Catholics confirm their faith

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Archbishop Petero Mataca after the church service at Lami Parish. Picture ATU RASEA

YESTERDAY was special for 69 members of the Catholic faith at Lami Parish when they received the sacramemt of confirmation.

Parish priest Father Ioane Simione said after receiving the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament, the children were eligible to receive the certificates of the sacrament of confirmation.

The church believes that the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.

The sacrament of confirmation is unique for Catholics as it reconfirms their faith having being baptised, most as babies. “This event happens every year and we are pleased to see a huge number of children reconfirming their beliefs and faith in the teaching and the gifts of the Holy Spirit,” Father Simione said.

Head of the local Catholic Church Archbishop Petero Mataca was at the mass to confirm their names during the confirmation ceremony.

“I have only been here for the past six months and I am happy with the number of children that have renewed and accepted responsibility for their faith and destiny.

“They now have a spiritual duty to fight the war between good and evil, light and darkness,” he said.

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Former Irish president and professional Catholic dissident to speak at Primate …

DUBLIN, October 18, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Irish Catholics have asked the Cardinal Primate of All Ireland to intervene in the appearance of former Irish president and homosexualist activist Mary McAleese at a local parish Mass this Sunday, where she is expected to speak promoting her latest book.

McAleese, notorious among faithful Catholics for her opposition to Catholic teaching on homosexuality and the ordination of women, has written a new book in which she suggests that Catholic teaching on sexuality might be a form of “child abuse.” She is launching the book in Dublin the day before the Mass.

Cardinal Sean Brady, the Archbishop of Armagh is scheduled to celebrate the Mass as part of the 250th anniversary of St. James parish church in Cooley. 

The Catholic lay apostolate, Catholics United for the Faith (CUF), has sent a letter asking Cardinal Brady to intervene, saying it is “extraordinary” that the invitation was extended by the parish priest to give McAleese “a pulpit in which she can continue to sow the seeds of discord within our Church”.

“This is a grave matter because she has, in a very public way, contradicted Church teaching and promoted an intrinsic evil,” said Anthony Murphy, the President of the Irish chapter of CUF. He said that McAleese in her book and in her many activities throughout her working life, “has undermined the teaching and governing authority of the Church” and the invitation “could be interpreted by the faithful as indifference” to those activities.

In her book, “Quo Vadis? Collegiality in the Code of Canon Law,” McAleese writes, “The heterocentricity of Catholic teaching …is now being looked at critically in the light of the deadly consequences of homophobic bullying, with research, mainly in
the United States, showing a tragic link between male youth suicide and homosexuality.

“Could church teaching on homosexuality be the new psychological child abuse issue of the coming decade?”

The book was published by Columba press, the publishing house owned by the Catholic bishops of Ireland.

In a radio interview last month with the state broadcaster RTE, she called Catholic teaching on homosexuality “isolated” and said it is causing young homosexuals to doubt themselves and suggested it was the cause of rising suicide rates.

“They will have heard words like disorder, they may even have heard the word evil used in relation to homosexual practice,” she said. “And when they make the discovery, and it is a discovery and not a decision, when they make the discovery, that they are gay, when they are 14, 15 or 16, an internal conflict of absolutely appalling proportions opens up.”

The interview was widely covered in the Irish print media. In it, McAleese also called for the Church to change its practice of ordaining only men, and said that the only reason she was free to do so without interference from the Church was that the hierarchy, including the Pope, has lost all credibility.

Murphy continued in his letter, “I also find it particularly insidious that she has sought to link the relatively high suicide rates of young males with Church teaching on homosexuality.”

He called the suggestion “ridiculous” and said she should “reflect that the same suicide rates may well be linked to the social factors we are now dealing which were a direct consequence of the so called Celtic Tiger years.”

“It is unfortunate and a mystery to many that Mrs. McAleese chose to remain silent during those years of false harmony and wealth,” Murphy added.

Murphy told LSN, “If Cardinal Brady gives her this platform, he will be seen to be endorsing her views.” However, he pointed out that it seems as if McAleese and Brady already enjoy a friendly relationship. In the acknowledgements of her book, McAleese thanked the cardinal “for so promptly and fully answering my factual questions about the Synod of Bishops.” Murphy says that the cardinal was also aware that McAleese would be speaking on the day he was to celebrate the Mass.

Murphy said he has contacted Cardinal Brady’s secretary, Fr. Michael Toner, who said the cardinal is in Rome attending the Vatican’s Synod of Bishops. Toner asked Murphy to send a letter explaining the issue, which he would then forward to Brady.

In response to Murphy and CUF’s criticisms, “The parish priest told me that while he understands this may upset some he believes in freedom of speech and that ‘times are changing’.”

McAleese was recently listed by the Irish Times as one of the twenty-odd individuals and organizations who “shape” Catholicism in Ireland and by Forbes magazine as the 64th most powerful woman in the world. As head of state in Ireland, she drew protests for her opposition to Catholic teaching when she gave commencement address at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. McAleese is currently studying canon law in Rome and has long been criticized by some in the Catholic hierarchy, particularly after calling on the Church to change its teaching on homosexuality.

She is an established campaigner for the homosexualist movement, serving as a founding legal advisor to the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform that led to Ireland’s parliament to legalizing same-sex activity in 1993. One of the closing acts of her presidency was to sign into law her country’s first Civil Partnership bill granting homosexual partnerings similar rights and privileges to natural marriage.

Listen to McAleese’s interview with RTE here.

To contact Cardinal Brady with concerns
Ara Coeli
Cathedral Road,
ARMAGH BT61 7QY
Phone: (028) 3752 2045
Fax: (028) 3752 6182

Diocesan Secretary:
Fr. Michael Toner – email: mtoner@aracoeli.com

To contact the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops
Marc Ouellet, Cardinal, Prefect
Palazzo della Congregazioni,
Piazza Pio XII, 10
00193 Roma,

Phone: 06.69.88.42.17
Fax: 06.69.88.53.03

New Book Calls for Regeneration of Catholic Faith, Priesthood

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MANHASSET, N.Y. (PRWEB) September 21, 2012

In his new book “The Catholic Priesthood: Recapturing the Fading Glory” (published by iUniverse), Rev. Fr. Anthony O. Ezeoke offers Catholics of every nation a roadmap to reclaiming the church’s pride and purpose through the institution of the priesthood.

He hopes his book will drive Catholics to “…recapture the apostolic zeal that targeted at the salvation of souls by a vigorous proclamation of the Gospel of the kingdom of God with great passion without any fear.”

Through short, easy-to-digest chapters, Ezeoke reviews the role of priests in the Old and New Testaments, Jesus as the high priest, and the apostles’ calling to continue Jesus’ ministry. He addresses specific questions related to some of the issues plaguing the church today and offers hope and inspiration for change. Above all, he issues an encouraging plea for every member of the Catholic Church to reawaken the Gospel within their hearts.

“The priest is like a marketing or advert manager of the faith,” Ezeoke says, “and chief catechist whose duties it remains to teach, sanctify and lead the Christian community, roles which are non-transferable but must be discharged with love and devotion.”

“As priests, we cannot live out our vocation effectively unless we make this self- donation in total self-giving and emptying in a sincere companionship with the Lord with great devotion for the salvation of souls.”

About the Author
Rev. Fr. Anthony O. Ezeoke, a lawyer by profession, was ordained a Catholic priest on August 22, 1992, a day after he turned 40 years old. He was born and raised in Nigeria.

As a priest Ezeoke is tirelessly active, having served and continuing to serve in a multitude of positions such as chaplain, organizational secretary and parish priest in Nigeria.

iUniverse, an Author Solutions, Inc. self-publishing imprint, is the leading book marketing, editorial services, and supported self-publishing provider. iUniverse has a strategic alliance with Indigo Books Music, Inc. in Canada, and titles accepted into the iUniverse Rising Star program are featured in a special collection on BarnesandNoble.com. iUniverse recognizes excellence in book publishing through the Star, Reader’s Choice, Rising Star and Editor’s Choice designations—self-publishing’s only such awards program. Headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana, iUniverse also operates offices in Indianapolis. For more information or to publish a book, please visit iuniverse.com or call 1-800-AUTHORS. For the latest, follow @iuniversebooks on Twitter.

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/9/prweb9923921.htm

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A Jewish take on Jesus: Amy Jill Levine talks the gospels

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Jesus was smack in the middle of the Jewish tradition of his time. Remembering that can make you a better Christian,says this Jewish scholar of the New Testament.

Train, for a moment, the long lens of history on Amy- Jill Levine’s life story. The bishops at the Second Vatican Council likely had no idea that their declaration Nostra Aetate, issued in 1965, would so affect the life of a Jewish grade-school kid riding the bus with her Portuguese Catholic friends in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts. This Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions would at least attempt to put a stop to comments like the one that was hurled at Levine one day: “You killed our Lord!”

Her Catholic accuser got this information from whom? Why, the parish priest, of course. Shortly thereafter Nostra Aetate would go forth, admonishing him and the whole Catholic Church that the events of Jesus’ passion “cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today.” 

Undeterred, Levine grew up to teach New Testament at a divinity school in the middle of the Bible belt. She has held office in the Catholic Biblical Association. The Jewish Annotated New Testament, which she co-edited, zoomed to number 31 on Amazon’s top 100 list when it was first published last year. 

Levine also teaches New Testament courses on Monday nights at Riverbend maximum security prison. She meets with divinity school students and Riverbend inmates over biblical texts. Jesus would definitely approve. 

But then he was Jewish, too.  

What was it like growing up Jewish among so many Christians?

Our neighborhood was heavily Portuguese Roman Catholic, and almost all of my friends were Catholic. I wanted to go to church with them, and I was lucky enough to have parents who said, “If you want to go, that’s fine. Not a problem.”

My parents had explained to me that Christianity, which in our case meant Catholicism, was very much like Judaism. We worshiped the same God. We prayed the same psalms. We followed the Ten Commandments. We Jews had a few more commandments, but Christians had extra books in their Bible. We had some differences. And a Jewish man named Jesus was very important.

When all of my friends were preparing for first communion, I didn’t understand the ritual involved, but I became obsessed with the dress. My mother bought a bride dress for my Barbie doll, and I used to practice giving communion to Barbie. My friends taught me how to do it with Necco wafers.

In that same year a little girl said to me on the school bus, “You killed our Lord.” That was the only anti-Jewish thing I ever heard growing up, by the way. My family and I were welcomed in the neighborhood with no problem.

I remember saying to this little girl, “No, I did not.” She said, “Yes, you did. Our priest said so.” When I got off the school bus, it took my mother a while to figure out why I was crying hysterically. So I explained that I had killed God, and she explained to me that God was doing just fine, which was quite a relief.

What did your mother do?

She made a few calls to the local diocesan office, and the priest was actually reprimanded. This was during the Second Vatican Council, but Nostra Aetate had not yet been published. That document marked a sea change in terms of the Catholic attitude toward other faiths.

After that, I announced to my parents—I did not ask—that I was going to catechism. I was going to find out where this problem came from, and I was going to stop it. And again my parents, who were remarkably open-minded, said, “As long as you remember who you are, go. You might learn something.”

I found out later that my cousin Eleanor played poker on Tuesday nights with one of the priests, and that’s how my enrollment in catechism class got worked out. At least that’s what I heard.

Anyway, whenever I could, I went to catechism with my friends. The stories are what grabbed me, because they were my stories, and not just the “Old Testament” stories, using that term in the Christian sense, but the New Testament stories as well.

Did everyone react as favorably as your parents to your interest in the New Testament?

One aunt asked me why I would read that horrible, anti-Semitic book.

Is that a typical reaction?

I don’t think most Jews know the story of the New Testament, but I think if we did—if we Jews have some familiarity with our own traditions—we would see those traditions being echoed.

That shouldn’t surprise us. Jesus’ earliest followers were all Jews. They understood him through the template of their own religion, and they told stories about him by making connections to stories they were already telling, stories found in what Christians call the Old Testament.

Is that a hard sell, given the history of Christians persecuting Jews?

There’s some grounding in that history, in the resentment of being forced to sing Christmas carols in the public school system or of listening to people in public pray in the name of Jesus, which means a Jew can’t say “amen” to that prayer. American Jews live in a Christian culture where not only is Christianity presented to us as the norm, but our own traditions, if they are understood at all, are marginalized.

So I do understand the reluctance. Missing in that history, however, are the countless rapprochements between church and synagogue over the past 2,000 years, the good relations between Jews and Christians throughout the centuries.

As human beings we tend to remember what hurts us, and it might be time to remember the connections and to build on those, without, of course, forgetting the hurt.

What can Jewish readers get out of the New Testament?

The New Testament preserves for the Jewish community part of our own history that we don’t have. Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Jesus’ mother, James, Paul— they’re all Jews.
  
The only Pharisee from whom we have written records is Paul of Tarsus. The first person in history ever called rabbi in a literary text is Jesus of Nazareth. If I want to understand Galilean life in the first century, other than archaeology, I have no better source than the gospels.

So by reading the New Testament, we Jews recover our common roots. To be sure, the New Testament is tendentious literature. All literature has an agenda. But Jesus is an interesting bridge between what we have in the shared scriptures—the Old Testament of the church and the Tanakh of the synagogue—and what we find in later Jewish literature, particularly in terms of storytelling and in his way of understanding Jewish law, the heart of Judaism, which has been debated since Moses came down the mountain. The Jewish system still does that, and Jesus takes his place within that tradition.

Does Jesus stay completely within the Jewish context or does he depart from it at some point?

In first-century Judaism one can find the idea of God as manifested as the Word, the Logos. Judaism has the idea of the Shekinah, the feminine presence of God descending to earth and dwelling among human beings. The prologue of the Gospel of John makes perfectly good sense in that context.

First-century Judaism was sufficiently fluid to allow even the idea that an individual could embody divinity. We know that because the earliest followers of Jesus who recognized him as divinity incarnate—such as Paul or James, the brother of Jesus who’s running the Jerusalem church—still called themselves Jews. Everybody recognized them as Jews.

Did they disagree with other Jews about Jesus? Sure. Does that put them outside the bounds of Judaism? No.

Doesn’t the new church eventually define itself as something apart from the Jewish community?

Remember that the idea of internal dissent is part and parcel of what it means to be in the human community.

Also, starting very early on there were pockets of followers of Jesus who were never part of the Jewish community to begin with. The gentile churches were never Jewish; their members were never expected to be Jews. If God is the God of the world, then God can’t simply be the God of the Jews. God has to be the God of the non-Jews as well. As the church became increasingly non-Jewish, part of that self-definition took on uglier colors.

You’ve written about the common errors Christian preachers make when they talk about the Judaism of Jesus’ day. What are some of the more egregious ones?

That Jews believe in a God of wrath and Christianity invented the God of love. When I get that from my students I’m inclined to tell them, “Fine, the Lord is my shepherd, his mercy endures forever, but you’re condemned to the outer darkness with wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

God is a God of love throughout both testaments. If God didn’t love in the Hebrew scriptures, then we wouldn’t have the covenant. God would not have been Abraham’s friend. God would not have allowed the covenant community to survive in Egypt or bring them back from exile.

God is not a “don’t worry, be happy” sort of deity. We have certain responsibilities. When we do not show the love of neighbor that Leviticus commands us and that Jesus reiterates, God has good old righteous anger.

This article appeared on the October 2012 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 77, No. 10, pages 18-22)

Our view: Erie’s Catholic bishop serves many

Welcome to Monsignor Lawrence T. Persico, a parish priest from southwestern Pennsylvania, who will become the new bishop for the Catholic Diocese of Erie on Oct. 1. Members of the Catholic Diocese of Erie, which stretches through 13 counties of northwestern Pennsylvania, have been eager to learn who will succeed Bishop Donald Trautman, who has served as Erie’s bishop for 22 years.

But it’s not just Catholics who have been awaiting this news. The Catholic Church has long been entwined in Erie’s heritage, influencing our culture, anchoring our neighborhoods and shaping our values. In addition to serving the faithful, the church plays a major role in education, health care and social services for many in our community. So Erie folks were happy to hear Monsignor Persico say that he likes to work collaboratively, and to hear others praise him as a likable people-person, accustomed to the pastoral role of a parish priest. That’s a post he still held, at St. James Parish in New Alexandria, even as he was appointed to administrative jobs in the Greensburg Diocese.

With his western Pennsylvania roots, Monsignor Persico should be a good fit in Erie. His official curriculum vitae includes details about his late parents; his siblings (his brother lives in Monessen; his sister is deceased); his nieces and nephews; his education; and his most recent duties as vicar general, including serving as Bishop Lawrence E. Brandt’s delegate for clergy sexual abuse. He belongs to the Canon Law Society of America — and is a member-at-large in the Grand Lodge of the Pennsylvania Order of the Sons of Italy in America. His ancestry sets him apart from Erie’s nine previous bishops. With the exception of Bishop Trautman and Bishop Josue Moody Young (1853-1866), the other bishops were all Irish.

Persico admitted during a news conference Tuesday that he has a sense of humor, but he also knows that serious tasks await. He will live in a city with one of the highest poverty rates in the state. That harsh reality prompted Trautman to feed the homeless who used to knock on the door of his residence. Deciding there needed to be a better way, Trautman began the St. Martin’s Center Bishop’s Breakfast Program at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ.

Persico follows in the footsteps of a bishop who created controversy within his own denomination when he staunchly opposed a revised translation to the Catholic Mass, effective last November. Trautman criticized the use of words such as “gibbet” and “ineffable” in the new Roman Missal. “Those are not common words to be understood by our people and do not help the prayer life of the Church,” Trautman said in 2008. He also lost his battle for inclusive language in the translation. A conservative blogger known as “Fr. Z” wished Trautman “an ineffable retirement” after Persico’s appointment was announced.

Persico’s motto is “Truth in Charity.” We truly extend a warm greeting to him and best wishes to Bishop Trautman, who will teach and do research in retirement.

Bishop has vicarious liability for actions of priest

The Irish Times – Monday, July 30, 2012

COURT OF APPEAL OF ENGLAND AND WALES JUDGMENT: JGE -v- Trustees of Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust

Neutral Citation Number EWCA Civ 938 

Court of Appeal (Civil Division) of England and Wales

Judgment was delivered by Lord Justice Ward on July 12th, 2012; Lord Justice Davis concurring; Lord Justice Tomlinson dissenting.

Judgment 

Although a priest is not an “employee” of a bishop, the relationship between a priest and his bishop is sufficiently close to that of an employee to mean the Bishop of Portsmouth was vicariously liable for the actions of a priest of the diocese who abused a child.

Background 

The claimant in the case was born in 1963 and when she was six and a half spent two years in a children’s home run by nuns. Fr Wilfred Baldwin, the parish priest, regularly visited the children’s home where she alleged he abused her. She also claimed he raped her numerous times, including the day of her First Communion. She claimed the trustees of the diocese, who were the legal entity representing the Catholic church and the bishop, were vicariously liable, as the acts committed were connected with his carrying out his duties as a priest.

The trustees, on behalf of the bishop, said they never operated or managed the parish, as all the duties associated with it were carried out by the parish priest. It was also denied he was parish priest at the time; the trustees stated he was instead vocations director in the diocese. These issues were not pursued in this case.

The trustees said neither they nor the bishop had any power to remove Fr Baldwin from the priesthood or from his office against his will, other than in accordance with canon law.

The case therefore concerned the relationship between the priest and the church, and this was tried as a preliminary issue. The claimant won in the High Court and this was appealed to the Court of Appeal.

There was extensive exposition to the court of the relationship between a priest, his bishop and the church under canon law. Canon lawyers for both the plaintiff and the defendants agreed there were no terms or conditions to a priest’s appointment other than those set out under canon law; while the bishop appointed the priest, he has no power of dismissal, which has to be effected through the church in Rome; the priest did not receive financial support from the diocese, but from the parish; the bishop must exercise vigilance over the priest and the priest owes the bishop reverence and obedience, but he exercises his ministry as co-operator and collaborator.

Decision 

The court agreed that the relationship differed from that of an employee in a number of ways. The question was how significant these differences were. “Can the bishop be vicariously liable if the relationship is akin to employment?” asked Lord Justice Ward.

There was extensive discussion of the treatment of the issue of vicarious liability by the courts both in the UK and other jurisdictions, and Lord Justice Ward examined it at length. He said the courts do not speak with one voice on this, but the search for principle to explain the development of the law must nevertheless go on.

He said he had found this issue difficult to decide. The time has come to emphatically announce the law of vicarious liability has moved beyond the confines of a contract of service, he said. The question was whether the relationship between the bishop and Fr Baldwin was so close to that of employer/employee as to hold the bishop vicariously liable.

Priests are bound by special obligation to show reverence and obedience to their bishop. It had also been stated that if it came to the bishop’s attention that a priest was in breach of ecclesiastical law, he would have the right and duty to take action. Abusing a little girl was a most gross breach of ecclesiastical law and if it came to the bishop’s knowledge he would be bound to dismiss the priest from his office as parish priest, even if he could not deprive him of the sacrament of holy orders. “Ultimately there is little difference between the bishop’s control over the priest and the health trust’s control over the surgeon: neither is told how to do the job and both can be told how not to do it,” he said.

The question of control should be viewed in a wider sense than enquiring whether the employer had the legal power to control how the employee did his work, and more in terms of whether the employee was accountable for the way he did the work so that the employer could supervise and effect improvements and eliminate risks of harms to others.

The priest was in a relationship with his bishop so akin to employer/employee as to make it just and fair to impose vicarious liability, Lord Justice Ward said. He dismissed the appeal. The full judgment is on
judiciary.gov.uk.

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Vatican withdraws recognition of Peru university as ‘Catholic’

The Cardinal who is the real troublemaker

Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne has lost the elections for new leaders of the Peruvian Church, for the fourth time, leaving bishops who did not consider his protagonistic profile appropriate for the post, to prevail
Gianni Valente
Rome

Its election time for the Latin American episcopates. After Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, in Peru too bishops have chosen the new figure who will head the Peruvian Episcopal Conference (CEP) for the next three years. The results offer a precious key to re-reading tensions and deciphering the prevalent sensibilities that are play in the heart of Peruvian Catholicism.

The 99th plenary assembly of Peruvian bishops which has been in progress in Lima since last Friday, elected Mgr. Salvador Piñeiro Garcia-Calderon – who has been Archbishop of Ayacucho since last August – as the new President of the Episcopal Conference, yesterday morning. CEP’s new 63 year old president has more of a pastoral than an academic profile. He has worked as parish priest, professor of theology and seminary rector before going on to become vicar general of the Archdiocese of Lima and then castrensian bishop in 2001.

This choice appears to be highly consistent with that of his predecessor Héctor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, the Franciscan Archbishop of Trujillo who presided over the Episcopal Conference for two mandate periods. The man chosen to flank Piñeiro as first Vice-President is the Jesuit Pedro Barreto Jimeno, Archbishop of Huankayo, known for his commitment to social and environmental questions and recently nominated President of CELAM’s justice and solidarity department. CELAM is the continental organisation that encompasses all Latin American Episcopates). The post of second Vice-President will be held by the Archbishop of Arequipa, Javier Del Rio Alba who is linked to the Neocatechumenal Way.

The selection of the bishops of Peru is of particular significance if one bears in mind the composition and internal dynamics of the Peruvian Episcopate compared also to other Latin American Churches. Among the 48 members of this national Episcopal body, 14 belong to movements and “new” ecclesiastical entities. Two are from the Sodalicio De Vida Cristiana, two are members of the Neocatechumenal Way and as many as 10 of them belong to the Opus Dei. Among them is also Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, Archbishop of Lima and a dominant communications figure within the Peruvian Church.

This is the umpteenth time that Cardinal Cipriani himself can be considered the defeated party in an election round. During the vote to select a candidate for the post of president, he won 21 votes while Piñeiro got 24, plus there were two blank votes. Before his first electoral defeat, Cipriani ran as a “strong” candidate for the first vice-presidency as well but was beaten by Bareto on that occasion. For the fourth time since Cipriani became Primate of the Peruvian Church, the majority of Peruvian bishops rejected his candidacy for the role of leader of the CEP. Indeed, bishops did not co-opt for any member of the Opus Dei clergy to take the reins.

The electoral outcome raises old questions once again as to the internal dialectics of the Peruvian Episcopate. Indeed, the figure and performance of Cipriani has been the cause of heated tensions and division in the Peruvian Church for over fifteen years. The son of two Opus Dei supernumeraries, he became cardinal and has been dominating the field of communications with such protagonism that it seems eccentric in comparison to the usually reserved style of the spiritual sons of Sant’Escrivá. Even over the past year he has been at the centre of fiery controversies. Last spring, during the presidential election campaign, when the leftist candidate Ollanta Humala – who ended up winning – attacked his antagonist, Keiko Fujimori, rubbing into his face the fact that his father (the former president Alberto Fujimori) had carried out forced sterilisation on indigenous women during the second half of the ‘90s, Cipriani – who presented himself as a staunch defender of the right to life – defended the rightist candidate, accusing Humala of dealing “a cheap shot”. After that indirect endorsement by the Cardinal, CEP’s President at the time Héctor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte intervened to clarify that Cipriani’s statements were “made in a private capacity” and were not representative of the Church’s position in the Andean country. Even the Peruvian writer and Nobel Prize winner, Mario Vargas Llosa, got involved, and in a stinging attack in the Spanish newspaper El País, described Cipriani as a “representative of the Church’s worst tradition, its authoritarian and obscurantist tradition.”

In recent months, Peruvian newspapers have written about the bitter arguments between the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and the cardinal, who has demanded that the Archdiocese of Lima put him in charge of the university. This intense wrestling led to Rome sending an apostolic visitor – the Hungarian cardinal Péter Erdő – to the country. This only added to the case against Cipriani and Peruvian bishops saw it as the umpteenth proof of his intention expand his influence.

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/world-news/detail/articolo…

Image scandal priest releases statement

Published on Monday 2 July 2012 10:31

THE parish priest embroiled in an image scandal earlier this year after obscene pictures were inadvertently shown at a primary school has released a statement.

Father Martin McVeigh projected the images onto a screen during a meeting for parents in Pomeroy in preparation for First Holy Communion on 26 March.

One child was present. Parents said 16 indecent images of men were displayed.

The priest said he had no knowledge of the offending imagery.

The incident occurred during a meeting at St Mary’s School in Pomeroy.

Yesterday Farther Martin McVeigh celebrated mass in both Pomeroy parish churches, the Sunday vigil Mass in Pomeroy and the Sunday Mass in Altmore.

At the end of each Mass, a statement from Cardinal Brady was read and then Fr McVeigh addressed the congregation with the following comments:

“Firstly I would like to acknowledge that the past three months have been a very difficult time for our parish, my family and for myself. I deeply regret again and again my failure to check, in advance, the presentation to the First Communion parents.”

“I had absolutely no knowledge of any offending imagery on it. After it was inadvertently shown, I immediately removed it from the computer,

“Then – and after some time – I left the meeting.

“When I returned everything was continuing as normal and I talked to the parents as they left.

My decision to destroy the offending imagery later that evening was in reaction to my shock,

anger and disgust at the time and a poor attempt, on my part, to ensure that

they would never be shown again and to rid myself, our Chapel and our parish of everything such pictures represented.”

He continued: “As I say, I was totally unaware of the offending material and I am still bewildered

as to how it came to be attached to the presentation. I accept that my hasty action complicated the whole affair and confused many of you, my friends and parishioners, but I assure you, in good faith, that I am innocent of what some people have accused me of.

Even though I, myself, am still horrified and heartbroken by what happened, I sincerely hope that these few words will serve as an explanation of sorts and put your minds and hearts at peace and we will leave the rest to God.”

“As Cardinal Brady has stated, a further independent expert forensic examination of all parish computer equipment has established that none of the computer systems examined contained any inappropriate imagery.

“As you may know, the company who installed the CCTV system confirmed to the police that this specialised equipment had, in fact, been tampered with two weeks after the incident in the school and some back-up footage had been deleted – the PSNI investigation into both this and the subsequent theft of the parish laptop is still in progress.“

“The parish is now reviewing its policies and procedures in relation to all parish computers and related equipment to minimise the risk of this type of incident happening again.

Fr. David Moore will take up the role of Administrator in my absence from Monday 2nd July and I invite you all to give him a warm welcome.”

The cleric added: I am deeply humbled and overwhelmed by your prayers and support during this time

and I am grateful to Cardinal Brady for allowing me to have time out to recover

as this incident has taken its toll on my health.

I look forward to seeing you again on completion of this leave and will remember you in my prayers -and hope that you will continue to remember me in yours.”

After reading this statement yesterday Fr McVeigh received a “rapturous applause” in each church.

A spokesperson on behalf of members of Pomeroy Pastoral Council, Finance Committee and “others active in Parish ministries” also released a statement in support of the priest, who is now officially on leave from the parish.

It read: “We wish to add our voices to the many others in the parish that Fr. McVeigh is totally innocent of the accusations which were made against him and we wish him all the best on his leave. We trust that he will then return to the parish as our Parish Priest.

“We also must remember all the parents, teachers, children and others who have suffered because of this incident and we hope that they will be able to accept that Fr McVeigh was not responsible for the imagery and to find in their hearts the ability to forgive and to accept his innocence.

“During the next few months we hope that the Christian spirit of forgiveness, healing and reconciliation will permeate through the parish so that we learn to move on from this sad event and become a more united parish.”

“Finally, we wish to record our thanks to Cardinal Brady and the enquiry team of the Diocese for their time and effort.”

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Statue to honor legendary leader

Published: 1 July 2012
By: Paul Dobbyn

Historical figure: Sculptor Kathy McLay works on a clay model that will be used to produce a bronze statue of Archbishop James Duhig. Jubilee parish priest Fr Peter Brannelly looks on
Picture: Rene Marcel

JUBILEE parish priest Fr Peter Brannelly found it surprising that no life-size sculptures of Brisbane’s legendary Archbishop James Duhig existed – so he decided to do something about it.

That “something” is now taking shape in the Paddington studio of Brisbane sculptor Kathy McLay and will ultimately become a life-like effigy of the archbishop, surveying the city landscape from a bench behind Red Hill’s iconic St Brigid’s Church.

The sculpture is hoped to be completed towards the end of this year to mark the centenary of Archbishop Duhig’s blessing of St Brigid’s foundation stone, shortly after his arrival in Brisbane in 1912 as coadjutor archbishop.

In fact it was what Fr Brannelly describes as an “oncoming tsunami of centenary celebrations connected with the archbishop” which inspired him to commission the sculpture.

“This will be a major piece of public art in honour of a man who not only played a significant role in the life of Brisbane’s Catholic Church for more than 55 years but also did so in the community at large,” Fr Brannelly said.

“The laying of the foundation stone was Archbishop Duhig’s first public ceremony in what became the habit of a lifetime.

“It was the beginning of a great building boom for Brisbane’s Catholic Church with churches, schools, hospitals – all initiated by James the builder.”

Given the archbishop’s renowned keen eye for top quality real estate, the location of the sculpture at Red Hill also seems appropriate.

“We know it was his habit to have a curate drive him out to different places around Brisbane to consider where the Church could secure property,” Fr Brannelly said.

“The archbishop liked looking out from various high vantage points as no doubt this Red Hill location would have been. It’s also appropriate the sculpture should be located outside St Brigid’s Church on a grassy knoll behind the high altar.

This in a sense is where Duhig started his journey as a 39-year-old bishop – the first in what became a long series of such openings.”

Fr Brannelly said the sculpture was more than just a tribute to a significant figure in the history of the Catholic Church in Brisbane.

“It’s not just about honouring Archbishop Duhig but also all generations of priests, religious and lay people who have made incredible sacrifices to form the Church of today,” he said.

The sculpture is expected to cost about $100,000.

However, Fr Brannelly said the response to appeals for donations had already been “impressive”.

“About $50,000 is already in,” he said.

“There are still people around from a generation formed by Duhig in various ways and their response has been generous.

“I’ve approached major religious orders around Brisbane for support with the project.

“The Marist Brothers have recently made a generous donation and orders such as the Christian Brothers and Mercy Sisters are also considering requests.”

Fr Brannelly sees donations to the project as a way for all Queenslanders to become involved in a tribute to an outstanding Church and public figure.

“This is a chance to help tell the story of a great churchman in the life of the Brisbane archdiocese and inspire future generations to come,” he said.

Those interested in donating to the sculpture project can contact Jubilee parish office on (07) 3369 5351.

Faith swap vicar ordained as Catholic

Faith swap vicar ordained as Catholic

10:55am Wednesday 30th May 2012 in Darlington

A VICAR who switched his religious allegiance after 28 years as an Anglican has been ordained as a Catholic priest.

Father Ian Grieves was ordained at St Anne’s Catholic Church, in Darlington, in a colourful ceremony last night.

The 56-year-old led a group of more than 50 church-goers from St James the Great Church, in the town, in joining the Catholic faith.

They joined the Ordinariate, a branch of the Roman Catholic Church for former congregations disillusioned with the Anglican faith because of changes in the Church of England, including plans to
admit women bishops.

Yesterday’s service was led by the Right Reverend Seamus Cunningham, bishop of Hexham and Newcastle.

The choir sang ‘A Mass for Four Voices’, by William Byrd, before a reception in the church hall.

Fr Grieves, who has been attending regular seminaries in London since deciding to convert to Catholicism, said said the process had been a “journey of faith”.

Fr Grieves will give his first mass as a Catholic priest at St Anne’s on Friday, at 7.30pm.

The preacher will be Fr John Butters, parish priest of St Thomas of Canterbury Church, in Billingham.

The choir will sing The Sparrow Mass by Mozart.

:: From this Sunday, Fr Grieves will celebrate mass every week, on Sundays, at 10am, at St Anne’s in Welbeck Avenue, Darlington.

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