Sodomy Is Not Against Illinois Law So Therefore....The Review Board Has Concluded That Fr. Phillips Has Not Violated Any Secular Criminal, Civil Or Canon Law.
First on the Sodomy Laws:
1962 January 1 Illinois Repeals Sodomy Law
Illinois was the first state to repeal its sodomy law and did so on this day. The repeal was part of the state’s adoption of the Model Penal Code, and so it slipped through as part of the larger law reform package. (The Model Penal Code was a project of the American Law Institute [ALI], which over the course of many decades has proposed model codes in a many areas of the law. Adoption of any model code is voluntary on the part of each state.)
The Supreme Court upheld sodomy laws in Bowers v. Hardwick, decided on June 30, 1986, but then struck down a Texas sodomy law and the remaining sodomy laws in 13 other states on June 26, 2003, in Lawrence v. Texas.
The Model Penal Code also had a significant impact on abortion law reform. The first draft, published on May 21, 1959, recommended that abortion be legal if performed in a licensed hospital in cases of rape or incest, in cases of physical abnormality, and for the protection of the physical or mental health of the mother. This recommendation was the first call for abortion law reform by a prestigious national organization
Now for the Exoneration.....
Fr. Phillips Exonerated
We have confirmation that after several weeks the Congregation of the
Resurrection has indeed concluded its hearings and investigation of the accusations
directed against Father Phillips.
An independent Review Board of three public-spirited leaders from the Chicago
area, who are not members of St. John Cantius Church, was constituted. Thereafter,
the Review Board interviewed the detractors and several witnesses, persons who
personally know the accusers, and other individuals who came forward to testify in
defense of Father Phillips’ integrity. In accordance with directives given by Card. Cupich
the members of the Canons Regular were not interviewed.
The Review Board has concluded that Fr. Phillips has not violated any
secular criminal, civil or canon law.
Fr. Phillips, having been exonerated thusly, and this in turn confirmed by
the votum of The Rt. Rev. Gene Szarek, C.R., Ph.D. Provincial Superior of the
Congregation of the Resurrection upon receipt of the Review Board Report. We now
prayerfully await the response of His Eminence, Blase Cardinal Cupich, Archbishop of
Chicago, for the return of our pastor.
While recalling the words of Pope Francis on the occasion of the 52nd anniversary
to commemorate the World Day for Social Communications [13th May 2018],
exhorting us as Christians to be the number one media capable of truth and an efficacious
enunciation of good. False news is always « evil », because it impacts relationships
between persons, violating the dignity of those same persons, and sometimes entire
peoples. A Christian, instead, never divides the truth from good. Just as Jesus of
Nazareth did, when He affirmed: “the truth will make you free.”
We therefore remain confident that in this process, justice and truth will prevail
over the mendacity, falsehoods, spitefulness and malevolent connivance from which this
unpleasant episode originates; and that the accusers, who recklessly have besmirched
their own reputations in this matter, will too choose to make themselves “free”, by each
of them individually presenting an unconditional retraction.
Church sources tell us, the above cited conclusions and votum have not been
made public, inasmuch as further legal action could be taken to fully restore Fr. Phillips’
good name.
We turn to the Blessed Virgin Mary as our advocate and plead for her maternal
help and guidance. Source
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