decade since an investigation into clergy sex abuse cases by The Boston Globe unearthed a shocking scandal and cover-up that rocked the foundations of the Catholic Church in the U.S. and around the world.

Ten years may have passed, but the wounds have yet to fully heal in America, especially in light of the recent Penn State allegations, as well as the trial of Monsignor William Lynn, former secretary for the clergy in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

In light of this, the recent comments by Groeschel seem both puzzling and jarringly out of step with current sentiments.

In an interview with the National Catholic Register posted this week, Groeschel was asked about his work with the very conservative Friars of the Renewal, a breakaway order he founded 25 years ago. 

The conversation took an interesting turn, however, when the editor asked about the 78-year-old's work with sexual abuse perpetrators.

"People have this picture in their minds of a person planning to — a psychopath," Groeschel said. "But that’s not the case. Suppose you have a man having a nervous breakdown, and a youngster comes after him. A lot of the cases, the youngster — 14, 16, 18 — is the seducer."

Pressed for clarification, the New York State-based religious leader explained that kids looking for father figures might be drawn to priests to fill an emotional hole in their lives.

Furthermore, Groeschel expressed a belief that most of these "relationships" are heterosexual in nature, and that historically sexual relationships between men and boys have not been thought of as crimes.

"If you go back 10 or 15 years ago with different sexual difficulties — except for rape or violence — it was very rarely brought as a civil crime. Nobody thought of it that way... And I’m inclined to think, on [a priest's] first offense, they should not go to jail because their intention was not committing a crime."

The fact that the interview was published, without comment, in the National Catholic Register was significant due to the publication's affiliation with disgraced Legion of Christ religious order.

In 1995 the legion was part of a group of investors who saved the National Catholic Register from closing. 

(The Legion later sold the paper, which is now owned by the Eternal World Television Network.)

The powerful clerical order was also part of one of the most damaging scandals, involving its one-time leader, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, the highest-profile Catholic clergyman ever to be accused of sexual abuse, according to Time magazine.

In 2005, the Vatican scrambled to try to minimize the damage done by revelations that the extremely influential Mexican priest had been abusing seminarians for years.

Groeschel is an influential voice in the American Dioceses and continues to maintain a high-profile in the church, writing several books and appearing weekly on a religious television network.

The priest received a doctorate in psychology from Columbia University in 1971 and now lives in Larchment, N.Y., where he assists with Trinity Retreat, a center for prayer and study for the clergy he founded.

Trinity House stirred controversy in 2006 when the press learned that New York priests credibly accused of sexually abusing children, but not legally convicted, had the option of a life-long close supervision program that began with a stay at the retreat. 

In the wake of community objections, the Archdiocese later removed Trinity House from the list of program's offered facilities, according to the Larchmont Gazette.

Groeschel is also a professor of pastoral psychology at St. Joseph’s Seminary of the Archdiocese of New York.

Churches can't collect to fight gay marriage

Washington state's campaign finance watchdog said Tuesday that the state's Catholic churches can't collect donations from their parishioners for the campaign seeking to overturn the state's gay marriage law.
 

Last week, Yakima Bishop Joseph Tyson sent a letter to pastors in 41 parishes asking that they announce a special collection at upcoming services that would go to Preserve Marriage Washington, which is opposed to same-sex marriage. 

The group forced a vote with Referendum 74, which asks voters to either approve or reject the law passed earlier this year that allows same-sex marriage in the state. 

That law is on hold pending a November vote.

The diocese's chief of staff, Monsignor Robert Siler, said Tuesday that the expected collection date was set for Sept. 8-9.

But Lori Anderson, a spokeswoman for the state's Public Disclosure Commission, said no organization can be an intermediary for a contribution. 

The church can hand out envelopes at Mass, but a member of Preserve Washington has to be on hand to collect them, or parishioners must send them in individually, she said.

Anderson said the restrictions stem from Initiative 134, which voters passed in 1992 to regulate political contributions and campaign spending.

Siler said the diocese coordinated its efforts with the Washington state Catholic Conference.

"As far as I know, the procedures we sent to the parishes meet the requirement of state law," he said, noting that the envelopes are preaddressed to the campaign.

"We're not collecting and counting money," he said. "We're just collecting envelopes and forwarding them."

Anderson said that even so, what the church is proposing to do is what federal laws refer to as "bundling," and that isn't allowed under state law. 

Anderson said PDC officials would be reaching out to church officials in the coming days.

"We just want to make sure they understand what they can and can't do," she said.

"Under state law, no one can be an intermediary for a contribution," Anderson said. "It doesn't matter if it's a loose pile of money or if each is in a little envelope."

Sister Sharon Park, executive director of the Washington state Catholic Conference, said she couldn't comment until she had talked with the PDC.

"It's hard to say anything without knowing what they are talking about," she said.

"If we need to amend our procedures, we will," Siler said.

Priest on leave while church investigates 'credible' abuse allegation

A former parish priest at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Naperville has been placed on leave following an accusation that he sexually abused a minor more than two decades ago, according to the Diocese of Joliet.

The diocese has launched an investigation into the Rev. James Nowak, 75, who is retired.

“The review committee discussed it and recommended to the bishop it was credible, so he’s going to have it investigated further by church authorities. And Fr. Nowak has been placed on administrative leave,” diocese spokesman Doug Delaney said Wednesday.

Delaney said the alleged abuse occurred more than 25 years ago, but he would not say where Nowak was serving at the time.

He also said he did not have information as to whether charges have been filed against Nowak.

While on administrative leave, Nowak will not be allowed to say a public Mass or administer sacraments.

From June 2002 to June 2007, Nowak was the pastor of Ss. Peter and Paul. The current pastor, the Rev. Thomas Milota, sent a letter to parishioners Wednesday informing them of the allegations with a “sad and heavy heart.”

He said the alleged abuse did not occur while Nowak was at the Naperville church.

“When an accusation of this sort is made, it immediately causes us to think of the young people who have been entrusted to our care and whom we love,” he wrote. … “Our hearts go out to those who have been so affected. The best thing that we can do whether in explaining or in suffering with them is to walk with them, assure them of our support and love and, if necessary, support them in getting the help they need.”

The diocese has forwarded the case to officials in Rome for review. 

Nowak could not be reached for comment.

According to a Ss. Peter and Paul bulletin, Nowak celebrated 45 years of ordination in May.

Anyone with information about the case can contact Judith Speckman, victim assistance coordinator for the diocese, at 815-263-6467.

Abortion debate: Rabbitte stands by comments on Catholic Church

Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources said today that he stands by his comments on the Catholic Church's role in the abortion debate.

Last weekend Pat Rabbitte said it would be a retrograde step if the Church went back to dictating to elected representatives how to address the issue.

It followed comments by the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland Cardinal Sean Brady.

He said the church would lobby public representatives as part of its campaign against abortion.

Speaking this morning, Minister Rabbitte said his view has not changed.

"I think my remarks on Sunday were very temperate," he said.

"I expressed the view that the Cardinal was perfectly entitled to set out his views as was the leaders of the other churches.

"But, that if we were to go back to the days when the Catholic hierarchy dictated to legislators that would be a retrograde step - and that continues to be my view."

St Francis Xavier relic on display for feast day

The forearm of St Francis Xavier, one of Australia’s patron saints, will be in Sydney for the saint’s feast day on December 3, the first time the relic has been away from the Church of the Gesu in Rome for that date, reports The Catholic Weekly.

“It is housed in Rome, and it has travelled a couple of times outside of Rome but it has never been outside of Rome for the feast,” said Jake Ryan, projects and events officer for the Sydney Archdiocese.

“The feast day Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral will be a mammoth event, it will certainly draw everyone together to celebrate the pilgrimage, his feast day and the work that he has done.”

Though Sydney has been fortunate to host visiting relics in previous years, including the body of Bl Pier Giorgio Frassati in 2008, and the relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux in 2002, relics are still rare for the Church in Australia.

“The idea of relics is very big in European cultures, and not so much in Australia. But a lot of dioceses are still very interested in the legacy St Francis has through his great missionary work. It’s the very arm that baptised thousands upon thousands of people.”

The relic’s tour was instigated by Bishop Peter Comensoli, auxiliary bishop of Sydney, with the co-operation of the Jesuits.

Islamabad, Islamic leaders challenge medical report, call for punishment of Rimsha Masih

A court in Islamabad, under pressure from religious leaders in the courtroom, has postponed to September 1 the trial for blasphemy against Rimsha Masih, a Christian girl of 13 who is being held in prison for burning pages of the Koran .

The Islamist front, through a lawyer, presented a report that disputes the results of the medical committee, who declared her a minor with - unspecified - mental disabilities. 

The tension was palpable in the court, increasing security concerns for Rimsha's safety, whose life now appears increasingly endangered.

Inside sources report that tomorrow Judges will review the report submitted by counsel for the Muslim religious leaders, who claim Rimsha is 14 and not mentally disturbed, so she must answer for her actions. 

On September 1^st the judges will announce their decision, in a court - most likely - reinforced for safety reasons. 

According to procedure the accused must be present at the trial, at the end of her period of preventive detention, which expires September 1st. However, the emerging threats to Rimsha Masih's security are giving rise to fears that fanatic or extremist groups are planning to kill her.

Rimsha Masih is charged under the "black law" for having burned pages printed with verses from the Koran. She could face up to life in prison and retaliation from elements close to the fundamentalist Taliban. 

They have repeatedly carried out extra-judicial murders of persons indicted for blasphemy.

The judges have to decide whether to grant her release, after a court appointed medical board determined that the girl is under 14 years of age and shows a mental age lower than her chronological age. 

However no details are given about the nature of her mental disabilities.

Meanwhile, outside the court in Islamabad Christian activists, groups and movements demonstrated to demand the girl's release. 

The Avaaz organization has launched an international campaign calling for Rimsha Masih's release.  

The child has become an icon in spite of herself just as Asia Bibi,  in the fight against the infamous blasphemy law in Pakistan. 

About fifty members of Life for All brandished placards with the inscription: "More than 20 thousand people in the world demand freedom for Rimsha Masih".

For Islamists, no "sympathy" for Rimsha Masih who must be judged "according to the law"

Despite appeals by Pakistani ulemas, Muslim religious scholars and legal experts believe that "it is wrong to show sympathy" to Rimsha Masih who must be judged according to the law. 

The Pakistan Penal Code imposes life in prison on anyone who commits blasphemy, unless some madman or organised group executes the "culprit" before he or she is tried for breaking the 'black law,' something that has already happened in the past. 

For Maulana Najeeb, a Muslim expert on Islam and the Qur'an, told AsiaNews that the court will decide her guilt, that people "should not take sides" because she should be judged "according to the law."

Under pressure from religious leaders present in the courtroom, the the blasphemy trial of Rimsha Masih was postponed. The 13-year-old girl was jailed for burning pages of the Qur'an. 

Through their lawyers, Islamists challenged the medical report that said that the girl was underage and suffering from unspecified mental problems. For her accusers, the medical report is too lenient towards, showing favouritism. 

Tensions in the courtroom was palpable, raising fears about Rimsha's life, which appears to be hanging on a thread, especially since the last hearing should settle her remand in custody.

As they wait for the hearing, Pakistani Christians are keeping hope alive, even though the girl's legal situation has been made complicated by the opposition's challenge.

"Let us pray for Rimsha and her family," Mgr Rufin Anthony told AsiaNews. "We hope for good news on 1 September," said the prelate, who is the bishop of Islamabad-Rawalpindi.

"Let this case be an example for the government," he added, "so that it takes the right measures to guarantee the security of religious minorities."

The fate of 600 Christian families that fled Mehrabad G11, an Islamabad suburb, is still uncertain. 

They abandoned their homes fearing a revenge attack similar to the one in Gojra in 2009, when a mob incited by local imams attacked Christians because of an alleged case of blasphemy.

At present, the families are dispersed in groups in various parts of the capital. 

The authorities had said they would provide them with shelter, food and security, but so far they have done nothing concrete. As usual promises were not maintained. 

"They abandoned us," some of them cried out.

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in Jordan to celebrate John the Baptist

In Jordan, hundreds of Catholics crowded the courtyard of the Madaba parish church to celebrate John the Baptist, whose liturgical memorial was yesterday, 29 August. 

On its third edition, the diocese welcomed Mgr Fouad Tawal, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, who is visiting Jordan.

The prelate said he was "very happy" to have participated in the event during which songs and shows were dedicated to the "voice of John the Baptist," a man who "proclaimed the truth without fear." 

Celebrations were actually held on 26 August.

Madaba is near Machaerus, the place where the saint's martyrdom took place. This year, for the first time, the parish organised a pilgrimage. Jordan's deputy tourist minister was among the participants.

The patriarch arrived in Jordan on 24 August on the invitation of Fr Bashir Bader to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Our Lady of the Annunciation Parish Church in Amman.

At the church, which was restored with funds provided by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Mgr Tawal said Mass. 

In his homily, he stressed the need to spread a message of peace, love and brotherhood, wherever violence is growing instead.

At the end of the liturgy, Mgr Tawal met sick patients from the diocese, an event that the parish priest at Our Lady of the Annunciation conducts on the first Friday of each month.

Ex-priest ties the knot with childhood pal

A PRIEST who quit the Church after falling in love has married a mother of one in a civil ceremony. 

Ian Kennedy (42) stunned the people of Ballinafad, Co Sligo, last Christmas after quitting the priesthood.

Now he has gone one step further by tying the knot with girlfriend Maria Cunningham (41).

He wed childhood friend Maria at a luxury spa hotel in Sligo last Wednesday, a few miles from the parish he once served. His new wife has a nine-month-old baby boy.

Friends say Mr Kennedy said "I do" in front of a handful of friends at Cromleach Lodge Spa Hotel.

The happy couple then hosted an informal lunch before spending two nights at the hotel, overlooking Lough Arrow, before returning to the home they share in the tiny hamlet of Ballinacarrow.

The new Mrs Kennedy's young son was born last December at Sligo General Hospital.

Mr Kennedy stood down from his ministry at Ballinafad a few weeks later.

The simple civic ceremony was performed by Louise Mulchahy, a registered solemniser with the HSE in Sligo.

"It was very intimate and very private," said a friend, "Ian and Maria didn't want any fuss."

Witnesses at the ceremony included Sean Tansy, a close friend of Mr Kennedy and a schoolteacher from Boyle, Co Roscommon, and the bride's sister Noelle O'Carroll.

Mr Kennedy has become a teacher since leaving the priesthood. His new wife works as a civil servant with the Department of Social Welfare.

Neighbours refused to talk about the couple, with one only saying: "They are very private people and keep themselves to themselves."

Former parishioners in the village of Ballinafad said they were delighted he had found love. 

"They make a lovely couple," one mother added.

The bride and groom first met as children in Cartron, Sligo Town, where they grew up.

Latino Catholic leaders exhorted to 'lead society to conversion'

Hispanic business leaders from across the country were repeatedly called to "be different from the world around us" during the seventh annual meeting of CALL -- the Catholic Association of Latino Leaders -- held Aug. 24-26 in Miami.
 
The high-powered group, with 148 members and 10 chapters nationwide, was joined by an equally high-powered roster of bishops and speakers, including Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, papal nuncio to the U.S.; Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston; Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles; Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia; Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami; and Carl Anderson, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus.

Gomez, who serves as the group's episcopal moderator and was among the founders of CALL when he was auxiliary bishop of Denver, set the tone for the meeting with his opening remarks, when he said "America is becoming a society where religious conviction is a cause for suspicion."

He cited the "real threat" posed by the Department of Health and Human Services' mandate that all employers, regardless of religious beliefs, pay for birth control and sterilization coverage for their employees; and the threat posed to the institution of marriage and the family by "powerful people" who want to redefine the "natural realities" of marriage, motherhood and fatherhood as "arbitrary social constructs."

"We have a duty as Catholics and as Americans to lead our society to conversion," Gomez said, referring to the new evangelization called for by both Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. "This is a time for Catholic voices and Catholic action."

He urged CALL members to reflect on "Who are we? What do we believe in? What do we stand for? Being a Catholic is more than a private devotion or a philosophy of life," he noted. It means living in community with Jesus, carrying out his commandments and "building up this earthly city."

"Each of us has a part to play in the church's mission," Gomez said. "It is a job for every single Catholic."

A few hours later, while celebrating Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity on Biscayne Bay, Chaput reiterated that to be church means to be "a clear sign," or a sacrament, to the world. "We need to be identified as a church that is different from the world around us," he said.

CALL's conference this year encompassed topics such as the new evangelization, the challenges facing today's families, teaching the faith and civic responsibility in Catholic schools and publicly witnessing to the faith.

"We're really the only Catholic Hispanic business and professional organization in the country," said Robert Aguirre, CALL's national president.

He said the group's internal goal is "to grow in faith through prayer, service and leadership," and its external goal is "to support our local bishops in efforts of evangelization."

"As business people, we're used to fighting political battles. We're used to speaking out in the public square. That's part of our ministry," Aguirre said.

He noted that the HHS mandate "is certainly way up there" in terms of importance this year, as are attempts to redefine marriage as something other than a permanent union between one man and one woman.

"One of the missions of CALL is to basically work with the church for the common good," especially among Hispanic communities in the U.S., said Manny Garcia-Tunon, president of the Miami chapter of CALL. He cited immigration as another issue that concerns CALL members.

"It doesn't have much to do with political party at all," Garcia-Tunon said. "The church is looking to form conscience. It's never about voting for a specific political party."

"It's about control of the culture," said another conference speaker, Robert Destro, professor of law and founding director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Law and Religion at the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America.

He blamed "secular fundamentalism" for the current battles over the limits of religious freedom and the definition of marriage.

"Those who control the media and the government define not only the culture but morality itself," Destro said. And their current definition of religious freedom is that of a place where people go to worship, to "preach to the choir" and to serve only those who believe the same way they do.

"We are in for a long battle over our culture," Destro said. "If you want there to be a next generation of Latino leaders you have to start now. People like you need to get involved."
In welcoming CALL to Miami, Wenski called it "the city of the future" and "the answer to anyone who has a problem with immigration in this country," because its vitality is living proof that "the immigrants themselves come bearing gifts."

In his homily at the closing Mass, the archbishop also noted that though Catholics, estimated at 70 million, are the largest religious group in the U.S., most of them do not attend Mass every Sunday. In fact, people who identify themselves as "former Catholics" are "the next largest religious demographic in America."

He noted that the religious landscape of the U.S. is filled with people who define themselves as "spiritual" but not "religious," along with a "new phenomenon": people "who claim to be 'believers' but who do not belong to any church" and "belongers who do not believe."

"Thus the urgency of the new evangelization," Wenski said, citing the words of Blessed John Paul II: "We are called to reach out to them with new methods and a new enthusiasm."