Catholic church pays bills for suspended priest

The Catholic Church is paying the legal bills for a Christchurch parish priest despite laying the complaint that started a police inquiry into financial irregularities. 

Father John Fitzmaurice was stood down from his duties as parish priest at the Sacred Heart Church, in Addington, last month after Bishop of Christchurch Barry Jones became concerned about his handling of some of the church's financial affairs. 

Since then the bishop has laid a formal complaint with police and a fraud inquiry is under way.

Fitzmaurice has been chairman of the diocese council of priests and administrator of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. 

"The police will follow their own procedures and make their own investigations," Jones said.

"Because of this, I am not able to provide further information or make further comment."

 

However, he confirmed that the church was supporting Fitzmaurice financially and spiritually through the police investigation and he was still being paid his allowances, which covered his living costs.

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Sinead O’Connor wants to shoot Pope Benedict if he comes to Ireland

Sinead O’Connor has threatened to shoot the pope if he visits Ireland in an expletive loaded assault on Pope Benedict.ear for her mental state after her outburst, which has shocked those closest to her.

She warned of a "f ***in bloodbath" if Pope Benedict was to visit Ireland as has been mooted.

Her latest ouburst came on Twitter after a poll was carried out on whether Pope Benedict should visit Ireland.

She warned that there would be a "f **kin bloodbath". She tweeted "'Young people of Ireland I love u' said Sinead as she pulled the f ***ing trigger,"

‘Young People of Ireland I love You” is the phrase made famous by Pope John Paul 11 when he came to Ireland in 1979

Sinead also wrote; "There'd be a f**kin bloodbath. Me meet the f **ker off the plane myself," she added.

O’Connor is infamous for tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul on Saturday Night Live in 1992 when she showed a photo of Pope John Paul II to the camera while chanting the word "evil", after which she tore the photo into pieces, and said "Fight the real enemy."

A senior bishop in the Celtic Church, who also left the priesthood and has been critical of the pope took issue with Sinead in the  Evening Herald newspaper.

Antrim Bishop Pat Buckley today stated the comments were "extreme" "This is extreme language and it's very worrying," he said.

"I spoke to Sinead a while ago and she's an incredibly talented person. She's a genius in fact. But she's clearly very vulnerable. We cannot condone that type of language, they are very extreme words to use."

"I would hope that if there are people close to her, that they will support her during this time. She appears by her comments that she's near the edge."

Earlier this month O’Connor stated that she wanted to commit suicide after the breakup of her third marriage.

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Report highlights fury at society's silence over clerical child-abuse

AN ambitious study of the clerical child-abuse scandals in Ireland by Amnesty International suggests that people are as angry with society as they are the State over the institutional abuse of children.

The study, commissioned by Amnesty International Ireland, finds that while 83 per cent of those polled are angry with the State, marginally more, at 84 per cent, are "angry that wider society didn't do more". 

More than half found the subject of the Ryan Report on institutional child abuse too overwhelming to know what to think, while one-third said they didn't know what the report said.

The national poll is part of an extensive research study commissioned by Amnesty to establish the reasons why clerical child abuse was allowed to continue unchecked for so long in Ireland.

The silence of so many Irish people emerges as a key factor, according to Amnesty's executive director Colm O'Gorman, and the poll findings suggest the public acknowledges this.

The 100,000-word document, called 'In Plain Sight', was launched by Children's Minister Frances Fitzgerald. 

It includes significant new research by social historian Dr Carole Holohan based on the four inquiries into clerical sex abuse -- Ferns, Ryan, Murphy and Cloyne. It also sets out how children's human rights were violated under international law. 

But the apparent complicity of wider Irish society in allowing clerical and institutional abuse of children to continue for so long is expected to be one of the study's more controversial findings. 

"The reports [on clerical abuse] reveal really serious failures at every level of Irish society; failures of law, of policy, of politics, of religious organisations," said Mr O'Gorman. "But they also reveal that these failures were only possible because so many of us either stayed silent or were silenced. The kind of society we are is one of our creation, and if we are to change it for the better we must be prepared to learn from our past failures." 

Amnesty's study reminds us that many of the factors are still with us -- such as a lack of accountability in State bodies responsible for child protection, and the failure of the justice system to bring to book those who knew what was going on. 

Pearse Mehigan, a solicitor and contributor to the Amnesty study, says the failure to prosecute abusers, and those who facilitated and covered up the crimes, continues to be "one of the great failings of our justice system".

Mehigan, who acts for the advocacy group for clerical abuse victims, One in Four, reminds us that a law was passed in 1997 that makes it an offence to "impede the prosecution" of someone accused of an "arrestable offence". 

"Failure to report to the statutory authorities and the use of mental reservation to conceal crimes and information should surely result in prosecutions," he says. Yet no member of the Catholic Church or its hierarchy has been charged with this offence.

"If the criminal justice system fails to prosecute criminality on the grand scale revealed in the various reports into clerical child abuse goes unaddressed, then an environment of impunity will continue to exist," says Mehigan.

He calls for a review of the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions to establish the "number of complaints, if any, it received over the years concerning members of the clergy and the religious . . ."

Every single one of those files "should be re-opened and examined as to the reasons why individuals were not prosecuted.

"The DPP's right not to have to give a reason for decisions not to prosecute ought to be overlooked in the interests of human rights accountability to ascertaining whether or not there were political machinations in force behind the decision-making process". 

As for victims of clerical abuse who struggled to be believed, it wasn't so long ago when Andrew Madden heard parishioners praise the very priest who had sexually abused him as an altar boy. 

Madden, another contributor to the Amnesty report, was the first victim of clerical sex abuse to go public in 1995. 

After his abuser, Fr Ivan Payne, was identified by RTE, parishioners in Sutton -- where the priest remained for 14 years after Madden's initial complaint -- were disbelieving. 

An elderly parishioner in Sutton told the Irish Independent: "I can't believe he did this, he was the best of priests. He married, christened and buried people and since he left he's been back to do weddings because he was so well-liked."

A 16-year-old girl said vague rumours about the priest had been circulating since the previous year: "But I don't think anyone believed them and I still find it hard to believe now." 

What astounded Andrew Madden was the "lack of anger at the Catholic Church from the people in Sutton for sending them a priest who had previously admitted the sexual abuse of a child".

The four reports on clerical sex abuse, one more shocking than the next, reported on crimes of the past. 

"The focus cannot be purely on the past, as if these reports have no relevance for Irish society now," said Mr O'Gorman. "We must consider the degree to which they reveal vital truths about the nature of our society today. The past can only become history once we have addressed it, learnt from it and made the changes necessary to ensure that we do not repeat mistakes and wrongdoing. We haven't done that yet." 

Amnesty plans to hold a symposium on the findings of 'In Plain Sight' in the coming months.

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Secret church lodger jailed for theft

A man who took keys of a church from a presbytery and lodged secretly in its loft, has been jailed for six months at Cavan District Court for stealing money from its charity boxes. 

Ossie Keyes of 25 Rocklands, Cavan, was handed the sentence for handling a set of keys for St Clare's Church on Main Street, Cavan, and a concurrent six months for the burglary of the church between July 3 and 9.  

The court heard that Keyes was living in the church loft and stole an estimated €1,100 from the charity boxes.

Inspector Seamus Boyle told Judge Sean MacBride that over a period of time a sum of money had been taken from charity boxes in St Clare's. 

A number of marked notes were placed to confirm that theft was ongoing and these were also taken.

There had been a burglary in the presbytery earlier when the key of St Clare's was taken and it was found in the defendant’s possession.  Gardaí also became aware that someone was in the church and following a lengthy search they found the defendant in the loft and it appeared he had been there for some time.

Defending solicitor Bríd Mimnagh said her client was a carpenter but had lost his job and his dole was stopped as he didn't have an address in Cavan at the time.  

She said Keyes only took the money he needed to live on from the boxes and was very apologetic and co-operated fully with the Gardaí. 

His parents were dead and the family home had been sold some time ago, Ms Mimnagh explained. 

Judge McBride said his hands were tied in relation to a custodial sentence and the defendant was in no position to offer recompense.  

While he appreciated Keyes had fallen on hard times, to go into a church where people worshipped and steal money, money to keep the church going, was hard to understand. 

"I feel the appropriate sentence is one of six months and I will back date it to July 28 when he was taken into custody." 

Two other burglary charges between June 26 and July 2 and July 10 and 16 were taken into account. 

The court heard further charges were facing the defendant in connection with theft, forgery and using a false instrument at locations in Offaly and Westmeath.

 

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You are usurpers, AMiE tells C of E ‘Establishment’

THE Anglican Mission in England (AMiE), a group formed in June to provide alternative episcopal over­sight for conservative Evangelicals (News, 1 July), has compared its for­ma­­tion to the Arab Spring in the Middle East, and has told “the Church of England Establishment” that it “will not be robbed of its An­gli­can identity”.

Writing on the AMiE website, Canon Chris Sugden, secretary of the Panel of Bishops of AMiE, and Canon Vinay Samuel, a member of the Steering Committee of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, describe the formation of the new society as a “game changer”. 

It indicates that conservatives will “no longer play the game of the Church of England as defined by the Church of England Establishment”. 

The group, which procured the ordination of three clerics from the diocese of Southwark in Kenya in June, speaks of a “wall of silence” from the C of E in the face of its griev­ances about homosexual prac­tice and the draft legislation for consecrating women bishops. It also complains of a lack of support for church-planting. 

The authors compare AMiE to the initial protesters in Tahrir Square, Cairo, earlier this year. 

The formation of AMiE is, they say, “a standing together that demonstrates a different way of doing things. It has a different view of mission through planting churches and organising for growth. . . It . . . embraces a global Anglican identity based on the Bible rather than a technical institutional identity.”

The authors say that AMiE has a different view of women in ministry, which “does not seek to compete as though it is a matter of power and stat­us”, and a different view of mar­riage and sexuality, “which is not based on the interchangeability of the genders”. 

AMiE views “the current malaise as a gradual process of destabilising biblically faithful Anglican witness and ministry”. It seeks to enable “orthodox biblical mission”. 

The launch of AMiE is a process of moving “to the public square” and saying: “We will not be robbed of our Anglican identity. We will not be marginalised. You are the usurpers.” 

Responding, the Revd Colin Coward, director of Changing Atti­tude, a group campaigning on behalf of gay Anglicans, criticised the “extreme” comparison of the Bishop of Southwark’s actions with “the actions of tyrannical leaders in Egypt, Libya and Syria”. 

He suggested that Canon Sugden should resign from the General Synod, and that the Bishop of Lewes, the Rt Revd Wallace Benn, should resign his see. 

“I don’t expect either of them to take such action, because AMiE has too much invested in power and authority and in their campaign to force the Church of England to adopt their narrow, sectarian, schismatic pattern of faith.” 

The Revd Jonathan Clark, who chairs Affirming Catholicism, des­cribed the statement as a “tend­entious misrepresentation” of the C of E. 

“It’s not just that they want to set up a Church based on the myth of doctrinal purity, nor that they seem to want to do so from within the Church of England, rather than doing the decent thing and leaving. It’s that they have the temerity to claim that they are the true inheritors of Anglican identity. We’re a Church full of diversity, for a diverse nation.”

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Meeting heralds new era for episcopacy

THE House of Bishops must be ready for a change of culture now, before the final vote on accepting women into the episcopate, Dr Williams heard on Monday.

A day-long conference was hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace on Monday, after discussions with groups such as Women and the Church (WATCH), and the women Deans, Archdeacons, and Residentiary Canons group (DARC). 

The day was reflective and wide-ranging in its discussions, said the Rector of St James’s, Piccadilly, the Revd Lucy Winkett. “People talked about issues like clergy couples and flexible working, and the impact on a priest’s vocation — all issues that have been highlighted by the ordination of women. 

“But we talked more about what it meant to be a priest in a modern age. There was a general feeling that priesthood has been bureaucratised. There will be a great culture change for the House of Bishops if women are made bishops, and there was a strong feeling that it would be healthy for more than one woman to be appointed as a bishop at first.” 

Women had now been priests for more than 17 years, she said, and, as the women-bishops legislation neared its final stages, it was felt that there was a need to look ahead to the future. 

Two women bishops attended the conference to share their experiences: the Rt Revd Mary Gray-Reeves, Bishop of El Camino Real, California; and the Rt Revd Kay Goldsworthy, Bishop of Perth, in Western Australia. 

Bishop Gray-Reeves presided at the eucharist at the end of the day; Dr Williams sat in the congregation. Bishop Gray-Reeves also gave the keynote address, in which she spoke about different models of exercising power, and her experience of building good relationships with parishes that did not support the ordination of women. She told the conference that dealing with difference by building legal walls divided the Church and prevented the healing of differences. 

Mary Johnston, a lay member of the General Synod, who heads a grouping of liberal Catholics, was also present. She was one of about 60 participants, who included male and female bishops, priests, and lay people. She said that the day had been “worth while and very positive. 

“It was exciting that Rowan said he wasn’t out to achieve ‘balance’, but he wants something more profound and prophetic. He wants a reappraisal of what it means to be a bishop. He was looking beyond the women-in-the-episcopate legislation. The day wasn’t about that, but he did talk about getting the House of Bishops ready for change. He also was worried about the creeping bureaucratisa­tion of the priesthood, and said that he wanted something different for priests. He talked about a change of culture in the Church and the world, and achieving a ‘prophetic theology’ of gender."

“Women talked of challenges they had faced over the past 20 years, and we heard how women collectively have a ministry of endurance and hope,” Mrs Johnston said. 

The Revd Rachel Weir, who chairs WATCH, said: “The Lambeth day provided much-needed space for reflection and for celebration. We look forward to taking the conversations forward, and seeing what will emerge in the longer term from this welcome initiative. We are very grateful to Archbishop Rowan for being so generous with his time.” 

A summary of the discussion will now go to the House of Bishops for its consideration.

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SNAP gives abuse victims a voice, but its tactics are questioned

At local news conferences and vigils, they hold to their chests photos of youngsters, usually themselves.

Kids — in Kodachrome color or black and white — smiling in their Sunday best.

In most cases, the pictures were snapped decades ago, when the fresh-faced subjects were being molested, they’d later allege, by Kansas City’s Catholic clergy.

Today they are citizen soldiers in a group called SNAP, or the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. 

In recent months they’ve been converging on public places across the metro almost on a weekly basis.

Media-savvy and quick to mobilize, they showed up outside the Jackson County Courthouse in April to demand that authorities launch a grand jury investigation into what SNAP called cleric sex crimes and cover-ups in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

Clay County soon filed child-pornography charges against the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, although officials dismiss SNAP’s influence. Now, a grand jury in Jackson County appears to be focused on how diocesan leaders have handled such cases.

The Roman Catholic Church initiated reforms years ago to keep sex crimes and hush-hush from recurring. But developments here are raising the specter that abuses have continued, which the Chicago-based SNAP fears may be happening everywhere.

Few would dispute that horrors have been exposed and justice delivered during SNAP’s 23 years — the first decade mostly spent as lonely voices with few authorities, or believers, in their corner.

But the support and advocacy group has its detractors, particularly when its members leaflet a neighborhood to warn of a long-ago perpetrator living there — as some did earlier this year in Overland Park.

The organization this month drew global headlines, and some scorn, when a legal advocacy group, on SNAP’s behalf, asked the International Criminal Court to investigate possible crimes against humanity by top levels of the Vatican for sheltering guilty priests.

A “ludicrous publicity stunt,” said the Vatican’s U.S. lawyer, Jeffrey Luna, in a statement to the press.

SNAP has withstood such ridicule to help transform the public discourse and strategies for exposing sexual victimization in the church.

“The church has gotten better because of the various lawsuits that SNAP’s been involved in,” said Terry McKiernan, an independent Catholic watchdog whose website, BishopAccountability.org, tracks complaints against priests.

“To create,” he continued, “this nationwide, now worldwide, family that gets people to talk about what they would never think of talking about before? That’s incredible.”

Jim Caccamo is chairman of the Kansas City diocese’s independent review board, which the church instituted after scandal exploded in Boston in 2002. He said: “I wish there was no SNAP.…If sexual abuse allegations had been handled properly, there would be no SNAP. But it’s a group filling a valued niche to make sure these cases are handled in a normal, appropriate way. Somebody had to stand up and do that.”

Threadbare group

David Clohessy grew up Catholic in central Missouri.

Twenty years ago this month, the one-time ACORN activist filed his own lawsuit alleging a priest abused him starting at about age 11.

“He very carefully groomed me,” said Clohessy, SNAP’s national director, from his St. Louis area home last week. “He’d take me canoeing. The first time I saw the ocean, saw the mountains, was with this guy … back when parents considered it a huge honor to go on vacations with the priest.”

Clohessy joined SNAP in its infancy — then a threadbare nonprofit founded by social worker Barbara Blaine, who reported her own abuse in 1985 and still serves as the group’s president.

Clohessy’s willingness to go public ultimately led to TV interviews with Oprah Winfrey and “60 Minutes.”

After Boston newspapers exposed scandal in the church, The New York Times sat down with Clohessy and People magazine named him among the “25 Most Intriguing People” of 2003.

For the group’s outreach director, Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, the childhood photo she often holds recalls the girl who attributed her molestation to God punishing her for once wearing brown shoes, not her snappy dress ones, to church.

“When you look at me now, you see an old lady,” said Dorris, 63. “What you really need to see is a 6-year-old,” the age she alleges her abuse began.

Despite the organization’s growth — it claims more than 10,000 members in 61 U.S. chapters, plus organizers in Europe and Australia — SNAP hardly qualifies as cash-rich. 

It reported to the IRS income from donations and grants totaling about $400,000 in 2009, resulting in a reported shortfall of $78,291.

Clohessy and Blaine each earned a reported $85,460 that year for their efforts, and Dorris earned $52,000, completing the bulk of the payroll.

“What we do and what people think we do is radically, radically different,” said Clohessy. “We spend 90 percent of our time out of the public spotlight — not talking at all, but listening.”

Listening to survivors.

They include Mike Hunter, a SNAP volunteer who leads the Kansas City chapter.

Like many members, Hunter struggled through school, became alcoholic and for decades kept secret the time his priest thrust a hand down his pants. That was the extent of Hunter’s abuse, he said, but the toll was worse for younger brother Kevin. 

Sexually assaulted for years, Kevin would spiral into drug addiction, contract AIDS and die at age 29, said Hunter.

Also like many members, Mike Hunter has left the Catholic faith.

“I figure, if you’re for the church and the way it conducts itself, then you’re for child abuse,” he said.

He keeps a black spiral notebook stuffed with scribbled notes and the phone numbers of hundreds of alleged victims who have cold-called him since the 1990s.

Hunter in 2008 was among 47 plaintiffs who, with attorney Rebecca Randles, divvied up a $10 million settlement with the Kansas City diocese.

The bundled lawsuit accused a dozen priests of abusing the plaintiffs as children, mostly between the 1950s and early 1980s.

Working closely with SNAP, Randles credited Hunter for rushing to the emotional aid of other plaintiffs when their resolve would weaken or a personal crisis — job loss, marital trouble, substance abuse — would strike.

“That’s SNAP’s greatest asset,” she said. “Eighty-five to 90 percent of these victims face those moments when they desperately need to reach out. And SNAP is there. I truly think some wouldn’t be alive otherwise.”

Clohessy jokingly acknowledges the challenges of leading a diverse set of members — religious, anti-religion, gay, anti-gay — all sharing a damaged childhood:

“The only thing harder than herding cats is herding cats that were tremendously wounded as little cats … They tend to be horribly mistrustful of authority.”

Critics snap back

Many church leaders and other critics of SNAP argue that its militancy — calling press conferences, for example, to name retired priests accused in lawsuits filed by John Doe plaintiffs — undercuts its caring side.

Some point to the group’s petition to the world court.

Anger over abuses by some in the clergy is understandable, “but this group has gone off the deep end,” said William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, a pro-priest group. “Their goal is to get the pope! Case closed.”

Clohessy earlier this month told Time magazine: “We don’t think the pope will be hauled off in handcuffs next week or next month. By the same token, our long-term chances are excellent.”

The Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese declined to comment for this story.

While SNAP has insisted on transparency and accountability within the church, critics note that the group, which has accepted donations from law firms, hasn’t specified in IRS filings who contributes to its income.

Dorris said most comes from members who wish to donate, and that listing the names of sexual-abuse victims is out of the question.

The IRS does not require a breakdown of all donors.

Law firms commonly contribute to nonprofit advocacy groups that direct clients their way, though the ethics are fuzzy. 

“We’ve never engaged in any quid pro quo,” said Kansas City lawyer Randles, who said she donated $400 to SNAP last year.

“They deserve more than I’ve given them,” she added. “I provide much more in contributions to Southwest Baptist University than to SNAP.”

Even a local victim of cleric abuse questions SNAP’s intent.

Craig Wilkerson, one of the plaintiffs in Randles’ 2008 settlement with the diocese, remains a devout Catholic in Lee’s Summit. He said his faith teaches “we all need forgiveness. If we can’t forgive these perpetrators, then how do we get forgiveness in the end?”

Some of the hostilities toward SNAP reflect the sharp wedge between liberals and conservatives across Catholicism and the nation, said David Biersmith, a local director of Voice of the Faithful, a support group for sex-abuse victims still committed to their faith.

“I’m the most Catholic person you’ll ever meet,” said Biersmith, who learned that two of his sons were abused by clergy long ago.

Whereas Biersmith’s group advocates for reforms within the church, SNAP has focused its attention on the courts and law enforcement. 

“We share a lot of the same concerns,” he said. “By working with lawyers, SNAP is getting things done, and I’m totally right with that.”

The main goal for both, he said, is to keep children safe.

Getting the shakes

Until Ratigan’s arrest in May, abuse cases within the local diocese reached back to crimes allegedly committed more than 20 years ago. 

Though several priests and ex-priests were implicated and civil suits settled, none had been criminally prosecuted.

Charges against Ratigan relate to allegations of lewd photographs on his computer — of present-day juveniles — brought to the attention of diocese officials months earlier.

Perhaps as a result of that and the grand jury’s investigation into the diocese, whatever detractors SNAP had within the community failed to show at a recent town hall meeting in the Northland. 

A packed house of angry Catholics and concerned parents joined SNAP members to share information and discuss strategies.

For SNAP volunteer Kay Goodnow, 75, of Lenexa, “the whole goal is to let these parents know there is danger” so no child gets hurt again.

But rallying to the cause can still trigger flashbacks to when she was 14 and a priest more than twice her age told her to never, never, never tell.

“Every time I get a phone call about another press conference — just knowing I’m violating that secret — for a minute I get the shakes,” Goodnow said.

Other survivors say they get queasy from the smell of incense, or tremble at the sight of stained glass.

“We call it triggering,” said Janet Patterson of Conway Springs, Kan.

In 1999, her adult son Eric relayed to his parents the cause of his debilitating depression since age 12, when he was an altar boy. Eric, sexually abused by the family priest, committed suicide at 29.

The priest later pleaded guilty to sex crimes but denied molesting Eric Patterson.

His mother has since relied on one of SNAP’s most effective tools, the Internet, to track the movements of accused priests and to shoot e-mails to inquiring Catholics. 

She has used her computer and incoming messages to tally the names of more than 150 abuse victims who have killed themselves.

Still, she isn’t as active in SNAP as she used to be.

“After 11 years I’m starting to realize I need to get on with my life,” she said. “Telling the story is pivotal to getting better … but you don’t want to sit and stew in it.”

SNAP by the numbers

10,000 members

35 countries with chapters

30 media events and advisories every month

$420,000 in total revenues in 2009

$498,000 in expenses in 2009

SNAP timeline

1988 Barbara Blaine, a victim of priest sexual abuse, founds the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, holding support meetings in a homeless shelter that she runs in south Chicago. Blaine later earns a law degree and becomes a children’s advocate.

1991 David Clohessy, also a priest sexual abuse victim, becomes SNAP’s national director. Clohessy, of St. Louis, begins to raise the profile of SNAP in Kansas City and nationally, later appearing on the Oprah Winfrey and “60 Minutes” TV shows.

2002 At the height of the priest sexual abuse scandal, four victims — including Clohessy — address the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops at a conference in Dallas. At the historic meeting, the bishops adopt a charter calling for better reporting of allegations.

2008 The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph reaches a $10 million settlement with more than 40 victims of priest sexual abuse. SNAP assists in the lawsuit. The settlement requires the diocese to take new steps to prevent further molestation by priests.

April 2011 At a news conference, SNAP urges the Jackson County prosecutor to launch a grand jury investigation into what it calls priest sex crimes and cover-ups in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. A county grand jury later takes up the issue.

September 2011 SNAP and the Center for Constitutional Rights file a request asking the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate and prosecute Pope Benedict XVI and three other Vatican officials for crimes against humanity, based on allegations of priest sexual abuse and cover-up.

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Polish church and state leaders pray for the EU

Bailouts, crisis meetings, and now divine intervention.

With the European Union deep in crisis, Poland's church leaders held a special Mass on Sunday to pray for European unity and the country's success as it holds the EU presidency.

The service in Warsaw, attended by Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski and other political leaders, came after Polish church leaders held similar prayers for EU unity five days earlier in Brussels.

With the Masses, this deeply Roman Catholic country is putting its own characteristic stamp on a bloc dominated by more secular Western European nations. 

The services also serve as a reminder of the EU's huge popularity in Poland, the largest of the 

bloc's eastern members.

Though Germans and others might be getting fed up with bailing out the Greeks and the Portuguese, the benefits of membership feel very tangible in Poland: EU subsidies have created an economic boom, while Poles enjoy unprecedented freedoms to live and travel across Europe.

Poland, in fact, was the only EU nation to avoid recession in 2009.

Its economy is projected to grow a healthy 4 percent this year — although its markets and currency have been battered lately by fears sparked by the larger European crisis.

Archbishop Jozef Kowalczyk, Poland's top church leader, focused, however, on the more spiritual aspects of European unity, referring several times to John Paul II, the late Polish pope who supported EU membership for his homeland.

Kowalczyk told a packed church that he was giving thanks to John Paul's papacy "and for everything that he did for us so that we might find ourselves in a community of free and democratic countries building the European community."

Catholic Masses are an integral part of life — even political life — in Poland, and the idea of praying for Europe evoked little attention and certainly no mocking or sarcastic commentary here.

Deputy Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak, speaking to The Associated Press ahead of the service, said that while Western Europeans are turning increasingly away from religion, it remains an important part of democratic life in Poland, which remembers how the church was oppressed during the communist era.

"In the East we respect religion more," he said, sitting in a front pew along with other state officials. 

"Religion is a very important component of our lives, especially in turbulent times."

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Long Branch parishoners strike out on their own as 'independent Catholics'

After years of wandering in the metaphorical desert – holding religious services at curbside and later in social halls – the parishioners of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church have found a Sunday home in a borrowed Anglican house of worship.

It is a start, they say, that one day could help them find the literal rock upon which they can build their church, separate from those of the local Roman Catholic diocese and associated with the independent American National Catholic Church, in which parishioners say they have more of a voice and espouse progressive positions that provide a home for divorced Catholics, married priests, female priests and a place for gay couples to marry.

“In many ways, we are more Catholic than the Roman Catholic Church,” said the most Rev. George R. Lucey, presiding bishop of the American National Catholic Church. “We accept everyone.”

The parishioners hail primarily from St. John the Baptist, which the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton shuttered in May 2009 as part of a consolidation program that created Christ the King parish out of Holy Trinity, Our Lady Star of the Sea and those St. John members who did not oppose the merger plan.

St. John – which was comprised largely of Hispanic and Portuguese families – was the only one of the three to be demolished under the plan. Some objecting members in 2010 formed Our Lady of Guadalupe and, beginning this past Sept. 11, found a home at St. James Episcopal Church, where they will conduct Mass every week and begin to lobby those who have drifted away from the church to return.

The demolition of St John the Baptist – which parishioners built in 1978 in a former factory – was part of a list of traumas Our Lady of Guadalupe parishioners say they endured from the Roman Catholic diocese as they unsuccessfully sought an audience with two different bishops.

The parishioners wanted to discuss what they contend was flawed evidence that led the bishops to support the closure of St. John the Baptist over the other two diocesan churches.

“We had big hopes” of Bishop David M. O’Connell, who succeeded the retiring Bishop John M. Smith in running the Trenton diocese, said churchgoer Noel Romero, 56, of Tinton Falls.

But in the end, Trenton was silent.

“They sent us a letter that said there is nothing to talk about,” he said.

But for Our Lady of Guadalupe, there was plenty to discuss, from whether the committee that studied the consolidation plan handled the issue objectively to which Roman Catholic churches in Long Branch were growing and thus could bring more money to the diocese to St. John’s $2 million building fund.

But mostly it was about trying to continue to place the church in the center of the community’s spiritual and cultural life in a way that did not feel completely compromising.

“We were looking for a process to continue our Catholicism,” said Angel Martinez, 66, of Eatontown, who was a founding member of St. John in 1978.

Martinez said he is supports the more progressive elements of the church’s canon, because it is all about making Catholics feel included.

“We understand everyone should come to the table and participate,” said Martinez.

Their bad feelings seem to center upon the Rev. Juan Daniel Peirano, a former Peruvian military officer who served as pastor for St. John and now, Christ the King. He could not be reached for comment. Church members have posted videos on YouTube they say helps demonstrate Peirano treated many parishioners with disdain.

Meanwhile, the new church is moving forward. Preparation classes for Eucharist and Confirmation are held weekly, according to Our Lady of Guadalupe’s newly operational website, which also contains details about choir practice and bible study.

In August, the church conducted its first ever First Holy Communion.

“Nothing has changed as far as our belief in our sacraments,” said Rivero, 50, of Ocean Township.

For him – and other parishioners of the independent church – there is nothing left of their relationship with the Roman Catholic church, no way to repair what no longer exists.

 “I think we’ve exhausted the means to get to them,” Rivero said. “It hurt so much that we were not heard. We tried in so many different ways to stay Roman Catholic. We just needed our own place and … I think at some point, (Trenton) said ‘Let them go.’ ”

After his experiences at the diocese, parishioner Virgilio Lozano believes the church needs to be more inclusive.

“I don’t think anyone can tell you how to believe,” he said. “You are responsible for that yourself.”

One plus to Our Lady of Guadalupe members is church assets remain with the parish which means the American National Catholic Church hierarchy cannot order the church closed and demolished and cannot seize assets from property sales, said Lucey.

“We are not afraid they are going to take our properties,” confirmed Romero. In fact, say members of the local church, the American National Catholic Church is not even requiring a portion of church collections – not while there is still so much to do to establish the church locally.

“They told us, ‘Put it into your building treasury,’ said Romero. “Build your building first.”

The Trenton diocese declined to respond to inquiries about the issue, instead pointing to a statement O’Connell issued in June expressing his concern over “alternative” or independent Catholics.

O’Connell said his greatest fear was that organizers of Our Lady of Guadalupe would take “other well-intentioned Catholics down with them, leading them away from the practice of their faith under the pretense of legitimacy.”

Church members say Trenton treats them without respect, addressing correspondence “to whom it may concern” and applying pressure on the church’s pastor, who was ordained in the Roman Catholic Church in 1976 but left 30 years ago to marry and have a family. 

Trenton alleges the Rev. Anthony J. Testa Jr. is misrepresenting himself as an ordained Roman Catholic priest.

“I’m amazed at their faith, their energy, their desire to come together and pray,” said Testa, who believes serving Our Lady of Guadalupe answers his own vocational call. “We might not be Roman Catholics, but we still have a Catholic tradition dating back to the Apostles.”

The Independent Catholic movement is not new, experts said. 

The Polish American National Church recently celebrated its centennial while the so-called Old Catholics and those who follow the Byzantine rite are even older, said Timothy Matovina, Notre Dame’s William and Anna Jean Cushwa Director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism.

As for the American National Catholic Church, “time will tell” if it endures, said Matovina of the church established in 2009 and now in six states.

“When they see we are getting a bishop and a priest, they understand there are options,” said Lozano of his Roman Catholic neighbors. 

“We’re still Catholics. … This is the new Catholic Church.”

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Vatican quashes pope retirement rumours

The Vatican said Sunday it had no knowledge of a report in an Italian newspaper which said that Pope Benedict XVI could retire after his 85th birthday next year.

"The pope is doing very well. The current trip is very intense. 

But from the point of view of his health, it's been very successful," Benedict's spokesman Federico Lombardi told reporters, adding that he had "no knowledge" of the information printed in the Libero newspaper.

According to the report, which quoted no source and gave no further details, the pope was "concerned that he may not be able to bear the weight" of his office.

"He is considering taking his leave in April, but he may decide otherwise," the Milan-based newspaper said, insisting it was only relaying a rumour that was doing the rounds in the Vatican.

"What we all know is what the pope wrote in his book 'Light of the World'. I don't have any more information," Lombardi said.

"The strength and robustness he has shown during this trip provide eloquent proof of his capacity to continue bearing very heavy engagements."

In his book, published in November last year, Benedict did not rule out retiring if his health demanded it.

But last month in Madrid, the head of the Roman Catholic Church insisted he very much hoped to attend the World Youth Day in Brazil in 2013.

His four-day trip around Germany, his first state visit to his native land, progressed at a breakneck pace, with the pope delivering 18 speeches and celebrating mass for cheering crowds of thousands in three cities.

 

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Prayer To The Holy Cross

I adore You, O glorious Cross,
which was adorned with the Heart and Body
of my Saviour Jesus Christ,
stained and covered with blood.

I adore You, O Holy Cross,
out of love for Him, Jesus,
who is my Saviour and my God.

Prayer To Saint Matthew

 

O Glorious Saint Matthew, in your Gospel you portray Jesus as the longed-for Messiah who fulfilled the Prophets of the Old Covenant and as the new Lawgiver who founded a Church of the New Covenant. 

Obtain for us the grace to see Jesus living in his Church and to follow his teachings in our lives on earth so that we may live forever with him in heaven.

Amen.

Naomh An Lae - Saint Of The Day

St Jerome (340-420) priest and doctor of the Church

Jerome, along with Ambrose, Augustine and Gregory the Great, is one of the four Latin Doctors of the Church. A brilliant scripture scholar, a passionate ascetic, a sarcastic wit and an open friend with women - he makes an intriguing study as a saint. 

Early life

Jerome was born at the Dalmatian town of Stridon, near modern Ljubljana, Slovenia. His education, begun at home, continued in Rome where he studied grammar, rhetoric and philosophy. He was baptised there in 366. While at Trier in Germany, he felt the attraction to be a monk and for some years was linked to an ascetic elite near his home.

At Antioch in Syria 

When the group disbanded, he travelled to the east where he was the guest of Evagrius of Antioch. It was here he had the celebrated nightmare where he found himself facing the judgment seat. On being asked about himself and replying he was a Christian, he heard the reply: mentiris; Ciceronianus es, non Christianus (“You lie; you’re a Ciceronian, not a Christian).

At the Council of Constantinople

He then went as a hermit to Chalcis in Syria (375) where he studied Syriac, Greek and Hebrew. He returned to Antioch where he was ordained (378) and engaged in scripture studies and in translating the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius into Latin. He accompanied the bishop Paulinus to the Council of Constantinople and stayed there to study Scripture under St Gregory Nazianzen.

To Rome as secretary to Pope Damasus

In 382 he accompanied Paulinus to Rome, where Pope Damasus (366-384) engaged him for three years as secretary and asked him to make a Latin translation of the Bible. Jerome was critical of the Roman clergy and of lax monks and nuns. He had a bitter temper and a sarcastic wit, so he made many enemies. He practised asceticism himself and he held classes for a monastic-minded circle of noble Roman widows and virgins, Marcella, Paula and her daughter Eustochium.

To Bethlehem

Not surprisingly, after Pope Damasus's death in 384, a storm of criticism and calumny caused Jerome to leave Rome. Eventually, the summer of 386 found him settled at Bethlehem, where Paula had gone and set up a hostel for pilgrims, a convent for women directed by herself and a monastery for men under Jerome.

Literary output

Jerome lived at Bethlehem - except for brief journeys - until his death. He carried on the literary tasks of bible translation and commentary, as well as controversial theology, ascetical works and letters. His most important work was his translation of the Bible into Latin, which came to be known as the Vulgate and has remained the accepted Latin version up to our own time.

Death and evaluation

Jerome died at Bethlehem and was buried under the church of the Nativity there, close to the graves of Paula and Eustochium. Later his body was translated to the basilica of St Mary Major's in Rome. Jerome's great gift was scholarship and devotion to the Church. And for this he was made a saint and doctor of the Church. His wicked temper, while not excusable, humanises the passionate ascetic. Like the rest of us, he had faults he couldn't overcome.

Tearfund assists victims of Himalaya earthquake

A Christian aid organisation is helping an area of north east India that was struck with a strong earthquake recently.

Tearfund is working with partner agencies in the Himalayan region, where a 6.9 magnitude earthquake in the state of Sikkim knocked down thousands of homes and destroyed roads and buildings.
 

Dozens are reported dead and thousands will be homeless.

Tearfund bosses have released emergency funding to partner relief teams who are assessing the immediate needs.

“Our partner teams in the region will be doing all they can to help the communities affected,” said Robert Schofield, Tearfund Disaster Management Director.

“Temporary shelter, warm clothing, food, water and other essentials are vital, as exposure at altitude in the remote terrain is their biggest concern.”

Heavy rain has caused landslides, and fog has further hampered the emergency response. Indian Army helicopters, together with other emergency services, have distributed some emergency food packages and medical aid, but the stock of these government supplies will soon run out.

With roads and bridges destroyed and vital communications and power lines down, many areas will be hard to reach. Landslides remain a threat to hastily built new buildings in the state’s mountain towns and villages.

“The quality of buildings in the areas affected will be a critical factor,” Schofield added.

“Whilst we hope for the best, relief teams and local communities are likely to see the consequences of poor building design. It is preparedness that makes the difference in any disaster and so often it is bad and hasty construction that claims lives. After the rescue and relief response we will need to work alongside village communities - learn the lessons that enable families to build better homes."

“This Himalayan region has been expecting a major quake. The one that hit on Sunday may serve as a rehearsal for emergency services, as well as a warning for local construction engineers and planners."

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In centuries-old buildings, some Vatican workers have techie paradise

Looking at the centuries-old buildings and palaces, not many people would know that the Vatican has become a techie paradise, a wonderland of modern equipment and know-how.

For instance, the Vatican Library is using NASA technology to digitize its treasures, according to some of the latest facts listed in the “The Activity of the Holy See: 2010,” a yearbook published by the Vatican in September.

Called Flexible Image Transport System, the digital file format is standard among the world’s astronomers for storing, sending and manipulating images.

The library is using the format to digitize some 80,000 manuscripts because the files will be readable long into the future, avoiding the risk of the technology becoming obsolete, the yearbook said.

The Vatican Library reopened in 2010 completely revamped with Wi-Fi for scholars and visitor badges tagged with RFID tracking chips. The radio frequency identification chips are already embedded in many of the library’s open holdings so volumes can be found and re-shelved more easily.

The Vatican’s 1,343-page yearbook for 2010 is filled with reports on the day-to-day activities as well as special projects begun or completed by every Vatican congregation, council, commission and office.

The book says that the Swiss Guards, equipped with historic halberds, are now trained in the latest in personal defense techniques.

All 110 soldiers took a course last year in the Monadnock Defensive Tactics System, self-defense strategy developed in the United States for security officers to “to control and stabilize” unarmed and noncompliant aggressors.

Perhaps it’s not a coincidence the new blocking, restraining and counterstrike skills training came after 2009, 2008 and 2007 saw incidents of people jumping barricades and lunging at the pope.

Vatican Radio is often on the forefront of experimenting with new technologies, and 2010 was no exception. The yearbook said the radio began switching to new digital audio broadcasting methods called DRM, T-DAB and T-DMB, saying the systems “may become powerful channels of communication in the future.”

Vatican Radio launched its Twitter feed in different languages in 2010 and, together with the Vatican Television Center, it launched a new “smooth streaming” service of live high-definition video broadcast of papal events via select Vatican websites and the iPhone.

Thanks to the generosity of the Knights of Columbus and a discount from Sony, the Vatican Television Center added high-definition cameras and a state-of-the-art mobile television studio to its fleet in 2010.

The yearbook reported that the major overhaul of its telecommunications infrastructure begun two years ago is proceeding successfully. A high-speed fiber optic network is being installed over some 250 miles, and the Vatican telephone system is using Voice over Internet Protocol for the delivery of voice and multimedia over the Internet.

The Vatican’s technical services reported they installed a new 1.5 megawatt/hour thermal heating/cooling station and replaced old boilers from the 1970s with new pressurized boilers for high-efficiency heating.

They also reported “positive” energy savings from its rooftop solar panels and high-tech solar collectors, which help heat and cool Vatican buildings.

But some of the technological improvements listed in the yearbook feel more like it’s 1999, not the 21st-century.

For example, smoke detectors, fire alarms and high-resolution surveillance cameras that switch on in case of fire were installed in St. Peter’s Basilica’s sacristy and choir chapel. These two areas are particularly prone to fire, the book said, because of their wood furnishings, flammable materials and the use of candles and incense.

Air-conditioning was expanded to more areas of the Vatican, and the use of ozone-depleting refrigerants was reduced.

Up-to-code electrical wiring and new lighting were installed throughout Vatican City State and its extraterritorial properties like the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo.

The pope’s summer villa in Castel Gandolfo got a hydraulic elevator that can carry up to nine people or 1,500 pounds.

Some 130 feet of old water pipes were ripped up inside Vatican City and replaced with polypropylene tubing.

The Vatican Secret Archives backs up all of its files as well as digital reproductions on LTO4 tape ¬ a magnetic tape data storage technology from the late 1990s ¬ as well as on hard drives, CD-ROMs and DVDs.

The Vatican printing press, which is responsible for printing everything from the Vatican newspaper to books, calendars and business cards, bought a new offset printing machine in 2010, but it said it has plans to buy a digital printing press in the future and to refurbish its rotary press.

The Vatican’s photo service archive is in dire need of modern storage and preservation, the yearbook said, and some negatives risk ruin. The service will eventually purchase two scanners to begin digitizing, archiving and preserving its collections, it said.

Some Vatican departments had mailing-list software or private domain office email installed. The Vatican Museums set up an e-commerce platform, and the Pontifical Council for the Laity’s website was enabled with a Web Content Management System.

The Vatican gardeners even invested in a large wood chipper and mulching blades for the lawnmowers, which significantly reduced the bulk and cost of hauling away yard waste, the yearbook said.

But the trend toward modernity doesn’t mean everything has been modernized.

About a dozen nuns who are members of the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master work the switchboards 24 hours a day, and last year they handled 315,160 calls.

The altars, confessionals and pews in St. Peter’s Basilica are still dusted and cleaned daily by hand.

Artisans and restorers still rely on traditional materials and techniques when creating, repairing or restoring mosaics, frescoes, tapestries and ancient manuscripts.

And the pope’s cows at Castel Gandolfo provide not just organic milk, but also the natural fertilizer for the papal farm, the yearbook said. A manure spreader was even purchased in 2010 to make the job go smoothly.  

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