Archbishop Jose Gomez told a Hispanic pro-life gathering recently that such thinking is mistaken, the Catholic News Agency reported.

He said pro-life issues are not just one issue among many.

The archbishop criticised the effects of a "seamless garment" approach advocated by some Catholics, or what is sometimes called "a consistent ethic of life".

These views mislead people in practice, he said, and result in "a mistaken idea that all issues are morally equivalent".

"So in everything we need to be clear that the root violence in our society is the violence against those who are not yet born and those who are at the end of their lives," the archbishop said.

"If the child in the womb has no right to be born, if the sick and the old have no right to be taken care of - then there is no solid foundation to defend anyone's human rights."

The archbishop recognised many problems and injustices in society, as well as a growing indifference to them.

Injustices include "grave crimes against human life" like abortion, human embryo experimentation, and "the ‘quiet' euthanasia of the old and sick".

Among other injustices are racial discrimination, unemployment and homelessness, and environmental pollution.

The archbishop also noted the problems of violence, drugs, "scandalous" prison conditions, the death penalty, and deportations and injustices in the immigration system.

"I am not trying to say that all of these issues are ‘equal.' They are not. And we always need to be clear about that," he said.

However, while not all equal, the issues are all important, he continued.

"In the face of the suffering and human need in the world, we cannot compartmentalise our compassion or draw lines between those we will care about and those we will not."

Sources

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: SCPR

Fr John Wadeson "has been reinstated fully to public ministry", the Archdiocese of Agana stated.

Fr Wadeson left the Redemptoris Mater Seminary on Guam in July last year, after serving in Agana archdiocese since 2000.

The Los Angeles Archdiocese in the United States named Fr Wadeson and dozens of other priests in its "Report to the People of God: Clergy Sexual Abuse Archdiocese of Los Angeles 1930-2003".

The report was published in 2004, at which time the allegations against Fr Wadeson were deemed "credible".

The accuation against Fr Wadeson were reportedly made in the 1990s, about alleged abuse in the 1970s involving two children.

But a re-examination of his case by Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez cleared him.

Last year, at the request of Fr Wadeson, the archdiocese of Los Angeles conducted "a re-examination of the matter", the Archdiocese of Agana stated, citing its Los Angeles counterpart.

"Having reviewed the documentation presented by Fr Wadeson, and following the 2014 re-examination, the archdiocese has concluded that there is no reason to preclude Fr Wadeson from serving in priestly ministry," the Archdiocese of Agana stated.

The archdiocese didn't state whether Fr Wadeson will return to Guam.

The historic accusations against Fr Wadeson were brought to light last year by the Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests.

Commenting on the latest development concerning Fr Wadeson, SNAP director David Clohessy said his organisation had little faith in internal church inquiries in these matters.

Instead, Mr Clohessy said the examinations should be done by independent, experienced and unbiased professionals in law enforcement, "not by self-interested, biased amateurs in church offices".

Sources

• Mariannas Variety
• Guam Pacific Daily News
• Image: Guam Stripes

At the same time, Archbishop Gomez complied with a court order by releasing 12,000 pages of documents containing the personnel files of clergy accused of sexual abuse and posting the files online.

He also accepted the resignation of Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Curry, regional bishop for Santa Barbara, who was at one time Cardinal Mahony's vicar for clergy and chief advisor on sex abuse cases.

Archbishop Gomez succeeded Cardinal Mahony as archbishop of Los Angeles in 2011.

The documents released showed that Cardinal Mahony, 76, and Bishop Curry, 70, both worked to send priests accused of abuse out of the state to shield them from scrutiny.

"I find these files to be brutal and painful reading," Archbishop Gomez said. "The behaviour described in these files is terribly sad and evil. There is no excuse, no explaining away what happened to these children. The priests involved had the duty to be their spiritual fathers and they failed."

He added: "We need to acknowledge that terrible failure today. We need to pray for everyone who has ever been hurt by members of the Church. And we need to continue to support the long and painful process of healing their wounds and restoring the trust that was broken."

Jesuit Father Tom Reese of Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center and author of several books about the power structure of the Church, said Archbishop Gomez's steps were extraordinary.

"An archbishop has never before restricted the ministry of his predecessor and publicly taken him to task like this," he said.

In a response, Cardinal Mahony said "nothing in my own background or education" equipped him to deal with the sexual abuse of children.

He said the advice he was given was "to remove priests from active ministry if there was reasonable suspicion that abuse had occurred, and then refer them to one of the several residential treatment centres across the country for evaluation and recommendation", and was never told that these procedures were not effective.

He also claimed that under his leadership the archdiocese became "second to none in protecting children and youth".

Sources:

Los Angeles Times

Catholic News Service

National Catholic Reporter

Image: Zimbio