Dr Ann Drillich from Melbourne was declared the rightful owner of a 4.7 hectare site in Tarnów, an hour's drive east of Kraków.

The land, upon which the church of Our Lady of the Scapular sits, had belonged to Dr Drillich's family before World War II.

After the Nazis invaded Poland, Dr Drillich's mother, Blanka Goldman-Drillich,was sheltered by a local Catholic family, the Poetschkes.

The Poetschkes were Catholics with German roots and had been renting part of the Goldman estate, the Saturday Paper website reported.

After the Nazis killed what they thought was the last of the Goldmans, the Poetschkes hid Blanka in the basement of Goldman House while they lived upstairs.

After the war, Jerzy Poetschke went on to have a media career as a "Righteous Pole", an award given to Gentiles who risked their lives to save Jews.

Blanka Goldman-Drillich committed suicide in Australia several years after the war, when Dr Drillich was 13.

Blanka's family inherited her estate, and continued to trust Jerzy to administer it, paying him accordingly.

Jerzy would later tell authorities he didn't know if Blanka was dead or alive.

But he had sent a condolence note to her family after her suicide.

In 1986, Jerzy collaborated with Bishop Piotr Bednarczyk in a scam facilitated by church lawyers.

Jerzy gained title to part of the Goldman-Drillich estate claiming it was "abandoned land", although he administered it through a power of attorney on behalf of the family.

He then "donated" half to the church and pocketed payment for the other half.

Based on submitted evidence, including letters sent from the bishop to the Drillich family, the court decided that relevant parish representatives knew that Poetschke was not legally entitled to the property.

Further legal action will eventually determine the amount of compensation payable, which could be about A$2.0 million - much of which will go towards Dr Drillich's legal expenses.

Sources

• The Saturday Paper
• Image: The Saturday Paper

Bernard Kevin McGrath, 68, is facing 252 child sex charges relating to 35 victims, dating back to the 1970s.

McGrath appeared by video link in the Newcastle Local Court last week.

Hundreds of pages of evidence are being considered by the Crown in an attempt to establish a pattern of behaviour.

A six week adjournment has been agreed to so the evidence can be assessed.

The alleged offences took place in the Lake Macquarie region, near Newcastle.

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The Tenth Circuit Court ruled that the Little Sisters are not an exempt religious institution because they are not directly affiliated with any particular house of worship.

The court said that the Obama administration has provided sufficient accommodation for non-profit organisations—such as the Little Sisters—that have moral objections to providing contraceptive coverage in employee health insurance plans.

Under the latest plan, the Little Sisters would be required to provide the federal government with a formal declaration that they object to the contraceptive mandate.

By filing that form, they would trigger government action requiring their insurer to pay for contraceptive coverage.

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They got another court win late last week and are now basically allowed to get on with the demolition, as in deed they should.

The cathedral has turned into one of those heated overly emotive debates that becomes counter-productive and saps energy time and money.

I don't doubt for one moment that those who oppose its demise aren't passionate or determined or indeed think they're right. But a couple of key things are at play.

Firstly, it's not their church. Secondly, the courts have failed to side with them.

Of course the church's role in Christchurch society goes well beyond its ownership.

Having grown up in the place, I am not Anglican but I always felt the cathedral was the city's.

I've been in it many times, I've climbed to the top of it many times. But despite that, I have never felt as though I owned it or that I had any more say than anyone else, and certainly not as much say as those who do own it - i.e. the church.

Christchurch has a lot of big fish to fry and they'll be doing that for many years to come.

And part of that scenario working out requires people to be reasonable in their approach to any given major decision.

Decisions like the city centre, the convention centres, the sports facilities, the general design - all of those big calls require input but not to the point where it becomes a fight and a delay.

The cathedral debate falls smack into the middle of that category. Continue reading.

Mike Hosking presents the breakfast show on NewsTalkZB, and has lived and worked in Christchurch, Wellington, currently based in Auckland.

Source: NewsTalkZB

Image: Joshua Drummond

Hundreds of Muslims demonstrated outside the court shouting "Allahu Akbar" or "God is great".

They also held banners that read: "Want to use 'Allah', join Islam. Don't be ill-mannered".

They dispersed after the court hearing.

"Allah cannot be used by outsiders or Christians," said Rosli Ani, a representative of a Muslim NGO known as Per3.

"People now may know the difference, but our children will not know," she said.

Fr Lawrence Andrew, the editor of the Herald, which launched the case, said Christians across Malaysia were fasting and praying for a favourable verdict.

An appeals court in October barred the local Catholic newspaper from using "Allah" in its Malay-language edition, overturning a lower court's 2009 ruling in favour of the Church.

The Church argues "Allah" has been used for centuries in Malay-language Bibles and other literature to refer to "God" outside of Islam.

But authorities say using "Allah" in non-Muslim literature could confuse Muslims and entice them to convert, a crime in Malaysia.

Hard line Malay rights spokesman Ibrahim Ali, who was with the protesters, said if the Federal Court verdict was not in favour of the Muslims, then it would jeopardise the nation.

Ibrahim added that should the Federal Court allow the appeal to proceed, then Malay NGOs would come here each day to support the "Malay cause".

Sources

• Channel News Asia
• Freemalaysiatoday
• Image: The Malay Mail Online

The Court of Appeal decision was specifically against a Catholic newspaper, the Malaysia Herald, which intends to lodge an appeal.

Malaysia's leading Catholic bishop, Archbishop Murphy Pakiam of Kuala Lumpur, said Catholics will continue to refer to God as Allah, as they have done since the 17th century.

The controversy over the use of Allah began when government authorities threatened to take away the Herald's publishing licence because it used the word in its Malay-language edition.

The newspaper won a lower court decision, but angry Muslims attacked churches and began pressing the government to enforce a ban on the use of Allah by non-Muslims.

The editor of the Herald, Father Lawrence Andrew, described the latest decision as "a violation of our rights". He said Christian communities in neighbouring Muslim countries like Indonesia and Brunei are allowed to use the word Allah for God, as are Christians in the Middle East.

The chief judge in the appeal court, Apandi Mohamed Ali, said: "The usage of the word Allah is not an integral part of the faith in Christianity. The usage of the word will cause confusion in the community."

Malaysia's population is 60 per cent Muslim, 19 per cent Buddhist, 6 per cent Hindu, 6 per cent Protestant and 3 per cent Catholic.

The controversy over Allah has prompted the non-Muslim religions to form a council to safeguard their religious freedom.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Agricultural Development in the Malaysian state of Sarawak — one of the territories that make up the Malaysian part of Borneo Island — has described the court decision as "not authentic" and announced that Christians in the area can continue to use Allah to define their God.

Sources:

Radio Australia

AsiaNews

Herald Malaysia Online

Image: RT.com

The diocese says the decision, by two out of three judges in the Court of Appeal, has "far-reaching implications" for faith and other voluntary organisations.

The judges upheld a High Court decision in favour of a woman who claimed she was sexually assaulted as a child by the late Father Wilfred Baldwin at a children's home.

The priest was never convicted of any abuse and the diocese says it does not accept the allegation.

The High Court ruled that a priest is not an employee of a bishop, but should be treated by the law as "akin to an employee".

The three Court of Appeal judges all commented on the difficulty of reaching a decision. They also referred to the wide-reaching ramifications of the decision, not just for the Church but for other organisations, both charitable and commercial.

But Lord Justice Ward wrote: "Father Baldwin is more like an employee than an independent contractor. He is in a relationship with his bishop, which is close enough, and so akin to employer/employee as to make it just and fair to impose vicarious liability . . . ."

He said a similar case is due to be heard by the Court of Appeal this month.

The diocese found liable said it took the appeal "to achieve clarity as to the nature and extent of the bishop's liability for the actions of diocesan priests", not to avoid or delay paying compensation to victims with valid claims.

"This case is about fundamental legal principles involving the very nature of civil society and religious freedom," the diocese said. "It would be disastrous if, in seeking to provide redress for victims of harm, the law put intolerable new pressures on the voluntary sector."

The Guardian

Birmingham Mail

Diocese of Portsmouth

Image: The Guardian