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Faith & Parish
New study examines factors that spur growth of US congregations
Feb. 08, 2012WASHINGTON -- A new study of U.S. congregations found that some factors are more prevalent than others in spurring the growth of a congregation, among them the age of a congregation's members, family activities and a commitment to recruiting new members.
But the study's author noted that only a minority of congregations of all denominations are actually growing.
"There were about 30-35 percent that were experiencing the highest level of growth," said C. Kirk Hadaway, congregational research officer for the Episcopal Church and chair of the research task force for the Cooperative Congregational Studies Partnership, the study's sponsors.
"There's as many congregations that are plateaued and declining (as) are experiencing rapid growth," Hadaway said during a Jan. 31 webinar on the study, "Facts on Growth."
"A relatively small percentage of congregations are sort of driving the growth to the extent that is occurring in U.S. society. It's not really clear to what extent growth is occurring," he added.
Woman charged with embezzling $1 million from NY archdiocese
Jan. 30, 2012NEW YORK -- A 67-year-old woman with a criminal record for theft has been charged with siphoning $1 million in donations while working in a finance office of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, church officials announced Monday.
The archdiocese said it did not conduct a criminal background check when the employee, Anita Collins, was hired in 2003. Collins' complex scheme drained money from an education fund at the same time the church was closing Catholic schools.
Church and law enforcement officials said over seven years, Collins sent fake invoices to the archdiocese, then issued about 450 checks to accounts she controlled, all in amounts just under the $2,500 threshold that would have required a supervisor's approval.
Most of the money was apparently siphoned from the accounts payable system in the archdiocesan Department of Education Finance Office, according to a statement from archdiocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling.
In a 2010 article in the archdiocese newspaper Catholic New York, Collins was lauded for volunteering at St. Patrick's Cathedral when Archbishop Timothy Dolan presided over a Mass welcoming 600 people to Catholicism.
New ordinariate and 1980 pastoral provision: An analysis
Jan. 23, 2012WASHINGTON -- How are the new U.S. Catholic ordinariate for former Anglican groups and the 1980 U.S. pastoral provision for Episcopal (Anglican) priests who become Catholics different? What do they have in common? What does the presence of Catholics in the new ordinariate mean for other Catholics?
The pastoral, canonical, ecclesiastical and other questions posed by the new developments are numerous and challenging, but here is an attempt to sort out a few of the bigger ones.
To take the third question first, other Catholics -- Eastern or Latin rite -- who were baptized or confirmed into the church as Latin or Eastern Catholics can legitimately participate in the life and worship of an Anglican-use Catholic community, but ordinarily, they may not become a formal member of that community.
An exception is marriage, for which church laws similar to those applying to Latin-Eastern rite Catholic marriages would come into play: An Eastern or Latin Catholic marrying a Catholic in the new Anglican-use ordinariate could become a member of that ordinariate if the couple agrees on that decision.
Former Episcopalians welcome new Catholic structure
Jan. 23, 2012
Fr. Jeffrey N. Steenson (CNS)
WASHINGTON -- Leaders of the new U.S. Catholic ordinariate established Jan. 1 for former Anglicans/Episcopalians said they and their people welcomed with “joy and gratitude” the historic Vatican announcement that Pope Benedict XVI had established the new church jurisdiction for them.
Seismic shifts reshape US Catholicism
Jan. 17, 2012
Archbishop Charles Chaput, right, sits with Jack Quindlen during a Jan. 6 news conference to announce that 48 diocesan schools in Philadelphia will close or merge. (Reuters/Mark Blinch)
Archbishop Charles Chaput’s announcement Jan. 6 that the Philadelphia archdiocese will be closing schools in record numbers during the coming year (see story) was the latest and loudest rumble in a series of seismic displacements that are permanently reshaping the look of U.S. Catholicism.
New Orleans parish to reopen as charismatic center
Jan. 09, 2012
Former parishioners clap and give a thumbs-up to Harold Baquet after he was forced out of the closed Our Lady of Good Counsel Church to be escorted home by New Orleans police officers in 2009. Attorney Lee Madere, who claimed to be acting pro bono on behalf of the parish, thrust his body on top of the police car and tried to stop it from moving. Baquet, along with Fortier and Peterson, was one of four parishioners who had been meeting with Aymond for the last two years to discuss plans for the church. (CNS photo/Christine Bordelon, Clarion Herald)
Before, during, and after Our Lady of Good Counsel in New Orleans closed in 2008, parishioners were sad. And angry. And dedicated: They kept vigil in the church for three months until police officers forced them out.
But now, the disappointment is eroding to appreciation.
Philadelphia archdiocese announces major school closings
Jan. 06, 2012
Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput spoke at a press conference Jan. 6 on the drastic realignment of its school system. [Screen Capture]
Updated 5:45 p.m. central
Dramatic realignment to the Philadelphia Catholic school system is coming. Today, the archdiocese announced that it will close four high schools, and 44 elementary schools will either close or merge with other schools.
News of which schools were affected spread after a closed-door meeting this morning between the archdiocese and priests and school administrators at Neumann University. At a press conference this afternoon, Archbishop Charles Chaput spoke with optimism for the school system’s future.
“I’m convinced, if we take this report to heart … we can renew Catholic education across the archdiocese,” he said.
Other key recommendations from the commission were the establishment of a foundation dedicated exclusively to raising money to support schools; a new governance model consisting of an executive education board chaired by the auxiliary bishop overseeing Catholic education and four additional boards representing each area of education; and advocacy for government support to allow parents free choice in schools.
Ads aim to extend Catholic welcome
Jan. 06, 2012
The Catholics Come Home campaign is expected to reach 250 million TV viewers during its three-week national campaign.
With Christmas comes a flood of holiday favorites to the TV -- there’s Rudolph, George Bailey, Scrooge and Charlie Brown, and a sleigh-load of holiday-themed movies and shows. Among the flurry of classic Christmas staples this season, viewers may have seen a new Christmas message creep in during a commercial break -- a welcome home.
A checkup in Rome for the American bishops
Jan. 05, 2012
U.S. bishops on their ad limina visits to the Vatican walk across St. Peter’s Square Nov. 4. (CNS/Paul Haring)
An ad limina visit, the trip Catholic bishops are required to make every five years to Rome, is a bit like a routine physical. It might flag a serious problem, but usually it’s just a checkup covering a wide variety of aches, pains, and ups and downs.
If nothing else, it’s revealing to learn what doctor and patient are thinking about, because it might provide hints of treatments to come.
Cardinal's comparison is nonsensical
Jan. 02, 2012An NCR Editorial
Whether Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George went into a Dec. 21 television interview intending to compare the gay community with the Ku Klux Klan or impulsively gave voice to something that popped into his mind at the moment, it is clear that he welcomed any opportunity to pick a fight.
