As Talk of Mercy Continues in Rome, U.S. Archbishop Restricts Communion to Righteous, Another Gay Employee of a Catholic Ministry Is Fired, Etc.: There's the Church World, and Then There's the Real World

I wrote yesterday that while the men in Rome are nattering on about mercy and fashioning a church that's a field hospital for the wounded, something else, something quite different, continues to unfold for many of us in the real world at a distance from the Vatican. For LGBT people and for women, that something else is a decided signal from the men talking about mercy and healing that some people count more than others in their church. And that the bread heaped on the Catholic table is for some people and not for others.

Will Newark Archbishop John Myers Be at Papal Events in U.S. Next Month? Yet Another Sordid Tale of Clerical Abuse (and Cover-Up) from Newark Diocese

Archbishop John Myers

A question that comes to my mind as I read Mark Mueller's article at Religion Dispatches Religion News Service* about New Jersey priest Manuel Gallo Espinoza, who is now being sought by New Jersey authorities after he has admitted raping a 15-year-old boy, Max Rojas Ramirez: 

End-of-Week News Roundup: From L.A. to Twin Cities to Japan, Virginia, and Rome--Where's the Pope and the Hope He's Said to Represent?

As I read about the plans of Newark Archbishop John Myers to add yet more swank to an already swanky retirement house, I can't avoid, of course, thinking about Francis, the pope. The pope of hope. 

End-of-Week News Roundup: Archbishop John Myers Back in News, Now for Bling-Bling Retirement House

Archbishop John Myers

As this work week ends, an offering of observations from news of the week that will, I hope, inspire you to read the whole article from which the amuse-gueule is taken: these are all about the absolutely stunning decision of Newark, New Jersey, Archbishop John Myers to expand his 4,500-square-foot retirement house by adding to it a 3,000-square-foot addition (with the $500,000 renovation bill being footed by the archdiocese's lay Catholics):

A Contemporary Example of Catholic Hierarchical Scapegoating: Archbishop Myers and His "Evil" Critics

Archbishop John Myers

For a contemporary example of Catholic hierarchical scapegoating that doesn't seem to get the church very far down the road to credibility as it proclaims the gospel in the public square:

Quote for the Day: Archbishop "Myers Neither Admits Responsibility Nor Apologizes for What Happened"

Mark Silk on the statement that Archbishop John Myers of Newark, NJ, has finally made about the Fugee scandal:

Archbishop John Myers Responds to Investigation of Fugee Case by Hiring Criminal Lawyer: A Pastoral Response?!

And so Archbishop John Myers of Newark, NJ, is lawyering in response to the Fugee case: as Jeff Green reports for the Newark Record, Myers has now hired a "high-profile criminal defense lawyer," Michael Critchley, to represent the archdiocese as continued calls for accountability pour in after it has emerged that Myers allowed a known pedophile priest, Fugee, to maintain contact with minors and travel with them after the archdiocese had signed an agreement with a court to do precisely the opposite.

"Honey, Hide the Kids": New Evangelization Impeded by Moral Failure of Bishops Like John Myers of Newark

Archbishop John Myers

I can't let this week end and another begin without mentioning, at least, the important story that has been reported of late from the archdiocese of Newark, NJ. As many readers of this blog will now know, it has come to light that after Father Michael Fugee was convicted of abusing minors in 2003, his conviction got overturned, in part, because the archdiocese of Newark agreed to keep him from contact with children.

No Wafers If You Think Gays Are Human, Two If You Support War: Catholics and Politics Discussion Continued

And speaking of power, of its use and abuse, and the Catholic hierarchy's longstanding role in wielding power (to which I alluded in my previous posting): lots of fanfare right now over attempts of American Catholic bishops to coerce the consciences of Catholics and force them to vote this way, that way.