In today's News:

Bull selected to head Concordia Nebraska

In August, Dr. Bernard D. Bull will become the 11th president of Concordia University, Nebraska, Seward, Neb. (CUNE). Bull, who currently serves as president of Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont, will succeed the Rev. Dr. Brian Friedrich, who accepted a call last year to serve as president of Concordia University, St. Paul, St. Paul, Minn. Stuart Bartruff, chair of the CUNE Board of Regents, said that Bull is “known nationally for his innovative insights regarding Christian education at all levels” and that he had the unanimous support of the board. The Rev. Russ Sommerfeld, currently serving as interim CUNE president, will continue in that role until Bull’s arrival. 

Court hears argument concerning ministerial exception 

The Archdiocese of Chicago will be in court this week for oral argument before the entire Seventh Circuit to defend its right to select and supervise its own ministers of the faith. In Demkovich v. St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, the former music director of St. Andrew parish is suing the Archdiocese of Chicago for requiring its liturgical leaders to follow the tenets of the Catholic faith. As the church music director, Sandor Demkovich played a central role in conveying the Catholic faith to the congregation. When Demkovich entered into a same-sex marriage in violation of his employment agreement and 2,000-year-old Church teachings, the pastor let him go. A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru reaffirmed that religious groups have the right to choose who teaches the faith. Today, the Archdiocese, represented by Becket Law, will argue before the entire court that religious organizations must be free to select, supervise, and communicate with their own ministers of the faith without government interference. 

Baby is found in a garbage bag 

An Illinois woman is facing both first degree attempted murder and child abandonment charges for the attempted killing of her newborn child, who was found tied up in a trash bag inside a nursing home restroom. Forty-year-old Verna Tolentino. was an employee at Glenview Terrace Nursing Home in Glenview, Illinois, at the time of the incident. According to an NBC News affiliate, Tolentino locked herself into a bathroom and called 911 during her shift on Jan. 11th, reporting “abdominal pain.” More than two hours later, janitorial staff cleaning up that restroom were shocked to find a baby boy in a tied-up garbage bag. The baby was taken to a local hospital where he was stabilized. Tolentino was subsequently transferred to the Labor and Delivery unit of the hospital where she was admitted in order to receive postpartum care. The Cook County State’s Attorney Felony Review Unit approved the attempted murder and child abandonment charges in early February after reviewing the case. 

‘Abortion Center to the Stars’ closes 

A late-term abortion facility in Beverly Hills, California, which was known as the “Abortion Clinic to the Stars,” has closed and its office has been vacated. According to a business record obtained by Operation Rescue, the Sinai Women’s Center, which also went by the name Pro-Choice Medical Center, had its last day of business on Dec. 31, 2020.  The office was vacated over the weekend of January 30-31, 2021, according to a City official. The abortion business, which was owned and operated by abortionist Josepha Seletz, was one of eight abortion facilities to openly conduct risky, multi-day abortions into the third trimester of pregnancy.