VOLUME 1, ISSUE 23  •  JUNE 6, 2015

Table of Contents

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope: abortion, euthanasia, abandonment of migrants are ‘attacks against humanity’

Pope to sick children: Don’t be afraid to ask God ‘Why?’

The Vatican’s arduous task of communicating in the modern age

Pope’s environmental encyclical to be titled ‘Laudato Sii’ (Praised Be You)

On feast of the Holy Trinity, Church celebrates ‘love of the living God’

Indifference to migrants is unacceptable, Pope tells Dominican Republic bishops

Cardinal Pell’s spokesperson slams ‘outrageous’ 60 Minutes coverage

A history of little miracles – behind Pope Francis’ devotion to St. Therese

Financial transparency serves the Church’s mission, says Vatican official

For upcoming Sarajevo visit, Pope Francis makes peace his mission statement

‘Is anyone surprised?’ A Vatican response to the FIFA soccer scandal

Pope offers prayers for victims of China’s ferry disaster

Pope Francis wants Vatican liturgy chief to continue the work of Benedict XVI

War is the mother of poverty, Pope Francis says

Why did most of the journalists at the ‘shadow council’ fail to report on it?

Pope Francis pays for 120 of Rome’s poor to visit Shroud of Turin

Pope leads Rome’s Corpus Christi procession on behalf of persecuted Christians

Pope to Peruvian pro-lifers: ‘Keep shaking things up’

WORLD NEWS

After mounting criticism, Scotland’s assisted suicide bill defeated in Parliament

A supernatural sign? Rare solar halo appears at Romero beatification

How a baker in Northern Ireland is standing up for faith in the workplace

These monks are convinced: Gregorian chant will make your life better

Catholics voice hope that Pope Francis will build bridges in Bosnia

Her husband has been jailed and tortured in Iran, but her faith hasn’t wavered

Australian bishops stress Cardinal Pell’s determination to fight sex abuse

African, European bishops’ meeting promotes an authentic ‘joy of the family’

Twenty years after war, Bosnians working to reclaim first victim: trust

Justice, peace and equality: Sarajevo’s hopes for papal visit

‘Romeo and Juliet of Sarajevo’ highlight pain of loss in Bosnian War

U.S. NEWS

Renowned author, uncompromisingly Catholic: Flannery O’Connor chosen for new postage stamp

Are farming co-ops just a hipster trend? These Catholics beg to differ

‘Gay agenda’ at the World Meeting of Families? Not at all, Philly Archdiocese says

Death of Joe Biden’s son draws prayers from Delaware bishop

CRS vice president in same-sex civil marriage steps down

How the Supreme Court’s hijab decision helps faith in the workplace

Florist asks court to overturn mandatory gay marriage support

Cardinal Kasper backpedals on papal endorsement of controversial proposal

For St. John’s University, affordable tuition is a Catholic cause

Minnesota archdiocese to cooperate amid charges of mishandling abuse allegations

FEATURES

Beautiful Minds, Beautiful People

Some myths about post-Vatican II liturgical reform

‘Spy’ is utterly silly fun

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Sunday • June 7, 2015

Monday • June 8, 2015

Tuesday • June 9, 2015

Wednesday • June 10, 2015

Thursday • June 11, 2015

Friday • June 12, 2015

Saturday • June 13, 2015

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Volume 1, Issue 23 • June 6, 2015

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope: abortion, euthanasia, abandonment of migrants are ‘attacks against humanity’

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • May 30, 2015

Pope Francis blesses people with disabilities at the Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square on May 27, 2015. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — A civilization whose technological advancements do not seek to protect the most vulnerable, from conception until natural death, fails to live up to its responsibility, Pope Francis said.

In remarks made during an audience at the Vatican with members of the Italian Associazione Scienza & Vita (Science and Life Association), the pontiff decried victims of abortion and euthanasia, migrants left to die on the sea, and other travesties.

Progress in civilization is not measured by its advancements in technology, but “its capacity to protect life, especially during the most fragile stages,” he said.

“The scourge of abortion is an attack against life. Leaving our brothers on boats to die in the Sicilian channel is an attack against life. Death in the workplace, because the minimum safety conditions are not followed, is an attack against life. Death from malnutrition is an attack against life. Terrorism, war, violence; but also euthanasia are attacks against life.”

The Pope’s remarks come one day after nearly 750 migrants were rescued off the coast of Sicily, according to the Italian coast guard. Around 1,800 people have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean over the last five months, with some 60,000 having attempted the journey, the United Nations estimates.

Pope Francis also encouraged those present at the audience to engage with the scientific community.

“Do not be afraid of embarking on a fruitful dialogue with the world of science, even with those who, while not believers, remain open to the mystery of human life,” he said.

Life, Pope Francis said, “originates and accompanies all scientific progress; it is the miracle of life which always undermines some sort of scientific presumption, giving primacy to wonder and beauty.”

He told them not to lose sight of the “sacredness of every human person, in order that science may truly be at the service of man,” and not the other way around.

Science and Life Association, which is comprised of professionals in fields such as science, culture, and politics, met with the Pope in the Vatican on Saturday to mark the 10th anniversary of their founding.

Science has the ability to analyze specific details, Pope Francis said, which insures that “a just society recognizes the right to life from conception to natural death as paramount.”

“The protection and promotion of life represents a fundamental task, especially in a society marked by the negative logic of waste.”

The pontiff observed that protecting the person involves encountering and sustaining those in need of protection, a responsibility which extends “from the center toward the peripheries.”

“At the center, there is Christ,” the Pope said, and it is from “this centrality that you are directed toward the various conditions of human life.”

“The love of Christ pushes us to make ourselves servants of the little and the elderly, of every man and every woman, for whom the primordial right to live should be recognized and protected.”

“Therefore Christ, who is the light of man and the world, illuminates the way in order that science may always be knowledge in service of life.”

This recognition of life’s value, however, obligates us to consider how we make use of it, Pope Francis said.

“Life is above all a gift,” he said, and this creates hope and a future, so long as it is “enlivened” by familial and social relationships, which in turn “open new perspectives.”

“Loving life means to take care of the other, to love him, to cultivate and respect his transcendent dignity.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope to sick children: Don’t be afraid to ask God ‘Why?’

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • May 30, 2015

Pope Francis meets with a group of 20 children with disabilities May 29, 2015 in the Santa Marta house. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City —”Why do children suffer?” Pope Francis asked this of a group of children with serious illnesses or disabilities and their parents, some of whom had been told to abort their babies because of their condition.

The Holy Father answered with a question he might ask God while gazing at the Cross: “Why is Your Son there?”

“It is the mystery of the Cross,” he said.

The pontiff made these remarks during a meeting on Friday evening with the children in the chapel of the Vatican’s Santa Marta residence. They were accompanied by the parents, as well as volunteers from Unitalsi Lazio — a national Italian organization that transports the sick to Lourdes, France and other international shrines.

Most of the children were between the ages of seven and fourteen, although some were just a few years old.

Pope Francis told the children to not be afraid of asking and challenging God “Why?”, even if the only answer God gives is: “Even my Son suffered.”

“But this is the answer,” the Pope said. “And your strength is there: the loving gaze of the Father.”

One might ask how it is that he, as Pope — who has studied a great deal of theology — does not have the answer.

“No. The Trinity, the Eucharist, God’s grace, the suffering of children is a mystery,” he said. “And one can enter into the mystery only if the Father looks upon us with love.”

Pope Francis expressed his admiration for their strength and courage. He recalled how some of the parents present had said they had been told to have abortions, but refused because their children had the right to live.

“Never, never does killing a person resolve a problem. Never.” The pontiff compared this sort of procedure to the Mafia’s approach to problems.

Pope Francis assured those present that he “accompanies” them on their courageous journey, which is a cross, and thanked them for their example.

In a world marked by a culture of waste, he continued: “You are the little heroes of life.”

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VATICAN NEWS

The Vatican’s arduous task of communicating in the modern age

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • May 30, 2015

(Unsplash)

Vatican City — What needs to change in the Vatican’s communications department to make it worthy of Pope Francis? How are the problems of understaffed and overwhelmed office going to be fixed? What does excellence in communicating look like in 2015 for an institution that’s 2,000 year-old?

These and other questions were recently tackled by the committee tasked with Vatican media reforms – a hopeful project, but one that’s destined for a long road ahead.

“We were always conscious that Pope Francis is an extraordinary communicator himself and it made us realize how much the rest of us have to do – to use a sporting phrase – to up our game,” Lord Patten, chair of the Vatican Media Committee, said in a May 27 lecture for the English and Welsh Bishops’ World Communication Day.

“We wanted to propose a communications structure that would be worthy of him,” continued the British peer, who is a former head of the BBC’s governing body.

Lord Patten said the Vatican committee wanted a communications and media structure for the Holy See that would “aim at excellence.”

The committee was given a “clear mandate” to propose reforms. These proposals include a unified structure of governance and management for Vatican communications.

Lord Patten stressed that the committee sought to outline “a best possible configuration” that builds on the Vatican’s existing assets while aiming for the gains that “closer integration and cooperation could make possible.”

One of these assets, the Holy See Press Office is “understaffed and under huge pressure,” he said.

The committee envisions a major role for a strengthened press office, which Lord Patten said “should operate in more languages in a way that accommodates a 24-hour news cycle.”

The Vatican’s media entities include Vatican Radio, the newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Vatican Television, the Holy See website, and the news aggregator News.va, as well as publishing operations and archival facilities.

Among Lord Patten’s criticisms of the overall Vatican communications structure, he highlighted the “strong compartmentalization” of the various media entities and the absence of cohesive management. The fragmentation of media operations has made it “unnecessarily difficult for the Holy See to produce the type of multimedia content involving the convergence of print, voice and images that is necessary for an effective digital presence and to engage contemporary audiences.”

The main goal of the committee was to achieve savings in its annual budget, which exceeds $76 million.

However, Lord Patten explained that the committee “quickly realized that major savings would only be possible through cut backs in the staff of over 600 – an approach that we judged not to be ethically appropriate.”

The committee’s structural reform includes the establishment of a unique body for Vatican communication, to be composed of five departments: a pastoral department, an administrative department, a commercial department, a technology department and a media operations department.

The pastoral department would perform many tasks currently done by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, including relations with bishops’ conferences.

The administrative department is intended to carry forward reorganization and to integrate functions that are presently replicated in different media entities.

The commercial department would oversee the development of the Vatican’s media operation through partnerships and sponsorships, as well as the management and sale of publishing rights. This department would also have responsibility for archival materials, and the publishing, promotion and marketing of all Vatican products and contents.

These two departments would help some of the Vatican’s media operations pay for themselves, thus addressing savings.

The proposed technology department would support “the sourcing, development and maintenance of suitable technological platforms and programs” and would be responsible for internet security and data.

The media operations department would restructure the Holy See’s “core media activities,” including media relations, content production and dissemination.

The committee has proposed a department of content production that would serve as a “central content hub” that oversees the shared production of general news and media content. This would use the skills and expertise of some employees now working mainly in radio, television and print media.

A proposed editorial service would centralize the delivery of content that will be distributed through existing channels. Also planned is an integrated social media channel that will customize its content in accord with the particular needs of the media entities and their audiences.

Lord Patten also emphasized the need for continued editorial integrity among the Vatican’s media outlets.

He stressed that the proposed changes should be gradual, but always made in a way that advances the clear objective of reform.

The committee’s final report included an implementation plan whose key first steps include finding a suitable plan in the light of “foreseeable opposition and resistance.”

According to Lord Patten, the report’s presentation to the Council of Cardinals advising Pope Francis received a positive response. The proposals will undergo further reflection by a commission established April 30

A source involved in the Vatican communication reform process told CNA May 28 that this commission is “carrying forward its job independently.” It is also working on the committee’s document to possibly outline a new proposal. In the end, the reform of Vatican communication is a process that will take longer than planned.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope’s environmental encyclical to be titled ‘Laudato Sii’ (Praised Be You)

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • May 31, 2015

(Gez Xavier Mansfield via Unsplash)

Vatican City — Taken from St. Francis of Assisi’s “Canticle of the Sun” prayer praising God for creation, the likely name of the Pope’s upcoming encyclical was informally announced just weeks before its anticipated publication.

Fr. Giuseppe Costa, director of the Vatican Publishing House, reportedly announced the encyclical’s title during the delivery of the Cardinal Michele Giordano prize Saturday afternoon, May 30, in Naples.

The prize honors the former archbishop of Naples, who died in 2010, and was inspired by his keen appreciation for the media.

Expected to be published in mid-late June, the Pope’s encyclical “Laudato sii” has already been written and is currently being translated.

Although the title has not been officially confirmed, it will most likely contain the phrase coined by Pope Francis’ namesake in his famous prayer praising elements of creation such as “Brother Fire,” “Sister Moon” and “Mother Earth.”

Also referred to as the Canticle of Creatures, the Canticle of the Sun was written by St. Francis of Assisi around the year 1224.

The encyclical is also expected to be given the Italian subtitle: “Sulla cura della casa commune,” (On the care of the common home).

Fr. Costa told SIR – the official news agency of the Italian Bishops Conference – May 30 that “There are many foreign publishers who are already interested in the publication of the encyclical in their countries.”

Pope Francis himself spoke of the encyclical on his return flight from Seoul, South Korea last year, where he traveled Aug. 14-18 to participate in the 6th Asian Youth Day.

While in route back to Rome Francis said that he had frequently spoken about the encyclical with Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which is responsible for handling themes such as this.

After being questioned about the encyclical by journalist Juergen Erbacher from German TV, the Pope said that he had “spoken a lot with Cardinal Turkson and also with others and I have asked Cardinal Turkson to bring together all of the contributions.”

The Pope said then than the contributions had arrived and that a first draft of the encyclical – which he said was “a third bigger” than his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium – was delivered to him just four days before he left for South Korea.

He told journalists that ecology is “not an easy issue because on the protection of creation and the study of human ecology, you can speak with sure certainty up to a certain point then come the scientific hypotheses some of which are rather sure, others aren’t.”

“In an encyclical like this that must be magisterial, it must only go forward on certainties, things that are sure,” he said, explaining that if the Pope decides to say that the earth is the center of the universe rather than the sun, then he’s wrong because he said something that’s scientifically untrue.

“We need to make the study, number by number, and I think (the encyclical) will become smaller. But going to the essence is what we can affirm with certainty.”

The encyclical could also have a huge weigh-in on talks surrounding climate change, and is expected to set a key ethical framework for discussion and policies surrounding the topic ahead of the Pope’s address to the United Nations during his visit to the U.S. in September.

Francis is set to address a U.N. Special Summit on Sustainable Development Sept. 25.

U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki Moon told journalists while in Rome April 28 for a summit on the theme of the environment and sustainable development that the Pope’s speech 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.”

Pope Francis recently spoke of the importance of caring for creation during his May 24 homily for the feast of Pentecost.

The feast serves an occasion to remind Christians of their duty to care for and respect the earth, he said, explaining that “the Holy Spirit whom Christ sent from the Father, and the Creator Spirit who gives life to all things, are one and the same.”

“Respect for creation, then, is a requirement of our faith: the ‘garden’ in which we live is not entrusted to us to be exploited, but rather to be cultivated and tended with respect.”

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VATICAN NEWS

On feast of the Holy Trinity, Church celebrates ‘love of the living God’

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • May 31, 2015

The Most Holy & Undivided Trinity. (Lawrence OP via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

Vatican City — In the revelation of the Holy Trinity, God shows the Church his selfless love and unity that we are called to foster in our own communities, Pope Francis said in his Sunday Angelus address.

“The Trinity is a communion of divine persons who are one with the other, one for the other, one in the other: this communion is the life of God, the mystery of the love of the living God,” the Pope said in his May 31 address.

Like the Trinity, “we are called to live not one without others, above or against others, but one with others and in others,” he said.

Francis spoke to roughly 50,000 pilgrims who were gathered in St. Peter’s Square to hear his address on the feast of the Holy Trinity, which the Church celebrates in honor of her teaching that there is one God expressed in three Divine Persons.

In his address, the Pope noted that it was Jesus himself who revealed the Trinity to us when he spoke of God the Father and the Holy Spirit, and when he referred to himself as the Son of God.

When he appeared to the disciples after he had risen from the dead, Jesus told them to evangelize, baptizing people “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” the Pope observed.

He explained that this “missionary mandate” didn’t end with the disciples, but has been passed on to the Church in every age.

The Church’s liturgical feast celebrating the Triune God serves as a moment of reflection on not only the “stupendous mystery” from which we came, but also of where we are going, the Pope said.

Since we were created by this God the feast is also a renewal of our mission to live in communion with God and with one another, Francis continued, explaining that this communion must be based “on the model of the trinity.”

The call to live both with and for others not only means welcoming and bearing witness to the beauty of the Gospel, he said, but is also a commission to live “in mutual love toward all, sharing joys and sorrows, learning to ask for and grant forgiveness, valuing different charisms under the guidance of pastors.”

“In a word, (God) has entrusted to us the responsibility of building an ecclesial community that will always be more of a family, capable of reflecting the splendor of the Trinity and of evangelizing not only with words, but also with the strength of the love of God which lives in us,” the Pope said.

Francis went on, saying that the Trinity is not only the source of our origins, but is also the final goal that our lives are directed toward.

“The path of Christian life is essentially a ‘Trinitarian’ path,” he said, explaining that the Holy Spirit is the one who guides us to full knowledge of the teachings of Christ, while Jesus, who came into the world to show us the Father, continues to guide us to him and to reconcile us with him.

“Everything in the Christian life revolves around the Trinitarian mystery and is accomplished according to this infinite mystery,” the Pope said.

He encouraged pilgrims to remind themselves that seeing the Trinity is the reason and “glory” that we continue to exist, work, struggle and suffer for.

Before leading those gathered in the traditional Marian prayer, Pope Francis pointed to Mary as someone who was not only loved and created by the Trinity, but who also serves as a concrete guide who teaches us how to see the signs of God revealed in the world.

He also prayed that she would intercede for the Church, so that it would always be “a hospitable community where each person, especially the poor and marginalized, can find acceptance and feel like a child of God, loved and desired.”

After reciting the Angelus, Francis noted that Bl. Fr. Louis-Edouard Cestac, founder of the Sisters Servants of Mary, was beatified May 31 in Bayonne, Francis.

Fr. Cestac’s witness of love for God and neighbor, he said, serve as a “new incentive” for the Church to live the Gospel of love with joy.

He also invited pilgrims to participate in a procession he will lead for the feast of Corpus Christi (the Body of Christ) this coming Thursday, June 4.

The Pope is scheduled to celebrate Mass at the basilica of St. John Lateran at 7p.m., and afterward will lead pilgrims in a procession of Eucharistic Adoration to the basilica of St. Mary Major.

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VATICAN NEWS

Indifference to migrants is unacceptable, Pope tells Dominican Republic bishops

by CNA/EWTN News • June 1, 2015

A batey, or sugar workers’ town, set up for Haitian immigrant laborers in the Dominican Republic, March 13, 2011. (John Wood via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)

Vatican City — The Church in the Dominican Republic cannot be indifferent to the plight of Haitian immigrants, Pope Francis said last week during a meeting with the Dominican Republic’s Catholic bishops.

“Pastoral and charitable attention to immigrants, especially those from neighboring Haiti, who seek better conditions of life in the Dominican territory, cannot allow indifference on the part of pastor’s of the Church,”the Pope said May 27 to the bishops who were in Rome for their ad limina visit.

“It is inexcusable to fail to promote initiatives of fraternity and peace between the two nations that form this beautiful Caribbean island.”

The Dominican Republic has a long history of anti-Haitian sentiment, though a recent spike in tension is likely due to a contentious 2013 Dominican Supreme Court ruling that stripped the citizenship of nearly 200,000 Dominicans of Haitian descent.

In February, a Haitian immigrant was found lynched in the public square of Santiago. Dominican authorities claimed other Haitian migrants killed the man over a winning lottery ticket, though the victim’s family disputes that claim, according to International Business Times.

Thousands of Haitians took to the streets of Port-au-Prince in the days following the lynching to protest ongoing mistreatment of Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic. Across the border, several Dominicans in the city of Santiago burned a Haitian flag and urged their government to put and end to the “invasion” of Haitian migrants, according to Al Jazeera.

Pope Francis urged the Dominican bishops to work together with civil authorities to establish solutions for Haitian migrants who are denied documents and basic rights in the Dominican Republic.

“It is important to know how to integrate immigrants into society and to welcome them into the ecclesial community,” the Pope said. “I thank those who are close to them and to all who suffer as a gesture of loving care towards the brother who feels alone and helpless, with whom Christ identified.”

The Pope praised the bishops for their efforts to combat corruption, the abuse of minors, and the trafficking of humans and drugs. He emphasized that the actions of the Church must always be directed toward the care of disadvantaged populations.

“Everything that is achieved in this respect will increase the presence of the Kingdom of God that gave us Jesus Christ, while enhancing the credibility of the Church and the relevance of the voice of her pastors.”

Pope Francis also encouraged the bishops to continue teaching the truths about marriage and family life in the Dominican Republic.

“Marriage and the family are going through a serious cultural crisis,” the Pope warned. “But that does not mean they have lost importance. The family is the place where we learn to live together in difference, to forgive and to experience forgiveness, and where parents pass on values to their children, and especially the faith.”

He particularly stressed the importance of forming husbands and fathers and promoting familial and marital reconciliation.

“A broad-ranging catechetical effort regarding the Christian ideal of conjugal communion and family life, and the spirituality of fatherhood and motherhood, is necessary,” the Pope said. “Greater pastoral attention needs to be paid to the role of men as husbands and fathers, as well as the responsibility they share with their wives with respect to marriage, the family and the upbringing of children.”

Pope Francis said the bishops must also recommit to the formation of priests and seminarians in the Dominican Republic.

“I invite you to take time and care for priests, to care for each of them, to defend them from the wolves, which also attack the shepherds,” he cautioned.

The Pope ended his message to the bishops with a nod to environmental stewardship.

“The relationship between man and nature should not be ruled by greed, by manipulation or by over-exploitation … but must keep the divine harmony among creatures and creation, to put them at the service of all and of future generations.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Cardinal Pell’s spokesperson slams ‘outrageous’ 60 Minutes coverage

by CNA/EWTN News • June 1, 2015

Cardinal George Pell takes part in the True Gospel of Family book presentation at the Lateran University in Rome, Oct. 3, 2014. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — A television broadcast revisiting charges that Australian Cardinal George Pell mishandled abuse claims was “false and misleading” and “outrageous” in its coverage, a spokesperson for the cardinal said Sunday.

“From his earliest actions as an archbishop, Cardinal Pell has taken a strong stand against child sexual abuse and put in place processes to enable complaints to be brought forward and independently investigated,” the cardinal’s spokesperson said May 31.

“In light of all of the available material, including evidence from the cardinal under oath, there is no excuse for broadcasting incorrect and prejudicial material.”

Father Federico Lombardi, S.J., director of the Holy See Press Office, said that May 31 that Cardinal Pell has “always responded carefully and thoroughly to the accusations and questions posed by the competent Australian authorities.”

Their statements come in response to a May 31 Australian television broadcast that included comments from clergy abuse survivor Peter Saunders, a British member of the Pontifical Council for the Protection of Minors.

Saunders called for the removal of Cardinal Pell, claiming the cardinal’s position on Australian abuse cases is “untenable.” He characterized the cardinal’s rejection of the accusations against him as a “catalogue of denials.”

Saunders told Australia’s Channel Nine program “60 Minutes” that the cardinal has a history of denigrating people and acted “with callousness, cold-heartedness, almost sociopathic.”

Cardinal Pell’s spokesperson said that the cardinal has never met Saunders, who “seems to have formed his strong opinions without ever having spoken to His Eminence.” In two separate statements, the spokesman said Saunders has done “important work” in assisting abuse victims, but said Saunders is “not well informed” about the claims against the cardinal and their treatment in previous hearings.

The spokesperson said the cardinal is consulting legal advisors.

Cardinal Pell is a member of the Council of Cardinals advising Pope Francis and a past archbishop of the Sydney and Melbourne archdioceses. He is also the prefect of the newly formed Secretariat for the Economy which is overseeing Vatican finances.

Fr. Lombardi added that Cardinal Pell’s public statement on the matter “must be considered reliable and worthy of respect and attention.”

The Vatican press office spokesman said Saunders’ statement was “evidently given in an entirely personal way and not on behalf of the Commission, which is not competent to investigate or to pronounce specific judgments on individual cases.”

In a May 20 statement, Cardinal Pell rejected separate accusations that he had been complicit in moving a “known pedophile” Gerald Ridsdale, of bribing a victim of the later-defrocked priest, and of ignoring a victim’s complaint. He said that he addressed many of these inquiries about his actions during a 2013 inquiry by the parliament in the state of Victoria.

In addition to the Victorian inquiry, Cardinal Pell has previously testified twice before the royal commission examining institutional responses to child sex abuse

The cardinal said May 20 that his role in the Diocese of Ballarat’s College of Consultors from 1977 to 1984 had no authority over then-priest Gerald Ridsdale or any other priest of the diocese. He said he did not recall the diocese’s then-bishop raising any pedophilia allegations against Ridsdale at the meetings and would never have condoned or participated in a decision to transfer the priest knowing he had abused children.

Ridsdale, who is now 81, has been convicted of over 100 legal criminal charges related to abuse of children in Australia.

At one time, the priest shared a house in the Diocese of Ballarat with other priests, including the future Cardinal Pell, and abused at least one girl there.

David Ridsdale, the priest’s nephew, said he was abused by his uncle from age 11 to age 15. He alleged that when he reported the abuse to Cardinal Pell in 1993, who was then an auxiliary bishop of Melbourne, Pell attempted to pay him to be silent. David Ridsdale reported the abuse to police. Father Ridsdale was indicted soon after for indecent assault on several boys, including his nephew, Australia’s ABC News reports.

Another abuse survivor, Timothy Green, told the commission that Cardinal Pell was dismissive when he reported abuse by a religious brother at St. Patricks College in Ballarat.

On May 20 Cardinal Pell professed respect for Green but said he had no memory of Green or of a conversation with him in 1974, adding: “to the best of my belief, this conversation did not happen.”

The cardinal said he remains “extremely sympathetic” to David Ridsdale due to the “horrible abuse” he suffered from his uncle. The cardinal said that the police were already investigating the charges at the time of his discussion with the priest’s nephew and that he supported the investigation at the time and continues to support it.

The cardinal said abuse of children by priests and religious brothers are “profoundly evil” crimes.

On May 31 he pledged his “complete cooperation” with the royal commission and voiced his “deepest sympathy” for abuse victims and their families.

The royal commission on June 1 said it will call Cardinal Pell to testify again.

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VATICAN NEWS

A history of little miracles – behind Pope Francis’ devotion to St. Therese

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 2, 2015

Pope Francis receives a gift of a bas relief of St. Therese of Lisieux from journalist Caroline Pigozzi of Paris Match, Jan. 15, 2015. (Alan Holdren/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis on several occasions has spoken of his strong devotion to the Little Flower saint as well as his habit of asking her for favors: favors, his former press secretary says, which have often come in the form little miracles.

One of those miracles came Aug. 7, 2010, when the then-cardinal Bergoglio was accompanied by his press secretary, Federico Wals, to celebrate Mass honoring St. Cajetan on his feast day.

The cardinal was set to celebrate a Mass at the saint’s shrine in Buenos Aires and then walk to greet a long line of pilgrims, as he did every year.

“When leaving he told me that he had already asked Santa Teresita (St. Therese of Liseux) to send him a sign,” Wals said in an interview with Bolivian newspaper “El Deber” published May 31.

“When he told me this I was very skeptical and asked myself ‘A sign?’”

The former press secretary for Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio – now Pope Francis – gave an interview to El Deber in which he detailed personal stories and memories from his time working with the then-archbishop of Buenos Aires.

Located on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, the Shrine of St. Cajetan draws thousands of pilgrims each year on the feast of his death.

Mass is celebrated each hour on the Aug. 7 feast, and after attending faithful queue and wait as long as 10 hours to pass in front of a small statue of the saint and kiss the glass separating it from them.

As archbishop of Buenos Aires then-cardinal Bergoglio would preside over a Mass himself, and then walk down the line of pilgrims – which sometimes extended 15 blocks – to greet people, speak with them and bless the children.

That day in 2010 “he didn’t feel very well, but we were going to go anyway,” Wals said, explaining that Bergoglio had asked St. Therese to send him a sign as to whether to go all the way or not, since after the Mass he had to walk 15 blocks down the line of faithful.

After celebrating Mass the cardinal was in too much pain to walk the whole distance, and decided to go just two blocks before heading back to the center of Buenos Aires, Wals recalled.

However, as they reached the second block Wals said they came across a man “taller than (the cardinal), dressed with a black overcoat and he had his right hand inside the coat.”

Before they could blink the man “pulled out a white rose,” he said, explaining that Bergoglio was “surprised,” blessed the rose and tried to move out of the way.

At that moment the man told the future Pope “you don’t understand anything: this is the sign that you are waiting for.” He then smiled and handed Bergoglio the rose.

Once Bergoglio heard what the man said he immediately grabbed the rose, Wals said. The cardinal then told him, “Federico, Santa Teresita did not abandon me, I’m going to walk until the end of the line (of faithful).”

“At that moment the man disappeared, we never saw each other again. Bergoglio’s countenance changed, he was radiant and continued until the end.”

Wals has met with Bergoglio since his election as Bishop of Rome, and said that as Pope, other similar things have happened.

One of them took place in January while the Pope was on his way to the Philippines. During his flight from Sri Lanka to Manila Pope Francis received a bas-relief, or carving, of St. Therese from French journalist Caroline Pigozzi.

After receiving the image, Francis told other journalists present that “I have the habit, when I don’t know how things will go, to ask St. Therese the little child, St. Therese of Jesus, to ask her if she takes a problem in hand, some thing, that she send me a rose.”

“I asked also for this trip, that she’d take it in hand and that she would send me a rose. But instead of a rose she came herself to greet me,” he said.

Pigozzi spoke with CNA later, saying that she had originally found the image in a Paris flea market, and had polished it herself to give to the Pope as part of a set for Christmas and for his Dec. 17 birthday.

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VATICAN NEWS

Financial transparency serves the Church’s mission, says Vatican official

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • June 2, 2015

(Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — In an exclusive interview with CNA, the director of the Vatican’s financial watchdog stressed that the Holy See has pursued the goal of adopting international standards for financial transparency in accord with the Church’s mission, and not to merely seek adherence to international standards.

“The Holy See’s path toward financial transparency has not been that of imitating other countries, nor that of applying international standards by analogy,” Tomasso Di Ruzza , director of the Authority for Financial Information, stated. The main goal, he added, “was the ambitious one of adopting international standards coherently with the nature and the mission of the Holy See in the world.”

Di Ruzza, 40, was appointed director of the AIF in January. He had worked at the Holy See for 10 years, first as an international law expert at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and then at the AIF since 2011.

Di Ruzza is credited as one of the main promoters of the path that consolidated the Holy See and Vatican City State’s anti-money laundering and prudential supervision system over the last three years.

“Our unique goal was to establish a financial system which would be solid, sustainable for the long term, and coherent with the nature of the Holy See and Vatican City State’s domestic legal framework and sovereign prerogatives,” Di Ruzza said.

He added that “this path is not just linked to the commitments undertaken with the international community. It is a moral duty to the Church.”

Despite a decrease in the number of suspicious transactions reported, the Holy See’s finances have often been under the spotlight because of alleged financial scandals, leading Vatican finances to be described like a place of illicit dealings.

Di Ruzza did not want to comment on any specific case, but he underscored that “a system of prevention and countering, based on certain rules and procedures, has been established.”

“To say it with a metaphor, it is one thing is risk falling ill without an immune system, and another thing entirely to fall ill with a strong immune system,” he added.

The director of the authority then stressed that “unfortunately, possible attempts at illicit activities cannot be eradicated from their very roots, as these roots lie in an individual’s soul and conduct.” But “we can have an effective immune system, able to prevent and counter the conduct of individuals.”

The reporting system data is a proof of the consolidation of the vigilance system: in 2012, the AIF received six suspicious transactions reports; in 2013, 202; and in 2014, 147.

After the issuing of new statutes for the AIF in November 2013, it was entrusted with prudential supervision, and given an extra office to handle the new responsibility.

“Prudential supervision is a pillar of the system of vigilance” and is “foundational for dialogue with foreign vigilance authorities,” Di Ruzza said

The pursuit of financial transparency at the Vatican was initiated by Benedict XVI in 2010, involving many changes from 2011 to 2013. Di Ruzza said the system is now settling down, with a comprehensive set of regulations having been introduced in October 2013.

Di Ruzza stressed that the regulation on prudential supervision “follows the requirements of Vatican law, and at the same time meets the need to adhere to the best European and international standards” in terms of supervision.

He also discussed the importance of the Vatican’s own norms, and the European Commission’s acknowledgement, in a 2009 convention, of the institutional, juridical, and financial framework of the Holy See and Vatican City State.

“A really effective and sustainable anti-money laundering system will arise only from a balance between the adoption of international standards and coherence to the domestic framework,” Di Ruzza said.

This ongoing process should help to strengthen relations with the AIF’s foreign counterparts, Di Ruzza believes.

He expressed hope that the Bank of Italy will soon regard the Institute for Religious Works (the ‘Vatican bank’) as an institute with an equivalent anti-money laundering system.

“The AIF has fostered dialogue and mutual trust with the Bank of Italy, and hopes to be soon able to formalize channels of collaboration and exchange of information, as it already did with the Italian Financial Intelligence Unit.”

In the end, Di Ruzza identifies the profound reason for the Holy See’s commitment to financial transparency as “the need for the Holy See to be present with its teaching at this important institutional table.”

He said the Holy See’s commitment to financial transparency deals on both moral, institutional, and juridical levels.

“The Holy See’s transparency comes out of the coherence between the commitments undertaken in international tables and a deep moral duty,” Di Ruzza said, adding that this transparency “is not just functional for safe transactions,” but is also a factor that shows “finances are a mean, not and end” for the Holy See, and it is “directed to the development of persons and peoples.”

“Commitment to this model of transparency, which perhaps lacked some visibility in the past and was often questioned, is now visible, and we can harvest its fruits,” Di Ruzza concluded.

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VATICAN NEWS

For upcoming Sarajevo visit, Pope Francis makes peace his mission statement

by CNA/EWTN News • June 2, 2015

Pope Francis at the General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, April 29, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis sent his greetings to the people of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in a video message that emphasized the motto of his upcoming visit: “Peace be with you.”

“They are the words with which the risen Jesus greeted his disciples when he appeared among them in the Upper Room, on the evening of Easter,” the Pope explained in a short video message on June 2. “It is he, the Lord, our strength and our hope, who gives us his peace, that we might welcome it into our hearts and spread it with joy and with love.”

“With the help of God I come among you to confirm the faith of Catholics, to support ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, and especially to encourage peaceful coexistence in your country.”

The Pope’s June 6 visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital city will last about 11 hours, Vatican Radio reports.

Pope Francis said he is preparing to come “as a fellow messenger of peace” and to express to everyone his respect and friendship.

“I would like to express to every person, every family, and every community the mercy, tenderness and love of God,” he said.

He assured those of Bosnia and Herzegovina his affection and “strong spiritual closeness.”

“I encourage Catholics to be witnesses to their fellow citizens of the faith and love of God, working for a society that makes ways towards peace in brotherhood and in mutual cooperation.”

He prayed that Sarajevo and all Bosnia-Herzegovina will receive God’s blessings and the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary.

During the visit, the Pope will meet with President Bakir Izetbegovic and say Mass at Sarajevo’s Kosevo Stadium. He will attend an interreligious and ecumenical gathering and meet with bishops, priests, and seminarians, as well as with youth.

The papal visit comes 20 years after the end of the Bosnian War, which lasted from 1992 to 1995.

In the early 1990s, the breakup of Yugoslavia worsened tensions over territory and the future of minority ethnic groups. The situation erupted into wars primarily split along ethnic lines involving Catholic Croats, Orthodox Serbs, and Muslim Bosniaks. The war drew international involvement, including NATO bombings.

The war killed almost 100,000 soldiers and civilians and displaced hundreds of thousands more.

Pope Francis met with the bishops of Bosnia and Herzegovina on March 17, urging them to foster reconciliation and peaceful coexistence: “The society in which you live has a multicultural and multi-ethnic dimension. And you have been entrusted the task of being fathers to all, in spite of material limits and the crisis within which you work.”

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VATICAN NEWS

‘Is anyone surprised?’ A Vatican response to the FIFA soccer scandal

by Alvaro de Juana (CNA/EWTN News) • June 2, 2015

2014 FIFA World Cup. (Brent Flanders via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Vatican City — Amid the new soccer corruption scandal that has rocked the sports world, a Vatican official has called for different sectors of society to unite in encouraging sports that contribute authentically to bettering humanity.

“Is anyone surprised by this news?” asked Monsignor Melchor Sanchez de Toca, undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture and director of the council’s Culture and Sport Division.

“Every year around this time a new corruption scandal comes out in the world of sports, in soccer or the other sports,” he told CNA.

“Sports are troubled by great evils,” he added, emphasizing the importance of different sectors of society helping to promote “clean soccer.”

On May 27, Swiss police arrested a string of senior officials from FIFA (International Federation of Football Association), an organization that oversees soccer associations around the world.

Those arrested are accused of taking bribes and kickbacks from the media and sports marketing companies for more than $100 million, in return for media broadcast and advertising rights in connection with soccer tournaments in Latin America.

Following the arrests, FIFA president Joseph Blatter, who had newly been re-elected as head of the organization, announced his resignation.

FIFA is based in Zurich and is governed by Swiss law. Swiss authorities acted at the request of the District Attorney of New York City, following a multi-year investigation by the United States.

Monsignor Sanchez de Toca noted that there also have been other incidents of “corruption, victims of violence in the stands, athletes taking drugs, fixed games, the commercialization of sports” and more.

The Vatican undersecretary emphasized that “(s)ports express what is most noble in humanity” but can also show “his degeneration.”

“I think it’s evident that the world of sports by itself is not capable of overcoming its problems but instead it needs to form alliances with different sectors of society,” he said, adding as an example, “in Italy there’s a network of 7,000 parish based teams that are genuine schools of clean soccer.”

Pope Francis has spoken repeatedly about the contribution of sports to society. In a May 7 address to the Lazio Sports Club, he said that true sports “encourages the building of a more fraternal and supportive world, helping to overcome situations of injustice and social and human distress.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope offers prayers for victims of China’s ferry disaster

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • June 3, 2015

A passenger ship carrying 458 people sinks in Yangtze River in Jingzhou, China on June 2, 2015. (ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images)

Vatican City — Pope Francis on Wednesday expressed his condolences to the people of China following a ferry capsizing earlier this week which claimed the lives of hundreds of people.

“I wish to express my closeness to the Chinese people in these difficult moments after the ferry disaster in the Yangtze River,” the pontiff said Jun. 3 during his weekly general audience.

“I pray for the victims, their families and for all involved in the rescue efforts.”

More than 400 people remain missing after the ship capsized Monday night due to a freak tornado in the Yangtze river. Rescue teams are working around the clock to find possible survivors.

Many of the 456 people on board were elderly tourists, although one of the passengers was as young as three years old. According to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, 26 bodies have been recovered, and only 14 survivors had been found as of Tuesday.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis wants Vatican liturgy chief to continue the work of Benedict XVI

by CNA/EWTN News • June 3, 2015

Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Square prior to a beatification ceremony, Oct. 23, 2011. (Alan Holdren/CNA)

Vatican City — Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, revealed in a letter sent to a liturgical conference this week that when he was appointed to his post, Pope Francis indicated a desire to continue the liturgical work done by his predecessor as Bishop of Rome.

“When the Holy Father, Pope Francis, asked me to accept the ministry of Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, I asked: ‘Your Holiness, how do you want me to exercise this ministry? What do you want me to do as Prefect of this Congregation?’ The Holy Father’s reply was clear. ‘I want you to continue to implement the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council,’ he said, ‘and I want you to continue the good work in the liturgy begun by Pope Benedict XVI,’” Cardinal Sarah wrote in a letter to the Sacra Liturgia Conference, which was made public June 2.

“My friends,” the cardinal wrote, “I want you to help me in this task.”

The Sacra Liturgia Conference is held annually, and addresses the importance of liturgical formation within the Church. It is a proponent of the new evangelization, and supports liturgical catechesis of the faithful.

Cardinal Sarah, who was appointed head of the CDW in November 2014, asked that Sacra Liturgia “continue to work towards achieving the liturgical aims of the Second Vatican Council and to work to continue the liturgical renewal promoted by Pope Benedict XVI.”

He cited in particular the emeritus Pope’s apostolic exhortation Sacramentum caritatis, on the Eucharist, and his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, which made it easier for all priests to celebrate the liturgy as it had been done prior to the reform which followed Vatican II.

“In ask you to be wise, like the householder in St Matthew’s Gospel, who knows when to bring out of his treasure thing both new and old, so that the Sacred Liturgy as it is celebrated and lived today may lose nothing of the estimable riches of the Church’s liturgical tradition, whilst always being open to legitimate development.”

The cardinal had noted earlier in his letter that “we must do everything we can to put the Sacred Liturgy back at the very heart of the relationship between God and man,” calling the liturgy the “privileged and unique form in which we … encounter God at work in our world.”

Cardinal Sarah stated that the Sacra Liturgia conference, which runs June 1-4, has ample time to consider how to both maintain tradition and be open to legitimate developments, and then suggested “two critical areas in which authentic liturgical renewal in the twenty-first century can be furthered”: by making clear that liturgy is the worship of God, and by promoting “sound liturgical formation.”

He urged that we “never underestimate” the importance of liturgy as worship of God, adding that “the liturgy is not some social occasion or meeting … where what is important is that we express our identity. No: God comes first.”

Recalling that the liturgy “is given to us in tradition,” he added that “it is not for us to make up the rites we celebrate or to change them to suit ourselves … beyond the legitimate options permitted.”

“That is why we must celebrate the Sacred Liturgy faithfully, with that reverence and awe of which I spoke earlier.”

Turning to the importance of sound liturgical formation, Cardinal Sarah referred to the text of Sacrosanctum Concilium, Vatican II’s constitution on the liturgy, and said that “we cannot truly participate in the Sacred Liturgy, we cannot drink deeply from the source of Christian life, if we have not been formed in the spirit and power of the liturgy … I hope and I pray that the different initiatives of Sacra Liturgia can do much to meet this urgent and crucial need.”

In addition to making four references to the text of Sacrosanctum Concilium, Cardinal Sarah’s letter also referred twice to non-papal writings of Benedict XVI, quoting from his Collected Works: The Theology of the Liturgy and The Spirit of the Liturgy.

The Sacra Liturgia conference was launched in Rome in 2013, and has a different location each year – the 2016 conference will be held in London. The conference includes presentations of academic papers as well as the celebration of both Mass and Vespers, in both the ordinary and extraordinary forms of the Roman rite.

The 2015 conference includes an opening address by Cardinal Raymond Burke, and presentations on the importance of beauty in the liturgy. Other speakers include Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Dr. Lauren Pristas, Dr. Jennifer Donelson, Fr. Alcuin Reid, and Fr. Phillip Anderson, OSB.

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VATICAN NEWS

War is the mother of poverty, Pope Francis says

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • June 3, 2015

Pope Francis walking up to St. Peter’s Basilica on June 3, 2015 before the Wednesday general audience. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — In his weekly general audience, Pope Francis lamented the suffering inflicted on families already struggling from poverty in countries torn by the “great predator” of war.

“Truly, war is the ‘mother of all poverty,’ the pontiff said Wednesday, addressing the crowds in Saint Peter’s Square.

“War impoverishes the family,” he said. It is “a great predator of lives, of souls, and of the most sacred and precious loved ones.”

Since late last year, Pope Francis has been centering his Wednesday catechesis on the theme of 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.

Continuing with his June 3 catechesis, the Pope centered his address around the particular difficulties which many families face, especially with regard to poverty.

He lamented the “misery” and “degradation” experienced by poor families inflicted by war, as well as those living in the peripheries.

Nonetheless, there are families who “persevere with dignity” and trust in God’s goodness despite these challenges brought about by war and poverty, Pope Francis said. This does not “justify our indifference,” however: rather, it should “increase our shame of the fact that there is so much poverty!”

The pontiff said we should be grateful to those families who save society by maintaining their integrity amid the challenges of poverty.

“It is a miracle that even in extreme situations families continue to be formed and sustained,” he said, preserving the “special humanity of their relationships.”

This is a point of irritation for those who consider family ties as secondary for the quality of life. “They understand nothing!” the Pope said.

“Rather, we should fall to our knees in front of these families,” as they are a “true school of humanity which saves society from barbarism.”

Pope Francis called for “a new civil ethics” which does not yield to blackmail, but reorganizes social ties in such a way as to prevent the “perverse spiral between family and poverty.”

“Sadly, our modern economies often promote individual wellbeing at the expense of the family.”

The Holy Father said it is not merely a question of food, but also of work, education, and health. We may be moved when we see images of malnourished and sick children. However, children understand that “man does not live by bread alone!”

This also pertains to the family: “When there is misery, children suffer because they want love, family connections.”

Pope Francis reminded Christians of their responsibility to “strengthen and support” families, especially those that are poor.

He listed a series of factors which place a strain on the family and relationships: unemployment, dangerous working conditions, housing and transportation difficulties, reduced access to health and education.

Added to these factors is the image of the “pseudo-model family” as presented by mass media, which is based on “the cult of appearance.”

This, he said, “influences the poorest social class and increases the disregard for family connections.”

Pope Francis called for the Church to live simply, both individually and institutionally, as it cares for families affected by poverty.

“The Church, as a mother, can never be blind to the sufferings of her children,” he said.

By living simply, we can “break down walls of division and overcome all difficulties, especially poverty,” he said. “A poorer Church will bear fruit for so many of her needy children.”

He concluded by praying for commitment on the part of Christian families to helping the poor.

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VATICAN NEWS

Why did most of the journalists at the ‘shadow council’ fail to report on it?

by By Catholic News Agency’s Vatican Observer, Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • June 4, 2015

Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, one of the leaders of the secretive May 25 meeting at the Holy See press office, Oct. 17, 2014. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — Since only one quarter of the media representatives present at last week’s closed-door meeting of German, French, and Swiss bishops have reported on the meeting, speculation has arisen in Rome that the group is preparing to launch a media blitz in favor of controversial changes to pastoral care for homosexuals and the divorced and remarried in the final weeks leading up to the Synod on the Family.

On May 25, bishops from Germany, Switzerland, and France met at the Pontifical Gregorian University to discuss the most contentious issues of the upcoming Synod on the Family, which include approval of gay unions and Communion for the divorced and remarried.

Among the 50 participants were nine bishops, as well as numerous professors and priests, and media representatives. Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising gave the final remarks. Msgr. Markus Graulich, an official of the Roman Rota, and Marco Impagliazzo, president of the Sant’Egidio lay community, also participated.

Though the meeting was secretive and held behind closed doors – some of the German, Swiss, and French bishops were not even informed of the conference – select representatives of media were allowed in.

The publications represented at the conference, according to Edward Pentin of the National Catholic Register, were Neue Zuercher Zeitung; ARD; ZDF; Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; La Croix; La Repubblica; I-Media; and Vatican Radio’s German edition.

The director of Vatican Radio’s German edition was a moderator, while only journalists from La Repubblica and I-Media in fact reported about the event.

With most of the journalists not reporting on the event, their role has raised suspicions.

A source within a committee of European bishops told CNA June 1 that “representatives of the media were certainly convoked in order to prepare a media platform to launch and spread contentious issues and lead the discussion.”

Even though Cardinal Marx has claimed to have been in Rome in a private capacity and that the German bishops conference did not fund the initiative, another source in a Vatican congregation maintained that “the German journalists, at least, who came from abroad to Rome had their airfare and hotels paid for by the German bishops conference.”

As the participants are not allowed to comment on the meeting, this data cannot be confirmed. However, the source said, “the German bishops conference certainly took its part in pushing the meeting.”

According to the ‘European source’ “it is likely that this platform will issue some joint document, and I have heard they want to come out with a theological document in September, on the eve of the Synod and while Pope Francis will be visiting the United States.”

Their aim is “to launch a discussion with only a short amount of time left for counter-responses.”

However, the source in a Vatican congregation maintained that “as the news of the conference came out, other bishops have started to think about countering this meeting.”

“The meeting seemed intended to push for something, and many bishops did not like it.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis pays for 120 of Rome’s poor to visit Shroud of Turin

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 4, 2015

The Shroud of Turin 1 in the Cathedral of Turin during the public opening of the Shroud on April 19, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — In his latest act of papal charity, Pope Francis has donated funds for two busloads of homeless and sick pilgrims to visit the Shroud of Turin. They will stay in two charitable centers that offer shelter to the homeless during the winter.

The trips will “prepare the way for the Pope’s visit which is scheduled to take place on June 21: his poor arrive before him,” the papal almoner, Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, told Italian newspaper La Stampa in an article published June 3.

Pope Francis himself is scheduled to venerate the shroud during a June 21-22 visit to the northern Italian region.

The Shroud of Turin is among the most well-known relics connected with Christ’s Passion. Venerated for centuries by Christians as the burial shroud of Jesus, it has been subject to intense scientific study to ascertain its authenticity, and the origins of the image.

A little more than 14 ft. long and 3-and-a-half feet wide, the cloth is stained with the post-mortem image of a man – front and back – who has been brutally tortured and crucified.

In a rare exposition, the shroud is on display to the public from April 19 to June 24, having most recently been shown in 2010.

Paid for by the archbishop with money donated to the Pope for his personal charity endeavors, the buses of needy, homeless and sick pilgrims headed to Turin are divided into two groups.

The first group of 50 left the morning of June 3 from the Roman parish of Santa Lucia in Piazzale Clodio, which is a meeting point for Rome’s needy to convene for help and a hot meal.

Once they arrive in Turin, the “Pope’s poor” will stay at the Cottolengo and Maria Adelaide centers, which provide shelter for homeless during the winter season.

Fr. Antonio Nicolai, the parish priest, is accompanying the group. Their visit to the Shroud is planned for June 4.

“This trip is a treat offered by Pope Francis to our homeless brothers,” Fr. Nicoloai told La Stampa.

“When he learned about this pilgrimage, he wished, through his almoner, who is in charge of charitable works, to give a contribution to these people living in a precarious state. This is because he believes that like the Shroud, they represent the suffering of the Lord Jesus,” he said.

A larger group of 70 poor and homeless is set to visit the Shroud next week. They are scheduled to set off from the Roman parish Sant’Eustachio on board a double-decker bus, and will be accompanied by the parish priest and a number of volunteers.

Archbishop Krajewski was present at Santa Lucia June 3 to greet the first busload and offer them a small amount of money on behalf of the Pope, so they could buy themselves a cappuccino or another drink during the several-hour bus ride.

“We must feed those in difficulty, not just with bread, but also give them the chance to enjoy beauty – hence the visit to the Sistine Chapel – or to join other pilgrims in experiencing important moments like the Ostension (Showing) of the Holy Shroud,” the archbishop said.

He referred to a March 26 event in which 150 of Rome’s homeless were invited for dinner and a private tour of the Vatican Museums, culminating in the Sistine Chapel.

In a March 30, 2013, video message sent out for the televised showing of the Shroud of Turin, Pope Francis said: “This disfigured face resembles all those faces of men and women marred by a life which does not respect their dignity, by war and violence which afflict the weakest.”

It is because of this, Archbishop Krajewski said, that the Pope decided to send two groups of pilgrims that are for him very special in order to prepare for this own visit.

In addition to a stop at the Shroud, Pope Francis’ schedule for his two-day trip also includes a visit to a juvenile prison, where he will have lunch with the young detainees, a group of immigrants and homeless persons.

Other highlights of the trip will include Sunday morning Mass in Piazza Vittorio, followed by a meeting with the sick and disabled in the afternoon at the Church of Cottolengo.

On Monday during his trip the Pope will take part in an ecumenical meeting at the Tempio Valdese (Waldensian Temple), followed by Mass at the archbishop’s palace. He will depart for Rome by plane at 5 p.m.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope leads Rome’s Corpus Christi procession on behalf of persecuted Christians

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • June 4, 2015

Pope Francis leads Eucharistic Adoration for the feast of Corpus Christi at St. John Lateran, June 19, 2014. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Rome, Italy — Persecuted Christians were remembered during Thursday’s Corpus Christi procession in Rome, where Pope Francis told the thousands taking part to walk and pray in unity with those who cannot express their faith so openly.

“Let us feel united with them: sing with them, give praise with them, worship with them,” the Roman Pontiff said in his homily for Mass said in the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran June 4, celebrated just before the procession.

“As we walk along the street, we feel in communion with the many brothers and sisters who are not free to express their faith in the Lord Jesus.”

The Pope also remembered those who have been martyred for their faith.

“We venerate in our hearts those brothers and sisters who have been asked to sacrifice their lives in fidelity to Christ,” he said.

“May their blood, united to that of the Lord, be a token of peace and reconciliation for the whole world.”

During the procession for the feast of Corpus Christi, a monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament was carried slowly through the streets on top a white truck, protected by two deacons and illuminated by candles.

The procession began after the evening Mass in Saint John Lateran, Rome’s cathedral, and continued to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. Thousands of people took part, including many of the prelates who concelebrated Mass with the Holy Father.

Pope Francis in his homily added that this procession can also be a way of “expressing our gratitude for the journey which God has made through the desert of our poverty, to free us from servitude, nourishing us with his love through the Sacrament of his Body and Blood.”

The feast of Corpus Christi celebrates the real presence of Christ’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist.

During the Mass, Pope Francis recalled how during the Last Supper, Christ gave his Body and Blood under the species of bread and wine.

“With this ‘viaticum’ over flowing with Grace, the disciples have everything they need for their long journey through history, extending God’s reign to everyone,” the Pope said.

“This Bread of Life has come down to us!” he said, adding that the never-ending awe which the Church has before of this reality fosters “contemplation, adoration, and memory.”

Pope Francis reflected a few lines taken from the Office of Readings for the feast: “eat (Christ’s Body), or you will have no part in him … drink (His Blood), lest you despair of your sinfulness.”

By not obeying the Lord’s Word, by not living together fraternally, by trying to be first, by not courageously giving witness to charity, by being unable to offer hope – in these ways, the Pope said, we separate ourselves from Christ.

The Eucharist, on the other hand, “is the bond of communion, the fulfillment of the Covenant, the living sign of Christ’s love, who was humiliated and annihilated in order that we may remain united.”

By taking part and nourishing ourselves with the Eucharist, “we are placed on a path which does not allow divisions,” he continued.

Christ’s presence among us under the appearance of bread and wine demands that “the power of love overcomes every wound,” he said. “At the same time, it becomes communion with the poor, support for the weak, and fraternal awareness for those struggling to support the weight of daily life.”

Pope Francis spoke of the “watering down” of our Christian dignity with “the idolatries of our time.” He gave several examples of this contemporary “idolatry,” including the viewing of oneself at the center of everything, arrogance, and not admitting fault.

“All of this degrades us, and makes us into mediocre, lukewarm, insipid, pagan Christians,” he said.

The Roman Pontiff also spoke of how we are transformed by the grace which comes from the shedding of Christ’s blood. “We always poor sinners, but the Blood of Christ frees us from our sins and restores our dignity,” he said.

“Although undeserving, we are able to bring with sincere humility the love of our Lord and Savior to our brethren.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope to Peruvian pro-lifers: ‘Keep shaking things up’

by CNA/EWTN News • June 5, 2015

Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani and Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square viewing photos from the March for Life in Lima, Peru on June 3, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Lima, Peru — Upon seeing pictures from the 2015 March for Life in Lima, Peru, Pope Francis had a message for the faithful of the South American country: “keep shaking things up.”

The Holy Father offered these words of encouragement to Peruvian Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, after the June 3 General Audience at the Vatican, according to a statement by the Archdiocese of Lima.

The cardinal was in Rome to participate in meetings of the Holy See’s Council for the Economy.

During their meeting in Saint Peter’s Square, Cardinal Cipriani showed Pope Francis photographs of the huge crowds in attendance at the 2015 March for Life in the Peruvian capital on March 12.

The event brought together more than half a million people in defense of life from the moment of conception to natural death.

Cardinal Cipriani also showed the Holy Father pictures of the recent Pentecost Encounter, which brought together more than 4,000 faithful in Exposition Park as part of the 20th Synod of the Archdiocese of Lima.

After looking at the pictures, the archdioceses said, Pope Francis expressed his great joy to the cardinal and asked the Peruvian faithful to “keep shaking things up.”

The historic 2015 March for Life doubled the number of participants over the previous year and became one of the largest pro-life demonstrations in the world. The march this year included residents not only from Lima, but from other cities throughout Peru.

On that occasion, Pope Francis sent a message of cordial greeting “to the participants in the March for Life taking place in Lima, and to those who join in prayer and in the commitment to defend life and promote the fundamental good of human life, from conception to its natural end.”

“Long live life!” (Viva la vida!), the pope declared, in his message read by Cardinal Cipriani.

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WORLD NEWS

After mounting criticism, Scotland’s assisted suicide bill defeated in Parliament

by Maggie Lawson (CNA/EWTN News) • May 31, 2015

Interior of the Scottish Parliament Building. (Andrew Bowden via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0)

Edinburgh, Scotland — The controversial Assisted Suicide Scotland Bill was defeated on Wednesday by the Scottish Parliament 82-36 in a free vote in Edinburgh, following rising dissent against the legislation.

“Today our parliamentarians took a step towards building a society that has the dignity of the human person - and especially the most vulnerable - at its very heart, and for that we are grateful,” Archbishop Leo Cushley of St. Andrews and Edinburgh stated May 27 in response to the defeated Scottish assisted suicide bill.

“We believe human life must be fully protected by the law at every stage,” asserted the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, saying that “it is not appropriate for any person to make judgments about the ‘quality’ of another’s life as this bill would require.”

The bill was originally advocated in 2013 by Margo MacDonald, an independent member of Scottish Parliament battling against Parkinson’s disease. However, she died late last year before any votes were cast on the legislation.

The bill was hoisted up by MSP Patrick Harvie after MacDonald’s death and promoted over the past year in the name of human rights.

Had the bill passed, it would have given the green light to doctors to assist the death of consenting adults who battled a terminal illness or life-shortening disease and wanted to end their lives through prescription drugs.

In Scotland, it remains illegal to accomplice a suicide - an offense which could lead to prosecution and is enforced by the Suicide Act 1961. However, an individual themselves attempting to commit suicide has not been outlawed.

Nevertheless, the Assisted Suicide Scotland bill drew widespread criticism from the beginning for glitches in the proposal, and was found wanting in transparency.

The Law Society of Scotland professed apprehension towards the legislation, believing there were too many gray areas lacking in clarity.

The Church of Scotland expressed dissent over the law, saying parliament should focus their energy on improving palliative care rather than assisted suicide. The Health and Sport Committee also found “significant flaws” within the proposal and scrutinized the bill during it’s early days in the Scottish Parliament.

Care Not Killing, a major human rights umbrella group in Scotland, worked resolutely to shut down the bill, and underscored that the defeated law marked a major victory for the vulnerable in society.

“Parliament’s first responsibility is to protect the vulnerable and that is what has happened,” stated Dr. Gordon Macdonald, the convenor of Care Not Killing, in response to the bill’s defeat.

The legislation was a dangerous proposal, the Care Not Killing group believes. In fact, if assisted suicide is ever legalized in Scotland, they asserted that it will overflow into more than just the “end of suffering.”

“The right to die can so easily become the duty to die and vulnerable people who are sick, elderly or disabled will inevitably feel pressure, whether real or imagined, to end their lives so as not to be a burden on others,” CNK campaign director Dr. Peter Saunders stated.

The CNK remains committed to opposing any future proposals for assisted suicide in Scotland, MacDonald said.

“We must remain ever vigilant and on alert to challenge and debunk their dark and deathly propaganda, which offers a vision of the future which has no place in Scottish civilized society.”

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WORLD NEWS

A supernatural sign? Rare solar halo appears at Romero beatification

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 1, 2015

Solar halo at Beatification Mass for Archbishop Oscar Romero in San Salvador, El Salvador on May 23, 2015. (Fr. Manuel Dorantes)

Rome, Italy — As the relics of Blessed Oscar Romero were brought out for veneration during his beatification Mass in San Salvador, the cloudy skies parted and a ring of light – known as a “solar halo” – appeared around the sun.

“Honestly, I think this one of the most supernatural things I have ever experienced in my life,” Father Manuel Dorantes told CNA May 29.

A priest of the diocese of Chicago and Spanish assistant to the director of the Holy See press office, Fr. Dorantes was present in San Salvador for the May 23 beatification of Archbishop Oscar Romero.

Romero oversaw the diocese of San Salvador from 1977 until March 24, 1980, when he was shot and killed while saying Mass. In February Pope Francis officially recognized him as a martyr, and his beatification took place in his former diocese just over a week ago.

The ring around the sun appeared once Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, had finished reading the official decree proclaiming Oscar Arnulfo Romero as a martyr and a blessed, Fr. Dorantes recalled.

After the decree was vocally translated into Spanish, the choir began leading pilgrims in singing the traditional “Gloria” while a group of deacons brought out Romero’s relics – including the bloodstained shirt he wore the day he was killed.

Then “the weirdest thing occurred,” Fr. Dorantes noted, explaining that since it had been raining the day before, the sky was completely cloudy.

“As the relics came out, as we were singing the Gloria, all of a sudden, the heavens above us opened up, and the sun came out. A perfect circular halo formed above the sun.”

“Even as I am telling you now, I am getting chills about this,” he said, and recalled how once one priest looked up and saw it, others began to notice too.

Called a “halo,” the ring is a natural, optical phenomenon produced when light interacts with ice crystals hanging in the atmosphere. The result is usually a variety of colored or white rings, arcs or spots in the sky. Most halos form around the sun or moon, but are also known to appear elsewhere in the sky.

Although the phenomenon is known to happen, “it is extremely rare,” Fr. Dorantes said.

For the halo to appear at the same time Romero’s relics were brought out, the Gloria was being sung, Romero had just been declared a Blessed and his official image revealed, the opening of the sky was “a final touch of God saying yes,” the priest said.

“The people of El Salvador have known for 35 years there was holiness to this man in his way of living and the sacrifice he did for the Church,” so the halo was the last sign that the heavens were saying “yes, he is a saint, he is with us.”

Although he said he’s not one to say whether what happened is a miracle or not, Fr. Dorantes noted that the likelihood of the halo’s appearance at the exact moment of the Gloria and the bringing out of Romero’s relics is rare.

At that moment “there were many tears among the priests. I was crying, priests were crying,” and bishops who were under a covered area came out and also started looking up, he recalled.

“It’s incredible, just incredible. In my mind, I think a small miracle, with a small ‘m’ really honing us in to everything we say sacramentally was given a little bit of evidence about that and it was just beautiful.”

Fr. Dorantes said that Romero’s beatification served as a great moment of joy for all people in El Salvador.

By recognizing the archbishop as a martyr and a blessed the Church is echoing what the people in his diocese had known for many years: that “this man is a holy man. That this man gave his life truly for the Gospel.”

The timing of the beatification is a mystery, particularly since it happened under Pope Francis, who himself comes from Latin America, the priest noted.

He recalled how during Cardinal Amato’s homily for the beatification Mass, the cardinal pointed out how since Romero was shot while celebrating Mass, the bullet “interrupted” him and he was prevented from finishing the celebration.

A week later the same thing happened at Romero’s funeral Mass when firing squads interrupted and began shooting at people. Attendees had to grab the archbishop’s casket and carry it to the cathedral to bury him.

In his homily, Cardinal Amato said that “here we are today, and we are going to finish the Mass that Romero started on March the 24th,” Fr. Dorantes recalled.

“The funeral was precisely the recognition of a people right around their bishop. And so it was extremely beautiful to be there” for the archbishop’s beatification, he said.

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WORLD NEWS

How a baker in Northern Ireland is standing up for faith in the workplace

by CNA/EWTN News • June 2, 2015

(California Bakery via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Belfast, United Kingdom — After a legal ruling deemed a bakery in Northern Ireland to have discriminated against a gay customer, the bakery’s owners have decided to appeal the decision, hoping to promote the place of faith in the public square.

Ashers Baking Company, a bakery owned by a Christian family located in County Antrim, was charged with discriminating against a gay customer who ordered a cake with a pro-gay marriage theme: the bakery had declined to bake the customer a cake which included the slogan “support gay marriage.”

“As many other people have already noted, Christian beliefs seem to have been trampled over in this judgment and we believe this only has negative effects for our society,” the McArthur family, owners of the bakery, said.

“Our hope and prayer would be that an appeal will allow us and other Christians to live out their faith in Jesus Christ in every part of their lives, including their workplace.”

In March, customer Gareth Lee filed a complaint with the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, which took the owners to court in May. Belfast judge Isobel Brownlie ruled May 19 that this case was discriminatory because “the defendants are not a religious organization. They conduct a business for profit.”

Ashers paid £500 ($760) to the customer, Gareth Lee, for “injury to feelings” over what was deemed unfair treatment based on political and sexual discrimination regulations. Lee, a gay rights activist, said the bakery’s decision to refund his cake purchase made him feel like “a lesser person.”

The McArthur family said the pro-gay theme of the cake conflicted with their personal religious beliefs, assuring that the problem was not the customer, but the message on the product.

Daniel McArthur, general manager of the bakery, said the ruling “suggests that all business owners will have to be willing to promote any cause or campaign, no matter how much they disagree with it.”

The Christian Institute, a nondenominational charity located in the United Kingdom, is actively supporting the McArthur family.

According to the Christian Institute’s website, this case “demonstrates the need for the law to reasonably accommodate family-run businesses with firmly-held beliefs,” and a spokesman, Simon Calvert, said the existing decision against the bakery “will have dramatic consequences if it stands.”

The Christian Institute also noted the swell of public support for the McArthur family.

The date of the appeal has not yet been released.

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WORLD NEWS

These monks are convinced: Gregorian chant will make your life better

by Carl Bunderson (CNA/EWTN News) • June 3, 2015

The Monks of Norcia, a community of Benedictine monks in Norcia, Italy released their new album “Benedicta: Marian Chant from Norcia” on June 2, 2015. (Christopher McLallen/de Montfort Music)

Rome, Italy — The Benedictine Monks of Norcia spend their lives in prayer and labor – “ora et labora” – chanting the psalms and producing crafts to support themselves. This week, they also released an album meant to share their prayer with the world – music, they say, that has what your soul needs.

“The monks spend hours every day chanting the Mass and the Divine Office. It’s part of the air we breathe. There’s a lot of pollution in our world, and so the pure oxygen of Gregorian chant is like a breath of fresh air,” Father Cassian Folsom, prior of Norcia’s Benedictine monastery, told CNA.

The monastery on June 2 released its first major label album, BENEDICTA: Marian Chant from Norcia, through De Montfort Music together with Decca Classics and Universal Music Classics. The album, available at Amazon, includes 33 tracks, drawn largely from the liturgical chants with have characterized the life of Benedictine monks for more than 1,000 years.

“The chant is beautiful, and our souls need beauty in order to grow and thrive. The chant is the Church’s love song to her Lord; it expresses the love-longing of the monk’s heart,” reflected Fr. Cassian.

“Now monks are ordinary men, and what we experience is, in a real way, the experience of Every Man. I’m convinced that this beautiful chant will give spiritual nourishment to those who listen to it.”

The chants include hymns, antiphons, and responses from the liturgy, ranging from well-known pieces such as the Salve Regina and the Ave Maria, to hidden gems such as the Virgo Parens Christi.

“The particular selection we made is unique because it includes not only chants from the Mass (sequences that are no longer used, for example) and the Divine Office (including solemn responsories that are rarely heard any more) but also chants from the repertoire of popular devotion. Some pieces are from the common of the Blessed Virgin, but many are proper to specific feasts,” said Fr. Cassian.

The album also includes several capitula – biblical readings of only a few verses, chanted very simply – which are read in the Divine Office.

Fr. Cassian noted that the capitula were included because “the short Scripture reading is an important part of all the Day Hours, and we wanted to involve our listeners in an experience of prayer.”

The CD even includes a new chant, Nos Qui Christi Iugum (We who have received Christ’s yoke), which was composed specifically for Benedicta.

“Fr. Basil Nixen, our choirmaster, is very talented; he has both musical and poetic skills. It was he who wrote the text and composed the music for this piece,” Fr. Cassian explained.

“The image used in the title, ‘Christi Iugum’, is from the Rule of St. Benedict, which describes the monk as one who bears the yoke of Christ – like a good ox who puts his whole weight into the work at hand. In this piece, Mary is called ‘Regina Monachorum’, queen of monks, obviously a very fitting title coming from the monastic tradition. Fr. Basil weaves together images from the Rule with a rich Marian piety. In the melody there are hints of the solemn tone used for one of the readings of Christmas Matins.”

In addition to their desire to share their own prayer with listeners, the monks also hope that Benedicta could contribute to the provision of better music at Catholic parishes.

“It would be wonderful if our album could inspire a re-discovery of Gregorian chant in parish liturgies,” Fr. Cassian reflected. You know, Sacrosanctum Concilium (Vatican II’s constitution on the liturgy) strongly promoted the chant. There is a terrible misconception that Vatican II did away with Latin and Gregorian chant. Quite the contrary! We really need to rediscover what the Council said about liturgical music.”

He added that “in addition to the classical repertoire in Latin, lots of good work has been done in the U.S. in the area of English chant,” and that “these resources are readily available.”

De Montfort Music has had tremendous success sharing the sacred music of similar communities, including the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. It has released several albums with the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, and in 2014 its releases accounted for three of Billboard’s Top 5 Classical Traditional Album Imprints.

The monastery at Norcia – the birthplace of St. Benedict – was founded in 1998, and is now comprised of 18 men, half of whom are American, and whose average age is only 33.

Sales of Benedicta will help support the monastery, where Fr. Cassian said “there are always projects in the works!”

The community is working on its grange, a property it holds outside the walls of Norcia. “There are the ruins of an old Capuchin monastery on the property, and we’re renovating the church and adjacent spaces so that the monks can go there for their monthly ‘hermit day’ or for longer periods of retreat. We’ve also started a vegetable garden and planted fruit trees.”

Outside monastic circles, the community is known for its craft brewery, Birra Nursia.

“The beer, if I say so myself, is very good!” exclaimed Fr. Cassian. “We learned the art from the Trappist monks in Belgium. Our master brewer, Br. Francis, and his capable team work with real dedication and skill.”

However, “At the moment our beer is not available in the U.S., but we’re working on that. In the meantime, you have to come to Norcia!”

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WORLD NEWS

Catholics voice hope that Pope Francis will build bridges in Bosnia

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • June 3, 2015

A Catholic parish, a mosque, and a Serbian Orthodox parish in Bosanska Krupa, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Mazbln via Wikimedia Commons CC BY 3.0)

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina — Pope Francis will find a country still suffering from ethnic and religious suspicion when he visits Bosnia and Herzegovina this weekend, but some hope that his visit will help encourage unity.

“Catholics have an obligation to be reaching out to their fellow countrymen,” Marc D’Silva, Catholic Relief Services’ representative to the country, told CNA June 3.

Francis will visit Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital of Sarajevo on Saturday, June 6 and say Mass at the city’s Olympic stadium. At a smaller ecumenical gathering, he will also meet with about 50 leaders of different religions, Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim and Jewish.

The visit comes 20 years after the end of the three-year Bosnian War that killed around 100,000 people and displaced a million more. Its effects exist to this day.

Although ethnic and religious violence tapered off after the peace treaty of 1995-96, deep cultural divides are enduring.

D’Silva said the divisions of the war have been “frozen into place,” with whole communities sharing the same ethnicity and religion and harboring a deep suspicion of their countrymen.

This has created a stagnant economy, with the official unemployment rate at 46 percent. Businesses are reluctant to invest in a divided country with no single economic plan. About 700,000 people live in poverty there, according to CRS.

Many politicians have profited from the polarization and there are few public figures who can transcend the ethnic and religious divides and set an example for the rest of the country. Many young people are educated their whole lives through their own ethnic and religious points-of-view, and so do not understand the historic struggles of their fellow citizens of other faiths.

A typical Croat high school graduate, for example, would have only heard how the predominantly Catholic Croats suffered in the war but would not know about how Muslims suffered.

D’Silva hoped that Pope Francis will spur everyone, especially Catholics, to overcome their differences and begin building a united country. He said that the papal visit is an opportunity to send a “powerful message” to Catholics, Muslims, Orthodox Christians and Jews that there is “an influential person” who will speak to everybody.

The Pope has already sent a video message to the people of the country emphasizing the motto of his upcoming trip: “Peace be with you.”

“With the help of God I come among you to confirm the faith of Catholics, to support ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, and especially to encourage peaceful coexistence in your country,” he said.

However, plenty of work will still remains to rebuild the country after Francis’ visit. Ultimately, D’Silva said, it’s “up to us” to take action. There “will always be enough examples” of people working to overcome their differences, he said.

CRS is already doing this work in their partnership with Caritas International. It has started joint community projects where youth from two communities come together to do service projects in each community.

The charities are also working to fight human trafficking, which is a particular problem in the country since the war in the mid-1990s undermined the legal structure needed to fight it.

Further social discord will come at a steep price, D’Silva added. If the country won’t unite, it will not join the European Union and will continue to suffer economic malaise. This could also set the stage for more conflict in the future.

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WORLD NEWS

Her husband has been jailed and tortured in Iran, but her faith hasn’t wavered

by CNA/EWTN News • June 4, 2015

Naghmeh Abedini (center), wife of Pastor Saeed Abedini at a joint hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. on Dec. 12, 2013. (Addie Mena/CNA)

Washington, D.C. — The wife of a U.S. citizen imprisoned in Iran pleaded with members of Congress to work for his release, while voicing the consolation they have found in their Christian faith.

“For the past 3 years I have been carrying with me a deep excruciating pain knowing that my husband continues to suffer yet another day in one of the worst prisons in the world,” stated Naghmeh Abedini, wife of Pastor Saeed Abedini, who has been a prisoner in Iran since September 2012.

But despite the difficulty of being separated from her husband, and her fears for his safety, she said that God has granted them a “supernatural peace and strength that is covering our family today.”

Naghmeh Abedini joined other family members of Americans imprisoned in Iran at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on June 2.

The hearing focused on the plight of four Americans: Saeed Abedini, Amir Hekmati, Jason Rezaian, and Robert Levinson.

“I continue to be concerned about the safety and health of these prisoners, who are being held in some of Iran’s harshest, most violent prisons,” stated Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), chair of the committee’s global human rights subcommittee.

“They languish there in part because Iran’s judicial system lacks consistent independence, fair public trials, due process, privacy for an accused, and is rife with interference from government and religious officials,” he said.

Iran is notorious for harassment and imprisonment of religious minorities and human rights dissenters, including Jews, Armenian and Assyrian Christians, Zoroastrians, and even minority Sunni and majority Shi’a Muslims, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

The U.S. State Department has acknowledged having talks with Iran to release the American prisoners on the “sidelines” of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. A framework for the deal has been agreed to and the agreement is expected to be finalized this summer, but the fate of the prisoners is not directly tied to the deal.

Advocates of the prisoners, including members of Congress, have asked that their release be part of any nuclear agreement.

Shortly after the hearing on Tuesday afternoon, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution expressing “the sense of the House of Representatives that Iran should release all detained U.S. citizens and provide any information it possesses regarding any U.S. citizens that have disappeared within its borders.”

Born and raised as a Muslim in Iran, Saeed Abedini converted to Christianity in 2000, becoming an American citizen in 2010 following his marriage to his wife Naghmeh, who also is an American citizen.

After his conversion to Christianity, Abedini began working with house churches in Iran. Although his work was technically legal, it drew complaints from the government, and he agreed to shift his work towards non-religious humanitarian efforts.

While visiting non-religious orphanages in September 2012, Pastor Abedini was arrested on charges of threatening national security. He was sentenced to eight years in prison; he has now served nearly three years.

Human rights groups following the case have claimed that the true reason for the imprisonment was the pastor’s Christian faith and his conversion away from Islam. According to reports, he has suffered solitary confinement and beatings that resulted in internal bleeding during his time in prison.

In her Congressional testimony, Naghmeh Abedini shared her fears for her husband’s physical and psychological health, acknowledging the stress his prolonged absence has put on their family, as she has had to travel and leave their two children at home to publicly advocate for his release.

“The reality is, we are a family torn apart,” she said.

But despite this strain, they have not given up, she continued, likening their situation to that recounted in the Book of Daniel of the three Israelites thrown into the fiery furnace because of their faith. Miraculously, they were unharmed, and another man appeared in the flames next to them.

“Jesus was with them,” Naghmeh stated. “He was the fourth man in the furnace. In the midst of the fiery furnace Jesus did not abandon His own.”

“During the last 3 years Jesus has never abandoned Saeed and me,” she said. “He has been with us during the fiery furnace even when the furnace had been heated seven times hotter than usual. He has dried every tear and has given us the strength to endure.”

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WORLD NEWS

Australian bishops stress Cardinal Pell’s determination to fight sex abuse

by CNA/EWTN News • June 5, 2015

Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, says Mass at the St. Lorenzo Youth Centre in Rome, Jan. 30, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Canberra, Australia — A group of Australian bishops have emphasized Cardinal George Pell’s record of leadership against clergy sex abuse following critical news broadcasts and comments from a member of the pontifical council against abuse.

“He is a man of integrity who is committed to the truth and to helping others, particularly those who have been hurt or who are struggling,” seven bishops said of the cardinal in a June 3 statement

They said the cardinal was one of the first bishops to implement a comprehensive response to investigate alleged sex abuse by Catholic clergy and to help abuse victims.

The seven bishops included Archbishops Anthony Fisher of Sydney, Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, Timothy Costelloe of Perth, Julian Porteous of Hobart, and Christopher Prowse of Canberra-Goulburn. Bishop Peter Comensoli of Broken Bay and Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney Terence Brady also signed the statement.

They voiced agreement with Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne, who said June 1 that Cardinal Pell “has always been determined to address the evil of clergy sexual abuse in the Church.”

On Sunday the Australian Channel Nine show “60 Minutes” discussed the response to Catholic clergy abuse in Australia.

That broadcast and other news coverage revisited several accusations against the cardinal, including claims that he moved a known abusive priest and was dismissive towards an abuse victim who reported abuse. The cardinal has rejected the claims, which concern alleged incidents in the 1970s and 1980s.

Cardinal Pell is a prefect of the newly formed Secretariat for the Economy, which is overseeing Vatican finances, and a member of the Council of Cardinals advising Pope Francis on curial reform. He is a former archbishop of both Sydney and Melbourne.

Archbishop Hart, who served as vicar general for Cardinal Pell when he was Archbishop of Melbourne, said Pell “took the lead” in making a speedy response to sexual abuse by clergy.

The archbishop said the criticisms of Pell date back to 2002, and that Cardinal Pell had responded by refuting the claims in a sworn statement. Cardinal Pell also addressed the claims in a 2013 inquiry by the Victorian parliament, Archbishop Hart said.

The current Melbourne archbishop called for fair treatment of the cardinal.

The Channel Nine broadcast included critical comment from clergy abuse survivor Peter Saunders, a British member of the Pontifical Council for the Protection of Minors, who called for the removal of Cardinal Pell from his positions.

Saunders charged that the cardinal’s position was “untenable” and claimed Cardinal Pell acted “with callousness, cold-heartedness, almost sociopathic.”

On May 31 a spokesman for Cardinal Pell said the broadcast was “false and misleading,” and outrageous in its coverage. The spokesman said the broadcast included “incorrect and prejudicial material” in light of other evidence, including the cardinal’s own testimony under oath to abuse commissions.

Cardinal Pell’s spokesman said the cardinal has never met Saunders, who “seems to have formed his strong opinions without ever having spoken” to Cardinal Pell. The spokesman praised Saunders’ work with the abuse commission, but said he is not well informed about the claims against the cardinal and their treatment in previous hearings.

Saunders’ comments also prompted a May 31 response from the Holy See Press Office. Spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the cardinal has “always responded carefully and thoroughly to the accusations and questions posed by the competent Australian authorities.” Fr. Lombardi said Saunders’ statement was “entirely personal” and not on behalf of the commission.

On June 2, the Pontifical Council for the Protection of Minors also responded to the Australian broadcast, saying the council has “no jurisdiction to comment on individual cases or inquiries.”

The pontifical council said all appropriate questions are being addressed by the Truth, Justice and Healing Council in Australia, which is coordinating local Churches’ responses to the royal commission’s findings.

The pontifical council reaffirmed its dedication to its mission to help the Church protect minors and to ensure the interests of abuse survivors and victims are made paramount. The commission said it is essential that those in authority in the Church respond promptly and transparently, with the intention of achieving justice.

The statement of the seven Australian bishops voiced appreciation for Cardinal Pell’s “strong and unfailing support” for the royal commission investigating abuse and noted his readiness to assist the commission.

They also addressed criticisms of Cardinal Pell’s personality.

“His style can be robust and direct; he does not wear his heart on his sleeve. But underneath he has a big heart for people,” they said.

“He has responded to criticisms that have been made of his handling of these matters over the years, acknowledged mistakes frankly, and apologized for them.”

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WORLD NEWS

African, European bishops’ meeting promotes an authentic ‘joy of the family’

by Andrea Gagliarducci and Carl Bunderson (CNA/EWTN News) • June 5, 2015

(Mishimoto via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

Maputo, Mozambique — A group of bishops from across Africa and Europe met last weekend pledging to redouble their efforts in favor of families, and examining challenges of the 2014 Synod on the Family as well as prospects for the 2015 synod.

The bishops who gathered in Mozambique at the May 28-31 Seminar on the Family were from the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE). The participants included bishops from Africa and eastern Europe, who were among the strongest defenders of the Church’s traditional teaching and practice at the 2014 Synod of Bishops, and who are certain to promote Christian values and to counter any initiatives that would go beyond Catholic teaching.

“The human person does not realise his or her freedom by separating themselves from any bond, from any relationship with the past, with the future, with humanity and with other people, but by accepting an order of personal relationships which help the development of the individual human person, encouraging the realisation of their own freedom,” read a May 29 message to the assembly from Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest, who is president of the CCEE.

The meeting’s closing message included the bishops’ pledge to redouble their evangelization efforts through a more focused pastoral care of families in all their dioceses, and to instill vision of the family not only in their faithful, but also in every person of good will.

They showed their pastoral approach by first commending the “many happy families” and expressing gratitude for them, and then adding that “at the same time, as Pastors, we are close to those, who though married, are living in some marital crisis.”

“We suffer a lot with broken families; with poor families that hardly make it through the day. We are touched by people afflicted with illness and who cannot be taken care of for lack of financial means, or lack of professional healthcare,” the bishops’ message emphasized, also reflecting on the challenges which illness, substance abuse, war, migration, and human trafficking pose to families.

The bishops added, “Our hearts are broken, when we notice young children, orphaned, abused, without education, many of whom live alone on the streets, and teenagers lured into violence, crime, prostitution, etc. We hear of so many mothers, who desperately see no future for their unborn child, and so resort to abortion. What a pain this must be!”

Bishops also expressed worry over “some of the negative influences within the media.”

They then turned again to the “many families that live a life of selflessness and sacrifice, being generously open to new life, and giving themselves without conditions to other family members, and in that way really finding fulfillment in themselves,” commending the families “where faith in God and family values are lived and passed on; where there is unconditional acceptance and mutual cooperation, room for mistakes, fraternal correction and place for forgiveness and reconciliation; where every child is welcome, with whatever traits and disabilities.”

Reflecting on their mission as bishops, the group prayed that the Holy Spirit will “guide the thoughts and deliberations of the Fathers of the coming Synod … May the ideal family never be totally eclipsed by our human weakness and sin!”

“As bishops, we will double up our efforts to let this light of Christ shine, by increasing our pastoral care of the family, by preparing our youth for Holy Matrimony, by accompanying families with or without children, by taking care of the elderly and the divorced in whatever circumstances they live.”

The seminar included 35 participants, of whom 22 are bishops. Participants from western Europe included Archbishop Francois Garnier of Cambrai and Archbishop Ludwig Schick of Bamberg. The meeting also included contributions from Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Olweny of Kenya, from the Africa Family Life Federation.

Speaking at the opening of the seminar, Archbishop Gabriel Mbilingi emphasized the challenges facing the Christian vision of the family, urging that the 2015 Synod must “rediscover the saving plan of God, according to the teaching of Sacred Scripture and the Church, in the pastoral action in favour of the families, the values of marriage and the family to be put into practice in the life of young people and spouses, helping them to appreciate the greatness and the beauty of the gift of indissolubility, in order to arouse the desire to live it up together and build more and more.”

Archbishop Mbilingi called the relationship between doctrine and mercy a “great challenge,” and suggested that the upcoming synod fathers “shall seek to help the faithful in relation to people who have not yet reached a full understanding of the gift of love of Christ, by showing an attitude of acceptance and trustful confidence, without ever giving up the proclamation of the demands of the Gospel.”

The Angolan archbishop’s address was followed by the message from Cardinal Erdo, which focused on the negative consequences of secularization and individualism, “which separates the human person from his / her natural environment, from the communities represented by the family and society.”

He noted the positive role of families who “encourage each other in a mutual fashion,” praying together and discussing the faith, commenting that “these communities really seem to be a sign of the times … we must make our communities more aware of the values of this new and strong phenomenon.”

Cardinal Erdo continued, saying that “the human person is realised in complementarity with others, and the family is its most essential expression. The history of humanity shows that sin can close us in on ourselves and create many tensions and divisions. But God, as Pope Francis frequently reminds us, does not allow us be crushed by human sin, and Christ comes to meet every person to save them and lead them back to their true humanity. Christ – who has taught us the full truth about the human person, as well as about marriage and the family – always remains the unique reference point for our faith and for our lives.”

Continuing in this line, the cardinal said, “we are not called to look at the world simply with our philosophical categories and only on the basis of empirical personal experiences or starting from sociological polls or studies, but we are disciples of Christ, so we must look to Christ, we must listen to his voice through history, through the Sacred Scripture, through the testimony of the community of the Church.”

Cardinal Erdo’s comments can be seen as a salvo against the program of numerous bishops from western Europe – such as those of Germany – who are suggesting an opening to the acceptance of same-sex unions, and admission of the divorced and remarried to Communion.

While Cardinal Erdo urged looking first to Christ – rather than empirical personal experiences or sociological studies – the German bishops’ response to the preparatory questionnaire for the 2015 synod noted that “the vast majority” of respondents expect the Church to accept homosexual relationships on the basis of a “moral theological evaluation which takes account of pastoral experiences and of the findings of the humanities.”

Cardinal Erdo concluded his address saying, “Thus we see the direction: every real development in the Church draws us closer to Christ, both in faith and in daily life.”

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WORLD NEWS

Twenty years after war, Bosnians working to reclaim first victim: trust

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • June 5, 2015

The minaret of a mosque lit in Sarajevo, Bosina-Hersegovina on June 4, 2015. (Andreas Dueren/CNA)

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina — A key Muslim figure in Bosnia said that “mutual trust” was the first victim of the country’s recent war – and is something each of their four main religious populations are still working to regain.

In a June 4 interview with CNA, Ifet Mustafic stressed that “during (the) war, many bad things were done, and were even done from people with religious affiliations … now people are talking a lot about victims, about people who died. But they do not talk about trust.”

“Trust was a victim of the war itself. If you don’t trust someone, you cannot work with someone,” he noted, explaining that interreligious dialogue has also been damaged by this lack of trust.

Historically divided into three key ethnic groups, Bosnia-Herzegovina is composed of a majority of Muslim Bosniaks followed by a large percentage of mostly Orthodox Serbs and a great population of Croats, a majority of which are Catholic.

Ethnic tensions broiled during the country’s 1992-1995 war, during which Bosnia’s Serb population began a policy of ethnic “cleansing” in large areas of Bosnia inhabited by non-Serbs and Muslim, Croat and Serb populations who opposed their army. The war ended in 1995 with the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords.

Mustafic is the head of the Raisu-l-Ulama Islamic community’s Interreligious relations office in Bosnia-Herzegovina and is part of the Muslim delegation that will meet with Pope Francis for the interreligious encounter during his June 6 visit to Sarajevo. He was also present when St. John Paul II visited the country in 1997.

The June 6 interreligious meeting, which will be held in Sarajevo’s International Franciscan Study Center, will be closed door. It is estimated that some 1,000 participants will attend, representing the four religions of Bosnia-Herzegovina: Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Judaism and Islam.

A group of around six people from each delegation will be allowed to approach the Pope and shake his hand, however Mustafic said he doesn’t expect to be part of the group.

He said that currently the main challenge for Bosnia’s Muslim community “is to regain the trust, to re-establish it again within religious communities.”

“Dialogue existed before the war, and – when the war ended in 1996 – all the four communities sat together and tried to deal with some issues and tried at least to talk to each other,” he said.

However, he noted that the Muslim community is keenly aware they are talking about sensitive and “specific” topics which have affected their recent past the most.

“Because we could not get anywhere, we chose to talk and work on things that are important for all of us and that we can agree all together,” he said.

Mustafic said that as Muslims, they expect the Pope “to encourage the path we are carrying forward (with) dialogue.” He also expressed hope that Francis will address the topic of confiscated properties.

During the communist era religious properties – whether cathedrals or mosques – were confiscated. After the war, religious communities began the process of procuring their lost properties from the state.

“We expect the Pope to call government officials to pay more attention to the rights of the community, including property rights and also the rights of individual believers of any community,” Mustafic said.

He noted that a book describing the historical presence of Sarajevo’s religions will be included among the gifts given to Pope Francis at the interreligious meeting.

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WORLD NEWS

Justice, peace and equality: Sarajevo’s hopes for papal visit

by Kevin J. Jones and Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 5, 2015

A cross in Sarajevo’s Kosevo stadium, June 5, 2015. (Andreas Duren/CNA)

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina — Pope Francis’ visit to Sarajevo could be an opportunity to advance peace, equality, and justice for Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite a declining Catholic population whose refugees have still not returned home.

“It is time for world leaders to make a just peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Cardinal Vinko Puljic of Sarajevo told CNA April 7.

“I do not expect a miracle from the Pope’s visit. But I expect that his cry would awake the conscience and responsibility of those who are in power who supposedly proclaim human rights … to solve the problem between the peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

Cardinal Puljic said Bosnia and Herzegovina had been “put aside,” but the Pope’s Feb. 1 announcement of a visit once again put Sarajevo at the center of the world’s interest.

“Because of that, the most influential countries and people of the world started again to think about Bosnia and Herzegovina and reconsider the situation here, trying to rebuild a just peace here.”

Pope Francis’ June 6 visit to the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina comes 20 years after the 1995 Dayton Agreement ended the Bosnian War.

The war, which followed the breakup of Yugoslavia, killed around 100,000 combatants and civilians and displaced a million more people. The fighting split largely along ethnic lines, among the predominantly Orthodox Serbs, the predominantly Catholic Croats, and the predominantly Muslim Bosniaks.

Cardinal Puljic is a critic of the outcome of the internationally-brokered agreement that ended the war.

“The beginning of injustice in Bosnia and Herzegovina is in the Dayton Agreement, which legalized ethnic cleansing. And the things that were implemented were the things favoring the most powerful side here in Bosnia,” he said.

He said that that the state “cannot establish the rule of law, equal for all three peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

“This kind of state does not guarantee the equality before the law for all three peoples,” he added.

“The number of Catholics in Bosnia and Herzegovina is less and less every single year. Before the war, the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna [Sarajevo] had 520,000 Catholics, and the number is now around 180,000,” Cardinal Puljic explained.

“How can I be silent facing those facts? Every year we are 8,000-10,000 less.”

He blamed a “lack of political will” as the main obstacle preventing refugees from returning home.

The cardinal said it was “particularly inexcusable” that resources were not provided to Catholics to return and rebuild.

“It is difficult now to talk about the return. People could not wait, and therefore they started a new life somewhere else. But their farms and ruins are still vivid witnesses of the crime committed. It is not a question of return anymore; now it is a question of the survival of those who remained and still live here.”

Cardinal Puljic hoped the papal visit would advance equal treatment for Catholics.

”The Pope does not want to defend Catholics and ask privileges for them – No! But we expect that Catholics, who are mostly Croats, have the same rights as the two other constituent peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

Bishop Tomo Vuk_ic of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Military Ordinariate also blamed a lack of political will for post-war failures, such as allowing the return of refugees.

In his view, the country now lives under an “unjust peace.”

“It’s a peace because thanks to God there is no war, and this is a great benefit of this Dayton Agreement,” Bishop Vuk_ic told CNA March 31. “But it’s an unjust peace because first of all it didn’t allow for refugees to return. Many people were left without the real possibility of returning, security wasn’t guaranteed, the possibility wasn’t organized, and in the end many, whether Catholic or Orthodox, didn’t come back.”

The structure of political life, election laws, and the distribution of humanitarian aid also incorporates the elements of an “unjust peace.”

Bishop Vuk_ic recapped the dissolution of Yugoslavia; the idea that the country was indissoluble was one source of the conflict.

The Yugoslavian communist army was mostly controlled by Serbian officers. Serbian nationalist ambitions to unite all territories with Serbian residents was also a factor in the conflict, because in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosniaks and Croats opposed this tendency.

“It led to many deaths and a lot of destruction,” the bishop said.

While ethnic and religious identity almost entirely overlapped among the warring factions, he said this was a result of centuries-old historical processes.

“Religion was an entirely secondary matter, it was not part of the war either as a cause or a consequence.”

Many Catholics lived in ethnically mixed villages and cities, which suffered significantly in periods of ethnic cleansing.

“Different Catholics had to run away or were kicked out during the war,” Bishop Vuk_ic said.

After the war their houses and jobs had been destroyed and they lacked security, forcing them to move elsewhere.

Bishop Vuk_ic said the country’s bishops and other Catholics are doing “everything that is possible” to help people return, but added that it is the responsibility of the government and the international community to establish a just parliament and just laws.

The bishops can “preach great principles,” help with dialogue, and help the Catholic relief agency Caritas, he maintains.

He said he believes Pope Francis will address “the question of justice” among other themes during his visit to Sarajevo.

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WORLD NEWS

‘Romeo and Juliet of Sarajevo’ highlight pain of loss in Bosnian War

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • June 5, 2015

Vrbanja bridge where Suada Dilberovic and Olga Sucic, and later Bosko Brkic and Admira Ismic died. (jaime.silva via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina — When Pope Francis visits Bosnia and Herzegovina tomorrow, he will be visiting a country still devastated by the three-year Bosnian War that took place in the early 1990s.

An estimated 100,000 people were killed in the conflict. Twenty years later, reminders of the violence are everywhere – even the route that Pope Francis will take from the Sarajevo international airport to the presidential palace is known as “Aleja snajpera,” or Sniper Alley, due to the violence of previous years.

During the Yugoslav Wars, which include the Bosnian War and several surrounding conflicts, snipers killed at least 600 people – including some 225 children – and injured more than 1000 people.

Among them were the “Romeo and Juliet of Sarajevo,” – Bosko Brkic, a Serbian, and Admira Ismic, a young Bosnian Muslim girl. Their story is well known in the area. The two fell in love despite the war and the fact they were trapped under the siege of Sarajevo, which lasted about four years.

“At one point, they made the decision to leave Sarajevo, to pursue their lives somewhere else. Bosko prepared all the documents, and they were ready to go to the airport, and to be finally free to live their love,” Daniele Bombardi, who works with Caritas in Bosnia, told CNA June 5.

Before fleeing to the airport, the couple had to cross Vrbanja Bridge, which connects the Muslim part of Sarajevo – where the two were living at Admira’s parents’ house – to the Serbian bloc Grbavica, where they would say goodbye to Bosko’s parents before leaving.

Bombardi recounted that “Vrbanja Bridge was particularly dangerous, because it was under the target of snipers.”

Two students – Suada Dilibegovic and Olga Sucic – had previously been killed at this bridge by a sniper in 1992: they were the first civilian victims of war. A year later, a pacifist was killed at the same spot while placing flowers at the site of their death.

Still, Bosko and Admira tried to run across the bridge, making their attempt in May of 1993.

“At the middle of the bridge, Bosko was shot dead by a sniper. He was struck in the head, and he immediately died. Admira was also shot, but did not immediately die. With her very last breath, she reached toward the corpse of her boyfriend and embraced him,” Bombardi said.

The two lay dead in each other’s arms on the bridge for eight days, before a truce was agreed upon and the corpses were removed. They have since been buried in a common grave under a simple cross at the Cemetery of the Lion in Sarajevo.

Bombardi explained the significance of the location: “In front of the cemetery, there is the café where the two lovers met and spent most of their time during the war.”

An international documentary about Bosko and Admira was released in 1994. Their grave stands today as a sharp reminder of the pain that remains in the country two decades later.

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U.S. NEWS

Renowned author, uncompromisingly Catholic: Flannery O’Connor chosen for new postage stamp

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • May 30, 2015

(U.S. Postal Service)

Washington, D.C. — Award-winning American author and devout Roman Catholic Flannery O’Connor will appear on a new postage stamp this summer, the U.S. postal service announced last week. The stamp is decorated with peacock feathers, a tribute to the family peacock farm in Georgia where O’Connor did much of her writing.

Famous for her Southern Gothic fiction style, O’Connor’s best-known works include her first novel, “Wise Blood”, and many short stories such as “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” A collection of her works, “The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor,” won the 1972 National Book Award for fiction and was named the Best of the National Book Awards, 1950-2008 by a public vote.

The author was born in 1925, the only child to devout Roman Catholic parents living in the heart of the Protestant “Bible Belt” in Savannah, Georgia. O’Connor went to school at Georgia State College for Women, then to the Iowa Writers Workshop, and finally to New York to study and work on her writing.

However, at the age of 25, a diagnosis of lupus forced O’Connor to return home to her family’s farm in Andalusia, Georgia, where she lived out her days caring for animals, going to church, and writing.

Her inclusion on U.S. postage stamps is a triumph for both American authors and American Catholics, said Ralph Wood, professor of literature and theology at Baylor University and author of the 2005 book “Flannery O’Connor and the Christ-Haunted South.”

“More than 50 years after her early death in 1964 (at age 39), her fiction continues to command worldwide attention, and so the USPS rightly adds her to its roll-call of writers who have been thus honored,” Wood told CNA in an e-mail interview.

“Yet it would be tempting on such a public occasion to ignore the religious nature of Flannery O’Connor’s achievement,” Wood added.

But this can hardly be done. O’Connor never kept her faith a secret, and despite her frail health would travel to speak about faith and literature.

The recent release of her college prayer journal, which she kept while attending the Iowa Writer’s Workshop in her early 20s, provides even more evidence that the author’s deep interior life and relationship with God drove her passion for writing.

“Dear God please help me to be an artist, please let it lead to You,” she wrote.

“In those years O’Connor came to recognize her own significant talent, but also came to worry that her powerful desire for literary success – a success that seemed to be within her reach – might threaten her relationship with God,” said Professor John Grammar, director of the Sewanee School of Letters.

“How to harmonize her desire to write well with her desire to love God completely? Writing had to become an avenue to God, not an end in itself,” he added. Throughout the journal, O’Connor increasingly writes about seeing her talent as a vocation, rather than a career path to success.

What further makes O’Connor stand out from other writers, and particularly other writers of faith, is her willingness to write about the dark and grotesque: her constant use of unsavory characters and horrific plots is almost unheard of in other Christian writings.

“The distinctive thing about O’Connor as a Christian artist is that she has little interest in making us feel good,” Grammar said. “In her work the love of God is always present, but far from being comforting, it is guaranteed to disrupt comfort and shake up complacent certainties, in her characters and her readers.”

Indeed, O’Connor herself said she was uninterested in making people feel comfortable and happy, as Brad Gooch explains in his biography “Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor.”

“O’Connor said that modern writers must often tell ‘perverse’ stories to ‘shock’ a morally blind world. ‘It requires considerable courage,’ she concluded, ‘not to turn away from the story-teller,’” he wrote.

American Catholics can learn something from O’Connor, whose relevance continues today despite her unwillingness to compromise or water down her beliefs in her work.

“Beset with its own failings, the Church is also besieged with demands for accommodation of its basic doctrines and practices to the secular spirit of the age,” Wood said.

“Flannery O’Connor rejected all such compromises. Her fiction endures because it provides a living artistic alternative to the twin evils of modernity: the omni-competent nation-state and the all-pervasive Culture of Death. Whatever the motives prompting it, this commemorative stamp contains the image of the nation’s most redemptive writer: Flannery O’Connor.”

The Flannery O’Connor stamp is a “forever” stamp for 3-ounce packages and will be available June 5.

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U.S. NEWS

Are farming co-ops just a hipster trend? These Catholics beg to differ

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • May 31, 2015

(Unsplash)

San Francisco, CA — Anyone who’s familiar with “Portlandia” probably remembers Colin the chicken – a heritage-breed, woodland-raised foul who was fed a diet of sheep’s milk, soy and (local) hazelnuts and lived a happy life on a (local) 4-acre farm before succumbing to its fate on the plates of two insufferable hipsters.

While the comedy show, based in and around Portland, Ore., takes cultural mores to hilarious extremes, the chicken sketch points to a truth in current culture: more and more people are eating organic, local, non-GMO foods and prefer the authentic over the artificially enhanced.

And that’s where the Archdiocese of San Francisco saw an opportunity to help low-income parishioners escape poverty.

Father Larry Goode is the pastor of St. Francis of Assisi parish in East Palo Alto, a small and historically low-income city in the San Francisco Bay area. Recently, Fr. Goode watched as big tech companies – Facebook, Google, and Microsoft – bought up most of the land surrounding his neighborhood, driving rent prices up and St. Francis’ low-income families out.

“We’re a community of low-income people, and we’re trying to find a way to keep the community intact,” Fr. Goode said.

He started brainstorming with St. Patrick’s seminary professor Father George Schultze and Ignatius Press founder Jesuit Father Joseph Fessio to come up with a way to create sustainable income for the poor in the area. That’s how the idea of NanoFarms USA, a worker-owned farming cooperative, was born.

After receiving permission from Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone and St. Patrick’s seminary rector Father Gladstone Stevens, Fr. Goode and St. Francis parishioners started using seminary grounds to plant produce, which they then started selling at local parishes and markets.

To supplement the income from the produce, the co-op is also creating and selling NanoFarms, or miniature, already-started gardens that range in cost from $500 - $2,000, depending on the model.

Those who purchase NanoFarms also have the option of hiring a worker to periodically maintain the garden.

Brendon Ford, the West Coast Regional Manager for NanoFarms USA, said the co-ops are giving workers a more just wage than what they might earn in other lines of work in the area.

“A lot of people, if they didn’t have this job, they would work for a gardener, or at a farm, or as a landscaper and they would be making very low wages,” he explained.

“Here (at NanoFarms) they actually own the company, they run the company, they vote for their boss, they can decide the direction of the company,” he said. “They have a lot more control. They have a lot more responsibility, but they have a lot more ownership.”

Ford, who didn’t know much about farming when he got involved with the co-op, and had to take an eight-week course on bio-intensive farming practices in order to learn more, while another worker is finishing training in organic farming practices.

“It’s awesome because last year we didn’t know anything about this stuff, and now we know so much,” Ford said. “We’ve literally seen the fruits of our labor.”

The idea of fresh, organic produce is definitely trending in the Bay area right now, Ford said, which helps the appeal of their business.

“Our culture, especially the millennial generation, is kind of rebelling against the unnatural stuff of the previous generation,” he said. “They really want to experience the authenticity of life, I think this applies with food.”

But beyond providing authentic produce, NanoFarms is also helping tech workers and others in the area to recognize the value of every person in the community, Fr. Goode explained.

“Low-income people provide innumerable services for the other side of town, which they’re not being acknowledged or recognized for, so as the cost of living goes up and these people have to leave, nobody’s filling in to do those jobs,” Fr. Goode said. “So this is partly to make ourselves more visible, so people can see that there’s a need here for people to wash their cars, to do their lawns, to cook their food. Then they can see that it’s not going to make it a better community to have just tech workers.”

Fr. Goode said he is also reading Pope Francis’ encyclical, “Evangelii Gaudium,” at the moment and believes that NanoFarms is responding to the Holy Father’s constant call to the Church to care for the poor.

“It’s not optional, it’s a required thing,” he said. “The Gospel requires that we become a Church of the poor.”

Ford also said that NanoFarms USA is a model for how Church social teaching works.

“We have to take care of the poorest among us,” he said. “And (one way) to do that is to tackle the issue: Why do people not have money? Why are they not having the jobs that they need? And I think what NanoFarms is doing, it’s finding a solution to people without jobs.”

Ford said NanoFarms also appeals to people who like to support good causes in their own communities.

“They see that this is actually helping people, this isn’t helping some big corporation,” he said. “But these are local people that are right here, the farmers are from their parishes, their communities. They like that idea of supporting each other.”

There are already plans in the works for another NanoFarms co-op to start in the Archdiocese of Chicago, and Ford said he’d like to see the project spread further.

“We’re hoping other dioceses will catch on to this idea and start their own co-ops.”

To learn more about the business, visit:  nanofarms.com

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U.S. NEWS

‘Gay agenda’ at the World Meeting of Families? Not at all, Philly Archdiocese says

by Hillary Mast (CNA/EWTN News) • May 31, 2015

Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia. (Peter Miller via Flickr CC 2.0)

Philadelphia, PA — In response to claims that a “homosexual activist” is acting as “gatekeeper” to exhibitors at the upcoming World Meeting of Families, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has said that nothing could be farther from the truth.

“Recently, some confusion has arisen regarding who is responsible for determining eligibility for individuals and groups applying to become exhibitors at the World Meeting of Families Congress in September,” the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Director of Communications, Kenneth Gavin said in a statement provided to CNA May 31.

“That confusion was a result of erroneous and ill-informed blog posts,” he said, explaining that the archdiocese and the World Meeting of Families (WMOF) are “the only ones who approve or reject all exhibitor applications, and not any vendor.”

While the help of a third party management company, Talley Management Group, Inc., has been enlisted for the upcoming event, it is not responsible for reviewing or approving exhibitor requests, as stated in the WMOF exhibitor terms and conditions.

“They’ve been contracted for logistical support and nothing else. All exhibits are vetted by our content team which is thoroughly Catholic, and we’ve turned away a variety of potential exhibitors on both right and left that don’t fit the tone of the event,” Gavin said.

“In fact they don’t have any influence on WMOF content,” he stressed.

The Philadelphia Archdiocese’s statement comes in light of a recent blog post from Michael Hichborn claiming that a “homosexual activist” is the “gatekeeper” to the WMOF exhibition floor and marketplace area.

Hichborn took issue with posts from the personal Facebook page of a Talley Management Group employee, Teresa Matozzo who is listed as the WMOF Exhibits and Sponsorship Manager.

He found posts dating as far back as 2010 in which Matozzo expressed the desire to marry her lesbian partner and uploaded a picture of herself holding a rainbow colored flag at a “gay pride” event.

He encouraged his readers to contact the World Meeting of Families directly, but did not provide comments from either the World Meeting of Families or the Archdiocese of Philadelphia himself.

In the terms and conditions page for prospective exhibitors, it states that the show manager is working under the advisement of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the World Meeting of Families.

“In keeping with the Catholic mission of this event, all materials and products being promoted, distributed or sold at the World Meeting of Families must be in conformity with the Magisterial teaching of the Catholic Church,” the terms and conditions state.

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U.S. NEWS

Death of Joe Biden’s son draws prayers from Delaware bishop

by CNA/EWTN News • June 1, 2015

Beau Biden, who died May 30 of brain cancer. (Chris Coons via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)

Wilmington, DE — Bishop W. Francis Malooly of Wilmington has offered his condolences and prayers to Vice President Joe Biden and his family, upon the death of his son Beau Biden.

“I pray that Our Lord will give them strength during this time of sadness and that they find consolation and hope in the knowledge that Beau is in the presence of a merciful God,” the Delaware bishop said June 1.

Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III died of brain cancer May 30 at the age of 46.

At the age of 3, Beau Biden was seriously injured in a 1972 car crash that killed his mother and infant sister, soon after his father was first elected to the U.S. Senate.

Beau Biden was a former federal prosecutor, a twice-elected attorney general of Delaware, and a major in an Army National Guard unit that deployed to Iraq, the Associated Press reports. He had been working at a prominent Delaware law firm and in 2014 had announced plans to run for governor.

Bishop Malooly said Beau Biden was “an outstanding husband and father and a hard-working public servant who left his mark on Delaware and our nation.”

“Over my seven years as Bishop of Wilmington, I always enjoyed my encounters and interactions with him,” the bishop continued. “He was truly a real gentleman in every way possible. May the Lord now provide him eternal life.”

Beau Biden is survived by his wife Hallie and two children, as well as a brother and a sister, stepmother Dr. Jill Biden, and his father, the first Catholic to hold the vice presidency.

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CRS vice president in same-sex civil marriage steps down

by CNA/EWTN News • June 3, 2015

(Catholic Relief Services)

Baltimore, MD — Amid the resignation of a vice presidential employee in a same-sex civil marriage, Catholic Relief Services reiterated its commitment to both Catholic identity and respect for all people as children of God.

Catholic Relief Services employee Rick Estridge worked at the agency for 16 years, most recently as Vice President for Overseas Finance.

Estridge “held a technical finance position that did not involve mission-related decisions. Because of that, CRS did not require that position to be held by a Catholic, and Mr. Estridge is not Catholic,” said Catholic Relief Services June 3.

“He entered into a same-sex civil marriage two years ago when doing so became legal in Maryland. Because of the stress this situation has caused Mr. Estridge and his family, he has made the decision to leave CRS.”

According to public records from the Clerk of Circuit Court for the City of Baltimore, Maryland, published in April by the Lepanto Institute, Estridge entered into a civil same-sex marriage with his partner, William Gorestas on April 4, 2013.

The institute said that Estridge had also been publicly championing gay marriage on his Facebook page, though both his LinkedIn and Facebook accounts were later disabled.

Estridge announced June 3 that he had decided to resign from CRS.

“This is the right decision for me, and I thank CRS’ leadership for providing me with the space to make this determination during this difficult time,” he said in a public statement.

“I continue to have full faith in CRS’ leadership and the organization as a whole. I thank my team and the global finance community for their hard work and dedication and have every belief that they will continue to serve with excellence.”

A Catholic Relief Services statement provided to CNA June 3 said that the agency “respects Mr. Estridge’s decision and thanks him for his service.”

The organization emphasized that it has “close ties to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission.” CRS is the official overseas relief and development agency of the U.S. bishops’ conference.

“We are resolute in our commitment to the Church and all its teachings, and we work in countless ways to support marriage and family life,” the group stated.

“Our Board of Directors and executives regularly review programs, policies and practices to ensure that these uphold our Catholic identity, as we remain true to our mission of caring for those in greatest need at the forefront of the Church’s engagement with the world.”

Catholic Relief Services also expressed its “strong objection to these types of attacks and the tactics of the groups which launch them.” It noted that the critique published online had public broadcast Estridge’s home address.

“As a Catholic agency, CRS is committed to treating all people with the respect and compassion they deserve as children of God,” the agency said. “We detest hurtful campaigns that do not build up, but undermine, individuals and Church agencies carrying out the mission of bringing the love of Jesus Christ to those who are suffering.”

The Lepanto Institute and related groups have previously accused CRS of facilitating contraception in developing nations and advocating behavior contrary to Church teaching. The U.S. bishops have investigated and rejected these accusations on several occasions, stressing their confidence in the organization’s Catholic identity and the safeguards put in place to ensure that identity.

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How the Supreme Court’s hijab decision helps faith in the workplace

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • June 3, 2015

(Hernan Pinera via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0)

Washington, D.C. — Many religious believers will benefit from the Supreme Court’s Monday decision that a clothing store wrongly discriminated against a prospective employee whose Muslim beliefs required her to wear a hijab, one legal expert has said.

“At a time when some are suggesting that religious faith and values should be confined to private prayer or houses of worship, today’s ruling is a welcome reminder that the free exercise of religion takes place every day, not just on holy days, and in all aspects of life, including work,” University of Notre Dame Law School professor Richard Garnett told CNA June 1.

The case concerned Samantha Elauf, who had applied for a job with an Oklahoma store of the fashion giant Abercrombie & Fitch. She wears a hijab headscarf for religious reasons and wore it to her job interview. Abercrombie has a no-headwear policy for its employees for fashion reasons.

Elauf was denied the position because of her hijab.

She never told the company her headdress was for religious reasons, and had not asked them for an accommodation at the time of the interview. However, in internal conversations both the store manager and district manager assumed she wore the headdress for religious reasons.

Elauf filed suit claiming that the company discriminated against her for religious reasons.

The Supreme Court sided with Elauf and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in its 8-1 ruling issued June 1.

“An employer may not make an applicant’s religious practice, confirmed or otherwise, a factor in employment decisions,” said the court’s majority opinion, authored by Justice Antonin Scalia.

The majority opinion, signed by seven justices, cited Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination by employers on basis of religion. They ruled that the act applies not just when an employer has knowledge of a candidate’s need for a religious accommodation, but also when their hiring decision is in any way motivated by the person’s need for an accommodation.

The court majority said that an employer’s hiring decision that is in any way motivated by a job candidate’s religious beliefs violates the law.

“To prevail in a disparate-treatment claim, an applicant need show only that his need for an accommodation was a motivating factor in the employer’s decision, not that the employer had knowledge of his need,” the opinion stated.

The court decision said that civil rights protections do not treat religious beliefs as neutral, but rather elevate them to a prioritized status of meriting “favored treatment.”

Garnett said this aspect of the ruling is significant because it means further protections for religious practice against workplace requirements that might infringe upon it. He said the language is “a welcome and timely reminder of our longstanding commitment to protecting religious practices in the public sphere.”

“Most of us, after all, spend much more time at work than we do in religious services, and the freedom of religion includes the freedom to integrate our faith into our daily lives,” added Garnett, who is an expert in freedom of religion and constitutional law.

The case has broad implications for people of all faiths. It could apply to cases of Jewish or Christian job candidates who cannot work on Saturdays or Sundays for religious reasons and apply for a company requiring work hours on those days.

The Supreme Court opinion cited the example of an employer who considers a job applicant who “may be an Orthodox Jew who will observe the Sabbath, and thus be unable to work on Saturdays.”

If the employer desires to avoid making a religious accommodation, and this is a motivating factor in his employment decision, the employer would violate the law.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in the case, called the decision “historic” and a big win for religious freedom “when the American Muslim community is facing increased levels of Islamophobia.”

“The Supreme Court rightly underscored that a job applicant’s religious beliefs and practices must play no role in an employer’s hiring decision,” said CAIR’s senior staff attorney William Burgess.

Religious leaders of other faiths also came to Elauf’s defense, including Rev. Robert Schenck of Faith and Action in the Nation’s Capitol, a Christian outreach group serving Capitol Hill.

“There is no constitutional right to fashion preferences. There is a Constitutional right to religious practice,” he said after oral arguments in February. “There is a higher level of scrutiny for that right than for someone’s fashion preference.”

The June 1 ruling overturned the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision that a company did not have to make religious accommodations for a prospective employee if it was not explicitly notified of the need first.

A similar legal case in 2013 concerned a Burger King employee Ashanti McShan whose Pentecostal Christian faith motivated her to wear a skirt to work when the employee dress code prohibited skirts. Although she sought a religious accommodation, management told her she could not wear the skirt to work and she was fired from the company.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission took up her case. The case ended in a settlement that required regional Burger King franchises to display a non-discrimination notice for employees.

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Florist asks court to overturn mandatory gay marriage support

by CNA/EWTN News • June 4, 2015

Wedding flowers. (Trevor Owens via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

Olympia, WA — A florist has appealed to the Washington State Supreme Court to review court rulings that could cause her financial ruin because she declined to serve a same-sex wedding ceremony.

Kristen Waggoner, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, said Stutzman and others have been “more than willing to serve any and all customers, but they are understandably not willing to promote any and all messages.”

“No one should be faced with a choice between their freedom of speech and conscience on one hand and personal and professional ruin on the other.”

The appeal involves Barronelle Stutzman, the owner of Arlene’s Flowers and Gifts in Richland, Wash.

“For me, it’s never about the person who walks into the shop, but about the message I’m communicating when someone asks me to ‘say it with flowers’,” Stutzman said June 1. “We should all have artistic freedom and the right to disagree without one side of a conversation being threatened by the government.”

Due to her religious beliefs, Stutzman declined to make floral arrangements for the same-sex wedding of one of her long-time customers, Robert Ingersoll. Instead, she referred him to other businesses.

The State of Washington filed a lawsuit in response, as did Ingersoll and his partner, Curt Freed.

The lawsuits charged that Stutzman violated state anti-discrimination and consumer protection laws, and a lower court agreed.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys and others on Monday filed an appeal to the Supreme Court on Stutzman’s behalf.

The legal brief said the lower court’s decision “held that the state may force Barronelle to choose between engaging in compelled expression celebrating an event that violates her religious faith or foregoing the wedding design work she has loved for forty years.”

Jeremy Tedesco, senior legal counsel at the legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, said June 1 that the two lawsuits could “financially devastate” Stutzman’s business and personal assets. The threat includes “taking this 70-year old grandmother’s retirement and personal savings – simply for acting in accordance with her faith.”

Without further court action, Stutzman must pay a presently undetermined amount of damages, attorney fees, and plaintiff costs once appeals are exhausted, according to her legal brief. She must also pay $1,000 in fines.

The courts have ruled she must also agree to create floral arrangements for same-sex ceremonies and provide full wedding support if she continues to provide floral arrangements for wedding ceremonies between people of the opposite sex.

The Alliance Defending Freedom brief said that the court ruling against Stutzman misconstrued Washington’s anti-discrimination law and impairs her state and federal constitutional rights.

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Cardinal Kasper backpedals on papal endorsement of controversial proposal

by Raymond Arroyo (National Catholic Register) • June 4, 2015

Cardinal Walter Kasper. (Mazur/catholicchurch.org.uk CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Washington, D.C. — Almost single-handedly one cleric has turned the Church’s teaching on Communion, marriage and divorce into an international debate.

For decades, German Cardinal Walter Kasper has promoted a proposal to allow divorced-and-civilly-remarried Catholics to receive holy Communion after a period of repentance. His controversial position has drawn intense criticism from some and rapturous support from others.

Cardinal Kasper said last fall that a “growing majority” of synod members supported his position. And he has claimed to be promoting what Pope Francis wants.

The retired German bishop, former Curial official and the man often called “the Pope’s theologian,” spoke last week at a Georgetown University conference on the Second Vatican Council. During his Washington visit, Cardinal Kasper sat down with me to discuss his proposal, in depth, and its ramifications for the Church.

The interview, which will air on EWTN’s The World Over in two parts, allows the audience to enter into the mind of a man who in many ways has shaped the conversation of October’s Synod of Bishops on the Family in Rome.

The cardinal’s determination to press synod fathers to embrace his proposal is clear, as is his belief that it could ultimately succeed. He told me that he is undeterred by the opposition his proposal has received from bishops’ conferences around the world. At the same time, the cardinal backs away from his earlier comments indicating papal support for his controversial position.

Has Cardinal Kasper’s proposal lost ground? Did he tout the papal endorsement too strenuously? Will his proposal succeed? Don’t miss part one of our exclusive interview with Cardinal Walter Kasper this Thursday, June 4, on The World Over.

Here are a few key excerpts from Part I:

ARROYO: As you look at the situation now, as you see the African bishops, the Polish bishops, the U.S. bishops saying there shouldn’t be a change in either practice or doctrine — you have people writing, signing petitions begging the Church fathers not to make any changes, are you confident that change might happen?

CARDINAL KASPER: Well, that’s one side, but there are many petitions also on the other; and since I know many cardinals, I know many bishops who are more on my side …

ARROYO: Your Eminence, I know you brought this proposal forward and have submitted it to the body of bishops, and you have really been out advertising it and trying to expose people to your proposal all over the world. Do you feel any responsibility for the phenomenon that people have written to me about, priests particularly, of divorced-and-remarried couples, gay couples presenting themselves after Mass and saying, “We want Communion; you should allow us to have Communion. This is clearly what the Pope wants.” Do you feel any personal responsibility for that phenomenon?

CARDINAL KASPER: Well, this is a misunderstanding, and, first of all, it was a question, and I put the question to open the debate. It’s not a proposal. And, therefore, of course a couple can come and want holy Communion. I spoke about a penitential process, a penitential way. It needs time …

ARROYO: But there’s already a penitential process. I mean, there is already the canonical process of nullity, yes?

CARDINAL KASPER: Yeah, the nullity process is one thing; I am not this. A process of nullity: This is one thing …

ARROYO: So this is another process?

CARDINAL KASPER: This is another process, but if people, well, if they have the statement of nullity, they can come to holy Communion: That’s clear.

ARROYO: But you do understand, when a Churchman like yourself, a theologian, an esteemed international figure, a Curial official says: “Here is my proposal, and the Pope agrees with me” that does cause some …

CARDINAL KASPER: Well, this I did not say.

ARROYO: Well you did say, and the quote is: “Clearly this is what he wants,” and the Pope has approved of my proposal. Those were the quotes from the time …

CARDINAL KASPER: No … he did not approve my proposal. The Pope wanted that I put the question [forward], and, afterwards, in a general way, before all the cardinals, he expressed his satisfaction with my talk. But not the end, not in the … I wouldn’t say he approved the proposal, no, no, no.

Tune in for the complete interview on The World Over at 8pm ET on EWTN.

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For St. John’s University, affordable tuition is a Catholic cause

by Kevin Jones (CNA/EWTN News) • June 5, 2015

St. Augustine Hall, which houses the University Library, Queens, NY campus. (St. John’s University)

New York City, N.Y. — Aiming to reduce the financial burden of a college education, the New York-based St. John’s University has enacted a tuition freeze for the 2015-2016 school year, along with other efforts to keep costs low for students.

“Addressing the rising cost of higher education must be a priority, particularly in view of St. John’s mission as a Catholic and Vincentian University that is committed to providing students with an affordable education,” Dominic Scianna, a spokesperson for St. John’s University, told CNA June 4.

“It is our sincere hope that this initiative will provide students who otherwise would not be able to afford college the opportunity to realize that dream at St. John’s University.”

The university decided not to implement a planned three percent annual increase in tuition for the upcoming academic year. Instead, it froze tuition, fees, and room and board costs at its Queens, Manhattan, Oakdale and Rome campuses. This means each full-time student will save about $1,140 per year. Part-time undergraduates and graduate students will also benefit.

The university also reduced the cost of undergraduate tuition by $10,370 at its Staten Island campus, while freezing room and board costs and other fees at current levels.

Scianna said the tuition freeze was decided due to the “significant financial burden” facing students and their families. He reported that the move has received a “very positive” response from both students and parents.

The freeze on tuition and other costs was possible because of the university’s work to reduce expenses and increase efficiency. The university’s Staten Island campus has also undergone administrative restructuring.

Over 15,700 undergraduates were enrolled at the university, as of fall 2013. Scianna said that almost all students receive financial aid.

The university could not yet tell whether the freeze on costs affected enrollment because it is continuing to accept applications for the 2015-2016 year.

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Minnesota archdiocese to cooperate amid charges of mishandling abuse allegations

by CNA/EWTN News • June 5, 2015

(CNA)

Minneapolis, MN — The Minneapolis-St. Paul archdiocese has pledged cooperation amid charges of mishandling allegations against a former priest of sexual misconduct involving children.

“We deeply regret the abuse that was suffered by the victims of Curtis Wehmeyer and are grieved for all victims of sexual abuse,” Bishop Andrew Cozzens, an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese, said June 5.

“We all share the same goal: to provide safe environments for all children in our churches and in our communities,” he added.

Bishop Cozzens said the archdiocese will continue to cooperate with the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office.

The archdiocese on Friday was served with civil and criminal complaints that it failed to protect children from former Curtis Wehmeyer. The criminal charges total six misdemeanors with a maximum fine of $3,000 each, the New York Times reports.

In 2013 Wehmeyer was convicted to five years in prison for criminal sexual conduct and possession of child pornography. He was convicted of abusing two boys while a pastor at a church in St. Paul, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. He also faces sex crimes charges in Wisconsin.

In March 2015, the archdiocese announced that the Vatican had dismissed Wehmeyer from the clerical state. The former priest is now 50 years old.

Ramsey County prosecutor John J. Choi, said the criminal charges focused on the archdiocese’s handling of “numerous and repeated reports of troubling content” by the former priest.

Choi said church officials failed to follow their own restrictions and that other reports about the man’s behavior were “ignored, minimized or not shared.”

Choi said archdiocesan officials have been cooperative with his office’s requests.

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FEATURES

Beautiful Minds, Beautiful People

by Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, C.S.J. • June 3, 2015

Last week’s tragic death of John Forbes Nash, Jr. and his wife, Alicia Nash prompted an immediate outpouring of emotion praising the Nobel Laureate from Princeton University. Defined as “a beautiful mind,” Professor Nash was a math genius whose life story inspired the Oscar-winning film by the same title.

The Beautiful

One need not excel in academics or in any field to merit the descriptive, beautiful. The beautiful may be seen in a nurse’s assistant who tenderly cares for the most basic needs of a patient. Or, we may observe how delicately a physician deals with the family of a terminally-ill patient. And how many teachers spend extra time beyond class hours to help troubled students? Whenever a person acts unselfishly, there we see love in action, always beautiful. Every infant is born with a beautiful soul that calls for expression.

Of course, the beautiful is not limited to persons. External stimuli attract us: a cool, sunny spring day, observing children at play, reading good literature, or listening to a piece of music.

The Road to Character

David Brooks, a journalist for the New York Times, has recently published a best-seller, The Road to Character which has sparked widespread interest, especially among those in search of moral depth. For years, Brooks has asked himself why, despite his career successes, feeling superficial has disturbed him, and why other people seem to be more content. He notes that these people “radiate an inner light. They can be in any walk of life, seem deeply good, listen well, make you feel funny and valued. You often catch them looking after other people and as they do, their laughter is musical and their manner is infused with gratitude. They are not thinking about what wonderful work they are doing. They are not thinking about themselves at all.”

As one example, Brooks cites Monsignor Raymond East, an African-American Catholic priest and pastor of St. Teresa of Avila Parish in Washington, D.C., one of the poorest parishes in the nation’s capital. This priest is “insanely happy,” Brooks observes. “A few years ago, I realized that I wanted to be a bit more like those people.”

The Road to Character reveals the author’s concerns and addresses traditionally-religious topics but without reference to organized religion. He knows that many readers harbor a deep mistrust of mainline faith-traditions. Catholics, Protestants, and Jews have left behind their churches and synagogues in search of experiences powerful enough to effect interior change, help them cope with life’s hardships, and put them on the road to a contented life.

The Relationship to Crown All Others

Central to the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths is the awareness that God summons us as a community of believers and as individuals — called even by name — for a special reason. God initiates and establishes a mutual yet unequal relationship, the sacred bond of a covenantal union. As with Abraham, our father in faith, our relationship with God covers the whole of our lives. It embraces every aspect of our prayer and worship, our observance, our work, thought, activity, and our relationships with others.

As with Abraham and his descendants, we believe that nothing happens by chance, for God acts in every event of life. Through the ups and downs of life, we are guided by God’s abiding presence.

Psalm 8 proclaims the lofty truth that we have been created a little lower than God; we are made according to the divine image, in glory and honor. The mandate is to act accordingly. Time and again, the Psalms make reference to this sacred bond: “Come to me in your distress, and I will save you” (Psalm 50). “O Lord, my God, answer me, when I call, you gave me room when I was in distress, be gracious to me, and hear my prayer” (Psalm 4).

The relationship with God precedes and crowns all others. It shines out “like shook foil” to others.

When asked about the meaning of holiness, Brooks confesses his uncertainty about what it is. Is it a ‘do-it-yourself’ activity or does it depend on this something called grace? He is certain that people like Monsignor East reveal an inner radiance that he describes and much admires. But explain it, define it? He cannot quite do that. Still, Brooks summarizes the qualities he admires: a profound humility, that is, thinking about others; awareness of one’s core sin and conquers it; recognizing one’s need for “redemptive assistance from outside” or grace; unselfish, energizing love; responding to the call within the call of one’s vocation; and finally, the conscience leap — getting beyond power, prestige, and position. Dorothy Day is another person whom the author admires.

Building a Better World

An increasing number of men and women no longer adhere to a faith-tradition. Perhaps they’re not even aware that a relationship with God is possible. Still, atheists, agnostics — secularists all, can and do come to terms with their decisions and, without a religious framework, build a better society. Believers see themselves as co-creators with a mandate from the Creator to build a better world.

The breakdown and tearing down we witness today only prompts dedicated people to build that better world, expressed in the words of “Ulysses” by Alfred Lloyd Tennyson:

Much have I seen and known; cities of men

And manner, climates, councils, governments,

Myself not least, but honour’d of them all;

…

I am part of all that I have met;

Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’

Gleams that untravell’d world whose margin fades

For ever and forever when I move.

How dull it is to pause, to make an end,

To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use!

…”to shine in use.”

Here are beautiful minds, beautiful people.

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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FEATURES

Some myths about post-Vatican II liturgical reform

by Msgr. M. Francis Mannion • June 4, 2015

Perusing “conservative” liturgical websites, I find three recurring themes: first, that Vatican Council II never intended Latin to be replaced by the vernacular; second, that Pope Paul VI made a huge mistake in approving so many liturgical changes after the Council; and, third, that people are generally unhappy with the post-Vatican II liturgy, so that the time is coming when the liturgy will be restored essentially to what it was before Vatican II.

First, the introduction of the vernacular. The Vatican II Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy states: “The use of the Latin language, with due respect to particular law, is to be preserved in the Latin rites” (no. 36 #1). It then goes on to say: “But since the use of the vernacular, whether in the Mass, the administration of the sacraments, or in other parts of the liturgy, may frequently be of great advantage to the people, a wider use may be made of it, especially in readings and in some prayers and chants” (#2).

Clearly the Council envisaged some use of the vernacular. To what extent? Article 36 answers this: “It is for the competent ecclesiastical authority … to decide whether, and to what extent, the vernacular language is to be used. Its decrees have to be approved, that is, confirmed, by the Apostolic See” (#3).

This leaves open the question of how much of the liturgy may be in the vernacular. After the bishops who attended Vatican II returned to their dioceses, they began to experience the positive effects of a vernacular liturgy. This led Pope Paul VI to approve a very wide use of local languages.

That the reforms of Pope Paul VI in the matter of the vernacular went beyond what the Council intended is a questionable assertion. There is also the very important consideration that Pope Paul VI had the authority to be the principal interpreter of the conciliar decrees. Those who criticize Pope Paul VI often find themselves in the troublesome position of according their own personal opinions as much if not more authority than the Pope in the matter of interpreting and implementing Vatican II.

Second, the theory that Paul VI made a huge mistake in approving so many changes after Vatican II is, in my opinion, rash — and it is problematic, as I just mentioned, in that it accords personal interpretations of Vatican II unacceptable importance. Much criticism of post-Vatican II liturgical reform is historically ill-informed, out of touch with the pastoral benefits that came from Vatican II, and often ends up subtlety questioning the very legitimacy of the Council itself.

History cannot be undone. The liturgical reforms that came after Vatican II were not perfect, but they are what we have. Starting liturgical reform all over again (as is proposed in certain segments of the “reform the reform” movement) is as unrealistic as trying to put toothpaste back into the tube,

Third, the notion that there is widespread disillusionment among Catholics with the rites that came from Vatican II is erroneous. There are no reliable data to back up this belief. The mostly anecdotal data that do exist suggest otherwise. The vast majority of Catholics find the reformed rites spiritually edifying. They have no desire to return to Latin. They are incredulous at the idea and cannot imagine that they would again be required to hear and pray in a language they cannot understand. To restore the prayers and responses to Latin would likely backfire, and lead to great disturbance in the Church.

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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‘Spy’ is utterly silly fun

by Carl Kozlowski • June 5, 2015

There’s no other way to describe actress Melissa McCarthy than as a force of nature, a comic hurricane who crashes onto movie and TV screens and destroys everything in her path in hilarious fashion. The only possible comparison to her in the history of women comics might be Lucille Ball, whose constant and fearless physical-comedy antics on the classic “I Love Lucy” set the path that McCarthy now boldly follows.

Sure, there is one major difference between McCarthy and Ball: McCarthy also has a talent for the profane, spinning webs of foul-mouthed anger and insults at anyone who gets in her characters’ way, while Ball was the put-upon housewife whose harebrained schemes always fell apart in the end. McCarthy’s comic bullhorn of a mouth is the main reason her films have been rated R, so let’s just get it out of the way that if you really hate hearing foul language so much it ruins your movie-watching experience, steer clear of her.

But if you can just let her words slide past your ears, with the understanding that as a discerning and disciplined adult you’re not going to wind up bursting into comic tirades at everyone in your life just from watching a movie, then you’re missing out on a woman who just might be the funniest person on the planet today. And she’s got her funniest movie yet with the new film “Spy,” written and directed by her collaborator on her breakthrough film “Bridesmaids,” Paul Feig.

I’m not going to tell you that you have to let your personal standards down if you really hate swearing. But I’ve personally discussed the issue of foul language with at least two orthodox priests whose mission is working with people in Hollywood, and they both said as long as foul language isn’t intended to seriously blaspheme God, used to describe sexual acts or outright anger/hatred towards someone, the F word shouldn’t concern anyone as being sinful. McCarthy’s films are sex-free and her anger is so ridiculously over the top that one could never take it seriously, so I’ll just say that I think most grown adults will have an absolute blast at this movie.

Actually, there are two other caveats about the film: the action is surprisingly intense, and several shootings spew blood, and there’s a moment where a poisoned drink burns through a man’s throat. It’s graphic but quick and followed by an absurd moment almost immediately. And in the one truly offensive moment of the film, a man’s cell phone photos reveal a couple of very fast images of his penis. They are almost literally blink and you’ll miss it, however, though it would have of course been preferable to avoid them altogether.

“Spy” follows a woman named Susan Cooper (McCarthy), who is the harried secretary of CIA superspy Bradley Fine (Jude Law). She serves as the eyes and ears for Fine on his missions, observing his surroundings via surveillance cameras and warning him where the bad guys are in a room so he can kill them before they get him.

But only James Bond can be perfect, and he’s shot dead by a ruthless international arms dealer named Reyna Boyanov (Rose Byrne) while tracking her to prevent Boyanov from selling a nuclear bomb to another international rogue figure. Boyanov reveals to Susan that she has the information on the next four most important CIA assassins, including Rick Ford (Jason Statham), and that she can kill any and all of them as a result.

And so it is that the head of the superspies (Alison Janney) needs to send someone unknown and unrecognized In to tail Boyanov before she can sell off her nuke. And Susan volunteers for the job, since she’s flown so far under the radar her entire career that no one could possibly recognize her. Ford thinks the idea of sending Susan is dangerous and absurd, but the spy boss observes that Susan was a surprisingly adept hand to hand combat master and expert shooter in her CIA training videos and decides to send her in anyway.

Thus begins an utterly ridiculous series of misadventures, as Susan is sent to one European locale after another, each time with a different insanely funny costume and fake personality: a cat lady with 10 cats in one location, an old lady from Iowa in another. Against orders, Ford has followed her to Europe in the hopes of killing Boyanov the second they find her, and he and Susan wind up engaged in an ever-growing rivalry throughout the film.

The movie’s plot gets ridiculously complicated while remaining utterly silly fun throughout, as it is nearly impossible not to laugh at McCarthy’s ample physical-comedy talents – including hand to hand combat, knife fighting and an amazing chase scene where she rides a scooter in amazing fashion - and vituperative mouth. Again, if you really can’t handle swearing, steer clear, but anyone else will find themselves doubled over with laughter so much their sides will literally ache by the end.

Carl Kozlowski has been a professional film critic and essayist for the past five years at Pasadena Weekly, in addition to the Christian movie site Movieguide.org, the conservative pop culture site Breitbart.coms Big Hollywood, the Christian pop culture magazine Relevant and New City newspaper in Chicago. He also writes in-depth celebrity interviews for Esquire.com and The Progressive. He is owner of the podcasting site radiotitans.com, which was named one of the Frontier Fifty in 2013 as one of the 50 best talk-radio outlets in the nation by talkers.com and will be relaunching it in January 2014 after a five-month sabbatical. He lives in Los Angeles.

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SUNDAY • JUNE 7, 2015

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)

First Reading (Ex 24:3-8; NRSVCE)

Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and set up twelve pillars, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel. He sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed oxen as offerings of well-being to the Lord. Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he dashed against the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people, and said, “See the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Second Reading (Heb 9:11-15; NRSVCE)

But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!

For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant.

Gospel Reading (Mk 14:12-16, 22-26; NRSVCE)

On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?” So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.” So the disciples set out and went to the city, and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.

While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

MONDAY • JUNE 8, 2015

Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (2 Cor 1:1-7; NRSVCE)

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God that is in Corinth, including all the saints throughout Achaia:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ. If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering. Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation.

Gospel Reading (Mt 5:1-12; NRSVCE)

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

TUESDAY • JUNE 9, 2015

Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (2 Cor 1:18-22; NRSVCE)

As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been “Yes and No.” For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not “Yes and No”; but in him it is always “Yes.” For in him every one of God’s promises is a “Yes.” For this reason it is through him that we say the “Amen,” to the glory of God. But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.

Gospel Reading (Mt 5:13-16; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

WEDNESDAY • JUNE 10, 2015

Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (2 Cor 3:4-11; NRSVCE)

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stone tablets, came in glory so that the people of Israel could not gaze at Moses’ face because of the glory of his face, a glory now set aside, how much more will the ministry of the Spirit come in glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, much more does the ministry of justification abound in glory! Indeed, what once had glory has lost its glory because of the greater glory; for if what was set aside came through glory, much more has the permanent come in glory!

Gospel Reading (Mt 5:17-19; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

THURSDAY • JUNE 11, 2015

Memorial of Saint Barnabas

First Reading (Acts 11:21b-26; 13:1-3; NRSVCE)

A great number became believers and turned to the Lord. News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion; for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were brought to the Lord. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they met with the church and taught a great many people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians.”

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the ruler, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

Gospel Reading (Mt 5:20-26; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”

FRIDAY • JUNE 12, 2015

Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

First Reading (Hos 11:1, 3-4, 8c-9; NRSVCE)

When Israel was a child, I loved him,

and out of Egypt I called my son.

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,

I took them up in my arms;

but they did not know that I healed them.

I led them with cords of human kindness,

with bands of love.

I was to them like those

who lift infants to their cheeks.

I bent down to them and fed them.

My heart recoils within me;

my compassion grows warm and tender.

I will not execute my fierce anger;

I will not again destroy Ephraim;

for I am God and no mortal,

the Holy One in your midst,

and I will not come in wrath.

Second Reading (Eph 3:8-12, 14-19; NRSVCE)

Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ, and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Gospel Reading (Jn 19:31-37; NRSVCE)

Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.) These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, “None of his bones shall be broken.” And again another passage of scripture says, “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.”

SATURDAY • JUNE 13, 2015

Saturday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (2 Cor 5:14-21; NRSVCE)

For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Gospel Reading (Mt 5:33-37; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.”