July 12, 2006
July 14, 2006

July 13, 2006

A BUDGET SURPLUS FOR THE CATHOLICS

The Vatican finished its last fiscal year $12.3 million to the good, it's reported. To paraphrase what Abe Lincoln once said of General Grant, find out what kind of prayers the cardinals there are praying and order Washington to start saying them, too.

* * *

WANDERING A CITY LOOKING FOR FAITH

BOSTON -- It's pretty amazing what you see when you try to look at a major American city through the eyes of faith.

That is, what can you find that's connected to religion as you wander around the downtown of a city like Boston? Or any big city?

I was here recently for the annual conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and had a chance to spend part of a day just looking for signs of religion in the core of Boston. My bride and I took these photos of what we ran across.

I was quite struck with all that we found -- from famous churches to Bible stores, from not-so-famous churches to an outdoor exhibit about the Shoah. What you see here is the steeple of Park Street Church, the church where the funeral of my nephew was held after he died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks; the Tremont Temple Baptist Church, just up the street from our hotel; King's Chapel, just across the street from our hotel; the Shoah exhibit, with a small photo of the concentration camp numbers prisoners were marked with; a sign on St. Stephen's Catholic Church indicating it was the site of Rose Kennedy's funeral, and Sacred Heart Italian Church.

All of this was walking distance from our hotel, the Omni Parker House.

If you walked around the core of your city, what evidence of religion would you find?

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Ne4 Ne28 To read my latest Kansas City Star work, click here.

Today's religious holiday: Obon (Buddhist/Shinto)

Comments

Nick

So what does the Catholic Church do with these profits? Any thoughts?

Ron

Save it for a rainey day?

Ruth from Tucson

Here is what one of our IRCSA memebrs said about what the Diocese of Tucson was doing. She has a master's in social work and applies here skills effectively.
Currently she is doing volunteer work. Another friend in Child Proctecion Services is interested in church contacts for his clients. But he is swamped because the stupid legislature wants to cut income taxes, not invest in the community.

Yes that is a political statement but for me the two are twined together.

"The Diocesan office that was set up a few years ago is the Office of Child, Adolescent and Adult Protection. The national office I believe is called: "The Office of Child and Youth Protection of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops. The diocese has developed guidelines to be followed and a code of conduct for all who minister in the Diocese of Tucson.
Education programs are aimed at assisting personnel, volunteers, parents and the children themselves. Personnel and parents and volunteers must know the mandatory reporting laws, early signs of abuse and the like. Each parish has a compliance representative to see that the education is being done and updated. They resources to call on such as CPA, the Police Dept, Pima C. Sheriff's Dept, Southern AZ children's Advocacy Center, the So. AZ Center Against Sexual Assault, And many more resources. They all offer training to adults and children. The diocese has also been working on an educational program which I think will be ready this fall.
There are many things in the diocesan guidelines that parishes are mandated to have in place and the parishes are audited to see that they are in compliance.
I hope this is a little clearer. Thanks for your interest."

Shalom

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