Free Republic

A 16-year-old Kansas boy will soon earn his high school diploma - and a few days later he'll travel to Harvard to collect his bachelor's degree. Ulysses High School senior Braxton Moral will attend both commencement ceremonies in May, becoming the only student to successfully pursue a four-year high school degree and a bachelor's degree from Harvard at the same time, The Hutchinson News reported .

A parent contacted 13 News reporter Jessie Shafer Wednesday evening, saying his son had turned himself in for the vandalism to 30 Braxton County school buses. That suspect is underage, and as a result, his name will not be released. The father said he is extremely disappointed in his son, and asked for privacy following the confession. We have numerous calls into the Braxton County detachment of the West Virginia State Police and the Braxton County Sheriff's Office, and will update this story as new details arise.

SHILOH -- Belleville Catholic Bishop Edward Braxton has set a deadline of this weekend for all parishioners who attend Corpus Christi Church: You must kneel during the high point of the ceremony, the Liturgy of the Eucharist.Braxton sent a letter marked "high priority" to Monsignor James Margason, pastor of Corpus Christi, who posted the information for parishioners.In the Catholic Church, the Eucharistic Prayer marks the central prayer of the Mass and is the moment when the "bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ," according to a directive from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops....

BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) - Nearly four dozen priests in Belleville's diocese want Bishop Edward Braxton to step down.A letter signed by 45 priests and sent to Braxton says his resignation would be for the good of Braxton and the diocese.In January, Braxton publicly apologized for spending about $18,000 from restricted diocesan and Vatican funds.The letter by the priests says they've become "increasingly frustrated by the lack of collaborative and consultative leadership" from Braxton, who took over the diocese in mid-2005.The diocese covers Illinois' 28 southernmost counties and has more than 100,000 Roman Catholics.The letter will be forwarded to the archbishop...

Dwight Yoakam, one of my favorite country artists, once penned a dry and rather funny number with Roger Miller titled, "It Only Hurts Me When I Cry" (on If There Was a Way, a fine album). It goes, in part, like so: The only time I feel the painIs in the sunshine or the rainAnd I don't feel no hurt at allUnless you count when teardrops fallI tell the truth 'cept when I lieAnd it only hurts me when I cry I mention it for two reasons. The first is that I really don't reference good country music enough on...

His 700-page "The Writings of the New Testament" is widely used as a religious textbook, but well-known theologian and lecturer Luke Timothy Johnson is not fit to be heard by Belleville Diocese Catholics, according to Bishop Edward K. Braxton. Johnson, a professor of theology at Emory University in Atlanta, was scheduled to speak April 20 at the diocese-funded Newman Center on the campus of Southern Illinois University Carbondale. But in October, Braxton, who has authority over virtually all diocesan matters, blocked the presentation. In an editorial published two weeks ago, Commonweal, a national Catholic magazine, criticized Braxton's action, terming it "censorship." While Braxton...

Issue Date:  January 13, 2006 Bishop shuts us out, say priestsBelleville's Braxton, one of John Paul's last picks, said to be 'imperial'By ROBERT McCLORYBelleville, Ill.A third of the active priests in the mostly rural, southern Illinois diocese of Belleville have gone on record publicly objecting to the “monarchical” leadership style of Bishop Edward Braxton. It is destroying the morale of clergy and laity, they say, and disrupting the operations of the diocese.A statement signed by 24 of the 72 active priests claimed Braxton makes decisions without consultation, is unavailable for advice or discussion, and has an arrogant, off-putting manner. As...

EDWARD K. BRAXTON was installed as the Roman Catholic bishop of Belleville last week, and I think the good folks of Belleville are in for a treat. His appointment has not been without controversy. In fact, more than 75 percent of Belleville's active diocesan priests signed a letter to Cardinal Francis George of Chicago expressing their displeasure at the process by which Braxton was appointed. I know nothing about that. A lot of folks have also expressed dismay at Braxton's request for diocesan money to renovate the bishop's residence. That request was, I'll admit, a bit awkward. The rule of...

On Valentine's Day, a dozen or so Belleville priests gathered to discuss what kind of bishop would best be suited to lead their diocese. Belleville's former bishop, the Rev. Wilton Gregory, had been installed as the new archbishop of Atlanta just a month before. The members of the Presbyterial Council had been asked by Cardinal Francis George of Chicago to assess three things: the qualities they would like in their next bishop, the current state of the Belleville diocese and the future needs of the diocese.