VOLUME 1, ISSUE 18  •  MAY 2, 2015

Table of Contents

Copyright Notice

VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis offers prayers for victims of massive Nepal earthquake

Pope Francis talks about his soccer ‘skills’

Pope Francis assures Nepal earthquake survivors of his closeness and prayers

Pope to new priests: Don’t be a peacock

The ‘theology of the people’, according to Pope Francis

No to nuclear weapons, yes to nuclear technology – the Holy See’s stance

How to encounter Islam, according to Pope Francis: with the whole truth

Pope Francis donates 100,000 dollars to Nepal relief efforts

Pope’s encyclical could have huge weigh-in on climate change talks

Pope: Is the fear of failure causing young people to avoid marriage?

Who’s on the guest list for a Vatican concert? Rome’s homeless community

WORLD NEWS

Ireland’s defense of marriage leaders speak up for mothers, fathers, children

Death with dignity: A friend recalls last minutes of John Paul II’s life

Huff Post editor: ‘Why doesn’t the Left advocate for persecuted Christians?’

‘House of Waiting’ for pregnant Peruvian women seeks to remodel

Local bishop describes ‘a very, very frightening scene’ in Nepal

Cuban bishop says news of papal visit brings ‘hope to our hearts’

Beauty will save the world – Gaudi’s basilica inspires conversions

Pope Francis planning to visit Fatima in 2017, local bishop announces

God has not abandoned us, Chilean bishop says after volcano eruption

‘I find God in suffering’: The gripping life and death of Kayla Mueller

U.S. NEWS

Archbishop Kurtz on March for Marriage: Sacrament is much more than ‘adult friendship’

For filmmakers, ‘Little Boy’ moved mountains of its own

Salt Lake City bishop appointed to New Mexico archdiocese

Religious leaders urge conscience protections in recognizing marriage

Scholars: No legal right to ‘gay marriage’ in Constitution

Supreme Court doesn’t tip hand: asks tough questions of both sides in marriage case

Baltimore archbishop: With God, a broken city can heal

Will youth inevitably support same-sex marriage? These activists say no

Writer, sister, friend – Sr. Mary Ann Walsh remembered for ‘dedication to the truth’

Washington archdiocese lauds House vote to protect religious liberty – but it may not be enough

Former Soviet spy: We created Liberation Theology

San Francisco archdiocese praises Catholic school teachers, rejects ‘inflammatory’ reports

Six years after Notre Dame speech, Obama’s ‘common ground’ claim questioned

Is Oklahoma’s use of lethal injection cruel and unusual?

FEATURES

Defeated by pleasure

The Revolving Door

Lectionary-based catechesis for converts is inadequate

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Sunday • May 3, 2015

Monday • May 4, 2015

Tuesday • May 5, 2015

Wednesday • May 6, 2015

Thursday • May 7, 2015

Friday • May 8, 2015

Saturday • May 9, 2015

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Volume 1, Issue 18 • May 2, 2015

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis offers prayers for victims of massive Nepal earthquake

by CNA/EWTN News • April 25, 2015

Francis prays with journalists on the papal flight en route to South Korea, August 14, 2014. (Alan Holdren/CNA)

Kathmandu, Nepal — Pope Francis is praying for the victims of a massive earthquake that shook Nepal and surrounding areas in Kathmandu Valley on Saturday morning, according to a report from Vatican Radio.

The earthquake measured a 7.9 on the Richter Scale and wreaked havoc on the densely populated area, where officials fear the death toll could surpass 1,000, and the number of injured could be more than 1,700, according to reports from BBC.

The epicenter of the quake was 80 km northwest of the country’s capital, Kathmandu, where the quake toppled a 100-year -old temple, split roads, and destroyed houses and buildings.

Tremors could be felt as far away as New Dehli in India, and aftershocks continued to shake the area for hours after the initial quake.

Vatican Radio spoke with Fr Pius Perumana, an aid worker from Caritas Nepal in Kathmandu, who said emergency workers were still searching for survivors in the city where many of the tightly-packed houses have collapsed.

“I managed to reach Kathmandu, though the roads were blocked … they are still searching for survivors. The reports are still coming in … The picture is not very clear,” he said.

The toppled Dharahara Tower is a national monument built in the 1800’s by Nepalese royalty. At least 50 people are feared trapped inside the collapsed structure, according to officials.

The quake is also reported to have caused avalanches in the Mount Everest region of the Himalayas at the peak of climbing season. At least 8 people were killed in the resulting avalanches, and more are still missing.

There are also reports of damages to the airport in Kathmandu, which could hinder initial relief efforts.

This is the second-worst earthquake in Nepal since 1934, when an 8.0 magnitude earthquake all but destroyed the cities of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis talks about his soccer ‘skills’

by CNA/EWTN News • April 26, 2015

Pope Francis is given a San Lorenzo’s jersey in St. Peter’s Square on March 31, 2013. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Vatican City — Pope Francis is a well-known soccer fan. His favorite team is San Lorenzo de Almagro, one of the most important teams in Argentina, and the Pope still keeps his associate membership card for the team.

But what was unknown until now is that when he was a young boy the future Pope was a “patadura”— someone who is not very good at kicking the ball. He himself admitted this in a brief interview with the online sports news site TyC Sports of Argentina.

The interview didn’t last more than a minute. The reporter asked him several questions about his love of soccer, to which the Pope gladly responded.

“Did you play soccer?” the interviewer asked. The Pope replied: “Eh, I’m a ‘patadura,’ not so good at it.”

The interviewer asked him again, “But what did you play, defense or …”

“No, no, I was a patadura, not that good at it … nothing more,” the Pope said.

Not giving up, the interviewer said, “Did you play in the back?”

Pope Francis, smiling, explained: “yes, but I rather played basketball.”

Continuing on, the journalist asked, “And when you played soccer in the neighborhood, did you play in the backfield?”

To this the Pope responded affirmatively, adding “In the back.”

“And did you ever kick (your opponents)?” the reporter went on.

“I don’t remember,” Francis said, and then laughed.

The interview then reminisced about the San Lorenzo de Almagro soccer team of Pope Francis’ youth. Armando Farro, Rene Pontoni and Rinaldo Martino were three of its players now considered legendary in Argentina. They were nicknamed “the golden threesome” or “the golden trio” as well as “the three musketeers” because they are considered some of the best forwards in Argentine soccer ever to come from San Lorenzo.

Pope Francis recalled the names of past players: “Blanzina, Vanzini, Basso, Zubieta, Grecco and Colombo” as well as “Imbellone, Farro, Pontoni, Martino and Silva.”

“Did you go to see San Lorenzo play often?” the interviewer asked.

“In 1946, I went to all the games,” the Pope answered.

“All of 1946, both home and away matches?”

“No, no, no, only away games with Ferro (another soccer club), with that famous goal by Pontoni versus Ferro,” Francis explained.

On many occasions Pope Francis has demonstrated his affection for the San Lorenzo de Almagro soccer team. In Argentina, people still remember the Mass he celebrated for the 100th anniversary of the club in 2008, when he was Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

At that time, the future Pope presided at a Mass at the team’s facilities, where he used to come with his father when he was little.

This soccer team chose the colors blue and red from the blue and red mantle of the statue of the Virgin Mary, Help of Christians.

According to the sports newspaper Olé, during a 2011 homily, Cardinal Bergoglio said, “We don’t take on other colors, we ask the Virgin for hers. Never take away Mary, Help of Christians from the club because she is your mother.”

He noted that the San Lorenzo team’s first organizational meeting began at the San Antonio Oratory “under the protection of the Virgin.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis assures Nepal earthquake survivors of his closeness and prayers

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • April 26, 2015

Pope Francis prays with journalists on the papal flight en route to South Korea, August 14, 2014. (Alan Holdren/CNA)

Kathmandu, Nepal — Pope Francis led the crowds gathered in Saint Peter’s Square for the weekly Regina Caeli address in praying for the victims of Saturday’s earthquake in Nepal which has claimed thousands of lives.

“I wish to express my closeness to the populations struck by a powerful earthquake in Nepal and in neighboring countries,” he said, moments after reciting the Marian prayer. “I pray for the victims, for the wounded, and for all those who suffer because of this calamity. May they be sustained by fraternal solidarity.”

The Pope then lead the crowds in praying the Hail Mary for the victims.

At least 2,200 people have died and thousands more are wounded following a 7.8 earthquake which struck the south Asian nation on Saturday.

The epicenter of the quake was 80 km northwest of the country’s capital, Kathmandu, where it toppled a 100-year -old temple, split roads, and destroyed houses and buildings.

Earlier, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, sent a telegram on behalf of Pope Francis to the Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Nepal, Paul Simick.

“His Holiness Pope Francis was deeply saddened to learn of the earthquake and the resultant loss of many hundreds of lives in Nepal, as well as in neighbouring countries,” the Cardinal wrote.

“He expresses his solidarity with all affected by this disaster and assures those who grieve for deceased family members of his closeness in prayer.”

The telegram said the Pope “commends the souls of the victims to the loving mercy of the Almighty.”

He then encouraged civil authorities and emergency personnel in their rescue efforts.

“Upon them all he invokes the blessings of the Almighty as a pledge of healing and consolation,” the telegram says.

The quake is reported to have caused avalanches in the Mount Everest region of the Himalayas at the peak of climbing season. At least 17 people were killed in the resulting avalanches, and more are still missing.

There are also reports of damages to the airport in Kathmandu, which could hinder initial relief efforts.

This is the second-worst earthquake in Nepal since 1934, when an 8.0 magnitude earthquake all but destroyed the cities of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope to new priests: Don’t be a peacock

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • April 26, 2015

Nineteen men lie prostrate for their ordination as priests for the Diocese of Rome on April 26, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis presided over the ordination of nearly twenty men to the priesthood on Sunday, where he warned them against being vain priests who live first for their own pleasure rather than for God’s.

“A priest is ugly who lives for his own pleasure,” Pope Francis said, adding that such a priest “acts like a peacock.”

Pope Francis presided over the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Apr. 26, during which he, as the bishop of Rome, ordained 19 men for the Roman diocese.

During the ordination Mass, the Pope delivered the standard homily based on the Italian edition of the Pontificale Romanum for the ordination of priests, but digressed from the text several times to offer advice to the men about to be ordained.

In these remarks, he said priests should nourish God’s people with their homilies, while making sure they are not bored.

Ensure “that your homilies are not boring; that your homilies reach the heart of the people, because they come from your hearts,” he said. “What you say to them is what you have in your heart.”

The Pope also warned against proclaiming God’s Word without giving a good example.

“Words without example are empty words,” he said. “They are ideas that do not reach the heart, and may even cause injury.”

Pope Francis gave the men further advice in executing their responsibilities as priests.

In presiding over Mass, he told them not to “rush” through the celebration. Rather: “Imitate that which you celebrate,” because “it is not an artificial rite.”

Speaking of their responsibilities as priests in distributing the Sacraments, the Pope said to “never refuse Baptism to whoever asks for it.”

With regard to the sacrament of Penance, he told the new priests the confessional is a place where they are called “to forgive, not to condemn.”

“Imitate the Father who never tires of forgiving,” he said.

After the Mass, Pope Francis delivered his Regina Caeli address from the Papal Palace overlooking Saint Peter’s Square, explaining that the newly ordained priests are called to have a pastoral life based upon the Good Shepherd.

Recalling how the Fourth Sunday of Easter is also known as “Good Shepherd Sunday,” the Pope said this day is an occasion to reflect on Jesus’ gift of Self, through His passion, death, and resurrection.

The Good Shepherd, he said, “gives life, has offered his life in sacrifice for all of us.”

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VATICAN NEWS

The ‘theology of the people’, according to Pope Francis

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • April 27, 2015

Pilgrims kneel during Stations of the Cross at World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 26, 2013. (Michelle Bauman/CNA)

Vatican City — In a previously unpublished 2012 lecture, Pope Francis explains the inner sense of the ‘theology of the people,’ emphasizing that popular piety is the antithesis of widespread secularization.

The lecture has now been published for the first time, in the Italian edition of “An Introduction to the Theology of the People,” by Argentine theologian Ciro Enrique Bianchi, a pupil of Victor Manuel Fernandez – rector of the Catholic University of Argentina and one of Pope Francis’ closest collaborators.

The book was conceived as a theological and spiritual profile of the Argentine thinker Rafael Tello, considered one of the founders of the ‘theology of the people’ which Pope Francis holds in high esteem.

The ‘theology of the people’ was popular in Argentina as an alternative to radical liberation theology. While radical liberation theologians looked to Marxist, immanentist interpretations of the Gospel, theology of the people was founded on common peoples’ culture and devotion, including their spirituality and sense of justice.

While Archbishop of Buenos Aires, then-Cardinal Bergoglio wrote the foreword to the original, Spanish edition of Bianchi’s book on ‘theology of the people’ and held a lecture at its official presentation. This lecture zeroed in on “the faith of our humble people,” and has been used as the foreword of the Italian edition; excerpts were published

April 27 in Avvenire, the Italian bishops’ daily paper.

Cardinal Bergoglio wrote that Latin America was largely characterized by poverty and Christianity, and that this latter is expressed by various and colourful forms of popular piety such as processions, vigils, and public prayer.

“When we approach our people with the gaze of the good shepherd, when we do not come to judge but to love, we can find out that this cultural way to express the Christian faith is still present among us, especially in our poor,” he said.

Pope Francis explained that the notion was subjected to an evolution in the course of the years: at first, it was labeled “popular religion,” then Bl. Paul VI called it “popular piety,” and finally the 2007 Aparecida document called it “popular spirituality.”

Aparecida was the site of the fifth general conference of Latin American bishops, and its final document addresses the major issues facing the Church there, focused on missionary work.

According to Cardinal Bergoglio, “popular spirituality is the original way through which the Holy Spirit has led and continues to lead million of our brothers,” and this was clearly acknowledged in Aparecida.

The Pope recounted that “four days before the final vote on the draft, this latter had received 2,400 ‘modi’, or amendments, which had to be solved within those days”; but the chapter on popular spirituality “was subjected to only two or three observations, and they were all stylistic, secondary observations.”

“That chapter was proposed exactly the way it came out from the commission, which told all the bishops at the conference, ‘this is a sign’,” wrote Cardinal Bergoglio.

The then Archbishop of Buenos Aires also identified “popular piety as the disclosing of the memory of a people,” and emphasized the good example of José Gabriel Brochero, a popular Argentine priest who was beatified in September 2013.

Pope Francis recounted having been for two years a confessor at the Jesuit house in Cordoba, Argentina, “in the heart of downtown, beside the university,” where he heard the confessions of “university students, professors, and people from the suburbs who prefer to confess downtown since their parish priest has no time to hear confession on Sundays, since he celebrates one Mass after another.”

Among the penitents, Cardinal Bergoglio said he noticed that “there were people who confessed well: they only said what was needed, they never said something more than their sins, and they did not brag; they spoke with much humility.”

Once, Pope Francis asked one of these people where came from, and he said: “From Traslasierra,” the land where Fr. Brochero preached. So “there was the catechetic memory of Cura Brochero in a people, who expressed this in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.”

Pope Francis added that “popular piety comes from the memory of the people,” and “as the Catholic Church has made a preferential option for the poor, this should lead us to know and appreciate their cultural way of living the Gospel.”

“It is good and necessary that theology cares for popular piety” since it is “the precious treasure of the Catholic Church in Latin America, as Benedict XVI put it when he inaugurated the Aparecida Congress.”

In the end – Cardinal Bergoglio maintained – “when we approach the poor to accompany them, we understand that they live life in a transcendental sense, beyond the huge daily difficulties. In some ways, consumerism has not enclosed them.”

Their life “reaches out for something beyond this life. Life depends on Someone, and this life must be saved. This is what we found in depth of our people, even if (our people) are not able to express it.”

In the end, Pope Francis said, “the transcendent sense of life glimpsed in popular Christianity is the antithesis of the secularism that is spreading in modern societies.”

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VATICAN NEWS

No to nuclear weapons, yes to nuclear technology – the Holy See’s stance

by CNA’s Vatican Observer Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • April 24, 2015

1954. (James Vaughan via Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Vatican City — In an effort to abolish the production of nuclear weapons worldwide, the Holy See is pushing an agreement – with a deadline – between nations, which zeros-in on the use of nuclear energy for positive social development.

The Holy See will promote the terms about an eventual agenda to nuclear disarmament at the upcoming Treaty of the Non Proliferation of Nuclear weapons conference held at the United Nations in New York from April 27 to May 22.

A source involved in the negotiations but not authorized to publicly comment on the issue explained to CNA April 22 that the Holy See’s approach is “more global than the so called ‘step by step’ approach, which seems to be another way to say that nuclear weapons will remain, since the negotiations might be never ending.”

The Holy See will foster this position during the Review Conference of the Non Proliferation Treaty. Aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, the treaty promotes cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy and furthering the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament.

However, the Vatican source explained that the geopolitical situation may lead to a weak final document at the conference, which would postpone the issues at stake.

Reasons why the document might be weak are – according to the source – the ongoing Ukrainian and Middle East situations, and tense relations between the United States and Russia.

Since the Non Proliferation treaty went into effect in 1970, and conferences to review it have been held at five year intervals.

The 2015 conference is expected to consider a number of issues, the most important being the universality of the treaty, the practical measures to nuclear to disarmament, and measures to advance the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

In the course of years, the Holy See has developed a nuanced position toward nuclear issue. As a founding member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Holy See has historically fostered a peaceful use of the nuclear energy.

In a speech delivered to the agency in September of 2014, Monsignor Antoine Camilleri, Vatican deputy foreign minister, stressed that the agency “contributes to authentic human development and foster peace and prosperity throughout the world.”

Msgr. Cammilleri also listed all the fields which benefits from nuclear technology: from healthcare to agriculture, and from quality of nutrition to the fight against devastating pests.

While the Holy See praised the achievements of nuclear technology but discussion remains on how the use and production of nuclear energy should be fostered. Producing nuclear energy also produces nuclear waste, which needs to be placed in and kept under special conditions for decades.

Ultimately, the Holy See says yes to nuclear technology – despite some caveats on the production and use of nuclear energy – and it categorically refuses any use of nuclear weapons.

In December 2014, a conference on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons took place in Vienna.

Speaking at the meeting, Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi, Holy See Permanent Observer to the United Nations office in Geneva, underscored “the positive steps made” toward “the goal of a world without nuclear weapons.”

He stressed, however, that the Holy See “still thinks these steps are limited, insufficient, and frozen in space and time.”

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VATICAN NEWS

How to encounter Islam, according to Pope Francis: with the whole truth

by CNA/EWTN News • April 28, 2015

A mosque in Ketou, and a church in Ouidah, Benin. (jbdodane via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)

Vatican City — Speaking Monday to the bishops of the west African nation of Benin, Pope Francis encouraged their formation of youth through education, emphasizing particularly the importance of intercultural and interreligious encounter.

“Another important challenge you face is that of vigilance with youth and education … this effort should continue without abatement for the integral formation, both human and spiritual, of the younger generations is important for the future of the society to which they can make a valuable contribution, notably in terms of solidarity, of justice, and of respect for the other,” Pope Francis said April 27 to the bishops from Benin, who were in Rome for their ad limina visit.

“It is necessary,” he immediately continued, “to promote in your country – without of course renouncing any of the Truth as revealed by the Lord – the encounter between cultures and dialogue between religions, especially with Islam. It is well known that Benin offers an example of harmony between the religions present in her territory. It is however wise to be vigilant, considering the current world climate, in order to conserve this fragile heritage.”

Benin is bordered by Togo, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria – where the radical Islamist group Boko Haram has killed more than 15,500 in attacks since 2012.

According to a 2007 estimate, 43 percent of Beninese are Christian, and 24 percent are Muslim. Another 26 percent practice Vodun or other indiginous religions, and seven percent are irreligious. Pope Francis mentioned he is “particularly pleased that an international colloquium on interreligious dialogue has been held … which was widely appreciated.”

The Pope began his address by thanking the bishops for their “great enthusiasm in the visible expression of the faith of God’s people.” He observed that “parish life is animated, the faithful participate in large numbers in the celebrations, conversions to Christ are many, as are priestly and religious vocations.”

He added, however, that their report that the faith is more and more widespread, yet sometimes superficial and weak, shows that “it is important that the desire for a profound knowledge of the Christian mystery not be the prerogative of an elite, but instead must inspire all faithful, as everyone is called to holiness.”

“It is imperative that the Church in Benin resists and defeats the winds to the contrary that are rising throughout the world and do not fail to blow upon you too. I know that you are vigilant in the face of numerous ideological and media attacks. The spirit of secularization is at work in your country too, although it is not yet very visible. Only a faith profoundly rooted in the heart of the faithful, and lived in a concrete way, will enable you to face this.”

Pope Francis then turned to the role of the family, saying pastoral care for marriage “remains difficult, considering the real social and cultural situation of the people. However, do not be discouraged, but persevere tirelessly, as the family which defends the Catholic Church is a reality willed by God; it is a gift of God that brings joy, stability and happiness to people and to societies.”

“The family, as the basic unit of both society and of the Church, is the place where authentic human and Gospel values are transmitted,” he said, following it up with a quote from St. John Paul II’s 1981 apostolic exhortation Familiaris consortio: “the educational mission of the Christian family is a true ministry through which the Gospel is transmitted and radiated, so that family life itself becomes an itinerary of faith and … a school of following Christ.”

After discussing youth and education, the Pope noted the Church’s “key role in promoting harmony and justice” for Benin’s progress. “It is a role they also play in healthcare and human development,” he continued.

“How much work is carried out in the name of the Gospel in your dioceses! While the global crisis is affecting many countries, it is necessary to go against the grain with courage, fighting against the throwaway culture that reaches everywhere and spreading the Gospel values of hospitality and encounter.”

He reflected that acts of charity express the Church’s essence, but cautioned that “it should be borne in mind that the spirit of the works accomplished by the Church has a specific nature that must be clearly identified: she never acts as a form of simple social aid, but rather as the manifestation of the tenderness and mercy of Jesus himself, who tends to the wounds and weaknesses of his brothers. The joy of the Gospel is thus announced to humanity in the most effective way.”

Pope Francis noted the large number of priestly vocations in Benin – for example, the Diocese of Djougou has one priest for every 933 Catholics. He encouraged them in sharing their priests with dioceses less fruitful in vocations, though “with judgement, without forgetting the needs of your own Churches.”

He welcomed the good relationship between the Church and the government of Benin, remarking that “the voice of the Church is listened to and her action is appreciated.”

“I invite you to continue to take your place fully in the public life of the country, especially in these times,” he added. “I know you are engaged in constant work to encourage relations between the different components of society. I invite you to continue along this path, taking care not to enter directly into the political arena or party disputes. The conduct of public affairs remains the duty of the laity, whom you have the important duty of ceaselessly educating and encouraging.”

The Pope concluded asking that Mary “sustain and enlighten you in your ministry, that she might lead you, together with the priests, consecrated persons, catechists, and all the laity of your dioceses, to her son Jesus.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis donates 100,000 dollars to Nepal relief efforts

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • April 29, 2015

Pope Francis gives the Wednesday general audience in St. Peters Square on Oct. 2, 2013. (Elise Harris/CNA)

Vatican City — After Saturday’s massive earthquake devastated the Southeast Asian country of Nepal, the Pontifical Council Cor Unum has offered financial assistance to the local community as a sign of solidarity.

In an April 28 communique, it was emphasized that the donation is “a first and immediate concrete expression of spiritual closeness and paternal encouragement for the people and the affected areas” on behalf of the Pope.

Given directly to the local Church, the funds will be used to support initiatives aimed at helping displaced persons and victims of the earthquake.

Cor Unum is the Vatican council tasked to organize and coordinate humanitarian aid in the face of natural disasters and humanitarian crises.

Since the massive 7.8 quake ripped through Nepal April 25, more than 5,000 people have been confirmed dead, and the number is expected to rise as relief workers clear rubble and reach remote areas far out from the capital.

The epicenter of the earthquake was 80 km northwest of the country’s capital, Kathmandu, where the force of the quake toppled a 100-year -old temple, split roads, and destroyed houses and buildings.

Tremors could be felt as far away as New Dehli in India, and aftershocks continued to shake the area for hours after the initial quake.

Nepal is one of the poorest countries in Asia, and has an estimated population of 27 to 28 million. Currently the government of Nepal estimates that close to 400,000 buildings have been destroyed by the quake.

This is the second-worst earthquake in Nepal since 1934, when an 8.0 magnitude earthquake all but destroyed the cities of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan.

According to the U.N. more than 8 million people have been affected by the quake in some way, and roughly 10,000 injured.

With resources limited, many survivors have been sleeping outdoors and are in desperate need of food and water. According to BBC News, hundreds of thousands are currently living in temporary camps in poor conditions with very little to eat and drink.

Rescue efforts in the affected areas have been complicated by aftershocks, landslides, severe damage caused by the quake and creaking infrastructure.

However, the U.N. reports that so far international search-and-rescue teams have saved 14 people from the rubble, including a 28-year-old man who had been trapped inside a room for nearly 80 hours with three others who had died.

The country is currently observing three days of national mourning for the victims.

On Sunday Pope Francis offered spiritual support to the victims and their families, praying during his Regina Coali address “for the victims, for the wounded, and for all those who suffer because of this calamity. May they be sustained by fraternal solidarity.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope’s encyclical could have huge weigh-in on climate change talks

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • April 29, 2015

(CC0 1.0)

Vatican City — With experts and global leaders looking to Pope Francis as a moral compass, his upcoming encyclical on the environment could set a key ethical framework for discussion and policies surrounding the topic.

“We look to Pope Francis as a great moral leader for all humanity, all people here from every walk of life and every religion. His encyclical will make a huge difference. It’s being expected around the world with great anticipation,” Jeffrey Sachs told CNA April 28.

“The whole world looks to Pope Francis for inspiration, and that’s well beyond the Roman Catholics in the world, it’s all of us,” he said, adding that the Pope’s encyclical will play “a huge role” in the climate change discussion.

Sachs is the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and a special adviser to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who was present in Rome for a one-day summit on climate change and sustainable development hosted by the Pontifical Academy for the Sciences.

Titled “Protect the Earth, Dignify Humanity,” the April 28 summit focused on strengthening the global consensus surrounding the topic of climate change as something with an adverse effect on every aspect of society.

The event also serves as a precursor to the publication of Pope Francis’ anticipated encyclical on environmental degradation and the global effects of climate change on the poor.

Expected to be published in mid-late June, the document has already been written and is currently being translated.

For Sachs, who is also a member of the Pontifical Academy for the Sciences, the context of sustainable development in the encyclical “is very helpful” in creating a holistic framework that builds economic, social and environmental awareness of the need to take care of the world in which we live.

The economy, he said, “must work within a moral framework, a moral framework meaning one that can deliver for the human good. And this makes the Church’s message very important for the entire world.”

Although an economy can be considered successful if it multiplies, the moral framework that ensures that the economy is serving the common good is frequently lacking, Sachs observed.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon also weighed in on the topic during a press briefing after he delivered the keynote speech for the summit.

Referring to climate change as “a defining issue of our times,” Ban Ki Moon said that the Pope’s encyclical will come at a “critical” point in the discussion on the topic.

Francis is set to address a U.N. Special Summit on Sustainable Development Sept. 25 during his visit to the United States, which is an address Ban Ki Moon said will have “a profound impact.”

In a private meeting with Pope Francis ahead of the summit, the U.N. secretary general said he told the Pope that he’s “looking forward to his encyclical as soon as possible … I count on his moral voice and moral leadership.”

Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, was also present at the event, and highlighted the importance of placing a moral framework at the heart of all policies and discussion on the topic.

“Without moral conversion and change of hearts, even good regulations, policies, and targets in the world are unlikely to prove effective,” he told attendees in his speech for the event.

If a proper ethical foundation is lacking from the policies and their implementation, then humanity itself will lack the “courage” and moral substance to carry out event simplest proposals, the cardinal continued.

In comments made to journalists during a pause in the summit, Cardinal Turkson addressed critics who find issue with the Vatican’s partnership with organizations such as the U.N. that promote population control as a means of combating climate change.

Sachs himself is an avid supporter of population control despite his seat on the pontifical academy.

In response to the criticism, the cardinal recalled the Second Vatican Council’s emphasis on inviting the Church to find “new ways” of ministering to the world.

These new methods of engagement don’t mean running away from the world, he said, but rather establishing a dialogue that works toward “an effective solidarity” with others.

What the Church has been invited to do is to explore the ways in which it can come together with secular organizations, and use the “vantage point of its revelation, doctrine and teaching (to) seek to provide some guidance and support for the world.”

“So in doing this it’s not inconsistency, but it’s carrying on the mission … that’s what this is.”

Although there is a lot of “discussion and dispute” in the area of climate change, the cardinal stressed that it’s an issue that can only be solved by pooling the resources of economic, political and faith leaders.

The “moral obligation” of preserving and caring for the planet is one which “extends to all – political leaders, corporate leaders, civil society and ordinary people too,” he said, and noted that the concept of sustainable development is one that the entire community of nations ought to embrace.

Ban Ki Moon also emphasized the necessity for collaboration, saying that climate change and sustainable development are issues which demand a “collective action.”

“The faith leaders gathered here today, together with the scientists, are united in reminding us that addressing climate change is an urgent moral imperative.”

To care for both the climate and those that suffer from the impact of climate change, particularly the poor and most vulnerable, “is a moral responsibility. All people of faith and conscience can agree upon this,” he said.

Sachs also weighed in, noting that climate change is “a human challenge at global scale” that requires all parts of the world and society to work together.

“It requires the moral leadership of the world’s religions, it requires the science of the world’s climate and earth science experts, it requires the best technologists and technological businesses … working together there are practical solutions, and that’s what we need to find,” he said.

He stressed the importance of working from a moral framework in the discussion, and explained that by raising the moral context that will be given in Francis’ encyclical, “we will see that that economic productivity that is worldwide can be harnessed in a far more affective way.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope: Is the fear of failure causing young people to avoid marriage?

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • April 29, 2015

of the 20 couples who were married by Pope Francis on Sept. 14, 2014 pose for a picture during the ceremony. (Lauren Cater/CNA)

Vatican City — With the number of children raised in brokenness on the rise, young people view marriage as a path to failure – so Pope Francis says it’s time for Christians to restore faith in the family.

“The most persuasive witness of the blessing of Christian marriage is the good life of Christian spouses, and the family,” the Pope said to some 60,000 people in Saint Peter’s Square April 29. “There is no better way of expressing the beauty of the sacrament!”

Since the end of last fall, Pope Francis has been centering his catechesis for the weekly general audience on the family as part of the lead-up to the World Day of Families in September as well as October’s Synod of Bishops on the Family.

In his address, the Pope observed how fewer people today are getting married. In many countries separations are on the rise while the number of children born is declining, he noted, saying that it’s the children who suffer the consequences.

“The first victims, the most important victims, the victims who suffer the most in a separation, are children,” he said.

Francis turned to the question of why young people are no longer getting married, suggesting that they have come to view marriage as something temporary.

He asked if young people prefer to live together with “limited responsibility” or whether they have lost faith in marriage and the family, saying that if this is the case, then “why don’t they have faith in the family?”

Nearly all men and women desire a stable marriage and a happy family, Pope Francis said, but fear of failure prevents them from “trusting in Christ’s promise of grace in marriage and in the family.”

He noted how many marriages are marked by poverty, degradation and domestic violence, and said that the seed of “radical equality” between spouses must bear new fruits in society.

“As Christians we must become more demanding in this respect. For example: decisively backing the right to equal pay for equal work; the disparity is a pure scandal!” the Pope said.

Francis pointed to the biblical passage in Genesis when Adam blames Eve for giving him the apple, saying that it’s an example of “maschilismo,” chauvinism, which always seeks to dominate women.

“(What) a bad impression Adam made, when God said: ‘Why have you eaten the fruit’ – ‘She gave it to me: it is the woman’s fault!’” he said, adding “Poor woman! We must defend women, no?”

The Pope also stressed the importance of recognizing the “the motherhood of women and the fatherhood of men” as a wealth of richness, especially for children.

He then turned to the Gospel account of the Wedding Feast of Cana, reflecting on how Jesus performed his first miracle, turning water into wine, at the request of Mary.

This scene is reminiscent of the book of Genesis, the pontiff said, in which God creates his “masterpiece” – man and woman.

For Jesus to begin his public performance of miracles in the context of a wedding feast is significant, the Pope noted, saying that by doing so “Jesus teaches us that the masterpiece of society is the family – the man and woman who love each other!”

Consecrated by God, marriage “protects the bond between man and woman,” he said, and is “the source of peace and goodness for all of marriage and family life.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Who’s on the guest list for a Vatican concert? Rome’s homeless community

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • April 30, 2015

Homeless man receives a haircut from the Vatican’s shower facilities. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — Next month the Vatican will invite Rome’s poor and homeless to a concert intended to raise money for Pope Francis’ charities, which last year boasted over one and a half million in charitable giving.

“The most beautiful note, harmony, symphony of the pentagram is that of charity, because it’s everywhere and always touches the chords of each heart, of whoever makes them feel it and whoever hears it,” Mons. Diego Giovanni Ravelli told journalists April 30.

Head of the Office of the Apostolic Almoner, which is responsible for the Pope’s charity, Mons. Ravelli explained that music itself is a form of charity, because “when it touches the soul of man, it brings inside of him the excitement of life and heals the poverty of his heart.”

Set to take place on the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord May 14 at 6 p.m. in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, the concert is titled “With the poor and for the poor.” It is sponsored by the Office of the Apostolic Almoner, the Pontifical Councils for Culture and the Promotion of the New Evangelization as well as the San Matteo foundation in memory of Card. Van Thuan.

In his speech for the announcement of the concert, Mons. Ravelli drew attention to the emphasis on poverty, and quoted Pope Francis, saying that it is something which “calls us to plant hope!”

In reference to the event’s title, he explained that the concert will be “with” the poor because the protagonists will be those most in need.

Both the poor and the sick will take front row seats for the event, and have been invited through various charitable and voluntary associations such as the Great Priory of Rome and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the Circle of St. Peter, Caritas Rome, the Sant’Egidio Community and the Centro Astalli, which assists migrants and refugees.

Detainees from Rome’s Rebbibia prison, where Pope Francis celebrated Holy Thursday Mass this year, will also attend in addition to elderly, families and young persons from Roman parishes, particularly in poorer areas.

The concert will be “for” since all donations made by the sponsors as well as those who wish to make an offering will be given to Pope Francis’ charitable projects. Distribution of the funds is a responsibility the papal almoner, Mons. Konrad Krajewski, is charged with.

Mons. Ravelli revealed that everyday his office receives thousands of letters from needy families and individuals seeking help.

The number of letters coming in has increased in recent years due to economic crisis, unemployment and immigration, he said, explaining that all letters are authenticated by parish priests and other ecclesiastical authorities.

Economic assistance is given to the priests and authorities based on the authenticity and need of the request, and then distributed to the people “as it is important for the Pope’s concrete gesture to be integrated with the solidarity of the local Church and Christian parish community,” Mons. Ravelli said.

He revealed that last year his office gave more than 1,500,000 euros in charity, which is a figure that went up 25 percent since 2013.

So far 2015 has seen numbers such as 285,000 euros for just the month of March, which is a number the priest said “will surely be surpassed” in April.

An invitation is required to attend the concert, which will be conducted by Maestro Daniel Oren and performed by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Salerno, Italy and the choir of the diocese of Rome, which is directed by Mons. Marco Frisina.

Tickets are free and can be obtained online before May 8 by completing a form on the website for the Choir of the Diocese of Rome.

Also present at the April 30 news conference, Mons. Frisina said that the songs to be played will represent a spiritual journey “that from the perspective of out human condition will lead us to encounter the grace of the Lord.”

Music selections in the first part will focus heavily on the journey that renowned Italian poet Dante Alighieri laid out in his “Divine Comedy.”

What begins as man’s painful search for God who is love will force man to live the experience of hell, which is reserved for those “who betray love, or have searched only for themselves and not God,” before leading him to the ascent of purgatory, “where hope and mercy lie,” Mons. Frisina explained.

From there the music selections will allude to the entrance into paradise, where listeners will hear the sounds of love and rejoicing, as well as the intercession of Mary, implored by St. Bernadette and all the saints in heaven.

The second part, he noted, will focus on the joy of redemption, the gift of peace as the first gift of the Risen Christ and the joy that comes from the heart of Mary and the Church.

At the end of the concert, the listeners, choir, soloists and orchestra will altogether sing the “Hymn of the Sea,” which is a canticle of Moses and the redeemed, Mons. Frisina said, adding that he wants “all 7,000” people present in the hall to join in singing it.

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WORLD NEWS

Ireland’s defense of marriage leaders speak up for mothers, fathers, children

by Kevin Jones (CNA/EWTN News) • April 26, 2015

The Irish flag. (Michael Care Andersen CC BY-NC 2.0)

Dublin, Ireland — Opponents of a referendum that would recognize “gay marriage” in Ireland face an uphill fight, but one commentator says they can win if people are willing to speak up and focus on the need for children to have a mother and a father.

“I think civil marriage is a really critical institution for upholding the common good – specifically the good of children being raised by their own mother and father in a lifelong committed relationship,” said Ben Conroy, a spokesperson for the Iona Institute, an Irish NGO focused on civil society and religion.

He said redefining marriage would remove from the Republic of Ireland’s constitution “any idea that there’s anything special, or unique, or worth protecting about a child being raised by their mother and father.”

“In fact, it’ll abolish the notion that there’s anything particularly special about motherhood and fatherhood at all, only ‘parenthood’,” he continued.

The referendum would amend the Republic of Ireland’s constitution to read, “Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex.”

The vote on the referendum will be held on May 22, with voter registration closing on May 5.

Conroy told CNA that opponents of the referendum are “definitely the underdogs,” according to opinion polls.

However, he characterized referendum support as “very soft.” He said most voters who currently favor the referendum have reservations about it, and almost all voters still appear to believe that a child is best adopted by a man and a woman in preference to other situations.

He noted that a marriage referendum in Slovenia showed a large majority in favor of redefining marriage in the campaigns ahead of the election, only to lose on Election Day.

“The question is whether or not we can get the message about the connection between marriage and the family across, in the face of a ‘Yes’ campaign that has overwhelming support in the media and elite Ireland,” Conroy said. “They’re determined to argue that this is just about love and equality, but I think that’s completely wrong, not to mention quite short-sighted.”

Conroy said voters in the Republic Ireland should consider Article 41 of the Constitution, which the referendum would change, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which considers marriage as part of the right to “found a family.”

“Marriage in Irish and international law has never just been about two people who love each other: it’s always been a child-centered institution,” Conroy explained.

“I think a lot of Irish people would prefer to see a better way of recognizing the legal equality of gay people without obliterating a child’s right to a mother and father.”

Conroy said many referendum opponents suffer social pressure and even a “climate of fear,” given that an Irish Times writer has called for the creation of a “homophobia watchdog” to monitor rhetoric surrounding the referendum. What Conroy characterized as “social media mobs” can also target those who do not agree with the referendum.

However, he noted that there are situations where opponents of the referendum are in the majority but in fact believe themselves to be alone until someone speaks up.

“Talk to people!” Conroy advised referendum opponents. “Tell them you think every child, gay or straight, deserves the love of a mother and father where possible.”

Conroy warned that there is no conscience clause in the referendum to allow bakers, florists, printers and others to avoid participating in ceremonies to which they object. He believes that legal cases involving these businesses will become more common, as they have in other places.

In Northern Ireland, a baker who declined to make a cake saying “Support Gay Marriage” was sued by the country’s Equality Commission, even though the U.K. country does not recognize same-sex civil marriage.

“I think that’s a harbinger of things to come if this passes,” Conroy said.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has said that Catholic schools will be expected to teach children that in Ireland people “will have the right to get married irrespective of their sexual orientation.”

For Conroy, that was “a pretty huge step” that he doesn’t think people have adequately considered.

“We’ve come a very long way in the level of love we show our brothers and sisters who are gay, and it’s only a very tiny number of people who don’t welcome that wholeheartedly,” he added.

“But marriage is a particular institution, with particular purposes, and children – gay and straight – do have a right to a mother and father where possible. There shouldn’t be a contradiction there, and I don’t think there is.”

The Republic of Ireland’s four main political parties all support the referendum. They and campaign groups like Yes Equality intend to spend almost $750,000 to promote it, the Irish Times reports. The main opponent of the referendum, Mothers and Fathers Matter, hopes to spend about $160,000.

In a March 10 statement, the Republic of Ireland’s Catholic bishops said they could not support the referendum.

“The effects of this proposed amendment will be far-reaching for this and for future generations,” they said. “We say to all voters: Marriage is important – Reflect before you change it.”

They voiced concern that if the Constitution is amended, “it will become increasingly difficult to speak any longer in public about marriage as being between a man and a woman.”

“What will we be expected to teach children in school about marriage? Will those who sincerely continue to believe that marriage is between a man and a woman be forced to act against their conscience?” they asked.

Ireland’s Catholic bishops could consider withdrawing from registering civil marriages if the referendum passes, given that the Church’s view of marriage and the state’s view will be “radically different,” Martin Long, a bishops’ spokesman, said April 13, according to the Irish Times. Almost 60 percent of registered Irish marriages in 2014 resulted from Catholic Church ceremonies.

More information about the defense of marriage effort in Ireland is available at keepmarriage.org

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WORLD NEWS

Death with dignity: A friend recalls last minutes of John Paul II’s life

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • April 27, 2015

Pope John Paul II. (Dennis Jarvis via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0)

Rome, Italy — A once avid outdoors-man whose final years were marked by disability and suffering, Saint John Paul II witnessed to what it truly means to die with dignity, says a close friend who was with him until the end.

“He gave us tranquility and peace even up to the last day,” Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, who was present at the Polish pope’s death ten years ago, told CNA in an interview.

“He restored dignity to death.”

Cardinal Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow, who at the time was serving as an aide to John Paul II, recalls singing the Te Deum – a hymn of praise to God – moments after the pope died, because those in the room “were convinced that he had died a holy man.”

“A man prepares for a lifetime for this important moment, this passage from one life to another for the encounter with God,” he said.

John Paul II died at 9:37 p.m. on April 2, 2005, the day before Divine Mercy Sunday – a feast he established during his pontificate – after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.

Throughout his pontificate, the Polish pope spoke out against what he referred to as the “culture of death” which promotes ideologies such as abortion and euthanasia, and in turn championed for the promotion of human life and dignity.

Cardinal Dziwisz recalled the Pope’s last words to him before he died. “I kissed his hands and he told me ‘Thank you’ and gave me his blessing,” he recounted.

He also remembered how John Paul II, while on his deathbed, asked those who had come to say their farewells to read the Gospel to him.

“Priests read nine chapters of the Gospel of John for the love of God, and so he prepared for his encounter,” the Polish prelate said.

Karol Jozef Wojtyla, who would later choose the name John Paul II upon his election to the papacy, was born the youngest of three children in the Polish town of Wadowice, a small city 50 kilometers from Krakow, on May 18, 1920.

In 1942, at the height of World War II, he began courses in the clandestine seminary of Krakow, and was eventually ordained in 1946.

He took part in Vatican Council II (1962-1965), being appointed archbishop of Krakow in 1964, and contributed to drafting the Constitution Gaudium et spes.

On Oct. 16, 1978, Cardinal Wojtyla was elected pope at the age of 58.

Over the course of his 27 year pontificate – one of the longest in Church history – he traveled to 129 countries, and was instrumental in the fall of Communism in Europe in the 1980s.

“He did not create resentment, but instead knocked down the walls between people,” Cardinal Dziwisz said, observing he had close friends who were Jews, Muslims, and other religions. “Everyone was important for him because everyone was created in the image of God.”

The archbishop of Krakow also spoke of John Paul II’s strong sense of discipline throughout his life, which was always centered on prayer.

“He was a very disciplined man from the point of view of moral ethics,” he said. “Even at work, he never wasted time. He always had time for prayer.”

In fact, for John Paul II, prayer was never separated from work, Cardinal Dziwisz said. “He was immersed in God and in everything he did, he always walked with God and in prayer.”

“He always kept this intimate relationship with God, of contemplation, of contact with God, and here was his strength: peace of mind. God exists, God commands, God, we must follow him. If you follow God, you see peace, even in difficult times, which as Pope, he had many.”

John Paul II was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on May 1, Divine Mercy Sunday, at a ceremony which saw an estimated two million pilgrims flock to Rome. He was canonized April 27, 2014 in Saint Peter’s Square by Pope Francis on the same feast day.

Cardinal Dziwisz touched on the impact that John Paul II being declared a saint had upon the faithful.

“I think people were convinced of his sanctity, that the supreme authority had approved the road of holiness, because we are sure that we could imitate his holiness.”

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WORLD NEWS

Huff Post editor: ‘Why doesn’t the Left advocate for persecuted Christians?’

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • April 28, 2015

(Jason de Villa via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)

Rome, Italy — Lucia Annunziata, a journalist who directs and edits the Italian edition of The Huffington Post, has accused the political left in Western nations of remaining silent before ongoing massacres of Christians, which she called the “most horrible of the crimes perpetrated against the weakest.”

The self-proclaimed atheist also complained that young journalists are not proposing to The Huffington Post stories relating the situation of persecuted Christians.

“I ask myself where is the Left, with a capital L, the social party wide as it is because of its history and principles, because it is outside of the cages of daily life, and loves itself because it is attached to its own sense of justice,” Annunziata wrote in an op-ed published earlier this month.

This wide party, she continued, has remained silent “in front of the most terrible of crimes against the weakest … the massacres of Christians whose blood is shed in many parts of the world.”

“Why have I not received any petition to sign, though I receive many of varied kinds? Why has no-one promoted, if not a public protest, a sit-in, or a meeting? I hear no slogans for persecuted Christians, nor do I get documents or petitions on the issue,” Annunziata complained.

She lamented that “television is elsewhere, but that neither are young or ambitious journalists pushing The Huffington Post to give voice to these newly weak and helpless.”

Noting the situation of the political left in Italy, Annunziata noted it has “taken up a huge number of causes,” listing women’s issues, youth unemployment, gay marriage, institutional reform, internet freedoms, innovation, poverty, austerity, the Islamic State, war, and the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and Tunisia’s Bardo Museum.

However, she added, “with few exceptions, never does the Left express pain or horror for the men and women who die because of their faith.”

Annunziata called death the “final violation of the most important right of personal freedom,” and noted that Christianity is the faith of most Italians as well as serving as “the basis of the definition of the history and culture” of Europe.

She underscored that she is not Catholic, but “atheistic, and willing to remain so,” and has not been a cheerleader for Pope Francis.

Yet as a journalist, she emphasized that “the news is the loneliness of this very popular Pope, who has been for months the sole voice to denounce the massacre of the faithful, and is presently the only head of state capable of pointing the finger against the immobility of Western countries over these massacres” against Christians – unlike what happened after the massacre at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

According to Annunziata, the reason for Western countrys’ silence in front of the massacres of Christians is “the fear that defending Christians means activating other mines in the already tough struggle, thus giving the ‘green light’ to a reaction and finally legitimizing” the claims of Rightist political parties which are “already fanning the flames of racism and of the clash of civilizations” for their own interests.

“Respect for human rights is the first sacrificial victim of the reason of state,” and this is why “the Left, as the political party that always claimed the strength and conviction to engage in the defense of the weakest” should take some stance, since this party has “a great deal of clout in Western countries.”

Annunziata proposes that “governments draft a plan to put thousands of refugees in safety” – providing them shelter, schools, and healthcare facilities, but also providing “citizenship to all the families willing to flee their countries,” with peculiar attention to “all the young people willing to come to Europe to study or work.”

This effort may be compared to that put into action by Western countries for thousands of Jewish victims of Nazism following the Second World War.

“This is not much, but it is a beginning, and also an effective message of moral strength and solidarity to oppose the violence of ISIS,” Annunziata concluded.

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WORLD NEWS

‘House of Waiting’ for pregnant Peruvian women seeks to remodel

by CNA/EWTN News • April 28, 2015

La Casa de Espera pregnancy center, a maternal waiting facility where women in the late stages of their pregnancy can find comfort and medical help. (Esperanca)

Haquira, Peru — Inside the cracking adobe walls of a small building in Haquira, Peru, an on-duty nurse and staff are busy providing care for local women during the late stages of their pregnancy.

In the remote highlands of Peru, it is not uncommon for women near the end of their pregnancy to walk hours – or even days – to the nearest health care facility in order to give birth or receive medical attention.

One woman, Virgina, has been walking to the La Casa de Espera maternal facility in Haquira, Peru for years, traveling there each time she has given birth to her six children.

But on her most recent trip in December, she noticed how dilapidated the facility had become.

“The home is in a serious state of disrepair. The adobe walls are crumbling, the bathroom is dilapidated, the stove is ancient, they don’t have enough chairs, dishes, or pots and pans, and the beds are breaking apart,” she said.

Esperanca, an international nonprofit headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, founded La Casa de Espera in 1998 with the goal of fostering good health care for the women and families in Peru.

La Casa de Espera, meaning the House of Waiting, is a maternal waiting facility, where women in the late stages of their pregnancy can find comfort and medical help before giving birth. It has been running for the past 17 years, and served around 100 women last year.

The 1,050 square foot building has three bedrooms with four beds in each room. Staff members are able to assist 12 women at a time who are in need of medical care and attention during the last days of their pregnancies.

Most local pre-natal care centers in the area do not provide late-stage pregnancy attention or child birth care. La Casa de Espera is one of the few that administers 24-hour care to women and arranges transportation to the nearest hospital when she gives birth.

However, the facility needs additional funds to remodel the home and provide the proper nutrition to women during the critical final weeks of their pregnancies.

“We are one of the only homes like this in the area, and we know the women are counting on us to continue to provide care,” stated Jared Leslie, the director of development for Esperanca, in a press release.

The center is working to raise $37,000 to remodel its facility. They will use the money to fix the dilapidated building, provide food to the women in need, and purchase a much needed telephone – something La Casa de Espera has never had.

More information about La Casa de Espera can be found here.

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WORLD NEWS

Local bishop describes ‘a very, very frightening scene’ in Nepal

by John Pontifex (Aid to the Church in Need) • April 28, 2015

Fr. Augustine and associates distribute relief supplies following the April 25, 2015 Nepal earthquake. (Fr. Vijay Toppo, S.J./The Society of Jesus in Nepal)

Kathmandu, Nepal — Nepal’s bishop has given a graphic account of the country’s catastrophic April 25 earthquake, describing how he was lucky to survive.

In a message to international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Paul Simick, the Vicar Apostolic of Nepal, said he “saw houses falling like a pack of cards,” and that people “were running in all directions to save their lives.”

“It was a very, very frightening scene … I myself had to literally run to save my life.”

He continued: “Repeated aftershocks – just now there was one [and] I had to run away from my office – have made people frightened so they have left their houses and pitched tarpaulin tents on the streets and open fields.”

With more than 5,000 confirmed deaths, the bishop added that local radio reports had predicted a rise in the death toll as more bodies are recovered. “I saw animals killed by falling cow sheds and stone walls,” he added. “I saw the dry landslides after the shake all over the hills where I was.”

The bishop described the devastating impact of the earthquake on Nepal’s small Catholic community, numbering just 10,000 faithful. “Here in Kathmandu city, many Catholic families have cracks in their houses or major damage … many of our churches, schools, convents and other institutions have developed precarious cracks.”

Bishop Simick stressed the problems of trying to assess the situation on the ground, describing the crippling impact of communications breakdown, impassable roads, no domestic flights, and entire communities still cut off from any help.

Reporting on the suffering of Catholic communities, he described how some faithful had lost their lives in a mission station which takes three days by foot to reach from the capital. He said that on Monday “one helicopter went to see the place and victims, but because of bad weather it could not land and saw nothing.”

The bishop added: “I would also like to request your prayer support for the victims’ families who have lost loved ones, those who are still missing loved ones and those who are seriously injured.”

Aid to the Church in Need is an international Catholic charity under the guidance of the Holy See, providing assistance to the suffering and persecuted Church in more than 140 countries. Websites: churchinneed.org (USA); acnuk.org (UK); aidtochurch.org (AUS); acnireland.org (IRL); acn-aed-ca.org (CAN); acnmalta.org (Malta)

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WORLD NEWS

Cuban bishop says news of papal visit brings ‘hope to our hearts’

by Eduardo Berdejo (CNA/EWTN News) • April 29, 2015

Pilgrims gather in Havana, Cuba for Mass during Pope Benedict XVI’s visit in March 2012. (Michelle Bauman/CNA)

Havana, Cuba — The announcement of Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Cuba has brought tremendous joy and hope to the people of the island nation, said a local bishop.

“The first word that comes to mind is ‘joy.’ It’s a gift from God, who never ceases to surprise us,” said Bishop Wilfredo Pino of Guantanamo-Baracoa.

In a statement to CNA, the prelate observed, “It’s true that God does not give us everything in this life, but he certainly has been giving a lot to the Church and the Cuban people lately.”

“We are receiving gift after gift, or as the Psalm says we are ‘harvesting with singing.’ You can also notice this joy in a lot of people when they comment on the news, because it brings with it a lot of hope to our hearts.”

Cuba is one of the few countries that has received a visit from the last three consecutive popes. Saint John Paul II came to the island in 1998 and Pope Benedict XVI came 14 years later. Pope Francis has announced that he will come before his trip to the United States in September.

Bishop Pino explained that these visits are a much-needed sign of hope.

He recalled that “as a young priest, I was present at the last moments of my elderly parish priest. Our Church was going through difficult times. He died repeating Jesus’ words to the Apostle Nathaniel. Being an elderly priest, he said them in Latin: ‘Maiora videbis, maiora videbis’ (‘You will see greater things than this’ — John 1:50)

“And thus he departed as his life faded away. I have to admit I interpreted his words with the opposite meaning. I thought he was saying, ‘Get ready because even harder times are coming.’ And it turns out that just the opposite is coming about.”

The bishop continued: “During each of the papal visits, I remembered him and his ‘maiora videbis.’ And truly all of us, all of Cuba, are seeing better things. Who would have told us 25 years ago that three popes would visit us?”

He said that the upcoming September visit “is a challenge for Cuba and our Church. We have to be on the same plane that God is working on with Cuba and our Church.”

Bishop Pino told CNA that “it’s no secret that this visit comes within the framework of the process of normalizing relations between the United States and Cuba that Pope Francis has helped mediate.”

“I think that the reconciliation between governments comes after other reconciliations: with God, with oneself, with your family, with your coworkers or fellow students, with your religious community, etc.,” the prelate explained.

In that respect, he said that “each Cuban is called then to make a gesture of reconciliation or mercy toward other Cubans.”

Concerning the preparations for the papal visit, the bishop said that “we are going to again take up the mission of going door-to-door and this will give us the opportunity to announce the truth of Jesus Christ that Pope Francis presents so simply.”

The local people are already praying for the fruits of the upcoming visit, he said.

During his pontificate, Pope Francis has made several gestures of his closeness to the Church in Cuba. Most prominent is the letter he sent to the Cuban people last year on the occasion of the feast of Our Lady of Charity of Cobre, patroness of the country. A statue of the Virgin was placed in the Vatican gardens the month before.

In 2014, the Pope also made the decision to make this Cuban Marian feast a “Solemnity” to be celebrated on September 8.

In January 2014, the pope also granted the Cathedral of Carmaguey the title of minor basilica, and in June he replied to a letter from 12 seminarians from Saint Basil the Great Seminary in the town of Santiago de Cuba, encouraging them to become priests that carry out their pastoral ministry with joy, constancy and humility.

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WORLD NEWS

Beauty will save the world – Gaudi’s basilica inspires conversions

by Elise Harris and Alan Holdren (CNA/EWTN News) • April 30, 2015

The Sagrada Família, a Roman Catholic Church in Barcelona, Catalonia, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. (CNA)

Barcelona, Spain — Though the renowned Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi died nearly 90 years ago and his best-known work remains under construction, the beauty of the Sagrada Familia basilica continues to draw people to Christ.

“Almost nothing leads us to the divine, but then people go there,” said José Manuel Almuzara Pérez, reflecting on the awe inspired in those who visit the Sagrada Familia.

Almuzara told CNA April 18 that “Even the other day someone said to me: ‘Jose Manuel, I’m an atheist, what is happening to me?’”

The atheist who spoke to him, Almuzara said, “was thrilled, and didn’t know how to explain what he felt. He was moved, at 70 or 75 years old, looking up at this wonder of architecture which lifts you upward.”

Almuzara heads the Association for the Beatification of Antoni Gaudi. Originally started as a small group of laymen with a tiny budget, the association decided to investigate the possibility in of Gaudi’s sainthood in 1992; the cause for his canonization was officially opened in Rome in 2003.

Since opening of his cause, letters have poured in from all over the world attributing graces, favors, and miracles to Gaudí’s intercession, Almuzara said, noting that the atheist he spoke with is not the only one who has experienced a feeling of awe after seeing the Sagrada Familia.

Perhaps the most impressive conversion he’s seen worked through the beauty of the basilica is that of a Buddhist sent by the South Korean government in 1998 to study Gaudi’s work in Barcelona, in preparation for an exhibition on the architect.

Given only one week to complete his work, the man wrote a letter to the association several months later revealing that he was converting to Catholicism.

This man, Almuzara said, “came to Barcelona a Buddhist, a practicing one, and returned to his country wanting to be Catholic.

“What happened in Barcelona?”

In his letter, the man said that after studying Gaudí’s designs, particularly the Sagrada Familia, “he discovered the divine that is present in Gaudi’s work; and seeing and admiring his work, he discovered the existence of God.”

After returning to South Korea, the man sought formal lessons in catechesis to build upon his experience in Barcelona, and afterward entered the Church.

Gaudi was born in 1852 in Spain’s autonomous community of Catalonia. He was a devout Catholic, which together with forms drawn from nature greatly influenced his architecture; he has received the nickname “God’s architect” due to the emphasis he placed on religion in his works.

He began his work on the Sagrada Familia in 1883, and in 1914 stopped all other projects to work exclusively on the masterpiece, to which he dedicated himself until his death in 1926.

The church was consecrated by Benedict XVI in 2010, and named a basilica. Still under construction, it is expected to be completed by 2026, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Gaudí’s death.

Gaudí is still alive through his architecture, Almuzara said, who spoke of the artist’s commitment to doing beautiful things in his work.

“This is Gaudí, great amongst the great, but humble … a simple man,” he said, explaining that these qualities are what made him want to promote the architect’s cause for beatification.

“Why can’t this person be a teacher, a saint, who guides us, who makes us see? Not just architects, but artists in general, he can teach us in our daily life to adapt to the difficult circumstances.”

The association have previously expressed their hope that Gaudí could be beatified in June 2016, following their presentation of a 1,200 page portfolio on the architect in Rome in 2011. Gaudi’s cause was also supported by Cardinal Ricardo Carles Gordo, who was Archbishop of Barcelona from 1990 to 2004.

Although no miracles have yet been formally acknowledged by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints as having been worked through Gaudi’s intercession, the portfolio included two possibilities.

One is the cure of a Spaniard from Canet de Mar who suffered from stomach ulcers, and the second is the case of a woman from the town of Reus who lost her sight but later regained it after praying through Gaudi’s intercession.

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WORLD NEWS

Pope Francis planning to visit Fatima in 2017, local bishop announces

by CNA/EWTN News • April 30, 2015

Our Lady of Fatima in Archdiocese of Los Angeles. (Joseph Ferrara via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0)

Fatima, Portugal — In 2017, Pope Francis plans to travel to Fatima, said Bishop António Augusto dos Santos Marto of Leiria-Fátima in a statement after meeting with the Holy Father.

The occasion for the visit would be the 100-year anniversary of Mary’s appearing to three shepherd children at Fatima.

No travel dates to the Portuguese shrine have been set, but the country is already preparing for the celebration of the centenary of the apparitions.

Two years ago, Pope Francis received the statue of Our Lady of Fatima in St. Peter’s Square. He invited those present to meditate on the gaze of Mary.

“O Mary, let us feel your gaze as a Mother,” he said. “Lead us to your Son, as we are not Christians ‘for show’, but who can ‘get their hands dirty’ to build with your Son, Jesus, his Kingdom of love, joy and peace.”

“How important it is,” the Pope said of Mary’s gaze. “How many things can be said with a look! Affection, encouragement, compassion, love, but also reproach, envy, pride, even hatred.”

“Often,” he added, “the look says more than words, or says what words cannot or dare not say. Who looks at the Virgin Mary? She looks at all of us, each of us … She looks at us like a Mother, with tenderness, with mercy, with love. The same way she looked at the child Jesus, in every moment of his life … When we are tired, discouraged, overwhelmed by the problems, look to Mary.”

St. John Paul II also had a special devotion to Virgin of Fatima. He attributed his survival during a 1981 assassination attempt to her miraculous intervention. As a sign of his gratitude, he placed the bullet from the failed assassination attempt in her crown.

“Pray for the brother who shot me, whom I have sincerely forgiven. United to Christ, as a priest and victim, I offer my sufferings for the Church and the world,” Pope John Paul II said.

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WORLD NEWS

God has not abandoned us, Chilean bishop says after volcano eruption

by CNA/EWTN News • April 30, 2015

Calbuco volcano eruption in Chile. (Andiseño Estudio via Flickr, public domain)

Santiago, Chile — Facing devastation from the unexpected eruption of the Calbuco volcano in southern Chile, Archbishop Cristian Caro of Puerto Montt, one of the areas at risk, reminded the faithful not to lose hope.

“Let us place our trust in God who does not abandon his children,” the prelate said.

At 5:50 a.m. on April 22, the Calbuco volcano, located in the Los Lagos Region, erupted after lying dormant for 43 years. The authorities declared a red alert in a 12-mile zone from the volcano since the ongoing eruption entails “great danger for the population.” At 1 a.m. the following day, a second eruption began, rising nine miles into the sky.

In a message sent to the local radio stations in the affected areas, Archbishop Caro quoted from the Psalms: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”

The archbishop stated that “sometimes life hits us with situations like these – suffering, darkness, uncertainty … and at that moment we have to renew our trust in God, even though we walk through dark valleys we should fear nothing because the Lord goes with us.”

He said that he visited one of the shelters housing people who had to abandon their homes because of the volcanic eruption, in order to bring a word of faith, calm and closeness.

Asking for help for the people in the shelters – especially clothing for the children, young adults and elderly – the archbishop gave his blessing to “all who have gone through or who are going through this time of suffering, and for their families, and may the Lord and the Virgin Mary accompany you.”

Among those who were forced to abandon their homes because of the eruption were 12 sisters of perpetual adoration, who had to leave their monastery, located in the high risk area. At the request of the archbishop, they were relocated to a Carmelite monastery in order keep their community together.

“At this time we can’t answer the phone. The community is now at the Carmelite Monastery, we are all doing well, we are very united in the Lord and we have abandoned ourselves into the hands of God. Thank you, may God bless you,” was the message on the answering machine at the Monastery of the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, located 12 miles from the Calbuco volcano.

One concern going forward is the effect that the volcanic ash will have on the crops, livestock and water supply in the region. By April 24, the ash had spread as far as Buenos Aires, Argentina, causing flights to and from the United States and Europe to be canceled.

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Office of the Department of the Interior and Public Safety reported that there are 12 locations set up for those who had to leave their homes after the eruption. The authorities recently ordered a new evacuation in the eruption zone because of volcanic mudflows of sediment and water close to the volcano.

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WORLD NEWS

‘I find God in suffering’: The gripping life and death of Kayla Mueller

by Elise Harris and Alan Holdren (CNA/EWTN News) • May 1, 2015

Kayla Mueller. (The Mueller family)

Madrid, Spain — Kayla Mueller, the young human rights activist who was killed earlier this year while being held hostage by ISIS, was a woman of faith with a heart full of compassion toward those who suffered, her parents say. Now, they intend to carry on her legacy of service to others.

“Some people find God in Church, some people find God in nature, some people find God in love, I find God in suffering,” Kayla’s mother, Marsha Mueller told CNA April 18, reciting a phrase of her daughter.

“I’ve known for some time what my life’s work is: using my hands as tools to relieve suffering.”

The Mueller’s shared their daughter’s story during an April 17-20 conference entitled “#We Are Nazarenes” in Madrid, Spain.

The title of the conference took it’s inspiration from the Arabic letter “nun,” which ISIS militants branded on the houses of Christians in Mosul, Iraq last summer to indicate which ones belonged to the “Nazarenes.”

The Islamic State – also known as ISIS – has taken over parts of Iraq and Syria in recent months. The militant terror group has established a caliphate and carried out mass persecutions of minority populations, primarily Christians and Yazidis.

Kayla Mueller, who came from Prescott, Ariz. and was 26 at the time of her death, was taken captive by ISIS militants in August 2013 while leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria.

She had been working to help Syrian refugees along the Turkish border with international aid agency Support to Life, and had gone to the hospital to help for a day. Kayla and some of her colleagues were then abducted while being taken to a bus to return back to Turkey.

On Feb. 6, 2015, ISIS released a photo of a damaged building, naming Kayla and claiming that she had been killed in a Jordanian airstrike in Raqqa, Syria.

Her family confirmed her death Feb. 10, saying that ISIS had sent them proof in an email. The email held three photos of her body, bruised on the face and dressed in a black hijab – a veil that covers the head and chest.

Kayla’s parents, Carl and Marsha Mueller, recounted how their daughter had always been affected by the suffering of others, and that “her heart always broke when she saw suffering.”

From the time she was young Kayla had gotten involved with several volunteer organizations in her hometown, including youth camp.

She was good at speaking, so she got involved with different international groups, and had even been invited to go to Washington D.C. to meet with people as part of the leadership of the groups, Marsha recalled.

After starting her college career in environmental studies, Marsha explained that Kayla felt she wasn’t supposed to stay in school, but wanted to get her degree. She then changed her degree to political science with a minor in international relations and graduated in two and a half years.

Just two months after her graduation in Dec. 2009, Kayla traveled to India to work in an orphanage. When the weather got too hot, she went to the country’s northern border, where she worked with Tibetan refugees and taught them English.

She later went on to work in Israel, Palestine and France, where she studied for a year so she could learn French with the intention of doing mission work in Africa.

Carl Mueller, Kayla’s father, said that she truly shared in the suffering of those that she worked with. British philosopher and writer Bertrand Russell’s declaration that he had an “unbearable pity” for the suffering of mankind described how his daughter was.

That phrase, he said, “explains Kayla in as few words as you can possibly use. She truly suffered when she saw other people suffering and she had to help, she just had to help.”

In one letter Kayla wrote to her father while she was in India, she recounted how she had come home and was so angry about something that had happened that she was shaking.

What she managed to write down at the time was a shock even for herself when she read it later, Carl noted, recalling her words: “I find God in the suffering eyes reflected in mine. If this is how you are revealed to me this is how I will always seek you.”

Mr. Mueller said that after he received Kayla’s letter he wrote the phrase on a bookmark for her to carry with her in her travels, but she refused to take it. The bookmark now hangs on a wall in the Mueller home, alongside the various other gifts Kayla sent to her parents from abroad.

Kayla’s mother recalled how dedicated she was to alleviating and comforting the suffering of others, and said that her former declaration that “as long as I live I won’t let this suffering be normal,” is evidence of her determination.

“She looked at all people. Kayla was not narrow or selective. She had a real gift to learn from everyone, and she reached out to people that were different to learn from them,” Marsha said.

Despite how deeply she shared in others’ suffering, Kayla was always “fun-loving and joyful,” her mother explained, noting that she was always touched by how people with so little “still had so much.”

Kayla’s decision to travel to Syria rather than Africa, as she had originally planned, was the result of a chance encounter with a Syrian man while returning home from Palestine.

While on a layover in Egypt, Kayla met the man, who was not living in Syria but was visiting on holiday, and told him about the work she did.

Although he couldn’t understand why she would dedicate her life to others rather than looking out for herself, the man was touched by “Kayla’s love for people,” Marsha said.

The two of them kept in touch through skype and email, and once the Syrian crisis broke out the man went back to help his people because of Kayla’s influence, she recalled. He kept Kayla informed of the situation, and because of that she decided to travel to the Turkish border to work with Syrian refugees.

While on the border, Kayla worked with women whose husbands had either been killed, captured or were fighting with the Syrian Army.

Together with a few other colleagues Kayla helped to found an organization called “Dignity” in Arabic, where the women sold homemade baby clothes in order to raise money for their families.

Carl recalled how in one talk Kayla gave in their hometown, she explained that one of the women had asked her “Where is the world?”

“And Kayla, having no answer, said all she could do was sit and cry with them. That’s what she did, she comforted those people and she wanted to be where the suffering was the worst.”

Marsha said the last time they saw Kayla was at the end of May to the beginning of June, 2013 when she had come home for a 10 day visit, just two months before her abduction.

At the end of the visit, Marsha recalled how she sat on the couch with Kayla and held her hand, telling her “Kayla I just don’t want you to go this time, I want you to stay.”

Although the topic of conversation quickly changed, Marsha said that the next morning Kayla came out with a clay hand she had made and let dry in her room, saying “Mom, you’ll always have my hand.”

The expression became the inspiration and namesake for the Mueller’s nonprofit organization “Kayla’s hands,” which they founded after her death in order to honor her and continue her work in serving others.

After Kayla was abducted, her parents received ransom demands from ISIS, including requests for extremely large sums of money and the release or exchange of other prisoners.

The militants had even threatened them, saying Kayla would be killed if they spoke out, “so that’s why no one heard anything for 18 months,” Carl noted, and revealed that not even the rest of their family knew about the abduction for several months.

Marsha said that Kayla had always stayed in close contact with them through letters and skype, and that once they found out Kayla had been taken, she continued to write her daughter, and has 10 full notebooks of her correspondence detailing what was going on at home and “the miracles” they saw happening.

Faith has kept them going throughout the stress of the process, the Mueller’s said. “I don’t think we could have done it without faith.”

After the tension placed on them personally as well as their marriage in the face of making life or death decisions regarding their daughter, their relationship has been changed “forever,” Carl said, “but we have one thing, and that’s our faith. And it keeps bringing us back together and making us strong.”

Kayla’s message to the world, they explained, is that “one person can make a difference … one person with extraordinary faith, extraordinary compassion and extraordinary courage can make a difference, and Kayla has.”

They said that while they are just normal people, their daughter, whom they called “Special K” from the time she was little, was in fact the special one, and they want to continue her legacy.

The couple also made an appeal to the international community to make a greater effort in fighting against ISIS, saying that “If world had gotten together in 2013 when this group really formed, a lot of these kids would be alive, a lot of these families wouldn’t have their homes destroyed.”

“So there was a lot not done; people just kind of kept thinking it would go away,” Marsha said.

Her husband echoed her thoughts, saying that the world needs to band together and “bring this to a stop. It’s not the United States, we can’t police the world … it’s got to be all the countries and they’ve all got to do brave things.”

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U.S. NEWS

Archbishop Kurtz on March for Marriage: Sacrament is much more than ‘adult friendship’

by Adelaide Mena (CNA/EWTN News) • April 25, 2015

Crowds hold signs in defense of traditional marriage at the March for Marriage in Washington, D.C. on April 25, 2015. (Adelaide Mena/CNA)

Washington, D.C. — A diverse crowd of thousands of people from across the U.S. gathered in front of the US Capitol to speak and stand in defense of marriage on Saturday.

“We have too long taken for granted the gift of marriage as the union of one man and one woman,” Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky. and President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops told CNA.

The Archbishop cautioned that society’s view of seeing marriage only as “an adult friendship” looses sight of the “sacrificial love” and “one flesh union that Jesus Himself spoke of” that form the basis for marriage as an institution.

“We have not cultivated the basis for sacrificial love but have, in a sense, fallen victims of a culture that tends to talk about adult choices and options,” he explained.

“I think we’re returning now very much to our roots, saying that at the basis of a good, healthy civilization and society is a family, and at the basis of that family is a sacrificial love”

The Archbishop gave an address at the rally before the third annual March for Marriage, joining other Christian and political leaders including Pastor Jim Garlow of Skyline Church in San Diego and Ryan Dobson, son of Dr. James Dobson, and Rev. Senator Ruben Diaz of New York City in offering a public defense of marriage. Speeches were given in both Spanish and English and translated so all participants could understand each of the speakers’ testimonies.

The march was held in commemoration of two 2013 Supreme Court cases concerning the federal definition of marriage and states’ ability to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The 2013 decisions stated that the federal government should not enforce its own definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman, but instead should respect the definitions offered by each state.

On April 28, the Supreme Court will again address arguments about the nature of marriage, that will challenge bans on same-sex “marriage” on the grounds of the 14th amendment, claiming that respecting the traditional definition of marriage violates civil rights.

A ruling is expected in June 2015. Washington, D.C.- A diverse crowd of thousands of people from across the U.S. gathered in front of the US Capitol to speak and stand in defense of marriage on Saturday.

“We have too long taken for granted the gift of marriage as the union of one man and one woman,” Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky. and President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops told CNA.

The Archbishop cautioned that society’s view of seeing marriage only as “an adult friendship” looses sight of the “sacrificial love” and “one flesh union that Jesus Himself spoke of” that form the basis for marriage as an institution.

“We have not cultivated the basis for sacrificial love but have, in a sense, fallen victims of a culture that tends to talk about adult choices and options,” he explained.

“I think we’re returning now very much to our roots, saying that at the basis of a good, healthy civilization and society is a family, and at the basis of that family is a sacrificial love”

The Archbishop gave an address at the rally before the third annual March for Marriage, joining other Christian and political leaders including Pastor Jim Garlow of Skyline Church in San Diego and Ryan Dobson, son of Dr. James Dobson, and Rev. Senator Ruben Diaz of New York City in offering a public defense of marriage. Speeches were given in both Spanish and English and translated so all participants could understand each of the speakers’ testimonies.

The march was held in commemoration of two 2013 Supreme Court cases concerning the federal definition of marriage and states’ ability to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The 2013 decisions stated that the federal government should not enforce its own definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman, but instead should respect the definitions offered by each state.

On April 28, the Supreme Court will again address arguments about the nature of marriage, that will challenge bans on same-sex “marriage” on the grounds of the 14th amendment, claiming that respecting the traditional definition of marriage violates civil rights.

A ruling is expected in June 2015.

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U.S. NEWS

For filmmakers, ‘Little Boy’ moved mountains of its own

by Hillary Mast (CNA/EWTN News) • April 25, 2015

Jakob Salvati and Eduardo Verastegui star in ‘Little Boy.’ (Metanoia Films)

Hollywood, CA — A new film from award-winning writer and director Alejandro Monteverde proved to not only tell a story of faith, but to strengthen the faith of those working on it as well.

“It was going to be a very, very difficult film to produce, but at the same time we were in love with the story which is about believing in the impossible,” said Eduardo Verastegui, one of the film’s producers and stars, known for his role in the 2006 movie Bella.

From the beginning of the film, the town runt, Pepper Busbee (Jakob Salvati), and his dad, James (Michael Rapaport), share a special bond, but it’s tested when older brother London (David Henrie) gets rejected by the Army for being flat-footed, and their dad has to go to war instead.

With thousands of miles between them, Pepper, the “Little Boy,” relies more than ever on his and his dad’s motto during their imaginary adventures.

“Do you believe we can do this?” his dad asks, to which Little Boy always responds with a resounding, “Yes!”

Now with his dad in real danger, Little Boy thinks he can bring him home if only he believes strongly enough. During Mass, he hears Father Crispin (Eduardo Verastegui) quote Matthew 17:20 and tell the congregation that if they have faith the size of a mustard seed, they can move mountains.

The lesson that he learns in the story that follows is one faith, mercy and trust in God.

Having faith in the impossible was not only in the film’s plotline, but also in its production.

From the onset, it was clear that as an independent film made “totally outside the system,” it would be very difficult to produce. Verastegui said.

“I knew that this was going to be a big, big challenge,” he explained in an April 22 conference call.

First, the production team had to find the money to create the film, including authentic costumes and a set made to look like 1940s small town America. They also needed to cast the film, knowing that the lead role of “Little Boy,” Pepper Busbee, had to be perfect.

After going through auditions with more than 1,000 children, Monteverde saw Jakob Salvati sitting in the lobby, waiting for his brother, who was auditioning for the film. Eventually the young boy – then seven years old – won the part, even though he had only acted for television before.

During filming, Salvati would reportedly go missing before a scene he was in, only to be discovered by Monteverde praying.

“I was praying that the scene would go well,” he said. “I would go over and over and over again saying, ‘God, please help me so I can get this scene right and everyone else can get this scene right,’ because I wouldn’t want to have to do it over and over and over again.”

Actor David Henrie, who plays Little Boy’s older brother London, said that he was searching for a film like this after he emerged as a Disney star.

Little did he know that producer and co-star Verastegui was praying for him and asking for prayers on his behalf. During a keynote address at a 2012 fundraiser for a women’s pregnancy center in Denver, Verastegui told attendees about the new film and requested prayers for Henrie, who he said was in the midst of returning to the Church.

In a different interview, Henrie told BreatheCast.com that the film’s producers were producers were “instrumental” in his conversion and that they “led me back to my faith, led me back to my beliefs”.

“I will forever be grateful for (“Little Boy”) because it was the film that saved my life,” he said.

As an up-and-coming actor, Henrie said that he’s noticed a growing popularity in faith-based movies over the last decade.

“I think the past 10 years, when you look at the top-grossing films, the majority of them have inspirational values or positive messaging and those types of elements to them,” he said during the conference call. “I think there’s a reason why those films are the most successful every year and it’s because that’s what the human heart wants.”

“The theme really spoke to my heart in a big way. I think it’s a very foundational element and theme that everyone deals with,” he said, namely, “do you put your faith in yourself to find your own existence or do you put your theme in something bigger than you?”

“Little Boy” is distributed by Open Road Films and opened in select theaters nationwide April 24.

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U.S. NEWS

Salt Lake City bishop appointed to New Mexico archdiocese

by CNA/EWTN News • April 27, 2015

Bishop John Charles Wester of Salt Lake City, Utah. (CNA)

Salt Lake City, UT — On Monday, Pope Francis appointed Bishop John Wester, who has led the Diocese of Salt Lake City since 2007 and is known for speaking out on the importance of immigration reform, as Archbishop of Santa Fe.

“Bishop Wester will bring wonderful gifts to the people of the historic Archdiocese of Santa Fe. His Episcopal motto, Abide in Christ, reflects his pastoral heart that so graciously embraces others, with special concern for the multi-cultural dimension of the Catholic Church,” the Salt Lake City diocese said in an April 27 statement.

“The bishop’s commitment to social justice, especially care for the undocumented and the poor, is noteworthy, as is his ecumenical collaboration in Utah and beyond.”

John Wester was born in San Francisco in 1950, and was ordained a priest of the San Francisco archdiocese in 1976, serving in parishes and as a teacher; chaplain; school administrator; secretary and master of ceremonies for the archbishop; and vicar for clergy.

He was then appointed an auxiliary bishop of the same archdiocese in 1998, serving as its vicar general. He was also apostolic administrator of the archdiocese during a 2005-2006 interim between archbishops.

In March 2007, he was installed as Bishop of Salt Lake City. The diocese stated that “while the Catholic people of Utah are honored to have their bishops selected as Archbishop of Santa Fe, they will be sad to see him leave and greatly appreciate his ministry over the past eight years. Under his leadership the Diocese of Salt Lake City has grown significantly.”

His first pastoral letter as Bishop of Salt Lake City encouraged faithful observance of the seasons of Advent and Christmas, urging Catholics in Utah to celebrate each season in a fitting manner.

He chairs the US bishops’ communications committee, and had previously chaired its committee on migration. While chair of the migration committee, Bishop Wester highlighted the importance of underlying economic issues and called “draconian” SB 1070, a 2010 Arizona law criminalizing undocumented immigrants.

Bishop Wester’s Mass of Installation as Archbishop of Santa Fe will be said June 4 at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.

He succeeds Archbishop Michael Sheehan, 75, whose resignation was accepted today.

“Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan and the Priests, Deacons, Religious and Laity of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe welcome Archbishop-Elect John C. Wester with open arms and loving hearts,” the Santa Fe archdiocese stated.

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe has more than 200 priests, serving a Catholic population of 314,000, and a total population of 1.4 million. Its suffragan dioceses are Gallup, Las Cruces, Phoenix, and Tucson.

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Religious leaders urge conscience protections in recognizing marriage

by CNA/EWTN News • April 27, 2015

(Fabio Sola Penna via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

Washington, D.C. — More than 30 U.S. religious leaders, including four Catholic bishops, have joined together to call on their country to preserve the “unique meaning of marriage” and to renew respect for religious freedom.

“For many people, accepting a redefinition of marriage would be to act against their conscience and to deny their religious beliefs and moral convictions,” the April 23 open letter said. “No person or community, including religious organizations and individuals of faith, should be forced to accept this redefinition.”

A legal redefinition of marriage would have “serious consequences, especially for religious freedom,” the religious leaders warned. Such a change would affect every law involving marital status and require other relationships to be treated “as if they were the same as the marital relationship of a man and a woman.”

The letter emphasized the need for government protection for those with different views of marriage so that these people may “express their beliefs and convictions without fear of intimidation, marginalization or unwarranted charges that their values imply hostility, animosity or hatred of others.”

The letter was signed by 35 religious leaders from Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox Christian, Mormon and Islamic associations and churches.

The letter, titled “The Defense of Marriage and the Right of Religious Freedom: Reaffirming a Shared Witness,” comes ahead of oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that could rule whether states must grant same-sex “marriage” licenses and recognize “gay marriages” contracted in other states.

The recognition of same-sex civil partnerships and of “gay marriage,” especially when combined with strict anti-discrimination laws, have caused legal conflicts for religious individuals and organizations.

Some religious adoption agencies have shut down because they would only place children in homes with a mother and a father, and so they could not comply with laws requiring them to place children with same-sex couples. Individuals involved in the wedding industry, such as photographers and cake makers, have faced lawsuits for declining to serve a same-sex ceremony on religious grounds. Some state officials, like judges, also face professional penalties if they act on moral reservations about witnessing same-sex legal unions.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., president of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference, signed the April 23 open letter.

“We hope this letter serves as an encouragement to all of us, especially those dedicated to public service, to continue to promote both marriage and religious freedom as integral to a healthy and free society,” Archbishop Kurtz said April 23, according to the bishops’ conference.

He said that marriage as a union of one man and one woman “provides the best context for the birth and rearing of children and should be specially protected by law.”

“Society should work to strengthen the unique bond between husband and wife, knowing that strong marriages build stronger communities,” he said.

The religious leaders’ open letter said that marriage is “the foundation of the family where children are raised by a mother and a father together.”

The state has a “compelling interest” in maintaining marriage “because it has a compelling interest in the well-being of children,” they said. Marriage safeguards the connection between children and their mother and father and helps provide children the opportunity to be raised “in a stable, loving home,” the letter continued.

The signatories voiced love and respect for “all those who disagree with us.”

Other Catholic signers included Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, who chairs the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage; Archbishop William E. Lori, who heads the bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty; and Bishop Richard J. Malone of Buffalo, N.Y., who heads the bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.

The latest open letter follows up on a December 6, 2010 letter on the protection of marriage and a January 12, 2012 letter on marriage and religious freedom.

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Scholars: No legal right to ‘gay marriage’ in Constitution

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • April 27, 2015

(Tekke via Flickr CC BY-ND 2.0)

Washington, D.C. — There is no legal right to “gay marriage” in the Constitution, legal experts asserted, and the Supreme Court should not bypass the democratic process and redefine marriage for all 50 states.

“There’s nothing in the U.S. Constitution that requires all 50 states to redefine marriage,” said Ryan Anderson, Ph.D., the William E. Simon senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

“Since there’s good arguments on both sides of this debate, unelected judges shouldn’t simply insert their own policy views about marriage and then declare them required by the Constitution.”

Anderson joined attorney Gene Schaerr, J.D., in discussing state marriage laws at the Heritage Foundation April 20.

The panel discussion came a few days before the April 28 oral arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges, a monumental case that could lead to a nationwide redefinition of marriage.

The legal challenge arises from four marriage cases decided by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in November. In a 2-1 decision, the judges upheld the traditional marriage laws in four states – Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee – claiming the judiciary did not have the power to define marriage and that the decision should be left to the citizens and the state legislatures.

That ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court, which agreed to take the case and decide if same-sex couples have a legal right to marry under the 14th Amendment, or if the states each have the power to define marriage for themselves.

Dozens of amicus briefs were filed for both the plaintiffs and the respondents by individuals, organizations, states, hundreds of businesses, and the U.S. Department of Justice.

There is no right to same-sex marriage in the 14th Amendment or elsewhere in the Constitution, stressed Schaerr, who is a D.C.-based attorney who defended Utah’s traditional marriage amendment in the Tenth Circuit Court and once clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia.

Schaerr cited Sixth Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton, who earlier ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that “so far, not a single United States Supreme Court Justice in American history has written an opinion maintaining that the traditional definition of marriage violates the Fourteenth Amendment.”

The 14th Amendment states, in part, “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Since there is no Constitutional right to marriage, “a state’s rejection of that claimed right couldn’t possibly be a denial of due process,” Schaerr said.

And such state laws do not deprive citizens of equal protection under the law, he continued. Although there is no legal right to same-sex marriage, people are still free to marry someone of the opposite sex, regardless of their own race, religion, or sexual orientation.

“The argument that there is discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation just doesn’t work,” Schaerr continued.

If the Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage in response to popular opinion, it could have long-reaching negative consequences that aggravate, not settle, the debate on the matter, Schaerr suggested, saying that this can be seen through Supreme Court history.

When justices tried to solve heated social controversies in the past instead of letting them be solved by the people, the decisions “backfired spectacularly,” he maintained.

“These cases that the Court has before it now are really an attempt to tempt the Court to take away from the people their ordinary right in our Constitutional order to decide difficult policy issues through democratic means.”

As an example, he related how in the 1973 decision Roe v. Wade, the Court decided the pressing social question of legal abortion for the country. Citing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, he argued that the ruling “actually provoked a political backlash that is with us to this day.”

Anderson agreed and insisted that the matter should be left up to the states as the “laboratories of democracy,” in the words of the Supreme Court.

If the states can define marriage through the democratic process, he said, people can see first-hand the consequences of changing marriage and decide accordingly, rather than the Court deciding a legal right to “gay marriage” and forcing everyone to wait for the consequences.

“The Supreme Court justices have no better ability than anyone in America to predict what the outcome will be. They’re not a super-legislature,” Anderson said.

“There’s nothing in the Constitution that tells us which of those two arguments is the better argument,” he continued. “The Court should respect the Constitutional authority of states to make marriage policy.”

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Supreme Court doesn’t tip hand: asks tough questions of both sides in marriage case

by Matt Hadro and Adelaide Mena (CNA/EWTN News) • April 28, 2015

Supporters of marriage join protests in front of the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges, April 28, 2015. (Addie Mena/CNA)

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Supreme Court justices asked tough questions of both plaintiffs and respondents at oral arguments on Tuesday in a possibly landmark marriage case that is expected to be decided in June.

“Clearly, the justices were conflicted over this issue,” stated the Heritage Foundation’s William E. Simon senior fellow Ryan Anderson, who attended the April 28 oral arguments before the Supreme Court.

“The first question out of Justice Kennedy was, ‘do you want to throw away a millennia-old definition of marriage for 10 years of same-sex marriage?’ He was asking questions that I think are a good sign. They suggest his mind is not made up.”

The justices heard arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges, part of four marriage cases concerning the constitutionality of state traditional marriage laws. The court will decide, probably in June, whether states must recognize same-sex marriages under the 14th Amendment, and recognize same-sex marriages conducted in other states.

Supporters of both traditional marriage and same-sex marriage packed the sidewalk outside the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. to tell the court to rule their way on marriage.

Traditional marriage supporters argued that marriage cannot be redefined and that children should be raised by both a mother and a father. The matter should be left to the people and the states, they added, not decided once and for all by the court when so much disagreement on the matter persists.

Supporters of same-sex marriage said everyone has the right to marry the person they love, and that right cannot wait to be decided by the states but should be recognized immediately by the Supreme Court.

The justices did not reveal a clear consensus toward either side in their questions.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, usually considered a swing vote between the conservative and liberal justices, acknowledged right away that marriage has been defined for “millennia” as between a man and a woman.

Yet in the same statement he remarked, “it was about the same time between Brown and Loving as between Lawrence and this case.”

Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark 1954 decision which ruled that state laws allowing racial segregation in schools denied persons equal protection under the law. Loving v. Virginia, 13 years later, overturned Virginia’s interracial marriage ban.

Lawrence v. Texas was a 2003 case which overturned Texas’ sodomy law, criminalizing private conduct of same-sex persons as an unconstitutional violation of due process of same-sex couples. Kennedy delivered that ruling.

Kennedy later stated, “I thought that was the whole purpose of marriage. It bestows dignity on both man and woman in a traditional marriage … it’s dignity bestowing, and [same-sex couples] say that want to have that – that same ennoblement.” He also questioned whether opposition to same-sex marriage on purely religious grounds was “sufficient.”

John Bursch, who represented the states, maintained that “the state’s entire interest springs out of the face that we want to forever link children with their biological mom and dad when that’s possible.”

The justices peppered Mary Bonauto, arguing for the petitioners in the case, with questions about the long-standing recognization of marriage as between a man and a woman. Justice Stephen Breyer acknowledged that the traditional definition of marriage “has been the law everywhere for thousands of years.”

He continued, “suddenly you want nine people outside the ballot box to require states that don’t want to do it to … change what marriage is to include gay people.”

“Why cannot those states at least wait and see whether in fact doing so in the other states is or is not harmful to marriage?” he concluded.

Chief Justice John Roberts echoed the point that the democratic process could decide the issue better than the courts.

“If you prevail here,” he told Bonauto, “there will be no more debate. I mean, closing of debate can close minds, and it will have a consequence on how this new institution is accepted. People feel very differently about something if they have a chance to vote on it than if it’s imposed on them by the courts.”

Both Justices Scalia and Alito pressed Bonauto and U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verilli, who also argued for the plaintiffs, on religious liberty concerns if a constitutional right to marriage was recognized by the court.

Verilli did later admit that “it’s certainly going to be an issue” for colleges who oppose same-sex marriage to keep their tax-exempt status if the court ruled in favor of a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.

The justices also questioned the argument against same-sex marriage, asking how allowing marriage benefits to same-sex couples would take away from married opposite-sex couples.

Marriage rights have also been granted in the past to persons who did not enjoy the right before, such as interracial couples or prisoners, noted Justices Elena Kagan and Sonya Sotomayor.

Ryan Anderson highlighted the judges’ asking hard questions of both sides as more evidence that the court should not decide the issue, but leave it to the democratic process and the states.

“The nine justices on the Supreme Court don’t have any more great insight than ordinary citizens do as to which marriage policy will serve the 50 states best,” he said after the arguments.

“If the Court is to be consistent with its marriage ruling from just two years ago, then the Court must uphold state marriage laws defining marriage as the union of husband and wife. Nothing in the Constitution requires all 50 states to redefine marriage.”

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, who is president of the U.S. bishops conference, commented that “today is a moment of great consequence. Marriage is a perennial institution, with deep roots in who we are and in our nation’s culture and laws. Marriage is and always will be the union between one man and one woman. This truth is inseparable from the duty to honor the God-given dignity of every human person.”

“We pray that the justices will uphold the responsibility of states to protect the beautiful truth of marriage, which concerns the essential well-being of the nation, especially children. Children have a basic right, wherever possible, to know and be loved by their mother and father together. The Church will always defend this right and looks to people of good will to continue this debate with charity and civility,” the archbishop concluded.

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Baltimore archbishop: With God, a broken city can heal

by Kevin Jones (CNA/EWTN News) • April 29, 2015

Protests in Baltimore after man died while in police custody, April 28, 2015. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

Baltimore, MD — After both peaceful protests and violent riots following the death of an African American man in the custody of the Baltimore police, the local archbishop appealed to prayer and truth as means of healing and restoring human dignity.

“May we pray together that God will grace us with his presence always, so that our broken city can once again be made whole, and that our minds and our hearts will be open to peace and God’s love beyond all understanding,” Archbishop William E. Lori said in an April 28 video message.

“Today, many in our city are trying to come to grips with the aftermath of emotional and sometimes violent protests that threaten to overshadow two realities that cannot and should not be lost: a family’s devastating loss of a young man whose body was laid to rest Monday, and a grieving community’s peaceful quest for answers and for justice.”

Baltimore resident Freddie Gray, 25, died on April 19, one week after he sustained injuries while being transported following an arrest by Baltimore police. His injuries included a severed spinal cord and a crushed voicebox.

His funeral was on Monday.

“Our hearts cannot help but go out to the loved ones of Freddie Gray, whose pain and anguish we share,” Archbishop Lori said. “Freddie was not merely a symbol, but a real person whose life was tragically cut short.”

The archbishop said this pain will be endured by “far too many other Baltimore families” as long as “senseless violence and hatred continue.”

Hundreds of people have peacefully protested Gray’s death, and some protests have turned violent.

From Monday evening to Tuesday morning, Baltimore police arrested 235 people, while the fire department responded to 15 building fires and 144 vehicle fires, which critically injured one person. Twenty police officers were injured, the Baltimore Sun reports.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan activated the National Guard in response.

Many denounced the violence, including Gray’s family and President Barack Obama. Some residents worked to clean up after rioters.

Archbishop Lori and Auxiliary Bishop Denis Madden on Tuesday morning visited churches and communities affected by the Monday night riots.

Sean Caine, executive communications director of the Baltimore archdiocese, told CNA April 28 that the two bishops met with pastors, community members cleaning up after riots, and people who were at work.

Caine said the archbishop wanted to see the destruction and meet with people “to convey concern and offer support.”

Several Catholic schools announced early closures due to protests scheduled nearby. All Catholic schools in Baltimore County have cancelled after-school activities.

Archbishop Lori said Gray’s death symbolizes the “rawest of open wounds” which can only be healed by the truth: the truth about what happened to Gray, the truth about “the sin of racism still present in our community” and the truth about the collective responsibility to deal with issues that undermine everyone’s human dignity.

Archbishop Lori called for prayer for the Gray family and for all families who have lost loved ones.

“May we unite in prayer for immediate and lasting healing, especially between members of our community and law enforcement, brought about by dialogue, mutual respect, understanding and love,” he continued.

He prayed that further protests will be peaceful, adding that violence “only deepens and prolongs injustice.”

The Archdiocese of Baltimore on its website listed opportunities to pray for peace at several Catholic churches, including a Tuesday evening Mass at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. St. Bernardine Catholic Church planned to host a previously scheduled youth revival on Tuesday evening in conjunction with St. Frances Academy, the oldest Catholic school for African-Americans in the U.S. An ecumenical prayer service was also scheduled at Broadneck Baptist Church.

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Will youth inevitably support same-sex marriage? These activists say no

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • April 29, 2015

Defenders of marriage join rallies in front of SCOTUS during arguments over definition of marriage in Washington, D.C. on April 28, 2015. (Addie Mena/CNA)

Washington, D.C. — Old and young, gay and straight, marriage defense advocates rallied outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, calling for the institution of marriage to be maintained.

Doug Mainwaring was one of those standing up in defense of marriage as the union of a man and woman.

He himself is an admitted former member of a same-sex union.

“I have as much trouble with no-fault divorce as I have with same-sex marriage,” he told an audience outside the Court building.

Nonetheless, he sees danger in re-defining marriage – so much so that he is actively fighting it in front of the Supreme Court.

“The way I got into this was through concern for my children,” he explained to CNA. “In trying to form a family with another man, I finally concluded this is nuts. My kids don’t need two dads in the house. They need both a mother and a father.”

He left the union to repair his marriage, which he believes was in the best interest of his children.

“Kids don’t have a voice,” he said of the current marriage debate. “I know many who were raised in same-sex households who even though they love their parents, they deeply, deeply regret that parent of the other gender that they missed having a relationship with. And I just believe we need to do whatever’s best for children.”

Mainwaring was among the crowds who stood outside the Supreme Court as it heard oral arguments April 28 in Obergefell v. Hodges, a case appealed to the nation’s highest court from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The case deals with same-sex couples’ lawsuits against four states – Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee – over laws defining marriage as between a man and a woman. The Sixth Circuit previously upheld the laws, saying that the states had the power to define marriage.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the cases in January, to decide under the 14th Amendment if states must grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples and recognize same-sex marriages conducted in other states. The case could result in a nationwide redefinition of marriage. The Court will likely issue a ruling in June.

Outside the Court on Tuesday morning, activists on both sides of the marriage issue packed the sidewalks.

Andrew Guernsey, a junior at Johns Hopkins University, was frank about his fellow Millennials who support same-sex marriage.

“I think many of my peers are misguided on the issue,” he said.

While many young people believe they are “fighting for equality,” he explained, “(w)hat they’re asking for is changing what marriage is.”

“And we can love our gay and lesbian friends without changing the fact that every child comes from a mom and a dad. And there’s something special about that.”

Caitlin La Ruffa, director of the Love and Fidelity Network, agreed. Her organization works to help educate and prepare young people to support and defend marriage.

She said that her generation has already been stung by changes to marriage, such as no-fault divorce. To re-define marriage further will only make things worse, she maintained.

“They’ve seen the breakdown, and their families have been devastated by it,” she said of Millennials, noting that many young people have not been raised by both a mother and a father.

“Most of us aren’t parents yet,” she added, continuing to say that she thinks more young people might support marriage as the union of man and woman as they themselves get married.

Ryan Bomberger, co-founder of the pro-life Radiance Foundation, also spoke in defense of marriage.

“None of this has to do with equality,” said of the push for same-sex marriage. “It has to do with others’ ideology being forced upon us and for us to accept it.”

As a black man, as well as “someone who was adopted and grew up in a very diverse home, someone born as a result of rape, I know all about equality,” he said.

Bomberger said that he sees marriage as a “foundational issue of any society” and “a core conviction that can’t be changed by any poll or any Supreme Court ruling.”

While supporters of same-sex marriage flock to the 14th Amendment to argue in favor of a right to marriage that cannot be infringed upon, Bomberger says that there is no right to same-sex marriage there.

The amendment, adopted three years after the end of the Civil War, “was actually to ascribe humanity to people of my complexion,” he said of the amendment, which solidified due process rights for freed slaves in the South. “It was not to affirm every single behavior known to humankind.”

Ultimately, the argument to defend marriage is about love and not judgment, Bomberger maintained. However, this view often gets attacked, he said, by a society that does not understand the true definition of love.

“We’ve lost the concept of what love is,” he insisted, noting that as a father, he “will warn” his children out of love “against actions and behaviors that are destructive to them.”

“Because I love them,” he stressed, “I try to keep them from doing it.”

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Writer, sister, friend – Sr. Mary Ann Walsh remembered for ‘dedication to the truth’

by Mary Rezac and Michelle Bauman (CNA/EWTN News) • May 1, 2015

Sister Mary Ann Walsh. (Catherine Walsh/Sisters of Mercy of the Americas)

Washington, D.C. — Many journalists would say they have a passion for truth, but for Sr. Mary Ann Walsh, that took on added significance as she worked for the Church she loved.

Ubiquitous in the world of U.S. Catholic media, Sr. Walsh was well-known among Catholic news publications across the country and beyond.

The 68-year old Catholic sister and former director of media relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) passed away on April 28 after multiple battles with cancer.

Bishop John Wester, head of the U.S. bishops’ communication committee, said Sr. Walsh’s love for the Church was obvious in her work in Catholic media over the years.

“She was a clear thinker,” Bishop Wester told CNA. “She knew about Church issues (and) could cut right to the chase.”

He said the memories that stuck out most to him were during the U.S. Bishops’ Conference plenary assemblies twice a year. He recalled Sr. Walsh walking through the aisles of bishops, handing our interview requests from various media outlets, “very quietly just moving among us.”

Sr. Mary Ann Walsh, a New York native, joined the Sisters of Mercy at just 17 years of age. As a sister, she earned her master’s degree in English from Albany’s College of St. Rose in 1976 and a master’s degree in pastoral counseling in 1990 from Loyola University in Baltimore.

After working as a school teacher, Sr. Walsh began her career in journalism at a diocesan newspaper in Albany, N.Y. at the age of 30. She then went on to serve at Catholic News Service’s bureau in Rome from 1983 to 1986 and later as a national desk reporter and media editor in the news service’s Washington bureau.

“I entered media because I wanted to help people,” Sr. Walsh said in a Sisters of Mercy of the Americas video. “I saw people over here who had great needs, and I saw people over here who were willing to meet needs. I thought I could be the bridge. It was the time of Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Waters’ and that’s what I wanted to be: I wanted to be the bridge over troubled waters.”

Sr. Walsh went on to work in the media department of the USCCB beginning in 1993, after she successfully coordinated communications for Pope John Paul II’s trip to Colorado for World Youth Day that same year. For the last third of her 21-year tenure there, she worked as the USCCB’s media director, the first woman to hold that position since the founding of the organization in 1966. A little less than a year ago, in July 2014, she stepped down from the position and became the U.S. correspondent for the weekly Jesuit-run “America” magazine.

“She was a very gifted journalist herself,” Bishop Wester said. “She had the respect of the other journalists.”

Just last month, Sr. Walsh won the Catholic Press Association’s prestigious St. Francis de Sales award, recognizing her lifetime contributions and accomplishments in Catholic media.

“We are grateful to God for our time with her on this earth while remaining confident that her legacy will live on in those who were fortunate to encounter her witness to the Gospel message and her tremendous impact on Catholic media,” the Catholic Press Association said in a statement mourning her death.

Sr. Walsh’s work has been published in the Washington Post, USA Today, and Editor and Publisher. Besides her work in journalism, she also edited three books: Pope John Paul II: A Light for the World; From John Paul II to Benedict XVI: An Inside Look at the End of an Era; and Benedict XVI: Essays and Reflections on His Papacy.

Bishop Wester said during her time with the U.S. Bishops’ Conference, Sr. Walsh served the bishops “beautifully and well,” and that they felt comfortable in her care.

“She had the gift of gentleness and kindness,” he said, “but she also knew how to get the job done.”

Although she was known for her compassion and for having an “eye for the little guy,” Sr. Walsh was also unfailingly fair in her life and her media coverage, Bishop Wester added.

“She was dedicated to the truth,” he said. “She was not swayed by political wins or whatever was in vogue at the moment. I admired that in her.”

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Washington archdiocese lauds House vote to protect religious liberty – but it may not be enough

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • May 1, 2015

Cathedral of St. Matthew, Washington, D.C. (Ron Cogswell via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

Washington, D.C. — The House voted late Thursday night to formally disapprove of two laws which religious and pro-life organizations in the nation’s capital say violate their religious liberty.

The passage of the joint resolution of disapproval, H. J. Res. 43, is the first step towards undoing two laws passed by the Washington, D.C. city council in December and signed into law in January by the city’s mayor, Muriel Bowser (D). Many religious and pro-life employers in D.C. united to oppose the laws as an unconstitutional violation of their First Amendment rights and petitioned Congress to act to stop them.

However, a resolution of disapproval needs to pass the Senate as well, and be signed by the president – and the White House announced April 30 its intention to veto the measure.

The Archdiocese of Washington led opposition to the laws, and praised the House vote. “The archdiocese is very grateful to the members of the U.S. House who voted for H.J. Res. 43 and for the coalition partners who have rallied to uphold religious freedom in our nation’s capital,” the archdiocese said in a statement.

The two laws are the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act and the Human Rights Amendment of 2014. The former would outlaw any hiring or firing of employees for their “reproductive health decision making” even if they are publicly defying the mission of their employer, such as a pro-life organization or a Catholic school.

For example, pro-life groups and Catholic schools would be forced to retain employees who obtained an abortion with public knowledge of the matter.

The Human Rights Amendment of 2014 overturned a 25 year-old amendment that provided a conscience exemption for religiously-affiliated schools so they would not have to recognize groups or individuals acting in public opposition to their mission. Catholic schools would not have to allow use of their facilities for pro-gay events, for example, or officially recognize openly-gay student groups.

Under D.C. Home Rule, once a bill becomes law in the city Congress has 30 legislative days to pass a joint resolution of disapproval against it. The 30-day window was expected to end April 30 for the House, although for the Senate it could end on May 4 since the body did not receive the laws until March 10.

The House vote was largely along party lines, with most Republicans voting for the resolution and nearly all Democrats voting against it.

Three Democrats broke ranks and supported the resolution: Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.), Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), and Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.). Meanwhile, 13 Republicans voted against the resolution, five of them from New York districts.

Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) praised the House for upholding religious freedom in a statement after the resolution was passed.

“At its core, the Reproductive Health Nondiscrimination Act is perhaps the most discriminatory ‘nondiscrimination’ law we have seen to date,” she said.

“While this particular law only applies to the District of Columbia, it sets a dangerous precedent for future legislation that could further weaken our long-held tradition of respecting Americans’ conscience rights.”

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Former Soviet spy: We created Liberation Theology

by CNA/EWTN News • May 1, 2015

Ion Mihai Pacepa on Raul Castro’s yacht in Cuba, 1974. (Ion Mihai Pacepa)

Washington, D.C. — Espionage deep in the heart of Europe. Secrets in the KGB. Defection from a communist nation. Ion Mihai Pacepa has seen his share of excitement, serving as general for Communist Romania’s secret police before defecting to the United States in the late 1970s.

The highest-ranking defector from communism in the ‘70s, he spoke to CNA recently about the connection between the Soviet Union and Liberation Theology in Latin America. Below are excerpts of the interview. All footnotes were provided by Pacepa.

In general, could you say that the spreading of Liberation Theology had any kind of Soviet connection?

Yes. I learned the fine points of the KGB involvement with Liberation Theology from Soviet General Aleksandr Sakharovsky, communist Romania’s chief razvedka (foreign intelligence) adviser – and my de facto boss, until 1956, when he became head of the Soviet espionage service, the PGU1, a position he held for an unprecedented record of 15 years.

On October 26, 1959, Sakharovsky and his new boss, Nikita Khrushchev, came to Romania for what would become known as “Khrushchev’s six-day vacation.” He had never taken such a long vacation abroad, nor was his stay in Romania really a vacation. Khrushchev wanted to go down in history as the Soviet leader who had exported communism to Central and South America. Romania was the only Latin country in the Soviet bloc, and Khrushchev wanted to enroll her “Latin leaders” in his new “liberation” war.

I learned about Sakharovsky from your writings, but I could not find any other relevant information about him. Why?

Sakharovsky was a Soviet reflection of the Cold War’s hot years, when not even all the members of the Israeli and British governments knew the identity of the heads of Mossad and MI-6. But Sakharovsky played an extremely important role in shaping Cold War history. He authored the export of communism to Cuba (1958-1961); his nefarious handling of the Berlin crisis (1958-1961) generated the Berlin Wall; his Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

Was the Theology of Liberation a movement somehow “created” by Sakharovsky’s part of the KGB, or it was an existing movement that was exacerbated by the USSR?

The movement was born in the KGB, and it had a KGB-invented name: Liberation Theology. During those years, the KGB had a penchant for “liberation” movements. The National Liberation Army of Columbia (FARC), created by the KGB with help from Fidel Castro; the “National Liberation Army of Bolivia, created by the KGB with help from “Che” Guevara; and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), created by the KGB with help from Yasser Arafat are just a few additional “liberation” movements born at the Lubyanka — the headquarters of the KGB.

The birth of Liberation Theology was the intent of a 1960 super-secret “Party-State Dezinformatsiya Program” approved by Aleksandr Shelepin, the chairman of the KGB, and by Politburo member Aleksey Kirichenko, who coordinated the Communist Party’s international policies. This program demanded that the KGB take secret control of the World Council of Churches (WCC), based in Geneva, Switzerland, and use it as cover for converting Liberation Theology into a South American revolutionary tool. The WCC was the largest international ecumenical organization after the Vatican, representing some 550 million Christians of various denominations throughout 120 countries.

The birth of a new religious movement is a historic event. How was this new religious movement launched?

The KGB began by building an intermediate international religious organization called the Christian Peace Conference (CPC), which was headquartered in Prague. Its main task was to bring the KGB-created Liberation Theology into the real world.

The new Christian Peace Conference was managed by the KGB and was subordinated to the venerable World Peace Council, another KGB creation, founded in 1949 and by then also headquartered in Prague.

During my years at the top of the Soviet bloc intelligence community I managed the Romanian operations of the World Peace Council (WPC). It was as purely KGB as it gets. Most of the WPC’s employees were undercover Soviet bloc intelligence officers. The WPC’s two publications in French, Nouvelles perspectives and Courier de la Paix, were also managed by undercover KGB – and Romanian DIE2 - intelligence officers. Even the money for the WPC budget came from Moscow, delivered by the KGB in the form of laundered cash dollars to hide their Soviet origin. In 1989, when the Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse, the WPC publicly admitted that 90% of its money came from the KGB3.

How did the Theology of Liberation start?

I was not involved in the creation of Liberation Theology per se. From Sakharovsky I learned, however, that in 1968 the KGB-created Christian Peace Conference, supported by the world-wide World Peace Council, was able to maneuver a group of leftist South American bishops into holding a Conference of Latin American Bishops at Medellin, Colombia. The Conference’s official task was to ameliorate poverty. Its undeclared goal was to recognize a new religious movement encouraging the poor to rebel against the “institutionalized violence of poverty,” and to recommend the new movement to the World Council of Churches for official approval.

The Medellin Conference achieved both goals. It also bought the KGB-born name “Liberation Theology.”

Theology of Liberation had key leaders, some of them famous “pastoral” figures, some others intellectuals. Do you know if there was any involvement of the Soviet bloc in promoting either the personal image or the writings of such personalities? Any specific connection with Bishops Sergio Mendes Arceo from Mexico or Helder Camara from Brazil? Any possible direct connection with liberation theologians such as Leonardo Boff, Frei Betto, Henry Camacho or Gustavo Gutierrez?

I have good reason to suspect that there was an organic connection between the KGB and some of those leading promoters of Liberation Theology, but I have no evidence to prove it. For the last 15 years of my life in Romania (1963 - 1978), I managed that country’s scientific and technological espionage, as well as the disinformation operations aimed at improving Ceausescu’s stature in the West.

I recently glanced through Gutierrez’s book A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, Salvation (1971), and I had the feeling that it was written at the Lubyanka. No wonder he is now credited with being the founder of Liberation Theology. From feelings to facts, however, is a long way.

Footnotes:

1. Pervoye Glavnoye Upravleniye, or First Chief Directorate of the KGB

2. Departamentul de Informatii Externe, Romania’s foreign intelligence service.

3. Herbert Romerstein, Soviet Active Measures and Propaganda, Mackenzie Institute Paper no. 17 (Toronto, 1989), pp. 14-15, 25-26. WPC Peace Courier, 1989, no. 4, as cited in Andrew and Gordievsky, KGB, p. 629.

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San Francisco archdiocese praises Catholic school teachers, rejects ‘inflammatory’ reports

by Kevin J. Jones (CNA/EWTN News) • May 1, 2015

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, June 28, 2013. (Lauren Cater/CNA)

San Francisco, CA — The Archdiocese of San Francisco has stressed its “greatest admiration and respect” for those working in Catholic education, pledging to take into account teachers’ concerns while lamenting that some reports about its proposals for Catholic schools have been “incorrect” and “inflammatory.”

The archdiocese said April 27 that teachers “make vital contributions to the formation of minds and of character.”

“They teach our students to think, read, speak, and pursue wisdom and happiness in a place where the gifts of each person are cultivated and valued. This cannot happen without skilled and dedicated teachers who remain inspired and motivated by their calling.”

The archdiocese repeated its commitment “to do what we can to listen to teachers’ ongoing concerns, to restore respectful discussion, and to heal any rifts that may remain.”

The statement follows several months of controversy.

In early February, Archbishop Cordileone announced changes to archdiocesan high school teachers’ handbooks intended to clarify Catholic religious and moral teachings on several controversial topics, including religious teaching, sexual morality, and the ethics of assisted reproductive technologies.

The archbishop also proposed a clause to Catholic high school teachers’ contracts outlining a ministerial understanding of the role – a proposal he later withdrew.

A 2012 Supreme Court decision granted religious organizations significant freedom from outside interference in hiring decisions, on the understanding that employees had a ministerial role.

The archbishop’s actions drew heated political and media opposition, as well as opposition from many Catholic high school teachers, students and their parents. The archbishop’s critics have variously said that the changes put the teachers’ labor rights at risk, are discriminatory towards gays and lesbians, or show a lack of acceptance inconsistent with San Francisco culture.

An open letter, whose signers included wealthy and influential Catholics of the Bay Area, called on Pope Francis to remove Archbishop Cordileone. The letter was published in a full-page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle April 16. Some of the archbishop’s opponents have hired a public relations firm to undermine him.

The San Francisco archdiocese on April 27 said that media coverage “exaggerates and mischaracterizes the archdiocese’s intentions with regard to the proposed teacher contract.”

“Some of the information in these stories has been so inflammatory as to cause genuine pain and unease with many teachers,” the archdioceses said, criticizing a “most disturbing” suggestion that contract negotiations are being used “only to provide an excuse to fire teachers.”

“That could not be further from the truth,” the archdiocese said. It noted that Archbishop Cordileone on April 27 met with some high school administrators and “reiterated his determination to keep teachers, not fire them.”

“There will be no ‘witch hunts,’ no prying into people’s personal lives, no shaming, no hidden agendas,” the archdiocese added.

According to the archdiocese, the archbishop understands that the teachers want to ensure the final contract language “both promotes Catholic identity and protects the rights of teachers.” The archbishop is willing to make adjustments to secure their rights, it added.

Several protests of the archbishop have taken place. On April 27 more than 100 protesters, including some Catholic school teachers, held a demonstration outside the archdiocese’s headquarters. They waved rainbow banners and sang songs, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Archbishop Cordileone’s supporters have also begun to organize shows of appreciation, though some have said they have felt afraid to speak up.

Among the critics of the bishop is the group Call to Action, a decades-old organization that dissents from Catholic teaching. The group has launched a petition against the archbishop. It also runs a program opposed to many Catholic institutions’ employment policies, including morality clauses in Catholic schools.

Over the period of April 24-26, Call to Action co-sponsored a three-day weekend strategy meeting at Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union.

On the Call to Action website, program director Ellen Euclide said the strategy meeting was intended “to build a worker led movement supported by organizations committed to creating a more just workplace and holding our Church accountable to its own teachings.” Morality clauses were among the topics addressed.

The meeting’s other co-sponsors were DignityUSA and New Ways Ministry, LGBT advocacy groups which reject Catholic teaching on sexual morality; a pro-abortion rights group Catholics for Choice; and the Human Rights Campaign, an influential LGBT activist group whose sponsors include many wealthy U.S. corporations.

The news site Crux reports that the meeting’s approximately 30 attendees, which included Catholic church and school employees as well as representatives from co-sponsoring groups and from the group Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. At least two participants were from San Francisco, including a teacher. One participant was a Human Rights Campaign volunteer based in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the local archdiocese has also worked to clarify morality expectations in Catholic school teachers’ contracts.

Grants from the Human Rights Campaign helped several participants attend the meeting.

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U.S. NEWS

Six years after Notre Dame speech, Obama’s ‘common ground’ claim questioned

by CNA/EWTN News • May 1, 2015

Notre Dame University. (Matt B. via Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

South Bend, IN — Knights of Columbus head Carl Anderson questioned the Obama Administration’s policies in a speech at Notre Dame University, six years after the president promised conscience protections and common ground on issues such as abortion.

“If there is at the core of the American understanding of freedom a principal that can neither be negotiated nor compromised away, it is this recognition that freedom is a reflection of the divine image in every human being,” stated Anderson.

The University of Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture honored the Knights of Columbus on April 26 with the Evangelium Award, which recognizes individuals and organizations who have defended and served the sanctity of human life, inspired by St. John Paul II’s 1995 papal encyclical “Evangelium Vitae.”

Past recipients included Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, and Helen M. Alvare, associate professor of law at George Mason University.

Anderson, the Supreme Knight, received the medal on behalf of the fraternal organization, which he has led for 14 years. During this time, the group has given more than 664 million hours of service, along with $1.4 billion to charity. The knights donated the award’s monetary prize of $10,000 to the Charles E. Rice Fellowship Fund.

Anderson’s speech highlighted ethical and cultural challenges which threaten both the dignity and freedom of individuals. He began with the promise President Barack Obama made on Notre Dame’s campus six years ago - a promise of common ground.

During his Commencement Address at the University of Notre Dame in 2009, the president stated that he would honor the conscience of those who disagreed with abortion and contraception through a sensible conscience clause.

“Six years later, that goal has still not been achieved,” Anderson said, pointing to the HHS mandate that was issued only a year later, with only very narrow exemptions for religious organizations.

The mandate – which has faced lawsuits from hundreds of plaintiffs around the country on the grounds of conscience – requires employers to fund and facilitate health care plans offering contraception, sterilization and some drugs that can cause early abortions.

“The history of the HHS mandate shows an administration grudgingly walking back its proposal only by the smallest steps and only when ultimately forced to do so by judicial action. And in the end, not really walking it back at all,” Anderson continued, calling the administration “stubbornly intransigent.”

The Affordable Care Act and accompanying HHS mandate mean that Catholic institutions can only remain free insofar as they conform with the government, he stressed.

He cited a Columbus-Marist poll which found that 84 percent of Americans favor limiting abortion to the first three months of pregnancy and believe in laws protecting both the life of the mother and child. Two-thirds say the abortion rate is too high. Sixty percent believe that abortion is morally wrong.

“In spite of media bias and judicial intransigence, the American people have nonetheless reached a sort of consensus on abortion,” he said, referencing the gap between government mandate and citizen belief.

The Affordable Care Act strays beyond a health care program, and has instead become a system which controls around one-sixth of the U.S. economy, Anderson charged.

“The potential for government control of the U.S. economy through HHS mandate-style regulation goes far beyond what we may have imagined just a few years ago,” he said, pointing to Europe as an example.

Noting that some 90 laws around the world have been enacted or proposed to constrain freedom of association and assembly since 2012, the Knights of Columbus leader cautioned that space for civil society is shrinking, and the problem is not merely political, but ideological.

“Persons of faith confront an ideology based on a false concept of personhood,” he suggested.

“This ideology does not understand the human person, it understands neither men nor women. It makes all of them - all of us - isolated beings, disconnected, living for ourselves,” an attitude which represents a “perverse form of personal freedom.”

This disordered freedom, Anderson said, infiltrates into perverse forms of liberation. He pointed to the example of contraception: the false idea that a woman is “free” from pregnancy and that a man is “liberated” from the responsibilities of fatherhood.

In the case of the HHS mandate, Anderson said, there is underlying “myth that women’s social and economic equality depends upon universal availability of contraception, sterilization and abortion - imposed, if necessary by the government.”

The true result of the mindset behind the mandate, he continued, is “the emergence of a ‘new normal,’ children without a father in the house.” In this way, government promotion and funding of contraception contribute to fatherlessness in America, while stifling religious institutions from pursuing their Constitution-protected freedoms, he said.

Nevertheless, Anderson observed reasons for hope in America. He said that the tide of the times is summoning a missionary spirit among Catholics.

Many foundational Catholic institutions in America were built by men and women who were filled with missionary spirits, enraptured in the pursuit of freedom of religion, he reminded the audience.

“These institutions opened a window on the transcendent dignity of each human being … these institutions offered something that government cannot offer - the promise of the Gospel of Life, of Evangelium Vitae,” Anderson urged.

“You and I are called not only to sustain these institutions; we are called to sustain this promise. We must preserve the free exercise of religion, which allows us not only to make this promise, but keep it.”

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U.S. NEWS

Is Oklahoma’s use of lethal injection cruel and unusual?

by Kate Veik (CNA/EWTN News) • May 2, 2015

The lethal injection chamber at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, May 7, 2010. (Josh Rushing via Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Washington, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday in a case challenging the use of the lethal injection in the United States, following a number of botched executions.

Lawyers for three death-row inmates in Oklahoma argued that the state’s three-drug protocol for executions violates constitutional bans on cruel and unusual punishment. The protocol includes the potentially unreliable sedative midazolam.

Midazolam was used in the controversial execution of Oklahoma inmate Clayton Lockett in 2014. Lockett’s execution took more than forty minutes. Although he was sedated, Lockett’s body writhed and he breathed heavily during the execution. Lockett eventually died of a heart attack.

Midazolam was also used in two other prolonged executions last year in Ohio and Arizona in which prisoners appeared to suffer.

Justice Elena Kagan asked Oklahoma officials May 29 during the arguments in Glossip v. Gross how they could justify using midazolam, which has not been proven to protect inmates from feeling the effects of the potassium chloride, which she described as “being burned alive from the inside.”

“So suppose that we said, we’re going to burn you at the stake, but before we do, we’re going to use an anesthetic of completely unknown properties and unknown effects,” Kagan said. “Maybe you won’t feel it; maybe you will. We just can’t tell. And you think that would be okay?”

Justice Samuel Alito countered that Oklahoma and other states have been forced to use midazolam because opponents of the death penalty have pressured drug companies to not produce or sell more reliable sedatives.

“Let’s be honest about what’s going on here,” Alito said. “Executions can be carried out painlessly … is it appropriate for the judiciary to countenance what amounts to a guerilla war against the death penalty?”

The Supreme Court last took up the issue of lethal injection in 2008. In that case, Baze v. Reese, the court ruled that the standard three-drug protocol did not violate constitutional bans on cruel and unusual punishment. However, the court clarified that the first drug in any protocol must prevent inmates from experiencing the intense pain cause by the second and third drugs. The standard protocol approved in 2008 included sodium thiopental rather than midazolam.

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City reaffirmed his opposition to the death penalty in comments to CNA May 1.

“We don’t end the cycle of violence by committing more violence,” Archbishop Coakley said. “In all of these crimes, we lost a life, and the death penalty only serves to further devalue human dignity. When available, we should choose other non-lethal ways to ensure justice and protect society.”

When the court announced plans in January to re-examine lethal injection protocol, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston prayed that “the court’s review of these protocols will lead to the recognition that institutionalized practices of violence against any person erode reverence for the sanctity of every human life.”

“Capital punishment must end,” said Cardinal O’Malley, who is also the head of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life activities committee.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski, who leads the U.S. bishops’ committee on domestic justice said the execution at the center of Glossip and Gross reveals “how the use of the death penalty devalues human life and diminishes respect for human dignity.”

Pope Francis has also called for the abolishment of all forms of the death penalty.

There are several possible outcomes to Glossip v. Gross. The court could send the case back to the district court for re-evaluation, or issue a ban on midazolam or clearer guidelines for lethal injection.

The Supreme Court had already issued, on Jan. 28, a stay of execution for the plaintiffs in the case, pending its final outcome.

In light of the controversy over the use of midazolam, several states are revisiting other methods of execution, including the electric chair, firing squad, or gas chamber. In March, Utah adopted a law legalizing a five-person firing squad as the official back-up method of execution for the state, should it be unable to obtain the three drugs necessary for lethal injection.

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FEATURES

Defeated by pleasure

by Alice von Hildebrand • April 27, 2015

That pleasure – that is physical satisfaction – plays an enormous role in our lives, is already strongly manifested in small children. Give a toddler – whose vocabulary is very limited – a delicious candy, he will utter the word: “More”. On the other hand, parents know but too well that if the child must be given a bitter medicine ordered by the doctor, they are heading for a fight: for he will refuse to take it; he is “shocked” and horrified that his “loving” parents should force him to take something he strongly dislikes. Even though tiny, he will defend himself against this unfair “attack” with a strength totally disproportionate with his age. Pain is hateful; it is man’s arch enemy. Period.

It was Plato who in one of his great works, The Republic, addressed this problem. It is a well-known fact that most of us are likely to be defeated by pain. Physical courage is, for this reason, one of the natural virtues that most attracts our admiration. In many cultures, when a boy reaches a certain age, he was exposed to a “rite of passage”, i.e. was inflicted pain by his elders watching his response to this crucial test. His performance decided whether or not he was “worthy” to be “promoted”, and deserves to be called a “man”, a Macho. Surprisingly enough in this context, it is never mentioned that a high percentage of young women have passed this test by giving birth. When the Bible refers to severe physical sufferings, the words used are “like a woman in labor”.

That resistance to pain triggers our admiration and respect is not surprising. Let us recall the heroism of the first Christians whose blood made the faith blossom. Alas, martyrdom is not a horror of the past. Millions of people were murdered by Stalin and Hitler, and are being murdered today in Syria and Nigeria. Potentially it could happen in any country.

Our horror of pain is so deeply rooted in our nature that it even extends to our violent dislike of any effort or sacrifice required to overcome obstacles and difficulties. Let us recall the story of Gideon in the Old Testament who called Jews to fight the Madianites. Thirty two thousand immediately responded to his call, but after being tested only three hundred remained and achieved victory. Effort and pain are not welcome. Pleasure always is. Key words for success in our society are: fast food, fast fun, and fast money. It was again Plato’s wisdom that reminded us that we should fear to be “defeated by pleasure”. (Laws, Book I, 634) This can be illustrated by an amazing historical story. Hannibal – this deadly enemy of Rome - with a daring that is nothing short of remarkable, decided to invade Italy from the north. This implied going over the Alps. Let us not forget that he came from Africa. He did so with an army of elephants, and once in Italy went from triumph to triumph. But Plato warned us that a victory can often be a door to defeat. (Laws, Book I) Hannibal’s solders finally landed in a beautiful city south of Rome – Capua- : sex and pleasure from which the triumphant soldiers had been deprived for so long, were now richly offered to them. As expected they gorged themselves with the whole gamut of pleasures available, and soon were so weakened by physical delights that the Romans easily defeated them. Hannibal’s brilliant military feat ended in a crushing defeat. What a lesson for us!

One of the most important tasks of a man worthy to be called an “educator” is to teach a child to arm himself against this “tempting” enemy. When he succeeds he deserves our respect and admiration for, as Plato remarks, children are not eager to improve themselves. (Laws) For many of them, the teacher is the “enemy” and some even pride themselves of making his task as arduous as possible.

Pleasure presents itself as a friend, but is, in fact, an enemy in disguise. That it is linked to certain bodily activities such as drinking when thirsty, or eating when hungry or resting when exhausted, is natural. A starving man will not be choosy about the menu. His main concern will be to appease his hunger but soon the craving for pleasure will make its voice heard. Water can quench our thirst better than wine, but it is not as satisfying; this noble product of nature cultivated by man, produced an exquisite liquid – wine -, which can easily become an addiction. In his Holy Rule, (Chapter 40) St. Benedict reluctantly allows his monks to drink a limited amount of wine, remarking that it is “concession to their weakness”. Alcoholism is a curse plaguing many countries. Let us recall the tragic case of Marmeladov (“Crime and Punishment” by Dostoyevsky) who lets his wife and children starve because his salary is spent at a bar. All of us have witnessed their revolting language and behavior when drunk. Is wine the culprit? No, it is the lack of self-control of the drinker. To fall victim to an addiction means to lose one’s moral freedom – while keeping one’s responsibility (ontological freedom). It dehumanizes the drinker. The same applies to food; accordingly to statistics, one third of the population of the USA is obese; this is a condemnation of “the greatest country in the world”. Overeating is a curse affecting rich countries. The same can be said of candies: both Switzerland and Belgium rival in their claim to be the best chocolatiers in the world, and they might well be. But to eat one praline the content of which is a delicious liquor, will inevitably make one crave to eat a second, and then a third – obeying the purpose of the makers of these aristocratic candies: to make them “sinfully good”. In fact it is much easier to turn down an offer to eat one than to overcome the temptation of eating many of them once tasted.

I will briefly allude to the “intimate sphere” which houses the most powerful of all instincts, and is, for innumerable men and also women, a “trap” that can lead to total moral degradation. I need not be more eloquent on this tragic topic. What is particularly abominable and revolting is when some find their pleasures in inflicting pains on others: this is above all the case in rape and human trafficking – the horror of horror. In such cases, it is luminous that the Father of Darkness, Lucifer himself, is the “inventor” and the “conductor”.

Alas, I must also mention – although I will be brief – un-natural pleasures, that is those which do not derive from nature, but are artificially induced by revolting practices. I am referring to the sentence of St. Paul that “certain things should not even be mentioned among Christians”, i.e. the practice of homosexuality which, as Plato tells us, is a curse threatening society, and is triggered by “unbridled lust”. (Laws, VIII) It is once again, a moral cancer which endangers the family – the heart of a nation.

Alas, in a world dominated by technology, these moral abominations that, for a long time, were “under the counter”, are now publicly advertised and inevitably make parents tremble for their children who, by a mishap, might be informed of their existence. Educators know but too well that children are curious and love to “experiment”.

But this is not the end of the story. Mention must also be made of artificial urges, which while having no origin in man’s body, can once become habitual, and are just as addictive as food, drink and “sex”. I will limit myself to smoking. No one is born with a craving to smoke. Monkeys do not smoke. He who is blessed by being born in a society where cigarettes are not available cannot possibly feel deprived for not having them. But the problem is that those living in country where they are not only available, but moreover heavily advertised, are likely to be enticed to “try them”, because it is either fashionable, or elegant, or because it promises to be relaxing and “bon gout”. To teenagers, to smoke is a sign of maturity: both being behind the wheel or having a cigarette in one’s mouth indicates that one is “grown up” and now freed from the tutelage of one’s parents.

There is a Pinocchio in all of us. The victims of smoking go by the millions, and has finally convinced the State to make laws ordering the big companies to indicate that it is a health hazard, and also write laws protecting the non-smokers from second hand smoking.

It makes one sad when one meets a priest so addicted to smoke that he must hastily have a cigarette in his mouth before entering the sanctuary, and rushing back to the sacristy as soon the Holy Sacrifice is over, to appease his craving. We have lost more than one outstanding thinker or leader whose death was caused by their being slaves to tobacco. It should make the Angels cry. Alas, since original sin, our body that essentially belongs to our human personhood, should be constantly reminded to be obedient to our soul which, in turn, should be obedient to God. Now Brother Ass is a potential rebel and explains why St. Francis of Assisi treated it so severely, to the point apologizing to him on his death bed. But the same saint, gratefully accepted a Roman dainty brought him by a lady – a devoted disciple of his, dubbed Brother Jacoba. This is typical of the “freedom” enjoyed by God’s children.

As soon as we become the victim of bodily cravings, life can become so miserable for the soul, that alas, in the majority of cases, the latter will accept defeat “for the sake of peace”. Each defeat, however, is a password for the next one.

This is why the great educator that Plato was, tells us that educator, starting with the parents, should be much concerned about arming the child with moral tools that will teach him how to keep his freedom. Whether we think of drunkenness, gluttony or lust: all of them refer to the same threat: defeated by pleasure.

A seasoned educator (let us think of F.W. Foerster: his great book “School and Character”) know that young people are also moved by nobility, sacrifice, courage, generosity and he can skillfully use great literature to illustrate cases in which someone deserves to be called a hero. But rare are those who are born heroes: heroism presupposes sacrifice, self-control and prayer. It presupposes a formation of our soul and that such a formation implies domination over our lower nature: who should want to be dominated by our cats and dogs? We should beware of letting biological cravings throw nets upon our freedom, and make us servants of bodily cravings. This was most eloquently and most poignantly expressed in St. Augustine’s Confessions, Books VII and VIII - a must read for anyone grabbling with addictions and not only for them; these are gems of Catholic literature.

From his late teens, Augustine had fallen victim to his lust. He now had come to the point that he had to acknowledge defeat: he could not live without these powerful physical satisfactions. The very thought of having to live without them terrified him: he seems to hear their voices: “do you truly mean to abandon us? How can you possibly live without us”? Images tormented his mind: indeed, he was a slave. But through God’s grace, he now acknowledged it and craved for help. How poignant to read his prayer: “Give me continence, O Lord, but not yet …”

Let us now turn to wrong responses to pleasure. One is dictated by Stoic philosophy. Even though there is a whole scale of Stoics, I will limit myself to quoting Horace. The following words incarnate the very essence of stoicism – that is pride. He wrote: If the whole world would collapse, the stoic would contemplate the ruins totally unmoved and totally fearless (free translation). But is a Stoic worthy to be called “human”?

The other extreme is radical Puritanism which, on principle, views every type of pleasure as leading to hell. The question that comes to mind: is it not God Himself who has linked certain activities with pleasure? He is not therefore the guilty one? This Pharisaical approach is a perfect match for Stoicism. But today, any one going to a mall must be aware that pornography is our greatest moral foe. True as it is that all errors are first cousins, wisdom teaches one to detect the danger which is the greater one at the present moment. Today a blind man could see that it is pornography and not puritanism.

A look at fashion magazines should convince us of this fact.

What is the Christian attitude toward pleasure? The answer this question we should ask the saints, that is those of us who have succeeded with God’s grace, to become “new creatures” in taking Christ as their model.

One thing is obvious: all saints have a holy hatred for all perverse and immoral pleasures. They immediately identify them as “devilish” temptations and fight them with heroic courage. Let us recall the tempest of temptations that assailed St. Anthony living in the desert. These attacks were vicious and constant, and yet he never was conquered because he put all his trust in God who gave the graces he needed to rebut Satan with the words: “Vade retro”. These attacks were constant but were defeated by God’s grace and a most severe asceticism.

One thing has struck me: the word just mentioned - which I heard so often throughout my very Catholic education, has now practically disappeared from our vocabulary. Penance – that is abstaining from legitimate pleasures – is not popular in the “modern” world. Today children are no longer told to eat what has been put on their plates. They are now entitled to make their own menu and throw into the garbage can whatever is not to their taste. “I do not like it” is a sort of anathema. The day I heard that in a Jesuit College, a cocktail hour was introduced to satisfy a need for “relaxation”, I thought of the tears that their great founder would have shed had he known about this betrayal of his great legacy.

If this is true of food, what could be said about “positive” penance, such as wearing a hair shirt, of an iron belt, or taking the discipline? I recall talking to a lovely French girl who had joined one of the very many new religious organizations of people living in the world. I happened to mention that word the word “hair shirt” or “taking the discipline”. She looked at me in amazement and said; “what is that?” Let us recall the Little Flower obeying this practice imposed by the rule, who while taking the discipline, felt such pains that it brought tears to her eyes.

Today, this is for most Catholics either discredited or totally unknown or dubbed “sadism” inspired by Simone de Beauvoir. This talented woman – a fallen away Catholic – has alas, put her talent at the service of some very grave errors. Her calling asceticism (taking the discipline) sadistic is a case in point. Reading the lives of the saints eloquently proves that pain and suffering have a meaning, and essentially belong to our sanctification. “He who would be my disciple, let him carry his cross and follow me.” St. Gregory the great who wrote the life of St. Benedict, relates that when this saintly man who from his youth, aimed at holiness, was one day assailed by violent sexual temptations, and threw himself into a thorny bush. The sharpness of the pain distracted him from this devilish attack and “strangled” this temptation. The very same story is related in the life of St. Francis of Assisi. Both saints never forgot that “the devil like a roaring lion, is always on the look out to see whom he can devour”. To defeat men through sexual temptations is probably the one requiring least efforts on the part of the tempter, hence is likely to be the task Screwtape (made famous by C.S. Lewis) assigns to “lazy” devils.

Which one of us would dare declare that he is “sinless”? This is why the wisest among us gladly welcome pain and suffering to be freed from a long stay in Purgatory, where our debt will have to be paid to the very last penny. To confuse sadism and asceticism strikes me as the classical punishment inflicted upon talented minds afflicted by a fearful intellectual sickness: willful blindness.

There are religious orders whose rule is extremely severe and welcomes suffering to atone for the un- repented sins of those for whom the meaning of life is self- satisfaction.

Moreover, he who loves wants to share the sufferings of the loved one: “con patire”. Who would choose to go to an exciting movie to escape from having to witness the agonizing pains of a loved one? He who loves wants to “share” the loved one’s sufferings. Let us not forget that women followed Christ to Calvary animated by their love of Christ. St. John came back, but we do not know how soon.

Not only did they want to suffer with HIM, but how gladly would they have been to suffer for Him. Mary stood at the foot of the Cross. She – the most perfect of all creatures – was crucified with her son. Indeed, there is no greater love than to give one’s life for one’s friends. These words alone should suffice to convince us of Christ’s divinity.

It is a fact “that the most convincing lies are those which ape truth. In his great book, “Introduction to the Devout Life,” (Book 3) St. Francis of Sales does not hesitate to advice the society ladies under his guidance, to take the discipline twice a week. I wonder how many spiritual directors today still recommend the same “medicine”. Leaving aside inflicting pains upon oneself, daily life offers us many opportunities to “die to ourselves.” For example, when one is invited to a restaurant during Lent, one can purposely choose a menu that one does not care for, and turning down one that appeals to one’s taste. One can choose to stop eating as soon as one’s hunger is satisfied instead of taking a second helping because it is so “sinfully good” as the expression goes. One can limit the hours of sleep to what is indispensable to function well, while refusing, to use a French expression, to flirt with one’s pillow. In other words, with a bit of ascetic inventiveness, daily life offers us many opportunities of making sacrifices.

Yet it cannot be denied that the modern world has produced saints and continues to do so. Let us think of a Maximilian Kolbe who sacrificed himself by willingly taking the place of the father of a family condemned by the Nazis to die of starvation. He is now canonized. But I believe it would be an error to believe that this heroic act was not preceded by many small acts of renunciation and sacrifice. The same is true of St. Edith Stein: the very day she entered the Holy Ark of the Roman Catholic Church, she followed the example of the saints and led a life of prayer and sacrifice. I do not exclude the possibility that an “average” Catholic in a dramatic moment, could sacrifice himself joyfully even though up to that day, nothing in his daily life and conduct could have predicted this heroism. All things are possible with God, but the classical way leading to holiness is made up of small sacrifices which – taken by themselves seem insignificant, but when artfully combined make a beautiful tapestry This is clearly the “little way” lived by St. Therese of Lisieux.

When a saint is offered a delicious meal, it is immediately “baptized” with gratitude – this forgotten virtue – that transforms a “merely subjectively satisfying” pleasure into an objective good for the grateful person. It is the privilege of persons to say “thank you.” Hence the importance of prayer before and after meals. It is related in the “Life of St. Francis of Assisi” (J. Jorgensen p.330) that when this most lovable saint was close to death, one of his most devoted spiritual children, a noble lady dubbed “Brother Jacoba”, came to his bed side and brought him a Roman dainty he liked. The saint – whose life had been so severely ascetic accepted it gratefully – in so doing not only did he glorify God, but also gave joy to the donor.

When a young woman tells one: “why should I be grateful; I paid for this meal?” the proper response is grief. Living in a culture (Dietrich von Hildebrand called it: an “anti-culture”) where the hero is the “self-made man”, is to live in a world where the word “thank you” has lost its meaning. Yet with “forgive me” and “I love you”, it is one of the golden words in our vocabulary. May these three words be the last we utter.

The art of the saints is to relate everything to God: this is why it has been said that the most perfect of all creatures, Mary the Mother of the Savior, while sleeping, glorified God more than a saint passing his whole night in front of the Blessed Sacrament. How blessed Catholics are, that they have been given living models of holiness. St. Augustine, speaking about them wrote: “sic illi et isti, cur non ego”. These are words we should treasure: cur non ego.

Alice von Hildebrand is a lecturer and an author, whose works include: The Privilege of Being a Woman (2002) and The Soul of a Lion: The Life of Dietrich von Hildebrand (2000), a biography of her late husband. She was made a Dame Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of St. Gregory by Pope Francis in 2013.

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The Revolving Door

by Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, C.S.J. • April 29, 2015

A few months ago, Jimmy Fallon, the late-night host at NBC, was reminiscing with his guest, Bill O’Reilly, about their common experience serving as altar boys at the Latin Mass. Gleefully, they rattled off the prayers proud of their sure memories. The host then asked his guest if he was still a practicing Catholic. Yes, Mr. O’Reilly nodded. Then, eager to react, Mr. Fallon countered in his careless diction and in poor taste: “I don’t practice anymore.”

While many walk out or back out of the Church, others file in. Some are deciding whether to leave or to stay. Still others are returning to the Church. Martyrs to the faith are being made all over the world. The revolving door.

Then there is Tom Selleck who relishes his role of an Irish Catholic Police Commissioner of New York City in the successful series “Blue Bloods” on CBS.

Brideshead Revisited and Conversions

In 1981, the thirteen-part television series, Brideshead Revisited, won international acclaim and numerous awards for its portrayal of a very rich English Catholic family living in the early twentieth century. The series closely followed the novel by the same title, written by Evelyn Waugh (1903-66). By the time he had completed the book in 1945, the author was recognized as the greatest English writer of his time.

The multiple themes of Brideshead Revisited are adultery and marital love, loss and retrieval of faith, divine grace, and conversion. “The book is about God. It is about the human spirit, redeemed; it can survive all disasters,” writes Waugh.

Death-bed Conversion in Brideshead Revisited

Divine grace provides the very possibility for faith, the Church teaches. To desire faith or to desire to retrieve one’s faith is already God’s grace at work in a person. That grace is entirely personal and unique. We see this fact dramatized in a final scene of Brideshead Revisited. On his death-bed, the family patriarch Lord Marchmain, refuses the Church’s last rites and dismisses the Catholic priest. He has not practiced his faith for years. But at the request of some family members, the priest returns to dying man. Then, in the very last moments of Lord Marchmain’s life, with his family surrounding him, slowly, painfully, he pulls his hand up to his forehead, and then drags it down to his breast with as much difficulty, then to his left shoulder. His fingers make a slow, difficult, and very determined outline of the sign of the cross, but death claims him before he completes the Trinitarian profession of faith.

For Lord Marchmain, faith was not a matter of the head but one of the heart, entirely prompted by God’s grace. This scene remains one of the most powerful in all of literature. At the end of this scene, one family member returns to the faith, and an agnostic family friend hostile to Catholicism also kneels and signs himself. The revolving door.

“Come Inside”

Waugh, who at age sixteen had announced to his school chaplain that there was no God, made his conversion to Catholicism ten years later. In his essay, “Come Inside,” he writes for an American readership: “The shallowness of my early piety is shown by the ease with which I abandoned it. There are, of course, countless Catholics who, for a part of their lives at least, lose their faith, but it is always after a bitter struggle — usually a moral struggle. I shed my inherited faith as lightheartedly as though it had been an outgrown coat.”

Waugh was asked whether he realized that 99% of the British disagreed with his decision. Yes, he knew. “Here, I think, the European has some slight advantage over the American. It is possible, I conceive, for a man to grow up in parts of the United States without ever being really aware of the Church’s unique position. He sees Catholics as one out of a number of admirable societies, each claiming his allegiance. That is not possible, for a European. England was Catholic for nine hundred years, then Protestant for three hundred.”

In Tudor England and beyond, thousands were executed for their faith because they would not agree to Henry VIII’s divorce from his lawful wife. Bishop John Fisher, Thomas More, Edmund Campion, John Ogilvy, monks and nuns and many others of this era were martyred for their faith. Monasteries across Great Britain were pillaged or destroyed.

Waugh continues: “Then England was agnostic for a century. The Catholic structure still lies lightly buried beneath every phase of English life. Everywhere history, topography, law, and archaeology reveal Catholic origins. Foreign travel anywhere reveals the local, temporary character of the heresies and schisms and the universal, eternal character of the Church. It was self-evident to me that no heresy or schism could be right and the Church wrong. It was possible that all were wrong, that the whole Christian revelation was an imposture or a misconception. But if the Christian revelation was true, then the Church was the society founded by Christ and all other bodies were only good so far as they had salvaged something from the wrecks of the Great Schism and the Reformation. This proposition seemed so plain to me that it admitted of no discussion. It only remained to examine the historical and philosophic grounds for supposing the Christian revelation to be genuine. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to a brilliant and holy priest [Father Martin D’Arcy, S.J.] who undertook to prove this to me, and so on firm intellectual conviction but with little emotion I was admitted into the Church.”

Persecution of Armenian Christians

On April 24,th the Vatican, France, Belgium, Germany, Lebanon, and Russia joined with the Armenian community to commemorate the “first genocide of the twentieth century,” a phrase used by Pope Francis last week during a Eucharistic liturgy. In that worship service, Armenian Church leaders spoke passionately about the massacre.

Beginning at the turn of the nineteenth century and continuing to 2015 and even beyond, the Ottoman Turks systematically slaughtered some 1.5 million Armenians. The genocide was carried out in two stages. The first part included intellectuals and political leaders, all keepers of the creative flame of an ancient people whose beginnings date back to Antiquity.

The second part of the genocide turned to the deportation of men, women, children, the elderly and infirm all of whom were placed on death marches that led to the Syrian Desert. They were deprived of food and water, subjected to robbery and rape. The hostile desert is where they succumbed to death. Other massacres included systematic drownings, poison, drug overdose, and mass burnings. The revolving door.

The systematic annihilation of 1.5 million Armenians has been well documented in most history books, except perhaps those in Turkey. The Hebrew University scholar, Yehuda Bauer has called the Armenian genocide “the closest parallel to the Holocaust.” Last week, the Armenian Church canonized its 1.5 million martyrs.

The Christian organization, Open Doors, estimates that at least 100 million Christians face persecution particularly in Muslim-dominated countries. According to the Society for International Rights, up to 80% of acts of persecution are directed to Christians.

The praise Charles de Gaulle offered during World War II to the Résistance is praise that well describes those Christians who undergo martyrdom for the faith: “You who were killed as Resistance Fighters or executed by firing squads, all of you who with your last breath shouted aloud the name of France, you are the men and women who exalted courage, sanctified effort, invented resolution. You took the lead at the head of the immense, magnificent cohort of the sons and daughters of France who, through their suffering, bore witness to her greatness.”

Waugh Concludes

When asked about his conversion, Waugh replied: “My life since then has been an endless delighted tour of discovery in the huge territory of which I was made free. I have heard it said that some converts in later life look back rather wistfully to the fervor of their first months of faith. With me it is quite the opposite. I look back aghast at the presumption with which I thought myself suitable for reception and with wonder at the trust of the priest who saw the possibility of growth in such a dry soul.”

“From time to time friends outside the Church consult me. They are attracted by certain features, repelled or puzzled by others. To them I can only say, from my own experience, ‘Come inside.’ You cannot know what the Church is like from outside. However learned you are in theology, nothing you know amounts to anything in comparison with the knowledge of the simplest actual member of the Communion of Saints.”

On stepping in to the revolving door, Evelyn Waugh found his spiritual home … on the inside.

Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph, Brentwood, NY, holds degrees in philosophy (Ph.L), musicology (Ph.D.), theology (M.A.), and liturgical studies (Ph.D). She has taught at all levels of Catholic education and writes with a particular focus on a theology of beauty and the sacred arts. Her e-mail address is jroccasalvo@optonline.net.

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Lectionary-based catechesis for converts is inadequate

by Msgr. M. Francis Mannion • April 30, 2015

Recently, I received a letter from a woman in Portland, Oregon, with the question,

“What do you think of lectionary-based catechesis for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults [RCIA]? I became a Catholic three years ago and I was amazed at how little I was taught using this approach. Surely there is a better way of preparing adults to become Catholics? What would you recommend that I might read to help deepen my knowledge of the faith?”

My answer to the woman’s letter was more or less along the following lines, and I believe it may be relevant to people thinking about or reflecting back on their conversion process. (I hope it may also provoke RCIA catechists to think further about their ministry):

Lectionary-based catechesis is a method of teaching the faith to children and adults that uses the Sunday Mass scripture readings as the basis for catechetical sessions. It is popular in all types of catechesis nowadays, and is widely promoted by catechetical organizations and publishers.

The strength of lectionary-based catechesis is chiefly that it keeps Christian formation closely connected to the liturgy and helps Catholics and Catholics-to-be to know the scriptures and to use them in all aspects of their lives.

In the RCIA, the reflective sessions which take place after the dismissal of catechumens at Sunday Mass are primarily lectionary based. The catechumens are sent forth after the homily “to reflect more deeply upon the word of God.” In these sessions, unofficially called “breaking open the word,” future Catholics are led to apply the scriptures they have just heard to their lives, and to make a personal connection between the homily (itself properly scripture based) and their own growth in the faith.

However, lectionary-based catechesis is only one element in the whole process of Catholic education and formation. It has to be complemented by a more comprehensive and systematic presentation of the faith. Sunday morning lectionary-based sessions are not enough to expose catechumens to the necessary breadth and depth of faith. In many parishes, this fuller approach is achieved by having a second session during the week in which the doctrinal, sacramental, and moral components of faith are explored systematically.

For this, some text other than the lectionary is necessary. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) should be introduced to catechumens and its resources drawn out in formation sessions. A more user-friendly text for the beginner is the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults (USCCA), published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2006. This book is cross-referenced to the CCC, and catechumens are constantly referred to other works of theology and the spiritual life.

The use of the CCC or the USCCA — or any kind of catechism — is discouraged by many catechists and well-known speakers on the RCIA. They fear the return of a Baltimore Catechism approach to catechesis. While lip service is paid to the doctrinal and moral dimensions of faith in the newer catechesis, the emphasis is more often on personal reflection and the sharing of stories. Not surprisingly, new Catholics like yourself often complain that they did not learn a great deal in their catechumenal formation.

New Catholics should see the RCIA as the beginning of life-long formation. They can continue their education by participating in more substantive adult sessions in their parish, by working their way systematically through either of the catechisms I have mentioned, or joining a well-run and solidly-focused scripture study group. I would also recommend Fr. Robert Barron’s outstanding video series, Catholicism.

Msgr. Mannion is pastor emeritus of St. Vincent de Paul parish in Salt Lake City. He holds a Ph.D. in sacramental theology from The Catholic University of America. He was founding president of The Society for Catholic Liturgy in 1995 and the founding editor of the Society’s journal, Antiphon. At the invitation of Cardinal Francis George of Chicago he founded the Mundelein Liturgical Institute in 2000.

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SUNDAY • MAY 3, 2015

Fifth Sunday of Easter

First Reading (Acts 9:26-31; NRSVCE)

When Saul had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He spoke and argued with the Hellenists; but they were attempting to kill him. When the believers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

Second Reading (1 Jn 3:18-24; NRSVCE)

Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

Gospel Reading (Jn 15:1-8; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

MONDAY • MAY 4, 2015

Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter

First Reading (Acts 14:5-18; NRSVCE)

And when an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone Paul and Barnabas, the apostles learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country; and there they continued proclaiming the good news.

In Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet and had never walked, for he had been crippled from birth. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. And Paul, looking at him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And the man sprang up and began to walk. When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates; he and the crowds wanted to offer sacrifice. When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting, “Friends, why are you doing this? We are mortals just like you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations he allowed all the nations to follow their own ways; yet he has not left himself without a witness in doing good — giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.” Even with these words, they scarcely restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them.

Gospel Reading (Jn 14:21-26; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”

TUESDAY • MAY 5, 2015

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

First Reading (Acts 14:19-28; NRSVCE)

But Jews came there from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds. Then they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples surrounded him, he got up and went into the city. The next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.

After they had proclaimed the good news to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, then on to Iconium and Antioch. There they strengthened the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue in the faith, saying, “It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.” And after they had appointed elders for them in each church, with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had come to believe.

Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. When they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. From there they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had completed. When they arrived, they called the church together and related all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles. And they stayed there with the disciples for some time.

Gospel Reading (Jn 14:27-31a; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me; but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.”

WEDNESDAY • MAY 6, 2015

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

First Reading (Acts 15:1-6; NRSVCE)

Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders. So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, they reported the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the believers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.”

The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter.

Gospel Reading (Jn 15:1-8; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

THURSDAY • MAY 7, 2015

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter

First Reading (Acts 15:7-21; NRSVCE)

After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us. Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

The whole assembly kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul as they told of all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles. After they finished speaking, James replied, “My brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first looked favorably on the Gentiles, to take from among them a people for his name. This agrees with the words of the prophets, as it is written,

‘After this I will return,

and I will rebuild the dwelling of David, which has fallen;

from its ruins I will rebuild it,

and I will set it up,

so that all other peoples may seek the Lord —

even all the Gentiles over whom my name has been called.

Thus says the Lord, who has been making these things known from long ago.’

Therefore I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those Gentiles who are turning to God, but we should write to them to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood. For in every city, for generations past, Moses has had those who proclaim him, for he has been read aloud every sabbath in the synagogues.”

Gospel Reading (Jn 15:9-11; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”

FRIDAY • MAY 8, 2015

Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter

First Reading (Acts 15:22-31; NRSVCE)

Then the apostles and the elders, with the consent of the whole church, decided to choose men from among their members and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers, with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the believers of Gentile origin in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. Since we have heard that certain persons who have gone out from us, though with no instructions from us, have said things to disturb you and have unsettled your minds, we have decided unanimously to choose representatives and send them to you, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

So they were sent off and went down to Antioch. When they gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. When its members read it, they rejoiced at the exhortation.

Gospel Reading (Jn 15:12-17; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”

SATURDAY • MAY 9, 2015

Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter

First Reading (Acts 16:1-10; NRSVCE)

Paul went on also to Derbe and to Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer; but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him; and he took him and had him circumcised because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went from town to town, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers daily.

They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

Gospel Reading (Jn 15:18-21; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world — therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.”