tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-106431912024-03-05T17:32:17.998-06:00Reflections of the SpiritHoly Spirit Catholic Parish was a Catholic Community unlike any of us had ever experienced. It was a parish truly alive with the Holy Spirit. It had over 100 very active ministries. This all changed on June 18, 2003, when our bishop, Raymundo Peña, sent his diocesan employees into our parish to fire all of our staff. These firings were done in retaliation for their having joined a Union. Our archives, begining in July of 2003, provides the complete history.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger373125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-10672154978061532532010-06-19T16:13:00.008-05:002010-06-19T16:49:35.076-05:00Letter to Bishop Peña<p align="center"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5107828882702151874" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi27Mnr9Kvop6V5yzOsf99uw6umooX5CfXDdMTudxdBmaLCQsEIIl_L0amixubZ3-Nz5rfVCc8yGONXwXrkMF76AXv07Q15HZovtAJndjnoKpY8lj-Z_vIcVTxZkZsfM0t2hk1t/s320/bishop-pena.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><br /><div align="left"></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>OPEN LETTER TO BISHOP PEÑA</strong><br /><br /></span></span></div><div align="left"><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family:georgia;">June 18, 2010<br /><br />Dear Bishop Peña,<br /><br />Do you remember what day today is?<br /><br />It just so happens that today is the 7th Anniversary of your hostile take-over of Holy Spirit parish in McAllen. A lot of very sad things happened because of that take-over, the worst of which should always remain heavily on your conscience.<br /><br />As you may remember, your actions caused a great number of our parish families to leave Holy Spirit parish for other Catholic parishes, thereby destroying one of the most vibrant Catholic parishes in the Valley (your words).<br /><br />Many of our parish families left the Catholic Church entirely and have became active members of other local Protestant religious entities. Many have quit attending church altogether, due to the hurt and disgust that they experienced from your actions, depriving them of the salvation of Christ's Eucharist.<br /><br />We just wanted to remind you that your actions while acting as the spiritual leader of our church have not been forgotten. They never will.<br /><br />May God have mercy on you.<br /><br />Holy Spirit Parishioners (in Exile).</span> </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-18245037708178669112010-03-24T08:40:00.019-05:002010-03-28T11:34:04.767-05:00Stations of the Cross<div align="center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpBw1ALf_A4xdu73E8QvSDsEqR7Zx1qTatTlZzApFPz_yVIqzDPYoOll12dhKkIeG6rltNqgk-blAIjIW3ZYzNLUz4UPmNVJKGHvB_qvpU8QQah1EJ4FZo7YEzQ5Gsrt53do6N/s1600/Stations+of+the+Cross+Art+2010.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452195584265943170" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 188px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpBw1ALf_A4xdu73E8QvSDsEqR7Zx1qTatTlZzApFPz_yVIqzDPYoOll12dhKkIeG6rltNqgk-blAIjIW3ZYzNLUz4UPmNVJKGHvB_qvpU8QQah1EJ4FZo7YEzQ5Gsrt53do6N/s400/Stations+of+the+Cross+Art+2010.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>DOWNTOWN WAY OF THE CROSS</strong></span></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><div align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">The Holy Spirit Peace and Justice Community will again sponsor their annual Stations of the Cross through downtown McAllen - Good Friday - April 2, 2010, from noon until about 2:30, beginning and ending at Archer Park, in McAllen, Texas.<br /><br /></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">This prayer emphasizes how the sufferings of Jesus Christ continues today in the lives of the poor and oppressed, in sickness, unemployment, AIDS, addictions, violence, and war.<br /><br /></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">Participants will take turns carrying a large cross as the group winds its way through downtown McAllen, stopping at fourteen different places relating to the fourteen stations of the cross, depicting the sufferings of Jesus Christ from his trial to his burial. This year, there will be added emphasis on immigration and justice for immigrants.<br /><br /></span></div></span><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">The first station in Catholic tradition is “Jesus is condemned to death.” The first station, therefor, will take place at the Federal Court Building where participants will pray about the death penalty.<br /><br /></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">The third station remembers Jesus falling. Here, participants will stop in front of a local bar establishment in downtown McAllen to pray for those who have fallen under the cross of addictions.<br /><br /></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">One of the stations will be at the "food pantry" at Sacred Heart Catholic parish, also located in downtown McAllen. Participants are asked to bring canned goods, rice and beans to donate to the needy of the parish at the food pantry.<br /><br /></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">This is an excellent way for the whole family to pray together on this holy day. This very rewarding event is usually blessed by our wonderful McAllen spring weather. You are reminded to wear comfortable shoes and to bring your own water.<br /><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-size:130%;">Please join us in praise and love of our Savior...</span></p><div align="left"><strong><br /></strong></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-76520978089812577742010-01-27T12:30:00.010-06:002010-01-27T13:16:50.604-06:00FIFTH ANNUAL PEACE & JUSTICE GATHERING<div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;">FIFTH ANNUAL PEACE & JUSTICE GATHERING</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;">~</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#990000;"><strong>SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2010</strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#990000;"><strong>10:00 AM TO 2:00 PM</strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#990000;"><strong>South Texas College, Weslaco, </strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#990000;"><strong>Student Services F-Building</strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>~</strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">Keynote Speaker: Sarwat Husain</span> </strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;">President, San Antonio Council of American-Islamic Relations"</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;">The War, Islamophobia, and the Aftermathof the Fort Hood Shootings"</span></div><span style="font-size:180%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">Dear Peace and Justice Friends,</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">The Fifth Annual Peace and Justice Gathering is shaping up pretty well. There is <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvpOVWMQdznnrQfJMJgFeiExHiJSFOMZk6ArJzK5LypuSWuGxXYeGCJ6o5XBSl2vZZeaoIHfWDqNYcCa2bAtr9XCLnmgBc-aZQyHSaTqnT-cRsDSomAUNVFEf5O06Wq600nw9Z/s1600-h/Sarwat+Husain.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431496723654104130" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 116px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 116px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvpOVWMQdznnrQfJMJgFeiExHiJSFOMZk6ArJzK5LypuSWuGxXYeGCJ6o5XBSl2vZZeaoIHfWDqNYcCa2bAtr9XCLnmgBc-aZQyHSaTqnT-cRsDSomAUNVFEf5O06Wq600nw9Z/s400/Sarwat+Husain.jpg" border="0" /></a>some real interest in hearing Sarwat Husain’s speech, “The War, Islamophobia, and the Aftermath of the Fort Hood <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQQlUR0gC21RGrlmjJv7GBFOmoB5Q2k49Mr-E1pETVA2xBjKs5_BdLL7CMOBTG0oimHPbdS1R0MmSi9rd00q54EbQUs4z0KsM9Y8Dq4VCA1R7ZPZrQ8Z8YY0WsNIJCRt1AIXUp/s1600-h/Sarwat+Husain.jpg"></a>Shootings.” Although I am finding that students I speak to do not spontaneously understand the importance of the topic, with a bit of explanation, they do get it. I am really glad she is the keynote. We had a little scare last week that she was going to cancel, but she got the schedule worked out well.<br /><br />More news: <span style="color:#990000;">Jay Johnson Castro</span> from the Border Ambassadors will be here. <span style="color:#990000;">Scott Nicol</span> is coming and will have a table set up…he has just joined an important committee on the Sierra Club and has some very interesting things on the Border Wall he told me about. <span style="color:#990000;">David Anshen</span> of Pan Am is coordinating a two-person panel on U.S. Imperialism -- I’m hoping there will be questions on Honduras and Haiti as well as Iraq and Afghanistan -- for one of the breakout sessions. <span style="color:#990000;">Georgiana Duarte</span> of UT Brownsville Education Department, besides coordinating the Children’s Play Day for Promoting Peace, will be doing a breakout session on the National Convention on the Rights of the Child.<br /><br />And another bit of news, <span style="color:#990000;">Sylvia Garza</span> of the local Texas Coalition Against the Death penalty has a speaker coming down from Houston. <span style="color:#990000;">Gloria Rubac</span> from a sister organization, Abolition Movement, will be giving a workshop session in Spanish and another one in English. (Jay will also be giving one in Spanish and one in English and I think Georgiana Duarte will do one session in each language on the Rights of the Children.)<br /><br />I hope to see everybody there Saturday, January 30, 2010.<br /><br /><br /><span style="color:#990000;">Nick Braune</span><br />Associate Professor, Philosophy<br />South Texas College/Mid-Valley Campus<br />(956)973-7629<br /><a href="mailto:nbraune@southtexascollege.edu">nbraune@southtexascollege.edu</a></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-57034540849644158732009-12-11T08:11:00.009-06:002009-12-11T08:47:53.000-06:00Out to Media - Brownsville Statement<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT1LFBsUEHq6smC4p3SQhqMslJD1Ub-t4u0vy6eQNMpcUORGnk2ugmhKplddUozFLkhktK4MMvehpmRq5x_Pb-An3JqLr-TaARsg2N2ZcZ_6r6-P26hIrsy0O9taqZ6rOHYrF8/s1600-h/Protect_God's_Children_Link.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413987178327146482" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 165px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT1LFBsUEHq6smC4p3SQhqMslJD1Ub-t4u0vy6eQNMpcUORGnk2ugmhKplddUozFLkhktK4MMvehpmRq5x_Pb-An3JqLr-TaARsg2N2ZcZ_6r6-P26hIrsy0O9taqZ6rOHYrF8/s200/Protect_God's_Children_Link.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">For immediate release: Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009</span></strong><br /><em>Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell)<br /></em><br />We wish Brownsville's new bishop well, and hope that a breath of fresh air in this diocese will help heal the still fresh wounds of both clergy sex abuse victims who are suffering and Catholics who are feeling betrayed because of the church's on going child sex abuse and cover up scandal.<br /><br />It's ironic that Brownsville's new bishop was named today. It was five year ago today that media reports surfaced suggesting that Brownsville's former bishop may have helped a predator priest flee the US and escape justice. (see below)<br /><br />There's a tendency among Catholics, however, to assume that almost any new bishop will be better than the old one. However, wishful thinking and naive assumptions don't protect kids. Only vigilance protects kids. So we urge Brownsville Catholics to remember that children are safe when abuse suspicions and reports go to <strong>law enforcement officials, not to Catholic church officials.</strong><br /><br />SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the nation’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 21 years and have more than 9,000 members across the country. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Our website is <a href="http://www.snapnetwork.org/">SNAPnetwork.org </a>Contacts: David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, 314-645-5915 home), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747), Peter Isely (414-429-7259), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news3/2004_12_09_AP_BrownsvilleBishop_Basil_Onyia_10.htm">http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news3/2004_12_09_AP_BrownsvilleBishop_Basil_Onyia_10.htm</a><br /><strong>Brownsville Bishop Says He Never Advised Priest to Flee</strong><br /><br /><em>Associated Press - December 9, 2004</em><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;">Brownsville Catholic Bishop Raymundo Pena has denied that he ever advised a priest wanted on sexual assault and abuse charges to flee the country.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />The Rev. Basil Onyia fled to his native Nigeria in 2001, days before a warrant could be issued for his arrest stemming from allegations that he sexually abused a mentally retarded girl. Onyia claimed in a story in Monday's editions of The Dallas Morning News that the Brownsville bishop advised him to leave the country.<br /><br />The bishop, who earlier would not confirm or deny Onyia's claim, has since responded on the diocese's Web site.<br /><br />"Bishop Pena never advised Father Onyia to go back to Nigeria, and we are surprised that Father Onyia is working as a priest there," the statement said.<br /><br />"It is unfortunate that he did not remain in this country to address the allegations made against him," Pena is quoted saying in the statement.<br /><br />The Morning News tracked Onyia to Nigeria, where he has worked in parish ministry since disappearing from South Texas in 2001.<br /><br />Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra charged Onyia but has not tried to extradite him for trial.<br /><br />Onyia has said he never attacked his teenage accuser — a mentally retarded, emotionally disturbed incest victim. A witness told the newspaper that she saw the priest apologize to the accuser's family and blamed his actions on the devil.<br /><br />Barbara Dorris<br />National Outreach Director<br />314-862-7688<br />SNAPnetwork.org </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-42720243089651761622009-12-09T18:59:00.004-06:002009-12-09T19:08:37.923-06:00Bishop Daniel Flores<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3FCpCxaliCYpTr3PsttwpOmmTK_fj-NHmkpmHcZePUD3MD8be-NCsr7mjQJ_SKuWEeX2eowWGkuJom10TruKfdVWFjrBY2H2caxv6px96DIuBioU3hGLfkabrdXSb97-hrrf1/s1600-h/uploaded2flores_daniel.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413407530848551554" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 184px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 250px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3FCpCxaliCYpTr3PsttwpOmmTK_fj-NHmkpmHcZePUD3MD8be-NCsr7mjQJ_SKuWEeX2eowWGkuJom10TruKfdVWFjrBY2H2caxv6px96DIuBioU3hGLfkabrdXSb97-hrrf1/s320/uploaded2flores_daniel.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>Pope Benedict XVI names new Bishop of Brownsville</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>BROWNSVILLE</strong>, Dec. 9 - Pope Benedict XVI has named Bishop Daniel Flores, of the Archdiocese of Detroit, as the new bishop for the Diocese of Brownsville.<br /><br />Flores will be installed as the sixth bishop of the diocese on February 2, 2010. He replaces the Most Rev. Raymundo J. Peña, who is retiring as bishop of the Diocese of Brownsville.<br /><br />Peña will introduce Flores today at 9:30 a.m. at a news conference at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Brownsville (1218 E. Jefferson St.) and at 3 p.m. at the Bishop Adolph Marx Conference Center in the Diocesan Pastoral Center in San Juan (700 N. Virgen de San Juan Blvd. - near the Basilica grounds.)<br /><br />Flores currently serves as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Detroit. He was ordained a bishop on November 29, 2006 at Detroit’s Blessed Sacrament Cathedral. He was born in Palacios, Texas, in 1961 and baptized in Zapata, Texas, where both of his parents, Fernando Javier Flores and Lydia Dilley Flores, were born. He grew up in Corpus Christi.<br /><br />Flores was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Corpus Christi in January 1988. As a priest of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, he served in a number of capacities, including Parochial Vicar at Corpus Christi Cathedral, Secretary to the Bishop, Diocesan Master of Ceremonies, Assistant Chancellor, Rector of the Saint John Vianney House of Studies, and Episcopal Vicar for Vocations.<br /><br />Flores also served in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, on the formation faculty and as vice-rector of St. Mary’s Seminary and on the teaching faculty at the University of St. Thomas School of Theology. </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-89510085836761533002009-11-26T10:17:00.004-06:002009-11-26T13:25:13.293-06:00And The Walls Came Tumbling Down...<p align="center"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/196/4043/1024/Restore%20the%20Spirit%208.5x11.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: rgb(0,0,0) 0px solid; BORDER-TOP: rgb(0,0,0) 0px solid; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(0,0,0) 0px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 0px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/196/4043/200/Restore%20the%20Spirit%208.5x11.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>"And the Walls come Tumbling Down"<br /></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Holy Spirit Parish has been changing for several years now.<br /><br />First we had to remove the staff - they caused problems.<br /><br />Next we had to remove some volunteers - they were misdirecting our parishioners, especially our youth.<br /><br />We had to make a parish that was more in line with today's Catholic church, so we rid ourselves of several programs that were not in line with today's church. </strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>No more Mother's Day Out. </strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>No more Pre-School. </strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>No more Peace & Justice committee. </strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>No more children's liturgy during the readings. </strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>No more Thanksgiving on the 4th Thursday in November. We needed to be with our families on that day, not with our parish family and those that wanted to join us for a day of GIVING, as was our long standing custom.<br /><br />Yes, we lost many parishioners, but that happens when change occurs.<br /><br />We needed to add lighting to the church because it was dark during the mass.<br /><br />Now, we need to remove walls in that horrid building called our church so that we can see the tabernacle, even though the parishioners chose the design of the church through an open process of town hall meetings.<br /><br />More change is coming, we are redesigning the layout within the church and how we enter the sanctuary.<br /><br />What happens after all this is done?<br /><br />How about we rename the church??</strong></span><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-35286501702856415252009-11-12T09:03:00.007-06:002009-11-12T09:18:38.249-06:00Pat Bond and son Nate<div align="center"><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests</span></strong><br /></div><strong><div align="left"><br /></strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihg92Lxzsr1UV_jhYcKNjZU_8Hc_zIf7ZRIIr3eQve9rYfjBaD6ePpQR_zJ70PNckLPrT8YZA6RG5B6CrlDv7Yfyh-Vy5vVqr1G48ysb3wcx_wEhiFkr61z_Uu6hQK7dKztBhd/s1600-h/Pat+Bond+and+son+Nate.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403234858007683970" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 190px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 127px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihg92Lxzsr1UV_jhYcKNjZU_8Hc_zIf7ZRIIr3eQve9rYfjBaD6ePpQR_zJ70PNckLPrT8YZA6RG5B6CrlDv7Yfyh-Vy5vVqr1G48ysb3wcx_wEhiFkr61z_Uu6hQK7dKztBhd/s320/Pat+Bond+and+son+Nate.jpg" border="0" /></a>Friends, CNN will be airing a segment this <strong><span style="color:#660000;">Thursday, November 12, at 9:00 pm CST</span></strong> about Pat Bond and her son Nate.</span></div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">Nate is the child of a priest and is currently battling brain cancer. Pat, Nate's mother, has been forced to fight for support for her son. Until the article appeared in the New York Times, the priest was still a pastor in a Wisconsin parish.</span> </div><p><span style="font-size:130%;">Note - he's also accused of molesting a girl. We suspect that unless other victims and witnesses come forward, sooner or later, he will be put back into a parish. This show will have a call in segment. Please call and express your feelings about this story. </span></p><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><p><span style="font-size:130%;">Here is some background information: </span><a title="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/us/16priest.html" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/us/16priest.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:130%;">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/us/16priest.html</span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">Please send this to as many people as you can.</span> </p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">Thank you for your help.<br />Barbara Dorris</span> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-83452776276475720792009-08-24T22:40:00.013-05:002009-08-24T23:33:21.415-05:00More on Fr. Roy Bourgeois<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl3FwBlaHuyuKTnWYqEMsstkAwGQic1o8e6VXSvzFh9XP00KeH82ebiMcE1UwGhFoy8AJPEc7EsWb6Ne1nDDWpbJ1Uf1LSUB1rCSxLO_xADwrjLIKqNRVx8RCs2EbFM9-g3MvK/s1600-h/Fr.+Roy+Bourgeois.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373751868503427474" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 243px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl3FwBlaHuyuKTnWYqEMsstkAwGQic1o8e6VXSvzFh9XP00KeH82ebiMcE1UwGhFoy8AJPEc7EsWb6Ne1nDDWpbJ1Uf1LSUB1rCSxLO_xADwrjLIKqNRVx8RCs2EbFM9-g3MvK/s320/Fr.+Roy+Bourgeois.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>Rev. Roy Bourgeois again speaks out for women's ordination.</strong></span><br /></div><div align="center"></div><div></div><div></div><div><br /><br />By <a href="http://search.boston.com/local/Search.do?s.sm.query=Michael+Paulson&camp=localsearch:on:byline:art" target="_blank"><br />Michael Paulson</a></div><div>Globe Staff</div><div>August 24, 2009 </div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">WESTON - A prominent priest whose support for women’s ordination has him in trouble with the Catholic Church ratcheted up his confrontation with the hierarchy yesterday, calling the church’s refusal to ordain women a “scandal’’ and “spiritual violence.’’</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">“I will not be silenced on this issue,’’ said the priest, the Rev. Roy Bourgeois, to about 100 people in Weston at an event hosted by the congregation of Jean Marchant, a former staffer for the Archdiocese of Boston who claims she was ordained as a priest in an unsanctioned ceremony four years ago.</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">The Catholic Church views Marchant and Bourgeois as having been automatically excommunicated for participating in unsanctioned ordination ceremonies.</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Yesterday Bourgeois said he remained unclear about his status because he has had no formal communication from his order, the Maryknoll Fathers, or from the Vatican, which last fall told him he would face excommunication if he did not recant.</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">“If they choose to kick me out of the church because I believe that men and women are equal, so be it,’’ Bourgeois said. “I will never be at peace being in any organization that would exclude others.“What’s going on in our church today is spiritual assassination, it’s spiritual violence being done that’s inexcusable. That is a scandal,’’ he said.</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">The Archdiocese of Boston yesterday declined to comment on the event in Weston, referring instead to a statement it issued last year saying, “The ordination of men to the priesthood is not merely a matter of practice or discipline within the Catholic Church, but rather, it is part of the unalterable Deposit of Faith handed down by Christ through his apostles.’’</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">And in 1994, Pope John Paul II declared that “the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women,’’ citing both tradition and the fact that Jesus’ apostles were male.For their part, advocates for women’s ordination say Jesus also had women in his inner circle, that polls show most American Catholics support their cause, and that the church faces a crushing shortage of priests.</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">But church officials say women play other valuable roles in the church, and the answer to the priest shortage is a combination of prayer and efforts to help young men recognize and accept callings to the priesthood.</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Bourgeois is the first Catholic priest in good standing to participate in an unsanctioned ordination ceremony held by advocates of women’s ordination. He took part in a ceremony in Kentucky last summer.</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">In an interview yesterday, Bourgeois, 70, a Louisiana native, said he has stopped wearing a clerical collar and celebrating the Eucharist and other sacraments out of respect for the church’s view that he has been excommunicated.</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">But, he also said at one point, simply, “I am a priest.’’</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">He said he is confident his position on women priests is the correct one.“If anyone should be excommunicated, it is the patriarchy involved in this discrimination,’’ he said. “But I don’t believe in excommunication - no one has a monopoly on the truth.’’</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Bourgeois said he is winning some support from other priests.</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">He said five priests around the country have agreed to go public with their support for women’s ordination, and yesterday’s gathering drew at least three archdiocesan priests, none of whom would comment publicly.</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Another attendee at yesterday’s event was Joe McLaughlin, 60, a Dorchester native who now lives in Storrs, Conn.</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">He said he came to the event after becoming frustrated by the diminished role for women at his own parish.</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">“My sister is a nun, I was an altar boy, and I don’t want to leave. But I get angry now, instead of inspired,’’ McLaughlin said.</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Roberta Robinson, 60, of West Roxbury, said she now worships at an “ecumenical Catholic congregation’’ - a group not recognized by Rome - and that she came to the event “to support the movement.’’</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">She said she believes the Catholic Church will change its position on women’s ordination, saying, “it has to, or it will fall.’’</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">The event was held at the Congregational Church of Weston, a United Church of Christ congregation.The pastor, the Rev. Joe Mayher, said in an interview that the church regularly hosts Marchant’s congregation, called “Spirit of Life,’’ because “we strongly share their values and their prophetic justice commitments.’’</span></div><div><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Michael Paulson can be reached at </span><a href="mailto:mpaulson@globe.com"><span style="font-size:130%;">mpaulson@globe.com</span></a><span style="font-size:130%;">.</span> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-70349152840568977592009-07-23T17:05:00.012-05:002009-07-23T18:01:56.135-05:00<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:180%;" >Shatter the Stained Glass Ceiling</span><br /></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">A National Tour Encouraging Women’s Ordination.</span><br /><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZCXtV_8avkSFWZ5MB2VJ7GbjlmyaTtmHWd678o7GQ-NoJwK3jR9NbVQ_dqNe8DzLGKdU4ujoW0G8WYtrUEuiywoXeD0KdBH1SpAcv7ot3gCqUPya4s6nmKxN3yUVGr3QLod3c/s1600-h/roy_fist.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361787226176743522" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; WIDTH: 221px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 351px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZCXtV_8avkSFWZ5MB2VJ7GbjlmyaTtmHWd678o7GQ-NoJwK3jR9NbVQ_dqNe8DzLGKdU4ujoW0G8WYtrUEuiywoXeD0KdBH1SpAcv7ot3gCqUPya4s6nmKxN3yUVGr3QLod3c/s320/roy_fist.jpg" border="0" /></a> <div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">DATE: <span style="color:#990000;">Frida</span></span><span style="color:#990000;"><span style="font-size:130%;">y,</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> August 7, 2009</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">TIME: <span style="color:#990000;">7:0</span></span><span style="color:#990000;"><span style="font-size:130%;">0 P</span><span style="font-size:130%;">M</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">PLACE: <span style="color:#990000;">First Christian Church</span></span><span style="color:#990000;"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">1400 N. 10th Street</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">McAllen, T</span></span></strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:#990000;">X</span><br /></strong><br /></span></div></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Father Roy Bourgeois</strong>, a Maryknoll priest and a School of </span><span style="font-size:130%;">the Americas Watch (SOA Watch) foun</span><span style="font-size:130%;">der, has been one of the few Catholic priests willing to speak publicly about Women’s Ordination within the Catholic Church. In spite </span><span style="font-size:130%;">of his being threatened with excommunication by his </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Church, Fr. Roy remains steadfast in his support for Women’s Ordination.<br /><br />Father Roy and other women’s ordination advocates are now hitting the road to encourage a national movement for a more inclusive church and the local chapter of Call to Action (www.cta-rgv.org) is sponsoring the local stop of their national Shatter the Stained Glass Ceiling Tour.<br /><br />Father Bourgeois, 70, who began his 36-year ministry as a Maryknoll priest in Bolivia, has been an outspoken critic of the U.S. foreign policy in Latin America since 1980, when a Salvadoran death squad raped and killed four American churchwomen. In 1990 he founded the School of the Americas Watch (http://www.soaw.org), which has been holding weekend vigils annually at Fort Benning, Ga., to demand closure of the US Army's combat training school for Latin American soldiers.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">What led to the altercation between the Vatican and Father Bourgeois was the fact that he showed his support for women's ordination by delivering a homily at the ordination of Janice Sevre-Duszynska, 58, on August 9, 2008, in Lexington, Ky. She was the sixth woman ordained that year in the United States, according to the National Catholic Reporter.<br /><br />Sevre-Duszynska is among 60 other women who have been ordained since June 29, 2002, when the first seven women stepped forward, according to the Women's Ordination Conference. Four of these women priests have become bishops and nearly 100 more are in preparation programs sponsored by the</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> Roman Catholic Women Priests.</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg50LL1r9g2QCpOCTisFKUla8IdGfLpp7ebLtYIIv-3X-_4T7wnZfp-qlPNYEWUc9iLVb-tdxJ1M16yQSQr0zZ3bfrwlS_nIuTEIesKmnJtfjEtpogXsqLF54H8Nw4ddYJNrM_Y/s1600-h/Linda-1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361788088180527826" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; WIDTH: 248px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 331px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg50LL1r9g2QCpOCTisFKUla8IdGfLpp7ebLtYIIv-3X-_4T7wnZfp-qlPNYEWUc9iLVb-tdxJ1M16yQSQr0zZ3bfrwlS_nIuTEIesKmnJtfjEtpogXsqLF54H8Nw4ddYJNrM_Y/s320/Linda-1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />The work of the Women's Ordination Conference has continued since t</span><span style="font-size:130%;">h</span><span style="font-size:130%;">en </span><span style="font-size:130%;">a</span><span style="font-size:130%;">nd the idea of women priests is no longer an aberration. According to a Septemb</span><span style="font-size:130%;">e</span><span style="font-size:130%;">r</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> 2005 Gallup Organization survey, 63 percent of US Catholics said they supporte</span><span style="font-size:130%;">d ordaining women. An Associated Press-Ipsos poll taken in April 2005 found the same result.<br /><br />Fr. Roy Bourgeois will be joined by <strong>Rev. Linda Whitworth-Reed</strong>, Co-Past</span><span style="font-size:130%;">or of the First Presbyterian Church in McAllen, who will also be speaking on women's ordination within the Presbyterian Church and what ordination has </span><span style="font-size:130%;">mean</span><span style="font-size:130%;">t to her.<br /><br />Everyone is welcome to attend.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-79844542750832215482009-06-25T21:43:00.007-05:002009-06-25T22:02:10.312-05:00Open Letter to Bishop Peña<div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span>Received this by e-mail a few days ago...</div><div align="left"><span style="color:#990000;">~Kanickers</span></div><br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5107828882702151874" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi27Mnr9Kvop6V5yzOsf99uw6umooX5CfXDdMTudxdBmaLCQsEIIl_L0amixubZ3-Nz5rfVCc8yGONXwXrkMF76AXv07Q15HZovtAJndjnoKpY8lj-Z_vIcVTxZkZsfM0t2hk1t/s320/bishop-pena.jpg" border="0" /></span></a></p><br /><div align="left"></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>OPEN LETTER TO BISHOP PEÑA</strong></span></div><p><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Dear Bishop Peña,<br /><br />Here we are six years after you assigned Fr. Ruben Delgado to Holy Spirit Parish and had us all fired. And what a journey we, and the parish, have been on since then.<br /><br />We just wanted to touch base with you and let you know that while we have forgiven you for your part in this action, you have done little to bring about the restoration of the parish, putting things back into place, doing justice. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">This must be something that weighs on you terribly, the destruction of a vibrant parish which was one of the few in your diocese with a strong social justice thrust, great liturgies, a nationally recognized religious education program, and people involved in a diverse choice of ministries from Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament to visiting the nursing homes.<br /><br />In the last six years a majority of the active parishioners have left Holy Spirit Parish and attend other Catholic parishes, other Protestant parishes, other non-denominational parishes, and even one left and joined the local Jewish community.<br /><br />Many families have just left organized religion altogether and go nowhere, all good people, all good Christians. Can you imagine the amount of pain that they must have suffered to have taken such radical moves? We would not want to be in your shoes for sure, for we do know that sometime you will be held accountable for your lack of action as the bishop of this church.<br /><br />All the employees who were pushed out the door have continued with their lives and are doing great things. While they miss parish ministry, they do not miss working for the institution in this diocese as it now exists. What a sad statement.<br /><br />We continue to meet regularly and hold our community together with no help from you or your clergy. We continue to celebrate and to do justice work and to do charitable work.<br /><br />We do not forget, and we continue to tell our story and the story of our parish. On this sixth anniversary we want you to know that we still remember, we still pray for you to fix Holy Spirit Parish, and we pray for all those who have been so damaged by this event in their lives.<br /><br /><span style="color:#990000;">–Holy Spirit Parishioners in Exile</span></span><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-63523234181229304482009-06-22T17:06:00.002-05:002009-06-22T17:25:58.271-05:00Here We Go Again...<div align="center"><span style="color:#990000;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW0rAclN0GIdpbdzDrJlBoCFKy1iMMtmz17YrH9XT-Zvnj8fNsEVYwiLqhjveG0wCw_9QvOTHquDE8MrcN-Oh9nUBCQ0YShEm362Qje5gW8CW9w16AHRDW6znfY55vax3z6Xwf/s1600-h/TheMonitorSig.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034727723407114882" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW0rAclN0GIdpbdzDrJlBoCFKy1iMMtmz17YrH9XT-Zvnj8fNsEVYwiLqhjveG0wCw_9QvOTHquDE8MrcN-Oh9nUBCQ0YShEm362Qje5gW8CW9w16AHRDW6znfY55vax3z6Xwf/s400/TheMonitorSig.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><p align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>KMBH Spots Worry Radio Group</strong><br /><span style="color:#990000;">Some think the announcements are targeted at a planned second public radio station.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>By: Laura Tillman<br />ltillman@brownsvilleherald.com</strong></span> </p><p></p><p><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">BROWNSVILLE — Announcements on the Rio Grande Valley's public radio station, KMBH, warning listeners that donations to a different public station are either "a scam or fantasy" have riled members of a group seeking to create a second public radio station in South Texas.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;"> "When the spots began to air, people immediately called me about it," said Betsy Price. Price is organizing a new public radio station - Voices from the Valley, which plans to begin broadcasting in the next few months. "They were very concerned."</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;"> Voices from the Valley members said they worried the ads could mislead the public to believe that they are not a legitimate radio station, and that making pledges of support was somehow dangerous. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">Price says she and the other members of Voices from the Valley have not placed any calls to solicit money, but have been fielding calls and pledges of support from those who log onto the group's Web site.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;"> "We're not asking for money at this time, just pledges of support," Price said. "People have tried to hand me checks and we have to tell them, ‘No, we can't accept money until we are launched and have a business plan.' "</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;"> KMBH had this text posted at the top of its Web site as of June 19:<br /><br /><em>"ONLY ONE PUBLIC RADIO! ONLY ONE PUBLIC RADIO!<br />There is only ONE PUBLIC RADIO in the Rio Grande Valley ... and this is Public Radio 88FM, serving you with the best of NPR and local talent since October 1989. If you or someone you know is contacted requesting a donation for Public Radio which is not Public Radio 88FM please report it to the authorities and let us know at 956-421-4111. Public Radio 88FM has been serving you in the Rio Grande Valley for TWENTY YEARS. Anything else may be a scam or fantasy."</em><br /><br />Voices from the Valley said it is organizing a second legitimate public radio station in the Valley. It is common for large cities or well-populated regions to have more than one public radio station. Often, stations have different genres, group members said. </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Msgr. Pedro Briseño, the president and CEO of KMBH, says the spots are unrelated to Voices from the Valley and are rather the result of calls from listeners. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">"So far we have just received a couple of vague reports about attempts to collect financial pledges for a public radio station," Briseño wrote in an emailed statement. "No more information (was) given and the individuals reporting do not want their names disclosed. It has been suggested for us to make a public warning such as the one on our Web site in order to protect the public from a potential scam."</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;"> Asked for more details on the calls, Briseño said the station's role was not to investigate.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>"We are not in the business of law enforcement investigation," Briseño wrote, "but in the business of serving our community through educational broadcasting, twenty years through public radio, twenty-five years through public television."</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;"> But organizers for Voices from the Valley, who are attempting to establish their credibility as a second regional public radio station, see the spots differently.<br />"I think they're trying to prejudice the public against another station," said Joe Perez, who used to host "North of the Border," a conjunto show on KMBH with his wife, Rosa.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;"> Rosa and Joe Perez left KMBH after the network failed to air the "Hand of God" documentary at its scheduled time. The documentary, which the station later said aired at 1 a.m. the next morning, chronicled molestation by Catholic priests.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;"> Joe Perez said he lost faith in the honesty of KMBH's managers when they provided what he called a "totally unbelievable" explanation for why the program didn't air. He said this distrust is the reason he also doesn't buy the station's explanation about the new spots. </span><span style="font-size:130%;">"I do not believe there is a scam going on," Joe Perez said. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">Pablo Almaguer, a McAllen resident who used to volunteer with KMBH and is now helping to spread information about the Voices from the Valley station, says the spots are a "threat wrapped up in a warning." "I listen to the ‘NPR Morning Edition' pretty religiously and, when I heard the spots, I couldn't help but smile and shake my head," he said. "The last sentence, saying that another station is a ‘scam or a fantasy' is passive aggressive. This is a threat to those folks who are out there trying to start a new station, and I think this is the way management has decided to deal with it, by flexing their muscles and by saying: ‘Don't contact our funders.' "</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;"> Briseño insists that any speculation that the commercials are related to Voices from the Valley is unfounded. "We are not in the business of attacking anybody or campaigning against anything. We have no interest on useless debates of opinions. Any negative reaction to our warning is perhaps a confirmation that such a warning was needed to protect the public of the Rio Grande Valley from scams," Briseño said.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;">Perez, who plans to donate his show to Voices from the Valley when it starts up, says he hopes that potential listeners will continue to pledge their support. "All I can say is Voices from the Valley is starting from scratch and we're going to be fighting for listeners, so all is fair in love and war and radio," Perez said.<br />___<br />Laura Tillman is a reporter for The Brownsville Herald.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-77380286479324987772009-06-22T00:46:00.015-05:002009-06-22T20:16:49.270-05:00Sad Rememberance... from June 19th, 2003<p align="center"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/196/4043/1024/Restore%20the%20Spirit%208.5x11.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: rgb(0,0,0) 0px solid; BORDER-TOP: rgb(0,0,0) 0px solid; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(0,0,0) 0px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 0px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/196/4043/200/Restore%20the%20Spirit%208.5x11.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">What a sad remembrance of the actions of a Catholic bishop in retaliation of his church employees for joining a union, all of which was necessitated by his very own fire-happy administrative policy.<br /><br />How sad it is that Protestant and Non-Denominational churches in the Valley are now stealing so many of our parishioners and our bishop doesn't have a clue on what is causing it!<br /><br />Bishop Peña once had a parish in North McAllen that was attracting new parishioners like crazy. Many thought the growth at Holy Spirit was just a result of the growth in North McAllen. How wrong they were!<br /><br />Holy Spirit's secret to attracting new parishioners was purely because it had a well qualified professional staff. One deeply rooted in the Catholic faith that cared about their parishioners and that took pride in the services that they provided to their parishioners. Incredibly simple logic.<br /><br />Go to Holy Spirit today and you will see a very different parish. The current priest is poorly qualified to run a parish. The current staff could care less. It is a far cry from the 'vibrant parish' that Holy Spirit parish once was.<br /><br />This should be a lesson to you, Bishop Peña. Maybe all of your Catholic parishes' should be run by a highly-qualified professional staff. Your priests have no expertise in running a parish, much as you are poorly qualified to run the business end of a Catholic diocese. Your past performance proves that out. At least be smart enough to hire yourself some professional help and lets stop the hemorrhaging! Maybe then you and your priests could dedicate your time to preaching the Gospel. That would be a good thing.<br /><span style="COLOR: rgb(153,0,0)">~Kanickers</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-15780510097967459642009-06-20T23:01:00.001-05:002009-06-20T23:06:48.953-05:00Does Anyone Remember This from June 19, 2003?<div align="center"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/7/4014/640/crowd1.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/7/4014/400/crowd1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0epnFqK46MxpLB10_3Lkbes3Fj6Wwr2Lgyopbkon5nQRp6RaMBaPFuff1YLUIRcV3aZieA0aWMHugH_G_qgRYGh6GwDZQsmFoiarGMxc0ecZK6Sco8mnAs8K3SKXz728ADmLD/s1600-h/Washingtom+Post+Sig.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5077435342476762786" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0epnFqK46MxpLB10_3Lkbes3Fj6Wwr2Lgyopbkon5nQRp6RaMBaPFuff1YLUIRcV3aZieA0aWMHugH_G_qgRYGh6GwDZQsmFoiarGMxc0ecZK6Sco8mnAs8K3SKXz728ADmLD/s320/Washingtom+Post+Sig.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong><strong> <div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;">In Texas, Parishioners Protest Church Firings</span></strong></strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><br /><div align="left"><strong>Dismissed Lay Workers Accuse Bishop of Trying to Break Labor Union Contracts</strong><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">By Lee Hockstader, </span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;">Washington Post Staff Writer </span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span>Saturday,<span style="color:#990000;"> July 5, 2003; Page A03</span><br /><br />McALLEN, Tex. -- Nothing seemed amiss when 60 parishioners from the Holy Spirit Catholic Church here gathered at dusk the other day on the church's pink-bricked patio before a burbling fountain. They clasped hands in a semicircle, bowed their heads for the Lord's Prayer and, accompanied by two guitars and a tambourine, sang hymns in Spanish as the scorching Texas sun succumbed to an evening softened by shadows.<br /><br />But the tranquility of the moment was deceptive, for the gathering was, in fact, a protest. The parishioners are at the forefront of one of the most venomous confrontations between the Catholic Church and organized labor since Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York faced down striking gravediggers in 1949, sending seminarians in to dig graves for 1,000 unburied bodies.<br /><br />On one side of the dispute is a handful of parish churches in the Rio Grande Valley, including Holy Spirit, whose lay workers unionized last year -- a virtually unheard-of step in the American Catholic Church. On the other side is the powerful local bishop of the Brownsville diocese, Raymundo J. Peña, and his top aides, who condemned the contracts when they were signed and moved vigorously against the union.<br /><br />It is an anomalous clash, casting the church and organized labor, traditionally warm allies, as rivals in one of the poorest and most heavily Catholic corners of the nation. And it is being played out in blazing local newspaper headlines and escalating mutual accusations, at a time when the Roman Catholic Church is trying to surmount the staggering effects of sex abuse scandals nationwide.<br /><br />"It's almost like an intra-family dispute with some labor union trappings attached to it," said David Hall, executive director of Texas Rural Legal Aid, which is representing some of the unionized lay workers.<br /><br />The family fight burst into public view June 18 when a parish priest, Ruben Delgado, newly assigned to Holy Spirit by the bishop, arrived at the church for his first day on the job and fired four of the unionized workers.<br /><br />The fired workers received little explanation. One, Ann Cass, had been a key member of Holy Spirit's administrative staff for 22 years and played a central role in building the church's new building in the 1980s. Another, Edna Cantu, a young secretary who is several months pregnant, had been dismissed last fall from yet another parish church shortly after she and her co-workers unionized there.<br /><br />The United Farm Workers (UFW), which represents the employees, received a court order temporarily halting the dismissals; the church then placed them on paid administrative leave. In the ensuing uproar, Delgado, the priest, resigned as pastor of Holy Spirit after a week. Aside from a written statement defending the firings as an administrative reshuffle designed to replace some paid staff with volunteers, he did not communicate with his parishioners and never celebrated Mass there.<br /><br />Peña said he had no hand in the firings, noting he was out of town when they took place. He has reaffirmed his opposition to unionizing parish lay workers, whose minimum wage of $7, he said, is well above the average in the Rio Grande Valley.<br /><br />"I honestly do not believe that is necessary or beneficial for church employees in the Valley to join a labor union," he said in an e-mailed response to questions from The Washington Post.<br /><br />Hundreds of parishioners at Holy Spirit have accused Peña of engineering the firings to break union contracts that he publicly denounced as "invalid in church law" because he, as bishop, was not consulted and did not approve them.<br /><br />To protest the dismissals, hundreds of Holy Spirit's parishioners have boycotted Sunday Mass for the past two weeks, holding communion services instead on the church patio and staging nightly candlelight vigils. They have urged other parishioners to divert contributions from the church to the Texas Civil Rights Project, which is representing the fired workers.<br /><br />"It's one thing to suffer for the church; it's another thing to suffer at the hands of the church," said Dora Saavedra, a communications professor at University of Texas Pan-American who chairs Holy Spirit's parish council, an advisory body. "We want the staff reinstated -- period."<br /><br />Holy Spirit was one of five parish churches in the Brownsville diocese that signed union contracts, but it has become the focal point of the dispute. In contrast with the mostly poor and rural churches of the area, Holy Spirit has a relatively affluent, well-educated congregation of 3,300 families.<br /><br />From its perch in a predominantly middle-class neighborhood of McAllen, the church has been a vocal advocate for liberal causes in this city of 120,000 -- higher wages for low-skilled workers; an increase in the local sales tax; a reconfiguration of the town council to benefit poorer neighborhoods. It has also been at the forefront of demands that Peña disclose more information about priests accused of sexual abuse and about the diocese's finances -- demands that the bishop has resisted.<br /><br />In the face of an open rebellion at Holy Spirit, Peña has condemned the protesters as a small group of firebrands who have challenged his authority and manipulated the parish. In an interview, Peña acknowledged he has become the lightning rod for the protests but said, "It's ridiculous to say it's me against them. I am their bishop, their pastor, and I have no ill will or animosity against anyone."<br /><br />Peña, 69, was the bishop of El Paso before he arrived in Brownsville in 1995. His diocese is a long, thin strip running from the Gulf of Mexico west along the Mexican border, a sun-blasted, heavily Hispanic territory. Since his arrival, Peña has aroused resentments with a leadership style that is variously described as hands-on, micro-managerial, autocratic and preoccupied with secrecy.<br /><br />The genesis of the current crisis can be traced to 2000, when the bishop abolished a 20-year-old pension plan for the diocese's approximately 1,100 paid lay workers, including administrators, religious education workers, secretaries and others. Rather than receiving monthly checks upon retirement, as many were expecting, they received one-time checks in early 2002 according to a formula that favored older employees over some younger ones who had worked longer.<br /><br />The diocese did offer an alternative -- a defined contribution retirement plan, similar to a 401(k) -- which diocesan officials characterized as an improvement. But some church employees were indignant, insisting that the abolition of the pension plan would do particular harm to lower-paid workers.<br /><br />Responding to those concerns, five parishes signed union contracts with the UFW a year ago, establishing pension plans and grievance procedures for approximately 50 lay workers. One of the parish priests, Jerry Frank, former pastor of Holy Spirit, said he did it to protect his staff from what he considered Peña's arbitrary management.<br /><br />"I told him I had to protect my workers from him, and that he treats people as objects rather than as human beings," said Frank, 61, who has since been transferred by the bishop to a small, rural parish.<br /><br />Diocesan officials denounced the union contracts, saying they corrupted what was akin to a marital bond between paid lay workers and the church -- even though parishioners point out lay workers at the Vatican itself are unionized. In a communique sent to all parishes, Peña warned them against further inroads by the union.<br /><br />Unions "do not make sense in covenantal relationships of trust and love," Robert E. Maher, vicar general of the diocese, wrote last July in an e-mail to a lawyer who protested the diocese's policy. "There is no place in the Christian community for divisions along the lines of self-interest, and that means, among other things, no unions."<br /><br />Maher, who is Peña's second-in-command, also threatened to slash funding for unionized churches, according to several pastors. He wrote to one pastor that the Catholic Extension Society, a grant-giving agency in Chicago that funds poor parishes, had also refused to help unionized churches -- an assertion that the Extension Society vigorously denied. Peña, saying his position was "misunderstood," reinstated the funding after he learned the pastor had ties with the Extension Society.<br /><br />"It sounds to me like the vicar is trying to bring these guys into line by making that kind of threat," said Richard Ritter, the Extension Society's vice president. "Those decisions are up to the bishop completely."<br /><br />Peña, in his e-mailed statement, said: "I have always been an advocate for social justice in Texas. I have supported labor's right to collective bargaining, and I support it now. Cesar Chavez [founder of the UFW] was my friend, and as a young priest I supported his organizing efforts."<br /><br /><span style="color:#990000;">© 2003 The Washington Post Company</span> <a href="http://www.hello.com/" target="ext"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Hello" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbh.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a> </div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-91837829695741580272009-05-29T14:04:00.007-05:002009-05-29T14:22:24.693-05:00Don't go washing no female's feet!<p><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>Opinion Piece<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Editor: David Jackson</span></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">When Catholics were preparing to celebrate Holy Week, April 5-12. Parishes in the Brownsville diocese received information about celebrating those holy days. The directive for Holy Thursday seems to insist that only "men’s" (males) feet are to be washed.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">Pope Benedict XVI during his trip to the African nation of Angola delivered a strong plea for women's rights during the next-to-last day of his first trip to Africa, insisting that discrimination against women "forms no part of God's plan." Several African women said the pope’s message is undercut by what they see as a pattern of discrimination inside the church itself. The pope quoted from John Paul II’s 1995 message for World Day of Peace. In it John Paul emphasized that women have a "full right to become actively involved in all areas of public life, and this right must be affirmed and guaranteed...where necessary through appropriate legislation." John Allen writing about Benedict’s trip says: "By virtually any measure, the pope’s assertion of male-female equality remains more an aspiration than a reality across much of Africa."</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">It surely seems to me that Allen’s statement can be extended to the entire Roman Catholic Church. It has particular application to the directives given to parishes in the Brownsville Diocese. The pope went on to say: "I call everyone to an effective awareness of the adverse conditions to which many women have been -- and continue to be -- subjected," he said, "paying particular attention to ways in which the behavior and attitudes of men, who at times show a lack of sensitivity and responsibility, may be to blame." </span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">African women responded to the pope’s talk: "Women are always in second place in the church," said Pauline Maissaba, a 24-year-old Cameroonian Catholic, who spoke to NCR following Sunday Mass at Yaoundè's St. Kisito Parish, where the liturgy is celebrated in the local Ewondo language."When you come to church, you always see priests, deacons, and seminarians taking charge," Maissaba said. "Women clean the church, they wash the priest's clothes, and they do the cooking. They're always doing the less rewarding work."</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">These African women are expressing the sentiments of many Catholic women the world over. "The church talks about honoring the place of women, as if women are no longer left behind. But women are left behind," said Grace Atem, a 22-year-old Cameroonian. "When it comes to decision-making in the church, you won't see many women," Bekono said. "Even the pope's visit shows this. In Cameroon, the pope met the bishops, he met the Muslims, he met politicians, but he did not meet with women."</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">I could not help but remember the pithy statement made about John Paul II and his visits to different countries, "He kisses the ground and steps on the women."</span></p><p><em><span style="font-size:130%;color:#990000;">from the Valley Morning Star, Palm Sunday 2009</span></em></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-90053414311943743292009-05-23T10:02:00.004-05:002009-05-23T12:57:06.615-05:00Ireland Child AbuseThe following is from the National Catholic Reporter.<br /><span style="color:#990000;">~Kanickers</span><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">Irish abuse report demands decisive action<br /></span></strong><span style="font-size:130%;">On Wednesday, May 20 [2009], the government of Ireland issued a 2,600-page report on the nine-year investigation into Catholic church-operated schools and reformatories. The report came from the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse and covered a 60-year-period from 1936 to the present. It raised serious questions about Catholic institutions that permitted and fostered climates of sustained abuse by priests and nuns.<br /><br />U.S. Dominican Fr. Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer and advocate for those abused by priests, offers this reflection on the report.<br />* * * *<br /><br />Thus far the reaction to the publication of the Report of the Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse has been quite consistent. Most who have read news accounts of the 30 page executive summary have expressed shock, horror, disgust, anger and other like sentiments. Presuming that the executive summary is exactly that, a summary one can therefore presume that the full report is more of the same horror except in more detail.<br /><br />This report was the end result of a long investigation conducted by a government agency and headed by Justice Sean Ryan. The report's credibility, indeed its very power lies with its source. The lengthy investigation was not a private endeavor and certainly not sponsored by the Roman Catholic Church. As if this report is not mind and soul blowing enough, it will be followed on later this summer by the report of the inquiry into sexual abuse by clergy of the Archdiocese of Dublin.<br /><br />The Roman Catholic Church has been intimately enmeshed with every facet of life in the Republic of Ireland. The Church controlled the education, health care and welfare systems. Every one of the institutions probed by the Commission was run by a Catholic religious order, the two predominant ones being the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Mercy. Both orders are headquartered in Rome and in Ireland, the activities of each has been subject to the oversight and authority of the Irish Bishops. The young children who are described in the report as the victims of all types of horrific abuse are members of what the Second Vatican Council referred to as the "People of God."<br /><br />The vicious sexual, physical, emotional and spiritual devastation inflicted upon these children was not accidental. It was systemic. It was part of the everyday life and indeed deeply ingrained in the very culture of the childcare system in Catholic Ireland.<br /><br />The intellects and emotions of decent people, of committed Christians and especially of devoted Catholics cannot truly process the unbelievable reality presented in this report. The sadistic world of these institutions is not that of some crazed secular dictatorship. It is not the world of an uncivilized tribal culture that ravaged the weak in ages long past. This report describes a world created and sustained by the Roman Catholic Church. The horrors inflicted on these helpless, trapped children -- rapes, beatings, molestation, starvation, isolation -- all were inflicted by men and women who had vowed themselves to the service of people in the name of Christ's love.<br /><br />The report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse is not unique though it may well be the most shocking example of the reality of such a culture of evil. In the past two decades over two dozen reports have described physical and sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults by Catholic clergy and religious. Among the more shocking have been a series of reports submitted to the Vatican between 1994 and 1998 revealing </span><a href="http://natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2001a/031601/031601a.htm"><span style="font-size:130%;">sexual exploitation of religious women in Africa by African priests</span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"> [1]. <br /><br />These reports remained largely unknown until they were brought to light by the National Catholic Reporter in 2001. Other reports have opened the doors to the secret world of clergy sexual abuse in the U.S. and elsewhere. The report of the Winter Commission about rampant sexual abuse at Mount Cashel, the Christian Brothers orphanage in Newfoundland and the report of the Philadelphia Grand Jury investigation stand out as examples not only of the depravity but of the institutionalized cover-up.<br /><br />Revelations of various forms of abuse by Catholic religious and clerics all have common elements. Likewise, they evoke responses from the institutional leadership that are common to all examples of abuse and consistent in their nature. Most disturbing is the certain knowledge that the vicious abuse, in Ireland and elsewhere, is not accidental nor isolated and it is never unknown to Church authorities. The Church's authorities, from the pope himself down to the local bishops and religious superiors have known about this unbelievable culture of abuse and have done nothing.<br /><br />Archbishop Timothy Dolan referred to the Church as a “Loving Mother” when he spoke at his installation Mass in New York. In light of the facts disclosed in the Irish report as well as the information revealed about countless other cases of abuse, such a description of the Church is not only absurd, but insulting to the countless people whose belief and trust in the hierarchy and clergy has been betrayed.<br /><br />The official reaction is predictable. Denial, minimization, blame shifting and finally limited acknowledgment followed by carefully nuanced “apologies” has been the standard fare. At no time has the leadership of any part of the institutional Church ever owned up to any systemic accountability. The standard responses are totally unacceptable because they are devious and irrelevant. Those who still hold to the institutional Church as their source of emotional security may well bray about anti-Catholicism, media sensationalism and exaggeration of what they claim to be an aberration. Such responses are mindless but far worse, they inflict even more pain on the thousands whose lives have been violated.<br /><br />The Church cannot and will not fix itself. The very reality of the systemic abuse in the Irish institutions (and elsewhere as well) reveals a deep disdain for people by those charged with leading the Church. There has been an abandonment of the fundamental values that are supposed to vivify the Church if indeed these values were ever really internalized by many in positions of power. There is something radically wrong with the institutional Catholic Church. This is painfully obvious because it allows systemic abuse and radical dishonesty to coexist with its self-proclaimed identity as the Kingdom of God on earth.<br /><br />The institutional Church is defensively changing its approach to the systematic abuse all too slowly and only because it is forced to do so by external forces it cannot control. The Irish government commission is one and the U.S. legal system is another. No amount of bureaucratic programs, pious apologies, rhetorical hand wringing and effusive promises of future change will make the difference. The problem is more than the widespread abuse itself. Punishing the perpetrators is completely missing the forest standing behind the trees. The clerical culture intertwined with the institution needs to be fearlessly examined and dismantled as we know it. It has wrought far too much destruction and murdered too many souls to be tolerated for another generation.<br /><br />Catholics have a profound obligation in charity and justice to the countless victims of all forms of abuse. They have an obligation to believers of all kinds everywhere. They must ceaselessly do all that can be done to free the Christian/Catholic community from the toxic control of the clericalized institutional structure so that once more the Church will be identified not with an anachronistic and self-serving monarchy but with the Body of Christ.<br /><br />[Fr. Thomas Doyle served as a consultant to the Dublin archdiocese's commission on abuse by clergy.]<br /><br />Copyright © The National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company<br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-33026887924341630952009-05-15T14:31:00.002-05:002009-05-15T14:36:09.409-05:00Letter to Bishop Pena<span style="font-size:130%;">OK, here's another...</span><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;color:#990000;">~Kanickers</span></em><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Good afternoon, Bishop!</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">With all due respect, when I heard and read the directives/guidelines that you and your fellow bishops issued regarding liturgical changes in light of the H1N1 flu, I felt so sad and somewhat angry that you all do not use the same urgency and passion to protect our children from pedophile clergy. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Perhaps the next generation of bishops will show us that they care enough for our children who are already born to protect them by naming the known clergy who are pedophiles. Perhaps they will stop trying to protect the institution at the expense of those who were victimized, thus showing us whom and what they truly love.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Sincerely,</span><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">Ann Williams Cass</span></em>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-41806575876719734762009-05-15T13:41:00.005-05:002009-05-15T13:56:18.156-05:00Farewell to Bishop Peña<div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">Received this some time back.<br /><span style="color:#990000;">~Kanickers</span></span></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">FAREWELL BISHOP PEÑA</span></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">As Bishop Peña turned 75 and is now up for retirement, there have been many published accolades of his accomplishments in the Brownsville Diocese since becoming our bishop in 1995. Before we turn the page of his administration, however, it is important to read the full page.</span></div><div align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">When he arrived in August of 1995, he asked for the resignation of all lay diocesan employees and told them that they would each know if they still had their position within the diocese by the end of the year, five months in the waiting. This was all based on information that he had received about some of the staff from misinformed laity, not fellow clergy. At a clergy conference, it quickly became apparent that he was going to accept the resignations of these employees without so much as meeting or talking with them. </span></div><div align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">He kicked the Oblate fathers out of the Shrine. The Oblates are a religious community of men who had decades of presence and leadership in the Valley. He then incorporated and formed a board whose members were all sworn to confidentiality about any and all matters that the board discussed, even when they were not in executive session.</span></div><div align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">He spent thousands of dollars remodeling the building that housed diocesan offices in Alamo, turning it into a residence for himself. The house plans show that it even has an indoor sauna.</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />He terminated the pension fund for all diocesan and parish lay employees without consulting the board of the pension fund. The fund was nearly $12 MILLION over-funded. While a very small portion of this over funded money was returned to the parishes, there was little or no accounting for where the rest of this money went and although he terminated the employee pension fund, he DID NOT terminate the same pension fund for the priests.</span></div><div align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">On August 2nd, 1999, a check from the diocesan insurance carrier, Gallagher Bassett Services, Inc., was paid out in the amount of $350,000 to his mother, Elisa Peña, to settle a claim made against the diocese on her behalf after a December 24th 1996 accident that involved a diocesan vehicle in which she was a passenger. </span></div><div align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">He employed his own CPA from El Paso for the Brownsville Diocese rather than employing a CPA firm from the Valley. This CPA has had to fly into the Valley every time he is needed. Few in the diocese feel that the Bishop has been transparent in the finances of the diocese and this area was a constant cause for contention at clergy gatherings. </span></div><div align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">According to the Dallas Morning News, Bishop Peña asked Fr. Onyia, a priest from Nigeria, to leave the country as soon as possible after allegations that Fr. Onyia had sexually molested a mentally disabled minor while at the Shrine. He also accosted two teenage girls in Harlingen, after the Bishop had transferred him there.</span></div><div align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">The Brownsville diocese has paid out MILLIONS OF DOLLARS in secret settlements of sexual abuse cases involving clergy. Is it possible that this is where the almost $12 MILLION in proceeds from the termination of the employee pension fund went?</span></div><div align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">While other US Bishops, including some fellow Texas bishops, have released the names of their pedophile priests, Bishop Peña has refused to go public with the names of those priests within the Brownsville diocese who have been asked to leave public ministry because of their KNOWN (not alleged) sexual abuse of minors. This decision on his part has left these guilty priests free to live and work within our community, putting our children at great risk. </span></div><div align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">He also demoted a pastor to “parish administrator” for participating in a Labor Day press conference and march supporting justice for all workers. </span></div><div align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">He was also responsible for the destruction of a progressive parish in north McAllen and thereafter awarded some priests the title of “monsignor”, presumably for their assistance in this action. </span></div><div align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">And perhaps the saddest of all, according to the late Bishop Fitzpatrick, while Bishop Peña called for particular care to the elderly, he never once went to visit Bishop Fitzpatrick during his retirement, let alone, as he was dying of cancer. Bishop Fitzpatrick lived in a parish within close proximity of the Chancery.</span></div><div align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">This is a short list. Much more could be added. But, suffice it to say, we look forward to the retirement of Bishop Raymundo Peña and hope and pray that it comes quickly. </span></div><div align="left"><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">Concerned Catholics of the Rio Grande Valley</span></em></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-19752337496434130842009-04-17T08:18:00.012-05:002009-04-17T10:41:04.728-05:00Call to Action-RGV<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirqFeGGXfME8OUknpYw5HhSSiM9NlunKri-4gVXRobMd5iSkUSfkHxIH6u7RPZthdv9KNTS0JRN31wFmCp4ptdGZUrBYxGAWlCadnPA_Tym5fkzHVyPAU5jCxXGBXzN8DCico5/s1600-h/CCI02192009_00000.bmp.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325649606424839074" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left; width: 377px; height: 400px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirqFeGGXfME8OUknpYw5HhSSiM9NlunKri-4gVXRobMd5iSkUSfkHxIH6u7RPZthdv9KNTS0JRN31wFmCp4ptdGZUrBYxGAWlCadnPA_Tym5fkzHVyPAU5jCxXGBXzN8DCico5/s400/CCI02192009_00000.bmp.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"><br /><br />CALL TO ACTION-RGV<br /><br /></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">Transparency Urged<br /><br /></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">Catholic Diocese of Brownsville<br /><br /><br /></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />NEWS RELEASE<br />McAllen, TX</span></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">April 16, 2009<br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><br /></span></span></strong></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong></strong></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong></strong></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">WHAT:</span> </strong></span></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Members of Call To Action-RGV will deliver a letter to Bishop Raymundo Pena urging him to release the names of the priests in the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville who have serious allegations of sexual abuse filed against them.<br /><br /></span></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">WHERE:</span></strong></span></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">In front of Bishop Pena's office on the east side of the Basilica in San Juan, TX.<br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><br /></span></span></strong></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong></strong></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong></strong></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">WHEN:</span> </strong></span></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">April 20, 2009 at 11:00AM.<br /><br /></span></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">STAND WITH US:</span></strong></span></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >For the past 5 years CTA-RGV has urged Bishop Pena to make public the names of priests in the Brownsville Diocese who have serious allegations of sexual abuse against children and adults. To date, he has refused to make these names public.<br /><br />Other bishops in Texas have already made public the names of priests who have serious allegations of sexual abuse against them. It is time Bishop Pena follows suit to ensure greater protection of the children in our diocese.<br /><br /></span></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">We encourage all concerned citizens of the Rio Grande Valley to make your voices heard by standing with us in support of the sexual abuse victims of our diocese. It is not only the victims that suffer, but the entire family of those that have been sexually abused.<br /><br /></span></strong></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></div><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">CTA-RGV is a nonprofit 501(c)3 entity whose mission is to educate, support and stand-up for issues of social justice in our Catholic Diocese and our community. More information may be found at: <a href="http://www.cta-rgv.com/">http://www.cta-rgv.com/</a> or by contacting David Saavedra @ (956)345-5444</span></strong></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-62875746331129613872009-04-17T08:00:00.000-05:002009-04-17T10:33:31.508-05:00Downtown Stations of the Cross<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;">DOWNTOWN STATIONS OF THE CROSS<br />Thanks to everyone who attended!<br />See you next year.<br />(click to enlarge picture)<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8r2lPpHyHbeqZHRv1PIzzIGfyd9iDKpIn0P_QLH3_lOafBjpc_xWzFi-NBMKe-1Jq4ahsehQd5j1Rb-Vcw8HM6tTjkdDuIxcNr-r9Ue3yks-0jNpSKNcvi9Ji3uGfUdV18BXl/s1600-h/Stations2009pilgrims2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 527px; height: 187px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8r2lPpHyHbeqZHRv1PIzzIGfyd9iDKpIn0P_QLH3_lOafBjpc_xWzFi-NBMKe-1Jq4ahsehQd5j1Rb-Vcw8HM6tTjkdDuIxcNr-r9Ue3yks-0jNpSKNcvi9Ji3uGfUdV18BXl/s400/Stations2009pilgrims2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325682856686252258" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-50258948984268142012009-04-09T13:02:00.007-05:002009-04-09T14:04:07.575-05:00<span style="font-size:180%;"><a style="font-family: times new roman;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIRfnxd7F2A1mjbfU582bfWvKRc7I_TZplhieOJXwz_0f53D-ns_KBO_I8PG1bMuNsPKrF2dqyputl7XhFCDDtgM7feetR0hFwmanMEoPjs52TULg7AlcECwARjao6gXEZwm25/s1600-h/Stations+Stick+Man.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 286px; height: 297px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIRfnxd7F2A1mjbfU582bfWvKRc7I_TZplhieOJXwz_0f53D-ns_KBO_I8PG1bMuNsPKrF2dqyputl7XhFCDDtgM7feetR0hFwmanMEoPjs52TULg7AlcECwARjao6gXEZwm25/s400/Stations+Stick+Man.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322758527780853266" border="0" /></a></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >DOWNTOWN WAY OF THE CROSS</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Friday, April 10, 2009</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Holy Spirit Peace and Justice Community will sponsor their annual Stations of the Cross through downtown McAllen this Friday, April 10, 2009, from noon until about 2:30PM, beginning and ending in Archer Park.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">This prayer emphasizes how the suffering of Jesus continues today in the lives of the poor and oppressed, in sickness, unemployment, AIDS, addictions, violence, and war.<br /><br />Participants will take turns carrying a large cross as the group winds it's way through the downtown area stopping at fourteen different places, depicting the fourteen stations of the cross which tell the suffering of Christ from his trial to his Crucifixion and burial.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The first station in the Catholic tradition is "Jesus is condemned to death." The first station will be the Federal Court, where participants will pray about the death penalty.<br /><br />The third station remembers Jesus falling. Participants will stop in front of a downtown bar to pray for those who have fallen under the cross of addictions.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Another station will be that of the food pantry at Sacred Heart Catholic parish, where participants will donate canned goods, rice, beans and other food items to the food pantry.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Joining us in our Way of the Cross this year will be about 100 students and teachers from Saint Joseph Academy in Brownsville, who have been participating in service projects this week in the mid-Valley with various non-profit organizations.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Everyone is cordially invited to participate in this annual event.</span><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-78874891579533682882009-02-21T16:02:00.002-06:002009-02-21T16:05:30.772-06:00More news on Father Jim McCauley<strong>For Your Information:</strong><br /><strong> </strong><br /><strong>Father McCauley is finally out of the nursing home after 7 months! He is at home in Brownsville, MN and needs 24 hr/day care, but is very happy to be home. His address is PO. Box 203, Brownsville, MN 55919. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>He misses Holy Spirit and wants to be there next winter. Just thought I'd give you an update.</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Lois Hackbarth, </strong><br /><strong>one of Fr. Jim's caregivers</strong>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-27305069779048524442009-01-11T17:53:00.006-06:002009-01-12T08:19:18.116-06:00Resist The Wall Fund Raiser<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikqNezI9jvT_CO9m7Zw2dD3hfJfg3851UrvShpPxFO9UaiUJe3B4oTE0u8GIwA02FdkeHfQCtjS901abVPDvlW7jJPfKrzl9AN3NdFyFyUTixiHye19xn_UEpXlqEuxfGZlla8/s1600-h/Resist+the+Wall+Banner.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290188913240735170" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 146px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikqNezI9jvT_CO9m7Zw2dD3hfJfg3851UrvShpPxFO9UaiUJe3B4oTE0u8GIwA02FdkeHfQCtjS901abVPDvlW7jJPfKrzl9AN3NdFyFyUTixiHye19xn_UEpXlqEuxfGZlla8/s400/Resist+the+Wall+Banner.jpg" border="0" /></a> <div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-size:180%;" >Here is a Fund Raiser you should Support!</span><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />There is a local organization that has long been supporting the efforts to RESIST THE BORDER WALL. As with any such "good cause" organizations, most are desperate to raise funds to help offset financial support of their efforts. The <strong>RESIST THE WALL</strong> organization is no exception.<br /><br />Here is an easy and economical way</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> that you can help support the <strong>RESIST THE WALL</strong> efforts with something that you and your family will really enjoy!<br /><br />There is an entity located within the Ware Road (Ware & Pecan) HEB store. It's called the <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">HEB Chinese Kitchen</span>. If you have ever eaten there, you know that they have one of the best Chinese Buffet Dinners in the Valley. The food is excellent! Cleanliness is impeccable! Service is outstanding and the fo</span><span style="font-size:130%;">od is totally FRESH! It hasn't been in a take-out box since early morning, like most take-out chicken or beef Barbecue plates.<br /><br />Folks, this is "enjoyable" food that is well worth the short pick-up drive. Cost is <strong>$6/plate</strong> and you get your choice of one entree (large selection), fried rice or lo-mein, an appetizer and even a fortune cookie! Plates may be picked up any day of the week between<strong> 11:00 AM and 8:00 PM</strong> during the</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong> 2-week redemption period,</strong> <strong>January 18, 2009 through January 31, 2009.</strong> <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">The RESIST THE WALL organization benefits from every ticket sold...<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7LkAwETpBRMvPYuTkciWw4elieFriAyW-jlF2py28BkCX4clVuY2z1sU29XVokPleI2Pud9szH2PWrBH6HH5qQUglYcsaf9vLK03r3e1i-9Sowzl21cm-CVcs_PkwJz2yYOKp/s1600-h/RTW+Chinese+tickets+-+Sample.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290204533808710930" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 179px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 103px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7LkAwETpBRMvPYuTkciWw4elieFriAyW-jlF2py28BkCX4clVuY2z1sU29XVokPleI2Pud9szH2PWrBH6HH5qQUglYcsaf9vLK03r3e1i-9Sowzl21cm-CVcs_PkwJz2yYOKp/s400/RTW+Chinese+tickets+-+Sample.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Why not solve the problem of what you and your family are going to eat tonight... or, what you and your fellow workers are ha</span><span style="font-size:130%;">vin</span><span style="font-size:130%;">g for lunch today... You can eat in or take-out... The price can't be beat, the food is excellent and you could not find a better cause...<br /><br />Why not order your tickets today by calling <strong>(956) 648-3246</strong></span> </div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-62264303431350351632009-01-10T13:24:00.006-06:002009-01-10T13:49:59.271-06:00HASTA LA VISTA CHERTOFF<div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnKMQd_l0pEw8MqdO1SxZeHztedZ9vhF70gkbxo3WluISwD-E1KgDtB4TC2p73hqZDeBWX3olHBmUyAkuLThkeSJmm77R5CHo3ice7LHFAYOqsFmnyJOQpEYYsraBUKKvFb_Ii/s1600-h/chertoffretirementcopy.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289751182708169554" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnKMQd_l0pEw8MqdO1SxZeHztedZ9vhF70gkbxo3WluISwD-E1KgDtB4TC2p73hqZDeBWX3olHBmUyAkuLThkeSJmm77R5CHo3ice7LHFAYOqsFmnyJOQpEYYsraBUKKvFb_Ii/s320/chertoffretirementcopy.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong> </strong><br /></span><span style="font-size:180%;">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</span></div><div align="center"><strong>FROM EL PASO TO BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS BORDER COMMUNITIES CELEBRATE THE RETIREMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY MICHAEL CHERTOFF</strong><br /><br /></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>BROWNSVILLE & EL PASO, TX</strong> — </span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">On January 10th communities along the Texas border will be throwing Retirement Parties to celebrate the end of Michael Chertoff’s tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security. During his illustrious career, Secretary Chertoff has driven a wall through the borderlands, condemned the property of hundreds of Texas landowners, waived the laws that protect us, imprisoned immigrant families, and set a new low in the response to Hurricane Katrina.</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">Border residents will gather in Brownsville and El Paso, where Chertoff’s concrete and steel legacy is being erected along the Rio Grande, to remember the man who has done so much to our communities.</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">“This is not a protest disguised as a party - this is a party. Chertoff has only been Secretary for three years but he has managed to do a tremendous amount of damage. Texas will be glad to see him gone, and it can’t come soon enough,” said Scott Nicol of the No Border Wall Coalition.</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">In Brownsville Chertoff’s Retirement Party will be held at Galeria 409 starting at 6pm, within spitting distance of the coming border wall. Chertoff’s retirement is like Christmas morning and the day after you get over the flu all wrapped up together.. </span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">So the party will blend a corporate retirement party and Carnival. Poets and artists will contribute their thoughts on the man who has so profoundly impacted the border; Ensamble la Mision (and possibly other bands) will play; a retirement cake and piñata will bear his likeness; Chertoff’s Wheel of Fortune; a raffle; and still-President Bush may even stop by to give Chertie a send-off.</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">“We’re having a party for Michael, but he’s not invited,” said Bill Guerra Addington from No Wall – Big Bend.</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">At the other end of the state, El Paso’s Chertoff Retirement Party will be held at the Chamizal National Memorial starting at 2pm. The memorial commemorates the harmonious settling of a century-long boundary dispute between the U.S. and Mexico, providing a counter-example to the militarization of the border that Chertoff has worked so diligently to put in place.</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">Games and the traditional breaking of the Chertoff piñata will greet the dawning of the post-Chertoff era. Galeria 409 is located at 409 E. 13th Street in Brownsville, between Levee and Elizabeth, a block from the Gateway Bridge. Call gallery owner Mark Clark at (956) 455-3599, or Scott Nicol at (956) 532-5983, for information, or email No Border Wall at </span><a title="mailto:noborderwall@yahoo.com" href="mailto:noborderwall@yahoo.com"><span style="font-size:130%;">noborderwall@yahoo.com</span></a><span style="font-size:130%;">. </span></div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">To reach the Chamizal National Memorial near El Paso, from I-10 exit at Hwy 54 and follow the brown Chamizal National Memorialdirectional signs. If traveling south on Hwy 54, take the exit marked Juarez, Mexico, turn right onto Paisano Street, and continue to follow signs towards Chamizal. For more information contact Bill Guerra Addington at (915) 539-4158 or </span><a title="mailto:aguavida@valornet.com" href="mailto:aguavida%40valornet.com"><span style="font-size:130%;">mailto:aguavida%40valornet.com</span></a><span style="font-size:130%;">. </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-21536925665528932462008-08-30T11:57:00.007-05:002008-08-30T12:16:57.103-05:00Support Granjeno Day<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoww88a_nyHBy9nuwnwWhqZIv1hffNq6XXtev_VeZ3-HU-99agC-bCtofhvIDvjJUQLRqcu0tGCo7hhG4a41r_J2N2cSnmjgu98rWQpkqa4orN-Ifg1iBZK6exxlwah2Qab9II/s1600-h/NOBORDERWALLart.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5240359661905101362" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoww88a_nyHBy9nuwnwWhqZIv1hffNq6XXtev_VeZ3-HU-99agC-bCtofhvIDvjJUQLRqcu0tGCo7hhG4a41r_J2N2cSnmjgu98rWQpkqa4orN-Ifg1iBZK6exxlwah2Qab9II/s320/NOBORDERWALLart.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">Support Granjeno Day!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Labor Day, Sept. 1, 2008<br />5:00 pm to 7:00 pm<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">Public is Invited</span><br /><br />GRANJENO CIVIC CENTER<br />(Downtown Granjeno, take South Shery Rd past the McAllen Trade Zone)<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">FREE Chicken Barbeque (500)</span><br />Hot Dogs and Drinks for the kids (while supply lasts)<br /><br /></div></strong><div align="left"><strong>They didn't ask for the Border Wall,... but now they have to live with it!</strong><br /><br />This is an opportunity to show the people that must now LIVE with the BORDER WALL that we support them! It is a chance to hear first hand the effects that the BORDER WALL is already having on the residents of South Texas.<br /><br />It is a gathering for the residents of Granjeno to tell their personal stories and to document memories of the rich history of their unique community, to tell stories about their families and their ancestral land. It is our opportunity to learn their feelings about what they are now being forced to accept from the United States Government.<br /><br />Proudly sponsored by the Pharr Community Outreach Project/Shalom and the Resist The Wall Campaign, who will be providing video recording teams for documentary use against the BORDER WALL.<br /><br />Please attend to help us show them that we support them. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10643191.post-12334567608938138862008-08-07T10:43:00.002-05:002008-08-07T10:47:08.349-05:00More on Fr.McCauley<strong>Gunderson Lutheran Hospital<br />Room 3-204<br />1900 South Avenue<br />LaCrosse, Wisconsin 54601<br /></strong><br />He enjoys hearing from friends.<br /><br />He is getting stronger and working hard at rehab. He may be getting back to you via e-mail. (That's part of his rehab too.) It continues to be a slow process.<br />Thanks for asking.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0