New Orleans archdiocese to pay more than $1 million for fraudulent Hurricane Katrina claims (CNA) According to the DOJ, the settlement “resolves allegations” that the Archdiocese of New Orleans “knowingly signed certifications for FEMA funding that contained false or fraudulent damage descriptions and repair estimates that were prepared by AECOM, an architecture and engineering firm based in Los Angeles,” from a period lasting from 2007 through 2013…
Employers, courts examining religious exemptions for vaccine mandate (CNS) On Nov. 12, a federal appeals court upheld its previous order temporarily blocking President Joe Biden’s vaccine and testing mandate for large companies; the Justice Department had challenged the court’s block on the mandate. In the meantime, religious exemption forms are piling up. One religious argument against the vaccine is that it goes against the New Testament passage which describes human bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit. Another religious argument is a pro-life one, citing a connection the three U.S. vaccines have — in varying degrees — to an abortion-derived cell line…
“No plea” entered for priest facing child pornography charges (CNA) A Rhode Island District Court judge on Monday entered “no plea” on behalf of Father James Jackson, FSSP, a Providence-based priest who is facing state and federal child pornography charges. Jackson, who until recently was pastor at a parish in suburban Denver, is facing state charges consisting of possession of child pornography, transfer of child pornography, and child erotica prohibited…
Baltimore priest robbed, pistol-whipped (AP) A priest was injured when he was robbed and hit with a gun in Baltimore’s Little Italy, police said. Baltimore City police said a man approached the priest around 4 p.m. Friday as he got out of his car on South Exeter Street and told him to hand over his wallet, news outlets reported. The Rev. Bernard Carman of St. Leo’s Catholic Church said when he refused, the man hit the side of his head with a gun, reached into his pocket and took the wallet, and a woman grabbed his phone. During the struggle, Carman fell and hit his head on a brick wall…
Pope calls Secular Franciscans to closeness, compassion (Vatican News) Addressing the General Chapter of the Secular Franciscan Order in Rome, Pope Francis chose to “recall some elements proper to your vocation and mission.” He began by noting that “your vocation stems from the universal call to holiness”. This holiness, he continued, “involves the conversion of the heart, attracted, conquered, and transformed by the One who is the only Holy One”. He explained that it is this that makes the Franciscans “true ‘penitents'”. St Francis, in his Letter to all the faithful, presents “doing penance” as a path of conversion, a path of Christian life, a commitment to do the will and works of the heavenly Father…
We need to talk about despair among Catholic priests (America) That morale is down for priests across the country is not exactly stop-the-presses material. But I wonder if it isn’t the canary in the coal mine of the Catholic Church today—or perhaps more aptly, the polar bears trying to survive on ever-weakening sheets of ice. As of 2018,there were over 17,000 Catholic parishes in the United States and 37,300 priests to man them, of whom just under half were age 70 or above. Many of those over 70 are retired or part-time. And of the overall number, 11,600 are religious order priests, many of whom don’t serve full-time in parishes…
