Posts Tagged ‘Pope Benedict’

High-profile doyenne Joan Kiburz recalled her selection by then Archbishop John May to handle the official canonization of Saint Philippine Duchesne 22 years ago.  It resulted in her rounding up of 539 alums from Villa Duchesne, Maryville and other schools around the world founded by St. Duchesne. They were booked into eight hotels in Rome. (Kiburz and her family own Coronet Travel.)  She said, “I was asked to invite Potowatomi Indians to bring obligatory gifts. After much research, I learned that Marge Schott, some Kennedy’s and a dear Franciscan priest named Charles Chaput, who is part Potowatomi,, would be invited. I tracked down Father Chaput and he and four Potowatomis were part of our entourage.”  Archibishop Chaput has come a long way from archbishop of Denver to becoming Pope Benedict, XVI’s choice as leader of the embattled Philadelphia archdiocese, succeeding Cardinal Justin Rigali, who is retiring. Cardinal Rigali is also marking the 50th anniversary of his ordination.

Hometown boy-made-good Timothy Dolan heads to Seattle where he’ll chair the annual summer meeting of the America’s Catholic bishops.  It’s the first time he’ll preside over his colleagues since his surprise election last year as head of the U.S. Conference of Bishops. And, Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali has been tapped by Pope Benedict to attend a special church celebration in June in the Czech Republic.

A new Pew Research Center study of clergy sex abuse media coverage lists our town’s David Clohessy, director of SNAP, as #6 on a list of “Abuse Scandal Lead Newsmakers,” based on appearances in 52 mainstream news outlets.  Leading the pack: Pope Benedict, three bishops and one prominent predator priest, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado of the Legion of Christ.  The report, based on a six-week period in April and March, says that “Newspaper coverage of the Catholic clergy sexual abuse scandal grew more intense this spring than at any time since 2002, and European newspapers devoted even more ink to the story than American newspapers did.”

On the same day the study was released, SNAP’s founder, SLU-grad Barbara Blaine of ChiTown, was deemed “Most intriguing Person of the Day” on CNN’s Rick Sanchez show.

The end of the school year can’t come quickly enough for St. Louis University’s Father Lawrence Biondi. Last week, one of his predecessors, the Rev. Daniel C. O’ Connell, was publicly named as having allegedly sexually violating a 20 year-old female student. Earlier this week, at a sidewalk news conference, SNAP “outed” two other former SLU staffers. who have been accused elsewhere of molesting numerous kids – Fathers Franklyn Becker and Edward Beutner, both of Wisconsin. And, now, students with several of the school’s activist organizations are planning a “counter commencement” event on Saturday, after graduation, in protest of the university administration’s decision to give an honorary degree to Pope Benedict‘s U.S. representative, Archbishop Pietro Sambi. Sambi was blasted in a Huffington Post piece last week for allegedly insulting a clergy sex abuse protester outside the papal nuncio in Washington, D.C.