Mary Help of Christians Basilica on the campus of Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
CNA Staff, Feb 13, 2024 / 14:45 pm (CNA).
Major expansions are coming to the Benedictine-run Belmont Abbey College a… […]
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Washington D.C., May 17, 2023 / 12:40 pm (CNA).
Most abortions will be banned after 12 weeks of pregnancy in North Carolina after Republican lawmakers voted to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the legislatio… […]
A sonogram picture of a fetus in the second trimester of a woman’s pregnancy / Shutterstock
Washington D.C., May 15, 2023 / 13:17 pm (CNA).
North Carolina’s Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed legislation passed by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature that would ban abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy.
The veto puts the ball back in the lawmakers’ court, where Republicans enjoy a narrow supermajority – an override of the governor’s veto would require the vote of every Republican in the legislature. The current law bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Exceptions listed in the bill would establish a 20-week cut-off in cases of rape and incest and a 24-week cutoff for life-threatening fetal anomalies. The law would keep in place an exception for when the life of the mother is at risk.
Cooper signed the veto during a Saturday rally in which he criticized the abortion ban and urged at least one Republican to vote against the override effort. He traveled the state over the past week and held events in the districts of four potentially vulnerable Republicans in the hope of swaying one of them.
“Let’s be clear — this bill has nothing to do with making women safer, and everything to do with banning abortion,” Cooper said during the rally. “How about we leave medicine to the doctors and the decisions to the women?”
Republican leaders have accused the governor of misinforming voters about the bill and indicated their intent to override his veto.
“Gov. Cooper has spent the last week actively feeding the public lies about Senate Bill 20 and bullying members of the General Assembly,” Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said in a statement. “He has been doing everything he can, including wasting taxpayer money on poorly attended events, to avoid talking about his own extreme views on abortion. I look forward to promptly overriding his veto.”
Lawmakers can begin the override process as soon as this week.
In addition to banning abortion at 12 weeks of pregnancy, the proposed law would establish a waiting period for abortions, which would require women to have an in-person visit with a doctor or health professional 72 hours before the abortion is performed and provide informed consent.
For a chemical, or drug-induced, abortion, the new law would require that the woman receive the first dose of the abortion-inducing drug in the presence of a physician after the 72-hour waiting period. The law would also require that doctors make an effort to have a follow-up appointment at about seven to 14 weeks after the abortion is completed to address potential complications, such as bleeding.
The legislation also includes funding to support families. The bill would provide eight weeks of paid parental leave to teachers and other state employees. It also includes about $180 million in funding for a variety of initiatives, which includes increased access to child care, support for foster care, and access to birth control.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral in the Diocese of Charlotte. / Diocese of Charlotte
Denver Newsroom, Nov 19, 2021 / 16:30 pm (CNA).
A new lawsuit alleges that a long-serving Jesuit priest sexually abused a boy at a Catholic school in Charlotte, North Carolina in the 1990s.
The priest’s attorney has rejected the charges as “completely false,” while the Society of Jesus and the local diocese said they are cooperating with investigators.
Attorneys representing the plaintiff, identified only as John Doe J.C., filed the lawsuit Nov. 18 in Mecklenburg County. It names as defendants Father Francis Gillespie, S.J., the Diocese of Charlotte, Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools, and two Jesuit organizations.
Gillespie was ordained in 1972 and is now 79 years old. He was recently serving in the Diocese of Raleigh, but the lawsuit concerns his time as pastor at Our Lady of the Assumption Church and School in the Diocese of Charlotte from 1994 to 2001, the Catholic News Herald reports.
Gillespie was removed from public ministry on Sept. 29 and put under supervision while the Jesuit province assists in the investigation.
The alleged victim, now in his early thirties, was a student at the elementary school. His lawsuit said the abuse took place at the church in the mid- to late-1990s, beginning when he was about eight years old.
The priest allegedly asked him to be an assistant altar server and the boy would leave class early to assist the priest at the Thursday morning weekly Mass for students. The priest allegedly began to abuse him sexually in the sacristy, where the abuse continued regularly until the boy finished elementary school.
The lawsuit alleges “severe physical and emotional damages” including depression, anxiety, mood swings, shame and substance abuse.
One attorney for the alleged victim, Richard Serbin of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, told the Charlotte Observer that he reported the abuse allegations to Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte and a Jesuit leader on Sept. 21, 2021.
Serbin said his client was, as a child, “fearful to report his abuse and forced to carry this burden alone.”
The lawsuit charges negligence, negligent hiring, retention and supervision, breach of fiduciary duty, constructive fraud and sexual assault and battery. It was allowed under a North Carolina law creating a special legal window for victims of sexual assault of any age to sue their alleged abuses.
Gillespie’s attorney, James Wyatt, called the allegations “completely false.” Wyatt said his firm planned to file counterclaims against J.C.
“The allegations are completely inconsistent with the life he has led and his devoted service to the ministry,” Wyatt said. “He is highly respected and loved by the parishioners he has served who are rallying around him and steadfastly supporting him.
Gillespie served in North Carolina’s Diocese of Raleigh from 2002-2008, then moved to the Diocese of Charleston in South Carolina. In January 2021 he moved back to the Raleigh diocese. In August the Jesuits named him as administrator at St. Mary Catholic Church in Laurinburg, North Carolina.
The Charlotte diocese reported the alleged abuse to local police and social services on Sept. 28. The allegation was announced at Masses the weekend of Oct 2-3 and in messages to families of schoolchildren.
The diocese said an independent review of its personnel files and other records found no records of any allegations against the priest.
“The Charlotte diocese has zero tolerance for child sexual abuse, and anyone who has been the victim of abuse is encouraged to seek help and report to law enforcement authorities,” the diocese said in October as reported by the Catholic News Herald.
An officer with the public information office of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said the criminal investigation has now been categorized as “exceptionally cleared – victim chose not to prosecute,” the Charlotte Observer reports.
At the time of the alleged abuse, Gillespie was a priest of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus. In 2020 that province merged with the Jesuits’ USA Northeast Provinces to form the USA East Province, based in New York.
The USA East Province of the Society of Jesus said in a statement that it “takes seriously any allegation of misconduct in ministry.” The province said it is cooperating with law enforcement and the Diocese of Charlotte “to conduct a thorough investigation that will include examination by an outside review board.”
“The Jesuits remain committed to the highest standards in our conduct of ministry. We encourage anyone who suspects abuse by any clergy or employee of the province to contact local civil authorities and/or the province office,” the province continued. “We continue to pray for the victims of sexual abuse and for those working with us to protect those we serve.”
In the late 80s and early 90s Gillespie served as director of research and executive director at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, a research institute on Catholic issues that affiliated with Georgetown University in 1989.
Sacred Heart of Jesus statue outside the Basilica of St. Lawrence, Asheville, North Carolina / Basilica of St. Lawrence
Washington D.C., Jul 7, 2021 / 18:01 pm (CNA).
A statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in front of Catholic church in Asheville… […]
The sainthood cause of the American priest and founder of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers is nearing the end of its diocesan phase, and is […]
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