In Alabama, EWTN remembers Bishop Foley’s service to the Church

Atlanta, Ga., Aug 24, 2017 / 04:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Archbishop of Atlanta said this week that racism must be solved through encounter, and stressed that ignorance is the fuel to bigotry and hate speech, which he likened to a type of pornography.

“Such harsh and insulting language has too often given rise to acts of violence that destroy any sense of civility and public decorum. We should call such speech what it is: pornographic violence,” said the Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory in an interview with the Georgia Bulletin.

“We need more opportunities to encounter one another, and thus our metropolitan community provides a unique environment to counter the ignorance that fuels and too often ignites racism and violence.”

He expressed gratitude for the many religious leaders who have fought for civil rights and desegregation, like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Archbishop Paul Hallinan, and Rabbi Jacob Rothschild.

“These remarkable personalities offered opportunities for people to meet one another as persons of dignity and this has helped immensely,” said Archbishop Gregory, noting, however, that he is not blind to areas in need of improvement, even within his own diocese.

The archbishop’s interview comes following the white nationalist “Unite the Right” rallies in Charlottesville, Va. on August 11-12, which drew members of neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan groups, as well as other white supremacists.

Organizers said the event was to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, but attendees also chanted racist messages.

On Saturday, a 20-year-old man from Ohio drove a car into the counter-protest which featured a diverse array of groups including religious leaders, Black Lives Matter, and the anarchist group Antifa. One woman was killed and 19 people were injured in the incident. The driver was charged with second-degree murder.

The U.S. bishops have condemned the violence and announced the creation of a new Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism to focus on galvanizing the Church and society to fight the evil of racism and minister to its victims.

Archbishop Gregory identified the racial violence in recent events as part of a “’post-polite’ world where rude and offensive language – that too frequently has led to brutal behavior – has been given free rein.”

Likening certain types of illegal pornographic material to hate speech, he said individuals and organizations must take a stand against such violent speech, and he drew special attention to “civil discourse.”

Archbishop Gregory pointed to some of the multicultural festivals which parishes throughout his archdiocese have hosted. When good food, family, music, and dance come together, he said, there is a universal love which not only exposes the uniqueness of individuals and cultures, but also our “similar dreams, needs and fears.”

“We really are the same,” he said, stressing that ignorance of each other is the oxygen which allows racism to thrive.

“Wherever people are disconnected from one another, there is the possibility that they will begin to develop misconceptions about one another – flawed fantasies that have no bearing in reality.”

He added that the archdiocese is proud of its steps toward better interracial and interreligious relations, mentioning events with their Jewish brothers and sisters, as well as how the Chancery staff deals with diversity issues.

Still, the archbishop continued, there is room for improvement.

Specifically, he mentioned the 1979 “Brothers and Sisters to Us,” a document written by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops highlighting the evils of racism. Currently under revision, the archbishop said the document will be broadened to focus on additional communities “who find themselves demeaningly labeled as ‘other’” in order to denounce this exclusion as well.

Archbishop Gregory lamented the stories he has heard of people ostracized in his parishes for the color of their skin, their religion, or their struggle with same-sex attraction, and he expressed a particular concern about the xenophobia that sometimes accompanies discussion on immigration.

Poor treatment of U.S. immigrants is no different than other forms of racism, he said. Self-entitlement or fear of losing one’s privilege may be reasons for this behavior, he said, but America was founded as a “nation comprised of people who mostly have come here from other places” and cultures, who have struggled to establish themselves.  

He called it “especially concerning when this despicable behavior comes from fellow Catholics who should well remember how we Catholics were victimized in the recent past, simply because we were Catholic.”

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Dallas, Texas, May 15, 2019 / 10:30 am (CNA).- Police are conducting a search of Church premises in the Diocese of Dallas. Officers executed a warrant on the chancery offices at 7:30 am local time.

Investigators from the Dallas child exploitation unit arrived at the chancery Wednesday morning to search for information and evidence in relation to five current or former clergy of the diocese.

According to a search warrant affidavit, the investigation is focused on Fr. Edmundo Paredes, Fr. Richard Thomas Brown, Fr. Alejandro Buitrago, Fr. William Joseph Hughes, Jr., and Fr. Jeremy Myers.

Local media have also reported that searches are being carried out at a warehouse storage facility and the parish of St. Cecilia in Oak Cliff.

All five men were included in a list of names of clergy “credibly” accused of sexual abuse released by the dioceses of Texas in January. The Diocese of Dallas released the name of 31 accused clerics, including 24 incardinated in the diocese and seven priests either from other dioceses or religious orders who had worked in Dallas.

Local media have reported that police increased their investigations into clerical sexual abuse in the diocese following the January release of names.

Fr. Paredes is the former pastor of St. Cecilia’s. After serving in the parish for 27 years, he was suspended from ministry in June 2017, under suspicion of having stolen between $60,000 – $80,000 from the parish. In February of 2018, Paredes was accused of sexually abusing three teenage boys over the course of his time at the parish.

Paredes fled the diocese and his whereabouts are currently unknown, though Burns has previously said the diocese believes he returned to the Philippines, from where he originally came.

Both Meyers and Buitrago were removed from ministry in 2018.

On Wednesday morning, a diocesan spokesperson told local media that the diocese was “surprised” by the early morning search, but that chancery staff were “cooperating” with investigators. 

“We’ve been talking with and working with police throughout the process,” said Annette Gonzales Taylor. “We’re obviously surprised by it this morning.”

The Diocese of Dallas is home to more than 1.2 million Catholics. Bishop Burns has served in the diocese since his appointment in December 2016.

Prior to his arrival, Dallas was led by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who now serves as the head of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life in the Vatican.

This story is developing

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Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, Philadelphia / Tupungato/Shutterstock

Washington D.C., May 25, 2021 / 16:01 pm (CNA).
The Archbishop of Philadelphia this week invited Catholics back to Sunday Mass, emphasizing the importance of in-per… […]