Insurers urge court to maintain stay on San Francisco Archdiocese abuse lawsuits

A group of insurers is urging a California federal court to keep a stay in place on five lawsuits connected to sexual abuse claims and the bankruptcy of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco.

The archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2023, citing the need to address more than 500 lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse. 

According to a statement from the religious organization, the bankruptcy filing automatically paused all legal actions related to the abuse claims while a reorganization plan is developed.

This plan would be based on the archdiocese’s assets and insurance coverage and is intended to resolve the abuse claims.

The insurers, including affiliates of Chubb Ltd., argue in an objection filed with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division, that the five cases selected from hundreds of pending lawsuits are not representative. 

They contend that allowing these cases to proceed would not advance a global resolution and would give preference to those five plaintiffs over others with similar claims.

The carriers state that the selection of these cases was made by the archdiocese and a committee without insurer input, even though insurers would be responsible for paying any resulting judgments.

The insurers further argue that permitting the test cases to move forward would conflict with bankruptcy rules requiring equal treatment of all claimants. They point to the bankruptcy proceedings of the Diocese of Oakland, where a judge determined that state court judges should select bellwether cases through a process that includes input from all interested parties.

While the carriers acknowledge their concerns with that process, they emphasize that it is more neutral than the current approach.

Similar settlement proceedings

In similar bankruptcy cases involving Catholic dioceses, parishes and affiliated charities have been required to contribute substantial amounts to settlements.

For example, in the New Orleans Archdiocese case, 104 parishes and 19 charitable organizations were required to pay $60 million toward a $180 million settlement. These assessments are typically based on each entity’s financial situation, with court documents outlining how contributions are determined and distributed among the participants.

In the New Orleans case, the bankruptcy judge set a deadline for ending the proceedings and required parishes and charities to provide their share of the settlement within six months of plan confirmation.

This approach has led to concerns among some parishes in other dioceses, who have argued that the required payments could be “catastrophic” and have sought legal relief to avoid closure. The financial impact on local parishes varies, with some facing significant challenges in meeting their obligations.

If the court decides to lift the stays, the insurers are asking for the authority to select the cases and to control the defense in those matters. They also request that coverage issues be litigated alongside pretrial and stayed declaratory relief actions.

Additionally, the carriers want the court to delay lifting the stays until a coverage court can determine whether they have the right to control the defense for cases where they may be solely responsible for paying judgments.

The insurers are also seeking to prevent the archdiocese from issuing demand letters in stayed cases, arguing that such actions are attempts to create extracontractual liability. 

The court has not yet ruled on the insurers’ requests.

(POSTING 74,000) 

New Orleans archbishop accused of personally hiding child abuse in lawsuit

A lawsuit newly filed against the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans and its top two officials alleges the city’s archbishop, Gregory Aymond, personally covered up child sexual abuse by priests and deacons – and asks a judge to reject a guarantee on his future retirement benefits as punishment.

The archdiocese responded by saying the allegations brought by the plaintiff, Argent Institutional Trust Co, are baseless.

“The allegations made by Argent in their lawsuit are based on third hand reports and assumptions with no facts to substantiate them,” a church spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The lawsuit contains the most direct allegations of wrongdoing leveled against Aymond in a court filing to date, and it comes not from any abuse survivor – but instead from attorneys representing investors who bought $41m in church bond debt back in 2017.

Argent is the bond trustee and filed the lawsuit on Tuesday against the archdiocese, Aymond, vicar general Pat Williams and 104 archdiocesan churches and agencies.

Argent alleges Aymond, Williams and church affiliates they oversee helped “conceal the extent of the abuse” before investors agreed to purchase the church’s bond debt in 2017.

The lawsuit notes that Aymond disclosed a list of 57 credibly accused clergy in 2018 but has since added at least 22 names to the list. In multiple instances, those additions followed reporting from WWL Louisiana and a journalist now at the Guardian – the station’s reporting partner – that highlighted certain clergymen who appeared to fit the criteria for inclusion but had been omitted.

Argent cites reporting by the Guardian and WWL in 2023 and 2024 to bolster its claims that Aymond and Williams “knew for years that employees of some or all of the [church affiliates] had sexually abused children and other vulnerable individuals”.

That includes a 2023 story about a leaked memo stating that there were 310 priests, deacons and other church employees named as abusers in claims at the center of the federal chapter 11 bankruptcy protection case filed by the archdiocese three years earlier – but only a quarter of them made it on Aymond’s official list.

It also includes WWL and the Guardian’s coverage of a Louisiana state police search warrant served against the archdiocese, stating there was probable cause to believe the church knew about widespread abuse for decades and it was “covered up and not reported to law enforcement”.

The lawsuit also cites the news outlets’ 2024 report about secret church files exposed in a civil lawsuit against retired priest Lawrence Hecker, who shortly before dying pleaded guilty to kidnapping and raping an underage boy. 

The story quoted previously hidden emails notifying Aymond of Hecker’s long history of abuse in 2011, seven years before the archbishop first notified the public about it.

In July, the archdiocese and a committee of abuse survivors proposed a plan to settle the bankruptcy, and about 660 survivors will have a chance to vote to approve or reject the plan by 29 October.

The plan offers survivors between $180m and $235m, estimated to be about a sixth of the midpoint estimate of what the claims are worth. Under the settlement, the church has stopped paying interest to bondholders, which Argent alleges would also significantly reduce payments to the church’s investors by about $9.3m. That led Argent to accuse the archdiocese of “the definition of securities fraud” in open court. Attorneys for the church called that an “extreme stretch”.

While the proposed bankruptcy settlement would allegedly shortchange some church creditors, the plan would guarantee full retirement pension benefits to all priests who have not been identified by the church or the court as abusers, including Aymond and Williams. Church financial records estimate total priest pension obligations at $55m.

The proposed settlement also sets aside investment accounts held by the church’s affiliates worth at least $149m, making sure they essentially “pass through” the bankruptcy as if it never happened.

Argent’s lawsuit asks bankruptcy judge Meredith Grabill to order the church and its affiliates to pay the bondholders in full – before any priests can collect retirement benefits and before the parishes and other church affiliates can cash in their investments.

Argent alleges Aymond and Williams, who serve as officers of every church affiliate, failed to report all known cases of abuse to law enforcement or child protective services as required by a 1993 church policy. Therefore, Argent alleges, the pair should forfeit their rights to collect benefits before the bondholders.

In November, Aymond turned 75 and, as with all Catholic bishops, was required by church law to submit his retirement letter to the Vatican. Neither then pope Francis nor the late pontiff’s successor, Pope Leo XIV, has accepted Aymond’s retirement.

Aymond is expected to stay in his post until the bankruptcy case is fully settled.

Archbishop Eamon Martin: I believe in a United Ireland

The Primate of All Ireland Eamon Martin says he believes in a United Ireland and that a conversation around the steps to reunification needs to begin immediately.

The Archbishop of Armagh was speaking during a wide-ranging interview on the general topic of the Catholic Church’s interactions with the Irish State.

Speaking about a border poll on the eve of the 31st anniversary today of the Provisional IRA’s 1994 ceasefire announcement, Archbishop Martin said he believes a vote on Irish unity will be held ‘within his lifetime’.

But he stressed the conditions need to be right to ensure a poll would not be overly divisive. The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland said that when the poll does happen, the Church – which is organised on an all-island basis – will not ‘take a back seat’.

Asked directly if he believes in a United Ireland, he answered: ‘Yes, yeah. I mean, like, I’m very clearly a nationalist. I’ve never been, under any circumstances, in favour of the use of violence in order to achieve that goal.

‘I believe that even as I have, I think, grown in my understanding of what do we actually mean? Does it just mean removing a line on the map, or is it about building something new? And I do feel that I would like to become involved with others in church, in the Catholic Church, and indeed in other churches, in actually reflecting and debating.

‘What is it we would want to stand for in a United Ireland or a united island? And united islands? Because we cannot exist without relationship to Britain.

‘We cannot exist without relationship to Europe and the wider world. We’re in a very global society, and therefore our position, our role, our standing, is very important,’ he said.

Asked about the timeline of a potential United Ireland, the Archbishop replied: ‘I personally feel in my lifetime.

‘I’m talking about the border poll, what the results of that border poll would be is a different issue.’

Polls published this year show that, while support for Irish unity has grown significantly in the past three years in the North, a clear majority still remains in favour of remaining part of the UK. Most recent surveys indicate a border poll would be soundly defeated in the North and passed comfortably in the South.

But support for Irish unity has been gaining ground in the North since Britain’s exit from the EU.

Reflecting the mood change, Archbishop Martin said: ‘I do feel that there is a desire, particularly at this time, when you see how difficult it is for Northern Ireland to operate and to operate successfully, I think a lot of people are saying, “look, what are the other possibilities?”

‘And I think that I wouldn’t be for putting this off. I definitely feel it’s something which – the conversation – I think needs to be immediate; the actual border poll needs to be at a time when it won’t be divisive, you know or overly divisive.’

Asked if he thought – in the context of loyalist sentiments and the recent interactions between loyalism and far-right, anti-immigrant sentiment – whether a United Ireland could be achieved without a return to violence, Archbishop Martin said: ‘I think it ought to. I do not think that violence is inevitable. And certainly, large-scale popular support for violence.

‘You know, if that’s what it is, I don’t think a border poll is ready. You know what I mean? I think a border poll needs to happen at a time when the issues have been aired, when there is a large degree of support for the border poll.

‘Of course, there will be people who will manipulate the situation.

‘But I mean, that is a problem in society, more generally, not just in Ireland.’

Blasphemous opera with 'naked nuns on roller skates' wins critics’ award in Germany

An opera branded blasphemous for its graphic parody of Catholic worship has been voted “Production of the Year” by critics in Germany, less than twelve months after it left some members of its audience needing medical treatment.

The announcement came on 28 August that Florentina Holzinger’s Sancta, which premiered at the Stuttgart State Opera in October 2024, had been named Inszenierungdes Jahres (Production of the Year) by theatre critics in Germany.

It won the accolade after being selected by nine out of 47 critics, more than any other production in the running, in a survey conducted by the specialist journal Theaterheute. The production, which mixes Catholic ritual with nudity, violence, sex and vulgarity, has drawn fierce criticism for its treatment of the sacred.

The performance includes an enactment of a “Holy Mass”, allusions to the crucifixion and Eucharist, and depictions of nuns in erotic poses and situations. In one sequence, naked performers dressed as nuns rollerblade across a halfpipe.

After its premiere last year, the Catholic Herald reported how 18 audience members had such an adverse reaction to the opera's scenes that they required medical attention, with three cases serious enough to require a doctor.

The opera carries an age restriction of 18 and audiences are warned in advance of graphic content. Holzinger and the Stuttgart Opera framed the production as a radical interpretation of Paul Hindemith’s 1921 work Sancta Susanna, which was considered too offensive to be staged when it was written. 

The website for the modern version describes it as a portrayal of female desire in an environment “hostile to pleasure and the body”, in which the central character Susanna discovers her sexuality and at one point pulls down the loincloth of Christ on the crucifix.

Reactions when it came out last year were swift and severe. Christian Hermes, city dean of Stuttgart, told the Catholic News Agency (CNA) that the opera goes “beyond the limits of what is aesthetically and psychologically tolerable”, describing how religious sensibilities are “obscenely violated, contrary to all otherwise cultivated political correctness”. He described the mental health of audiences as being “deliberately played with”.

Jan-HeinerTück, a theology professor at the University of Vienna, writing in Communio, criticised the work as “an ostentatious lack of imagination”, noting its reliance on “naked female bodies, sex, blood plus religious symbols and the parody of the Holy Mass”.

Supporters of the production, though, hailed it as a breakthrough in musical theatre. Some have described it as “astonishing” in its staging and producing “overwhelming joy” rather than scandal.

The Stuttgart Opera has maintained its defence of the production, with artistic director Viktor Schoner quoted in the Daily Mail as saying that “exploring boundaries and crossing them with pleasure has always been a central task of art”.

Florentina Holzinger, who grew up Catholic in Austria before later renouncing the Church, has said she considers Catholic liturgy to be postmodern because of its rituals and transformations, comparing the Mass to theatrical illusion.

Bishop bans use of altar rail at Charlotte Catholic High School

Students and Mass-goers at Charlotte Catholic High School in North Carolina have been told they may no longer use the altar rail for the reception of Holy Communion at daily Mass.

The instruction was issued by Bishop Michael Martin of Charlotte, even though the rail itself had been installed in the school chapel in 2017 under his predecessor, Bishop Peter Jugis. 

According to reports circulated on social media, pupils and staff now kneel directly on the floor to receive the Sacrament.

The rail, which was installed eight years ago, was the result of a fundraising initiative led by a teacher at the school in memory of his younger brother, who had died. The project was warmly welcomed by families, clergy, and students, who saw in it a visible sign of continuity with the Church’s tradition.

Until this summer, the rail was used for the school’s daily Masses in the chapel. On one day each week, when the whole student body attended a larger liturgy in the gymnasium, pupils would receive Communion kneeling in a more makeshift setting. Otherwise, the carved wooden rail served as the regular place of reception.

That arrangement has now been brought to an end. According to the “Charlotte Latin Mass Community” account on the social media platform X, Bishop Martin instructed the school chaplain to leave the sanctuary and distribute the Eucharist from outside the altar rail. 

Despite this, most of the faithful present continued to kneel to receive Communion, except in cases where it was physically impossible for them to do so.

The Charlotte Latin Mass Community account, a lay-run group active on social media, is well known locally for its close ties to Catholics attached to the traditional liturgy and for its detailed knowledge of developments within the diocese.

The Catholic Herald has also spoken to a parishioner of the Diocese of Charlotte, who is close to Charlotte Catholic High School, and who confirmed that the new practice is in place.

The move comes at a time of wider restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass in the Diocese of Charlotte. On 8 July, the bishop issued a decree forbidding the celebration of Mass in the traditional Roman Rite at all but one location. 

The only authorised liturgy of the Vetus Ordo is now celebrated on Sundays at a chapel in Mooresville, with all other celebrations suppressed.

For many conservative critics of the bishop in Charlotte, the two decisions appear closely linked. 

The installation of the altar rail in 2017 had been seen as an expression of reverence that resonated with the wider recovery of tradition among the faithful. Now, the decision to forbid its use has been taken by some as a symbolic distancing from those same instincts.

In Charlotte, the shift in policy under the new bishop is particularly striking because of the contrast with his predecessor. 

Bishop Jugis oversaw the ordination of new priests, encouraged traditional devotions, and permitted the expansion of the Latin Mass within the diocese. 

By banning the use of the altar rail, among other things, Bishop Martin, who succeeded him last year, has taken a markedly different and more rapid approach.

Faculty letter accuses Detroit archbishop of unlawful seminary dismissals

A leaked faculty letter has accused the Archbishop of Detroit of violating seminary rules, breaching contracts, and even breaking civil law after the abrupt dismissal of three senior conservative professors.

The letter, obtained by Stella Maris Media, dated 26 August and circulated anonymously among clergy and lay supporters, was sent by a faculty member of the Archdiocesan seminary, Sacred Heart Major Seminary (SHMS), to Archbishop Edward Weisenburger and the Board of Trustees. 

It condemned the sudden sackings of Dr Ralph Martin, Dr Ed Peters and Dr Eduardo Echeverria, each of whom had taught at the Detroit seminary for decades.

In July of this year, Archbishop Weisenburger summoned the professors separately to inform them that their employment was terminated with immediate effect. He gave no formal explanation, offering only a brief remark that their theological views differed from his own.

Dr Martin explained to his supporters: “When I asked him for an explanation, he said he didn’t think it would be helpful to give any specifics but mentioned something about having concerns about my theological perspectives.”

“My Sacred Heart Major Seminary teaching contract was terminated by Abp. Weisenburger this week. I have retained counsel,” Dr Peters wrote on X.

The shock removals quickly generated widespread criticism online, with Catholics internationally expressing alarm at what many described as arbitrary and heavy-handed tactics. 

The Catholic Herald previously reported on the controversy surrounding the new archbishop, installed in Detroit in March, who has already provoked opposition by restricting the Traditional Latin Mass and prohibiting the ad orientem celebration of the liturgy.

The anonymous faculty letter argues that the dismissals violated the seminary’s Faculty Handbook on at least three counts: Faculty Separation, Academic Freedom, and Contracts. 

Under the handbook, dismissal requires due process, written notice, and a clear statement of cause. No such procedure was followed in the case of the three professors.

“These dismissals without cause violate their contracts and leave intact the right of each professor to his salary for the remainder of his six-year term,” the letter states. Instead, each was handed a one-year severance offer, conditional upon signing a non-disclosure agreement.

The letter also states that academic freedom protects “differing theological perspectives” so long as they do not promote anything contrary to Catholic faith or morals as taught by the Magisterium. It further adds: “To terminate these faculty members merely for differing theological perspectives … is a violation of their academic freedom.”

Beyond the legal and contractual concerns, the letter warns that the dismissals have already damaged morale within the seminary community. “The abrupt dismissal of SHMS professors in good standing has already had a chilling effect on faculty morale, job security, and academic freedom,” it reads. 

The letter further warns that it could undermine Sacred Heart’s standing with accrediting bodies such as the Association of Theological Schools and the Higher Learning Commission, both of which require protections for academic freedom.

An accompanying email from a faculty priest, circulated alongside the letter, sheds further light on a mid-August meeting between Archbishop Weisenburger and the seminary staff. 

According to the email, the archbishop spoke for less than five minutes on the controversy, citing his “conscience” as the reason for the firings but refusing to provide further details. He said he was reluctant to elaborate because of the confidentiality agreements already in place. 

Faculty members who challenged the archbishop were allegedly told that canon law “trumps civil norms or procedures.” Others voiced sadness at the sudden treatment of long-serving colleagues, with one remarking: “Are we now going to simply ‘shun’ these men and cancel their memory from SHMS?”

Mexican bishop threatens pro-abortion Catholics with excommunication

The bishop of a Mexican state which held a late-night vote to decriminalise abortion said Catholics who promote or facilitate the procedure incur excommunication.

Bishop José Francisco González of Campeche said: “Among all the crimes that man can commit against life, procured abortion presents characteristics that make it particularly serious and ignominious.”

The congress of the western state of Campeche decriminalised abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Bishop González warned any Catholic promoting the law they “should not participate in the sacraments”.

He called a press conference on 26 February after the diocese announced its “surprise” upon discovering the state penal code had been modified to change the law 48 hours earlier.

A vote on the issue which began at 11pm occurred “behind closed doors” in the middle of the region’s carnival season, González observed. He described the decision as “incomprehensible” from a social and legal perspective.

González, who was recently appointed the Archbishop of Tuxtla-Gutiérrez in the southern region of Chiapas, cited canon law saying any pro-abortion Catholic was “outside communion with the Church”, but he invited them to “reconsider and to rediscover their Catholic faith”.

He also called for the founding of a pro-life front, saying that life “should not be protected only by the mother, who carries [the child] in her womb, or by the father, who has procreated it, but by the whole society”.

González warned that if abortion is justified on the grounds that the unborn child is unwanted, “later on, society – and we are not far away – will propose doing something similar with children already born who do not behave well, or who are sickly, or who are facing a disability” as well as with the sick and elderly. “Finally, no life will be respected, for whatever reason it can be cut short,” he said.

Campeche’s Human Rights’ Commission promoted the law, which includes stronger penalties for coercing women to procure an abortion. It makes the state the twenty-first in Mexico to decriminalise abortion. Eight others have done so since Claudia Sheinbaum became Mexico’s first female president in October 2024.

However, Sheinbaum received praise from the country’s bishops for “her major openness to dialogue” in response to the crisis caused by US President Donald Trump’s polices barring immigrants and pursuing mass deportations.

A statement from the bishops’ conference on 24 February called for national unity in response to Trump’s measures. 

They said it was “clear that he aims to pressure our country to achieve very concrete goals in his government plans: combat the activity of organised crime dedicated to drug trafficking, tackle the issue of migration and overcome the disadvantages in economic relations between the two countries that, according to their criteria, are unfavourable for North America”.

Mexican bishop faces backlash for con-celebrating Eucharist with Anglican female cleric

A retired Mexican bishop has provoked widespread controversy after he celebrated the Eucharist with an Anglican female minister at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

On the 26 August, Bishop Emeritus Raúl Vera López of Saltillo presided at Mass in the basilica with Rev Emilie Teresa Smith, a Canadian Anglican minister, standing beside him as a concelebrant. 

During the liturgy, Ms Smith, wearing a stole (a liturgical vestment), joined in parts of the Eucharistic Prayer, whispered words of consecration, raised her hand in blessing and elevated the chalice containing the Precious Blood of Christ.

The Mass was recorded and published on the bishop’s own Facebook page, where it quickly gained attention. 

In a post accompanying the video, the bishop invited viewers to “reflect together” on the Gospel of the day, quoting the words of Christ in St Matthew’s Gospel condemning hypocrisy and spiritual blindness.

He described Ms Smith as one “who walks among us picking up the word of many people around finding solutions to the climate crisis we live in".

The event caused shock among Catholics both in Mexico and internationally, with many describing the event as sacrilegious. 

Critics of the bishop's actions said that the presence of a female Anglican minister at the altar during the Eucharist is a clear violation of Catholic teaching on both the ordained priesthood and intercommunion with non-Catholics.

The bishop emeritus attempted to defend his actions with a second Facebook post: he recounted how, after Mass on the following day, he had been questioned by journalists about whether canonical sanctions might follow. 

Bishop Vera explained that Ms Smith was a fellow co-chair of the international solidarity network SICSAL, who was passing through Coahuila on route to the COP 30 environmental summit and had accepted his invitation to take part in the Mass at the basilica.

He dismissed accusations of sacrilege, heresy and indiscipline as “common sense” misunderstandings, noting that Ms Smith had long been active in human rights and pastoral work, with experience as a parish minister and theologian.

“Not only does she work with the poor, she has a parish, has a theological background, she is a writer, she is ready to participate in a meeting of the United Nations and with God’s people around the defence of our Mother Earth,” he wrote. He also praised her homily as “excellent”.

“We are no longer in witch hunts and bonfire times,” the bishop also said in his Facebook post. “The word of our sister Emilie gives us light, life and guidance as Laudato Si’ asks for all the people of this planet.”

Defenders of the bishops actions' argue that the issue shouldn't be about ecumenism but rather should focus on the solidarity, inclusion and fraternity that, they claim, was achieved during the Mass.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life” and is inseparably linked to the sacramental priesthood, hence only a validly ordained Catholic priest can act in persona Christi to consecrate the bread and wine.

As a result, the ordination of women is considered invalid by the Church, a teaching reaffirmed by Pope St John Paul II in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis in 1994, which stated definitively that the Church “has no authority whatsoever” to confer priestly ordination on women.

Moreover, the Church forbids concelebration of the Eucharist with ministers, female or male, of ecclesial communities not in full communion withRome. 

The Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism, issued by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, makes clear that Catholic clergy may not concelebrate with non-Catholic ministers, precisely because Eucharistic communion is a visible sign of full doctrinal and hierarchical unity which does not yet exist with Anglicans.

Exceptions for shared prayer are strictly limited to certain circumstances of spiritual need and never extend to shared Eucharistic Liturgy.

The Vatican has not yet issued an official response to the incident, but for many the scenes at the altar in the basilica have raised profound concerns of doctrine which could re-ignite debates on the Liturgy of the Mass.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage site in the world, consistently drawing millions of visitors annually.

Diocese of Ferns to see a number of clerical changes as Bishop announces retirements and appointments

The Diocese of Ferns will see a number of clerical changes in September, following a series of retirements and appointments which were announced this week.

The appointments and retirements, which were announced by Bishop of Ferns Ger Nash, are effective from Monday, September 15.

A number of well-known priests, who have decades of service throughout the diocese between them, will be retiring from active Ministry.

They include: Msgr Denis Lennon, who will retire from his role as Co-PP in Clonard Parish; Fr Jim Finn, who will retire from his role as Co-PP in Crossabeg/Ballymurn; Fr Ray Gahan, who will retire from his role as Co-PP in Kilaveney; Fr Lar O’Connor, who will retire from his role as Co-PP in Bunclody.

Fr Paddy Cushen will retire from his role as Co-PP in Ferns Bunclody Pastoral Area and will remain in Ferns to assist in the Pastoral Area.

Following on from these retirements, Bishop Nash has also announced the following appointments:

Fr John Byrne Co-PP in the Ferns Bunclody Kilrush Pastoral area will be resident in Bunclody

The pastoral care of the parishes of Ballymurn/Crossabeg will be carried out by the priests of the Pastoral Area.

Fr Eamon Salmon, recently ordained, will be resident in Wexford Town with responsibility for Chaplaincy at Wexford General Hospital.

The pastoral care of Clonard will be the responsibility of the Wexford Pastoral area with one priest resident in Clonard.

Moderators to the Ferns Bunclody Pastoral area and to the New Ross, Cushinstown, Adamstown, Newbawn Pastoral area will be appointed in the coming weeks.

Fr Roger O’Neill, Co-PP Cushinstown will become Director of Vocations and Youth Ministry in the Diocese with responsibility for administration in Cushinstown/Newbawn area. He will also be appointed part time Diocesan Secretary. 

The pastoral care of Cushinstown/Newbawn will be carried out by the priests of the Pastoral area.

Fr Odhrán Furlong, Chaplain at Wexford General Hospital will become Co-PP in the New Ross Pastoral Area, residing in New Ross.

Fr Brian Whelan, Co-PP in New Ross will become Co-PP in the Ferns Bunclody Kilrush Pastoral Area, resident in Ferns.

Fr David Murphy, will return from Chaplaincy to the Army to become Co-PP in the Annacurra, Carnew Kilanerin, Pastoral Area, resident in Tinahely

Church of England's most senior bishop criticizes far-right Reform UK’s mass deportation plan

The Archbishop of York has urged Britain to resist what he called “kneejerk” proposals to deport hundreds of thousands of migrants, warning they would fail to provide a long-term solution to irregular migration.

Speaking to Sky News, Stephen Cottrell, who is currently acting as the spiritual head of the Church of England until a new Archbishop of Canterbury is appointed, criticized the far-right party’s proposal to remove around 600,000 people from the country.

The policy, unveiled by Reform leader Nigel Farage earlier this week, would involve negotiating deportation agreements with regimes such as the Taliban in Afghanistan and the authorities in Iran.

Cottrell said that he has “every sympathy” with people who are concerned about asylum seekers coming to the country illegally. But he argued that the measures would not “solve the problem.”

Asked by presenter Trevor Phillips to respond to those calling for an automatic policy of detention and deportation for anyone entering the UK unlawfully, Cottrell replied: “You haven’t solved the problem. You’ve just put it somewhere else and you’ve done nothing to address the issue of what brings people to this country. And so if you think that’s the answer, you will discover in due course that all you have done is made the problem worse.”

He continued: “Don’t misunderstand me, I have every sympathy with those who find this difficult, every sympathy – as I do with those living in poverty. But… we should actively resist the kind of isolationist, short term kneejerk ‘send them home’.”

Reform’s hardline immigration proposals have become one of the central issues in the UK’s political debate, but they have drawn strong criticism from church leaders, human rights groups and opposition parties.

Farage set out a five-year strategy that would include withdrawing from human rights laws, detaining new arrivals at large removal centers, and sending people to countries where they could face imprisonment, torture, or death.

Catholic Church in Ireland urge people to return to Mass

The Catholic Church in Ireland is urging parishioners who may have ceased attending mass during the Covid-19 pandemic to return.

It said those who may have become accustomed to watching mass via webcams and are out of the habit of attending or whose practice has slipped due to other priorities will be welcome back.

All Catholic bishops are supporting the initiative which is being led by Bishop Denis Nulty.

In a pastoral message, he outlined 'Why Sunday Matters' at Carlow Cathedral this morning.

In his homily, he said that from the beginning of the Christian faith, Sunday was central to the life of the Church and remained at the heart of Christian practice.

He said Sunday Mass offered a "rhythm" for the week that followed.

The Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin described the pandemic as "a grace in itself", because the Eucharist had been turned into a routine habit.

He said: "This is what we missed most during those pandemic days. Sunday worship was disrupted; the sacramental life of the parish was put on hold.

"Some have not returned to worship, and some had never connected. Today across the island, in every diocese, in every parish, all are encouraged to return."

Bishop Nulty added that while the initiative originated with the bishops, its compilation was the work of individuals and groups who contributed to discussion for nearly two years.

Madison priest accused of child sex crimes faced a previous complaint in 2021

Andrew J. Showers, a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Madison who is now charged with child sex crimes, faced a previous complaint four years ago — despite an initial statement from the diocese that he had no prior allegations of misconduct.

Prosecutors charged Showers Aug. 27 with attempted second-degree sexual assault of a child, attempted child enticement and attempted use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime. 

The criminal complaint against Showers, 37, says he sent sexually explicit online messages and traveled to Waupaca County to meet someone he believed to be a 14-year-old girl to have sex with her, unaware he was actually corresponding with a Clintonville police officer.

The Diocese of Madison said it learned of the arrest Aug. 25 and restricted Showers from ministry while the investigation is ongoing. The diocese initially said it had not previously received any allegations of misconduct connected to Showers, who was ordained in 2017.

But the diocese then acknowledged on Aug. 27 that Showers had been the subject of a previous complaint.

"I need to share with you that an ongoing review of diocesan files, email messages, and phone records revealed that a complaint about Fr. Showers was made to the diocese by a parent in December 2021," Madison Bishop Donald J. Hying wrote in a letter to members of the diocese. "The parent expressed concern about pastoral questions which were asked of a male middle-school child during the Sacrament of Confession."

A Lodi Police Department incident report shows a father reported Showers for "inappropriate questions the priest asked his son during confession" at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Lodi.

The father said that, during confession, Showers began to ask his son "about masturbation and if he was viewing pornography," and that "his son was very uncomfortable about this and reported it" immediately after leaving the church.

The father also told Lodi police that he had contacted the church and diocese officials, who "explained that many times the Priest will prompt persons during confession about sins that are natural for that age group, and they believed this is what Rev. Showers had done."

Lodi police determined "the incident did not seem to rise to the level of a criminal act but appeared to be more a question of appropriateness."

The incident report said that police would wait to see what the church investigation revealed before interviewing Showers.

Hying's letter noted that police determined "the incident did not rise to the level of a criminal act."

"I apologize that this parental complaint was not included in our initial communication," he wrote.

Hying later added, "I continue to ask for your prayers for everyone involved in this situation."

The Diocese of Madison said allegations of sexual misconduct always should be brought to law enforcement, and allegations involving priests, deacons or other church personnel should also be reported to the diocese's sexual misconduct question and reporting line, at 608-821-3162, regardless of when they are said to have occurred.

Showers had the following assignments, according to the diocese:

• Director of diocesan office of worship, 2024 to present.

• Parochial vicar for a grouping known as Pastorate 22 or Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, which collectively includes two churches, St. Raphael and Good Shepherd, and one school, St. James, all in Madison, 2023 to present.

• Priest in residence at All Saints in Berlin and Our Lady of the Lake in Green Lake, 2022 to 2023.

• Provided Spanish Mass assistance at St. John the Baptist in Waunakee, 2022.

• Pastor of St. Stephen in Clinton, 2020 to 2022.

• Parochial vicar for St. Paul's Catholic Student Center, which serves UW-Madison students, 2018 to 2020.

• Parochial vicar of St. Cecilia in Wisconsin Dells, summer of 2017.

Volkswagen Brazil found liable for ‘slave labor’ after priest’s long struggle

Volkswagen Brazil was found guilty on Friday of subjecting workers to conditions “analogous” to slavery between 1974 and 1986 on a vast cattle ranch in the Amazon and ordered to publicly acknowledge the abuses and pay more than $30 million in damages.

At its Santana do Araguaia ranch in southeastern Pará state — the subject of a Washington Post investigation last month — Volkswagen used “debt labor, violence and submitted workers to degrading conditions,” Judge Otávio Bruno da Silva Ferreira wrote in his decision, saying that those conditions met “the definition of contemporary slave labor.” The ruling also called on Volkswagen Brazil, one of the largest carmakers in Latin America, to apologize to the mistreated laborers.

In a statement Friday, Volkswagen Brazil announced it would appeal the decision, saying it “has consistently defended the principles of human dignity and follows all applicable labor laws and regulations.”

The case opened a window into a largely forgotten chapter of Brazilian history, when the country’s former military dictatorship rushed to develop the Amazon in partnership with multinational corporations. Human rights researchers say tens of thousands of impoverished laborers were lured to ranches in the middle of the rainforest and made to toil against their will. Their job was to destroy the Amazon to make room for raising cattle.

To find these workers, many of the ranches turned to local labor recruiters, known as “gatos.” They scoured small towns throughout the countryside for unwitting laborers, many of whom were enticed by false promises of high pay.

Two of the gatos employed by the Volkswagen ranch were among the most notorious and brutal figures on the Amazon frontier, according to contemporaneous records. They trapped workers in a scheme of debt, workers alleged, and employed armed guards who forced men to work under threat of violence.

One of the recruiters, Francisco Andrade Chagas, died in 2014, according to a Brazilian registry of death notices. The other, Abílio Dias Araujo, 82, didn’t respond to a request for comment. He previously told The Post that he was “an old man” and didn’t “remember anything.”

Volkswagen is the first company to be held liable for the abuses in the Amazon during this period, a landmark ruling that rights advocates and prosecutors hope could open the door to similar cases. In Brazil, the crime of “reducing someone to conditions analogous to slavery” has no statute of limitations.

“It is without doubt a historic mark,” said Ulisses Dias de Carvalho, a federal prosecutor who worked on the case. “This sentence will serve as an example for the next cases and open up the opportunity to hold to account other companies.”

Many of the details of what happened on the Santana do Araguaia property were preserved only because of Ricardo Rezende Figueira, 73, a Catholic priest who has spent his life documenting modern slave labor. He was a young man living in a distant Amazonian outpost when he first heard the rumors about the Volkswagen ranch.

At first, the complaints from workers who’d escaped — detailing forced labor, privation and torture — had seemed extraordinary to Rezende. But the allegations multiplied, and the testimonies he gathered from dozens of laborers over years of methodical investigation began to align.

In 1983, Rezende took his case to the public. “Priest says there are slaves on Volks farm,” read the headline in the Correio Braziliense newspaper. Over the following years, authorities would affirm the existence of forced labor on the ranch at least four times, but no action was ever taken to rescue the workers or charge any of their alleged abusers.

The priest never gave up. And when he moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he now works as a human rights professor, he brought his records with him.

In early 2019, after seeing that Volkswagen Brazil had accepted responsibility for the political persecution of its factory workers during the military dictatorship that ruled the country from 1964 to 1985, Rezende decided it was time to try again.

He sent his 1,000-page dossier, identifying 69 alleged victims alongside notarized declarations, police statements, court filings and lawmaker reports, to a federal labor prosecutor.

Soon after, the Labor Ministry opened an investigation that ultimately culminated in the federal lawsuit against Volkswagen Brazil, which alleged that there were “hundreds” of victims. The ranch had been owned by a Volkswagen subsidiary, but prosecutors argued that the parent company bore ultimate responsibility for what they said was the systematic exploitation of slave labor and human trafficking.

Now, nearly half a century after Rezende began his investigation, a Brazilian judge has substantiated his findings. Rezende told The Post on Friday evening that he’d never lost hope: “I knew that one day there would be something,” he said.

“This is a lesson: Justice is slow, slower than it should be,” Rezende said. “May this also be a warning so that this crime doesn’t repeat,” he added. “People cannot be treated as things, as objects.”

Federal prosecutor Rafael Garcia, who led the case and directs the Brazilian Labor Ministry’s slave labor division, called the decision “historic” for a country that has never reckoned with the prolific human suffering that occurred during the development of the Amazon.

“This conviction is for the country,” he said. “It is a day to celebrate the struggle for human rights.”

The judge ordered that the $30 million in damages be paid not to the former laborers but to a fund in Pará that is focused on promoting dignified working conditions and eradicating slave labor in the state.

Laborers who told The Post they had been enslaved on the Volkswagen property, and who testified against the company at trial, said they were disappointed that they wouldn’t receive any compensation, but they expressed relief that their ordeal had finally been recognized.

“It’s extremely gratifying,” said Raul Batista de Souza, 67, who was trafficked onto the farm in 1986 with his brothers and then sold by a gato to another Amazon property. “There was so much suffering that we went through.”

Batista de Souza said there were many victims whose names would never be known.

“We were lucky,” he said. “I’m thinking of the mothers who never knew what happened to their children, who never had the dignity of burying their loved ones. I just have to thank God.”

Vandalism of tombs is shocking, priest says

A parish priest has described tombs being vandalised twice in the space of a month in a church graveyard as "very shocking".

Tomasz Maziarz from the Church of Sacred Heart of Jesus & St Cuthbert in Bedford said it was a "profanation as it is a holy area".

Parishioners said the graves, which date back over 200 years, were first attacked on the night of 26 July and then more were vandalised on Monday evening.

Insp Vicky Stoughton from Bedfordshire Police said that "officers will continue to engage with the church to help prevent further offences and identify those involved".

St. Cuthbert's was taken over by the Church of England in the 16th Century and became a Polish parish in 1979.

Gina Marszalek, who is a member of the parish committee, described the attacks on "the sacred tombs" as "very disturbing".

She said the attack on Monday may have involved a hammer or something similar and the perpetrators may have been looking for something or hiding something.

She posted pictures of the damaged graves on social media "to raise awareness and to encourage anyone to come forward".

"I was absolutely amazed and overwhelmed at the response of the local residents who with one voice condemned these very violent and disturbing acts," she said.

She added that "ultimately these are sacred places where somebody's remains have been laid to rest and they should stay that way.

"Unfortunately somebody or a group of people have decided that it is not somewhere they consider to be sacred."

Wojciech Lapinski, 37, who is the Health and Safety coordinator for the parish said he was first informed about the vandalism by the alcoholic anonymous (AA) group which holds meetings at the church.

He said he would like to raise money for extra security at the church including CCTV.

Insp Stoughton said: "Following the initial report, a member of our Crime Bureau contacted the individual who made the report to provide an update on the status of the investigation.

"A further report was received shortly after 12.30pm on 26 August and officers attended the scene within 24 hours to take a statement.

"St Cuthbert's Church and the surrounding area are regularly patrolled by our community policing team."

Catholic priest forced to leave Texas amid visa backlog and residency denial

A Mexican-born Catholic priest who has served in the Diocese of Laredo, Texas, for nine years must leave the United States because his application for residency was denied and his religious worker visa is expiring.

Father Alan Sanchez, the pastor of St. Joseph Church in La Pryor and St. Patrick Mission in Batesville, will return to his native country of Mexico on Wednesday, Aug. 27, amid the visa issues. He will be received into the Archdiocese of Monterrey in northeastern Mexico when he arrives.

“Originally, I was hopeful … [this would] be resolved,” Sanchez told CNA.

“I was sad [when I got the news] because of the community I was serving,” he said. “This is a very small and poor community in Texas and this was my first role as a pastor.”

Sanchez applied for residency two years ago but said the process was repeatedly delayed and then his application was eventually denied in November 2024. He appealed the denial and later applied for a different visa but said he ultimately “ran out of time.” He still hopes the matter can be resolved so he can return to his parish at some point.

“I spoke to my bishop about it and the attorney, but there’s nothing else that [I] can do except return to Mexico,” he said.

Sanchez said the delay was caused by a backlog of applicants and that he was denied because of a lack of available spots for visas. He noted that asylum seekers and unaccompanied minors were given priority and that priests cannot have a “change of status for residency, because the spots are already taken.”

He said the prioritization is “understandable” and “certainly fine” but added that many foreign-born priests also need to transition to residency.

“Because there is no availability, they are just denying it,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez explained that “I don’t think this is political” but rather “this is the process — this is what’s going on.”

“It’s just like the process, the way it is, and of course it’s heartbreaking to see that happening but it seems that it’s out of my hands,” he added.

Sanchez asked the faithful to pray for him and expressed hope that “this can be resolved.” He also said he hopes this raises awareness about issues with the current immigration system and warned that other priests are facing the same struggle, which could ultimately exacerbate the priest shortage if it is not addressed by Congress.

“It’s a call to make awareness that the immigration system needs to be expanded [to] a point and I think there is room for everybody as long as we can do it in a good way,” Sanchez said.

Bishop James Tamayo of the Diocese of Laredo appointed Father Heleodoro Lozano — who is the parochial vicar of St. Jude Church in Laredo — to take over Sanchez’s role beginning on Thursday, Aug. 28.

The diocese told CNA in a statement that Sanchez “will temporarily return to Mexico … until this process is resolved” and that the diocese helped him obtain legal counsel and will “continue to walk with him in prayer and assistance.”

“We are profoundly grateful for the generosity of spirit, pastoral care, and joy [Sanchez] has brought to the people of St. Joseph and St. Patrick,” the diocese said.

“His presence is deeply cherished, and we remain hopeful that he will soon return to continue his mission of faith and service among us,” the statement added. “Like all dioceses, we long to keep our priests serving their communities, and we will continue to pray and work diligently so that Father Sánchez may once again minister among the faithful of our diocese.”

Sanchez noted that some lawmakers are trying to address the concern with the bipartisan Religious Workforce Protection Act. The proposed legislation would ease the process for extending religious visas.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview earlier this month on EWTN’s “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo” that President Donald Trump’s administration is “committed” to fixing the backlog.

“I’ve been in touch with a number of our cardinals here in the United States and bishops about that as well,” Rubio said, “and it’s not only the Catholic Church — I mean there are other places that are being impacted, but we’re trying to streamline that process.”

Several bishops have endorsed the Religious Workforce Protection Act and have expressed concerns that without some type of action, the number of foreign-born priests being forced out of the United States will continue to increase.

Louisiana judge orders return of devices to ex-priest caught having sex on church altar

A judge in Louisiana has ordered the return of electronics belonging to an ex-Roman Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to obscenity for being caught having sex with two dominatrices atop a church altar while still belonging to the clergy in 2020.

However, the judge also told authorities to erase all data from the devices and storage media as a precaution against videos taken of the tryst from becoming public.

The ruling from state court judge Ellen Creel came in the case centering on Travis Clark as well as dominatrices whose professional names are Lady Vi (also known as Satanatrix) and Empress Ming. The videos in question have been under indefinite court seal ever since the trio’s encounter made international news headlines in 2020.

Clark’s attorneys, Marc Hoerner and Michael Kennedy, said that Creel on 4 August signed an order authorizing law enforcement officials to return cellphones, tablets, computers, gaming consoles, flash drives and memory cards they had seized from Clark while he was under investigation.

Even though Hoerner said that he does not believe any of the sealed videos are on Clark’s electronics, the former clergyman was still awaiting his property’s return on Friday while officials wiped them clean of all data.

Hoerner added that he does not believe the dominatrices – who ultimately pleaded guilty to misdemeanors – have ever sought the return of electronics seized from them during the case. Yet, if they ever did get them back, officials would wipe those electronics of all data, too, Hoerner said.

Kennedy and Hoerner declined further comment. But the Guardian has learned from multiple sources with knowledge of the case that – among other things – the videos depicted a communion wine chalice being urinated in.

The videos also depict Clark wearing a style of underwear typically worn by women as well as engaging in a sex act in a dormitory on the grounds of the church where he once served as pastor in Pearl River, Louisiana, about 40 miles (64km) north of New Orleans, the numerous sources said.

Clark, Lady Vi and Empress Ming all fell under authorities’ scrutiny after a passerby peering through a window saw the three evidently filming themselves having sex on the sanctuary altar at Sts Peter and Paul church on 30 September 2020.

Police responded to the church after they were called by the passerby, who took a cellphone video of what he could see. Beside arresting the group, officers confiscated stage lights, recording devices and sex toys.

New Orleans archbishop Gregory Aymond – whose archdiocese had filed for federal bankruptcy protection months earlier amid the fallout of a decades-old clergy child molestation scandal – had the altar burned and consecrated a replacement.

Hoerner has previously maintained that Clark’s actions may have offended Catholics but were legal, consensual acts among adults. Nonetheless, Hoener has said, for his client to move on with his life, Clark pleaded guilty to obscenity in 2022.

The women, who traveled to Pearl River, Louisiana, from out of state, pleaded guilty that same year to institutional vandalism, and like Clark they were sentenced to probation.

Clark ended up serving some jail time after he was found to have violated his probation terms by giving an interview to New Orleans’s NBC affiliate in which he explained the episode from his perspective.

He told the NBC station, WDSU, that the celibate life Catholic priests promise to lead along with the social-distancing practices implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic at the time left him facing “issues of loneliness and wanting human interaction”.

“Struggling and falling, sinning, too – priests sin as well,” said Clark, who voluntarily left the priesthood. He went on to say that he still believes in God and continued considering “mercy and forgiveness very important”.

Lady Vi gave an interview in October’s issue of Hustler magazine in which she said she had been “invited to film porn”, and the shoot location was at the church.

“Unfortunately, trespassers filmed us without our consent,” Lady Vi told the publication. She referred to the group’s subsequent prosecution, criticized the media’s coverage of the case, alluded to remarks from Aymond that the altar sex was “demonic” and asserted: “What matters is that we were consenting adults filming porn in a private location.

“But because we were in the [southern US region known as the] Bible Belt and the building had mythical significance, it was deemed a crime.”