Is the stance you took on similar Colorado bills while you were Archbishop of Denver an indication?
I’m asking because:
I don’t know.
It’s important, and is especially prominent now.
PA Rep. Michael McGeehan (D – Phila) said in piece in yesterday’s Philadelphia Inquirer that the Penn State scandal “explodes the idea that sex abuse is just a problem in Philadelphia, or of priests, or that window legislation targets the Catholic Church.”
When in Denver, Chaput fought similar laws because he felt they unfairly targeted the Catholic Church while ignoring other institutions.
In my Beerituality recap, I included links to PA House Bill 832 and PA House Bill 878. In his closing remarks last night, Bill White challenged us with some very specific action. From Bill:
“The bills, which grew out of a Philadelphia grand jury’s most recent findings on clergy abuse and coverups involving the Philadelphia Archdiocese, are House Bill 832, which would repeal the statute of limitations from the point of passage forward in civil suits relating to child sex abuse; and HB 878, providing a one-time two-year window for victims to bring civil action in cases barred by the current law. They’ve been trapped in the state House Judiciary Committee, buried by committee chairman Ron Marsico, R-Dauphin County. His number in the Capitol is (717)783-2014. Callers should tell him – and their own legislators — that they think these bills are important and they want them to get a fair airing instead of being bottled up.”
“I was taught that the world had a lot of problems; that I could struggle and change them; that intellectual and material gifts brought the privilege and responsibility of sharing with others less fortunate; and that service is the rent each of us pays for living — the very purpose of life and not something you do in your spare time or after you have reached your personal goals.”
“What’s wrong with our children? Adults telling children to be honest while lying and cheating. Adults telling children to not be violent while marketing and glorifying violence… I believe that adult hypocrisy is the biggest problem children face in America.”
― Marian Wright Edelman
The first quote was in my Google+ feed today thanks to a dear friend who works with children. I forwarded it on to the leaders of our Mission Team here at First Presbyterian and to all our ministry and program staff. For me, it comes closest to defining a missional life as anything I have seen.
The second quote is prophetic in its assessment and ever-timeliness. I hope to God for a day when it’s outdated because we, American adults, will have made it so by our ethical and moral commitments, our spiritual and political priorities, and by shining lights on places where our systems have absorbed injustice instead of upending it.
Friends, this is a re-post from the Beerituality blog. Beerituality is a monthly gathering at the Allentown Brew Works in Downtown Allentown that aims to bring people together from across traditions “at the crossroads of the sacred and secular.”
Peter Schweyer, Bill White, Tammy Lerner, and Alan Tjeltveit @ Beerituality (November 17, 2011)
Last night’s discussion featured Peter Schweyer, a PSU grad, Allentown City Councilperson and the Chief of Staff for PA Rep. Jennifer Mann with experience in abuse legislation; Bill White, noted columnist for the Allentown Morning Call, a long-time advocate for abuse survivors and abuse prevention; Tammy Lerner, State Director and Vice President of Abolish Child Sex Abuse; and Alan Tjeltveit, Professor of Psychology at Muhlenberg College.
This was an extremely important night of engaging, educational, and candid reflection and dialogue about the wider context of sexual abuse in the midst of the Penn State scandal.
the need to keep talking about this issue, and to encourage people to tell their stories in safe environments. Speaking out about abuse can help dispel the culture of shame we’ve built up around it, so that victims can be empowered to come forward and legal and civil recourse can be taken.
In Pennsylvania, coaches are not mandatory reporters. In some states, they are. Legislation to make coaches mandatory reporters was introduced in Harrisburg this week.
In Pennsylvania, university police departments like those at Penn State or Lehigh University are the accredited law enforcement agencies on campus. Unlike other police departments, these don’t report to any elected official or body, but to Boards of Trustees. There are inherent conflicts of interest there on many levels.
The need for changes to statute of limitations laws for these kinds of crimes. Currently, if the criminal and civil statutes of limitations have expired before charges are brought, even admitted offenders cannot be named as such in newspapers or with respect to Megan’s Law. This is an area where better legislation can, indeed, help with prevention.
Thanks again to our excellent panelists for the interdisciplinary perspectives and conversation on this hard issue. We were blessed to be able to assemble this panel. In the larger context of advocacy and support, this conversation must continue.
Tim Tebow strikes me as classy, upstanding, hardworking young man. I like him. I also like when people, in this case, Broncos coach John Fox, are willing to go all in with what they have. No, Tebow is not a traditional NFL quarterback, nor is he able, at least at this point, to play in a traditional NFL offense.
So what? There was a time when the whole concept of specialized closers in baseball was unthinkable. I’d love to see more ingenuity on the coaching side of sports and less sanctimonious, sacrosanct garbage. We’d all do well with less culty fandoms.
Enjoy this post from Yahoo!Sports’ MJD about Fox’s willingness to throw out “that other crap” (that is, the passing game) so that Tebow and the Broncos might have a chance to succeed.
Klout is going after middle-American novice tweeters who might have mentioned a body spray once or twice. With its service, Axe could reach people like that directly in large bunches and give them samples of new products.
How do we know this? Because Klout recently changed its scoring algorithm. People absolutely lost their minds in the comments on the post and on Twitter.
This type of comment was posted over and over again there:
Very unhappy with this change. My score went from 73 down to 53. 20 point drop. I’ve been working for months to increase my Klout score. Please fix this.
This is proof that people who are “working” on being relevant shouldn’t use any type of service. As my good friend Alex Hillman says and has tattooed on his arm, “JFDI”. Just do it, and don’t worry about what you’re getting out of it, and all will be fine.
He’s right, isn’t he? It’s tempting to worry about Klout, to obsess about why your Facebook friend count is down or why someone stopped following your blog. It’s easy to fixate on stats. Just do what you like and do it well. Curate that beauty and be that unique voice.
Also: It can’t be a coincidence that JFDI is just one letter from Jedi.
Is the stance you took on similar Colorado bills while you were Archbishop of Denver an indication?
Chris Cocca 