Tag: Charles Chaput

Former Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput took the reins in sex-scandal-plagued Philadelphia last week. A sampling of YouTubes posted last week offers a snapshot of his trying first days there, a new Church leader in a place grown deeply distrustful of Church leaders.

Prominent Christian pastors in the United States who have dedicated themselves to serving the poor and most vulnerable citizens don't believe in trickle-down economics and they don't believe the problem of poverty should be left for churches to address. More than 4,000 of those pastors signed an open letter to that effect addressed to President Obama and the members of Congress, urging them as they hammer out a federal budget not to make poor and hungry Americans bear the burden of reducing the nation’s deficit. More than 95 pastors and clergy members in Colorado signed the letter, which appeared in Politico Wednesday.

Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput has weighed in on the recent Supreme Court decision (pdf) that struck down a law banning the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. His arguments in favor of restricting the availability of video games echo his views on gay marriage and civil unions. Government should step in, he says, and bar gay marriage and restrict violent video game availability based on the "common sense" threats they pose. In opening an essay on the topic, Chaput references the 1999 Columbine school shootings.

This past spring, debate in Colorado over a same-sex civil unions bill raised questions about citizen equality, child and family protections, religious freedom and anti-gay bigotry. News coming out of Illinois, where a civil unions bill that passed in the fall is now taking effect, resurfaces those same issues. Catholic Charities of Rockford, a city just northwest of Chicago, announced it would no longer provide its state-funded foster care and adoption services. Organization representatives said they would not place children with unmarried couples and that the law now exposed them to litigation for that stand.

In his weekly column at the Denver Archdiocese website, Archbishop Charles Chaput celebrated the death of state Senator Pat Steadman's same-sex civil unions bill. He said the bill was not about civil rights but about "securing legitimacy for personal behaviors that most societies and religious traditions have found problematic." He listed the names and addresses of the six Judiciary Committee Republicans who voted to kill the bill and asked Catholics to contact the lawmakers and thank them.

In advance of a committee hearing scheduled for Monday on state Senator Pat Steadman's civil unions bill, Colorado faith leaders held a press conference at the capitol Thursday expressing support for the bill. Their presence at the capitol was frank acknowledgment of the way opposition to the legal recognition of rights for gay domestic partners has long been made on the basis of religion. In fact, religion stands on both sides of this issue, they said, and the issue, especially as addressed in Steadman's bill, is about constitutional rights.

Nine months after Hingham Catholic school in Boston rescinded the application of a child of lesbian parents, the Archdiocese there has adopted a new admissions policy that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. The new policy comes at the direction of Cardinal Sean O'Malley and stands in sharp contrast to the position taken by Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput, who supported Sacred Heart Elementary School in Boulder last year in rejecting the applications of two students because their parents are gay.

The media has ignited this week with stories in Colorado centered on "life" and "women's" issues. Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet is underlining GOP rival...

Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput has placed another Colorado priest on leave after what Chaput called a "credible" abuse allegation surfaced earlier this month. ...

The Church sex abuse scandal came home this week to Colorado. Charles Chaput, the politically outspoken Archbishop of Denver who has been mostly mum...