Monk accused of Fort Augustus Abbey abuse arrested in Sydney

A former Catholic monk accused of child abuse at a Scottish school has been arrested in Australia.

Father Denis "Chrysostom" Alexander was one of several monks accused of abusing boys at the former Fort Augustus Abbey boarding school in the Highlands.  The BBC has learned he has been remanded in custody in Sydney pending his extradition back to Scotland to face trial.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-38718554?post_id=10204672433356106_10208650002992861#_=_ 

Survivor: warning signs about paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale were ignored

Gabrielle Short can conjure no fond memories of this place, the old orphanage once known as the Nazareth House Girls' Home, once her home.
Sitting opposite Lake Wendouree, the structure is grandiose and beautiful but it seemed swallowed by a sickness in 1963, when Short was just seven.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/survivor-warning-signs-about-paedophile-priest-gerald-ridsdale-were-ignored-20150521-gh6teo.html 

Ridsdale in Vic court over child sex abuse

Former Catholic priest Gerald Ridsdale will face court over dozens of fresh historical sexual abuse offences.  The 82-year-old has been charged with more than 36 offences including rape, buggery, indecent assault and assault.
It's alleged the offences occurred at various locations in the western region of Victoria between the 1960s to the 1980s.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/01/20/ridsdale-vic-court-over-child-sex-abuse 

Mother superior drops bombshell about Yona seminary

Prior to today's press conference given by the Archdiocese of Agana, another one was held - by an unlikely individual who, by the nature of her work, has spent a majority of her life shielded from the public.  
But the mother superior of the Carmelite nuns in Guam is speaking out sharing her story about the Redemptoris Mater Seminar property in Yona. Mother Superior Dawn Marie is the last Carmelite standing in Guam. "The move to go to California was a very difficult one," she admitted to island media.

http://www.kuam.com/story/33709497/2016/11/Tuesday/mother-superior-drops-bombshell-about-yona-seminary 

Church tricked into paying for false claims New Zealand

This is what makes it bad for all raped victims/survivors... it is hard enough in coming forward... and the going through your childhood abuse for years... 23years it took me to get proof... of the rape by a priest... since 1997 when I first came forward... to tell the nuns and the catholic church... about the abuse and rape which was done to me... in the two catholic church orphanages... and it was hard going through those years... it was like getting beaten down... day after day... finding the Family I was sent to in 1956... were the priest raped me... but one thing I am so please about... the TRUTH won out in the end...
This is one of the reasons... why all child abuse... and child rape claims... should be handed over to the police...  Ann 

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The Catholic Church told police it was duped into paying $188,000 to a woman who claimed she was injured when raped by a priest.
The police only became aware of the woman's claims that she was raped by a Palmerston North Catholic priest - who abused her with a knife and a broken bottle - when the church learned it had been duped out of the payments.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/80898450/Church-tricked-into-paying-for-false-claims

Heroic Wartime Irish Priest Honored at the Vatican

Commemorative plaque unveiled to honor Msgr. Hugh O'Flaherty whose heroism was portrayed by Gregory Peck in the movie ‘The Scarlet and the Black’.  An Irish priest who saved thousands of Allied soldiers and Jews in World War Two and whose heroism was turned into a Hollywood movie has finally been honored at the Vatican.
A plaque to honor Msgr. Hugh O’Flaherty, who was instrumental in helping to rescue and protect an estimated 6,000 vulnerable people in Rome during the war, was unveiled on Sunday at a ceremony in the Campo Santo Teutonico within the Vatican walls. Sunday also happened to be the 71st anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/msgr.-hugh-oflaherty-honored-at-the-vatican 

Advocates for abused kids applaud Albany Democrats for trying to fix child-rape law

Advocates for victims of child sex abuse on Monday hailed the state Senate’s bill to eliminate the time limits to bring criminal or civil cases.
“It’s about time that the communities wake up to understand that we are not trying to destroy Catholic schools or yeshivas,” said Mark Appel, founder of Voice of Justice, an advocacy group. “This is about protecting children.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/advocates-abused-kids-praise-albany-dems-bill-article-1.2597021 

Extraordinary life of first black priest in the United States is turned into a graphic novel

The life of Fr Augustus Tolton already reads like a novel, but now it is illustrated in full colour in a new graphic book produced in partnership with Liturgy Training Publications in Chicago and Editions du Signe in France.

Fr Tolton’s story – that of the first identified black priest in the United States – comes to life in the 48-page, 12-by-9-inch novel. Augustus was born into slavery, but fled with his mother and siblings through the woods of northern Missouri and across the Mississippi while being pursued by soldiers. He was only nine years old.

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/11/26/extraordinary-life-of-first-black-priest-in-the-united-states-is-turned-into-a-graphic-novel/ 

Rewind to 1995: a bitter campaign results in a narrow win for Yes

They are words that have become the stuff of Irish political legend. In the charged atmosphere of the referendum count in Dublin's RDS in November 1995, anti-divorce advocate Úna Bean Mhic Mhathúna urged victorious campaigners to, "G'way, ye wife-swappin' sodomites". Her rejoinder provoked laughter, but for the months in advance of the vote there was little to arouse mirth.

It was the referendum that saw more rancour and recrimination than any before or since as the Fine Gael-Labour coalition on the Yes side, stood up to the Catholic Church and assorted conservatives, including Mhic Mhathúna's Youth Defence on the other. Fianna Fáil, in opposition, supported a Yes to divorce, an about-turn from 1986 when the party had vigorously campaigned for a No vote. And yet, veteran FF stalwarts like Des Hanafin were vehemently opposed to divorce and were aghast when the vote was carried by the slimmest of margins - just 9,114 separated Yes from No.

 

http://www.independent.ie/life/family/rewind-to-1995-a-bitter-campaign-results-in-a-narrow-win-for-yes-34217510.html 

Kim Davis Bleeding in the Rearview Mirror

Kim Davis is an innocent victim both of cowardice of churchmen and the smug eagerness of certain priests to put her in her place. First, a few largely uncontested facts: it was Vatican personnel who invited Davis to meet the pope in Washington DC. Neither Kim Davis nor anyone connected to her requested the meeting.
What’s more, Kim Davis met privately with the pope. Whether you call it an audience or an encounter or any other thing, it took place in private. To put an even finer point on it, she was not on a rope line to shake his passing hand, neither was she in a line of people to meet him one by one.

http://www.crisismagazine.com/2015/kim-davis-bleeding-in-the-rearview-mirror 

For Vietnamese Catholics, a delicate balance

All day long, parishioners trickle into The Most Holy Redeemer Saigon. They pause at the font and cross themselves. They silently pray at the Ave Maria grotto. They quietly seek help from priests: money problems, family problems. Each afternoon, queues form at the confessional.
"I've been at this church for four years and more people come each year," said Father Joseph Giang. "The development of Catholicism in Vietnam is very good now and it's getting better. Of course, there are some obstacles in places where they want to curb Catholic activities. But the problems don't matter," he said.

http://www.ucanews.com/news/for-vietnamese-catholics-a-delicate-balance/74412 

Australian Cardinal George Pell Rebel cardinals accuse pope of stacking synod cards

Conservative cardinals have accused Pope Francis of stacking the cards against them in an ongoing battle over issues including the Church's approach to gays and to divorced and remarried believers, it emerged Monday.

In a letter sent to the pontiff on October 5, the opening day of a Church synod on the family, a group of cardinals described procedures for three weeks of discussions as "designed to facilitate predetermined results on important disputed questions."

http://www.globalpost.com/article/6667056/2015/10/12/rebel-cardinals-accuse-pope-stacking-synod-cards 

Clergy Sex Abuse Survivors Blast Congressman's Remarks Praising Suspended Priest

Rev. Marco Mercado and U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez. The congressman said he couldn’t say enough good things about the Des Plaines priest under investigation by church for “inappropriate relationship” with adult man.
A group representing victims of clergy abuse is taking U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez to task for statements he made praising a Des Plaines priest suspended amid allegations of an “inappropriate relationship” with an adult man.

http://patch.com/illinois/desplaines/clergy-sex-abuse-survivors-blast-congressmans-remarks-praising-suspended-priest 

The Bishop, the Pastoral Council, and myself!

About two months ago I got an invitation from the Pastoral Council of the parish of Killeagh in Cloyne diocese to come and give the keynote talk at a weekend parish fest they were organising for late September. The request was that I would speak on the subject of where the voice of the Spirit could be heard in today’s Church.  I was happy to accept the invitation.
When notice of this talk first went out, a few weeks ago, the bishop of Cloyne, William Creanexpressed concern.  He called the parish priest, Tim Hazelwood, to come to meet him.  He made it clear that he was not happy that I was coming, saying he had been in touch with the RedemptoristProvincial to ascertain my ‘status’, and was informed that I was forbidden to minister publicly as a priest. The parish priest brought the bishop’s concern back to the pastoral council. They were unwilling to cancel the invitation, but they compromised by saying that the talk would take place, not in the church, but in the community hall.

http://www.tonyflannery.com/the-bishop-the-pastoral-council-and-myself/ 

A year after fleeing, Dominican Sisters in Iraq face day-to-day struggle

Three hundred and sixty-four days ago, in the deep dark of night, the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena fled their home in Qaraqosh, Iraq.
The sisters were some of the last Christians to leave this region of Iraq; two months before, the militant Islamic group ISIS had seized the neighboring city of Mosul, telling the local Christians that if they wanted to stay alive, they needed either to evacuate, pay a tribute to ISIS or convert to Islam. An estimated 500,000 Christians fled Mosul and headed north toward Iraqi Kurdistan. Soon, people in Qaraqosh were saying that ISIS was coming for them next. Defiantly, the Dominican Sisters opted to stay and continue their education and health ministries for the people of Qaraqosh.

http://globalsistersreport.org/blog/gsr-today/year-after-fleeing-dominican-sisters-iraq-face-day-day-struggle-28706 

What do Priests think of the Royal Commission?

Private commissions are being held around the country this week as part of the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse. The Catholic Church has been the subject of many hearings, yet you don't often hear from those on the ground within the church.
So what do the hundreds of Catholic Priests across the country who've had nothing to do with the horrific abuse make of what they're hearing?  Our Community Correspondent for religious affairs, David McGovern, spoke with a refreshingly honest retired priest, Father John Begg.

Listen to Father John Begg: http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2015/07/what-do-priests-think-of-the-royal-commission-.html 

The moment Luther became a heretic

One of these men was Johann Eck - Dominican Friar, defender of Catholic doctrine and considered by many to be the best debater in Germany.
The other was Martin Luther – and July 17^th marked Luther's entrance into a debate which would eventually see him excommunicated from the Catholic Church. Born in Eisleben, Saxony in 1483, Martin Luther had spent years struggling to find true religious enlightenment.

http://www.thelocal.de/20150717/this-week-in-history-martin-luther-and-the-leipzig-debate 

Irish ayes smiling as Church loses faith

Catholic leader says Vatican needs reality check after resounding poll backs gay marriage.  A top Irish Catholic leader said the Church needs a "reality check" as the predominantly Catholic nation voted to approve gay marriage.
"I think the Church needs to do a reality check right across the board ... Have we drifted away completely from young people?" Diarmuid Martin, the Archbishop of Dublin, told national broadcaster RTE.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11454048 

Irish Catholics Could Change History by Voting for Marriage Equality This Week

This Friday the Irish look set to vote in favor of legalizing gay marriage. If they do, they’ll be casting off the mantle of oppressive and suffocating religious doctrine.

Marriage for same-sex couples is legally recognized in 17 countries across the globe, as well as a number of U.S. states. On May 22, the Irish electorate will be asked to make world history: becoming the first country, ever, to pass a referendum where citizens democratically decide to guarantee same-sex marriage in its constitution.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/18/irish-catholics-could-change-history-by-voting-for-marriage-equality-this-week.html 

A bitter debate in Germany over the Catholic Church’s practice of asylum

A bronze statue of St. Joseph, bending protectively over the Holy Family, stands at the center of a bubbling fountain outside the St. Joseph Roman Catholic church in this Bavarian village.
Across a cobblestone courtyard, parishioners show up regularly at the church community center to teach German and math to asylum seekers and refugees. During a recent weeknight service, Ali, a young Afghan, demonstrated his progress, reading aloud a prayer for peace to the congregation.

http://www.cruxnow.com/life/2015/05/13/a-bitter-debate-in-germany-over-the-catholic-churchs-practice-of-asylum/