Pope Francis, Catholics, and Christians in the news worldwide

Mtierney,

My prayers are with you.  May your new life be a long and happy one.

Good bless.

Thinking of you.  May you find some peace and comfort during this difficult time.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers. Our family and friends have been helpful and kind — all of us struck by the enormity of the loss of this gentle man, artist, and scholar.

PeggyC said:
It's really rather offensive to call random killings of a dozen or so Christian people a "Holocaust" when that world is associated with the murder of MILLIONS of Jews. I would pick a different word. Really.

 How would you describe the 5 Million non-jews killed by the Nazis in WW2- mostly Christians?

Wow..no one has "claim" to these genocides.  Really.

alex4855 said:

PeggyC said:
It's really rather offensive to call random killings of a dozen or so Christian people a "Holocaust" when that world is associated with the murder of MILLIONS of Jews. I would pick a different word. Really.

 How would you describe the 5 Million non-jews killed by the Nazis in WW2- mostly Christians?
Wow..no one has "claim" to these genocides.  Really.

 Ummm.... I'm not sure when the post you are responding to was written but I haven't seen PeggyC around these parts in a very long time and I wouldn't sit around waiting for a reply.

Klinker said:

alex4855 said:

PeggyC said:
It's really rather offensive to call random killings of a dozen or so Christian people a "Holocaust" when that world is associated with the murder of MILLIONS of Jews. I would pick a different word. Really.

 How would you describe the 5 Million non-jews killed by the Nazis in WW2- mostly Christians?
Wow..no one has "claim" to these genocides.  Really.

 Ummm.... I'm not sure when the post you are responding to was written but I haven't seen PeggyC around these parts in a very long time and I wouldn't sit around waiting for a reply.

 Search function says it was April 23, 2015.

-mtierney, glad you felt up to popping by.

-Peggy isn’t coming back; she has more in her life at present, and she’s still living away from the area. 

Shall I tell her you’re all thinking of her?

joanne said:
-mtierney, glad you felt up to popping by.
-Peggy isn’t coming back; she has more in her life at present, and she’s still living away from the area. 
Shall I tell her you’re all thinking of her?

 By all means.

when I was a child, radio was our entertainment and news source. One great program, The Shadow, opened with the statement, “who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?” Sent shivers up my spine every time!

Today’s NYT reports https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/11/nyregion/shambhala-sexual-misconduct.html?rref=collection%2Fissuecollection%2Ftodays-new-york-times

A day or so ago, there was an item reporting that Harvey Weinstein has been released on bail on a technicality of sorts. 

The question asked in the old fictional radio program remains unanswered today.

Even as a rhetorical question, it's a universal truth.  

as I quoted above, “what evil lurks in the hearts of men....? 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/16/us/cardinal-mccarrick-abuse-priest.html?rref=collection%2Fissuecollection%2Ftodays-new-york-times

The seven deadly sins — lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride — should also include misuse of power, and lying before God and man. Chastity vows are taken by all those who enter the religious life. Temptation is what makes the vow most powerful. God may forgive the weak who seek forgiveness, but what punishment awaits a cardinal?

mtierney , Your comment about The Shadow reminds me of the program when I was a child. My father took me to see the radio show. Whenever The Shadow spoke he walked into a booth and spoke in that eery voice.  It was a very popular show,pre-television.

While chastity vows are taken once you dedicate your life to Gd, it's interesting to read that the Vatican has apparently decided it's no longer necessary to be a virgin if you wish to be a nun. Sign of the times (and realism)

All were told.

Bishops, Monsignors, Cardinals, the Papal Nuncio, the Pope. Over many, many years.

And it was ignored.

He Preyed on Men Who Wanted to Be Priests. Then He Became a Cardinal.

Despite the awful news about Philip Wilson, not all the spiritual news from Australia is bad or sad:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-22/meet-the-young-journalist-turned-nun-nancy-webb/10014472 There’s an NYC connection, too.

Lovely story — perhaps there is hope for the world yet.

When I compare the responses to your Cardinal McCarrick and our Cardinal Wilson, who is found criminally guilty but won't step down and hasn't been disciplined by the Pope, I find I'm not only sad but speechless. 

Both in their 80s, both highly esteemed in their careers so valued by the Church for knowledge, experience and a gift for their community work, we're seeing two different responses to these historical crimes. Both the crimes and the responses reveal much about the men themselves. 

I'm wondering if McCarrick's 'resignation' is also a papal disowning of Wilson?  (Edited to allow for McCarrick's resignation, not demotion.)

the most recent update on McCarrick — https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/28/world/europe/cardinal-theodore-mccarrick-resigns.html?rref=collection%2Fissuecollection%2Ftodays-new-york-times

Gosh! Latest news on Wilson - note this announced well after most Aussies will have thought about the evening's news, unless they live in Western Australia...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-30/adelaide-archbishop-philip-wilson-resigns/10053626

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/obituaries/sister-maureen-turlish-a-voice-for-sex-abuse-victims-dies-at-79.html?rref=collection%2Fissuecollection%2Ftodays-new-york-times

Sometimes all it takes is a woman to step up to the plate! Mixing my metaphors here, but I think she was able to persevere because of her enduring love for the Church.

I am a “cradle” Catholic.  However, after morphing through years as a “cafeteria” Catholic, I am now completely lapsed.  Back in 2002, an office mate brought in copies of The Boston Globe newspaper which carried the Spotlight investigative report on the sex abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese.  After 16 years I still vividly remember reading the newspaper report. I was grateful for a shaft of sunlight that fell on my desk, because what I was reading was a pit without bottom dark evil.

Fast forward to the recent revelations regarding the former Archbishop of the Newark Archdiocese, Theodore “Uncle Teddy” McCarrick. Unbeknownst to me, rumors had been circulating about McCarrick for years.  I did not know him personally, but was acquainted with him from his presence at the Sacred Heart Cathedral Basilica in Newark, the headquarters of the Newark Archdiocese.  McCarrick was always very charming and gregarious in his interactions with parishioners.

I highly recommend The Boston Globe’s investigative report:  “Betrayal – The Crisis in the Catholic Church.”  I am reading it now.  Sometimes I have to close the book, get up and limp for a moment or two.

 www.amazon.com:  Betrayal:  The Crisis in the Catholic Church

https://tinyurl.com/y7nw9nun

*******

One reader who commented on one of the recent news articles about McCarrick described the Catholic Church as “the world’s largest and most notorious pedophile ring.”

The Salt Lake Tribune:  Chile announces wide probe into Catholic Church Sex Abuse: 266 Victims Reported

Santiago, Chile • Chile has investigated 158 members of the country’s Roman Catholic Church for committing or covering up sexual abuse against minors and adults, the national prosecutor’s office said this week.  The investigations include reports of abuse by bishops, clerics and lay workers filed since 2000. Some of the cases date as far back as 1960.  In all, the number of victims is 266. That includes 178 children and teenagers, and 31 adults. The age of victims was not established in 57 other cases.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/nation-world/2018/07/26/chile-announces-wide/

What is coming out of the Church in the Chilean papers I don't know if the church will ever be able to overcome.  It's hard to keep up with all the revelations of abuse and utter corruption.

Well, now, this is interesting. The Pope is shifting/changing/revising the church's teaching on the death penalty.  The news story seems to just be breaking now, but I look forward to reading more details: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/pope-shifts-church-on-death-penalty-now-inadmissible/2018/08/02/273e71ae-9640-11e8-818b-e9b7348cd87d_story.html?utm_term=.86f8d2ff0aa5

finnegan said:
Well, now, this is interesting. The Pope is shifting/changing/revising the church's teaching on the death penalty.  The news story seems to just be breaking now, but I look forward to reading more details: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/pope-shifts-church-on-death-penalty-now-inadmissible/2018/08/02/273e71ae-9640-11e8-818b-e9b7348cd87d_story.html?utm_term=.86f8d2ff0aa5

 Yes, the Catechism had a "out" for using capital punishment if there was no other way to protect the community.  Guess the "out" is out, now.

It's always useful to revisit the late Justice Scalia's essay about this.

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2002/05/gods-justice-and-ours

thank you, Nohero, for providing that link! 

I found it useful to revisit the late Justice Scalia's essay because he minimized the importance of the Church's teaching on capital punishment, even when it provided the "out" that it might be necessary to use.  He wrote:

"I find it ironic that the Church’s new (albeit nonbinding) position on the death penalty—which, if accepted, would have these disastrous consequences—is said to rest upon 'prudential considerations.' "

His essay is an exercise in tortured logic, to convince himself and others that what is set out as a Church teaching isn't really a Church teaching.  With this latest news, I don't know how he could have responded.

I just popped in and learned of your husband's death, @mtierney. I'm sorry. May his memory be a blessing.

Thank you, Tom — and, indeed, his memory is a blessing and comforts me daily.  

perhaps a day late and storm clouds prevent, but thought this interesting...

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/in-august-watch-this-meteor-shower-named-for-a-saint-62501

I wouldn't have thought that much could shock me with regards to this subject but I have to say that the news reported in the NY Times this afternoon did jus that.

Grand Jury Finds Catholic Clergy Raped and Abused More Than 1000 Children in Pennsylvania

From the Grand Jury's report: "“Despite some institutional reform, individual leaders of the church have largely escaped public accountability....Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades.”