Des Moines IA Catholic Bishop Richard Pates announces retirement

Bishop Richard Pates, the leader of Catholic Diocese of Des Moines, is retiring and returning to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, according to a column he wrote in The Catholic Mirror.

Pates turned 75 on Feb. 12, the age bishops must submit their resignation to the pope as part of Canon Law. In his column, Pates said he sent Pope Francis his resignation. He served as the ninth bishop of Des Moines.

"As I prepare to take leave, my heart is full of joy and gratitude," Pates wrote in the column. "The past 10 years in the Des Moines diocese have flown by."

Pates wrote that it takes four months or longer to find a new bishop.

He said he still plans to visit Des Moines.

Des Moines Register 

Iowa bishop supports medical marijuana bill in letter to lawmakers

Bishop Snoop Dogg

Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines urged state lawmakers to pass legislation that would legalize medical marijuana.

In a letter April 26 to House and Senate members, Bishop Pates said a comprehensive bill was needed to “give Iowans the ability to produce a safe and consistent treatment as well as provide a legal avenue for physicians to recommend it to those who are in need.”

It is legal in Iowa for people who suffer from epilepsy to use cannabis oil under a 2014 law approved by legislators. No other illnesses are covered by the law.

However, Iowans with epilepsy cannot legally obtain the medical cannabis in the state because legislators have not approved allowing for its production and distribution. Patients also cannot bring medical cannabis from other states without breaking federal laws.

continue at The Compass

I 100% agree.  How these heavy narcotics produced by Big Pharma are legal and something like cannabis oil is not is absolutely absurd.  It's important to understand it is not a sin to use medically prescribed marijuana.  However, to withhold it from someone in need could be a sin.  Social connotations give it this eeeeevil aura of baaaaaad, which isn't a rational reason for a prohibition.  And neither is the fact one knew a guy who did it one time and he like just totally seemed messed up n stuff.  I heard Terry Nelson is going to be a test candidate after denied entry into this "religious order."

By the way, all narcotic laws in the US are racist and anti-immigrant in origin.  That said, I am only defending medical marijuana(for now).

I am the biggest liberal you know.

Song for this post here.

Bishop Pates of Des Moines, Iowa Embarks on Fact-Finding Mission to Middle East

Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa will depart January 6, 2014 on a two-week fact-finding mission in the Middle East.

Bishop Pates, who serves as chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, has a special concern for Syria and the Holy Land, and plans to show support for the local Church and the relief work of Catholic agencies in the region. He echoed the words of Pope Francis in his Urbi et Orbi message, particularly addressing the violence faced in Syria, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Holy Land.

“Too many lives have been shattered in recent times by the conflict in Syria, fueling hatred and vengeance,” Pope Francis said. “Let us never lose the courage of prayer! The courage to say: Lord, grant your peace to Syria and to the whole world. And I also invite non-believers to desire peace with that yearning that makes the heart grow: all united, either by prayer or by desire. But all of us, for peace.”

Bishop Pates continued, “As I prepare to make a solidarity visit to the Middle East in support of the local Church caught in the midst of regional conflicts, I recall in a special way our Holy Father’s Urbi et Orbi Christmas message in which he invoked the ‘Prince of Peace’ to lead people to give up their arms and ‘undertake the path of dialogue. In addition to a special concern for the Church and People of Syria, Egypt, Israel and Palestine, we remain deeply concerned for South Sudan, the Central African Republic and all places that do not know God’s peace.”

http://krestaintheafternoon.blogspot.com/2014/01/bishop-pates-embarks-on-fact-finding.html

HT Ray

Photo