Monday, October 28

In a deposition transcript released today, Bishop Daily of Brooklyn admits that he knew of Paul Shanley's views and promoted him anyway.

Bishop Thomas V. Daily of Brooklyn, N.Y., formerly a top-ranking official in the Archdiocese of Boston, knew the Rev. Paul Shanley endorsed sex between men and boys, but promoted him to head a parish in Newton, according to a deposition made public Monday.

Daily, who served as chancellor, vicar general and auxiliary bishop in the Boston archdiocese from 1977 to 1984, promoted Shanley to administrator and acting pastor at St. Jean's parish in Newton in 1984, where he allegedly went on to molest and rape boys.

....Daily gave sworn testimony in August in civil lawsuits filed by three men who claim they were sexually abused by Shanley at St. Jean's. The same men are involved in criminal complaints against Shanley.

In the deposition, Daily acknowledges that he considered Shanley a "troubled priest" who needed help. He said he knew Shanley had attended a meeting of the North American Man-Boy Love Association and had spoken in favor of the group.

But under questioning from civil attorney Roderick MacLeish Jr., Daily said he had not received any reports of Shanley engaging in such activities himself.

"The only thing, the only saving feature of it is that we are talking about ideas and opinions in his promotion verbally ... to my knowledge at the time, he wasn't involved in activities," Daily said.

Daily said there was no indication Shanley was promoting sexual relationships between men and boys at St. Jean's parish, but was speaking in favor of the idea in other parts of the country.

"But having said that, I would have very great regrets," Daily said.


One of the Detroit 4 - Fr. Kenneth Kaucheck - has apologized - to his parishioners, if not the Catholics of Michigan he's misled.

The reaction to the article in Saturday's paper signed by myself and other priests made me realize that there were pieces in that article that had been edited. The article was distorted and contained loopholes, which certainly allowed people to come to conclusions that were justified, based on the inconsistencies in the edited article. I do not fault their conclusions. I fault myself for using the media. This is Respect Life month. I preached on this very issue not more than three weekends ago. I knew that it had taken on special significance and meaning because we had just celebrated the month before the first anniversary of the terrorist attack. There are so many examples and forms of violence and abuse to human life. I stated and will re-state again that the gift of life is precious. Yet it is so fragile.

I want to take this opportunity to reaffirm to you my steadfast belief in the full and consistent teaching of the Church on life issues. I begin with a commitment and a renewal of that commitment never to intentionally kill or collude in the killing of any innocent human life, no matter how broken, how unformed, disable or desperate that life may seem. I believe and I teach in accordance with the Catholic Church that abortion, the direct taking of human life prior to birth, is always a moral evil. I believe and hold that the same is true for deliberate destruction of human embryos. I have taught this in classes, preached it in church and theologized on it in Theology on Tap. I have also stated that assisted suicide, or euthanasia, is morally unacceptable. I have stated repeatedly that direct attacks on civilians and acts of terrorism are also morally unjustifiable. This is the "consistent ethic of life" which affirms the dignity of all life and condemns any form of violence that would weaken or destroy life.


If I have, by my signing of the article in the newspaper, given cause of scandal to anyone or have in any way fractured the unity of the Church, I apologize most profusely and will undergo penance for that action.

As I write this to you, please know that I will entering on retreat the week of October 28th to take days of prayer and penance and to make reparation for any harm that I may have done to any individual and to ask the help of the Holy Spirit to strengthen me in the ministry of the Church.

Vatican: Jews are our brothers

Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican official in charge of relations with Jews, told a conference of prelates and rabbis that after 2,000 years of antagonism, Catholics and Jews may still disagree — but that they do so as brothers.

"Maybe on some issues they will let us down or we will let them down. But fraternity is precisely this contact, where one listens to the heart of the other as if it were his own heart," Kasper said.

The conference commemorated the 37th anniversary of the document "Nostra Aetate," Latin for "In Our Time," which was drafted during the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 meeting that modernized the Church.

German news:

Catholic Archdiocese of Berlin with severe financial problems

The Catholic archdiocese of Berlin is on the brink of financial collapse, and extensive layoffs look certain as it struggles with massive debt, a spokesman said Monday. Plenty of businesses have gone bankrupt in the current German slump, but Cardinal Georg Sterzinsky is one of the most unusual chief executives to be caught in the crunch. His capital-city diocese serves 382,000 Catholics. Spokesman Andreas Herzig said Christmas bonuses would continue to be paid to the church's 2,800 employees in Berlin. However management consultants from McKinsey have been called in to advise on cost cuts and job cuts look imminent if the archdiocese is to avoid insolvency.

The German Embassy in Israel was planning a memorial service to honor war dead - including members of the SS.

The German Embassy in Israel is planning a memorial ceremony next month - and not for the first time, according to the embassy's military attache - for Germans killed while serving in the army of the Third Reich, including those in SS units. On November 17, at the the cemetery for World War I soldiers adjacent to the Holy Family hospital in Nazareth, two German priests will give speeches and lay wreathes.

News today is that they've postponed it.

Accepting the wages of sin?

A Baptist pastor in Louisiana says "no" to a contribution from a lottery winner

and

The Word of Truth Temple in Michigan says "yes" to the frequent donations from a strip-club owner

This isn't the point, but I must also note the obligatory anti-Catholic slam in the Baptist piece:

Thomas, at the time a recent graduate of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, was enjoying his ministry and seeing people respond to the gospel. In the three years he had served the church, it had grown from about 75 to 200 in Sunday morning worship services. This was true despite the predominate Catholic tradition of many residents.

Even the mayor, who also was Catholic, attended the church often, Thomas said. And although he attended when invited and in an official capacity, Thomas felt the man was developing an interest in Christianity.

Wow.

From Christianity Today's weblog:

On October 17, dozens of truck drivers from around the country gathered at a rural Kentucky truck stop. There, they prayed that the sniper would be caught. What they didn't know was that one of them would do it.

Ron Lantz, a 61-year-old trucker from Ludlow, Ky., heard the radio description of the car that police were looking last Wednesday and recognized the vehicle when stopping for the night. He called 911.

"I'm no hero. I just want people to think what I did is what I should have done," said Lantz, the men's ministry director at the Central Church of the Nazarene in Fort Wright, Ky. "It could have been any one of us."

Lantz has said he will give any reward money to the families of victims.

George Will pens a column on a sad subject I blogged on last week, with different examples:Life and Death in the Abortion Culture

Antonio Pena and Jaclyn Kurr of Michigan were a turbulent pair. She had sought hospital treatment for injuries he inflicted, and spent time in a domestic violence shelter. Then came their argument about his cocaine use, during which he twice punched her in the stomach.

Kurr did not fear for her life, but warned Pena that she was carrying his babies. She was 16 or 17 weeks pregnant with quadruplets. When Pena seemed about to punch her again, she stabbed him in the chest, fatally. Thus began another awkward episode of living with an abortion culture.

Convicted of voluntary manslaughter, Kurr was sentenced as a habitual offender to five to 20 years' imprisonment. The trial judge denied her request that the jury be instructed that she had a right to use deadly force in ``defense of others,'' namely her babies.

The judge ruled that a fetus under 22 weeks old is not ``viable,'' meaning not capable of surviving outside the mother's womb. (The noun ``mother,'' which seems to postulate the existence of an ``other" of the sort properly denoted by the noun ``baby,'' is routinely used in court rulings about abortion.) Therefore, said the judge, there were no ``others'' to make the ``defense of others'' rule applicable. He said: ``That's my theory.''

....A few weeks after being punched by Pena, Kurr miscarried. Whether the punches caused the miscarriage is unclear. She had a constitutional right--her privacy right of ``choice''--to kill the unborn babies. And in Michigan and many other states she could kill someone who endangered them. That's the law.

Thanks to Mike Petrik for sending along this story about the Good Book Brothers - raised in a bi-religious household, one now a Catholic priest, the other studying to be a Methodist minister.
Diocese of Belleville discusses plans for the future with fewer priests
Green Bay auctioning of three churches
Priest who blessed three-person relationship reassigned.

Archbishop John Vlazny has reassigned a Catholic priest who resigned as pastor of his Forest Grove parish after blessing the relationship between a married couple and a single woman who were later convicted of sex crimes. The Rev. Elwin Schwab will be assistant pastor at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Roseburg, said Bud Bunce, a spokesman for Vlazny and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland. The parish also serves St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Sutherlin. The new assignment is effective Friday. Schwab was out of the country on vacation and unavailable for comment. Schwab said in June that he resigned from St. Anthony Catholic Church to avoid dividing the parish between his backers and opponents. The church's council supported the resignation after Vlazny referred the matter to them. [ed. note: FINALLY!]....Schwab said in June that he shouldn't have used the word "blessing," a term associated with the sacrament of marriage. He did not intend the ceremony as a wedding, but the single woman later told others she was married to the couple. The three adults whose relationship Schwab blessed in January 2001 -- Kimberly Ann Tasa-Ralph, Howell William Marsh and Bonny Marie Marsh -- pleaded guilty in July to sex crimes involving two teenage girls and were sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to 20 years. Schwab said he knew nothing of the abuse by the three.

But...what was he doing? What did he think he was doing? What did he know he was doing? Why is he still a priest? Why doesn't he stay out of the country? I'm sure the Netherlands or somewhere would be glad to have him.

On this date in 1958, the Roman Catholic patriarch of Venice, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, was elected Pope; he took the name John XXIII.
Annie Lamott: Messy Missionary
A snotty AP article about VOTF and Faithful Voice in Boston. I think Russ Shaw, quoted in the article is correct:

Russell Shaw, a former spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he believes lay people can be a positive force for change in the church, but he's been discouraged by how lay groups have developed in Boston."It's more confrontation, more divisiveness. ... (Faithful Voice) is cast in the role as the conservative answer to the liberals," he said. "We need a fresh start in Boston, and everywhere else."

The article does present Faithful Voice's specific objections (those speakers...), but lets the VOTF spokespeople off the hook, not pushing for an explanation of that specific problem.

I have to say, once again, that this why I think new leadership is really needed in Boston. New Archbishop, new auxiliaries, from outside. See what impact Dolan is having on Milwaukee - it's partly because of who he is, but partly simply because he's new to the situation and isn't bound by the past in trying to move forward.

From Dallas: an article on what diocese are and aren't doing with the priests who've had to leave since the charter was adopted (LRR)
Bishop Dailey of Brooklyn covered up priest rest stop with minor

The former No. 2 man in the Archdiocese of Boston, now Bishop of Brooklyn, intervened with Nahant Police in 1977 after two patrolmen spotted a priest apparently engaged in a sex act with a teenage boy in a parked car, documents reviewed by the Herald show.Brooklyn Bishop Thomas V. Daily was Boston's vicar general under the late Humberto Cardinal Medeiros when, according to a sworn deposition and other documents, he met with Nahant's then-police chief and the two officers and assured them he would deal with the priest, the Rev. Edward T. Kelley, currently of Milton.There is no indication Kelley was disciplined or sent for medical help as a result of the episode - even though Daily reportedly assured Nahant police that the priest would be formally treated. Kelley was never arrested or charged.

Good morning. We'll see how today goes. The sickness that began with me Friday night is working itself around the family. Joseph was sick most of last night (although is recovered nicely at this moment and is racing around the house with his normal energy level) and now Michael's home with it. Luckily, it seems to be a 12-24 hour thing.