Catholic Culture Clash Links 12-23-10

Fr. Rafic Greische, an Egyptian priest, told Vatican Radio that he believes that radical Muslims are trying to rid the Middle East of Christians.  There is certainly a lot of evidence to back up his claim. One such incident which we can look at where radical Muslims targeted Christians was the massacre in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation in Iraq during a Mass.  It is clear that these radical Muslims have no respect for other places of worship or other religions. He says that Christians in the Middle East face private and public discrimination.  This I do not doubt for one second.  These Muslims want to create another Caliphate, where they rule the world.  The Pope, in a recent address, even called Christians the most persecuted of religious groups. 


Now, my Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik has been accused by an advocacy group of ordering the destruction of records detailing pedophilia and other forms of sexual abuse by priests while he worked in Green Bay, Wis.   Bishop Zubik is denies that he destroyed documents or had any part in a cover up and says to the the contrary, that the diocesan practice in Green bay was not to destroy documents in priest files if there was litigation involved.  I tend to believe Bishop Zubik because he is conservative and as much as 99% (if not all) of the cases of sexual abuse and cover ups were committed by liberal priests and/or bishops.  U.S. Catholic posted a response from the Diocese of Green Bay: 


"In order to be in compliance with the Federal Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996, the diocese cannot, and does not, retain psychological reports on priests, deacons and employees in personnel files. After civil litigation was commenced against the diocese in January 2008, at no time were documents pertinent to the lawsuit disposed of."


The Diocese of Green Bay has had a record retention policy and schedule since 2006, noted the statement. The policy "applies to all documents created or received by all departments within the diocese. The purpose of the policy and schedules is to ensure that there is a comprehensive and timely review of documents that should be maintained and preserved for specific periods of time and for documents that can be disposed of."


What it looks like is that the Diocese of Green Bay is not allowed to hold onto health insurance records because of the privacy law known as HIPPA. 


The Heresy Hunter has an excellent post on the climate and conditions of  the region in which the Holy Family crossed over to Bethlehem.