NATION - news items

National Catholic Reporter, July 16, 1999 by Matt Kantz

Jesuit Theology School distances self from CBS report

The president of the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley has issued a statement distancing the institution from allegations of sexual improprieties by faculty members.

John Bollard alleged in a $1 million lawsuit, later dismissed by a California district court, that he had been sexually harassed by Jesuit priests while he was a Jesuit seminarian attending the school. Bollard's story was the subject of a May 9 segment on the CBS News program "60 Minutes." The suit was dismissed May 15.

The statement, by Jesuit Fr. Joseph P. Daoust, was published in the spring issue of JSTB Bridge, one of the school's publications.

The statement said, "Contrary to the impression created by CBS' reporting, the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley is not named as a party in the lawsuit alleging sexual harassment: The school was not served in the legal process, and the school has not even had a copy of the complaint in the lawsuit. The school has not been contacted, at the time of the complaint, or even up to now, by the complainant.

"None of the activities alleged in the complaint of the lawsuit are alleged to have happened at JSTB. ... All of the parties named in the lawsuit have vigorously denied the allegations in it," Daoust's statement said.

Rigali steps homilies by women at theology school

Archbishop Justin Rigali has ordered a graduate theology school in St. Louis to stop letting women deliver homilies during Masses at the site, halting an 18-year practice.

Dominican Fr. Charles Bouchard, president of the school, Aquinas Institute of Theology, said faculty members who teach preaching, including Dominican nuns, have been allowed to preach during the school's Masses, at the place reserved for the homily, for the past 18 years.

Although the 1983 Code of Canon Law generally bars all but priests and deacons from delivering the homily at a Mass, canon lawyers often cite exceptions. Bouchard said Rigali's predecessor, Arch bishop John L. May, had considered the practice at Aquinas Institute to be allowable as an exception.

"We are not a parish. We are a graduate school. So it's a pretty unusual situation," Bouchard said. "We educate many lay persons who will legitimately preach in situations where there are not enough priests available. In view of that, we hoped Archbishop Rigali would make an exception to allow us to provide a model for preaching by non-ordained persons."

Bouchard said Rigali had asked for a meeting with him in March after receiving complaints about the practice.

"The faculty is disappointed, but people are realistic," Bouchard said." What we're going to do now is find more opportunities outside eucharistic occasions for non-ordained persons to preach, such as midday prayer. What I don't want to happen is that we have less preaching rather than more."

Lawsuit seeks to void Florida voucher plan

Florida has become the nation's first state to allow students statewide to attend private secular or religious schools with the aid of tax dollars. The voucher plan, which begins with the upcoming school year, is open to students whose public schools are deemed to be "failing."

June 22, one day after Republican Gov. Jeb Bush signed the plan into law, opponents filed a lawsuit in an attempt to have it declared unconstitutional. Bush countered by saying he was assembling a legal team to defend the plan.

The Florida plan allows students in schools that receive an "F" rating by the state to get up to $4,000 a year to help defray the Cost of attending a private school, including religious schools.

Two elementary schools in Pensacola are the first to qualify for the voucher plan, although others are expected to be added.

Catholic official praises bill to curtail teen abortion

The head of the U.S. bishops' pro-life secretariat praised House passage June 30 of a bill that would prevent a minor from being taken across state lines to obtain an abortion in circumvention of parental notification laws in her home state. The bill is called the Child Custody Protection Act.

The legislation passed by a vote of 270-159, short of the two-thirds majority that would be needed to overturn a threatened White House veto.

In a statement following the vote, Gail Quinn, executive director of the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, said, "This is legislation that protects parents, protects their teenage daughters and protects the integrity of state laws. It is common-sense legislation, which all should support."

The bill would make it a federal misdemeanor for anyone other than a parent, guardian or legal custodian to take a girl under 18 to another state for an abortion to circumvent laws requiring parental notification in her home state. It would not apply if the abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother.

Connecticut priest murdered near altar

Fr. Robert Lysz of St. Matthew Church in Bristol, Conn., was found murdered June 26 beside his church's altar after parishioners began Mass without him.