Pope Francis's flight to the United States in September won't be a non-stop. He's dropping in on Cuba on the way.
In the Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph Mo., there was widespread acknowledgment of the hurt of past years following Bishop Robert Finn's. Emotions ran high, with sadness among his supporters and relief among those who wanted him to leave.
Fr. Tom Doyle, long-time advocate for sex abuse victims and a canon lawyer, was a consultant to Sydney lawyer Kieran Tapsell as he was preparing a submission to the Royal Commission investigating the sex abuse scandal in Australia. Doyle discusses the book that emerged from that work, Potiphar's Wife: The Vatican's Secret and Child Sexual Abuse.
Msgr. Hien Minh Nguyen of the Diocese of San Jose, Calif., was arrested recently for tax evasion and bank fraud. An indictment charged that he deposited at least 14 checks, made out to the Vietnamese Catholic Center and totaling $19,000, directly into his personal account. He is also accused of failing to report $1.1 million of income to the IRS between 2008 and 2011.
The pope's upcoming encyclical on the environment hasn't yet been issued, but the pushback from the right against what it might say has been formidable. The issue of climate change itself, said a writer in Crisis magazine, "is only very distantly relevant to any" fundamental Catholic teachings. RealClearPolitics.com has accused Francis of using "radical, left-wing language" when speaking of the environment. And Maureen Mullarkey in First Things labeled Francis "an ideologue and a meddlesome egoist." Wait until the text actually hits the street. Brian Roewe has a full report on the pre-emptive dissent.
Living Like Prisoners: Women Talk about U.S. Detention Centers. From Global Sisters Report: A powerful report and photos about migrant detention centers by photo-journalist Nuri Vallbona.
From Mary Lou Nolan, managing editor of Global Sisters Report: a one-year anniversary assessment. Read her analysis of your responses.
In the "you can't make this stuff up" category: An Ann Arbor priest used Palm Sunday to encourage his parishioners to arm themselves and informed them the parish would be conducting classes so they could be licensed to carried concealed weapons.
