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	Diocese's Decisions Delivered in Message By Deirdre Cox Baker Quad-City Times [Davenport IA] October 14, 2006 http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2006/10/14/news/local/doc4530817050d8b548802304.txt The Diocese of Davenport will send a united message to parishioners this weekend about bankruptcy, and the appointment of a new bishop, but how the words are delivered varies according to geography. North and west of Davenport, priests have penned personal messages for the church bulletin that further explain the historic actions. In the metropolitan area, plans are to deliver two messages from retiring Bishop William Franklin verbally as part of the sermons. Last Tuesday, the diocese announced it has filed for bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Iowa, Davenport. It is the fourth diocese in the United States to do so in the wake of the child sex abuse scandal. Subsequently, Franklin learned the retirement he had offered on his 75th birthday in May 2005 was accepted by the Vatican and a successor had been chosen. On Thursday, Bishop Martin Amos of Akron, Ohio, was announced as the eighth leader of the 125-year-old Davenport diocese. He will be installed Nov. 20. "We hope that the parishes will stick to the basic message," diocesan spokesman David Montgomery said. "They will personalize them to match their parish's needs." This weekend will be the first opportunity for priests to speak directly to the Roman Catholics they lead since the two announcements. "My own homily will be short," the Rev. Michael Spiekermeier said. Pastor of St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Davenport, Spiekermeier received Franklin's statements through e-mails Friday afternoon concerning the diocese's decision to file for bankruptcy protection and on the Annual Diocesan Appeal. He plans to read them aloud as requested. In Ottumwa, the Rev. John Spiegel has composed his take on the situation in a personal column for the church bulletin, "Words from Father John." Additionally, this week's publication will contain bankruptcy information gleaned from daily newspapers and other sources. Spiegel does not shirk from explaining his position on the church's ongoing sex abuse scandal. "These tragic and sad events are not made less so for those so harmed because their numbers are few in comparison to the greater whole of children and minors who we properly ministered to, nor is there comfort for victims in that their abusers were few in comparison to the greater whole of the ordained servants of the diocese," he wrote. Similarly, the Rev. Anthony Herold in Prince of Peace Parish of Clinton includes a special insertion in this weekend's bulletin with the Amos biography as well as a photograph. Herold further discusses the bankruptcy in his column, "A Message from Father Tony Herold." "Having been a priest for 27 years, these are not easy times for us," Herold writes. "We hope that our church can be rebuilt with a fortified sense of mission and purpose as we try to resolve past hurts. We certainly pray fervently during these times that victims can find healing, and the church can make sure that such things will not and cannot ever happen again." Distance from Davenport also is a factor in news coverage of the diocese, according to the Rev. Patrick Hilgendorf of S.S. John & Paul Catholic Church in Burlington. A flier on the new bishop will be in the church bulletin, but Hilgendorf said what's front-page news in the Quad-Cities is often not so prominent in the Burlington press. "We continue to keep our parish updated about diocesan news through our bulletin," he said. At Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport, also known as "the bishop's church," the Rev. Robert Busher will be among those pastors who read Franklin's messages aloud. "What comes from the diocese is good enough for me," he said. "I will tell them." Messages priests are planning to deliver after tumultuous week in the diocese. To learn more To read messages about the bankruptcy filing and the naming of a new bishop, go to www.davenportdiocese.org. The diocese's filings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court also are posted on the Web site. Deirdre Cox Baker can be contacted at (563) 383-2492 or dbaker@qctimes.com.
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