Indoor events, public Masses again suspended by California governor’s order 

Denver Newsroom, Oct 3, 2020 / 06:26 am (CNA).- The canonization cause is progressing for Father Patrick Ryan, a priest who sacrificed his life in a nineteenth century yellow fever epidemic to serve the sick. Bishop Richard Stika of Nashville, Tenn., has launched an official tribunal to continue the inquiry into whether he should be declared ‘venerable.’

“Father Patrick Ryan did not abandon Chattanooga when the yellow fever struck her and leave town as so many did,” Deacon Gaspar DeGaetano, diocesan postulator for Ryan’s cause, said in a Sept. 27 homily.

“May we through the intercession of the Servant of God Patrick Ryan, ‘the brave and faithful priest’ of the yellow fever epidemic of 1878 see a quick end to the pandemic of our own time,” DeGaetano said.

Servant of God Patrick Ryan was born in 1845 near Nenagh in County Tipperary, Ireland. His family was forced to emigrate to the United States after suffering eviction from their home, and they settled in New York.

Ryan later studied for the priesthood at St. Vincent’s College in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In 1869, he was ordained a priest at Nashville’s Catholic cathedral. Later, he was sent to Chattanooga, where he opened the town’s oldest private school.

During a yellow fever epidemic in 1878, some 80% of Chattanooga residents fled the city. Ryan did not.

An eyewitness said that the priest would go “from house to house in the worst-infected section of the city to find what he could do for the sick and needy,” according to a biography of Ryan on the website of Sts. Peter and Paul Basilica.

After Ryan died of yellow fever on Sept. 28, 1878, the priest was first buried among his flock, as he had desired. In 1886, his remains were transferred to Olivet Cemetery in a horse and buggy procession.

The description of Ryan as a “brave and faithful priest” comes from a Nov. 12, 1886 Chattanooga Times editorial by Jewish journalist Adolf Ochs, who reflected on Ryan’s life, according to Deacon DeGaetano’s homily.

Since 2016, the diocese’s historical commission on Ryan’s cause for canonization has been investigating his life, with a view towards evaluating his possible beatification and canonization.

On Sept. 28 Bishop Stika officially began an inquiry phase, headed by a tribunal with members he had appointed. The tribunal’s episcopal delegate is Father J. David Carter, while Father John Orr, Ph.D is promoter of justice. The notary is Deacon Hicks Armor, with adjunct notaries Rebecca Dempsey and Jennifer Morris.

Jim Wogan, director of communications for the Diocese of Knoxville, told CNA Oct. 1 that the official diocesan tribunal can now begin its investigation. This includes in-depth interviews with witnesses, including “members of the historical commission, those who feel they may have been aided by the intercessory power of Father Ryan, and those who know of, or might be connected in some way, to Father Ryan.

“The tribunal hopes to conclude its work within a year and turn its findings over to the Vatican which will then make a determination if Father Ryan can receive the designation and title as venerable,” Wogan told CNA.

The tribunal held its first session of inquiry on Sept. 28. There, chancellor of the Knoxville diocese Deacon Sean Smith presented various documents required to proceed, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ vote on the cause’s advisability and the declaration from the Holy See that nothing obstructed the cause, Wogan said.

Bishop Stika then celebrated a Memorial Mass for Father Ryan at Chattanooga’s Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. In attendance were Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia, and Bishop J. Mark Spalding of Nashville. U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, (R-Tenn.) also attended.

Father Carter told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 made the priest’s life and death seem much more relevant.

“All of a sudden we get hit with a global pandemic that affects our every moment,” Carter said. “It shut downs our society. It isolates people. People start to hurt. Then we see this great witness of this priest that ministered and served during the times of greatest need.”

“It is amazing how God in a time of crisis reminds us of how good he has been in the past and how he works through us as human beings so that his grace may be concrete and help people in need,” Carter said.

[…]

St. Patrick’s Cathedral in the Diocese of Charlotte. / Diocese of Charlotte

Denver Newsroom, Nov 19, 2021 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

A new lawsuit alleges that a long-serving Jesuit priest sexually abused a boy at a Catholic school in Charlotte, North Carolina in the 1990s. 

The priest’s attorney has rejected the charges as “completely false,” while the Society of Jesus and the local diocese said they are cooperating with investigators.

Attorneys representing the plaintiff, identified only as John Doe J.C., filed the lawsuit Nov. 18 in Mecklenburg County. It names as defendants Father Francis Gillespie, S.J., the Diocese of Charlotte, Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools, and two Jesuit organizations.

Gillespie was ordained in 1972 and is now 79 years old. He was recently serving in the Diocese of Raleigh, but the lawsuit concerns his time as pastor at Our Lady of the Assumption Church and School in the Diocese of Charlotte from 1994 to 2001, the Catholic News Herald reports.

Gillespie was removed from public ministry on Sept. 29 and put under supervision while the Jesuit province assists in the investigation.

The alleged victim, now in his early thirties, was a student at the elementary school. His lawsuit said the abuse took place at the church in the mid- to late-1990s, beginning when he was about eight years old. 

The priest allegedly asked him to be an assistant altar server and the boy would leave class early to assist the priest at the Thursday morning weekly Mass for students. The priest allegedly began to abuse him sexually in the sacristy, where the abuse continued regularly until the boy finished elementary school.

The lawsuit alleges “severe physical and emotional damages” including depression, anxiety, mood swings, shame and substance abuse.

One attorney for the alleged victim, Richard Serbin of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, told the Charlotte Observer that he reported the abuse allegations to Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte and a Jesuit leader on Sept. 21, 2021. 

Serbin said his client was, as a child, “fearful to report his abuse and forced to carry this burden alone.”

The lawsuit charges negligence, negligent hiring, retention and supervision, breach of fiduciary duty, constructive fraud and sexual assault and battery. It was allowed under a North Carolina law creating a special legal window for victims of sexual assault of any age to sue their alleged abuses.

Gillespie’s attorney, James Wyatt, called the allegations “completely false.” Wyatt said his firm planned to file counterclaims against J.C.

“The allegations are completely inconsistent with the life he has led and his devoted service to the ministry,” Wyatt said. “He is highly respected and loved by the parishioners he has served who are rallying around him and steadfastly supporting him.

Gillespie served in North Carolina’s Diocese of Raleigh from 2002-2008, then moved to the Diocese of Charleston in South Carolina. In January 2021 he moved back to the Raleigh diocese. In August the Jesuits named him as administrator at St. Mary Catholic Church in Laurinburg, North Carolina. 

The Charlotte diocese reported the alleged abuse to local police and social services on Sept. 28. The allegation was announced at Masses the weekend of Oct 2-3 and in messages to families of schoolchildren.

The diocese said an independent review of its personnel files and other records found no records of any allegations against the priest.

“The Charlotte diocese has zero tolerance for child sexual abuse, and anyone who has been the victim of abuse is encouraged to seek help and report to law enforcement authorities,” the diocese said in October as reported by the Catholic News Herald.

An officer with the public information office of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said the criminal investigation has now been categorized as “exceptionally cleared – victim chose not to prosecute,” the Charlotte Observer reports.

At the time of the alleged abuse, Gillespie was a priest of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus. In 2020 that province merged with the Jesuits’ USA Northeast Provinces to form the USA East Province, based in New York.

The USA East Province of the Society of Jesus said in a statement that it “takes seriously any allegation of misconduct in ministry.” The province said it is cooperating with law enforcement and the Diocese of Charlotte “to conduct a thorough investigation that will include examination by an outside review board.”

“The Jesuits remain committed to the highest standards in our conduct of ministry. We encourage anyone who suspects abuse by any clergy or employee of the province to contact local civil authorities and/or the province office,” the province continued. “We continue to pray for the victims of sexual abuse and for those working with us to protect those we serve.”

In the late 80s and early 90s Gillespie served as director of research and executive director at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, a research institute on Catholic issues that affiliated with Georgetown University in 1989.

[…]

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 28, 2020 / 12:31 pm (CNA).- The final night of the Republican National Convention focused heavily on the importance of law and order, and ended with an operatic rendition of Ave Maria and patriotic hymns on the South Lawn… […]