Category: News

A Roman Catholic university in Pennsylvania scrubs bishops’ names from campus buildings

Catholic school scrubs bishops’ names from campus buildings
By MARC LEVY, Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Roman Catholic university in Pennsylvania plans to remove the names of three bishops from campus buildings, saying it is acting in solidarity with victims of child sexual abuse following the release of a grand jury report accusing church leaders of helping cover up decades of abuse by priests.
The University of Scranton said late Monday that three bishops — Jerome D. Hannan, J. Carroll McCormick, and James C. Timlin — in the local diocese were found in last week’s Pennsylvania grand jury report to have covered up crimes by priests and put children in harm’s way.
Hannan served from 1954 until his death in 1965. McCormick served from 1966 until 1983 and died in 1996. Timlin served from 1984 until 2003 and is 91 years old.
A Scranton Diocese spokesman has said Timlin would not do interviews, but pointed to the diocese’s response to the report noting that Timlin instituted a uniform response policy for allegations of abuse and established an internal review board.
The move is part of the growing fallout from a grand jury report that says a succession of church leaders helped cover up abuse by some 300 Catholic priests in Pennsylvania who victimized more than 1,000 children, and possibly many more, since the 1940s.
Pope Francis vowed Monday that “no effort must be spared” to root out sex abuse by priests and church cover-ups, but Francis gave no indication that he would sanction complicit bishops or end the Vatican culture of secrecy that has allowed the crisis to fester.
At various points in the report, it cites complaints about sexual misconduct by priests with children or teenagers that the three Scranton Diocese bishops did not act on, instead leaving the priests to continue in ministry.
Two weeks before the report was released, the Harrisburg Diocese said it would hold past church leadership accountable for the sexual abuse of children by priests and strip the names of bishops going back 70 years from church properties.
Dioceses in Pennsylvania have released lists, for the first time, of priests accused of sexual misconduct. Meanwhile, Beaver County fired a county government lawyer after a report showed that, as district attorney in the 1960s, he stopped an investigation into alleged child abuse by a priest to gain political favor from the Pittsburgh Diocese.
In Allentown, City Council voted unanimously to fire the city solicitor based on the report’s description of him, as the local diocese lawyer, in 2002 attempting to “undermine” and “discredit” a woman who had accused a priest of molesting her two decades earlier.

Gubernatorial Candidate Scott Wagner says his income is nobody’s business.

Wagner says he doesn’t want workers knowing what he makes
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner says he won’t release a tax return because his income is nobody else’s business and he suggests labor unions will use it to try to organize workers at his non-union waste-hauling business.
Wagner made the comments in response to a questioner at a Monday night question-and-answer session in Erie in video captured by the Democratic Party.
Wagner went on to say that, if he discloses his income, labor union representatives will tell his employees how much he makes.
State law requires candidates to identify sources of income, which Wagner has. Releasing a tax return isn’t required, although Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has pledged to open his 2017 tax return to inspection by reporters after it is filed.
Wolf did something similar during his 2014 campaign.

5 faith leaders arrested in immigration protest at prison

5 faith leaders arrested in immigration protest at prison
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — Five clergy members protesting the detention of immigrants at a prison in Ohio have been arrested on trespassing charges.
Organizers of the protest say the five wanted to give communion to detainees who have been denied spiritual services.
About 40 people took part in the protest Monday at the prison in Youngstown. Police say the arrests came after the protesters refused to leave despite attempts to reach a resolution.
A prison spokesman tells The Plain Dealer that the detainees have access to an onsite chaplain and weekly religious services.
Among those being held at the prison are dozens of workers arrested during an immigration investigation at an Ohio meat-processing plant in June.

Beaver Falls Police: Toddler Had ‘Direct and Open Acess’ To Fentanyl

Police in Beaver Falls were executing a search warrant Monday when they discovered a 2-year-old with access to fentanyl. Police were at 72 Pleasantview Homes just before 9 Monday morning when they discovered the child in a residence they say was filled with drugs. During the raid, police seized $43,000 in cash, 2 ounces of fentanyl, 100 oxycodone tablets and ecstasy pills, 1 pound of marijuana and digital scales. Dorian Warr, of Detroit, is charged with four counts of possession with intent to deliver and one and endangering the welfare of a child. Madison Hess of Beaver Falls is charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Police say the child had “direct and open access to the fentanyl.”

Today’s Thunderstorms Could Be Severe!

WEATHER FORECAST FOR TUESDAY, AUGUST 21ST, 2018

 

TODAY – THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY. A FEW STORMS MAY BE
SEVERE. HIGH – 77.

TONIGHT – VARIABLE CLOUDS WITH SHOWERS AND
SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS. STORMS
BECOMING MORE NUMEROUS AS THE EVENING
GOES ON. LOW – 64.

WEDNESDAY – CLOUDY WITH OCCASIONAL RAIN SHOWERS.
HIGH – 72.