LOS ANGELES --- The Los Angeles law firm of Hennigan, Bennett and Dorman LLP has established a website, www.la-clergycases.com, to provide comprehensive information and analysis about the resolution of clergy sexual abuse as a legal issue.
The website contains white papers and other background on the positions taken by the Archdiocese, and also features an electronic library with various legal and other documents. Another feature of the site is a section that reviews news coverage of the issues involved, pointing out "what the local media get wrong," said J. Michael Hennigan of Hennigan, Bennett and Dorman, which represents the Archdiocese.
Hennigan said legal issues stemming from the clergy sexual abuse scandal are complicated and often misunderstood.
"I think everyone, from Cardinal Mahony on down, has felt some frustration that the local media just hasn't been explaining these issues completely," he said. "And that's a shame because the issues before the courts involve matters fundamental to the way Catholics practice their religion. We hope this website will clear up some of the misinformation and help people to understand better the positions staked out by the Archdiocese."
Judge confirms Tucson Diocese reorganization plan to settle suits
TUCSON, Ariz. (CNS) -- A federal bankruptcy judge in Tucson said July 11 that he will confirm the Chapter 11 reorganization plan of the Tucson Diocese, enabling it to avoid bankruptcy and settle more than 50 claims of clergy sexual abuse of children. Under the plan, which had been approved by a large majority of the claimants the previous week, the diocese will establish a $22.2 million trust to compensate abuse victims. The agreement will take effect 60 days after Judge James M. Marlar files his formal written order, which was expected before the end of July. It makes Tucson the first Catholic diocese in the nation to resolve massive sexual abuse claims against it in a federal bankruptcy court.
Catholic organizations send aid to Cuba, Haiti in wake of hurricane
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- Catholic Relief Services and the Catholic Medical Mission Board have pledged to help Cuba and Haiti in the wake of Hurricane Dennis, which moved through the Caribbean July 8-10. Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' overseas relief and development agency that has a license to ship aid materials to Cuba, said it was working closely with the Cuban bishops' Caritas program and the Archdiocese of Miami to provide help. Initial reports indicated that roofing materials and basic necessities such as mattresses and blankets were the most pressing needs, although an ongoing needs assessment continued.
Catholic Charities of Miami Archdiocese to provide hurricane relief
MIAMI (CNS) --- The Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami July 11 appealed to people in the archdiocese to provide aid to victims of Hurricane Dennis in Cuba, Haiti and the Florida Panhandle. The agency also said it would send a team of six volunteers to the affected area in Florida with enough canned goods and water for a thousand people. The team was heading to Milton, Fort Walton Beach and St. Mary's and planned to stay through July 16. Hurricane Dennis raced ashore at the U.S. Gulf Coast July 10 with 120 mph winds and pounding waves that battered an area still scarred by last year's storms. Dennis moved through the Caribbean July 8-10. By July 12 the death toll in Cuba reached 16. Thousands of homes were destroyed; electricity, water and gas service were disrupted in various locations. "Our quick response is crucial to relief efforts in Florida and the Caribbean," said Brian Stevens, Catholic Charities director of social advocacy. "Our financial support will help people meet their basic needs of food, shelter and clothing."
Bishop says fleeing Anglicans must join church for positive reasons
LONDON (CNS) --- A Catholic bishop said Anglican clerics opposed to the ordination of women bishops should not be received into the Catholic Church for "negative reasons." Bishop Declan Lang of Clifton, one of England's leading Catholic ecumenists, spoke amid rising speculation that the vote taken by the Church of England July 11 to remove legal obstacles to the episcopal ordination of women would lead to mass defections of traditionalist clergy. Bishop Lang, co-chairman of the English Anglican-Roman Catholic Committee, a group that meets twice a year to promote ecumenical projects and the joint study of theology, said mechanisms existed within the English Catholic Church to receive married Anglican ministers and even to ordain them as Catholic priests. "When there was the ordination of women in the first place there were some Anglicans who applied to be received into the Catholic Church, and the same provision is there at the moment," he told Catholic News Service July 12. "But there is an understanding that you don't come into the Catholic Church for a negative reason."
Vatican-Jewish dialogue says religious values crucial to society
VATICAN CITY (CNS) --- Laws promoting religious values are legitimate if they protect the human rights and freedom of expression of all citizens, said members of a high-level Vatican-Jewish dialogue commission. "Religious values are crucial for the well-being of the individual and society," said representatives of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Vatican's Commission for Religious Relations With the Jews. The representatives met June 26-28 in Jerusalem for the fifth meeting in a dialogue that began in 2002. The meeting focused on "the relationship between religious and civil authority in the Jewish and Christian traditions." According to a statement released July 12 at the Vatican, the meeting was opened by Israel's Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar, "who expressed his fervent support for the dialogue to emphasize profound shared values of the two traditions while not ignoring the distinctions that make us different faith communities."
New center aims to educate people about Blessed Mother Teresa
NEW YORK (CNS) --- The Missionaries of Charity religious order has announced the creation of the Mother Teresa of Calcutta Center. The center is being established as a nonprofit organization to promote devotion to Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India, and authentic knowledge about her life, work, spirituality and message. It was incorporated in New York in June and will have facilities in Calcutta, Rome, the United States and Tijuana, Mexico. The center's administrative and legal functions are currently based in Fairfield County, Conn. According to an announcement, the center will function as a publisher and distributor of books and devotional materials; will collect, preserve and exhibit Mother Teresa's genuine relics as well as articles of historical importance; and display creative works inspired by her life, words and works.
Nuncio calls for international efforts to stop illicit arms trading
UNITED NATIONS (CNS) --- Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Vatican nuncio to the United Nations, called July 11 for greater international cooperation to halt "the scourge of the illicit proliferation of small arms and light weapons." The "illicit trade" in such weaponry "is an obvious threat to peace, development and security," he said. "That is why the Holy See adds its voice to the calls for a common approach, not only toward the illicit trade in small arms but also to related activities such as terrorism, organized crime and the trafficking in persons," he added. Archbishop Migliore spoke on the opening day of a July 11-15 meeting at U.N. headquarters in New York to assess implementation of a plan of action adopted at a 2001 conference. That conference launched the U.N. effort to deal specifically with small arms. |