Archive for April, 2013
Star Witness’ Story in Philadelphia Sex Abuse Trials Doesn’t Add Up / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on April 30, 2013
Former Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Ralph Cipriano says that after sitting in on all 16 weeks of the two archdiocese trials in Philadelphia, he came away with a different take than the district attorney on his ‘historic’ prosecution of the church. Cipriano says what he witnessed was a couple of show trials shrouded in official secrecy and staged for political benefit. While (Monsignor William) Lynn became the main focus of the prosecution, the men at the top of the church hierarchy who gave Lynn his orders (including Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, Bishop Edward Cullen and Bishop Joseph Cistone) were given a pass.”
By Ralph Cipriano, former reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Los Angeles Times, in National Catholic Reporter. Read Cipriano’s article by clicking here.
James Martin, S.J., Talks about One of the Effects of the Clergy Sexual Abuse Scandal on Priests
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clergy, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Voice of the Faithful on April 29, 2013
In his column called Papal Embrace, which in the May 6 issue of America magazine, editor-at-large James Martin, S.J., wonders if the Pope’s embracing of children will change anything for other priests in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse scandal. Click here or on his byline below to read the entire column.
I make sure,’ said my friend, ‘that I am never alone with my nephews and nieces.’ That comment came from a priest. We were talking about the most sensitive topic imaginable: the fallout from the clerical sexual abuse scandals and the way that has affected our priesthood. It is something that many priests often discuss among themselves.” By James Martin, SJ, America magazine
Irish Prelate Cites Clericalism & an Increased Role for the Laity As Necessary in Renewal of Church
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Voice of the Faithful on April 26, 2013
Renewal of the Catholic Church in a “post-Catholic” Ireland depends on a homegrown effort by the laity to overcome clericalism and witness the Christian message in a secular society, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin told a New York audience (at Fordham University).” By Beth Griffin, Catholic News Service
Read the entire article quoting Archbishop Martin, “Laity Key to Irish Church’s Renewal, Dublin Archbishop Says at Fordham,” by clicking here.
Sex Abuse Accountability Should Be Universal Law / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, church reform, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on April 25, 2013
In late February, Maltese Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna told Italian journalists, ‘From now on, no one’ — and when he said ‘no one’ he meant the 117 cardinals coming to Rome for the conclave that would elect Pope Francis — ‘will be able to say they know nothing about what goes on regarding clerical sex abuse.’ … Zero tolerance for clergy child abusers is now the universal law of the church. Francis’ task is to lay down laws that will hold bishops liable for their actions and inactions, too. Bishops’ accountability to the people they serve must also become the universal law of the church.” Editorial in National Catholic Reporter
Read the entire NCR editorial by clicking here. Bold-face emphasis above added by Voice of the Faithful®.
Sr. Joan Chittister / LCWR: ‘Radical Feminism’ or ‘Living the Gospel’
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Religious Women, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on April 24, 2013
The BBC just called, an incident that in itself may well be a measure of the larger import of the situation. It’s a strange moment in history: Suddenly everyone in the world, it seems, wants to know what is happening to the nuns and what they can do next. “Next,” of course, means what they can do now that the Vatican is back to questioning both their intelligence and their faith. In fact, what self-respecting journalist could possibly skip the story? After thousands of years of life-giving service to the church at poverty level — building its schools, its orphanages, its hospitals, its missionary outposts, its soup kitchens, its homes for the indigent, its catechetical centers — the nuns are told the problem with their work is that it has been “tainted by radical feminism”? And that by a group of men whose chance of knowing what the term “radical feminism” even means is obviously close to zero.” By Sr. Joan Chittister, National Catholic Reporter
Read this entire story, ‘Tainted by Radical Feminism?’ More Like ‘Living the Gospel,’ in the National Catholic Reporter by clicking here.
Archives Reveal LA Cardinal’s Attempts to Head Off John Jay Investigation / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on April 23, 2013
In 2003, with the country newly focused on the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic church, a senior U.S. church leader attempted behind the scenes to head off the investigation of the crisis by researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, disparaging the institution and its researchers as inadequate.” By Tom Roberts, National Catholic Reporter
To read the entire article in National Catholic Reporter, click here.
Nuns on the Bus Leader Responds to Reaffirmation of Vatican LCWR Mandate
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Religious Women, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on April 22, 2013
Vatican Plays Politics with American Nuns by Sister Simone Campbell, Commentary in The Washington Post
I would be lying if I wrote that I was not hurt by the reaffirmation of the censure of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and by extension of NETWORK, the Catholic social justice lobby that I lead. I had hoped that the censure would quietly disappear in an Italian bureaucratic way. But this is not to be. Rather we are to continue to be caught in macro-church-politics of a group of Catholics at odds with the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).”
Vatican, LCWR Approaching Critical Crossroads / National Catholic Reporter Editorial
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Religious Women, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on April 19, 2013
He (Pope Francis) went on to say in the process of “going out” the church always risks running into “accidents,” adding, “I prefer a thousand times over a church of accidents than a sick church.” A church of accidents … a church willing to take risks on the edges … a church dedicated to service of the most needy … a church working on behalf of mercy, peace and justice… This sounds a lot like the church U.S. Catholic sisters have been building in recent decades. Not only U.S. women religious, but also women religious around the world have been at this work. It is the women who have lived closest to the marginalized; it is the women who have worked on the “peripheries;” it is the women who have gone precisely where Francis is encouraging others to go. And what has been their reward? Have they been acclaimed by their church leadership? No. Despite occasional laudatory words to the contrary, these faith-filled women have been too often demeaned and too often tarnished with accusations of alleged infidelity.” By National Catholic Reporter Editorial Staff
Read the entire National Catholic Reporter editorial by clicking here …
America Magazine Commentary Sees Hope for the American Nuns
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Religious Women, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on April 18, 2013
Pope Francis, the CDF and the LCWR by James Martin, S.J., in America magazine
Today (April 15) the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a statement about the ongoing oversight and “reform” (to use their word) of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the main umbrella organization of women religious in the United States, which represents roughly 80% of American Catholic sisters and nuns. In their statement, the Congregation noted that the new prefect of the Congregation, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, as well as Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, the Holy See’s Delegate for the Doctrinal Assessment of the LCWR, met with the Presidency of the LCWR. Archbishop Müller also noted that he had spoken with Pope Francis, who “reaffirmed” the findings of the Assessment, and the “program of reform.” The LCWR issued a statement, which listed the participants in the meeting in full, and said that the meeting was “open and frank.” Several things need to be kept in mind before people jump to conclusions about what this may or may not portend.
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