A blog posting by Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York criticizing The New York Times for unfair and even anti-Catholic reporting of the church generated much discussion online and off. Here, two NCR writers weigh-in. Tom Roberts says The "anti-Catholic!" cry is a cheap, easy accusation, and Joe Ferullo tries to answer the question Why does the media 'go after' the church?
The Miami archdiocese has prohibited members of the Legionaries of Christ from working in the archdiocese. The notice was given in an Oct. 29 memo addressed to "All Priests" from Miami Chancellor Msgr. Michael Souckar.
The prohibition takes effect immediately, the memo says.
Members of the Legionaries' lay group, Regnum Christi are also prohibited from working in the archdiocese, the memo says.
NEW ORLEANS -- When the Archdiocese of New Orleans announced last week, Oct. 20, it will pay $5 million to an undisclosed number of adults who claimed that as children they were beaten, berated and sexually molested at Catholic orphanages, it took some by surprise.
The archdiocese announced a package settlement of 20 lawsuits, most of them filed by adults alleging that in the 1950s and 1960s they were abused at Madonna Manor and nearby Hope Haven, Catholic group homes on this city's West Bank.
DUBLIN, Ireland -- An Irish archbishop who serves in Nigeria has withdrawn from active ministry while the Vatican investigates allegations of sexual abuse.
The St. Patrick's Missionary Society, known as the Kiltegan Fathers, said Oct. 25 that the allegations against Archbishop Richard Burke of Benin City, Nigeria, are being investigated by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The charges came from a Nigerian woman, Dolores Atwood, 40, who now lives in Canada, where she is married and has run for public office.
The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Del., has become the seventh U.S. diocese since the clergy sex abuse scandal broke in 2002 to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, its bishop announced Sunday, Oct. 18.
A Fairfield University alumnus heralded in the past as a model product of Jesuit education was indicted last month by a federal grand jury in Connecticut for sexually abusing some of the young Haitian boys he was supposedly helping.
DUBLIN, Ireland -- Ireland's senior Catholic bishops met with representatives of abuse victims in what both parties called a momentous and fruitful effort to bring closure to the issue.
In a three-hour meeting Oct. 7 at St. Patrick's College in Maynooth, the clerics and representatives of four of the most prominent victims' groups discussed ways to help the healing process continue. Both parties pledged to meet again.
OTTAWA -- Retired Bishop Raymond J. Lahey of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, turned himself in to Ottawa police Oct. 1 to face charges of possession of and importing child pornography.
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- A Massachusetts man is suing two former bishops of the Springfield, Mass., diocese and another church administrator for allegedly allowing him to be molested by a priest who had admitted to sexually abusing other boys.
Lawyers for the alleged victim say it is perhaps the first U.S. case that involves a defendant who is an accused molester charged with overseeing another accused molester.
When Bishop Joseph F. Martino resigned Aug. 31 after six tumultuous years as bishop of Scranton, Pa., he left behind a diocese badly divided and demoralized, but, ironically, better prepared for the future than it was in 2003.
Sources contacted by NCR said the problem was Martino’s remote, uncommunicative and often authoritarian leadership style, not his decisions to close nearly half the Catholic schools and 40 percent of the parishes in the northeastern Pennsylvania diocese.
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