Tag Archives: Catholic Church

The Tennessean reports: The students at St. Edward Catholic School in Nashville can no longer checkout the popular Harry Potter book series from their school’s library. The seven-book series depicting the magical adventures of a young wizard and his friends was removed from the library because of their content, the Rev. Dan Reehil, a pastor at the Roman Catholic parish …

NBC Philadelphia reports: A Chester County priest who took the place of a disgraced Archdiocese official is now in trouble with the law as well after being accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars from his own church. Father Joseph McLoone, 56, of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, was arrested Wednesday and charged with felony theft and other related offenses after allegedly …

ABC News reports: Hundreds of lawsuits are expected to be filed in New York today as the state’s window allowing alleged child sexual abuse survivors to seek civil recourse opens. Earlier this year, state lawmakers passed the Child Victims Act, which allows civil claims of child sexual abuse from any time period to be brought forth, in spite of existing …

The New York Daily News reports: The handwritten missives, many signed simply “Uncle T.,” were sent to aspiring young priests as part of defrocked cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s perverse wooing of his victims, according to a pair of abuse prevention experts. Several postcards and letters sent by McCarrick to his sexual targets were made public by The Associated Press, with experts …

Reuters reports: Pope Francis on Sunday condemned attacks on “defenseless people” in a spate of gun violence in three American states, including one that killed 20 people in a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas. Speaking to thousands of pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s Square for his Sunday message and blessing, Francis said he was spiritually close to the …

Reuters reports: Poland’s Catholic Church has doubled down on the anti-gay rhetoric that has become the nationalist ruling party’s dominant theme in recent weeks, drawing a rebuke from liberal politicians who compared an archbishop’s remarks to incitement to genocide. In a sermon given to mark the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw uprising by Polish resistance fighters against Nazi occupation, the …

The Associated Press reports: The visiting priests arrived discreetly, day and night. Stripped of their collars and cassocks, they went unnoticed in this tiny Midwestern town as they were escorted into a dingy warehouse across from an elementary school playground They had been brought to town by a small, nonprofit group called Opus Bono Sacerdotii. For nearly two decades, the …

The Christian Post reports: The famed Crystal Cathedral in California, which was touted as the largest all-glass structure in the world when it was officially opened in 1980, was rededicated Wednesday by the Diocese of Orange after a $77 million makeover and the blessing of Bishop Kevin Vann and Pope Francis. Originally commissioned by late televangelist Rev. Robert H. Schuller, …

The Washington Post reports: The Vatican on Friday announced sanctions against retired West Virginia Bishop Michael Bransfield, but stopped short of defrocking him, after investigating accusations of sexual harassment and financial misconduct. The sanctions, ordered by Pope Francis and detailed in a letter posted to the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston’s website, prohibits Bransfield from public ministry and from residing in his …

Newsweek reports: A Catholic Bishop plans to spray holy water from a helicopter to exorcise the demons he says are plaguing his town. Monsignor Rubén Darío Jaramillo Montoya, bishop of Buenaventura, Colombia, is borrowing a navy copter to deluge the city on July 14, the feast day for Buenaventura’s patron saint. “We want to go around the whole of Buenaventura …

NBC News reports: A Jesuit-run prep school in Indianapolis is defying a demand by the local archbishop that it fire a veteran teacher who is in a same-sex marriage, prompting the archdiocese to revoke recognition for the school as a Catholic institution. In a letter to parents, the leaders of the Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School said Archbishop Charles Thompson’s “direct …

From a new survey by Pew Research: More than 15 years after U.S. bishops pledged “zero tolerance” for sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, reports of previously unpublicized misconduct continue to receive wide media coverage. A Pennsylvania grand jury last year uncovered decades of sexual abuse and coverup by Catholic leaders, and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick – formerly the archbishop …

USA Today reports: In its first statement on gender identity, the Vatican on Monday rejected the idea that transgender people can change their gender identity in a document meant to instruct Catholic teachers and students on sexuality and gender. The document, titled “Male and Female He Created Them,” suggests only men and women are sexually complementary, and that changing norms …

Irish Central reports: An Irish priest has said he is saving ‘a special place in heaven’ for Donald Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Junior after the two brothers visited a multitude of local pubs in Doonbeg on Wednesday night. Doonbeg parish priest Joe Haugh had previously pledged a place in heaven for President Trump but has now extended that pledge …

The Washington Post reports: In the years before he was ousted for alleged sexual harassment and financial abuses, the leader of the Catholic Church in West Virginia gave cash gifts totaling $350,000 to fellow clergymen, including young priests he is accused of mistreating and more than a dozen cardinals in the United States and at the Vatican, according to church …

CBS News reports: The U.S. Catholic Church spent $10.6 million on lobbyists to prevent victims of clerical sex abuse from suing for damages. According to a new report, the money was doled out from 2011 through 2018 in eight northeastern states where bills to reform statute of limitations laws were either in the works or being considered. “This report lays …

The Christian Post reports: Despite opposition from traditionalists, Pope Francis has officially approved a change to the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:13 that replaces “lead us not into temptation” with “do not let us fall into temptation.” Pope Francis first signaled support for amending the “lead us not into temptation” part of the Lord’s Prayer in 2017, arguing that it …

The Associated Press reports: When Cardinal Daniel DiNardo first met Laura Pontikes in his wood-paneled conference room in December 2016, the leader of the U.S. Catholic Church’s response to its sex abuse scandal said all the right things. He praised her for coming forward to report that his deputy in the Galveston-Houston archdiocese had manipulated her into a sexual relationship …

Hemant Mehta writes at The Friendly Atheist: Another day, another Catholic leader saying something idiotic on Twitter, then doubling down on it. This time, it’s Father Kevin M. Cusick, a former Lieutenant Commander in the US Navy chaplain corps, telling women to cover up their bodies to avoid offending the delicate sensibilities of men. Those hussies. Next thing you know, …

NBC News reports: The Roman Catholic bishop of Providence, Rhode Island, said Sunday that he regretted the controversy he created by telling Catholics to boycott Pride Month events but that he couldn’t renounce church teachings. Bishop Thomas Tobin released a statement on Sunday saying he regretted “that my comments yesterday about Pride Month have turned out to be so controversial …