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For the past nine months I’ve been working with eight Boy Scouts from my parish, including my own 13-year-old son, toward the completion of their Ad Altare Dei medal, a fairly rigorous religious program for Catholic Scouts that requires them to study the seven sacraments one by one. Service projects and prayers, Powerpoints and collages are all part of the “homework” that has to be done before they conclude with a weekend retreat. I recently helped the boys with the Holy Orders chapter and thought it would be a good experience for them to attend an actual ordination. So this...

Formal cooperation in another’s evil act (that is, undertaking to help expressly another to perform an act known to be evil) is itself evil. Davis, Moral and Pastoral Theology (1938), I: 341-342. There are no exceptions to this rule; no supervening circumstances can ever render formal cooperation in evil good.The use of [illegal] drugs “inflicts very grave damage on human health and life [and] . . . is a grave offense. Clandestine production and trafficking in drugs are scandalous practices. They constitute direct co-operation in evil, since they encourage people to practices gravely contrary to the moral law.” CCC...

COLONIE-- Roughly 20 percent of worship sites in the 164-parish Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany will close or merge in an unprecedented restructuring plan expected to be released this month, Bishop Howard Hubbard said Wednesday. But Hubbard said his decisions will largely hew to the recommendations of 38 local planning groups from across the 14-county diocese. Those panels of lay Catholics and priests analyzed parish resources and made suggestions to Hubbard in June as to which churches should merge or close."There will be some surprises," Hubbard said. "There will be some places that were recommended for closure that won't close....

Seven Months Into Scandals...Priests Disappear And Lay Church Emerges By PAUL LIKOUDIS Seven months into the greatest public crisis the Catholic Church in the United States has endured in its 200-year history, occasioned by shocking revelations of decades of clerical sex abuse, episcopal cover-ups, and hush-money settlements, one fact is asserting itself with more and more clarity: Amchurch’s lay-run church is emerging into the daylight. And priests are being let out to dry, both the guilty and the demoralized innocent. As politicians, judges, district attorneys, and tort lawyers force their way into Church archives, previously sealed court settlements, and broken...

Who knows whether Cardinal Edward Egan is sleeping soundly these days. But as head of the New York archdiocese—as the top Roman Catholic prelate in the state—he'd have every reason to be restless after the recent advent of a little-noticed lawsuit. The suit, now pending in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, was filed on December 13 by Bob Hoatson—a 53-year-old New Jersey priest considered a stalwart ally among survivors of sexual abuse by clergy. Hoatson, the now-suspended chaplain for Catholic Charities in Newark, is suing Egan and nine other Catholic officials and institutions, claiming a pattern of "retaliation and harassment"...

The Roman Catholic Faithful (RCF) is simply what our name states: we are Catholics who are faithful to the teachings of the Holy Father and the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church. Some of our members are priests, others are religious, but most are ordinary laity. Our diverse membership has a common goal -- to fight actively and spiritually to restore Holy Mother Church. The following was originally published in monthly installments through The Wanderer. A word of caution. This is a lengthy but riveting article. Agony in Albany

TROY - Investigators hired by the Albany Diocesan Review Board to look into allegations of sexual misconduct against Bishop Howard Hubbard refused to interview an elderly person who may have shed light on the death of Rev. John Minkler. The interview was supposed to occur in Minkler's 11th-floor office at the Stratton Veterans Affairs Hospital in Albany, but private investigators representing Mary Jo White walked away from the table after realizing the elderly person wanted attorney John Aretakis in the room. Minkler was found dead in his Watervliet home just days after signing an affidavit stating he did not write...

Woman claims clergy abuse Albany-- Alleged victim says diocese paid her to keep silent By ANDREW TILGHMAN, Staff writer First published: Friday, March 28, 2003 RELATED STORIES •  Lawyer seeks venue change for priest abuse trials •  Former chaplain at Albany Med is defrocked •  3rd judge appointed to hear Albany diocese cases •  Paper trail connects judge, church lawyer A woman from Schaghticoke said the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese paid her $100,000 in 1999 as part of an agreement that prohibited her from speaking publicly about her alleged sexual abuse by a priest when she was a young...

Judge accused of bias quits 3 diocese cases Albany -- Recusal comes after plaintiffs' lawyer asks appeals court to oust jurist from civil lawsuits By ANDREW TILGHMAN, Staff writer First published: Friday, March 14, 2003 RELATED STORIES •  Senate bill targets clergy sex abuse •  Leaders support mandated reports •  Lawyer for clergy victims cites 'bias' •  Albany diocese attorney has ties to Senate State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Teresi has removed himself from three lawsuits involving the Albany Diocese, stepping aside amid questions about his impartiality and his alleged secret communications with church officials.Teresi's recusal came two days...

Albany -- The Albany Catholic Charities' payment of $150,000 last year to a victim of sexual abuse by a priest was unusual and has raised questions about the agency's involvement in the sexual-abuse scandal of the past year.Officials at the Albany Diocese and at its charitable arm have refused to discuss what role the tax-exempt organization and its $35 million annual budget have played in providing assistance to victims of sexual abuse referred from the diocese. But last week, the charity's CEO, Sister Maureen Joyce, acknowledged that she gave one victim an untraceable bank check for $150,000 in August --...

Four people who say they were victims of sexual abuse by priests lodged a lawsuit against the Albany Diocese on Tuesday, accusing the church of setting up an intimidating process for reporting abuse.The lawsuit, filed by three women and one man who did not disclose their names, does not seek money and names no priests. Instead, it asks a state judge to force the church to overhaul the way it asks victims to come forward and report sexual abuse by clergy. Specifically, the victims said meeting with church leaders at the diocesan pastoral center on North Main Street -- with...

Catholic parishioners in Fort Edward are rallying behind their former priest, helping him move into a new apartment and even hoping he may someday return to the pulpit less than a month after he was removed for child sexual abuse.Members of St. Joseph's Church in this small Washington County town are planning a "kitchen shower" Aug. 2 to help the Rev. James Rosch furnish the four-room apartment he rented after he had leave the rectory. Rosch has been sitting in the pews during Sunday services since his removal as head priest last month. "I was just in tears because he...

Despite a faltering economy and widespread scandal, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany said this year's fund-raising drive was better than last year, gathering pledges and contributions for more than $6.4 million dollars in the annual Bishop's Appeal that ended this week.This year's appeal, the largest annual source money for the 14-county diocese's operating budget, was up $511,148 -- or 8.6 percent -- compared to the same campaign last year, according to a statement church officials issued Thursday. Jack Manning, the director of the Bishop's Appeal, said the sexual abuse crisis was on the minds of many this year."We...