New York City, N.Y., May 15, 2019 / 01:54 pm (CNA).- A man accused of attempting to enter St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York last month carrying containers of gasoline and a lighter has been deemed unfit to stand trial due to his mental health.
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Sacramento, Calif., May 15, 2019 / 10:47 am (CNA).- The appropriations committee of California’s state senate will hold a hearing Thursday on a bill that would require priests to violate the seal of confession if they became aware of allegations … […]
Dallas, Texas, May 15, 2019 / 10:30 am (CNA).- Police are conducting a search of Church premises in the Diocese of Dallas. Officers executed a warrant on the chancery offices at 7:30 am local time.
Investigators from the Dallas child exploitation unit arrived at the chancery Wednesday morning to search for information and evidence in relation to five current or former clergy of the diocese.
According to a search warrant affidavit, the investigation is focused on Fr. Edmundo Paredes, Fr. Richard Thomas Brown, Fr. Alejandro Buitrago, Fr. William Joseph Hughes, Jr., and Fr. Jeremy Myers.
Local media have also reported that searches are being carried out at a warehouse storage facility and the parish of St. Cecilia in Oak Cliff.
All five men were included in a list of names of clergy “credibly” accused of sexual abuse released by the dioceses of Texas in January. The Diocese of Dallas released the name of 31 accused clerics, including 24 incardinated in the diocese and seven priests either from other dioceses or religious orders who had worked in Dallas.
Local media have reported that police increased their investigations into clerical sexual abuse in the diocese following the January release of names.
Fr. Paredes is the former pastor of St. Cecilia’s. After serving in the parish for 27 years, he was suspended from ministry in June 2017, under suspicion of having stolen between $60,000 – $80,000 from the parish. In February of 2018, Paredes was accused of sexually abusing three teenage boys over the course of his time at the parish.
Paredes fled the diocese and his whereabouts are currently unknown, though Burns has previously said the diocese believes he returned to the Philippines, from where he originally came.
Both Meyers and Buitrago were removed from ministry in 2018.
On Wednesday morning, a diocesan spokesperson told local media that the diocese was “surprised” by the early morning search, but that chancery staff were “cooperating” with investigators.
“We’ve been talking with and working with police throughout the process,” said Annette Gonzales Taylor. “We’re obviously surprised by it this morning.”
The Diocese of Dallas is home to more than 1.2 million Catholics. Bishop Burns has served in the diocese since his appointment in December 2016.
Prior to his arrival, Dallas was led by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who now serves as the head of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life in the Vatican.
This story is developing
Vatican City, May 15, 2019 / 05:01 am (CNA).- Pope Francis greeted an international group dedicated to Jewish-Catholic dialogue Wednesday, calling dialogue “the way better to understand one another.”
“I offer you my encourageme… […]
Vatican City, May 15, 2019 / 04:08 am (CNA).- Pope Francis said Wednesday that Jesus gave humanity a precious gift on the cross — liberation from evil.
“The Christian knows how overwhelming the power of evil is, and at the same time he experiences how much Jesus, who never succumbed to its flattery, is on our side and comes to our aid,” Pope Francis said in St. Peter’s Square May 15.
The pope connected the last line of the Our Father prayer, “Deliver us from evil,” to Christ’s crucifixion.
“Deliver us from evil” covers a wide range of human experiences, he explained: “the mourning of man, innocent suffering, slavery, the exploitation of others, the cry of innocent children.”
In the Passion “Jesus fully experienced the piercing of evil. Not only death, but death on the cross. Not only loneliness, but also contempt, humiliation,” Pope Francis said.
“Thus the prayer of Jesus leaves us the most precious of inheritances: the presence of the Son of God who has freed us from evil, struggling to convert it,” he said.
Pope Francis explained that invoking God when faced with evil is “an essential characteristic of Christian prayer.”
“Jesus teaches his friends to put the invocation of the Father before everything, even and especially at times when the evil one makes his threatening presence felt,” he said.
“There is evil in our life, its presence is indisputable,” Francis said. “History books are the desolate catalog of how much our existence in this world has often been a failed venture.”
“There is a mysterious evil, which surely is not the work of God,” he explained. “At times it seems to take over: on some days its presence seems even sharper than that of God’s mercy.”
However, Pope Francis said, forgiveness flows from Christ on the cross, which liberates us from evil.
“In the hour of the final fight … He offers a word of peace: ‘Father, forgive them because they do not know what they do,’” he said.
“‘Deliver us from evil.’ With this expression, one who prays not only asks not to be abandoned in the time of temptation, but also begs to be liberated from evil,” he said.
“If there were not the last verses of the ‘Our Father’ how could sinners, the persecuted, the desperate, the dying pray?” Pope Francis asked.
“The ‘Our Father’ resembles a symphony that asks to be fulfilled in each of us,” he said.
As Pope Francis entered the general audience on the popemobile this week, he greeted eight migrant children from Syria, Nigeria, and Congo, who arrived in Italy on a humanitarian vessel from Libya April 29.
Vatican City, May 15, 2019 / 04:03 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Wednesday appointed Bishop Peter Baldacchino to head the Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico – making him the first diocesan bishop associated with the Neocatechumenal Way to serve in a mainland U.S. diocese.
Baldacchino, 58, has been an auxiliary bishop of Miami, Florida, since 2014. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark in 1996.
As a seminarian in Newark, Baldacchino studied at the Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall University but lived at the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary.
Baldacchino’s formation was in part guided by the Neocatechumenal Way, a post-baptismal itinerary of Christian formation first approved by Pope Paul VI and supported by each of the subsequent popes.
Seminarians who discern their vocation while involved with the Neocatechumenal Way are encouraged to place special emphasis on the universal missionary character of the priesthood and offer themselves, at the discretion of their local bishop, in service to the New Evangelization anywhere in the world.
Baldacchino is the first graduate of a Redemptoris Mater seminary to serve as a diocesan bishop in a mainland U.S. diocese.
He was born on the European island country of Malta, to a family of four children. His family joined the Neocatechumenal Way while he was a child, but he was not initially drawn to the priesthood.
After studying science and chemistry at the University of Malta, he began working as a technical manager at a bottling plant. At age 28 he attended the 1989 World Youth Day in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, after which he became more involved in the Neocatechumenal Way.
Through the movement he was sent on mission, during which he started to feel called to the priesthood, eventually being matched with the Redemptoris Mater seminary in Newark. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark on May 25, 1996.
Baldacchino served for over a decade as a missionary in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean, and speaks Maltese, English, Italian, Creole, and Spanish.
The Diocese of Las Cruces was established in 1982. According to 2015 estimates, it has more than 236,600 Catholics, accounting for just over 42% of the area’s population.
Santa Paula, Calif., May 15, 2019 / 03:22 am (CNA).- Contemporary America is “mission territory,” and young Catholics must step up to respond to the twin crises of Church corruption and increasing religious disaffiliation, Auxiliary Bishop … […]
Warsaw, Poland, May 15, 2019 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Catholics bishops in Poland are responding to a new documentary that addresses clerical sexual abuse in the country.
The documentary presents allegations that abusive priests were shifted between parishes, and shows people confronting elderly priests alleged to have abused them as children,
The film, “Tell No One,” was posted to YouTube by filmmaking brothers Tomasz and Marek Sekielski, has nearly 14 million views and counting.
“Today I was deeply moved and saddened when watching Mr. Sekielski’s film, and I would like to thank him for this film,” Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki of Poznan, President of the Polish bishops’ conference, wrote May 13.
“For the most part, the message of the film corresponds to my experience gained during the many conversations I have held with the victims.”
Archbishop Wojciech Polak of Gniezno, Delegate for the Protection of Children and Youth of the Polish bishops’ conference, echoed Gadecki’s sentiments.
“The enormous suffering of people who have been hurt triggers pain and shame,” he said.
“At this moment, I also have before my eyes the drama of the victims whom I have met personally. I thank all those who have the courage to speak about their suffering.”
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, head of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party in Poland, at a rally Sunday promised harsher punishment for child abusers, floating the idea of 30-year prison sentences in reaction to the film.
Polish law currently provides for a 12-year sentence for abuse of a child under 15.
“On behalf of the entire bishops’ conference, I would like all the victims to accept my sincere apologies; I realize that nothing can compensate them for the harms they have suffered,” Gadecki said.
Gadecki and Polak both referenced their belief that Pope Francis’ recent motu proprio, “Vos estis lux mundi,” is necessary as part of the solution.
The motu proprio, among other provisions, establishes obligatory reporting for clerics and religious, requires that every diocese has a mechanism for reporting abuse, and puts the metropolitan archbishop in charge of investigations of accusations against suffragan bishops.
“I am convinced that this film, too, will result in an even more stringent compliance with the guidelines for the protection of children and young people in the Church, in the implementation by all bishops of prevention principles in each diocese, and in compliance with the Motu proprio that Pope Francis promulgated [May 7],” Gadecki said.
Montgomery, Ala., May 14, 2019 / 08:57 pm (CNA).- The Alabama Senate approved a bill Thursday that will outlaw nearly all abortion in the state. The bill, which is expected to be signed by Gov. Kay Ivey, is intended to be a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that declared unconstitutional state measures prohibiting abortion.
The Human Life Protection Act (HB314), if signed into law, will make attempting or performing an abortion a felony offense. Doctors who perform abortion would be charged with a Class A felony and could face between 10 years and life in prison.
The penalty would apply only to doctors, not to mothers, who, according to the bill’s sponsors, would not face criminal penalties for undergoing abortions.
The state Senate engaged in fierce debate last week, which ultimately erupted in a shouting match on the Senate floor, over whether an exemption for cases of rape or incest should be included in the bill. A vote scheduled for May 10 was delayed after exemption was removed from the Senate’s bill following a voice vote May 9.
The measure does include a provision that would allow abortions “in cases where abortion is necessary in order to prevent a serious health risk to the unborn child’s mother.”
The bill defines a serious health risk as a condition requiring an abortion “to avert [the mother’s] death or to avert serious risk of substantial physical impairment of a major bodily function.”
Opponents pledged months ago to challenge the legislation in court. This is exactly what the bill’s sponsors expected. Supporters say court challenges could lead to a reversal the Roe v. Wade decision.
Bishop Robert Baker of Birmingham said in April that the legislation reflects “the strong commitment that the people of Alabama have to life.”
In an April 3 statement, the bishop praised the lawmakers’ efforts.
“I strongly support these bills and stand behind the efforts of these legislators to promote life and to, hopefully in the near future, eliminate this evil we know as abortion from within the boundaries of the State of Alabama; and, eventually, to make the killing of unborn children in our country something that is no longer viewed as anything but the horrendous and inhumane killing of the most innocent among us that it is,” he said.
Rep. Terri Collins (R-Decatur), sponsor of the House bill, said the bill passed Thursday is designed to “confront a decision that was made by the courts in 1973 that said the baby in a womb is not a person,” Collins added. “This bill addresses that one issue. Is that baby in the womb a person? I believe our law says it is.”
“It is meant to actually use some of the same language that is addressed in Roe vs. Wade. So, hopefully it just completely takes it all the way to the Supreme Court eventually to overturn.”
Newark, N.J., May 14, 2019 / 04:56 pm (CNA).- New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law this week a bill relaxing the state’s statute of limitations for child sex abuse victims.
The law will allow increased time for civil action and will permit victims to seek compensation from institutions as well as individuals.
The Archdiocese of Newark objected to certain portions of the bill, but stressed that overall, the Catholic Church is in favor of its crucial goal of bringing justice and healing for victims.
“While we disagreed on specific elements of this legislation, the Catholic community, the legislature, and the Governor sincerely agree on one key position – the need to restore justice for the victims of sexual abuse in New Jersey,” the archdiocese said in a statement.
Currently, the statute of limitations in New Jersey restricts sex abuse lawsuits to when the victim is 20 years old or two years after they first realize that they were harmed by abuse. In December, the new legislation will allow child victims of sexual assault to file civil lawsuits until they turn 55 or until seven years from the time they become aware of the injury, whichever comes later.
For those who have been previously barred from seeking damages, the law will also offer a two-year window to pursue legal action.
During a debate on the legislation in February, the state’s Catholic conference argued that only individual offenders, not institutions, should face civil action for past sexual abuse.
According to the Associated Press, Patrick Brannigan, executive director for the Catholic Conference of New Jersey, said the Church will fully comply with the government, noting that it “sincerely regrets that some in the Church failed to protect children.” However, he had requested the law’s start date be delayed.
Governor Murphy recognized the financial concern for organizations but highlighted the responsibility to the victims of sexual abuse.
“Survivors of sexual abuse deserve opportunities to seek redress against their abusers,” he said, according to North Jersey. “ This legislation allows survivors who have faced tremendous trauma the ability to pursue justice through the court system.”
In February, all the Catholic dioceses of New Jersey released lists of clergy who had been credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors dating back to 1940.
On the list is disgraced former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who headed New Jersey’s Diocese of Metuchen from 1981 until 1986 and the Archdiocese of Newark from 1986 until 2000. He retired as Archbishop of Washington.
McCarrick resigned from the College of Cardinals in July 2018 after being credibly accused of abusing two minor boys. He was found guilty by the Holy See and was removed from the clerical state in February.
As part of efforts to foster the healing of victims and as an alternative to lawsuits, the five Cahtolic dioceses of New Jersey have set up their own compensation fund. The Catholic Conference said the compensation fund offers a quicker alternative to the litigation process with a lower level of proof than is required by the court.
According to North Jersey, Senator Joseph Vitale, the primary sponsor of the new law, expressed concern about the trustworthiness of institutions. He also said it is important that the names of abusers are released to the public.
“With a compensation fund, there’s no discovery. You are offered a sum of money for your injury and therapy. But the public doesn’t know what happened or who the pedophiles are, and that’s critical to know so we can protect children,” Vitale said.
In the statement on Monday, the Archdiocese of Newark reiterated its current efforts to help promore the healing of sex abuse vicitms, as well as steps taken to prevent future abuse.
“The Catholic community is confident that the Independent Victims Compensation Program established by the five dioceses in New Jersey is a significant step towards restoring justice for those who, as minors, were abused by ministers of the Church,” the archdiocese said.
“Further, we are committed to the comprehensive healing of those harmed and we will continue our policies aimed at protecting children from abuse.”
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