CDA meeting Monday

The Catholic Daughters of the Americas Court #1291 will be having their meeting after the 5:30 p.m. Mass Monday at Holy Redeemer. Please bring an address to the meeting as they will be doing a special “Act of Kindness” outreach project.

Upcoming trainings offer suicide prevention skills for rural clergy

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is partnering with three other state agencies and organizations to offer free virtual suicide prevention trainings for rural faith leaders in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Clergy and lay leaders who serve congregations of all faiths and denominations are welcome.

“We recognize that faith is an important element in the lives of many farm families,” said MDA Commissioner Thom Petersen. “Teaching suicide prevention and intervention skills to trusted community members like clergy can help provide more emotional support for farm and rural residents.”

The four-week Suicide Prevention Skills for Rural Ministry trainings will pair an online curriculum from LivingWorks Faith with weekly discussion sessions held via Zoom so participants can deepen their learning in a pastoral context with their peers.

The trainings will teach faith leaders how to recognize and engage with someone who is having suicidal thoughts, connect that person to help, and support family and community members who have been affected by suicide. LivingWorks Director of Faith Community Engagement Glen Bloomstrom will facilitate the trainings with support from other team members.

The trainings will be offered during three different sessions starting April 16, April 18, and Sept. 17. Interested participants must enroll for their preferred cohort by April 5, 2024, at www.mda.state.mn.us/clergytraining.

Program partners include Farm Well Wisconsin, the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the Minnesota Department of Health.

Financial support for these trainings comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture, under agreement number 2023-38640-39573 through the North Central Region SARE program under project number ENC23-227. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider.

Southern Baptist agency says US investigation into sexual abuse has ended with ‘no further action’

(AP) — A Southern Baptist Convention leader said Wednesday the U.S. Department of Justice has ended its investigation of a top denominational agency’s handling of sexual abuse and doesn’t anticipate further action.

The statement by Jonathan Howe, interim president of the denomination’s Executive Committee, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York informed the committee’s legal counsel on Feb. 29 that there is “no further action to be taken” in the probe.

The investigation began a year and a half ago into the Executive Committee and several other denominational entities, including seminaries and mission agencies. Howe’s statement did not address the status of the investigation into those other entities.

The DOJ did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’ request to confirm the statement, which was reported earlier by The Tennessean.

The federal investigation followed a blistering 2022 report from an outside consultant that found disturbing details about how denominational leaders mishandled sex abuse claims and mistreated victims.

“While we are grateful for closure on this particular matter, we recognize that sexual abuse reform efforts must continue to be implemented across the Convention,” Howe said in a statement. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to assist churches in preventing and responding well to sexual abuse in the SBC.”

The Executive Committee has continued to struggle to respond to the issue, most recently announcing plans for an independent commission to oversee a public list of abusive clergy — but is still seeking funds for it.

The reported end of the federal investigation “does not lessen SBC’s moral responsibility for grievous harms,” said Christa Brown, a longtime advocate for survivors of abuse in Southern Baptist settings. “Nor does it alter the reality that, in countless SBC churches, leaders violated state laws & standards,” she said on X, formerly Twitter.