Catholic priests in Colorado sexually abused at least 166 children since 1950, according to a damning, 263-page report released Wednesday by an independent investigator who found the church expunged files and covered up abuse for decades. It took nearly 20 years on average for the church to stop an abusive priest after receiving an abuse […]
religion
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
Colorado attorney general announces new settlement fund for victims of Catholic priest abuse
Victims of sexual abuse by Colorado priests can now apply for financial reparations from a settlement fund announced Monday, part of a healing process after years of scandal in the Catholic Church. Those who have already come forward will receive packets with instructions on how to apply for compensation — 65 packets were going out […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: I learned a valuable life lesson at the barbershop. It takes courage to speak out against hatred.
I have a confession. Oftentimes, we are quick to superficially crown ourselves as upright, honorable and virtuous individuals. But when circumstance puts us to the test, we can’t help but question the true depth of our integrity. These junctures offer us opportunity to choose between fortifying our long-standing self-deception, or exchanging our artificial constructs with […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, Health, News, Politics and Government
Colorado joins 19 other states in suing to stop Trump administration rule allowing health care workers to refuse abortions
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has sued the Trump administration once more, joining more than a dozen other states in challenging a rule that would broaden the ability of health care workers to refuse to provide abortions out of personal or moral objection. The Department of Health and Human Services policy is set to take […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Nicolais: A Holy Week miracle at Notre Dame
Fire ravaged the grand cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris during Holy Week, but when the flames receded to smoldering, wet mounds of wood on its floor, the church still stood. To me that is a Holy Week miracle filled with a message of promise for us all. The news about Notre Dame reached me as […]
Posted inCulture, News, Politics and Government
We the (faithful) People: A coalition of religious groups is pushing to redefine faith in Colorado politics
A coalition of faith groups is showing up at the state Capitol every Tuesday and taking on two big tasks: Pushing legislators for policy that reflects their values and trying to redefine the political voice of the faithful in Colorado. At the launch of Faithful Tuesdays in February, prayers from a Reform rabbi and a […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
Here is why Colorado didn’t convene a grand jury to investigate priest abuse as Pennsylvania did
With the announcement Tuesday that the Catholic church in Colorado will voluntarily participate in an independent investigation into sexual abuse by its priests comes a big question: Why didn’t the state convene a grand jury to investigate, as Pennsylvania did? The answer has to do with the limited powers Colorado’s attorney general has to look […]
Posted inColoradans, Crime and Courts, News
“A basic trust in America has been violated”: Denver turns out in force to share in the pain of Pittsburgh and the Jewish community
Denver came out in force Sunday night, joining cities across the nation in sharing in the pain and sadness of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community. Thousands of people packed into Temple Emanuel for a tearful, uniting vigil. “This is not OK,” Gov. John Hickenlooper proclaimed to a standing-room-only crowd that overflowed into rooms beyond the Denver Jewish congregation’s […]
Posted inNews
Ex-slave who helped Denver’s poor could become first saint from Colorado
A box bound in crimson ribbon and sealed with red wax soon will depart for the Vatican, carrying 7,500 pages of documents describing how Catholics still pray to a former slave who brought coal and food to poor Denver families in the cover of night. To them, Julia Greeley is a saint. If Pope Francis […]