Leon J. Podles :: DIALOGUE

A Discussion on Faith and Culture

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Entries from March 2010

Pope Benedict Let a Known Pedophile Work in His Diocese in Germany

March 12th, 2010 · 10 Comments

As the Cardinal Archbishop of Munich, Joseph Ratzinger  let a pedophile work in his diocese. The London Times reports 
 

The Pope was drawn directly into the Roman Catholic sex abuse scandal for the first time tonight as news emerged of his part in a decision to send a paedophile priest for therapy. The priest went on [...]

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Tags: Responsibility · clergy sex abuse scandal · repentance

Repentance

March 8th, 2010 · 1 Comment

When sinners repent, we are informed by the highest authority, the angels in heaven rejoice.
 
Michael Anthony Rodriguez paid a hit man to kill his wife because he was infatuated with a young woman. He was imprisoned in Texas, and with the Texas Seven escaped on Christmas Eve 2000. They killed a young police officer who [...]

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Tags: Responsibility · clergy sex abuse scandal · guilt · law enforcement · repentance

Control Issues at Ave Maria University

March 7th, 2010 · 10 Comments

 Although I had hopes for Ave Maria University when I heard it would locate in Naples, Florida, (at last, someone who could talk about something other than golf!) I began having suspicions that Tom Monaghan had control issues. He wanted a town where he could control everything, and I mean everything. The staff would dress [...]

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Tags: Florida

The Disappearance of Expiation

March 6th, 2010 · 3 Comments

When I researching the book on clerical murders that I have underway, I noticed that even secular newspapers from 1900 -1920 used the words expiation in regard to punishment, especially capital punishment. Now the word expiation appears only in crossword puzzles.
 
The word and the concept appear to be suffering a similar fate in Catholic theology: 

According [...]

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Tags: Catholic Church · Moral Theology · Responsibility · repentance

Catholic Education: Decline and Fall

March 6th, 2010 · 3 Comments

In Baltimore, the city I grew up in, 30% of the remaining Catholics schools are being closed. Only a handful remains in the whole metropolitan area, and it was the Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1852 that established the rule that every parish should have its parochial school.
Only 15% of the students in the [...]

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Tags: Catholic Church · education

Nazis - Cleansers of the Church?

March 2nd, 2010 · 10 Comments

Abuse Tracker has chronicled the revelations of sexual abuse by clerics in Germany. It is a story of abuse and cover-ups all too familiar to those who have followed similar revelations in the United States and Ireland. While in quality the abuse in Germany is as bad as in English-speaking countries, in quantity it seems [...]

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Tags: Germany · clergy sex abuse scandal