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District attorney searches Houston archdiocese

November 28, 2018 CNA Daily News 1

Houston, Texas, Nov 28, 2018 / 10:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Investigators have executed a search warrant on the chancery offices of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. A search warrant obtained by the district attorney’s office for Montgomery County was served Wednesday morning by officers from the Texas Rangers and Conroe Police Department.

According to local media reports, the district attorney’s office is seeking documents related to the case of Fr. Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, who was arrested by Conroe police in September on four charges of indecency to children.

The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston was unavailable to comment on the search, or to clarify whether it was limited to the case of La Rosa-Lopez.

The district attorney’s office has already conducted searches at two churches where La Rosa-Lopez had been previously assigned – St. John Fisher in Richmond and Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe – as well as the Shalom Treatment Center in Splendora, where La Rosa-Lopez was sent for evaluation and treatment in the early 2000s.

While stationed at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe, Father Manuel La Rosa-Lopez was accused in 2001 of kissing and inappropriately touching a 16 year-old girl. Following consideration of the allegation by both civil authorities and the archdiocesan review board in 2003, La Rosa-Lopez was allowed to return to ministry in 2004.

On Aug. 10, 2018, a 36-year-old man alleged to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston that Fr. Manuel La Rosa-Lopez sexually abused him from 1998-2001, when he was a high school student and La Rosa-Lopez was assigned to Sacred Heart Parish.

The archdiocese said in a statement following La Rosa-Lopez’s arrest Sept. 11 that it had immediately reported the man’s allegation to Child Protective Services.

In October, a third individual came forward with allegations that La Rosa-Lopez had sexually abused him on several occasions during the mid-1990s. According to reports, a lawyer for the third accuser said that the family of the alleged victim had reported La Rosa-Lopez at the time.

La Rosa-Lopez is currently released on bail and scheduled to return to court in January.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, has found himself at the forefront of the American hierarchy’s response to the sexual abuse crisis. He chaired the U.S. bishops’ conference general assembly in early November, during which he announced that the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops had instructed them to delay voting on a proposed code of episcopal conduct or on the creation of an independent commission for investigating allegations of misconduct against bishops.

Last week, DiNardo was the subject of a television report claiming he had knowingly left two priests in active ministry despite “credible accusations” of abuse having been made against them. Cardinal DiNardo denied that either case was “credible.”

 

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CDC report says abortion rates continue to fall

November 28, 2018 CNA Daily News 0

Washington D.C., Nov 28, 2018 / 09:44 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that abortion rates in 2015 reached their lowest level in 10 years, although limitations in data collection make … […]

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Abusive former bishop to return to Chile to face civil prosecutors

November 27, 2018 CNA Daily News 1

Santiago, Chile, Nov 27, 2018 / 08:01 pm (CNA).- The Schönstatt movement confirmed Monday that Francisco José Cox Huneeus, a former bishop who was dismissed from the clerical state last month, will return to Chile to face the civil justice system for his abuse of minors.

Cox, 84, was ordained a priest of the Schönstatt Fathers in 1961, and he has lived at the movement’s headquarters in Germany since 2002, at the request of the Congregation for Bishops.

Cox’s return was confirmed Nov. 26 by Fr. Patricio Moore, Chilean vice provincial superior of the institute, who also reported on Cox’ health: he suffers from diabetes, controlled prostate cancer, and senile dementia.

“He underwent tests, there are 42 pages of a quite exhaustive reports. Although he has quite a few illnesses, the doctor says that he can travel to Chile and therefore we have also decided to take him back to Chile to make him available to the courts and for whatever may be required,” Moore told El Día.

“The exam says that he has senile dementia syndrome,” Moore indicated. “Not impediments, but I don’t know if he’s going to be able to help so much, but it’s not an impediment, he can be interrogated perfectly well.”

Cox’s return trip may take place in January or February 2019, after a micro-surgery on his brain. It is expected that he will be accompanied on the trip for health reasons.

Cox was born in Santiago de Chile in 1933. He was appointed Bishop of Chillán in 1974, and consecrated the following year. He served there until 1981, when he was appointed secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family.

In 1985 he was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of La Serena in 1985, succeeding as ordinary in 1990.

He remained Archbishop of La Serena until 1997, when he resigned at the age of 63. The explanation given at the time “was that Cox had mental health problems,” Crux reported last month.

From 1997 to 2002, Cox exercised several administrative tasks in Rome and in Colombia, according to an Oct. 5 statement of  Fr. Juan Pablo Catoggio, superior general of the Schönstatt Fathers.

In 2002 Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, then-Archbishop of Santiago, acknowledged that Cox had resigned on account of improper conduct. Cardinal Errazuriz retired in 2010. He, too, is a member of the Schönstatt Fathers. He was made a member of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinals in 2013, but said earlier this month he was leaving the advisory body,

In 2002 Cox retired from all public activity and left Chile.

“In the year 2002, at our suggestion and with the formal approbation of the Congregation for Bishops, in response to comments of various kinds about innappropriate comportment with youths, Bishop Cox was made to see that it it best for him to leave his work in the diocese of La Serena,” Fr. Fernando Baeza, Chilean superior provincial of the Schönstatt Fathers, said in an Oct. 4 statement.

Fr. Baeza said Cox has not had any pastoral assignment since then.

Cox was removed from the clerical state Oct. 11 “as a consequence of manifest abuse of minors,” but continues to be a member of the Institute of Schönstatt Fathers. His dismissal from the clerical state may not be appealed.

In an Oct. 13 statement, Fr. Catoggio announced that Cox’ dismissal from the clerical state was the result of his sexual abuse of minors reported in recent months, which were investigated by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Fr. Baeza had said that the institute received, at the end of 2017, a complaint of abuse by Cox that had occurred in Germany in 2004. That complaint was sent directly to the CDF, Fr. Baeza said. It was also sent to Germany’s federal prosecutor’s office, Fr. Catoggio said.

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Taiwan voters reject same-sex marriage

November 27, 2018 CNA Daily News 1

Taipei, Taiwan, Nov 27, 2018 / 05:58 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The people of Taiwan voted against the recognition of same-sex marriage in a series of referendums last weekend, reinforcing the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman.

The advisory vote was held on November 24. Three referendum questions in favor of traditional marriage passed by significant margins, while two questions in opposition failed, according to the Straits Times.

A Taiwanese high court ruled in 2017 that it was unconstitutional to ban same-sex marriages. The ruling gave the lawmakers of Taiwan two years to develop a same-sex marriage law, but the government has been in a deadlock. The two years will be up in May 2019.

The government used the newly revised referendum law, which offers the people a chance to vote on any question which receives 280,000 signatures. In order to pass, the questions must then be approved by a quarter of the eligible voters and exceed the number of votes in opposition.

Three referendum questions favored the traditional definition of marriage, including the question, “Do you agree that Civil Code regulations should restrict marriage to being between a man and a woman?”

Two questions put forth by advocates for same-sex marriage did not pass, including the question, “Do you agree that the Civil Code marriage regulations should be used to guarantee the rights of same-sex couples to get married?” The Taiwanese people also voted against adding LGBT education to the national curriculum.

The referendum was an advisory vote. Shiau Hong-chi, a professor of gender studies at Shih-Hsin University, told the Guardian that same-sex marriage will still have to be handled in court.

“The referendum is a general survey, it doesn’t have very strong legal implications,” he said. “One way or another it has to go back to the court.”

Earlier this month, Archbishop John Hung Shan-chuan of Taipei spoke on the Church’s stance on same-sex marriage in a closed-door conference. According to UCA News, the archbishop stressed that the Church sees all people as brothers and sisters, but cannot change God’s design for marriage.

While the Church does not condone discrimination, “we cannot support same-sex marriage and same-sex union,” he said.

“During the review of the Civil Code by the Legislative Yuan, I have clearly stated the attitude of the Catholic Church: the legalization of same-sex marriage and same-sex union is not in line with our teachings. The Chinese Regional Bishops’ Conferences in 2016 and 2017 respectively clearly stated our opposition.”

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Chinese scientists, officials denounce gene-editing of embryos

November 27, 2018 CNA Daily News 0

Washington D.C., Nov 27, 2018 / 05:21 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Chinese scientist’s claim to have created a gene-edited baby has been met with an outpouring of condemnation, with critics voicing alarm at what they described as a disregard for biomedical ethics.

Approximately 120 scientists released a letter condemning the research, Reuters reported. The Chinese-language letter called the gene manipulation a “Pandora’s box,” warning, “The biomedical ethics review for this so-called research exists in name only. Conducting direct human experiments can only be described as crazy.”

Earlier this week, Chinese researcher He Jiankui claimed that he had altered embryos for seven couples, resulting in one twin pregnancy so far. There is no independent confirmation of this claim, the Associated Press noted.

He says his goal was to edit embryos to give them the ability to resist HIV infection, by disabling the CCR5 gene, which allows HIV to enter a cell.

Shenzhen’s Southern University of Science and Technology of China, where He is an associate professor, said in a statement that the researcher had not made the school aware of the gene editing he was doing.

According to Business Insider, the university said He had been on unpaid leave since this February and was not expected to return until January 2021. It is not clear why he had been placed on unpaid leave.

The university said that the use of genetic editing technology in human embryo research constitutes a serious violation of academic ethics. It announced that it would be conducting an investigation into He’s work.

He says he used a technology known as CRISPR to edit sections of the human genome, performing the procedure on embryonic humans. The technology, which selectively “snips” and trims areas of the genome and replaces it with strands of desired DNA, has previously been used on adult humans and other species. CRISPR technology has only recently been used to treat deadly diseases in adults, and limited experiments have been performed on animals.

Catholic bioethics experts have warned that while gene editing may sometimes be morally acceptable, it poses numerous ethical challenges that must be addressed in order to ensure its legitimacy.

Chinese officials and scientific organizations also issued harsh condemnations of the reported gene editing.

The Chinese Society for Stem Cell Research and China’s Genetics Society released a joint statement saying He’s experimentation posed “tremendous safety risks for the research subjects” and violated “the consensus reached by the international science community,” Reuters reported.

Xinhua’s official news agency also rejected the experimentation, stressing that ethical standards must not be ignored in scientific research.

The Shenzhen government medical ethics committee is reportedly investigating the matter.

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