The North Star Catholic / November 2015

Anchorage Archbishop addresses ‘Spotlight’ movie on sex abuse crisis

I write to you regarding the church’s ministry of ensuring safe environments. I share the hope and confidence of the present and I reiterate my sadness of the past. I am sorry for any harm that has been inflicted on God’s children and their families by clergy and those in leadership who failed to protect. In November, the movie Spotlight will be released which portrays the struggle that reporters of the Boston Globe faced when shedding light on the problem of sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy and how some in church leadership failed to respond justly. It has been over 13 years since the Boston Globe broke this story and exposed, nationally, this evil that penetrated our church communities.

Movie documents church sex abuse scandal

Spotlight is a movie about the Boston Globe’s 2002 investigative articles on child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. It is set for nationwide release on Nov. 20. The drama is directed and co-written by Tom McCarthy and features several notable actors and actresses including: Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, Mark Ruffalo, Stanley Tucci and John Slattery.

Alaska’s Sen. Lisa Murkowski a ‘supporter of Planned Parenthood’

“I’m a supporter of Planned Parenthood. I believe that the services that are provided for the tens of thousands of Alaskan men and woman, access to not only women’s health care but also access to men’s as well, access to screenings, access to affordable birth control, is an important service and I have supported that,” Sen. Murkowski said last month. “It’s always important to caveat that there are no federal dollars that Planned Parenthood receives that go toward abortions. That’s not the case. So I would like to see the services that men and women receive continue.”

Anchorage’s LGBT law seen as threat to religious liberty in the public square

The Anchorage Assembly passed an ordinance last month establishing “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as classifications of prohibited discrimination in the Anchorage civil code. The move places sexual orientation and gender identity on the same legal level as race and religion.
Religious liberty advocates are deeply concerned that the new ordinance compels local churches, faith-based groups and business owners to violate deeply held beliefs by forcing them to hire employees who are openly living a homosexual and/or transgender lifestyle, while also forcing service companies and rental organizations to promote, serve and facilitate causes and events which violate their moral beliefs, especially in the area of sexuality.

Synops of the Synod: Show, then tell

For three weeks, Cardinals, archbishops, priests from around the world gathered in Rome to grapple with how Catholics can better reach out to families — inviting them to a fuller encounter with Christ and his church. While much of the global press focused on hot-button debates about whether to let divorced and civilly remarried couples return to Communion, or how the church can use different language in reference to gays and lesbians and those living together outside of marriage, the expressed purpose of the synod was to find ways to support the first cell of the church — the family.