Newark archbishop says warning signs of sexual abuse by priest 'got by me'

Mark Mueller
Star Ledger (Newark, NJ)
August 14, 2013

In the Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria, Ill., signs that the Rev. Thomas Maloney posed a danger to children were hard to miss.

In late 1994 or early 1995, a woman told church officials Maloney had molested her when she was a child, documents show. Later in 1995, the woman’s sister wrote to the diocese on her behalf, again insisting action be taken against the priest.

Four years later, a couple wrote to the vicar general, second-in-command of the diocese, complaining Maloney had an explicit sexual conversation with their 13-year-old son during confession, the documents show.

The warnings would continue in letters from parishioners and in internal diocese correspondence.

But Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, then bishop of Peoria, says he missed it all.

In a deposition unsealed as part of a $1.35 million settlement with one of Maloney’s alleged victims, Myers said he had no inkling Maloney — a friend who vacationed with him and lavished him with gifts of jewelry, gold coins and cash — was a potential molester.

"I did not have any suspicions," Myers said in the deposition, taken in Newark in 2010. "I — because of the, perhaps slipshod filing system that we had between the two different buildings of the office of the bishop, there may have been things that got by me. But I did not have any suspicions."

The deposition — released publicly Tuesday with a trove of letters and other diocese documents — provides a window into Myers’ unswerving support of Maloney. It also suggests the protection of predatory priests in Peoria trumped the protection of children, according to the parents of one of Maloney’s alleged victims and the lawyer who represented them in the long-running civil suit.

They say it is a pattern that has repeated itself in Newark, where Myers has come under fierce criticism in recent months for his handling of priests accused of abusing children.

"What you have here is a bishop complicit in the crime of child sexual abuse," Jeff Anderson, a Minnesota lawyer who filed the suit on behalf of the alleged victim, said Tuesday during a press conference outside Myers’ office in Newark. "The legacy of Myers and the choices he makes is alive and well and in the present."

Jim Goodness, a spokesman for Myers, declined to comment on the release of the deposition and other documents. He also would not directly address comments made by Anderson or the alleged victim’s parents, Joanne and David Ward.

"The record in Newark has been very clear," Goodness said in a statement. "The archbishop has consistently reported all allegations to authorities, has provided outreach to victims, and has removed priests."

Holding a poster with side-by-side photos of her son as an 8-year-old — his age at the time of the alleged abuse — Joanne Ward characterized the archbishop as a liar who knew full well Maloney, whom Myers helped elevate to monsignor, was a danger to children.

Andrew Ward, the family contended in the suit, was molested by Maloney in 1995 and 1996, nearly a year after the complaint by the woman who said Maloney abused her as a child.

"Bishop Myers knew Monsignor Maloney was molesting children and allowed him to go into my son’s school, and because of that, my family went through devastation," said Joanne Ward, 50. "I don’t want the resignation. I want Bishop Myers to go to jail as a predator because he was the one who played the chess game in allowing predators to be placed in our children’s school."



earlier stories:

Church pays $1.35 million in suit alleging Newark Archbishop protected abuser in Illinois

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Church pays $1.35 million in suit alleging Newark archbishop protected abuser in Illinois

Mark Mueller
Star Ledger (Newark, NJ)
August 12, 2013

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria will pay $1.35 million to settle a lawsuit that contends Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, Peoria’s former bishop, failed to take action against a sexually abusive priest in the mid-1990s, freeing him to molest again.

The settlement, reached late last week, is to be formally announced at a press conference Tuesday afternoon outside Myers’ office in Newark, said Jeff Anderson, the alleged victim’s attorney.

Anderson also will release a transcript of Myers’ deposition in the case. The deposition had been under court seal since 2010.

Anderson represents Andrew Ward, who has accused the Rev. Thomas Maloney, now deceased, of molesting him in Illinois in 1995 and 1996, when Ward was 8.

A year earlier, a woman told the diocese Maloney sexually abused her as a child, but the priest was permitted to remain in ministry, the suit contends. Myers also failed to notify police of the allegation, Anderson said.

A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Peoria declined to comment on the settlement. Jim Goodness, a spokesman for Myers, said it was his understanding the initial allegation brought by the woman in Peoria was investigated but could not be substantiated.

Maloney, who died in 2009 at age 73, has since been accused of molesting at least three other children, Anderson said.

"The theme that emerges here is that Myers chose to protect himself and the reputation of the diocese at great peril to this child and many others," Anderson said. "That is a pattern that has emerged not just in Peoria but in Newark."

Anderson was referring to Myers’ handling of the Rev. Michael Fugee, who was criminally charged in May after The Star-Ledger reported he attended youth retreats and heard confessions from minors in violation of a law enforcement agreement barring him from such activities.

Fugee, who has since been released on bail, signed the agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office in 2007 to avoid retrial on charges that he repeatedly groped a teenage boy.

The archdiocese’s vicar general at the time also signed the agreement, pledging to supervise Fugee. The vicar general, the Rev. John Doran, has since been demoted.

More recently, Myers faced criticism after the archdiocese allowed another accused molester, the Rev. Robert Chabak, to live in the rectory of an Oradell parish after his shore home was damaged during Hurricane Sandy. Parishioners at the church, which has a school and youth groups, were not informed of Chabak’s presence.

Myers served as bishop of Peoria from 1990 to 2001, when he was appointed archbishop of Newark.

Goodness has steadfastly defended Myers’ stewardship of the archdiocese through the recent months of upheaval, saying the protection of children is a top priority.

Myers has nonetheless become a frequent target of advocates for victims of clergy sexual abuse over claims he has not done enough to hold abusive priests accountable.

"The case in Peoria is a carbon copy of how he has handled things here in Newark," said Robert Hoatson, a former priest who now heads Road to Recovery, a group that aids abuse victims. "The protection of priests has been his priority, and the just treatment of victims has always been secondary."

In Illinois, Maloney allegedly abused Ward when the boy was a second-grader at Epiphany Grade School in Normal, Ill. Ward’s family filed suit in 2008.

Since then, a man and two women have provided sworn statements to Anderson, Ward’s lawyer, contending Maloney abused them as children, too, the attorney said. He said he did not know if they planned to file suit.

Ward’s parents are among those expected to speak at Tuesday's press conference.

A diocese's darkest day

Cynthia Hubert
Merced Sun Star
August 11, 2013

Just after sunrise on a crisp November morning, the Rev. Timothy Nondorf arrived at the Sacramento Catholic Diocese to tend to administrative duties for Bishop Jaime Soto.

Nondorf, an easygoing young priest with silver hair, celebrated Masses and heard confessions at Holy Spirit Church in Land Park and lived in its rectory. His primary job, though, was with the diocese, where he served as vice chancellor.

As he parked outside the brick building behind an Arco station on Broadway, Nondorf anticipated an ordinary day of answering telephone calls and huddling with the bishop about pastoral issues.

Instead, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011, almost instantly turned to crisis for him and the sprawling diocese.

By the end of the day one of the diocese's most popular priests, accused of molesting a young girl, would be the subject of a criminal investigation. The Catholic Church, long criticized for protecting abusers, would be publicly tested about its declaration of "zero tolerance" for such crimes. Soto would steel himself for intense public scrutiny.

The father's call

Minutes after settling into his chair that Tuesday, Nondorf listened to a voice mail message someone had left on the diocese's main line overnight.

I have a complaint against one of your priests, the man said, and left his name and number.

Nondorf, 41, who had served as a priest in parishes in Sacramento, Elk Grove and Grass Valley, at first was unflustered. The caller, he speculated, probably disliked the priest's homily on Sunday, or objected to his style of footwear.

He returned the call a few minutes later. This is Father Tim Nondorf, he said. How can I help?

Father Uriel Ojeda molested my daughter, the man answered.

For a moment Nondorf froze, stunned. "Oh my God," he thought. He flashed back to the charismatic Ojeda's ordination, with a group of young priests known as the "Magnificent Seven," in 2007.

Quickly, Nondorf pulled himself together. He began taking notes.

This was a new era in the Catholic Church. In the past, diocesan officials admit, skepticism had been the first reaction to accusations against priests. Today, because of revelations about decades of clergy abuse, secret settlements and accusations that the church has protected molester priests, the response is vastly different.

"We now have the procedures in place to act quickly," Soto said recently.

..........

The diocese had faced sexual misconduct allegations against priests only a few times since Soto was installed as bishop in 2007. They had never dealt with a case like Ojeda's, which would become a criminal investigation of a very popular and public priest.

As he spoke for the first time with the father of the girl whom Ojeda allegedly abused, Nondorf grew increasingly concerned.

He asked the man detailed questions, scribbling dates and circumstances of the allegations. The man, court records would later show, was accusing Ojeda of touching an adolescent girl's breasts, exposing himself to her and placing his hands under her pajamas as she lay in bed. The man said the acts began when his daughter was 13 and Ojeda, who was the family's parish priest at Holy Rosary in Woodland, was a guest in the family's home. Ojeda had since been transferred to Our Lady of Mercy Church in Redding.

The voice of the girl's father was laced with anger, but Nondorf noted that he spoke coherently and rationally.

I want Father Uriel removed from the ministry, the man said. I don't want this happening to anyone else.

After about 20 minutes, Nondorf hung up. He laid his head in his hands for a moment, processing the sordid information, then walked down the center's carpeted hallway to the office of another member of the bishop's management team, Chancellor Kathy Conner.

"Kathy, we have a big problem," he said, closing the door behind him.

Plans and prayers

As Nondorf began talking, Conner's heart started to race. According to Soto's protocol, her job as the diocese's chief operating officer was to follow up with the family, then speak to the bishop about whether the allegations against Ojeda seemed credible.

.............

She knew Ojeda as a rising star of the diocese, an energetic, hardworking priest in his early 30s who was a role model to his largely Latino parishioners. He was a bit of a media darling whose story had been featured on the front pages of The Bee.

Ojeda had trained in the midst of the Catholic Church's turmoils around the issue of sexual abuse. Now he was among the accused.

On the phone, the Woodland man told Conner that Father Uriel had been like a son to him and his wife.

He was part of our family, he said to her. How could this be?

Conner inquired about the daughter's health, offered the family spiritual support from the diocese, and talked to the man about setting up professional counseling for the girl. She wished the family well and said she would be in touch.

She then requested a meeting with Soto.

The bishop was not in the building, but Soto rarely is without his iPad and smartphone. Conner sent him an email detailing what she and Nondorf had learned.

Soto soon arrived and assembled his key advisers around his conference table, settling in under a photo of John Wayne with the caption: "Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway."

By noon, the diocese's attorney, Jim Sweeney, had made a report to CPS and the Sacramento police, who asked the diocese to wait a day before talking to Ojeda. Vicar General Monsignor James Murphy, with the help of canon law expert Mark Richards, drafted a letter informing Ojeda that he was under investigation and would be removed from his ministry. The diocese's publicist and troubleshooter, Kevin Eckery, flew in from a meeting in San Diego to help handle the media.

Among other things, they had to decide who would drive to Redding the following day to outline the allegations to Ojeda and bring him to Sacramento. As second in command to Soto, Murphy normally would have been charged with that duty. But Murphy, who had been Ojeda's supervisor when the younger priest was in the seminary, had an important meeting in Siskiyou County on Wednesday.

So the task fell to Nondorf.

The plan was for Nondorf to travel with Joseph Sheehan, a former FBI agent who was working as a private investigator on contract with the law firm that represents the diocese.

........

That night, Nondorf went home to the rectory at Holy Spirit, ate dinner and made small talk with his roommate, forbidden from mentioning anything about the case. Later, he walked to the empty church, knelt in a pew and prayed silently for about an hour.

The priest's admission

In the morning, Nondorf rode shotgun in Sheehan's green sedan during a three-hour drive along Interstate 5 to Redding. He had a feeling, he told Sheehan, that "this is not going to end well."

Ojeda knew Nondorf would be visiting, but had not been told why.

..........

As they walked from the parking lot to the rectory of the Redding church, the two men spotted Ojeda waiting for them at the back gate. They watched his brilliant smile fade as they approached.

"We have to talk," Nondorf said. Ojeda led them into the living room of the rectory.

"I'm sorry to say this," Nondorf said after they sat down, "but we have credible allegations against you, and you're going to have to come down to Sacramento to face this."

Without mentioning the girl's name, Sheehan outlined the accusations.

Ojeda was silent, his face blank.

Yes, he said, finally. Those things did happen. (Later, the priest's attorney would argue that his words represented a confession, or "penitent privilege," and were protected from disclosure in court. A judge rejected that argument.)

After their discussion at the rectory, the three men walked together to Ojeda's bedroom, where he packed a canvas bag with enough clothing for a few days. The diocese had a place for him to stay during the investigation of the allegations, Nondorf told him.

Ojeda gave Nondorf the keys to his bright yellow pickup truck, which they drove back to Sacramento, with Sheehan trailing in his car.

Nondorf's throat was aching. His voice was fading. He felt mostly anger toward Ojeda, who hardly said a word during the drive.

About 100 miles from Sacramento, near the town of Orland, Sheehan phoned Nondorf and told him he needed to stop for fuel. At the gas station, he told the others that he had received a call from Sweeney. The police wanted to talk to Ojeda. If he chose to do so, the priest could turn himself over to authorities that day.

Ojeda told Nondorf to take him to the police station.

As night began to fall, Nondorf pulled into the parking lot of the Sacramento Police Department on Freeport Boulevard. After Sheehan went inside, he took Ojeda's hand and looked into his eyes.

"You may have to pay for what you have done," he said. "But you are still a priest and a brother."

Ojeda's eyes began to get teary.

"You need to consider getting an attorney," Nondorf told him. "You're in serious trouble."

.........

At around 9 that night, Ojeda traded his black clothing and white collar for an orange jumpsuit. He was fingerprinted, booked and escorted into a cell at the Sacramento County jail.

Fate decided

........ The priest's incarceration went unnoticed until Friday, when the diocese announced it in a terse press release. The first news reports burst onto the Internet within minutes. "Catholic Priest Arrested for Lewd Acts With a Child," one headline said. Ojeda's solemn face, lips pursed, appeared in a lineup of inmates on mugshot.com.

From his cell eight floors above the street, Ojeda already had become a client of one of the area's most prominent criminal defense attorneys, Jesse Ortiz.

Soto, meanwhile, was getting ready to face the public.

"We can't hide from this," Soto told his staff. "We are coming out of a history of suspicion that we have not been candid about these things. It is important for me to deliver the news."

It was during the early 2000s, as Ojeda was studying for the priesthood, that the national sexual abuse scandal erupted across America. The Sacramento diocese, like many across the country, faced questions and criticism about its handling of such cases.

At the time, Bishop William Wiegand revealed that 14 of its priests had been accused of sexual misconduct with minors over the previous 30 years. Of the 14, two had died. Two were retired and not permitted to function as priests. Another seven had abandoned the priesthood or fled the jurisdiction. Three were still active in the diocese, because the allegations against them had not been sustained.

At 12:03 p.m. on the Friday after Ojeda's arrest, Soto stood before more than a dozen reporters in a conference room at the pastoral center.

As two TV stations broadcast his remarks live, the bishop spoke of the pain and courage of the alleged victim and her family. He called the allegations against Ojeda devastating.

The violation of trust, he said, "takes our breath away."

Even as he spoke, a crowd began to assemble outside the downtown jail.

Carrying signs with Ojeda's photo and chanting his name, members of the priest's devoted flock were angrily protesting his arrest. Some attacked the diocese as being jealous of Ojeda's successes, and raised the possibility the Woodland girl had fabricated the allegations.

That afternoon, Soto piloted his white Nissan Altima to a meeting in Redding that was unconnected to the Ojeda case. But his advisers kept his cellphone pinging with updates and information about the matter.

The accused priest's supporters had organized a defense fund on his behalf and set up a "Padre Uriel Ojeda" Facebook page. They were peppering the diocese with calls and emails. They were praying and singing on the sidewalk beneath Ojeda's jail cell.

In the days that followed, Soto and his staff kept a low profile. They were wary, the bishop said, of showing favoritism to either side in the case. They assigned priests to visit Ojeda in jail, but neither the bishop nor members of his administrative team were among them.

After a few weeks behind bars, Ojeda was released on bail to a secret location, and since then has appeared in public only during court hearings.

On Friday, Aug. 2, following a plea deal, a Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced Ojeda to eight years in state prison.

Ojeda apologized to the family and the diocese and called himself a "weak and sinful" man. A prosecutor read statements from the girl and her family, calling the priest a "selfish coward."

Deputies led Ojeda, his hands chained at his waist, back behind bars.

But for the diocese, the case "is still not over," Soto said recently. "I feel a deep sadness for what he did to others, and what he did to himself."

The diocese, he said, is asking the Vatican to strip Ojeda of his priesthood.

"We are beginning the formal process to remove him," Soto said. "It is a very sad thing. He had such a bright future. But there are consequences to what he has done."

Read full story at Merced Sun Star

Reports of suspicious financial activity up at Vatican

Gazzetta del Sud August 9, 2013 Rome, August 9 - The success of the Vatican's commitment to greater financial surveillance is demonstrated by the rise in suspicious activities detected, the head of financial intelligence there said Friday. In an interview published in the daily La Repubblica, Rene Bruelhart said the Vatican's latest measures toward greater financial enforcement are already proving themselves. The rising number of suspicious transaction reports this year - with more reported to date in 2013 than in the previous year - proves the system is effective, said Bruelhart, director of the Vatican's watchdog Financial Information Authority (AIF). ''The suspicious transaction reports detected in 2013 are significantly more than the six recorded in 2012,'' Bruelhart is quoted as saying. ''That fact...signals that the system of controls is working''. In May, the AIF said it had uncovered six cases of suspect transactions in 2012, a notable increase since 2011 when only one such case was flagged. His comments came one day after Pope Francis issued a papal decree aimed at strengthening and broadening the scope of financial surveillance in order to combat money laundering and corruption. The papal law, known as a ''motu proprio,'' gives the AIF the new task of prudential supervision over all areas of the Curia, the Church's administration, as well as its other institutions. The decree was a further step towards making it compliant with international standards, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said following Thursday's announcement. The new regulations at the Holy See will not only combat money laundering, but also the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It establishes a new body, the Financial Security Committee, for the purpose of ''coordinating the competent authorities of the Holy See and the Vatican City State in the area of prevention and countering of money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction''. In another step in the Vatican's efforts to become more financially transparent and internationally compliant, it recently signed a formal agreement with the Bank of Italy on banking and financial information to fight money laundering. The agreement, signed July 26, was based on a model prepared by the Egmont Group, the global network of financial intelligence units. The agreement contains clauses on reciprocity, confidentiality and the permitted uses of financial information. The Holy See's reputation on financial transparency had been hit hard by number of scandals, including several at the Vatican Bank, officially called the Institute of Religious Works (IOR). Francis is keen to remove stains from the bank's reputation and get the Vatican onto the ''white list'' of countries with unimpeachable credentials by working with the Council of Europe's Moneyval anti-money-laundering agency.

G.K. Chesterton soon to be saint?

MAURO PIANTA
Vatican Insider
August 9, 2013

TURIN - Who knows whether a sort of Fr. Brown figure will be investigating the canonization cause of English writer Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936)? It was recently announced that Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton, England, has appointed a suitable cleric to begin an investigation into the potential for opening a cause for G.K. Chesterton, a writer, essayist and journalist and author of the much loved Father Brown detective stories who converted to Catholicism in 1922.

The President of the American Chesterton Society, Dale Ahlquist, announced the news last 1 August. “It was a great privilege for me to make the announcement at the conference,” he said. “One of the reasons that especially motivated him (Mgr. Doyle, Ed.) is the fact that His Holiness, Pope Francis, expressed support for Chesterton’s Cause when he was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires.”

Mgr. Doyle is the Bishop of the diocese of Northampton, a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Westminster, which covers the counties of Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire and the traditional county of Buckinghamshire.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) is one of the England’s most celebrated writers. His books “Orthodoxy,” “The Everlasting Man,” his works about St. Francis of Assisi and St. Thomas Aquinas as well as the Father Brown detective stories, are world famous. All his texts are brilliant, deep reflections into the relationship between faith and reason. Their content played an important role in many people’s decision to convert and was a positive influence on many great 20th century figures.

One of his friends (and admirers) was British writer and philosopher Clive Staples Lewis. But Chesterton also influenced John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, author of “The Lord of the Rings” and other fantasy best-sellers such as “The Hobbit” and “The Silmarillion”. He also inspired the scholar, poet playwright and journalist Maurice Baring, the historian Christopher Henry Dawson, the theologian Mgr. Ronald Knox and agnostic authors such as the great Argentinean writer, Jorge Luis Borges.

The President of the Chesterton American Society recalled Chesterton’s influence on the Servant of God, U.S. Archbishop Fulton John Sheen, one of the most brilliant preachers of his time. “I think he (Chesterton, Ed.) is very much a saint for our time and could draw many people into the Catholic Church,” Ahlquist said. So could Chesterton be made a saint soon? He would probably have laughed at the thought. Or would the master of paradox perhaps have foud it paradoxical?

Why the Franciscans of the Immaculate have been placed under the supervision of a commmisioner

ANDREA TORNIELLI
Vatican Insider
VATICAN CITY

The Pope’s decision to place the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate under the supervision of a commissioner - after the Congregation for Religious requested him to do at the end of an apostolic visit which began last year – and to forbid them to celebrate Mass according to the Old Rite without prior authorisation, has sparked heated media reactions originating from traditionalist circles and critics of Francis’ papacy. There is one basic reason for this: Francis is seen as going back on a Motu Proprio issued by Benedict XVI in 2007 which liberalised the pre-Vatican II missal. Vatican spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi has denied that this is the case.

American traditionalist blog Rorate Coeli published the text of the decree which announces the appointment of a commissioner to supervise the Institute, including the clause on the traditional Latin Mass. On 29 July, Italian traditionalist blog, Messainlatino, published the official version of the letter the commissioner sent to the Institute’s religious. The news was discussed in greater detail that same day, by Vatican correspondent Sandro Magister, who presented it as the first open “contradiction” to Ratzinger’s pontificate. A reaction also came from Italian news agency Corrispondenza Romana, headed by Professor Roberto De Mattei, who has ties with the traditionalist world and has written a book about the Second Vatican Council, which presents Vatican II as an event which broke with past tradition. Corrispondenza Romana also gathered signatures for a petition to support the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate being able to use the Old Rite. The petition was then sent to the Congregation for Religious.

On 7 August, two journalists with close links to the traditionalist world, Mario Palmaro and Alessandro Gnocchi, wrote an article for Italian newspaper Il Foglio with the eye-catching title: “Quella sberla ai Francescani nella chiesa di Francesco” (“Francis’ Church gives Franciscans a slap in the face”). The article says the style of the letter sent by the Holy See-appointed commissioner Fr. Fidenzio Volpi, resembled that of Romanian Communist politician Ceaușescu’s bureaucrats. The two journalists mocked Francis’ message to Muslims for the end of Ramadan as well as his recent trip to the Southern Italian island of Lampedusa. Comparing Francis’ pontificate against the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, the journalists said the latter “are poor and humble without being ostentatious”, whilst the “new pontificate seems to love the cameras and being in the spotlight.” Gnocchi and Palmaro defined the decision to appoint a supervisory commissioner for the Institute a “draconian” measure which aims to weaken the friars in their determination to rediscover and preserve the traditional Latin Mass. The 1962 missal corresponds to the Mass that has been celebrated for two centuries whereas the post-Vatican II liturgy is not linked to tradition.

In a recent interview with Vatican Insider, the former Procurator General of the Franciscan Friars, Fr. Alessandro Apollonio, flatly denied that the Institute’s friars and women religious were in any way involved in spreading the idea that the decisions affecting the Institute disavow Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio. But doubts remain regarding the obvious attempts to transform the Institutes internal issues and tensions to do with faithfulness to the original charisma, into an open battle over the traditional Mass and the supposed betrayal of Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio. This seems to suggest that the Holy See’s decision was either taken light-heartedly or based on “false” information, as Fr. Apollonio himself stated.

It is worth remembering that the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate – an Institute which has a strong Marian and missionary ethos, was established in the 70s and takes its inspiration from St. Francis of Assisi and especially St. Maximilian Kolbe – did not originally spring out of a traditional context. The founder, Fr. Stefano Manelli took the Institute in this direction after the promulgation of the Motu Proprio issued by Benedict XVI in 2007, liberalising the Old Mass.

In the General Chapter held in 2008, Fr. Manelli suggested a review of the Institute’s Constitutions, to make the use of the Old Rite in conventual Masses obligatory. Opposition to the proposal was so great that it was withdrawn without even putting it to the vote. But in the three years that followed, it was suggested again that Mass be celebrated according to the the Old Rite and sometimes the Rite was imposed. In an interview published on a French blog in 2010, Fr. Apollonio himself admitted that the Old Rite “is our conventual form of Mass and was recommended by our founder.” The Old Rite was even a favourite for priestly ordinations. Although no written law or decision was introduced in the Institute’s General Chapter to make the use of the Old Rite official, it was the “preferred” Rite in convents run by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. Some countries, in fact, issued bilingual editions of the book of hours, in English and Latin, so as to encourage people to pray in Latin.

In 2012, this led a group of friars – Frs Antonio Santoro, Michele Iorio, Pierdamiano Fehlner, Massimiliano Zangheratti and Angelo Geiger – who formed part of the original community and held important roles in the running of the Institute and in its development and were transferred on various occasions as punishment for their non-traditionalist views – to ask the Vatican Congregation for Religious for the original charism to be restored. They also asked for traditionalist ideas not to be imposed on them, including those which reduced the influence of the Second Vatican Council or presented it as an event which marked an irreconcilable break with previous tradition.

Fr. Geiger wrote a letter stating that there were some influential figures within the Institute who claimed the New Mass was for ordinary Catholics, whereas the Old Mass was “for Catholics who were more serious about the faith.” According to this point of view, the “extraordinary form of the Roman Rite” liberalised by Benedict XVI was seen as automatically superior.

A separate chapter addresses the mistrust some of the Institute’s heads feel towards the new pontificate. This opinion is fully shared by certain websites and blogs that try to portray the friars as victims “persecuted” by “enemies” who support the Old Mass and their Vatican sponsors. Those who oppose the line taken in recent years do not believe that the Old Mass and traditionalism should form the exclusive basis of young seminarists’ training. They also do not agree that traditionalist “opinions” should be treated as “law” within the Institute and passed off as a sign of loyalty to its founder, when they should not be imposed on anyone. Particularly, these friars say, as the General Chapter did not consult or issue a mandate on this matter. Traditionalism “has nothing to do with our charisma” and “according to our legislation is not obligatory.”

Added to this, are other problems to do with the running of the Institute, the growing role of its female component which is more united in its support for the proposal regarding the Old Mass, and the pastoral problems linked to parishes where the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate carry out their ministry. A year ago, Benedict XVI’s reaction to all this was to order an apostolic visit. On 9 May 2012, even before the visit took place, in one of his public audiences, Ratzinger greeted consecrated women, seminarists and the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, praying that they would allow themselves to be nourished by the Word of God and the Eucharistic bread, so as to feel cum Ecclesia. This message is echoed in the letter sent by Francis’ appointed commissioner to the Institute’s members.

The apostolic visitor handed out a very detailed questionnaire which dealt with all these problems and as Vatican Insider has been able to learn, most of the members consulted said they were in favour of an extraordinary General Chapter being held or of a commissioner being appointed. This is proof that there are tensions within the Institute and that they are not limited to just a handful of rebel friars who supposedly managed to falsify the truth.

So the theory that Pope Francis’ decision is a disavowal of his predecessor’s Motu Proprio does not seem to hold water, as Vatican Insider wrote last 30 July.

It is therefore understandable that the Holy See did not take the decision to appoint a supervisory commissioner lightly and only went ahead with it had carefully considered every little detail. The Institute’s official website says that its founder, Fr. Stefano Manelli and the entire Institute of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate pledge obedience to the Holy Father and trust that given this obedience, greater mercy would be shown towards them. In the coming weeks, the commissioner will decide whether this statement should prevail over the pressure being placed on the Institute’s friars by traditionalist circles, to celebrate consciously according to the Old Rite, without asking for prior authorisation. According to these traditionalists, the fact that the Vatican decree does not at any point specify who the “competent authorities” are, gives the friars the right to continue celebrating the Old Rite.

Pope Francis beefs up supervision of Vatican bank

Catherine Hornby
Reuters
August 8, 2013

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis on Thursday strengthened monitoring of the Vatican bank to prevent money laundering or the financing of terrorism as part of his campaign to clean it up after decades of scandal.

Issuing a "Motu Proprio" - a decree at his own initiative, Francis said the Vatican's internal watchdog, the Financial Information Authority (FIA), would have increased powers of supervision over the bank and other Holy See departments involved in financial activities.

The move will lead to closer monitoring of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) - the formal name of the Vatican bank - and responds to a recommendation from the European anti-money laundering committee Moneyval last year.

The Vatican is trying to meet international standards on fighting crimes such as money laundering, funding of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Moneyval said in a July 2012 report that the Vatican still had some way to go.

It said FIA's powers should include reviewing policies, procedures, accounts and records and that it should have the right to enter Vatican premises and demand access to information.

Francis's decree broadens the application of relevant Vatican laws to the departments of the Roman Curia, or central administration, and to other institutions dependent on the Holy See as well as non-profit organisations based in Vatican City.

It also establishes a "Financial Security Committee" to coordinate efforts to prevent laundering, terrorism financing and the proliferation of weapons, the Vatican said.

Pope Francis has made cleaning up the Vatican administration one of his central goals since his election in March. He has brought in international experts to advise him on economic affairs, improve transparency and enforce accounting principles.

He has also set up a special commission of inquiry to reform the IOR. In July the pope said the bank must become "honest and transparent".

The Vatican's financial dealings are again under scrutiny after the arrest of a senior Catholic priest at the centre of a money smuggling case. Italian prosecutors are investigating two former IOR top executives on suspicion of repeatedly breaking Italian money laundering laws.

In 2010, Rome magistrates froze 23 million euros ($30.6 million) held by the IOR in an Italian bank. The Vatican said its bank was merely transferring funds between its own accounts in Italy and Germany. The funds were released in 2011 but the money laundering investigation continues.

Last month the FIA signed a memorandum of understanding with Italian authorities over the exchange of financial and bank information as part of efforts to combat money laundering in line with international standards. ($1 = 0.7508 euros) (Reporting By Catherine Hornby; editing by Barry Moody/Mark Heinrich)