OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - The Omaha Archdiocese is launching a campaign for sainthood for Father Edward J. Flanagan, the Catholic priest who founded Boys Town and whose story was immortalized by an Academy Award-winning movie.
Flanagan dedicated much of his life to ministering to orphans and troubled youth, and is best remembered for establishing in 1917 the Omaha orphanage Father Flanagan's Boys Home.
The archdiocese will formally open the canonization process -- which is often lengthy -- with a March 17 prayer service at Boys Town's Immaculate Conception Church.
Flanagan, who died in 1948, was known for believing that every child could be a productive citizen if given love, a home, an education and a trade, and accepted boys of every race and creed. He is quoted as saying, "There are no bad boys. There is only bad environment, bad training, bad example, bad thinking."
His story was told in the 1938 film, "Boys Town," starring Spencer Tracy, who won a best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Flanagan.
The canonization process to sainthood starts in the archdiocese and goes to the Congregation of the Causes of Saints in Rome and to the pope. To be canonized a saint, at least two miracles associated with Flanagan must have been performed after his death.
Reverend Steven Boes, national executive director of Boys Town, said in a statement that Flanagan is receiving recognition he deserves.
"Though the process will be investigating proven miracles associated with Father Flanagan, we know that miracles occurred every day in his work to heal children in mind, body and spirit," he said. "These everyday miracles still occur as Boys Town continues Flanagan's work by saving children and healing families today."
Flanagan was born in 1886 in County Roscommon, Ireland. He came to the United States in 1904 and was ordained in 1912. He toured the United States discussing his views on juvenile delinquency.
After World War Two, President Harry Truman asked Flanagan to travel around the world for discussions about children orphaned and displaced by the war. During a tour of Europe, he died of a heart attack in Berlin, Germany, on May 15, 1948. He is buried in the chapel at Boys Town.
The canonization process has the potential to inspire the more than 230,000 Catholics in northeast Nebraska, said Deacon Tim McNeil, chancellor of the archdiocese, in a statement.
"If Father Flanagan becomes sainted, it would send a message to Nebraskans," McNeil said. "If he could live a holy and exemplary life in Omaha, why can't we all?"
Boys Town founder Fr. Flanagan warned Irish Church about abuse
Father Flanagan reads to several children from Boys Town
1946: Fr. Flanagan slammed Ireland’s reform schools as 'a disgrace to the nation'
By JOHN FAY, IrishCentral.Com Staff Writer Published Thursday, May 28, 2009, 2:43 PM
Father Edward Flanagan, founder of “Boys Town” made famous by the Spencer Tracy movie, was a lone voice in condemning Ireland’s industrial schools back in the 1940s –and he was viciously castigated by church and government for doing so.
Fr. Flanagan, from Co. Roscommon, left Ireland in 1904 and was ordained a priest eight years later. In 1917 he was living and working in Omaha, Nebraska, when he hit upon the idea of a "boys town," which offered education and a home for the poor and wayward boys of Omaha.
However, demand for the service was so great that he soon had to find bigger premises. Boys Town, built on a farm 10 miles from Omaha, was the result.
The center was open to all. There were no fences to stop the boys from leaving. Fr. Flanagan said he was “not building a prison." "This is a home," he said. "You do not wall in members of your own family.”
Boys Town eventually became so well-known - and so well-respected - that Hollywood and the U.S. President came calling. Spencer Tracey and Mickey Rooney starred in the 1938 movie "Boys Town," and it made a national hero out of Fr. Flanagan. He was internationally renowned as “the world’s most foremost expert on boys’ training and youth care.”
When World War II ended in 1945, President Harry S. Truman asked Fr. Flanagan to tour Asia and Europe, to see what could be done for the homeless and neglected children in those regions.
Fr. Flanagan decided to return to the land of his birth in 1946 to visit his family, and also to visit the “so-called training schools" run by the Christian Brothers to see if they were "a success or failure.”
The success of the film "Boys Town," meant Fr. Flanagan was treated like a celebrity on his arrival. His visit was noted by the The Irish Independent, which said that Fr. Flanagan had succeeded “against overwhelming odds,” spurred on by the “simple slogan that 'There is no such thing as a bad boy.'”
But Fr. Flanagan was unhappy with what he found in Ireland. He was dismayed at the state of Ireland's reform schools and blasted them as “a scandal, un-Christlike, and wrong.” And he said the Christian Brothers, founded by Edmund Rice, had lost its way.
Speaking to a large audience at a public lecture in Cork’s Savoy Cinema he said, "You are the people who permit your children and the children of your communities to go into these institutions of punishment. You can do something about it." He called Ireland’s penal institutions "a disgrace to the nation," and later said "I do not believe that a child can be reformed by lock and key and bars, or that fear can ever develop a child’s character."
However, his words fell on stony ground. He wasn't simply ignored. He was taken to pieces by the Irish establishment. The then-Minister for Justice Gerald Boland said in the Dáil that he was “not disposed to take any notice of what Monsignor Flanagan said while he was in this country, because his statements were so exaggerated that I did not think people would attach any importance to them.”
Fr. Flanagan was a devout Catholic, a man who Catholics and non-Catholics world-wide had deemed a hero. He was the Mother Theresa of his day.
Despite that, the Irish Church and the Irish authorities felt comfortable ignoring Fr. Flanagan, ignoring the fact that he was considered to be an expert in the matter of providing for the education and upbringing of boys who were otherwise considered to be “lost causes.”
When he arrived back in America Fr. Flanagan said: "What you need over there is to have someone shake you loose from your smugness and satisfaction and set an example by punishing those who are guilty of cruelty, ignorance and neglect of their duties in high places . . . I wonder what God's judgment will be with reference to those who hold the deposit of faith and who fail in their God-given stewardship of little children."
Again, his efforts fell on stony ground.
What was it about the Irish Church and the Irish authorities that made them so insular that they felt comfortable dismissing someone of Fr. Flanagan's stature? Despite the fact that Fr. Flanagan was a popular hero to many Irish people, his words had no sway with those in authority, whether in the government or the Church.
And, once those who endorsed the industrial school model survived Fr. Flanagan's broadsides, they must have known that no one would challenge them again. They were right, for 50 years anyway.
Not since the penal times has the Catholic Church been so threatened in Ireland. Only this time the damage is all self-inflicted and not imposed by an outside force. Unless strong Catholic characters arise from the wreckage we have now, the Church in Ireland is doomed.
Did Santorum rubbish Pope John Paul II for his asking forgiveness and for his apology ..
March 12, 2000 - Pope John Paul II and Cardinals ask forgiveness for sins, including those against the People of Israel:
March 16, 1998 - The Vatican apologizes in the document "We Remember, a reflection on the Shoah" for Catholics who failed to do enough to help Jews against Nazi persecution. It also defends wartime Pope Pius XII from accusations that he ignored the Holocaust.
Vatican City could be hub for money laundering, says U.S.
By Nick Pisa .. UPDATED: 12:28 GMT, 9 March 2012 .. Comments (49)
Drug enforcement chiefs have for the first time identified the Vatican as a possible centre for money laundering from criminal activity.
The report by the American State Department's International Narcotics Control Strategy lists the Holy See as one of 68 countries including Yemen, Algeria and North Korea, describing it as a 'country of concern' for money laundering or other financial crimes.
Officials said they had placed the Vatican on its watch list because of the 'huge amount of cash' that flows into the tiny city state and also because it was still unclear how effective anti money laundering legislation introduced last year by Pope Benedict XVI had been.
Crowds gather in St Peter's Square in Vatican City which has been placed on a list of countries that could be involved in money laundering
The news comes just weeks after a series of leaked documents from within the Vatican and which were dubbed 'Vatileaks', revealed allegations of corruption and money laundering within the Holy See and which forced officials into issuing a series of denials.
The documents said that despite Pope Benedict signing a new anti money laundering law to make it more difficult for illegal funds to be recycled through Vatican accounts, there was a massive loophole which made it impossible to take action against any offence committed before its introduction on 1 April 2011.
Pope Benedict XVI introduced anti-money laundering legislation last year, but it is not yet known how effective that has been
Prosecutors in Rome are currently investigating two transfers totalling 23 million Euros from the Vatican Bank, or the Institute of Religious Works to give it its proper name, to two smaller banks.
The transactions took place in September 2010 and as a result the head of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi and his chief executive Paolo Cipriani, were placed under official investigation by Rome prosecutors and the 23 million Euro was also seized as part of the investigation.
Officials were tipped off about the two suspicious transactions by the Bank of Italy, as the Vatican Bank was said to have 'failed to disclose fully' all the information it was supposed to regarding the transactions as per international banking laws.
Investigators involved in the case said they have met with 'a deafening silence' as they try to get to the bottom of the case, with requests for information being constantly dodged - at the time the Vatican said it was 'perplexed and astonished' at the allegation and gave its full backing to Gotti Tedeschi and Cipriani.
Today author Gianluigi Nuzzi, who wrote a best selling book on financial scandals at the Holy See called 'Vatican Spa' said:'This news is inevitable and the Vatican really needs to follow international rules and ensure that it is transparent when it comes to banking transactions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HACTIVISTS TAKE DOWN VATICAN WEBSITE IN CYBER ATTACK
Online hacking group Anonymous claims to have taken down the Vatican website in protest against everything from Catholic doctrine to the sexual abuse of children.
The website of the Holy See, www.vatican.va, was left inaccessible yesterday afternoon and evening after the attack by the 'hactivists'.
Vatican spokesman, the Reverend Federico Lombardi, confirmed the site had been compromised but declined to comment on the source.
[The Vatican's website]
He said he didn't know how long it would take the Vatican's technicians to bring the site back up but it was working this afternoon.
In what claims to be the 'official' site of Anonymous in Italy, a statement posted Wednesday said the group was attacking the Vatican to protest the execution of heretics and the burning of books during the Inquisition and more recently the sexual abuse of children by priests.
Statements purportedly authored by members of Anonymous are almost impossible to verify, given the leaderless nature of the group.
In August, the website of World Youth Day, the massive Catholic youth festival that was underway in Madrid, Spain, was attacked by hackers as Pope Benedict XVI arrived to take part.
The website was up and down all day on the first day of the festival, August 18, in what the festival's organizers said was the result of 'hacking attacks.' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'The Vatican says that it is but it is still not on the internationally recognised white list of countries and until it is there will always be suspicion surrounding its financial activities. I understand inspectors were at the Vatican a few months ago and would not be surprised if the State Department's announcement was connected to this.
'There are ongoing investigations against the Vatican Bank but every time prosecutors try and ask a question they are met with at best half answers or at worst and more often the case, complete silence.'
It also emerged last month that prosecutors in Rome have also placed four priests under investigation were aged 37, 49 and 62, with the oldest being Father Evaldo Biasini, 85, who has been given the nickname 'Father Cashpoint' by detectives.
He is alleged to have laundered hundreds of thousands of Euros belonging to a corrupt businessman through accounts he opened for him at the Vatican Bank and was allowed to 'keep a percentage' of the money as payment.
While another of the priests is said to have acted as a guarantee for the transfer of 300,000 Euro to an account in Rome by a woman identified as 'Maria Rossi' which later turned out to be a false name.
It is not the first time that the Vatican Bank has been linked to money laundering and criminal activities - in 1982 it was involved in a huge international scandal when its then governor, larger than life American Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, was indicted over his involvement with the collapse of Italy's then largest private bank, Banco Ambrosiano.
Ambrosiano's chairman Roberto Calvi, was found hanged under London's Blackfriars Bridge, with bundles of cash and bricks in his pockets and at the time his death was recorded as suicide but prosecutors in Rome later said he had been murdered by the Mafia after a bungled money laundering attempt through the Vatican Bank.
Calvi, was known as God's Banker because of his ties to the Vatican and was also known to Marcinkus but the cleric refused to answer questions always claiming diplomatic immunity and he died six years ago taking the secrets of what he knew to the grave
Have you seen the extreme right-wing anti-Obama bile around this story? They claim your president and each individual member of his family have their very own Vatican Bank slush fund account.
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