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Wednesday, November 01, 2006 DIOCESAN ACTIVITIES IN CLEVELAND Thanks to a reader who sent in a link to the Cleveland Diocesan Memorandum for November 2006, a pdf file. Some highlights in no particular order... -- The Appreciative Inquiry Ecumenical Network will be presenting a workshop entitled "Framing the Questions: The Questions You Ask Determine the Change You Get" for clergy, parish staff and lay leaders on Saturday, 11 November from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm at Montrose Zion United Methodist Church located in Fairlawn just off I-77 at Ghent Rd. The workshop is jointly sponsored by the East Ohio United...

Some parents upset over sex booklet in schools Thursday, November 10, 2005By R. DAVID HEILEMANThe Sun Star STRONGSVILLE _ An informational booklet that describes the symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases and contains phone numbers for Planned Parenthood and confidential reproductive health services has raised protests after it was placed in students' lockers throughout the district. City resident Theresa Fleming said her 11-year-old son, a sixth-grader at Kinsner Elementary School, was among those who received a copy of the booklet, Youth Pages, A Guide for Cuyahoga County Teens published by United Way's 211 First Call For Help. She said the...

I write in response to the article about nominee and practicing Catholic John Roberts. (UB, July 29) John Roberts opposed equal rights for women as an aide to Justice William Renquist in the 1980s. He played a pivotal role on President Bush's legal team that secured the presidency for him in 2000. He wrote that there is no guarantee of privacy in the U.S. Constitution. He sat on the three-judge panel that overturned the U.S. District Court ruling that the U.S. must treat Guantanamo Bay detainees in accord with the Geneva Conventions. If this is a practicing Catholic, maybe an...

Spirit Daily ___________________________________________Chancellor Defends 'Nude' Statue and Meditations With Potential Occult LinksThe chancellor of a major American diocese has defended the use of both yoga and a form of esoteric therapy called "reiki" as ways of enhancing prayer and healing in a Catholic setting -- a view that appears to be in contradiction of the Vatican.The chancellor, Father Ralph E. Wiatrowski, of Cleveland, says that the diocese does not officially propagate the practices but sees nothing wrong with elements of them. His views first came to light in a letter to a local woman who had complained about  use...

Christopher Kodger wants Bishop Anthony M. Pilla of the Diocese of Cleveland to resign. ``Bishop Pilla is an evil, wicked man, and I demand his resignation,'' said Kodger, 35, of Alaska. ``If he and other leaders who participated in a cover-up don't resign, then we, good Catholics, must starve them out and take back our church. I believe this is a direct mandate of God.'' Kodger said he was molested by the Rev. F. James Mulica in 1981 at the Chapel of the Divine Word in Kirtland in Lake County, which is part of the Cleveland Diocese. He returned to...

We have learned that as early as this Thursday, the Plain Dealer will be reporting on Bishop Anthony Pilla and his involvement in a major new financial scandal involving the Diocese of Cleveland. The story is believed to include new information which will be very damaging to the bishop and include charges completely unrelated to the earlier scandal involving former Diocese of Cleveland CFO Joseph Smith. For some time now, Clevelanders have been wondering what ever happened to the FBI investigation into the activities of former Cleveland Catholic Diocese CFO Joseph H. Smith. Smith, you will recall, was put on...

Diocese of Cleveland ex-CFO [accused of accepting more than $750,000 from an accounting firm he had hired to work for the diocese] to get Same Job with Diocese of Columbushttp://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/living/1093029328165640.xml?lrnewDiocese ex-CFO to get same job in Columbus Cleveland official resigned under a cloud of suspicion Friday, August 20, 2004 James F. McCarty Plain Dealer Reporter The deposed chief financial officer of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese has a new job as the next CFO of the Diocese of Columbus. Joseph Smith resigned from the Cleveland diocese in January under a cloud of suspicion, accused of accepting more than $750,000 from an...

  Priest charged in pot case under investigation for sex abuse The Associated Press2/11/04 6:56 AM AKRON, Ohio (AP) -- A priest charged with growing marijuana in his church residence is under investigation for alleged child abuse, a prosecutor said. Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Mary Ann Kovach said Tuesday that she plans to meet with police to determine if sex charges should be brought against Rev. Richard Arko, 40. The allegation surfaced during a court appearance by Andrew J. Smith, 25, of nearby Barberton, who tipped police last month to marijuana plants allegedly grown by Arko inside the rectory...

Bishop Anthony M. Pilla's "Live On In My Love" column Mass changes: Deeper reflection on Eucharist The new General Instruction to the Roman Missal (GIRM, as it is called in shorthand) is presenting our local Church and the universal Church with an opportunity to do some quality and authentic Christian reflection upon our spiritual lives. As the ministers of the church were instructed last week, the few revisions called for are those that speak of our reverence for the Body of Christ – the Body of Christ UPON the altar and AROUND the altar. Sadly, however, our instant and functional...

I recently received the following encouraging e-mail: Fellow Catholic of the Cleveland Diocese: At long last, faithful pro-life Catholics in the Diocese of Cleveland have a website of our own: http://www.clevelanddiocese.com/ Unlike the Official Diocese of Cleveland website, (which devotes seven pages to its ambiguous "Gay and Lesbian Ministry" and zero pages to its Pro-life Ministry) you will not find a Gay Pride Rainbow Triangle at http://www.clevelanddiocese.com/ Why do the Northeastern Ohio laity need their own website? * For several years the Cleveland Diocese through the Campaign for Human Development had been giving thousands of dollars to an organization named...