A 67-year-old woman with a criminal record for theft has been charged with siphoning $1 million in donations while working in a finance office of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, church officials announced Monday (Jan. 30).

The archdiocese said it did not conduct a criminal background check when the employee, Anita Collins, was hired in 2003. Collins’ complex scheme drained money from an education fund at the same time the church was closing Catholic schools.

Church and law enforcement officials said that over seven years Collins sent fake invoices to the archdiocese, then issued some 450 checks to accounts she controlled, all in amounts just under the $2,500 threshold that would have required a supervisor’s approval.

Most of the money was apparently siphoned from the accounts payable system in the archdiocesan Department of Education Finance Office, according to a statement from archdiocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling.

In a 2010 article in the archdiocese newspaper Catholic New York, Collins was lauded for volunteering at St. Patrick’s Cathedral when Archbishop Timothy Dolan presided over a Mass welcoming 600 people to Catholicism.

Collins was described as an “unassuming” person; in a 2010 article in the archdiocesan newspaper she said, “My faith has always been a steadfast part of my life.”

Most of the money Collins allegedly embezzled was spent on mortgage payments and on “a lifestyle that was not extravagant but was far beyond her lawful means,” Adam Kaufmann, the chief of investigations for the Manhattan District Attorney, told The New York Times.

Outside auditors implementing enhanced financial safeguards in late 2011 initially found $350,000 in missing funds, Zwilling said. After law enforcement officials were called in, the full extent of the theft was uncovered. Collins was confronted with the evidence and was fired on Dec. 6, 2011.

“Sadly, there will always be individuals who seek to exploit and circumvent whatever system is established, but we will remain vigilant in our oversight,” Zwilling said.

There have been a rash of large-scale embezzlement cases in the Catholic Church in recent years, ranging from lay people embezzling from dioceses to pastors pilfering from their parishes. Many of these cases occurred despite warnings to church officials in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse scandals that they needed to tighten financial oversight as well.

Collins had previously pleaded guilty to criminal charges in fraud schemes at other New York employers in 1986 and 1999. The archdiocese says it now conducts criminal background checks on all employees and is reviewing its financial oversight policies.

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The Pakistani judge who imposed a death sentence on the assassin of Punjab governor Salman Taseer has gone underground due to threats from Islamic fundamentalists, Pakistani church officials have confirmed.

“It is true that the judge has vanished. Nobody knows where is now,” Azariah, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in Pakistan (NCCP), told ENInews on Oct. 14 from his office in Lahore.

Justice Syed Pervez Ali Shah of the Anti Terrorism court had sentenced to death on Oct. 1 policeman Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri for shooting Taseer on Jan. 4. The governor had criticized a Pakistani blasphemy law that makes it a crime to insult Islam.

With Islamic groups continuing protests against the verdict, Shah has not been seen in his Rawalpindi office since Oct. 4, according to Malik Khalid Jawad, president of the bar association.

Michele Chaudhry, a Catholic and spokesperson of All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), also confirmed to ENInews that the judge Shah has gone “on long leave without any clue to his whereabouts,” adding “this is the danger faced by anyone who is seen as opposing the blasphemy law.”

Azariah said that Islamic groups are still continuing the protests against the death sentence to Qadri with demonstrations being held across Pakistan on Oct. 14.

Meanwhile the Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), visited Pakistan from Oct. 8-10 and called for protection of religious minorities and the need for measures against religious intolerance.

“The Pakistani government should not turn a blind eye to the culture of violence perpetrated through the use and abuse of the blasphemy law, which intensify communal hatred, intolerance and persecution … particularly of religious minorities,” Tveit said.

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Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, Mo., has been charged with failing to report the suspected abuse of a child, making him the first active bishop in the United States to face criminal prosecution over the sexual abuse of children by a priest.

The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has been charged with the same offense, which is a Class A misdemeanor, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced Oct. 14.

“The fact that this is a misdemeanor count should not diminish the significance of the case,” Peters Baker said in a statement.

“Now that the grand jury investigation has resulted in this indictment, my office will pursue this case vigorously because it is about protecting children,” she said. “I want to ensure there are no future failures to report resulting in other unsuspecting victims.”

Finn, 58, and the diocese both entered pleas of not guilty, according to diocesan spokeswoman Rebecca Summers. The misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine for an individual; the maximum fine for a corporation is $5,000.

“Bishop Finn denies any criminal wrongdoing and has cooperated at all stages with law enforcement, the grand jury, the prosecutor’s office,” Gerald Handley, the bishop’s attorney, said in a statement. “We will continue our efforts to resolve this matter.”

Finn said in a statement: “We will meet these announcements with a steady resolve and a vigorous defense.”

Finn is the highest-ranking Catholic official charged with covering up the sexual abuse of children since the scandal erupted in Boston in 2002.

“As far as we know this is the first time a bishop has been indicted on this type of charge,” said Mar Munoz-Visoso, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Last February, Monsignor William Lynn, the former vicar for clergy in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, was charged with endangering the welfare of children for allowing “dangerous” priests to remain in parishes, according to a grand jury indictment.

The charges against Finn represent a major setback for efforts by the U.S. bishops and the Vatican to put the scandal behind them.

Instead of focusing on what the church has done to change its policies to protect children, church leaders will be forced to answer questions about how they police one of their own.

According to the indictment issued by a Jackson County grand jury on Oct. 6, Finn and the diocese had “reasonable cause” to suspect that the Rev. Shawn Ratigan had subjected children to abuse.

By Dec. 16, 2010, Catholic school officials had warned diocesan supervisors of concerns about Ratigan’s behavior with children, and diocesan officials had found hundreds of photographs of children — including sexual images — on his computer, according to Jackson County prosecutors. Ratigan had also violated restrictions placed on him by the diocese, according to the prosecutors.

Finn has acknowledged that he was told of the lewd photographs last year.

But the diocese did not report Ratigan to local police until May 2011, according to the prosecutors. That month, Ratigan was charged with possessing child pornography.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops declined to revise its sexual abuse guidelines, despite pressure from some groups who say they are ineffective.

The charges against Finn likely will force the bishops to again address the guidelines at their upcoming meeting in November in Baltimore.

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A man is suing the U.S. Postal Service on the grounds that he was unconstitutionally arrested while distributing Christian literature on the sidewalk near the front of the Oakland, Tenn. Post Office.

Michael Choate, who is being represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, was arrested last year while passing out Christian tracts 40 feet from the entrance to the Oakland, Tenn. Post office.

In his complaint, Choate said the arrest is unconstitutional and violates his First Amendment right to free speech, his right to due process of law and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Last year, on July 2010, Choate distributed tracts beside a flagpole that stands some 40 ft. from the Post Office entrance. The location does not block people going inside or outside of the Post Office.

Choate’s complaint noted that he never tried to enter the Post Office, nor to distribute leaflets inside the premises nor leave any tracts on any property of the Post Office. Neither did he disturb, nor bother the Postal Service, its customers, nor the operations of the Post Office.

Choate distributed the tracts for two weeks in July last year. Then on Aug. 6, 2010, he returned to this same spot near the flagpole at 11:00 a.m. to quietly distribute more tracts.

After an hour, Postmaster Terrena Moore walked up to Choate and told him that he had to leave, or he would be arrested. According to his complaint, “Choate tried to calm Postmaster Moore down, and explained that he would wait for the police.”

Within minutes, two policemen arrived and told Choate he had to leave because he was trespassing. Choate, pointing out that he was standing on a public sidewalk, questioned how he was trespassing. The policemen said, “[If] the Postmaster says you are trespassing on postal property, you are trespassing, and must leave,” the complaint said.

Because Choate believed he was within his rights to express his opinions on public property, he stood fast. The police arrested him, but later the criminal charges of trespassing were dropped, and he was not asked to pay a fine nor serve time in jail.

In Sept. 2010, Choate approached Moore and asked her why he was considered by her to be a trespasser. She referred him to 39 C.F.R. 232.1(e), which is a “disturbance provision.” Moore told Choate that his activities “annoyed” some customers.

In November 2010, the ADF sent a letter to USPS noting that Choate was constitutionally protected and had a right to pass out tracts on public property in front of the Post Office.

The USPS responded the following month with a letter that said if he “tends to impede or disturb Postal Service employees or customers,” he cannot distribute the tracts, Choate’s complaint noted.

Choate has charged that his First Amendment rights were violated and the Postal Service regulations are vague and not narrowly tailored, leaving interpretation largely to the discretion of its officials, which opens the door to unbridled discretion.

Finally, Choate said in his complaint that the enforcement of 39 CFR 232.1(e) inhibited his ability to exercise the rights due him under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

“Christians shouldn’t be arrested and silenced for peacefully sharing their beliefs on public property,” ADF’s Nate Kellum, one of Choate’s attorneys, said in a statement.

“The post office isn’t above the law and cannot take away citizens’ constitutionally-protected rights just because it or its customers might not agree with the content of someone’s speech or literature. Our client isn’t harassing anyone; he’s simply desiring to quietly share his faith in a completely public forum,” Kellum said.

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A leading Vietnamese dissident was rearrested recently, despite serious health conditions, including being afflicted with a brain tumor and being partially paralyzed from several strokes.

Father Nguyen Van Ly, a man in his 60s, was picked up recently by police who arrived with an ambulance at the office of the Bishop of Hue in Nha Chung, where Ly had been staying under house arrest, in a home for old priests.

“We heard that at 2:30 p.m. police cars and an ambulance arrived at Nha Chung to arrest Priest Ly, ending one year and four months of temporary release,” Father Phan Van Loi told Radio Free Asia.

“Before the police arrested Father Van Ly, they asked Father Vien Le Quang, head of the bishop’s office, to sign a statement,” Father Loi told Asia News. “The priest wrote that ‘Father Van Ly is still sick. He has not recovered from his illness.’”

Father Loi said to Asia News, “The police at first objected, but eventually accepted the document written by Father Le Quang Vien. Within minutes they arrested Father Ly.”

“They arrested him although his health is not good. He has not recovered from his illness. He can’t walk well,” a relative said to AFP.

Father Ly was brought to a prison in Kim Bang district, which forms part of Ha Nam province.

Brain tumor

Last year Father Ly, who has spent over 15 years in and out of prison since 1977, was allowed to receive medical treatment outside of jail due to a brain tumor. He had been serving an eight-year sentence for the charge of propaganda.

During his trial Father Ly tried to deliver a poem that condemned the country’s communist leaders, but the police muzzled him. Ly also yelled, “Communist court!” and said the court procedure followed the “law of the jungle,” the AFP said, causing a policeman to place his hands over Father Ly’s mouth to silence him.

Ly is a founding member of the pro-democracy “Bloc 8406.” His imprisonment drew censure from human rights organizations and foreign diplomats.

In 2009 Father Ly experienced three strokes, leaving him partially paralyzed. Because of this, some 37 U.S. senators sent a letter to the country’s president Nguyen Minh Triet seeking his release.

Now the government has rearrested Father Ly on charges of distributing anti-government documents. Father Ly has, through emails, advocated a multiparty system and called for hunger strikes to support this.

The government-sponsored Vietnam News said, “Although the authorized agencies extended the time allotted for his treatment and reprimanded him many times, Ly continued to defy the law of the State of Vietnam.”

Father Ly’s re-arrest, following shortly after the reelection of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, seems to indicate that things will get tougher for dissidents.

Blogger to be tried

In a separate development, government authorities announced that a blogger and lecturer who was arrested last year on subversion charges will have a hearing on August 10 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Pham Minh Hoang, who is French-Vietnamese, will be charged with “carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration,” an unnamed official told AFP.

The foreign ministry of France has expressed “serious concern” about the case, the AFP said. If convicted, Hoang may face up to 15 years in jail.

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They don’t want to be considered as a religion, and they successfully helped render the National Day of Prayer unlawful. But if you are going to hold an inaugural prayer service, you had better invite the atheists, or they will be mad.

The Secular Coalition for America in Washington DC is outraged because they were not invited to attend Mayor-Elect Vincent Gray’s January inaugural prayer service, The Christian Post said.

The SCA asked D.C. residents to flood Gray’s office with emails saying that discrimination is unacceptable, after they were not included in Gray’s ecumenical service entitled One City…Praying Together slated for 8 a.m. on Jan. 2, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Politics Daily reported.

Politics Daily reported that atheist activists and other groups have posted comments threatening political revenge against Gray. Secular groups are also getting together to determine if they should protest the event, according to God Discussion.

The secular groups in D.C., God Discussion said, include Washington Ethical Society, Washington Area Secular Humanists, Capital Beltway Atheists, DC Atheists, the DC Center of Inquiry and the secular Jewish Machar group.

Amanda Knief, SCA Government Relations Manager said Gray’s team told them it was too late for their inclusion in the interfaith program. In a statement Knief said, “We find it overtly discriminatory when we request to be part of an ecumenical prayer service that is supposed to unite the entire city and are told there is no place for nontheists,” The Christian Post reported.

Gray was upset that no humanist celebrant was invited to participate in the interfaith program, even if they don’t believe in God. She explained that they have humanist celebrants (she is one) who are trained to preside over weddings and funerals, among others, The Christian Post said.

The humanist celebrant, according to the SCA, is “the nonreligious equivalent of a clergyperson,” Politics Daily reported, who can “offer words of encouragement and inspiration without involving a deity.”

God Discussion said that a number of secular groups have programs to train secular and humanist celebrants, such as the American Ethical Union, the Society for Humanistic Judaism and The Humanist Society.

Gray, a Roman Catholic, based his campaign on the twin themes of inclusion and unity. He promised to bring back the Office of Religious Affairs and to form a city prayer breakfast, The Christian Post said.

Humanist groups have long protested public prayer, including the National Day of Prayer this year, which the Freedom From Religion Foundation launched a lawsuit against, leading Federal District Judge Barbara Crabb to rule that it is unlawful. President Obama said he would appeal the decision, The Christian Post reported.

Knief told the God Discussion that it is regretful that a humanist celebrant was not included in the Jan. 2 prayer service saying, “Secular Americans have much to offer their communities if allowed to participate.”

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Pope Benedict XVI announced recently that a new office will be opened to re-evangelize parts of the world, including Europe, where Christianity is being overtaken by secularization, the Associated Press reported.

Benedict announced the opening of the new office on the feasts of Saints Peter and Paul, which is a feast day that by tradition is celebrated together with the Orthodox church, the AP said.

Although there is no confirmed head of the new office, media in Italy have said it may be Monsignor Rino Fisichella. Conservatives criticized Fisichella last year when he pleaded mercy in defense of Brazilian doctors who performed an abortion on a 9-year-old. The child was raped by her stepfather and pregnant with twins, the AP said.

The Catholic church, even as it has created the new office, is in the midst of a number of controversies.

One involves Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, former head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (tasked to work in areas where the Catholic church is relatively unknown), regarding corruption in relation to some of his business transactions, the AP said.

Another controversy involves the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, who was found to have committed abuse with some seminarians, and was discovered to be the father of at least three children, the AP said.

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The earliest icons of the apostles Peter and Paul were discovered recently on the ceiling of an underground catacomb in Rome recently.

The paintings, which were unearthed with the use of 21^st century laser technology, were presented by the Vatican, and also revealed images of apostles Andrew and John, the Associated Press said..

The images were dated from the late fourth century.

They were on the ceiling of the Saint Tecla catacomb, which lay beneath an office building in a working-class neighborhood in Rome, the AP said.

The catacomb had been found in the 1950s but was not shown publicly. One must pass through the basement door of a worn building to get there.  It is close to St. Paul’s basilica where the remains of the apostle Paul are believed to be kept, the Guardian said.

The tomb where the icons were found is that of an aristocratic noblewoman of Rome, and was made at a time when the city was moving from paganism to Christianity. Contrary to common belief, catacombs were not secret burial places, a concept that arose with the movie Ben Hur, the Guardian said.

The laser technology that was used to uncover the paintings had successfully burned off two inches of white calcium deposits, but did not harm the inspired deep colors of the paintings that lay beneath, the AP said.

It is believed that this technology will change the way restoration work will be done henceforth.  There are dozens of catacombs that run for miles beneath Rome where Christians once buried their dead. These are a major tourist attraction, the AP said.

At the time of the early Christians, pagan Romans were cremated, and one was not allowed to bury the dead in the city. As a result, the catacombs were outside the city walls and ran under the ground, the AP said.

Earlier art had been found in other catacombs but they were very simple depictions. The Santa Tecla artwork depicts devotion to the apostles. The first icon of Paul was discovered last June but as it was uncovered the images of Peter, John and Andrew were also revealed, surrounding an image of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, the AP said.

While the images of Peter and Paul were identifiable from other paintings, those of Andrew and John look younger than ordinarily shown in byzantine artwork. The images were assumed to be theirs, as they are the most important apostles after Paul and Peter, the Guardian said.

The four apostles are each encased in gold circles at the corners of the ceiling. The walls and ceilings of the burial site also had depictions of Abraham, Isaac, and Daniel in the lion’s den, the AP said.

The project to uncover the paintings was done by the Vatican’s Sacred Archaeology office. It took two years to do and cost $73,650 to complete. Ordinary restoration methods would involve scraping by hand and leaving a slim layer on top. With the laser technique deposits could be seared away by presetting the laser so that it would stop once a different color layer is reached, the AP said.

This is the first time that laser technology was applied to catacombs. It is usually reserved for statues damaged by outdoor pollution, the AP said.

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More companies in the U.S. are starting to provide chaplain services in the office, in the belief that it enhances the personal wellbeing of employees and raises office efficiency.

One company has even placed in its core value statement that it is a “faith-friendly company (that strives) to honor God.” The availability of a chaplain is found to be a more acceptable option for many employees than an employee assistance program or a therapist would be, the Wall Street Journal said.

Tyson Foods Inc. has some 117,000 employees and 120 chaplains. Other businesses obtain the services of chaplain placement groups. The chaplains are found by some firms to sometimes be more effective in handling office commotion than managers, WSJ said.

Many firms believe the availability of a chaplain has led to reduced employee turnover and enabled many workers to focus more on their jobs. Randy Turnbow, president of EME Inc. said, “If the employee can come to work with a better attitude, feeling better about the rest of their lives, they’re better employees,” WSJ said.

Roving chaplains hired from placement service groups make weekly rounds to companies where they spend time getting to know the employees, giving their contact information and holding one-on-one meetings with workers, WSJ said.

They are also available 24/7 to company workers and will go to see them in hospitals or at their homes, lending comfort and support without charge. They can be accessed, too, for weddings, funerals, counseling about personal woes whether marital, financial or other matters, WSJ said.

One corporate chaplain has helped workers to make a budget and stood beside them as they destroyed their credit cards. The chaplains can be depended upon to keep all confidences, WSJ said.

The tapping of chaplain services by firms is characteristic of how openness is growing in the workplace where spiritual matters are concerned, and reflect how many workers want to be able to articulate their spirituality at work, WSJ said.

A 2008 Barna study showed that 74% of Americans consider faith important to themselves, despite falling church memberships. Some 71% said they have their own religious beliefs although they do not participate in any religious group, WSJ said.

Most corporate chaplains do not proselytize unless an employee asks them to. More often they encourage, pacify, and lend emotional support. They may refer workers to government agencies or company assistance programs, WSJ said.

Supplying chaplain services in the workforce originally prevailed in the Bible Belt in the 1980s and 1990s, but of late it has expanded to other regions too. Some 15% of employers provide prayer spaces including “serenity rooms,” while 9% allow religious groups to meet onsite, WSJ said.

One employee told of how a company chaplain helped him when his sister fell into a coma, then passed away when her life support was removed. Another told of how a chaplain waited with her at the hospital when her son died from surgery, WSJ said.

Still others ask for prayer requests, and one chaplain puts the names on his blackberry because they are so plentiful. Another woman preferred to regularly consult her chaplain regarding stresses because she does not go to any church regularly. She said her faith has grown because she can talk to the chaplain about her personal problems, WSJ said.

A chaplain can minister to a range of people of differing faiths from agnostic to Buddhist to Catholic. Some firms look for chaplains from denominations that are relevant to the larger populace at a workplace. For example, one company arranged for an imam to counsel Somali Muslims who were employed at their Nebraska beef-packing plant, WSJ said.

According to David W. Miller, head of Princeton University’s Faith and Work Initiative, more executives are serious about their faith and access spiritual coaches for themselves and for their companies, WSJ said.

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