Some recent news highlights...
* Parishioners bailed out a priest accused of abuse in the San Bernardino (CA) Diocese. Hundreds of people raised thousands of dollars to free the priest they believe is innocent
* A "historic Catholic school for girls" in Santa Rosa, California will reportedly close at the end of the school year due to lack of funding. The school was established in 1880 by the Ursuline Sisters
* The attempted assassin of Pope John Paul II, Mehmet Ali Agca, now alleges that "The Vatican government decided on [Pope John Paul II's] assassination." He claims that "The order to shoot the Pope was given by Vatican secretary, Cardinal Agostino Casaroli." Previously, Mehmet Ali Agca - who is believed to be of 'questionable mental health' - claimed to be Christ
* A parish priest in the Democratic Republic of Congo is thought to have been the victim of a "targeted killing" by "an armed man in military uniform". The gunman apparently stopped drivers & asked them if they were priests. He reportedly shot the victim after the priest responded in the affirmative
* The cause for canonization of Archbishop Fulton Sheen has reportedly been halted by the Diocese of Peoria. The Peoria diocese (the late Archbishop's native diocese) apparently hopes the Archdiocese of New York will take up the cause
* More than 20 cemetery markers were toppled at a Catholic cemetery in Ohio this past weekend. This was the second instance of vandalism at the cemetery in the last few months
* The Archdiocese of New York may close 32 schools in "the largest school system reorganization in its history". Proposed closures, resulting from the termination of church subsidies, may affect close to 20% of elementary schools in the archdiocese. A final decision regarding closures is expected in January
* A 'human rights watchdog group' has appealed to the Irish government to investigate alleged abuse in 'prison-style Catholic laundries' ("Magdalene Laundries") from the 1920's - mid 1990's
* Iranian officials are reportedly meeting at the Vatican to discuss ways of "strengthening ties" between the Catholic Church and the largely Muslim country
* A video 'making the rounds' online shows a pie being thrown in the face of the Belgian archbishop who recently made controversial remarks. The incident apparently occurred on All Saints Day
* Donor funds set aside for the training of seminarians in Canada may be used to pay abuse victims if the court okays the Diocese of Bathurst's request. Reportedly "the amount of money in the trust far exceeds its intended use" for seminarians
* Encouraging: The following quote from 'America’s youngest archbishop', the recently named successor to Archbishop Alex Brunett of Seattle, Archbishop-elect J. Peter Sartain, appears on the National Catholic Register website: "One of our challenges in celebrating the sacraments today is to rekindle our understanding of grace - in part, our recognition that in the sacraments Christ does something. I think that we often overemphasize what we do in the liturgy to the detriment of our realization that the sacraments are first and foremost the work of God. We must recapture and savor the mystery of grace."
* Anglican update: Members of the Catholic hierarchy in England are reportedly unhappy regarding the ordinariate structure that will be put in place for Anglicans who enter the Catholic Church under the provisions of Anglicanorum Coetibus ("this kind of whole extra wrinkle on top of the complicated structure they've already got", according to an Anglican leader). The Anglican leader also charges that he heard a (liberal) Catholic priest complain that "we've got quite enough traditionalists" in the Catholic Church already without having to have 'traditionalist Anglicans' enter the Church as well. It is also being reported that the Anglican 'Archbishop of Canterbury'*, Rowan Williams, will visit the Vatican next week [*Reminder: Anglican 'clergy' are not true priests - their orders have been ruled invalid by the Church: "Wherefore, strictly adhering, in this matter, to the decrees of the pontiffs, our predecessors, and confirming them most fully, and, as it were, renewing them by our authority, of our own initiative and certain knowledge, we pronounce and declare that ordinations carried out according to the Anglican rite have been, and are, absolutely null and utterly void." (Pope Leo XIII, "Apostolicae Curae", 1896 A.D., emphasis added)]
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