Daily Archives: July 5, 2017

PALATINE, Ill. A former Catholic church official fired from his suburban post in 2014 after announcing plans to marry another man is now part of a new faith venture billed as an alternative Catholic worship experience.

Colin Collette is music director for Agape: A Community of New Hope in Palatine, described as an intentional Eucharist community rooted in the Catholic tradition.

The group, which Collette helped start in the Palatine basement of co-founder Jill Piccolino, is not sanctioned by the Archdiocese of Chicago. Agape now meets in the sanctuary of the 171-year-old St. John United Church of Christ in Palatine and offers a weekly 5 p.m. Saturday Mass led by a Catholic priest or lay person.

We get together for Catholic Mass, said Collette, 56. We really started with folks that just did not feel that they could, with any integrity, still be part of a church that could treat people the way I was treated.

Collette was fired from his 17-year post as music director of Holy Family Catholic Community in Inverness after announcing his engagement to Will Nifong. A federal court in April ruled in the archdioceses favor in a discrimination suit brought by Collette.

St. John Pastor David Foxgrover said Agapes 90-day agreement to rent the sanctuary began June 3, after gaining the Protestant congregations approval. St. John holds a Sunday service, so there is no conflict with Agapes Mass.

We hope that it works out and we can extend the agreement, Foxgrover said.

Piccolino also spent 17 years at Holy Family, before leaving her position as assistant director of worship as a show of support for Collette. She said Agape has an active email list of about 275 people and has attracted worshippers who used to attend the Inverness church, which was divided after Collettes dismissal.

We had so many friends that left Holy Family because of the situation (with Collette) and they kept coming to us saying, We have nowhere to go. We know we dont want to go back there,' Piccolino told the Daily Herald.

Anecdotal evidence suggests Catholic communities similar to Agape have been growing across the country, said Richard Gaillardetz, chair of Boston Colleges theology department. However, he added, the number of participants are small relative to the larger Catholic population and not representative of a significant movement.

I am generally sympathetic with the concerns that have led to the creation of such communities, particularly in Catholic dioceses where a lack of authentic church leadership has created a situation where they feel it is impossible for them to have their spiritual needs met or where a spirit of judgmentalism and exclusivism has held sway, said Gaillardetz, a professor of Catholic systematic theology.

Professor Daniel Maguire of Marquette Universitys theology department said Agape reflects the Catholic churchs early days in not needing a priest for Mass.

There is nothing second-rate about it, said Maguire. However, he added, hes found that such communities typically do not last.

Collette said it never was a secret at Holy Family that hes gay. He sought reinstatement to his position, back pay and money damages in the suit he filed in U.S. District Court in March 2016. He claimed he was illegally fired after announcing his engagement to Nifong on Facebook in 2014.

But Collette said he wont pursue an appeal or other legal avenues regarding a decision against his case in April by U.S. District Judge Charles P. Kocoras. The judge cited the right of religious organizations to control internal affairs in siding with the archdiocese and Holy Family.

Piccolino said Collettes firing led to the launching of Agape as a small group gathering in her basement for a Mass two years ago. Agape then rented space at Hoffman Estates Park Districts Willow Recreation Center before holding a Christmas Eve Mass at St. John last year. That led to a joint service on March 19 and the June rental agreement.

Gaillardetz said a celebration of the sacraments by any validly ordained Catholic priest would be valid, but illicit, in the parlance of Catholic sacramental theology at Agape or other Eucharistic communities created without formal permission of the local bishop.

Any priest who would celebrate the sacraments in such a community would almost certainly run afoul of church authorities and would probably face some kind of ecclesiastical discipline, he said. Chicago archdiocese spokeswoman Anne Maselli declined to address Collettes unsuccessful lawsuit or Agape. Holy Familys pastor, the Rev. Terry Keehan, deferred to the archdiocese for comment. ___ Source: (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald, http://bit.ly/2sREdkO ___ Information from: Daily Herald, http://www.dailyherald.com

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Fired after announcing engagement, he helps launch new faith venture - Chicago Sun-Times

What does it take to define the undergraduate experience as successful?

Academics, of course, are a key component. But classroom learning is just one important piece of a much larger puzzle. For most students to do well in their coursework and stay the course until graduation, their life outside the classroom and the ways they become engaged in the life of their college or university matters more than we might think.

According to the National Survey of Student Engagement, students who are engaged meaning they feel a sense of belonging and identification with their school are less likely to drop out.

In fact, research indicates that highly engaged students earn higher grades, perform better on tests, set and meet personal goals, persist on tasks, expect success and value educational outcomes.

At Pfeiffer University, we take this seriously.

In addition to providing academic support that encourages frequent interaction between students and their professors and advisors, and dozens of clubs and organizations for students to get involved with proven factors in positive student engagement we offer intentional and creative programming that integrates learning and living, thereby increasing the likelihood of engagement in campus life.

One way we do this is through Living-Learning Communities (LLC), which offer students with similar goals and interests the opportunity to live and study together in designated areas of residence halls.

LLCs at Pfeiffer for Criminal Justice majors and Honors Program participants are teaching lessons similar to other LLCs across the country. Peer-to-peer support (which for the most part develops organically) for studying and social purposes and increased attention from faculty members who create relevant programming, organize off-campus outings and invite guest speakers to campus have contributed to positive outcomes in a relatively short period.

The criminal justice group is posting a higher cumulative grade point average while those in the Honors Residential College have demonstrated significantly increased persistence with the Honors Program. This success has prompted the addition this fall of a new Living-Learning Community for Nursing majors.

For commuter students, whose engagement is as important as that of their residential counterparts, we work hard due to the fact that they live elsewhere and often hold jobs to bond them to campus life. Semi-monthly Commuter Lunches hosted by the Office of Student Development provide opportunities for participants to get to know one another, ask questions and engage with Pfeiffer.

These lunches will continue along with other programs designed to connect commuter students more firmly with the curricular and co-curricular opportunities available to them.

These and other engagement-boosting activities promote servant-leadership through service, campus ministry, residence life and athletics and encourage experiential and off-campus learning through internships or study abroad.

Together they help shape a sense of community that begins while students are enrolled and, ideally, continues after graduation. Ultimately, Pfeiffers engaged students become engaged citizens, employees and alumni who know how to make an impact on their families, communities and alma mater.

Colleen PerryKeith is president of Pfeiffer University. She writes a monthly column about the university and its impact on the community.

B. J. Drye is editor of The Stanly News & Press. Contact him at (704) 982-2121 ext. 25, bj@stanlnewspress.com or PO Box 488, Albemarle, NC 28002.

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COLLEEN PERRY KEITH COLUMN: Engaging students in campus life for success today and tomorrow - Stanly News & Press

Caste

The Delhi High Court ruled that offensive statements on social media likeFacebook, whether private or public, that intend to humiliate someone belonging to the scheduled caste or scheduled tribe communities would be a punishable offence. Credit: PTI

Offensive statements on social media likeFacebook, whether private or public, that intend to humiliate someone belonging to the scheduled caste or scheduled tribe communities would be a punishable offence, the Delhi high court has said. However, generalised statements against all and sundry and not against a specific individuals from the SC/ST communities would not be considered an offence under section 3(1)(x) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Justice Vipin Sanghi said.

To my mind, it would make no difference whether the privacy settings [on social media accounts] are set by the author of the offending post to private or public. Pertinently, Section 3(1)(x) of the Act does not require that the intentional insult or intimidation with an intention to humiliate a member of SC/ST should take place in the presence of the said member.

Even if the victim is not present, and behind his/her back, the offending insult or intimidation with intention to humiliate him/her, who is a member of SC/ST takes place, the same would be culpable if it takes place within public view, the court said.

Under Section 3(1)(x) of the SC/ST Act, it is an offence if someone makes statements which intentionally insult or intimidate with the intent of humiliating a member of such communities in any place within public view.

The court said in the case of social media platforms, public view would include any independent or impartial witness who has seen an offensive statement. It, however, said that generalised statements against all and sundry, and not against specific individuals belonging to SC/ST, would not make out an offence under section 3(1)(x) of the Act.

The observations came as the court quashed an FIR lodged by a woman against her sister-in-law for allegedly making offensive statements on Facebook against the dhobi community. The complainant had accused her sister-in-law of making the statements to humiliate her as she belonged to the dhobi community.

The sister-in-law refuted the allegations and sought dismissalof the FIR, saying the statements about dhobis were made on her Facebook wall and the complainant had been blocked from viewing it. The police, on the other hand, opposed the dismissalof the FIR, saying the privacy status of the posts were changed by the accused from private to public to enable everyone to read it.

Regarding the petitioners argument that her posts were private, the court said that even if posts by a Facebook member are private, making offensive statements thatfallfoul of section 3(1)(x) of the Act may still be punishable if if any of the authors Facebook friends are independent and impartial persons and not interested in any of the parties.

The court, however, said that in the instant case, a perusal of the posts by the petitioner on her wall do not show that they were directed against any individual member of any scheduled caste or scheduled tribe. For all the reasons, the FIR as well as the proceedings qua the petitioner under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, are hereby quashed, the court said.

Excerpt from:

Derogatory Posts Against SC/ST on Social Media an Offence, Says Delhi High Court - The Wire