“I’m going to need help getting out before this becomes a medical emergency,” Rev. Tom Donovan of Springfield's St. Aloysius church told a dispatcher during the Nov. 28 call. The audio of the tape, obtained by the Illinois Times, was posted online this week:
During the call, Donovan, who was in the church rectory at the time, explained to the dispatcher that he had been "playing" with the handcuffs and was having trouble getting them off. According to the Illinois Times, police also found "some sort of gag" on the priest [hilariously obvious in the embedded audio].
In December, the State Journal-Register reported that Donovan had been "granted a leave of absence to address…personal issues [ http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x1084478366/St-Aloysius-pastor-given-leave-to-deal-with-personal-issues ]." Donovan, who had been the pastor at St. Aloysius since July 2010, was said to have "requested permission for the leave from Bishop Thomas John Paprocki some time before Christmas."
According to the paper, Monsignor David Lantz has been named "temporary parochial administrator" at St. Aloysius.
This is not the first time in recent months that a priest has been caught in a questionable situation.
Vatican Is 'Cash Only' As Bank Of Italy Blocks Electronic Payments Over Money Laundering Concerns
People queue to enter the Vatican Museums, at the Vatican Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013. It's "cash only" now for tourists at the Vatican wanting to pay for museum tickets, souvenirs and other services after Italy's central bank decided to block electronic payments, including credit cards, at the tiny city state.
By FRANCES D'EMILIO 01/03/13 01:59 PM ET EST
VATICAN CITY -- It's "cash only" now for tourists at the Vatican wanting to pay for museum tickets, souvenirs and other services after Italy's central bank decided to block electronic payments, including credit cards, at the tiny city-state.
Deutsche Bank Italia, which for some 15 years had provided the Vatican with electronic payment services, said Thursday that the Bank of Italy had pulled its authorization after Dec. 31.
The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that the Italian central bank took the action because the Holy See has not yet fully complied with European Union safeguards against money laundering. That means Italian banks are not authorized to operate within the Vatican, which is in the process of improving its mechanisms to combat laundering.
The Vatican says it is scrambling to solve the problem for thousands of visitors who flock to its very popular Vatican Museums, which include highlights like the Sistine Chapel. The Holy See had no immediate comment on the Bank of Italy's reported reasons.
Tourists in the long lines Thursday that snaked around Vatican City walls were not happy about the inconvenience.
"It's certainly a disadvantage," said Giuseppe Amoruso, an Italian. "Credit cards provide a useful service, which needs to be accessible to everybody, everywhere."
"A lot of tourists don't have cash on them, so they have to get euros and don't know where to get them," said Fluger William Hunter, an American tourist.
The central bank said a routine inspection found that Deutsche Bank Italia hadn't sought authorization when it first started providing services at the Vatican. When it finally did, the Bank of Italy turned it down because the Vatican's banking norms, including measures to combat money laundering, didn't meet Italy's more stringent criteria of recent years, a central bank official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because there was no official statement on the case.
The Vatican has been striving to upgrade its measures to detect and discourage money laundering, hiring a Swiss expert just a few months ago. Last summer, the Holy See passed a key European financial transparency test but received failing grades for its financial watchdog agency and its bank, formally called the Institute for Religious Works.
The museums, with their entrance fees and popular souvenir shops, are a big money-maker for the Vatican. Other Vatican attractions, such as tours of the Vatican's ancient underground spaces, also charge admission.
Pope Benedict: Church Must Stand Against "Intolerant Agnosticism"
By Philip Pullella Posted: 01/06/2013 7:13 am EST
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Sunday that Roman Catholic leaders must have the courage to stand up to attacks by "intolerant agnosticism" prevalent in many countries.
The pope and the Church have come under increased attack because of their opposition to homosexual marriage and women priests. The pope has repeatedly denounced what he says are attempts to push religion out of public debate.
The 85-year-old pontiff celebrated Mass on the day Christians in the West mark the Epiphany, and ordained four new archbishops including his personal secretary.
In a homily to about 10,000 people in St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, he firmly rejected suggestions the Church should change to suit public opinion.
"Anyone who lives and proclaims the faith of the Church is on many points out of step with the prevalent way of thinking," he said. "The approval of the prevailing wisdom, however, is not the criterion to which we submit."
In the United States, a group last month started a petition on the White House website asking the administration of President Barack Obama to list the Catholic Church as a "hate group" because of its opposition to gay marriage.
"Today's regnant agnosticism has its own dogmas and is extremely intolerant regarding anything that would question it and the criteria it employs," the pope said.
"Therefore the courage to contradict the prevailing mindset is particularly urgent for a bishop today. He must be courageous," he said.
MONTI AT MASS
The pope ordained the new archbishops in a ceremony attended by Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, placing his hands on the heads of the four men and anointing them with holy oil to symbolise the transmission of episcopal authority.
The best known of the four new archbishops is the pontiff's chief private secretary Monsignor Georg Ganswein, who has been the closest person to Benedict since his election in 2005 as leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.
Last month Ganswein, 56, a German like the pope, was promoted to the job of Prefect of the Pontifical Household, a position that will significantly increase his power as the pope gets older and frailer.
As prefect, Ganswein, 56 - already one of the most recognisable and powerful figures in the papal court - will arrange all the pope's private and public audiences and his daily schedule.
And because he is expected to keep his job as chief private secretary, he will have even more power in deciding who has access to the pope.
Ganswein was the immediate superior of Paolo Gabriele, the former papal butler who was convicted of stealing sensitive papal documents and leaking them to the media.
The secretary was the person who confronted Gabriele about papers that had gone missing. Gabriele was pardoned by the pope last month after being sentenced to 18 months in jail for aggravated theft.
Because of the leaks scandal, Ganswein is expected to further tighten his control over Vatican personnel who have a direct connection to the papal apartments.
The other new archbishops are Angelo Vincenzo Zani, an Italian in the Vatican's department for Catholic education, Fortunatus Nwachukwu, a Nigerian who becomes the Vatican's ambassador to Nicaragua, and Nicolas Thevenin, a Frenchman who becomes ambassador to Guatemala.
(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Pravin Char)
Bernard Fellay, Head Of Traditionalist Catholic Sect, Says Jews Are 'Enemies Of The Church'
Bishop Bernard Fellay said Jews are the "enemies of the church" during a recent radio talk, but denies any anti-Semitic connotation to the rhetoric. Here, he is pictured in 2009 during an ordination mass of the Society of St Pius X, which was declared "illegitimate" by the Catholic church [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_St._Pius_X ]. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)
By Cavan Sieczkowski Posted: 01/07/2013 3:30 pm EST | Updated: 01/08/2013 1:10 am EST
The head of a controversial Catholic sect says that Jews are "enemies of the Church," but the sect has denied any anti-Semitic intentions.
Fellay, discussing negotiations with the Vatican in 2012 [again, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_St._Pius_X ] concerning the Society's future, said the following during the address: “Who, during that time, was the most opposed that the Church would recognize the Society? The enemies of the Church. The Jews, the Masons, the Modernists.”
The Society of St. Pius X posted a press release in response to Fellay's "enemies of the Church" comment [ http://www.sspx.org/district_news/usa_district_press_release_on_enemies_of_the_church_1-5-2013.htm ], denying any anti-Semitic connotation. The release reads that "enemies" refers to "any group or religious sect which opposes the mission of the Catholic Church and her efforts to fulfill it: the salvation of souls."
The release continued thus:
By referring to the Jews, Bishop Fellay's comment was aimed at the leaders of Jewish organizations, and not the Jewish people, as is being implied by journalists. Accordingly the Society of St. Pius X denounces the repeated false accusations of anti-Semitism or hate speech made in an attempt to silence its message.
This is not the first time one of the sect's members has spoken out against Jews.
In 1985, one of the Society's founders, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, also identified enemies of the faith as "Jews, Communists and Freemasons [ http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=298680 ]," according to JTA. In addition, traditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson has denied that the Nazis used gas chambers to kill Jews in the Holocaust and claimed that no more than 200,000 to 300,000 Jews died during WWII.
Jesuit Priest Rev. James Martin expressed his disapproval of Fellay's comment and of the Society in general. "I cannot imagine how any further talks can continue with the group," Martin told The Huffington Post. "Theologians have been silenced for dissenting in lesser ways from official church teaching."
Catholic Dorms To Debut At Texas A&M University And Florida Institute of Technology, Both Secular Schools
Posted: 01/07/2013 11:11 am EST | Updated: 01/07/2013 11:11 am EST
Two secular universities will offer dorms specifically for Catholic students in 2013's fall semester.
Florida Institute of Technology, a private research institution, broke ground on the Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Student Residence last month. The Catholic News Service reports a similar groundbreaking ceremony at the Texas A&M University-Kingsville for St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center [ http://ncronline.org/news/people/work-begins-dorms-catholic-students-two-secular-universities ], which includes a dormitory and chapel, in October.
Matt Zerrusen, president of the Newman Student Housing Fund [ http://newmanstudenthousing.com/ ], told CNS that the residences create community among Catholic students during a time in their lives when 50 percent of students on college campuses lose their faith.
"This is unacceptable. It is a huge, huge deal in campus ministry, and all the Newman Centers want to add dorms. These are the first, the pioneers," Zerrusen said.
"My guess is that people who are not Catholic and who would live there are people committed to their Christianity, and would want to live with similar-minded people," Bailey said. "My intention would be not to proselytize them but to incorporate them into the Christian community there."
Until now, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had been the only other secular university with a Catholic dorm. It houses 586 students and includes a chapel and residence hall. The Texas A&M site will accommodate 287 students, CNS reports, and FIT's residence hall will house 140 students. Both of the new dorm complexes will also include chapels.
The Newman Fund is reportedly planning to institute Catholic residence halls at other universities.
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