Valley of the shadow of dearth

"Our own Archdiocese grew by over 13,000 Catholics in 2010" says Archbishop Listecki at 3:12 in the 2012 Catholic Stewardship Appeal video, found here, with a caption "13,000 new Catholics in the Archdiocese".

The first of the March 9, 2010 Milwaukee Press Club Newsmaker Luncheon with Archbishop Listecki (video Part 1) touches on the 38,000 fewer Catholics in the Archdiocese the previous year. The Q&A continues in video Part 2.

If the Archdiocesan membership declines were due to a wider trend of advancing secularism, that wouldn't explain a turnaround in 2010. So it doesn't appear that Church leaders have a handle on the decline or uptick. Still, there has been at least some effort here and there at internal evangelization. Even if the cause of a turnaround is unknown, up is better than down. (There are less categorical views on that last point.) The 2011 numbers will be of more than usual interest.

US suit against Vatican withdrawn

Vatican Radio reported,

"Attorneys for the victim in a Wisconsin sex abuse case voluntarily withdrew a lawsuit against the Holy See on Friday, in which Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinals Tarcisio Bertone and Angelo Sodano, the Secretary of State and Secretary of State-emeritus, respectively, were named as defendants. ..."

Truth Squab

Our Archdiocese of Milwaukee's website has a Setting the Record Straight - Media Corrections page to "correct errors and clarify information found in local media outlets". As of today, it had five entries in a period going back over a year.

The media is apparently doing an exemplary job covering the ArchMil's travails. By comparison, our Archdiocese has had to confess past "imprecise communications".

This week's Milwaukee Catholic Herald reports, in an article titled Commitment to those eligible to file claims reiterated, Fr. James Connell had prepared a statement about how our Archdiocese had handled bankruptcy claims. “Eligibility restrictions should have been stated clearly on the public postings and on the proof of claim form. To introduce these restrictions at the end of the process is disingenuous and further breeds distrust of Catholic Church leaders.” In response, Jerry Topczewski, chief of staff for Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki, said, upon receiving a copy of the statement, that he had emailed Fr. Connell, writing, 'I hope you reconcile your statement with the facts before you make it.'"

Having been warned, by Mr. Topczewski himself, to always be on the lookout for imprecision in any communication from our Archdiocese, I invite you to examine the remainder of the article to see if it ever addresses the substantive point Fr. Connell makes. Nothing prevented our Archdiocese conspicuously and precisely communicating from the start its intention to defeat as many abuse claims as possible on grounds other than lack of substantive merit. To say this position can be found in documents filed in the Bankruptcy Court, or that their hands are tied by fiduciary duty, comes across as "disingenuous and further breeds distrust of Catholic Church leaders," as Fr. Connell says.

I suppose, at this point, if our Archdiocese says nothing, it will make things worse, and if it says something, it will make things worse. The latter must have been judged the lesser evil, and Mr. Topczewski has the unenviable task of issuing most of the imprecise communications.

P.S. On top of everything else, Fr. Connell, you might note from the article, remains vice chancellor of our Archdiocese. Shouldn't his votes of no confidence come from outside the Chancery?

P.P.S. Speaking of fiduciary duty, I still wonder how the governing board of the minor seminary corporation could hock its major asset to provide funds to pay creditors of our Archdiocese. If they can do it, why not, say, the Faith In Our Future trustees?

Running (with) the numbers

Allen R. Sanderson in the Chicago Tribune on how Numbers and wording can make so-so news sound so outrageous. For example,

"With regard to income inequality, virtually all headlines and stories focus on gross income rather than income after taxes (on average, paid by the rich) and government transfers (on average, received by the poor). And they are not adjusted for the number of members of a household (there are more people in upper-income households), age and other variables."

(via University of Chicago Alumni News)

Credit where credit is due

Robert L. Elliott criticizes our Archdiocese's handling of notice to potential claimants in this letter to the editor in yesterday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"Had he been complete and candid in his comments, Topczewski [Jerry Topczewski, Chief of Staff, Archdiocese of Milwaukee] would have commented that the archdiocese had worked very hard to make sure that anyone with a possible claim would have the ability to file so that it could get as many claims as possible filed and then dismissed and extinguished by the courts."

Perhaps it's a case of "imprecise communications"; it's been known to happen.

It might likewise have been better if Mr. Elliott's letter had included that he had handled abuse cases in the past.

(via SNAP Wisconsin)

New Mandate on Coverage for Contraceptives: Strategies for Organizations

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP issued this Health Law Alert on the controvsial regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on January 20, 2012.

Anger mismanagement

Archdiocese Angers Many by Contesting Abuse Claims, Laurie Goodstein reports in The New York Times. Regarding the record number of sexual abuse claims filed in its bankruptcy, around 550,

"The archdiocese will also ask the judge to bar any claims involving priests who were members of religious orders. Although those priests may have been working in parishes that are part of the archdiocese, the archdiocese contends that they were not technically employees.

"Mr. Topczewski [Jerry Topczewski, Chief of Staff, Archdiocese of Milwaukee] said: “Our parishes are separately incorporated, always have been, and someone who’s a layperson employed by X-Y-Z parish is not an employee of the archdiocese. ...'"

You might recall that in mid-1984 a teacher at Mother of Good Counsel parish wrote to Archbishop Weakland that Fr. Dennis Pecore, a priest of the Society of the Divine Savior religious order assigned there, was sexually abusing boys. Archbishop Weakland's August 13, 1984 reply included that “[A]ny libelous material found in your letter will be scrutinized carefully by our lawyers.” Victims might be excused for wondering why those canonical and legal distinctions would not prevent "our lawyers" from working for a religious order member and a parish when the goal was to suppress a report of sexual abuse of children.

(via SNAP Wisconsin)

Going through a faze

WTMJ-TV reports Milwaukee Archbishop unfazed by about 550 sex abuse claims.

"Archbishop Listecki's message is that the church will see the accusers in court."

That's the spirit that's made our Archdiocese what it is today. Bankrupt.

(via SNAP Wisconsin)

Play It Again, Bob

Starring Bob Hope and Woody Allen, with Bing Crosby, Part 1 and Part 2.

Biden his time

In his January 24, 2012 weekly "Love One Another" email, Archbishop Listecki writes,

"... once again, last week a decision by the Obama Administration’s Health and Human Services put the Catholic Church at odds with a mandate that would force the Catholic Church and Catholic institutions to provide birth control, sterilizations and abortions. This action violates the teachings of the Catholic Church. That edict clearly violates the right of conscience.

"One would think that any Catholic who serves under this administration would explain that as Catholics we have a moral obligation not to participate in evil. ..."

They might raise the problem with the Vice President of the United States who, while he might not exactly serve under the administration, is a Catholic.

The smoke of Santa has entered the church

That Christmas night fire still has our parish's church closed. During the cleanup, Mass for Sundays is in the Community Room (hall) and televised in the adjacent Gathering Space (narthex). Seating is rented folding chairs.

Saturday evening's Mass was standing room only. That is, there were only scattered single seats (in the narthex, at least) and rather than squeeze past or make people move, a score or so of us stood in the back. This included a couple families with several small children each, which obscured the actual demographics of the attendees.

It reminded me of St. Veronica Church circa a half-century ago when some of the ten or so Sunday Masses were in the church hall, we sat on folding chairs, and the full house included a lot of families with kids. I'll miss that a bit when the church reopens.

Growing smaller

When then-Bishop Dolan was named Archbishop of Milwaukee, the number of Catholics here was reported as "about 700,000".

The recent New York Times report of his designation as a Cardinal includes his recounting of the 2004 ad limina visit to Rome. "I said: ‘Holy Father, we have good news. The Archdiocese of Milwaukee is growing.’”

That same article gives the number of Catholics in our Archdiocese as 630,000.

Elliptical training

Catholic Leaders Challenge Gingrich and Santorum on Divisive Rhetoric Around Race and Poverty says a press release at the organization Faith in Public Life. The introduction to this "open letter" clarifies that the signers are mostly academics willing to call themselves "prominent theologians".

In the body of the letter, they say,

"Mr. Gingrich has frequently attacked President Obama as a 'food stamp president' and claimed that African Americans are content to collect welfare benefits rather than pursue employment."

No citation or link is provided. I found this example of what Rep. Gingrich has said.,

"You don't get out of 9.2% unemployment, you don't get out of -- today it was announced [that] the largest number of Americans [are] on food stamps in history. I've said now for six months, this is the most effective food stamp President in history. That sounds like it is an attack, it's just a statement of fact. It's just that his administration kills jobs. They are driving Americans onto food stamps. Most Americans would rather have a paycheck."

The "open letter" then goes on,

"Campaigning in Iowa, Mr. Santorum remarked: 'I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.'"

The Faith in Public Life press release linked to a report of Sen. Santorum's statement at Think Progress. Note its ellipsis "[...]". If you compare the report of the same statement at Gateway Pundit, you will see the portion omitted by Think Progress, which I have bracketed.

"I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money; [I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money.]"

Signers include our Archdiocese's own Rev. Bryan N. Massingale, Associate Professor of Theology, Marquette University, which might be why a Catholic News Service report of the open letter was picked up by the Milwaukee Catholic Herald, where I read it.

P.S. Mickey Kaus from 2010 on missing Gingrich's point. "...Gingrich was charging that the Democrats, and the Obama administration specifically, are too comfortable with a society in which citizens rely on government handouts."

P.P.S. "References to a lack of respect for the 'Founding Fathers' and the 'Constitution' also make certain ears perk up by demonizing anyone supposedly threatening core 'old-fashioned American values.' --Juan Williams, Racial code words obscure real issues (via James Taranto)

Kane and the able

Quote from Eugene Kane,

"I've heard from some black mothers who complain the real problem with black male unemployment in Milwaukee is all those black fathers who don't get up off their lazy behinds to go find work to help support their children."

from the context of his column in this morning's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Widow's mite, or might not

In this this Milwaukee Catholic Herald article on the annual dinner honoring members of The Campanile Society, donors of $1,000 or more to the annual Catholic Stewardship Appeal, CSA director Rob "Bohlmann said without the society it would be a challenge to raise the money needed for each program due to decreasing amounts of small donations."

That is not a new development, see this April 28, 2008 post. If you trace back, the explanation is that the decline in the number of donors is regarded as a kind of vote of no confidence in our Archdiocese's handling of sexual abuse of children by priests. By relying on fewer, wealthier donors, our Archdiocese can raise the money without the burden of restoring the confidence of its people.