Lawyer Making False Abuse Allegations Gets Caught

BCD NEWS AND COMMENT, Oct. 27 — During his nine months in Oregon as a fugitive, a disbarred Virginia lawyer made a false claim against the Portland Archdiocese for alleged sexual abuse by a priest, BCD News and Comment reported.

Thomas Smolka fled to Oregon while awaiting sentencing in Richmond, Va., for a wire and mail fraud scheme where he admitted taking fees from prisoners and not doing the legal work he'd promised. In Oregon he examined court documents, newspapers and other sources to obtain information about lawsuits against the archdiocese alleging sexual abuse by priests, including the late Father Maurice Gram-mond.

Smolka used a false identify when he told a Portland attorney that he had been abused by Father Grammond as a child. But while investigating his activities in Oregon after he was arrested for the Virginia charges, authorities discovered that Smolka did not live in Oregon as a child and had not been abused by Father Grammond.

Massachusetts Bishop Protests School Condoms Plan

THE BOSTON GLOBE, Oct. 26. — Bishop Timothy McDonnell of Springfield, Mass., protested a decision by the Holyoke school committee to make condoms available to students in grade 6-12, The Boston Globe reported.

“I am profoundly disappointed and disturbed,” the bishop said in a statement, which included a comment that said school officials are reducing sex to “meaningless self-gratification.”

Some school committee members acted because the town had high rates of birth and AIDS among teens. But longtime committee member William Collamore said, “It gives the wrong message to our children and our parents.”

Cardinal O'Connor's Nuns Get ‘New’ Old House

THE STAMFORD ADVCOATE, Oct. 21 — The Knights of Columbus have provided the Sisters of Life with a new home in Connecticut, The Stamford Advocate reported. The Knights bought the home for $2.8 million from the Bernadine Sisters, who had been trying to sell the property for two years but wanted a Catholic buyer.

Renamed Villa Maria Guadalupe, the mansion on 10 acres was once the residence of author Henry Miller. The sisters, founded by the late Cardinal John O'Connor to help unwed mothers and women who have had abortions, plan pro-life retreats there.

Archdioceses Threatened With Tax

THE DENVER POST, Oct. 26 — Days before the presidential election, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver wrote a column in The New York Times saying the Church sees the abortion issue as one of “civil rights and human dignity,” not one of religious faith. But the pro-abortion group Catholics for a Free Choice has asked the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the tax exempt status of the Archdiocese of Denver because the outspoken archbishop “broke laws about partisan politicking,” the Denver Post reported.

The group, which took the same action against the St. Louis Archdiocese, argued that Archbishop Chaput's consistent statements about voting in line with Church teaching on life issues were veiled endorsements of President Bush. But archdiocese spokesman Sergio Gutierrez said: “The Church in northern Colorado respects and observes the law. That will continue. So will our public engagement in moral issues that impact our shared public life.”