Brooklyn pastor removed after secretly loaning $2 million of parish funds to lawyer

San Francisco, Calif., Nov 13, 2018 / 03:11 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Eight days after the feast of All Saints, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco said a Mass of the Dead for the homeless of the city, emphasizing the importance of remembering and praying for the deceased homeless.

“One of the greatest acts of charity we can perform is to pray for the eternal salvation of those who have gone before. That is what we are doing,” said Martin Ford, social action coordinator of the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s Office of Human Life and Dignity.

The Nov. 8 Mass was said at St. Patrick’s parish in San Francisco. The collection taken during Mass was used to support the homeless ministry of Catholic Charities San Francisco.

According to the San Francisco Homeless Count and Survey 2017, there are more than 2,100 chronically homeless in this city. It is difficult to track the exact numbers of homeless deaths in the city, but the survey said mortality rates is four to nine times higher for those who are continuously homeless.

In his homily, Archbishop Cordileone connected the coming of winter and the passing of life. He spoke on the Second Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, noting its theme on the briefness of life and the journey to eternal life.

“There is a sense of things coming to an end and a passing into silence – the silence of winter – which reminds me of the silence of death. It’s a reminder to us of the end of life and how fleeting our life is in this world,” he said.

“This is what St. Paul is speaking about in this passage from his second letter to the Corinthians when he is comparing the body to a tent… This is a disturbingly accurate description of those who die in the streets; most of them don’t even have a literal tent.”

He recalled the nomadic lifestyle of the Israelites following the exodus. He said that similarly, the people of God are on a journey, which should be lived with charity.

“As long as we are in this world we are a people along a pilgrimage – a movement towards a goal that is eternity, our only true home. And, therefore, we must always keep our vision fixed on that ultimate destination that God created us for,” he said.

“How do we do that? [St. Paul] says, ‘for we must always appear before the judgement seat of Christ so that each one may receive recompense according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.’”

Archbishop Cordileone discussed Matthew 25’s portrayal of the last judgement, saying, “This is where the corporal works of mercy come from, and it is certainly a reminder of our call to put these works of mercy into concrete action.”

The homeless also conduct works of mercy, he said, noting that if those with little may give charitably, then Christians who have more resources will be judged accordingly.

“We can think about how concrete acts of love and mercy are shown by our homeless brothers and sisters. They who have so much less than we have show mercy too. So we with so much more, how much more will we be held to a higher standard, when it comes to rendering an account to God for our lives in this world.”

He expressed hope that the Mass would assist the homeless “on their way to the eternal hope that is God’s kingdom of heaven” and would inspire the congregation to perform more acts of mercy.

“May this work of mercy please our Lord and may it inspire us to glorify God in our bodies through concrete acts of love and mercy, so that when it is our turn to make the passage of this life to the next and face our own final judgement, the great King of all the ages will give us a place with the sheep at his right hand.”

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Denver Newsroom, Jan 13, 2021 / 09:01 pm (CNA).- Three North Dakota state legislators introduced a bill this week that would oblige Catholic priests to violate the seal of confession in cases of confirmed or suspected child abuse, on penalty of imprisonment or heavy fines.

The bill was introduced Jan. 12 by state senators Judy Lee (R), Kathy Hogan (D), and Curt Kreun (R), and state representatives Mike Brandenburg (R) and Mary Schneider (D).

The current mandatory reporting law in North Dakota states that clergy are considered mandatory reporters of known or suspected child abuse, except in cases when “the knowledge or suspicion is derived from information received in the capacity of spiritual adviser”, such as in the confessional.

The bill, SB 2180, would amend that law to abolish this exception. If passed, priests who would fail to report known or suspected child abuse, even if revealed in the confessional, would be considered guilty of a Class B misdemeanor and face 30 days in jail or fines up to $1,500 or both.

Priests are bound by canon law, deriving from divine law, to keep the contents of a confession confidential, and are not even allowed to reveal whether or not a confession took place. The Code of Canon Law states that “the sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.”

Priests cannot violate the seal even under threat of imprisonment or civil penalty, and can incur a latae sententiae excommunication if they do. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1467, explains the Church’s teaching on the seal of confession:

“Given the delicacy and greatness of this ministry and the respect due to persons, the Church declares that every priest who hears confessions is bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him. He can make no use of knowledge that confession gives him about penitents’ lives.” Christopher Dodson, the executive director and general counsel for the North Dakota Catholic Conference, told CNA that he was “surprised and greatly concerned about the bill, because it would infringe upon a person’s privacy and religious counseling and confession, not just for Catholics, but for everyone.” “In the United States, we expect to exercise our religion, including going to confession and having spiritual counseling, without the government invading our privacy,” he said. Dodson said that the bill was especially surprising because it was introduced a week after the conclusion of an 18 month long investigation by the state on child sexual abuse by clergy in North Dakota’s two dioceses, which found that all but one accusation of abuse by priests in the diocese had already been reported. The state identified the case of one additional priest who had been accused of abuse in the 1970s, and was not on the initial list because he was not a diocesan priest.
“The Catholic Church, including the dioceses of Fargo and Bismarck here in North Dakota, have gone to great strides to create safe environments (for children),” he said.

“The Attorney General in North Dakota just concluded an 18-month investigation of all the diocesan files and did not find anything of concern and nothing that hadn’t already been reported by the two dioceses. And most of those cases of priests with sufficient allegations against them happened a long time ago. That’s why we say this bill comes as a surprise.” Dodson added that there is “no evidence” that the proposed law would prevent “a single case” of child abuse, and instead it would likely dissuade some Catholics from exercising their religious freedoms, which should include going to confession and having that confession kept confidential. Lee declined to comment to CNA about the bill, while senators Hogan and Kreun could not be reached by press time.
The issue of the sacramental seal in cases of child abuse is one that has arisen several times in recent years. A similar bill that would have forced priests to violate the seal was introduced in California, and then dropped in 2019, out of concerns for religious liberty and problems of enforcement. In 2016, a Louisiana state appeals court upheld a priest’s right to uphold the sacramental seal of confession in an abuse lawsuit.

Several Australian states, including Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory, have already adopted laws forcing priests to violate the confessional seal, following recommendations made by the Royal Commission on clergy sex abuse. However, bishops and priests in those states have said they plan on defying the law and upholding the seal regardless.

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Sacramento, Calif., Dec 12, 2019 / 11:33 am (CNA).- The office of California’s attorney general has informed six dioceses in the state that they will be issued subpoenas as part of a review of child protection policies and procedures.

“To verify that safeguards are effectively in place and are being appropriately implemented to ensure the safety of aour children and young people is crucially important and a shared interest,” the Diocese of Fresno, one of those being subpoenaed, said Dec. 10.

Subpoenas are being issued as well to the local Churches of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose, and Orange. The Los Angeles Times reported Dec. 10 that both the Orange and San José dioceses have already received the subpoena orders.

The state’s 12 Latin rite dioceses were told in May that attorney general Xavier Becerra would be investigating their handling of sexual abuse allegations involving minors, and they were asked to retain documents related to such allegations.

The six dioceses that will be subpoenaed were also asked to produce documents on the allegations.

The Fresno diocese said it and the other five dioceses have voluntarily cooperated since May with Becerra’s office.

“We have worked to accommodate the Attorney General’s requests while also following the laws governing the privacy rights of employees, abuse victims and mandated reporters,” it stated. “An abundance of time and resources has already been dedicated to this high-priority undertaking and we will continue to do so until the process can come to completion and accomplishes its goal.”

Bishop Joseph Brennan of Fresno said, “I am committed to fully cooperating with the Attorney General’s examination to the best of our ability in accordance with the law.”

“To now undergo a review by the Attorney General’s Office is a welcomed process that will help us to advance efforts towards greater transparency; to further learn from our past, scrutinize our current performance in implementing mandated reporting procedures; and, to continue to tirelessly puruse and develop all reasonable measures to protect the vulnerable in our midst,” Bishop Brennan added.

Similarly, Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento had said Dec. 6 that the six dioceses have, since May, “een involved in a voluntary effort with the California Attorney General’s office to provide documents related to mandated reporting of child sexual abuse.”

“We share the Attorney General’s desire to conduct a thorough examination of the practices and procedures that seek to protect the children entrusted to our schools, churches and programs. Throughout this process, we have worked to accommodate the Attorney General’s requests while also following the laws governing the privacy rights of employees, abuse victims and mandated reporters,” he added.

Bishop Soto said the subpoenas “will move us toward our shared goal of ensuring that the safeguards in place for our children are working as they should. We remain committed to cooperating with the Attorney General’s inquiry to the best of our ability and as fully as the law permits.”

California adopted a law in October extending the statute of limitations for childhood sex abuse victims.

The law allows civil claims of childhood sexual abuse to be filed by victims until age 40, or five years after discovering the damages from the abuse. Previously, claims had to be filed by age 26, or within three years of discovering damages from the abuse.

The new law also opens up a three-year window to revive past claims that would have expired under the previous statute of limitations. That window begins Jan. 1, 2020.

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