George and God

From Fred Barnes and the Weekly Standard

Michelle Cottle in The New Republic

Resigning Bishops Beat:

Bishop of Tuscon (72) resigned last week

Seems as if the Bishop of Norwich, CT (who is 75) is announcing his retirement on Tuesday.

Both are due, although Moreno of Tuscon is a little young, his health is apparently failing. Both dioceses have their troubles - Norwich announced staff reductions today - but...what diocese isn't, these days?

Hart of Norwich to be replaced by Michael Richard Cote, currently the auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Portland, Maine

Unresigned Bishop Beat:

Adamec defends himself

Remember, for all of your hierarchy needs, go visit the invaluable Catholic Hierarchy website, where a mere click of a mouse can tell you who was bishop of Morelio, Mexico in 1674 or who's being ordained bishop of Nyahururu, Kenya on March 25, 2003.

Phew.

Joseph is always exhausting, but this evening especially so. From about 6 on, he was plain berserk, racing around the house like a Mad Baby, throwing stuff, screaming bloody murder when Katie wouldn't let him swipe her glasses off her face (and yes, she has glasses now - nifty little wire rims. She looks like such a brainy young lady, sitting there on the couch in her glasses, nose buried in a book.). Around 8, he just started wailing, and even though it was a mite early, I started The Process, which lasted until about 9:30, with several back and forths from our bed to his, stories, water, and lots of tossing and turning. Why not just throw him in his bed and let him cry, you ask? Because he'll cry so hard that he'll throw up, that's why. Which he did tonight after I thought he'd fallen asleep and had tiptoed out to quiz Katie on her social studies and continue through the Gospel of Mark with her...I didn't hear him weeping until he was well into it, which means, quite simply, he was a mess. At least I hope that's why he threw up, because if there's another reason, I swear to heaven I am never, ever going to say, "Gee, this writing project is going so well...I have all the time in the world.." AGAIN.

But anyway. Michael's feeling poorly,so he's also retired, everyone else is in bed or puzzling over calculus, and you know what? It's still Monday.

Grown-ups saving kids:

In Florida, an uncle saves his nephew from an alligator

In Arizona, a brave woman saves a 3-year old from an abduction.

Hang on to your kids, and watch out for each others', too..

Someone just wrote me and said that her high school aged children returned from a church (Catholic) youth-group sponsored lock-in over the weekend to report that

a) Hide and Seek and Capture the Flag had been played and enjoyed in the church

b) relaxation massage had been taught and practiced by the kids on each other - mostly in boy-girl pairs.

I ask you.

Bad week for Catholic high school religion teachers:

Arizona religion teacher fired for handing out Valentines that said "I hate you. I wish you would die."

Pennsylvania religion teacher and married deacon jumps to his death after running of with a 15-year old girl

Thomas Lemmon, a 37-year-old married man with two teenagers of his own, fled from his school and his family shortly after presiding over Ash Wednesday Mass this week. He had been confronted by school authorities that day with concerns about his relationship with a 15-year-old girl he had been counselling through her parents' divorce.

Again, with the Catholicism 101 for the reporter - a deacon would be presiding over a prayer service, not a Mass.

A minor point, though, in a very sad situation, made a bit sadder by the school's assistant principal's lingo of choice:

"It's difficult because the deacon had all of our trust. He obviously made some mistakes," said Ken Salem, the school's assistant principal. "We have to explain to students that just because representatives of the Church made a mistake doesn't mean they should lose faith in the Church."

Let's hope the kids learn that this was a bit more than a "mistake."

Reporters and other interested parties wade through the mass of documents released in New Hampshire, and what they're finding:

How the law cooperated with Church cover-ups

the role of alcohol

From the LA Times (LRR), an article about "Safe Haven" laws designed to prevent abandonment and killings of newborns...and how too many still don't know about the option.

In California, which has had a safe haven statute since 2001, officials are about to unveil the second phase of a $1.7-million drive to publicize the law. In Los Angeles County, all county vehicles will soon bear bumper stickers that read, "Don't Abandon Your Baby." But as these efforts are launched, a number of experts are questioning whether the safe haven concept works."We're having more babies abandoned than ever before," said Debbe Magnusen, founder of Costa Mesa-based Project Cuddle, which runs a 24-hour hotline for women who are hiding pregnancies or contemplating abandoning babies.

Yesterday was the Rite of Election for catechumens and candidates, so chances are that your local paper will run an article with the theme "Heaven knows why anyone would become Catholic now...but some are anyway."

From Albany, where the reporter needs some lessons in Catholicism 101

and from Boston

Vatican announces 12 canonizations to occur this year

Mostly founders of religious orders.

Catholicism in Cuba

Cardinal Jaime Ortega issues pastoral letter

Communists claim him for his anti-colonial fervor, and dissidents claim him as an inspiration for political reform. But Father Felix Varela was first and foremost a man of the church, Cardinal Jaime Ortega reminded Cubans in his most recent pastoral letter.Last month, on the 150th anniversary of Varela's death, Ortega released the 27-page epistle, calling for the spiritual values Varela inspired -- hope and compassion. He tackled a range of topics, from high abortion rates to national reconciliation and the desperation that leads many to leave the island. The letter, which many describe as his most candid snapshot of Cuban society, addresses the heartache of divided families and the stress of balancing a legitimate government job with work in the black market just to make ends meet.

Castro attends convent opening

"Without the help and generosity of Comandante Fidel Castro we would not be here today," said Mother Tekla Famiglietti, Abbess of the Order of Saint Bridget founded by a 14th Century Swedish mystic.The event was attended by two cardinals, the Pope's envoy Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe and the Archbishop of Guadalajara, Mexico, Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez, and Italy's deputy foreign minister Mario Baccinni. But the Archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, was notably absent, pointing to tensions between the church's leader in Cuba and the Castro government, which the prelate publicly criticized in a recent pastoral letter.

Remember Bishop McCarthy?

They say he's retired, but no one's really sure what happened.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Shrub Oak, where McCarthy served as pastor from 1996 until June, included a brief note about McCarthy's fate in its bulletin for this weekend's Masses. The note says Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, the Vatican's representative in this country, has informed Cardinal Edward Egan that McCarthy's official church status is now that of "retired bishop." ....

McCarthy's status has been the subject of steady speculation across the archdiocese since his stunning resignation in June as pastor of his parish and as an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese. He resigned at the end of a four-day period during which Egan received a letter from a woman saying she had an affair with McCarthy, McCarthy admitted to several other affairs and Egan suspended McCarthy from acting as a priest.

Since then, McCarthy has become a bit of an outlaw bishop. He refused directives from Montalvo to do penance for an indefinite period at an institution in the Midwest and to permanently leave his house in Hopewell Junction in Dutchess County, which is within the boundaries of the archdiocese.

Just last month, McCarthy visited the Vatican, where he met with Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who heads the Congregation for Bishops and is often mentioned as a possible future pope. Nothing was resolved in the meeting, according to McCarthy associates.