In this week’s edition:

• Archdiocese of St. Louis embroiled in new sex abuse lawsuit

• Fr. Marcial Maciel was nearly laicized in the 1950’s over abuse allegations

• Nebraska Supreme Court upholds pro-life, pro-biology laws

• Priest who was caught on Grindr is now playing victim

• and more!

St. Louis Archdiocese and Omaha Archbishop implicated in lawsuit alleging decades of abuse

Summary: The suit alleges that archdiocesan employees - including local priests and now-+George Lucas of Omaha - engaged in abuse of minors which was enabled and concealed by +Mitchell Rozanski of St. Louis.

Details:

• The lawsuit was brought by at least 27 anonymous plaintiffs

• The abuse is alleged to have taken place primarily between the 1960s and 1990s

• The alleged perpetrators of said abuse were priests, teachers, and other employees of the archdiocese

• The lawsuit claims that the archdiocesan leaders “…turn[ed] a blind eye…” by transferring the defendants within the archdiocese and “…failing to take any remedial action whatsoever.”

Why we care: While we’ll refrain from editorializing too much given that this story seems to be still developing and many if not most facts have yet to emerge, we’ll simply point out that true or not it’s unfortunate that the Church has enough of a history at this point that these allegations are not implausible. Of course, any allegations of criminal behavior ought to be taken seriously and investigated - and we hope the archdiocese does just that - but how have we gotten to this point? While the rate of abuse in the Church is no higher than that in other denominations or public schools, being on par with our peers is not admirable in this regard. Prevention, not reaction, should be the order of the day.

Vatican docs show the founder of the Legionaries of Christ was nearly laicized 50 years before his removal

Summary: Documents from 1956 reveal that Fr. Marcial Maciel, who founded the Legionaries of Christ and was eventually laicized in 2006 due to multiple scandals, was nearly removed from ministry five decades earlier.

Details:

• A story in the AP writes that Fr. Maciel came under investigation in the 1950s over allegations of abuse and drug abuse.

• A memo from Oct 1, 1956 shows that reports of his abuses had reached Rome and the Vatican was taking the allegations seriously.

• The memo also conveys that Cardinal Giuseppe Pizzardo was an advocate for Fr. Maciel and that “…interventions by high-ranking personalities.” made further proceedings impossible.

• While he was ordered to go into detox and was sacked as the order’s head for a time, he eventually took back over after Pope Pius XII passed away.

• The information was made available through the Pius XII archives, which were opened in 2020.

Why we care: It’s hard to say whether this is good news or bad news. On the one hand, it seems fair to use this as a yardstick to measure how far the Church has come in the past half-century in dealing with abuse. On the other hand, this could certainly be another arrow in the quiver of those who seek to attack the Church, to say that she doesn’t take abuse seriously and that. Perhaps the former is just the silver lining of an otherwise dark cloud hanging over the Church’s head, given that we’re discussing two other instances of scandal this week. The Church could certainly use some good headlines, but it seems clear that the world is happy to ignore those and jump on the bad ones. As we remember St. John Vianney this week, please continue to keep our priests and clergy in your prayers.

Abortion limitations and prohibition of minor sex-changes upheld by Nebraska Supreme Court

Summary: A law passed in 2023 which bans sex-change operations for minors and abortions after 12 weeks was challenged in court by the ACLU and Planned Parenthood. Nebraska’s Supreme Court ruled against the challenge and kept the law in place.

Details:

• The challenge was based on Nebraska’s single subject rule, wherein it says “no bill shall contain more than one subject.”

• The court’s ruling found that the law addressed the single subject of “public health and welfare”

• Furthermore, the opinion states “..a bill may enact multiple policies, so long as those policies are united under a common purpose…”

• Nebraska still does allow abortions in the case of rape/incest/medical emergencies and does not prohibit sex-change drugs from being given to minors under specific circumstances.

Why we care: While we’d certainly love to see Nebraska’s laws go further, we can’t deny that we’re happy to see the current laws stand firm in the face of challengers. The grounds for the challenge do seem a bit weak, which may mean that the law itself is quite strong; on the other hand it could signal additional lawsuits further down the road especially given that abortion is on the ballot in Nebraska this November. Either way this seems to be a step in the right direction and in keeping with recent legislative trends across the nation, so we’ve got some hope for the future of this fight.

Ex-USCCB general secretary sues Grindr over data leak linking him to the gay hookup app

Summary: Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill resigned from his position as the USCCB’s general secretary in 2021 after The Pillar made allegations about his use of hookup app Grindr, and is now suing the company for failing to protect his data.

Details:

• The app is billed as “the largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people.”

• The Pillar’s initial report shows the monsignor used the app almost daily between 2018 and 2020.

• After being placed on leave, Msgr. Burrill resumed ministry.

• While The Pillar claims the data it used was commercially available, Msgr. Burrill’s lawsuit claims Grindr had mismanaged customer data and “knew they were failing to protect sensitive personal data of its customers.”

• The lawsuit also claims that Msgr. Burrill’s reputation was “destroyed” by the leak and that he was “subjected to significant financial damages and emotional and psychological devastation.”

Why we care: Maybe monsignor is right; maybe Grindr did mismanage his (and other customers’) data. We think that’s beside the point. It frankly just comes off as a bit slimy to go out of one’s way to seek reparation for something that resulted from something one should not have been doing in the first place. It’s reminiscent of those situations where a home invader gets shot and the homeowner is sued for wrongful death. Perhaps if father didn’t want his reputation being damaged he should not have been sneaking around trying to hook up with people. Perhaps we should have a bit more sympathy for father; if so, we’re struggling to find it. What do you think? Feel free to join us in discussion over on X.

Other stories

• French bishops, other Catholic leaders come together to denounce Paris Olympics opening ceremony

• NH governor signs bills protecting minors from some sex-change surgeries and restricting female sports to biological girls

• A new Catholic trade school hopes to provide an alternative to traditional college

• Pro-life news:

  • Investigative report reveals Canadian medical staff push for MAiD 

  • ‘Unborn Human Being’ is “too politically charged”; judge says AZ ballot pamphlet can use a different term 

Saint of the Week

St. John Vianney

Aug 4 | Patron Saint of priests

What’s going on:

• Notable Feast Days