Tuesday, January 29

Not good. First (relatively speaking, that is. First in the last two weeks.) was the priest in Pensacola arrested for selling Ecstasy.

Now - get this - it's a priest in Peoria arrested for manufacturing the date-rape drug..

Father Jeffrey J. Windy, 31, pastor at St. Patrick's Parish in Sheffield and St. Margaret's in Wyanet was arrested Friday night. He was taken to the Rock Island County Jail pending arraignment on charges of knowingly and intentionally conspiring to manufacture and distribute a controlled substance.

The Catholic Diocese of Peoria acknowledged the arrest and charges in a statement.

"The diocese is currently working to provide pastoral care to the parishioners of St. Patrick's and St. Margaret's who have suffered a great shock and sadness this past weekend," according to the statement.

I guess so.

Pizza guy wants to build big crucifix. Tom Monaghan, of course. He's apparently hoping to build a 25-story crucifix on land outside Ann Arbor which will eventually house the campus of Ave Maria College. (Now located in Ypsilanti). The story brings out the usual suspects in support and opposition, including this guy, who is not exactly a poster boy for the unity of Catholicism:

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The crucifix's size gives some people pause, and leads John Given, who teaches Latin and Greek at the University of Michigan, to wonder whether it's meant to be "antagonistic to Ann Arbor."
Given, a Roman Catholic who attends St. Mary's parish near U-M, finds "most of what Monaghan does and what Ave Maria University stands for distasteful. But," he adds, "I wouldn't want to infringe on his right to put up something that could be seen far and wide."

Here's what Ave Maria "stands for" from its own mission statement:

...Ave Maria College exists to further teaching, research, and learning in the abiding tradition of Catholic thought. The College takes as its mission the sponsorship of a liberal arts curriculum dedicated, as articulated by Ex Corde Ecclesiae, to the advancement of human culture, the promotion of dialogue between faith and reason, and the formation of men and women in the intellectual and moral virtues of the Catholic faith.

Distasteful stuff, wouldn't you agree?