1. Coach who won Supreme Court case still facing legal battle, By Alex Swoyer, The Washington Times, September 22, 2022, Pg. A6
The former high school football coach who won a Supreme Court case in June is still trying to get his job back in the Washington state school district that ousted him for praying on the field.
Joseph Kennedy and the Bremerton School District have exchanged emails via attorneys to iron out the details of his return, but have not been able to wrap up the litigation — or even meet as required by a federal judge.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/sep/21/praying-coach-joseph-kennedy-still-legal-fight-aft/
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2. Church says no to processions after police surround parish in Nicaragua, By David Agren, Catholic News Service, September 21, 2022
Police in Nicaragua have thwarted the celebration of feast day processions for patron saints in a city considered iconic for the ruling Sandinista regime, which continues increasing its repression of the Catholic Church.
Police have surrounded parishes in the city of Masaya, 18 miles south of the capital, Managua, to prevent parishioners from removing statues of their patron saints and holding processions, according to videos posted on social media.
“It’s absurd that the dictatorship sees the religious celebrations of Masaya’s patron saints as a threat,” tweeted Father Edwing Román, former pastor at the St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Masaya. Román has gone into exile.
https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-americas/2022/09/church-says-no-to-processions-after-police-surround-parish-in-nicaragua
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3. Pregnancy clinic firebombed in ‘Jane’s Revenge’ attack sues police for surveillance footage, By Joe Bukuras, Catholic News Agency, September 21, 2022, 1:45 PM
After the pro-life pregnancy center he runs outside Buffalo was firebombed and vandalized on June 7, James Harden gave investigators video-surveillance footage of the attack, along with what he described as a “mountain of other evidence.”
Now, frustrated that no arrests have been made in the case after more than three months, he wants the footage back.
“It’s Day 106. There have been no arrests. There have been over 50 attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers. And our patience is at an end,” Harden, president and CEO of CompassCare Pregnancy Services, told CNA on Wednesday.
Harden said that he has asked both the FBI and local police for access to the footage so he can make a copy of it, to no avail. The police showed him still images taken from the video, he said, but would not give him access to the footage itself.
So on Tuesday CompassCare filed a lawsuit asking a judge to order the police department to provide CompassCare with a copy of the footage.
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Stanley J. Silwa, the Amherst town attorney, told Buffalonews.com that giving CompassCare a copy of the footage would put the police investigation in jeopardy and added that the police would release the footage after the investigation is complete.
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“You’re aware of all the nut jobs out there with guns and AK-47s, bombing and killing people because they have certain political views,” Sliwa said in the interview.
Asked to elaborate on which people he was referring to, Silwa told the Epoch Times he was referring to the riot on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Silwa clarified that he was not linking supporters of CompassCare with the Capitol riot.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252352/pregnancy-clinic-firebombed-janes-revenge-no-arrests
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4. Senior German bishop mishandled abuse cases, says report, The deputy chairman of the German bishops’ conference said he accepts responsibility for failings., By Luke Coppen, The Pillar, September 21, 2022, 11:19 AM
A senior German bishop said Tuesday that he has accepted responsibility for failings highlighted in an interim study of his diocese’s handling of abuse cases.
Bishop Franz-Josef Bode reacted with dismay on Sept. 20 to the findings of a 600-page report addressing allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct since 1945 in the Diocese of Osnabrück.
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Bode has served as deputy chairman of the German bishops’ conference since 2017 and is one of the four members of the executive committee overseeing the country’s controversial “synodal way.”
The 71-year-old bishop has gained international attention for his advocacy of female deacons and blessings for same-sex couples.
https://www.pillarcatholic.com/senior-german-bishop-mishandled-cases-says-interim-abuse-report/
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5. The Belgian bishops and the fight for Francis’ legacy, The Flemish bishops’ plans for blessing same-sex couples are at the sharp end of a fight over the pope’s reforming legacy, even though he’s still in office., By Ed. Condon, The Pillar, September 21, 2022, 6:10 PM
Belgium’s Flemish bishops published on Tuesday a text on the pastoral care of Catholics who identify as LGBT, including a prayer for the “love and fidelity” of same-sex couples widely understood as a text to be used for blessing for gay relationships. The francophone portion of Belgium’s episcopal conference is expected to issue its own version of the text soon.
The prayer is predictably controversial, with critics maligning it as a repudiation of Vatican guidance on the subject.
Will Pope Francis intervene on the matter? That’s not yet certain.
But its publication could signal the beginning of a public battle in the Church over the legacy of Pope Francis. And whether the pope will step in to define that legacy for himself remains an uncertain – but pressing – question.
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On the one hand are institutionalists, who see Francis’ greatest reform as a change of music, rather than lyrics, for the Church, bringing a new pastoral tone to unchanging truths and teachings. To those figures, the actions of the German and Belgian bishops are a clear and present danger to the structural existence of a universal Church, threatening a breach with Rome and other bishops’ conferences around the world on issues of basic doctrine.
On the other side are those who see the Francis pontificate as a window of opportunity for dramatic reform of the substance, not just tone, of Church teaching. That window, they fear, is closing fast, and is inspiring a new urgency to cement proposals and discussions into action and results.
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[P]aradoxically it is exactly the pope’s own refusal to explicitly back one side or another in the various stand-offs emerging between his curia and the bishops of Belgium and Germany that has many observers fearing the prospect of a full-blown crisis of communion.
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One theory being suggested in parts of the Vatican is that some progressive bishops’ conferences are courting a confrontation.
The theory runs that if Pope Francis is not going to explicitly back, for example, women’s ordination or recognition of same-sex unions, it will be up to his successor to finally settle the issue. In that case, the argument goes, provoking an open breach on the issues now could force his eventual successor to choose between the progressive reforming agenda, and the prospect of actual schism — with the reformers banking on his choosing Church unity over teaching authority. That future pope would then heal the breach while settling the direction of reform in their favor, once and for all.
https://www.pillarcatholic.com/belgian-bishops-and-the-fight-for-pope-francis-legacy/
__________________________________________________________TCA Media Monitoring provides a snapshot from national newspapers and major Catholic press outlets of coverage regarding significant Catholic Church news and current issues with which the Catholic Church is traditionally or prominently engaged. The opinions and views expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the views of The Catholic Association. |
