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Call her Sheila. She doesn’t want her name used because of court testimony she has given as a state social worker which helped put men who abused their families in jail. She’s retired now, but still a rescuer by nature. On a recent afternoon she went back to Madonna Manor, the Catholic orphanage in a Spanish colonial revival building, now shuttered, several miles across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. “A reverent place,” she sighed, “but it’s also a crime scene.” She gazed at the wooden plank covering a window. Raccoons now nested in rooms that were once the dormitory...

The new mask mandate will be in place anywhere mass is celebrated, and for all events including weddings and funerals, the Archdiocese of Boston said Thursday. Face coverings are making a comeback for parishes within the Archdiocese of Boston for the holidays. “I will definitely feel safer coming to church knowing people are wearing masks,” said churchgoer Moran Brister of South Boston. “In fact I might not go otherwise.” The Archdiocese announced Thursday that masks will be required for a one-month period before and after Christmas and the New Year season. “Quite extraordinarily we’re seeing yet another spike and we...

AUG. 24 UPDATE: The archdiocese's vaccination policy will take effect Oct. 4, giving unvaccinated employees six weeks—instead of the original five weeks—from FDA approval to get their shots. "We are providing an extra week to allow more time for individuals to plan and schedule their vaccinations," an archdiocese said in a memo yesterday. Earlier:The Archdiocese of Chicago this week announced all employees and clergy will be required to get vaccinated against COVID-19. While people will have an opportunity to request a medical exemption, religious objections will not be considered. The archdiocese and its agencies, including Catholic Charities and Misericordia, join...

EXCLUSIVE: Archbishop bans indoor Masses, leaves cathedral gift shop open for business Catholics are protesting, with one laywoman invoking Scripture: 'My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.' SANTA FE, New Mexico, November 10, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop John C. Wester recently suspended indoor public Mass and regular confession in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe for the express purpose of “protecting” people from the coronavirus, prompting public rosaries and petitions for the lifting of all restrictions on Mass and the sacraments. The Archdiocese of Santa Fe, meanwhile, has kept its...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — As state Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Monday that her office had charged a sixth Michigan priest with sexual assault, she questioned why some already have been released from custody. "I will say that we're seeing a pattern of personal bonds being granted in very serious cases where it has not been my experience that I've seen personal bonds on those kinds of cases," Nessel told Target 8. "I hope that people aren't getting special consideration just because they happened to have been or currently are members of the clergy," she added. On Monday, police...

NEW YORK (AP) -- At least 120 priests accused of sexually abusing a child or having child pornography have worked in the Archdiocese of New York, the archdiocese said Friday in releasing a list of names that includes bishops, high school teachers, a scouting chaplain and a notorious cardinal. The release, from the nation's second-largest Roman Catholic archdiocese, follows more than 120 such disclosures from other dioceses around the country as the church reckons with demands for transparency about sex abuse by clergy. In a letter to church members, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said he realizes "the shame that has come...

Washington D.C., Mar 28, 2019 / 01:29 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis is expected to appoint Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta to serve as the next Archbishop of Washington, multiple sources have independently reported to CNA. Gregory would become the seventh Archbishop of Washington, succeeding Cardinal Donald Wuerl. A formal announcement could come as early as next week, sources say, though it has not yet been confirmed that the archbishop has accepted the appointment. Sources in Rome and the United States told CNA that Gregory was informed of the appointment earlier this week. Technically, there has been no Archbishop of Washington...

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Milwaukee Jerome E. Listecki, seen here in 2011, announced the archdiocese reached a $21 million settlement with 330 victims of sexual abuse by clergy members. Photo by Amg910/CC MILWAUKEE, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced Tuesday it has agreed to pay $21 million to hundreds of victims of childhood sexual abuse by clergy, clearing the way for the archdiocese to emerge from its five-year bankruptcy. Under the agreement, 330 of the 570 who filed sexual abuse claims in the bankruptcy will get financial settlements of varying amounts determined by a court-ordered...

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced Tuesday it will pay $21 million to compensate victims of childhood sexual abuse under a settlement agreement announced Tuesday — a deal that clears the way to ending its nearly 5-year-old bankruptcy. Of the 575 men and women who filed sex abuse claims in the bankruptcy, 330 would receive financial settlements of varying amounts, to be determined by an administrator appointed by the bankruptcy court. Federal law requires the settlement to be approved by a bankruptcy judge. It's also not known how many additional millions of dollars will go to pay fees of numerous attorneys...

The head of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is weighing in on the firing of teacher from a Montgomery County Catholic school, who allegedly lost her job because of her same-sex marriage. Margie Winters says she lost her job as the religious education director at Waldron Mercy Academy because of her marriage to Andrea Vittori. More than 100 people gathered together in support Winters at General Wayne Park in Lower Merion Township on Sunday afternoon. "I'm here to support Margie and let her know what was done to her was unjust, discriminatory and unfair," said Anthony Arechavale, parent. "I think it's...

Charges have been filed against the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, which is accused of failing to protect children, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi announced Friday. Choi said the charges are in relation to three victims of former priest Curtis Wehmeyer. Six charges have been filed, all of which are gross misdemeanors. They include three counts of Contributing to Need for Protection or Services and three counts of Contributing to Status as Juvenile Petty Offender or Delinquency. Because the charges are against a corporation rather than individuals, Choi said no one is looking at jail time; if convicted, the...

In a Blog post which may be found here, Deacon Ryan Duns argues that same-sex "marriage" could actually be beneficial to society. Deacon Duns quotes from Louis Dupre, who said that, "The quality of a civilization may be measured both by the complexity of its ingredients and by the harmony of their order. The more diverse elements it succeeds in integrating within a harmonious and unified balance, the greater its potential and, usually, its achievements are." (Louis Dupré, Passage to Modernity, 29). Then this confused soul writes, "...the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) has...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday, saying it's the best way for the church to get as many resources as possible to victims of clergy sexual abuse. "We're doing the right thing," the Rev. Charles Lachowitzer told The Associated Press in an interview in advance of Friday's filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. "This decision reflects the end of a process of putting victims first." The archdiocese is the 12th U.S. diocese to seek bankruptcy protection in the face of sex abuse claims. Church leaders have said...

James B. Sellinger, a former vice president for IBM’s North American operations, will serve as chancellor of education for the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Department of Catholic Schools and Frank Bramble Sr., a member of the Board of Directors for Bank of America Corp., will serve as chairman of the archdiocesan school board, the archdiocese announced July 28. In the newly created position, Sellinger will promote the enrollment and fiscal health of the archdiocese’s nearly 50 Catholic schools. Bramble previously served as interim president of Calvert Hall College High School in Towson and as chairman of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Blue...

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced July 1 that it is selling six nursing homes and one assisted living facility operated by archdiocesan Catholic Health Care Services to a Flushing, New York, health care management company for $145 million. The company, Center Management Group, owns and operates 15 nursing homes in New York and New Jersey. Under the agreement, the company has pledged to maintain the Catholic character of the nursing homes. The date for the sale has not been set. The $145 million sale price for the nursing homes will be decreased by certain obligations under the terms of the...

Church officials say they will “combat evil” by hosting a positive worship service to counter a Harvard group’s Satanic mass planned for Monday evening. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston will host a Eucharistic procession from MIT to a nearby church for an hour of prayer, The Boston Globe reports. The religious procession will end up at St. Paul’s Parish in Harvard Square, just a 10-minutes walk from the Queen’s Head Pub in Memorial Hall the Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club is set to hold a “black mass.” A black mass is a ritual performed as a parody of the...

ST. PAUL, Minn.—The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis paid millions of dollars in costs associated with clergy misconduct in the last decade, according to internal church documents. An investigation by Minnesota Public Radio News ( http://bit.ly/1aMnkYs) found that from 2002 to 2011 the archdiocese used two secret accounts that were controlled by the archbishop to pay nearly $11 million in costs related to allegations against priests. The figure represents about 3 percent of overall archdiocese revenues in those years. MPR reported Thursday that the money was used for persuading priests to leave active ministry, for legal settlements, for therapy...

COMMON CORE: DANGERS AND THREATS TO CATHOLIC IDENTITY by DR. DUKE PESTA—SUNDAY, NOV. 17——An Update— We have just learned that, upon the recommendation of Dr. Kathleen Cepelka, Superintendent of Catholic Schools, to the Director of Administrative Services at St. John the Evangelist Parish (Denise Kasulka) we have been denied the use of the church hall for our meeting Sunday, November 17. Ms. Kasulka informed the Pastor, Fr. Michael Merkt,who is out of town at a retreat, of Dr. Cepelka’s decision. According to Ms. Kasulka, Fr. Merkt agreed that we cannot use the church hall. In a phone conversation with Dr....

Featured Term (selected at random):ARCHBISHOP A bishop who presides over one or more dioceses. He may call the bishops to a provincial council, having the right and duty to do so, and he may act as first judge of appeal over a decision of one of his bishops. His immediate jurisdiction, however, pertains solely to his own diocese. He is often styled "metropolitan" because of the importance of his see city or ecclesiastical province. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Three more priests were permanently removed from ministry by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on Sunday, including one whose accuser killed himself after his allegation was dismissed by church officials. The Revs. Joseph Gallagher and Mark Gaspar were suspended following a scathing 2011 grand jury report that ultimately led to the landmark conviction of a high-ranking archdiocese official on child endangerment charges. Two other priests and a Catholic school teacher were also convicted. The February 2011 grand jury report prominently named Gallagher as a priest who remained in ministry despite apparently credible allegations of abuse. The grand jury said the archdiocese...