JESUITS INAUGURATE EMAIL “HOTLINE” TO REPORT ABUSE CASES – AND THE EBENEZER AWARD GOES TO…

JESUITS INAUGURATE EMAIL “HOTLINE”TO REPORT ABUSE CASES

Following the confirmed but devastating story of celebrated Jesuit artist Fr. Mark Rupnik’s physical and psychological abuse of nuns in his native Slovenia, his eventual excommunication for having absolved one of his victims in confession, the eventual lifting of the excommunication but other sanctions imposed by the Jesuits, the religious order has set up an email “hotline” for the reporting of abuse cases by Fr. Rupnik or other Jesuits.

In November 2019, Jesuit superior general Arturo Sosa named Father Johan Verschueren, S.J. as General Counsellor and his delegate for the Interprovincial Houses and Works of the Society of Jesus in Rome (DIR).

Sunday, on the website Home (jesuits.global), Fr. Verschueren wrote that the Rupnik case was behind the decision to set up a structure to handle complaints and he invited anyone who has suffered abuse to contact them.

He said, “for some months now we have created a team of people, women and men, from various disciplines and with different skills to deal with these situations. They are available, and have been, to listen, support and help. The contact email is: teamreferente.dir@gmail.com

There is a separate email address in the UK from the website: https://www.jesuit.org.uk: Email: safeguarding@jesuit.org.uk

AND THE EBENEZER AWARD GOES TO…

Each year Becket Law (Religious Liberty for All) reflects on the most absurd affronts to the Christmas and Hanukah season, producing a list of outrageous offenders and handing the most scandalous holiday season transgressor a present worse than coal itself: The Ebenezer Award.

The 2022 Ebenezer Award Winner is KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON!

Why? It’s a kind of Ripley’s Believe It or Not story! Ebenezer Award – Becket (becketlaw.org)

 

BREAKING: Supreme Court rejects government control over religion teachers

BREAKING: Supreme Court rejects government control over religion teachers

 High Court rules Catholic schools have sole authority to select teachers of the faith

 WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of two California Catholic schools today, finding that the government cannot control a church school’s decision about who teaches its religion classes. In Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and St. James Catholic School v. Biel, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty defended two Catholic elementary schools that chose not to renew the contracts of two fifth-grade teachers who were not effectively carrying out the schools’ missions. Becket argued that both Church and State are better off when the government doesn’t entangle itself in the internal religious decisions of religious groups about who best teaches the faith to the next generation.

 Justice Alito wrote for the Court that for religious schools, “educating young people in their faith, inculcating its teachings, and training them to live their faith are responsibilities that lie at the very core of the mission.” He also wrote about the “the rich diversity of religious education in this country,” citing examples of schools from many different religious traditions. The Court also cited “the close connection that religious institutions draw between their central purpose and educating the young in the faith.”

FOR MORE: https://www.becketlaw.org/media/supreme-court-rejects-government-control-religion-teachers/