"But those involved in oversight in the church are asking themselves why the local review board in Philadelphia and the auditors did not know about so many accused priests still in ministry. Did the church staff in Philadelphia fail to show them the files? Were the files scrubbed?"
Ukrainian Catholics have a new leader—and he’s just 40yo!. Whispers in the Loggia: From Ukraine, a Shocker.
This is extra relevant to us, as Julie’s been attending St Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church in Millville NJ for the past few months.
"Most constant Universalists — speaking historically — are largely unknown, but it’s easy to read between the lines of the newspapers and reports imagine them as institutionalists: the hymn-writers and committee-members, many of whom only have a living legacy in the mind of God. Those who threw themselves into world-changing work, and those who adopted a lower-case-c catholic approach to their faith. The hope that by re-grounding Christianity on a historic, reasonable and well-balanced footing many of the old conflicts and errors that Christians made might be overcome. And above all, that God was better, more just and more loving that what we imagine ourselves to be."
A new survey from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life:
Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions. On average, Americans correctly answer 16 of the 32 religious knowledge questions on the survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life.
You can take a version of the quiz online. I may be of the demographic Pew thinks is lacking but I got a perfect score.
St Mary’s Festival (and Francis) featured in Phila Inquirer: The Feast of the Assumption Festival is front and center on page B-1 of today’s Philadelphia Inquirer with great photos from staff photographer Akira Suwa. Captions: “Sunday was a day of summer fun at the 87th annual Feast of the Assumption Carnival at St. Mary Roman Catholic Church in Malaga, Franklin Township. Top, Francis Heiland, 4, of Hammonton, splashes down a water slide. Above, the train ride was a popular attraction. Bottom: Colleen Bingam and Andrew Pron of Cape May carry their midway prizes. The carnival also featured a chicken barbecue and musical performances, and the day was to be capped off with a fireworks display.
Here’s how it looked on the page spread:
In the NYTimes:
Nowhere in the letter did Benedict address the responsibility of the Vatican itself. Many victims’ groups have criticized the Vatican for not recognizing the depth and scope of the abuse crisis sooner. Nor did he use the term punishment, or spell out any consequences for clergy or bishops who had not upheld canon or civil law. Indeed, he laid blame firmly with Irish Catholic leaders.
It’s hard to believe anyone’s sorry and anything’s changed while people like Boston’s former Cardinal Law are given cushy jobs in Rome. How many people have lost their faith? And how many churches have been sold off to cover the lawsuits and settlements? Hasn’t the Vatican learned anything?
Yes, this is a real pitch by the Diocese of Brooklyn. Does Bishop DiMarzio really think this will bring the youngsters into the Catholic Church? This is brought to you by the same Los Angeles ad agency that uses the devil to promote Catholic television:
The campaign [for NET, the Diocese’s cable TV channel], by Cesario Migliozzi in Los Angeles, features an unusual spokesman for religious television: the Devil. “We could have easily said, ‘Net is the network you’ve been praying for,’ but we need to get eyeballs,” said Michael Migliozzi, partner and creative director at Cesario Migliozzi. “The idea of having a little devil telling you not to do it would be a lot of fun.”
The Times reports that the”fun” devil ad cost the Diocese of Brooklyn about $200,000. “Father Vic,” who we’d guess is an under-employed L.A. actor, must have lightened the collection plates of a few more hundred thousand dollars.
In totally unrelated news, the Diocese of Brooklyn recently announced the closings of over a dozen schools as part of it’s “Preserving the Vision” campaign (where do they come up with these names?), citing budget deficits that approached a million dollars a year. Getting out the calculator, the average shuttered school would be responsible for $70,000 in annual deficit. Two $200,000 ads represents 5.7 closed schools and thousands of students.
Ah, but “Father Vic” is pretty darn cute, don’t you agree? I bet he got a lot of “View Again” clicks in the Rectory offices.
HT to Scott Wells
“The cloud of speculation over Martino’s future first appeared in June after the 63 year-old prelate was spotted in Rome, where, according to multiple reports, he met with officials at the Congregation for Bishops after the dicastery’s intervention was sought.”
Quakers and Calvinism have had a long and difficult relationship. The Quakers appeared in England during the difficulties between the Puritans, the Anglicans, and the Roman Catholics, and as each group struggled for political ascendancy, the Quakers ended up being persecuted by each in turn. The Quakers killed in Boston in the 1650s were done in in the name of Calvinist Christianity. Today, many of the disputes seem dated, but not all, of course.
Looking forward to tonight’s 5pm Fox29 news piece w/my Catholic friends opposed to mass church closures. Raw footage: http://bit.ly/3LVq4
A Roman Catholic priest in Atlantic City, N.J., has told officials that he was a victim of a scam by an Italian businessman who also was actress Anne Hathaway’s boyfriend. Monsignor William Hodge…
Officials say claiming close ties to the Vatican, he convinced the unsuspecting investors that he could give them first dibs on flipping Catholic Church properties. He reportedly stole up to $6…
A few months after he entertained John McCain in 2006 aboard a rented yacht moored off Montenegro, Follieri hired Davis Manafort Inc., the D.C. lobbying firm founded by Rick Davis, McCain’s top…
I’ve been busy with work lately and much of my free time is helping Julie and the Savestmarys.net coalition. St. Mary’s is one of about sixty South Jersey Catholic churches the bishop is trying to…
