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Pope Francis is expected to give the final blessing at the funeral Thursday of Cardinal Bernard Law, the former Boston archbishop who resigned in disgrace during the Catholic Church's sex-abuse scandal, prompting outrage from abuse survivors. Francis' prominent role in the ceremony has fueled the controversy over the decision to grant Law a full cardinal's funeral at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. The story was made into a celebrated movie, Spotlight, and the scandal forced the Catholic church to rethink the way it dealt with child abuse in the church. 'Gates of hell wide open' Alexa MacPherson, a native...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A Catholic diocese in Ohio says a parish priest under investigation for "questionable" communications with a minor and possible misuse of church funds killed himself. The Catholic Diocese of Columbus said in a statement Thursday that the Rev. James Csaszar killed himself Wednesday in Chicago. Csaszar was pastor of Church of the Resurrection in the Columbus suburb of New Albany.

Complete title: Former Archbishop of Canterbury could face police probe into whether he broke the law by covering up for a paedophile bishop o Police are considering a formal inquiry into Church of England's former leader o Lord Carey, 82, could face being interviewed under caution in investigation o Rev Peter Ball indecently assaulted 18 boys and young men from 1977 to 1992 o Former leaders could face criminal charges for not passing on abuse complaints The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, could face a police investigation into whether he broke the law by covering up for a paedophile...

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace,...

He didn’t have to be there, not in that place and at that time. But there he was. He could have been back at the base in Da Nang, waiting for the soldiers to return, and no one would have given it a second thought. But he chose to be with the men. In actuality, he didn’t even have to be in Vietnam at all. His tour of duty had ended months before, and so he could have been home in America. But he asked for, and was granted, an extension. How could he not be with the young men...

An American Catholic priest who has traveled to North Korea 52 times says he won't stop going to the communist country to treat North Koreans suffering from tuberculosis, deifying the Trump administration's travel ban following the death of American college student Otto Warmbier. Father Jerry Hammond told BBC News in an interview on Thursday that he will attempt to travel to North Korea in November, like Open Doors have called the world's most oppressive country for Christians, though he is aware that the U.S. government could revoke his passport. The priest, who lives in South Korea, explained that he has...

John Anton – OCP News Service – 12/1017 +Memory Eternal+ Cairo-Egypt: A Coptic Orthodox Christian priest was murdered and another was injured in a knife attack this morning in the Capital city of Cairo. Father ‘Samaan Shihata’ (Fr Simon) from Bani Suief, Upper Egypt, was on a visit to Cairo with another priest. They were attacked by some unknown person who killed Fr Simon. Local media reported that police have arrested the culprit and he is currently under investigation. The ancient Coptic orthodox christian community in Egypt face various persecution from religious fanatics . May be the memory of the...

A Catholic priest has been dismissed from his parish in Nebraska after asking middle schoolers if they've ever masturbated or watched pornography during weekly confession. SnipDeacon Tim McNeil, chancellor and spokesman for the Archdiocese of Omaha, said the 26-year-old is an inexperienced priest who went overboard in his questioning and was probably just 'trying to be too helpful.'

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich, told NewsMax that he believes the recent leaks over the CIA's secret prisons and the NSA's terrorist surveillance program were "politically driven," and that the leakers "ought to be prosecuted." "What we are seeing is a systematic breakdown in the intelligence community when it comes to leaking highly classified intelligence information," he stated. If intelligence officers have concerns about a particular program, they have various legal avenues to make those concerns known, he said. "First, there's an inspector general," he noted. "Then there's a...

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) -- Pope Francis acknowledged Saturday that the Vatican has a 2,000-case backlog in processing clerical sex abuse cases and says criticism of the slow pace was justified. But he says more staff are being added and insists the Vatican is "on the right path." Francis was making his first comments about the criticism leveled at the Vatican's handling of sex abuse cases by Marie Collins, an Irish abuse survivor who resigned from Francis' sex abuse advisory commission in March. Collins quit because of what she said was the "unacceptable" level of resistance within the Vatican...

Houston priest uses kayak to say Mass, runs afoul of ban on Sunday wine sales A family evacuates their Meyerland home in Houston, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017. Rescuers answered hundreds of calls for help Sunday as floodwaters from the remnants of Hurricane Harvey rose high enough to begin filling second-story homes, and authorities urged stranded families to seek refuge on their rooftops. (Credit: Mark Mulligan/Houston Chronicle via AP.)Father David Bergeron of the Catholic Charismatic Center in Houston, was returning from watching the big Mayweather v. McGregor fight and ended up stuck in the storm and sleeping in his truck. He...

MISSION HILLS (CBSLA.com) — Several people stopped by a statue of Father Junipero Serra in a park across from Mission San Fernando on Thursday after a photo made the rounds on social media appearing to show the statue had been vandalized. A picture circulating Facebook showed the statue spray-painted red and the word “murder” written on Serra in white.

Paul Shanley, a priest convicted of multiple counts of child rape, has walked free, as reported by FOX8. Shanley, 86, has spent the last 12 years behind bars after being convicted in 2005 of two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child and two counts of rape and abuse of a child, according to the sex offender registry. The Massachusetts man now begins 10 years of supervised probation, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement. Shanley was one of a number of Catholic priests convicted of child rape, the fallout from an infamous Boston Globe investigation...

When 19 college guys go to Jamaica for spring break, they usually hit the bar and the beach. Not Nicholas Morrison and his friends. Their trip to Montego Bay this March was far more medieval. Every morning they rose at 5:30 a.m. and prayed. Then they visited abandoned children with disabilities and dug an irrigation trench to protect the kids’ homes from flooding in the coming summer rains.

Napa, Calif., Jun 1, 2017 / 04:24 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- What’s a good way to reach a lot of young people all at once?Plant yourself at an entrance of a popular music festival with a sign, some free stuff, and a smile.That’s what Catholic priest Fr. David Jenuwine did last weekend, at BottleRock Napa, a three-day music festival with roughly 30,000 in attendance.His sign read simply: Catholic priest. Blessings, Prayers, Confessions, Answers.Fr. Jenuwine, parochial vicar at St. Apollinaris Parish in Napa, California, told CNA that he had been trying to brainstorm creative ways to reach out to young adults...

A Catholic diocese in Minnesota filed for bankruptcy on Friday, joining more than a dozen other U.S. Catholic districts and religious orders driven to seek protection from creditors by the church's clergy sex abuse scandal. The Roman Catholic Diocese of New Ulm, which is southwest of Minneapolis, said in a statement it will use Chapter 11 bankruptcy to reorganize its finances and produce a plan to pay creditors. The rural diocese is defending 101 lawsuits involving alleged sex abuse by clergy mostly from the 1950s through the 1970s. Minnesota had lifted the civil statute of limitations for a period of...

And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah; Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest; And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he...

Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, February 8, 2017 Former Catholic Priest Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Production and Distribution of Child Pornography A former U.S. Navy Lt. Commander and ordained Catholic priest was sentenced to 30 years in prison today for charges involving the sexual exploitation of children, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Charles M. Oberly III of the District of Delaware. John Thomas Matthew Lee, 51, of Millsboro, Delaware, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leonard P. Stark...

Seven percent of Catholic priests were accused of abusing children in Australia between 1950 and 2010 but the allegations were never investigated, "shocking and indefensible" data showed on Monday during an inquiry into paedophilia in the church. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard that 4,444 alleged incidents of paedophilia were reported to church authorities and in some dioceses, more than 15% of priests were perpetrators. Australia ordered the Royal Commission in 2012 after a decade of growing pressure to investigate allegations of child abuse across the country, with the inquiry now in its final phase...

Teen Vogue is doing its best to push its pro-abortion agenda on young, impressionable minds. This week, the magazine ran a column by the Rev. Broderick L. Greer, an Episcopal priest who advocates for abortion. Greer argued that Christians should support women in their decisions to have abortion, rather than judge them. “And that is where the Church can find its point of entry: in offering people making these decisions every measure of mercy they need to live wise and whole lives,” Greer wrote. “It is the act of looking people in the eye and saying, ‘I trust you. I...