Bishop Richard Stika of Knoxville / Catholic News Agency
Vatican City, Jun 27, 2023 / 04:31 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Tuesday accepted the resignation of the embattled Bishop Rick Stika of Knoxville, Tennessee.
Stika, 65, was investigated by the Vatican for mismanagement of his diocese. He is also named in a 2022 lawsuit (refiled in 2023) accusing him of protecting a seminarian accused of multiple counts of rape against a parish organist.
The lawsuit also claims Stika attempted to intimidate the alleged victim into keeping quiet about the alleged sexual assault by Wojciech Sobczuk, and of having accused the alleged victim of being the perpetrator.
Pope Francis named Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre of Louisville, Kentucky as the Diocese of Knoxville’s apostolic administrator until a new bishop is appointed.
This story is developing.
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Hundreds of faithful filled the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, site of Mother Angelica’s tomb, beyond capacity as the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage St. Juan Diego Route passed through on June 20, 2024. / Credit: EWTN
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 22, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
“I live because of the Eucharist,” Mother Angelica once said.
The foundress of EWTN and member of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration, Mother Angelica made no secret of her love and devotion to the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
On Thursday, more than eight years after her death, the legacy of Mother Angelica’s Eucharistic love was on full display as pilgrims along the St. Juan Diego Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage stopped at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama, which she founded and where she is buried.
The shrine was filled beyond capacity by hundreds of religious and lay faithful of all ages, including many families.
Members of the St. Juan Diego Route of National Eucharistic Pilgrimage team smile for a photo during a stop at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama, on June 20, 2024. Credit: EWTN
Those attending participated in a Eucharistic procession despite temperatures in the 90s. The procession began at the shrine’s Marian grotto and ended at the main church, where there was a healing service that included a reflection by Father John Eckert of the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, on the role of shame in the Christian life.
Eckert said that shame serves as a guardrail helping Christians to differentiate good from evil and stay on the right path. This guardrail, however, can become distorted when Christians fall short and the devil twists shame, telling us: “How dare you miss this guardrail!” in attempts to further separate them from God.
But God comes to remind us not to believe the devil’s lies but to release us from those lies, Eckert said.
Built in 1999 and on 400 acres of land, the shrine serves as the chapel for the cloistered Our Lady of the Angels Monastery, which houses the Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration.
The faithful adore Christ in the Eucharist at the Marian grotto at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama, at a stop on the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage on June 20, 2024. Credit: EWTN
The shrine, renowned for its tranquil beauty and as the resting place of Mother Angelica, attracts pilgrims from around the globe. Located in northern Alabama, the shrine marked the halfway point for the Juan Diego Route and served as a place of much-needed respite, with the pilgrims spending several days in private prayer and retreat before Thursday’s event.
The eight Juan Diego “Perpetual Pilgrims” — five young men and women, two seminarians, and a religious brother — began their journey at the U.S.-Mexico border in Brownsville, Texas, on May 19. Since then, they have trekked over 1,000 miles, passing through four states and 12 dioceses.
The Juan Diego pilgrims will finish their journey on July 16 in Indianapolis, where they will join pilgrims from the three other routes and thousands of faithful for the 10th National Eucharistic Congress.
Vatican City, Sep 15, 2017 / 06:26 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican announced Friday that after being informed by U.S. officials of a possible breach of child pornography laws on the part of a Holy See diplomat, it has recalled the priest in question and an investigation has been opened.
According to a Sept. 15 Vatican communique, “the Department of State of the United States of America notified the Secretariat of State, through diplomatic channels, of a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images by a member of the diplomatic corps of the Holy See accredited to Washington.”
The priest was recalled and is currently in Vatican City. Information regarding the findings of the U.S. State Department was passed along to the Vatican’s Promoter of Justice, who opened an investigation “and has already commenced international collaboration to obtain elements relative to the case.”
The Vatican declined to identify the diplomat, or his nationality.
According to the Associated Press, the U.S. State Department had asked the Vatican to lift the priest’s diplomatic immunity, but the request was denied.
The possession of child pornography is considered a “canonical crime” in the Church, and in 2010 Benedict XVI added it to the list of “most grave delicts,” meaning crimes which are dealt with directly by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and can result in dismissal from the clerical state.
This is a developing story. Updates will be made as details become available.
This is a rhetorical question. Can you understand why the perception of the teaching authority of the bishops has been greatly undermined with the conduct of bishops such as this one?
This is a rhetorical question. Can you understand why the perception of the teaching authority of the bishops has been greatly undermined with the conduct of bishops such as this one?