Subscribe to the newspaper

Chicago-area Catholics will get a chance to share their thoughts on the church’s sexual abuse scandal later this month, when the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago hosts a series of public hearings on the issue.

Dates, times and places for the hearings were expected to be announced by May 12, but were not available when The Catholic New World went to press.

Cardinal George to ordain 12 men for archdiocese May 19
Another diverse group of men will join the ranks of archdiocesan priests when Cardinal George ordains 12 men to the priesthood on May 18. The group—ranging in age from 26 to 57—include two each from Illinois and Indiana, three from Mexico, and one each from Colombia, Costa Rica, Kenya, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Cardinal George will be principal celebrant and homilist at the 10 a.m. Mass at Holy Name Cathedral. Concelebrants will include the auxiliary bishops, along with Father John F. Canary, rector/president of the University of St. Mary of the Lake, and Father August Belauskas, vice rector.

After the Mass, the dozen will give their first blessings to friends and family in front of the cathedral on State Street. Their first Masses are scheduled for the following weekend, May 18-19.

Feature:
Lots of wheelin’, kneelin’ on parish bus tours
Buses are those modes of transportation that sometimes take you to school, to work or—when perhaps you aren’t comfortable flying—even on vacation.

But buses—big yellow school buses, luxury motorcoaches and maybe minibuses—are also instruments of community, and are at the core of some true stories of faith-filled—not to mention fun-filled—experiences, near and far-away.

You see, just like the old scouting song says, “the people on the bus go all around the town.”

Arrested, Shanley pleads ‘not guilty’
Retired Boston priest Father Paul R. Shanley, 71, pleaded not guilty May 7 in a Massachusetts court to three counts of child rape. Newton District Court Judge Dyanne Klein set bail at $750,000.

Shanley was arrested May 2 in San Diego after Paul Busa, a 24-year-old former resident of Newton, told authorities that the priest had repeatedly molested him from 1983 to 1989, beginning when Busa was 6.

Papal letter clarifies general absolution rules
In a new apostolic letter calling for a “vigorous revitalization” of the sacrament of penance, Pope John Paul II told bishops to adopt a strict line on church law’s “grave necessity” condition for general absolution.
Though the pope’s letter simply restated church law, in Chicago, it was expected to impact concerns which some have charged are abuses of the sacrament.

The 15-page letter, “Misericordia Dei” (“Mercy of God”), also asks bishops’ conferences to submit national norms on general absolution to the Vatican for approval “as soon as possible.”

Despite a contentious history over the use of “general absolution” in the Archdiocese of Chicago, the papal letter does not break new ground, said Father Pat Lagges, vicar for canonical services. “The document,” he said, “is a further explanation of the current legislation and indicates ways in which the celebration of the sacrament of penance is to be carried out.”

Subscribe to the the Catholic New World