Free Republic

Church paid $100,000 to Bishop Lynch's aide The Catholic leader denies the man's claims of sexual harassment. His lawyer says the severance pay was not ''hush money.'' By CHUCK MURPHY and WAVENEY ANN MOORE © St. Petersburg Times, published March 23, 2002 The Catholic leader denies the man's claims of sexual harassment. His lawyer says the severance pay was not "hush money." ST. PETERSBURG -- The Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg paid slightly more than $100,000 to a former employee who claimed he had been harassed by Bishop Robert Lynch. Lynch appeared at a news conference Friday to calmly deny...

MAPLE LAKE, Minn. - The ancient Roman Catholic ritual in which someone continuously adores the Eucharist, the wafter at the heart of the Catholic Mass, is making a comeback in St. Timothy's Catholic Church here, and nearly 40 other churches in the state. "It's a bottom-up phenomenon," said John Boyle, a professor of theology and Catholic studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. "It's been remarkable over the past 20 years to watch it grow, especially the past 10 years." The practice is known as "perpetual adoration" and was once the purview of nuns and monks, but...

TAMPA - Saying his accuser is fabricating facts about their relationship, Bishop Robert Lynch lashed out at continuing news coverage of sexual harassment allegations against him. Yet, in an interview in Thursday's edition of The Florida Catholic, Lynch also suggested he might follow disgraced Palm Beach Bishop Anthony O'Connell and resign if Catholic opinion starts turning against him. Lynch didn't detail the ``fabrications of fact'' he said were made by former diocesan communications director William Urbanski. Nor did he mention that Urbanski was paid $100,000, despite a Lynch-appointed church panel's conclusion that Urbanski's allegations were unprovable. Diocesan spokeswoman Mary Jo...