VOLUME 2, ISSUE 4  •  JULY 23, 2016

Table of Contents

Copyright Notice

VATICAN NEWS

Pope leads prayers for victims of Nice attack

Who is ‘the Black Madonna’ and why is she so important?

Catechetical youth site aims to share mercy at World Youth Day

Pope Francis marries young deaf couple at Casa Santa Marta

Pope Francis is ready for World Youth Day – Are you?

Pope Francis to meet Holocaust survivors during Auschwitz visit

Mary Magdalene, ‘Apostle to the Apostles,’ gets upgraded feast day

Pope shakes up cloisters with new norms focused on prayer, centralization

WORLD NEWS

German bishops release new figures: Fewer churchgoers, parishes, and priests

Film on miracles intends to explain the inexplicable

New religious laws in Russia not expected to hurt Catholic Church

Archbishop Ganswein calls German Church Tax ‘a serious problem’

Remember the Copts ISIS martyred in Libya? This priest does.

Neocatechumenal Way co-founder Carmen Hernandez dies at 85

Local bishop expresses dismay over German train attack

In Malawi, Catholic leaders aim to help corporations be responsible

Baptism at sea: Refugee child born during boat rescue

Doubts arise after alleged photo of Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil surfaces

The powerful witness of Iraqi young people at World Youth Day

This priest encourages drivers to be merciful on the road

That time Jesus appeared in the sky of Mexico

Amid protests, Zimbabwe’s Christian leaders band together to speak out

U.S. NEWS

California bishops urge voters to reject the death penalty this fall

Only Christ offers answers in our violent world, Baton Rouge bishop says

Americans think statute of limitations laws should be applied equally

Why Starbucks and McDonald’s are blocking porn from their WiFi

Inspired by Pope Francis, California legal clinic offers free services

What Catholics have to say about the GOP platform

Catholic News Service places former OSV president at the helm

Republican Party takes anti-porn stance, but is it hypocritical?

Why pray after tragedy? This Sandy Hook mother has an answer

Minnesota archdiocese apologizes for failures as prosecutors drop abuse charges

Where are the values at the Republican National Convention?

NBA ‘unreasonable’ in moving All Star game from North Carolina

FEATURES

‘Ghostbusters’ reboot brings big laughs in the midst of dull summer remakes

Needed: More Canonized Mothers and Fathers

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Sunday • July 24, 2016

Monday • July 25, 2016

Tuesday • July 26, 2016

Wednesday • July 27, 2016

Thursday • July 28, 2016

Friday • July 29, 2016

Saturday • July 30, 2016

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Volume 2, Issue 4 • July 23, 2016

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope leads prayers for victims of Nice attack

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • July 17, 2016

Pope Francis at the Vatican on April 3, 2014. (Daniel Ibáñez/CNA)

Vatican City — On Sunday, Pope Francis led the crowds in St. Peter’s Square in prayers for the victims of Thursday’s attack in Nice which left more than 80 people dead, including ten children.

“The pain of the massacre is alive in our hearts,” the Pope said during his post-Angelus address for July 17, during which he lamented the loss of “many innocent lives, even children,” who were “mowed down” during the attack.

The pontiff expressed his closeness to “every family, and to the entire French nation, which is in mourning.”

“May God, the good Father, welcome all the victims in his peace, sustain the wounded, and comfort their families,” he said.

Francis also prayed that “every plan for terror and death” might be dispersed to prevent anyone from spilling “his brother’s blood.”

In off-script remarks, he then extended “a fatherly and brotherly embrace to all the inhabitants of Nice, and all of the French nation.”

Finally, the Pope invited the crowds to take part in a moment of prayerful silence, keeping in mind especially the victims and families of the massacre, before leading them in the recitation of the Hail Mary.

Eighty-four people were killed and dozens were wounded on July 14 after a Tunisian man, Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, intentionally drove a large truck through the crowded seafront Promenade des Anglais in the French city of Nice, the BBC reports.

The crowds had been celebrating Bastille Day, which marks the day of France’s independence and is traditionally the country’s biggest public holiday.

Thursday’s massacre is the third major terrorist attack to strike France in less than two years, and the second deadliest. On Nov. 13, 2015, nearly 130 people were killed in a series of attacks throughout Paris. In January of that same year, a total of 12 people were killed in the French capital after terrorists stormed the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine.

Before leading the crowds in the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis offered his reflections on the day’s Gospel account of Jesus being welcomed into the home of the two sisters, Martha and Mary.

In the account, Martha complains to Jesus that Mary has left her with all the busywork, to which he responds that Mary, who has been listening to him, has “chosen the better part.”

In her “bustling” about to make sure Jesus was fed and cared for, Martha risked forgetting “the most important thing,” the Pope said: “the presence of the guest, who in this instance was Jesus.”

It is not enough for a guest to be “simply served, fed, and taken care of in every way,” the pontiff said. “Above all, he needs to be listened to.”

Since a guest is a person, with his own thoughts and feelings, it does not do for the hostess be so busy with serving that neither of them speak, he said. Rather, the guest should feel as though he is part of the family.

Jesus’ response to Martha in this scene – that Mary had “chosen the better part”—”finds its full meaning in reference to listening” to his word, Francis explained. This applies, for instance, to prayer.

“If we go to pray, for example, before the Crucifix, and we speak, speak, speak, and then leave, we don’t listen to Jesus!” the pontiff said. “We do not allow him to speak to our hearts.”

“Listen: this is the key word. Do not forget!”

Francis went on to reflect on hospitality as a “work of mercy,” a “human and Christian virtue” which runs the risk of being neglected in today’s world.

Whether it is among institutions which care for the sick and marginalized, or among families, it can happen that it is easier to provide services than it is to “listen and welcome,” he said.

“We are always busy and have no time to listen,” Francis said.

The Pope challenged those in the crowd to reflect on whether they take time to listen to their spouses, their children, their grandparents, the elderly, etc.

“I ask you to learn to listen, and to dedicate more time,” the pontiff said. “In the ability to listen, there are the roots of peace.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Who is ‘the Black Madonna’ and why is she so important?

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • July 19, 2016

Our Lady of Czestochowa. (Catholic Church of England and Wales via Flickr CC BY NC SA 2.0)

Vatican City — Our Lady of Czestochowa, also known as the “Black Madonna,” will be one of Pope Francis’ primary stops during his visit to Poland at the end of this month for the global World Youth Day gathering.

The image, which has been crowned the “Queen of Poland” and is highly venerated throughout Europe, is almost a given stop for any Pope who visits the country.

Located in southern Poland, Czestochowa was the location of the 1991 global WYD gathering – the first major world event after the fall of the Iron Curtain, and which also marked the first time youth from Eastern European countries were able to set foot in the Western half.

In comments made to CNA in March, Cardinal Stanisalw Dziwisz, Archbishop of Krakow, noted how the WYD celebration this year falls on the 25th anniversary of the 1991 WYD at the Our Lady of Czestochowa shrine, which was a key year for the end of Cold War tensions.

“For the first time in history, young people coming from the Eastern countries, from beyond the Iron Curtain, took part in World Youth Day. It was the first time World Youth Day was a really a worldwide event,” Cardinal Dziwisz said.

Now, 25 years later, Pope Francis will follow in his predecessors’ footsteps, and will go to venerate the image during his July 27-31 visit to Poland.

He is set to visit the monastery of Jasna Gora, which houses the image, July 28, where he will offer Mass for the 1,050 anniversary of the baptism of Poland.

But while the image holds significant meaning for Europe and for Poles in particular, what is the story behind the Black Madonna?

Legend has it the image dates back to the time of the Twelve Apostles, and was painted by the hand of St. Luke the Evangelist, who is believed to have used a tabletop from a table built by Jesus during his time as a carpenter.

According to the legend, it was while Luke was painting Mary that she recounted to him the events in the life of Jesus that would eventually be used in his Gospel.

The same legend states that when St. Helen came to Jerusalem in 326 AD to look for the true Cross, she also happened to find this image of Our Lady. She then gave it as a gift to her son Constantine, who built a shrine to venerate it.

In a major battle with the Saracens, the image was displayed from the walls of Constantinople and the Saracen army was subsequently defeated, leading many to credit the portrait with saving the city.

The image eventually fell to the care of Charlemagne, who presented it to Price Leo of Ruthenia (northwest Hungary). It was placed in the Ruthenian palace where it remained until an invasion in the 11th century.

Fearful for the fate of his city, the king prayed to Our Lady to assist his small army. The result, according to legend, was that a darkness overshadowed enemy troops, leading them to attack one another.

In the 14th century the image was transferred to Jasna Gora in Poland as an answer to a request made in a dream of Prince Ladislaus of Opola. The history of the image is better documented in while in his care.

In 1382 Tartars invaded the Prince’s fortress at Belz, and during the attack one of the Tartar arrows struck the painting and lodged in the neck of the Madonna. The prince, fearful that the image would fall into the enemy’s hands, fled during the night and stopped in the town of Czestochowa.

The painting was placed inside a small church, and the prince later had a Pauline monastery and church built at the location to ensure the painting’s safety.

However, in 1430 the Hussites overran the monastery, attempting to take the image. In the process one of the looters took the painting and put it into a wagon and tried to drive away. But when the horses refused to move, he struck the painting twice with his sword. As he raised his hand to strike it again, he suddenly fell over writhing in pain and died.

Despite previous attempts to repair the scars from the arrow and the blows from the sword, restorers had trouble in covering them up since the painting was done with tempera infused with diluted wax. The marks remain visible to this day.

Later, in 1655 when Poland was almost entirely overrun by King Charles X of Sweden, only the area surrounding the monastery remained unconquered. Miraculously, the monks who lived there were somehow able to defend the portrait throughout a 40 day siege, and Poland was eventually able to drive out the invaders.

After the miraculous event, King John II Casimir Vasa crowned the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa as Queen of Poland, placing the entire country under her care and protection.

More recent stories surrounding the image involve the Russian invasion of Poland in 1920, holding that when the Russian army was gathering on the banks of the Vistula River and threatening Warsaw, they saw an image of Our Lady in the clouds over the city, prompting them to withdraw.

The image of Our Lady of Czestochowa gets its nickname “Black Madonna” from the soot residue which discolors the painting as a result of centuries of votive lights and candles burned in front of it.

Since the fall of communism in Poland, pilgrimages to the image have significantly increased.

As many as 2.5 million pilgrims expected to gather in Krakow for this year’s WYD event. While not all of them will join Pope Francis in Czestochowa, his visit will surely attract more pilgrims to the spot.

In his comments to CNA, Cardinal Dziwisz said that given the history of WYD and the Czestochowa image, this year’s gathering is particularly significant for European countries, such as Ukraine, who are facing dramatic conflicts.

“We mustn’t forget that the World Youth Day which took place in Czestochowa 25 years ago was the first with youth who came from the countries of the east. There were around 200,000, coming from Ukraine, from Russia and Belarus,” he noted.

“For the first time, that event was truly global. We must help youth from the Eastern countries to come … above all from Belarus and Ukraine,” he said, adding that while the Ukraine conflict makes travel in the region difficult, “we don’t exclude anyone.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Catechetical youth site aims to share mercy at World Youth Day

by CNA/EWTN News • July 19, 2016

(Marco Mancini/CNA)

Krakow, Poland — Poland has been known as the heart of the Divine Mercy devotion since the 1930s and also boasts the homeland of the late Pope St. John Paul II.

This year, an additional spotlight has been shed on the country as it hosts World Youth Day amidst the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which is why the Knights of Columbus are sponsoring a site called “Mercy Centre” in the heart of Krákow to offer youth a multitude of different mercy-themed events.

“Pope Francis has declared mercy a key theme both for this year and for World Youth Day,” Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said in a recent press release.

“This is especially appropriate given the selection of Krákow as host city, since this is where devotion to Divine Mercy was born, and where St. John Paul II during his time there grew in this devotion, which became a major theme of his pontificate as well,” Anderson continued.

Mercy Centre will be open from July 26-31 and will be located at the Tauron Arena Krákow, one of Poland’s largest event centers seating over 20,000 people. It is also listed as one of the places that Pope Francis will visit during the July 25-31 celebration of World Youth Day.

Although open to everyone, Mercy Centre has been primarily crafted to offer young, English-speaking pilgrims a site where they can learn about mercy through prayer and catechetical formation from renowned speakers such as George Weigel, Curtis Martin, and Jason Evert. Daily Mass, confession, and adoration will also be offered.

“Mercy Centre is thus perfectly situated to help pilgrims understand that Christian life must be an experience of receiving mercy from God, and giving it also to our neighbors in the form of love, charity and forgiveness,” said Anderson.

Among the many events, Mercy Centre will host a “Night of Mercy” on the evening of July 27, featuring concerts from Matt Maher and Audrey Assad, and a series of talks by Bishop Robert Barron of Word on Fire Ministries and LifeTeen’s Joel Stepanek.

In addition, Mercy Centre will offer a variety of historical exhibits throughout the week, including information on Divine Mercy, Christianity in Poland, and Auschwitz, as well as vocational exhibits on marriage, diocesan priesthood and the religious life. Pilgrims will also be able to venerate the relics of Polish saints such as St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. John Paul II and St. Faustina Kowalska.

The site will also be used by the United States, Canadian and Australian conferences of Catholic bishops for their national gatherings.

Mercy Centre is sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, who have been involved in World Youth Day for the past 25 years and are celebrating the 10-year anniversary of their presence in the country of Poland.

Other co-sponsors of Mercy Centre include the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C., the Sisters of Life, Salt + Light Television, Holy Cross Family Ministries, the Dominican Liturgical Institute, the National Conference of Religious Vocations Directors and the National Council of Diocesan Vocations Directors.

More information about Mercy Centre can be found at wydenglishsite.org.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis marries young deaf couple at Casa Santa Marta

by CNA/EWTN News • July 20, 2016

(SunKids via www.shutterstock.com)

Vatican City — Pope Francis does not ordinarily celebrate the Sacrament of Matrimony. But on July 9, he made an exception for a young Italian deaf couple, who were married in the chapel at his residence, Casa Santa Marta.

Teodoro Pisciottani and Paulina Szczepanska received the rare blessing of being united in marriage by the Holy Father, an unforgettable story that they will one day be able to tell to their children.

Teodoro and Paulina are the president and vice-president, respectively, of the Padua chapter of the Deaf Youth Committee of Italy.

Additionally, Paulina is the daughter of a Vatican employee.

According to Italian news site Ondanews.it, this is the first wedding that Francis has celebrated at Casa Santa Marta, the residence where he lives, which is administered by the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul.

The chapel at Casa Santa Marta is where Pope Francis normally presides at daily Mass, Monday through Saturday. Those Masses are not currently celebrated, due to the summer break.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis is ready for World Youth Day – Are you?

by CNA/EWTN News • July 20, 2016

Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square during the Wednesday general audience on June 8, 2016. (Martha Caldern/CNA)

Vatican City — Even though World Youth Day doesn’t start until next week, thousands of pilgrims from throughout the world are already descending on Krakow ahead of the official event.

In a July 19 video message Pope Francis sent his greetings to the youth of Poland and the world who will attend the largest recurring gathering of youth in the Catholic Church.

“I look forward to meeting the young people from throughout the world gathered in Kraków and having the opportunity to meet the beloved Polish nation,” he said.

“My entire visit will be inspired by Mercy during this Jubilee Year, and by the grateful and blessed memory of Saint John Paul II, who instituted the World Youth Days and was the guide of the Polish people in its recent historic journey towards freedom.”

St. John Paul II, who was from Poland, established World Youth Day in 1985; the first event was held in Rome in 1986. Since then it has occurred in various cities throughout the world, typically every three years.

Krakow and the rest of Poland are important places of pilgrimage during the Jubilee Year of Mercy. It was in a convent chapel in Krakow where St. Faustina of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy received visions and messages from Jesus about his divine mercy, which she would compile in a diary that would become the book “Diary of St. Faustina: Divine Mercy in my Soul.” Pope Francis is scheduled to visit the Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Krakow July 30.

In his video message, Pope Francis thanked the pilgrims for their preparation for the trip and for their prayers, and said he is looking forward to seeing pilgrims from throughout the world.

“I am very anxious to meet you and to offer the world a new sign of harmony, a mosaic of different faces, from many races, languages, peoples and cultures, but all united in the name of Jesus, who is the Face of Mercy.”

He also had a particular greeting for the Polish youth upon his first visit as Pope to their country.

“For me, it is a great gift of the Lord to visit you. You are a nation that throughout its history has experienced so many trials, some particularly difficult, and has persevered through the power of faith, upheld by the maternal hands of the Virgin Mary. I am certain that my pilgrimage to the shrine of Czestochowa will immerse me in this proven faith and do me so much good,” he said.

During his visit, the Pope will also symbolically present families at the event with copies of Amoris laetitia, his apostolic exhortation on love in the family.

“The moral and spiritual ‘health’ of a nation is seen in its families. That is why Saint John Paul II showed such great concern for engaged couples, young married couples and families. Continue along this road!” the Pope said.

World Youth Day officially kicks off July 25 and lasts through July 31, with Pope Francis arriving July 27. It will be Pope Francis’ second World Youth Day during his pontificate.

The Pope closed his video by asking pilgrims to continue to pray for the event.

“Dear brothers and sisters, I send you this message as a pledge of my affection. Let us keep close to one another in prayer. I look forward to seeing you in Poland!”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis to meet Holocaust survivors during Auschwitz visit

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • July 20, 2016

Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square on Feb. 6, 2016. (Alexey Gotovskiy/CNA)

Vatican City — Though rumors have been floating for some time, the Vatican confirmed that the Pope will meet with 10 Holocaust survivors during his upcoming visit to Auschwitz while in Poland for World Youth Day.

After arriving to Auschwitz and passing under the arch of the main entrance on foot, Francis will be taken by car to Block 11, where he will be welcomed by Poland’s Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, as well as the 10 survivors.

The Pope “will individually meet” with each of the survivors, ”the last of whom will be given a candle,” Fr. Federico Lombardi told journalists July 20.

One of the survivors, he noted, is 101 years old and is hosting a group of pilgrims who are traveling to Krakow to participate in WYD.

In addition to the survivors, Francis will also meet with 25 “Righteous among the Nations” from all over the world. The phrase is an honorific title bestowed by the State of Israel on non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews during the Nazi extermination.

An example of one of these people is Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist, spy, Nazi party member and protagonist of the award-winning film “Schindler’s List” who is estimated to have saved the lives of some 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust.

Fr. Lombardi spoke to journalists during a July 20 news briefing on the Pope’s July 27-31 trip to Poland, during which he is scheduled to visit Poland’s historic shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa and Krakow’s Shrine of Divine Mercy in addition to his visit to Auschwitz and the WYD events.

In his comments to journalists, Fr. Lombardi confirmed that Pope Francis will not give a speech at Auschwitz, nor will he celebrate a public Mass. Instead, he will say Mass in private, and will sit in silence in the death camp where an estimated 1 million people lost their lives.

“At Auschwitz the Pope won’t say anything, but will have a moment of silent pain, of compassion, of tears.”

He noted how two martyr Saints were among those who died in the camp: St. Maximillian Kolbe, who died of starvation after offering to take the place of another man condemned to death, and St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein.

“It’s interesting,” the spokesman said, that July 29 marks the day of the Pope’s visit to Auschwitz, but is also the day of ”the condemnation to death of Kolbe; it’s the 75th anniversary of the day in which he was condemned to death.”

After praying in silence at Block 11, Pope Francis will then sign the Book of Honor at the camp, “and these will be the only words that we’ll have from the Pope at Auschwitz,” Fr. Lombardi said, explaining that the visit is expected to last “a few hours.”

Fr. Pawel Rytel-Andrianik, president of the Polish bishop’s conference, told CNA that Francis’ decision to remain in silence at Auschwitz is deeply meaningful.

“In the world there are two very parallel places. The first is the Wailing Wall and the second is the wailing place. The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, and the wailing place in Auschwitz-Birkenau in the German Nazi concentration camp,” he said.

The Pope’s decision to toss his speech, then, “shows that the Pope has this in his heart: wailing in the place where so many victims perished.”

To do this “is very important for the Jewish people,” as well as for Poles, many of whom lost family members in the camp, he said, noting that his own grandfather was a prisoner who escaped, and that Poland’s Prime Minister lost some of her family there.

“So personally I feel very linked and I am very grateful personally that the Holy Father is going to visit the death camp.”

Again referring to the Pope’s silence, Fr. Rytel-Andrianik noted that Poland’s chief Rabbi, Michael Schudrich, “said that this is a very good thing because after the death of his sons, Aaron (from the Bible) was in silence.”

“There is an expression in the Bible “vayidom Aharon” (the silence of Aaron) so he was in silence. And the Holy Father will do the same thing in Auschwitz.”

According to Fr. Lombardi, Pope Francis is expected to give “a demanding speech” to youth during the WYD Via Crucis, which he will attend the evening of July 29 after having visited Auschwitz that morning.

He will stay in the archbishop’s residence of Krakow throughout the trip, appearing each night from the balcony to greet pilgrims gathered below. The act is an imitation of St. John Paul II, who did the same each time he visited as Pope.

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VATICAN NEWS

Mary Magdalene, ‘Apostle to the Apostles,’ gets upgraded feast day

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • July 22, 2016

Appearance of Jesus Christ to Maria Magdalena by Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, 1835. (Public domain via Wikimedia)

Vatican City — Faithful to the wish of Pope Francis, a new decree has bumped the liturgical celebration honoring St. Mary Magdalene from a memorial to a feast, putting her on par with the apostles.

The reason, according to Archbishop Arthur Roche, is that she “has the honor to be the first witness of the Lord’s resurrection.”

“She is the witness to the risen Christ and announces the message of the Lord’s resurrection just like the rest of the Apostles,” he said, explaining that for this reason “it is right that the liturgical celebration of this woman should have the same rank of Feast as that given to the celebration of the Apostles in the General Roman Calendar.”

Archbishop Roche is secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. He issued a letter on the decision June 10, the same day as the decree officiating the decision was published.

Calling Mary Magdalene “an example and model for all women in the Church,” the archbishop said she had a special mission, to which the new rank of feast does justice.

The decree, dated June 3 and published in Latin, was signed by both Archbishop Roche and the congregation’s president, Cardinal Robert Sarah. It says Mary Magdalene can be seen as “the paradigm of the ministry of women in the Church.”

On the Church’s liturgical calendar, saints are honored with either a “memorial” a “feast,” or a “solemnity.” Solemnities rank the highest, with feasts coming in second and memorials in third.

While there are 15 other memorials on Mary Magdalene’s July 22 feast, hers was the only obligatory one to celebrate. Now, after being elevated to the level of a feast, the celebration bears a more significant weight.

For example, when Mass is celebrated on her feast day, rather than using the normal formula for a daily Mass, as is done with memorials, the Gloria will be sung and special prayers dedicated specifically to Mary Magdalene will be offered, which only happens on feasts and solemnities.

In his letter, Archbishop Roche said that given the current ecclesial context, the decision to honor Mary Magdalene with a feast “seeks to reflect more deeply upon the dignity of women, on the new evangelization and on the greatness of the mystery of God’s Mercy.”

As the first person to see the empty tomb, to hear the truth about the Lord’s resurrection from Jesus himself, and as the first person to announce this message to the apostles, Mary “is an example of a true and authentic evangelizer.”

While some have imagined Mary Magdalene as either a prostitute or the wife of Jesus, Western Christianity since the time of St. Gregory the Great has traditionally identified her with three women in the New Testament: the sinful woman who anoints Jesus’ feet with fragrant oils and washes them with her tears; Mary of Magdala; and Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha of Bethany.

While opinions vary on just exactly who she was, Archbishop Roche said that “what is certain is that Mary Magdalene was part of the group of Jesus’ disciples, she accompanied him to the foot of the Cross and, in the garden where she met him at the tomb, was the first witness of Divine Mercy.”

Pope Francis’ decision to elevate her memorial to a feast during the Jubilee of Mercy, he said, was done in order to emphasize the importance of this woman, “who so loved Christ and was so greatly loved by Christ.”

Noting how Mary Magdalene was the first eyewitness to the Risen Christ and the first to announce his resurrection to the apostles, Archbishop Roche hailed her as “the Apostle to the Apostles” – a phrase coined by St. Thomas Aquinas.

St. Mary Magdalene, the archbishop said, “announces to the apostles what in turn they will announce to the whole world.”

This article was originally published on CNA June 10, 2016.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope shakes up cloisters with new norms focused on prayer, centralization

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • July 22, 2016

A young religious sister prays at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Denver on Jan. 17, 2015. (Catholic Charities/Jeffrey Bruno CC BY 2.0)

Vatican City — Amid modern challenges emerging from a culture which provides increasingly easier access to outside distractions, Pope Francis has issued new norms for women’s cloistered communities, which place a special emphasis on prayer and the centralization of communities.

“Dear contemplative sisters, without you what would the Church be like, or those living on the fringes of humanity and ministering in the outposts of evangelization?” the Pope said in a new Apostolic Constitution, published July 22.

The Church, he said, “greatly esteems your life of complete self-giving. The Church counts on your prayers and on your self-sacrifice to bring today’s men and women to the good news of the Gospel. The Church needs you!”

However, he also cautioned that the “silent and recollected peace of mind and heart” lived in contemplative live “can meet with subtle temptations.”

The most serious of these, he said, is what the Desert Fathers called “the midday devil,” referring to “the temptation to listlessness, mere routine, lack of enthusiasm and paralyzing lethargy.”

He also cautioned against the temptations presented by the current digital culture, which “has a decisive influence in shaping our thoughts and the way we relate to the world and, in particular, to other people.”

“Contemplative communities are not immune from this cultural climate,” he said, and while recognizing the benefits of media and communications, particularly in the process of formation, urged a “prudent discernment” aimed at ensuring these means are truly put at the service of the community, “and do not become occasions for wasting time or escaping from the demands of fraternal life in community.”

The new norms also encourage communities of the same spirituality, such as Franciscans, Benedictines, Carmelites, etc., to centralize into one federation, however, the specifics of these federations haven’t yet been defined.

Pope Francis’ Apostolic Constitution “Vultum Dei Quaerere,” or “Seek the Face of God” on cloistered women religious was signed June 29, on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, and was released July 22, the feast of St. Mary Magdalene.

An apostolic constitution is the highest level of decree to be issued by a Pope, and is addressed to the public. They typically focus on solemn matters of the Church such as the promulgation of laws or definitive teachings.

In Vultum Dei Quaerere, the Pope said that contemplative monastic life, which is mainly composed of women, is a “signpost” and reminder of life’s ultimate meaning. Contemplative life, he said, is “a priceless and indispensable gift which the Holy Spirit continues to raise up in the Church.”

However, as a means of assisting contemplative women to “attain the goal of their specific vocation” amid the rapid changes in modern society and the temptations that come with them, he issued new norms on 12 areas of discernment and renewal for consecrated life, particularly the monastic tradition.

These areas are: formation, prayer, the Word of God, the sacraments of the Eucharist and Reconciliation, fraternal life in community, autonomy, federations, the cloister, work, silence, communications media and asceticism.

In the 21-page document, consisting of 37 articles, Pope Francis offered a reflection on each of the points, explaining the nature of each and why they are essential for the life and vocation of contemplative women religious.

In light of these reflections, Pope Francis established that, in reference to canon 20 of the Code of Canon Law and with the publication and promulgation of the constitution, any canons in the Code of Canon law which directly contradict the articles of the new constitution “are derogated,” meaning canceled.

More specifically, he said the articles containing norms and dispositions found in Pius XII’s 1950 Apostolic Constitution “Sponsa Christi,” the Statuta Generalia Monialium, the Congregation for Religious’ 1950 “Instruction Inter Praeclara,” the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life’s 1999 Instruction “Verbi Sponsa” on the contemplative life and enclosure of nuns, are also derogated.

The new norms will be drafted by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, which will eventually result in amendments made to Canon Law which reflect the wishes the Pope voiced in the constitution.

In order to help in the drafting of the norms, Francis provided a series of points based on his reflections on each of the 12 themes, which serve as a guideline for what the new norms will consist of.

In these guidelines, he established that individual monasteries “are to give special attention to ongoing formation,” which he said “is the foundation for every stage of formation, beginning with initial formation.”

He said that to ensure this ongoing formation, federations of religious communities will promote a greater cooperation between monasteries “through the exchange of formational materials and the use of digital means of communication,” though he urged the “due discretion” in using these means.

Monasteries, he said, “are to pay special attention to vocational and spiritual discernment, ensuring that candidates receive personalized guidance,” and must ensure that “ample time” is set aside for the initial formation process.

While establishing international and multicultural communities is good and a sign of the universality of the community’s charism, Francis stressed that “the recruitment of candidates from other countries solely for the sake of ensuring the survival of a monastery is to be absolutely avoided.”

In order to ensure this doesn’t happen, “certain criteria are to be determined,” he said. He also stipulated that to ensure “a high quality of formation,” monasteries should promote common houses for initial formation.

Since prayer “is the heart of contemplative life,” Pope Francis also established that “each monastery is to review its daily horarium (schedule) to see if it is centered on the Lord.”

Community celebrations, he said, should also be reviewed “to see if they constitute an authentic and vital encounter with the Lord.”

He placed special emphasis on the use of “lectio divina,” traditional form of Benedictine prayer that focuses on the prayerful and contemplative reading of scripture.

Each community, he said, “is to establish fitting times and means for respecting this requirement of reading and listening, ruminatio (pondering), prayer, contemplation and sharing of the sacred Scriptures.”

Francis also stressed the importance of sharing the “transforming experience” of God’s Word with priests, deacons, other consecrated and laity, and insisted that each monastery determine how this “spiritual outreach” can be achieved.

The guidelines offered by the Pope also stressed that in addition to “carefully preparing its Eucharistic celebrations,” each monastery must “set aside appropriate times for Eucharistic adoration, also inviting the faithful of the local Church to take part.”

He noted that particular attention must also be given to the selection of chaplains, confessors and spiritual directors.

The daily schedule for each community must also include “suitable moments of silence, in order to foster a climate of prayer and contemplation.”

In terms of autonomy, Francis stressed that juridical autonomy must be matched with “a genuine autonomy of life” entailing a certain number of sisters with “the vitality needed to practice and spread the charism, a real capacity to provide for formation and governance, dignity and quality of liturgical, fraternal and spiritual life, sign value and participation in life of the local Church, self-sufficiency and a suitably appointed monastery building.”

Pope Francis also stipulated that at least initially, “all monasteries are to be part of a federation.” These federation, he said, can be established not only on a geographical basis, but also on “an affinity of spirit and traditions.”

If “for some special reason” a monastery can’t join a federation, permission to remain outside of it will be sought from the Holy See.

The specifics, he added, will be in the norms drafted by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, who will determine the responsibilities of the federation’s president and council.

Francis also specified that even if some monasteries receive a small income, it doesn’t mean they are “exempted from the obligation of labor.”

He also required that each monastery, in its plan for community life, find a “fitting means” of expressing the ascetic discipline of monastic life in order to make it “more prophetic and credible.”

Once each individual institute has adapted the articles of their constitutions or rules to the new regulations laid out in Vultum Dei Quaerere, they must be submitted to the Holy See for approval.

During the July 22 presentation of the constitution, Archbishop Jose Rodriguez Carballo O.F.M., secretary for the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, told journalists that the constitution was “a gift” from Pope Francis to the Church.

The process started two years ago with a questionnaire the congregation sent to cloistered communities around the world, he said, explaining that the answers they got back were “rich” and useful, so a synthesis was compiled and given to the competent authorities so that the constitution could eventually be written.

He said there are no plans to issue a similar constitution for cloistered male religious, given the fact that the majority of contemplative communities are composed of women.

Although there is a vocational crisis throughout across the globe, the archbishop noted that there are 4,000 contemplative communities in the world, with the highest numbers being “in Italy and Spain.” where there are more are in Spain and in Italy.

Carmelites “singularly possess … the most numerous” contemplative community in the Church, he said, noting that others such as Benedictines, Dominicans, and Augustinians are also high in number.

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German bishops release new figures: Fewer churchgoers, parishes, and priests

by Anian Christoph Wimmer (CNA/EWTN News) • July 16, 2016

(Manfred Antranias Zimmer via Pixabay)

Munich, Germany — Figures released Friday by the German bishops’ conference draw a bleak picture of the ongoing decline of Catholicism in Germany.

However, the head of the conference, Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, described the Church July 15 as a continuing “strong force, whose message is heard and accepted”.

With more than 23.7 million members in Germany, Catholicism is the largest single religious group in country, comprising 29 percent of the population. Yet people are leaving the Church in droves: in 2015, a total of 181,925 people departed.

By comparison, 2,685 people became Catholic, and 6,474 reverted to Catholicism.

Whilst the German bishops’ conference emphasized that baptisms and marriages showed a slight increase as compared to the year before, the actual long-term figures describe a steep downward trend.

When compared to the official statistics of twenty years ago, the number of baptisms has declined by more than a third, from almost 260,000 babies baptized in 1995 to just over 167,000 in 2015. The situation is even worse for marriages. Twenty-one years ago, 86,456 couples tied the knot in Church. Last year, the number was down by almost half: In a nation of 80 million people, only 44,298 couples were married in the Church last year.

Further official numbers confirm this precipitous decline: average church attendance is down from 18.6 percent in 1995 to 10.4 percent in 2015.

The number of people departing the Church has increased within the same timeframe, having peaked in recent years at more than 200,000 annually.

No numbers are provided by the German episcopate about how many Catholics went to confession last year. However, a recent academic study of the priesthood in Germany showed that even amongst the clergy, more than half – 54 percent – go to confession only “once a year or less.” Amongst pastoral assistants, a staggering 91 percent responded that they receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation once a year or less.

Despite these alarming numbers, the head of the bishops’ conference issued an upbeat appraisal of the situation: “The statistics show that the Church in Germany continues to be a strong force, whose message is heard and accepted. There obviously not only is an interest in, but also an active desire for the sacraments of the Church, as the slight increase of baptisms and marriages proves,” Cardinal Marx said in a statement issued by the German bishops’ conference.

Acknowledging the high numbers of people leaving the Church, the head of the German bishops’ conference said: “We need a ‘sophisticated pastoral practice’ that does justice to the diverse lifeworlds of people and convincingly passes on the hope of the Faith. The conclusion of last year’s synod of bishops and the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia by Pope Francis are important signposts.”

“Pope Francis gives us courage”, the Archbishop of Munich and Freising continued, “when he tells us that the way of the future Church is the way of a ‘synodal church’. That means: All faithful are called upon, laypeople and priests! Together we will continue to give convincingly witness to our Faith and the Gospel.”

In fact, Pope Francis issued a scathing analysis of the decline of the Catholic faith in Germany since the 1960s on the occasion of the German bishops’ ad limina visit in 2015, calling on the bishops to re-introduce people to the Eucharist and Confession during the Year of Mercy, to take on the new evangelization, to strengthen the role of priests, and to protect unborn life.

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Film on miracles intends to explain the inexplicable

by Tonia Borsellino (CNA/EWTN News) • July 17, 2016

(Kosmos111 via Shutterstock)

Swansea, United Kingdom — For both skeptics and believers, miracles have captivated people’s attention for thousands of years.

That same intrigue led St. Anthony Communications to produce their latest film, ‘Miracles.’

The 35-minute documentary is the first of a four-part series on Special Divine Action, hosted by Fr. Andrew Pinsent and Fr. Marcus Holden.

It aims to answer “what miracles are, how people can know they are real and true, and what their purpose is,” Christian Holden, managing director of St. Anthony Communications, told CNA.

“Miracles are central to the Christian faith,” Holden explained.

He hopes the film reminds people that Christianity is based upon a miracle – Jesus’ resurrection.

“Without that miracle of miracles,” he said, “Christianity ceases to exits as a religion.”

A wide range of “ancient and contemporary” miracles is highlighted in the documentary.

“The film begins by defining what a miracle is, then moves on to objections that people might have,” Holden said.

From there, miracles in the Old Testament, the life of Christ, and the lives of the saints are covered.

More modern miracles such as Marian apparitions, Eucharistic miracles like the bleeding Host in Lanciano, Italy, and those yet to be approved are all discussed in the latter half of the film. Scientific, theological, and philosophical commentary provides viewers with a strong analysis of each event.

This approach, Holden said, allows for people to see the need to be cautious with miracles and remember that they are meant for more than entertainment.

“They have an end purpose of leading us toward our salvation, leading us closer to God.”

Holden said the film is also “suitable for a wide ranging audience.” Churches can use it for catechesis and evangelization. It can be shared with family and friends. Believers can watch it to strengthen their faith. And for those who are nonbelievers and have doubts, Holden said the film could challenge them as well.

“It may be a spark to reignite their faith,” he added.

The Marian apparition in Fatima, mentioned in the film, celebrates its centenary next year. Holden said this coincidence was not planned but the film may also go along with preparing for the big anniversary.

According to Holden, unlike other films by St. Anthony Communications, ‘Miracles’ proved more difficult to complete. Finding the right high-resolution imagery and meeting the needs of other projects prolonged the process, which started in 2014.

But he said with all the miracles covered and imagery added, “Hopefully we give people a taste of the events that miracles are real. They do and have happened.”

The DVD is available online at saintant.com.

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New religious laws in Russia not expected to hurt Catholic Church

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • July 17, 2016

Church of the Resurrection, Russia. (Dorli Photography via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Moscow, Russia — Last week, despite protests from religious leaders and human rights groups, Russian president Vladimir Putin approved a new set of laws that would restrict evangelization and missionary activity to officially registered Church buildings and worship areas.

The laws fall under the umbrella of new anti-terrorism legislation, and prohibit sharing faith in private homes, online, or anywhere but recognized church buildings.

A missionary Catholic priest serving in Russia, who asked to be kept anonymous to protect his identity and his parish, told CNA that he expects the laws will have a much bigger impact on small groups of Evangelicals than they will on the Catholic Church in Russia.

The priest, who has been serving in Russia for 24 years, said that since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Catholic Church has followed government regulations that require religious organizations to be officially registered with the government.

Some smaller religious groups, often Evangelical groups, believe it is against their conscience to register with the government and so they refuse to do so, the priest said.

These new laws seem to be intended to target these newer, less established groups who are unregistered and may meet in private residences, he added.

The anti-evangelism law carries fines up to US $780 for an individual and $15,500 for an organization. Foreign visitors who violate the law face deportation.

The restrictions will also restrict groups considered “extremist”, which means something different in Russia than it does in the United States, the priest said.

For example, Jehovah’s witnesses would not be considered “extreme” in the sense of being a terrorism risk in the U.S., but in Russia, the tradition of conscientious objection to military service by members of the group is considered unjust and extreme by the Russian government, he said. The laws could also impact certain groups of Mormons, and fundamentalist, radical Muslims.

Catholic clergy and leaders in Russia have been careful over the years to only overtly advertise to existing Catholics.

“We’re very careful to say that our mission is to Catholics, and we are there to find the remnant of the Catholics and to serve them,” he said. “We don’t proselytize on the streets, because even if it wasn’t against the law, it would certainly be very dangerous.”

The religious situation in Russia is very fraught, the priest said. Before Communism came to Russia, a majority of the country’s citizens were Orthodox Christians. During the reign of Communism, the government attempted to destroy the Church by blowing up buildings and killing priests, religious sisters, and anyone who resisted them. Once the government gained control of the Orthodox Church, they appointed their own agents as hierarchy, who would then turn people in who came to the Church seeking baptism.

The seeds of distrust planted at that time still run deep, the priest told CNA, and the Russian Orthodox Church maintains its ties to the government today.

While Russia continually polls as one of the most faithful nations in Europe, with up to 65 percent reporting a belief in God, the terrors of the Communist regime are still fresh in the collective mind of the country, leaving the percentage of outwardly practicing Orthodox Christians or Catholic Christians at or below 1 percent of the population.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Catholic Church placed advertisements in newspapers and on television to let Catholics know that parishes had been reopened, and that there were priests there to serve them.

What they’re not allowed to publicly advertise, the priest said, is that the Church believes that everyone has the right to be Catholic and to seek baptism if they wish. Still, following the rules of the government, within reason, allows the Catholic Church to maintain a ministry of presence that would not exist if they were less careful.

While the new laws still certainly favor the Russian Orthodox Church, the priest said that it is “gross hyperbole” for some news outlets to compare these new laws to religious oppression under the Soviet Union.

“Making churches register with the government is not like slaughtering them wholesale in the millions,” he said.

The new laws are expected to go into effect on July 20. Sergey Rakhuba, president of Mission Eurasia and a former Moscow church-planter, told Christianity Today that while opponents of the new laws hope to appeal them, they are also prepared to go underground.

“They say, ‘If it will come to it, it’s not going to stop us from worshiping and sharing our faith,’” he said. “The Great Commission isn’t just for a time of freedom.”

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Archbishop Ganswein calls German Church Tax ‘a serious problem’

by CNA/EWTN News • July 18, 2016

Archbishop Georg Gänswein at the Vatican Press Conference presenting the CD Cantate Domino by the Sistine Chapel Choir on Sept. 29, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Munich, Germany — Archbishop Georg Ganswein has criticized the German Church Tax process, calling its handling of people opting out of the controversial system “a serious problem.”

In a wide-ranging interview published Monday in Schwäbische Zeitung, the Prefect of the Papal Household and secretary to both Pope Francis and Pope emeritus Benedict also spoke candidly about the papal propensity for “flippant” remarks and the media’s handling of them.

Figures released Friday show that Catholicism in Germany continues to be in decline, with almost 190,000 Catholics leaving the Church in 2015.

With a view to the situation in his native country, Ganswein, who is the son of a blacksmith from the Black Forest region, criticized how the Church Tax System in the country handles Church membership.

Echoing concerns voiced repeatedly by Pope Benedict, Archbishop Ganswein was particularly critical of how the system ties payment of the tax to membership in the Church.

The Catholic Church in Germany received a record windfall of 6 billion Euros in 2015 — about 6.64 billion U.S. Dollars — despite dwindling membership numbers, thanks largely to the strength of the German economy, which translated to more income for Catholic taxpayers.

When Germans register as Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish on their tax forms, the government automatically collects an income tax from them which amounts to 8 or 9 percent of their total income tax, or 3-4 percent of their salary.

The “church tax” is given to the religious communities, rather than those communities collecting a tithe. The Church uses its funds to help run its parishes, schools, hospitals, and welfare projects.

The topic is one of several ongoing debates in Germany, and has been for years. One particularly controversial aspect is how Catholics are dealt with who decide to no longer pay the tax – for whatever reason. “They are effectively excommunicated,” the interviewer suggests to Archbishop Ganswein, and the German prelate agrees, saying:

“Yes, that is a serious problem. How does the Catholic Church in Germany react to someone leaving? By automatic expulsion from the community, in other words, excommunication! That is excessive, quite incomprehensible. You can question dogma, no one is concerned about that, no one gets kicked out. Is the non-payment of the Church tax a bigger offense against the Faith than violations of the tenets of Faith?”

The Prefect of the Papal Household warned that the impression the current system gives, “is this: As long as the Faith is on the line, that is quite acceptable, however when money enters the equation, things get serious.”

The interviewer, Hendrik Groth, also asked Archbishop Ganswein whether he still stands by remarks he publicly made shortly after the election of Pope Francis that theologically, you could not fit a sheet of paper between the new Pope and his predecessor.

“I have asked myself the same question; and judging by everything I hear and perceive, I still positively perceive this to be the case. Considering the base lines of their theological convictions, there is definitely a continuity there.”

Given the external differences between the two Popes, Archbishop Ganswein said: “Obviously I am also aware that occasionally doubt might be cast on this, given the differences in representation and expression. But when a Pope wants to change an aspect of the doctrine, then he has to do so clearly, so as to make it binding.”

“Important magisterial tenets cannot be changed by half sentences or somewhat ambiguous footnotes,” the German archbishop said, alluding to the controversy over the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. He further warned, “Statements that can be interpreted in different ways are a risky thing.”

Acknowledging the cultural and personal differences between Pope Francis and his predecessor, Archbishop Ganswein reflected that “one has to simply accept the fact that his [Francis’] way of speaking can at times be somewhat imprecise, indeed flippant. Every Pope has their own personal style.”

The archbishop said he is sure that Pope Francis will not change his way of talking, even if that sometimes “leads to bizarre interpretations.”

However, Archbishop Ganswein also reflected on what role the media plays in the perception that the Pope is no longer “as solid as a rock, no longer a final anchor.”

“Uncertainties, occasionally even confusion and mayhem, have certainly increased,” he said, adding that the “Francis Effect” some German bishops predicted after the election, expecting it would lead to fuller pews and a boost to Catholic life in the nation, “appears not to have transpired.”

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Remember the Copts ISIS martyred in Libya? This priest does.

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • July 19, 2016

Icon of the 21 Martyrs of Libya. (Tony Rezk via tonyrezk.blogspot.com)

Minya, Egypt — For Christians in Egypt, the possibility of martyrdom is not a remote one.

“It is something they concretely feel, it is part of their Christian life,” Father Paolo Asolan, an Italian priest who recently visited Egypt, told CNA. “And for a mother and a father, the fact that one of their sons can become a martyr is always a great gift.”

The Islamic State’s beheading of 20 Coptic Christians and another man shocked the world in February 2015 when video of the murders on a Mediterranean beach became public. The other man was a non-Christian who reportedly professed belief in the Christian God before his death.

During a recent trip to Egypt, Fr. Asolan met the family of one of the Coptic Christians. He visited the village of al-Our in the north-central Egyptian province of Minya. From this province came 13 of the 21 people beheaded.

Al-Our is a small farming community of some 6,000 Muslims and Christians, located about 90 miles from Cairo.

There the priest met the family of Milad Makeen Zaky, who was the first martyr seen praying in the video.

“I was struck by the fact that, before he died, he was praying the name of Jesus,” Fr. Asolan said. “He died speaking the name of Jesus, and that was the very last act of a life that witnessed Jesus in every moment.”

This faithfulness to Christ, Fr. Asolan added, is proved by many details in his life.

“When the Islamic State militants came to seize him, Milad had just finished his daily one-hour meditation over the Sacred Scriptures … at the beginning of the day, he always spent at least one hour reading the Gospel,” the priest recounted.

Fr. Asolan heard from Milad’s mother several anecdotes about his life. She said that it was “as if her son was preparing her for his martyrdom.”

The Coptic Orthodox Church has proclaimed the 21 men to be martyrs. Their beheading shocked Egyptian society.

Fr. Asolan said that “a church for the martyrs” is being built in al-Our. It is completely funded by the Egyptian president, a noteworthy fact because the construction of a new church is highly restricted. It requires specific authorization from the president’s office, which the priest said is “often difficult to obtain.”

Egypt’s Coptic Christians represent between 10 and 20 percent of Egypt’s population of 80 million.

Fr. Asolan is a professor of pastoral theology at the Pontifical Lateran University. He said that the faith of Coptic Christians is based on the twin pillars of monasticism and martyrdom.

“Travelling through Egypt, there are many burials of martyrs. These same Christians used to tattoo a cross on their wrist,” he said.

Fr. Asolan also considered the meaning of martyrdom today.

“Martyrs are witnesses of Jesus, that is, he who said: ‘I am the truth.’ As witness of Jesus, they raise up the issue of truth. Martyrdom is an act of love,” he said. “The fullness of truth is a conversion to love.”

On the other hand, he said, “we live in a time of ‘heresies of life.’ There have always been Christological and Trinitarian heresies … but this is a time of new heresies, not regarding the faith, but love … it is in name of love that truth, that is Christ, is denied.”

From this standpoint, there can be a comparison between what happens in Egypt and what happens in in the Western world.

Fr. Asolan said that just as some Muslims promote the assassination of those who have different beliefs “in the name of love toward God,” in the West there are “people emancipated from religion (who) kill with abortion and euthanasia, claiming that they do it for the love of the human being.”

These “heresies” are sometimes backed “in the name of an unreasonable obedience to a ‘god’ who wants death and not life, as it happened with the 21 Egyptian martyrs.”

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Neocatechumenal Way co-founder Carmen Hernandez dies at 85

by CNA/EWTN News • July 19, 2016

Carmen Hernandez. (Neocatechumenal Way)

Madrid, Spain — Carmen Hernandez, co-founder of the Neocatechumenal Way, died today at home in Madrid, Spain. She was 85 years old.

Hernandez, along with Kiko Arguello and Fr. Mario Pezzi, made up the international team responsible for the ecclesial movement, which focuses on post-baptismal adult formation. It is estimated that the movement contains about 1 million members, in some 40,000 parish-based communities around the world.

Over the last year and a half, Hernandez had suffered deteriorating health, although she was never diagnosed with a specific disease.

She was last seen publicly March 18 at an audience that Pope Francis granted missionary families of the Neocatechumenal Way.

The Holy Father also spoke to her by phone on July 1, during an audience with Kiko Argüello and Fr. Mario Pezzi.

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Local bishop expresses dismay over German train attack

by CNA/EWTN News • July 19, 2016

(Sülzi via Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0)

Würzburg, Germany — In the wake of Monday night’s terror attack by an Afghan Islamist on a train and pedestrians in Würzburg, the city’s bishop has issued a statement of “great dismay” at the events, which left several people severely wounded.

“One is speechless in such a moment”, Bishop Friedhelm Hofmann of Würzburg said July 19, assuring the injured and affected of his prayers and announcing the Church’s support for those traumatized.

Bishop Hofmann also thanked police, ambulance and pastoral emergency workers at the scene.

On Monday evening a 17 year-old unaccompanied minor refugee from Afghanistan had attacked train passengers with an axe in the Bavarian city. He was shot and killed by police after wounding four people. Two of the wounded are in critical condition.

The attacker reportedly shouted the phrase “Allahu akbar” during the attack, and according to the BBC, the Islamic State has released a video allegedly showing the perpetrator threatening severe violence and an attack.

He had been in Germany for a year, and had recently moved in with a foster family after living at a refugee center.

The Bishop of Würzburg issued “a warning, not to put all asylum seekers under general suspicion” and said: “Perhaps we must accompany the unaccompanied minors even more and help them to overcome their own traumas.”

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In Malawi, Catholic leaders aim to help corporations be responsible

by CNA/EWTN News • July 20, 2016

Part of the Langer Heinrich Uranium Mine in southern Africa, October 2007. (Peter Waggit/IAEA via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0)

Lilongwe, Malawi — Amid Malawi’s booming industry in mineral extraction, the country’s Catholic bishops and NGO partners hope corporations will help the wider community benefit.

“The role of uplifting poor masses is beyond government alone,” Martin Chiphwanya, an official with the the Malawi bishops’ conference, told a workshop for civil society organizations in Lilongwe, the nation’s capital.

He said civil society organizations have a role to engage business firms, “especially those whose activities impact on the environment such as mining firms”, so that they will view corporate social responsibility “as an important component of maintaining good rapport in communities.”

“It is important that companies should attend to the interests and issues of the wider community by taking into account issues of corporate social responsibility,” added Chiphwanya, who is acting director of the Malawi bishops’ Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace.

Mineral products, primarily uranium and thorium ore, and precious metals account for 2.8 percent of the value of Malawi’s exports, or $41.9 million.

Daniel Kamanga, who facilitated the workshop, said that at present there are no legal provisions or policy regulating companies’ corporate social responsibility activities in Malawi. This means these activities are rarely done in consultation with the communities and some activities do not reflect the needs of the people.

There is no “community ownership” of these development activities, and corporate investors appear to be more into marketing activities and media coverage.

Another Catholic justice and peace commission official, Success Joel Sikwese, said civil society organizations are now demanding more action from government to incorporate corporate social responsibility into anticipated legislation.

The workshop was organized by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace as part of the Tonse Tipindule mining governance project, which is funded by national and international Christian and Muslim groups.

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Baptism at sea: Refugee child born during boat rescue

by CNA/EWTN News • July 20, 2016

Baptism on the high seas. (Catholic Military Chaplaincy)

Munich, Germany — In the midst of her stressful overseas voyage to Europe, Vivian, a very pregnant Nigerian woman who departed from the Libyan coast, ended up giving birth on the German naval ship that rescued her and her 654 companions.

Her first request when she saw the military chaplain on board? That her newborn son get baptized.

According to the German Military Chaplaincy, Vivian, who is Catholic and likely fleeing ongoing violence and persecution in her country, was one of 655 people who piled onto four flimsy dinghies in order to reach Europe with the hope of a better life.

On July 6, their first day at sea, a German naval ship saw the boats, and, recognizing the precarious condition of the dinghies, described as “un-seaworthy,” brought them on board.

When military chaplain Fr. Jochen Folz saw that Vivian had given birth on board the ship after being rescued, he and the medical team immediately offered their support. After only a few minutes Vivian made one wish very clear: she was Catholic, and she wanted her newborn son to be baptized.

So Fr. Folz got to work right away with the help of ship’s officers and crew: the radio operator enabled the Internet so the priest could access the English texts needed for the rite of Baptism, while others found a sauceboat and matching tray for a makeshift “baptismal” font. A candle also emerged from the officers’ wardrobe.

A woman named Martina O., who was also rescued from the dinghies, was allowed to accompany the birth, and agreed to take on the role of the child’s godmother.

Though it was dark outside, the medical container was brightly lit by neon lights, and was filled with soldiers who wanted to be present for the special moment.

Fr. Folz began by greeting the attendees and offering a brief introduction to the baptism. The rite then proceeded as usual: Fr. Folz asked Vivian: “What name will you give your child,” to which she replied: “Ikpomosa.”

When the priest asked her “What do you ask of the Church for Ikpomosa?” Vivian smiled and said proudly: “Baptism, faith and eternal life.” The priest then traced a sign of the cross on the newborn’s forehead, inviting his mother and godmother to do the same.

After pouring water over the child’s head three times with the sauceboat while reciting the ancient biblical formula: “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” the priest then lit the candle and passed to his godmother.

When the time came to place a white garment over the baby as a sign of his new life in Christ, Fr. Folz draped his white priestly stole over the newborn as a symbol of the divine sonship since there was obviously no white baptismal gown.

As a baptismal gift, baby Ikpomosa was given a medal of St. Michael the Archangel, while Vivian and Martina were each given a medal of the Virgin Mary. All three had been prepared by a medical soldier, who tied a ribbon on each so they could be hung or tied somewhere safe.

While this wasn’t the first time Fr. Folz has baptized someone in action, it did mark the first time he did so for a refugee child.

The rescue operation marked the priest’s first experience in the Navy, after having served in several land operations. While serving in Afghanistan, he baptized two German soldiers and one American soldier, and has administered the Sacrament of Confirmation on several occasions.

However, the baptism in the Mediterranean of a child born to a woman risking her life at sea in hopes of a better life for herself and her child, was something completely new and out of the ordinary.

In light of their uncertain future, Fr. Folz told Vivian and Martina that “the Church offers us a home all over the world, and Ikpomosa is now under the special protection of heaven.”

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WORLD NEWS

Doubts arise after alleged photo of Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil surfaces

by CNA/EWTN News • July 20, 2016

Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil. (ANS Agenzia Info Salesiana)

Vatican City — After a photo supposedly showing Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, who was kidnapped in Yemen in March, emerged on social media, sources close to the priest say there are strong reasons to doubt the image’s authenticity.

“I have checked with a confrere with (the) Yemen experience and very close to Fr. Tom who shares my doubts about the authenticity of the photo,” a credible source close to the situation but who preferred to remain anonymous told CNA July 20.

“We simply do not have any verified news about (it), although I am convinced that Fr. Tom is alive.”

The comments come after a photo portraying an unshaven, tired-looking Indian man was published to Facebook, claiming that it was Fr. Tom and that an “entreaty,” or “plea” would be uploaded soon, according to Indian news agency The News Minute.

The agency reports that while this is the first such photo has been published and while it isn’t clear who posted it, a relative of Fr Tom’s, Augustine, said many within the family have studied the photo, and believe it to be authentic.

However, CNA’s source said that since Fr Tom’s disappearance his Facebook account “has been hacked, most probably by the kidnappers.”

“It is now used to send such messages in order to make pressure,” the source said, voicing their belief that while the photo might not be authentic, they are confident Fr. Tom is alive.

Fr. Uzhunnalil, an Indian national, was abducted March 4 when four gunmen attacked a Missionaries of Charity-run retirement home in Aden, Yemen, killing 16 people, including four Missionary of Charity sisters.

During Holy Week, unsubstantiated rumors spread on social media that ISIS had captured Fr. Tom and were planning his torture and crucifixion on Good Friday, however, they were largely based on inaccurate information.

On March 28, the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) wrote a letter to Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, urging the Indian government to take greater efforts in locating the priest and for further information to clarify his whereabouts and to quell the rumors of crucifixion.

The minister then met with the CBCI and announced that the rumors of crucifixion were “baseless,” that Fr. Tom was still alive and that the government was “adopting all possible means” for the quick and safe release of Fr. Tom.

In May she again voiced her confidence that Fr. Tom is “safe and that the “last efforts (are being made to) ensure his release.”

According to The News Minute, Augustine said the Indian government has found it difficult to hold talks, and is unsure who to speak with since Yemen has no stable government.

He said that he didn’t think Fr Tom was taken by the Islamic State, but likely a smaller group. The details, however, remain unclear.

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WORLD NEWS

The powerful witness of Iraqi young people at World Youth Day

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • July 21, 2016

World Youth Day in Brazil on July 28, 2013. (Michelle Bauman/CNA)

Rome, Italy — Among the swarms of pilgrims registered for World Youth Day in Poland next week is a large group of Iraqi youth, who aim to witness to the joy of their faith despite ongoing violent persecution.

“I want everyone to see a witness of faith, of suffering faith, and the faith of our group,” Fr. Rayan Atto told CNA July 19.

He said they don’t need “anything special” from the other pilgrims they’ll meet in Krakow, but instead want to ensure the others “that we love them, they are our best friends, and we want to work in this mission with them all over the world.”

“The only thing we need is (for them) to look at our faces: we are so happy and proud to be Christians in this area,” he added.

Fr. Atto is in charge of coordinating the large group of Iraqi youth traveling to Krakow for the July 26-31 event with Pope Francis, which is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from across the globe.

Split into three different groups based on the area where they live, there are 315 people in total coming from Iraq, including two bishops, 10 priests and several nuns. There is also a separate group of pilgrims coming from the Neocatecumenal Way.

The youth themselves come from all over the country, including cities such as Erbil, Baghdad, Kirkuk and Dohuk.

Roughly half of the youth who are coming have been displaced from cities such as Baghdad, Mosul and surrounding villages, yet all of them were able to pay their own way, thanks in part to donations made by Aid to the Church in Need and the Vatican’s department for the Laity.

Poland gave visas to the pilgrims free of charge, however, they still had to raise funds for the cost of the paperwork, airfare and lodging.

Fr. Atto said that as coordinator, he and the other organizers have sought to foster a strong sense of unity among the youth, so that those who are displaced don’t feel ashamed.

“We keep this unity in order not to distinguish between the young people,” he said, explaining that they don’t want anyone “to feel that they are displaced,” but rather at home with their peers.

He said keeping their faith strong amid the daily struggles they face “is not that easy,” but is something they fight to maintain through the sacraments and spiritual meetings such as retreats or prayer events.

“Our grandfathers, they kept their faith for us and we are feeding it” through spiritual things, he said, adding that the sacraments and prayer “will help us to show our faith, our Christianity. That’s the only thing we have. We are keeping the faith for other generations.”

The different groups arrived together July 20, and will stay in Krakow through Aug. 1, the day after the official WYD events have finished.

All members of the Chaldean rite, the youth will meet with other communities from around the world and will share Masses and catechesis sessions together.

On July 22 the group will celebrate a large Chaldean-rite Mass which will be followed by a brief catechism on themes related to the official WYD program.

Other activities the group will participate include a cultural show, during which they will introduce their group with dancing and will wear the traditional clothing from Iraq’s Christian villages.

A special catechesis session will be given July 27, in which bishops from around the world will lead a reflection on the WYD theme, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy,” in different languages. One of the organizers of the Iraqi group will offer a reflection in Arabic.

During the Via Crucis with Pope Francis July 29, a number of the Iraqi youth will form a choir and sing both the Our Father and Psalm 115 in Aramaic in front of the Pope and the rest of the youth from around the world. Aramaic is an ancient language spoken during the time of Jesus and is the language of the Chaldean rite.

Fr. Atto said the choir will be given 10 minutes to sing while the Stations of the Cross are being acted out by youth below.

“Our pilgrims,” he said, “will be there with all the youth from all over the world. We are very happy and excited and we are waiting to give this testimony to all the people.”

“We know that everyone is waiting for us and watching us, and they want to know about us, our faith,” he said, adding that his hope for the Iraqi youth who go is that they “bring with them their faith, improve their faith … and come back with more faith. That’s my goal.”

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WORLD NEWS

This priest encourages drivers to be merciful on the road

by Blanca Ruiz (CNA/EWTN News) • July 22, 2016

Father José Aumenté presents Pope Francis with a reflective vest of the Spanish bishops’ highway ministry. (Fr. José Aumenté)

Madrid, Spain — As more drivers hit the roads in the U.S. and Europe for summer road trips, a priest in Spain is ramping up his ‘highway ministry’ to promote safety and to care for those who spend much of their lives on four wheels.

Father José Aumenté is the head of the Spanish bishops’ highway ministry, which began after a priest was aided by a trucker on Christmas night in 1962.

“A priest had to go from one town to another and didn’t have a car. A truck driver stopped to help him and on the way he told him about his life, how hard it was to be on the road all the time, and how on such a very special day as Christmas he wasn’t going to be able to have dinner with his family because of a mishap on the trip,” Father Aumenté told CNA.

This made an impression on the priest, who then started the highway ministry, which was adopted by the Spanish bishops’ conference in 1968, and is now entrusted to Fr. Aumenté.

This year the highway ministry is being joined to the Year of Mercy under the theme “Blessed are the merciful”, reaching out to all those who find themselves on the road: truckers especially, as well as those who drive taxis, buses, or ambulances.

The message is also being addressed to those “who spend a good part of their time behind the wheel because of their work, necessity, or to enjoy vacation. Also motorists and cyclists, and pedestrians as well, who one way or another make use of the public thoroughfares.”

This was seen in a recent blessing of semi-trailer trucks Fr. Aumenté made in Albacete.

“It was a very beautiful day because the family comes along with the truck driver. They get into the cab, which is a very special place for them. I blessed the truck with holy water and gave them a holy card of Saint Christopher which has a prayer for the driver,” the priest explained.

The highway ministry also cares for those who are suffering the loss of a loved one who died in motoring accidents, as well as those injured in accidents. Last year, almost 2,000 people died in motor accidents in Spain, 400 of whom were pedestrians.

The ministry also holds a Mass each November in memory of those who died on the roads; a day is set aside in May to console family members and those whose lives were changed as the result of an accident.

Given the millions of trips taken every summer throughout the world, Father Aumenté encouraged drivers to be “merciful on the road.”

“All of us have been driving and insulted other drivers for their bad driving. So it’s important to know that when you’re in a car and on the road, you also have to give way and be merciful.”

“Performing the spiritual and corporal works of mercy also benefit those who do them, and in this case the use of a car also provides an opportunity to perform them,” he noted.

He also encouraged taking advantage of going on a trip to pray, and recalled the words of Blessed Paul VI: “enjoy life while you’re on the road and lift up your spirit to God when you see a church’s bell tower rising over a town.”

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WORLD NEWS

That time Jesus appeared in the sky of Mexico

by CNA/EWTN News • July 22, 2016

A painting of El Señor De La Misericordia De Ocotlán from 1912. (Shrine of the Lord of Mercy in Ocotlán, state of Jalisco, Mexico via Facebook)

Lima, Peru — It’s a major miracle that you’ve probably never heard of.

On Sunday, Oct. 3, 1847, more than 2,000 people in Ocotlán, Mexico saw a perfect image of Jesus Christ crucified that appeared in the sky for more than 30 minutes.

Approved by the Archdiocese of Guadalajara in 1911, the phenomenon is known as the “Miracle of Ocotlán” and took place one day before an earthquake that killed 40 and left the town in Jalisco State in ruins.

Before the start of Mass at the cemetery of the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception – presided over by the parochial vicar, Father Julián Navarro – two white clouds joined together in the northwest sky, where there appeared the image of Christ.

Those present and in nearby towns were deeply moved, made acts of contrition, and cried out begging, “Lord, have mercy!” This apparition of Christ was called “the Lord of Mercy” and in his honor, in September 1875, a new parish church was blessed, consecrated and dedicated to him.

Also among the faithful who witnessed the miracle were Father Julián Martín del Campo, pastor of the community, and Antonio Jiménez, the town’s mayor. Both of them sent letters to their respective superiors telling what had happened.

After the miracle, a record of the event was written down with 30 eye-witnesses attesting. Fifty years later, in 1897, by order of the then-Archbishop of Guadalajara, Pedro Loza y Pardavé, another record of the event was made, with 30 additional persons including five priests.

On Sept. 29, 1911, the Archbishop of Guadalajara at that time, José de Jesús Ortiz y Rodríguez, signed a document validating the apparition of Jesus Christ at Ocotlán, and the devotion and veneration given by the people of that area to the venerated statue of our Lord of Mercy located in the shrine of the same name.

“We must acknowledge as an historical fact, perfectly proven, the apparition of the blessed image of Jesus Christ Crucified … and that it could not have been the work of an hallucination or fraud, since it happened in broad daylight, in the sight of more than 2,000 people,” the cardinal said.

He also stated so that the Lord of Mercy would never be forgotten, the faithful must “gather together in whatever manner possible, after purifying their consciences with the holy sacraments of Penance and

Holy Communion and solemnly swear in the presence of God, for themselves and their descendants, that year after year they will celebrate the October 3 anniversary.”

After its approval and to comply with the provisions of the Archbishop of Guadalajara, in 1912 they began public festivities in honor of the Lord of Mercy, recalling the Miracle of 1847. The celebrations currently last 13 days, from Sept. 20 to Oct. 3.

Later, in 1997, Saint John Paul II sent his Apostolic Blessing to the people of Ocotlán on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the miracle.

This article was originally published on CNA May 19, 2016.

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WORLD NEWS

Amid protests, Zimbabwe’s Christian leaders band together to speak out

by CNA/EWTN News • July 22, 2016

The flag of Zimbabwe, which inspired the #ThisFlag movement denouncing the Mugabe government’s management of the economy. (Harvey Barrison via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0)

Harare, Zimbabwe — In Zimbabwe, there are protests against the government and officials’ harsh treatment of a Christian pastor whose video about his frustration went viral on the internet. Now, Christian leaders in the country have called for an end to harassment of clergy and for a just response to other grievances.

“We call upon our government to listen to the cries of citizens whose cries and sufferings are loud and clear. There is need to act justly and mercifully on behalf of the poor and disadvantaged in our nation,” a group of Christian leaders said in a July 14 statement.

The Zimbabwe Catholic bishops’ conference joined the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, and other groups in making the statement.

The leaders voiced concern about apparent disregard for the constitution by the government and police, failure to deal with corruption, and the exclusion of citizens from determining their destiny. Intra-party conflicts are distracting the government from dealing with real economic and social issues.

They voiced concern about the harassment and arrests of religious leaders, including Pastor Mawarire, and the intimidation of other pastors “speaking on behalf of powerless people.”

“These grievances must be viewed as the early warning signs which indicate underlying and simmering tensions that will soon explode into civil unrest if not addressed,” they said.

In May, the Baptist pastor Evan Mawarire launched the “#ThisFlag” social media movement to voice frustration about the state of Zimbabwe. His campaign spread through Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp.

The pastor’s videos have stressed non-violence, though some younger activists in a movement called Tajamuka are less moderate, BBC News reports.

The pastor was arrested and charged with inciting public violence and subversion, but was released after a court threw out charges.

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has verbally attacked Mawarire, claiming he is a false minister backed by foreign countries that want to destabilize Zimbabwe.

The protests center on several demands. They advocate that civil servants be paid on time; fewer roadblocks and police shakedowns; the legal prosecution of corrupt officials; and the end of a ban on many imported goods. They also object to plans to introduce bond notes to ease a cash shortage.

In June Zimbabwe ran out of money. All civil servants, including soldiers, police, teachers, and nurses, were paid late. Many people cannot afford food and the country is suffering the worst drought in decades. The unemployment rate is at 90 percent.

In early July, a one-day national strike in protest of the situation in Zimbabwe completely shut down schools, businesses, and shops around the country. Mawarire was among the strike’s backers.

The Christian leaders’ message condemned law enforcement brutality and urged the government to protect citizens’ rights to demonstrate and protest.

“In exercising this right, we implore citizens to always remain peaceful in their demonstrations,” they said.

They also had a special message for Christian believers:

“We call upon the Church, which is the salt and light of this nation, to continue to pray and also to speak out prophetically against any unjust system, until we have a peaceful and prosperous Zimbabwe in which every citizen’s God given and constitutional rights are respected.”

The religious leaders said they wanted a nation that respects all citizens and that fears God in its love for justice, peace and love of one’s neighbor.

“May God grant us Zimbabweans the courage, faith and hope to face our challenges,” they prayed.

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U.S. NEWS

California bishops urge voters to reject the death penalty this fall

by CNA/EWTN News • July 16, 2016

Florida Department of Corrections execution chamber. (Florida State Correctional Facility)

Los Angeles, CA — On Thursday, the bishops of California announced their support of a state ballot measure that would end the use of capital punishment in the state, replacing it with life in prison without possibility of parole.

“Our commitment to halt the practice of capital punishment is rooted both in the Catholic faith and our pastoral experience,” the bishops said in their July 14 statement in support of Proposition 62.

The message also states the bishops’ opposition to another ballot measure, Proposition 66, which is intended to expedite executions in California by limiting appeals.

“All life is sacred … just as Jesus Christ taught us and demonstrated repeatedly throughout His ministry. This focus on the preciousness of human life is fundamental to Christianity,” they wrote. “Jesus makes clear that to love God we must love our neighbor.”

Each person “holds an inherent worth derived from being created in God’s own image” and thus “each of us has a duty to love this divine image imprinted on every person,” the bishops recalled.

“Our support to end the use of the death penalty is also rooted in our unshakeable resolve to accompany and support all victims of crime. They suffer the very painful consequences of criminal acts,” the bishops acknowledged, while adding that “Their enduring anguish is not addressed by the state-sanctioned perpetuation of the culture of death.”

“As we pray with them and mourn with them we must also stress that the current use of the death penalty does not promote healing. It only brings more violence to a world that has too much violence already. We will continue to promote responsibility, rehabilitation and restoration for everyone impacted by the criminal justice system.”

In addition to ending the death penalty in California, Proposition 62 would requires that those convicted of murder and sentenced to life without possibility of parole must work while in prison and pay restitution to victims.

The ballot measure would apply retroactively to those already sentenced to death in California. The state currently has 747 persons on the condemned inmate list, more than any other state.

According to the California Department of State, Proposition 62 would save state and local governments “potentially around $150 million annually within a few years due to the elimination of the death penalty.”

The bishops wrote that capital punishment “has repeatedly been shown to be severely and irrevocably flawed in its application. In the long – but absolutely necessary – process of ensuring an innocent person is not put to death, we have seen many accused persons being exonerated as new forms of forensic investigation have enabled us to better scrutinize evidence.”

“The high cost of implementing the death penalty has diverted resources from more constructive and beneficial programs both for rehabilitation and restoration of victims and offenders. Finally, repeated research has demonstrated that the death penalty is applied inconsistently along racial, economic and geographical lines,” they noted.

Among Proposition 62’s supporters is Beth Webb, whose sister was killed in a mass shooting in 2011. At a recent event supporting the measure, she said that “Neither me nor my mom will find closure in the death of another human being … Yes on 62 will relieve our families and let us heal.”

The death penalty has been in place in California since 1977, when the state legislature re-adopted the practice. The following year, voters approved a proposition reaffirming its use, and the 1978 statute is that under which the state currently operates.

Since 1978, 13 inmates have been executed in California. Two more California inmates were executed in other states. The most recent execution in the state occurred in January 2006.

In 2012, state voters disapproved a ballot measure similar to Proposition 62. That measure, rejected by 52 percent of voters, would also have replaced the death penalty with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Another supporter of Proposition 62 is Ron Briggs, a former supervisor of El Dorado County. His family was instrumental in the 1978 ballot measure reaffirming capital punishment. In a July 7 opinion piece for the Sacramento Bee, he wrote that “I now feel compelled to admit the policy is destructive to our great state. What we didn’t know then is that the death penalty would become an industry that benefits only attorneys and criminals, and no one else.”

“Don’t get me wrong – I’m still as tough on crime as I’ve ever been. I firmly believe those who committed the most heinous acts should do the hardest of time and never again see the light of day. But it’s time to face facts: the ultimate punishment has become the ultimate failed government program,” Briggs stated.

The competing death penalty ballot measure, Proposition 66, is meant to hasten the process. It would impose time limits on death penalty reviews, and would also require that death row inmates work and pay restitution to victims.

Proposition 66 also says that “When necessary to remove a substantial backlog in appointment of counsel for capital cases, the Supreme Court shall require attorneys who are qualified for appointment to the most serious non-capital appeals and who meet the qualifications for capital appeals to accept appointment in capital cases as a condition for remaining on the court’s appointment list.”

According to the California Department of State, this “Requires appointed attorneys who take noncapital appeals to accept death penalty appeals.”

The California state department also estimates that “Increased state costs that could be in the tens of millions of dollars annually for several years related to direct appeals and habeas corpus proceedings, with the fiscal impact on such costs being unknown in the longer run. Potential state correctional savings that could be in the tens of millions of dollars annually.”

California’s bishops wrote that they oppose Proposition 66 because “The search for a fair and humane execution process and protocol has failed for decades. Any rush to streamline that process will inevitably result in the execution of more innocent people. Neither the proponents nor the opponents of the death penalty wish this result.”

Briggs called Proposition 66 “a sloppy initiative that will make things worse.” He added that “Every attempt to fix the death penalty over the past 40 years has only made it slower and more expensive, wasting resources on criminals, attorneys and a bloated bureaucracy.”

California voters will decide on the death penalty measures later this year. Other topics among the state’s 17 ballot measures include the legalization of marijuana and health requirements involving the performers and producers of pornographic films.

The bishops of California concluded their statement saying that “In November – the concluding month of the Year of Mercy – Californians have the opportunity to embrace both justice and mercy (cf. Ps. 85.11) in their voting.”

“We strongly urge all voters to prayerfully consider support for Proposition 62 and opposition to Proposition 66.”

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U.S. NEWS

Only Christ offers answers in our violent world, Baton Rouge bishop says

by CNA/EWTN News • July 18, 2016

Memorial for the three police officers who were shot and killed in an ambush on July 18, 2016 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

Baton Rouge, LA — Jesus Christ’s triumph over death, despair and hate should move us forward after a deadly attack on law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge, the city’s bishop said Sunday.

“Words cannot express the emotions we feel for those who have lost loved ones in the tragic events of this day. Their entire lives have been unexpectedly and terribly turned upside down,” Bishop Robert Muench of Baton Rouge said.

On July 17, a gunman identified as Gavin Long of Kansas City, Mo. ambushed and killed two police officers and a deputy, while wounding three more, CNN reports. The officers were responded to reports of shots fired. Long, a former Marine sergeant, was killed in a gun battle with police.

The FBI is investigating Long’s possible links to an anti-government group. The gunman claimed to be a member of the Nation of Islam, though an official told CNN that there is no indication he was directed by the group.

The shooting comes on the heels of two weeks of heightened tensions across the country.

On July 5, Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, was shot and killed by police in Baton Rouge. He had been selling CDs outside a convenience store when a homeless man approached him and asked for money persistently. Sterling showed the man his gun and asked him to leave him alone, according to CNN. The homeless man then called 911 and said Sterling had been brandishing a gun.

The next day, 32-year-old Philando Castile, an African American man in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, was shot four times by a police officer and later died, after being pulled over for an alleged broken tail light.

In both cases, videos of the encounter with police or its aftermath surfaced online, reigniting racial tensions that had already been smoldering in some parts of the country. Protests were held in numerous cities, many linked to the Black Lives Matter movement.

On July 7, five Dallas police officers were killed in what authorities called a “sniper ambush” at the end of one of these peaceful protests.

The latest shooting brings with it a new wave of shock, horror and grief, Bishop Muench said Sunday.

Bishop Muench and diocese vicar general Father Tom Ranzino visited two of the families affected by the shootings. They prayed and offered support.

The bishop reflected on a faithful response to the attack.

“Prayer is a powerful path to follow when tragedy happens, but even the most devout of us sometime question: ‘What good could come of this?’” he said.

“Only the Word of God has the answer to the questions that shake our faith: The answer is our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus, hope ultimately triumphs over despair; love ultimately triumphs over hate; and resurrection ultimately triumphs over death,” Bishop Muench said.

The Bishop of Baton Rouge cited two of the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called ‘children of God’” and “Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Bishop Muench renewed his previous call for prayer and fasting across the diocese.

Last week, in response to the violence against both African-American men and police officers, the bishop had asked members of the diocese to fast and pray, “so that we may gain wisdom and courage to become personally and communally involved in building bridges across everything that divides us to become better brothers and sisters to each other.”

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U.S. NEWS

Americans think statute of limitations laws should be applied equally

by CNA/EWTN News • July 18, 2016

(Jeremy Noble via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

Poughkeepsie, N.Y. — By a 2-to-1 margin, Americans believe it is unfair to extend the statute of limitations regarding sex abuse cases for private institutions but not public ones.

A new national survey, which polled 1,009 adults in the U.S., was conducted by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion July 5-12, 2016. It was sponsored by Catholic News Agency.

Participants were asked if they think it is fair or not fair to allow people more time to come forward and sue a private school or institution, but not if they claim abuse from a public one.

Statute of limitations laws limit the amount of time in which a lawsuit may be filed.

Efforts have been made in some states to change the statute of limitations in order to allow more time for people who say they were sexually abused as children to come forward. In some of these cases – including New York and Pennsylvania – the longer time period would apply to private organizations but not to public schools or government institutions.

Of all poll participants, 60 percent believed that it would be unfair to change the rules to allow greater time to come forward against private institutions than public ones. This was more than double the 29 percent who believed that the change would be fair, with 11 percent unsure.

This trend was consistent among Catholics and non-Catholics, practicing Catholics and non-practicing Catholics, and those who are practicing any religion or not practicing a religion, with differences in these groups falling within the 3.1 percent margin of error. In each category, about 60 percent said it was unfair to extend the statute of limitations for private but not public institutions.

Millennials, members of Generation X, and Baby Boomers all responded similarly to the poll, with about 63 percent saying the changes were unfair, 27-30 percent saying it was fair, and about 9 percent unsure.

The Silent Generation – those over age 69 – deviated somewhat from this trend. Among this group, 47 percent believed it was unfair to extend the statute of limitations for private institutions but not public ones. Thirty-one percent said that it was fair, and 22 percent were undecided.

Among men, 59 percent thought the changes would be unfair, while 30 percent thought they would be fair, with 12 percent undecided. For women, 62 percent believed the changes to be unfair, while 28 percent thought it would be fair and 10 percent were undecided.

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U.S. NEWS

Why Starbucks and McDonald’s are blocking porn from their WiFi

by CNA/EWTN News • July 19, 2016

(Julie Tan via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Washington, D.C. — Two of the largest chain restaurants with free WiFi in the United States, McDonald’s and Starbucks, are adding pornography filters to their internet.

Following the campaign of anti-porn group Enough is Enough and the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, McDonald’s has added internet filters to its public WiFi throughout the country, a change that was announced last week.

“McDonald’s is committed to providing a safe environment for our customers, and we are pleased to share that Wi-Fi filtering has been activated in the majority of McDonald’s nearly 14,000 restaurants nationwide,” a spokesperson for the fast food restaurant said in a statement.

“We had not heard from our customers that this was an issue, but we saw an opportunity that is consistent with our goal of providing an enjoyable experience for families.”

McDonald’s and Starbucks had already implemented pornography filtering at its locations in the U.K. Smaller chains like Panera and Chik Fil A already provide pornography filtering in the U.S.

Enough is Enough and the National Center on Sexual Exploitation have appealed to Starbucks to follow McDonald’s lead. On Friday, Starbucks said it plans to implement filtering in its stores throughout the world, once they are sure that the filtering doesn’t unintentionally block additional content.

“In the meantime, we reserve the right to stop any behavior that interferes with our customer experience, including what is accessed on our free Wi-Fi,” a Starbucks spokesperson told CNNMoney.

Enough is Enough (EIE) is a non-profit with the goal of making the “internet safer for children and families” by seeking to block illegal pornography and to stop the sexual exploitation of children through the internet. In 2014, EIE launched its “National Porn Free Wi-Fi” campaign” encouraging McDonald’s and Starbucks to lead Corporate America in filtering Wi-Fi.

In two consecutive statements following the announcements of the filtering by both chains, Donna Rice Hughes, president of EIE, praised both McDonald’s and Starbucks for recognizing pornography as a public health crisis and as a threat to children’s safety.

“Internet safety is now the fourth top-ranked health issue for U.S. children with peer- reviewed research confirming Internet pornography as a public health crisis. Pervasive online child pornography, which is the actual sexual abuse of children, is a crime to produce, distribute or download,” Hughes said.

“We commend both Starbucks and McDonalds for leading the way for corporate America to provide safer Wi-Fi. We will vigorously continue to encourage other businesses and venues such as hotels, airlines, shopping malls, and libraries to filter pornography and child abuse images on publically available Wi-Fi in order to protect children and families.”

Fight the New Drug, an organization dedicated to education on pornography’s effects on the brain and society, also praised McDonald’s filtering in a blog post.

“The Golden Arches restaurant has 99 billion served when it comes to hamburgers, and now hopefully it will be reaching another number when it comes to porn accessed in its restaurants: zero.”

The changes come at a time of increasing awareness about the harmful effects of pornography. Last fall, Hyatt Hotels cut off access to on-demand video pornography in all of their hotel rooms across the globe. In March, the Utah legislature declared pornography a public health hazard and TIME Magazine extensively covered pornography addiction. In April, Australian bishops said exposing children to pornography amounted to abuse. The Republican Party is also expected to declare pornography a public health crisis at its convention this week.

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Inspired by Pope Francis, California legal clinic offers free services

by Tonia Borsellino (CNA/EWTN News) • July 19, 2016

(Sebra via Shutterstock)

Oakland, CA — Free legal counsel and advice may sound too good to be true, but in the Diocese of Oakland, it’s a reality.

On June 7, the Pope Francis Legal Clinic opened in Oakland, California, on the property of the Cathedral of Christ the Light.

“So many people have legal problems because law is everywhere,” Tom Greerty, director and co-founder of the clinic, told CNA.

“What we try and do is relieve the hardships of people.”

Experienced lawyers volunteer their time to offer free legal consulting, reconciliation, and resolution services to any adult in the community.

Greerty, who recently retired from his legal practice in Martinez, California, said the idea started while he was earning his master’s degree in theological studies from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley.

“My professor, Sister Marianne Farina, asked me to do a project which would be consistent with my job,” Greerty said.

That project became the Pope Francis Legal Clinic, and in less than two years, others helped to make his idea a reality.

Nico Herrera, another attorney in the diocese, helped co-found the clinic. The Order of Malta, which runs a health clinic on the cathedral grounds, made space available for the new endeavor with the help of Tony Sanchez Corea, a member of the board. Bishop Michael C. Barber embraced the idea and had the clinic’s name in mind.

“I want this to be called the Pope Francis Legal Clinic,” the bishop told Greerty.

“We agreed to that naturally,” Greerty said.

Bishop Barber had a desire for the clinic to be about mercy, not just the law.

“Mercy is ordinarily not about the law,” Greerty explained. “The law doesn’t think in terms of mercy. The law thinks in terms of justice.”

But Greerty said the bishop wanted him and other faithful lawyers to bring mercy and reconciliation to legal problems that Greerty said are “almost always a breakdown in human relations.”

The lawyers spend an hour with each client. They listen to the client’s story, go over the history of the client’s problem, and try to understand the “nature of the problem.”

“We try to honor the memory of Pope Francis, and what he is trying to do with the Year of Mercy, to try and help people in a merciful way with the law,” Greerty said.

He also noted that the idea could likely be replicated in other dioceses across the country. Many Catholic lawyers are retired or far enough along in their practices to have the time and resources to establish similar clinics, he said.

Bishop Barber blessed the clinic on June 4, the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the clinic was consecrated to the Immaculate Heart as well.

Right now, the clinic is open from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Appointments are required.

According to Greerty, 10 lawyers have signed up to volunteer their services and more than 20 clients have already made appointments.

“I think we may be onto something,” he said.

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What Catholics have to say about the GOP platform

by Adelaide Mena and Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • July 19, 2016

The Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio on July 19, 2016. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

Cleveland, OH — The detailed platform adopted by the Republican Party this week received mixed reactions among Catholics for its positions.

It was an “extremely conservative platform” in the words of Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), co-chair of the platform committee, “one that, as I said in my comments on the floor here, upholds our moral tradition.”

Among many issues, the 54-page statement of the party’s beliefs calls for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, asks for more restrictions on refugee resettlement in the U.S., defends marriage as between one man and one woman, calls for the passage of pro-life legislation, and even includes paragraphs calling pornography a “public health crisis.”

The pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List called the platform “the most pro-life platform ever,” noting how it pushed for bans on late-term abortions, sex-selective abortions, and disability abortions, and advocated for the Hyde Amendment, which forbids federal tax dollars from directly funding abortions.

Tom McClusky, the vice president of the March for Life who worked in the drafting of the pro-life plank of the platform, told CNA it was “the most detailed platform we’ve ever seen,” noting that “just about every single piece of pro-life legislation that is currently out there, it is mentioned in the platform.”

“There is some concern with the person at the top of the ticket,” he said, noting the importance of “having a platform that we could lean back on to hold him accountable.”

The platform also took a strong right-wing stand on immigration. After acknowledging the contributions of legal immigrants to American society, it called for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent the entry of undocumented immigrants into the United States.

“We oppose any form of amnesty for those who, by breaking the law, have disadvantaged those who have obeyed it,” the platform said.

It also advocated for a mandatory use of the E-Verify system nationwide, as well as a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison for attempted re-entry into the U.S. by someone who has been deported for illegal immigration. So-called “sanctuary cities” should be denied federal aid, it said.

The platform also called for changes to the guest worker program. “In light of the alarming levels of unemployment and underemployment in this country, it is indefensible to continue offering lawful permanent residence to more than one million foreign nationals every year,” it stated.

Jeanne Atkinson of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network expressed her concerns with the immigration plank to CNA.

“Immigration is about people and families and communities, not about walls, and punitive and damaging enforcement measures,” she said. “Immigrants actually create jobs and strengthen our economy.”

She noted the section’s first paragraph, which commended “immigrant labor building our country and making vital contributions in every aspect of national life.”

“That’s really what the focus should be,” she insisted, “that emphasis should be throughout the rest of the document”

At the end of the immigration section, the document asked for “major changes” to the refugee resettlement system.

Back in November, the party’s presumptive nominee Donald Trump floated the idea of a temporary ban on all Muslims trying to enter the U.S., as a purported security measure. The GOP platform didn’t endorse that specific position, but stated that “asylum should be limited to cases of political, ethnic or religious persecution.”

It added that “refugees who cannot be carefully vetted cannot be admitted to the country, especially those whose homelands have been the breeding grounds for terrorism.” It insisted that “our nation’s immigration and refugee policies are placing Americans at risk.”

One significant addition to the 2016 platform in the “ensuring safe neighborhoods” section is an anti-pornography plank, calling porn a “public health crisis.” This comes after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement on porn back in November “Create In Me a Clean Heart.”

“Pornography is a scourge in every country, it is being fueled by globalization through the Internet and global travel,” Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles told CNA in an interview during last year’s synod on the family. “Everyone knows there are links between the porn industry and prostitution and human trafficking and child abuse.”

“We are in a crisis. Pornography is a public health crisis of the digital age,” Gail Dines, a professor of sociology at Wheelock College and founder of the group Culture Reframed, told CNA. Dines called it a “public health crisis” in a piece for the Washington Post in April.

She added that “it is in keeping with the 40 years of empirical research that we have that pornography has enormous social, psychological, cognitive, and sexual effects. We know that from the research, and that it is indeed a public health issue.”

Iraq’s embattled Christian minorities also have a place in the platform, which calls for attention to their plight and humanitarian aid.

“Defeating ISIS means more than pushing back its fighters while abandoning its victims. It must mean aiding those who have suffered the most — and doing so before they starve,” the platform stated.

Dr. Matthew Bunson, a contributor to EWTN, said the platform “expands the potential appeal for voters” by highlighting international Christian persecution and global repression of religious freedom, which he termed a “growing phenomenon of repression and curtailing of rights.”

For instance, it mentioned the dire need for aid among Iraq’s Christians and religious freedom concerns in China, part of the document’s “remarkably comprehensive” nature, he said.

Given concerns about Trump’s views on religious freedom – prompted by his ideas such as the Muslim immigration ban – Trump is “trying to protect his flank within the party by giving the cultural side what it wants the most,” Bunson suggested.

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Catholic News Service places former OSV president at the helm

by CNA/EWTN News • July 20, 2016

Greg Erlandson. (Our Sunday Visitor)

Washington, D.C. — Catholic News Service has named Greg Erlandson, former president and publisher of Our Sunday Visitor, as its new director and editor-in-chief.

The appointment was announced Wednesday by U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) General Secretary Msgr. J. Brian Bransfield.

“Greg brings a remarkable combination of management expertise, journalism skills and demonstrated service to the Church at the national and international level. I am confident he will prove to be an important resource to the clients of CNS,” Msgr. Bransfield said.

Erlandson has been with Indiana-based Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) since 1989, and has spent 16 years as its president and publisher.

He began his career at the National Catholic Register, where he served as an editor, before becoming a correspondent for the CNS Rome Bureau in 1986. He also served for a brief time in the Washington, D.C. offices of CNS before leaving to join OSV in 1989.

“I am proud to return to Catholic News Service and I’m grateful for being able to continue to serve the church as a Catholic journalist,” Erlandson told CNA.

“Sound Catholic reporting and analysis is needed today more than ever.”

Catholic News Agency’s editor-in-chief Marianne Medlin called the appointment “wonderful news.”

“Greg is tremendously respected across the Catholic media world and brings with him a wealth of insight and decades of experience. I am truly thrilled to see what’s in store for CNS under his leadership,” she said.

Erlandson was appointed twice as a consultant to the USCCB Committee on Communications, and served as a consultor for the Holy See’s Pontifical Council for Social Communications. He also was a member of the Vatican Media Committee that eventually led to the creation of the Holy See’s new Secretariat for Communications.

He has also served as president of the Catholic Press Association (CPA) from 2011-2013, and in 2015 received the St. Francis DeSales Award for outstanding contributions to Catholic journalism from the CPA. He was also recently inducted into the Association of Catholic Publishers Hall of Fame for lifetime achievement.

His appointment as director of CNS comes after the former director, Tony Spence, was asked to step down in April following a series of controversial tweets. Spence had served as director of CNS since 2004.

Erlandson graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in English literature, and attended U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

According to the USCCB, Erlandson in his new position will oversee a staff of over 25 journalists and about a dozen correspondents around the world.

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Republican Party takes anti-porn stance, but is it hypocritical?

by Matt Hadro and Adelaide Mena (CNA/EWTN News) • July 20, 2016

(A. and I. Kruk/Shutterstock)

Cleveland, OH — It merited only one paragraph in the 2016 GOP platform, but the party’s stand against pornography is drawing commendation from all sides, not only conservatives and Catholics.

“I would argue, surprisingly, that this is the most progressive piece in the platform,” Gail Dines, a professor of sociology at Wheelock College and founder of Culture Reframed, a group that educates about “pornography as a public health crisis in the digital age,” told CNA.

The 2016 GOP platform calls pornography a “menace” and a “public health crisis” that especially hurts children – language not used in the 2012 platform. It further acknowledges the link between child pornography and human trafficking, which the 2012 platform also noted.

The U.S. Catholic bishops already warned of the danger of pornography in a pastoral response issued in November, “Create In Me a Clean Heart.” They called porn a “grave sin against human dignity” and noted its recent “exponential” proliferation thanks to the internet.

“Everyone, in some way, is affected by increased pornography use in society. We all suffer negative consequences from its distorted view of the human person and sexuality,” the bishops wrote.

They pointed to such consequences as the moral degradation of persons involved in the making and selling of porn, the objectification of women and children, human trafficking, wrecked marriages, and widespread addiction.

Others are speaking out against pornography, however, and they may not be Catholic or even conservative.

Dines said that “pornography is a public health crisis of the digital age.” She said the anti-porn stance “is in keeping with the 40 years of empirical research that we have that pornography has enormous social, psychological, cognitive, and sexual effects.”

“It’s a bipartisan issue,” the National Center on Sexual Exploitation stated to CNA.

They noted that “since 2011, at least 24 studies have found that pornography has negative impacts on the brain, including decreased brain matter, as well as reduced impulse control and decision-making ability.”

Other consequences of porn use, they added, include “increased verbal and physical aggression, the incidence and severity of rape perpetrated by batters, acceptance of rape myths, risky sexual behaviors among adolescents, behaviors associated with higher incidence of STIs, and increased cases of sexual dysfunction.”

Yet, as Dines noted, “there’s a backlash against defining porn as a public health issue,” partly because some just don’t understand just how much of a problem it poses.

Studies have reported the average age of children first viewing pornography is right at the start of the teenage years, she said. “I think it’s been a mass abdication of responsibility on the part of adults who refuse to understand how pornography is harming our children. And we better get going on this, because it’s only going to get worse.”

Although the GOP laudably included this matter in its platform, it also showed “hypocrisy” in nominating a presidential candidate who has made statements of a “misogynist,” Dines said.

Trump has shown “distaste and disregard for women,” she reflected, pointing specifically to his controversial statements about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly and the presumptive presidential nominee for the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton.

“There is, absolutely, hypocrisy here, which makes those of us in the feminist anti-porn world somewhat cynical,” Dines continued.

There needs to be bipartisanship on this issue, she added, noting that Democrats “have been very quiet on this.”

“This is going to take enormous courage on the part of the politicians to go up against this multi-billion dollar industry,” she said.

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Why pray after tragedy? This Sandy Hook mother has an answer

by Kevin J. Jones (CNA/EWTN News) • July 21, 2016

(ChristianChan via Shutterstock)

Newtown, CT — Some people have difficulty seeing the point of prayer in times of trouble. But for Magnificat magazine columnist Jennifer Hubbard, prayer got her through one of the worst times of her life.

“We’re all going to face trials, we’re all going to face tragedies,” Hubbard said. “My tragedy was my daughter being murdered. Someone else’s tragedy could be the doctor who says the cancer is no longer treatable.”

“When you are intimate with that darkness, prayer turns your attention to God in allowing this peace to settle on your soul, despite whatever chaos is circling around you,” she told CNA.

Hubbard and her family know times of tragedy, indeed.

Her daughter, Catherine Violet, was one of the 20 children and six adults killed by a solo gunman in the December 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Catherine was eight when she was killed.

For Jennifer, the prayers of others meant the world to her and her husband.

“There’s no way, I believe, that we as a family, we as a community, could have walked through the darkness without the prayers of so many,” she said. “There were many days that were just very dark.”

She suggested that people who have problems praying sometime struggle with the fact that there is not something physical or material they can do or give.

“They feel like prayer is not enough,” she said.

Hubbard said otherwise. As she sees it, prayer prepares people “to focus on God, and the love that he has for us, versus the trial and tribulation.”

“I truly believe that if you do nothing else in the course of a day, if you spend your time praying, you’ve done more than you can ever imagine,” she added.

“You’re praying with the trust that your prayer is going to be answered, but you’re also praying with the understanding that God’s will is going to be best,” Hubbard said.

The answer to prayer is not always what one expects.

During the attack on Sandy Hook, Hubbard and her husband waited at the firehouse with other families of staff and students, waiting news about their loved ones.

“My prayer, when we were waiting for Catherine, was ‘bring her home, bring her home, dear God, keep her safe and bring her home’,” she recounted. “Yes, the prayer was ‘bring her back to the firehouse’ and that didn’t happen. Time continues to march forward – I see that my prayer was answered, over and over again.”

“Catherine’s home. He answered my prayer,” Hubbard added. “And in answering my prayer and bringing her home, there’s the hope and understanding that I’ll see her again.”

For Hubbard, sincere prayer expresses a hope that something will change. For the one who prays, she said, there is beauty in that the change is in a person’s heart.

“Prayer and hope go hand in hand,” she said. “Prayer is this ongoing deep rooted relationship and dialogue with the only one who can provide direction and meaning and peace to our lives.”

Hubbard warned there is a danger in not praying.

“When we don’t listen to God, when we take matters into our own hands or look for the answer that we want Him to respond with, I think that’s dangerous,” she said. “When we don’t listen to God, we are just belligerent. We are putting ourselves above God. By not listening to God, by taking matters into our own hands, we feel like we’ve got this.”

People try and take a situation into their own hands, but make a “horrible mess.”

Hubbard’s son Freddie turns 12 at the end of July. He was also at Sandy Hook four years ago. She and her husband aim to help their son grow up with a sense of normalcy.

“I call him my brave one. He could have died,” Hubbard said. “He has taught us so much about love and its purpose.”

The Hubbard family has launched the Catherine Violet Hubbard Foundation. It supports actions like an animal sanctuary in Newtown, due to Catherine’s love for animals.

“For me, building a sanctuary is one of these things that I believe God has truly placed in front of me, Hubbard said.

She said anyone who believes that God has put them on earth for a specific purpose has to pray.

“Without prayer, without listening to God, or (without) just surrendering whatever you have that’s holding you back from seeing that purpose and that passion, you’re lost,” she warned.

“Prayer is a response to knowing that God has something in store for you.”

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Minnesota archdiocese apologizes for failures as prosecutors drop abuse charges

by CNA/EWTN News • July 21, 2016

The Cathedral of Saint Paul in Saint Paul, Minnesota. (Robb and Jessie Stankey via Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

St. Paul, MN — Prosecutors have dropped criminal charges against the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis as its present and past archbishops apologized for failures to protect children from a sexually abusive priest.

“We failed to give priority to the safety and wellbeing of the children he hurt over his interests and those of the archdiocese. In particular, we failed to prevent him from sexually abusing children,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda of Saint Paul and Minneapolis said on Wednesday. “Those children, their parents, their family, their parish and others were harmed. We are sorry. I am sorry.”

“I know that words alone are not enough. We must do better,” Archbishop Hebda said in a July 20 letter to the faithful of the archdiocese. He added that “far-reaching changes are already underway.”

Prosecutors had charged the archdiocese with six criminal counts of failing to protect minors concerning the actions of the former priest Curtis Wehmeyer. Wehmeyer, who has been laicized, is now serving a five-year prison sentence for the sexual abuse of two minors and the possession of child pornography.

Before he faced legal charges, archdiocesan officials knew of his misconduct, but the priest was still promoted to pastor of a parish.

Archbishop Hebda arrived in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis to serve as its apostolic administrator in June 2015.

He succeeded Archbishop John Nienstedt, who resigned after the archdiocese was criminally charged, in March 2016. Archbishop Emeritus Nienstedt, 69, said he resigned with “a clear conscience” and voiced support for his staff and for the archdiocese’s child protection protocols.

The archdiocese had filed for bankruptcy in January 2015. Its reorganization plan, announced in May 2016, includes legal settlements, a victim counseling fund, and the creation of an independent trust to pay claimants.

Archbishop Hebda’s statement promised progress.

“I pledge to all victims and survivors, to the community, and to you, my brothers and sisters of this local Church, to move forward openly, collaboratively and humbly, and always mindful of our past,” he said. “We will never forget.”

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi on July 20 said there is no basis to bring a criminal charges against any of the archdiocese’s leaders or the archdiocese. The investigation had lasted three years.

Choi agreed to dismiss the charges on condition that the Saint Paul and Minneapolis archdiocese admit it “failed to keep the safety and well-being of these three children ahead of protecting the interests of Curtis Wehmeyer and the Archdiocese.”

On July 20, Joe Dixon, counsel for the archdiocese, said that the dismissal of the charges is “unconditional and speaks for itself.”

Archbishop Hebda said that after he arrived the archdiocese decided to cooperate with the county attorney “to try to make amends to those harmed and achieve justice for all in the broadest possible way.”

“Cooperation seems to have been the right avenue for achieving a just resolution,” he said.

Archbishop Hebda said the civil settlement with Choi’s office commits to a course of action “that will keep kids as safe as possible.”

“I am grateful that his office will hold us accountable,” he said. “Today, we humbly acknowledge our past failures and look forward to continuing down that path to achieve those vital, common goals that together we all share.”

The archbishop asked for prayers for sex abuse victims and their families, and for himself, and promised that he would pray for the faithful of the archdiocese.

Archbishop Emeritus Nienstedt also apologized for his response to sexual abuse allegations against priests in his archdiocese.

“Words cannot express the sorrow I feel for the victims and survivors of clergy sexual abuse, their families, their friends and our Catholic community,” he said. “In particular, I am sorry for the way the archdiocese, under my leadership, addressed the allegations against Curtis Wehmeyer.”

“As the archbishop, I should have asked more questions, I should have demanded more answers, and I should have insisted those within the archdiocesan administration at the time share more information with each other,” he added. “I am sorry.”

The legal agreement also made public a July 2014 memo from Father Dan Griffith, an archdiocesan priest who was a liaison to the lawyers conducting an independent investigation into Archbishop Nienstedt.

The memo concerned charges of criminal and sexual misconduct against the archbishop, and indicated that former apostolic nuncio to the U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, had prematurely ordered the end of the investigation and ordered destruction of evidence when he told two auxiliary bishops to destroy their objecting letter to him.

Archbishop Emeritus Nienstedt, who had approved the independent investigation, rejected all the sexual misconduct claims, and contended that the claims came from those who opposed his management decisions and his defense of Catholic teaching, especially on homosexuality.

Father Griffith said in a statement that he stood by his memo and he has confidence in Archbishop Hebda, the New York Times reports.

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Where are the values at the Republican National Convention?

by Matt Hadro and Adelaide Mena (CNA/EWTN News) • July 21, 2016

Republican VP candidate Mike Pence at the RNC in Cleveland, Ohio on July 20, 2016. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Cleveland, OH — As the 2016 Republican National Convention draws to a close, some Catholics are concerned about a perceived lack of priority given to pro-life, marriage, and religious freedom issues in the GOP.

“For a party that portrays itself as the party of religious values, the approach they are outlining this week has little connection to the most important moral issues facing this country,” said Robert Christian, editor of Millennial magazine and a graduate fellow at the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies at The Catholic University of America.

He identified these critical moral issues as: “addressing poverty, defending life, finding policies to strengthen the family, welcoming those fleeing violence, overcoming racial divisions, protecting God’s creation, and supporting human rights and human dignity.”

The 2016 Republican National Convention began on Monday and runs through Thursday, culminating in the address by the party’s nominee for president, Donald Trump, on Thursday evening.

Monday and Tuesday saw the official nomination of Trump by party delegates from the 50 states, despite a last-minute effort by Trump’s opponents within the party to change the rules to deny him the nomination.

Indiana Governor Mike Pence, the party’s nominee for vice president, addressed the convention on Wednesday evening following a controversial speech by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Trump’s biggest primary opponent, who implored the crowd to “vote your conscience” and did not endorse Trump for president.

However, Cruz’s brief mention of the importance of religious freedom – “Freedom means religious freedom, whether you are Christian, Jew, Muslim, or atheist,” he said – gave more treatment to the issue than other major convention speeches by figures like Pence, Dr. Ben Carson, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

“Whether you are gay, or straight, the Bill of Rights protects the rights of all of us to live according to our conscience,” Cruz continued.

Other social issues including pro-life and pro-family policies were upheld in the party’s platform adopted on Monday, but were largely absent from the major convention speeches.

Some prominent Catholics have leveled strong criticisms of Trump’s candidacy, pointing to his past remarks about women which they say are misogynistic, and also questioning his pro-life credentials.

A statement signed by over 30 prominent Catholics in March stated that “there is nothing in his campaign or his previous record that gives us grounds for confidence that he genuinely shares our commitments to the right to life, to religious freedom and the rights of conscience, to rebuilding the marriage culture, or to subsidiarity and the principle of limited constitutional government.”

Trump also said he was “pro-choice in every respect” in a 1999 NBC Meet the Press interview. He now maintains that he is pro-life.

“Pro-lifers have long had reservations about Donald Trump,” Joshua Mercer, co-founder of CatholicVote.org, acknowledged to CNA on Thursday.

Yet, he added, the GOP platform adopted on Monday was “probably the most pro-life that we’ve ever seen.”

Mercer added that Trump’s selection of Governor Pence, who has “long been a stalwart supporter of the unborn,” as his vice president was assuredly a positive sign for pro-lifers.

He pointed to Pence’s acceptance speech where the governor insisted that “for the sake of the sanctity of life … we must ensure that the next president appointing justices to the Supreme Court is Donald Trump.”

Other pro-lifers acknowledged concerns about Trump’s history on pro-life issues and controversial remarks he has made about women.

However, they added, his promise to nominate conservative judges to the Supreme Court combined with his selection of Pence as a running mate sets Trump apart from the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, as the choice for pro-lifers.

Ultimately, “to me it’s about the Supreme Court,” Kansas Governor Sam Brownback told CNA on Wednesday.

“My confidence [in Trump] has been growing,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List, told CNA. “And it started at a very small place.”

“You couldn’t find a man of better integrity, authenticity,” she said of Mike Pence, adding that Trump has picked some solid pro-life staff members like policy director Josh Mashburn and pollster Kellyanne Conway.

Christian also praised the vice-presidential candidate, saying that many Republicans’ criticisms of Pence have been “a bit unfair.”

Despite Trump’s choice of Pence as a running mate, however, Christian is not sold on Trump’s commitment to the pro-life cause.

“As someone who is both Catholic and a pro-life activist, I’m seeing little to no enthusiasm for Donald Trump,” Christian stated to CNA, noting Trump’s “past positions on abortion,” and the a campaign that has largely steered clear of the life issue.

“His past positions on abortion and clear lack of interest in the subject, which seems to be reflected in how little the issue has come up at the Convention, is making it difficult for even single issue voters to trust that he is the real deal,” Christian said.

While he criticized the Republican Party for taking “pro-life voters for granted” and failing to advance the pro-life cause beyond speeches, this year’s campaign has said little about the pro-life stance at all. “[The] reality is that very little has even been said to encourage those strongly motivated by their pro-life convictions,” he continued.

“Given this and the Democratic platform’s extreme position on abortion, I’ve never seen so many pro-lifers distraught over their choices for the presidency,” Christian lamented.

He added that, as a Catholic, he is also concerned by other issues highlighted – or largely ignored – by the Trump campaign and the speeches at the RNC Convention.

In addition, he criticized the party’s failure to address what he called “a marriage crisis” among working- class families, including the economic hurdles that face many couples.

“It is a serious, grave threat to the common good,” Christian told CNA. “Vague platitudes about the importance of the family are not enough. It has not been an encouraging week for serious pro-family voters.”

Religious freedom is another issue where Christian was concerned both about Trump’s proposed policies and the convention’s rhetoric. He called out Trump’s proposed ban on Muslim immigrants as “a stunning attack on religious freedom,” and explained that the move was particularly concerning when the Catholic Church and other organizations “may be facing showdowns over people and organizations having to abort children or stop their work - life and death issues.”

This week’s speeches also ran in the face of the message and policy supported by the U.S. bishops on immigration, Christian warned. “Tied in with this is the disturbing portrayal of Muslims. Syrian refugees were booed - people fleeing the barrel bombs of a murderous dictator and the totalitarian terror of ISIS,” he said. “How can a Christian boo people who are desperately seeking refuge?”

“Both parties are deeply flawed and problematic for Catholics who reject excessive individualism and the libertarianism it inspires,” Christian said, but he was particularly concerned about Trump’s rhetoric and positions.

He offered his hope that moving forward from the convention, the Republican Party would “embrace a more ‘whole life’ approach to defending life, support measures to concretely strengthen families, defend free democracy at home and abroad, and move toward a more communitarian approach to economics that is rooted in human dignity rather than market morality.” That approach, he commented, “would allow the party to be competitive while also aligning with the core values of Catholic moral and social teaching.”

“I hope that Catholic Republicans will work to push their party away from extremism and toward a greater commitment to human life and dignity,” he added. “This entire convention should serve as a call to action and motivate them to build a better Republican Party.”

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U.S. NEWS

NBA ‘unreasonable’ in moving All Star game from North Carolina

by CNA/EWTN News • July 22, 2016

(Waleed Al Madhoun via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)

Charlotte, N.C. — The National Basketball Association’s decision to pull its all-star game from Charlotte, North Carolina over the state’s bathroom bill has drawn criticism from those who say the decision is hypocritical.

“The NBA has abandoned common sense and put politics ahead of principle,” said Kellie Fiedorek, Alliance Defending Freedom legal counsel. “The North Carolina privacy law, which protects girls and women from being forced to share locker rooms and showers with men, is completely reasonable. Pulling the 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte is unreasonable and hypocritical.”

“If the NBA actually believed that there is no difference between men and women, it would merge its two leagues,” she said, referring to the professional basketball league’s counterpart, the Women’s National Basketball Association.

The NBA’s creation of the WNBA recognizes “the innate and obvious differences between men and women,” Fiedorek said.

On Thursday, the basketball league announced that it would move the 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte because of its objections to a state law that requires individuals to use public locker rooms and restrooms that correspond to their biological sex on their birth certificate. The law also barred localities from having a stricter anti-discrimination law than the state’s, and barred cities or counties from setting their own minimum wage standard for private employers.

The law was created to overturn a Charlotte ordinance that would have allowed individuals to use bathrooms, locker rooms and shower facilities that corresponded with their self-perceived “gender identity,” even if this differs from their biological sex.

The sports league characterized the controversy as an issue of “legal protections for the LGBT community in Charlotte.” It said it hopes to hold the 2019 game in Charlotte “provided there is an appropriate resolution to this matter,” CNN reports.

Backers of the North Carolina law, House Bill 2, said it was necessary to overturn local ordinances that would have allowed any man in any women’s bathroom, locker room or shower room based on their self-declared “gender identity.” The ordinances would have allowed legal complaints against business owners whose views are considered discriminatory under local law.

The bill passed the state senate unanimously with 32 votes. It passed the State House by a vote of 83-25 and was signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory. According to a poll by Survey USA, sponsored by the Civitas Institute, 69 percent of North Carolinans backed the state bill.

Many large corporations have allied with LGBT activist groups and the ACLU in opposing the state law.

Fiedorek said the state law “simply protected the dignity interests and privacy rights of North Carolinians.”

She added that New Orleans, an often-mentioned alternative host for the All-Star Game, also allows for separate bathroom, restroom, shower or similar facilities for men and women in its own local ordinance.

Gov. McCrory strongly criticized the NBA’s decision.

“The sports and entertainment elite, (North Carolina) Attorney General Roy Cooper and the liberal media have for months misrepresented our laws and maligned the people of North Carolina simply because most people believe boys and girls should be able to use school bathrooms, locker rooms and showers without the opposite sex present.”

College sports have also started to side with LGBT advocates.

On July 22 the NCAA sent a questionnaire to local event organizing groups that asks whether their localities and states have passed “anti-discrimination laws that are applicable to all persons” and whether there is legal regulation of “choice of bathrooms or locker rooms” that may affect student athletes, coaches, administrators, game officials or fans, USA Today reports.

In April the NCAA Board of Governors approved a new rule that sites hosting or bidding on NCAA championships, meetings and conferences must show “how they will provide an environment that is safe, healthy, and free of discrimination.”

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FEATURES

‘Ghostbusters’ reboot brings big laughs in the midst of dull summer remakes

by Carl Kozlowski • July 15, 2016

In a summer ranging from uninspired retreads (“Now You See Me 2,” “Independence Day: Resurgence”) to big-budget original busts (“The BFG”) to at least one solid hit (“Finding Dory”), no film has drawn as much buzz or stirred up as much frenzied controversy as the “Ghostbusters” reboot.

Sony Pictures brought top creative talents in for the project, starting with director Paul Feig of “Bridesmaids,” “The Heat” and “Spy” fame, who also co-wrote with Katie Dippold of “The Heat”. And despite starring the female dream team of Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, and current “Saturday Night Live” stars Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, it has been under fire from day one.

Critics wondered why the movie was being redone in the first place, and “fanboys” complained about the female stars. Throw in terrible trailers and one of the worst theme songs in movie history, and it has not been looking good for the film. This seemed destined to be one of the worst train wrecks of all time.

And now that it’s here? The new “Ghostbusters” was finally screened for critics and the public last Thursday — and they’ve mostly pulled off a winner. The movie has great laughs in the first half that will be liked by a lot of people, but loses a lot of its big laughs in favor of splashy special effects in the second half.

Overall, though, it’s a fun romp that most families can enjoy together, in which risqué humor is kept to a minimum, and the scary moments are offset by goofy ghosts elsewhere. It’s definitely appropriate for teens and adults, per its PG-13 rating, and possibly as young as 9 or 10 year olds if they’re used to some scares in their entertainment.

The reboot first focuses on Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig), a college professor who gets approached by a museum owner and is hoping she can help him because the museum seems haunted and she’s written about the science of ghosts. This gets her in touch with her old friend Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy), whom she had abandoned years before because the scientific community kept mocking their research on the paranormal.

After reuniting with Abby and being introduced to Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), a scientist who goes on to engineer their proton packs and other equipment, the three head to the museum and Gilbert gets her first caught-on-camera meeting with a ghost. For Erin, it is her first step to getting recognition for her past work.

On the other hand, Abby sees it as a new start to a career in the field she loves so much. But the two are shunned and laughed at. The three ladies begin to see the end of their old lives and the beginning of a new one — aiming to save their city from spirits and other paranormal experiences.

They find a workplace and hire Erin’s dream man, Kevin (Chris Hemsworth), as their assistant because he looks good in anything he wears. The final piece in the puzzle comes when they hire a fourth Ghostbuster, the streetwise Patty (Leslie Jones), who comes to them after encountering a ghost and an evil genius named Rowan (Neil Casey).

Rowan has gone nuts over demanding recognition for his own past scientific accomplishments concerning the spirit world, and now wants to destroy New York. Battling a fast-paced and occasionally funny string of obstacles, the new Ghostbusters set out to save the day.

This movie is a story all on its own, with no real connections to the past ones, and it’s baffling why the movie’s trailers were so unfocused and unfunny when the actual movie is richly entertaining. The movie’s trailers led to complaints that the special effects were too reliant on CGI, whereas the original film used more traditional methods and modeling to create its effects. Yet in reality, the effects are top-notch and are particularly impressive in 3D.

Most importantly, the large audience watching the movie along with the critics was extremely positive toward the film. The audience was laughing out loud throughout, and burst into applause several times, particularly when original “Ghostbusters” star Bill Murray makes his entrance as a completely different character than before. It’s not just a split-second cameo, and the surprise rendered by that fact is indicative of the pleasant surprises throughout.

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.com 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 re-launching it in January 2014 after a five-month sabbatical. He lives in Los Angeles.

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FEATURES

Needed: More Canonized Mothers and Fathers

by Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, C.S.J. • July 20, 2016

When Zélie and Louis Martin, the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, were canonized in 2015, it must have crossed the minds of many in the Church: Why aren’t there more canonized saints among married women and men?

Vatican II and the Call to Universal Holiness: The Laity/Married People

In the Dogmatic Constitution, “The Church,” the Fathers at Vatican II explicitly called for the universal holiness of all according to their vocation in life. Jesus preached holiness of life to each and every one of his disciples: “You therefore are to be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). All the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or stature are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity.

The document was emphatic about the holiness of all, that lay men and lay women were called to holiness, not in the same way as consecrated religious men and women. Consecrated life was no longer more esteemed than consecrated married life. Everyone is called to holiness according to the vocation one has chosen. Only the manner in which it is lived marks the distinguishing characteristic: “Married couples and Christian parents should follow their own proper path to holiness by faithful love, sustaining one another in grace throughout the entire length of their lives. They should imbue their offspring, lovingly welcomed from God, with Christian truths and evangelical virtues.” (29) In the home, yes, in every room of the home, God’s graces are present and at work to sanctify family life — conjugal love and the love among the other members of the family. Many times heroic virtue is needed to cooperate with these graces.

Heroic Virtue

Canonizations of consecrated men and women far exceed those consecrated in marriage. So it’s a fair question: If sainthood is “the exemplary practice of Christian virtue so that one becomes a model and ideal of Christian discipleship,” then surely more devout parents ought to be considered for sainthood as well (Harper’s Encyclopedia of Catholicism).

Heroic virtue can be found among spouses in service-oriented positions as they share in the ministry of the other spouse. Heroic virtue can be found among mothers and fathers whose self-giving to each other and to their children has virtually no limit. Charged with the responsibility of raising children in the faith, parents educate their children to be citizens in this world and for the next.

Contemporary Challenges

The difficulties that challenge modern families are well known. One problem lies in the unwillingness of the members to listen with attention and respect — adult to adult, sibling to sibling, parent to child, child to parent. The lack of discernment — the habit of making decisions at the level of faith — is another basic problem.

Today many young adults reject Catholicism. By choosing agnosticism, atheism, or no organized religion at all, they cause their parents great distress. Where have their parents gone wrong? What can they do to reinvigorate the faith of their children and bring them back to their senses? The family that has been called to become the Domestic Church descends into an arena of discord. When this happens, the nobility of the family collapses.

Parental Anxieties

Gone are the days when saints were described as without faults. Saintly mothers and fathers have their un-saintly days. When an exhausted parent thinks, “I can’t give any more of myself,” this is not complaining but concern about failure to give one’s best to the children.

If mothers and fathers are honest with themselves, they worry. Worry about what? Financial matters, religious and social concerns, medical issues, discipline and good order, whether or not they are worthy role models for their children.

Breaking Marriage Vows

It is no longer rare for a spouse to walk out on the other with or without provocation with simple statements that defy credibility: “I don’t want to be married to you anymore.” Or, “I can’t take the responsibility of being a father or a mother.” Or, “I’ve fallen in love with another person.” While dealing with the deep loss, the remaining spouse is forced to shoulder much more responsibility. With the steady increase of single-parent homes, the one adult is often obliged to work two jobs, and even three, to support the family with all the concerns involved.

What Canonized Mothers and Fathers Could Do for the Church?

The vocation to married life is as blessed as the celibate vocation, but the Church is top-heavy with canonized celibate saints and martyrs. It is true that the latter have given special witness through the ages. It is also true that we venerate those few canonized married saints scattered throughout the ages, for example, St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine. For twenty years, her prayers were offered for his conversion from a life of debauchery to the saintly life of theologian and Bishop of Hippo. Then there have been Saints Henry and Louis IX, Kings of Germany and France, respectively; Elizabeth of Hungary, and Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England. Each gave witness in his or her own way. Imagine what an increase of canonized mothers and fathers would do for the public image of the contemporary Church!

What we need is public witness to consecrated married life, public witness to build up the family struggling to live up to their vocation as the Domestic Church, and public witness that convinces the world that there are many more “holy families” than the one in Nazareth of two thousand years ago!

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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SUNDAY • JULY 24, 2016

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Gn 18:20-32; NRSVCE)

Then the Lord said, “How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me; and if not, I will know.”

So the men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham came near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.” Abraham answered, “Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” Again he spoke to him, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” Then he said, “Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” He said, “Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” Then he said, “Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”

Second Reading (Col 2:12-14; NRSVCE)

You were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross.

Gospel Reading (Lk 11:1-13; NRSVCE)

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.

And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

“So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

MONDAY • JULY 25, 2016

Feast of Saint James

First Reading (2 Cor 4:7-15; NRSVCE)

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.

But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture —”I believed, and so I spoke”— we also believe, and so we speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence. Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

Gospel Reading (Mt 20:20-28; NRSVCE)

The mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favor of him. And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

TUESDAY • JULY 26, 2016

Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne

First Reading (Jer 14:17-22; NRSVCE)

Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,

and let them not cease,

for the virgin daughter — my people — is struck down with a crushing blow,

with a very grievous wound.

If I go out into the field,

look — those killed by the sword!

And if I enter the city,

look — those sick with famine!

For both prophet and priest ply their trade throughout the land,

and have no knowledge.

Have you completely rejected Judah?

Does your heart loathe Zion?

Why have you struck us down

so that there is no healing for us?

We look for peace, but find no good;

for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.

We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord,

the iniquity of our ancestors,

for we have sinned against you.

Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake;

do not dishonor your glorious throne;

remember and do not break your covenant with us.

Can any idols of the nations bring rain?

Or can the heavens give showers?

Is it not you, O Lord our God?

We set our hope on you,

for it is you who do all this.

Gospel Reading (Mt 13:36-43; NRSVCE)

Jesus left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!”

WEDNESDAY • JULY 27, 2016

Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Jer 15:10, 16-21; NRSVCE)

Woe is me, my mother, that you ever bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me.

Your words were found, and I ate them,

and your words became to me a joy

and the delight of my heart;

for I am called by your name,

O Lord, God of hosts.

I did not sit in the company of merrymakers,

nor did I rejoice;

under the weight of your hand I sat alone,

for you had filled me with indignation.

Why is my pain unceasing,

my wound incurable,

refusing to be healed?

Truly, you are to me like a deceitful brook,

like waters that fail.

Therefore thus says the Lord:

If you turn back, I will take you back,

and you shall stand before me.

If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,

you shall serve as my mouth.

It is they who will turn to you,

not you who will turn to them.

And I will make you to this people

a fortified wall of bronze;

they will fight against you,

but they shall not prevail over you,

for I am with you

to save you and deliver you,

says the Lord.

I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,

and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.

Gospel Reading (Mt 13:44-46; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

THURSDAY • JULY 28, 2016

Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Jer 18:1-6; NRSVCE)

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.

Then the word of the Lord came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

Gospel Reading (Mt 13:47-53; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to the disciples, “The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

“Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place.

FRIDAY • JULY 29, 2016

Memorial of Saint Martha

First Reading (Jer 26:1-9; NRSVCE)

At the beginning of the reign of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, this word came from the Lord: Thus says the Lord: Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord; speak to them all the words that I command you; do not hold back a word. It may be that they will listen, all of them, and will turn from their evil way, that I may change my mind about the disaster that I intend to bring on them because of their evil doings. You shall say to them: Thus says the Lord: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, and to heed the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently — though you have not heeded — then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.

The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, “You shall die! Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

Gospel Reading (Jn 11:19-27; NRSVCE)

Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother Lazarus, who had died. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

SATURDAY • JULY 30, 2016

Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Jer 26:11-16, 24; NRSVCE)

The priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, “This man deserves the sentence of death because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”

Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, “It is the Lord who sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will change his mind about the disaster that he has pronounced against you. But as for me, here I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will be bringing innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”

Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”

But the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah so that he was not given over into the hands of the people to be put to death.

Gospel Reading (Mt 14:1-12; NRSVCE)

At that time Herod the ruler heard reports about Jesus; and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him.” For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been telling him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” Though Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet. But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company, and she pleased Herod so much that he promised on oath to grant her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” The king was grieved, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he commanded it to be given; he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. The head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, who brought it to her mother. His disciples came and took the body and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.