Diocese of Phoenix

Local News July 2008 

Mesa welcomes a newly ordained Catholic priest

Lawn Griffiths, Tribune

July 4, 2008-Matt Lowry was starting out as an electrical engineer at Motorola and being nurtured for management. And he was actively dating. But the sparks that were flying were neither electrical nor romantic. Lowry was feeling the attraction to the Catholic priesthood. <read article>


 

COMMUNITY NOTIFICATION STATEMENT

Fr. Loren Riebe

Loren Rieb

The Diocese of Phoenix has learned that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has received several credible allegations of sexual misconduct with minors against Fr. Loren Riebe, who is currently incardinated in the Diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico.

Fr. Riebe, an excardinated priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, is alleged to have engaged in sexual misconduct with minors in California during the early 1970s.  Fr. Riebe is presently under canonical investigation by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and Archdiocesan officials have also reported the allegations to civil authorities in California.  Upon learning that Fr. Riebe frequently visited the Diocese of Phoenix, the Archdiocesan Review Board also recommended that the Diocese of Phoenix be contacted regarding these allegations.

The Diocese of Phoenix has a record of Fr. Riebe receiving faculties to administer sacraments in the Diocese in July of 1996 when he was staying at St. Maria Goretti Parish, Scottsdale.  His faculties expired in October of 1997 when he left the Diocese.  Since 1997, he has returned to Arizona to operate a foundation known as Mission Teaching Foundation, and he has presented mission appeals at various parishes including St. Maria Goretti, Scottsdale; St. Thomas the Apostle, Phoenix; St. Gabriel, Cave Creek; St. Timothy, Mesa; St. Helen, Glendale; and Holy Cross, Mesa.

To date, the Diocese of Phoenix has not received any complaints or reports of sexual misconduct or other improprieties committed by Fr. Riebe within the state of Arizona.  Nonetheless, the Diocese urges anyone who may know of any sexual misconduct or other improprieties by Fr. Riebe or who may have any other such information about him to contact the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office at 602-506-3411.

As always, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted and the Diocese of Phoenix encourage anyone who has experienced sexual misconduct or abuse by a member of the clergy or by any worker of the Church to make a report to local law enforcement and to contact Jean Sokol at the Office of Child and Youth Protection at 602-354-2396.


AN ESTIMATED 280 PILGRIMS FROM THE DIOCESE OF PHOENIX
TO ATTEND WORLD YOUTH DAY IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

PHOENIX (July 2, 2008)  An estimated 280 people, representing 12 parishes from the Diocese of Phoenix will be traveling on July 6 to Sydney, Australia, to participate in World Youth Day and see The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. The Diocese will celebrate a Mass for the World Youth Day pilgrims at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 5, at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 2312 E. Campbell Ave., Phoenix.  
            The pilgrims include youths, young adults, priests and deacons who will be flying to Australia to attend religious education sessions, festivals and an address by Pope Benedict XVI.
            “These pilgrimages are a microcosm of what life is with the Lord,” noted Bill Marcotte, Director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Evangelization for the Diocese of Phoenix. “Those attending will experience a paschal mystery and surprises and resurrections.”
            The World Youth Day will take place in Australia from July 15 through July 20 and is expected to draw as many as 300,000 Catholics from around the globe.  People attending the festivities will be welcomed to the event by George Cardinal Pell, Archbishop of Sydney.
            More information on World Youth Day can be accessed by going to the web site http://www.dophoenixwyd.org.

 

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