Much of $100 million from sale of Chicago's Holy Name lot to go to church sex-abuse debts

Anticipating getting $100 million or more from the sale of a parking lot at Holy Name Cathedral, the Archdiocese of Chicago expects to spend most of that windfall repaying money that was borrowed to cover the financial costs of clergy sex abuse claims.

That’s according to a Chicago Sun-Times examination of the church’s most recent financial reports and interviews that show the archdiocese owes more than $200 million, mostly related to sex abuse claims. And the church estimates it could end up with another $100 million in costs for pending and future claims.

In October 2017, church officials, discussing plans to sell the property across from Holy Name, the seat of the archdiocese, said, “We sought a developer who shared our vision of improving the neighborhood we have been proud to call home for nearly 175 years.”

And developers unveiled plans to put up two high-rise residential towers on what’s now largely a parking lot for the cathedral — prime real estate at Chicago and State.

They hope to finalize the sale of the Holy Name lot and begin construction work within the next month or two, according to developer Jim Letchinger, who’s overseeing the project with Sterling Bay.

continue at Chicago SunTimes

Chicago Archdiocese announces closing of St. Joseph Seminary

Seven years after dedicating the new St. Joseph College Seminary on the campus of Loyola University Chicago, the archdiocese has announced that it will close at the end of the 2019 academic year.

The college seminary has 20 students this year, 13 of whom are from the Archdiocese of Chicago, and was expecting a small enrollment class next year, according to the Jan. 14 press release announcing the closure.

All of the students will be welcomed at St. John Vianney College Seminary at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, if they choose to attend there, said Father John Kartje, rector-president of the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary.

Many of the roughly 200 seminarians at Mundelein, the largest major seminary in the United States, come from St. John Vianney College Seminary, Kartje said. He believes that college seminarians from the Archdiocese of Chicago will fit in well there, as will the five St. Joseph seminarians from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the two from the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.

continue at Chicago Catholic

Cupich aide gives ‘talking points’ to priests to counter AG report on sex abuse

After Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich caught heat in August for making remarks regarded as insensitive about the clergy sex abuse crisis, he took the unusual step of ordering Chicago-area Catholic priests to read a prepared statement during weekend masses defending him and insisting his comments had been twisted by the media.

With church officials again under fire — this time for a withering report from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan that found the Catholic church in Illinois received hundreds more accusations of priests molesting kids than was previously known — Cupich has again sought to steer messaging from his priests on the topic.

Just before Christmas, one of Cupich’s auxiliary bishops, Ronald Hicks, distributed a letter to priests suggesting ways to address the Madigan report and the overall sex abuse scandal during holiday masses. The letter suggests language the priests could use that acknowledges the church’s failures but also pushes back against some of Madigan’s findings.

The letter, obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, also provides “talking points” priests can use when discussing the crisis with friends, family and parishioners over the holidays.

continue at Chicago Sun Times

Illinois State AG: Church underreported number of priests with sex misconduct allegations by 500

Even as Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich has taken a larger role in proposing reforms in response to the priest sex abuse crisis raging across the United States and around the world, a report released Wednesday by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madiganshows the Catholic church in Illinois has dramatically underreported the number of priests with sexual misconduct allegations.

Across Illinois — which is broken into six Catholic “dioceses,” each headed by a bishop and based on geography — the church has publicly identified 185 clergy with credible accusations of child abuse, according to Madigan.

An investigation by her agency identified 500 other clergy members in Illinois with sex misconduct allegations dating back decades, Madigan said, describing her findings and the allegations uncovered by her investigators as “disheartening” and “disgusting.”

Madigan acknowledged it’s not clear whether all of the newly unearthed allegations are credible.

continue at Chicago Sun Times

also CNA Illinois AG report says dioceses failed abuse victims

Priest called ‘Michelangelo of the Midwest’ for elaborate church paintings

HOMER GLEN, Ill. — Torn between his passion for art and a calling to the priesthood, a south suburban pastor found a way to combine them both.

Father Thomas Loya is pastor at Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Church believes going into a church is like "entering into heaven on Earth." His church is no exception, where the walls are covered in ornate iconography.

"We try to make it as glorious as possible, from floor to ceiling, every square inch is transmitting our faith," Loya said. "When I look at it all, I can’t quite believe that I did it all.”

continue at WGN

Catholic hospitals take stock following shooting at Mercy Hospital in Chicago

The morning after a gunman killed a doctor, a pharmacy resident and a Chicago police officer at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, more than 300 members of the hospital staff gathered for a Mass celebrated by Bishop Joseph Perry.

Pastoral care staff and counselors working with the employee assistance program checked in with employees who were not at work the following day, and met one-on-one and in groups with those who were, said John Hardt, regional vice president for mission integration for Trinity Health Illinois, which owns Mercy Hospital.

Trinity is one of the largest Catholic healthcare systems in the United States, with 94 hospitals and more than 100 other facilities. In the Chicago area, it operates Mercy and Loyola Medicine.

continue at Chicago Catholic

Also:

'He was a hero': Fellow officers mourn Chicago cop slain in hospital shooting

The mayor of Chicago, governor of Illinois and a sea of uniformed officers were among those who gathered on a cold, snowy Monday for the funeral for a young Chicago police officer killed in the line of duty.

Cardinal Blase Cupich will be the main celebrant for the funeral of slain Chicago Police Officer Samuel Jimenez, and Des Plaines police are anticipating heavy traffic for both the Sunday wake and Monday funeral procession in their city.

The wake will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 25, at Oehler Funeral Home, 2099 Miner St., Des Plaines. Jimenez's funeral will be 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 26, in the St. Joseph Chapel at Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine on the Maryville Academy campus, 1170 N. River Road, Des Plaines. Archdiocese of Chicago officials said Jimenez regularly attended Mass at the shrine with his family.
...
Jimenez is survived by his wife and three children. Johnson vowed to always be there for them, "from birthday to graduations."

Thank you for the tremendous outpouring of support from police departments across this country who have traveled to Chicago today - during a major snow storm - to pay respects to our fallen brother Sam Jimenez. pic.twitter.com/P1dLuKaRsi

— Chicago Police (@Chicago_Police) November 26, 2018

60th anniversary remembrance of Chicago's Our Lady of Angels school fire that killed 95

source

The gathering Sunday was one of many planned to commemorate the devastating fire, one of Chicago’s worst tragedies. Three nuns and 92 children died in the blaze, which broke out about 2:15 p.m. Dec. 1, 1958, in the Catholic school’s basement. It swept through the school of 1,600 students in a few hours.

Children jumped from windows, and neighbors and families ran to the school, at 909 N. Avers Ave., with ladders and blankets. The fire led to massive overhauls of fire codes and higher standards for building safety, like brighter exit signs. The cause of the fire has never been officially determined.

continue at Chicago Tribune

It has been 60 years, but Serge Uccetta remembers Dec. 1, 1958 like it happened recently. That’s the day fire engulfed his elementary school, Our Lady of the Angels near Hamlin and Chicago avenues, taking the lives of 95 people — 92 students and three women religious.

“Let me tell you, you don’t forget something like that. It may be 60 years but it’s like it was a year ago,” Uccetta said.

continue at Chicago Catholic

Chicago Archdiocese shares plans to merge several South Side parishes, schools

Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood, the home church for Mayor Richard J. Daley's family, is under consideration for closing or consolidation by the Chicago Archdiocese. 

South Side parishioners spoke of lifelong connections to parishes and schools in the Bridgeport, Canaryville and Chinatown neighborhoods as they joined a standing room-only crowd at St. Barbara Church to hear a Chicago Archdiocese plan to combine several of the local institutions.

More than 800 people squeezed into the Bridgeport church, filling the pews and second-floor balcony. The parishioners filing into the church talked of a strong faith and educational community built over years of weddings, funerals and graduations. Some appeared emotional as they left after learning of the mergers.

Brianna Gonzalez went to the meeting concerned about the future of St. Barbara School where her son is enrolled. The school will merge with St. Therese Chinese Catholic School.

continue at Chicago Tribune

also: Archdiocese's proposal would merge Catholic parishes in Uptown, Edgewater as part of ongoing reshuffling

Chicago Archdiocese Settles Priest Abuse Suit for $2.9M

Insurance Journal reported.

"The man, who is in his 20s, claims [former priest Daniel] McCormack abused him twice when he attended St. Agatha’s Catholic Church.

"McCormack was committed indefinitely in July to an Illinois facility in Rushville for sex offenders, where he has been living since 2009. He completed a five-year sentence that year for molesting five boys in the West Side Chicago parish where he worked as a priest, teacher and basketball coach.

"McCormack has been the subject of dozens of allegations of abuse, costing the archdiocese millions of dollars in settlements."

Chicago Archdiocese removes priest who was assaulted by priest as child, removes rainbow flag from sanctuary

Last week, when I heard news that Father Paul Kalchik and some fellow parishioners from his Chicago parish had burned a rainbow flag he found in the church’s storage, I knew things weren’t going to go well for him in Cardinal Bernardin’s old archdiocese, now administered by Cardinal Cupich. The Chicago Tribune provides context:

Kalchik said he twice was a victim of sexual abuse, the first time by a neighbor, when he was 11, and the second time by a Chicago-area priest when he was a teenager. The priest Kalchik names as the one who abused him died in the 1990s and has not been among those who have been named by the Diocese of Joliet or the Archdiocese of Chicago as a priest with substantiated allegations against them. Kalchik equates the flag with predatory behavior, he said

.....
I think we can concede that Father Kalchik’s action was rash, and arguably imprudent given that the Archdiocese had warned him not to do it. But this is how Cardinal Cupich responds? This, in a time in the Church’s life when it is becoming ever clearer that many in the Church’s senior leadership are gay, and devoted to protecting other gays in power. Cardinal McCarrick is a condensed symbol of so much of the corruption in the Catholic Church.

....

UPDATE: A parish priest e-mails:

There is nothing that the laity can do to protect priests. Bishops have total authority over us. We can certainly walk away. We can leave. But Kalchick is a great example of what happens when a priest stands up to his bishop’s agenda. He’s probably done as a priest.

continue at The American Conservative

What the Illinois Grand Jury investigation uncovers could be explosive.

Cupich’s soon-to-be auxiliary bishop was cleared in ’08 misconduct probe

A priest set to be elevated to an auxiliary bishop by Cardinal Blase Cupich was investigated a decade ago over an allegation of sexual misconduct with a child that state authorities deemed “unfounded,” the Archdiocese of Chicago revealed on Friday.

The archdiocese made the unusual disclosure about Rev. Robert Casey Friday evening “for the sake of transparency” ahead of Monday’s Ordination Mass at Holy Name Cathedral, where he and two other priests will become Cupich’s auxiliary bishops, according to archdiocese spokeswoman Anne Maselli.

Casey, 50, was removed from the ministry for about four weeks in 2008 as the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services investigated a complaint about an incident alleged to have occurred that year, Maselli said. State investigators determined the claim was “unfounded,” the archdiocese said.

“According to a letter from DCFS communicating this decision, ‘this means that credible evidence does not exist to support the allegation made,’ ” the archdiocese said in their Friday statement. “Given this determination, Bishop-elect Casey was returned to ministry.”

continue at Chicago Sun Times

He is the former director of the now scandalous Casa Jesus.

Cardinal Cupich Calls Closed-Door Meeting With Chicago Priests

Cardinal Blase Cupich has scheduled a closed-door meeting with Chicago priests this week, NBC 5 has learned, to discuss the current crisis facing the church.

The invitation for the meeting, planned for Wednesday evening, was sent to all priests in the Chicago Archdiocese. It will take place a day before Pope Francis plans to sit down Thursday with key American bishops who have requested a meeting on the sex abuse crisis.

Though Cupich's meeting isn't mandatory, a second email was forwarded on Tuesday instructing attendees to print out the invitation and bring it with them, as the meeting is considered a private conversation with the Cardinal.

"One of my major concerns in this moment of suffering for many in the church is you," Cupich's letter to Chicago priests read in part.

continue at NBC Chicago

Cardinal Cupich on scandal: ‘We have a bigger agenda than to be distracted by all of this’

The young man studying at Mundelein Seminary to become a Catholic priest seemed anguished as he vented to Cardinal Blase Cupich about the clergy sex-abuse scandal that threatens to topple Pope Francis and drive more people away from the faith.

“I’m hurting, I can’t sleep, I’m sick,” the seminarian told Cupich during an Aug. 29 gathering at which the cardinal spoke to about 200 future priests enrolled at the seminary, according to another person who was there and spoke with the Chicago Sun-Times but asked not to be identified.

The seminarian told Cupich he was a young boy during the last scandal, in the early 2000s — amid a renewed wave of child-rape allegations against priests and cover-ups by their bishop bosses — and “thought this was over,” that the bishops had done their jobs.

continue at Chicago Sun Times

Two Chicago priests arrested for... uh... "Lewd and Lascivious behavior"

Two Chicago-area priests were charged Monday with Lewd and Lascivious behavior and Indecent Exposure after being caught performing a sexual act inside a car parked on a Miami Beach street.

According to Miami Beach Police, 39-year-old Diego Berrio and 30-year-old Edwin GiraldoCortez were in the front seat of a car performing oral sex.

Police got a 911 call about a lewd and lascivious incident taking place in the 1300 block of Ocean Drive.

When officers arrived, the police report states, the two were performing sex acts on each other “in full view of the public passing by on Ocean Drive and the sidewalk.”

It was 3:20 in the afternoon.
...
The arrest reports state both men are priests from Arlington Heights, Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago.
...
Police point out there is a children’s playground near the intersection of 13th and Ocean Drive.

continue at CBSMiami

The same parish in 2015: http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-child-porn-charges-filed-against-catholic-priest-from-arlington-heights-20150225-story.html

Update:

A few days after the closing of Casa Jesus was made public, it came out that its director had been arrested on child porn charges.https://t.co/HUImovQLKL

— Matthew Schmitz (@matthewschmitz) September 4, 2018

Update2: CNA

The statement said that Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago "has removed Fr. Berrio from ministry and withdrawn his faculties to minister in the Archdiocese of Chicago, effective immediately. The archdiocese will appoint an administrator for the Misión San Juan Diego as soon as possible."

"Archdiocese representatives have been in contact with Fr. Cortes’ home diocese of Soacha, Colombia and informed them that Fr. Cortes will not be granted additional faculties to minister in the Archdiocese of Chicago," it said.

Cardinal Cupich agrees to cooperate with Illinois attorney general on clergy abuse review

Cardinal Blase Cupich said Monday he spoke with Attorney General Lisa Madigan and pledged to cooperate as Madigan's office launches an investigation into clergy abuse prompted by revelations of the Pennsylvania grand jury.

"I assured her of our full cooperation," Cupich told NBC 5. "I said, first of all, we don't mind at all because they have all our documents anyway."

The Cook and Lake County state’s attorneys office has reviewed church files, but the attorney general has not. Madigan said last week she wants to meet with Catholic officials in all six Illinois dioceses after identifying seven priests who served in Illinois from the Pennsylvania report.

Madigan on Monday released a clergy abuse hotline and website to report allegations of sexual abuse by clergy members.

continue at NBC

Text of Fr. Phillips Canon Law Letter to Cardinal Cupich

With the Archdiocese of Chicago refusing to shed light on precisely what it is charging the head of the St John Cantius order with, we are left to read between the lines.  Oakes has obtained the letter of Fr. Phillips to Cdl. Cupich regarding his canonical defense. 

http://mahoundsparadise.blogspot.com/2018/06/exclusive-text-of-fr-phillips-canon-law.html

To speak in layman's terms, Fr. Phillips' legal counsel argued that based upon the procedural actions and statements of the Archdiocese in March, the initial actions of Cardinal Cupich to remove Fr. Phillips from public ministry were unfair and unjust, or, more to the point, invalid under canon law. Fr. Phillips was prematurely judged guilty, harshly disciplined and publicly humiliated without, at that point, sufficient procedure or cause. Indeed, these actions were undertaken before the commencement of the formal investigation by the Resurrectionists. Because he was already guilty, testimony by any of the priests and brothers of the Canons - many of whom would presumably be in a good position to know about the existence or absence of "improper conduct" on the part of Fr. Phillips - was ruled out in the investigation into whether or not he was guilty.

Of course it sounds unjust. It also frankly sounds bizarre.

I assumed from the beginning that there must have been serious misconduct by Fr. Phillips, giving the benefit of the doubt to the Archdiocese.  Other than ideological warfare, it just doesn't make sense to go after the Canons like this.  It seems like Cardinal Cupich and the Archdiocese seriously overstepped here.  I'll wait for the next update.... but what I'm hearing makes it look very bad for the Archdiocese. 

Mark Wahlberg, Blase Cupich To Encourage Young Catholics To Attend Mass

CHICAGO — Cardinal Blase Cupich is hoping a blast of Hollywood star power will encourage young Catholics to renew their faith and attend Mass regularly.

Mark Wahlberg, an Oscar-nominated actor and devout Catholic also known for his days as '90s rapper Marky Mark who led the Funky Bunch, will speak at the Archdiocese of Chicago's (re)Encounter young adult faith night, set for 6:30 p.m. Oct. 20 at the UIC Pavilion, 525 S. Racine Ave.

Tickets are $15 for the event designed to help young Catholics "discover how you can live your dream and have an active faith life," according to the archdiocese's website.

continue at DNAinfo

Cardinal Cupich praises private school tax credits in IL school funding bill

MUNDELEIN, Ill. (WLS) --  As Governor Bruce Rauner toured downstate schools Wednesday, he touted compromise school funding legislation that includes tuition tax credits to help lower income families send their kids to private schools.

That portion of the bill got passed with the help of Cardinal Blase Cupich, who said he is grateful for lawmakers' work.

Cardinal Cupich celebrated Mass and then dedicated the new Mary of Mt. Carmel garden at Carmel High School in Mundelein Wednesday. But he was also celebrating the new education funding bill that could end up helping the Archdiocese, which has had to close many schools in recent years.

"I think it will have an impact, a positive impact, but of course there are schools of other denominations, there are Jewish schools, there are other private schools as well, and this is about families and about children," he said.

The $75 million tuition tax credit program would be funded by private donations and is expected to provide scholarships to about 6,000 students around the state.

continue at ABC 

The governor vetoed the original legislation, calling it a bailout of Chicago Public Schools, which he has long criticized as financially mismanaged. Lawmakers largely ignored Rauner’s veto, which included amendments to the bill. Instead, they focused on securing a union-opposed, $75 million private scholarship fund — a pilot for five years — as part of the deal. Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, lobbied heavily for the private program, which would allow individuals and corporations to earn tax credits for donating to a scholarship fund that benefits eligible families who send their children to private schools.

Politico

Cardinal Cupich dedicates memorial and blesses burial of 24 unborn and 80 poor people

A monument for the indigent, unknown and unborn buried in Cook County was unveiled Thursday afternoon at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Mount Greenwood.

A blessing of the monument placed in the southeast corner of the Catholic Cemetery at 2755 W. 111th St. was paired with the burial of five unidentified people, 24 unborn children and the cremated remains of 80 poor people.

Cardinal Blase Cupich, the Archbishop of Chicago, sprinkled holy water on the marker and pointed to the words of Pope Francis, saying that providing a final resting place for those often overlooked by society is an act of mercy.

"Even though at times we don't include people at the table of life and we try to overcome that, surely in death we shouldn't be alone," said Cupich, who agreed to provide the burial space at the request of Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle.

continue at DNAinfo

A Massachusetts man was charged after threats against a Naperville school and Cardinal Cupich

A Massachusetts man was charged after he allegedly made threats against a Naperville school and Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich.

William MacKinnon, 48, of Pittsfield, Mass., left a four-minute, profanity-laced voicemail threatening to "terrorize" St. Raphael Catholic School in February, according to a criminal complaint. He said he would go to the school and teach them "a (expletive) lesson."

In addition to saying that he wanted to harm students and staff, he said he would hurt Cupich.

ABC7

Officials of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago were not immediately available for comment Monday.

Edward P. Flavin, director of communications for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet, said via email the case "is now in the hands of authorities and is pending in court. We cannot comment further."

Chicago Tribune