Philly Catholics required to attend in-person Mass starting in August
PHILADELPHIA – Following a 16-month hiatus amid the coronavirus pandemic, Pennsylvania Catholics will be required to attend Mass in person again beginning next month.
“We have all felt the impact of COVID-19 as individuals and families. It has been a time of acute hardship and struggle, of separation and isolation. It has also had an impact on our lives of faith,” Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson Pérez said in a statement Thursday.
”As many aspects of life are now returning to normalcy, each Catholic Bishop in Pennsylvania will reinstate the obligation to attend Mass in person on Sundays and Holy Days” beginning Aug. 15, he said.
People who are seriously ill, have a health risk, or still have anxiety about being in large groups are exempt, Pérez said. Those who care for another person who cannot attend are also exempt. They are encouraged to tune in via an online broadcast, and engage in prayer and scripture reading independently.
The weekly obligation was dispensed and in-person services were suspended in March 2020 to help curb the spread of COVID-19. Parishes in Philadelphia and across the state hosted online livestream Masses and rosaries, though most Catholic churches stayed open for private prayer and small celebrations of penance, baptism, funerals, and weddings.
New Jersey and Delaware bishops lifted their dispensations last month.
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
Miami Beach mayor offers city park for possible memorial to collapse victims
SURFSIDE, Fla. — As discussions continue about whether to sell the Champlain Towers South condo site to a developer or build a memorial, Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber is proposing to use part of the city’s North Beach Oceanside Park to honor the victims of the June 24 condo collapse in neighboring Surfside.
In a Thursday letter to Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman, Gelber said he will propose during the city commission’s July 28 meeting to offer “an appropriate amount of acreage within the park to be dedicated to accommodating a memorial honoring the victims of the tragedy.”
The 28-acre park is located near the northern border of the city, about a few hundred feet from where the 12-story condo once stood.
Since the collapse more than three weeks ago, the park has become a command center for FEMA Urban Search and Rescue teams, whose members have slept in tents set up at the park. It is currently closed to the public.
“So many in my community knew or were one degree of separation from the victims of this unthinkable tragedy,” Gelber wrote. “While we have proudly supported the efforts at ground zero with our own police and fire rescue personnel, it would be our great honor to also help establish a dignified memorial that would appropriately honor the blessed memories of those who perished. Let us know if we can be of service.”
Gelber told the Miami Herald that he believes a majority of the commission has already looked to co-sponsor his legislation, although he has not spoken to them directly about it.
—Miami Herald
Sailor becomes first woman to join Navy special warfare unit
A woman has successfully completed the 37-week training course to become a Naval Special Warfare combatant-craft crewman — for the first time in U.S. Navy’s history.
The woman, whose name hasn’t been released due to standard military policy for special operation forces, was one of 17 candidates to demonstrate “the character, cognitive and leadership attributes required to join the force,” the Navy said in a statement.
Historically, only about 35% of candidates complete the intense “assessment and selection” process to become SWCC — boat operators who conduct special missions, particularly those in support of the Navy SEALs.
According to the Navy, SWCC members are “experts in covert insertion and extraction, utilizing a unique combination of capabilities with weapons, navigation, radio communication, first aid, engineering, parachuting and special operations tactics.”
A member of Crewman Qualification Training Class 115 receives a compass prior to a graduation ceremony at Naval Special Warfare Center on Thursday.
A member of Crewman Qualification Training Class 115 receives a compass prior to a graduation ceremony at Naval Special Warfare Center on Thursday. (Naval Special Warfare Command)
“Becoming the first woman to graduate from a Naval Special Warfare training pipeline is an extraordinary accomplishment, and we are incredibly proud of our teammate,” Rear Adm. H.W. Howard, the commander of Naval Special Warfare, said in a statement.
—New York Daily News
Chauvin trial cost county $3.7 million for security, other expenses
MINNEAPOLIS — Hennepin County spent about $3.7 million on the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on courthouse security and employee salaries, among other expenses.
Jurors convicted Chauvin on April 20 of all counts against him — second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter — for killing George Floyd last year. The approximately six-week trial was watched around the world and involved unprecedented security measures, a large police presence and an unusually high number of expert witnesses who testified at trial.
The county on Friday released costs for the trial. The single largest expense after salaries was security for the Hennepin County courthouse in downtown Minneapolis, which also houses county government offices, and other county buildings such as the jail. The cost — $773,412 — included barbed and razor wire fencing, concrete barricades and the boarding up of windows; it did not include the cost of staffing sheriff's deputies.
The county spent a total of $1.2 million on "facilities services," which included staff salaries and overtime, and securing county buildings. The courthouse was shut down to the general public and nearly all non-trial-related employees during Chauvin's trial.
The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, which provides security at the courthouse, spent a total of about $2 million. The office used $18,000 for a drone to monitor "restricted airspace." Sheriff's spokesman Andy Skoogman said Friday he had no further information about the location of the airspace, how often a drone was used and whether any criminal investigations were opened from information collected by the drone.
The county said some of the expenses, such as salaries, would have been incurred regardless of Chauvin's trial.
—Star Tribune
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