Author: Jim Bowman

Jim Bowman covered religion 1968-78 for the Chicago Daily News, since then has written books, articles, etc., mostly on corporate history but also on religion (Company Man: My Jesuit Life, 1950-1968), and more recently on politics (Illinois Blues: How the Ruling Party Talks to Voters -- Lulu.com, Kindle). Longtime Oak Park, Illinois, resident, he lives now on Chicago's North Side, where four of his and Winnie's six children live close by.

Petition · Cardinal Cupich Must Resign

List is growing.

17,388 have signed. Let’s get to 25,000!

And yet I do not sign, mainly because I consider it unrealistic, almost (but not quite!) in a class with praying for “an end to violence,” which is to say we pray for the Second Coming.

However, I do endorse the bill of particulars; and if I ever sign, it would be to advance that bill, which I consider accurate and eloquent.

It is:

We, the undersigned, in virtue of the Second Vatican Council’s empowering of the laity to respectfully voice their deeply held concerns to the shepherds in matters of the Church, respectfully beg His Eminence Blase Cardinal Cupich of Chicago to tender his resignation of his archdiocese, effective immediately.

In the aftermath of the “Summer of Shame” for the Church regarding the scandal of homosexual clerical predation and the promotion of sodomy at all levels of the Church, His Eminence has demonstrated a woeful lack of pastoral concern for both laity and his own clergy.

From his massively insensitive and unpastoral remarks to a Chicago TV station, where he said there is a “bigger agenda” than dealing with priestly sex abuse, to his doubling down on those comments less than a week later to a group of seminarians, which scandalized them, to his handling of the case of Fr. Paul Kalchik, a victim of homosexual rape whom he reportedly threatened to commit to psychiatric treatment, all of this demonstrates a pattern of extreme negligence in the fulfillment of his duties as shepherd, as well as increasing intolerance and lack of respect for faithful Catholics in his charge.

His reputation for this is now spreading far and wide throughout not just the Catholic world, bringing shame and scandal on the Church, but also in the secular world, where his comments are now the source of scandal for even non-Catholics.

In the face of all this just criticism, he demonstrated an embarrassing lack of humility as well as spiritual immaturity in blaming the TV station for “unfair editing” — a charge they disproved almost immediately.

Cardinal Cupich must publicly apologize for his insensitivity, intolerance, lack of transparency, lack of willingness to dialogue and resulting sadness, sorrow and scandal to the People of God that his willful actions have inflicted on them, and he must resign his post immediately.

The People of God can no longer endure the reign of a man whose very presence worries the faithful that each new day brings with it the increasing possibility of yet another national embarrassment for the Church. The faithful can no longer endure — nor should they endure — this appointment.

via Change.org

The unhappy leadership history of St. Luke’s Institute | Catholic Culture

Closing of this brief 2017 description of St. Luke Institute, where Cardinal Cupich would have sent the long-ago abuse victim Fr. Paul Kalchik (by a neighbor at 11, by a priest at 19), closes with these reasonable questions:

Now, reflecting on all of the above, a few questions:

How much confidence do you have in the St. Luke Institute?

How many priests who were sent to the St. Luke Institute for counseling, and then returned to ministry, later became (further) involved in sexual abuse?

How much confidence have the American bishops shown in the Institute and its leaders? Has that changed in the past 15 years, as the above information has come to light? If not, why not?

How much confidence does Cardinal Cupich have in the institute? A lot, obviously.

via Catholic Culture

Parishioners reflect on priest removed from Avondale church

This seems pretty balanced piece, offering first defense of and by gay interviewees that wasn’t angry and vindictive. (Alderman Deb take note.)
CHICAGO.SUNTIMES.COM
The Rev. Mark Bartosic celebrated Mass at Resurrection Catholic Church, filling in for Rev. Paul Kalchik, who was removed after burning a gay flag.
Article also shows Fr. Kalchik as caring pastor. Nothing about him as defender of the faith, which is a hurdle that many if not most cannot cross, including it seems Card. Cupich.
Fr. K. made his case to the world, Card. Cupich has made his. The twain have not met and probably never will this side of the after-life.
And undiscussed here or anywhere else is the pastoral role owed by the cardinal. His response may be contrasted with that of his predecessor Cardinal George and his handling of the Fr. Pfleger case, whereby Fr. P. was suspended after vigorous defiance of George but was eventually reinstated. All in very public, much reported fashion, and not enacted by surrogates.

Horrifying account of cardinal’s people ousting pastor of rainbow flag burning incident . . .

Pack up and get out, he was told as wedding party waited for him to do the honors, or police will be called, told you are trespassing and arresting you.

And more to make hair stand on end. . . .

via Chicago Priest Who Burned Gay Flag Flees After Archdiocese Threatens Forcible Removal – OnePeterFive

See also the on-site reporting on which the One Peter Five post is is based.

via BREAKING: Fr. Paul Kalchik Leaves For Undisclosed Location After Chicago Archdiocese Threatens Forcible Removal by Police

What on earth is going on?

Chicago Lesbian mayoral candidate vs. “hateful” Catholic priest who burned rainbow flag when Cardinal Cupich told him not to

Lori Lightfoot delivers “hotfoot,” reports Sun-Times item columnist Michael Sneed.

Acting like a heavy-duty mayoral candidate, Lightfoot, who is gay, recently dispatched an urgent plea to Cardinal Blase Cupich to take swift action against a Catholic priest who burned a “rainbow” flag recently to exorcise homosexuality. [Sorry, Sneed, not
homosexuality but promotion of same-sex activity.]

In the letter exclusively obtained by Sneed, Lightfoot urged Cupich to take “swift action against Rev. Paul Kalchik of Resurrection parish for his hateful act and speech . . . in defiance of your direct order.”

Kalchik, along with some parishioners, led a burning of a rainbow flag that had previously hung in the parish. He claimed to be banishing evil. [Notice common enough “claimed,” when “said” would do nicely — except when you want to declare your low opinion of what was said.]

“What’s more, in the ensuing public outcry, Rev. Kalchik has gone further and described homosexuality [no] as an act against God and stated that homosexuals are to blame for the clergy sex abuse scandal. Rev. Kalchik’s ignorant and hateful speech and actions must be addressed swiftly. . . . Please take swift action to stamp out this hate.”

Stay tuned to see how Cupich responds.

If it were ignorant and hateful, Cupich would have no choice. It isn’t, so he has leeway. After all, who is he to judge?

When I was a boy, Sox 10, Cubs 4 would have made my day, so how do I feel this morning?

My day is made.

Back in late April, when the White Sox called him up from Class AAA Charlotte to replace injured Avisail Garcia, Daniel Palka couldn’t possibly have known he’d stick around for the season, let alone that he’d lead all major-league rookies with 27 home runs heading into the final week.

Palka hit a two-run shot Friday off Cubs reliever Dillon Maples in the sixth inning of the Sox’ 10-4 victory at Guaranteed Rate Field.

A natural:

“I didn’t know what to expect [this season],” Palka said. “I just wanted to make sure I made the most of every opportunity I got and made sure I produced enough that the question was there — that maybe I’d have to stay.

“In my mind, I’m not surprised because I’m just confident in what I’m doing.”

Another thing about him:

Palka’s homer was his fourth as a pinch hitter, a Sox single-season record. It also tied him for third for homers in one season by a Sox rookie. The last one to hit 27 was Zeke Bonura in 1934 (but you knew that already).

Palka’s take on rubbing elbows with such greatness?

“I saw that, and I thought it was weird that a guy in the ’30s had the name Zeke,” he said.

Well, he did, Daniel. I know, because my brother Jake talked about him. I heard the name before I could spell it. It stuck.

More on the bishops’ program for finding and reporting abuse

Bishops mean business.

  • Approval of the establishment of a third-party reporting system that will receive confidentially, by phone and online, complaints of sexual abuse of minors by a bishop and sexual harassment of or sexual misconduct with adults by a bishop and will direct those complaints to the appropriate ecclesiastical authority and, as required by applicable law, to civil authorities.
  • Instructions to the USCCB Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance to develop proposals for policies addressing restrictions on bishops who were removed or resigned because of allegations of sexual abuse of minors or sexual harassment of or misconduct with adults, including seminarians and priests.
  • Initiation of the process of developing a Code of Conduct for bishops regarding the sexual abuse of a minor; sexual harassment of or sexual misconduct with an adult; or negligence in the exercise of his office related to such cases.
  • Support for a full investigation into the situation surrounding Archbishop McCarrick, including his alleged assaults on minors, priests, and seminarians, as well any responses made to those allegations. Such an investigation should rely upon lay experts in relevant fields, such as law enforcement and social services.

“Only a beginning,” they say. Consultation with laity, a “sine qua non” of investigation, will be part of it all. Nothing new there, in terms of promised strategy. But the bishops also acknowledge “a general corrosion of moral culture within the ranks of the Church’s clerical and hierarchical leadership,” which is clear enough to the public but still a lot to swallow by the leadership:

“Some bishops . . . have caused great harm to both individuals and the Church as a whole,” the Administrative Committee writes at the top of their statement. “They have used their authority and power to manipulate and sexually abuse others,” they continue. “They have allowed the fear of scandal to replace genuine concern and care for those who have been victimized by abusers.”

So forthright an admission of widespread failure and miscarriage of duty has been a long time coming. It is welcome, even though it does not satisfy.

It’s a start, says Catholic World Report.

It belongs to the faithful to hold [the bishops] to the promises they have made, and to demand a responsible part in even stronger measures — ones really apt, as the Administrative Committee says, “to repair the scandal and restore justice.” Whether this is a real beginning of that long and arduous work, or merely more empty words, remains to be seen.

To be sure.