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Man wants mom's tombstone to say she 'supported priest rapist victims,' but diocese objects
Chicago Tribune ^ | 10/20/17 | Angie Leventis Lourgos

Posted on 10/20/2017 7:41:22 PM PDT by markomalley

Marguerite Ridgeway was a fervent Catholic until her faith was shaken when church sex abuse scandals came to light, particularly a decades-old trauma recounted by her daughter-in-law.

Now Ridgeway’s son wants to install a marker at his late mother’s gravesite in Wheaton bearing the inscription “She supported priest rapist victims.”

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet, which owns Assumption Cemetery, has objected to what it calls the “explicit language” of the epitaph.

Ridgeway’s son, Jack Ruhl, of Kalamazoo, Mich., recently sent a rendering of the planned marker to the cemetery, along with a $350 check to cover the installation fee.

“I ask that you do not dishonor the memory of my mother by further delay in installation of her grave marker,” he said in an email to officials with the diocese earlier this month.

An attorney for the diocese in an Oct. 6 letter proposed removing the word “rapist” and substituting softer language, such as “She supported clergy sex abuse victims,” or “She supported victims of clergy sex abuse.”

(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 10/20/2017 7:41:22 PM PDT by markomalley
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To: markomalley

if the son owns the burial plot then the Church should have no say about the proposed epitaph.

If the Church owns the plot then they have the right to make this request.


2 posted on 10/20/2017 7:58:32 PM PDT by txnativegop (The political left, Mankinds intellectual hemlock)
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To: txnativegop

“if the son owns the burial plot then the Church should have no say about the proposed epitaph. If the Church owns the plot then they have the right to make this request.”

The Church owns the cemetery. They can set standards regarding the size, shape, and design of the tombstone as well as anything used to decorate the grave. This sort of thing has been through the courts before and the courts have decided the owners of the cemetery can set basic standards.


3 posted on 10/20/2017 10:13:43 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Apparently I'm still living in your head rent free. At least now it isn't empty.)
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To: vladimir998

thanks for the clarification.


4 posted on 10/20/2017 10:37:34 PM PDT by txnativegop (The political left, Mankinds intellectual hemlock)
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To: markomalley

Solution? Move the body to a more friendly cemetery. Oh you don’t want to do that? Well that’s too bad. And if mom’s “faith was shaken” why have her “resting” among Catholics anyway?


5 posted on 10/21/2017 5:30:32 AM PDT by jmaroneps37 (Conservatism is truth. Liberalism is lies.)
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To: txnativegop

The contract specifically notes that it grants only the right of burial and NOT ownership of the land.


6 posted on 10/21/2017 6:34:49 AM PDT by TalBlack (It's hard to shoot people when they are shooting back at you...)
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To: TalBlack

fair enough, that changes the equation. Thanks!


7 posted on 10/21/2017 4:41:45 PM PDT by txnativegop (The political left, Mankinds intellectual hemlock)
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