Pope Francis Reins in U.S. Bishops’ Measures Against Sex Abuse

Pope Francis has temporarily suspended efforts by the United States bishops to address the issue of clerical sex abuse, ordering them to wait until he can meet with them in February together with the presidents of other national bishops’ conferences from around the world.

The U.S. bishops are currently gathered in Baltimore, Maryland, for their annual fall meeting, which was to focus on dealing with the sex abuse crisis. During the opening session of the meeting Monday morning, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the president of the bishops’ conference (USCCB), informed the assembly that he had been contacted by the Holy See on Sunday afternoon with instructions not to move forward with a vote on several concrete measures to respond to the abuse crisis. On announcing the news, Cardinal DiNardo expressed his “disappointment” with the decision. Since last August, DiNardo has been insisting that the Vatican initiate a formal investigation into the case of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s serial homosexual abuse, a request that was ultimately denied after DiNardo traveled to Rome to present his petition to Pope Francis.

“At the insistence of the Holy See, we will not be voting on the two action items in our docket regarding the abuse crisis,” DiNardo said Monday. “We are not, ourselves, happy about this,” DiNardo said during a press conference. “We have been working hard to get to the action stage, and we’ll do it, but we have to get past this bump in the road.”

The measures proposed by the USCCB included a code of conduct for bishops, the creation of a lay commission to address the abuse issue and the McCarrick case, a third-party hotline to report bishops accused of abuse or mishandling of abuse cases, and “protocols for bishops resigned or removed because of abuse.” Pope Francis had initially suggested that the bishops suspend their fall meeting altogether, replacing it with a weeklong silent prayer retreat. The bishops opted to continue forward with the meeting, including days reserved for prayer as well. In explaining the pope’s decision, the Vatican ambassador to the United States, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, said that Francis is concerned about “communion,” wanting the whole Church to move together rather than having national bishops’ conferences make their own policies.

Oddly, Pope Francis has often spoken of the need for decentralization, encouraging local churches to take more initiative in addressing pastoral issues because, in many areas of church life, one size does not fit all. In dealing with clerical sex abuse, however, this is apparently not the case. When asked about this apparent contradiction, Cardinal DiNardo said it was “quizzical.” In August, a former Vatican nuncio to the United States accused a number of high-ranking prelates — including the pope himself — of culpable mishandling of the McCarrick case, declaring that Francis had known about McCarrick’s crimes and sanctions imposed on him by Pope Benedict XVI and yet reinstated him to a position of influence in the Vatican.

The pope has refused to confirm or deny the allegations made in the report, including the question of when he learned of McCarrick’s history of abuse. Pope Francis went on to call out the former nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, comparing him to Satan. Days later, the pope said that pastors accused of misconduct are like Jesus on Good Friday, who responded with silence to the accusations laid against him.

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, called the last-minute order from the Vatican “truly incredible.” “What we see here is the Vatican again trying to suppress even modest progress by the U.S. bishops,” said Doyle. “We’re seeing where the problem lies, which is with the Vatican.”“The outcome of this meeting, at best, was going to be tepid and ineffectual, but now it’s actually going to be completely without substance,” she said.

https://www.breitbart.com/faith/2018/11/12/pope-francis-reins-in-u-s-bishops-measures-against-sex-abuse/

Supreme Court to Decide Constitutionality of Cross-Shaped World War I Memorial

The Supreme Court will decide the constitutionality of a towering cross-shaped memorial to Maryland men who died in the First World War. The Supreme Court agreed in early November to hear the case in which the American Legion is asking the high court to reverse a 2017 appeals court ruling that the memorial violates the First Amendment’s prohibition on governments establishing religion. Overturning a lower court’s decision, the Fourth Circuit panel said the memorial, which stands on public land, is unconstitutional because it “excessively entangles the government in religion.” The case may be a gauge for the conservatism of the current Supreme Court now that Justice Brett Kavanaugh is on the bench. The lawyers for the American Legion at the First Liberty Institute and the law firm Jones Day have asked the court to overturn decades of often unclear and contradictory liberal precedents regarding religious displays on public property. Instead, they would like such cases to focus on whether the government is effectively coercing someone to participate in a religious observance that violates his or her conscience.

The 40-foot-tall “Peace Cross” in Bladensburg, Maryland was erected by the American Legion in 1925 to honor the 49 men from Prince George’s County who fell in the Great War. In 1961, a Maryland state agency took possession of the land on which the memorial stands. The legality of the 93-year-old memorial was challenged by an atheist organization called the American Humanist Association, which argued that the cross sent an exclusionary message in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. In 2015, a federal judge in Maryland ruled against the plaintiffs, holding that the Maryland Parks and Planning Commission had nonreligious reasons for maintaining the historically significant, secular war memorial.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit overturned that ruling. “[T]he sectarian elements easily overwhelm the secular ones,” Barack Obama-appointed Judge Stephanie Thacker wrote in the majority opinion. Thacker also said that the American Legion’s “affiliation with Christianity” should not be ignored.

“The display aggrandizes the Latin cross in a manner that says to any reasonable observer that the Commission either places Christianity above other faiths, views being American and Christian as one in the same, or both,” Thacker wrote. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan called the court’s ruling “an affront to all veterans.”

In asking the Supreme Court to hear the case, lawyers for the American Legion said if the appeals court decision is allowed to stand “it will also render unconstitutional the two principal WWI memorials in Arlington National Cemetery, which likewise are freestanding crosses residing in the Fourth Circuit.” In oral arguments, Thacker had suggested that the unconstitutionality might be cured by cutting off the arms of the “Peace Cross.”

Ken Klukowski, senior legal editor for Breitbart News, is one of the attorneys representing the American Legion. The American Legion v. American Humanist Association, No. 17-1717 in the Supreme Court of the United States

https://www.breitbart.com/faith/2018/11/12/supreme-court-to-decide-constitutionality-of-cross-shaped-world-war-i-memorial/

Sen. Dianne Feinstein demands hearings on DOJ changes

Sen. Dianne Feinstein demanded Tuesday that the Senate hold hearings with both former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Matthew Whitaker, the man named to replace him temporarily, saying there are too many questions surrounding the ouster. Mrs. Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said senators must get a full accounting on why Mr. Sessions resigned, at the president’s request. And she said senators still have questions over Mr. Sessions’ role in firing former FBI Director James B. Comey.

As for Mr. Whitaker, Mrs. Feinstein said she has questions about whether his appointment to be acting attorney general is legal. She also wants to know how he will approach the ongoing investigation into Russian activities in the 2016 election and Trump campaign figures’ behavior.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/nov/13/dianne-feinstein-demands-hearings-doj-changes/

Trump to replace Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen

U.S. President Donald Trump has decided to replace Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, but has not settled on the timing, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing unidentified White House and administration officials.

Nielsen is a close ally of White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and her firing might prompt Kelly to quit, the Journal reported. Trump is aware of that possibility and said he probably would replace Kelly with Nick Ayers, who is currently chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, it reported.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-staff-nielsen/trump-to-replace-homeland-security-secretary-nielsen-idUSKCN1NI26B?il=0

Sinclair, rival TV firms strike deal to settle DOJ ad-rigging claims

Six of the nation's largest broadcast television companies have reached a tentative settlement with the Department of Justice over claims that they worked to drive up ad prices by sharing competitively sensitive information with each other. The proposed deal, which must still be approved by a judge, follows an antitrust complaint alleging that the firms – Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., Raycom Media Inc., Tribune Media Co., Meredith Corp., Griffin Communications and Dreamcatcher Broadcasting – exchanged revenue information and other non-public sales data that helped them gauge whether competitors would raise, lower or maintain existing ad prices.

The practice allowed the companies, which reported a combined $5.8 billion in revenue last year, to "disrupt the normal competitive process of spot advertising in markets across the United States,” Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim said in a statement. “Advertisers rely on competition among owners of broadcast television stations to obtain reasonable advertising rates," he said. "This unlawful sharing of information lessened that competition and thereby harmed the local businesses and the consumers they serve."

As part of the seven-year settlement, the companies agreed not only to stop sharing the information under scrutiny, but to institute new antitrust policies and reporting measures to prevent similar actions in the future.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/business/sinclair-rival-tv-firms-strike-deal-to-settle-doj-ad-rigging-claims