c. 2007 Religion News Service
San Diego Settles Abuse Cases for $198 Million
(RNS) The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego has agreed to pay $198 million to 144 alleged victims of sexual abuse by clergy or other church employees, the second-largest such settlement since the abuse crisis exploded five years ago.
The settlement follows four years of negotiations and a threat from a U.S. bankruptcy judge to dismiss the diocese’s Chapter 11 claim if a settlement was not reached by Tuesday (Sept. 11).
In announcing the settlement Friday, San Diego Bishop Robert Brom said the diocese would now ask to be released from bankruptcy court.
In the wake of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ record-setting $660 million settlement in July, the San Diego agreement brings to more than $2 billion the total amount the U.S. Catholic church has paid in sexual abuse-related matters since 1950.
San Diego will pay about $107 million of the settlement, including $30 million for religious orders, some of which the diocese hopes to recover, Brom said in a statement. The insurance carrier Catholic Mutual will pay $76 million; the Diocese of San Bernardino, which split from San Diego in 1978, will pay about $15 million.
“Some have accused the diocese of engaging in delay tactics in order to avoid our responsibility to victims,” Brom said. “We have done our best … to bring this matter to conclusion with justice for all involved, but many forces beyond our control have complicated the process.”
Joelle Casteix of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said, “No settlement will ever magically restore hundreds of stolen childhoods, betrayed psyches, shattered self-esteem, and damaged relationships. But a settlement can be an important first step in healing, exposure, accountability and prevention.”
_ Daniel Burke
Chinese Bishop Ordained With Beijing’s, Vatican’s Approval
VATICAN CITY (RNS) In an event that could signal improved relations between China’s state-run Catholic church and the country’s “underground” church loyal to Rome, a new Chinese bishop was ordained on Saturday (Sept. 8) with the approval of both China’s communist government and the Holy See.
Paolo Xiao Zejiang, 40, became coadjutor bishop of the southern diocese of Guizhou, placing him in line to succeed the diocese’s incumbent bishop, 88-year-old Anicetus Wang Chongyi.
Although Xiao was chosen by the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which is controlled by Beijing, his ordination was approved by the Vatican several weeks in advance.
According to the Vatican’s AsiaNews agency, substantial numbers of clergy and lay people from China’s underground church were among the 3,000 people who attended Xiao’s ordination.
The presence of underground church leaders at a state-sanctioned ordination is possibly unprecedented, and in any case an “important step in reconciliation between the two branches of the Chinese Church,” according to AsiaNews.
Chinese Catholics have been divided for half a century between an underground church loyal to Rome _ many of whose leaders have been imprisoned for long periods by the government _ and an “official” church which now claims 5 million members. The total number of Catholics in China today is estimated at 12-15 million.
In an open letter to Chinese Catholics in June, Pope Benedict XVI reiterated the Vatican’s longstanding demand that the Chinese church be free of state control, and emphatically described government-approved bishops as “illegitimate” unless their appointments are confirmed by Rome.
But he also called for unity among the faithful and offered conciliatory words to China’s communist government.
Rome made another conciliatory gesture a few weeks later, when the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, called the government’s choice for bishop of Beijing a “very good, well-suited” candidate.
Moderating hopes for a thaw in relations were comments last week from Liu Bainian, vice president of the Catholic Patriotic Association, who blamed continuing tensions on the Vatican’s demand for bishops “who are opposed to the Communist Party.”
_ Francis X. Rocca
Update: Judge Says Jesus Icon May Stay in La. Courthouse
SLIDELL, La. (RNS) A portrait of Jesus may remain on a courthouse wall with portraits of 15 other historical figures and a copy of the U.S. Constitution, a federal judge ruled Friday (Sept. 7).
U.S. District Court Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle in New Orleans said he likely would have granted a request by the Louisiana ACLU to remove the portrait as a violation of the First Amendment and the separation of church and state.
But Lemelle said he chose to allow the display after court officials expanded it to include non-religious figures. Lemelle said he believes court officials had corrected their initial mistake.
The expanded display now includes Confucius, Hammurabi, Charlemagne, Octavian, John Marshall and others in common with the friezes at the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court’s friezes, however, do not include Jesus.
Mike Johnson, senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group that represented the court, said the judge who purchased and first mounted the Jesus portrait, as well as current City Court Judge Jim Lamz, did not know the man in the portrait was Jesus.
Lemelle said one must consider the details of the portrait to determine whether it has a religious context, noting several times the robe the man in the portrait wears, the book he is holding and what he believes is a halo above the man’s head.
“It’s obviously a halo,” he said, noting that the man looks familiar to him and that the court can’t bury its head in the sand in that regard. “What does a halo represent if not something religious in nature?”
Both sides hailed the ruling as a victory, though the circumstances surrounding the lawsuit had changed since its inception.
“We consider this an absolute victory,” said Marjorie Esman, the Louisiana ACLU’s executive director. “We got what we wanted. We wanted a religious display taken down.”
Johnson said the decision shows that the ACLU cannot bully local officials into determining how they acknowledge the law and its heritage.
“We’re clearly pleased with the outcome today,” he said, noting that the issue could have been resolved outside the courtroom had the ACLU given Lamz more time to consider the issue. “Jesus doesn’t have to be censored from the public square.”
_ Christine Harvey
Controversial Author Madeleine L’Engle Dies at 88
NEW YORK (RNS) Madeleine L’Engle, a best-selling author of children’s works that merged the worlds of fantasy, science fiction and spirituality, and in the process raised the ire of some religious conservatives, has died at the age of 88.
L’Engle’s death on Sept. 6 death in Litchfield, Conn., was announced by her long-time publisher, Farrar, Straus & Giroux. She was perhaps best known as the author of “A Wrinkle of Time,” a children’s fantasy that has sold some 8 million copies. It has also been the subject of repeated attempts to ban it from public libraries and schools.
While many saw the book as having a deep spiritual message _ that the power of love is stronger than the power of hate _ critics cast the book as “un-Christian” for its depiction of witches and mysterious spiritual elements, making L’Engle one of the most banned writers in the United States, according to some surveys.
In a 2000 interview with journalist Bob Abernethy of Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, L’Engle said: “You have got to be very careful of banning. What you ban is not going to hurt anybody, usually. But the act of banning is.”
L’Engle, a long-time resident of New York City, eschewed the descriptor of “Christian writer,” telling Abernethy: “I am a writer. That’s it. No adjectives. The first thing is writing. Christianity is secondary.”
L’Engle said she believed religion and science informed each other, with religion being “less accepting than science.”
“Science knows things move and change, and religion doesn’t want that,” she said. “So, I am more comfortable with science. At the same time, I am not throwing God out the window.”
L’Engle was a prominent lay Episcopalian who had a strong association with the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan, where she served for many years as the cathedral’s librarian and writer-in-residence.
Aside from L’Engle’s well-known fantasy and children’s works are books for adults that often dealt with religious themes, including the 1980 “Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art.”
_ Chris Herlinger
Quote of the Day: Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean
(RNS) “Our candidates are comfortable with talking about their faith and have made it clear that their faith informs their values, which informs their decisions. On the other side, candidates continue the pattern of the last eight years, which is to divide Americans by race, ethnicity and gender. Our party will heal America.”
_ Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, addressing the annual session of the National Baptist Convention, USA, on Thursday (Sept. 6) in Philadelphia.
KRE/LF END RNS
