Bishop Johannes Bündgens
Photo:Novena US priest faces charges of having images of child abuse
A Catholic priest is facing charges of possessing images of child abuse following his arrest at a suburban Cleveland parish.
Fr Robert McWilliams, 39, was being held on $100,000 bond in Cuyahoga County Jail, a day after he was taken into custody at St Joseph Parish in Strongsville. Authorities charged him with four counts of possessing images of child abuse and one count of possessing criminal tools.
The Diocese of Cleveland said in a December 5 statement that the priest was immediately placed on administrative leave.
Officials with the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force arrested Fr McWilliams while serving a warrant to search the living and office spaces of the priest at the parish, where he served as parochial vicar, the diocese said.
German bishop relieved of duties after money charge
A German bishop has been relieved of all his diocesan responsibilities after being charged by prosecutors with taking more than $140,000 (€127,000) from an elderly woman’s account.
Bishop Johannes Bündgens “left all offices” in the Diocese of Aachen following charges by state authorities in Cologne.
Last Thursday, the diocese, where Bishop Bündgens has served as auxiliary bishop since his consecration in 2006, announced that prosecutors had filed charges in the district court of Kerpen on December 2.
Msgr Andreas Frick, vicar general of the diocese, released a statement confirming that the bishop has been accused of taking the money from a 78 year-old woman alleged to be legally unable to act in her own interests. Frick also confirmed that Bündgens had been removed from all his positions in the diocese.
Indonesian security deployed to protect churches this Christmas
Nearly 160,000 security personnel will be deployed to try to make Christmas and New Year celebrations in Indonesia safe, reported ucanews.org.
This is an increase from last year, when nearly 90,000 security personnel guarded about 50,000 churches across the country.
An official of the National Police Traffic Corps told journalists that police, military personnel and members of government agencies will guard churches and vital tourism sites during the celebrations.
“These are our targets which we need to focus on. We want to make sure that everything will run peacefully there,” he said.
Catholics pay tribute to German theologian Fr Johann Metz
German-speaking Catholics paid tribute to Fr Johann Baptist Metz, the veteran theologian who died on December 2 in Munster, Germany, at age 91.
“He was one of the great fundamental theologians of the post-council period, with keen sensitivity for the signs of the times,” said Schonstatt Fr Joachim Schmiedl, chairman of Germany’s assembly of Catholic theology faculties. “He launched a whole epoch of theologians and ecclesiastical leaders.”
UK pro-life group decries abortion expansion suggestion
A pro-life group in the UK has decried a report from a London-based medical association calling for women to be able to access abortion pills without meeting in-person with a doctor.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) released a report entitled ‘Better For Women’. The report said that 60% of women cannot get an abortion locally. It recommended a nationwide expansion of abortion drug accessibility through the use of telemedicine.
The Society for the Protection of the Unborn Children (SPUC) lamented the recommendation, arguing that it underestimates the potential risks of abortion drugs.