PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

Mark Abrams

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A veteran Vatican watcher based in our area says people shouldn’t be surprised by the 20 men Pope Francis picked over the weekend to be elevated next month to the position of cardinal in the catholic church.

Some were shocked that the church leaders in the United States were bypassed by the pope. But Philadelphia-based journalist Rocco Palmo, who covers the papacy and church affairs, says Pope Francis wants the College of Cardinals to look more like the universal church – a place where wealth or the size of a diocese is immaterial:

“Francis is using this list to basically to cement his legacy in choosing people who look at the church the way he does and who act the way he does, who will choose his successor and determine the long-term future of the church.”

As to why Philadelphia’s archbishop didn’t get the nod this time for a red hat…

“By Rome standards, Philadelphia already still has a vote – at least for another couple of months in a hypothetical conclave – because Cardinal Rigali is still an active papal elector until he turns 80 this coming April,” Palmo says.

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OREGON
Freethinker

Two people who say that they were sexually abused as children by a leader in a Hillsboro Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation have filed a $10.5 million lawsuit against the cult.

According to this report, attorneys for Velicia Alston, 39, above, and an unnamed man said the Jehovah’s Witnesses leadership continues to cover up sexual abuse against children by leaders. They say it is more than a decade behind other organisations, such as the Catholic Church, that have been forced to address their problems through many years of civil litigation.

Said Irwin Zalkin, one of several attorneys representing Alston and the man:

There is a crisis of silence in the Jehovah’s Witness organisation.

Zalkin described the religious organization as:

More concerned about protecting its reputation than it is about protecting its children.

For example, Zalkin said the seven men who make up the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Governing Body have a policy requiring a confession from the perpetrator or two eye witnesses to the abuse before leaders will take any action.

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UNITED STATES
WBUR

Pope Francis –“The Great Reformer” – just keeps shaking things up. We’ll take a closer look at the motivations of the Pontiff moving the Catholic Church and the world.

The year is young. So is the time of Pope Francis. Without turning a single element of Catholic Church doctrine, the first pope from Latin America – from Argentina – has somehow turned the world’s sense of the Church and its mission and the papacy in a dramatic new direction. We have to “flip the omelet,” says this humble, potent pope. We have to put the interests of the poor first. And that’s not all he’s up to. Pope Francis is the most compelling new figure to come on the world stage in a long time. What drives him? This hour On Point: my guest says we’ve got a radical Pope. Understanding Pope Francis.

– Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Austen Ivereigh, writer and journalist. Author of “The Great Reformer: Francis And The Making Of A Radical Pope.” Founder of the Catholic Voices project. (@austeni)

Phil Pullella, senior Italy and Vatican correspondent for Reuters. (@philippullella)

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

With the upcoming Consistory Francis is continuing along the path he set out on a year ago: restructuring the Curia and focusing on the peripheries whilst doing away with automatically assigned titles

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

More than the statistics and percentage analyses, it was the pronouncement of the names of the new cardinals that really signalled change in the upcoming Consistory: most of the choices made came as a complete surprise and were totally unexpected. Pastors from the peripheries of the world, in many cases bishops of dioceses that had never had a cardinal before. This is a sign that Pope Francis intends to continue along the path he set out on a year ago: cutting down on the number of cardinals who are members of the Curia (on 14 February their number will drop from 30% to 27%); stopping the Cardinalate from being automatically connected to certain sees, that is the unwritten tradition of naming cardinals the archbishops of certain sees considered “cardinalatial sees”; and above all giving a voice to the southern part of the world, thereby allowing the true universality of the Church to increasingly shine through.

The names on the list all appear to be very personal choices made by the Pope: the new cardinals learn about their nominations on the television. The Italian, Edoardo Menichelli, found out through a friend who called up to tell him the news, which at first he believed to be a joke. The elderly Sardinian archbishop Luigi de Magistris, a pupil of Cardinal Ottaviani, was in Cagliari Cathedral listening to faithful’s confessions. Other “chosen-ones” were reluctant to believe journalists as they tried to get a statement. Nothing was leaked and even the timing of the announcement caught many by surprise.

Francis clearly wants to restyle the future Conclave, bringing into the College of Cardinals pastor-electors who have first-hand experience of difficult contexts, in countries like Tonga and Myanmar that act as frontier lines, in regions torn apart by violence such as Morelia in Mexico and sometimes in small Churches or in areas where the Church represents a minority. In Italy, the Pope chose pastors from periphery Churches over bishops from the country’s biggest dioceses, Turin and Venice. Menichelli from Ancona and Francesco Montenegro from Agrigento. The former drives around his diocese in an old Fiat Panda and has started initiatives to help fragile marriages. The latter is the Bishop of Lampedusa and is right in the thick of the immigration problem. Three of the new cardinals are Italian, two of them are electors and one is over 80, which shows Francis’ attention for Italy.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

A Catholic religious order has accepted that paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth abused children while they were in the care of nuns in Northern Ireland, a lawyer has told a public inquiry.

Fr Smyth visited two south Belfast residential homes at the centre of the independent investigation into wrongdoing stretching back decades. He was later convicted of dozens of child abuse charges over a 40-year period .

More than 100 witnesses from Nazareth House and Nazareth Lodge have come forward to the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry, headed by a former judge.

Senior counsel to the inquiry Christine Smith QC said: “Sexual abuse of children was perpetrated by the now notorious Fr Brendan Smyth.”

“There will be evidence given in this module that he abused children both in Nazareth House and in Nazareth Lodge in Belfast,” she said.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Mirror

Jan 05, 2015 By Maurice Fitzmaurice

The homes in Northern Ireland were run by the Sisters of Nazareth and the inquiry heard one witness describe the nuns as “sadistic and bullies”

Paedophile priest Brendan Smyth abused boys at two care homes run by nuns, an inquiry heard Monday.

The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry was told today that a religious order accepts that the notorious cleric abused children in their care.

The inquiry’s barrister, Christine Smith QC, said witnesses have alleged they were abused by Smyth in two care homes, Narareth House and Nazareth Lodge, in south and east Belfast.

The homes were run by the Sisters of Nazareth and today the inquiry heard one witness describe the nuns as “sadistic and bullies”.

The HIA inquiry was set up in 2013 to investigate child abuse in residential institutions in Northern Ireland over a 73-year period, up to 1995 with a total of 13 Northern Ireland institutions being investigated.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Historical Abuse Inquiry told paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth abused children in Belfast care homes

BY MICHAEL MCHUGH – 05 JANUARY 2015

A Catholic religious order has accepted that a notorious paedophile priest abused children while they were in the care of nuns in Northern Ireland, a lawyer told a public inquiry.

Fr Brendan Smyth visited two south Belfast residential homes at the centre of the independent probe into wrongdoing stretching back decades. The serial molester was later convicted of dozens of child abuse charges.

More than 100 witnesses from Nazareth House and Nazareth Lodge have come forward to the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry, headed by a former judge, which is one of the largest investigations of its kind ever held in the UK.

Senior counsel to the inquiry Christine Smith QC said: “Sexual abuse of children was perpetrated by the now notorious Fr Brendan Smyth.”

She added: “There will be evidence given in this module that he abused children both in Nazareth House and in Nazareth Lodge in Belfast.”

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor January 5, 2015

ROME – “Throw the bums out” is a well-recognized instinct in politics, often fueled by cycles of scandal and corruption or simply a perception that the same cast of characters has been in power for too long.

In the 1990s, for instance, the desire to shake things up led to the adoption of term limits in 15 American states, usually due to popular referenda or ballot initiatives. Legislators in those states now are compelled to step down after a fixed period, often six to eight years, ensuring a steady infusion of new faces.

Pope Francis appears driven by that same anti-establishment instinct with the College of Cardinals, the body of senior prelates that sets the tone for leadership in the church and also enjoys the exclusive right to elect the next pope.

The pope announced a lineup of 15 new voting-age cardinals on Jan. 4, and it’s clear he’s changing the mix. The experience of American term limits, however, suggests Francis may need to be attentive to the law of unintended consequences, to avoid inadvertently strengthening the very bureaucracy he’s trying to upend.

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GUAM
Jungle Watch

SCHEDULE OF PASTORAL VISIT OF ARCHBISHOP SAVIO HON TAI-FAI, SDB, SECRETARY OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE EVANGELIZATION OF PEOPLES, ARCHBISHOP MARTIN KREBS, APOSTOLIC DELEGATE TO THE PACIFIC ISLANDS, REV. FR. TADEUSZ (TED) NOVAK, OMI, C.E.P. – OFFICIAL FOR THE PACIFIC REGION

(As you can see, no non-neo priests were given time, not even Fr. Mike Crisostomo who is the president of the clergy association, except for Msgr. James and Fr. Eric (both of whom the visitors themselves probably asked to see because of Msgr. James’ case and Fr. Eric as a representative of the Capuchins.)

JANUARY 4-10, 2015

Saturday, January 3, 2015:
* arrival 10:15 p.m. (UA 197). Greeting of three Guests @ Guam International Airport by Archbishop Anthony and brought to Discalced Carmelites Guesthouse, 153 Tamuning Villa, Tamuning, Guam 96931

Sunday, January 4, 2015:

* 7:30 a.m. Breakfast with Archbishop Anthony
* 9:30 a.m. Pontifical Mass @ Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica with Archbishop Savio as Principal Celebrant & Homilist & Greeting of people following Mass.
* 12:00 pm. Lunch & Rest
* 3:00-5:00 p.m. Quick tour of the island with Vicar General, Msgr. David C. Quitugua, JCD & Dr. David Atienza, Ph.D., and Mr. Joseph Terlaje, Driver of the Van
* 6:30pm. Evening Prayer with Benediction & Dinner @ Redemptoris Mater Seminary, Yona & * Pastoral Visit. Fr. Pablo Ponce Rodriguez, Rector

Monday, January 5, 2015:

* 7:30 a.m. Breakfast with Vicar General, Chancellor & Vice-Chancellor

[Archbishop Anthony asks to be excused @ 7:30 a.m. for the Official Inauguration Ceremonies of Governor & Lt. Governor @ 8:00 a.m. and Inauguration of 33rd Guam Legislators @ 11:00 a.m.

N.B. Private Meeting with Individuals or Small group up to 10 will be at Carmelites 3rd Floor.
Groups of 10 or more will be at St. Anthony Spiritual Center, next to St. Anthony Church, Tamuning]

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

Jennifer Haselberger

01/04/2015

Or so saith Woody Allen.

Interestingly, it was this quote (and in fact the whole ‘trial scene’ from ‘Bananas’) that came to my mind earlier this weekend after a priest emailed me a question. Perhaps surprisingly, the question was not about the ‘investigation’ into Archbishop Nienstedt (although the quote would certainly be apt). Instead, the question that was posed was this: ‘Why do you think Nienstedt appointed [Father Peter] Laird as Vicar General?’

I remember my colleagues and I asking the same question in November of 2009, when it was announced that Laird would be taking over for [Bishop] Paul Sirba, who had been just appointed Bishop of Duluth. In the interests of full disclosure, I should say that I initially greeted Father Laird’s appointment with a cautious optimism, although that didn’t last for long. I suspect that the same was true for Archbishop Nienstedt.

Obviously, the Archbishop never unburdened himself to me as to what motivated his choice, nor am I aware of him doing so with anyone else. However, I can provide a context with which to understand the appointment, as well as to understand what would eventually transpire. I also know for a fact that Father Laird did not enjoy the level of confidence that he (and others) probably thought he did. As the person who prepared the Archbishop’s list of three (canon 413, 1), I can assure you that Father Laird was never high on that list.

In fairness to the Archbishop, it is important to note that Father Laird was also not his first choice to serve as Vicar General. Incredibly unpopular from the moment his appointment was announced, Nienstedt, as coadjutor, would watch as the ship in Saint Paul was scuttled before he could take command. Auxiliary Bishop Pates was transferred to Des Moines in the month prior to Archbishop Flynn’s retirement, and influential and well-respected priests like Bishop Peter Christensen and Bishop John LeVoir were named to lead dioceses of their own. Even lay staff members such as my predecessor and the long-time Schools staffer and Superintendent Lori Glynn would take the opportunity to depart.

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VATICAN CITY
John Thavis

With today’s announcement of 20 new cardinals, Pope Francis has moved decisively toward making the College of Cardinals a truly global institution.

The cardinals come from 14 countries on five continents, including Cape Verde, Myanmar, Panama, New Zealand and even the Kingdom of Tonga, a Pacific archipelago that is home to a mere 15,000 Catholics.

They will receive their red hats at a consistory in Rome in mid-February. The list of appointees included no one from the United States or Canada. Pope Francis, in fact, has yet to appoint a cardinal from the United States, which today has 18 cardinals, a relatively high number.

There are several things to note in the pope’s selections:

— By choosing prelates from eight dioceses that have never had a cardinal, Francis is clearly shaking up the geographical mix of a group known as the church’s “senate.” In effect, the pope is removing the expectation of red hats that have attached to many established major dioceses for centuries. This new policy – enunciated explicitly today by the Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi – sets in motion further globalization for the future: expect fewer Europeans, and more cardinals from the Catholic “periphery.”

— Of the 15 new cardinals who are under age 80, and therefore able to vote in a conclave, the pope chose two Italians. That means Italy would continue to have great influence in a potential papal election, with more than one-fifth the number of voting cardinals. But as he did last year, the pope selected Italians from smaller dioceses, passing over traditional cardinalate sees like Venice and Turin. Once again, the effect is to remove the customary expectation of a red hat.

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NEW ZEALAND/AUSTRALIA
New Zealand Herald

John Weekes

Police investigating sex crime allegations against a teacher long presumed dead before being found in rural New Zealand have returned to Australia to prepare a report for a prosecutor.

The allegations relate to Ronald Thomas, formerly a teacher at Tasmania’s elite Hutchins School, who now lives in Tangimoana, near Bulls.

Mr Thomas, aged in his late 70s, has denied allegations of historical sex offences.

Two of his former students made claims to Tasmania’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The commission, investigating allegations of abuse at Hutchins in the late 1960s, named Mr Thomas in November.

The commission and Mr Thomas’ alleged victims believed the teacher was dead. But last month The Australian newspaper revealed Mr Thomas was living in a rural Manawatu dairy-farming community.

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ROME
Chiesa

An authoritative canonist rebuts the arguments of those who view Bergoglio’s election as invalid and therefore do not recognize him as pope. But uncertainties remain about the maneuvers that preceded the white smoke

by Sandro Magister

ROME, January 5, 2015 – Even after the unveiling of the names of those whom Pope Francis will elevate to the scarlet in the second round of cardinalate appointments of his pontificate, the conclave that elected him pope remains tinged with shadows.

Naturally, there is no conclave that does not draw together the threads of “maneuvers” aimed at the election of one or another candidate to the papacy. They are “maneuvers” that may mature in a few days, or even in a few hours. Or they may go on for years. Even their innocence can be of varying levels. So much so that the apostolic constitution “Universi Dominici Gregis,” which regulates the election of the popes, expressly invalidates “any form of pact, agreement, promise or other commitment of any kind” that in exchange for the vote would lay claim to bind the future elect.

In an article last July 1, www.chiesa demonstrated in what sense and to what extent the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio could approach – without being equated with one – a pact of this kind, seeing the insistence with which the current pope says that he “follows what the cardinals asked for during the general congregations before the conclave”:

But this in fact has to do with the natural dynamic of every papal election. And it is what the English vaticanista Austen Ivereigh has brought to light in a passage from his recent book on Pope Francis, “The Great Reformer,” identifying cardinals Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Walter Kasper, Karl Lehmann, and Godfried Danneels as four active promoters of the election of Bergoglio.

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CANADA
The StarPhoenix

BY JASON WARICK, THE STARPHOENIX JANUARY 4, 2015

More than $2.6 billion has been paid out to date as compensation to former Indian residential school students across the country, but some say money alone will not heal their wounds.

“There’s still a lot to be done. There are many different ways of healing,” Lac la Ronge Indian Band Chief Tammy Cook-Searson said.

As of Dec. 1, $2.643 billion had been paid out by the federal government in more than 30,000 settlements across Canada, according to the Indian Residential Schools Adjudication Secretariat. More than 6,300 of those claims came from Saskatchewan.

That figure is sure to climb. There are still 7,691 claims in progress, including nearly 2,500 from Saskatchewan.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

Published Monday, 05 January 2015

Some Catholic nuns at children’s homes in Belfast have been described as “sadistic bullies” at the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry which resumed on Monday.

The fourth module of the inquiry at Banbridge Courthouse is focusing on the former Nazareth House and Nazareth Lodge, run by the Sisters of Nazareth order of Catholic nuns.

A total of 102 witnesses from the homes have come forward to give their accounts and more than 90 are expected to give evidence.

The atmosphere at the two properties was described as “bleak, harsh and cruel” by alleged victims, a lawyer told the inquiry.

Senior counsel Christine Smith QC quoted one witness: “The nuns were at best indifferent and most often sadistic bullies who spoke with harsh, loud voices in scornful, dismissive tones.”

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry has been told a religious order accepts that a notorious paedophile priest abused children in their care.

The inquiry’s barrister, Christine Smith QC, said witnesses alleged they were abused by Fr Brendan Smyth in two care homes in south and east Belfast.

The inquiry is examining abuse claims at Narareth House and Nazareth Lodge.

The homes were run by the Sisters of Nazareth, who have repeated an earlier apology to all abused in their care.

‘Sadistic and bullies’

The HIA inquiry was set up in 2013 to investigate child abuse in residential institutions in Northern Ireland over a 73-year period, up to 1995.

A total of 13 Northern Ireland institutions are being investigated.

The latest module, focusing on the two Belfast homes, is the single biggest module of the inquiry, in terms of the number of witnesses who have come forward to given evidence about their time in the care of the nuns.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

05 JANUARY 2015

Some Catholic nuns at a children’s home in Northern Ireland were sadistic bullies, a former resident has claimed.

A “bleak, harsh and cruel” atmosphere was described by alleged victims at two properties in Belfast run by the Sisters of Nazareth Order, a lawyer told a public inquiry.

More than 100 witnesses from Nazareth House and Nazareth Lodge have come forward to t he Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry, headed by a former judge.

Thirteen institutions are being considered by the inquiry panel, which is tasked with making recommendations to Stormont ministers on issues such as compensating alleged victims.

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TONGA
Matangi Tonga

Monday, January 5, 2015

Nuku’alofa, Tonga

Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi (53) is the first Tongan to be made a Cardinal of the Catholic Church.

He was the youngest of the 20 cardinals that Pope Francis announced at St Peter’s Square at the Vatican, on Sunday January 4.

Fifteen of the newly appointed cardinals are from the developing countries and three, including Bishop Mafi, held the title of bishop rather than archbishop. The cardinals will be officially installed to their posts on February 14. They will be able to vote for the Pope’s successor.

Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi was consecrated as Coadjutor Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Tonga and Niue on 5 October 2007.

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ARGENTINA
Buenos Aires Herald

91 percent of citizens have a favourable opinion of Francis despite declining numbers of Catholics

Having dramatically changed the way that the Vatican reaches out to Catholics, followers of other religions and non-believers, and giving the Catholic Church a softer touch, Pope Francis enjoys broad global support with a median of 60 percent of people in 43 countries having a favourable image of the pontiff.

Of the countries surveyed by the Pew Research Center, Poland took the spot for the country with the greatest sympathy for the Argentine pope with as much as 92 percent of the population indicating that they held him in high regard. Remarkably, only three percent of Poles held an unfavourable view, with the remaining group indicating that they had no impression of the pope.

While not rejecting the pope on a majority basis, roughly 40 percent of those in the Middle East, Africa and Asia had no opinion.

Broadly speaking, Francis has taken a far more pastoral approach to the papacy than his immediate predecessor Benedict XVI, while also bringing winds of change to the way that the Vatican is managed and promising no-tolerance for sexual abuse crimes committed by the clergy.

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GUAM
KUAM

by Jolene Toves

Guam – A delegation from the Vatican has begun their weeklong pastoral visit. The group which consists of Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, the secretary of the Vatican congregation for the evangelization of peoples; Archbishop Martin Krebs, the apostolic delegate to the Pacific Islands; and Reverend Father Tadeusz Nowak arrived to the Guam International Airport Authority Saturday evening where they were greeted by Archbishop Anthony Apuron and KUAM News.

He would not grant an interview.

According to a press release from the archdiocese the pastoral visit is in an effort to foster reconciliation and understanding within the archdiocese. The local Catholic Church has been divided over the last several months. Some of the controversies include last year’s sudden removal of Monsignor James Benavente as rector of the archdiocese, the closure of the Cathedral Museum, and allegations of sexual abuse made by a third party against the archbishop. In response to the controversies a group of parishioners came together to form the Concerned Catholics of Guam with the intent to investigate the issues within the church.

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

Grant Gallicho concludes his excellent eight part series at Commonweal on the “Curious Case of Carlos Urrutigoity” here.

The conclusion is a bit anti-climactic. The only major player to suffer any kind of serious consequences for this long and tawdry affair seems to be Bishop Livieres of Ciudad del Este, who was asked to resign by Pope Francis back in September. Meanwhile, Urrutigoity and his crew of followers and supporters are still out there, many of them are still functioning as priests, at least one of them continues to fund raise despite his association with the Society of St. John – an organization whose founder allegedly engaged in sex abuse and financial fraud – and I am told that even though Urrutigoity’s associate Eric Ensey has been “defrocked” he still continues to present himself as a priest.

One of the themes that runs through this story is how easy it is for scoundrels to prey upon conservative Catholics simply by using the Fr. Maciel Method – be anti-liberal, pro-Latin Mass, say the right thing, wear cassocks, and you can raise as much money as you want, even while admittedly sleeping in the same beds with underage boys and lavishly wasting the money that’s donated to you. Urrutigoity and his crew were simply preying upon disaffected Catholics, who are angry at the abuse of doctrine and liturgy under the reign of the liberals, and who let that anger cloud their judgment and affect everything they do.

In fact, these disaffected Catholics are still so eager to root for anyone in a cassock (a conservative) as opposed to anyone in a sweater (a liberal), that many of them refuse to see the truth of Livieres removal and of the Urrutigoity situation. And they’ll howl if Bishop Finn is ever (justly) removed.

In fact, the party spirit in the Church is so great that some “cassockists” even continue to spread Bill Donohue’s lie that the priest arrested in the Kansas City case (Fr. Rattigan) was not guilty of producing child porn – despite his being sentenced to 50 years in prison for that very thing. Others seem to think that Finn was not himself convicted, but entered into a plea deal for the sake of the diocese – which is simply not true. But truth is not an issue for these people. They can’t see past the cassock.

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GUAM
Marianas Variety

04 Jan 2015 By Jasmine Stole – jasmine@mvguam.com – Variety News Staff

HAGÅTÑA — More than a week has passed since the Concerned Catholics of Guam requested a meeting with Archbishop Anthony Apuron, but spokesman Rev. Adrian Cristobal said on Friday there were no plans to meet with the group.

A meeting with the group is up to the archbishop and he has not yet seen the letters from the Concerned Catholics of Guam, Cristobal said.

Since the group announced their organization​ on Dec. 9 at a press conference, at least one letter has been sent requesting a meeting with the archbishop, according to Concerned Catholics President Greg Perez and Treasurer Deacon Steve Martinez.

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MINNESOTA
Business Insurance

January 4, 2015

A 2013 Minnesota law easing the state’s statute of limitations on sexual abuse claims has led to a barrage of claims against a Minnesota Catholic archdiocese and renewed concerns among institutions nationwide about the potential effect of such laws.

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis recently filed suit against its liability insurers dating back to 1952 for coverage of claims arising since Minnesota opened a three-year “window” for those with previously time-barred abuse claims. With more than a year before the window closes, the archdiocese has said the growing cost of dealing with the claims may force it to seek bankruptcy protection.

Minnesota is the fifth U.S. jurisdiction to enact a temporary waiver of the statute of limitation for abuse claims, and similar legislation continues to be introduced in several other states.

“Window” legislation and other retroactive extensions of statutes of limitations are a major concern for institutions that care for children, experts say.

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URUGUAY
The Peninsula (Qatar)

MONTEVIDEO – Uruguay’s Archbishop Daniel Sturla spoke of his shock on Sunday after being named as one of 20 new cardinals by Pope Francis.

Sturla, 55, only the second Uruguayan to be appointed a cardinal, said the honor marked a distinction for the Catholic Church in Uruguay.

I was and am still shocked by the news, Sturla told reporters after a Sunday Mass in Montevideo following the Vatican’s announcement.

I was only very recently appointed as archbishop of Montevideo so I view this as a distinction for the Church in Uruguay, rather than to me, added Sturla, appointed archbishop of Montevideo by Pope Francis in February 2014.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

By Luke Broadwater
The Baltimore Sun

The Episcopal Bishop of Maryland has summoned all the clergy of the Diocese of Maryland to a Tuesday morning meeting in Frederick County after a high-ranking church official was involved in a crash that killed bicyclist Thomas Palermo, 41, a married father of two.

Church spokeswoman Sharon Tillman confirmed Sunday that The Right Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton has called church clergy to a meeting at the Claggett Center near Buckeystown. She said the meeting was closed to the public to “allow clergy time to process the tragic events of the past week that involved a colleague.”

Police are continuing to investigate the 2:40 p.m. Dec. 27 crash on the 5700 block of Roland Ave. Episcopal officials have identified the driver of the car as Bishop Suffragan Heather Elizabeth Cook, the second-ranking official in the Diocese of Maryland. Cook initially drove away from the scene but returned a short time later, according to the diocese and witnesses at the scene. Another bicyclist followed her to a gated apartment complex. No charges have been filed.

Cook, who has been placed on administrative leave, is “barred from performing any duties of a bishop or a priest,” Tillman said.

Palermo’s death has galvanized many in Baltimore in recent weeks, prompting hundreds to attend a memorial bike ride and Sutton to ask all church members to engage in “silent prayer and reflection” on Saturday.

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VATICAN CITY
New York Times

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
JAN. 4, 2015

VERBANIA, Italy — Pope Francis named his second group of new cardinals on Sunday, including 15 who will be eligible to elect the pope’s successor after his death or resignation. Many are from developing countries, reflecting the Roman Catholic Church’s growth in Asia and Africa.

The bishops and archbishops come from Italy, France, Portugal, Ethiopia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Mexico, Myanmar, Thailand, Uruguay, Spain, Panama, Cape Verde and Tonga, representing “every continent, to manifest the indissoluble links between the Church of Rome and the particular churches present in the world,” the pope said.

The new cardinals from Myanmar, Tonga and Cape Verde come from countries that have never been represented in the upper echelons of the church’s hierarchy, Vatican officials said. Nine come from developing countries; only one — from Wellington, New Zealand — is a native English speaker. Five are European.

“The most evident criteria is evidently that of universality,” the Rev. Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, said in a note published Sunday. “Fourteen different countries are represented, including some that do not currently have a cardinal, and some that have never had one.”

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NEW ZEALAND
Sky News

A New Zealand archbishop has been named among 20 new cardinals appointed by Pope Francis.

The archbishop of Wellington, John Atcherley Dew, 66, is among several appointments seen to reflect the Roman Catholic Church’s changing demographics and efforts to recognise increasingly key areas of support outside its traditional European stronghold.

Of the new cardinals, 15 are considered “princes of the church” and under the age of 80, reports AFP.

This means they are eligible to join the conclave which will elect the pope’s successor.

The list of newly named cardinals includes five from Asia and the Pacific, three from Africa, and five from Latin America.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* Pope Francis added new Cardinals disregarding as absolute monarch the canon law cap of 120 voting Cardinals, yet he still left out women. He picked only men who previously had been selected apparently as obedient and conformist bishops by the current pope’s two conservative predecessors. Francis could have added some women, but as expected, he failed to do so. Of course, he still can add women. He now will move forward soon to preach the ban on contraception to the overcrowded Philippines, and in nine months to conclude his lackluster October Final Synod of the Family run solely by celibate men. Hello?

* Cardinal appointments and papal elections take on special significance now, given the rapidly declining papal prestige and power due to the unchecked priest child abuse scandal. Ironically, the same day that the new Cardinals were named, BishopAccountability.org carried a well deserved tribute to Trish McClelland, one of several unheralded women including Kathy Shaw, Anne Barrrett Doyle and Sylvia Demarest, who have quietly and effectively helped to bring the child abuse scandal to the world’s attention. See:

* [BishopAccountability.org – Trish McLelland]

As expected, “”rubber stamp” journalists and opportunistic apologists, including pathetically many women, have praised Francis for advancing with his latest appointments to the 19th Century with greater geographical diversity, while underplaying Francis’ failure to move into the 21st Century without even a token appointment reflecting gender equality.

Pope Francis will, it appears, continue to rely for women’s input mainly on the likes of US conservative, Mary Ann Glendon, as he continues to work hard to install a friendlier (Republican) US president and to continue a friendly US Supreme Court, while “keeping women in their proper place” principally as child bearing producers. Please see my remarks. “Hillary Clinton vs. Pope Francis in 2015″ at:

* [Christian Catholicism]

Catholics have now seen enough of Pope Francis’ “words without deeds” strategy. They all need now to require that their leaders follow the Gospels. Catholics can require this by (1) ending their donations that even indirectly benefit bishops, (2) publicly challenging their bishops often, and (3) demanding that their democratically elected officials (A) investigate, and if the evidence is found, prosecute suspected bishops, and (B) end all subsidies to bishops.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Philip Pullella January 4, 2015

Pope Francis on Sunday named new cardinals to the group that will choose his successor, with appointments that strengthened the Catholic Church in Asia, Africa and Latin America and further shifted its power center away from the developed world.

It was the second time the 78-year-old Francis has used the appointment of cardinals to put his stamp on the 1.2 billion-member church. The two sets of appointments increase the chances that the next pontiff will, like Francis, be a non-European.

Only one of the new electors is from the Curia, the Vatican’s central administration, which Francis has pledged to overhaul. Last month, the pope said the Curia was infected with careerism, scheming, greed and “spiritual Alzheimer’s”.

Francis’ nominees now make up a quarter of the 125 “cardinal electors” under 80 years old — easily enough to sway the election of a new pope when Francis dies or resigns.

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CHICAGO (IL)
NBC Chicago

By Mary Ann Ahern

Pope Francis has announced 20 new cardinals, 15 of whom are less than 80 years old. While there had been speculation that Chicago’s Archbishop Blase Cupich would be one of them, he was not included in Sunday’s list.

If Cupich had been chosen, it would certainly have seemed that he was on a very fast track, considering his recent appointment as archbishop. Other American archbishops, including Jose Gomez from Los Angeles, Wilton Gregory from Atlanta and Charles Chaput from Philadelphia, have not been named cardinals either, and they have been archbishops for much longer.

Another point against Cupich is that his predecessor, Francis George, is a cardinal. It would be unusual to have two voting cardinals from the same archdiocese. While Cardinal George has retired, he will still be a voting member of the College of Cardinals until he is 80 years old. George will turn 78 in January.

There isn’t much doubt that Cupich will eventually be named a cardinal, as Chicago has been a “cardinal seat” since George Mundelein in 1924.

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UNITED STATES
America

Gerard O’Connell | Jan 4 2015

Pope Francis has announced that he will create 15 new cardinals from 13 countries who will have the right to vote in the next conclave, almost all are bishops of dioceses from all continents, and several are from ‘the peripheries’ of the world.

He will also give the red hat to 5 retired archbishops and bishops who are over the age of 80 and are “distinguished for their pastoral charity in the service of the Holy See and of the Church”.

Significantly, abiding by past practice, he has not named any new cardinal-elector from a see where there is still a cardinal under the age of 80, and so he has not given the red hat to the archbishops of Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Madrid or Sydney.

At the time of the announcement there were 10 vacant places in the College of Cardinal Electors, which according to the norms set by Paul VI and approved by his successors should have a total of 120 members. Pope Francis, however, has decided to exceed that number by 5, and so on the day he holds the Consistory, if my calculations are correct, there will be a total of 125 cardinal electors.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail

Pope Francis names 15 new cardinals from every corner of the world – including Tonga, Cape Verde and even Burma

By CLAIRE CARTER FOR MAILONLINE

Pope Francis has named 15 cardinals from countries across the globe, including nations in the developing world.

Cardinals have been appointed from Ethiopia, Tonga and Cape Verde as well as Vietnam and Sicily – reflecting the diversity of the church.

Pope Francis told a crowd gathered in St Peter’s Square that the church leaders come ‘from every continent’ and ‘show the indelible tie with the church of Rome to churches in the world’.
The 15 cardinals, who hail from a total 14 nations, are all under 80 and will therefore be able to vote for the Pope’s successor.

He also made a surprise announcement and said he would lead a meeting of all cardinals to ‘reflect on the orientations and proposals for the reform of the Roman Curia’, the Vatican’s administrative bureaucracy, between February 12 and 13.

Since he took on the role, Pope Francis has remained committed to root out corruption and inefficiency from the curia.

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VATICAN CITY
MSNBC

[with poll]

By Anna Brand

Once again breaking from tradition, Pope Francis on Sunday announced 15 new cardinals chosen from nations far and wide, including Ethiopia, Vietnam, Mexico, Tonga, and Myanmar.

The new “princes of the church” were selected from 14 diverse countries, marking another big move for inclusion within the Catholic church; Francis declared that the churchmen come “from every continent,” according to a statement from the Vatican.

Francis also named five churchman older than 80 – and thus not eligible to vote – for their distinguished commitment to the Vatican.

The new archbishops and bishops will join in a ceremony called Consistory Feb. 14. The Pope said from a Vatican window onlooking St. Peter’s Square that on On Feb. 12-13 he will gather all of the cardinals to “reflect on the orientations and proposals for the reform of the Roman Curia.”

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Jan. 4, 2015

ROME
Continuing to diversify global representation in the most select body of Catholic prelates, Pope Francis announced Sunday that he will be creating 20 new cardinals from 18 different countries — with several from places never before included in the elite group.

Among those Francis has chosen for the role: Bishops from the island nations of Cabo Verde and Tonga; archbishops from the Asian cities of Bangkok, Yangon, and Hà Nôi; and the leader of an Italian community dealing heavily with refugees and migrants from Africa.

Francis made the announcement of the new cardinals, long expected in recent weeks, during his weekly Sunday address following the noon-time Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.

Cardinals, sometimes known as the “princes of the church” and for their wearing of red vestments, are usually senior Catholic prelates who serve either as archbishops in the world’s largest dioceses’ or in the Vatican’s central bureaucracy. Their principal role is to gather in secret conclave following the death or resignation of a pope to elect his successor.

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VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! News

Vatican City (AFP) – Pope Francis on Sunday named 20 new cardinals including many from Latin America and Africa, which have become key areas for the Catholic Church as its demographics have shifted away from Europe.

Fifteen of the new cardinals are also under the age of 80, meaning they are eligible to join the conclave which elects the next pontiff.

The list includes African leaders Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel of Ethiopia and Bishop Arlindo Gomes Furtado of Cape Verde.

The Latin Americans were Archbishop Alberto Suarez Inda of Mexico, Archbishop Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet of Uraguay, Bishop Jose Luis Lacunza Maestrojuan of Panama as well as archbishops emeritus Luis Hector Villaba of Argentina and José de Jesus Pimiento Rodriguez of Columbia.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

[with video tribute]

[Database of Accused Priests]

Trish McLelland
1946–2015

Patricia Ruth McLelland, known to her family as “Pat” and to her friends as “Trish,” died unexpectedly on January 1, 2015, after a brief illness. She is survived by her brother, Eugene Hall, by his wife Dianne, and by their children and grandchildren. She will be greatly missed by her colleagues at the Tahira Khan Merritt Law Firm in Dallas, and by her colleagues at BishopAccountability.org in Waltham, Massachusetts. Trish is also mourned by Sylvia Demarest, whom she supported during the landmark Kos trial in 1997, and by Tom Doyle, Richard Sipe, and the other colleagues and experts involved in that and many other matters.

In her legal assistant work, Trish was known equally for her attention to detail and her attention to the clients represented by Demarest and Merritt. Survivors appreciated her warmth and accessibility, her passion for their cause, and the fierce determination she brought to supporting them, researching their cases, and assisting their advocates.

Beyond the circles that knew her work and understood its significance, Trish’s death is a blow to millions of people who have benefited from her research and expertise, without knowing that a great social movement depended on Trish’s work.

During the last 21 years, Trish was the primary researcher in an effort to name and document every Catholic priest, brother, and nun accused of abusing a child. For the last 10 years, she also coordinated the project. This effort was conceived, organized, and funded by attorney Sylvia Demarest, beginning in 1994, initially to support the Kos litigation, but then for the broader humanitarian purpose of providing an information resource to combat the scourge of child molestation by clergy, and to offer a means of calling the Catholic church to account.

The project started with the names identified by Jason Berry in his groundbreaking Lead Us Not into Temptation, and was greatly aided by the list and newsletter published by the Linkup, a survivors’ organization. In addition to Demarest and McLelland, students from the Southern Methodist University Law School participated in the work.

In 2004, Demarest donated her database and voluminous supporting documentation to BishopAccountability.org, which has employed Trish since 2005 to maintain and enhance the list that she and Demarest had begun. In the initial stages, the work of Demarest’s team was merged with the list developed by the volunteers organized by Paul Baier at Survivors First. Astonishingly, Trish cared for the BishopAccountability.org database on evenings and weekends, after her full-time job in Tahira Khan Merritt’s practice.

Holder of a master’s degree in library science from the University of North Texas, Trish vastly improved and expanded her database in 2005-2014, adding more than 1,100 names and tens of thousands of sources, and enhancing the other entries. Today, BishopAccountability.org’s Database of Publicly Accused Priests in the U.S. lists more than 4,000 bishops, priests, nuns, brothers, deacons, and seminarians. Along with Abuse Tracker, it is the feature used most frequently by BishopAccountability.org’s 1.5 million unique visitors annually.

As attorney Demarest anticipated, the database that Trish built has saved children from being abused. It has also served as a unique and comprehensive resource for law enforcement officials and investigative reporters, and has enabled survivors to come forward and obtain justice. Many developments of the last 20 years would never have occurred, were it not for the information gathered by Trish McLelland. The database has functioned as a force multiplier for any survivor, researcher, advocate, scholar, or activist involved in the child protection cause. Since 2002, dioceses and some religious orders have begun to issue lists of their own, and there is now serious talk of the church’s creating a global list. None of this could have happened without Trish McLelland’s determination and attention to the smallest detail.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor
@JohnLAllenJr

ROME — With his picks for new cardinals announced on Sunday, Pope Francis continued his campaign to reach out to the peripheries. The pontiff bypassed traditional centers of power and awarded red hats to such typically overlooked locales as Panama, Thailand, Cape Verde, New Zealand, and the Pacific island of Tonga.

For the second time, there were no new cardinals from the United States on the list announced by Francis. There were also no Americans in the first crop of cardinals named by Francis in February 2014.

While geography seemed the determining factor in these picks for Pope Francis, who at times struggled even pronouncing the names of his new cardinals, it’s noteworthy that the list includes a couple of high-profile moderates but no one with a clear reputation as a doctrinal or political conservative.

Archbishop John Atcherley Dew from New Zealand, for instance, argued for allowing divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Communion at a 2005 Vatican synod of bishops. Archbishop Ricardo Blázquez Pérez is president of the Spanish bishops’ conference and generally seen as a moderate opposed to the harder line of former Madrid Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

by Elise Harris

Vatican City, Jan 4, 2015 / 06:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his Sunday Angelus address Pope Francis announced the names of the 15 bishops to be created cardinals in February, many of whom hail from small dioceses which have never before had a cardinal.

“As was already announced, next February 14 I will have the joy of holding a Consistory, during which I will name 15 new Cardinals who manifest the indissoluble links between the Church of Rome and the particular Churches present in the world,” the Roman Pontiff said on Jan. 4.

Speaking to the thousands of pilgrims present in St. Peter’s Square after his recitation of the traditional Marian prayer, the Pope revealed that the 15 new cardinals to be created come from 13 countries and from every continent.

Announced in the fall, the consistory will take place Feb. 12-14. During the first two days Pope Francis will meet with the entire collage of cardinals to reflect on current proposals for the ongoing reformation of the Roman Curia.

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VATICAN CITY
Caperi

January 04, 2015 (Vatican City) – Pope Francis named fifteen Archbishops and Bishops from thirteen countries who are to become Cardinals in mid-February, Vatican Radio announced on Sunday.

Among the new Cardinals is Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel of Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel was born on 14 July 1948 in Tchela Claka, near Harar in Ethiopia.

The list of fifteen Cardinals includes, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, Archbishiop Manuel José Macario do Nascimento Clemente, Patriarch of Lisbon (Portugal), Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, C.M., of Addis Abeba (Ethiopia), Archbishop John Atcherley Dew of Wellington (New Zealand), Archbishop Edoardo Menichelli of Ancona-Osimo (Italy), Archbishop Pierre Nguyên Văn Nhon of Hà Nôi (Viêt Nam), Archbishop Alberto Suàrez Inda of Morelia (Mexico), Archbishop Charles Maung Bo, S.D.B., of Yangon (Myanmar), Archbishop Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij of Bangkok (Thailand), Archbishop Francesco Montenegro of Agrigento (Italy), Archbishop Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet, S.D.B., of Montevideo (Uruguay), Archbishop Ricardo Blázquez Pérez of Vallodolid (Spain), Bishop José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán, O.A.R., of David (Panamá), Bishop Arlindo Gomes Furtado, of Santiago de Cabo Verde (Archipelago of Cape Verde), Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi of Tonga (Island of Tonga)

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VATICAN CITY
Telegraph (UK)

By John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor

Pope Francis has put his stamp firmly on the Roman Catholic Church by naming 20 new cardinals from countries as diverse as Ethiopia, Vietnam and Panama.

The Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the choices signalled that the Pope does not feel “chained to tradition” as he shifts the balance of power in the Church towards the developing world.

The clerics from 14 different countries include the first men from Tonga, Burma and Cape Verde to become so-called “princes of the Church”.

The list also includes five retired bishops and archbishops too old to take part in the conclave to choose the next Pope but who, he said, were “distinguished for their pastoral charity”.
Pope Francis, who declared within days of his election in 2013 that he wanted a “poor church for the poor”, has now appointed 39 cardinals.

That includes 31 cardinal electors, those under the age of 80 who would be eligible to elect his successor in the next conclave – a quarter of the total.

Significantly there was no one from the United States on the list – the second time since Francis become Pope that a new batch of Cardinals had been announced without any names from the Church’s biggest source of income.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

At today’s Angelus Pope Francis read out the names of 20 bishops and archbishops who will be raised to the dignity of the cardinalate at the upcoming Consistory on February 14th. 15 of them will be eligible to vote in a Conclave

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

Pope Francis has announced the names of the new cardinals who will receive the red biretta this coming February 14th. There will be 20 new “senators of the Church”, from across 14 nations and five Continents. 15 of them are under 80 years old and would therefore be eligible to vote in a potential Conclave. Five of them are over 80 . …

Francis seems to have respected the unwritten rule of not creating the current archbishop of a see with a retired cardinal under 80 years of age, a cardinal. Potential US candidates in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Chicago will not therefore be receiving the red biretta and neither will the new Archbishop of Madrid.

Dominique Mamberti, the new Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, is the only Curia member appearing in the list of new cardinals. The Vatican’s former “minister of foreign affairs” was not yet a cardinal when he carried out the only role within a Holy See dicastery where the title of cardinal is a given(as established in John Paul II’s Apostolic Constitution “Pastor Bonus”).

None of the Pontifical Council presidents are to be created cardinals. Pontifical Councils are not ordinarily presided over by cardinals (except in the case of the ecumenism council led by Kurt Koch) and are going to be merged as part of the Curia reform process currently underway. The Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, the Frenchman, Jean-Louis Bruguès, did not feature in the list of cardinals-to-be either. Francis’ preference for diocesan bishops is therefore evident, as well as his focus on the southern parts of the world.

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UNITED STATES
Whispers in the Loggia

As expected, at this Sunday’s noontime Angelus, the Pope revealed the names of 20 cardinals-designate – 15 electors, five over 80 – who’ll receive the red hat at the 14 February Consistory.

Yet again, Francis’ second biglietto (ticket) into his Senate represents a shock to the system – again, no Americans (a second consecutive shut-out unseen in almost four decades), while for the first time, membership in the papal electorate goes to prelates from Myanmar, Cape Verde, Panama and Tonga, and returns to long-unvisited locales in New Zealand, Thailand, Ethiopia and Uruguay.

All in all, the ongoing shake-up of the College reiterates Francis’ desire to bring the church’s “peripheries” to its center in the forum which will determine the church’s direction after his pontificate ends – and, of course, the talent pool from which a new Pope has invariably been drawn for the last eight centuries.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

Clergy, full- and part-time employees, and volunteers who work with children within the Archdiocese of Chicago are subject to these compliance standards, overseen by the archdiocese’s Safe Environment Office, a division of the Office for the Protection of Children and Youth:

• The church requires personnel to complete eApps online criminal background check. (More than 113,200 employees and volunteers have had background checks.)

• The church requires personnel to submit Child Abuse and Neglect Tracking System, or CANTS, Form to Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

• Church personnel attend mandated reporter training.

• Church personnel attend Virtus/Protecting God’s Children training. (3,700 such sessions have been conducted since 2003, attended by 175,000 employees and volunteers.)

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian

Hugh O’Shaughnessy
Sunday 4 January 2015

Now in his late 70s, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, according to some reports from Rome, is showing his age and may not live long into his 80s. There are even dark hints that some of his Italian opponents in the Vatican are bent on mischief, as they might have been at the time of the strange, untimely death of Pope John Paul I in 1976, and still smarting at the disappearance of the ancient usage that the leader should be a native of their country. After the election of a Polish, followed by German and now – for heaven’s sake – an Argentinian pope, some Italian feathers are still ruffled.

Yet the tremendously vital but brief papacy of John XXIII in the early 1960s illustrated that a short five-year reign by the right man can produce new and very welcome currents of thought in an ancient institution. As the enormous political coup brought off last month when Francis and his men doused the flames of hostility that had been raging for half a century between Havana and Washington demonstrated, forceful and skilled Vatican diplomacy can bring amazing results.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

Pope Francis has named 20 new cardinals, including churchmen from Tonga, Ethiopia and Myanmar.

Fifteen of the new appointees are under 80, making them eligible to enter a conclave to elect the Pope’s successor.

Pope Francis said the appointment of cardinals from 14 countries from every continent in the world showed the Vatican’s “inseparable link” with Catholic Churches around the world.

They will be formally installed on 14 February.

The list of names includes five retired bishops who will join the College of Cardinals but are over 80 and so cannot take part in a papal election.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

Christopher Placek

What makes an allegation of sexual abuse against a priest credible is the heart of the disagreement between the Chicago Archdiocese and victims’ advocates.

Victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson and officials with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a victims’ advocacy group, have called on newly installed Archbishop Blase Cupich to release files on all priests who’ve ever been accused of sexual abuse — whether archdiocese officials have deemed those allegations to be credible.

“It’s their own review board, their own standards, their own protocols and policies monitored by their own people,” Anderson said in explaining his distrust of the process.

Mike Hoffman, who was a victim of former priest Robert Mayer at a Lake Forest parish in the late 1970s, said he was pleased with the process of the review board, which determined his allegations were substantiated not long after he came forward in August 2006 after he read a newspaper article about a suit by classmates of his. The archdiocese reached a financial settlement and agreed to pay for three years of counseling sessions.

“I thought that’s pretty good for a large institution to come to that determination in 4½ months,” said Hoffman, who remains a practicing Catholic and who worked with the archdiocese to create a healing garden for victims.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

[with timeline]

Christopher Placek

t was 25 years after he was abused by a Catholic priest that Mike Hoffman finally decided to tell someone.

In 2006, he was reading a newspaper article about victims of clergy sex abuse suing the Archdiocese of Chicago. The names of Hoffman’s abuser, Robert Mayer, and classmates who were victims, stood out.

The abuse Hoffman experienced as a teenager at the Church of St. Mary in Lake Forest had become his “normal.”

“That article triggered the fact it wasn’t normal at all,” said Hoffman, now 49, a Chicago resident and owner of a Mount Prospect small business. “That was painful abuse.”

Hoffman contacted the archdiocese to tell his story and, months later, was told an internal review board determined sexual misconduct did occur — a judgment accepted by Cardinal Francis George. Hoffman soon after negotiated a financial settlement with the archdiocese, which also agreed to pay for three years of counseling sessions.

Archdiocese officials say they have substantiated 352 abuse cases relating to 66 priests since 1952 and paid out $130 million in settlements to victims. They say the policies and procedures they’ve implemented in light of the sex abuse scandal can help prevent abuse from happening again. The church’s sharpest critics disagree.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet

04 January 2015 12:00 by Elena Curti

Pope Francis announced at this morning’s Angelus the names of the 15 men who are to receive red hats in a consistory next month.

The new cardinals are from 13 countries including Ethiopia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand. Only two are Italian. The consistory will take place on 12 and 13 February and will examine proposals for reform of the Roman Curia.

The bishops and archbishops who will receive red hats are:
Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
Archbishiop Manuel José Macario do Nascimento Clemente, Patriarch of Lisbon (Portugal)
Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, C.M., of Addis Abeba (Ethiopia)
Archbishop John Atcherley Dew of Wellington (New Zealand)

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VATICAN CITY
ITV (UK)

[with list]

The Pope has named 20 new senior religious leaders from 14 countries as diverse as Vietnam, Tonga, Ethiopia and Mexico in an effort to unite the Catholic church around the world.

Pope Francis announced that he will hold the special ceremony to install 15 new cardinals, known as a consistory, at the Vatican on February 14.

He has also named five new archbishops and bishops emeriti.

The new cardinals, many of whom are under 80, have been appointed to the elite group of religious leaders at the top of the Roman Catholic herarchy – meaning they will be allowed to enter the conclave to choose his successor after his death or resignation.

He said that by choosing new religious leaders from many different countries from every continent, he wanted to “show the inseparable bond between the Church of Rome and the particular churches around the world.”

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VATICAN CITY
Wall Street Journal

By DEBORAH BALL
Updated Jan. 4, 2015

ROME— Pope Francis nominated 15 new members of the College of Cardinals on Sunday, including new cardinals for Vietnam, Ethiopia, Mexico and Myanmar.

The 15 men are all under the age of 80, which makes them eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a future pope.

The majority of the new batch of cardinals is from the developing world, reflecting the Argentine-born pontiff’s efforts to rebalance the College of Cardinals toward countries where Catholicism is growing. There were no Americans among the new nominees.

The group is the second batch of cardinals appointed by Pope Francis. They will be elevated at a ceremony at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Feb. 14.

The pontiff also nominated five cardinals emeriti, who won’t have the power to vote in a conclave. Such nominations are honorary.

Corrections & Amplifications

The cardinals will be elevated at a ceremony at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Feb. 14. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the ceremony would take place on Feb. 24. (1/4/2015)

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, head of the Holy See Press Office, has published the following “notes” on the new Cardinals, whose names were announced by Pope Francis at the Angelus on Sunday:

With respect to the number of 120 electors, there were 12 places “open” in the College today or in the coming months. The Pope has slightly exceeded this number, but remained very close to it, such that it is substantially respected.

The most evident criteria is evidently that of universality. Fourteen different countries are represented, including some that do not currently have a Cardinal, and some that have never had one. If the retired Archbishops and Bishops are counted, eighteen countries are represented. There are no new Cardinals from North America (the USA or Canada) because they already have a significant number, and that number has remained stable during the past year. (There is a new Mexican Cardinal).

The presence of countries that have never had a Cardinal (Capo Verde, Tonga, Myanmar) is noteworthy. These countries have ecclesial communities that are small or that represent a minority within their country. (The Bishop of Tonga is the President of the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific; the Diocese of Santiago de Cabo Verde is one of the most ancient African Dioceses; the Diocese of Morelia in Mexico is in a region troubled by violence.)

The fact that only one of the new Cardinals is from the Roman Curia is also notable, while “Roman” Cardinals remain about a quarter of the electors. It is evident that the Pope intends to consider the posts of Prefects of the Congregations and of some other very important institutions within the Curia – as, in this case, the Tribunal of the Signatura – as Cardinalatial posts.

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THAILAND
Bangkok Post

The Archbishop of Bangkok was among 20 new cardinals named by Pope Francis on Sunday to attend the elite group at the top of the Roman Catholic hierarchy who enter the conclave to choose his successor after his death or resignation. Among them are 15 who are under 80.

Archbishop Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij will join other cardinals from other countries including Italy, Portugal, Ethiopia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Mexico, Myanmar, Uruguay, Spain and Panama, according to a statement of the Vatican released on Sunday.

It is the second time the 78-year-old Pope has put his stamp on the direction he wants the 1.2 billion member church to go, having named 19 cardinals a year ago. The new “princes” of the Church will be installed at a ceremony known as a consistory at the Vatican on Feb 14.

Pope Francis said on Sunday the new cardinals reflect the church’s diversity.

The Thai archbishop is 65 years old. He was born in Bang Rak district, Bangkok, on June 27, 1949, and was ordained in 1976.

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VATICAN CITY
TribTown

By FRANCES D’EMILIO Associated Press
First Posted: January 04, 2015

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis named 15 new cardinals Sunday, selecting them from 14 nations, including far-flung corners of the world such as Tonga, New Zealand, Cape Verde and Myanmar, to reflect the diversity of the church and its growth in places like Asia and Africa..

Other cardinals hail from Ethiopia, Thailand and Vietnam. Another is form Sicily, where the Church in recent decades has been galvanizing public rejection of the Mafia.

Referring to the Vatican, Francis told faithful in St. Peter’s Square that the churchmen come “from every continent” and “show the indelible tie with the church of Rome to churches in the world.”

In addition to the 15 new cardinals who are under 80 and thus eligible to vote for the next pope, Francis bestowed the honor on five churchmen older than that. He said they distinguished themselves for their work in the Vatican bureaucracy, in diplomatic service in giving witness to their love of Christ and God’s people. Those included men from the pope’s native Argentina, Mozambique and Colombia.

Speaking from a Vatican window to a crowd in St. Peter’s Square, Francis made another surprise announcement. He said that on Feb. 12-13, he will lead of meeting of all cardinals to “reflect on the orientations and proposals for the reform of the Roman Curia,” the Vatican’s administrative bureaucracy.

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VATICAN CITY
CNN

By Holly Yan, CNN

(CNN)For the second time during his papacy, Pope Francis has announced a new group of bishops and archbishops set to become cardinals — and they come from all over the world.

Pope Francis said Sunday that he would hold a meeting of cardinals on February 14 “during which I will name 15 new Cardinals who, coming from 13 countries from every continent, manifest the indissoluble links between the Church of Rome and the particular Churches present in the world,” according to Vatican Radio.

New cardinals are always important because they set the tone in the church and also elect the next pope, CNN senior Vatican analyst John L. Allen said. They are sometimes referred to as the princes of the Catholic Church.

The new cardinals come from countries such as Ethiopia, New Zealand and Myanmar.

“This is a pope who very much wants to reach out to people on the margins, and you clearly see that in this set,” Allen said. “You’re talking about cardinals from typically overlooked places, like Cape Verde, the Pacific island of Tonga, Panama, Thailand, Uruguay.”
But for the second time, no Americans made the list.

“Francis’ pattern is very clear: He wants to go to the geographical peripheries rather than places that are already top-heavy with cardinals,” Allen said.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) At the Angelus on Sunday, Pope Francis announced the names of fifteen Archbishops and Bishops whom he will raise to the dignity of the Cardinalate on February 14, 2015. In addition, the Holy Father announced that five retired Archbishops and Bishops “distinguished for their pastoral charity in the service of the Holy See and of the Church” would also be made Cardinals.

Below, please find the complete text of the Pope’s announcement, with the names of all those set to be elevated to the Cardinalate:

“As was already announced, on February 14 next I will have the joy of holding a Concistory, during which I will name 15 new Cardinals who, coming from 13 countries from every continent, manifest the indissoluble links between the Church of Rome and the particular Churches present in the world.

“On Sunday February 15 I will preside at a solemn concelebration with the new Cardinals, while on February 12 and 13 I will hold a Consistory with all the Cardinals to reflect on the orientations and proposals for the reform of the Roman Curia.

“The new Cardinals are:

Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
Archbishiop Manuel José Macario do Nascimento Clemente, Patriarch of Lisbon (Portugal)
Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, C.M., of Addis Abeba (Ethiopia)
Archbishop John Atcherley Dew of Wellington (New Zealand)
Archbishop Edoardo Menichelli of Ancona-Osimo (Italy)
Archbishop Pierre Nguyên Văn Nhon of Hà Nôi (Viêt Nam)
Archbishop Alberto Suàrez Inda of Morelia (Mexico)
Archbishop Charles Maung Bo, S.D.B., of Yangon (Myanmar)
Archbishop Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij of Bangkok (Thailand)
Archbishop Francesco Montenegro of Agrigento (Italy)
Archbishop Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet, S.D.B., of Montevideo (Uruguay)
Archbishop Ricardo Blázquez Pérez of Vallodolid (Spain)
Bishop José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán, O.A.R., of David (Panamá)
Bishop Arlindo Gomes Furtado, of Santiago de Cabo Verde (Archipelago of Cape Verde)
Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi of Tonga (Island of Tonga)

“Additionally, I will join to the Members of the College of Cardinals five Archbishops and Bishops Emeriti who are distinguished for their pastoral charity in the service of the Holy See and of the Church. They represent so many Bishops who, with the same pastoral solicitude, have given witness of love for Christ and for the people of God in particular Churches, in the Rome Curia, and in the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See.

“They are:

José de Jesús Pimiento Rodriguez, Archbishop Emeritus of Manizales
Archbishop Luigi De Magistris, Major Pro-Penitentiary Emeritus
Archbishop Karl-Joseph Rauber, Apostolic Nuncio
Luis Héctor Villaba, Archbishop Emeritus of Tucumán
Júlio Duarte Langa, Bishop Emeritus of Xai-Xai

“Let us pray for the new Cardinals, that, renewed in their love for Christ, they might be witnesses of His Gospel in the City of Rome and in the world, and with their pastoral experience they might support me more intensely in my apostolic service.”

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News

VATICAN CITY — Jan 4, 2015

Associated Press

Pope Francis has named 15 new cardinals, selecting the “princes of the church” from 14 nations, including far-flung corners of the world such as Tonga, New Zealand and Myanmar.

Other cardinals hail from Ethiopia, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam. Francis said Sunday the new cardinals reflect the church’s diversity and will be formally installed on Feb. 14.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

Annuncio di Concistoro per la creazione di nuovi Cardinali

Nel corso dell’Angelus di oggi, il Santo Padre Francesco ha annunciato i nomi dei nuovi Cardinali che nominerà nel Concistoro del 14 febbraio prossimo:

Come è stato già annunciato, il prossimo 14 febbraio avrò la gioia di tenere un Concistoro, durante il quale nominerò 15 nuovi Cardinali, che, provenienti da 14 Nazioni di ogni Continente, manifestano l’inscindibile legame fra la Chiesa di Roma e le Chiese particolari presenti nel mondo.

Domenica 15 febbraio presiederò una solenne concelebrazione con i nuovi Cardinali, mentre il 12 e il 13 febbraio terrò un Concistoro con tutti i Cardinali per riflettere sugli orientamenti e le proposte per la riforma della Curia Romana.

I nuovi Cardinali sono:

1 – Mons. Dominique Mamberti, Arcivescovo titolare di Sagona, Prefetto del Supremo Tribunale della Segnatura Apostolica.

2 – Mons. Manuel José Macário do Nascimento Clemente, Patriarca di Lisboa (Portogallo).

3 – Mons. Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, C.M., Arcivescovo di Addis Abeba (Etiopia).

4 – Mons. John Atcherley Dew, Arcivescovo di Wellington (Nuova Zelanda).

5 – Mons. Edoardo Menichelli, Arcivescovo di Ancona-Osimo (Italia).

6 – Mons. Pierre Nguyên Văn Nhon, Arcivescovo di Hà Nôi (Viêt Nam).

7 – Mons. Alberto Suárez Inda, Arcivescovo di Morelia (Messico).

8 – Mons. Charles Maung Bo, S.D.B., Arcivescovo di Yangon (Myanmar).

9 – Mons. Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij, Arcivescovo di Bangkok (Thailandia).

10 – Mons. Francesco Montenegro, Arcivescovo di Agrigento (Italia).

11 – Mons. Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet, S.D.B., Arcivescovo di Montevideo (Uruguay).

12 – Mons. Ricardo Blázquez Pérez, Arcivescovo di Valladolid (Spagna).

13 – Mons. José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán, O.A.R., Vescovo di David (Panamá).

14 – Mons. Arlindo Gomes Furtado, Vescovo di Santiago de Cabo Verde (Arcipelago di Capo Verde).

15 – Mons. Soane Patita Paini Mafi, Vescovo di Tonga (Isole di Tonga).

Unirò, inoltre, ai Membri del Collegio Cardinalizio 5 Arcivescovi e Vescovi Emeriti che si sono distinti per la loro carità pastorale nel servizio alla Santa Sede e alla Chiesa. Essi rappresentano tanti Vescovi che, con la stessa sollecitudine di pastori, hanno dato testimonianza di amore a Cristo e al Popolo di Dio sia nelle Chiese particolari, sia nella Curia Romana, sia nel Servizio Diplomatico della Santa Sede.

Essi sono:

1 – Mons. José de Jesús Pimiento Rodríguez, Arcivescovo emerito di Manizales.

2 – Mons. Luigi De Magistris, Arcivescovo titolare di Nova, Pro-Penitenziere Maggiore emerito.

3 – Mons. Karl-Joseph Rauber, Arcivescovo titolare di Giubalziana, Nunzio Apostolico.

4 – Mons. Luis Héctor Villalba, Arcivescovo emerito di Tucumán.

5 – Mons. Júlio Duarte Langa, Vescovo emerito di Xai-Xai.

Preghiamo per i nuovi Cardinali, affinché, rinnovando il loro amore a Cristo, siano testimoni del suo Vangelo nella Città di Roma e nel mondo e con la loro esperienza pastorale mi sostengano più intensamente nel mio servizio apostolico.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Valley News

Randall Balmer
For the Valley News
Sunday, January 4, 2015
(Published in print: Sunday, January 4, 2015)

Imagine for a moment — and unfortunately it’s not difficult to do so — a religious institution with a long and tawdry history of tolerating sexual abuse. Individuals in positions of authority would prey on those in a subordinate status, those most vulnerable. If one of the victims summoned the courage to report the incident, those in authority would either brush it off or blame the victim for provoking the attack.

As evidence of systemic abuse mounted, officials in charge of this religious institution promised to investigate. Those investigations, however, were half-hearted at best and even aborted when investigators came close to the truth of the matter. The institution pledged to root out the corruption and punish the miscreants. But these religious authorities were also adamant that they should handle these sensitive matters internally rather than turn the cases over to law-enforcement authorities.

By now the contours of the story are sadly familiar, and readers know that I’m obviously referring to . . . Bob Jones University.

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UNITED STATES
News-Press

Frank Fear January 3, 2015

Pope Francis is at it again. He is continuing his unprecedented (and very public) effort to reform the Vatican bureaucracy.

In his Christmas Week address to The Curia he called bishops and cardinals “Lords of the Manor – (sometimes feeling) superior to everyone and everything.” “A Curia that does not criticize itself, that does not bring itself up to date, that does not to improve, is a sick body,” Francis proclaimed.

The administrative body of the Church needs to change, says the Pope, and he offered The Curia a framework for reform. Likening it to a diseased body, Francis described what he called “15 ailments of The Curia.” What’s ailing the Church’s top brass? Feeling indispensable. Being boastful. Gossiping. Forming closed circles. Showing off. Focusing excessively on career. Being opportunists. …

Most institutions talk a good game. They “brand” well. And they let the public know the great things they’re doing. But Francis brings to attention something else: what often goes on inside institutions. There you can often find a different storyline, one that’s almost always hidden from public view.

The prevailing approach is “impression management.” Only talk about what’s working well. Focus on highlights. Don’t air “dirty laundry.” Protect the Brand.

Some of that certainly makes sense, but an insular organizational culture emerges when institutional self-enhancement is taken to an extreme. Issues get papered-over. Employees feel they can’t bring up problems. It’s a matter of “going along to get along.”

None of this matters to the public most of the time, but that’s certainly not a hard and fast rule. Consider what happened at General Motors (ignition switch); The Veteran’s Administration (vets’ medical treatment); and Penn State University (sexual predation). And not too long ago the Pope cleaned-up money laundering at The Vatican Bank.

In calling-out the Curia, Francis made public what he believes is happening inside The Vatican. By extrapolation he invites us to ask a parallel question: What’s going on inside our organizations? As The Chicago Tribune wrote last week about the Pope’s talk: “This wasn’t an exclusively Roman Catholic message, or even a particularly religious message. It’s advice to all of us on how to lead our lives.”

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GUAM
Pacific Sunday News

Written by
Maria Hernandez
Pacific Sunday News

Vatican diplomats traveling from Rome were expected to arrive on island yesterday evening, and at least one member of the delegation is expected to attend the governor’s inauguration on Monday, according to the governor’s office.

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fair, secretary of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples; Archbishop Martin Krebs, apostolic delegate to the Pacific Islands; and Reverend Father Tadeusz Nowak will be on island until Jan. 10, according to the Archdiocese of Agana.

The governor’s inauguration will take place Monday morning on the front lawn at Adelup. Krebs is expected to attend, according to the governor’s office.

Concerned Catholics

While the archdiocese stated in a December release that the trip is a “pastoral visit to foster reconciliation and mutual understanding in the archdiocese,” some local organizations are disputing the claim.

In mid-December, a nonprofit group called the Concerned Catholics of Guam Inc. announced its plans to investigate the management of the local church, its financial books and the archdiocese’s handling of accusations of sexual molestation against Archbishop Anthony Apuron, news files state.

Apuron, who is planning a defamation lawsuit to defend the church, called the allegation a “horrible calumny,” but declined to comment further.

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NEW JERSEY
Road to Recovery

Saturday, January 3, 2014 – Road to Recovery, Inc.

The Xaverian Missionaries are a religious order of men with a headquarters in Wayne, NJ where Fr. James Tully, a serial sexual abuser of children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults is based and has lived recently. Fr. James Tully is a risk and danger to children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults.

Fr. James Tully sexually abused Anthony Turay at approximately age 19. Anthony Turay is a native of Makeni, Sierra Leone, Africa, who came from a devout Catholic family and attended a junior seminary in order to be a priest. Anthony Turay was also sexually abused at approximately age 20 by Br. Martin O’Reilly, CFC, at the Christian Brothers’ Formation Center in Gbarnga, Liberia, Africa, where Anthony was preparing to become a religious brother.

The Xaverian Missionaries have refused to treat Anthony Turay fairly and justly because of the effects of the sexual abuse of Fr. James Tully, Xaverian Missionary.

What
A demonstration and leafleting alerting a New Jersey neighborhood and the general public to the dangers posed by a missionary religious order of men which refuses to treat an African sexual abuse victim, Anthony Turay, of a missionary priest, Fr. James Tully, fairly and justly.

When
Sunday, January 4, 2015 from 11:00 am until 1:00 pm (press conference at Noon)

Where
Outside the headquarters of the Xaverian Missionary Religious Order, 12 Helene Court, Wayne, NJ 07470 – 973-942-2975

Who
Anthony Turay, an African man who was sexually abused by Fr. James Tully in a Catholic parish in Kamalo, Sierra Leone at approximately the age of 19; his fiancée; Dr. Robert M. Hoatson, President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families; Kevin Waldrip, a New Jersey sexual abuse victim and supporter of sexual abuse victims.

Why
The Xaverian Missionaries are an international religious order working in approximately 21 countries, including Sierra Leone in Africa. Fr. James Tully, a Xaverian Missionary, is a serial sexual abuser of children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults. The Xaverian Missionaries have settled claims against Fr. Tully for sexually abusing children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults in the United States and foreign countries. Anthony Turay, an innocent victim from Sierra Leone in Africa, was sexually abused by Fr. James Tully at the Xaverian Missionary parish in Kamalo, Sierra Leone on more than one occasion. Demonstrators will go door to door in the cul-de-sac neighborhood of Wayne, NJ where the leaders of the Xaverian Missionaries are based warning innocent families of the danger posed by Fr. James Tully and the Xaverian Missionary leaders who enabled and continue to enable him.

Contacts
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., President, Road to Recovery, Inc., 862-368-2800
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Boston, MA – 617-523-6250

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UNITED STATES
America

Nathan Schneider | Jan 1 2015

A Catholic sister I know, on her way to yet another street protest for police accountability, emailed me the other day with “an idea for a column,” as her subject line read. This crisis of racism in policing, she wrote, seems familiar. Could it be that there is some connection between prosecutors protecting killer police officers and bishops protecting abusive priests?

It’s a haunting idea—haunting to think that these two hugely powerful yet distinct institutions might have systemic problems in common. Even more haunting is the thought of how touchy partisans of either the cops or the church might respond to such an intimation. Yet the second I saw the sister’s brief suggestion, I couldn’t help but think that there is truth to it.

Think of it this way. Police departments around the country are facing a renewed round of protest for practices and policies that victimize people of color; in a spree of high-profile cases, officers have escaped trial, angering communities and harming public trust in the institution as a whole. Dioceses around the country, too, have been exposed in recent years for practices and policies that victimize the people they purport to serve, particularly children; after a series of high-profile cover-ups, the systematic protection of abusive clergy has sorely harmed the faithful’s trust in the institution as a whole.

Am I missing something?

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

In a new posting at his Christian Catholicism site, Jerry Slevin invites Catholics to dream about the impossible. As he notes, countering the idea that such dreams are “impractical,” who dreamt that a “pope for life” would resign in the midst of the mess the Catholic church has made for itself at this point in history?

And did Jesus limit his dreams to the “practical”?

Jerry proposes 12 resolutions for Pope Francis if he really does want to fix the mess:

∙Protect children by holding bishops accountable.
∙Protect children by restoring the age of First Confession to 13 years of age.
∙Help abuse survivors financially and emotionally.
∙Help couples by endorsing contraception.
∙Help women by ordaining women as priests.
∙Appoint women Cardinals.
∙Recognize same sex marriages as holy.
∙Encourage divorced and remarried Catholics to receive all the Sacraments.
∙Have all bishops selected and retained only with the full consent of the Catholics they serve.
∙Sell all excess Church assets and give the proceeds to the poor.
∙End Church involvement in political campaigns.
∙Infallibly declare that popes are always “fallible”.

With regard to the question of naming women cardinals, Jerry notes that the Wall Street Journal has stated that Francis may name new cardinals as early as tomorrow. As he also points out, no less than the Vatican’s Jesuit spokesman Father Lombardi has told The Irish Times that “theologically and theoretically, it is possible” for a pope to name a woman cardinal. As Jerry also reminds his readers, Jesuit Father Tom Reese has also stated that, according to canon law, a pope has “total freedom” to appoint whomever he wishes as a cardinal.

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ITALIA
Firmiamo

[petition site in support of Pope Francis]

L’arrivo del Papa «venuto dalla fine del mondo» che assume il nome di Francesco presentandosi non come Pontefice Massimo, ma come Vescovo di Roma, provoca reazioni scomposte dentro la Curia vaticana che, falcidiata da scandali e corruzioni, considera il Papa come corpo «estraneo» al suo sistema consolidato di alleanze col potere mondano, alimentato da due strumenti perversi: il denaro e il sesso.

Dapprima il chiacchiericcio sul «Papa strano» inizia in sordina, poi via via diventa sempre più palese davanti alle aperture di papa Francesco in fatto di famiglia, di «pastorale popolare» e di vicinanza con il Popolo di Dio per arrivare anche – scandalo degli scandali – a parlare con i non credenti e gli atei.

Dopo lo sgomento di un sinodo «libero di parlare», l’attacco frontale di cinque cardinali (Müller, Burke, Brandmüller, Caffarra e De Paolis), tra cui il Prefetto della Congregazione della Fede, ha rafforzato il fronte degli avversari che vedono in Papa Francesco «un pericolo» che bisogna bloccare a tutti i costi.

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ITALY
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor January 3, 2015

Amid a robust Italian debate over the leadership of Pope Francis, a cross-section of liberal Catholic groups in the country has launched an online petition to show backing for the Argentinian pontiff.

Pointedly called “Stop the Attacks on Pope Francis,” the petition was launched on Christmas Day by groups including “We are Church,” “Blessed are the Peacemakers,” the Edith Stein Study Center, an Italian association of theologians, and a variety of base communities. All are generally associated with the liberal wing of the Italian Church.

The petition is also signed by the Rev. Luigi Ciotti of Turin, one of Italy’s best known anti-Mafia priests, and the Rev. Alex Zanotelli, a Combonian missionary priest and a well-known social activist.

As of Jan. 3, the petition had attracted close to 2,500 signatures, toward a goal of 50,000.

The current Italian row over Francis began when one of the country’s most renowned Catholic journalists, Vittorio Messori, published a front-page essay on Dec. 24 in Corriere della Sera stating his “perplexity” over what he sees as the pontiff’s contradictions.

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MARYLAND
Leon J. Podles: Dialogue

January 3rd, 2015

Bishop Heather Cook of Baltimore killed a bicyclist last week.

She apparently left her apartment at the end of Roland Avenue in Baltimore. She drove south down a section of Roland Ave which is 6 lanes, untrafficked, with clearly marked bike lanes and smooth pavement.

There she encountered Tony Palermo and ran into him. He was an expert bicyclist, and worked in the bicycle section at REI. My son frequently saw him bicycling. There were other bicyclists around.

She continued on Roland Avenue and turned around. The bicyclists saw her car and realized it must have been the one involved in the accident. A bicyclist pursued her to get her license number. She drove into her gated community but the guard kept the bicyclist out.

45 minutes after the accident (according to eyewitnesses) she returned to the scene of the accident. An official from the Episcopal diocese was on hand.

Cook had had a previous encounter with the police:

Court records show that a sheriff’s deputy stopped Cook on Sept. 10, 2010, in Caroline County on the Eastern Shore. The officer wrote in a report that Cook was driving on the shoulder at 29 mph in a 50 mph-zone with a shredded front tire. The deputy noted that a strong alcohol odor emanated from the vehicle and that Cook had vomit down the front of her shirt.

The officer wrote that Cook was so intoxicated that she couldn’t finish a field sobriety test because she might fall and hurt herself.

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CALIFORNIA
ABC 30

By Kate Valentine
Friday, January 02, 2015

TULARE, Calif. (KFSN) — A former Tulare priest accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from parishioners has bailed out of jail. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno is reaching out to members to help calm any concerns.

Questions surround former priest Ignacio Villafan of St. Rita’s Catholic Church in Tulare. This week he was arrested and charged with embezzling $425,000.

The Diocese of Fresno was first told about accounting problems several years ago at St. Rita’s. That’s when they put Villafan on paid administrative leave. They also contacted Tulare police.

Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward said, “Tulare Police Department did a lengthy thorough investigation and based on that we were able to file charges.”

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

[with video]

By Colin Campbell
The Baltimore Sun

A Maryland Episcopal bishop identified as the motorist in Saturday’s fatal bicycle accident in North Baltimore once gave a sermon in which she used a driving analogy to discuss responsibility.

In the videotaped sermon, “Be Prepared,” Bishop Suffragan Heather Elizabeth Cook cautions the congregation that actions can have serious consequences.

“Things happen suddenly, and we’re either prepared in the moment or we’re not, and we face the consequences. We can’t go back. We can’t do it over,” Cook says in the sermon, posted on YouTube in November. “If we routinely drive 55 in a 30-mile-an-hour zone, we won’t be able to stop on a dime if driving conditions get dangerous or if an animal or, God forbid, a human being should step out in front of us,” Cook says.

The video was posted by the All Saints’ Episcopal Church of Reisterstown on its YouTube page and is dated Nov. 13.

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ROMA
Noticias Iruya

La Squadra Mobile de la policía italiana ha detenido en Roma al sacerdote Alessandro De Rossi, sobre quien pesaba una orden de captura internacional emitida por un Juez de Garantías de la ciudad de Salta.

La detención se produjo el pasado miércoles 31 de diciembre, en horas de la tarde, según han informado autoridades italianas.

De Rossi se desempeñaba desde el 1 de septiembre de 2013 como párroco de la iglesia de San Luigi Gonzaga, ubicada en la via Villa Emiliani del barrio de Parioli, al norte de Roma.

El sacerdote, de 46 años, estuvo destinado «fidei donum» durante aproximadamente seis años en la Arquidiócesis de Salta, en donde tuvo a su cargo la iglesia de María Medianera de Todas las Gracias, ubicada al oeste de la capital salteña. De Rossi era, además, uno de los promotores de una ONG religiosa denominada “Salta sul mondo onlus”, que realizaba proyectos en favor de los niños más vulnerables.

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ARGENTINA
Noticias Iruyai

El Arzobispo de Salta avaló con su ‘juicio positivo’ la designación como párroco en Roma del cura detenido

En la tarde de ayer, día viernes 2 de enero de 2015, el Uficio Comunicazioni Sociali (UCS), que depende del Vicariato di Roma, ha hecho público un comunicado de prensa en el que expresa su dolor y desconcierto por el arresto del párroco de San Luigi Gonzaga, «Alessandro De Rossi», acusado de abuso y corrupción de menores por la justicia de Salta.

La nota recuerda que el sacerdote había regresado a Roma a comienzos de 2013, después de pasar varios años como misionero en el extranjero y señala expresamente que su designación como párroco en una iglesia de Roma se debió al juicio positivo emitido sobre él por el «obispo local».

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ROME
Buenos Aires Herald

A priest accused of sexual abuse against minors in Salta province was arrested in Rome, Italy, following an warrant issued by Argentine judges.

Alessandro De Rossi, 46, faced charges for having perpetrated sexual offences against a 14-year-old teenager during three years while he was working at the church “María Medianera de todas las gracias,” located in the neighbourhood Islas Malvinas of the capital city of Salta, according to the website Roma Capitale.

At the time of his arrest, De Rossi was a pastor in a church in Rome’s Parioli district.
The detention took place on December 31 but was reported yesterday.

Salta Judge Diego Rodríguez Pipino issued an arrest warrant to the Interpol international police agency against De Rossi, who is said to have committed a series of sexual offences to an unknown number of victims.

The priest, born in Rome, was sent to Salta by Church authorities. He spent five years in that province.

Between December 23 and Christmas Eve, police officers carried out several raids to seize computers, photographs and some other information that could be used as evidence of the alleged ties between De Rossi and the sexual abuse cases that had been reported by minors.

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Paris Arrow

December 31, 2014 Happy New Year to all our friends and readers !

On December 28, in Abuse Tracker, it was a coincidence (or God-incidence because with God – and sometimes with Kathy Shaw – there is no such thing as coincidence) that Jerry Slevin’s blog, Christian Catholicism, and his critique ‘Pope Francis: Children Are Good & More Children Are Better???’ — was posted next to our blog, POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ (con-artist really), with our REBUTTAL to Peggy Noonan’s article ‘Cardinal, Please Spare This Church’ in Wall Street Journal – Opus Dei Beast PR Stunt of Day in US

Jerry duly noted in his article that – “Pope Francis even suggests that couples may be having less children due to ‘egoism’. Francis reportedly said on 12/28/14: ‘In a world often marked by egoism, a large family is a school of solidarity and of mission that’s of benefit to the entire society …’” Here’s our addendum: Pope Francis is the Jesuit Master of Deceits – and what he really mean is, a large family – who will be on perpetual mission – to serve and work as cheap slaves laborers worldwide – for the 1% richest persons on the globe who are his cronies of looters and imperialists of multinational corporations – whose wealth are safely hidden in secret Vatican Swiss Banks and in Malta.

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BOSTON (MA)
The New York Times

By MICHAEL PAULSON
JAN. 2, 2015

BOSTON — The house on the rise has long been a symbol of Catholicism in Boston. When it was built, its grandeur demonstrated the wherewithal of the city’s newly powerful Roman Catholic community. When it was sold, the transaction reflected the straits of a once-powerful archdiocese brought low by scandal.

Now, the bedrooms of the Italianate palazzo where all of Boston’s 20th-century cardinals, as well as a visiting Pope John Paul II, once slept have been gutted, in preparation for it to be remade as a museum.

The conversion of the cardinals’ residence is the final step in the transformation of a leafy expanse on the western edge of Boston that was once so packed with Catholic institutions — a seminary, a college, the residence and the archdiocesan headquarters — that it was referred to as Little Rome. It is still Catholic — most of the land is owned by Boston College, a Jesuit institution, and there are crosses and a statue of St. Ignatius on the campus. But the seminary gymnasium is now a dance studio; the old tribunal, where marriages were annulled, houses a center on aging; and the former chancery is the college’s alumni center.

A decade after the Archdiocese of Boston began the process of selling property at its headquarters to Boston College to pay victims of sexual abuse by clergy members, the most visible vestiges of the land’s historical uses are an archdiocesan seminary, now in half the building it once filled, and a grave site for the cardinal who acquired much of the land but whose remains were disinterred and relocated as a condition of the real estate deal.

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GUAM
Jungle Watch

Tim Rohr

This is a request I have received several times.

The apostolic visitors have several meetings scheduled with the clergy and the laity. Unfortunately, those wishing to meet with them were screened by the very people who the apostolic visitors are here to investigate.

At 3pm on Tuesday, December 30, CCOG president, Greg Perez, was advised by someone who had only made an appointment a few hours before, that according to the chancery official in charge of the schedule, most of January 8 and 9 was still open.

Upon hearing that the schedule was still mostly open only a few hours previously, Mr. Perez, who had already made an appointment for himself, called the chancery to make an additional appointment for the CCOG. He was told that everything was booked.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

01/02/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Less than two months after the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis gave nearly a dozen staff members thirty minutes to pack up and depart- terminating their employment in an effort to balance the budget- and with the prospect of a bankruptcy filing looming, the Archdiocese announced in its January 2, 2015 ‘Update’ the hiring of another employee for the Office of Child and Youth Protection.

According to the ‘Update’,

The Office for the Protection of Children and Youth Welcomes Michael Fulcher

Mike Fulcher will be joining the OPCY staff on January 5, 2015 as the new OPCY Coordinator. Mike recently moved from Ohio to the Twin Cities to be closer to family, and to work for the local Church in this important role.

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UNITED STATES
Prestige Hong Kong

MICHAEL KEATON’s role in Birdman has resurrected the multifaceted actor’s eclectic career. He talks to JOE YOGERST about theatre, his comedic roots and the movie that’s propelled him back into the limelight

AFTER YEARS OF flying beneath the media spotlight, Michael Keaton suddenly finds himself the most wanted man in showbiz. He’s been blazing a trail through the late-night talk shows, he’s on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter and countless other rags, and he can’t even get through a restaurant meal without other diners (like US Secretary of State John Kerry) showering him with praise. All because of a little film called Birdman that has slowly but surely morphed into a very big deal.

It’s not like Keaton hasn’t been in the spotlight before. His naughty-but-nice Beetlejuice is one of the more memorable characters to come out of Tinseltown in the past 30 years. And his Batman redefined the superhero genre, setting the tone for dozens of films that came later. But it’s Keaton’s role as washed-up actor Riggan Thomson in Birdman that has thrust the 63-year-old onto a whole different plane of celebrity. …

YOU’VE GOT ANOTHER HIGHLY ANTICIPATED MOVIE COMING OUT NEXT – SPOTLIGHT – A STORY ABOUT THE CATHOLIC-CHURCH SEXABUSE SCANDAL. ARE YOU FINISHED SHOOTING?

I think I have a day we have to go back and grab a scene in the winter. That was a nice little movie to work on. Not the cheeriest of subject matters.

AND YOU PLAY ROBBY ROBINS ON, AN EDITOR IN CHARGE OF A TEAM FROM THE BOSTON GLOBE THAT’S INVESTIGATING THE SCANDAL.

Yeah. He describes himself as a player/coach. He’s a reporter and an editor of what in some cities they call the Metro section. The Boston Globe has something called Spotlight that does investigative pieces. And Walter “Robby” Robinson heads that team up.

IT’S AN INTERESTING PREMISE FOR A MOVIE. I GUESS IT’S THE FIRST TIME ANYONE HAS REALLY TAKEN A LOOK AT THIS SUBJECT.

Yeah, exactly. My guess is that it’s going to feel a little like All the President’s Men. I have the feeling that will be the vibe. Which is kind of nice because when is the last time you saw that kind of movie? Nobody really makes that kind of movie any more.

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UNITED STATES
Hamilton Spectator (Canada)

Michael Keaton says his education at a Catholic school shaped the person who he is.

The 63-year-old actor admits he endured tough discipline during his time at school when he was growing up in Pennsylvania, but rather than resent the treatment he believes it made him a moral person.

In an interview with Prestige Hong Kong magazine, Keaton – whose parents were Catholic Christians – said: “I liked going to Catholic school. Not as f***ed up as some people think. My experience was fine. It was classic knuckle-rapping and stand in the corner and corporal punishment. But it was just sort of what it was. I didn’t come away scarred for life. It kind of builds who you are. I was an altar boy. I liked being an altar boy. Me and my buddies got to go and serve Mass and go to school. I didn’t go to church all the time just ’cause I was an antsy kid. It was a good experience for me. It probably does shape who you are and what you believe in.”

Keaton’s next film ‘Spotlight’ focuses on the Boston Globe newspaper’s investigation of the Massachusetts Catholic sex abuse scandal.

In the movie, he plays Spotlight team editor Walter ‘Robby’ Robinson who is charge of the journalistic investigation into the abuse carried out by priests, and Keaton believes his Catholic background helped him in the difficult role.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Post

Michael Keaton Stars in Movie About Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal; Reveals Catholic School Helped Shape Him as a Person

BY STOYAN ZAIMOV , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
January 2, 2015

U.S. actor Michael Keaton poses during the red carpet for the movie ”Birdman or (The unexpected virtue of ignorance)” at the 71st Venice Film Festival August 27, 2014.

Actor Michael Keaton has said in an interview that his upcoming movie “Spotlight,” about the Catholic sex abuse scandal in Massachusetts, threatened to make him “angry and depressed” due to the dark subject matter. Keaton also revealed that he grew up going to Roman Catholic school, and said that it had a positive impact on his life and helped shape him as a person.

“I liked going to Catholic school. Not as [expletive] as some people think. My experience was fine. It was classic knuckle-rapping and stand in the corner and corporal punishment. But it was just sort of what it was. I didn’t come away scarred for life,” Keaton told Prestige Hong Kong magazine in an interview on Thursday.

“It kind of builds who you are. I was an altar boy. I liked being an altar boy. Me and my buddies got to go and serve mass and go to school. I didn’t go to church all the time just ’cause I was an antsy kid. It was a good experience for me. It probably does shape who you are and what you believe in.”

Keaton further explained that in the film he plays Robby Robins, an editor in charge of a team from the Boston Globe that investigated the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal in Massachusetts, which uncovered a series of cover-ups related to such crimes within the Boston Archdiocese.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* Protect children by holding bishops accountable.
* Protect children by restoring the age of First Confession to 13 years of age.
* Help abuse survivors financially and emotionally.
* Help couples by endorsing contraception.
* Help women by ordaining women as priests.
* Appoint women Cardinals.
* Recognize same sex marriages as holy.
* Encourage divorced and remarried Catholics to receive all the Sacraments.
* Have all bishops selected and retained only with the full consent of the Catholics they serve.
* Sell all excess Church assets and give the proceeds to the poor.
* End Church involvement in political campaigns.
* Infallibly declare that popes are always “fallible”.

* Why not? Impractical, not really, as I discuss below. Was expecting a “pope for life” to quit impractical? Moreover, Jesus was not limited by what was considered “practical”.

* It is time for Catholics to take off the blinders and require that their leaders follow the Gospels. Catholics can require this by (1) ending their donations that even indirectly benefit bishops, (2) publicly challenging their bishops often, and (3) demanding that their democratically elected officials (A) investigate, and if the evidence is found, prosecute suspected bishops, and (B) end all subsidies to bishops.

* Pope Francis has so far offered few indications about concrete changes he really wants. Many Church leaders seem fearful of any changes. Yet, many Catholics and others are finally pressing for permanent changes. They have by now seen Vatican misconduct up close and too often. They now also understand better that many of the Vatican’s frequently ambiguous, if not vague, basic biblical and historical sources supporting papal power have too often been overplayed, if not misused, in encyclicals and a Catechism, to justify supreme papal power .

* Significantly, these permanent changes, that the Catholic majority seeks in good conscience and good faith, may differ ultimately from what many in the Vatican now want. As the “infallible Supreme Pontiff” for millions of Catholics, Pope Francis has the best papal opportunity in many years, if not centuries, to fix the broken Catholic Church. This may also be the final papal opportunity to clean up the “holy mess”. Time will soon tell.

* This Catholic Church’s crisis has led to one papal resignation already. Pope Francis appears for many reasons to be the Vatican’s best and last chance to lead on initiating overdue Church changes. Pressures beyond Vatican control can be expected to compel more severe changes if Francis fails to act effectively and transparently. This has already begun to happen with respect to Vatican finances, as a result of the continuing European governmental investigations of multiple misdeeds involving both the Vatican Bank and the Vatican’s own significant portfolio assets. Prospects for criminal prosecutions of Catholic Church officials have seemingly caused the Vatican to focus on overdue reforms in ways that earlier financial penalties and shameful publicity had rarely done before. As with corporate criminal executives worldwide, prosecution risk is generally a uniquely effective deterrent to future crimes by senior leaders.

* Almost 150 years ago, facing a similar crisis, Pope Pius IX refused to initiate overdue changes to his arbitrary and ineffective leadership of his Kingdom of the Papal States in central Italy. His key misguided “fix” was to push to be declared “infallible” in July 1870. Two months later, he militarily lost the Kingdom completely to Italian nationalists. Traditional papal protectors like France and Austria-Hungary stood by and passively watched, unwilling to support further papal mismanagement and capriciousness. Will Pope Francis make a similar mistake like Pius IX did by misjudging his precarious position?

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VATICAN CITY
New Zealand Herald

Pope Francis is more popular than any modern pope but is upsetting Vatican insiders. Peter Popham says the backlash has begun and asks who will come out on top in the struggle for the heart of the Catholic church

Pope Francis, who in his first Mass of the new year called for an end to war and slavery, has put a spring in the step of the Catholic Church since his election nearly two years ago. But now the backlash has begun.

It started, coincidentally or not, two days after a recent, devastating assault by the pontiff on the vices of the senior Vatican officials who surround him.

Addressing the Curia in the magnificent setting of the Clementina Hall, the first Latin American Pope took no prisoners. Itemising the faults of the senior prelates he was addressing, he listed “feelings of immortality, immunity or indispensability, deriving from a pathology of power” and what he called “spiritual Alzheimer’s” in which Vatican bosses lose their memory of “meeting the Lord” and “depend entirely … on their passions, their whims and manias … becoming slaves of idols”. He described how “the terrorism of gossip” can “kill the reputation of our colleagues and brothers in cold blood”. Other ailments included having “a hardened heart”, “a funereal face”, and being “too rigid, tough and arrogant”.

The reaction came two days later. In the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Vittorio Messori, Italy’s best-known Catholic writer, wrote of his feelings of “perplexity” about the Pope, and the fact that “even some of the cardinals who were among his electors” were having second thoughts about him.

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TEXAS
Valley Central

by Tiffany Huertas

Supporters from all over the valley gathered Thursday evening at the Pharr Events Center for the swearing-in of the new Hidalgo County District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez. On hand to administer the oath of office was Representative Joaquin Castro of San Antonio

Some supporters said the change is long overdue and hope Rodriguez will listen to them.

“I totally believe that he will look into not only the Irene Garza case, but all cases,” said Noemi Sigler, Supporter.

The Garza family has supported Rodriguez since the beginning. They’ve been trying to get the unsolved murder case of Irene Garza re-opened for years.

The former Texas beauty queen and schoolteacher was killed more than 50 years ago, but no one has ever been charged for her death. The Garza’s said when they approached the now former DA Rene Guerra about reviewing the case, they got the cold shoulder.

“He showed absolutely no compassion, to the point of being disrespectful, and I will go out on a limb and say cruel,” said Noemi Sigler, Garza family member.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Brew

Fern Shen January 1, 2015

A mighty river of biking comrades today flowed along the Baltimore street where cyclist Thomas Palermo was hit and killed by a car last Saturday, in a memorial ride meant to honor his memory and show support for safer biking.

More than 700 people signed up for the ride and vigil, but organizers estimated as many as 1,500 participated in the chilly New Year’s Day show of support, some of them wearing signs that said “Cyclists’ Lives Matter” and “Justice for Tom.”

“I just came today to honor a fellow biker,” said Jeff Dudley, of Guilford, adhering at first to organizers’ wishes to keep the focus of the event on Palermo, not the unusual circumstances of his death.

But with Episcopal Bishop Heather Elizabeth Cook named as the driver – and clergy officials confirming that she drove off after the crash and so far no charges filed – the case has ignited worldwide attention and intense local debate.

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MARYLAND
Fox DC

There are more calls for Maryland’s first female episcopal bishop to resign following a deadly hit-and-run in Baltimore.

Hundreds of people hit the streets in Baltimore Thursday to remember fellow cyclist Thomas Palermo.

The father of two was struck and killed by a car this past weekend while he rode in a bike lane.

Police say Bishop Heather Cook was behind the wheel of the car. They say she left the scene and then returned 20-minutes later.

So far no charges have been filed.

A Facebook page calling for her to resign and face charges has nearly 2000 likes.

Just months ago, cook talked about personal responsibility in a sermon, using a car crash as an example.

“If we routinely drive 55 in a 30 mile-an-hour zone, we won’t be able to stop on a dime if driving conditions get dangerous or if an animal or, God forbid, a human being should step out in front of us,” Cook said in front of parishioners.

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MARYLAND
Christian Century

Jan 02, 2015 by Richard A. Kauffman

Two days after Christmas, Heather Elizabeth Cook, suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, hit and killed a bicyclist with her car. The deceased, Thomas Palermo, left behind a wife and two small children, ages four and six. Cook left the scene of the accident, despite having a badly cracked windshield from the impact. According to one report, she only returned to the scene because another cyclist chased her down.

The police have released no details suggesting drugs or alcohol were involved. But Cook had a previous DUI incident in 2010, before she became a bishop. In that incident she was initially charged with driving under the influence, reckless driving, and possession of marijuana. She admitted to smoking pot while driving. One of her tires was shredded down to the rim.

Apparently this information wasn’t shared across the diocese when Cook was voted in this spring as the number two bishop, leaving some members feeling betrayed. Some even accuse the search committee of being so keen to elect the first female bishop in the diocese that it chose to overlook her previous run-in with the law.

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MARYLAND
Huffington Post

Rev. Emily C. Heath
Clergy, United Church of Christ

A few people have asked me, as a clergy person openly in longterm recovery, what my thoughts are on whether Bishop Heather Cook, the Episcopal bishop in Maryland who struck and killed a motorist and who had a history of driving under the influence, should have been serving as a bishop. Here are my thoughts.

First of all, the person we should first be remembering, and whose family we should be lifting up in prayer, is Thomas Palermo, the man who was struck and killed by Bishop Cook, and then left to die in the roadway. Mr. Palermo and his family, including his children, should be our first concern as the church.

But to turn to Bishop Cook, and the discussion of clergy and alcoholism, this is what I can say. In the aftermath of Bishop Cook’s actions, I have seen a number of posts on social media debating whether or not a person with substance abuse issues should have been elevated to bishop. In my mind, most have lacked nuance. Several things need to be taken into account.

First, there are many clergy persons in recovery from addictions. Second, there are many more who should be in recovery. Third, I don’t know to which group Bishop Cook belonged.

That said, her 2010 DUI charges were particularly disturbing. Many of us in recovery never drove drunk, but the facts of her prior case seem to indicate that substance abuse was indeed a problem. My hope is that when she was charged she saw the need to get sober. My other hope is that the Episcopal Church supported her in that endeavor.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Jan. 2, 2015

The creation of new cardinals in February may well determine whether the papacy of Pope Francis is a flash in the pan or a turning point in the history of the church. It is the College of Cardinals that will determine whether his legacy is lasting when they choose his successor after he dies or retires.

If they choose a new pope committed to the reforms begun by Francis, all will be well. If not, church leaders, especially the Roman Curia, could try to return to business a usual.

This has happened before. Pope John XXIII was a reforming pope who called the Second Vatican Council, but he was not strategic when it came to the appointment of cardinals. He appointed many people who were not totally on board with the council. People joked that he made his enemies cardinals, especially those in the Curia. He even broke with tradition by making archbishops of all of the cardinals working in the Curia.

Judging by the appointments he made last year, Pope Francis is not making this mistake. In order to understand the radical nature of his 2014 appointments, one must remember the written and unwritten rules governing the appointment of cardinals.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

January 1 2015

David Aaronvitch

The vitriol aimed at Dame Fiona Woolf shows how detached from reality the self-appointed victims’ champions are

The year turns on a rusty hinge and the squeaks of 2014 grate on into 2015. So Fiona Woolf found herself both damed and damned as the new year’s honours list was announced. Damed for being only the second woman lord mayor of London and a distinguished lawyer; damned for being unfit (temporarily, at any rate) to receive such an honour

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – AM

Friday, January 2, 2015

SIMON SANTOW: As the child abuse Royal Commission moves into its second year of public hearings, there are growing concerns about how victims and organisations are using social media to discuss institutional child sexual abuse.

While social media is enabling survivors to connect with others and candidly share their stories in a way that was never possible before. There are warnings about the possible risks it may pose to future legal action.

Emily Bourke reports.

EMILY BOURKE: Last month, abuse survivor Alecia Buchanan told the Royal Commission about the comfort and support she’d found from others via social media.

ALECIA BUCHANAN: After so many years of silence, we… it was pouring out and a public forum of course we didn’t have anything like this in the old days, you know. So the social medium and people which, I’d never heard from contacted me and saying this is… thank you for… you know that was actually the most powerful thing, you know and it felt like we were being public.

EMILY BOURKE: Aaron Kernaghan has worked as a criminal defence lawyer and prosecutor and he represents victims and institutions appearing before the national inquiry.

AARON KERNAGHAN: It isn’t easy to come forward and talk to police, or to lawyers or to judges, it’s even less easy to talk to juries. But interestingly we seem to be moving as a society to a place where people have a great deal of ease with talking about incredibly private matters in a very public way.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

BY COLIN O’CARROLL – 02 JANUARY 2015

The number of historical child abuse victims could reach the tens of thousands and overwhelm the system, a leading MP has claimed.

Labour’s John Mann, who has given a dossier of allegations of historical abuse to police, said victims wanted a national institute.

He said the government needed the backing of those claiming to have been abused by establishment figures and in state institutions.

Mr Mann said the state could not deal with the numbers of people coming forward.

The inquiry, sparked by claims of paedophiles operating in Westminster in the 1980s, is set to investigate whether “public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Huffington Post

By Jack Sommers
Posted: 31/12/2014

The City lawyer who was forced to resign as chair of the government’s child sexual abuse inquiry, has been made a Dame, prompting condemnation from a campaigning MP on the issue.

Fiona Woolf was the second senior legal figure to quit as chair over her links to the Westminster political establishment.

She resigned over links to former home secretary Lord Brittan, who is likely to be called to give evidence to the inquiry over a dossier he received from MP Geoffrey Dickens in 1983, documenting the alleged involvement of VIP figures in a child sex ring.

Her resignation, just months after retired judge Baroness Butler-Sloss stepped down over similar concerns, has thrown the government’s stalled inquiry into crisis.

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GUAM
Concerned Catholics of Guam

January 1, 2015

From Page 6, December 31, 2014 edition of the Marianas Variety (or here):

SINCE the Concerned Catholics of Guam organized at the start of this month, the number of problems that they are asked to look into continues to grow, said David Sablan, vice president of the group.

The Concerned Catholics announced their intention to investigate the local archdiocese and heal a rift within the church on Dec. 9 and since then parishioners have approached them with related problems they want the group to sort out, Sablan said.

“There have been allegations against our archdiocese that have been milling around and this group wants to search out the facts and come up with the truth,” Sablan said.

“What we thought at first was maybe one or two, or a small number, of incidences is now growing tremendously,” said Greg Perez, president of Concerned Catholics. “And again, it’s really disappointing to see something like this happen and … we’ll continue to seek truth and justice.”

The group is hoping to find out how the money of the archdiocese is actually being spent as well as find out why funds are spent on the Redemptoris Mater seminary in Yona, Sablan said. Since the group announced its purpose on Dec. 9, one member, Deacon Steve Martinez was instructed by Archbishop Anthony Apuron to dissociate himself from it, lest he be censured. Martinez’s possible censure is another issue the group is hoping to investigate.

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PHILIPPINES
Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – Taking his cue from Pope Francis, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas warned priests against clericalism and materialism as seen among others in signature shirts, luxury vehicles, and international trips.

“It is a scandal for a priest to die a rich man,” Villegas said in a letter to the priests of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan in Pangasinan on Thursday, January 1.

Villegas, who also heads the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), issued a 7-point warning to priests as the Catholic Church in the Philippines marks the Year of the Poor, and as the Catholic Church around the world observes the Year of Consecrated Life in 2015.

The archbishop wrote, “As a brother in the vocation whose mission is to bring the Good News to the poor, let us impose on ourselves strict discipline in the following areas of priestly life:

“Avoid as much as you can foreign travels and frequent recreation in expensive tourist destinations. Even if such are paid for by friends and family, it is best to decline and choose austerity and simplicity. Rest is important but luxurious recreation is disrespectful for the poor who cannot even take a rest from their backbreaking jobs. Be more sensitive.”

“High-end cars and expensive vehicles smack of vainglory and luxury especially in a province like ours where there are so many who are poor who cannot afford a tricycle ride. There is no excuse for any priest to have such high-end vehicles. We need vehicles to reach the poor barangays (villages) and bring them the blessings of God. Expensive cars alienate the poor from the Church. We smell differently from the sheep.”

“We need to return to the clerical attire or clerical cross in public places as a form of witnessing to the poverty of Christ. Loud colored signature shirts and pants are fashionable but we cannot let Christ glow unless we let our glamour go. To be simple is to be great in the eyes of God. The poor priest does not need to dress sloppy. We must give dignity to our vocation.”

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MARYLAND
Inside Baltimore

By Tom Nugent

January 2015 – A second witness in the brutal 1969 murder of Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik told Baltimore-area criminal investigators 20 years ago that she was shown the dead nun’s body by a policeman, according to two former Maryland law enforcement officials who did not wish to be identified.

The former law enforcement officials said the witness alleged that after showing her Sister Cathy’s body, the policeman warned her to keep silent and raped her “on the back of a police car.”

According to the former officials, the witness added that she was shown the corpse “at another location” than the Lansdowne, Maryland, remote wooded area where the nun’s badly decomposed body was discovered 45 years ago this month, on January third, 1970.

The former Maryland law enforcement officials also said the woman’s written statement “went up the chain of command, per standard operating procedure” at the Baltimore County Police Department – but that it was never acted upon by cold case investigators who were charged with working on the unsolved murder.

(Baltimore County Police conducted the murder investigation after the nun’s body was found lying in the dirt near a trash dumpster, in a remote area located in their jurisdiction a few miles south of the city of Baltimore.)

“Eventually the word came down that her information had not persuaded the [cold case detectives] to re-open [an active] investigation,” said one of the former law enforcement officials.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

The number of historic claims of sexual abuse against children is likely to reach “tens of thousands”, an MP has warned.

Labour backbencher John Mann told Sky News there will be too many cases for the state to cope with – and is calling for a national institute to help victims.

It comes after many survivors called for the Government to scrap its current inquiry into paedophile activity and replace it with a more powerful body.

The wide-ranging probe was sparked by claims of paedophiles operating in Westminster in the 1980s, and is still mired in controversy.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

Jan 01, 2015 By Ben Glaze

Tens of thousands of victims are likely to come forward when the Westminster child abuse inquiry finally begins, an MP has warned.

Labour’s John Mann said today investigators will struggle with the “vast” number of allegations being made.

The Bassetlaw MP added: “Probably it’s going to be many tens of thousands of people across the country. It really is an extraordinary number of people.

“The state can’t deal with the numbers of people coming forward.”

Home Secretary Theresa May announced the inquiry six months ago into claims of historical child sex abuse and a cover-up that allegedly goes to the heart of the establishment.

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ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victims of clergy abuse demand action from Pope
While church commemorates innocent children murdered by Herod, victims to Pope: take action
Victimized as children by priests in three different countries they seek prevention
To Pope Francis: Fire predators and order bishops to open records and report evidence to police

For immediate release: December 28, 2014

By Barbara Blaine, SNAP President, +1 312 399 4747, bblaine@SNAPnetwork.org

As Catholics commemorate the biblical story of Herod massacring infants and acknowledge the special vulnerability of children, victims want Pope Francis to take concrete action to protect children now.

Specifically they want Pope Francis to take immediate action today to keep children safe in the church. They want him to:

-Fire the predators,
-Order all bishops to report suspected sex crimes, open files and turn over evidence to police, and
-Punish bishops and church officials who knowingly transfer predators and/or shield predators from police.

In February 2014 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child found that children remain at “… high risk of sexual abuse, as dozens of child sexual offenders are reported to be still in contact with children.”

They also found instances where church officials have “refused to cooperate with law enforcement authorities…”

[New York Times]

SNAP leaders want the Pope to lead the charge in protecting children by starting in the church itself.

SNAP wants predators fired from their posts.

They want bishops who transfer and/or shield predators punished.

SNAP leaders want the Pope to demand that records about sex crimes should be turned over to police and made public. Bishops should encourage their employees and parishioners to assist police in obtaining all evidence so that the perpetrators of sexual violence can be prosecuted and jailed. Victims want the Pope to order bishops across the globe to take these simple steps to immediately make children safer.

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VATICAN CITY
Latin Post

By Yara Simon (staff@latinpost.com)

Pope Francis continues to make changes within the Catholic church.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the pope is looking at developing countries when appointing new cardinals. He wants to find people who strengthen his point of view within the Vatican, and he wants to show support to Christians in the Middle East.

He is expected to name cardinals as soon as Sunday, and there is reportedly no American or Italian being considered for this role. …

Through cardinals, the pope is able to influence how the church operates.

When cardinals turn 80, they are no longer able to vote in a papal election. Therefore, new cardinals will be chosen. By February, 10 cardinals will be 80, and there will be two more that will soon turn 80.

Some believe the Argentine pope is looking to the Philippines, Indonesia and South Korea for cardinals. Rev. Jean Benjamin Sleiman from Baghdad is one who people believe is strongly being considered.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* The Wall Street Journal has reported that Pope Francis is likely to name more Cardinals, possibly as early Sunday, 1/4/15, as he seeks to reshape the makeup of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and to strengthen his support within the Vatican administration, known as the Roman Curia.

* Will any women be named? Unlikely, unfortunately for Catholics and for Pope Francis himself, who has a serious credibility problem among women.

* Rubber stamp journalists, including pathetically many women, will likely praise Francis for advancing with his latest appointments to the 19th Century with greater geographical diversity, while underplaying Francis’ failure to move into the 21st Century without even a token appointment reflecting gender equality.

* As supreme and unaccountable Church lawmaker, Pope Francis could re-write the rules quickly before February and appoint some women as Cardinals. Indeed, he may already have that authority. As Jesuit Vatican spokesman, Fr. Lombardi, told the Irish Times last year, ““Theologically and theoretically, it is possible,” he added. “Being a cardinal is one of those roles in the church for which, theoretically, you do not have to be ordained … ” Pope Francis could authorize women Cardinals quickly, just like he recently created the Council of Cardinals almost instantly out of thin air.

* At least half a billion Catholics, women, know very well that a major reason for the unabated continuation of the priest child abuse scandal is men, in particular over a hundred celibate Cardinals. These men likely do not even know “how to change a nappy”, as Mrs. Mary McAleese, the former Irish President recently so well put it.

* Pope Francis really needs to invite as Cardinals some women and mothers, like Ireland’s “straight talking” leader, Mrs. Mary McAleese, and brave Illinois Justice Anne Burke, to become Cardinals in February, and then to attend October’s Final Synod. What is he waiting for?

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