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Italian bishops publish first clerical sex abuse norms

Wednesday, May 23, 2012
By Catholic News S...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Italian bishops' conference released its first ever set of guidelines for handling accusations of clerical sexual abuse, urging bishops to cooperate with civil authorities, but also making it clear that bishops in Italy have no legal obligation to report suspected cases to police.Bishop Mariano Crociata, general secretary of the bishops' conference, presented the guidelines to reporters May 22 and told them that 135 cases of clerical sexual abuse of minors had been reported between 2000 and 2012.The bishop did not give further details about the cases or how the
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Support for 'pagan babies' showed solidarity, missions leader says

Wednesday, May 23, 2012
By Catholic News S...
NEW YORK (CNS) -- They were called "pagan babies," an appellation that would never be used today.When Oblate Father Andrew Small asked who remembered them at the inaugural World Mission Dinner in New York, a few hands went up, mostly belonging to people with gray hair.But Father Small, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States, wasn't apologizing for the old "adoption" program in which children in Catholic schools would save their pennies.
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Methodist service asks forgiveness for priest's murder 91 years ago

Tuesday, May 22, 2012
By Catholic News S...
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (CNS) -- More than 90 years after a Methodist clergyman killed a Catholic priest in Birmingham, members of both churches gathered to seek forgiveness and reconciliation."There is no statute of limitations on forgiveness," said Passionist Father Alex Steinmiller, president of Holy Family Cristo Rey Catholic High School in Birmingham, during a service at Highlands United Methodist Church.The service focused on the Aug. 11, 1921, murder of Father James Edwin Coyle by the Rev. Edwin R.
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Irish bishops support idea of national day of atonement for abuse

Tuesday, May 22, 2012
By Catholic News S...
DUBLIN (CNS) -- Irish bishops said they would support the establishment of a national day of atonement where the church, the government and wider society could seek forgiveness for abuse suffered by former residents of state-funded, church-run institutions.A spokesman for the bishops said they would not oppose the idea of such an event provided it was "sensitively organized" and not rushed.The idea was proposed by 67-year-old abuse survivor Christopher Heaphy, who spoke about his experiences during a Mass May 20 in County Waterford.
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Vowing change, Legion head admits he knew of US priest's transgressions

Tuesday, May 22, 2012
By Catholic News S...
ROME (CNS) -- The head of the Legionaries of Christ admitted he knew about the sexual improprieties of a U.S. priest based in Rome and did too little to restrict his high-profile ministry.But more important than his failure to limit the priest's ministry, he said, is the need to reassure members "that things are handled differently now."Legionary Father Alvaro Corcuera, who succeeded the late Father Marcial Maciel Degollado as director general of the order, said he had known in 2005 that Legionary Father Thomas D.
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Two counts of conspiracy dismissed in case against Philadelphia priests

Monday, May 21, 2012
By Catholic News S...
PHILADELPHIA (CNS) -- For weeks the words of Msgr. William J. Lynn in testimony before a 2004 Philadelphia grand jury investigating clergy sexual abuse were used against him by state prosecutors.They intensified their use of the testimony and a trove of hundreds of archdiocesan memos and letters, narrated by Philadelphia police detectives and assistant district attorneys along with some four dozen witnesses, to show jurors in a landmark criminal case that Msgr.
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Vatican says publication of 'VatiLeaks' letters is 'criminal act'

Monday, May 21, 2012
By Catholic News S...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Italian television journalist who set off the "VatiLeaks" controversy by releasing private letters to Pope Benedict XVI and between Vatican officials has published a large collection of leaked documents in a new book called "Your Holiness."In a statement May 19, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, called the publication of the letters for commercial gain a "criminal act" and said the Vatican would take legal action."The latest publication of documents of the Holy See and private documents of the Holy Father can no longer be considered a questiona
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Federal lawsuits by Catholic dioceses, groups seek to stop HHS mandate

Monday, May 21, 2012
By Catholic News S...
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Forty-three Catholic dioceses, schools, hospitals, social service agencies and other institutions filed suit in federal court May 21 to stop three government agencies from implementing a mandate that would require them to cover contraceptives and sterilization in their health plans."Through this lawsuit, plaintiffs do not seek to impose their religious beliefs on others," said one of the suits, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana by the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, diocesan Catholic Charities, St.
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NATO summit, protests provide some lessons for Catholic school students

Friday, May 18, 2012
By Catholic News S...
CHICAGO (CNS) -- With world leaders descending on Chicago for the May 20-21 NATO summit, some Catholic school teachers were incorporating lessons about the political-military alliance for their students.And with thousands of people coming to the city to demonstrate and draw attention to focus on issues ranging from war to the environment to poverty, they included a lesson or two about the history of protests, too."Since the time of Christ, people have been protesting," said Mary Lee Calihan, principal of Old St. Mary's School. "What's a useful form of protest? What have people done?
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Pope tells U.S. bishops to build church unity

Friday, May 18, 2012
By Catholic News S...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI urged American Catholics to strive for greater unity, especially among ethnic groups and between bishops and religious orders, in order to carry out the church's mission in an increasingly hostile society.The pope made his remarks May 18 in a speech to U.S. bishops from the Chaldean, Ruthenian, Maronite, Ukrainian, Armenian, Melkite, Syriac and Romanian Catholic churches, who were making their periodic "ad limina" visits to the Vatican.They were the last of 15 groups of U.S.
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