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Voice of the Faithful: hoping to begin anew
Nov. 10, 2009
Women recite the Lord’s Prayer during Mass at the Voice of the Faithful national conference in Melville, N.Y., Oct. 31. (CNS/Gregory A. Shemitz)
MELVILLE, N.Y. -- Four months after financial woes threatened to shut its doors, Voice of the Faithful has emerged with cash in the bank and a new strategic plan that its leaders say will sharpen the organization’s message and shift its efforts from mostly words to mostly actions.
The stated mission of this church reform and advocacy group, formed in 2002 in the wake of clerical sex abuse revelations in Boston, is to provide a prayerful voice, attentive to the Spirit, through which the faithful can actively participate in the governance and guidance of the church.
Two respond to Archbishop Dolan's anti-Catholic charge
Nov. 09, 2009
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?
Update: Legionaries of Christ banned from Miami
Oct. 30, 2009The 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.
Abuse settlement in New Orleans a surprise to some
Oct. 29, 2009NEW 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.
Abuse charges force Irish bishop out of ministry
Oct. 27, 2009DUBLIN, Ireland -- An Irish archbishop who serves in Nigeria has withdrawn from active ministry while the Vatican investigates allegations of sexual abuse.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.
Delaware Catholic diocese files for bankruptcy
Oct. 19, 2009The 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.
Feted Fairfield alum indicted for abuse in Haiti
Oct. 13, 2009
Douglas Perlitz in 2004 (AP/The Connecticut Post/Jeff Bustraan)
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.
Irish bishops meet with abuse victims
Oct. 12, 2009DUBLIN, 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.
Nova Scotia bishop to face child porn charges
Oct. 02, 2009OTTAWA -- 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.
Mass. man sues Catholic bishops over sex abuse
Sep. 21, 2009NORTHAMPTON, 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.
