Thomas Michael Rosica, C.S.B. (born March 3, 1959) is an American Catholic priest, author, and Basilian Father. He was formerly chief executive officer of Salt + Light Catholic Media Foundation, English-language media attaché of the Holy See Press Office,[1] and president of Assumption University in Windsor, Ontario.[2] He resigned from Salt + Light and other positions in 2019 following substantiated allegations of plagiarism.[3][4]
The Reverend Thomas Michael Rosica | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Church | Catholic, Latin Church |
| Previous post(s) |
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| Orders | |
| Ordination | 19 April 1986 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 March 1959 |
| Occupation | Catholic priest |
| Education | |
Education
editRosica has an undergraduate degree in French and Italian from St. John Fisher College, in Pittsford, New York. He then entered the Congregation of St. Basil as a novice and studied theology and sacred scripture at Regis College in Toronto. He continued his studies in theology and scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, and then École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem.[5]
World Youth Day 2002 and Salt + Light Television
editRosica was appointed by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops as the national director and chief executive officer of the 17th World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto.[6][7] The theme of the World Youth Day was "You are the salt of the earth... you are the light of the world." Shortly after the World Youth Day, Thomas Rosica was approached by the founder of St. Joseph Communications, Gaetano Gagliano, to run a religious television network. The new television station was named "Salt + Light Television" after the theme of the World Youth Day 2002 and began its broadcast on July 1, 2003 with only two employees.[8]
Vatican
editRosica served as the Vatican's English language spokesperson for the transition in the papacy during February and March, 2013[1] and as media advisor at the Vatican for the October 2018 Synod of Bishops.[9]
Plagiarism and retracted publications
editSince 2015, Rosica has regularly been accused of plagiarism in his publications, blog postings, and speeches.[10] On February 17, 2015 Rosica issued a cease and desist letter against David Domet, of the Catholic blog Vox Cantoris, accusing the blogger of having made false and defamatory statements.[11]
In February 2019, Rosica stepped down from the governing boards of University of St. Michael's College in Toronto, St. John Fisher College in New York and University of St. Thomas in Houston because of plagiarism accusations.[3] In March 2019, Rosica went on sabbatical from the Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation;[12] he resigned as CEO in June.[4] That same month, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops announced that it had retracted Rosica's works published by the CCCB because the works "failed to provide all the appropriate citations, as well as bibliographic references, and did not acknowledge a number of original sources".[13] Rosica took full responsibility for the "lack of oversight."[3]
In 2020, Rosica's plagiarism was found to extend to text that he ghostwrote for Cardinal Marc Ouellet.[14]
In 2022, new plagiarism accusations were brought against Rosica concerning two new articles published in Il Sismografo, a Vatican-based news aggregator.[15]
References
edit- ^ a b Atik, Tamar (31 March 2013). "Toronto's man at the Vatican: Father Thomas Rosica". Toronto Observer. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016 – via torontoobserver.ca.
- ^ Caton, Mary (8 March 2019). "Assumption University to review Rosica's published works". Windsor Star. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
- ^ a b c Conlon, Mickey (25 February 2019). "Fr. Rosica resigns from St. Mike's following plagiarism revelations". The Catholic Register. Archived from the original on 31 May 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
- ^ a b "Statement of the Board of Directors of the Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation". saltandlighttv.org. 17 June 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
- ^ Rosica, Thomas (28 July 2014). "The Future of Catholic Media: An Interview with Father Thomas Rosica, C.S.B." America (Interview). Interviewed by Sean Salai. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- ^ Meagher, Anthony G. (19 August 2000). "World Youth Day 2002 in Canada: Comment by the President of the Catholic WYD 2002 Council". www.cccb.ca. Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. Archived from the original on 11 October 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- ^ Wiesner, Gerald (11 October 2000). "Report of the President: 2000 Plenary Meeting". www.cccb.ca. Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. Archived from the original on 11 October 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- ^ Csillag, Ron (24 February 2011). "Let there be (Salt +) Light". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 13 September 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- ^ "Rev. Thomas Rosica Earns New Vatican Appointment". www.sjfc.edu (Press release). St. John Fisher College. 24 September 2018. Archived from the original on 31 May 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
- ^ Dougherty, M. V.; Hochschild, Joshua P. (15 April 2019). "Tracking Father Rosica's (Very) Long History of Plagiarism". National Post. Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
- ^ San Martín, Inés (4 March 2015). "Priest who does Vatican PR says he won't sue conservative blogger". Crux. Archived from the original on 30 September 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
- ^ "Statement of the Board of Directors Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation". saltandlighttv.org. Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation. 14 March 2019. Archived from the original on 4 June 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
- ^ "Notice of Retraction". Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (Press release). 21 June 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
- ^ "Toronto priest plagiarized when ghostwriting for Canada's most senior Vatican figure: new book". National Post. 27 August 2020.
- ^ Brockhaus, Hannah (18 October 2022). "Father Thomas Rosica accused of plagiarism in new article on Vatican II". Catholic News Agency.
External links
edit- Rosica's profile page at Salt+Light (June 2019 archive copy)
- Thomas Rosica at IMDb