Archdiocesan officials filed suit Sept. 23 in Cook County Circuit Court against the former comptroller of St. Joseph College Seminary seeking an accounting of funds which had been under his control.

In media reports the former comptroller, Dennis Composto, 64, denied misusing seminary funds.

The suit maintains that an independent review uncovered financial irregularities during Composto’s tenure. Composto, who left employment Dec. 31, had served in various financial positions at the seminary since 1969.

His employment was terminated for reasons unrelated to the audit, archdiocesan officials said, adding that personnel decisions are not discussed publicly.

Archdiocesan officials also reported their findings to the Cook County State’s Attorney.

Bishop defends zero tolerance

The head of the U.S. bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse has strongly defended the removal from all ministry of any priest has committed at least one act of child sex abuse.

“The reassignment of even one priest who then harms another child is utterly unacceptable,” said Archbishop Harry J. Flynn of St. Paul-Minneapolis, committee chairman, in an article in the Oct. 18 issue of America, a national magazine published by the Jesuits.

The article appeared about a month before the U.S. bishops’ Nov. 15-18 fall general meeting, when they are to review their program for preventing clergy sex abuse.

Critics of “zero tolerance” have said that, just as there are different degrees of sex abuse, there should be different levels of penalties.

NEWS

Ecumenical dialogue ‘brings us closer’ to God, each other

Forty years after the Second Vatican Council, the Vatican’s top ecumenical official hailed the “spiritual ecumenism” and the openness to dialogue that has developed.

“Ecumenical dialogue is not only an exchange of gifts, but an exchange of mutual learning,” said Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, who gave a series of talks in the Archdiocese of Chicago Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. “References to existing and undeniable differences do not mean an end to dialogue. Rather, they are an avenue to ongoing dialogue.”

Grant to aid Chicago Hispanics

Hispanic organizations with ties to Chicago parishes or Catholic charitable organizations will benefit from an $800,000 grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The National Catholic Council for Hispanic Ministry has received the grant to help Hispanic faith-based groups improve their services to Latinos by providing leadership training.

Helping the victims: a learning process

In 1996 when Michael Bland began organizing informal meetings of U.S. diocesan officials involved in outreach programs to clergy sex abuse victims, eight people showed up.

At the 2004 meeting this summer, 125 people attended, which reflects the growth in outreach programs since the U.S. bishops approved the 2002 “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”

Despite the growth, outreach programs are still a work in progress as such programs are new to most dioceses and the needs of victims are as varied as the personalities of those affected.

Catholic campaign empowers poor to fight against poverty

Eight years ago, Julia Haynes moved into an apartment that looked wonderful.

She couldn’t have been more wrong.

Now Haynes offers her time and experience to educate other renters about their rights.

Teaching people that they have common problems—and that they have the ability to do something about them if they band together—is one of MTO’s main goals, said director John Barrett.

A project to help people who get subsidized rent, whether through public housing, grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development or Section 8 rent vouchers, understand that they have a lot of issues in common was among 21 community-controlled organizations in the Archdiocese of Chicago to receive a total of $472,000 in grant money from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development at a Sept. 23 reception.

Events planned for Respect Life Month include:

Lost Child Pilgrimage Weekend, Oct. 16-17 at The Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii, 1224 W. Lexington St. Chicago. The weekend is for all who mourn the loss of a child, whether parents, grandparents or others who grieve, and whether the loss was due to accident, illness, abortion or any other cause, recently or long ago. The Oct. 16 session includes special liturgies and presentations, and grief counselors will be available. Bishop Basil Meeking will celebrate a Mass of Hope and Healing at 2 p.m

Oct. 17. Call the shrine at (312) 421-3757 to register for the Oct. 16 program. The Oct. 17 Mass is open to all.

Holy Hour for Life from 7:30-8:30 p.m. Oct. 22 at Divine Infant Parish, 1601 Newcastle, Westchester. The service will include the Chaplet of DIvine Mercy as well as exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction.

Dr. Alveda C. King, niece of the Rev. Martin Luther King Junior, speaking on “Abortion, Civil Rights and the African-American Community, 10 a.m. to noon Oct. 23, in the Chicago Room of the University of Illinois at Chicago Student Union, 828 S. Wolcott St., Chicago. The event is presented by the Respect Life Office, the Office for Black Catholics, the Catholic Conference of Illinois and the UIC Catholic Medical Student Association. To reserve a seat, contact the Respect Life Office at (312) 751-5355.

The Respect Life and Youth Ministry offices also are working together to plan a Jan. 21-25 pilgrimage to Washington D.C. for the 32nd Annual March for Life. The pilgrimage will include the march itself, the National Prayer Vigil for Life, Mass with Cardinal George and an opportunity to meet with legislators. For information, contact the Respect Life Office at (312) 751-5355 or the Office of Youth Ministry at (312) 751-5316.

Crisis pregnancy centers: Where ‘choice’ means it

Crystal Matthews, a single mother pregnant with her second child, had reluctantly made the decision to have an abortion. As she walked up to the Chicago abortion clinic, she noticed a stranger approaching her. The man, Bill Keen, is a pro-life “sidewalk counselor.” He began talking with Matthews about her decision, and persuaded her to speak with a counselor at Aid for Women before acting.

“This had to be from God,” Matthews said, and so she agreed to stop first at the crisis pregnancy center, located in the heart of downtown Chicago at Michigan and Madison.. She met with Sharnina Starling-Buford, who explained the risks and side effects of abortion, as well as the stages of development of her child growing within her.

Pope beatifies nun who inspired Gibson, Austrian emperor, others

Advancing the sainthood causes of five Europeans, Pope John Paul II beatified the last Hapsburg emperor and the nun whose visions inspired Mel Gibson’s film, “The Passion of the Christ.”

The pope said Blessed Charles I of Austria, who died in exile in 1922, was “a friend of peace, in whose eyes war was something terrible.” The emperor’s commitment to Christian values should be a model for European politicians today, he added.

Campaign ’04: Terrorism dominates foreign policy

Just as the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dominated the first term of President George W. Bush, the war on terrorism is dominating the foreign policy issues of the 2004 presidential campaign.

While there is much debate about defeating terrorists and U.S. involvement in Iraq, there has been little campaign discussion about fighting global poverty, solving regional conflicts such as the Israeli-Palestinian struggle, combating the global pandemic of AIDS, debt relief for poor countries and international arms reduction treaties.

The U.S. bishops see all of these issues as an integral part of an effective world struggle against terrorism.

Sign of the times

Deacon ex-cop helps smooth police-deaf connection

Lt. Joe Chausse saw a lot of changes during his 30 years on the Chicago police force.

One thing that never changed, however, was the generally poor communications between cops and hearing-impaired people.

But it wasn’t until recently that Chausse was able to do much about it.

Chausse, a deacon ordained in 1978, now works full-time with the Chicago Archdiocese Office for the Deaf. Thanks at least partly to his efforts, police recruits now receive two hours of training in dealing with hearing-impaired and other disabled people.

Catechetical Conference kicks off Year of the Eucharist

The more than 3,500 Catholic educators and catechists who attended the Chicago Catechetical Conference Sept. 24-25 got an introduction to the Year of the Eucharist.

Opening keynote speaker Father Robert Barron, a professor at University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, followed the Friday morning Mass with the observation that taking the Eucharist as a theme meant that the conference really dealt with the entirety of Catholic faith.

Eucharistic conference Oct. 23

St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke will be keynote speaker and main celebrant of the opening Mass at the Year of the Eucharist conference at the Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, Oct. 23.

White Mass for health-care workers Oct. 17

With the election approaching, politicians aren’t the only ones discussing medical ethical issues. Catholic physicians have long had a forum to come together informally to pray, learn and consider issues of faith and morals in medical practice since 1964.

The guild will hold its annual White Mass in honor of St. Luke at 11 a.m. Oct. 17 at the Archbishop Quigley Seminary Chapel, 103 East Chestnut St. Brunch and a guest speaker will follow. Catholic physicians, dentists, medical students, and their families and friends are invited.

Catholic-Protestant ‘troubles’ on stage

Geraldine Hughes was nine or 10 years old before she knew she was living in a war zone.

Sitting in her parents’ bedroom, looking out the window of their Belfast housing project apartment, Hughes watched as “The Troubles” unfolded on the streets and play yards in front of her.

It’s the story of that everyday life that Hughes aims to tell in “Belfast Blues,” her one-woman play now running at the Mercury Theater.

Vatican Radio: Putting God into the airwaves

The call came at an early age for Sean Patrick Lovett.

“When other kids were playing with toy fire engines,” he said, “I was playing with a microphone and a tape recorder.”

That is the way Lovett, the 43-year-old director of English programming on Vatican Radio, describes his life-long dream. “When we talk about a vocation—a call—I have never had any doubt in my mind that radio was what I wanted to do.”