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Print This E-mail Link Send Letter Send Correction Groton (AP) - Connecticut's Episcopal Diocese has filed a lawsuit against the leadership of the Bishop Seabury Church, demanding it turn over control of the church property after voting to leave the national church in a dispute over theology and the appointment of a gay bishop. The Rev. Ronald Gauss was suspended from Bishop Seabury on May 3, when the diocese appointed another priest, the Rev. David Cannon, to take over. Rev. Gauss and 12 former and current church leaders were served this week with the lawsuit, which was filed in Superior...

As the Catholic Diocese of Richmond sets out to develop its next five-year strategic plan, it faces the reality of more Catholics and fewer priests to serve them.This means some parishes could close or have to merge, said Beth Neu, director of pastoral planning. Clustering will become widespread in the future, she said."Nothing is off the table," she said.The number of priests in the diocese has declined 25 percent during the past 10 years, Neu said. And within the next five years, the diocese expects to lose 18 to 22 priests to retirement, diocesan spokesman Stephen Neill said.Those figures have...

Updated: 4/21/2007 9:16 PMBy: Web Staff The Catholic Diocese is facing hard times. Because of lack of resources, including money and clergy, Bishop James Moynihan said it's time for change. "We have to tailor our resources to fit what we do have, and at the same time, we want to meet the needs," Bishop Moynihan said.Discussion of how to address the problem began back in 1982. Now, a plan to close or merge churches across Central New York has been put in motion. On Saturday, Moynihan announced plans for the Eastern Region, which includes Oneida, Madison, and a small part...

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, New York, APRIL 5, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Bishop Emil Wcela, 75, and named Monsignor Peter Libasci to replace him as auxiliary bishop of Rockville Centre. Born Nov. 9, 1951, in Brooklyn, Peter Libasci earned a master's in divinity at St. Meinrad's Archabbey Seminary in Indiana. He was ordained for the Diocese of Rockville Centre in 1978. Father Libasci then earned a master's in theology and catechetics from St. John's University. Bishop Wcela had been appointed auxiliary bishop of Rockville Centre in 1988.

"In some ways, you can say we're not a dot on the map anymore," said Sister Linda Hogan, CSJ, of her experience with pastoral planning at St. Cecilia's Church in Warrensburg. "We have to connect the dots, to work together."After working together on a "consuming" five-year pastoral planning process that changed the face of a small North Country church, parishioners and planning teams at St. Cecilia's expect to use lessons culled from their own experience on a larger scale with the upcoming "Called to be Church" process."The whole thing was a miracle," said Sister Linda.Looking aheadOn the retirement of St....

National Catholic Reporter; 3/26/2004; Donovan, Gill While many families struggle to pay the rising cost of sending their children to Catholic schools, parishioners in one U.S. diocese don't worry about tuition--including the high cost of tuition for Catholic high schools. The children of active parishioners in the Wichita diocese attend Catholic schools tuition-free. A model of stewardship was initiated in Wichita diocese-wide in 1985 by Bishop Eugene Gerber (see "Wichita bishop took 'leap of faith' for stewardship." Parishioners embraced that model, which called for them to give generously of their time and their talents and to give as high a...

Perhaps nowhere in America has the transition from a church focused on social engagement and lay empowerment to one more concerned with Catholic identity and evangelization been more dramatic, or in some ways more wrenching, than in the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese since the appointment of Bishop Robert Finn.Finn has brought the diocese, for decades a model of the former category of church practice, to a screeching halt and sent it veering off in a new direction, leaving nationally heralded education programs and high-profile lay leaders and women religious with long experience abandoned and dismayed.The competing tensions in the...

Inland area Roman Catholic priests and churches will continue to serve undocumented immigrants even if federal laws require them to review a migrant's legal status before giving aid, Bishop Gerald Barnes said Monday. "I don't think we have a choice," said Barnes, leader of the million-member Inland diocese encompassing Riverside and San Bernardino counties. "What the gospel calls us to do is what we are going to have to do. And it calls us to be compassionate and to help those who are in the most need." Rancorous debate between federal lawmakers over immigration has spilled onto the streets in...

An Ecumenical Day focusing on justice for immigrants will draw U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback and local religious leaders from Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran and Presbyterian churches to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe on April 18. The large gathering that will begin at 9:30 a.m. and end at 4:30 p.m. will be open to the general public. Pre-registration is required by Monday. A Kansas Republican, Brownback joined Democrats as part of a bipartisan coalition on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee voting recently to clear the way for 11 million illegal aliens to seek U.S. citizenship. The committee voted against...

Each time I walk into my parish church, I pass a plaque listing the names of all the families who donated money to help build the church. My parents’ names are on that plaque. To say they feel a sense of ownership and investment in the parish is putting it mildly.Perhaps that sense of ownership comes from our history. In colonial days, families did own churches. And in the 1800s, various ethnic groups were given control of parishes in order to ensure that their needs were being met. But times have changed, and, according to federal judges in the bankruptcy...

Who knows whether Cardinal Edward Egan is sleeping soundly these days. But as head of the New York archdiocese—as the top Roman Catholic prelate in the state—he'd have every reason to be restless after the recent advent of a little-noticed lawsuit. The suit, now pending in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, was filed on December 13 by Bob Hoatson—a 53-year-old New Jersey priest considered a stalwart ally among survivors of sexual abuse by clergy. Hoatson, the now-suspended chaplain for Catholic Charities in Newark, is suing Egan and nine other Catholic officials and institutions, claiming a pattern of "retaliation and harassment"...

According to a priest who does not identify himself as a Conservative, the formation program of the Diocese of Rockville Centre was in dire need of a deep overhaul.Every formation program in the diocese was handled for decades by the “Pastoral Formation Institute” or PFI, run until recently by Sister Lauren Hanley, CSJ, whose congregation has its Mother house at Brentwood, NY, in the same diocese. This is how our Priest, who has been a first-hand witness for years, describes the controversial program: “For years the PFI has been forming the laity of Rockville Centre in a mix of very liberal...

News from St. James Church FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE St. James ANGLICAN church, Newport Beach, withdraws lawsuit against episcopal diocese after court victory NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. - January 26, 2006 - After a series of court victories ruling that the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and the national Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. had no right to confiscate its property, St. James Anglican Church, Newport Beach, today voluntarily withdrew a lawsuit it had filed against the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles in June 2005. The lawsuit alleged that the Diocese of Los Angeles breached a written promise made in 1991 that...

The Vatican has rejected the appeals of 10 parishes in the Boston Archdiocese that had petitioned to remain open after being shuttered as part of Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley's reconfiguration plan.O'Malley announced in January 2004 plans to close more than 80 parishes in response to a decline in the number of priests, changing demographics, and financial troubles brought on in part by the clergy sex abuse scandal."We appreciate the disappointment that this news brings to those who submitted the appeals and all who are saddened by the parish closings," O'Malley said in a statement Saturday.The Council of Parishes, a coalition...

Florida's Catholic community is putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to the battle over embryonic stem-cell research. Four of the state's seven diocese top the list of donors to Citizens for Science and Ethics Inc., a political action committee working to keep tax money from being used to finance embryonic stem-cell research. The head of the committee is Boca Raton businesswoman and media personality Susan Cutaia. The Florida Catholic Conference, an agency of Catholic bishops, asked each diocese to make a contribution based on its size. Topping the list is the Archdiocese of Miami, which pitched...

Bishop blesses liturgical abuse by visiting parish to say Mass. Cathcon has already reported on this parish in Austria where the servers (mostly female) dress as if they were members of a sect and they follow a twig and not the Cross of Christ. (The window says "Infinitely far from us and yet so near" intended both to describe God and to address lapsed Catholics!!). So what were no less than two Bishops doing concelebrating Mass in this dreadful parish. One of the Bishops was the Bishop Ludwig Schwarz of Linz whose predecessor had to resign because of the liturgical...

Bishop Gerald Barnes, leader of the Diocese of San Bernardino, is urging federal legislators to extend disaster aid to illegal immigrants uprooted by Hurricane Katrina, and not to deport undocumented immigrants who fled the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast. "Now is the time to serve our common humanity and not discriminate against victims of the disaster because they are not U.S. citizens," Barnes, the chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration, said in a Tuesday letter to federal lawmakers. "Like U.S. citizens, noncitizens have suffered from the hurricane and its aftermath, having lost their loved ones, their...

SPOKANE, Wash. — A federal bankruptcy judge ruled today that all the parish churches, parochial schools and other property of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane can be liquidated to pay victims of sexual abuse by priests. The decision, expected to have ramifications for dioceses across the nation, was a defeat for Spokane Bishop William Skylstad, who had argued that he did not control individual parishes and thus they were not available to cover settlement costs. "It is not a violation of the First Amendment to apply federal bankruptcy law to identify and define property of the bankruptcy estate even though...

Bankruptcy judge rules parish assets available to victims The Associated Press   SPOKANE, Wash. — A federal bankruptcy judge ruled today that all the parish churches, parochial schools and other property of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane can be liquidated to pay victims of sexual abuse by priests. The decision, expected to have ramifications for dioceses across the nation, was a defeat for Spokane Bishop William Skylstad, who had argued that he did not control individual parishes and thus they were not available to cover settlement costs. "It is not a violation of the First Amendment to apply federal...

This was just reported on the Cleveland local news. An internal diocesan document was shown stating that Father Mulica, who had been sent away for treatment after homosexually molesting a teen age boy, continued to have improper sexual relations after his reinstatement including sex with other priests. The story is not yet online, but should be soon. This is all an outgrowth of the suit brought by former freeper letusprey. Here's an earlier story: Bishop Says He Reassigned Abusive Priest By JOE MILICIA Associated Press Writer (AP) - CLEVELAND-Bishop Anthony M. Pilla testified Tuesday in a defamation case against the...

Today, May 24, at 5:00 a.m. Central Time (12 noon Rome time), Bishop Boland’s resignation was officially accepted by the Holy Father. As of this day Bishop Robert Finn is the bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. Please now include his name in the Eucharistic Prayer as our bishop. A Mass with Bishop Boland to celebrate his twelve years as our shepherd is scheduled at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Thursday June 23 at 7:00 p.m. All are invited to this celebration. Please extend an invitation to your parishioners through your bulletins. You may find the...

On Valentine's Day, a dozen or so Belleville priests gathered to discuss what kind of bishop would best be suited to lead their diocese. Belleville's former bishop, the Rev. Wilton Gregory, had been installed as the new archbishop of Atlanta just a month before. The members of the Presbyterial Council had been asked by Cardinal Francis George of Chicago to assess three things: the qualities they would like in their next bishop, the current state of the Belleville diocese and the future needs of the diocese.

A Pennsylvania priest who lived at a Catholic church in West Orange in December and January was charged yesterday with possession of child pornography in Monroe County, Pa. The Rev. Virgil Bradley Tetherow, 40, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton, Pa., allegedly downloaded images of child pornography onto a computer used by a secretary at the St. Ann's Catholic Church rectory in Tobyhanna, Pa., while visiting there in January, authorities said. Tetherow, who lived at St. Ann's for most of 2004, admitted to the allegation, according to detective Kenneth Lanning of the Pocono Mountain Regional Police in an affidavit...

Alongside predictable exchanges on Iraq, the Middle East and religious liberty, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice in her Feb. 8 visit to the Vatican also received an unexpected request -- to intervene in a U.S. lawsuit naming the Holy See as the defendant in a sex abuse case. Church sources told NCR that Rice was asked by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's Secretary of State, whether the United States government could stop a class-action lawsuit currently before a United States District Court in Louisville, Ky., that seeks to hold the Vatican financially responsible for the sexual abuse of minors....

Parishioners of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish at Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist Church 15 Plaza Square Saint Louis, Missouri 63103-2318 Contact: (314) 781 4486, e-mail:stkostkaparish@sbcglobal.net AN APPEAL THAT WILL NEVER MAKE THE NEWS FROM A GROUP OF ST. STANISLAUS KOSTKA PARISHIONERS February 21, 2005 Dear Friends in the Archdiocese of St. Louis: Since March 2004 Catholics in the St. Louis area have been affected by a dispute between the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and the lay board of directors of the civil corporation of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish which illegally took away control of the parish corporation from the Roman...

In the News section of my favorite search engine, I typed the single word "diocese". These were the top stories for today, February 16, 2005: NJ DIOCESE TO PAY $5M A report of over 2 dozen men claiming abuse in the Diocese of Paterson, who settled for 5 million dollars. Although five million dollars may sound like a lot of money, it's only 1/20th of the amount the Diocese of Orange had to pay out when it forked out one hundred million. Whew. Diocese pays $65,000 to abuse victim 65 grand to one victim, relatively speaking, has become chump change...

NEW YORK The Archdiocese of Portland, the first in the nation to file for bankruptcy in the face of mounting sex abuse claims, began running ads in major U.S. newspapers this week alerting priest abuse victims that their time to file a claim against the diocese is running out. The $250,000 ad campaign, required as part of the bankruptcy proceeding, asks any alleged victims who have not yet come forward to file a complaint naming their abuser by April 29. Over the next three weeks, the ads will run three times in 21 newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal and...

Tuesday, January 4, 2005 Parents protest kids of gay pair A group at a Catholic school is upset the diocese allowed the couple to enroll their kindergartners. By FERMIN LEAL The Orange County Register COSTA MESA – A group of parents and parishioners at St. John the Baptist School has accused the Diocese of Orange of defying church doctrine after officials allowed the children of a gay couple to enroll at the Catholic school. The group of about three dozen is demanding the church adopt a policy that all parents must sign a letter in which they agree to abide...

LifeSiteNews.com Wednesday December 22, 2004 The Awesome Pro-Life Leadership of Many US Bishops LifeSiteNews.com's 2004 coverage How the New Bishop of Phoenix Spent His Christmas Eve - Praying Outside an Abortuaryhttp://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/jan/04010501.html U.S. Archbishop Burke Orders Priests to Refuse Communion for Anti-Life Politicianshttp://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/jan/04010901.html Archbishop Burke Issues Pastoral Letter Saying Right to Life is Most Important Political Issuehttp://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/jan/04010902.html New Orleans Archbishop Warns Catholic Pro-Abortion Politicians to Not Receive Communionhttp://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/jan/04011604.html Four Cardinals, 40 Bishops, 300 Priests at Mass for March for Lifehttp://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/jan/04012101.html Boston Archbishop Says Pro-Abortion Politicians "Shouldn't Dare Come to Communion"http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/jan/04012301.html Chicago Cardinal George Mulling Action on Catholic Pro-Abortion Politicianshttp://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/feb/04020203.html Archbishop Burke...

Boy's parents allege threats WOODBRIDGE: A nun in her 70s was fired from her job as school disciplinarian and advanced placement math teacher at St. Cecilia's School in Iselin after she allegedly threatened an 11-year-old sixth-grade boy at the school. Joanne Ward, spokeswoman for the Diocese of Metuchen, said a letter was sent to the boy's parents Tuesday telling them of the termination of Sister Catherine Iacouzze. The parents of the boy filed a citizen's complaint against Iacouzze in Municipal Court alleging that she told the boy he would "have no teeth left in his mouth if he had an...

Diocese of Cleveland Still Funding Pro-Abortion Groups: Campaign for Human Development at It AgainThree years after it was first revealed by Life Site and WorldNetDaily that the Diocese of Cleveland donated $30,000 to an Ohio community organization affiliated with the National Abortion Rights Action League, new information reveals that the Cleveland diocese is again funding a least one organization affiliated with a pro-abortion umbrella group, Community Shares - an organization that includes as its members Planned Parenthood, the Ohio ACLU and the Cleveland abortion clinic PreTerm . In a press release early this year, the Campaign for Human Development announced...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The Roman Catholic bishop of Colorado Springs has warned members of a church here that it is not authentic.Bishop Michael Sheridan sent a letter to about 60 households that said Servants of the Holy Family is not part of the Roman Catholic Church, despite what church priests tell them.‘‘I entreat you to separate yourself from the Servants of the Holy Family and return to full communion with the Roman Catholic Church,’’ Sheridan wrote in his letter. ‘‘No one can claim to be authentically Catholic if he or she is not in communion with the diocesan bishop...

SPOKANE, Wash. -- If attorneys for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane do not reach a settlement with dozens of alleged victims of clergy sex abuse, the diocese may be forced to declare bankruptcy, the bishop said. Bishop William Skylstad issued the warning in a letter sent to parishioners in preparation for settlement talks this week with 28 alleged victims of a former priest who has admitted sexually abusing boys. The first of five lawsuits alleging that the diocese did not do enough to protect children from Patrick O'Donnell is scheduled for trial Nov. 29. O'Donnell, 62, worked as a...

Press Releases Legislative Agenda Issues Powerful Parishes Links News About Us  Take Action Become a Member Donate Represent Your Parish Ray Flynn Contact Us FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 29, 2004 Catholic Citizenship Announces Release of Voter GuidesBoston, MA - Catholic Citizenship announced today that it now has its voter guides available online. In Massachusetts, the "Catholic Citizenship Voter Guide" is a non-partisan, comprehensive voter guide covering legislators and candidates positions on issues of interest to Catholics. Candidates were surveyed on school choice, the death penalty, cloning, embryonic stem cell research, partial-birth abortion, parental consent for minor's abortion, and same-sex...

CAMP ALLEN, TX. (10/15/2004)--A recent Diocese of Texas clergy conference revealed deep tensions between those who are orthodox in faith and morals and those who are revisionist, with the keynote speaker - a NT scholar - delivering what one believing priest called "a 5000-pound bunker busting revisionist bomb on historic biblical Christianity" with the full approval of Texas Bishop Don Wimberly. Wimberly, who positions himself as orthodox, has two sides, the kind public face, but behind the scenes he is ruthless, demanding, brooks no opposition and will run over any priest who dare oppose him, say a number of his...

October 1, 2004 To Christ’s Faithful of the Archdiocese of St. Louis: ‘On Our Civic Responsibility for the Common Good’ by Archbishop Raymond L. Burke Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Introduction 1. In the summer of 1982, I spent two months in Bavaria for the study of the German language, as part of my graduate studies in Canon Law. I offered Mass daily in the parish church, and got to know and respect very much the layman who cared for the sacristy of the church. Often, we visited after Mass and discussed spiritual matters. 2. One day, the...

"In a time when right wing conservatives of many churches condemn the lifestyle of homosexuality, some excluding gays and lesbians from worship while perpetuating a message of hate, St. Joan's has been steadfast in welcoming their GLBT parishioners. A monthly potluck support group run by Ron Joki and Theresa Healy allows for an outreach of connectiveness. An annual GLBT spiritual retreat explores biblical readings, meditations, rituals, play and musical skits with guest performers and speakers that confront negativity, challenges exclusivity and affirms acceptance and healing. This very website includes a GLBT section devoted to updates of relative news, GLBT families,...

Mass in Latin is back Phoenix church to hold serviceMichael ClancyThe Arizona RepublicJun. 5, 2004 12:00 AM The Tridentine Mass, for 400 years the standard religious service of the Catholic Church, will be celebrated Sunday in Phoenix, possibly for the first time since the diocese was created in 1969. Completely in Latin, except for the priest's sermon, Sunday's service at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Phoenix will attempt to recreate the entire atmosphere of the old Mass, including candles, incense and altar boys - no girls. If you go What: Tridentine Mass, old version of Catholic religious service spoken...

"When Brown came here [from Idaho], I spoke with a priest from that diocese and he advised me that I should have a good exit plan in place!" This is what Father Dreimarhder (not his real name), a priest in the diocese of Orange, said of his bishop, Tod Brown. After six years of Bishop Brown's reign, Father Dreimahrder is not more sanguine. And, his distress is shared by other Catholics in the Orange diocese. Among these disgruntled ones is a coalition of Catholics calling themselves Laity of the Diocese of Orange. In March, the Laity sent an open letter...

Just what is the Bernardin Legacy? Ask that simple question to any Catholic and the answers you receive will vary from one extreme to the other. One either loved him or despised him. But regardless of your personal opinion of the man there is one point, I believe, we can all agree on: He was a powerful and influential individual, both politically and spiritually. James Hitchcock wrote in an article published shortly after the Cardinal’s death that: “He [Bernardin] consistently used his influence to promote liberal causes, even attacks on Church teachings and traditions.” Hitchcock went on to say: “...he...

Death penalty can be 'tolerated' Tuesday, May 11, 2004 Newark Archbishop John J. Myers said Monday that politicians who support the death penalty wouldn't face the same level of condemnation from the Catholic Church as those who support abortion rights."There are instances, such as a time of war or civil unrest, or when the government cannot protect the citizens in any other way, that the death penalty could be tolerated," Myers told Fox News. "So it is a moral issue of a different order."In drawing the distinction, Myers said abortion is "always wrong."The interview at Fox News studios in New...

Some 4 1/2 months into his tenure, Bishop Thomas Olmsted has left no doubt that he is what the Vatican ordered when he was named to head the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix. A rapid series of recent diocesan actions underscores that Olmsted is a loyal and ardently faithful servant to Pope John Paul II, with whom the bishop once regularly worked during assignments with the Curia in the early 1980s. The pope tapped the 31-year priest last fall to leave his bishop's job in the Diocese of Wichita, Kan., to come to Arizona to rebuild a church rocked by...

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — The incoming leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden has decided that Gov. James E. McGreevey cannot receive communion. The Most Rev. Joseph Galante said Thursday that he was taking the stance primarily because the divorced governor, who is Catholic, remarried without receiving a church annulment. He also cited McGreevey's support of abortion rights, stem-cell research and other positions which contradict church views. Galante, who was to be installed Friday during a Mass at St. Agnes Church in Blackwood, said he felt duty bound to take a hard line stance on the issue. He said...

The Episcopal Diocese of Western New York is facing a major budget deficit caused in part by the withdrawal of more than $100,000 in pledges from parishes that disagree with the confirmation last summer of a gay bishop. At least five parishes are withholding most of their "fair share" gifts to the diocese in 2004 because of the national church's confirmation of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire. An additional 22 parishes - out of 63 in the diocese - have yet to submit a pledge or have pledged less than the diocese requested. The total...

A publication for East Bay Catholics refused to run an advertisement and notice announcing a university-sponsored seminar that gathers scholars to discuss the Catholic Church's future. As publisher of the Catholic Voice, Bishop Allen Vigneron of the Oakland Diocese rejected running an ad and notification item for the one-day University of San Francisco seminar, "Imaging the Future Church." In a March 1 letter to the East Bay chairman of the Voice of the Faithful, Vigneron explained that his decision was based on critical comments on church doctrine he heard from group members.

Many Catholics headed to Sunday mass this morning with the new allegations against Bishop Howard Hubbard laying heavily on their minds. On Wednesday, Andy Zalay came forward with allegations that his brother Tom, who committed suicide in 1978, had a sexual relationship with Bishop Hubbard. On Friday, 42-year-old Anthony Bonneau said he was paid for sex by Hubbard. Some church-goers were angry, and others were shocked. Catholic Agnes Bopp said, "It's terrible. The bishop is the most wonderful person in the world. He is the best bishop we've ever had." Another Catholic named Charlie added, "It's very surprising because he's...

Co-responsibility for public policy New Orleans January 14, 2004 By ARCHBISHOP ALFRED C. HUGHES The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes clear that all Catholics have a personal responsibility to participate in promoting the common good in accordance with their vocation in life. Those holding public office have a special responsibility. The goal of this participation is to help shape a public policy that is in conformity as much as possible with the law rooted in our nature that governs us all, no matter what our religious belief. Thus, they are called to try to ensure that the laws that...

Has anything really changed in the Catholic Church in the USA? Are bishops looking outward ("policy changes, audits, new procedures") rather than inward (the spiritual state of their soul) for solutions to problems in today's Church? Is the setting up of "committees" made up of laypeople, to investigate sexual abuse claims good for the priesthood? Can we no longer trust other priests to investigate these matters? Does not this cast a dark shadow on all priests - even the good priests who truly love the Church? The very fact that policy changes became necessary, and audits are necessary to see...

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A part-time priest was charged with making obscene phone calls to a 70-year-old Ormond Beach woman. Stanley Staniszewski, 60, who worked as a "helper" priest at several Catholic churches in the Diocese of Orlando, said he was unaware of any charges and that the calls were made as "a joke" and that he was "under the influence of medication." The woman, who requested her name not be released, said the Nov. 1 and 2 calls were enough to "scare the heck" out of her. Staniszewski said he still considered himself able to function as a priest....

Burke told ministry it couldn't participate By AMY RINARD and TOM HELD arinard@journalsentinel.com Last Updated: Dec. 5, 2003 Madison - The bishop who pressured several Catholic lawmakers to adopt church views on abortion has ordered a church-based AIDS ministry to stop raising money in an annual AIDS walk, saying some participating groups promote homosexuality. La Crosse Bishop Raymond L. Burke, named this week by Pope John Paul II as archbishop of St. Louis, ordered the diocese-supported Central Wisconsin HIV/AIDS Ministry Project in Stevens Point to stop organizing a delegation to march in the annual AIDS fund-raising event. In a letter...