Lesson seen in group learning spiritual director was suspended priest
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (CNS) -- A recently confirmed report that a priest long forbidden to function as a cleric had been heavily involved with a local Springfield private prayer group shows the difficulties Catholics can run into when they support unofficial spiritual groups, according to church officials. It also illustrates the difficulty church authorities have tracking the activities of a small number of priests who continue to defy orders not to exercise their ministry. In early September, the Diocese of Springfield was contacted by Vic Valois, a Catholic and a former member of a group called Seeds of Hope. He reported that Father John J. Szantyr had been the group's long-standing spiritual mentor and occasional sacramental celebrant. Father Szantyr, 76, is allegedly a repeated sexual offender with victims in more than one diocese. He has been forbidden to minister in any way or to publicly present himself as a priest since being removed from ministry by the Diocese of Worcester, Mass., in 1988. Yet, until recently, he has continued to wear clerical clothing and refer to himself as "Father" in violation of the canonical restrictions against clerics who face credible charges of sexual abuse of a minor.
Group items tagged
CNS NEWS BRIEFS: Father John J. Szantyr - 0 views
-
-
Natural family planning gets government, insurance recognition ST. LOUIS (CNS) -- The medical coding system used by the government, insurance companies, medical clinics and health care providers now includes two codes specifically for natural family planning. Behind the push for the new codes was the American Academy of FertilityCare Professionals, a national organization that promotes the use of the Creighton Model FertilityCare System, which is used for natural family planning and women's health and infertility issues while upholding Catholic teaching. Diane Daly, director of the Office of Natural Family Planning for the St. Louis Archdiocese and a member of the academy, headed the committee that worked several years for the new codes. On Oct. 1, the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) published the following codes for natural family planning: V25.04: Counseling and instruction in natural family planning to avoid pregnancy, and V26.41: Procreative counseling and advice using natural family planning.
Woman's Eyes Seal Shut for 3 Days a Week Baffling Doctors - 0 views
-
Dark times: Natalie Adler has a medical condition that prevents her eyes opening. Picture: Darren Tindale
Pro-Life News: Abortion, The View, Yale, Adult Stem Cell Research, Indiana - 0 views
-
Adult Stem Cells Used in Treating Wounded Soldiers From Iraq, Afghanistan Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Pro-life advocates have long supported the use of adult stem cells over embryonic stem cell research because no human life is destroyed in obtaining the cells. Now, new reports show wounded soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan are helped by the ethical stem cells. Showing how far adult stem cells have come in a very short time, our wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan are being treated with their own stem cells to help treat wounds involving bones. According to ABC News, the Bush administration has spent $85 million to fund the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Thomas Einhorn, the chairman of orthopaedic surgery at the Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, has used adult stem cells to repair a patient's hip after conventional surgeries failed. Noted bioethics watchdog Wesley Smith says he's not surprised by the news. "Illustrating how the hype overcame reality, the story's author felt the need to say that the stem cells did not come from embryos," he said. But, as pro-life advocates know, "no human applications have yet come from human embryonic stem cells." Smith added: "It will not take much time for this procedure to become available in the civilian sector. The good news just keeps coming."
Plight of Iraqi Refugees - 0 views
-
Plight of Iraqi refugees shapes nuns' visit to Middle East WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A family of six Iraqis lives in a unheated, single room in Beirut, Lebanon -- the adults unable to work legally, the teenager with diabetes unable to get medical care or attend school. The family -- an engineer, his wife and three children, and the wife's brother -- fled violence in their homeland two years after they received threats and their home was fired upon. Once out of the country, they quickly burned through their savings. For Mercy Sister Anne Curtis, the refugee family helped define what she described as abhorrent conditions for the millions of Iraqis who have fled their homeland, most taking up residence in Lebanon or Syria. She was one of a group of eight U.S. women religious from different communities who spent more than a week with Catholic Relief Services in mid-January looking into the problems and aid opportunities for Iraqi refugees in Syria and Lebanon. CRS is the U.S. bishops' overseas relief and development agency. "I'm still sorting out my impressions," Sister Curtis told Catholic News Service in a phone interview a few days after the delegation returned to the U.S. Jan. 20. During her first few days in the Middle East, she said she felt "an overwhelming sense of sorrow and shame about a U.S. war and the consequences; such massive human suffering."
ZENIT - IVF's Insidious Medical Defects - 0 views
Miracles and faith - 0 views
-
The Labrecque resurrection bears all the hallmarks of the miraculous cure. It is medically mysterious, spontaneous and quick. It happened to a religious believer who knew that dozens of other believers were praying for him. Most importantly, the retelling of the story --if not the healing itself -- relied on the intercession of a saintly figure. In this case, it was not just the former pope, whom the Labrecques admired deeply, but also the founder of the Army of Mary, Marie-Paule Giguere, an 86-year-old Quebec mystic who claims to be a reincarnation of the Virgin Mary, a photo of whom Suzanne had hung above the hospital bed.
-
Attribution of a miracle due to Marie-Paule's picture.
Italian priest denies Communion to excommunicated Archbishop Milingo - 0 views
-
Italian priest denies Communion to excommunicated Archbishop Milingo ROME (CNS) -- At the start of a visit to Italy, excommunicated Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo was denied Communion when he attended a Mass at a local parish church near Naples. The former Zambian archbishop and his wife, Maria Sung, attended an early evening Mass at a local church in Pompeii Jan. 10, one day after his arrival in Italy from South Korea. When the archbishop approached the celebrant -- Father Francesco Soprano -- he refused the Eucharist to the archbishop, who then reportedly blessed the celebrant and lightly touched his head, according to Italian media reports. Archbishop Milingo, who was married in a Unification church ceremony in 2001, was excommunicated by the Vatican in 2006 for illicitly ordaining married men. While he is excommunicated, the archbishop cannot receive the Eucharist or any sacrament of the church. The 77-year-old former archbishop of Lusaka was to be in Italy Jan. 9-27 to promote a new book, meet with supporters of his U.S.-based Married Priests Now! movement, and attend to various medical visits.