The nation’s sixth largest Roman Catholic diocese was slapped with two lawsuits Monday seeking a total of $1.8 billion in damages. Filed by 34 men, the lawsuits allege that Bishop William Murphy and church leaders of the Long Island Diocese of Rockville Centre knowingly concealed information about priest pedophilia–choosing to protect itself over the safety […]
Bishop Richard Lennon, the interim head of the embattled Boston Archdiocese Public, yesterday rejected donations from the Catholic lay group Voice of the Faithful (VOTF). Despite the ongoing priest sex abuse scandal and an increasingly bleak financial future for the Archdiocese, Lennon not only refused the $35,000 contribution but also barred Catholic Charities from accepting […]
The spring issue of Ms. magazine features a poll showing overwhelming support for the movement to strengthen women’s rights. The poll reveals that 83 percent of women and 75 percent of men approve of the movement. In addition, a whopping 92 percent of 18 to 24-year-old women approve of the movement. Furthermore, 76 percent of […]
With the priest sex abuse scandal showing little sign of waning, the Archdiocese of Boston faces a bleak financial future, church officials announced last Monday. According to church documents, the last year has been plagued by substantial declines in the number of active priests (many removed for alleged child abuse), attendance at weekly Mass, and […]
Close to 100 baseball executives and professional baseball players have announced an initiative to raise $1 million for the American Life League’s (ALL) planned “Campus for Life.” The “Campus for Life” will be built in Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C., and its intended purpose is to lend academic credibility to the anti-abortion movement and to […]
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considered likely to approve a birth control pill that reduces a woman’s menstrual cycles from 13 to four a year, according to the Washington Post. The difference between normal birth control pills and the new pill Seasonale, manufactured by Barr Laboratories, is that pills come in packets of […]
After much debate in Nicaragua, a nine-year-old girl who became pregnant after being raped was granted an abortion by the Nicaraguan health ministry in a private clinic. She was raped while working on a coffee plantation in Costa Rica, BBC News reports. At first, the family minister of Nicaragua stated that the child should have […]
A Superior Court judge yesterday rejected a motion filed by the Archdiocese of Boston, seeking dismissal of 500 civil lawsuits alleging priest sex abuse. Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Constance M. Sweeney disagreed with the archdiocese’s claim that court involvement would violate the Constitution’s call for separation of church and state. Rather, she explained, “If […]
A 181-page report issued Monday by the Suffolk County grand jury in New York accused the Long Island Diocese of Rockville Centre of systematic deception and manipulation in its handling of alleged sexual abuse by priests. “Time after time, and despite overwhelming evidence that priests were committing crimes against children, they were willingly sacrificing the […]
The Vatican on Monday rejected an appeal filed last fall by seven women–ordained and then excommunicated as Catholic priests. The women from Austria, Germany, and the US–including Dagmar Braun Celeste, the ex-wife of former Ohio Governor Richard Celeste–were ordained last June by Argentine bishop Romulu Braschi. Their appeal sought further explanation on the pope’s accusation […]
While far-right extremists are pushing the US Congress to approve legislation banning all types of cloning, the New Jersey legislature is expected to pass a bill in support of the therapeutic cloning needed for stem cell research. Much like a law in California, the New Jersey legislation is largely symbolic but could send a powerful […]
Polish women’s groups on Tuesday demanded a loosening of the country’s anti-abortion law, marking the 10th anniversary of the legislation. Poland’s Catholic Church sponsored the 1993 anti-abortion law. Along with Ireland, Poland is ranked as having the strictest abortion law in Europe, according to Agence France Presse. Current legislation dictates that abortion is only allowed […]
Catholic and Protestant institutions in New York refuse to give up the fight, despite a bill mandating health-insurance coverage for birth control, mammograms and screenings for cervical cancer and bone disease, taking effect at the start of this year. The religious institutions, including eight Roman Catholic bishops, filed a lawsuit Monday with the state supreme […]
In a continued effort to stack the court with far right extremists, the Bush administration plans to fill two seats on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit that have been vacant for years. Throughout the 1990s, Senate Republicans rebuked efforts by the Clinton administration to fill those seats – claiming that the […]
An Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) study released today revealed that emergency contraception (EC) was responsible for reducing unwanted pregnancies and lowering the number of abortions in the US by as many as 51,000 in the year 2000. The report also showed an 11 percent decline in overall abortion rates in the US between 1994 and […]
The Vatican today approved the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ revised policy on sexual abuse of minors committed by priests, according to the Associated Press. Vatican approval was expected after it had rejected an earlier, and somewhat stronger, policy proposal and sent representatives to work out revisions to the policy. Victims groups have criticized the […]
In a victory for women and for victims of priest abuse, Cardinal Bernard Law today submitted his resignation as archbishop of Boston to Pope John Paul II in Rome. In his resignation speech, Law asked for forgiveness for “those who have suffered from [his] shortcomings and mistakes,” according to the BBC. Law has been widely […]
Faced with criminal violations, carrying fines as high as $20,000, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester on Tuesday admitted it failed to protect children from pedophilic priests. Bishop John B. McCormack signed an agreement with New Hampshire state prosecutors, acknowledging “evidence likely to sustain a conviction of chargeÉ against the diocese,” reported the Boston Globe. […]
Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk show host known for his anti-feminist rants, devoted an entire show to the 2002 Ms. Women of the Year. The thirteen Women of the Year, a group of groundbreaking trailblazers and champions for justice, were recognized not for any “real accomplishments” but because they had “flipped the bird to men,” […]
The First Indigenous Women Summit of the Americas drew around 350 attendees to Oaxaca, Mexico, from November 30 Ð December 4. The objectives of the summit included discussing gender perspectives within a multiethnic and multicultural context, illustrating indigenous women’s achievements, and facilitating indigenous women’s roles as key local, national and international stakeholders. Issues such as […]
