Vatican orders former priest to leave St. Vincent Archabbey

From The Trib-

The Vatican has ordered a former Benedictine monk to leave St. Vincent Archabbey near Latrobe and has released him from his monastic vows for spreading rumors about Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, according to the archabbey.

Mark Gruber has refused to vacate the abbey since June 30, 2012, when the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ordered him to spend the rest of his life in prayer and penance outside the abbey and relieved him of his priestly authority to celebrate Mass, hear confession and administer the sacraments.

Gruber, 57, was found to have intimidated a former junior monk into making false sexual misconduct allegations against Nowicki, the leader of the Benedictine community in Unity.

In a statement signed under oath on March 1, the former monk admitted his accusations against Nowicki were false.

“None of the allegations I made against Archabbot Nowicki in that affidavit were true. I felt compelled to sign the affidavit of November 29, 2009, after (Father) Mark Gruber made significant efforts to prevail upon me to do so. Father Gruber pressured me to execute this false affidavit to support his own efforts to discredit the Archabbot. He actively assisted in the preparation of this affidavit and wrote parts of it himself. While I deeply regret having filed this false affidavit, I remain fearful of (Father) Gruber to this day.”


Read more:

http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/4447478-74/gruber-archabbey-monk#ixzz2ad3F4vGJ

Saint Vincent exhibition gives Christian art a chance to shine

St. Vincent's is just up the road from us. This is from today's Post-Gazette.

People who read headlines about record-breaking art auction sales may not realize that there is very fine and affordable art being created by accomplished contemporary artists.

That was one reason Brother Nathan Cochran, O.S.B., director of the Saint Vincent Gallery, initiated the Nationwide Juried Catholic Arts Exhibition in 2001. The first show was so successful that a second edition was organized and it is being exhibited at Saint Vincent College, Latrobe, through Sunday.

His foremost motivation, however, was to "foster the arts of the Western Christian tradition" (although other traditions of Christian subject matter are considered) by providing artists opportunity for exhibition and recognition.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08338/932210-437.stm?cmpid=newspanel0